Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Progressive stalwart and frequent Trump target Sen. Elizabeth Warren has released results of a DNA test giving "strong evidence" that she had a Native American ancestor dating back several generations. "While the vast majority of the individuals ancestry is European, the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor in the individuals pedigree, likely in the range of 6-10 generations ago," the report read. The Massachusetts senator first provided the test results to the Boston Globe on Sunday. The test was conducted by Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor and an expert in DNA analysis. Shortly after Warren released her DNA test results, she took to Twitter to ask Trump about the $1 million he promised to donate to charity if she proved her Native American ancestry. "By the way, @realDonaldTrump: Remember saying on 7/5 that youd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? I remember and here's the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Womens Resource Center:" Warren tweeted. Trump denied making that promise and told reporters on Monday: "I didnt say that. You better read it again. President Trump, who has frequently mocked Warren's ancestry claims, said "who cares?" when asked by reporters on Monday about his reaction to Warren releasing her DNA results. Later, he added that he said he would only give her the money he promised on the campaign trail if he could administer the DNA test himself. "That will not be something I enjoy doing either," Trump said. The ancestry of Warren, a Democrat considered a possible presidential contender in 2020, has been a target for President Trump, who has repeatedly referred to her sarcastically as Pocahontas. "We have a representative in Congress who has been here for a long time ... longer than you. They call her Pocahontas!" Trump said at an Oval Office event last year honoring Native American code talkers for their service during World War II. His quip at an event paying tribute to Native Americans received swift backlash. Warren told MSNBC last year that it is "deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur." Trump makes 'Pocahontas' quip at Navajo code talker event, White House denies it is a 'slur' The question of Warren's ancestry came up during her first run for U.S. Senate in 2012 when the Boston Herald reported she registered as a minority in law school directories in the 1980s. Warren defended herself by claiming she was told of her Native American ancestry by family members and that the registry entry was for meeting persons with similar backgrounds, rather than to advance her career. The DNA report notes that it is often difficult to trace Native American ancestry because that population doesn't consistently participate in the types of genetics studies needed to trace ancestry. However, in Warren's case, her ancestry includes Canadian and Mexican indigenous populations, as would be expected for Native American ancestry deriving from the lower 48 states of the United States. The Bureau of Indian Affairs says that such tests won't help people prove ancestry from a specific federally recognized tribe. Some Native American advocates say the use of such tests in the midst of an ongoing political debate marginalizes their communities further. Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr., in a statement obtained by The Oklahoman, said "Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong." "Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage." Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. By Yahoo , Oct. 14, 2018 Businesses in Maine are facing a backlash after Susan Collins, the states Republican senator, decided to back the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Two of Maine's biggest industries, lobster fishing and tourism, are facing a consumer boycott following Ms Collins' key vote in the most hotly contested appointment to the Supreme Court since that of Clarence Thomas in 1991. Read More: Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com Follow Larry Elder on Follow Larry Elder on Twitter "Like" Larry Elder on Facebook By McClatchy DC , Oct. 11, 2018 WASHINGTON - Bernie Sanders is eager to come to South Carolina and unapologetic about his plans, even as some Democrats worry about the timing of his visit to their state. Wherever I go, I get controversy, the Vermont senator told McClatchy in a Capitol Hill interview on Thursday, responding to fears that his upcoming rally will unfairly tie more moderate Democratic candidates to the prominent liberals politically polarizing agenda. Read More: Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com Follow Larry Elder on Follow Larry Elder on Twitter "Like" Larry Elder on Facebook Illegal aliens regularly granted lawless benefits By Michael R Shannon Michael Anton is amazed by housebroken conservatives that support an immigration position that will eventually remove any chance for conservative government. Anton is the author of The Flight 93 Election that outlined the stakes facing conservatives in stark terms, making him one of the first respectable conservative intellectuals to come out in support of Donald Trump. Lately hes been involved in an internecine fight with country club conservatives at The National Review over birthright citizenship. For those unfamiliar with the term, birthright citizenship treats becoming a citizen of the United States with the same gravity and respect afforded a participation trophy from your 8yearold daughters ballerina ball league. Birthright citizenship is more of a cartographic theory than a governing philosophy. Supporters contend that any illegal alien who manages to cross the US border and give birth at taxpayer expense is not only producing a new nino, they have also just welcomed a US citizen into the world. Our border is a finish line in another area of prenatal care, too. If the illegal can worm her way across, she can demand an abortion so taxpayers are on the hook coming and going. This anchor baby, instantly dropped into a foreign household, is also a lottery ticket thats a guaranteed winner. Experts never tire of assuring us that illegals cannot collect welfare, because its against the law. What the experts never add is Citizen Baby can collect on every welfare program known to US taxpayers and the administrator of all this largess is the illegal parent. Conservatives supporting birthright citizenship are the equivalent of Gen. Sam Houston sending a messenger to Col. William Travis informing him that after some consideration it appears the Texas Declaration of Independence gives Santa Anna property rights. Therefore, open the gates and let the Mexicans inside the Alamo. Restoring sanity and accuracy to the discussion of birthright citizenship was the topic of a panel at the Heritage Foundation where Anton was joined by Dr. Edward J. Erler, senior fellow of the Claremont Institute and John Fonte, director of the Center for American Common Culture. Erler points out the Supreme Court decision that began sprint for finishline citizenship is just as incorrect as the Dred Scott or Plessy v. Ferguson decision. In Wong Kim Ark two Chinese diplomats who were legally inside our borders and who, by treaty, could not become US citizens had a baby. The child turned out to be a blessed event for leftists and cheap labor importers, too. The court ruled that since the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were based on English common law, and common law specified children born within England were pledged to the Crown, then presto! Mrs. Wong now has her own Yankee Doodle Dandy. To arrive at a decision that backwards, one would think the judge was a product of modern government schools. Common law doesnt mention citizenship. It discusses permanent, perpetual subjectship and allegiance to the king, based on the feudal system of master and serf. There are no citizens under English common law, Erler said. The Declaration of Independence rejected English common law, saying our nation was built on a social compact between consenting citizens. A Supreme Court decision that completely misreads the Declaration and rules that rejection is really acceptance, is a decision ripe for being overturned. Whats even worse is the unelected, administrative state has taken a decision by the Supremes that only addressed noncitizens legally in the US and applied it willynilly to illegals in the US unlawfully. The Supreme Court never said children born to illegals in the US are citizens. But bureaucrats did. The US and Canada which can afford a handful of anchor babies, because it shares a southern border with the US and a northern border with planets freezer compartment are the only two developed nations in the world that grant birthright citizenship. The United Kingdom ended the practice, as did India, New Zealand and Australia. When given a chance to vote on the issue, Ireland did, too. What is absolutely infuriating is that birthright citizenship for illegals could end tomorrow. All President Trump has to do is issue an executive order. Or Congress could end it permanently by passing a law. The fact this has not been done is due to an unholy alliance between country club conservatives in thrall to cheaplabor businesses, the openborders left and the administrative state. Certainly the left would sue, but thats a trap of their own making. If the case made it to the Supreme Court, there is a good chance Wong would be overturned and birthright citizenship ended. Trump needs to refill his executive order pen and start writing. Its time to toss concept of anchor babies overboard, right after the midterm election. Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr (at) gmail.com. He is also the author of Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!). Home Food for Peace: Noble efforts, disastrous results By Luke Kim For decades, the United States has been sending the excess of its crop production to impoverished nations. Through various programs, the United States has appeared to play an important role in assisting nations in need. One notable U.S. food aid program is Food for Peace, a program that focuses on directing surplus crops to third-world countries. While the programs efforts are noteworthy, the negative effects that derive from it seem to exacerbate third-world nations struggles rather than alleviate them. Food for Peace not only creates dependencies on foreign aid, but it also plays a role in ruining the livelihoods of many struggling farmers. One of the negative effects derived from Food for Peaces aid is the creation of a dangerous dependency. As the United States surplus of produced crops grows, the amount of food aid conjunctively grows; consequently, as impoverished countries are receiving more foreign assistance, they are becoming increasingly dependent. A 1983 Inspector General report revealed that free food sent to Tanzania and other African countries had little potential or benefit; rather, it [tended] to make communities dependent on donated food. Another report shows that food aid temporarily feeds an unlimited demand. Supply of food aid serves as a crutch for third-world countries; consequently, if that supply were to dramatically decrease or disappear, impoverished nations would lose their sole economic support. The growing supply of food aid has caused nations to lose the ability to independently meet their national needs. Another negative effect of the Food for Peace program is its ability to ruin the livelihoods of farmers. In 1984, Jamaica was suffering from a shortage of rice. To make up for this shortage, Jamaican producers focused on the production of rice substitutes. Later in the year, the Food for Peace program sent 4,890 metric tons of rice to Jamaica, completely disregarding Jamaican farmers efforts to produce rice substitutes. Because Jamaican consumers were receiving rice for free, Jamaican farmers were unable to sell their substitute crops. As a result, many Jamaican farmers lost the ability to make a profit. Another example can be seen in 1986. During this year, the U.S. dumped more than $200 million of sugar in the Philippines along with several other Caribbean countries. This influx of sugar flooded local markets and thus, removed any competitiveness the farmers crops had. Because of food donations, struggling farmers had lost a tremendous amount of profit. Because of this, impoverished farmers, knowing that food aid will supply consumers, lost incentivization to continue production. Food for Peaces large donations, although seeming to alleviate poverty, disrupt the economic relationship between farmers production and consumers demands. The United States has long believed that the best way to handle crop surpluses is by giving the excess to impoverished nations. As seen through the Food for Peace program, these donations unintendedly create consequences. Not only does is it create a third-world country dependence on foreign aid, but it also devastates the livelihoods of farmers, who are struggling to feed their families. Luke Kim is a high school student studying AP Macroeconomics. 2018 Luke Kim. Home Finally: Something about government medical care we can defend By Richard E. Ralston Modest progress has been made in the current Congress in the direction of restoring choices and freedoms for Americans seeking medical care. With midterm elections soon upon us, it is worth taking stock of these achievements, if only to underscore what is at stake: The end of the mandate or tax to force individuals to enroll in ObamaCare will not restore the lost private insurance that President Obama falsely promised we could keep, but it has ended a gross injustice. Another important change was the elimination of the unimplemented powers of an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). IPAB would have had wide and arbitrary powers over medical care not subject to review by Congress or the Courts. Now these dictatorial powers will never see the light of day. Right to Try legislation now allows terminally ill patients access to new drugs which have been deemed safe but remain stuck in the government approval process. (It was important to establish the right to live to the previously established right to die.) Meanwhile, new rules allowing Association Healthcare Plans will enable small businesses to join together to offer health insurance to their employees, increasing the affordability and availability for them more than ObamaCare ever did. The Food and Drug Administration has acted to simplify and hasten the approval of generic drugs to more effectively compete with brand name drugs. This will reduce drug costs and save lives. Just as importantly, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb has shaken up the FDAs bureaucratic culture of preserving its own powers at all costs. He is ending the FDAs days of serving an external ideological agenda, one in which no patient was allowed effective treatment without government permission and no drug maker was allowed a return on investment for developing life-saving drugs and procedures. Further, Congressional action has prompted the Veterans Affairs Department to allow veteranswho have so well earned their benefitsto have the freedom to find medical care from other sources when not promptly available from the VA. There has been resistance to implementing this, and there are still too many waiting lists ending in a military funeral. These government reforms have encouraged developments in the real economy, such as the partnership between Chase, Amazon, and Berkshire Hathaway, which will allow for more affordable private insurance for millions of employees in the private sector. Amazons entry into the pharmacy business with Pill Pack likewise adds competition and efficiency. The increased scrutiny of the obscure powers of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) warrants closer inspection and must lead to improved transparency about how that market works. We need to confirm if discounts negotiated by PBMs with government sanction are just pocketed by them or actually reduce prices paid by consumers. Particular attention needs to be given to a review of the provisions of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute which give safe harbor protection for kickbacks to PBMs. We can debate the wisdom of the entire statute, but PBMs should not be given special protection when they collect and pocket kickbacks. Those receiving the medications should not have to pay for that. Each of these developments is a step in the right direction toward greater choice and freedom in medicine. To be sure, this is incremental progress, but any progress is welcome after so many years of decline. And all such progress must be defended from emerging threats to our freedom of choice from Medicare for All and single-payer nationalized medical insurance, atrocities that would sweep away all this incremental progress in the name of monolithic government power. Richard E. Ralston is executive director of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine, Newport Beach, California. Copyright 2018 Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. All rights reserved. Home The IPCCs latest climate hysteria By Paul Driessen Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report 15 claims the latest disaster tipping point is just 12 years away. If governments around the world fail to make rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, human civilization and our planet face cataclysm, the IPCC asserts. MIT Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Physics Richard Lindzen accurately called the hysteria-laden report and press releases from this power-grabbing agency implausible conjecture backed by false evidence and repeated incessantly to promote the overturn of industrial civilization. In fact, the IPCC insists that fossil fuel use must be slashed from over 80% of global energy today to zero by 2050 and the world must spend $2.4 trillion per year for the next 17 years to subsidize the transition to renewable energy. Thats on top of the $2 trillion per year already being spent on Climate Crisis, Inc. research, consulting, carbon trading and renewable projects. The likely total bill: $60-80 trillion by 2036! These massive upheavals are essential, the IPCC claims, because average global temperatures cannot be allowed to rise more than another 0.5 degrees C (0.9 F) above pre-industrial levels. Thats around 1850, when the Little Ice Age ended. Indeed, the IPCC now says all warming since then is due to fossil fuels! IPCC officials also want to use climate chaos scares to redistribute the worlds resources and wealth and transform the capitalist model into a one-world centrally/UN planned and controlled economic system. Adding to the pressure for immediate action, the increasingly politicized Nobel committee awarded half of its Prize in Economics to William Nordhaus for his work trying to show that carbon taxes and other pricing mechanisms for fossil fuels are more effective and efficient than direct government controls. Its all just in time for the November US elections and December climate confab in Katowice, Poland. The IPCC claims and demands are laughable, but expected after years of corruption and conflicts of interest. They are also belied by the worlds rapidly increasing reliance on fossil fuels to lift and keep people out of poverty, create jobs, and improve human health, nutrition, welfare and living standards. Germany is building new coal-fired power plants and demolishing ancient forests and villages to extract more coal. China plans to double its coal use and (plant-fertilizing) CO2 emissions by 2030. India expects to increase its coal use and CO2 output threefold. Africa and the rest of Asia are racing to catch up. Equally important, the IPCC disaster claims are contradicted, refuted and even demolished by real-world data, evidence and studies by scientists who are not on government and alarmist payrolls. A 986-page 2013 report by 49 scientists from 14 countries analyzed hundreds of studies examining the physical aspects of climate change. The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change report, Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science, presents a detailed, authoritative, independent and persuasive analysis of the natural and human causes of climate change and their impacts on our planet. The 1038-page 2014 NIPCC report Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts was prepared by 30 scientists from 11 nations. It summarizes and quantifies the real-world biological implications and benefits of a moderately warmer planet with more plant-fertilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide. A recent, first-ever audit found temperature data shortages so severe during the 1800s and early 1900s, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, that the information is useless for analyzing climate trends as fossil fuel use increased. The audit also cites repeated data adjustment errors, a near absence of quality control checks, and patently ridiculous errors: for example, the IPCC reported that a town in Colombia endured three months in 1978 at an average daily temperature of over 80 degrees C (176 F)! Yet these data are the foundation for IPCC computer models, horror stories and energy policy demands. A new NIPCC report, CCR II: Fossil Fuels (by 117 scientists, economists and other experts from 11 countries) examines and refutes claims that climate change impacts on people and the environment justify dramatic reductions in fossil fuel use. To the contrary, the report carefully documents, fossil fuels hugely benefit human employment, communication, mobility, health, living standards and longevity. For example, coal, oil and natural gas production and use affect far less surface area than wind, solar and biofuel energy, thereby keeping more wildlife habitat in its natural state. Fossil fuels also deliver plentiful, reliable, affordable energy that is the foundation for human prosperity, health and welfare. All these studies strongly suggest that Dr. Nordhauss work is a solution in search of an exaggerated and largely fabricated manmade climate problem. Carbon taxes and other energy pricing systems are really an expensive, burdensome, unworkable new form of government control through price mandates. They fail to acknowledge or consider true market mechanisms and tradeoffs thereby allowing crony capitalists, bureaucrats and activists to impose economy-wrecking price-hikes on nearly all goods and services. Over the past four decades, climate sensitivity factors have steadily declined and temperature, polar ice, sea level, hurricane, tornado, drought and other real-world observations have trended far below IPCC claims that fossil fuels are causing dangerous and unprecedented problems. However, Dr. Nordhaus has consistently accepted IPCC assertions and built his carbon-pricing theories on that shaky foundation. Actual scientific evidence increasingly shows that human effects on global climate are likely too small to be measured against the background of natural variation, much less cause unprecedented climate mayhem. Most climate model forecasts of future warming due to human activities violate accepted principles of scientific forecasting and have been far above actual temperature measurements. Public choice research by Gary Becker, James Buchanan, Ronald Coase, Elinor Ostrom and other Nobel Prize Laureates explains why legislators, regulators and interest groups repeatedly exaggerate ecological and other threats: the hyperbole and sensationalism advance their financial interests, fame, stature or ideological agendas. In all too many cases, costly government regulations are imposed that benefit the few, while reducing opportunity, health and welfare for millions. To the extent it is a problem, manmade climate change will not be solved by markets or by government intervention. Climate and extreme weather are still poorly understood phenomena that involve the interaction of numerous natural (and some human) forces. Addressing the hypothesized human causes involves the needs and choices of billions of people, thereby producing countless positive and negative externalities along the way. Fossil fuel benefits today and over the past 200 years have been huge and well documented, while the costs are uncertain but clearly orders of magnitude smaller than benefits. Wind and solar provide insufficient electricity, at high prices, below rated capacity, from extensive land, using vast raw materials making them unable to power modern economies or lift nations out of poverty. The world is not dealing with a tragedy of the commons but with an opportunity of the commons, an chance to use wealth created by fossil fuels to support environmental policies based on sound science, rather than ideology or scare tactics; study the actual causes of climate change, and predict changes accurately; and find the best ways for societies to respond to future climate and weather challenges. The fact that externalities almost always exist does not necessarily justify government intervention, In fact, governments often struggle to find solutions to complex conflicts or disparate access to public goods. Coase taught that negative externalities can be traded, while Ostrom demonstrated that solutions are most likely found in private institutions that can tap the value-creating power of human genius, reliable information, private property rights, voluntary exchanges and negotiated tradeoffs. Nordhaus and other economists need to acknowledge these facts, ClimateGate and data falsification problems within IPCC circles and the fundamental right of people everywhere to improve their lives using fossil fuels until equally accessible, reliable and affordable alternatives are developed. Up to now, the IPCC and its allies have behaved too much like crooked prosecutors, witnesses, judges, juries and agitators in a capital case against fossil fuels. We cannot let them decide humanitys future. Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of books and articles on energy and environmental policy. Militant Normals How Regular Americans Are Rebelling Against the Elite to Reclaim Our Democracy By Kurt Schlichter Center Street HC, 288 pgs. US$27 ISBN: 1-5460-8195-X Instruction manual for the masses By Daniel M. Ryan In his kick-off, Kurt Schlichter said that his book will never be used as a text in a political-science class. Thats a shame. In an impossible universe, Militant Normals: How Regular Americans Are Rebelling Against the Elite to Reclaim Our Democracy would be assigned after a laborious plow-through of James Burnhams The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom. Counsellor Schlichters tome complements Burnhams in two ways. First of all, Militant Normals makes pellucid Burnhams finding that freedom is preserved in a system of rivalrous elites that are too jealous of each others power and prerogatives to coalesce into a single ruling class. Secondly, Burnham wrote for the ages; Schlichter writes for the here and now. As such, its an incisive - and funny - instruction manual. America is formally based on the sovereignty of the people, but in the real world this sovereignty is limned in the same way that William III and Mary IIs was. The people have the prerogative of choosing whichever political elites they want in charge, and a (de facto) veto power they can exercise when they get mad. Like William and Mary, the people can exercise these powers without having to justify themselves. Bill and Mary Normal correspond well to Machiavellis ruled-type. They are not that interested in power; they want a reasonable level of security and prosperity. They dont mind elites in charge of important institutions so long as the elites: a) are competent at running them, and b) treat the Normals with dignity. Contrary to class-warfare fantasies, Bill and Mary Normal do not have a taste for class conflict. So long as the elites fulfill the above two criteria, and at least pretend to be patriotic, Bill and Mary dont mind them being in charge all that much. Its only when elites fail to discharge these duties that Normals get restive. As Machiavelli observed, the ruled-type do not rebel unless theyve been seriously provoked. This is the theme of Militant Normals. The new political division is not between Left and Right, its between Normals and Elites. The former are becoming Militant because the Elites have become self-aggrandizing, aggressive, fanatical: all fuelled by an entitlement mentality that would leave a sixth-generation welfare recipient in awe. Underneath their mask of moralism, the Elites are driven by raw power-hunger. Their power-mania have pushed the Normals to become militant. Militant Normals is a lot more nuanced than a tract written by a five-oclock-shadow populist. Schlichter makes it very clear that Elites have always been part of America and that America has always had a need for some. The main reason is that ordinary folks have lives, and benefit from a competent political class to look after politics and governance. In the modern age, ordinary folks also have need of people with specialized, technical, scientific, organizational and managerial skills. There is a place for an Elite because there are jobs that only an Elite can do. Power, prestige, and recognition are the rewards for the Elite. Normals even went along with some self-serving so long as it was restrained. Above all, Elites had to keep in mind that they got their rewards courtesy of the sufferance of the people and act accordingly. The rise of the Militant Normals is a result of the Elites breaking that compact. Pumped up by the sophistries of the Frankfurt School, Elites found their end of the compact too repressive?. One of the insights in the book is that the Elite faction has extended its reach way beyond real Elites through tribalism - not the tribalism youve heard of, but tribalism of values. Schlichter says more than once that a person can join the Elite faction no matter how little his accomplishments in the real world. Skippy the X-box champ and Becky the barista can join the Elites and be treated as such (unless they support someone like Bernie Sanders) because the real Elites, a small minority, are savvy enough to be chummy with Skippy and Becky. The pay-off for Skip and Beck is a superior attitude: the feeling that one is a cut above the pedestrian Normals who work jobs, get married, go to church, try to raise their kinds right,, have an immediate need for safe neighbourhoods and working infrastructure, volunteer, serve in the military, fight Americas wars and love America. A Normal is aghast or enraged at Hillary Clinton taking her deplorables? excuse overseas and insulting about half of the country in front of foreigners. Elites think its wonderful. Just like they think its wonderful when a woke? CEO not only fires but also publicly humiliates a hapless employee because of something he posted. Significantly, given the Elites imbibement of Cultural Marxism, they cheer on a woke CEO who acts like the old-socialists caricature of a callous bourgeois. Not coincidentally, the ideological dividing line between Elites and Normals is globalism versus nationalism. Ideological Conservatives like to find that globalism is half-good, but the brutalized facts show that the Elites went for globalism because nationalism restrained them and their wills to power. A globalist economy means the corporate Elites can fill their pockets even more through outsourcing. Globalist Wilsonism means theres always an excuse to plump for a war that Elites have no interest in serving in. A globalist ideology provides a rationalization for political Elites to up-end consent of the governed by importing a new voter class. Affluent Elites enjoy the benefits of illegal immigration while shielding themselves from the, uh, externalizes. Globalism as an ideal means that Elites lose a lot of qualms about fouling the national nest, which includes turning winnable wars into quagmires. To make the divide clear, Schlichter depicts a representative Normal in Chapter 3 and a representative Elite in chapter 5. The former is a guy from Fontana, California. He graduated from high school, served with honour as a Marine, got wounded in combat but not so much that he cant work. For that, he considers himself profoundly lucky, as he witnessed one of his compadres slaughtered. He tries to get a job in his dads line of work, roofing, but finds that every contractor either hires illegal immigrants gladly or is obliged to so as to not price themselves out of the market. He has to endure crime and lousy infrastructure because the Elites consider neither a priority. Every time he has to accept help from the VA hospital system, he gets a taste of real socialism. Hes become dispossessed in his own country. The representative Elite, who Schlichter dubs Kaden. grows up in the affluent part of Los Angeles, has woke professional-class parents but is really raised by illegal-immigrant nannies. His schooling is a hybrid of participation-trophy coddling and fierce competition for an Ivy League slot. He soaks up trendy causes along with lefty values, both of which combine to inflate his ego. Hes so distant from Normals, the first veteran he meets is his roommate at Columbia U. He goes into journalism, now puffed up to the point of outright narcissism, and decides when he graduates that hed like to be an influential pundit without doing the scut work of old-fashioned reporting. His heroes all brim over with the right kind of opinioneering; why shouldnt he? Damningly, Schlichter shows how Elites have not only slipped free of their moral responsibilities but also shucked off their performance responsibilities. This age is unique in that its the first time that Normals have become Militant and the Elite have not met their demands. Todays Elites are too fanatical to sensibly bend the knee to the sovereign people. The fuel of #resist is thwarted power hunger; so is the Deep-State attempt to sabotage President Trump after he won according to the rules of the Constitution. Like so many Normals, Trump is being screwed over after playing to win and winning fair and square. Donald Trumps Presidency is the cumulation of a slow boil that stretches back to the 70s. Had America not been so bedevilled by Elite hostility and dysfunction, theres a chance that Trump would have been shellacked like Barry Goldwater. It's the unbridled arrogance of Elites that had a major hand in Trumps victory, not to mention Trumps own Normal streak. As for Hillary, she was the fitting candidates of the Elites as she combined arrogance, an Im-entitled attitude and incompetence. Your humble reviewer has only scratched the surface of Militant Normals. Beneath Colonel Schlichters funny wisecracks and trial-lawyer smoothness is a real instruction manual for our times. If youre a conservative whos either ideological or has imbibed Elite values, you really need to learn from this book. In the final chapter, though he avers that the Normals are sure to win in the end, Col. Schlicher forecasts some rough times ahead especially if Trumps Presidency is followed by a revenge presidency. Ever since the bailout of 08, the Elites have not yielded to the outrage of the Normals. They show no signs of doing so. This unprecedented arrogance says theres a long, tough political war ahead, even if its a war that Normals are destined to win. The Elites almost cultish arrogance bespeaks a protracted conflict, one in which there will be more Brett Kavanaughs and ordinary schlubs whose humble careers are wrecked by a Twitter mob. Theres an off-chance it might flare up into a civil war. Those Elites who smugly brag about Blue-State America making up two-thirds of the GDP are oblivious to Machiavellis injunction that the graveyards of history are littered with elites who relied on money and mercenaries to do their fighting for them. How fitting for a corpus of blithe, clueless Elites who might as well have adapted The Prince into their own instruction manual. Daniel M. Ryan, as Nxtblg, is spinning his wheels at Steemit. Home More misplaced environmentalist outrage By Greg Walcher How we long for the good old days! Thats the tone of some environmental industry leaders who are screaming bloody murder (literally, not figuratively) about Department of the Interior actions under President Trump. The Departments re-interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a case in point. One Washington Post writer carped that cruelty without consequence is at the heart of the Trump era. The new rule, she wrote, is harmful to the weak but also to the strong, who in the exercise of cruelty become less humane, less human. To be clear, for these advocates, the good old days under one specific rule were from January 10 to February 6, 2017. That is how long an Obama rule from the Departments lawyer was in effect: 27 days. President Obamas Interior Department Solicitor General had written something called Opinion M-37041, which radically changed the way federal officials were to enforce the migratory bird law. Issued just ten days before the Obama Administration ended, it was suspended less than a month later, pending review by the new Trump Administration. That review, completed earlier this year, found that Opinion M-37041 was inconsistent with the law. The opinion needed review, because M-37041 presumed that all killing of all migratory birds in all places at all times was illegal, and could result in fines or even jail. It no longer mattered whether birds were killed accidentally or intentionally, by negligence or through no fault. It no longer mattered whether birds inadvertently died as a result of entirely legal activity, or if they died from their own poor navigation skills by flying into man-made structures. Businesses that built such structures could be fined anyway. The law was never intended to be used that way. But that interpretation had a clear purpose for environmental activists who dominated the Obama Interior Department. Migratory birds could be used as a weapon in their ongoing battle against coal and metals mining, oil and gas exploration and production, fossil fuel electricity generation, and even ranching and other despised industries. Meanwhile officials could grant waivers to their powerful friends in the wind and solar industries. Thus, administrators could fine industries they disliked up to $15,000 per bird but look away when wind generators chopped up eagles, or solar panels in the Mohave Desert fried birds in mid-air. In fact, the Audubon Society says, 90% of all prosecutions under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act had been against oil companies, though nobody ever claimed they cause anywhere near 90% of all bird deaths. Indeed, a 2011 million-dollar, 45-day helicopter search for dead birds across North Dakota oil fields by the Fish & Wildlife Service found only 28 mallard ducks, flycatchers and other common birds that were inadvertently killed when they landed in uncovered oilfield waste pits. Ironically, the Post illustrated its sky is falling column with a Gerald Herbert (AP) photo of an oil-soaked bird but his picture was taken during the Obama era. By definition then, the picture had nothing to do with the issue of reversing M-37041 by the current Administration. By contrast, studies by wildlife biologists have concluded that US wind turbines are killing hundreds of thousands and some experts say millions of raptors and other birds every year, along with numerous bats. Many of these creatures are threatened or endangered, or have been made so by the wind turbines. And yet few environmentalists ever voiced concerns about those deaths. All the current Administration did was withdraw Opinion M-37041, and return to the previous interpretation, which allowed the use of common sense in determining whether negligence resulted in preventable bird deaths. The text of the law itself prohibits pursuing, hunting, taking, capturing, killing, or attempting to do the same meaning actions whose purpose is taking or killing migratory birds, their nests, or their eggs. It does not criminalize accidental deaths that happen in the course of otherwise legal and productive activity. The outcry from some eco-activists has been over the top. They wail that the new ruling (which merely reinstates the original understanding) will lead to wanton destruction of wildlife. So many more birds will die now, the Post writer asserted. Officials will simply no longer care about destruction of our feathered friends. Under that twisted reasoning, Woodrow Wilson didnt care about birds, since he signed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act into law in 1918. Franklin Roosevelt didnt care about birds, nor did Ike, Kennedy or even Nixon, who signed the Endangered Species Act into law. Jimmy Carter didnt care, nor Bill Clinton and Al Gore. None of them applied Opinion M-37041 reasoning to the law. It was selective enforcement by the Obama Administration that resulted in conflicting judicial rulings. Previous Administrations all understood the difference between birds dying accidentally or on purpose. That distinction matters, because birds accidentally die all the time. In fact, a study of albatrosses in the Pacific suggests that the life span of many birds is actually unknown, because they almost always die of unnatural causes. One analysis said as many as six billion birds die in the USA every year by flying into things houses, office buildings, power lines and other structures or are killed by animals, especially cats. Does that make every cat or home owner a criminal? In judging the inhumanity of our society by the way we treat birds, the Washington Post columnist condescendingly pointed out that people are a part of the natural world, not distinct from it. No kidding. Day-to-day human activities affect our environment in numerous ways, sometimes for the better, occasionally for the worse. That doesnt mean someone must be punished every time a bird dies. Most of us abhor deliberate animal cruelty. Thats why it is a crime, and accidents are not. Its nice to see our government bringing a little common sense back to our laws and regulations. That shouldnt be a crime either. Greg Walcher (www.GregWalcher.com) is president of the Natural Resources Group, author of Smoking Them Out: The Theft of the Environment and How to Take it Back, and a former head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Home Toxic femininity and the #MeToo mob By Mark Alexander Did you noticed in the Supreme Court nominee hearings that some women harbor unresolved anger toward men? In 2017, the most angry of the lot emerged under the #MeToo identity-politics banner with legitimate allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Most notable were those that brought down Harvey Weinstein's Hollywood empire and forced the resignations of Rep. John Conyers, Sen. Al Franken, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and NBC's Matt Lauer. Not coincidentally, each of these deviants belonged to or supported the party of unrepentant serial sexual assailant Bill Clinton and his chief defender and enabler Hillary Clinton. That feminist anger coalesced after the election of Donald Trump and metastasized with his nomination of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, thanks to a disgraceful character assassination charade scripted and calculated by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer. As I have written previously, the Feinstein/Schumer strategy was to make Christine Ford, who alleged that Kavanaugh groped her 36 years ago, the poster proxy for every woman who has ever suffered any offending sexual encounter along a full spectrum from romantic rejection, to a sense of being objectified, to sexual harassment, to regrets about encounters resulting from alcohol- or drug-impaired cognitive ability, to actual sexual assault. For some women who've been swept up into the #MeToo mob, Ford embodies their collective anger, grief, and desire for justice despite the fact that her allegations were unsupported, unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, and utterly refuted by the alleged witnesses she named. To complete the political pretense, Feinstein, et al., fraudulently framed Kavanaugh as the poster proxy for every male who has ever offended a woman. However, by politicizing this allegation to create a victimization collective in order to convert that constituency into midterm votes, Democrats have effectively devalued legitimate assault claims. Women should be outraged by that, but the Feinstein/Schumer strategy was all about optics, not facts. But no matter. Demo leaders think they will get away with it, believing in fact depending on their assumption that women are emotionally incontinent and thus can be stirred into a frenzy, then manipulated into voting blocs for election cycles. Women are their largest constituent group, and they're already counting the midterm votes. Sen. Elizabeth "Fauxcahontas" Warren (D-MA) declared, "Take your pain and turn it into power on November 6th." Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), who nobody other than a few people on the Big Island had ever heard of until her Kavanaugh rants, added, "All these angry people are out there ... [and] they're going to go to the polls and vote." Former senior Obama spokesperson Marie Harf elucidated that strategy: "[28] days from now we go into a midterm election, and [Kavanaugh] will help Democrats at the polls. Women will be fired up." In an analysis column from December of last year, "The Democrats Strategy to Take Down Republicans," I wrote, Democrats "are going to make the #MeToo 'epidemic of sexual assault' the centerpiece of the 2018 and 2020 elections, inciting female voter outrage to overturn Republican majorities in the House and Senate in the 2018 midterm election, and then to defeat Trump in 2020." That was an easy prediction, but I had no idea how successful Democrats and their Leftmedia propaganda machine would be toward this end. The #MeToo movement has become the increasingly confrontational female wing of the mostly male "antifa movement" of self-proclaimed anti-fascist fascists. So, what's the source of all this toxic femininity? Coinciding with the emergence of the ever-expanding #MeToo mob is a common reference to "toxic masculinity." In essence, toxic masculinity is street language for hegemonic masculinity, defined as legitimizing the dominant role of men in American culture, and thus justifying the subordination of women. At its core, toxic masculinity embraces the sexist generalization that most men are aggressive sexual predators who constantly objectify and prey on women. Of course, all men exhibit differing degrees of sexual interest and pursuit. This is natural and instinctual, and in this day and age of sexual licentiousness, women should be fully aware of this. There is also a subset of men who objectify women, and lure them into situations and circumstances for sexual encounters that these women may regret later. And then there is a much smaller subset of those men who are, in fact, predators those who sexually assault women. But the simple statistical fact is that the vast majority of men are not the sexual predators the #MeToo movement and its likeminded feminist adherents claim they are. This brings us to the parallel of toxic masculinity toxic femininity. The manifestation of anger and hatred that defines toxic femininity is increasingly on shameful public display. I believe the source of most (not all) of this toxic anger is attributable to one primary factor an epidemic of absent or ineffectual fathers in American homes, which is at the root of just about every social and cultural problem in our nation. Yes, I know that assertion will upset feminists because they believe fathers are dispensable. Bear with me. Women who've been abandoned or inadequately cared for by their father early in life often exhibit what psychologists call transference neurosis deep-seated anger resulting from deep-seated fear. For the record, anger is often associated with an underlying fear. In the case of toxic femininity, this transference is directed toward men in general and is often combined with other factors associated with abandonment, a poor self-image for lack of affirmation, and narcissistic personality disorder. Often these women are more vulnerable to poor relationship choices, which makes them more susceptible to male predation. This exacerbates their inability to trust men, which plays into an unfortunate spiraling cycle of, at best, failed relationships, anger, and resentment. In an article by University of Southern California professors Shoba Sreenivasan and Linda Weinberger, they write, "'Toxic femininity' refers to women who are hostile to nurturance and cooperation, opting instead for aggression and backstabbing to get ahead." While they were writing about toxic women in the workplace, the underlying causes of this toxicity are similar, and the same can be said for women who exhibit these traits in other social groups. For the record, toxic femininity is not the expression of anger about legitimate offenses. The frequency of sexual assault should not be understated, though there is significant dissent on the CDC report definitions, according to Time magazine and The Washington Post. I know women who have been sexually assaulted, and others who have had regrettable sexual encounters, and I have empathy and compassion for them, and by extension, even those toxic feminists who are victims of assault. I should add that toxic masculinity is often also the result of absent or ineffectual fathers in the home. Sexual offenders most often come from homes with no father. All that being said, when men and women rally in groups based on common and wide-ranging offenses, their victimhood is both affirmed and amplified. And that has resulted in the now-familiar unhinged mob protest scenes around Washington and around the nation. When considering those scenes, I'm reminded of the movie As Good as It Gets, in which Jack Nicholson is asked about his successful fictionalization of female characters. He responds, "I think of a man, and then I take away reason and accountability." That was a funny line, but there's nothing funny about the toxicity that infects certain women and men. It accounts for the increasingly uncivil, irrational, and virulent #MeToo mob, which has been co-opted by the Left for its political agenda, and it has falsely framed both Justice Kavanaugh particularly and the Republican Party generally. As for mob rule, Hillary Clinton told CNN last week: "You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That's why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that's when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength [a.k.a.: 'incivility']." So, according to Clinton, there will be no civility until Democrats are returned at least partially to power. Answering Clinton's unconscionable remark, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was critically wounded by a Bernie Sanders supporter last year, responded, "Seriously, Hillary?" Rand Paul, who was shot at by the same leftist assailant, and who was severely beaten after being ambushed by a man in his hometown, warned, "I fear that there's going to be an assassination. I really worry that somebody is going to be killed, and that those who are ratcheting up the conversation ... they have to realize they bear some responsibility if this elevates to violence." I suppose we should be grateful to Clinton for unwittingly admitting what most rational observers already know: Fomenting and inflaming mobs is dangerous. As for the next SCOTUS nomination... By standing firmly with then-Judge Kavanaugh, and by keeping his powder mostly dry amid all the unhinged leftist protests, Donald Trump effectively gave Republicans a strong midterm campaign rally theme a choice between steadfast Republicans or an angry leftist mob. After the Senate vote, Trump declared, "You don't hand matches to an arsonist, and you don't give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern. Republicans advocate the Rule of Law not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!" But the current bump Republicans are experiencing in the wake of the Feinstein/Schumer charade is certainly perishable. If Trump gets another SCOTUS nomination, regardless of who holds the Senate after November, it's likely to be a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat. I anticipate that he'll nominate Amy Coney Barrett, who he held back for precisely this reason. As I wrote in July, "While some conservatives are lamenting the choice of Kavanaugh over Barrett, I believe Trump's strategy is to hold Barrett in the wings until Ruth Bader Ginsburg vacates the seat she barely occupies now." And if you think the Demos were triggered by the Kavanaugh nomination, you can expect a full frontal assault when Trump attempts to replace the first Democrat-appointed SCOTUS justice in almost 30 years. Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post. I'm working on a project for the paper this week so, in lieu of the column, I'm presenting some observations from my recent visit to New York City. Once I visited an old Italian barber in Sandburg Village. This was years ago. He surprised me by serving an espresso and a biscotti while I had my hair cut. It seemed very civilized, the tiny cup and saucer, the hot liquid, the sweet biscuit, the snip of the scissors. I didn't think of the nexus between barbering and espresso again until last week, in New York City. The cab from LaGuardia dropped off us at West Third and MacDougal, in front of the law school. We had time to killthe boy was at class. "Let's wait there," I said, pointing to a bright green storefront across MacDougal, "Caffe Reggio." My wife and I rolled our suitcases in that direction. Inside was a small, dark, space. Metal ice cream parlor chairs, white marble tables, black marble floors. Dark oil paintings. Busts. Pleasant classical music playing. My wife ordered a latte. I ordered a double espresso and a pair of the small round cookies I had noticed in the case. They serve a glass of water with your coffeecivilized. The orange-rimmed china cups and sugar bowls are emblazoned with the name of the cafealso civilized. And so it began. Five, count 'em, five mornings in a row, begun at the Caffe Reggio, founded in 1927 by Domenico Parisi, the manit is saidwho introduced cappuccino into the United States. Originally he ran a barber shop in the space, selling espresso to customers as they waited for their haircuts. Balancing the 20 minutes of work required to give a haircut, and the one minute to prepare an espresso, both costing 10 cents, Parisi prudently let the barber shop go by the wayside. The space was elegant yet casual, compact yet spacious. It felt like we had stepped out of the stream of time, into another dimension. "It's worth coming to New York just to sit here," I said, on the first day. A small door to the left of the counter, with a hand-painted plaque above it. The profile of a manDante, clearly. I went over to read the words printed there: "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate..." I don't speak Italian, but I recognized the phrase, and the Canto number above confirmed my suspicions. Among the most famous lines in literature: "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." The inscription above the gates of Hell. A bathroom joke. Our son arrived, all smileshe had never been here before, why would he?and we departed for his quickstep tour the campus. But the next day we were back. My wife had a planwalk across the Brooklyn Bridge, sample Brooklyn bagelsbut we needed caffeine to send us on our way. I opted for coffee, and it came in a huge cup. Biscotti this time. Branching out. "Do many customers notice the Dante joke?" I asked the waitress. "Every second person," she said, flatly. Ouch. Pedantry is punished. The third morning we had breakfast: sharing a "Crepe Reggio," filled with fluffy ricotta cheese. Delicious. The fourth day we met a friend there for breakfast and sat talking and catching up for almost two hours. Nobody rushed us. An omelet this time. Back in Chicago, I delved into its history. Bob Dylan was a patron. So was Jack Kerouac. The room had cameos in movies such as "Godfather II," "Serpico" and "Shaft"Isaac Hayes' famous soundtrack includes a song, "Cafe Regio," a reminder that musicians are not known for their proofreading skills. The place figures into Andre Aciman's "False Papers." The Egyptian author would return, sometimes several times a day, trying to master the ache caused by a girl he courted at Caffe Reggio, "Seeking to recover something I felt I lost there." To me, it was the opposite. I felt I found something there, a certain calm, a place of temporary belonging. Edie immediately understood. "Every day we have coffee there is a happy day," she said, on the last day, when we made a point of heading there before meeting our son for lunch and then to the airport and home. Four out of five days I sat in the same chair, facing the open green door. There was always a customer tucked next to the door, and I took to slyly snapping a photo of the patron. Chicago has much to recommend it, but there is no place like this, where time has stopped or, rather, is measured out in coffee spoons. Nothing remotely like it. By Thomas Palley Brazil is falling under an evil political spell. The leading candidate in the presidential election is Jair Bolsonaro, an extreme right-wing politician. It is as if voters are sleepwalking their way to destruction of Brazilian democracy. Under the spells influence, they have become blind to the truth about Brazilian politics and blind to their better nature. The resurrection of the fascist political tradition Bolsonaro represents the resurrection of the fascist political tradition. That tradition discards norms of decency, tolerance, compromise and due process whenever they obstruct taking power. He is an open advocate of racism, sexism, torture, and police execution squads. Those views are paired with a neoliberal economic program which aims to savage Brazils welfare state and privatize key state assets. That economic program has won him the support of the business elite, which has been willing to overlook his fascist inclinations as part of the bargain. Brazil is sleepwalking Bolsonaros popularity is inconsistent with Brazils expressed political preferences, which is why it is as if Brazil is sleepwalking. Past polls have shown about 65 percent of Brazilians support democracy. Even more striking is the fact that former President Lula was the most popular political figure prior to the election. However, Brazils corrupt political elite imprisoned him on fake corruption charges and, with Lula barred from the election, Bolsonaro has become the front-runner. That speaks to the blinding power of the evil spell since Bolsonaro is the polar opposite of Lula. A poisonous political potion, voter amnesia, and shapeshifting Voters zombie condition reflects the poisonous political potion the elite has force-fed them. The feeding tubes have been a parliamentary coup and a dishonest media. The potion has induced an amnesia whereby voters have forgotten history. They have forgotten how President Lulas administration oversaw an economic miracle of growth with rising wages and declining inequality. At the same time, the potion has enabled a shapeshift whereby the Workers Party (PT) has been falsely tarred as the party of corruption. The reality is the massive decades long thievery for personal enrichment was restricted to the business elite and political establishment. The PT received a relatively small amount of money, which it used for political purposes to grease Brazils corrupt Congress. Sadly, the novice PT government was confronted with the fact that Brazil is ungovernable without such grease. Economic history rewritten Worse yet, the long recession has been falsely blamed on the PT. The truth is Brazils long recession was triggered by the financial crisis of 2008 that began on Wall Street. President Rousseff advocated modest fiscal stimulus to help recovery, but her political opponents obstructed her and then impeached her for using improper budget accounting procedures that previous presidents had also used on a smaller scale. A political vacuum and the appeal of authoritarianism The charge against President Rousseff was technical budget improprieties. The real motive was to regain power and stop the Car Wash corruption investigation that implicated most of the political establishment, but not Rousseff. The political elite regained power through its parliamentary impeachment coup. However, it was unable to hide its massive criminal corruption, which discredited it and created a political vacuum Bolsonaro has filled. With the PT falsely smeared and the political establishment discredited, Bolsonaros neo-fascism began to appear attractive. He combines authoritarianism and nationalism. Authoritarianism offers false certainty, while nationalism exploits Brazilians loyalty to their country. All that is wrapped in the blanket of social conservatism, which incites the self-righteous and deceives the exploited. Bolsonaro and the five big lies Ninety years ago Joseph Goebbels and the Nazis learned the power of the Big Lie. Tell a big lie often and loudly enough, and it will be believed. Bolsonaros candidacy is built on five big lies. Lie number one, and the most important lie, is that the PT is corrupt and the same as Brazils thieving elite. The reality is the elite has enriched itself, stealing tens of millions from the Brazilian state and people. There is no equivalent behavior by the PT. Lie number two is the PT is responsible for the long economic recession. The truth is the recession was triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, and deepened by Brazils political elite which suffocated President Rousseffs economic stimulus plans. Lie number three is Bolsonaro is the candidate of patriotism. The truth is he is the anti-Brazil. Brazil is the country of the beautiful game and Pele, of Samba and Bossa Nova, of Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. Those are what have made Brazil a global cultural force. Since the end of the dictatorship in 1985, Brazilians have struggled for social progress and succeeded. Bolsonaro is the opposite of all that. He would destroy tolerance and multi-culturalism, roll-back social progress, and inflict a new dictatorship. Lie number four is Bolsonaro is the anti-crime candidate. Brazil has a gang and street crime problem owing to narco-trafficking and poverty. The solution is economic recovery and jobs, plus a narco-trafficking strategy. Bolsonaro will worsen poverty by his anti-worker policies. He also wants to kill the gangsters. The reality is many innocents will die, civil rights will be anihilated, and street gangsterism will be supplemented by police gangsterism. Brazil will have both street crime and police crime, making Bolsonaro the king of crime. Lie number five is Bolsonaro is the anti-corruption candidate. The reality is he is allied with the neoliberal bankers who want to privatize and pillage the Brazilian state. He is an authoritarian, and authoritarianism always breeds corruption and economic inefficiency because it lacks accountability and checks. The magic question: is that what you really want? There is an antidote to the spell. Bolsonaro is the anti-Brazil. He is openly racist and tacitly approving of rape; a supporter of torture, extra-judicial killing, and dictatorship; and his neoliberal economic program aims to slash the welfare state. The antidote is to show the real Bolsonaro and then ask Brazilians is that what you really want from your next president? Since the end of the last dictatorship, Brazil has enjoyed three decades of social progress. That history means voters know the answer if only they are asked the magic question. Share this: Email Google Facebook Reddit LinkedIn Twitter Print Brian Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal DivisionThe head of the Justice Departments criminal division issued new guidance to prosecutors thats likely to reduce the number of corporate settlements that require the hiring of compliance monitors. Brian Benczkowski said prosecutors should consider the projected costs and burdens before imposing any requirement for a corporate monitor. He announced the new policy during a talk Friday at NYU Law School. He said imposing monitors should never be punitive. It should occur only as necessary to ensure compliance with the terms of a corporate resolution and to prevent future misconduct. Benczkowski was confirmed in his post in July. He was a partner in Kirkland & Ellis in Washington. He had also served in other positions in the DOJ and at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms. Only one in three corporate resolutions during the past five years involved monitors, he said. So the new approach is consistent with our longstanding practice of imposing corporate monitors as the exception, not the rule. A new memo replaces prior guidance (pdf) on monitors issued in 2009 by then assistant AG Lanny Breuer. In 2008, the DOJ faced criticism after New Jersey U.S. Attorney Chris Christie was accused of appointing cronies to lucrative corporate monitorships. Breuers guidelines required top-level DOJ review of proposed appointments. Benczkowskis October 11 memo (pdf) to all criminal division personnel said: In weighing the benefit of a contemplated monitorship against the potential costs, Criminal Division attorneys should consider not only the projected monetary costs to the business organization, but also whether the proposed scope of a monitors role is appropriately tailored to avoid unnecessary burdens to the businesss operations. Benczkowski said Friday the DOJ will move away from hiring a single compliance expert to evaluate corporate behavior. Instead it will look for prosecutors and supervisors [who] have a strong foundational understanding of what constitutes an effective approach to compliance. The new guidance directs prosecutors to consider whether different corporate leadership or a new compliance environment has already reduced the chances of another violation. ____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. No wonder he doesnt want to talk about corruption. In his country, he told me, the military and police are corrupt. Crooked officials and bureaucrats make up the law. And prosecutors and judges are on the take. Hes from Africa and leads an important institution there. He has a plan to help transform a region of his country to bring jobs, more agriculture, better schools and health care, and a cleaner environment. Hes talking to people around the world about his plan. But he hardly mentions corruption. Bring it up and he tells you its a terrible problem and a dangerous topic. Plans to help people are good. But corruption ruins them. Its the gateway crime, as former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder once said. Its the crime that allows other crimes to happen terrorism, gang violence, human trafficking, gun running, poaching, illegal logging, and so on. So for anyone hoping to transform society, ignoring corruption never works. Its the first thing that has to be fixed, before anything good can happen. At the UN, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley has urged colleagues to stop pretending corruption doesnt exist. During a debate in September about regional conflicts, she said: [W]e fail to recognize the issue that is staring us in the face corruption. Nine out of the ten countries that Transparency International considers the most corrupt in the world are on the Security Council agenda. Nine out of ten, Haley said. She continued, In the most troubled countries in the world, corruption isnt simply a part of the system. Corruption is the system. The governments in places like Venezuela and Iran dont exist to serve their people and happen to do a little corruption on the side. They exist to serve their own interests and corruption is the means by which they do so. Because corruption ruins everything it touches, the head-in-the-sand approach is backwards, Haley said. She was right. But people living under corrupt regimes know something else: If youve buried your head in the sand, at least youve still got your head. What can the rest of us do? Are there ways we can encourage people in corrupt countries to speak up? Criticizing the silent ones wont help anyone. But can we find ways to support and protect them? Your ideas about how to do that are welcome. _____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Adapttech, a Birmingham, UK-based biomedical startup, raised 1.3m in funding. Backers included: the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, managed by Mercia and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (250k) Mercias EIS funds (500k), Hovione Capital, and private investors. The company, which recently moved its headquarters from Portugal to the Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM) in Birmingham, will use the funds to finalize clinical trials and commercialize the product. Founded in 2015 by biomedical engineers Frederico Carpinteiro and Mario Espinoza, Adapttech is a biomedical company with new technology to fit artificial limbs. Its INSIGHT tool offers a way to fit lower-limb prostheses and monitor patients rehabilitation. It consists of: a scanner which creates a 3D model of the prosthesis socket, a wearable device which fits between the residual limb and the prosthesis and gathers data to pinpoint problem areas where the socket may need adjusting, and an app, through which healthcare professionals can access the results. FinSMEs 15/10/2018 CloudApp, a San Francisco, CA-based video messaging and visual communication platform, received an investment from Adobe. Adobe made the investment via the Adobe Fund for Design, a $10m fund that supports emerging companies to build products and services that shape the future of design. This investment brings the companys total funding to $6m, which includes recent investments from Cervin Ventures, Bloomberg Beta and others. Led by Tyler Koblasa, CEO, CloudApp is a visual communication platform that brings human connection back to digital workflows through instant video messaging, screen recording, screenshot annotation, and GIF creation. It serves over three million users and thousands of businesses by allowing them to capture, share, and accelerate their business communication while allowing professionals to harness visual imagery to express ideas faster. In conjunction with the investment, the company also released its plugin for Adobe XD CC. With this plugin, XD users can capture and share their designs with team members without leaving the Adobe application. CloudApps plugin for Adobe XD debuted at Adobe MAX, a leading global conference that brings together top creatives and leading experts to discuss the future of creativity and digital experience. Using the CloudApp plugin for Adobe XD, designers can share work faster and improve collaboration with clients and colleagues. FinSMEs 15/10/2018 Mind Fund, a Hong Kong based venture capital firm that incubates and invests in the next global wave of technology companies, has launched the Hedera hashgraph accelerator. The Helix Accelerator, based in Hong Kong, is the first global accelerator to incubate projects building distributed applications exclusively on the Hedera hashgraph platform. The program runs ten weeks, and each project will receive US$100k upon graduation and mentorship from technology and business veterans. All projects are expected to spend the full term in Hong Kong, where living accommodations will be provided. Helix has a 6,000 square foot office space in the Wong Chuk Hang district. After the program, all teams will get access to Global Incubation Stream, a networking initiative by Mind Fund and its Tokyo and San Francisco based partner, Digital Garage, which supports graduates from their respective accelerator programs around the world. The first batch are being recruited from the Hedera hackathons held in October across nine different cities on four continents. Mind Fund also participated in Hederas recent $100M institutional round of funding. FinSMEs 15/10/2018 Prima Assicurazioni S.p.A., a Milan, Italy-based online insurance company, raised 100m in private equity funding. Backers included Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing and Blackstone Groups Tactical Opportunities. The company intends to use the funds to invest in new technologies and expand its marketing and sales teams. Founded in 2015 by Great Lakes Insurance SE Gruppo Munich Re and led by CEO Aberto Genovese and Teodoro DAmbrosio, Prima Assicurazioni is an online insurance company focused on policies for cars, motorcycles and trucks. The company, which also offers h24/7 support, has approx. 250k clients, 15k clients supported every month, and 1k repair shops and assistance centers across the country. It has 65m revenues a year. FinSMEs 15/10/2018 Homeday, a Berlin and Cologne, Germany-based online real estate agent, secured 20m in funding. The round was led by Project A, Axel Springer, and Purplebricks. The company intends to use the funds for further scaling the business model. Founded in 2015 Steffen Wicker, Dmitri Uvarovski and Philipp Reichle, Homeday is a brokerage firm that provides local realtors with a platform for matching with property owners and streamlining the selling process via technology, real estate valuation expertise and professional, personal advice. So far, the company says it has brokered more than 1 billions worth of real estate deals in Germany. FinSMEs 15/10/2018 It probably doesnt come as a surprise to anyone that the healthcare system is completely in shambles right now. When you combine this with the every increasing cost of coverage and medical expenses, you are truly looking at a bad situation. Even if you have insurance through your employer you are probably finding that you have to pay more out of pocket every time you visit the doctor. This is because your employer is trying to shield themselves from these increasing costs of insurance by pushing more of the costs onto their employees. It doesnt help matter if you have a sick kid with a serious health condition or you yourself are sick. So, how can you go about reducing your healthcare costs? Compare Plans When it comes time to re-enroll for insurance each year most people just stick with the same plans. After all, this is the quicker and easier thing to do. Plus, you are already familiar with the coverage. Well, this is the wrong approach, as plans are frequently changing. Doctors are usually added and removed from coverage options. The lists of medications covered by the plan are often changed. Switching to a new plan might prove more fruitful for you. Take the time to look at all the plans and see what is and isnt covered. Steer Clear Of Low Premiums It is always tempting to go with the lowest premiums. A premium is what you are going to pay each month for the insurance. Unfortunately, this is just one part of what you are going to pay for coverage. Low premiums usually come along with high deductibles. A deductible is an amount that you will have to pay out of pocket before the insurance kicks in. If you dont visit the doctor often the low premium/high deductible will be your best option. However, if you are constantly at the doctor, you will save yourself some money by going with a high premium/low deductible. Just remember that you can always find a head and brain injury lawyer in the event that you are injured by a negligent doctor or in a car accident. Know What They Offer For Free If there is one good thing you can say about healthcare over the years it has to be the Affordable Care Act. The only problem is that most people arent aware of this act. The act states that as long as you stay within your insurances network you will be provided with a variety of free preventive services. These no-cost services can prevent future health problems and you would be surprised to learn what kinds of services are offered. You can get free colonoscopies, vaccinations, nutrition counseling and depression screening. Look For Tax Breaks Another great way to lower the cost of your healthcare is by taking advantage of a flexible spending account or a health savings account. It is possible that your employer doesnt offer these types of services, but if they do you should take advantage. These types of accounts allow you to set aside tax-free dollars into a special account. The money that is accrued in this account can then later be used to cover yours out of pocket medical costs. by Dorothy Reik President, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains In an effort to prevent Mike Siegel, the Democratic challenger, from unseating the incumbent Republican in Texas' 10th Congressional District, Waller County officials announced that one of the addresses students at the historical Black college, Prairie View A & M University (PVAMU) were instructed by the county to use to register to vote was not in the proper precinct so they would have to file additional paperwork. Mike's field representative delivered a letter of complaint to the Waller County clerk and was promptly arrested. when he admitted his boss was a Democrat. He has since been released. There has been an ongoing war between Waller County and Prairie View over voting rights of its all Black student body since eighteen year olds were given the right to vote, allowing college students to vote where they were enrolled in college. Waller County, home of PVAMU, feared that the Black students votes would affect election outcomes in the predominantly white county. In 1970 Black students accompanied the only PVAMU student allowed to vote-- he was white! Black students began to fight for their voting rights when the Black students were denied the right to participate in the 1972 presidential election when the County used a form to be filled out only by students whose responses were then used to deny their right to vote. The students sued on the basis of a Fourteenth Amendment violation and won at the Supreme Court-- but that didn't end it. More attacks were to follow. In 1992 19 students were indicted for illegally participating in general elections. The charges were subsequently dropped. More skirmishes followed in 2004- 2006, when Sheila Jackson Lee had to intervene, and again in 2008 when 3,000 registered voters at PVAMU were informed that the only early voting station was to be located 30 miles from the school. The students have won each battle including this last one. Waller County has announced that no further paperwork will be required from the students. The complete history can be found here And if the name Prairie View A & M sounds familiar, that is because it's where Sandra Bland was heading for a new job when her life was abruptly cut short. She died in police custody after being jailed for a traffic stop and kept in jail for days when she couldn't make bail. The street leading to the college is now named after her. As Democrats continue to rake in online donations surpassing the fundraising of their Republican rivals and Paul Ryan continues his triage, leaving many Republican candidates with no party support, help is on the way. Sheldon Adelson is using millions of his one billion dollar savings from Trump's tax bill to fund attack ads against Democratic candidates. Much of the money is going to attack Randy Bryce in Wisconsin. He drove Paul Ryan out of the race and is facing a Ryan clone in November. Wisconsin is very much in play with incumbent Governor Scott Walker trailing his opponent, Democrat Tony Evers, in the latest polls. Much of Adelson's money, laundered through Ryan's sleazy SuperPAC, has been spent attacking minority Democratic candidates. The Atlantic predicts that Democrats will definitely pick up 15 seats with another 5 likely and the others still in play. Between 60-88 seats could flip in November if Democrats can get their voters to the polls. One seat that Democrats were counting on may go to Republicans, as Donna Shalala trails her opponent in Florida even as other women are leading. And will Heidi Heidkamp pull off another upset in North Dakota and retain her seat? Polls continue to predict Democrats will take the House while Republicans will keep the Senate but Democrats have a chance to take the Senate if Heidkamp wins and they pick up seats in Arizona and Nevada. And then there's Republicans running for Congress in the 25 districts Hillary Clinton won are further endangered by Trump's recent campaigning which concentrates only on riling up his base.predicts that Democrats will definitely pick up 15 seats with another 5 likely and the others still in play. Between 60-88 seats could flip in November if Democrats can get their voters to the polls. One seat that Democrats were counting on may go to Republicans, as Donna Shalala trails her opponent in Florida even as other women are leading. And will Heidi Heidkamp pull off another upset in North Dakota and retain her seat? Polls continue to predict Democrats will take the House while Republicans will keep the Senate but Democrats have a chance to take the Senate if Heidkamp wins and they pick up seats in Arizona and Nevada. And then there's Beto in Texas And in Georgia, where we reported on voter suppression yesterday by candidate for governor AND Secretary of State Brian Kemp, voter outrage is growing and his Democratic opponent Stacy Abrams is calling for Kemp to step down as all other Secretaries of State have done in the past when they ran for office. . . ( 1985 .), ( ). ... The Executive Director for Kampala Capital Authority, Jennifer Musisi Ssemakula has resigned. Musisi has given up to December 15, 2018 when she will relinquish her position In a letter dated October 15, 2018, to the appointment authority, the president, doesnt not state the reason for her resignation. This is to submit my resignation from the position of Executive Director, Kampala Capital City Authority with effect from December 15, 2018. Your Excellency, over the last seven and half years, we have made progress towards transforming Kampala and below are some of our performance highlights Musis wrote. Sources at State House told Eagle Online that Musisi has been frustrated from the time the president blamed her for his poor performace in Kampala. Stories Continues after ad She has been unenthusiastic about meetings the president has been summoning concerning KCCA as she has been sending directors to represent her. At one time, the president asked if she wasnt available for the next meeting, he would chase the directors the source said. Musis has been at loggerheads with the Lord Mayor and hasnt had a smooth time at city hall. Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Don Wanyama couldnt confirm the development but told Eagle Online that the letter looked authentic. French prosecutors stymied by Rwanda missile-attack mystery French prosecutors say they haven't found enough clear evidence to solve one of the 20th century's greatest mysteries: the identity of the attackers who assassinated the presidents of Rwanda and ... https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-french-prosecutors-stymied-by-rwanda-missile-attack-mystery/ The city gave the ship's previous operator millions for repairs, but the audit said 27 urgent projects remained unfinished two years later. Column: Bangers and Mash : Brits and German Saunas: The Naked Truth Bonn In this column, the author looks at life in Germany, as a Brit who is living in Bonn for years. In this edition, he admits that undressing fully in front of strangers isnt exactly in his genes and that going to a sauna in Germany requires a certain get-used-to Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken With the winter nights coming in, thoughts turn to friends and family visiting from England for the upcoming festive period. An early Christmas market in Bonn, and perhaps a visit to the Medieval version in Siegburg get a big fat tick and a high five. German restaurants with Wurst, Kartoffelpuffer and beer will also normally generate murmurs of approval. For the culturally inclined guests, a short railway trip from Bonn to the UNESCO-listed castles in Bruhl and its Max-Ernst-Museum, get another big tick too. But there is one activity that gets a big X in other words a big fat no with wild horses incapable of dragging British friends anywhere near: And that would be a trip to a key icon of German culture, the winter sauna. Why? The Brits simply do not share the love of nudity unless it is part of a naughty, sea-side post card or a smutty, late night movie. Most are downright embarrassed if not afraid at the very thought of being seen starkers in public and, according to surveys, even in the privacy of their own homes. For many the mutual removal of clothing is considered a pre-requisite to sex rather than a pre-condition for leisurely hours in a dry or steam bath. In fact, such is the fear of many Brits about being seen naked in the first place even by their wife or closest partner most would probably prefer intimacy and intercourse during the pitch blackness of a solar eclipse or a power cut. I have tried all the straight-forward arguments to tempt my fellow countrymen and women to a local sauna. Like, Look it is not about sex, you will not be an extra in a low-budget porn movie or Germans dont stare, they are not interested in your wiggly bits or It is about health and relaxation or We were born naked, it is the most natural thing and finally, with steam now percolating from my ears nobody cares if you dont look like Gisele Bundchen or Martin Bergmann!. But none of this passes the mustard: There is either outrage that one is persisting to push this crazy plan, nervous giggling or worried looks that I have somehow lost all morality since living in Germany. Why the British are so body-obsessed and nudity-averse probably requires a longer article and some deeper psychological analysis. But perhaps the society that gave birth to the Swinging Sixties and the Cool Britannia of the 1990s is far more inhibited than it wishes to admit. According to an official UK Government survey from four years ago, nearly 60 per cent of Brits are totally not at ease being naked or dont even want to talk about it-- women even more so. Just under a quarter say they would never walk around naked at home even if no one else was in. Three quarters of British people say they have never gone skinny-dipping, in other words they have never swum naked. The more than 100-year-old German tradition of nudism and naturism known as the Free Body Culture (Freikorperkultur) also has strong social and political roots. These embrace notions of equality, freeing people from shame and escape from the unhealthy living environments in the crowded cities of early industrialization. In the former East Germany there is some suggestion it provided an anti-dote to a more authoritarian regime. I recently read nudity at beaches, in parks and other public places in Germany is under attack and less tolerated than before perhaps linked with reunification and the influx of people from places like Britain with far more prudish views. Soon the German sauna may be the last hold out of this very special cultural tradition one that in many ways offers a direct and perhaps healthy challenge to the sexualization and stereotyping of the human body shape so prevalent in contemporary advertising, magazines and mainstream film. I have to admit that it took me a while to overcome my upbringing and can thank my old friend Stefan for guiding me through the etiquette and discovering the deeper delights of the German sauna culture. On my first visit to one in this case in Frankfurt one winters night nearly ten years ago Stefan asked me which sauna room I wanted to try. I pointed to one on the left declaring enthusiastically Because there are more hot chicks there!. I was swiftly rebuked and told a visit to the sauna was nothing to do with the abundance of chicks hot or cold. I also eventually learned not to shyly dangle my towel over my nether regions; to not turn my back nervously in the locker room; to stop chatting like a rabbit during the Aufguss and appreciate the silence, the calming swish of the towel and blast of hot air. It may take me longer to understand why some people find it enjoyable to sit suffering like an Arctic fox for ten minutes in an ice room; splash heartily through a freezing-cold stream or gaily slap ice cubes over each others naked skin as the winter sun sets over the Scandinavian-style huts. Victoria University celebrated the 2018 international day in style with various incredible performances prepared by the various cultural groups from ten different countries in the university. The theme of the day was CELEBRATING CULTURE THROUGH FOOD, LANGUAGE AND DRESS. Ten countries were represented and these included; Ghana, Somalia, Nigeria, India, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo DR, Rwanda, Burundi and Eritrea. The event started off with singing of all the national anthems of the represented countries. Dr. Krishna-N-Sharma, the Universitys Vice Chancellor, also graced the event and took part in showcasing the Indian culture starting with the signing of the Indian National anthem. Students from different countries showcased their way of dressing, traditional dances and how to prepare different dishes to the judges and the public. It was an enjoyable and lively day for the students, families, guests and friends who attended, with a lot of delicious food prepared from the different countries. The second edition of the event was held on Saturday, 13th October at the universitys parking lot along Jinja Road. The International day at Victoria University is held annually. About Victoria University The university is centrally located in the heart of Kampala City and on the main public transportation routes coupled with ample parking space. Victoria University is part of Ruparelia Group of Companies, which has a strong presence in the education sector in Uganda and has under its portfolio, Kampala International School Uganda, Kampala Parents School and Delhi Public School International. Stories Continues after ad The university was opened in August 2010 and has the capacity, the facilities and determination to revitalize higher education in Uganda and in the region. kejguv at 15-10-2018 10:18 AM (3 years ago) (m) The devastating effects of the raging flood that has been ravaging about seven local governments in Anambra State, has not dampened the spirit of Christians in the area. According to a report by Mike Obiajulu, some Christians in Anam, Anambra West Local Government Area, insisted on holding their Sunday Service within the small portion of land they could find around their submerged church. The devastating effects of the raging flood that has been ravaging about seven local governments in Anambra State, has not dampened the spirit of Christians in the area. According to a report by Mike Obiajulu, some Christians in Anam, Anambra West Local Government Area, insisted on holding their Sunday Service within the small portion of land they could find around their submerged church. Meanwhile, report has it that all primary, post-primary and tertiary schools in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra have been temporarily closed in reaction to the flood disaster in the area. The council Chairman, Mr Arinze Awogu disclosed this while inaugurating the distribution of relief materials at the council headquarters, Atani. Awogu said the closure of the schools was in line with the directive of Governor Willie Obiano, who said schools in the affected areas should be closed to avert loss of life. He noted that 13 out of the 16 villages were on the coastal bank of River Niger and all had been critically affected by the flood. He added that the remaining three were also highly threatened. Meanwhile, report has it that all primary, post-primary and tertiary schools in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra have been temporarily closed in reaction to the flood disaster in the area. The council Chairman, Mr Arinze Awogu disclosed this while inaugurating the distribution of relief materials at the council headquarters, Atani. Awogu said the closure of the schools was in line with the directive of Governor Willie Obiano, who said schools in the affected areas should be closed to avert loss of life. He noted that 13 out of the 16 villages were on the coastal bank of River Niger and all had been critically affected by the flood. He added that the remaining three were also highly threatened. Post Reply Writing is my passion and facts-proofing is my hobby, I have been writing at Gistmania for close to a decade now and It is one of the most exciting things I do. Outside writing, I love enjoying time with my loved ones - if you have any tip for me, please do get in touch Posted: at 15-10-2018 10:18 AM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going. Governments around the nation are working to design the best vaccine policies that keep both their employees and their residents safe. Although the latest data shows a variety of polarizing perspectives, there are clear emerging best practices that leading governments are following to put trust first: creating policies that are flexible and provide a range of options, and being in tune with the needs and sentiments of their employees so that they are able to be dynamic and accommodate the rapidly changing situation. SPEED READ: Voters in Maine, the oldest state by age, rejected what would have been the nation's first universal home health-care program. It would have been funded through a 3.8 percent tax increase for wealthy residents. All four candidates running for governor opposed the ballot measure. Maine voters have a tendency to make U.S. history on election days. In 2016, they made their state the first to approve ranked-choice voting . In 2017, they became the first to pass Medicaid expansion at the ballot box. This year, however, they rejected what would have been the nation's first universal home health-care program.The measure, Question 1, would have created a state-run program that provided free at-home services for anyone in need of long-term care, largely the elderly and disabled. To pay for it, the proposal would have enacted an extra3.8 percent income tax on residents making more than $128,400 a year.The measure attracted a lot of money to the small state, with supporters raising almost $2 million and opponents raising $1 million.Supporters said the proposal was a response to what they call a long-term care crisis. Maine is the oldest state in the U.S. by age, and a report by Maines Department of Labor estimates that the state will need more than 1,900 nursing and residential care employees by 2024 to meet demand."Were cutting Meals on Wheels at this point," said Mike Tipping, spokesperson for Maines People Alliance, an advocacy group that supported the referendum. Legislators this year declined a $500,000 expansion of the states Meals on Wheels program. "Its important to just take a big step forward."Most of the money collected from the tax -- 77 percent -- would have gone toward workforce development, training and pay raises for home care staffers."Home care is one of the fastest-growing jobs, but home care workers now make minimum wage. Were seeing a 67 percent turnover rate," said Tipping.All four gubernatorial candidates opposed the measure, including Democrat Janet Mills, who won on Tuesday. Mills told thethat it's important "to do what is right for Maine and make the tough calls -- not to do merely what is politically correct or expedient."Republican nominee Shawn Moody said he believed seniors and the disabled need more long-term care but disagrees with achieving that this way."We cannot continue to punish people with higher taxes," he told the Bangor Daily News Opponents like Moody also argued that the tax would be an economic drain on the state."Our primary concern is it would give Maine the highest income tax rate in the country, and Maine is not a wealthy state," said Jeffrey Austin, vice president of policy and government affairs for the Maine Hospital Association, which opposed the measure. "It would fall to our members to do recruitment of health professionals, and thatd be hard. We only have one border state, New Hampshire, which has no income tax. If youre coming out of a residency program and thinking about northern New England, why would you come to Maine with income taxes that high, when you could have none?" A jury has awarded $479,500 to a transgender UW-Madison employee and $301,000 to a transgender UW-Madison student after a federal judge found a state ban on insurance coverage for gender reassignment surgery to be sex discrimination.The jury award Wednesday comes as the state plans to end the ban Jan. 1 after a board overseeing health benefits for state workers voted 5-4 in August to allow the coverage.The state Department of Justice is "evaluating our next steps which may include an appeal," spokeswoman Rebecca Ballweg said Thursday.A lawsuit was filed last year by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Shannon Andrews, a cancer researcher at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and Alina Boyden, a graduate student. It claimed the state's ban on coverage of transgender medical services for state workers violated part of the federal Civil Rights Act.In a ruling in September, U.S. District Court Judge William Conley agreed. After a trial that began in Madison Tuesday, the jury awarded damages."No one should have to tell their story to a room full of strangers to justify their medical expenses, but I am thankful that I had the opportunity to share my story," Boyden said in a statement. "I hope this sends a powerful message to fellow transgender people in Wisconsin that our health matters."Boyden paid about $1,000 for hormones because of the lack of insurance coverage, said Larry Dupuis, legal director for the ACLU of Wisconsin. Andrews paid about $79,000 for two surgeries, Dupuis said.The jury awards were for medical expenses and emotional pain and suffering, Dupuis said."Discrimination comes with a cost, and for the state of Wisconsin the bill has come," Dupuis said in a statement.The Group Insurance Board ended a ban on coverage of transgender medical services in July 2016, effective Jan. 1, 2017. Attorneys with the state Department of Employee Trust Funds said the coverage was required by federal rules stemming from the Affordable Care Act.But in August 2016, the state Department of Justice, at Gov. Scott Walker's request, asked the board to reconsider, saying "unlawful" federal rules "improperly interpret" Title IX, which covers discrimination on the basis of sex, as applying to gender identity.On Dec. 30, 2016, the board decided the coverage, starting two days later, would end if certain legal developments occurred. Four contingencies, including a court ruling invalidating the federal rules, were met Feb. 1, 2017, and the coverage stopped.In August of this year, the insurance board voted to begin the coverage again Jan. 1.In a separate case, Conley ruled in July that the state can't bar the use of Medicaid funds to pay for transgender surgery. On Friday, in the morning, at C3 Church, Bridgeman Downs, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC attended the 2018 Guide Dogs Queensland Graduation Ceremony, and the Governor presented awards and addressed guests. In the afternoon, at Government House, His Excellency and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted an afternoon tea for finalists of the 2018 Premier of Queenslands Export Awards and Trade & Investment Queensland Commissioners, and the Governor addressed guests. In the evening, at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Bank, His Excellency attended the Master Builders 2018 Queensland Housing & Construction Awards, and the Governor presented awards. Lisa Abeyta spotted a problem in June, when she saw a video of a woman calling the police on an 8-year-old girl selling water bottles in San Francisco. The girls crime? She didnt have a permit.No one was fined in that instance, but small-time food vendorsaround the country can attest that thats not always the case. Last summer, Country Time Lemonade even started a program to pay legal fees for kids who get fined for running a lemonade stand. Citing examples like these, Abeyta CEO and founder of the government-serving tech startup CityLife is looking to raise $20,000 on Chuffed.org to launch PermitMe, an app that would streamline the application process for consumer permits. Aside from operations like food stands, it could also be handy for garage sales and event planning.If [the girl in San Francisco] had an app, her mom could have paid for a permit right then and there and it would have stopped it, Abeyta said. One of the goals is, when those permits can be issued without further inspection, they should be accessible when you need to get one.Abeyta expects PermitMe will be easy enough to build on her own platform as a service, formerly called APPCityLife, given the companys knowledge of permitting processes in hundreds of cities from its work alongside companies such as Oracle and Accela. She also pointed to a few similar projects as precedent, such as CityLifes recent participation in a STiR (Startup in Residence) program in West Sacramento where the partners worked on an app to streamline another kind of permitting process that is, helping real estate developers to estimate permitting costs in minutes instead of days. Launch of this program is still forthcoming, pending an upgrade to the citys Accela system. But where PermitMe stands apart, and why it needs crowdfunding instead of a city contract, is in its focus on consumer permits instead of trades.This is something that cities shouldnt really be funding, and to get this many cities to fund it would take years, Abeyta said. We wanted to make this one citizen-friendly, focused on needs of citizens rather than driven by constraints of a budget of what a city has authorization to build With this app, we wanted it to be inclusive and national, and thats why were raising money that way.John Keisler, economic development director for the city of Long Beach, Calif., concurred about the financial and logistical hurdles of a city building a complete app that would then have to interface with so many proprietary systems. In 2016, Long Beach took a different approach with an online portal for people to apply for trade business licenses, instead creating an open source website on GitHub that could be borrowed and modified by other cities. It handles different kinds of permits and licenses than PermitMe for trades, not consumers but the goal was similar, and Keisler considers it a success. He said the website has saved Long Beach staff time and money, reducing the median days to approval from 24 to 18 by helping applicants understand and prepare for the process.It maps out the checklist that an entrepreneur would need to complete their own process. It also helps regulatory agencies to understand how they might interact with other entities that they previously werent aware of, Keisler said. The tool itself led to other insights, which then led to other technological improvements.Abeyta said fundraising is supposed to pay for the hours needed to work with cities on integrating the app with their existing digital portals. PermitMe would test first in two or three cities that generate the most financial support, adding more locations over time, along with a website and voice support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.The other piece of that is adding blockchain, so the permits that are issued are accessible on a blockchain ledger, so anybody can actually see those, Abeyta said. Whats good about that is, if someone is coming to your door selling tamales, you can look them up and see if they have a permit. Thats the second stage. We have a huge challenge today for those of us on social media. If it is a hot topic, political or social, there is a good chance that you might have been or will be influenced by a bot ( what is a bot ). You can learn more about what is going on in this unseen war by listening to Fresh Air, The 'Weaponization' Of Social Media And Its Real-World Consequences. The authors of the bookdiscuss what is happening politically around the world, in combat by opposing forces and the social wars that spring up.It is another example of the erosion of trust. You can't believe what you read on social media, even if it looks like it is coming from what you might have considered a reputable source. As an example, the book cites that the number seven trending social media site the day of our 2016 Presidential Election, reported to be associated with the Tennessee Republican Party, was actually a Russian site being managed by them.Beware!!P.S., If you don't know the reference to Memorex, ask someone over the age of 55. Where should ratepayer money go? file-20170912-3743-1fk2xb7.jpg The damage from Hurricane Irma on the Florida Keys was extensive. Putting power lines underground will make electricity service more resilient to wind damage but also make flooding a bigger concern. AP Photo/David Goldman Shifting risk Anxious people everywhere worry about the impact these storms might have on their safety, comfort and convenience. Will they disrupt my commute to work? My childrens ride to school? My electricity service?When it comes to electricity, people turn their attention to the power lines overhead and wonder if their electricity service might be more secure if those lines were buried underground. But having studied this question for utilities and regulators, I can say the answer is not that straightforward. Burying power lines, also called undergrounding, is expensive, requires the involvement of many stakeholders and might not solve the problem at all.Electric utilities do not provide service for free, as everyone who opens their utility bill every month can attest. All of the costs of providing service are ultimately paid by the utilitys customers, so it is critical that every dollar spent on that service provides good value for those customers. Utility regulators in every state have the responsibility to ensure that utilities provide safe and reliable service at just and reasonable rates.But what are customers willing to pay for ensuring reliability and mitigating risk? Thats complicated. Consider consumer choices in automobile insurance. Some consumers choose maximum insurance coverage through a zero deductible. Others blanch at the higher premiums zero deductibles bring and choose a higher deductible at lower premium cost.To provide insurance for electricity service, regulators and utilities must aggregate the preferences of individual customers into a single standard for the grid. Its a difficult task that requires a collaborative effort.The state of Floridas reaction in the wake of the 2004-2005 hurricane seasons provides a model for this type of cooperative effort . Utilities, regulators and government officials meet every year to address the efficacy of Floridas storm hardening efforts and discuss how these efforts should evolve, including the selective undergrounding of power lines. This collaborative effort has resulted in the refinement of utility vegetation management practices selective pruning of trees and bushes to avoid contact with power lines and transformers in the state as well as a simulation model to assess the economic costs and benefits of undergrounding power lines.Nationally, roughly 25 percent of new distribution and transmission lines are built underground, according to a 2012 industry study . Some European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, have made significant commitments to undergrounding Burying power lines costs roughly US$1 million per mile, but the geography or population density of the service area can halve this cost or triple it . In the wake of a statewide ice storm in December 2002, the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the electric utilities explored the feasibility of burying the states distribution lines underground and concluded that the project would take 25 years to complete and increase electricity rates by 125 percent . The project was never begun, as the price increase was not seen as reasonable for consumers. 2010 engineering study for the Public Service Commission on undergrounding a portion of the electricity system in the District of Columbia found that costs increased rapidly as utilities try to underground more of their service territory. The study concluded that a strategic $1.1 billion (in 2006 dollars) investment would improve the reliability for 65 percent of the customers in the utilitys service territory, but an additional $4.7 billion would be required to improve service for the remaining 35 percent of customers in outlying areas. So, over 80 percent of the costs for the project would be required to benefit a little more than one third of the customers. The Mayors Power Line Undergrounding Task Force ultimately recommended a $1 billion hardening project that would increase customer bills by 3.23 percent on average after seven years.In addition to the capital cost, undergrounding may make routine maintenance of the system more difficult , and thus more expensive, because of reduced accessibility to power lines. This may also make it more difficult to repair the system when outages do occur, prolonging the duration of each outage. Utility regulators and distribution utilities must weigh this cost against the costs of repairing and maintaining the electricity system in its overhead state.Electricity service is valuable. A 2009 study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated an economic cost of $10.60 for an eight-hour interruption in electricity service to the average residential customer. For an average small commercial or industrial customer the cost grew to $5,195, and to almost $70,000 for an average medium to large commercial or industrial customer. The economic benefits of storm hardening, therefore, are significant.Beyond the economic value of undergrounding, one could consider other benefits, such as aesthetic ones, which may be more difficult to quantify. The safety of the electricity grid is also a concern. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection recently concluded that high winds and above-ground power lines were the cause of the Cascade Fire of October 2017 . But all costs and benefits must be considered to ensure value for the customers investment.In terms of reliability, it is not correct to say that burying power lines protects them from storm damage. It simply shifts the risk of damage from one type of storm effect to another.For example, it is true that undergrounding can mitigate damage from wind events such as flying debris, falling trees and limbs, and collected ice and snow. But alternatives, such as proper vegetation management practices, replacing wood poles with steel, concrete or composite ones, or reinforcing utility poles with guy wires, may be nearly as effective in mitigating storm damage and may cost less.Also, undergrounding power lines may make them more susceptible to damage from corrosive storm surge and flooding from rainfall or melting ice and snow. Areas with greater vulnerability to storm surge and flooding will confront systems that are less reliable (and at greater cost) as a result of undergrounding.So, the relocation of some power lines underground may provide a cost-effective strategy to mitigate the risk of damage to elements of a utilitys infrastructure. But these cases should be evaluated individually by the local distribution utility and its regulator. Otherwise consumers will end up spending more for their electricity service, and getting less. Hack no surprise Becoming tough target No national plan vs. hacking (TNS) The Russians have come, and Colorado Springs, Colo., is a bit shaken after learning that a Putin-directed military intelligence operation purloined data from a local nonprofit.For decades, Colorado Springs was on the lookout for Soviet spies. But when the Cold War ended, locals lightened up. With federal indictments this month against Russian hackers who targeted the Springs-based U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, leaders say it may be time for a new Red Scare.This is a real wake-up call, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers warned after speaking at the National Cyber Symposium at the Broadmoor last week. Just think of all the information there is to steal in Colorado Springs.The mayor is right about Colorado Springs being a ripe target. With some of the nations most prominent nonprofits, 200 aerospace and defense firms, five military bases along with Americas leading commands for space, continental defense and missile defense, a well-planned hack here could cause national chaos.Its alarming enough that Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and his National Guard boss, Maj. Gen. Michael Loh, are taking notice.It brought it closer to home here in Colorado, explained retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Jay Lindell, who heads military programs for Colorados Office of Economic Development and International Trade, of the Russian hack.Russian hackers started work on the anti-doping agency after Russian athletes were banned from the 2016 games after accusations of a state-sponsored campaign to gain an illegal edge in competition.The attack on the anti-doping agency, outlined in a grand jury indictment, sought to gain emails and other data that Russia could use against American athletes and agencies along with the International Olympic Committee to sow chaos and build sympathy for its cause.In many instances, the stolen information was publicized as part of a related influence and disinformation campaign designed to undermine the legitimate interests of the victims, further Russian interests, retaliate against Russian detractors and sway public opinion in Russias favor, federal prosecutors wrote.While the Russian hack on the Colorado Springs nonprofit may be new to most in the Pikes Peak region, it is no surprise to intelligence experts.The former CIA and National Security Agency boss, retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden said in an exclusive interview with The Gazette that hacking is an outgrowth of Russian tactics that have been on display for a decade or more.The Russians, he said, are hacking their way back to the superpower status they lost at the end of the Cold War.For Russia, this is particularly important because they dont have many tools of influence, he said.Building fleets of ships, clouds of military jets and massive armies is tremendously expensive.With $69 billion in annual defense spending, Russia has just a tenth of Americas Pentagon budget to flex its military muscles, but hacking is cheap. Just seven hackers pulled off the anti-doping agency hack, and federal prosecutors say theyre the same bunch that stole emails from the Democratic National Committee to influence the 2016 election.Hayden said the Russians have shown they can use a handful of troops to pull off what an army could not accomplish.The Russians have used that as an arm of their military services, he said.Russias use of cyberattacks on enemies and rivals goes back at least to a 2007 strike on Estonia amid a diplomatic spat. Estonian officials say the Russians took down financial and government systems while also hitting their countrys media.Russian neighbor Georgia saw the use of cyberwarfare alongside ground troops during a brief 2008 conflict. Hackers disrupted Georgian communications networks and took down government and media servers. It was the first recorded instance of a cyberwar accompanying ground troops in battle.The most notorious Russian operation, though, may be the attacks on the 2016 American election that combined email hacking, online propaganda and targeted use of social media to sow discord and damage the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.But Colorado has long been in the crosshairs for Russia. Their military intelligence arm was tied to a 1996 hacking operation called Baby Doe that hit the Colorado School of Mines.The attack on the U.S. Anti- Doping Agency in Colorado Springs also came in 2016, just as Colorado took an unprecedented step to protect the states businesses, nonprofits and government agencies from cyber threats.Even as Russian hackers gained access to thousands of anti-doping agency emails and records, leaders were setting up the National Cybersecurity Center in Colorado Springs. The goal of the center is to raise awareness of cyber dangers and to share tactics and techniques to thwart hackers across the public and private sectors.This isnt something thats going to get solved by one branch of the military or one agency of government, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Monday during a stop at the centers annual Cyber Symposium, that drew hundreds of security experts from around the country.Vance Brown, who heads the center, said the only way hackers can be stopped is if entire communities take steps to defend themselves.Thats what we have here, he said.Another factor that makes the Pikes Peak region more prepared to take on hackers is a Pentagon mandate. The Pentagon pumps more than $18 billion into the local economy each year, feeding those 200 aerospace and defense contractors that call the area home.And, as of Dec. 31, each of those contractors was required to have adequate security on its computer systems according to a new Pentagon rule. They are also required to report hacking attempts to the Defense Department, which shares the information so contractors have the latest intelligence on threats.Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, whose agency just earned top national honors for election security, said incidents including the Russian military hack targeting Colorado Springs, have local governments, businesses and nonprofits on the lookout for hackers.The things you saw with the election and the anti-doping agency show that you have to have the skills and be prepared to respond, Williams said.While businesses and nonprofits may be ready to repel hordes of Russian hackers, the federal government is apparently still weighing how to respond.For years, politicians, generals, experts and activists have argued about how the military, intelligence agencies and other national interests should react to hacking.Getting a federal response plan in place is crucial, Hayden said, because no matter how well-prepared an entity may be to defend its computer networks, it will never have the resources that Russias military hacking arm can deploy, Hayden said.The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency shouldnt have to square off against a nation-state, he said.The Russians unleashed a litany of hacking techniques against the anti-doping agency, court papers show. Malware-laden emails, called spear-fishing, were sent. Phony websites were established to target the agencys workers. Hackers prowled the network with sophisticated surveillance and spies stalked anti-doping agency officials in Brazil with a phony Wi-Fi system in a bid to penetrate their computers.While the United States has issued sanctions and criminal charges against hackers and issued calls for better cyber defense, America has yet to turn loose its own tremendous hacking power in response to an attack.At the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think-tank, cybersecurity expert Klon Kitchen said America hasnt figured out how its computer powers should be used.It is not a matter of whether the United States has the capacity, we can effect our will in cyberspace, he said. What this comes down to is a question of political will and coherent strategy and doctrine.In 2010, the U.S. reportedly carried out one of the most audacious operations in the history of hacking to slow the Iranian nuclear program. Using a virus called Stuxnet, agents from the National Security Agency were able to destroy uranium refining equipment with just a few lines of programming code.Hayden, who served as head of the National Security Agency and later led the CIA under President George W. Bush, would neither confirm nor deny the American role in Stuxnet.All I can say is, whoever did it, they were very good, Hayden said with a smile.But despite several Russian provocations, U.S. leaders havent unleashed internet warfare. Hayden said while the Trump administration has pondered counterattacks, those plans have been quickly shelved.I thought their automatic rejection was a bit too automatic, he said.Instead, the administration has relied on sanctions and other diplomatic tools.In Colorado, National Guard boss Loh said deterrence could be a key tool in fending off future attacks.We need to do whatever we have to hold them accountable, he said.But triggering an online fight could be worse for the United States than its enemies, Kitchen warned. America has become a nation with a smartphone in every pocket. No other nation is so tied to life online.We are vulnerable, he explained.But in the absence of a stronger response, Russia shows no signs of slowing its military hacking programs.It is reasonable to conclude that Russia feels emboldened to take these kinds of actions, Kitchen said. If we want to change that calculus, then we have to change the calculus. (TNS) Public computers at Maryland's Anne Arundel County libraries are expected to be offline at least another two weeks as officials continue to battle the effects of a Emotet virus that infected about 600 computers last week.The county announced Oct. 6 the computers were exposed to the virus, which targets users through sophisticated email ruses. It prompted officials to inform 4,768 customers who used public computers since Sept. 17 to monitor their personal information for fraudulent activity.In a release Saturday, spokeswoman Christine Feldmann said, Information technology professionals are still working to permanently remove the virus and the complicated process will likely take another two weeks.She wrote, Recognizing the severity of the situation, library officials are hiring internet security experts to assist with eradicating the virus and cleaning the network.County libraries first learned of the virus Oct. 4, Feldmann wrote. A week later, Officials discovered that a database of customers who used library computers or the business services kiosk for copy, facing (or) printing was exposed to the virus.The database includes library card numbers, customer names and birthdays dating back to November 2015. Customers use their library card to log into the public computers, but Feldmann said no other personal information is kept by the database.Customers who were told they might be affected are asked to think about changing other account passwords if they used a library computer or the business service kiosk.Along with many organizations, weve discovered vulnerabilities through this breach and are taking comprehensive steps to prevent any future incidents, library CEO Hampton Skip Auld said in a statement.If you think youve been affected by the breach, visit www.aacpl.net/consumer for additional resources. (TNS) Lots of people were already annoyed by being required to obtain a Real ID. (If for no other reason than the requirement lengthens the already-long lines at offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles).But now there are worries that some consumers are being ripped off by scams based on the new requirement.The Real ID is a driver's license or identification card that can be used to enter a secure federal facility like a military base or to board a domestic flight without a second form of ID.If a person chooses to not get the Real ID, they can continue to use a non-federal ID that will have to be accompanied by a second form of ID, such as a U.S. Passport to enter secure federal facilities or board domestic flights.Bogus DMV websites have been popping up across the web for more than 10 years, it's reported. But it's becoming more prevalent again since people are trying to find ways around the long lines at the DMV for the new Real ID.Bogus websites pop up when people search for DMV or even when the letters are inverted like DVM. The fake websites ask for more than the real DMV would, so consumers should be wary when going online.Artemio Armenta, a public relations officer with the California DMV, said they are unaware of any recent cases of defrauding in Yuba-Sutter or in the surrounding Sacramento area, but people should watch out."Nonetheless, we want to remind the public about websites that are charging fees," Armenta said. "These are unofficial websites that are charging customers to complete the electronic driver license and ID card application, as well as charging for DMV appointments and for other online transactions."Armenta said the DMV received reports of websites charging customers a fee to complete the new online driver license application. The DMV's Investigations Division is looking into those websites for any possible violation of consumer protection laws."We cannot reveal these websites since it's under investigation because our focus is making sure customers know the DMV's official website: www.dmv.ca.gov," Armenta said.In the past year, investigators with the California Department of Motor Vehicles arrested a man for defrauding more than 50 people by impersonating a DMV employee and falsely promisingly to "fix" suspended driver licenses and problems with vehicle registrations for a fee. He charged his victims in excess of $250."Scammers often times pretend to be someone you trust, like a government official, family member or a person from a company with whom you do business," said DMV Investigations Chief Frank Alvarez in a press release. "Never send money or give out your personal information to anyone who is soliciting their services."Armenta said the DMV has thousands of registration service business partners authorized to conduct vehicle registration transactions and charge a fee. "You can find more information on our website: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/bp -- locator/bplocator -- top," he said.The Real ID has also led people to be more frantic than they need to be. According to the DMV website, the Real ID Act does not go into effect until Oct. 1, 2020, but it is suggested that it be applied for as soon as possible.To apply, citizens must visit a DMV field office and present original or certified documents (no photocopies) proving their identity, such as a birth certificate or passport, Social Security card, and residency like a utility bill with a name and address on it, photocopies accepted, according to the DMV website. Additional original or certified documents are also required if someone has changed their legal name.It costs $35 for a driver's license and $30 for an ID card.For a non-federal compliant card, citizens can renew online or mail if eligible, without going into a DMV field office. Citizens cannot use it to board a domestic flight or enter a secure federal facility that requires identification -- such as a military base -- starting Oct. 1, 2020, according to the DMV website.2018 Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Former F1 driver and team owner Aguri Suzuki says the sport needs to simplify to improve. "They must stop all these rules that complicate the show so extremely," said the Japanese, who took part in a parade of former F1 drivers at the Japanese grand prix. "The fans do not understand what is happening on the track, and I suspect that a lot of professionals in the middle of it understand little either," Suzuki, whose last involvement in F1 was with his Super Aguri team, told France's Auto Hebdo. The now-defunct Super Aguri team was backed by Honda, and now Suzuki is barracking for the Japanese manufacturer to succeed in today's F1. "Their biggest mistake was to have stopped the F1 programme at the end of 2008. They should have stayed, if only as a engine supplier," he said. "But they stopped everything and then had to rebuild everything. If there had been continuity, they would not have had so many difficulties," added Suzuki. (GMM) Organisers of the Russian grand prix negotiated with Liberty Media in order to dodge the F1 owners' new-in-2018 ban on 'grid girls'. Spectators and viewers of the recent race at Sochi will have noticed that, notwithstanding the sweeping ban, grid girls were prominent in Russia. "I think Liberty Media's decision was strange and a shock to many," Sochi race organiser Sergei Vorobyov told Russia's Sport-Express. "The auto industry has long been associated and is still associated with beautiful girls. "From our side we immediately talked to Liberty Media. Firstly from a safety position we believe it is dangerous to have children on the starting grid. And second, Russian girls are beautiful and we want them at the Russian grand prix. "We received support from other organisers and when the executives from Liberty Media flew to Sochi, negotiations began. After a number of meetings, we agreed. "In the end, the girls on the grid would wear the same outfits as in the past, to show that we follow the traditions. The girls were very actively prominent in the broadcast and both we and the leadership of formula one were very happy that both the girls and children were the correct combination," he said. As for the future, Vorobyov said he is hopeful Liberty Media will update its position regarding the sweeping grid girls ban for 2019. "In January a general meeting with the promoters of all the races is held and I hope that we will hear some updates about Liberty Media's approach to the position of girls in the 2019 season," he said. "If such changes occur, it will be largely due to the position of the race in Russia." (GMM) Jean Alesi has backed his old team Ferrari, amid criticism of the Italian outfit and its top driver Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari and Vettel are taking heat as their 2018 title charge falls apart, but Frenchman Alesi said mistakes are understandable. "In the last races we were a bit surprised and angry about what happened," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "But Vettel's mistakes do not happen because he's bad, but because under certain circumstances it's very easy to make the wrong choice. "At this time he and the team need to rediscover a bit of their lost tranquility," Alesi added. Ferrari's blunders look even worse in contrast to the recovery of the Mercedes team in the same period. Liberty Media's F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn said: "I never thought I would be able to say it, but Hamilton really is the one who could beat Michael Schumacher's records. "He's got everything under control. The quality that unites him with Michael and the great guys is that he knows how to win races that he should lose," the former Ferrari technical boss added. However, Brawn acknowledges that F1 is at a crossroads as he tackles the need to improve the on-track 'show'. "We want to remain the peak of motor sport, but still allow drivers to be able to fight each other and attract the fans' attention by reducing the gap between the teams," he said. "Already in 2019 we will see some small changes, but we are thinking about really exciting things for 2020 and 2021." (GMM) Yonhap reported that Hyundai Motor aims to ship 5,000 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles to France by 2025. The carmaker plans to sign initial agreements with local companies to promote hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), the company said in a statement. On Tuesday, Hyundai will sign a memorandum of understanding with Air Liquide and Engie for the spread of the emission-free car and charging stations in France. Under the deal, the two French companies will establish fueling stations for FCEVs across France by the target year. The fueling infrastructure is for both passenger and commercial vehicles that use hydrogen. US management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in November 2017 noted that the Hydrogen Council expects that the worlds hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market will grow to 400 million passenger cars; 15 million-20 million trucks; and 5 million buses by 2025. Hyundai CRADLE, Hyundai Motor Companys corporate venturing and open innovation business, is investing in Perceptive Automata to develop artificial intelligence software for self-driving cars and automated systems. Perceptive Automata, a startup based in Somerville, Mass. with an office in Silicon Valley, has developed software that gives autonomous vehicles the ability to understand the state-of-mind of people, including pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists. The predictive technology enables automated vehicles to make rapid judgments about the intentions and awareness of people on the street. This gives machines unprecedented human-like intuition. Perceptive Automatas core technology takes sensor data from vehicles that show interactions with people. This rich data is used to train deep learning models to interpret human behavior the way people do. The end result is sophisticated AI software that can be integrated into autonomous driving systems. With the software installed, autonomous vehicles can anticipate what pedestrians, cyclists and motorists might do next. Perceptive Automatas software is particularly useful if a pedestrian begins to cross the street but sees the approaching autonomous car and decides to stop and wave it on. In this situation, an autonomous vehicle without the software would stop and wait, even though the pedestrian has no intention to cross. Perceptive Automatas software can read the pedestrians intent and pass this information to the autonomous systems decision-making module. One of the biggest hurdles facing autonomous vehicles is the inability to interpret the critical visual cues about human behavior that human drivers can effortlessly process. Perceptive Automata is giving the AV industry the tools to deploy autonomous vehicles that understand more like humans, creating a safer and smoother driving experience. John Suh, vice president of Hyundai CRADLE This year, Hyundai has expanded its investment into artificial intelligence technologies that can improve Hyundais core automotive business, as well as adjacent areas in robotics and human machine interactions. Hyundai has also been actively investing from its AI Alliance Fund, co-founded in late 2017, with SK Telecom and Hanwha Asset Management. Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan have identified a way to reduce harmful NO emissions produced by ammonia fuel during combustion. The process involves swirling the gas with air as part of the power generation process. The finding helps advance research into ammonia as an alternative to carbon-based fuels for cars, airplanes, and power generation facilities. A paper on their work is published in the journal Combustion Theory and Modelling. Left: Vortex structures of swirling flows. Right: Mixing pattern of two ammonia streams with the air stream near the swirlers, located at the bottom of the figure. Colors indicate ammonia mole fraction distribution, with higher amounts of ammonia molecules in red, and lower amounts in blue. Copyright : Taylor & Francis This study simulated bluff body stabilized non-premixed turbulent ammonia (NH 3 )/air flames using swirling flows. Although the space and time-averaged emission (STAE) of NO was found to decrease with increase in the global equivalence ratio (global ) under stoichiometric and rich conditions, similar to the behaviour of premixed flames, the local NO concentration distribution within the combustor was heterogeneous, unlike the almost uniform NO distribution in premixed flames. Zones of high NO concentration were identified near the combustor wall boundaries, whereas there was almost nil NO in the combustor centre, irrespective of the global . The localized NO concentrations in non-premixed flames were shown to depend on the local within the combustor and the model reproduced the NO emission characteristics of premixed flames in terms of . This study also found that the effect of pressure on NO emissions is significant irrespective of the combustion type, because reducing the OH radical concentration in NH 3 /air flame at high pressure limits the NO generation. However, the STAE of NO of non-premixed flames were slightly higher than those of premixed flames, especially under rich conditions, possibly owing to zones of elevated NO concentrations near the wall boundaries. The introduction of an additional NH 3 stream external to the air stream (by splitting the original NH3 flow) may mitigate this effect by creating an almost uniform distribution within the combustor and thus a homogeneous NO distribution. The STAE of NO was minimized (and equalled that of a premixed flame) by applying a volumetric flow ratio between the innermost and outermost NH3 flows of 0.6:0.4. Somarathne et al. Ammonia (NH 3 ) is a compound that contains one nitrogen and three hydrogen atoms. It is under investigation as an alternative fuel source for several reasons. While it contains a great deal of hydrogen, it is less expensive and less flammable than pure hydrogen, making it safer to transport. Production plants already exist because ammonia is widely used in fertilizers. So far, ammonia has been considered as a fuel when blended with gasoline, diesel, hydrogen and methane fuels to reduce the proportion of carbon-based fuels and their emissions that contribute to climate change. Developing ammonia as a pure fuel source remains a challenge, in part because relatively high levels of harmful nitric oxide (NO) emissions are produced during the combustion process. Nitric oxide is known to be harmful to human health, contributes to ozone depletion, and when it reacts with other compounds, contributes to acid rain and atmospheric warming. A team from the Institute of Fluid Science at Tohoku University used supercomputers to run large eddy simulations to analyze how ammonia fuel behaves under different combustion conditions, and to see if it is theoretically possible to reduce nitric oxide emissions. Specifically, they analyzed what happened when ammonia was swirled together with air inside a theoretical combustion chamber under different pressures. They compared the results with those of ammonia and air premixed before entering the combustion chamber, which is known to produce fewer nitric oxide emissions at high fuel to air ratio conditions. They found that swirling not one, but two streams of ammonia gas with one stream of air reduced nitric oxide emissions to levels on par with premixed processes. Making the volume of the two ammonia streams between the innermost and outermost swirlers uneven60% and 40% of the total injected fuel, respectivelyled to a more even distribution of fuel and air throughout the combustion chamber, which produced lower nitric oxide emissions. This study simulated bluff body stabilized non-premixed turbulent ammonia (NH 3 )/air flames using swirling flows. Although the space and time-averaged emission (STAE) of NO was found to decrease with increase in the global equivalence ratio (global ) under stoichiometric and rich conditions, similar to the behaviour of premixed flames, the local NO concentration distribution within the combustor was heterogeneous, unlike the almost uniform NO distribution in premixed flames. Zones of high NO concentration were identified near the combustor wall boundaries, whereas there was almost nil NO in the combustor centre, irrespective of the global . The localized NO concentrations in non-premixed flames were shown to depend on the local within the combustor and the model reproduced the NO emission characteristics of premixed flames in terms of . This study also found that the effect of pressure on NO emissions is significant irrespective of the combustion type, because reducing the OH radical concentration in NH 3 /air flame at high pressure limits the NO generation. However, the STAE of NO of non-premixed flames were slightly higher than those of premixed flames, especially under rich conditions, possibly owing to zones of elevated NO concentrations near the wall boundaries. The introduction of an additional NH 3 stream external to the air stream (by splitting the original NH 3 flow) may mitigate this effect by creating an almost uniform distribution within the combustor and thus a homogeneous NO distribution. The STAE of NO was minimized (and equalled that of a premixed flame) by applying a volumetric flow ratio between the innermost and outermost NH 3 flows of 0.6:0.4. Somarathne et al. Still, emission levels were higher than the Japanese environmental regulations for gas power turbines. The researchers plan to next test if injecting air downstream of the combustor further reduces emissions. This research was supported by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI) and by the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) Energy Carriers, (funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)). Resources Inside a Pilotworks kitchen. Photo: Pilotworks The objective of a food incubator is to empower operators to pursue their culinary dreams without shouldering all of the costs associated with starting a small business from scratch. Resources and space are shared, and a community of like-minded people develops. When it works, everyone wins: Businesses grow, and customers get more choices of great things to eat. But over the weekend, Brooklyns most prominent incubator, Pilotworks, closed with no warning, leaving almost 200 operators some of whom quit their full-time jobs to pursue their food projects scrambling to figure out what theyll do next. Our mission was to be a POC-, women-empowered company focused on amazing vegan goods, says Adam Keita, who runs the vegan baked-good company Vagaband Kitchen and joined Pilotworks in June. Closing so abruptly not only hurts everything we worked for, but it hurts the shops we provide to, and it shows how these kind of big companies can just trample over us. Located in the old Pfizer building at the border of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, Pilotworks began in 2016 as Brooklyn Foodworks. The group provided business acumen for first-timers: mentorship, events, networking, and access to a commercial kitchen in exchange for a monthly membership fee. The 175 small food businesses (which includes favorites like Aurias Malaysian Kitchen, Woldy Kusina catering, Brins Jam, and Brutus Bakeshop) were barred from accessing the kitchen on Saturday afternoon. Pilotworks sent an email that evening to announce its closure after failing to raise the necessary capital to continue operations. Now, members will have limited access over the next three days to collect their possessions, and after Friday, no one will be able to enter the building. (Pilotworks didnt make anyone available to speak to Grub Street, and its social-media accounts have also been shut down.) The timing is especially brutal for members who were ramping up for the holidays, which can provide up to 40 percent of their annual income. (The move is also a blow for owners of the specialty food shops that rely on these products to stock their shelves.) Many were also taken by surprise since, as TechCrunch reported, Pilotworks had raised $13 million in funding (which included investment from Campbells Soup Co.). Pilotworks last year was a buzzing, flourishing, and communityfocused kitchen space for all types of food entrepreneurs, says Thi Lam of the coffee maker Keepers Co., who left Pilotworks before the closure. Some companies that made shelf-stable products will be able to sell their remaining inventory, but groups focused on fresh food are less fortunate. Many are talking about what they can do together to help struggling businesses. Hot Bread Kitchen has offered its hotline to connect these businesses with new places to work, and Hana Kitchen, another commercial kitchen with a location in Brooklyn, will give discounted rates on space. Meanwhile, Pilotworks members are also looking for reasons that this sudden shutdown happened. Instead of using the $13 million to make sure they were operating properly in their existing locations, they decided to expand, says David Roa of Superlost, a CBD-focused company inside Pilotworks. It was careless and irresponsible for them to do that considering hundreds of businesses depend on their facilities for their livelihoods. Vallery Lomas, winner of last years canceled season. Photo: Mark Bourdillion/ABC Without question, season three of The Great American Baking Show, the U.S. spinoff of the popular U.K. original, was an unmitigated disaster. Just a few episodes in, the show was pulled off the air after co-judge Johnny Iuzzini was accused of sexual harassment and abuse by former female employees. The rest of the show never aired, though it was later revealed that New York Citys own Vallery Lomas had won the competition. As originally reported by blog Reality Blurred, the show will return on December 6 with one new host and one new judge. (Judge Paul Hollywood and host Anthony Spice Adams have stayed on.) Adams will be joined by Spice Girl Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice, replacing Ayesha Curry, whos moving on to her own show, Family Food Fight. And Iuzzini will be replaced by reality-TV chef Sherry Yard, best known for her appearances on Cutthroat Kitchen, Iron Chef America, Food Network Star, and Top Chef: Just Desserts, as well as her time working for Wolfgang Puck. The new season will be a holiday edition as part of the networks 25 Days of Christmas, so expect a lot of gingerbread and more powdered sugar than usual. This post has been updated with new information. Haiti - Politic : End of payment by check of salaries in the public service After the imposition in March 2018 as part of the fight against corruption and fraud, the payment by check of the salary of the civil servants of the State throughout the territory https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23881-haiti-politic-the-civil-servants-will-have-to-pick-up-their-pay-check-personally.html , Ronald Decembre the Minister of Economy and Finance has put an end to this precautionary measure in accordance with the request of former Prime Minister Lafontant, a measure he confirms in a letter to Bouco Jean-Jacques, Deputy Director of the Treasury Audience "I remind you that the check payment method for salaries of employees and public servants has come to an end. I ask you to defer the application of this measure and to return to the old procedure of payment by bank transfer. Please make arrangements for this measure to be effective during the payroll of October 2018." However, this return to the bank transfer is only partial and does not yet concern the Ministry of Public Health or that of the National Education or the National Police of Haiti. Ronald Decembre emphasizes that to fight against absenteeism, the Ministries can always resort to the need for payment by check for the wages of the concerned employees, checks which will have to be recovered in person by the employee. It should be noted that at the end of this measure, the Government did not publish a balance sheet concerning the sums recovered on the zombies checks nor on the legal consequences against the persons involved. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23881-haiti-politic-the-civil-servants-will-have-to-pick-up-their-pay-check-personally.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23742-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23723-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23717-icihaiti-justice-pnh-recovers-75-million-gourdes-zombies-checks.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23412-haiti-economy-the-pnh-tracks-zombies-checks-and-recovers-millions.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23368-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22952-haiti-politic-zombies-checks-and-overcharging-in-two-ministries.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15269-haiti-politic-the-haitian-public-service-in-figures.html TB/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... 115 Kv High-Voltage Line Works The rehabilitation works of the Peligre / Port-au-Prince airline are continuing (115 Kv) to provide EDH with more capacity and better access to electricity in the country. In addition, Jovenel Moise said "There is no development without electricity. The construction of the high voltage 115 kV underground line (Lilavois - Delmas) is an important step in the country's electrification project." US Ambassador Talks Agriculture US Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison met Joubert Angrand, the new Minister of Agriculture to discuss strengthening agriculture and food security in Haiti, increase agricultural productivity, improve irrigation systems, support farmers cocoa projects and offer scholarships to Haitians in the field of agriculture, which are essential for building self-reliance in the agricultural sector. Mixed power station On Sunday, President Moise visited the construction site of Marchand Dessalines' solar and thermal combined power plant, with a view to inquiring about the progress of the works. The workers work tirelessly to deliver the work within a reasonable time. Dollars : "The new order is a good decision" For the businessman Reginald Boulos, the new order authorizing again dollar transactions in the national territory https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25796-haiti-politic-new-decree-authorizing-payments-in-dollars-on-the-haitian-territory.html is a good decision of the Government. In addition, he believes that the best way to reduce the pressure on the Gourde is to increase domestic production. 6th Promotion of the School of Success Congratulations to the students of the 6th class of the School of Success created by the Foundation "Help Our Youth to Evolve" (IYCF) with the support of the Urban Community of La Rochelle. Recall that the School of Success offers a training and integration program for students over-aged public schools in the comune of Port-au-Prince in sectors such as : electricity, plumbing, tiling, catering and hotel services. Earthquake : Aid Distribution: B> Saturday, in response to the earthquake of October 6 : the Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC) with the support of "World Vision Haiti" has proceeded to the distribution of kitchen utensils, basic products for hygiene, tarpaulins, mosquito nets and jerry cans to 300 affected families HL/ HaitiLibre The Finnish government will use the responses to formulate its position on a proposal to abolish the seasonal exercise across the European Union. The Ministry of Transport and Communications online survey on abolishing the biannual switch between standard and daylight saving time drew a total of 667,337 responses between Wednesday, 26 September, and Friday, 12 October. Both the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Transport and Communications have underlined that the survey should not be viewed as a vote, as the respondents were not required to register or identify themselves electronically and were thus theoretically able to respond more than once. STT on Friday reported that the Ministry of Transport and Communications has launched a more scientific survey on which time zone winter time, summer time or another time zone should be adopted permanently in Finland. A ministry spokesperson told the news agency that the views of experts and industries will also be taken into consideration in formulating a position on the issue. A final decision on the issue will be made by the Finnish Parliament. The European Commission has proposed all member states announce whether they will adopt summer or winter time permanently by April 2019. Possibly the last switch from winter to summer time will therefore take place on 31 March 2019, after which the member states that wish to adopt winter time will switch back to winter time on 27 October 2019. Also Uusi Suomi has conducted a survey on the issue, finding that 51 per cent of Finns would prefer to adopt summer time and 49 per cent winter time permanently. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi The opposition party is seemingly at a loss at how to reverse its downward slide in opinion polls, with its popularity falling by one percentage point to 11.6 per cent, according to YLE , and by 0.8 percentage points to 12.3 per cent, according to Alma Media , in September. Kimmo Gronlund, a professor of political science at Abo Akademi University, says the autumn has not been good for the Finnish Green League. The Green League on Saturday also confirmed that the sick leave of its chairperson, Touko Aalto, will continue until 16 November. Antero Vartia (Greens), a first-term Member of the Finnish Parliament from Helsinki, additionally announced he will not run for re-election in the parliamentary elections of April 2019. It hasnt been a good autumn for the Greens in Finland, summarised Gronlund. Aalto said in September he has been ordered by his doctor to take a sick leave for exhaustion-related reasons. He will announce his timetable for resuming his duties at the helm of the opposition party at a later date, according to a press release from the Greens. Vartia, in turn, explained his decision not to seek re-election by saying he wants to dedicate his time to combating climate change. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi The statement has been widely regarded as a means to present for parliamentary consideration a much-discussed government proposal for allowing businesses with no more than 10 employees to make lay-offs on personal grounds. The Finnish government has, as promised, issued a statement on its employment policy approach to the Parliament, which will debate the statement tomorrow and vote on it on Wednesday. Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre), Minister of Employment Jari Lindstrom (BR) and Kalle Jokinen, the chairperson of the National Coalition Parliamentary Group, underlined in a press conference last week that the statement is not about any single legislative project, but rather about the general direction of employment policy making in Finland. The government nonetheless calls attention to the significance of the much-discussed proposal in its statement, pointing out for example that the regulations on laying off employees on personal grounds are stricter in Finland than on average in the OECD. The law would improve the opportunities of small business owners to hire employees and thereby reduce unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment. The law has additionally been The law would improve the opportunities of small business owners to employ and thereby reduce unemployment particularly long-term unemployment. In addition, the law has been viewed to improve productivity. Based on the aforementioned, the government is continuing to draft its proposal for lowering the hiring threshold for small businesses, if the Parliament lends its support on the matter. 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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 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon's political arm is spending $3 million on digital ads targeted at getting out the vote ahead of the midterms, according to Bannon. The new push, just three weeks before the midterms, is funded by Bannon's new outside political group, a 501(c) 4, called "Citizens of the American Republic" that he formed in August. Groups under 501 (c) 4 are social welfare organizations that must not be organized for profit and "must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare," according to the IRS. Bannon will be out on the campaign trail stumping for Republican candidates who are considered vulnerable with the message that even though President Donald Trump isn't on the ballot, the midterm election is a referendum on his presidency. He'll be traveling to 10 states including Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Michigan, Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas and Florida, with a message that the president is at war with the Democrats, and that the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a preview to impeachment hearings that the Democrats will try to hold against Trump. "Trump has delivered the goods, now it's time for the deplorables to deliver the votes," Steve Bannon told ABC News on Sunday. Bannon wrote and directed a documentary called "Trump at War," with the goal of galvanizing the political base. Bannon said he'll air the film on Tuesday, in the Dallas congressional district where Republican Congressman Pete Sessions is attempting to hold onto his seat. Donald Trump Jr. is hosting a fundraiser for Sessions on Thursday, and Vice President Mike Pence held a rally for Sessions in Dallas last week. "Our focus on explaining that a vote for any House Republican is a vote to stop the Democrats from impeaching the president completely broke through during the Kavanaugh hearings," Bannon's political strategist Sam Nunberg told ABC News. "If the president continues to communicate that the 'Democrat Pelosi Mob' will impeach him if they are in power, we are highly confident we can hold them at the gates and keep the House in Republican hands. A red wave is rising." According to Nunberg, he and Bannon are running a daily war room until Election Day, which they are referring to as "Judgment Day." Despite Bannon's push to keep Trump in power, the relationship between Trump and his former chief strategist deteriorated in January 2018 when Bannon reportedly called the infamous Trump Tower meeting between Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. and Russians, "treasonous." He was forced to step down from the board at conservative website Breitbart, and Rebekah Mercer, a wealthy billionaire who has supported Bannon's political activity in the past, also cut ties with him at the time. She has not supported Bannon's political efforts since. On election night, Bannon said he will be blocks away from the White House, holding a Facebook Live town hall. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. 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. MEXICO CITY Humane Society International welcomes the introduction of a bullfighting ban initiative by Congresswoman Leticia Varela and Frente Ciudadano Pro Derecho Animal in Mexico City Congress today. The initiative amends Mexico Citys Public Spectacles and Animal Protection bills to ban any spectacle involving animal abuse and killing, including bullfighting and cockfighting. The bill was endorsed by MORENA (Movimiento Regeneracion Nacional), PVEM (Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico) and PRD (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica), three major parties in the local congress. Anton Aguilar, executive director of HSI/Mexico, said: This is a significant step forward toward ending the cruel killing of bulls in bullfights once and for all in Mexico City. The majority of Mexicans are against animal cruelty in spectacles and dont want to see them take place in Mexico. According to Parametria, a leading polling agency, 73 percent of Mexicans support a nationwide ban on bullfighting. The Mexico City Constitution, which was enacted last year, recognized animals as sentient beings and paved the way for ending animal cruelty in public spectacles. HSI/Mexico was heavily involved in crafting the animal protection language enshrined in the new constitution. Sonora was the first Mexican state to ban bullfights in 2013. Guerrero and Coahuila followed in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Media Contact: Magaly Garibay, (+52 55) 5211 8731, ext. 104, mgaribay@idee.agency Hinds Sets Community Outreach Events for March PITTSFIELD, Mass. The staff of state Sen. Adam G. Hinds, D-Pittsfield, will host two community outreach events during March. The senator's staff will be available to meet with constituents in the communities of Huntington and North Adams on Wednesday, March 18, for this month's staff office hours from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. North Adams City Hall, 10 Main St. Stanton Hall, 24 Russell Road, Huntington Appointments are not necessary but can be booked in advance by calling the Pittsfield office at 413-344-4561 or the Williamsburg office at 413-768-2373. These office hours provide an opportunity for those seeking assistance with state agencies or programs to speak with Hinds' constituency services staff in person. All residents of the senator's Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin & Hampden Senate District are invited to participate in these sessions if they have an idea, question or comment about state government they wish to share, or if they require assistance from the senator's constituent services team. Everyone is welcome. Appointments are not necessary but can be booked in advance by calling the Pittsfield office at (413) 344-4561 or the Williamsburg office at (413) 768-2373. These office hours provide an opportunity for constituents seeking assistance with state agencies or programs to speak with the senator's staff in person. Since early 2017, Hinds' district team, A.J. Enchill and Jon Gould, have held monthly roving office hours outside of their primary work locations in an effort to increase office accessibility for every constituent no matter where they reside. Enchill is based in the senator's Pittsfield office and Gould splits his time between Pittsfield and Williamsburg. Last year, the senator's district staff traveled to 19 towns and met with hundreds of local officials and residents in Adams, Alford, Blandford, Charlemont, Chester, Cummington, Heath, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, Middlefield, Monroe, New Marlborough, Peru, Plainfield, Rowe, Washington and Windsor, Westhampton, West Stockbridge while Senator Hinds participated in public forums throughout the Senate District. The Red Lion Inn is partnering with with Stash Hotel Rewards, the largest loyalty program for independent hotels in the United States. Biz Briefs: Red Lion Inn Partners with Stash Hotel Rewards New partnership The Red Lion Inn is partnering with with Stash Hotel Rewards, the largest loyalty program for independent hotels in the United States. Guests at The Red Lion Inn are now able to earn points toward free nights at more than 150 independent hotels across the country. And Stash members can earn and redeem points to stay at one of the most quintessential Berkshires hotels in Stockbridge. "Aside from being able to offer our guests rewards points for their stays, we wanted a loyalty program with a unique portfolio and a devoted following," said Sarah Eustis, CEO of Main Street Hospitality, which owns and manages the inn. "Stash's network of community oriented, independent properties puts us in great company, and the programs dedicated members allow us to share loyal guests between hotels." Guests of The Inn can join Stash for free online. at http://www.stashrewards.com/. Stash members earn five points for each dollar spent on eligible room rates and can redeem them at great independent hotels across North America, including the Caribbean and Hawaii. Stash points never expire, and redemption is simple, without blackout dates or category restrictions found in many chain programs. Stash partner hotels also provide members with exclusive travel deals. Car raffle Berkshire Humane Society and Haddad Subaru will host their sixth annual Subaru Car Raffle drawing on Saturday, Oct. 27. This year, the winning ticket will be drawn for a 2019 Outback with a package value approximated at $33,000. The drawing is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the dealership in Pittsfield. Live 95.9 will broadcast live from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and adoptable animals will also visit the dealership during this time. Tickets are still on sale and may be purchased up until noon on October 27 at the main shelter and up until 1 p.m. at Haddad Subaru. Tickets are one for $40 or three for $100. The winner does not need to be present to win. The raffle is limited to 2,100 tickets; to date, approximately 1,100 tickets have been sold. Between now and Saturday, October 27, tickets may be purchased at the following locations: BHS (214 Barker Road, Pittsfield), Bark N' Cat (28 Holden St., North Adams), Bartlett's Orchard (575 Swamp Road, Richmond), Catwalk Boutique (325 Stockbridge Road, Great Barrington), Chez Pet (55 Pittsfield Road, # 4B, Lenox), Haddad Subaru (652 East St., Pittsfield), and Purradise (301 Stockbridge Road, Great Barrington). The Berkshire Humane Society is in need of our local support as a community more than ever. The work they are doing now and in the future really demands our full support. The 6th annual raffle is just one way Haddad likes to contribute to our local community. The culture Subaru envelopes around Share the Love and pets is an amazing one. All of our staff believes, supports, and even participates in the BHSs yearlong goal. We are here to help pay the bills and spread the word on what the BHS strives to accomplish every day. I couldnt ask for a better partner in John, we go way back and continue to grow our relationship with the BHS and Haddad Subaru. I really have a soft spot for these animals, so whatever we have to do in order to provide them safe shelter, we will, said Chris Kramek, General Manager of Haddad Subaru. Lemonis visit Berkshire Money Management is hosting a fireside chat with Marcus Lemonis, serial entrepreneur and celebrity host of CNBC's "The Profit" on Nov. 7 at the firms headquarters, the Model Farm on 161 Main St. in Dalton. Cocktails begin at 3:30 p.m. Lemonis will speak at 4:30 p.m., addressing local business owners and economic leaders about looking towards the future of their companies; and knowing what to do. Nonprofit discussion The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires presents its first roundtable discussion on Tuesday, Oct. 23, on the topic of "organizational partnering." Participants will meet from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Berkshire Athenaeum on Wendell Avenue in Pittsfield and are encouraged to bring lunch. Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum will provide refreshments. This event is free to Berkshire nonprofits but participants must register online or by calling 413-645-3151. An NPC survey in 2017 showed that most Berkshire nonprofits are partnering in one form or another and that the majority want to do more. Discussion will focus on models of collaboration, best practices, and pitfalls. Panelists include Jeff Gagnon,program manager at Community Access to the Arts; Alex Reczkowski, library director/Berkshire Athenaeum; Christa Collier, executive director of Northern Berkshire United Way; and Randy Kinnas, executive director of the Berkshire Family YMCA. Alisa Costa of Pittsfield Working Cities will moderate the discussion. Training grants Excelsior Integrated and Porchlight Homecare, two Southern Berkshire businesses located in Lee, Mass., have received a two-year training grant from the Workforce Training Fund Program. Excelsior Integrated, Inc. was awarded $48,750 to train 20 employees and anticipates adding four jobs by 2020. The company works to help product entrepreneurs, ecommerce merchants, retailers, and marketing teams outsource and automate their fulfillment operations. Porchlight VNA/ Homecare was awarded $22,504 to train 20 employees and anticipates adding 15 jobs by 2020. Porchlight provides all home health needs, such as skilled nursing, 25-hour care, social work, and therapies for all of Berkshire, Hampden and Hampshire counties. Awarded by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, in partnership with Commonwealth Corporation, the Workforce Training Fund Program invests to help local Massachusetts companies create new jobs, increase skills and opportunities for workers, and improve overall productivity and competitiveness for businesses in the commonwealth. EOLWD and Commonwealth Corporation review and award training grants of up to $250,000 to Massachusetts businesses to fund training for current and newly hired employees. Grants are awarded on a rolling basis throughout the year. iciHaiti - Social : The number of Haitians giving birth in DR would have dropped On Saturday, Miguel Bejaran, Director of the Directorate General of Border Development (DGDF) declared that the number of Haitian pregnant women giving birth in the Dominican Republic was decreasing due to the increased vigilance and the number of troops deployed by the military authorities to the Haitian-Dominican border. He explained that the surveillance exercised by the members of the specialized body of land border security (CESFRONT) reduced the smugglers' trade of bringing Haitian women in labor to give birth for free in the Dominican Republic, which costs almost 5 billion pesos annually to the Dominican Government https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21014-haiti-dr-more-than-5-billion-pesos-for-the-delivery-of-women-from-haiti.html He believes that the control of the border by the Dominican army and CESFRONT was essential to reduce the number of Haitian pregnant women entering the Dominican Republic, while recognizing that although this traffic was better controlled, it did not not been eliminated. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24937-haiti-politic-france-to-build-health-centers-in-haiti-but.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23660-icihaiti-healththe-insufficiency-of-medical-services-pushes-the-pregnant-haitian-in-dr.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-22617-icihaiti-health-opening-of-a-modern-maternity-in-anse-a-pitres.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21694-haiti-dr-nearly-8-billion-pesos-in-hospital-care-and-services-for-haitians.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21014-haiti-dr-more-than-5-billion-pesos-for-the-delivery-of-women-from-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19355-haiti-humanitarian-maternal-health-remains-underfunded.html S/ iciHaiti To access our in-house intelligence please request a trial here. Read this article and more for a 30 day period. Are you already an IFLR subscriber? Login here October 14, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - After decades of stagnation, corruption and deadly dependency on the United States, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is considered by many ordinary people, as well as by intellectuals, to be the last chance for Mexico. Two important news developments are circulating all over North America: US President Donald Trump will not attend the inauguration of the Mexican left-wing President elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). And yes, despite all tensions and disagreements, the new deal to replace NAFTA has been reached. It is called the USMCA the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Paradoxically, if Obrador is to fulfill at least half of his electoral promises, it would inevitably lead to a clash between Mexico and both the United States and Canada. The US absorbs around 80 percent of Mexican exports. Various Mexican intellectuals believe that their country was, until now, nothing more than a colony of their 'big brother' in the north. Canadian mining companies are brutally exploiting Mexico's natural resources, and united with local politicians and paramilitaries, are tormenting almost defenseless native people. After decades of inertia and decay, Mexico is ready for dramatic, essential change which, many argue, will this time not arrive directly under red banners and through revolutionary songs, but with the carefully calculated, precise moves of a chess player. Only a genius can break, without terrible casualties, the deadly embrace of the United States. And many believe that President-elect Obrador is precisely such leader. 'Not a poker player, but a chess player' Mexico is in a 'bad mood', despite the victory of a left-wing leader. Hope is in the air, but it is fragile hope, some even say angry hope. Decades of stagnation, corruption and deadly dependency on the US, have had an extremely negative impact on the nation. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter John Ackerman, US-born, Mexican naturalized legendary academic at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) explained during our encounter in Coyoacan: "This has been a long time coming. Throughout Latin America there has been great transformation, except in Mexico. Mexico has been the same since 1946 since PRI was created Education, healthcare, serious commitment to social system, infrastructure; he promises to improve all this in terms of working-class population, he expresses great interest in the union democracy, which could be a true vehicle of revolution unions could be used to create democratic participation in the country." We both agree that Obrador is not Fidel, or Chavez. He is pragmatic and he knows how dangerous the proximity of Mexico to the US is. Governments get overthrown from the north, and entire socialist systems get derailed, or liquidated. Professor Ackerman points out:"Obrador is not a poker player, like Trump; Obrador is a chess player." He is extremely well informed; on his own and through his wife, an accomplished Mexican academic from a prominent left-wing family, Irma Sandoval-Ballesteros. She will soon become Minister of Public Administration in the Obrador administration, which means she will fight against endemic Mexican corruption. This will be, no doubt, one of the toughest jobs in the country. Among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries Mexico has the second highest degree of economic disparity between the extremely poor and extremely rich. According to the government, about 53.4 million of Mexico's 122 million people were poor in 2016. Crime is out of control, and so is corruption. According to Seguridad Justicia y Paz, a citizen watch dog NGO in Mexico, five out of ten cities with the highest homicide rates in the world are located in Mexico: Los Cabos (1), Acapulco (3), Tijuana (5), La Paz (6), and Ciudad Victoria (8). Some 460,000 children have been recruited by the drug rings in Mexico, according to the incoming Minister of Public Security of the Obrador government. As bodies are piling up and insecurity grows (recently, at least 100 dead bodies have been found in the state of Jalisco), the Mexican police continues to be hopelessly corrupt and inefficient. But it is now everywhere, true reason for astronomic crime rate, say many. Misery everywhere It is all elegance and style at one of an old hacienda, lost in time in the middle of jungle, in the State of Yucatan. Some twenty years ago I used to live very near this place, working on my novel, in self-imposed-exile. Even then, Yucatan was poor, conservative, and traditional. But there was pride and dignity even in the poorest of the villages. Things changed dramatically, and not for the better. Now naked misery is everywhere. Just two kilometers from the hacienda Temozon, traditional rural houses have holes in the roofs, and many dwellings have already been abandoned. People are not starving; not yet, but that is mainly due to the fact that in Yucatan, there is still a great sense of community and solidarity. Don Alfredo Lopez Cham lives in a village of Sihunchen. Half of the roof of his house is missing. He is blind in one eye. He is dirt poor. I asked him how things have been here, since I left. He just nodded his head, in despair: "You just saw my house, there You can imagine how it isI cannot fix anything. For years I did not have any work. And now I am old." Senora Consuelo Rodriguez, his neighbor, jumps in. She is an outspoken, tough but good-hearted matron, always surrounded by a flock of chickens: "Look, he has really nothing! Here, we are trying to help those in need, but ourselves we have close to nothing. Few years ago, the government sent some people to help to fix our houses, but they never came back again." In theory, Mexico has free education and health care, but in practice, it is just for those who hold government or good private jobs. President-elect AMLO is promising to fix all that, but people all over the country are skeptical, including Senora Consuela. "If we get sick, we have to pay, unless we have insurance from our work. And most of us, here, don't have any steady job." Do people here have faith in the new government? She shrugs her shoulders: "We will see." This is what I hear everywhere, from coast to coast of this enormous and potentially rich country, which is the 15th largest economy in the world. There is very little enthusiasm: the majority of people adopted a 'wait and see strategy'. Don Rudy Alvarez who has worked for more than 20 years at one of the luxury hotels in Yucatan, is only cautiously optimistic about the future. "Even we who have permanent jobs at the multi-national establishments, cannot dream very big. I can feed my family well, and I can send one son to study law at the university. But no bigger dreams. My family would never be able to afford a car or any other luxury. We hope that Obrador (AMLO) will change things. Here, many people feel that Yucatan has been sold to tourists as the 'Mayan Disneyland', with very little respect for our culture." Mexico is the second most visited country in the Western hemisphere, right after the United States. But income from tourism very rarely brings a better life for local people. Crime and drug wars are far from being the only concerns. In the center of the indigenous and historic city of Oaxaca, the armed forces are blocking the entrance to the Governor's Palace. Why? The graffiti protesting against disappearances and extrajudicial killings of the activists, as well as forced evictions of indigenous people by the multinational companies. Ms. Lisetta, who lives with many others, as a protest, in a tent right in front of the palace, explained: "For 9 years we have no home. Paramilitaries and the government forces came and threw us out of our dwellings, in San Juan Copala. Some people were killed, women raped, many disappeared. We are here to demand justice." She showed me her bruises. "Recently, police came, broke my cell phone, and then injured my arm" At night, live bands are playing old ballads, all over the city center. People are dancing, drinking and promenading. But displaced men, women and children living in the tents are brutal reminder of real Mexico, of true suffering of many poor and almost all native people. I found Sra. Lorena Merina Martinez, Spokesperson of the Displaced Persons from the Autonomous Community of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca State. She spoke to me bravely, coherently and with passion: In 2007, San Juan Copala declared autonomy and became autonomous municipality. There was much peace and tranquility in our community. Then in 2009 the PRI-led government of Oaxaca started making noise as San Juan Copala is the head of 32 communities of Trique District. The PRI-government did not want autonomy of San Juan Copala, thus unilaterally finished it in 2009. From 2010 we resisted for 10 months so that we could bring food to our children. They had blocked our roads. We didn't have anything to eat anymore. They were killing our colleagues, but also children. Women were raped as they went looking for food and brought it back to their children. They cut off their hair as well. I am talking about the rape of a 65-year-old community member, for instance. Another woman was gravely injured. The attackers and rapists all escaped. For ten months we resisted with no water, no food, no electricity as the PRI-government had cut us off from everything. The date of 16 September 2010 was when PRI-backed paramilitaries entered our community, first to the municipality building, and used big microphone to tell us to leave our houses. We were not given any time at all to leave. Because they saw smoke come from houses, which was basically because we were cooking, they were shooting at our houses and us. We just had to escape with nothing and were forced to find a way to survive with our children, with nothing at all, not even our id cards. We needed to make sure to escape with our children because we were warned that if we didn't, then they would burn alive our children. By 18 September 2010, PRI-backed paramilitaries started entering our houses, burning and destroying them. We fled as by then they had killed another community member who had been resisting forced displacement. This is when a group of women started demanding the State Government to intervene in our community. The State nor Federal Government ever intervened. We demanded that something is done, so that we could safely return to our community. Since September 2010, we have been here. But they have never done anything to let us return, nor to get rid of those who displaced us because they were the accomplice of those paramilitaries who made us forcibly displaced. I asked her why it happened? Were multi-national companies involved? Yes, there are mineral resources. The government wants to take charge of this community. We have very futile lands. Lots of water, vegetables, fruits. The government wants to suck everything from our community. I recalled massacres in Chiapas, that I covered some two decades ago and later described, under different name in my revolutionary political novel Point of No Return (Point of No Return - ebook). At the Center of Photography Manuel Alvarez Bravoin Oaxaca, Mr. Leo (who only gave his first name), confirmed: "It is terrible what happened to those people. Imagine that you are at home, and suddenly someone comes, with armed forces, and kicks you out. But in Mexico it's normal, and not only in this area. Multinational companies, particularly Canadian ones, are controlling around 80 percent of the mining in this country. People, particularly indigenous ones, are treated brutally. Mexico suffered terribly from the Spanish colonialism, but it often feels that things didn't change much. We are not in full control of our country!" And the new administration of Obrador? Leo and his colleagues are only moderately optimistic. "We are not sure he would dare to touch essential problems: the dependency of this country on the North, and the horrendous disparities between the rich and poor, between the descendants of the Europeans and the majority, which consists of the indigenous people. Until now you can see it everywhere: Westerners and their companies come and do what they want, while the native people are left with nothing." But many others remain hopeful. AMLO's left-wing Moreno Party will soon govern in a coalition with PT (Partido del Trabajo) and the conservative Social Encounter Party. Again, it is unlikely that Mexico will follow the path of Cuba or Venezuela, but the Bolivian model is very likely. It could be a silent revolution, a change based on an extremely progressive and truly socialist constitution of the country, remarkably dating back to 1916. A Mexican academic, Dr. Ignacio Castuera who teaches at Claremont University in California, explains: "I believe Obrador has to bring several factions together to implement some of what he wants to achieve. No individual alone can solve the problems of a nation. I hope many rally around him, if that happens then significant changes can be brought about. The long shadow of the US policies and corporations will continue to exert major influence." In Tijuana I witness absolute misery, I visit multinational maquiladoras that pay only an equivalent of $55 USD per week to their workers, I manage to enter gangland, and I see how the US is building a depressing wall between two countries. I spend hours listening to stories of Sra. Leticia, who lives just one meter away from the wall. "They are cutting across our land, and it harms many creatures who live here. It also prevents water from circulating freely." "All this used to be Mexico. North Americans had stolen several states from us. Now they are building this wall. I visited their country on several occasions. And let me tell you: despite all our problems, I like where I am, at this side!" Then, late at night, I listen to a man who knows his country from north to south, from east to west. We are sitting in a small cafe; sirens are howling nearby, another murder has just taken place. He faces me squarely and speaks slowly: "Mexico has its back against the wall. This situation cannot continue. This is our last chance Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. We will rally behind him, we will help him. If he delivers what he promises, great; then Mexico will change and prosper. If not, I am afraid that our people will have no other choice but to take up arms." This article was originally published by " RT " - Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism, a revolutionary novel Aurora and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: Exposing Lies Of The Empire . View his other books here . Watch Rwanda Gambit , his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky On Western Terrorism . Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter . Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here. ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy October 14, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - While traveling in Africa in the 80s and 90s, I was surprised to see Chinese crews building roads, schools and houses. Although at the time this meant little to me, I later realized it was part of a policy of Chinese insertion into the African countries economies. Historically, the African continent has been plundered by foreign powers, mainly but not exclusively European, who have extracted valuable resources, corrupting African elites, and destroying feeble attempts at democracy throughout the continent. On Jan. 17, 1961, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated. He was the first legally elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ludo De Witte, the author of a book about this event, called Lumumbas murder the most important assassination of the 20th century. It was carried out with the joint complicity of the American and Belgian governments, which used Congolese accomplices and a Belgian execution squad. This assassination forever changed the African continents political landscape and its economic and political prospects. Chinas approach is different from that of the traditional colonial powers. Its main interests in the African continent are twofold: searching and exploiting oil and mineral resources, and creating new markets for Chinese goods. In addition, building and repairing infrastructure provides jobs for Chinese technicians and laborers. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Unlike other big powers, China has shown relatively minimal interference in the domestic affairs of African countries, while at the same time providing generous aid and loan packages. As Clifton Pannell, director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Georgia said, Its oft-stated policy in dealing with African states is to stress the notion of mutual benefits, and it has long promoted itself as a partner in solidarity with African states in opposition to colonialism and economic dependency. Aid to local economiesNot everybody in Africa is happy about Chinas presence on the continent. Although China employs Africans in some of its economic endeavors, many locals resent Chinas competition with local factories and entrepreneurs. China, however, has a steady policy of providing assistance and training in agricultural techniques and public health issues. At the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which took place in Beijing, President Xi Jinping unveiled eight major initiatives which included purchasing more African goods and encouraging Chinese companies to expand investments to promote industrialization in Africa. Other major areas of cooperation are energy, information, transportation and use of water resources. To ensure the proper development of these initiatives, China will provide $60 billion in support for Africas development. President Xi Jinping encouraged these countries to join in building the Belt and Road Initiative to achieve common developmental goals. In the financial area, China promised support through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the New Development Bank and the Silk Road Fund. In addition, Xi pledged to provide 50,000 government-funded scholarships for African youngsters and invited 2,000 of them to visit China. Medical aidChinas medical aid to Africa started in 1963 when it sent 100 health care workers to Algeria after it gained independence from France, and has been steadily increasing its numbers since then. By 2014, China was spending about $150 million annually in medical aid to African countries. China now ranks among the top 10 bilateral global health donors to the continent. Although the exact number is unknown, China has dispatched several Chinese medical teams to Africa and assisted in the construction of health facilities and training of African health care workers. It has also provided medical equipment and drugs. It is estimated that by 2014 China had helped build 30 hospitals and 30 malaria prevention and control centers, and trained over 3,000 health care workers from several African countries. Malaria is one of the main diseases the Chinese are trying to help prevent and control. China has donated over $26 million in anti-malarial drugs to 35 African countries. China also provided important aid to control the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people between 2013 and 2016 and has helped in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. In its medical aid to Africa, China makes use of its own experience as developing countrys limitations and advantages included. At the same time, China uses its assistance in public health to strengthen its diplomatic relations with African governments. Military assistanceAlthough in the past China mainly targeted economic trade and assistance to Africa, Beijing is increasingly developing policies aimed at strengthening military ties in order to gain a stronger geopolitical influence and expand weapons sales in the continent. In that regard, China has been extremely active in selling small arms and light weapons to several African countries. Xi promised to provide $100 million of free military assistance to the African Union to support the establishment of the African Standby Force and the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis. In addition, the Chinese government has invited thousands of African military officials to China for workshops and training courses. The concern from a lot of partners is exactly what role China is going to be playing in the region and how it is going to exist with existing military organizations and security forums, said Duncan Innes-Ker, Asia regional director at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Those who ignore Chinas assertive policies in Africa will do so at their own risk. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and a winner of several journalism awards. Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here. ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy By Finian Cunningham October 14, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The macabre case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi raises the question: did Saudi rulers fear him revealing highly damaging information on their secret dealings? In particular, possible involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks on New York in 2001. Even more intriguing are US media reports now emerging that American intelligence had snooped on and were aware of Saudi officials making plans to capture Khashoggi prior to his apparent disappearance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. If the Americans knew the journalists life was in danger, why didnt they tip him off to avoid his doom? Jamal Khashoggi (59) had gone rogue, from the Saudi elites point of view. Formerly a senior editor in Saudi state media and an advisor to the royal court, he was imminently connected and versed in House of Saud affairs. As one commentator cryptically put it: He knew where all the bodies were buried. For the past year, Khashoggi went into self-imposed exile, taking up residence in the US, where he began writing opinion columns for the Washington Post. Khashoggis articles appeared to be taking on increasingly critical tone against the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 33-year-old Crown Prince, or MbS as hes known, is de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, in place of his aging father, King Salman. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter While Western media and several leaders, such as Presidents Trump and Macron, have been indulging MbS as a reformer, Khashoggi was spoiling this Saudi public relations effort by criticizing the war in Yemen, the blockade on Qatar and the crackdown on Saudi critics back home. However, what may have caused the Saudi royals more concern was what Khashoggi knew about darker, dirtier matters. And not just the Saudis, but American deep state actors as well. He was formerly a media aide to Prince Turki al Faisal, who is an eminence gris figure in Saudi intelligence, with its systematic relations to American and British counterparts. Prince Turkis father, Faisal, was formerly the king of Saudi Arabia until his assassination in 1975 by a family rival. Faisal was a half-brother of the present king, Salman, and therefore Prince Turki is a cousin of the Crown Prince albeit at 73 more than twice his age. For nearly 23 years, from 1977 to 2001, Prince Turki was the director of the Mukhabarat, the Saudi state intelligence apparatus. He was instrumental in Saudi, American and British organization of the mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan to combat Soviet forces. Those militants in Afghanistan later evolved into the al Qaeda terror network, which has served as a cats paw in various US proxy wars across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, including Russias backyard in the Caucasus. Ten days before the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City, in which some 3,000 Americans died, Prince Turki retired from his post as head of Saudi intelligence. It was an abrupt departure, well before his tenure was due to expire. There has previously been speculation in US media that this senior Saudi figure knew in advance that something major was going down on 9/11. At least 15 of the 19 Arabs who allegedly hijacked three commercial airplanes that day were Saudi nationals. Prince Turki has subsequently been named in a 2002 lawsuit mounted by families of 9/11 victims. There is little suggestion he was wittingly involved in organizing the terror plot. Later public comments indicated that Prince Turki was horrified by the atrocity. But the question is: did he know of the impending incident, and did he alert US intelligence, which then did not take appropriate action to prevent it? Jamal Khashoggi had long served as a trusted media advisor to Prince Turki, before the latter resigned from public office in 2007. Following 9/11, Turki was the Saudi ambassador to both the US and Britain. A tentative idea here is that Khashoggi, in his close dealings with Prince Turki over the years, may have gleaned highly sensitive inside information on what actually happened on 9/11. Were the Arab hijackers mere patsies used by the American CIA to facilitate an event which has since been used by American military planners to launch a global war on terror as a cover for illegal wars overseas? There is a huge body of evidence that the 9/11 attacks were indeed a false flag event orchestrated by the US deep state as a pretext for its imperialist rampages. The apparent abduction and murder last week of Jamal Khashoggi seems such an astoundingly desperate move by the Saudi rulers. More evidence is emerging from Turkish sources that the journalist was indeed lured to the consulate in Istanbul where he was killed by a 15-member hit squad. Reports are saying that the alleged assassination was ordered at the highest level of the Saudi royal court, which implicates Crown Prince MbS. Why would the Saudi rulers order such a heinous act, which would inevitably lead to acute political problems, as we are seeing in the fallout from governments and media coverage around the world? Over the past year, the House of Saud had been appealing to Khashoggi to return to Riyadh and resume his services as a media advisor to the royal court. He declined, fearing that something more sinister was afoot. When Khashoggi turned up in Istanbul to collect a divorce document from the Saudi consulate on September 28, it appears that the House of Saud decided to nab him. He was told to return to the consulate on October 2. On that same day, the 15-member group arrived from Riyadh on two private Gulfstream jets for the mission to kill him. Official Saudi claims stretch credulity. They say Khashoggi left the consulate building unharmed by a backdoor, although they wont provide CCTV images to prove that. The Turks say their own CCTV facilities monitoring the front and back of the Saudi consulate show that Khashoggi did not leave the premises. The Turks seem confident of their claim he was murdered inside the building, his remains dismembered and removed in diplomatic vehicles. The two private jets left the same day from Istanbul with the 15 Saudis onboard to return to Riyadh, via Cairo and Dubai. To carry out such a reckless act, the Saudis must have been alarmed by Khashoggis critical commentaries appearing in the Washington Post. The columns appeared to be delivering more and more damaging insights into the regime under Crown Prince MbS. The Washington Post this week is reporting that US intelligence sources knew from telecom intercepts that the Saudis were planning to abduct Khashoggi. That implicates the House of Saud in a dastardly premeditated act of murder. But furthermore this same disclosure could also, unwittingly, implicate US intelligence. If the latter knew of a malicious intent towards Khashoggi, why didnt US agents warn him about going to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul? Surely, he could have obtained the same personal documents from the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, a country where he was residing and would have been safer. Jamal Khashoggi may have known too many dark secrets about US and Saudi intel collusion, primarily related to the 9/11 terror incidents. And with his increasing volubility as a critical journalist in a prominent American news outlet, it may have been time to silence him. The Saudis as hitmen, the American CIA as facilitators. Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. This article was originally published by " Strategic Culture Foundation " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here. ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy October 14, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Frankly, this was not the first, and it will not be the last time that the American President Donald Trump insults the Saudi King, but we are a nation who is afflicted with forgetfulness. While the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the US, the American President said, in a phone call to the Saudi King, King, were protecting you. You might not be there for two weeks without us. You have to pay for your military; you have to pay. Trump has made such remarks before, but this is the first time he has repeated such comments at a political rally, before the eyes and ears of the world. He is humiliating Saudi Arabia and offending its King publically, not behind closed doors, where we are certain that worse and uglier is said. In my opinion, Trump is a man who is honest with himself and operates based on the logic of business and the language of numbers and calculations, not the language of politics and diplomacy, which he never learned or doesnt understand. He is a businessman and has not let go of that part of himself, remaining loyal to it, and it has become the central part of what makes up his character. We watched him during his presidential campaign promise the American people the money of the Gulf and threatened the Gulf leaders, who he likened to cows, with milking them and then slaughtering them. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter He is now keeping his promise and doing good on his threats. It is ironic that even though the Gulf leaders heard Trumps warning, they were the keenest on and supportive of him. Countries such as the UAE spend tens of billions of dollars to ensure his victory over Hilary Clinton, who, according to them, supported the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood phobia will continue to haunt them and blind them until they lose their thrones themselves. Trump was not satisfied with the half a trillion dollars he took from Saudi Arabia during his promising visit last year. He wanted more milk this year, as the annual payment for protecting them, as he has reiterated in three consecutive speeches made in less than a week. In Mississippi, he said, We protect Saudi Arabia would you say theyre rich? And I love the king, King Salman, but I said, King were protecting you. You might not be there for two weeks without us. You have to pay for your military; you have to pay. Two days before that, at a rally in West Virginia, he said, King, you have got trillions of dollars. Without us, who knows whats going to happen. . With us, they are safe. But we dont get what we should be getting, In his last speech in Minnesota, he said, Excuse me, King Salman, he is my friend, do you mind paying for the military? Do you mind? Pay! I said, do you mind paying? But nobody has asked me, I said but Im asking you, King. The truth is that despite the brazen language, far from the diplomacy followed by the world leaders, that carry explicit threats, Trump was also correct in what he said. Yes, the US is protecting the Al-Saud throne. This is an old agreement that was made during the secret meeting between President Franklin Roosevelt and King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aboard the USS Quincy. The truth is that although the language of sophistication is far removed from the diplomacy of heads of state, and the style of humiliation carries a clear threat, but Trump was also correct in what he said! This is an old agreement between US President Franklin Roosevelt and King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, aboard the USS Quincy cruiser on February 14, 1945, known as the Quincy Agreement. The most important clause in the agreement stipulates that the US will provide unconditional protection to the ruling Al-Saud family in exchange for Saudi Arabia guaranteeing the oil supply the US deserved. The deal was supposed to last 60 years, and then President George W Bush renewed the agreement for another 60 in 2005. Trump was also truthful regarding the protection the US pledged, but he wasnt accurate regarding the stipulation Saudi Arabia adhered to for decades. Saudi Arabia was generous, and not like he said, not at the desired level. Saudi Arabia also controlled the world oil prices through OPEC, keeping it at a price that pleases the US and obeyed the order of the American master. Now Trump is attacking OPEC and said in his speech before the UN General Assembly, OPEC nations are as usual ripping off the rest of the world, and I dont like it. Nobody should like it. We defend many of these nations for nothing, and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good. It seems that President Trump wants to amend the Quincy Agreement in a manner that grants the US all of the revenues from the Saudi oil wealth in return for protecting Saudi Arabia. It is interesting that Saudi Arabia did not respond to Trumps humiliation as an independent sovereign state nor the insult of its king with any official statement issued by the Royal Court followed by a firm political stance or stern diplomatic action against the United States. However, a week later, the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, told Bloomberg, I love working with him. You know, you have to accept that any friend will say good things and bad things, about Trump. This is a shameful response, no less shameful and humiliating than Trumps remarks about them, as Bin Salmans response confirms Trumps remarks and indicates the fragility of the Saudi state and supports dependence on the US. owever, it seems that the arrogant youth, Bin Salman, who rules the Kingdom, has racked his brains for a new way to respond to Trump in a manner that allows him to seek revenge and regain his dignity. He abducted the Saudi journalist who writes for Americans The Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey, after ambushing him at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Jamal Khashoggi entered the embassy and had not emerged, and four days after he was abducted, the Turkish and Saudi sides exchanged narratives and claims about whether or not Khashoggi was in the consulate. The Saudis have confirmed that he left the consulate, while the Turks claim he did not and that he is still in the embassy. Claims were made back and forth until Reuters announced his death on Saturday in the embassy, and unofficial news stories were reported. The Turkish authorities have not issued any official statements regarding his death so far, while the security sources leaked statements of him being killed inside the Saudi embassy to the news agencies. Several news sources had added that he was tortured before he was murdered and that his body was cut into several pieces. This is the action of criminal gangs and thugs, not countries governed by a constitution and treat their citizens based on the rule of law. Such actions are not new or strange to the Al-Saud family, as their forefathers established their kingdom over the remains and bodies of the tribes they unjustly and aggressively invaded. This is neither the first nor the last time that Saudi opposition figures were abducted from exile and deported to Saudi Arabia. The country has a shameful and long history in this regard, as it seized the dissident, Nasser Al-Saeed from Beirut in 1979, with the help of one of his Palestinian friends from the PLO, and his fate remains unknown until today. Kidnapping dissidents are not limited to members of the public but have also included members of the royal family, the fate of many remain unknown. There are thousands of male and female scholars, clerics, intellects, economists, university professors, and activists behind bars. The announcement of Khashoggis assassination was a shock that shook the world humanitarian conscience. How could this happen to a peaceful man and a journalist who has nothing other than his thoughts and pen to serve the humanitarian issues, freedom, justice, and dignity. He was a staunch supporter of the Arab Spring revolutions, believing they would rise again and that a revolutionary wave was on the horizon. He thought that democracy was is the solution in the Arab countries, especially those witnessing civil wars such as Yemen, Libya, and Syria. Khashoggi carried the concerns and issues of his nation, and the Palestinian cause was his main focus and believed that the return of the nations fighting spirit. Among his last tweets posted after attending a conference on Palestine post-Oslo, organised by Middle East Monitor in London, a day before travelling to Turkey on that fateful day, I leave London with Palestine on my mind. I attended a conference and discovered researchers and activists who believe in the fairness of the cause from all over the world. Despite the strength of the Israeli lobby, which has besieged any sympathy with the Palestinian cause, but our voices are still high. In our world, they are trying to disregard Palestine to break our anger, but it is present in our conscience in the conscience of every citizen, even if they are silent. . . . pic.twitter.com/qnOF5ZyUgu (@JKhashoggi) October 1, 2018 He did not know he would depart from the world a day later. He said what he thought and withdrew, and his Twitter accounts slogan was, Say your word, and walk away. He paid his life as the price of his words, for the sake of revolution, humanity, justice, freedom, and truth. Peace be with you in life and death, our martyr. This article was originally published by " Mint Press " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here. ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy Home Search ICH Putin-Rouhani Deal to Ensure Iran Evades US Sanctions Agreement sealed in Tehran last month provides for Iran to export crude oil to Russia, where it will be refined and sold worldwide, Foreign Ministry document reportedly specifies By TOI staff and Agencies October 15, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Russia and Iran have agreed on a mechanism to spare Iran the impact of what are intended by the US to be crippling sanctions on its oil industry from next month, an Israeli Foreign Ministry document reportedly warns. The mechanism provides for Iran to export crude oil to Russia across the Caspian Sea. The oil will then be refined at Russian refineries, and from there it will be exported worldwide, the secret Israeli document states, according to a report on Hadashot TV news on Sunday. In return, Moscow will provide Iran with unspecified trade and service benefits. The goal of the mechanism, the reported Israeli document makes clear, is to enable Iran to bypass the US sanctions on its oil industry that are set to come into force on November 4. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The US administration, which has withdrawn from the 2015 P5+1 world powers nuclear deal with Iran, is hoping that escalated sanctions will cripple the Iranian economy and force Tehran to come back to the negotiating table, where US President Donald Trump would aim to reach a new deal that would more stringently deny Iran any means of attaining nuclear weapons. The Russian-Iranian deal was reportedly reached last month in Tehran, where Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held summit talks. The Israeli document also reportedly warns that European states, which remain supportive of the 2015 deal, are ready to tacitly agree to let Iran continue to sell oil to various states in Asia. The general aim of the Russian-Iranian mechanism, and of the European tacit agreement to other Iranian oil exports, is to avert the collapse of the Iranian economy when the US sanctions take effect, and thus to prevent Iran from withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, according to the TV report. Maintaining the accord, the report said, is deemed by Moscow and the EU to be in their interest. The Israeli document reportedly warns that the Putin-Rouhani agreement is a very significant one a means to breach the US sanctions wall that will start with oil, but could also have further implications, the TV report said. The report did not say whether the conclusions in the document have been shared by Israel with the US whose leaderships are allied in their bitter opposition to the 2015 deal, and utterly mistrust Irans insistence that it is not seeking nuclear weapons. Furthermore, the TV report noted, the mechanism underlines the alliance of interests between Moscow and Tehran, and is therefore of relevance, as Israel seeks to prevent Iran deepening its military presence in Syria. That Israeli effort has seen relentless Israeli airstrikes on Iranian and Iran-linked targets in Syria; last month, Syrian anti-aircraft missiles accidentally downed a Russian military spy plane in the course of an Israeli airstrike, plunging Israeli-Russian ties into crisis. Rouhani has insisted several times in recent weeks that Iran will continue exporting crude oil despite the US efforts to stop it through sanctions. We will continue by all means to both produce and export oil, Rouhani said in remarks broadcast on state TV on September 5, for instance, two days before the summit with Putin and Erdogan. Oil is in the frontline of confrontation and resistance. Three weeks ago, Rouhani ridiculed the Trump administrations sanctions efforts, calling the threat to prevent Iranian oil exports an empty promise that would not work. The United States is not capable of bringing our oil exports to zero, he declared. The US wants to reduce Irans oil exports effectively to zero with the renewed sanctions from November 4, after pulling out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May. Russia, however, has vowed to try to salvage the 2015 deal, and to protect its economic relations with Tehran. It has been unclear, however, how much other countries will cut back on Iranian oil imports despite the threat of their trading with Iran impacting their trading relationships with the US. Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China, which also signed the nuclear deal, opposed the Trump administrations decision to withdraw from it. European countries are trying to salvage the landmark accord. Iran said late last month that it expected the European Union to establish a legal framework by November 4 to bypass the American sanctions and to allow the continuation of trade between Tehran and EU member states. The European Union, for its part, said its members would set up a payment system to allow oil companies and businesses to continue trading with Iran. This article was originally published by " Times Of Israel " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here. ==See Also== Iran, Russia reach deal to circumvent US oil sanctions: Israeli report Hassan Rouhani: US seeking regime change in Iran Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. By Andre Damon October 15, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - In March, the United States Special Operations Command, the section of the Defense Department supervising the US Special Forces, held a conference on the theme of Sovereignty in the Information Age. The conference brought together Special Forces officers with domestic police forces, including officials from the New York Police Department, and representatives from technology companies such as Microsoft. This meeting of top military, police and corporate representatives went unreported and unpublicized at the time. However, the Atlantic Council recently published a 21-page document summarizing the orientation of the proceedings. It is authored by John T. Watts, a former Australian Army officer and consultant to the US Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. The Atlantic Council, a think tank with close ties to the highest levels of the state, has been a key partner in the social media companies censorship of left-wing views. Most notably, Facebook acted on a tip from the Atlantic Council when it shut down the official event page for an anti-fascist demonstration in Washington on the anniversary of last years neo-Nazi riot in Charlottesville. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Confident that none of the thousands of journalists in Washington will question, or even report, what he writes, Watts lays out, from the standpoint of the repressive apparatus of the state and the financial oligarchy it defends, why censorship is necessary. The central theme of the report is sovereignty, or the states ability to impose its will upon the population. This sovereignty, Watts writes, faces greater challenges now than it ever has in the past, due to the confluence between growing political opposition to the state and the internets ability to quickly spread political dissent. Watts cites the precedent of the invention of the printing press, which helped overthrow the feudal world order. In the Atlantic Councils estimation, however, this was an overwhelmingly negative development, ushering in decades, and arguably centuries, of conflict and disruption and undermining the sovereignty of absolutist states. The invention of the internet is similarly creating conflict and disruption, Watts writes. Trust in Western society, he warns, is experiencing a crisis. The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer has tracked this erosion, showing a 30 percent drop in trust in government over the last year in the United States. Watts notes that this collapse in support for the government cannot be explained merely by the rise of social media. This process began in the early 2000s, at the dawn of the social media age but before it had become mainstream. Left out are the major reasons for the collapse of popular support for government institutions: the stolen election of 2000, the Bush administrations lies about weapons of mass destruction, unending war and the impact of the 2008 financial crisis. However, while it is hard to argue that the current loss of trust results solely from the emergence of social media, Watts writes, there can be little doubt that it acted as a critical amplifier of broader trends." He continues: Technology has democratized the ability for sub-state groups and individuals to broadcast a narrative with limited resources and virtually unlimited scope. By contrast, In the past, the general public had limited sources of information, which were managed by professional gatekeepers. In other words, the rise of uncensored social media allowed small groups with ideas that correspond to those of the broader population to challenge the political narrative of vested interests on an equal footing, without the professional gatekeepers of the mainstream print and broadcast media, which publicizes only a pro-government narrative. When radical and extremist views and incorrect ideas are broadcast over social media, they can even influence the views of people who would not otherwise be sympathetic to that perspective, Watts warns. When forwarded by a close friend or relation, false information carries additional legitimacy; once accepted by an individual, this false information can be difficult to correct. People must be isolated, in other words, from the incorrect ideas of their friends and family, because such ideas are difficult to correct by the state once disseminated. But how is this to be done? The growth of oppositional sentiment cannot be combatted with facts or the truth, because facts themselves are not sufficient to combat disinformation. The truth is too complex, less interesting, and less meaningful to individuals. Nor can the growth of political opposition, for the time being, simply be solved by eliminating (i.e., killing or jailing) political dissidents, because this only lends legitimacy to the ideas of the victims. Eliminating those individuals and organizations will not be sufficient to combat the narrative and may in fact help amplify it. He adds, This is also the case for censorship as those behind the narrative can use the attempt to repress the message as proof of its truth, importance, or authenticity. Enter the social media companies. The best mechanism for suppressing oppositional viewpoints and promoting pro-government narratives is the private sector, in particular technology giants, including Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter, which can determine what people see and do not see. Watts adds, Fortunately, shifts in the policies of social media platforms such as Facebook have had significant impact on the type and quality of the content that is broadcast. The private sector, therefore, must do the dirty work of the government, because government propaganda is viewed with suspicion by the population. Business and the private sector may not naturally understand the role they play in combating disinformation, but theirs is one of the most important. In the West at least, they have been thrust into a central role due to the general publics increased trust in them as institutions. But this is only the beginning. Online newspapers should consider disabling commentary systemsthe function of allowing the general public to leave comments beneath a particular media item, while social media companies should use a grading system akin to that used to rate the cleanliness of restaurants to rate their users political statements. Strong-arm tactics still have a role, of course. Citing the example of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange, Watts declares that governments need to create consequences for spreading disinformation similar to those meted out for state espionage which can carry the death penalty. What Watts outlines in his document is a vision of a totalitarian social order, where the government, the media, and technology companies are united in suppressing oppositional viewpoints. The most striking element of the document, however, is that it is not describing the future, but contemporary reality. Everything is in the present tense. The machinery of mass censorship has already been built. The Atlantic Council report, based on high-level discussions within the military and state, is a confirmation of everything the World Socialist Web Site has said about the purpose of changes in the algorithms of internet and social media companies over the past year-and-a-half. On August 25, 2017, the WSWS published an open letter to Google alleging that the company is manipulating its Internet searches to restrict public awareness of and access to socialist, anti-war and left-wing websites. It added, Censorship on this scale is political blacklisting. Over the subsequent year, key details of the open letter have been indisputably confirmed. At congressional hearings and in other public statements, leading US technology companies have explained that they reduced the propagation of political views and statements targeted by US intelligence agencies, and did so in secret because they feared a public outcry. At the same time, they have explained the technical means by which they promoted pro-government, pro-war news outlets, such as the New York Times and Washington Post. But the Atlantic Council document presents the most clear, direct and unvarnished explanation of the regime of state censorship. The struggle against censorship is the spearhead of the defense of all democratic rights. The most urgent task is to unify the working class, which is engaged in a wave of social struggles all over the world, behind the struggle against censorship as a component of the fight for socialism. This article was originally published by " WSWS " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here. ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy A faction of Boko Haram, known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has made good their threat, by executing Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The terrorists also promised to keep Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi schoolgirl, as a slave for life, The Cable reports. More details shortly. Femi Fani- Kayode who has been a strong opposition voice against president Muhammadu Buhari ever since the administration took off, has yet again made another accusation about the president. The president has drawn a lot of criticisms to his administration since the announcement of a travel ban on 50 prominent Nigerians backed by executive order six, signed recently by Buhari. However, Fani-Kayode who revealed that he couldnt be bothered that his name appeared on the list, took to Twitter on Monday to make a case against president Buhari. According to FFK, the niece of Nenadi Usman, a former minister of Finance, whose name also appeared on the travel-ban list,has been shot dead by police officers, shortly after the list was announced by the federal government. Fani-Kayode said the former ministers niece was shot dead in Abuja, in the middle of the night by four police officers. He wrote; Former Min. of Finance and leading opposition figure,Sen. Nenadi Usman, was one of those listed on Buharis travel ban. A few hours after the Presidency announced the ban her neice was trailed,targetted,intercepted and shot dead by 4 policemen in the middle of the night in Abuja! Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris has ordered the arrest of police officers involved in the death of Nigerian woman, Anita Akapson. The incident which happened on Saturday night at Katampe Extention, Abuja led to demise of the young woman after she was allegedly shot by police. In a statement by the force headquarters signed by Jimoh Moshood, on Monday, they revealed that the police officers will be investigated and justice will be brought to the family of the deceased, while urging them to take heart. See statement below RE: Death of Miss Anita Akapson at Katampe Extension, Abuja IGP has ordered the detention and investigation of Policemen involved in the incident that led to the death of Miss Anita Akapson He deeply commiserate with the family of the deceased and assure them that justice will be done in the matter The Inspector General of Police has directed the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to immediately detain and personally carry out a thorough investigation of policemen involved in the incident that resulted in the death of Miss Anita Akapson at Katampe Extension, Abuja on the night of Saturday, 13th October, 2018; and bring the perpetrators to justice. 2. The IGP deeply commiserate with the family of the deceased and hereby assure them that justice will be done in the matter. The Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command is already in touch with the family as directed by the Inspector General of Police. 3. The public will be informed of the outcome of investigations into the incident. Presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria(ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili has made a passionate plea to president Muhammadu Buhari over kidnapped schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu. Leah Sharibu, who was kidnapped by Boko Haram, alongside her schoolmates in a government secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe state has remained in captivity, although some of her mates were released but she was held back because she refused to denounce her faith. The BringBackOurGirls(BBOG) Co-convener, took to Twitter on Monday ask for Sharibu and two humanitarian aide workers release from the government, she says they need the justice of rescue. She wrote: Dear President Muhammadu Buhari , It is with a very burdened heart, that I beg of you this day, to please do everything possible to get #LeahSharibu #Hauwa and #Alice (the #TwoRann humanitarian aid workers) out of the den of their captors today. Give them the justice of rescue. Please. A Nigerian man has proposed to his girlfriend in Santorini area of Greece, after 11-years of knowing and dating her. The man identified as Akeem Ojuko took to his social media page to share the news. He wrote: ENGAGED! ok ok ok!! there is few times in my life Ive been lost for words but I genuinely cannot describe the love ai I have for this woman. Shes been a continuous rock in my life for the past half a decade (yes MAD half a decade you know), and Im proud to say this beautiful human being is now my fiance. For the 11 years Ive known you, 5 years weve been together, I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you. love ALWAYS!! You know, its mad funny how life works, how everything I do, is literally for you. If I could bold this whole caption I would. I wish I could show more photos to express my love and joy right now, but you just cant photo life sometimes. I also didnt even need to be in these photos as I dont need to spoil the pic #soontobe#fiance #proposal #engagement#loverighthere #wife Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu has sued the All Progressives Congress(APC) for disqualifying him as a governorship aspirant in Oyo state on account of not presenting the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme discharge certificate. The Punch Newspaper correspondent, Mr. Friday Olokor, who was detained last week by Nigerian soldiers has given 48-hour ultimatum to the army to file a written apology in addition to a N50million compensation over unlawful arrest, grievous assault, inhuman and degrading treatment by soldiers from the 3rd Army Division in Jos, Plateau State. The Sun Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has declared that he will wholeheartedly support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar to electoral victory in 2019. Guardian General overseer of the Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel, David Oyedepo has responded to critics, who trolled him for accompaning Atiku Abubakar to visit Olusegun Obasanjo. When photos of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku visiting his former boss, former president Obasanjo, Bishop Oyedepo was seen to be a part of the visitor. This sparked a debate nationally, as some argued whether religious leaders should be partisan or not. However, setting the record straight, Oyedepo speaking in a church service of his church in Ota, Ogun state on Sunday, he said he wasnt partisan. In his words: Never be left in any doubt, I have never belonged to any political party and I will never belong to any. There is no political party where members of Winners are not. Our goal is to secure the future of Nigeria. I am called a peacemaker and I have done that at all levels in this country. I am anointed to be a mediator because the price of peace is cheaper than the cost of war. That is my involvement. I was invited and I dont go anywhere Im not called. The spirit of faith is a daring spirit. You can see what is happening in this country today, it takes men and women of the spirit of faith to stop the devil. Wickedness wont give up without vengeance; you cant be killing people and pretend that you dont know. Nobody is qualified to lead by morality without a feeling for peoples lives. The day of killer agents has come to an end; anybody who has pity on killers is a killer. God is angry with the wicked every day. The recent holocaust in Plateau state is an assault on the moral standing of a nation. If you must kill to rule, you wont rule. Anybody who must kill to access power, God will deal with them, either local or state government. Dont mind any devil; I have never taken a dime from any candidate in my life. We have never given bribe to anybody in this ministry. I have been very close to the corridors of power, but I have never collected a dime from any of them. Anybody who partners with killers, whatever happen to killers will happen to them. There will be no war in Nigeria, but those who want it will go for it. A mum-of-two was filmed falling to her death from a 27th floor balcony as she tried to take a selfie, according to Metro UK. The woman identified as 44-year-old Sandra Manuela Da Costa Macedo, lost her balance while leaning on a railing as she took a photo of herself. Nearby construction workers filmed as she took photographs in fear that she would fall, moments before she tragically plunged from the building. She was still holding a selfie stick as she fell, according to witnesses. Paramedics rushed to the Luxor Tower in a popular neighbourhood of Panama City called El Cangrejo just after 10am local time on Friday. Police sources told local media they think she was knocked off balance by a high gust of wind after spending several minutes taking photos. According to reports Sandra only moved to Panama recently from the northern Portuguese town of Vila das Aves. She had taught in schools in the resort of Esposende near Braga in northern Portugal and the nearby historic city of Viana do Castelo. Erick Alzate, a witness who lives in the block, confirmed her death had been a tragic accident. He said: I live here in the tower where she fell. She had been taking selfies for a couple of minutes and construction workers on a block opposite were shouting to her to be careful. She decided to sit on the railing for the last selfie and thats when she went over the edge. Well-wishers took to social media today to offer their condolences to her family. One said: Rest in peace. Such a stupid way to die. Jose Guillermo added: Peace for her soul and strength for her family. Maria del Carmen wrote: Such a tragedy that such a beautiful lady like you loses their life this way. My sincere condolences for your loved ones. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. NIDA Pakistan NGO Jobs for Manager & Education Specialist Latest National Integrated Development Association NIDA NGO Posts Kohistan 2021 National Integrated Development Association NIDA District Kohistan, Pakistan seeks candidates for the posts of Project Manager, Monitoring Officer, Education Specialist, Field Officer, Educator, Admin Officer, Finance Officer, HR Assistant, Admin Assistant, Data Entry Operator, Engineer, Support Staff. How to Apply on National Integrated Development Association NIDA 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. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his spouse are welcomed by the Vietnam Embassys staff and Vietnamese expatriates in Austria (Photo: VNA) Among hundreds of overseas Vietnamese participating in the event, many travelled from Eastern European nations like Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland to Austria for the meeting. Reporting to the Government leader on the local expat affairs, Vietnamese Ambassador to Austria Le Dung said the Vietnamese community in Austria numbers over 4,000, most of who live in Vienna. According to him, most Vietnamese nationals in Austria have stable jobs and obey the host countrys law. The community keeps close contact and often organises charity activities to support disadvantaged people in Vietnam. Participating expatriates said with delight that they have received frequent assistance from the Vietnamese diplomatic representative agency. They said they have made efforts to teach Vietnamese and spread Vietnamese culture among their community in order to preserve the national cultural characteristics. PM Phuc informed the participants on significant progress of their home land recently, underscoring the nations open foreign diplomacy and policy of deep integration into the global economy and trade. Overseas Vietnamese is an integral part of Vietnam, he affirmed. Phuc urged the expatriates to enhance the teaching of Vietnamese language, particularly among the second generation, as a basis to maintain their roots. He requested the Foreign Ministry and diplomatic representative missions overseas to come up with specific policies to support the work. He assigned relevant agencies to research and issue more favourable policies on nationality for overseas Vietnamese and facilitate their investment in Vietnam. Vietnam always welcomes the expatriates contribution to the development of their home country, Phuc stated. On the occasion, the PM presented gifts to the expats and urged them to continue fostering the friendship between Vietnam and their host nations. PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam arrived in Vienna in the afternoon of October 14th (local time), beginning an official visit to Austria at the invitation of his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz. Austria is the first stop of the PM during his trip to Europe, during which he will also pay official visit to Belgium and Denmark, make a working visit to the European Union and attend the 12th ASEM Summit (ASEM12) and the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 Summit (P4G)./. Governor Josef Bernard is interested in when being present Vietnam's Chu Dau ceramic product (Photo: VNA) At the meeting, Ambassador Tuan highly appreciated Plzens potentials and strengths in industry, agriculture, transport, tourism and service, which are fields in which Plzen and Vietnams localities can cooperate and exchange experiences. He also thanked the board of leaders and Governor Josef Bernard for supporting and creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to integrate into the local society and actively participate in the localitys activities. The Ambassador wanted the Vietnamese community to continue to receive further attention, including financial support, to organize cultural activities as well as create conditions to grant license, rent location and space to open a Vietnamese class for children and develop spiritual cultural activities. Currently, the 6,000-member Vietnamese community in Plzen mainly do business, service or work for local factories. Mr. Ho Minh Tuan suggested that Plzen and Can Tho city should cooperate with each other specifically to implement the cooperation contents signed in the memorandum of understanding in 2014, especially in investment and trade fileds. University of West Bohemia in Plzen and Can Tho University should build and develop the cooperation relations to exchange scientific research themes and welcome Vietnamese students to Plzen to study. The Vietnamese Ambassador hoped that Plzen and Vietnams localities will continue to promote people exchange to increase understanding between the peoples and to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations establishment (1950-2020). Governor Josef Bernard agreed with the proposals of Ambassador Ho Minh Tuan, saying that he would have specific plans to organize photo and painting exhibitions. Besides, his country will translate some books and subtitles of excellent films of Vietnam into Czech language. He also asked University of West Bohemia in Plzen and Can Tho University to cooperate closely to implement specific demands of each university. Plzen is happy to work with Vietnamese sides to organize business forums, economic conferences and investment promotion./. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Cory Taylor is shown with injuries he claims were sustained after an altercation with the Halifax Regional Police in this undated handout photo. A lawyer is calling for a judicial review after a complaint about the alleged misconduct of two Halifax police officers was dismissed earlier this year. Benjamin Perryman, a Halifax-based lawyer with an interest in constitutional and human rights law, says the Nova Scotia Police Complaints Commissioner failed to conduct a neutral and thorough investigation into his client's complaint, which was filed in December 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Wanda Taylor It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover CHARLES CITY, Iowa A trial date is set for an accused Floyd County meth dealer. Jason Lee Head, 34 of Charles City, is pleading not guilty to three counts of delivery of methamphetamine. Law enforcement says Head sold over 29 grams of meth in early 2018 and was arrested in August after tests confirmed the substance seized by investigators was methamphetamine. Delivery of meth is a class B felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Heads trial is scheduled to begin on November 27. ROCHESTER, Minn. A 19-year-old is facing numerous charges after allegedly kicking in the door of a residence and threatening its occupants. Matthew Glass, of Rochester, is facing charges for first-degree burglary, terroristic threats and disorderly conduction in connection to an incident Friday morning in the 1500 block of 4th Ave. SE. Police said he stayed at the residence but was asked to leave after causing a disturbance. A 10x14 pictures fell off the wall, according to police, and almost hit a 71-year-old female who was inside. Glass is also accused of threatening people inside, which included at least three adults and children ages 11, 9, 7 and 7. MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) Supporters of a right-wing group are asking a judge not to grant a "deluxe legal defense" for a Mexican national charged with killing an Iowa college student. More than 200 people have sent postcards to Judge Joel Yates protesting his decision to authorize $5,000 for an investigator to work with Cristhian Bahena Rivera's defense. Illegal immigrant charged with murder in Tibbetts case Timeline: The disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts Reaction to arrest in the case Rivera pleads not guilty to first-degree murder The postcards are distributed by the Virginia-based Secure America Alliance. They ask Yates not to "award any more taxpayer money for a deluxe legal defense for an illegal alien." Rivera is charged with killing 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, who disappeared July 18 in Brooklyn. Rivera had worked for years at a dairy farm, and prosecutors say he was in the U.S. illegally. Yates granted a routine request by Rivera's defense last month to appoint a private investigator, writing that Rivera is indigent and the case "presents a need for an investigator." He approved a $5,000 stipend, saying additional payments are subject to court approval. ST. PAUL, Minn. Rochester City Lines has lost another round in its years long court battle against the City of Rochester. Rochester City Lines provided bus service in Rochester from 1966 through 2012, but lost the bus service contract in a competitive bidding process in 2012 and 2016. The company sued the city over losing the contract both times. On Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled again against Rochester City Lines in its lawsuit over the 2016 contract. The company filed a pre-bid protest involving the 2016 contract. That protest was denied by a moderator and the contract was awarded to company called First Transit. The Court of Appeals reversed that denial on one grounds but declined to consider other issues raised by Rochester City Lines. The Minnesota Supreme Court then ordered the Court of Appeals to rule on those other issues. Those issues include Rochester City Lines claiming they were unfairly deprived of references, their past performance for the city was not fully considered, the City of Rochester was biased toward First Transit, and the city unfairly denied opportunities for small business. The Court of Appeals has now ruled against Rochester City Lines on all those issues, stating they find no basis exists to overturn the moderators decision on this or any of the other issues the Supreme Court directed this Court to address. OLMSTED COUNTY, Minn. A 10-year-old female was injured Sunday in a two-vehicle accident at Highway 52 and 65th Ave. SE. The Minnesota State patrol said a van driven by 19-year-old Makayla Phillips-Tucke was traveling southbound when it attempted to make a U-turn and was struck by a truck driven by 21-year-old Hank Friederichs. Authorities said a passenger in the van, a 10-year-old from Dodge Center, was transported to St. Marys Hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Phillips-Tucke, an 8-year-old female, and 29-year-old Damiana Huber were all in the van but were not injured. Friederichs was also not injured. CBS via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump, in a wide-ranging interview on CBS' 60 Minutes, dithered on whether he believes climate change is manmade, called the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi "disgusting," defended his friendship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and said he believed, despite mocking her at a rally two weeks ago, that he treated Christine Blasey Ford with respect. Here are the highlights of the interview. Trump refutes that climate change is a 'hoax' but won't say it's manmade Trump went back and forth with "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl, who has interviewed him three times since his nomination at the Republican National Convention in 2016, on each issue, but first up was climate change. Last week, an intergovernmental report from a United Nations panel on climate change found that the continued release of greenhouse gas emissions at their current rate would create a worldwide crisis by 2040. Trump said he would not call climate change a "hoax," but he would not admit that humans have had an influence, either. "I think somethings happening," Trump said. "Somethings changing and itll change back again. I don't think it's a hoax, I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's man-made." Trump announced over a year ago that he intends to remove the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, a non-binding resolution the U.S. signed in 2016 that agreed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Stahl challenged Trump's statement, and said his own government scientists at NASA and NOAA have reported otherwise. "I'm not denying climate change. But it could very well go back," Trump said. He started to argue that there's a large time frame for comparison, millions of years. "But thats denying it," Stahl said. "They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael," Trump said. "Who says that? 'They say?'" Stahl followed up. "People say," said the president. Stahl asked about the scientists who are raising the alarm on climate change and saying it is, in fact, worse now than ever before, but Trump argued that he'd have to take a look at their political motivations. "You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda, Lesley," Trump said. There's 'something really terrible' about the disappearance of Khashoggi The United States is going to get to the bottom of the disappearance of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump said, and there will be "severe punishment" if Saudi Arabia is found responsible. "There's a lot at stake, a lot at stake. And maybe especially so, because this man was a reporter," Trump said. "There's something -- you may be surprised to hear me say that -- but there's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that were the case, so we're going to have to see. We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment." But when asked whether or not he would impose sanctions against Saudi Arabia if they were involved, Trump said that it depends on what the sanctions are, noting that major defense contractors secured a deal with the Saudis to build military equipment and he wouldn't want any potential punishment to cost American jobs. "Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon," Trump said, listing the companies. "I don't want to hurt jobs. I don't want to lose an order like that, there are other ways of punishing. To use a word that's a pretty harsh word but it's true," Trump said. Trump on thousands laughing at Blasey Ford at rally Trump defended mocking Christine Blasey Fords testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in front of a cheering, laughing crowd at a Mississippi rally two weeks ago where he imitated her and said, "How did you get home? I dont remember. How did you get there? I dont remember. Where is the place? I dont remember. How many years ago was it? I dont know." He also said without that speech, he may not have been able to get Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the country's highest court. "Had I not made that speech, we would not have won. I was just saying she didn't seem to know anything," Trump said. Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault back when they attended high school together in Maryland, was asked during the hearing what her strongest memory from the alleged assault was. "Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter. The uproarious laughter between the two. And their having fun at my expense," Ford responded, adding, "They were laughing with each other." Kavanaugh has directly refuted all claims of sexual assault from Ford and others. "Professor Blasey Ford got before the Senate and -- and was asked what's the worst moment. And she said, 'When the two boys laughed at me, at my expense.'" Stahl said. "OK, fine," said Trump. "And then I watched you mimic her and thousands of people were laughing at her," Stahl said. "They can do what they -- I -- I will tell you this. The way now Justice Kavanaugh was treated has become a big factor in the midterms. Have you seen what's gone on with the polls?" Trump responded. He defended his comments, and said "the person that we're talking about didn't know the year, the time, the place. He went on to say that he felt Ford was treated with "great respect." Trump claims US and North Korea almost went to war So far, North Korea has been "a great achievement," the president said, claiming that the day before he came into office, the countries almost went to war. "I will say this. The day before I came in, we were going to war with North Korea," Trump said. "I think it was going to end up in war," Trump said. "And my impression is -- and even in my first few months, I mean, that rhetoric was as tough as it could possibly get. Doesnt get any tougher than that. Nobody's ever heard rhetoric that tough. We were going to war with North Korea," Trump said. Over those few months, the president called Kim "little rocket man" and said that continued threats against the U.S. would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." "Now, you don't hear that. You don't hear any talk of it. And he doesn't want to go to war, and we don't want to go to war, and he understands denuclearization and hes agreed to it. And you see that, hes agreed to it. No missiles," Trump said of Kim. Trump could not answer whether or not the North Koreans, while not testing missiles, are still building them. He also said he has no plans to ease sanctions on North Korea: "This isn't the Obama administration. I haven't eased the sanctions. I haven't done anything. I haven't done anything. We're meeting. I believe he likes me. I like him. We have a good relationship. It's very important." Stahl pushed Trump on recent comments he made that he and Kim "fell in love." "I want to read you his resume, OK? He presides over a cruel kingdom of repression, gulags, starvation -- reports that he had his half-brother assassinated, slave labor, public executions. This is a guy you love?" she asked. Trump called it a figure of speech, and eventually turned the focus to ending threats against the U.S. "Look. Let it be whatever it is. I get along with him really well. I have a good energy with him. I have a good chemistry with him. Look at the horrible threats that were made. No more threats. No more threats," Trump said. On China: It's not a trade war, it's a 'skirmish' Trump said he might be imposing more tariffs on China, but said they want to negotiate. "I have a great chemistry also with President Xi of China. I don't know that that's necessarily going to continue. I told President Xi we cannot continue to have China take $500 billion a year out of the United States in the form of trade and others things," Trump said. But don't call what's going on between China and the U.S. a trade war. According to Trump, it's not a war, or a battle, but a "skirmish." "I called it, actually I called it a battle. But, actually, I'm going to lower that. I consider it a skirmish. And we're going to win," Trump said. Trump says Mattis 'may leave,' as 'everybody' does The president defended his stance on NATO, the organization of North American and European countries that Trump said was created to take advantage of the U.S. Stahl asked Trump about reports that his Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis told him NATO and other strategic alliances are created to "prevent World War III." "Frankly, I like Gen. Mattis. I think I know more about it than he does. And I know more about it from the standpoint of fairness, that I can tell you," Trump said. "I'm fully in favor of NATO, but I don't want to be taken advantage of," Trump said. When asked if Mattis could be out the door, Trump said he has a good relationship with Mattis - but added he is "sort of a Democrat." "I have a very good relationship with him. I had lunch with him two days ago. I have a very good relationship with him. It could be that he is, I think he's sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth," Trump said. "But Gen. Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves. Everybody. People leave. That's Washington," Trump added. On Russia, the president's relationship with Putin and possible meddling In a testy exchange, Trump challenged Stahls question about why he doesnt seem to have anything bad to say about Russian President Vladimir Putin. "You don't know what I talked about with Putin in the meeting prior to the press conference," Trump said about the joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki over the summer. "No, I mean publicly. You never say anything harsh about him," Stahl replied. "Excuse me," Trump said. "I didn't? I'm the one that gave Ukraine offensive weapons and tank killers. Obama didn't. You know what he sent? He sent pillows and blankets. I'm the one-- and he's the one that gave away a part of Ukraine where Russia now has this." "I think I'm very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him. The two of us. It was a very tough meeting and it was a very good meeting," Trump said. Trump did admit Putin "probably" has ordered assassinations and poisonings as Stahl said. When asked directly if Russia meddled in the 2016 election, Trump added that China probably did, too. "They -- they meddled. But I think China meddled too," Trump said. Stahl then accused Trump of diverting her question about whether or not Russia meddled. "You are diverting the whole Russia thing," Stahl said. "I'm not doing anything," the president said. "Im saying Russia, but I'm also saying China." Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Exterior of Sejong S Theater / Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts Opening program lacks uniqueness By Kwon Mee-yoo The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts is one of the largest and most prestigious theaters in Korea with its Grand Theater, M Theater and Chamber Hall. Now the theater is making an attempt to nurture more experimental works at its newly built Sejong S Theater, opening Thursday. "The Sejong S Theater is a black box theater, in which stage and seat composition can be easily modified. This is going to be a cradle for innovative theatrical productions from plays and musicals to dance, music and traditional art," Kim Sung-kyu, the theater's new CEO who took office in September, said at a press conference, Monday. The 2,200 square-meter theater has roughly 320 seats and has an orchestra pit, which could provide a better environment for live music for small-sized productions. However, the program of the Sejong S Theater's opening festival is rather disappointing. Despite bragging about the versatility of the theater, none of the shows prepared for the opening festival, which runs through the end of this year, utilizes the theater's characteristics. First on the line up are concerts by Won Mi-sol and Lee Sung-joon, two prominent composers and musical directors on Oct.18 and 21. The concert will use three sides of the seats, but is mainly designed for audience members in the front. The Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, Theatre de Liege's "NATIVOS" and the Seoul Metropolitan Theatre's new play "Termite in Desert" will also be in staged in the traditional proscenium style. Sejong S Theater is a black box theater for flexible staging techniques. / Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts President Moon Jae-in takes a photo with BTS members after their performance in Paris. Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul PARIS -- BTS performed in Paris ahead of President Moon Jae-in's second summit with French President Emmanuel Macron. The "Korea-France Friendship Concert," held at an art performance theater in central Paris, was attended by President Moon, first lady Kim Jong-sook and about 400 others including students and musicians, Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday. Moon's stop in Paris is part of his trip to Europe that will continue until Oct. 21. The theme of the concert was "The Cry of Korean Musicians," with performances by traditional Korean musicians on the "geomungo" -- a traditional Korean string instrument -- and "pansori" -- traditional musical storytelling with a vocalist and a drummer -- as well as a fusion of modern instruments with traditional Korean sounds. BTS is on the European leg of its world tour BTS performs in Paris. President Moon Jae-in signs his autograph on his gift watches to BTS members. Yonhap By Jhoo Dong-chan Global Friends leader Choi Kyou-taek has led volunteer activity in a rural area in Vietnam for 12 years. Starting the non-governmental organization's charity activity in 2006 to help bereaved family members of the Vietnamese War, Choi has since led volunteer medical services, offered scholarships and donated personal computers to rural communities in Xuan Son and Yen Ky, Phu Tho Province. Choi and Global Friends continued their charity this year as well for three days from Oct. 11, and workers from the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and a local Korean community participated in the good cause. "Global Friends isn't a large charity group, but has conducted volunteer activity for more than 10 years in the Southeast Asian country," Choi told The Korea Times. "Not many charity groups in Korea volunteer in a certain country for more than 10 years." Recognizing Choi's efforts, the IBK and the Hanoi Korean community jointly donated more than 7 million won worth of overcoats and food for middle school students in Phu Tho Province. Five workers from IBK's Hanoi office also joined the charity group's three-day volunteer activity in the area. "More than 80 percent people in Phu Tho Province are farmers. We suffered a great deal because of floods in April. Basic infrastructure such as electricity and roads were destroyed," said Minh Yen, reporter of Vietnam City Farmer News. "They came from 150 kilometers from the metropolitan area to help young students and farmers from minority groups in the region. They donated money, food and livestock, but what they really gave was hope." Organized to help bereaved family members of the Vietnamese War, Global Friends was founded in 2006. It has since visited various regions in Vietnam, including Sonla, Lao Cai, Nghe An and Dien Bien Province, to help not only the bereaved family members there but also those who need medical attention. "Global Friends has a plan to provide education service for students from multicultural families in Korea," Choi said. "It also aims to conduct an overseas education program in Southeast Asian countries for those students. Korean firms such as IBK promised to help us." By Park Hyong-ki Shinhan Financial Group has forged a strategic partnership with KKR, a global private equity giant, to seek investment opportunities abroad, the financial holding company said. The two signed a memorandum of understanding just before the Chuseok holiday, which was from Sept. 23 to 25, for a partnership under which Shinhan can take advantage of KKR's longstanding experience and networks in global finance, and mergers and acquisitions, it added. Both sides have not yet drawn up a list of potential targets, given the early stage of their strategic partnership. However, Shinhan Financial said it could, for instance, seek to invest in global capital markets or pursue acquisitions of alternative assets and real estate. "The group could further acquire buildings with KKR, which possesses a well-established financial mechanism, as Shinhan's interest in real estate has been growing overseas," said a spokesman for the financial group. This means Shinhan will be able to use KKR's capability in sourcing and financing deals. KKR could not be reached for comment. In 2017, the group's global investment banking unit acquired debt securities of One Worldwide Plaza, a commercial building in Manhattan, New York, through Shinhan Alternative Investment Management and Shinhan Life. The debt managed by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank was part of a refinancing scheme by RXR Realty and SL Green Realty for the acquisition of the building from New York REIT. Shinhan's strategic ties with KKR is in line with the group's efforts to expand its global investment operations as it seeks to generate 20 percent of its total net profit from overseas business by 2020, up from the current 13 percent. Under this vision, the group has launched a global investment banking unit by integrating its key subsidiaries' resources in deal making and financing to help spur its overall nonbanking business. Shinhan Financial is currently in negotiations to take over Orange Life, formerly ING Life Insurance, from MBK Partners, a local private equity giant. The group agreed to pursue the acquisition of a 59.15 percent stake in Orange from MBK in September. Shinhan denied news reports that it will seek to acquire the life insurer with KKR, which would buy some Orange shares that would be swapped for Shinhan Financial Group shares later. "The partnership agreement does not extend to that. Also, a private equity investment in Shinhan does not fit the characteristics of KKR," the Shinhan spokesman said. A private equity fund, generally, invests in or acquires equities or debt securities in assets, which it can resell after it improves their finances after an average period of five years. KKR is renowned for its leverage buyout of RJR Nabisco, a tobacco and food conglomerate, in 1988, which was famously depicted in the book "Barbarians at the Gate." The private equity's local deals include selling Oriental Brewery (OB) back to Anheuser-Busch InBev for $5.8 billion in 2014, the largest exit then made by a foreign investor. KKR acquired OB from InBev for $1.8 billion in 2009. This building, identified as part of the Koryo Sungkyunkwan Academy, opened in 2012 next to the historic site of Koryo Sungkyunkwan in Kaesong. / Jon Dunbar This is the second in a three-part series about travel in North Korea. By Jon Dunbar Road travel anywhere outside Pyongyang is extremely unpleasant. Google says the 172.3km Pyongyang-Kaesong Highway is a 102-minute trip, but the actual time is closer to two and a half hours due to the patchy roads that hinder travel speeds. Despite this, leaving the capital at least once on a visit to North Korea is worth it. Pyongyang is a showcase city, but Kaesong better represents North Korean urban life. It served as the capital of the 918-1392 Goryeo Kingdom and still has numerous historic attractions. After division of the peninsula, Kaesong was part of the South, but changed hands during the 1950-53 Korean War. Yet, most people in the South would only think of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC, spelled with a G to reflect the South's Revised Romanization style), located about 5km outside the populated area. Kaesong is a beautiful and sunny, yet gritty and textured metropolis, among the North's top 10 by population with around 200,000 people. It's suffused with broad apartment buildings of many bright colors and porous back alleys offering a glimpse into real North Korean city living. Colors are stronger here than my 2010 visit, suggesting a citywide major beautification project since then. Tongil Street cuts north-south through the city bisecting a valley, so when you enter Kaesong from the south, the road curves down and then up again to statues of former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Kaesong's Tongil Street cuts a gently sloping north-south axis through the city, creating a distinctly welcoming scale to the city. / Jon Dunbar The city is a pleasing combination of medium-rise apartments and older houses, what we in the South would call hanok. But that word is foreign to North Koreans, who speak joseonmal rather than hangukmal and wear joseon-ot instead of hanbok. Kaesong's streets are crawling with life. You can see people of all ages riding bikes everywhere, assembled together or just hanging out with no clear objective. It's different from Pyongyang where the streets feel emptier and everyone has somewhere to go. On a short bus ride through Kaesong, I witnessed people setting up stands or traveling around to sell stuff, and saw one kid offering shoe repairs. Soon our bus pulled into a parking lot located between two mirror-opposite gift shops made in a traditional Korean style. We were at the entrance to the Kaesong Koryo Museum, which people in the South might better understand by its original name: Sungkyunkwan. This institute of higher education, originally named Gukjagam, traces back to 992. With the changing of dynasties in the 1390s, the capital moved south to Seoul and Sungkyunkwan moved too. The Koryo Sungkyunkwan buildings remained until their destruction in the 1592-98 Imjin War. Many of the reconstructions were said to date back to 1602. Just like in the South, some of the trees were even older. I'm one of only two members I know of an exclusive club of people who've been to all three Sungkyunkwan campuses: in Kaesong, Seoul and Suwon. After my 2010 visit, I worked for Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in Seoul, serving as the de facto English-language tour guide for the old campus. Both Sungkyunkwan traditional campuses are identical in layout, centered around two separate rectangular yards arranged like a geomantic circuit board, one for academics and one for worship. Gukjagam was a cultural import from China's Confucianist Song Dynasty, its curriculum focused on the Confucian classics necessary for the complicated civil service exam. However, the museum, opened in 1987, highlights the prerevolutionary bad old days and emphasizes the Buddhist relics on view at this historic Confucian site. A Confucian Temple at Koryo Sungkyunkwan, now repurposed for the Kaesong Koryo Museum / Jon Dunbar Nevertheless, a stone plaque boasts the site was added to UNESCO's World Heritage list in Juche 102 (2013), an accomplishment still out of reach of our Sungkyunkwan. To the west of Koryo Sungkyunkwan was a massive palatial building my guide said was Sungkyunkwan University of Light Industry. Wikimapia labels it as Koryo Sungkyunkwan Academy, and I can't guess its affiliation to the university, whose main campus is located about a kilometer south. Yes, North Korea has its own SKKU, and it had ties with the South's during the Sunshine Era. Our SKKU claims to be the oldest in Asia, but theirs is a full four centuries older. Imagine that, if you own any SKKU paraphernalia, after reunification you might have to upgrade your "Since 1398" gear for "Since 992." Next, we had a great lunch at a Kaesong restaurant, made possible by tour organizer Paektu Cultural Exchange. They served insam dakgom (ginseng chicken stew, indistinguishable from South Korean samgyetang), and I found actual Chinese-labeled Pepsi available. Ginseng is a staple of the region. Most of our group agreed it was our best meal so far. A ginseng chicken soup, called "insam dakgom" but resembling the South's samgyetang, is served at a tourist restaurant in Kaesong along with a Pepsi with Chinese labeling. / Jon Dunbar As we left, I noticed a grand traditional house through the trees behind the restaurant. My guide told me it was the home of Jeong Mong-ju, a Goryeo loyalist who refused to recognize the rise of Joseon and put to death. Jeong is one of Korea's 18 Men of Virtue, and a biannual ritual at Seoul's Sungkyunkwan still honors him every year. Kaesong's fate is to serve as a gateway between the Koreas. The city, located between Seoul and Pyongyang on Korea's oldest train line, the Gyeongui Line, has incredible cultural value. And as the site of the GIC and SKKU, it will likely serve to distribute the wealth, vocational skills and cultural savvy needed to reconnect the Korean Peninsula. In Kaesong, the inherent value in reunification for both Koreas will shine brightly. South Korea's ruling party chief said Monday that he heard Pope Francis is hoping to visit North Korea next spring as its leader Kim Jong-un has invited him to Pyongyang. Lee Hae-chan, the chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), made the remark without revealing the source of the information. "I heard that there is talk that Pope Francis wants to visit North Korea next spring," Lee said at a meeting with senior party officials. It would be quite meaningful if President Moon Jae-in delivers Kim's invitation and the pope visits North Korea, he added. During a summit with Moon last month, the North's leader said he would ardently welcome the pope if he visits Pyongyang, according to Moon's spokesman. Moon plans to deliver the message to the pope when he visits the Vatican from Oct. 17-18 as part of his nine-day trip to Europe. If realized, it will be the first-ever visit by a pope to North Korea. South Korea's Catholic church welcomed the invitation and expressed hope that relations between the Vatican and North Korea will improve. (Yonhap) Kim Myeong-sung South Korea's unification ministry has excluded a North Korean defector-turned-journalist from joining pool reporters for Monday's high-level talks with the North. Citing safety concerns and other "special" circumstances, the ministry earlier decided to exclude Kim Myeong-sung of the Chosun Ilbo, a local daily newspaper, from the group of reporters to be sent to the truce village of Panmunjom for the high-level talks with North Korea. Kim has worked for the country's largest-circulation newspaper for years and is currently covering the unification ministry that handles inter-Korean affairs. "High-level talks are held in a confined space, and Kim is widely known for his active reporting. We are asking for cooperation since the decision is deemed necessary under such special circumstances, rather than trying to restrict the press," Baik Tae-hyun, ministry spokesman, told reporters. The spokesman added that there had been no objection from the North about the reporter and that the ministry made the decision on its own by taking into account various factors. Asked if his exclusion means defectors-turned-journalists can no longer cover inter-Korean talks, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told reporters before leaving for Panmunjom that he could not answer such an assumption-based question. The ministry's decision, however, is drawing strong protests from the press corps as it was made at the last moment without sufficient consultations with reporters in advance. The move is also raising eyebrows as it could be seen as an action focusing too much on how the North reacts rather than protecting freedom of the press. The press corps of the unification ministry chooses pool reporters for inter-Korean events based on predetermined orders. Monday's talks will be held on the southern side of Panmunjom inside the heavily fortified demilitarized zone that bisects the two Koreas, which technically remain at war as the 1950-53 war ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 30,000 North Korean defectors have came to South Korea so far. (Yonhap) By Jung Da-min North Korea's party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun's Monday edition highlighted conflicts surrounding a joint gas pipeline project between Germany and Russia, supporting Russia's argument that European countries should approve the project. In a relatively toned-down editorial titled "Complex contradictions surrounding 'Nord Stream 2,'" the newspaper said the American attempt to sanction countries involved in the project was aimed at replacing Russian gas with the U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG). The editorial came out two days after the DPRK Information Committee, the North Korean government's organization committed to state-level public relations, began a rare trip to the U.K., France and Hong Kong. These moves are seen as North Korea's efforts to raise its voice in international diplomacy, strengthening its ties with other countries as well as traditional close alliances with Russia and China to fight back against U.S. sanctions. The North Korean newspaper also criticized the "double standards" of European countries that opposed the Russia-Europe joint project. "Friction has been widening between Europe and the U.S. due to U.S additional tariffs on steel and aluminum, but Europe is not even trying to shift to active cooperation with Russia," Rodong said. Nord Stream 2 is a project to build a new pipeline alongside an existing one to double the amount of gas directly transferred to Germany from Russia from up to 55 billion cubic meters to 110 billion cubic meters a year. Russia's state-run gas company Gazprom is leading the project, working with companies from France, Austria, the Netherlands and Germany. By Jung Da-min North Korea is strengthening its ties with Mongolia, with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga's inviting Chairman Kim Jong-un to visit the country to mark the 70th anniversary of North Korea-Mongolia diplomatic relations. North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday that Kim received the invitation last week. KCNA also reported that a delegation of the Mongolian Food, Agriculture and Environment Workers Trade Unions headed by President Gantuya Ochirjantsan arrived in North Korea, Sunday. Diplomatic relations between North Korea and Mongolia have strengthened in recent years, with trade volume between the countries rising steadily. In particular, Mongolia's exports to North Korea jumped 55 percent last year compared to the previous year, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency's January citing the statistics of Mongolian Customs. By Lee Suh-yoon Calls are once again growing for the government to treat juvenile delinquents in the same way it treats adult offenders amid escalating violent crimes by minors who receive less severe penalties. According to the nation's Juvenile Act, perpetrators aged 14 and under cannot be sent to jail and those under the age of 18, who commit crimes punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment, can only be given a prison term of up to 20 years. The latest case that has brought the issue back to the debate was a middle school girl in Incheon who committed suicide in July after having been raped by two classmates who are not subject to jail time thanks to their age. "Even if the crimes of the perpetrators 12 and 13 years old are proven true, they will not be subject to criminal punishment due to the Juvenile Act," the victim's sister said in a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website, last month. "The Juvenile Act is unjustifiable and unfair for my little sister who had to go to heaven without realizing her dreams." Angered by the offenders' light penalty, more than 200,000 have signed it, calling for heavier punishment on the underage perpetrators. The presidential office makes it a rule to reply to a petition that gains more than 200,000 signatures within 30 days of a proposal being registered. Last month, a group of drunk teenagers beat up a 79-year-old apartment security guard in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, causing him injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment in hospital. His grandson posted pictures of the victim's injuries on social media and they were shared online, leading to another petition urging the government to scrap the act or lower the minimum age of criminal liability. This is not the first time the Juvenile Act has incited public outrage. Similar petitions have already forced formal statements from Cheong Wa Dae, which says harsher punishment is not a fundamental solution to the problem, but is considering lowering the age to 13. "Examples of other countries show that juvenile crime does not disappear with harsher punishment." The then-Education minister Kim Sang-gon said. "But the current age of 14 for exemption from criminal punishment was set way back in 1953, so there are discussions of lowering it to 13." The number violent crimes by minors has been on the rise for the last three years, with 1,933 juveniles taken into custody by police last year for rape or physical violence. A total of 39,891 minors were apprehended from 2013 to 2017, or about 218 a day. In consideration of public outrage, about 30 amendment bills regarding the Juvenile Act, mostly focused on lowering the age limit, are now pending in the National Assembly. By Kim Hyun-bin Cho Yang-ho, chairman of Hanjin Group and the country's largest full service carrier (FSC) Korean Airlines was indicted Monday for embezzlement, tax evasion and breach of trust without detention. "After the arrest warrant was denied (July 2) prosecutors conducted a further investigation, but the new evidence was not enough to issue an arrest warrant," the Seoul Southern Prosecutors Office said Monday. However, prosecutors say Cho violated several laws including the Adjustment of the International Taxes Act and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. According to the prosecution, the 69-year-old embezzled 19.6 billion won ($17.3 million) in company funds and caused losses to the airline by unfairly awarding contracts to family owned businesses. From 2013 to May 2018, the chairman took advantage of tariffs paid by Trion Trading when purchasing airline equipment and in-flight duty free goods. He is also suspected of taking 152 billion won in medical care benefits from the National Health Insurance after illegally running a pharmacy without a license from October 2010 to December 2014. The pharmacy is situated near Inha University Hospital in Seoul, where Cho is a chairman of the board. However, prosecutors did not charge him with evasion of inheritance taxes worth 61 billion won over foreign assets due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Since June, Cho has been summoned by police and prosecutors over numerous allegations, which he denies. Prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for alleged tax dodging, embezzlement, breach of trust and fraud but the court denied the request July 2, calling the charges disputable and difficult to acknowledge the validity of. Nearly all of Cho's family members have been in trouble with the law. Earlier this year, Cho's wife and his youngest daughters were summoned for questioning after reports of physical and verbal violence against company staff and other people under their authority. The youngest daughter Hyun-min, a former marketing executive of Korean Air, avoided charges of assaulting an advertising agency official. She had been under investigation for throwing a cup of water at an advertisement company official during a meeting in March. However, all charges were dropped as the victim did not want to file charges. Hyun-min is the younger sister of Hyun-ah, who is infamous for the "nut rage" incident in 2014, where she forced a plane back to the boarding gate at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after being upset about how her macadamia nuts were served in the first class cabin. The nuts were served in the bag instead of on a plate. By Jung Min-ho Six members of an international drug syndicate have been arrested on charges of smuggling 112 kilograms of meth, police said Monday. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the six, including a Japanese, 32, and a Taiwanese, 25, allegedly colluded in smuggling 112 kilograms of meth into Korea on July 6. The amount, which is worth about 370 billion won ($327 million), is the largest seizure of the drug in the country. According to police, 112 bags of the drug were concealed inside a screw-making machine, which was transported from Bangkok to the Busan Port. Two Taiwanese men later moved the machine to a warehouse in Hwaseong, where they took it apart to get the drug. The two sold 22 kilograms of meth to a Japanese dealer, who eventually sold it to a Korean man for 1.1 billion won. Police said they were searching for four people believed to have planned the operation and given instructions to the other six. Police are working with police in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. By Jung Hae-myoung The Seoul Metropolitan Government has stepped up efforts to support emotional workers as it opens the Seoul Emotional Labor Center, today, to protect the rights of those laborers. The center, located near Anguk Station on Line No. 3, is the nation's first facility of its kind. Emotional work requires workers to hide or distort their real emotions in their interactions with customers and superiors. Those involved in relevant industries include nurses, call center workers and flight attendants. "The Seoul Emotional Labor Center will protect and uphold the rights of the emotional workers," said Park Kyung-hwan, the director of the labor policy division. "We hope this place will become a channel to hear out the workers and make Seoul a place in which residents can live happy and healthy lives." According to the Seoul City, 2.6 million people, or 35 percent of the 7.4 million emotional workers are employed in Seoul. The center will provide diverse services ranging from free psychological consultation and healing services to preventive education. It is an expanded yet independent organization from the Seoul Labor Center in March that is comprised of 11 people divided into two teams. The center became an independent organization from a team at the Seoul Labor Center on March 2017 to function as a control tower to protect people who are in emotional work. The metropolitan government said the center will focus on improving the working environment of those workers. In May, Seoul City rolled out guidelines for emotional workers for the first time among local governments and the center will monitor whether it is being followed. Also, it will offer a consulting program to affiliates of the local government to create exemplary cases, while building a network with relevant organizations to improve awareness of those employees. By Lee Min-hyung The Ministry of Unification banned a North Korean defector-turned-reporter from joining a group of South Korean pool reporters to cover inter-Korean high-level talks, citing the "unique nature" of the circumstances. Kim Myeong-sung from the Chosun Ilbo newspaper planned to join pool reporters, but the unification ministry excluded him about an hour before their departure to the meeting place Monday morning. The meeting took place in the Peace House located on the South's side of the truce village of Panmunjeom "We made the decision after taking various circumstances into account," Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told reporters, declining to elaborate on the specific reasons behind the decision. The ministry, however, stands accused of causing a controversy, as the decision was not made upon the North's request. The abrupt decision also raised eyebrows here as the notification was sent only about an hour before the pool reporters' departure for the Peace House. Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said, "The North did not take issue with it, but the ministry made a comprehensive judgment on its own." Critics argue that the decision apparently reflected the ministry's concerns that Kim's participation in the event could have cast a negative influence on the result of the inter-Korean dialogue. The ministry also came under fire for its apparent low-key posture toward the North even before starting their talks. The unification minister said he would take full responsibility for the decision, but did not give details of a dialogue with Kim before departing for Panmunjeom. By Oh Young-jin At least six in 10 people disapproved of U.S. President Donald Trump's comment that South Korea should not ease sanctions on North Korea without U.S. approval. In the online survey, conducted by The Korea Times over the weekend after Trump's remarks, 679 people voted yes or no to the question, "Do you think Trump's comment is justifiable?" A total of 447 people responded on PC, while 234 responded on Mobile. Of the PC responders, about 38 percent said yes and 62 percent said no. Of the 234 mobile responders, about 31 percent said yes, while 69 percent said no. SurveyMonkey, used for this survey, gives breakdowns of yeas and nays in a randomly selected sample of 100 responders so it reflects the general trend among responders. No double voting was allowed. The question was asked only in English. A breakdown by nationality was not available, but more than 30 percent of responders were Korean with the rest from overseas. Male visitors slightly outnumbered females. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron before their second summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Monday (KST). / Yonhap Seoul asks Paris to assist in getting tariff exemptions By Kim Yoo-chul PARIS North Korea has offered to dismantle all of its nuclear weapons and material if the United States takes "corresponding measures" and promises security guarantees, President Moon Jae-in told French President Emmanuel Macron during their summit at the Elysee Palace, late Monday (KST). "During the summit, President Moon told Macron that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered to completely dismantle all his regime's nuclear weapons and material. The North Korean leader also said he will scrap all nuclear facilities and missile test sites," chief presidential secretary Yoon Young-chan said in a media briefing after the summit. The South Korean leader asked his French counterpart to persuade the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to modify sanctions on the North in light of its denuclearization promise. France is a permanent member of the UNSC. Yoon said Kim revealed the updated, detailed denuclearization roadmap during his latest summit with Moon in Pyongyang. The summit between Moon and Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Monday (KST). / Yonhap Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, left, shake hands with his North Korean counterpart Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, before starting inter-Korean high-level talks at the Peace House on the South's side of the border village of Panmunjeom, Monday. Both sides reached a package of agreements to initiate inter-Korean reconciliatory projects. / Joint Press Corps A set of crucial agreements reached at high-level talks By Lee Min-hyung, Joint Press Corps The two Koreas reached a consensus Monday to begin reconnecting railways and roads sometime between late November and early December, they said in a joint statement on the sidelines of inter-Korean high-level talks. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon signed the agreement with his northern counterpart Ri Son-gwon at the Peace House on the South's side of the border village of Panmunjeom. "The South and North agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony to link inter-Korean railways and roads in late November or early December," they said in the statement. Toward that end, both sides also came to terms to start field inspections to modernize the North's rail network on the west coast later this month. They will start joint inspections of the east coast railway, next month. The agreement is part of a follow-up to fulfill the Pyongyang Declaration reached by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a summit last month. Under the high-level agreement, Seoul and Pyongyang also pledged to enhance humanitarian activities. They include a plan to hold Red Cross talks in November to discuss inter-Korean family reunions. To continue easing inter-Korean military tension, they will also hold a generals' military dialogue as soon as possible, according to the joint statement. "Both sides will discuss the establishment of an inter-Korean military committee to put an end to military hostility in tension-laden areas such as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)," it said. US-NK dialogue The high-level talks came at a crucial time when a war of nerves between Washington and Pyongyang is escalating ahead of the second summit between their leaders. Unlike the rapid reconciliation between the two Koreas, denuclearization negotiations between the North and the U.S. are showing no tangible results. A sign of hope was apparent for smooth progress in their bilateral talks last week when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made headlines by sharing his strong determination to hold the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump as soon as possible. Trump also repeatedly expressed his willingness to have another round of talks with Kim, praising the latter for not staging any nuclear or missile tests after pledging denuclearization earlier this year. They are closing up (nuclear) sites," Trump said Sunday (local time) in a local media interview. "They have not tested a missile. They have not tested a rocket, and we have a relationship now," he said, expressing trust in Kim. Even if both sides have tentatively agreed to hold the summit sometime no later than the end of this year, they are edging into a new phase of their denuclearization talks by tiptoeing around each other before holding pre-summit talks. Starting this month, Washington signaled that it wanted to hold working-level talks with Pyongyang at the earliest possible date. Steve Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, plans to lead a delegation from Washington to possibly meet with his North Korean counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Choi Sun-hee. Both sides are expected to hold a meeting possibly in Vienna to narrow their differences on their ongoing denuclearization talks. But with the North declining to confirm the schedule for the working-level talks to date, both sides are showing signs of engaging in a political tug-of-war ahead of the summit. In recent months, Washington and Pyongyang have faced a deadlock in their talks, failing to fine-tune their differences on the method and timetable for the denuclearization of the North. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent visit to Pyongyang, however, raised hopes for Washington and Pyongyang to restart their dialogue in a constructive way. Despite the ongoing war of nerves, North Korea will soon arrange a schedule for dialogue with the U.S. regarding the working-level talks, as the regime hopes to open its economy to the world by engaging more with international society, according to analysts. President Moon also said Kim showed his firm willingness to scrap his nuclear weapons and join hands with the South and other countries for the North's economic growth. Rep. Park Yong-jin speaks during a parliamentary audit at the National Assembly, Monday. /Yonhap By Kim Jae-heun The Ministry of Education (MOE) is under fire for its belated action against years-long corruption at private kindergartens amid intensifying criticism on the wrongdoings exposed from last week's parliamentary audit. Last Thursday, Rep. Park Yong-jin of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea announced that he discovered 5,951 corruption cases at 1,878 preschools during the period from 2013 to 2017 and identified the name of each institute. As a result, the education ministry is taking flak for lackadaisical monitoring of the kindergartens, and is considering revealing the names of all the kindergartens linked to any irregularities _ a departure from its existing stance of refusing to identify any institutes. "As corruption at the private kindergartens is causing a huge controversy, the education ministry is belatedly considering identifying those kindergartens," said a representative of a parent group. Her response came as the education ministry is discussing measures to build a higher sense of accountability for private kindergartens. "We will announce new comprehensive plans for strengthened transparent accounting and an audit system by as early as next week," said a ministry official. According to Park, many of the kindergartens had their staffers embezzle public money for personal use such as paying their house maintenance fees or buying luxurious goods. Some teachers were found to have spent public money on karaoke or for accommodations for their own use. Nearly 2 trillion won is allocated for educational expenditures for private kindergartens every year across the country. "I did not include other corruption allegations that are in a current lawsuit or those that being inspected by metropolitan and provincial offices of education. If I reveal them all, the number of kindergartens that committed irregularities and the amount of public money misappropriated will become larger," the lawmaker said. Superintendents have the authority to supervise and inspect the educational institutions. It is also their decision to reveal the names of corrupt private kindergartens. However, the ministry said it will name names under the agreement of superintendents as many of the parents believe in punishing the law breakers. A number of parents have filed petitions on Cheong Wa Dae's website, urging punishment of the corrupt kindergartens. One of the petitions by a mother with three children said the government should cut education expenditures and force the corrupt kindergartens to pay back the embezzled money. She also urged the disqualification of the directors of the institutes. Meanwhile, the education industry is claiming that private kindergartens should also adopt "Edufine," a school accounting system for public kindergartens. Small private kindergartens do not have enough staff and it is no use to adopt Edufine, but it will be effective in preventing the irregularities at middle-sized or big private kindergartens, according to education insiders. Other countermeasures against the corruptions suggest the founders of the kindergartens or the directors should use corporate business, which would prevent them from using public money for their personal use. Pope Francis waves to South Koreans on his way to the venue of the beatification ceremony in Gwangwhamun, Seoul, in this Aug. 14, 2014, file photo. / Korea Times file By Park Ji-won South Korea's ruling party chief said Monday that he heard that Pope Francis is hoping to visit North Korea next spring as its leader Kim Jong-un has invited him to Pyongyang. Rep. Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said "I heard that Pope Francis wants to visit North Korea in the spring of next year," Lee said at a meeting with senior party officials. He made his remarks without revealing his source. It would be meaningful if President Moon Jae-in delivers Kim's invitation so that the Pope visits North Korea next year, he added. During a summit with Moon last month, Kim said he would ardently welcome the Pope if he visits North Korea, according to the presidential office's spokesman. Meanwhile, Moon, who is on a state-trip to France and Italy from Oct. 13 to 18 and the Vatican from Oct. 17 to 18, is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis at noon on Oct. 18. During the meeting, it is believed that Moon will deliver Kim's invitation for the Pope to go to Pyongyang. Responding to Kim's remarks, the Vatican is waiting for the North Korean leader's invitation to Pope Francis, its spokesman said, amid rising speculation over the Pope's visit to the North. "The Vatican is just waiting for the invitation to officially arrive," spokesman Greg Burke told Yonhap News Wednesday. The Pope's willingness to go to Pyongyang is unknown, but critics suspect that the Pope would like to push for the visit as he has been showing interest in establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula during his visit to South Korea in 2014. If it materializes, it will be the first-ever visit by a pope to North Korea. South Korea's Catholic Church reportedly welcomed the North's invitation and expressed hope that relations between the Vatican and North Korea will improve and a desire to mediate with the two Koreas in the establishment of peace. North Korea and the Vatican have no formal diplomatic relations. By Michael Broning BERLIN If opinion polls counted as elections, large parts of Germany would already be governed by the far right. In several eastern German states, the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) has established itself as the strongest political force. Almost everywhere else in the country, the party currently ranks second on par or just ahead of the struggling Social Democrats (SPD) and behind only Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU). In coming weeks, matters could get even worse. In regional elections in Bavaria on October 14 and in Hesse two weeks later, the AfD is poised to enter the two last remaining regional parliaments without far-right representation. Concerns about immigration continue to fuel this surge. In the eastern city of Chemnitz, recent anti-foreigner riots and pro-tolerance rallies provided a stark reminder of how divided the German public remains on migration. But it would be a dangerous miscalculation to regard the AfD as a xenophobic, single-issue party. The AfD has always been a political chameleon, cleverly exploiting mismanaged issues. This arc of anger began during the euro crisis, proceeded to migration after the summer of 2015, and most recently discovered integration and Islam as wedge issues to boost support. With each turn, the party widened its appeal. Now, it seems to have another target in its sights: liberal economics and a vulgar ethno-socialism. This turn to "social justice" issues is counterintuitive. The AfD was born in 2013 as a euro-critical "party of professors," many of them economic liberals, and neoliberalism remains part of their offspring's DNA. To this day, the party's official statements promote free trade, increased competition, a lower tax rate, and austerity in southern Europe. But what worked for the one-time professors' party is unlikely to pave the AfD's path to power. For many blue-collar voters, particularly in eastern Germany, neoliberalism is a non-starter. Recognizing this, the AfD leadership has recently started to shed the pro-business baptism gown that the party has long outgrown. The goal is to establish the AfD as a new mass party, or Volkspartei, which could prove a mortal threat to what is left of the SPD, as well as to Germany's wider political system. In Bavaria and Hesse, the AfD's campaign already reflects this change. Calling for higher pensions and improved medical services in rural areas, and criticizing high rents, the party aims to "be social without turning red," as one campaign slogan puts it. And the AfD leader in Brandenburg, Andreas Kalbitz, recently announced that the party plans to focus on "social justice" in upcoming elections in three eastern German states next year. The driving forces behind a more "socialist" AfD can be found in Germany's east, where firebrand party leaders like Bjorn Hocke of Thuringia have long called for "a party of patriotism and solidarity." For many, that is a thinly veiled bow to National Socialism. Hocke and Jurgen Pohl, an AfD Bundestag member, recently put forward some of the program's key ingredients, which include higher pensions and inclusion of the self-employed in the state-run pension funds policies that would focus on ethnic Germans. The AfD will hold a special party convention early next year to formalize programmatic changes and establish a unified position on social issues. The explicit aim, according to Hocke, is to combine "identity and solidarity" in order to reject "neoliberalism and its history of failure." While a heated internal debate can be expected, the Hocke wing currently seems to have the wind at its back. At the federal level, an AfD majority is highly unlikely as long as the German economy is booming. But a much stronger far right is a near-certainty. Combining anti-establishment rhetoric on cultural and economic issues has worked remarkably well for right-wing populist parties elsewhere, and the question for many German observers is not whether this formula will work in Germany, but how well. The polls are not reassuring. A study presented last week by the Bertelsmann Foundation, an independent think tank, stresses that issues such as income distribution or affordable housing can effectively act as "bridges" between the extreme right and voters at the political center. Up to 13 perent of German voters who identify themselves as political centrists are open to AfD positions, according to the study. In view of this potential, much will depend on how Germany's center responds. One idea is that a division of labor between the CDU and the SPD could diffuse the current challenge. The CDU could recapture AfD voters by strengthening its conservative positions on cultural and identity questions. The SPD, by contrast, would move to the left on social and economic issues, stressing equality, solidarity, and justice, and thus closing the ideological gap that is empowering the AfD. But this will be difficult to do for the CDU and the SDP. Locked in an unpopular grand coalition, such an ideological realignment would make finding common ground in the government increasingly challenging and could well result in an early federal election. And such an outcome would only further strengthen the AfD. Michael Broning is head of the International Policy Department at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a think tank affiliated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org). By John Burton Korea is likely to be among the most vulnerable economies in Asia if the Sino-American trade war escalates. While Korea's economic strength rests on exports, this also proves to be its biggest weakness when global trade slows. Although the country recently signed a revised free trade agreement with the U.S., China remains its biggest overseas market and bilateral trade flows would be hurt as Beijing and Washington square off over trade. Korea has long struggled to increase domestic demand as an engine of economic growth to balance its reliance on exports. But this has proved difficult for several reasons, including high household debt, a rigid labor market and the parlous condition of small- and medium-sized enterprises. China is likely better able to withstand a trade war with the U.S. than Korea since it has successfully shifted away from an over-reliance on exports, whose share of annual output has fallen from a third to a fifth over the past decade as China's large domestic market continues to expand due to massive investment. China's move up the industrial value-added chain also means that Korean manufacturing companies are facing increased competition. This is one reason why inventories in Korea are piling up, production output is slowing and manufacturing jobs are falling. President Moon Jae-in came into office hoping to encourage increased domestic demand by raising the minimum wage through his "income-led growth" policy, giving consumers more spending power. But the move has backfired as companies have reduced hiring to save labor costs. This has exacerbated the widening income gap between the rich and poor. The government can rely on short-term measures to keep employment up by spending more to create jobs in the public sector. But this is only a quick fix. Some conservative economists believe that the Moon administration needs to reverse course and abandon its policy of pushing for the direct hiring of outsourced workers, raising the minimum wage and shortening the workweek. They argue that a more market-oriented policy would encourage employment in the services sector, whose growth is needed to balance a decline in manufacturing jobs. They also point to how deregulation and corporate tax cuts in the U.S. and Japan, for example, have bolstered economic growth and increased employment. These views are an anathema to the Moon administration. One reason is that such measures will likely strengthen the economic grip of the large family-owned conglomerates, or chaebol, when the government is trying to introduce new rules to curb their power and promote fair competition. Moon faces an almost impossible dilemma when it comes to the chaebol. On the one hand, he needs their cooperation if he is to revive the economy in the short-term. On the other hand, the lack of substantial chaebol reforms will hamper the business environment and the prospects for economic growth in the long-term. Last year the President campaigned for chaebol reform by promising to introduce tougher penalties for corporate crimes, improve corporate governance, give minority shareholders more power to nominate board members, and reduce chaebol lobbying of the government. Many economists have argued that Korea has become dangerously reliant on the chaebol for economic growth. The top 30 big businesses account for 66 percent of Korea's exports and 71 percent of industrial investment. The chaebol have also been criticized for overinvesting in risky ventures because they have easy access to capital. These vulnerabilities could be exposed if global trade slows. For example, semiconductors are the main profit center for Samsung Electronics, but a Sino-American trade war would likely reduce the company's chip exports to China, its biggest overseas market. The Moon administration proposed legislation in August that would grant powers to the Ministry of Justice to police the chaebol for antitrust practices. Other measures would require chaebol holding companies to increase their shareholdings in listed and unlisted subsidiaries, while placing new limits on trading among the affiliated units of the same chaebol group. Moon's "income-led" economic policy has made it more difficult to pass chaebol reform laws since it has undercut his popularity as unemployment rises. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea already lacks a parliamentary majority and opposition parties are positioning themselves to take advantage of Moon's declining support among voters. If Moon's chaebol reform program fails, it will mean that Korea will have problems in creating domestic demand in the future. The dominance of the chaebol has made it difficult for small businesses to grow and pay better wages to skilled workers. Since the chaebol tend to favor their own affiliated units for products and services, this starves smaller outside firms of business opportunities. The resulting loss of competitiveness bodes ill for the prospects of a vibrant domestic-demand economy that would rescue Korea from its export trap. John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is now a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant. President Moon Jae-in talks with a fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) taxi driver charging his Hyundai Motor Tucson FCEV at a charging station run by Air Liquide in downtown Paris, Monday. The FCEV taxi is operated by French startup STEP (Societe du Taxi Electrique Parisien), which runs 62 FCEV taxis. / Yonhap MAN Truck & Bus Korea (MTBK) CEO Max Burger speaks during a product showcase event in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 12. / Courtesy of MTBK By Nam Hyun-woo The MAN TGS 480 Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Archbishop Oscar Romero has been the informal patron saint of El Salvador since he was murdered by a right-wing death squad while saying mass in 1980 -- but now it's official. On Sunday, he was canonized at a ceremony in Rome. A voice for the poor and defenseless, Romero's became a hero of the Catholic left and social justice symbol. Romero's sainthood was a long time coming for many Salvadorans living in Los Angeles. El Salvador Native Marta Jovel stayed up all night at the Dolores Mission in East L.A. to watch her beloved "Monsenor Romero" become "Santo Romero" in a livestreamed Vatican ceremony Sunday morning. Hours later, she celebrated the martyred Salvadoran archbishop's canonization with thousands at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral. "We've waited so many years for this," said Jovel, who moved to L.A. in the '80s, just after Romero was killed. "Even though he wasn't named 'Saint,' we've always considered him a saint." Jovel is part of a group called "the Messengers of Monsignor Romero" from Highland Park's St. Ignatius of Loyola parish. They attended the mass wearing blue shirts emblazoned with the Romero's spectacled face. "We always remember everything he did for his country, for the poor people, and for people that most need help," Jovel said. "We're here to honor his legacy." Salvadoran folk dancers with Asosal (Association of Salvadorans) performed the story of Romero for churchgoers Sunday. Visitors took photos with posters of Saint Romero on display around the Cathedral. The mass was one of several events held around L.A. on Sunday in honor of the canonization. Ricardo Parada said he wouldn't miss the celebration. Parada was baptized by Romero in 1963 in San Miguel. As a student activist, he attended Romero's funeral in San Salvador in 1980, where dozens of mourners were murdered. "The only message Romero gave us was hope," Parada said. "To never give up against the evils." Parada fled persecution in El Salvador in 1980 and moved to L.A., where he's been organizing for immigrant rights. He says Romero's message of hope is much needed amid the Trump administration's harsh immigration policies. "Right before he was killed, Romero said, 'In the name of God, stop the repression,'" said Parada. "Well, we're saying the same thing right now. Stop the deportation." Women religious admire a portrait of Saint Oscar Romero, on display at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral for the martyr's canonization. Saint Romero is El Salvador's first saint, but Parada said he's more than that now. "He's called 'San Romero de Americas,'" said Parada. "From the whole continent and the whole world. He's not only Salvadoran anymore. Now he belongs to the people of the world." L.A. Archbishop Jose Gomez was among those who attended the official ceremony in Rome along with a delegation of more than 120 local Catholics. Aaron Schrank covers religion, international affairs and the Southern California diaspora under a grant from the Luce Foundation. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe When U.S. drivers commute to work, they're usually the only person in the car. Nationwide, nearly 90% of people who commuted by car, truck, van or motorcycle drove alone, according to 2017 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. As most Angelenos know from personal experience, that makes for a lot of traffic. But a new vehicle that just arrived on the market in Los Angeles aims to help us think smaller. It's called the Solo and, as the name suggests, it seats just one person. Its first and only dealership is in Studio City and opened Saturday. The tiny, three-wheeled, all-electric vehicle is a triple-novelty based on a simple idea. "What we're looking to do is bring into the public's awareness the advantage of single passenger transportation," said Anthony Luzi, director of U.S. operations for Canadian-based Electra Meccanica, which makes the Solo. The vehicle takes up about a quarter of the space of a typical SUV and looks like a car -- at least from the front-- with the usual hood, grille and headlights. But take a look from the back, and it tapers down to just one wheel. The Solo charges in three hours, has a range of 100 miles and tops out at 82 miles per hour, according to Electra Meccanica. Technically, it's a fully enclosed motorcycle, and that's how it's registered and insured in California. But you don't need a motorcycle license to drive one and it can be parked parallel or perpendicular - with its back wheel at the curb. The classification also means the Solo isn't subject to the same rigorous crash-testing as a traditional passenger vehicle, so even though it's fully enclosed and has a seat belt and a roll bar, it doesn't yet have built-in airbags (its makers say they'll be included in later releases). It does, however, have a lot of the controls drivers already use, like accelerator and brake pedals and a steering wheel. The wheel is just centered in the middle of the dash because there's only one seat. And there are two doors, even though you really only need one. Plus air conditioning, heated seats, a stereo, back-up camera and trunk space. (Courtesy Electra Meccanica) The Solo is the first vehicle from Electra Meccanica, which eyed Los Angeles specifically as its target market. The city could also be the home of a factory the company plans to open next year. "If you want to be involved in anything, I suggest you be involved at the center of it," Luzi said. "The electric car industry at this point in time has found a very strong reception here in SoCal, especially here in the L.A. area." He's right about that. California is the largest market for electric vehicles in the country -- where traffic is bad and getting worse, and air pollution is a chronic problem. Luzi is straightforward about Solo's goal. "We're trying to close the last gas station," he said. That's going to take a while. With a $15,500 starting price, the Solo is inexpensive for an all-electric car, but it's going to take a certain type of driver to buy in -- someone willing to squeeze into a ultra-compact vehicle that if she rolls down the windows and stick out her arms, she could literally touch the traffic. (Courtesy Electra Meccanica) "When I first saw the Solo, I literally gasped because I couldn't figure out where the rest of the car was," said Rebecca Lindland, an auto industry analyst with Cox Automotive. Microcars haven't exactly been bestsellers in the U.S.. After ten years on the market here, Mercedes sold just 6,211 gas-powered SmartCars last year. But Lindland said super-small cars have potential. "On California roads, it actually might be OK in terms of size because you're crawling along in some of the nation's worst traffic," she said. Editor's note: A version of this story was also on the radio. Listen to it here on KPCC's Take Two. You made it! Congrats, you read the entire story, you gorgeous human. This story was made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism costs $$$$$. And now that LAist is part of KPCC, we rely on that support. So if you aren't already, be one of us! Help us help you live your best life in Southern California. Donate now. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe By Tom Dreisbach and Libby Denkmann Eric Negrete first ran for a seat on the Victorville City Council in 2014, saying the council needed to focus on "public safety priorities that keep us safe from break-ins and violent crimes." Since he won his election, Negrete, a civilian project manager at the Ft. Irwin National Training Center, has stood out for his vocal opposition to California's approach to immigration law and criminal justice reform. Negrete has called Senate Bill 54, the so-called "Sanctuary State" law, "traitorous" and "anti-American." And he's strongly criticized Proposition 47, which re-classifies certain non-violent felonies as misdemeanors. "When you reduce a felony to a misdemeanor and you've got homeless people violating all kinds of laws," Negrete said in a Dec. 2017 City Council meeting, "now those laws really don't count as much as they used to." Negrete has been much less outspoken about his own felony conviction -- a plea he agreed to after he was arrested on charges of domestic violence. Later, after completing two out of his three years of probation, Negrete appealed to the court to reduce the felony to a misdemeanor. Negrete didn't use Prop. 47 to get his conviction reduced, voters didn't pass that into law until Nov. 2014 (and his case wouldn't have qualified, since Prop. 47 is largely focused on minor drug offenses and theft). But he did use another provision of state law known as 17(B), telling the court that the felony in his record, and probation restrictions, would cost him a good job, court records show. He asked for, and got, a second chance. THE INCIDENT According to San Bernardino County Superior Court records, Negrete was charged in February 2009 with felony kidnapping, as well as two misdemeanor charges of battery. The charges stemmed from an incident on Feb. 14, 2009, Valentine's Day, when, prosecutors alleged, Negrete committed domestic violence against his then-girlfriend. In response to a California Public Records Act request, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department released the circumstances surrounding Negrete's arrest. It was just after 1 a.m. on 7th Street, a commercial corridor in Victorville. "Negrete struck victim in face," the department said in a statement, "the victim ran and Negrete chased and forced victim into the vehicle." Judge Bridgid McCann stated during one court hearing, "alcohol was one of the main factors in the offense being committed." The victim did not want prosecutors to pursue charges, other court records indicate. At his arraignment four days after the arrest, Negrete appeared via video link from county jail, and pleaded not guilty to the three charges. The court set bail at $250,000. Days later, Negrete agreed to a plea deal. Prosecutors dropped the three initial charges, one of which would have counted as a strike, and Negrete pleaded no contest to a felony charge of Inflict Corporal Injury to Spouse or Cohabitant, according to court records. In court, Judge McCann asked Negrete: "Do you understand that a no contest plea is exactly the same thing as a guilty plea?" His answer: "Yes, ma'am." She continued: "Understand it's not a mind game. You don't get to say later that you didn't plead guilty?" "Yes, ma'am," he replied. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail, with the option for work release. Negrete ultimately served 69 days in jail, according to Deputy Olivia Bozek, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Negrete also received three years' probation and was instructed to attend 52 weekly classes for batterers. He was prohibited from possessing or drinking alcohol during his probation, among other terms. Reporters from NPR and KPCC/LAist discovered Negrete's conviction as part of a routine check of public records for a story about the debate over sanctuary cities and SB54. NEGRETE'S RESPONSE When KPCC first approached Negrete to discuss the case, he responded in an email: "The family matter you are referring to was a misunderstanding that was resolved some years ago. My family supports me." KPCC then asked Negrete to clarify why he called the incident a "misunderstanding," and sent him a copy of the court records from the case. Days later, he responded with a lengthier statement. "The 2009 case involved an unfortunate incident between my wife and myself," he wrote. Negrete and the victim were not wed at the time of the incident, according to the court records, but subsequently got married. (KPCC/LAist was unable to reach the victim in this case for comment herself, and generally does not disclose the identity of victims of domestic violence.) "Obviously, we are still together, and the issues within our marriage have been resolved," he wrote. "On the advice of my counsel, I entered into a plea deal which resulted in my agreement to plead guilty to certain charges." In the statement, Negrete wrote that he and his now-wife, "have sought each other's forgiveness and addressed the issues that led to this unfortunate incident. Those issues are now in the past and nothing precludes me from holding public office." His statement concluded by suggesting that reporting on his conviction was politically motivated. "It is unfortunate that in this era of search and destroy politics and journalism, that my opponent and her allies within the press seek to open this very personal matter and create public harm to my children, my wife, and myself," Negrete wrote. A SURPRISE TO CITY OFFICIALS Until now, there does not appear to be any news coverage of Negrete's arrest or conviction. A search of news articles from the last decade found no mention of the case. And city officials said it was news to them. "We just learned of this information," Sue Jones, spokesperson for the City of Victorville, wrote in response to inquiries from KPCC/LAist. "I have nothing further to say at this time." Victorville Mayor Gloria Garcia declined to comment. One reason the conviction may have gone unnoticed: it was reduced to a misdemeanor. In Jan. 2011, two years into his three-year probation, Negrete petitioned the court to end his probation early and have his felony conviction converted to a misdemeanor. His attorney filed a petition based on Penal Code 17(b). To explain what that is, you have to understand a term in California law called a "wobbler." Wobblers straddle the fence between felonies and misdemeanors. Courts can decide how to charge wobblers depending on the details of the crime and the history of the offender, said Robert Weisberg, a law professor and co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. "Because the penal code is full of all kinds of confusing and vague criminal statutes, and some of them are deemed to be on the borderline," Weisberg said. It's a common practice, especially for first-time offenders, to ask a judge to reduce a felony to a misdemeanor using PC 17(b). Weisberg pointed out that a simple Google search brings up many Southern California law firms specializing in this area of law. "And these firms offer a menu of services," Weisberg said. "What they emphasize is they're going to help you avoid future consequences in terms of limitations on employment, limitations on gun possession, limitations on voting." In Negrete's case, he asked Judge Eric Nakata to retroactively reduce the felony domestic violence charge to a misdemeanor. When deciding whether to grant a PC 17(b) petition, judges generally consider the defendant's prior criminal history, the severity of the offense, and whether the defendant had any probation violations, according to John Rogers, a defense attorney in Newport Beach. "When someone is a first-time offender, suffered no probation violations, and they are eligible, the judge will usually grant the request," Rogers said. Negrete and his attorney argued in court that he was a good candidate for relief. "From this experience, I have grown and taken personal responsibility for my actions," Negrete said in a letter addressed to the judge that is part of the court's file. "I hurt people from my mistake and realize I can't change what is already done, but I can make the best of the future." A transcript of court proceedings shows Negrete's attorney stated, "from what I understand, [the victim] wasn't seriously injured." [Note: It's not clear from the limited information released about the arrest by the San Bernardino County Sheriff what the extent of the victim's injuries were. The District Attorney's office said they are considering KPCC/LAist's request for further details about the circumstances surrounding the arrest. After Negrete characterized the incident as a misunderstanding in his email, KPCC asked him to make a copy of the arrest report available. He did not respond to that request.] When he made his request for the felony to be reduced to a misdemeanor, Negrete asked the court to end his probation early so he could travel across state lines for work. "Without the requested relief," Negrete wrote the judge, "I will face unemployment." The Deputy District Attorney at the proceeding did not object to reducing the charge. But she did object to ending Negrete's probation early. In the end, the judge sided with Negrete. His felony was reduced to a misdemeanor and his probation ended. A RUN FOR OFFICE Three years later, in 2014, Negrete ran for Victorville City Council as a political newcomer. Negrete cited his service in the U.S. Air Force in the 1990s, received backing from a local realtors association, and described himself in campaign materials as "a leader who will get results" and "a voice for the family." That November, he won a seat with nearly 30% of the vote. Now, Negrete is running for re-election. Ten other candidates are vying with him for two open seats. He told the Victor Valley Daily Press that his platform boils down to "straight talk, personal integrity, and common sense." The line echoed what he told the court years earlier, when he asked the judge for a break. "The things I value most are honesty, integrity and directness," he wrote. In light of Negrete's experience reducing his own felony to a misdemeanor, KPCC and NPR asked the councilman about his criticism of Prop. 47. He did not respond to our emailed inquiry. Councilman Eric Negrete did not show up at the October 2 Victorville City Council meeting. In an attempt to speak to Negrete in person, KPCC/LAist attended the Oct. 2 Victorville City Council meeting and informed him ahead of time of the request. Negrete never showed up. At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Gloria Garcia recognized a local shelter for victims of domestic violence, and proclaimed October as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Victorville. Garcia's voice broke while reading the dry language in the declaration. At one point, she looked up and explained why she had started tearing up: "I'm very touched by this," she said, "because I lost my granddaughter to a crime." Garcia said she joined the other members of the Council in "urging our citizens to make a difference to one child, one woman, or one family, who suffers from the pain of domestic violence." Negrete's seat remained empty. Tom Dreisbach is a reporter and producer for the NPR podcast Embedded. Libby Denkmann covers veterans and the military for KPCC/LAist. Investigative journalism matters. Here at LAist, we believe Angelenos deserve hard-hitting reporting that holds officials accountable and shines a needed light on our government and public institutions. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe A lawsuit charging that Harvard University's race-conscious admissions process discriminates against Asians has been sharply divisive. The trial begins Monday. The plaintiff is an organization headed by an activist who has challenged affirmative action before and it has found support among some in the Southern California Asian community. The organization called Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard in 2014, alleging that it racially discriminated against and rejected qualified Asian students in favor of less-qualified black and Latino students. Harvard says its admissions process is "holistic" -- that it weighs not only test scores, but a student's broader experience, which includes race and other factors. The president of Students for Fair Admissions is Edward Blum, a legal strategist whose group backed a white student's legal challenge against the University of Texas several years ago. The student alleged she was denied admission due to her race. In 2016, the Supreme Court decided in favor of the university and upheld its affirmative action program. In the Harvard case, the plaintiff cites at least one qualified Asian applicant who was denied entry, charging the reason was race. Harvard's current freshman class is nearly 23 percent Asian, according to the university's website. Black, Latino and Native American students follow at 15 percent, 12 percent and just under 2 percent, in that order. The plaintiffs argue that Harvard engages in "racial balancing" by enrolling essentially the same percentage of black, white, Latino and Asian students each year. It also alleges that the university holds Asian students to a higher standard, and forces them to compete against one another for admission. Should only merit apply in admissions? The lawsuit has resonated with Asian-Americans like Benjamin Yu, president of The Orange Club, an Orange County political group comprised of conservative Chinese-Americans. "Basically, we just want the colleges to admit students based on their merits, instead of meddling in the process and systematically discriminating against students based on their race, skin color and national origin," Yu said. He said a relative of his was denied admission to an East Coast university he wouldn't name, even though he adds she had higher test scores than non-Asian peers who were admitted. "She said she [had] classmates and friends accepted by the school, which she knows had a lower score than her," Yu said. Yu traveled to Boston to take part in a rally with other supporters of the plaintiffs, and to witness the trial taking place in federal district court. In August, the federal Department of Justice expressed support for the plaintiffs in court documents. Another Southern California resident, Thang Diep of Reseda, is also planning to be at the trial, but he's testifying on the side of Harvard, where he's a senior. Diep, who is studying neurobiology, believes that while his test scores could have been higher, his experience overcoming language and cultural barriers as a young Vietnamese immigrant in the San Fernando Valley helped him get into Harvard. "I definitely think race-conscious admissions helped my application and helped show the admission officer a ... fuller picture of who I was in high school," said Diep. He said he went from being mocked for his accent as a child to involving himself in student government and being named one of two class valedictorians. Why are Asians split on affirmative action? Class plays a role in this divide, said OiYan Poon, a professor of higher education at Colorado State University, who once worked in admissions for University of California, Davis. Poon interviewed Asian opponents of affirmative action for a research project and found many of those who opposed it tended to be affluent Chinese immigrants. She said many of them benefitted from post-1990 immigration rules that favored more highly skilled professionals and investors. She said many of these immigrants tend to have more conservative values. "They tend to be much more privileged economically and more highly educated than previous generations of Chinese-Americans or other Asian-Americans," Poon said. But there's also been some misinformation about affirmative action, she said, which tends to spread via social media. Poon said some of those she interviewed "seemed to think that affirmative action remains racial quotas, which were banned in 1978." Advocates opposed to the lawsuit say an end to race-conscious admissions would ultimately harm Asian-American students, among them lower-income Chinese, Southeast Asians and others. "When you eliminate race as a consideration, it is white people that benefit, not Asian-Americans," said Nicole Ochi, an attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Los Angeles. "But of course, it is more sympathetic to have a historically oppressed and discriminated-against group to be the face of the lawsuit," she said. Her legal advocacy group is participating in the trial representing a group of current and former Harvard students, including Diep, who have been granted special status as friends of the court. When California dropped race in admissions California's Proposition 209 barred state institutions from considering race as part of their admissions process in the late 1990s. After that, according to the University of California, the system initially saw a steep drop in black, Latino and Native American student admissions. While Asians didn't fare as badly immediately after the proposition took effect, Poon calculated from UC data that Asian and Pacific Islander student admissions to most system schools in the decade that followed its passage declined in comparison to overall student admissions. UCLA spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said admission rates among Latinos, in particular, have since risen as the state's demographics have shifted. The Harvard trial is expected to last about three weeks. Stephen Elliott, an author whose name appeared on a list of men in media alleged to have perpetrated harassment or assault, has filed a lawsuit against the lists creator, writer Moira Donegan, seeking $1.5 million in damages. In three days, Donegans supporters have raised more than $100,000 in her defense via GoFundMe. Elliott, who is an author, independent filmmaker and founded the literary website the Rumpus, is suing Donegan for libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Also named as defendants are those who anonymously contributed to the list, referred to in the suit as Jane Does (1-30). Elliott is being represented in his suit by Nesenoff & Miltenberg LLP, a New York-based law firm that has represented men accused of sexual assault and misconduct. Elliott was one of approximately 70 men in media predominantly publishing whose names appeared on the list, which was created last year in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations and intended to be privately shared among women. The Daily Beast notes that Elliotts alleged misconduct was Rape accusations, sexual harassment, coercion, unsolicited invitations to his apartment, a dude who snuck into Binders??? (Binders is a Facebook group for women and gender non-conforming writers.) Last month, Elliott wrote an essay for the website Quillette, saying that his appearance on the list derailed [his] life. Elliott strongly defended himself in the essay, writing, Ive never raped anybody. I would even go one step further: There is no one in the world who believes that I raped them. Advertisement Elliott did not dispute all of the items on the list, writing, My list entry also specified unsolicited invitations to his apartment. Of course I had invited people to my apartment. And of course those invitations had been unsolicited an invitation is, after all, an unsolicited offer. Elliotts lawsuit seeks to have the identities of those who contributed to the list, created as a crowd-sourced Google spreadsheet, made public. Google told the Daily Beast that it would oppose any attempt by Mr. Elliott to obtain information about this document from us. The list was created and contributed to anonymously and taken down in less than a day, after it began to be widely circulated. In the months that followed, a number of men whose behavior was described on the list were fired or left their positions, generally after investigations by their publications. Donegan came forward as the lists creator in an essay in New York Magazines the Cut in January after she learned that author Katie Roiphe planned to disclose her name and identify her as the lists creator in a piece for Harpers magazine. Although The Times was unable to reach Elliott through Graywolf Press, which last year published an essay collection by the writer and reissued his novel Happy Baby, the independent press had its own comment on the lawsuit. Graywolf strives to publish literature that reflects empathy, understanding, and generosity of spirit. The lawsuit brought by Stephen Elliott is not consistent with those values, and in the strongest possible way we express concern for those who may be harmed if it goes forward. In an essay titled We stand with Moira Donegan at the Rumpus, which Elliott founded, the sites current owner and editor in chief Marisa Siegel wrote, Stephens decision to go after Moira is hostile and reprehensible. For me, it is unforgivable. ... Stephens desire to remain in the spotlight, to refuse to have his career wrested from him as a consequence of his own actions, has taken primacy over logic and sanity. Public questions over Elliotts behavior go back at least to 2015, when writer Claire Vaye Watkins published an essay in Tin House, first given as a lecture at magazines summer writing retreat, that was in part about an encounter with him. The essay was widely circulated and discussed in literary circles, two years before #metoo reached Hollywood. Writer and editor Lyz Lenz responded to Elliotts Quillette essay with a Twitter thread alleging harassment, noting, Your career wasnt ruined by an anonymous list. Your career was ruined by your gaslighting and harassment. Ive got receipts. She added, You can come for me. Others, including two former writers at the Rumpus who are now bestselling authors, Roxane Gay and Cheryl Strayed, used Twitter to respond to Elliotts lawsuit. Look... this Stephen Elliott lawsuit is mind blowing. Its so terrible and disingenuous and dangerous. We already live in a world where women are not believed, where there is little recourse in the face of predation. roxane gay (@rgay) October 12, 2018 So now Stephen has filed a law suit against @MoiraDonegan for creating the List, which was meant to be a private document that went public. I disagree with this decision and I told him so. This law suit will harm women who spoke out with the intent of protecting other women. 10/? Cheryl Strayed (@CherylStrayed) October 12, 2018 Stephen is a jerk who can convince you hes harmless when he wants to because it gets him what he wants. And maybe thats in part because of how he grew up, I dont know, but it wore thin on me a long time ago. Grammaticus Finch (@briankspears) October 12, 2018 Do to be an actual ally. I ignored outright lies and red flags because we do that all the time with people who have more power than we do. Ugh. Stephen was slumming in so many communities and now is trying to make A MILLION DOLLARS off the (broke, right?) women who did the brave Michelle Tea (@TeaMichelle) October 12, 2018 .@S___Elliott, whoever told you to do this is not your friend. And that is at least doubly true if it was you. This a heinous act and the harm of it will expand the longer it is out there. This is real evil. Stop this now. https://t.co/BFlo2fAhRC Alexander Chee (@alexanderchee) October 12, 2018 Jezebel reported on the $1.5 million suit Thursday, the day it was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York. The post (which includes strong language) includes a copy of the lawsuit. The lead paint industrys efforts to avoid a cleanup bill for more than $400 million has reached the end of the road. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review California state court rulings finding Sherwin-Williams, Conagra and NL Industries responsible for lead paint contamination in thousands of homes built before 1951. That date is when the companies said their predecessor firms ceased actively advertising lead-based paint as a residential product. The courts action closes a key chapter in an 18-year legal battle waged by 10 California cities and counties, including Los Angeles County and the city of San Diego. Their lawsuit, originally filed in state court in Santa Clara in 2000, asserted the residual lead in old homes was contributing to severe health problems in children exposed to the paint. Its at the top of our list of environmental threats, Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, the interim health officer and medical director for Los Angeles County, told me last year. We are delighted that the Supreme Court did the right thing. Nanci E. Nishimura, attorney for communities suing paint companies Advertisement Although the rate of lead poisoning has come down sharply in recent years, more than 2,000 children still test positive for lead in their bloodstream each year in L.A. County. The actual number is almost certainly higher because children arent routinely screened for lead unless theyre seen by a pediatrician. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 4 million American households have children exposed to high levels of lead. In 2014, Judge James P. Kleinberg held the three companies liable for the cost of inspecting more than 3.5 million California homes and apartments and removing or abating residual lead hazards. That means painting over deteriorating surfaces and removing lead chips and dust, especially in units housing children. Kleinberg assessed the companies $1.15 billion, with most of the money, $632.5 million, designated for Los Angeles County, where the vast majority of suspect units are located. In November 2017, a California appeals court narrowed the abatement program to homes built before 1951, when the paint companies said they ceased actively advertising residential lead-based paint. The companies were ordered to contribute to an abatement fund of $409 million. We are delighted that the Supreme Court did the right thing, Nanci E. Nishimura, an attorney for several of the jurisdictions, said Monday. The message is clear: We have to move this fund ahead to remove lead that is still poisoning children. A spokesperson for Conagra and Sherwin-Williams called the California decision an outlier at odds with courts across the country which have correctly held that companies should not be held retroactively liable for lawful conduct and truthful commercial speech decades after they took place. The companies observed that the Supreme Court reviews very few cases. The material effect on the companies is uncertain, but is not likely to be large. Sherwin Williams recorded a profit of $1.8 billion on $15 billion in revenue in 2017, Conagra earned $808 million on revenue of $7.9 billion, and NL recorded a loss of $23 million on sales of $109 million. One major concern raised by business lobbies that filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the Supreme Court was the California judiciarys novel application of public nuisance doctrine to find the paint companies responsible. The doctrine is typically applied to combat ongoing activities, such as a homeowner operating a crack house or a factory with noxious emissions, not to something that happened decades ago, Sean Hecht, an environmental law expert at the UCLA Law School, told me last year. Business groups are alarmed that the new notion of a public nuisance could impose massive retroactive liability against American businesses for decades-old conduct that was lawful when it occurred, according to a brief the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed with the high court. That could make companies liable for the effects of climate change or environmental pollution, among other problems. After the California appeals court ruled against them, the lead paint companies tried the end run of promoting a ballot initiative that would absolve them of liability and create a $2-billion bond-financed fund to abate the lead problems. They disingenuously labeled their measure the Healthy Homes and Schools Act of 2018, but Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra put the kibosh on that subterfuge by issuing his own title and summary for the initiative, redefining it as a measure that eliminates certain liability for lead-paint manufacturers. A few months later, the companies withdrew the initiative. The basis of the California lawsuit was that the defendant companies predecessors understood the health hazard of lead paint but nevertheless energetically promoted its use as a key to improving the durability and water-resistance of house paint. The dangers of lead had been known since antiquity, Judge Kleinberg observed, and as early as the 19th century manufacturers were taking steps to warn their own workers against breathing lead dust on the factory floor. Articles warning about childrens propensity to gnaw on painted surfaces and become poisoned with lead were common in medical journals by the 1920s: A child lives in a lead world, advised a 1924 paper. By the 1930s, parents were warned to avoid using lead-based decorative materials in childrens nurseries and bedrooms. Yet the industry kept advertising residential lead paint Lead helps to guard your health, declared a 1923 magazine ad for Dutch Boy lead paint placed by National Lead Co., the precursor to NL Industries. Property owners are using white-lead paint to prolong the lives of their houses. The Supreme Courts decision returns the case to the Superior Court in California, where the plaintiff communities will move to have a receiver appointed to oversee the $409-million fund. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. What seemed inevitable is now official: Sears is bankrupt. Once the most dominant retailer in America, Sears Holdings Corp. which also owns the Kmart department-store chain filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. bankruptcy laws late Sunday night. The widely expected filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York culminated a long, slow decline for the 125-year-old Sears. Like a critically ill patient enduring multiple surgeries to survive, the company repeatedly had shed loss-ridden stores and other assets in recent years, among other restructuring steps, in hopes of having enough cash to stave off bankruptcy. It didnt work. Under the stewardship of hedge-fund manager Edward Lampert Sears chief executive, majority stockholder and major creditor Sears failed to keep pace with more prosperous rivals and adapt to the surge of online shopping and the trouble plaguing bricks-and-mortar stores. Advertisement Sears sales fell, its losses grew and the company became a shadow of its former self, suffocating in debt. The Hoffman Estates, Ill., chain once was an iconic fixture for value-conscious American shoppers, and its mail-order catalogs were nearly as ubiquitous as Bibles in U.S. homes in the decades long before the arrival of the internet and online commerce now led by Amazon.com. At a Sears store in Baldwin Hills on Sunday afternoon, the parking lot was less than a third full and a smattering of shoppers meandered through aisles lined with Christmas pajamas and holiday layaway signs. As Ive gotten older and made more money, Sears has not been my go-to store, said Angela Parker, 42, who came to the store with her mother and aunt after hearing news of the possible bankruptcy filing, to see if that meant bargain prices. Its sad, but things change, thats the way it is, Parker said. People are shopping differently. Sears has lost $6.8 billion during the last five years, and its annual sales plummeted to $16.7 billion in its fiscal year that ended Feb. 3 from $36.2 billion in fiscal 2013. When Sears opened its new headquarters in Chicago in 1973, the Sears Tower, seen here in 2013, was the tallest skyscraper in the world and emblematic of Sears iconic role in American commerce. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) Sears also slashed its store count by more than half during that span, and its number of U.S. employees plummeted to 89,000 from 226,000. But it wasnt enough. Sears shares, which topped $140 in 2007, closed Friday at 41 cents, giving the company a total stock market value of only $45 million. The question now is whether Sears will be able to successfully reorganize under Chapter 11, with likely fewer stores, or whether it might eventually be pushed into a liquidation that would end the storied brand, such as what happened this year with Toys R Us Inc. As of Feb. 3, Sears had operated 547 Sears stores, including 70 in California, and 432 Kmart stores, including 55 in California. But in subsequent months, Sears closed additional unprofitable stores nationwide, and as of Aug. 4, it had 506 Sears stores and 360 Kmart outlets. Sears also said in a Sept. 13 government filing that it planned to close 149 more stores in the second half of this year, which would drop its total store count to just above 700. As part of its bankruptcy petition, Sears banks agreed to provide a so-called debtor-in-possession loan of $300 million, and is negotiating an additional $300 million in financing from Lamperts firm, to help the company keep operating through the crucial holiday shopping season. The deal also calls for Sears to close an additional 142 stores by the end of this year. Sears also said Lampert had stepped down as Sears chief executive but would remain chairman. Sears also created an office of the CEO that will include three other top Sears executives. Sears also previously sold its proprietary Craftsman brand of tools last year to raise cash and was considering selling its Kenmore appliance division to Lamperts hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc., for $400 million. Whether Sears can profitably continue with its current business model, even after a reorganization, is an open question. A Sears shopper has been able to browse for clothing, a major appliance, tools and an array of other items under one roof all while getting a new battery or tires for the car at an attached Sears Auto Center. That everything-under-one-roof strategy once was a formula for big profits, but in the modern world, a typical Sears faces stiff competition from discount general merchandise chains such as Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. and from retailers that focus deeply on a niche, whether it be apparel, electronics or home-improvement goods. On Sept. 23, Lampert and ESL had proposed another major restructuring plan to rescue Sears before a bankruptcy filing would be needed. But in the meantime, cash-strapped Sears faced $134 million of debt that is due Monday, which might have compelled the bankruptcy filing. Edward S. Lampert, chairman of ESL Investments Inc., is seen at the company headquarters in Greenwich, Conn., in 2002. (Joseph Kugielsky / Associated Press) Lamperts hedge fund has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Sears, making the 56-year-old billionaire both a major equity holder and a creditor of Sears. With a net worth Forbes estimates at $1.6 billion, Lampert owns 54% of Sears stock, according to Sears latest proxy statement. Hes been criticized at times for stripping assets from the struggling retailer for ESLs benefit, and for failing to invest enough in Sears stores and marketing to help the company compete. Its all a far cry from the days when Sears held a premier role in U.S. retailing, long before Walmart became a behemoth and Amazon was born. There are less people here, its not like before, Roberto Melendez, 58, a retired baker who was looking for jeans at the Baldwin Hills store while his wife shopped at Macys. Melendez said hes always turned to Sears in every city hes lived in for about 20 years Chicago, Miami, Dallas, New York knowing he would get a good price point. As much as he does some of his shopping online, he still comes to Sears on weekends to browse, he said. I always gotta go home with something in my hands from Sears, he said. Its been a great store. Im gonna be sad to see it close. After its founding in the late 1800s by a watch seller named Richard Sears, who quickly hired a watchmaker named Alvah Roebuck, the company was first widely known for its merchandise catalogs sent to millions of Americans each year. The catalogs ran several hundred pages and sold a wide range of products, including clothing, appliances, sporting goods and even small houses. Sears, Roebuck & Co., as it was known then, opened its first store in 1925 and expanded rapidly over the next several decades. Sears stores initially drew on the popularity of the companys catalogs. But Sears was able to rapidly expand its store base in part by focusing on value and customers practical needs selling staples such as socks, dresses, bedding supplies and cookware at prices that were moderate compared with higher-end department stores. After World War II, as suburban shopping malls sprang up across the nation, Sears kept expanding and became a familiar mall anchor store along with rivals such as J.C. Penney. When Sears opened its new headquarters in Chicago in 1973, the Sears Tower was the tallest skyscraper in the world and emblematic of Sears iconic role in American commerce. Sears at the time also diversified into financial services, acquiring the Dean Witter Reynolds brokerage, Allstate Insurance and the Coldwell, Banker & Co. real estate firm, along with rolling out the Discover credit card. But Sears began running into serious head winds in the 1980s and 90s as Walmart, Target and a then-independent Kmart rapidly expanded. Growing specialty chains such as Best Buy Co. also gave Sears shoppers an alternative source for electronics and appliances. After shutting down its general catalog in 1993, Sears then ran into the arrival of internet shopping on Amazon and elsewhere, which would explode in popularity and cause a seismic shift to e-commerce from bricks-and-mortar retailers. After divesting its financial units to refocus on retail, Sears was acquired by the Lampert-led Kmart in 2005 for $12.3 billion to create Sears Holdings. Lampert eventually took over as chairman and chief executive of the company in 2013. Employees at the store said their managers hadnt spoken to them about any bankruptcy filing. Brenda Flores, a five-year Sears employee who works in the automotive section, said shed heard the rumors of Sears shutting down ever since she started working there. The company recently made renovations and improvements to both the Baldwin Hills store and the one in Torrance, where she previously worked, which she took to mean they werent closing anytime soon, she said. Wallace Ervin, 52, a store greeter, said he took the job manning the doors at Sears earlier this year as his previous work as a construction worker was drying up and his employer started doing layoffs. I just hope it doesnt affect the store because this is all Ive got and I have bills to pay, he said. james.peltz@latimes.com Twitter: @PeltzLATimes UPDATES: 10:25 p.m.: This article was updated with the information that Sears Holding Corp. filed for bankruptcy. This article was originally published at 9:50 p.m. The irony is that Sears figured out shopping from home long before Amazons Jeff Bezos even was born. The companys catalogs once were ubiquitous in American households, allowing consumers to browse merchandise from their living rooms and pioneering the trust between a retailer and its customers that a century later would be the bedrock of e-commerce. You could even buy an entire house, delivered in pieces by train, from the Sears catalog. Amazon hasnt figured that one out yet. Sears parent company, Sears Holdings, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Monday, the latest retailer to become roadkill in an industry upended by technological advances and changing consumer tastes. Advertisement Sears will stay in business (for now) but will close an additional 142 stores even as it tries to figure out a way to squeeze desperately needed profit from the holiday season. Its easy to point at the various wrong turns the company made in recent years, the inability to develop a cogent online strategy, the increasingly unattractive stores. But that doesnt diminish the extraordinary role Sears played in the commercial history of the United States. Theres a famous saying that you have to die before youre finally recognized for your virtues, said Kirthi Kalyanam, director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University. The trust that Sears established with customers was crucial, he told me. They introduced satisfaction guaranteed. If youre not happy, you can easily return it. Thats a very important part of what Amazon offers today. Sears, like all great American businesses, grew from a simple idea sell quality products at fair prices and customers will keep returning for more. Just as Bezos began his online experiment with books, Richard W. Sears launched his company in 1886 with watches. If you buy a good watch you will always be satisfied, and at our prices a good watch will influence the sale of another good watch, Sears declared. And thats our motto: Make a watch, sell a watch. Think for a moment about the online stores you buy stuff from most frequently. Substitute Sears watches for any other product you like and youll see that he cracked the nut of persuading people to buy things sight unseen. The launch of Sears general-merchandise catalog in 1896 demonstrated not just the confident cockiness of a Bezos or Steve Jobs, but also a belief that consumers will be loyal to any business that treats them respectfully and fairly. That wasnt just corporate propaganda. If youre selling stuff by mail and want to keep selling stuff by mail, you better make good on your promises. They delivered on their promise from the very beginning delivering on what customers expected and beyond, said Theresa Williams, director of the Center of Education and Research in Retailing at Indiana University. Incredibly, Sears was able to pull that off for more than half a century, she said. It wasnt until the 1970s that Sears started its long slide into retail mediocrity. The trust, Williams said, started to fail. Sears historical parallels with Amazon are a little spooky. Both companies began with single products and gradually added to their offerings until they became the go-to place for almost everything. Both companies dominated remote sales, one via its catalogs and the other its website. And both companies built on this success by transitioning to brick-and-mortar outlets. Sears hundreds of stores made it, at its peak, the largest U.S. retailer. Amazon, after laying claim to nearly half of all online sales, is now opening real-world bookstores and convenience stores. It purchased the Whole Foods supermarket chain last year. The economics of a catalog and an online platform are similar, said Robert Sanders, an assistant professor of marketing at UC San Diego. Sears was ultimately not as successful because the internet does the same job much more efficiently. Another key difference between Sears and Amazon is how each company followed through on its successes. Sears was a part of the history and culture of America for a very long time, said Barbara E. Kahn, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School. But unlike Amazon, they never learned how to maximize the customer experience. Part of that is a factor of available technology. There are only so many ways you can crunch data from a catalog sale. That said, Kahn observed that Amazon, unlike Sears, is obsessively focused on not just the transaction of the moment but also anticipating, and encouraging, your next purchase. Thats the particular genius of Amazon, she said. I dont dispute that. Amazon has redefined retail by staying at least one step ahead of its customers while simultaneously, ruthlessly, introducing new efficiencies to the commercial process. Bezos is a predator, which makes him a ferocious competitor. Sears the guy, not the store was a brilliant marketer, but his taste for the hurly-burly of business may have had limitations. Its perhaps telling that when Sears retired as head of the company in 1908, he moved to a farm in Waukesha, Wis., where he died six years later at the age of 51. He was literally put out to pasture. Bezos is 54 and shows no sign of slowing down. Nowadays, Amazon is frequently the first stop people make when they need or want something. In its heyday, Sears enjoyed a similar status. There was simply nowhere else youd go if you wanted a good deal on an appliance. It sold quality, decently priced clothes. Its Craftsman tools and DieHard car batteries were second to none. Times change, and Sears was unable to change with them. The company aims to stay in business after bankruptcy, but its an open question if it can pull that off. Its legacy, though, will persist. If you buy a good watch you will always be satisfied, and at our prices a good watch will influence the sale of another good watch. Make a watch, sell a watch. Sears knew what it was a doing. And then it didnt. David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com. The Rancho Santa Fe compound of Wendy Walker, the veteran CNN producer who inspired the ABC drama Notorious, will go to the highest bidder at auction next month. Walker, who bought the property the year it was built in 1999, has had the estate on and off the market for the last two years. The home first hit the market in 2016 for $9.2 million, but saw its price cut by $1 million three months later, according to the Multiple Listing Service. It is now set to be sold through Concierge Auctions with no reserve on Nov. 20. Designed in Spanish Colonial Revival style, the home offers seven bedrooms, 9.5 bathrooms and 14 fireplaces across 11,155 square feet. Eye-catching interior details include a mesquite front door, a cavernous dining room under antique lantern fixtures, a wine cellar with a chandelier and a two-story library topped by corbel vault ceilings. 1 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 2 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 3 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 4 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 5 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 6 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 7 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 8 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 9 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) 10 / 10 Set on 3.27-acre grounds designed by landscape architect Kate Sessions, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home features seven bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms. (Concierge Auctions) Advertisement French doors in the formal living room open to an indoor-outdoor patio, where picture windows pull in mountain views. In the kitchen, marble countertops pair with a pizza oven. Theres also a billiards room, a gym and an indoor-outdoor lounge. Outside, flat lawns surround a swimming pool and spa. The three-plus acres of grounds were designed by late landscape architect Kate Sessions and also hold a pool house with a bocce ball court and a detached guesthouse. A two-car garage connects to the main house, and the grounds also hold a detached two-car garage and motor court. Walker produced Larry King Live during her time with CNN. Notorious, which was based on her relationship with criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos, ran for one season in 2016. jack.flemming@latimes.com | Twitter: @jflem94 Inside Elizabeth Turks airy, sunlit studio overlooking the back bay in Newport Beach, the artist is hard at work on her latest creation, The Shoreline Project. At the moment, work means playing with umbrellas. Turk and Laura Siapin, her project manager, are opening and closing an oversize umbrella emblazoned with a haunting, geometric image on the top. Barefoot and giddy with excitement, they lift it and turn it sideways. They tilt it and tip it, careful to avoid stacks of standard-size, similarly decorated umbrellas piled neatly on a blanket on the floor. The smaller black and white umbrellas are equipped with LED lights so when switched on, the image is illuminated: a seashell X-ray mandala. On Nov. 3, Turks Shoreline Project will come to life as 1,000 volunteers from the community gather at Lagunas Main Beach at twilight, outfitted with the umbrellas as they move along the shore to create a living, breathing work of art. Loosely guided by Lara Wilsons Assembly Dance company and other dance partners, participants are free to walk, dance, jump, chase waves or just stand still while drones film the mass of moving, lighted mandala umbrellas from above as the sun sets. The movie will be on view at the Laguna Art Museum later this year. Advertisement In Buddhist tradition, mandalas are geometric designs meant to represent a perfectly balanced universe. These intricate images are painstakingly created in total silence, then almost immediately dismantled. Its an apt metaphor for Turks eagerly anticipated foray into environmental performance art. I think of this as quiet art, she says. I want it to be quiet and fragile and trumpet things that are the opposite of the noise were experiencing now in the world. Light-up umbrellas will culminate in a night performance on a Southern California beach by artist Elizabeth Turk. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times) Museum Director Malcolm Warner commissioned Turk as part of the institutions annual Art & Nature festival, which includes a major outdoor art installation. The museum has previously commissioned works by such artists as Laddie John Dill, Lita Albuquerque and Phillip K. Smith III, but Turks may be the most ambitious yet. The Shoreline Project is the highlight of the four-day event, which also includes a family festival, panel discussions, screening of a documentary on land artist Andy Goldsworthy and a keynote lecture on Charles Darwin and his views on art. Since weve been putting on this festival in 2013, weve sensed that all across the country, even internationally, theres an increasing interest in arts engagement with nature, Warner says. For contemporary artists, it seems like an important issue, because of environmental concerns. Climate change and mans relationship with nature have come to the front of peoples minds in recent years. Thats a great thing for our festival, because it has a special and growing relevance right now. Most of my work is about pushing to the edge, pushing a structure in a repeating form to its end, until just before the point that it breaks. Elizabeth Turk For Warner, Turk was a natural choice. The museum presented a solo exhibition of her work in 2015 that included the delicate marble sculptures she is best known for, as well as her more recent seashell mandala artwork, which uses X-ray photography methods to expose the interior structure of shells. Shes an artist very much in touch with the materiality of nature, Warner says. Turk, 56, made her name creating gravity-defying marble sculptures, carved from heavy blocks into rippled ribbons, delicate pinwheels, geometric cages and intricate lace collars. Her sculptures are part of the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Mint Museum in North Carolina and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Most of my work is about pushing to the edge, pushing a structure in a repeating form to its end, until just before the point that it breaks, Turk says. For instance, with stone, you think that it is really heavy and solid and internal, but if you take away almost all that stone so its just a single line or a tiny single structure, the emptiness will describe the what was. Artist Elizabeth Turk twirls her light-up umbrella. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times) Born and raised in Southern California, Turk originally studied international relations at Scripps College with an eye toward entering politics. Art was a place I loved to go to escape like reading, she says. I never thought I would make a living as an artist; I thought of it more as a passion. While working in Washington, D.C., in a lowly, Ill-run-and-do-anything-that-the-campaign-needs job, Turk started making small bronze figurative pieces that she would try to sell to anybody who walked into the office. Eventually, she quit her job and got a masters degree from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. From there, she moved to New York and began working as an artist full time. Turk says her life changed after she was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the genius grant. She received the news while on a road trip in 2010. They said, I understand youre driving across the country, and you think, Who is on the phone that knows that? You dont recognize the number. Then they say, If youre behind the wheel, you should probably pull over, she recalls, laughing. A year later, she was awarded a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. At the Smithsonian, she studied calcium carbonate and mineral structures and began experimenting with X-rays of seashells and deep-sea coral that would eventually become the focus of her mandala series and the Shoreline Project. The imagery was just so beautiful. I wanted to keep pushing it forward, she says. I just didnt think we would eventually be managing 1,000 people. I want it to be quiet and fragile and trumpet things that are the opposite of the noise were experiencing now in the world. Elizabeth Turk Elizabeth Turk works on a sculpture at her marble studio in Santa Ana. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) When Warner approached her with the commission in early 2017, Turk was ready to hit the ground running. She and Siapin had recently brainstormed a number of ideas for projects and thought one might work for the museum. I wanted to create experience-oriented art that integrated art, science and nature, Turk says. Turk knew she wanted to incorporate the mandala but wasnt immediately sure how. She toyed with the idea of an enormous structure with a mandala printed on it that people could walk through. Or maybe something involving windmills or tents? Then one night, she and Warner were having drinks at the Royal Hawaiian restaurant in Laguna Beach. He had a really funny drink that had an umbrella on a toothpick in it, and I said, Hey, I have an idea for the project, Turk recalls, bursting into laughter. As Malcolm would probably say, it got all Turk-ed up from there. From the start, Turk envisioned a work that would bring together communities at a time when divisive politics and world events threaten to rip them apart. The context of our time pushed the idea of creating intimate bridges. Creating a large, shared experience became really important, Turk says. The seashell, the umbrella everything is based on these really basic things that every human has experienced. Its commonality we can agree on. At the same time, she wanted to make sure the process was accessible, so people wouldnt be intimidated by any notions of high-brow art. Thats why its an umbrella. Its so low-maintenance, Turk says. Were trying to make art really approachable so the doorway is open to everybody. Elizabeth Turk is well known for her intricate marble sculptures. She has an upcoming night performance featuring light-up umbrellas on a Southern California beach. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) After the idea was settled on, there were many details to work out. For example, the umbrellas went through five prototypes and numerous considerations: choosing a mandala design, sampling various fabric weights for the canopy, testing lighting units and light arcs, and trying out different shapes for the stem and handle. At one point, a solar-powered umbrella was even considered. To ensure that the public became involved in the creative process, Turk set up a think lab at SCAPE gallery in Corona del Mar to illustrate the scope and details of the project. Starting with an empty space, the gallery began to fill up with drawings, images and maquettes for visitors to view and offer suggestions. We created a framework, and everyone was invited in to just develop the concept and make it real, Turk says. Turk and Siapin have spent months mapping the shoreline, researching crowd movement and potential crowd size, observing light patterns at twilight, testing batteries, determining parking and clocking the amount of time it will take to distribute umbrellas. The result, Turk jokes, will be managed chaos. During several small-scale tests, Turk and Siapin observed how people engaged with the umbrellas. With children, you give them the umbrella, and theyre happy and theyre running around dancing, Siapin says. With people in their late 20s to mid-40s, they open the umbrella and kind of look around, like, Who is looking at me? They have this strange, awkward moment, and after about 10 minutes, you see them dancing. And then youll have the next demographic, and they want to follow rules. Theyre very respectful of the umbrella. Turk hopes the dancers, who will kick off the evening with a brief, choreographed performance, will inspire participants to mimic their movements or create their own paths. Its definitely not going to be a Busby Berkeley water ballet, Turk says, grinning. Armed with information theyve already gathered and lessons theyll pick up from the upcoming event, Turk and Siapin plan to replicate the project in other coastal cities. But for now, the team is working nonstop on the logistics of the ambitious project. Hundreds of volunteers, including students from the Laguna College of Art and Design, will be enlisted to guide participants and help make the event run smoothly. Those interested in taking part in the umbrella performance must register on the Shoreline Project website. Participants will be required to sign a waiver that they are encouraged to print out in advance to speed the process. The signed waiver will serve as a ticket, with the 1,000 umbrellas handed out to ticketholders on a first-come, first-serve basis. To reinforce the concept of community, everyone is encouraged to wear black, so no one stands out. The next milestone will be a full rehearsal, minus the drones, on Oct. 22. Were setting a beautiful stage, and then well see what happens, Turk says. Whatever happens, happens. Elizabeth Turk works on a project at her marble studio in Santa Ana. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) The Shoreline Project Where: Main Beach in Laguna Beach When: Nov. 3 Arrival time: At 5 p.m., umbrellas will be dispersed on a first-come, first-serve basis to ticketholders who have completed a signed waiver Start time: At 5:45 p.m., dancers will begin a brief performance to kick off the event Parking: Limited street parking. Shuttle service will be provided from various locations Cost: Free To register or for more information, go to: www.shoreline-project.com or www.lagunaartmuseum.org Something is intentionally askew about the opening scene of Fairview, Jackie Sibblies Drurys blazingly inventive new play, which is now at Berkeley Rep after setting New York abuzz last summer. But it takes a little time to figure out the nature of the theatrical mischief thats afoot. The production, directed by Sarah Benson, artistic director of the little powerhouse Soho Rep, which co-commissioned the play in this joint world premiere with Berkeley Rep, flirts with pastiche without falling into parody. Drury, author of We Are Proud to Present (to abbreviate a title that flows like the Nile) is once again venturing into heady meta-theatrical terrain. On first encounter, the characters of Fairview seem derivative of some 1990s sitcom about a well-off black family. The Frasiers arent the Huxtables, but they seem to have taken their lifestyle cues from The Cosby Show. Beverly (Natalie Venetia Belcon), who likes everything just so, is preparing a feast in honor of Mama Frasiers birthday. As she orders Dayton (Charles Browning), her attentive husband, to help out with last-minute details, the doorbell rings and in walks Jasmine (Chantal Jean-Pierre), Beverlys sassy sister who has an opinion on everything. Aunt Jasmine even has a little advice on how to raise Keisha (Monique Robinson), Beverly and Daytons college-bound daughter, whos starting to buckle under the weight of her familys expectations. Advertisement Jasmines all-encompassing knowledge comes from having watched so many movies. You know, one of those movies thats a family drama where somebody dead, and what to do with the children, or somebody dead and what to do with the wife, or somebody dead and the house aint paid for, she explains while butting further into Beverlys business. Audience members indoctrinated by television, which is to say the vast majority of the American public, might assume that theyre on safe comic ground. But there are clues that the play is going to careen away from the familiar. The biggest hint is the set by Mimi Lien that frames the household as a generic portrait in middle-class respectability. The decor, which might as well have quotation marks around it, is drained of individual character. The layout suggests an anonymous model home in a housing development aimed at the upwardly mobile. Lien, the first set designer ever to be named a MacArthur genius fellow, ingeniously arranges her scenic design at a critical angle. The entire play seems to be viewed from a downstage corner of the stage, where the characters check how they look in an invisible mirror. Hanging on the imaginary fourth wall from which an audience is traditionally granted its privileged view, this mirror seems to be of the kind used for security purposes to prevent shoplifters and the like. Theatergoers clearly arent the only ones peeping into the Frasier residence. As the actors playing the family members quietly reprise their first scene in the second act, the voice-over commentary of a group of unseen onlookers resounds. A male voice insistently poses versions of the same question: If you could choose to be a different race, what race would you be? Surmising that these speakers are white doesnt require much detective work. The fetishization of the Frasiers blackness is a dead giveaway. As the play moves into its third and strangest phase, the line between virtual reality and reality itself blurs. Those nattering racial tourists (played by Brooke Bloom, Natalia Payne, Jed Resnick and Luke Robertson) eventually invade the Frasier household in a playwriting maneuver thats part absurdist, part near-term futuristic. The subject of surveillance and black bodies is especially charged today, but Drurys play harks back to a time before Facebook and MAGA hats, when black intellectuals such as James Baldwin and Frantz Fanon were teasing out the connections between racism and cultural representation. Fairview, a 21st century play with a radical 1960s soul, deconstructs the warping power of the white gaze. Drurys adventurous form invites comparison with Jean Genets The Blacks: A Clown Show. But Fairview, which blasts R&B classics and at one point breaks into the Hustle, is less aggressively abstract. And as the play zooms in on the interior experience of Keisha, whos trying to understand the crazy game imposed on her family, the influence of the great dramatic poet Adrienne Kennedy (Funnyhouse of a Negro, A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White) bleeds through. Fairview is more impressive in its conceptual brilliance than in its antic execution. The play has a hurtling energy that is thrilling yet also a little blurry at times. Some of the blurriness is intentional. The plays final movement, which reverses the positions between spectator and spectacle, is fueled by Keishas desperation to understand her life apart from the projections of a ubiquitous white audience. Finding myself standing on the stage with other white theatergoers at the end of Fairview, I felt both socially implicated and artistically exhilarated. Audience members of color remained in their seats. One woman I spotted had tears streaming down her face and an expression of what looked like gratitude. Fairview, which runs at Berkeley Rep through Nov. 4, really ought to be produced in Los Angeles. (The Kirk Douglas Theatre, REDCAT and Geffen Playhouses Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater would all be suitable.) The play is dangerous, no doubt about it, but its also enlightening and provocatively fun. Bensons production, which has a few of the same actors who performed the play under her direction at Soho Rep, is a wild ride that makes giddy use of Sly and the Family Stones hit Family Affair. The choreography by Raja Feather Kelly, aided by Amith Chandrashakers lighting and Mikaal Sulaimans sound design, turns social critique into a vibrating dance party. It is rare these days to encounter a dramatic performance that unfolds like a work of conceptual art. But Drury wrestles with theatrical structures to give us a fairer view of a society that for too long has been practicing another form of mass-incarceration this one through stereotypes. charles.mcnulty@latimes.com Follow me @charlesmcnulty Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The Girl in the Spiders Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. One of the many downsides of Hollywoods franchise mentality is that movie titles have become such long, torturously bisected affairs; you could be a gastroenterologist and not see this many colons. The burden of advertising something new but dont worry, not too new has rarely seemed more laborious or self-defeating. This is hardly a recent development, as the beleaguered Halloween franchise can attest. The general futility of the Michael Myers Cinematic Universe has only been compounded by its more torturous titles, from Halloween III: Season of the Witch to Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, a movie that I had until recently assumed takes place underwater. And so it is with admirable economy and brazen self-assurance that the new Halloween movie bills itself simply as Halloween, an elegant solution that runs the risk of inviting some tough comparisons. Four decades worth of sequels, reboots and pointlessly revisionist plot lines have failed to match the sleek, ruthless perfection of John Carpenters 1978 masterpiece, which set a slasher-movie standard and elevated Jamie Lee Curtis to the scream-queen pantheon. Fortunately, director David Gordon Green, who wrote the Halloween 2018 script with his frequent comedy collaborator Danny McBride (Your Highness, Pineapple Express), seems determined to invite such comparisons in the first place. Set 40 years after the notorious baby-sitter murders rocked Haddonfield, Ill., this Halloween offers a series of callbacks and allusions to that seminal killing spree, stripped of irony and cleverly reverse-engineered into the story of an epic rematch. Scary and propulsive, it doesnt just forge a direct link to Carpenters original; it pretends all the garbage in between never even existed. Advertisement And why not? It must have been a relief to jettison the dead weight and get back to basics, to treat the elegant spareness of Carpenters movie as both a fresh jumping-off point and a guiding principle. (Carpenter himself served as an executive producer on the film, the first time he has been involved with a new installment of the series since 1982s Season of the Witch.) This Halloween does not venture too deeply into the weeds of serial-killer psychology in the manner of Rob Zombies 2007 remake; nor does it traffic in hoary elements of Druidic mythology like 1995s Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Its most thrilling image, of Curtis storming down a darkened hallway with a shotgun in hand, recalls Jean-Luc Godards famous saying that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun. Butcher knives, hammers and hard-stomping boots come in handy too. But for all the weaponry on hand, the emphasis here is rightly on the girl. With a canny balance of empathy and exploitation, Halloween treats its heroines lingering trauma with surprising emotional realism and only a hint of comic exaggeration. Laurie Strode has clearly never recovered from her terrifying ordeal, as emphasized by Curtis severe, bespectacled scowl and long, untidy hair that eerily mirrors her look from 1978. The collateral damage includes two failed marriages and an estranged daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), who keeps a healthy distance, along with her husband, Ray (Toby Huss), and teenage daughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak). Rather than leave Haddonfield and seek out a new identity, as past alternate versions of this story have suggested she might, Laurie has stayed put, walling herself off in a house fortified with metal fences, heavy door bolts and a basement panic room stocked with firearms. Shes preparing for and perhaps even looking forward to the day when Michael bursts out of maximum-security lockup and comes looking for her and her family. There would be no movie if Lauries paranoia were not completely justified. Triggered by a pair of snooping British podcasters (Jefferson Hall and Rhian Rees) trying to cash in on the true-crime craze, Michael (the masked character played here by both Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney) once again escapes during a nighttime transfer is it Illinois state protocol that the criminally insane can be moved only around Halloween? and makes his way back to Haddonfield. The killers homecoming is signaled by a resurgent blast of Carpenters immortal piano theme, tricked out with additional music by his son, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel A. Davies, but still as gloriously dread-soaked as ever. Nick Castle stars in a scene from the movie Halloween as Michael Myers. (Ryan Green / Universal Pictures) RELATED: How the makers of new Halloween and Suspiria films took different approaches reimagining hallowed horror classics Music is not the only motif in Halloween that functions as a cue of sorts, a detail meant to secure our recognition and pleasure. Once more we will be reminded of the horrors that lurk in car backseats and behind slatted closet doors. Once more there are lusty baby-sitters and boyfriends just one kiss away from getting pinned in ways they hadnt bargained for. Once more a bunch of cops will hit the streets with an excitable shrink (the great Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer of Winter Sleep), searching for a white-masked killer who can camouflage himself behind shadows, bushes and unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. From his stirring art-film debut, George Washington, to slapdash comedies like The Sitter, Green has enjoyed one of the strangest careers ever to straddle the Hollywood/indie divide. In Halloween, another sharp left turn, he and his cinematographer, Michael Simmonds, demonstrate a solid, efficient grasp of the mechanics of terror, expertly reproducing Carpenters horror syntax by shooting the murderous Michael (Myers, not Simmonds) in smooth, serpentine long takes. But the kills come faster this time; the body count is through the roof. After four decades behind bars, Michael clearly has some catching up to do. He still likes to play hide-and-seek with his prey and the audience note the terribly ingenious use he makes of a motion-sensor-activated light but he might not count as high as 10 this time. There is zero originality in all this mimicry, but there is an unusual and highly effective sense of purpose. The single-mindedness with which this Halloween ties itself to its landmark predecessor isnt strictly a matter of fan service, though that commercial imperative is certainly present. It feeds into an overarching narrative ethos that says Michael Myers an avatar of pure, banal, motiveless evil will kill and kill again in ways that are not just inevitable but borderline predictable. And if you know this in your bones, the way Laurie does, you have a slightly better chance of turning the tables. This marks Curtis fourth return to the role that made her famous, and she must have had an especially grand time playing Laurie as Haddonfields resident gun-toting crackpot, an unhinged teller of inconvenient truths. But within that highly entertaining formulation, theres a sliver of insight that feels especially true to the present moment. Curtis performance is an intensely physical reminder that every assault leaves lasting damage, and that it behooves everyone to believe the survivors in their midst. That might make this Halloween sound heavy with topicality, but it isnt. Its nasty and nimble and stumbles only occasionally, mainly when Green and McBrides love of slacker humor gets the better of them. And by the time the movie reaches its pulse-quickening final act, it has somehow managed to make repetition feel awfully close to subversion. I wont spoil the fun, but its no accident that there are three generations of Strode women on-screen, and all of them Greers character gets an especially terrific moment are determined to ensure that Michaels latest rampage is his last. Give or take 40 years. RELATED: Halloween and Michael Myers return, but Jamie Lee Curtis is waiting, at the Toronto Film Festival ------------ Halloween Rating: R, for horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes Playing: Opens Oct. 19 in general release Movie Trailers justin.chang@latimes.com | Twitter: @JustinCChang Roni Salguero Casasola had heard from friends in Bakersfield that L.A. County sheriffs deputies were pulling over Latino motorists on the 5 Freeway heading into Los Angeles. But even those warnings hadnt prepared him for what happened next. As he and a friend drove toward a Glendale car dealership, Salguero said, a sheriffs deputy pulled them over on the 5 Freeway and asked if they were carrying drugs. The deputy, he said, handcuffed them, placed them in the back seat of a sheriffs SUV and thoroughly searched their vehicle before releasing them after finding nothing. Returning home the same day, Salguero was driving a different car he had just purchased when a cop signaled for him to pull over on the 5 Freeway. It was the same sheriffs deputy. Advertisement Salguero is one of several motorists who say they believe they were the victims of racial profiling by a sheriffs highway enforcement team that has stopped thousands of innocent Latino drivers over the last six years along a 40-mile stretch of the 5 Freeway. A Times analysis of more than 9,000 stops found that 69% of drivers stopped by the Domestic Highway Enforcement Team from 2012 through the end of last year were Latino and that two-thirds of them had their vehicles searched a rate far higher than motorists of other racial and ethnic groups. It could have been [a white driver] in the right lane, a Latino in the middle and another white guy on the left, and theyd stop the Latino, Salguero, 48, said of the sheriffs team. Thats racism. Sheriffs officials have denied racial profiling and insisted the deputies base their stops only on a persons driving and other impartial factors. Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who has declined interview requests with The Times before and after the newspaper published its findings this month, said in a radio interview last week that his department would work with the countys inspector general, which started investigating the teams work in response to the story. We dont tolerate racial profiling in our organization, McDonnell told KPCC. We talk about how critical it is for us to be objective, for us to be viewed as an impartial party by everybody that we serve. Credibility is our currency and if we lose that in any way we are not able to protect the public. Sheriffs officials said the team was launched in response to a spate of drug overdoses in the Santa Clarita area. Now comprising four deputies, the team traverses a stretch of the 5 Freeway that spans from the border with Kern County to just south of Santa Clarita. Though the deputies are looking for any criminality, nearly all of the teams arrests are for drug-related crimes. The 5 Freeway, they say, is a pipeline for cartels to move drugs up the West Coast and return to Mexico with cash from drug sales as well as weapons purchased in the United States. The teams work has resulted in a haul that includes more than a ton of methamphetamine, 2 tons of marijuana, 600 pounds of cocaine and millions of dollars in suspected drug money. But Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said such success comes at a price if deputies are targeting Latino drivers. People lose trust in the Sheriffs Department and they lose trust in law enforcement more broadly, he said. Thats all triggered by the injustice of feeling targeted because of your race. Not a threat Marcelino Garcia recalls immediately growing tense when he noticed the sheriffs vehicle following behind. The high school teacher checked his speed to ensure he was driving legally as he took his 11-year-old son home to Sylmar after the boys motocross practice near Gorman. The deputy followed on the 5 Freeway for about 10 minutes before pulling up alongside his Ford van and making eye contact, Garcia said. The deputy then dropped back and flashed his lights for him to pull over. After checking Garcias license and registration, the deputy still had questions: Where are you going? Do you have any drugs in vehicle or large amounts of cash? Garcia said he replied that he did not and questioned why he was stopped. The deputy said it was because his van had illegally tinted windows, and wrote Garcia a ticket. The traffic stop lasted about 15 minutes, Garcia said. It did feel like harassment, Garcia said. The deputy sees my papers are all good and sees my son. Its clear that Im not a threat. What about the fact that Im a human? I get their job is to find drugs, but the means dont justify the outcome. Garcia, 43, provided The Times with a copy of his citation from his June 14 stop identifying Deputy Adam Halloran as making the stop. Halloran declined to comment. Garcia said he was so upset by the encounter that he immediately drove to the Santa Clarita sheriffs station to complain to a supervisor. His complaint was brushed off, Garcia said. My son is sitting there with his motocross gear and helmet as this is going on. He was terrified out of his mind, Garcia said. Later he asked me, Why did he pull us over? I didnt have an answer for him. I dont want my son to have a negative view of law enforcement. Nothing suspicious Edwin Diaz vividly remembers the day in August 2013 he was stopped by an L.A. sheriffs deputy. He and his wife, Kenia Mancia, were driving home to Los Angeles after a trip to Yosemite National Park when a deputy pulled over their black Honda Civic for speeding. Diaz said the deputy asked where they were coming from and whether they had weapons or drugs before asking them to step out of the car. Diaz said he told the deputy that his wife, who had arrived from their native El Salvador three months earlier, didnt speak English. But the deputy continued to ask her questions in English. Mancia said he asked whether she had a large amount of cash. She said she didnt understand the question but responded with a yes. The deputy removed everything from the car and called for a drug-sniffing dog. The search turned up several hundred dollars left over from their trip before the deputy allowed them to leave. Though two-thirds of Latino drivers who were pulled over had their vehicles searched, cars belonging to all other drivers were searched less than half the time, according to the analysis of sheriffs stop data. Deputies found drugs or other illegal items in the vehicles of Latino motorists at a rate that was not significantly higher than that of black or white drivers, The Times analysis found. Diaz, 35, said the deputy remained respectful during the encounter but that he remains bewildered by why he and his wife would be targeted by a team looking for drug traffickers. It was a normal car nothing suspicious, Diaz said. All my documents were in order. It was just a car driven by a Latino person. Stopped twice Salguero said he remains angry years after the day he was pulled over twice. The construction worker said he recalls the deputy asking him during the first stop, Where are the drugs? He replied that he didnt have any. Several patrol cars quickly arrived and a drug-sniffing dog checked Salguero and his friend, he said. The deputy handcuffed them and led them to the back of his patrol car while he searched Salgueros Honda Accord, looking under the hood and behind the interior door panels. The stop lasted about 15 minutes, Salguero said. Returning home later, Salguero was driving a used Toyota Camry he had just purchased when the same deputy pulled him over. He said the deputy asked the same question he had earlier in the day: Where are the drugs? You stopped me this morning, Salguero recalled replying. Do you remember? This is the car I went to buy. Salguero showed him the title and registration, and the deputy said he remembered him. Sheriffs data show that the team stopped and searched Salgueros vehicle while he was heading southbound on the freeway about 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2013. About 1 p.m., a man with the same date of birth was stopped by the same deputy, Ethan Marquez, heading northbound near the same Lake Hughes Road exit. Marquez declined to comment. According to the data, a consensual search of the vehicle was conducted during the first stop and no search was performed during the second. Salguero said that the deputy didnt ask for consent to search the vehicle and that he was placed in handcuffs during the second stop while the deputy quickly inspected the newly purchased Camry. The experience still rankles. If you even looked Hispanic, youd get stopped, Salguero said. That really bothers me. A baby was abandoned in a Walmart bathroom last week and officials are now looking for a person who may be connected with the incident, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said Monday. A customer at the Lakewood Walmart at 2770 E. Carson St. saw the child in the stall of a mens restroom next to a toilet and notified an employee on Oct. 8. The boy was described as African American, 12 to 15 months old and weighing about 20 pounds, authorities said. After reviewing store surveillance video, detectives from the Special Victims Bureau identified a person of interest. The man, who was wearing a white T-shirt, burgundy pants and carrying a backpack, was seen driving to and from the store in a beige or gold Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. Investigators think the man may have hidden the baby in his backpack in order to bring him into the store, said Lt. Todd Deeds. Advertisement The mans behavior in the parking lot was unusual, Deeds said. His car didnt have a license plate, and the man parked as far away from the stores entrance as he possibly could. All he did was walk inside, walk straight to the bathroom and walk out, he said. This is a very unusual case. No child matching the description of the baby has been reported missing, and no relatives have come forward in the week since he was found, the Sheriffs Department said. The man is not being called a suspect because investigators dont have enough evidence that he carried the baby into the store, Deeds said. But officials are asking for the publics help in identifying the man so he can be questioned. A news conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Anyone with information about the case can call the Special Victims Bureau at (877) 719-5273. alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com Twitter: @r_valejandra UPDATES: 11:50 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from sheriffs detectives. This article was originally published at 10:30 a.m. A husband and wife who both work as sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department pleaded not guilty to felony animal cruelty charges Monday stemming from allegations they failed to care for their elderly Labrador retriever. Jason David Azpeitia, 43, a sergeant, and Sharon Anne Azpeitia, 42, a detective, pleaded not guilty to a felony count of animal cruelty and two misdemeanor counts each of failure to license, according to Los Angeles County Superior court records. The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control launched an investigation in January after the couples neighbor found their dog on the street in the rain. The animal showed signs of severe neglect, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Terrie Tengelsen. An LAPD official could not immediately confirm how long either of the Azpeitias had worked at the agency or their current assignments. However, state records show both have worked at the department since 1999. Advertisement The Azpeitias are assigned to their home until the criminal investigation is completed. This means they are not coming into work or performing any official duties, but are still being paid, LAPD Officer Greg Kraft said. Both face a maximum of three years in county jail, if convicted, according to prosecutors. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @Hannahnfry UPDATES: 2 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information about the Azpeitias current role at the Los Angeles Police Department. This article was originally published at 12:30 p.m. [Photo/thffc.com] Leading officials and scholars from around the world will gather in Beijing next week for the fifth meeting of China's flagship cultural forum to discuss how to build a community with a shared future for mankind through cultural exchanges. The fifth conference of the Taihu World Cultural Forum, a Chinese NGO that promotes Chinese culture and serves as a platform for international nongovernment exchanges, will be held October 17 to 19 in the capital. This year's meeting calls on all countries to promote a shared future, push for exchanges among different cultures and lead the international community in the direction of cultural communication and coexistence, according to Yan Zhaozhu, president of the forum. "We call on people from cultural fields from China and around the world to shoulder historical responsibilities and promote connectivity of different cultures," he said. The three-day meeting is expected to see nearly a thousand participants including government officials from China, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Poland, Italy, Egypt and other countries, as well as experts, entrepreneurs and media members. It encompasses a series of activities such as an opening ceremony, plenary session, six thematic forums, high-end dialogues and a closing ceremony. Participants will discuss topics such as international relations, economy, culture, ecology, the Belt and Road Initiative, the internet, philosophy, sociology and traditional medicine under this year's theme of "Cultural Dialogue: Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind". The discussions aim to encourage people to exchange ideas and learn from each other to jointly contribute to the development of human civilization, and build a world with lasting peace and security, openness and tolerance as well as common prosperity. The forum and China Daily will co-host the gathering, with the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, the Palace Museum, the Central Literature and History Research Institute, and the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as co-sponsors, and will also receive support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the Counselor's Office of the State Council. Founded in 2008 by China, the forum is a well-known cultural promoter, and has successfully held four conferences in Suzhou, Jiangsu province in 2011; Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in 2013; Shanghai in 2014 and Macao in 2016, and invited people from all walks of life to participate in detailed discussions, dialogues and exchanges. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] An experienced skydiver died Sunday when her parachute failed to open properly during a jump at the Lodi Parachute Center, authorities said. The woman was using her own parachuting equipment when it malfunctioned, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the incident. Gregor said the agencys skydiving accident investigations are usually limited to determining whether the parachute was properly packed by the appropriate person. San Joaquin County coroners officials were also dispatched to the center to investigate the death, said Dave Konecny, a spokesman with the Sheriffs Department. He did not have any additional information. Advertisement Bill Vause, who answered the phone at the parachute center, said he did not have information about the accident but indicated he would provide a statement on Monday. Skydiving deaths are rare but not unheard of. In January, a 27-year-old Canadian skydiver died after apparently colliding with another jumper and falling onto the roof of a home in Perris. Last year, the United States Parachute Assn. recorded 24 fatal skydiving accidents in the country out of roughly 3.2 million jumps, according to its website. In 2016, it logged 21. That year, a skydiving instructor and first-time jumper were killed near Lodi when a parachute failed to open during the jump. Fellow jumpers say the woman killed this afternoon at the Lodi parachute center had decades of experience in the sky. @FOX40 pic.twitter.com/xqNlgZ6kO1 Sonseeahray Tonsall (@tonsalltv) October 14, 2018 alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek Los Angeles nurse Lina Sandoval was 10 years old when Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980. That day was really sad, the Salvadoran immigrant recalled Sunday, because he always fought for people like us, the poor and the needy, so we could have the right to a better life. Sandoval, 48, remembers hiding under a bed during the frequent gun battles that erupted in the streets of Santa Ana, her familys hometown, during the long civil war that followed Romeros death. On Sunday, Sandoval and about 3,000 others, mainly Salvadoran immigrants, filled the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles for a Mass in Spanish celebrating Romeros elevation to sainthood by Pope Francis. Advertisement Sandoval marked the occasion by wearing a T-shirt with Romeros image and a prophetic comment that he made when he was risking his life by calling out Salvadoran military abuses: If they kill me, I will live on in the people of El Salvador. The ceremony opened with a performance by Salvadoran folkloric dancers men in cowboy hats and women in red skirts carrying baskets of flowers on their heads. A few brief recordings of Romeros voice filled the cathedral as clouds of incense smoke wafted across the pews. At the altar, a painting of Romero was perched on an easel above urns of white roses. On a table nearby was the text of Romeros last homily. Deacon Ricardo Villacorta reminded parishioners of Romeros dedication to the oppressed. Romero was the most outspoken Salvadoran leader denouncing death squads aligned with the U.S.-backed government. A gunman, Villacorta told the solemn cathedral audience, shot Romero in the heart while he was celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980. Viva San Oscar Romero! Villacorta called from the altar three times. Viva! the parishioners called back. Pedro Magana of Highland Park was moved to tears. My heart filled with joy, he said in Spanish. To El Salvador, its very important to have the first saint of our country. Magana, 87, moved to the United States 53 years ago. He and his wife, Maria, visited Romeros grave last year on a visit to their native country. Hes a prophet, Maria Magana said. And he knew what he was talking about. In a chapel on the main floor of the cathedral, a new exhibit pays tribute to Romero. Posted on the wall is an excerpt from the homily he gave a day before he was killed. This was a very brave act: He told soldiers they have to act from their morals, and not just follow directions from their superiors, said Rich Villacorta, the deacons son and communications director for the cathedral. A photograph shows Romero taping one of the radio broadcasts that angered military leaders. Nearby is a framed gold-fringed stole that Romero wore in church. Also on display is a photo of the 250,000 mourners who attended Romeros funeral at San Salvadors Metropolitan Cathedral. Gunfire and explosives killed 39 people at the gathering that day. They had a pastor who stood up for them in a situation where others wouldnt have, said Villacorta, who was 3 when his family fled the war in El Salvador and moved to Los Angeles. At a Mass at the Vatican on Sunday, the pope called Romero a prophet who gave up his life to be close to the poor and his people. Hector Ortiz, a 65-year-old Mexican immigrant who lives in Irwindale, said the canonization of Romero was not just for Salvadorans to celebrate. Its one of the best things that has happened for humanity, he said. One of the monsignors at the altar for Sundays Mass was Salvadoran immigrant Benigno Rodriguez, 76. He knew Romero when both were priests in El Salvador. Rodriguez, who left the cathedral in a wheelchair with a Salvadoran flag draped over his body, recalled discovering that he was on a military hit list. He left El Salvador shortly after Romeros assassination. My country right now has really serious problems of violence, he said. Hes going to be a saint to follow. Hes going to be our contact person with God. michael.finnegan@latimes.com A woman was killed Monday when strong Santa Ana winds caused part of a large eucalyptus tree to break off and fall onto her car at an apartment complex in Tustin. The death is the first reported casualty in Southern California caused by the powerful winds that whipped into the region Monday morning. The Orange County Sheriffs Department on Monday afternoon identified the woman as Dennet Bermas, 34, of Tustin. The tree, which fell in the 14000 block of Red Hill Avenue, also damaged a carport and downed power lines, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito said. Advertisement Weve gotten wind gusts up to 68 miles an hour, so this is going to be a tough couple days with these wind speeds, Bommarito said. Were running a lot of wires-down calls in Tustin and Santa Ana, so our units are constantly running very busy. Our dispatch center is working very hard. Offshore winds, warm temperatures and low humidity prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning signaling possible fire danger across Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties through Tuesday night. A dry air mass over the Great Basin pushed down overnight into the western valleys and coastal sections of the region, which brought warm temperatures and fast-moving winds. This put utility companies and fire agencies on high alert as the powerful Santa Ana winds paired with bone-dry vegetation and low humidity created welcoming conditions for wildfires. Last weekends rainstorm only briefly increased the moisture content for small and dead vegetation in the area, which means as the winds pick up, the plants will quickly dry out again, according to weather service forecasters. Winds dont start fires, but if one ignites, the winds certainly are going to promote that fire and make it difficult to fight, said Bonnie Bartling, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service. The winds are increasing and becoming more widespread this morning. Here's a snapshot of winds across SoCal at 524 am. Gusts are shown in red. pic.twitter.com/OFGVkWDvDW NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) October 15, 2018 Winds are expected to blow between 15 and 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph along the coast Monday. Stronger winds between 55 and 65 mph are expected in the mountains and foothills. Shortly before 9 a.m. wind blew through the Malibu Hills at 56 mph. Two hours earlier, gusts at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank registered at 48 mph. Malibu saw some of the most significant wind speeds along the coast, with early morning gusts reaching 62 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The Santa Anas are expected to peak around noon, but another surge of wind will regenerate Monday night into Tuesday morning, Bartling said. A pine tree landed on a car in Irvine on Monday. (Christopher Goffard / Los Angeles Times) In Irvine, an enormous pine tree that fell on Barranca Parkway near Jeffrey Road landed on Teresa Tsengs car as she was driving to a school where she works as a human resources manager. The 40-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita resident slammed on her brakes. The trees branches crashed onto her Mazda CX-9, smashed her windshield and crushed much of her car. She emerged unhurt and was soon standing on the sidewalk watching a city crew use a chainsaw to cut the branches and feed them into a wood chipper. She said she saw the tree falling from the corner of her eye, but it was too late to avoid it. If I hadnt [hit] the brake, I would have been hit by the branch that got my engine, she said. Im just very thankful that somewhere an angel is there for me. Gusty winds blew a large tree onto power lines on North Mountain Avenue in San Antonio Heights in San Bernardino and caused a pine tree to topple onto the roadway on Altadena Drive in Los Angeles County. Southern California Edison crews were grappling with downed power lines across the coverage area of 50,000 square miles, which includes Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties. Wind-related issues, including downed lines, along with some scheduled repairs and other issues have caused 139 outages. About 61,000 customers were without power as of 10:50 a.m., according to Mary Ann Milbourn, a Southern California Edison spokeswoman. We try to deal with them as quickly as we can, Milbourn said, adding that if someone sees a downed power line, he or she should call 911. The most important thing is the safety of the public. A Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesperson said wind and other service issues had left more than 500 customers without power. It was not clear when power would be restored across the region. The extreme fire-weather conditions prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to shut off power to thousands of customers in Northern California ahead of the strong winds. By late Sunday, the utility had shut off power to more than 17,000 customers in Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties. An additional 45,000 customers in the Sierra foothills lost power in the counties of Amador, El Dorado, Placer and Calaveras. Service is expected to be restored for some customers as early as Monday night, according to the utility. The move is part of a strategy by utilities across California to reduce the risk of wildfires sparked by utility lines that break during extreme winds. Many of Californias most destructive fires including several that raced through wine country last year were attributed to power lines. Its really a last resort for us, said PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty, adding that the utility decided to shut off power after assessing the risk to the area posed by the weather. This is the first time the utility has elected to shut off power because of high winds. Other utilities including San Diego Gas & Electric have shut off power during extreme winds in local areas, but the PG&E warning covers a vast area of Northern California mainly in the Sierra foothills and the North Bay. The wind even affected planes at Los Angeles International Airport. Airplanes generally take off into the wind, which typically means they depart toward the ocean. On Monday, they made their ascent east, Los Angeles World Airports spokesman Charles Pannunzio said. The winds over here are coming off the ocean, and thats why they take off in that direction, he said. Every once in a while, such as when we have a rain event or Santa Ana winds, they need to take off in the easterly direction. Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts, Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Christopher Goffard contributed to this report. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @Hannahnfry UPDATES: 5:25 p.m.: This article was updated with the identity of the victim. 2:15 p.m.: This article was updated with power outages and additional comments from fire and utility officials. 11:30 a.m.: This article was updated with wind speeds, power outages and information from Los Angeles International Airport. 10 a.m.: This article was updated with trees being felled by winds in Orange County, including one that killed a woman in Tustin. This article was originally published at 8:30 a.m. Los Angeles County Measure W is a parcel tax to pay for cleaning up stormwater the dirty runoff created when rain hits the streets and other paved surfaces, picks up toxic urban gunk and carries it downstream to foul the beaches and pollute the ocean. Depending on how you look at it, the measure is either a hard but necessary pill to swallow or an exciting step into the future. In either case, its the right move, and The Times urges voters to say yes. Cleaning stormwater is not merely a nice thing to do for the environment. L.A.s 88 municipalities and its unincorporated county area routinely violate federal and state laws that govern toxic pollutants and protect drinking water supplies and the environment. Those cities and the county will soon be hit with fines that will mount into billions of dollars. These penalties would drain their budgets of funding for police and fire protection and they would not stop until the violations ceased. The alternative is to invest in projects that will put them into compliance. Measure W is that investment. It would build the infrastructure to capture both the daily dry-weather runoff (from lawn sprinklers, for example) and the winter rainwater that gushes down the pavement and into storm drains. Instead of flowing into the ocean, the captured water would be cleaned of its most noxious pollutants and then allowed to percolate into the ground, where it could later be tapped as a drinking water source to replace or augment the shrinking supplies of water that currently come to Southern California at great cost from the Colorado River, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and, in the case of the city of L.A., the Eastern Sierra via the Owens Valley. Los Angeles County Measure W is a parcel tax to pay for cleaning up stormwater. Advertisement That imported water has become increasingly unreliable due to drought and rising temperatures in the mountains and points north. To keep quenching its thirst, L.A. will have to develop its local water supplies. Lets be clear: Measure W would not immediately turn all our runoff into sparkling clear drinking water. The primary purpose of the measure is to stop the flow of water-borne toxins and other pollutants into the ocean. But the funding would also help to develop alternative supplies. If California were to start from scratch, it would probably develop its water, sewer and stormwater services differently so that they could work together seamlessly and share revenue for projects that produce multiple, complementary benefits. Your water bill would cover the water delivered to you and the sewage taken away, plus the water that otherwise would rush to the sea but is instead captured, cleaned and reused. But thats not how it works. Water and sanitation agencies cant bill their customers for cleaning stormwater, even though state and federal agencies can penalize cities for not doing it. There are no stormwater ratepayers who deliver a steady stream of revenue. As a result, cities cant sell bonds to build stormwater projects the way that water and sewer utilities can for their missions. Cities and regional agencies already have detailed plans for projects to clean up stormwater, but they cant actually build anything because they have no funding source. Measure W would provide the source. At the same time, it would give water and sanitation agencies incentives to design projects in tandem, to get multiple benefits from the same tax dollars. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion The measure imposes a tax on property owners of 2 cents per square foot of impermeable surface meaning ground that is paved over or otherwise doesnt let water pass through. That comes to about $83 a year for the average single-family homeowner. (Property owners can see estimated bills using an online tool developed by the county.) Why not just a flat parcel tax that everyone pays equally? Because the point is to get water into the ground instead of rushing down the street and into the storm drains. There is no tax on non-paved surfaces or even on technologically advanced pavements that allow water to pass through. It would be nice if the county and water agencies were straightforward with residents and explained how much more they should expect to pay in the coming years just to cope with decreasing water supplies from traditional sources. Measure W wont be the end of it. Still, it is a responsible measure that will go a long way toward keeping L.A. habitable. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Two men who slept on downtown Los Angeles sidewalks were beaten to death with a bat last month. In Santa Monica, four other men were attacked while sleeping outside, allegedly by the same assailant, two fatally. In Mission Hills, in the north San Fernando Valley, two unhoused people were burned in an acid attack in the wee hours of Sept. 30 and the couple said they had been previously doused with gasoline and bleach. As shocking as this particular spate of attacks is, violence against the homeless is neither uncommon nor unique to Los Angeles. Early in September, three homeless campers were shot to death in Denver. In August near Austin, Texas, the charred remains of a 66-year-old homeless man whod been killed were discovered during a brush fire. Advertisement In June, a 70-year-old woman in Scottsdale, Ariz., was sexually assaulted and bludgeoned. A 22-year-old man was later charged with her murder. Violence against the homeless is neither uncommon nor unique to Los Angeles. The list goes on. It should be clear that those who have nowhere to sleep but under overpasses, in parks or on sidewalks are the most vulnerable people in a city. Yet when shelters, services or housing for the homeless is proposed in a neighborhood, opponents say it is those blessed to live in a house with doors that lock who are somehow now at risk. Such cries of concern surface at nearly every community meeting, in petitions and in online comments. A recent petition opposing a shelter in Sherman Oaks, for instance, states that the shelter will increase crime and jeopardize our safety. Merchants who opposed the new temporary shelter at El Pueblo in downtown around which the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has begun a cleanup and increased policing cited safety issues as their top concern. In Venice, residents opposed increased services for the homeless, saying it would cause severe harm to the surrounding community, with one woman stating it would put my children in jeopardy. Studies of actual crime rates among the homeless do not bear out these fears, however. The Guardian, for instance, analyzed 11 city-sanctioned homeless villages of tiny homes in Seattle and Portland, Ore., and found that crime rates went down in five of those neighborhoods, stayed about the same in four and went up only in two. A 2013 randomized controlled trial in a housing-first program in Vancouver, Canada, showed that providing market-rate apartments around the city to homeless mentally ill people reduced crime. A Washington Post analysis of research concluded, On average, researchers have found supportive housing facilities servicing the homeless and other vulnerable populations rarely lead to higher crime rates. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Evidence does show, however, that homeless people are disproportionately the victims of violent crime. In one study that covered five U.S. cities, 49% of the homeless adults surveyed said they had been the victim of a violent attack and 62% had witnessed such an attack. A Los Angeles police report released in May stated between 2016 and 2017, there had been a 14% increase in the number of homeless people who were victims of Part I crimes such as homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Homeless women, whose numbers have risen dramatically in the last few years, are particularly endangered. In a survey conducted by the Downtown Womens Center in Los Angeles, 50% of the women who sleep in shelters or on the streets of skid row reported they had experienced physical or sexual abuse in the last 12 months. The great irony of course is that housing for the homeless isnt the cause of crime; its the solution to it. Study after study shows that even those homeless individuals with severe mental illness or suffering from addiction have lower rates of criminal behavior once they have a roof over their head. Building shelters and housing will deter crime and protect lives. Until those beds exist and so far, they do not those on the street need to be protected from violence, just as any city resident deserves to be. It is clear who is truly unsafe because of homelessness and who just feels uncomfortable because of it. Instead of focusing on making communities safer from the homeless, we must keep the homeless safer in the community. Sara Shortt is the former director of C3, a homeless outreach program in L.A.s skid row. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook Allies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration.... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause. #Georgia Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush. The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump as recently as Tuesday continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops You really are our heroes, he said as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see. James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes he last won reelection by a 14-point margin suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election again, in blowout fashion but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10. Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters... Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children the older ones are 5 and 2 about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican she the race felt m The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a defeat to business groups in a closely watched California case, rejecting appeals of a ruling that requires former makers of lead paint to pay $400 million or more to clean up old homes. Business lawyers said they fear the decision will give a green light to other suits seeking to hold manufacturers liable for damage inflicted on the public, including the opioid crisis and climate change. The decision ... poses an enormous risk to everyone who has ever done business in California, as it opens the door to potentially unbounded suits targeting manufacturers of products sold decades ago, wrote former U.S. Solicitor Gen. Paul Clement in appeal on behalf of ConAgra Grocery Products. The food company was held liable because it had acquired a firm that once sold lead paint. The justices had considered the appeals in the lead paint cases in late September and again last Friday, the first weekly conferences to include Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It takes a vote of four justices to hear an appeal. On Monday, the court issued a brief order saying it would not hear ConAgra vs. California or Sherwin-Williams vs. California. Advertisement This is very significant victory for the tens of thousands of California children who have been poisoned by lead paint, said Greta S. Hansen, a lawyer for Santa Clara County, which led the lawsuit brought on behalf of 10 municipalities including Los Angeles County. Sherwin Williams and its co-defendants knew their product was toxic and still sold it to unwitting families. The case will provide the funds needed to protect future generations of Californias children from the devastating effect of lead paint. The case against the lead paint makers began in 2000 as a product-liability suit on behalf of victims. But judges said this claim was flawed for several reasons. Lead paint was legal and commonly used prior to the 1970s. And it was not clear that any particular companys product could be blamed for the flaking paint in old homes. But the lawyers refiled the suit in 2011 based on the so-called public nuisance doctrine, allowing local governments to sue over such things as when someone unlawfully obstructs the free passage of a river or road and causes harm to the entire community or neighborhood. After years of legal skirmishing, the case went to trial in Santa Clara County in 2013. Lawyers for Santa Clara and other municipalities argued that lead in paint was a known toxin that is especially damaging to children. And they said the companies that sold the lead paint should be required to help pay for removing it. A judge agreed in 2014 and said the several companies must contribute $1.1 billion for the clean up. A California appellate court upheld the decision last year but limited the clean-up to homes built before 1951, which in turn reduced the amount to about $400 million. In its opinion, the state court described in detail the evidence presented in the case. Lead poisoning is the top pediatric environmental health problem in Los Angeles County. The most common source of lead poisoning in Los Angeles County is lead paint chips and lead paint dust, it said. In Los Angeles County, 77 percent of the housing was built before 1978, which is more than 2.6 million housing units. More than 900,000 of those housing units are pre-1950. Los Angeles Countys investigators have often found lead paint dust in homes with intact lead paint. The other municipalities that brought the suit were the cities of Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco and the counties of Alameda, San Mateo, San Francisco, Solano and Ventura. Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court refused to hear the case. In August, a large coalition of business and conservative groups filed a total of 11 friend-of-the-court briefs urging the justices to hear the lead paint cases and to overrule the California court decision. They included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Assn. of Manufacturers and the California Chamber of Commerce. Clement told the court that the California decision had already triggered new claims. Municipalities throughout California are employing this case to seek massive recoveries from other industries, be it holding fossil-fuel companies responsible for climate change, holding pharmaceutical companies responsible for opioid addiction or holding PCB manufacturers responsible for decades-old water contamination, he wrote. The appeals argued that the state court ruling violated the Constitutions guarantees of due process of law and free speech. The lawyers noted that the strongest evidence against the paint makers was merely newspaper advertising from the early 20th century that promoted lead paint for the interiors of a home. But in their response, lawyers for the California municipalities said the paint makers were downplaying their role. ConAgras South San Francisco plant the largest paint factory west of the Mississippi shipped an average of 200 tons of lead paint to California retailers for residential use daily, while Sherwin-Williams distributed more than three million pounds of lead pigment to its California warehouses and factories during a single-four year period, they told the high court. The justices are often wary of intervening in state liability-law cases to impose federal constitutional limits. And they were so again on Monday. The latest from Washington More stories from David G. Savage david.savage@latimes.com Twitter: DavidGSavage UPDATES: 12:45 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with additional reaction and background. This article was originally published at 7:25 a.m. President Trump suggested Monday that rogue killers, not the Saudi royal family, may be to blame for the suspected murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Virginia-based dissident Saudi journalist, offering a possible escape hatch to the beleaguered Saudi government as it pushed back against a global furor. After speaking by phone with Saudi Arabias King Salman, Trump said he was sending Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo to meet the king in Riyadh to follow up on the macabre case, which has put White House ties to the Saudi rulers in a harsh spotlight and isolated the Saudi government. For the record: An earlier version of this story referred to Saudi Arabias King Abdullah. The ruler is King Salman. Trump said Pompeo, who left Washington shortly after noon, also may visit Turkey, where Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish media reports, based in part on apparent audio recordings, have said Kashoggi was beaten to death and then dismembered in the building. CNN later reported that Saudi officials were preparing to acknowledge that Khashoggis grisly death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey. There was no independent confirmation, but Turkish officials quickly responded that Saudi rulers were searching for a narrative to avoid further opprobrium. Advertisement The Saudis look like they will try to limit this to a few people and save their leadership, said a senior Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the crisis. Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn, Trump said King Salman had firmly denied any knowledge or involvement in Khashoggis fate. The king gave a similar denial to Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Sunday. The calls appeared to break a bitter two-week impasse over Turkeys demands to inspect the Saudi diplomatic compound. On Monday, Saudi officials met with Turkish police and prosecutors at police headquarters in Istanbul for about two hours, and then began making their way separately to the compound. Before they arrived, a Turkish commercial cleaning company entered the consulate, carrying mops and buckets. A team of Turkish police investigators and forensic specialists, along with senior Turkish and Saudi officials, later followed. The White House praised the apparent progress even as skeptics said Saudi authorities would have eliminated or removed any evidence of a bloody murder inside the consulate. It is essential that Turkish authorities, with full and transparent support from the government of Saudi Arabia, are able to conduct a thorough investigation and officially release the results of that investigation when concluded, said a National Security Council spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity to present the White House view. We support Turkish investigators efforts and are not going to prejudge the outcome of the official investigation, and we stand ready to assist. Senior Turkish officials also have suggested rogue killers were to blame for Khashoggis death, in part because Erdogan has sought to avoid a diplomatic showdown with a major regional power. But Turkish analysts said Saudi leaders were responsible, and that the only question now is how to explain it. Maybe it is not clear to the public, said Wadah Khanfar, head of the Istanbul-based Al Sharq Forum think tank, who shared a panel in London with Khashoggi three days before he vanished. But it is 100% clear to the decision makers, and now its a question of how much they want to push the Saudis. Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn, Trump said he spoke to King Salman for about 20 minutes and he denies any knowledge of what took place with regards to, as he said, to Saudi Arabias citizen. He firmly denies that. We are going to leave nothing uncovered, Trump said. With that being said, the king firmly denies any knowledge of it. He didnt really know, maybe, I dont want to get into his mind but it sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers. Who knows? Were going to try to get to the bottom of it very soon but his was a flat denial. Asked if he believed the king, Trump said, His denial to me could not have been stronger that he had no knowledge. And it sounds like he and also the crown prince had no knowledge. Khashoggis opinion columns in the Washington Post and in Arab media reportedly had antagonized the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is the de facto ruler of the authoritarian Saudi state. MBS, as he is known, has largely eclipsed the 82-year-old king on the global stage and has built close ties with Trumps senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The presidents credulity with the Saudi king is not the first time he has accepted a foreign leaders version of events that contradicts a consensus on Capitol Hill, among experts on regional politics and in foreign capitals. Trump memorably dismissed his own intelligence communitys conclusions that Moscow interfered with the 2016 presidential election, accepting Russian President Vladimir Putins denial of any involvement during a press conference in July in Helsinki. Under intense criticism, he later said he had misspoke. As criticism intensified over Khashoggis disappearance, Trump also has appeared to back down. After days of sidestepping the furor, he told 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would impose severe punishment if Saudi authorities were found responsible for Khashoggis death, without saying what that punishment might entail. His comments prompted an immediate pushback from Riyadh, where Saudi officials warned they would respond in kind. The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations, the Saudi state news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying. The kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. The Saudis cited a possible cutback in oil production, a move that would drive up global energy prices. Its not clear how long they could sustain a downturn given the kingdoms heavy reliance on oil revenue. Thanks to recent development of shale oil reserves, the United States now imports about 11% of its oil from Saudi Arabia, a sharp decline from decades ago. On Monday, Trump emphasized again that he will not cancel or suspend billions of dollars in arms sales to the kingdom as a clear sign of American displeasure. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is still planning to attend an investment summit in Riyadh organized by the crown prince, even as scores of business leaders and media organizations from around the world have dropped out over Khashoggis disappearance. The administration has invested serious political capital in its relationship with the Saudi regime. Trump, following Kushners advice, made Saudi Arabia his first stop on his first foreign trip as president in May 2017. Recent presidents have generally visited Americas neighbors, Canada or Mexico, before venturing further abroad. Foreign policy and national security officials at the White House have argued that Saudi Arabia can be the linchpin for U.S. priorities in the Middle East, including constraining Iran and achieving a long-shot peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. But earlier this year, the Saudis helped scuttle a proposal largely drafted by Kushner after it favored Israel heavily and offered few concessions to the Palestinians. The White House was reportedly stunned at the rejection. Some lawmakers pushed back at Trumps willingness to accept Saudi denials of responsibility. President Trumps response to Jamal Khashoggis disappearance reveals a man more willing to trust authoritarian leaders than reliable intelligence, Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, where Khashoggi lived, said Monday on Twitter. Its insulting to Jamals family and colleagues that this is whats coming out of the worlds most powerful office. Donald Trump Jr. said in tweets over the weekend, without evidence, that Khashoggi was a known sympathizer of radical groups. Official Saudi media have published stories questioning the existence of Khashoggis fiancee, who was outside the consulate waiting for him to come out when he entered on Oct. 2 and who first raised the alarm. Under normal circumstances, finding evidence of dismembering a body would not be difficult, said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based security analyst with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program. Turkish officials have said a 15-member team that arrived in Istanbul to carry out Khashoggis killing included a top forensics expert, making it unlikely evidence like blood stains would still be present for investigators to find, said Jenkins. When it comes to things like blood stains, the Saudis would not have let the Turks inside if they were still there, Jenkins said. Blood stains are fairly easy to pick up, and they are fairly easy to remove as well. If the Saudis sent forensics experts, they would have been aware of how to do that. You can even learn how to do some of that just by watching some television shows. Stokols and Wilkinson reported from Washington. Special correspondent Umar Farooq reported from Istanbul. The latest from Washington eli.stokols@latimes.com @EliStokols UPDATES: 2:05 p.m.: This story was updated with additional comments and analysis. 12:40 p.m.: This story was updated with a CNN report and other details. This story was originally published at 9:20 a.m. Twenty-two days can seem like an eternity when waiting for an election thats been talked about for the better part of a year. The nation awaits the effect of President Trump on control of Congress, California awaits the selection of a new governor, and voters actually, voters dont have to wait at all. Ballots are now arriving in the mail, even as important events have yet to play out. Sign up for the Essential Politics newsletter THE CALIFORNIA DEBATES (IF THEY CAN BE CALLED THAT) Advertisement One of those will happen on Wednesday when the two candidates for U.S. Senate will appear together in San Francisco. But is it a debate between Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her opponent, fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon, a member of the state Senate? Simply put, the two candidates dont see eye to eye on what to call the conversation to be hosted by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Its hard to imagine many voters will get a glimpse of the event held at lunchtime and only available through a livestream on the organizations website. Then theres the history: Feinstein hasnt debated any opponent for 18 years, snubbing the last two challengers. Meanwhile, the one and only debate between the candidates for governor was a quiet affair on public radio. Republican John Cox and Democrat Gavin Newsom sparred for an hour last week, mostly about their personal histories and political backstories. The last time a race for governor saw such a low-key face-off was 2002, when incumbent Gov. Gray Davis would agree only to a lunchtime debate on a Monday with his GOP challenger, Bill Simon. There are certainly those who see the traditional political debate as little more than an anachronism these days. Still, its somewhat striking that the two most prominent posts in the state with more voters than anywhere else in America will be filled with hardly a glimpse of how the candidates handle themselves in a high-stakes, widely televised one-on-one event. DECISION CALIFORNIA: OF MONEY AND MCCARTHY -- A major Republican Party funding group has passed over Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Mimi Walters in its opening round of broadcast television advertising across Southern California. -- A company owned by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthys in-laws won more than $7 million in no-bid and other federal contracts based on a dubious claim of Native American identity by McCarthys brother-in-law, a Times investigation has found. THE TRUMP REFERENDUM On the national front, the stakes for the president are likely to be more about personality than policy. As Mark Z. Barabak writes, Trump has turned the midterm election into a very personal referendum. In Nevada, which has rebounded smartly from the Great Recession, the economic recovery is a surprising nonissue, in part because not everyone is feeling the effects. Its also worth noting how rarely the nations 45th president has held rallies in Americas biggest cities. Of 34 cities where Trump has held rallies since taking office, only three are among the countrys 30 most populated: Phoenix, Las Vegas and Nashville. Charting his stops yields a map that reflects his base, mostly red states and rural communities a base that he hasnt tried to expand upon. NATIONAL LIGHTNING ROUND -- The White House is actively considering plans that could again separate parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping to reverse soaring numbers of families attempting to cross illegally into the United States. -- Trump faces growing pressure from congressional allies and Western partners to vigorously seek answers from Saudi Arabia over the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, even as the kingdom on Sunday harshly threatened anyone seeking to punish its ruling royals over his disappearance and reported death. -- In an interview with CBS News 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, the president said he is unsure whether Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will leave the administration and described him as sort of a Democrat, amid reports of friction between the two. -- The release of an American pastor is likely to ease tensions with Turkey and could give Trump a win before the midterm elections. GAS TAXES, PROPERTY TAXES, AND THE DO-NOTHING PROPOSAL: CALIFORNIAS PROPOSITIONS In what has become Californias marquee ballot measure fight this fall, supporters and opponents of repealing the states new gas taxes are trading charges and countercharges about the proposal, Proposition 6. The pro-Proposition 6 campaign is citing six-figure salaries for thousands of government transportation workers as a reason why California voters should approve the initiative to repeal fuel-tax and vehicle-fee increases enacted last year. Critics of the repeal, though, are warning the measure could force a reduction of bus service in Orange County and elimination of some transit jobs. In Proposition 5, voters are being asked to expand property tax breaks for older home buyers. But some analyses point out it could shortchange schools and cities. And in my Sunday politics column, I wrote on the one measure that would do nothing if enacted. Proposition 7 wants to know how you feel about making daylight saving time year-round, but voters cant actually make that change happen. On two other ballot measures to expand rent control and limit profits for dialysis clinics the California Republican Party spent $5.8 million after accepting a similar amount of money from business interests. NEXT CALIFORNIA: THE FUTURE OF WORK Over the past month, Melanie Mason has taken an in-depth look at challenges Californias next governor faces in leading the state. Her series concludes with how millions of California workers could be affected by automation. As technology transforms the nature of work in California, how do people most at risk find their way to new jobs? Cox and Newsom, as theyve done in prior installments, responded to The Times series with answers on how theyd tackle the issue. And weve gotten great feedback from voters on the issues raised by the series. Finally, a reminder to catch the earlier stories, too, on challenges to the states tax structure, the need to prepare for natural disasters and the tough choices ahead as the states population gets older. TODAYS ESSENTIALS -- Extreme fire weather conditions prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to shut off power in parts of more than a dozen Northern California counties, an effort to reduce the risk of wildfires sparked by utility lines that break during extreme winds. -- An attorney for Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to recommend whether former state Sen. Rod Wright should be pardoned for his felony convictions in 2014 on charges of voter fraud and perjury for lying about living in his district. -- On homelessness, California has to have a governor that is actually focused on these issues, which has not been the case for decades in this state, Lt. Gov. Newsom said last week. Governors have not campaigned on homelessness, governors havent talked about homelessness. -- The California Department of Motor Vehicles has decided to implement new quality control on its voter registration process following Mondays revelation of as many as 1,500 non-citizens being wrongly registered to vote. -- Eliminating Californias inheritance tax break for vacation houses and rental property and restricting its use for primary homes could raise $2 billion a year in property taxes over time, according to a new analysis. -- Los Angeles voters will decide next month whether to nudge along the budding movement to create a public bank owned by the city, by altering the City Charter to allow L.A. to create a purely commercial enterprise. LOGISTICS Essential Politics is published Monday and Friday. You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Miss Fridays newsletter? Here you go. Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (2nd L) arrives at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Oct. 14, 2018. Li Keqiang arrived here on Sunday for an official visit to the Netherlands at the invitation of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here on Sunday for an official visit to the Netherlands, the first by a Chinese premier in 14 years. It is also Li's first trip to the European country as the Chinese premier. The Netherlands is one of the first western countries to establish diplomatic ties with new China and the two countries decided to build an open and pragmatic partnership for comprehensive cooperation during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit in 2014, said Li in a written statement upon his arrival. As two large trading nations, China and the Netherlands are important trading partners for each other, he said, noting that he hopes the visit will further enhance political trust between the two countries. He said he expects that through this visit, China and the Netherlands will discuss ways to comprehensively deepen and expand cooperation in various areas and cement consensus on safeguarding multilateralism, supporting globalization and promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, so as to inject new impetus to cooperation and relations between China and the Netherlands as well as China and Europe and deliver more benefits to the people. During his three-day stay, the premier will hold in-depth discussions with Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, and meet with Dutch King Willem-Alexander. He is also set to visit a hi-tech exhibition and address a business forum in The Hague. The two sides are expected to sign a series of cooperation documents on aviation, energy and finance, among others, according to a press briefing by Chinese Foreign Ministry ahead of the visit. It is the second stop of Li's Eurasia trip from Oct. 11 to 19. He has paid an official visit to Tajikistan and attended the 17th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe, and will fly to Belgium for the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit and a working visit. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] More than half of Americans who suffer from depression never get any treatment, and in many cases thats because their symptoms are never diagnosed. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advises primary care physicians to screen all of their patients for depression and make sure proper care gets to those who need it, but this is a big job and doctors could use some help. Paging Dr. Facebook, stat! A new study argues that doctors could gain valuable insight into their patients mental health by monitoring the statements they post on Facebook. In tests, researchers found certain patterns in Facebook posts that preceded a clinical diagnosis of depression. One day, the analysis of social media language could serve as a scalable front-line tool for the identification of depressed individuals, the study authors wrote Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Advertisement If that prospect seems unsettling, consider what may come next: algorithms that interpret the facial expressions in Facebook users photos and videos, or software that tracks the physical location of a patients phone and how often it is used. The idea is not to turn doctors into full-time snoops, but to make it easier to flag patients who may be at risk so that they can get the help they need. Detection and treatment of mental illness may soon meet individuals in the digital spaces they already inhabit, wrote the team led by Johannes Eichstaedt, a computational social scientist in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Eichstaedt and his colleagues invited patients seeking treatment in the emergency room of a large, urban hospital to participate in the study. Over 26 months, 1,175 patients gave the researchers access to their Facebook accounts and their electronic medical records. Among this group, 176 patients had been diagnosed with major depression or another type of depressive disorder, and 114 of them had posted at least 500 words in their Facebook status updates before their diagnosis was made. The majority of these patients were African American (74%) and women (87%), with an average age of 31. For each of these 114 patients, the researchers randomly selected five other patients who had not been diagnosed with depression to serve as controls. That way, the prevalence of diagnosed depression in the study would mirror that in the real world, the study authors wrote. Most of the patients in the control group were also African American (69%) and women (75%), with an average age of 30. The most notable difference between the two groups was the number of words they had posted on Facebook. The average word count for patients who were depressed was 19,784, and the median word count (the number at which half of patients wrote more and half wrote less) was 10,655. In the other group, the average word count was 14,802 and the median word count was 6,861. Altogether, the 684 patients posted 524,292 Facebook status updates that were used in the analysis. The researchers used a software program to identify 200 topics discussed by each patient, which served as a marker for their overall language use. They also determined that the patients posts contained 5,381 words or short phrases that were used by at least 20% of these study participants. The researchers goal was to create a mathematical model that could predict which patients would go on to be diagnosed with depression and which ones would not. The statistical method they used would consider their model a success if it achieved at least a 0.70 on a metric called the area under the curve, or AUC. Theirs fell just short, at 0.69. The team tried to improve the AUC by including factors such as the length, frequency and timing of patients Facebook posts, as well as basic demographic information. None of this information improved the predictive power of their model. Next, the researchers wondered how far in advance a patients Facebook activity could predict a depression diagnosis. The answer: The closer in time, the better. When they limited their analysis to status updates posted in the six months before diagnosis, the AUC rose to 0.72. When they pushed the window back and considered status updates made three to nine months before the diagnosis, the AUC dropped to 0.62. Eichstaedt and his colleagues identified 10 topics that were most likely to be linked with a depression diagnosis. Four of these topics conveyed depressed mood and feeling, the researchers wrote. They were characterized by words like better and feel; tears, cry and pain; ugh, sick and hate; and feel, how and hurt. Two more topics expressed hostility. One topic was marked by words like hate and f***in and the other by words like now and right. Another two topics expressed physical discomfort. One was clustered around the words sick, feel and ugh, and the other included hurt and head. One of the remaining topics involved references that were overtly medical, with words like hospital, pain and surgery. The last one centered on loneliness, including words like miss and much. The researchers said the predictive power of their model is comparable to that of screening surveys, even though it requires less effort for both patients and their doctors. Although this prediction accuracy is relatively modest, it suggests that, perhaps in conjunction with other forms of unobtrusive digital screening, the potential exists to develop burdenless indicators of mental illness, they wrote. But before physicians start tapping into Facebook accounts, they should give careful thought to protecting their patients privacy, and the privacy of their data, the researchers warned. Doctors should also keep in mind that patients may learn to adjust the way they express themselves online to avoid being flagged by depression-screening algorithms. Still, the need for better screening tools is clear, and this could be one of them, Eichstaedt and his colleagues wrote. If so, it could do more than improve mental health, since people with depression experience worse health overall. Identifying patients at an earlier stage in their mental illness through novel means of detection creates opportunities for patients to be connected more readily with appropriate care, the researchers concluded. karen.kaplan@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @LATkarenkaplan and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. MORE IN SCIENCE A palm tree falling onto a moving vehicle just outside the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank Friday night led to injuries and an arrest. At about 9:20 p.m., Burbank police and fire officials responded to the 4400 block of West Olive Avenue near Lakeside Drive after receiving reports of a traffic collision involving a downed palm tree. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a black Mercedes-Benz convertible with a large palm tree laying across the top of the vehicle. There was also a second vehicle, a blue Chevrolet sedan, that had crashed into the downed tree. Burbank police officers arrested the driver of the Mercedes, Jonathan Ortiz, 29, of North Hollywood, on suspicion of possession of a handgun and narcotics while on parole. The gun and drugs were found during a search of his car. Green said both vehicles were moving when the tree fell over into the roadway, and that it had been raining that night. Ortiz and a female passenger were both injured when the tree fell on top of the car. Both were taken to a local hospital to be treated for their injuries. However, the woman, who has not been named, remains at the hospital. Ortiz was arrested after being treated for his injuries. The occupants of the Chevy were not seriously injured, Green said. Ortiz was transported to Burbank City Jail and is being held without bail by the California Department of Corrections, said Burbank Police Sgt. Derek Green in a statement. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is opening a temporary space in Santa Anas South Coast Plaza Village until construction is finished on its new, permanent location at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. The project is slated for completion in 2021. The museum focuses on modern and contemporary art. Its interim space, OCMAEXPAND-SANTA ANA, is featuring five seasons of exhibitions, each running for about six months. They will begin this month and continue through March 2021. The first exhibit showcases the work of six local, regional and international artists. Were dealing with the broad topic of life around the Pacific, said Todd Smith, the museums director and chief executive. He explained that the artwork focuses on the experiences of people from different cultures and geographic backgrounds. Two of the artists are from Los Angeles. The others were born in Mexico, Venezuela, China and Chile. Each distinct artist project will explore timely topics and socio-cultural themes reflecting on the diverse population of these international artists, said Cassandra Coblentz, OCMAs senior curator and director of public engagement. The museums new, 52,000 square-foot Segerstrom Center location will include more space for traveling exhibits and a larger outdoor sculpture terrace. Smith added that the structure makes a more significant architectural statement, as it is designed by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne. Smith explained that this is the highest honor for an architect. According to Smith, the museums former space in Newport Beach did not have enough room to show its permanent collection of California artists. And it did not allow for traveling exhibits. Our goal is to create a dynamic space for artistic innovation, experimentation and dialogue, Coblentz stated. Smith said the conception for a new museum has been in the works since 2008. When the recession hit, we had to stand down, he said. The proceeds from the sale of OCMAs former building are helping to fund the construction project. Smith said OCMAEXPAND showcases the depth and power of our collection. It will also hold tours, film screenings and lectures, as well as educational programs for K-12 students. Admission is free. We feel so honored to have a space in Santa Ana, as it is a more centralized location in Orange County, Smith said, in comparing it to the museums former home in Newport Beach. He also expressed hope that the free admission will attract a new crowd. Its a good chance for people to stop in and discover a new artist or a new way of looking at the world, he said. OCMAEXPAND is holding an open house Nov. 3. The free event includes discussions with exhibiting artists, performances, live music and food trucks. The museum is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. OCMA is located at 1661 W Sunflower Ave. in Santa Ana inside the South Coast Plaza Village shopping center. Anne Artley is a contributor to Times Community News. Nothing stays the same. We know that. While lamenting lost connections to treasured past sensibilities, we forge ahead into new territory. Modernity is both exhilarating and frightening, even bewildering. Still, we embrace the unknown. Some of us are far more courageous than most. In an esoteric sense our world of art is something of a barometer on that evolving modernity. Recently, the street artist Banksy, the one who works anonymously, rose to new heights of celebrity when his painting of a girl with a balloon sold for $1.4 million at Sothebys. When the gavel fell on the auction, the artist had rigged the gold rococo frame with a shredding device. The work was reduced to strips flowing out of the bottom of the frame. The art world gasped, the rest of the planet took notice, some shook their heads, others applauded. It seems that great art of any age has always had that edge element. To be noticed, to stir the senses, it somehow must be mind-altering, often shocking. In the past century, the Impressionists created outrage, followed by the Modernists, the Cubists and so forth. Even the great masters of the Renaissance were revolutionary, painting with emotions never exhibited in paintings. With all of the meandering philosophy in mind, we focus on art in our own O.C. backyard. The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is surely a cornerstone of art museum collections on the coast. It too has continuously evolved, ever seeking the edge, the new horizon in visual expression over some five decades. With its beginnings rooted in the exhibition of California Plein Air paintings, the museum has evolved dramatically into the progressive, forward-seeking exhibition of contemporary artistic achievement, focusing attention on living artists. Over the past two decades, while headquartered on Newport Beach land donated by Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren, the museum had exhibited and honored world-renown artists, including Catherine Opie, Richard Diebenkorn, Ed Ruscha and Charles Ray. Many of these artists have graced annual museum galas dedicated to their vision, meeting with local patrons. From left, Nicole James, Noella Bergener and Keni Silva attend the OCMA Gala 2018 held at South Coast Plaza Village. (Photo by Ryan Miller) Anton and Jennifer Segerstrom attend the OCMA Gala 2018 at South Coast Plaza Village. (Photo by Ryan Miller) In 2018, another major transition is in place to again transfer the museum into new territory. The former Newport Beach museum property has been sold and a new museum will rise on property that is part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. OCMA trustees have selected noted international architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis to create a dazzling building of what might be called modernist construction art. The 25,000-square-foot exhibition space will be part of a 52,000-square-foot museum and an additional 10,000 square feet of meeting/conference space. It is due to be completed by 2021. Presently, the museum, now in the capable creative hands of Museum Director and CEO Todd Smith, is housed in temporary space in South Coast Plaza Village in Santa Ana. Recently, Smith joined forces with the dynamic and enchanting Pame Schmider, chair of the Sept. 22 gala dinner and fundraiser held with truly creative style in the temporary museum. All of the museum gala fundraisers, from the beginning, including the many seasons that art of dining was the social event par excellence, have been stellar. There is a We-Ho/So-Ho vibe that is frankly in-explainable for the O.C. The crowd is more chic; there is more energy, more laughter, more fun. Table talk tends to be more erudite, not snobbish or elitist, just smarter. And the party style is always out-of-the-box. Patti Estabrooks and Gala Chair Pame Schmider attend OCMA Gala 2018 held at South Coast Plaza Village. (Photo by Ryan Miller) This year, the stark white painted T walls and cement floor of the temp museum was an ideal backdrop for the transition into new, glorious heights. There was no formal structure to the evening. No speaker, no fundraising, just dinner, conversation and dancing. The food was by far among the best ever served in the O.C. at a major dinner event. Catered by star chef Barton G of Los Angeles and Miami from canapes to dessert to the presentation the quality of food was superior. As a hint of the creativity of Barton G, each dining table was centered with a glass-tiered art shelf that displayed a wonderful selection of doughnuts. Only they werent doughnuts; they were different breads made to look like sweets. Table hopping was demanded protocol as VIP patrons, such as Marsha and Darrel Anderson, Marta and Raj Bhathal, Sally and Randy Crockett, Carmela and Ben Du, Kelly and David Emmes, Nadine and Bob Hall, Curt and Wendy Lyon, Lilly and Paul Merage, and Sandy and Daniel Pearlmutter, renewed dedication to the museum and its future. Also supporting art in the O.C., and dancing to the sounds of DJ Daisy ODell, were Donna, Tracy and Ernie Schroeder, Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom, Pat and Charles Steinmann, Sue and Ralph Stern, Jill and Larry Tucker, Jennifer Van Bergh and Tom Box, Debra Gunn Downing, Eve Kornyei, Carol Primm, and the ever-smashing art patroness in a dazzling gown Elizabeth Segerstrom. B.W. COOK is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach. Re Business linked to Newport mayor paid councilman to help create marijuana facility in Inland Empire, records show, (Oct. 11): According to the state of California, DC Developments, a company our mayor, Marshall Duffield, is associated with, hired Newport Beach City Councilman Scott Peotter to appear in front of the Adelanto City Council seeking approval for a marijuana cultivation and distribution hub. For his counsel, payments of at least $10,000 were made from a company controlled by Duffield to a company connected to Peotter. When an issue concerning the Newport Harbor comes before the council, Duffield recuses himself from voting due to potential business conflicts. I would encourage our city attorney, Aaron Harp, to review past City Council meetings to determine if Peotter, being an employee of Dufield should have done the same. If they felt there was nothing to hide, why have they refused for over a year to comment on their business arrangements? Clay Wells Newport Beach * Muskrat Love comes to mind Do you remember the song by Captain & Tennille, Muskrat, Muskrat, candlelight, doing the town and doing it right It was the first thing that came to mind when I read about Muskrat Consultants, Mayor Marshall Duffy Duffields medicinal marijuana dispensary business, which Councilman Scott Peotter has advised. Doing the town, doing it right Thats them, all right. Theyve been doing our town now its time for a change. Im voting for Tim Stoaks and Joy Brenner. Nancy J. Smith Newport Beach * A change of heart on marijuana? Who appeared before the Adelanto Planning Commission in September 2017 on behalf of Mayor Marshall Duffy Duffields DC Developments to request approval to subdivide the property? None other than fellow Newport City Councilman Scott Peotter, the same Peotter who voted in 2015 to ban medicinal marijuana in Newport Beach. A consulting fee of at least $10,000 from DC Developments convinced Peotter that medicinal marijuana wasnt so bad after all. Craig B. Smith Newport Beach * Team Newport is solid on public safety School safety has been a major priority for grandparents, parents and students in our community and around the country. Our Newport-Mesa Unified trustees and Newport Beach City Council stepped up this year to address the concerns head on. With their combined leadership, our City Council added another school resource officer into our local high schools and middle schools, bringing the total number of SROs to three. Our City Council also added recently another crossing guard to the Newport Heights area surrounding Ensign Intermediate School. This response does not happen without the leadership of our incumbents. Im voting for Mayor Marshall Duffy Duffield, Councilman Kevine Muldoon, Councilman Scott Peotter and Councilwoman Diane Dixon to continue this positive trend in school safety. Carl F. Thon Corona Del Mar * Letters reflect a minority view While we are trying to promote equality for future generations in society, and in the workplace, we must be careful of complacency and at the other end of the spectrum overreach in our daily lives. This is obviously not a new battle but one that has been brought to the forefront again in the last two years, in part by the attitude of some of our new leaders. And like some of those in our federal government, there are members in our local government who are out of touch in the treatment of their peers. Certainly it is one of our greatest rights the freedom of the press and as painful as it is for some of us to read misogynistic and extremist letters in our local newspapers and online, we can presently take comfort in the fact that these views are in the minority. Lynn Lorenz Newport Beach * Katrina Foley gets things done A friend of mine had a problem with registering her granddaughter for classes at one of our public schools. The school district had unilaterally decided the child should be sent to a different school. Since the child has special needs, it was important to keep her with her classmates so as to not increase her anxiety. My friend, who was already working through health issues of her own, was beside herself when she called me about the distress she and the child were experiencing. I knew Councilwoman Katrina Foley could help. She is accessible, responsive and follows through. Foley has the ability, the desire and the leadership skills to get things accomplished. Foley called my friend, got the details, and then set out to solve the problem. She knew who to contact and in only a short period of time was able to arrange for the school change. Much to my friends relief, she was able to register the child for classes, which has allowed her to progress with her education at a school best suited for her. Foley is dedicated, has the highest integrity and you can depend on her word. Gay Royer Costa Mesa How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length. Hello, my name is John Cherwa and welcome back to our horse racing newsletter as we learn more about academic speech and what happened to Anoakia. The stewards were busy last week. Lets check in to see how they adjudicated folks at the track with details from the stewards minutes. --Trainer Ben Cecil was fined $100 for failing to show up to saddle his horse Fig in the third race at Santa Anita on Sept. 29. Cecil said he was on the grounds and forgot to go to the paddock to saddle his horse in time. Fig won the race. --Apprentice jockey Heriberto Figueroa was fined $50 for failure to appear at a hearing where he was fined $300 for hitting Here Is Happy when it was clearly out of contention in the eighth race on Sept. 30. The horse finished eighth in a field of eight. --Exercise rider Jose Orozco was restored to good standing after he was suspended after he was seen drinking a beer while on a horse. Darin Scharer , Winners Foundation executive director, said Orozco completed 60-day in-house rehabilitation program. The original ruling was on Aug. 18 while at Del Mar. Orozco was also fined $100 for the drinking offense. --Jockey Alonso Quinonez was fined $50 for showing up at a video review a day late. But, the stewards did not penalize him for allowing his horse, Bitter Ring Home, to drift in a first race on Sept. 30. The horse finished fourth. --Owner Aaron Wellman was fined $500 for using profanity toward a racing official after his horse, Animosity, was declared a non-starter in the Del Mar Derby on Sept. 2. Wellman said that, as a passionate horse owner he was caught up in the moment trying to protect his investments, according to the stewards minutes. The stewards accepted his apology. --Exercise rider Raul Armenta was suspended for 15 days for testing positive for methamphetamine. Outrider Cindy Ellet reported that he was acting strange on the track at Del Mar on Aug. 31. He submitted a voluntary urine sample, which tested positive. He will remain on probation while he has a CHRB license and must attend Winners Foundation meetings. --Jockeys Edwin Maldonados appeal on a three-day suspension was denied. He was originally suspended for his ride on Hackelton on April 13. His ride caused the horse to interfere in the stretch and was disqualified from first to second. He was scheduled to sit on a Saturday, Sunday and Thursday. His new penalty is for Oct. 19, 20 and, a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Steward Grant Baker dissented, instead voting for an exact day penalty. --Trainer David Jacobson was fined $500 when his horse Bargaining tested positive for too much phenylbutazone, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. The horse had a level of 2.73 ug/ml, when the allowable limit is 2.0 ug/ml. The horse finished fourth on July 25 at Santa Anita. Assistant trainer and son Howard Jacobson said his wife, Dr. April Mouro , is the stables veterinarian and he had no idea how the overage happened. --Jockey Ruben Fuentes was suspended four days for his ride on Queen of the Track in the third race at Santa Anita on Oct. 5. The stewards believed he did not allow enough room on the first turn when he crossed over in front of other horses. Queen of the Track finished second. His suspension was set for Oct. 13, 14, 18 and 19. Because it was his second offense in 60 days he got four days instead of three. Steward Tom Ward dissented, believing the offense did not deserve a suspension. --Trainer John F. Martin was fined $500 after his horse, Adios Cali, tested positive for too much betamethasone in her system after she finished third in the fourth race at Del Mar on Aug. 10. The filly had 62 pg/ml of the drug in her system. The allowable limit is 10 pg/ml. It is used to treat pain and inflammation. Martin said he was unaware of the seven-day withdrawal time of the drug. The filly had been injected in three joints five days before the test. --Veterinarian Dr. Nicola Hardgrove was suspended 10 calendar days for filing a false veterinarian report. Her report on Aug. 31 showed she treated several horses at Los Alamitos between 2-3 p.m. However, she was in a hearing at Del Mar at 2:30 on that day. Hardgrove said she failed to check the report her employee filled out. She said she had taken on more clients since the retirement of Dr. Will Farmer and she had become overwhelmed. It was the eighth complaint against Hardgrove in the last three years. --Jockeys Matt Garcia and Tiago Pereira were both fined $200 for getting into a physical altercation. After the second race on Sept. 2 at Del Mar, the jockey got into a verbal confrontation walking back to the jockeys room, where it escalated into a physical alteration. It was broken up by Matt Nichols , clerk of scales. On Sunday, I admitted to not understanding one of the findings of a study done by the University of Louisville into betting patterns as it related to handle. Here was the one that was too academic for me: Handle exhibited positive yet diminishing returns to race quality where outlier major stakes race events are controlled for separately in the econometric model. A few of you wrote in to dumb it down for me. A consensus of the replies, and, yes, you all didnt agree, is that handle trends higher in higher class races but the impact is less the further up the ladder you move. Also, that for the purpose of the study, unnamed big races (i.e. such as the equivalent of the Canadian Derby races) are disregarded in this survey. My explanation of what Anoakia meant in Sundays newsletter left out one important fact, which was nicely pointed out by racing big shot and historian Alan Balch . The place is gone. Demolished. Or as Lily Von Shtupp would say, kaput. You can see it here at about the 4:15 mark. Thank you, Mel Brooks for your genius. As for the $75,000 Anoakia Stakes, for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs, and it was a great stretch drive between the two favorites. In the end, Chasing Yesterday ran down Itsjustanillusion to win by a length. Shes nice, said Van Dyke. Ill tell you what, that horse that ran second, Itsjustanillusion, hats off to her, she really made me run. That horse dug in but my filly dug in too and ran a helluva race. That was exciting. I thought Id go by a little bit easier today but that other horse dug in. Always looking to add more subscribers to this newsletter. Cant beat the price. If you like it, tell someone. If you dont like it, then youre probably not reading this. Either way, send to a friend and just have them click here and sign up . Remember, its free, and all we need is your email, nothing more. Any thoughts, you can reach me at johnacherwa@gmail.com . You can also feed my ego by following me on Twitter @jcherwa Santa Anita Charts Results for Sunday, October 14. Copyright 2018 by Equibase Company. Reproduction prohibited. Santa Anita, Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California. 11th day of a 22-day meet. Cloudy & Fast FIRST RACE. 5 Furlongs. Purse: $24,000. Claiming. 3 year olds. Claiming Prices $16,000-$14,000. Time 22.30 45.76 57.99 1:04.54 Pgm Horse Wt PP St 3/8 Str Fin Jockey $1 7 Don't Stalk Me 122 7 5 7 6hd 2hd 11 Van Dyke 2.00 4 Gringo Star 117 4 2 52 4hd 41 21 Figueroa 3.40 3 Colormemoney 124 3 6 31 31 1hd 31 Roman 2.00 5 Isee It in Hiseyes 117 5 3 2hd 2hd 5 4 Espinoza 21.70 6 Our Tiger's Boy 122 6 4 6 7 7 5hd Fuentes 8.00 2 Sir Valentine 120 2 1 1 1 3 61 Ochoa 24.40 1 Bob's All In 120 1 7 4hd 51 61 7 Delgadillo 9.00 7 DON'T STALK ME 6.00 2.60 2.10 4 GRINGO STAR 4.00 2.60 3 COLORMEMONEY 2.20 $1 EXACTA (7-4) $10.20 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (7-4-3-5) $16.26 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (7-4-3-5-6) $258.20 50-CENT TRIFECTA (7-4-3) $10.70 WinnerDon't Stalk Me Dbb.g.3 by Kafwain out of Silent Stalk, by Petionville. Bred by Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, LLC (CA). Trainer: Ronald W. Ellis. Owner: Diana Citarella. Mutuel Pool $139,840 Exacta Pool $71,727 Superfecta Pool $33,194 Super High Five Pool $2,707 Trifecta Pool $48,506. ClaimedGringo Star by Bone, Robert D. and Brown Jr., Rusty. Trainer: Mike Puype. ClaimedColormemoney by Grant Alvernaz. Trainer: Tim McCanna. ClaimedBob's All In by Victor Racing. Trainer: Matthew Chew. Scratchednone. DON'T STALK ME chased outside, came four wide into the stretch, angled out in upper stretch, bid four wide, took the lead past the eighth pole, inched away and drifted in and proved best under a left handed crack of the whip and steady handling then a snug hold late. GRINGO STAR had speed between horses then stalked outside a rival, swung four wide into the stretch, bid between horses, also drifted in then angled in late. COLORMEMONEY pressed the pace between horses, put a head in front in midstretch, could not match the top pair late but held third. ISEE IT IN HISEYES prompted the pace three deep to the stretch, was between foes nearing midstretch and was outfinished. OUR TIGER'S BOY bobbled slightly at the start, chased outside then off the rail, came three wide into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. SIR VALENTINE had good early speed and set a pressured pace inside, fought back in midstretch and weakened late. BOB'S ALL IN a step slow to begin, saved ground stalking the pace, came out a bit into the stretch and lacked the necessary late kick. SECOND RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $50,000. Maiden Special Weight. 3 year olds and up. Time 22.27 45.36 57.89 1:10.62 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 1 Cyclometric 120 1 5 4hd 31 1hd 11 Franco 12.30 4 Big Barrel 120 4 3 5hd 41 3hd 23 Quinonez 5.10 5 Sir Eddie 120 5 1 1 1 21 31 Maldonado 2.30 7 Sidepocket Action 123 7 4 2hd 21 43 41 Talamo 1.80 2 Bouncing Around 120 2 7 7 7 61 5 T Baze 7.00 3 Air Jockey 118 3 6 63 5 52 67 Espinoza 5.50 6 Leroy Pegasus 120 6 2 3 63 7 7 Pena 39.00 1 CYCLOMETRIC 26.60 13.20 6.20 4 BIG BARREL 5.60 3.60 5 SIR EDDIE 3.00 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (7-1) $81.00 $1 EXACTA (1-4) $67.50 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (1-4-5-7) $48.47 50-CENT TRIFECTA (1-4-5) $100.10 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (1-4-5-7-2) Carryover $1,369 WinnerCyclometric Ch.c.3 by Cyclotron out of Jolie En Rose, by Doneraile Court. Bred by Old English Rancho & Bruce Headley (CA). Trainer: Karen Headley. Owner: Headley, Bruce and The Ellwood Johnston Trust. Mutuel Pool $131,214 Daily Double Pool $33,727 Exacta Pool $66,264 Superfecta Pool $32,028 Trifecta Pool $53,252 X-5 Super High Five Pool $1,793. Scratchednone. CYCLOMETRIC broke a bit slowly, stalked inside, waited a bit leaving the turn, came out and took a short lead outside a rival in midstretch, inched away and held gamely under some urging. BIG BARREL stalked between horses then a bit off the rail into the turn, split rivals on the turn, came three wide into the stretch and finished willingly. SIR EDDIE sped to the early lead, angled in and set a pressured pace a bit off the rail then inside into and on the turn, fought back in midstretch and held third. SIDEPOCKET ACTION prompted the pace three deep then outside a rival on the turn and into the stretch and weakened in the final furlong. BOUNCING AROUND broke a bit slowly, was between horses early then chased a bit off the rail, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. AIR JOCKEY a bit slow to begin, stalked three deep, came four wide into the stretch and weakened. LEROY PEGASUS pressed the pace between horses, dropped back between foes on the turn, angled to the inside into the stretch and had little left for the drive. THIRD RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $16,000. Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $6,250. Time 22.96 46.89 1:12.61 1:25.74 1:39.42 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 2 If You Like It 121 2 5 41 32 1 12 12 Fuentes 1.80 5 Bridal Arch 116 5 7 6hd 61 3 2 22 Espinoza 1.30 3 Trinitys Turn 121 3 6 7 7 5hd 41 34 Gonzalez 18.50 1 Blondy's Reward 121 1 1 1hd 1hd 22 3hd 41 Sanchez 7.80 7 Dizzy Diva 121 7 4 51 5hd 41 56 58 Talamo 6.60 4 Lovely Linda 114 4 2 26 25 65 62 63 Fuentes 30.30 6 Lob City 121 6 3 31 41 7 7 7 Franco 10.90 2 IF YOU LIKE IT 5.60 3.00 2.40 5 BRIDAL ARCH 2.80 2.40 3 TRINITYS TURN 4.00 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (1-2) $78.80 $1 EXACTA (2-5) $8.10 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (2-5-3-1) $15.08 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (2-5-3-1-7) $310.40 50-CENT TRIFECTA (2-5-3) $15.60 WinnerIf You Like It Ch.m.7 by First Samurai out of Ice Cool Kitty, by Tomorrows Cat. Bred by Lansdon B. Robbins & Kevin Callahan (KY). Trainer: Andrew Lerner. Owner: Vindicate Racing. Mutuel Pool $146,258 Daily Double Pool $13,279 Exacta Pool $74,651 Superfecta Pool $37,729 Super High Five Pool $5,937 Trifecta Pool $60,254. ClaimedBridal Arch by Alan Mindell. Trainer: Eddie Truman. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (7-1-2) paid $52.95. Pick Three Pool $44,701. IF YOU LIKE IT a bit washy at the gate, came off the rail on the first turn, chased outside a rival, ranged up three deep on the second turn to take the lead, kicked clear into the stretch, drifted out and proved best under urging. BRIDAL ARCH bobbled at the start, chased three deep, came four wide into the stretch, angled in some in midstretch, drifted inward in deep stretch and bested the others. TRINITYS TURN saved ground off the pace, went around a rival into the second turn then angled back to the inside and picked up the show. BLONDY'S REWARD a bit washy at the gate, had good early speed and dueled inside, kicked clear on the second turn, offered little resistance when challenged leaving that turn, came out into the stretch and weakened. DIZZY DIVA angled in and chased outside a rival or off the rail, split horses into and leaving the second turn, came three wide into the stretch and lacked a further response. LOVELY LINDA dueled outside a rival, dropped back just off the rail then outside a rival leaving the second turn and gave way. LOB CITY settled a bit off the rail then inside chasing the pace, dropped back into and on the second turn and also gave way. FOURTH RACE. 1 Mile Turf. Purse: $38,000. Maiden Claiming. 2 year olds. Claiming Price $100,000. Time 23.47 47.31 1:12.27 1:24.36 1:36.31 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 4 Dark Prince 120 3 2 12 14 13 13 13 Talamo 2.50 7 Weekly Call 120 6 1 22 25 21 21 2 Bejarano 9.30 2 Seven Oxen 120 2 3 3 31 32 4 3nk Desormeaux 6.20 5 Surprise Fashion 120 4 7 41 42 4hd 52 41 Prat 5.30 6 Red Valor 120 5 6 7 61 51 3hd 51 Stevens 17.40 1 Thin Line 115 1 5 5 7 7 7 6nk Figueroa 4.60 8 Data Hawk 120 7 4 61 51 65 6 7 T Baze 2.60 4 DARK PRINCE 7.00 4.20 3.40 7 WEEKLY CALL 8.60 5.60 2 SEVEN OXEN 4.80 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (2-4) $19.40 $1 EXACTA (4-7) $24.40 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (4-7-2-5) $34.84 50-CENT TRIFECTA (4-7-2) $52.40 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (4-7-2-5-6) Carryover $2,445 WinnerDark Prince Grr.c.2 by Cairo Prince out of Miss Sharondipity, by Malibu Moon. Bred by Sean Curtin & Anna Curtin (KY). Trainer: Bob Baffert. Owner: Watson, Karl, Pegram, Michael E. and Weitman, Paul. Mutuel Pool $239,907 Daily Double Pool $17,244 Exacta Pool $116,893 Superfecta Pool $49,453 Trifecta Pool $73,366 X-5 Super High Five Pool $3,203. ScratchedFortnite Dance. 50-Cent Pick Three (1-2-4) paid $70.30. Pick Three Pool $21,344. DARK PRINCE sped to the early lead, set the pace inside, responded when the runner-up inched closer into the second turn, spurted away again on that turn and won clear under left handed urging and steady handling late. WEEKLY CALL angled in and stalked a bit off the rail, inched closest to the winner into the second turn, continued just off the inside and held second. SEVEN OXEN saved ground chasing the pace, came out into the stretch and was edged for the place between foes late. SURPRISE FASHION forced in some early, chased outside a rival or a bit off the rail, came three wide into the stretch and just missed the show. RED VALOR came in just after the start and was straightened, angled in and saved ground chasing the pace, continued along the rail in the stretch and lacked the needed rally. THIN LINE settled off the pace inside, cut the corner into the stretch, came a bit of the rail in deep stretch and could not summon the necessary response. DATA HAWK chased outside a rival, came three wide into the stretch and did not rally. FIFTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $75,000. 'Anoakia Stakes'. Fillies. 2 year olds. Time 21.49 44.72 57.10 1:09.86 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 5 Chasing Yesterday 118 5 2 42 21 25 1 Van Dyke 0.60 2 It'sjustanillusion 118 2 4 12 11 1hd 24 Smith 1.60 4 Andyoushallreceive 119 4 1 3hd 4hd 31 34 Pereira 10.70 3 Marrazano 118 3 5 5 5 5 41 Vergara, Jr. 14.80 1 Watch Me Burn 118 1 3 22 31 4 5 Quinonez 22.00 5 CHASING YESTERDAY 3.20 2.20 2.10 2 IT'SJUSTANILLUSION 2.20 2.10 4 ANDYOUSHALLRECEIVE 2.20 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (4-5) $9.40 $1 EXACTA (5-2) $2.70 50-CENT TRIFECTA (5-2-4) $3.15 WinnerChasing Yesterday Ch.f.2 by Tapit out of Littleprincessemma, by Yankee Gentleman. Bred by Summer Wind Equine (KY). Trainer: Bob Baffert. Owner: Summer Wind Equine. Mutuel Pool $228,110 Daily Double Pool $32,165 Exacta Pool $96,099 Trifecta Pool $74,444. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (2-4-5) paid $9.15. Pick Three Pool $69,260. 50-Cent Pick Four (1-2-3/4-5) 628 tickets with 4 correct paid $145.25. Pick Four Pool $119,651. 50-Cent Pick Five (7-1-2-3/4-5) 554 tickets with 5 correct paid $689.80. Pick Five Pool $444,097. CHASING YESTERDAY stalked outside then alongside a rival on the turn, angled in some into the stretch, bid outside the runner-up in the drive and gamely prevailed late under urging. IT'SJUSTANILLUSION sped to a clear early lead, set the pace inside, fought back through the final furlong and continued gamely to the end. ANDYOUSHALLRECEIVE stalked off the rail then outside a rival on the turn, came three wide into the stretch and bested the others. MARRAZANO chased just off the rail, angled to the inside on the turn, continued along the rail in the stretch and lacked a rally. WATCH ME BURN stalked inside then a bit off the rail on the backstretch and turn and into the stretch and weakened in the final furlong. SIXTH RACE. About 6 Furlongs Turf. Purse: $31,000. Claiming. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $35,000. Time 21.75 43.62 1:06.51 1:12.63 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 8 R Cha Cha 118 7 1 21 22 12 1 Figueroa 1.70 4 Cats Blame 123 3 7 61 62 21 22 Conner 1.50 5 Zippy Groom 120 4 4 7 7 62 3hd Roman 19.20 6 Invasion Looming 123 5 3 4hd 41 3hd 4 Pereira 6.60 2 David's Memory 123 1 6 3 3hd 51 5hd Pena 8.10 3 Westwood's Wizard 123 2 5 51 5hd 4 614 Gonzalez 8.10 7 Silver Summer 123 6 2 1hd 1hd 7 7 Elliott 24.90 8 R CHA CHA 5.40 3.20 2.80 4 CATS BLAME 2.60 2.20 5 ZIPPY GROOM 4.00 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (5-8) $14.20 $1 EXACTA (8-4) $7.60 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (8-4-5-6) $15.37 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (8-4-5-6-2) $405.60 50-CENT TRIFECTA (8-4-5) $24.60 WinnerR Cha Cha Dbb.g.4 by Archarcharch out of Latin Lust, by Petionville. Bred by James A Everatt, Janeane A Everatt & JArika Everatt-Meeuse (KY). Trainer: Doug F. O'Neill. Owner: R3 Racing, Calara Farms, Bambauer, Bob and King, James S.. Mutuel Pool $255,987 Daily Double Pool $20,735 Exacta Pool $120,433 Superfecta Pool $57,167 Super High Five Pool $10,085 Trifecta Pool $83,036. ClaimedCats Blame by Sayjay Racing LLC, Beerman Family Trust and Rexius, Kurt. Trainer: Steve Knapp. ScratchedKing Cause. 50-Cent Pick Three (4-5-8) paid $12.65. Pick Three Pool $52,547. R CHA CHA angled in and dueled outside a rival, took the lead into the stretch, kicked clear under urging and held on gamely. CATS BLAME chased outside then alongside a rival, came out in the stretch and finished willingly. ZIPPY GROOM settled off the rail then inside, came out leaving the hill and three deep into the stretch, angled inward in midstretch and split rivals late for the show. INVASION LOOMING stalked three deep then outside a rival, came out on the dirt crossing and four wide into the stretch and was edged for third four wide on the line. DAVID'S MEMORY saved ground stalking the pace, also came out on the dirt crossing and three deep into the stretch, was between horses in midstretch and was edged for a minor award between foes at the wire. WESTWOOD'S WIZARD stalked a bit off the rail then inside, went around a rival nearing midstretch and continued willingly inside. SILVER SUMMER had good early speed and angled in, dueled inside, dropped back into the stretch and gave way. Rail on hill at zero. SEVENTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $50,000. Maiden Special Weight. Fillies. 2 year olds. Time 22.28 45.77 1:11.77 1:18.55 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 2 Miss Bennet 122 1 1 3hd 41 2hd 12 Roman 23.80 9 Soothing 122 8 7 41 31 1 23 Bejarano 7.20 3 Sold It 122 2 6 1hd 1 31 3hd Gutierrez 1.00 8 Show Hostess 122 7 4 21 2 43 4 Prat 4.40 5 Samandah 122 4 3 51 51 54 53 Franco 17.50 4 Tiz a Sharpie 122 3 8 8 8 61 67 Gonzalez 5.20 6 Orca 122 5 5 6hd 74 8 73 T Baze 7.80 7 Discrete Stevie B 122 6 2 74 6 7 8 Conner 44.70 2 MISS BENNET 49.60 16.60 6.60 9 SOOTHING 8.80 5.20 3 SOLD IT 2.60 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (8-2) $109.60 $1 EXACTA (2-9) $176.20 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (2-9-3-8) $206.15 50-CENT TRIFECTA (2-9-3) $341.80 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (2-9-3-8-5) Carryover $5,100 WinnerMiss Bennet Ch.f.2 by Jimmy Creed out of Wild Tickle, by Roar. Bred by Cole Ranch (CA). Trainer: Matthew Chew. Owner: Victor Racing. Mutuel Pool $261,130 Daily Double Pool $24,174 Exacta Pool $124,316 Superfecta Pool $69,801 Trifecta Pool $97,738 X-5 Super High Five Pool $6,682. ScratchedEnaya Alrabb. 50-Cent Pick Three (5-8-2) paid $57.65. Pick Three Pool $32,074. MISS BENNET saved ground stalking the pace, bid inside in the stretch to gain the lead past the eighth pole, kicked clear under urging and proved best. SOOTHING stalked outside, bid three deep on the turn and four wide into the stretch, took a short lead outside foes in midstretch, could not match the winner in the final furlong but clearly bested the others. SOLD IT had good early speed and dueled a bit off the rail then inside, came out a bit into the stretch, was between foes in midstretch and held third. SHOW HOSTESS dueled outside a rival then between horses on the turn and three deep into the stretch and was edged for the show. SAMANDAH between horses early, stalked off the rail then a bit off the fence on the turn, came out in the stretch and was edged for a minor award three deep on the line. TIZ A SHARPIE dropped back off the rail, angled in leaving the backstretch, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. ORCA chased between horses then off the rail, continued a bit off the fence on the turn and weakened. DISCRETE STEVIE B stalked outside then four wide into the turn, continued three deep on the bend and into the stretch and also weakened. EIGHTH RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $51,000. Allowance Optional Claiming. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $16,000. Time 23.00 46.11 1:10.32 1:23.08 1:36.41 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 4 Surfing Star 114 4 1 1hd 1hd 1hd 12 13 Espinoza 2.00 5 Avanti Bello 123 5 2 2hd 2hd 22 22 2 Prat 1.00 3 Ground Attack 121 3 3 52 61 4hd 43 31 Franco 16.10 7 California Journey 123 7 4 42 3 35 33 46 Gutierrez 5.80 2 Plain Wrap 123 2 7 7 51 52 51 5 Delgadillo 22.60 1 Drizzy 118 1 6 6hd 7 6 612 646 Roman 27.30 6 Carville 121 6 5 3 45 7 7 7 T Baze 10.10 4 SURFING STAR 6.00 2.80 2.60 5 AVANTI BELLO 2.40 2.40 3 GROUND ATTACK 5.00 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (2-4) $170.20 $1 EXACTA (4-5) $6.20 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (4-5-3-7) $12.58 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (4-5-3-7-2) $372.00 50-CENT TRIFECTA (4-5-3) $16.30 WinnerSurfing Star Dbb.c.3 by Surf Cat out of Sister Esperanza, by Strong Hope. Bred by Old English Rancho & Bruce Headley (CA). Trainer: Bruce Headley. Owner: Barnhart, Nancy, Foxx, Roxana, Headley, Bruce and Naify, Marsha. Mutuel Pool $232,703 Daily Double Pool $28,979 Exacta Pool $110,643 Superfecta Pool $61,523 Super High Five Pool $19,903 Trifecta Pool $79,138. ClaimedAvanti Bello by Epic. Trainer: Vladimir Cerin. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (8-2-4) paid $129.25. Pick Three Pool $36,525. SURFING STAR had good early speed and angled in, dueled inside, inched away under urging in the stretch and won clear. AVANTI BELLO dueled between horses then outside the winner on the second turn and into the stretch, could not match the winner thereafter and just held second. GROUND ATTACK stalked the pace inside, split horses on the second turn, continued inside into the stretch, came out in midstretch and was edged for the place. CALIFORNIA JOURNEY a bit washy at the gate, pressed the pace four wide then three deep into the second turn, angled in and stalked off the rail on that turn, found the inside in the stretch and weakened. PLAIN WRAP settled outside a rival then off the rail leaving the backstretch, went three deep midway on the second turn and alongside a foe into the stretch and lacked a further response. DRIZZY chased inside then a bit off the rail, went outside a rival leaving the second turn and three deep into the stretch, drifted in and did not rally. CARVILLE dueled three deep between horses, dropped back into the second turn, angled in on that turn, came out into the stretch, gave way and was eased through the drive. NINTH RACE. About 6 Furlongs Turf. Purse: $53,000. Allowance Optional Claiming. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $62,500. Time 21.74 43.73 1:06.26 1:12.12 Pgm Horse Wt PP St Str Fin Jockey $1 9 Afleet Ascent 120 9 5 4hd 52 42 1ns Desormeaux 2.00 1 Little Juanito 123 1 1 53 41 3hd 22 Quinonez 17.30 3 Brandothebartender 125 3 4 82 81 61 3hd Talamo 12.50 5 Eric the Trojan 123 5 7 9 9 5hd 41 Prat 3.70 7 Calexman 120 7 3 1hd 22 1hd 5 Franco 4.40 4 Artie B Good 115 4 8 7 71 9 6hd Espinoza 22.90 6 Flip the Coin Jan 115 6 2 2 1hd 2 7 Figueroa 6.60 2 Denman's Call 123 2 9 61 61 81 84 Bejarano 16.00 8 Tule Fog 125 8 6 32 3 7hd 9 T Baze 8.50 9 AFLEET ASCENT 6.00 3.80 3.40 1 LITTLE JUANITO 13.60 8.00 3 BRANDOTHEBARTENDER 6.00 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (4-9) $19.60 $1 EXACTA (9-1) $43.70 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (9-1-3-5) $111.14 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (9-1-3-5-7) $13,135.80 50-CENT TRIFECTA (9-1-3) $138.60 WinnerAfleet Ascent B.c.3 by Northern Afleet out of Skip Queen, by Skip Away. Bred by Jason Hall (LA). Trainer: Jerry Hollendorfer. Owner: Orr, Ed and Orr, Susie. Mutuel Pool $362,077 Daily Double Pool $141,773 Exacta Pool $193,795 Superfecta Pool $121,227 Super High Five Pool $17,211 Trifecta Pool $147,258. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (2-4-9) paid $251.05. Pick Three Pool $159,377. 50-Cent Pick Four (8-2-4-9) 474 tickets with 4 correct paid $848.80. Pick Four Pool $527,273. 50-Cent Pick Five (5-8-2-4-9) 201 tickets with 5 correct paid $1,296.85. Pick Five Pool $341,546. 20-Cent Pick Six Jackpot (3/4-5-8-2-4-9) 31 tickets with 6 correct paid $4,624.30. Pick Six Jackpot Pool $268,348. Pick Six Jackpot Carryover $512,057. AFLEET ASCENT stalked outside a rival then off the rail, came out four wide into the stretch, bid four wide in midstretch under urging then outside the runner-up in deep stretch and edged that one on the line. LITTLE JUANITO saved ground stalking the pace, came out into the stretch bid between foes in midstretch to gain a short lead a sixteenth out, fought back inside the winner and was edged late. BRANDOTHEBARTENDER chased between horses then a bit off the rail, came out leaving the hill and four wide into the stretch and got up for the show. ERIC THE TROJAN settled a bit off the rail then inside, cut the corner into the stretch, came out past midstretch and split rivals in deep stretch to be edged for third. CALEXMAN dueled between horses then outside a rival, regained a short lead in the stretch, was between foes in midstretch and weakened late. ARTIE B GOOD three deep early, settled a bit off the rail then outside a rival leaving the hill, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. FLIP THE COIN JAN had good early speed and angled in, dueled inside, fought back in midstretch and weakened. DENMAN'S CALL saved ground chasing the pace, came out into the stretch and could not offer the necessary late kick. TULE FOG dueled three deep then stalked outside a rival leaving the hill, came three wide into the stretch and weakened. Rail on hill at zero. Long waits to clear immigration at Londons Heathrow Airport are negatively affecting British Airways bottom line, Alex Cruz, its chief executive, said recently, noting that it can take up to two hours to pass Britains border during busy periods. Cruz isnt the only one complaining and inconvenienced. Long lines are the bane of airline passengers existence. Lines, from check-in to security to boarding, arent just annoying: they can make you miss your flight, especially in an unfamiliar airport or if you have a tight connection. Besides death, lines are the other great equalizer. You may have flown to London in first class but you end up waiting in the same queue as the guy in the middle seat at the back of the plane by the lavatory. There are ways to lessen the aggravation. The Transportation Security Administrations PreCheck program lets you keep your shoes on and your liquids of 3.4 ounces or less in your carry-on bag. It costs $85 for five years (or you can pay $100 for five years for Global Entry, the expedited passport program that also gives you PreCheck). PreCheck is available in more than 200 domestic airports. Advertisement Then there is the biometrics-based CLEAR technology, in use at more than two dozen airports, that allows you to skip waiting in line to have the TSA officer look at your ID and moves you immediately into the PreCheck security line (assuming you have PreCheck). It costs $15 a month and complements but does not replace PreCheck. But those programs wont help with security at airports outside the U.S. Thats where VIP airport concierges come in. For a fee, these enterprises promise to meet you at the curb or the airplanes door and expedite you through security and passport control. Where airport policy allows, this usually means ushering you to the front of any lines you might encounter. One of the largest firms, London-based Global Airport Concierge, works in more than 700 airports worldwide. Cost begins at $150 per service. In 100 of those airports, the company offers a Very VIP service that allows passengers to wait in a private lounge or private terminal while security and other formalities are processed far from the madding crowds and the prying eyes of the paparazzi. Prices for the elevated service vary depending on airport. (At LAX, the service runs more than $4,000 but includes an ultra-VIP separate terminal away from the main terminals with paparazzi-proof private security and immigration lines.) Blacklane Pass, a new player in this space, works with nearly 300 airport concierge firms, including Global Airport Concierge, with which it partners and competes. Berlin-based Blacklane, known mostly for its private chauffeur services, has re-imagined the VIP airport concierge business by charging a flat $100 per service in more than 500 airports worldwide. For your C-note, you get, in most cases, a greeting at the curb, an escort to check-in and an escort to security, where you may get to go to the head of the queue, depending on the airport. Sometimes, dealing directly with a local or smaller provider such as Marhaba, Asia Fast Track or Fast Track Aero might cost less than Blacklanes flat $100 fee. Or, for a lucky few, VIP service might cost nothing at all: It could be included in your airfare. Airlines such as British Airways and Emirates employ cadres of special service agents who wave their magic wands and make lines disappear for celebrities and uber-frequent fliers. And everyone, famous or not, flying on Air France in first class gets special handling, as I discovered earlier this year on an L.A. to Paris flight: An agent met me at check-in, escorted me to the head of the TSA line, then to the lounge, to the gate and just in case I might have had too much Champagne while waiting, all the way to my seat. On landing, I was met at the planes door, taken down to the tarmac and handed over to a driver who sped me to the terminal. Not a first-class flier? Dont despair. For those traveling in other classes, Air France offers a meet-and-greet service to any customer at four French airports. Prices start at 120 euros, about $138, for the first passenger and about $12 to $23 for additional passengers in your party. travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Discover Maori culture, geothermal activity and beautiful walking trails on a leisurely six-day excursion of North Island offered by New Zealand Walking Tours. Highlights include Waiheke Island, known for its vineyards; the bubbling mud and sulfuric smells of Waiotapu; Huka Falls and Lake Taupo, New Zealands largest lake; and Tongariro National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The excursion departs from and returns to Auckland. Group size limited to 12. Dates: Dec. 17-22, Dec. 31-Jan. 5, Jan. 14-19, Feb. 11-16, Feb. 25-March 2, March 11-16 Advertisement Price: From $3,999 per person, double occupancy. Includes accommodations, most meals, wine, ground transportation, guides and all activities. International airfare not included. Info: New Zealand Walking Tours, (800) 661-9073 ALSO Fishing and feasting on a photographer-led tour of Belize Burn off that Vegas buffet with a 90s-themed dance party You may shake Kathmandus dust from your feet, but you can never shake that chaotic city from your soul travel@latimes.com @latimestravel When Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen vowed last week to not back down to Chinese military and diplomatic pressure, she was also nixing the chances of talks with Beijing on investment, trade and tourism. Taiwan under Tsai seeks a future where it maintains its decades-long autonomy from China, which considers the island part of its territory, and seals prosperous deals with other nations around the world. To help connect with those other countries, the government is planning a major push during the new year to establish English as an official language along with a type of Mandarin Chinese. The plan, in the works for about a year, is expected to provide extensive bilingual education beginning in elementary school with the goal of producing more university students who can excel abroad, generating business opportunities and building tourism at home. The diplomatically isolated island has strong economic ties to the mainland and other countries such as the U.S., but needs to become a bigger player on the international stage, government officials say. Advertisement The promotion of this policy is hope that Taiwan can benefit from opening its gate to people, enterprises and governments from all around the world, said Kolas Yotaka, spokeswoman for Premier William Lai. The government hopes to promote this policy to make Taiwan become a more international country. One major problem is that China refuses to treat Taiwan as a country regardless of Taiwanese government polls showing strong island support for autonomy, which began in 1949 after civil war. Recent tension included Chinese officials demanding that commercial airlines stop treating Taiwan as a nation. Taiwanese officials say that since Tsai became president in 2016, China has pressured some countries to switch their alliances. Taiwan is recognized by 17 countries; China counts more than 170 allies. The mainland has more sway in world affairs in part because of its $12-trillion-plus economy, compared with Taiwans $572-billion economy. Tsai, unlike her predecessor, has refused to discuss deals with China that require acceptance of the mainland and island as one country. She vowed to not back down to China during a speech on Taiwans National Day on Wednesday. For some time now, Chinas unilateral diplomatic offensive and military coercion have not only harmed cross-strait relations, they have also seriously challenged the status quo of peace and stability, Tsai said. The island government wants to pursue greater English proficiency among its 23.5 million people, but has not provided details about how it plans to make that happen. Most Taiwanese already learn English from as early as first grade, and some study voluntarily in the evening and over the weekend at private schools. But ultimately a lot are equipped only to pass written tests rather than speak English fluently. Teachers tend to be fluent in English, often after living in Western countries, but lack training in how to teach a language to others, academics say. To catch up, the Taiwanese government set out this year to establish rules and infrastructure for what it is calling its bilingual nation campaign, the ministry said. Theres no budget or timeline or many details yet, but the Education Ministry pledges to open schools where English is all but required, offer new English-language schoolbooks and mandate more English study from third to sixth grade. The government is looking into use of virtual reality as an extra language learning tool, expecting that the technology might raise students interest. High school students seeking university admissions may someday take tests of spoken English skills, not just the written language. And university students, according to the ministry, may be given more ways to interact with foreign-born English speakers. English is an international language and we hope we can use the bilingual country policy to let Taiwan acquire more international competitiveness, the ministry said. The countries that Taiwan has cited for more trade ties include Australia, India, New Zealand, the Philippines and Singapore. Taiwans trade with those nations rose 15.6% to $110.9 billion from 2016 to 2017 and its outbound investment to the same countries climbed 54.5% to $3.68 billion, government figures show. But English seldom appears in Taiwans official documents and is rarely heard on the air or in legislative sessions, unlike in Hong Kong, Singapore or the Philippines, where English is officially recognized by each of the governments. Lai Yi-chieh, a student who plans to work in public relations after her internship at a multinational firm this year, can speak English but said that doing more to help students obtain fluency would be worthwhile. In school, there is no full-English environment for students to put English learning into practice, she said. If the government can include more oral practice with native speakers in English education, it would be helpful for students. Some Taiwanese fear the government may plow too much money into educational changes. Legislative sessions, courts and other public events will require fluent English interpretation, they believe, and someone must translate the mountains of official documents written only in Chinese. The clear and precise translation and bilingual communication will be extra burdens to the operation of our government, said Bernie Huang, an English teacher at a city-run vocational high school near Taipei. I dont think this policy is feasible or necessary. Chen Ping-kuei, assistant diplomacy professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, said a lot of Taiwanese may avoid English even under a dual official language system because they need only Chinese at work. I can understand that Taiwan wants to use the language to connect to other countries, Chen said. But comparing the resources we are going to spend to create another official language, I think the return is far smaller than what the government is claiming. Jennings is a special correspondent. The moods in Britain and the European Union swung between hope and gloom on Monday over an intractable dispute about the Irish border shifts that came only two days ahead of a summit once seen as the last moment to reach a deal on Britains divorce from the bloc. After a flurry of weekend meetings had raised expectations for a Brexit agreement only to dash them again, EU and British leaders sought to keep alive the possibility that Wednesdays summit could see a Brexit breakthrough, despite their conflicting stances. After a year and a half of talks aimed at a smooth breakup, both sides were still dogged by the same issue how to ensure that no hard border is created between the EUs Ireland and Britains Northern Ireland once Brexit happens on March 29. EU Council President and summit host Donald Tusk searched for a positive outlook. Advertisement He cited a quote It always seems impossible until its done before adding his own words, Let us not give up. At the same time, he acknowledged that a breakup with no rules in place is more likely than ever before. Despite a failed meeting Sunday between the two sides Brexit negotiators, British Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons in London on Monday that I do not believe the EU and the UK are far apart. Yet a chasm remains over a solution for the Irish border. The EU wants Northern Ireland to stay in its customs union to avoid a hard, policed land border between it and Ireland. But May says that would create a border in the Irish Sea between two parts of the United Kingdom a scenario that she and Britain will not accept. Britain is proposing instead to keep all of the U.K. in a customs union with the bloc but only temporarily. Tying Britain to the EU on customs would limit the U.K.'s power to strike new trade deals around the world a key goal of those who voted to leave the EU. I need to be able to look the British people in the eye and say this backstop is a temporary solution, May told the lawmakers. Insisting that a Brexit divorce deal was achievable, May said the border dispute should not derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with the no-deal outcome that no one wants. May is under intense pressure from her Conservative Party and its parliamentary allies not to give any more ground in Brexit negotiations. Mays political allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, stand ready to scuttle a Brexit deal over the Irish border issue. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no-deal scenario over Brexit. Many fear that any return to customs checks and other controls on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border could revive tensions between Northern Irelands Irish Catholic community and its British Protestant one. More than 3,600 people were killed in Northern Ireland amid 30 years of violence between the two groups and Britain before a 1998 peace deal. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, speaking at a meeting Monday of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said the delays in solving the border issue were frustrating. He suggested that May was reneging on part of Britains commitment, made in December, to ensure that there is no hard border on the island of Ireland. He said a backstop cannot be time-limited. Nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism, to calm nerves that were not going to see physical border infrastructure reemerging, Coveney said. The border impasse makes it is almost impossible that EU leaders will reach a Brexit deal at their summit this week. The British and EU parliaments need to approve any deal, a process that could take months. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, perhaps the strongest voice in the EU, insisted Monday that May should not count on the EU to blink first for fear of losing valuable business. Merkel said Germany wants an orderly departure of Britain from the bloc but not at any price. EU negotiators and leaders have said that Britain should not seek to cherry-pick the best parts of staying in the EU without the costs and responsibilities. We must not allow our single market, which is really our competitive advantage, to be destroyed by such a withdrawal, Merkel told Germanys main exporters association. And if it doesnt work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear but time is pressing. If Britain leaves the EU without an agreement on future relations, there could be chaos tariffs would go up on trade, airlines could no longer have permits to fly between the two regions, and freight could be lined up for miles at border crossings as customs checks are restored overnight. The EU has said it is willing to call an extra meeting in November if needed to seal a Brexit deal, but only if there was decisive progress this week. I figure November or December is the best opportunity for a deal, said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. This is a dynamic situation. As the chances of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal rise, so do calls from pro-EU campaigners in Britain for a new referendum dubbed a Peoples Vote on whether to accept a divorce deal or stay in the bloc. Several opposition lawmakers, and even a few Conservatives, stood in Parliament on Monday to call for a new Brexit referendum. We had a peoples vote, May replied. It was called the referendum and the people voted to leave. NEW DELHI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of Zika virus cases has touched 60 in India, with more people being diagnosed with the infection, health officials said Monday. "Some 60 people have so far tested positive for Zika and all are from the western Indian state of Rajasthan's capital Jaipur. Some of these victims are migrant workers from eastern states like Bihar," a senior health official said. Meanwhile, Rajasthan's top health official Veenu Gupta told the media that while 45 of the 60 infected patients have fully recovered, 15 others are still under observation. "Fogging and anti- larvae activities have been intensified in the city," she added. A control room has already been activated at National Centre for Disease Control to undertake regular monitoring of the situation, according to the Indian Health Ministry. Zika virus disease is spread by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes. Its symptoms include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, and headache. This is the third Zika virus outbreak in India since January 2017. The first outbreak of Zika was reported in India in January 2017 in the western state of Gujarat, while the second outbreak was reported in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in July 2017. Both these outbreaks were contained. [ Editor: WPY ] Bill Powers flipped through the sworn statement he gave to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the printed pages taking him back to that August afternoon back to the border checkpoint into Washington state where agents asked if he had ever smoked marijuana. Yes, he answered, not initially thinking much of the question. The 57-year-old Canadian has a license for medical marijuana, and pot had been legal in Washington for six years. Like that, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents turned him away with an extreme decree: He had been banned from the United States. Its absolutely out of control. Here I am being honest with the United States and I get the boot, Powers said on a recent afternoon as he stood in his driveway in this farming town an hour east of Vancouver. I have a license yet theyre turning people away for pot? It makes not a single bit of sense. With Canada set to legalize recreational marijuana nationwide on Wednesday only the second country to do so, following Uruguay many Canadians, especially those who live near the border, face growing anxiety over what to say if U.S. customs agents ask them if theyve ever consumed marijuana. Advertisement Lying to a border agent can result in a person being denied entry. But so too can being honest about past marijuana use. While nearly every state along the U.S.-Canada border has legalized marijuana, at least for medical use, ports of entry fall under federal jurisdiction, meaning cannabis is still viewed as a Schedule I drug just like heroin. MORE: Canada is about to legalize marijuana. How did that happen? Justin Trudeau, for starters Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, U.S. border agents who have broad discretion in what questions they ask people seeking entry can turn away noncitizens who acknowledge having used a controlled substance, ever. Last year, U.S. officials turned away 22,000 Canadians at ports of entry, deeming them inadmissible, according to the most recent available data. The Department of Homeland Security does not list the reasons a person is denied entry and the agency declined to say how many Canadians are annually deemed inadmissible because of marijuana. But based on interviews with immigration attorneys here in the Pacific Northwest, hundreds of new marijuana admission cases come in each week. Len Saunders, Powers attorney, said hes averaged two new clients a week for the past year. He expects the number to increase after Canada legalizes pot, making it more accessible and acceptable to use. Business is booming as Canadians are being turned away for simply admitting to taking a drag of a joint 20 years ago. Its that silly, Saunders said. Theyre being penalized for honesty. No one wants to lie to a border agent. His clients often face a pricey workaround, Saunders said. They can apply for a waiver about $600 in addition to legal fees that grants entry into the U.S. for up to five years. The individual must carry the waiver at all times when in America. The process must be repeated when its time to renew. Immigration attorney Len Saunders, whose offices are in Blaine, Wash., sees several cases similar to Powers each week. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Saunders, whose office is in Blaine, Wash., a border town along Interstate 5, said the overlap of immigration law and the piecemeal marijuana policies in the United States make for frustrating legal situations, especially in states where marijuana is allowed for recreational and medical use, like Washington. If youre a Canadian tourist in Seattle and youre over the age of 21, you can buy marijuana. But if on your next trip to the U.S., youre questioned by border agents and you admit to using pot in the past, you can be banned, he said. Its totally backwards and doesnt make sense. Last year, more than a dozen members of Congress wrote to U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, as well as to U.S. border officials, to express concerns about Canadians and other noncitizens being targeted at U.S. ports of entry. We ask that your respective agencies develop policies that ban penalizing noncitizens based on their use or possession of marijuana if they are visiting or residing in states that have enacted marijuana use laws, the lawmakers wrote. In September, Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), who signed the letter, made a direct appeal to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. He wrote to her and highlighted a Star Vancouver article from July outlining how three Canadians with no criminal history were deemed inadmissible by the U.S. government. The men own a company that builds equipment to harvest marijuana. The archaic state of the law is winning over common sense, Correa, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in an interview. The federal law is not at all reflective of what is going on. Correa who has met with Canadian officials to discuss the issue wants Homeland Security to stop banning people for past cannabis use until Congress can bring the law in line with reality. He has not received a response. In a statement posted to its website last week, the Department of Homeland Security said it stands firm on barring even casual marijuana users from entering the country. U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforces the laws of the United States and U.S. laws will not change following Canadas legalization of marijuana, the statement read. Requirements for international travelers wishing to enter the United States are governed by and conducted in accordance with U.S. Federal Law, which supersedes state laws. In August, Bill Powers of Canada was banned from the U.S. as he and his girlfriend headed to a music festival outside Seattle. Theyre treating people like terrorists when all we did was admit to smoking some pot, he said of U.S. border agents. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) For Powers, the ordeal began in August when he and his girlfriend, Marian, tried to catch the Stone Temple Pilots at a two-day music festival outside Seattle. When they pulled up to the port of entry in Sumas, Wash., customs agents waved them over to a secondary-checkpoint area. It was a random flag, common at ports of entry. While they were still inside their GMC Yukon, an agent peppered them with questions. Where were they headed? How long did they plan to stay? How much cash did they have on them? Then the agent asked Powers and his girlfriend to step inside a building for more questions. Inside, agents asked to look through his iPhone. He gave them permission and they scrolled through his photos, pausing on a shot of his medical marijuana card. Did he ever smoke pot before getting a card in 2010, an agent asked? Yes, Powers responded. I wasnt going to lie, said Powers, who works in construction and says he uses cannabis to help with shoulder and back pain. The agents kept a transcript of their conversation the pages that became his sworn statement and told Powers he had been deemed inadmissible. They handed him paperwork for a waiver and told him that he was barred from entering the United States. I thought they were kidding, he said. Theyre treating people like terrorists when all we did was admit to smoking some pot. Bill Powers, a semi-retired construction worker, is building his own home in British Columbia. Powers says he uses cannabis to help with shoulder and back pain. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) On a recent afternoon, Powers met with Saunders at a Starbucks a short drive from the border. Saunders explained that it would take three to six months to get a waiver. It would cost him $580, plus $1,000 in legal fees, and Powers needed to get a background check and two character reference letters. If he did all that, Saunders assured him, he would get the waiver, though he would have to renew it in five years. I hope so, Powers replied. I enjoy the United States. I enjoy going to shows. Most people without a violent criminal history get waivers eventually, though the process is costly and can take months. Another of Saunders clients who asked to be identified by her first name and last initial because she fears retaliation from the U.S. government received her waiver in April, after waiting four months. In fall 2017, Julie L. planned to visit her daughter at college in Arizona, but never made it past Blaine. When she pulled up to the port of entry, an agent asked her several questions, including whether shed ever used marijuana. She had, she said, mentioning that she was given a fine for possession of a small amount of marijuana in 1982 when she was in her early 20s. She was turned away and banned from the U.S. until she received her waiver. I was being honest, she said. Shocking to say the least. For Powers, the ban meant canceling a trip to Las Vegas to see Metallica for his girlfriends birthday next month. Until he was banned, the couple traveled to Vegas at least three times a year to go to concerts or watch Penn & Teller perform. These days, Powers, who is semi-retired, spends much of his time working on the single-level ranch house that he is building for himself. On a recent afternoon, as a light rain fell, he took a break from installing window panes. He found a spot under the roof and did what he often does in his down time scrolled through his iPhone searching for upcoming concerts in Washington and Las Vegas. Asked if he would be upset if he doesnt get the waiver, Powers paused. Yeah, I really would, he said. I just wish the U.S. would do what were doing and just legalize the damn stuff. kurtis.lee@latimes.com Twitter: @kurtisalee In life, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was persecuted, shot in the heart by a single bullet while he celebrated Mass. In death, his legacy was politicized, calumniated all but silenced. So for many Sunday, it was extraordinary to see Pope Francis at last declare Romero a saint in St. Peters Square. Tens of thousands of pilgrims filled Vatican Citys ancient plaza for the ceremony, which also canonized Pope Paul VI, who led the church through turbulent times in the 1960s. Advertisement Romeros followers traveled from El Salvador, Los Angeles, Washington; from distant lands like Sweden, Norway and Australia. On this grand stage, they savored every detail: the bright blue sky filled with cotton-like clouds; the Gregorian chants ringing over a sea of 70,000 people; the red-ostrich-feathered helmets of the Vaticans fancy Swiss guards; the bloodstained rope belt worn by Romero at his time of death, now tied around the Popes waist to honor his memory. Romero! Romero! Your pueblo is with you, Romero! For a people who endured the atrocities of war, the oppression of poverty, the agony of gang violence and a long, complicated history with the United States that lingers more than ever this canonization was not only a celebration. It was redemption. Redemption for a saint whose assassins have yet to be brought to justice in his homeland. We deserved to have this day, said Jesus Gutierrez, a Salvadoran doctor from Torrance who waited before dawn to enter the square. Weve dreamed about being right here, in this moment, for so long. A great pilgrimage To reach Rome, some went to great lengths. They took out bank loans and loaded credit cards; they crowdfunded and dipped into savings; they worked double shifts and lived on tight budgets. I sold pupusas, empanadas, panes con pollo, yuca frita, mangoneadas, said Norma Portillo, 52. The morning of the ceremony, the teacher was decked out in El Salvadors blue and white colors. She worked up a large crowd from her hometown, Ciudad Barrios, where Romero was born in 1917. Que viva Romero! Que viva! Everywhere you turned there were people with firsthand stories about their soon-to-be saint. He baptized me during a Mass in San Salvador. He held my daughter in his arms when he visited Santa Tecla. He had dinner at my Tia Conchitas house when he passed through San Miguel. Antonia Estrada Posada, 68, struggled with a different kind of memory as she held fast to the guardrail encircling the growing crowd outside St. Peters Square. The last time she was among thousands of people was in 1980 for Romeros funeral. She was 30. El Salvador was in political shambles then, on the brink of war. Military death squads backed by U.S. forces were killing countless people. Nearly all of them were poor. Romero was assassinated for being one of the fiercest critics of the massacring. Romero, the countrys archbishop, spoke out against the systematic killings of the poor by the right-wing squads that did the bidding of the countrys military-led government. By 1980, the country had descended into civil war, and Romeros voice came to be a galvanizing force for the resistance, the loosely organized groups that pushed back against the oppression. Others, the government in particular, regarded him as a leftist, an agitator. The civil war dragged on for 12 years, the violence so brutal that hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans fled, many streaming into Los Angeles. The conflict ended in 1992 with the United Nations monitoring a peace accord. But the memories of the atrocities lived on with those who endured the war, and the hope that Romero someday would be properly recognized for standing up to the government never faded. The morning of Romeros funeral, snipers opened fire on the masses. They tossed grenades at mourners, sent everyone fleeing in terror. Estrada Posada, who still lives in El Salvador, remembers only fragments. She passed out. She got trampled by the throngs. She was left a sooty, bloodied mess on the ground until someone carried her to safety. Im so nervous, she said Sunday, her voice cracking. I want this day to heal me and take my pain away. Hes always been our lobbyist In the multitudes lining St. Peters Square, there were pockets of pilgrims from Los Angeles. Many of the Salvadorans displaced by the 12-year civil war, by Romeros consequential death, ended up settling all over the Southland. Many vowed that when Romeros canonization came, they would attend, regardless of where it was in the world. Some tagged along to the Vatican with large groups, for whom every detail of the trip was organized by local churches. Others ventured out on their own. Sylvia Mejia, 26, and her family from Northridge arrived without tickets to the main event. There was plenty to keep them busy: a Romero play, a Romero statue unveiling, a Romero photo exhibit; vigils, Masses, concerts, dinners, panel discussions. But Mejias mom, Dorina, prayed for access to the canonization. Moments before the ceremony, the Mejias had all but lost hope. Then in a coffee shop they met a friendly nun with extra passes. Sylvia Mejia, a social worker, wouldnt call herself religious. But as she stood before Romeros image, draped prominently over the facade of St. Peters Basilica, she felt overwhelmed. This icon had been a constant in her life. Her parents told her and her siblings all about his story. A smaller image of him hung for years inside her bedroom. Hes very much a part of my culture, of who I am and who Ive become, she said. Over the years, Romero has transcended time, religion and geography, reaching far beyond the boundaries of El Salvador, a tiny country that proudly calls itself el pulgarcito de America, the flea of America. His image is often compared to human rights leaders such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The United Nations pays tribute to him each year on the date of his death, March 24. When Romero lived, he often spoke of his devotion to his homeland: If they kill me, I will rise again in the people of El Salvador. If they manage to carry out their threats, as of now, I offer my blood for the redemption and resurrection of El Salvador. At the canonization, pilgrims spoke of him with misty eyes. Many have considered him their saint for decades, long before the Vatican agreed to make it official. Hes always been our lobbyist, our lawyer, said Dolores Copland, 43, of Long Island, N.Y. Now he has a direct link to God. An inspiring figure With sacred hymns, the papal Mass began. Soon so did the traditional chanting of the Litany of the Saints, the long and lyrical roll call of all the churchs saints. Ora pro nobis. Pray for us. Pope Francis, who approved Romeros sainthood after decades of conservative stalling, was then petitioned three times to recognize as saints Romero, Pope Paul VI and five other lesser-known figures. When the pope declared them so in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the audience joyfully applauded. Two Salvadoran women near the center of the square smiled at each other, took a deep breath and locked hands. Moments later, Pope Francis during his homily returned to Romero, a figure whose sacrifice has personally inspired him. He advised pilgrims to not go seeking riches, to focus instead on God. Romero left the security of the world, even his own safety, he said. All to remain close to the poor and to his people. esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com Twitter: @LATbermudez Syria reopened a pair of long-dormant border crossings linking the country to Jordan and to Israeli-occupied territory on Monday, marking the return of its prewar status as a crucial transit corridor in the region. A string of cars, many of them waiting since Sunday night, according to Jordanian news outlets, made their way through a checkpoint on the Jordanian side of the border and into Syria at the Nassib border gate when it opened at 8 a.m. Though there was no official opening ceremony, authorities on both sides lauded the move as a boon for regional trade. Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat described the crossing as a vital commercial lifeline for commercial movement between Jordan and Syria and through them to several countries. Advertisement Samer Dibs, head of Syrias Chamber of Industry, said in an interview with state-sponsored Jordanian broadcaster Al Mamlaka TV that the crossings importance is a shared one for Syria, Jordan and Lebanon as well as for gulf nations. He added that it would be the gateway for Jordanian companies to participate in Syrias postwar reconstruction. Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, as rebel forces, some backed by the United States, have attempted to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. With help from Russia and Iran, Assad has been able to beat back the uprising and appears on the verge of victory. This year, a Russian-backed campaign dislodged the rebels from their enclave in Dara, the southern Syrian province where the uprising began. The government recaptured the southwestern province of Quneitra in the same offensive. The Nassib crossing is the primary passageway on the 235-mile border Jordan shares with its northern neighbor. Its proximity to Dara spurred Jordanian authorities to restrict it to only commercial traffic within the first few months of the crisis. Nassib was completely shut in 2015 after Al Qaeda-affiliated jihadis chased out Syrian army soldiers and went on a rampage, looting an estimated $150 million of goods and equipment in the free-trade zone between the two countries. Its closure meant the loss of $1.5 billion in annual trade, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars for truckers and farmers who used it to deliver goods to Turkey as well as European markets, according to Jordanian officials. It was a crippling blow to Jordans already weak economy, and denied Jordanians access to an area so important it was once called Jordans lung. Jordanian farmers had relied on the Nassib crossing to send produce such as tomatoes to markets as far as Turkey and beyond. They now had to dispatch their crops by sea, either through the southern seaport of Aqaba or to Haifa in Israel. Moreover, Syrias significantly lower prices, not to mention its local industries producing goods such as underwear and fruit jams, drew droves of Jordanians across the border every week to stock their larder and fill their wardrobe. Meanwhile, Lebanon, which had used Nassib as a conduit to the Persian Gulf states, suffered a 35% decrease in its exports, according to its then-minister of economy. The border closure also increased Syrias isolation, leaving it with a single land crossing to Lebanon. (The rebels had commandeered the countrys borders with Turkey and Iraq.) Discussions between Damascus and Amman had been underway to open the border since last year, after a Moscow-brokered cease-fire agreement took effect. But they had been frozen because of the U.S. insistence to deny Assad any economic relief in order to force a fundamental political change, said Sam Heller, a Syria expert at the International Crisis Group think tank. This opening of Nassib seems to be an instance where Jordan has prioritized its interest over the current American project in Syria, said Heller in a phone interview on Monday. Lebanese President Michel Aoun welcomed the resumption of traffic between Jordan and Syria, saying in a statement carried by state media on Monday that it would benefit Lebanon and reconnect it by land to its Arab depth, revive the various productive sectors and reduce the cost of exporting goods from Lebanon to Arab countries. Monday also marked the return of U.N. observers to Quneitra, home to the only crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Marianne Gasser, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Syria, passes through the Quneitra border crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after it was reopened on Oct. 15, 2018. (Youssef Badawi / EPA/Shutterstock) The peacekeepers, part of a U.N. mission established in 1974 to monitor a cease-fire in the wake of Israels occupation of the area in 1967, had left Quneitra in 2014 after rebel factions kidnapped some of them during an attack on Syrian government troops. The opening of the Quneitra crossing comes after the great victory achieved by the Syrian Arab army against terrorism, said Humam Dbayat, the provincial governor, in a statement released Monday to state media. The Syrian government views all the oppositions fighters as terrorists who are backed by the countrys regional and international enemies. Although it was only open to the U.N. on Monday, the Quneitra crossing would later allow the passage of Syrian Druze residing in Israeli-occupied lands. Mondays developments come as part of a larger plan to open up major international highways in Syria, a country that had served as a transit hub linking Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. A cease-fire agreement between the government and Turkish-backed rebels, set to come into effect Monday, aims to reopen the M5 and M4 highways. They form the backbone of the countrys road network. Meanwhile, the Albukamal crossing with Iraq will be opened soon, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jafari said Monday at a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus. No one, said Jafari, can marginalize [Syrias] pivotal role in the region. nabih.bulos@latimes.com Twitter: @nabihbulos Turkey and Saudi Arabia are expected to conduct a joint inspection of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish officials said. The announcement from an official at Turkeys Foreign Ministry comes as international concern continues to grow over the writer who vanished on a visit to the consulate on Oct. 2. American lawmakers have threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a credible investigation into Khashoggis disappearance. The Foreign Ministry official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations baseless but has not offered any evidence Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Advertisement President Trump has said Saudi Arabia could face severe punishment if it was proved it was involved in Khashoggis disappearance. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia warned that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations, said the statement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The statement did not elaborate. However, a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news network suggested that Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around $80 a barrel, and Trump has criticized OPEC and Saudi Arabia over rising prices. Late Sunday, Saudi King Salman spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about Khashoggi. Turkey said Erdogan stressed the forming of a joint working group to probe the case. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said King Salman thanked Erdogan for welcoming the kingdoms proposal for forming the working group. The king also said Turkey and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and that no one will get to undermine the strength of this relationship, according to a statement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency. Though Turkey and the kingdom differ on political issues, Saudi investments are a crucial lifeline for Ankara amid trouble with its national currency, the Turkish lira. SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) --Militants barged inside a police post in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir and took away two service rifles of the policemen deployed there, police said Monday. The police post set up at the house of a retired police officer was stormed Sunday night in Budgam district, 15 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Last night militants barged inside the residence of a retired police officer at Wathoora-Gopalpora in Chadoora here. The gunmen beat policemen to pulp and later snatched their service rifles," a police official posted in Budgam said. Following the incident, contingents of police and paramilitary were rushed to the area and an alert sounded in the entire district. "We have launched a massive search operation to trace militants responsible for the weapon snatching and recover the rifles" the police official said. Police officials say militants in the region have been targeting policemen guarding houses of politicians and other protected places to snatch rifles, in the wake of weapons shortage within militant ranks. Meanwhile, militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad has claimed responsibility for the attack and released pictures of looted rifles on social media. [ Editor: WPY ] Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > RSS: Futile Attempt at Cosmetics by Mohan Bhagwat Mohan Bhagwat made a laborious and futile attempt at cosmetics of the RSS at a lecture series intended to reach out to a cross-section of the people outside the Sangh fraternity. You need not believe all that I have said during the last three days, was the only notable utterance the RSS chief (Sarsanghachalak) Mohan Bhagwat made in an address in Delhi on September 17-19 on the Future of Bharat: An RSS Perspective, with himself as the sole speaker. The exercise turned out to be a damp squib and a futile attempt to do some cosmetics on The Sangh as it is. The RSS chief made some absurd claims, totally at variance with reality and even with some of the RSS own claims. Mohan Bhagwat tried to appear as a democrat, a believer in Indias Constitution, as a real Indian, a friend of all the people, etc. through his long-winded explanations. He got three full days, yet failed to renew the RSS. Really, we need not believe in all that, he said! The problem with the RSS is that it wants to present itself in colours it does not possess. It fails to understand that substituting a Hindi or Sanskrit word for English in itself does not make one Bharatiya. It has to understand the essence and the spirit of the land of unity in diversity, of its composite culture. It has failed to grasp the great richness of even Hindu traditions, culture and philosophy. RSS believes in Indian Constitution! Says Bhagwat, Bharat is a democratic nation, and we respect all symbols of democracy. The Constitution of India is one of the prime symbols of democracy because it is the outcome of our collective consciousness. Does the RSS really believe in secularism, democracy and socialism? Just recently, in its Independence Day Special, the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, clearly stated that it does not believe in democracy, secularism and socialism! Simultaneously, the RSS carries on a poisonous campaign against the Christians, Muslims and other minorities, even against Dalits among Hindus, in clear violation of the basic principles of our Constitution. The RSS repeatedly invokes Swami Viveka-nanda, presenting him as a Hindu and a Vedantist etc. Nothing wrong in it. Yet Vivekananda was not anti-Muslim or anti-other religions. RSS: Militarist Attempts at Man-making The RSS has become the self-appointed maker of good human beings (vyakti-nirman). What is good is decided by the RSS. This way, the RSS will spread to far corners to coincide with society itself. Bhagwat says the Sangh is for Sarvalokyukta or all-inclusive society, not to exclude (mukta). Then he himself asks the question: ...then the fundamental question comes that why we are doing this only for the Hindus?! Simply because everybody is a Hindu!! And then follows a long, pathetic and sterile rigmarole. The whole thing smacks of a militaristic project, creating a society of silent and devoted individuals, listening to the hollow words of preachers like Bhagwat, believing that they are moulded individuals (nirmit vyakti!) ready for use in the RSS factory of Hindu automatons! Everybody in India is a Hindu, simply because the RSS tells them to be so. The RSS wants the Indian nation to go forward. Where to? The RSS has no answer, except repeating the word ancient ad infinitum. Word Hindu is Foreign! The big problem with the RSS is that it has to function in a pluralistic, democratic, multi-cultural Indian society, not to its liking at all. Therefore it has to keep making the right sounds, which are in fact quite hollow. The RSS is at a loss how to Hinduise such a society. But Bhagwat has found a way out. Among his sudden discoveries is that: The word Hindu derives from abroad, from Persia. We dont have this word in the ancient Indian texts. There follows a detailed and highly involved explanation of how this word came to India, and things began to be referred to as Hindu, creating problems for the already Hinduised RSS! The RSS, which rejects everything foreign, has embraced this particular foreign word, Hindu, for its very existence. Many others, including Marxist historians, had pointed out the foreign origin of the word Hindu long ago. But then the RSS would not accept any piece of wisdom from the anti-nationals. Bhagwat has forgotten to mention that even the Aryans were foreigners, who constitute the source of Hindu race in RSS texts. Bhagwat further twists and turns Indian history several times to somehow reach the conclusion that the invaders attacked the diverse belief systems here, forcing them to group into one Hindu identity!!! So far, the RSS has been claiming the ancient ancestry of Hindu traditions etc. refusing to admit the diversity of the Indian belief system, claiming everything was Hindu! But now the invaders are blamed for the crime of rendering us Hindus!! Really one does not know what to make of it all. Perhaps he was overwhelmed by a democratic audience and tried to find some escape route! Just see, for example, what Bhagwat says further. According to him, There exists no specific Hindu Shastra because they were created before the word Hindu became prevalent. In that case, Hindutva, propagated by the RSS, too is a post-Hindu thought, and there really does not exist anything Hindu before sa became ha! This is a comic presentation of the RSS case by its chief. He claims that the day the Muslims are said to be unwanted here, Hindutva will cease to be Hindutva. Is it for this reason that the RSS is running a campaign against the Muslims and other minorities? Why are they and others excluded from both the pre- and post-Hindu Hindutva?! Why Hindu Rashtra then? Why is there so much noise about the so-called Hindu Rashtra then? Does it represent the pre-Hindu discovery or the post- or both? The RSS has repeatedly stated that Muslims have no place in our society except when they follow everything dictated to them by the Hindus (read the RSS). Bhagwat says to understand the RSS, one must understand Dr Hedgewar. Okay, no problem. But Dr Hedgewar contradicts Bhagwat, Guru Golwalkar also contradicts Bhagwat, and Bhagwat contradicts them both! In the RSS publication Keshav: Sangh Nirmata (Sangh builder; Keshav is Dr Hedgewar), December 2014, Dr Hedgewar is clearly quoted as saying that the RSS is not a Hindu social reform organisation and does not believe in eliminating untouchability and caste differences. (See pp. 114-115) As for the Muslims, whole passages can be found in the RSS literature, for treating them as outsiders. Both Dr Hedgewar and Guru Golwalkar downgraded and humiliated those they considered non-Hindus. Golwalkar was a disciple of Hedgewar and his uttaradhikari or inheritor. We have no problems. But as one who carried forward the RSS ideology, Guru Golwalkar made explicit and open references to the Muslims, trying to demean them. There are whole chapters in his book Bunch of Thoughts titled Internal Threats. (Chapter XVI) The three threats are: the Muslims, the Christians and the Communists!! Each of them have been provided separate sub-chapters. The latest edition at hand is of 1996. The book is so outrageous that the RSS nowadays does not mention it. That does not mean it has repudiated it. Its periodicals largely follow the ideas of the Bunch of Thoughts and of We, or Our Nationhood Defined. The RSS in its real propaganda totally contradicts the claims of Bhagwat. RSS on Hitler and Mussolini The RSS cannot escape the fact that it was deeply influenced by the ideas of Hitler and Mussolini. The 1930s and 1940s were the times when world fascism was on the rise. The RSS and Hindu Mahasabha were most enamoured of it. They adopted certain basic tenets of Nazi and fascist ideology including that of the race. Both their basic books use this word. Just a quote or two are enough to bring out the point. This is from We, or Our Nationhood Defined: Look at Italy, the old Roman race...so long dormant, has roused itself to conquer whole areas around the Mediterranean. This was in the context of Mussolinis conquests around the European and African coast during the Second World War. And about (Nazi) Germany: The ancient race spirit which prompted the German tribes to over-run Europe, has risen again in modern Germany, with the result that the nation perforce follows the ancient aspirations. This is not enough. Guru Golwalkar makes it clear that the RSS looks at its own reflection in these events. He says in his book that similarly our race spirit has roused itself once again...! He uses the word race for the RSS-led Indians (Hindus). Guru Golwalkar justified the annexations of Austria and other regions by Nazi Germany, praising to the skies their great nationalism. Modern Germany...has to a great extent achieved what she strove for, to bring under one sway the whole of the territory hereditorily possessed by the Germans... Logically Austria should not be an independent kingdom, but be one with the rest of Germany. He also justified the German annexation of other regions, inhabited by Germans, which were forcibly included in Czechoslovakia. This refers to the famous Sudetenland and other regions forcibly taken over by Hitler. The RSS also sympathised with the perse-cution of Jews by Hitler, and saw in it a reflection of their own attitude to the Muslims etc. RSS revising its Ideas? Mohan Bhagwats lectures are no more than an eyewash and a failed attempt to impart the RSS an acceptable form. He has not explained how and why he makes certain utterances, seemingly different from the usual RSS positions. When was all this discussed in the RSS? Who made the decisions on his interpretations of the Hindu question and so on? He has not said anything at all about Gandhis assassination, and other issues. Contrary and conflicting views are presented in the RSS papers at the same time as Bhagwat was trying the cosmetic changes in the RSS. The RSS acts as if it is doing some charity, posing as large-hearted by allowing others to remain here on certain conditions. The RSS should realise that it is not a certificate-issuing authority and it has no right to label others. The RSS has to answer a lot to the country and history. The author is a Marxist ideologue. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Why the Arrest of Dalit Activists, Urban Naxals by Ram Puniyani The violence in Bheema Koregaon is still reverberating. We recall that on January 1, 2018, thousands of Dalits returning from Bheema Koregaon were beaten up. In that context the names of Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide cropped up as the instigators of violence. The probe is on. In the same context five activists Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen and Sudhir Dhawale, working on issues related to Adivasis and Dalitswere arrested. Now in the month of September Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonslaves and Arun Ferreira were arrested while houses of Anand Teltumbde and many others were raided. The charge, as per the police version, is that all these activists were behind the Bheema Koregaon violence, in the organising of the Elgar Parishad, where inflam-matory speeches were delivered, leading to violence. In a surreal manner the police have succeeded in producing a letter unearthing the conspiracy to kill the Prime Minster, Narendra Modi. Interestingly the attempt to arrest these activists was halted due to the intervention of the Supreme Court, which gave a sort of dressing down to the police, telling them that arresting these activists is like doing away with the safety-valve of our democracy. These activists were placed under house arrest till further hearing. Subsequently the SC extended the period of house arrest and asked them to seek legal remedies from the lower courts. While some, like Sudha Bharadwaj, are doing so, Gautam Navlakha has already been released by the Delhi High Court after he moved it in the matter. All through different political individuals and organisations have affirmed that these arrests earlier and now are an attempt to intimidate the Dalit activists, meant to instil fear among them, these are vindictive and arbitrary. Aakar Patel, Executive Director of Amnesty International, noted: This is not the first time that activists working on Dalit and Adivasi rights have been arrested with little evidence. The government should protect peoples rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly instead of creating an atmosphere of fear. Now the European Union has taken note of these arbitrary arrests by the police and has condemned these and the raids. It is due to actions of the state like this that India has been named as one of the offenders for the alarming levels of harsh reprisals and intimidation against those who cooperate with the UN on human rights issues. The Supreme Court has been forthright in doubting the police action and prevented its attempt to arrest these activists and raid the houses of others. This phenomenon of reprisals against human rights defenders is very dis-turbing and also points to the direction in which the present governments Hindu nationa-list agenda is leading the country. In Bheema Koregaon the blame is being put on the Elgar Parishads speeches. While most of these activists have nothing to do with the organising of the Elgar Parishad, retired Supreme Court judge P.B. Sawant and retired Justice Kolse Patil have stated that they were the conveners of this meeting. So the question does arise as to why these activists have been arrested. It seems the major goal of this government, guided by Hindutva agenda, is to label every dissent as anti-national; at the same time to snub and suppress those who are trying to help Dalits assert their dignity and demand their rights. Lets remember that with this government coming to power the Dalit assertion has been targeted all through. Starting with the banning of the Periyar Ambedkar Study Circle (IIT Madras) they went on to target the Ambedkar Students Association in Hyderabad Central University leading to the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula. In the aftermath of Vemulas suicide, a massive upsurge of Dalits all over the country did give rise to a Dalit movement, with other social groups chipping in for support. As the Hindutva agenda of the Holy Cow-Beef unfolded by targeting the Muslim community, an unexpected parallel to this came up in the form of four Dalit youth being stripped and beaten mercilessly. All over the country the discontent of Dalits started getting polarised in the form of agitations launched by another Dalit young man, Jignesh Mevani, who successfully organised the protests around the cow issue, to emerge as a powerful voice of Dalits. He has tried to combine the Dalit identity and dignity with the issue of land, which is the core problem of Dalits in the country today. The present political agenda of the BJP-Sangh Parivar has tried to push the Muslim minorities into second class citizenship by picking up issues like the Ram Temple, Cow-Beef, Love-Jihad and Ghar Wapsi (reconversion into Hinduism). Labelling Muslims and Christians as foreigners, and in particular Muslims as anti-national, has been the plank of their politics. As far as Dalits are concerned, the RSS combine has been doing multiple things to co-opt them into their fold. The first major attempt has been that of the Samajik Samrasta Manch (Social Harmony Forum), where the central theme has been to promote harmony between different castes, as the RSS propagates that caste inequality is due to the Muslim invaders who tried to convert, leading to caste inequality. This has been backed up by social engineering where attempts have been made to co-opt Dalits and even Adivasis into the ideology which hides inequality. Also many a Dalit leader like Ramvilas Paswan, Ramdas Athawale and Udit Raj have been lured into the posts of power to get their support for Hindu nationalism. At the cultural level they have modulated historical icons, like Suhel Dev, as great Hindu warriors standing against the foreigners, the Muslims. Still the rebellion is spilling out; the unrest of Dalits is on the streets. The question of equality and dignity of Dalits remains under-mined. It is in this light that the Maharashtra Police is desperately trying to implicate those activists/scholars who have stood their ground to help bring up the movement of rights for these marginalised groups. And so this attempt to implicate them with a conference, which was convened by two retired judges. Alert citizens like Romila Thapar have done a yeoman service in invoking the Supreme Court to save the democratic ethos by stopping the reckless police action. The Supreme Court has yet again proved that it can protect the rights of the marginalised sections. The author, a retired Professor at the IIT-Bombay, is currently associated with the Centre for the Study of Secularism and Society, Mumbai. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > They Come in New Attire! by Binoy Viswam These lines are being written on October 2 when Gandhiji and his teachings reverberate in the heart and soul of India. This year Gandhiji is privileged to be showered with praises from certain unusual quarters. They are none other than the forces of the Sangh Parivar. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Sarsanghchalak, Narendra Modi, the Swayamsevak Prime Ministerall seem to be excited with their newly found adoration for Mahatma Gandhi. To set the ground prepared for the new exercise, Mohan Bhagwat had a series of lectures (September 17-19, 2018) at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The sole purpose of this propaganda exercise was to provide a new facade for the RSS. No doubt they are equipping themselves for the decisive battle in 2019. The aggressive posture of Hindutva and its philosophical gamut of racial pride have ensured a distinct support-base for the RSS. Based on that, they have succeeded in making political inroads into the body politic of India. The theory and practice of Hindutva was found to be something that appeals to the Hindu psyche of the country. By mixing religion with politics they did score certain political mileage. The 2014 election was its climax. Hollow promises coupled with cunning rhetoric and unending flow of financial support gave them remarkable yield. But that success story is on the reverse now. The promises and policies are moving in opposite directions. The miseries of the people are mounting up. The peoples anger is manifested in various forms. As a result of all these the Hindutva ideology itself is facing a crisis. The preachings and persuasions on which they were relying for several decades have failed. Hence, the RSS is in search of a new garb. While remaining uncompromisingly loyal to the fascist philosophy of Hindutva, they are eager to present themselves in a new attire. In many of the recent speeches and statements of the RSS-BJP leaders, this eagerness is quite visible. When Mohan Bhagwat himself is the originator of the new public relations endeavours, all his lieutenants, including Narendra Modi, follow suit. The RSS-BJP always swears in the name of patriotism and national pride. But they were present nowhere in the heroic and diverse saga of Indian independence struggle. This undeniable truth of history haunts them terribly. Being experts in distorting history they are bent to appropriate a place for them in the pages of the freedom struggle. As a part of that exercise, Mohan Bhagwat made the claim that RSS founder Hedgewar was an active Congress worker, who had participated in the non-cooperation move-ment. He purposefully hides the fact that this Congress worker was literally disillusioned with the Congress slogan of Hindu-Muslim unity. And out of this bitterness he looked for a new path that led him to none other than Mussolini. He did not disclose the fact that this former Congressman was the one who sent his closest aide, Dr Munje, to meet Mussolini. It was after that meeting and getting lessons from Mussolini that Munje came back to India with a prepared note on Mussolini and his fascist organisation. Mohan Bhagwat further opted not to tell that the RSS was founded based on the teachings of Mussolini. This is just one example of what has happened in the three-day lecture series. They were trying to present the RSS perspective on the future of Bharat. Their strategy was to establish that the RSS is not anti-Muslim, not against reservation and, above all, not manuvadi. In fact it was a marvellous reflection of the RSS expertise in bahubhashan. That means preaching diametri-cally opposite views from the same source in order to gather support from various sections holding even opposite views. Beneath the bahubhashan lies their unchangeable concept of Hindutva. Reporting on the lecture series the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, wrote on September 30: Sarsanghchalak Sri Mohan Bhagwat delivered a lecture series on the RSS vision of Future Bharat and besides the usual naysayers, for everyone, it created a positive vibration. Some might have started interpreting it as the new RSS; the reality is, the same philosophical foundation of Hindutva the Sangh has laid down, the same vision it stands for, for the larger audience. Thus the cat has come out of the bag! At the end of the story, for the RSS nothing has changed. Thats why they criticise those interpreters who talk about the new RSS which is the same philosophical foundation of Hindutva! It is the same vision itstands for!The new apparel is only meant forthe larger audience. This shows that nothing will change in the RSS; rather nothing can be changed in the philoso-phical foundation of Hindutva. Those foundations are laid in their holy book called Bunch of Thoughts. In it they have named the internal enemies of the country. They are the Muslims, Christians and Communists. (Chapters 19, 20, 21) The bunch of thoughts have laid the conditions before the minorities have equal status as citizens of India, that is, they should accept the religion, culture and language of the nation. It urges the Muslims, Christians and other minorities to uphold the Hindutva-based religion as the nations religion. The moment they talk of the religion of the nation the very foundation of secularism would break into pieces. But the RSS is least concerned about this. The philosophical trait of Hindutva emerges from the fascist thoughts of Hitler that declared Jews, Christians and Communists as the internal enemies of Germany. Thats why Golwalkar praised Hitlers Germany as a model land for Hindustan. According to him, that model land has taught the world that different cultures cannot exist under one roof. That continues to be the cornerstone of fascism everywhere. It is the child of the marriage between racial pride and finance capital. Its versions may change from country to country and time to time. The RSS is the Indian version of fascism trying to adapt to Indian conditions. The people of India should be cautioned to be on their vigil against the new strategies of the RSS. The author, a former Minister of Forests and Housing in the erstwhile LDF Government in Kerala, is a member of the Central Secretariat of the CPI. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Destroying Education, Attacking Students MUSINGS Ruckus on the campus of the universities in Uttar Pradesh seems ongoing. The latest news reports of violence on the campus of the Allahabad University and before that ruckus in the Benaras Hindu University and Lucknow University speak volumes of the political rot intruding into these once-upon-a-time great educational institutions. Alas no longer! Political mafia holding sway in the university depart-ments, intruding right into the classrooms and hostels. Writ large the fact that hired political goons are made to enter campuses to cause rifts and with that less of academics and more of a war-like situation. Complete with maar-kaat-dhar... Not to overlook the needless controversy that was made to erupt by vested political groups over the portrait of Jinnah on the campus of the Aligarh Muslim University. Its simply shocking to see young students getting thrashed or rounded up or attacked. A complete failure of the system. In fact, in the last four years, the government of the day has caused tremendous damage to educational institutions and with that to the academic future of hundreds of the young of the country. Today, state tyranny has reached campuses where the students are treated like criminals. What had happened at the Hyderabad Central University campus and also on the campus of the Jawaharlal Nehru University or even at the Delhi University were grim reminders of the level to which the state machinery could be used to crush young rebellious voices. The Right-wings intrusion was more than writ large after Rohith Vemulas suicide on the campus of the Hyderabad Central University. It carried serious offshoots: students protesting outside the RSS headquarters in New Delhi were assaulted by not just the cops but also by the so-called unidentified mengoons with Right-wing connections. And exactly a year back goons had wrecked havoc on the campus of the BHU, when girl students were molested. This, when the Yogi sarkar had flaunted the anti-Romeo squads or brigades they had set up to crush all possible Romeos. In the process crushed were the hapless students. Academic mahaul wrecked, with sheer muscle power overtaking the campus. Compounding the mess the fact that there have been instances when students have been booked for speaking out or on the basis of morphed videos and images. No critical Facebook posts tolerated by the political whos who of this country. Several students arrested for their comments on the rulers of the day. Are we living in a democracy or in the Raj or Raja days! Im reminded of Professor Mushirul Hasans volume, The Avadh Punch: Wit and Humour in Colonial North India (Niyogi Books) where he writes of the Raj days when Indians could criticise the Brit rulers only through indirect and discreet waysthrough cartoons and verse! The take-off for the Lucknow-published The Avadh Punch was to lampoon the Brit rulers through safe ways. So heady was the outcome and response of The Avadh Punch that within a short span 70 Punches were published in several cities of this country. Dont tell me we have reached that phase when the Avadh Punch or for that matter the Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh Punch will have to be revived so that students can safely relay their anger and disgust and hit out at the political rot. Not to overlook another vital factthe fact that Kashmiri students who have travelled all the way from the Valley to study in the different universities and colleges of the country have been not just humiliated but even attacked by the so-called outsiders who were allowed to enter the campus to spread around violence. And in the last four years instances of this hounding of Kashmiri students have gone up; perhaps, matching the communally charged atmosphere prevailing in the country. Have we bothered to track and arrest the culprits or just about bypassed and overlooked all these cases of sheer violence? When the rulers of the day lace their speeches with words like kashmiriyat and insaniyat and jamhooriyat, do they ever put these words into practice and with that reach out to the Kashmiri students who are studying here and could be facing a harsh and hostile mahaul? And no talk connected to students can be complete without the mention of the changes in the very syllabi right at the school levels. Blatantly dangerous onslaught on the very text. Changing of historical facts, if not deleting chapters from the syllabi. Pointers to the fact that there is a well-planned strategy to change the very history. One news report after another of the Rajasthan Government planning to remove an entire chapter from school textbooks on the maker of modern India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Also, the Maharashtra Governments plans to remove particular history texts focusing on the Muslims rulers. And the RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, headed by Dina Nath Batra, had sent a long list of recommendations to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) demanding a host of changes in its textbooks: to remove English, Urdu, and Arabic words, a poem by the revolutionary poet Pash and a couplet by Mirza Ghalib, the thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore, extracts from painter M.F. Husains autobiography... Batra also wants references to the Mughal emperors as benevolent, the BJP as a Hindu party, the National Conference as secular, an apology tendered by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the 1984 riots, and a sentence that nearly 2000 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in 2002 to be removed... Lurking in the background is the fact that the earlier demands of the Nyas were fulfilled and these were for the removal of A.K. Ramanujans essay, Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation, from the undergraduate syllabus of the University of Delhi. Yes, Ramanujans essay was removed from the DUs reading list. Im not being very original in stating that a sarkar that cannot take care of its young is damned. And this sarkar along with its offshoots in Uttar Pradesh are turning out to be nothing short of destroyers! And as the 2019 elections near, theres worry- cum-apprehension that the educational insti-tutions and with that the students could be used by the political mafia. Setting one group against the other! The administration rendered all too weak and run down to veto the political rulers, hell bent on ruining institutions. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Parakram Parv at What Cost? by M.M. Khajooria It is established that there have been surgical strikes across the LoC in the past. So what was special about the last surgical strike meriting so much of publicity and controversy culminating in observance of the Parakram Parv anniversary? The Vice Chief of Army Staff has finally placed the episode in perspective. In answer to a question of the anchor on a national TV channel, the Vice Chief cited three distinguishing features of this particular controversial surgical strike. One, the political executive was on board this time while the predecessor strikes were purely military ops decided and persecuted by the Army in secrecy. Two, the arc of ops across the LoC was much wider and embracing a number of launching pads wherein trained, armed and highly motivated terrorists were holed up, awaiting orders from their Pak ISI bosses to infiltrate into Kashmir to conduct terrorist operations. Three, the Pakistan Army was informed after the successful strike and the information placed in the public domain. It was claimed to be the first ever surgical strike, the credit for authorising which was given to PM Modi. The BJP leadership and PM proudly marketed it for the partys benefit and electoral gains. The Opposition contested this and referred to similar strikes in the past. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi went to the extent of terming the exploitation of a professional military action as Khoon ki Dalali. The BJP latched on to the expression and accused the Congress of insulting our brave soldiers and martyrs. While the selection of the words by Rahul Gandhi was unfortunate and inappropriate, the criticism clearly was aimed at the PM and had no connection whatsoever with the martyrdom of our brave officers and jawans. The slanging match between the politicians can be expected to continue till elections 2019. The subversion of the apolitical character of the Defence Services, mandated as such by the Constitution, is however a much more serious matter. It is the responsibility of the political class, the media, intelligentsia as well as the government and party in power to uphold this cardinal principle of our democratic polity. The Army, nay the Defence Services, leadership is duty bound to ensure that under no circumstances the Defence Services are allowed to be dragged into the political chess-game between the contending political parties. When I speak of the Defence Services leadership, I am not only referring to the Service Chiefs but also Corps Commanders and their Air Force and Navy counterparts. They hold the neutrality of the services as a sacred trust by the nation and can be party to any compromise only at the cost of their sacred oath of allegiance. It is amazing that no one in the government, especially in the External Affairs Ministry, considered the obvious far-reaching implications of the official and public declaration of crossing the LoC by our troops which tanamounted to repudiation of the Shimla Agreement. To cap it, the Chief of the Army Staff has repeatedly asserted his determination to cross the LoC at his will. True, Pakistan violated the LoC on a regular basis but was always in denial. The entire world was cognisant of this fact but Pakistan managed to get away with her lies. Only the other day, the newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, took the position that the contentious Kashmir issue remained unresolved. The people of Kashmir, he alleged, were being subjected to untold atrocities by the Indian occupation forces to suppress the indigenous war of liberation. The people of Pakistan were gravely concerned about the human rights violation and brutalities inflicted on their fellow Muslims in Kashmir. Many were provoked to rush to their assistance unmindful of the restrictions on the LoC. We do try to stop them. Sometime we succeed, sometime we do not. Similarly, India tries to prevent their entry into the territory under their control. They also sometime succeed, sometime do not, he claimed. Pakistan offered them only moral and diplomatic support, he asserted. Of course, this is a web of blatant lies. But that is the official Pakistani position. The international community does not buy these lies but no one contests these either. Advantage Pakistan. The Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir is the product of the Shimla Agreement under which we repatriated 93,000 Pak Prisoners of War and returned chunks of territory occupied by our forces after bloody battles. This indeed was a heavy cost. In fact in all our engagements and contests in international fora we use the sanctity of the LoC and its violation by Pakistan to place that country in the dock. And look what we have now done. In a fit of bravado it was even forgotten that the Kargil war was brought to an end by US President Clinton telling Pakistan PM Nawaz Sherif that the LoC was sacrosanct and inviolable, and therefore Pakistani forces be immediately withdrawn from the Indian territory. And that is how we extricated ourselves from the conflict that cost us both in men and material. The mess that we have voluntarily landed in has many, to put it mildly, adverse dimensions and implications. The professionals in the North Bloc were no doubt aware of these. It should be hoped that at least they have not been swept off their feet by the deafening political rhetoric and sickening jumla bazi of the leaders. The nation expects them to devise some means to salvage the Shimla Agreement and the advantages that flow from it. The prestige of this great country cannot be allowed to be jeopardised at the altar of political chicanery. The author is the Chairman, J & K Ex-Policemens League, Jammu. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Turning Once Again to the Traditional Friend The Indo-Russian defence deal, signed last week during Russian President Vladimir Putins visit to New Delhi, is a significant development. To make this deal possible, hectic behind-the-scene activities took place. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had to work overtime to persuade Washington to exempt India from the purview of the draconian Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA for short, which stipulates imposing sanctions on any country doing certain types of deal with Moscow. In the face of the growing hostility of China in the north and Pakistan in the west, the Modi Government has been forced to turn to Indias traditional and time-tested friend, Russia, to shore up the countrys defence capability. In fact, while signing the agreement on the Triumf anti-missile defence system, Prime Minister Modi himself acknowleded Russia to be Indias traditional friend. The irony is that the architect of that friendship, Jawaharlal Nehru, continues to be the bete noire of the BJP and Sangh Parivar. This deal will enable India to acquire the S-400 Triumf anti-missile system. So far, China is the only country to which Russia has sold this highly sophisticated weapons system. India is the second. Turkey and Qatar are the two other countries which are negotiating with Russia for the acquisition of Triumf. Technical details of the Triumf anti-missile system are available in the public domain. The system integrates several sub-systemsan autonomous detection and targeting system, anti-aircraft missile system, launchers, command and control centre, and a multi-function radar. Triumf can fire three types of missiles to create a layered defence. It can engage all types of targets from aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to ballistic and cruise missiles up to a distance of 400 kms and an altitude of upto 30 kms. It can simultaneously engage as many as three dozen targets. A special advantage of the Triumf system is that it can be integrated into existing and future air defence systems of the Army, Navy and Air Force in just five minutes. Its surveillance and tracking radar can be transported by the same vehicle when the S-400 battery is deployed autonomously. The powerful radar can detect and track aircraft, rotorcraft, cruise missiles, guided missiles, drones and ballistic rockets within a range of 600 kms and a coverage of 360 degrees. It can simultaneously track three hundred targets. The launch vehicle can carry upto four launch tubes holding a mix of missiles. Under the Indo-Russian agreement, signed last week, India will acquire five units or forty launchers and about a thousand missiles. At a time when the fleet strength of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been depleted to an alarming low, with the acquisition of a new Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) mired in a controversy, Triumf will prove to be a force multiplier for the IAF. It can track and destroy Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems or AWACS within a range of 400 kms. The IAF looks forward to using the Triumf system beyond its intended use as an air defence system to making it an air offensive battlesystem. Transfer of technology is not part of the Indo-Russian deal, but there is a distinct possibility that Russia will set up maintenance facilities in India. The defence angle apart, there is a political angle to the Indo-Soviet agreement which is no less important. There is no doubt that ever since the United States (and under US pressure the European Union) put sanctions on Russia in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis, the Russian economy is passing through difficult times. It is the economic imperative that has forced Russia to gravitate to China and, as Chinas client state, to Pakistan. In August this year, Pakistan signed a defence agreement with Russia for training Pakistani troops in Russian military training institutes. The Gulf News reported that the troops training agreement was signed at the conclusion of the first meeting of the Russia-Pakistan Joint Military Consultative Committee (JMCC) on August 6. The JMCC is the highest forum of defence collaboration between Pakistan and Russia. Last week, China announced its decision to sell 48 high-end Wing Loong-II drones to Pakistan. These drones, to be later manufactured jointly by China and Pakistan, will have reconnaissance, strike and multi-role endurance unmanned aerial system capable of being fitted with air-to-surface weapons. These two developmentstraining of Pakistani troops by Russia and the supply of multi-role drones to Pakistan by China cannot but be worrying for India. India turning to its traditional and time-tested friend Russia could not have come a day too soon. The Rs 40,000 crore Triumf deal will come as a shot-in-the- arm for Russia. If Indo-Russian cooperation expands and covers new areas, it is likely that Russia will turn more towards India than China. The Modi Government has been abjectly surrendering to Washingtons demands and pressure. If the renewed friendship with Moscow enables India to withstand Washingtons pressure it will be all the better. It is time New Delhi made it clear to the world that India conducts its foreign policy to protect its own national interests and not those of any other country. The author was a correspondent of The Hindu in Assam. He also worked in Patriot, Compass (Bengali), Mainstream. A veteran journalist, he comes from a Gandhian family and was intimately associated with the RCPI leader, Pannalal Das Gupta. The Ministry of Industry and Trade held the 10th World Rice Conference in Hanoi on October 10-12, in a bid to raise the value of Vietnamese rice. The conference attracted a large number of international speakers, leading global rice companies and financial consultants in the field. Vietnamese rice is present in 150 countries and territories worldwide The production and export of rice have played a crucial role in the socio-economic development of Vietnam, particularly in recent years, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, at the opening ceremony of the World Rice Conference. Statistics released at the conference showed that Vietnam's annual rice exports make up 15% of the total volume of global rice exports. The country exported over 4.89 million tonnes of rice in the first nine months of this year, with a total value of US$2.46 billion, an increase of 6.7% and 21.3% in terms of volume and value respectively, over the same period in 2017. In particular, Vietnamese rice is now consumed in 150 countries and territories across the world including demanding markets. Vietnam remained the worlds third largest rice exporter in 2017 after India and Thailand. Hai noted that progress in rice production along with appropriate farming methods have gradually enhanced the quality of Vietnamese rice. "Remarkably, the Government issued Decree No.107/2018/N-CP on August 15, 2018, to replace Decree No.109/N-CP dated November 4, 2010, on the export of rice, which will create a favourable environment and promote the investment, trading and export of rice," Hai stated. He said that the new decree alongside other mechanisms and the project on the restructuring of the rice sector will contribute to boosting the linkages between production and markets, while ensuring the quality of rice exports and affirming the reputation and brand name of Vietnamese rice. Senior Vice President and Global Business Line Leader of Agriworld at Intertek, Rui Esteves, said that Vietnam has recorded impressive economic growth over the past 10 years. The country has also signed a number of trade agreements with European countries and other countries across the world which will facilitate the export of Vietnamese goods, Rui Esteves noted. "Vietnam is one of the worlds largest rice and coffee exporters and there are many other types of goods that are expected to make huge contributions to the country's economic growth in the future," Rui Esteves added. Brand name of Vietnamese rice remains unknown Although Vietnamese rice is present in many countries around the world, Deputy Minister Hai admitted that the rice products of Vietnamese brands are not well-known by the majority of end consumers in other countries. "Although Vietnamese rice has been available in most countries and territories around the world, including demanding markets, the capacity of rice traders in getting access to markets, signing contract, dealing with international trade disputes, and joining the global value chain remains limited. The brand name of Vietnamese rice is unpopular to a majority of consumers in foreign countries, "Deputy Minister Hai said. Vietnam looks towards clean rice production Hai also stated that Vietnamese rice is facing fiercer competition amid tightened policies from import and export countries in addition to impacts of climate change and new diseases. Thus, the Vietnamese rice sector will move towards clean and organic rice production, while diversifying its products processed from rice. In addition, more specialised growing areas of high-quality rice will be built following standard procedures from the selection of seedling to cultivation, harvesting, processing and packaging. The national rice sector will also attempt to develop its prestige and brand name in the international market through increasing the volume of fragrant rice, specialty rice and Japonica rice, while reducing the volume of low-grade rice. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will also increase negotiations and open the rice market as well as organising more trade promotion and brand building activities for Vietnamese rice. "Decree No.107/2018 /N-CP effective on October 1, 2018, has helped to perfect the legal framework on rice exports, facilitating the export of organic rice and rice with micronutrients, while enhancing the quality of Vietnamese rice exports," Hai said. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Silver Lining in the Murky Scenario EDITORIAL While the Election Commission has laid out the schedule for the Assembly elections in five States (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram), the poll campaign has yet to begin in right earnest even if leaders of all political parties, notably BJP chief Amit Shah, PM Naredra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi, have started addressing public rallies in the concerned States in preparation for the polls (whose results would be known on December 11). It is too early to make any solid prognosis of the electoral trends although some reliable pollsters have predicted, on the basis of concrete information from the ground level, that the ruling party at the Centre would be losing the three North Indian States going to the polls. Meanwhile, the revelations around the Rafale deal, which the Congress has projected as a major plank in its allout drive against the BJP, are placing the ruling party at the Centre in an awkward position. The latest disclosure from France is that the Union Government had insisted on the Dassault Aviation to take the company just floated by Anil Ambani and not prestigious public sector enterprise, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), as its partner in the deal making this a trade-off. The BJPs high-voltage anti-Congress, actually anti-Rahul, propaganda on the issue is leading it nowhere causing a lot of headache for the Modi dispensation as more disclosures are expected in the coming days. The Sangh Parivars divisive agenda is finding new manifestations with the passage of time. In Gujarat the rape of a 14-month-old toddler allegedly by a migrant labourer at Sabarkantha in late September triggered a spate of mob attacks on migrant workers in the State and these spread from nothern Gujarat to other regions. While the ruling partys responsibility in this regard cannot be minimised, questions have been raised regarding the involvement of the Gujarat Kshetriya Thakor Sena (GKTS) headed by Congress MLA Alpesh Thakur in the incidents of anti-migrant mob violence. The Congress needs to exercise caution and restrain leaders like Alpesh so as not to imitate the BJPs polarising tactics. However, the most striking development of the last one week is the new #MeToo movement against sexual assault on women at workplaces. It first began with actress Tanushree Dutta speaking out against the alleged sexual harassment she faced long years ago at the hands of actor Nana Patekar who has now been booked by the police following her complaint. Thereafter several women journalists came out against noted author-cum-journalist and now a junior Minister for External Affairs, M.J. Akbar, accusing him of similar sexual assault at the workplace with one of them, Ghazala Wahab, giving graphic details in The Wire of what she underwent 20 years ago when the same person was the editor of The Asian Age. Now the pressure is on the Minister to either voluntarily quit his ministerial post or get sacked by the PM (though whether the latter would act that way is a big question at the moment). The Indian Express has aptly pointed out: Perhaps a new moment arrived in this country when not many were looking. Perhaps the awareness and sensitivity that seemed to flare too briefly after the rape of a young woman in the national Capital about six winters ago has left behind something more precious and abiding. In this new moment, in this new India, it should be intolerable that a man should be Minister who stands accused of preying upon the women whom he was in a position to enable and mentor. Overall the situation is getting increasingly murky with every passing day. The womens assertion is, nevertheless, most welcome in the present setting. That is the only silver-lining in the depressing situation all around us. October 11 S.C. Kochi : Two days after the Women in Cinema Collective launched a scathing attack on the Association For Malayalam Movie Artists over the reinstatement of actor Dileep, A.M.M.A decided to break the silence. In a statement released by the organisation, AMMA Spokesperson Jagadish said that the association do not have nay opinion on whether Dileep is innocent or guilty in the case. The actor also added that they also want to see justice served for the victim. 'The decision to cancel the reinstatement of Dileep solely belongs to General Body, since they made the decision to get back the actor into the organisation, the statement said. 'The actor is innocent until the court finds him guilty, they added. It further stated that there is no point in blaming Mohanlal for the actions and decisions of executive committee. Kochi : The Association for Malayalam Movie Artists and Women in Cinema Collective continues to be at loggerheads. In a fresh press meet with actress KPAC Lalitha, A.M.M.A Joint Secretary Siddique utterly rejected the allegations raised by the WCC members. The actor made it clear that actor Dileep had handed over his resignation recently. Siddique even termed their remarks of calling them as merely 'actresses' as childishness. He also added that AMMA cannot deny anybody, their job opportunity. Commenting on the '#MeToo campaign', the actor said that the campaign in a commendable one, but he added that one should not spoilt the true intention of the campaign. Condemning the 'attempt' to humiliate Mohanlal, Siddique said that people should not a hound a respectable person like Mohanlal. The actor even sided with the cyber bullying against the WCC members and even termed it as a 'mere response' of the public, for speaking against the actors like Mohanlal and Mammootty. Siddique also added that there is no need to arrange an emergency general body meeting. Accusing WCC as an organisation with vested agenda, the actor also questioned the absence of actress Manju Warrier, one of the key founders of Women in Cinema Collective from the press meet. When asked about the actions of Bollywood stars including Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar of supporting #MeToo, Siddique pointed that they've done a terrible mistake by replacing the offenders from their job. 'No body has the right to stop people from doing their job, just because they're accused, he added. Bitcoin Breakdown May Push Prices Below $5000 Recent market turmoil across the global stock markets has refocused investors on the concerns of global economics, trade, and geopolitical issues away from cryptocurrencies. The biggest, Bitcoin, has been under extended pricing pressure recently and our research team believes Bitcoin will breach the $6000 level to the downside fairly quickly as extended global market downtrends continue. The premise of our analysis is simple, the factors weighing on foreign investors and Bitcoin investors are that currencies are fluctuating wildly, local stock markets are declining and local economies may be contracting. All of this operates as a means for investors to turn to a protectionism stance where they attempt to protect capital/cash and attempt to limit downside risks. The fact that Bitcoin has yet to break higher and has continued to fall under further pricing and adoption pressure means those investors that were hungry for the next great rally may be getting tired of waiting for this next move if it ever happens. Our belief is that any downside pressure in Bitcoin below $5800 will likely push many crypto enthusiasts over the end and prompt them to sell out before prices attempt to move down further. Our research team believes a deeper downside price rotation is setting up in Bitcoin that will push prices below the $5000 level before the end of this year. The uncertainty of the global equities markets are creating an environment where cryptos have simply lost their appeal. There has been no real substantial upside price move over the past 6+ months and the FLAG formation setting up is a very real warning sign that the eventual breakout move could be very dangerous. Additionally, when we add our proprietary Advanced Learning Cycle system to the research, which points to much lower price rotation over the next 30+ days, we begin to see the very real possibility that Bitcoin could fall below $5000 very quickly and potentially target $4000 as an ultimate low. As much as we would like to inform our followers that we believe Bitcoin will rally back to $18k fairly quickly, that is simply not the case. All of our indicators are suggesting that Bitcoin will fall to below $5000, and possibly towards $4000, before any real support is found. If you are a bitcoin believer, be aware that you may have a substantial opportunity to use your skills at this price swing plays out. Looking to buy back in near $4000 is much better than trying to hold for an additional $2000 loss. Visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn more about our research team and resources to help you become a better trader. Be prepared and build your skills to target greater success with our dedicated team. Read some of our other research to see for yourself how well weve been calling these recent market moves. Isnt it time you invested in your future success? Chris Vermeulen www.TheTechnicalTraders.com Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better. His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility. 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In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect. Chris Vermeulen Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. 100 years ago, the world was shaken by the October Revolution. We rightly celebrate this heroic act as the first instance of workers power in history. But how exactly did the Bolsheviks and the working class exercise a power never-before wielded by the proletariat? What problems did they face economic, administrative, political and military, from within and outside Russia and how did they meet them? Derek Gunby provides an analysis and balance sheet of 1918: the first year of the Russian Revolution. 1918 proved to be one of the most tumultuous and violent years the world had ever seen. Not only were vast armies from all countries and continents fighting a gruesome World War but also the victorious Russian Revolution of October 1917 was facing a huge wave of internationally financed armies, Russian and Foreign, dedicated to its overthrow. By the end of the year the World War was over. The Bolshevik-led workers and peasants government of Russia had withstood all possible trials to secure a vital foothold for the revolution and begin the long task of defeating all the elements of armed counter-revolution. Much remained to be done and it wasnt until 1921 that Soviet power had been fully consolidated in all of Russia. This article traces the key events and identifies the main challenges facing the revolution in 1918, the decisive role of the Bolshevik Party and its leaders and the lessons that remain for us today. The Bolshevik-led workers and peasants government of Russia withstood all possible trials to secure the revolution / Image: public domain A revolution involves a tremendous clash of class interests, as has happened at various junctures throughout human history, such as the English Revolution of 1642, the French Revolution of 1789, the Paris Commune of 1871 and then the Russian Revolutions of 1917. These are rare events that are important to understand for all those interested in human affairs, but especially Marxist revolutionaries who seek to change the world bourgeois order to a working class order that will pave the way for a classless society. Revolutions are the highest expression of historical change. They mark a qualitative change in the development of human society. During such revolutions the masses enter into direct political action. In the normal course of events politics is conducted by relatively small numbers of people representing class interests. But, in a major revolution, such as occurred in Russia in 1917, large numbers of ordinary people throw off such inhibitions and directly participate to achieve a transfer of power. However, it also requires a conscious and clear-headed political agency with a political programme to channel and direct this creative energy to transform society. As revolutionaries, our aim is to be a part of that critical political agency. We need to arm ourselves with past experiences to guide future action. We need to understand the processes that occur during a revolutionary period. These lessons cannot be applied mechanically but must be refracted through the prisms of subsequent history and our current experience. Nothing is ever repeated exactly. We take from the past and test its relevance and application today to see how this may offer some guidance as to how to adapt effectively to our own age. Russia at the end of 1917 The Russian Empire at the end of 1917 was a huge conglomeration of nationalities and ethnic groups covering millions of square miles from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Baltic and Black seas in the west. With a population of over 178 million people it was overwhelmingly a rural and agrarian society. Eighty percent of the population was composed of peasants living for the most part in scattered villages with poor communications between them. To the Russian peasants, the village and surrounding fields was, for all practical purposes, their world. Whilst in 1861 the peasants had been freed from serfdom, the legislation doing so had failed to modernise and develop agriculture and the conditions of the peasants still lagged way behind most other comparable European countries. Russia in 1918 was mostly a rural and agrarian society / Image: public domain Industry was concentrated in a few areas such as St. Petersburg and Moscow, with oil production in Baku in the south and coal mining in the Ukraines Donets Basin. A great proportion of the industrial capital was owned by foreign interests especially in St Petersburg, and the national capitalist class was both weak and divided, with much of it heavily dependent on the state. Some of its factories were very modern and even by world standards extremely large, especially in the capital St. Petersburg. This created a relatively compact and concentrated working class, much of it recruited relatively recently from the villages. Nationalities The Russian Empire consisted of a large number of different nations that had, over the years, been conquered and suppressed by the Russian Tsarist state. These comprised, among others, the Baltic States, Poland, Finland, the Ukraine, the various Caucasus States such as Georgia, Belorussia, Bessarabia, and a number of Asian States such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and others. Nationalism was, therefore, a potent force within Russia and something that required a response from all socialist parties. This issue had provoked considerable debate in Marxist circles. It demanded creating federated socialist states on the basis of of international socialism in addition to the more immediate question of throwing off the yoke of Russian imperialism. Lenins approach was practical. He recognised, unlike Rosa Luxemburg, that in order for the working class to achieve victory in an empire of oppressed nationalities, they had to win over those masses, often peasants and other petty-bourgeois classes, by adopting the principle of the right of all nations to self-determination. Without this approach the task of the Socialist Revolution in Russia would have been impossible. The Russian Orthodox Church The power and wealth of the Russian Orthodox Church was considerable. But it was strongly linked to the Tsar and the old Imperialist order. Whilst it had held tremendous sway over the peasant masses, the experience of the First World War and the growing disapproval of the Tsar caused a significant loss of its authority. During the counter-revolution and civil war the Church unreservedly backed the reactionary forces, leading to an even greater weakening of loyalty from the masses. Its power, wealth and influence were considerably reduced by new Bolshevik government decrees confiscating Church land and privileges and restricting its operations and influence. During the counter-revolution and civil war the Church unreservedly backed the reactionary forces, weakening the loyalty of the masses / Image: public domain Classes and conditions in Russia in late 1917 Russia in late 1917 was clearly in crisis. The country had been involved in a devastating World War for three years. The soldiers were weary and rebellious, prone to mutiny, with many deserting and returning to their peasant homes. The Provisional Government that followed the February Revolution failed to tackle any of the acute issues of war, food or land and was plainly ineffective. The economy and general morale of the country was in tatters. The motor for change in Russia was the relatively small but powerful working class. They had organised themselves in Soviets that became a parallel power to the Government. The old governing structures of the State and local Dumas became the last redoubts of the bourgeois class, allied with some of the remnants of the old aristocracy. The Provisional Government that followed the February Revolution failed to tackle any of the acute issues of war, food or land / Image: public domain The bourgeois class the bankers, capitalists, big business managers and senior civil servants was small, though relatively wealthy and with access to resources. However, it lacked the weight and history of similar classes in Western Europe and the USA. The Russian bourgeois had been denied a full place in government due to the backward nature of the Russian state. Whilst they gained leading positions in the first Provisional Government after the February Revolution, they proved weak and ineffective. The vast peasantry was not homogenous but, rather, split into rich, middle and poor peasants with the poorest, often landless, by far the larger proportion. Most peasants were poorly represented in governing structures. Local administration remained in the hands of the large landowners and their supporters, including rural merchants and businessmen and kulaks (rich peasants). The Red Guards Armed workers militias, known as the Red Guards, had emerged at the time of the February 1917 Revolution, often in spontaneous form. Various factories and political parties sought to encourage and develop such units. The Bolsheviks were the most successful and ardent in promoting the idea of armed workers militias. There was a suppression of the Red Guards after the events of July 1917 but this was reversed in September in the face of the threat to the Provisional Government by General Kornilov, and the forces under his command, who were then threatening Petrograd. The Bolsheviks were entreated to assist the resistance and rapidly mobilised and armed 25,000 Red Guards. After that, the Red Guards remained a key feature of future struggles in all the major cities and at the moment of the October Revolution, numbered 200,000. After the revolution, the Red Guards performed the functions of the police and army until such times as new police and Red Army units were constituted, sometimes quite late into 1918. After the revolution, the Red Guards performed the functions of the police and army until new police and Red Army units were constituted / Image: public domain Political Parties and Leaders By the autumn of 1917, the Bolsheviks had gained a majority following among the urban working class but had a minority position in the countryside. The Bolshevik Party had a number of strong distinguishing features that gave it a unique strength in the conditions of Russia in late 1917 and into the turmoil of 1918. They had a grounding in Marxist theory, especially dialectical thinking, which allowed them to analyse events from all angles and uncover the underlying forces that such events represented. There was no culture of rigid and uniform thinking in the Bolshevik Party. In the heat of the revolution there were initially several splits and occasionally resignations and later re-joining. Lenin, outstanding as the most sober, the most realistic, the chief dialectician, and Trotsky, also a great dialectician, proved to be head and shoulders above all other Bolshevik leaders in their capacity to analyse events and urge decisive action. Within the Party there was a strong tradition of internal democracy and debate. Leaders were acknowledged but opposed if they were thought to be wrong. Conversely, leaders accepted decisions that went against them, even if continuing to oppose them in debate. This pertained even in the darkest hours and throughout 1918 and up to 1924, when Lenin died and Stalin took the reins and changed this key Party principle. Once Lenin arrived back in Russia in April 1917, the Party developed great elan and confidence, which they transmitted to the working class and spurred heroic efforts to protect and advance the revolution. The Bolsheviks embodied the aspirations of the most advanced layers of the working class and utilised their skills and energy. This convinced ever-widening layers of workers, soldiers and poor peasants of the value and aims of the Bolsheviks. By the autumn of 1917, the Bolsheviks had gained a majority following among the urban working class but had a minority position in the countryside / Image: public domain The Social Revolutionary Party (SR) was founded in 1902 and was a member of the Second International. The Party was an amalgam of various influences, including some Marxism and some of the ideas of the old populist and terrorist group the Narodniks, but were primarily a reformist party with a focus on land reform. Unlike the Bolsheviks, the SRs placed an emphasis on individual, rather than collective outcomes for successful land reform. It was essentially a peasant-based party and thus tended to vacillate between the classes in its positions, since the peasantry is composed of scattered and heterogeneous elements, some much richer than others. In 1917 it was the majority party of the countryside with strong support among ordinary soldiers, who were in the main of peasant origin. They played a major role in the formation and leadership of the Soviets, albeit in most cases playing second fiddle to the Mensheviks. After the February 1917 revolution the SR Party became a major component of the new Provisional Government. As that Government moved to the right under the pressure of events and Kerensky took the reins of power, the left faction of the SRs, led by Maria Spiridonova, began to establish a separate position, more sympathetic to the Bolsheviks. At the Second Congress of Soviets in October 1917, when the Bolsheviks proclaimed the deposition of the Provisional government, the split within the SR Party became final. The Left SRs stayed at the Congress and were elected to the permanent Soviet Executive (initially refusing to join the Bolshevik government), while the Right SR Party and their Menshevik allies walked out. Later, the Left SR Party joined the Bolshevik government, obtaining three ministries. The Right SRs thereafter moved into opposition to the new Bolshevik-led government, eventually taking up arms and attempting uprisings and later linking with the reactionary White armies. The Mensheviks were a socialist and Marxist party, but their Marxism was of a rigid and mechanistic form. Along with the Bolsheviks they had originally been part of the Russian Social Democratic Party. They split with the Bolsheviks over the definition of membership of the Party. But, in fact, the deeper cause for the difference between the two factions lay in the Menshevik belief that socialism could not be achieved in Russia due to its backward economic conditions, and that Russia would first have to experience a bourgeois democratic revolution and go through a capitalist stage of development before socialism was technically possible and before the working class could develop the necessary consciousness for a socialist revolution. Thus, the Mensheviks were opposed to the Bolshevik idea of the party and the pursuit of socialist revolution in Russia. Their opposition to revolutionary Marxism led inexorably to a path of reformism and eventually, for most of them, opposition to the October Revolution. The Mensheviks gained a considerable following among the working class in the run up to the February Revolution and often held majorities in Soviets and a strong presence in local Dumas. But their support for the War and their participation in an increasingly unpopular Provisional Government saw their support melt away throughout 1917. Following the October Revolution they split between the majority right faction, led by Tsereteli, who favoured action against the Bolsheviks and the left faction, led by Martov, who tended to support the Reds in the civil war but refused to break completely with the right section. Many of the most militant Mensheviks joined the Bolsheviks. The Anarchists were relatively small and unpredictable. At times supporting the Bolsheviks, at times opposing / Image: public domain The Anarchists were relatively small and unpredictable. At times supporting the Bolsheviks, at times opposing. In the Spring of 1918 they were disarmed following attempts to stage an uprising within Russia. Initially the Anarchists were principally urban and drawn from the ranks of the intellectual and other petty-bourgeois elements, but in the Ukraine anarchist bands of guerrillas rested on the peasantry. There they eventually coalesced into a large force under Makhno, who fought all-comers, mainly the Germans, but later also the Whites and eventually the Reds. The Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets), formed in 1905, was the main bourgeois party, representing capitalist interests. They were broadly liberal, favouring a constitutional monarchy and bourgeois democracy. Following the February Revolution they held five portfolios in the first Provisional Government, including that of Prime Minister (Prince Lvov) and Foreign Minister (Miliukov). Their position steadily eroded as opposition mounted to the Provisional Governments War Policy. Following the October Revolution they called for the overthrow of the Bolshevik regime and supported counter-revolution. As a consequence they were banned in December 1917. Consolidating gains, October to December 1917 It is not the task of this article to go into any detail of the seizure of power in October 1917. Leon Trotsky has brilliantly captured this event in his History of the Russian Revolution, John Reed in Ten Days that Shook the World and many other pieces, including recent articles from In Defence of Marxism. The fact of the matter is that the resounding slogan of the Bolshevik Party, "All Power to the Soviets! received an immediate and overwhelming endorsement from the soldiers and working class in virtually every town and city throughout the Russian Empire. In fact, in Tallin, Estonia the Soviet seized power two days before the revolution in Petrograd, and on the day of that insurrection, successful transfers of power were also achieved in Minsk, Novorod, Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Tartu. Within eight days of the declaration of a new workers state, a further 21 towns and cities had achieved Soviet-led power. Resistance from either the Provisional Government forces or from hostile class forces was, initially, universally weak. The exception to this was Moscow, where poor planning and preparation by the Bolsheviks and the local Soviet, coupled with a strong resistance from armed Kadets, meant that taking power involved some serious fighting over six days, leading to the loss of some 400 lives. But, by the end of 1917, most of the provincial areas of Russia had declared for Soviet power, usually under the leadership of the Bolsheviks. However, the separate nationalities in the Ukraine, the Baltic States and areas of southern Russia around the Don and in the Caucasus Region proved more resistant to socialist revolution and these were to be acute zones of struggle for years to come. The first steps of the counter-revolution While the taking of power proved relatively easy, the counter-revolution soon commenced and various attempts were made to turn back the tide of socialist revolution. In Petrograd, the first, ill-fated attempt to thwart the revolution was undertaken by military cadets, known as Junkers (sons of the bourgeois and middle class), who mounted an armed struggle against the Bolsheviks. After a short conflict, the Red Guards easily disarmed them. More problematic for the new state was the effort by Kerensky, the former head of the Provisional Government, to wrest back control of the capital by using elements of the Cossacks. Having fled Petrograd in disguise, Kerensky tried to galvanise the Imperial Army from the Northern Front headquarters at Psov. However, the Imperial Army was divided and only General Krasnov agreed to organise an expedition against Petrograd. He set off with 700 Cossacks, hoping others would join him on the way. These forces, lacking morale and any sizeable infantry support, were defeated by Red Guards, recruited from the Petrograd factories, on the Pulkovo Heights, just a few kilometres from Petrograd. These events occurred only five days after the successful revolution in Petrograd. This marked the end of Kerenskys direct role in Russian events and he fled to Paris. Krasnov was arrested but later released and went on to participate in the civil war on the side of White Russian counter-revolution. Laying the foundations for a new socialist order Following the defeat of these first attempted coups, the new Bolshevik Government was given some breathing space and proceeded to lay down the foundations for a new, socialist system. Lenin drove the pace of change relentlessly. Only a few months prior to the October Revolution, Lenin had completed one of his outstanding works, State and Revolution. This spelled out with great clarity the Marxist view of the state as an instrument of class domination and the need for a successful proletarian revolution to transform the machinery and practice of the state into a vehicle of working-class rule. Lenin knew that it was vital to establish the outlines of a new workers state immediately after taking power / Image: public domain Lenin knew that it was vital to establish the outlines of a new workers state immediately after taking power. Part of his thinking was that the revolution was unlikely to succeed unless and until revolution broke out in one of the advanced capitalist countries. It was therefore imperative to lay down all the markers of a new order so as to establish a guide for the future. Decree after decree was promulgated. By the end of 1917, just over nine weeks after the successful seizure of power, 25 major decrees had been passed, covering such issues as peace, land, the press, civic rights, abolition of estates and titles, right of recall of elected representatives, the judicial system, internal security, economic planning, workers control in industry, unemployment insurance, nationalisation of the banks, civil marriage and so on. Many more decrees followed in 1918. In December, the government established the Economic Planning Council to direct production and distribution. Resistance to revolutionary change: the old classes and the reformist parties Efforts to establish the new order were carried on amidst the mounting fury of the old order, frantically scrabbling to get a purchase on the situation. Unable, at this stage, to secure any military support against the new government, the old classes resorted to sabotage and non-compliance. Many of the higher-ranking civil servants refused to cooperate with the new powers unless forced at gunpoint. The first Council of Peoples Commissars, established in late October 1917, comprised solely Bolshevik Ministers. The Left-SR Party was invited to take some government posts but refused on the grounds that they wanted a government that included all parties represented in the Soviets. This demand was taken up by the Right-SR Party and the Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks could not agree to this, as some parties were continuing to oppose the revolution and seek the overthrow of the government. The Mensheviks used their dominant position in the Railway Workers Union Executive Committee to pressure the Bolshevik government to accede to the demands for a broad Coalition Government. This was no idle threat, as the railways were key to transport and the movement of arms, goods and other vital necessities. Moreover, they used this muscle to sabotage and disrupt the Bolshevik governments operations as much as they could. For instance, they refused to allow trains to send troops to assist the revolution in Moscow. They also sought to mobilise other trade unions against the Bolshevik government, many of whom had backward, bureaucratic structures led by Mensheviks. 12 Bolshevik members of the cabinet, including Zinoviev (pictured), argued for an all-socialist government in "broad coalition" / Image: public domain While the majority of Bolshevik leaders rejected the idea of a broad coalition, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Rykov, Nogin and Milyutin all members of the Bolshevik Central Committee supported this demand, going so far as to resign from the committee when they lost the vote on 14 November. Shortly afterwards, five out of the 12 Bolshevik members of the cabinet, including three of the above, resigned their posts and published a manifesto calling for an all-socialist government. Lenin responded robustly. He pointed out that the Left-SRs had been offered places in the government and had declined, and that the purely Bolshevik government had been created and unanimously ratified by the Congress of Soviets. Lenin denounced Zinoviev and Kamenev as deserters and pointed out that they had behaved in a similar strike-breaking fashion before the uprising. In the end, the reformist parties had no support among the broad mass of workers, nor in the Soviets, and the idea of a broad coalition collapsed. While this set the scene for future battles with the Right-SRs and Mensheviks, the Left-SRs, under pressure from a Peasants Congress in late November, agreed to participate in the Bolshevik government and fuse with the Soviet Executive Committee. By the end of 1917, the Left-SRs received three places in the cabinet. The Constituent Assembly and the issue of democracy Holding elections for a Russian Constituent Assembly had long been a key demand of all socialists, including the Bolsheviks. It was seen as a popular demand to challenge the power of the aristocratic and upper-bourgeois classes entrenched in Dumas (the parliaments and city councils that operated prior to the establishment of the Soviets). The Provisional Government endorsed the demand after the February Revolution and eventually set the time for elections in late 1917. After the October Revolution, when power had passed to the Soviets, Lenin took the position that the elections should be postponed. He argued that an elected Constituent Assembly represented the highest level of democracy in a bourgeois republic, but once power had been won by the workers on the basis of all power to the soviets, this new proletarian democracy represented a higher level still. While socialists subscribe to democratic processes and indeed demand ever-improved ways of representing the mass of people, the precise form of democracy is not set in stone but must be chosen on the basis that the rights and needs of the exploited are fully and constantly represented. The new workers democracy that emerged in revolutionary Russia was not some formal, bureaucratic, once-every-five-years type of system, but a living, breathing, everyday democracy, where delegates were regularly changed in response to new events and new opinions. The right of recall meant that 50 percent plus one of the electorate could recall their delegate at any time. Lenin was also against holding Constituent Assembly elections on very practical grounds, arguing that to hold the elections on the basis of out-dated electoral rolls did not reflect the split in the SR Party that had led to effectively two parties Left-SRs-and Right SRs and therefore could not accurately reflect political reality at that time. Moreover, he argued there was a need to lower the voting age to 18 and to outlaw counter-revolutionaries who were determined to overthrow the soviet government by force. Without these changes, the election would favour the declining forces of Right-SRs and Kadets. But he was out-voted by the other Bolsheviks, the majority still clinging to a formal notion of democracy. As Lenin had predicted, the Constituent Assembly in the conditions of late 1917 was at best an irrelevance / Image: public domain In the event Lenin was absolutely correct. The elections were held before the revolution had been consolidated. The result was that the SRs were by far the largest party, with the Bolsheviks some way behind in second place. But the result also confirmed two further facts. The first was that the whole country was overwhelmingly left oriented. Moderate socialists, including the SRs, gained 62 percent of the vote; and the Bolsheviks, as revolutionary socialists, around 25 percent. The main bourgeois party, the Kadets, achieved less than 5 percent and the Mensheviks, once so powerful, were reduced to 3.3 percent; much of this vote concentrated in the Caucasus, and Georgia in particular. While these results seemed to show a powerful position for the SRs, it needs to be borne in mind that the Left-SRs were scarcely on the ballot, due, as Lenin said, to out-dated rolls and candidates. Had the Left-SRs been properly represented there is little doubt the result would have looked very different. In addition, the Bolsheviks won overwhelmingly in all the urban areas and their immediate periphery, and among many of the key soldier and navy units based in the north. Socialist Revolutionaries who dominated the Constituent Assembly represented the political confusion and indecision of the petty bourgeoisie in the towns and the millions of peasants who were relatively distant from the capital and industrial centres. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many peasants were fully behind Bolshevik policies without realising they were Bolshevik, and also thought Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders were German spies. This latter, insidious lie was widely spread by the bourgeois and Right-SR leaders and their press to confuse peasant voters. As Lenin had predicted, the Constituent Assembly in the conditions of late 1917 was at best an irrelevance and at worst provided another basis for seeking to overthrow the Bolshevik government. He set out his view with great clarity in an article in Pravda in December 1917. The Theses on the Constituent Assembly hammered home in 19 points the basic arguments Lenin had advanced to the Bolsheviks prior to the elections. He was to take up the issue of bourgeois and proletarian democracy again in a polemic he wrote to counter Kautskys revisionist pamphlet, The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, at the end of 1918. Delegates to the Constituent Assembly began to arrive in the capital in December. Tension was high as the counter-revolution was underway in the Ukarine under General Kaledin and steps were also afoot to start a White Army in the Don region. The Kadets support for an armed counter-revolution led by Kaledin led the government to ban the party and the arrest of some of its leaders. The Constituent Assembly met in January 1918. The Right-SRs were aware of the opposition they faced from the Soviets and the Bolsheviks and tried to prepare a defence, with a Military Organisation and a Committee for the Defence of the Constituent Assembly. They also had a paper (The Grey Overcoat) and the support of two regiments, plus other soldiers recalled from the front. They also had a strong terrorist group. Their main supporters, the peasants, did not seem very concerned about the outcome as they had primarily seen the SR Party and the Constituent Assembly as a means of getting land, which had already by then been promised by the Bolshevik Government through an important decree. A Right-SR terrorist group had infiltrated the headquarters of the Bolshevik Party and laid plans to kidnap or assassinate its key leaders, Lenin and Trotsky. The leadership called this off when it became apparent that the plan had been leaked. A right-wing demonstration was held on 5 January, attended by the ranks of the citys petty bourgeois: clerks, intellectuals and so on. They were easily dispersed. It was a sort of botched insurrection. The two regiments that originally supported the SR Party came over to the Bolsheviks. It was against this tense background that the first and only meeting of the Assembly took place. Sverdlov, on behalf of the Soviet Executive Committee, seized the presiding officers bell, declared the meeting open and proceeded to propose a long resolution endorsing all the actions and decrees taken by the Soviet government so far. This was ignored by the Right-SR majority, which proceeded to the election of a president. Chernov, of the Right-SR Party, achieved 244 votes, as against 153 for Marie Spiridonova, the Left-SR, whom the Bolsheviks supported. Speeches were then made to a background of boos and catcalls from the soldiers in the gallery. When the Assembly refused to discuss Sverdlovs motion, the Bolsheviks withdrew. The Assembly rambled on, passing three laws on land, a similar one to the Bolsheviks on peace (agreeing to the armistice) and finally proclaiming a democratic federative republic. At 5am, the Assembly was ordered to close, as the guards were tired. It dispersed, never to meet again, as the All-Russian Soviet Executive Committee dissolved the Assembly, saying that it served only as a cover for the overthrow of the Soviets. There was popular indifference to this move and the Assembly faded into history. By the end of 1917, the October Revolution had managed to survive and defeat all the initial forces ranged against it. Moreover, the spirit and mood of the workers and soldiers still coursed with energy. The flames of the revolution, far from sputtering into darkness were burning brightly. But major obstacles to a lasting victory remained. One of the most pressing in the new year of 1918 was the matter of how best to end the war with Germany and the Central Powers. Taking control of finance and the economy The Banks were the first important industries to be nationalised. The state bank refused to pay out money to the new government and the managers went on strike. Eventually, after threatening the officials, the government managed to retrieve 5m roubles. Private banks also refused to assist the new government, leading to their forcible seizure and opening of their vaults. At end of December 1917, all banks were nationalised and fused with the state bank. Withdrawals were limited to no more than 250 roubles per week. Large houses were taken into public ownership and industrial enterprises that refused to abide by workers management were generally taken over. All gold held privately was confiscated by the state. In January, all payments of dividends and dealings in shares were made illegal. In February, all foreign debts were repudiated. Big industry was not immediately nationalised but certain individual concerns of strategic interest were, such as the electricity industry, the Putilov munitions factories and the Belgian Metal Company. Wages and salaries became the main source of income for all. The government took steps to equalize these. To establish a precedent, the salary of the Peoples Commissars was made equal to the average of a skilled worker (500 roubles a month), with an additional 100 roubles per month for each dependant. Lenin, Trotsky and other leading Bolsheviks set a strong example of austere living. Proletarian organisation Victor Serge in his book, Year One of the Revolution, mentions that Lenin had urged that miracles of proletarian organisation must be achieved in order to overcome the many-headed resistance of the bourgeois class. Only in this way, especially in these early stages, could their resistance and opposition be overcome. Lenin urged that miracles of proletarian organisation must be achieved in order to overcome the many-headed resistance of the bourgeois class / Image: public domain In fact, in the months after the revolution, the policy of the Soviet government consisted principally in awakening, stimulating, sometimes guiding, but more usually simply endorsing the initiative of the masses. The Peoples Commissars were ordered, by decree, to work in close contact with the mass organisations of working men and women, the sailors and soldiers. Workers took initiatives in many diverse ways. Certain trade unions, for example, undertook to organise sections of industries. In many enterprises, offices as well as factories, employees found that they had to manage their places of work as their superiors had abandoned their positions. This was regularised in a decree legalising the intervention of workers in the management of industry and other workplaces. Workers control of industry and offices became widespread. Some degree of planning and coordination, however, was vital and in December the government established the Supreme Economic Council. This body had the task of coordinating all the activities of local and central organs, which managed and controlled production and distribution. This was the beginning of a centralised planning system that would supplant the rule of the capitalist market. The press The Bolsheviks, in common with many socialists, had called for the freedom of the press under the restricted and repressive conditions of the old order. Certainly, it was the early intention of the Soviet government to allow general press freedom. In an early decree on the press, reference was made to the fact that some suppression of the bourgeois press had been undertaken in the immediate period of the revolution. The slogan freedom of the press concealed the fact that it was freedom for the propertied class, as they had taken hold of the lions share of the press to poison, unhindered, the minds and obscure the consciousness of the masses. The decree went on to state: As soon as the new (socialist) order has been consolidated all administrative pressure on the press will be terminated and it will be granted complete freedom within the bounds of legal responsibility, in keeping with a law that will be broadest and most progressive in this respect. Meanwhile the Bolsheviks reserved the right to suppress publications that called for open resistance to the new Government, used slander or distorted facts. In fact, the bourgeois press was operating, relatively freely, as late as May 1918, despite the pressures on the regime. This press remained vicious and slanderous. As conditions deteriorated, press freedoms were curtailed for a number of bourgeois publications and some of the SR publications. This was extended as the civil war intensified and foreign armies intervened in the civil war. Later in July 1918, the new Constitution of the Soviet Union stated in article 14: In order to ensure genuine freedom of expression for the working people, the RSFSR abolishes the dependence of the press on capital, and places at the disposal of the working class and the poor peasantry all the technical and material requisites for the publication of newspaper, pamphlets, books and all other printed matter, and guarantees their unhindered circulation throughout the country. State security and the Cheka As Lenin had spelled out in State and Revolution, the state is at root an instrument of class rule that depends on force to ensure its survival. In the last analysis, this is achieved through having available armed bodies of men, such as the army, police and security forces, to ensure the will of the ruling class. The transfer of one class rule to another is a process of immense struggle that has always involved armed confrontation. The new workers state therefore had to have its own bodies of armed men. The Bolsheviks established the Extraordinary Commission for Struggle against Sabotage and Counter-Revolution, otherwise known as the Cheka, and placed in charge the Bolshevik leader Dzerzhinsky / Image: public domain These took time to establish. In the first instance, they took the form of workers militias, which became known as the Red Guards. They acted as both the shock troops of the revolution and the upholders of order within the towns. In terms of internal security, every state deploys its own specialist services. The Bolsheviks established the Extraordinary Commission for Struggle against Sabotage and Counter-Revolution, otherwise known as the Cheka, and placed in charge the Bolshevik leader Dzerzhinsky. In the early stages this organisation proved relatively mild and in the first few months of the revolution there were remarkably few executions or instances of draconian action. However, as the struggle with the reactionary and imperialist forces intensified, the Cheka accrued additional powers and met force with force, achieving a formidable reputation. Social and cultural changes Early soviet decrees highlighted the desire of the new order to radically transform social, cultural and religious norms. Central to this was the release of women from their position of legal subservience and oppression in law. In future, only civil weddings were to be recognised by the state and divorce was to be made freely available to either partner. Men and women were given full juridical equality. Children born out of wedlock were to be given the same rights as offspring of marriages. The criminal code that outlawed homosexual activity was abolished, making Russia among the first in the world to do so. Early in 1918, a law was passed that separated the church from the state. It declared the right of any citizen to profess any religion or none. Religious oaths were abolished, as were church schools. Churches were not allowed to own property and all such property was declared the property of the people, with local and state authorities having the right to hand over buildings of worship to religious societies for free use. Under Lunacharsky, radical artists were promoted and Russia's rich cultural heritage was made available to the masses / Image: public domain In further efforts to align Russia with the modern world, it was agreed to end the use of the Justinian Calendar and, from February 1918, to adopt the Gregorian and West European calendar. This added 13 days to the year and the Revolution of 25 October was subsequently celebrated on 7 November. The Cyrillic script used in printing materials was also simplified. The orator and somewhat maverick intellectual, the Bolshevik Lunacharsky, was appointed Commissar of Education. His brief also included protecting and advancing the cultural heritage of Russia. He proved a brilliant choice for this office. He was able to cajole and persuade reluctant teachers and academics to continue their teaching and research work under the new regime, despite many of them opposing the new direction. Under his leadership, a major programme to combat illiteracy was embarked upon and he proceeded to reform teaching procedures in a progressive libertarian spirit. New ideas, including Marxism, were introduced into curricula. His approach aroused considerable international interest. He sought to popularise the arts, taking music, drama, literature and the visual arts to the masses. He was not afraid of the avant-garde and promoted the likes of Chagall and Tatlin to key academies, alongside the work of Eisenstein, the radical filmmaker. Justice and administration Justice systems also reflect class rule and so there was an early wholesale change to the Russian justice system. All the general judicial institutions were abolished. Justices of the Peace (JPs) were replaced with local courts represented by a permanent local judge, elected on the basis of direct, democratic suffrage, and two alternate assessors selected by local Soviets. Former JPs and judges were not disbarred from standing for the new posts. Similar changes were made to district and higher courts. Other detailed changes were made to court procedure. Local government had been largely run by city and council dumas and these were effectively replaced by local and regional soviets. Other local committees and structures also became important, especially the various peasant committees and later the committees of the poor. Local co-operative structures also gained more power after the revolution, although these waned somewhat during the harsh exigencies of 1918 when increased central control was exerted in all aspects of administration. In July 1918, the All-Russian Soviet agreed a new constitution for The Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic. This was arranged into the following main articles: Declaration of rights of the labouring and exploited people. General provisions, which set down a number of key principles. Organisation of Soviet power. The right to vote. The budget. The coat of Arms and Flag. This is an important document as it marked the formal and encoded establishment of a new workers state with all its key principles and operating mechanisms. Although, given the acute crises facing Russia at this time, it was not possible to fully implement all its aspects, it nevertheless marked a highpoint of the struggle to overcome the old capitalist state. It was amended and enlarged in 1924 to take account of the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and other matters but its key principles remained, until amended by Stalin in 1936. Peace and war The Russian Revolution took place during World War One: war and peace were critical issues. The overthrow of the Tsar and the establishment of a democratic government in February 1917 were regarded by the Provisional Government, and by the SR and Menshevik majority in the Petrograd Soviet, as a justification for continuing the support of the war effort in the name of the defence of the revolution. In practice, this meant defence of the bourgeoisie, since they were the class most empowered by the first Revolution in 1917. The Bolshevik Party insisted that war must end and peace must be achieved on the basis of no annexations or indemnities. Most Bolsheviks supported this. However, there were some in the party, notably Kamenev, who openly espoused the need for continuing the war on the basis of defending the revolution. Lenin opposed this position in his April Theses, recognising that the masses were desperate to see an end to war. He further argued that the position of revolutionary defencism within a bourgeois state was a confidence trick upon the workers and pandering to patriotism and jingoism. From April to October, the Bolsheviks maintained that a Bolshevik revolution, the ending of the war with a democratic peace and proletarian revolution in Europe, were all parts of a single process and in practice inseparable. Internationalism and revolutionary war The Bolshevik Party tradition was unreservedly internationalist in outlook. It believed that nationalism was part and parcel of the capitalist system and that wars were an inevitable consequence of that nationalism. They also took seriously the original Marxist international slogan, workers of the worlds unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains. In addition, the Bolsheviks were also strongly of the view that a Russian socialist revolution could not be sustained without one or more advanced capitalist countries also becoming socialist and linking up with the Russian proletariat. Lenin opposed a 'revolutionary war', but was in a minority within the party leadership / Image: public domain Bolsheviks believed that the ending of capitalism and landlordism in Russia would raise the morale of workers and peasants and make them stronger than any opponent. This new class war would rouse the masses internationally. This position was crucial to understanding why the party adopted various positions over the peace negotiations and the issue of revolutionary war. After the establishment of a workers and peasants state Lenin was not, in principle, against waging a revolutionary war against the imperialist powers but, looking at concrete reality, he understood the masses did not want to fight, even for a workers state, at this stage. In any event, the fledgling state had insufficient resources to wage a war of any kind and by December 1917 was faced with civil war. Therefore, Lenin implacably opposed a revolutionary war at this stage. But a majority in the party leadership did not. This set the scene for a prolonged and, in the end, damaging struggle within the Bolshevik Party, which was only finally settled in March 1918. The peace decree and the armistice with Germany One of the very first decrees, issued a day after the October Revolution, by the new government was on peace. It called upon all belligerent countries to halt the war immediately on the basis of a just and democratic peace with no annexations or indemnities, and to allow all nations the right of self-determination on a free vote. At the same time, the decree abolished secret diplomacy, calling for open and transparent negotiations, and annulled all secret treaties agreed by the old regime, stating that such secret treaties would be published. Finally, the government called for an immediate armistice. A temporary armistice between Russia, Germany and her allies was agreed on 2 December 1917 / Image: public domain After initial negotiations between the Soviet delegation and those of Germany and her allies, an armistice was agreed on 2 December. It allowed 28 days before full peace negotiations took place. It was agreed to maintain current military positions, and further agreed that Germany would not send troops to the western front because of the armistice and would allow a degree of fraternisation between troops. Trotsky, after some resistance on his part, was appointed Commissar for Foreign Affairs and would eventually lead all negotiations, which were to take place in Brest-Litovsk: a small town on the Russian-Polish border, now in Belarus. Foreign policy, under Trotsky, comprised largely of appeals to workers and revolutionary groups throughout the world to organise a world revolution. He paid scant attention to the traditional role of a Foreign Secretary, saying, My job is to publish the treaties, issue some revolutionary proclamations and shut up shop. Former secret treaties were quickly published, ambassadors recalled and new ones sent out. Money was made available for international revolutionary organisations. Agitational newspapers were published, aimed at foreign workers and prisoners of war. For their part, foreign governments rebuffed Russian attempts to obtain friendly responses and all countries opposed any rapprochement with the Bolsheviks. However, there were contacts between Russia and foreign ambassadors and initially the allies hoped to persuade Russia to continue fighting Germany. When this failed, their opposition to Bolshevik Russia noticeably stepped up. Negotiations at Brest-Litovsk and Bolshevik splits Following the armistice agreement, negotiations re-started at Brest-Litovsk, with Joffe initially leading the Russian delegation. These discussions were inconclusive. The Soviet delegation put forward their positions on annexations and the rights of nationalities to enjoy political freedom and ending colonies. The Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria), led effectively by the German General Hoffman, played lip service to these demands as they had no intention of giving up Poland or those Baltic states under their control. Moreover, they now included in their delegation representatives of the Ukrainian Rada (a nationalist-led parliament), weakening the Soviet claim to represent all Russian territories. The Red offensive against the armed nationalists in Ukraine was only just underway. Trotsky took over as leader of the Soviet delegation to the peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk in 1918 / Image: public domain Trotsky took over as leader of the Soviet delegation in the New Year, and hoping that delaying tactics would work in their favour, used the negotiations as a platform for propaganda. There were definite signs of revolt among workers in Austria and Germany and among their soldiers and sailors. Strikes occurred in Austria in mid-January and later in the month there were serious strikes in Berlin, Hamburg, Danzig and Kiel. Eventually, the Central Powers sought to break the deadlock by stating their demands for the Soviets to cede all territory currently occupied by Germany in the North and to negotiate the southern boundaries with the Ukrainian Rada. Trotsky decided that he now needed to return to Petrograd to discuss with the leadership the best response. There then began a series of debates and votes. In the first meeting, 63 leading Bolsheviks debated the issue of peace. Lenin argued for taking peace at any price to secure the bridgehead of the revolution and wait for better times. Despite Lenins prestige, he got only 15 votes. 32 votes, mainly Moscow Bolsheviks led by Bukharin, were for a revolutionary war against Germany and her allies rather than accepting their terms. Trotsky took a third position of neither war nor peace but to continue to delay the proceedings as long as possible in the hope revolution would break out in Germany of Austria and if necessary declare peace unilaterally when pressed. He got 16 votes. A few days later the Central Committee of the party met and Lenin again called for immediate peace. Only Stalin was clear in his support so Lenin agreed to Trotskys delaying position and this passed 12-1. Only two, Bukharin and Dzerzhinsky, supported pursuing a revolutionary war. Trotsky returned to the negotiations later in January, but after spinning it out as long as possible he made a unilateral declaration to end the war. He then walked out of the talks. Seven days later the German High Command announced it was going to resume hostilities. The Bolshevik unilateral declaration of peace was intended as a signal to all workers and soldiers involved in the war to rise up and oppose their leaders and join the struggle. This did not occur and the Central Powers immediately renewed hostilities. Meeting little resistance, they quickly advanced on all fronts. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik Central Committee was in almost continuous session. Lenin again called for seeking terms with the Germans, but got only 4 votes against 6, with Trotsky voting against. Lenin then posed the question: what if the German army advanced and there was no revolution in Germany and Austria? By 6-1, with 4 abstentions (Trotsky went over to Lenin) it was agreed that, in that event, peace should be made. But the Germans were already advancing. The issue was debated the following day. Despite some movements, the vote for Trotskys hesitation again carried 6-5. But by evening it was clear the German advance was strong and Russia was threatened. At this point Trotsky went over to Lenin and the Central Committee agreed to ask for peace negotiations by 7-5. Other party and Soviet bodies rapidly ratified this decision, although not without division, and a telegram was sent off agreeing to a renewal of the peace negotiations. The final Brest-Litovsk Treaty and its ratification However, Germany was in no hurry to accept and took full advantage of its position, advancing deep into the Ukraine and other areas. Eventually, the Germans came up with new, much harsher terms than before: Soviet withdrawal from Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland and the ceding of territory to Turkey in the south. The treaty also demanded Soviet recognition of the Ukrainian Nationalist Government or Rada. The implications of the Treaty for the economy of Soviet Russia were immense. They lost some of the most productive areas of Russia, especially in the Ukraine with its large assets in coal, industry and agriculture. In all they lost 40 percent of industrial capacity, 45 percent of fuel, 90 percent of sugar, 70 percent of the metal industry and 55 percent of wheat potential. The demand to withdraw the Red Guards from Finland led to a German-backed counter-revolution of considerable ferocity. So harsh were these terms that many leading Bolsheviks, especially in the Moscow Region, again resisted acceptance and ratification. There followed another heated debate in the Bolshevik Central Committee. Lenin moved acceptance, this time saying he would resign if he didnt gain the vote. Trotsky opposed but, in the end, abstained, as did Dzerzhinsky, Joffe, and Krestinsky, giving Lenin a 7-4 majority. In early March, the Soviet Government signed the new terms of Brest-Litovsk. Full internal ratification had to go through various bodies and the debates raged on. At the Seventh Bolshevik Party Congress in March 1918, Trotsky again reiterated his opposition to accepting such harsh terms but declared he would not vote against Lenin. This was then carried by 28 votes to 9. At the all-Russian Central Executive Committee, after a speech by Lenin it was carried 116 votes to 84. On 16 March, the All Russian Congress of Soviets, after two days of stormy debate, ratified the governments decision by 784-262. The Germans demanded Soviet withdrawal from Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland, ceding of territory to Turkey in the south and recognition of the Ukrainian Nationalist Government or Rada / Image: public domain These details are recounted to illustrate the tradition of debate and internal democracy within the Bolshevik Party and Soviet Russia at this time. This tradition, although necessarily curbed in the acute conditions of Civil War later in 1918, nevertheless remained at the heart of the Bolshevik Party as long as Lenin and Trotsky remained at the helm. It is instructive, in view of the later cult of the personality around Stalin, that Lenin, despite his immense standing in the party and among the workers, was consistently opposed by many leading comrades throughout this process. When he was defeated he accepted it and fought on with unflinching argument in meetings and in writing. In fact, a notable feature of Lenin throughout is that at every stage and moment of the Revolution he was not only driving the process in practice, with attention to every detail, but also writing articles, resolutions and even longer works. It is true that, in the final stages of the debates on Brest-Litovsk, Lenin threatened to resign if his views were not accepted, but this was after months of exhaustive debate and at a critical moment for the survival of the revolution. Lenin always considered it vital, at this stage of world developments, to keep the core of the revolution secure. The left wing of the party, around Bukharin, openly stated that they were prepared for a split in the party and were willing to sacrifice the revolution on the altar of an international revolutionary war. Lenin considered this absurd posturing and wrote a biting critique in February 1918, called Strange and Monstrous. In this piece Lenin shows how the process of debate within the party was carried out. He vigorously defends the left-wings right to express its view: It is quite natural that comrades who sharply disagree with the Central Committee over the question of a separate peace should sharply condemn the Central Committee and express their conviction that a split is inevitable. All that is the most legitimate right of party members, which is quite understandable. But, he did not fail to condemn their reasoning as strange and monstrous, nor hesitate to call them out for revolutionary phrasemaking. Immediately after the conclusion of this drawn out process of Peace he wrote a substantial text on the broader issues it raised and called it, Left-Wing Childishness and Petty-Bourgeois Mentality. He was to return to this theme two years later in 1920 when he wrote Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder. Soviet foreign policy in 1918 Before returning to the immediate issues at home it is worth noting another issue that split the Bolsheviks at this stage and it again illustrates the division between the realists and what Lenin called a petty-bourgeois mentality. This occurred over the approach the Soviet Government should take in confronting the capitalist powers. The left wing around Bukharin, stated that they were prepared for a split in the party over the question of revolutionary war / Image: public domain The notion widely held at one time, that a workers government would have no truck with any capitalist power, proved untenable and unrealistic. The capitalist states were not a uniform bloc and divisions could be exploited. The leftists, led by Bukharin, refused to contemplate any deals with the capitalists. Lenin and Trotsky tended to operate on the pragmatic and realistic side, although, as we have seen, Trotsky sometimes took longer to reach the same conclusions as Lenin. Occasionally, it was the other way around, with Lenin acknowledging that Trotsky had been correct. In the Central Committee in February 1918, Trotsky argued in favour of accepting arms from any country, even capitalist ones, on the one condition that no political obligations were given to these countries in return. This was hotly debated and only carried 6-5 with Lenin not attending but supporting the proposal. In the end, this proposal was without effect because the vague offers of support from USA, Britain and France were predicated on keeping Russia in the war so as to keep Germany pinned down in the east. Once the Brest-Litovsk Treaty was finally signed the other imperialist powers declined Russia any assistance. In the wake of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty a dual, inter-meshed foreign policy emerged: to promote world socialist revolution and defend the national security of the Soviet Republic. This would last as a consistent and integrated approach throughout the civil war and until the fight against the aggression of the allied powers finally ended in early 1921. Stalin later tried to portray a split between Lenin and Trotsky over the issue of world revolution or socialism in one country. In fact, this is entirely false and distorts the real split, which was between Lenin and the left communists that included Bukharin, Radek and Uritsky. Lenin, like Trotsky, remained a powerful advocate of world revolution and indeed frequently said that it was the only hope for the long-term success of the Russian Revolution. Lenin said that if necessary he would be in favour of sacrificing the Russian Revolution for a German Revolution, if it occurred, which would be on a much higher level and would hasten world revolution. The difference between Lenin and Trotsky was essentially one of balance. Trotsky was slower than Lenin to realise that the German Revolution would take time to mature, over-estimating the prospects for revolution. Early struggles on the periphery The general headquarters of the Russian Army, a veritable citadel in a time of all-out war, was situated away from Moscow and Petrograd. Here the Bolsheviks were weak. The soldiers Committee of the Armies, which had been elected at the beginning of the February revolution, was controlled by the SRs and had a cosy relationship with the generals. Six days after the October Revolution, they decided to oppose the Bolsheviks and march on Petrograd. But the mood of the soldiers, who welcomed the revolution, prevented this. When Lenin then called on the soldiers to elect new delegates and organise for an armistice with Germany, the old army establishment was doomed. These elections were held on 18 November. Following these elections, General Dukhonin, the supreme army head, who had defied the Bolshevik Governments orders, was arrested and executed. From October to March, the strong tide in favour of the Bolshevik-led Soviet Government had swept most urban and working-class areas of Russia. Even in the strongly nationalist areas of the Ukraine, parts of the Caucasus and the Don region, Red forces had been triumphant. Local soviets had sprung up everywhere. Most of the troops were with the Bolsheviks and the peasantry were broadly supportive as they saw their land needs being addressed. But from that point on the situation for the government became more and more difficult. The ending of the First World War proved a key factor in the west, as German troops occupied so much of the land that was highly productive for all parts of the economy. The Germans and their allies were keen to weaken Russia as far as possible and also to undermine Bolshevism by arming and encouraging nationalists and elements of the old order in Russia, principally the old Tsarist generals and officers, so that they could mount an effective counter-revolution. This, in effect, was the start of three years of brutal civil war. Anti-Bolshevik, White forces in Russia, 1918 / Image: public domain A number of generals and officers of the Imperial Army fled south to the Ukraine, where the Government was nationalistic and anti-Bolshevik. An Army of Volunteers, as the first White force was called, led by General Kornilov, gathered in the south, with more officers than men. Ukrainian nationalism, infused with certain elements of socialism, attempted a form of self-government under the old parliament, called the Rada. Eventually, struggles broke out between Bolshevik supporters in Kiev and the nationalists; the Reds took Kiev in January. Ukraine fell largely under Bolshevik control by February 1918. After November there was a general strike in Finland. This was largely victorious but there was no revolutionary workers party prepared to take power. So, the workers took matters into their own hands and took power in Helsinki, driving out the bourgeois government. Still, the social democrat leaders failed to drive through a revolution and opted for radical but piecemeal change. The Russian Government passed a decree giving independence to Finland at the end of 1917. Momentum gathered in 1918 and by February a new constitution was established providing for an elected assembly every three years along with other highly advanced features. The Finnish social democracy attempted the highest ever form of bourgeois democracy. But, in the circumstances, it was utopian and met with fierce armed reaction. The bourgeois launched a White terror, using a battalion of Finns in the German army. Red Guards and soviet supporters flocked to support the working class. Soviet forces had to withdraw under the terms of the Brest Litovsk Treaty. Vicious fighting then led to extreme white terror and the defeat of the Red forces. Up to a quarter of the proletariat were subsequently killed and murdered (100,000). The Caucasus area was complex with many nationalities and conditions. This proved a difficult area for the pro-Bolshevik, revolutionary Red forces who were initially defeated by a combination of so-called socialist Georgians and reactionary Turks and Tartars. In the Don region, another complex war occurred, involving several old imperial generals, complicated by divisions within the Cossacks population. The Cossack cavalry had traditionally been used by the Tsarist regime as a force for reaction. When the October Revolution, occurred the Don Cossack Council declared independence. General Kaledin welcomed former officers and some soldiers from the old imperial army and thus began the formation of a White army that was to play a lasting role in the ensuing civil war. In December 1917, the Soviet government sent a Red Guard force to assert Soviet control. At this stage, the White forces were ill-equipped, poorly organised and unable to resist the Red forces. As a result, the Don Cossack Council agreed to yield to the Soviet forces, causing General Kaledin to commit suicide. The tide turned in May 1918 due to the German invasion in the west and the growth of the White forces under Generals Kornilov and Alekseev. The Cossack leadership rebelled against the Soviet administration and, with the improved White forces, armed and supplied by the French and British, were able to defeat most Red forces and resume control over large areas. In the process, there were many massacres and atrocities against Bolsheviks and the working class generally. In Siberia and in the Central Asia regions Bolsheviks also achieved early success in the main centres, only to suffer reversals at a later stage. The White Forces The White movement and its armies were so-called because the colour white was associated with the Tsar. They represented the old defeated classes of the monarchy and the bourgeoisie. The movement, as such, did not have a strong social base. It drew in various elements dissatisfied with the Bolshevik regime, usually reactionary nationalist elements. Few wanted to see the Tsar restored, except the leaders and especially the army leaders, who became, in effect, petty dictators. The Red Army, under Trotsky, achieved a strong, centralised leadership and had a clear purpose of defending the revolution / Image: public domain In general, the White leadership was against separate national states and desired a return to a united empire. There was also a strong current of antisemitism within the White armies. Western sponsors expressed dismay at this, especially as the Bolsheviks had prohibited antisemitism and appeared more progressive. Winston Churchill personally warned General Denikin, whose forces effected pogroms against the Jews, that my task in winning support in Parliament for the Russian Nationalist cause will be infinitely harder if well-authenticated complaints continue to be received from Jews in the zone of the Volunteer Armies. One of the abiding weaknesses of the White forces was their lack of unity. The leaders squabbled and there were many who joined the umbrella of the Whites simply because they opposed the Bolsheviks, rather than having a united vision of what they wanted. Ultimately, this played into the hands of the Red Army, which, under Trotsky's command, achieved a strong, centralised leadership, and, of course, always with the clear purpose of defending the revolution. Backs against the wall Whilst the broad mass of the working class continued to give their support to the Bolshevik Party, activists within the party were often split on crucial issues. The issue of whether or not to wage a revolutionary war against Germany and its forces of occupation proved one of the more divisive questions that very nearly led to a complete split in the party. The division started in February, when the Moscow Region Committee took a left position and called for non-acceptance of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and the heroic sacrifice of the Russian proletariat on the altar of internationalism. Lenin provided a powerful critique of this position, calling them Communists of misfortune and talking despair. By March this tendency had crystallised into an organised faction and were called Left Communists. They were led by Bukharin with the support of Radek and Uritsky, among others, and published a paper called the Kommunist. Several members of the faction were elected to the Central Committee but they refused to serve. The two tendencies faced off at the 7th Party Congress in March 1918. Lenins position on peace was supported by Zinoviev, Smilga and Sverdlov. Trotsky also sided with Lenin but urged war in Ukraine against the German occupiers. Lenin, whilst not against such a move, argued for space and time to build up forces. It was at this Congress that the name Communist Party (Bolshevik) was adopted and it was agreed to review the Programme of the Party. In April 1918 Lenin published The International Position of the Russian Soviet Republic and the Fundamental Tasks of the Socialist Revolution. In it, Lenin argued that at that time a brief respite existed when all efforts had to be made to tackle the issue of organising the new Soviet system in an administrative sense. This required honest accounting, no stealing and strict labour discipline. The most class-conscious workers must lead the drive to implement these slogans among the masses. The aim was to establish a productive and efficient system that began to address the accumulated chaos of the war years and restore some order and benefits for people weary and close to despair. In the conclusion Lenin stated the situation clearly: An extraordinarily difficult, complex and dangerous situation in international affairs; the necessity of manoeuvring and retreating; a period of waiting for new outbreaks of the revolution which is maturing in the west at a painfully slow pace; within the country a period of slow construction and ruthless tightening-up, of prolonged and persistent struggle waged by stern, proletarian discipline against the menacing element of petty-bourgeois laxity and anarchy: these in brief are the distinguishing features of the special stage of the socialist revolution in which we are now living. Trotsky struck the same note in March when he gave a speech to a Party Conference. He emphasised the need for labour, discipline and order and urged that specialists be given a role in managing industry. In the same vein, he justified abandoning the principle of the election of officers in the Red Army, arguing that it was now a proletarian army and the need to challenge the Imperial officers through elections no longer applied. They needed the best, most-skilled and experienced to fill officer roles. The Left Communists published a critical response in their paper, Kommunist, which opposed the army reforms and at the same time called for the faster expropriation of capital and the cooperative organisation of production and distribution based on full workers control and management. Lenin replied in a series of articles in Pravda in May 1918, called Left Infantilism and the Petty-Bourgeois Mentality. Lenin replied to the Left Communists in a series of articles in Pravda in May 1918 called 'Left Infantilism and the Petty-Bourgeois Mentality' / Image: public domain The major debates that ensued through the Spring and Summer within the Party are important and instructive but require a more detailed analysis than can be offered here. Suffice it to say that, having lost the vote at the March Congress the Left Communists then lost their positions on the Supreme Council of National Economy and shortly afterward lost their control of the Moscow and Urals regional organisations. When the Soviet government, under different conditions, nationalised all large industrial enterprises in late June, many Left Communists considered this to be a correct economic policy and shifted their support back to Lenin. By the end of the summer, the Left Communists no longer existed as a distinct opposition group. Political opposition outside Bolshevism Efforts to overthrow the Bolshevik Government at home had not disappeared. In fact, in the harsh conditions of spring and summer 1918, when famine stalked the land, their efforts grew. Although the bourgeois parties, such as the Cadets and the Octobrists, had little support, there was lots of intrigue and rumour with foreign powers seeking to find suitable organisations to back. Several right-wing organisations and conspiracies were attempted. The Right or Moscow Centre (businessmen, landowners and conservative and liberal politicians) had a military department but was weak and disorganised. The National Centre, which split off from the Right Centre in June 1918, was a rallying point for the Cadet Party. Overall there was no real drive or unity between any of them and they were easily and, relatively leniently, dealt with by the Cheka. The petty-bourgeois parties, which included the SRs of Left and Right, the Anarchists and the Mensheviks, did have a potential mass base given the weight of the peasantry in the country, and could have posed a serious problem for the Bolsheviks. But, as Lenin pointed out, the petty-bourgeois parties, like the class they represented, wavered and vacillated at every turn, becoming revolutionary one moment and, when things got difficult, siding with the bourgeoisie, or turning to terrorism. Not surprisingly the mass of peasants was largely uninterested. The Right SR Party, lacking their base in the Constituent Assembly, had nowhere to go except an alliance with the White forces. This they did in a more and more overt fashion. In the spring of 1918 Savinkov, a veteran SR conspirator, helped to establish the Union for the Defence of the Motherland and Freedom. It claimed to have 5,500 members, but they were scattered all over the country. Its objective was to overthrow Soviet power and establish a military dictatorship. They had financial support from several imperial powers, notably France. Several leading members were arrested in May 1918 and its planned actions were foiled. Savinkov and others remained at large and tried to organise armed uprisings in several towns in July 1918, but these were easily overcome and the organisation faded away. Savinkov and other Right SRs re-emerged in the short-lived Samara Government on the Volga (described in more detail below). The All-Russian Soviet Executive had representatives of all parties that participated in local and regional Soviets. Thus it had left Mensheviks, Left SRs and others. But in June, as the struggle for survival became paramount it was agreed to expel all those parties who were instigating civil war against the Soviets. This was both logical and necessary. This removed Right SRs and Mensheviks and left only Left SRs and Bolsheviks. The terrorist wing of the Right SR Party, the so-called Battle Organisation, had one last throw of the dice at the end of August 1918 when they sought to assassinate a number of leaders, including Lenin and Trotsky. Lenin was shot by Fanny Kaplan and was lucky not to have been killed. Although struck in his shoulder and neck he survived and recovered after the operation and a short convalescence. The plot to kill Trotsky failed when he altered his planned route to Kazan at the last moment. Uritsky, the President of the Petrograd Cheka, was less lucky and was killed. The Left SR Party ostensibly represented the poor peasantry but in practice tended to base themselves on the middle peasantry. They had a significant position in the Soviets. They left the government over the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in March 1918 but continued to offer critical support to the Bolsheviks for a period. At the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets in early July 1918, the Left SRs had 353 delegates out of 1,164. Nothing illustrates the vacillating and intemperate nature of petty-bourgeois revolutionaries better than the debates at this Congress, where the Left SRs hysterically attacked the Bolsheviks for their determination to maintain discipline in the Red Army on the border with Ukraine. The Left SRs had been agitating amongst these units, inciting them to join guerrilla bands inside the Ukraine and attack the German occupiers. Calling for discipline, Trotsky asked for approval of an order to shoot those responsible for fomenting such division and adventurism. The Left SRs erupted with fury but were soundly defeated in the vote. When Dzerzhinsky, the Cheka leader, confronted the Left SR Committee in Moscow they arrested him and proceeded to use Cheka forces they controlled to occupy key parts of Moscow. With this act, they effectively 'committed suicide' / Image: public domain Later, one of their leaders, Maria Spiridonova, made wild accusations against the Bolsheviks and was calmly rebutted by Lenin. Then news arrived at the Congress that Left SR agents had infiltrated the German Ukraine headquarters and assassinated the German ambassador, Count Mirbach. When Dzerzhinsky, the Cheka leader, confronted the Left SR Committee in Moscow they arrested him and proceeded to use Cheka forces they controlled to occupy key parts of Moscow. In the event, they lacked any popular support and the rebellion was put down in a day. Arrests and some executions followed. As Victor Serge says in Year One of the Revolution, The Left SR Party had committed suicide. Anarchist groups were also present in most towns, but many were self-styled and close to banditry. They had gained some support, generally fighting with the Reds in November. They had their own Black General Staff, and were armed. In the period after March, they assumed a more anti-Bolshevik position and moved to violence. However, disarming them proved easy as they had little broad support. Hundreds were arrested but most of those who were genuine anarchists by conviction were released and allowed to operate more or less freely with their organisations, press and clubs. The anarchist movement in the Ukraine led by Makhno is a different story and is dealt with in a later installment. After the October Revolution, the Menshevik Party became a shadow of its former self and had split into left and right factions. The weakness of the Mensheviks is revealed in the elections for the Constituent Assembly, when they only managed 3 percent of the vote. However, they were relatively strong in the Caucusus region, where they had taken a strongly pro-nationalist line. They had a majority position in Georgia and from May 1918 led an independent government, under the general permission of the Germans, known as the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Nationally, most Mensheviks who had not joined the Bolsheviks increasingly sided with counter-revolutionaries. Martov and the left faction continued to operate in a more principled fashion but became increasingly hostile to the Bolsheviks. The end of the Romanovs A brief mention should be made of the denouement of the Tsar and his family, the Romanovs, which occurred in the summer of 1918. In July 1918, Ekaterinburg (where the Romanovs were being held) was virtually encircled by White forces and the Urals Soviet decided to execute the Tsar and his family / Image: public domain After February 1917, the Romanovs had been held in comparative ease at the imperial palace at Tsarskoe Syelo. But after the July 1917 days of upheaval, the Provisional Government decided to place the family deeper into Russia in the remote Siberian town of Tobolsk. After the October Revolution, the question of what to do with the Tsar and his family became a more burning topic, as they clearly provided a rallying call for the counter-revolutionary forces. After a White Army approached the Tobolsk in April 1918, the Bolsheviks moved the imperial family west to Ekaterinburg in the Urals. In July, Ekaterinburg was virtually encircled by White forces and the Urals Soviet decided to execute the family. The economic crisis and feeding the urban population Prior to Brest-Litovsk and the German occupation of Ukraine, the Russian economy was already in a poor state. The effects of years of war and then the upheaval of revolution meant that production and distribution were massively disrupted. Moreover, as in all belligerent countries, the economy had become heavily oriented to the needs of war and the millions of troops that were required. The loss of the valuable economic areas of Ukraine, Caucasus and later the Don region provoked a major crisis after March 1918. The primary and immediate problem was the need to obtain sufficient grain to feed the people, especially in the urban areas. The harvest was still to come. People were hungry and desperate. Riots and uprisings over lack of bread were not uncommon. Lenin said at this time, To get bread, that is the basis of socialism today. This called for desperate measures. The first of these was the creation of the Food Commissariat with sweeping powers (decree of 27 May) to supply the population with objects of primary necessity. The Food Commissar was Tsurupa, and among his powers was the ability to remove local commissars, override local soviets and in certain circumstances institute court proceedings against disobedient representatives of local soviets. What ensued was a battle between the consuming, needy provinces and the producing provinces that held surpluses of food, often hoarded. Special armed detachments, recruited predominantly from Bolshevik-supporting factories, were attached to local food committees in the producing districts. Wealthy peasants, known as kulaks, were those mainly responsible for hoarding grain and other food resources. On 11 June, the Soviet regime set up Committees of the Poor all over the country. These committees were empowered to distribute grain, products of prime necessity and agricultural machines and to cooperate with local food brigades in taking surplus grain away from kulaks and other richer peasants. Incentives were offered to the poorer peasants to participate in this process. There was provision to exclude from any expropriation the slightly better-off peasants who possessed just a few livestock and hired one or two labourers, as long as they were basically self-sufficient. This was reinforced in August 1918 when a letter was circulated to try to prevent the alienation of middle peasants. Certainly, there were many excesses and ferocious battles. 26 peasant uprisings were recorded in July, 47 in August, and 26 in September. In some cases, old scores were settled. In some instances, bandits and thieves joined the committees; and in some, genuine local communists were driven out of important and potentially lucrative posts such as the collection of local taxes. But, the tactic of splitting the villages on class lines was broadly successful. In regions where there was much poverty among the peasants the actions against kulaks and others were more severe. In areas closer to the big cities, there was greater control and order. At their height, the Committees of the Poor numbered tens of thousands and as a policy they prevented a complete breakdown of society. There was famine and great hunger but it would have been much worse without such drastic, organised intervention. By November 1918, the crisis was passing and the Committees of the Poor were dissolved and there were new elections for local soviets, which included the best representatives of the old Committees. The two bodies were in effect fused. On 8 November 1918 Lenin declared Soviet policy in the village would be: To reach an agreement with the middle-class peasantry, not relaxing for a moment the struggle against the kulak and relying firmly only on the poor. The impact of the continuing food shortages can be seen in the major loss of population suffered by the towns and cities where people moved to the countryside to find food. Petrograds population, for example, declined from 2.3m in November 1915 to 1.4m in July 1918. Meeting the military threat: Trotskys role as head of the army The first soldiers of the revolution were the Red Guards, largely recruited from the working-class and Bolshevik soldiers and sailors. But in order to bring order and unity, a stronger and larger force was necessary. In the first stages of the revolution, no conscription was possible. The Bolsheviks had pledged peace and the old army was disintegrating and going home. A decree on 28 January 1918 laid down the basis for recruiting a voluntary Red Army. There was an Initial sign-up for three months, and a salary of 150 rubles a month, along with some privileges and exemptions for the family. More than 100,000 recruits signed up in the next two and half months but efficiency and quality were often very low. The troops were liable to be ill-disciplined, to endlessly debate orders and make impossible demands. In addition, some criminal elements joined. This early Red Army was capable of defeating poorly organised, internal dissidents but no match for the German Army in Ukraine, nor the emerging White armies. The Supreme War Council was set up on 1 March 1918 and took over the organisation of the Red Army. On 5 March, Trotsky was appointed chair. In early April, Trotsky was also appointed Commissar of War. He got to work immediately, determined to create a disciplined armed forces, in sufficient numbers and led by competent officers, with good planning and organisation. In these aims, he met plenty of opposition both from within and outside the Bolshevik Party. In April, Trotsky was appointed Commissar of War. He was determined to create a disciplined armed forces, in sufficient numbers and led by competent officers / Image: public domain Trotskys immediate task as the new Commissar of War was to conjure a new army out of practically nothing. Of the Imperial Russian Army, only the division of Latvian Riflemen was useful and reliable, and thus retained. The remnants of Red forces opposing the Whites on the various fronts often acted as scattered bands of partisans with little control and discipline. Red forces generally were poorly trained, equipped and led. But Trotsky rapidly transformed the Red Army into a disciplined, effective fighting force comprising several Red armies fighting on multiple fronts. Trotskys first pronouncements on military policy in March 1918 were directed primarily at the party and the Soviets and called for Work, discipline and order. He noted that, in its first assault on power, the Bolsheviks had necessarily been anti-militaristic and had pressed for democracy in the army, electing commanders and challenging orders etc. But the new situation required a new approach that would enable the workers to defeat the enemy. This meant accepting former Tsarist officers who pledged to assist the Soviet government. Not only were they skilled in leadership but also often possessed technical and military knowledge lacking in the largely working-class layers that formed the Red Guards. However, many within the Bolshevik Party, especially the Left Communists, fiercely resisted Trotskys proposals. Stalin, and some of the established Red military leaders, also opposed these ideas. Lenin and a majority of party leaders understood the necessity of adopting Trotskys position. Indeed Lenin took Trotskys theme of discipline, order and utilising skills from the within the old classes and adopted it in a much wider social and economic context, supporting the use of managers, professional and technical experts in running factories and other vital parts of economic life. For Lenin, as with Trotsky, the politics of the moment dictated the course of action. Lenin laid his plans before the All-Russian Soviet Executive in April and they agreed on proposals for military training, new disciplinary codes and utilising the skills and expertise of former Tsarist officers. On 22 April, the government set out the policies in a Decree. Under this policy, all workers and peasants who did not hire labour would receive 12 hours of training over an 8-week period every year. The practice of electing officers was abolished and refusing to obey orders became a punishable offence and capital punishment was reintroduced for the most serious breaches of discipline. In seeking to improve army organisation, Trotsky created provincial, county and township war commissariats responsible, among other things, for the general military training of the adult population. Trotskys scheme for a new Red Army did not pass without serious opposition. In April 1918, when he laid his plans before the All-Russian Soviet Executive, he met with opposition from many quarters. His decision to recruit former army officers provoked much outrage from Mensheviks and Left SRs. Martov accused Trotsky of paving the way for a dictator. More seriously, there was opposition from within the Bolshevik Party. The Left Communists rejected the idea of a centralised standing army and saw the recruitment of former officers as a compromise with the old regime. Although the partys Central Committee backed Trotskys plan it was not without misgivings and much behind-the-scenes complaining. Trotskys position on the issue of hiring former officers and specialists touched on a wider issue of relations with the old order. Trotsky and Lenin recognised the reality that the new state lacked skilled professionals, technicians and managers from among the working class. The choice was to ignore the resources available and build from scratch, or to employ such resources on behalf of the revolution and use such people to help train new generations. However, utilising these elements, who were inevitably conservative in outlook and sceptical of the revolution, carried dangers. Some officers were White sympathisers and later defected. But, in the crisis situation of the summer of 1918, the young new state had little practical alternative. To help offset the bias or deviation of the officer corps, political commissars were attached to all the levels of command in a form of dual power. To prevent officers from sabotage or deserting to the Whites, a register was kept of the officers families to be held as possible hostages. The first to volunteer from the old Imperial Army was General Bonch-Bruevich, who was made head of General Staff. Trotsky discussed with other officers and they came over later in April. At the same time, Trotsky always sought to appoint communists and revolutionaries as officers if they had proven to be effective and disciplined leaders in military combat. Nevertheless, eventually the majority of officers were from the old army, and by the end of 1918, 30,000 former officers of the Tsarist Army were serving in the Red Army. Some proved to be traitors or unreliable and Trotsky used serious disciplinary measures if they stepped out of line, including the death penalty and using the officers family as hostages. As well as creating a strong and centralised army, Trotsky set about establishing improved administration, equipment and supplies. In the conditions of 1918, this was difficult but gradually began to have an impact. This was greatly aided by the fact that Trotskys Deputy at the Supreme War Council, directing its day to day activities, was the brilliant organiser Sklyansky, whom Trotsky described as the Carnot of the Russian Revolution (Lazare Carnot was dubbed the Organiser of the Victory in the French Revolutionary Wars following the French Revolution of 1793). By mid-1918, efforts to re-organise and invigorate the Red Army were still on-going and meeting resistance / Image: public domain Finally, Trotsky laid great store in developing intensive educational and propaganda programmes to instil into the new army conscripts a spirit of commitment and devotion to the cause of the revolution. Agitprop techniques in drama, poster art and other methods were an integral element in creating a determined mood in a fighting, disciplined Red Army. Forging an effective army was one matter but Trotsky also succeeded in reorganising the whole supply and administrative apparatus; again, not without struggle. Once the scale and urgency of the situation was realised, he was able to convince the government of the need to ensure the army was properly equipped and armed. This took time, but the process was started as soon as he took over as amy supremo. It was also quickly realised that a volunteer army was going to be insufficient to build the army rapidly to the level needed. This became apparent by the summer of 1918 and measures of conscription were introduced for working class and peasants only. Before conscription, Trotsky made appeals, especially to the Petrograd and Moscow workers, to volunteer, and many did so. These layers formed the heart of the new army, as they were committed and had self-discipline. In May 1918, the Soviet government resorted to partial mobilisation as a response to the crisis caused by the Czech Legion turning against the Bolsheviks. The country was still war-weary and most of the peasants could not be relied upon, so the order applied only to conscript workers in Moscow and Petrograd, plus some in the regions most affected, such as the Don and Kuban areas; 51 counties in Siberia; the Urals and in the Volga Provinces. In July, orders were made to force those from bourgeois backgrounds aged 18-45 to undertake hard and dirty, non-combative tasks on the home front. This was sometimes carried out harshly. The formerly well-to-do classes in towns and countryside were forbidden to bear arms. Eventually, the principle of mobilisation was extended to young workers and peasants throughout the country. In August 1918, the Red Army numbered 331,000. This increased to 550,000 by September and 800,000 by end of the year. In October Lenin, foreseeing the end of the First World War, called for an Army of 1 million. By mid-1918, efforts to re-organise and invigorate the Red Army were still on-going and meeting resistance. Luckily, the White forces were also ill-organised and fractious, whilst the imperial powers were still locked into the First World War. The initial foreign interventions were all peripheral at Murmansk, Archangel and Vladivostok. In central Russia, the Bolsheviks were able to consolidate their power in comparative safety. The Czech Legion and the deepening civil war By the end of March, Germany and her allies had occupied all the areas ceded under the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. There was no certainty they would stop at the agreed treaty line. Feeling that Petrograd was threatened, the Soviet government was moved to Moscow. One fall-out of the peace agreement was the position of a Czech nationalist force, augmented by 30,000 Czech prisoners of war, that had fought with the Russian army. They were now trapped in Russia. Masaryk, the Czech nationalist leader, wanted to deploy them in France, so as to gain allied support for an independent Czechoslovakia after the war. To that end, he ordered them to make their way across Russia by the Trans-Siberian railway to Vladivostok for embarkation. Until this point, the relationship between Bolsheviks and the Czechs was reasonably good and there had been some collaboration against the advance of Germans into the Ukraine. But, despite an agreement on partial disarming and passage through Russia to the East, relations deteriorated. The more reactionary elements of the Czech leaders, urged on by Russian army officers who also served in the Czech army, led to resistance and a revolt by the Legion in May 1918. The British and French were only too eager to exploit Czech discontent to spark opposition to the Bolsheviks and thus establish new White fronts in the central and eastern areas of Russia. In this they succeeded. A plan by the Soviet Government to split the Czech forces as they made their way to the east led to tension, which boiled over in late May, and the Czech forces revolted, easily taking over several key towns along the Trans-Siberian railway. In many areas the Soviet power was weak and the Red forces lacked discipline and strong leadership. In May, the Czech forces revolted, taking towns along the Trans-Siberian railway / Image: public domain By June 1918, the French had moved from apparent neutrality to actively encouraging the Czech forces to stay and assist anti-Bolshevik elements. They saw the role of the Czechs to secure the Trans-Siberian railway in advance of a Japanese intervention from the East. By July, the Czech force had declared itself to be a new eastern front against Bolshevism. Resistance by Red forces in far eastern Siberia was stronger and the Czechs only managed to secure the areas around the railway near Vladivostok. Two quasi-governments emerged following the success of the Czechs. The Western Siberian Commissariat announced its existence on 1 June. It derived its claim to authority from SRs who had been members of the Constituent Assembly. They declared for democracy, goods exchange and the re-establishment of the Constituent Assembly; and the autonomy of Siberia with its own flag. The general assessment of Siberia is that the peasants and workers were largely passive, not having the main concerns of war, hunger and so on of their western counterparts. They were not especially hostile to the Bolsheviks, but Bolshevism was weak in these territories. The initial Western Siberian Government, which had a radical tinge, was soon replaced by more conservative and reactionary elements and by July a purge and oppression of soviets and left elements began in the areas under its control. The second quasi-government to emerge in the central/eastern region became known as the Samara Government, after a town in the Middle Volga where it was set up. Initially comprising SR Party activists it joined up with parts of the Czech Legion and rapidly ABC News(NEW YORK) -- The young activists who inspired March For Our Lives, have released a book about their fight for gun reform. Students Emma Gonzalez, Matt Deitsch and Delaney Tarr helped lead a nearly one-million-strong March For Our Lives against gun violence in Washington, D.C., after 17 people died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. Gonzalez, Deitsch and Tarr on "Good Morning America" Monday talked about the power that young people displayed in uniting for the movement of 800 demonstrations across the globe in March. "It wasn't meeting the celebrities; it wasn't giving my speech because I blacked out during that--don't remember any of it," Tarr said of the March For Our Lives. "The moments where we were looking out over the crowd and we saw all of these young people together for something that they cared about, that was what motivated us." Tarr graduated from Stoneman Douglas in June along with Gonzalez. Deitsch was a graduate of the class of 2016, two years prior to the shooting. He was at home from Santa Monica College for his sister's birthday when the tragedy occurred and joined current students in organizing and activism. In their new book, "Glimmer of Hope: How Tragedy Sparked A Movement," Deitsch writes about how the funerals he attended in the days following the shooting. "It wasn't until I went to [student] Joaquin Oliver's funeral where I saw someone I knew younger than me, in a casket," Deitsch explained. "I knew I had to do something. I had to keep fighting for him and for his family and for my community and for people all around the country that deal with this trauma every single day." As they continue to fight for stricter gun laws, Gonzalez, Deitsch and Tarr also hope to have a more open line of communication with their critics, Tarr said. "They're not realizing that we're not trying take away the 2nd Amendment," Tarr said. "We're trying to make guns safer. We're trying to create legislation that makes it safer for citizens in our country to live day by day, for students to go to school, for people to go to church, all of those things. It's very much [that] people don't necessarily know what it is that we stand for and when we have those conversations and we get to actually communicate with them face to face, we end up reaching common ground." Deitsch said one aim is to get young people to vote. "If young people show up at this election in 2018 and in any election in the future, young people determine the winner, every single time," he said. "We are the largest voting block in this country." Deitsch added, "The polls are in our direction; the feelings of emotions around the country are in our direction. We are hyping up this generation to actually make history on November 6." "Glimmer of Hope" is in stores now. The authors are donating all their proceeds from the book to the March for our Lives Foundation. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The ASEM 12 themed " Global partners for global challenges," will work out measures to promote the ASEM role in boosting multilateral cooperation, connecting Asia with Europe, upholding international law, addressing global challenges, and maintaining peace, security, stability, cooperation and development in the world and the two continents. Over more than twenty years since joining ASEM, Vietnam has been an active and responsible member, participating in significant events in the development path of ASEM. The most prominent contribution of Vietnam was the successful organisation of the fifth ASEM Summit together with five ASEM Ministerial Meetings and the implementation of a number of initiatives in specialised fields of ASEM. So far, Vietnam is considered one of the most active members of the ASEM Forum with 24 initiatives and the co-sponsor of 27 initiatives on practical issues for localities, businesses and the people. Vietnam is one of the initiators and maintainers of the first ASEM cooperation mechanism on water resources management, called "ASEM Dialogue on Sustainable Development", focusing on sub-regional cooperation among the Mekong and Danube countries, contributing to enhancing the Mekong sub-region cooperation on an inter-regional level. Leading the Vietnamese delegation to attend ASEM 12, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is one of the two senior leaders of ASEM to be invited to meet and talk with the Asian and European enterprises in the framework of the 16th Asia-Europe Business Forum. Vietnam is expected to propose two new initiatives on the ASEM conference on promoting inclusive socio-economic development in Asia and Europe and the ASEM seminar on boosting digital economy in the context of the 4.0 industrial revolution, scheduled to take place in Vietnam in 2019. The P4G was formed based on the Danish Government's initiative to develop public-private partnerships and accelerate the implementation of global sustainable development goals by 2030 through the implementation of green growth and facilitating solutions on a global scale. The P4G Summit is attended by eight countries, including Denmark (founder), Chile, Mexico, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Colombia, alongside the participation of international organisations. Within the framework of promoting the activities of the P4G forum, Vietnam organised two workshops in September 2018 on plastic waste and coastal community and plastic waste and the necessity of sorting waste in order to promote law enforcement and effective solutions to reduce plastic waste pollution. Many recommendations of the business community have been recognised by the Government and will be implemented in the future. On December 1, 1972, Austria was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam. We are pleased to see the friendly and cooperative relationship between the two countries grow more extensively, effectively and comprehensively, through high-level visits. The two sides have worked closely together and supported each other at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, ASEM, and ASEAN-EU. As the rotating EU presidency in late 2018, Austria supports the strengthening of Vietnam EU relations. In 2017, two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Austria reached more than US$4 billion, making Austria the sixth largest export market of Vietnam in Europe. In the first seven months of 2018, Vietnam's exports to Austria totalled US$2.58 billion, an increase of 47% over the same period in 2017. As of August 2018, Austria had31 valid projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of US$143.9 million. In 2010 and 2015, the two countries signed a framework agreement on financial cooperation under which the Austrian Government committed to provide EUR250 million to Vietnam. This year, Vietnam and Belgium celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties. The trust and mutual understanding between the two countries have been further strengthened through the exchanges of high-level delegations and cooperative mechanisms. Although Belgium is a small market, trade volume between Vietnam and Belgium is high due to the transit of Vietnamese goods through Belgium to enter other Western European countries. Belgium is currently the seventh largest export market of Vietnam in the EU. Two-way trade revenue reached nearly US$ 2.7 billion in 2017. By 2017, Belgium had62 valid investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of US$595 million. The development cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium started in 1977 and Vietnam is the only Asian country to receive development assistance from the Belgian Government. Since 1977, Belgium has provided Vietnam with loans and non-refundable aid of nearly US$300 million (non-refundable aid accounts for 60%). Belgium is interested in establishing a deeper cooperation partnership with Vietnam in the field of agriculture. Vietnam and the EU officially established diplomatic relations on November 28, 1990. EU-Vietnam relations continue to develop positively with regular exchanges of delegations and meetings. EU is the Vietnams third largest trading partner, the second largest export market and the leading foreign investor in Vietnam. As of June, 2017, 24 of the 28 EU countries had invested in Vietnam with 1,975 valid projects worth US$ 21.7 billion. The EU is also the largest non-refundable aid provider for Vietnam. In the period of 1993 - 2013, the total ODA commitment of the EU reached nearly US$14 billion, accounting for 20% of the total commitment of the international donor community to Vietnam, including approximately US$1.5 billion in non-refundable aid. Both sides are actively boosting the signing of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) in 2018. Denmark has been one of the most important partners of Vietnam in Europe for many years. The two countries set up a strategic partnership in the fields of climate change, energy, environment and green growth in November 2011. This year, Vietnam and Denmark mark the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive partnership. Economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries are growing well with a two-way trade turnover of US$664.6 million in 2017. Denmark was one of the first Nordic countries to invest in Vietnam. Currently, Denmark has 132 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of over US$686 million. Since 1972, Denmark has provided Vietnam with over US$1 billion worth of ODA. In the area of climate change adaptation, Denmark is the largest donor of Vietnam with a grant of up to US$ 40 million for the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Programme". The Vietnamese community in Denmark consists of approximately15,000 people who have stable and harmonious lives. The PMs attendance at the ASEM 12, the P4G and official visits to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and the EU aims to affirm Vietnams foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development and diversify international relations and actively integrate into the world. His trip also intends to strengthen the good relationship between Vietnam and its partner countries, contributing to the building and shaping of multilateral institutions and effective participation in addressing global challenges and enhancing the prestige and position of Vietnam in the international arena. Monday 1 October marked the one-year anniversary of the declaration of independence by anglophone separatists in the southwest of Cameroon, when they announced the birth of a new nation: Ambazonia. That declaration of independence provoked a brutal clampdown by the Cameroonian government, leading to hundreds of civilians and dozens of members of the security forces being killed over the past year. In the build-up to the anniversary, Adolphe Lele Lafrique, governor of the largely English-speaking northwest region, announced a curfew, stating that: The movement of people between areas in the northwest is banned for a period of 48 hours from Sunday, 30 September until Monday, 1 October. Similar measures were in force across Cameroons other anglophone areas. President Biya responded to the declaration of Ambazonia and the subsequent anglophone insurgency with repression, which was met in turn with bloody attacks by separatists / Image: US Dept of State In Buea, a town in the southwest that has been at the heart of the anglophone insurgency, officials also announced a raft of special security measures. All shops and bars were closed, cultural and sporting events cancelled and public and private transport suspended throughout Sunday and Monday. The two-day curfew also affected the southwestern coastal towns of Limbe and Tiko. This came a week ahead of polls opening for Cameroons presidential elections on 7 October, a vote that anglophone secessionists vowed to disrupt. 85-year-old, Francophone incumbent Paul Biya is seeking a seventh term, having already been in power since 1982, amidst rampant corruption and brutal repression of the anglophone minority (which represents approximately 20 percent of the Cameroonian population). However, opposition leader Maurice Kamto has already declared himself the winner ahead of the official results (not uncommon in African nations), in an election that has seen an extremely low turnout in anglophone areas. Last years independence declaration triggered a crisis that has cast a shadow over the current elections, with tit-for-tat skirmishes between the security forces and anglophone separatists. Cameroons two English-speaking regions the North-West and Southwest have seen almost daily violence that has left at least 400 dead in the past year. Biya responded to the declaration of Ambazonia and the subsequent anglophone insurgency with repression, which was met in turn with bloody attacks by separatists, who have killed troops and police and torched schools and other symbols of the Cameroonian state. Six civilians and two police officers were killed in Cameroons English-speaking southwest, and two police officers were allegedly killed and a policewoman injured on the outskirts of the beach resort town of Limbe. Meanwhile, in Buea, the capital of the southwest region, police shot dead six civilians and injured another. Soldiers and separatists also traded gunfire in Bamenda, the main city in the anglophone northwest region. Last years independence declaration triggered a crisis that has cast a shadow over the current elections, with tit-for-tat skirmishes between the security forces and anglophone separatists / Image: fair use Cameroon is undergoing a crisis that has its roots in the imperialist domination and carving up of the country. The anglophone and francophone divisions date back to British and French occupations, which took over from German colonisation. The two imperialist powers divided Cameroon into separate spheres of influence that were later formalised by the League of Nations: the forerunner to the UN. The much-larger French colony was eventually granted independence in 1960, followed a year later by the British colony also gaining independence. Some of the anglophone areas chose to join newly-formed Nigeria, while others remained part of the Federation of Cameroon. In this article, we will situate the present situation within its historical context, and explain how the bloody hand of capitalist imperialism set the current turmoil in motion. The situation today Violent skirmishes have become commonplace in anglophone Cameroon. A typical clash took place on 14 September at 9pm, at a roadside checkpoint on the outskirts of Bamenda: the capital of the northwest region and home to many of the separatist fighters embroiled in the ongoing civil war. A storm was raging, and the thunder was punctuated by machine gun fire, exchanged between anglophone separatist fighters and a gendarmerie brigade. When the French-speaking officer called to cease fire, six separatist fighters bodies were strewn across the pothole-laden road. This is but one example of the daily fighting between English-speaking rebels and the francophone security forces loyal to the government of President Biya in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde. The re-election of Biya for another seven years in power is a foregone conclusion (although the official count might not be announced for weeks after the polls opened on 7 October). Nevertheless, the government engaged in a renewed crackdown on separatists to try and reinstate law and order in the anglophone regions of Cameroon, so the vote could take place. It was always a fanciful idea that the military would be able to sufficiently quell the separatists to allow even a semblance of an election to occur in these regions, as the civil war is currently at fever pitch. Predictably, the turnout in these regions was extremely low: less than 5 percent, compared to 55 percent for francophone Cameroon. Violent skirmishes between government forces and pro-independence fighters have become commonplace in anglophone Cameroon / Image: fair use Separatists have escalated their actions in recent years, from demonstrations and strikes for language recognition, to organising the Ambazonian Defence Force in the hope of making the region ungovernable so that they will be able to create a new state for English-speakers. There is a deep-seated hatred towards the presidency of Biya from those fighting for the establishment of Ambazonia, as anglophones have faced discrimination for decades, coupled with the pillaging of natural resources from their homes. Oil was discovered in the English-speaking regions in 1970, but the main beneficiaries have been the foreign companies granted rights for extraction, and the Biya government itself, which has reaped the spoils while systematically underfunding the anglophone areas of Cameroon. The spark for the current situation can be traced to late 2016, when English-speaking teachers were ordered to teach in French-speaking regions and French-speaking teachers were moved in to replace them, meaning learning was forcibly conducted in French. Courts were also ordered to conduct their proceedings solely in French, meaning that English-speaking lawyers could no longer represent their clients, and defendants in the anglophone population were unable to understand what was happening to them in court. This provocation led to the teachers and lawyers going on strike. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding full recognition of their language rights. Security forces tried to suppress the situation by firing into a demonstration, killing 17. These murders hardened many of the anglophone population into supporting independence for Ambazonia and also had the effect of creating armed groups, which responded in kind by killing soldiers, police officers, and people they believed to be collaborating with the authorities. The government in Yaounde says more than 120 of their security forces have been killed in these actions, while the United Nations says the fighting has caused 160,000 people to flee their homes and 34,000 more to seek sanctuary in neighbouring Nigeria. The number of civilian deaths cannot be ascertained due to the continued fighting in the region. The Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), which reports directly to President Biya, is trained in combat and torture techniques by US, French, Israeli and British military personnel / Image: US Military Government forces have been accused of committing genocide against the anglophone population by international organisations such as Amnesty International. Villages in anglophone areas have been systematically targeted and razed to the ground. The internet has been suspended, curfews instigated, and new anti-terrorism legislation has been passed that has placed hundreds of people on death row for organising protests against the government. President Biya has declared war on all separatists. The elite wing of the military, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), which reports directly to President Biya and is trained by US, French, Israeli and British military personnel, has been videoed executing unarmed women and their toddlers, faced corroborated reports of shooting into peaceful demonstrations and also stands accused of implementing torture techniques (learned from the Americans) on the separatists. The actions of the government have thrown petrol on a situation that has its roots in the imperialist carving up of Africa and the reunification of Cameroon in 1961. German imperialism and partition Todays Republic of Cameroon was created out of territory that was dominated by German imperialism from 1884 to 1916, called Kamerun. The Germans, through companies mainly based in Hamburg and Bremen, conducted plantation activities during the European imperialists Scramble for Africa and subjugated the local populations, who spoke a wide range of local languages and dialects. Unsurprisingly, the German colonisation of Cameroon did not succeed in uniting the populations in a common sense of nationhood but did leave a legacy of a common name for the region, which at a later date was utilised to defend imperialist interests. Cameroon boundary changes since 1901 / Image: Roke At the end of the First World War, British and French troops, with some help from Belgian forces, managed to expel the German military from Kamerun. The 1919 London Declaration, which was decided solely between France and Britain, granted one-fifth of the former German colony to Britain and the remainder to France. The League of Nations accepted the partition of Kamerun in 1922. This is what created the future anglophone minority in Cameroon and a francophone majority in the rest of the country. London chose to split her new war spoils and formed a Northern zone, where Islam was practiced by large numbers of people, and a Southern zone where Christianity was more widely followed. Both were to be administered by the neighbouring British colony of Nigeria. After the Second World War, Britain and France were drastically weakened as world powers and the US emerged as the leader of the so-called free world. Through the United Nations, and a recognition on the part of the old imperialist powers that they could no longer govern in the same ways as before, the US pushed for the Cameroonian mandates granted by the League of Nations to be transferred to UN Trusteeships with the expressed understanding they would be granted independence at a yet-undecided future date. At this time, the call for reunification of Cameroon had very little support among the local populations, split between the French and British-controlled areas. But a movement around this demand would materialise; supported and pushed, in the first instance, by Cameroons western-educated elites who saw opportunities to further their own prestige and political goals. Cynical maneuverings It was this elite that had previously adapted very easily to the German, and then French or British, colonial rule that saw the United Nations as a vehicle for promoting their project. One of these men was Paul Soppo Priso: Cameroons first native millionaire. Soppo Priso was born to one of the most important families in Douala and his schooling led him to train in topography: the study of mapping and surveying land. After the fall of Kamerun from German control, and its consolidation into French and British hands, many German families decided to sell their assets and move back to the Motherland. Soppo Priso put his training to good use, managing to purchase a construction company and some land at a very cheap rate from a fleeing German family. This would later be the basis of Soppo Prisos wealth: the extraction of raw materials, predominantly stone, to be sold to foreign companies. During the 1930s, Soppo Priso would develop extremely close relationships with the French colonial government and as a result held two ministerial positions in the colonial regime. The French then sponsored Soppo Priso to form the Jeunesse Camerounaise Francaise (JEUCAFRA). JEUCAFRAs main political aim was to undercut Hitlers intentions of recovering Germanys lost colonial possessions. Soppo Priso: Cameroon's first native millionaire / Image: public domain JEUCAFRA had success in winning support from Cameroons business elite, who had benefited from the German exodus and from a general anti-German sentiment. Their first demonstration was held in January 1939 in front of the office of the High Commissioner of the French Republic in Cameroon and was attended by over 20,000 people. JEUCAFRA was wound up after serving its purpose at the end of the Second World War, but Soppo Priso now had grander political intentions and launched his second political adventure, Rassemblement Camerounais (RACAM). Soppo Priso ensured that RACAM made reunification a cornerstone of its politics. This policy was cynically developed to boost Soppo Priso politically. He had seen, at the United Nations, how the idea of unification of the Ewe people in Tongoland whose territory was split between Britain and France after the Germans lost control in 1916 had garnered support. As a result, Britain and France, to undercut public support for unification of the Ewe, were forced to grant greater political autonomy to Tongoland, which was seized upon by the native Togolese politicians of the same ilk as Soppo Priso. Thus, Soppo Priso believed he could use the United Nations and the idea of reunification to further himself and the class which he represented. The UPC Outside the country, RACAM had a focus on moderation and not upsetting their French masters unduly. This would not be a movement fit for young radicals, who were influenced by Marxist ideas and who had links with the French CGT trade union. On 10 April 1948, a small grouping of radical nationalists met in a bar in Douala Bassa quarter and formed the Unions des Populations du Cameroun (UPC). The UPC advocated immediate reunification and had a focus on garnering local support for their cause. At first, the UPCs work was confined to the wealthier strata and organised workers within the French provinces of Cameroon, but quickly spread to British-controlled Cameroon through francophone emigres working on the plantations there, who had fled the harshness and oppressiveness of the French colonial system. Over 17,000 such workers were living in the Southwest British province of Cameroon in 1950. In 1948, radical nationalists formed the Unions des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), which had links with the French CGT union / Image: public domain It was these workers on the plantations who initially formed the real basis of support for unification of Cameroon. It was a logical way for them to throw off the yoke of French imperialism and the stigmatisation they now faced from the British authorities, while linking back to their kin still in the French-controlled Cameroon. The idea of unification also found fertile ground among sections of anglophone workers, who for a long time had suspected that Nigeria was being favoured for funding in the region, given that Britain was using the nation to govern their portion of Cameroon. This sentiment was seized upon by various new political formations, most of which mixed anti-francophone sentiments with a demand for an independent province, separate from British Nigeria and French Cameroon. The UPC was the only organisation with unification politics that managed to span the anglo-francophone divide with some success. By 1950 they were considered the largest political grouping in the whole of Cameroon, although in reality they were still limited mainly to the southwest of the country, particularly in areas where the ethnic populations of Bassa and Bamileke peoples were most prominent. The United Nations Although the UPC had a clear focus on building locally they also had illusions that they could succeed in appealing to the United Nations to force France and Britain to respect the wording of the Trusteeships granted to them. As Article 76 of the Trusteeships Charter said: The basic objectives of the Trusteeship system, in accordance with the Purposes of the United Nations laid down in Article 1 of the present Charter shall be: A) to promote international peace and security; B) to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the Trust Territories and their progressive development toward self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned. In 1952, the UPC leadership under Ruben Um Nyobe asked if they could present their case as an oral petition to the General Assembly of the UN. Um Nyobe believed that he could make a compelling case to the General Assembly that the British and French troops were occupying forces, and in order to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the peoples of Cameroon, unification must take place against the whims of imperialism. Um Nyobe tried but his words were greeted with no support. The UPC would continue, under Um Nyobes leadership to try to convince the United Nations of this argument, but to no avail. A tactic was developed by the UPC to send petition after petition to the General Assembly asking for them to push for unification of the region. Over the 1950s, hundreds of petitions each with tens of thousands of names were sent from the UPC to the General Assembly. The problem for the UPC was that their argument, although not fundamentally incorrect (that is, the imperialist looting of Africa was holding back the development of its people) ignored the fact that the United Nations does not work as a debating club, where argument and debate fundamentally affect their course of action. The UN is governed by the main imperialist powers and can only act when these powers agree. Sadly, the fledgling UPC failed to understand this and spent untold time gathering signatures and sending petitions and letters to the UN. Banning the UPC, and the Hidden War The activities of the UPC and their politics of anti-colonialism, while building local meetings and branches, made it impossible for them to avoid the ire of the authorities, especially at first in the French-controlled land. The UPC was banned in French-controlled Cameroon in 1955, following riots in major cities when they had a membership of over 100,000 and 450 branches. The UPC was driven underground and their headquarters and buildings burned to the ground. Many of the leadership fled to the British-controlled regions, where they were not persecuted to the same degree. UPC leaders were systematically targeted and decapitated by French troops. The survivors fled or were driven underground / Image: public domain The Catholic Church and traditional tribal leaders also declared war on the UPC and their influence spanned beyond the borders of the French-controlled territories. The Church accused anyone associated with the UPC of being violent communists who were in a conspiracy to destroy their institution. The old tribal rulers, whose authority was based on a mix of ethnic support and old relationships (and whom the UPC labelled parasitic, feudal baronsripe for destruction) called for those loyal to their tribes to run the UPC into the ground. These calls united the most backward layers in Cameroonian society against the UPC. The quelling of the UPC was brutal. It is estimated that it resulted in over 75,000 civilian deaths. Most of these people hailed from the Bamileke ethnic group and that is why this ruthless massacre is known as either the Bamileke War or the Hidden War due to the limited international attention to the atrocity. The number of deaths is hard to estimate, yet General Max Briand, the commander of all French military forces in Cameroon, gave a report that an estimated 20,000 terrorists were killed in 1960 alone. The French, now backed by the British authorities, also instigated a policy to decapitate the leadership of the UPC, which would, in their view, put an end to the communist plague gripping the country. In September 1958, French troops tracked down Um Nyobe and succeeded in assassinating him in his own home, while his mother watched. In 1958, UPC leader Um Nyobe was assassinated by French troops in his own home, while his mother watched / Image: public domain The UPC had been successfully smashed by the full force of the state. The membership had been killed, imprisoned or driven underground. The leaders of the organisation were murdered or in exile. Also, those leaders who did manage to seek refuge in neighbouring countries were split between the support of either the Moscow or Chinese leaderships in the ongoing Sino-Soviet split. Devoid of any relationships with the workers and peasants movements in Cameroon, the shell of the UPC quickly deteriorated further and eventually moved away from any kind of socialist leanings; ultimately accepting capitalism and focusing solely on national liberation through the armed struggle. The UPC as a progressive political force was now dead. Towards independence and reunification RACAM under Soppo Priso was forced to wind up in 1947 under pressure from the French authorities, as they believed at this time that any unification demands would undermine their continued control in the region. Soppo Priso would go from millionaire to billionaire by successfully enriching himself under the new leadership of Ahmadou Ahidjo in French-controlled Cameroon. Ahidjos rise to power coincided with a change in tactics on the part of the French authorities. The French ruling class was facing a protracted war not only in Cameroon but also on a larger scale in Algeria, Frances most prized colony. The Algerian crisis of 1958 brought de Gaulle to power and his government prioritised maintaining Algeria at the expense of French-controlled West Africa. From 1958 to 1960, all 12 of their colonies in West Africa were granted independence: an independence that would see the main leaders handpicked in the first instance by the French authorities, as those political groups opposed to French interference were outlawed as terrorist groups. The doctrine of the French at this stage was to find a small but influential elite that was sufficiently satisfied with the status quo to refrain from anti-French sentiment to take up leadership positions post-independence. Independence for French-controlled was granted under Ahmadou Ahidjo's leadership on the condition that the republic remain subordinate to France / Image: public domain Ahidjo was no different in this regard and formed closer links with France through the French Union. With Ahidjo in place and the decision on independence already made by the French authorities, the UN sent a fact-finding mission in 1958 to see if Cameroon should move from Trusteeship to independence. The fact-finding mission came back, agreeing with the new French position, that independence should be granted, with Ahidjos government to rule the new territory. When independence was granted in 1960, Ahidjo declared that Cameroon would be a liberal, capitalist state that would depend upon the goodwill and aid of the French. Ahidjo was indifferent towards unification of the British-controlled area with the newly formed republic. He simply stated that he would leave it to the people of the region to decide their future and that he would not stand in their way if they chose to join. During this time, the British held elections in the areas under their control. A party called the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) won the elections in the Christian southern provinces by alluding to unification with the rest of Cameroon. The idea of unification, built up by the UPC, still gripped the minds of the remaining emigre workers and radical students, although this was still a minority position in the region. The majority view of the people, at this stage, was for independence from Nigeria and Cameroon and for the setting up of their own independent state. British imperialism feared that allowing a newly independent state to be set up could become a source of instability and thus affect economic relations and, most importantly, their own looting in the region. Therefore, through their power at the UN, the British government pushed for an upcoming referendum to decide the future of the region, on a simple choice of either union with Nigeria or with Cameroon. The British authorities achieved such a position at the UN of ignoring the peoples choice of independence by a dual tactic of arguing that such a state would be unstable and, by extension, could fall prey to communism, and that the people of these regions couldnt comprehend a referendum with more than two options! When the selective referendum was held, the northern region decided to join Nigeria and the southern provinces voted to join Cameroon. The dictatorships of Ahidjo to Biya The war against the UPC was still raging when unification took place in 1961. Ahidjo used this as justification to increase his authoritarian rule and instigated a repressive dictatorship backed by French troops. In 1966, he managed to achieve one of his major political goals and dissolved all other political parties, forming a one-party state that he called a ruling democracy. The limited press freedoms and freedom of association that existed before independence were now completely removed. Ahidjo then attempted to project himself as father of the nation and plastered his image on billboards entering and leaving every town. To question Ahidjos authority in public was now considered suicidal, as the last of the dwindling UPC militants were drowned in blood. In 1972, president Ahidjo, after proclaiming an end to the UPC, centralised the little remaining political structures outside of his direct control and destroyed any federal structures that still existed for the provinces. This was achieved through a sham constitutional referendum with a turnout reported to be 99.8 percent, with 99.9 percent of people supposedly voting in favour of Ahidjos new powers. This further realignment of political power saw no serious condemnation from France, Britain or the UN. President Biyas continued 36-year rule is characterised by brutal repression of anyone who opposes him, and especially the English-speaking peoples of the former British colony / Image: Flickr, UN From the period of 1960 to 1982 Ahidjo won five elections under the ruling democracy system, with no less than 100 percent of the vote each time and a reported turnout of at least 99 percent. In 1982, with Ahidjo reaching his 58th birthday and 22nd year in power, the situation within his own party was growing increasingly fractious and French imperialism was also becoming concerned that Ahidjo was mounting a move to break with them. Thus, in unclear circumstances, Ahidjo resigned (amidst reports of bad health) and President Biya replaced him. The new president didnt waste time in consolidating the existing power structure in his own image. Images of Ahidjo were removed and replaced with those of Biya and when there was an apparent coup attempt against Biya in 1984 the finger was pointed solely at Ahidjo. Ahidjo was then forced to flee the country and was consequently sentenced to death by the new regime in his absence for allegedly trying to overthrow the ruling democracy that he had established to begin with! President Biya at first promised increased freedoms, yet what came to pass was the exact opposite. He moved to rename the country from United Republic of Cameroon to just the Republic of Cameroon a name that francophone Cameroon had before the 1961 unification. This move angered the peoples in the anglophone regions and marked a furthering of direct discriminatory policies and a process of forced assimilation of English speakers in the country. Trapped between two devils President Biyas continued 36-year rule is characterised by brutal repression of anyone who opposes him, and especially the peoples of the former British colony. Although there was an opening up of limited freedoms of the press and a renewal of opposition parties in 1991, each subsequent election has been clearly fraudulent in Biyas favour including the present one, which has seen Biya leverage the entirety of the state against the opposition. Such is his confidence of victory, he has barely bothered to campaign, having organised only one rally, in the country's north region. Zanda Carol, on violence in Buea, in English-speaking Cameroon: We are between two devils / Image: fair use This is the backdrop to the ongoing fighting today in Cameroon. Zanda Carol, from Buea in English-speaking Cameroon, said his city was a ghost town on election day. Soldiers patrolled the streets, while armed insurgents declared and violently enforced a ban on voting in what they called an illegal poll. We are between two devils, Carol said. France and Britain have supported, and continue to support, the dictatorships of first Ahidjo and then Biya. The working peoples and peasants of Cameroon, and Africa more broadly, have been subjugated to the will of imperialism, aided at times through mechanisms of the United Nations, to continue their looting of the continent. What is needed is to renew struggle based on the best traditions of the UPC and fight for true international socialism, which can unite the working people and peasants of Western Africa under the banner of genuine anti-imperialist struggle. This can only be achieved by expropriating the multinational corporations that are sucking the blood out of this potentially rich continent, and by building a socialist federation throughout the whole region. Today, other local schools can enter the 2018-2019 contest https://www.samsung.com/us/solvefortomorrow/ for a chance to win part of the $2 million prize. This year, Samsung will donate to the first 3,500 teachers who simply submit an entry, thanks to a new partnership with http://www.DonorsChoose.org, the nations largest crowdfunding site for teachers and public-school classrooms. Does your classroom have a bright idea? Thanks to a national contest, teachers and students in grades 6-12 can turn their bright ideas into cash. Last year, Lewistown Middle School was named state winner in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest for their work developing an emergency relief app that allows users to communicate in real-time via text message to ensure those in need receive help during emergencies. https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2018/10/12/montana-stem-contest-samsung-lewistown-sunburst/1616289002/ When Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross instructed the Census Bureau earlier this year to include a question on the decennial census about the citizenship of residents, he offered a specific rationale. Having data on citizenship, he wrote, would allow the government to better enforce the Voting Rights Act, Civil-Rights-era legislation meant to protect voting from discriminatory policies. This rationale was quickly treated with skepticism. The Trump administration has not in other significant ways championed the importance of Americans to vote or seemed particularly concerned about cracking down on efforts to limit voting. In fact, President Trump convened a commission meant to study the purported issue of voter fraud, an effort that in other places has been a precursor to new laws making voting more difficult, not easier. Trumps attorney general, Jeff Sessions, even praised a 2013 Supreme Court decision that gutted the rule. So what was the rationale? Newly released emails from the Commerce Department offer an unsurprising answer. By Philip Bump https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/12/new-emails-reveal-central-political-motivation-changing-census/?utm_term=.d5d76275ba2c The congress voted 51 members to the associations executive committee for 2018-2023 term, with Luong Phan Cu re-elected as its president. During the past tenure, the VUFA, consisting of over 300 members nationwide, had made efforts to diversify external activities and boost relations between the Vietnamese and Uzbek people via the communications work and the exchange of delegations as well as various cooperation and people-to-people activities. Setting goals for the new tenure, participants agreed to enhance the associations operations and expand the Vietnam-Uzbekistan traditional ties and comprehensive cooperation. New tasks mentioned at the congress included building its cooperation plan and programme for 2018-2023 and an annual cooperation plan with the Uzbekistan-Vietnam Friendship Association, and spreading information on Vietnam among Uzbek people through delegation exchanges, economic partnerships, and cultural and tourism exchanges. Lauding the VUFAs performance and agreeing with its new tasks, Don Tuan Phong, Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO), suggested a number of measures to step up people-to-people diplomacy with Uzbekistan in the coming time. He said the association should focus on supporting the development of trade-investment partnerships between the two countries enterprises, diversifying its activities, expanding membership, and promoting Vietnams images among Uzbek people. VUFA members and Vietnamese people should also get frequent updates on Uzbekistan and its relations with Vietnam, he noted. Speaking at the congress, Ishanxodjaev Kamoliddin Nuriddinovich, vice chairman of the Uzbekistan committee for friendship and cooperation with foreign countries, said the Uzbek people always stand side-by-side with their Vietnamese counterparts in order to push up bilateral cooperation across all spheres. On the occasion, the VUFA received a Friendship Order bestowed by the Vietnamese President for its contributions to Vietnam-Uzbekistan friendship and solidarity in the past time. 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. The PM was received at the airport by representatives from the Austrian PMs Office, the Austrian Ambassador to Vietnam, Vietnamese Ambassador to Austria Le Dung and officials of the Vietnamese Embassy, ambassadors of ASEAN member countries in Austria, and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Austria and some European countries. Shortly after his arrival in Vienna, PM Phuc met with officials and employees at the Vietnamese Embassy in Austria, as well as representatives of the Vietnamese community in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. On behalf of the Party and State leaders, PM Phuc extended his sincere regards to the overseas Vietnamese, encouraging them to foster solidarity and mutual support to integrate well in the native society. He also praised the Vietnamese Embassy for its preparation efforts, which would contribute to the success of the visit. Expressing his pleasure at the overseas Vietnamese communitys sentiments towards the country, PM Phuc informed them of Vietnams socio-economic development situation over recent times, emphasising that the leaders of European countries highly appreciate the Vietnamese community for their intelligence, diligence, hard work and fine compliance with the host countries law. The overseas Vietnamese community is an integral part of the Vietnamese nation, he said, asking the overseas Vietnamese to preserve the Vietnamese culture and language in their second and third generations. The PM urged the overseas Vietnamese to abide by the host nations law, condemn acts of law violation and work to safeguard the prestige of the Vietnamese people. Speaking at the event, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Defence Minister and head of the Defence Ministrys steering committee on Vietnams participation in UN peacekeeping operations, encouraged the field hospitals staff to uphold the spirit of solidarity and mutual support to overcome all difficulties and effectively fulfill the assigned tasks, thus advertising the image of Uncle Hos soldiers to international friends. He asked the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department to effectively implement policies for the families and relatives of the field hospitals officials and soldiers to free them from worries, so they will be able to focus on their peacekeeping missions in South Sudan. The Ministry of Defence will continue its coordination with the agencies and units concerned to create the best possible conditions for the Level-2 Field Hospital No. 1 to effectively perform their tasks in South Sudan, contributing to enhancing the international prestige and position of Vietnam as a whole, and the Vietnam Peoples Army in particular. Deputy Defence Minister, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, poses with the second team of Vietnam's Level-2 Field Hospital No. 1. (Photo: VNA) On behalf of the officials and soldiers, Maj. Nguyen Thanh Cong, Deputy Director of the Level-2 Field Hospital No. 1, pledged to comply with the requests of the Defence Ministry leaders, while upholding the spirit of solidarity-friendship-discipline-safety-victory in order to successfully perform the UN peacekeeping missions. As planned, 31 officials and soldiers on the second team of Vietnams Level-2 Field Hospital No. 1 boarded the C17 airplane of the Royal Australian Air Force, together with 30 tonnes of goods and medicine, to depart for South Sudan to join 32 officials and soldiers of the first team, who set off two weeks ago. The Level-2 Field Hospital No. 1 is the first unit of Vietnams peacekeeping forces to directly engage in UN peacekeeping operations. It will replace the UKs Level-2 Field Hospital in Bentiu, South Sudan, and take on the responsibility of caring for the health of officials and employees of the UN Mission in South Sudan over a one-year term. 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. "The residents were really not interested in the bike lane, or the sidewalk pedestrian access. And they had a concern about parking along the roadway, if they had guests or parties," Engineer Mary Stover. Education Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu. Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu. Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events: International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu. EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu. Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets June Homecoming: Participant $18 per person; Sustainer $25 per person; Benefactor $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events: SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available for information call 610-275-1960 Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above) SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. 4 p.m. computers are available during those hours. Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m. Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863. Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376. Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com. The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes: Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020. CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313. The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events: Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m. Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m. Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30. Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m. The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301. For Kids & Families The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443. Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950. Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required. The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950. Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus. Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage. Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun. Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train. Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world! Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class. Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org. Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583. Community Events at the Ambler Y: -YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register. Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org. Health Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot. The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information. Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245. Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net. Spring Aquatic Programs UDHS Pool: -Summer is just around the corner Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required. Shallow Water Aerobics Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR. Adult Swim Instructions Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR -Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21. -Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m. -Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons. -Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates. Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994. SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com. Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org. Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs: FITNESS CLASSES Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month. Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30 9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly. SUPPORT GROUPS Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000. Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30 7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047. New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m. 12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30 4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931. Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325. Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes. Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com. Librarytalk Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744 www.upperdublinlibrary.org APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS: Storytimes: Please register in the library. o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m. o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m. o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6. APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS: North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS: NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org. One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register contact info above. Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744. o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register. Meetings: Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m. Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m. Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org. For children and teens at Blue Bell: * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m. * May 14 Despicable Me * June 11 Alpha and Omega * Special Events * April watch for date of spring/Easter events * April 14 at 4:30 p.m. Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children. * April 14 at 7 p.m. Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided. * April 16 at 1 p.m. Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King. * April 16 at 1:30 p.m. Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes? * April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button. * April 30 through May 3 Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults. * May sign up for Science in the Summer * June sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children * June sign up for Summer Reading, all ages For adults at Blue Bell: * Daytime Book Discussion Group fourth Tuesday, Jan April at 1:30 p.m. * April 26 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Night-time Book Discussion Group third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. o April 19 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked? *Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs * Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class. * Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class. * Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m. * Giant Book Sale, April 29 May 3 o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults! o Held during library hours. o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m. o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join. * Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series o May 11 at 1 p.m. Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society * Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room. * Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read. * Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome. * Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome. *Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older. * Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours * Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours * Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday! Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library. * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * For adults: * Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn. * Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net * Special Events: * April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. * April 19 at 7 p.m. Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m. * April 21 at 7 p.m. Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades. *May 2 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. *May 10 Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *May 12 at 1:30p.m. Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. *May 17 Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *June 13 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. Meetings and Lectures The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833. The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313. Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200. The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/. LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings. Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org. Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org) -Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them. The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter. For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps. Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin. Special Events The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County. The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065. Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members. Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex. The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com. The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348. The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org. Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163. The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu. The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com. The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net. Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages. 13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries. Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family. The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler. JPRN Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike. Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies. Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately. Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways. Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table. Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374 Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall: -Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store. Music and Theater The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html. Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free. The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org Religious News The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276. Reunions St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net. Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572. Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779. Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411. Support New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149. PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931. The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296. Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656. Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group every other Wednesday, 7 8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information. CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7 8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich, Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. The UVAE was set up in October 2016, aiming to connect Vietnamese associations in European countries. At the meeting, PM Phuc applauded the efforts and achievements of the UVAE and VAC with various activities held in the host countries and urged them to encourage the Vietnamese abroad to abide by local laws and support each other. The leader said he will assign the relevant ministries and agencies to step up measures to improve the efficiency of Vietnamese language teaching and learning among overseas Vietnamese, thus contributing to preserving the traditional culture and enhancing solidarity between Vietnamese expatriates. Nguyen Duy Nhien, a UVAE member and VAC President, said large-scale activities launched by the association have spread across European countries. Furthermore, the association has organised a range of activities in support of the homeland. PM Phuc, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam arrived in Vienna on the afternoon of October 14 (local time), beginning an official visit to Austria at the invitation of his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz. Austria is the first stop for the PM during his trip to Europe, during which he will also pay official visits to Belgium and Denmark, make a working visit to the European Union and attend the 12th ASEM Summit (ASEM 12) and the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 Summit (P4G). The two leaders inspected the honour guards and greeted government members and officials of both nations. They convened a retreat before holding official talks. Austria was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1972. Bilateral ties have so far thrived in diverse areas with the regular exchange of high-level visits and mutual support at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the ASEAN-EU Summit. Bilateral trade has grown in recent years, with Vietnam exporting mobile phones and components, footwear, wood and wooden furniture, apparel, machines and equipment to Austria. Vietnam mainly imports pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, machines and equipment, paper, animal feed and materials from Austria. Two-way trade surpassed US$ 4 billion last year, up 42 percent from 2016. Austria became the sixth largest importer of Vietnamese goods in Europe. In the first seven months of 2018, Vietnams exports to the European country reached US$2.58 billion, up 47 percent year-on-year, while its imports fell by 16 percent to US$ 167 million. As of August 2018, Austria recorded 31 valid projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of US$ 143.9 million, ranking 43rd out of 129 countries and territories investing in the Asian country. During the Austrian Presidents visit to Vietnam in May 2012, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on cultural cooperation, thus laying a foundation for bilateral ties in this field. Each year, Austria provides about 20 post-graduate scholarships for Vietnam. The Austrian Embassy in Hanoi also provides teaching materials and equipment for local universities offering German language courses. MERIDEN Candidates seeking state legislative seats will field questions on key campaign issues during a forum Thursday at Washington Middle School. The forum, free and open to the public, will be held 6 p.m. Thursday at Washington Middle School, 1225 N. Broad Street, and will include candidates running in the 13th Senate District and 82nd and 83rd House districts. Each candidate in the 13th, 82nd and 83rd district races has confirmed they will participate. The Record-Journal, Midstate Chamber of Commerce and Meriden Public Schools are sponsoring the forum, which will be moderated by Mike Savino, the Record-Journals local and state news editor. Candidates will field questions from panelists from the Record-Journal and Midstate chamber, as well as questions submitted from the public. Each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer direct questions and their opponent will have one minute to give a rebuttal. Each candidate will also be given 90 seconds to make a closing statement. Republican incumbent Len Suzio is seeking re-election in the 13th Senate District, which covers all of Meriden and Middlefield and parts of Middletown and Cheshire, against Democrat Mary Daugherty Abrams, a longtime Meriden resident and retired school administrator seeking her first public office. Abrams won a primary in August against 24-year-old Fairfield transplant Alex Tiktinsky to earn the Democratic nomination. Democratic incumbent Catherine Abercrombie is being challenged in the 83rd House District, covering parts of Meriden and Berlin, by Republican Lou Arata and Libertarian candidate Roger Misbach, both seeking their first term. In the 82nd House District, which covers parts of Meriden and Middlefield, Democratic incumbent Emil Buddy Altobello is seeking his 13th consecutive term against Republican Ernestine Holloway, who also ran for mayor in Meriden as a petitioning candidate last year. Participation in the forum is limited to candidates in contested races. Hilda Santiago, Democratic incumbent seeking reelection in the 84th House District, is running unopposed. Record-Journal Editor Ralph Tomaselli called the forum an extension of one of the papers primary missions to provide information for the electorate. Staff members have already put a lot of time and effort into planning for the forum. I am proud of those efforts and appreciate the contributions from our partners, he said. Midstate Chamber of Commerce President Sean Moore said the chamber wants our communities to be as informed as possible before they go into the voting booth. The chamber, as a business organization, wants to make sure candidates are putting forth an agenda and platform that supports business growth, he added. Were in an area with a higher-than-state-average unemployment rate, so this is the (candidates) time to put their platform forward, Moore said. mzabierek@record-journal.com 203-317-2279 Twitter: @MatthewZabierek SOUTHINGTON Town officials are looking to attract another for-profit college to the Lincoln College of New England campus, while the propertys owners hope Southington will add sewer service to the 33-acre site. Economic Developer Coordinator Lou Perillo said hes sent well over 150 letters to colleges and universities that may be interested in moving or expanding to Southington. Declining revenues led Lincoln Educational Services, the parent company of the Southington campus, to close the location. Lincoln signed an agreement with Goodwin College to take students at Goodwins East Hartford campus for the fall semester. Some students will complete their final classes in Southington. Lincoln is a for-profit college while Goodwin is nonprofit. Perillo said hes hoping to attract a for-profit college. In addition to the $150,000 in town taxes paid by the campus, there are also additional economic benefits from the students and parents that visit town. Wed like to keep it just the way it is, if possible, Perillo said. He described the campus buildings as in excellent shape. Perillo said adding sewer service to the campus was the one request by property owner Dennis Terwilliger. It was the owners request to me to bring it to the attention to the town, Perillo said. The current septic system limits some of the growth. Terwillinger didnt return a call for comment Monday. In 2014, voters decided against spending $2.64 million to expand sewer service into the Welch Road area. Chris Palmieri, a Democrat and Town Council chairman, said there were no plans to extend sewers to the property but said he would consider it if a serious buyer or tenant made a case for the infrastructure expansion. Right now, were not entertaining it, Palmieri said. We have an open mind if a potential developer comes in and theyre far enough in the process to seriously considering doing something on that site. Right now, were not going to do it just to do it without a potential return on investments, he said. Well keep an open mind. Michael Riccio, a Republican councilor and chairman at the time of the referendum, said last week that the project was misrepresented as a benefit to local developer Mark Lovley, who was building homes nearby. Riccio wished the measure had passed since sewers would have provided a benefit now in marketing the college property. Perillo said hes reached out to Goodwin College but doesnt know whether school leaders wanted the Southington property. jbuchanan@record-journal.com 203-317-2230 Twitter: @JBuchananRJ Welcoming the delegations visit to attend the eighth theoretical exchange between the two parties, Politburo member Chinh spoke highly of the fine development in their friendship and cooperation, and stressed the need and significance of intensifying exchanges for theoretical and practical work in each country. Politburo member Chinh, who is also Chairman of the CPV Central Committees Organisation Commission and President of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Parliamentarians Group, expressed his belief that the JCP will gain more achievements in the implementation of the 27th Party Congresss resolution and the Partys credo, towards celebrations for its 100th founding anniversary in 2022. Yu, in turn, showed his delight at the continuous development of the two parties relations over the past five decades. According to him, the relationship has been consolidated and deepened through regular high-level meetings and visits, and the maintenance of information sharing and theoretical exchanges. Earlier, the JCP delegation was received by Hoang Binh Quan, Chairman of the CPV Central Committees Commission for External Relations. During the meeting, the two officials agreed to step up coordination and support each other at international forums, thus contributing to international communist and worker movements for peace, stability, and social progress in the region and the world. By PTI MUMBAI: Cloud computing firm 8K Miles Software has filed criminal complaints with Chennai police and Sebi against Quantum Global Securities and Kumar Sharebrokers for "illegally" selling 8.42 per cent of shares of its promoter and chairman Suresh Venkatachari. According to the complaint filed on September 17, the Mumbai-based Quantum and Delhi-based Kumar Sharebrokers "fraudulently and without permission" sold nearly 25.7 lakh shares accounting for 8.42 per cent of total equity held in his demat accounts with them, during the first quarter of this fiscal year. "We filed a forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against these brokers. Our charges also include fraud, dealing without authorisation, and criminal breach of trust, along with cheating and fabrication. While Quantum sold around 23 lakh and Kumar sold around 3 lakh shares-illegally and criminally," Venkatachari told PTI Monday. It has now sought help to recover losses to the tune of Rs 150 crore, he said. When asked why they didn't inform the shareholders at the AGM held on September 29, he said as such they couldn't disclose any information prior to filing the case with Sebi. He also said the company's chief financial officer RS Ramani, who resigned recently, was acting on his behalf for many years as he spent most of his time in the US. "Ramani informed me that he has received a proposal wherein I can get some funds for a short duration for private investments in other business ventures without even creating a pledge on my shares and hence he was dealing with these brokers through an intermediary for arranging this private financing," Venkatachari explained. Ramani continues to be a promoter with under 1 per cent holding, said Venkatachari who holds over 55 per cent in the company prior to this illegal transfer. The Chennai-registered, Silicon Valley-headquartered company said the complaint was filed with the Chennai police and also with the Sebi, both are probing the matter but yet to register a case. "We want markets regulator Sebi to take necessary actions in the interest of investors and take appropriate actions against such brokerages indulging in cheating and defrauding investors and companies. In fact, Quantum does not even have an NBFC licence to lend money," he pointed out. He said his company is in the process of restructuring the management team by inducting professionals to adhere to the highest level of corporate governance, enhanced investor engagement and relations to restore investors' trust and confidence. The 8K Miles counter was trading down 5 per cent at 124.10 on the BSE last Monday but is down over 70 per cent of its value YTD. By UNI MUMBAI: Pharma Major, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd on Monday announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its API manufacturing business unit located in Jeedimetla, Hyderabad, to Therapiva Private Ltd, an emerging generics pharmaceutical company. This divestiture is being done by way of slump sale (as a going concern) and includes all related fixed assets (land and building), current assets, current liabilities, and its employees. ''The divestiture of our API manufacturing business unit is a step towards streamlining our manufacturing operations and optimizing our cost structures," said Sanjay Sharma, Executive Vice President & Head, Global Manufacturing Operations. "We are confident that we have found in Therapiva, a buyer-partner who fully understands and appreciates the business unit and its people as a powerful strategic asset. Therapiva Private Limited is a joint venture between Omnicare Drugs India Private Limited (100 pc subsidiary of Neopharma LLC, Abu Dhabi) and Laxai Life Sciences Private Ltd. This acquisition represents a unique opportunity to further strengthen Therapiva's position as a premier supplier of APls. There is a strong cultural fit between our companies and we are excited to welcome the employees of Dr. Reddy's to accelerate our ambitious growth plans,'' said Vamsi Maddipatla, CEO of Therapiva and Laxai Life Sciences. ''We are very excited with this acquisition which will augment Neopharma's vertical integration advantage and provide us with a high quality manufacturing base in India. This is a key milestone in our acquisition strategy over the next few years to increase Neopharma's presence in the global generics space'' said BR Shetty, Chairman of Neopharma LLC, Abu Dhabi. Arshad Khan By Express News Service NEW DELHI: At a time when markets are characterised by volatile movement and investors giving second thoughts to mutual funds, Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) remain a preferred route for retail investors to invest in mutual fund and are driving growth in the industry. Mutual fund industry garnered Rs 7,727 crore through SIPs in September, a surge of 40 per cent from the year-ago period, as per the Association of Mutual Funds in India. Experts believe SIPs feature to mitigate risk will continue to attract investors who believe in long term equity gain. For a buyer of the market, SIPs give a chance to correct investment if you got it wrong for the first time, a feature which is not available when you make lump-sum investment, Integra Profit Founding CEO Tarun Vohra told TNIE. Over the past few years, investment through SIPs has been rising as investments of over Rs 67,000 crore were seen in 2017-18 and more than Rs 43,900 crore in the preceding fiscal. At present, mutual funds have 2.44 crore SIP accounts through which investors regularly invest in mutual fund schemes. In the current fiscal, the industry has added 10.17 lakh SIP accounts each month on an average, with average ticket size of Rs 3,165. There is a healthy trend and SIPs have seen growth from strength to strength, surviving markets volatility. This is a good way for retail investors to manage markets ups and downs. Its encouraging that this trend continues, Edelweiss Asset Management Company Chief Executive Radhika Gupta said. However, the fall of more than 6 per cent in 30-share Sensex last month, triggered by the IL&FS crisis, rupee depreciation and rising crude prices have slowed down the pace of SIP growth. Experts, however, say SIPs provide a good opportunity to buyers when the market is bearish. BankBazaar.com CEO Adhil Shetty said it is the right time to continue with SIPs in equity funds, rather than redeeming investments. It gives investor a chance to add higher number of units in their portfolio. This surge in investment points towards an increase in investor awareness about SIP, which is a good sign for the industry, he said. During a reception in Hanoi on October 15 for President and CEO of the Shinhan Card Co., Ltd. Lim Young-jin, Deputy PM Hue welcomed RoK firms, including Shinhan Card, to increase investment in Vietnam. He lauded their successes, saying that they have contributed to Vietnams social welfare and economic development. The Deputy PM hailed Shinhan Cards purchase of Prudential Vietnam Finance Co., Ltd. affirming that the State Bank of Vietnam will offer early feedback on the deal. Lim, for his part, said Shinhan Card has been operating in finance-banking and securities in Vietnam, considering the country its largest foreign market. He said Shinhan Card plans to do long-term business in Vietnam, adding that all of its profits in the country will be re-invested here, instead of being transferred to its parent company in the RoK. According to him, Shinhan Card has developed payment card services and signed a contract to buy Prudential Vietnam Finance Co., Ltd. in early 2018, thereby developing consumption finance in the country. He vowed to focus on financial technology to make more contributions to the Vietnamese economy in the future. By Express News Service BENGALURU: Indian Administrative Service officer Pallavi Akurathi on Saturday filed a case against Dr S Suresh Kumar and senior nurse Krishnamma of Chinmaya Mission Hospital (CMH) alleging that they delivered a banned dose of vaccine to her newborn daughter as the tenth-week vaccination. Akurathi, in her complaint to Indiranagar police, claimed that the doctor Suresh Kumar had prescribed four drugs on October 3 and one was not given by the medical store located in the hospital in Indiranagar. But she alleged that her baby was given two dropssaid to be rose water. She suspects that those drops given to her baby was that of a banned polio vaccine drops and has expressed her fears that it could affect her babys health. She has filed a case against the staff of the hospital seeking action to be taken against them. However, Indiranagar police are yet to investigate the case as they are waiting for medical report from the drug control officers.Dr. Suresh Kumar told The New Indian Express, No drops, including OPV, was given to the baby and nothing has happened to the kid. Only Easy Six (another vaccine) was provided to her. I wonder why the officer has filed a case with the police. Even the BBMP officials have investigated the matter. They found nothing wrong with the pharmacy located at the hospital premise. U Sudhir, the director, CMH, said drug control officials conducted an inquiry and they are yet to send a report. I am told that no such banned drops were poured in the mouth of the baby. But I am not aware of the police complaint, he said. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Pallavaram municipality, in the name of phasing out dustbins under Swachh Bharat Mission, has left the area in a mess with piles of waste lying uncleared in several streets. Kulakarai street, Padavattamman Temple street, Nagathamman temple street, Kurinji Nagar, Purushothaman Nagar, Bharathamatha street, Kalaimagal street, Vivekananda cross street, Velayudham street, Kolapillai street, Ramasamy Street, Viswanatha cross street, Rajaram street, Ganapathipuram main road, Thirumurugan street and Dawson street are among the many areas where garbage has been left to pile up. In some cases, such as Mahadevan school, the garbage lies in proximity to the institution. I noticed that the dustbin in Bashyam street was suddenly missing. When I asked the municipality officials, they said it was removed under Swachh Bharat, said David Manohar, a resident. While officials said that door-to-door collection of waste will take place instead, neither have the residents received any information on garbage collection nor have the process of collection begun. The residents are usually given information such as at what time the door-to-door collection will be done and how often. None of the residents are made aware of this, David said. Meanwhile, the municipality does not shy away from burning the collected trash, as seen in some areas like Vallal Perumal street, said, residents. In some locations, waste is burnt on a regular basis. These locations, mostly areas where there are not many people around, are chosen by the municipality to burn waste regularly. Despite multiple complaints, no action has been taken, he said. When contacted, a municipality official said he will ask the staff concerned to follow up on the complaints. Samuel Merigala By Express News Service CHENNAI: Twenty-three-year-old Priya (name changed) was taken to Government Hospital, Tambaram with a stomach ache in September. She was diagnosed with appendicitis, but the hospital asked her to go elsewhere for an operation despite having ample facilities required to perform the simple procedure. Priya is not a one-off case and hospital staff claim that over 300 patients with minor conditions such as appendicitis and hernia in the last three months have been shown the door because the hospital doesnt have permanent surgeons. Ever since the surgeons were transferred in July, all minor surgeries have been referred elsewhere said a hospital worker. While patients with means will have to shell out at least Rs 40,000 in a private hospital, those dependent on government healthcare will have to go to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) hospital which is 24 kilometres away. The RGGGH and Government Hospital at Chengalpattu are the only two hospitals where these surgeries are performed nearby. But, most of the cases are referred to RGGGH, said a hospital official. Villages near Mudichur, Mambakkam and Urapakkam all depend on this hospital for these simple procedures which can have fatal consequences. The health department must immediately appoint surgeons, said V Santhanam, a local activist. Presently, two surgeons from other hospitals are called in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to attend to a few cases. But, nurses claimed that it was grossly inadequate. We have arranged two surgeons to handle operations after both our surgeons were transferred, said a senior official in the Government Hospital, Tambaram, claiming permanent replacements would be assigned soon. Mortuary overloaded The hospital is said to receive at least three bodies for post-mortem everyday and with the old mortuary closed because of cooling issues, bodies are laid on the floor. Currently, only nine of the fifteen racks are functional. An RTI petition reveals that the hospital received 1043 bodies for postmortem in 2017 alone. Hospital officials told Express that requests had been placed for a separate forensic wing because of the increase in body count. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: An 18-year-old student of Chartered Accountancy (CA) has committed suicide in her college hostel on Saturday. Identified as B Maneesha, the young girl took the extreme step after the hostel incharge found her talking on a mobile phone inside the hostel, said the police. According to police, Maneesha, hailing from Karimnagar district was pursuing CA at the CMS CA Academy in the city and residing in the college hostel at KPHB. As per the rules, use of mobile is prohibited in the college as well as the hostel premises for all students. READ| How to identify a potential suicide On Saturday afternoon, when Maneesha was talking on the phone, the hostel warden noticed her and informed the principal who in turn informed Maneeshas parents and asked them to come to the college. After Maneesha came to know, she got scared and depressed, due to which she reportedly hanged herself in her hsotel room. A case of suspicious death was registered and is under investigation. Her body was handed over to the family. u mahesh By Express News Service HYDERABAD: At 5 am every morning, owners of several shops that repair gas stoves, which sit cheek by jowl with residential areas, are busy doing a dangerous activity that can cause a calamity in these areas. They transfer liquified petroleum gas, or LPG, from the regular sized cylinders supplied to homes to small ones of 2-5 kg size. These shops are usually cluttered with spares of gas stoves and empty cylinders. If you visit them early in the morning, you can smell the thin scent of LPG leaking, even as owners or workers sit with shutters pulled halfway down trying to refill gas. The refilling is done using a normal 14kg pump that is used to supply water. The pump is connected to regular sized cylinders using a poor quality connector. The motor is on the other end that is connected to the smaller cylinder. The entire filling and refilling is done so haphazardly that its a disaster waiting to happen -- not just gas leak but also the likelihood of cylinder/gas explosion. The large cylinders for the job are bought by the refilling shops from gas agencies, who are paid a handsome commission for it. Shops conducting this illegal activity, amidst thickly populated residential and commercial areas, are akin to ticking time bombs. However, no strict action is being taken by government authorities to curb this menace that is widespread in the city. Denizens allege that police have failed to control this illegal activity despite many complaints. A Srinivas, a resident of Uday Nagar in Banjara Hills who resides next to one such illegal gas refilling centre said, A lot of us residents complained several times to the police, but to no avail. In fact the business has mushroomed. A few years ago, only there was only one such shop. Now, looking at the money hes making, several others have come up. When contacted, West Zone DCP A R Srinivas admitted that such a problem exists. He said that the police is regularly conducting cordon and search operations as part of which it has identified such illegal cylinder refilling centres and booked cases against them under the Essential Commodities Act. By PTI KOLKATA: A 36-year-old man who was injured in an explosion at Nagerbazar area succumbed to his wounds at a state-run hospital here, an official of the medical establishment said Monday. With this, the death toll in the explosion has risen to three. The man identified as Sharat Sethi, a washerman, was sitting at a nearby tea stall when the low-intensity blast took place on October 2 morning. Sethi died at the RG Kar Hospital here Sunday night, the official said. Another victim of the blast, Ajit Halder, had passed away at the hospital on Saturday night. West Bengal CID, which is investigating the blast, said the death of fruitseller Ajit Halder on Saturday night would slow up their probe. "He (Halder) was giving us important information on what had happened on that day," a senior officer of the CID said. A seven-year-old boy was killed and nine people, including his mother, were injured in the low-intensity explosion in front of a fruit stall in the northern suburb of the metropolis. The boy's mother is undergoing treatment at the SSKM hospital, an official of the state-run facility said. By PTI MUMBAI: A 53-year-old female flight attendant fell off a stationary Air India plane while closing its door at the Mumbai airport Monday, suffering serious injuries, airline and hospital authorities said. The wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft was preparing to depart for New Delhi when Harsha Lobo fell on the tarmac from a height of 20 feet, apparently through a gap between the rear door and the step ladder, a senior Air India official said. The incident occurred at around 6 am, the official said. Lobo suffered multiple fractures in her legs and was rushed to the Nanavati Hospital where she is being treated, the airline said. Owing to the incident, the flight AI-864, scheduled to take off at 7 am, got delayed by about one-and-a-half hours. "In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (member), Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing-777 aircraft door while closing it," the airline said in a statement. The statement said Air India is inquiring into the incident. "Though full investigation will establish the reasons for the incident, prima facie it seems there was a gap between the aircraft gate and the step ladder, through which she slipped off 20 feet down on the tarmac," an official of the airline said. The airline's safety department has called all the people related to the incident on Tuesday as part of its probe, the official added. The Nanavati Hospital said a cabin crew member of the Air India flight was brought to the hospital at 7 am after she suffered "serious injuries". "The patient is suffering from right leg compound fracture, fracture in both heels and soft tissue injury in chest, abdomen and lower spine. She also suffered a sprain in the neck (cervical spine)," it said in a statement. The woman is under observation and is being treated by Dr Prakash M Doshi, director of orthopedics and traumatology, Nanavati Hospital's Chief Operating Officer Dr Rajendra Patankar said. Last week, 136 passengers and crew on board an aircraft of Air India Express, which is the low-cost international arm of the national carrier, had a miraculous escape after the plane hit a wall and suffered extensive damage while taking off from Tiruchirappalli airport for Dubai. Despite the extensive damage to the belly of the aircraft, the Boeing 737 continued flying for nearly four hours, before being recalled by the airline and made to land in Mumbai in emergency conditions. Earlier in September, about 370 passengers on board an Air India flight AI-101 between New Delhi and New York had a narrow escape after the B 777 planes instrument landing system failed. This happened when the aircraft was about to land at New Yorks JFK airport, forcing the crew to abort landing and do a go around. Air India generally operates flights on its domestic routes with smaller planes such as A320s but deploys bigger planes to key destinations such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, among others to meet the increased passenger demand during festival periods such as Dussehra, Diwali and Holi. Besides B777, it will also operate its 423-seater, double-decker Boeing 747 aircraft to Mumbai and Kolkata from New Delhi, starting Tuesday as part of this strategy. By ANI MUMBAI: The police on Monday arrested four people who allegedly attacked TV journalist Herman Gomes in Mumbai. The journalist and his friend were allegedly beaten up by four unidentified miscreants near outside his house around 1:30 am on Saturday. "I was attacked by four people out of nowhere. I have got six stitches on my right eye. All I can say is, these people were waiting for me for a long time. It was not a last-minute provocation. They stood ready for the attack. They thrashed my friend as well and took away his mobile phone," Gomes told ANI. Gomes also took to social media to share the ordeal. "I was attacked by an unknown group of people right outside my Bombay House. It was clearly pre-planned. They were armed with a knuckle duster. I always mind my own business and do stories that I firmly Believe in. Last night was something different and they came out to KILL me. My eye is badly affected and so is my body. I don't know which story affected people so much. I don't know these people too. Mumbai Police has asked a senior IPS officer to look after the case. FIR filed at Gamdevi Police station shortly. I managed to take on 2 people but another group was waiting to take on me at the back I've got 6 stitches around my eye, among others . My family and I are affected," Gomes on Facebook. By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: More than two lakh devotees thronged the Kanka Durga temple on the auspicious Moola Nakshatram day atop Indrakeeladri hill on the fifth day of the ongoing Dasara celebrations at Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam. The rush of devotees was all the more as the day coincided with a Sunday. The devotees turnout crossed two lakh by Sunday evening. It is likely to touch 2.5 lakh by night, officials said. In view of the heavy rush, additional police forces were deployed at important places to manage the devotees visiting the city. Hamsa Vahanam being readied for Theppotsavam, on Sunday | P Ravindra Babu Additional police forces were also deployed along the queues to regulate the movement of devotees. In addition, the temple authorities also cancelled all special darshan tickets of `300 and `500 apart from the antaralaya darshan. To ensure hassle-free darshan, the temple authorities decided to allow devotees until 12 am and even cancelled the `100 Mukha Mandapam darshan. After taking a holy dip in the Krishna river, the pilgrims entered the queue line at Vinayaka temple on the Canal Road. Chaos prevailed for a while on early hours of Sunday near the queue lines on Canal Road as there were no temple officials to either guide or manage the crowd. Many pilgrims expressed dissatisfaction with the poor arrangements. As the crowd swelled up from Saturday, the officials turned all queues into general darshan lines and the devotees waited for hours together in serpentine queues for darshan. Elderly people faced a tough time in the queue lines erected between Canal Road and Indrakeeladri hill. With the police imposing certain traffic restrictions, the temple authorities suspended operation of special vehicles for transporting the aged, physically challenged, media persons to the temple in view of the heavy rush. Tension prevailed for a while on early Sunday when the police restricted the family members of Temple trust board panel chief Y Gouranga Babu from having darshan. With no option left, Babu waited for more than half-an-hour before Mukha Mandapam and complained to the top cop Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, an official said. Later, he convened a special trust board panel meet to discuss about the polices indifferent attitude. The police commissioner assured Babu of taking action against the guilty police official. By Online Desk Actor Vicky Kaushal's father Sham Kaushal, a stunt director in Bollywood, has been accused of sexual harassment by an assistant director. Nameeta Prakash, assistant director for Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Ab Tak Chappan and Manorama Six Feet Under, tweeted about Sham's misconduct on Twitter. She wrote that the stunt director asked her to share a drink with her during shooting. When she refused, Sham showed her a porn MMS clipping. Nameeta said that she walked away and told her line producer about the incident. The producer was shocked and helped her by making sure Nameeta was never alone with Sham. However, by the end of the film, everyone in the crew had heard about the incident and the matter was laughed off. Sham Kaushal is known for the stunts in Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani, Dhoom 3, Dangal, Sanju, PK, Krrish 3, My Name is Khan and Black Friday. Sham has not commented on the accusation yet. The MeToo movement in India is seeing many big celebrities from film and media industry being called out for sexual harassment. The movement began with Tanushree Dutta naming Nana Patekar for an incident that took place in 2008. This was followed by accusations against Comedian Utsav Chakraborty on Twitter. Since then, accusations have been pouring out on social media, pointing out the gravity of issues faced by women in workplaces. Both leaders expressed their delight at the fine development of bilateral relations since the two countries established diplomatic ties on December 1, 1972. Chancellor Kurz stressed that the Vietnamese leaders official visit marks an important milestone in bilateral relations, while appreciating Vietnams development and integration achievements, as well as its increasing role in the region and the world. He hoped for stronger and more comprehensive development in the bilateral relationship in the time to come. The leaders exchanged views on measures to boost bilateral collaboration in all fields, ranging from politics, diplomacy, defence and security to economy, trade, investment, culture, and tourism. They agreed to increase the exchange of all-level delegations and effectively carry out bilateral cooperative mechanisms, especially the inter-governmental committee. The leaders noted with pleasure that Vietnam remained Austrias largest trader in Southeast Asia while Austria maintained its position as one of the 10 export markets of Vietnam in the European Union (EU). They agreed to exert greater efforts to make Austria one of Vietnams leading economic partners in Europe. Chancellor Kurz affirmed that with its role as the EU Chair in the second half of 2018 and as a close partner of Vietnam, Austria backs and will push for the early signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). He said that the agreement will open up major opportunities for economic, trade, and investment cooperation between Vietnam and the EU, as well as Vietnam and Austria. The Chancellor also appreciated the Vietnamese community in Austria for their contributions to the host countrys socio-economic development and bilateral relations. PM Phuc, in turn, thanked the Austrian Government for its support and preferential loans for projects in the fields of railway, healthcare, and vocational training. He commended the effective operations of 30 Austrian businesses in Vietnam in the spheres of health, high technology, environment, and agriculture. The two leaders agreed to work closely in implementing projects using Austrias preferential loans, while also encouraging the two countries enterprises to enhance investment and business connectivity and cooperation in necessary fields for Vietnams development such as transport infrastructure, clean energy development, vocational training, science-technology, tourism, healthcare, and especially smart city building. PM Phuc took this occasion to thank and propose the Austrian side continue creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Austria to well integrate into the local society and stabilise their lives. In addition to bilateral collaboration, the two leaders also discussed international and regional issues of shared concern. They committed to promoting bilateral cooperation at international forums and organisations, such as the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the ASEAN-EU, and the United Nations. They also exchanged views and affirmed the importance of maintaining peace, security, and stability for cooperation and development as well as settling differences and disputes in the East Sea by peaceful measures in line with international law, the UN Charter, and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Following the talks, PM Phuc and Chancellor Kurz witnessed the signing of some cooperation documents. They included an funding agreement on a project on improving medical equipment for Cho Ray Hospitals tumour centre, worth EUR 25 million between the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance and Austrias Raiffeisen Bank; a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on scientific-technological cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science, and Research; and another MoU on e-commerce cooperation and Industry 4.0 between Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Austrian Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz then hosted a banquet in honour of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on his official visit to Austria. Afterwards, the two leaders held a joint press conference, announcing the outcomes of their talks. The two sides issued a joint statement affirming the importance of boosting bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation. The Austrian Chancellor highlighted the sound bilateral relations over the past five decades, saying that there remains potential for both sides to further boost their cooperative ties. During the talks, they discussed issues related culture, politics and, economy, he said, adding that there are 30 Austrian businesses currently operating in Vietnam who are satisfied with the process of doing business in the Southeast Asian nation. The Austrian Chancellor expressed his hope for more Austrian firms to invest in Vietnam in the time to come. PM Phuc said the two leaders agreed to create favourable conditions for enterprises of both nations to continue cooperation and investment, determined to make Austria a leading economic partner for Vietnam in the EU. The two sides agreed on a range of specific measures to deepen the bilateral ties, he said, adding that Vietnam thanked the Austrian Government for its provision of soft loans in railway, healthcare, and vocational training. The Vietnamese PM believed that with the positive outcomes of the talks and the long-lasting friendship and cooperation between the two countries, Vietnam-Austria relationship will continue to thrive. By Online Desk We are just two days away from the release of Dhanush-starrer 'Vada Chennai' and the fans are already going crazy over the film. The Vetrimaaran directorial film is all set to have a grand release on 17th (Wednesday). Vetrimaaran in a recent interview with Behindwoods shared his thoughts about the upcoming project and his speculated film with Rajini. He said, "I don't think that project will happen. Rajini sir has a big line up of projects already and I am told that he has two to three films already in confirmed stages. I am also ready for my next film with Dhanush. We were actually supposed to start the shoot of the film on the 8th of this month, ten days before Vada Chennai's release, but then plans were slightly changed." He added, "My film with Dhanush is starting next week and there is Vada Chennai 2 also. I thought I'd get a gap of one year after Vada Chennai, but now the situation is different. I don't think there is any possibility for Rajini sir's film to happen." In addition to Dhanush, the film stars Aishwarya Rajesh, Andrea Jeremiah, Ameer and Daniel Balaji, Kishore in crucial roles. The music department is handled by Santhosh Narayanan while Velraj is behind the camera. The film is produced by Dhanush's Wunderbar Films while Lyca Productions will distribute the movie. 'Vada Chennai' is a crime drama that marks Dhanush's third collaboration with Vetrimaaran. The two have previously delivered two successful hits in 'Polladhavan' (2007) and 'Aadukulam' (2011). Ahead of the films release, Dhanush had stated that 'Vada Chennai' journey began way back in 2003 and claimed that he is blessed to have been part of this film despite it taking a long time to materialise. By IANS NEW YORK: A majority of older patients who underwent heart valve surgery were found to be at risk of cognitive problems up to six months after surgery, researchers say. Researchers, from the University of Rochester in the US, examined whether surgeries on two types of heart valves -- the mitral or the aortic -- were associated with better or worse outcomes. The findings, published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, showed that people having aortic valve surgery are at greater risk of early cognitive decline within the first month after surgery than people having mitral valve surgery. However, cognitive health in both groups appears largely to return to what it was before surgery within the six months after surgery. These findings highlight the cognitive vulnerability of this population, especially older adults with aortic stenosis -- the heart valve that controls blood flow from your heart to the rest of your body, the researchers said. For the study, the team included hundreds of participants who had been tested before and after surgery to determine their ability to remember, think, and make decisions. Within the first month after valve surgery, people experienced some cognitive decline compared to before the surgery, the researchers found. In addition, people who had mitral valve surgery experienced a mild decline. But people who had aortic valve surgery experienced poorer cognitive function the month after surgery, although they tended to improve after that. Anuraag Singh By Express News Service BHOPAL: BJP national president Amit Shah arrived on a two-day visit to poll bound Madhya Pradesh on Sunday. This is Shahs third poll related visit to the state where Assembly elections will be held in a single phase. While the BJP president addressed workers of Bhopal and Narmadapuram in Hoshangabad district, he would address workers and other programs in Vindhya and Mahakoshal regions of the state on Monday. Prior to this visit, Shah has already visited the Malwa-Nimar and Gwalior-Chambal regions recently. Importantly, starting from Monday Congress national president Rahul Gandhi will be on a two day visit to the Gwalior-Chambal region, which is the considered the bastion of partys campaign committee chief and ex-union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Rahul will address public meetings in Datia district, Dabra and Gwalior town in Gwalior district, Sheopur district, besides Sabalgarh and Jaura in Morena district. He will also offer prayers at the world famous temple of Goddess Pitambara in Datia and a famous Gurudwara in Gwalior. Addressing the party workers, Shah appealed them to work for actualizing the mission of 200-plus seats in the state, where the party had won 165 seats in the 2013 polls. BJP is the party of workers, where a tea seller can become the PM, while the man from a very poor family becomes the MP CM. Even the national president of the party is one who once sat in the last row of grass root party workers, said Shah. By PTI GUWAHATI: A group of 31 suspected Bangladeshi nationals who allegedly entered the country illegally were apprehended on Monday from Guwahati Railway Station, according to police. The group was detained when they were preparing to board Kanchanjunga Express to go to Agartala this morning, Railway Police Deputy Superintendent Iftekar Ali said. The detained include eight women and 13 children, he said. "They could not produce any valid document to prove their Indian citizenship...They then confessed that they hail from Bagerhat district in Khulna division of Bangladesh," Ali said. During interrogation, the detainees said that they had entered India illegally two to three years ago and had moved to Bangalore where they did some petty jobs, the police official said. The group had reached Guwahati yesterday by the Bangalore Express and spent the night on the station platform. "They were on their way to Bangladesh via Agartala to visit their homes...Investigation is on," he added. By PTI CHENNAI: The Gujarat government Monday extended formal invitation to Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister K Palaniswami for the inauguration of the world's tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in that state on October 31. A team led by Gujarat minister Ganpat Vasava, who holds Tribal Development and Tourism portfolios among others, extended invitation to Purohit, besides the chief minister. They met Palaniswami at the Secretariat here to attend the unveiling of the 'Statue of Unity,' an official release said. The Gujarat minister was accompanied by party MP Kirit Solanki and a couple of state Legislators, it said. Later, speaking to reporters, Vasava recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision as then chief minister of Gujarat to honour Patel, following which the idea of 'Statue of Unity' came up. Modi had laid the foundation stone for the project on October 31, 2013. The 'Statue of Unity' dedicated to Patel, India's first Home Minister, is touted to be the tallest in the world at 182 metres. He said the making of the statue involved 70,000 tonnes of cement and 18,500 tonnes of steel. The initiative would also enable employment opportunities for 15,000 people. Being built at a cost of Rs 2,389 crore at Sadhu Bet island on Narmada river, the statue is set to be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31 on the occasion of Sardar Patel's birth anniversary. By PTI NEW DELHI: In the first such initiative, India and China came together Monday to provide assistance to Afghanistan through a joint training programme for Afghan diplomats. The Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats, from October 15-26, began Monday as part of an understanding reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. Ten Afghan diplomats started training at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) here after an event where statements by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were read out by the diplomats of the two countries. China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, in his remarks at the inauguration of the programme, said such a 'China-India Plus' cooperation should be extended from Afghanistan to other countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar. Describing India as a "regional major power", he said China and India can also join hands under the mechanisms of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and BangladeshChinaIndia Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM), to promote regional peace, stability and prosperity. "Both of us (China and India) support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. Both of us uphold that Afghanistan should realise peace, stability and prosperity. Both of us are against terrorism. "We are talking a lot about the regional connectivity initiatives, such as International North-South Transport Corridor, India-Afghanistan-Iran transit and trade arrangement and China-Pakistan-Afghanistan cooperation. All of these have provided a solid foundation for the current and future cooperation between China and India in Afghanistan," he said. Noting that the training programme is the first step for the 'China-India Plus' cooperation in Afghanistan, the Chinese envoy said this was just the beginning. Swaraj, in her statement that was read out by FSI Dean Ambassador J S Mukul, said the seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi when they met in Wuhan in April 2018. "Today, we see it blooming with the initiation of this training programme. This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan," Swaraj was quoted as saying. India is committed to partner Afghanistan in its efforts to emerge as a united, peaceful, secure, stable, inclusive and economically vibrant nation, she said. Talking about India's New Development Partnership with Afghanistan, she said it aspires to bring prosperity to all 34 provinces of Afghanistan through high impact community development projects. "Guided by the vision of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas', the Indian government has embarked on an ambitious development partnership programme with commitment of over USD 3 billion," Swaraj said. There were four broad pillars of the programme -- building infrastructure, developing human resource, enhancing connectivity, and promoting trade and investment links, she said, noting that the India-Afghanistan friendship dam in Herat, Parliament building in Kabul, and operationalisation of the Chabahar port were prominent symbols of this partnership. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, in his statement read out by the Chinese ambassador, said the launch of the programme marks an important step forward as it reflects the closer coordination and cooperation between two countries on regional affairs and represents a positive development in Sino-India relations. "China and India have been active supporters of Afghanistan's peace, and reconstruction process. This Joint Capacity Building Programme is an essential part of the international efforts to assist Afghanistan and marks the start of China-India-Afghanistan cooperation. "It is a testament to the joint aspiration and endeavour of China and India, both being major, responsible developing countries, to contribute to regional peace and stability," Wang said. The Chinese envoy, in his remarks, also said that President Xi and Prime Minister Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month. Luo also Chinese state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. At the end of this week, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi will visit India, he said, observing that China-India relations were now on a fast track. By UNI HAJIPUR: Police seized huge consignment of foreign liquor at Diwantok village under Ganga Bride police station area in Vaishali district late last night. Police said here today that 1,000 cartons of foreign liquor were seized from six houses at the village on the basis of specific intelligence input. Sources said the value of seized liquor was around Rs 75 lakh. All peddlers made good their escape from the spot after they got an inkling of the police raid. A massive manhunt is on to nab peddlers, sources added. By Online Desk NEW DELHI: Union Minister MJ Akbar Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani who recently levelled charges of sexual misconduct against him as the #MeToo campaign raged in India. The Minister of State for External Affairs has accused Ramani of "willfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously" defaming him and has sought her prosecution under the penal provision on defamation. Akbar, who is facing charges of sexual harassment and wrongdoing by around a dozen women journalists, earlier on Sunday called the allegations "false, wild and baseless" and vowed to take legal action against the accusers. While Akbar issued a statement, there was no word from the government or the ruling BJP as to whether he would continue in the government amidst opposition demands for his resignation. "Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge. These false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage to my reputation and goodwill," he said. ALSO READ: PM Modi, morals travel in opposite direction, says Congress "Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy. This is deeply distressing. I will be taking appropriate legal action," said the 67-year-old former Editor of Asian Age. Referring to charges by former colleague Priya Ramani, who had written an article a year ago and now named him following the #MeToo campaign, Akbar said: "Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not, however, name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: "Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything. "If I didn't do anything, where and what is the story? There's no story. But a sea of innuendo, speculation and abusive diatribe has been built around something that never happened. Some are total, unsubstantiated hearsay; others confirm, on the record, that I didn't do anything," he said. He referred to other journalists and said: "Shutapa Paul states, 'the man never laid a hand on me'. "'Shuma Raha says, I must clarify, however, that he didn't actually 'do' anything'. One woman, Anju Bharti, went to the absurd extent of claiming I was partying in a swimming pool. I do not know how to swim." Akbar, a founding editor of The Telegraph daily and Sunday magazine, was a big name in the media industry before he joined politics in 1989 when he fought the Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket and became an MP. He joined BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. A Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, he was inducted into the Modi government in July 2016. Rebutting allegations by some others, Akbar said: "Another accusation was made repeatedly by Ghazala Wahab, in an effort to damage my reputation. She claimed that she had been molested in office, 21 years ago. This is 16 years before I entered public life, and when I was in media. "The only office where I worked with Ghazala Wahab was that of The Asian Age. A part of the editorial team then worked out of a small hall. At the time concerned, I had a very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass. Others had tables and chairs two feet away. "It is utterly bizarre to believe that anything could have happened in that tiny space, and, moreover, that no one else in the vicinity would come to know, in the midst of a working day. These allegations are false, motivated and baseless. "Pertinent to remember Ramani and Wahab kept working with me even after these alleged incidents; clearly establishes they had no apprehension and discomfort. The reason, why they remained silent for decades, is very apparent, as Ramani has herself stated, I never did anything," he added. As many as 12 journalists have accused Akbar of sexual harassment while he was one of the most powerful journalists in India himself. The floodgates of allegations opened when journalists across the country joined the #MeToo movement and spoke up about Akbar's 'predator behaviours' across newsrooms. Following which, senior journalist Ghazala Wahab in an article in The Wire, penned her harrowing experience with Akbar (he was then the editor of the newspaper) while she was a budding journalist at Asian Age. "He was standing next to the door and before I could react he shut the door, trapping me between his body and the door. I instinctively flinched, but he held me and bent to kiss me," wrote Wahab. Following Wahab's account, women took to Twitter and exposed accounts of his misbehaviour and sexual misconduct across newsrooms and hotels. A US-based scribe through her blog has also come forward to accuse the minister of trying to forcefully kiss her. Majlie de Puy Kamp, revealed that she was sexually harassed by Akbar in 2007 when she was an 18-year-old intern. (With inputs from PTI) By PTI NEW DELHI: In its first comments on the sexual harassment allegations against Union Minister MJ Akbar, the BJP said Monday he has given his version on the row and that it is not about whether the party agrees or disagrees with him. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao was asked at a press conference whether the ruling party agrees with Akbar on his statement on the allegations levelled against him by several women. "It is not about agreeing or disagreeing. He has presented his version," Rao said. ALSO READ: Youth Congress hold protest against Union Minister MJ Akbar, demand his resignation The Minister of State of External Affairs had Sunday rejected the allegations as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against the accusers. BJP leaders and spokespersons had so far maintained a studied silence on the issue amid an increasing demand for the minister to quit his position. Some woman Union minister have supported the #MeToo movement, which has encouraged women in different fields to come out with their stories of sexual harassment by men in powerful position over the years. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Embattled junior minister for external affairs M J Akbar on Sunday refused to step down in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against him, terming them as false, fabricated and deeply distressing. Union minister M J Akbar at his residence in Delhi | Parveen Negi Questioning their timing, Akbar also threatened legal action against the accusers. Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge. These false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage to my reputation and goodwill... This is deeply distressing. I will be taking appropriate legal action, he said. Akbar was on an official tour to Nigeria when nearly a dozen women, mostly journalists who were his juniors while he was an editor, came out with detailed accounts of his alleged harassment as part of the #MeToo movement. While the Opposition has been pressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against Akbar, Union minister for social justice and empowerment Ramdas Athwale said he should resign if found guilty. The first accusation against Akbar was made by journalist Priya Ramani on October 8 after which around 10 women shared their horror stories. Speaking about Ramani, the minister said, Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago... Asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: Never named him because he didnt do anything... If I didnt do anything, where and what is the story? On Anju Bhartis allegations, the minister said that absurd claims were made about him partying in a swimming pool. I do not know how to swim, he claimed. Refuting Ghazala Wahabs charges, Akbar said the only office where he worked with her was when his editorial team worked out of a small hall. At the time concerned, I had a very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass. Others had tables and chairs two feet away. It is utterly bizarre to believe that anything could have happened in that tiny space, and, moreover, that no one else in the vicinity would come to know, he said. Ready to take legal route: Vairamuthu Rejecting allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him by singer Chinmayi, lyricist Vairamuthu released a short video on Sunday claiming he was willing to face legal action. Chinmayi challenged him to take a lie detector test The annual event was co-organised by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the Finnish Embassy in Vietnam. On the occasion, Ho Chi Minh City will review a writing contest on startup ideas Startup Wheel, the Startup Exchange trading and startup investment floor, Internet of Things (IOT) solutions for smart cities, and Creative Idea Contest (CiC) startup initiatives. In addition, a series of seminars, a technology exhibition and a technology, equipment and environment solutions will be held within the framework of the week. Furthermore, the final rounds and award ceremony of IOT solutions for Smart Cities, innovation in high-tech agricultural production, the Creative Idea Contest (CIC) 2018 and the Innovative Startups in Tourism contests will also be held. By UNI SRINAGAR: Security forces on Monday launched a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) in a village in south Kashmir district of Kulgam. Official sources said that following specific information about presence of militants, a joint search operation was launched by Special Operation Group (SOG) of J&K police, Army and CRPF in village Kandipora in Kulgam on Monday. They said security forces were conducting door-to-door search in the village. "The operation was going on when the reports last came in though no contact was established with militants so far," they added. By UNI LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Congress workers continue to stage protest against Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani on the second day on Monday by flying off thousands of black balloons in Hazratganj area over the attack on North Indians in Gujarat. Police detained several Congress leaders and workers for their protest on Monday after they saw thousand of black balloons in the air when Gujarat CM came out of the VVIP guest house to go to Indira Gandhi Prathistan where he will be meet the UP CM. Later the Congress workers staged dharna at the police station where they were kept. On Sunday too, Lucknow police had a hard time to control Congressmen in the state capital when they showed black flag to Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani. READ| Gujarat authorities reach out to migrant workers to stop exodus Around a dozen of Congressmen were detained by the police in Hazratgang area for their act but were later released from the police station. The Congress leaders also staged a demonstration at the GPO for some time raising slogans against the Gujarat CM. UP Congress general secretary Vinod Mishra said here on Monday that the party workers were protesting against the Gujarat government over the attack on the North Indians. " We will continue our protest till Rupani will be in Lucknow," he announced. Gujarat CM Mr Rupani reached here on Sunday night to meet his UP counterpart Yogi Adityanath on Monday morning to invite him for the inauguration function to unveil the Statue of Unity, the Statue Sadar Vallabh Bhai Patel on October 31. By Express News Service BHOPAL: After touring Bhopal, Vindhya region and Jabalpur recently, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi embarked on a two-day tour of poll-bound Madhya Pradeshs Gwalior-Chambal region, which is considered as the bastion of partys campaign committee chief Jyotiraditya Scindia. The region, which saw major caste violence during the April 2 Bharat Bandh, saw Rahul raise the issue of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemulas suicide. Not only in Madhya Pradesh, but across the country, women and weaker sections, including Dalits, are living in fear and pain. Rohith Vemula only wanted to study, but he was suppressed and forced to end life. The education minister wrote a letter and the government put pressure, prompting him to commit suicide, he said at a public rally in Datia town. In Gujarat, the Dalits are beaten and killed, but the PM doesnt utter a single world. Similarly, minorities and tribals are beaten and killed, but he remains silent. The PM doesnt have place for weaker sections and women in his heart. He only has place for rich and industrialists The PM addresses rich businessmen as bhai, including Anil Bhai, Nirav Bhai, and Mehul Bhai, but never addresses farmers and underprivileged lot as bhai. Anyone who doesnt wear suit-boot can never be bhai (brother) for the PM. Mocking at the PM, the Congress president said Modi doesnt care about the farmers, maybe because they dont own a private jet or Mercedes car. Earlier in the day, Rahul started his tour after offering prayers at the Peetambara Peeth that is known for the shrine of Goddess Baglamukhi. He is the third member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, after former PMs Indira and Rajiv Gandhi to offer prayers at the temple. After addressing a public rally in Datia town, he addressed a rally in Dabra town of Gwalior district, before returning to Gwalior town, where he offered tributes at the memorial of ex-union minister Late Madhavrao Scindia. Rahul also visited the Achaleshwar Mahadeo temple before embarking on a 12-km long road show that culminated with a public meeting at Phoolbag locality of Gwalior town. Anuraag Singh By Express News Service BHOPAL: BJP national president Amit Shah completed his two-day visit to Madhya Pradesh on Monday with a series of meetings in Vindhya and Mahakoshal region Shah addressed meetings of BJP workers at Satna and Rewa districts in Vindhya region, before addressing a gathering of tribal population in Dindori district. His last programme of the two-day tour was in Jabalpur town, which is considered the nucleus of the Mahakoshal region. Prior to leaving for Vindhya and Mahakoshal regions, Shah along with other senior BJP leaders, met with top functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for over an hour at Bhopal in the morning. As per informed sources, the issue of resentment among the upper caste and to some extent OBC population against the amended SC/ST Atrocities Act was discussed prominently. The RSS functionaries raised the issue with the BJP leaders, cautioning that growing resentment, particularly among the upper caste voters (who along with OBC form the backbone of BJPs voters base in the state), could hurt the partys prospects significantly in the November 28 Assembly polls. Sources confided to The New Indian Express that the BJP leaders were told that the possibility of resentment among upper caste (who are particularly crucial in Vindhya and Gwalior-Chambal region) declining and these sections flocking behind the BJP just before the polls was not very strong, as the resentment was particularly among youngsters. With options like SAPAKS Party being present to these sections, the possibility of dent in the BJPs traditional upper caste vote was strong this time. The RSS functionaries also discussed with the BJP leadership growing anti-incumbency against dozens of sitting MLAs, including ministers of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. The Sangh functionaries are believed to have asked Shah and state BJP leaders to act on the feedback rendered to them on performance of dozens of sitting party legislators. The upper caste along with OBC people comprise over 60% of states population and had played a key role in BJP winning 165 seats in the 2013 polls. Sources confided that Shah appealed the RSS functionaries to remove confusion prevailing among people. It was also discussed to raise issues pertaining to national security, including the National Citizenship Register proactively across the state. With the ruling BJP holding discussions with the RSS top brass of the poll-bound state, the Sangh might soon start playing a major role in building back public support for the saffron party through Toli and Mohalla Baithaks, particularly to stop division of Hindu votes. Harpreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asserted that there was no question of backing out of his promise to bring to book the culprits of the Bargari sacrilege case and the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firings. He rejected allegations that the situation in Bargari was getting out of control. Everyone knew that some people were trying to politicise the issue, but the people want peace and will not get carried away by the attempts of such elements to take political mileage from it, he said to a media query that if Bargari was becoming a rallying point for radicals. Amarinder warned radicals against trying to disturb the hard-earned peace of Punjab. Asked if he supported the radicals to get control of the SGPC, the CM said he had never had any link with such groups, adding he would support any moderate Sikh group to get control of the SGPC as he wanted the Badals out of it. They have ruined the gurdwaras, he said, adding that Badal was not a moderate but an opportunist who uses people of all shades to meet political ends. The decision to hand over the investigation to the SIT was unanimously taken in the Vidhan Sabha, he said. The government had initially decided to entrust the probe to the CBI, but the House decided against it out of fear that the federal agency could get influenced because of the BJPs alliance with the Akalis. The CM said the police had detected all the 157 cases of sacrilege reported in the state. 129 people were arrested and 10 convicted. In response to another question, Amarinder said ISI had, for long, been active in Punjab and could be operating through Kashmiri students. However, he said, every student from Kashmir was not a terrorist and the police had so far not established any links of the arrested students with locals. On the issue of stubble burning, he said the situation could aggravate once harvesting is complete. While his sympathies were with the farmers, he was bound by law to take action against those indulging in burning of paddy straw, he added. Amarinder noted that the Prime Minister had failed to respond to his repeated pleas for compensation to farmers against stubble burning. Valson Thampu By From L K Advani to Narendra Modi, there is a paradigm shift. It is neither accidental nor arbitrary, therefore, that Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi look honourable relics, and Yashwant Sinha seems a geriatric rebel against the Shah-Modi dispensation. The shift in question can be stated as follows. I was a Hindu Christian in Advanis scheme of things. Today, I am the Christian other whose punyabhoomi is extra-territorial. This signals a tectonic shift in identity-perceptions. I was naive when Advanis classification dawned upon India. So, I failed to understand its benignity. Today I know the geniality underlying his advocacy and it is imperative that Christians and Muslims do so. Ironically, Advani is more relevant to India today than he was at the zenith of his influence under the first edition of the NDA. Advani was invoking a universal pattern native to all religious cultures, especially virulent in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic blocs, loosely classified in the RSS lingo as Abrahamic faiths. That pattern involves an insistence on defining and judging others on ones own terms. The Jews divided the world into Jews and Gentiles. Christians labelled the rest of the world as non-Christian, treating it as the domain of the other. To a zealous Muslim, the rest of the humankind are kafirs. Advanis insight was that this is a cultural pattern that has nothing to do with the genius of a faith. It is culturally, not spiritually, that there are Gentiles, non-Christians, kafirs and Dalits. None of these categories is valid spiritually for the simple reason that harmony with otherness is the essence of spirituality. The spiritual insight common to all religions is that not only all humans, but all forms of life, derive from a common sourcethe Creator. Culture being man-made, otherness inheres as a site of offence in all cultures, against which there have been protests wherever spiritual lights dawned. The need to label and stigmatise the other is a cultural disease, not a spiritual merit. This sparks intolerance in religious zealots of every kind. As Jonathan Swift, the Irish satirist, said, we have enough religion to make us hate each other, but not enough religion to help us love one another. Hindutva is a cultural project that uses religious markers, memories and mimetics to attain its pan-Indian political end. It is animated by the spirit of the western materialistic, power-driven culture. The RSS salute to its flag is quasi-German; the idolatry of the flag itself being a western nationalistic phenomenon. It made a pretty sight of tell-tale contrast when Pranab Mukherjee stood in attention in the RSS function in Nagpur, his elbows pressed to his sides, while Mohan Bhagwat saluted the ascending RSS flag after the Sangh fashion. The vision of the RSS is rooted in the soil of exclusivist European nationalism, which Tagore portrays as the Nemesis visiting a whole civilisation for its collective perversion. Tagore was concerned that Japan, in its nascent awakening, would go the way of European nationalism. He wrote, in words of striking relevance today, It (adopting nationalism) is like dressing our skeleton with another mans skin. You may borrow knowledge from others, but not soul or temperament. I feel a lurking affinity to the spirit of the RSS. It is spookily close to historical Christianity: the same negativity to those of different persuasions, the same tendency towards hegemony and triumphalism, the same faith in violence and the same ethno-centric pride. This uncanny affinity worries me as well; for affinities follow the law of magnetismlike poles repel. The universal and irreducible feature of all cultures in history is they are driven entirely by elite interests. The elite in every society arrogate to themselves the right to define all aspects of reality to advantage their interestsmost virulent among the religious elite. Judaism was distorted beyond recognition by its socio-religious elitethe Sadducees and Phariseesinto an anti-Gentile cult. The Vedic spiritual vision was caricatured into casteism by Brahmanical ascendancy. Christianity, in its demented denominational fragmentariness, was misused and abused by European nation-states for justifying their predatory control, via colonialism, on Afro-Asian peoples and cultures. Names varied, but the pattern remained the same. Given this historical reality, the demand makes cultural sense: Those who live in India share the same matrix of culture, just as those living in the western world share the secular-scientific culture. (In the wake of globalisation, we are all western in culture.) It is a historical fact that the RSS would not have come into being, but for the interface between Indian and Western culture, with Christianity as the mediator, in the theatre of colonialism punctuated by European nationalism. The RSS is a significant expression of the Indian culture (in contrast to Indian spirituality), reacting to the challenges of European nationalism and its colonial predators. Since European nationalism thrived on its genius for conflicts and idolisation of power, it is understandable if the RSS exemplifies the self-same streak. Mimetic hegemonyresponding in a hegemonic spirit imitated from an erstwhile adversaryis a cultural response strategy, just as promoting universal fraternity is a spiritual strategy. This (the European) political civilization, Tagore wrote in Nationalism (1917) is scientific, not human. It betrays its trust, it weaves its meshes of lies without shame, it enshrines gigantic idols of greed in its temples, taking great pride in the costly ceremonials of its worship, calling it patriotism. The task before me is not to resist a label, but to invest it with spiritual significance. The insult is not in being coercively turned out in ascribed clothes. It is in my being no more than a rattling skeleton that will, for want of vitality, be defined wholly by the ascription. Valson Thampu Former principal of St Stephens College, New Delhi Email: vthampu@gmail.com RSS Sarsanghachalak Dr Mohanrao Bhagwats three-day lecture series in September was an unqualified success, and as expected, conversations triggered by this first-of-a-kind interaction still continue. Among those who had attended the series, many were hearing the Sanghs views directly for the first time; they had earlier been misled by propaganda. There was some disbelief, since the sarsanghachalaks speech was contrary to what had been said about the organisation. Opponents of the RSS were trying to pick apart the speech but failed to come up with anything that confirmed their oft-repeated falsehoods. However, their efforts saw a desultory revival. But the new dialogue the outreach triggered overwhelms past prejudice. Some people seem to be surprised, even delighted, about the clarification the sarsanghachalak gave about the book Bunch of Thoughts, a collection of speeches and thoughts of Shri Guruji (M S Golwalkar, the second sarsanghachalak). Some people went so far as to assume that Bhagwat distanced the Sangh from Guruji! This couldnt be further from the truth. In fact, the sarsanghachalaks entire lecture on day-two about Hinduism and Hindutva was based on the views Guruji contributed to the Sangh movement. Firstly, Bunch of Thoughts must be seen in the context of its time. The book is set between 1940 and 1965 (not his entire tenure as sarsanghachalak). When Guruji took over as sarsanghachalak, he was just 34 and had to guide this organisationwith no model to emulateto forge its destiny. At that time, calls for the creation of Pakistan were getting louder. The Quit India movement had gained force and many swayamsevaks were incarcerated and condemned to death. In 1946, an election was held over the demand for Pakistan. In Muslim-majority areas, Hindus were persecuted. India became independent, but she was amputated. Hindus sought refuge in India, often after unspeakable violence. The swayamsevaks were the only ones who stood by them. After Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, the RSS was targeted with falsehoods and was banned, though the government was unable to prove the allegations. This was the beginning of the dirty politics of hate by the Congress in independent Bharat. Guruji was incarcerated on false charges. Swayamsevaks organised a satyagrah against this and eventually the ban was removed. Meanwhile, Communism was spreading and the divisive thought that undermined national identity was mainstreamed. Conversions by Christians were increasing. During this time of upheaval, Guruji travelled across India and addressed issues that plagued the national conscience. Bunch of Thoughts is a compilation of his views during this period, up to 1965. After that, Guruji engaged in public discourse for 18 more years. On his centenary birth anniversary in 2006, Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan, a compilation of his thoughts during his time as sarsanghachalak, was published. The 12-volume set is worth reading for people who wish to understand the Gurujis evolution of thoughts. No opponent of the Sangh has displayed the requisite intellectual rigour to study Guruji and his ideas in their entirety before lifting the pen to write on him. His ideas have also been distilled into a book, Shri Guruji: His Vision and Mission (Drishti and Darshan). Bhagwat appealed everyone to read this book, so where does the question of the sarsanghachalak distancing himself from the Guruji come in? The answer given by Bhagwat to the query on the selectively quoted sections in Bunch of Thoughts is not any different from what Guruji has himself said. For example, here are the excerpts from an interview he gave to Arabic scholar Dr. Saifuddin Jeelani. Jeelani: Much has been said about Indianisation and a lot of confusion has arisen over it. Could you please tell me how to remove the confusion? Guruji: Indianisation was of course the slogan given by Jana Sangh ... Indianisation does not mean converting all people to Hinduism Indianisation does not mean that one should be asked to quit his religious system. We neither said this, nor we are going to say so. Jeelani: I am thankful to you for this clarification Dont you think it is high time that a meeting took place between you and such Muslim Indian leaders who would cooperate with you in finding ways to remove this communal discord once for all? Would you like to meet such leaders? Guruji: I would not only like it, I would welcome it. Journalist Khushwant Singh also interviewed Guruji in 1972. Singh wrote: There are some people against whom you build up malice without knowing them. Guru Golwalkar had long been at the top of my hate list ... as a journalist, I could not resist the chance of meeting him. He adds: Was I impressed? I admit I was. He did not try to persuade me to his point of view. He made me feel that he was open to persuasion. The concerns raised by Guruji in Bunch of Thoughts are still relevant today. The world is vexed by problems specific to an ideology (within the faith) that propagates fundamentalism and jihadism. Even in Bharat, the existence of such elements cannot be denied. In addition to this, illegal conversions and urban Maoism, and the prevalence of international support to such activities has been highlighted in the recent past. They have a long history of spreading disquiet and violence in society. It is necessary to take Muslims and Christians of Bharat along in the nation-building process. It is also important to be cautious about the extremists and divisive elements active in the name of so-called minorities. The Hindu way of life adapts itself to changing times. The same is true with the Sanghs work. Despite the toxic propaganda, the Sanghs work has been growing with an inclusive approach. Perhaps the inherent qualities of the fundamental Hindu philosophy, characterised by flexible rigidity and transformation according to the times, is the real strength behind this. By Express News Service BENGALURU: The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) in the city witnessed the fifth H1N1 death on Friday, taking the death toll to six this year in Karnataka. Dr C Nagaraj, Director, RGICD, said, A 38-year-old woman from Arasikere, Hassan, was brought in a very bad condition, with complaints of breathlessness, late on Thursday night. She died early on Friday. She had hypertension and the cause of death is H1N1. ALSO READ | Population density to blame for H1N1 spike in Bengaluru's Mahadevapura? The last available H1N1 report of the state health department on Friday shows five deaths two residents of BBMP, one each from Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru, and Ramanagara. Though the first death occurred in March and the second in August, followed by three more deaths in October, the state health department remained unaware. ALSO READ | Deputy CM G Parameshwara takes stock of H1N1 spread in Bengaluru During the recent meeting of all wings of the health department called by Health Secretary Jawaid Akhtar, the BBMP and the director of RGICD exposed the communication gap between the government-run RGICD that acts as the nodal centre for infectious diseases like H1N1 and the state health department. Nagaraj said the hospital was equipped to handle any number of H1N1 cases and had procured 100 non-invasive ventilation (NIV) masks and 2,500 Tamiflu tablets. The hospital has treated three doctors so far of H1N1 two from their own staff, one from the psychiatry department of neighbouring NIMHANS. On Thursday, the health department issued instructions to private labs conducting tests for H1N1 to not charge more than Rs 2,500 per test for patients availing treatment in private hospitals and that labs violating this directive will be liable for serious action. The note from the department also said that all flu-like illness are not H1N1. Currently, in the state, flu-like illnesses are mainly due to Influenza B virus, apart from H1N1, and to a certain extent H3N2, the note said. In view of increasing number of cases, it is planned to vaccinate health professionals against H1N1 who are at risk of contracting the disease, the departmental note said. By Express News Service BENGALURU: A 64-year-old president-cum-principal of a private school here was stabbed to death by a gang of six men who barged into his office with knives on Sunday morning. The reason is said to be a property dispute. Ironically, the victim, Ranganath Nayaka, had gone to the school to discuss the same issue with a local leader who offered to mediate. Ranganath Nayaka The attack took place around 10 am in Havanur Public School in Agrahara Dasarahalli on Magadi Road. About five hours later, the police were able to trace the main attacker Muniraju alias Babli in Mahalakshmi Layout, where they were forced to open fire at him and nab him. The rest are absconding. The dispute pertains to a building owned by one Gangamma on a site adjacent to the school, which had encroached upon the school property. The encroaching part of the building was demolished by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) two days ago based on a court order. Ranganath Nayaka, a resident of Housing Board Colony near Rajajinagar, has retired as assistant manager at RBI. Nayaka owned the school, which he set up in 2003 after he retired. The family hails from Pavagada in Tumakuru district and had settled in the city. A police officer said the incident took place when Nayaka and the schools administrative staff were at a meeting with a local leader, Rajashekar, to resolve the same property dispute. Lokesh Gowda, an employee, and Yathish, an assistant, rushed to Nayakas rescue, but the duo too was attacked by the gang which then fled the scene. The attackers included Gangammas two sons. Gowda and Yathish sustained stab injuries. Lokesh Gowda said, The gang stabbed Nayaka in his chest, thigh and stomach. Preliminary investigation has revealed that a portion of a residential building belonging to one Gangamma, located next to the school, had encroached upon the school property. Nayaka had approached the court over the encroachment as it was creating a problem for the school. The court had ordered demolition of the encroaching portion and BDA officials had demolished it with police protection two days ago. Gangammas sons Prasad and Mahesh had reportedly nurtured a grudge against Nayaka over the demolition and had allegedly planned to kill him. Prasad along with his gang came and allegedly attacked Nayaka in his chamber, stabbing him to death. Babli, who was among the first to attack, was arrested within five hours of the murder, while Prasad, Mahesh and three others are absconding. The police have formed a special team to nab them, a police officer said. We are yet to ascertain whether Babli and his gang had taken any supari contract from Prasad to kill Nayaka, an investigation officer added. Nayakas elder brother Nagendraiah told The New Indian Express that Gangamma had passed away recently after which her two sons Prasad and Mahesh got into a dispute with Nayaka over the encroachment. He said Rajashekhar, a local leader, who was also known to Prasad and Mahesh, had offered to mediate between the two parties to resolve the dispute. My brother was being called to the school since two days. But he could not go as he had undergone an eye surgery a week ago. On Sunday he sought the doctors advice before going to the school, Nagendariah said. By Express News Service KOCHI: While acquitting the prime accused undergoing double life imprisonment in the Chekannur Maulavi missing case, the High Court on Monday observed that the CBI had failed to prove that the Maulavi had died. This case is an instance where there is no proof that the Maulavi had died. His death is assumed since he had not come back after going to Kozhikode on July 29, 1993, the court held. A Division Bench comprising Justice A M Shaffique and Justice P D Somarajan issued the order on an appeal filed by the first accused, V V Hamsa, seeking to quash the order of the Ernakulam CBI special court, which awarded him a double life sentence and a fine of `1 lakh. The court convicted him for murder and conspiracy. The CBI said a criminal conspiracy had been hatched at Markaz Arts College, Karanthur, under the leadership of Usman Musaliyar (ninth accused) to eliminate the Maulavi for acting against Islam. The accused abducted and killed him. Later, the body was disposed of in a mysterious manner so that it will never be recovered. The CBI could not recover the body. Its for the prosecution to prove Maulavi had died The Bench noted that the only evidence that could link the accused to the murder was that two witnesses had seen him visit the Maulavis house and escort him out of there. Though the last-seen theory was a strong piece of circumstantial evidence, it will be safer for the court to look for corroboration, especially in instances where the time lag between the occurrence of death and when the accused was last seen in the company of the deceased. The Bench observed that if there was evidence to prove the Maulavis death immediately after being taken from his residence, an explanation from the accused would have been necessary. But there was no such evidence. It is for the prosecution to prove with ocular or circumstantial evidence that the Maulavi had died and there are circumstances to implicate the accused in the crime. Unfortunately, no such material is forthcoming in the case, observed the Bench. The Bench made it clear to arrive at a conclusion that the accused was involved in a conspiracy to abduct and murder the Maulavi and thereafter destroy the evidence, there ought to be sufficient circumstance that was proved beyond reasonable doubt. Maybe he is murdered, but what is the material adduced by the prosecution to prove it? observed the Bench. There was a substantial contradiction in the version of Havva Umma, the Maulavis wife, and Abdul Jabbar, an employee of the press run by Maulavi, which by itself cannot be the basis for arriving at a conclusion that the first accused was one among the persons who had visited the Maulavis house.There was no evidence of conspiracy of abduction or commission of murder, added the Bench. The list was revealed based on the results of the magazine's Readers' Choice Awards, including reviews of 429,000 readers. InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort in Da Nang ranked 15th on the list and is described as "the perfect pick for some beachside R&R while in Vietnam". It also feels much farther away from the real world though it is just 30 minutes from the Danang airport, the magazine states. The resort, which opened in 2012, is said to be scattered from the lush hills of the Son Tra Peninsula nature reserve down to the sandy shores of the East Sea and has become one of the top picks in the country for relaxing getaways. JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa, with the hotels 244 rooms and villas with sea views and private pools, is ranked 17th on the list. JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa The hotel is designed by inimitable hotel designer Bill Bensley with the concept weaving a story around the fictional historic Lamarck University, an homage to the French evolutionary theorist, which was supposedly founded in 1880, then abandoned in the 1940s, and ultimately restored by Marriott, the magazine said. Although the resort has only been in operation since late 2016, it has continuously been honoured with many prestigious world travel awards. P V Nalinakshan Nair By Express News Service Till 1949, the erstwhile Travancore kingdom was the custodian of all Hindu temples in the region. It administered, managed and controlled the temples and in 1922 created the Devaswom Department under the Land Revenue Department. The then rulers adhered to the principles of Sanathana Dharma since they were devout Hindus who believed in temple worship and customs. Therefore, before signing the instrument of accession with the Union of India, the princely states of both Travancore and Cochin wanted to ensure the control and management of the temples is indeed vested in those who profess and practise the Hindu Sanathana Dharma. As per the tripartite Covenant of 1949 signed by the Kings of Travancore and Cochin and the Indian government the powers, functions, authority and assets of the temples wrested by the kings were transferred to the Devaswom Boards. Accordingly, the Travancore-Cochin Legislature passed the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institution Act 1950, which created the Travancore Devaswom Board and Cochin Devaswom Board. The Travancore Devaswom Board came into being seven years before the states first elected government assumed office. As per Chapter II, Sections 3 and 15 of the Travancore and Cochin Hindu Religious Institution Act 1950, all the assets, authority and powers owned and exercised by the king devolved on the respective Devaswom Boards. Section 31 of the Act enjoins the Devaswom Boards to conduct the affairs of the temple in accordance with the prevailing practices and customs utilising the assets and exercising the authority devolved on them by virtue of Section 3 and 15 of the Act. Thus the Kings of Travancore and Cochin ensured the control and management of the temples did not pass into the hands of non-Hindus, agnostics or atheists. It should be noted here the prevailing practices and customs of the Sabarimala pilgrimage do not constitute any notable violation of civil rights, violence or abuse nor incite enmity between or among other religions. Hence, the incumbent Kerala government has no locus standi to file an affidavit in favour of the petitioners in the case. The secular state has no legal or moral right to intervene in the case. The Supreme Court ought not to have taken cognisance of such an affidavit filed by the state government. The Travancore Devaswom Board is duty bound to specifically point out the state governments limitations and lack of authority on the issue. Though they have failed miserably in the discharge of this duty, not much else can be expected of a board appointed by the same government. A sizeable majority of pilgrims, after undertaking a 41-day penance, come to Sabarimala for Lord Ayyappas darsan. With no personal grooming and clad in black while remaining celibate throughout the period of the penance, the pilgrims surrender themselves totally to the Lord to unite with the divine grace. Had the Supreme Court been properly informed of the unique nature of the Sabarimala pilgrimage, the judges perhaps might have refrained from making uncalled for observations in the name of gender equality. As per the Hindu Dharma Sasthras, customs and practices can indeed change according to time and place. When the so-called secular institutions of state and the judiciary foist their ideas on Ayyappa devotees, there is bound to be resistance and outrage.The perverse judgment and the state governments support to it hurt true Ayyappa devotees, including young women. Now, the Supreme Court verdict is under review. The Union government is a key signatory to the tripartite Covenant of 1949 and this holds good with respect to the functioning of the Travancore Devaswom Board and its practices. As a signatory, the Union government had guaranteed the implementation of the provisions of the covenant. Any violation or negation of the spirit and import of the covenant calls for the present Union governments intervention to nullify the effect of the perverse judgment. (The writer is a former Travancore Devaswom Board commissioner. The views expressed are personal.) By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: Police have tightened security in the Capital City ahead of Durga Puja starting with Sasthi puja on Monday. The cops will be deployed in plain clothes to check chain snatching during the festival. About 35 platoons of police forces along with 250 officers will be deployed in the city for smooth celebration of the festival, Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Sahu told The Express. Besides this, one unit each of ODRAF and Odisha Swift Action Force (OSAF) will be deployed in the Capital to deal with any emergency situation. About 700 home guards and 400 constables will remain present during the mega festival. Meanwhile, police have started road blocking on Saturday night and 2015 persons were booked for various offences including drunken-driving. Police also collected fine amounting to `5.45 lakh from the violators. From September 23 to October 13, 275 non-bailable warrants were executed and 106 habitual offenders were booked under Section-110 of CrPC in a bid to maintain law and order situation during the Durga Puja, said a police officer. By Express News Service MANCHERIAL: Decrying the formal electoral process, Maoists on Sunday released three letters addressing people living in the coal belt area of Mancherial and asked them to boycott polls. The Maoist communique, signed by Bharat Communist Party (Maoist) and Singareni Karmika Sangam secretary B Sridhar and Singareni division secretary Prabhath, asks people to not trust caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. It describes Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Opposition Congress, BJP, TDP and TJS as opportunistic. The banned outfit also said it would not allow political parties to campaign in the region and wanted the ban on their organisation lifted. READ| Boycott Chhattisgarh polls: Maoists As soon as the letters surfaced, police commissionerates in the region went into high alert. Police teams from Ramagundam and Mancherial began combing operations in the borders areas of the Pranahitha river and interior forest areas in Chennur and Kothapalli mandals. They also conducted searches on border areas between erstwhile Adilabad district and Maharashtra. Ramagundam Commissioner P Satyanarayana and Mancherial DCP Venugopal Rao inspected some areas and organised meetings with villagers asking for tip-offs about persons suspected to have Maoist ties. Meanwhile, police increased security provided to former MLAs from Chennur and Bellampalli and asked them not to travel to interior areas without informing them first. Maha DGP discusses Maoist movement with TS counterparts Hyderabad: THE DGP of Maharashtra, Datta Padsalgikar, visited Hyderabad on Saturday and reportedly discussed Left Wing Extremism and related activities along Telangana-Maharashtra border with his counterparts. He called on DGP M Mahender Reddy and additional DGPs Ravi Gupta, Jitender and others senior officials at the state police headquarters. In view of ensuing General Elections to be held on December 7, the State police have reportedly sought co-operation from Maharashtra police in eliminating Maoist activists. There is an alleged Maoist movement along Gadchiroli and Gondia localities of Maharashtra, which borders TS. By UNI SANAA: At least 15 civilians were killed and 20 others injured in an airstrike on minibuses in Yemen's Hudaydah province. "At least 15 civilians have been reported killed and 20 others injured when the minibusses they were traveling in yesterday were struck in Jabal Ras District in Hodeidah Governorate," reports Anadolu Agency. "The United Nations agencies working in Yemen unequivocally condemn the attack on civilians and extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims," she said. "Under international humanitarian law, parties to the conflict are obliged to respect the principles of precaution, proportionality and distinction," Grande added. The office estimates that over 170 people have been killed and at least 1,700 have been injured in the Al Hudaydah region, while more than 425,000 have fled their homes since the start of the Saudi offensive in the area in June 2018. The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains, prompting the UN to describe the situation as "one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times". By PTI WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Sunday backed off from is the claim that climate change is a hoax, but said that it's not man-made with permanent impacts and climate will "change back again". ALSO READ | US, China, India, Japan suffer as environment protection becomes costlier: United Nations In an interview with CBS News' '60 Minutes', Trump accused scientists of having a "very big political agenda" and asserted that he does not want to put the US, the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, at a disadvantage in responding to climate change. Asked whether he still thinks climate change is a hoax, Trump said, "I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again. I don't think it's a hoax, I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's manmade." "I will say this. I don't wanna give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don't wanna lose millions and millions of jobs. I don't wanna be put at a disadvantage," the US president said. Trump, who had previously called the climate change a "hoax", in June last year, pulled the US out of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change arguing that deal agreed by more than 190 nations unfairly benefited countries like India and China and hit American economy and jobs. ALSO READ | India, Russia ask countries to fully implement Paris pact; commit to promoting green development When asked if he could go to Greenland, watch these huge chunks of ice just falling into the ocean, raising the sea levels, Trump said one doesn't know whether or not that would have happened with or without man. "I'm not denying climate change. But it could very well go back. You know, we're talkin' about over a millions of years." Trump accused scientists who say hurricanes are getting more frequent and intense because of climate change of having "a very big political agenda". "They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael," Trump said. "You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda," he said. By AFP COLOGNE (GERMANY): German police said Monday they ended a hostage-taking in a pharmacy in Cologne's main train station, gravely wounding the alleged perpetrator after he himself injured two people. "Special response units overpowered the man. During the police action he hurt two bystanders, one of them seriously," police said in a statement. The attacker had to be resuscitated and was in intensive care for "extremely serious" injuries sustained when officers stormed the shop, they added. "The motive of the attacker remains unclear," a spokesman said soon after he was subdued. A woman held hostage by the perpetrator was only "lightly wounded", police tweeted shortly after she was freed around 3:00 pm (1300 GMT). But another victim, a 14-year-old girl, was brought to hospital suffering from burns. Eyewitnesses said the teenager had been in a cafe close to the pharmacy immediately before the hostage-taking. Police set up a webpage where members of the public could upload pictures and video related to the incident, while their own investigations were "at full pitch". They began receiving calls about the violence around lunchtime. An eyewitness told journalists how she heard screams and saw "a girl running for her life" from the cafe with flames spreading up her leg, before she was helped by bystanders. First responders arrived around 12:45 pm at the central station directly next to Cologne's twin-spired cathedral, locking the whole building down. As members of the public were ordered to leave the area as quickly as possible, state rail operator Deutsche Bahn shut down the busy main train station in Cologne -- a major hub for rail travel through North Rhine-Westphalia state and nationwide. Officers initially said they were in contact with the hostage-taker to determine his demands and whether he was armed. But shortly afterwards police commandos stormed the pharmacy with stun grenades. "The perpetrator is under control.Police measures are continuing," Cologne police wrote on Twitter just after the special unit assaulted the shop. By PTI ISLAMABAD: In a set-back to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Opposition alliance led by deposed premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N gained five more parliamentary seats in by-polls, reducing the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party's margin in delicately balanced National Assembly. READ | Pakistan by-election: Initial results show tough fight between Imran Khan's PTI and opposition PML-N Elections were held Sunday in nine National Assembly constituencies in Punjab and one each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 24 provincial assemblies seats, including 11 in Punjab, nine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two each in Sindh and Balochistan. Most of the seats where by-polls were held had been vacated by those elected on more than one seat in the July 25 general elections, including Prime Minister Khan who won in all the five NA constituencies he had contested. In by-polls, Khan's party lost two seats vacated by him. His seat in Lahore (NA-131) was won by former railways minister and a firebrand Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique. In Bannu, Zahid Akram Durrani of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) defeated the PTI candidate Naseem Ali Shah. Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who had lost the July 25 elections from two constituencies, easily defeated PTI's Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan in NA-124 Lahore in an almost one-sided contest. The PML-N and the PTI won four seats each of the National Assembly whereas Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid won two seats and MMA one seat, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said. Now the opposition numbers have increased by five more seats in the National Assembly, while the ruling alliance secured six more seats. The outcome of the by-election will not impact the federal or provincial government but help reinvigorate the opposition parties. The PTI won 11 seats of the provincial assemblies while the PML-N won seven. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by former president Asif Ali Zardari, and Awami National Party won two each and independent candidates were elected on two seats. The PML-N won six out of 11 contested seats in Punjab while its arch-rival PTI won five. The PML-N also won a provincial assembly seat in Khyber-Pakhtukhwa, which is the stronghold of the PTI. Commenting on the results, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said the PTI would have won at least nine of the 11 NA seats had Prime Minister Khan led the campaign for by-elections. Talking to a private TV channel, he said the top party leadership did not run the campaign due to the Election of Commission's bar on them. According to the Election Commission, 9.28 million voters were eligible to vote. For the first time, overseas Pakistanis also participated in the elections though a special online portal designed by the ECP. Officials said 84 per cent registered overseas voters cast their vote in by-polls. Thousands of army soldiers, police and paramilitary Rangers and Frontier Corps were deployed to provide security at 7,489 polling stations. The ECP had designated as many as 1,727 polling stations as highly sensitive where extra troops were deployed and security cameras installed. By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Monday said that the strategic stability in South Asia is being threatened by the offensive posture and induction of lethal weapons by India. Alvi said that nobody should doubt Pakistan's capability to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty, Radio Pakistan reported. "Discriminatory exemptions by certain countries for the supply of nuclear technology and supply of advanced military hardware to our neighbour has further complicated the regional security and undermined the credibility of the non-proliferation regime," the report said. The comments of the President, who is one of the founding members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, came while addressing an international conference on 'Global Non-Proliferation Regime: Challenges and Response' by the Strategic Studies Institute here. Pakistan is committed to maintain strategic stability in the region and will continue to demonstrate restraint and responsibility, he said. Alvi urged the international community to take notice of talk of "surgical strikes" and "limited war", saying such a posture just tends to only up the ante. Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba was severely hit in the cross-LoC surgical strikes on terror launch pads carried out by the Indian Army with assessment reports of radio intercepts indicating that around 20 of its militants were killed. Alvi, without naming India, said that the proponents of such (surgical strikes and limited war) fantasies will bear the responsibility of any consequences. He hoped that good sense will prevail and that both Pakistan and India agree on the framework for strategic stability. The President, however regretted that "our postures for peace have been reciprocated with belligerence". He said Pakistan has relentlessly pursued the objective of keeping South Asia free of nuclear weapons despite the fact that in 1974, detonation had taken place in the region. "Our proposals for nuclear nonproliferation are well documented," Alvi claimed. He said the nuclear tests by India in 1998 ended any prospects for nuclear-free zone in South Asia. "We were forced to respond to the nuclear tests to maintain the strategic balance in the region," he said. Alvi said that Pakistan has not given up the pursuit of meaningful engagement with India for confidence-building measures, avoidance of arms race and risk reduction. He said both the countries need to save on arms and spend on the welfare of the poor people. Pakistan's proposal for a strategic restraint regime encompassing conflict resolution and maintaining conventional balance can provide a good basis for regional peace and security, the President said. He pointed out that the orientation of Pakistan's nuclear programme is civilian. "We have a complete programme to hardness peaceful uses of nuclear energy," he claimed. Alvi said Pakistan which has applied for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has a strong case keeping in view its efforts and contributions to non-proliferation. He also called for the resolution of lingering disputes including that of Jammu and Kashmir for the world peace at large, the report said. He warned that new threats are also emerging including hostile uses of outer space, offensive cyber capability and development of lethal autonomous weapon systems such as drones. By Associated Press SEOUL: The rival Koreas are holding high-level talks Monday to discuss further engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. South Korea said Monday's talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. ALSO READ | Sign truce ending Korean war, Moon Jae-in urges US The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as Washington has expressed unease over the fast pace in inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with U.S.-led efforts to denuclearize the North. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the discussions will include setting up a joint survey of a North Korean railroad section the Koreas plan to connect with the South. The North's chief delegate to the talks is Ri Son Gwon, who chairs the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. There could also be discussions over the specifics of a joint military committee agreed between their leaders to evaluate tension-reduction steps and maintain communication to prevent crises and accidental clashes. "The infinite waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic start out as a gathering of smaller repositories of water," Ri told South Korean reporters as he arrived at the border village of Panmunjom for the meeting. "Likewise, the high-level meeting today will contribute to peace, prosperity and unification (between the countries) that are desired by the entire nation," he said, referring to the people of both Koreas. ALSO READ | North Korea wants Pope to visit, South Korea to tell Vatican In their third summit this year, Moon and Kim committed to reviving economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such activity, and holding a groundbreaking ceremony by the end of the year on an ambitious project to connect their roads and railways. The North and South also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border, removing 11 front-line guard posts by December, and demining sections of the Demilitarized Zone. The Koreas also said they will make a push to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Moon has described inter-Korean engagement as crucial to resolving the nuclear standoff and is eager to restart joint economic projects held back by sanctions if the larger nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea begin yielding results. However, South Korea's enthusiasm for engagement with its rival appears to have created discomfort with ally United States amid growing concerns that the North is lagging behind its supposed promise to denuclearize. Moon's government last week walked back on a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea following President Donald Trump's blunt retort that Seoul could "do nothing" without Washington's approval. South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed displeasure about the Koreas' military agreement. Kang was not specific but her comments fueled speculation Washington wasn't fully on board before Seoul signed the agreement. Trump has encouraged U.S. allies to maintain sanctions on North Korea until it denuclearizes to maintain a campaign of pressure against Kim's government. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (2nd L) arrives at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Oct. 14, 2018. Li Keqiang arrived here on Sunday for an official visit to the Netherlands at the invitation of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here on Sunday for an official visit to the Netherlands, the first by a Chinese premier in 14 years. It is also Li's first trip to the European country as the Chinese premier. The Netherlands is one of the first western countries to establish diplomatic ties with new China and the two countries decided to build an open and pragmatic partnership for comprehensive cooperation during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit in 2014, said Li in a written statement upon his arrival. As two large trading nations, China and the Netherlands are important trading partners for each other, he said, noting that he hopes the visit will further enhance political trust between the two countries. He said he expects that through this visit, China and the Netherlands will discuss ways to comprehensively deepen and expand cooperation in various areas and cement consensus on safeguarding multilateralism, supporting globalization and promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, so as to inject new impetus to cooperation and relations between China and the Netherlands as well as China and Europe and deliver more benefits to the people. During his three-day stay, the premier will hold in-depth discussions with Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, and meet with Dutch King Willem-Alexander. He is also set to visit a hi-tech exhibition and address a business forum in The Hague. The two sides are expected to sign a series of cooperation documents on aviation, energy and finance, among others, according to a press briefing by Chinese Foreign Ministry ahead of the visit. It is the second stop of Li's Eurasia trip from Oct. 11 to 19. He has paid an official visit to Tajikistan and attended the 17th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe, and will fly to Belgium for the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit and a working visit. By PTI NEW DELHI: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month, China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said Monday. Luo was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats here. He said the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration will deepen in future. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November, the Chinese envoy said. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year -- at the Shanaghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. Luo also said China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. THE HAGUE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for renewing the friendship between China and the Netherlands as he arrived in the country on Sunday for an official visit. This is the first such visit to the country by a Chinese premier in 14 years. "I have come to the Netherlands to renew and enhance a long-running friendship. A bright future dawns only when we maintain," Li said in an article published Sunday on newspaper Nouvelles D'Europe. Noting that the world is now facing the headwinds of unilateralism and protectionism, Li said the solution to the challenges lies in "making a stronger commitment to uphold multilateralism, free trade, economic globalization and an open world economy, and striving to sustain the hard-won global recovery with concrete and concerted efforts." The premier also urged the two countries to further enhance cooperation. The development in China driven by a new round of reform and opening-up has created new space for cooperation between the two countries, Li said. "As a Dutch saying goes, happiness doubles when you share it. Likewise, opportunities will multiply when we share them," Li said in the article titled "A time to renew friendship and embrace a brighter future." Efforts to advance the Belt and Road Initiative will provide more opportunities to leverage the advantageous location of the Netherlands as the gateway to Europe and facilitate connectivity between China and Europe by making full use of the convenient land, sea and air transportation in this country, he said. The boom of new growth drivers and upgrading of the industrial structure in China will cultivate new areas of technological cooperation, and Chinese people's pursuit of a better life with higher household spending promises a new market for quality Dutch products, he said. Meanwhile, China's innovation-driven development strategy being implemented in full swing will offer new impetus for creative industries in the Netherlands to join in the development of the innovation economy in China, Li said. "With a host of measures in place to deepen reform and expand opening-up, especially to widen market access for foreign investment in services sectors, the financial sector included, China will generate more promising business opportunities for Dutch companies and investors," said Li. On China's business environment, Li said China will "make greater efforts and take faster steps to improve" it, as well as "expand market access for foreign investors, and protect intellectual property rights." "This is a commitment China has made not just to the world but more so to serve China's own development. We will stay committed to these goals," he added. Stating that the process of reform and opening-up will see China further align its domestic rules with international practices and seek development synergy with the rest of the world, Li said the Netherlands and other countries are welcome to share in China's development opportunities. "I trust that the Netherlands known for its pioneering spirit will be an early bird in China's new round of reform and opening-up. With joint efforts, China, the Netherlands and Europe as a whole will all embrace a brighter future," the premier said. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Plenty of sunshine. High 56F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Overcast. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 50F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. ANKARA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on late Sunday held phone talk with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, discussing the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. During the phone call, the two leaders emphasized the importance of forming a joint working group to make investigation on the case, the report cited Turkish presidential source as saying. Saudi King Salman also affirmed his country's solid ties with Turkey, saying no one could undermine the strength of their bilateral relationship, the Saudi Foreign Ministry tweeted after the phone conversation. Khashoggi, journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Unconfirmed reports said that Khashoggi was likely killed inside the compound, which was denied by Saudi officials as "baseless." Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia to explain the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, saying the kingdom's consulate should provide evidence that Khashoggi exited the building after entering. A Saudi delegation arrived in Turkey on Friday to discuss the case with Turkish authorities, following Turkish presidential spokesperson announced to form a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation team upon the kingdom's request. (Newser) Chilling news out of Mexico Beach, Fla., where officials have been trying to track down hundreds of people who said they wouldn't evacuate before Hurricane Michael bore down on them. Although there's been just one confirmed death in the citycalled the hurricane's "Ground Zero" by the Daily BeastABC News and CNN report that between 30 and close to 50 people were considered missing as of Sunday. Officials, however, say it's been hard to figure out how many residents who initially said they were staying later fled the city, per Mayor Al Cathey. Rescuers are now sifting through the debris with dogs to see if they can find any of the missing; Cathey tells KTRK that food and water have been brought in for residents who remained as the hurricane wiped out their seaside community. story continues below Other parts of Bay County were also devastated, with Panama City officials noting the challenge of accessing remote areas, often having to use chainsaws and bulldozers to make their way through rubble. Panama City Fire Chief Alex Baird tells CNN it could take weeks to complete the hundreds of requests for resident checks that have been received. Schools throughout the Panhandle region, which still remains without power or reliable cellphone service in many parts, were also slammed. "I would say every single school in Bay County has some type of damage," a local school board member says, noting it may take weeks, months, or even years to get some of them fully back up and running. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports on one house, "built for 'the big one,'" that stands tall among Mexico Beach's oceanside ruins. (Read more Hurricane Michael stories.) (Newser) As controversy continues to swirl around the Brian Kemp-Stacey Abrams gubernatorial faceoff in Georgia, a senator campaigning for Kemp created one of his own. Kemp, who's currently Georgia's secretary of state, has been accused of trying to purge voter rolls ahead of the November election, and a Georgia Tech student tried to ask GOP Sen. David Perdue about the issue when Perdue visited the campus on Saturday. The studenta member of the Young Democratic Socialists of America who asked Law&Crime not to ID him for fear of retribution from Perdue supporterrecorded a short video on his cellphone in which he started asking the senator about possible voter suppression, at which point it appears Perdue rips the phone out of the student's hands after saying, "No, I'm not doing that." story continues below "You stole my property," the student can be heard saying. "Give me my phone back, senator." The senator then apparently hands the phone back and walks away, as the student notes, "US Senator David Perdue just snatched my phone because he won't answer a question, one of his constituents." The YDSA called the senator's actions "abhorrent" and "dismissing [of] dissent," while some on the right poked fun of the student's socialist status, with a write-up on Twitchy noting, "So it's only OK if the government takes someone else's property and not your own? WEIRD!" A Perdue rep, meanwhile, says the whole thing was a "misunderstanding" and that the senator thought the student wanted a selfie, so Perdue took the phone to oblige. "When he realized they didn't actually want to take a picture, he gave the phone back," the rep says, per the Washington Post. (Read more David Perdue stories.) (Newser) Another controversy is brewing about an American hunter's safari in Africa. This time it involves a Fish and Game commissioner in Idaho named Blake Fischer, who returned from a hunt in Namibia with his wife and boasted by email of all the animals he killed with a bow, reports the Idaho State Journal. The most controversial photo is of a smiling Fischer posing with four dead baboons. (Click the Journal link to the see the photo, or this tweet, but note that the image might be disturbing for some.) "Fellas," Fischer writes, explaining that his wife accompanied him because "she wanted to watch me and 'get a feel' of Africa ... so I shot a whole family of baboons. I think she got the idea quick." Fischer also provided photos of his other kills, including a giraffe, a leopard, an impala, a sable antelope, and a waterbuck, per the Idaho Statesman, which counts at least 14. story continues below Fischer's email went out to dozens of acquaintances, including former commissioners on the Fish and Game panel. So far, three of those ex-commissioners have called for Fischer to resign from the panel, whose members are not paid and are appointed by the governor. "I'm sure what you did was legal, however, legal does not make it right," wrote one of them, Fred Trevey. Fischer, however, tells the Statesman: "I didn't do anything illegal. I didn't do anything unethical. I didn't do anything immoral." A spokesperson for Gov. CL "Butch" Otter said "it's fair to say the governor is concerned." Criticism isn't just coming from animal-rights activists. "What bothers me is he's got the family there and a little baby baboon sitting there with blood all over it, kind of like in the mother's arms," the director of the pro-hunting Idaho for Wildlife group tells IdahoNews. "You just dont do this." (This man shot a bear in Alaska; then the unheard of happened.) (Newser) The NYPD wants to speak to at least three people in connection with a violent clash between members of the "Proud Boys" far-right group and counter-protesters Friday night. The brawl happened after Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes spoke at the Metropolitan Republican Club in the Upper East Side, which had been vandalized prior to his appearance, the New York Post reports. The NYPD tweeted photos of the "persons-of-interest" Sunday after complaints that police had failed to arrest Proud Boys members caught on video attacking counterprotesters, the Washington Post reports. story continues below New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for police to review the videos and make arrests. He said he had requested assistance from the FBI. "Hate cannot and will not be tolerated in New York," he tweeted. "Here's a message from a Queens boy to the so-called 'proud boys' NY has zero tolerance for your bs." He blamed Republicans for the clashes, accusing them of inviting McInnes to speak at their club to "fire up the base," the AP reports. There were also clashes between far-right protesters from the Patriot Prayer group and "antifa" counterprotesters in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, the Oregonian reports. Police broke up the clashes by firing pepper balls at brawlers, but no arrests were made. (Read more New York City stories.) (Newser) Nine people, including South Korean climbers, were killed on Gurja Himal mountain after a strong storm swept through their base camp, Nepalese police say. The nine climbers who died included Kim Chang-ho, the first South Korean to summit all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 meters without using supplemental oxygen. Seoul's Foreign Ministry has not yet disclosed the names of the four other South Koreans. Four Nepalese climbers were also killed when the storm hit the camp on Friday, the AP reports. Rescuers retrieved the climbers' bodies on Sunday after weather cleared. The body of one of the guides was taken to his village, while the eight climbers were flown to Kathmandu. story continues below "It was the worst mountaineering disaster in Nepal in recent years and an unimaginable one," says Rameshwor Niraula of Nepal's Mountaineering Department, which issues climbing permits and monitors expeditions. Niraula says officials are still gathering details of what exactly happened, but from what rescuers described, the climbers were blown over by the blast of the blizzard-like wind conditions. One Korean member of the climbing team had become ill and was in a village far below the base camp during the storm. It was the deadliest climbing disaster in Nepal since 2015, when 19 people were killed at Mount Everest's base camp by an avalanche triggered by an earthquake. (Read more Nepal stories.) German Christian Social Union's candidate and Bavarian governor Markus Soeder (R, Front) delivers a speech after the initial forecast at the Maximilianeum in Munich, Germany, on Oct. 14, 2018. The Christian Social Union (CSU), one of the three ruling parties in Germany, suffered great loss Sunday in the state election in Bavaria, according to the initial forecast by the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi) MUNICH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Despite garnering the most votes, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ally, the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) suffered great loss in the state election on Sunday. According to initial forecasts, the CSU took just 35.5 percent of the vote, slumping by 12.2 percentage points from the last state election in 2013, while the environmentalist Green Party became the biggest winner by garnering 18.5 percent of votes. The German Social Democratic Party (SPD), another party in Merkel's Grand Coalition government, has halved in comparison to the last state election, receiving only 10 percent of votes. The anti-migration far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) won 11 percent of votes, crossing the 5-percent hurdle and leaping into the state parliament. They followed the right-leaning Free Voters, which won 11.5 percent of votes. Official results will be published later on Sunday or Monday. "It's not easy to separate ourselves from what's going on nationally," Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder said after the results were announced. "The main priority is to form a stable government for Bavaria as quickly as possible, and we accept that task." The CSU and Merkel-led Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are sister parties and form the Union. The recent polls showed that the Union had reached the lowest supporting rate in history, around 26 to 28 percent, while it received 32.9 percent of votes in the federal elections in 2017. The CSU has been critical of Merkel's migration policies and Horst Seehofer, CSU chairman and German interior minister, had a dispute over migration issues with Merkel in July and even threatened to resign. The dispute was believed to have weakened the Union and the unity of the coalition government, thus causing loss of voters' support. SPD Chairwoman Andrea Nahles said "the poor performance of the grand coalition here in Berlin" should be held co-responsible for the crash in Bavaria. "We have not been able to free ourselves from the directional dispute in the CDU/CSU. That's why there was no tailwind from Berlin, on the contrary. It is clear that must change," DPA quoted Nahles as saying. (Newser) Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, formerly Meghan Markle, shared some happy news as they began their first overseas tour. Kensington Palace says the duchess is pregnant with the couple's first child and is due to give birth in the spring. The couple wed in May and royal-watchers suspected the duchess was pregnant when she arrived at Princess Eugenie's wedding on Saturday wearing a long, dark coat, the BBC reports. The couple arrived in Sydney, Australia, on Monday to kick off a 16-day tour that will also include stops in New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga, reports the Guardian. story continues below The couple "appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public," the palace said in a statement. The baby will be seventh in line to the throne, but as a great-grandchild of the monarch, he or she will not have the title of prince or princess unless the queen intervenes, the Telegraph reports. A first son of Harry's would have the title Earl of Dumbarton, one of his lesser titles, while a daughter would be Lady Mountbatten-Windsor. (Read more Meghan Markle stories.) (Newser) The US hasn't had an ambassador to Australia in place for two years, the longest stretch since WWIIwhich may explain why things are getting low-key chaotic Down Under at the American embassy. The BBC reports that an apology has been issued after a "training error" resulted in a rather odd email, subject line "meeting," blasted out to an unknown number of people. Included in the now-viral message from the US State Department: a picture of a cat in a Cookie Monster-style outfit, grasping a plate of cookies, and an invitation to attend an upcoming "cat pyjama-jam." (See the image here.) The message also included words in Latin and an RSVP button for the "jam." story continues below "It was a training error made by one of our new staff testing out our email newsletter platform," State Dept. rep Gavin Sundwall tells the Aussie AP, acknowledging many will be disappointed by the rescinding of the invite, but that "such an event falls well outside our area of expertise." Sundwall promises "strong new management controls" are being looked at to make sure Cookie Monster Cat and other non-governmental mascots don't go viral via email again, per the Guardian. Mashable adds that the photo was likely taken by Jennifer Stewart of Melbourne; her photos of onesie-clad cats post to the Instagram account @my_furry_babies. (Read about another email goof, this one in Utah.) (Newser) With international pressure on Saudi Arabia seeming to intensify by the day, the Saudis have agreed to a joint inspection of their consulate in Istanbul with Turkish officials. The inspection will take place Monday, almost two weeks after journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering the facility, reports the AP. The Turks say that a Saudi hit team murdered and dismembered the frequent critic of the regime inside the consulate, while the Saudis say he left unharmed. Over the weekend, President Trump warned of "severe punishment" if the Turkish allegations are true, while the Saudis suggested that they could torpedo the world economy in response to any penalties. story continues below In another sign of the pressure building on Saudi Arabia, JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon announced that he would not attend the marquis Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. Other business execs had previously announced they would skip as well, but Dimon is the biggest world financier to pull out, reports the Wall Street Journal. He had been scheduled as a featured speaker. JPMorgan has ties with Saudi Arabia that go back to the 1930s, notes the newspaper. (Read more Jamal Khashoggi stories.) (Newser) Elizabeth Warren has just made her strongest move yet to rebut President Trump's frequent mocking of her as "Pocahontas." The Massachusetts senator released the results of a DNA test to the (subscription-only) Boston Globe that finds "strong evidence" she has at least some Native American ancestry. Renowned Stanford expert Carlos D. Bustamante found that the "vast majority" of Warren's lineage can be traced to Europe, but he said the test "strongly supports" the notion that the Oklahoma native has a Native American ancestor going back six to 10 generations. The newspaper notes that the results, however, could provide ammunition for both Warren's supporters and her critics. story continues below On the plus side for her, the results sync with Warren's previous explanation that her family lore speaks of a great-great-great grandmother who was part Native American. That would make her 1/64th Native American. But if the ancestor goes back further, to 10 generations, that would make Warren just 1/1,024th Native American. (The Globe corrected the two figures after the story's publication.) Warren is expected to run for president in 2020, and she is already using the DNA results to push back against a claim made by Trump and others: that she made up or exaggerated her Native American history to further her career. Warren has denied that, and Boston 25 News reports she has released a companion video and website to the DNA results. "I never expected my familys story to be used as a racist political joke, but I dont take any fight lying down," she tweeted. (Read more Elizabeth Warren stories.) (Newser) Nearly two weeks after the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia is making moves to clear its name: It will allow a joint inspection of its Turkish embassy Monday afternoon, and King Salman is personally denying his kingdom had anything to do with how the journalist vanished. "Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen,'" President Trump tweeted early Monday. "He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer." Trump also said he is sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with King Salman. story continues below It sounded to me like maybe there could have been rogue killers. Who knows? Trump told reporters after his morning tweet, reports Reuters. The president added that we are going to leave nothing uncovered, while pointing out that the king's denial "could not have been stronger." Pompeo, meanwhile, is expected to travel from Riyadh on to Turkey, reports the AP. (Things weren't nearly as friendly between the US and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.) (Newser) Now that Elizabeth Warren has taken an ancestry test that shows "strong evidence" of Native American ancestry, she wants President Trump to pay up on a challenge. In a tweet, Warren reminded Trump that he once publicly challenged her to take such a DNA test for $1 million. "Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center," wrote Warren, explaining in another tweet that the nonprofit group protects Native American women from violence. Trump has long ridiculed Warren as "Pocahontas" over her claims of Native American ancestry. story continues below In July, he joked that he would toss a DNA test on stage if he ever debated her, per the Hill: "And we will say, 'I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian," Trump said. "And we'll see what she does. I have a feeling she will say no." Monday morning, however, the president denied to reporters he ever issued such a challenge: "Who cares? I didn't say that. ... You better read it again." The DNA test doesn't definitively prove that Warren is Native American. It says her ancestry is mostly European, but strongly suggests she has a Native American ancestor going back six to 10 generationsputting her in a range of being 1/64th to 1/1,024th Native American. (The Globe corrected the latter two figures after the story's publication.) (Newser) What at first seemed like a car crash involving an aspiring model in Georgia has emerged as something more sinister and mysterious: Kelsey Quayle, 28, was hospitalized last Monday morning after the Mazda 626 she was driving moved out of its lane and crashed into two oncoming vehicles as she drove to work at a dentist's office in the Atlanta suburb of Riverdale, reports ABC News. She was taken to Southern Regional Medical Center and then moved to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta; it was there that doctors noticed something else: a gunshot wound in her neck, one police believe Quayle suffered before the crash occurred. She was removed from life support and died Wednesday. Her sister tells NBC News they're stumped as to who could have shot Quayle, or why. story continues below Kayleigh Martin says her sister had just moved to Atlanta two months ago to pursue a modeling career, "didn't know anybody," and didn't mention having issues with anyone. Police are hoping other drivers who were near Quayle's car as the incident occurred might have some insight. "We would especially like to speak with the driver of the white SUV and the driver of the gray sedan that is seen passing Kelsey's vehicle," the Clayton County Police Department wrote on Facebook Friday as they released surveillance video from the scene. WSB reports she was just minutes away from her job when the crash happened around 7am. A GoFundMe campaign in support of her funeral and her family has raised more than $18,000. (New details have emerged in the car-crash death of an ESPN star's wife.) (Newser) The first person to be convicted in connection with the 9/11 terror attacks was released from prison in Germany Monday. Mounir el-Motassadeq, convicted of being an accomplice in the US attacks, is being deported to his native Morocco, the BBC reports. He had served almost 15 years in prison, nearly his entire sentence. He was being transported under heavy security, and was accompanied by several police officers on his commercial flight to Morocco, but once he gets there it's not clear what will happen to him. Motassadeq was friends with Mohammed Atta, who allegedly flew one of the hijacked planes on 9/11, and other members of the Hamburg cell of al-Qaeda that orchestrated the attacks, but he has long denied involvement. Deutsche Welle has an extensive look at the cell and how Motassadeq got involved. story continues below Motassadeq, who arrived in Germany to study engineering at age 19, admitted to the aforementioned friendships as well as to having spent time at an Afghanistan al-Qaeda camp in 2000; he also signed Atta's will. After investigators found that he had power of attorney over a bank account owned by one of the other alleged 9/11 pilots and that he had arranged a bank transfer for some of the cell members who underwent flight training in the US, prosecutors labeled him as the cell's treasurer. He maintained, over five years of trials involving convictions, appeals, and overturned verdicts, that he was simply doing favors for his friends and had no knowledge of the impending attacks. He was ultimately found guilty of membership in a terrorist organization and being an accessory to murder, and received the maximum sentence. He was released early in exchange for agreeing to be deported, the AP reports. He can be arrested if he ever returns to Germany. (Under the World Trade Center, a "poignantly defiant" rebirth.) Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray over the phone late Saturday to discuss international trade. During the phone conversation, Videgaray briefed Wang on the recent signing of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), saying Mexico is an independent sovereign state and the agreement will neither affect the exchanges between China and Mexico in any respect, nor lead to any restriction on bilateral trade, investment or political relations between the two countries. China is a trustworthy partner for Mexico, he said, adding that Mexico is willing to further develop the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership. Wang said China and Mexico, as comprehensive strategic partners, have always had mutual understanding, trust and support on major issues. Any bilateral or multilateral free trade agreement should not be directed against a third party or used to restrict other members' legitimate rights and interests, nor should it be in the vein of exclusionism, Wang said. Both China and Mexico are emerging economies and they should work together to safeguard multilateralism and the free trade system, he said. Investment in Human Capital is a prerequisite to any effective and inclusive socio-economic model, said Minister of Finance, Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa. In his statement to the Development Committee, the minister said that it is necessary to equip our generation with required skills to achieve optimal productivity. This, the minister said, requires smart investments, and a particular focus on the provision of quality healthcare, lifelong learning and education. In his statement, the Minister supported the World Bank Groups initiative, the Human Capital Project, highlighting the need to identify the appropriate mix of investment in human capital and infrastructure, in order to enable growth and development. The statement was delivered on behalf of the Arab Group and the Republic of Maldives to the 98th meeting of the committee, held in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. The Human Capital Index, which quantifies the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers, was commended by the Minister. He praised the plans aiming at developing its components so that it becomes a credible measure reflective of the reality on the ground. Bahrain may be exempted from US import tariffs on aluminium Bahrain may be exempted from US import tariffs on aluminium High-level discussions will continue to take place to explore the possibility for Bahrain to receive an exemption on the US import tariffs on steel and aluminium, it is learnt. Discussions are ongoing about Bahrains prospect of securing an exemption for the steel and aluminum tariffs that were imposed by the US government on the majority of countries. Tariffs were set at 25 per cent and 10pc for steel and aluminium respectively. Responding to a question from Tribune, John J Sullivan US Deputy Secretary of State said that the discussions would continue. He said that during his meetings with business leaders and government officials here, the subject of tariff exemption was discussed widely. We have had discussions about the steel and aluminium tariffs that were imposed. I understand its impact on the aluminum industry here in Bahrain, he told Tribune. There are processes for countries to seek exemptions and weve discussed that both in the past and will do so going forward with Bahrain. Explaining the purpose behind the tariffs he explained, The problem that the tariffs are ultimately seeking to solve is a problem of overproduction, principally in China, specifically with steel and aluminum. There are only five Bahraini psychologists whore officially working under the Health Ministry, Tribune has learnt. And this means that one psychologist is in charge of 124,000 citizens. This acute shortage coincides with the fact that there are 149 unemployed Bahraini trained psychologists, according to sources. The functional difference between a psychologist and psychiatrist, according to Health Ministry, is that the latter is authorised to prescribe medications while a psychologist treats patients by suggesting changing their behaviours without prescribing any drug. A Health Ministry source told Tribune: The education of a psychiatrist is based on bioscience and brain and neuroscience sciences, while a psychologists education mainly depends on behavior study. Russias efforts to expand its influence uses all the tools of state power, including its armys Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), in an espionage battle that has spanned the globe and cyberspace. Now, the respected Russian news website Fontanka has named a third GRU military intelligence operative, Sergey Fedotov, as a third member of the Kremlin hit squad involved in the nerve agent attack in the English city of Salisbury. Fontanka said records show Fedotov visited Britain in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and left the country on March 4 this year, the same day as two other GRU agents who have already been named. It is almost certain Fedotov is not the passengers real name but an alias. Khamis Al Muqla, a founder of the IAA Bahrain Chapter established in 1993 and Chairman of the Gulf Marcom Group, was bestowed with an Honorary Life Membership Award by the international advertising industry for his services to the IAA and his work as a communication leader. The event held in Bucharest paid tribute to a number of distinguished personalities at the 2018 IAA Inspire Awards and Gala dinner held on 2 October 2018. This is in recognition of your contribution to advancing the aims and objectives of the IAA in the Kingdom of Bahrain and your long and distinguished services in supporting the Associations activities and the global marketing communications industry, said IAA World President and Chairman, Felix Tataru, presenting the Inspire Award and Honorary Life Membership to Khamis Al Muqla. This is also the third time Al Muqla is being honoured by the agency for his works - previously in Moscow and London and this time in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. Commenting on the nominations, Heather Leembruggen, IAA VP & Chairman of the IAA Inspire Awards selection committee said, We were delighted with the calibre of the nominees and the spread of countries represented in the entries we received. Al Muqla, referring to the honour, said, It is indeed gratifying to be recognised for ones contribution along with venerable members from Romania and Sri Lanka. Khamis Al Muqla is a member of the High Authority for Information and Communications under the chairmanship of H.H. Shaikh Abdulla Bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Jordans King Abdullah II yesterday vowed authorities would crack down on corruption in the country, following mass protests against graft and price rises earlier this year. All Jordanians have an equal right to justice, and corruption will not be left unaddressed to become a chronic social illness, the king said in a speech to mark the opening of parliament in Amman. I hereby affirm that the states institutions are well capable of uprooting corruption and holding to account those who dare to encroach on public funds, he added. Thousands of Jordanians hit the streets at the start of June to protest against corruption, price rises and austerity measures. The week of mass demonstrations forced the prime ministers resignation and the withdrawal of a controversial income tax bill. With a lack of natural resources to boost state coffers, Jordan relies heavily on foreign aid and faces an unemployment rate of 18.5 percent. In 2016 Amman secured a $723-million loan from the International Monetary Fund, but the resultant economic reforms led to price hikes. The king on Sunday acknowledged dissatisfaction with the way current challenges are being addressed. The process of development in Jordan, as in other countries, has been marred by some mistakes and challenges, which we must learn from, resolve, and prevent from reoccurring, so that we may move forward, he said. Abdullah put the current situation down to a weakening (of ) public trust in government institutions, as well as an atmosphere of scepticism. Stability in Jordan is seen as fundamental to the region and in the wake of protests Amman was offered a $2.5 billion aid package from three Gulf backers. Al Salam Bank-Bahrain announced yesterday the launch of a special rewards offer on its range of Visa Credit Cards from 15 October until 14 December 2018. According to the offer, Visa credit cardholders will receive special rewards on every BD 1 transaction made abroad by using Al Salam Banks Visa credit cards. Transactions made at any point of sales (POS) and online will automatically offer rewards to earn 6 Times the Miles. Mohammed Buhijji Head of Retail Banking at Al Salam Bank-Bahrain said: Visa Cardholders will earn 6 times the miles than the usual so the more they spend abroad the more miles they will be rewarded. Customers can redeem their earned miles directly towards Gulf Airs Falconflyer loyalty programme for a number of benefits including free flights, flight upgrades, lounge access and excess baggage as well as membership upgrades and much more. Fairway Group, a Jersey-based trust, fund and pension services, has kick-started its international operations with the opening of its office in the Kingdom. The move into Bahrain comes on the back of the Fairway Groups long and successful partnerships in the Gulf region, including with Emirates NBD in Dubai. We see Bahrain as a business-friendly, competitive landscape which is the perfect place for us to build our presence in the Gulf, said Louise Bracken-Smith, CEO of the Fairway Group. Bahrain, he said, is their first office outside Jersey, which is an exciting step. We are seeing increased interest in highly regulated international finance centres like Jersey, to provide additional comfort outside the GCC, Smith added. Bahrain office of the St Helier-based Fairway Group, which has 5.5bn of assets under administration and almost 100 staff, will be used initially to provide trust services to high net worth individuals and families, as well as corporate solutions. The plan is to then develop additional fund structuring and pensions facilities in due course. Representatives from Jersey Finance group and several government officials attended the unveiling ceremony of the office located at United Tower in Bahrain Bay. HOUSTON - The upcoming import expo in China will help Houston increase its trade ties with China, a senior trade official of Houston, US state of Texas, said in a recent interview with Xinhua. Horacio Licon, vice president of the Greater Houston Partnership, an economic development organization serving the Greater Houston area, told Xinhua that the expo is a great opportunity for Houston to continue developing its trade relationship with China. "This is a great opportunity to work with a very important market," Licon said. "China is the second largest economy in the world. It's the second largest trading partner for Houston. So anything that is helping us increase that relationship is very important to us." The first China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held from Nov 5 to 10 in Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China by population and a financial hub in the world. As the first state-level Import Expo in the world, CIIE marks the shift in China's economic development model from export-oriented to balancing import and export. It is expected to give firm support to trade liberalization and economic globalization, and actively open the Chinese market to the world. Analysts believe that against the global backdrop of trade protectionism, the expo is consistent with China's long-time efforts to seek mutual benefits and advocate free trade. Licon said this kind of platform is really important right now, especially at a time when China and the United States have rising trade frictions. "There's a need to remain aware of the latest changes that we need to follow in order to make the products reach their customers," Licon said. "So instead of losing value, I think this type of event is even more important now." Next month, Licon will head to Shanghai, leading a team of 15 delegates representing 12 companies, which cover diverse industries such as technology, manufacturing, energy and logistics. Licon said he wants to explore and understand more the business environment in China via this platform. "We have expectations in terms of understanding and hearing directly from our Chinese counterparts on the private sector and on the government side, the messages about the future of Chinese trade, how the government is seeing the future of Chinese trade and how Houston will play a role in that relationship," Licon said. This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy, thanks to which the relationship between Houston and China started, Licon said. "That's really when the relationship between Houston and China started historically speaking," Licon said. "So it's a brand-new relationship and that is an important economic driver for our companies and for our trading infrastructure, operators or ports or airports." According to Licon, the total trade between Houston and China last year was 18.8 billion US dollars. And for the first six months of 2018, the bilateral trade has hit almost 13 billion dollars. He said he expects the number to continue growing. "We are expecting further growth in 2018 in total," Licon said. "It's a new story. We have something to offer. Therefore, this recent story will continue to develop and at least the statistics are showing a positive story." Licon hopes to strength the cooperation between Houston and China. He said Houston has a much more balanced trade with China as a city. He hopes more Chinese companies could come and make use of all the resources available. "We're trying to find ways to continue collaboration and grow trade in a way that works for all parties," Licon said. The 7th Annual Human Resources Management Summit 2018 will be held from 27 to 28 November 2018 at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Bahrain, it was announced yesterday. The two-day event, held under the patronage of Dr Abdul Hussain Bin Ali Mirza, Minister of State for Electricity and Water Affairs, features a conference with international, top-notch speakers, HR Awards and 3 parallel post-conference Workshops. The summit, the organisers said in a statement, focuses on providing deep insights into the Human Resources Development and management life cycles, with particular emphasis on the application of international best practices tailored to the Middle East market. The event will also feature a gala dinner to present Bahrains inaugural HR Excellence Awards. 2018 Bahrain HR Awards is the Kingdoms first and most credible HR awards. The awards will identify and honour professionals who have envisioned and created marvels in the HR field in various industry sectors. As part of the HRM Summit 2018, a Round Table Panel Discussions featuring top CEOs, GMs, HR Directors and business leaders from 10 leading organizations will be held. Even ahead of the imposition of additional oil sanctions in November, US measures against Iran are undoubtedly causing intense economic pain. However, many credulous souls complacently predict Tehrans hurried return to the negotiating table, or believe that, with the first flexing of Trumps muscles, this regime will simply implode. Instead, hardliners relish these renewed tensions, which they seize on as proof of American bad faith; arguing that Iran should have never have negotiated in the first place. These same hardliners and paramilitary warlords are currently rushing to enrich themselves through dominance of regional criminal networks, heralding a new, lucrative era of sanctions evasion. Many of these techniques were perfected during the 2005 to 2015 global sanctions, when, instead of paramilitary spending being curtailed, funding for militants in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen soared. Tehrans Mafioso regime is ill-adjusted to managing a peacetime economy. It functions best through organized crime, militancy and gangsterism. To evade sanctions, Iranian tankers have begun ferrying thousands of barrels of oil around the world simply by turning their tracking beacons off, traveling under other nations flags, and forging documents. Front companies, meanwhile, pop up around the world to launder Iranian funds and smuggle weapons and goods. President Hassan Rouhani inadvertently highlighted the scale of clandestine oil trading when he boasted that he had reduced the annual value of these activities from $22 billion to $12.5 billion. Iran also hopes to move about a million barrels per day through an energy exchange a process that, prior to 2015, created a generation of profiteers. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the sanctions regime accelerated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) wholesale takeover of the national economy. As Ahmadinejads economic mismanagement and sanctions killed off legitimate businesses, the IRGC strode in and took over. A recent article in Foreign Policy magazine argued that US officials deliberately downplayed the IRGCs smuggling activities because the trade embargo is empirically shown to have a significant expansionary effect on the scale and value of smuggling in Iran, in a black market controlled by the IRGC. The Obama administration also turned a blind eye to these criminal networks. Several kingpins from Hezbollahs international narcotics trade were allowed to slip through the net to avoid antagonizing the ayatollahs and undermining a flawed nuclear deal. Iran is also looking to benefit from its growing stranglehold of the Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese economies. Iranian ministers recently struck deals with the Assad regime for monopolizing reconstruction projects, including an ambitious plan to rebuild the regimes military. Such influence affords Tehran multiple revenue streams and additional routes for smuggling oil and goods. The financial systems in these states have been widely abused for money laundering and terrorism financing resulting in a succession of sanctionary measures from the US Treasury. On the back of Ahmadinejads outreach efforts to Latin American leaderships (some themselves complicit in the narcotics trade), Hezbollah began transiting large quantities of drugs and contraband goods through the American continent, with billions in revenues laundered through the banking system. Last month, a pivotal figure for Hezbollahs South American drugs operations, Ahmed Assad Barakat, was detained by Brazilian police. In areas of Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and Basra, such activities have a devastating impact on local communities, ironically with the highest rates of addiction being found within Iran itself. Iran has also been deeply involved in smuggling weapons across Africa and has a record of collaborating with illegal global proliferation networks to obtain parts for its ballistic and nuclear activities. It is bad enough that Iran is involved in activities that kill millions. However, instead of such revenues being used to reduce the suffering of Iranian citizens, this money goes to the IRGCs Quds Force and Iraqi, Syrian, Lebanese and Yemeni paramilitary forces, which use extortion, abduction, murder, torture and rampant destruction to destabilize their own nations. A senior Western politician explained to me that there had previously been some sympathy toward Tehrans aggressive posturing wasnt Iran surrounded by enemies? While legitimate security concerns can be amicably addressed, a belligerent ideology aspiring to regional supremacy only becomes greedier through attempts at appeasement. These malignant transregional ambitions are encapsulated by the brash megalomania of the Quds Forces Qassem Soleimani. The Houthis, Hezbollah and Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi are tools toward this goal of exporting the revolution and dominating the region. This isnt just about maintaining oil exports or self-defense, this is about capitalizing on a dizzying range of illegal activities to bankroll an offensive paramilitary strategy; exploiting trading choke points like the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Eastern Mediterranean to hold the world to ransom. Just a minute you may say werent Trumps sanctions designed to halt Iranian expansionism? Trump enjoyed tearing up the nuclear deal because it sabotaged a signature Obama policy and made him look tough. Yet, with his pitiful attempts to beg Rouhani to meet him at the UN, Trump demonstrated his fundamental incomprehension of the threat posed by this gangster regime. Sanctions are necessary and in some senses are working. Yet, without vigorously confronting loopholes, sanctions risk becoming counter-productive. Instead, Trump buries his head in the sand and pretends that his Middle East policy is flawless. Meanwhile, the EU adds insult to injury by breaking with America to appease and enable Tehran through a bizarre financing mechanism that nobody believes can function anyway. During the Ahmadinejad era, the IRGC expanded from being a relic of Irans revolutionary past to a generously-funded, region-straddling monster, monopolizing the economy, spreading terrorism abroad and pursuing an ever more confrontational path. If Trump, Europe and the international community dont pull together and act quickly and decisively, we risk suffering a new phase of IRGC expansionism, underpinned by an infinitely stronger and more aggressive regional posture than even just a decade ago. I was nursing my daughter in our home here when I learned that the nationalist Sweden Democrats captured 17.5 per cent of the vote in parliamentary elections last month. Since neither the traditional left or right blocs won a majority, the Sweden Democrats, with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, hold the balance of power. In the days leading up to the election I received racist propaganda in my mailbox from a more extreme right party that said of immigrants, Time to go home. It made me reflect on the women in my family and our own history of migration. In the early 1900s, Sweden was a country you migrated from, not to. My great-grandmother on my fathers side, Agnes Ester, was among the million Swedes who set sail for the United States in that era. She left the family farm for Ellis Island to meet up with her older brothers. But she didnt stay for long. Her lungs couldnt take New Yorks heat waves and she longed to marry a redheaded boy she had met back home. Nearly 50 years later, my maternal grandmother, Isabella, was 18 years old and preparing to leave her hometown in Sardinia with her two young children. They were to join my grandfather, who was working in the coal mines in Alsace-Lorraine in northeastern France. It was a dangerous job, but better than the alternative many Sardinians were facing. After World War II, Isabella and her family were so poor that some days, while nursing her youngest child, she had only bread and fried onions to eat. She boarded a ferry with my 2-year-old mother and her baby brother and crossed the Mediterranean Sea in hope of a better future just as many people are doing at this very moment, but under much more dire circumstances. The family later resettled in Paris, where she eventually opened a restaurant. Bit by bit, they built a better life for themselves. My mother is an immigrant, too. One hot summer night in 1974, the 19-year-old Maura Isabelle met my Swedish father, who was traveling by Interrail through Europe, at a Parisian cafe. Within a year they married in Paris, but decided their home base would be Goteborg, Sweden. When my mother first came here, an official at the government job agency told her it wouldnt matter what education she had, as a foreigner she would only ever clean houses. Undeterred, she soon became fluent in Swedish and got a job on her own. She still works as a librarian. But no matter how well-integrated you are, in homogeneous Sweden you could be labeled an immigrant your whole life. A customer at the library once yelled go home at my mother, who has dark hair and brown eyes. If this happened to her, I shudder to think what people from more marginalized minority groups experience. The Sweden Democrats want to offer foreign-born residents help to return to their country of origin, to go home. Their party leader claimed in a televised debate that some immigrants are failing to find jobs because they are not Swedes they dont fit in. Sweden has historically had a generous policy for refugees seeking asylum and their families. During the European migrant crisis, Sweden was among the countries that accepted the biggest share of refugees fleeing war and terrorism in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Buckling under the strain to process asylum applications, house and integrate these newcomers, Parliament passed a temporary law that limits the number of people granted permanent residency and restricts immigration by relatives of refugees settled here. What will happen next year when the temporary law expires will be up to the new government. As I write this, Ulf Kristersson, who leads the Moderate Party and the centerright alliance, has been given the task of forming a new government. He might now turn to the Sweden Democrats for support. In a small country of 10 million people, the cost of immigration is often debated. But already, nearly one-fifth of the population is foreign-born. Lost in a conversation where people are reduced to numbers is how much immigrants potentially contribute in tax revenue over time. And with an aging population, there will be a shortage of workers in many different fields. How can we tackle that demand, if not by welcoming immigrants and letting them stay? My mother became a Swedish citizen in the mid-1980s after my brother and I were born, during the twilight of the Cold War, when the Berlin Wall was still intact. She felt it could be risky to have a different citizenship from her children. I hope we never have to find out if that was a legitimate concern. As I think about my daughters, Agnes and baby Ester, I hope that they will be able to follow in the tradition of the women in our family, and have the right to travel freely across borders. That they can fall in love with whomever they want, and that person would feel welcome in Swedish society. That we are still a liberal democracy that stands up for the right to asylum, in a unified Europe. That we reject these illusory ideas about irreconcilable differences between cultures and put the dignity and equal worth of all people as the highest value. Influential southern groups, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Pan Niger Delta Forum, have announced that they would support the candi... Influential southern groups, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Pan Niger Delta Forum, have announced that they would support the candidate that has been most vocal about restructuring of the country Former vice president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar appears to have been very vocal on the need to restructure the country. Atiku has over the years insisted that restructuring was what Nigeria needed to attain its full potentials. Recently, he and vice president, Yemi Osinbajo fired salvo at each other over the issue. Speaking, Afeniferes spokesperson,Yinka Odumakin, lamented that all efforts to engage the President Muhammadu Buharis administration on the need to restructure the country since 2015 had been futile. He told Punch: Atiku has been very strong on restructuring and he has also picked a running mate (Peter Obi) who has also expressed very strong opinion about the issue of restructuring. Obi is from a zone where the people are clamouring for restructuring. We have reached out to the Presidency through some of the governors who are close to him (Buhari) from the South-West. We drafted a list of leaders across Nigeria that the President should summon across Nigeria to discuss the issue of restructuring. Many months after, the governors did not get across to us probably because they met a brick wall. There is a consensus among leaders of the South-West, South-East, South-South, the Middle Belt and Arewa. We have said we will wait for the consensus candidate that would be produced by the CUPP to enable us to make our choice among the candidates. Ohanaeze Ndigbos Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Chuks Ibegbu, said besides restructuring, the region will support a candidate who is ready to address the marginalisation of the Igbo and also implement the recommendations of the 2014 national conference. He said, Ohanaeze is not a political party but we are going to support and identify with anyone that will restructure Nigeria. Any of the presidential candidates that is genuinely and sincerely ready to restructure Nigeria will have our votes. Besides restructuring, there are other demands. Our youths are agitating for Biafra and that is due to the marginalisation of the Igbos over the years. We are politically, economically and infrastructurally marginalised and we want these issues addressed effectively. Also, the Pan Niger Delta Forum said it would support any candidate who showed strong commitment to the restructuring of the country. National Secretary of the group, Dr. Alfred Mulade, said, PANDEF met with 16 presidential aspirants before the parties concluded their primaries. Former presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, has declared that Atiku Abubakars selection of Peter Obi as his running mate for the 201... Former presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, has declared that Atiku Abubakars selection of Peter Obi as his running mate for the 2019 election was a right choice. He also said the public endorsement by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo had put the camp of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in disarray. Atiku emerged the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on October 7 at the partys national convention in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital. In an article titled Atiku and the Rise of Peter Obi, Abati said the businessman has proven himself to be an astute politician and leader. Shortly after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar became the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on October 6, party members and other stakeholders began to recommend running mates for him and a short list began to feature on the front pages of Nigerian newspapers. Some of the names that were mentioned included former Governor Peter Obi, former CEO/Managing Director, Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) - Mustapha Chike-Obi, former Minister of Agriculture and AfDB President - Akin Adesina, former Minister of Finance and Supervising Minister of the Economy - Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former CBN Governor -Charles Soludo, and Deputy Senate President - Ike Ekweremadu. In the past week, he also did something else that was clever. He made peace with his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo. He asked for Obasanjos blessings and Obasanjo, wearing his hat as a seasoned political pragmatist and ebora strategist, endorsed Atiku. For about five days, there were theories and permutations, and a comparison of the credentials of the proposed running mates. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has acted pro-actively by quickly putting an end to the speculations. He met with the party leadership, consulted with other interest groups and promptly announced Peter Obi. If this is a sign of how he intends to run Nigeria if he becomes President, then he is off to a good start.In the past week, he also did something else that was clever. He made peace with his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo. He asked for Obasanjos blessings and Obasanjo, wearing his hat as a seasoned political pragmatist and ebora strategist, endorsed Atiku. President Obasanjo said he has forgiven Atiku for his many sins, which he Obasanjo had complained about previously. He described him as someone who has a knowledge of business, who is less inflexible and a Wazobia man. There were subtle digs at the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, when Obasanjo advised Atiku not to recruit only kith and kin and try to run an inclusive government. In the same speech, Obasanjo reminded Atiku of his indebtedness to the Obasanjo legacy and the need to sustain that legacy. He also set an agenda for the man he described as Nigerias President-to-be. He even said Insha Allah. Obasanjo in that well-composed speech, practically killed many birds with one stone in many incantatory voices: boss, statesman, and letter-writer. The speech delivered by Obasanjo on that occasion is an elegant study in the art of being important.President Obasanjo said he has forgiven Atiku for his many sins, which he Obasanjo had complained about previously. He described him as someone who has a knowledge of business, who is less inflexible and a Wazobia man. There were subtle digs at the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, when Obasanjo advised Atiku not to recruit only kith and kin and try to run an inclusive government. In the same speech, Obasanjo reminded Atiku of his indebtedness to the Obasanjo legacy and the need to sustain that legacy. He also set an agenda for the man he described as Nigerias President-to-be. He even said Insha Allah. Obasanjo in that well-composed speech, practically killed many birds with one stone in many incantatory voices: boss, statesman, and letter-writer. It was Atikus second biggest endorsement since he got his partys ticket the first being his victory in Port Harcourt. Obasanjos endorsement is particularly significant given the history of the relationship between both men. To add that Obasanjo has voice, influence and authority is to state the obvious, and we need to tell those who argue that Obasanjo has just one vote that they are politically dumb! Atikus boss has given him a new testimonial that has refurbished him. Obasanjo who once tore his membership card of the PDP, has also more or less re-oxygenated the partys Presidential aspiration. The panic that this has caused in the Buhari camp is perfectly understandable even if the resort to name-calling and abuse by the Presidents foot-soldiers may be counter-productive in the long run. It wont make Obasanjo and his associates change their mind. Atikus gain is Buharis loss. Then came the rise of Peter Obi Without a doubt, all the persons on the shortlist of running mates for Atiku have relative strengths. They have all proven their mettle in the public arena. But with Peter Obi already chosen, we need not indulge in any detailed comparison except to note that very important to the selection process would have been, not just geo-politics, but also such factors as the temperament of the individual, the chemistry between the principal and the deputy, electoral value, international exposure, acceptability by key stakeholders and public persona. My take is that former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi is bound to strengthen the chances of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the scheduled 2019 Presidential elections. He will prove to be an asset to the Atiku campaign and also to the Nigerian government if the PDP wins the Presidential election. The announcement of his name has generated so much excitement in Igboland, particularly in his home state of Anambra where people broke out in dancing jigs at beer parlours, and free drinks were declared. Across the South East, his Igbo kinsmen are also similarly excited. Those who know him in politics and business attest to his good character, self-discipline, competence and fair-mindedness. I want to congratulate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for choosing wisely and I want to disagree with those who argue that the Presidential candidate of the PDP should have chosen his running mate from the South Western part of the country. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, they have either been Senate President or heads of key agencies (under President Obasanjo) or Deputy Senate President and generally junior operatives (under President Buhari) or held critical Ministerial positions or headship of agencies and departments indeed the entire economic sector (under President Jonathan). But Ndigbos main interest is the big job: the Presidency of Nigeria. The choice of Peter Obi and his likely emergence as Vice President of Nigeria brings Igbos much closer to consideration for Presidency either in 2023 or 2027. For a people who believe that they have been short-changed by other Nigerians and that the civil war has not actually ended, the possibility of one of their own returning to the Presidency, 35 years after Ekwueme, is bound to promote a sense of belonging. By choosing an Igbo man, Atiku is also exploiting prevailing sentiments in Igboland. The average Igbo, either in the South East or in diaspora, is certainly not impressed by the Buhari administration. The choice of a running mate of Igbo extraction is a politically deft move. The last time Igbos held the number 2 position in a civilian government was way back in the Second Republic (1979 -83).Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, they have either been Senate President or heads of key agencies (under President Obasanjo) or Deputy Senate President and generally junior operatives (under President Buhari) or held critical Ministerial positions or headship of agencies and departments indeed the entire economic sector (under President Jonathan). But Ndigbos main interest is the big job: the Presidency of Nigeria. The choice of Peter Obi and his likely emergence as Vice President of Nigeria brings Igbos much closer to consideration for Presidency either in 2023 or 2027. For a people who believe that they have been short-changed by other Nigerians and that the civil war has not actually ended, the possibility of one of their own returning to the Presidency, 35 years after Ekwueme, is bound to promote a sense of belonging.By choosing an Igbo man, Atiku is also exploiting prevailing sentiments in Igboland. The average Igbo, either in the South East or in diaspora, is certainly not impressed by the Buhari administration. The electoral value of the Yoruba man, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who is Buharis running mate for now, except he changes him, lies more in his being part of a political group in the South West, and right now, even that group is divided, it has lost part of its grip, and its leader is fighting many political battles of his own. An Igbo running mate can guarantee bloc Igbo voting, in Igboland and from Igbos who are all over Nigeria. The votes may not necessarily be for Peter Obi as a person but for the Igbo nationalistic interest. The circumstances of Operation Crocodile Tears and the crushing of the rebellion of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra Movement (IPOB), pitched Igbos against Buhari. Atiku is seeking to bring them back into the fold. Call it opportunism, but that is politics. A Yoruba running mate would have looked like the Buhari template. Atiku also probably knows that the Yoruba in the South West do not always vote as a bloc and that the South West is far more divided today than ever.The electoral value of the Yoruba man, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who is Buharis running mate for now, except he changes him, lies more in his being part of a political group in the South West, and right now, even that group is divided, it has lost part of its grip, and its leader is fighting many political battles of his own. An Igbo running mate can guarantee bloc Igbo voting, in Igboland and from Igbos who are all over Nigeria. The votes may not necessarily be for Peter Obi as a person but for the Igbo nationalistic interest. I say this because I have heard some people say Peter Obi may not even be able to deliver Anambra. I say to such persons that even the incumbent Governor of Anambra, Willie Obiano of APGA, who has issues with Peter Obi, or David Umahi, Ebonyi Governor (PDP) and Chairman of the South East Governors Forum, would dread being found out to be working against the possibility of an Igbo man emerging again as Vice President of Nigeria. In terms of political strategy, it can be taken for granted that the South South, still angry over how the Buhari government has treated President Goodluck Jonathan and others from that region, will also naturally vote en masse against Buhari. Technically, Atiku may have locked down the South South and the South East and can be sure of substantial votes from the South West where his promise of restructuring resonates well with the socio-cultural and political elite. But why Peter Obi? Obi, Governor of Anambra State for eight years, survivor of election battles, has proven himself to be an astute politician and leader. As Governor, he blocked the leaky buckets. He reduced wastages and leakages. He led by example. He served the people. He left a healthy balance behind in the treasury. He was known across the South East as Peter the Rock or Okwute, and he more than any other former Governor has spent his time out of office, to prepare himself for a bigger role in Nigeria. He didnt disappear from the radar. He didnt take the option of going to the Senate which has become a retirement home for former Governors who go there to sleep and snore during plenary and collect heavy retirement benefits for saying nothing. He granted the media access to him and he granted interviews as frequently as he could. He became an analyst and something slightly close to being a public intellectual. He built a public persona as someone who understands business, politics, the economy and governance. He attended international programmes and built a network of contacts. He was my course mate at the Said Business School, University of Oxford and I can attest that he can hold his own confidently in the company of persons of extreme intelligence and superb skills. Above all, he is humble and approachable. He can fit into a team. He is young. He is also rich, but I hear he does not like to spend money! He is a strong member of the Catholic Faith, and he bears the name Peter. From what we know about him, his Peter will not deny Atiku whenever the cock crows. He has recognition, respect and relevance. Peter Obi returned to school. He chose the lecture circuit where he shared his experience as Governor with Nigerians, mostly young Nigerians. He was always on point: he preached good governance, prudence, accountability and gave personal examples.He granted the media access to him and he granted interviews as frequently as he could. He became an analyst and something slightly close to being a public intellectual. He built a public persona as someone who understands business, politics, the economy and governance. He attended international programmes and built a network of contacts.He was my course mate at the Said Business School, University of Oxford and I can attest that he can hold his own confidently in the company of persons of extreme intelligence and superb skills. Above all,he is humble and approachable. He can fit into a team.He is young. He is also rich, but I hear he does not like to spend money! He is a strong member of the Catholic Faith, and he bears the name Peter. From what we know about him, his Peter will not deny Atiku whenever the cock crows. He has recognition, respect and relevance. Immediate Past Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has reacted to the statement by the APC-led federal government banning 50 high... Immediate Past Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has reacted to the statement by the APC-led federal government banning 50 high-profile Nigerians from traveling abroad. Moro was said to be among those banned from traveling outside Nigeria till further notice. The federal government had on Saturday banned 50 Nigerians from traveling abroad over alleged corruption cases. Speaking on the development, Abba Moro through his media aide, Ameh Ameh, said his inclusion in the list was not in anyway connected to misappropriation of public funds or money laundering. According to him, It is a known fact that Comrade Abba Moro is not on trial for stealing anything from government but the failed immigration recruitment, in which his role was clearly not related to the fee collected from applicants by the consultants. We are of the firm belief that justice will be done in the case and there is nothing to worry about as Comrade Abba Moro didnt violate any law or enrich himself from the failed recruitment exercise. The general public must note that the Executive Order 06 is purely administrative and not a court conviction and as such does not affect his election and the goodwill he enjoys, particularly, among his people in Benue South. Regrettably, the full implementation of the Executive Order 06 upon the emergence of Comrade Moro and several other candidates at this electioneering time, despite their cases being in court for over two years, raises serious issues of constitutionalism, legality and due process of law. We make bold to say that Comrade Abba Moros riches are not in money or assets but in people, being a human development focused politician. Before his emergence as the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Benue South, Comrade Abba Moro had no case of money laundering or misappropriation of public funds from his days as a lecturer in the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, to his tenure as Local Government Chairman in Okpokwu, or as Federal Minister. Relatively, Comrade Moro left office unstained as Pro-Chancellor/Chairman, Governing Council of University of Agriculture, Umudike, and later University of Agriculture, Makurdi. In fact, Comrade Abba Moro only travelled abroad in the past for medicals and always on the order of court, after which his international passport is returned to the court, pending the determination of the case. China's ambassador to the U.S. has hit back at claims his country is trying to hack next month's congressional elections. Cui Tiankai's comments come amid a deepening trade war between the U.S. and China. He's yet to offer any proof beyond China placing a paid-for supplement in an Iowa newspaper - a practice governments all over the world do. But U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Beijing of trying to swing next month's U.S. congressional elections against his Republican party. Ambassador Cui told Fox News Sunday, All these accusations are groundless. One of the fundamental principles of China's foreign policy is non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. We have been consistent in this position, he said. Washington and Beijing have been locked in a trade dispute for months. Trump is threatening to escalate it by potentially taxing a further $267 billion worth of Chinese goods. Cui said the U.S. was at fault for unilaterally imposing duties first. It's important to notice who started this trade war, he said. We never wanted this. But if someone started a trade war against us, we have to respond and defend our own interests. The Trump administration contends China employs unfair trade practices against the U.S. These include using industrial subsidies to undercut American producers and forcing U.S. companies to give up their trade secrets in order to do business in China. China has long denied these claims. Ambassador Cui added, I think all of these accusations about how China has developed are groundless and not fair to the Chinese people. "You see, China has 1.4 billion people. It would be hard to imagine that one-fifth of the global population could develop and prosper not by relying mainly on their own efforts, but by stealing or forcing some transfer of technology from others - that's impossible." There are also military tensions between the two sides. Last month, a U.S. and Chinese warship nearly collided with each other in the South China Sea, where islands are the subject of ongoing territorial disputes. "It's not Chinese warships that are going to the coast of California, or to the Gulf of Mexico, Cui said. It's so close to the Chinese islands, and it's so close to the Chinese coast. So who is on the offensive? Who is on the defensive? This is very clear." Despite these tensions, Trump has often stressed his personal chemistry with President Xi Jinping, and the two are reportedly due to meet at next month's G20 summit in Buenos Aires. Cui said: "There's a good mutual understanding and good working relationship between the two. I hope and I'm sure this will continue." The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has kicked against the placement of a travel ban on some high profile Nigerians. The party desc... The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has kicked against the placement of a travel ban on some high profile Nigerians. The party described the action as a draconian step targeted at opposition parties and those perceived to be averse to Buharis re-election bid. Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, had announced on Saturday that at least 50 Nigerians being probed for alleged corruption have been placed on a watch list. Reacting via a statement, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesman, said President Muhammadu Buharis directive is a clampdown on the countrys democratic order and an overthrow of rights of citizenry as guaranteed by the 1999 constitution. We hope this is not a ploy to harm certain eminent Nigerians on the claims of resisting travel restrictions, the PDP said in the statement. The whole world can now see how fascism is fast taking over our democracy and judicial system and how the Buhari administration, by fiat, has directly ordered that citizens be secretly trailed. Their movements and financial transactions are restricted by government agencies, without recourse to due process of the law. Ologbondiyan said the presidency has gone into panic mode since the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the PDP presidential candidate. The Federal Government, Monday, said it is considering alternative sources of gas supply for the country and is looking beyond the Nigerian Delta region for this new sources.Speaking at the ongoing Nigerian Gas Association, NGA, 11th International Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu also stated that the Federal Government is serious about taking gas to the northern region of the country, through the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, so as to address the massive de-industrialisation, deforestation, growing population and economic challenges witnessed in the region.Commenting on the alternative sources of gas supply, Kachikwu, who was represented by his Senior Technical Adviser, Upstream and Gas, Mr. Gbite Adeniji, said the country can no longer tolerate the fact that where 11 power plants across the country would be forced to shut down, once there is a disruption in gas supply through the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System, ELPS. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has appealed to the federal government to avert the killing of female health worke... The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has appealed to the federal government to avert the killing of female health workers abducted by Boko Haram. In September, the insurgent group killed Saifura Ahmed, one of the three humanitarian workers abducted in Rann, Kala Balge local government area of Borno. While the deceased worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the survivors are staff of UNICEF. Toafic Toure, ICRC operational communication delegate, Maiduguri sub-delegation, said the remaining workers could be killed as the 24-hour deadline given by their abductors ends Monday. The insurgents claimed they had contacted the government over the captives but did not get any response. They had also threatened to kill Leah Sharibu, the only Christian among the students of Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe state, abducted in February. The ICRC called on the federal government to save the lives of the captives. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is making an urgent public appeal to the Nigerian Government and to communities and individuals with influence to work toward the release of two committed medical workers abducted in north-eastern Nigeria earlier this year, the statement read. To the holder of these kidnapped women, ISWAP (Islamic States West African province group): We urge you for mercy. We urge you to not kill another innocent health care worker who was doing nothing but helping the community in north-east Nigeria. A third health care worker abducted alongside Hauwa and Alice ICRC colleague Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa was killed by her abductors in September. The ICRC asks those involved with this case to do everything they can to avoid a repeat of that devastating outcome. Hauwa Mohammed Liman worked in a hospital supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) when she was abducted on 01 March with Alice Loksha, a nurse who worked in a centre supported by UNICEF. Mathew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, has explained how he convinced ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to reconcile with Atiku... Mathew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, has explained how he convinced ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to reconcile with Atiku Abubabar, former vice-president. Obasanjo had on Thursday played host to Kukah, Ahmad Gumi, a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric; and David Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, and some top politicians and civil rights activists at his hill-top residence in Abeokuta, Ogun state. The ex-president, during the occasion announced his endorsement of Abubakar as his preferred candidate for the 2019 presidential election, saying he has forgiven his former deputy. Criticisms had trailed the visit, with many accusing the religious leaders of swimming in the mud of politics. Oyedepo has since absolved himself of the criticisms, saying his presence during the meeting was that of a mediator. Kukah followed suit in a wordy statement, to explain his role in the meeting. Both Oyedepo and Kukah said they received no financial tipping from any politician. Kukah said he only went to Obasanjos residence to complete the reconciliation agenda which he had been pursuing for years. He expressed delight that the meeting took place, saying he remained eternally grateful to God. According to him, he had planned for the meeting to be between just the three of them, but his host requested the presence of other parties, a plan he says he was not comfortable with. I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle. Although trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up, Kukah said. My focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation. I am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. Read the full statement below I have deliberately made this explanatory note long because I think it is necessary that people make up their minds based on the facts, given my central role in the event. I note that Sheikh Gumi has already told his own side of the story. I feel obliged to state my own side so that Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement. Sadly, I personally did not read President Obasanjos statement until two days later on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall. Although trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up. My focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation. Understandably, the pictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar, Shaikh Gumi and I) literally lit up the social media and elicited divergent reactions from the general public. Although over 99% of the reactions that have come to me have been largely those of commendation, with people focusing, rightly, on the reconciliation, there have been others whose focus has been on an isolated development that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all these years, namely, the endorsement. I must say that I am eternally grateful to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focus of attention has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by President Obasanjo, a development that I can call the third leg of the process which I initiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjos other interlocutors after we agreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and so, I will only clear the air on what I can take full responsibility for. Let me state first that I am a priest of the Catholic Church and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I have more than a passing knowledge of our discipline and doctrine in matters relating to the role of a Catholic priest in political engagement. My doctoral thesis was on Religion and Politics in Nigeria. So, this is an area that I have written and spoken extensively about for over thirty years. I am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. So let me explain what really happened. On Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 I had the honor of being the Guest Speaker for the annual Conference of the Four Square Gospel Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, a member of this Church, had first invited me some years back but I could not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the Chairman of the occasion. At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to leave because he had a scheduled meeting. I told him I needed to see him briefly and he obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he thought of his reconciliation with Alhaji Atiku. My last discussion with him this year was either January or February. His response was still negative and he told me what he later told the media. I reminded him that I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle. After all, I said to him, as a Christian, this is an important thing for you to do. He was quiet and then said he would speak with me later that evening on his final decision. We parted, he to his car and I returned to the Church to end the event. At about 9pm the same Tuesday, he called to say that he had thought over the issues I had raised and finally decided to accept my suggestion and that yes, he would be happy to reconcile with Alhaji Abubakar. When did he think we could meet then, I asked him? He said he would look at his diary and get back to me later. Then, just before 11pm the same Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diary was full, that the earliest date for him was October 21st. I accepted happily and told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Abubakar either directly, or through his aides to convey the news. My initial intention had been to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at the Four Square Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next morning, Wednesday October 10th, after I had finished celebrating the Holy Mass, I received a call from President Obasanjo: Bishop, listen, I have changed my mind. My heart nearly sank, but before I could ask why, he said: Let us do it tomorrow if you can reach Atiku. I am going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be back home before 1pm. So, tell him to come at 1pm. I started frantic efforts to reach Alhaji Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, and asked him to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about 1pm, I received a call from him. I told him what had happened with President Obasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on Thursday. I got back to my hosts, the Four Square Gospel Church to tell them about the change in my travelling plans especially as I had no car to take me to Abeokuta. I didnt want to ask President Obasanjos people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed a leeway of independence and trust. My hosts were exceedingly gracious in making a vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me to Abeokuta. Earlier that morning, President Obasanjo had called me a second time and told me that he wanted Alhaji Abubakar to come with the Chairman of the PDP, and two or three others. He also told me he had also invited both Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo. This was welcome news- Rev. Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence of Shaikh Gumi made sense. I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting larger for something I thought was between three of us.I arrived Abeokuta about 12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji Abubakar and his team. Alhaji Abubakar and his team arrived, and then I saw more and more people coming in. I saw familiar faces of different people who turned out to be the leaders of Afenifere. All these years, whenever I brought up this matter of reconciliation, my idea has always been for the three of us to sit down together. I still believed that the meeting would be between the two of them and the three religious leaders. When President Obasanjo appeared, I walked up to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for the meeting. He suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a few words about how we got here. I declined because it seemed again that at this point, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be caught in it. I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been achieved, namely, getting these two men to put the past behind them. My personal preoccupation was a pastoral one, and not a political one. I was uncomfortable with this and I decided to make my position clear. I offered a different proposal to help us sift the moral grain from the chaff of politics via a three-step process so as to insulate the three of us from the political fallout. I proposed that the first step would be for he and Alhaji Abubakar to sit down behind closed doors, sort out their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh Gumi and I to go in and listen to the two of them as Rev. Oyedepo had not arrived. After that, I said, they could continue with the third phase which from what I could see was high wire politics and I had no wish to be caught in the web. After they both finished their brief meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat down with the two of them. We had some small briefing and then both of us spoke briefly on what they had done, encouraging them to ensure that this reconciliation holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and our marriage vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what has now become the famous photograph behind closed doors. At this point, I felt that my spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to maintain my independence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I was hungry and food was being laid out, I skipped lunch. I quietly let myself out by the side door, got into the Four Square Gospel car and we drove off to Lagos. Despite the dread of Lagos traffic and the disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, I had declined the offer of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them to Abeokuta. Although flying with them was the best (and most convenient) assurance I had of getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at an event with the Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it was necessary to ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties. I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. I perfectly understand the feelings of many of my friends and members of the opposition who believe that I travelled with Alhaji Abubakar and his team to attend his endorsement by President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was not the case. All the bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospel hosts for the earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, booked accommodation for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight to Abuja and Sokoto. I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served my entire adult life as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliation and peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa Panel. When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of Oputa Panel, I personally undertook to visit both General Babangida and Buhari (he was not at home) at a time that todays latter day Buharists were asking the Panel to compel them to come or risk being blacked out of national life. Objective-minded people will remember that back in 2001, when the Christian community and many of President Buharis opponents claimed that General Buhari had said that Muslims should vote only for Muslims, many people in the Christian community were disappointed that I wrote a long article to explain the context of what he had said after speaking with the General. His party, the ANPP later used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith and experience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard both sides of a story, no matter what. I hope that this clarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all of these in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter the reasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one can not please everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please only ones own conscience, and here, mine is very clear. I have been involved in a few behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years, largely on my own initiative, taking advantage of my knowledge of those engaged in the conflict or at the invitation of third parties. Some have succeeded and some have not. As priest, it is not in my place to publicise what we have achieved. I am the Convener of the National Peace Committee. This alone is enough to place a moral boundary which I am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of trust and that is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear that both President Obasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making peace, I alerted the Chairman of the NPC, General Abdusalam. Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to the Ikoyi home of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan, the Archbishop of Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyone believed this was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imagined the third phase of this meeting. Both theoretically and practically, I have come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about his on two different occasions. Anyone involved in peace making from domestic quarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good, the bad and the ugly. In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long distance runner, believing and trusting that the truth never ever sinks to the bottom of the sea. The truth will always have a stubborn way of defying the hostile elements and popping up at the right time, no matter how long it takes. I perfectly understand that with Alhaji Abubakar having just picked up the Presidential ticket of his Party, without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why many people will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to question my neutrality. However, I have far too many friends across party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or party against the other. It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political space. The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference has signed a statement to the effect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever be open to any politician, something we have all taken seriously. I therefore hope that this clarification helps those whose minds are open. Former President Goodluck Jonathan has pleaded with south-east leaders to accept the decision of Atiku Abubakar to choose Peter Obi as... Former President Goodluck Jonathan has pleaded with south-east leaders to accept the decision of Atiku Abubakar to choose Peter Obi as his running mate for the 2019 election. The VP pick of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate has elicited a protest from south-east leaders who say they were not consulted. PDP governors and leaders of the region met on Saturday, reaching a resolution to meet with Atiku over the matter. Reacting to the development on Sunday, Jonathan said a presidential candidate has a right to pick a running mate of his/her choice. He said Atikus decision does not require regional review and approval. A statement signed by Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathans media aide, read: The task before us is to build on this firm foundation and momentum by pulling in one direction and working assiduously for the victory of these candidates at the polls. It is against this backdrop that I appeal for calm and understanding in the South East where my attention has been drawn to the fact that some leaders of our party are openly expressing their discomfort with the reported nomination of former Governor of Anambra State Peter Obi as Atikus running mate. I am told that some of our leaders in the zone have raised issues with the process of consultation that produced the Vice Presidential candidate. I affirm that consultation is a key ingredient in every political process. Nonetheless, in the selection of a vice presidential candidate, a presidential candidate is allowed reasonable freedom to select his running mate based on loyalty, trust, experience, temperament and capacity to perform the responsibilities of the office. Anything other than this could create tension and acrimony between the presidential candidate and his running mate, even before the inauguration of the government. My plea is for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to be given a free hand to choose who he wants to work with as his Vice President without putting him through undue pressure. In this regard, only minimal consultation is required which doesnt necessarily have to involve full regional review and approval. We have to be careful not to give the impression that the process of selecting a Vice Presidential candidate cannot progress until a regional stamp of approval is formally procured. The system we are used to right from the First Republic is one that places the choice of a running mate at the behest of the candidate, based on his own convictions on capacity and compatibility. From my political history beginning from Deputy Governor to President, I can say that this is the tradition and standard practice in countries where either the President and his Vice or Governor and his deputy contest election on a common slate. In such instance, once a candidate emerges, he or she is given a free hand to select the person who understands his vision and plans for the country, as his running mate. Activist lawyer, Mr Femi Falana SAN, on Monday advised Nigerian presidential candidates seeking office in 2019 to listen to the late legendary musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kutis music, to get solutions to the nations problems.Falana gave the advice during the 2018 Felabration tagged Fela @80: Overtaking Overtake, at the Fela debates titled: African Leadership in the Millennium in Lagos.He said that the late Fela had foreseen Nigerias problems. Falana added that Fela warned about the challenges and proffered solutions to such problems in his music before his death.Fela, who was born on October 15, 1938 and died on August 2, 1997, was the pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and a human rights activist.Falana said: I want most of these presidential aspirants to listen to Felas music very well. Thats where they can find solutions to most of our problems.Our country is rich as Fela sang in his music, but our people are still hungry and poor; you must understand our society before you can lead us.Falana urged young Nigerians to get organised so that the sky would be their starting point.He said that if Nigeria could get it right, the black man all over Africa would be happy.NAN reports that the 2018 Felabration, which commenced on Monday, will run through the week with performances by artists from Togo, France and Nigeria, dance competitions, among others.Felabration is an annual festival of music and arts commemorating the life and times of Nigerias foremost musical icon, the late Fela Anikulakpo Kuti.The idea and concept of Felabration as an annual celebration of Felas music, life and times, originated from his eldest child Yeni who conceived it in 1998.Currently, Felabration organised by the Felabration Organising Committee has grown into a mega week-long musical event in Nigeria, attracting thousands of visitors annually to the New Africa Shrine from all over the world. Festus Keyamo, director of media of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, says Nigeria is the best-performing economy in Africa. The s... Festus Keyamo, director of media of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, says Nigeria is the best-performing economy in Africa. The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) also said the federal government has re-introduced oil (subsidy) premium in the 2019 budget proposal. Speaking on Channels TV on Monday, Keyamo said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the NNPC Act has the powers to spend monies unappropriated. Making comments on the state of the economy, Keyamo said: I need to remind Nigerians about the GDP growth. Of the 11 countries that went into recession around the world, Nigeria has exceeded all of them in terms of GDP growth. None of them has crossed 1.4 to 1.5 percent, Nigeria is doing close to two percent GDP growth right now. Let us get that one clear, he said. Forbes Africa has rated Nigeria as the best-performing economy in Africa. The results came out two-three weeks ago, we are the best-performing economy in Africa. KEYAMO: SUBSIDY HAS BEEN RE-INTRODUCED INTO THE 2019 BUDGET The 48-year-old lawyer said the Muhammadu Buhari-led government said is not paying subsidy like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did but acknowledged that the Buhari admin is only paying premium. What happened under the PDP government was that they were paying for products that did not land at all. That was the scam that was happening, It was fraud, the greatest stealing in the history of this country happened under them. All the PDP bigwigs were all involved in this subsidy scam, then you saw that many of them refunded money. Like I said, they were paying for products that did not land at all, they will tell you they have brought product and you have to pay subsidy on those products. The NNPC officials knew, everybody knew that the products did not come at all. What did Buhari do when he came? He said he wanted to cleanse that industry, he said NNPC should take complete charge of importation. The government wanted to eliminate subsidy at that time, but as the price of crude went up, the price of production went up, the price of the bye-products also went up, its normal. He said at the point when oil was $28 to $30, government was not paying subsidy, but the difference occured when oil prices went beyond $43 per barrel, because that was the benchmark, as it rose beyond $43, the delta started, not subsidy. We started to pull away from N145. So the landing cost came to N203/N205, and we are still selling for N145 and the president said you cannot suffer the masses. Now how do they cover it? Not subsidy. The NNPC Act allows the NNPC to make refunds to the federation account, in other words, they can spend money and return the balance to the federation account, by law. Chinese Embassy officials in Stockholm released a statement Sunday that read, freedom of expression cannot hide racism adding that it cannot be used as an excuse to infringe on a foreign countrys sovereignty and dignity. We have noticed reports from Swedish media on the statements made by Justitiekanslern regarding their recent television program that insulted China, officials said in the statement. Their words cannot hide the programs racist nature. And so-called freedom of expression can in no way be used to conceal racism, the statement also read. We once again strongly urge SVT and relevant programs to own up to their mistakes, apologize in a sincere manner to China and all Chinese people, and stop trying to find ways to justify such shame, and also stop muddling around, the statement added. China relies on reform and opening up to achieve economic development, said Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC), responding to the US rhetoric that Chinas development is attributed to investment from the US. The US remarks ignore facts about China-US economic and trade cooperation and mislead the public, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng said at a regular press conference on Thursday. China has accumulatively utilized foreign capital of more than $2 trillion since 1987 when the country started keeping statistics on foreign investment. Investment from the US was $81.36 billion, accounting for 4.06 percent, according to the MOC. "We never deny that investment from the United States helps China's development, but the country's development ultimately relies on its opening-up and reform and the endeavors of its people," said Gao. China has continued to open its market to the world based on the principles of mutual benefits and win-win results after the reform and opening-up, said the spokesperson, adding that the countrys contributions to the worlds economic and trade growth are evident. China has contributed to more than 30 percent of global economic growth every year on average since 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund. Figures by the World Trade Organization (WTO) indicate that from 2001 to 2017, the proportion of Chinas imports of goods in global imports increased from 3.8 percent to 10.2 percent, while the share of the countrys imports of trade in services rose from 2.7 percent to 9.1 percent. Gao pointed out that China had always abided by rules and principles of the WTO and urged the US not to find excuses for promoting unilateralism and protectionism, in response to Washingtons accusation of China adopting the so-called policies against free and fair trade. He suggested the US be constructive in taking effective measures to maintain the sound development of China-US economic cooperation and secure a global economic recovery. The US initiated and continuously escalated trade frictions with China while China doesnt want a trade war for the sake of protecting the bilateral economic and trade cooperation, the spokesperson stressed. Chinas original intention to maintain healthy development of China-US relations has not changed, and the determination to defend its own legitimate rights and interests will not change either, Gao said. The "bullying and extreme pressure" from the US would be futile, he said, adding that the US probably has got used to exert influence on another countrys economy through its so-called self strength, but upgrading trade frictions will do no good to resolving differences. Meanwhile, Chinas economy keeps steady growth with progress and sound momentum from an overall perspective, and is marching toward high-quality development with rapid growing new driving forces, the spokesperson noted. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 The US-initiated trade frictions against various countries have put people in Ohio into anxieties, as industry representatives complained the economic losses caused by the US governments trade policy at a meeting in Columbus, the state capital. Bret Davis, a soybean farmer in Delaware, Ohio, said he suffered economic losses of more than $400,000 this summer. He told Peoples Daily that if the prices for soybeans remain low in the next two to three years, he would be unable to afford his household bills. Ohio is located in the Great Lakes region of the US and its economic aggregate is among the top ten in the country. According to local media, a report by the Ohio State University indicated that prolonged tariff measures will reduce the net income of cultivated crop growers in the state by 59 percent. American soybean planters spent 35 years exploring the Chinese market, Davis said. Before the trade frictions, one third of American soybeans were exported to China. The widely opposed tariff policy forced the US government to propose a farm subsidy plan to offset the losses. However, the plan was like a band-aid, which was far from being able to heal the big wound caused by the trade war, Davis said, adding that the longer the tariff measures persist, the harder it will be to repair the damages created. Ian Sheldon, an economist and a professor of international trade and economics at Ohio State University, said the trade war has brought great uncertainties and means a blow to investment. For instance, Canadian enterprises are less enthusiastic in investing in northern America because of it. The American enterprises will need a couple of months, even years to transfer its supply chains and find suitable new suppliers, said a letter to the US trade representative Robert Lighthizer written by Americans for Free Trade, an organization jointly established by more than 80 American trade associations. They stressed in the public letter that Washington didnt give them enough time to redesign their supply chains, as the new tariffs came into effect just 6 days after the list of Chinese imports subjected to additional tariffs was announced. This move is unacceptable for them. The US ship manufacturers experienced a sharp rise in production cost due to the additional tariffs on imported Chinese steel and aluminum, as well as Chinese vessel parts. Maggie Sheely, manager of congressional and public affairs for the US Chamber's Great Lakes region, told Peoples Daily that a large number of small- and medium-sized enterprises are challenged by the same issue, adding that some of these enterprises would only last a few months before they go bankrupt. While only 900 US enterprises benefited from the additional tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, 30,000 suffered losses due to the tariff policy, she noted. Statistics showed that $3.3 billion worth of goods exported from Ohio to Canada, China, Mexico and Europe would be affected by the US tariff policy, the 7th highest figure in the US. In addition, about 1.5 million jobs in the state are supported by international trade. In addition to foreign trade, economists believe the prices of daily consumer goods will also rise as the US government keeps widening the range of goods subjected to rising tariffs. As a result, every American household will be burdened by the tariffs. Sheldon said trade researchers know that adding tariffs will lead to a rise of prices of domestic consumer goods. Washington sees trade as a zero-sum game, but trade has been widely regarded as a win-win behavior since the period of Adam Smith. The economist feels very anxious about the current US trade policy. During the two World Wars, the US tariff policy aggravated global economic crisis. Learning from this, the US Democrats and Republicans generally supported multilateral free trade mechanism, except the Trump administration. The wrong trade policy of the US would hurt multilateral trade system, Sheldon concluded. Washington (Peoples Daily) - A Michigan man who fired at an innocent black teenager in April was found guilty of assault on Friday. Originally charged with attempted murder, retired firefighter Jeffrey Zeigler, was found guilty of assault with intent to cause great bodily harm and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, the Associated Press reported. The incident, which was caught on surveillance video, shows Brennan Walker, a black 14-year old, approaching Zeiglers front door. After Brennan had slept through his alarm, missing his bus to Rochester High school, he thought he could walk to school. In the video, Brennan can be seen carrying a backpack and wearing a hat. As he approached Zeiglers door, he stops, turns around, and looks as though he might walk away, but then turns back around and approaches the door. Moments later, Zeigler opens the door, shirtless, with a shotgun in his hands. By then the teenager had made his way off of Zeiglers property. Zeigler can be seen shouldering the shotgun and leveling it at Walker. Ziegler fired one shot, which missed Walker. In the moments leading up to the incident, Zeigler said he first woke up to the sound of his wife screaming, who later said in a courtroom she thought Walker was trying to break into their home. Zeigler immediately told his wife to call the police and then grabbed his shotgun and ran to the front door. He said that when he fired his weapon, it was intended as a warning shot, and not meant to strike Walker. Walker made his way to sheriffs deputies who were responding to the earlier call made by Zeiglers wife. When I saw that video I was shocked, Shawn Pace, a detective with the sheriffs office said in court last week. After watching it a second time he said it makes him feel charged up, because I was offended by what I had seen. Zeiglers attorney, Rob Morad, said that race was not a factor and that both Ziegler and his wife were on high alert as their home has been robbed five times. He acted from passion instead of judgment, Morad told jurors. Zeigler claimed the shotgun accidentally discharged after he slipped on the floor. Walkers mother, Lisa Wright, said she believed the incident was racially motivated. In a video following the incident, Zieglers wife can be heard saying, Why did these people choose my house? and Who are these people? " After Wright watched the video she said it set her off, adding, I didnt want to believe it was what it appeared to look like. When I heard her say that, it was, like, but it is. On Friday, a jury found Ziegler guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, according to the Detroit Metro Times. Kanye West Says Hes The Best Living Recording Artist Ivie Ani Ivie is a Nigerian-American, native New Yorker, and journalist covering Hes back. Kanye West made his return to Twitter over the weekend, just days after deactivating his social media accounts. Fresh from a recent meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, and a trip to Uganda, the artist went live on Periscope for about 10 minutes to voice his opinions on influence, mind control, and his artistry, declaring that he is the best living recording artist. He continued, saying he has the spirits of Fela Kuti, Bob Marley and Tupac Shakur flowing through him. A departure from his usual inspirations ranking of Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, and Pablo Picasso. At one point he also says, when people try to influence you through social media and try to tell you what to do, or if you post something thats like positive on Instagram it gets taken down if its not a part of a bigger agenda. Thats like mind control. READ: Kanye West Wants To Be Donald Trump In the live, West also claims that hes being barred from buying the publishing rights to his music from Sony/ATV, and that he spoke with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about removing followers and likes from the site. At one point he addressed peoples concern over his behavior and stated, I am not crazy. I can ramp up if I suffer from sleep deprivation. Read the full transcript of the live on Billboard and catch clips of the video above. Michigan Man Found Guilty For Firing Shotgun At Teen Asking For Directions Elijah C. Watson Elijah Watson serves as Okayplayer's News & Culture Editor. When Jeffrey Ziegler said he regrets what happened but prosecutors argued that he was acting recklessly. Jeffrey Ziegler, the Michigan homeowner who fired a shotgun at teen Brennan Walker, has been found guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. READ: Michigan Man Who Fired Shotgun At Teen Asking For Directions Says Hes Tired Of Being A Victim According to Local12, Ziegler was convicted of a lesser charge than expected. Instead of a life sentence, hes instead possibly looking at 10 years in prison. During the trial, Ziegler claimed that he never intended to kill the 14-year-old Walker. Zieglers wife also alleged that Walker broke into their home. Hes been sorry ever since this obviously happened. Um, hes been extremely remorseful. He wishes he could take it back but obviously he cant take it back. He wishes he didnt go outside that day. But he certainly didnt want to, he certainly wasnt trying to hurt this individual, he certainly didnt want to do that, Zieglers defense attorney said. He was just looking out; he felt he was looking out for his family. Still, the jury found him guilty and decided that he had intended to kill the 14-year-old boy. During the trial, surveillance video of the incident was made public. The video begins with Walker going onto the porch and then moving closer to knock on the door. He then quickly backs off and runs away as Ziegler comes through the door holding a weapon. He then points it in Walkers direction and fires. Walker previously said that he missed the bus to Rochester High School in Rochester Hills, and trekked four miles when he got lost and began knocking on the doors of several houses. Source: Local12 China's current economic growth is stable and monetary policy remains stable and neutral, China's central bank governor Yi Gang said on Sunday at the G30 International Banking Seminar 2018. At the same time, the downside risks to the economy from trade frictions are enormous. Yi said he expects China to achieve its 6.5 percent growth target this year, or even slightly higher. The current CPI is 2 percent and the PPI is 4 percent. It is expected that the annual CPI will be slightly higher than 2 percent and the PPI will be between 3-4 percent. In the first half of the year, Chinas current accounts suffered a deficit. It may have a small surplus throughout the year, which is expected to be less than 1 percent of GDP. To solve the structural problems in Chinas economy, China will speed up domestic reform and opening-up, strengthen intellectual property protection, and consider treating State-owned enterprises with competitive neutrality. China will vigorously promote the opening-up of the service sector, including the financial industry, Yi added. The base restores the settings on Mars to the greatest extent. (CCTV Photo) China's Mars simulation base made its first public appearance on Friday along with the launch of the country's "Space Plan C," a project of space education for teenagers. The base is located in the Gobi Desert, 40 kilometers outside the city of Jinchang, northwest China's Gansu Province. The unique landform and red rocks make the area a perfect place for tourists to experience the red planet on earth. There are nine cabins in the base, including airlock cabin, general control cabin and biopak, which restore the visionary simulation aspects on Mars. "Visitors are able to learn how to live on Mars, and utilize those experiences to better help future development on earth," said Tian Rusen, a space science expert. Some other notable planet simulation bases include NASA's Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah in the United States, Russia's Mars500 project and the most recent one, the Poland Mars Analogue Simulation 2017. However, unlike those bases, China's Mars simulation base is not a serious simulation colony or a training ground for future Mars astronauts. "It is first and foremost a Mars exploration-themed tourist site," Liu Xiaoqun, director of the General Office of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Daily in an exclusive interview. "The base provides teenagers a chance to experience what it's like to live on Mars and learn how technology leads society forward," Tian told CCTV. Chinese author Mai Jia appeared at Mai Jia's Night event in Frankfurt on Oct 9, the day when the world's first biggest book fair opened. It's the first time a Chinese author is featured at such a themed event during the Frankfurt Book Fair, signaling wider interest in Chinese original storytelling. More than 100 publishers from 20 countries interested in copyright cooperation on his books attended the event. Mai Jia's works have been published in 33 languages worldwide. [Photo provided to China Daily] Mai Jia's Decoded,a page-turning story about an orphaned math genius devoted to cryptography and deciphering, first took the world with its Spanish version published by Planeta. The English version was published in 2014 by Penguin and was called one of "the 20 best spy novels of all time" by The Daily Telegraph. Its copyright was sold in 33 languages worldwide. Alongside the success of the English version of In the Dark, another of his spy novels, what was focused at the author's night is his third book from the Trilogy, The Message. The Messagegenerated keen interest in foreign publishers. "Basically, it's 'escaping from a secret room' like story that happened in the 1940s," Mai Jia said. Four people are trapped in a secret room, with one of them an agent undercover for the Communist Party and he/she has an important message to send out. Author Mai Jia [Photo provided to China Daily] Head of Zeus, the British publisher of Liu Cixin'sThree Bodytrilogy, bought the right to the English version. A deal was also signed that night to sell the novel in the Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, and Finnish markets. Olivia Milburn, the English translator of Mai Jia's trilogy, said: "DecodedandIn the Darkare one kind of book;The Messageis differentit is a crime story in which all the witnesses are lying...it is a puzzle story, and readers will enjoy trying to discover what has happened." Literary agent Tan Guanglei said Mai Jia's works appeal greatly to foreign readers with the kinds of stories they are familiar with and would love to read, but in some sense it's also so unique and different. Chinese author Mai Jia appeared at Mai Jia's Night event in Frankfurt on Oct 9, the day when the world's first biggest book fair opened. [Photo provided to China Daily] The UK will showcase cutting-edge innovation at November's China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. The UK is proud to be Country of Honour at CIIE and to work alongside Chinas Ministry of Commence and Shanghai Municipal Government, to showcase the UKs dynamic, diverse and cutting-edge technology. Taking place at the Shanghai National Exhibition Centre from 5-10 November and organised by the Chinese government, CIIE will feature over 2000 exhibitors, with more than 150,000 trade visitors expected to attend. The UKs presence at CIIE will focus on bringing the very best of the UK to China, showcasing the UKs expertise across a range of sectors. The UK pavilion at CIIE will feature world-leading companies in healthcare and life sciences, financial and professional services, education, creative industries, consumer goods, food and agriculture products, aviation and aerospace, automotive, AI and big data. In addition to the UK national pavilion, CIIE will feature British companies including Jaguar Land Rover, British Airways, Astra Zeneca, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and DeLonghi Kenwood. The theme of the UK Pavilion is Innovation is GREAT and will include cutting-edge VR and AR technologies from partners like Hypervsn who will display their 3D holographic system; Indewho will showcase a next-generation augmented reality mirror that lets users meet, interact and even take their photo with some of the greatest animated characters around; and Initions emerging VR which will allow people to experience a 360 3D video and audio journey, transporting users into alive orchestra performance. Cutting-edge software company Engage will feature their CoCreate interactive software platform, designed to take workplace collaboration to the next level by combining a large touchscreen application, which draws together content to display, annotate and manipulate across the entire touch surface. Not only will the pavilion display some of the UKs most pioneering technology, it will provide a unique platform for Chinese businesses, investors and consumers to connect with UK companies. A number of wraparound events will also take place at CIIE, exploring how the UK and China can work together to boost the trading relationship between the two countries. Events will have an overarching innovation theme with a focus on healthcare, financial and professional services, education, sport, energy and creative technology. The UK programme at CIIE will include a series of thought leadership talks, business seminars, product demonstrations and panel events. Cambridge Consultants will hold a seminal event on AI, demonstrating the UKs expertise. CIIE provides a unique opportunity to further strengthen and deepen the UKs long-term cooperation with China in the Golden Era. China is the UKs largest trading partner outside of Europe and North America. The UK-China trade relationship has gone from strength to strength: bilateral trade in goods and services reached a record 67.5bn in 2017, a 15% increase from 2016, whilst UK exports to China grew by 28.5% in 2017 to reach 22.3bn. Norwegian King Harald V delivered a speech in Beijing on Monday. (People's Daily Online/Xu Xiangli) Speaking highly of China's opening up policies and its economic achievements over the past four decades, King Harald V of Norway noted on Monday that Norway is willing to deepen cooperation with China in multiple areas, including social welfare and climate change. The King of Norway spoke at the annual Sino-Norwegian Research Symposium held at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, an event that marks the King's fourth visit to China. "Through the decades, from my first visit to China in 1985, and then in 1997, 2008 and now 2018, we have witnessed China opening to the world and gaining prosperity," said the King. According to King Harald, though China and Norway have different cultures and histories, the ambition to create welfare for all is a bond that unites both nations, and the two countries should learn from each other and deepen cooperation to further promote sustainable development worldwide. "The goal [China] has set for 2020 is not only to eradicate poverty, but to build a modern, prosperous society in all aspects prosperity is not just a question of individual income, this is a more ambitious goal, you are aiming for better social welfare for all," he said during his speech. Admiring China's crucial contribution to poverty alleviation, the King also added that as part of the global community, China and Norway should stick together to deal with global concerns including climate change, noting that such issues cannot be tackled without international cooperation. Echoing the King, Ine Eriksen Sreide, the foreign minister of Norway, stressed that the international rules based on order are now under pressure, while the two nations should cooperate to build a world where people's potential and creativity can be realized through cooperation, trade, and exchange of knowledge. "By opening up the doors to the outside world, China has achieved unprecedented progress, while Norway has been a trading nation for centuries. Norway and China should mobilize to defend norms and institutions that we have perhaps taken too much for granted," she added. The King and the Queen's state visit to China started on Oct. 11 and will last nine days, during which time they will also visit the Dunhuang Caves in Gansu province, as well as cities including Shanghai and Suzhou. China sends twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites into space on a Long March-3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Oct. 15, 2018. The satellites are the 39th and 40th of the BeiDou navigation system, and the 15th and 16th of the BeiDou-3 family. The launch was the 287th mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.(Xinhua/Liang Keyan) XICHANG, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China sent twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites into space on a Long March-3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 12:23 p.m. Monday. The satellites entered their planned orbit after flying more than three hours, and will work with the 14 BeiDou-3 satellites already in orbit. The satellites are the 39th and 40th of the BeiDou navigation system, and the 15th and 16th of the BeiDou-3 family. The satellites and the rocket for Monday's launch were developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, respectively. The launch was the 287th mission of the Long March rocket series. This year has seen an intensive launch of BeiDou satellites. China plans to send another three BeiDou-3 satellites into space to form a basic system to provide services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, by the end of the year. Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper, the BeiDou system started serving China in 2000 and the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. Over the past five years, the system has helped rescue more than 10,000 fishermen. More than 40,000 fishing vessels and around 4.8 million commercial vehicles in China are equipped with BeiDou. The system is also helping monitor the structural integrity of highways, pipelines, dams and bridges. More than 300 million mobile phones, 40 percent of all smartphones in China, can connect to BeiDou. The system now covers more than 50 countries with a total population of more than 3 billion. By 2020, BeiDou will provide first-class services around the globe. 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. This region of the continent contains many of the countries with the strongest economic growth and the highest potential for development, including South Africa, Angola, Kenya and Nigeria. The first issue of GMT Africa will come out in December, with subsequent issues appearing every quarter. Editorial content will comprise a majority of articles produced in Switzerland, complemented by local information including financial and celebrity news. GMT Africa is currently the only watch magazine available in Sub-Saharan Africa. GMT Publishing considers Hole19 Luxury Group to be the ideal partner to produce and distribute the magazine. Led by founder and manager Deremi Ajidahun of Nigeria, the group is recognised for its expertise, built up over 20 years, as a retailer of luxury goods, particularly watches, both through its own shops and also working with a broader network of retailers in the region. Deremi Ajidahun Brice Lechevalier, founder and editor-in-chief of GMT, said: Deremi Ajidahun is a businessman and watch lover who values the quality of human relationships, which is also one of our values. His company, Hole19 Luxury Group, has the expertise necessary to distribute GMT Africa and enhance the visibility of the watch brands it showcases with a qualified audience on the African continent. Deremi Ajidahun responded: GMT Africa will enable us to educate the market in a serious but appealing way, because there is currently no local source of watch information. We have the clients and we know how to reach them. They will be delighted to discover this high-quality specialised magazine, to advise them on future purchases. About GMT GMT is Switzerlands first free luxury magazine. It has been published in German/English and French/English since 2000, and is today considered the leading Swiss watch publication. GMT is the only consumer watch magazine whose circulation is certified by the REMP. It also has the highest publication frequency (6 issues per year in Switzerland). The special annual collectors issue, GMT XXL World, is circulated in 80 countries. The GMT Middle East franchise was launched in 2016, and other franchises are currently being discussed in other regions of the world. GMT also publishes the official catalogue of the Grand Prix dHorlogerie de Geneve, of which it is a long-standing media partner. Founder Brice Lechevalier is also the creator of the Geneva Watch Tour and the Watch Photo Awards. GMT is produced by GMT Publishing, which also publishes the national sailing magazine Skippers, voile & ocean and the leading European watch news website, Worldtempus.com, in three languages. About Hole19 Luxury Group Luxury Group Hole19 is a leading luxury group of companies based in Abuja, Nigeria. With official agency for over 40 global brands Hole 19 has a diversified portfolio that cuts across Watch & Jewelry, Fashion, Furniture, Luggage, Lifestyle, Golf and Publishing. Providing a bridge for established and aspiring global brands entering the African market, Hole19 leverages its local expertise with a network of partners across the continent to help brands achieve market penetration whilst building a strong retail chain. Established over two decades ago Hole19s brand portfolio now includes Hublot, Tag Heuer, Ulysse Nardin, Zenith, Louis Moinet, Rebellion, Fendi casa, Bentley Home, Kare, Callaway, Titleist (Golf), Tumi, Samsonite amongst many others and has recently added Zakaa Living and GMT Africa International titles to its publishing portfolio. Hole19 subsidiaries include Zakaa, Nettetal, Hole19 Sport, Karghill publishing, DML and Hole19 Investments. Back in March, Opening Ceremony's Humberto Leon and Carol Lim turned Disneyland's Main Street in Anaheim, California into a runway. Alongside patchwork denim, slick utility outerwear, and inventive knits, the duo showed a mix of Mickey Mouse emblazoned pieces including faux fur skirts, varsity jackets, handbags, and even a lemon-yellow taffeta evening gown. Launching today at Opening Ceremony boutiques and on the brand's website, the capsule celebrates Mickey Mouse's 90th anniversary. One of the most internationally recognized cartoons, Mickey was created in 1928 to replace Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (not so lucky after all). Leon and the OC team looked to early product runs and images of the mouse while creating hand-drawn graphics for the collection. Waving and dancing in green, blue, and yellow outfits (as opposed to his signature red shorts and yellow shoes), OC's iteration of Mickey alludes to vintage prints. Opening Ceremony isn't the only label looking to cartoons for optimism and joyfulness. Disney characters have popped up at Coach 1941 and Gucci's spring 2019 shows, Marcelo Burlon County of Milan's fall 2019 collection, and in previous years at GCDS, Christopher Kane, and Givenchy par Riccardo Tisci. Though he's become a more prevalent motif for fashion brands throughout the years, Leon and Lim have refreshed Mickey Mouse on an array of pieces, in a range of ebullient colors. Photos courtesy of Opening Ceremony Patently Apple posted a report on Friday about Tim Cook visiting ByteDance, one of the hottest startups in China. AI technology is at the heart of ByteDance. AI is a key area of technology Apple is expanding into and today we're learning that Apple has acquired music analytics start-up Asaii. The three principles of the company that are listed on this Asaii page have all updated their LinkedIn Profiles, as noted below, showing that they've been with Apple since the beginning of the month. Apple reportedly acquired Asaii in a bid to strengthen Apple Music's content recommendations to its music users. Axios stated that "Asaii can help Apple compete with Spotify Technology SA's efforts to work directly with smaller artists, like a music label." You could check out this Asaii webpage to see a list of the products that Apple may use in the future. Citing a source, Axios states that Apple's deal to buy Asaii was worth less than $100 million. Musically named Asaii one of the top 20 music tech startups of 2018 in the category "Marketing & Data / Analytics. Also check out Music Business Worldwide's report titled "What Apple's Acquisition of Asaii means for the Music Business" that provides an overview of how Apple will use Asaii. The report also talks about a new move by Spotify and how both companies are trying to find ways to win over new artists before the big studios do in order to make more money. Last month, Apple completed its acquisition of Shazam, a music discovery app. UPDATE 10:30 am PST: Our report has expanded to cover the BBC and CNBC debunking the Apple Watch report from Turkey. While the new Apple Watch has some great new technology built-in, it's not in the 007 super spy watch category just yet. On Sunday CNN reported that "Experts have dismissed claims that a recording of the alleged killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have been transmitted using his Apple Watch." Turkish newspaper Sabah originally suggested that Jamal Khashoggi's Apple Watch recorded everything that happened inside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul on October 2. The newspaper also suggests that Turkish investigators have gotten their hands on an audio recording which was done via the Apple Watch, which indicates that a team of hit men sent by Saudi Arabia killed the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The report has also been published by The Washington Post, a newspaper that Khashoggi also wrote for. It all seems very plausible at first, but now let us get into the specifics. A CNN source stated that "claims the journalist's smartwatch was able to transmit audio of his alleged murder inside the consulate to his iPhone, which his fiancee was carrying outside the building, are unlikely." Check out the CNN report that provides a video with an overview of why the Apple Watch story is technically unlikely. The BBC also posted a report yesterday on this subject matter titled "Why Apple Watch Link to Jamal Khashoggi 'Killing' is unlikely." The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones walked through the Turkish report debunking it like the CNN report did. The BBC reporter was skeptical from the start when the report began to describe Khashoggi's attackers trying to access Apple Watch and then realized that they required Khashoggi's fingerprint to unlock it. Of course that is a complete falsehood as Apple Watch doesn't support Touch ID. CNBC is the third high profile report that finds the Apple Watch account being highly unlikely. Hours ago CNBC posted a report titled "It would've been nearly impossible for journalist Khashoggi to record inside the Saudi consulate using his Apple Watch." In the present, President Trump said Monday he is 'immediately' sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Salman to discuss the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The President stated that he "Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.' He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!" Trump tweeted Monday morning." Other developments were reported on by CNBC as noted in the video report below. Maurice Lacroix announces its withdrawal from Baselworld 2019 after participating 30 years in the annual watch and jewellery fair. In parallel, the brand will move to Geneva and exhibit for the first time on the Ile Rousseau, in the heart of the city (14.1.2019 - 18.1.2019). During this event, the Swiss company, synonymous with iconic design and Swiss craftsmanship, will launch its latest Masterpiece creations. At Maurice Lacroix, the Passion for Progress lies at the heart of the brand's culture. The watch industry is constantly evolving, as are the expectations of the Swiss firm's retail cus-tomers. Now is the time for the brand from the Swiss Jura mountains, to upgrade its busi-ness and distribution model. Maurice Lacroix would like to thank Baselworld for its help over the last 30 years and par-ticularly for the support of the new Management Team. The company looks forward to discovering the new concepts prepared for Baselworld 2020. Despite the changes within the industry, Maurice Lacroix will always be known for accessible, reliable timepieces, imbued with Swiss craftsmanship. If ever there's a time to be different, it's now! Board Chairman of GIHOC Distilleries company, Squadron Leader (Rtd), Ebo Bartels, has expressed grave concern about the influx of foreign alcoholic drinks into the country. Indeed, there are local hotels and restaurants in the country who patronize these foreign drinks, and yet refuse to sell or even display locally manufactured drinks on their shelves, and they do this without any sense of guilt; this is affecting the local alcoholic industry. He said, As chairman of GIHOC, I have travelled the world over, and I have patronized the best hotels and restaurants, and I can say without mincing words that no country will tolerate this. Ebo Bartels made a passionate appeal to the Ministers of Tourism, Finance and Trade, to convince the operators of hotels and restaurants to stop their reliance on foreign drinks and patronize the local drinks. I believe by doing this, the vision of the president to make Ghana a nation beyond aid shall be a reality and there will be savings in foreign exchange. It is also our aim to boost export of our drinks in at less the West African sub-region to generate forex, he emphasised. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Manasseh Azure Awuni, a Ghanaian Journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited has emerged winner of the 2018 edition of West African Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA). Manasseh Awuni also won the Anti-Corruption Reporting category on his report on Robbing the Assemblies. Other contestants in the competition in the Overall Best Category included Richard Kwadwo Nyarko from Multimedia Group Limited; Victor Ekwealor of Techpoint, Nigeria; Anthony Akaeze of TELL/ICIR, Nigeria; Nabaloum Abdel Aziz of Sidwaya, Burkina Faso and Adam Alqali of African Newspage, Nigeria. Out of the 18 finalists, Adam Alqali of African Newspage, Nigeria, was adjudged the winner in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Reporting category; whiles Victor Ekwealor of Techpoint, Nigeria won the Business Reporting Category. Seth Kwame Boateng of Multimedia Group Limited took home the award for best journalist in Health Reporting, Nabaloum Abdel Aziz of Sidwaya emerged winner for the human rights category and Richard Kwadwo Nyarko of Multimedia Group Limited grabbed the Telecoms and ICT reporting category. In his welcome address, Mr Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of Media Foundation West Africa, noted that media standards had been on a free fall, as the few courageous and outstanding journalists who were committed to high journalistic standards were usually the targets of threats and attacks. He said the combined effects of poor standards, repression of media freedoms, weak economies and inadequate contextually-relevant media management data, had culminated in a serious challenge of sustainability for many media organisations in the sub-region. Mr Braimah said accordingly, the Foundation had instituted this conference to discuss the challenges, prospects and opportunities in the media industry in the region; and to also reward journalists who continue to demonstrate excellence in their works despite the numerous challenges they faced. The Executive Director said, he was hopeful that through the annual conference and awards, they would be able to connect with key actors within the media sector, learn more about the media environment in the region and propose concrete solutions for transforming the media industry. Mr Braimah stated that through the awards, they also hope to continuously motivate great journalists to do more and inspire others to commit to journalism excellence. He further commended MTN Ghana, GCB Bank Ghana, Stanbic Bank Ghana, DW Akademie, for their support towards the organisation of the 2018 WAMECA. In his remarks, Manasseh Awuni noted that practicing journalism and winning awards were motivating enough; "however, what really gives satisfaction is when you realise that the ills you uncovered is dealt with". Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The presidency has just circulated the statement below announcing the placement of 50 high-profile Nigerians on travel restrictions. The individuals, whose identities were not disclosed, include those whose assets, valued at N50million and above, are subject of corruption investigation and litigation. The statement by presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said the measure is part of the implementation of Executive Order Number 6 which seeks to ensure that all assets within a minimum value of N50 million or equivalent, subject to investigation or litigation are protected from dissipation by employing all available lawful means, pending the final determination of any corruption-related matter. Mr Shehu added that the financial transactions of these persons of interest are also being monitored by relevant agencies to ensure the assets are not dissipated and that such persons do not interfere with,investigation and litigation processes. READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE PRESIDENT BUHARI DIRECTS IMPLEMENTATION OF EO 6 IN FULL FORCE Following the instant judicial affirmation of the constitutionality and legality of the Executive Order 6 (EO6), President Muhammadu Buhari has mandated the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice to implement the Order in full force. To this end, a number of enforcement procedures are currently in place by which the Nigeria Immigration Service and other security agencies have placed no fewer than 50 high profile persons directly affected by EO6 on watch-list and restricted them from leaving the county pending the determination of their cases. Also, the financial transactions of these persons of interest are being monitored by the relevant agencies to ensure that the assets are not dissipated and such persons do not interfere with, nor howsoever corrupt the investigation and litigation processes. It is instructive to note that EO6 was specifically directed to relevant law enforcement agencies to ensure that all assets within a minimum value of N50 million or equivalent, subject to investigation or litigation are protected from dissipation by employing all available lawful means, pending the final determination of any corruption-related matter. The Buhari administration reassures all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians of its commitment to the fight against corruption, in accordance with the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the general principles of the Rule of Law. Accordingly, this administration will uphold the rule of law in all its actions and the right of citizens would be protected as guaranteed by the Constitution. We, therefore, enjoin all Nigerians to cooperate with the law enforcement authorities towards ensuring a successful implementation of the Executive Order 6 which is a paradigm-changing policy of the Federal Government in the fight against corruption. Garba Shehu Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) October 13, 2018 Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Government has saved the country over $7 billion by terminating some surplus Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under the previous Mahama administration. The termination of the agreements is to ensure that government does not continue to pay for huge capacity charges in some of the PPAs which would expire within the next 13 years. The recent power crisis that occurred in the country during the erstwhile Mahama administration necessitated the acquisition and injection of additional power generation capacity into the power system. But for the termination or renegotiation, the government would have spent an estimated $586 million per annum for 13 years to fund excess or surplus power. The quantum of power procured as emergency or fast-track, although ameliorated the generation capacity deficit, resulted in excess power supply, taking into consideration other signed Power Purchase Agreements by ECG, if those PPAs were implemented. The implication of overcapacity in power generation therefore posed potential capacity charge payments. It, therefore, become imperative that necessary steps were taken to minimize or eliminate, where necessary, these potential overcapacity payments. Review Committee The Ministry of Energy subsequently tasked a committee to review the fiscal and legal implications of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed by ECG for the purchase and supply of energy from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for conventional thermal power projects in order to advise on the way forward. The overall objective of the review was to project a new dynamic equilibrium over time as the necessary step for determining how to absorb the projected overcapacity by determining, which projects to cancel, defer or allow to proceed. The committee established that even though capacity additions would be required in the years to come, the scheduled capacity addition from the executed PPAs is in excess of the required economic and sustainable capacity additions which include a 20% reserve margin, the report said. The review, therefore, considered options of minimizing the overcapacity through terminating (at the least cost), delaying or deferring some of the PPAs. Three PPAs, including ASG and Chrispod Hydro Power Ltd, have been terminated with eight other agreements also scheduled for termination. Four PPAs, including Rotan Power, have been deferred to be completed between 2018 and 2025, while three other PPAs will proceed without modification. In all, 24 power purchase agreements were reviewed leading to the termination of 11 power deals and the rescheduling of eight others. The committee was headed by Dr. Alfred Ofosu Ahenkorah, Executive Secretary, Energy Commission, with 17 members. Projections In order to determine which PPAs to terminate or defer, demand projections were made using the 2017 Electricity Supply Plan incorporating some variations based on information available to the committee. The demand categories included domestic, export, transmission and network losses, as well as reserve margin. From the review, it became evident that the capacity additions from the various signed PPAs were far in excess of the required additions inclusive of 20 per cent reserve margin from 2018 through to 2030. This meant that if all the PPAs were left to proceed and projects were completed as per their Commercial Operation Dates (COD) in the PPAs, there would be excess or surplus capacity and some plants will not be dispatched, yet capacity charges will be paid. According to the review committee when all the plants under the signed PPAs are allowed to proceed, excess or surplus capacity would increase from a low of 524MW in 2018, when only a few of the scheduled projects would have been completed, to a maximum of 2,887 MW in 2021, when all the projects would have been completed. This, the committee said, would result in an average excess capacity of about 1,463 MW per annum at an estimated average cost of $586 million per annum within the period from 2018 to 2030. To avoid paying such huge capacity charges for surplus (idle) capacities, it required that some PPAs be terminated and others modified (deferred or downsized) even though such terminations and modifications may come with their own cost. From the review, the total cost of terminating all the PPAs of the candidate projects was estimated at about $402.39 million, compared to an average annual cost of $586 million each year for 13 years, or a cumulative cost of $7.619 billion over the 13 year period, the committee said. It said comparing the cost of the excess capacities with the cost of terminating some PPAs and deferring others to match the demand projection, it made economic sense to terminate and defer some PPAs. In response to the surplus capacity, Cabinet requested the Attorney General and Minister for Justice to review the PPAs signed by ECG and advise accordingly. The PPA Review has been completed and a report submitted by the Attorney General and Minister for Justice to the Minister for Energy for consideration of Cabinet. The Attorney General proposed that three PPAs should proceed without modification, four PPAs are to be deferred to be completed between 2018 and 2025, four PPAs are to be deferred for completion between 2025 and 2030; and three PPAs should be considered for termination. In addition, there were eight other PPAs to be terminated. Speaking at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London last week President Akufo-Addo indicated that a review of 24 power purchase agreements, which has led to the termination of 11 power deals and the rescheduling of eight others, has enabled us to save the government treasury about $7 billion in excess capacity charges over a 13-year contract period. Source: Gibril Abdul Razak Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ferrari 812 Superfast is the fastest and most powerful Ferrari ever built. Its base price is a cool 262,963. The Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 5524 is a pilot travel time watch produced by one of the worlds foremost high-end watch brands and retails for 42,000 Swiss francs in its gold-cased versions. Its difficult to compare the two. Apart from being stand-out products in their respective industries, they have little in common in terms of functions or price. The Patek Philippe costs a thousand Swiss francs per millimetre of its case diameter, the Ferrari 323.84 per horsepower in its V12 engine. One thing that they do have in common, however, is that unique versions of each will be going under the hammer at the Children Action charity auction by Christies in Geneva tonight. The Patek Philippe Ref. 5524 has a T appended to its reference, indicating that it is a unique version of this pilots watch in titanium. This is all the rarer given that Patek Philippes use of titanium, or indeed any non-precious metal, is extremely rare. The last unique piece Patek Philippe in titanium was a Ref. 5208T, also sold at a charity auction, Only Watch 2017, for 6.2 million Swiss francs. This is just one of several record-breaking prices achieved by watches at auction in recent years, along with the ultimate record-holder, the Paul Newman Rolex Daytona, which sold for an unbelievable 17 million US dollars last year. When I discussed the potential of the Patek Philippe at the sale with John Reardon, Christies Head of Watches, International, during the Horology Forum in London last month, he admitted hearing rumours that the watch could fetch up to a million Swiss francs. This tallies with the past two Children Action auctions, where the Patek Philippe models sold for a million Swiss francs for the Ref. 5131J-013 in 2012 and US dollars for the Ref. 5396T-010 in 2015. But could the Patek Philippe beat the Ferrari? There is a precedent at auction for the 812, but it is for a 1:2 scale wind tunnel model, that was sold by Sothebys last year for 600,000 euros. Given that this lot was half the production vehicles size and lacked one crucial component the 812 horsepower V12 engine one would hope that a unique version of 812 with Scuderia Ferrari personalisation by the companys tailor-made department would fetch much more. It comes finished in Rosso F1, Ferraris signature Formula 1 red, with an Italian tricolour strip on the bonnet together with the race number of SF71H, Ferraris 2018 race car. It will also be signed by the drivers of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team and handed over to the lucky buyer at next years Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Unusually, there are no estimates either lower or upper - for this auction. Mr Bernard Sabrier, founder of the Children Action charity, says it has always been this way for the 13 years that Patek Philippe has been supporting the auction. So with the right bidders in the room or on the phones, anything could happen. At the end of the evening, the generosity of all those bidding on these lots, plus other lots including a selection of fine wines, fine jewellery and a luxury cruise, will no doubt have contributed a few million Swiss francs in aid of a worthwhile charity that has educated over 10,000 adolescents in Switzerland as part of its suicide-prevention activities and runs 13 different projects across eight countries. October War Veteran Farouk Alameddine tells Ahram Online the war saw much bravery from the army and the people 'side by side' Related Remembering the 1973 October War The October War Veteran Farouk Alameddine says that war was one of the cherished memories of his life. He described it as an act of great bravery that has promised the love of the country and nothing else. He explains, however, that he fears that its legacy could slip away down the road because its thorough story has never been given the due attention. He says that October 1973 was a moment of glory that should never be allowed to turn into just a few lines in a history book or a mere honourary recollection. The October War was not just about three weeks of [Egyptian] troops in combat at the front; the October War is a story that started the day following the 1967 War and that continued one way or the other until the full liberation of all Egyptian territories that were occupied in 1967; this is what the October War is really about, said Farouk Alameddine. In his early 30s, Alameddine took part in the war as part of the Third Army, and today, in his late 80s, he gives lectures about this war to students of a range of military academies. These lectures, Alameddine said, were designed by the army general command. The objective behind the lectures, he added, is not simply symbolic: they are certainly designed to pass on the experience of those who took part in this war to younger generations who have not even lived the years of the war. When we do this, we do it because we are convinced as military people that the very act of a combat back then and the way this combat was prepared, launched and managed is truly an example in harnessing what some would have thought of as limited military capacity to allow for a considerable military achievement, Alameddine stated. Think about it today. In 1967. the armed forces of Egypt were not just in terrible morale but were also in a state of shock over the huge destruction their military capacities have sustained due to the Israeli aggression of June 1967 and the previous participation in the Yemen War." "Six years later and without having a strict military ally, like the US was to Israel, these very armed forces, who had no great financial capacity, managed to reverse almost fully the outcome of 1967; is this not a very significant military act?" "Today, 45 years on, I am more convinced than ever before that it was a very significant military act not just on the count of bravery and glory but certainly from the point of view of military management, administration, planning and execution, he argued. In 1967, Egypt had lost almost all of Sinai to the Israeli aggression. In the very early hours of 5 June it had almost lost all of its air force capacities. Alameddine said that the Six-Day War, which had also brought about the full Israeli occupation of all of Palestine and of Syrian and Jordanian territories, "started when close to two thirds of the Egyptian army was in Yemen and the military command in Egypt had to recall untrained reserves to fill in for the big shortage prior to summoning soldiers who had been in the Yemen combat, and this was obviously a very harsh challenge for the armed forces of Egypt; the result was a huge shock that was as devastating as an earthquake. When Egypt finally had to acknowledge defeat in the second week of June 1967, Alameddine was still in Moscow, where he had moved in 1965 for an advanced military graduate degree. Like everybody else, Alameddine recalled, he wished to rush back to Egypt and join in the re-launch of the Egyptian army. We felt stranded; we felt we were away when our country was coming under a shocking defeat; we felt we needed to be back; but the then minister of defence Mohamed Fawzy decided that we had to stay to finish our studies; he said we needed the well-educated and well trained to win the next war; and I guess this was one of the founding ideas for the October War: the end of platitudes and beginning of well thought-through moves, he said. Alameddine was eventually back in Cairo in 1968. I took part in the War of Attrition, which really put in place a strong base for the October War. It was during this war that the soldiers started to get proper training and where the command of the army managed to uplift the devastated morale of the troops through limited successful operations." "I guess it is safe to say that by the end of 1969 or maybe by mid-1970 the troops were regaining self-confidence and when Gamal Abdel-Nasser died in [the autumn of] 1970, the morale was not defused to the contrary, the urge to regain the lost territories was really high among the troops. This said, Alameddine recalled, Egypt was again rebuilding its armed forces at the time of a very challenging economic situation combined by confused local politics upon the transition of power from Gamal Abdel-Nasser to Anwar Sadat, and against the backdrop of an inopportune moment of foreign relations. None of us really thought that we were only three years from the victory. Alameddine is angered at any question of whether October was really a victory, or only a successful crossing, followed by a humiliating military breach that brought the Israeli army to the west side of the Suez Canal in the second week of the war? A victory in no uncertain terms. It was a victory by all military accounts. The crossing was the beginning of the victory and the breach was not as consequential as some might think out of ignorance, he stresses. The fact that the tanks that executed the breach were cut off from the Israeli army simply means that they would have eventually been rendered ineffective. The Israeli army crossed the canal from the east side to the west side, it is true; and it is also true that there was then a big moment of concern among the public; but it is equally true that the Israeli army failed to occupy Sinai and that the people of Suez showed a remarkable bravery through the popular resistance. The second week saw great bravery from the army and the people side by side, said the veteran. If Israel was winning and if the military breach had reversed the victory into another defeat as some would like to argue, Israel would have not agreed to a ceasefire or to the subsequent political negotiations. Like other military veterans who took part in the October War, Alameddine is convinced that the crossing of the troops, the destruction of the Bar Lev Line and the huge casualties sustained by the Israeli army, forced the Israeli politicians to negotiate a peaceful return of all Egyptian territories. Think about it; when the 1967 War ended and Israel occupied the east side of the Suez Canal, we hardly had any military defence presence on the west side of the Canal; then, in less than three years we had managed a war of attrition and rebuilt our military capacity in the face of all political and economic challenges; then, in another three years we went through the war with military capacities that would not even amount to half of what the Israelis had; then a week down the road from the beginning of the war the US was openly offering Israel a strong military and intelligence hand but we stood still." "And today, 45 years later, I promise you I dont know how we managed to do any of this any of it; then if this does not qualify for a victory, I dont know what would be a victory, Alameddine exclaimed. Throughout his long military career, which started with his graduation from the military academy in the 1950s and ended with his retirement in the 1980s, Alameddine had been awarded many honours, and his participation in the 1973 war was acknowledged and rewarded. However, as he sat in the living room watching TV, before giving the interview to Ahram Online, Alameddine said that the greatest honour he thinks of is when he watches the celebration of the 45th anniversary, that he was there when it happened, willing to die for a victory. However, for this war veteran, it is very saddening to see how little the younger generation learn about the war in the history curricula, and how very little has really been told about the hardship that this country had to go through for six consecutive years to make this war happen, and how very few of the great heroic stories of this war have been told to those who were born after the land was all restored. Much more should be said about the October War, he stressed. Search Keywords: Short link: Since June this year, the Chinese Longjiang-2 (also known as DSLWP-B) microsatellite has been orbiting the Moon. The satellite is aimed at studying radio emissions from stars and galaxies at very long wavelength radio waves (wavelengths of 1 to 30 meters). These radio waves are otherwise blocked by the Earths atmosphere, while the lunar environment offers protection from Earth-based and human-made radio interference. Longjiang-2 was launched to the Moon together with an identical twin, Longjiang-1 (DSLWP-A), together acting as a radio interferometer to detect and study the very long wavelength radio waves by flying in formation in lunar orbit. Besides the scientific instruments, both Longjiang satellites carry a VHF/UHF amateur radio transmitter and receiver (a transceiver) built and operated by the Harbin Institute of Technology (in Chinese). The Longjiang-2 transceiver also includes an onboard student camera, nicknamed the Inory Eye. The Harbin team built on experience gained with the Earth-orbiting LilacSat-1 and LilacSat-2 nanosatellites, which allow radio amateurs to receive satellite telemetry, relay messages and command and download images taken with an onboard camera. While receiving signals from satellites in low Earth orbit requires only relatively simple antennas, doing so for satellites in orbit around the Moon (a thousand times more distant), is much harder. To this end Longjiang-1 and 2 transmit signals in two low data-rate, error-resistant, modes; one using digital modulation (GMSK) at 250 bits per second, while the other mode (JT4G) switches between four closely spaced frequencies to send 4.375 symbols per second. This latter mode was developed by Nobel-prize winning astrophysicist Joe Taylor and is designed for radio amateurs to relay messages at very low signal strengths, typically when bouncing them off the surface of the Moon. During the trip to the Moon in the days after the 20 May 2018 launch of Longjiang-1 and 2, radio amateurs were able to receive GMSK telemetry from both satellites, as they were still close to the Earth. Due to a malfunction of the thruster control logic required for the spacecraft to make course corrections, contact with Longjiang-1 was lost on 21 May. Fortunately, Longjiang-2 did arrive in a 357-by-13704 kilometer elliptical orbit around the Moon. Since then, many radio amateurs have been able to receive transmissions from Longjiang-2. Usually, the transceiver is powered on for 2-hour sessions at a time, during which GMSK telemetry is transmitted in 16-second bursts every 5 minutes. After some testing sessions in early June, the JT4G mode was activated, with 50 second transmissions every 10 minutes. Specialized open source software written by MingChuan Wei and the Harbin team enables radio amateurs to decode telemetry as well as image data and upload it to the Harbin website. The JT4G mode has allowed radio amateurs with small yagi antennas to detect signals from Longjiang-2 (using custom software written by Daniel Estevez). LYANTONDE Public Health Care (PHC) minister Joyce Kaducu was shocked by the state of Lyantonde hospital mortuary saying that the mortuary is irritating. According to Kaducu, the mortuary looked more of a community pit latrine in a dilapidated state. Is this the mortuary of the hospital? How many bodies does it accommodate? Ooh My God I think the administration and leadership here you need to expedite the process of getting the money and ensure that a new mortuary is set up, are our people safe, she wondered. Kaducu made the remarks during the commissioning of the Shs 500m Primary Health grant structures which money was given out by the government of Uganda through the health ministry. The minister was further shocked by the hospitals hygiene when she found used pampers dumped at the entrance of the maternity ward. She tasked the hospital administration to ensure they allocate days for general cleanliness so that patients who go for treatment dont contract more diseases especially this rainy season. Kaducu, while in the male ward found there were little beds which had no mattresses. Its absurd to find that the building is new but it has no beds even the little mattresses that are there are very old, I think you can improvise buy some mattresses with new covers and then paint these beds to give them a facelift, I think a patient can feel better when he is in an environment that is secured. In an interview with the minister, Kaducu told this website that he had come on a fact-finding mission on the state of the hospital and commissioning the hospital structures. She confirmed that they are going to support the hospital in putting up a good mortuary. Mwesigwa Muhammad, the hospital administrator noted that the hospital is overwhelmed by the inflows of patients from various districts. On the sanitation, Mwesigwa said that they try to ensure good sanitation but sometimes patients are adamant. He further said that they have a challenge of the mortuary which cannot house more than three bodies, he noted that the district leadership is lobbying money to ensure that they set up a new mortuary. We are now on the slab but we are stuck with money, if we can get more money then we can finish faster this new mortuary. Related MAKERERE Students at Makerere University have been tipped to engage themselves in innovative ways of job creation if the country is to curb the escalating problem. This was during the 9th edition of Pakasa Forum held at the university to give young entrepreneurs skills on how to start businesses and survive in a competitive business environment. Organized under the theme Unlocking Students Potential, the 9th PAKASA Forum was hosted by the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), Makerere and Vision Group Ltd. Ms. Barbara Mulwana, the Chief Executive Officer at Nice House of Plastics and Chairperson of Uganda Manufacturer Association (UMA), speaking to thousands of students in the CoBAMS Auditorium, said that young people should believe in starting small, with the available financial means and lay strategies for purposes of growth in business. Innovation is very key in running a successful enterprise, she said urging students to always think outside the box and be innovative and to create own job creators. Have values for your business, remember that success takes time and there is no shortcut. Part of what makes entrepreneurs fail both in the short and long run is thinking that they always have to venture into something that has been explored by several other entrepreneurs who have actually secured the biggest share of the market, she stated. The Deputy Chief Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation Lt. Gen. Charles Angina encouraged students to explore the virgin sector of Agricultural Tourism and tap into the opportunities of branding and packaging agricultural products. He also noted that students need to be organized into dynamic, loyal, visionary groups ready to give accountability in order to secure government funds for their projects. Stop despising Agri-businesses because agriculture is one of the key drivers of Ugandas economy and a lucrative venture, he added. The Chief Executive Officer, Vision Group Mr. Robert Kabushenga, urged students to embrace the business world and prepare themselves of the future where more technology than human labour will be required to do work. He appealed to students to be open-minded, think creatively, have empathy and be innovative. The Principal CoBAMS, Dr. Eria Hisali appreciated the idea of engaging students in business and entrepreneurship talks, saying that said that such initiatives link students to successful entrepreneurs who can uplift their potential. He also applauded Vision Group and other partners for the support they offered to organize the Pakasa Forum and called for continued support to all Makerere activities. Related Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi headed to Moscow on Monday for a three-day visit to Russia which will include talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, state news agency MENA reported. The talks will tackle boosting bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest. El-Sisi will also hold talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and other senior officials on boosting economic cooperation. Search Keywords: Short link: The City of West Linn, OR, must pay at least $100,000 in back pay to former officer Tom Newberry, who was fired last year for controversial Facebook posts. The arbitratorPortland-based attorney Eric Lindauerconcluded that Newberry's firing in February 2017 was justified. But he also ruled that the city should bear some financial burden because Newberry's social media use was common knowledge in the police department, but it did nothing to address the behavior until it was reported by the media in July 2016, according to OregonLive.com. Before making his July ruling, the arbitrator reviewed 131 Facebook posts made by Newberry while on and off duty from February to July 2016. Lindauer found that some posts showed racial bias against African Americans and hostility toward the Black Lives Matter movement, and reinforced public perception that police officers are biased against black people. Some of the posts included references to African Americans and Black Lives Matter supporters as "ghetto rats," "cockroaches," "morons," and other insults. Newberry, 65, is a former Portland officer who had been with the West Linn department for at least seven years at the time he was placed on leave. The city may appeal the ruling to the Oregon Employment Relations Board. ...and so it did. By the time we reached the edge of the Sahara, the sun was beginning to set yet the skies were not a fiery red but a cloudy pink. Lo and behold, and it began to rain. Hard. Rain on the Sahara, what are the odds? It was the first time this year, apparently. The Sahara is the world's 3rd largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic. Although the Sahara is one of the most arid locations on Earth, its not uniformly so. The central part of the Sahara (the Libyan Desert) receives 0.0338 inches of rain per year (sometimes going without rain for decades at a time) while other parts of the desert are endowed with up to a whooping 4 inches of annual rainfall. And yet, on the very occasion that I would ride a camel through the sand dunes for the very first time, the Sahara was blessed with a downpour that would completely obscure any chance of seeing a sunset! I was immediately reminded of Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, around the same time last year. That day, for the first time in a dangerously hot summer a vicious storm broke up, the temperature plunged to 10c (in August!) and I of Croatias most famous beauty spot. I refused to brave a desert storm to ride an increasingly irritated camel on the dunes for an hour with no chance of a sunset. My first ever ride on the sand dunes would have to be an experience for another time. A total of 230 Egyptians have returned home from Libya via the Salloum border crossing over the past 24 hours, a security official said. Fifteen of the returnees had travelled to Libya illegally, Matrouh Security Chief Hisham Nasr said in a statement on Monday. Border travel procedures for 1,185 persons, including 301 Egyptians and 884 Libyans, have also been finalised, he added. A total of 120 trucks were allowed into Egypt from Libya to be loaded with Egyptian goods, he said. Since the 2011 toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, rival militias have been fighting a weak central government across the country. Many Egyptians worked in Libya prior to 2011, and some remained despite the instability. Search Keywords: Short link: NEW DELHI, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Growing business, gaining a competitive edge and having a large customer base are essential for every business. Travel and Tourism industry is one of the most dynamic one, and there are some big and small players flooding this business niche every day. As per the reports of World Travel and Tourism Council, India is expected to become the third largest economy in the tourism sector by 2028. In the year 2015, around 8.03 million international tourists came to India which is around 2.56 million more than the numbers that were observed in 2000. Moreover, the outbound travel has also seen a growth recently, approximately 1.1 million Indian nationals traveled to the US in 2015 and this number is expected to rise to 1.41 million by 2020. Europe is also a popular destination for the travelers from India, in 2016, 2.16 million people traveled to Europe. Thus, the travel and tourism industry has seen the growth at a breakneck pace and hence, managing such huge volume manually becomes a daunting task for travel agents and tourism companies. Travel software like TraviYo ensures that the travel agents and companies can manage their business operations and their work efficiently. With an objective to help the travel agents streamline their business functioning, make their time more effective and efforts more efficient, StoutWeb, one of the leading travel software providers has developed a tool TraviYo, which aims at automating the travel agents' work and making the entire process streamlined. TraviYo is a technology partner of travel agents that work in close assistance with them. It is a cloud-based software which caters to the variegated needs of the travel agents. StoutWeb is a popular name when it comes to developing outstanding technological solutions to the travel agents and TraviYo is the latest addition to their list. From making travel bookings to filtering the leads, MIS to follow-up, itinerary preparation to invoices, think about any aspect of travel and tourism, TraviYo has a solution for the same. TraviYo is robust software developed especially for the travel agents who wish to keep their work organized and their time more productive. This software enables travel agencies and travel agents to automate their business process, make quick bookings, maintain their supplies, invoicing, itinerary preparation and CMS, thus, keeping themselves always up to the expectations of the customers. "We are very pleased to provide our clients with a tool for more reliable and accurate travel management which truly is an emblem of robustness and state of the art functioning. Our research, which focused on the pain points of travel agents, led us to some interesting findings, the solution whatever we could decipher is added to TraviYo. It will groom the travel industry into next level," says Amar Kumar Rout, Founder, TraviYo. The objective of this software is to help the travel agents efficiently control their business and also keep a check on the latest changes in the market. As a service industry, it becomes invariably important for travel agents to keep their customers updated with the best deal and propositions; manual hunting of inventories and following up is time taking and energy consuming process. However, with the help of advanced software like TraviYo, all these works will become easy and automated. And a better business operation means better producing and more revenue. "TraviYo is eying for 1000+ travel agents to get on board in 2019-20, while the miniscule penetration is an indication of the scope for future growth, it is also reflective of the need for innovation in a category that has the highest potential to generate business and ensure customer retention. With this move, we also wish to achieve whopping revenue of 154,000,000 in this financial year," said Gopi Krushna Nayak, VP Business Development. About StoutWeb: StoutWeb is the premier travel technology solutions that mainly focuses on delivering only world-class technology travel agency CRM software suitable for travel industry. Our products empower mega Business Travel agents, B2B Reseller, Retail Sales, Tour Operator and many others. About TraviYo: StoutWeb's TraviYo software simplifies the task of travel agents and travel agencies. The sole objective of every business is to make it grow, and with the acclivitous growth and development of technology, it becomes advent that businesses must incorporate such developments in their operations. StoutWeb's software, TraviYo is a boon to all the travel agents. Once this software is set up by the client, the rest of the work is taken care by TraviYo. Whether you need to get a tailored itinerary or quotations, TraviYo does it all at a click of a button. With so many travel agencies mushrooming around, it becomes mandatory to have software and tools in place that can help you stand ahead of the crowd. Logo link: https://traviyo.com/images/logo.svg Media Contact: Sarita Yadav [email protected] +91-9289918991 Manager Business Development StoutWeb SOURCE StoutWeb Private Limited TORONTO, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- First Quantum Minerals Ltd. ("First Quantum" or the "Company", TSX Symbol "FM") will publish its third quarter 2018 financial and operating results on Monday October 29, 2018 after the close of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Company's President, Clive Newall, will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the results on Tuesday October 30, 2018. Conference call and webcast details are as follows: Date: October 30, 2018 Time: 9:00 am (EDT); 2:00 pm (BST); 6:00 am (PDT) Webcast: www.first-quantum.com Dial in: North America: (toll free) (877) 291-4570 North America and international: 1 (647) 788-4919 United Kingdom: (toll free) 0-800-051-7107 Available from noon (EDT) on October 30, 2018 until 11:59 pm (EST) on Replay: November 13, 2018 North America: (toll free) (800) 585-8367 North America and international: 1 (416) 621-4642 Passcode: 5499405 Management Update The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Lisa Doddridge to the position of Director, Investor Relations to cover a long term leave. During her career Ms. Doddridge has formulated and executed the investor relations strategy for numerous high profile companies and has been the recipient of several awards recognizing her efforts and performance. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of First Quantum Minerals Ltd. G. Clive Newall President For further information visit our website at www.first-quantum.com North American contact: Lisa Doddridge, Director, Investor Relations, Tel: (416) 361-3752, Toll Free: 1 (888) 688-6577, E-Mail: lisa.doddridge@fqml.com; United Kingdom contact: Clive Newall, President, Tel: +44 140 327 3484, Fax: +44 140 327 3494, E-Mail: clive.newall@fqml.com SOURCE First Quantum Minerals Ltd. HOUSTON, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The combination and interoperability between XSimOp from HTRI and Petro-SIM from KBC will enable more efficient delivery of high fidelity operational and design studies for process units KBC (A Yokogawa Company) today announces an extension of its engineering simulation capabilities through an enhanced collaboration with HTRI, the leading source of process heat transfer technology and research, to deliver advanced capabilities in heat exchanger simulation and rating. The interoperability between XSimOp ShellTube, a new module for doing detailed simulation and rating of shell and tube heat exchangers, and Petro-SIM will enable more efficient delivery of high fidelity operational and design studies for process units. Process engineers will be able to quickly investigate and analyze the performance of heat exchanger networks in a single simulation case thereby reducing overall design time, minimizing equipment over-design and ensuring design flexibility that appropriately accounts for process variability. In many process plants, heat exchanger failures and diminishing heat transfer efficiency can cause major process safety problems, account for around 30 per cent of unplanned downtime, and limit unit capacity and throughput. This can cost some plants in excess of $10 million as a result of various factors including mechanical and chemical-induced corrosion and fouling. When undertaking operational and design studies, it is vital that technologies for design and rating of heat transfer equipment are fully integrated with the process simulation flowsheet. This ensures the many interacting mechanical and process-related parameters are considered when determining optimal thermal design and operation of heat exchangers within the overall process configuration. "Heat exchangers sit at the heart of the yield / energy trade-off in operations and their design can have a major influence on plant profitability as well as reliability and safety. Fast, accurate and integrated heat exchanger modeling is vital for delivering safe, reliable and profitable operations," states Andy Howell, CEO of KBC. "The industry sees HTRI as the heat exchanger design and simulation leader and so we are pleased to be able to include their product within the Petro-SIM family[1] for end-to-end integrated simulation." "We are continuing our extensive research into heat transfer technology and highly value this new partnership with KBC for expanding industry access to our deep know-how and intellectual property in this area," said Claudette D. Beyer, President and CEO of HTRI. "We know that many of our members derive a lot of value from KBC's Petro-SIM, so its interoperability with XSimOp and use in end-to-end simulation will unlock even more value for them." KBC's Petro-SIM is the world's most widely applicable steady-state and dynamic process simulation and optimization software platform. Its open platform architecture promotes exceptional levels of integration and collaboration among project teams. It supports the full engineering workflow across the process lifecycle from design and operations, through performance optimization and stewardship, reducing capital and operating expenses. HTRI's Xchanger Suite - a standalone heat exchanger simulation product - has for some time been able to interface with Petro-SIM. This new strategic partnership builds on the existing relationship between HTRI and KBC to seamlessly integrate XSimOp (a new suite specifically designed to be embedded in 3rd party simulators) within Petro-SIM. Full interoperability between Petro-SIM and XSimOp ShellTube will be available in Petro-SIM 7 which is due to be released by the end of 2018. About KBC KBC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yokogawa Electric Corporation, is all about excellence in the Energy and Chemical industry. Living excellence in all we create and in all the services we deliver and leaving a sustainable legacy of operational excellence among our customers. We make excellence real for our customers through the actions of our people fused with our technology and best practices. We provide leading software and expert services, powered by the cloud, to assure process operations achieve their full potential. Our customers achieve operating performance that surpasses ordinary standards, now and into the future. For more information, visit http://www.kbc.global. About Heat Transfer Research, Inc. HTRI is a leading source of process heat transfer technology, research, software, and services. Incorporated in 1962, the company conducts studies on heat transfer and fluid flow at a multimillion-dollar testing facility in Navasota, Texas, USA. HTRI technology has been used by companies worldwide for decades to help them design, operate, and maintain heat exchangers and fired heaters. HTRI provides advanced experimental research to the oil and gas, chemical, and petrochemical industries. For more information, visit https://www.htri.net/ 1. The Petro-SIM family of products includes Petro-SIM steady state and dynamic process simulator; SIM Reactor Suite non-linear, kinetic refinery reactor models; Multiflash PVT thermodynamics simulator; the Maximus thermal hydraulic pipeline simulator; and Petro-SIM Energy for utility system modeling. SOURCE KBC The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange named Zaif, which claims to be super secure, has been attacked by hackers. They managed to steal quite a big amount of money. Previously, it was reported that Zaif had come up with a realy sophisticated and efficient security system preventing even the most serious hacker attacks. They claimed that Zaif is impossible to hack. So, this sounded like a major challenge for hackers. And they successfully hacked the exchange, therefor showing the world that the impossible is possible. It is reported that the hackers stole Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and MONAcoin to the amount of 59 million dollars. it should be noted that this is not the first time the hackers attack a crypto-exchange. But this was the first attack on Zaif, which used to be seen as unhackable. The exchange system gets blocked on multiple levels, which makes external access imposible, they claimed. At this point, it's still unclear whether Zaif is going to compensate the client financial losses. It should be noted that crypto-exchanges are constantly attacked by hackers. These are a tender part for hackers since it's much more difficult to track the stolen cryptocurrency as opposed to tracking fiat money transactions. At the same time, international experts report that the amount of successful hacker attacks on crypto-exchanges has increased by 350%. It's interesting to note that it took hackers a couple of hours to stela the money while the exchange's security staff found the vulnerability only a couple of days later. Even the firm hired to track the money failed to do so. The only thing that they managed to find out is that the hack attack was made through the PC owned by a Zaif employee. The incident resonanted strongly and escalated all the way up to the Japanese government, which instantly suggested coming up with a set of measures to toughen the governmental control over the cryptocurrency industry. If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Marathon 2021 Runners of all racing stripes took part in the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon on November 7. Racing categories in this, the largest marathon... Mount Sinai Queens Opening New Infusion Center The last week of October was marked by an expansion of health care capacity in the borough, as Mount Sinai Queens celebrated the opening of... The Unofficial Election Results The unofficial election results from the general election on November 2, 2021, with well over 90% of scanners reported: MAYOR: Eric Adams (D) decisively... Egypt's interior ministry said in a statement on Monday that police had killed nine terrorists near the Assiut-Sohag desert highway. The statement said that the police forces foiled hostile operations that a group of terrorists was planning to carry out. The suspects were located in a cave in an area off the highway, in the province of El-Ghanayem. The ministry said they possessed weapons and explosives, and were planning to carry out hostile operations targeting vital institutions. The interior ministry added it coordinated with the supreme state security prosecution to raid the cave. A shoot-out between police forces and the terrorists took place, leaving nine of the terrorists dead, the ministry said. The forces also found weapons, ammunition, explosive devices, and some planning papers. Search Keywords: Short link: Ex-Makhachkala mayor gets 4 years in prison for abuse of office RIA Novosti, Sergey Rasulov 12:45 15/10/2018 MOSCOW, October 15 (RAPSI) A court in Makhachkala has sentenced the former mayor of Dagestans capital Musa Musayev to 4 years in prison for abuse of office resulting in grave consequences, the Investigative Committees press service reports. In early October, prosecutors demanded a 5-year prison term for Musayev. According to investigation, in March 2016, the defendant transferred a municipal land plot with an area of about 17,500 square meters to the Construction and Industrial Joint-Stock Complex for more than 1.1 million rubles ($17,000). The cadastral value of this plot was over 45 million rubles (over $685,000). Musayev has violated legally protected interests of the state and caused damage to the budget of Republic of Dagestan estimated at around 44 million rubles, the investigators statement reads. Investigation into alleged Musayevs accomplice Kurban Kurbanov is almost completed. Investigators also found that Musayev illegally signed an order on the sale of a building in Makhachkala in the cadastral value of over 3 million rubles ($46,000) for 103,000 rubles ($1,600). In December 2016, he also signed a decree on free granting another land plot without legal basis for free acquisition of the plot. Moreover, he abused his authority by signing an order on allocation of several other land plots with no tendering process, according to investigation. Therefore, the local budget failed to receive over 48 million rubles (over 730,000), the Investigative Committees statement reads. Moscow court refuses to return Total CEO plane crash case to prosecutors RIA Novosti, Valery Melnikov 13:25 15/10/2018 MOSCOW, October 15 (RAPSI) Moscows Solntsevsky District Court has dismissed a defense motion to return a criminal case concerning Total CEO Cristophe de Maergeries lethal airplane crash in Vnukovo airport in 2014 to prosecutors, the courts spokesperson Georgy Yengibarov has told RAPSI. The court has scheduled consideration of the case on the merits for October 29. The case against airport flight manager Roman Dunayev and air traffic controllers Alexander Kruglov and Nadezhda Arkhipova was severed, and in 2017, the court returned it to prosecutors to fix the problems related to enforcement of the right to defense of Dunayev and Arkhipova. Their attorneys Leonid Kurakin and Valentin Kolesnikov were recused as they earlier represented the interests of witnesses in the case. In July 2017, snow plow driver Vladimir Martynenko and Vnukovo lead airfield service engineer Vladimir Ledenev, who had earlier pleaded guilty and signed a plea bargain, were sentenced to 4 and 3.5 years in penal colony respectively and were immediately pardoned as part of the broad amnesty program on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II. Martynenko and Ledenev were charged with violation of traffic safety rules resulted in the death of two or more persons. The widow of Total CEO Cristophe de Maergerie, relatives of the deceased flight crew members, Vnukovo airport and Unijet air carrier have been recognized as victims in the case. Christophe de Margerie died in a plane crash at Vnukovo airport on October 21, 2014, when his planes wing hit a snow plow. Among the victims were three crew members, all French citizens. On October 25, 2016, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) published its final report on the investigation into the death of de Margerie. The reports authors listed several factors, which, when combined, may have resulted in the plane crash. Among potential causes of the crash are: violation of regulations over control of alcohol use by drivers of special equipment, absence of equipment for listening to traffic controllers in snow plow machines, inefficient organization of work with subsystem of observation and control of airfield, no measures taken by the planes crew to prevent takeoff after receiving information about machine that intersects a road. Second sentence of Vostochny Cosmodrome embezzlement case convict vacated RIA Novosti, Igor Ageenko 17:15 15/10/2018 MOSCOW, October 15 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court on Monday overturned a second sentence given to engineer Sergey Ostrovsky, who had been convicted on two separate occasions of multimillion embezzlement during the Vostochny Cosmodrome construction in Russia's Far East, his attorney Vasily Khramov told RAPSI. The case has been remitted for fresh consideration, the lawyer added. Moscows Gagarinsky District Court sentenced ex-Chief Engineer of the State Design Institute for Special Construction Ostrovsky, who earlier received a 5-year term for embezzlement during the Vostochny Cosmodrome construction, to another 7 years in prison and fined him 1 million rubles ($15,300 at the current exchange rate). According to investigators, one of the Cosmodromes buildings was not constructed and put in commission in time due to his fault. Vacating of the judgment may result in Ostrovskys release from detention as the defense lawyers are going to motion for recalculation of a term he spent in jail after the first sentence was delivered, Khramov said. Up to date, the engineer is being held in detention for nigh on 4 years, the attorney added. In June 2016, the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Ostrovsky to 5 years in prison and fined him 800,000 rubles (over $12,000) for embezzling over 14.5 million rubles ($221,500) allocated for the construction of the Cosmodrome. Moreover, the court upheld seizure of interests in the apartments, several land plots in the Kaluga region, Land Cruiser owned by the engineer, over 36 million rubles ($550,000) and foreign currency accounts. Prosecution asked the court to give him a 7-year prison sentence and fine him 1 million rubles. Ostrovsky pleaded not guilty and motioned for acquittal. The construction of the space center, due to become Russia's main launch site, began in 2012. The first launch vehicle operation was carried out on April 28, 2016. 'Indian and Iranian sources both confirmed to me that India and Iran are moving ahead to implement a payment system on buying oil from Iran and hope to finalise it very soon,' says Aveek Sen. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a speech delivered at Tehran University to mark the beginning of the new academic year, said the Trump administration wants to bring about a 'regime change' in Iran using the tool of economic war. Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri downplayed the possible future impact of US sanctions that will roll out on November 4. Much before the US's November sanctions, Jahangiri sai ,some clients had stopped buying Iran's oil, but Tehran had still found new buyers for its crude oil. In a hint at India (and China among others), Jahangiri said Iran is in talks with 'its traditional partners' to find ways to bypass US sanctions. Who these traditional buyers of Iran's oil are will be clear after the implementation of US sanctions in November, Jahangiri added. 'America will certainly not be able to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero,' Jahangiri declared, adding, 'America thinks Saudi Arabia can replace this oil. But right now Iran's oil has reached more than $80 and with half the previous exports we will have the same income as before.' The Trump administration has called on all buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero. However, analysts in India feel that what the US wants is only a reduction in Indian oil imports from Iran. Indian government owned oil companies don't seem likely to halt their imports as India only recognises United Nations backed sanctions. Moreover, it isn't technically feasible for oil importers to implement the sanctions within a few months of the US announcement. However, private sector oil companies, due to their exposure to the US financial system, have cut down imports drastically -- and that is what the US desired and not actual zero oil imports from Iran. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated last month that Washington would consider waivers on the embargo, adding that these waivers would be time-limited, if granted. The recent OPEC discussion with Saudi Arabia and Russia over a production increase (which also created some discomfort in Iran over Russia's stance), also signals that notwithstanding US demands, it can't dent Iran's crude oil sales by any significant scale. Last week, oil prices rose to a four-year high with Brent crude crossing $86 per barrel. Iran is India's third-largest supplier of crude oil, after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. According to the Press Trust of India, Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi will brainstorm with chief executives of Indian oil companies on the emerging energy scenario, with the ripples from US sanctions on Iran and volatile oil prices threatening India's growth. "I think Iran will turn again to the east. Not only will our trade with India, China grow, but we'll see significant growth in our trade with South East Asian countries such as Indonesia," Mojtaba Mousavi, editor, Iran's View, an Iran-based Web site covering Iran's domestic and international affairs, told me. "Iran-India cooperation during the last round of US sanctions were fruitful," Mousavi added, "though some problems were experienced. For example, India forced Iran to barter oil for certain Indian goods, none of which was needed in Iran." "On the other hand," Mousavi pointed out, "ndia's slow progress and reluctance to fast-track the development of Chabahar port were used as a ruse by pro-Western elements in Iran to force the system to go with the Europeans after JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or Iran's nuclear deal with the West struck by the Obama administration)." "With regard to India," Mousavi said, "I believe Iran missed the opportunity after the JCPOA to prepare the ground for easier cooperation with its traditional partners. For example, if we had established a currency swap with India along the lines of what was done with Turkey, we would have had better days now." "Thanks to the currency swap agreement with Turkey," Mousavi pointed out, "all of our trade will be based on the rial and lira, no dollars will be involved, and it will be immune from US banking sanctions. Russia and Turkey also went for a similar solution to confront US sanctions." Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that two State refiners have placed orders to import crude oil from Iran in November. New Delhi did not know if it will receive a waiver from US sanctions, Pradhan said, adding that the government is considering evolving a different payment system to import Iran's oil. It could pay using Indian rupees in an attempt to dump the US dollar. Indian Oil and Mangalore Refinery have contracted to import 1.25 million tonnes of Iranian oil in November, the month when US sanctions against Iran's oil sector kick in. Indian Oil, newspaper reports said, will importing the 'usual' monthly volume of oil from Iran. It had planned to import 9 million tonnes of Iranian oil in the 2018-2019 fiscal (April 2018 to March 2019) or 0.75 million tonnes a month. 'Some of our companies have already nominated their quota for November,' Pradhan was quoted as saying. 'We expect the global leaders will understand our requirements.' This is in line with how Indian observers see the US sanctions, not as a blanket ban. In the coming weeks, it will be clear what the US actually means by zero oil imports from Iran. My sources tell me a favourable waiver from the US is expected. Indian and Iranian sources both confirmed to me that India and Iran are moving ahead to implement a payment system on buying oil from Iran and hope to finalise it very soon. Photograph: Reuters Don't forget to ask for quarterly audited statement of transactions in your account. This will make it easier for you to calculate your tax liability and pay it on time, say Tinesh Bhasin. When investing in a portfolio management service (PMS), don't just look at the returns and performance of its schemes. Make sure that the PMS provider also gives out quarterly audited (or even unaudited/provisional) statements of the transactions in your account, to help you pay the right amount of tax and on time. Helping a client prepare her income tax return turned out to be more time-consuming than Kolkata-based investment advisor Malhar Majumder had expected it to be. Majumder had to go back and forth with his client's PMS provider to get details of transactions and audited reports. The taxation of PMS is similar to that of an individual buying and selling shares. But as the broker trades on behalf of the client in PMS, it needs to provide details of each transaction. "The client had invested in PMS from one of the country's biggest brokers. But it was still a hassle getting the required information. At first, the client's PMS operator didn't send the audited statement. When they sent it a few weeks later, the report didnt have the buying and selling price," says Majumder. Also, after the introduction of long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax this year, some investors will now need to start paying quarterly advance tax once their portfolio gains cross Rs 100,000. If you don't pay advance tax, you will have to pay interest on the outstanding tax. If your PMS doesn't give out quarterly audited reports, you will need to hire a chartered accountant to prepare it, paying from your own pocket. In such a scenario, it's better to shift to a PMS with better processes than sticking with your existing one. Investment advisors point out that many PMS providers don't voluntarily send audited statements to the clients unless asked. Only a few PMS send an annual audited report mentioning the taxation for each transaction. In the absence of an audited report detailing taxation, it entirely becomes the client's liability to track each transaction. "If the PMS doesn't send the report in the specific format needed for tax filing, the individual will need to segregate each transaction and check the taxation it will attract," says Arvind Rao, founder, Arvind Rao & Associates. It means the client or his chartered accountant will need to go through each contract note, note the details, calculate the gains or losses, and then evaluate the taxation it will attract. There could be times clients have not received contract notes and other documents related to the transaction, which can make the exercise cumbersome. "The PMS must give the audited account and profit and loss statement and unaudited or provisional statement every quarter," says Majumder. "When an individual gives money to a fund manager, it is the PMS's responsibility to carry out the administrative work, and this is part of the fee it charges," points out Majumder. There are two forms of PMS in the country -- discretionary and non-discretionary. In the more popular form -- discretionary -- the portfolio manager individually and independently manages the funds of each client in accordance with her needs. In the non-discretionary portfolio, clients give the directions to the fund manager. Investment advisors and chartered accountants say that in both the cases, the PMS has to comply with administrative work. Earlier, long-term capital gains didn't attract tax. An investor had to only look out for short-term capital gains or losses. Now, with the introduction of long-term capital gains tax on equities, there are more chances that investors will need to pay advance tax once the gains cross Rs 100,000 threshold. If an investor fails to pay advance tax, he will need to pay interest on the outstanding tax at 1 per cent simple interest for every month of delay. If he fails to pay 90 per cent of the tax that he is liable for by March 15, theres another 1 per cent penalty from April. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com Kochhar has been issued a showcause notice by the regulator for alleged violation of the code of conduct. ICICI Banks former managing director and chief executive officer (MD and CEO), Chanda Kochhar, has sought more time to appear before the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for a personal hearing, said a source in the know. Kochhar has been issued a showcause notice by the regulator for alleged violation of the code of conduct. The issue is not disclosing a potential conflict of interest arising out of business dealings between ICICI when she was its MD, Videocon Industries and her husband, Deepak Kochhars Nupower Renewables. The coming Tuesday had been set as the final date for personal hearing, cross-questioning and recording of her statement. (Her) representative has informed Sebis adjudicating officer, who is probing the case, that she would not be able to keep Tuesdays date and has sought a months time, said a source. Adding: Regulatory officials are mulling the options and studying the reasons cited for the extension by Kochhar. A text message sent to Kochhar on Friday did not elicit a response. Kochhar had, on October 4, opted for early retirement from the bank. The resignation offer was accepted with immediate effect and Sandeep Bakhshi named as her successor the same day. Earlier, on June 18, Kochhar was asked to go on leave until an independent enquiry to probe this and related cases of impropriety were concluded. Bakhshi was named the interim head. Kochhar's exit came before the completion of the four months of leave she had been granted. Under the law, a bank cannot operate with an interim chief for more than four months. For Kochhar to have returned as chief, the probe would had to be completed before October 17. It appears the enquiry, by former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna, would take one more month. According to the sources, Kochhar and her legal representative are awaiting the Srikrishna panel's report before the Sebi appearance. Srikrishna is looking into all the allegations against Kochhar, including the assets she owned and the links between assets acquired and the loan being sanctioned to Videocon Industries. The panel is likely to also call Kochhar to hear her, said another person. Sebi had issued its showcause notice on May 23, based on a preliminary enquiry. It has said there was potential conflict of interest in the transactions between ICICI and the Videocon group. By not disclosing the details of her husband's dealings with Videocon, she had not complied with the provisions of the listing agreement (with the stock exchanges). Therefore, proceedings were initiated by Sebi against both the bank and her. Kochhar had replied to Sebi, debying all the charges on breach of the code of conduct. She had claimed all the requisite disclosures were adhered to by her, in line with the code of conduct of the bank, mandated for the top management and senior employees. The CBI and the income tax department are also probing the alleged lapses involving Kochhar and her family members. CBI registered a preliminary enquiry around seven months earlier but is yet to convert this into a formal First Information Report (police case, in common parlance). The tax authorities are awaiting information about Nupower Renewables related entities from its foreign counterparts at Singapore and Mauritius. Photograph: PTI Photo The bank has hired US-based advisory firm Korn Ferry to help with the selection process. Private lender YES Bank is expected to complete the selection process to replace Rana Kapoor as managing director and chief executive officer in another two months. December 15 is a cut-off that the bank has set for itself, a source in the know said. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants adequate time to vet YES Banks choice of Kapoors successor, before the new chief can take charge on February 1, 2019. In order to comply with the timeline, the bank plans to send its preferences to RBI for approval around mid-December. Kapoors tenure was cut short by an order issued by RBI recently. Kapoor will be in office till January 31, 2019. The bank has hired US-based advisory firm Korn Ferry to help with the selection process. A committee has been set up with three internal and two external members to search for suitable candidates. A wide range of candidates will be considered from outside the organisation. From inside, one of the likely contenders is Rajat Monga, said the source quoted above. Monga is senior group president at YES Bank. The possibility of an external candidate being chosen as Kapoors successor is quite high, another source pointed out. RBI would have the final say, he added. The bank will have to send a minimum of three names for the position to RBI for approval, Monga had told analysts earlier this month. Also, the options sent to the regulator would be a combination of internal and external candidates, he had said. While the bank sought an extension of Kapoors term, there has been no communication on the same from RBI, the source quoted earlier said. The request for Kapoors extension had led to the bank being accused of not having a proper succession plan in place. Earlier this month, Monga had said it was still not decided whether Kapoor would continue on the board of directors or not. A source said the board was yet to discuss this; the long legal battle between the promoters had to be sorted first and negotiations for doing so were on between the promoters. Kapoor and his late brother-in-law, Ashok Kapur, along with Rabo Bank, had floated YES Bank in 2004. Ashok Kapur died in 2008. Rana Kapoor and his family together owned 10.64 per cent of the banks equity, as of last month. Ashok Kapurs wife, Madhu Kapur, owns 9.27 per cent. Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters The airline has failed to address fliers fears and has been opaque about the allegations of tax and financial fraud, giving rise to apprehension that Jet may be headed the Kingfisher way. What should have been a year of celebrations is fast turning into an existential crisis for the countrys oldest surviving private airline brand. Passengers worry about their safety on board and employees about their next pay cheque. And, as Jet Airways ties itself up in a tangle of violations, from operational and financial irregularities to safety breaches, the brand is taking a hit. The Naresh Goyal-owned-airline in which Etihad Airways owns 24 per cent stake celebrated its silver jubilee in May this year, a rare feat for a private Indian airline. Yet within weeks of the celebration Jet Airways announced salary cuts and delays, deferred its annual financial results and was suspected of tax evasions. In September, it delayed payments to pilots and senior management. The crisis has been compounded by a recent mid-air disaster when Jets passengers found themselves bleeding because the airline crew had failed to follow a regular safety procedure. The string of unfortunate events have overshadowed the fact that the airline continues to fly all its routes and has inducted the new Boeing 737 Max planes and is on course to launch its service to Manchester in November. Expectedly, so say brand experts, given that the airline has failed to address fliers fears and has been opaque about the allegations of tax and financial fraud. Naturally, there is a growing apprehension that Jet Airways may be headed the Kingfisher way. On social media, usually a barometer of brand health in the present age, the airline has been lampooned and trashed. In a recent meme that went viral, the image of Jet Airways bleeding passengers filing out of the aircraft was labeled high cost and low pressure and juxtaposed with IndiGos infamous passenger assault last year (low cost and high pressure). While the two incidents are not strictly comparable, on Twitter, they were both seen as symbols of how the brand had failed its consumers. How must Jet Airways restore faith in the brand? The airline after all has a long association with its customers, its frequent flyer programme has nearly 8.5 million members. First, say experts, Jet must come clean with fliers and second, motivate staff and keep them committed to the airline. Ambi Parameswaran, founder Brand-Building.com said, The key thing for Jet Airways is to ensure that its staff stay motivated. "A service brand is built and destroyed by its staff. Airlines have been turned around by empowering the front line staff. "If Jet can manage to keep its staff motivated, committed and ready to serve with a smile, as they have done for the last 20 plus years, I think they will be able to get out of the negative word of mouth. Consumers need to be reassured too. Jet needs to prove it is resilient by being transparent and open, said Shashank Nigam, CEO of Simpliflying, an aviation brand strategy firm who believes that the airlines assurances of business as usual could do more harm than good. When a brand communicates openly, it inspires trust. When it does not, it breeds doubt, Nigam added. Since July, Jet Airways has cut top management salaries by 5-25 per cent. It also decided to pay its August salary to pilots, engineers and top management in two instalments. But rising costs and depressed fares are clearly taking a toll. It has paid only 75 per cent of the August salary. The company is committed to honour its obligations and shall make every effort to release the remainder by October 9, Jet's chief people officer Rahul Taneja wrote last week. The airline did not respond to queries sent for the story. Apart from salary cuts the airline is also implementing Rs 2,000 crore worth of cost-saving measures. It also announced a buy-on-board meal option for passengers opting for low fares and is mulling restrictions on frequent flyer benefits. Jet Airways could follow the lead of US carriers. After being hit by the slowdown the carriers did not fight competition on price alone. "But to retain customers they tweaked their loyalty programmes. They cut back on amenities to less frequent passengers but expanded loyalty benefits for frequent flyers, said Devesh Agarwal, who runs a popular aviation blog called Bangalore Aviation. He says that there are plenty of options for Jet Airways as long as the airline is willing to find a way out of the crisis. Ashish Mishra, managing director of Interbrand India says in a tough operating environment, full service airlines such as Jet face challenges and their legacy model makes it difficult for them to manage customer preferences as well as margins. The solution perhaps lies in turning to a leaner business model and thus become more competitive. A new narrative backed by the business interventions and changes, enthusing and engaging internal stakeholders and fearlessly engaging the world are steps that may help. "They need to convey a new positive narrative otherwise bad news has a habit of traveling faster, Mishra said. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters The Central Bureau of Investigation has finally closed the case of missing Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmad as the agency's efforts to trace him have yielded no results, officials said on Monday. The agency has submitted his report in Patiala House court recently after getting permission of the Delhi high court, they said. The court is likely to hear the matter on November 29, they said. While taking permission of the Delhi high court to close the case, the agency which began their probe in May last year had said all aspects were looked into but it could not find any trace of an offence. Najeeb Ahmad had gone missing from the Mahi-Mandvi hostel of the JNU in New Delhi on October 15, 2016, following a scuffle the previous night with some students allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The agency had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone giving information about Najeeb and informed police chiefs of all state police in the country, they said. It also received some inputs from Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi where teams were immediately dispatched but to no avail, the officials said. The agency had carried out a thorough check on unidentified bodies and pasted Najeeb's photograph on toll stations seeking information about him but these efforts did not result in any positive results, they said. After exhaustive search, the agency has decided to close the case, they added. Four persons have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a television journalist near his house in south Mumbai, police said on Monday. The accused, all Mumbai residents aged between 20 and 25 years, were nabbed late on Sunday night from Tardeo area, a senior police official said. Herman Gomes, working with a private TV channel, was returning home along with a friend in a taxi on Sunday when he saw four to six men waiting near his house in Gamdevi area. The men started abusing Gomes and later allegedly assaulted him and also hit his friend, as per the victim. Gomes was injured in the attack and later received six stitches near his eyes. Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone-II) Dnyaneshwar Chavan, said prima facie it appears the incident might have taken place in the heat of the moment following some argument. "However, we are trying to go into the depth of the matter," he said, adding, the accused do not have any criminal background. Based on Gomes' complaint, the Gamdevi Police had registered a case under Indian Penal Code sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 324 (voluntary causing hurt by dangerous weapons) and other relevant provisions. Journalists' associations in the city had on Sunday condemned the attack and alleged that police did not file the victim's complaint promptly. The Mumbai Press Club termed the attack on Gomes a 'dastardly act'. An association of crime reporters in the city have urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action against police officers who allegedly delayed registration of the first information report in the matter. Minister of State for Home (urban), Ranjit Patil had later said an investigation was on into the incident and 'correct steps will be taken in the direction'. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has kicked up a row with remarks that no "good" Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else's place of worship, drawing stinging criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party which dubbed his party and its chief Rahul Gandhi "anti-Hindu". Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, made the comments at an event in Chennai on Sunday. "As a Hindu, obviously, I am conscious that a vast majority of my fellow Hindus believe that that was the specific birthplace of Ram. "For this reason, most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted that a temple be built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," he said. The BJP hit back at Tharoor over his remarks, with the party's national spokesman Sambit Patra saying they "exposed" the real face of Rahul Gandhi. "Rahul Gandhi's real face stands exposed," Patra told a TV news channel, criticising Tharoor's comments. He made a reference to the Congress president's frequent visits to temples in election-bound states. He said while Gandhi "does fancy dress shows" by visiting Hindu temples, a leader of his party makes such comments. "These remarks completely expose the Congress....Rahul Gandhi. They are anti-Hindu," he said. Tharoor insisted his comments were personal and not those of his party. His remarks, Tharoor insisted, were distorted out of malice. "I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for @incindia," he tweeted. "I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Rams birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying anothers place of worship." Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said Tharoor was trying to "arrogate" to himself spiritual powers and that he has his "lost balance". "He is no authority on Hindu. He has led a life which has nothing to do with Hinduism. He is arrogating to himself spiritual powers or powers of religious authority. He has lost his balance," Swamy said. Tharoor had sparked off a controversy in July with comments that if the BJP was voted to power again, it will rewrite the Constitution that will eventually create a "Hindu Pakistan". At an event in Thiruvanthapuram, Tharoor said, "If they are able to win a repeat of their current strength in the Lok Sabha then, frankly, our own democratic Constitution, as we understand [it], will not survive... because then they will have all the three elements they need to tear up the Constitution of India and write a new one." "And that will enshrine the principle of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, and that will create a Hindu Pakistan...and that is not what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for," he noted. The Congress had distanced itself from Tharoor's comments. In its first comments on the sexual harassment allegations against Akbar, the BJP said the minister has given his version on the row and that it is not about whether the party agrees or disagrees with him. IMAGE: Union Minister M J Akbar leaves the ministry of external affairs at South Block, in New Delhi on Monday, October 15, 2018. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo Union minister M J Akbar on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint in a court in Delhi against journalist Priya Ramani, who has accused him of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago, alleging she "wilfully" and "maliciously" made imputations against him with the ulterior motive of maligning his reputation and political standing. The minister of state for external affairs filed the plea in the Patiala House district courts through law firm Karanjawala & Co and the 'vakalatnama' names 97 lawyers, who have been authorised by Akbar to represent him. "The accused (Ramani) has made false, derogatory and malicious imputations against the complainant (Akbar), in order to defame him, with the sole ulterior motive of maligning the reputation and political standing of the complainant, in furtherance of her own vested interests and underlying agenda," the BJP minister said in his complaint which sought her prosecution for the offence of defamation under the Indian Penal Code. Reacting to Akbar's step, Ramani said in a statement that she is ready to fight the defamation allegations. She alleged that "rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he (Akbar) seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment". Akbar's plea, which is likely to come up for hearing during the week, listed alleged defamatory imputations made by Ramani on social media and also referred to the "long and illustrious" career of Akbar as a journalist while terming the allegations of Ramani as a "figment of her imagination". "Whilst it is apparent that the accused has resorted to a series of maliciously serious allegations which she is diabolically and viciously spreading in media, it is also apparent that false narrative against the complainant (Akbar) is being circulated in a motivated manner for the fulfilment of an agenda," it alleged. It termed as "scandalous" the allegations made by Ramani against Akbar and said "very tone and tenor" are "ex-facie defamatory" and they have not only damaged his goodwill and reputation in his social circle but also affected Akbar's reputation in "the community, friends, family and colleagues" and caused "irreparable loss" and "tremendous distress". It claimed that the woman journalist, while putting forward the allegations relating to incidents which allegedly occurred 20 years ago, "intentionally put forward malicious, fabricated, and salacious imputations to harm the reputation of the complainant". "The conduct of the accused person, of not taking any action before any authority, qua the alleged incident against the complainant also clearly belies the sanctity of the article and allegations made by the accused person, which evidently goes on to prove that the said defamatory articles are only a figment of her imagination," it said. IMAGE: Akbar coming out of the MEA. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo The complaint, filed through advocate Sandeep Kapur, seeks issuance of notice and prosecution of Ramani under Section 499 (defamation) of the IPC. Section 500 of the IPC provides for the sentence for the offence of defamation and an accused may be awarded two-years jail term or fine or both in the event of conviction. Ramani said Akbar was seeking to "silence" the survivors through "intimidation and harassment". "I am deeply disappointed that a Union minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy," Ramani said in a statement. "By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," she added. "Needless to say, I am ready to fight the allegations of defamation laid against me as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence," Ramani said. She added that those who had spoken up against Akbar had done so at great risk to their personal and professional lives. "At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon victims. Rather than cast aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women," the journalist said. In its first comments on the sexual harassment allegations against Akbar, the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Monday that the minister has given his version on the row and that it is not about whether the party agrees or disagrees with him. BJP Spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao -- who is a member of the Ranya Sabha as is Akbar -- was asked at a press conference if the ruling party agrees with Akbar on his statement on the allegations levelled against him by several women. "It is not about agreeing or disagreeing. He has presented his version," Rao said. IMAGE: Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress members protest against M J Akbar in New Delhi. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo The minister had on Sunday rejected the allegations as 'false, fabricated and deeply distressing' and said he was taking appropriate legal action against his accusers. BJP leaders and spokespersons had maintained a studied silence on the issue amid an increasing demand for the minister to resign. Youth Congress activists on Monday staged a protest near Akbar's residence, demanding his 'immediate resignation'. 'The Indian Youth Congress is protesting against M J Akbar for his sexual misconduct and harassment of journalists. As many as 10 female journalists have come forward and detailed sexual harassment by him,' a statement issued by the outfit said. Akbar's name had cropped up in the social media campaign #Metoo against alleged sexual harassment when he was in Nigeria. Hours after returning from the Africa trip, Akbar had termed the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them. The women who accused Akbar of sexual harassment, included Ghazala Wahab, Shuma Raha, Anju Bharti and Shutapa Paul. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month, China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said on Monday. Luo was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats in New Delhi. He said the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration will deepen in future. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November, the Chinese envoy said. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year -- at the Shanaghai Cooperation Organisation summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. Luo also said China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. Donald Trump Monday spoke with the Saudi King Salman over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi and "immediately" dispatched his top diplomat to Riyadh to discuss the issue with the monarch who denied having any knowledge about the dissident who, the United States president believes, could have been a victim of "rogue killers." IMAGE: Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi . Photograph: Middle East Monitor/Handout via Reuters "I just spoke to the king of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of what took place with regard to, as he said, his Saudi Arabian citizen. I've asked, and he firmly denied that," Trump told reporters at the White House after talking with Salman over phone. Trump said he has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to immediately get on a plane, go to Saudi Arabia, go to other places if necessary, which he probably will, but with regards to this, go to Turkey if necessary. Khashoggi, a 60-year-old Saudi journalist who became increasingly critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to receive documents regarding his marriage. Turkish officials believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. "The King told me that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are working hand in hand, very closely, on getting to the bottom of what happened. So, we'll see what happens, but Mike Pompeo is leaving literally within an hour or so. He's heading to Saudi Arabia," said the US President. Asserting that the US is going to leave nothing uncovered, Trump reiterated that the Saudi King firmly denied any knowledge of it. "He did not really know, maybe, I do not want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows. We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon. But his was a flat denial," he said. "All I can do is report what he told me, and he told me in a very firm way that he had no knowledge of it. He said it very strongly," he said. Responding to a question, Trump said his administration is going to try getting to the bottom of it. "I can only tell you that his denial to me, it was just one very relatively fast phone call, probably lasted 20 minutes, his denial to me could have not been stronger, that he had no knowledge," he said. Trump said it sounded like the King and also the Crown Prince had no knowledge about Khashoggi, who was a regular columnist for the Washington Post. During the phone call, Trump said he underscored the importance of the issue. "I did say this is very important. The world is watching, the world is talking, this is very important to get to the bottom of it. And I think he understands that very well," he said. "He did say very strongly that he's dealing with Turkey, that they've come to an agreement that they're investigating it together and I think that's a good thing, Trump said. The State Department confirmed that Pompeo was travelling to Riyadh. "At the request of President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today. The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. Meanwhile, Turkish media reported that police started probing a claim that Khashoggi's body was dissolved using acid inside the Saudi consulate. "Police and the MIT (Turkey's National Intelligence Agency) are now probing this claim seriously. They are looking into whether the body of Khashoggi was dissolved using acid," Haberturk website's columnist Sevilay Yilman wrote Monday. In a statement on October 6, Turkish police had that 15 Saudis, including several officials, had arrived in Istanbul on two planes and entered the consulate while Khashoggi was inside. The group included a leading forensic expert, as well as Saudi intelligence officers and Royal Guards. Last week, Trump threatened Saudi Arabia with "severe punishment" if Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate. Saudi Arabia Sunday warned against any punitive measures, with the state-owned Al Arabiya television saying that the kingdom has "over 30 measures" it could implement. Britain, France and Germany also released a rare joint statement Sunday saying they were treating Khashoggi's disappearance "with the utmost seriousness". "There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and -- if relevant -- to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account," the statement said. 'We will meet each villager in Kerala and chalk out a massive agitation plan to protect the Sabarimala temple.' IMAGE: Ayyappa devotees protest against the Supreme Court's order allowing the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple in Ahmedabad, October 14, 2018. Photograph: Santosh Hirlekar/PTI Photo Thousands of Bharatiya Janata Party members on Monday marched to the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram to protest the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all age groups entry into the Sabarimala shrine. In another development, the Travancore Devaswom Board convened a meeting of various stakeholders of the shrine including the Tantri (head priest)'s family, the Pandalam royals and the Ayyappa Seva Sangam in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. The meeting, called to discuss the preparations of the three-month-long annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season starting from November 17, was also expected to discuss the recent apex court order. BJP activists, including a large number of women and children, marched to the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, chanting Lord Ayyappa hymns and holding garlanded pictures of the deity. The mammoth march, which started last week from Pandalam, was in protest against the state government's decision to implement the apex court order. The BJP has alleged that the attempt to implement the judgement was a 'conspiracy' to destroy the hillock shrine which lakhs of people from the country and abroad visit during the three-month pilgrim season beginning mid-November. Senior National Democratic Alliance leaders including actor-MP Suresh Gopi and Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena chief Thushar Vellappally were in the forefront of the march, which was led by state BJP president P S Sreedharan Pillai. If the state government failed to resolve the issue at the earliest, the agitation would take a new turn, Pillai warned. "We will meet each villager in Kerala and chalk out a massive agitation plan to protect the Sabarimala temple, its centuries-old traditions and the sentiments of Lord Ayyappa devotees," Pillai said. Claiming that the first phase of the Sabarimala stir was a major 'milestone,' the BJP said if the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala does not find a solution in the next 24 hours, the NDA would chalk out a 'massive' agitation plan to reach its goal. The Sabarimala temple, which opens on the evening of October 17, will shut on October 22 after the five-day monthly pooja during the Malayalam month of 'Thulam'. Kerala has witnessed a series of protests by various groups demanding that the sanctity of the Sabarimala temple rituals be protected. On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, lifted the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine. Egyptian and Russian paratroopers have arrived in Cairo on Monday in preparation for a joint military training exercise from 15 to 26 October, a statement by the Egyptian military read. The Protectors of Friendship 3 exercises includes exchanges of training experiences and training on special forces combat and on battling terrorism. The paratroopers' drills include the deployment of troops, equipment and vehicles, and the exchange of experiences. In October 2016, Protectors of Friendship 1 took place in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alamein. In 2017, the second training took place between the forces within the same framework in the Russian city of Novorossiysk. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Russia on Monday for a three-day official visit. Search Keywords: Short link: A school principal was hacked to death on Sunday by a six member gang in Bengaluru in front of 20 students, for whom he was holding a special class, police said. Ranganath, 60, principal of the Havanur Public School in suburban Agrahara Dasarahalli, was holding classes for 10th standard students when the gang barged into the classroom and hacked him to death, they said. They later fled in the car in which they came to the school, police said. One of the gang members was nabbed later from Mahalaxmi Layout area in Bengaluru, based on a tip-off. The man suffered a leg injury when police fired at him after he attacked them. He was later taken to a hospital and treated. Police suspect a land dispute relating to the school building to be the reason behind the killing. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday welcomed a general court martial verdict sentencing seven Army personnel, including a major general, to life imprisonment for a fake encounter 24 years ago and said it would strengthen people's faith in the judiciary and the Army. The court martial looked into the extra-judicial killing of five people after a unit of the Punjab Regiment picked them up along with four others from different places in Tinsukia between February 17-19 in 1994. Those found guilty are Major General A K Lal, Colonels Thomas Mathew and R S Sibiren and Junior Commissioned Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers Dilip Singh, Jagdeo Singh, Albindar Singh and Shivendar Singh. "It is a welcome judgment. The judgment will strengthen people's faith in judiciary and the Army," Sonowal told PTI. He said the verdict, which was delivered on Saturday, will be a deterrent to people in authority not to engage in unlawful acts and to behave responsibly and in a fair manner. The verdict will give solace to the families of the victims, who were innocent students and youths, the chief minister added. The summary general court martial, held at the 2 Infantry Mountain Division at Dinjan in Dibrugarh district of Assam, held the seven army personnel guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Sonowal said the judgment is a reflection of India's democratic values where human rights and fairness are respected. "The Army has also worked in a fair manner without any prejudice," he said. During the 1994 fake encounter at Dangori in Tinsukia district of Assam, Sonowal was president of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and had sought an impartial probe into the case. "The long wait of the families for justice has come to an end and I hope the higher authorities will uphold the judgment," he said. "Justice has been given at last and we welcome it," added AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath. The verdict will have to be confirmed by the 'higher competent authorities' like the Eastern Command in Kolkata and Army Headquarters in New Delhi. The Army men can file appeals against the verdict before the armed forces tribunal and the Supreme Court. The Army detained the group of nine at the Dhola Army camp after the general manager of Assam Frontier Tea Limited at Talap Tea Estate, Rameswar Singh, was killed by United Liberation Front of Assam terrorists. Five of them were later killed in the infamous Dangori fake encounter case on February 23, 1994. They were Prabin Sonowal, Pradip Dutta, Debajit Biswas, Akhil Sonowal and Bhaben Moran. "We are happy that we and the family members of our five victims are victorious in our legal battle. We believe in democracy and welcome the verdict. "We thank the legal system for giving justice," Nath told PTI. There can be no compensation for the loss of the families of the AASU members but they have finally got justice, he added. "Many innocent people, including young men and women, lost their lives in Army operations in Assam," the leader of the influential students organisation claimed. AASU general secretary Luringjyoti Gogoi said the government should give a government job to a member of each of the five families. "As Chief Minister Sarbananda Snowal was then AASU leader and then AASU leader Jagadish Bhuyan, who had filed a case against the fake encounter, is now an MLA, it is their responsibility to take the initiative to rehabilitate the five families by giving a government job to a member of each victim family," he said. The AASU leaders were taken to Dholla Army Camp where they were detained following the killing of Assam Frontier Tea Limited general manager Rameswar Singh at the Talap Tea Estate by ULFA exremists, said a family member of one of those who were killed. He did not want to be identified. Bhuyan had filed a habeas corpus in Gauhati high court which had ordered the Army to produce the nine AASU leaders at the nearest police station on February 21, 1994, he said. According to the case history, the Army produced five bodies on February 22 at the Dholla Police Station, which refused to accept the bodies, while the remaining four were released in different locations. Huge protests erupted across the state after the incident with AASU demanding justice for its leaders. Image only for representation. 'Yogiji has neither been successful in reducing crime in the state nor has he been able to make the people feel that they are safe,' says one UP minister. Aditi Phadnis reports. IMAGE: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht also known as Yogi Adityanath. Photograph: Kind courtesy Yogi Adityanath/Facebook When Yogi Adityanath became chief minister after the Bharatiya Janata Party's spectacular performance in Uttar Pradesh, rather than infrastructure development or invitation to investors to set up shop in the state, his first announcement was a loan waiver for farmers; and his intention to put law and order back on the rails. He may have achieved his first objective. But his own ministers say the record of the government on the law and order front is disgraceful. The recent killing of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari in Lucknow by two police constables is a case in point. The story is gruesome enough to turn anyone's stomach. The constables shot Tiwari when they allegedly ordered his car to stop and he did not. (It was 3 am. We still don't know exactly what went down.) It happened in the upscale Gomti Nagar residential suburb of UP, not somewhere in the boondocks. Granted that Minister for Backward Class Welfare and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Om Prakash Rajbhar is only an alliance partner (he represents the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party). But his statement that the government is protecting a police force that routinely extorts money from citizens, and that law and order is a joke in UP, needs to be given some consideration. 'Yogiji has neither been successful in reducing crime in the state nor has he been able to make the people feel that they are safe,' Rajbhar said. The chief minister ordered the dismissal of the constables but astonishingly because 'this was not an encounter' -- as if it is okay to kill people in encounters while they are walking the streets and going about their business. This is not the first instance. In one case in September, the police invited media houses to witness a 'live' encounter in which two youths, Mustaqeem and Naushad, were shot dead by the police at Harduaganj in Aligarh. The BJP brags that 'criminals' are coming to police stations in droves to confess and accept punishment rather than be killed in encounters. Whatever happened to rule of law, chain of evidence, trials, appeals and all the other pesky paraphernalia because of which India is known as a genuinely democratic, law-abiding country? As analysts have pointed out, Adityanath -- for want of imagination or worse -- has pretty much adopted the same tactics used by his predecessors to discipline UP. The criminal-governance nexus in UP is probably the worst among all Indian states. This is a historical problem. So when chief ministers have tried to break this by empowering the police, the force has interpreted this as a virtual carte blanche to aim, shoot and kill. In 1982, V P Singh resigned when his attempts to 'discipline' dacoits led to the murder of his brother. Civil society had to hang its head in shame when UP's Provincial Armed Constabulary entered Muslim areas in Hashimpura, Meerut and Maliana, took Muslim youth in custody (on the grounds that they found scissors and knives in their homes -- which was the ancestral trade of the families in those localities), took them to the Ganga canal, shot them point blank and flung their bodies in the canal. This is not all. In the past, the state police has intervened to take out leaders of gangs at the instance of rivals (who have been politicians in some cases) and has opted not to take action against certain gangs, again at the instance of politicians. How can anyone condone this? Why must UP swing from one end of the pendulum to another -- from complete somnolence of the police to the law enforcing body itself becoming a killing machine? Here's the thing: Ordinary people who are watching all this will react if the political leadership intervenes only to the advantage of some people and not others. In June, the BJP lost the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly elections as the Opposition got together and pledged that among other things, it would review the immunity the police seemed to enjoy. The BJP also suffered reverses in Gorakhpur and Phulpur earlier. Yogi Adityanath should heed the counsel of his ministers. It is one thing to be a decisive chief minister. But it is also important to be a balanced and a wise chief minister. Suicide attack killing dozens at prayer in Afghan mosque 'may amount to war crimes,' says top UN official Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 3 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Suicide attack killing dozens at prayer in Afghan mosque 'may amount to war crimes,' says top UN official, 3 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc494f36.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 3 August 2018 A suicide attack that took place inside a Shia mosque in Afghanistan during Friday prayers, killing 48 and injuring more than 70, has been condemned by the head of the UN Mission in the country who said it "may amount to war crimes." The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) denounced the attack in Gardez city, about 50 miles south of Kabul, when two suicide bombers detonated their explosive vests. "This attack targeting civilians has no possible justification," said UNAMA chief, Tadamichi Yamamoto, who also serves as the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan. "Those who are responsible for enabling this attack must be brought to justice and held to account." According to news reports, the Taliban has denied any links to the attack and there was no immediate claim of responsibility, but militants linked to the ISIL terrorist group, also known as Da'esh, have carried out similar attacks against Shiites in the past. "These brutal and senseless attacks against people at prayer are atrocities," said Mr. Yamamoto. International humanitarian law prohibits deliberate attacks against civilians and civilian property, including places of worship. It also commits warring parties to allow religious leaders to serve their communities without fear of attack. "Such attacks directed against congregations and places of worship are serious violations of international law that may amount to war crimes," he stressed. UNAMA expressed its condolences to the loved ones of those killed and wished the injured a full and speedy recovery. The latest terrorist assault comes on the heels of a suicide attack and hostage-taking at a government building on Wednesday, in the eastern city of Jalalabad. According to mid-July figures from UNAMA, 1,692 civilians had been killed and another 3,430 injured in the first six months of the year. This sets a record high for the first six months of any year, despite an unprecedented days-long ceasefire between the Government and Taliban extremists in mid-June. Terrorism is "criminal and unjustifiable" The Security Council also issued a statement condemning "in the strongest terms, the heinous and cowardly terrorist attacks" that took place over the past week. They expressed their deepest sympathy to the victim's families and the Afghan Government, and wished those injured a full and speedy recovery. The Council reaffirmed that "terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security." Stressing the need that "perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism" be held accountable and brought to justice, they urged all States, "in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of Afghanistan and all other relevant authorities in this regard." The Council reiterated that "any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed." Finally, they reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the UN Charter and other obligations under international law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. Link to original story on UN News website South Sudan peace deal a 'big step forward': UN mission chief Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 6 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, South Sudan peace deal a 'big step forward': UN mission chief, 6 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc494f5a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 6 August 2018 There was jubilation in the streets of South Sudan's capital overnight on Sunday, as residents celebrated a new agreement that the top UN official in the country has described as "a big step forward" towards ending nearly five years of brutal conflict. President Salva Kiir together with his chief rival and former deputy, Riek Machar, signed the deal on Sunday in neighbouring Sudan, alongside members of other opposition factions. David Shearer, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), explained that it centres on the issue of governance, with Mr. Kiir retaining his position while Mr. Machar will be named the first of five vice-presidents. "The deal is a big step forward in terms of bringing peace in South Sudan," he told UN News, speaking from the capital, Juba, on Monday. "What it has as yet to do and the negotiations are ongoing is how are they going to organize the security on the ground for all of those people, and how is the army going to be reformed: how are they going to bring the fighting groups into the same army?" He said that there were "a host of other issues" to be resolved, such as future and economic humanitarian policies and programmes. "So, it's very much a starting point but it's a starting point which I think a lot of us didn't think we would see perhaps two months ago." At just seven years old, South Sudan is the world's youngest nation. However, a December 2013 political impasse between the two rivals, plunged the country into deadly conflict. Tens of thousands have been killed while more than 4 million have been displaced, some 2 million of whom have fled to neighbouring States. Mr. Shearer pointed out that the negotiations in Khartoum were led by Sudan and Uganda: two countries he described as having "the greatest to gain and to lose", depending on what happens in South Sudan. Previous peace talks were spearheaded by the East African regional body, IGAD the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Asked about the prospects for this latest deal, the UN mission chief sided with the optimism expressed by citizens in the capital, including nearly 40,000 displaced people at a UN protection camp near his home who were "partying" on Sunday night. "Our job in the UN is to be as supportive as we possibly can to this agreement," he stated. "There's only one agreement on the table. It's this one. And we've got to try and make this work," he added. Link to original story on UN News website The United Kingdom announced a 12 million GBP to support education reform in Egypt through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the British embassy said on Monday. In a press release, the UK Embassy in Cairo said the UK fund will include support for teacher training, through the ministrys flagship education programme, and support childrens education in governorates across the country. I am proud that once again the UK is at the forefront of supporting Egypts development and growth. This fund sends a global message of support to the future generations of this country and will help the Egyptian government turn its education reform vision into a reality," Middle East Minister Hon Alistair Burt, said. The British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams said an investment in Egyptian youth is an investment in Egypts future, stressing that education was a central element to this. "That is why the UK is committed to support Egypt in implementing its education reform plans so that Egyptian students all over the country are equipped with knowledge and skills they need to succeed," the ambassador said. Egypt has been working on improving the quality of learning and adopting technology as a vehicle to achieve its educational reform objectives. Last April, the World Bank announced a $500 million investment in Egypts five-year education reforms. The project supported by the World Bank will expand access to quality kindergarten for around 500,000 children, train 500,000 teachers and education officials, while providing 1.5 million students and teachers with digital learning resources. The education reform programme is aligned with Egypts 2030 Vision sustainable development strategy, which puts a strong emphasis on the critical role of education sector reform in the country's social transformation. Search Keywords: Short link: UN targets half a million Yemenis in battle-scarred Hudaydah with cholera vaccine - UNICEF Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 6 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN targets half a million Yemenis in battle-scarred Hudaydah with cholera vaccine - UNICEF, 6 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc494f7a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 6 August 2018 Over a year after cholera broke out in Yemen, killing more than 2,000 people, the disease is back and spreading fast in the Houthi-held port city of Hudaydah; a target of continued air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition to regain control of the city. To mitigate the risks, on Saturday, the Ministry of Health and the UN launched a week-long cholera oral vaccination campaign, targeting the most vulnerable 500,000 women, children and men in and around the city. Other mitigating measures implemented by humanitarian organisations include the continued provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. Yemen's conflict has its roots in uprisings that date back to 2011, but fighting escalated in March 2015, when an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened militarily at the request of Yemen's President. More than 70 per cent of all humanitarian aid, and food imports pass through the docks of Hudaydah, and it was one of the worst-hit cities in Yemen's cholera outbreak last year the worst in the world at its height. On Thursday, the main hospital in Hudaydah was hit during an airstrike, further compounding the dire health situation in the city. Fighting is still raging across much of Yemen and the escalating humanitarian crisis is the most acute of anywhere in the world this year. As of Monday, about 88,000 thousand people had been reached with the cholera vaccine. This is the second of three phases of the campaign led by the World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF): the first one was administered in Aden and the final round of vaccines will be administered in other identified hotspot areas. Link to original story on UN News website Bangladesh: Head of UN refugee agency calls on Asia-Pacific leaders to show 'solidarity' with Rohingya refugees Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Bangladesh: Head of UN refugee agency calls on Asia-Pacific leaders to show 'solidarity' with Rohingya refugees, 7 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc494f96.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 7 August 2018 The Head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, on Tuesday urged government representatives and business leaders from the Asia-Pacific region to offer more support and protection for over 700,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled violence and discrimination in Myanmar's Rakhine State over the past year. "I urge you to consider what support your Governments could pledge in solidarity with Bangladesh until solutions are found for refugees," he said, addressing ministers of 26 countries in Bali, Indonesia, at the Seventh Ministerial Conference of the Bali Process. "We need also to work towards comprehensive solutions for the people of Rakhine State, so that they are not forced to move in the first place," he added. The Bali Process is a forum made up of 48 Governments and four international organizations including UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which was set up to enable dialogue and discussion on issues relating to people-smuggling, human trafficking and related cross-border crime. In March 2016, the Bali Declaration was adopted, highlighting the need for a comprehensive collective approach to resolve statelessness, invest in inclusive development, and expand safe pathways so that refugees and migrants would have legal alternatives to putting their lives at risk while on the move. Since late August 2017, widespread and systematic violence against Myanmar's mainly Muslim minority Rohingya has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in Rakhine state for Bangladesh. Prior to that, well over 200,000 Rohingya refugees were sheltering in vast, makeshift camps in Bangladesh as a result of earlier displacements. In his address on Tuesday, Mr. Grandi urged Governments to move "from consultation to action on the commitments they made" in the Declaration, asking them to consider how they could share Bangladesh's refugee burden. "Could your Government support, for example, construction of hospitals in Bangladesh," he asked, "that will treat refugees but also improve the health care of local people? Can we conceive of development, trade, and migration-related measures to help the people and Government of Bangladesh shoulder the responsibility of hosting some 900,000 refugees, such as expanding guest worker quotas for Bangladeshis that would increase remittances, or reducing tariffs on garment exports from Bangladesh?" The UNHCR chief also stressed that the "real solution" lies in Myanmar itself, and he appealed for regional support to address the root causes of displacement in Rakhine: for example, investing in infrastructure that connects communities instead of dividing them, and providing expertise on resolving statelessness and intercommunal conflict. The High Commissioner also addressed business leaders of major corporations who attended the Conference as part of the Bali Process Government and Business Forum, a public-private partnership to expand legal labour migration and combat human trafficking. "People forced to move can fall prey to modern slavery, adding the insult of exploitation to the injury of exile," he said, adding that "there are now, more than ever, opportunities for refugees in this region to contribute to their host communities." Link to original story on UN News website 'Immense' needs of migrants making perilous journey between Yemen and Horn of Africa prompts $45 million UN migration agency appeal Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, 'Immense' needs of migrants making perilous journey between Yemen and Horn of Africa prompts $45 million UN migration agency appeal, 7 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc494fba.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 7 August 2018 As conflicts and natural disasters have sharply deteriorated living conditions in the Horn of Africa and Yemen, more and more people have been crossing the Gulf of Aden in both directions, leading the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to appeal for $45 million to provide critical aid to 81,000 people over three years. The agency's Regional Migrant Response Plan (RMRP), launched on Monday, is meant to cover movements in both directions between Yemen and Horn of Africa nations, Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia. "The humanitarian needs in the region remain immense, which leave migrants and host communities in a vulnerable situation," said Jeffrey Labovitz, IOM Regional Director for the region, including East Africa. In 2018 alone, IOM anticipates 100,000 arrivals into Yemen despite the ongoing conflict there and approximately 200,000 returns from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to the Horn of Africa countries. Of these, the UN migration agency and its partners, including the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), will target the most at-risk. They number around 81,000, including vulnerable women; unaccompanied children and the elderly; members of ethnic and religious minorities; and victims of violence, as well as persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and victims of human trafficking. Irregular migration by those mostly looking for work from the Horn of Africa to Gulf countries has been steadily increasing over the past few years, with approximately 100,000 people entering Yemen in 2017 alone. Often, migrants and refugees cross the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti or Somalia, arriving in Yemen with the support of smugglers. The countries on this route are beset with humanitarian challenges. In Yemen, where conflict has been raging since March 2015, more than 20 million people need humanitarian assistance, while Somalia and Ethiopia are also in the grip of complex emergencies because of conflict and recurrent natural disasters such as flooding and drought. The three-year migration plan includes key humanitarian activities such as return registrations, psychosocial counselling for abuse and violence survivors, transportation assistance, and support for economic reintegration into their communities. It also details longer-term actions, working hand in hand with governments to build national and local capacities on migration management; rescue-at-sea and coastguard interventions; and sustainable socioeconomic infrastructure to support communities of origin, transit and destination. In a statement, IOM said the objectives of the plan are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, ensuring that humanitarian and development efforts feed into each other. Link to original story on UN News website Indonesia: Psychological impact on earthquake survivors turns villages into 'ghost towns' Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Indonesia: Psychological impact on earthquake survivors turns villages into 'ghost towns', 7 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc494fd6.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 7 August 2018 Following the magnitude 7 earthquake which rocked the Indonesian island of Lombok at the weekend, more than 130 aftershocks have been felt with some villages being turned into "ghost towns", journalists at the UN in Geneva heard on Tuesday. Mathew Cochrane, Spokesperson for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), briefed reporters saying that "about 80 per cent of buildings had been damaged or destroyed," in the north of the island, which is home to around 200,000 people, adding to the destruction caused by an earlier quake on 29 July. "Thousands of people were displaced and the main needs right now are emergency shelter and basic relief," he said, elaborating that because the IFRC is still unable to access some remote villages, "we are far from having a complete picture of the damage." The earthquake not only cut power and communication lines in the area, but physical access as well. Turning to the psychological toll of the earthquake, he said that teams spoke of coming across "ghost towns and villages" that had been abandoned. "People have left homes. They are fearful of staying inside, or perhaps fearful of another major earthquake and a possible tsunami," Mr. Cochrane said. He flagged that "there had been more than 130 aftershocks over the past 24 hours," adding his suspicion that the figure had risen. Mr. Cochrane explained that after an earthquake, "a sense of terror," was often experienced, as people struggled with differentiating between "what's an aftershock and what's actually the beginning of the next major one." "One of the needs going forward, in addition to emergency shelter and basic relief, will be to address these emotional scars and the concerns of communities, particularly remote communities," he stated. He underscored that colleagues from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) had been active from the outset. "About 110 staff and volunteers from the Lombok branch were activated really within the first minutes after the earthquake and they had been involved in search and rescue operations, transporting people to hospitals, and providing first aid, including for many tourists", he continued. Pointing out that some teams had also provided advanced medical care and distributed relief supplies, he explained that many suffered personal family loss and would also need support, in addition to additional capacity. According to Mr. Cochrane, discussions were underway on what international assistance might be needed. Link to original story on UN News website UN chief calls for 'increased commitment' to resolution on 10th anniversary of Georgia conflict Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 7 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief calls for 'increased commitment' to resolution on 10th anniversary of Georgia conflict, 7 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495014.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 7 August 2018 Ten years after conflict involving Georgia, Russia and the South Ossetia region broke out, United Nations chief, Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that "increased commitment" is needed by "relevant actors" to advance the on-going reconciliation and peace process. "The Secretary-General recalls that it is a reminder of the need to resolve this and other protracted conflicts in Europe," said a statement issued by his Spokesperson. "This requires increased commitment by the relevant actors, backed by strong political will and a reinvigoration of mediation processes." Conflict erupted in August 2008, between Russian and Georgian forces over the largely pro-Russian enclaves of South Ossetia and separatist-led Abkhazia, which led later in the year, to the launch of international talks to resolve the crisis, known as the Geneva International Discussions, or GID. In 2009, the Incident Response and Prevention Mechanism grew out of the GID, providing a forum to discuss issues between the various regions and governments, relating to on-going concerns. The GID is co-chaired by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union, and the UN, bringing together the countries and regions, as well as the United States. "The Secretary-General urges all the participants in the Geneva International Discussions to adopt a constructive, forward-looking approach that would allow this indispensable mechanism to fulfill its mandate", said the statement. All concerned should prioritize progress through appropriate dialogue and refrain from divisive policies and unilateral actions that may adversely impact regional peace and security," continued the UN chief. Mr. Guterres recalled that while the GID and Mechanism have "substantially contributed to strengthening stability in recent years, more should be done on key security and humanitarian issues, including those related to the plight of the many internally displaced persons and refugees." He said the UN would "continue to fully support this important mechanism and work with the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to achieve progress on all issues." Link to original story on UN News website Millions at risk if Syria's war moves to last redoubt of Idlib, warns senior aid official Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Millions at risk if Syria's war moves to last redoubt of Idlib, warns senior aid official, 9 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495034.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 9 August 2018 Aid access to embattled Syrians may soon improve following recent military gains by the Government, but the war "cannot be allowed to go to Idlib", the head of the UN's Humanitarian Task Force said on Thursday. Speaking in Geneva, Jan Egeland confirmed that fighting in the south-west had largely ended and that Syria's last remaining sieges in the Shia towns of Foah and Kefraya have also been lifted. The potentially positive development means that there should be "no need to negotiate" with the Government of Syria for aid convoy access, the UN Special Adviser said. Progress should also be quicker because the lorries will no longer have to cross active front lines, he explained. "Hopefully, we are seeing the beginning of the end to the big war," he said, adding that "there are signs" the UN and humanitarian partners would finally get access to civilians that they have been trying to reach "for a very long time, and that some of the cruel practices of the war are coming to an end". However, the "tremendous worry" is that the conflict will move to Idlib province and other non-government-controlled areas in Syria's north-west, Egeland cautioned. "This area is screaming for diplomatic solutions," he said. "It is yearning for the best diplomats, the best military negotiators to sit down between each other and come to agreements, knowing that there wouldn't be another Idlib to be evacuated to." Idlib and other areas, including Afrin and Azaz, are home to some 4 million people, including 3 million women and children, according to Egeland, who is also Special Adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Syria. Around 1.4 million of that number have fled from previous conflict hotspots including Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta and the south-west governorates of Dera'a, Sweida and Quneitra. "A small minority" of those in Idlib "would be seen as terrorists", Egeland added, but this was "no excuse for sending the war" to women and children. Insisting that "this is no tsunami" but rather a "man-made crisis from A to Z", Egeland appealed to the international community to support the "humanitarian lifeline" which helps some 2 million people every month. "That lifeline has to be expanded because there will be new people in need," he said. "There is some fighting happening continuously and finally there has to be protection of civilians, including hospitals and others." In a bid to prevent further bloodshed after more than seven years of conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands and lives and forced millions to flee, Egeland said that he hoped that countries with influence on the belligerents will be encouraged to reach a political settlement that would spare Idlib. He singled out the Russian Federation, Turkey and Iran as having "big influence" in Idlib, as well as Western countries and those Gulf countries who also wield influence with armed opposition groups. "We will push [them] . . . to say: learn from Eastern Ghouta, learn from Aleppo, learn from Ar-Raqqa," Egeland said. "There must be talks, there must be agreements, this war must end not in a bloodbath, but by agreements." Link to original story on UN News website Nicaragua must end 'witch-hunt' against dissenting voices - UN human rights experts Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Nicaragua must end 'witch-hunt' against dissenting voices - UN human rights experts, 9 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495046.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 9 August 2018 Following weeks of civil unrest in Nicaragua, a group of 11 UN independent human rights experts urged the Government on Thursday to stop the violent repression of protestors, which has left at least 317 people dead and 1,830 injured, stressing that "no one should be detained for the exercise of their human rights". "We are appalled that many human rights defenders, journalists and other opposition voices are being criminalised and accused of unfounded and overly punitive charges such as 'terrorism'," the UN experts said, warning that this is "creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among different communities and among civil society representatives in the country." Street protests against social security reforms began in April and were immediately violently suppressed by security forces and groups affiliated with the governing party. One hundred days later, the protests have "decreased in number and intensity following the removal of roadblocks by the Government" according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), but the UN experts said that dissident voices ranging from rural community leaders and students, to journalists and Catholic Church leaders are still being subjected to intimidation, threats, collective detention. "We deplore what appears to be a smear campaign aimed at discrediting or vilifying human rights defenders as 'terrorists' and 'coup-mongers', and apparent attempts to undermine the opposition," the human rights experts' statement read. "We are also deeply concerned that new legislation adopted earlier in July by the Nicaraguan Congress to target money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, could provide the authorities with increased leeway for arrests and criminal proceedings against protesters, and be misused," the UN experts stressed. "Impunity, violence and repression have never been a breeding ground for peace and stability and will certainly, on the contrary, plunge the country into deeper social and political unrest," the experts warned. They reminded the Government of the importance of keeping a clear and up-to-date record of the names and locations of people who have been deprived of their liberties and stressed that those who face legal proceedings must be guaranteed their right to a fair trial, with all the guarantees of due process. "We exhort the Government of Nicaragua to immediately demobilise paramilitary groups and to investigate the extrajudicial executions, killings and reports of enforced disappearances with due diligence, without delay and through the use of effective, impartial and independent procedures," the statement read. "We also urge the Government to refrain from engaging in practices of criminalisation against human rights defenders and other activists, including through the inappropriate use of national security and counter-terrorism legislation," said the independent experts, requesting that full access into detention centres and other locations be granted to human rights groups so they can continue assessing the situation in the country. Link to original story on UN News website UN chief condemns air strike that hit school bus in northern Yemen, killing scores of children Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief condemns air strike that hit school bus in northern Yemen, killing scores of children, 9 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49506a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 9 August 2018 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday condemned an air strike by pro-Yemini Government coalition forces, which killed scores of children who were on board a bus travelling through a busy market area in the northern province of Saada. While the exact death toll remains to be confirmed, initial news reports indicate that the number of casualties could be well above 60, with dozens severely injured. Most of the children were reported to be aged between 10 and 13. In his statement, the UN chief called "on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the fundamental rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack," emphasising that all parties must take "constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations". The Secretary-General called for an "independent and prompt investigation" into this incident and extended his "deepest condolences" to the families of the victims. The Head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) also strongly condemned the incident and urged the warring parties and international community "to do what's right for children and bring an end to this conflict". "Attacks on children are absolutely unacceptable," she said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore on Twitter. "I'm horrified by the reported airstrike on innocent children, some with UNICEF backpacks. Enough is enough." "How many more children will suffer or die before those who can act, do by putting a stop to this scourge?" said UNICEF's chief in a statement. "Attacking children is the lowest any party of this conflict can go," UNICEF Yemen Resident Representative Meritxell Relano told UN News. "There is no justification whatsoever to attacking children." According to the UN Children's Fund, since conflict between pro-Government forces and Houthi rebels escalated in 2015, about 2,400 children have been killed and 3,600 maimed in Yemen. The head of the UN agency there called all warring parties to "respect international humanitarian law," and spare children, civilians and civilian infrastructure to prevent Yemen from falling "further into the abyss and the humanitarian catastrophe" it has been facing for over three years. Yemen's conflict has its roots in uprisings that date back to 2011, but fighting escalated in March 2015, when an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened militarily at the request of Yemen's President. Attacks against civilians have been the scourge of this conflict. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), "tens of civilians were killed in violence in several governorates" in the past 10 days alone. On 3 August, during a particularly deadly attack, one of the last functioning hospitals, Al Thawra in Al Hudaydah, was struck, reportedly causing the death of dozens of vulnerable, sick and injured civilians. "It's hard to believe we live in a world where children should live in fear of such attacks, yet here we are. This doesn't have to be their reality though. Parties to the conflict and those who have influence over them, including Security Council members, can and should choose to end this catastrophe for the sake of Yemen's children," stressed the UNICEF chief. "We've said this before and we are saying it again parties to the conflict are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. This is not a voluntary commitment it is mandatory on all belligerents," said Lise Grande, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, in the latest OCHA report on the situation there. "So many people have died in Yemen this conflict has to stop." Link to original story on UN News website UN Envoy urges Burundi leaders to 'seize opportunities for national unity and peace' Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN Envoy urges Burundi leaders to 'seize opportunities for national unity and peace', 9 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49508a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 9 August 2018 The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Burundi, Michel Kafando, has called on the country's leaders to "seize the opportunity" offered by the recent adoption of a new constitution, to create a new political environment that is "conducive to the consolidation of national unity and peace". Addressing the UN Security Council on Thursday, he commended in particular the adoption on 3 August of a roadmap for the 2020 elections that brought the various political leaders to a consensus. The Special Envoy commended President Pierre Nkurunziza for his recent commitment to leave office in 2020 and for pledging his "full support" for whoever emerges from the voting process, as the new president. The current crisis in Burundi began in April 2015, when President Nkurunziza began his campaign for a disputed third-term in office, triggering protests and a failed coup attempt. In his briefing, Mr. Kafando noted the improvement of the security situation since the 17 May national referendum on the new constitution which saw nearly three-quarters of voters registering their approval, or 73 per cent. "Since the constitutional referendum, apart from some objections by the opposition, the situation has remained calm," he said, all the while encouraging the government to "remain vigilant". Regarding the humanitarian situation caused by the onset of the crisis three years ago, the Special Envoy commended the efforts made by Burundi, Tanzania and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), to enable the voluntary return of some 35,000 Burundian refugees since September last year. "These efforts must be sustained, respecting the principles of voluntary returns and guaranteeing the dignified reintegration of the returning refugees in their host communities," he stated. He concluded his briefing calling on the authorities to finalise their agreement with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) so that that his own office in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, could "operate in the best conditions". Link to original story on UN News website Somalia: UN urges steps to ensure future elections not 'marred' by rights abuses seen in recent polls Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Somalia: UN urges steps to ensure future elections not 'marred' by rights abuses seen in recent polls, 13 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4950bb.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 August 2018 In a report released on Monday, the United Nations urged Somalia to take steps to ensure future elections are not marred by the human rights violations and abuses committed during the 2016-2017 electoral process. "Insecurity, weak justice institutions, and an insufficient human rights protection system contributed to the lack of accountability for human rights violations throughout Somalia," the report says, looking back at the 2016 polls and calling for prompt action to bolster human rights protections ahead of the 2020-2021 electoral process. The report from the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the UN human rights office (OHCHR) details violations and abuses by State security forces, including the police and intelligence agencies, and non-State groups, including Al Shabaab, before, during and after parliamentary and presidential elections held in late 2016 and early 2017. While it documents the killing of 44 clan leaders and electoral delegates during that period, it reveals that only two of these reported killings were investigated and prosecuted. As such, the joint report calls for "prompt, independent and impartial investigations into human rights violations and abuses committed in the context of the electoral process." In addition, the report highlights repeated attacks, intimidation and other forms of harassment against reporters, human rights defenders and political leaders, noting that this violence "impeded the free flow of information" and undermined "the ability of citizens to benefit from and contribute to democratic processes" in an informed manner. "As Somalia continues the arduous task of building institutions and constructing peace, respect for human rights must be at the core of this enterprise," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. "This includes guaranteeing all public freedoms, such as the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and of peaceful assembly and association," he stressed, adding that "it is essential that victims' rights to remedy and reparation are respected". Because conditions for universal suffrage were not in place in 2016, a system of indirect suffrage was used with 275 electoral colleges of 51 delegates each. The colleges elected the 275 members of the House of the People, who then elected the new President, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, on 8 February 2017. While this system allowed for a more diverse parliament, with half its members newly elected and women's representation at 24 per cent (compared to 14 per cent in 2012), "more needs to be done" for the next elections, said the report. "Women, persons with disabilities, minority clans and civil society groups had limited or no access to the electoral process as it was a political process based on clan distribution," said Michael Keating, the head of UNSOM. "Looking ahead to elections due in 2020-2021, we are urging the Government to establish a system of representation that is inclusive of all citizens, based on the one person, one vote principle." In addition, given that in 2016 the list of candidates included former warlords and a military commander accused of war crimes, the report recommends that candidates be vetted regarding their respect for human rights. Link to original story on UN News website The first test flight landed on Monday in West Cairo's Sphinx International Airport ahead of the airport's official opening at the end of this year. Egypt's Minister of Civil Aviation Younes El-Masry was on board the flight, which took off from Cairo International Airport. Test flights are being held periodically at the new airport ahead of its opening. The airport has a 975 m departure hall and a 1,100 m arrival hall with a capacity of 300 passengers per hour. It also has one VIP hall, 27 administrative offices and affiliated buildings. The runway is 3,650 metres long and has three sub-lanes and a 126,800 m2 tarmac that can accommodate nine large aircrafts. ## The new airport is equipped with state-of-the-art technology in air traffic control and automatic landing systems and security systems such as x-ray explosive detectors and high end CCTV and thermal surveillance cameras. "The experimental operation of the airport aims to test the efficiency of operations and security systems and to address any technical obstacles ahead of the airport's official launch," El-Masry said. The new airport has been dubbed the 300 passenger airport due to its accommodation capacity per hour. The construction of the airport started in 2016 and was inspected by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in February. The airport aims to alleviate pressure on Cairo International Airport and serve the area of 6 October, Sheikh Zayed, as well as the governorates of Fayoum and Beni Sweif. The airport is set to be listed number 33 on Egypt's internal and international airports with the build-operate-transfer (BOT) system. The new airport is part of a plan to construct two other airports; Katameya International Airport to the north of Cairo to serve visitors heading to New Cairo and the under-construction new administrative capital, as well as El-Meliz Airport in Central Sinai. In press statements in October last year, then-minister of aviation Sherif Fathy said Sphinx International Airport has strategic goals, with a plan to expand to cargo services in the future. Fathy has said that the airport will serve tourists aiming to visit the pyramids of Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which is set to open in early 2019. Search Keywords: Short link: UNICEF appeals for end to 'war on children' in Syria and Yemen Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 13 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UNICEF appeals for end to 'war on children' in Syria and Yemen, 13 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4950d4.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 13 August 2018 Attacks against children caught in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen must stop, the UN children's agency, UNICEF, appealed on Monday. In a tightly worded statement, UNICEF pointed out that since Sunday, 28 children were reported killed in Idlib and western Aleppo, located in northern Syria. The death toll included an entire family of seven. Furthermore, three UNICEF-supported health facilities were also attacked, two of which are now out of service. "The war on children in Syria is putting at least one million children at risk in Idlib alone," said the statement, attributable to Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. These latest incidents follow the deaths of 21 children in Yemen last week, killed when their school bus was hit during an airstrike. For Juliet Touma, UNICEF Chief of Communications in the region, they represent an escalation in attacks on children. "There's obviously a war on children," she told UN News, explaining that ongoing fighting means children in the two countries are being deprived of basic rights such as access to healthcare and education. The Syrian crisis began nearly eight years ago with civilians continuing "to bear the brunt of a conflict marked by unparalleled suffering, destruction and disregard for human life," according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA. UNICEF reported that more than five million children there require humanitarian assistance, with nearly half forced to flee their homes. Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said three years of fighting in Yemen means nearly two-thirds of the population requires some form of aid relief or protection support to survive. "Across the region there are about 30 million children who need humanitarian assistance," Ms. Touma said, also referring to the situation in places such as Libya, Sudan and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. "So, children under attack . . . and that needs to come to an end." Link to original story on UN News website Militias force nearly 2,000 to leave Libyan capital's largest shelter for internally-displaced: UNHCR Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 14 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Militias force nearly 2,000 to leave Libyan capital's largest shelter for internally-displaced: UNHCR, 14 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4950f4.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 14 August 2018 Libyan militias have forced nearly 2,000 people from an ethnic minority likely targeted for their alleged links to the former Gadaffi Government, to flee long-established shelters in the capital Tripoli, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday. In an appeal for the human rights of families originally from the city of Tawergha to be respected, UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler, said that the exodus happened last week, following attacks by unidentified assailants. "According to residents, a local militia forced the entire population of Triq Al Matar to flee their homes last week, following three nights of indiscriminate raiding and the arbitrary arrest of 94 residents, 12 of whom remain detained by the militia in dismal conditions." Until the attacks, Triq Al Matar was the largest settlement for internally displaced people in Tripoli and home to around 370 families. They were originally from the northern city of Tawergha, but fled their homes in 2011, after the battle for nearby Misrata ended, seeking refuge in informal settlements around Tripoli or Benghazi. After their recent targeting in the Libyan capital, victims sought shelter with relatives or in other settlements for displaced people, according to UNHCR. Families with cars "are now sleeping in them", said Mr. Spindler, noting that the 40,000-strong displaced minority from Tawergha are waiting to return home "following an agreement by the parties involved" in the crisis-wracked country. "All I can say is that they have been subject to prosecution and discrimination, and they have been prevented so far" from returning to their city of origin, Spindler added. "Although now, there are moves that seem to be opening a way for them to return, and we hope that this will be the case soon." The development comes amid ongoing factional conflict in oil-rich Libya, widespread instability and a humanitarian and economic crisis, despite the international community's efforts to provide a platform for reconciliation agreements between warring parties. "The problem as you know in Libya is that there are numbers of competing authorities as well as militias with different allegiances," Spindler said. "So this complicates the issue and makes the protection of IDPs and others very difficult . . . this is a part of the reality on the ground." In Libya, some 192,000 displaced people have been living in dire conditions for years, according to UNHCR. The agency is calling for urgent solutions to end their suffering and allow them to return home in a voluntary, safe and dignified manner. Link to original story on UN News website UN chief appeals for calm as Mali presidential election draws to a close Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 14 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief appeals for calm as Mali presidential election draws to a close, 14 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495114.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 14 August 2018 Following the conclusion of the second round of presidential elections in Mali, political leaders in the West African country are being encouraged by the UN Secretary-General to promote a peaceful atmosphere and avoid incendiary rhetoric. Antonio Guterres's request came in a statement congratulating the people and Government for the vote, which was held on Sunday. Malians initially went to the polls in late July to choose a new leader. Incumbent Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who is seeking a second term, faced more than 20 opponents, including main opposition leader, Soumaila Cisse. The run-off election was called as none of the candidates secured the required 50 per cent of votes. The final results are not expected for a few days. The UN chief welcomed measures that allowed voting to occur safely in most of the vast country, amid difficult weather and security challenges in some areas. "The Secretary-General appeals to all parties to remain calm through the conclusion of the electoral process, and to continue to address any grievances in accordance with the laws and constitution of Mali," according to the statement, which was issued on Monday evening by his Spokesman. "He calls on all political leaders to continue to promote a peaceful atmosphere and avoid incendiary rhetoric." Link to original story on UN News website UN chief welcomes re-opening of key Gaza border crossing Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 15 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief welcomes re-opening of key Gaza border crossing, 15 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495134.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 15 August 2018 The decision by Israel to reopen the only functional commercial crossing point into Gaza which has been closed to most deliveries for weeks, has been welcomed by the United Nations Secretary-General. UN humanitarians expect some 400 truckloads of goods will now be able to enter Gaza after the Kerem Shalom crossing became operational on Wednesday morning; roughly a month after it was largely closed by Israel in response to attacks by Palestinians in the enclave, which is controlled by Hamas militants, and deadly mass-protests at the border fence against Israeli policies. Israel has blockaded the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, strictly-controlling what can enter and leave the territory, including a naval blockade in the Mediterranean. UN chief Antonio Guterres also welcomed Wednesday's move lift restrictions by extending Gaza's permissible fishing area to nine nautical miles, up from six. "He is encouraged to see that those concerned have responded to calls to avoid the devastating impact of yet another conflict on the civilian population in and around Gaza," according to a statement issued by his spokesman. "The Secretary-General calls on all parties to support the efforts of UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov and Egypt to avoid an escalation and address all humanitarian issues in Gaza and the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza." The Kerem Shalom crossing was closed in early July after Palestinians launched fiery kite bombs across the border into southern Israel, causing extensive property damage and heightening the threat of escalating conflict. Only food, medical and limited fuel deliveries were allowed in. With supplies of fuel and other essential supplies dwindling, Gaza's two million citizens have been living through what the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, has described as "an unprecedented humanitarian crisis." Last week, the office said that five key hospitals in Gaza might have to close, if fuel for emergency generators ran out. There was a threat that raw sewage could overflow onto the streets, due to a lack of power for treatment facilities. Gaza's unemployment rate is among the world's highest, and the majority of its residents depend on aid relief to survive. Link to original story on UN News website UN rights experts call on Russia to release Ukrainian film-maker whose life is in 'imminent danger' Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 15 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN rights experts call on Russia to release Ukrainian film-maker whose life is in 'imminent danger', 15 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495154.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 15 August 2018 A Ukrainian film-maker whose outspoken criticism of Russia's continued annexation of Crimea has landed him in jail, prompted United Nations human rights experts to call on Russian authorities for his immediate and unconditional release on Wednesday. "We urge Russian authorities to unconditionally release him as a matter of urgency," the UN experts declared. Oleg Sentsov was arrested by Russian authorities in May 2014 in Crimea, and convicted to 20 years in a Russian prison, as a Russian citizen, on charges of terrorism. The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia earlier that year, in contravention of international law. In March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on States not to recognize changes in status of the Crimea, and last September, a report from the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said that rights had significantly deteriorated under Russian occupation, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture. Mr Sentsov went on hunger strike three months ago, to protest what he believes is the politically-motivated incarceration of 64 Ukrainians in Russian prisons. The rights experts expressed grave concern for his physical and mental integrity. "Sentsov's life is in imminent danger. His hunger strike follows a trial and a conviction that has fallen short of international law," the experts said. They also called on the Russian authorities to ensure that Mr. Sentsov is immediately provided with appropriate medical treatment, based on his full and informed consent. According news reports, his mother had written to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of June pleading for her son's release, but was told that pardons would only be considered if the prisoner made the request, which Mr Sentsov has refused to do. The UN human rights experts David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Dainius PAras, Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health; and Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders remain in contact with the Russian authorities about this case. Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work. Link to original story on UN News website Afghanistan: UN chief calls for 'urgent' ceasefire and opening of peace talks Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 16 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Afghanistan: UN chief calls for 'urgent' ceasefire and opening of peace talks, 16 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495174.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 16 August 2018 After days of intense fighting for the Afghan city of Ghazni, south-west of Kabul, the United Nations Secretary-General and the Head of the UN mission in the country (UNAMA) have denounced the toll that the almost 20-year conflict has taken on civilians, and called on warring parties to lay down their arms and seek a political solution to the conflict. UN chief Antonio Guterres stated that "the warring parties must do everything feasible to ensure that no civilians are further killed or injured by the fighting, and must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance so that it can reach Ghazni". In five days of hostilities, about 150 civilians have been killed in the fighting, along with hundreds of Government and Taliban fighters. Mr. Guterres conveyed his condolences to the families who suffered from these attacks. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), when the fighting began, about 270,000 residents were trapped in the city, which is located about 150 km south-west of Afghanistan's capital Kabul. Many seem to have fled the town, according to sources on the ground. Reliable sources on the ground are reporting that Ghazni Public Hospital is "overwhelmed by a continuous influx" of injured members of the government forces, Taliban fighters and civilians.From the humanitarian perspective, the situation in Ghazni "remains particularly grim", UN Special Representative Yamamoto explained. "The fighting has led to electricity outages along with water and food shortages," noted Mr. Yamamoto, Head of UNAMA, in a statement on Wednesday, adding that "communication networks and media outlets have been shuttered, and roads remain blocked, preventing freedom of movement for families seeking safety." According to OCHA, access into the town remains challenging for aid workers. In July, UNAMA highlighted the tragic toll that the conflict has had on Afghans in 2018, as the first half of the year was the deadliest for civilians since UNAMA began documenting civilian casualties in 2009. This, despite the unprecedented but brief ceasefire between the Government and the Taliban in mid-June to mark the end of Ramadan, which was the first one to be honored in nearly 20 years of conflict. "Equally unacceptable", added Mr. Yamamoto, is that the fighting has "exacerbated deep-rooted wounds dividing Afghan communities at a time when cohesion is more crucial than ever before". The Secretary-General stressed the "urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of talks between the parties to the conflict to negotiate a sustainable peace." "The targeting of civilians and of civilian facilities are clear violations of international humanitarian law," he noted, adding that "there can be no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and urgently calls for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the interest of building a more stable and prosperous future for all Afghans". The UNAMA also chief appealed to all warring parties and the international community to help bring hostilities to an end. "The fighting in Ghazni must stop and the fighting in Afghanistan must stop", he said, stressing that "the United Nations continues to maintain that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan". Referring to the June ceasefire, the Special Representative said that "it illustrated to all Afghans, especially those too young to have known anything but war, what peace looks like." He added that the UN "stands ready to support any endeavours that would advance" an Afghan-led negotiated settlement. "Confidence-building steps that immediately reduce violence are crucial, and talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are necessary to identify and expand common ground". Link to original story on UN News website In Tanzania visit, UNHCR official stresses freedom of choice is crucial for refugee returns Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 16 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, In Tanzania visit, UNHCR official stresses freedom of choice is crucial for refugee returns, 16 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495194.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 16 August 2018 Refugees should never be pressured to decide if they should return to their home countries, a senior UN official has said. Volker Turk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Thursday completed a four-day visit to Tanzania, which is hosting more than 340,000 refugees and asylum-seekers. "Refugees need to have a meaningful choice about whether they wish to return based on the facts and realities on the ground. There should not be any direct or indirect pressure exercised on refugees to choose whether to return," he said, according to a press release, which stated that the Government of Tanzania has assured the agency that the decision to return would be up to refugees themselves. Mr. Turk met with the Tanzanian authorities and partners to discuss protection challenges and solutions for the refugees and asylum seekers who have found shelter in the country having fled conflict and persecution in their homelands. The majority are from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with nearly 90 per cent living in three camps in the Kigoma region, located in the west. The UN official also visited the Nduta Refugee Camp where he met with residents. He also witnessed the voluntary return process for Burundian refugees. So far, more than 42,000 Burundians have returned home, according to UNHCR. Mr. Turk also held a meeting with UNHCR representatives who are working in countries hosting Burundi refugees, who total around 400,000. UNHCR said the Burundi situation is one of the world's most underfunded humanitarian crises, with a $391 million appeal only 12 per cent funded. Mr. Turk called on the international community to address what he called "this forgotten situation". Link to original story on UN News website UN condemns 'heinous' suicide attack on education centre in Afghanistan Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 16 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN condemns 'heinous' suicide attack on education centre in Afghanistan, 16 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4951b4.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 16 August 2018 The perpetrators of Wednesday's "heinous" suicide bombing that killed students at an education centre in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, must be brought to justice, the UN Secretary-General has said. Nearly 50 people were killed in the attack which Antonio Guterres has condemned in the strongest terms, according to a statement issued on Thursday by his spokesman. Most were teenagers studying for university entrance exams. "Those responsible for this heinous attack must be held accountable. The targeting of civilians, in particular children, is unacceptable," the statement said. The Security Council has joined Mr. Guterres in expressing sympathy to the families of the victims of what they described as "the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack." The 15 ambassadors reaffirmed that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of motivation. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General is also urging warring parties in Afghanistan to step up efforts towards achieving peace following deadly fighting in Ghazni. Antonio Guterres conveyed his condolences to families who have suffered from attacks by the Taliban, which launched an assault on the eastern city on Friday. At least 400 people have been killed in the siege, around a quarter of them civilians, according to media reports. The UN chief stated that the targeting of civilians and of civilian facilities are clear violations of international humanitarian law. He stressed the "urgent need" for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of talks between the sides to negotiate a sustainable peace. "The warring parties must do everything feasible to ensure that no civilians are further killed or injured by the fighting, and must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance so that it can reach Ghazni," he added, according to a statement issued late on Wednesday by his spokesman. The Secretary-General also underlined that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, and called for a peaceful settlement to the fighting "in the interest of building a more stable and prosperous future for all Afghans." Link to original story on UN News website US and Mexico child deportations drive extreme violence and trauma: UNICEF Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 16 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, US and Mexico child deportations drive extreme violence and trauma: UNICEF, 16 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4951da.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 16 August 2018 The many life-threatening dangers faced by children from Central America who are being deported from the United States of America and Mexico, are highlighted in a new report from United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday, which also draws attention to the traumatic consequences of family separation by migration authorities. In the first 6 months of this year, almost 25,000 women and children from northern Central America were deported after arriving in Mexico and the US, in search of asylum or a better life. The study, Uprooted in Central America and Mexico, identifies poverty and violence as two of the main reasons why children are leaving their homes in Central America, and attempting to migrate to the US and Mexico, mainly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Once the children are sent back to their country of origin, these threats only increase. Central American countries are some of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere: almost three quarters of Honduran children are living in poverty. Many families take out loans to finance their departure, and, when they are sent back, children can find themselves homeless or unable to pay for basic necessities. For those who fled their homes to escape gang violence (endemic in communities across northern Central America, with hundreds murdered every year), a return can mean a heightened risk of attack. In fear of their lives, many avoid their towns and villages and end up internally-displaced. The trauma suffered by children held in detention by migration authorities, and separated from their families, can have a negative effect on the child's long-term development, said the agency report. Maria Cristina Perceval, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, urged governments to consider the needs of children before deporting them, and to protect and reintegrate them once they return home: "Millions of children in the region are victims of poverty, indifference, violence, forced migration and the fear of deportation. Being returned to impossible situations makes it more likely that they will migrate again." The report makes a series of recommendations to keep refugee and migrant children safe. These include allowing them to be with their families and supporting alternatives to detention; safeguarding their wellbeing, and solving the problems that force them to leave home in the first place. Link to original story on UN News website Aid funding for Occupied Palestinian Territories at 'all-time low' Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Aid funding for Occupied Palestinian Territories at 'all-time low', 17 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4951fa.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 17 August 2018 Funding for humanitarian operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) is at an "all-time low", threatening the delivery of life-saving aid to people in the West Bank and Gaza, the United Nations warned on Friday. So far, only 25 per cent of the nearly $540 million needed this year has been received, the organization's humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, has reported. OCHA said the decline in funding for the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees, UNRWA, "has been a key contributing factor." UNRWA provides education, health care and social services for more than five million Palestine refugees across the Middle East and is the single largest humanitarian agency in the OPT. It is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states. UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl this week described 2018 as "a year of anguish" for Palestinians, with thousands of young people killed or injured in demonstrations in Gaza and elsewhere. At the same time, his agency has faced "its worst crisis ever", and only has enough money to fund its operations until the end of September. "UNRWA's current shortfall is US$ 217 million," he told its Advisory Commission on Thursday. "Specifically, we still need $123 million for our Program Budget activities, the core of UNRWA's response and $94 million for our Emergency Appeals. These are considerable amounts, without which operations cannot be ensured until the end of the year." Overall, two million people in the OPT are in need of "active protection measures" due to conflict and violence, displacement or restricted access to employment and essential services, according to Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the region. He said this has been "particularly evident" in recent weeks following an escalation of hostilities between Palestinian armed groups and the Israeli forces. "Since 1 July, we have seen the deaths of four Palestinian civilians, including that of a pregnant mother and her toddler child while asleep in their beds in Gaza, and the injury of two Israeli girls by rocket fire in Sderot, among some 100 Palestinian civilians and nearly 30 Israelis injured. In spite of this, the outside world appears numb to the tragedy unfolding," he said in a statement issued ahead of World Humanitarian Day, observed this Sunday. The annual commemoration pays tribute to the aid workers who risk their lives supporting millions worldwide affected by conflict, natural disaster and other emergencies. Mr. McGoldrick praised humanitarian workers in the OPT, adding that they "regularly face personal risk and assaults on their dignity, often while withstanding the same restrictive conditions that drive the humanitarian crisis" there. Link to original story on UN News website Egypts Court of Cassation upheld on Monday a three year sentence against ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and 19 others and issued fines for five others for insulting the judiciary. The court rejected today the appeal by Morsi and 24 others, including Islamists and non-Islamists, against a 2017 court ruling, which convicted them of insulting the judiciary and criticising court rulings. Monday's verdict is final. In December 2017, a Cairo criminal court sentenced the defendants to three years for insulting the judiciary and its judges through publications and statements to TV and radio stations, as well as social media. Those sentenced include jailed members of the banned-Muslim Brotherhood figures Saad El-Katatny, Mohamed El-Beltagy, and Sobhi Saleh, who were present today in court. Some of those sentenced are fugitives or had been released pending the appeal. Political Activist Mostafa El-Nagar and journalist Abdel-Halim Kandil were among those sentenced to three years in prison today. The five defendants in the case who were fined EGP 30,000 include controversial TV presenter Tawfik Okasha, political analyst Amr Hamzawy; political activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah; prominent rights layer Amir Salem; and former Wafd Party MP Mahmoud El-Sakka. The court ruled that all defendants in the case, with the exception of Okasha and El-Sakka, are to pay EGP 1 million in compensation to the judges club; a total of EGP 23 million. Morsi will also pay another EGP 1 million in compensation to another judge. Search Keywords: Short link: 'No safe way' into battle-scarred Afghan city of Ghazni to deliver aid as traumatized children search for parents Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, 'No safe way' into battle-scarred Afghan city of Ghazni to deliver aid as traumatized children search for parents, 17 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49521a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 17 August 2018 The city of Ghazni in Afghanistan is still too dangerous for aid workers to reach, after a week of "intense" fighting and reports that traumatized children are turning up at hospitals looking for their parents, UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said on Friday. "As of this hour, there is no safe way for civilians or humanitarian workers to enter into Ghazni," OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said, adding that hundreds of civilians are believed to have died since last Friday, in clashes between Taliban fighters and pro-Government forces. "We estimate that there are some 200-250 civilian casualties, according to the latest unverified numbers," he said, citing information from the Red Cross in Afghanistan. Ghazni, in the east of Afghanistan, is one of the country's largest cities and home to around 270,000 people. It is just the latest place to be affected by an uptick in violence in a country that has experienced more than three decades of protracted conflict, seriously hampering poverty reduction and development. Although Taliban fighters have been largely driven out of Ghazni city centre after last week's attacks, house-to-house "clearing operations" are ongoing, according to OCHA. Amid continuing insecurity, the remaining 25 to 30 aid organizations with a presence in the city "have basically hunkered down", the agency's spokesperson told journalists in Geneva. In the meantime, fighting has reportedly moved to the outskirts of the city, with Taliban fighters slowly withdrawing towards surrounding villages. But aid workers and food still cannot reach the city because of the presence of lethal booby traps, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs). "One of the main reasons for that is that there are IEDs and mines on the way," Laerke said. "We do have capacity to actually spot and map where these mines are, but we do not have the capacity to remove them. That is the responsibility and within the capacity of the national government to do so." Parts of one of the main access roads, Highway 1, have been reportedly "destroyed, contested or contaminated" with IEDs, according to OCHA, which noted in a statement that the weapons had also been placed along the city's ring road. The development follows an uptick in violence in Afghanistan, where 80 so-called conflict incidents were recorded daily between July and September, 2017 the highest number in six years the UN agency has reported. Last year also saw 16 district administrative centres attacked and taken over by the Taliban, OCHA said. Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged warring parties in Afghanistan to step up efforts towards achieving peace following deadly fighting in Ghazni, after condemning a "heinous" suicide bombing that killed dozens of students many of them teenagers at an education centre in the capital, Kabul. In a bid to assess needs in Ghazni, OCHA has asked local aid workers still in the city to gather information on the number of people requiring help. Key priorities include restoring the city's public services. Parts of the water system are functioning again, according to the authorities, and UN Children's Fund UNICEF, is preparing to dispatch chlorine to flush network clean. Mobile phone networks are also gradually being restored but electricity in the city is reportedly still largely unavailable, OCHA said in a statement. "The immediate restoration of electricity, to ensure water supply, is a top priority," spokesperson Laerke explained. Other priorities include providing assistance to all those affected by the violence, particularly youngsters. "We expect that there will be a very big need for psycho-social support amongst the residents including for children," Laerke said. "There are reports of unaccompanied minors turning up at the hospital, looking for their families." According to OCHA, 3.3 million people need humanitarian assistance, and there are growing signs that what was once a low-intensity conflict has now escalated into an escalating war, according to a UN strategic review. Link to original story on UN News website Syria: WHO appeals for funding to sustain critical health care for millions trapped by conflict Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 20 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Syria: WHO appeals for funding to sustain critical health care for millions trapped by conflict, 20 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49523a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 20 August 2018 With conflict raging in northwest Syria, the United Nations health agency has appealed for $11 million to provide life-saving care to parts of Aleppo, Hama, Idleb and Lattakia governorates. "The health situation in north-west Syria is already dire and looks set to deteriorate," said Michel Thieren, Regional Emergencies Director for the World Health Organization (WHO). "If WHO does not receive additional funding, more than two million people caught in the cross-fire may have no access to essential health care services, including life-saving trauma care." Fleeing mounting insecurity and violence, hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have already been displaced, may be forced to move again. Idleb is in particularly dire straits, as more than half a million people have been displaced to and within the governorate since January 2017. Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, had said that there was "at least one million children at risk in Idlib alone." Meanwhile, growing crime and inter-factional fighting are adding to the insecurity as targeted assassinations and kidnappings also rise. Many internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in makeshift, overcrowded shelters with little access to health care, safe water and sanitation, according to WHO. After more than seven years of conflict, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee, those remaining are faced with degenerating health services, leaving them vulnerable to communicable disease as acute malnutrition is predicted to increase. Moreover, a decline in vaccination coverage rates threaten renewed outbreaks of preventable diseases, such as polio, and jeopardize WHO's efforts to globally eradicate the disease. "As matters stand, over half of the country's public health care facilities have been destroyed or forced to close after years of conflict," said Dr. Thieren. Facing widespread need across many parts of the country, the humanitarian community is finding itself increasingly compromised as a gap in funding for health has placed millions of vulnerable Syrians at increased risk. WHO said it would use any additionally received donor funds to support primary health care, childhood vaccination and trauma services in north-west Syria; and to strengthen referral systems to transfer critically ill and wounded patients to hospitals for specialized care. The UN health agency flagged that it would also facilitate medical evacuations and deliver essential life-saving medicines and equipment to hospitals, clinics and mobile teams to treat people in need. Link to original story on UN News website Secretary-General repeats call for support to Lake Chad countries after latest Boko Haram attack Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Secretary-General repeats call for support to Lake Chad countries after latest Boko Haram attack, 21 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495256.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 21 August 2018 The recent killing of villagers in Nigeria's Borno State has been condemned by the UN Secretary-General. At least 19 people were killed when fighters with the terrorist group Boko Haram attacked the village of Malairi on Sunday, according to media reports. UN chief Antonio Guterres is calling for those responsible for their deaths to be brought to justice. "The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the persisting violence in the Lake Chad Basin region," said his spokesman, in a statement issued on Monday evening. "He commends national and regional initiatives to bring peace and stability to the area and to address the root causes of the conflict." The Lake Chad Basin region includes Cameroon, Chad and Niger, as well as Nigeria. The Boko Haram insurgency began in north-eastern Nigeria nearly a decade ago, spilling over the border to the neighbouring countries. The group's activities, which include abductions and forcing captives to serve as suicide bombers, have displaced around 10 million people, as of 2017. The Secretary-General again called on the international community to increase support to regional efforts to fight the militants, which include the establishment of a Multinational Joint Task Force. Link to original story on UN News website UN chief welcomes event reuniting families on the Korean Peninsula Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief welcomes event reuniting families on the Korean Peninsula, 21 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495274.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 21 August 2018 The decision to allow scores of people from the Republic of Korea (ROK) to reunite with their relatives north of the border has been welcomed by the UN Secretary-General. The majority of those selected to take part in the week-long inter-Korean family reunion event, which began on Monday, are elderly. Many have not seen each other since the end of the Korean War in 1953. "(The Secretary-General) hopes that such reunion events will become routine and include many more people, including affected Koreans worldwide, allow participants to meet privately, and to remain in contact after the meetings," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, issued on Monday evening. The reunions, which are taking place in Mount Kumgang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), are the first to be held since 2015. They stem from the historic summit held in April between the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, and his ROK counterpart, Moon Jae-in. In the outcome document, the two leaders further declared "there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula". They also "confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula." The UN chief has welcomed the efforts by the two countries to continue their engagement and to take steps to build confidence and trust. "The Secretary-General looks forward to discussing how he can further support the parties in their diplomatic efforts to bring sustainable peace, security, and complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during the upcoming high-level week of the UN General Assembly," the statement continued Link to original story on UN News website DR Congo: Ebola outbreak spreads to eastern 'no-go' zone surrounded by rebels Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, DR Congo: Ebola outbreak spreads to eastern 'no-go' zone surrounded by rebels, 24 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495296.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 24 August 2018 Rebel violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is escalating inside the vast country's Ebola-hit North Kivu province, putting millions at risk, the United Nations refugee agency warned on Friday. "Thousands of civilians have fled their burned-out villages, bringing reports of brutal attacks," Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told the regular press briefing in Geneva Friday, following reports that a case of Ebola infection and one suspected case have been found in one town in the area, Oicha, which is surrounded by armed groups. The disease has killed more than 60 people and infected dozens more in recent weeks Forced displacement in this part of the country remains massive. It is estimated that more than a million people are displaced in North Kivu. This is the highest concentration of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the DRC. An estimated half a million people have been forced from their homes this year alone. At the same briefing, Dr. Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General of Emergency Preparedness and Response, said that the discovery of Ebola infection in the hard-to-reach part of eastern DRC could mark a "pivotal" point in the response to the deadly disease. "It really was the problem we were anticipating and the problem . . . we were dreading. Our teams have responded this week. They've had to reach Oicha with armed escorts... Once they reach Oicha, they are able to move within Oicha town more freely, because the town itself is a yellow zone from a security perspective," he explained. Mr. Mahecic said UNHCR is particularly worried about the deteriorating situation in the Ebola-hit northern territory of Ben, where Oicha town is located. The area is home to some 1.3 million people. Spiralling conflict has left the population living there virtually in a state of siege since October 2017. Reports of increased human rights violations and restrictions of humanitarian access are frequent. Estimates are that more than 100 armed groups are active in the province, continually terrorizing the population. Despite a large-scale military offensive of the Congolese Army against one of the main rebel groups, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) since January, there has been no let-up in the violence. "Despite security challenges, a UNHCR team accessed the area north of Beni earlier this month and conducted humanitarian assessments in Oicha and Eringeti districts," he said, adding: "Residents told our staff about brutal attacks against the civilians carried out with machetes. Stories of massacres, extortion, forced displacement and other human rights violations are frequent." Further, sexual and gender-based violence is rampant across the Beni territory. Many children are being recruited as child soldiers. The violence is particularly rampant in the so-called "triangle of death," between the towns of Eringeti, Mbau and Kamango, on the Uganda-DRC border, as well as in the towns of Beni, Oicha and Mavivi. UNHCR is scaling up its capacity in North Kivu to respond to the growing humanitarian needs. "We are arranging additional emergency shelters and other humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of the displaced in Beni. While UNHCR's humanitarian response is continuing despite the outbreak of Ebola, the prevailing security situation and drastic funding shortfall severely hamper our efforts. UNHCR's DRC 2018 appeal totalling $201 million is only 17 per cent funded," explained Mr. Mahecic. Link to original story on UN News website Rohingya emergency one year on: UN says thousands of lives saved, but challenges remain Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Rohingya emergency one year on: UN says thousands of lives saved, but challenges remain, 24 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4952b4.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 24 August 2018 Significant progress has been made in protecting hundreds of thousands Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in the 12 months since they fled violence in Myanmar, but lives "will once again be at risk" if funding is not urgently secured, UN officials said on Friday. Dr. Peter Salama, Deputy Director-General of Emergency Preparedness and Response for the UN World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists in Geneva that "thousands of lives" had been saved so far, thanks to the joint efforts of the Bangladesh Government, WHO and partners. Deadly disease outbreaks have also been held at bay in Cox's Bazar despite "all the conditions being in place for a massive epidemic", he said, noting that outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, polio, cholera and rubella have been contained thanks to preventive inoculation campaigns that have required four million doses of vaccine. "We need to sustain the vigilance for early warnings of infectious diseases," Dr. Salama said. "That is still a major risk due to the environmental situation, the poor sanitation, the massive overcrowding, the way these people are being housed and we need to maintain our ability to scale-up outbreak response as required." His call to scale up help was echoed in Geneva by IOM, the UN migration agency, spokesperson Joel Millman. "This was the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world and the challenges have been immense," he said, highlighting comments by the agency's Chief of Mission in Bangladesh Giorgi Gigauri. "Countless lives have been saved thanks to the generosity of the Government of Bangladesh, the local community and donor s and the hard work of all those involved in the humanitarian response. But we now face the very real threat that if more funding is not urgently secured, lives will once again be at risk." One year on from the exodus sparked by a military operation likened to ethnic cleansing by UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, more than 720,000 Rohingya people have arrived in Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh. They have joined an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who were previously displaced. One of the camps, Kutupalong, shelters more than 600,000 refugees, making it the largest and most densely populated refugee settlement in the world, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In addition to the challenge of providing people's basic needs shelter, water and sanitation and healthcare the agency has carried out huge engineering work to reduce the risk of landslides and flooding. This also involved mobilizing and training hundreds of refugee volunteers to serve as first responders in the event of a natural disaster, although the camps have largely withstood the adverse weather. Another key area of concern is the health of some 60,000 pregnant Rohingya women in the camps. Many of them suffered gender-based violence "either prior or during the course of their flight" from Myanmar, WHO's Dr. Salama said, adding that only one fifth of them will give birth in a suitable healthcare facility. Partner agency UNHCR also underlined the calls for the international community to step up support for the Rohingya, who are stateless and unable to return to Myanmar. This is despite the UN's signing of an official Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Myanmar in June, to help establish conditions conducive for the safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya. According to OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the mainly Muslim Rohingya communities that have stayed in Rakhine state require urgent and in some cases lifesaving help. Some 660,000 people are in need across Rakhine state including more than 176,000 in Northern Rakhine, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said. "We stand ready to go there as soon as access allows," he added." Most humanitarian organizations that have been working in Northern Rakhine state for years have still not been able to resume programmes and services for these population which are some of the most vulnerable in the world." To date, the $950 million Rohingya 2018 appeal is only just over 30 per cent funded. Link to original story on UN News website UN agency chiefs condemn Saudi-coalition led air strike that killed dozens in western Yemen Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN agency chiefs condemn Saudi-coalition led air strike that killed dozens in western Yemen, 24 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4952d4.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 24 August 2018 The UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, and the head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, have condemned the deadly air strike in Hudaydah governorate, in western Yemen, that killed at least 26 children and four women on Thursday. "This is the second time in two weeks that an air strike by the Saudi-led Coalition has resulted in dozens of civilian casualties," said Mr. Lowcock, noting that "an additional air strike in Al Durayhimi on Thursday resulted in the death of four children". Yemen's conflict has its roots in uprisings that date back to 2011, but fighting escalated in March 2015, when an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened militarily at the request of Yemen's President. Echoing a recent statement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Mr. Lowcock, who is the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, called for an impartial, independent and prompt investigation into these most recent incidents. "I am also deeply concerned by the proximity of attacks to humanitarian sites, including health facilities and water and sanitation infrastructure," he stressed, adding that "the UN and its partners are doing all they can to reach people with assistance". Similar shock was expressed by UNICEF's Executive Director who stated that she had hoped that the "outrage that followed the Saada attack" two weeks ago would be "a turning point in the conflict," and that these latest attacks indicate that it was not. Mr. Lowcok highlighted the need for improved humanitarian access and for conflict-affected civilians to have the ability to voluntarily flee the fighting to access humanitarian assistance too. Both officials called the parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and those with influence over them the UN Security Council and the international community to ensure that "everything possible is done to protect civilians", and to "end this conflict once and for all". According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Yemen is the world's largest humanitarian operation as three in four Yemenis are in need of aid. In 2018, so far, the UN and its partners have reached more than eight million people with direct life-saving assistance. Link to original story on UN News website UN Security Council welcomes results of Mali's presidential elections Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN Security Council welcomes results of Mali's presidential elections, 24 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4952f2e.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 24 August 2018 The members of the Security Council on Friday welcomed the publication of the final results of the presidential polls in Mali, which saw the re-election of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and insisted on the urgent need to accelerate the implementation of the peace agreement. The Constitutional Court of Mali validated a few days ago the provisional results of the second round of the presidential election and proclaimed Mr. Keita the victor. In a press statement, the Security Council congratulated the people and Government of Mali "for the generally peaceful conduct of the polls of July 29, 2018 and August 12, 2018, despite difficult security conditions and limited cases violence in certain areas." The 15-member body congratulated the Malian authorities for the preparation, conduct and conclusion of this election, within the constitutional framework. It also congratulated the Head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA), Mahamat Saleh Annadif, for his good offices throughout the electoral process. The Security Council also congratulated all national, regional and international election observation missions, including those of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and the UN. The European Union, for their positive contributions to the electoral process, as well as MINUSMA for its logistical and security assistance to the Malian government during the electoral process. Council members called on all Malians "to join forces and work together to promote lasting peace and address the security and development challenges facing Mali." They expressed their intention to continue working with the Malian people and Government to support inclusive and sustainable peace and security throughout the country. The members of the Security Council stressed "the absolute urgency" for the Government of Mali and the armed groups of the Azawad Platform and Movement Coordination "to take unprecedented steps to fulfill their obligations fully and rapidly remaining in the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali". The Security Council declared "that lasting peace and security in the Sahel region would not be possible without a full, effective and inclusive implementation of this Agreement." MINUSMA has been busy providing logistical support to the Government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, especially in the restive north and centre, where an alliance of militant Islamists and Tuareg rebels have been launching attacks with increasing frequency and ferocity against government troops and UN peacekeepers. When Mr. Keita was first elected in 2013, his administration replaced a transitional government which had wrested back control with international support of the outlying regions following a failed coup, that saw the iconic and ancient city of Timbuktu occupied by militants. Dozens of UN peacekeepers have made the ultimate sacrifice defending Mali's fragile recovery in recent years. Link to original story on UN News website UN condemns attack that leaves one 'blue helmet' dead in Central African Republic Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 25 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN condemns attack that leaves one 'blue helmet' dead in Central African Republic, 25 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495314.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 25 August 2018 Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the attack on 23 August by presumed anti-Balaka elements on the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in which one peacekeeper from Burundi was killed. In a statement issued by his Spokesman, Mr. Guterres offered his deepest condolences to the family of the deceased peacekeeper, as well as to the Government of Burundi. The UN chief also recalled that intentionally directing attacks against United Nations peacekeepers may constitute a war crime and that sanctions can be applied against the perpetrators. "He urges the Central African Republic (CAR) authorities to investigate them and swiftly bring those responsible to justice," said the statement. Fighting between the mostly Christian anti-Balaka militia and the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition has plunged the CAR into civil conflict since 2012. A peace agreement was reached in January 2013, but rebels seized the capital, Bangui, in March of that year, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee. Concerned with the security, humanitarian, human rights and political crisis in the CAR and its regional implications, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of MINUSCA in 2014 with the protection of civilians as its utmost priority. The Mission said that on Thursday, suspected armed anti-Balaka fighters attacked MINUSCA personnel who were securing a logistics truck near the village of Pavika, located 22 km from Alindao, in CAR's Basse-Kotto Prefecture, which is in the southern-central part of the country. Peacekeepers from the advanced MINUSCA Force military post at Pavika were en route to reinforce the convoy that evening when they were ambushed by another suspected armed anti-Balaka group. The blue helmet was killed in the ensuing shootout between peacekeepers and the attackers, who later fled the area. In a statement, MINUSCA strongly denounced the "reprehensible attack" on peacekeepers "whose presence in the CAR has the singular objective of protecting the civilian population and supporting the Central African Republic in escaping the cycle of violence caused by armed groups." The Mission also extended its condolences to the family of the victim and to the Government and people of Burundi. Link to original story on UN News website Myanmar military leaders must face genocide charges - UN report Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 27 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Myanmar military leaders must face genocide charges - UN report, 27 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495334.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 27 August 2018 Top military commanders in Myanmar should be investigated and prosecuted for the "gravest" crimes against civilians under international law, including genocide, United Nations-appointed investigators said on Monday. The development follows the release of a report into the circumstances surrounding the mass exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya people from Myanmar, beginning in mid-August last year events previously described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". The crimes committed include murder, rape, torture, sexual slavery, persecution and enslavement, according to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the investigators Marzuki Darusman, Radhika Coomaraswamy and Christopher Sidoti underlined the horrific and organized nature of the brutality meted out on civilians in Myanmar's Rakhine state since 2011, as well as Kachin and Shan states. "The fact-finding Mission has concluded, on reasonable grounds, that the patterns of gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law that it is found, amount to the gravest crime under international law," Mr. Sidoti said. "These have principally been committed by the military, the Tatmadaw," he added, referring to Myanmar's armed forces. "The Mission has concluded that criminal investigation and prosecution is warranted, focusing on the top Tatmadaw generals, in relation to the three categories of crimes under international law; genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes." Included in the list of alleged perpetrators are Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing and five other commanders. "In Myanmar, there is a very clear chain of command," Mr. Sidot explained, and added: "There is no doubt in our minds whatsoever that what we saw happen in Rakhine as a whole, would not have happened without it, firstly, being within the knowledge of the senior military leadership and secondly, under their effective control. And it's because of the clarity of the chain of command in Myanmar that we have recommended the investigation and prosecution of these six." Of well over 800 testimonies gathered, one in particular highlighted the extent of the abuse, that of a survivor who fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. "I was lucky, I was only raped by three men," she is quoted as saying. Such was the extent of the horrific violations that Ms. Coomaraswamy a former UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict said she was shocked by what she had found. "The scale, brutality, and systematic nature of rape and violence indicate that they are part of a deliberate strategy to intimidate, terrorize, or punish the civilian population," she said. "They're used as a tactic of war that we found include rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, forced nudity and mutilations." Before the fact-finding Mission delivers its findings to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in September, Chairperson Marzuki Darusman highlighted that one of the panel's key recommendations required the attention of the UN Security Council: "The Mission called for the situation in Myanmar to be referred to the international criminal court and that, of course, is the task of the Security Council to undertake. And so, the message to the Security Council is of course, 'Refer Myanmar to the [International Criminal Court].'" Link to original story on UN News website Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on Monday the signing of a comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation agreement at the highest level between Egypt and Russia. A signed decree carrying Putins instructions was posted on the Kremlins official portal for legal information. Its issuance marks the beginning of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis three-day visit to Russia earlier today. During the visit, El-Sisi will hold talks with Putin in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on means of boosting bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest. The talks come as part of the strategic partnership between the two countries. El-Sisi will also hold talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and other senior officials on boosting economic cooperation. The Egyptian president is also scheduled to deliver a speech before the Russian Federation Council, the upper house of the Federal Assembly. Search Keywords: Short link: Respect for fundamental rights and freedoms key for peaceful polls in DRC - UN mission chief Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 27 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Respect for fundamental rights and freedoms key for peaceful polls in DRC - UN mission chief, 27 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49535a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 27 August 2018 Confidence and consensus around key issues are still required ahead of this year's presidential and legislative elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Security Council heard on Monday. Leila Zerrougui, head of the UN Stabilization Mission in the country, known by its French acronym, MONUSCO, briefed ambassadors on the latest developments related to the December vote, which will mark the first peaceful transfer of power in the country. However, key concerns persist, including disputes over the eligibility of candidates, the use of voting machines, women's participation, targeting of political activists and human rights defenders, insecurity, and what Ms. Zerrougui called "the perceived credibility" of the electoral process. "It is also imperative that respect for fundamental rights and freedoms is assured throughout the territory of the DRC in a consistent manner, so that all Congolese citizens can participate freely and fairly in all stages of the electoral process moving forward," she said, speaking via videoconference from the capital, Kinshasa. "A failure to allow for political engagement and participation as foreseen by the Congolese constitution, could jeopardize the peaceful nature and the credibility of the polls." MONUSCO is providing technical support for the elections, which are set to take place on 23 December. While the DRC authorities have not requested external logistical or financial support, Ms. Zerrougui underscored her mission's readiness to assist. The DRC ranks among the world's largest countries, and nearly 20,000 people have registered as candidates in the provincial elections, while more than 15,220 will take part in the legislative race. Ms. Zerrougui reported that incumbent Joseph Kabila will not be in the running, having "respected his commitment not to be a candidate". Though first elected in 2006, President Kabila has been in power since 2001, following the assassination of his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila. Nineteen men will vie for the presidency as the sole woman candidate, Marie-Josee Ifoku, was deemed unsuitable to stand. Three former presidents, as well as former vice-president and ex-rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, were also among the six persons excluded from taking part in the race. Overall, women account for roughly 12 per cent of those seeking office in the DRC, a source of concern for Solange Lwashiga Furaha, spokesperson for the local civil society group Rien Sans les Femmes (Nothing Without Women), which has been advocating for gender equality at all levels of decision-making. "The fact that there is less than 15 per cent of women is a significant issue," she said, speaking alongside the UN mission chief. "Most of society in DRC are still reticent about women being able to vote. There is lack of resources within the electoral campaigns, there is lack of resources to encourage voters to go out and vote for women, and there are also problems surrounding the voting machines." The Security Council also heard from Monseigneur Marcel Utembi, president of the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO), who praised the "peaceful climate" in which the registration of candidates took place. CENCO facilitated a December 2016 agreement that allowed President Kabila to stay in power beyond the end of his second term, which would have expired at the end of that year. Speaking from Kisangani, Monseigneur Utembi listed recommendations for the authorities, including taking measures to reduce tensions in the wake of the vote. "The credibility of elections depends to a great extent on the observation of these elections by national and international groups who have an interest in doing so," he said. "CENCO wishes to contribute to observation of the next elections, and we plan to use more than 1,000 observers over the long-term, and more than 40,000 over the short-term. It is counting on the support of the Independent Electoral Commission to accredit all of these observers, who will be well-trained, and to also give them the opportunity to also carry out this important work, which will undoubtedly contribute to reducing tensions in the post-electoral climate." Link to original story on UN News website All sides in Yemen conflict could be guilty of war crimes, UN experts find Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, All sides in Yemen conflict could be guilty of war crimes, UN experts find, 28 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49537a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 28 August 2018 Parties on both sides of the conflict in Yemen have perpetrated and continue to perpetrate possible war crimes and other violations with a "total disregard" for the suffering of millions of civilians, United Nations-appointed human rights investigators said on Tuesday. Created last year by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen analyzed violations and abuses of international human rights law, humanitarian law and criminal law, making more than a dozen visits to the war-torn country and neighbouring States. "The Group of Eminent Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the Governments of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are responsible for human rights violations," panel member Charles Garraway told reporters in Geneva. Turning to the Houthi opposition forces, which he also described as "de facto authorities", Mr. Garraway added that the UN panel also has "reasonable grounds to believe, that the de facto authorities are responsible, in the areas over which they exercise effective control, for human rights violations". The experts' findings cover the situation in Yemen from September 2014 to June 2018. The roots of the conflict date back to uprisings in 2011, but fighting escalated in March 2015, when an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened militarily at the request of Yemen's President against "Houthi-Saleh" opposition forces a reference to the former Yemen President, Ali Abdallah Saleh. In recent years, the conflict has been marked by repeated airstrikes on public spaces including market places, funerals, civilian boats, detention facilities and hospitals. Just last week, an airstrike in opposition-held Hudaydah governorate, in western Yemen, killed at least 26 children and four women. The report notes that coalition airstrikes have caused most direct civilian casualties, giving the UN panel "reasonable grounds" to believe that the attacks overstepped key war crimes thresholds. "Individuals in the Government of Yemen and the coalition, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, may have conducted attacks in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and/or proportions, which may amount to war crimes," Mr. Garraway said, adding that a confidential list of names would be handed over to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), pending further investigations. "More information is needed on some incidents documented by the Group of Experts to establish responsibility," the UN panel said in a statement, before calling on the Human Rights Council to renew its mandate when it meets next month. "There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimize civilian casualties. I call on them to prioritize human dignity in this forgotten conflict," said Kamel Jendoubi, chairperson of the Group. According to UN human rights office (OHCHR), since March 2015 up to 23 August 2018, 6,660 civilians were killed and 10,563 injured; however, the real figures are likely to be significantly higher. Despite official meetings with coalition officials in Riyadh and Oman, Mr. Garraway said that insufficient information had been provided about how airstrikes are planned and carried out. "If there are systemic flaws in the targeting process, causing civilian casualties beyond what one would expect, then that process needs to be examined," he said. "And where there are flaws they need to be addressed and amended. We have seen no sign that there has been any attempt to do that." According to the UN panel, more than 22 million people remain in need inside Yemen; almost all of them are women and children. Even before the conflict, Yemen was one of the poorest countries on earth, importing almost all of its food, fuel and medicines. In November 2017, civilians were weakened further by a "total blockade on all the borders of Yemen, preventing all humanitarian aid and commercial trade, including food and fuel, from entering the country", the Group of Experts' report noted, adding that restrictions continued into June. "The Houthi opposition's role in causing "the majority" of reported civilian casualties in Ta'izz from shelling is highlighted, as well as its role in restricting food and aid access to civilian populations in the city, a strategically important location between Sana'a and the port cities of Aden and Hudaydah". Link to original story on UN News website UN chief calls for Security Council to work with Myanmar to end 'horrendous suffering' of Rohingya refugees Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief calls for Security Council to work with Myanmar to end 'horrendous suffering' of Rohingya refugees, 28 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49539a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 28 August 2018 Despite the efforts made by the United Nations over the past year to help create safeguards for all communities in Myanmar's Rakhine state, it is clear that conditions are still not suitable for the safe, voluntary, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their home, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday. The UN chief was briefing the Security Council on the situation in Myanmar, where 12 months ago a military operation in northern Rakhine state sparked an exodus of desperate Rohingya refugees that quickly became one of the world's worst humanitarian and human rights crises. Mr. Guterres' remarks also follow the release of an independent UN investigation into alleged human rights abuses carried out against the mainly Muslim Rohingya and which called for the country's military leaders to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide and war crimes. Cate Blanchett, the Academy Award winning actor and Goodwill Ambassador for the Office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and Tegegnework Gettu, Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) also addressed the briefing, which was chaired by Lord Ahmad, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN for the United Kingdom, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council. Over 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to ramshackle refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar area, Bangladesh after being forced from their homes by a military operation which UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein compared, at the time, to ethnic cleansing. Mr. Guterres, recounting his experience of visiting the camps this past July, said that he had heard stories of horrendous persecution and suffering. "One father broke down as he told me how his son was shot dead in front of him. His mother was brutally murdered and his house burned to the ground. He took refuge in a mosque only to be discovered by soldiers who abused him and burned the Quran," he said. One distraught woman gestured to a mother cradling her young baby who was conceived as a result of rape and told me: "We need security in Myanmar and citizenship. And we want justice for what our sisters, our daughters, our mothers have suffered.'" Ms. Blanchett, who visited Bangladesh last year at the invitation of the UNHCR, said she had witnessed similar scenes, and "nothing could have prepared me for the extent and depth of suffering I saw . . . I have heard gut-wrenching accounts . . . of grave torture, of women brutally violated, people whose loved ones have been killed before their eyes." "I am a mother, and I saw my children in the eyes of every refugee child I met. I saw myself in every parent. How can any mother endure seeing her child thrown into a fire?" she asked the Council. The trigger for the military crackdown one year ago was a series of attacks on Myanmar security forces by insurgents that were immediately condemned by the Secretary-General. Mr. Guterres said that the disproportionate use of force against civilian populations and the gross human rights violations that followed, could never be justified. Since then, despite his direct engagement with the Myanmar authorities, and the launch of several UN system initiatives on the ground, the Secretary General has expressed concern regarding the dramatic humanitarian and human rights situations, as well as the risks to regional peace and security of further degeneration. This engagement includes the advancement of a policy of engagement and unified action to defuse tensions and build trust, and the appointment of Christine Schraner as Special Envoy on Myanmar, which has led to a process of broad consultations with the Government, military, civil society and women's groups. Mr. Guterres said that, despite the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the Myanmar authorities and UN agencies in June, the country's leaders have not made the investment in reconstruction, reconciliation and respect for human rights necessary for all communities to live improved and resilient lives in Rakhine state. UNDP's Mr. Gettu said the agency shares international concerns about the situation in Rakhine and the plight of the Rohingya, and he emphasised the need to address Rakhine's significant development challenges and to lift restrictions on free movement and access to services. The UNDP, UNHCR and other UN agencies have been implementing the MOU, and working in Rakhine to put a wide-ranging development and humanitarian assistance initiative in place with support from major donors. He underlined that addressing the needs of the refugees in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, is also of primary importance. Mr. Guterres asked the Security Council to urge Myanmar's leaders to ensure immediate, unimpeded and effective access for the Organization's agencies and partners, and release journalists arrested for reporting on the human tragedy. He added that there can be no excuse for delaying the search for dignified solutions that will allow people to return home, and benefit from freedom of movement, an end to discrimination and the re-establishment of the rule of law. His call for action was amplified by Ms. Blanchett, who said that "the focus of all our efforts must be to provide much-needed support inside Bangladesh while working to ensure conditions in Myanmar are conducive to return." Mr. Guterres concluded with a call for accountability as an essential prerequisite for regional security and stability, and for the Security Council to give serious consideration to the report released on Monday by the UN-appointed Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar. He added that effective, international cooperation will be "critical to ensuring that accountability mechanisms are credible, transparent, impartial, independent and comply with Myanmar's obligations under international law." Link to original story on UN News website UN Security Council urged to act against 'worst-case scenario' in Syria's war-battered Idlib Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN Security Council urged to act against 'worst-case scenario' in Syria's war-battered Idlib, 28 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4953bff.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 28 August 2018 A further escalation of violence in Syria's Idlib governorate could create a humanitarian emergency "at a scale not yet seen through this crisis," a senior United Nations aid official warned the Security Council on Tuesday. John Ging, Director of Operations with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said recent intense aerial bombardment and shelling in Idlib and three other governorates in north-west Syria have resulted in death, damage and destruction, placing an even greater strain on aid workers and communities hosting displaced people. "Humanitarian organizations are doing what they can with the resources available to them to sustain the current response and prepare for a possible further deterioration, thanks in large part to cross-border assistance and the generosity of our financial donors," Mr. Ging told the ambassadors. "But a worst-case scenario in Idlib will overwhelm capacities and has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis." Mr. Ging was speaking during the Council's monthly meeting on the Syrian conflict, now in its seventh year. He said aid partners are finalizing a humanitarian plan to respond to the potential crisis in the north-west, which borders Turkey, in addition to carrying out their ongoing operations. These organizations are providing a "critical lifeline" for scores of civilians, 680,000 of whom received food delivered from Turkey in July alone. Mr. Ging reported that the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, was in Damascus that day to engage with the Government on how best to scale up humanitarian response across Syria. Security Council engagement is also critical to preventing an escalation in Idlib and an ensuing humanitarian emergency, he added. Quoting former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former UN-Arab League envoy on the Syria crisis, who died earlier this month, he appealed for action. "We call on the members of the Council to do all they can to ensure that we avoid this. In the words of Kofi Annan, 'We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will.'" Link to original story on UN News website Syria: UN chief warns Idlib offensive may set off 'humanitarian catastrophe' Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 29 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Syria: UN chief warns Idlib offensive may set off 'humanitarian catastrophe', 29 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4953d6.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 29 August 2018 United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe should a full-scale military operation take place in Syria's war-battered Idlib province. According to a statement issued by his Spokesperson, Mr. Guterres said that "any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable," adding that he "urgently appeals to the Government of Syria and all parties to exercise restraint and to prioritize the protection of civilians." "He calls on the Astana guarantors to step up efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Idlib, the last remaining de-escalation zone," the spokesperson stressed, referring to Russia, Turkey and Iran, which have since last year worked together on the establishment of de-escalation zones in Syria's war-ravaged areas. The Secretary-General, in today's statement, further called on all parties "to take all necessary measures to safeguard civilian lives, allow freedom of movement, and protect civilian infrastructure, including medical and educational facilities, in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law." The statement came one day after John Ging, Director of Operations with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the Security Council that intense aerial bombardment and shelling in Idlib and three other governorates in north-west Syria have left death, damage and destruction in their wake, and placed an even greater strain on aid workers and communities hosting displaced people. According to news reports, the three million people roughly half of whom are native residents and the other half persons displaced within the country of Idlib, the last big rebel enclave, are bracing for Syrian Government forces to begin a phased offensive. Link to original story on UN News website UN rights office calls for action to end 'repression and retaliation' in crisis-torn Nicaragua Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 29 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN rights office calls for action to end 'repression and retaliation' in crisis-torn Nicaragua, 29 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4953f6.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 29 August 2018 The United Nations on Wednesday called for urgent action to address the human rights crisis in Nicaragua, where "repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue . . . as the world looks away." A new report from the UN human rights office has detailed what it describes as numerous violations carried out by the Nicaraguan Government after mass protests erupted in mid-April over planned social security reforms. "The violence and impunity of these past four months have exposed the fragility of the country's institutions and the rule of law, and created a climate of fear and mistrust," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. The report covers the period from when protests against planned social security reforms began on 18 April, up to 18 August. The disproportionate use of force by police, sometimes resulting in extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances; widespread arbitrary detentions; torture and ill-treatment; and rights violations to freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly have all been documented in the report. The report notes that in the initial stage, the police and pro-Government armed elements responded harshly to protests. During the "clean-up" stage, from mid-June to mid-July, they forcibly dismantled roadblocks and barricades according to information obtained, armed elements often acted in coordination with high-level State authorities and the National Police. "The Government no longer denies the existence of pro-Government armed elements, [and] it condones their actions and allows them to operate with impunity," the report says. Most of the violence took place from mid-April to mid-July and has reportedly left some 300 people dead and 2,000 others injured mostly men under 30, including university students and young professionals. The report also noted that 22 police officers were killed. In the current stage, demonstrators and so-called Government opponents are being persecuted and criminalized. As of 18 August, information indicates that at least 300 protesters are being prosecuted, including on charges of terrorism and organized crime. These trials have serious flaws and do not observe due process, including the impartiality of the courts, the report says. Civil servants, including teachers and doctors, have been sacked, and the authorities have been increasingly stigmatizing and discrediting protesters and human rights defenders as "terrorists" or "coup-mongers." "Rather than recognizing responsibility for any wrongdoing during the crisis, the Government has placed the blame on social and opposition leaders for what they have termed 'coup-related violence,'" the report notes. The report calls on the Government to immediately end the harassment, intimidation and criminalization; and to disarm pro-government elements, halt all unlawful arrests, and release all those arbitrarily detained. Mr. Zeid urged the UN Human Rights Council and the international community "to take concrete action to prevent the current crisis from descending into deeper social and political turmoil." "Any such action should aim to ensure full accountability for human rights violations and abuses, enable victims to have effective access to justice and appropriate remedies, including reparations and the right to know the truth," concluded the High Commissioner. Link to original story on UN News website Guinea-Bissau: Upcoming elections vital to prevent 'relapse' into instability, says UN envoy Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 30 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Guinea-Bissau: Upcoming elections vital to prevent 'relapse' into instability, says UN envoy, 30 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495414.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 30 August 2018 Highlighting the importance of the upcoming legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau, the top United Nations official in the country reiterated the importance of "far-reaching" reforms to prevent a relapse into political and institutional instability. Jose Viegas Filho, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Guinea-Bissau and the head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the country (UNIOGBIS) called for sustained international support for the West African nation. "I therefore urge all international partners to maintain and increase their political, technical and financial support to help national institutions during and beyond the legislative and presidential elections," said Mr. Filho, briefing the Security Council for the first time since his appointment as the Special Representative. Mr. Filho also informed the Council of some difficulties in the preparations for the legislative elections (scheduled for 18 November), including disagreements voiced by some political actors against the 30-day timeframe set by the Government for voter registration and delays in arrival of biometric kits. On the other hand, the senior UN official also highlighted important developments, including the adoption of a new gender parity quota law, on 2 August, which establishes a minimum of 36 per cent representation for women in the lists of candidates for legislative and local government elections, as well as for appointments to key decision-making positions. This, he explained, is a "significant development" for gender equality and women's empowerment in Guinea-Bissau. Though the law will have to be reviewed by specialized committees of the national Parliament, as well as formally promulgated by the President of Guinea-Bissau, it should enter into force before the November legislative elections, according to UNIOGBIS. Furthermore, Mr. Filho said that he continues to support the "full implementation" of the 2016 Conakry agreement, which set out a framework for a peaceful resolution to the political crisis plaguing the country since its independence in 1974. Turning to the work of UNIOGBIS, Mr. Filho informed the 15-member Security Council of the Integrated Peacebuilding Office's support to national authorities in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime. 'Renewed sense of optimism' Also at the briefing, Mauro Vieira, the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN and the Chair of the Guinea-Bissau Configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission, spoke of his trip to the country in July this year, during which he met wide range of interlocutors. "My mission confirmed that there has been tangible progress in the implementation of the Conakry agreement and in the process of return to normality of the political life as compared to same period last year," he said, adding: "There is a renewed sense of optimism regarding the definitive solution to the protracted crisis and the upcoming elections are seen as a window of opportunity to this end." He also outlined recent developments, including the appointment of a consensual Prime Minister and the formation of an inclusive government as major achievements towards the implementation of the Conakry agreement. Link to original story on UN News website Security Council extends mandate of UN Interim Force in Lebanon for a year Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 30 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Security Council extends mandate of UN Interim Force in Lebanon for a year, 30 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49543a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 30 August 2018 In a unanimous action, the United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of the Organization's peacekeeping mission in Lebanon until 31 August next year. Adopting resolution 2433 (2018), on Thursday, the 15-member Security Council also called on the Lebanese Government to develop a plan to increase its naval capabilities, with the goal of decreasing the Mission's Maritime Taskforce and transitioning activities to the country's armed forces. The Security Council also stressed the need for UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to improve its management of civilian resources by fostering cooperation with the Special Coordinator for the country. It also urged all parties to ensure that the Mission's freedom of movement and access to the so-called 'Blue Line' separating Israel and Lebanon in all its parts, is fully respected and unimpeded. Originally established in 1978, UNIFIL was greatly reinforced after the 2006 fighting to oversee the cessation of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese group Hizbollah. It is tasked with ensuring that the area between the 'Blue Line' and the Litani River is free of unauthorized weapons, personnel and assets. It also cooperates with the Lebanese Armed Forces so they can fulfil their security responsibilities. Link to original story on UN News website UN food relief agency airlifts aid to DR Congo province hit by Ebola outbreak Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 30 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, UN food relief agency airlifts aid to DR Congo province hit by Ebola outbreak, 30 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49545a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 30 August 2018 Emergency food aid is being delivered to people affected by the Ebola virus in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Thursday. The UN agency is airlifting high energy biscuits from its warehouse in Dubai to Goma, capital of North Kivu province, where an Ebola outbreak was declared on 1 August. So far, 111 cases have been recorded, 83 of which have been confirmed, while more than 4,000 people have been vaccinated. "This tenth Ebola outbreak is unfolding in an area of active armed conflict and displacement. It poses a risk of a regional health emergency involving three countries DRC, Rwanda and Uganda," said Claude Jibidar, WFP Country Director, in a press release. "With its food assistance, logistics and air support already firmly in place, WFP is committed to do even more, to save lives and to prevent the epidemic from spreading." WFP and its partner, Caritas, are providing food to patients and caregivers in hospitals in the town of Mangina as well as in Beni, located in the epicentre of the outbreak. High energy biscuits are often used in emergency situations as they are easy to transport and do not require cooking, the agency explained. Food is also being distributed to villages in the area, with around 4,000 people receiving a month's supply of cereal, beans, oil and salt. WFP wants to reach those who have been in contact with affected people and their families in efforts to limit population movements and prevent the virus from being spread further. Prior to the outbreak, WFP was already assisting hundreds of thousands of people in North Kivu province who were displaced by fighting, with 12,000 in Beni territory receiving monthly food rations since July. WFP also has been providing logistical support to the DRC's Ministry of Health and its sister UN agency, the World Health Organization (WHO). This same approach was taken during the Ebola outbreak in DRC's Equateur province in May, which was recently halted The agency has deployed three mobile warehouses to Beni, while seven of its trucks carry medicine, food, cars, motorbikes, thermometers, refrigerators, and other supplies to treatment centres. Meanwhile, WFP aviation specialists are helping with air traffic management in and out of the town, while WFP-run humanitarian flights transport aid workers as well as medical and protection equipment, and other cargo, between Goma and Beni each day. The Ebola outbreak in North Kivu province is the 10th in the DRC in 40 years. Ebola virus was first identified in 1976. WHO said although its origin is not known, fruit bats potentially may be a host. Link to original story on UN News website Food, security and peace desperately needed in Mali - UN deputy relief chief Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Food, security and peace desperately needed in Mali - UN deputy relief chief, 31 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc49547a.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 31 August 2018 A senior United Nations relief official has called for greater international attention to the plight of millions in Africa's Mali, where worsening intercommunal violence and armed group attacks are complicating an already complex humanitarian emergency. UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ursula Mueller who just wrapped up a four-day mission to Mali underscored that food, security, protection and peace are of paramount importance. "Violence and intercommunal clashes have gotten worse here this year [ . . . ] and this has huge implications, including humanitarian organizations not able to access areas and people in need of assistance," she said, in Mopti (central Mali), where nearly a million people desperately await protection and humanitarian assistance. According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of internally displaced persons in Mali has sharply increased since the beginning of the year to over 75,000 by the end of July. In all, some 5.2 million people are estimated to be in dire need of assistance across the country, the number represents one in four Malians. In Mali, Ms. Mueller also met with humanitarian organizations to better understand the challenges they face in providing life-saving and protection assistance and with local authorities, stressing the need to scale up conflict resolution efforts, access to basic social services and protection. "Despite huge challenges security, access, funding and administrative impediments they are continuing their critical work and reaching those who most need humanitarian assistance," she said, praising the work of relief organizations. During a wrap-up press conference in the Malian capital, Bamako, Ms. Mueller said she had been encouraged by the initiatives and the planning being made by the Government, development and aid actors to work together in ensuring that the immediate needs are addressed as well as helping restore and build livelihoods. "This is essential to ensure our work today helps make communities more resilient and better able to survive future crises," she said. At a time, when the level of need is higher than at any point since the crisis erupted in 2012, the response has been hampered by a severe lack of resources. According to latest figures, only 31 per cent of the $330 million sought by the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan has been received. Link to original story on UN News website Egypt's Minister of Defence and Military Production Mohamed Zaki received on Monday Cypriot Defence Minister Savvas Angelides and his accompanying delegation currently visiting Cairo. They discussed the latest developments on the regional and international arenas and efforts exerted to achieve stability and security in the region, along with military cooperation and exchange of military expertise. Zaki expressed hope the coming stage would witness more joint cooperation while the Cypriot minister hailed continued cooperation between Egypt and his country in various domains. The meeting was attended by Armed Forces Commanders and Cypriot Ambassador to Cairo Kharis Moritzis. Search Keywords: Short link: FROM THE FIELD: Living a life in the ruins of Syria Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, FROM THE FIELD: Living a life in the ruins of Syria, 31 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc495496.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 31 August 2018 Many people in Syria are trying to lead "a normal life amidst the ruins" of their country devastated by years of conflict; that's according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who visited the Syrian city of Douma this week. Some 5.6 million people have fled Syrian over the past seven years of war and a further 6.6 million people are displaced inside the country. Mr. Grandi walked the streets of Douma on Thursday and met people who are living in the rubble of destroyed homes. The UN Refugee Agency continues to support people across the country with relief items. It has also funded the rehabilitation of vital infrastructure such as schools and health clinics. Read more here on Mr Grandi's visit. Link to original story on UN News website Refugees overcrowded to 'boiling point' on Greek island, warns UN agency Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 August 2018 Cite as UN News Service, Refugees overcrowded to 'boiling point' on Greek island, warns UN agency, 31 August 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc4954b3.html [accessed 16 November 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 31 August 2018 The Government of Greece has been urged by the United Nations to do more to help thousands of asylum-seekers and migrants who have been "crammed" into island reception centres, amid reports that children have tried to take their own lives there. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which issued the appeal on Friday, described the centres as "squalid, inadequate and rapidly deteriorating". Levels of overcrowding on some islands are on a par with March 2016, when arrival rates were far higher than they are now. The majority of those seeking shelter are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the UN agency. It has warned that hundreds of unaccompanied boys and girls are particularly at risk, along with dozens of pregnant women, newborns and survivors of sexual violence. More than 3,000 asylum-seekers on the islands have been given permission to move to the mainland, but transfers "have been slow", UNHCR says, owing to a lack of accommodation and reception facilities. "The situation is reaching boiling point at the Moria RIC on the island of Lesvos," UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley said, referring to the Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) used to house new arrivals. "More than 7,000 asylum-seekers and migrants are crammed into shelters built to accommodate just 2,000 people," he added. "A quarter of those are children." There are similar overcrowding levels on another Greek island, Samos, where some 2,700 mainly Syrian and Iraqi families are staying in a facility that was originally designed to hold around 700 people. On the islands of Chios and Kos, meanwhile, reception centres are at close to double their intended capacity. "This is likely to become a serious concern if not addressed before winter sets in," Mr. Yaxley told journalists, before warning of other urgent needs. "We are particularly concerned about woefully inadequate sanitary facilities, fighting amongst frustrated communities, rising levels of sexual harassment and assaults and the increasing need for medical and psycho-social care," he said, noting that increasing numbers of people "including children" have been displaying signs of mental health problems. So far this month, around 800 asylum-seekers have been moved to the Greece's mainland. But this has failed to ease the pressure on the island reception facilities, as the number of arrivals has increased to an average of 114 per day, up from 83 in July. To help reduce delays in transporting vulnerable people to the Greek mainland, UNHCR will continue to assist in the process next month. "We do encourage the Greek authorities, who have received European funding for this situation, to address these challenges and to accelerate the procedure and measures to decongest the island as soon as possible," Mr. Yaxley said. Latest data from UNHCR indicates that so far this year, around 19,000 vulnerable people have reached the Greek islands from Turkey. In 2015, the number was more than 850,000. "It's a very manageable situation, it's a question of political will," Mr. Yaxley told journalists in Geneva, in an appeal for European Union countries to show solidarity with those in need of international protection. Link to original story on UN News website Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi started on Monday his official visit to Russia with a meeting with the chairman of the Eurasian Economic Union Tigran Sargsyan, where they discussed boosting relations between Egypt and the union, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. El-Sisi and Tigran also discussed soon-to-be-held talks on a free-trade agreement between Egypt and the union. The Eurasian Economic Union's members include Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. El-Sisi is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Wednesday. The Egyptian president said the free-trade agreement would double trade between Egypt and the union's countries, especially with the ongoing development and renovation of Egypt's infrastructure in electricity, energy, highways and ports. Sargsyan expressed the union's appreciation for its relationship with Egypt, adding that the union is keen to boost relations by starting the free-trade agreement talks with Egyptian officials, especially in light of the recent economic reforms in the country. The trade volume between Egypt and the members of the EEU has hit around $7 billion, according to Egyptian trade commissioner in Moscow Nasser Hamed. Search Keywords: Short link: Tampa, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/15/2018 --All Star Insurance is a leading Independent Insurance Agency that serves the customers residing in Clearwater, Lakeland, St Petersburg, Tampa, Land O' Lakes FL, and the surrounding areas. The car insurance policy that All Star Insurance offers can cover any damage caused to someone else's personal property or vehicle. The policy also covers the liability for medical care and personal injuries. As an Independent Insurance Agency, All Star Insurance has tie ups with some of the most leading and popular insurance service providers, and by buying car insurance in Clearwater and Lakeland Florida, one can make a lot of savings and get maximum advantages. Besides offering a cost-effective auto insurance policy to the customers, the company also provides other types of policies, for instance, commercial and building insurance, homeowners insurance and renters insurance in St Petersburg and Tampa Florida from the well-known insurance providers. One of the prime advantages of working with an Independent Insurance Agency such as All Star Insurance is that they do not work for any specific insurance service provider, but instead they work only for the clients. The agents here are always prepared to take that new initiative to determine the preferences and requirements in addition to the budget of the customers and accordingly assist them in finding the correct type of insurance policy. All the agents working with All Star Insurance are qualified, talented and knowledgeable, and thus they know how to satisfy the customers by guiding them in finding the right kind of policy. To get quotes for the insurance policy from the company one can straightaway call on 813-875-8888 or 813-977-4949. Besides, one can also visit the website of All Star Insurance to know more about the services that the company offers. The customer care representatives of the company are always ready to assist the customers with whatever issues they have. About All Star Insurance All Star Insurance is a famous independent insurance company that has been serving the customers of Clearwater, Lakeland, St Petersburg, Tampa, Land O' Lakes FL, and the surrounding areas. Folsom, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/15/2018 --If the elders are currently suffering from some illness, they might need some senior home care to tend to them. This is also something one ought to give them if they have just come from major surgery. It is essential to make sure that their medical needs are attended to especially if the family members cannot personally be with them all the time. One needs to make a note to drop by the agency and learn as much as possible about it. Among that is the legal listing. What is important to note is that if they are duly sanctioned by the state to operate. Not all states employ certain restrictions about a senior home care agency, but they should at least have a business permit to work. If they have other clearances to present to the clients, the better. Aside from this, one should also care to find out if the senior home care agency has other accreditations apart from the government. This would give one an idea of how active the agency is in the field of senior home care. It's also good if there are other private organizations which evaluate their policies and performance. One can even ask for the results of the recent survey conducted by the said organizations. Ang Health Care Inc has years of experience in providing quality senior home care in Citrus Heights and Fair Oaks, California. Over the years, the company has done an incredible job by dealing with many individuals who require professional medical care. The professionals understand how important it is to help those who require their service to maintain their dignity and self-worth. These compassionate professionals offer help without 'taking over.' Certified and licensed, the experts assist in the transition from acute to home. For more information about nursing care in Folsom and Roseville, California, visit http://www.anghealthcare.com/skilled-nursing. About ANG Health Care, Inc. ANG Health Care, Inc. offers quality, professional healthcare and serves the residents of Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, Roseville, Folsom, Sacramento, CA and other close by communities. Turkish authorities will search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Monday afternoon as part of an investigation into the disappearance of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi, broadcaster NTV said, citing diplomatic sources. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and critic of Riyadh's policies, disappeared almost two weeks ago after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed, while Saudi Arabia has denied the allegations. Search Keywords: Short link: Indian shares gave up early gains to trade mixed on Monday. The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 42 points or 0.12 percent at 34,692 after rising over 1 percent last week to snap a five-week losing streak. The broader Nifty index was up 52 points or 0.49 percent at 10,524. The rupee fell in early trade as concerns lingered over the U.S.-China trade dispute and oil prices jumped once again after the sudden disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist. TCS, Infosys, ITC, Indiabulls Housing Finance and ONGC rose 1-2 percent in the Nifty pack, while oil companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL lost 3-6 percent. Indiabulls Housing Finance rallied nearly 2 percent. The company said it would migrate to asset quality norms meant for banks. Tata Steel slumped 5.5 percent after unveiling capacity expansion plans at Bhushan steel plant. Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose over 1 percent after recalling over 35,000 tubes of Nystatin and Triamcinolone Acetonide cream from the American market. Sun Pharma gained 1.3 percent after inaugurating a new production line at Palashbari facility in Assam. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Iran dismissed reports on Monday of a suicide bomb threat at its embassy in Ankara, Iranian state television said, after a Turkish newspaper reported a planned attack on the building. Turkish daily Sozcu said that the embassy had been evacuated after authorities were informed of a planned suicide bomb attack on the building. However a Reuters TV cameraman at the scene said visitors to the embassy reported that operations were continuing normally despite heightened security in the area. Police carried out searches on vehicles and the road on which the embassy is located was briefly closed to traffic, he said, adding that it was later reopened. Iran's foreign ministry denied that there was a bomb threat against the embassy and denied that the building had been evacuated, state TV reported. Search Keywords: Short link: Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (RDY) announced Monday that it has agreed to sell its API manufacturing unit located in Jeedimetla, Hyderabad, to Therapiva Private Ltd., an emerging generics pharmaceutical company. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company said the sale is being done by way of slump sale, as a going concern, and includes all related fixed assets such as land and building, current assets, current liabilities, and its employees. Sanjay Sharma, Executive Vice President & Head, Global Manufacturing Operations, stated that the divestiture of the API manufacturing business unit is a step towards streamlining manufacturing operations and optimizing cost structures. Hyderabad-based Therapiva Private is a joint venture between Omnicare Drugs India Private Ltd, a unit of BR Shetty-owned Neopharma LLC, Abu Dhabi, and Laxai Life Sciences Private Ltd. Therapiva said the acquisition would augment Neopharma's vertical integration advantage and provides it with a high quality manufacturing base in India. BR Shetty, Chairman of Neopharma LLC, Abu Dhabi, said, "This is a key milestone in our acquisition strategy over the next few years to increase Neopharma's presence in the global generics space." For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Boeing Co. (BA) announced Monday the delivery of S7 Airlines' first 737 MAX, through lease from Air Lease Corp. (AL). S7, operated by Globus Airlines, becomes the first Russian airline to fly the new and improved 737 airplane. S7 plans to take 10 more 737 MAX jets over the next few years as part of its strategic plan to strengthen its airplane fleet. The 737 MAX is the fastest-selling airplane in Boeing history with more than 4,700 orders from 104 customers worldwide. It is part of a family of airplanes that offer from about 130 to 230 seats and the ability to fly up to 3,850 nautical miles. The airline's fleet already includes 19 Boeing 737Next Generation aircraft. Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president of Commercial Sales & Marketing for Boeing said, "With S7 Group's innovative approach to its and ambitious long-term goals, the 737 MAX will be a great addition to its fleet and will be seamlessly integrated in the group's strategy of delivering exceptional performance and value." For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Oil prices rose sharply on Monday as fresh geopolitical tensions over the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist raised worries about reduced oil supply. Brent crude rose by 88 cents or 1.09 percent to $81.31 a barrel after sharp losses last week. U.S. crude futures were up 44 cents or 0.62 percent at $71.78 a barrel, extending Friday's gains. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of "severe punishment" if Saudi Arabia was behind the disappearance of its dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was reportedly killed inside the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh said it would retaliate if there were any sanctions by the U.S. Relations between the kingdom and the U.S. have deteriorated rapidly after Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Riyadh and a U.S. resident, disappeared early this month after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Oil prices also remained supported in the wake of data showing that South Korea imported no Iranian crude in September for the first time in six years, bowing to pressure from the United States before U.S. sanctions against the Middle Eastern country take effect in November. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday showed the pace of growth in New York manufacturing activity accelerated by more than anticipated in the month of October. The New York Fed said its general conditions index rose to 21.1 in October from 19.0 in September, with a positive reading indicating growth in regional manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 20.0. The bigger than expected increase by the headline index partly reflected a significant acceleration in the pace of shipment growth, as the shipments index surged up to 26.3 in October from 14.3 in September. New orders growth also showed a notable acceleration compared to the previous month, with the new orders index jumping to 22.5 in October from 16.5 in September. Meanwhile, the report said the number of employees index fell to 9.0 in October from 13.3 in September, indicating a slowdown in the pace of job growth. The prices received index also slipped to 14.3 in October from 16.3 in September, while the prices paid index dropped to 42.0 from 46.3. Looking ahead, the New York Fed said firms generally remained optimistic about the six-month outlook, although the index for future business conditions edged down to 29.0 in October from 30.3 in September. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is scheduled to release a separate report on regional manufacturing activity on Thursday. The Philly Fed index is expected to dip to 20.0 in October from 22.9 in September. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Forex News The European fluctuated between small gains and losses throughout Monday's session. The majority of the markets ended the day with slight gains as they struggle to recover from the heavy losses of the previous trading week. Equity markets continue to struggle due to the rise in bond yields. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China remain a concern, as well as a growing feud between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist. Traders are looking ahead to this week's European Union summit and are also keeping a close eye on Brexit developments. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.11 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip stocks increased 0.51 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.44 percent. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.78 percent, but the CAC of France fell 0.02 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.48 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.08 percent. In London, food company Greencore Group tumbled 9.45 percent after it entered into an agreement to sell its entire U.S. . ConvaTec shares sank 34.43 percent. The medical equipment manufacturer slashed its growth forecast for the year and announced departure of its chief executive. Precious metal miner Randgold Resources jumped 4.98 percent as gold prices hovered near 12-week high amid falling equities. Roche Group slid 0.13 percent in Zurich. Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced that the Phase III KATHERINE study with Kadcyla in treatment of HER2-Positive early breast cancer met its primary endpoint. Home appliance manufacturer Electrolux lost 1.51 percent in Stockholm after it issued a statement on possible impact from Sears' restructuring under Chapter 11. German manufacturers added more employees during August compared to a year ago, preliminary figures the Federal Statistical Office showed on Monday. The number of employees in the manufacturing units with 50 or more persons grew by about 149,000 persons or 2.7 percent from the same period last year to 5.7 million. Retail sales in the U.S. crept up by much less than expected in the month of September, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Monday. The Commerce Department said retail sales inched up by 0.1 percent in September, matching the uptick seen in August. Economists had expected retail sales to climb by 0.5 percent. A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday showed the pace of growth in New York manufacturing activity accelerated by more than anticipated in the month of October. The New York Fed said its general business conditions index rose to 21.1 in October from 19.0 in September, with a positive reading indicating growth in regional manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 20.0. With increases in wholesale and retail inventories more than offsetting a modest drop in manufacturing inventories, the Commerce Department released a report on Monday showing U.S. business inventories rose in line with economist estimates in the month of August. The Commerce Department said business inventories rose by 0.5 percent in August after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in July. Economists had expected inventories to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Bahrain's foreign minister has called for a boycott of Uber after the ride-hailing company's Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said he will not attend an investment conference in Bahrain's ally, Saudi Arabia. Khosrowshahi is among several leaders who have said they are pulling out of the three-day investment conference slated to take place in Saudi Arabia beginning October 23, amid growing outrage over the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist in Turkey. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's policies, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2. Turkish officials claim to have evidence that he was killed and dismembered. The Saudis have denied the allegations, but have yet to provide any evidence that Khashoggi is still alive. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund is hosting the Future Investment Initiative or FII conference in Saudi Arabia. Public Investment Fund is also one of Uber's largest investors, having reportedly invested $3.5 billion in Uber in 2016. The Saudi are also major investors in Japanese company Softbank's Vision Fund Vehicle, which is also another big Uber investor. According to media reports, Bahrain's foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa re-tweeted two hashtags calling for a boycott of Uber in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Others calling for a boycott of Uber on Twitter urged Uber app users to switch to Uber's ride-hailing rival in the region, Careem. According to media reports, Ford Motor Co. (F) Chairman Bill Ford and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon have also cancelled their plans to attend the FII conference in Saudi Arabia. Viacom Inc. CEO Bob Bakish and AOL Co-founder Steve Case have dropped out of the conference too, along with media organizations such as CNN, the New York Times and the Financial Times. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Oil futures settled modestly higher on Monday, despite paring some early gains amid speculation about a likely drop in demand due to uncertainty about global economic growth. Oil surged higher $72.20 a barrel, early on in the session after the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi raised geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Oil's uptick was also supported by the likely impact of U.S.' sanctions on Iran, on global oil supply. Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.44, or 0.6%, at $71.78 a barrel. On Friday, crude oil futures ended up $0.37, or 0.5%, at $71.34 a barrel. According to reports, Jamal Khashoggi who was seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, has not been seen since. President Donald Trump has reportedly said Saudi King Salman had denied knowledge about Khashoggi's whereabouts in a phone call but that the White House has ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to "immediately get on a plane" to Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, traders also appeared to be betting on expectations of a possible drop in global oil demand due to the impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute on global economic growth. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday "rogue killers" may have been behind the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman ordered an internal investigation into the case. Trump said he had spoken with King Salman about Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi policies, and that he was sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately to meet the king and travel to other places as needed. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago to get marriage documents. Turkish officials have said authorities believe he was murdered there and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied killing Khashoggi and denounced such assertions as "lies", saying he left the building shortly after entering. "The king firmly denied any knowledge of it," Trump told reporters. "He didn't really know, maybe - I don't want to get into his mind but it sounded to me - maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" A Turkish official and a security source told Reuters on Monday that the authorities have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, without providing further details. The official said evidence was being shared with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States. The case has provoked an international outcry, with Trump threatening "severe punishment" if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate and European allies urging "a credible investigation" and accountability for those responsible. A joint Turkish-Saudi team was set to search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was last seen on Oct. 2. A Turkish diplomatic source said investigators would inspect the consulate on Monday afternoon, after delays last week when Turkey accepted a Saudi proposal to work together to find out what happened to Khashoggi. "It has been 13 days since the event, so surely proving some of the evidence might be difficult, but we believe we will obtain evidence," the Turkish official said. A Saudi official, not authorised to speak publicly, told Reuters that the king had ordered an internal investigation based on information from the joint team in Istanbul. Asked when the public prosecutor could make an announcement, the official said: "He was instructed to work quickly." Britain expects Riyadh to provide "a complete and detailed response" to questions over Khashoggi's disappearance, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday. Saudi Arabia has responded to Western statements by saying it would retaliate against any pressure or economic sanctions "with greater action", and Arab allies rallied to support it, setting up a potential showdown between the world's top oil exporter and its main Western allies. King Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Sunday evening and stressed the importance of the two countries creating a joint group as part of the probe. Broadcaster CNN Turk reported on Monday that the Saudi team had arrived at Istanbul police headquarters. The Saudi riyal fell to its lowest in two years and its international bond prices slipped over fears that foreign investment inflows could shrink amid international pressure. The Saudi stock market had tumbled 7.2 percent over the previous two trading days but rebounded 2 percent on Monday. Foreign capital is key to Saudi plans for economic diversification and job creation. But concern over the disappearance has seen media organisations and a growing number of attendees pull out of a "Davos in the Desert" investment conference set for Oct. 23-25, which has become the biggest show for investors to promote Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's reform vision. On Monday, a source familiar with the matter said Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink were pulling out of the summit. Both companies declined comment. CNBC reported that Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga would not attend either. Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund (PIF), which hosts the conference, has tentatively committed $20 billion to an infrastructure investment planned with Blackstone Group. Prince Mohammed told Reuters last year that Blackstone and BlackRock Inc were planning to open offices in the kingdom. Bahrain called for a boycott of Uber, in which PIF has invested $3.5 billion, after its chief executive officer said he would not attend the conference. Similar campaigns trended on social media in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. UAE businessman Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor urged a boycott of Virgin, which has suspended discussions with PIF over a planned $1 billion investment. Asked if he had reviewed the purported recording of Khashoggi's killing, Trump told reporters on Saturday: "I have not... We've all heard a lot about the audio. Nobody's seen it yet, so we do want to see it... we're going to be seeing it very soon." *The story edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: A Samoan with roots in Tiapapata, Satalo, and Sapapalii has been awarded the prestigious 2018 European Society of International Law Book of the Year Prize. Dr. Guy Fiti Sinclair, the son of the late Peter Sinclair and Ruta Fiti Sinclair, is a Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law. The 2018 European Society of International Law (E.S.I.L.) Book Prize jury unanimously decided to award him the 2018 for his book To Reform the World: International Organizations and the Making of Modern States published by Oxford University Press. The E.S.I.L. Book Prize jury evaluated a wide range of books published in 2017 submitted for consideration by leading international law publishers. The jury members for this years Prize were Sandrine Maljean-Dubois (Aix-Marseille University), Ana Maria Salinas De Frias (University of Malaga) and Christian J. Tams (University of Glasgow). The jury explained their decision as follows: Guy Fiti Sinclairs book examines the expansion of powers exercised by international organizations under international law. The topic has been studied before, but Guy Fiti Sinclair approaches it in an innovative manner. He writes elegantly, and effortlessly straddles divides: between the doctrinal analysis of the law and reflective thinking about its role in international society; between big picture arguments and historical detail; between general concepts of international institutional law and the work of three very different organizations at different times, viz. technical assistance by the International Labour Organization, peacekeeping by the United Nations, and the World Banks turn to governance. Above all, he persuasively argues that the different attempts to reform the world through international action reflected an attempt to mak[e] modern states on a broadly Western model of statehood, and that international law was a central part of that attempt. This is an important new perspective that enhances our understanding of the working of international law and of the relationship between international action and visions of statehood. The E.S.I.L. Annual Conference in Manchester in September 2018 included a conversation with the author about the prize-winning book, and the award was presented during the conference dinner. Mr. Sinclair is a Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law. His principal area of scholarship and teaching is public international law, with a focus on international organizations law, the history and theory of international law, and law and global governance. He is currently working on a project on 'Making International Economic Law: The Interaction of Institutions', supported by a Marsden Grant, awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand. He holds first degrees in law and history from the University of Auckland, and a JSD from New York University School of Law, where he was a Fulbright scholar. Prior to his academic career, Guy practised corporate and commercial law in the United Kingdom and New Zealand for over 10 years. He is an Associate Director of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board (and former Associate Editor) of the European Journal of International Law. Samoa is ready to present to the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (C.E.D.A.W.) Committee later this month following a three-day preparatory session held in Apia last week. The Preparatory Session and Mock Dialogue was led by UN Women and facilitated by The Pacific Communitys (S.P.C.) Regional Rights Resource Team (R.R.R.T.) and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN O.H.C.H.R.) in partnership with Samoas Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (M.W.C.S.D.). The session included a group of Government and NGO representatives in preparation for Samoas presentation of the Sixth periodic state report to the UN C.E.D.A.W. committee at its 71st session on the 26th of October. C.E.D.A.W. is the international bill of rights for women. It defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. Guest speakers at the preparatory session included Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (M.F.A.T.) Chief Executive Office Peseta Noumea Simi who spoke about the International Human Rights Framework and the National Human Rights Institutions (N.H.R.I.), addressing the links between the principles of Faasamoa (the Samoan way of life) and human rights. She said the Government of Samoa is tasked with implementing the human rights conventions and [we] look at coordinating dialogue between all key players in preparing these reports. A states commitment to its international human rights obligations is also reflected in how it develops policy. International procedures can never be considered to be a substitute for efficient legal procedures at the domestic level. Human rights are made a true reality at the domestic level by the domestic authorities. Samoa was the first Pacific island country to ratify the Convention on 19 September 1992 and, to date, has ratified five of the nine core human rights conventions. Samoa is committed to human rights obligations and also actively participates in the Universal Periodic Review (U.P.R.), its reporting to the Treaty Bodies and by establishing a National Human Rights Institute housed in the Office of the Ombudsman. Our faasamoa embraces inclusivity, respect, peace, love, and protection which are reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (U.D.H.R.). It is important to ensure that international conventions are being contextualized so that the people of Samoa are able to connect with these instruments and have a full appreciation of them in practice, said N.H.R.I. representative, Tracey Mikaele The Samoan Constitution, based on Faasamoa, provides for a bill of rights and solid ground to combat discrimination against women, guaranteeing equal rights before the law and prohibiting discrimination based on descent, sex, language, religion, nor preventing the advancement of women and children. M.W.C.S.D. is the focal point for the reporting and monitoring of C.E.D.A.W. but it is also our role to understand and promote the concepts of human rights within the context of our own culture, highlighting its relevance to the people of Samoa, said the Minister for Women, Community and Social Development Faimalotoa Kika Stowers-Ah Kau. For over a decade, Samoa has carried out significant efforts to address inequality, including, through legislation on equal pay in employment, on domestic violence as well as a constitutional amendment designed to improve womens representation in the national parliament. Executive Director of Samoa Law Reform Commission, Teleai Dr Mulitalo, shared with the participants the role and responsibility of her office in supporting efforts to review legislation, including those not meeting C.E.D.A.W. compliance. We should not just cut and paste laws from overseas. We must reflect on what laws are the most appropriate for our country, how laws can be adjusted and altered to reflect our culture but also promote establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes, and protecting liberties and rights, said Teleiai. There has been progress with an increasing number of highly qualified professional Samoan women at the top echelons of public service, private sector and civil society where 38% of C.E.Os and 60% of Acting C.E.Os in the Public sector are women, and 74% of leaders in Civil Society are women.1 UN Women is honoured to have the opportunity to work closely with the Government of Samoa as well as civil society actors in providing the most robust and transparent C.E.D.A.W. reporting process possible. The on-going strategy of UN Women is to support C.E.D.A.W. reporting and implementation, including providing technical assistance for the implementation of the Concluding Observations of the UN C.E.D.A.W. Expert Committee. said UN Women Samoa Country Programme Coordinator, Papalii Mele Maualaivao. UN Women provides technical assistance and advisory services to the Governments and Civil Societies across the Pacific helping to strengthen national capacity to report on and implement C.E.D.A.W. committee recommendations. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative has got the leadership of some Pacific Island nations excited since it was first proposed by China under President Xi Jinping in 2013. The Belt and Road Initiative is an ambitious plan by China to link Asia, Europe and Africa with a network of ports, highways and railways and it is giving tens of billions of dollars in loans to countries, in a bid to build major infrastructure development projects in the various participating nations in central Asia, Europe and the Indo-Pacific region. Multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank have come on board and given the initiative a thumbs up, saying the China-funded program could ultimately plug infrastructure gaps in Asia and boost global trade. For example, shipment times from China to Central Europe are approximately 30 days, as most goods travel by sea. Shipment times by train are about half as long, but given current infrastructure, much costlier. Hence, improving the capacity and network of rail infrastructure could radically change average travel times, states a World Bank brief, which was published on the issue in March this year. Therefore, it is not surprising to see Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, talking up the benefits of the China-proposed initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative is opening a vast market and bringing lots of opportunities for the world, particular for the small countries like Samoa in the South Pacific region in this difficult times and challenges posed by climate change, he said, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. The Prime Minister is of the view that the initiative will have a positive effect on promoting trade, tourism and culture, hence Samoa signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of cooperation for the initiative, aiming to strengthen the win-win cooperation with China and build a closer partnership between the two countries. He also criticised those pushing the debt trap argument, saying: We are fortunate to have grants from China. I think all the allegation (of the China debt trap) is based completely on misunderstanding of the issues involved. But why should Samoa and other Pacific Island governments such as Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) take that step into the deep unknown, when leaders in a number of countries around the world are stepping back and re-thinking their participation in this ambitious China-funded project? In August this year Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad announced after a five-day visit to Beijing that his Government is halting two major Chinese-linked projects worth over $22 billion to build a rail link on Malaysias East Coast and a giant gas pipeline. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Mr. Mahathir made clear what he thought of Chinas strategy. They know that when they lend big sums of money to a poor country, in the end they may have to take the project for themselves, he said. China knows very well that it had to deal with unequal treaties in the past imposed upon China by Western powers, Mr. Mahathir added, referring to the concessions China had to give after its defeat in the opium wars. So China should be sympathetic toward us. They know we cannot afford this. Close to a week ago the African republic of Sierra Leone cancelled a $400 million Chinese-funded project to build a new airport outside the capital Freetown. The Aviation Minister Kabineh Kallon told the BBC that the project, which was due to have been completed in 2022, was not necessary and the countrys current international airport would be renovated instead. Mr Kallon said he did not know whether the cancelled contract would lead to financial implications, and Sierra Leone remained on good terms with China. I do have the right to take the best decision for the country, he told the BBCs Focus on Africa programme. Last month the Pakistani government announced that it will review or renegotiate agreements reached with China under its Belt and Road Initiative. The projects in question are valued at $62 billion and are part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor plan, which would seek to connect Asia and Europe along the ancient silk road, reports the Financial Times. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi might also want to talk to his PNG counterpart, Peter ONeill, to discuss the impact of projects run by Chinese State-owned construction companies, whose presence in PNG has led to the arrival of hundreds of Chinese workers and thereby marginalising ordinary citizens who are unable to find employment. Nonetheless it is perhaps time for Samoas leaders to step back, take a breather and undertake an assessment of the benefits of signing up to such an initiative. There are leaders around the world who are weary of their nations falling into the debt trap despite the assurances by Beijing that all will be okay. The first step towards getting that assessment done is finding out how much debt your government owes to China and doing a risk benefit analysis on whether signing up to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative will add more or less to the total figure. Member of Parliament Olo Fiti Vaai has condemned the desperate move by the Government to seize personal funds directly from Church Ministers bank accounts. Last week, Minister for Revenue Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, said not paying taxes is illegal and in turn have seized funds from Church Ministers personal accounts. The law for Church Ministers and Head of State was passed in January, 2018 and all the church denominations complied, except the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.). But the unilateral decision of the Government to target personal bank accounts which is in line with the provisions of the controversial taxation law did not sit well with Olo Fiti. The Government is quick to snatch the church minister funds and forgetting the massive contribution by the clergy assuring that peace rules in the country. The government is missing the big picture here. The crime rates would have tripled if not quadruple, if the church was not actively preaching and feeding the spiritual side of the people. I dont have to remind Tialavea and the Prime Minister that without the Church in Samoa, we are nothing. So I appeal to the Government to reconsider their strategy and yes we have laws in place. But like Tialavea had said, we have to apply common sense, so Tialavea, why dont you apply common sense on this issue, said Olo Fiti. The Salega East M.P. said whenever there are issues between families and the village councils, Church Ministers take on the role of neutral party. They keep the peace in the village and they work together with the Village Council, imagine if they were not involved in keeping everyone in line, what would Samoa look like? We have seen this too many times and that is why we must not burn the bridge. Rethink, re-strategise and reconsider, was Olo Fitis appeal to the Government. He further noted that if the Government is desperate for money to pay off the $1.1 billion loans then go after businesses and seize their assets. Last week the Samoa Observer published the $87.6 million uncollected revenue from previous years, they should put all emphasis on collecting those millions but not the Church, he said. Olo also had a go at seizing funds based on the salary assessments that are conducted. As reported earlier, Tialavea said the seizure of funds is for each and every church minister who has not filed their monthly taxes, yet some church ministers I understand are making less than the $15,000 threshold. But Olo said this is ridiculous and warned that the Government is playing with fire. Weeks of preparations paid off for the children of the Methodist Church in Puipaa as they delivered heart touching songs and plays. About 170 children participated in the White Sunday church service, which was well attended by parents and members of the church. Sunday school president, Mailata Auapaau Arasi said their overall preparations were a complete success as evident in the childrens performance. The children are divided into three categories and they are looked after by 20 teachers, Mailata said. The kids have prepared songs, dances, plays but most importantly their biblical verse recitations. It only took three weeks to put together our White Sunday productions. Mailata believes it is important to have a day dedicated to children because they are Gods blessing. Children should also be brought to Sunday school so that they may be taught with the word of God. It is true what the Bible says that children must be educated with the right ways so that when they grow up, they shall never turn away from them. All of these teachings will be a beacon of light that will guide them in life when they come across challenges, said Mailata. The 75-year-old said parents of the church tried their best to provide the best for their children so that they can celebrate their day with a smile. The recently commissioned $5 million tala submarine cable depot at Apia Wharf will contribute directly and indirectly to the growth of Samoas economy. The Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Afamasaga Rico Tupai, said this in response questions from Samoa Observer on the benefits of such a project. The submarine cable vessel, which has a crew of about 60, is just the beginning, with nearly 30 Samoans employed inside the depot working with the cables and the overseas crew. T.E SubCom, the company that owns the cable maintenance vessel, has invited a small number of locals on board the vessel and will train under the crew to learn to repair submarine cables, Afamasaga said. By having locals in and around the vessel and the depot, more people will learn the skills needed to work in cabling and open up greater opportunities to work he added, and eventually he would like to see half of the crew being Samoan. T.E SubCom will also save money on airfares as the Minister indicated that the crew will fly Samoa Airways. So outside of the vessel and depot crew, Afamasaga believes the broader economic effects are immense, as there will be a growing demand for restaurants, hotels, care rentals, water suppliers, petrol and more, he said. This is why he will not insist that T.E SubCom guarantee they train local people to work on the vessels and in the depot, despite those technical and engineering jobs being promised as a result of the depots establishment in Samoa. We are having discussions with the company to start training our own people here and build capacity of our locals. We are given the chance right now for some of our locals to go on the boat and learn skills like splicing cables and there is a lot of room there for electrical engineers and mechanical engineers, he said. Afamasaga said the Ministry explained to T.E SubCom that they wanted capacity building to happen, but it will not be written into any agreements with the company, in case it risks the contracts completely. However, he said he is not concerned the company will invest time into training local staff regardless. Its almost a no brainer to employ Samoans on this boat to keep the expenses down, but that is really up to the company, and we dont want to push it. He said to focus on the potential upskilling of Samoans working in cable maintenance versus the economic impact for hospitality and retail would be to pay too much attention to a fraction of a very big picture. If we push hard to have our people employed on the boats, and the risk is losing these contracts because of our persistence to have this done in the contract, you are losing $1,000 tala because you are pushing for one tala value, so to speak, he said. Quick, safe and convenient are three words Bluesky customers can expect to love when using the new Top-Up Pacific platform. Top-Up Pacific, which is a self-service top-up platform for Bluesky prepaid and postpaid capped users, went live at midnight on Friday and customer feedback is positive, according to press release. According to the statement, the new service makes it easier to add credit at any time of the day or night simply by visiting www.topuppacific.com, or calling the free IVR on 0800 557 557 and following the simple instructions to key in their top-up amount required, followed by credit or debit card details. It also allows customers to top-up other Bluesky mobiles for friends and family, quickly and easily, and without the need to wait to speak to an operator or make a trip out to your local store. In addition to this, Bluesky Samoa eCharges can now be purchased from over 6,500 retail stores or petrol stations across New Zealand. This means users can top-up a Bluesky number of a loved one back home in Samoa and receive free local or international calling. Bluesky Samoa Country Manager, Alex Abraham said Top-Up Pacific makes it even easier for their customers, and adds to the suite of top-up options Bluesky already has in place. Top-Up Pacific is part of our continued drive to improve the services we offer for our valued customers. With Top-Up Pacific, its immediate, theres no need to wait to speak to an operator to redeem a voucher to top-up a Bluesky mobile. Its much more efficient, saving customers valuable time, and allows our customer services team to concentrate on delivering support and advice on the increasing range of services and products we provide, Mr. Abraham said in the statement. Top-Up Pacific customers can also have their families worldwide visit the Top-Up Pacific website to send top-up to their Bluesky mobile securely and conveniently from wherever they are in the world by using a debit or credit card. In the unlikely event that customers require assistance completing the Self-Service top-up, there are helpful pop-up menus or Blueskys helpful Customer Care Team readily available 24/7 to assist customers should they encounter any issues. Visit www.topuppacific.com today or call 67121 or if in NZ free call 0800 557 557 for more information. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will stop in Turkey after his trip to Saudi Arabia to talk with King Salman about the missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a National Security Council spokesman said on Monday. "It is absolutely essential that Turkish authorities, with full and transparent support from the government of Saudi Arabia, are able to conduct a thorough investigation and officially release the results of that investigation when concluded," the spokesperson said. Search Keywords: Short link: The cruise ship MS Noordam docked at the Matautu wharf in Apia yesterday with hundreds of tourists disembarking to get a feel of Samoa. The vessel and its 1877 passengers and 791 crew were welcomed by officials from the Samoa Ports Authority and the Samoa Tourism Authority, which organised cultural performances by the Saleilua Falealii group. Most of the passengers were from America, Australia and Canada as well as other nationalities. The vessel, which has a gross ton of 82,500 and is 285 meters long, is owned by Holland America. Tour buses, organised by Margaret and Ryan Tours who are the local shore excursion operators for Holland America Cruises, took the visitors to various scenic spots upon the berthing of the ship at 8.00 am yesterday. Despite all shops in Apias central business district being shut yesterday due to the White Sunday public holiday, the closure did not stop the visitors from getting off the vessel. Monica Fueglisger, a Swiss passenger on the cruise ship, told Samoa Observer that it was her first visit to Samoa. I am from Switzerland and we have been to New York and Vancouver, the trip so far has been amazing. The main purpose behind this trip is for a holiday. I hope to enjoy this one-day experience in Samoa and hopefully bring back home some unforgettable memories, she said. Swiss couple Bernard and Regula Staehli, who were also passengers on the MS Noordam, said they were quite excited to just take a brief tour. We have never been to Samoa before, due to the distance as we are from Switzerland. So far, we are enjoying our trip, so many interesting places to see and explore. We booked a tour so we are quite excited to have a look around Samoa, Bernard said. The passengers were also advised before they disembarked that shops would be closed due to the public holiday, according to Bernard. The cruise liner left Apia at 5.00 pm yesterday and will get into Suva, Fiji tomorrow before heading to New Caledonia end of the week and Australia next week. Marist Brothers Primary School at Mulivai received a financial assistance of $50,000 from the Marist Old Pupils Association (M.B.O.P.A.). This funding, which was raised during the recent 130 years anniversary of Marist education in Samoa, is part of the associations contribution to the development of the school. Marist Brothers Primary School Principal, Brother Siaosi Ioane expressed his gratitude the continuous support of the association. The donation will be allocated in helping pay for the teachers salaries along with developments in the school compound, Brother Siaosi said. The focus ever since I took over as principal is to uplift the educational level in terms of academic achievements by the students in the school. At the moment I am working closely with the teachers in implementing strategic plans like putting focus on literacy and numeracy. M.B.O.P.As President, Tuatagaloa Aumua Ming Leung Wai said Marist education has shaped them to become the people they are today. The values that they were taught by the Marist Brothers are still kept alive through each one of them and they have a sense of obligation to give back to where it all started for them, Tuatagaloa said. M.B.O.P.A. stands firmly in fundraising activities that looks to maintain and develop the Marist schools in Samoa in order to provide better opportunities for all its students in both education and sports. We would like to acknowledge our sponsors like Taula Beverages, Samoa Stationery and Books (S.S.A.B.), the Marist fraternity, supporters and families which helped in achieving a prosperous 130 years anniversary. Tuatagaloa said their hope is for the students of the school to continue the legacy that the Marist Brothers have started and become good citizens of Samoa. PARIS (AP) Flash floods that tore through several towns in southwest France following an overnight storm killed at least 12 people, authorities said Monday. Some residents had to be helicoptered from rooftops as the equivalent of several months of rain poured down in a few hours and turned waterways into raging torrents. Initially, the French Interior Ministry reported 13 deaths from the floods in the Aude region. French officials lowered the number to 10 later, saying some victims had been counted twice. The Interior Ministry and Aude officials put it at 12 after two more bodies were recovered in the towns of Trebes and Carcassonne. At least six of the deaths happened in Trebes, Mayor Eric Menassi said. Eight people were injured throughout the affected region and one person was missing as of late Monday. The River Aude that flows through towns such as Carcassonne and Trebes was among the waterways that overflowed from the exceptional rainfall, and the flooding was the region's worst in more than a century, the French agency that monitors flood risks said. In the town of Villegailhenc, resident Ines Siguet said floodwaters rose so quickly after the rains swept in from the Mediterranean that residents fled to rooftops. Siguet, 17, posted video of a ripped-up road where a bridge used to stand. "There's nothing left. There's just a hole," the teenager, whose school was closed amid the destruction, told The Associated Press. "It was very violent." Residents described violent walls of water that crashed through doors and quickly inundated homes. A Villegailhenc resident described for French news channel BFMTV how little time there was to escape. "It was raining, raining, raining and my wife says to me, 'We can hear water, switch on the light.' So I switch on the light and nothing, it's pitch black. So, what do I do? I get up and my feet are in water. I go to the kitchen, I open the door. Impossible. I am trying hard and then the water rose up to my belly," the resident, who was identified only as Jean-Marc, told the broadcaster. "We took what we could and went to the attic. So I had to take the ladder that was behind the house and had water up to my torso. I was terribly afraid." Some of the dead appeared to have been swept away by floodwaters, Aude prefect Alain Thirion said. In the town of Conques-sur-Orbiel, the river rose by more than six meters (20 feet), and floodwaters were in some cases too powerful for emergency services to get through, even on boats, he said. Vigicrues, the French agency that monitors rivers for flood risks, said water levels in the Aude region were higher than at any time since 1891. Television images showed water coursing through towns and villages, stranding cars and piling them on top of each other like children's toys. The French government rushed hundreds of rescue workers to the flood zone and helicopters buzzed overhead. French President Emmanuel Macron planned to visit the flooded region "as soon as possible," but a date wasn't set to avoid disturbing the emergency response work, a government official said. The official asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. An anticipated reshuffling of government ministers would not be announced while the government was focused on the flooding, the official said. On Sept. 30, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a measure designed to boost the number of women serving on the boards of publicly held corporations. The Legislature found that, absent aggressive action, gender parity on boards will take up to half a century. State Senate leader Toni Atkins of San Diego was a lead sponsor of the law. It is the first such law in the nation. Q:What does the new law require? A:A corporation headquartered in California whether incorporated in this state or another -- whose shares are listed on a major U.S. stock exchange will be required to have at least one woman on its board by Dec. 31, 2019. By Dec. 31, 2021, such a corporation with six or more directors will have to have at least three female directors. A corporation with five directors will need at least two women on its board. A corporation may increase the size of its board to meet these requirements. Q:What are the consequences for violating the law? Advertisement A:The law authorizes the Secretary of State to adopt rules implementing the law, including rules requiring corporations to file board member information with the Secretary. The Secretary is authorized to fine a corporation $100,000 for failing to file board member information and for the first violation of the board seat mandate. The Secretary may impose a fine of $300,000 for any subsequent violation of the mandate. Q:Why was the measure enacted? A:The Legislature found that including more women on publicly held corporate boards will boost the California economy, improve opportunities for women in the workplace, and protect California taxpayers, shareholders, and retirees. . . . The Legislature relied on several studies showing the presence of women on boards corresponds to better corporate performance. Correlation does not, however, necessarily equal causation. A legislative committee analysis of the measure acknowledged that studies cited in the legislative findings show that companies with more women on their boards earn higher profits and take fewer risks. The analyst added: While these studies establish a relationship between the proportion of women on corporate boards and these outcomes, it is important to note that such studies are observational in nature and do not necessarily provide evidence for a causal relationship. In other words, while company profits tend to go up when women are better represented on the board, it is possible that factors other than womens representation on the board [such as better management or customer service] could explain variability in corporate performance measures. Q:Why might courts invalidate the measure? A:Gov. Brown, a lawyer himself, recognized in his signing statement that serious legal concerns . . . may prove fatal to the measure. First, in most states, including California, a corporations internal affairs, including rules related to the election of corporate directors, generally are governed by the law of the state where the corporation is incorporated. That avoids subjecting corporations to conflicting laws. Most corporations headquartered here are incorporated in other states, such as Delaware. A court may exclude corporations not incorporated here from this law. Second, the law will be challenged as a violation of the state and federal constitutional right to equal protection. The new law would not involve the government making decisions based on gender, only the government mandating that private corporations make decisions on that basis. Courts may treat that as a distinction without a difference. A legislative analyst wrote that the measure create[s] what is essentially a quota system for private corporate boards. Should this [law] be challenged, the State would confront a difficult challenge in showing a compelling government interest in requiring a gender-based quota system for a private corporation. Proponents will argue that the new law is not an unlawful quota because corporations may comply by adding more board seats for women to fill. Dean Vikram Amar, of the University of Illinois College of Law, recently predicted courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, looking at the real-world operations of this law are unlikely to be moved by the creative argument that the law benefits women in a way that does not impose any costs on men since all gender-based classifications are suspect. Q:What happens if the new law is struck down? A:Most critics of the law support its worthy goal. So what else is being done? In a front page Oct. 7 Union-Tribune article about the impact of the law on San Diego companies, Mike Freeman reported that Diversity and independence on corporate boards is being driven in part by large institutional shareholders, particularly of Russell 3000 companies. The same point was made at a recent panel presentation at Harvard Law School I attended on how women can position themselves to be on corporate boards. Those and other efforts will continue whether or not the measure is invalidated. The core dispute is whether the law is necessary and proper. Both sides agree the law is not sufficient to achieve its objective. Dan Eaton is a partner with the San Diego law firm of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek where his practice focuses on defending and advising employers. He also is an instructor at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business where he teaches classes in business ethics and employment law. He may be reached at eaton@scmv.com. His Twitter handle is @DanEatonlaw. Sears Holdings Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The companys chairman, Edward Lampert, will step down as CEO and 142 stores including Sears and Kmart outlets -- will close. Heres a look back at the company since its founding 132 years ago. 1886 | Richard Sears begins selling watches in Minneapolis Sears was a station agent in Minnesota when a shipment of gold watches arrived for a local jeweler, who refused them. The rebuffed wholesaler told 22-year-old Sears he could have the watches for $12 apiece. He said yes, pivoted, and offered them to agents along the line for $14. With that type of watch retailing for $25, there was room for the agents to profit, and Sears pocketed $2 for each one sold. Within six months, Sears had made $5,000, and his watch business started to outstrip his railroad salary. The tail had begun to wag the dog, he said in a 1906 Chicago Tribune story. The birthplace of Sears, Roebuck & Co. was this railroad station, left, in North Redwood, Minn. A young station agent there, Richard W. Sears, right, launched the business in 1886 and moved to Chicago the following year. (Chicago Tribune historical photo and Associated Press) Advertisement 1887 | Sears moves to Chicago, hires Alvah Roebuck Setting up at Dearborn and Randolph streets, Sears hired a watchmaker thin to emaciation, Alvah Roebuck. Their watch company grew rapidly into a general mail-order company that used high volume to enable low prices. Alvah Roebuck in an undated photo. (Chicago Tribune historical phot) 1888 | First catalog released Sears first uses a printed mailer to advertise watches and jewelry. Under the banner The R.W. Sears Watch Co., Sears promises his customers, We warrant every American watch sold by us, with fair usage, an accurate time keeper for six years during which time, under our written guarantee we are compelled to keep it in perfect order free of charge. Newspaper advertisement for the R.W. Sears Watch Co. in the Watertown News on Nov. 28, 1888. (Newspapers.com) 1895 | Key financier joins company Julius Rosenwald would later become president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1908, when Richard W. Sears retired, then chairman of the board in 1924. The philanthropists generosity can still be seen throughout Chicago. Undated photo of Julius Rosenwald of Chicago. (The History Factory / Associated Press) 1908 | Sears retires as president Richard W. Sears fortune, at the time, was estimated at $25 million. Sears became chairman of the board and continued to participate in the company for several more years. Sears died in 1914 a decade or so before the company he founded opened a single store. FEB. 2, 1925 | First retail store on Chicagos West Side The Homan Square site was already home to the companys mail-order plant when the store, which featured an optical shop and a soda fountain, opened. Sears national headquarters was based here on a 55-acre site. Retail operations moved to the new Sears Tower headquarters in 1973, then the current headquarters in Hoffman Estates. Ill., in 1995. (Advertisement in Chicago Tribune, Feb. 1, 1925) 1927 | Launches Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances Sears pays $500 for the rights to name from the Marion-Craftsman tool company. The products, which include power tools and lawn mowers, become known for their warranties. A Chicago street provided the name for Sears lines of home appliances, according to company lore. The Kenmore name appeared on washing machines starting in 1927, though the nameplate debuted on a Sears sewing machine in 1913. Craftsman wrench set advertised in 1933 Sears Christmas Book, displayed at the companys headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill., on Nov. 2, 2017. (Kori Rumore / Chicago Tribune) July 23, 1927 | Opens Boyle Heights location Thousands attended the opening of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. mail order house in Los Angeles Boyle Heights neighborhood, at what is now the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street. An article in the next days Los Angeles Times read, The company has six other mail order houses and eleven other retail department stores in the United States and at none of them had the opening day crowds reached the figures attained here. (Los Angeles Times newspaper on July 24, 1927) 1931 | Establishes Allstate Launched to provide mail-order car insurance, Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate Insurance Co. was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears. In choosing a name for the new business, managers borrowed the trademark of a Sears product, Allstate Automobile Tire. (Advertisement in Chicago Tribune, Sept. 13, 1931) 1933 | Launches Christmas catalog The 87-page catalog featured toys, holiday decorations, housewares, tools, clothing, jewelry and appliances something to appeal to every family member. The cover of the 1933 Sears Christmas book as displayed at Sears Holdings Corp. headquarters in Hoffman Estates on Nov. 8, 2017. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) Sept. 10, 1973 | Moves headquarters to Sears Tower Four hundred people are the first of 7,000 Sears employees to be moved from 13 buildings at two locations in Chicago and one in Skokie, Ill., into the companys new headquarters in what was then the worlds tallest building. Left: Sears Tower became the tallest building in Chicago, surpassing the John Hancock Center, seen in the background, when construction continued in November 1972. (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune) Right: A gigantic building presents a gigantic task for workmen on Sept. 9, 1973. (Walter Neal / Chicago Tribune) 1975 | Becomes the exclusive retailer of Pong Produced by Atari, the popular home version of the electronic ping-pong game with its blips and bloops is sold only at Sears. (Advertisement in Chicago Tribune, Nov. 9, 1975) Jan. 26 1986 | Discover Card debuts nationally Two months ahead of schedule, the credit card is introduced nationally to compete with industry giants MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Discover Card advertisement in the Chicago Tribunes Jan. 26, 1986 edition. (Chicago Tribune) February 1991 | Loses its crown as king of American retail Based on total sales revenue for fiscal 1990, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart becomes the countrys top retailer, followed by Kmart. Sears slips to No. 3 on the list. May 1991 | Announces closures in East L.A. and Montebello Sears, Roebuck & Co. said it would close two buildings on East Olympic Boulevard in addition to the retail warehouses in East Los Angeles and Montebello the following year. The closures would put nearly 2,000 employees out of work. Jan. 25, 1993 | Catalog discontinued The company announces the closing of its money-losing catalog division and the demise of its storied Big Book. Founder Richard W. Sears first offered his watches and jewelry for sale in a catalog in 1888. A general merchandise catalog came along in 1896. A look at boys fashion in the pages of the 1992 Sears Wish Book. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) November 1994 | Sears Tower sold Getting out with unpaid interest mounting, Sears announces it will give up ownership of the tower as part of a restructuring of the massive debt. AEW gains control of the property. The Sears Tower looms above the South Branch of the Chicago River in January 1994 (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune) March 31, 1995 | Allstate, Sears split Sears began cutting the cord with Allstate, then the countrys second-largest insurance company, in 1993, when Sears sold almost 20% of its stock at an initial public offering. The split let Sears proceed without dealing with any catastrophic payouts common in the insurance industry, while Allstate investors didnt have to be concerned about the ups and downs of retailing. Aug. 10, 1995 | Headquarters officially moves to Hoffman Estates Sears headquarters had been in Chicago since Richard W. Sears moved his watch company from North Redwood, Minn., in 1887. Now, nearly 5,000 employees would be working at the suburban site. 1998 | Christmas catalog debuts online One year before launching Sears.com, the company places its Christmas items for sale on Wishbook.com. May 13, 2002 | Acquires Lands End for $2 billion Under the deal, Lands End clothing would begin appearing in Sears stores as early as fall 2002. Sears had struggled for years to bring nationally known brands to its apparel mix. Lands End clothing on display at Sears State Street store on Nov. 20, 2003. (David Klobucar / Chicago Tribune) July 16, 2003 | Credit division sold to Citigroup The sale provided Sears with a $3-billion premium on its credit card portfolio the nations eighth largest with 25 million active accounts and returned an additional $3 billion in invested capital to the company. By selling its finance arm, Sears jettisoned a division that had provided more than half of its annual profits and helped boost sales by giving customers a way to pay for big-ticket items. But it also was rid of a division that had cost a top executive his job after Sears had to boost its bad debt reserves by $222 million in October 2002 to offset rising delinquencies. Nov. 17, 2004 | Company announces merger with Kmart, led by Edward Lampert Valued at $11 billion, Kmart Holding Corp. scooped up Sears, Roebuck & Co. The new company, which was called Sears Holdings Corp., would become the nations third-largest retailer and continue to occupy Sears headquarters in suburban Hoffman Estates. Leadership of the new company was controlled by Kmarts chairman, Edward J. Lampert, a 42-year-old Connecticut investor who made his name buying Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2003 and raising almost $1 billion by selling many of its stores to other retailers, including Sears. This is going to be an enormous undertaking, said Lampert, who owned 52.6% of Kmart and 15% of Sears. Kmart chairman Edward Lampert listens during a news conference to announce the merger of Kmart and Sears in New York on Nov. 17, 2004. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press) Feb. 2, 2008 | Executive shakeup After the company suffered through a dismal holiday selling season, CEO Aylwin B. Lewis is ousted. Lewis served as CEO of Kmart Corp. in 2004, and became head of the combined company after Kmart acquired Sears Roebuck & Co. in 2005. Sears Holdings Corp. President and CEO Aylwin B. Lewis speaks during a news conference in New York on Nov. 17, 2004. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press) Jan. 8, 2013 | Lampert takes over as CEO Company Chairman Edward Lampert takes over the position from Louis DAmbrosio. Lampert is the companys fifth CEO in eight years. Feb. 22, 2013 | Calumet City, Ill., store to close At the same location for 50 years, the Sears store in the River Oaks Center mall closed in May 2013. The company cited poor financial performance. November 2013 | Boyle Heights building sells A Los Angeles developer purchased the vacant Sears, Roebuck & Co. product distribution center for $29 million. Izek Shomof, who has renovated several office buildings and hotels in L.A.'s historic core, bought the sprawling nine-story Sears complex in Boyle Heights. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) April 4, 2014 | Lands End spun off Started in Chicago in 1963 as a sailboat equipment catalog, Lands End evolved into an upscale casual clothing retailer. Sears purchased the company for $1.9 billion in 2002. A pedestrian walks past a Sears department store in Chicago on Dec. 6, 2013, after company officials said they would spin off Sears Lands End clothing business. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) Sept. 15, 2014 | CEO gives $400-million loan One week after Fitch Ratings downgrades Sears Holdings credit rating to CC status, Sears CEO Edward Lamperts hedge fund, ESL Investments, lends the company $400 million. Jan. 27, 2015 | 115 jobs eliminated at Sears Spanning various departments, these positions were cut in an effort to reduce expenses in the face of years of losses. Aug. 20, 2015 | Posts first quarterly profit in three years Sales declined in the second quarter, but Sears was bostered by selling and leasing back some of its buildings to a new real estate investment trust, Seritage Growth Properties. Feb. 25, 2016 | 250 employees laid off After posting fourth-quarter losses following a poor holiday shopping season, Sears eliminated 250 positions and also said 151 open corporate office positions would not be filled. April 21, 2016 | 80 stores to close by summer Two months after announcing it was accelerating plans to shutter unprofitable locations, Sears said it would close 10 Sears and 68 Kmart stores. May 5, 2016 | Ravenswood store to close After 90 years in operation the longest-standing store in Sears chain the Lawrence Avenue Sears would close. A store window displays clothing in 2003 at the Sears store at 1900 W. Lawrence Ave., in Chicagos Ravenswood neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune) Dec. 8, 2016 | $748 million lost in third quarter It was the fifth consecutive quarter of losses for Sears. Jan. 4, 2017 | CEO to give loan up to $500 million; his tab now near $1 billion CEO Edward Lampert the companys largest investor agreed to loan Sears $321 million immediately with another $179 million more available in the future. Its the second time in a week he stepped in to fund the ailing retailer. Lampert and his hedge fund had now lent Sears more than $1 billion since September 2014. Jan. 5, 2017 | Craftsman sold The well-known tools brand was sold to Stanley Black & Decker for $525 million and another $250 million after three years. Stanley agreed to pay Sears a percentage of its new sales of Craftsman products for 15 years, and during that time, Sears would be able to continue selling Craftsman products royalty-free. A pedestrian passes by a Craftsman tool display in the window of a Sears store Nov. 29, 2007, in Chicago. (Scott Olson / Getty Images) Feb. 23, 2017 | 130 corporate employees laid off Sears eliminated the employees, who mostly worked at its Hoffman Estates headquarters, as part of a restructuring plan aimed at cutting at least $1 billion in costs during 2017. March 23, 2017 | Company loses $2 billion in 2016 After years of losing money, Sears said there was substantial doubt it would be able to keep its doors open. March 24, 2017 | CEO takes bigger stake in Sears Sears CEO Edward Lampert, already the companys largest shareholder, bought nearly 526,000 shares, causing shares to jump more than 9%. April 21, 2017 | 50 auto centers, 92 Kmart stores to close The stores, including two in downstate Illinois, were to be closed as part of an effort to cut costs by $1.25 billion in 2017. A Sears Auto Center store in Omaha on May 3, 2017. (Nati Harnik / Associated Press) June 8, 2017 | 66 more stores in U.S. to close Seventeen Sears and 49 Kmart stores were to shut in late July or early September. June 13, 2017 | Cuts 400 jobs, no longer qualifies for state tax breaks The announcement meant Sears head count in Hoffman Estates had been cut by more than a third since 2011, when it employed 6,200 people at its headquarters and received a package of tax breaks after threatening to leave Illinois. At the end of 2016, Sears reported having just three more employees than the 4,250 minimum it was required to maintain to be eligible for the tax credits, according to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. June 23, 2017 | More store closings It was announced that 18 Sears and two Kmart stores, sold by Sears to Seritage in 2015, would close in September. These closures came in addition to the closing of 226 stores announced earlier in 2017. July 20, 2017 | Kenmore products sold on Amazon Sears partnered with the e-commerce behemoth to sell the full line of Kenmore appliances, including smart home appliances integrated with Amazons voice-controlled Alexa platform. In this May 17, 2017 file photo, an Amazon Alexa device is switched on for a demonstration. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press) Aug. 24, 2017 | 3 more Illinois Kmart stores to close After closing or announcing plans to close 330 stores already in 2017, Sears Holdings Corp. said it would shutter 28 more including Kmart stores in Oak Lawn, Elmhurst and Belleville. Oct. 30, 2017 | $60-million loan is Sears 3rd time tapping CEOs pockets in a month Earlier the same month, Sears had borrowed $100 million $40 million on Oct. 18 and $60 million one week later from affiliates of Sears CEO Edward Lamperts hedge fund, ESL Investments. Nov. 3, 2017 | 63 more stores to close The company informed employees at 18 Sears and 45 Kmart stores that those locations would be shutting down by late January. Nov. 30, 2017 | Revenue falls 27% as sales plunge Revenue dropped 27% in the third quarter to $3.66 billion with more than half of that decline coming from store and pharmacy closures, the company said. Sales at established stores, a key measure of a retailers health, plunged 15.3% during the third quarter more than double the decline it reported in the same period a year earlier. Dec. 14, 2017 | DieHard auto batteries, other products sold on Amazon Less than six months after Sears began selling its full line of Kenmore appliances through the e-commerce giant, the Hoffman Estates-based retailer began selling its DieHard auto products on Amazon too. Jan. 4, 2018 | Orland Park, Boubonnais and Marion Sears stores to close Three Sears and three Kmart stores in Illinois would close in the companys latest round of cuts. Thirty-nine Sears and 64 Kmart stores nationwide would close by April, it was announced. The Sears in Orland Park was set to be converted into a 45,000-square foot AMC movie theater. A special press preview of the new Orland Square Sears store was held March 12, 1976, prior to its grand opening in the mall at 151st Street and Route 45 in Orland Park. (Lynette Miller / Chicago Tribune) Jan. 10, 2018 | CEOs firm gives company $100-million loan Sears Holdings Corp. announced it had received the loan, but it did not disclose the source of the funds. But in a regulatory filing the next day, Sears said entities controlled by CEO Edward Lamperts hedge fund, ESL Investments, provided the loan. Jan. 31, 2018 | 220 corporate employees laid off Most of these employees worked at the companys Hoffman Estates headquarters, and the cuts affected various business units and roles across the organization. Feb. 15, 2018 | Posts profit despite sales drop During the fourth quarter of 2017, which included the holiday season, Sears sales fell 15.6% at established stores its worst showing for the crucial holiday period since at least 2012. But the struggling department store operator posted a profit for the quarter, mainly due to a tax benefit. The 2017 Sears Wish Book was the companys first Christmas catalog since 2011. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) March 23, 2018 | Sheds more than 50,000 jobs in 2017 In the companys annual report, Sears Holdings Corp. revealed it slashed about 36% of its U.S. workforce in 2017 from 140,000 full- and part-time employees as of Jan. 28, 2017, to 89,000 as of Feb. 3, 2018. May 14, 2018 | Explores sale of Kenmore, other divisions Sears announced it was beginning a formal process to explore the sale of three pieces of the business that CEO Edward Lamperts ESL Investments expressed interest in acquiring: Kenmore, the home improvement business of the Sears Home Services Division and the Parts Direct business of Sears Home Services. Sears Holdings Corp. had been exploring alternatives for those businesses as well as the Craftsman tools and DieHard battery brands for nearly two years, saying it believed they had room to grow by expanding their reach beyond Sears. In this July 20, 2017, photo, the Kenmore Elite Smart Electric Dryer and Front Load Washer, center, are displayed at a Sears store in West Jordan, Utah. (Rick Bowmer / Associated Press) May 31, 2018 | Gurnee Mills, Hawthorn Mall locations to close Both stores were among five Illinois stores scheduled to be closed in September after another quarter of losses and slowing sales for the company. The Gurnee Mills stores opened in August 1991 and the Vernon Hills store was an anchor when its location, Hawthorn Mall, opened in 1973. These stores were among 63 closing stores Sears identified, part of a group of 100 unprofitable stores the ailing Hoffman Estates-based retailer was targeting for closure. People shop at the Sears store at the Hawthorn Shopping Center in Vernon Hills on July 22, 1983. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune) June 4, 2018 | More time to repay loans The company extended the maturity of two loans totaling about $320 million, originally due in July 2018, to July 2020. Lenders include affiliates of Sears Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert and Bill Gates Cascade Investment. June 26, 2018 | 200 more employees laid off Following a round of 220 job cuts earlier in 2018, another 200 corporate employees about 150 of them working at the companys Hoffman Estates support center were laid off. July 15, 2018 | Closes last store in Chicago Just shy of its 80th anniversary, the store on the edge of Chicagos Portage Park neighborhood shut its doors. The store opened in 1938 in a $1-million building designed by Chicago architecture fir, Nimmons, Carr & Wright. In October, it was announced that Springbank Real Estate Group was converting the four-story building into apartments and ground-floor retail space. The Six Corners Sears store stands at the intersection of Irving Park Road and Cicero and Milwaukee avenues in Chicago on July 13, 2018. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) Aug. 14, 2018 | CEO makes $400 million bid for Kenmore ESL Investments, the hedge fund run by Sears CEO Edward Lampert, proposed buying Sears popular Kenmore appliance brand and a piece of its home services division. Aug. 23, 2018 | Five California stores to close Sears Holdings announced that 46 Sears and Kmart stores would be closing nationwide. A Kmart store in Los Angeles Mid-Wilshire neighborhood near the Grove shopping center was among the planned closures. Other locations included Kmart stores in Spring Valley, Clovis and Antioch and a Sears store in Santa Cruz. Sept. 13, 2018 | Another quarterly loss The company had now reported a loss in six of its last eight quarters. Same-store sales, a key gauge of performance, also shrank. Sept. 24, 2018 | CEO proposes selling real estate to avoid bankruptcy Sears CEO Edward Lamperts hedge fund, ESL Investments, suggested selling about 200 company-owned stores to lighten the companys debt load. But even if the plan were to succeed in preserving the company, it likely would accelerate the decline of Sears physical presence. Oct. 10, 2018 | Eyes bankruptcy With a $134-million debt payment due Oct. 15, it was unclear whether the company would be able to avoid a trip to Bankruptcy Court. Sears, which has lost $11 billion since 2011, announced it had added a restructuring expert to its board. Oct. 15, 2018 | Files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection The last man standing while storied Chicago competitors like Wieboldts, Montgomery Ward and Carson Pirie Scott fell by the wayside, Sears survived the Great Depression, adapted as its shoppers traded catalogs for downtown department stores, and followed customers to suburban shopping malls. But it faltered as discounters, specialty chains and online merchants wooed consumers away in recent decades, and it never seemed to find the niche that would bring them back. Under the Bankruptcy Courts protection, Sears buys more time for a turnaround, one its been attempting for years. Despite efforts to cut costs by closing hundreds of stores, Sears has lost more than $11 billion since 2011. In the last two years alone, the company has closed more than 725 Sears and Kmart stores. The company will close 142 more stores before the end of the year. Source: Chicago Tribune reporting and archives, Sears Holdings Corp., Associated Press Los Angeles Times staff contributed to this report. UPDATES: 2:15 p.m.: This timeline has been updated with events in Los Angeles and other areas of California. This timeline was originally published at 8:15 a.m. More than a decade after voters dashed any hopes of replacing San Diegos cramped one-runway airport, its overseers are going all in on a $3 billion makeover they say will ease air travel for the millions more passengers who will be coming to Lindbergh Field, with or without an expansion. The aging Terminal 1, the centerpiece of what will be the airports single largest project, would more than triple in size; the gate count would grow from 19 to 30; and an elevated, $165 million roadway would be built to quickly whisk motorists on Harbor Drive directly into the airport. For anyone who has ever navigated the San Diego International Airports oldest terminal home to growing Southwest Airlines the project would seem long overdue. So why then the almost universal chorus of boos coming from nearly every local public agency in the county, as well as nearby communities? Advertisement It is not so much the project itself that is drawing critiques from entities like the city of San Diego, the Port of San Diego, California Coastal Commission and Metropolitan Transit System. Rather, its the projects environmental consequences most notably, increased traffic congestion that the agencies claim the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority is largely ignoring. Given the withering criticism, its possible it could force a partial rewrite of the projects environmental impact report, in turn potentially delaying the Terminal 1 expansion, originally planned to start construction in 2020, with completion expected in 2023. (Improvements to Terminal 2, including a a new concourse of up to seven gates at the western end, are envisioned in later phases.) Airport Authority officials, who originally had hoped to have the environmental report finalized and approved by the end of this year, are saying now that wont happen. We are trying to understand the implications of all these comments and until we get our arms around that, we cannot give you a further answer about a timeline, said Denny Probst, the Airport Authoritys vice president of development. We will not be going to the board in December. While the airports voluminous analysis covers everything from noise and climate change to water quality, it is traffic and how it is addressed that has the agencies fuming. For example, while the report offers up potential ways to address expected congestion, like improved express bus and shuttle service and adding lanes to nearby roads like Hawthorn, Laurel and Grape streets, the Airport Authority ultimately concludes that such projects are not considered feasible because the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) may not authorize the use of any FAA grant funds or (airport) revenue for off-airport improvements. The net effect is that by 2026, traffic impacts would remain significant and unavoidable at three intersections, 10 roadways and 24 freeway segments. By 2035, that number would grow to 15 intersections, 18 roadway sections, and 27 freeway segments. What especially irks several of the agencies who have written formal letters is the Airport Authoritys seeming unwillingness, they say, to share in the cost of a long-sought light rail connection to the airport be it a trolley extension, automated people mover or skyway that goes well beyond express bus service. It is a missing link that has bedeviled the San Diego region for years. How is it that most major airports can connect to transit and were not even considering it? asks Port Chairman Rafael Castellanos, whose agency is the airports landlord. The port, he says, would love to see a people mover system that would link the airport terminals and rental car center to a nearby San Diego trolley stop. We have to have that conversation in a real way and the EIR (environmental impact report) completely misses the mark on that. Other airports, he says, have embraced such rapid transit connections, including, most recently, Los Angeles, which is about to embark on a nearly $5 billion elevated people mover linking LAXs central terminal area to the countys Metro line. Potential route for a people mover system (Courtesly of the Port of San Diego) As part of a study the port undertook last year looking at ways of easing congestion on heavily trafficked North Harbor Drive, it went so far as to map out a route for a future people mover system that would run on a dedicated track, although no funding has been identified for it. Likewise, the San Diego Association of Governments is advocating for a more sophisticated transit connection, citing a recently completed study it helped prepare for the county examining a skyway that would make stops not only at the airport, but also at the convention center, Santa Fe Depot and downtown trolley stations. The major concern among all the agencies who submitted letters is the airports statement that the FAA wont let them spend money outside their boundaries and were all challenging that, said Charles Muggs Stoll, SANDAGs planning director. No one is saying the airport should pay 100 percent of the cost. Were just saying they should acknowledge they should be a funding partner. San Diego Councilwoman Lorie Zapf, who represents the communities near the airport, complains that the airport is doing little to protect the quality of life of residents from Point Loma to Pacific Beach, who she says will face much more significant noise and traffic impacts. For its part, the Airport Authority feels like its been entirely misunderstood. In fact, it says it has already broached with the FAA the issue of potentially using airport revenues to fund projects not on airport grounds. But until there is a defined project with an actual cost, securing approval is premature, says Airport Authority CEO Kimberly Becker. Funding for the Terminals 1 and 2 redevelopment comes from a variety of airport revenues, including landing fees, airline rents for terminal space, parking, concessions, and passenger facility charges. I would truly like to set the record straight. I have never said nor will I ever say we are not willing to participate, Becker said. But there are absolutely regulations that require us to go through the FAA for permission to participate and we are more than willing to have those conversations. With the number of annual passengers is expected to soar from last years 22 million to 28 million in 2035, Becker insists that it is not the Terminal 1 expansion that is driving that increased air traffic. Still, the airlines are banking on the redeveloped terminal to make air travel in and out of San Diego more convenient and hassle-free. According to the Airport Authority, Terminal 1 accounts for just 40 percent of the gates at Lindbergh Field, but more than 50 percent of the passenger traffic. The biggest issue people dont understand is that more people are coming for these flights no matter what, so the airlines are in turn bringing in larger aircraft, Becker said. So by having a more modern Terminal 1, it will make the customer experience much more efficient. What seems to be overlooked, say airport officials, is their pledge to pay for a new two- and three-lane inbound roadway from Harbor Drive and Laurel that they say will take 45,000 cars a day off Harbor. The governmental entities counter that the roadway alone is not enough to address the coming gridlock and fault the airport for prioritizing single-occupancy vehicles over transit. As an example, they point to plans for a 7,500-car parking garage. And the transit solutions the airport does offer up, like converting an existing bus route to the airport to a rapid-style service or partnering with local operators to consider a transit line from the Old Town station, either fall short or are dismissed by the Airport Authority as infeasible, say the agencies. While there is an existing airport shuttle that passengers at the Middletown trolley station can access, its hardly convenient, as transit users must walk from the trolley station, down Palm Street, across Pacific Highway, and then north on airport property to reach the shuttle stop, the Coastal Commission notes in its letter to the Airport Authority. Project approval by the commission will eventually be needed before the terminals can be redeveloped. As much as some of the sharply worded critiques seem to portend a battle royale, more recent comments from the Airport Authority suggest a Kumbaya moment may be at hand. Bottom line is we are willing to do our part and we need the community partners to do their part to make sure the regions solutions are implemented, Becker said. To be fair, many of the kinds of costly transit options the other agencies are advocating do not have funding, including a long-planned intermodal transit center, a sort of grand central station north of the airport where trolleys, buses, Amtrak, and Coaster trains could all converge. While included in the regions long-range transportation, no funding has been identified. Meanwhile, there is no firm cost for a people mover, although SANDAG estimates a price tag of $350 million to $600 million. The skyway concept, which San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts is pushing, will cost $230 million to $300 million. The people mover train will stop three times in the central airport, with moving walkways that will connect travelers to each terminal. (LAWA) In Los Angeles, the bulk of the airports people mover cost will be covered by a variety of airport revenues. Because the entire project lies within airport property, it didnt seem to face the kind of hurdle the San Diego Airport Authority says it would confront in using airport-related fees for financing such a transit system. Congestion at LAX has become so overwhelming, the airport operator had no choice but to move forward with an elevated train, said airport spokesman Mark Waier. LAX has nearly 90 million annual passengers and 6,000 cars during peak hours going through the terminal loop per hour to drop people off and pick people up, Waier said. Its pretty obvious that theres a massive transportation challenge at LAX so we had to look at ways to reduce that congestion. San Diego Port chairman Castellanos remains hopeful a region-wide consensus will soon be reached. Im optimistic the airport will do the right thing, he said. I think theyre going to work with all of us. This shouldnt be an adversarial process. Business lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-2251 Twitter: @loriweisberg Medicares annual eight-week open enrollment period begins today. Beneficiaries have until Dec. 7 to take stock of their current coverage and decide whether it meets their health care needs and budget. All the decisions made during open enrollment will take effect in January. If you dont want to change your coverage, no action is required. But, with few exceptions, this is the one chance to change coverage during the year. Parsing the different Medicare options can be daunting, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has added new features to its online enrollment process meant to make it easier. CMS is encouraging beneficiaries to set up a personalized account at MyMedicare.gov, which offers some easy-to-understand tools to help with decision-making. These include a new cost calculator and an online chat feature. CMS just announced that the 2019 monthly premiums for Part B, which covers doctor visits, diagnostic tests and outpatient services, will be $135.50 in 2019 and the Part B annual deductible will be $185. The Part A deductible for hospital stays will be $1,364. Advertisement A good rule of thumb for open enrollment, says Leigh Purvis, director of health services research in AARPs Public Policy Institute, is to look at the four Cs: cost (premiums and cost-sharing); coverage (are your current health care providers in network? Are your prescription drugs covered?); convenience (are in-network providers and/or the plans preferred pharmacies nearby?); and customer service (Medicare health and prescription drug plans are rated from poor to excellent on various aspects of customer service). It can be tempting and easier for Medicare beneficiaries to simply stick with their current coverage, Purvis notes, but theres so much flux in terms of what plans are covering and how theyre covering it that we want to make sure people look at their options and change when it makes sense to do so. In fact, Medicare has made some important changes beneficiaries should consider this enrollment period. Whats new eMedicare. This is Medicares initiative to make the program easier for people to navigate using Medicare.gov. One new feature: Beneficiaries can now go to the site and answer five questions. The answers will allow Medicare to provide information about their options with original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. The site also includes a new out-of-pocket cost calculator, an online chat feature and other tools. Extra benefits for Medicare Advantage. For 2019, the federal government has expanded the availability of extra benefits that Medicare Advantage plans can offer, such as portable wheelchair ramps and other assistive devices and modifications that help beneficiaries who have injuries or other physical impairments. The plans also can offer services such as transportation to the doctors office and home accessibility features such as bathroom grab bars and wheelchair ramps, if a doctor recommends them. However, some plans will cover these services only for beneficiaries who meet certain eligibility criteria. Trial period for Medicare Advantage. Beneficiaries who sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan during open enrollment can make changes between Jan. 1 and March 31. If you dont like your plan, you can go back to original Medicare and sign up for a Part D plan or switch to another Medicare Advantage plan. (Note: Anytime you switch to traditional Medicare, you should check carefully about your ability to buy Medigap coverage.) Medicare Advantage premiums. CMS expects the average premiums for these plans to drop slightly, to $28 in 2019. Prescription drug premiums. The average basic Part D prescription drug premium is expected to dip slightly, to $32.50 next year. No more therapy cap. Congress has eliminated the annual limits on how much Medicare will pay for physical, speech and occupational therapy services. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. Britains royal family is getting bigger. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their first child together, Kensington Palace announced Monday. The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby is due next spring. The childs gender was not disclosed. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public, Kensington Palace said in a statement. The announcement comes about six months after Harrys older brother, Prince William, welcomed his third child with wife Kate Middleton, the duchess of Cambridge. Advertisement Harry, 34, and the former Suits actress, 37, tied the knot in May after announcing their engagement in 2016. Last November, Harry shared his hopes to have kids during an interview with the BBC. Of course, one step at a time and hopefully well start a family in the near future, he said, as Markle nodded in agreement. Harry and Markles first child will fall seventh in line for the British throne, one spot behind Harry. Prince Charles, William and Harrys father, is currently next in line, followed by William and his three children. William and Harry are sons of the late Princess Diana. British Prime minister Theresa May sent her warmest congratulations to the royal couple in a tweet. Markle and Harry arrived in Sydney on Monday. They will spend the next 16 days in Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga as part of their first official tour as a married couple. They did not alter their travel plans but did consider the medical risks of visiting countries like Tonga and Fiji where the Zika virus which can lead to pregnancy complications is present, according to reports. Its been a busy few days for the royal family. Harrys cousin Princess Eugenie got married to Jack Brooksbank on Friday in a ceremony outside London. Harry and Markle were in attendance. Kathleen Dursts former medical school classmate testified Monday that during a phone conversation in 1981 she told him she felt unsafe around her husband, New York real estate tycoon Robert Durst, who she said was capable of violence. Her voice was shaking, the classmate recalled. She was very frightened. Kathleen vanished in 1982. Though many of her family members, as well as prosecutors, say they believe her husband murdered her, no one has ever been charged in New York in connection with her disappearance. But the mogul faces a murder charge in Los Angeles stemming from the 2000 slaying of his best friend. Durst, 75, is accused of shooting Susan Berman, an author and the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster, in the back of the head inside her Benedict Canyon home a few days before Christmas in 2000. Advertisement Prosecutors contend that he killed Berman, 55, his close friend since their time as students at UCLA, to keep her from telling police what she knew about his wifes disappearance decades earlier. During hearings in the Berman case, they have sought to introduce evidence that Kathleen Durst feared her husband. The classmates testimony Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom came during a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to hold Durst over for trial in Bermans slaying. The millionaire has denied killing either woman. Durst was arrested on March 14, 2015, at a New Orleans hotel in connection with Bermans slaying, the day before the finale of a six-part HBO series about the moguls life aired. In the final episode of the series, The Jinx, Durst is caught muttering to himself on a hot microphone during a bathroom break: What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course, he says. Some viewers interpreted the mumbled comment to be a stunning admission to three slayings: those of Berman, Kathleen and Morris Black, a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, whom Durst admitted killing and dismembering in 2001. During a murder trial in Texas, Dursts lawyers some of whom are representing him again in the Los Angeles case argued that the real estate scion shot Black in self-defense while trying to defend himself in a struggle and was in a traumatized state when he chopped up the body. Durst was acquitted. His lead attorney, Dick DeGuerin, has said he believes his client was unjustly arrested in connection with Bermans slaying because of hype surrounding The Jinx. Its not based on facts, he said. Its based on ratings. As Durst shuffled into court Monday, he held his loose khaki pants at the waist, as if to keep them from falling from his frail frame. Surrounded by members of his legal team, Durst sat silently at the defense table, listening to the proceedings through sound-amplifying earphones. The hearing then began with a technicality. Judge Mark E. Windham told prosecutors and defense attorneys that he had received letters from elementary school students in Massachusetts offering advice on how he should handle the Durst matter. The judge, who said he was required to disclose any ex-parte communication about the case, said he had not read the letters. Prosecutors then called Kathleen Dursts former classmate, Dr. Peter Halperin, to the stand. The 66-year-old psychiatrist testified that sometime in December 1981 while both he and Kathleen were students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine she had appeared extremely anxious and petrified during a routine question-and-answer session. He followed up with her after class, he said, asking if she was OK. She brushed him off, Halperin said, but called him at home that evening to explain that problems in her marriage had escalated. She thought that her husband might hurt her, Halperin testified, adding that Kathleen was an acquaintance, not a close friend. When he urged her to leave her husband, Halperin said that Kathleen refused, saying she feared leaving him would mean jeopardizing money in a divorce settlement. Halperin said that he asked her if she wanted to stay with him and his wife that night. She declined the offer, he said. The doctor testified that he didnt tell police about the phone call in the years after the disappearance, because he believed there were people closer to Kathleen who would know more and because he thought coming forward would put himself at personal risk. Are you still afraid of Mr. Durst? a prosecutor asked Halperin. The doctor glanced over at Durst and shrugged. Less than I was in 1982, Halperin said. Halperins wife, Martha, testified a few minute later, saying she recalled overhearing her husband on the phone that evening in 1981. She said she still remembers what she thought after learning about Kathleens disappearance in the news weeks later: Oh no, it happened. What she was afraid of, it happened. Later in the hearing, prosecutors played a recording of a phone interview with Anne Doyle, who lived in a penthouse next to the Dursts in New York in the 1980s. Doyle said that Kathleen Durst sometimes ran along an outside terrace shared by the two penthouses and knocked on Doyles bedroom window looking disheveled and scared. The women often shared a cigarette or a glass of wine, as Kathleen cried about fights with her husband, Doyle recalled. She would be really upset and hysterical, Doyle said in the recording. She was scared of him. The latest court proceeding, which will probably stretch into next week, is a continuation of a preliminary hearing from earlier in the year. Prosecutors plan to gather testimony from several witnesses, including a reporter who covered Durst in the past. marisa.gerber@latimes.com For more news from the Los Angeles County courts, follow me on Twitter: @marisagerber UPDATES: 7:20 p.m.: This article was updated with details from the court hearing. This article was originally published at 5 a.m. Yemen's president sacked Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher, blaming him for the economic crisis rocking the war-torn country, a statement carried by SABA state news agency said on Monday. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi appointed Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed as the new premier, it said, adding bin Dagher would face investigation over the "negligence of his government". Search Keywords: Short link: It was just one year ago when Tricia Woods lost her home in a single, impossible instant. The Tubbs fire, the most destructive wildfire in California history, had ripped through Sonoma County and incinerated more than 5,500 homes, including the middle school teachers own four-bedroom house in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. That night, from an evacuation center at her daughters school, she called her insurance company and property manager. Right away, she knew she would rebuild. It was just such an achievement to be a woman on my own, to have bought a home in California on a teachers salary, said Woods, a 47-year-old mother of three. I wasnt ready to let that go. Advertisement But as Woods and thousands of others struggle to rebuild a year after the fire, they are encountering very different challenges based on class, location and fate. Residents who face enormous insurance gaps are dipping into savings to construct houses similar to the ones they lost or building smaller ones. Others are buying elsewhere in a county that suffered a serious shortage of affordable housing even before the fires. In this increasingly ruthless housing market, displaced renters have been left to compete with more moneyed families who also lost their homes. Some, reeling from the emotional trauma, left the area completely. For every person we find whos doing great, there are a couple of people who arent, Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said. A roofer waits for supplies on a roof in Mark West Estates on Oct. 10 in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) This is especially true in hard-hit Santa Rosa, where the economics of reconstruction vary wildly from neighborhood to neighborhood. More than 1,200 of the 2,700 homes lost in Santa Rosa are in the process of being rebuilt, according to numbers from the city. As of early October, 26 were complete. Most of those finished homes are in Coffey Park, a predominantly middle-income neighborhood that is now a bustling construction zone. Woods herself said that despite a $150,000 insurance shortfall, the process of rebuilding there has been relatively simple. The ease with which residents can rebuild depends on resources such as time and money, of course, but also location. In Coffey Park, the land is flat and the lots are smaller, making them easier to prepare for construction. Woods home is expected to be built by Christmas. But just over Highway 101, in the affluent hillside enclave of Fountaingrove, things have been more difficult. City numbers show that 188 homes were being rebuilt in Fountaingrove as of Oct. 9. That figure was almost triple in Coffey Park. In Fountaingrove, most of the homes sat on large lots with uneven topography, making them tricky to clear and more expensive to rebuild. On top of that, the neighborhood was plagued with water contamination issues after the fire, which melted plastic pipes and leaked benzene and other contaminants into the water supply. Some of those Fountaingrove residents who are grappling with massive insurance shortfalls are still deciding whether its worth the stress and expense to rebuild. Others, like Ian and Lisa Alexander, have chosen to move on. The Alexanders, both 54, had lived in their Fountaingrove home for 14 years when it burned to the ground. As Ian Alexander put it, the couple lived like refugees for months, moving from hotels to friends places to short-term rentals, while at the same time moving through their grief. Wed never wanted to build a house to begin with, and to think about doing it under these circumstances it was never appealing, said Lisa Alexander, who is a communications director for a nonprofit. The couple decided to buy a mid-century modern home about two miles from their old place. Its smaller than their Tudor-style in Fountaingrove, but it has a pool and is close to downtown. Were sitting here on the anniversary of the fire, traveling the same streets weve always traveled, in a house that has a solid foundation for us to be happy and comfortable in, said Ian Alexander, the co-founder of a software company. We feel a tremendous amount of pain and loss, but also tremendous gratitude for being in a position to buy a new home. Ian, right, and Lisa Alexander bought a new home in Santa Rosa after their Fountaingrove home was destroyed in the Tubbs fire. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Also motivating the Alexanders decision was the fact that they were woefully underinsured. They would have paid around $700,000 out-of-pocket to build a comparably sized home on their property, which they still own. The Alexanders are far from alone. In April, two-thirds of North Bay residents who lost their homes reported being underinsured by an average of $317,000, according to a survey by United Policyholders, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps people navigate their insurance policies. The cause of this problem is manifold. Insurance companies use software programs to calculate the cost of rebuilding, but those estimates do not take into account the inflated cost of labor and materials that follow a disaster like this, said Keith Woods, CEO of North Coast Builders Exchange. And if your home was built before the early 2000s, changes in building codes can increase the cost of construction by as much as 20%, according to Woods, who is not related to Tricia Woods of Coffey Park. When Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin has talked with contractors about rebuilding her own home in Santa Rosa, shes been quoted $500 to $600 per square foot, whereas building a custom home before the fires would have cost around half that. Its clear that insurance is really designed for losing a home in a house fire, said Gorin, who is facing an insurance shortfall of more than $1 million. It is not intended to cover replacement costs and code upgrades for 5,300 homes all at once. To complicate matters, contractors will not start a job unless they are sure there is enough money to complete a project, and time is of the essence. Most insurance policies will cover two years of rent, said United Policyholders Executive Director Amy Bach, leaving some residents a year to build homes before theyre forced to pay both a mortgage and rent. Steve Morrows situation is unique in that he didnt lose his home, but could still end up paying double. His trailer in Journeys End, a mobile home park that sits below the hilly crests of Fountaingrove, was one of 44 that survived thanks to a heroic troop of neighbors and firefighters. The fire destroyed the parks electrical and gas systems and contaminated the communitys well water, rendering the homes uninhabitable. The owner of Journeys End shut down the park, leaving Morrow, a 70-year-old Vietnam veteran, paying a mortgage on a mobile home he cant live in. Hes renting a camper on an artists compound for more than $1,000 a month an expense that is covered by insurance, at least for now. Morrow said hes working like hell to find an affordable lot where he can move his mobile home, but their cost has skyrocketed since the fire. Most recently, he was offered a small plot for $55,000, a large sum for a man who lives off Social Security and disability payments. Sooner or later Ill find a place. I have no choice, said Morrow, who has lived in Santa Rosa for 35 years. It might just be a ways from here. The owner of Journeys End is working with a nonprofit, Burbank Housing, to explore redeveloping the property into a mixture of affordable and market-rate apartments. By law, the parks residents most of whom were seniors with limited incomes would be first in line for the affordable units, said Laurie Lynn Hogan, Burbanks director of funding and communications. But the proposed project is moving at an excruciatingly slow pace, Hogan said, partly because the nonprofit must work with state and federal agencies to relocate the surviving trailers. We are doing everything in our power to move things along as quickly as possible, with minimal success, Hogan said. Few homes are under construction in a Fountaingrove subdivision in Santa Rosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Sonoma County, like much of the Bay Area, was already facing a dire shortage of affordable housing before the firestorm. The median home price there nearly doubled since 2009, according to Rick Laws, regional vice president of Pacific Union International, a real estate firm. Recognizing that the fires would only exacerbate this crisis, the county scrambled to streamline its permitting and review process. Officials have also made it easier for residents to build larger accessory dwelling units, otherwise known as granny flats, on their properties while they rebuild their homes. Even still, as many as 7,000 residents may have left Santa Rosa in 2017, according to an analysis by the Press Democrat, Santa Rosas daily newspaper. Im not sure that those numbers really reflect whats happening here, said Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey, a former Press Democrat reporter who believes that fewer people have left. Many residents are still living with family members, he said, and the citys homeless population has grown 6% since last year. It remains to be seen how the disaster will change the demographic makeup of the city. In Coffey Park, many of the homes are being rebuilt as investment properties that will be sold to the highest bidder, said resident Jeff Okrepkie. Before the fire, renters like him made up nearly half the community. Most renters arent able to compete in such a red-hot housing market, said Okrepkie, founder of Coffey Strong, a nonprofit formed to aid the neighborhoods recovery. This was was a very middle-class neighborhood of teachers, mechanics, hospitality industry workers, Okrepkie said. Im worried that thats going to change. For those left in Coffey Park, the neighborhood is irreparably changed. Most of the subdivision was erected in the 80s, and its builders used fewer than ten floorplans for the tract homes. Now, more than 50 different builders are on-site, leading to a mosaic of modern architecture rising from the raw dirt. Residents say that before the fire, Coffey Park was the kind of place where youd wave to neighbors on the street, but you probably didnt know them. Now, they describe the neighborhood as a big, unconventional family united by misfortune. To witness this transformation, look no further than Whine Wednesdays, a weekly gathering in Coffey Park organized by Tricia Woods, the middle school teacher. On the fires anniversary, a dozen or so displaced residents set up their camping chairs and folding tables in a quiet cul de sac. As they chatted over glasses of wine in the fading golden light, neighbors threw their arms around others and shared inside jokes as if theyd been friends for a lifetime. In truth, it had only been for one very long, hard year. laura.newberry@latimes.com | Twitter: @LauraMNewberry When authorities found the body of Terry Cheek on rocks near Corona Lakes shoreline two decades ago, they also found a watch. That timepiece, found next to the strangled body of the married mother of two, belonged to Horace Roberts, a co-worker with whom she was having a secret affair, Riverside County prosecutors insisted. What is more compelling than [Horace Roberts] watch thats found next to the murdered womans body? Theres nothing more compelling than that, prosecutors told jurors at Roberts July 1999 trial. After three trials, Roberts was convicted in Cheeks murder based mostly on the Lorus watch that was found next to her body. A type of watch Roberts acknowledged owning. Advertisement But DNA testing in March forced by the California Innocence Project revealed that DNA from Cheeks fingernails did not belong to Roberts, but rather to someone related to her husband. Two weeks ago, Roberts was secretly freed from prison after both the Riverside County district attorney and the California Innocence Project agreed that he was wrongly convicted and that two other men are responsible for Cheeks death in April 1998. The new suspects Cheeks husband, Googie Harris Sr., 62, and a nephew, Joaquin Leal III were arrested Friday on suspicion of murder. Riverside County Dist. Atty. Michael Hestrin announced the arrests Monday as well as the collaboration between the California Innocence Project that led prosecutors to dismiss Roberts conviction. What happened to Mr. Roberts is tragic, Hestrin said. We as prosecutors always strive to be vigilant and follow the truth. Once I learned of the new DNA findings, I immediately directed that all charges be dismissed. Mr. Roberts has my commitment that we will aggressively apply new technologies to past, present and future prosecutions. And I commit to him the resources of our Victim Services Division to help him in rebuilding his life. The District attorney Monday asked a judge to find Roberts factually innocent in Cheeks murder, scrubbing his entire criminal history connected to the death from the records. Leal and Harris, he said, have been charged in Cheeks killing and held in lieu of $1 million bail. The day he was released, Roberts enjoyed a simple pleasure. This is what I love ... this is what I missed more than anything my freedom, the 60-year-old said after sipping a bottle of Pepsi in the back of his lawyers car and getting a new set of clothes. He then flew to the East Coast, where relatives greeted him with hugs and tears. Justin Brooks, the founder of the California Innocence Project, said that Cheeks husband had set up Roberts. Its the oldest story there is in the murder business. Husband kills wife who is cheating on him. The twist, in this case, is that the husband set up the lover to go to prison for the rest of his life. Cheek vanished the night of April 13, 1998. She never arrived at her late-night shift at Quest Diagnostics, where she worked with Roberts. Four days later, her strangled body was found along the highway near the craggy shore of Corona Lake, halfway between Corona and Lake Elsinore. The last people to see her alive were said to be her two daughters and her husband. Suspicion quickly turned to Roberts, who colleagues at the medical company suspected was having an affair with Cheek. Roberts lied to Riverside County sheriffs deputies when questioned about the liaison. Roberts, who also lied to his co-workers about the affair, did so out of shame and embarrassment, his lawyers said. But detectives hunting for a killer saw it as an effort to cover up his role in the brutal slaying. During three trials, two of which ended in a hung jury, prosecutors would show jurors Roberts inconsistent statements, characterizing them as lies designed to cover up a murder. They pointed out the presence of his truck near the crime scene and a purse in his possession that one of Cheeks daughters swore her mother had left with the night she disappeared. But more than any other evidence, the watch found next to Cheeks body would lead to Roberts conviction. He was sentenced to 15 years to life for second-degree murder. From his prison cell, Roberts reached out to the California Innocence Project. Over the next decade, lawyers sought DNA testing from Cheeks fingernail scrapings, the rope that was used to strangle her and the watch found near her body. The organizations legal team in 2013 filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Roberts. Michael Semanchik, managing attorney for the California Innocence Project, said that watch had the DNA of Harris son on it and clearly was not Roberts watch. Superior Court Judge David A. Gunn, however, denied the petition in 2014, finding Roberts did not completely undermine the entire structure upon which the prosecution is based and the evidence did not unerringly point to his innocence. Gunn, nonetheless, did note that if he were to be using the lesser burden for material false evidence, he probably would have granted a new trial because the evidence surely raises the specter of reasonable doubt. Gunn also green-lighted more DNA testing of evidence. In 2017, the crime scene evidence was sent to the California Department of Justice laboratory in Riverside, which did a more sophisticated DNA test than available in 1998. The DNA from Cheeks left-hand fingernails matched to Leal in March and he and Harris became the focus of a new probe. Blood on Cheeks pants appeared to be that of another unknown man. Roberts lawyers say that Cheek often borrowed his truck for errands and that she or her killers drove it down the highway and parked it near the lake in 1998. Two months after Cheeks killing, Leal was charged with molesting a child under 14. He was convicted of oral copulation of an unconscious victim in August 1998. He served six months in jail and was required to register as a sex offender. His DNA became part of the state criminal database. No one had any idea who Leal was since his name did not appear in any of the case files, said Semanchik, one of Roberts lawyers. But Leals victim in his sex crime case, according to Semanchik, was the child of a woman Harris had dated after Cheeks death. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes UPDATES: 5 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information about the case. This article was originally published at 2:05 p.m. On a recent Friday, a rancher from Zacatecas, Mexico, sat in a San Diego courtroom on a misdemeanor illegal entry charge, one of thousands of border crossers criminally prosecuted under the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy this year. He pleaded not guilty, and a federal magistrate judge set his bail at $1,000. The amount likely wouldve been too high for him to post himself, but he had another option. The Bail Project, a nonprofit fundraising organization, had recently set up shop in San Diego and put up the bond money for him. But rather than be released to the community, his unauthorized presence in the United States meant the federal government had placed a so-called immigration detainer on him. He was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security and quickly deported back to Mexico, before his criminal prosecution was finished. Advertisement The U.S. Attorneys Office was forced to dismiss his case. In recent weeks, there have been many more like the rancher who after posting bond with help from The Bail Project were scooped up by immigration authorities and removed before the U.S. Attorneys Office was able to secure criminal convictions against them. The development has frustrated the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy, undermining U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vow to use the criminal justice system to deter illegal immigration and tighten the Southwest border. This is defeating their purpose, said attorney Jami Ferrara, who oversees the panel of private lawyers who provide public defense. So last week, the government decided things were going to be done differently. No longer will immigration detainers be lodged against unauthorized immigrants upon arrest. Instead, if they are able to meet the conditions of bail set by a magistrate judge, they will be released to the community so they can see their criminal case through to the end. Then, upon conviction, they would be deported. Those whose cases are dismissed for whatever reason would go into immigration proceedings. We are working with other agencies to ensure successful prosecution of these criminal complaints, San Diego Border Patrol spokesman William Rogers said Friday. Border Patrol officials declined to elaborate further, saying that they needed more time to answer specific questions about the changes and expected to be able to this week. The U.S. Attorneys Office declined to comment, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed inquiries to the Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorneys Office. The change illustrates just how important the misdemeanor convictions are to the Trump administration. It also raises questions as to the bail conditions that will be required of these defendants, many of whom have no ties to the San Diego area or a place to stay while awaiting their next court date. Making a choice The governments current dilemma highlights the tension that can arise between the criminal justice system in which immigration violations can be charged as crimes and the completely separate immigration system under civil law. This issue of detaining people in immigration custody while out on bond in a criminal case is not new. Courts around the country have ruled on various aspects over the years, with many courts coming to the conclusion that the government cant have it both ways; it must choose between prosecution or deportation. In United States v. Trujillo-Alvarez, the district court in Oregon ruled that a person whos posted bail cannot be held in immigration custody for the purposes of ensuring his appearance at a criminal hearing. Rather, immigration custody was for purposes of removal or deportation. This wasnt an issue in the early days of zero tolerance in San Diego, which started in May, namely because most arrestees even if granted bail couldnt afford it and remained in detention until their criminal cases were finished. In San Diego, the whole process moved quite quickly due to a special court that was set up in July to handle the influx of illegal entry cases. It was modeled after Operation Streamline courts in other parts of the country along the border, which allowed unauthorized immigrants to plead guilty during their first court appearance, accept a time-served sentence and be deported from the country. Then a few things changed. One is the decision to stop taking same-day guilty pleas. The defense bar had been arguing for months that a system that encourages unauthorized immigrants many of whom have little understanding of the American legal system to make such a monumental decision as to how to plead, in just a few hours and with minimal counsel from an attorney, was a violation of due process. The court earned the nickname Operation Steamroll. In late September, the magistrate judges decided that the same-day pleas werent working and were creating a combative atmosphere in the courtroom, Ferrara said. Those charged with illegal entry now have five days to decide whether to accept the governments plea deal, or to go ahead to trial. That means they are potentially in pre-trial custody longer unless they can secure bail. Bail fundraising Enter The Bail Project. The nonprofit has its origins in a pilot program attached to the public defenders office in The Bronx in 2007. We got to see how bail can be used to pressure people into taking guilty pleas, said The Bail Project spokesman Camilo Ramirez. He said more than 90 percent of the people held on bail in misdemeanor cases ultimately plead guilty. But, when The Bail Project posted bond for them, 60 percent of the time the charges got dismissed, and for the remainder, 40 percent of the time the misdemeanor was lowered to a violation. The organization also found that 96 percent of misdemeanor defendants made their court appearances, even if their own money wasnt on the line. In January, The Bail Project went national, setting up offices in cities including Detroit, Compton and St. Louis at a time when bail reform is gaining widespread attention. About a month and a half ago, the project came to San Diego to specifically aid those charged with illegal entry crimes under zero tolerance. Were interested in looking at the intersection of cash bail and the criminalization of immigration, Ramirez said. The project has been able to post bond for about 500 unauthorized immigrants so far here. It is unclear how many of them were deported before being convicted, but defense attorneys estimate it is hundreds. Posting bail gives defendants more time to consider how to proceed with their criminal case, including whether there is an asylum claim to pursue or how a guilty plea might affect future attempts to get legal permission to be in the U.S., Ramirez said. People are pleading guilty because they had no other way out (of detention), Ramirez said. The project runs on revolving-door donations typically the same donations being used over and over again. Once a defendants case is over and as long as the bail conditions were satisfied, the money gets returned to the project to use in another case. New territory On Tuesday, the first day of no immigration detainers, the magistrate duty courtroom was especially tense as everyone waited to see how the afternoon would unfold. Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard argued that all of the unauthorized immigrants appearing that day 50 in all were flight risks and should not be granted bail. There is a severe incentive for them not to see these proceedings through, Sheppard argued, citing the near certainty of deportation upon conviction. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Gallo was inclined to grant bail, however, he grappled with the conditions that would adequately ensure appearance at future court dates. While all the defendants had crossed the border here, few, if any, have connections to Southern California and many had farther destinations in mind. Where do they go? Gallo asked, later adding that he cant release them to the streets. Federal defenders noted there were 20 beds at a halfway house contracted with U.S. Pretrial Services, the agency responsible for supervising defendants during their time out on bail. But Gallo denied requests to make use of the limited number of beds, asking what happens to defendant No. 21, 22 and so on. There are no good options here, Gallo surmised. Gallo then issued bail $1,000 secured by a $100 cash deposit for many but surprised everyone by requiring each defendant to find an approved third-party custodian. That person would agree to take responsibility for the defendant while out on bail, maybe help transport him or her to court dates and promise to report any violations of release conditions to the court. Robert Swain spoke for many of the defense attorneys in the room when he told the judge that in his 30-or-so years of practice, hed never come across a third-party custodian requirement. The times they are a-changin, Mr. Swain, Gallo quipped. Ferrara said it was unclear what criteria would be used to approve the custodians. By late Friday, none of the defendants had been able to find such a person. There shouldnt be a bail condition that amounts to detention, said Kasha Castillo, a supervisor at Federal Defenders. And while these were the conditions under Gallo last week, another rotating magistrate judge will hear illegal entry cases this week. Every week is a different battle, Ferrara noted. Meanwhile, the defense bar has been working to partner with local advocacy groups that would serve as third-party custodians and help provide shelter to those who do get out on bond. Defense attorney Marc Levinson, who watched from the gallery Tuesday, likened the legal wrangling to a game of human chess. Its tough to watch, he said. Its hard to see the rules seemingly being made up on the fly. Ramirez, from The Bail Project, said a reaction from the government was anticipated, but what happens next is unknown. Its very much changing day by day. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis Three Fallbrook gang members who didnt want a black man in their territory attacked Hugh Pettigrew III, who was fatally stabbed. A security guard killed Marlon Thomas in a shootout during a botched robbery of a North Park marijuana dispensary. Three young people cruising Balboa Park, looking for someone to rob, left John Lentz dead and his girlfriend wounded in a drive-by shooting. In each of the three homicides, spanning 22 years, an accomplice who wasnt proven to be the actual killer was convicted of murder and sent to prison for life. Advertisement Those three men most likely will have their murder convictions vacated as a result of a radical revision of Californias felony murder law, part of a series of criminal justice reforms in the past 20 years aimed at steering people away from long prison terms. Two of the three men could be freed from prison next year because of the change in law. Because the new law is retroactive, the District Attorneys Office calculates that 143 current state prison inmates convicted of felony murder in San Diego County in the past dozen years may qualify to have those convictions vacated and be released from prison. Statewide, by some estimates, 800 to 1,000 prison inmates could be eligible for the same path to freedom. Defense lawyers say the reform is long overdue and more fairly fits the punishment to the crime. Prosecutors worry that criminals wont be held accountable when their actions cause a death. Californias felony murder law was one of the harshest in the country, said longtime criminal defense attorney Eugene Iredale.This is a major step in making sure criminal justice is consistent with moral propriety. Punishment should be consistent with culpability, on the basis of crimes you actually commit, not of accident. Ryan Valdez in court in 2016, could have his conviction for felony murder vacated in the stabbing death of Hugh Pettigrew III in Fallbrook. (John Gibbins/San Diego Union-Tribune) The felony murder rule comes from centuries-old British common law. It says, in essence, if you took part in a felony and someone died, you could be convicted of murder. It didnt matter whether you were the one who killed the person, or if you had no intention of harming anyone. In California, a killing that is intentional and premeditated is first-degree murder, with a sentence ranging from 25 years to life in prison up to the death penalty in certain cases. But the states version of the felony murder rule sidesteps the question of intent to define other homicides as first-degree murder if they occurred during the commission of specific felony crimes including arson, rape, carjacking, robbery, burglary, mayhem, and kidnapping. That rule underwent a major overhaul on Sept. 30, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1437, called Accomplice liability for felony murder. It goes into effect Jan. 1. Under the revision, only people who aided or were a major participant in a killing, or showed reckless disregard for human life, can be charged with felony murder. For instance, a robbery getaway driver, unaware that his accomplice just killed someone, might be charged only for having a role in the robbery. The bill also revised a related doctrine of natural and probable consequences. The doctrine holds that death could reasonably be expected as a natural or probable result of certain types of crimes such as the gang beat-down assault that killed Pettigrew in Fallbrook. The law goes further, with a retroactive aspect that allows inmates convicted under the current felony murder rule or the natural and probable consequences doctrine to petition the trial court to have their convictions vacated. That, to me, is one of the biggest concerns, said Chief Deputy District Attorney David Greenberg. Our ability to hold people accountable for murder will be compromised. If a felony murder conviction is vacated, inmates could be re-sentenced for whatever felony they were committing when the killing happened. But they may well have already served the amount of time they would get for the lesser crime. If so, they would be released from prison. Greenberg said county prosecutors may have secured as many as 300 felony murder convictions going back to the 1980s and 1990s. Not all would result in petitions for release from prison many of the convicts have already been been paroled, or could be deceased. Greenberg prosecuted the trio convicted of murder in the killing of acting student John Lentz in Balboa Park in 1994. A 17-year-old girl shot Lentz several times from a pickup driven by a man who was looking for someone to rob. Ray Waldrop, in the backseat, was convicted of felony murder because he was in on the robbery plan. A jury found specifically that Waldrop was not a major participant in the killing. Because of that finding, he can ask the court next year to vacate his felony murder conviction. I dont have an argument about him being a major participant, Greenberg said. There is nothing for me to argue, nothing to fight. If Waldrop is re-sentenced on the remaining robbery charge, he could get a five-year term at most. Hes already served 23 years, so he would be eligible for release, Greenberg said. On another front, Waldrop had his first state parole board hearing on Wednesday at Richard J. Donovan state prison in Otay Mesa and was denied release. Greenberg said Lentzs family kept tabs on the hearing and are distressed that he will likely go free next year anyway. Deputy District Attorney Christine Bannon, who prosecuted the three Fallbrook gang members in on the 2016 attack on Pettigrew, called the new law horribly short-sighted. I feel some victims and families will be robbed of justice, Bannon said. She said Pettigrews family is devastated to know that one of his convicted attackers, Ryan Valdez, might go free next year because there is no proof he was armed that night or that the natural or probable consequences of his actions was a death. Grainy security camera video showed three men assaulting 33-year-old Pettigrew, but was not clear enough to show which ones had a knife. We can see a man being killed walking while black, Bannon said. It boggles the mind for a victims family member who sat through the entirety of the trial. Because it is murder. Defense attorneys, as might be expected, have a different take on the new law. San Diego County Public Defender Randy Mize called it pivotal to justice and fairness. Im proud of Sacramento for this legislation. Im proud of the governor for signing it. Its the right thing to do, Mize said. The bill was co-authored across the political aisle by senators Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Joel Anderson, R-Alpine. Anderson, known as a political conservative, emailed a statement to The San Diego Union-Tribune, saying: Victims dont want vengeance, they want justice. Its unjust to charge people with murder who had nothing to do with the actual murder. Attorneys said the timing was right for the reform. Ive seen things go from draconian, tough on crime, to our prisons increasingly full, to high recidivism, to now, all the way back the other way, said Mize, who joined the Public Defenders Office in 1988. Were coming around to rehabilitation. Patrick Dudley, who represented Kurese Bell, convicted in 2016 of felony murder in the North Park dispensary shootout, said incarcerating our way out of social issues hasnt worked. Enormous inequities have occurred in the last 40 to 50 years in our criminal justice system, Dudley said. The atmosphere, the political appetite is much more palatable (now) to criminal justice reform. Bell was 17 when he and Marlon Thomas robbed the pot shop in 2014, a few days after robbing a smoke shop where Bell fired a gun. At the dispensary, the security guard shot and killed Thomas, then Bell exchanged gunfire with the guard and wounded him. Charged under the felony murder rule because someone died during the commission of a serious crime Bell was convicted of first-degree murder for Thomas death even though the teen didnt shoot him. Bell also was convicted of attempted murder for shooting the guard, and robbery charges, and could be re-sentenced on those charges. Defense lawyer Robert Grimes said the felony murder rule was never fair. Now, these matters will be evaluated on a case-by-case factual analysis by juries and judges, Grimes said. You get these impulsive young guys locked up for life because a robbery went bad and they didnt really foresee someone would get killed, he said. In California, there has been a reassessment of the utility of certain mandatory (sentencing laws) and fairness. We are giving trial judges back discretion. pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @pdrepard More than 18 rounds of chemotherapy and three abdominal surgeries have failed to slow the tumor that doctors discovered after Tamara Strauss felt a suspicious lump in 2015. Strauss was the first of 10 clinical trial patients to receive a personalized vaccine with the potential to do in just a few months what conventional treatments have failed to accomplish in three grueling years. Unlike the scorched earth approach of chemo, cancer vaccines are exquisitely refined, containing immune system-activating molecules custom-made for each patient based on the specific genetic mutations present in their cancer cells. Accepting patients with solid tumors of all types, the trial represents a significant new hope for the 59-year-old jewelry artist whose advanced cancer is rare and difficult to treat. But doctors hope to see progress, either halting the tumors growth or reducing its size, in three to six months. Advertisement The effort is a collaboration of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology and employs a basic approach just starting to show promise in small trials at other top-flight cancer centers worldwide. But the local effort has its own special tweak that the San Diego researchers involved think will deliver greater precision in targeting the unique features of each patients cancer cells. The approach builds on basic research from the labs of immunologists Stephen Schoenberger and Bjoern Peters at the allergy institute and was brought to the bedside under collaboration with Dr. Ezra Cohen, director of translational science at Moores. The current method that everybodys using, its highly-educated guessing but guessing all the same, Schoenberger said. Our process does take longer on the front end, but thats because were taking the time to verify, rather than guess. We think its going to make a big difference in our ability to be exactly on target. Immunologist Stephen Schoenberger (left) and Dr. Aaron Miller explain how cancer vaccines work to patient Tamara Strauss and her mother Iris Struass (background). (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) Before slowly pressing the plunger forward, sending the first custom-crafted dose into Strausss upper arm on Oct. 4, Cohen made it clear that the four years of collaboration necessary to arrive at that gives him confidence that the trial has a significant chance of success. I think this is a moment where history is happening, and we know its happening, Cohen said. The trial is made possible through a $1 million donation from well-known philanthropists and art collectors Matthew and Iris Strauss, who are Tamara Strausss parents. It is among a growing number of trials nationwide that capitalize on recent advances in genetic sequencing, bioinformatic analysis and manufacturing to craft vaccines loaded with molecules made to activate each patients immune system against their tumors specific genetic fingerprint. Outside experts seem to agree that the approach moving forward at Moores in La Jolla is novel. Microbiologist Fred Ramsdell, vice president of research at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunology, a collaboration of high-flying cancer programs such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, UCLA and MD Anderson Cancer Center, said the screening idea that the team in San Diego is putting into practice takes the cancer vaccine target selection process to a deeper level. One of the big things that Ezra and Stephen are doing is taking an approach where they actually look for T-cell responses in the lab before making a vaccine, Ramsdell said. Most everybody else makes their vaccines based on computational prediction alone. Hard target To date, other research efforts have taken samples of patients tumors and healthy tissue, sequenced their genetic code, then compared the results, allowing scientists to spot mutations present in the cancer but not in healthy tissue. Those differences are used to predict changes in cancer antigens, the long chains of amino acids used by the immune system to tell the bodys own cells from those of foreign invaders. But its not enough to simply predict which new antigens, or neoantigens as scientists call them, will likely be present. T-Cells dont just encounter neoantigens and immediately get to work hunting down the cancer cells they match. Helper cells that are also part of the immune system, Schoenberger explained, must present the neoantigens to unprogrammed T-Cells in a very specific way using a class of molecules called major histocompatability complex or MHC. This complicated dance involves MHC binding with neoantigens for presentation, and immunologists have learned through decades of research that MHC can vary from person to person. So, in order to design an effective cancer vaccine, researchers must predict not only which neoantigens are most likely to be present in each candidates cancer, but also which of those possible targets are likely to properly bind for presentation. The new Moores trial attempts to do better by removing much of the guesswork from the target selection process. In recent years, it has become clear that the immune systems normal surveillance process usually identifies at least a few neoantigens present in a patients cancer even if the detection does not result in the surge of specifically-programmed T-cells necessary to win the fight. Working together, Moores and the allergy institute have created a process where all predicted neoantigens can be manufactured and exposed to patient blood samples. Within two weeks, the process is able to flag antigens that are recognized by at least some of the T-cells present in the blood. In Tamara Strausss case, this blood culturing process allowed doctors to determine that three of the 27 neoantigens that computer models predicted have already been recognized by her immune system. Two of the three were used to make her vaccine. The third could not be included due to production difficulties. The result, Schoenberger said, appears to be a 10-fold greater accuracy increase. From what we can tell, the algorithmic model is getting a hit rate of about 3 percent, but our functional approach is delivering about 35 percent, and we think that will make a big difference in effectiveness, Schoenberger said. To help cope with a lower potential hit rate, other neoantigen trials tend to select up to 20 different targets for each vaccine. But that means that the immune system is likely to amplify many ineffective signals. The thought, Cohen explained, is that being able to confidently choose fewer targets for the immune system to pursue can significantly increase the effectiveness of the anti-tumor response. Our evidence in preclinical models would strongly suggest that picking the right neoantigens is critical. In fact, if we load irrelevant antigens or ones that are not strongly reactive, we diminish the effect of the vaccine. More is not necessarily better. Getting it right is better, Cohen said in an email. Long fight Prone to hugging everyone she has come to know during her long span of treatment at Moores, Strauss has embraced both traditional and holistic methods to defeat her rare cancer, trying healing gems, focused meditation and many other alternative methods during her journey. That duality was present on Oct. 4 as Lanie Chapman, Strausss friend and a Reiki healing touch master, bestowed an energy blessing on the syringe containing her vaccine before it was administered. Strauss said she has had no trouble pursuing traditional and holistic methods simultaneously. Theyre meant to work together, Strauss said. The chemotherapy, this vaccine, theyre what can save my life, but the holistic, I think thats what has helped offset a lot of the damage that the cancer and the medicine have done to my body. Dr. Ezra Cohen with Iris and Matthew Strauss (right) during a visit to Moores Cancer center on Dec. 13, 2017. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) The Strauss family has suffered more than its fair share of cancer pain. Iris and Matthew Strauss lost their daughter, Stefanie, to ovarian cancer in 2010. That experience prompted the Rancho Santa Fe couple, which has had significant success in real estate, to fund a center that is building a new genetic test for early ovarian cancer detection. Shortly after Tamaras diagnosis in 2015, a dinner with the late Ralph Whitworth, the well-known activist investor who died of cancer complications in 2016, turned the couple on to the neoantigen work underway at the allergy institute. When it became clear that the only way to extend these ideas to his daughter was to fund a clinical trial, Matthew Strauss wrote a check, but not before diving into the evidence. He worked to expand his microbiological fluency, filling his cell phone with page after page of terms, a custom mobile glossary he could refer to time and time again as he traveled to scientific conferences and familiarized himself with the intricacies of cancer immunotherapy. We made this decision based on knowledge, not just emotion. When they came up with a full written treatment protocol, it seemed clear that this is a rare chance not just to help Tammy, but for the greater good, Matthew Strauss said during an interview at Moores in late 2017. While they do agree that the Moores approach is novel, experts also note that nothing here on the edge of cancer knowledge is for sure. No guarantees Ramsdell, the Parker Institute microbiologist, explained that there is no guarantee that more accurate T-cell targeting will produce the kind of vigorous anti-tumor attack that oncologists and patients desire. The immune system is vastly complex and not yet fully understood. If the patients immune system does respond to the neoantigens they select, you dont know how efficient or effective those T-cells that get activated are going to be, he said. It is possible that the patient makes a response, but that response doesnt have the right effect. And killing stubborn tumors is about more than proper targeting, adds Dr. Siwen Hu-Lieskovan, a clinical oncologist at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The clinician and researcher is UCLAs lead investigator for an ongoing neoantigen trial by Boston-based Neon Therapeutics. Cancer cells, she noted, create significant changes in their immediate surroundings, what scientists call their microenvironment. Those changes serve to inhibit the effectiveness of the immune systems attack forces, including the types of T-cells that the trial seeks to multiply and mobilize. How to effectively address the tumor microenvironment is one of the biggest challenges we have in immunotherapy research at the moment, Hu-Lieskovan said. She also questioned the 12-week lead time specified for vaccine screening and manufacture in the Moores study design. Current trials that just use computer prediction, rather than functional blood-based screening, are significiantly shorter and, often, patients with late-stage cancer dont have long to wait. Its hard for me to imagine that many patients can wait that long, Hu-Lieskovan said. Standing in the hallway outside Strausss infusion room, Schoenberger said that 12-week timeframe is actually weeks longer than it has actually taken to produce a custom vaccine as was selected as the maximum-possible wait. Plans are underway, he added, to significantly shorten the six- to eight-week vaccine manufacturing process, which currently occurs at a facility in Europe. And, the entire blood culture process, the researcher added, may not be necessary for long. As research in the allergy institutes wet lab builds a list of which neoantigens bind with which MHC molecules, that information can be used to better train neoantigen prediction algorithms. As to handling the tumor microenvironment, he said each patient will receive immunotherapy pembrolizumab, a drug commonly marketed as Keytruda, to push back against these effects. Among a new class of checkpoint inhibitors, Keytruda blocks a cellular off switch on T-cells that many types of cancer can activate to evade eradication. Using Keytruda with the vaccine tackles one of the major inhibitory effects of the cancer microenvironment, and weve used exactly this strategy in preclinical models. In mice where the microenvironment is certainly present, weve cured considerable tumors, Schoenberger said. Patients in the new trial at Moores will receive three vaccine doses, one every three weeks. Cohen said researchers will take a first look at the state of Strausss pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer about 9 weeks after the first dose. Unlike pancreatic adenocarcinoma, which often has a prognosis of only a few months, the subtype that Strauss is fighting is significantly less aggressive. Initially, Cohen noted, researchers will look for evidence that trial participants immune systems have received and responded to the neoantigenic message that the vaccine has delivered. Shrinking or even eliminating tumors could take many additional months. Sitting on a bed at Moores in a red velvet dress with her mother holding her hand, Strauss had her own thoughts about messages received. She noted that the date she got her shot was Oct. 4 which is abbreviated 10-4. Those numbers, she mused, do have a very specific meaning in communications. It means, yes, got your message. Thats kind of profound. Maybe the universe has gotten the message? Strauss said. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly indicated Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital was affiliated with Harvard University. We apologize. paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1850 Twitter: @paulsisson At least one person has spent more than five years in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at Otay Mesa Detention Center according to data obtained through a records request by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse of Syracuse University. TRACs report gives a snapshot of who was held in immigration detention on June 30, 2018. At that time, six people had been at the San Diego facility for more than three years. The man with the longest time inside had been in ICE custody since May 2013, according to TRAC. The man, a citizen of Mexico, has a conviction for burglary. ICE is not authorized to hold people as punishment. It detains people waiting for immigration hearings if it believes they wont show up to court or are dangerous. Advertisement The majority of immigrants held at Otay Mesa Detention Center have no criminal convictions, according to the data. Of the 956 people in ICE custody at the detention facility at the end of June, 561 had no criminal conviction documented in their records. For those who did have criminal histories, based on TRACs analysis of the most severe criminal conviction for each detainee, DUI was the most common offense. Illegal entry was the second most common, likely due to the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy that greatly increased the number of prosecutions of illegal border crossings. Hondurans make up the largest group with illegal entry convictions at 17, followed by Guatemalans at 9. When asked about the report, Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE said that an analysis done by the agency around the time of the report showed that 54 percent of detainees had either a criminal conviction or pending charge. These figures reflect appropriate allocation of limited resources, Mack said, noting that many in ICE custody remain there because immigration law says that their detention is mandatory. At least 12 percent of the people held at Otay Mesa Detention Center are asylum seekers. TRAC believes that ICE frequently doesnt fill out this information in a detainees record, meaning the number could be higher. Only 7 people held at Imperial Regional Detention Facility were marked as asylum seekers. None of the detainees from India were labeled as asylum seekers even though many recently told the Los Angeles Times about their journeys to request asylum. While Indians make up the largest group of detainees at the Imperial facility, they represent about 4 percent of the population at Otay Mesa. Immigrants from Mexico make up 40 percent of the detainees at Otay Mesa Detention Center. Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans are the next largest groups followed by people from Eritrea, India and China. At least 2 percent of those at Otay Mesa have green cards. TRAC also believes that ICE doesnt input this information into all detainee records. Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner resigned under pressure Monday when the states governor raised strong concerns about an email he had sent that contained photos of animals hed hunted and killed during a recent African safari, including a family of baboons. One of the photos showed Blake Fischer in a crouched position, smiling and posing with the dead baboons. The photo, and others he sent, sparked controversy over the weekend after the Idaho Statesman first reported the existence of the emails and the photos. I have high expectations and standards for every appointee in state government, said Gov. Butch Otter, who asked for Fischers resignation Monday. Every member of my administration is expected to exercise good judgment. Commissioner Fischer did not. There had been pressure on the governor to seek Fischers resignation amid protests on social media from animal rights activists, some hunters and even celebrities. Advertisement RED ALERT! ACTION! Commission member Blake Fischer killed an entire family of baboons & babies, wrote a Twitter user identified as Warrior Activist. Fischer was first appointed to the seven-member commission in 2014 and was reappointed this year, though he would have had to have been confirmed by the Idaho Senate when the Legislature convened in January. It is considered a voluntary position. Fischer has not responded to an email from the Los Angeles Times requesting an interview. In his letter of resignation, dated Oct. 15, Fischer apologized for sending the photos and said he hoped his actions would not harm the integrity and ethic of the Fish and Game Department. I recently made some poor judgments that resulted in sharing photos of a hunt in which I did not display an appropriate level of sportsmanship and respect for the animals I harvested, Fischer wrote. While these actions were out of character for me, I fully accept responsibility and feel it is best for the citizens of Idaho and sportsmen and women that I resign my post. Jon Hanian, spokesman for the governor, said in an email to The Times on Monday that Otter had been aware of the controversy and that since the Statesman article was published, the governors office had received about 700 emails and 200 phone calls as of early Monday. Blake Fischer, Idahos WILDLIFE OFFICIAL, has shot at least 14 wild animals (some of them on the brink of extinction). It is not surprising that we are entering a man-made sixth mass extinction event if we allocate wildlife officials who take pleasure in killing them. pic.twitter.com/jpF62ulVhl Bella Lack (@BellaLack) October 15, 2018 Fischer bragged in his email about the animals he killed during the safari in Namibia last month. He said that he and his wife shot at least 14 animals, including a waterbuck, an impala, a leopard and a sable antelope. So I shot a whole family of baboons, Fischer wrote below a photo of him smiling while posing with the four dead baboons. I think she got the idea quick. He told the Statesman he was told which species he could hunt and that there were fees attached to some animals: Baboons are free ... I get it theyre a weird animal. Its a primate, not a deer. In another caption, he wrote: I shot a Leopard. Super cool, super lucky. The Leopard is one of the big 5, as in one of the 5 animals in Africa that will kill you before you can kill it. Crazy cool animal. They are normally super nocturnal, so this was really unique. Another photo showed him standing with his foot on the neck of a dead giraffe. Fischer reportedly was caught off guard by the reaction and told the paper that one of his colleagues on the commission was upset by the pictures. I didnt do anything illegal. I didnt do anything unethical. I didnt do anything immoral, Fischer said. ... I look at the way Idahos Fish and Game statute says were supposed to manage all animals for Idaho, and any surplus of animals we have we manage through hunting, fishing and trapping. Africa does the same thing. But Steve Alder, executive director of the pro-hunting group Idaho for Wildlife, said he was glad though not surprised the governor had called for the resignation and suggested that this would be a milestone in how future commissioners might be selected. Ive had issues with him trying to monetize hunting, trying to encourage Idaho to get into trophy hunting and putting our game to the highest bidder, Alder said in an interview with The Times. Hes been going down that road and Ive been against that. I think this kind of unethical behavior will be looked at going forward. One former commissioner, Fred Trevey, emailed Fischer and asked him to resign to shield the commission as an institution and hunting as a legitimate tool of wildlife management from the harm that is sure to come. I have a difficult time understanding how a person privileged to be an Idaho Fish and Game commissioner can view such an action as sportsmanlike and an example to others, Trevey wrote. Photos of hunters posing with animals killed on trophy hunts have been hot-button issues for years, and social media has helped electrify the debate. Mike Harris, director of the wildlife law program with the nonprofit Friends of Animals group, said the images of Fischer posing with the dead animals was disturbing. He also said that in his experience, posing with baboons that had been hunted and killed was unusual. He said the group had been pressuring Otter to call for Fischers resignation. The photos speak volumes to what his own ethics are on this, Harris said. One thing we talk about when it comes to hunting and conservation is to be ethical. You dont kill for fun. You can manage them from a population standpoint and hunting is one of the tools in the conservation basket even if I think that tool is overused. Harris later clarified that he and his group opposed hunting as a conservation tool and that he meant to say, One thing they talk about when it comes to hunting and conservation is to be ethical. Hunting, especially in states such as Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah, is largely viewed as both sport and a conservation tactic to keep species such as deer from overwhelming the ecosystem. But U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke faced controversy this year when his agency attempted to allow grizzly bear hunts outside Yellowstone National Park though the issue has been tied up in the courts. President Trump with the backing of his eldest sons, both hunting enthusiasts reversed Obama-era rules banning game hunters from bringing back tusks, tails and other parts from elephants killed in Africa, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife has been allowing more imports of hunted lions from some African countries since Trump took office. Friends of Wildlife reported that Namibia, where Fischer hunted, is one of the top 10 countries for imported trophy animals to the U.S., numbering 76,347 between 2005 and 2014. According to the governors announcement in 2014, Fischer was appointed along with Lane Clezie to the Fish and Game Commission. Otter called both passionate sportsmen who bring great understanding of the Fish and Game Commissions responsibilities to hunters, anglers, fish and wildlife and everyone who loves the outdoors. david.montero@latimes.com Twitter: @davemontero UPDATES: 12:50 p.m., Oct. 18: This article was updated with Mike Harris, director of the nonprofit Friends of Animals, clarifying that his group did not support hunting as a conservation tactic. 5:25 p.m.: The article was updated with Fischers resignation and additional reaction. The article was originally published at 2:35 p.m., Oct. 15. In a preemptive strike, Pacific Gas and Electric Company shut off power to thousands of California customers Sunday night in an attempt to lower the risk of sparking wildfires amid dangerous Santa Ana winds. About 60,000 customers lost power, spokesman Paul Doherty told the Daily News Monday, including about 45,000 in the Sierra Foothills and 17,500 in North Bay. Affected counties include Butte, Sierra, Placer, Nevada, El Dorado, Amador, Plumas, Calaveras and Yuba. The power cut, the first time PG&E has ever made such a move, comes just days after the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced that last years Cascade Fire, which killed four people and destroyed almost 10,000 acres of land, was caused by sagging power lines coming into contact during heavy winds. At least one of those lines was owned by PG&E, according to the report. Advertisement Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and the communities we serve, Pat Hogan, senior vice president of electric operations, said in a statement. We know how much our customers rely on electric service, and we have made the decision to turn off power as a last resort given the extreme fire danger conditions these communities are experiencing. PG&E has a plan. We want our customers to have plans, too. The PG&E spokesman told The News that inspections are currently underway and technicians will make any repairs as necessary before turning the power back on. Some schools in the area were closed Monday as a result of the power outages. Late Monday afternoon, PG&E told customers that about 70% of coverage will be restored by midnight Monday. Wildfires have ravaged the state recently, including the Carr Fire in July and August that killed eight people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. Amber Gee was checking in on her loved ones properties via an interactive satellite map when she noticed a troubling message sprawled across her grandmothers front lawn: H-E-L-P. Gee, 24, had already evacuated from her own home in Callaway, Fla., due to Hurricane Michael, but was using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations map to scope out any potential damage at the home in Youngstown. Her grandmother had evacuated, too, but her uncle, Ernest Gee, his wife and a friend of the couples were still there and, based on the message which Ernest had created using trees knocked down by the storm were desperate for aid. Hurricane Michael death toll rises to 18 after woman found dead in Virginia, thousands still missing Advertisement Gee told ABC News that as soon as she spotted the cry for help, she shared the image with emergency service officials, and asked them to perform a welfare check on her family. Ernest, his wife and their friend were rescued about 2 a.m. Sunday. Apparently, they had to cut through a lot of downed trees to get there, Gee said. The hurricane has turned everything upside down. Some were more fortunate than others. Im just happy that everybody is safe and sound and, hopefully, soon we will all get through this together and recover from the storm. Bay County Emergency Services praised Ernests outside-the-box thinking, and confirmed that all was well regarding everyone trapped in the house. This is an incredible story of how people are working together in this situation, read a Facebook post on the Bay County Emergency Services page. Someone from another county was using the mapping app to check property in rural Bay County and noticed the word help spelled out in the grass in logs. That person immediately contacted us and sent the picture and we dispatched needed assistance. Hurricane Michael touched down Wednesday in the Florida Panhandle and has killed at least 18 people in four states. Forty-six people are still missing from the Mexico Beach, Fla., area, according to local officials. The speaker of Sweden's parliament said on Monday he had asked Social Democrat leader and caretaker prime minister Stefan Lofven to try to form a government after the head of the centre-right opposition gave up a similar attempt at the weekend. A general election on Sept. 9 delivered a hung parliament with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats holding the balance of power, although neither the centre-left nor centre-right bloc is willing to do a deal with them. Moderate Party and centre-right Alliance bloc leader Ulf Kristersson had a first stab at forming a government but failed. Lofven's chances look little better. "The parties have to rethink where they stand if we are going to get further in this process," Speaker Andreas Norlen said. Lofven, who has two weeks to find a workable government, lost a vote of no-confidence as prime minister on Sept. 25. His centre-left bloc of the Social Democrats, Greens and Left party has 144 seats in the 349-member parliament, one more than the centre-right Alliance. The Sweden Democrats, with roots in the white supremacist fringe, have 62 seats. Lofven is hoping to get support from the Centre and Liberal parties - currently part of the Alliance bloc. Those two parties scuppered Kristersson's attempt at forming a government over the weekend, saying his proposals would leave the government needing support from the Sweden Democrats. The leaders of the Centre and Liberal parties, however, said they still wanted to see Kristersson as prime minister, backed by broad bipartisan support. Search Keywords: Short link: President Trump suggested Monday that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggis disappearance could be the work of rogue killers as he maintained the King of Saudi Arabia repeatedly denied any involvement. I just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia, who denies any knowledge of what took place with regards to, as he said, his Saudi Arabian citizen, Trump told reporters. We are going to leave nothing uncovered. With that being said, the king firmly denies any knowledge of it. He didnt really know. Maybe I dont want to get into his mind but it sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers, who knows? Were going to try to get to the bottom of it very soon but his was a flat denial. The President added that Secretary of State Pompeo would be heading to Saudi Arabia with the potential for an additional stop in Turkey. Advertisement Khashoggi, a Saudi national, has been missing since Oct. 2, when he was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to pick up documents in order to marry his Turkish fiancee. President Trump holds a chart highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office in March. (Evan Vucci / AP) He had been living in the United States and working as a columnist at The Washington Post after criticism of the Saudi royal family forced him into self-imposed exile. Saudi authorities have maintained that Khashoggi did in fact leave the consulate safely, but have offered no evidence. Turkish authorities, meanwhile, have released footage of him entering the consulate but not leaving. Turkish officials have also told The New York Times that their government has evidence that the journalist was brutally murdered on orders from Saudi leadership. Khashoggis disappearance has put up a potential roadblock in the alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia, as relations between the President and Saudi leadership have been extremely friendly as of late. Trump visited the country on the first overseas trip of his presidency, while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon visited the U.S. in March, with Trump saying the two had become very good friends. The President said Sunday on 60 Minutes that he would inflict severe punishment on the Saudis should he find they were behind Khashoggis disappearance, but noted he was hesitant to cut American sales of military equipment to the country for fear of hurting jobs. Theres a lot at stake, he said. And, maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. Theres something, youll be surprised to hear me say that, theres something really terrible and disgusting about that if that were the case. Were going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment. A Los Angeles judge briefly stuck a pin in Robert Dursts preliminary hearing Monday morning due to an issue with adult diapers. The millionaire murder suspect, 75, was suffering from incontinence and needed the special undergarment to attend the key hearing in person, a source told the Daily News. More than half of Americans 65 and older have experienced some form of the condition, according to the CDC. A member of Dursts defense team was seen carrying a large CVS bag into the courtroom shortly after the judge called a recess. Durst had some type of issue with his hearing aid as well, the source said. Advertisement Durst later walked slowly into the courtroom after the lunch break and sat silently at the defense table during afternoon witness testimony. The Monday hearing was a continuation of a critical proceeding that started back in April and is a necessary step before Durst can be sent to trial for allegedly murdering his best friend Susan Berman back in 2000. Prosecutors began calling more witnesses Monday with the hope of convincing Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Windham they have enough evidence to warrant putting the case before a jury. They claim Durst murdered Berman execution-style in her Los Angeles home to keep her from telling authorities what she knew about his first wife Kathie Dursts 1982 disappearance in New York. Prosecutors called Dr. Peter Halperin to the stand Monday afternoon to discuss a phone call he received from Kathie Durst shortly before she vanished. Kathie said that she was very frightened because she thought that her husband might hurt her, Halperin, who was on the same radiology rotation with Kathie during their fourth year of at Albert Einstein medical school in the Bronx, testified. She said there were problems in the marriage and things had escalated to the point that she felt unsafe, he testified. She said that her husband was capable of violence. Durst was arrested on the Berman murder warrant in New Orleans on March 14, 2015 the day before the dramatic finale of HBOs The Jinx, the six-part docuseries that chronicled his life. In the final episode, Durst went into a bathroom still wearing his microphone and muttered an alleged confession to himself, unaware he was still being recorded. What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course, he said into the hot mic. Durst has pleaded not guilty to Bermans murder. His lawyers claim he has no idea what happened to his first wife, who is presumed dead. The scion of a wealthy New York real estate family, Durst previously admitted killing and dismembering his neighbor Morris Black in Texas in 2001. He was acquitted on self-defense grounds. San Diego police arrested a 19-year-old man Sunday night in Pacific Beach who they said used a gun to pistol whip a driver and steal his car before crashing the vehicle and taking off running. A 21-year-old driver called police shortly after 9:05 p.m. to report that his gold Hyundai Elantra sedan had been taken at gunpoint near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Haines Street by a man who asked for a ride and then pulled a gun and told him not to stop, said police Officer John Buttle. The victim pulled over and began to yell for help. The carjacker hit the driver in the face, knocking out some of his teeth. When the victim got out of the car, the suspect got behind the wheel and drove off but about a half mile away, the Hyundai crashed into a parked car on Diamond Street near Fanuel Street. A police officer saw the crash and the driver got out of the car and ran, jumping a fence into a yard. Advertisement Police set up a perimeter and with the assistance of a police helicopter, searched the area. Shortly after 9:45 p.m., officers arrested a 19-year-old man they found in a backyard. A gun was found on the floorboard of the stolen Elantra, Buttle said. Twitter: @karenkucher (619) 293-1350 karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com UPDATES: 6:50 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 9:40 p.m. on Oct. 14 A couple awoke in bed to find masked gunmen in the bedroom of their City Heights home early Monday morning, threatening them with guns and demanding valuables, San Diego police said. The home-invasion robbery was reported around 6:40 a.m. at a home on Bramson Place near 33rd Street. A 27-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were asleep when several masked men woke them up, said police Officer Robert Heims. One of the suspects put a knife up to the male victims throat, and the group demanded valuables, he said. Police said the man was cut several times, although it was not immediately known if he was treated at a hospital. The property loss was unknown. Advertisement No description of the suspects was released. Robbery detectives were investigating the incident. Twitter: @karenkucher (619) 293-1350 karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com The man who was found dead with a chain around his waist in the water off Mission Beach last week was identified as an Egyptian citizen, police said Monday. A man in a fishing boat spotted the body of Abdelkader Elshayeb about 2.5 miles from shore around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, police said. Elshayeb, 37, was clad in swim trunks and had a chain made of half-inch links around his waist. The chain raised concerns about the cause of death, and homicide detectives were called in to investigate, said police Lt. Anthony Dupree. There were no obvious signs of trauma on Elshayebs body. The Medical Examiners Office has not yet determined how Elshayeb died, Dupree said. The case remains under investigation. Advertisement Elshayeb had been on an extended visit to San Diego, Dupree said. Twitter: @LAWinkley (619) 293-1546 lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com A 19-year-old motorcyclist died in a crash with a truck in Carlsbad on Sunday, police said. The collision happened on Carlsbad Boulevard north of Cannon Road about 4:35 p.m. When officers arrived, they found a motorcycle and a Toyota Tundra, both with extensive damage, police said. The rider, a San Marcos teen, was rushed to a hospital, but died before he arrived. Its unclear if the truck driver a 38-year-old from San Marcos suffered any injuries. Advertisement North Carlsbad Boulevard was closed at Cannon Road while officers investigated the crash and cleared the wreckage. Anyone who witnessed the crash was asked to call police at (760) 931-2208. Twitter: @LAWinkley (619) 293-1546 lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com Sen. Elizabeth Warren ridiculed by President Trump with the nickname Pocahontas released a DNA test Monday showing strong evidence of Native American heritage dating back six to 10 generations. The results of the test, first published by The Boston Globe, come after years of speculation that Warren had falsified her heritage decades ago by calling herself a minority in order to advance her career. The Massachusetts Democrat, 69, has claimed that she was told growing up that she was part Cherokee. Trump seized on the controversy throughout his campaign and presidency, calling Warren a liar and a fraud, tweeting about her dozens of times since May 2016 and trashing her at numerous rallies. Advertisement During a July speech, Trump said he would offer Warren $1 million to take a DNA test if he had to face her in a debate. He also brought up Warrens ancestry during a White House event honoring World War II Navajo code talkers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has claimed she was told growing up that she was part Cherokee. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP/Getty Images) You were here long before any of us were here, he told the honorees, although we have a representative in Congress who, they say, was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. The President first responded with indifference when asked Monday about Warrens DNA test results. Who cares? he told reporters on the White House lawn. But late Monday afternoon, Trump responded to his previous promise, made multiple times, to donate $1 million to a charity of Warrens choice if the test showed she was an Indian. ""Ill only do it if I can test her personally, he told reporters. That will not be something I enjoy doing either. Its unclear exactly what he intends to test personally. Warrens DNA test was conducted by Carlos Bustamante, an expert in DNA analysis and a Stanford University professor. Bustamante identified five of Warrens genetic segments as Native American at high confidence, he wrote in his report. The largest segment involving Native American ancestry was located on chromosome 10 and is clearly distinct from Warrens European ancestry. The segment size suggests an unadmixed Native American ancestor in the pedigree at approximately eight generations before the sample, although the actual number could be somewhat lower or higher, Bustamante wrote. Bustamante was not aware of the donors identity when he was studying the DNA. Warren whos gearing up for a potential run in 2020 to unseat Trump on Monday unveiled a website and video devoted to her heritage. Now, the President likes to call my mother a liar. What do the facts say? Warren asks Bustamante in the video. The facts suggest that you absolutely have a Native American ancestor in your pedigree, Bustamante responds in a phone call. Trump has previously seized on Barack Obamas heritage, calling on his predecessor to release his birth certificate because he didnt believe Obama was born in America. Trump continued to support his birther claims years after Obama released his Hawaii birth certificate in 2011. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on whether Trump would be retiring his nickname of Warren. The Republican National Committee criticized Warrens announcement, writing in a statement, Having as little as 1/512th Native American ties does not give you the right to claim minority status. With just over three weeks left before the midterms, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stopped by San Diego on Sunday morning to help Mike Levin campaign in the 49th Congressional District. Giffords, who stepped down from her Congressional seat after she was shot in the head in 2011, and her husband Capt. Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran and former astronaut, rallied more than 100 volunteers with Levin at his Solana Beach campaign office as part of their Vote Save Lives tour. Giffords and Kelly are traveling across the U.S. in support of congressional candidates they believe will push for change to reduce gun violence and planned to visit Huntington Beach and Stevenson Ranch later on Sunday. Its time to stand up for whats right, Giffords said after receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. Stop gun violence. Vote! Vote! Vote! Advertisement Kelly told the audience about children the couple had met during their ongoing campaign to prevent gun violence. When Kelly asked a group of a dozen children from different socioeconomic backgrounds if they knew someone who had been shot, every one of them raised their hands, he said. In a group of 42 children from the west side of Chicago, when he asked how many knew someone who had been shot and killed, all but two raised their hands. We have the highest level of gun violence in the developed world, Kelly said. We are like no other country on the planet. Levin, a Democrat, called Giffords and Kelly American heroes and criticized his Republican opponent Diane Harkey for having an A rating from the National Rifle Association. Bryan Shroyer, spokesman for Harkeys campaign, responded to Levins criticism with a few digs of his own. This event only highlights what we already know: Levin is going to continue to run on an extreme, out-of-touch platform that voters in this district do not want, Shroyer said. Whether its open borders, higher taxes, or socialized medicine, Levin is working against the voters in this district. When asked about gun violence in schools during an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board, Harkey said the issue has more to do with mental health than access to guns. Youre not going to solve the problem by taking away a gun, Harkey said. Levin said Congress has failed to act on the issue for gun violence for too long. If elected, he plans to push for universal background checks and funding for research on gun violence as well as a ban on military-style assault weapons. We need to get to the bottom of this epidemic, Levin said. Linda Brown came with her husband and stepdaughter from Napa to attend Levins event with her 90-year-old father Leonard Brown, who lives in University City. She said there were many reasons that she wanted to support Levin, including his stance on gun violence and his climate change platform. Her father said he hoped to see less negativity from politicians. Weve got to fight the fear and provide hope, Linda Brown said, agreeing with him. Amen, Leonard Brown said. Nikki Faddick, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said having the former congresswoman visit the campaign was motivating for people like her. It puts a real face on the issue, Faddick said. Levins campaign will release a new ad Monday featuring Giffords and Kelly that asks, How can we stop the shootings? Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter Related Bahrain minister backs boycott of Uber over Khashoggi case BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink will no longer attend a high profile conference in Saudi Arabia, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, becoming the latest senior executive to withdraw amid concerns about a missing journalist. The world's largest fund manager had previously planned to attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh. Executives from media, technology and financial firms have in the last few days withdrawn from the conference, scheduled for Oct. 23-25. Search Keywords: Short link: Tristan Nichols traveled the globe, reporting on everything from Sierra Leones civil war to San Diegos Comic-Con. But his longest journey was made to pursue love, not a story. After a seven-year internet courtship, Nichols flew from his native England to Tijuana, to continue wooing Jacky Pantoja in person. While working for The San Diego Union-Tribune and its short-lived cable station, U-T TV, Nichols married his sweetheart in September 2013. He came to Tijuana, they met, fell in love and the rest was history, said Luis Cruz, who supervised Nichols at U-T TV. Everybody liked him, thats for sure. He was a really nice guy. After U-T TV shut down in April 2014, Nichols and his bride moved to England. On Oct. 12, he died unexpectedly in his sleep at home in Saltash, England. He was 40 and left behind a wife and their four-month-old daughter, Mia Luna. Advertisement My whole family has been bawling, said Cory Fish, who was human resources director at the Union-Tribune when Nichols was hired in April 2013. He was a down-to-earth guy despite having the resume and the looks. But he was just a normal guy. In England, Nichols was an occasional male model who became a war correspondent for the Plymouth Herald. He reported from combat zones in Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan, receiving the Operational Service Medal for his work. While originally a print journalist, Nichols experimented with video reporting while under fire. He did some of the pioneer work on helmet cameras in Sierra Leone, Fish said. While he gravitated toward stories on veterans affairs in San Diego, he also indulged his inner fanboy. A dedicated Star Wars fan, he relished doing feature stories on Comic-Con and the San Diego County Fair. Thats what made him so unique, Fish said. He was a guy who could be so serious as well as laugh at himself. He was really cool yet also a total dork. His experience as a military correspondent appealed to Jeff Light, the Union-Tribunes editor, and then-managing editor Kris Viesselman. Initially, though, they were unsure if he could manage to report on air and in print. Those concerns quickly evaporated. What sticks out to me is how well he got along with so many different people, both the TV folks and the rest of the newsroom, said Viesselman, now the Los Angeles Times chief transformation editor and creative director. He moved in and out of both cultures with ease. During his last week in San Diego, Nichols confessed a regret: he was about to leave the United States without ever seeing the Grand Canyon. Cruz heard that on a Thursday. He persuaded Nichols to take off work the next day and, with his partner Robert Santos, drove Nichols and Pantoja nonstop to Arizona. In a packed three-day weekend, they toured the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. He had been talking about going there for months, Cruz said. So we did a quick impromptu road trip. After returning to England in 2014, Nichols appeared to be thriving. After a second stint at the Herald, in 2015 he became a press officer for the Royal British Legion, a charity devoted to active duty and veteran British military. He and his wife had recently bought a flat in Saltash, a town on Cornwalls River Tamar, and in June welcomed their first child, Mia Luna. In mid-September, all three members of the family flew back to this area, in part to introduce Mia Luna to her grandparents in Tijuana. Nichols also visited some of his San Diego friends, including Fish and radio personality Chris Cantore. We talked at length about his time in San Diego, Cantore said, how much he cherished it and missed it. The feeling, it seems, was mutual. Friends and family have created a gofundme page to raise money for Nichols widow and daughter: https://www.gofundme.com/in-loving-memory-of-tristan-nichols?member=943842. Mi amor Tristan Nichols meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, I love you so much and I will love every day of my life, Jacky Nichols wrote Monday on Facebook. You gave me the happiest years of my life, full of love, adventures and amazing life moments that I will always treasure in my heart. You gave me a beautiful daughter and she is gonna know the amazing, caring and wonderful guy that you were and how much you were loved by everyone. 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. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/15/2018 -- The impending patent expiration has resulted in the sluggish growth rate of the adalimumab market in Latin America. The entry of biosimilars has further aggravated the market's concerns. Transparency Market Research (TMR) pegs the valuation of the Latin America adalimumab market at US$994.8 mn in 2014. Expanding at a weak CAGR of 0.4% from 2015 to 2023, the market is forecast to reach US$1,186.4 mn by the end of 2023. View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/latam-adalimumab-market.html Despite its sluggish growth rate, the adalimumab market in Latin America will gain from the favorable government regulations in the region. Latin America also possesses an impressive pool of experienced research professionals, as leading companies operating in the market have been engaged in extensive researches on biologics. This translated into higher investment in the development of biologic drugs by both international and local players. Since Brazil is preferred by a majority of global players in the pharma industry for expanding their operations in Latin America, the country will continue exhibiting favorable prospects for the growth of the adalimumab market. However, the high cost of clinical trials and research and development is the key challenge witnessed by companies operating in the market. Irrespective of the high R&D expenditures, manufacturers are required to maintain a low price of their products, which further limits opportunities for growth of the adalimumab market in Latin America. Absence of reimbursement for biologic drug therapy also adversely impacts the market. Nevertheless, with multinational companies proactively investing to capitalize on the untapped opportunities in Latin America and Asia Pacific, some opportunities for the market's growth in the near future still exist. Request a Sample of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=8716 Brazil Emerges as Most Lucrative Market for Adalimumab in Latin America Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina make the most lucrative countries for sale of adalimumab in Latin America. Among these countries, Brazil has emerged as the leading market because it has in place established regulatory policies for biologic drugs. Moreover, an increasing preference for biologic drugs has been noticed among the patients of this country as well, which puts Brazil at the fore of the adalimumab market in Latin America. As per TMR, the Brazil adalimumab market is poised to surge at a CAGR of 1.2% between 2015 and 2023. The market stood at US$276.7 mn in 2014 and is expected to reach US$352.8 mn in 2023. However, other countries such as Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile represent the middle or low income group among LATAM nations. Absence of established biosimilar regulatory policies in these countries, inadequate government support, and lack of native production facilities limits adoption of biologic drugs across these nations. Despite all odds, the LATAM adalimumab market is forecast to grow at a slow yet steady pace. The entry of adalimumab post patent expirations of blockbuster drugs would renew opportunities for leading enterprises in the market. Increasing Incidence of Rheumatoid Arthritis to Boost Adalimumab Sales in Latin America The most common applications of adalimumab include psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and others. Of these, the application of adalimumab in rheumatoid arthritis contributed US$328.7 mn to the LATAM adalimumab market in 2015. The use of adalimumab has increased in response to the high incidence of rheumatoid arthritis. The medicine is used to reduce the signs of moderate to severe rheumatoid in adults. The rheumatoid arthritis segment is expected to continue holding the leading share in the market through the report's forecast period. The rising incidence of psoriasis, combined with the increasing healthcare expenditure in Latin America, will also boost sales of adalimumab in the region. Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=8716 Some of the leading enterprises operating in the LATAM adalimumab market include Pfizer, Inc., AbbVie, Inc. Amgen, Inc., and Novartis among others. About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact Us Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The General Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (GFEC) signed on Monday a cooperation protocol with its Chinese counterpart to boost cooperation in the fields of trade and investment. In a statement, Ahmed Antar, the head of the Commercial Representation Authority, said that more than 1,070 Chinese companies are currently operating in Egypt with a total investment of $554 million. Antar added that China ranks 21st among foreign investors in Egypt. The cooperation protocol is meant to improve production through 11 ventures in the domains of energy, transport, logistics, infrastructure, and car manufacturing, Antar said. The agreement will be implemented under the supervision of a quartet committee including representatives of the Egyptian trade and industry and investment ministries as well as China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Chinese trade ministry. In September, Egypt signed a number of contracts with Chinese companies to implement development projects in the country with an investment worth $18.3 billion. Search Keywords: Short link: The annual event will see the screening of 138 films The sixth edition of the Sharjah International Childrens Film Festival (SICFF 2018) kicked off on Sunday, with 138 films to be screened and 40 filmmakers hosted during the six-day event. The festival was opened by the ruler of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, and his wife, Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al-Qasimi, the chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs. Al-Qasimi honoured Emirati director Abdullah Al-Kaabi, Bahraini artist Haifa Hussein, and Indian-American child actor Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli in the 2016 release of Jungle Book. The festival, which has been returning for six years with new films and many media-related workshops for children, has become a special celebration of childhood," said Sheikha Jawaher during the opening. "It is an occasion to strengthen the role of media arts in developing our childrens imaginations and nurturing their minds with noble values portrayed by memorable cinematic tales that create a strong impact on childrens personalities and aspirations, she added. SICFF 2018 will screen the Middle Eastern premier of My Giraffe, a feature film by Dutch filmmaker Barbara Bredero, among 54 premiers from 17 countries, in various genres including feature films, documentaries and animations. Six panel discussions and several workshops will being held, including one about the history and future of Disney World presented by Brian Ferguson, a Walt Disney Animation Studios animator. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: He was escorted by Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany President Rustam Minnikhanov of the Tatarstan Republic toured the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square during his official visit to Egypt on Monday. The head of the Russian federal subject was escorted by Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany. Minnikhanov wrote an entry in the museums visitors book, and El-Enany offered him a replica Islamic porcelain plate decorated with paintings of foliage. Search Keywords: Short link: The Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, permitting ships to travel around South America, saving time and money. In 2016, a new set of locks was opened to allow even larger ships to pass through the canal. As a global ship agency, GAC has a growing base of customers and prospects utilising the Panama Canal, so it was imperative to set up our own office here. Our expansion into Panama reaffirms the Groups long-term commitment and investment in the Americas region. We are confident that Panama will be an important contribution to our global network as well as to our local customers, said Bob Bandos, GACs Group Vice President Americas. Sign up for the - Smart Ports & Smart Carriers - session at the Seatrade Maritime Middle East Panamas strategic location and having the US as its most important trading partner make it a natural extension of GAC in the Americas region and the Panama office will offer a suite of services including traditional ship agency, specialised husbandry, ship spares delivery, crew matters and repairs. Heading up the GAC Panama operations is Alexei Oduber, a 27-year industry veteran well versed in all aspects of the shipping industry as well as freight forwarding in the Panama Canal. Previously, GAC used a GAC network agent for vessels in Panama. GAC Panama is ready to provide our customers with the same high level of expertise and ethics GAC is known for worldwide. I look forward to tapping into my years of experience and contacts to meet our customers needs, foresee their requests and offer cost effective solutions, Oduber said. Tan, 51, is retiring from administrative service on 31 December 2018, after five years at the helm of MPA, to pursue new challenges, Singapores Ministry of Transport said in a statement. Quah, 42, a chief editor at MediaCorp and a board member of Singapores Energy Market Authority (EMA), joins the MPA as chief executive (designate) of the MPA from 1 November 2018. She has held leadership appointments in various organisations including the then-National Population Secretariat under the Prime Ministers Office, Ministry of Finance. Quah takes the helm of the authority which regulates the worlds second largest container port, busiest port shipping by shipping tonnage, and the largest bunkering port. Singapore's Ministry of Transport credited Tan with establishing a strong maritime innovation eco-system and championed R&D. Under Mr Tans leadership, Singapore has been consistently ranked as the top international maritime centre. To chart the future directions for the Singapore maritime cluster, Mr Tan also spearheaded the formation of a high-level International Maritime Centre 2030 Advisory Committee in 2016 to enhance Maritime Singapores long-term competitiveness, the statement said. FREE DOWNLOAD - 2020 Sulphur Cap: Is the industry ready for the long-run? New Zealands primary industry export revenue is forecast to reach $43.8 billion for the year to June 2019, an increase of 2.5 percent on the prior year, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries' latest Situation and Outlook report. Its a promising outlook and builds on the strong growth seen in 2018, when export revenue increased 11.8 percent. In 2018, dairy prices recovered from the lows of 2015 and 2016, high red meat prices boosted meat and wool revenue, and strong demand for logs in China led to record export prices and volume," said Emma Taylor, director of agriculture, marine and plant policy. Taylor said that horticulture and dairy are the "driving forces" behind the lift. Horticulture exports are forecast to rise 13.1 percent to $6.1 billion for the year ending June, while dairy exports are forecast to rise 2.1 percent to $17 billion, consolidating gains made in the past two years. With farm production likely to be relatively flat in coming years, she said revenue growth is expected to be driven by moves towards higher value products such as cheese and infant formula. Forestry exports are expected to remain stable at $6.4 billion for 2019, with log prices tipped to remain near record levels amid sustained strong Chinese construction activity. Meat and wool exports are forecast to fall 1.3 percent to $9.4 billion in 2019. "Despite forecast increases in farm gate prices for lamb and venison, decreasing production volumes are forecast to lead to lower export revenue overall," she said. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. 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Related News: Move Logistics Group Limited (NZX: MOV) Completion of Retail Entitlement Offer 16th November 2021 Morning Report Investore Property Limited (NZX: IPL) Interim Results HY22 Napier Port Holdings Limited (NZX: NPH) 2021 Full Year Results SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) REOPENING OF SKYCITY HAMILTON PROPERTY Just Life Group Limited (NZX: JLG) Dividend Announcement Vector Limited (NZX: VCT) Launches Retail Bond Offer 15th November 2021 Morning Report Contact Energy Limited (NZX: CEN) Sets Interest Rate for Green Capital Bonds Rakon Limited (NZX: RAK) Upgrades Earnings Guidance The British Councils creative partnership is aiming to boost entrepreneurial spirit among young Egyptians, said UK Minister of State for the Middle East Alistair Burt in Cairo on Sunday while attending the official launch of a British Council programme. A partnership with Britain would help to boost the creative economy in Egypt and help create jobs for future generations, UK minister Alistair Burt has said while attending the official launch of a British Council programme. Burt told delegates at the Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies forum in Cairo that UK investment would give young people the skills they need to turn their dreams into reality. Innovation is at the heart of economic success. We know that for countries to succeed in creating jobs for future generations, and solutions for societys problems, we need to support bright ideas and entrepreneurial spirit. Thats why the UK is investing in entrepreneurs, through programmes like DICE, and in education, to give young people the skills they need to turn their dreams into reality, he said. The two-day forum was attended by Egypt's minister of communications and information technology, as well as other key government actors, national institutions and relevant organisations that the British Council is working with to understand and develop this particular area of the economy. The creative sector offers opportunities for entrepreneurs from a diverse range of backgrounds, in particular young people, women and other marginalised groups. A press release by the British Council affirmed that grants offered as part of the Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies programme are only allocated to projects that can benefit these groups. Through the programme, the British Council is collaborating with a range of government, academic and business organisations to assess the shape and size of the creative economy, its potential, and ways to improve its growth, the British Council said. The programme will also provide grants to individuals to kick-start projects in the creative economy. By boosting Egypts creative sector, through the right strategies and support, the project hopes to increase employment opportunities, particularly for young people. Elizabeth White, country director at the British Council in Egypt, said at the forum: As we celebrate 80 years in Egypt, we have launched this new programme which combines arts, creativity and entrepreneurship and looks to the future. If you have a new idea, whether its in social sciences, art, or technology, the future can be yours, because growth through innovation is the future, Egypts Minister of Communications & Information Technology Amr Talaat said at the forum. Digital technology contributed a great deal to the development of creative economy, which has been growing considerably in recent years. This makes investing in innovative technology and entrepreneurship a strong priority to achieve inclusion and sustainable development, which are part of Egypts 2030 Vision, he added. The Ministry of CIT contributes to this vision by launching different projects that encourage youth to innovate and develop their knowledge base, as well as create awareness of entrepreneurship and intellectual property protection. More importantly, the ministry is launching programmes that apply technology to enable and include people from different factions of society. Such programmes include distance learning, developing the technological infrastructure of public schools, and building the skill sets of youth in marginalised and rural areas, in addition to providing access to technology to people with disabilities, the minister added. Search Keywords: Short link: Salt Funds Management plans to list a dedicated carbon fund, opening up the green commodity directly for retail investors. Salt's Carbon Fund is expected to be 98 percent invested in carbon commodities, with 2 percent held in cash and equivalents. The fund will buy credits in New Zealand's emissions trading scheme and also in international schemes. It may use swaps, futures and other derivatives to get exposure to those markets. The offer is expected to open next week but isn't seeking money yet. Salt plans to list the Carbon Fund on the NZX next month. "This fund positions carbon as a new alternative asset and aims to give individuals and organisations a chance to invest in or offset these changes," managing director Paul Harrison said in a statement. Provided the offer gets Financial Markets Authority approval it will be the first listed green investment entity in New Zealand. The units will be sold at $1 each with a minimum $5,000 investment. NZX has been keen to foster a wider use of green investment tools and vehicles, with a growing number of green bonds listed on the debt market. At the same time, the government is charging ahead with its Carbon Zero legislation. The Crown's provisioning for emissions trading scheme credits rose to $2.54 billion as at June 30 from $2.03 billion a year earlier, with the carbon price rising to $21.10 per unit from $17.20 in June 2017. The Carbon Fund will be at the high end of the risk register in that it's asset-specific and the product disclosure statement says it won't be appropriate for all investors, with a number of factors influencing prices such as political decisions, regulation, fuel prices, and weather and climate change. "The historical carbon price has been quite volatile relative to traditional asset classes such as shares and bonds," the offer document said. "Price fluctuation plays a significant role in the carbon market and carbon dioxide emissions reduction." Salt Funds will charge about 0.95 percent of funds under management to cover management and administration costs. The fund manager won't measure the fund's performance against an index, saying there isn't an appropriate peer group. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Move Logistics Group Limited (NZX: MOV) Completion of Retail Entitlement Offer 16th November 2021 Morning Report Investore Property Limited (NZX: IPL) Interim Results HY22 Napier Port Holdings Limited (NZX: NPH) 2021 Full Year Results SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) REOPENING OF SKYCITY HAMILTON PROPERTY Just Life Group Limited (NZX: JLG) Dividend Announcement Vector Limited (NZX: VCT) Launches Retail Bond Offer 15th November 2021 Morning Report Contact Energy Limited (NZX: CEN) Sets Interest Rate for Green Capital Bonds Rakon Limited (NZX: RAK) Upgrades Earnings Guidance New Zealand shares dipped, outperforming many Asian markets, as Fletcher Building aborted its pursuit of Steel & Tube Holdings after its increased offer wasn't warmly embraced by the target. The S&P/NZX 50 index declined 5.17 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,838.07. Within the index, 26 stocks fell, 19 gained and five were unchanged. Turnover was $132.8 million. Fletcher fell 0.8 percent to $6.10 in busier activity than usual, with 4.6 million shares traded. The country's biggest listed building company gave up plans to buy Steel & Tube when the steel products maker wouldn't immediately endorse an increased offer of $1.90 per share, plus scope for the smaller firm to pay a 5 cents per share special dividend. Steel & Tube stock jumped as high as $1.73 after announcing the increased offer, before closing down 1.3 percent to $1.48. Some 1.2 million shares were traded - more than five times the stock's 90-day average. "It was a pretty quick turnaround there - the few shareholders who traded in that hour or two will be a little bit annoyed," said Grant Davies, an investment advisor at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "Now it's up to Steel & Tube to show they've made the right call in rebuffing Fletcher." Stock markets across Asia were largely weaker, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index down 0.9 percent in afternoon trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 1 percent and China's Shanghai Composite index falling 0.8 percent. Davies said US President Donald Trump's warning against Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of a journalist in Turkey raised uncertainty for global investors. A2 Milk fell 1.1 percent to $9.78 on volumes of 1.1 million, weighing on the broader market. Synlait Milk, which supplies A2, fell 2.1 percent to $9.20 Property companies were also among the most traded stocks. Precinct Properties New Zealand fell 0.4 percent to $1.41 with 1.2 million shares changing hands; Goodman Property Trust fell 1.3 percent to $1.52 on volumes of one million shares, and Kiwi Property Group was unchanged at $1.35 with 1.6 million shares traded. Kathmandu Holdings led the market lower, down 2.3 percent to $2.92 on volumes of 721,000 - more than four times its 90-day average. Spark New Zealand gained 0.9 percent to $3.895 on volumes of 3.3 million shares. Ryman Healthcare rose 2.4 percent to $12.80 with 1.2 million shares traded. Comvita posted the biggest gain on very light volumes, up 2.6 percent to $6. Sky Network Television was up 2.4 percent to $2.12 in subdued trading ahead of its annual meeting on Thursday. Heartland Bank rose 1.2 percent to $1.65 after telling the Australian Financial Review it's increased its share of Australia's reverse mortgage market to 20 percent. Trustpower increased 0.7 percent to $6.12 after raising March-year earnings guidance by $10 million to $215 million to $235 million. Infratil, which owns a controlling stake in Trustpower, slipped 0.1 percent to $3.46. NZX was unchanged at $1.05 on average volumes. Salt Funds Management said it plans to list a carbon fund on the NZX next month. Outside the benchmark index, Michael Hill International sank 24 percent to 74 cents in heavy trading after reporting an 8.8 percent slide in first-quarter sales. The jewellery chain said it had underestimated how much it needs to spend on marketing since ditching a discount sales strategy. Pacific Edge jumped 17 percent to 38.5 cents, adding to its 14 percent gain on Friday. The bladder cancer test maker said Johns Hopkins Medicine has started evaluating the use of the company's Cxbladder test. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Move Logistics Group Limited (NZX: MOV) Completion of Retail Entitlement Offer 16th November 2021 Morning Report Investore Property Limited (NZX: IPL) Interim Results HY22 Napier Port Holdings Limited (NZX: NPH) 2021 Full Year Results SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) REOPENING OF SKYCITY HAMILTON PROPERTY Just Life Group Limited (NZX: JLG) Dividend Announcement Vector Limited (NZX: VCT) Launches Retail Bond Offer 15th November 2021 Morning Report Contact Energy Limited (NZX: CEN) Sets Interest Rate for Green Capital Bonds Rakon Limited (NZX: RAK) Upgrades Earnings Guidance Directors of failed construction firm Mainzeal had no reason to question promises from its Chinese parent the company would get the financial support it needed to stay afloat, former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley told the High Court today. Mainzeal went into liquidation in February 2013 after Chinese company Richina Pacific didnt provide the final funding it needed and the Bank of New Zealand pulled the plug. Mainzeal owed at least $115 million to unsecured creditors, many of them subcontractors on building projects. Liquidators BDO say Mainzeal directors should have known there was a significant risk it wouldnt get back millions of dollars lent to the Chinese parent company from 2004 onwards and that the company was technically insolvent at the end of 2010, or possibly before. Directors breached their duties by not stopping trading in January or July 2011, before subcontractors lost more money, BDO says. Shipley, who was chair of Mainzeal and also on the Richina board, argued in court that the Richina group had substantial assets in China and New Zealand and had been providing both money and assurances of their continuing support right up to January 2013. Directors had no reason to doubt there would be future funds available. We had undertakings on multiple occasions. That was absolutely understood by the directors involved, and these created no doubt that when support was required, it would be forthcoming. BDO lawyer Mark OBrien focused in court on loans from Mainzeal to Richina to fund the purchase of the Shanghai Leather Company in late 2004 and 2005. The loans grew over the years from $7-to-$8 million to $35-to-$40 million of accumulated debt. OBrien questioned the lack of any formal legal security or guarantees for the loans, but Shipley said Mainzeals charter made it clear its parent would cover its financial responsibilities. And in my experience, that is what happened. In her brief of evidence, Shipley said Richina provided money for the refurbishment of Mainzeal House in Wellington and also sent pre-paid Chinese construction materials to New Zealand, which Mainzeal used in its construction projects. Over and above the accounting treatment, the supply of materials represented real value to Mainzeal, as a form of parent support and as a competitive advantage in the market. In July 2011, when BDO says Shipley and the other directors breached their responsibilities, Shipley said there was no reason to think Richina wouldnt pay money it owed. Nothing had changed to make the board think it needed to cease trading. Our liquidity and legacy claims (including significant leaky buildings claims) were being managed, we had a good forward book of work, and Richard (Yan, Richina NZ's chairman) continued to reinforce that the groups commitment to funding and supply of materials was ongoing, unchanged, and expanding in its scope. Shipley said right up until mid-January 2013, just days before the company went into liquidation, Yan, who was also on the Mainzeal board, was reassuring directors that the Chinese company would support the New Zealand arm. It was only on Jan. 29, 2013 that Yan sent a completely unexpected formal letter saying directors of the Chinese company wouldnt be providing any more support in the form of pre-paid materials, and suggesting a board meeting to consider asking the bank to appoint receivers. This letter... was a huge disappointment to me given Richards repeated assurances as recently as 22 January, Shipley said. She called Mainzeal's struggles in 2012 a "perfect storm" and said Yan's letter had "totally undermined our credibility" with BNZ. "I believed that I had done all I could to work in the best interests of all shareholders, creditors and staff of Mainzeal." (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Move Logistics Group Limited (NZX: MOV) Completion of Retail Entitlement Offer 16th November 2021 Morning Report Investore Property Limited (NZX: IPL) Interim Results HY22 Napier Port Holdings Limited (NZX: NPH) 2021 Full Year Results SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) REOPENING OF SKYCITY HAMILTON PROPERTY Just Life Group Limited (NZX: JLG) Dividend Announcement Vector Limited (NZX: VCT) Launches Retail Bond Offer 15th November 2021 Morning Report Contact Energy Limited (NZX: CEN) Sets Interest Rate for Green Capital Bonds Rakon Limited (NZX: RAK) Upgrades Earnings Guidance The sexual harassment charges against MJ Akbar began with a tweet by journalist Priya Ramani on October 8, in which she said that an article she wrote for Vogue India a year ago on her experience was actually about MJ Akbar. : Union Minister MJ Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation case in Delhi's Patiala House Court against journalist Priya Ramani, through his advocates Karanjawala & Co, news agency ANI reported. Scribe Priya Ramani's allegations found the first mention; she was the first one to publicly accuse Akbar of misconduct. After Ramani named him, more women posted their stories against MJ Akbar - Prerna Singh Bindra, Ghazala Wahab, Shutapa Paul, Anju Bharti, Suparna Sharma, Shuma Raha, Malini Bhupta, Kanika Gahlout, Kadambari M Wade, Majlie de Puy Kamp and Ruth David. In his defamation suit, Akbar has accused her of "willfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously defaming" him on "completely false, frivolous, unjustifiable and scandalous grounds" and harming his goodwill and reputation. The minister said the journalist had caused "great humiliation" to him. On Sunday, as he returned from a week-long foreign trip, Mr Akbar made it clear he would contest the allegations rather than resign. "Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections," said Akbar, 67, in in his first detailed response to the allegations that exploded in his absence. He called the allegations false, fabricated, wild and baseless, and "spiced up by innuendo". Alleging that the accusers had come out with the charges just a few months before the general election, Akbar said: "Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy. " Outrage over the allegations have been limited to journalists and activists. Political parties have largely kept silent on Akbar. CORRECTED: Taiwan invites pope to visit after historic China deal Taipei, Oct 15 (AFP) Oct 15, 2018 Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit the island in a move aimed at deepening ties with the Vatican after the Holy See signed a historic deal with Beijing. Vice president Chen Chien-jen made the invitation during an audience with the pope ahead of the canonisation of Pope Paul VI on Sunday, Taiwan's presidential office said in a statement. Pope Francis asked Chen to send his greetings to President Tsai Ing-wen and "indicated that he would pray for Taiwan", the statement added. In footage aired on local TV, Chen told reporters that the pope "smiled" when he was invited to visit Taiwan. The presidential office said they had no further detail on his response to the invitation. The landmark agreement last month on the appointment of bishops paved the way for a rapprochement between the Vatican and China. That raised questions over the future of official ties between Taiwan and the Holy See -- the island's only official ally in Europe -- as China makes a concerted effort to poach its dwindling number of diplomatic allies. China sees self-ruling democratic Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified and demands its allies forfeit recognition of the island. Taiwanese officials have said that Chen's visit would help deepen Taiwan-Vatican relations and that they believe the Vatican will not abandon Taiwan. "I want to thank the pope for his greetings and blessings," Tsai said in a message on her Facebook page. "We will use active and concrete actions to continue to support the pope and the Vatican to spread common values of freedom, justice, peace and caring to every corner in the world," she added. Chen, a devote Catholic, also visited the Vatican in 2016 for the canonisation of Mother Teresa. Taiwan, which has around 300,000 Catholics, has lost five allies to Beijing in the past two years. Relations between Taiwan and China have deteriorated since President Tsai came to power in 2016, as she does not recognise the island is part of "one China". The Vatican has not had diplomatic relations with Beijing since 1951. Pope Francis has sought to improve relations since he took office in 2013, but previous attempts foundered over Beijing's insistence that the Vatican give up recognition of Taiwan and promise not to interfere in domestic religious issues. 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. aw/lm/rox/jta System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28: 29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc31b4c0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc8c9ad0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc31b4c0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc8c9ad0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc32ab00)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc8c9ad0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc8c9ad0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdbe48e40)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdc91b430)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdc91b430)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc31b710)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc239660)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc31b710)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc239660)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc32ad80)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc239660)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc239660)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdbe48ac8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdbe48498)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdbe48498)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc7200f8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc5ed8b0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc7200f8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc5ed8b0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc72e4d0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc5ed8b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc5ed8b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdbe49c90)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdc711150)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdc711150)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc62ddf8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc713108)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc62ddf8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc713108)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fdc767b80)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc713108)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdc713108)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdbe48e10)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdc775eb8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdc775eb8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 Prost, ganbei, cheers: Climate change means less beer Paris, Oct 15 (AFP) Oct 15, 2018 If you crave a pint (or two) at the end of a hard day, brace yourself: climate change is poised to make your favourite lager, ale or IPA more scarce and pricey. On current trends, a crescendo of heatwaves and droughts will periodically cause sharp declines in barley yields, a crucial ingredient in most beer, according to a study published Monday. "Decreases in the global supply of barley lead to proportionally larger decreases in barley used to make beer," said lead author Dabo Guan, a professor of climate change economics and the University of East Anglia in Britain. Only the highest quality grain -- less than 20 percent -- is used to make beer, with most of the rest used as feedstock. "High-quality barley is even more sensitive to extreme weather events linked to climate change," Guan told AFP. During severe climate events, global beer consumption would decline by 16 percent, or nearly 30 billion litres -- equal to all the beer quaffed each year in the United States, Guan and an international team of researchers reported in the journal Nature Plants. Beer prices in the wake of these disruptive weather events would, on average, double. By volume, beer is by far the most popular alcoholic drink in the world, with nearly 200 billion litres produced in 2017. Some countries will get hit harder by beer shortages and higher bar tabs than others, the study found. In China -- whose 1.3 billion people collectively down more brew than any other nation -- consumption would fall by a staggering 4.3 billion litres in a bad year. Britain would also get thirsty during a severe barley crunch, with consumption dropping by up to 1.3 billion litres, and the price of a pint doubling. Per capita, most of the top-20 beer-drinking nations are in Europe, along with the United States, New Zealand and Australia. - Keep calm, have a beer - Guan and colleagues calculated the impact of severe weather events under different future climate scenarios -- ranging from a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to our current "business as usual" trajectory -- on yields in the world's 34 most important barley-growing regions. An extreme weather year was defined as one with both heatwaves and drought -- in a barley region during growing season -- more severe than once-a-century events before global warming began. From 2010 to the end of the century, they found, there will be 17 such events if humanity manages to cap global warming under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and 139 if current rates of carbon pollution persist. The next step was to estimate how these "barley supply shocks" would affect the production and price of beer in each region. In a climate-addled world where staple crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans and rice are predicted to decline in yield and nutritional value, pressure will likely mount to use barley as a source of food rather than to make brew. "Climate change may undermine the availability, stability and access to 'luxury' goods," said Guan. At the same time, the "cross-cultural appreciation of beer" is deep and widespread, he noted. "There is little doubt that for millions of people around the world, the climate impact on beer availability and price will add insult to injury," he said. As the adage goes, "It's all fun and games until the beer runs out." The top exporters of barley are Australia, France, Russia, Ukraine and Argentina, with many European countries filling out the top-20. The biggest importers are China, Saudi Arabia and Iran, with three top brewing nations -- Netherlands, Belgium and Japan -- just behind. Anti-terror force in Sahel begins officer training Nouakchott, Oct 15 (AFP) Oct 15, 2018 A military school gathering five countries in the Sahel inducted its first officers on Monday into a programme to train future leaders of a joint anti-terror force. Thirty-five senior officers were inducted into the G5 Sahel Defence Academy, located in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, for an eight-month course, an AFP reporter saw. "They will be trained in techniques of high command and warfare, preparing them to be promoted" to general, a Mauritanian military official told AFP. The G5 Sahel is an initiative conceived in 2015 to roll back jihadism and lawlessness in five states on the Sahara's southern rim. Bringing together Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, it aims to create a 5,000-man joint force to restore authority in areas grappling with jihadi raiders and brutal gangs. But the scheme, which brings together five of the world's poorest and most fragile countries, has run into problems of financing, poor equipment and lack of training. Since late last year, the French-backed force has carried out only six operations, with three more in the works. It also has yet to win over civilians who fear retribution from the rebels if they provide support. On June 29, the G5's then headquarters, in the central Malian town of Sevare, came under suicide attack, causing three deaths, two of them Malian soldiers. Its commanding officer, Malian General Didier Dacko, was replaced by a Mauritanian, Hanena Ould Sidi, who in September ordered the HQ be moved to Bamako, Mali's capital. About 420 million euros ($488 million) pledged at an international donors' conference in Brussels on February 23 has also been slow to materialise. Moroccan navy rescues 38 migrants at sea Rabat, Oct 15 (AFP) Oct 15, 2018 The Moroccan navy on Monday rescued 38 migrants and recovered one body from a boat that ran into trouble off the kingdom's coast, the official MAP news agency reported. The Moroccan nationals were found in "poor health" and had been aboard the vessel since October 8, a military source told the agency. They were picked up by the navy when their vessel ran into difficulty west of Tangier, a port city on the country's northern coast, according to the source. More than 43,000 migrants have made it north to Spain since the start of the year, including around 38,000 by sea, according to the International Organization for Migration. An increasing number of Moroccans are attempting to reach Europe, either by taking the perilous sea route or via the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which border Morocco. The North African country is also a transit country for thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants. The Moroccan navy, which occasionally provides figures on its rescue operations in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, said in just two days last week it saved 450 migrants. In two recent operations the navy opened fire on boats showing "suspicious behaviour", killing a 22-year-old student and wounding three other people on September 25. In the second incident on October 10, a 16-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Merkel's Bavaria Headache Berlin Coalition Emerges Even Weaker It was an historic defeat for both the center-right Christian Social Union and the center-left Social Democrats. The aftershocks of the state election in Bavaria are likely to reach all the way to Berlin, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition even more wobbly that it was. A more recent publication of this set of statistics is available. Latest publication: Turnover of service industries 2021, September Published: 15 October 2018 Turnover in service industries increased by 5.3 per cent year-on-year in May to July According to Statistics Finland, turnover in service industries grew by 5.3 per cent in May to July from the corresponding period of the year before. All service industries grew. Administrative and support service activities (+8.7%) developed most strongly. Professional, scientific and technical activities (+7.3%) and real estate activities (+6.1%) also reached a good growth. Turnover rose most moderately in other service activities (+1.8%). Services are here examined exclusive of trade. Three months' year-on-year change in turnover in services (TOL 2008) Administrative and support service activities were supported by employment activities (+12.8%) and renting and leasing activities (+11.1%). Travel agency and tour operator activities (+8.6%) also brought growth to the industry. Of the sub-industries of professional, scientific and technical activities, scientific research and development reached a strong growth of 15.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period of the year before. Legal and accounting services as well as management consulting services also developed favourably by 9.2 per cent. The turnover in transportation and storage activities increased by 4.9 per cent year-on-year. Of its sub-industries, land and rail transport rose by 5.7 per cent and warehousing and support activities for transportation by 4.1 per cent. Accommodation and food service activities (+4.8%) increased most due to food and beverage service activities growing by 5.7 per cent from the previous year, while the development of accommodation was 1.5 per cent. The development of the main industry of information and communication (+3.0%) was boosted by information service activities with its 13.4 per cent rise. The development of the industrys turnover was slowed down by programming and broadcasting activities (-5.2%) and motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities (-4.0%). Source: Turnover of service industries, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Aki Niskanen 029 551 2657, Katja Liukkonen 029 551 3515, palvelut.suhdanne@stat.fi Director in charge: Mari Yla-Jarkko Publication in pdf-format (289.8 kB) Updated 15.10.2018 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Turnover of service industries [e-publication]. ISSN=1799-0998. July 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 16.11.2021]. Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/plv/2018/07/plv_2018_07_2018-10-15_tie_001_en.html A more recent publication of this set of statistics is available. Latest publication: Index of turnover in industry 2021, September Published: 15 October 2018 Turnover in manufacturing grew by 5.5 per cent in May to July According to Statistics Finland, in the May to July period turnover in manufacturing was 5.5 per cent up on the corresponding period of the year before. Domestic sales grew by 2.5 per cent and export turnover by 7.7 per cent from one year ago. Three months' year-on-year change in turnover in manufacturing (C) sub-industries (TOL 2008) Turnover went up from the corresponding period of the previous year in nearly all manufacturing (C) sub-industries . Growth was strongest in the chemical industry, 10.4 per cent, and in the forest industry, 8.4 per cent. The growth was slowest in the food industry, 1.4 per cent, and in the electrical and electronics industry, 1.8 per cent from the previous year. Turnover decreased from the previous year only in the textile, clothing and leather industry, by 5.9 per cent. Three months' year-on-year change in turnover in main industrial categories (TOL 2008) The turnover of all main categories of manufacturing industries grew year-on-year. Turnover grew strongest in the industry of mining and quarrying, by 15.2 per cent. Turnover in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply grew by 8.8 per cent and in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities by 7.3 per cent from one year ago. The index of turnover in industry describes enterprises whose main industry is manufacturing. The calculation of the indices is based on the Tax Administrations self-assessed tax data which are supplemented with data obtained with Statistics Finlands sales inquiry. The monthly turnovers of manufacturing enterprises can vary considerably, especially in the metal industries. The variation is mainly due to invoicing practices. The final invoice for major machinery deliveries and projects may be recorded in the sales of one month, even if the delivery had required the work of several months or years. Source: Index of turnover in industry 2018, July, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Maija Sappinen 029 551 3348, Kirsi-Maaria Manninen 029 551 2681, myynti.teollisuus@stat.fi Director in charge: Mari Yla-Jarkko Publication in pdf-format (360.6 kB) Updated 15.10.2018 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Index of turnover in industry [e-publication]. ISSN=1798-596X. July 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 16.11.2021]. Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tlv/2018/07/tlv_2018_07_2018-10-15_tie_001_en.html Novo Nordisk appoints Ludovic Helfgott executive vice president Biopharm Bagsvrd, Denmark, 15 October 2018 - Novo Nordisk A/S today announced the appointment of Ludovic Helfgott as executive vice president of Biopharm, effective 3 April 2019. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Helfgott will lead the development of Novo Nordisk's Biopharm business, which comprises the company's haemophilia and human growth hormone franchises. He will be a member of Novo Nordisk's Executive Management team and report to CEO Lars Fruergaard Jrgensen. Ludovic Helfgott joins Novo Nordisk from AstraZeneca where he most recently was global vice president in charge of the company's Cardiovascular, Metabolism and Renal global franchise, supervising both assets in development and on the market. He joined AstraZeneca in 2005 in an international sales effectiveness role and has since held operational leadership roles with increasing responsibilities in Italy, Spain and at corporate headquarters. A French national, Helfgott holds an MBA from Insead. Commenting on his new role, he says: "I'm excited to join Novo Nordisk and look forward to working with the Biopharm team on improving lives for people with haemophilia, growth disorders and other serious chronic diseases". Jesper Brandgaard, executive vice president, Biopharm & Legal Affairs, has decided to retire after a distinguished 20-year career at Novo Nordisk. He will remain in charge of Biopharm & Legal Affairs until Ludovic Helfgott assumes the responsibility of Novo Nordisk's Biopharm business. Lars Fruergaard Jrgensen says: "I am delighted to welcome Ludovic Helfgott to Novo Nordisk and my executive team. He brings with him extensive experience in the development and launch of treatments for people with chronic diseases. In his new role, he will be instrumental in driving the continued development of our Biopharm business. I would also like to thank Jesper Brandgaard for his significant contributions to Novo Nordisk, both as our CFO for many years and most recently as head of Biopharm, where he has taken important steps towards bringing the business back on a growth track. I'm pleased that Jesper will continue in his current role until Ludovic joins Novo Nordisk." Jesper Brandgaard says: "It has been a privilege for me to be part of Novo Nordisk's journey during my 20 years with the company. With strong successors in place within Finance, Legal Affairs and Biopharm, April 2019 will be a good time for me to pursue a non-executive career." Further information Media: Charlotte Zarp-Andersson +45 3079 7603 czap@novonordisk.com Ken Inchausti (US) +1 609 240 9429 kiau@novonordisk.com Investors: Peter Hugreffe Ankersen +45 3075 9085 phak@novonordisk.com Anders Mikkelsen +45 3079 4461 armk@novonordisk.com Valdemar Borum Svarrer +45 3079 0301 jvls@novonordisk.com Company announcement No 78 / 2018 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: Novo Nordisk A/S via Globenewswire Fornebu, Norway - October 15, 2018: REC Silicon ASA (REC Silicon) will release its Q3 2018 results on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at 07:00 a.m.Central European Time (CET).A presentation of the results will be held at 08:00 a.m. CET at Hyres Hus Konferansesenter, Stortingsgaten 20, Oslo, Norway. The presentation will be in English.A live webcast from the presentation can be accessed at www.recsilicon.com or with the following link: http://webtv.hegnar.no/presentation.php?webcastId=97451338It will also be possible to listen to the presentation through a conference call. To join this event, use one of the following access numbers. Please make sure to dial in 5-10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.Norway Dial-in (Tollfree/Freephone): 800 17131Norway, Oslo (Dial-in Local): +47 2350 0187United Kingdom (Dial-in Tollfree/Freephone): 0800 279 4827United Kingdom (Local Dial-in Local): +44 (0)330 336 9401United States (Los Angeles Dial-in Local): +1 323-794-2558United States/Canada (Dial-in Tollfree/Freephone): 800-289-0459Other international: +44 (0)330 336 9401Participant Passcode: 8177504For further information, please contact:Nils O. Kjerstad, IR ContactPhone: +47 9135 6659Email: nils.kjerstad@crux.noAbout REC Silicon:REC Silicon is a leading producer of advanced silicon materials, delivering high-purity polysilicon and silicon gas to the solar and electronics industries worldwide. We combine over 30 years of experience and proprietary technology with the needs of our customers, and annual production capacity of more than 20,000 MT of polysilicon from our two US-based manufacturing plants. Listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker: REC), the company is headquartered in Fornebu, Norway. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield enters into an agreement to sell the Tour Ariane office building Paris, Amsterdam, October 15, 2018 Press release Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield enters into an agreement to sell the Tour Ariane office building On October 15, 2018, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield entered into an agreement with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC for the sale of Tour Ariane in La Defense. The net disposal price of 464.9 Mn represents a premium to the latest unaffected book value. This transaction is subject to standard conditions precedent and is expected to close by year-end. Tour Ariane is an office building with a GLA of over 64,500 m located in the heart of the La Defense business district (Paris region). The transaction is part of the 3 Bn European disposal programme to be executed over the next several years previously announced by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. More than 55% of this programme has been agreed or completed since June 30, 2018. For further information, please contact: Investor Relations Samuel Warwood Maarten Otte +33 1 76 77 58 02 Maarten.otte@urw.com Media Relations Tiphaine Bannelier-Suderie D : +33 1 76 77 57 94 Tiphaine.Bannelier-Suderie@urw.com About Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is the premier global developer and operator of flagship shopping destinations. With a portfolio valued at 63.7 Bn as at June 30, 2018, of which 86% in retail, 8% in offices, 5% in convention & exhibition venues and 1% in services, the Group owns and operates 102 shopping centres, including 56 flagships in the most dynamic cities in Europe and the United States. Its centres welcome 1.2 billion visits per year. Present on 2 continents and in 13 countries, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield provides a unique platform for retailers and brand events, and offers an exceptional and constantly renewed experience for customers. With the support of its 3,700 professionals and an unparalleled track-record and know-how, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is ideally positioned to generate superior value and develop world-class projects. The Group has the largest development pipeline in the industry, worth 12.5 Bn. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield distinguishes itself by its Better Places 2030 agenda, that sets its ambition to create better places that respect the highest environmental standards and contribute to better cities. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield stapled shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris (Euronext ticker: URW), with a secondary listing in Australia through Chess Depositary Interests. The Group benefits from an A Rating from Standard & Poor's and from an A2 rating from Moody's. For more information, please visit www.urw.com Visit our Media Library at https://www.mediacentre.urw.com 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: UNIBAIL-RODAMCO SE via Globenewswire Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. Last week, the giant of vacation rentals, Airbnb, announced that only tourist homes in Andalucia that comply with the regulations of the region and have a valid registration number are able to be featured on the site. This process has meant that the rentals platform has deleted 18,000 Andalusian entries, leaving the Airbnb community in the region reduced to 40,800 properties, according to the company. The move is a serious blow to the illegal rental properties in the region, which now no longer have a place in the online marketplace that supplies the majority of their guests. "This unique agreement provides hosts, present and future, with the security and clarity they need to share their home responsibly," said Airbnb. Although the platform does not provide data by province, the statistics of the Tourism Registry of Andalucia indicate that a large proportion of the affected properties are on the Costa del Sol, a destination that accounts for more than half of the rented tourist accommodation in the region. However, half of the 18,000 properties removed had not had a booking in the last year, explained Airbnb in a statement. The rest operated normally, despite not complying with the regulations. The removal of the illegal properties follows a commitment Airbnb made to the Junta de Andalucia to bring in at the beginning of this year a simplified online registration to ensure hosts are complying with the tourism rental laws. "After the creation of a simplified online registration system, we have deactivated the advertisements that as of 30 September did not include a registration number in accordance with the Andalusian tourism law," stated the firm. The platform said that it values and works closely with the regional tourism authority. "Airbnb has collaborated in Andalucia to create a tool that helps to support the community of responsible 'home sharing' and is the only platform that is committed to sharing data with the authorities making the task of inspection easier," it said. Other rentals platforms, that form part of PAT, (the Spanish association of digital short-term rental platforms), said that from now on they are also demanding registration in Andalucia for new properties that join the web. The association, made up of HomeAway, Rentalia, Spain-Holiday.com and Niumba, has more than 60,000 holiday homes in Andalucia on its sites. Meanwhile the central government in Madrid has announced that by the end of the year "concrete action" will be taken to create a new nationwide framework to control this sector of the tourism industry. Last Wednesday's attacks are the second incident of this type to occur in the Marbella area in recent weeks. On 11 September National Police found a homemade bomb ready to be detonated in the Altos de Los Monteros area on 11 September. Since then, the police have arrested a 33-year-old man from Utrecht (Netherlands) and of Moroccan descent, linked to a criminal drug trafficking network. The suspect, who is being held in prison, was found to have four firearms (an automatic rifle and three handguns) and three ammunition boxes in his home. Investigations linked this individual to the explosive device found in a bin and concluded that he was part of a criminal organisation that specialised in extorsion and drug trafficking. The group typically uses explosives and firearms to threaten members of other rival criminal groups operating in Spain. British Airways has decided to stop running its summer flights between Malaga and Bristol and Birmingham as from next year. BA's last flights linking the Costa del Sol with the two British airports will leave Malaga at the end of October. The commercial manager of BA has said that they will not resume the connections next summer because it is "complicated and costly" to run flights from an airport where they do not have cabin crew based. They are working towards finding an "alternative" for future summers. The airline has said it will fully reimburse customers who had already bought tickets for these routes next summer. The finishing date for the long-awaited new A-7 motorway exit in Arroyo de la Miel has been brought forward by more than two years. Public Works minister, Jose Luis Abalos, said, following a meeting in Madrid on Wednesday with the mayor, Victor Navas, that the works were going "at a good pace" and that it was possible that the finishing date could be "brought forward". Sources within the ministry confirmed that the new exit, which routinely causes kilometres-long back-ups down the hard shoulder, could be operational as soon as October 2020. The new completion time, according to Navas, "is without doubt one of the greatest pieces of news for the people of Benalmadena". The 70-metre high big wheel in Malaga port has been granted permission to remain in operation beyond the termination of the existing contract, 12 October. This is as talks continue over the extension of the contract for a further three years and the potential creation of a permanent structure alongside a shopping plaza. The Minister at the Department for Exiting the EU, Robin Walker, was in Madrid last week to meet with Spanish government ministers, UK Ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley, and members of the business community. He also took part in a roundtable discussion on citizens' rights with spokespeople from groups representing UK nationals in Spain. Members of Brexpats in Spain and other citizens' groups attended the meeting at the Embassy where they discussed issues including health and social care, outreach and communications. Brexpats in Spain president, Anne Hernandez, who attended the meeting said, "We said the time had come for specific information, not the repeated platitudes we keep being offered and Mr Walker did admit that they were not enough to reassure us. As a group of representatives we said we were very disappointed that the UK government had not engaged with us more fully at an earlier stage and for ignoring our requests for meetings with the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU and Theresa May. Another point he said he would take back." Walker said, "I want British expats in Spain to know that, during my meetings, I have underlined how valued and significant it would be if the Spanish Government now offered them the same reassurance." Simon Manley said that as negotiations continue, both the Embassy and consulates "will continue with the outreach events planned through Spain, with some 20 over the year." He urged Britons to ensure they are correctly registered and stay up to date with the latest news by signing up for email alerts, visiting the Living in Spain guide on gov.uk, and following the Brits in Spain social media channels, including Facebook. The ruling PSOE party has struck a deal with left-wing coalition, Unidos Podemos, over 2019 budget proposals for the Spanish government. The agreement was signed on Thursday morning. The package is only a proposal as it needs to be approved by parliament but includes several social and welfare measures. The minimum monthly salary will be increased to 900 euros in 2019. Budget for dependency care schemes will increase 40 per cent to 515 million euros and people will be covered for their social security payments again if they are caring for family members. The PSOE has said that if the budget plan is defeated, it will use it as the basis for a future electoral manifesto. There will be no extra tax on banks for the moment, as had been expected, but tax will go up two points for earnings over 130,000 euros a year and four points over 300,000 euros. IVA tax will be reduced on women's hygiene products from 10 per cent to 4 per cent and IVA on vets bills will fall from 21 per cent to 10 per cent. The government also hopes to create a minimum guaranteed tax of 15 per cent for big companies. Not even the Spanish government works during bank holidays. As we enjoy this "puente", it's likely that the only occupants of Madrid's Palacio de las Cortes are junior politicians desperate to show their dedication - and even then, probably only until about half five today. No wonder prime minister Pedro Sanchez was working so hard to get a draft 2019 budget finalised by close-of-play yesterday, in time for the Monday deadline for submission to the EU. Sending the spending plan to Brussels, though, is the easy part. On Thursday morning, details emerged of a deal made late Wednesday between Sanchez and Pablo Iglesias, leader of the leftist group Unidos Podemos, on which the Socialists depend for parliamentary support. The fifty-page document - signed by both politicians as they beamed for the cameras - contains some welcome proposals, such as increasing the minimum wage to 900 next year (from a meagre 735.90 currently) and building 20,000 new homes at "accessible [rental] prices", one way in which Iglesias proposes tackling "abusive" rent increases. So far so good. But the Sanchez-Iglesias spending plan needs more than just Podemos' support to be passed to the Senate (upper house) - and that's where the problems begin. The Socialists hold 84 seats in the Congress of Deputies (lower house) and Iglesias' party has 67; their combined 151 votes for the 2019 budget are still short of the 176 required for a parliamentary majority. Unfortunately for Sanchez, he also needs approval from Catalan pro-independence parties and Basque nationalist groups. Yet Catalonian president Quim Torra - a politician willing to exploit the deal-based nature of Spanish politics - is determined to thwart the PSOE leader. Last week, Torra threatened to withdraw his support for the national government unless it reveals a new plan for Catalonian secession by the end of October. Torra's deadline is far from arbitrary, because the first parliamentary vote on the draft 2019 budget is scheduled for November. Sanchez's government won't budge, huffily stating last week that it "does not accept ultimatums". The most recent stand-off between Madrid and Barcelona looks set to hamper the progress of Sanchez's new spending plan to the upper house. But even if he manages to pass the PSOE-Unidos Podemos budget in next month's vote, the prime minister's problems aren't over. To fund his expensive welfare proposals, Sanchez has agreed on more relaxed deficit targets for 2019 with the EU, up to 1.8% from the 1.3% agreed upon by the previous Conservative government. The Conservative Popular Party controls the Senate, though, and has already voted against less stringent deficit goals. Pending a collective lobotomy, it's unlikely to change its stance next month. Sanchez will no doubt kick back this weekend, the Iglesias deal done and a draft 2019 spending plan fired off to the EU Commission. His budget ordeal, though, is only just beginning. For the first time since this incredibly successful star of the cheap and cheerful wine market arrived on the scene ten years ago, Prosecco sales have fallen. WINE OF THE WEEK Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut Reserva The long-running battle of the great Catalan cava houses, Freixenet and Codorniu, has finally come to a head with a significant share restructuring that has hopefully settled internecine strife and economic difficulties. Nothing for wine drinkers to worry about, and this award-winning cava is justifiably at the top of the quality fizz tree. Available everywhere at around nine euros. Very few popular wines have shown such remarkable sales growth, 6,000 per cent in the first two decades, mainly thanks to its popularity in the American, British and German markets. By 2013 Prosecco sales had surpassed those of champagne, but this did not worry the great producers of Rheims, nor the smaller ones either. Champagne does not have, they say, any real competitors, and the bubbly market is big enough to accommodate all-comers. The dip in sales has been attributed to currency fluctuations, and there are those who blame a widely-circulated press report last year blaming Prosecco for damaging teeth. A very normal wine made with the Glera grape, Prosecco put the village of the same name, together with the grape, on the world map. It is not the first time Italians have flooded the market with cheap fizz, and we still remember Asti Spumante for a variety of reasons, mainly for its cloying sweetness. Of course the question that has been on the lips of everyone in the trade for all these years has been, why Prosecco and not Spanish Cava? Is this another example of Italian marketing skills that have consistently outsold Spanish olive oil and wine in the massive US market? According to UK consultants IWSR, "Prosecco is associated in people's minds with happiness and fun, while Cava is thought of, particularly by the millenials, as dull and unexciting." It's all a question of image, and Italy tends to shine exceptionally when pitted against Spain in these markets. Meeting up with friends last weekend in Brussels - the city that brought us together some 20 years ago as young, self-assured European Politics students from different UK universities who were working as 'stagiares' for different British MEPs - I thought of the title of the Paolo Coelho novel about lost love: By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept. Only in my case it was On the Steps of the European Parliament (where) I Sat Down and Wept last weekend. One of the most well-known quotes in the book goes, "Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering." Waiting for an outcome which will affect our futures, Brexit, is painful. Really painful. My friend Steve still works in the European Parliament, for the about-to-be defunct European Parliament Labour Party (EPLP). He lives in Brussels with his German wife and their two young daughters. Brussels suits them; they are in easy reach of Steve's family in the south of England and Inga's family in Germany, and the girls are settled in schools in Brussels. On 30 March 2019 Steve will no longer have a job. Or what about Emma, whose job for an environmental research organisation based in London relies on funding from the EU? After 29 March 2019, the organisation has two choices: move to Brussels or, like the EPLP, cease to exist. Emma could, in theory, move to Brussels. She is single and has no family to support. But would Belgium accept another non-EU immigrant? Doesn't it all rather depend on the final deal for EU citizens living in the UK and what agreements individual countries reach with our government? We don't really know yet. Now we are all 40-somethings with pensions that may or may not even exist when we finally retire (whenever that may be), some with young families, mortgages, cross-border jobs and 20 or more years of a way of life which has been offered to us by the UK's membership of the European Union. It's been there since before we were born; since 1973 to be precise. Like millennials and the internet, those of us born after that date are EU natives. We know no other way of life. As for forgetting, well, there is no reason for us to forget that wonderful year we had together in Brussels. In fact last weekend was pretty much spent going from one old haunt to another: chips from Brussels institution Maison Antoine on Place Jourdan with a beer from L'Esperance, or as we called it Chez Bernard, and a stroll around the European Quarter to see if other places we used to go to were still there. It's hard to forget such a year and we wouldn't want to. Perhaps not the love lost by the protagonist at the heart of Coelho's highly acclaimed novel, but certainly the love for something that has been stripped from us and is totally beyond our control. From Coelho's quote, I would be tempted to change the 'which' to 'what'; forgetting, in our case, is not painful. Knowing what to do for the best, however, is. Sitting on the steps of the European Parliament and weeping isn't going to change anything and ultimately won't make me, or anyone else affected by Brexit, feel any better. So, if you will allow me, Mr Coelho, not knowing WHAT to do is the worst kind of suffering. What should Steve do? How about Emma? And me? We all feel impotent. We're just small parts of an enormous and in my opinion, glorious thing, which has been 46 years in the making (slightly older than all of us) and now being unravelled and shredded. Should another Brussels friend, Sarah, whose path has not kept her work directly related to the EU, per se, but as a concerned British citizen, start to stockpile food and medicine for her young family? Her children, like so many others, will never have the opportunities that we had to live and work so freely in other European countries and even less hope of working in an EU institution. Will UK students still be able to participate in Erasmus programmes? I guess not. Will our degrees in European Politics still be relevant? What effect will it have on Steve and his family in Brussels? Should I apply for Spanish citizenship? Unimaginable questions for those 20-something stagiares who thought they knew it all and had the world (or at least Europe) at their feet in 1998. I think, Paulo Coelho, as I sat down on the steps of the European Parliament and wept, forgetting is not painful, at least up until that fateful night in June 2016, but waiting for what is going to happen to us most certainly is. US Air Force optimistic on hurricane-hit fighter jets Washington, Oct 15 (AFP) Oct 15, 2018 The United States Air Force said Sunday that a group of F-22 stealth fighters left behind at a base to ride out Hurricane Michael were intact but it was too soon to say whether all of them would fly again. Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida was hit by the Category 4 storm on October 10 and suffered extensive damage, with some hangars partially stripped of their roofs, according to official footage of the coastal facility. Numerous reports had speculated on the fate of an unspecified number of the ultra-advanced fifth-generation fighter jets that could not be flown out to safe havens due to maintenance or safety reasons. The unit cost of the aircraft is around $150 million, which soars to over $330 million when research and development are priced in. "As we drove through the base and assessed the damage, it was clear that the hurricane's toll was severe in places, especially around the Tyndall flightline," said a statement attributed to Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson and other senior officials. "We also looked into each of the hangars that housed aircraft which weathered the storm for maintenance or safety reasons," it added. "Visually, they were all intact and looked much better than expected considering the surrounding damage to some structures. "Our maintenance professionals will do a detailed assessment of the F-22 Raptors and other aircraft before we can say with certainty that damaged aircraft can be repaired and sent back into the skies. "However, damage was less than we feared and preliminary indications are promising." Hurricane Michael made landfall not far from the base on Wednesday, and went on to claim at least 17 lives across four states, with Florida the worst hit. Six dead as heavy storms hit southeastern France Toulouse, France, Oct 15 (AFP) Oct 15, 2018 At least six people died after heavy storms swamped parts of southwestern France, flooding rivers and cutting roads, officials said Monday. The Aude department, which includes the fortress city of Carcassonne, was particularly badly hit. One woman was swept to her death by rising waters in the Aude village of Villardonnel, and at least four died overnight in Villegailhenc, local authorities said. A sixth person also died in the department, authorities added without providing details. The Aude river reached flood levels not seen in over 100 years, the French agency responsible for monitoring water levels, Vigicrues, said. One person was also injured when a house collapsed in Cuxac, local official Alain Thirion said on television. Firemen responded to more than 250 calls overnight, as 160 to 180 mm (6 to 7 inches) of rain fell in Carcassonne, he added. In the villages north of Carcassonne, all roads were cut, schools closed, and people were asked to stay at home. In Conques, there was up to two metres (6 feet) of water in the streets. Six other departments were also hit by the storms from the eastern Pyrenees to Aveyron further north. 13 dead as flooding hits southwestern France Toulouse, France, Oct 15 (AFP) Oct 15, 2018 At least 13 people died when violent rainstorms turned rivers into raging torrents in southwest France on Monday, prompting some of the deadliest flooding in years, officials said. The equivalent of three months of rainfall was dumped overnight in the Aude region in just a few hours, swelling rivers and flooding fields and towns, officials added. President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would visit the affected areas "as soon as possible," while Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who is also the acting interior minister, was headed to the Aude region later Monday. The rescue operations also appear to have postponed an expected announcement on a government reshuffle, prompted by the sudden resignation of interior minister Gerard Collomb nearly two weeks ago. One of the overnight victims was an 88-year-old nun who was swept from her room by floodwaters at the Burning Bush priory in the village of Villardonnel, north of the fortress city of Carcassonne. "The water crashed through the building's main door and on through the door to her room, the lowest in the convent. It carried away her furniture which ended up on the veranda," said Sister Irene, the mother superior. The nun's body was later found under trees outside the convent. Elsewhere, flash floods overturned cars, ripped up streets and battered buildings and bridges, especially to the north of Carcassonne where authorities ordered bridges closed because of the rising Aude river. Authorities rushed hundreds of firemen and half a dozen helicopters to the region to help with rescue operations, particularly in the floodplain of the Aude river which hit its highest level in 100 years, according to the Vigicrues flood agency. "There's water everywhere in the house. Everything is flooded," Helene Segura told AFP by telephone from the hard-hit village of Villegailhenc, where at least one small bridge had collapsed. "When I look out the window, I can only see water and mud everywhere. It's sad when you're 70 years old like me and you need to redo your house, change the furniture and all the upholstery," she said. - Hundreds evacuated - In the town of Trebes, near Carcassonne, the water in the Aude rose eight metres (26 feet) in just five hours, officials said. In total nine residents died in the city, which made headlines earlier this year after a jihadist attacker killed four people in a shooting spree, including a police officer who took the place of a hostage. Two more died in Villegailhenc, and one in Villalier. Around 1,000 people were evacuated in the area of Pezens, also near Carcassonne, amid fears that a nearby dam could burst. The storms were triggered when a front of warm and humid air from the Mediterranean Sea slammed into colder air around the Massif Central mountain range, inundating an area from the eastern Pyrenees to Aveyron further north. This well-known weather pattern occurs three to six times a year in the region and nearly always triggers flash flooding. But the French weather forecasting service, Meteo France, suggested these episodes had recently become more frequent and more severe. An unrelated storm on Sunday also hit Portugal, leaving 28 people with minor injuries and hundreds of thousands without power amid flooding in the region around the capital Lisbon. The heavy rains, which later rolled on through Spain, were the tail end of hurricane Leslie in the Atlantic, which weakened to a post-tropical storm as it made landfall. Last week, another weather system moving across the Mediterranean left 12 people dead on the Spanish island of Majorca as well as two people in southeast France. Via a Spanish translator, Daniel speaks carefully, his asylum case in mind. The 45-year-old gay man, who says he was diagnosed with HIV in 2010, recounts how he came to Miami from Caracas, Venezuela, on a tourist visa last year and immediately filed an asylum claim, saying he felt endangered as a gay man in Venezuela, bullied by authorities. But now that he is in Miami, he is also receiving HIV treatment and care via the federal/state Ryan White CARE Act/AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). Daniel says that after Venezuela's descent into economic and political chaos in recent years, his access to his HIV meds became sporadic. "The state is having a crisis," he says. "I would get my HIV meds one month but not the next." Daniel is now among countless HIV-positive Latinx immigrant men who have sex with men (MSM) living in the U.S., some documented, some not. They're part of a larger population of Latinx MSM, among whom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported recently that HIV rates were rising, even as they were dropping slightly among white MSM and remaining stable (although disproportionately high) among black MSM. But as the Trump administration cracks down on immigrants, advocates say that such a climate makes reversing HIV rates in Latinx gay men all the harder. That is not to say that Latinx MSM's HIV rates are rising because of immigrants, according to Oscar Lopez of Valley AIDS Council, in the Texas border town of Brownsville, which serves about 2,000 HIV-positive clients. "These rates have been climbing for multiple years," he says. "But I think fears around deportation and racism toward immigrants, feeling unsafe, and the stress of having to provide for your family all contribute toward poor mental health and the potential to abuse substances and expose yourself to HIV. We're starting to see this definite pattern" around Latinx MSM immigrants, he says. In the Trump era, amid a string of hostile policies toward immigrants, MSM are certainly not the only Latinx people or immigrants experiencing extreme stress and anxiety. But now comes yet another stressor: In late September, the Trump administration released a proposed rule that would make it harder for documented immigrants to get green cards if they receive public assistance, including Medicaid, food stamps, and housing subsidies. The proposal, if enacted (it will enter a 60-day public comment period once put on the Federal Register), would impact countless immigrants from many countries. That would certainly include documented Latinx MSM who rely on these programs for themselves or their family members. Thus far, it doesn't appear that the proposal includes HIV services under the Ryan White CARE Act/ADAP, one of the few health programs accessible to undocumented immigrants, according to Mark Hannay, director of Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign, which works on such issues. "But again," he says, "until we see what's officially put out, nothing is for certain yet." Multiple Challenges According to advocates for Latinx MSM immigrants, many factors create challenges to getting them tested for HIV and then keeping them in care. Luis Scaccabarrozzi, vice president of the Latino Commission on AIDS (LCOA), says that approximately 60% of new HIV cases among Latinx MSM are among foreign-born and immigrant men. In the first months of the Trump administration, he says, "We saw a rise in calls from people with HIV in [immigration] detention centers, mostly in California and Texas, who said they weren't getting their HIV meds. They knew they were being deported." Unlike in the Obama administration, he says, "ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] had been waiting for them as they exited their political asylum hearings." Shame and stigma also play a role. According to Leandro Rodriguez, director of programs at LCOA, he had an undocumented client recently in NYC who tested positive for HIV but rejected available physical and mental health care for fear that his family, whom he was living with, would come across his meds or his paperwork and learn that he was both gay and HIV positive. He killed himself. The outcome might have been different, says Rodriguez, "if he'd been able to access his own housing." (However, unlike with ADAP, one must be documented to access HASA, New York City's housing support for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS.) "We still have families not wanting to face that their son or daughter is gay," says Wilfredo Morel, director of Hispanic health for Hudson River Health Care in New York's Hudson Valley north of New York City, home to many undocumented Latinx workers, including migrant farmworkers. In small town and rural settings, particularly, he says, Latinx MSM may be afraid to come forward for treatment and care. That's why his agency plays a role in LGBT community events in the area, he says: to get out the word that they are there for MSM Latinx even if families are not. On top of this, many advocates feel that HIV services for Latinx people have been underdeveloped and underfunded. "It's rare to have providers with a background in immigrants, HIV, and MSM who also speak Spanish," says Rodriguez. Awareness of the epidemic among Latinx has lagged, says Stephen Fallon, executive director of Latinos Salud, which serves Latinx MSM in the Miami area. "Currently we have an explosion of consciousness-raising and prevention funding going to the transgender population, which is very much needed," he says, "but there haven't really been sufficient resources and a heavy enough lift to examine what has let this epidemic happen to the Latino community." His agency's HIV-positive Latinx MSM clients break down into two groups, he says: "First we have guys coming here HIV negative from homophobic countries who've lived closeted most of their lives. It's exhilarating to be out and gay here, but sometimes they're exploited in the sex-for-security trade and economic insecurity leads them to compromising decisions" resulting in HIV acquisition. Then, he says, there are already HIV-positive men leaving countries in upheaval, such as Venezuela or Puerto Rico after last year's Hurricane Maria, in search of stable HIV care and treatment. "They're coming here to stay alive," he says. "Many of them reach out to us in advance and come sign up for services the day after they get here." A Federal Role? Many advocates say that federal leaders have to play a bigger role in addressing the epidemic among Latinx MSMs. According to Charles King, founder of the NYC AIDS agency Housing Works, the national ACT NOW: END AIDS coalition, which he co-chairs, will soon be submitting recommendations to the Trump administration as it looks to rewrite a national AIDS strategy. The group's recommendations for reversing the epidemic among immigrants include the passage of comprehensive immigration reform that would legalize all undocumented immigrants with no serious criminal offenses, plus the rejection of proposed rules to further penalize green card seekers who access public benefits. These recommendations might seem pie-in-the-sky during such an anti-immigration administration. A greater role is also required of the CDC, say advocates, adding that officials there, including Eugene McCray, M.D., who heads the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS, have recently had meetings with them about the epidemic among Latinx MSM. In an email, CDC representative Donnica Smalls acknowledged that "Latino gay and bisexual males experience factors that may increase their HIV risk," including the fact that such men "are geographically concentrated -- meaning some areas have high prevalence of HIV that, if not diagnosed and effectively treated, may spread within communities." She noted that, during 2010-2014, 84% of the increase in the number of HIV diagnoses among Latinx MSM was attributed to increases in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Puerto Rico. She also wrote that CDC was supporting prevention and programmatic efforts toward improving prevention and treatment outcomes for Latinx MSM, including data collection and analysis, research, health department and community-based organization funding, and social marketing campaigns. For example, the CDC's recently funded Integrated HIV Surveillance and Prevention Programs for Health Departments focuses, in part, on supporting uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP, the HIV-preventing drug Truvada [FTC/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate]), and reducing HIV risk behaviors among Latinx MSM who are at high risk for HIV. The CDC also funded a project, she wrote, that implements a strategy to pinpoint networks that include Latinx MSM in which active transmission is occurring and to deliver a combination of prevention services to the networks. Four directly funded state and local health departments -- New York state, Texas, New York City and Houston -- will conduct these activities. Finally, Smalls confirmed that the CDC has begun a series of discussions with leading Latinx HIV partners. "CDC aims to continue finding additional culturally sensitive and effective ways to prevent HIV by working with partners who understand the distinct experiences of Latino gay and bisexual males in their communities," she wrote. But Scaccabarrozzi says that more is needed from the CDC. "I would like CDC to be really open about this and say that, right now, this community is quite vulnerable and needs its own special push for HIV testing and connection to care with culturally and linguistically competent programs," he says. "I want to see a press release from them that is solely about Latino MSMs." He also questioned how many high-level Latinx people were working on this issue at the CDC -- and pointed out that the programs Smalls mentioned were all developed in communities other than Latinx ones, then translated into Spanish. In reply, Smalls wrote that "CDC ensures interventions are adapted to meet the needs of the diverse Latino populations disproportionately affected by HIV." She mentioned the Start Talking. Stop HIV. (STSH) campaign, launched in May 2014, which she says was designed to reach all gay and bisexual men -- and which reached out to people and groups with Latinx MSM expertise for feedback. "One-third of the research participants in these consultations were Latino gay and bisexual men," said Smalls. However, she did not reply to two queries asking how many high-level Latinx people were working on this issue at the CDC and whether the CDC intended to issue a press release specifically about rising HIV rates among Latinx MSM. Beyond the CDC, however, advocates concede that, amid an administration that is hostile to both immigrants and increased access to health care, the burden of trying to reverse rising HIV rates among Latinx MSM may fall, for the time being, on states, communities, and nonprofit networks. "Many of us who work with undocumented immigrants are starting to see them fall out of care [due to fear of accessing government programs], and while we want answers from the federal government, we're also afraid to bring it up lest we get unwanted attention from them," says Lopez. So, for time being, he says, "We're trying to have very candid conversations with clients when they come in about who in their household may or may not be documented, about whether they have legal representation, about whether they feel safe getting to and from our office. If they don't, we offer it." His agency is also offering an upcoming client conference to address some of these issues and fears. "We'll talk about trying to make sure your children go to a family member or a friend instead of foster care if you get deported," he says. "The fact that we have to have these scary conversations is very unfortunate." One of these conversations involves urging clients to open up about their HIV status to at least one family member or friend, "so they can bring your meds and paperwork if you're picked up by ICE or Border Patrol or deported. We're trying to empower clients to do this, but it's very challenging." In Miami, Latinos Salud hosts dance parties complete with an open bar and drag performers to bring together Latinx MSM -- then interrupts the party with a presentation about how to get on free PrEP, which Florida will start to make available this month. "People pull out their phones and start taking pictures, which is amazing," says Fallon, adding that agency also accompanies clients to health care appointments with Spanish translators. Meanwhile, as advocates do their best to help Latinx MSM in a tricky political climate, Daniel in Miami is biding his time amid his asylum proceeding, trying to stay fit and learning English. He hopes to obtain his green card, then one day go to school and become an HIV prevention specialist for the Latinx community. "I have no family here, but thankfully I've made some supportive friends," he says. "I'm afraid to go back to my country." Silhouettes of an unknown aircraft appear onstage at the military gala. Photo: kj.81.cn The silhouette of an unknown aircraft was spotted at an evening gala for China's strategic bomber division, leading military observers to speculate on Sunday that it could be the new H-20 stealth bomber. The gala was held on October 7 at an unspecified strategic bomber division under the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command, the official PLA Air Force website reported on Thursday. At a morale-boosting gala to build a "first-class strategic bomber division," the silhouette of a mysterious aircraft appeared on a big screen in photos released with publicity for the event. The front of the aircraft did not resemble China's known strategic bomber as it sported angled winglets on the ends of its wings, with no visible tail. The report did not mention the mysterious aircraft, but online readers speculated that it could be the H-20, China's in-development long-distance strategic stealth bomber. This is not the first time an aircraft rumored to be the H-20 made a mysterious appearance. In May the Aviation Industry Corporation of China released footage to commemorate the 60th anniversary of its subsidiary the Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation. The footage showed a mysterious aircraft shaped like a US B-2 stealth bomber, leading military experts to believe that could be the H-20. But that unknown aircraft had no winglets. If the H-20 indeed features winglets, that must be a choice made for the new aircraft after balancing all factors including stealth capabilities, a military expert told the Global Times on Saturday. He asked not to be named. China is independently developing weapons and not necessarily following foreign designs, the expert noted. The B-2 uses a flying wing design without winglets to reflect less radar waves, making it stealthier, said US manufacturer Northrop Grumman. Winglets reduce the drag associated with the creation of lift, allowing the wings to be more efficient and making planes require less thrust, Business Insider reported in 2016. Accolade Wines launches Stone's Gin Accolade Wines has launched Stone's Gin into both the on- and off-trade. Abigail Whithair, Stone's brand manager says: Sales of gin have increased by 253m in the UK in the last year and volume growth is set to continue with IWSR data suggesting an increase of 6.2 per cent by 2021. Two thirds of alcohol consumers recognise the Stones brand and over 60 per cent identify Stones as producing high quality ginger wine. We therefore wanted to extend our offering to introduce new consumers to the iconic Stones brand and monopolise on the current ginger flavour trend by putting the gin in ginger. Stones was first produced in Londons Finsbury Distillery in 1740 when the first gin craze was in full swing. Whithair adds: It felt natural that we go back and honour the distillers of Finsbury by blending our gin heritage and roots in ginger, to create our own Stones gin using traditional techniques. The original mill stones, used to crush the ginger for our ginger wine, can still be found on display on the corner of Northburgh Street in EC1. Stones Gin will be available for both the on- and off-trade. The launch will be supported with a PR led, consumer tasting experience, tied to the brand heritage as well as an on-trade activation around the suggested serving with ginger ale. David White, marketing director of Accolade Wines says: The strength of our brand portfolio is demonstrated by our ability to branch out into other categories. Consumers are always on the look-out for new products or serves and by harnessing our brand heritage with the current trends in gin, and in bold flavours (ginger in particular), we are confident that this exciting new product will encourage both our current and new consumers to try Stones Gin. Our recent successful launch of Echo Falls vodka demonstrates that our approach is tapping into strong consumer dynamics and creating new profit opportunities for our trade partners. The publishers of The Drinks Report also proudly partner Gin Magazine and The World Gin Awards. Why not subscribe here, or enter the awards now be in the running for the title World's Best Gin http://www.worldginawards.com/ 15 October 2018 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editor It is common for companies to organize various informal events where workers can come with their partners. One of those... Participants from China and the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Combined Task Force (CTF) 465 transfer the injured sailor during a joint rescue drill at the Chinese PLA Support Base in Djibouti on Oct. 12, 2018. (Photo by Tan Longlong) By Zhang Qingbao and Tan Longlong DJIBOUTI, Oct. 15 (ChinaMil) -- The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Support Base in Djibouti conducted a joint medical rescue and evacuation drill with the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Combined Task Force (CTF) 465 on the morning of October 12, local time, in a bid to explore the methods for joint air-sea medical rescue and evacuation at oversea base, and to test and strengthen the emergency medical rescue support capability of the PLA Support Base in Djibouti. The drill simulated the cabin of a merchant ship STAR caught fire in the western waters of the Gulf of Aden at around 6:00 a.m. local time and six sailors were injured. After receiving a distress call from the ship, the Chinese PLA Support Base and the CTF 465 held an emergency discussion and decided to dispatch a joint medical team to rescue it. The drill lasted four hours and practiced seven procedures such as the dispatching of emergency signal & information transmission, the establishment and dispatch of a joint medical rescue team, on-site joint medical treatment, and helicopter emergency medical evacuation and so forth. It was the first time for the Chinese PLA Support Base to use the helicopter to conduct such a drill, which provided valuable experience for itself to effectively command naval and air force units and conduct humanitarian rescue at sea, promoted exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese base and EU military forces in the region, and improved the capability of regional joint humanitarian operation. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Devina Heriyanto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 09:35 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777b3f0c 1 Books Reni-Eddo-Lodge,Racism,Bloomsbury,interview,nonfiction,discrimination,Book,ubud-writers-readers-festival,#books Free Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race began as a blog post in 2014, when journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge vented her exasperation with how conversations about race usually turn out, with white people claiming that "this is not always about race" or that they "dont see race at all". But then, after she hit publish, the award-winning journalist found herself in constant urgency to talk about race. Three years after her post, Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race had grown into a 272-page book published by Bloomsbury, available at all major Periplus outlets in Indonesia. The Jakarta Post talked to Reni via email on how the conversation about race is going after the books publication and what to do about racism. How much has your personal life changed since the essay and the book? When I wrote my original blog post, I was setting a boundary for my own sanity. I didnt really expect anyone to read it, because I had this tiny blog that nobody cared about. The response to my blog post convinced me that this was a perspective that needed to be heard, but when it came to the books publication day, it still felt like the closing of a chapter. Id said my piece, done my research and now I could walk away. But the world insisted that I should stick around and talk to a bit more, and thats what Ive been doing since. Ive been consistently surprised at the demand, but I think that this is a positive sign. People want a fairer society. You have continued talking to people, both white and black, about race since the publication of your blog post and the book. How's the conversation going? Much better now that I have a book behind me! It gives me an air of legitimacy, but theres nothing written in the book that I wasnt saying when I was a rabble-rousing activist. It was harder to have these conversations back then because there was so much missing from the public conversation about racism, so much context lacking, that people would look at me as though I was talking a different language. With this book, I wanted to provide all that context and history so that the antiracist perspective could be a bit more understood. What's the most baffling thing people say to you about your book? When people look to me for direction I find it baffling! I understand the intent, but I wrote the book with the hope of readers feeling empowered and equipped to change the world. I think the answer to what can I do? can be found in challenging the injustices you see closest to home. Read also: 5 books Yuval Noah Harari wants you to read It must be frustrating to challenge racism as a deeply rooted system. What keeps you going? I make sure that I have a clear demarcation between my working time and my resting time. I think thats critically important, whether your antiracism work is paid or unpaid. One chapter in your book that intrigues me the most is the fear of a black planet. We have something like that here in Indonesia, as the Chinese-Indonesian minority is often discriminated against and now there is even a conspiracy of a Chinese takeover. Why do you think the majority has this fear? How can we find the best counter-narrative against such a conspiracy? I think this fear exists in the powerful because of an unacknowledged recognition that the inequality that exists right now is grossly unfair, but simultaneously working out in their favor. So instead of working against the unfairness, this recognition is projected out at the people who are already being discriminated against. Theories of takeovers are never borne out in the demographic data about race and power. This is just the powerful pretending to be victims. We should call it what it is racism. Are you working on a new book right now? Im enjoying taking some time to read and research, but Im yet to see if this thinking period evolves into a new book. What are some books you recommend that can help us understand racism better? The bibliography of WHY IM is a great place to start. Some of my additions might seem a little left field, but every book on that list helped me understand how power manifests, which in turn helped me understand how racism works. (kes) ------------------- Reni Eddo-Lodge will take part in the 2018 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, held on Oct. 24-28 in Ubud, Bali. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 07:26 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777ade9d 4 Health selfie,social-media,selfie-related-death Free You dont have to browse for long on social media to find dramatic travel photos, including selfies of travelers and adrenaline junkies perched on the edge of a scenic cliff or some other type of risky backdrop. These images never fail to rack up hundreds if not thousands of likes inspired by both the stunning view and the photographers death-defying feat. However, few realize that these daring selfie stunts are also extremely dangerous. And sadly, attempts at them have actually been fatal. According to a Washington Post report, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), a group of public medical colleges based in New Delhi, has made startling findings on selfie-related deaths. The group analyzed 259 reported selfie-related deaths from October 2011 to November 2017, concluding that selfie deaths have become a major public health problem, Agam Bansal, lead author of the AIIMS research team, told The Washington Post. The report, published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, shows that the leading causes of death involving selfies were drowning, followed by transportation-related incidents. Though India is found to have the worlds highest number of selfie-related deaths, there have also been many reports coming from Russia, the United States and Pakistan. These incidents may also lead to the deaths of other people and traumatize onlookers. Rolling Stone recently reported 11 disturbing stories of social media photos gone wrong, including one that involves a live grenade in the Urals region west of Siberia, and a deadly plane crash in Colorado, US. In the latter, the pilot lost control of the airplane while attempting to take a selfie, causing the plane to crash and claim his life along with his passengers. Other selfie-related deaths include animals and electrocution. Its like a man-made disaster, Mohit Jain, an orthopedic surgeon who has done research on selfie-related deaths, said told The Washington Post. Its not a natural disaster. His research found 75 deaths caused by selfie attempts from 2014-2016. He emphasized that the work of AIIMS researchers was important in spreading awareness about the potential dangers of taking selfies in unusual situations. Read also: Chinese tourist dies after falling from cliff taking a selfie Whats more concerning, he said, was that more than 85 percent of victims in these incidents were between the ages of 10 and 30. He urged people to ask themselves whether it was worth compromising their life for likes and shares on social media. If youre just standing, simply taking [a selfie] with a celebrity or something, thats not harmful, Bansal said. But if that selfie is accompanied with risky behavior, then that is what makes the selfie dangerous. (acr/mut) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) London Mon, October 15, 2018 20:05 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777cad7e 2 Entertainment John-le-Carre,The-Little-Drummer-Girl,London-Film-Festival Free John le Carre fans will see a new adaptation of one of his spy novels when "The Little Drummer Girl" hits TV screens this month but the British author said there was huge pressure in making the series after the success of hit show "The Night Manager". Le Carre's 1983 book, previously made into a film starring Diane Keaton, is set in the 1970s and follows British actress Charlie as she is recruited by an Israeli spy master to track down a Palestinian militant. The mini-series was made by the makers of Golden Globe-winning "The Night Manager", with le Carre's sons once again executive producers. The author described the story as "quite different". "The one thing you can't do, you can't be a one-trick pony, you can't repeat it. We had a massive audience (for "The Night Manager")," le Carre said at "The Little Drummer Girl" premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday. "This will be a different thing ... probably attract a smaller but a much more responsive audience in many ways. It's not as accessible, it's more thinking, it's slower and I think more beautiful." "Lady Macbeth" actress Florence Pugh takes the role of Charlie in the series, which also stars "The Shape of Water" actor Michael Shannon and "Big Little Lies" star Alexander Skarsgard. "She is someone so opinionated, so loud, so sure of herself," Pugh said of Charlie. "I loved the fact that my character wasn't necessarily from that (spy) world ... us as the audience, we watch her like we are her." Skarsgard plays intelligence agent Becker, who as part of the story's Israeli spy plot also pretends to be a young Palestinian Charlie travels with across Europe. "I hope people embrace this show as much as they did 'The Night Manager'," he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 16:32 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777c3fda 1 Lifestyle Bliblicom,blibli-com,fashion,Jakarta-Fashion-Week,Jakarta-Fashion-Week-2019,Nikicio,Wellborn,Tities-Sapoetra,Clemence,Andhita-Siswandi Free Online marketplace Blibli.com has collaborated with five Indonesian designers for the upcoming 2019 Jakarta Fashion Week. The designers are Andhita Siswandi of Andhita by Andhita Siswandi, Clarissa Hartawan of Clemence, Nina Nikicio of Nikicio, Mielka Raputra Bardin and Tjuk Nurputro Guritno of Wellborn and Tities Sapoetra of TS the Label by Tities Sapoetra. Marvie Samala, Blibli.coms senior vice president for lifestyle, said this endeavor marked the marketplaces third time being involved in Jakarta Fashion Week. We will present a fashionable collection, and at the same time they will wear clothing that is wearable for daily activities, she added. Tjuk Guritno said this would be Wellborns first experience in the fashion week foray. We appreciate the local spirit that we find here, said Tjuk. And as it is our first time, we are excited and look forward to learning from this experience. The label is known for its use of graphic design and edgy menswear. Read also: Jakarta to host Modest Fashion Summit in December While for Tities of TS the Label by Tities Sapoetra, this will be the labels first experience in an online marketplace. I chose Blibli.com as it has a wide scope in the market. In regard to Jakarta Fashion Week, they are experienced and equipped with fashion know-how, so I trust them, he said. For fashion week, Nikicio will present the theme of nomadic travelers. There will be a lot of patterns and colors, said Nina, whose label is known for its monochrome colors and unexpected designs. Clarissa Hartawan said Clemence would feature a mixture of tweeds, pleats and pops of colors. We received helpful input from Blibli.com in the design process, she said. The collection will be presented on Oct. 24 at the annual fashion event taking place in Senayan City, Central Jakarta. Afterward, it will be exclusively available on Blibli.com, with the marketplace offering installments with zero interest, as well as a 15-day return policy and free shipping. (wng) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Yoon Min-sik (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network) Mon, October 15, 2018 14:05 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777bf1e9 2 Entertainment Busan-International-Film-Festival,film-festival,film,Movie,South-Korea Free The 23rd Busan International Film Festival drew to a close Saturday, shaken by Typhoon Kong-rey, but having enjoyed its first year since its operations were normalized. Rounding off the festivities was the closing film Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy by Yeun Woo-ping, after the opening piece Beautiful Days had kicked things off 10 days earlier. The festival recognized those around the film industry for their contribution and prospects. Landing the top awards in the New Currents award were Savage by Chinese director Cui Si Wei and Clean Up by Korean director Kwon Man-ki. The Kim Jiseok award -- created this year in honor of the late BIFF programmer of the same name -- was given to Jamshid Mahmoudis Rona, Azims Mother and Zhang Weis The Rib. Opening Closing Forgetting by James T. Hong and Army by Park Kyung-kun secured the BIFF Mecenat Award, while the Sonje Award went to Kwon Sung-mos Cat Day Afternoon and Nooreh by Ashish Pandey. Actor and actress of the year awards went to Lee Ju-yeong and Choi Hee-seo for their memorable performances in Maggie and Our Body, respectively. The festival suffered some hiccups. The typhoon forced the officials to dismantle the outdoor stage and relocate or cancel the events there. Some of the visitors were left standing confused on Haeundae Beach on Saturday afternoon, as they were not notified that the free shuttles had been canceled due to the bad weather. A minor controversy occurred when a Japanese actor, Kunimura Jun, was asked by a reporter what he thought of Japans controversial Rising Sun flag, and he answered that he understood Koreans sentiment due to the bad blood between the two countries. Read also: Chinese action debut and South Korean family drama win at Busan Despite the obstacles, the festival managed to gather 195,000 participants, a minor increase from 193,000 the year before. The participants enjoyed 324 films from 79 countries -- 115 of them world premieres -- while 911 companies from 54 countries took part in Asian Film Market. This years event was the first since the 2014 Diving Bell controversy had led to a boycott of the last two festivals. After BIFF screened Diving Bell, a documentary about the Sewol ferry disaster earlier that year that was critical of the Park Geun-hye administration, an extensive government audit, the dismissal of key staff and a budget cut followed. Those in Korean movie circles lambasted the government intervention and boycotted the event, severely damaging the events reputation. This years festival marked the return of major players, including big name distributors like CJ E&M, Lotte, Showbox and NEW. But while the 2018 was expected to be a rebound year, the increase in attendance was not as pronounced as initially hoped, an ominous indicator that it may not be the marquee event that it once was. While it had been customary for distributors in the past to refrain from holding press conferences about their upcoming movie, press events including one for the new Ma Dong-seok film were held during the event. In terms of reconciliation and normalization, I would consider the festival half a success. ...We found potential, but we didnt manage to achieve everything completely, festival Chairman Lee Yong-kwan said. The new goal for the BIFF now, Lee said, was for it to stay relevant in the new era. The first arduous task at hand is for us to establish what it means to hold an offline festival in an online era, he said. Lee added that the organizers should find ways to revitalize and enhance the Asian Film Market, while finding online applications for BIFF content. Topics : This article appeared on The Korea Herald newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sebastian Partogi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 08:14 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777af355 4 Art & Culture #essay,words,writing,reading,discussion Free Reading and writing voraciously does not make me smarter; after several years it has made me dumber. I spend probably 10 to 15 hours daily writing and reading, at work and at home because I am a recluse by nature. Recently, I had difficulties formulating my sentences properly in both Indonesian and English when I talked to people. I had frequent tip of the tongue incidents whereby I tried to retrieve a particular word or phrase and say it but somehow failed to do so. Words failed me, not just orally but apparently also in writing. My sentences became convoluted. I could not come up with the right syntax. I left gaps in my sentences: no matter how hard I tried to remember the important details. And then, I started confusing one letter with another. I could not differentiate a with o, r with n, et cetera. An editor at a big publishing house, who also spends 10 to 15 hours daily reading and editing texts, said he had this strange experience whereby more than once, his dizziness and headache caused him to see the text moving up and down the Microsoft Word document by itself, as if being animated by an invisible hand. Another person, who had just kick-started a career in a media company, said she was surprised how her fellow journalists wander around hollow-eyed, as if they were zombies. I myself have to admit that a lot of times the onslaught of information that I am dealing with on a day-to-day basis has drained my energy, leaving no desire to even greet other people I pass by in the corporate compound. I am frequently too tired to even do that. My brain has been flooded by too many abstract images already. How many of us have found it hard to express ourselves clearly, verbally? How many of us have found our minds being frazzled after spending too much time working with language, whether it is writing, translating, editing or delivering an oral presentation? No, it is not a complaint; all of us have apparently faced this no matter how much we enjoy what we do. Language, to paraphrase what author Michael Ondaatje says in his 1992 novel The English Patient, is difficult. Articulating it is even more difficult than playing the violin, the author asserts through his character David Carvaggio. Playing the violin is more difficult than playing the guitar, I can tell, because unlike guitars, violins have no frets delineating different tones. But at least when you hit the wrong note on the violin with your finger, you can tell right away that you have missed the mark. It is not the same with language; it is trickier to gauge whether you have expressed things clearly through verbal language because basically, verbal language is an abstract unification and simplification of multitudinous, concrete things. Take the word beagle, for instance. Upon hearing that word, a picture of your pet beagle will probably come to mind, while I am imagining Snoopy, Charlie Browns pet who stands on his two legs, just like homo sapiens does. Herein lies the paradox: verbal language helps us define things to navigate our lives easier but it can also be a trap how can we reduce this complex and complicated experience called life into just a set of words? This is why a lot of book-smart people are also prone to impose simple-minded labels (stereotypes) on other people. You might want to think, for example, that the liberal activists, writers and thinkers out there are more open-minded than who they label as conservative and narrow-minded right-leaning individuals as if human beings can be distinguished into simply two extreme ends of a pendulum. But no. I was shocked upon hearing one person, who puts himself proudly inside the liberal box, perhaps because he thinks it is a sign of high intelligence, saying casually that all religious people are idiots (he, too, is an atheist, not out of personal conviction but again because of this logical fallacy that believers cant be smart people and he considers himself to be smart. Interesting, huh?). These people, who like to present themselves as avid readers and open-minded thinkers so that the world will applaud their high intelligence, cannot help but be trapped in simple-mindedness. They are too enamored by empty rhetoric and intellectual discussions that they somehow neglect to allow their concrete life experiences mold them intellectually and emotionally. Instead of recognizing that our life views and beliefs are malleable things that are subject to change over time, they instead have defined themselves either this way or that way (liberal, socialist, whatever), and in the end become trapped in the words and rhetoric that they keep repeating to themselves and others every day, through reading, writing and oral discussions. Instead of being open to views that are different from theirs, they increasingly live in bubbles, talking to like-minded people only. This way, instead of seeing things clearly, they define things based on their own rigid and immutable a priori conceptual frame. This also explains why certain people continue to treat others harshly and hurtfully despite writing and talking about human rights, freedom of expression and culture highbrow topics constantly. Because probably these concepts remain only abstracts in these urban intellectuals heads. Our education system emphasizes cognitive learning so much that we memorize concepts in our minds without being able to connect them with some emotional and behavioral understanding which is a shame since without doing that we would merely perpetuate empty chatter without really implementing what we say we believe in our day-to-day lives. Jonathan Haidt in his book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion ( 2013 ) also warns of this possibility, whereby the higher ones education is, the more able he or she is to formulate abstract justifications for his or her own unethical or harmful actions toward others. This does not mean that we have to stop learning, reading or engaging in intellectual discussions. Rather, instead of just indulging ourselves in endless empty chatter in order to appear smarter than others in a social setting, we should endeavor to also enrich ourselves with concrete, five-sensory activities. To leave the otherworldly realm of abstract concepts for a while and get in touch with earthy, grounded reality. This is especially healing for people who are assaulted by words and abstract concepts on a daily basis: writers, scholars and activists (that is, when they get trapped in too much ideology and not enough action). A bonus for writers: these frequent breaks help us to return to our work refreshed, allowing us to better approximate our concrete realities with our words and minimize those errors, even though we can never completely represent concrete realities as they are through verbal expressions. But at least we are inching closer toward what reality looks like. Now, I am getting preachy. Excuse me, but this is what engaging too much with highbrow ideas can do to you. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Annie Banerji (Reuters) Jaipur, India Mon, October 15, 2018 18:03 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777c6fbd 2 Lifestyle India,Women,gender,Train,train-station,Rajasthan,workers,Jaipur Free As Chandra Kala heard the blaring horns of a train, she quickened her pace, zig-zagged and elbowed across a teeming platform while hauling a sack of wheat, a suitcase and a backpack. She placed the luggage inside a carriage just as the train began to chug out of Gandhi Nagar railway station, which in February became India's only major terminal where women run the show. Kala is a rare female porter in the conservative, desert state of Rajasthan in western India, and one of about 40 women holding positions traditionally held by men. "Earlier, I used to feel very shy," said Kala, a widow with two children. "How should I speak to passengers, how can I lift luggage? It all felt very weird." She had taken over her husband's porter job when he passed away last year, and she now supports her children from her earnings of about 3,000 rupees ($40) a week. "It does not feel weird anymore," said Kala. "It feels really good." From ticket sellers and conductors, to station managers and cleaners, these trailblazers are upending sexist views and providing hope in a country where women are slowly vanishing from the workplace. India is one of the world's fastest growing major economies but the rate of female employment is startlingly low, in large part due to social prejudices and general disapproval of working women. At least 20 million women - the combined population of New York, London and Paris - have left the workforce of Asia's third-largest economy since 2005, World Bank data shows, with only 27 percent now employed. The Gandhi Nagar initiative is part of efforts by the state-run railway - India's biggest employer - to empower women in its workforce of 1.3 million people. Indian Railways officials are planning to replicate the all-women staff model in other stations, according to Tarun Jain, a spokesman for the railways ministry. The experiment has also created a financial windfall, according to Jain, who said Nagar station has experienced "record earnings" since women took over. "The revenues have grown substantially as far as the ticket checking is concerned," he said. "They have caught a lot of people without tickets." In April, the women caught 520 people attempting to ride trains or access platforms without tickets, according to data Jain provided. The station earned 133,595 rupees ($1,805) from the tickets those people then had to purchase. In contrast, men apprehended 64 people without tickets during the same month in 2017, netting the station 11,645 rupees, according to the data. Aya Matsuura, a gender specialist at the U.N.'s International Labor Organization, said such initiatives are important in fighting gender stereotypes and to help "women find the confidence to enter traditionally male-dominated sectors". "This also sends out a positive message to the younger generation when they consider career options," she said. Read also: After driving ban ends, Saudi women taste thrill of speed Happy passengers Each year, millions of tourists flock to ancient fortresses and camel-back desert safaris in Rajasthan, which is also home to some of India's poorest villages where age-old customs like purdah, or veiling, often dictate a woman's life. At Gandhi Nagar station in the state capital of Jaipur, 25 trains pass through every day with about 7,000 commuters - mostly from conservative rural and tribal areas - witnessing women carrying out jobs many have only seen men do before. Bewildered, surprised and even upset, many gawked at the women when they first took over the station and often undermined their authority, asking for a "male manager", according to Neelam Sharma, a reservation supervisor. "Some people reacted quite angrily," said Sharma, adding that passengers would say things like, "We do not know how any work will get done here." However, as the months rolled by, Sharma said commuters were pleased to see improvements at the station, including faster service, smaller queues, better information and cleanliness. "Now those same people come to us and really appreciate us and say things like, 'Madam, we really like coming here, our work gets done quicker', and, 'The men did not explain things to us properly,'" Sharma said. "Passengers are quite happy now." Satya Narayan, a 61-year-old man who has been regular at the station since he was a little boy, agreed. "There is a difference of night and day here," he said. "When the men were working here, there used to be a lot of hooliganism. But now the women are taking care of everything." Read also: Flynas plans soon to hire Saudi Arabian female co-pilots Doubts and fears Members of the team credit this success to their motivation to prove themselves in what is commonly considered a male bastion. "(We) are giving our 100 percent efforts," said station master Angel Stella, sitting behind a control panel with color-coded track lines and buttons that send signals to incoming trains in order to prevent accidents. But it was not easy getting to this point, she said. The women, who were mostly transferred from stations in smaller towns, had to overcome their own doubts and fears of running a station by themselves. They had to get comfortable working night shifts and working in positions of responsibility traditionally held by men, said Stella. "We were scared and we thought, 'How will we do this?'" It was also a challenge for those who lived with their children or in-laws to strike the balance between work and family, Stella added. To ensure their comfort and safety, authorities equipped the station with CCTV cameras, deployed an all-women police force, installed sanitary pad vending machines, and created a temporary daycare. Female employees said they hope to inspire young girls passing through the station, and trigger a change among people who think a woman's place is at home. "All women should come forward and stand shoulder to shoulder with men - especially in jobs that are usually seen as theirs," said Usha Mathur, a chief reservation supervisor and mother of two. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 08:54 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777b135f 1 Books literary-festival,Gramedia,Book,#books,literacy,reading Free Held at the historic Kota Tua in West Jakarta, Gramedias week-long Readers Fest was a showcase of all things books workshops by writers, a huge book market with discounts of up to 92 percent, as well as several musical guests. Guest stars included director Wregas Bhanuteja, journalist Najwa Shihab and writers Sapardi Djoko Damono, Gunawan Maryanto and Bernard Batubara as well as cartoonist Muhammad Mice Misrad. Several guests, including Mice, held their own writing and drawing workshops as a way to share their knowledge. Another activity was the zine making workshop organized by Ruang. Gramedia Digital Nusantara managing director Kelvin Wijaya was personally flattered by the enthusiasm that the public showed regarding this festival. Five days into the event, held from Oct. 1 to 7, the number of visitors had reached around 7,000. Creative minds: The Comics Coloring Wall was popular during the Gramedias Readers Fest. We appreciate the publics interest in this event, Kelvin says. [The high interest] makes it clear that there are still many who appreciate the art of reading as well as those who are curious. But the enthusiasm shown for this event offers only a small glimmer of hope for a country that is known for having a low interest in reading. Indonesia is currently at 60th place only after Botswana on UNESCOs 2017 survey on reading interest in the world, the second lowest rate in the database. One place above Indonesia is Thailand, and the country in first place in that survey is Finland, whose populace reads an average of 30 books a year. Many argue that it is because the culture of reading has not been implemented into Indonesian habits from the beginning, especially in the era of increased internet connectivity. Najwa observes that while Indonesia has a literacy rate of around 95.3 percent, the culture of reading books is almost nonexistent as a result of a general disinterest in reading as a leisure activity. Bookworms: Visitors browse through books on offer at the Book Market held during Gramedias Readers Fest at Kota Tua in West Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post/Umair Rizaludin) Speaking likely from her own experience, Najwa said a good way to alleviate this was to try and set aside actual time for reading and get used to doing it so that the habit can be formed. It also helps if the habit is planted at a very young age. Some of this disinterest, she feels, comes from not wanting to feel bad about not being able to finish any books, as this would trigger embarrassment within oneself. Most of the time, when parents have successfully taught their children how to read, they stop there. What is needed is to foster the culture of reading into them so that they can pursue that as a genuine interest and therefore, heighten the culture of reading, the journalist says. Another reason why Indonesian literacy is not that established is difficult access. Najwa recalled individuals she met on her journeys around Indonesia and found moving stories of ordinary individuals that aimed to bring books to hard-to-access areas of Indonesia, and asked why cant we do the same? Book talk: Literary expert Maman Suherman (center) and journalist Najwa Shihab (right) were keynote speakers at a discussion held during Gramedias Readers Fest in Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post/Umair Rizaludin) Former Kompas Gramedia editor in chief Maman Suherman shared the same thought. Only around 2 percent of Indonesians now are unable to read. While this is a refreshing fact, interest in reading is still low. Indonesians tend to average about 2 or 3 books a year, he said. He also saw the Readers Festival as a unique way for Gramedia to foster interest in reading among the public. It helps also that this festival is offering a trove of great books at an accessible price and therefore it is easier for them to get hold of books. Every little bit of effort helps. Acknowledging the accessibility factor, the festival also coincided with the launch of the publishers new mobile app, which aims to answer that very same problem, thereby putting books straight into the phones of many. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 15:30 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777c2c64 1 People Chow-Yun-Fat,Hong-Kong,actor,charity,Movie,John-Woo,film Free Actor Chow Yun-fat has decided that his entire net worth will go to charity, he told Hong Kong movie site Jayne Stars. The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star said, The hardest thing in life is not about how much money you earn, but how to keep a peaceful mindset and live the rest of your life in a simple and carefree manner. It was reported by The New Straits Times that Chows net worth is valued at HK$5.6 billion (US$714 million). Read also: Action movies should channel 'deep emotions' says John Woo According to the article, Chow takes public transportation as often as possible and spends most of his time and money on charity work instead of on himself. I dont wear clothes for other people. As long as I think its comfortable, then its good enough for me. IndieWire wrote that Chow said he spends a frugal amount of US$102 per month. Despite his wealth and his status as an Asian movie icon that is familiar to even American audiences for his role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as well as John Woo's A Better Tomorrow and The Killer, he thinks of himself as a normal person. His wife, Jasmine Tan, was quoted in a report to have said that Chow was still using his 17-year-old Nokia phone. (acr/wng) Local students warmly welcome the first visit by the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark (Hull 866) at the Port of Roseau of Dominica on October 12, local time. (mod.gov.cn/Photo by Jiang Shan) By Jiang Shan and Shi Kuiji PORT of ROSEAU, DOMINICA, Oct. 15 (ChinaMil) -- The Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark (Hull 866), which is on the "Harmonious Mission 2018," arrived at the Port of Roseau of Dominica on October 12 for an eight-day friendly visit. This is the first visit for a Chinese naval ship to the country. Furthermore, Dominica is the 39th country visited by the Peace Ark since it was commissioned in 2008. Dominica, located at the northeastern side of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean Sea, is the seventh stop of the "Harmonious Mission 2018". It has a population of 72,000 and the capital city is Roseau. Dominica's President Charles Savarin and his wife held a grand welcome ceremony for the arrival of the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark at the port. They also presented a gift basket to the officers and soldiers of the Peace Ark. The police band of Dominica played the national anthems of the two countries and local students staged a choir performance at the ceremony. Dominica's acting Prime Minister John Collin McIntyre, Foreign Minister Francine Baron, Health Minister Kenneth Darroux, Chinese Ambassador to Dominica Lu Kun, Chinese embassy staff, local overseas Chinese, and representatives of Chinese-funded institutions attended the welcome ceremony. Francine Baron and Kenneth Darroux warmly welcomed the visit by the Peace Ark and they said the visit will further enhance friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. The commanding officer of the "Harmonious Mission 2018" said at the welcome ceremony that during the visit, the Peace Ark, a homegrown professional hospital ship, will carry out a series of activities such as joint medical service, study visits, and medical treatment. This visit will further deepen mutual understanding, consolidate traditional friendship, expand exchanges and cooperation, and make new contributions to deepening bilateral relations, he added. Chinese Ambassador Lu Kun said this Chinese naval hospital ship is a ship of life, friendship and peace. It provides humanitarian medical services to meet the urgent needs of the people of developing countries, deepens the friendship between the people of China and Dominica with good wishes from the Chinese people, and reflects China's persistent pursuit of peaceful development, harmonious world and common prosperity. After the welcome ceremony, accompanied by Lu Kun and the commanding officer of the "Harmonious Mission 2018", President Savarin and his wife boarded the Peace Ark and visited the Chinese medical staff. Acting Prime Minister McIntyre and other political leaders of Dominica also attended these activities. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dario Thuburn (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdom Mon, October 15, 2018 17:10 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777c5d83 2 People Prince-Harry,Meghan-Markle,royals,Britain,pregnancy Free Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting a baby in the spring of 2019, they announced on Monday as they began a Pacific tour. "The Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the spring of 2019," their Kensington Palace residence said in a statement. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public," it said. Harry and Meghan, a former US actress, wed in a fairytale setting at Windsor Castle on May 19. The two royals touched down in Sydney on Monday, kicking off a bumper Pacific tour that is their first major outing abroad as a couple. Their official visit, lasting more than a fortnight, will take in multiple stops in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand -- all members of the Commonwealth of predominantly former British colonies. Meghan, 37, made her name in acting as savvy para-legal Rachel Zane in the US television legal drama Suits. Read also: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: A tale of love at first sight In her first solo charity project since the wedding, she launched a cookbook in September in support of families affected by the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London. The duchess wrote the foreword to the recipe collection entitled Together: Our Community Cookbook, produced by women who suffered from the fatal blaze. The June 2017 fire in a 24-story residential block killed 71 people and left many more living in temporary accommodation. Meghan's every smile, step and wave has been scrutinized by royalty watchers curious to see how the mixed-race American actress will perform in her new role. She is adored by the public and shadowed at every appearance by the press. British media last month commented on her closing her own car door at her first solo engagement -- the opening of an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The gesture was interpreted as a sign that Meghan remained a down-to-earth woman without pretenses, despite being married to the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sebastian Partogi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 10:08 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777b70c1 4 Books ubud-writers-readers-festival,literary-festival,Literature,#books,books Free The annual Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF), which will run from Oct. 24 to 28 in Ubud, Bali, seeks to maintain socio-political relevance for its 15th edition this year. The festival will highlight several pressing issues of our contemporary times from gender, migration and diversity to disaster management and environmental problems. UWRF founder and director Janet DeNeefe said the theme of this years festival was Jagadhita (The World We Create), the Balinese Hindu philosophy of people pursuing universal harmony and prosperity as their individual lifes goal. The speakers, she said, had been selected to represent local and global cultural diversity, arriving in Bali to share their extraordinary stories and unique perspectives with the audience. We strive to bring together a diverse mix of speakers, the most interesting way we know to showcase many perspectives regarding the same issues, DeNeefe told The Jakarta Post. Discussions about gender-based violence, for instance, will feature acclaimed Indian poet, novelist and dancer Tishani Doshi, who addresses domestic violence in her work, alongside Indonesian writer-filmmaker Djenar Maesa Ayu, well-known for her women-focused work. Read also: Reni Eddo-Lodge: Sticking around to talk about race Pakistani author Fatima Bhutto will also return to Ubud since her first appearance at the festival in 2008. The niece of slain Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto, who twice served as prime minister, is a fierce critic of her charismatic aunt, claiming she was power hungry and morally responsible for the murder of her own brother the writers father. On the issue of migration and diversity, the upcoming festivals speakers will include Nigerian-American writer, filmmaker and medical doctor Uzodinma Iweala, who is the CEO of the Africa Center in New York. The Africa Center seeks to promote a new narrative about Africa and its diaspora through culture, policy and business. Other featured speakers who will discuss diversity and migration include author Haidar Bagir, who promotes pluralism and progressive Islamic thought through interfaith dialogue; and British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist Hanif Kureishi, who will appear alongside former Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs, who launched an inquiry into the detention of child immigrants. Ndaba Mandela, a rights activist from Johannesburg, South Africa and grandson of the iconic freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, is also set to attend the festival. Environmental issues will also be under the spotlight at the festival, with speakers including Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Yeb Sano and activist Emmanuela Shinta, who defends the rights of the indigenous Dayak people in Kalimantan. A panel on disaster management will feature Indonesian seismologist Devy Kamil Syahbana, photographer Rio Helmi, activist Ade Andreawan, Japanese artist Daisuke Takeya and Australian journalist Jewel Topsfield, whose lives are closely tied to the issue. Over the years, our programs get more diverse. For instance, we have included Indonesian films as a big chunk of our program [this year], DeNeefe said. The festival will also honor Indonesian filmmakers, such as Richard Oh, who will premiere his fifth film Love is a Bird at the event, as well as Kamila Andini, the director of 2017s award-winning Sekala Niskala (The Seen and Unseen). DeNeefe said she felt Indonesians were learning to have a sense of ownership over the festival as well. Recently, we have been seeing around a 50 percent increase of Indonesians among the audience and with the recent growth, we project that our Indonesian audience will grow 50 percent bigger in another five years, she says. The festivals organizer was also praised for its success in bringing in prominent international authors, which was not an easy task to accomplish. These [prominent] writers know were really a grassroots festival, of real people trying to make a real difference, DeNeefe humbly explained the festivals success in featuring big names in its programs. Indonesian novelist and journalist Leila S. Chudori, who will also appear at this years festival, said she was not only impressed by the festivals success in bringing in prominent international authors but was equally impressed by the festivals audience as well. We can tell that the audience members are avid readers by the quality of their questions [during panel discussions], Leila told the Post. Veteran poet Sapardi Djoko Damono, also featured in the upcoming UWRF 2018, said the festivals creative and intellectual atmosphere could motivate Indonesian writers to further improve the quality of their works. [To sharpen their skills] Indonesian writers must communicate and form networks [with their international counterparts] during the festival, Sapardi said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 07:32 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777ae3bc 4 National West-Sulawesi,Polewali-Mandar,Central-Sulawesi-earthquake,#CentralSulawesiQuake,Education,relief-efforts Free The administration of Polewali Mandar in West Sulawesi has instructed all schools in the regency to accept students moving from areas hit by earthquakes and a tsunami in Central Sulawesi at no cost. Polewali Mandar Regent Andi Ibrahim Masdar said his administration had forbidden schools from charging students from the neighboring province. We also provide them with school equipment, such as books and uniforms. We even give staple food to their families, the regent said, as quoted by kompas.com on Sunday. A number of schools across the regency have accepted students who fled from the disaster-ridden area, such as SD 26 state elementary school in Lantora, which accepted six students. Dozens of students from Central Sulawesi are also studying at state-run junior and senior high schools in the regency. [Im] happier now, as I can study calmly. I also have lots of new friends here, said Nurul Nadila, one of the displaced students studying at SD 26 Lantora. Apart from equipment, teachers at state schools in Polewali Mandar also provide counseling for students suffering from psychological trauma in the wake of the Central Sulawesi disasters. As of Oct. 11, 18,353 people have fled from Central Sulawesi by land, sea or air, according to authorities. A 7.4-magnitude earthquake jolted the province on Sept. 28, triggering a tsunami and soil liquefaction. At least 2,088 people have been killed and more than 650 are still missing. (kuk) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 18:52 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777c9b69 4 National Meikarta,KPK,Basaria-Panjaitan,Febri-Diansyah,property,developer,Lippo-group Free The arrests of officials from the Bekasi administration in West Java and representatives of private companies for alleged bribery concerning the issuance of property permits "came as a shock" to Bekasi regent Neneng Nurhasanah. Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chief Basaria Panjaitan answered yes on Monday when asked whether the arrests were related to the operational permits for the modern city of Meikarta a flagship project of diversified conglomerate Lippo Group. Neneng said she had issued a warning at the start of this year to officials from the Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Agency to be careful when dealing with property permits. She added that she had also issued a warning to the head of the Bekasi PUPR Agency himself, Jamaluddin, who is assumed to have been among the officials arrested by the KPK. I swear to God, I had no idea [about the alleged bribery], Neneng said, as quoted by tempo.co on Monday. Previously, the KPK reportedly arrested 10 people comprising officials from the Bekasi administration and private companies in relation to the issuance of property permits. KPK spokesperson Febri Diansyah said on Monday that the KPK had also seized a sum of money in Singapore dollars from the suspects. A number of workrooms at the Bekasi administration office, including the PUPR Agency's, had also been sealed, he added. The suspects were taken to the KPK headquarters for questioning (rfa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ramadani Saputra (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15 2018 Well deserved: President Joko Jokowi Widodo greets members of Team Indonesia, comprising athletes who competed in the 2018 Asian Para Games, after distributing bonuses at the Bogor Palace in West Java on Saturday. Athletes were awarded Rp 1.5 billion (US$98,651) for each gold medal won, Rp 500 million for each silver medal won and Rp 250 million for each bronze medal won.(Warta Kota/Alex Suban) The 2018 Asian Para Games officially ended on Saturday night with a sweet memory for the Indonesian contingent, who finished fifth in the medals tally by collecting 37 gold medals, 47 silvers and 51 bronzes. The success was a surprise for many as the country had set a modest target of finishing eighth with 16 gold medals at the most. This years Asian Para Games results were Indonesias best so far. In the first Games held in Guangzhou, China, in 2010, the countrys athletes brought home only one gold medal. Four years later in Incheon, South Korea, they made a significant improvement by taking home nine golds. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 15:51 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777c3919 1 City bantar-gebang-waste-treatment,jakarta,Bekasi,finance,contribution,waste,garbage-trucks Free The Bekasi administration has threatened to block the route of Jakarta dump trucks to Bantar Gebang waste treatment facility if its Jakarta counterpart fails to pay financial compensation for having the dumpsite in the West Java city. We might close [access to] West Bekasi so that [the Jakarta dump trucks] will have to go through Cibubur, Bekasi Deputy Mayor Tri Adhianto said as quoted by kompas.com on Sunday,. The financial contribution, Tri added, would be used to build the Rawa Panjang and Cipendawa flyover that would help ease Jakarta dump trucks commute to Bantar Gebang. The flyover is predicted to cost up to Rp 1 trillion (US$65.7 million) for land clearance and construction. Once construction is complete, the dump trucks will be able to go straight to Bantar Gebang, without making any stops in Bekasi, Tri said. He called on the Jakarta administration to support the project, saying that the agreement over the grant had been approved by then-Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. The Jakarta administration owes Bantar Gebang residents. But there are many other things needed to be solved, such as transportation along with the flyover construction, Tri said. We aim to start the project in 2020. This is for both cities best interest. (vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15 2018 West Jakarta Mayor Rustam Effendi has said around 100 plots of land in the municipality have been identified and proposed to Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan to be transformed into open green spaces, including parks. I have listed around 100 plots [of land] and proposed them to the governor. Hopefully, the relevant agencies in the administration can create open spaces in West Jakarta, he said on Sunday as quoted by kompas.com. The vacant plots, Rustam said, were of various sizes. There was also land that was supposed to be used for public facilities, but the plans had been abandoned. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 11:24 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777bbfc0 1 National IndonesiaLeaks,corruption-case,KPK,corruption-eradication-commission,National-Police,Tito-Karnavian,AJI,Patrialis-Akbar Free Members, initiators and partners of IndonesiaLeaks, an independent whistle-blower platform that recently published a report on the alleged involvement of a top police officer in a bribery case, have urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to be resolute in holding those allegedly responsible for the case accountable. The Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers), civil society group Auriga Nusantara and the Alliance of Independence Journalists (AJI) among the parties behind IndonesiaLeaks asked the KPK to not be afraid of any possible police intimidation. LBH Pers said the KPK had appeared to move backwards when it denied that CCTV footage allegedly showing two police officers who were assigned as KPK investigators at the time ripping out several pages of a book detailing transactions between a meat importer and National Police chief Tito Karnavian was incriminating. IndonesiaLeaks cited in its report that the CCTV footage in question, filmed in April 2017, allegedly showed that the two former KPK investigators were Adj. Sr. Comr. Roland Ronaly and Comr. Harun. KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo previously admitted to IndonesiaLeaks that they had seen the CCTV footage, and handed over the officers to the police after a [KPK internal investigation] found that they were guilty, LBH Pers executive director Nawawi Bahrudin said. Nawawi was referring to Agus statement made during an interview with IndonesiaLeaks members two months ago. But soon after IndonesiaLeaks published its report, Agus told the media that the accusation of the book being destroyed was not seen in the footage. KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah has said the KPKs internal investigation was stopped when Roland and Harun returned to the police in late 2017, after a request from the National Police. We want the KPK chairman to be consistent both in his statement and actions on the alleged cases related to tampering with the investigation, Nawawi said. Meanwhile, the AJI suspected that the KPK might be afraid of dealing with the police given its checkered history when investigating police officers. The National Police are known to have tried to weaken the KPK several times, including when the police besieged the KPKs office in 2012 in an attempt to arrest KPK lead investigator Novel Baswedan, after the KPK declared police general Djoko Susilo a graft suspect. During our [seven-month] investigation, IndonesiaLeaks members often received threats, but we are not afraid. As long as it is in the public interest, we will continue the investigation, AJI chairman Abdul Manan said, calling on the KPK to follow its lead. Mardiyah Chamim, the executive director of Tempo Institute, which participated in the IndonesiaLeaks investigation, confirmed that investigators had been intimidated. Our teams were followed and asked about the motives behind the investigation [in an intimidating manner], Mardiyah said, refusing to detail the alleged incidents. The IndonesiaLeaks report also cited that the book was among the pieces of evidence confiscated in the bribery case involving meat importer Basuki Hariman and former Constitutional Court justice Patrialis Akbar, both of whom were sentenced in September 2017. From a KPK report in March last year, IndonesiaLeaks found that a witness, Kumala Dewi Sumartono, Basukis finance staffer at CV Sumber Laut Perkasa, told investigators that some of the money recorded in the financial records book was wired to Tito between January and July 2016. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 14:02 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777bf0e2 1 World #immigrants,#EastNusaTenggara,#Australia,NTT,plan,relocation,Immigrants,island,Australia Free The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration is mulling over a plan to relocate hundreds of illegal immigrants living in the capital city of Kupang, on Timor Island, to Ndana Island in Rote Ndao regency, which is adjacent to Australia. NTT Deputy Governor Joseph Nae Soi said on Monday that the administration was discussing the issue with private parties and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The administration expressed concern that the presence of the 430 immigrants could trigger social conflict. Joseph explained that the majority of immigrants, who hailed from countries in conflict such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, ate healthy and high-priced foods, and in their spare time, went to the gym or shopped in the citys malls. Locals, meanwhile, can only watch the immigrants [living such luxurious lifestyles]. We are afraid this may lead to social conflict, Joseph said. Some of the locals might think of becoming immigrants because their cost of living will be borne by the United Nations, he added, as quoted by Antara. Therefore, the administration would look for investors willing to build temporary shelters for the immigrants on Ndana Island, a 13-square-kilometer island under the supervision of the Indonesian Military (TNI). Some of the immigrants are living in hotels across Kupang because the citys immigrant detention center is full. (vny) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 18:20 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777c7cb9 1 City shooting,stray-bullet,Lawmakers,office,DPR,Gerindra-Party,Golkar Free A stray bullet reportedly struck lawmaker Wenny Warouws office located in the House of Representatives complex's Nusantara I building, Central Jakarta, on Monday. His office is located on the 16th floor of the building. "The incident took place at around 2.35 p.m.," the Gerindra Party politician said. Wenny had been inside his office with reverend Roring and police officer Adj. Sr. Comr. Ronald when the bullet went through the window, traveling only 10 centimeters above Rorings head, according to the lawmaker. A similar incident occurred at lawmaker Bambang Heri Purnama's office. The Golkar Party politician's office is located on 13th floor of the same building. Tanah Abang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Lukman Cahyono said his officers were investigating both scenes. (vla/nfr) By Zhao Xiaozhuo and Wang Yu The China-India military relationship, often referred to as the "wind vane" of China-India relations, is the most sensitive part of the two countries' bilateral ties. Border disputes such as "tent confrontation" and "Donglang event" have all plagued the development of bilateral relations. Since this year, the relationship between the two militaries has improved markedly with the rapid recovery of China-India relations. If the dragon and the elephant dance together, the two sides benefit. On April 27th and 28th, Chinese President Xi Jinping held an informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi in the central Chinas city of Wuhan. In early June, Modi visited China again and attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2018 in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province. The leaders of the two countries have conducted strategic exchanges on the major changes in the world today, and have exchanged in-depth views on the overall, long-term and strategic issues concerning the future development of China-India relations, which have played a strategic leading role in the development of relations between the two countries and their militaries. Friendly relations and win-win cooperation have become the mainstream of the relations between the two countries and their militaries. From August 21st to 24th, Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe paid an official goodwill visit to India. During the visit, the important consensus reached by Chinese President Xi and Indian Prime Minister Modi were implemented. Both sides have deepened exchanges and cooperation in their military security fields, enhanced mutual strategic trust between the two militaries, marking the shadow of "Donglang event" cast over China-India military relations being discarded, and "mutual understanding" having become the basis for their military relations. China and India are connected by common mountains and rivers, and the friendly exchanges between the two countries can date back to ancient times. The two oriental ancient civilizations have created amazingly glorious histories. India was one of the first countries to recognize the new China and to propose restoring China's legitimate seat in the United Nations (UN). China, India and Myanmar jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and achieved a pioneering work in the history of international relations. At present, both China and India are at an important node of development: the socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and India has also set a goal of creating a "New India". China and India face similar tasks and have the common aspiration to strengthen bilateral cooperation. It is of great significance for the two countries and their militaries to strengthen strategic communication and build closer partnerships. The foundation for a stable and sustainable development of China-India relations lies in mutual trust. The two countries should adhere to a positive, open and inclusive attitude, stick to the basic judgments of being each other's development opportunities but not threats, and promptly negotiate on major issues of mutual concern. The two militaries have established an exchange visit mechanism for defense ministers, set up a hotline between the defense ministries for direct connection, strengthened communication between the defense departments and various levels of both militaries, and signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on exchanges and cooperation in China-India defense affairs according to the development of the situation, all of which are favorable measures to further deepening mutual trust. To promote the development of China-India military relations under the new situation, it is necessary to follow the historical trend and take a long-term perspective, rather than only focus on differences but neglect cooperation, or even disturb the development process of the two countries and the overall situation of bilateral relations. The two militaries should further give full play to the role of the defense and security consultation mechanism and the meeting mechanism of the Ministry of National Defense Working Group, deepen the professional exchanges of the military services, continue to carry out joint training such as the "Hand in Hand" joint anti-terrorism training between the Chinese and Indian armies, strengthen exchanges and cooperation between ships, increase exchanges of young military officers, promote university, academic and public affairs exchanges, expand new areas of cooperation, and strengthen cooperation in multilateral frameworks such as the SCO. Only by continuously deepening pragmatic cooperation in various fields can both sides deepen friendship and enhance strategic mutual trust, thus laying a solid foundation for the healthy and sustained development of the two countries' military relations. Due to differences in history, culture, and society, China-India relations will inevitably encounter some waves. The biggest problem is the pending border issue between the two countries. However, with the joint efforts of the two countries and their militaries, the two sides successively signed the Agreement on the Maintenance Peace and Tranquility along the of Line of Actual Control in the China-India Border Areas, the Agreement on Confidence-Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the China-India Border Areas and the Border Defense Cooperation Agreement, insisting on controlling differences through dialogue and properly handling border issues. Looking forward to the future, the two sides should promote the establishment of a regular border meeting mechanism for the generals, open the border defense hotline of the adjacent military regions, carry out personnel exchanges between the adjacent theater commands and the corresponding services at all levels, strengthen exchanges between the front-line units, carry out exchange and training for border guards in the other's colleges and universities, and resolutely put an end to similar incidents as "Donglang event". History shows that as long as China and India adhere to the principle of treating each other with sincerity, mutual respect and taking care of each other's concerns, strive to develop their cooperative willingness into a policy level, extend the consensus of both sides to an action level, and pass the upper-level decision to the front-line forces, as well as properly control their differences, the two militaries can promote the win-win cooperation, making their military relations serving as a positive factor for their stable bilateral ties. Disclaimer: The authors are Zhao Xiaozhuo and Wang Yu respectively from the War Studies College of the Chinese PLA Academy of Military Sciences, and the Joint Service Academy of the Chinese PLA National Defense University. The article was published on the PLA Daily on Oct. 15. It is translated from Chinese into English and edited by China Military online. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, October 15, 2018 14:31 1128 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308777bfac3 1 News Garuda,Belitung,Tanjung-Pandan Free National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has strengthened its regional network by introducing a new direct route from Singapore to Tanjung Pandan on Belitung Island, according to a release received by The Jakarta Post. Set to begin on Oct. 29, the flight will be available four days a week, using the Bombardier CRJ-1000 with 96 economy class seats. Garuda Indonesia commercial director Pikri Ilham Kurniansyah said the new service is aligned with the airlines commitment to help develop tourism in Indonesia. Moreover, the new route is to support Indonesias 10 priority destinations aside from Bali, which includes Tanjung Kelayang on Belitung Island. The direct flight is part of the companys strategy to expand its international network, as well as an effort to strengthen connectivity in Southeast Asia, Pikri was quoted as saying. He went on to say that Singapore is one of the busiest international hubs and also close to Indonesia. With a less-than-an-hour direct flight from Singapore, Belitung is a perfect short getaway destination, said Pikri. Read also: Facts about Garuda Indonesia's eco basic tickets He is also confident that the new route would improve the growth of trade and business in Tanjung Pandan and its surroundings, especially since it is a special economic zone and one of the 10 priority destinations. Tanjung Pandan is said to have beautiful beaches and being developed to be the "next Bali". Garudas Singapore-Tanjung Pandan route will depart from Singapores Changi Airport at 5:20 p.m. local time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A Sunday flight from Changi is also available, which departs at 5:30 a.m. Arrival time at Hanandjoeddin International Airport in Tanjung Pandan is 5:50 p.m. for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 6 p.m. for Sunday. Meanwhile, all flights from Tanjung Pandan to Singapore depart at 2:50 p.m. and arrive at 4:20 p.m. local time. Garuda Indonesia now serves 84 flights every week to and from Singapore to Indonesian cities. Singapore-Jakarta flights are available nine times every day, the Singapore-Surabaya route has one flight daily and Singapore-Denpasar has two flights daily. (mut) Here at TNS, we decided to celebrate the advent of spooky season with some book recommendations, so that no matter your tastes, you'll have a good book to curl up with this Halloween. Image courtesy of Pxhere Deborah Harkness' book has recently been made into a smash television series, so if you are in the witchy mood and want to catch up before watching the show, then A Discovery of Witches might be a good shout for this Halloween. It follows Diana, a scholar at Oxford's Bodleian Library, as she unwittingly brings the supernatural into the real world after reading a bewitched manuscript.Jack The Ripper tours have become somewhat of a staple in London, and the spooky season is the perfect time to delve into serial killer inspired stories. If you are a lover of that kind of story, Stalking Jack The Ripper, which follows an upper class woman who ends up embroiled in the investigation of the Ripper murders, might be perfect for you.Stephen King is one of the best known names in the horror genre, so if you're wanting a horror classic this Halloween then you can't go far wrong with It. It's quite the commitment, being over 1000 pages long, but if you love creepy clowns then the effort is worth it.If you're wanting something super quick and ghostly this Halloween, then Victoria Schwab's book about the adventures of a young girl who can see ghosts in haunted Edinburgh might be perfect for you.Granted, there are more famous vampire books that you could try, like Dracula or Interview With The Vampire or even Twilight, but if you're wanting to discover something a bit different this Halloween, then Holly Black's book about a girl trapped in a monstrous city filled with paranormal creatures - turned social media celebs - would be perfect for you.Most people are probably at least a little familiar with the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, but the Phantom of the Opera was originally a book. So if you're wanting something spooky, but with a vein of romance, then Christine and the Phantom's story would be perfect for you this Halloween.Coraline is a novella following the main character Coraline as she moves into a new house, discovers a door which she is told not to go through (so of course does) and discovers a dark 'other' world behind it.The Skulduggery Pleasant series follows a magical skeleton detective, and features a myraid of different monsters and supernatural creatures. It gets a lot darker as the books go on, but the first book is very horror-lite and filled with humour, so if you prefer something a little more uplifting but still with a Halloween feel, this book is perfect for that.Alex Bell's creepy story about Victorian frozen Charlotte dolls haunting an old school house is perfect for if you're wanting a read with the spook factor (those dolls get seriously scary!) and also with a lot of atmosphere, as it takes place on the Scottish Isle of Skye.If you're looking for something crime related to enjoy this Halloween, you can't go far wrong with Dark Places. The central plot point of the book is that Libby (the main character) is looking into the massacre of her family at their Kansas home - it is set in an eerie small town in Kansas and satanic rituals are heavily involved in later parts of the book, so definitely ideal for Halloween. Got any spooky recommendations of your own? Tweet them to us, @NationalStudent Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: Home Page Mr. President, please help me understand what it means to be a human rights lawyer. Since law school, during which I interned at the UN Khmer Rouge Tribunal, I wanted to be a human rights lawyer. I became interested in North Korea because it is one of the few places in the world where people's rights are so severely trampled on that the international community has called out its leadership for the worst kinds of human rights violations, namely crimes against humanity. What I saw in Cambodia as a law student shocked and appalled me. To work in the defense support section forced me to look into the grey area of what it truly means to respect basic rights for all, even former leaders of the Khmer Rouge. To step on human remains in the Killing Fields of people murdered by the Khmer Rouge was a devastating experience. To see the little boys' and girls' faces in photos staring back at me, taken at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, still breaks my heart. Yet we know that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his totalitarian regime are committing similar crimes. I now work for a U.S. nonprofit organization that conducts research and raises awareness of North Korea's human rights situation. In 2014, the UN Commission of Inquiry determined that atrocities are happening in these camps and that men, women and children are tortured there. Today, we can actually see these innocents on commercial satellite imagery. Did you know that just last year we spotted over 20 labor camps in North Korea? Only a year ago, I was comforted to learn that you yourself are a former human rights lawyer. But as I sit in Seoul today, I wonder if you still believe that all Koreans, and indeed all human beings, deserve the same basic rights. Certainly, the residents of Pyongyang you addressed last month enjoy many more privileges than those outside of the city. We know that North Korea's discriminatory class system ensures the unequal treatment of millions. You said at the UN General Assembly that "ending the Korean War" is an "urgent task." Is it not also urgent to stop ongoing atrocities committed against fellow Koreans, the ones who suffer and who you did not visit? Your leadership is needed to stand up for your fellow Koreans in the North, the downtrodden, the poor, the voiceless victims, just as you did for your clients at home. As a human rights lawyer, how can you reconcile the ideals of universal human rights and dignity for everyone with the current priorities of your government, which has stated that human rights should take a back seat in diplomacy with North Korea? This approach has been unsuccessful for decades, but my greater fear is that this will normalize atrocities and ignore victims who need our help. Will your peace really be a true peace if Kim still operates gulags, silences political opinion, and crushes human rights in the name of economic reform? Of course, I am foreign in Korea, something I am reminded of as I walk by anti-U.S. protesters in downtown Seoul. Yet we are both human rights lawyers. Do we stand for the same things -- accountability, redress for victims, and an end to ongoing egregious rights violations? Or do we now advocate only railways and roads and economic benefits for a ruling class? I would like to explain to my half-Korean twins their heritage and life in South Korea when they were babies. I would like to tell them all that I know and love about Koreans. I would like to say to them that even though we all want peace and a safer world, we have to find a way to uphold universal values and face up to atrocities if true peace is to prevail. That is my position. Please help me understand yours. What You Need to Know About Early Voting in Moore County The Times report said that nothing in the documents reviewed "suggests Mr. Kushner or his company broke the law." The documents were created with Kushner's cooperation as part of a review of his finances by an institution that was considering lending him money, the Times reported. The Times said that Kushner's tax bills reflected the use of a tax benefit known as depreciation that lets real estate investors deduct part of the cost of their properties from their taxable income. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, likely paid little or no federal income taxes between 2009 and 2016, The New York Times reported Saturday, citing confidential financial documents. Paid All Taxes Due Under Law Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Kushner's lawyer Abbe Lowell, told Reuters Saturday that he would not respond to the newspaper's assumptions, which he said were "taken from incomplete documents obtained in violation of the law and standard business confidentiality agreements." He added, "Always following the advice of numerous attorneys and accountants, Mr. Kushner properly filed and paid all taxes due under the law and regulations." The records reviewed by the New York Times did not expressly state how much Kushner paid in taxes, but included estimates for how much he owed called "income taxes payable" and how much Kushner paid in expectation of forecasted taxes known as "prepaid taxes." The paper said that for most of the years covered, both were listed as zero, but in 2013 Kushner reported income taxes payable of $1.1 million. Kushner Cos, the family company for which Kushner previously served as chief executive, has been profitable in recent years, the Times said, citing the analysis. Kushner sold his interests in the company to a family trust last year. The White House and Kushner Cos did not immediately comment Saturday. Trump Tax Break The newspaper noted that the 2017 tax rewrite signed by Trump includes provisions that benefit real estate investors. Mirijanian said that on tax reform efforts, Kushner "followed his approved ethics agreement and has avoided work that would pose any conflict of interest." In December, a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote to Kushner, asking whether in his talks with foreign officials he had ever discussed financing for a deeply indebted property in midtown Manhattan, citing concern he was using his position for financial gain. Kushner Cos said previously it had more than $2.5 billion in transactions 2017 and has 12 million square feet under development in New York and New Jersey. Documents released by the White House in June showed Kushner held assets worth at least $181 million, the Associated Press reported. The disclosures also show that Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, received at least $82 million in outside income in 2017. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. China's ambassador to the U.S. says many accusations the Trump administration has made against Beijing are "groundless," including election interference. "One of the fundamental principles in China's foreign policy is non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries," Ambassador Cui Tiankai told Fox television Sunday. "We have been consistent in this position. We have a very good track record." Without presenting any tangible evidence of Chinese election interference, the White House has accused China of trying to turn voters away from the Republicans in next month's election. It also calls the China Daily insert in many U.S. newspapers propaganda. Cui called the newspaper section a page out of the U.S. media playbook -- buying commercial pages in newspapers to make one's views known. He also denied the U.S. and China are involved in a trade war, despite the tit-for-tat exchanges of huge tariffs on each other exports. NHLANGANO The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act of 2018, was designed to address issues of abuse and violence against women but seemingly, in some cases it is being abused. A case in point is that of a 27-year-old man who spent two weeks at a Correctional facility, after his lovers parents initiated a rape case against him. Interestingly, the parents, who reported the matter at the Hluti Police Station, presented a scenario which was contrary to the position held by the 18-year-old girl who was alleged to have been sexually assaulted by the man. The 18-year-old teenager maintained that she had consented to sexual intercourse with the man, and further revealed she was intimately involved with him. According to the law, a crime only takes place when the woman doesnt consent to the act and it further recognises consent by anyone from age 18 and above. Nonetheless, a rape charge was pressed against the man, leading to his short stint at the Nhlangano Correctional facility. The 27-year-old man had already spent two weeks at the facility when the prosecution changed its position and withdrew the charge last Saturday. The man heaved a sigh of relief when Nhlangano Principal Magistrate Florence Msibi informed him that the charge had been withdrawn by the Crown. You should go back to the Correctional facility, where they will release you today, declared the judicial officer, much to the excitement of the suspect. Meanwhile, the same court is expected to make a pronouncement on the case where a woman reported her own husband for alleged rape. Arrest The textile worker had initially alleged that her husband of three years had forcefully had sexual intercourse with her during the wee hours of Tuesday, leading to the mans subsequent arrest. However, something emerged during the course of the trial. The woman admitted during cross-examination by her husband that they had kissed before proceeding to have intercourse, and that the man only threatened her with violence during an argument which erupted after the act. According to information availed in court, the altercation ensued after the man had asked the woman why she had begun to act differently when they got intimate of late. MONENI While some Moneni residents have sleepless nights following a court order which allows the demolitions of their homesteads, Pitoli Shabangu says they should not panic. Moneni comprises of three farms which cover approximately 388 000 hectares. Over 100 homesteads will be reduced to rubble when Tisuka TakaNgwane effects a court order to demolish illegally constructed structures in a farm it owned. The farm in question is reminder 9, which also forms part of Moneni. According to the order which was issued by High Court Judge Nkosinathi Maseko two weeks ago, all illegal homesteads that have been constructed in defiance of a 2012 ruling of the Ludzidzini Royal Council and Chief Nkamane Mkhatshwa, will be demolished. The order does not stipulate the date of the demolition. Interview In an interview, Shabangu, who is considered the chiefs runner (umgijimi) in the area, said as far as he was concerned, the order would not be effected on the residents. He said the execution of the order would mean a blessing in disguise to the residents as certain people might be compelled to compensate them after the demolitions. When they talk about the looming evictions, I foresee a blessing in disguise. Some of us might build double storey houses after the demolishing because we might be paid a lot of money, Shabangu said. The senior citizen said the demolition order would have not been issued had the people in authority not misled the courts and the King about the area. He acknowledged that Moneni was a farm which according to law, was under the administration of Tisuka TakaNgwane. MBABANE Death is a journey every person will have to take, however, accepting it is often difficult for those who remain behind. A man, believed to be an employee of Swaziland Beverages, was found dead at Shiresa Court opposite Mountain Inn yesterday afternoon. He was reportedly found to have hung himself in the veranda of the flat he shared with his wife who is said to be a doctor at the Mbabane Government Hospital. According to sources, the deceased was found hanging by one of his friends who immediately called his (deceaseds) mother. The deceased was reportedly untied by the police officers on arrival. Suspicions were to the effect that he might have hung himself last night. Reason The reason why he committed suicide could not be ascertained at the time of compiling this report; however, sources close to the matter doubted that it was work related. Shiresa Court is managed by Ncedze Properties and mostly houses government doctors and other high profile individuals. Ncedze Properties Chief Executive Officer Nhlanhla Nkonyane confirmed that he was informed about the incident. Nkonyane, at the time of the interview said he was not sure what transpired leading to the incident. He said this was the first time for such to happen at any of their properties. Nkonyane, when asked whether any rituals would be performed following the demise of one of their tenants within the property, responded to the negative. He said they would have to consult with the property owners as their company only managed them. When this reporter went to the scene, a police van from the Scenes of Crime Department was found parked within the Shiresa Court premises. A female police officer was found recording a statement from one of the deceaseds friends who smoked during the whole encounter. The male friend narrated in detail what he saw when he went to check on his friend. There were also others believed to be the deceaseds friends who stood at a distance while relatives went into the house. They stood silently and seldom moved about while gazing from side to side as though they were in a state of confusion. Meanwhile, those who were in the flat were seen moving in and out as women cried hysterically. Attempts to get comments from family members and friends were unsuccessful as they said it was too early to comment. They said they had just learnt of the incident and needed time to come to terms with what had happened. JABULANI A couple was burnt to death on Saturday night, in a horrendous attack that has left a tragic mark in the lives of two families. It is understood that the lovers, Siphiwe Vilakati (55) and Thulani Dlamini (60), were first hacked with a sharp object before being doused with petrol and set alight. The horrific incident, which was described by witnesses as the worst tragedy to hit the area, occurred at the womans homestead at Jabulani, in the outskirts of Nhlangano, where the couple stayed as live-in-lovers. But the Vilakatis arent the only family grieving as the incident also left the mans family heart-broken. The Dlaminis (the mans family) also have their homestead in the same area, and it is located about 800 metres away from the crime scene. Attacked The couple was allegedly attacked by a young family member while asleep in the house which they occupied in the Vilakati family compound, shortly after 11pm. A 26-year-old suspect, a nephew to the dead woman, is already in police custody in relation to the incident. He was picked up by detectives at another homestead situated not far away from the crime scene at around 8am yesterday. Even though the woman and her nephew might have quarrelled over a coat during a drinking spree at a nearby homestead, family members believe the resultant tragedy was due to a family dispute thats been going on for a while. Witnesses revealed that on Saturday, the couple was spotted in the company of the young man at a neighbouring homestead, where there was a traditional ceremony. All members of the family were reported to have been consuming alcohol at the traditional event. The weather on this particular day was not ideal for the outdoors as there was precipitation. As the day progressed, eyewitnesses said the young man felt he wasnt adequately dressed to escape the cold. He then took his aunts coat, who wasnt impressed by his behaviour. An argument ensued, which soon turned into a brawl. Community members who had also come to support the family at the traditional event reportedly intervened and separated them. The young man was also forced to hand over the coat his aunt. Witnesses said the event continued, but the family members went separate ways. It was not clear though who departed first between the couple and their nephew. Cheong Wa Dae has intentionally delayed testing of a new home-grown interceptor missile, an opposition lawmaker alleged Sunday. The L-SAM, a long-range surface-to-air missile, is slated to become a key weapon in defending South Korea against the nuclear and missile threat from North Korea. The Agency for Defense Development had planned to conduct two test-launches of the L-SAM on the west coast in April and June. But Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Baek Seung-joo quoted a military officer as saying Cheong Wa Dae "ordered the military to suspend the test in April in consideration of cross-border relations." Military authorities at first postponed the tests until June and July but then canceled them again at the orders of the presidential office, Baek added. He said the National Security Council sent a secret letter to military authorities telling them to stay the tests citing inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea summits. After two delays, military authorities have now decided to test the missile in October and November, though Cheong Wa Dae may push for another delay since cross-border talks are underway and a second U.S.-North Korea summit is expected later this year. The L-SAM is scheduled for completion by 2023 at a budget of W1.09 trillion (US$1=W1,134). Military authorities are considering testing it overseas in case the atmosphere does not permit it here, but the delays could hold up the entire project. "Delaying tests of a new defensive weapon is tantamount to giving up our military sovereignty before the nuclear and missile threats from the North have been removed," Baek said. For three weeks in the Fall Semester, TMCC welcomed four students and one instructor from Lima, Peru to participate in the TMCC-SENATI International Student Exchange Program through TMCCs Technical Sciences Division. The students all attend the SENATI Institute, an institution of higher education in Peru that provides technical training in the manufacturing industry. The SENATI Institute has several campuses across Peru and is attended by over 97,000 students. A global campus is an excellent campus, said Dr. Karin Hilgersom, TMCC President. Initiatives like the TMCC-SENATI Exchange Program helps our campus become part of a global community. Dr. Hilgersom, along with Estella Gutierrez, Vice President of Student Services and Diversity, and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, traveled to South America on a trade mission to study different technical training institutes and the curriculum that they offered. While traveling, they met with staff at the SENATI Institute in Peru and developed the partnership that enabled the exchange program to be created. Gutierrez believes these kinds of international partnerships will be imperative for the future success of students. As technological developments progress, it will be more important than ever for students to connect globally. This program is going to open the doors to many different possibilities, Gutierrez said. As part of the exchange program, TMCC students and faculty will travel to the SENATI Institute next year to learn about their automotive and manufacturing programs. The exchange program will be a mutual benefit for SENATI Institute students to use some of TMCCs new robotics and advanced equipment, and in turn for TMCC students to train with instructors in manufacturing and automotive disciplines in Peru. Dr. Kyle Dalpe, Dean of Technical Sciences at TMCC, has been with the SENATI exchange students as they go through their three weeks of training and has seen their level of experience and what they are learning at TMCC. Our aim was to get them into the classroom, provide formal instruction, learn related skills and then take them out to the workplace and show them how that applies through industry tours, Dalpe said. The students are learning a variety of subjects within the Applied Technologies Department, with a special focus on Advanced Manufacturing. The series of trainings include welding, automotive, construction and design, manufacturing, and machining. They learned how to use a forklift, flew a drone and worked in the robotics lab. They have also been touring companies in Reno like Tesla, Inc., Walmart and IGT. The TMCC-SENATI International Student Exchange Program is funded by the Innovation Fund grant, a partnership with the U.S. Department of State, Embassy of Peru, Partners of the Americas, and NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The Innovation Fund grants created 13 new higher education partnerships between universities and colleges in the United States and institutions in Peru. TMCC is the only two-year institution selected for the grant program, and is the only college from the State of Nevada. Grants were funded by the U.S. Department of State, SEMPRA Energy and CAF: the Development Bank of Latin America. The SENATI students in the program include Miguel Angel Campos Carhuamaca, Miluska Jazmin Miranda Leon, Vanessa Denis Leon Tacuchi and Luis Manuel Eugenio Ramos Rumin, and the instructor is Carlos Walter Otiniano Noe. The students primarily speak Spanish, so they have a translator with them while they are learning in their classes and touring different companies. One of the students, Ramos, speaks English fluently and talked about how excited he is to be learning applied technologies in America. We dont have too many opportunities to do these kinds of things in my regular classes, Ramos said, talking about using the robotics lab at TMCC. There are always new things to learn. Ramos explained that their labs at SENATI include different robotics than the ones they are using at TMCC, and that the class structure was different than what he was used to. He enjoys that hes being challenged at TMCC to learn a different side of technical training that he hasnt seen in his classes at the SENATI Institute. The SENATI students will earn certificates of completion at the end of their three-week training, and will be able to go back home to Peru with new knowledge and technical skills gained from their time at TMCC. For more information about the TMCC-SENATI International Student Exchange Program, please contact Student Services and Diversity at 775-337-5647. You have reached a premium content area of TOL. To read this entire article please login if you are already a TOL subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). InvestGR is a forum for constructive dialogue between C-suite executives of foreign firms operating in Greece and key representatives from the the political, institutional and academic spheres The success of the inaugural InvestGR forum held in early July set the stage for a new institution in Greek public discourse between political leaders, business representatives and academics, and the second is scheduled to be held on June 11, 2019. InvestGR is a forum for constructive dialogue between C-suite executives of foreign firms operating in Greece and key representatives from the the political, institutional and academic spheres. Its organizers note the second InvestGR forum has already drawn keen interest from major overseas-based multinationals, in particular in the energy, tourism and digital economy and innovation sectors, as well as from political leaders and top policy makers who are expected to take part. InvestGR provides policy makers with valuable information and insight in the form of the annual survey of top foreign executives in Greece, which can be used to help draft and implement economic strategy. Next years forum takes place under the auspices of the Representation of the European Commission in Greece, the Economy and Development Ministry, and the Athens University of Economics and Business. Read more at ekathimerini.com RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Greece has the potential to be among the foremost destinations for spa tourism, which will be the world's second largest industry after medical care by 2025, Marousi mayor, doctor and head of the Athens Medical Association George Patoulis noted at the 4th Congress of Medical Medicine held in Kamena Vourla, on October 12-14. "Thermal tourism is the niche market and privileged particularity of our country that upgrades the Greek cities and regions to Health and Wellness destinations unique to the world travelers. Greece is rushing to meet the chance of the Health and Wellness Travelers boom expected in the near future, who rediscover in Greece the first Medical Tourism destination of antiquity", the President of Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE), President of Athens Medical Association (ISA), and President of the National Council of Health Tourism ELITOUR, George Patoulis stated in his speech. Addressing the specialized audience of Greek and international holistic and medical scientists at the at the 4th Panhellenic Congress of Thermal Medicine in Kamena Vourla, Mr.Patoulis stressed that in 2025 Health Tourism is estimated to become worldwide the 2nd largest industry after health and pharmaceutical industry, and presented the unique comparative advantages Greece has, over most of the international Health Travel destinations, for the development of spa and medi-spa tourism. G.Patoulis called the official state to collaborate closely with Greeces local and regional government for the exploitation of the 750 natural mineral Thermal springs that are found in Greece . The 4th Panhellenic Congress of Thermal Medicine titled "Updating of Thermal Medicine in the Light of the Holistic Approach" is co-organized by the Hellenic Academy of Thermal Medicine and the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece, under the chairmanship of the Professor of Dermatology and President of the Hellenic Academy of Thermal Medicine Konstantinos Kouskoukis, and has been held by the participation of prominent Greek and foreign scientists of Holistic Medicine, representatives of foreign embassies, representatives of Greeces local government, and also politicians and representatives of the Tourism and investment sector of Greece.. The President of the Hellenic Academy of Medical Medicine, Konstantinos Kouskoukis, presenting the newest findings of Complementary and Thermal Medicine, stressed that the updating of Thermal Medicine is critical for Greece, firstly due to the demand shown by international travelers and patients on complementary therapies, secondly due to the inclusion of Thalassotherapy Units and Centers of Thalassotherapy in Primary Health Care, as well as the application of the provisions on patient mobility for holistic and thermal therapies in the European Union countries " President of KEDE Giorgos Patoulis especially congratulated for his Action Plan on the exploitation of the Thermal Springs of Kamena Vourla , the Mayor of Kamena Vourla- Molos- Ag. Konstantinos, Ioannis Sykiotis, who, "made a breakthrough on Municipal Development in the field of Thermalism, and succeeded in highlighting the healing wealth of his region to Greek and international travelers, starting by the renaming of the Municipality of Molos- Agios Konstantinos, to Municipality of Kamena Vourla- Molos Konstantinos so as to re- launch a Thermal Tourism brand name to the area " "We are aiming to establish Greece as one of Europe's largest Thermal centers, but still, the 696 of the country's 750 Thermal Springs remain untapped. We call on the Local Government to insist in our effort to transform all health tourism areas of our country, the Blue Zones, and the Greek Regions into a chain of certified points of Thermal Tourism that will attract the Traveler to repeat his visits to Greece for his health and rejuvenation. We promise to do our best for Attica Region to become the cradle of Health Tourism of the 3rd millennium", concluded President of KEDE George Patoulis, who is running for Regional Attica governor next May. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, a top Sharia-compliant bank in the Kingdom, has launched a special rewards offer on its range of Visa Credit Cards from October 15 until December 14. Visa credit cardholders can now take advantage of this special rewards on every BD 1 ($2.65) transaction made abroad by using Al Salam Banks Visa credit cards including transactions made at point of sales (POS) and online will automatically rewards the cardholder to earn six times the miles. Mohammed Buhijji, head of Retail Banking at Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, said: As part of customers positive feedback from the successful credit card promotions which were previously rolled out during the year, we believe it brings us closer to our loyal customers by offering a more value added rewards that is in line with our continuous commitment to help them enjoy their lifestyle and travel aspirations as well as experience benefits that are tailored to fit their financial needs. Visa Cardholders will earn 6 times the miles than the usual so the more they spend abroad the more miles they will be rewarded when using any of Al Salam Bank credit card suites that include Gold, Platinum contactless, Signature contactless and Infinite credit cards, he added. Customers may redeem their earned miles directly towards Gulf Airs Falconflyer loyalty programme for a number of benefits including free flights, flight upgrades, lounge access and excess baggage as well as membership upgrades and much more, a bank statement said. Al Salam Bank-Bahrain B.S.C is licensed and regulated as an Islamic Retail Bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain. TradeArabia News Service Omani authorities said more than 75 per cent of the work on the Adam-Haima road development had been completed and the project was on track for completion by the end of 2019, said a report. This project along with the Mahout-Duqm road is one of the priorities for the Ministry of Transport and Communications and there is co-ordination with the Special Economic Zone Authority in Duqm (SEZAD) to complete this important road, reported Times of Oman, citing senior officials. As for the part related to Haima-Thumrait Road, designs and studies related to the road have been completed and will be submitted to the competent parties, they stated during a major meeting held in the presence of Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications. At the meeting, Dr Al Futaisi reviewed the ministry's other major projects in the field of transport, communications and maritime affairs, said the report. He also discussed proposals for the development of road sector, port services, telecommunications and promotion of flights from Muscat International Airport to Duqm Airport, it added. Top leaders from businesses and governments will network, debate and solve road transport and trade challenges at the International Road Transport Union (IRU) World Congress to be held next month, in Oman. The event is being held under the patronage of Sayyid Asaad bin Tariq Al Said, Omans Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs and Personal Representative of HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said. Organised by the IRU and hosted by ASYAD in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the congress will take place from November 6 to 8, at the Oman Exhibition and Convention Centre, in Muscat. Nabil Salim Al Bimani, a member of the IRU World Congress Steering Committee, said: With the rapid evolvement of the road transport industry, due to changing markets and disrupting technologies, it is imperative that we bring together the private and public sector to address the challenges and identify the opportunities. As an umbrella organisation with the most comprehensive end-to-end logistics solutions in the Middle East, we aim to be part of shaping the future of road transport, which will position the sultanate as a globally recognised logistics hub, attracting businesses and investors, he said The congress is the right platform to showcase what ASYAD and the country can offer the global community, he added. Centred on real issues and real potential solutions, over 60 industry leaders including Ministers and CEOs have confirmed to speak including Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, non-executive chairman at Goldman Sachs and former president of the European Commission; Yuwei Li, director of Sustainable Transport Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); and Nick Earle, IT and transport expert and disruptor. Also speaking are Andre Borschberg, co-founder, CEO and Pilot of Solar Impulse; Ahmed Al Bulushi, CEO of Mwasalat; Abdul Malik Al Balushi, CEO at Oman Post Company as well as Emerging Markets Editor and Anchor for CNN Business News John Defterios. MANs CEO Joachim Drees, Managing Director at Knowles Transport, Alex Knowles, and Customs and Borders Leader at IBM Norbert Kouwenhoven will also speak in different sessions throughout the event. With such a strong list of speakers, the congress offers a unique platform for top-level networking with global leaders, transport companies, regulators as well as the industrys major suppliers and users. Boris Blanche, managing director, IRU, said: This years theme Innovation on the move is an international concept, involving key players, working together across the globe. As the road transport industry becomes increasingly more digital, connected and automated, we realise we are at a crossroads. Which is why we are bringing the road transport industry together in Muscat, with business, government, and thought leaders, to debate the big challenges as well as the big opportunities. Together, with our list of distinguished speakers, we will address the most pressing issues, and give participants the tools to build their business strategy to develop those opportunities, Blanche said. The comprehensive programme includes more than 20 interactive sessions along with closed ministerial and CEO dialogues focusing on innovation, autonomous road transport, road transport, mobility, and trade. A number of roundtable sessions with high performing professionals will also be held addressing Next Generation Platforms, Autonomous Road Transport and Designing Your Future Workforce. Running simultaneously is an exhibition, the innovation alley, and start-up competition. Innovation Alley will showcase the most innovative companies, entrepreneurs and start-ups in mobility, providing participants with a look into the future of the transport industry. Road Ventures, a sponsor of Innovation Alley, will also organise a competition between the top early-stage start-ups. Situated at the centre of some of the most dynamic transport and trade corridors in the world, Oman is working on becoming one of the leading logistics players in the coming years. With developments in transportation, trade, and logistics, the country is the ideal host for the 2018 IRU World Congress. The event is being made possible by the following sponsors: Platinum: Bachwan Logistics LLC and Mwasalat. Diamond: TransFollow, First Vehicles and Oman Aviation. Gold: Saud Bahwan Group and Khimji Ramdas. Silver: Mercedes Benz, American Trucking Associations, Oman Oil, Al Fairuz, Pocrocctpax, Octal and Riyada. TradeArabia News Service The regions leading experts in dermatology, plastic surgery, laser & aesthetics will discuss the latest advances and trending topics in the field at the first Bahrain Dermatology, Laser and Aesthetics conference and exhibition (BDLA 2018). BDA Center for medical training is organizing the conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Bahrain - Conference Center on November 29 for 2 days. The participants should benefit by staying ahead of the curve and up-to-date on the new and advancing health technologies. The ultimate aim of the organizers is to highlight ways to engage patients and gain improvement in health-related outcomes. The conference includes five workshops that are unique and adapted to fit the local and regional regulatory frameworks. The workshops offer new insight into techniques in major & minimally invasive plastic surgeries, skin care and skin rejuvenation, as well as the treatment of burns, ulcers, the latest trends in injectables such as fillers & Botox, body countering devices and laser machines. President of the conference, Dr Nidhal Abdulrahman Khalifa, stated that the event aims to identify the latest international practices in the field of Dermatology and Plastic surgery. We aim to promote these practices to enhance the Bahraini practice. We hope to advance the skills of Bahraini doctors, technicians and authorized practitioners. We also intend to spread awareness of non-qualified personnel that perform cosmetic medical procedures, and the harmful health complications and adverse sequelae that can arise, Dr Khalifa said. Dr Khalifa also highlighted that the conference will host several open panel with regulators, key stakeholders and the public to discuss the regulatory framework and ways to promote growth in the sector. The conference is also hosting roundtable discussions with key personnel to reach key recommendations to shape the future of the Dermatology, laser and aesthetics field in Bahrain. Deputy chairman of the conference, Dr Ahmed Darwish Shahda, said that the conference provides a unique opportunity to network for Bahraini doctors with their GCC & international colleagues. Dr Shahda said that this conference and exhibition is part of the national plan of Bahrain to be a world-class destination in the field of medical training and medical tourism. This builds on the talented human capital, forward-thinking government and strategic location of Bahrain. The conference is an excellent chance to follow up on the latest scientific research and the current international techniques in the field of Dermatology and plastic surgery, he added. Dr Shahda explained that it was a great opportunity to have an accompanying exhibition. The exhibition brings manufacturing titans in aesthetic medicine and dermatology biological products to demonstrate their products along with the evidence and benefits of these products. TradeArabia News Service North Korea on Friday claimed that its economy grew 3.7 percent last year. Ri Gi-song, a professor at North Korea's Institute of Economics at the Academy of Social Sciences, told Kyodo News that the North's GDP grew from US$296 billion in 2016 to $307 billion last year. Ri added that North Korea's population also increased from 25.16 million to 25.29 million over the same period. That would mean North Korea's per-capita GDP is roughly the same as Myanmar's at $1,214. High-rise buildings tower over downtown Pyongyang in this photo from North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun. But there is a vast gap between Ri's claim and the Bank of Korea's estimate that North Korea's GDP actually shrank 3.5 percent last year, the worst since 1997. Ri did not elaborate on how he arrived at the figure and presented no data to back up his claim, saying only that the increase was the result of "various technologies" the North developed. It is rare for North Korea to announce any economic figures, and the claim seems aimed at giving the impression that the North Korean economy is unscathed by international sanctions. North Korean students chat on the street in Pyongyang on Oct. 6. Ri admitted that North Korea "is suffering from food shortages" but claimed its "heavy and light industries and chemical sector are growing," while electricity generation is improving as well. He also voiced hopes of economic cooperation with South Korea but added that any economic cooperation with Japan must be preceded by an apology for atrocities committed during the colonial era and relinquishing "hostile policies" against the North. Meanwhile, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said in a speech Friday marking 70 years of diplomatic ties with Russia that Pyongyang "aims to create a Korean Peninsula devoid of nuclear weapons and threats," according to Russia's TASS news agency. "We expect the international community to take simultaneous trust-building steps in response to [North Korea's] concrete measures." Read this article in Korean The UAE has affirmed full solidarity with Saudi Arabia against all attempts to undermine its regional stature and fundamental role in establishing regional peace and security, said a senior UAE government official. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, expressed profound appreciation for the distinguishing position of the Kingdom as a major power ensuring security and stability in the Arab and Muslim worlds, commending all the constructive initiatives and policies adopted by the Kingdom to underpin regional and international peace and development. Sheikh Abdullah reiterated that the UAEs support for the Kingdom in weal and woe stems from the true brotherly bonds between the two countries, noting that the fierce and politicised campaign led against the Kingdom ignores the constructive and reasoned policy of Saudi Arabia. "The anti-Saudi campaign will not impinge on the Kingdoms central role in the region which is rooted in logic and moderation," he said. "As necessity now arises to clarify the facts associated with this crisis in a neutral and honest manner, we reaffirm our categorical rejection of the repercussions of the politicised anti-Saudi campaign." Sheikh Abdullah reiterated the UAE's unequivocal stance with Saudi Arabia in whatever policies it sets and tremendous efforts it exerts to counter the various risks and threats besetting the international community, particularly extremism and terrorism. The UAE, he underscored, also supports Saudi Arabia's relentless efforts to strengthen international political, economic and security cooperation, using its substantial resources and potential to enhance peace and stability across the world. TradeArabia News Service IndiGo, one of India's leading budget airlines, has commenced operations to two new cities in the GCC - Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, further enhancing air operations between India and the Gulf region, media reports said. The carrier already operates 13 daily flights to Dubai and another four to Sharjah, with Kuwait and Abu Dhabi becoming its 10th and 11th international destination, respectively, it said. As part of its new operations, the airline will operate a daily flight from Kochi-Abu Dhabi starting October 15, and another daily service from Kozhikode-Abu Dhabi from October 16. Operations between Kuwait and Chennai also commence on October 15. Additionally, the low-cost airline will provide daily non-stop services between Kuwait-Ahmedabad and Kuwait-Kochi from November, reports said. Air Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa's largest low-cost carrier, has announced the launch of a non-stop service to the city of Sulaymaniyah in the north of Iraq. The new service from the carriers primary hub in Sharjah marks Air Arabias fourth destination in Iraq and 152nd worldwide. From November 6, Air Arabia will offer two weekly flights to Sulaimaniyah, making it convenient for passengers travelling between both cities. Offering convenient timings, the three-hour flight will operate twice per week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. The outbound flight on Tuesdays will depart from Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) at 05:00 and land in Sulaimaniyah International Airport (ISU) at 06:55 local time. The return flight will leave Sulaimaniyah at 07:35 and land in Sharjah at 11:05 local time. On Fridays, the flight will depart from Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) at 15:00 and land in Sulaimaniyah International Airport (ISU) at 16:55 local time. The return flight will leave Sulaimaniyah at 17:35 and land in Sharjah at 21:05 local time. We are pleased to launch this new service to Sulaimaniyah, our fourth destination in Iraq, after Baghdad, Najaf and Erbil, said Adel Al Ali, group chief executive officer, Air Arabia. We continuously seek ways to enhance airline connectivity with Iraq, given the growth in business ties between the two nations. The additional route is a testament to Air Arabias commitment to providing affordable air travel to our growing customer base. - TradeArabia News Service Former president Lee Myung-bak has appealed against a 15-year jail sentence for corruption a district court passed earlier this month, his attorney Kang Hoon said Friday. Lee was convicted of seven counts of embezzlement and corruption, including being the de facto owner of auto parts maker DAS, embezzling 24.6 billion from the firm for his own use, and taking W6.1 billion in U.S. legal fees from Samsung as a bribe (US$1=W1,134). Prosecutors have already appealed the sentence, which they consider too lenient. As we embark on the great global endeavor to keep temperature rises below 2 degrees and end poverty and hunger by 2030, we hope that our leaders will remember that the people of Africa matter. They matter to our environment. They matter to our economy. They matter to our world. And they matter for the food we eat. Having traveled across the continent to sample food, meet with farmers, governments and chefs, and cultivate the culinary insights that fuel our recipes, we are certain that the people of Africa will be at the heart of this work. In Nigeria, for example, we started together with the Government, FAO, ILO, ITC and the private sector a pilot initiative led by the Sustainable Development Goals Fund in Kaduna to tackle food waste, youth employment and food security in an integrated matter. This work will start and end on the farm. To get there, the people of Africa are transforming the way they view farming, the way they view the environment, and the way they view markets and manage risks. In the most developed parts of world, we will need to think hard about the food we eat, where it comes from, and what it means to our global efforts to accelerate our pace in our race to reach the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement, and support vulnerable people throughout the world in adapting their economies to our new climate reality. In its simplest form, Africa needs to modernize its food systems and this modernization needs to happen at a rapid pace, so people wont starve, diseases wont spread, and people wont be forced to make tough decisions that threaten to destabilize the region. Why does farming in Africa matter so much, and what are the risks and rewards moving into the 21st century? Think of it this way. In Somalia, an estimated 2.7 million people are expected to face crisis and food shortages because rains didnt come as expected. Not only does this mean that children might starve, it also means that people may be forced to migrate. If you were faced with starvation, wouldnt you do the same? So how do we get there? To start with, we need to think about the entire value chain that takes produce from plow to market. In Nigeria, out of the 1.5 million tons of tomatoes harvested each year, up to 75 per cent are lost. Thats a lot of rotten tomatoes. While many African nations have seen gains in poverty reduction, economic growth and social empowerment over the past decade, the continent as a whole remains dependent on food imports. Thats not good for the environment, for the economy, or for continued growth. According to a report from the United Nations Development Programme, climate change is exacerbating the risks. Changing rainfall patterns, more regular droughts and sea-level rise all threaten farmers that often lack irrigation systems or mechanized farming tools. Its a numbers game, and we are already behind in building a resilient Africa. Globally, we need to increase food production by 50 percent by 2050 to feed the nearly 9 billion people that will live on our planet. Africa with its vast natural resources and human capacity could be the way to get there. But wait, theres a bit of a Catch 22 here. We also need to halt the expansion of greenhouse gasses. In Africa, agriculture produces 15 percent of the continents overall CO2 emissions each year. Without modernization, this will increase. And to make matters even more complicated, climate change could produce serious drops in production wheat production could drop by as much as 35 percent by 2050. The good news is that Africa is making good on its potential. In places like Ethiopia, farmers are adding solar-powered irrigation and looking toward cash crops to build their resilience to climate change. In Somalia, sand dams are saving lives and warehousing water for farmers. While across the continent, the United Nations is working with governments, non-profits and farmers to create the policies Africa needs to transform its agricultural sector. If we are to stop climate change in its tracks and make good on our global commitments to end poverty by 2030, we will need to think long and hard about the role of agriculture and food in Africa. Food is an essential ingredient to life, and in our humble view, it will provide a path to a more peaceful world. About the authors. Internationally acclaimed chefs Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca, from Girona, Spain, were appointed as UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors on 18 January 2016 to work closely with the Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG-F). The Roca brothers are helping generate support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed by world leaders to achieve a future by 2030 where hunger, unemployment, inequality, and climate change are a thing of the past. Ronia at home with her five daughters from left to right, Layla, Siham, Valentina, Rozhda and Rossie in Domiz refugee camp, in northern Iraq. UNHCR/Andrew McConnell DOMIZ REFUGEE CAMP, Kurdistan region of northern Iraq Little Layla gets her pale green eyes from her fathers side of the family. When they catch the light, they glimmer like a pair of tiny moons. Its not the only trait she inherited from her dad, a Kurdish baker who fled from Syria to northern Iraq nearly six years ago. Like him, Layla was born with thalassaemia, a blood disorder that torments her family as much as the conflict back home, and maybe more. Laylas sister Rozhda, who is seven years old, has it too. And so did their father, Mazin, who searched in vain for the specialized treatment he needed. My husband died in my hands, says the girls mother, Ronia, 30. I dont want the same thing to happen to my children. My husband died in my hands. I dont want the same thing to happen to my children. In June, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie visited the familys home in Domiz refugee camp, in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, and listened to the story of how they fled Syria in January 2013. The conflict was only in its second year, but it was already taking a toll on the family. Ronia told Jolie the fighting kept her husband from getting proper medical care. Here in Domiz camp, where Layla was born five years ago, they found safety, shelter and good schools for sisters Rossie and Siham, now 12 and 11 respectively. But health care was costly and limited, even in the nearby city of Duhok. In desperation, Ronia sometimes resorted to begging, or selling her food vouchers, to pay for her husbands blood transfusions. It wasnt enough. Mazin died two years ago, at age 35, leaving Ronia to raise the children on her own. Pregnant at the time, she soon gave birth to their fifth daughter, Valentina, now a toddler of 19 months. Iraq: Angelina Jolie visits single mother of five in Domiz Camp (Dalal Mawad, Bela Szandelszky) It must take an unbelievable amount of strength to be able to pull your family through, Jolie told Ronia. Turning to the girls, she added: You all are such gracious, intelligent young women. But you need support. Without proper treatment, the form of thalassaemia that afflicts Layla and Rozhda can stunt a childs growth, impair liver function and cause facial bone deformities. This illness has taken a huge toll on us. Every two weeks, Ronia takes them to the public hospital in Duhok for transfusions. They leave home at 6 a.m., returning ten hours later. Rossie and Siham stay home and look after Valentina, with neighbours checking in on them. This illness has taken a huge toll on us, their mother says. All I care about is my children. UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie visits Ronia and her five daughters at their home in Domiz refugee camp, in northern Iraq. Three of the girls are suffering from the same condition that killed their father two years ago. UNHCR/Andrew McConnell As the grown-ups talk, Layla and Rozhda play on a red plastic swing that hangs from the ceiling. The seat is built for one, but because they are small for their ages they both fit easily. The regular transfusions buy the girls time, boosting their bodies supply of healthy red blood cells. But theyre not enough. The girls doctor says they also need bone marrow transplants, which are not available in Iraq. Earlier this year, UNHCR recommended the family for resettlement to a country in Europe. Three months later, a decision is still pending. In the meantime, Valentina has been diagnosed with thalassaemia too. Ronia handles the stress with calm fortitude. She has enrolled the two oldest girls in school in the camp and is pleased with the quality of education. But sometimes they miss class because they cant afford notebooks and uniforms. Rozhda started school too, but she but couldnt continue, Ronia adds, explaining that the illness makes her tired all the time. Rossie is the oldest. Now 12, shes caught on the cusp still a child, but bearing many responsibilities to support her mother. When I go to visit my friends, they tell me about their situations and I tell them about mine. We try to comfort each other, she told Jolie. It is difficult for my mum to care for us. I am supporting my sisters when she goes to hospital. UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie speaks with Rossie, 12, while Valentina, Ronia and Leila look on. UNHCR/Andrew McConnell After spending time with several other refugee families, Jolie spoke to a group of journalists at the camp. When there is not even the bare minimum of aid, she said, refugee families cannot receive adequate medical treatment, women and girls are left vulnerable to sexual violence, many children cannot go to school, and we squander the opportunity of being able to invest in refugees so that they can acquire new skills and support their families. No one pays the price more dearly than Ronia and her five fatherless girls. I keep praying for God to find a way to save these children, she says. I am afraid I will lose them like I lost their dad. Their only hope, it seems, is resettlement to a country that can provide the support they need. Ronia spoke to me of her desire to contribute to society wherever she and her children can find help, said Jolie, who has stayed in touch with the family and is following their case closely. She is raising her daughters to be good, strong citizens and kind, fair, hard-working people. Indian Ambassador to Italy Reenat meets CM PK Chamling Gangtok,Oct14 (UNI) The Indian Ambassador to Italy met Chief Minister Pawan Chamling in Rome and congratulated him for the World Future Policy and Organic International Award he is going to receive on October 15 next. Ambassador Reenat Sandhu described the honour as a matter of pride for all the Indians.She suggested the CM to visit Italy again in future for exploring more opportunities of mutual benefits between India and Italy. Chief Minister Pawan Chamling is in Rome to receive the Award, co-organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Future Council (WFC) and IFOAM Organics International. The award will be conferred on him for his organic policies. He spoke to Ambassador Sandhu about all that was being done for promoting Organic Farming sector in India. He expressed his interest in exploring opportunities for future benefit. He was accompanied by concerned Minister and Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha. Shortly after the inter-Korean summit last month, the U.S. Treasury Department telephoned every big South Korean bank and told them to abide by sanctions against North Korea, it emerged in a National Assembly audit on Friday. The U.S. asked seven commercial and state-run banks about their North Korea-related business plans and cautioned them not to go too far. They could of course become targets of U.S. sanctions if they engage in any dealings with North Korea. In the audit, the South Korean ambassador to the U.S. admitted that he had received a complaint from Washington that Seoul was "moving too quickly" in rapprochement with the North, which cannot be forced to give up its nuclear weapons if sanctions are undermined. Earlier, a State Department official warned the heads of South Korean companies who look forward to doing business with North Korea not to view exceptional authorizations in dealing with the North as an easing of overall sanctions. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha invited U.S. President Donald Trump's displeasure when she suggested that South Korea could ease some of its own unilateral sanctions against the North. "Well they won't do it without our approval," Trump blurted out. "They do nothing without our approval." These incidents clearly show that the U.S. now regards South as the weakest link among its allies in international sanctions against North Korea. And it is not the only country that is being given that impression. France's Le Monde newspaper quoted Moon Chung-in, a special security adviser to President Moon Jae-in, as saying that the South is "officially considering easing sanctions against North Korea" and that Moon is visiting France to "support North Korea." South Korea's finance minister, meanwhile, met with the heads of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and asked them to "play an active role" in supporting North Korea's reforms and efforts to join the international community. No wonder the U.S. is alarmed. Since early this year, Seoul has applied for a welter of sanctions exemptions -- to engage in exchanges of people and provide fuel and materials to North Korea during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, for reunions of families separated by the Korean War, and for a cross-border military hotline. The U.S. granted them but is now rightly alarmed at their frequency in the absence of any progress in North Korean denuclearization. Washington, by contrast, is steadfastly maintaining sanctions against North Korea as negotiations continue because otherwise there would be no leverage to get the North to abide by its pledge to scrap its nuclear weapons. Even Trump, who has praised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the skies and joked that the two have fallen "in love," said he could not ease sanctions without a quid-pro-quo from the North. That is what Moon should be saying too, and that he is not saying it could spell disaster. Kochi, Oct 15 (UNI) Showing the world that Kerala, the Gods Own Country, is ready to receive tourists after the devastating floods in August last, the first cruise vessel 'M S Boudicca', the Bahamas-based luxury cruise liner, berthed at Kochi Port on Sunday night. The cruise vessel 'MS Boudicca' arrived at Cochin Port last night heralding the commencement of cruise tourism season in the state. The luxury liner was built in 1973 and belongs to Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, a UK-based Norwegian-owned shipping line. The ship arrived with 506 tourists and 389 crew members on board, last night. The guests were given traditional welcome along with singarimelam by ladies. The Tourism Department had organised Kaleidoscope Keralas performing arts show in a makeshift theater complex at the Ernakulum Wharf for interested passengers. The arrival of the first cruise ship marks the beginning of cruise season in Kerala and it would boost the states efforts to attract more foreign and domestic tourists after the recent floods. It was also expected that this would send a message to tourists from far and wide that Kerala was absolutely safe. Stalls were also put up at the wharf for selling handicrafts and curio items. An air-conditioned tent was set up on the Ernakulum wharf for passenger facilitation for the first time as a stop-gap arrangement till the new cruise terminal is made operational at the wharf. Cochin Port is the most preferred cruise destination in India with 42 cruise calls during the last season. Around 50 cruise liners are scheduled to visit the port this season, expecting to be highest in India, Port sources said. UNI CGV CS 0945 Mogadishu, Oct 14 (UNI) At least 20 people are dead and 50 others wounded in a multiple suicide blast at Baidoa in Somalia. A man wearing an explosive device walked into Beder restaurant on Friday and blew himself up, Aljazeera reported. Shortly after the first blast, another bomber blew him up at the Bilan hotel, killing more than six people. The restaurant and hotel are both popular with civilians and the local government officials. UNI XC JAL 1443 Syria calls for int'l probe into US coalition's 'crimes' Damascus, Oct 15 (UNI) The Syrian Foreign Ministry has called for an international investigation into the 'crimes' of the US-led coalition, following a recent attack with white phosphorus in Deir al-Zour. The ministry also called for ending the 'aggressive' and 'illegitimate' presence of the US forces in Syria, Xinhua reported, quoting the state news agency SANA. "The use of internationally-prohibited weapons against the Syrian people is a flagrant violation of the international law and human rights," the ministry said. State Language Commission to be constituted to strictly implement Punjabi Language Act: Pargat Singh 16 Nov 2021 | 11:42 PM Chandigarh, Nov 16 (UNI) Punjab Education, Higher Education and Languages Minister Pargat Singh on Tuesday said that state government will constitute a State Language Commission to strictly implement the provisions of Punjabi Language Act. see more.. Welcome decision to reopen Kartarpur corridor, PM always protected Punjab's interest: Chugh 16 Nov 2021 | 11:38 PM Chandigarh, Nov 16 (UNI) BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh hailed the reopening of the Kartarpur corridor saying that it was a great gift of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah to all the devotees of Guru Nanak on the occasion of Parkash Divas. see more.. Farmers of Rupnagar to get compensation soon for damaged maize crop: Deputy Commissioner 16 Nov 2021 | 11:36 PM Rupnagar, Nov 16 (UNI) The farmers of Rupnagar district would soon be compensated for damage caused to the maize crops during Kharif season-2021 due to 'Fall Armyworm'. see more.. Randhawa castigates Sukhbir Badal for his justification, says 'Intentional sins cant be pardoned' 16 Nov 2021 | 11:29 PM Chandigarh, Nov 16 (UNI) Reacting to a recent statement of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal that 'do not punish Akali Dal for his mistakes in the sacrilege case', Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa on Tuesday said that inadvertent mistakes can be forgiven but intentional sins of Badal are unjustifiable and can not be forgiven. see more.. Home Just In 33.5 kg gold smuggling: Gores accomplice arrested from UAE, brought to Nepal Kathmandu, October 15 Police in the United Arab Emirates have arrested a member of the team that allegedly smuggled 33.5 kg gold via the Tribhuvan International Airport few months ago. Bisu Shrestha, a key member of the racket led by Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, was arrested under the coordination of International Crime Police Organisation (Interpol), according to Nepal Police. Shrestha was arrested from Dubai and was taken to Nepal on Sunday afternoon. Currently, he has been kept at the Metropolitan Police Circle in Gaushala. Officials say he will be produced before the Morang District Court today itself. The Court is hearing the case for past few months. Police have accused Shrestha of facilitating the smuggling of 38 kg gold in past three years from Dubai. Iqbal came to UTSA from Pakistan to study environmental engineering. (Oct. 15, 2018) -- Aima Iqbal is a visiting junior from Kasur, Pakistan, studying environmental engineering. She comes from a country where according to UNICEF, only one in three females attends a secondary school. Iqbal shattered those odds. Due to her determination, the U.S. State Department sponsored her to be part of the student exchange program known as UGRAD IREX; an initiative operating on very few campuses across the nation that is coordinated at UTSA by the Office of International Programs. This junior is only one of 230 students admitted to the U.S. from over 13,000 applicants, an admission rate much more difficult to overcome than Harvard. The expectation is that Iqbal will learn as much as she can here at UTSA and return to her native homeland to become a future leader with social impact in Pakistan. This is your first time studying anywhere outside of Pakistan. How has living in the U.S. changed your perception of the world? Your perception of yourself? I was a little nervous in the beginning but seeing so much diversity in the UTSA Orientation hall amazed me. I have met many wonderful people here. America has taught me that there is nothing wrong with striving to be the best you can. No profession is superior to another. Just do what you love to do. What turning point or event in your life made you decide to choose your current educational path? The energy crisis in my home country persuaded me to choose environmental engineering with a focus in sustainable development. Pakistan is currently facing huge economic losses due electricity shortages. I want to promote solar and wind power generation because its cheaper and cleaner. I want to pay back to my country by helping to produce clean energy surplus. How has UTSA helped you achieve your academic dreams? The JPL has made it a lot easier for me to find research. The writing center is matchless. It makes paper writing so much fun and a lot easier. Not only these, the organizations like SGA and VOICES have helped me better understand myself and also provided me opportunities to give back to my host community. The Roost has helped me make new and hopefully life-long friends. What is the biggest obstacle youve had to overcome to get to this point in your academic career? The stereotype in my home community that engineering is not a suitable field for girls. I am a supporter of feminism. My primary responsibility is to guide the youth of my country to let their talent sparkle. I just urge them to be the best version of themselves. Do you have a motto, a guiding proverb that helps you while you are away from home? Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars Les Brown. This quote keeps me motivated all the time. Have you volunteered in service programs? If so, can you tell us about how you impact the community around you? How do you think you make a difference? I have volunteered for St. Vinnys Bistro here in San Antonio. It has taught me the value of serving people beyond borders and religions and that humanity is above everything. What would you tell students about the importance to study abroad? Studying abroad broadens your horizon. It not only helps you in your personal development but also allows you to meet new people, experience new culture and see the world. In short, it will change your life. You will go back as a new and groomed person. What is the best piece of advice you have heard or received? You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four Balls Family, Health, Friends and Spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it. Tell us something that people would be surprised to know about you? I am a stargazer. I can stare at a starry sky for hours. Personal Finance Curriculum Available to Wyoming High Schools, Thanks to UW Sponsorship High school students across Wyoming have an opportunity to increase their financial literacy through a new arrangement between the University of Wyoming and Ramsey Education. Sponsored by UW, Ramsey Educations Foundations in Personal Finance curriculum is being made available at no cost to Wyoming high schools to help students develop good personal finance habits. Understanding basic financial principles helps people make smart decisions with their money, UW President Laurie Nichols says. The Ramsey curriculum teaches these important principles to help students achieve their post-high school aspirations, and the university is delighted to make it available to our Wyoming high schools. Our dream is for every Wyoming high school graduate to pursue a postsecondary credential or degree. Created by financial expert Dave Ramsey, Foundations in Personal Finance is the premier curriculum for teaching financial literacy to students. More than 4 million students have taken Foundations in Personal Finance in middle schools, high schools and universities nationwide. The curriculum can be used to fulfill requirements in mathematics, social studies, economics, family and consumer sciences, business mathematics and personal finance. For more information, go to www.ramseyeducation.com. This cooperative effort will empower teachers to build financial confidence and inspire hope in students, says Jim King, senior vice president of Ramsey Education. It was clear to us right away that the University of Wyoming considers it a privilege to support and strengthen financial literacy in the state. We think this unprecedented initiative will truly make an impact. Ramsey Education representatives have been contacting Wyoming high school educators about the availability of the curriculum, which is aligned with the states education standards for social studies and careers. More than half of the states high schools already have signed up to use the curriculum. Schools interested in learning more should call 1-855-855-5786. The Ramsey curriculum allows Wyoming students to get a real handle on their finances at an early age, and it will help guide their financial futures as they move forward in life, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow says. Financial literacy is one of those life skills that is so very important -- and I want to thank Ramsey Education and the University of Wyoming for their commitment to our educators, and especially our students. UW consistently ranks as one of the nations best-value universities, offering nearly 200 academic programs with a small student/faculty ratio of 15:1. Wyoming high school graduates benefit from one of the lowest in-state tuition rates of any four-year institution in the country, and UWs nonresident tuition also is among the lowest in the nation. More than 55 percent of UW students graduate with no student debt. Friday, Oct. 19, at 12:15 p.m. MDT, a UW representative is scheduled to talk about the universitys commitment to providing high-quality higher education at an affordable price on The Dave Ramsey Show -- which airs on more than 600 radio stations and digitally through podcasts, online audio streaming and a 24-hour online streaming video channel available at www.daveramsey.com/show. In Wyoming, The Dave Ramsey Show airs at different times on radio stations in Casper, Cheyenne, Cody, Gillette, Riverton, Sheridan and Worland. Home Just In Baburam Bhattarai says little knowledge resulted in govts failure Gorkha, October 15 Naya Shakti Party Nepal Coordinator and former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai says the incumbent government has failed in its mission owing to its own little knowledge. The KP Sharma Oli-led government could not do any substantial work in past eight months, hence people would seek alternatives soon, according to him. Addressing a function in the headquarters of his home district today, the former Prime Minister said, The government has been unable to bear its own burden. If it continues the same path, the future will be uncertain. He claimed the government was unsuccessful in properly implementing the federal system. In another context, Bhattarai protested the government decision to award the Budhigandaki Hydropower Project contract to the China Gezhouba Group Company. He argued that the decision was made to meet vested interests of ruling party leaders. Victoria Daniel looks through a book about her mother, who passed away hours after giving birth to her. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close During the ongoing UN Disarmament Conference, the United States plans on bringing global attention to Russian and Chinese attempts to militarize space. The conference is scheduled to run for five weeks in New York and will cover a wide range of international security issues. Russia and China developing technologies to militarize space Both Russia and China have been involved in activities they claim are aimed at preventing the militarization of space. But a closer inspection reveals that both countries are covertly developing technologies that could eventually lead to an armed space conflict. And the U.S. delegation aims to bring the worlds attention to this issue. Back in 2014, the Chinese and Russian governments issued a draft treaty that sought to ban placing weapons in outer space. Yet, both countries skipped addressing a major issue banning anti-satellite weapons. The treaty does not cover the topic at all even though the two nations are known to be heavily investing in such capabilities. The U.S. believes that unless Russia and China address this issue with full transparency, the topic of whether they are planning to militarize space will be incomplete. What they [Russia and China] want to do is to limit the United States ability to operate in space by in essence going forward with an initiative that allows them to be able to attack satellites and other peaceful space vehicles through the use of anti-satellite weapons, VOA News quotes Ambassador Robert Wood, U.S. permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Establishing the US Space Force Even though the U.S. is trying to prevent space from becoming the next battlefield, the unfortunate reality is that this might not actually be avoidable given the current situation. Russia reportedly has a few killer satellites in space that have the ability to bring down other satellites and cripple communications of the U.S. military. China is also said to be heavily involved in space-based military technologies in its attempt to militarize space. Understanding that America would be left behind if it does not tackle the issue, Trump recently announced the formation of a Space Force. CNN quotes the President as saying: We must have American dominance in space, and that he is directing the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force. The military establishment is reportedly not happy with the Presidents new directive. The reason for this is that the setting up of a separate military branch is a long process that could cause confusion in the current military structure. Yet, the Defense Department did release a statement in support of the presidents vision. We understand the presidents guidance. Our policy board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy. Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders, The New York Times quotes a statement from Dana W. White, the Defense Departments chief spokeswoman. While initially the Space Force will likely focus on protecting U.S. satellites in space from external threats, the new military wing can later branch out into futuristic technologies like a space-based weapons launch program. A few decades down the line, America might even have its own military outpost on the moon. Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our weekly email Vegetarian Recipes: Five Simple Sides for Your Thanksgiving Feast These simple, yet sumptuous vegetarian dishes will save you time in the kitchen so you can better enjoy your family and guests, something we can all be thankful for! All the recipes can be made vegan. Raw Cranberry Relish With no added sugar, this sweet, tart, zesty and refreshing dish Washington is not at all pleased that the International Court of Justice condemned some of its sanctions against Russia. After Teheran argued that its position was based on the Bilateral Treaty on Friendship, Economic Relations and Consular Rights of 15 August 1955, Washington announced that it was denouncing that Treaty. The Court is currently examining a set of pleadings from the Palestinian authority denouncing the illegal transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem. The basis for the complaint is founded on the UN plan for the division of Palestine and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. It is not possible in this case to withdraw from a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly. Also, the National Security Advisor, John Bolton, has decided to curtail possibility that the ICJ has jurisdiction over the US by denouncing all its treaties authorizing recourse to the ICJ under the Vienna Conventions Optional Protocol. The International Court of Justice is the heir of the PCIJ - the Permanent Court of International Justice. The PCIJ was established by the Hague Conference of 1899. At the initiative of Tsar Nicolas II and the President of the French Radical Party, Leon Bourgeois, its mandate was to help states settle the disputes they had with one and other. Today the ICJ functions as the judicial arm of the UN. It should not be confused with international tribunals that also sit in the Hague. On 2 October 2018, the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul. According to the US press, a trap would have been laid out for him, when he was lured into the consulate to hand over to him his new identity documents following his recent marriage. About a dozen Saudi Secret Service Agents entered the consulate to question him. They tortured him, killed him and cut him apart, limb by limb, before sending his remains to the Saudi King. From that time, Turkey and the United States have been requesting clarifications from Saudi Arabia which is denying the accusations that the US is levelling against it. Jamal Khashoggi was the nephew Adnan Khashoggi (1935-2017). The latter was an arms-trafficker that played a fundamental role in the Iran-Contras case and was considered the richest man in the world at the beginning of the eighties. Jamal himself was the protege of the former leader of the Saudi Secret Services, Prince Turki ben Faical, who went on to be the Kings Ambassador in London. Later on Jamal went on to serve Prince Al-Waleed ben Talal, who was submitted to a long period of torture at the Ritz-Carlton during the palatial coup in November 2017. In recent years, Jamal Jamal Khashoggi has taken up the defence of the Muslim Brotherhood and Israel. This is why he had been hired by Washington Post. According to our sources, several members of the Saudi Royal Family whose assets were partially or totally confiscated in November 2017 during the Palace Coup, were preparing a plot against the Crown Prince Mohamed ben Salman (known as MBS) and Jamal Khashoggi was caught up in this conspiracy. Turkey had managed to step up a system to bug the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkeys conduct in this instance constitutes a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Although it cannot publish them, Ankara has recordings that contain information, extracted under torture, relating to the plot against MBS. Cabinet and Opposition Briefed over the Weekend as Brexit Negotiation Intensifies Towards Conclusion There was an extraordinary session of the Cabinet on Saturday in order to update Ministers about the continuing negotiations for Gibraltar and the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. This was followed by a briefing with Opposition Members of the Brexit Select Committee. The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo made it clear during the last meeting of the Gibraltar Parliament that Brexit negotiations would intensify with the approach of the European Council meeting this week. There have been intensive Brexit meetings in London and in Brussels. The Chief Minister flew from London to Brussels and was joined there by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia who flew in from New York. Both flew back to Gibraltar on Friday evening and back again to Brussels on Sunday morning. The Attorney General Michael Llamas has been permanently based in Brussels for the last two weeks. The Financial Secretary Albert Mena is also part of the team. The Government of Gibraltar has been, and continues to be, fully involved in the negotiations. The position as articulated for the United Kingdom remains the same for Gibraltar. No deal is better than a bad deal. The meetings have centred on the details of a specific Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement about Gibraltar to be entered into between the United Kingdom and the European Union. There will be similar protocols on Northern Ireland and on the UK Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus. The definition of the term United Kingdom, under the Withdrawal Agreement, includes Gibraltar. The United Kingdom, under the 2006 Constitution, remains responsible for entering into international agreements on behalf of Gibraltar. However, the Government has made it clear that the practical implementation of the benefits and obligations of such agreements can only rest with the Gibraltar Government. The recourse mechanism for the UK-EU Agreement, if agreed, will be a Joint Committee at the top, with separate Specialised Committees covering areas like Gibraltar, Northern Ireland and Cyprus. There will be a set of practical measures spelt out in separate arrangements with Spain covering tax cooperation, police and customs cooperation, the environment, citizens rights and tobacco. These will be time limited, where necessary, to the end of the transition period which is December 2020. In keeping with the UK-EU structure, the proposed plan is for a number of Coordinating Committees to cover some of these topic areas and to report up the chain to the main UK-EU Committee. It is important to bear in mind that the discussions on Gibraltar are part of the wider negotiations for the UK to exit the European Union and they play out against this broader background. The Government of Gibraltar, in the meantime, continues to prepare for all eventualities including the possibility of a no deal Brexit. Fostering Campaign October 2018: Lets Face it Time to Foster a Child! The Minister for Health, Care and Justice, the Honourable Neil F. Costa MP, launched the fourth Fostering Campaign on the 15 October 2018, coinciding with the National Adoption Week in the UK. The Care Agency says it aims to find suitable alternative homes for children in care. Minister Costa took the opportunity to make positive comments about the development of the fostering and adoption services in Gibraltar. The Minister was extremely grateful to Ms Dianne Vallejo, CEO of Bassadone Motors, for having shown specific interest in supporting the Care Agency with this years campaign. Ms Nicole Viagas, Head of Children Services, said that she was delighted to be part of such a great service, stating: Children need the best possible start in life, and if this cannot be of- fered by the parents or family members, then alternative placements are crucial. I want to thank our wonderful foster carers and social work team for making this a reality for our children. Our carers understand that children need a safe base from where they can feel special; belonging to a family and positive childhood experiences translates into well-adjusted and successful adults. Ms Viagas went on to say that childrens timescales are important and need to be acted upon promptly, children grow up quickly and, therefore decisions about their future need to be made in a timely manner in line with their development. The Childrens Services are seeing the fruits of a truly committed team. The relationships between foster carers and social workers, and the service they provide, continues to grow. One of the developments in this team has been the creation of specific support programmes to help foster carers understand the impact of abuse. This programme deals with the effects of daily exposure to chronic stressful environments on children and teaches foster carers strategies to manage consequences of these. It is with this in mind that the Care Agency have said it will continue to be committed in developing this service through the provision of ongoing training by CoramBaaf to foster carers, social workers, and all those involved in this service. The Care Agency says it aims for a brighter future for children and therefore needs more foster carers and adoptive parents to be able to offer children an alternative to residential care. At the launch, Minister Costa spoke of the importance of children being bought up in a loving, stable and secure home. He said: Children and young persons need parents and carers who will provide them with unconditional love and care. They need the consistency of a stable, warm and caring environment to help them overcome the consequences of adverse child- hood experiences. These are some of the many reasons why I wholeheartedly support the Care Agency in finding suitable and alternative placements for children who desperately need them. I want to pay tribute to our current foster carers who enable children overcome their difficulties, through their patience, kindness and commitment. I would also like to urge persons considering becoming foster parents to contact our wonderful staff at the Care Agency to find out more about fostering, and the huge positive impact they could have on the lives of children and young persons. Photo: TLC Lately, the students of the reality television arts and sciences have been clamoring all about TLCs 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days. I can totally understand why: The show, which ends its second season on Sunday night, is an amazing and shockingly modern concept and features the sort of people who crave attention and shun self-reflection. You know, the types born for making a reality show that is absolutely perfect to shout at while relaxing on the couch with a soft cheese and a nice glass of white wine. Theres only one problem, though: Before the 90 Days also sucks. This isnt a so bad its good sort of scenario, where were laughing at the show itself. Instead, the show is great despite itself. An offshoot of 90 Day Fiance, where people travel from foreign countries on a 90-day visa to see if they want to marry an American, Before the 90 Days works in reverse. Here, the Americans leave the States to meet someone they matched with on the internet for the first time. After spending a bit of time with this person in their home country, the American then might propose (or get proposed to) and decide to take that person back home for an extended stay. The stakes are very high, of course, because there is such a high potential for catfishery. The worst case is someone not even showing up at the airport to meet their love traveler, or a trickster who is just pretending to be in love for a fast track to American citizenship. As you might expect, these potential paramours are often younger, more attractive, and eager for a chance to move to the States. Which is why, even when things are going well, you cant help but wonder, Hmm, Michael seems to be using Angela to get out of Nigeria but he has no idea just how bad her hometown in Georgia really is and wow, this is all a really bad idea. The best outcome on Before the 90 Days is almost always still a total disaster and that is what makes it so compelling to watch. Any great reality show comes down to casting, and there are some humdingers on Before the 90 Days. Returning from the first season are Jesse, a 20-something from Amsterdam with anger and control issues, and Darcy, a 40-year-old Bratz doll who wouldnt get enough outside approval if she paid someone to sit next to her all day and tell her, Youre beautiful and I love you. From the start of their courtship, Jesse and Darcy didnt even seem like they liked each other, let alone loved each other. Hes always trying to control her and tell her not to drink even though she does so sparingly by reality television standards and shes always trying to get him to say that he loves her, that shes beautiful, and that he wants a life with her in Middletown, Connecticut. This pair is as volatile as three sticks of dynamite. Jesse cant even cut a steak for dinner without the two of them exploding. They get in so many fights that when the producers leave them and come back in the morning, they have to fill them in about another fight that happened when the cameras werent even on. By the end of season two they have finally broken up, but watching their toxic cycle of need and abuse is utterly fascinating. Also returning are Paul, a convicted arsonist from Louisville who travels with a hunk of his mothers hair so he wont forget her, and Karine, a woman from an extremely poor part of Brazil who it seems only wants to take selfies, spend Pauls money, and ignore him. It doesnt help that he speaks hardly a lick of Portuguese and she speaks just as little English. They spend most of their time using translation apps as we sit by waiting for the computer to do the hard work of stitching together their conversation. Its more exhausting than having a Speak-and-Say narrate Moby Dick. These are very real people in incredible relationships and that is what makes them so utterly compelling to watch. So, why does TLC make the show so tedious? Every plot point is explained multiple times each episode, and all of that repetition makes binging Before the 90 Days impossible. Did you know that Rachels boyfriend Jon a British zaddy whos hotter than all of the members of New Direction combined cant get a visa to visit the U.S. because he has a conviction for fighting? I know you do, because it is mentioned at least three times every episode. Yes, fans might forget things from one week to the next, but not that much. Maybe all of the repetition is because each episode is needlessly long. I get that TLC wants to stretch out their hits, but Before the 90 Days doesnt need to be two hours long every week. Thats like trying to turn an Ariana Grande bop into an opera or an SNL sketch into an entire movie. (Sorry, Waynes World.) Make this thing an hour, just give us the gems, and save all the exposition for the tell all episode that nobody wants to watch anyway. The situations are also seriously over-produced. Before Tarik can go to the Philippines to meet his girlfriend Hazel, he has to sit around in America with his friends so they can list all the possible outcomes and possibilities of what might happen. Cant we figure that out for ourselves? We all know the dangers and complications that is the whole appeal of the show. Even worse is when the show manufactures drama out of talking-head interviews and spliced-together footage. When Paul waits for 20 minutes for Karine to get to the altar, for example, we hear all about how he thinks she might not show up at all but they always show up in the end. It always turns out alright, even though this show repeatedly amps up the tension before revealing what happened is what exactly would happen all along. Above all, the problem with Before the 90 Days is that it treats its viewers like idiots. The show doesnt think that we can figure out what the problems are going to be in these relationships, that we can remember what those problems are, or that we can discern where the drama is coming from. No one wants to watch that. We just want to see the spectacular pile-ups of disastrous, international, internet-based romance! Its the difference between telling a good joke and telling a joke, explaining why its funny, asking if we think its funny, and then telling us we dont know what the punchline is and then saying, Just foolin, you know exactly what the punch line is. TLC has one of the best jokes going on television. Just let us sit back and laugh instead of ruining it by repeating, Get it? Get it? Get it? Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic This summer, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson treated the world to the most exciting season of 90 Day Fiance to date. They even made it a little past the cut-off! But all good things must come to an end, especially when they start after only 24 days of knowing each other. When news broke that Pete and Ariana were engaged, Ariana simply tweeted lyrics from the musical Wicked. 126 days later, we know more about their relationship than we ever cared to. Heres a rundown of everything that happened while Pete and Ariana defied gravity. June 12: TMZ reveals the big price tag behind Arianas engagement ring: $93,000. Clearly Ariana has that kind of money, but who knew Saturday Night Live paid like that? And for Pete Davidson to still dress the way he does? Lets move on. June 13: Its business as usual for Miss Grande. She spends most of the month promoting the latest two songs shes featured on, Bed by Nicki Minaj and Dance to This by Troye Sivan. June 18: Ariana confirms that theres an interlude on her album, Sweetener, called Pete. In response to a critic, she says, lifes too short to be cryptic n shit. forreal. the truth is i been the fuck thru it and lifes too short to be cryptic n shit about something as beautiful as this love Im in. so it is. Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) June 18, 2018 June 19: They get matching tattoos! This time they get H2GKMO, which stands for Honest to God, knock me out. June 20: Those photos come out. You all know those photos. Ariana is wearing her stable giant sweatshirt, thigh-high boots combo (in the middle of summer!), licking a lollipop, and staring at Pete Davidson like hes the only man in the world. Its one of the photos that inspired the Big Dick Energy movement and will undoubtedly go down in pop culture history. June 21: Pete visits The Tonight Show to confirm their engagement, remarking that being with Ariana is fucking lit. This kicks off Pete Davidsons wild media blitz. First, hes supposed to be promoting Set It Up, the Netflix rom-com hes in, then later in the summer, he starts promoting Saturday Night Lives return. Everywhere he goes, he just gets more and more intense about how great it is to be with Ariana. June 26: Happy Birthday, Ari! The pop princess turns 25 and celebrates with her friends and family. Pete posts three birthday messages on Instagram, the first one with the caption, Happy birthday to the most precious angel on earth! Youre my favorite person that ever existed :) I love you sm. This is so aggressively normal in all the best ways. July 1: Another month, another tattoo. Ari gets Petes fathers firefighter badge number on her foot. Pete has the same numbers on his left forearm. His dad was a New York City fireman, who died on 9/11. July 5: Ariana Grande responds to an old joke of Pete Davidsons in which he made light of the Manchester bombing. She replies to a fans tweet and then follows up with i hear and respect you all always. this has been v tough & conflicting on my heart. he uses comedy to help ppl feel better ab how f-ed up things in this world are. we all deal w trauma differently. I of course didnt find it funny. it was months ago & his intention wasnt/ is never malicious but it was unfortunate Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) July 5, 2018 July 13: Ariana drops God Is a Woman and its music video, in which she fingers the Earth. If thats not big dick energy, what is? July 17: Pete and Ari take a little trip up north to Syracuse where Pete is filming a movie. July 24: All of the photos on Petes Instagram are deleted. That feels like a safe decision. August 16: The better half of the relationship goes on The Tonight Show to promote Sweetener and tells the world that she first fell in love with Pete three years ago, when she was on SNL. Pete also tells GQ that he tried to put a ring on it the day after he met Ariana, but she called his bluff. August 17: Sweetener drops! Fans hear the interlude pete davidson for the first time, and even Lana Del Rey likes it. ! Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) September 20, 2018 August 18: Ariana breaks down in tears while talking about the Manchester attacks on Beats 1 radio. August 27: Pete and Ari throw the rules of PDA out the window while attending the MTV Video Music Awards. August 28: Pete tells Variety the very casual way he proposed to Ari: while they were watching a movie. August 31: Ariana performs Natural Woman at Aretha Franklins funeral. Photos of a bishop touching her inappropriately go viral and the next day, he apologizes. September 7: Rapper Mac Miller dies of an overdose. Ariana Grande turns off comments on her Instagram account. September 8: She posts this black-and-white photo of Mac with no caption. September 14: Ariana posts a sweet home video of Mac, with a long, heartfelt caption. She comes back to social media slowly, tweeting encouraging statements and responding to fans. September 18: By this time, Arianas new pet, Piggy Smallz, has made its social media debut. Pete honors their pet the only way he knows how: with a tattoo. September 21: Pete comes back to Instagram very briefly to promote the new season of Saturday Night Live, then he deactivates his account. September 24: Its hard to imagine what TMI is for a couple that has hardly ever had a filter. But I think a line is crossed with all the info Pete divulges on The Howard Stern Show. For example, I was jerking off to her before I met her! September 27: Ariana tweets, quoting her post saying everything will be okay, and adding j fucking k. The world simultaneously frowns. j fucking k https://t.co/LeY2UGtrSP Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) September 27, 2018 Meanwhile, they still keep putting Pete on late-night television! He stops by Seth Meyers to talk about how Ariana got a pig, Piggy Smallz. September 28: After its revealed that Adam Driver and Kanye West will be on Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels says that Ariana Grande was meant to perform, but pulled out at the last minute due to emotional reasons. Bopping to No Tears Left to Cry over Kanyes rant, any day! September 29: Ariana puts their initials on a lock, then attaches it to a fence at her Sweetener pop-up in New York City. Now, their bond is sealed forever! September 30: Season 44 of Saturday Night Live premieres. Alongside jokes about the Kavanaugh hearing, the show touches on Pete Davidsons relationship a few times. On Weekend Update, Pete has a foreboding extended joke about what will happen if they ever break up. October 4: Ariana posts a snippet of a new song. Hello, lets celebrate that! tell me how good it feels to be needed pic.twitter.com/myoGc788uV Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) October 5, 2018 October 9: Pete Davidsons Dangerous Woman bunny mask tattoo is covered up by a weirdly skinny heart and a little A. Things between the two have been low-key, but this cover up is a big, ugly sign that something is about to break. One cover-up down, so, so many to go. October 10: Ariana Grandes song about anxiety breathin gets a music video! But its just a video of her pig sniffing around. Ari has called Piggy Smallz her emotional support animal, so maybe there is some meaning deep down. October 14: TMZ reports that Pete and Ariana have called off their engagement. The internet erupts in a series of I told you sos and eye-rolls. October 15: Ariana Grande announces her role in the televised concert production of Wicked. Shell be just fine defying gravity all on her own. honored to be included in this celebration of 15 years of my favorite musical of all time wouldnt miss it for the whole universe #wicked15 pic.twitter.com/oCC6ial3HX Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) October 15, 2018 Beanie Feldsteins older brother Jonah Hill. Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Jonah Hills little sister Beanie Feldstein (Lady Bird) gave him the silent treatment after he went to Wyoming to support Ye, Kanye Wests latest release, and the rappers antics are apparently still tearing the Feldstein family apart. In an interview with Pitchfork discussing the rap influences of his recent directorial debut, Mid90s, Hill lamented how tricky it is to be a Kanye loyalist in 2018. Its a hard one right now, but of course I still love Kanye. Hes the artist of my generation. My friends and I have a Kanye chain its been very dormant recently, but we did a top five Kanye songs, and my No. 1 was Power, Hill said. (Power is the Kanye song of choice for everyone else in Hollywood, too.) But at this point, people ask me about him all the time, and I just say to them, He either needs to land this or apologize, because I have Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, and my sisters not having it, and Im exhausted. Hill also says that hes been down the road of almost directing three videos, with Kanye, making him a certified stan. But about that Kanye chain who could possibly be in on this group chat? Seth Rogen and James Franco? Obviously. Maybe Hills The Wolf of Wall Street co-star/friend Leonardo DiCaprio, and maybe his Maniac co-star/king of New York Justin Theroux? If you are on Jonah Hills dormant Kanye chain, please identify yourself! Phoebe Robinson Photo-Illustration: Vulture and photo by Getty Images You live a life, collecting stories as you go, refining them over time with each telling, so that when you get a book deal, youre ready. But what happens when you are asked to write a second one? Well, luckily, if youre Phoebe Robinson, you live the craziest two years you could ever imagine, perfectly typified by having Julia Roberts teach you how to swim, off the coast of Croatia. Its true. In Robinsons new collection of essays Everythings Trash, But Its Okay, out tomorrow, she writes both seriously and very not seriously about race, feminism, and culture. She also recounts the time Roberts showed her how to doggy paddle while shooting Ibiza (which Robertss husband, Daniel Moder, was the cinematographer for). Written in Robinsons freewheeling, joke-drenched style, its an instant classic. This story from the chapter The Top Ten Non-Trash Moments of My Life is the focus of this weeks of Good One, Vulture Comedys podcast about jokes and the people who write them. Listen to the episode and read a short excerpt of the discussion below. Tune in to Good One every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. The first book was a lot of stories that had happened years ago, as those things go. This time around its largely things that happened in the period since writing the first book. Did you live your differently, like in a way in which everything has the potential to be written about? Yeah, I mean I dont know if I necessarily subscribe to the Nora Ephron idea where everything is copy. I am obsessed with her and I think she was a brilliant, I hate saying was, but was very brilliant. But thats not necessarily my jam. Its more the two years since the first book came out have been pretty nuts just in general and I wasnt really expecting that and I was just like, Oh I have some fun stuff to write about. When Trevor Noahs book came out, I was fully like, L-O-L. Why did I write a book? I have done nothing. Trees are sacrificing their lives for my dumb shit. I try not to go into a situation where Im like, Im gonna use this to have something to write about. I just sort of live organically, because I am fairly ridiculous anyway. Are you wary of people being uncomfortable around you like, Oh, is she going to write about this? I try to only share things that are not gonna disrespect anyone or expose anyone in a way that is not respectful. Though, I also am not just trying to make everyone look great. But like for instance the thing about Julia Roberts. Like, Im not going to reveal her kids names. Im not going to talk about them. I dont have permission to do that. I just wanna treat everyone with kindness in the way I wanna be treated. After the Julia Roberts yacht thing happened, though, were you like, This is gonna be this good story. I didnt even think about that. It was just like, Its Julia Roberts! We live in New York, and you just see so many famous people walking around, but to spend time, youre just like, That is a movie star. Like she is a person, shes a loving wife, and shes so funny and smart and she has tons of interests and shes a great mom, but youre just like, She just has the markings of just like a classic timeless movie star. There are moments where youre like, This is crazy. Like I remember when we were all hanging out when we were shooting the movie. It was like a group dinner with everyone, but like, Vanessa [Bayer] and I were sitting the closest to Jules and she was like, What are you guyss birthdays? Im like, Oh, September 28th, and she pulls out her phone and puts my birthday in her calendar. And then she texted me on my actual birthday and it was just like what? Its so nuts. Were you a fan beforehand? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Im a huge romantic comedy person. My Best Friends Wedding all that stuff. So, Im just like, This is the Julia from the big screen. But then shes a normal person. Did you spend much time with her during the shoot, besides the yacht? Another day Vanessa and I ended up going to the zoo with the family and it was the most fun. We were in a freaking Croatian zoo, hanging out, and one of her daughters was telling me about all these different animals. When did you decide to write about the swimming lesson? It was really was when I came up with doing a chapter on the top ten non-trash moments of my life. At that point in the book, I was talking about how the fashion industry is bad and the body issues that all women go through and feminism. There was a lot of stuff where Im like, This needs to step up. This needs to step up. So, I just wanted to take a time out in the book and have a nice palate cleanser. To be like, Theres a lot of kind of annoying things going on, but truly I am blessed. And I wanted it to be a mix of cool things like Julia Roberts encounters and less crazy things like I got cast in a movie or I ate all the carrots that were in my fridge before they spoiled. A mix of high and low. You have stories of meeting a few famous people in the new book. How would you describe your thinking behind how you approached those sections? It happened in my life, so I wanted to write about it, but I also wanted to write about it in a way that is relatable. For instance, yeah, I got to swim with Julias family, but you could sub them out for non-famous white people and it would still be just as funny that. these white people are really trying to encourage me to swim. And like, You just gotta believe! Thats funny no matter whos doing that. Bono and Oprah are my two heroes. Theyre the people I wanna be like in terms of career and philanthropy. But I never wanna write about any sort of interaction with a famous person as like, They said this and then they said this, and then blah, blah. I dont want it to be solely that. With the Oprah, you dont really ever hear her say anything. Its just more about how I missed her phone calls and how I was in debt. I try and frame it around my quirks, my mess-ups, or my fangirling in the moment, rather than relying on, Well, this famous persons here so thats going to carry this story. Its funny when youre talking about how the Julia Roberts story could have been any white people. Yeah, its just like, lets rent a yacht. Yes, lets. Sure. Okay. In the book you joke that it was like the Blind Side but nothing like the Blind Side, but it really was the Blind Side. Yeah. Its just a very surreal moment, but I feel like its still grounded in, Im not good at something, Im trying to get better at it, and Im still mostly not great at it. Maniac Option C Season 1 Episode 10 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * * Previous Next Photo: Michele K. Short / Netflix Congratulations, youre healed! Dr. James K. Mantleray shouts, through tears and gasps, as his subjects leave the treatment room, red and sweaty and now surely traumatized all over again. But, are they? Theyre bewildered, certainly. And grateful for the checks slipped into their hands at the door. But healed? Of all their trauma? I certainly hope not what a half-hearted way to live. Dr. Mantleray himself certainly hasnt changed much in the past two days despite temporary blindness, the collapse of his lifes work, and abject humiliation in front of a group of subjects who witnessed his mother embracing him in the death squeeze of a poisonous snake. He still wants to live up to his mothers standards, still desperately needs her approval. She tells his boss that James should no longer be allowed to work in the industry, for his own sake, but hes still hoping for a brief lunch. And shes still a cold pompous monster who is apparently, suddenly, going on a 47-city book tour to all seven continents, and wont be able to see her son for, well, maybe forever. For both Owen and Annie and really, all of us healing is a subjective thing. The severe emotional whiplash of the past few days has ripped off all the Band-Aids holding them together, but both are leaving the trial with heavy familial weights hanging on them. Like anyone at a therapy session, retreat, or vacation, the problems are waiting for them just outside the door. Theyre too displaced to even sit down for the heart-to-heart that most of us were expecting. For Annie, however, the process of mending her relationship with her father (played by Hank Azaria in a very dad fuzzy plaid bathrobe), is relatively painless. While shes been undergoing a pharmaceutical lobotomy, hes emerged from the A-Void seemingly healed himself and though he maybe hasnt put on real pants or left the house yet, hes making coffee and progress. And so for the first of two times this episode, Annie gives a lovely little speech about her feelings to someone who isnt in front of her. I need to tell you that its not okay for me out here all by myself, she chokes out, and there he is, on the outside (well, leaning out the window), there to console and reassure. Its a little too neat, but heartwarming at the same time. Owen too is bent on working his way through a condensed version of AAs 12 Steps, first writing Olivia a letter to apologize for his blip, and then sitting down again with his familys lawyers to prep for Jeds trial. Before Owens time at Neberdine his father appeared beneficent, kind even, but merely determined to put Jeds scandal to rest. Now hes much more like the mob boss of Owens fantasies, albeit one without a physical weapon. This is a one-time thing, he says after they receive a call about a possible settlement, my son made a mistake. Any settlement would ruin our family name. Except the only thing ruining the Milgrim name is Jed himself, who is accused of sexually assaulting (or perhaps raping, its slightly unclear) a woman. Porter knows this he knows Jed did it! but doesnt find any fault in his son. Its a depressingly realistic take on the methods the rich use to maintain their power by aiding and abetting hideous acts. But its Jeds duress, and so-called real tears that convince Owen to lie on the stand and explain that he knows Jed was with him that night for four hours, because thats how long it takes him to beat Jed at Risk. Changing your testimony after watching evidence that directly contradicts it isnt quite heroic. Its not as if Owen waltzed into the courtroom (and this must be a civil trial, because why else is the victim sitting at the prosecutions table?) and declared that family be damned, he must tell the truth. But it still takes guts for Owen to retract everything he says after the prosecution shows the single most damning piece of videotape evidence in modern history (and please, dont forget what we learned earlier about Jed that he pissed on this poor woman). Worst of all for him, Owen is disappointing Adelaide theres a reason the camera keeps such a tight focus on her face as he testifies. If youll permit the tangent, however, theres a point to be made here about the tape itself. This woman, an employee of Jeds who is surely a few rungs down the ladder at Milgrim Industries, has made claims of sexual assault. Her assailants brother is his only alibi witness. And yet, until her attorneys pull out a tape showing the assault in all its enraging detail, shes set to lose the case. And even then, after the man who is obviously sitting at the defense table turns his head and looks directly into the camera, the attorneys still need the assailants brother to admit that it is indeed the man on trial. It sounds wild and far-fetched, but assault cases have been lost on tighter evidence than this. Exorcised, exiled, and committed to a (very chic, perhaps Orla Kiely-designed) mental health facility, like some sort of Victorian novel run amok, Owen lapses back into the mind-set that he cant believe in anything he sees, even Annie. Thats why he hasnt reached out to her, he explains to his therapist, because the only two options are (a) that she doesnt really exist, or (b) that hell become fixated on Annie and then it will all fall apart. So when Annie shows up, signing into the facility as Linda Marino, her lemur-rescuing alter ego, he has every reason to refuse her visit. Owen really and truly is not always capable of knowing whats real, and spending two days tripping his ass off in a drug trial probably didnt help. The entire treatment of mental illness at the end of this episode is problematic. The Neberdine drug didnt heal Owen and Annie, though it did urge them further down the path to self-reflection. Therapy certainly hasnt healed either one of them, and Greta Mantleray is a walking embodiment of the false promise of miracle cures. But friendship isnt a magical pill, either. Dont get me wrong, the ending brought me to tears (small ones that stayed in my eyes, but still). I cried a little bit knowing that Jed made good on his earlier threats to Owen and sent anthrax to the governor in his name. I cried in empathy over Owens feelings of worthlessness. And then I really let a few roll when Annie brought Jed into the bathroom, helped him change into her fathers clothes, and then made a break for it, saying because Im your friend and thats what friends do. Annie was absolutely right that having a diagnosis doesnt make Owen crazy or dangerous. But a road trip isnt a cure, either. And as they laughed and sped out of the gates, away from the pursuant guards, I worried about the two of them out there in the world. Side Effects The Mantlerays treat the end of the experiment like a wedding receiving line. So nice of you to come! Greta exclaims jubilantly, as if a smile and handshake will erase all the mind-f*ckery. Then again, this is exactly how all our doctors usher us out the door after four-minute consultation that solved zero of our medical issues but did earn us a new prescription. I have Second Season Fatigue for a few shows that really dont need to go on, but I wouldnt mind a sneak peek into whats happening on those other floors at Neberdine. Azumis car is the Mercedes with flames that Owen drove in his Mafia fantasy, and I cant make out exactly how it came to exist inside his mind, since hed certainly never seen it. Did Azumi somehow build it into Gerties mind? Is there something else we dont know? FriendProxy Owens proposal is an excellent little jab at the way that algorithms are always getting us wrong, and it brought up an interesting point. Annie and Owens relationship seemed to be crescendoing toward a romantic union and Owen himself seemed to express that desire but instead they settle into a happy place of friendship. It was a smart expectation for the shows writers to upend. Annies new dogs name is named Harpo, and if you remember, Ellies dog (who Annie lost) was named Groucho. Nice little symmetry there. On 12 October, Secretary General Mikuriya met, at WCO Headquarters, wth a high-level delegation from Turkmenistan, led by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, His Excellency Mr. Rashid Meredov. Discussions focused on enhancing cooperation and increasing Turkmenistans involvement in the work of the WCO, with particular emphasis on connectivity at the border between Customs administrations to facilitate trade, transport and travel, as well as to protect society from the threats posed by illicit trade and transnational crime, including terrorism. The use of modern technology, international best practice and the importance of skilled human resources in Customs were all emphasized. Minister Meredov highlighted the progress made in his country for the promotion and facilitation of international trade with the recent inauguration of the new international Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashi. The Secretary General welcomed the renewed engagement of Turkmenistan and said that the WCO stood ready to provide assistance to the Customs Administration as it advanced with its modernization programme. It was agreed that the dialogue initiated on this occasion would be followed up through the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Brussels and the Customs Administration in Ashgabat. "In a bold new book about Hayek, the George Mason economist says "too much time and effort has been put into repackaging and marketing a fixed doctrine of eternal truths." by Nick Gillespie "With populism on the rise, capitalism under attack, and socialism back in vogue, the work of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek (18991992) is more relevant than ever. Hayek started his career as a wunderkind professor, joining the faculty of the London School of Economics in his early thirties, and was a central figure in the debates that consumed the profession during the Great Depression. He would go on to spend most of his seven-decade long career as an outsider, his work diverging from the mainstream following the Keynesian revolution of the 1930s and '40s. Eventually the world circled back to Hayek's ideas, and he was one of two recipients of the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. "Today, Hayek is best known for his enduring insights on emergent order, for his critique of central planning, and for his argument that all knowledge in society is decentralized and that a modern economy thus relies the coordinating role of prices and private property. In his final book, The Fatal Conceit, Hayek attacked wrote that "the curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." Read more and listen to the podcast at Reason here... By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 14, 2018 | 08:31 PM | WESTERN KENTUCKY University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi will pay her first visit to Purchase-area schools and hold a reception for alumni and friends Monday in Paducah. Bendapudi will speak to students at Paducah Tilghman and McCracken County high schools at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., respectively. She will attend a reception with administration and faculty at Marshall County High School at 1:30 p.m. Bendapudi and UofL officials will cap off the visit with a reception from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the 1857 Hotel and Event Space, located at 210 Kentucky Ave. Bendapudi took the reins at UofL in May 2018. Previously, she served as provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas and as a marketing professor at both The Ohio State University and Texas A&M University. By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 14, 2018 | 10:19 PM | TRIGG COUNTY The Trigg County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help identifying a man who may be trying to impersonate a police officer. According to deputies, early Saturday morning, a white male driving a silver or light colored car with blue emergency lights and possibly a white light, pulled over a vehicle in the area of Canton Road and Linton Road. The man reportedly walked up to the vehicle and asked the driver if he knew why he pulled him over. The driver said the man asked him to step out of the car. The driver said the man was not in a recognized uniform, so he asked him to see his badge. The man then turned around and walked back to his car and left. Anyone with information on who may be trying to impersonate an officer is asked to contact the Trigg County Sheriff's Office. World's Largest English Language News Service with Over 500 Articles Updated Daily "The News You Need TodayFor The World Youll Live In Tomorrow." What You Arent Being Told About The World You Live In How The Conspiracy Theory Label Was Conceived To Derail The Truth Movement How Covert American Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations October 15, 2018 European Globalists Cower In Fear After Historic Trump-Quake Leaves Germany In Ruins By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers A thought-provoking new Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that the fears held by European Union globalists that they occupied a special place in Trumps Hell, were fully realized hours ago when a defiant President Trump appeared in a nationwide television broadcast interview to declare that the United States has no ally worse than the EUand whose damning words were translated into reality when Trump-loyal forces in Germany destroyed Chancellor Angela Merkel in an historic political earthquake election the likes of which have not been seen in nearly 70 yearsthat was quickly followed by Trump-loyal anti-immigrant forces in Belgium, also, nearing an historic election winboth of which now have these elite socialist EU globalists cowering in fear over what their fate may be in the rapidly approaching European Parliament elections expected to be held in 2326 May 2019, where a total of 751 Members of the European Parliament currently representing some 500 million people from 28 member states will be elected by a continent seething in such anger, some experts are now seeing parallels between today and the late-1930s, which led to World War II. [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.] According to this report, for nearly 70 years, an elitist socialist cadre of Western European leaders enacted a master plan to enslave their entire population by seducing them with cradle-to-grave social services, while at the same removing from these people all of the vestiges of their Christian heritage and centuries long fought for freedoms. In April-2015, this report continues, and in a furtherance of this enslavement plan, the leftist-socialist German Chancellor Angela Merkel unilaterally suspended the EUs 1990 protocol that forced refugees to seek asylum in the first European country in which they set foot, thus flooding Europe with tens-of-millions of radical Islamic immigrants who would wipe out this continents Christian heritage and national borders foreverbut whose shocking action saw the British peoples awakening from their decades long slumber and mounting a last ditch defense effort to save their nation and their freedomsand is now called the 23 June 2016 Brexit vote to remove the UK from the EU. Coinciding, in 2016, with the British peoples awaking to the full and terrifying leftist-socialist plot to enslave Europe and destroy all of its member nation borders, this report details, New York City real estate billionaire Donald Trump began sounding the clarion cry to the American people that what was happening in the European Union, was being planned by these elitists for the United States, tooand whose quickly awaking peoples, seeing the true danger their nation was in, put him into power to protect them against. Unlike past politicians in America, who rode their citizens anger into power, only to see them becoming part of the elite forces they were elected to battle against, this report notes, President Trump has waged total war against these leftist-socialists exposing them all for the hypocritical demons they actually aretwo of which exposures occurred this past week to directly influence the German and Belgium elections whose peoples were shocked when Trump-loyal media outlets in the US and EU reported how France was refusing to honor the policeman, Arnaud Beltrame, who gave up his own life to save hostages from ISIS terrorists, because it might offend the feelings of Muslimswhile at the same time, a tearful world watched in stunned silence when a Christian pastor, Trump had singlehandedly freed from captivity in Turkey, fell to his knees in front of the most powerful man in the world in prayer to God, his president and his nationthus leaving it clear to understand why one Christian leader in America proclaimed about Trump, I love him so much I can hardly explain it. Freed from brutal Islamic captivity Pastor Andrew Brunson kneels in prayer before President Trump in White House Oval Office on 13 October 2018 To other American citizens loving President Trump, too, for his exposing of these leftist-socialist demons, this report says, is now on full display all across the United Statessuch as the small city of Johnson City-Tennessee, whose 70,000 citizens this past week were overwhelmed by the over 90,000 people who came to see Trump speak in an auditorium that only held 8,000. As to why tens-of-millions of the American people are flocking to Trump, this report explains, is due to their absolute terror of the leftist-socialist demons he continues to exposeand whose satanic actions this past week alone include: A Republican Party candidate, running for office in Vermont , being told by the Democrats that they are going to rape her for days as its open season for Republican death. A Hillary Clinton supporting rapper named T.I. posting a demonic video portraying First Lady Melania Trump as a whore doing striptease acts in the White House. Hillary Clinton herself now proclaiming that her husband President Bill Clinton wasnt abusing his power when he forced a 22-year-old White House intern to perform oral sex on him in the Oval Office. A Pennsylvania County Democratic Party Chairman being told to resign because he posted on Facebook I Stand for the Flag in defense of embattled police. Leftist ANTFIA mobs in Portland-Oregon burning the American Flag and beating defenseless Christian patriots trying to prayand whose mayor ordered the police not to stop this mob violence. The newly installed San Francisco School Board President ordering that students are no longer allowed to say the Pledge of Allegianceand must now in its place recite passages from radical black authors and gay leaders. Most astonishingly, though, this report concludes, is that these leftist-socialist demons being exposed by President Trump remain oblivious to the fact that their insanity is playing out on television screens in every corner of the European Union terrifying these people as much as the American people area fact much too belatedly finally noticed by The New York Times who, in a rare timeout from their hourly destroy Trump at all cost campaign, posted an article three days ago titled Democrats Are Blowing It, Again whose opening words of lament and sadness state: Michael Kelly, the legendary journalist who died covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003, once wrote that the animating impulse of modern liberalism was to marginalize itself and then enjoy its own company. And to make itself as unattractive to as many as possible. If it were a person, he added, it would pierce its tongue. I thought of that line while reading a tweet from Nate Cohn, The Timess polling guru: Take everything together, and, on balance, its been a good 10 days of state/cd polling for the GOP in a lot of important battlegrounds. The cd refers to congressional districts, where Republicans now have at least a fighting chance of holding on to a majority despite the widely anticipated blue wave. Even better are Republican chances of holding the Senate. On Sept. 30, RealClearPolitics gave the G.O.P. a lock on 47 seats, with 9 tossups. Now its 50 and 6, with races in Tennessee , Texas , and North Dakota increasingly leaning right. Donald Trumps approval rating is also up from a month ago. This wasnt supposed to happen. Not during a midterm when the opposition party almost always gains seats. Not after 21 months of Trumpian chaos. Not after a year of #MeToo. Not after Christine Blasey Fords emotional testimony and Brett Kavanaughs angry retort. And yet it is. Predictably. Once again, American liberalism has pierced its own tongue. October 15, 2018 EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL. [Note: Many governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagree with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their agents has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit us, and others like us, that is exampled in numerous places, including HERE.] [Note: The WhatDoesItMean.com website was created for and donated to the Sisters of Sorcha Faal in 2003 by a small group of American computer experts led by the late global technology guru Wayne Green (1922-2013) to counter the propaganda being used by the West to promote their illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq .] [Note: The word Kremlin (fortress inside a city) as used in this report refers to Russian citadels, including in Moscow , having cathedrals wherein female Schema monks (Orthodox nuns) reside, many of whom are devoted to the mission of the Sisters of Sorcha Faal.] Judge Kavanaugh Nears Lynching By Jim Crow Era Uppity Negro Standard Of Justice Perfected By Democrats To Protect Slavery October Revolution Forces Gather In AmericaWith Only Trump Standing In Their Way Trump Meets Top QAnon Backer In White House As Australia Becomes Latest Nation To Rout Soros Forces Return To Main Page #Samcheong Re-education Camp Victims of detention camp during military junta file damage suit against gov't Former victims of forced labor and harsh military training at a detention camp set up by the military junta in the early 1980s have filed a damage suit against the government, a la... #S Korea-Pacific islands-FM talks S. Korea, Pacific islands hold FM talks Foreign ministers from South Korea and 14 Pacific island countries held virtual talks on Tuesday during which they agreed to hold a summit of their leaders, Seoul's foreign ministr... Lessons from Zimbabwe's failed land reforms Giving communal land to individual households, rather than mostly corrupt traditional overseers, will unlock real value, energy and entrepreneurship. Zimbabwe's failed populist-based land reform is a salutary lesson for South Africa on how land reform must be pragmatic, safe-guard commercial agriculture and focus on boosting ordinary subsistence, small, medium and emerging black commercial farmers already committed to farming. In 2016, then Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe declared a state of disaster for agriculture, a declaration which allowed international donors to help. This declaration was also a clear and very public admittance that land reform had failed. The effect of Zimbabwe's failed land reform programme is clear. According to the United Nation's children's agency, UNICEF, around 3 million Zimbabweans need regularly food aid. Around 40% of Zimbabwean households are hungry. "We have not seen these levels of malnutrition in more than 15 years," said Jane Muita, UNICEF's Zimbabwe representative. The World Food Programme (WFP) reckoned that over a million people in Zimbabwe's rural areas will face hunger during the 2018 and 2019 dry season, which is between October and March. China has donated US$5m to help starving Zimbabweans in the rural areas over this year's dry season. Ironically, in 2015 Mugabe maintained there was "no suffering" in his country. Mugabe, who addressed a Zanu-PF women's league meeting in Harare asked angrily: "But what is that the people are suffering from? Didn't we give them land?" Giving back land a cathartic imperative A decade ago Mugabe, with the country facing economic collapse and his own leadership being challenged within Zanu-PF, launched a populist land reform programme to strengthen his own waning position within the governing party, which saw white-owned land being expropriated. The land reform boosted his and Zanu-PF's popularity, particularly in the rural areas. Because the act of colonialism started off by forcefully taken African land, the act of returning the land is an almost existential, deeply emotional and cathartic imperative, to undo, so to speak, colonialism. This means that land reform can easily be used by opportunistic leaders to bolster their support among blacks as Mugabe did. Furthermore, it also makes land reform susceptible to populism, revenge and ideological reasons. For another, redistribution strategies are by their very nature highly prone to corruption, rent-seeking and manipulation this is often one of the main reasons why redistribution strategies in almost all African and developing countries fail. All of this means that land reform will have to be done honestly, pragmatically and to expand, rather than destroy, the industrial base of a country. In Zimbabwe, land reform was absolutely necessary to address past land injustices, but Mugabe's land reform was simply exploiting the necessity of land reform for purely selfish gain. Last week new Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa promised compensation to white farmers who lost their land during the disastrous expropriation of land by his predecessor. The white farmers are owed US$9bn in compensation for improvements made on the farms before they were expropriated. However, Lands and Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri, responding recently to opposition member questions in parliament said it is not the state that will be paying the compensation, but individuals who received the expropriated farms, will be expected to do so. Shiri said: "It makes common sense that instead of labouring the tax payer, the person who is directly benefiting from those improvements contributes towards the compensation of the former farmers." He added: "The policy is that the new farmer pays for the improvement on the farm and that money is used to compensate the white farmer, and that is government's position." Land reform undermined agricultural productivity Before the land reform, the country was agriculturally almost self-sufficient, but land reform collapsed agricultural productivity to such an extent that the country now imports most products. The land reform focused exclusively on taking successful commercial farms. This almost immediately undermined agricultural productivity. This meant Zimbabwe's exports income was immediately and devastatingly cut. Its food production was also immediately disrupted as productivity plummeted. Although some of the land was transferred to poor blacks who had basic farming skills, a lot of the best land was transferred to Zanu-PF politicians. Even the ordinary Zimbabweans who got land and who had real farming skills often lacked the commercial management skills which modern commercial farming now demands. But most importantly, land reform in Zimbabwe did not empower the genuine subsistence, small and medium and emerging commercial black farmers. It did not upscale them, give them access to finance, help them to adopt new production methods and diversify their products, or secure markets for them. The Zimbabwean land reform failed, like black economic empowerment in Zimbabwe and in South Africa; because it did not transfer land rights to blacks already in business, especially in the SMMEs sector the real black entrepreneurs but transferred commercially successful assets to political capitalists with no business inclination or skills whatsoever. This undermined, rather than added value. Land reform in Zimbabwe was not part of a long-term industrialisation strategy, which aimed to create entirely new commercial black farmers, develop a manufacturing sector aligned to it and establish industrially relevant technical higher education institutions to produce new agricultural related skills. Assets not secure The expropriation undermined market confidence in the credibility of the government's policies; it undermined the value of property and disrupted the financial system because it disrupted the system of seeking credit based on one's assets. Foreign and local investors moved their money out of the country and started divesting because their assets were not secure. There was a jobs bloodbath in the commercial agriculture sector. This not only caused unemployment within the agriculture, but within the sectors that feed into the commercial agriculture economy. The destruction of commercial agriculture also damaged the manufacturing sector aligned to agriculture. The sectors provided the inputs to commercial agriculture which created jobs which meant over and above the jobs on the commercial farms, jobs in the manufacturing sectors aligned to agriculture were also lost. But as importantly, the populist, chaotic and vengeful land reform also undermined the financial system underpinning the economy, market confidence which is needed for new local and foreign investments and the credibility of the government's broader economy policies. Zimbabwean economist John Robertson puts it succinctly: "By destroying the collateral value of a vitally important national asset, government removed billions of dollars' worth of collateral value from Zimbabwe's economy." Competent public sector needed Land reform is complicated and demands complex coordination and management of market perceptions. It therefore needs a competent public sector to manage it. The state institutions, whether state development finance institutions or agricultural marketing boards, that were supposed to provide new finance or skills transfer to black farmers were all at near collapse, because incompetent Zanu-PF cronies were appointed to run them. The money for development of black farmers was corruptly siphoned off. Zimbabwe's land reform did not include building housing in urban areas. Again, any meaningful land reform programme must include providing mass housing. A housing programme must be part of the industrialisation strategy building a manufacturing sector, expanding industrially relevant technical skills and fostering technology development based on producing the materials for the built programme. As importantly, in the rural areas, land controlled by traditional leaders through customary law remained untouched. This means that the vast majority of rural dwellers are still living as second class citizens, with little rights of tenure, on communal controlled by traditional leaders as if they personally own the land. Although they technical "own" land, they cannot invest in it, use it for commercial purpose or to secure finance, because their property "rights" can be taken away from them the moment they disagree with the traditional leader or the Zanu-PF party or leader. Giving communal land to individual households, rather than mostly corrupt traditional overseers, will unlock real value, energy and entrepreneurship not only in Zimbabwe, but across the continent. William Gumede is Associate Professor in the Wits School of Governance. This article was first published on News24. The new finance minister must hit the road running The latest reshuffling of South Africas finance minister may have negative origins but it brings with it some positive energy. Nhlanhla Nene resigned as finance minister after it emerged that he lied about the nature of his contact with the controversial Gupta family, the friends of former President Jacob Zuma who stand accused of championing massive misappropriation of public funds in a process branded as state capture. In an initial response to a journalists question, Nene claimed that he had only met the Guptas in passing. But in his recent testimony to a commission investigating state capture he admitted that hed met Gupta family members on numerous occasions, including a number of visits to their house and their offices. The inconsistency tarnished his integrity and sparked massive public criticism. Within a week of making his admissions he resigned. South Africas President Cyril Ramaphosa immediately appointed former South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni as the new finance minister. On the one hand Nenes departure must be hailed as setting a new tone for South African politicians, particularly for the cabinet. By falling on his sword, he has taken responsibility for his actions a rarity in South African politics. Its tempting to cast his action in stone as the Nene Rule that sets a standard for politicians to resign when in the wrong. On the other hand the appointment of Mboweni brings back someone with considerable skills and the political finesse needed to steer South Africa out of its current economic quagmire. Mboweni needs to hit the ground running. In late October he must present the countrys medium term budget policy framework. All eyes will be on how he steers the challenge of rebalancing the national budget. His political skills and ranking might come in handy. Equal to the task Mboweni takes over the finance portfolio at a difficult time. Tough decisions will be required in a hostile environment as a strong populist wave sweeps through the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). Its therefore a positive that he commands a more senior political ranking than Nene had within the ANC. Mboweni claimed the 11th position in the tallying of the votes for the ANCs National Executive Committee (NEC) during the ruling partys 2017 elective conference that made Ramaphosa the President. The NEC is made up of 80 members and is the ANCs highest decision making body between conferences. In addition to this, Mboweni has a strong financial background. He served as governor of the South African Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2009. Prior that he served in Nelson Mandelas first cabinet as minister of labour. Both experiences should help equip him to meet the economic challenges facing the country. Theres no doubt that hes knowledgeable about financial matters and is respected among investors. His tenure at the Reserve Bank should ensure a smooth working relationship between the minister of finance, the national treasury and the central bank. As a previous governor, Mboweni understands this important relationship while valuing the autonomy and the independence of the various institutions and their responsibilities. High expectations of Mboweni Mboweni will need to be a quick study. He has only two weeks in which to familiarise himself with the details of the medium term budget. He cant afford to disappoint. This years budget will be watched more intensely than usual by key stakeholders, including investors and credit rating agencies because it follows closely on an economic stimulus and recovery plan announced by Ramaphosa. Details are expected to be unveiled in the medium term budget. The medium term budget is also expected to signal how South Africa is dealing with its fiscal challenges. This is where government faces its very hard choices. The ultimate aim must be to increase economic growth and eradicate unemployment. But to achieve these objectives the government must revise its expenditure priorities. Expenditure on civil service remuneration, social grants and interest on government debt currently equates to 70% of the governments tax revenue. This is clearly untenable. If not addressed, South Africa will face a fiscal cliff the point at which these three expenditure items account for all government revenue and make spending on anything virtually impossible. At the same time, Mboweni will have to work closely with Pravin Gordhan, the Minister of Public Enterprises, on the restructuring of state-owned enterprises. The precarious financial position of a number of state-owned enterprises is placing a heavy burden on taxpayers. Removing this burden will release resources that can be used to stimulate the domestic economy. Mboweni must therefore help with tough decisions about unaffordable vanity projects. And, finally, Mboweni must sort out the challenges facing the Public Investment Corporation which is responsible for managing civil servants pension funds and is worth over R1,5 trillion. Restoring trust South Africa is in serious economic difficulty. It also faces a trust deficit owing to the state capture project of the Zuma administration. The golden triangle of trust between the government, the public and the business community has been broken. No country can succeed without this. Mboweni can play an important role in restoring it. Jannie Rossouw, Head of School of Economic & Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. WASHINGTON (WLFI) Indiana Sen. Todd Young is bringing new legislation to the White House to fight the opioid epidemic. He introduced and co-led six bills, and they are heading to President Trump to be signed into law. The bipartisan legislation authorizes additional funding for states. It allows for new developments and research by the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration. Sen. Young said research is an important step in ending the crisis. "Many medical professionals admitted that more research needed to be done on the clinical practices, there was in recent history an over-prescription of opioids to many individuals," said Young. The new legislation also provides resources to the U.S. Postal Service to stop illegal drug shipments at the border. JASPER COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) Jasper County Sheriff deputies and Indiana State Police investigators have located what they believe is the trailer involved in a fatal hit-and-run from last week. Sheriff Terry Risner said investigators found the white trailer in the southwestern Illinois town of East St. Louis, Friday. Sheriff Risner said they were able to track down the trailer based off of the semi's timeline. As we reported, a business near the intersection of U.S. 231 and State Road 16 captured a picture from its surveillance camera. Police are now working to find the cab and the driver involved. Risner said the company that owns the trailer is working with investigators. Forty-year-old Melissa Deno of Rensselaer died in the crash. According to the Jasper County Sheriff's Office, around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, police received a report of a crash between a car and a semi at the intersection of U.S. 231 and State Road 16. Deputies said the vehicle had gone under the semi, shearing off the roof of Deno's vehicle. Within minutes, a second call was received that the semi drove away westbound on State Road 16. Deno was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators are still searching for the white day cab. Risner said now that it involves an out-of-state investigation, the investigation may take longer. If you have any information, contact Detective Buschman at the Jasper County Sheriff's Office at 219-866-7344 or by emailing tips@jaspercountypolice.com. LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) -- The Veterans Honor Flight is taking off for the last time Tuesday. Today veterans were honored with a reception, which included a special guest speaker. A George W. Bush impersonator stopped by to thank Greater Lafayette veterans for their service. The room was full of veterans and family members watching them receive awards. The veteran's flight has been a program in the community for 7 years. Co-Founder's, Dana Vann and Pam Mow thought it would be a fun to surprise attendees with the presidential appearance. He's actually from Florida and we found him on an Honor Flight summit, said Mow. The Honor Flight Network had a summit every year and he was the guest and we just fell in love with him. This is the second time we've invited him to town Mow and Vann want the community to support the vets by welcoming them home when the flight returns. Come out to the airport on Tuesday night at 7:30 and welcome these veterans home. Many of them didn't get a welcome home when they came home from service. Great way to thank them and great way to welcome them home, said Vann. Vann and Mow are both mothers of fallen soldiers who died in active military at age 22. News 18's Kiyerra Lake will be on final flight, Flight 22, on Tuesday with the full story. China News on Women 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 New branding comes to Wrexham as Arriva Trains Wales leaves the station forever This article is old - Published: Monday, Oct 15th, 2018 Sunday marked both the end and dawn of a new era for rail passengers as Arriva Trains Wales ended its services for Wales and Borders passengers, with the new branding locally being the first signs of the new way forward. The company, which has operated the franchise for 15 years, withdrew its bid to continue running the service in October 2017. It was announced earlier this year that the contract had been awarded to French company and Spanish-owned KeolisAmey with Transport For Wales overseeing the operation. James Price, chief Executive of transport for Wales, says that passengers can expect their rail service to be transformed within just five years. It is hoped that by 2023 95 per cent of passengers journeys will take place on new, higher capacity trains and there will also be 285 extra services every weekday. From yesterday, the Transport for Wales brand will start to appear on uniforms, around stations and on trains and posters, said Mr Price. Passengers will be welcomed by the same staff, and travel on the same trains on the same routes and timetables and, importantly, their existing tickets will all still be valid as before. Behind the scenes, lots more positive changes will be starting to happen, and well be keeping passengers informed all the way along. A railmap of improvements has now been published for customers. Coming Down the Track details a raft of transformational improvements by 2025 that include new and improved stations, better services, more carriages, new and completely rebuilt trains, better-value fares, pay-as-you-go travelcards, free wifi, improved accessibility for those with mobility problems at all stations, and new websites and apps to help passengers stay informed and buy tickets easily. In Wrexham such changes include the planned introduction of new services from May 2019 between Chester and Liverpool Lime Street with two of these services extended to serve Wrexham. Other plans include doubling the delivery of a North East Wales Metro with increased frequency to two trains per hour on the Wrexham to Bidston line from December 2021. Plans also include: Frequency of Wrexham to Bidston service doubled by 2022 Extra services from Wrexham to Cardiff and Liverpool by 2023 Investment at Wrexham General Shotton stations by 2024 Extra services from Wrexham to Cardiff and Liverpool by 2023 Mr Price explained that the Transport for Wales team has planned all improvements with the difference a reliable rail service makes to peoples lives as the primary motivation. We know what reliable rail travel actually means to people, and its so much more than getting from A to B, he continued. Its making a job interview in plenty of time, getting home in time to bath the children, or arriving at work well before your shift starts. This contract was awarded on the basis of exactly that what it will deliver for passengers in Wales and the Borders. So this timeline has been developed with the aim of giving people confidence that the train will get them where they need or want to be on time and in comfort, using a value-for-money, reliable, frequent service. And not just to get to work or school, but also for days out and trips away so, for example, well see new fare initiatives for 6 18 year olds by 2020, and there will be earlier first trains with 22% more Sunday services across Wales by 2020. The improvements we need to get to that point more, better trains and stations, new and more frequent services, additional capacity will take some time to deliver. Some areas will see significant improvements more quickly both north and south Wales will see additional services within a year, for example, there will be new services between Chester and Liverpool in the first half of 2019, and we are also extending two of these services to serve Wrexham. Added to this, the frequency of the service from Wrexham to Bidston will be doubled by 2022. Mr Price added: We really are putting our money where our mouth is. Rather than the industry standard of 30-minute delay repay, there will be a new commitment to refunds for delays of 15 minutes or more from January 2019. That journey starts on Sunday and we hope the people of Wales and the Borders will join us on it. Tweeting over the weekend Arriva Trains Wales tweeted to say: As the Arriva Trains Wales franchise comes to a close we would like to thank all of our customers. Passengers will be able to get more information and buy tickets from Transport for Wales Rail Services new customer website tfwrail.wales / trctrenau.cymru. Wrexham people supplying spice to towns vulnerable sentenced This article is old - Published: Monday, Oct 15th, 2018 A Judge in Mold has handed down sentences to an organised crime group in Wrexham that were supplying spice to people in Wrexham, some being part of the visible vulnerable in the town centre. The policing investigation focused around an address on Churton Drive in Wrexham where lots and lots of comings and goings were observed, with a key link between the cohort of homeless in town and the supplier of drugs being proved. Officers targeting those supplying New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), formerly known as legal highs, in the town also seized cash and drugs at the time of raids and arrests. Joshua Partyka, aged 26 from Wrexham, was jailed for six years for a range of drug related offences. Danny Jones, aged 20, from Wrexham, was sentenced to two years. James Dunn, aged 42 from Wrexham, was handed a two year eight month sentence. Lorna Jones, aged 26, from Wrexham, was given a two year suspended sentence. Issues with substances such as spice and mamba in the town centre have been well-documented for sometime, however such problems all came to a head in 2017 when a series of images dating from 2015 onwards made national news, that appeared to be the trigger for the investigation that resulted in todays sentencing. DI Mark Hughes of North Wales Police gives an overview of the operation of how that starting point ended up at arrests, charges and the sentences, plus further images of the drugs and cash recovered along with pictures from inside the office: As well as street supply, details were given at a press conference of how spice was also sprayed onto posters of motorbikes which were then sent into HMP Berwyn and other prisons, and those handling the letters became ill due the strength of the spraying. A value of 20-30 per gram was attributed to the prison price, with it noted a single sheet of A4 sized paper would be worth a sizeable sum. Police were keen to point out that the operation showed how North Wales Police were both working from an enforcement angle on the issues of NPS, as well as partnership working with the overall aim to help those affected as part of the much documented local efforts. Inspector Vic Powell said that there was a noticeable improvement locally after the arrests: It goes to show we can enforce and engage at the same time. We can arrest all day long, but this has to dovetail with our wider work. Wrexham is not alone with the affects of synthetic canniboids, with it noted that police and other groups from London, Blackpool, Manchester, Staffordshire and across the UK have been speaking with local efforts to share good practice and various learning experiences on how to tackle the problem. Inspector Vic Powell went on to ask for local help to provide intelligence on local drug supply: Information can be passed by contacting the control room direct via the web live chat or phoning 101. The result of the state election held in Bavaria on Sunday is a major blow to the grand coalition (Christian Democratic Union/CDU, Christian Social Union/CSU and Social Democratic Party/SPD) that rules Germany. After the conservative Union (CDU and CSU) and SPD achieved their worst results in the post-war period in the general election in September 2017, these parties suffered an even worse defeat in the first state election to be held this year, losing collectively more than 21 percent as the electorate registered opposition to the governments right-wing policies. The CSU, which has governed the state of Bavaria since 1957, gained just 37.3 percent of the vote and failed to gain an absolute majority. It was its worst result since 1950. At the last state election in 2013 the party won 47.7 percent. The SPD lost even more votes than the CSU and received just 9.5 percenta fall of 11.1 percent and its worst result in a state election in post-war history. At a federal level, the Social Democrats are now polling at 15 percent, a historic low. We could not convince voters and that is bitter, said the visibly aggrieved SPD chair Andrea Nahles on election night. One of the reasons for the miserable result was the poor performance of the grand coalition in Berlin. The SPD had been unable to liberate itself from the political disputes between CDU and CSU. The result in Bavaria confirms the deep-seated hatred on the part of workers and young people for the SPDthe party that introduced the anti-social Agenda 2010 policy, which has plunged millions into poverty and created Europes largest low-wage sector. The SPDs performance in the grand coalition has consisted in intensifying the policy of militarism, the build-up of the police and intelligence agencies and social cuts, based on the support of the most right-wing forces. The CSU chairman and federal interior minister, Horst Seehofer, has only been able to implement his Master Plan for Migration (largely based on the policy of the far-right AfD) with the backing of the SPD. The same applies to the still-current domestic intelligence agency (BND) president Hans-Georg Maassen, who works closely together with the AfD and far-right circles. When thousands of neo-Nazis marched through the city of Chemnitz at the end of August, chasing migrants and leftists and attacking a Jewish restaurant, both Maassen and Seehofer expressed solidarity with the right-wing mob. Popular opposition is mounting as the SPD cements its relations with the far-right. One day before the election in Bavaria, a quarter of a million people took to the streets of Berlin to protest against the AfD and the right-wing agenda of the federal government and the opposition parties. Despite an increase in voter turnout of nearly 10 percent in Bavaria compared to 2013, this sentiment could find only a distorted expression within the existing party system. The main party to profit was the Greens, who received 17.5 percent of the vote, about 9 percent more than five years ago. According to the election research institute Infratest dimap, the main increase in votes for the Greens came from former voters of the SPD (210,000) and the CSU (180,000). In addition, about 120,000 former non-voters gave their votes to the Greens this time round. Some may have voted for the Greens with the notion that the party is less aggressive when it comes to refugee policy than other parties. But that is an illusion. After the former Green pacifists backed Germanys first post-World War II military intervention (in Yugoslavia) in 1999, in the face of fierce popular opposition, the party also shifted far to the right in the sphere of social and refugee policy. Wherever the Greens are involved in government they back police-state measures and the brutal deportation of refugees. In the state of Hesse, the ruling coalition of the CDU and Greens, headed by Volker Bouffier (CDU), has set new records for deportations. Nearly 600 men and women were deported in the first four months of this year alone50 percent more than in the same period in 2017. Germanys next state election will take place in Hesse in just under two weeks. In Bavaria, the Greens are preparing to form a coalition with Seehofers CSU and enforce its far-right political line against growing popular resistance. The partys leading candidates in Bavaria, Ludwig Hartmann and Katharina Schulze, both expressed their support for an alliance with the CSU, along with leading Green politicians based in Berlin. Green Party spokeswoman Franziska Brantner stressed, Following the negotiations over a Jamaica coalition (a coalition of the conservatives, Greens and neo-liberal Free Democratic Party) at a federal level, we are prepared to go all the way, we want to take part constructively, and to this end show we are also more determined than the SPD. Immediately after the election, however, there were indications that the CSU is seeking to form an administration with the state-based Free Voters (FW), which received 11.6 percent of the vote (gaining 2.6 percent). On the night of the election Bavarian Premier Markus Soder (CSU) declared the CSU had a clear government mandate and sought a civic alliance with the Free Voters. FW chairman Hubert Aiwanger announced he would put feasible proposals on Soders table. The FDP enters the new parliament with 5.1 percent of the vote while the Left Party, with 3.2 percent, failed to clear the 5 percent hurdle for representation. The Left Party is widely regarded by workers and young people as a political foe rather than an alternative. In those administrations where the Left Party governs in alliance either with the SPD or Greens, it administers austerity policies with disastrous consequences. In the sphere of refugee policy, the party propounds extreme right-wing and nationalist views. Last week the head of the Left Partys parliamentary faction, Sahra Wagenknecht, spoke out openly against the mass demonstration which took place on Saturday in Berlin. When we talk about open borders for all, then we refer to a demand that most people find unreal and completely alien, and theyre right, she explained, echoing the AfD. It is already clear that her newly founded movement Stand Up is nothing other than a right-wing and nationalist movement aimed at opposing the growing resistance to racism and xenophobia. Wagenknecht and the Left Party are worried about the growth of social and political opposition and have adopted the right-wing, xenophobic propaganda of the AfD. She promptly won the acclaim of AfD leader Alexander Gauland. Gauland, who just a few days ago published an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung largely based on a speech by Hitler in 1933, praised Wagenknecht as a courageous voice for reason. Although the ruling elites in Germany and their leading media and parties systematically promote the AfD and legitimise its noxious policies, the right-wing extremists received fewer votes than expected. The AfD result of around 10 percent was lower than its total in Bavaria for the federal election in September 2017 (12.4 percent). This is no reason for complacency, however. No matter which government is formed in Bavaria, it will invariably shift further to the right and orient itself even more to the program of the AfD. The threat from the right can only be stopped by the independent mobilisation of the working class on the basis of a socialist program. The building of the Socialist Equality Party (SGP) is therefore of crucial importance. Nearly 250,000 people demonstrated Saturday in Berlin against racism, the far-right Alternative for Germanys witch-hunting of immigrants, and the reactionary policies of the grand coalition government. Demonstration at Potsdamer Platz Organized around the central slogan #indivisiblesolidarity instead of exclusion, the protest was one of the largest in recent German history. The organizers had expected 40,000 participants and were stunned when more than six times that number showed up to demonstrate. The opening rally at Berlins Alexanderplatz was jam packed, and when the front of the demonstration arrived at the Victory Column, just under three kilometres away, many still had not set off from the starting point. The protest was the culmination of a growing mobilization against the grand coalition government of the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, which is implementing the xenophobic and right-wing extremist positions of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in all major policy areas. In recent weeks, demonstrations against the AfD and the right-wing policies of the grand coalition have taken place in a number of cities. They have for the most part been given little coverage by the media. Most recently more than 40,000 people demonstrated in Munich and Hamburg against racism and a new, right-wing police law. Especially since the events in Chemnitz and Dortmund, where far-right thugs and neo-fascists chased down foreigners, evoking sympathetic and supportive comments from the police, the secret service and the federal interior minister, resistance to the government has been increasing. On Saturday, protesters carried banners and posters saying, No to Hate Against Muslims, No Place for Nazis and Racism is Not an Alternative. One banner read, Solidarity with the Victims of Right-Wing, Racist and Anti-Semitic Violence. In addition to the fight against racism and xenophobia, demonstrators opposed the governments anti-social policies and the growth of economic inequality. Ulrich Schneider, chief executive of the Joint Welfare Association, warned of the effects of rising poverty in Germany and called for urgent action by the government against uncontrolled increases in rents in many cities. He also denounced the efforts to pit the growing ranks of the poor and needy against immigrants and asylum seekers. An employee of the low-wage airline Ryanair spoke about the brutal conditions confronting the workers and the strikes by Ryanair pilots and flight attendants in recent months. A section of the 250,000 person demonstration The demonstration was called by the Indivisible alliance, a coalition of some 4,500 associations, organizations and individuals. The alliance was joined by church organizations, charities and trade unions. Many celebrities, including the well known actor Benno Furmann, the television presenter Jan Bohmermann and the band Die Arzte, supported the protest. In the evening, a performance was given by songwriters Konstantin Wecker and Herbert Gronemeyer. When it became clear in the run-up to the demonstration that the turnout could be bigger than originally anticipated, a number of political parties attempted to become involved. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) spoke of a great affirmation of tolerance and cosmopolitanism. Instead of sealing off [borders] and promoting nationalism, he declared, what was needed was more diversity and solidarity. This was said by an SPD minister whose party supports the so-called master plan against foreigners drawn up by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of the Christian Social Union (CSU). The plan is a scheme for locking up immigrants in camps, where they can be bureaucratically abused and deported as quickly as possible. Last year, in the previous grand coalition government, then-Justice Minister Heiko Maas had attacked anti-G20 demonstrators in Hamburg as left-wing extremists and called for the holding of a rock against the left concert. At the demonstration, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality PartySGP) distributed many thousands of leaflets with the headline The fight against right-wing terror requires a socialist perspective. At two information stands, the SGP announced the publication of a new book titled Why are they back? Historical falsification, political conspiracy and the return of fascism in Germany. The book attracted great interest and sparked many discussions. SGP information stand A young woman who had come to the demonstration with her mother from Luckenwalde in Brandenburg expressed great concern over the strengthening of the AfD and the increase in right-wing violence. I think it is high time to fight right-wing tendencies and violence, she said. It is already the case that too much is accepted that is inhuman. We saw in World War II where that leads. In my opinion, we can see the beginnings here. We have to oppose that. Another demonstrator said she was participating in the protest to deliver on a promise she had made to her grandmother that she would never again experience such terrible events as she had experienced in her lifetime. In many discussions, the right-wing policies of the grand coalition came up. It is widely understood that the establishment of a system of camps and the brutal deportation of refugees means that the government has adopted the slogan of the AfD, Foreigners Out! A young man from Frankfurt am Main, who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals, expressed indignation at the governments policy. The treatment of refugees was completely unacceptable, he said. It was also unacceptable that those who wanted to help refugees were treated like criminals, he added. One had to assume, he continued, that in the next few years, because of the effects of climate change and the exploitation of the countries of Africa and the Middle East, more migrants would be forced to leave their homelands. People are outraged by the fact that more than 1,500 refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean this year alone, and the German government and European Union are under such conditions constantly tightening their refugee policies. This was made clear by banners such as Sea Rescue is Not a Crime. Michael said he was appalled and angry about the situation. The sealing off of Europes borders meant the government was allowing hundreds of refugees to drown in the Mediterranean, which is terrible. He stressed that the governments inhumane policy was directed not only against refugees, but also against its own people. While billions of euros were being spent on arming the military, there is just as little money left for refugees as for healthcare, kindergartens and many other social needs, Michael said. At the closing rally, when it was announced from the platform that there were also SPD officials and leaders of the Left Party and the Greens present, there were loud whistles and boos. Maya, a sales assistant from East Berlin, said angrily that it was unheard of for the SPD to be demonstrating here while it carries out in government exactly the policy that is being protested against. Overall, the protest was characterized by a marked contradiction. While many demonstrators were outraged by the AfD, the growth of neo-fascist forces and the right-wing policies of the government, and were looking for a way to counter this, most of those addressing the rally sought to calm things down and de-escalate the situation. Their key words were harmony, reconciliation and neighbourly love. In his speech, the secretary-general of the German section of Amnesty International, Markus Beeko, referred to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was passed almost 70 years ago. This guaranteed, he said, universal and indivisible rights to every human being on this earth. The right to think and say what you want, to believe who you want, to be protected from torture or persecution, to marry whomever you loveit was a great idea for which it was worthwhile getting involved. The Protestant theologian and Berlin General Superintendent Ulrike Trautwein emphasized that hate damages social coexistence. She pointed to the peaceful demonstrations in East Germany in the autumn of 1989. At that time, a common slogan was no violence. The pastor exclaimed, That should connect us today! No violence! She said she feared that racism and anti-Semitism could make social violence socially acceptable again. Jutta Weduwen, executive director of the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ASF), also expressed concern over the increase in social conflict and warned against eroding solidarity and cold feelings. Hannah and Mathew Many protesters responded to such calls for harmony with unease or hostility. This sentiment clearly emerged in a conversation with a couple from Berlin, Hannah and Mathew, who marched while wheeling their child in a pram. Im not as full of love as keeps being stressed here, said Mathew, who comes from Scotland and is studying in Berlin. When I see the right-wing extremists on the rise again, Im angry. What I miss in all the speeches is a fightnot violence, but a political struggle. Its not all about love, added Hannah, who has already completed her biology studies. The cause of the problems is capitalism and the constant intensification of exploitation. We need a left-wing movement that fights against the existing system and does more than say love one another, be nice to each other. What is missing is a vision, a political idea. The demonstration Saturday was marked by the fact that very different positions on the fight against right-wing extremists and neo-fascists existed side by side. But it can already be seen that the aggravation of social conflicts will very quickly lead to a political differentiation. The intervention of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei was directed toward preparing the next stage of the struggle and making clear that the fight against the right requires a struggle against capitalism and therefore a socialist perspective. The SGP has shown in recent years how the rise of the AfD and the neo-fascists was ideologically prepared. It has fought against efforts to downplay the crimes of German imperialism and the Nazi regime by professors such as Jorg Baberowski and Herfried Munkler at Humboldt University. It has warned of and exposed the return of German militarism. It has fought to mobilize the working class against these developments and their source in the capitalist system and all of its political parties and apologists, including the supposedly left organizations such as the SPD, the Left Party and the Greens. The SGP leaflet to the demonstrators states: The only social force that can counter this development and stop the right wing is the international working class. For this reason, we call for the expansion of working class struggles across the continent. The conspiracy of the grand coalition, the intelligence services and right-wing extremists must be ended. It is time to revive the revolutionary socialist traditions of Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Liebknecht, Lenin and Trotsky, defended only by the International Committee of the Fourth International and its sections. The SGP calls on workers and young people to join and to take up the fight against capitalism, fascism and war. The future of Prime Minister Theresa Mays government is on a knife edge on the eve of this weeks crucial talks on the terms of the UKs withdrawal from the European Union (EU). The dilemma in ruling circles is over whether the government can reach a deal with the EU, preserving access to the Single European Market, that does not precipitate a rebellion by the Conservatives pro-Brexit wing and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which might force a general election bringing a Jeremy Corbyn Labour-led government to power. EU officials led by Michel Barnier were in last-minute discussions with UK negotiators in Brussels yesterday, called for by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab. On Tuesday, a meeting of EU ministers will take place, as well as a meeting of Mays cabinet, ahead of a full EU summit Wednesday and Thursday. Contending pro- and anti-EU factions are insisting that May accede to their demands, or they will reject any deal she reaches. Such is the factional acrimony that it is difficult to estimate the numbers involved or how far they are willing to go to achieve their ends. The DUP have 10 MPs elected by constituents in Northern Ireland and prop up Mays minority government. It is opposed to every aspect of Mays Chequers Plan for a soft Brexit maintaining tariff-free single market access, agreed in cabinet in June. The plan proposed, at the EUs insistence, that there be a backstop in placeafter the UK leaves the EUaligning Northern Ireland in a customs arrangement with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member. This was to ensure there will be no hard border between the south and north. An end date for the backstop had been provisionally set for December 2021, but this time limit is opposed by the EU. BBCs Newsnight reported Friday that May intends to get around this by inserting a review clause for the backstop rather than an end-date. This has only inflamed the opposition of the DUP and the Tory Brexiteers. On Saturday, DUP leader Arlene Foster reiterated that her party would be prepared to vote against the Tories upcoming October 29 budget if Mays proposals on the Irish border issue remained in place. Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, she said, I fully appreciate the risks of a no deal (Brexit) but the dangers of a bad deal are worse. This backstop arrangement [proposed by May] would not be temporary. It would be the permanent annexation of Northern Ireland away from the rest of the United Kingdom and forever leave us subject to rules made in a place where we have no say. The pro-EU Observer reported emails between Foster and Barnier, leaked from the highest levels of government, that the DUP was positioning itself for a no deal Brexit. One email claimed, AF [Arlene Foster] said the DUP were ready for a no deal scenario, which she now believed was the likeliest one. The weekend witnessed a flurry of articles and comments against May by her former Brexit Secretary David Daviswho called for a Cabinet rebellion against Mayformer Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees Mogg, the leader of the anti-EU European Research Group. The Sunday Telegraph led its front page with a report that 63 hard Brexit Tory MPs have written a letter to May attacking her Brexit forecasts. The pro-Tory Spectator commented, If the DUP voted against Mays deal, getting it through the Commons would become very difficult. In these circumstances, even if the whips succeeded in reducing the Tory rebellion to 15 or so, which would be an impressive feat of party management, they would still need 25 Labour MPs to back the deal. That would be a stretch. Under the UKs fixed term Parliament legislation, governments now cannot formally make votes an issue of no confidenceand are unable to utilise the calculation that rebel MPs would not vote against a sitting prime minister as this would result in the fall of the government. The Spectator commented that Mogg and co believe they can vote down her deal but still vote to keep the government in place. But it suggested a way in which May could call their bluff by raising the stakes to the highest possible level: These Tory rebels, though, would face an acute dilemma if May, having lost a first vote, responded by announcing she was holding another one. If the Commons again rejected her plan, she would then go to the palace and advise the Queen to call Jeremy Corbyn and ask him to form a government. While this plan would be a high-risk move, it would put the Tory rebels on the spot. The intervention made by former Labour leader Tony Blair into the crisis was extraordinary, in that it was framed openly as a means of avoiding the election of a Labour government. Speaking to Reuters, he described the prospect of a Corbyn government as a truly damaging and challenging situation. He urged Labour MPs not to back any deal May came back with as a supposedly better option than a no-deal Brexit, even though voting down a deal would be really difficult and create more uncertainty. This would lay the basis for a second referendum on Brexit, with the possibility of reversing the 2016 vote. The Tories, he said, would be suicidal to hold a general election on the issue of Brexit, but the majority of Tory MPs could back a second referendum on Brexit. Blair intervened amid claims being made by Mays aides that 25 to 30 Labour MPs were ready to rebel against a whip imposed by Corbyn and vote with her to pass a soft-Brexit deal. Such claims were denied by several leading Blairites who echoed his call for a second referendum. The Labour-supporting New Statesman commented that a golden rule of any story about rebellions is that the word up to is always a synonym for less than. With any Brexit deal on offer and a no deal all threatening major economic dislocation, big business is stepping up its preparations. Later this month, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Britains biggest carmaker, will temporarily shut down one of its largest UK plants at Solihull, affecting 9,000 workers jobs. This follows JLRs announcement last month that it would impose a three-day working week at its Castle Bromwich factory until Christmas. The company laid off 1,000 agency staff earlier this year. JLR said its two-week shutdown was in response to a nearly 50 percent slump in Chinese demand for its luxury Range Rover vehicles, an overall year on year 12 percent decline in sales, and the ongoing move against diesel motors in Europe. However, a piece in the Financial Times Sunday revealed the extent to which a hard Brexit scenario is driving their response. It noted, The company has already spent several million pounds on contingency planning, talking to every port in the UK and installing AI [artificial intelligence] systems that will help it automatically fill out some paperwork. The majority of JLRs production is based in the UK but Hanno Kirner, the companys strategy director, said a hard Brexit leading to tariffs being imposed would drive us to reconsider our industrial footprint and it would, probably, necessitate building more cars where we sell them. That would be in Europe, most likely. Socialist Equality Party candidate for Congress in Michigans 12th district, Niles Niemuth, led a lively campaign rally Saturday at the Fiat Chrysler Warren Stamping plant north of Detroit. Workers at the plant are drawn from all over the Detroit metropolitan area and build parts for Chrysler vehicles, including the Dodge Ram truck. There were animated discussions with Niles and SEP campaigners on a wide variety of issues, including the still-unexplained death of young Temporary Part Time worker Jacoby Hennings, who died last October at the Ford Woodhaven Stamping Plant after an hour-long meeting with United Auto Workers officials. SEP campaign team members distributed copies of the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter containing a statement by Niles calling for a full and independent investigation into the death of Hennings, whose tragic end underscores the brutal exploitation of TPT workers, sanctioned by the UAW. Many workers signed up to receive the Autoworker Newsletter. And there was a somber, yet keen, interest in the live internet discussion that will be held next weekend between WSWS International Labor Editor Jerry White and Niles Niemuth on the campaign for a full and open investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Jacoby Hennings. His mother, Shemeeka, works at Warren Stamping. The Hennings family has denounced the lies that were spread by the UAW and the media that their child was on drugs at the time of his deatha lie that was disproven by the coroners report, which found only caffeine in his system. We were all devastated, said Anita, a close friend. We still are. And I support Shemeeka 100 percent She firmly supported the fight for a full and open investigation, as did many others. As workers stopped to shake hands with Niles and begin reading campaign literature, he explained the partys socialist program, including the urgent need for workers to break from the two parties of big business, both Democrats and Republicans, and construct new organizations of struggle based on the rank and file in opposition to the corporatist UAW. Many asked what he meant by the struggle for socialism. Niles explained that under conditions of soaring social inequality and the danger of war and dictatorship the working class must disarm the capitalist class, put and end to war and reorganize the world economy to guarantee well-paid jobs, safe working conditions, education and health care for all. Right now the capitalists control everything in society, he said. We are fighting for socialism, which means that the working class would control the factories and the wealth of society to provide for the needs of the overwhelming mass of the worlds population. A number of workers began to read the newsletter and campaign literature that campaigners were distributing. There was keen interest, for example, in the figures on the explosive growth of social inequality. In just two years, a campaign statement explains, for example, the wealth of [the worlds] billionaires surged by 24 percent to a record $9.2 trillion, equal to 12 percent of the economic output of the entire planet. Delorian, who hired in as a Temporary Part Time worker just five months ago, wanted to know how such soaring levels of personal wealth and income inequality would impact the lives factory workers like herself. TPTs are typically kept at half pay of $15.00 per hour for extended periods of time because the United Auto Workers union conspires with the companies to suppress the general level of wages as the principal means of extracting greater profits from the workers. I heard the group before us, she said, had to wait three years before they got rolled overwhich means a promotion to full pay, or into a progression of steps toward full pay. There are now so many different pay grades and job classifications between full-time workers making full pay of $30.00 an hour and temporary, part-time workers making a fraction of that amount that it is difficult for workers to know where they stand. There is a direct relationship between the suppression of wages and the spiraling rise in wealth of the ruling elite. She was surprised to learn, for example, that the flood of temporary, low-paid jobs in the factories began with a vengeance nine years ago with the contract terms imposed by the Obama administration during the restructuring of the auto industry in 2009. Her cousin started working at Amazon five months ago. When SEP campaigners explained that Jeff Bezos, the CEO and the richest man ever, makes more money in one second than a typical Amazon worker in India receives for an entire year, she gasped, Thats crazy! As she signed up to receive the newsletter by email, she asked us to keep in touch and tell her about upcoming events in the campaign. One worker said that she had worked as a teacher before being hired at Chrysler. She explained that it became impossible for her to survive on a teachers salary due to the savage cuts that have been carried out on education by successive Democratic and Republican administrations. Another worker related how she was forced to commute from Flint, Michigan, about an hours drive to the north. She was interested in learning more about the SEP position on the Flint water crisis, which saw the lead poisoning of the citys 100,000 residents due to a deliberate decision by city and state officials to use untreated, corrosive water from the Flint River. On the opposite side of Mound Road lies the non-union factory Flex-N-Gate, which produces parts for the Big Three. Inside, poverty wages and wretched working conditions are the product of decades of betrayals in which the UAW tied the hands of their members while the auto companies spun off their parts production operations into such facilities, paying poverty-level wages. Steve, a worker from the Flex-N-Gate plant, was walking to the bus stop near the site of the rally. He stopped to speak to Niles. He explained that the $10.00 per hour he was getting is still better than the last job he had. It is now more than four decades since a young worker could leave high school to take a job at full pay in an auto plant. He shook Niles hand and was eager to learn about the SEP campaign. Socialism was new to him, and he was very interested to find out more. Niles compared his poverty-level paycheck to the obscene wealth of the financial oligarchy that runs our society. Outrageous! was the young workers response. He agreed that the working class needed to take up the fight against low wages and for better working conditions. The death toll from Hurricane Michael rose to 18 on Sunday as emergency crews continued to sift through the wreckage in search of survivors. State officials have said that the possibility of rescuing more people trapped by the storm grew less and less likely as the days pass and that the focus of operations had shifted to recovering the dead. Were going into recovery mode, unfortunately, Panama City fire chief Alex Baird told Reuters, At sunrise, well start again on our search. We hope that well find more survivors, but its more and more doubtful. There have been casualties related to the storm so far in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. Florida Governor Rick Scott told the media that the state had deployed 300 ambulances to the affected area, and 1,700 rescue workers. They are using both cadaver dogs as well as unmanned drones to locate victims of the storm, and heavy construction equipment to dig through the rubble. Electricity and telephone service is down throughout the affected area, and it could be weeks or months until service is fully restored. Much of the worst-hit area is in remote, rural parts of the state, and emergency responders are still trying to account for all those impacted by the storm. State officials have reported that there at least 250,000 residents who have lost power. Survivors continued to suffer from a lack of food, fresh water, and medicine. On Saturday, Reuters reported that rescue crews in Panama City discovered a mother and daughter who had been trapped within a closet inside their mobile home since the storm hit. Both diabetics, the women were near death from a lack of insulin when they were found. Many residents who had not evacuated were unprepared for the storms destructive winds and storm surge. The region had never experienced a storm of this magnitude before, which grew from a category two storm into a category four storm in the course of a day, with sustained winds of up to 155 miles per hour. In Bay County, where the storm first made landfall in the small town of Mexico Beach, residents were entirely cut off from the outside world initially. Aerial footage shows the entire city destroyed, save for a few homes. The storm surge there climbed as high as 14 feet. Surveying the area, the towns former Mayor Tom Bailey told the Los Angeles Times, Im telling people, if you live on the south side of Highway 98, dont bother to come back. Much of Mexico Beachs emergency infrastructure was destroyed by the storm. Mark Bowen, the chief of emergency services in Bay County, told ABC News, Fire stations were destroyed, police stations were destroyed, public safety agencies are only taking highest priority calls right now ... heart attacks, you know, major trauma ... An enormous amount of 911 calls are going unresponded to because weve got this priority to search and rescue. So its a terrible thing. In nearby Panama City, the storm winds did similar damage, growing so strong at one point that they overturned a cargo train. At Tyndale Airforce base, which is located between Mexico Beach and Panama City and was evacuated in advance of the storm, Hurricane Michael did similar damage, wrecking the runway there and destroying airplane hangars and fighter jets. The storm retained much of its strength as it moved inland, passing through Georgia as a category three hurricane, with wind speeds of 115 miles per hour. It is the first major hurricane to impact that part of the state since 1898. An 11-year-old girl was the only reported casualty in Georgia so far. She was killed when part of a metal carport crashed into the mobile home she lived in with her parents and struck her in the head. The storm also inflicted billions of dollars in agricultural damage in that state. The southwestern corner of Georgia is an important growing region for cotton, peanuts, pecans, and livestock. A reported two million chickens were killed, and billions of dollars in damage was done to pecan and cotton crops, which are currently in their harvest season. In addition to the immediate losses experienced by farmers, the damage to crops in Georgia, a major agricultural state, may cause prices to spike across the US. In North Carolina, still recovering from the devastation brought by Hurricane Florence, Michael brought eight inches of rain. A Charlotte resident was killed when a tree fell on his car. Two more died when they hit a downed tree in their car. An estimated 500,000 residents have lost power in North Carolina, with an additional 90,000 in South Carolina. The weakened storm remained deadly as far north as Virginia, where five people were killed, four of them from drowning. The storm knocked down thousands of trees and caused widespread flooding throughout that state. At least 520,000 people have lost power in Virginia, and rivers throughout the state are expected to continue flooding into next week. The full extent of the storm's damage will continue to grow in the coming weeks. Hurricane Michael has now been assessed to be the third most powerful storm to impact the continental United States, exceeded only by Hurricane Camille in 1969 and the unnamed Labor Day storm of 1935. According to a report in the Washington Post Friday, the Trump administration is considering reinstating a version of the zero tolerance family separation program it implemented in May as part of its ongoing war against immigrants. In the most widely discussed proposal, parents who cross the border will be detained with their children for 20 days, at which point they will be forced to choose between being deported together or being detained separately. This sadistic policy, likely devised by Trumps aide Stephen Miller, has a distinctly fascistic character. The proposal to force parents to chose between separation and deportation to war-torn, violence-ridden Central America constitutes a form of emotional torture. The government is employing the language of the extreme right, linking the mass detention of children with tough-on-crime rhetoric aimed at falsely presenting immigrants as a threat to public safety. In an email statement to the Post, deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said, Career law enforcement professionals in the U.S. government are working to analyze and evaluate options that would protect the American people, prevent the horrific actions of child smuggling, and stop drug cartels from pouring into our communities. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told Politico, There is currently a crisis at our southern border as we encounter rising numbers of adults who enter the country illegally with children. Catch-and-release loopholes in the law incentivize illegal border-crossers to take this dangerous journey because they are unlikely to face consequences for their illegal conduct and in fact will almost certainly be released. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is also reportedly considering eliminating the right of any asylum applicant to appear before a judge. Everythings on the table, the DHS official told Politico. Nothing is ruled out by virtue of having litigation risk. In other words, the Constitution and international law are dead letters. These words are a serious threat not only to democratic rights, but also to the physical safety of immigrants. Thirteen thousand immigrant children are already detained at present, including 200 children who were separated from their parents when the zero tolerance program was implemented this spring. In total, over 2,500 children were forcibly taken away from their parents and kept in detention centers around the country. A recent report by the Associated Press shows the government has put some separated children up for adoption in recent years without notifying parents. Despite this brutality on the part of the government, the Washington Post report was met with near total silence in the bourgeois press, and the issue received scant attention on the Sunday talk shows. The media silence is part of a pattern that has emerged over the first 18 months of the Trump administration. First, Trump and his fascist aides implement a ruthless and unprecedented attack on immigrantsi.e., Trumps initial travel ban, his family separation policy, widespread workplace raids, the abrogation of temporary protected status and the barring of social service recipients from gaining legal status. Second, the population reacts with shock and horror, voicing widespread opposition to the government for its attack on immigrants, often in the form of mass spontaneous demonstrations. Third, the Democratic Party either ignores the issue outright or appears at protests to tell demonstrators that their only option is to vote for Democrats in the midterm elections. Fourth, when media attention has died down, the courts rubber stamp Trumps proposals anyway. Through this sordid process, the political establishment creates conditions for new and more intense attacks on immigrants. The Trump administrations policy towards undocumented immigrants is a continuation of a framework that has guided US administrations at least since the mid-1990s. As a recent report by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) makes clear, the Clinton administration started the multiyear build-up of border enforcement resources and infrastructure under its deterrence through prevention strategy. Under the Bush and Obama administrations, Border Patrol implemented what it called consequences intended to raise the practical, psychological and financial costs of crossing the border without documents. These included returning Mexican crossers to locations far from where they were apprehended, increasing the use of formal deportations (and long-term detentions) rather than simply turning people around at the border, and prosecuting individuals criminally for immigration offenses. Obama, who earned the title of deporter-in-chief for deporting over 3 million border crossers during his tenure, also oversaw the establishment of the family detention centers that are now being expanded under Trump. As the MPI report makes clear, the current wave of migrants who make the arduous crossings at the Southwestern borders of the United States are not child smugglers or drug dealers, they are working class men and women who, along with young children, have been forced to flee desperate situations created by violence and the devastation caused by American imperialism. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its intention to triple the size of a temporary tent city detention center in Tornillo, Texas to house up to 3,800 children. Approximately $266 million in funding to increase shelter capacity will be redirected from a number of other, actually socially useful HHS programs, including Head Start, HIV prevention programs and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, sponsors who could assume guardianship of detained children have not come forward because the Trump administration has specifically arrested immigrants who claim their detained underage relatives or family friends. Mounting evidence that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the gruesome October 2 murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi has unleashed a political crisis of global proportions. Over the weekend, Turkish officials again charged that Saudi Arabia sent a 15-man death squad to the Saudi consulate, armed with a bone saw, to murder and dismember Khashoggi and transport his remains out of Turkey. The daily Sabah wrote that Khashoggis Apple watch, synced to the iPhone he left with his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz outside the consulate, recorded his murder: The moments when Khashoggi was interrogated, tortured and murdered were recorded in the Apple Watchs memory. US intelligence officials endorsed the authenticity of these recordings, possibly taken from bugs planted by Turkish intelligence in the consulate. They told the Washington Post: The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered. You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic. You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered. These charges against Americas closest Middle East ally, also the worlds largest oil exporter at the heart of the global financial system, expose the brazen criminality of the entire financial aristocracy. A profound contradiction underlies the official response to Khashoggis murder. US and European businessmen and politicians are deeply tied to the brutal Saudi regime, which underwrites both US war strategy in the Middle East and the capitalist financial system as a whole. They are flocking to the Davos in the Desert conference planned for this month in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The initial conference last year was attended by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Among those still slated to attend this years conference are US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and BlackRock investment firm CEO Lawrence Fink, whom Barrons magazine recently crowned the New Conscience of Wall Street. While conference attendees cringe at lending their names or prestige to Crown Prince Mohammeds gathering, the New York Times reported, the murder charges against Riyadh leave many financiers and technology executives in a deeply awkward position. Some have made multibillion-dollar investments in Saudi Arabia; others are managing billions of dollars of Saudi money. They want to keep the money flowing ... At the same time, however, a debate is emerging in the imperialist capitals over whether to use the Khashoggi murder to push for a change in personnel at the top of the Saudi regime. After US senators threatened to invoke the Global Magnitsky Act yesterday, allowing Washington to impose sanctions on top Saudi officials, the Saudi stock exchange plunged 7 percent. Speaking on CBS television yesterday, Donald Trump pledged severe punishment for the terrible and disgusting killing, while pledging to continue arming Saudi Arabia to the teeth. The Saudis are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order, Trump said, adding: I tell you what I dont want to do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these companies. I dont want to hurt jobs. I dont want to lose an order like that. And you know there are other ways of punishing, to use a word thats a pretty harsh word, but its true. There are other things we can do that are very, very powerful, very strong and well do them, he said, without specifying what this meant. The UK, German and French foreign ministries issued a joint statement calling for a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, andif relevantto identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account. We ... expect the Saudi Government to provide a complete and detailed response. The Saudi monarchy responded with an aggressive statement stressing its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it. The kingdom also affirms that if it is [targeted by] any action, it will respond with greater action. With Saudi Arabia providing key oil exports to the world market to make up for supplies lost as Washington re-imposes sanctions on Iran, it warned that Saudi Arabia plays an effective and vital role in the world economy. Turki Aldhakhil, the manager of Saudi Arabias Al Arabiya news, penned a piece threatening that Saudi Arabia could form a military alliance with Russia and slash its oil exports, sending oil prices to over $100 a barrel and devastating the already crisis-ridden world economy. He wrote, The truth is that if Washington imposes sanctions on Riyadh, it will stab its own economy to death, even though it thinks that it is stabbing only Riyadh. US and European threats are utterly hypocritical and mark a new stage in their decades-long campaign of bloody imperialist wars, occupations and intrigue in the Middle East, from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, that have cost millions of lives and turned tens of millions into refugees. They did not object as the Saudi regime executed hundreds of people per year and viciously attacked political opposition among working people. This year, Riyadh ruled it would decapitate the 29-year-old female political activist Israa al-Ghomgham, her husband, Moussa al-Hashem, and three others for the crime of organizing peaceful demonstrations against the monarchy. This provoked no observable change in US or European policy toward Saudi Arabia. Seven years after working-class uprisings toppled US-backed dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt, the NATO powers are united with the Saudi royal family in their fear of the working class in Saudi Arabia and beyond. One former diplomat bleakly told the Washington Post that Prince Mohammed knew that if meaningful jobs were not found for Saudi Arabias young and highly educated population, and if the oil-dominated economy were not diversified, they were doomed. Current US calls for a change in personnel at the top of the Saudi monarchy aim to strengthen it against opposition at home, whip its foreign policy more closely into alignment with US interests, and in particular to block any move by Riyadh toward closer alignment with Russia or China. The hypocrisy of attempts to wrapping this bloodstained agenda in the fraudulent banner of human rights was exemplified by former CIA director John Brennans column on the Khashoggi murder in the Washington Post, titled The US should never turn a blind eye to this sort of inhumanity. Reports of Khashoggis disappearance, Brennan intoned, have the hallmarks of a professional capture operation or, more ominously, an assassination. Citing his long professional experience with Saudi officials, Brennan added: I am certain that if such an operation occurred inside a Saudi diplomatic mission against a high-profile journalist working for a US newspaper, it would have needed the direct authorization of Saudi Arabias top leadershipthe crown prince. Who does Brennan think he is kidding, pretending to be repulsed by the ominous signs of an assassination? If he can recognize the hallmarks of state murder, it is because the CIA is the worlds leading expert in torture and killing. Its thousands of drone murders, its network of black site prisons and torture centers, and its bloody history of coups and provocations are infamous internationally, as proof that the single most dangerous force in the world is American imperialism. Based on his selective outrage, Brennan outlined a plan for reacting to Khashoggis murder with a campaign against the Saudi regime similar to US threats against Russia. Ideally, the Saudi regime would punish those responsible, Brennan wrote, but if it doesnt have the will or the ability, the United States would have to act. That would include immediate sanctions on all Saudis involved; a freeze on US military sales to Saudi Arabia; suspension of all routine intelligence cooperation with Saudi security services; and a US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution condemning the murder. The message would be clear: the United States will never turn a blind eye to such inhuman behavior, even when carried out by friends, because this is a nation that remains faithful to its values. The CIAs grotesque invocation of American values as a justification for stepping up US intrigue in the Middle East is absurd on its face. The task of dealing with the bloodstained Saudi monarchy belongs to the working class and oppressed masses of Saudi Arabia. Intrigues by the CIA and allied intelligence services trying to engineer a change in the Saudi regimes ruling personnel, it can be safely predicted, will only produce more economic turmoil and bloodshed. On Thursday, Facebook carried out a mass purge of left-wing political pages as part of an ongoing conspiracy by the state and the technology monopolies to censor the internet. Over 800 pages and accounts, with a combined following in the tens of millions, were summarily removed. The banned pages include highly popular postings by groups opposing and publicizing incidents of police violence such as Police the Police, Cop Block and Filming Cops, as well as prominent left-wing news pages such as Anti-Media, Reverb Press, Counter Current News and Resistance. The removal of these pages is an unconstitutional assault on freedom of speech and expression. Facebook, acting in coordination with the US government, is violating the most fundamental rights of the American population. Facebooks claim that the pages are being removed for inauthentic behavior is a transparent fraud. It is a pretext for political censorship. No less shocking than the brazen actions of Facebook is the response of all of the mainstream political news outlets, which have parroted the companys absurd lies, citing experts who label constitutionally protected speech as spam. Facebooks actions are the latest and to date the most aggressive moves in a systematic campaign aimed at delegitimizing political opposition in preparation for the forcible suppression of oppositional groups and news outlets. Immediately following the 2016 US elections, in which public hostility to Hillary Clinton, the favored candidate of the US military/intelligence apparatus, was increased by WikiLeaks exposure of Clintons corrupt ties to Wall Street, the US media launched a campaign to smear oppositional viewpoints as Russian-inspired fake news. The New York Times and the Washington Post, political figures including Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff and Democratic Senator Mark Warner, and the US intelligence apparatus fabricated a narrative of Russian meddling in order to pressure the technology monopolies to shut down and censor political opposition. The leading role in this campaign was played by Google, which announced in April 2017 that it would promote authoritative news sources over alternative viewpoints by manipulating search results. In August of 2017, the World Socialist Web Site reported that search traffic to 13 left-wing, socialist and anti-war sites plunged after Google implemented these changes to its search algorithm. A leading target was the World Socialist Web Site itself, which saw its Google search traffic fall by 75 percent following the announcement. In response, the World Socialist Web Site published an open letter to Google demanding that it renounce the censorship of all left-wing, socialist, anti-war and progressive websites. Over the ensuing months, Facebook and Twitter joined Google in announcing major censorship initiatives. In January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company would promote trusted news sites, such as the New York Times and Washington Post, at the expense of alternative political viewpoints. In the same speech, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would hire some 20,000 people, many with backgrounds as cops, prosecutors or intelligence agents, to police and censor what its users do and say online. The censorship drive intensified after a hearing in Washington last month, in which Senator Warner claimed that the overwhelming majority of far left political content was generated by either foreign actors or automated accounts. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg declared her intention to replace bad speech with alternative facts. There is no longer a question as to whether US technology companies are consciously engaged in political censorship. Their half-hearted denials have been exposed as lies by an internal Google research document published last week. The documents states that the technology monopolies have moved away from free speech and towards censorship, rejecting the American tradition that prioritizes free speech for democracy. The censorship drive will not stop with the removal of Facebook accounts. PropOrNot, a shadowy organization whose 2016 blacklist, published by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos Washington Post, helped launch the censorship campaign, hailed Facebooks purge of accounts. In so doing, it made clear that this was only the beginning. PropOrNot pointed out that all of the organizations targeted by Facebook still have websites, and added, but one thing at a time. In other words, after removing targeted publications from search results and shutting down their social media accounts, the next step will be the forcible suppression of the websites themselves. The forces leading the censorship campaign have been remarkably open about their motivations and aims. The Atlantic Council think tank, one of Facebooks official partners, spelled out the aims of the governments effort to censor the internet in a document published last month summarizing the proceedings of a US Special Forces conference on sovereignty. The document argues that the growth of political opposition in the United States presents an existential threat to the state. This crisis, it warns, can be resolved only by removing the virus of political opposition. The most effective way to do this, it explains, is to recruit US technology corporations to play a central role in carrying out censorship on behalf of the state. The censorship of the internet is a concentrated expression of the breakdown of bourgeois democratic forms of rule. In the United States, the Trump administration is a government of extreme reaction, with authoritarian and fascistic tendencies. However, Trumps critics within the ruling class, led by the Democrats, are no less hostile to democratic forms of rule. In alliance with the military and intelligence apparatus, the Democrats have taken the leading role in attacking democratic rights, from free speech and expression in the fraudulent campaign against fake news to due process and the presumption of innocence in the #MeToo witch hunt. All factions of the ruling class are terrified of the growth of opposition in the working class and the mounting interest in socialism. There is an increasing divergence between the demands of the working population for improvements in wages and working conditions and the policies of the ruling elite, which is accelerating the upward redistribution of wealth and carrying out a new military build-up. Facing an upsurge in the class struggle, including the rejection of a concessions contract by hundreds of thousands of UPS workers and a strike by hotel workers in a number of cities across the country, the ruling elite is accelerating its plans for censorship and, ultimately, dictatorship. The growth of the class struggle provides the social basis for the fight against political censorship. Workers must take up the struggle to defend freedom of expression as an inseparable component of the defense of their social and democratic rights and the struggle for socialism. On Thursday, October 12, the Chicago Police Board voted 5-3 to clear officer Brandon Ternand of the 2012 shooting death of 15-year-old Dakota Bright. The decision came less than a week after the conclusion of the high-profile trial of Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke, who was found guilty of second-degree murder for the 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald. The decision means that Ternand will not face any discipline for the murder of Bright and will be reinstated into active duty with back pay. City payroll records indicate he earns $87,000 per year. The Police Board came to its conclusion despite an August 2017 recommendation by the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) that Ternand be fired over Brights unprovoked and unwarranted killing and a settlement by the city with Brights family for nearly $1 million. Ternand fatally shot Bright in the back of the head under circumstances which remain unclear six years later. The sparse details note that the teenager was fleeing from the police and was more than 50 feet away from Ternand when he was shot dead. Bright left his friends house in the mid-afternoon and was walking to his grandmothers home nearby in Chicagos South Side Park Manor neighborhood. Officers were responding to a reported burglary when they saw Bright walking through an alley. Ternand told IPRAs investigators he saw Bright with a handgun and a chase ensued. While the officer said that Bright turned back to look at the police and reached for his waist when he was shot, no gun was found on the teenagers body, though police claim a weapon was recovered nearby. Three officers at the scene corroborated Trenands claim that he shot Bright in self-defense. The conclusions of IPRAs investigation are damning, noting that it was unlikely for Bright to gesture in a provoking manner since he didnt have a gun on him and the officer used excessive force in the matter at hand. Also, IPRA remarked that the officers [on scene] were not only colleagues who frequently worked together; they were friends that socialized together. They had ample opportunity to discuss the events among themselves at the scene of the incident as well as on at least three other occasions. IPRA recommended firing Ternand, a suggestion rejected by the Police Board. According to the Chicago Tribune, from 2010 to 2014 Ternand has had 23 complaints lodged against him placing him in the top 12 out of 12,000 police officers on the force during that period. Besides a federal lawsuit over the Bright killing, five other suits against Officer Trenand have been filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. He has also fired shots on three occasions in a two-year span. However, many in the police department have defended Ternands violent actions, citing his record as a highly decorated officer with a reputed reputation for honesty. In over eight years, IPRA had rarely sustained a complaint against a police officer nor made any recommendation to punish an officer, and this despite the hundreds of civilians shot by the police and millions in legal settlements paid out to victims. IPRA had never found cause to investigate or discipline officer Van Dyke and more than a year after McDonalds death it had done nothing to investigate the apparent cover-up by officers and their supervisors. That IPRA recommended the firing of Officer Trenand must be seen from the perspective of the pressures on the Chicago Police Department and the mayoral office as a byproduct of the Laquan McDonald murder cover-up. Such a recommendation, however, was problematic for the Police Department and the Mayors office. The superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, Eddie Johnson, disagreed with IPRAs recommendation to fire Ternand. Still, the Chicago Police Board selected to review the case rejected Johnsons recommendations and ordered an evidentiary hearing. After months of review and investigation their conclusions are anything but satisfactory and grossly flawed. Despite IPRAs findings of inconsistencies, the Police Board found Ternands testimony credible and persuasive and praises him as a highly decorated and respected tactical officer with years of experience. As the Chicago Tribune writes, The board majority said it relied heavily on his reputation for honesty, based on the character witness testimony of his partner, other officers on the scene that afternoon, his wife and Deputy Chief Kevin Johnson, who called Ternand among the 10 best officers he has ever supervised. This can hardly be the basis for an acquittal when the forensic evidence would bring into question troubling facts. The minority of three board members voted to fire Ternand on lack of credibility of testimony based on the autopsy results showing the bullet struck Bright in the midline of the back of his head. They questioned, as did IPRA, how Bright could have turned his head or reach into his pocket if it was empty. Rahm Emanuel, the two-term Democratic mayor of Chicago, is not planning to run for a third term, but he intends to see through a court-enforced consent decree as one of his last acts. As the WSWS has noted, The consent decree is an exercise in damage control to curb the social unrest and public anger arising from systemic abuses and constitutional violations perpetrated by the Chicago Police Department. Ultimately the purpose of the consent decree in Chicago is to give legal and political cover to the CPD and the Democratic Party as plans are carried out to further militarize and deploy the police against the working class in the coming struggles against the state. The Van Dyke conviction is not the outcome of a sudden change in the status quo but is an anomaly resulting from overwhelming evidence and mass popular outrage. The reduction of his conviction to second-degree murder has emboldened Van Dykes attorneys in their effort to appeal which will most likely see Officer Van Dykes conviction overturned. The Chicago Police Boards decision to reinstate Ternand corroborates the fact that there is little interest or possibility to bringing reform to the police departments regardless of the endless streams of rhetoric about reform measures and political grandstanding by Black Lives Matter and other political protest organizations which operate in the orbit of the Democratic Party. It is certain that Rahm Emanuel will seek to curry favor for his Democratic Party successor through the formation of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and bringing into the fold groups such as Black Lives Matter, the American Civil Liberties Union and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to be involved in a civilian oversight group. The intention, however, is not to fight for victims like Bright and his family but rather to provide means to defuse social tensions by channeling them through the well-worn mechanisms of identity politics. Amid an intense crisis of the European Unions (EU) principal member states, neo-fascist leaders Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Penthe Italian interior minister and leader of Frances neo-fascist National Rally (RN, formerly the National Front), respectivelymet last week in Rome. Their talks were widely covered in the press. At a press conference of the General Labor Union (UGL, close to Salvinis Lega party), they presented a common plan for Europe, aiming to install a neo-fascist majority in the European parliament in next years elections. They declared that they would undermine the existing EU and demagogically pledged to reverse Brussels austerity policies. Exploiting the reactionary austerity policies carried out by social-democratic and pseudo-left parties across Europe, they posed as the defenders of the European popular masses. Pledging to create a Europe that would not be the slave of budgetary rigor that does not spare social rights, Salvini said: Le Pen and I are reviving the social heritage of the left, which has betrayed its values. We are defending the vulnerable whom the left has forgotten. Claiming to defend working and poor people, the two leaders piled on promises to invest in jobs and the defense of social rights, which they noted are trampled upon by Brussels. Salvini insisted that the true challenge is the struggle against misfortune and precariousness, while Le Pen denounced the social carnage organized by the EU. Le Pen added, The EU has trampled upon the values of solidarity: now we are at a historic moment. In May, we will succeed in creating a union that bases itself on new values, against globalization. This is the struggle that we are waging together with Matteo Salvini, firmly convinced of the need for an alternative in Europe. She denounced the EU Commission, saying it was buried in a Brussels bunker. If the political descendants of Italian fascism and French collaboration with Nazism falsely posture as the heirs of the left, it is above all due to the well-known treachery and hostility of the social democratic and pseudo-left parties against the working class. In 1991, the Stalinist bureaucracy dissolved the Soviet Union and restored capitalism, pillaging the workers and devastating the Soviet economy. Since then, the plundering of European workers and attacks on social and democratic rights they won in struggle in the course of the 20th century have continued unabated. Discredited by their police-state and austerity policies, Greeces Syriza and Pasok parties, Frances Socialist Party (PS), the German Social-Democratic Party (SPD) and Italys Rifondazione comunista have all suffered devastating political collapse. Now, amid a mounting crisis in international financial markets and growing workers struggles in America and Europe, powerful factions of the European bourgeoisie are considering whether to set up neo-fascist regimes, like Salvinis Italian regime, across Europe. In France, where President Emmanuel Macrons government is on the verge of collapse amid deep social anger against austerity, Le Pen is clearly preparing to lead an alternate government. She told the Corriere della Sera that Italys Lega-M5S (Five-Star Movement) coalition government is the proof that she could take power in France. Our ideas can come to power and once we are in power, we can really change things, she said. Matteo Salvini, thanks to a politics of firmness, has been able to reduce immigration and shake up the EU. A neo-fascist Europe as outlined by Salvini and Le Pen would only accelerate the stampede of the entire European ruling class towards the far right; the two neo-fascist leaders represent the same basic class interests as Macron or the Grand Coalition government in Berlin. Salvini in fact underscored the essential identity between the class interests served by the current EU and an EU remodeled by him and Le Pen by stressing that in their plans the euro is not in question. At the same time, Italian Vice-Prime Minister Luigi di Maio (M5S) was signaling to the banks on the negotiation of the Italian budget with the EU that Salvini wants to obey the EUs deficit limits: Now the dialogue with the EU and big private investors is beginning, and our intention is not to go into conflict mode. As early as 2017, Le Pen did an about-face in the French presidential election, suddenly dropping her calls for France to exit the euro, after meeting with a consortium of French banks. Salvini and Le Pen are not insurgent populists, but representatives of parties that have played a well-established role in the political establishments of their respective countries for decades, essentially since the end of World War II. The Italian Social Movement (MSI), descending from the Mussolini regime and its successor, the National Alliance, and the FN, descending from the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy regime, have been cultivated via various political maneuvers, state financial subsidies and media operations. Le Pen made clear that the neo-fascist Europe she is proposing would represent the interests of the European ruling classesnot those advanced by the political advisor of US President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, who is campaigning to build a global neo-fascist movement. She said, Mr. Bannon does not come from a European country, he is an American. He has suggested a foundation that tries to offer European pro-sovereignty parties studies, polls and analyses. But the political force that will be born from the European elections will be structured by ourselves, and ourselves alone, because we are attached to our liberty and sovereignty. The sharpest warnings must be made about the significance of the European bourgeoisies promotion of far-right forces. As it faces unprecedented social anger after a decade of deep austerity and growing imperialist war since the 2008 Wall Street crash and global capitalist crisis, it is stepping up its maneuvers to establish police state regimes targeting the working class. The central question in the struggle against the rise of neo-fascism is the alternative posed by Leon Trotsky and by the International Committee of the Fourth International, in the wake of the Stalinist dissolution of the USSR and amidst the bankruptcy of the official left parties in Europe. Marine Le Pens decision to organize her first FN congress as leader of the party in 2011 in Tours, where the Communist Party was founded in France in 1920, was a deliberate calculation. She was exploiting the lack of a visible alternative to Stalinism and social democracy on their left, in order to advance the claim that the only alternative is on the far right. She was also putting forward her party and exploiting the PCFs nationalist traditions to pretend that the FN represented the continuity of the PCF as a mass party in the French working class. This is a historical lie, as far-right nationalism has always been the most determined and bloodthirsty enemy of workers struggles. The alternative to the collapse of the Stalinist parties, the social democrats and their alliesincluding those like Rifondazione or Frances New Anticapitalist Party that descend from various renegades from the Trotskyist movementis the ICFIs struggle to bring a Trotskyist perspective to the growing struggles of the European working class. This growing wave of strikes and protests across Europe, and the struggle to unify them on the basis of a Trotskyist program and leadership, represent the alternative to the neo-fascist wave that is spreading across the European ruling elite. Speaking to the BBC at the Scottish National Partys (SNP) annual conference in Glasgow, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that the partys 35 Westminster MPs would vote for a second referendum on Britains relationship to the European Union (EU). Leading figures have also indicated the SNP is open to an election pact with Labour and cooperation with a government led by Jeremy Corbyn. Labour too is moving towards supporting a second Brexit poll, meaning that, despite protestations, the two parties are coming closer together. Previously senior figures in the SNP had suggested that open support for a rerun of the 2016 vote would depend on the Scottish government acquiring some sort of veto on the outcome. The SNP have also been concerned that a rerun could return the same result as in 2016 when Scotland voted by 62 percent to remain in the EU while across Britain 52 percent chose to leave. Sturgeons change in position is bound up with the deepening and intractable crisis afflicting all aspects of the Conservative governments efforts to negotiate a viable Brexit deal. The Tories are split between factions supporting Prime Minister Theresa Mays clumsy soft-Brexit plan negotiated at Chequers seeking continued tariff-free access to the Single European Market, a smaller faction supporting remaining in the EU and the hardline anti-EU faction proposing a hard or even no deal Brexit. This Brexiteer faction, much larger than the Remainers and backed by the Democratic Unionist Partys 10 MPs who give the Tories their majority, has thus far dictated Mays agenda. Since the 2016 poll, the SNP has sought, and failed, to extract any concessions either from the May government or the EU regarding a special arrangements to ensure Scottish access to the single market, post-Brexit. Instead, the Scottish government has become embroiled in a Supreme Court case over whether powers repatriated from the EU post-Brexit should be devolved to Edinburgh or remain in London. A Supreme Court ruling is expected later this month. The SNP leadership, speaking for Scottish-based industry and finance, is convinced that Brexit will be a catastrophe for most of the Scottish economy, as well as running counter to the partys perspective of Scottish independence. The SNP have for decades pursued a strategy of independence in Europe, without which Scotland is completely unviable as an economic entity. It therefore, at the very least, opposes any version of Brexit that leaves Scotland, and England, its largest market, outside the single market and customs union. Speaking to ITV News, Sturgeon said, I cannot envisage us voting for anything that doesnt include single market and customs union. If Theresa May negotiated a bad deal, a no-deal or a blind-deal Brexit and the House of Commons doesnt support that, then I think everything is to play for in terms of putting the single market and customs union back on the table. According to SNPs calculations, with the partys 35 MPs, rival factions of Tory MPs likely to oppose any deal based on Mays Chequers proposals and the Labour Party moving towards opposing Chequers, Mays likelihood of winning a majority is slim. SNP leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, promised maximum disruption to the British governments legislative programme in the Commons. The SNP moves come at the same time as the Labour Partys recent conference voted to leave open the option for a second Brexit poll. Blairite Shadow Brexit Secretary, Keir Starmer, won a standing ovation from pro-Remain delegates for his statement, off script, that our options must include campaigning for a public vote and nobody is ruling out Remain as an option. Subsequently, former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that he expected a second poll to take place sometime after the Brexit date of March 29, 2019. Brown speculated that Britain and the EU would not agree an exit deal but that extended transition arrangements would be put in place until at least 2022. He expected the general election manifestos of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP all to support a second vote some time before then. Electoral calculations also stand behind renewed talk of an arrangement between Labour and the SNP. The Scottish Labour Party has been unable to replicate the success of Labour in England and Wales under Corbyn. Thus far, there has neither been much expansion in the partys membership or a shift towards it in the opinion polls. Labour, which for decades dominated Scottish politics in Westminster, the Scottish parliament in Holyrood and in local government, is so discredited that it currently remains third with 21 percent of votes in the opinion polls, against 24 for the Tories and 43 percent for the SNP. Writing in the Scotsman, long-standing economics and politics correspondent Bill Jamieson observed, With Tories and Labour neck and neck, another minority government is no remote outcome. A Labour-SNP coalition is thus by no means impossibleindeed it increasingly looks a plausible runner. The SNP has indicated repeatedly its willingness to serve as some form of partner for an incoming Labour government. Prior to the 2017 general election, the SNP offered to support Labour in power on an issue by issue basis, or by some form of progressive alternative pact. The SNP ruled out a formal coalition, but Labour rejected any working arrangement with the SNP at all. As the Brexit crisis deepens, and with it a possible general election, similar proposals have begun to reappear. These have been tied, for purely presentational purposes aimed at the SNPs socially disparate membership, either to the prospect of a second Scottish independence referendum or removal of Britains submarine based nuclear arsenal from Faslane, near Glasgow. From the standpoint of the dominant, anti-Brexit, sections of the British, including the Scottish ruling class, a Labour/SNP arrangement of some form might be the most viable means to reverse Brexit. Corbyn has rejected the demand for a second independence referendum, but in the most guarded terms. He told the media prior to Labours September conference that a fresh referendum was not a good idea, but Labour was not ruling out a change of position at the time. Speaking last week, a spokesman for Corbyn ruled out pacts or coalitions involving a Labour government led by him. But this is a position Labour would be forced to take prior to a general election and could also be reversed at the time. Certainly, Corbyn throughout his period as Labour leader has repeatedly made clear that he is willing, in the interests of keeping peace with the Blairites, to turn his back on positions he once held dear. For the SNP, a deal with Labour, would serve the same role as the Democratic Unionist Partys current confidence and supply arrangement with Maya chance to employ Westminster arithmetic to chisel out financial concessions for the regional elite in return for coming to British imperialisms aid in its hour of need. The author also recommends: Alex Salmond resigns from Scottish National Party [31 August 2018] Brexit constitutional stand-off reaches UK Supreme Court [9 June 2018] It is now over a week since the Teamsters union declared on October 5 that it was ratifying its sellout contract with United Parcel Service (UPS) and ignoring the 54 percent no vote by tens of thousands of workers across the US. Anger is widespread among workers. A UPS driver in Detroit, Michigan told us that workers who speak about the illegitimate contract are being threatened with victimization by management. Workers at other plants report that local Teamsters officials are telling workers lies and denying that the contract is being ratified, in order to dissipate anger. In order to prevent a rebellion of rank-and-file workers, the Teamsters bureaucracy is relying on its supposed dissident wing, Teamsters United and Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), which is scrambling to keep workers anger contained within the Teamsters apparatus. They are insisting that workers appeal to the very forces who overrode their vote by signing petitions directed to union president James P. Hoffa and the Teamsters General Executive Board. (See: TDU, Teamsters United capitulate to Hoffas override of UPS workers no vote) In an effort to provide a pseudo-legal fig leaf to running roughshod over the majority vote by UPS workers, Teamsters is relying on an obscure, anti-democratic clause inserted into its constitution 30 years ago. According to this never-used-before clause, it takes a two-thirds vote to defeat a union-backed deal if less than half the workers participate in the vote. The union claims that 44 percent of the workforce voted and has cynically sought to blame workers who did not vote for its own despotic actions. But in the week since, charges by workers that management and the union intimidated them and used other methods to manipulate the turnout and vote count have escalated. This was the first contract in which the Teamsters utilized an electronic balloting system, and many workers have reported having never received their ballot. Ed, a driver of more than 30 years from southern California, told us yesterday that he had been told by two workers independently at his facility that they had been pressured by UPS management to vote yes. Supervisors were standing by the exit door asking people that worked in their center, holding an iPad, how they voted, he said. If you didnt tell them how you voted, they would assume it was a no, and say, OK, if you want to change your vote, I have codes for you to change it. The only way to stop this is there has got to be a paper vote and it has to be people who can count the vote, Ed said. There has to be people there from the workers to count the vote. He added that we trusted the union but I would never count on the union to count the votes ever again. The people I paid to represent me and make sure the vote is fair lost my trust. Ed added that he did not believe that all workers had been sent ballots. Ive paid dues for over 30 years, of up to $93 a month, and they apparently forgot my name and number to send me a ballot. How many other people didnt get theirs? he asked. Ed said the Teamsters overriding of the workers vote makes me so mad I can barely speak. The other workers Im talking to hate it too. Nobody knows what to do, because the group that we have counted on led us down the wrong trail. We pay them our union dues to represent us, but they dont. We gave them a strike vote, he added, referring to the 93 percent strike authorization by workers at the beginning of Julyanother vote that the Teamsters ignored. They didnt use it. Then even UPS said after the contract vote that they were planning to go back to the table to negotiate. And it was the Teamsters that said, no, were good. Ed noted that the Teamsters Business Agent being paid to shove the contract down workers throats makes between $90,000 and $107,000 a year, and hes basically a UPS employee. The Teamsters has stated that it is renegotiating the terms of five local supplement agreements that were rejected either by a more than two-thirds margin or with a 50 percent voter turnout. It has used the same anti-democratic clause to ratify five other local supplements that were rejected by the membership. At the same time, the Teamsters Local 705 based in Chicago is working to keep control of discontent among 8,500 Chicago-area UPS workers who are not covered by the national master agreement. The contract expired at the end of July, like the master agreement, but the union has kept workers divided from the remainder of the UPS workforce and forced workers to remain on the job without a contract. Having waited until after the Teamsters has rammed through its sellout agreement, Local 705 officials are now declaring that they may hold a strike authorization vote on October 21. Other workers have issued statements to the UPS Workers Newsletter opposing the Teamsters actions. Im 10 years in and Im still a part-timer, said Irene, from California. We make up a majority of UPS. Ive sacrificed myself to make their money for them. What about us? Were the backbone and we have to band together. The Teamsters are fighting against us. Theyre taking our money but fighting for UPS. Another worker from Michigan commented, It is outrageous. We are busting our butts, running around every day more and more, and we are the ones making money for the company. The WSWS UPS Workers Newsletter urges workers to take the struggle into their own hands. Rank-and-file committees, democratically controlled by workers themselves and independent of the Teamsters, should be developed at every hub to organize opposition to the contract, oppose the Teamsters efforts to impose its illegitimate agreement, and discuss demands and preparations for a nationwide strike. The leaders of Quebecs major trade union federations have responded to the victory of the right-wing populist Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQCoalition for Quebecs Future) in the October 1 provincial election by offering to collaborate with Quebecs new government. I say give them a chance. I am ready to sit down with the CAQ government, with (CAQ leader and premier-designate) Francois Legault so that we can work together to advance Quebec, announced Daniel Boyer, president of the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL), the provinces largest union federation. For her part, Sonia Ethier, the president of the Quebec Union Federation (known by its French acronym, the CSQ), declared, We have tasted the Couillard (Liberal) governments medicine and we hope that the new government will not serve us the same medicine or even the same remedies. In the same vein, Claire Montour, the president of the CSQs health care federation, the FSQ-CSQ, said, We are available to discuss with representatives of the new government and share with them our solutions to improve access to care and improve working conditions. The union leaders eagerness to work with the CAQa party known for its hard-right big business policies, including advocacy of laws criminalizing workers strugglesunderscores that the trade union bureaucracy is turning even further right; and doing so under conditions where Quebec workers will soon be propelled into major struggles with the new CAQ government. Six major QFL-affiliated unions, including the United Steelworkers (USW), Machinists (IAM), and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), mounted a campaign during the elections to denounce the Liberals and the CAQ as twin pro-austerity parties. This move was a thinly veiled call for a vote for the big business Parti Quebecois (PQ), a long-time ally of the union bureaucracy, which imposed the greatest social spending cuts in Quebec history between 1996 and 1998. But no sooner was the CAQ elected, than the unions bowed down before Legault to offer their services. Similarly, the leaders of USW Local 9700, the bargaining agent for the 1,030 workers at the ABI aluminum smelter in Becancourt who have been locked out since January, touted the phony, vacuous claims of support for the ABI workers that the leaders of all four major parties made during the election campaign in a transparent ploy to garner votes. The day after the elections, the Steelworkers congratulated Legault on his victory and urged this millionaire, former Air Transat boss and one-time PQ cabinet minister to make good on his election commitment to intervene in the ABI labour dispute. The unions eagerness to work with the CAQ is the outcome of their decades long suppression of the class struggle and their corporatist integration with government and big business in promoting the competitiveness of Quebec capitalism, as exemplified by the QFLs $10 billion-plus venture capital fund, the so-called Solidarity Fund. Similarly in Ontario, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) responded to the election of the right-wing populist Doug Ford in Ontarios June 7 provincial election by appealing for talks and collaboration. In recent weeks, major Ontario unions like the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) have been meeting behind closed doors with Ford government representatives, even as they push through a raft of right-wing measures and lay the groundwork for a massive assault on public services and the rights and jobs of the workers who administer them. The unions and the party of the pseudo-left Quebec Solidaire paved the way for Legaults rise to power. By sabotaging worker resistance to the big business assault and politically subordinating the working class to the PQ, they created conditions in which the CAQ could make an appeal to popular discontent and cynically present itself as the party of change. Mass anger against the ruling elites austerity and war program has fuelled a succession of explosive social struggles in Quebec. Just in the past six years, these included the six-month 2012 Quebec student strike, a wave of public sector strikes in 2015 that at its height mobilized half-a-million workers, and province-wide strikes by more than 175,000 construction workers in 2013 and 2017. But each time the unions isolated and suppressed these struggles. In 2012, when the student strike threatened to become the catalyst for a broader working-class challenge to austerity, the unions did everything they could to shut it down and to politically neuter the opposition movement. Under the slogan From the streets to the ballot box, they workedwith the complicity of the student associations and Quebec Solidaireto divert the opposition to the Charest Liberal government and it austerity program behind the election of a Parti Quebecois government. Once in power, Pauline Marois PQ government imposed drastic cuts to social programs and incited Quebec chauvinism against immigrants and religious minorities, especially Muslims. This included a proposed purge, in the name of defending Quebec values, of public sector workers who wear the hijab, Sikh turban, Jewish kippah, or other ostentatious religious signs. During the 2015 public sector workers struggle, whatever their tactical differences, both the Common Front unions and the independent teachers and health care workers unions were determined to straitjacket the fight against the Liberals budget cuts within the framework of a collective-bargaining dispute. Yet it was clear from the outset that workers were facing a political struggle that required the mobilization of the entire working class to defend public services and challenge the anti-union laws. The unions current attempt to present the CAQ as a party whose bad political choices can be corrected by popular pressure is a blatant lie that is aimed at demobilizing and disorienting workers and youth. The CAQs promises of reinvestment in health care and education were pure electoral demagogy. Since its founding in 2011 through a merger between the personal political vehicle that Legault had created, with the backing of the billionaire Charles Sirois, and the remnants of the anti-immigrant Action Democratique du Quebec (ADQ), the CAQ has played a major role in pushing Quebec politics further right. CAQs pledges of initial social cuts of $1.2 billion, including the elimination of 5,000 civil servant jobs deregulation and the expansion of private health care, do not prevent the union bureaucrats from giving Legault a chance. The CAQ victory comes as right-wing populist forces, including Trump in the United States, the ultra-right AfD in Germany and Doug Ford in Ontario, have been able to gain electoral traction by exploiting social anger with the traditional political establishment. Their ability to do so is entirely bound up with the role that the establishment left partiesthe social-democrats and in the US the union-backed Democratic Partyand the trade unions have played in imposing austerity and war. Like the other new right forces, the CAQ seeks to stir up racism and xenophobia, scapegoating immigrants and refugees for the social crisis caused by the right-wing policies pursued by the establishment parties of all stripes. The unions are complicit in the ruing elites attempt to divide the working class along ethnic and national lines. In the name of defending Quebec and Canadian jobs, the unions have railed against workers in other countries, while imposing job cuts and concessions. Now, with the development of trade war, they are lining up behind Canadas major corporations and the federal Liberal government, offering their support for tariffs and other protectionist measures. The unions systematically isolate the struggles of workers and, through their promotion of Quebec nationalism, work to divide Quebec workers from workers elsewhere in Canada and internationally, while promoting the lie that Quebec workers have more in common with French-speaking billionaires, like Peladeau and the Desmarais family, than with their class brothers and sisters in the rest of North America and overseas. The unions offer to work with the CAQ underscores the urgency of workers building new organizations of struggle, independent of the corporatist, pro-capitalist trade unions, and based on a new political perspective: the mobilization of the working classFrench, English and immigrantagainst austerity and war and in the fight for a workers government, that would radically reorganize socioeconomic life to make social needs, not capitalist profit, the animating principle. The author also recommends: Canada: Workers need a socialist program to fight the right-wing populist danger [9 October 2018] Quebec: Right-wing populist CAQ exploits mass disaffection to win office [3 October 2018] TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Florida A&M University is inviting the community to donate hurricane relief items to FAMU students, faculty, staff, and alumni impacted by Hurricane Michael. The FAMU Cares Hurricane Michael Relief Drive is accepting bottled water, hand sanitizer, deodorant, personal hygiene items, first aid kits, baby wipes, paper towels, batteries, flashlights, manual can openers and non-perishable, canned food. Items will be collected Monday, Oct. 15 through Friday, Oct. 19 from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The items can be dropped off at FAMU Department of Campus Safety and Security (2400 Wahnish Way, Tallahassee, Florida 32310). THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WTXL) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has officially ruled a cause of death for Deanna Shirey. The GBI has officially ruled the cause of death to be death by violent homicide. The GBI stated that specific details about the nature of her injuries are being withheld due to an open and pending criminal investigation. Robert Carter II was charged for the murder of Shirey in July. THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WTXL) - Robert Carter II has been charged in the murder of Deanna Shirey. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation presented arrest warrants on Robert Carter II for the offenses of malice murder and concealing the death of another regarding the murder of Deanna Shirey. The warrants were signed adding these new charges to the charges he is facing for two other incidents in Thomasville and Ochlocknee. Carter will be served with the new warrants at the Thomas County Jail, where he is being housed on other charges. GBI Agents, Thomasville Police and Thomas County deputies are still investigating the evidence seized in the three crimes as they continue to build their cases against Carter for the alleged offenses. An autopsy was conducted on Deanna Shirey on Monday at the GBI Crime Lab in Macon. All tests associated with the autopsy have not been completed and are still in progress. Those results will be provided to the GBI Field Office upon completion. Additional charges against Carter are also anticipated at a later date. This case is active and ongoing. THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WTXL) - A Thomasville woman's family is sharing more details about her relationship with the person of interest in her death investigation. After disappearing for nearly two weeks, GBI agents say 70-year-old Deanna Shirey's body was found in Robert Lee Carter II's yard last Friday. Carter was Shirey's handyman for years, but WTXL has learned he was working with an expired license and a criminal history. Documents WTXL obtained from the City of Thomasville show Carter's handyman license expired in November 2017. On Carter's most recent license application, one of his references was from a "Mrs. Shirey," who said Carter did "excellent work." WTXL asked city officials if the reference is from Deanna Shirey. They have not yet responded. Carter was also a registered sex offender. Plus, before he was arrested last week, he was out on bond for a 2017 charge of aggravated sexual battery in Thomas County. Shirey's family had no idea. They say Shirey trusted Carter. "Mom has used Robert Carter on and off to do odd handyman jobs around the house for the last 10 years," said Nick Abiusi, Shirey's son-in-law. "His business card said that he was a licensed handyman, so there was no reason for mom or anyone in the family to believe he had a checkered past." The Thomas County Sheriff's Office says that feeling of trust is how Carter got close to Shirey, another woman in Thomasville he allegedly robbed and assaulted, and a family in Ochlockonee he's accused of holding hostage before running from police. "He had a connection because he was a handyman. He was known to them. It was easy for him to gain access to them," said Thomas County Lt. Tim Watkins. Both authorities and Shirey's family say, even if you think you know someone, you can never be too careful. "Call the building inspectors office, whether it's city or county. Ask to see if they have a license. Make sure they are bonded," said Lt. Watkins. "Look at who you are allowing into your home to make sure they are safe to be around your loved ones," said Abiusi. Abiusi added: "One of the questions that we struggle with as a family still is, what drove Robert Carter, after 10 years of working with mom, to attack her so viciously and do this?" The one silver lining? "He's no longer on the streets and he's no longer a threat to anyone else in this community," said Abiusi. As Thomasville police, Thomas County deputies and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation work to compile all their findings in this case, an autopsy on Shirey's body is underway. The findings will determine if Carter will face charges in her death. Shirey's family is holding a celebration of life in her honor this Thursday. (WTXL) - Some public schools across the area are returning to the classroom, while others will remain close following Hurricane Michael. FLORIDA GADSDEN COUNTY: Gadsden County public school students will return to school on Monday. FRANKLIN COUNTY: In Franklin County, school is closed Monday. The district estimates it will take at least a week to restore utilities. LIBERTY COUNTY: Liberty County Schools are out indefinitely. JACKSON COUNTY: In Jackson County, the district said teachers will return to work on Friday, October 26 and students will return on Monday, October 29. They say many schools already have power restored and all will have power restored well in advance of teachers returning. Any damages that need immediate repair are being taken care of to ensure that when teachers and students return, it will be to a safe classroom. GEORGIA ALBANY STATE UNIVERSITY (all locations): Staff return Tuesday. Classes will resume Thursday Oct. 18. ALBANY TECHNICAL COLLEGE: Closed Monday. BAKER COUNTY K-12 SCHOOL: Closed until October 22. COLQUITT COUNTY SCHOOLS: Remained closed to Monday, Oct. 15. (Colquitt County Schools will resume Tuesday and Wednesday before taking Fall Break Thursday and Friday) DECATUR COUNTY SCHOOLS: Schools will reopen on Oct. 22 for all faculty, staff, and students. GRADY COUNTY SCHOOLS: Closed Monday. MITCHELL COUNTY SCHOOLS/Baconton Community Charter Schools: Students return on Monday, Oct. 22. Faculty and staff report to work on Wednesday, Oct. 17. SW GEORGIA STEM CHARTER SCHOOL: Closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. THOMAS UNIVERSITY: Open Monday. THOMASVILLE CITY SCHOOLS: Due to safety concerns with routes to school, the Thomasville City Schools will be closed for students until further notice. TIFT COUNTY SCHOOLS: Open Monday. (WTXL) - The White House has approved Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's request for federal assistance in the state of Georgia. Gov. Deal received notice from the White House on Sunday that Georgia's request for federal aid has been approved, including individual assistance for six counties impacted by Hurricane Michael. 31 counties have been approved for public assistance. Individual assistance makes funding available to individuals and households in the six following counties: Baker, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Miller and Seminole counties. FEMA and the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency are continuing to conduct individual assistance assessments in other counties, and the president may add additional counties for designation based upon the assessments. Individual assistance may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the hurricane. Public assistance includes assistance for emergency work and debris removal. The 31 counties approved for public assistance include: Baker, Bleckley, Burke, Calhoun, Colquitt, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Emanuel, Grady, Houston, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Laurens, Lee, Macon, Miller, Mitchell, Pulaski, Seminole, Sumter, Terrell, Thomas, Treutlen, Turner, Wilcox and Worth counties. All counties in Georgia are eligible to apply for assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which provides assistance for actions taken to prevent or reduce long-term risk to life and property from natural hazards. Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties can begin applying for assistance online here or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA(3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Police have arrested a third man suspected in a drug deal that turned into a violent home invasion robbery at a Sandpiper Street home in August. Robert Hoskins has been arrested for armed burglary, armed robbery and attempted murder. Court documents say Hoskins, along with Darrius Mosley and Brandon Nicholson, bought marijuana from a home on Sandpiper Street on Aug. 17. They later returned to the home and robbed the victims inside. In the process, two victims were shot. Hoskins was arrested by Tallahassee Police Department investigators and the United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, and was transported to the Leon County Dentition Facility. TPD arrests second suspect in Sandpiper Street shooting TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Police have arrested a second man suspected in a drug deal that turned into a violent home invasion robbery at a Sandpiper Street home. Brandon Nicholson has been arrested in Polk County for a home invasion robbery in Tallahassee. Court documents say Nicholson, along with Mosley and one other suspect at large, bought marijuana from a home on Sandpiper Street on Aug. 17. They later returned to the home and robbed the victims inside. In the process, two victims were shot. According to a probable cause document, Nicholson was armed with a gun during the incident and allegedly shot at least one of the victims. Nicholson has been charged with attempted homicide, burglary with assault, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Police arrested one of three suspects in a home invasion robbery that occurred after a drug deal and left two victims with gunshot injuries. Darrius Mosley, 21, of Bartow, Florida, returned to the residence after making an initial marijuana buy earlier that day under the pretense of buying more marijuana, according to a probable cause affidavit. Mosley first came to the residence alone on August 17, and bought $10 worth of marijuana, the court document said. But, unknown to the residents of the house, when he returned the second time he was accompanied by two other people. Concerning Mosley's second visit, a shooting victim told police that, after he cracked open the door for Mosley to buy marijuana, a second suspect with a handgun pushed it open. That second suspect forced him to sit on a chair near the front door. While sitting, the victim emptied his pocket to show the suspect he had nothing of value on his person, and then the victim saw a third armed suspect enter the residence with Mosley. During the robbery, the victims were shot. One man suffered a chest wound that police feared at first would prove fatal. The other man suffered a hand wound and injuries to his head from a pistol whipping. A man who described himself as a guest at the Sandpiper Street home, who was neither of the victims, said Mosley had first come there in response to his advertisement on the GroupMe app to buy marijuana. During the transaction, one victim flashed a large amount of cash, the court document said the seller told an investigator. Mosley initially bought $10 worth of marijuana and left the residence but later in the evening called the seller, saying he wanted to buy more marijuana. But before Mosley returned, the man who sold him the marijuana had gone to the bathroom, where he heard an altercation and then gunshots and called 911. The marijuana seller told investigators he had recently bought a quarter pound of the illegal drug and decided to resell it by advertising on the GroupMe app. In tracking down Mosley, investigators said his cellphone arrived in Tallahassee on Aug. 17, the day of the shooting. Cell-site and geolocation records associated with Mosley's phone indicated he was at the residence where the victims said he was and at the times they indicated. Tallahassee Police Department investigators found a large quantity of marijuana and cash in the residence, the court document said. Mosley was booked into the Leon County Detention Center on Tuesday and remained there Wednesday on a $100,000 bond. He faces charges of attempted felony murder, burglary with assault or battery and armed robbery. Police have not identified the other two suspects. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 00:11:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close HAVANA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, along with tourism authorities have inaugurated the island's second luxury five-star hotel as the Caribbean nation is looking to attract more high-standard visitors to its resorts, local media reported on Sunday. According to a report by daily Juventud Rebelde, Diaz-Canel participated in the official opening ceremony of the Iberostar Grand Packard Hotel in Havana Saturday night as the hotel has already been receiving tourists for about four weeks. Located in Havana's Old Town and with a stunning view of the city's bay, the resort is the second one in Cuba with five-star plus category and is operated by Spanish company Iberostar who has been in the island for 25 years. Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said the hotel is part of a new strategy in the sector to attract more high-standard visitors which look for exclusive products and destinations. "Iberostar has been present in the country since 1993 and currently operates 27 hotels with 7,881 rooms, adding the Grand Packard as its best exponent in Cuba," he said. Marrero emphasized the arrival of international visitors to the island is experiencing an important recovery after a sharp 6.5 percent drop in the first half of the year. "We have been able to recover despite the intensification of the U.S. blockade particularly with travel restrictions as Cuba continues to be the only country in the world where a U.S. citizen is prohibited by law to visit as a tourist," he added. Meanwhile, Miguel Fluxa, chairman of Iberostar Group, said that after 25 years in constant contact with the country this hotel is the pinnacle product the company has in the Caribbean region. "I move around the world and this hotel has a high-standard as any five-star resort in London, New York or Paris. It doesn't get better than this," he said. Located on the emblematic Paseo del Prado, and next to iconic buildings such as the Velasco Palace and the National Capitol Building (El Capitolio), the hotel has 321 rooms and suites with concierge services for its guests. It also has three fine dining restaurants, one snack bar next to the swimming pool with astonishing view to Havana's bay and three bars. Despite a sharp 6.5 percent contraction in the arrival of foreign tourists in the first half of this year, Cuba plans to set a new record and finish 2018 with the arrival of about 4.8 million visitors according to the tourism ministry. The tourism sector is the second source of foreign currency income for Cuba after professional services abroad and is considered as one of the main driving forces of its economic development by the government. Cuba's first five-star hotel, the "Gran Hotel Manzana," part of the Swiss group Kempinski Hotels opened in May, 2017 in Havana. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 00:31:22|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Sunday called for an international investigation into the "crimes" of the U.S.-led coalition, following a recent attack with white phosphorus in Deir al-Zour, said local news agency. The ministry also called for ending the "aggressive" and "illegitimate" presence of the U.S. forces in Syria, said state news agency SANA. "The use of internationally-prohibited weapons against the Syrian people is a flagrant violation of the international law and human rights," the ministry said. The statement comes a few days after the U.S.-led coalition used white phosphorus ammunition while targeting the town of Hajin, one of the few Islamic State (IS)-held areas in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province. The ministry said many people were killed or wounded in the attack. The Syrian government has for long called for ending the presence of the U.S.-led coalition on Syrian soil. The U.S. coalition has been backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their push to defeat IS in towns in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour. The battles are hard as the IS militants resorted to several tactics to prevent the SDF from advancing through landmines and suicide bombings. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 00:46:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Sunday urged higher education students across the country to refrain from any form of destructive agendas and envisage rational judgments amid the starting of the new academic year. The call was made by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his deputy, Demeke Mekonnen. Ahmed and Mekonnen, as part of their messages to higher education students, urged the need to engage in constructive agendas as millions of Ethiopian youth embark on the new Ethiopian academic year. Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation with more than 100 million population, has a burgeoning youth as more than 70 percent of its total population are under 30 years of age, according to government figures. Noting that students are the east African country's future, Ahmed advised them to give due emphasis on national agendas with the potential of positively shaping the country's socioeconomic and political outlooks. The premier called on all public and private education institutions in Ethiopia to focus on not only training students for future employment, but also to prepare them toward positively impacting the country's future. Improving the culture of peaceful resolution of differences and misunderstandings through discussions was also another focus in Ahmed's message to Ethiopian students. Universities across Ethiopia were the center of recent waves of unrest that affected the country since the second half of 2016 mainly attributed to challenges related with corruption and maladministration. Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen echoed Ahmed's call, stressing on the need to limit the movement of political factions in academic institutions. According to Mekonnen, all political parties that are presently active in the country, including the ruling coalition, Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), cannot engage in any form of political movements inside the premises of educational institutions. He also urged members of all political parties and groups to refrain from manifesting their programs and logos inside universities and colleges as these places must be secular from any form of political movement. Ethiopia's higher education institutions have been hotbeds of dissent since the 1960s, eventually helping overthrow the last Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie I, in September 1974. In recent years, higher educational institutions have also become scenes of violence among students over political, ethnic and religious differences. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 02:11:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SANAA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- An international aid agency strongly condemned Saturday's attack on people traveling by bus to flee the escalating war in Yemen's war-torn port city of Hodeidah that killed at least 17, mostly women and children. In a statement on Sunday, the Norwegian Refugee Council's office in Yemen said Saturday's attack in Jabal Ras was "unacceptable." The Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Jabal Ras area near a security checkpoint south of Hodeidah city also wounded 20 others, said the Yemeni Houthi rebel-controlled Saba news agency. The war has escalated in the Red Sea port city following the collapse of peacemaking efforts last month by the UN in Geneva after Houthi rebels refused to attend. The Hodeidah port is a main entry point of about 70 percent of Yemen's food, medicines, aid and fuel. Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthi rebels forced him into exile. The war has killed over 10,000 people and displaced nearly 3 million. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 06:47:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The deadline for the withdrawal of extremist militants from the demilitarized zone in northern Syria passed without their evacuation, a war monitor reported on Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said none of the extremist groups left the demilitarized zone as they were supposed to evacuate by Oct. 15 in accordance with the Russian-Turkish deal to establish a buffer zone in certain areas in northern Syria. The observatory said the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, also known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, released a statement on Sunday evening, expressing for the first time its stance toward the demilitarized zone deal. The group said in the statement that they would continue to fight the Syrian government forces to achieve the goal of toppling the administration of President Bashar al-Assad. The Tahrir al-Sham is considered as the most powerful among the rebel groups in Idlib Province, which is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria. Their statement, however, didn't explicitly say that they will not withdraw, but it comes to add to the doubts about the full timely implementation of the Turkish-Russian deal. The planned buffer zone will include areas in Idlib as well as adjacent countryside areas of the provinces of Hama, Latakia and Aleppo. The observatory said in an earlier report on Sunday that the Syrian and Russian side is targeting the demilitarized zone for many reasons, one of which is the presence of the extremist groups in the zone. The withdrawal of the extremist groups from the buffer zone is the second step of the Russian-Turkish deal to establish such a zone in northern Syria. The rebels have withdrawn their heavy weapons recently but the fighters didn't. The deal was reached in Sept. between the leaders of Turkey and Russia, aiming at averting Idlib Province, which is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, a wide-scale offensive by the Syrian Army. The Syrian government has welcomed the deal but noted that it was temporary not a permanent one. A group of supporters who also support U.S. President Donald Trump attend the "Rally for the American Dream - Equal Education Rights for All," ahead of the start of the trial in a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian-American applicants, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., October 14, 2018. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder) BOSTON, the United States, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Asian Americans on Sunday afternoon held demonstrations in central Boston to show support for a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian American applicants by using "de facto racial quotas, racial stereotypes and higher standards." Harvard has denied the charges. The lawsuit, launched by the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an anti-Affirmative Action advocacy group, will go to trial on Monday at a U.S. District Court in Boston. Before the crowd at the Copley Square, leaders and representatives of Asian-American communities across the United States took to the stage and made speeches one by one, arguing that the racial factor should not play a role in selective college admissions. Equal education rights for all is an Asian American dream, they said. Many demonstrators held slogans and banners on which the following is written: "My race should not hurt me in admissions" or "Discrimination in the name of diversity is wrong." "For many years Asian Americans have been under the impression that Harvard and other elite universities treat them differently than they do white, African American and Hispanic applicants. So this lawsuit is about ending Harvard's discriminatory practices that are targeting Asian Americans." SFFA President Edward Blum said in an interview with Xinhua. The final goal of the lawsuit is to have Harvard stop discriminating against Asian Americans and treat everyone, whites, African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans the same during the admissions process. Yes, Not to use race in their admissions policies." said Blum, "Harvard can achieve diversity without discriminating." "Over the decades, reputable journalists, scholars, discriminated-against students and former admissions officers have revealed that Harvard and other selective colleges unlawfully use de facto racial quotas, racial stereotypes, and higher standards to discriminate against Asian-American applicants", the rally organizers accused in their press release for the rally. Though Asian American applicants are exceedingly competitiveness on all objective measures both in academic and extracurricular criteria, they are consistently rated the lowest by the college's personality trait ratings, said Yukong Zhao, co-founder and president of the group Asian American Coalition for Education, a major organizer of the rally. Harvard's race-based admissions model creates unbearable study burdens, stress, depression and many other serious psychological issues among Asian-American children, Zhao told Xinhua, noting it's also an insulting to Asian Americans who are among the best in terms of entrepreneurship, technological innovation and so on. The U.S. Justice Department announced last month it was supporting the lawsuit, saying Harvard's admissions process "may be infected with racial bias." However, the dispute over the lawsuit appears to be big and hot. It's widely expected that the case will finally go to the Supreme Court. "I support affirmative action...I think that the premise that Chinese Americans are negatively affected by affirmative action is incorrect." Sally Chen. a senior Chinese American student studying history and literature at Harvard, told Xinhua. "I do think Asian Americans do face discrimination in this country... but I don't think that this supreme court case, which is just generally trying to get rid of race as a part of our admission process, will address that issue in any way." said Chen, adding that she would support Harvard revise its current policies addressing implicit bias in the admission process. Larry Bacow, Harvard's new president, defended the school's race-conscious admissions process last month. "People understand and recognize that we learn from our differences - that creating a diverse learning environment enriches the learning experience for every student on campus," local media quoted Bacow as speaking at a higher education event in Detroit. Asian-Americans now account for 23 percent of all admitted students in Harvard, according to local reports. File photo: A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in Iran on July 25, 2005. (Reuters) TEHRAN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that the U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports in Nov. would have "no impact" on the economy and the lives of people. The enemy has waged a psychological war and "has already done whatever it could have done," Rouhani said in the University of Tehran on Sunday. The impending Nov. 4 sanctions on Iran's oil exports by the U.S. will have "no impact" on the state of affairs in the country, but the pressures by the current U.S. administration are aimed at a "regime change" in Iran, Rouhani was quoted by Press TV as saying. "Over the past 40 years, there has not been a more spiteful team than the current U.S. government vis-a-vis Iran and the Islamic republic," Rouhani said. "They started with a psychological war. Their next goal is an economic war in an attempt to portray (the Islamic republic) ineffective, and their ultimate goal is to delegitimize the system and change it," he added. Iran has defeated the U.S. many times before and will thwart all its conspiracies with the unity and integrity among the Iranians again, he maintained. Rouhani said that Washington has been isolated after its withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, adding that except for a few countries, all others view the move as "illegal" and a "mistake." U.S. President Donald Trump announced on May 8 his withdrawal from the Iranian 2015 international nuclear deal, also known as JCPOA, and vowed to return harshest sanctions in history against Iran. The first round of renewed U.S. sanctions, imposed on August 7, prohibits Iran from the purchase of U.S. dollar and precious metals, part of a larger move that attempts to cut the country off from the international financial system. A second tranche of U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports and gas sector are set to go into effect on Nov. 4. Iran's First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri said on Sunday that the U.S. is seeking to cut Iran's oil exports to zero and prevent Iran's imports of basic commodities including raw materials, Tasnim news agency reported. Trump's goal by exerting energy sanctions on Iran is to minimize the country's sources of income in the current economic war against Iran, Jahangiri added. Iran has no concerns over the potential impacts of returning U.S. sanctions on its oil exports given that it is already selling its crude oil higher than the price tag it has set in its annual budget plan, according to him. Iran was selling its oil at above 80 U.S. dollars per barrel, Jahangiri said, adding that the country would be economically safe even if the sanctions slashed its oil sales by half. The budget bill for the current Iranian year was devised on assumptions that the country would sell its oil at 55 dollars per barrel, according to Press TV. Trump "mistakenly" thought Saudi Arabia would be able to replace the lost share of Iran's crude supply to the global market, Jahangiri said. The reduced share of Iran in global oil market is the reason behind the recent surge in oil prices, the vice president noted. Iran exported at least 2.5 million barrels per day of crude in April before Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal. Recently, Iran announced that South Korea, one of the country's major crude customers, has stopped crude imports from Iran. Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has also said neither Saudi Arabia nor any other oil producer has such a capacity to replace Iran's oil in the market. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 07:14:22|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close People pick up chestnuts in a forest during a celebration of the Chestnut Festival in Fully, Valais Canton, Switzerland, on Oct. 14, 2018. The Chestnut Festival is celebrated here every October during the harvest period. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) File photo: In this April 12, 2016 photograph, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman embrace each other during a medal ceremony in Ankara, Turkey. (AP Photo) ANKARA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on late Sunday held phone talk with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, discussing the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. During the phone call, the two leaders emphasized the importance of forming a joint working group to make investigation on the case, the report cited Turkish presidential source as saying. Saudi King Salman also affirmed his country's solid ties with Turkey, saying no one could undermine the strength of their bilateral relationship, the Saudi Foreign Ministry tweeted after the phone conversation. Khashoggi, journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Unconfirmed reports said that Khashoggi was likely killed inside the compound, which was denied by Saudi officials as "baseless." Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia to explain the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, saying the kingdom's consulate should provide evidence that Khashoggi exited the building after entering. A Saudi delegation arrived in Turkey on Friday to discuss the case with Turkish authorities, following Turkish presidential spokesperson announced to form a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation team upon the kingdom's request. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 07:27:22|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close HOUSTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- After experiencing four-week gains, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price for November delivery and Brent oil price for December delivery lost 4.03 percent and 4.43 percent, respectively, during the week ending Oct. 12, the biggest weekly loss in six months. In the previous week ending Oct. 5, WTI and Brent increased by 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively and WTI and Brent settled at 74.34 U.S. dollars and 84.16 dollars per barrel, respectively, at the end of the week. On Tuesday, the major benchmarks continued their gains. WTI grew 0.67 dollar to settle at 74.96 dollars a barrel and Brent advanced 1.09 dollars to 85 dollars per barrel. However, oil prices at four-year highs had triggered concerns over demand as U.S. President Donald Trump blamed OPEC for rising gasoline prices for American consumers. Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier last week cut the forecast of world economic growth from 3.9 percent to 3.7 percent for 2018 and 2019. On Wednesday and Thursday, crude oil prices fell along with the stock market while Trump had strong words for countries that ignore U.S. oil sanctions. WTI fell 1.79 U.S. dollars and 2.2 dollars per barrel in the two-day trading sessions, while Brent lost 1.91 dollars and 2.83 dollars per barrel in the same period. Analysts pointed out that the weekly petroleum data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is one of factors to pressure crude oil prices. According to the EIA report released on Thursday, U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles increased by 5.98 million barrels in the week ending Oct. 5 and total petroleum stockpiles in the country jumped 11.3 million barrels week on week, meaning there's a plentiful supply. On Friday, International Energy Agency (IEA) cut global oil demand growth in 2018 and 2019 by 110,000 barrels per day, respectively, citing acute economic damage in many developing countries as well as risk from trade disputes. WTI picked up 0.37 dollar to settle at 71.34 dollars a barrel and Brent gained 0.17 dollars to 80.43 dollars per barrel at end of the week. In the upcoming weeks, oil market will watch closely on potential disruptions to global crude supplies as looming U.S. sanctions on Iran are widely expected to lead to a tighter market. Meanwhile, the market will also focus on the news of any meeting between officials from China and the United States aiming at seeking solution to the ongoing trade tensions. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 09:02:36|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close CANBERRA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia's top scientists have proposed that a satellite be launched to look 300 km beneath the Earth's surface and "transform" the nation's mining sector. The Australian Academy of Science's National Committee for Earth Sciences on Monday launched its 10-year plan for Australian Geoscience, which includes plans for the satellite. According to the report, the world's demand for copper, cobalt, gold and rare-earth elements is set to skyrocket over the next decade as a result of the shift towards renewable energy sources, electric vehicles and mobile technology. Sue O-Reilly, chairwoman of the committee, said that Australia's minerals sector had to become smarter when exploring for those critical resources. "This is where the downward-looking telescope comes in," she said in a media release on Monday. "A piece of infrastructure like this would transform our minerals sector by making deep Australia visible. "It would give us a new understanding of the vertical makeup of the continent and allow us to direct our mineral exploration efforts in the two-thirds of Australia that aren't currently cost-effective to explore. "By 2030 global demand for cobalt will be 47 times what it was in 2016 so, unless we can become self-sufficient in this strategic metal, Australia may be held to ransom with massive price increases and chronic shortages." In addition to proposing the telescope, the academy called for geoscience to become a part of the national school curriculum, saying that it "should be embedded as a core subject." It also said that Australia's computation capability must be expanded so as to ensure that the nation remains a world-leader in geoscience simulation and modelling. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 09:12:38|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close BRUSSELS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation between China and Belgium on science and technology is gaining new momentum as the two countries are working together to build a closer partnership. In 2015, the heads of state of China and Belgium witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation documents in the field of science and technology. Since then, cooperation between the two countries in the field has vastly expanded across various levels. Since 1979, China and Belgium have signed more than 70 technology-related agreements and implemented 470 intergovernmental science and technology projects covering agriculture, energy, geology, earthquakes, remote sensing, environmental protection, biology, medicine, nuclear safety and information. Hundreds of research institutes, universities and enterprises have participated in the implementation of these bilateral cooperation projects, which involved thousands of scientists. In the field of fundamental research, China's Ministry of Science and Technology signed a series of agreements with the Belgian Research Foundation of Flanders and The Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research, ranging from agriculture, biotechnology, sustainable energy and environment, information and communication, and microelectronics. In the words of Huang Wei, vice minister of science and technology of China, who led a delegation during the 1st China-Belgium innovation dialogue in March 2017, "bilateral cooperation has shifted from government-led collaboration in basic research to growing public-private partnerships that cover the entire chain of research and innovation." It's within such a cooperative context that the first step was made towards building a full-fledged China-Belgium Technology Center in June 2016. The China-Belgium Technology Center is committed to building a two-way green channel for high-tech industries in China and Europe. It provides a platform for technology transfer, strategic investment, industry cooperation and market access. Although Belgium has many cutting-edge technologies, its domestic market has a relatively limited capacity compared to that of China, which makes the center not only a model base for the "going out" of China's high-tech enterprises, but also provides a fast-track for Belgian and even European innovation companies to enter the Chinese market. China and Belgium are also actively carrying out joint laboratory construction, bringing together bilateral high-quality scientific and technological resources for international cooperation. The two countries have jointly established a number of laboratories on global climate change, food security, mycotoxin research, audio-visual signal processing and geographic information. In an interview with Xinhua, Shen Long, counselor for Science and Technology at the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, said that the friendly relations between China and Belgium are the solid foundation for scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries. At present, China and Belgium are attaching great importance to the development of science and technology innovation, and the future will witness the opening of a new chapter in bilateral ties. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 10:27:51|Editor: mmm Video Player Close DAVAO CITY, the Philippines, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Police shot and killed two suspected members of a local cell of the Islamic State (IS) group in the southern Philippines late on Sunday, authorities on Monday said. Senior Superintendent Ferlu Silvio, the provincial police chief for Davao del Sur police, identified the slain suspects as Norhan Delangalen Sinapan and his brother Norton Delangalen Sinapan. Norhan, Silvio said, was the leader of a cell of the Islamic State called Dawlah Islamiyah in the city of Digos in Davao del Sur province. Silvio said the operation against the brothers were carried by combined police units, who swooped down on their hideout at a seaside community at 11 p.m. local time. Recovered from the slain suspects were a handgun, several rounds of ammunition, a component for an improvised bomb, a fragmentation grenade and two black flags with IS markings, the police official said. The southern Philippines has been on alert following reports terrorists who swore allegiance to the terror network had regrouped after they were routed and expelled by Philippine troops from Marawi City late last year after five months of heavy fighting. A series of bombings in the southern Philippine town of Isulan last August and September that killed four people and wounded scores of others were blamed on local IS-affiliated extremists. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 11:07:57|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Hu Tao BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Food-loving Chinese have never been as lucky as today, thanks to the country's surging air express industry that transports fresh food around easily from home and abroad. The emerging industry is powering China in the global market, facilitating economic growth and bringing new business opportunities worldwide. UPSTREAM GROWTH A new "engine" of the global air cargo industry, China is impressing the world with intensive progresses in freighter fleet, air freight volume, an expanding air route network and emerging enterprises. In July 2018, China's air freight transport rose 8.7 percent year-on-year to 595,000 tonnes, including 207,000 tonnes in international air freight sector, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Meanwhile, global air cargo transport demand gained only 2.1 percent year-on-year in freight tonne kilometers, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). "China is the most exciting and dynamic market in the world. The continuous growth in its economy and middle class sustains the country's upward aviation market," said Randy Tinseth, vice president of commercial marketing for Boeing. "As China has the world's fastest growing e-commerce industry, demand for air-cargo freighters is also expected to expand exponentially." Boeing forecasts that China will demand 200 new air-cargo freighters and 470 converted freighters over the next 20 years. In 2017, China transported 7.06 million tonnes of airmail cargo, up 5.6 percent year on year, according to CAAC. AMBITIOUS EXPANSION In fact, China's express giants are ambitious to add more freighters to expand air route networks and industry-related facilities. SF Airlines, the aviation branch of China's express giant SF Express, opened a new direct all-cargo air route linking Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province, with Singapore, on Sept. 4. The B767-300 freighter carried China-made mobile phone spare parts and other cargo, which were in high demand. The new route came soon after the airline opened a direct cargo route between Shenzhen and Chennai, in southern India, in early August. "The aviation sector is the key power in SF's express network, thanks to its unique features in fast and high-quality transport," said Bao Weiguang, public affairs director of SF Airlines. "And the intensive opening of international cargo routes strengthens our capacity to quickly respond to market demand and serve our customers with a competitive network," Bao said. The Shenzhen-based SF Airlines has China's largest all-freighter fleet, with 47 aircraft. Aiming high in air express, China's major express companies are manifesting their ambitions by expanding the international route network and enhancing their global presence. China's YTO Airlines opened a direct air cargo route linking Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, and Manila, capital of the Philippines, on Sept. 21, shortly after it opened the Zhengzhou-Tokyo international air route. GREAT POTENTIAL "Being fast and efficient is the lifeline of the express. China's express industry has unprecedented momentum for lifting air cargo transport capacity," said Kevin Wu, vice president of Textron Aviation. Over the past decades, mass transport of goods is the major source of growth in China's air cargo industry. Emerging e-commerce, featuring loose goods from scattered online stores, has gradually changed the source, structure as well as the volume of China's air cargo. Wu believes Chinese express companies should deploy their fleet with large freighters as well as small-and-medium general airplanes, which will facilitate "point-to-point delivery", like their western peers such as the FedEx and UPS. More and more general airports and cargo airports are on the way. China is expected to have more than 500 general airports, making each prefecture-level city enjoy an airport service. "SF Airlines is creating an air route network with nationwide coverage and global radiation. More freighters are also joining," Bao said. "To date, the airline has created a network with three air hubs and dozens of routes. The air express capacity is sustaining the quick expansion of SF's express business at home and abroad." According to Tinseth, China's e-commerce market has the highest trading scale in the world, given the enormous developmental potential of its cargo transport market "We feel a large amount of enthusiasm from our customers in the air cargo business and are confident in continuously supporting their growth in the dynamic market in China," Tinseth said. Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi receives an interview with Xinhua in his family study in Apia, the capital of Samoa on Oct. 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing) by Zhang Yongxing SUVA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is opening a vast market and providing opportunities of development for the world, particular for the South Pacific region's small island nations including Samoa, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi of Samoa has said. "The Belt and Road Initiative is opening a vast market and bringing lots of opportunities for the world, particular for the small countries like Samoa in the South Pacific region in this difficult times and challenges posed by climate change," Tuilaepa said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. In his family study in Apia, capital of Samoa, Tuilaepa, who just wrapped up a China trip for the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, told Xinhua that the initiative has a positive effect on promoting trade, tourism and culture, and that is why his country inked with China a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of cooperation for the initiative, aiming to strengthen the win-win cooperation with China and build a closer partnership between the two countries. "I think that Samoa is the first of the South Pacific island nations to sign the initiative. For me, when we say something benefiting our country, we are always quick to make a decision, " he said proudly. "We supports the Belt and Road Initiative, and is willing to expand cooperation with China in the fields such as trade, investment and tourism within the framework of the initiative." From his point of view, Samoa has obviously benefitted from the initiative and seen a vast potential of cooperation with China within the framework of the initiative. Photo taken on Oct. 5, 2018 shows Samoan capital's new Faleolo International Airport, constructed by China's Shanghai Construction Group, in Apia, the capital of Samoa. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing) Over the past years, on the basis of full respect for the will of the Samoan government and people for the social and economic development, China has provided assistance to Samoa in various fields and that all the assistance has been welcomed and has been highly appreciated by Samoa. Samoa and China have established a close relationship of mutual trust and friendship based on the one-China principle since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries 43 years ago, he said, adding that all China's assistance to the island nation is "transparent, no any secret" and the assistance has really helped grow the country's economy. Tuilaepa slams the so-called China debt trap, saying that "we are fortunate to have grants from China. I think all the allegation (of the China debt trap) is based completely on misunderstanding of the issues involved. " Meanwhile, the Samoan prime minister voiced his support to multilateral trade cooperation, saying that free trade has been accepted by the countries across the world. Photo taken on Oct. 6, 2018 shows Samoan government building in Apia, the capital of Samoa. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing) "This is a world of free competition and the smooth flow of trade is very important for all of us, including Samoa, " he said. "Now it seems that every country in the world wants to grow its economy. I want to ensure our Samoans to enjoy the benefits of free trade. In doing so, as a very small country, we need friends like China, we need partners and we need open markets." "In Tianjin's World Economic Forum, what we talked about is open trade, free movement of goods, free movement of labour and free movement of technology. If you open up trade, world trade will be cheaper and all of us will benefit from it," he said. Regarding the Asian market and economy as now being "on the top of the world and the leaders of the international trade," he said that the future of the world lies with China and the Asia Pacific, and the biggest and most important market is China. "If we look at the Pacific's future, we can see the Pacific will be leaning more and more toward China. China, along with the rest of Asia, including India, South Korea and Japan, is the center of the world gravity, the center of business in the world 's future. I can see that as a country with a population of 1.3 billion, China's economy is going to grow, grow and grow in the future because China has the most population and the vast market. And the Chinese people will produce goods of the best quality at the lowest possible price, so China can serve any market in the world," he said. As for the prospect of the relations between China and the South Pacific island nations, including Samoa, he said that mutual respect and common development is good and there is a great potential for such relationship to grow. "I am proud to say that Samoa is among the first South Pacific island nations to establish diplomatic ties with China. And I think that mutual respect and common development is a perfect policy. For the small countries like Samoa, this is good as we should respect each other and seek common development of our economies," he added. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 11:38:01|Editor: mmm Video Player Close HAVANA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cuba on Sunday denounced mounting U.S. hostility toward the island two weeks before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly vote on a non-binding resolution calling for an end to the nearly six-decade blockade on the Caribbean country. In the last few months, Washington has escalated the "hostile rhetoric" against the island to create greater bilateral tension, said a statement by Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, director of U.S. affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Far from discussing on the basis of respect, ... the U.S. government resorts to fraudulent accusations and defamatory campaigns," said the statement, adding that Washington continues to "fabricate" false accusations against Havana like health incidents that affected U.S. diplomatic personnel based in Cuba. In August 2017, there were reports that the U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Cuba had fallen ill in Havana back in late 2016. The United States later accused Cuba of committing unspecified health-related attacks. After months of investigation, security agencies of both countries have demonstrated the alleged attacks never took place. Fernandez de Cossio said that the White House seems to defend by any means the unilateral economic blockade on Cuba, a policy rejected by the international community year after year in the UN. On Oct. 31, Havana will present for the 27th consecutive time before the UN General Assembly a non-binding resolution which condemns the unilateral embargo policy. Last year, only the United States and Israel opposed the resolution, while 191 countries condemned Washington's outdated policy toward the Caribbean nation. Havana and Washington officially resumed diplomatic ties in 2015 under the Obama administration. However, bilateral relations have deteriorated since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Last year, Trump signed a presidential memorandum toughening U.S. policy toward Cuba, a document that prohibits U.S. companies from doing business with firms associated with Cuba's military, and restricts U.S. citizens' travel to the Caribbean nation. In its annual report to the UN, Havana noted the embargo costs Cuba billions, with losses totaling more than 4.3 billion U.S. dollars between April 2017 and March of this year. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 12:03:10|Editor: mmm Video Player Close SYDNEY, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the autonomous region of Bougainville have come to an agreement about what question will be asked at next year's independence referendum. Described by PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill as a "simple but momentous occasion," the vote comes as a condition of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, a treaty which ended the multi-layered armed conflict from 1988 to 1998. "Both sides have agreed to the question we will put to the people of Bougainville," O'Neill told local television station EMTV at the signing ceremony on Friday. "The question is going to affirm our commitment to the fulfilment of the Bougainville Peace Agreement." With a budget of 34 million PNG Kina (10.1 million U.S. dollars) set aside, the target date of the vote has been declared as June 15, 2019. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 12:23:14|Editor: mmm Video Player Close TOKYO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks lost ground Monday as exporters retreated on yen's strength following U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's remarks about the prevention of currency devaluation in trade talks with Japan. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 315.18 points, or 1.39 percent, from Friday to 22,379.48. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, fell 17.73 points, or 1.04 percent, at 1,684.72 Information and communication, bank, and glass and ceramic product-linked issues comprised those that decline the most before the morning break. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 13:39:34|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close A team of dancers of the Mentougou District perform during a square dance performance in the Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 14, 2018. Nineteen teams of Beijing's districts attended the performance, part of a series of cultrual activities. This year, Beijing has held more than 200 square dance performances with the participation of over 6,000 teams of more than one million people. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 13:43:25|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of Chinese tourists to Cambodia during the first eight months of 2018 had exceeded the full-year 2017's record, said a Cambodian Tourism Ministry's report released on Monday. More than 1.27 million Chinese tourists had visited Cambodia during the January-August period this year, up 72 percent over the same period last year, the report said, adding that China is the biggest source of foreign tourists to Cambodia, accounting for 32.4 percent of the international arrivals to the kingdom. In the entirety of 2017, the Southeast Asian nation received 1.21 million Chinese holidaymakers. Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon has said that the country is expected to attract at least 1.7 million Chinese tourists in 2018 and up to 2.5 million in 2020. He attributed the remarkable increase in Chinese tourists to Cambodia to close ties, rise in Chinese middle class, Cambodia's attractive tourism sites, and increasing direct flights between the two countries. According to the report, Cambodia welcomed almost 3.95 million international tourists during the first eight months of this year, up 11.7 percent over the same period last year. The country is famous for three world heritage sites, namely the Angkor archeological park in northwestern Siem Reap province, the Preah Vihear temple in northwestern Preah Vihear province, and the Sambor Prei Kuk archeological site in central Kampong Thom province. Besides, it has a pristine coastline stretching 450 km in four southwestern provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep. Last year, Cambodia received 5.6 million foreign tourists, earning gross revenue of 3.6 billion U.S. dollars, which contributed about 13 percent to the country's GDP (gross domestic product). Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 14:08:30|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close by Duncan Murray SYDNEY, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- As Australia's broad migrant population gets older, language and cultural barriers are making it difficult for many to access essential support and services to help them navigate the challenges of later life. According to a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in 2016, one in three people aged 65 years or over were born overseas and the majority of those were from a non-English speaking country. The report also stated that "many overseas-born Australians face substantial barriers in accessing and engaging with the essential supports and services that contribute to good outcomes." In response to this growing issue, government and community groups are investing in solutions to meet the specific needs of the older Australians who originate from around the globe. Terrie Leoleos from the Ethnic Communities Council of New South Wales (NSW) runs the national "Speak my Language" program which is aimed at providing support for elderly Australians who are facing language and cultural barriers during their ageing process. "There's a number of different challenges, and I think each ethnic community group and each individual within those groups experiences different challenges as well, so the complexity of delivering to a community that speaks a language other than English is quite significant," Leoleos told Xinhua on Monday. "The way in which aged care is delivered at the moment is a little bit complex even for your average person, so for them to try and break that down and then have the language complexity on top of it, it just makes aged care incredibly overwhelming, very frightening, and they're not sure what they're heading into." To address the problem, which is likely to increase with the proportion of overseas born elderly people in society, ethnic-specific facilities are being built to make residents feel more at home and comfortable with the changes they are faced with. Recently, plans were approved for a Chinese specific aged care facility in Australia's soon-to-be largest city, Melbourne, catering for the unique needs of that community, with the Victorian State branch of the Chinese Community Council of Australia (CCCA) being named as developer and operator. "Currently there are only 198 Chinese specific beds available in Melbourne through three facilities," CCCA executive board member Eric Jiang told Xinhua. "With a growing Chinese Australian population, this new facility is much needed." Language will be a large part of the facility's draw, the expectation being that the majority of staff will be from a Chinese background. According to Jiang, the facility will also offer a diverse Chinese menu and activities such as kite-making and flying, calligraphy, Chinese opera, shadow puppetry, silk painting, tea ceremonies, tai chi, qigong as well as incorporating the many festivals, particularly the Chinese New Year celebrations. Also, cultural elements and traditions will be incorporated into the design of the building, based on feng shui principles and incorporating some Chinese architectural elements. "The interior design similarly will reflect Chinese culture using color, furniture, materials, art and sculpture to make people feel at home," Jiang said. According to Leoleos, ethnic specific facilities are invaluable in providing for older people living outside of their native country, beyond language and awareness of support services, by simply providing a culturally familiar environment as people face the physical and mental health challenges associated with old age. "What we found were ethnic communities would still rather go to a facility that was a little run down but was from their culture rather than go to a mainstream flashy facility that didn't understand their language," Leoleos said. "Many communities would complain and say I don't want to go to a facility that doesn't speak my language, doesn't understand my food, my culture, when I'm in palliative care how do I want to live, and pass away even?" By 2021, 30 percent of Australia's older population will have been born outside Australia, numbering over one million people. In general, Australia's aged care services are of an internationally high standard, it is however important that those who are eligible are aware of the various government support programs available. "Generally speaking we are talking about ensuring that when we have consumer directed care that our elderly communities understand, what that means, and what the various opportunities are that they have to access support," Ethnic Communities Council of NSW chief executive officer, Mary Karras said. "These things are very alien to a lot of people, even English speaking people, and there are a lot of challenges with navigating the aged care system." Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 14:58:41|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), speaks towards South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, at Peace House, a South Korean building in the truce village of Panmunjom, Oct. 15, 2018. South Korea and the DPRK agreed Monday to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in late November or early December to modernize and eventually connect railways and roads across the inter-Korean border. The agreement was reached after the high-level dialogue held earlier in the day at the Peace House, a South Korean building in the truce village of Panmunjom, according to a pool report from South Korean media. (Xinhua/Joint Press Corps) SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed Monday to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in late November or early December to modernize and eventually connect railways and roads across the inter-Korean border. The agreement was reached after the high-level dialogue held earlier in the day at the Peace House, a South Korean building in the truce village of Panmunjom, according to a pool report from South Korean media. Before the groundbreaking ceremony, the two Koreas agreed to do a field study on railways along the west corridor of the Korean Peninsula from late October and railways along the east corridor from early November. Detailed schedules for the field study would be fixed later through the exchange of letters. The senior-level talks were held to discuss ways to implement the Pyongyang Declaration, signed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un after their third summit in Pyongyang in September. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 15:33:49|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close KABUL, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least seven militants of Islamic State (IS) militant group were killed following airstrikes in two eastern Afghan provinces, Afghan Ministry of Defense said Monday. The ministry said in a statement that the targeted militants were killed after Afghan Air Force planes struck two IS hideouts in Pachir Wa Agam district of Nangarhar province and Dara-i-Pech of neighboring Kunar province on Sunday. No civilian was hurt following the strikes in the mountainous provinces. Afghan security forces, backed by the U.S.-led NATO coalition troops, have increased ground and air offensives against militants in the past few months as the country is preparing for parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on Saturday, Oct. 20. During the upcoming elections, more than 54,000 Afghan army soldiers and police personnel would be deployed to provide security for 5,100 polling centers across the country. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 15:48:56|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The level of Beijing's mass entrepreneurship and innovation has been on the rise over recent years, according to a report released by the municipal bureau of statistics. The comprehensive index of entrepreneurship and innovation, a gauge used by the bureau, was at 111.4 in 2017, up 11.4 points year on year. The index measures policy environment, resources such as capital and talent, market vitality, patent numbers and growth powered by new forms of economy. The report found entrepreneurs received more than 486 billion yuan (around 70.4 billion U.S. dollars) through angel investment, venture capital and participation certificates in 2017, surging 95.2 percent year on year. It noted the small and micro-sized enterprises' (SMEs) satisfaction rate on the government's cutting red tape has increased 14 percent. Statistics also show a 14.5 percent rise on the SMEs that receive policy support including funding, tax cuts, financial support and government procurement. According to the report, SMEs in Beijing filed around 17,000 patent applications in 2017, 18.4 percent higher than the year before. Among all the enterprises in Zhongguancun, a technology hub in Beijing, over half of them were set up by entrepreneurs born after 1980. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 16:19:04|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close QINGDAO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Two-way investment between China and Germany has amounted to more than 40 billion U.S. dollars, according to an official with China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC). This year marks the 40th anniversary of the China-Germany Intergovernmental Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation, a key deal that has boosted cooperation between the two sides. The bilateral cooperation has been expanding with more fields and higher levels, said Li Yong, deputy head of the Investment Promotion Agency of the MOC, at an investment forum held Sunday in the city of Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. Trade volume between the two sides reached 168.1 billion dollars in 2017, accounting for nearly 30 percent of China's trade with Europe. China has been German's largest trade partner for two consecutive years, according to Li. With China's accelerating urbanization and growing middle-income groups, the country is seeing a booming consumption market. The Chinese government is further opening up and working to protect the rights of foreign businesses in the country, Li said. Since 2013, China has become the largest source of investment in the German electronics industry, with investment projects covering multiple areas of production and R&D in the industry, according to German government agency Germany Trade & Invest. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 16:59:14|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close A UN vehicle crosses the Quneitra border crossing on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on Oct. 15, 2018. The Quneitra border crossing between Israel and Syria was reopened on Monday after it was closed for more than four years because of the civil war in Syria, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). (Xinhua/JINI/Ayal Margolin) DAMASCUS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The border crossing between Syria's southern province of Quneitra and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights officially reopened Monday, state TV reported. The Syrian flag has also been hoisted on the crossing amid the presence of Syrian police and local delegations from Quneitra. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has also returned to the disengagement zone after leaving it in 2014, as the separation line between the Bravo gate on the Syrian side and the Alpha gate on the Israeli side is an activity zone for the UNDOF. The Quneitra crossing was the only crossing for the Syrians in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights to enter Syria but not for the Syrians inside Syria as they are not allowed to enter the Israeli-occupied territory. Syrian students from Golan Heights had used this crossing ahead of the Syrian crisis to study in Syria as the government has provided them with exceptional facilitations to seek education in their motherland. Also, marriages had taken place between Syrians in Golan and Quneitra in the past. There had been instances ahead of the Syrian war when apples harvested in Golan would be sold inside Syria through the crossing. As the crossing has been officially reopened, Golan students are expected to visit Syria through Quneitra after they had gone through long trips through Jordan to come to Syria by airplanes. The UNDOF forces were first deployed between Syria and the Golan Heights in 1974 to separate Syrian and Israeli forces after Israel occupied the Golan Heights during the 1967 war. The UNDOF halted its operations in southern Syria in 2014 after the ultra-radical groups abducted UN peacekeepers in that area. The rebels withdrew from Quneitra in July of this year after the Russians reached a deal with the Israeli side for restoring the situation in Quneitra to the pre-Syrian wartime and reviving the treaty of 1974 that ended the Yom Kippur war and designated the lines of separation between Israel and Syria. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 17:19:18|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close HANOI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's national tourism year 2019 will feature many sea-related activities in central Khanh Hoa province and 15 other localities, the provincial authorities said on Monday. With the theme "Nha Trang -- Khanh Hoa Sea Festival," the national tourism year 2019 will include a sea festival slated for next May in Khanh Hoa province's Nha Trang city, a conference on developing the central coastal region, a beer festival, a large-scale beauty contest, a sea tourism festival, and an international yacht race from China's Hong Kong to Nha Trang. Khanh Hoa, home to over 680 hotels and mini hotels with 31,700 rooms, received more than 5 million visitors, including 1.7 million foreigners, in the first nine months of this year. The province plans to welcome 8.5 million tourists, including 3.5 million foreigners, and make tourism revenues of 70 trillion Vietnamese dong (over 3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020. Between January and September, Vietnam hosted more than 11.6 million international arrivals, up 22.9 percent year-on-year, with the highest growth of 49.6 percent in the number of visitors from South Korea, followed by Finland, up 33.8 percent, and China, up 29.7 percent, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Vietnam plans to receive 16-17 million foreign visitors and 78 million domestic ones, and gain tourism revenues of 27.5 billion dollars this year, said the administration. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 17:44:23|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Reopening of the Iraqi-Syrian border crossings becomes imminent as it is not only important on the political and economic levels but also on the humanitarian level, visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said here on Monday. His remarks came during a press conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem in Damascus, during which he stressed that reopening of the border crossings is so important for both countries. Al-Jaafari said there is no reason not to open the border crossings between both countries, saying efforts are being exerted to reopen them as soon as possible. For his part, Muallem said that the terror groups were controlling the crossings, accusing the countries backing them of standing against the opening of the crossings. He also noted that the borders will be opened soon, saying that "we hope that the crossing between the Syrian city of Abu Kamal and Iraq would be reopened soon." Both ministers did not say when the crossings will be reopened but said it should not take long. Expectations for reopening the border points came as the Syrian army has cleared large swaths of border areas between Syria and Iraq from the presence of the Islamic State (IS). In July, the Iraqi forces worked to enhance the security situation on the border with Syria, installing cameras and flying drones to ensure the security against any threat from IS. Earlier in October, the Iraqi security forces said that the Iraqi army has strengthened control of the country's border with Syria to prevent infiltration attempts by terrorists. Both countries have suffered from the presence of the IS militants in the border region. Given that the two countries have fought IS and secured the border points, the situation seems ripe for reopening the border crossings. However, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and allied Kurdish-led groups still control border areas in northeastern Syria with Iraq. The U.S. forces are also present at the al-Tanf area in southeastern Syria where a major border crossing between Syria and Iraq is located. The border crossing that would be reopened is the al-Qa'im which is located in the southeast of Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour in the city of Abu Kamal. Al-Qa'im crossing is considered as one of the major supply routes across the Middle East, which connects the town of Abu Kamal in Syria's Deir al-Zour to the city of Husaybah in the Al-Qa'im District of Iraq's Anbar Governorate. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 17:59:30|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will attend the 15th annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Russia, a Chinese spokesperson announced on Monday. Yang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, will be in Russia from Oct. 17 to 19 for the meeting at the invitation of the Russian side, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing. A Syrian rebel-fighter from the National Liberation Front (NLF) rests in a sand-bagged bunker at the frontline facing regime areas in the southern countryside of Aleppo on October 14, 2018. (AFP photo) DAMASCUS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Monday said the Syrian army forces are ready around Idlib if the terror-designated groups refused to pull out of the demilitarized zone. Speaking in a press conference in Damascus with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari, al-Moallem warned that there will be other options if the terror-designated groups rejected to abide by the demilitarized zone deal in northern Syria. He said Idlib province, like any other Syrian area, will definitely return under the government control. He said if the demilitarized zone deal, which was reached by Russia and Turkey last month, is not implemented, Syria will have other options. His remarks came as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and its umbrella of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rejected to withdraw from the planned demilitarized zone in northern Syria. On Sunday evening, the al-Qaida-linked group said in a statement for the first time in response to the deal that it will continue to fight the government forces. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said none of the extremist groups left the demilitarized zone as they were supposed to evacuate by Oct. 15 in accordance with the Russian-Turkish deal to establish a buffer zone in certain areas in northern Syria. Syrian rebel-fighter from the National Liberation Front (NLF) man a position at the frontline facing regime areas in the southern countryside of Aleppo on October 14, 2018. (AFP photo) The UK-based watchdog group said that cautious calm prevailed the demilitarized zone on Monday. It added that the jihadi groups control 70 percent of the demilitarized zone. The planned demilitarized zone stretches from the northeastern countryside of Latakia province to the northern countryside of the province of Hama and western countryside of Latakia as well as areas in the countryside of Idlib province in northwestern Syria. The Tahrir al-Sham, or Nusra Front, is considered as the most powerful among the rebel groups in Idlib Province, which is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria. In his remarks Monday, al-Moallem said the Nusra Front must be rooted out from Idlib because it's a terrorist group. He said the government has been prioritizing the reconciliation deals to finish the situation in Idlib out of concern for the lives of civilians in that province, where 3.5 million people live. He, however, noted that "we cannot stand indifferent about the current situation in Idlib if Nusra Front refused to abide by the agreement." While hinting that no military action is imminent, al-Moallem said: "We have to wait, but the Syrian Army is ready in the vicinity of Idlib." The withdrawal of the extremist groups from the buffer zone is the second step of the Russian-Turkish deal to establish such a zone in northern Syria. The rebels have withdrawn their heavy weapons recently but the fighters didn't. The deal was reached in September between the leaders of Turkey and Russia, aiming at averting Idlib province, which is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, a wide-scale offensive by the Syrian Army. The Syrian government has welcomed the deal but noted that it was temporary not a permanent one. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 18:14:32|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Anton Vaino, head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, will visit China later this week, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang announced Monday. Vaino will pay the visit from Oct. 16 to 17 at the invitation of Ding Xuexiang, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 18:19:33|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close WINDHOEK, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's sustainable water reclamation approach practiced by the capital city municipality has made significant strides in waste water management through converting sewage water to tape water over the years. The Windhoek Municipality in a statement on Monday said, on Oct. 18 and 19, the country will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) and global experts from Australia, Europe and the USA will be in attendance. The event will run under the theme "Direct Potable Reclamation With A Clean Bill." According to the municipality, a special session will take place which will also focus on the current developments and future of DPR not only in the country but also globally. The capital city of Namibia, Windhoek, being driven by continuous water scarcity and exceptional challenges in term of supply, innovatively took the bold step to introduce purified sewage effluent into the drinking water system way back in 1968. "Over the years, this unconventional supply source has gone through various stages of refinery and maintained as an important source of supply to the ever growing city," the municipality added. The municipality said that currently, Windhoek is regarded as one of the world leaders in DPR and remains one of the only places in the world where this is practiced on a significant scale and continuous basis to supply the residents of the city with drinking water. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 18:44:35|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MANILA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Philippine troops have clashed with Leftist rebels in a province south of Manila, leaving two soldiers dead and three others wounded, an Army spokesman said on Monday. Joash Pramis, the spokesman of the Philippine Army's 9th Infantry Division, said the troops went on a "combat operation" around 4:00 p.m. local time on Sunday afternoon when they encountered with some 60 New People's Army (NPA) rebels in a village in Labo town of Camarines Sur Province. Pramis said the military operation was carried out after villagers tipped off the military that a group of rebels were in the vicinity. The NPA rebels reportedly fled after an intense firefight that lasted 25 minutes, Pramis added. Two government soldiers were dead and three others were wounded. On the enemy side, Pramis said they have not recovered any rebel body at the encounter site. The Philippine government has suspended negotiating peace with the Leftist rebels after the insurgents continued their attacks on government security forces and civilians. The Philippine military said the NPA has an estimated 4,000 members. The rebels have been fighting the government since 1969 in one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies. The Philippine government has been trying to forge peace with the leftist rebels since 1986 but the on-off talks have faltered many times in the past. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 18:44:35|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Syrian soldiers inspect papers of Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon at the Zamrani crossing, in the countryside of Damascus, Syria, on Oct. 15, 2018. Around 835 Syrian refugees returned to their homeland Monday from different areas in Lebanon including Tripoli and Nabatieh. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani) BEIRUT, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Around 835 Syrian refugees returned to their homeland Monday from different areas in Lebanon including Tripoli and Nabatieh. "Refugees were transported with over 15 buses while cars from the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) escorted them to the borders based on the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees," a source at LRC told Xinhua. Refugees said that they returned home voluntarily to register their kids in Syrian schools since the situation in Syria has become stable. "We are very happy to be returning to our homeland especially that the security situation has improved," Hassan Al Khatib, a Syrian refugee told Xinhua. Another refugee called on other refugees to return back home to be able to reconstruct their houses and start a new life there. Vehicles transporting Syrian refugees from Lebanon are seen at the Zamrani crossing, in the countryside of Damascus, Syria, on Oct. 15, 2018. Around 835 Syrian refugees returned to their homeland Monday from different areas in Lebanon including Tripoli and Nabatieh. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani) The National News Agency quoted Mustafa Mansour, head of the association of Syrian workers, as saying that the association is holding continuous meetings with refugees from all over Lebanon to facilitate their return to Syria. More than one million Syrian refugees are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon. The government estimated the true number of Syrians in the country to be 1.5 million. To facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, Russia drafted a strategy for this purpose and presented it to the Lebanese authorities. The strategy aims at securing the return of 890,000 refugees to Syria. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 18:44:35|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close By Xinhua writers Cao Kai and Shen Yang NANCHANG, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- After living in Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of China, for 14 years, Dianna Williams, an Australian artist, ended her long art journey and left for Melbourne on Monday night. "If I had not come to Jingdezhen, I would still be a painter who paints on fired white porcelain day after day," said the 60-year-old artist who has left a personal imprint in the small city in eastern China's Jiangxi Province. Before departure, she used an anti-war-themed sculpture exhibition to pay tribute to her second hometown. About 200,000 people visited the exhibition in the Jingdezhen China Ceramic Museum. Yu Xiaoping, a professor with the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, still remembered the first day he met Williams when she came for an exhibition marking the millennium anniversary of Jingdezhen in 2004. Knowing she was alone, Yu accommodated Williams at a campus apartment where she began to get in touch with ceramic insiders. Liu Yuanchang, a ceramic sculpture master, appreciated her painting and offered her a free workshop. With Liu's guidance and her hard work in learning and practice, Williams has grown to be a ceramic artist who is familiar with various clay materials, production procedures, sculpture techniques and firing skills. "I never touched clay before," said Williams, adding that she wanted to expand her knowledge and experience, not just painting, copying and doing the same things over and over. Jingdezhen is synonymous with ceramics in China. The city boasts a long history of pottery production with some 100,000 people engaged in the industry. More than 1,000 years ago in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), emperor Zhenzong named the area by the title of his reign, Jingde, as recognition for its ceramics. The products were exported to many parts of the world. Williams was thrilled by the full industry chain and craftsmanship in Jingdezhen. Every year, she would stay in the city for five to eight months. In 2008, she bought an apartment there, becoming the first foreigner to own real estate property in the city. "Australia is a very young country. It doesn't have the same respect for porcelain and ceramics as Jingdezhen," she said. "I can not achieve this same work in my country because it's too expensive and I can not afford three, four or five people helping me do things." "I would never have the chance to exhibit in museums if it was not for me working in Jingdezhen with the team of people who help me achieve my dream," she added. Williams is fond of Chinese traditional culture. In the past 14 years, she turned the focus of her work from two-dimensional paintings to three-dimensional sculptures, blending Western and Chinese culture and techniques. "China has so many symbols that I can use in my works. I use bamboo, dragons and the Phoenix. I use everything I can from the Chinese culture because this helps me express peace," she said. At the High Fired Motherhood exhibition that started on May 18, Williams used the juxtaposition of an expectant mother with a weapon of destruction to explore the connections between creation and destruction. "Williams' works are of high artistic and human value, much different from other domestic artists who care only about economic value," said Zhao Gang, curator of the Jingdezhen China Ceramic Museum. "These years have been very difficult financially, emotionally and physically, especially the last few years. I have spent all the money I had ever earned on my artwork," she said. Her motivation to create porcelain works originated from her family. In 2005, her son joined the Navy, following his father's footsteps, which worried and tortured her deeply. "He has learned how to kill and to shoot guns. So, I make the 'paodan' (shells) here, and this started my journey of making artwork that speaks about war, peace and how mothers feel about the war," she said. The 42 works, including pregnant women leaning against a gigantic bomb with a baby crawling on it and symbols of peace-like lotus, have been kept in a showroom at a local ceramics company after the exhibition ended in late September. She expects to exhibit her works in other Chinese cities in the following years. Due to unique artistic values, Williams' works have been displayed at museums and galleries in the United States, Australia, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea and Lebanon. She is currently working on a book that recounts her 14 years in the city. "Sometimes when I go home, I feel very tired and down because I work alone and don't have people to talk to. I said to my husband that I thought it would be my last year. He keeps saying 'No, you love this, you should go back; you should finish it,'" she said. To take care of her aging parents and young grandchildren, Williams chose to end her long journey in Jingdezhen. On Friday, she hugged her friends farewell and thanked them for their kindness, friendliness, generosity and sharing over the past 14 years. "I will take my grandchildren to visit our Chinese relatives," she said. (Xinhua reporter Tian Yun contributed to this story.) Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 18:54:37|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan (R, front) meets with attendees of the sixth China-France young leaders' forum in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Yan Yan) BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Monday met with attendees of the sixth China-France young leaders' forum in Beijing, calling for more exchanges between young people of the two countries. "Human society has many common opportunities, risks and challenges, which no single country can handle alone, as economic globalization is the inevitable trend," Wang said. The two sides should strengthen understanding, dialogue and cooperation in all fields, realize the blueprint of China-France relations in the new era mapped out by the two leaders, and make joint efforts to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, said Wang. He said the young people of the two countries should continue to strengthen exchanges, enhance understanding and deepen cooperation, so as to contribute to building more dynamic and sustainable bilateral ties. The attendees said the forum is an important platform for exchanges between the young people of the two countries and will continue to gather consensus, promote cooperation, and push for the progress of China-France relations and world peace and development. The forum is co-hosted by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) and the France China Foundation. The first forum was held in France in late August 2013. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 18:54:37|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) said that up to 111,000 people were affected by contaminated water in Basra in southern Iraq, a local newspaper reported on Monday. The IHCHR office late on Sunday asked the federal and the provincial governments to take "clear and serious" stance toward the water issue in Basra, the independent Azzaman newspaper quoted IHCHR report as saying. "The deterioration of water continued as the high level of salinity is increasing, turning it to a heavy water," which increased the number of affected people to 111,000, the report said. "Schoolchildren are among the victims who could have been poisoned in educational institutions," the report quoted Mahdi at-Tamimi, director of IHCHR office in Basra, as saying. Meanwhile, Sayf al-Bader, the spokesman of the Iraqi health ministry, said that "the water supplied by the government-owned purification system is not ideal for drinking." "The areas that are located far from the water purification plants may have up to zero Chlorine," al-Bader added. Basra, the province's capital city which bears the same name, has long witnessed protests among its over two million residents about the collapsing infrastructure, power cuts and corruption. Water supply in the province is also widely criticized for high salinity, with dozens of thousands of residents having been hospitalized. The protestors also accused the influential political parties of being behind the wide-spread corruption, which led to high unemployment and failure in rehabilitation of the country's electricity, water and other basic services. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:14:42|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Chinese ambassador in India Luo Zhaohui (L) attends the launching ceremony in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 15, 2018. China and India jointly undertook a ten-day training program for ten Afghanistan diplomats at Delhi-based Foreign Service Institute on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Naijie) NEW DELHI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China and India jointly undertook a ten-day training program for ten Afghanistan diplomats at Delhi-based Foreign Service Institute on Monday. This is the first such joint initiative being undertaken by India and China for Afghanistan. Chinese ambassador in India Luo Zhaohui read out a message from Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the occasion. The message read: "The launch of this program today marks an important step forward. It reflects the closer coordination and cooperation between our two countries on regional affairs and represents a positive development in China-India relations." "Afghanistan is an important country in our region. China and India have been active supporters of Afghanistan's peace, and reconstruction process. This Joint Capacity Building Program is an essential part of the international efforts to assist Afghanistan, and marks the start of China-India-Afghanistan cooperation," it added. On this occasion, the Chinese ambassador said that: "China and India share a lot of common interests and similar stance on Afghanistan issue. Both of us support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace reconciliation process. Both of us uphold that Afghanistan should realize peace, stability and prosperity. Both of us are against terrorism." Luo also suggested that China-India cooperation could be extended from Afghanistan to other countries, such as Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's message, read out on the occasion, said that the seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the informal summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met in Wuhan in April 2018. "Today, we see it blooming with the initiation of this training program. This marks the beginning of what we visualize as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan," she added. The Afghan diplomats attending the training program felt elated and excited to undertake the first-of-its-kind training program which, they said, would help them in understanding the issues confronting their country from an international perspective. Jahan Zeb Salimankhil, a diplomat serving in Afghanistan's foreign ministry for the past six years, said that it was a good and unique experience for them. "It is a unique experience for all ten of us, of undertaking training at India's 'Foreign Service Institute'. It is all the more important as this is a joint training program of India and China, the two great countries in this part of the world." According to Salimankhil, after completing this training in New Delhi, they will go to China to undertake a similar ten-day long training program. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:14:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the 14th chairpersons' meeting of the 13th NPC Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature will convene its bi-monthly session from Oct. 22 to 26, according to a statement issued after a chairpersons' meeting Monday. Attendees of the meeting, which was chaired by Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, suggested that legislators would deliberate a draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law and draft revisions to the Organic Law of the People's Courts and the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorates, according to the statement. They will review a draft on international criminal judicial assistance, draft regulation on the rank of firefighters, draft revisions to the laws on rural land contracts, basic medical care and health promotion, as well as a bill on draft revisions to the civil servant law. Other bills, including those to review the wildlife protection law, a draft amendment to corporation law, and a report on the NPC Standing Committee empowering the State Council to pilot a system on drug marketing in some regions. Lawmakers will decide whether to ratify treaties of criminal judicial assistance and extradition between China and Grenada, which are submitted by the State Council. Legislators will consider a number of reports, including those on state-owned assets in 2017, enforcement of the law on earthquake prevention and disaster reduction, as well as deputy qualifications and official appointments and dismissals, the statement said. SourceL| 2018-10-15 20:14:46|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close A model walks the runway during the "Pink Party" fashion show held with collaboration of Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation featuring a breast cancer awareness in Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:19:46|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close WELLINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The official 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism opening ceremony will be held at Museum of New Zealand in February 2019, New Zealand tourism Minister Kelvin Davis said on Monday. The opening ceremony, scheduled on Feb. 20, 2019, will feature a special event at the national museum Te Papa, hosted by China National Tourism Office. It coincides with the hosting of 2,300-year-old Chinese artefacts as a part of the Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality exhibition. "The 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism is a fantastic opportunity for New Zealand to showcase what it is that makes us a world class destination, and for us to think about how we can best welcome Chinese visitors to our shores," Davis said in a statement. "It's also a great opportunity for New Zealanders to learn more about China and its culture, through the Te Papa exhibition and two-way tourism," he said. More Chinese visitors are coming to New Zealand than ever before, with 450,000 people visiting in the year to June 2018. This is set to increase to 800,000 visitors by 2024, the minster noted. "New Zealand and China's shared tourism relationship is a special and enduring one and the Year of Tourism is a fitting way to celebrate this," he said. The closing ceremony will be held in China near the end of 2019, and will be hosted by the New Zealand government. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:19:49|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday denied that its embassy in Ankara has been threatened by a suicide bombing attack, semi-official ISNA news agency reported. The Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that "the news (about the bombing plot) is a sheer lie." The Iranian embassy in Ankara was evacuated after Turkish security forces received a tip about a possible suicide bombing plot, Turkish daily Sozcu reported Monday. After receiving the tip, Turkish armed riot police arrived on the scene and stood guard near the embassy and the surrounding streets while officers searched suspicious cars. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:24:52|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close ANKARA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian embassy in Turkish capital Ankara was evacuated on Monday after Turkish security forces received a tip about a possible suicide bomb threat, local media reported. After receiving the warning, Turkish police evacuated the Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian Fard and shut off a street where the embassy is located, Turkish daily Sozcu reported. Armed riot police arrived on the scene and searched suspicious cars near the embassy, the report said. According to Iranian media, Iranian officials dismissed reports about a possible suicide bomb attack at the embassy. Turkish authorities have not issued official statement about the incident yet. Turkey was hit by a series of terror attacks in 2015 and 2016 blamed on Kurdish militants and the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, leaving hundreds of civilians dead. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:24:54|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TALUQAN, Afghanistan, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 civilians were injured as a rocket fired by militants slammed into a bazaar in northern province of Takhar in Afghanistan on Monday, provincial police spokesman said. "A rocket fired by the armed insurgents struck a bazaar in Yangi Qala district today morning injuring 11 innocent civilians," Abdul Khalil Asir told Xinhua. However, another official on the condition of anonymity said that that few rockets fired by the Taliban militants struck a bazaar in Yangi Qala district injuring 15 people including women and children. Taliban militants who control parts of the northern Takhar province are yet to make comment. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:34:56|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close HANOI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the National Assembly of Vietnam, the country's top legislature, opened its 28th session on Monday, with a focus on preparations for the upcoming sixth session of the National Assembly. Opening the 28th session, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said high on the working agenda are reports to be submitted to the National Assembly, which assess the socioeconomic and budget performance in 2018, socioeconomic development plans and state budget estimates for 2019, the mid-term outcomes of five-year plans on socioeconomic development, economic restructuring, national target programs, mid-term public investment plans and the national financial program, Vietnam News Agency reported. The committee will also review three years of implementing support policies for socioeconomic development in mountainous and ethnic minority areas, and look into the remaining of the 2017 state budget and adjustment of the investment plan using government bonds for 2018. Personnel matters are another important task for the committee at the ongoing session which is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:45:00|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Trading floors in the German financial hub of Frankfurt remained closed on Monday morning (CET) for longer than usual due to a technical issue experienced by stock market operator Deutsche Boerse. Deutsche Boerse told press that disturbances of its electronic trading system "Xetra" had delayed the opening of its stock markets, including the DAX blue-chip platform on which many of Germany's largest corporations are listed. The company pointed to communications protocols in the Xetra system as the source of the problem, ruling out external causes such as a hacking attack by cyber-criminals. Shortly after 10 a.m. local time, the issue was resolved and trading began again as usual. The DAX entered the new week with further losses, dropping to the lowest level in two years with 11.483,30 points. Aside from Frankfurt, the Xetra electronic trading system is also used in stock markets in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Malta and the Cayman Islands. It was developed on the basis of technology first employed at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Germany's foremost capital market already suffered a previous outage back in March which caused disruption to a planned initial public offering (IPO) of the Siemens "Healthineers" subsidiary. Despite of only limited material consequence, repeated technical issues are not helpful for the reputation standing of Deutsche Boerse at a time when the stock market operator is trying to turn a page on the closely-watched failure of its acquisition of the rival London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2017 and related legal investigations. The deal unraveled as a consequence of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union (EU) and has since witnessed the resignation of ex-chief executive officer (CEO) Carsten Kengeter amidst accusations of insider trading prior to the first announcement of the deal. The Frankfurt state prosecution office is in the process of investigating the suspicious remuneration package in question received by Kengeter at the time. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:45:03|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close LONDON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Britain's University of Birmingham announced Monday it has become the first elite Russell Group university to accept China's National Higher Education Entrance Examination, commonly known as Gaokao, for Chinese students wishing to join its undergraduate courses in 2019. High school students who complete Gaokao with top grades will for the first time be able to apply for direct entry onto a Birmingham degree program without completing a Foundation year. University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellor David Eastwood said: "We are further opening access to Birmingham's wealth of education opportunities for the brightest and most dedicated Chinese students by accepting this rigorous and important qualification. I look forward to welcoming these high-flying students to the University of Birmingham." The annual Gaokao examination is usually held across China in early June. Students are tested in Chinese, Mathematics and a Foreign Language, usually English. A spokesman for the University of Birmingham said: "Gaokao is increasingly accepted by universities in Australia, the USA, Canada and mainland Europe. Birmingham will only be considering high quality students who achieve a minimum 80 percent Gaokao score and meet additional academic and English language requirements." Professor Jon Frampton, Director of the University of Birmingham's China Institute said: "The University of Birmingham has a long history of educating students from China and one of our most famous graduates is Li Siguang -- the founding father of Chinese geology." Frampton said he's delighted that the university is now accepting the Gaokao, which gives the brightest and best Chinese students an opportunity to move straight into the first year of the university's undergraduate programs and experience the benefits of studying at a global Top 100 university. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 19:55:05|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran will participate in reconstruction of Syria in the aftermath of the civil war, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said here on Monday. Iran has actively engaged in the fight against terrorism in Syria over the past years, and it will be present in reconstructing the Arab country, Qasemi said in his weekly press briefing. The Iranian spokesman expressed hope that conditions in Syria would be prepared for the reconstruction of the country as soon as possible. "Iran plans for its private sectors, businessmen and industrialists, to participate in the post-war Syrian reconstruction," he added. Civil war has gripped Syria since 2011 and Iran, as the main regional ally of the Damascus government, has had a military presence in the Arab state. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 20:00:08|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close MANILA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 900,000 Chinese tourists visited the Philippines in the first eight months of this year, soaring more than 35.67 percent, a government data showed on Monday. The Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) said 870,177 Chinese tourists have visited the Philippines so far, making China the Philippines' second largest source market, accounting for a 17.94 share of the total arrivals. Overall, the DOT said foreign arrivals increased by 8.5 percent to 4.85 million in the first eight months of 2018. The DOT said South Korea remained the Philippines' top source of tourists during the eight-month period despite posting a 0.91 percent decrease in tourists arrivals to 1.06 million. The DOT said the United States is the third source market, following China. Arrivals of American tourists also went up, posting an 8.2 percent increase or about 715,060, the DOT said, adding the Americans accounted for about 14.74 percent of the total arrivals. Japan and Australia came fourth and fifth source markets, with recorded 715,060 and 431,779 arrivals, respectively. The Philippines aims to hit 7.4 million in foreign arrivals this year. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 20:05:11|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close German Christian Social Union's candidate and Bavarian governor Markus Soeder (R, Front) delivers a speech after the initial forecast at the Maximilianeum in Munich, Germany, on Oct. 14, 2018. The Christian Social Union (CSU), one of the three ruling parties in Germany, suffered great loss Sunday in the state election in Bavaria, according to the initial forecast by the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi) BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The German Social Democrats (SPD) have demanded consequences for Germany's ruling "grand coalition" on Monday after the parties participating in the federal government slumped to historical lows in Bavarian regional elections. "I am certain that we must draw consequences from it", SPD secretary general Lars Klingbeil told the public broadcaster ARD. Klingbeil added that the first step in response to the electoral outcome was a "new style of governing in Berlin" to make up for lost trust among voters. Kevin Kuehnert, the head of the SPD youth organization (Juso) similarly warned that it would be a "dangerous mistake" to return to business as usual after the closely-watched ballot in Bavaria. Speaking to the newspaper Rheinische Post, Kuehnert argued that his party now had two options left in chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU) fourth governing cabinet: "Either we try to bring the coalition partners back to reason. Or we leave." The comments were made in response to the election of a new state assembly in Bavaria on Sunday in which the Christian Social Union (CSU), the conservative sister party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), as well as the SPD were severely punished by voters. Having traditionally ruled the wealthy South Eastern state with an absolute majority, the CSU only secured 37.2 percent of the vote and must now form a coalition in order to remain in power in Munich. The SPD voter share collapsed to 9.7 percent (minus 10.9 percentage points). It was the worst ever Bavarian result for both "grand coalition" parties and the worst outcome for the SPD in its entire post-war history. By contrast, the Green party (Gruene) celebrated an unprecedented level of electoral support for the left-environmental party with 17.5 percent (plus 9 percentage points). "We are clearly the election winners", Greens parliamentary faction leader Katrin Goering-Eckhardt told press. The Greens more than doubled their votes compared to the last state elections and came second in the regional poll as the main beneficiary of the electoral earthquake in Bavaria. They were followed by the Free Voters, an independent group focusing on local policy issues, in third place with 11.6 percent (plus 2.6 percentage points) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which entered the regional assembly for the first time in fourth place with 10.2 percent. The CSU reportedly favors forming an alliance with the Free Voters for which there would be a sufficient legislative majority. Hubert Aiwanger, the leader of the Free Voters, has already began to make concrete demands. "Three ministries will probably be realistic", Aiwanger told the radio station Bayern 2. In any case, the CSU is highly likely to nominate the governor of Bavaria once again - a position which it has occupied continuously since 1945. However, the party's relatively poor performance has also fueled media speculation that CSU leader and federal interior minister Horst Seehofer could be forced to step down. Seehofer has clashed repeatedly with Merkel over asylum and migration during past months, and that is widely seen by Germans as a key source of cabinet infighting in the federal government according to several recent opinion polls. In the latest "Deutschlandtrend" survey published shortly before the Bavarian vote, he was ranked the least popular member of the federal government with an approval rating of 28 percent. Speaking to Xinhua on Monday, Michael Broening, a policy expert at the Berlin-based Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), said that the Bavarian outcome was a "warning sign" for Berlin that membership of the "grand coalition" currently comes at a high price. "In the result, the middle was weakened to the extent to which the fringes were strengthened. The clear winners are the movements which are not implicated in the "grand coalition" and could offer a supposed alternative to the Status Quo", Broening explained. For the FES expert, the election underscored "two mega trends" of societal polarization and fragmentation in Germany with a high voter turnout (72 percent) leading to a record number of political factions being represented in the Bavarian assembly. "As a result, Bavaria is as politically polarized and fragmented today as it has rarely been before. Just like the rest of the country." Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 20:25:18|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MADRID, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Storm Leslie caused disruption to road and rail traffic in the Catalan region in northwest Spain as it passed through the area on Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning, the Spanish media reported. A combination of heavy rain and high winds led to roads being closed, while services on the R1 and R2 regional railway lines were cut off as a result of trees falling onto the tracks and cutting the electricity supply. The Spanish railway operator 'Renfe' informed on its 'Twitter' service that it would operate an alternative bus route until the damage was repaired. Meanwhile 'Leslie' caused nine major roads across the region to be closed to traffic and the provinces of Barcelona, Girona and Lerida are still under an orange level alert for heavy rainfall, strong winds and high waves in coastal regions. Despite gusts of wind measured at over 110 kilometers an hour in some areas, the effects of Leslie were less severe than expected in Spain. However, six people died in the south of France in floods provoked by rainfall of around 180 liters per square meter on Sunday night. The storm had also caused serious damage when it made landfall in Portugal in the early hours of Sunday morning, leaving 28 people injured and an estimated 300,000 without electricity supplies. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 20:30:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CANBERRA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) has urged Australian government to address the collapsing health situation among refugees and asylum-seekers at its offshore detention centers in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Although according to a Guardian report at the weekend, the Department of Home Affairs of Australia said in a statement that it took refugee health and welfare "seriously," the UN refugee agency renewed its call for refugees and asylum-seekers to be moved immediately to Australia where they can receive adequate support and care. Speaking last Friday, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Catherine Stubberfield talked about a suicidal pre-teenage girl who doused herself in petrol last month. She remained in Nauru although doctor suggested that she be evacuated. The girl is not the only one refugee who attempted to flee to Australia only to end up in detention centers in Nauru or Papua New Guinea. Since its introduction in 2013, a current policy of Australia has put about 3,000 refugees and asylum-seekers forcibly to offshore processing facilities in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, where 1,450 still remain. According to the policy, those who try to arrive in Australia by boats are to be placed on Nauru or Manus Island of Papua New Guinea. Seemingly hopeless to reach Australia ultimately, many of those people there are in a poor state of health, both physically and mentally. According to Stubberfield, 12 people have died in the detention centers since 2014. Over the past year, the center in Nauru had seen 78 cases of attempted suicide and self-harm. Another tragic case was a young man from Iran. He asked for help in 2014, saying that he had suicidal thought. His mother also repeatedly begged for medical aid but to no avail. The man took his own life in June. Robert Manne, emeritus professor of politics and vice-chancellor's fellow at La Trobe University, published an article last months titled "This pains me, but it's time to compromise on Australia's cruel asylum seeker policy." In the article, he noted that there had been reports that "many of the children on Nauru are suffering from a rare psychological condition, withdrawal from the world, barely talking, eating and drinking with indifference, sometimes urinating and defecating in their beds." While New Zealand offered to resettle some of the refugees, or fund for improving conditions for them, Australia turned down the offer. A Guardian report once quoted the Australian government in 2017 as saying that the offer "dilutes the 'stop the boats' deterrent." Last November, thousands of people took to streets in Australia, calling for refugees to be evacuated to Australia following denial of Australia government for Medecins Sans Frontieres' access to asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island. "Now we are seen globally as the inventors of a particularly vile form of 21st century repression, in which the innocent are subjected to suffering in a prison where the crime is never named, no sentence is ever passed, and punishment is assured," said Man Booker prize winner Richard Flanagan in a Guardian article. "For this achievement Australia now enjoys the praise of European neo-fascists and American white supremacists." Stubberfield urged the Australian government to take up New Zealand's offer. "Australia (has) simultaneously designed, financed and managed the system," she said, adding that therefore it had to shoulder the responsibility of its offshore detention camps. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 20:35:22|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close by Maria Spiliopoulou, Valentini Anagnostopoulou AEGINA, Greece, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Greek archaeologists Sunday offered a rare underwater guided tour at the antiquities lying under sea off Aegina island as part of nationwide celebrations of the European Heritage Days. Over the past three decades, each September numerous monuments and sites across the EU are open to Europe's citizens for free to allow them to learn about their shared cultural heritage. Due to adverse weather conditions in Greece, the celebration was rescheduled this year for mid-October. An hour away south of Piraeus port on Aegina island, archaeologists of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities welcomed Greeks and foreigners at Kolona bay to the secrets of the island's ancient fortified military "hidden port", which has been underwater by the rise of the sea level since antiquity. During the Archaic period (800-480 B.C.), Aegina flourished as a great naval power competing with Athens, Despina Koutsoumba, archaeologist of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, told participants including Xinhua in the tour. It was the city's "golden era" and it was around 500-490 B.C. when the islanders constructed the main installations of the ancient harbor. "In this part of Aegina there is a very important ancient military port dating back to the Archaic period," said Koutsoumba. She added many well-preserved remains, including the harbor's walls, tower and sheds to dock warships, today lie underwater. According to the archaeologist, excavations of the ancient walled military port started in the 1960s. One of the main goals of the new survey program which started this year is to present the site in such a manner that visitors can get information about the ancient harbor and swim among the ruins without the presence of an expert, she further explained. "People love seeing underwater antiquities. In particular these harbor installations which are in shallow waters are ideal for such tours. I think people enjoyed it," Koutsoumba told Xinhua. People who plunged into the waters on Sunday for the guided tour expressed their enthusiasm. "It was great, such a different guided tour. Usually they hold them on shore. It was so moving see the ruins from a different point of view once... The port was huge, I had never given this much thought in the past, it was very interesting seeing something else," Vivian A. told Xinhua. She participated in the snorkeling tour with her friend and host on Aegina island, Maro Evangelidou. "The Ephorate's initiative to give this tour was great. It was a marvelous experience. This is a significant part of our history. Funds are needed for future excavation works and I think that international cooperation would help," Evangelidou told Xinhua. Achilleas Leousis lives on Aegina, but never before had he seen the ruins. "It was such a nice experience, unprecedented for us. Although we are from Aegina, we had not seen them so far and we were given this chance now to get to know them, next year it will be even better...Now we, locals, will form a group and start showing them to visitors," he said. Some 2 million visitors reach Aegina each year. The aim of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, the local government and community is to make the site of the ancient "hidden port" reachable to the general public and comprehensible. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 20:45:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close JERUSALEM, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Quneitra border crossing between Israel and Syria was reopened on Monday after it was closed for more than four years because of the civil war in Syria, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). During the war, the crossing was temporarily taken over by the rebels. Only in recent months has the Syrian army succeeded in recapturing the area, paving the way for the reopening of the crossing, with the consent of Israel, Syria and the United Nations. The crossing was used for goods and people passing between the two countries. It is located in a demilitarized zone that has been divided between the two countries since an agreement on disengagement was signed in 1974. In the first stage, the crossing will be used by UN soldiers only and in the near future is expected to gradually open to others. The Quneitra crossing is the only land crossing between Israel and Syria and serves mainly the Druze population on the Golan Heights region, on both sides of the border. Over the past decades, the crossing has been used as a trade station for apples that the Druze have picked in the area. The crossing also served for Druze students who had gone to study in Syria, Druze brides who had come to marry young Druze in Israel and vice versa. In addition, it was used for the passing of clerics. In August 2014, during the civil war in Syria, the rebels captured the Syrian side of the crossing. As a result, the UN observers in the area were forced to abandon their base, leading to the closure of the crossing. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 21:05:31|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TOKYO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed Monday the government will raise the consumption tax to 10 percent from the current 8 percent, telling his cabinet ministers to take the necessary steps to mitigate the impact. The new tax hike will come into effect on Oct. 1, 2019, the Japanese leader said at an extraordinary cabinet meeting. According to a summary of the talks released by the government, Abe said he will make "all-out efforts and take all measures to prevent the tax hike from having a negative impact on the economy." As Japan's population continues to both age and shrink, a phenomena being referred to as a "ticking time bomb" by some economists and anthropologists, the 2-percentage point tax hike is believed to be the only way to cover the rising costs related to social welfare. Some economists have voiced concern that the tax hike may see private demand diminish and hamper growth of the world's third largest economy, as was the case with the previous tax hike. They have highlighted the fact that Japan's economy plunged into recession when the government raised the tax to 8 percent from 5 percent in 2014. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 21:10:33|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Cologne main rail station was evacuated on Monday afternoon after a woman was taken as a hostage by a man in a pharmacy, the police said on Twitter. The local Cologne City Information quoted the police as saying that a person is armed in the pharmacy. The Focus Online news quoted a police spokesman as saying that the police have been contacting with the hostage-taker. The police said on the Twitter that they have deployed strong forces at the scene and urged people to avoid the area. Witnesses reported that gunshots were fired, while the police could not confirm this so far. Authorities have ordered an evacuation of the station, which is a major hub for rail traffic across Germany and western Europe. The police also called on the public not to publish or share images or video of their positions. The German railway operator Deutsche Bahn announced on Twitter that it closed the station and canceled some trains as a result of the police investigation. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 22:05:50|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BANGKOK, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan is scheduled to attend an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) in Singapore later this week. Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich said on Monday Prawit will join the 12th ADMM and the fifth ADMM-Plus in the island republic from Thursday until Saturday. The ADMM and ADMM-Plus meetings are designed to discuss ways to promote defense cooperation among ASEAN member states, followed by an informal meeting with their counterparts from eight countries, including China, Japan, and the United States, among others. Besides, the Thai defense minister is scheduled to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, New Zealand's Defense Minister Ron Mark and Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen on topics of strengthening military cooperation, the spokesman said. On behalf of Thailand, Prawit will attend the ceremony for the handing over of ADMM chairmanship from Singapore to Thailand, which is taking its turn as the ASEAN chair next year, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 22:10:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- India's junior foreign minister and a former editor M J Akbar filed a defamation case on Monday against woman journalist Priya Ramani, officials said. "The minister has filed a defamation suit against the journalist in Delhi's Patiala house court through his advocates," an official said. On Sunday after his return from a foreign trip Akbar issued a statement in which he called the allegations of misconduct false, fabricated and "spiced up by innuendo and malice. Ramani was the first to accuse Akbar of sexual harassment. She in an article published last year described how an acclaimed newspaper editor called her for a job interview to his "plush south Mumbai hotel" when she was 23 and he was 43. After her around 11 other women journalists alleged they have faced similar harassment at the hands of Akbar. The opposition parties including Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are demanding resignation of Akbar following the allegations. Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to sack Akbar. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 22:26:41|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next In this aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2018, workers building the Pingtang Bridge of the Pingtang-Luodian expressway in southwest China's Guizhou. The height of one of the bridge's towers measures 328 meters. Once completed, the Pingtang Birdge will be the highest concrete bridge in the world. In southwest China's Guizhou Province, where endless karst hills dominate the land, modern transportation is made possible thanks to more than 20,000 bridges that cross over the valleys. The province easily justifies itself as a museum of bridges: among the world's 100 highest bridges, 46 are located in Guizhou. Over the four decades since China's reform and opening-up, generations of bridge builders have created various engineering miracles while battling technological challenges on tricky terrains. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin) Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 22:30:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TOKYO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed Monday the government will raise the consumption tax to 10 percent from the current 8 percent, telling his cabinet ministers to take necessary steps to mitigate the impact. The new tax hike will come into effect on Oct. 1, 2019, Abe said at an extraordinary cabinet meeting. According to a summary of the talks released by the government, Abe said he will make "all-out efforts and take all measures to prevent the tax hike from having a negative impact on the economy." As Japan's population continues to both age and shrink, a phenomena referred to as a "ticking time bomb" by some economists and anthropologists, the 2-percentage point tax hike is believed to be the only way to cover the rising costs related to social welfare. Some economists have voiced concern that the tax hike may see private demand diminish and hamper growth of the world's third largest economy, as was the case with the previous tax hike. They have highlighted the fact that Japan's economy plunged into recession when the government raised the tax to 8 percent from 5 percent in 2014. They have also noted that despite various iterations of the government's "Abenomics" brand of economic policies, Japan has a public debt amounting to 236 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), the worst in the industrialized world, with social welfare costs expected to swell. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare requested a budget of 31.90 trillion yen (285 billion U.S. dollars), a new record high and a 2.5-percent increase from the previous budget, as spending on social security henceforth is expected to rocket to more than 32 trillion yen (286 billion U.S. dollars), up by about 600 billion yen (5.36 billion U.S. dollars). These mounting costs are set against a backdrop of an increasingly tight labor market as Japan's workforce gradually becomes hollowed out. With such downside factors in mind and in a bid to preempt the possible negative effects of next year's tax hike, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing on the matter Monday that discussions were underway on ways to counter any serious fallout from the hike. Such countermeasures will be drafted by the end of the year, he said, to coincide with the government drafting its budget for next fiscal year. Suga restated that as per the government's position, the tax hike will be delayed for a possible third time, if a global economic crisis were to occur, such as the 2008 global financial crisis. International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde has voiced caution to Japan about its planned tax hike and hoped that the increase should not damage the county's economic growth. Prior to the hike to 8 percent from 5 percent in 2014, private consumption rapidly picked up in the months and weeks leading up to the tax increase, then individuals, households and businesses tightened their purse strings thereafter, ushering in the recession. But Lagarde, speaking in Tokyo on the matter recently, said the higher consumption tax will help fund growing health and pension expenses, and support fiscal consolidation. She added, however, that the IMF recommends that the 2019 consumption tax increase be "accompanied by carefully designed mitigating measures to protect near-term reflation and growth momentum." "We believe that the fiscal stance should certainly remain neutral at least for the next two years," she said. Japan initially raised its consumption tax from 3 percent to 5 percent in 1997. Under Abe's stewardship, the rate was then raised to the current 8 percent in 2014. Next October's planned hike to 10 percent comes as the second stage of the two-stage hike from 5 percent. The two-stage hike is based on an agreement made in 2012 between the relevant ruling and opposition parties at that time. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 22:35:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MOSCOW, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed an order on concluding a strategic cooperation agreement with Egypt, according to Russia's official legal portal. "To accept the proposal of the Russian Foreign Ministry ... on the signing of the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Arab Republic of Egypt on comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation," the order reads. "To consider it expedient to carry out the signing of the treaty ... at the highest level," it adds. Putin is scheduled to meet his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday in Russia's Sochi to "discuss key issues of further building up Russian-Egyptian interaction, as well as exchange views on topical issues on the international agenda," according to a Kremlin statement published Thursday. Following the talks, a number of joint documents are expected to be signed, the statement said, with no details provided. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Putin and Sisi would hold informal talks at the dinner table on Tuesday. Putin visited Cairo in December 2017 when he and Sisi witnessed the signing of the agreement to build Egypt's nuclear power station. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 22:56:00|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that he will send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of a Saudi Arabian journalist. Trump tweeted that he had "just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.'" "He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer," Trump said. "I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!" A separate brief statement issued by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert later said that "at the request of President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today." "The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the statement read. Khashoggi, a journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Unconfirmed reports said that Khashoggi was likely killed inside the compound, which were denied by Saudi officials as "baseless." A Saudi delegation arrived in Turkey on Friday to discuss the case with Turkish authorities, following a Turkish presidential spokesperson's announcement that a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation team would be formed upon the kingdom's request. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on late Sunday held a phone talk with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, discussing Khashoggi's disappearance. During the phone call, Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia to explain Khashoggi's fate and provide evidence that Khashoggi exited the building after entering. France, Germany and Britain on Sunday have expressed concerns over the case, calling for "a credible investigation" into the incident. In a joint statement, the top diplomats of the three European countries stressed that "all the light must be shed on the disappearance of ... Khashoggi," and that "there needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and, if relevant, to identify those responsible ... and ensure that they are held to account." Earlier last week, Trump said during an interview that he will impose severe punishment if Saudi Arabia is confirmed to be behind Khashoggi's alleged death. However, he refused to tell what measures he would take, only saying that he would not choose to impose sanctions on the country for fear of losing its military sales orders with U.S. companies. Saudi Arabia on Sunday strongly warned against any threats to exert economic sanctions or political pressure on the kingdom, saying it will respond to any action with greater action as the kingdom plays an influential and vital role in the regional and global security and economy. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 22:56:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KAMPALA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- As the world marked Global Handwashing Day on Monday, a slum area in the Ugandan capital Kampala was making change. Recently, some residents in Kawempe Division are championing the drive to proper hand hygiene as a proved scientific measure to control infection. The division has experienced a series of outbreaks of diseases as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene. Cholera is one of the diseases that have hit the division, which hosts some slums that were once wetlands. The status quo might be changed. David Kaggwa, a landlord in the area, constructed a public toilet with the help of a relief from the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), a non-governmental organization. "As you can observe, Kawempe Division is mainly located in a swampy area. Cases of pit-latrines sinking are common here and have mostly resulted into outbreak of diseases like cholera and typhoid because the waste pours into the many trenches and is carried to different parts of the division," Kaggwa said. "That is why I had to approach AMREF, they provided me with not only construction material but also gave me an engineer who designed the echo-friendly toilet facility," he added. In addition to toilet facility, Kaggwa commissioned an artist to design a billboard insisting that whoever uses the facility must wash their hands after. Kaggwa said handwashing was very critical if his community decided to fight some of the diseases that they face. He said persistent efforts would change the community's attitude towards handwashing. Kaggwa said with consistent calls, people would eventually get used to handwashing. Perusi Nakaweesi, a landlady, told Xinhua that after cholera broke out in their community, she summoned all her tenants and emphasized the issue of sanitation and hygiene. "We agreed with the tenants that to keep diseases such as cholera away, we must wash hands after visiting the toilet," Nakaweesi said. Just a little distance from Nakaweesi's home is Serina Nursery and Primary School that has a population of about 350 pupils. Richard Musisi Ssenyonjo, director of the school, told Xinhua that teachers and pupils had formed health groups through which proper handwashing lessons were delivered by sanitation workers from the city council health center. "Apart from training, we have made it a policy to provide liquid soap at the borehole and water tank. We tell our pupils that whether they go for short or long call, they must wash with soap and the clean water," Ssenyonjo said. "In turn, these children spread the gospel of handwashing to the community because we tell them that the practice does not stop at school." Government statistics show that about 47 percent of diarrhea cases can be prevented through proper handwashing with clean water and soap. Also, some 16 percent of respiratory infections can be stopped through proper handwashing. However, the figures also show that only 36 percent of Ugandans wash their hands with soap after visiting toilets. Robert Otim, coordinator of National Handwashing Initiative at the ministry of water and environment, told reporters recently that every Ugandan should become a champion of handwashing. "Spread the word and not the germs. Make hand washing a routine part of your family meals," Otim said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:01:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIRUT, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian source said on Monday that the Lebanese still cannot use the Nasib Border Crossing between Syria and Jordan despite its re-opening earlier in the day, a local newspaper reported. "During the latest meetings with Lebanese officials, the Syrians have focused on the need for direct dialogue on Lebanese use of the Nasib border again," the anonymous source was quoted by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper, as saying. The use of Nasib crossing by the Lebanese will take some time and specific procedures, the source added. Earlier in the day, Lebanese General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said Lebanese farmers can now send their exports through the Nasib border. As the only functioning crossing between Jordan and Syria, Nasib is vital for goods transport from Lebanon and Syria to Jordan and the Gulf states. The border crossing was closed in 2015 when the Syrian rebels took over the Nasib area and the crossing in the countryside of Daraa Province in southern Syria. The Syrian army re-captured Daraa and the border crossing in July after the rebels in the province surrendered and agreed to evacuate to rebel-held areas in northern Syria, mainly the northwestern province of Idlib. Jordan and Syria officially celebrated the re-opening of the Nasib border on Monday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:06:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte hold a joint press conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, Oct. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Tao) THE HAGUE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China and the Netherlands Monday agreed to further enhance cooperation on common challenges faced by humanity such as climate change and an ageing population. The pledge came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, jointly met here with the press during Li's official visit to the European country starting Sunday. Li said climate change and an ageing population are common challenges for both China and the Netherlands though the two countries may differ in situation, degree and capability in dealing with the issues. "China stands ready to enhance cooperation with the Netherlands in these areas," Li told the press. He said China would like to participate in the Global Commission on Adaptation proposed by the Netherlands and other parties to show its firm adherence to the Paris Agreement on climate change. It is also China's internal need during the process of its economy's upgrading and transition, he added. The Global Commission on Adaptation, featuring the Netherlands as a key convener and to be overseen by the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates, and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva, will be launched on Tuesday in The Hague. This commission will emphasize the importance of climate adaptation acts as a catalyst for international cooperation to make the planet more existent to the immediate effects of climate change, according to Rutte. The two sides also talked about the issue of an ageing population as Li said that China is willing to discuss with the Netherlands to open up its senior service industry. Li arrived here Sunday for an official visit to the Netherlands, the first by a Chinese premier in 14 years. It is also Li's first trip to the country as the Chinese premier. During his three-day stay, Li will meet with Dutch King Willem-Alexander. He is also set to visit a hi-tech exhibition and address a business forum in The Hague on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:06:04|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Police stand at Cologne Central railway station on October 15, 2018 in Cologne, Germany. The German police ended a hostage-taking in Cologne Central Station on Monday and freed a woman from the violence after hours of tension. (Xinhua/Ulrich Hufnagel) BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The German police ended a hostage-taking in Cologne Central Station on Monday and freed a woman from the violence after hours of tension. The hostage taker was seriously injured and his victim, a teenager girl, suffered only minor injuries, the local police said on Twitter. The police said the perpetrator was under control, while the crime site remained locked, as the police were making extensive investigative measures. The perpetrator took the hostage at noon at a pharmacy inside the Cologne Main Station building. After a first contact with the man, the police prepared the access and finally entered the pharmacy. The police operation brought the rail traffic around the central hub Cologne almost to a standstill. The station was evacuated, trains were widely diverted and some trains ended prematurely. First emergency calls from the station reached the police at noon, and later the area around the station was secured and evacuated. And the police on Twitter asked people to avoid the area. Then the special task forces made contact with the hostage taker, however, nothing was known about the man's demands. During the hostage-taking, an injured girl was taken to hospital from the station. Whether this injury is in connection with the hostage-taking still has to be investigated, the local Focus Online news quoted a police spokeswoman as saying. Police quoted by the Cologne City Information daily said a couple were involved, and the man argued with the woman in a McDonald's restaurant, before holding her in a pharmacy at the station. The Cologne Central Station is one of the most important railway junctions in Germany and western Europe. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:06:04|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TEHRAN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday urged the United States to stop its "illegal" presence in Syria. "In defiance of the international regulations and without the Syrian government's permission," the United States has deployed its forces to the Arab country, the ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said in his weekly press conference. "Given the U.S. expansionist policies, every measure of the Americans in Syria will result in instability and insecurity in the country and will help terrorists," Qasemi added. "The United States should stop every measure inside the Syrian territory at the earliest and refrain from interfering in the affairs of the country," he concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:11:04|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JAKARTA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) have praised Indonesia for successfully hosting the international organizations' annual meeting, as the country is reeling from the aftermath of a series of strong earthquakes and an ensuing tsunami. The WB announced on Sunday funding of up to 1 billion U.S. dollars to assist Indonesian government for its reconstruction efforts in disaster-affected areas of Lombok and Sulawesi. "What we learned here, Indonesian people have a high sense of resilience and spirit," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said during the annual meeting's closing event in the resort island of Bali on Sunday. A series of quakes, the strongest one being 7.4 magnitude, and the following tsunami hit Central Sulawesi Province late last month, killing over 2,000 people, leaving over 1,000 missing and displacing more than 67,000. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde also praised Indonesia's efforts to host the event. Indonesia's Bali has previously hosted APEC meetings and WTO Ministerial Conference in 2013. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:16:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MOGADISHU, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Somali army on Monday killed at least eight al-Shabab fighters and injured several others in a fierce fighting at a location in southern part of the country. Ismail Khalif Shire, Somali army commander for the 60th Division, told reporters that one soldier was killed and others sustained injuries during the fighting at Daynunay location about 30 km east of Baidoa town. "We have killed eight al-Shabab fighters and injured several others, we destroyed the militants' dream to capture the area, and fled the dead bodies here," Shire said. Al-Shabab militants claimed to have captured Daynunay location and recovered weapons from the army base there. The latest fighting came two days after al-Shabab militants carried out suicide bomb attacks on Saturday that left at least 22 people dead and injured 36 others in Baidoa town in Bay region. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:16:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte hold a joint press conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, Oct. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Tao) THE HAGUE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China and the Netherlands called for global efforts to support and promote free trade and safeguard multilateralism to handle the rising challenges confronting the world. In a joint press conference held by visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte here on Monday, Li said that the two countries will cement consensus and work together to boost free trade and improve the multilateral trading system under the backdrop of growing uncertainties. "Free trade is not a rejection of fair trade," Li said. "Without free trade, there is no fair trade; while without fair trade, free trade will not gain sustainable development." As for multilateralism, Li said, it does not mean disrespect for country-to-country relations, but a promotion to the democratization of international politics. Li reiterated China's determination to be more open to the world, saying that his country will continue to expand its markets for Dutch investments in such areas as agriculture and service. For Rutte, he urged all the big countries to work collectively on an open, fair and multilateral trading system, saying that the Netherlands and China will make joint efforts to cope with global challenges. "Free and fair trade is about not only how we can share the cake, it is also about how we can make the cake bigger," Rutte said. Li is on an official visit to the European country. During his three-day stay, he will also meet with Dutch King Willem-Alexander as well as parliamentary leaders. The premier is also set to visit a hi-tech exhibition and address a business forum in The Hague. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:16:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte hold a joint press conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, Oct. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Tao) THE HAGUE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's new policy to further open up its basic manufacturing sector by removing foreign ownership restrictions is applicable to all, Premier Li Keqiang said Monday. The remarks were made when Li and his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, jointly met here with the press during his official visit to the Netherlands starting Sunday. "The policy is not just for some specific companies of some specific countries," Li said in response to a question on a recent agreement between China and German which will see German chemical giant BASF invest 10 billion U.S. dollars to build a Verbund chemical production site in China. The chemical complex will be wholly owned by BASF. Dutch companies are welcome to make such large-scale investment in China to establish enterprises wholly owned by themselves, Li told the press. "Our opening-up policy is consistent and applicable to all without discrimination," Li said. Li arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday for an official visit, the first such visit by a Chinese premier in 14 years. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:21:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIGALI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Rwandan government spent about 235 million U.S. dollars on natural disaster relief between January and June this year, the largest amount for such a period in a year, a senior Rwandan official said Monday. The money was used to provide the most affected with shelter, food aid, medical assistance and protection of their properties, as well as restore affected infrastructure including schools and bridges, Rwandan minister of disaster management De bonheur Jeanne d' Arc told Xinhua in a phone interview. People residing in high risk areas across the country are being relocated to safe places in organized and planned model villages in order to mitigate disasters caused by landslides, she said, calling on Rwandan people to respect disaster mitigation measures put in place. At least 234 people lost their lives and 268 people sustained injuries in natural disasters caused by heavy rains, floods, landslides and lightning across Rwanda from January to October this year, the ministry's assessment released last Friday showed. The damage caused by natural disasters on the same period included destruction of 15,264 houses, 9,412 hectares of crops and death of 797 livestock, according to the assessment. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:31:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JERUSAELM, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Hebrew University of Jerusalem has set up a cannabis research laboratory with an investment of 2.3 million U.S. dollars, a local website reported Monday. The new research center "Lumir Lab" is named after as its chief scientist Lumir Hanus, a Czech chemistry professor who is one of the world's leading cannabis researchers, the financial website Calcalist said. Over the past 50 years, Hanus has identified and isolated all the active substances in the cannabis plant, including more than 140 cannabinoids and more than 1,000 other active substances. Currently, almost all cannabis products have no scientific ground, preventing the medical community from supporting cannabis-based treatments. The target of the new lab is to provide new tools and solutions while setting an international quality standard. The first study will be carried out for Gynica, a research and development company specializing in cannabinoids in gynecology. The goal is to develop cannabinoids based on endometriosis, a disease that affects some 180 million women around the world. The lab will provide clinical validation and a wide range of solutions for companies operating in the medical cannabis industry. The intellectual property by the laboratory will be exported for production and commercialization in the European market, which is expected to be the world's largest by 2025. The Israeli company Asana Bio Group, the only Israeli company holding an active cannabis production license in Europe, funded the establishment of the lab. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:36:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese investment, together with a Swiss partner, has helped a 120-year-old insolvent German rail system company back to life, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Molinari Rail Systems GmbH told Xinhua on Monday. "At the end of 2016 before the acquisition, the situation of the railway systems company in the (German city of) Dessau was not very good. It had already been at the edge of insolvency for half a year," said Jan Harder. Harder is very proud that, in the past two years, Molinari Rail Systems has made a comeback in the German rail industry as a reliable partner. A total of 45 employees were kept on after the acquisition. Nowadays that number has grown to over 70, said He Hao, managing director of Molinari Rail Systems GmbH. "This is of course a very important aspect for the region, because we have not only kept the old colleagues, but also recruited new ones," Harder said proudly. Harder is also very confident about the future, saying "we are on the good path." He said the business venture with China was a means to reach profitability, to grow, and to become a bigger player in the rail sector in Europe and worldwide. "At the end of the day, the main target of our work is to improve the comfort of passengers in their daily travels," Harder said. Molinari Rail Systems GmbH, a Sino-Swiss joint venture, acquired the insolvent German enterprise Fahrzeugtechinik Dessau in November 2016. File Photo: Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) presents U.S. President Donald Trump with the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 20, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS) WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that he will send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of a Saudi Arabian journalist. Trump tweeted that he had "just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.'" "He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer," Trump said. "I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!" A separate brief statement issued by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert later said that "at the request of President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today." "The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the statement read. Khashoggi, a journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Unconfirmed reports said that Khashoggi was likely killed inside the compound, which were denied by Saudi officials as "baseless." A Saudi delegation arrived in Turkey on Friday to discuss the case with Turkish authorities, following a Turkish presidential spokesperson's announcement that a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation team would be formed upon the kingdom's request. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on late Sunday held a phone talk with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, discussing Khashoggi's disappearance. During the phone call, Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia to explain Khashoggi's fate and provide evidence that Khashoggi exited the building after entering. France, Germany and Britain on Sunday have expressed concerns over the case, calling for "a credible investigation" into the incident. In a joint statement, the top diplomats of the three European countries stressed that "all the light must be shed on the disappearance of ... Khashoggi," and that "there needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and, if relevant, to identify those responsible ... and ensure that they are held to account." Earlier last week, Trump said during an interview that he will impose severe punishment if Saudi Arabia is confirmed to be behind Khashoggi's alleged death. However, he refused to tell what measures he would take, only saying that he would not choose to impose sanctions on the country for fear of losing its military sales orders with U.S. companies. Saudi Arabia on Sunday strongly warned against any threats to exert economic sanctions or political pressure on the kingdom, saying it will respond to any action with greater action as the kingdom plays an influential and vital role in the regional and global security and economy. Photo from Mohammed Dewji's verified twitter account. DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The family of Tanzania's young billionaire, Mohammed Dewji, who was abducted last week, on Monday offered one billion Tanzanian shillings (about 438,000 U.S. dollars) for anyone that will give information on their missing son. Azim Dewji, spokesman of the family, said the reward was aimed at enhancing search for the billionaire who was abducted on Thursday last week. Dewji, 43, also known as MO, was kidnapped around 5:35 a.m. on Thursday last week when he was about to enter a hotel gym for his routine workout in the leafy Oysterbay area in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam. "The family promises that the source of the information and the information itself will remain confidential between the family and the source," Azim Dewji told a news conference in Dar es Salaam. Azim Dewji said the family thanked the government and its security organs for efforts they were taking to ensure that the young business tycoon was found alive. He also thanked the media, religious organizations and individuals for their support. At least 26 people were being questioned by police in connection of connection with the abduction of the east African nation's young billionaire. Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs, Kangi Lugola, said on Saturday that there was still no clue or information about the whereabouts of the young billionaire. He added the motive for Dewji's abduction was yet to be established as the abductors were still at large. "Once we pin them down we will be in a position to know their motive for the kidnap," said the minister. Lugola said police have teamed up with other security organs in the hunt for the abductors, adding the police will never rest until the culprits are brought to book." "The public need not worry because the country is very much safe. These small incidents happening in some parts of the country should not taint the country's security and image," said the minister. "Tanzania continues to be a peaceful country. These slight insecurity concerns cannot be used to paint a bigger picture of our peaceful vast country," he said. However, he said, there had been 57 reported cases of abduction of individuals since 2016 where at least 44 were rescued alive. Lugola said the high rate of abductions was a result of politics and economic hardships where kidnappers claimed ransom, witchcraft beliefs, and sometimes resulted from love affairs gone sour or revenge. However, he said the motive for Dewji's abduction was yet to be established as the abductors were not known including their motive. "Once we pin them down we shall be able to know their motive for the kidnap," the minister said. Soft-spoken Dewji is the chief executive and leading shareholder of the MeTL Group, a family owned Tanzanian conglomerate with operations in manufacturing, agriculture, haulage, trading and real estate. It is one of the largest industrial conglomerates in east Africa, with annual revenues hitting about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars and a workforce of more than 20,000 people. Since MeTL Group already contributes some 3.5 percent of Tanzania's gross domestic product, it is fast outgrowing national boundaries, working across 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:46:10|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close LONDON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that "real progress" has been made on the "vast majority" of issues between her country and the European Union (EU). May said she still believes a Brexit deal is "achievable" as she briefed the House of Commons on the latest development of the Brexit talks. "There has inevitably been a great deal of inaccurate speculation," said May, adding "The shape of a deal across the vast majority of the withdrawal agreement - the terms of our exit - are now clear." "We also have broad agreement on the structure and scope of the framework for our future relationship, with progress on issues like security, transport and services," she further said. BACKSTOP Talks reportedly faltered over the need for a back-up plan, known as the backstop, to avoid a hard border. "While we are both committed to ensuring that this future relationship is in place by the end of the implementation period, we accept that there is a chance that there may be a gap between the two," said May regarding the UK-EU Brexit talks regarding Northern Ireland. EU had proposed a backstop that would see Northern Ireland carved off in the EU's customs union and parts of the single market, separated through a border in the Irish Sea from the Britain's own internal market. "As I have said many times, I could never accept that, no matter how unlikely such a scenario may be," May stressed. The prime minister insisted any backstop arrangement must apply to the country as a whole so not to create a border in the Irish Sea. "Creating any form of customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK would mean a fundamental change in the day-to-day experience for businesses in Northern Ireland, with the potential to affect jobs and investment," she said. May stressed that Brexit backstop must be temporary to ensure that Britain cannot be kept in this arrangement "indefinitely." "The EU requires a backstop to the backstop," she said. The prime minister's speech came two days ahead of a key summit of European leaders on Wednesday. The latest development of the Brexit talks triggered wide concerns of a no-deal Brexit. A no-deal Brexit which might result in no Brexit at all, is closer than ever, the European editor of London's Daily Telegraph said Monday. NORTHERN IRELAND The possible scenario has also prompted disassociation in Northern Ireland which voted "remain" in the Brexit Referendum in 2016. Mary Lou McDonald the leader in Ireland of Sinn Fein has called on May for a referendum on the future of Northern Ireland if there is no deal on Brexit. She said a hard border would be erected the instant Britain crashes out of the EU under World Trade Organization rules. McDonald said the damage of a hard border would be so great to peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland, adding the Irish "would not just sit back and allow that to happen". McDonald told the Guardian newspaper: "If, by accident or design, there is a crash or a no-deal Brexit, Mrs May and whoever is in No. 10 needs to understand that in those circumstances the constitutional question would have to be put to the people of Ireland. There would have to be a border poll, yes." "You could not countenance such damage and disruption to our island and imagine that we will simply be philosophical about it and move on," she told the Guardian in an interview. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:56:13|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close DHAKA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Durga Puja, the biggest annual Hindu festival, began on Monday in Bangladesh capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country with due religious fervor. During the five-day Durga Puja festival, the Goddess Durga is worshipped in her different forms. People organize different programs including dancing, traditional drummer perform to celebrate festival. Nirmal Kumar Chatterjee, general secretary of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad (BPUP), the largest organization of Hindus in Bangladesh, told Xinhua that this year the Durga Puja is being celebrated at over 31,000 pavilions in Bangladesh including 200 in Dhaka. Security arrangements across Bangladesh have been beefed up for peaceful celebrations of the festival of minority Hindus, which will end with the immersion of the idols on Oct. 19. On the occasion of the largest Hindu festival, Bangladeshi President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina felicitated the country's Hindu community on Monday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-15 23:56:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BUDAPEST, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian and Polish governments will not vote on any sanctions against one another during the procedures under Article 7 of the European Union (EU), according to Hungarian minister of foreign affairs and trade Peter Szijjarto here on Monday. "Hungary will not vote on any sanctions against Poland and can count on Poland's support throughout the procedures under Article 7," Szijjarto declared in a statement published on the ministry's website, a day before the EU foreign ministers' meeting. Szijjarto was referring to the procedure of the EU launched against the Hungarian government following the adoption of the so-called Sargentini report in September. In the report, the European Parliament largely supports a resolution calling on EU member states to launch Article 7 procedures against Hungary in order to prevent the risk of a "serious breach of European values". Adopted on Sept. 12, the Sargentini report enumerated a number of concerns concerning the rule of law in Hungary, the changes to its electoral system without the approval of the opposition parties, the independence of the judiciary, namely the decrease of power of the Constitutional Court, corruption issues, freedom of expression, assembly and religion, as well as the rights of minorities and asylum-seekers. Szijjarto said he had a long discussion with Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz, during which they mutually assured each other of their country's support. The main topics of the discussion were EU procedures against Hungary and Poland and the challenges caused by migration, according to the statement. Budapest and Warsaw also agreed that the proceedings against their countries were purely politically-based attacks and reiterated that both Polish and Hungarian measures were fully in line with EU regulations. "The political attacks are clearly due to the migration policy of the two countries, which clearly stipulate that neither Poland nor Hungary will accept illegal immigrants and reject any kind of compulsory settlement program for migrants," Szijjarto concluded. On Oct. 13, the Hungarian government published a rare video message in English in response to the Sargentini report. "The government of Hungary will not leave unanswered the offense committed against Hungary in the Sargentini Report," the government declared. "We would like to make clear before the general European public that we do not want to become an immigrant country." Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 00:06:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KHARTOUM, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday reiterated Sudan's commitment to nationwide health coverage as part of its sustainable development goals. Al-Bashir made the remarks on the first day of the 65th Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean held in the capital Khartoum. "We reiterate the Sudanese government's concern with the public health ... regardless of their economic or social status," he said. The Sudanese president described health as the main way to fight poverty and achieve comprehensive and sustainable development. He also referred to Sudan's national health policy for 2017-2030 as an approach to achieving the health objectives and prosperity for all citizens. The Sudanese government has formulated polices and strategies to reduce child and maternity mortality rates, combat communicable diseases such as malaria, and protect families against risks and financial burdens, al-Bashir noted. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom and representatives from more than 22 countries attended the WHO session. It is the first time that Sudan has hosted a WHO session. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 00:31:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) holds talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague, the Netherlands, Oct. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) THE HAGUE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China and the Netherlands on Monday pledged to jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade by carrying out more open and pragmatic cooperation, against the backdrop of a complicated international situation with increasing uncertainties. The pledge was made as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague. By doing so, positive signals will be sent to the world that China, the Netherlands as well as Europe are maintaining a rules-based international order and are committed to the facilitation and liberalization of trade and investment, Li said. On the reform of the World Trade Organization, Li said China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with the Netherlands on the issue. The reform should be conducted in accordance with principles of free trade and openness, Li said, adding that it should also preserve the legitimate rights of developing countries and mitigate the North-South divide. The reform should be non-exclusive and based upon consultations and consensus, rather than being decided by a few countries, he said, noting that it should proceed in an orderly way based on mutual understanding and mutual accommodation. On climate change, Li said China remains steadfast in upholding the Paris Agreement and will make great efforts to implement its promises, calling on all parties to stick to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and accommodate the legitimate concerns of developing countries. Hailing the sound development of bilateral ties, Li said China and the Netherlands have maintained close high-level exchanges in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Dutch King Willem-Alexander have visited each other's country, which greatly promote the comprehensive cooperative partnership that stresses openness and pragmatism between the two countries, he said. Li said China is willing to learn the Dutch experience in managing an ageing society and establishing cooperation mechanisms in areas such as urbanization, elder care and clean energy technologies. The premier said China will deepen reforms and opening-up, and the country is willing to expand cooperation with the Netherlands on all fronts in the spirit of openness and inclusiveness, as well as mutual learning and mutual benefit. China welcomes Dutch companies to increase investment and share the dividend of China's new round of opening up and high-quality development, Li said. For his part, Rutte said the Netherlands attaches great importance to its ties with China and is willing to strengthen political trust and deepen practical cooperation between the two countries. He said the Netherlands looks forward to tapping potentials for cooperation in areas including circular economy, urbanization and smart city with China and expand cooperation in third-party markets. The Netherlands stands ready to work with China on global issues such as combating climate change, as well as sharing experience in elder care, personnel training and e-health against the background of an ageing society, Rutte said. The Netherlands also would like to strengthen communication and coordination with China in multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and the G20, Rutte said, adding that the two countries are jointly committed to preserving rules-based multilateralism and free trade. The two sides also exchanged opinions on international and regional issues of common concern. After the talks, Li and Rutte witnessed the signing of documents of bilateral cooperation in areas including economy, trade, finance, energy and agriculture. Li arrived here Sunday for a three-day official visit to the Netherlands, the first by a Chinese premier in 14 years. It is also Li's first trip to the European country as the Chinese premier. During his stay, the premier will meet with Dutch King Willem-Alexander. He is also set to visit a hi-tech exhibition and address a business forum in The Hague on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 00:41:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TUNIS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Tunisian navy on Monday intercepted one Moroccan and 11 Tunisian illegal immigrants off the southeastern coast, said the Ministry of Defense. The 12 illegal immigrants, aged between 20 and 30, sailing to the Italian coast were intercepted about 40 km northeast of the Djerba island. The migrants confessed that they sailed from Zarzis, a coastal region in southeastern Tunisia, to Italy's Lampedusa island in the Mediterranean Sea. Figures from International Organization for Migration show more than 4,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the Mediterranean toward Italian coasts since the beginning of the year. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 00:46:21|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Gu Zhenqiu LONDON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May came under mounting pressure on Monday after talks between London and Brussels reached a dramatic stand-off at weekend over how to prevent the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Britain's departure from the European Union (EU) in March 2019. May, who is travelling to Brussels for a key EU summit on Wednesday, sent Dominic Raab, the British Brexit secretary, to meet with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Sunday for unscheduled talks about "key issues" including the Irish border. After the two sides failed to reach an agreement at the end of the one-hour negotiations, no further talks are scheduled for them ahead of the Wednesday summit. Speculation that a Brexit deal had been reached between the two sides was quickly denied by Barnier, raising the prospect of a complete breakdown of the Brexit process. Raab told Barnier that the British prime minister could not sign up to the current terms for Brexit at the European Council meeting on Wednesday. In fact, both sides hoped to sign off on a draft withdrawal agreement setting out the terms for Britain's exit. Although May told the British Parliament on Monday afternoon that "real progress" has been made on the "vast majority" of Brexit issues between the EU and UK, the so-called Irish backstop proves to be the toughest aspect of Britain's EU withdrawal deal. The prime minister is fighting on multiple front amid signs that some of her cabinet could walk out this week over the Irish backstop. London and Brussels both pledged that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland, pending the agreement and ratification of a lasting "frictionless" UK-EU trade deal. However, it is impossible to honor the bilateral guarantee as there is still a wide gap between the two sides on their post-Brexit relations. At home, the government's latest Brexit compromise, known as the Chequers proposal, which was hammered out in early July, came under fierce attack by rebel Tory members of the cabinet and parliament. Boris Johnson, former British foreign secretary, called upon the British public to "chunk Chequers." He, the current leading critical voice of the government Brexit policy, is said to campaign to replace May. David Davis, the former British Brexit secretary, was equally critical. He called for cabinet rebellion over the prime minister's Brexit plan. At the same time, intensive talks are under way with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is based in Northern Ireland and currently props up May's ruling Conservative Party in the British Parliament, over the ties between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain after Brexit. At the heart of the dispute is May's plan to break a deadlock in talks with the EU by permitting exports travelling between these areas to be checked. The DUP flatly rejected this idea. The DUP's support is crucial to May's government because under the confidence and supply agreement, the Northern Ireland party provides voices to the Tories to give them an overall majority. The party has vowed to oppose any new checks on goods passing between the Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And the DUP's Brexit spokesman has said the prospect of a no-deal Brexit is "probably inevitable." The issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which will become the UK's border with the EU, is one of the last remaining obstacles to achieving a divorce deal with Brussels. Wrangling is continuing over the nature of a "backstop" to keep the border open if a wider UK-EU trade arrangement cannot resolve it. The EU's version, which would see just Northern Ireland remain aligned with Brussels' rules, has been called unacceptable by May and her Democratic Unionist allies. The Republic of Ireland joined the EU in 1973 at the same time that Northern Ireland did as part of the United Kingdom. Goods, services, and people are able to travel freely between these two countries as they both follow the same restrictions of movement. As a result of Brexit, Northern Ireland will also be leaving the EU with the rest of the UK. This means that for the first time, the UK will have a land border with the EU in the Republic of Ireland, where different restrictions on movement apply to each side. A hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland could raise security concerns. The return of the physical border, involving lengthy customs checks and controls, could restore to life tensions between pro-Irish Catholic and pro-UK Protestant communities in Northern Ireland as they have not yet to bury their differences. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney suggested a deal would not be done at the upcoming summit. Coveney said he was "frustrated and disappointed" that it was going to take "more time than people had hoped." "This is obviously a difficult period," British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday in Luxembourg ahead of talks with his EU counterparts. "There are one or two difficult outstanding issues but I think we can get there." Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 00:56:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RIYADH, Oct. 15, (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump lauded on Monday the joint Saudi-Turkish cooperation to investigate the disappearance of the Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Saudi Press Agency reported. In a telephone call made to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Trump also hailed the kingdom's keenness to clarify all relevant facts. Both leaders reviewed the latest developments in the region and bilateral relations between the two countries. Khashoggi, a journalist and columnist for the Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Unconfirmed reports said Khashoggi was likely killed inside the compound, which was denied by Saudi officials as "baseless." Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 01:06:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- German police raided premises of the Ruesselsheim-based carmaker Opel in the course of ongoing "dieselgate" investigations on Monday. A spokesperson for the Hesse state criminal police office confirmed that "police measures" were underway at Opel as of Monday morning without providing further details about the operation. The subsidiary of the French PSA Group was first named as potentially being implicated in fraudulent diesel emissions cheating practices during a transport ministry hearing back in July but, unlike domestic rivals Volkswagen and Daimler, has otherwise previously evaded formal judicial scrutiny in the affair. In a statement in reaction to the searches, Opel said that probes had been conducted at its corporate locations in Russelsheim and Kaiserslautern "in the framework of an investigatory procedure concerned with the subject of emissions." Nevertheless, the automotive company insisted that all its vehicles complied with relevant regulations. According to the German newspaper BILD, around 95,000 vehicles in total of the Opel Insignia, Zafira and Cascada models built during the years 2012, 2014 and 2017 are affected by the latest development in the German "dieselgate" scandal. In the ministry of transport hearing in July, Opel was asked to provide information about the function of exhaust system defeat devices in three of its models. A spokesperson for the ministry said at the time that it was too early to reach conclusions about the "legitimacy" of the technology in question. The federal government in Germany has recently unveiled a "dieselgate" policy package aimed at preventing looming driving bans with alternative measures including fleet renewal incentives and so-called "hardware upgrades" of affected vehicles to reduce their NOx emissions levels. Opel is among the majority of carmakers who continue to resist calls for technical retrofitting measures on the grounds that they are economically and technologically unfeasible. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 01:31:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close VIENNA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl renewed his skeptical opinion of a United Nations migration pact at a press conference here on Monday, the ORF reported. The Austrian official expressed concern that the UN global compact for migration would lead to too much being determined from outside of his country. He said the pact is presently being thoroughly analyzed to see if there are any threats to Austria. Kickl was joined by Hungarian counterpart Sandor Pinter who was in the Austrian capital on a working visit. Pinter spoke along similar lines, saying Hungary does not wish to be dictated on its migration policy. His country has already withdrawn from negotiations on the agreement, being the first to do so. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 01:51:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for action to protect the rights of rural women and girls on the occasion of the International Day of Rural Women. The empowerment of rural women and girls is essential to building a prosperous, equitable and peaceful future for all on a healthy planet, said Guterres in a message. "Yet rural women and girls remain disproportionately affected by poverty, inequality, exclusion and the effects of climate change." The UN chief called on countries to take action to ensure that rural women and girls fully enjoy their human rights, including the right to a life free of all forms of violence, discrimination and harmful practices, and to quality, affordable and accessible education throughout their lives. The secretary-general underscored that investing in the well-being, livelihoods and resilience of rural women and girls is needed. "Achieving this requires investment, legal and policy reforms and the inclusion of rural women in the decisions that affect their lives." The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on Oct. 15, 2008. The day, established by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 18, 2007, recognizes the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 01:56:33|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Photo taken on Oct. 15, 2018 shows the outside of Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. A Turkish team entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Monday evening to conduct a search over the disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, live broadcast showed. (Xinhua/He Canling) ISTANBUL, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish team entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Monday evening to conduct a search over the disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, live broadcast showed. The Turkish delegation, including police officers and crime scene investigators, came to the front of the consulate building in seven to eight vehicles, including a forensic van, according to the live broadcast by private Demiroren agency. Police have increased the security measures around the neighborhood, cordoning off all roads leading to the mission. Hours earlier, a Saudi team of 15 people arrived at the consulate building, after meeting with Turkish authorities at the Istanbul security headquarters. The two countries agreed last week to work together on the case and conduct a joint search in the consulate, where Khashoggi was last seen on Oct. 2. Meanwhile, Turkish police increased security measures around the area and sealed off the entrance to the mission. Turkey believes the journalist was murdered with his body removed, while Saudi Arabia has dismissed such allegations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud spoke on the phone about the issue on Sunday evening. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 02:06:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte hold a joint press conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, Oct. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Tao) THE HAGUE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China and the Netherlands on Monday appealed for global efforts to promote free trade and safeguard multilateralism in order to tackle the common challenges confronting the world. In a joint press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague, visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that the two countries will cement consensus and work together with all sides to boost free trade and further improve the multilateral trading system against the backdrop of growing uncertainties. "Free trade is not a rejection of fair trade," Li said. "Without free trade, there is no fair trade; while without fair trade, free trade will not gain sustainable development." As for multilateralism, Li said, it does not mean disrespect for country-to-country relations, but a promotion to the democratization of international politics. Li reiterated China's determination to be more open to the world, saying that his country will continue to expand its markets for Dutch investments in such areas as agriculture and services. Answering a question on a recent China-Germany agreement over the building of a chemical production site in China, Li said China's new policy to further open up its basic manufacturing sector by removing foreign ownership restrictions is applicable to all. "The policy is not just for some specific companies of some specific countries," he said, adding that some European enterprises are among the first that benefit from the policy. China will further liberalize its financial services market and expand market access in manufacturing and services industries, Li told the press. He said he hopes that companies from all over the world can seize the opportunities brought by the new round of reform and opening-up in China so as to achieve win-win results and common development. Under the current circumstances, Li said China and the Netherlands need to open markets wider to each other, deepen cooperation in traditional industries including agriculture and energy, and seek new cooperation in such fields as hi-tech manufacturing and services. During their talks, the two leaders agreed to further enhance cooperation between their countries against climate change, population ageing and other global challenges. China is willing to discuss with the Netherlands to open its senior service industry, Li said. For his part, Rutte urged all big countries to work collectively on an open, fair and multilateral trading system, saying that the Netherlands and China will make joint efforts to cope with global challenges. "Free and fair trade is about not only how we can share the cake, it is also about how we can make the cake bigger," Rutte said. Speaking highly of the two countries' fruitful cooperation in various areas and joint efforts in dealing with challenges such as climate change, Rutte said the Netherlands will work with China to further promote bilateral ties and cooperation. Li is on an official visit to the European country. During his three-day stay, he will also meet with Dutch King Willem-Alexander as well as parliamentary leaders. The premier is also set to visit a hi-tech exhibition and address a business forum in The Hague. The visit to the Netherlands is Li's first as Chinese premier and also the first by a Chinese premier in 14 years. Turkish forensics and police officers arrive at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 15, 2018 to search for the missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (AFP photo) ISTANBUL, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish team entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Monday evening to conduct a search over the disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, live broadcast showed. The Turkish delegation, including police officers and crime scene investigators, came to the front of the consulate building in seven to eight vehicles, including a forensic van, according to the live broadcast by private Demiroren agency. Police have increased the security measures around the neighborhood, cordoning off all roads leading to the mission. Hours earlier, a Saudi team of 15 people arrived at the consulate building, after meeting with Turkish authorities at the Istanbul security headquarters. The two countries agreed last week to work together on the case and conduct a joint search in the consulate, where Khashoggi was last seen on Oct. 2. Meanwhile, Turkish police increased security measures around the area and sealed off the entrance to the mission. Turkey believes the journalist was murdered with his body removed, while Saudi Arabia has dismissed such allegations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud spoke on the phone about the issue on Sunday evening. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 02:21:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Libya's parliament, the eastern-based House of Representatives, on Monday held a formal session and discussed the security situation in southern Libya. "After discussion and deliberation on the situation in southern Libya, especially the security situation, it was agreed that the parliament speaker would communicate with the concerned parties to provide security and stability in the south," said Abdullah Bhelig, parliament spokesman. According to local media, clashes took place on Sunday near the southern town of Um Al-Araneb, some 950 km south of the capital Tripoli, between local security and Chadian opposition militants. The clashes killed four security personnel. Following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime, Libya has been suffering escalating violence and chaos, as well as political division. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 02:56:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Five million more Yemenis could face severe food insecurity, bringing the number of people to 13.4 million who need emergency food assistance for survival, said the United Nations on Monday. By late 2017, 8.4 million Yemenis faced severe food insecurity. UN humanitarian partners estimate that this population could rise to 13.4 million due to economic decline, including the depreciation of the Yemeni currency, said Stephane Dujarric, the chief UN spokesman. The United Nations and partners need 3 billion U.S. dollars for 2018 to support the people in need across Yemen. To date, only two-thirds of the resources required have been received, said the spokesman. The UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen Lise Grande has condemned the killing of at least 15 civilians on Sunday when the minibuses they were traveling in were struck in Hudaydah, said the UN spokesman. Humanitarian agencies are rushing to assist the injured, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:11:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ZAGREB, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The biggest-ever military exercise in Croatia's history ended on Monday. The exercise "Velebit 18-Joint Force" started on Saturday and lasted without a break for 72 hours. It took place at 11 locations throughout the southeastern European country, involving 5,500 soldiers and reservists of all army units. "The exercise proved that Croatia is protected by a modern, strong and respectable army," said Minister of Defense Damir Krsticevic, while praising the exercise as a great success and congratulating all participants. He announced that the next military exercise will take place in 2021, on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Croatian Armed Forces. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, addressed the guests and participants on Monday through a video from the capital Zagreb. "Once again you have proved the success, readiness, and professionalism of the Croatian Army," she said. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic watched the second day of the exercise on the central Adriatic island of Dugi Otok. "Croatia has the capacity to protect its territory in the most effective way, contribute to international peace and support the civilian operations," Plenkovic said on Sunday. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:11:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JUBA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- South African Deputy President David Mabuza on Monday reiterated his country's commitment to support South Sudan's peace deal implementation signed by the warring parties to restore stability in the nation. Mabuza who arrived in Juba on Sunday for a two day visit held talks with South Sudan President Salva Kiir in Juba where they discussed ways to boost the implementation of the recently inked revitalized agreement. "Our main objective here is to support all the initiatives that are aimed at finding long lasting solutions and peace for the people of South Sudan," Mabuza told journalists in Juba. He said he has met all the parties to the agreement that was signed in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum in September by the rivals and saw positive mood. "I am grateful that all the participants, including the government are all optimistic that this kind of an agreement that is before us now must be implemented," Mabuza said. He urged all the Heads of States and governments in the region to renew their synergies and support the agreement, revealing that he will meet with the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Sudan's Omar al-Bashir over South Sudan's peace pact in an effort to make it a reality. "So that all of us are seen to be facing one direction in supporting the people of South Sudan to implement the peace agreement. We are leaving South Sudan very happy, confident that tomorrow will be a better day," he noted. Mayiik Ayii Deng, minister in the office of the South Sudanese president, said Mabuza visited Juba as the special envoy of the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to witness the parties' commitment towards implementation of the peace pact to end nearly five years of conflict. "The president assured the deputy president that he is 100 percent willing to implement the accord," Deng said. South Sudan's conflict that has now entered its fifth year since it erupted in 2013 after forces loyal to Kiir and his former deputy Machar engaged in combat. The 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital Juba, forcing Machar to flee into exile. Millions of South Sudanese civilians have sought refuge in neighboring countries as the conflict rages on despite attempts by international players to end it. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:11:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RABAT, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least one illegal immigrant died and 38 others were rescued after their boat run into trouble off Morocco's northern city of Tangier, the Moroccan army said Monday. The Moroccan navy coastguards assisted on Monday morning a boat in trouble off the west of Tangier that was carrying 38 Moroccan illegal immigrants and a dead body. The boat, which started its trip on Oct. 8, lost its way following an engine failure, the source noted. The rescued, found in poor health, were brought to Tangier's Port to receive necessary health care, it added. In one week, the Moroccan navy arrested more than 1,230 migrants off the country's northern coasts. In recent months, Morocco has been witnessing a significant hike in illegal immigration attempts. The Moroccan government said its security services have thwarted at least 54,000 attempts to smuggle illegal immigrants into Europe in the first eight months of 2018, compared with 39,000 attempts a year earlier. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:16:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ABUJA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The death from a pipeline explosion in Abia State in southern Nigeria has risen to 60, according to an official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Monday. NEMA gave the figure after an on-the-spot assessment of the incident in Osisioma local government area of Abia on Oct. 12. Evans Ugoh, coordinator of the relief agency in Abia and its neighboring Imo State, said a preliminary investigation proved that "the lack of routine pipeline maintenance caused the incident." The pipeline, owned by Nigeria's national oil corporation, was left unmaintained for a long time, thus causing the leakage, Ugoh said. He also excoriated victims for not raising alarm when they noticed the pipeline leakage. The victims, mostly locals of Umuimo and Umuaduru communities in Abia, rather chose to scoop fuel from the ruptured pipeline, the official said. The past few years had witnessed a string of pipeline explosions in Nigeria. Some of such incidents happened as locals tried to siphon fuel from the pipelines. According to reports, at least 150 people were killed in a pipeline explosion on May 12, 2006, in a village to the east of Lagos, the country's economic hub, while locals were drilling into it. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:16:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Natasha Pavlopoulou ATHENS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The opinion of Greek citizens about six countries of the world, as well as the European Union and its leaders, regarding their stance towards Greece, is reflected in the results of a survey released here on Monday. The latest Pulse RC survey that was commissioned by local Kathimerini (Daily) newspaper, found that France and China are the two countries most admired by Greeks. The traditional ally France occupies the first place, with six out of ten Greeks positively assessing the country's attitude towards Greece today (63 percent). China which has invested heavily in the local economy in recent years follows by 54 percent, whereas the United States is ranked third in the survey with 49 percent. According to the authors of the survey, the positive opinion for both France and China could be explained by the mentality of the Greeks and the multiculturalism of Greek society, a mixture of Western and Eastern cultural characteristics, Kathimerini noted. Public opinion may have also been affected by the fact that both countries have systematically expressed support for Greece. Russia, Germany and Turkey occupy the last positions respectively, according to the survey. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:16:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's trade lobby will next week host a two-day meeting which will bring together business leaders from across Africa to seek ways of boosting intra-Africa trade. Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Monday the Oct. 23-24 meeting will focus on fast tracking the realization of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) as well as the preparedness of the business community on the continent. Speaking ahead of the planned event, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry National Chairman Kiprono Kittony, who doubles as one of the vice presidents representing Africa at the World Chambers Federation (WCF), termed the forum as timely and relevant to tackle existing hurdles in promoting intra-Africa trade. "We are pleased to be hosting the continental business leaders to discuss ways of improving intra-Africa trade as there still exists multiple trade barriers that favor trade with other countries in other continents," Kiprono said in a statement issued in Nairobi. "We believe that the discussions we intend to hold will chart a way forward towards unlocking the potential of opening up trade amongst African businesses and provide new innovative ways to tackle existing bottlenecks to governments and other non-state players," he added. The meeting will be attended by the World Chambers Federation (WCF) President Peter Mihok and 59 chambers' presidents from Africa. Kiprono said the event further recognizes that business leaders in Africa need to understand the opportunities arising from this agreement for local as well as foreign investors. Among the topics to be addressed during the event include cross cutting challenges encountered by African chambers, how to build sustainable chambers in Africa and the role of the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce & Industry in promoting intra-Africa trade. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:31:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank will rally behind Kenya's ambitious blue print on expanding access to affordable homes as a means to spark economic vitality, fight extreme poverty and create new jobs, senior officials said on Monday. Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, the World Bank's Kenya Country Director, said that multilateral lenders are committed to help the East Africa's largest economy tackle a housing shortfall that bodes ill for sustainable development and cohesion. "We are ready to assist the Kenyan government deliver on its affordable housing agenda. Targeted incentives are required to promote investments in homes for the low income bracket," Jaramillo said. He spoke during the second edition of urban dialogue forum organized by the World Bank to explore innovative measures that are required to expand access to affordable homes in the rapidly growing Kenyan cities. Senior government officials, county executives, investors and representatives of grassroots organizations who attended the forum agreed that Kenya can bank on the prevailing macro-economic stability and renewed investor confidence to develop new homes for low income earners in urban centres. Jaramillo said that implementation of the government's big four agenda on affordable housing is key to hasten urban renewal and spark economic prosperity in Kenya. "The housing agenda is a timely intervention and a catalyst for growth. The government should therefore create conducive environment to facilitate deployment of green technologies that poorer segment of the population can use to build homes," said Jaramillo. James Macharia, Kenya's cabinet secretary for housing and urban development said the government intends to develop 500,000 homes by 2022 through innovative financing. "Delivering affordable homes is a top priority in government and realization of this objective will depend heavily on domestic resource mobilization," said Macharia. He said the government will cater for the cost of land and supportive infrastructure like roads, power, water and sewerage systems to incentivize local and foreign investors to build homes for the poor. "Other incentives include a seamless approval process to cut down on time and resources to be spent by investors in housing sector," said Macharia. Kenya has an annual demand of 250,000 housing units but has only been developing 50,000 units thanks to financing and regulatory hurdles. Charles Hinga, the principal secretary in the state department of housing and urban development, said that tax incentives coupled with adoption of new building technologies is key expand access to affordable shelter. "We are leveraging on new technologies and a range of innovative financing schemes to develop quality homes for the urban poor," said Hinga. Sameh Naguib Wahba, the World Bank's Global Director for Urban and Territorial Development, said that access to affordable homes will boost health and education outcomes as well as gender parity in Kenya. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 03:46:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy for children and armed conflict on Monday deplored as dismaying the level of violence and brutality endured by children in South Sudan as shown in a new UN report. According to the secretary-general's report on children and armed conflict in South Sudan, over 9,200 children of the unrest-ridden country were verified by the United Nations as victims of grave violations in the nearly four years it covered (Oct. 2014 - June 2018). "Grave violations against children were often interconnected: abduction took place for the purpose of recruitment, boys and girls recruited were killed or maimed or sexually abused," said Virginia Gamba, special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict. "Many children were also used to commit atrocities against civilians and other children, thus perpetuating the cycle of violence," she added. Across the country, more than 5,700 children were verified as having been recruited and used. In addition, almost 2,000 were abducted and more than 980 children were killed or maimed, both by government forces and armed groups, the report said. Moreover, sexual violence, including against children, was used as a tactic of war and as a form of collective punishment. More than 650 children were verified as sexually abused during the reporting period, with 75 percent of the cases involving gruesome gang rapes, the report said, noting the actual numbers were likely to be higher due to underreporting in fear of stigmatization. Efforts to protect children, such as the UN's implementation of the Action Plan with the Sudan People's Liberation Army, was seriously disrupted by the outbreak of conflict during the reporting period, the report pointed out. "It is urgent to address impunity for perpetrators and revise the existing Action Plan into a comprehensive one to end and prevent all grave violations against children," Gamba said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 04:01:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ALGIERS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Algeria and Nigeria on Monday signed a plan to boost bilateral economic cooperation, on the occasion of visiting Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama to Algiers. The cooperation included sectors of energy, transport and communication, according to the document signed between Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel and Onyeama at the fourth Higher Algerian-Nigerian Cooperation Committee which wrapped up on Monday in Algiers. Messahel noted the plan "clarifies" various stages of the implementation of commitments made by both sides. He hailed the mega projects that the two countries jointly launched, the Trans-Saharan Highway linking Algiers and Lagos, the trans-Saharan fiber optic cable project linking the two capitals, and the gas pipeline linking the two countries, which will allow the transfer of Nigerian gas to Europe via Niger and Algeria. The Algerian top diplomat said that the two countries will also seal 10 agreements related to the fields of trade, industry, energy and investment. Onyeama said that Nigeria aspires to activate and strengthen its cooperation with Algeria, noting that "we came to Algeria to boost bilateral cooperation and give a new impetus to the projects initiated by the two parties." Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after giving a press conference following their talks at the presidential palace in the capital Cairo on December 11, 2017. (AFP PHOTO) MOSCOW, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed an order on concluding a strategic cooperation agreement with Egypt, according to Russia's official legal portal. "To accept the proposal of the Russian Foreign Ministry ... on the signing of the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Arab Republic of Egypt on comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation," the order reads. "To consider it expedient to carry out the signing of the treaty ... at the highest level," it adds. Putin is scheduled to meet his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday in Russia's Sochi to "discuss key issues of further building up Russian-Egyptian interaction, as well as exchange views on topical issues on the international agenda," according to a Kremlin statement published Thursday. Following the talks, a number of joint documents are expected to be signed, the statement said, with no details provided. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Putin and Sisi would hold informal talks at the dinner table on Tuesday. Putin visited Cairo in December 2017 when he and Sisi witnessed the signing of the agreement to build Egypt's nuclear power station. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 05:22:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's internationally-backed President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi sacked on Monday Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr over sharp economic crisis and currency depreciation, state-run Saba news agency reported. According to the statement released by Saba, "President Hadi issued the dismissal decision following the carelessness and failure that accompanied bin Daghr's government particularly in the economic field." Hadi appointed Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed as the new Prime Minister, referring former PM bin Daghr for investigation over his government inefficiency concerning Mahra cyclone and the economic collapse. "The government failed in easing the suffering of the Yemeni people, resolving their problems and meeting their demands given its inability to take real measures to stop the deterioration of the country's economy," according Hadi's decision. The new PM previously worked as Minister of Public Roads and Highways in bin Daghr's cabinet and succeeded in many rebuilding projects, the observers said. Earlier this month, the pro-secesssion Southern Transitional Council blamed the Yemeni government for rampant corruption, calling for a public uprising in the port city of Aden and other neighboring main cities. In response, the Yemeni government and its Interior Ministry beefed up security measures around government institutions in Aden and vowed to protect the city from sabotage elements. The southern port city of Aden, where Yemen's government is temporarily based itself, has been suffering from frequent power outages and lack of basic services including water, leading to a public anger against the local authorities. The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 05:52:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged countries to uphold 2030 Agenda's Core Pledge ahead of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Thanks to political leadership, inclusive economic development and international cooperation, near 1 billion people have "escaped poverty" during past 25 years, Guterres said in his message, yet "many are still being left behind," currently there are over 700 million people are unable to meet their basic daily needs. The UN chief said that the eradication of poverty remains a "question of justice," adding that "eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, as embodied in Goal 1 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, remains one of the greatest global challenges and a major priority for the United Nations." For people experiencing poverty and destitution, countries need to tackle the power structures that prevent their inclusion in society, and to ensure that rapid technological development boosts poverty eradication efforts, he added. Designated to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 05:57:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close YAOUNDE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's national vote counting commission on Monday handed over the tentative results of the country's Oct. 7 presidential poll to the Constitutional Council, according to the commission. According to Cameroon Electoral Code, the Constitutional Council is expected to "adopt and proclaim" the results of the election within 15 days of the close of the poll. The Council will on Tuesday begin hearing petitions from some opposition candidates and voters demanding the nullification of the poll, said secretary general of the institution Malego Joseph Asse in a statement on Sunday. Among those who have petitioned the court are three opposition candidates who want the election to be either partially or totally annulled, citing "irregularities" and "rigging" they observed during the poll. The decisions of the Constitutional Council relating to elections and election results shall be final, according to the Electoral Code. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 06:12:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LISBON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Some 70,000 people remained without electricity in the centre of Portugal on Monday, after Hurricane Leslie battered the country on Saturday night. "Getting a normal electricity supply back is a matter of dramatic urgency for local people," said Portugal's president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. He was speaking to journalists in the town of Soure in the central district of Coimbra, some 180 km north of Lisbon. The lack of power "prevents everything from functioning", he added, having been informed of closed schools and public institutions, as well as shops and businesses. National electricity supplier EDP said it had 750 technicians working to restore power and had activated 70 emergency generators. EDP blamed the delay in rectifying the power supply on heavy damage to pylons and cables. Hurricane Leslie rampaged through Portugal on Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday morning, hitting the central region hardest. A gust of wind at the coastal town of Figueira da Foz clocked in at 176 kilometers per hour, the highest wind speed ever recorded in Portugal, according to the Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA). There has been only one death reported, 28 people were left lightly injured by the storm and there were 61 evacuations. Landslides and fallen trees were the most common causes of injury and damage. Farmland has also been left devastated, with severe wreckage to crops and infrastructure. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 06:27:24|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close A UN vehicle crosses the Quneitra border crossing from Syria's Quneitra province to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Oct. 15, 2018. The border crossing between Syria's southern province of Quneitra and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights officially reopened on Monday, Syrian state TV reported. (Xinhua/Wang Jian) DAMASCUS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- After years of isolation, Syria's border crossings are under the spotlight again with some of them reopened as the Syrian government has regained the upper hand in the more than seven-year-long war. On Monday, the key border crossing of Nasib between Syria and Jordan was reopened for the first time since its closure in 2015, when the rebels took control of the town of Nasib and the crossing, which is under the same name, in the southern province of Daraa. The Syrian Army captured Nasib in July after dislodging the rebels from the southern province of Daraa. The crossing is the only conduit between Syria and Jordan and is also considered one of the most important land crossings in the Middle East as it was the main crossing for exports from Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria to the Gulf states and vice versa. The crossing brings billions of U.S. dollars in trade revenue to Syria as well as neighboring and regional countries. Tens of people crossed the border to Syria on Monday after it was officially reopened. Also, economic delegation exchanged visits through the crossing. State news agency SANA said the Syrian side entered truckloads of 21 tons of fruits as a gift to the economic delegations in Jordan and in return, the Jordanian side entered a truckload of dates to Syria. Also Monday, Syria has officially reopened the crossing between the southern province of Quneitra and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Quneitra crossing was the only crossing for the Syrians in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights to enter Syria but not for the Syrians inside Syria as they are not allowed to enter the Israeli-occupied territory. Syrian students from Golan Heights had used this crossing ahead of the Syrian crisis to study in Syria as the government has provided them with exceptional facilitations to seek education in their motherland. Also, marriages had taken place between Syrians in Golan and Quneitra in the past. There had been instances ahead of the Syrian war when apples harvested in Golan would be sold inside Syria through the crossing. As the crossing has been officially reopened, Golan students are expected to visit Syria through Quneitra after they had gone through long trips through Jordan to come to Syria by airplanes. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has also returned to the disengagement zone after leaving it in 2014, as the separation line between the Bravo gate on the Syrian side and the Alpha gate on the Israeli side is an activity zone for the UNDOF. The rebels withdrew from Quneitra in July this year, after the Russians reached a deal with the Israeli side for restoring the situation in Quneitra to the pre-Syrian wartime and reviving the treaty of 1974 that ended the Yom Kippur war and designated the lines of separation between Israel and Syria. Khaled Abaza, secretary of Syria's Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party's branch in Quneitra, told Xinhua that "the reopening of this crossing is reviving the lifeline between our people who are under occupation and on their homeland." "This crossing is a lifeline for university students and also farmers who want to sell harvest and marketing it in Syria," he said. Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and the visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in a press conference Monday in Damascus that the border crossings between Iraq and Syria should be opened soon after the major defeat of the Islamic State (IS) in both countries. Al-Jaafari said there is no reason not to open the border crossings between both countries, saying efforts are being exerted to reopen them as soon as possible. For his part, Muallem said that the terror groups were controlling the crossings, accusing the countries backing them of standing against the opening of the crossings. He also noted "we hope that the crossing between the Syrian city of Abu Kamal and Iraq would be reopened soon." Both ministers did not say when the crossings will be reopened but said it should not take long. Expectations for reopening the border points came as the Syrian army has cleared large swathes of border areas between Syria and Iraq from the presence of IS. In July, the Iraqi forces worked to enhance the security situation on the border with Syria, installing cameras and flying drones to ensure the security against any threat from IS. The border crossing that would be reopened is the al-Qa'im which is located in the southeast of Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour in the city of Abu Kamal. Al-Qa'im crossing is considered as one of the major supply routes across the Middle East, which connects the town of Abu Kamal in Syria's Deir al-Zour to the city of Husaybah in the Al-Qa'im District of Iraq's Anbar Governorate. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 06:27:24|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Demonstrators hold slogans in front of John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States, on Oct. 15, 2018. A lawsuit charging Harvard University of discriminating against Asian American applicants in admissions went to trial on Monday at a U.S. District Court in Boston, drawing nationwide attention as the future of the affirmative action is also on the debate. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) BOSTON, the United States, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- A lawsuit charging Harvard University of discriminating against Asian American applicants in admissions went to trial on Monday at a U.S. District Court in Boston, drawing nationwide attention as the future of the affirmative action is also on the debate. The Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), a non-profit group that believes schools should not consider race when selecting students, sued four years ago that over decades, Harvard has rigged its highly selective undergraduate admissions system against Asian American applicants by using "de facto racial quotas, racial stereotypes and higher standards". Harvard has denied the charges. U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs, who was nominated by then Democratic President Barack Obama and seated in 2015, is presiding over the trial. At the packed courtroom on Monday, the plaintiffs accused that Harvard intentionally ranks Asian American applicants lower on "personal rating" scores used to measure character traits such as leadership, grit, courage and likeability, presenting a document they say is Harvard's only guidance on the personal rating loosing ranging from one for "outstanding" to five for "questionable personal traits." In response, Harvard's legal team denied all the allegations, saying race is just one factor that's considered while only considered in a limited way, arguing a race-conscious admissions process is essential to ensuring that students are exposed to a variety of viewpoints. In a series of decisions since 1978, the Supreme Court has allowed race-conscious admissions if carefully done, and according to Harvard, Asian Americans now account for 23 percent of all admitted students. Outside the federal courthouse, a number of Asian American protesters showed up Monday morning when the trial went on, carrying banners with "HARVARD NO MORE RACIAL STEREOTYPING" and "Discrimination in the name of diversity is wrong". However, Asian Americans are deeply divided on the case. On Sunday, hundreds of Asian Americans rallied in central Boston to show support for the SFFA lawsuit. About five kilometers away, dozens of Asian American Harvard students rallied at the Harvard Square to protest against the lawsuit and show support for the affirmative action, citing the benefit of the affirmative action and the importance of diversity on campus. This is Judge Burroughs' first trial without a jury. She expects to issue a verdict after it ends in around three weeks, local media reported. However, any verdict faces a near-certain appeal. It is widely expected the case could reach the Supreme Court. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 06:32:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. aircraft giant Boeing Company said Monday that it delivered the first 737 MAX airplane, leased from the U.S. Air Lease Corporation (ALC), to Russia's largest private air carrier S7 Airlines. Operated by Globus Airlines, S7 is based at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport in Ob, about 17 km west of Russia's third most populous city of Novosibirsk. The airline will become the first Russian air carrier to fly the improved model of 737-family airplane. Boeing said S7 plans to take 10 more 737 MAX jets over the next few years as part of its strategic plan to strengthen its airplane fleet. The Russian private air carrier will launch the 737 MAX on its first domestic flights to Moscow and Chita this week. "The new Boeing 737MAX that we received today from our partners at Air Lease Corporation offers even more passenger comfort, reduced noise level and lower environmental impact," said Vadim Klebanov, general director of Globus Airlines, which operates flights under the S7 Airlines brand on a route network covering cities across Russia, and Europe. Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president of Commercial Sales and Marketing at Boeing, said the 737 MAX will be seamlessly integrated in the S7 Airlines' strategy of delivering exceptional performance and value. Powered by CFM LEAP-1B engines, the 737 MAX jet features a two-class cabin layout with about 130 to 230 seats and the ability to fly up to 7,130 kilometers. ALC Executive Vice President Alex Khatibi said the arrival of the 737 MAX aircraft will help S7 strengthen its position as a highly competitive Russian airline operating the most modern and fuel-efficient fleet in the country. S7 is also the second largest airline in the Russian market with a fleet of 88 aircraft including Boeing and Airbus jets. In an unfortunate case of human error, an email from the US State Department in Australia was sent out with the title "meeting" and the glorious picture of a cat with a plate of cookies. The email, which has been cited as a "training error", was sent from the United States' embassy in Canberra, Australia as a fake meeting invitation. The email was entitled "meeting", and featured the picture of a cat wearing a Cookie Monster onesie, posing on a couch with a plate full of cookies, along with a button to RSVP. A screen grab of the lighthearted follow-up apology email has been doing the rounds online, which itself is just as good as the original. It reads, "The United States' embassy in Canberra has apologised for a "training error" after distributing a fake meeting invitation, complete with a photo of a pyjama-wearing cat". The email, written by public affairs counsellor Gavin Sundwall, continues (and gets even better), "The email, entitled "meeting", featured a photo of a tabby cat wearing a blue Cookie Monster outfit and holding a plate of choc-chip biscuits, beneath the title "cat pajama-jam". Sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping to attend this "cat pajama-jam" party, but such an event falls well outside our area of expertise." You can read the full cringe-worthy statement below: The US embassy in Australia accidentally sent out a cat photo instead of a meeting invite. https://t.co/NOHLA8RbjJ pic.twitter.com/NfqebepiIE Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) October 15, 2018 The email has been retweeted around Twitter, and the response has been tongue-in-cheek to say the least: RSVP YES https://t.co/dCdBQiL8bv Zombie Trek Sue London aYAA?YYs (@cmdrsue) October 15, 2018 Sounds like excellent public diplomacy to me. I would open all embassy emails if I knew there could be cat photos. https://t.co/qGg8cQeARA Mintaro Oba (@MintaroOba) October 15, 2018 Whatever the real event is is going to be a HUGE disappointment. https://t.co/GP8DpXFVOT Teresa Genaro (@BklynBckstretch) October 15, 2018 Im a dog person, but I have no problem that my tax dollars are supporting this. https://t.co/a1aVAWyLrR Kent German (@KentGerman) October 15, 2018 Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 06:37:25|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CHICAGO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Males have greater reproductive success if they spend more time taking care of kids, not necessarily only their own, according to new research conducted by anthropologists at U.S. Northwestern University. The researchers found in a previous study that wild male mountain gorillas living in Rwanda help take care of all of the kids that live in their social group, regardless of whether they are the father. In the new study, they further found that male mountain gorillas who groom and rest more with kids end up having more reproductive opportunities. "We've known for a long time that male mountain gorillas compete with one another to gain access to females and mating opportunities, but these new data suggest that they may have a more diverse strategy. Even after multiple controls for dominance ranks, age and the number of reproductive chances they get, males who have these bonds with kids are much more successful," said Stacy Rosenbaum, lead author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow in anthropology at the university. This research suggests an alternative route by which fathering behaviors might have evolved in our own species, Rosenbaum said. "We traditionally have believed that male caretaking is reliant on a specific social structure, monogamy, because it helps ensure that males are taking care of their own kids. Our data suggest that there is an alternative pathway by which evolution can generate this behavior, even when males may not know who their offspring are," Rosenbaum said. This raises the possibility that similar behaviors could have been important in the initial establishment of fathering behaviors in distant human ancestors. The researchers are also investigating whether hormones might play a role in helping facilitate these male behaviors, as they do in humans. "In human males, testosterone declines as men become fathers, and this is believed to help focus their attention on the needs of the newborn," said Christopher Kuzawa, Northwestern University professor of anthropology. "We're working on characterizing these males' hormone profiles across time, to see if events such as the birth of new infants might be related to their testosterone levels," Rosenbaum said. "We're fortunate to have data that span many years of their lives." The research is scheduled to be published on Monday in Scientific Reports. Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 06:47:27|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close by Edna Alcantara MEXICO CITY, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Shanghai Chinese Orchestra staged a successful musical show "Oriental Elegance" at Mexico's National Center for the Arts (Cenart) over the weekend. The renowned musical ensemble, featuring classic Chinese instruments, offered a concert of mostly traditional music at Cenart's main Blas Galindo Theater, in the lead up to its participation later this week in the International Cervantino Festival, Mexico's premiere annual cultural celebration. Orchestra members specialized in instruments such as erhu, also known as the Chinese violin; bamboo flute; sheng, a wind instrument consisting of multiple reed pipes; ruan or moon guitar; and zheng or zither. Internationally renowned erhu virtuoso and composer Ma Xiaohui, who has visited Mexico on multiple occasions, served as master of ceremonies, introducing the audience to each traditional instrument by inviting musicians to perform a brief solo and explaining a little bit about the instrument's history. Music is a bridge that transcends language and cultural barriers to convey thoughts and emotions between different peoples, said Ma. Sunday's program began with "A Moonlit Night on the Spring River," which is considered an iconic piece of classical Chinese music. Bamboo flute player Zhao Yunmeng interpreted "Journey to Suzhou," a classical piece that reflects the laid-back pace of the region's coastal communities in its soft and poetic tones. Zhao also played "Joyful Reunion," a strongly rhythmic tune composed in the north. An audience favorite was "Silk Road and Camel Bell," which evokes the exotic glamour of the ancient trade route that connected East Asia with Europe for centuries. Ma's erhu solo "Ten Thousand Steeds Galloping," inspired by the vast Mongolian prairie, also elicited nonstop applause. "An extraordinary level of (musical) interpretation" and "very elegant," audience member Alejandro Quiroz said of the concert. A chemical engineer, Quiroz, 25, said it was the first time she ever heard classical Chinese music. "Now I have a better idea of the instruments, their sounds and the harmony, which evoke feelings," she said. Chinese ambassador to Mexico Qiu Xiaoqi congratulated the musicians on putting on such an unforgettable show. "Today's presentation was a rousing success. The show was really well received by the audience, because we're talking about a top-tier ensemble that comes from Shanghai, which in addition to being one of China's economically important cities, is also very cultural," Qiu told Xinhua. The orchestra is slated to stage the program -- previously presented in Germany, Belgium and Thailand, among other countries, to much acclaim -- in Mexico's second-largest city Guadalajara, as well as in central Guanajuato on Oct. 18 as part of the Cervantino Festival. "Culture is fundamental to reciprocal knowledge between our two peoples and two societies," said the ambassador, adding China has plans to step up "the ties of cooperation between China and Mexico, and I'm very optimistic." In the coming months, "we are going to have many cultural activities and I hope that it can provide many opportunities for Mexican audiences to learn more about China," said Qiu. The national chief veterinary officer has imposed restrictions in 50 villages in Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen County in the north-east after classifying them as infected with the African swine fever (ASP) virus, regional daily Eszak-Magyarorszag said. The paper said the districts of Cigand, Miskolc, Sarospatak, Tokaj, Szerencs, Tiszaujvaros, Gonc and Szikszo have been affected. Restrictions were introduced after ASP had been detected by laboratory tests in a wild boar shot near Tarcal. In the infected areas farmers are required to keep a registry of any changes in the number of animals and report any occurrence of sick or dead animals to the local vet, the paper said. More and more Hungarian companies will be doing business in Asia, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said in Bali on the sidelines of an IMF and World Bank annual meeting. After talks with Danny Alexander, head of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Varga said Hungary will receive direct access to new projects through the bank, enabling Hungarian companies to appear on Asian markets. The bank, which Hungary joined last year, provides cheap financing for projects in Asia worth a combined 1,000 billion dollars, the minister noted. Hungarian firms with a background in water management are most likely to assume a visible presence there, the finance ministry said in a statement. Varga also said the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group had recognised the achievements of Hungarian economic policy, given the IMF has revised its Hungarian growth forecast upward. The finance minister also announced that he had invited Alexander to the Budapest Water Summit in October next year with a view to bolstering the banks efforts to strengthen its European ties. Varga had talks with World Bank head Cyril Mueller, as well as Karin Finkelston, vice-president of the International Finance Corporation. The talks focused on the World Bank Groups assistance to Hungarian companies in their international activities as well as to the Visegrad Groups efforts to build a common regional strategy, the statement said. MTI Photo: Monus Marton Prime Minister Viktor Orban will address a commemoration of Hungarys 1956 revolution in front of Budapests House of Terror museum at 3pm on October 23, the government spokesman said. Commemorations are scheduled to start on October 22 at the 1956 Technical University Memorial, Zoltan Kovacs told MTI. From there, commemorators will head over to the traditional commemoration at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, where the anti-Soviet uprising started 62 years ago. That ceremony will be addressed by former Prime Minister Peter Boross, Janos Jozsa, the universitys rector and Jozsef Halzl, head of the Rakoczi Association, which promotes ethnic Hungarian youth organisations. The ceremony will be followed by a traditional torch-lit march proceeding from the university to Bem Square, another important location of the revolution. There, Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Ministers Office, will deliver a speech, Kovacs said. On October 23, commemorations will begin with the hoisting of the national flag in front of Parliament with military honours. Kovacs also said that the Parliament building will be open to visits from the public free of charge on the national holiday. MTI Photo Polska Jazz Festival returns to BMC - Opus Jazz Club for the 6th time, giving a unique glimpse into the ever-changing Polish jazz scene with some of its greatest current performers. Programme: Wednesday, 7 November, 8pm Maciej Obara Quartet Polish alto saxophonist Maciej Obara had recently a very striking ECM debut with Unloved, an album whose expressive range embraces tender lyricism and impassioned, fiery, powerful playing. The album Unloved was launched with a release concert at the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw on November 17, followed by club and festival dates in Germany, Austria, Spain, Norway and Poland. Maciej Obara and pianist Dominik Wania first established their musical rapport inside a Tomasz Stanko ensemble a decade ago, discovering a shared feeling for form and for freedom. Lines of influence radiate in many directions in this band, and all of the players are adept at functioning and thriving in the interstices of the idioms and the zones between the notated and the completely free. Thursday, 8 November, 8 pm Tomasz Chya Quintet Tomasz Chya Quintet is one of the most promising young bands on the Polish jazz scene. They entered the Polish scene of improvised music proving that young Polish jazz is growing in strength. The performances of the young band are known for their incredibly expressive, virtuosic performances of soloists and energetic, common and open improvisation of the entire group, however not conflicting with a taste for simple forms and melodiousness. Violinist Tomasz Chya, leader of the quintet had this vision clear in his mind when he invited his friends some of the best young musicians in Poland. Chya's seemingly non-jazz instrument works brilliantly in symbiosis with the rest of the band members, all of them dynamically building and developing the Tri-City jazz scene. Their debut album Eternal Entropy has been excellently received by the music community. The album was nominated for the prestigious Polish FRYDERYKI 2017 Award in the Jazz Debut category. This autumn the band releases their second CD, Circlesongs. Friday, 9 November, 8 pm NSI Quartet With Dominik Wania NSI is a Polish quartet formed by four talented and energetic musicians who are passionate about playing acoustic jazz. A wide range of musical inspirations can be traced in the music of NSI Quartets music. Energetic, strong sound, full of improvisations and mutual interaction but not lacking mellow moments, when you can forget yourself in mesmerizing, romantic melodies these are for definite the most characteristic parts of NSI Quarters style. The music is full of wonderful colours and shades which one simply cant ignore. The band won many awards at international jazz contests and performed at numerous festivals. The NSI Quartet released two albums so far Introducing and last year The Look of Cobra, the latter with the contribution of the outstanding pianist Dominik Wania, who will appear as special guest at the present concert, too. Saurday, 10 November, 8 pm Piotr Budniak Essential Group The Piotr Budniak Essential Group was formed in 2014 out of rising stars of the Polish jazz scene. In 2015 they already released their debut album, Simple Stories About Hope And Worries, which was recognized as one of the best Polish albums of the year by the readers of the established Polish magazines Jazz Forum and JazzPress. In the spring of 2018, PBEG came out with a concert album, The Days of Wine And Noises, recorded with the excellent Czech guitarist David Doruzka, associated with the New York jazz scene. The music of PBEG, composed by Piotr Budniak, is full of warmth, melodies, drive and space, combining its high artisitc level with the receptibility of their audience always very well. Venue: Opus Jazz Club 1093 Budapest, Matyas u. 8. More: bmc.hu Noutati despre pastila anti-Covid de la Pfizer Pfizer a semnat un acord cu un grup sprijinit de ONU pentru a permite altor producatori sa fabrice pastila sa experimentala impotriva COVID-19, o masura care ar putea face ca tratamentul sa fie disponibil pentru mai mult de jumatate din populatia lumii. Intr-o declaratie emisa marti, Pfizer a transmis ca [citeste mai departe] Amazon is bringing free grocery deliveries from Whole Foods Market to Philadelphia customers in an expansion of its Prime Now express service that also includes Boston, Baltimore and Richmond, Va. Area Amazon.com Inc. customers who pay for the Seattle company's Prime subscription service will be able to have grocery orders of more than $35 delivered within two hours for free, with one-hour delivery available for $7.99, starting Tuesday. Included in the Philadelphia expansion is a swath of the region stretching as far west as West Chester, in Chester County; as far north as Hatfield, in Montgomery County; and as far east as Mount Holly, in Burlington County, Allon Katz, director of Amazon's Prime Now division, said in an interview Monday. Grocery orders will be packaged by "shoppers" employed at Whole Foods stores and delivered by drivers with the Amazon Flex courier service, Katz said. The service is available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Prime Now division also has a permit to operate a grocery business at a warehouse at 41st and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia, but Katz declined to comment on "the role of that building or any other buildings that Amazon has leased in the city." With the expansion, Whole Foods deliveries through Prime Now are available in 14 cities nationwide. The service began in February in Austin, Dallas, Cincinnati and Virginia Beach, Va. Amazon has owned Austin-based Whole Foods since August 2017. Amazon's older grocery business, AmazonFresh, will continue to serve customers in Philadelphia, Katz said. Users of that service generally have to place orders a day or two in advance and to await delivery within a two-hour window that they reserve. Cameron Whitelock delivers groceries to a home in East Coventry Township from the Giant Supermarket as part of their Peapod Grocery Delivery Service at their North Coventry, Chester County, location on Friday, September 14, 2018 TOM KELLY III/ FOR THE INQUIRER Read more As the Peapod by Giant truck pulled up, June Henion, 81 and Richard Henion, 84, opened their front door and waited for Cameron Whitelock to lug in their groceries. Whitelock knew where to place the water bottles so June and Richard would not have to move them. He knew to pass the popsicles to Richard, who was ready to put them into the freezer. After three back operations, June said she prefers delivery during her recovery. Once the pain in her right leg subsides, she said, she is going to check out Walmart's pickup option when it launches nearby because the prices might be lower. The willingness of consumers such as the Henions to try buying groceries online has helped fuel a fiercely competitive market, and one that analysts expect to grow. The Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen predicted this year that 70 percent of consumers will regularly shop for groceries online by 2022 or 2024. The biggest players in the Philadelphia region last month were Instacart with 33.8 percent market share, Walmart Online Grocery with 22.8 percent, and Peapod with 16.2 percent, according to Earnest Research, an analytics company that derived the data from credit and debit card transactions. Peapod and Giant have the same corporate parent. Michael Maloof, a senior grocer analyst at Earnest, called the Philadelphia region "on the more competitive side of the markets that we're looking at. It's still up for grabs." Though Giant and its competitors anticipate an increase in online grocery shopping, 84 percent of adults report never ordering groceries online, according to a July 2018 Gallup report. Just 4 percent of consumers order groceries online for pickup or delivery at least once a week, the poll found. Consumers are hesitant to have "someone else pick out their groceries. We typically like to look at our produce and look at our meat," said Stephanie Cegielski, a spokesperson for the International Council of Shopping Centers. "People aren't necessarily quite ready to give up all of that control." Still, retailers in the $700 billion grocery sector must invest in online, said Lauren Gilchrist, director of research in the Philadelphia office of JLL, a commercial real estate firm. "It's something people are trying to figure out because the grocery segment is so huge," Gilchrist said. "The company who can deliver a seamless experience can potentially win the day in market share." Retail giants have been expanding online. When Amazon.com Inc. paid $13.7 billion last year for Whole Foods Market, analysts expected the Seattle company to dominate the market with its quick delivery services. More than 1,000 Kroger stores have delivery through Instacart and a ClickList pickup service. Target Corp. last year acquired Shipt, a grocery delivery start-up, for $550 million and continues to expand into urban areas. >> READ MORE: Amazon-Whole Foods: A year later, what's changed? Costco Wholesale Corp. now sells meal kits from Blue Apron. Walmart works with DoorDash to deliver to what they predict will be 40 percent of U.S. households by the end of the year. Tom Ward, vice president of digital operations for Walmart U.S., has said that 90 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart store. Peapod, which was founded in Chicago in 1989, has felt the heat. Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize, the parent of Giant and Peapod, said on a recent earnings conference call that he was dissatisfied with the company's 8 percent growth in online sales in the U.S. Giant started delivering with Peapod in 2011 and among the ordering options is a flat delivery fee of $7.95 for orders over $60 and a $2.95 pickup fee. When asked about delivery errors, Brand declined to provide a rate and said the company provides substitutions or exchanges when needed. Justin Hadwin, Giant/Martin's director of e-commerce, knows his team is competing among a buffet of options and that customers have "high expectations." "If you deliver something to a customer and it's not perfect, you really have failed them," he said, while standing in a Giant warehouse attached to its store in North Coventry Township, near Pottstown. Items are arrayed in a way that makes it easier for employees to get customers exactly what they ordered. Whereas in a grocery store, products are usually arranged by brands, the warehouse purposefully separates them so the employees bagging the orders don't accidentally grab the wrong item. To fill an order of 31 items, Giant employee Fran Howard strapped the bar code scanner around her finger and then attached a display around her wrist. This is where the customer's order appears, item by item, instructing her which aisle to head to, which shelf to look at, and what quantity to grab. After scanning each item to make sure it's correct, she placed it in the box. Howard grabbed everything the whole milk, chicken salad, pack of burgers, mint chocolate chip ice cream with the same precision. Referring to her scanner, Howard said: "This is like my brain, my heart, my blood flow. This is everything." Unlike the store for customers, the Peapod warehouse is "not about appearance," said Tim Weighknecht, a Giant store manager. "The customer getting deliveries at home doesn't necessarily care how pretty this is. They care can they get it accurate and fresh and on time." Later that afternoon, Nick Dippolito opened his front door for his family's first Giant grocery delivery order. "I've been trying to get my wife to do it for a while," said Dippolito, 40. "This is really the first time we're, like, 'Well, do you try to drag three kids food shopping every week?'" The couple decided that delivery would be easier. Once the food was all inside, Whitelock, the driver, asked him to check the eggs to make sure none was cracked. "If you ever find anything wrong, the expiration date a little too close to your liking, bread's a little smushed, don't be afraid to call," Whitelock said, adding that customer service would "gladly help you out. They'll do anything to make you happy." Left to rigth: Interfaith Homeless Outreach Council (IHOC) graduates Van Johnson and Bill Lowery; IHOC Executive Director Ruth Morgenroth; board member Tom Martin; and case manager Sonya Jacobs at the agency's transitional living facility in Lawnside. Read more For more than two decades, the Interfaith Homeless Outreach Council has helped hundreds of men on the streets of Camden. Now, the council's outreach program in the city finds itself homeless. Last summer's abrupt closing of the New Visions Homeless Day Shelter in South Camden forced the council out of its office space there. And with cold weather coming, the leaders, volunteers and clients alike say the council showcased in the recent WNET-TV documentary Getting off the Streets needs to find a new home in the city, and soon. So far, two potential sites have fallen through. Losing the office at 555 Atlantic Ave. in South Camden "has absolutely impaired" the council's operations,said executive director Ruth Morgenroth said. "People come through the program who may have relapsed and just need someone to talk to," and may not know where to find or how to contact the council, she said. Most clients are middle-aged or older men, although young opioid users sometimes contact the council for help. Older clients often have struggled for decades with drug or alcohol addiction, or both, and are experiencing not only homelessness, but mental or physical health issues, as well. With their bridges to family and friends burned, they survive on the streets by being wary of everybody including those offering help. "When we lost our office space we lost the opportunity to see homeless people every day, to let them get to know us so they feel safe talking to us," said Morgenroth, whom clients call "Miss Ruth." I spoke to her Friday at Dambly House, the council's transitional living facility in Lawnside. Intake and other services are temporarily being offered there, "but I need to be where the people are, and they're in the city," said case manager Sonya Jacobs. The requirements are pretty minimal: A door that locks, a room that offers privacy for clients that's hard to come by at Dambly House and "a desk and a filing cabinet," said Jacobs. A location downtown near where homeless people tend to gather, or adjacent to another homeless services provider, would be best. "It's nice out here," Jacobs said. "But they don't know we're here, or they don't have transportation to get here." Some referrals arrive via the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. And the council's annual Homeless Hospitality Network, its signature program, will begin as scheduled on Nov. 4. "It's for men who have expressed a desire, and convinced Sonya. they're ready to turn their lives around," Morgenroth said. "They've reached bottom. It's a do-or-die situation for them." For 28 weeks, clients are housed for successive two-week periods in churches outside of the city. Some of the churches are original members of a group that established the council in 1991. Clients in the network program must remain clean and sober and attend 12-Step meetings. They also are offered counseling, assistance finding work, and other services. The goal is to provide men who want to stop drinking and using a safe harbor from their old haunts during the fragile earliest days of recovery. Even nearly a dozen clean-and-sober years later, I tell Morgenroth, I can remember those days vividly. "And I'm sure you had support systems some of these guys didn't have," she noted, accurately. At Dambly House, rules ("No butlers or maids are at your service") and AA slogans decorate the tidy kitchen. Up to five graduates of the hospitality network program live there at any one time. "I was strung out on dope and alcohol," said resident Milton Futch, 60, recalling why he sought help in 2017 and why he hopes to see the council's office back in the city soon. "I was so depressed, it didn't seem like it was worth living," he said. "Someone told me to go talk to Sonia. I just met her, but I felt like I could tell her anything. I couldn't wait to get into the program." Clean and sober since November, Futch is working, saving money, and offering to pay bus fare for friends on the street who want to come to Dambly House and talk to Jacobs. "Guys on the street don't like to leave their territory of a three or four block radius," he said. "Going any further is like going to Mexico." Said fellow Dambly resident Bill Lowery, 62: "People need a comfort zone where there's somebody to talk to who can lead them in the right direction." Cheyney University has suffered another enrolment decline, but its president said in July he expected enrollment to bottom out this year and then rebuild. Read more Enrollment in Pennsylvania's 14 state universities dropped this fall for the eighth consecutive year, but nowhere was the decline as precipitous as at Cheyney University. The historically black college, which is attempting a comeback after gaining another probationary year from its accrediting body, has 469 students enrolled this fall, down 286 students or nearly 38 percent from 755 last fall, officials said Monday. Overall enrollment in the state system fell below 100,000 for the first time since 2001 and every university but two West Chester and Millersville enrolled fewer students. The system's enrollment this year stands at 98,094, down just over 4 percent from last year's 102,301 students. Enrollment has been falling for about the last decade, from a peak of nearly 120,000 in 2010. The decline comes as colleges compete for fewer high school graduates and state funding covers fewer system costs, leading to tuition hikes. "Many of our universities continue to be challenged by the state's changing demographics, especially in Western Pennsylvania, which has seen a significant decline in the number of high school graduates in recent years," said system spokesman Kenn Marshall. "That trend is expected to continue." >> READ MORE: Can Cheyney University, the nation's oldest black college, survive? Besides Cheyney, Edinboro, Lock Haven and Mansfield also saw double-digit percentage declines. The other schools in the system are Bloomsburg, Kutztown, East Stroudsburg, Slippery Rock, Shippensburg, Indiana, Clarion and California. Of them, Kutztown and Slippery Rock had a minimal drop, less than 1 percent. The challenges at Cheyney have been more profound. Founded in 1837, Cheyney has a storied history as the nation's oldest historically black college but has lost more than half its enrollment over the last decade. The school last year was in danger of losing its accreditation, almost a certain death knell, but got a year's reprieve from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the accrediting body. Cheyney was due to submit an updated report on its progress to the commission by Sept. 1 and is expected to learn in November whether it will have its accreditation renewed. In July, Cheyney officials announced plans to partner with Thomas Jefferson University, Starbucks, and others in creating a new African American-focused institute that will promote the school's legacy. At that time, Cheyney President Aaron A. Walton acknowledged challenges ahead including fewer students but said he expected enrollment to bottom out this year and then begin to climb as Cheyney rebuilds its image and launches new efforts. He said he hoped the announcement about the institute would attract students who may be on the fence about Cheyney. "We have to shrink to grow," Walton said at that time. "This has been our year of refocusing and adjusting, and now we're going to forge ahead." Walton was not available for comment on Monday, but reached on Tuesday, he said he was not surprised at the enrollment numbers, given that the university discouraged low academic performers from coming back and eliminated its football program. "There's a natural fallout when you begin to raise standards," he said. The school's new announced partnerships including paid internships for students has attracted attention, he said, and he expects enrollment to rebound next year. Cheyney has already received 566 applications for fall 2019, where last year at this time, it had none, he said. Of the applicants, 124 have been offered admission, he said. He also noted a 26 percent decline in unsatisfactory grades for freshmen in the first eight weeks of classes, compared to last year. "With the grades looking as good as they are, we are not going to be losing very many people," he said. Cheyney has changed its enrollment strategy. In recent years, it has accepted just about everyone, operating like an open-enrollment university. The school now is seeking to attract higher-caliber students with more aggressive recruiting and scholarships, while still maintaining its mission as a school of opportunity for some students who may be denied a college experience elsewhere. Paul Quinn College, a historically black college in Texas nationally recognized for its turnaround, also saw a large drop in enrollment when a new leader came in and put a plan in place. The college had been experiencing enrollment decline for more than a decade before Michael Sorrell took over, and in Sorrell's first two years, enrollment dropped even further, from 550 to just 151, as students who couldn't pay their bills, meet academic standards, or feared the school would lose its accreditation left. Sorrell raised admission standards, slashed tuition, and traveled the country building recruiting relationships with high schools and gathering donations. He also converted the school into a work college, where students work on- or off-campus jobs for 10 to 15 hours a week to help pay tuition. Since then, the school has reversed its fortune. Long-running Philadelphia radio host Harvey Holiday will retired from 98.1 WOGL in December after nearly 30 years with the station. Holiday, 73, announced Monday via Facebook that his last day with WOGL will be Dec. 12. He will wrap his time at the station with "The 12 Days of Harvey Holiday" starting Dec. 1 as a way to "share memories, and celebrate" his career with listeners. A WOGL spokesperson confirmed that Holiday decided to retire. "After years of being an integral part of the WOGL family, Harvey Holiday has decided to retire at the end of the year," the spokesperson said. "We wish him all of the best as he enters this new chapter and thank him for his many years of service." A Philadelphia native, Holiday began working in radio in the 1960s at Leighton-based AM radio station WYNS, Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia notes. Stints at Reading's WRAW 1340 AM, Trenton's WAAT 1300 AM, and Atlantic City's 1340 AM followed before Holiday made his way back him to Philadelphia to work at WDAS in 1970. Holiday has also worked for area stations including WPGR, WIOQ, and Power 99. He was inducted into the Philadelphia Walk of Fame in 2015. In July 1989, Holiday joined WOGL, where he most recently worked middays during the week. When he joined the station, Holiday also launched his popular "Street Corner Sunday" oldies program, which aired Sunday nights. The show was discontinued in January this year. "WOGL is giving me and you, my listeners, much respect by giving me 12 days to say thank you," Holiday wrote on Facebook. "[I'm] still feelin' good like a rockin' jock should." The Sisters Brothers is a western that begins with a nighttime shootout at a remote ranch, photographed from a distance, with muzzle flashes giving us brief glimpses of the action. Most of the effective shooting is done by the legendarily merciless Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) Sisters, hired guns who settle scores and debts on behalf of a frontier feudal lord known only as the Commodore (Rutger Hauer) . We don't get much detail about the background leading to this violent confrontation (there'll be more bloodshed), but it culminates with a burning barn and with Eli expressing distress at the way things got out of control. "How many did we kill, seven?" he asks as they walk away, and we don't know whether he means shot-up people or burned-up horses. There is more of this perverse, bleak comedy to come as the two men set out, on the Commodore's orders, to cross the Oregon territory in search of a chemist named Hermann Warm (Riz Ahmed) who purports to have invented a new gold-mining technology. There is a Pinkerton type named Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) also on the man's trail, and the movie follows the violent crisscrossing of the paths and destinies of the men involved. The Sisters Brothers is directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet), a Frenchman who shows a cinema buff's understanding of what is essential and elemental about the old-fashioned American western and its idea of the West a place where foundational ideas of America are established, where folks go to find, or to build, a better life. Hermann, for instance, wants to use his gold-mining money to found a utopian society built on the exercise of pure democracy. I won't say where he plans to build it (the punchline is too good), but it reminded me of the last line of Raising Arizona ("Maybe it was Utah."). Anyway, Audiard isn't making an old-fashioned Western, but a new-fashioned one. His mischievous movie operates with the modern, jaded understanding that these utopias failed to develop, not even in San Francisco (sorry, Silicon Valley), where the trail-hardened Sisters brothers spend a few days considering the miracle of the flush toilet, and manage to spend a few days without killing anybody (the movie has a shapeless, episodic narrative that hurts it a bit). Or each other. Among the movie's conflicts is the growing strain between Eli and Charlie. Eli is in love and eyes retirement, but Charlie is bound to his profession by rage and by drink. All is sorted when the characters converge on the mining camp where Hermann is testing his invention. Does his chemistry work? In the end, it matters less than the chemistry between actors, and its especially fun to watch Reilly and Phoenix work together. Phoenix has a way of drawing most of the camera's energy toward him, but Reilly, in his own mysterious and quiet way, can hold his own with anyone, be it Ricky Bobby or King Kong. MOVIES The Sisters Brothers Dr. Justin Sciancalepore had a stroke a year ago while at work at Jefferson Washington Township Hospital. He's back at work now and is more forthright with his patients. Read more When Justin Sciancalepore talks to his patients now about how treatments for stroke feel, he doesn't pretend they will be less painful or less exhausting than they really are. More than most doctors, Sciancalepore knows the truth. At just 35, he suffered a stroke at work a year ago and wound up a patient in the intensive-care unit where he often treats people who've had strokes. If things had gone only a little differently, he could have died or become severely disabled. Instead, even though he did not follow the advice doctors typically give people with stroke symptoms, he survived a clot in his frontal lobe with no serious deficits. The experience, he said, has made him a more empathetic and honest doctor. He is now in the second of three years in a pulmonary and critical-care medicine fellowship at Jefferson Washington Township Hospital. It has made him a proponent of disability insurance, living wills, and conversations with loved ones about worst-case scenarios even when you're young. It has made him a man who offers one essential piece of advice: "Don't ignore your wife." It was his wife, Melissa, who noticed that something was wrong on the afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 five days after his 35th birthday. The couple, married seven years after having been together since high school, were at their new home in Cinnaminson. Their children were 3 months and 3 years old. They were discussing what color to paint the kitchen. Melissa, a third-grade teacher, told her husband he'd been slurring words and seemed out of it. She thought the left side of his face had drooped, a classic stroke symptom. She wanted to call 911. "Don't call," he told her. The fact that his response wasn't his usual "dissertation" was another clue, she thought. Sciancalepore looked in the mirror and saw nothing amiss. His wife called 911 anyway. The paramedics didn't see any symptoms, either, although his blood pressure was high. They and Melissa urged him to go to the hospital. Sciancalepore (pronounced SHANK-uh-luh-PORE-ee) decided not to go to the emergency department. He figured he'd just be stuck overnight in observation. There would be lots of tests, and it wouldn't look good for the new fellow to be hospitalized. Melissa protested, but let him win. "How can I argue with a doctor?" she said. It seemed that her husband had been right when nothing unusual happened that night or the next day. On Friday, Oct. 27, though, he went to an ultrasound conference at Jefferson Stratford Hospital. One of the attending physicians there thought he was slurring words and answering questions unusually slowly. The group took a look at him, but, again, he seemed OK. Sciancalepore was worried this time, but he drove to Washington Township and began his work day. He did a procedure without any problems, but when he tried later to type on the computer, his left hand wasn't working well. Before he could figure out what to do, there was a "rapid response" alert on the overhead a call for the critical-care team to rush to a patient's room. When he got there, Joan Wiley, an attending physician and mentor, saw that Sciancalepore was having trouble getting his arms into the protective gown. "I immediately knew something was wrong," she said, but the patient came first. After the patient was stabilized, Wiley insisted that Sciancalepore go to the emergency room with another fellow. He resisted, saying he had work to do, but he went. That's when the stroke symptoms really kicked in. He started having trouble controlling his left leg and had to prop himself up on the wall to stay upright. He knew this was bad and became "profoundly scared." Once in the ER, Sciancalepore took some comfort in his continuing ability to think abstractly. He asked a nurse for water to test whether he could swallow properly. He could, another good sign. As the round of tests started, he could think of only one reason why a man his age with no risk factors would have a stroke. He asked a coworker to test his blood for diseases that cause abnormal clotting. Imaging scans soon showed a clot in his right, middle cerebral artery. Doctors concluded that it had been too long since the symptoms started to try to remove the clot. That might cause more harm than good. The trick would be to keep his blood pressure high enough for blood to continue flowing to tissue near the clot so it wouldn't die. Five days into his 11-day stay in the ICU, tests for clotting diseases came back. Sciancalepore had antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder that damages tissues or cells. It most often occurs in young women, Sciancalepore said, and is often discovered after they have multiple miscarriages. Clots are another result, and Sciancalepore would have to take the blood thinner Coumadin the rest of his life. He went from the hospital to Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in Marlton, where he spent a week as an inpatient and then had intensive outpatient therapy. The staff at Kessler was so impressed with his attitude that they're including him in their 2019 calendar, which features inspiring patients. "What do you want to do when you leave here?" a staffer asked him. "I want to be able to hold my son and not feel like I'm going to drop him," Sciancalepore replied. Part of his treatment was to carry a 16-pound weight with a diaper on it. He also was eager to return to work, which he did on March 1 two months before the kitchen was finally painted blue. He's had cognitive testing that found no significant problems. He still finds it a little challenging to type with his left hand when he's tired. (He's right-handed.) His doctors think his work, which is both mentally challenging and physically active, is the best therapy. "He's very, very lucky," Wiley said. She said the stroke has made an empathetic man even more empathetic. Now that he's experienced what it's like to have a central venous line placed, his description of how the lidocaine used to numb pain feels has changed. "It is not a pinch and a burn," he said. "It feels like somebody is stinging you with a razor blade over and over again." He's more likely now to tell people explicitly how well or badly they are likely to do after a stroke. He thinks they should hear the truth, and many have thanked them for it. He doesn't always tell them he's had a stroke himself, partly out of fear they'll think less of him as a doctor and partly because he doesn't want them to assume they can do as well as he has. Sciancalepore said he struggled with giving up control and accepting the role of patient. He remembers how much concentration it took for him to do even simple things with his left hand after the stroke. He's tried to help medical students understand how frustrating their commands can be for patients. He tells patients it's OK if they can only manage a twitch. He doesn't sugarcoat how hard rehab will be. He talks with his fellow doctors about how important it is to let patients have as much control as possible. When he first went to Kessler, a therapist brought him a towel, helped him to the shower, and left him to take a shower by himself. "To me, that was the most liberating feeling," he said. "All I could think was, 'Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall. If you fall, they're going to take this away from you.'" Taking a cue from his earlier interaction there, he now pays more attention to his patients' goals. "What do you want to do when you leave here?" he asks them. Macy's worker Susan Hedman keeps a notebook of all her schedule changes so she can hold Macy's accountable to Seattle's secure scheduling law. Read more Susan Hedman knows her rights under Seattle's secure scheduling law. She's supposed to get paid extra every time her employer, Macy's, cuts a shift from her schedule fewer than two weeks out. But that "premium pay," as it's known to those covered by the law, doesn't always end up in her paycheck. So, Hedman, 60, a merchandise specialist who has worked at the department store for more than 30 years, keeps detailed notes in a black leather notebook. She takes it up with her manager and Macy's administrative support team. She helps her coworkers all members of union UFCW Local 21 do the same. And they don't stop until they get the money they're owed. "You have to keep after them," she said in an interview in August. "It's frustrating. It's like a second job." Macy's did not return a request for comment. Hedman, though, is grateful for the law. Her union contract originally said she would receive her schedule 10 days in advance, but the law requires that she now get two weeks' notice. Two weeks, she said, to plan her life. To make an appointment at the vet for her sick cat, to organize a visit to see her parents. But the law also has had unintended consequences. The city is backlogged with complaints, so she'd prefer to resolve the issue herself. And her situation is a best-case scenario: Not every worker feels empowered to confront an employer for money owed. As Philadelphia's City Council prepares to host a hearing Oct. 30 about its own version of Seattle's year-old "secure-scheduling law," known here and around the country as "fair-workweek" laws, here's a look at what the city can learn from Seattle, thought to be a national leader in worker laws that aim to combat poverty. The city would have to put resources into enforcement and education and quickly, if it wants the law to be more than symbolic. Enforcement often takes a backseat after the initial sprint and fanfare of getting a law passed. In past years, Seattle has suffered from the same issue. But in fall 2016, when Seattle passed its secure-scheduling law, the city also approved funding to double the size of its workplace law enforcement arm, the Office of Labor Standards (OLS). Resources for enforcement and education are of the utmost importance when it comes to the effectiveness of workplace laws, said OLS policy manager Karina Bull. Timing is crucial, too: If you wait too long to start enforcing a law, "the rap gets around" that the rules can be broken, said Tom Geiger, spokesperson for retail and food workers union UFCW Local 21. OLS, which enforces six other laws along with secure scheduling, now employs 23 and has a budget of $5.7 million. A whopping 40 percent of that budget goes toward education and community outreach, largely in the form of contracts to community organizations and worker centers who already have a base of members, because the law can't be effective if workers don't know it exists. Allocating funds to community organizations is also an acknowledgment that not everyone feels comfortable going to the government, which is often the case for the most vulnerable workers, the ones who Bull says are her office's top priority to protect. Even with those resources, OLS is still swamped. Of the nearly 150 total investigations the OLS team has worked on this year, eight secure-scheduling investigations are still open, 10 are on the wait-list, and five are complete, including one with Gap, which resulted in the company paying more than $20,000 to workers, and Elephant & Castle, which had to pay nearly $123,000 in penalties and unpaid wages for secure scheduling and a number of other violations. The office aims to complete investigations in 180 days but it doesn't always. Yes, the law has the ability to improve workers lives, but it could make their lives more difficult, too. Employees could end up working an understaffed shift if coworkers call out and an employer doesn't think it's worth it to pay the "premium pay" penalty to fill the shift. It's an issue members have complained about, said John Engber, director of the Retail Coalition of Seattle. A drugstore, for example, would deem it necessary to pay premium pay when a pharmacist calls out but maybe not a cashier. That could lead to more employee burnout and turnover, as well as longer lines at the registers, all of which ultimately hurt a company's bottom line. But confusion about the law is common. The law actually allows an employer to fill shifts without penalty if it's because another employee called out as opposed to, say, an underestimation of demand and the employer offers the shifts through mass communication such as emails or texts. According to data from OLS, the office fielded 572 inquiries from employers and employees about secure scheduling in 2017, the year it went into effect. We would have more to gain and more to lose. When Seattle makes a move on worker protection laws, the kind that politicians and advocates say aim to fight poverty, other cities watch closely, eager to follow its lead. The implications of a secure scheduling law, or a $15 minimum wage, or a domestic worker's bill of rights, stretch beyond the city's boundaries. (Whether that's a good thing depends on whom you talk to.) But the stakes are higher here. Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the United States, while one in four Seattle families reported a yearly income of more than $200,000, making it among the few American cities with such high earners. The median household income in the Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma area is more than $78,000, while Philadelphia's is just over $41,000. At 1.5 million people, Philadelphia is more than twice the size of Seattle. And the tech industry has boomed in Seattle, home to major corporations such as Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, while Philadelphia is still struggling with job growth. Thus, although Seattle offers lessons, Philadelphia has to translate how the law would best work here. Philadelphia Media Network is one of 21 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city's push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at https://brokeinphilly.org A man was injured in a shooting in the Girard Park section of South Philadelphia on Sunday night, Philadelphia police said. The victim, 40, was shot once in the left thigh as he entered a Chinese takeout store at 20th Street and Snyder Avenue just before 8:30 p.m., police said. Paramedics took the man to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. No arrests had been made and no weapon had been found late Sunday night, police said. A man was seriously injured in a Frankford shooting in which he was approached from behind and then shot, Philadelphia police said. The victim, 31, and his girlfriend were outside on the 4600 block of Frankford Avenue just after 9 p.m. when two men walked up behind him and one began to shoot, police said. The victim was shot three times in the left leg and once in the abdomen by a heavyset man in a black ski mask and a black hoodie, police said. Police rushed him to Temple University Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. No weapon had been recovered, and no arrests had been made Sunday night. Police did not have a description of the second man involved in the shooting. The pile of drawings in Lori Robinson's house grows thicker by the week, creations her 7-year-old son, who's autistic, wants to send to Robinson's husband, the only father figure her son has ever known. But recently, Robinson told her son he's not allowed to send any more drawings, or the letters he was learning to write. "It's good for him to develop those skills, and he would always mail them to his dad," she said. "But I'm not comfortable with that anymore. I don't want my 7-year-old autistic child's stuff to be able to be searched in some database in Florida." It's a response to new mail policies in the Pennsylvania state prisons, where her husband, Hakeem Robinson, is serving a life sentence. Under the policy the first of its kind in a state prison system incoming mail must be addressed to a Florida company, Smart Communications; from there it's scanned, digitally forwarded to printers at each state prison and stored indefinitely for ongoing surveillance purposes. The Department of Corrections said this and other restrictions, including an entirely different but also controversial policy for managing legal mail, are necessary to stamp out drug smuggling by mail but, a month in, families say it's devastating one of their few means of maintaining connections with incarcerated loved ones. Their complaints include missing pages, misdirected letters, weekslong delays, and copies so poor as to be illegible. Though the DOC says it is working out the kinks and that all 25 prisons now have color printers, some inmates say the grainy printouts of photos onto copy paper sometimes shrunken to fit photos four to a page continue to arrive in black and white. For others, the notion that their personal correspondence would be stored in a database, equipped with technology to convert printed materials to searchable text, has deterred them from sending mail at all. Robert Pezzeca, a lifer incarcerated at Dallas state prison for the 1998 murder of his roommate in Bensalem, said that lately the mail call that was once a highlight of his day has become a source of frustration. "On two occasions, I've received only the photocopy of the envelope that the mail came in, but not the letters," he said. He filed a grievance asking for the mail to be reprinted, but it was rejected. "So I don't expect to ever get my mail." >> READ MORE: Pa. prison books and mail policies draw protests, petitions, and possible legal challenges Smart Communications chief executive Jon Logan said Pennsylvania was the company's first state-prison contract, though it works with more than 100 county agencies. More than half of those use its "MailGuard" service, which was launched in 2016, just as prisons and jails around the nation began exploring ways to limit or eliminate postal mail. In recent weeks, the 20-worker company has ballooned to 50 employees to keep up with the volume of 3,000 to 8,000 pieces of mail each day. Logan said there are now two- to three-day wait times, but when new equipment is in place, he expects same-day turnaround. Logan said the scanners are of very high caliber and that each piece of mail goes through a four-step quality-control process, so he believes the mail should not be degraded by the time it arrives in prisoners' hands. "There are a lot of people looking to poke holes in this because they don't like change," he said. The Department of Corrections contracted with the vendor through an emergency-procurement process, which means there was no public solicitation or competitive bidding process. "They were the only ones with correctional experience to do it within a week. That was our timeline," Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said at a community meeting in South Philadelphia on Oct. 11, called by members of the Legislative Black Caucus to address families' concerns. He said digital delivery was deemed superior to other ideas the department had contemplated, such as limiting mail to postcards only. The Department first alluded to the plan in an Aug. 21 announcement; the contract worth $376,000 a month, or close to $16 million over three years is dated Sept. 5. Wetzel said the emergency procurement was justified because of a number of staff illnesses related to incidental exposure to new, synthetic drugs. (He said he did not agree with experts in medical toxicology who've cast doubt on that narrative.) He also cited other indications of an out-of-control drug market: 23 inmate drug overdoses in August. That month, he said, 1 percent of random drug tests came back positive. That's three times higher than has been typical. >> READ MORE: Pa. prisons spend $15M after guards were sickened by K2. But what if it was just in their heads? Wetzel acknowledged that there had been delays in mail delivery, and said he had met with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to seek special accommodations for those who may have missed legal deadlines. Numerous studies have shown that incarcerated people who maintain supportive family relationships fare better after they return home from prison. A survey of incarcerated people by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit think tank in New York, found that letters were the most common means for keeping in contact with family, and that more than 92 percent of prisoners stay in touch that way. At the meeting, many comments from the crowd, submitted on index cards, spoke to the impact of the mail policy. "I feel hopeless that I cannot now send my brother a photo from a family event with a personal message written on it. A photo is a visit from a loved one faraway," one read. Another lamented: "My mother is considered to our family as a card concierge. She can spend hours at a Rite Aid or a CVS reading cards and picking out the best card for any occasion. It has to be the perfect card. She underlines and adds words to it, or cute little drawings. Our brother's birthday is coming up in November, and she already has his card. She'll plan to send it out on a certain day so he'll get it on his actual birth date. How personal do you think a scanned copy of that card is? And it may not arrive on his birthday, as she has done for 22 years." At a protest outside a fund-raiser for Gov. Wolf at Yards Brewery in North Philadelphia, Oneida Taylor, 53, said she thought that the process had effectively cut off communication with a friend at Phoenix state prison: "If I want him to know something, if he gets the letter, it already happened a week or two ago." Angela Baker, 50, who married a lifer named Eric Jolson just two days before postal mail was terminated, said she mailed her husband their marriage license; it came through in a double-sided photocopy. Yvonne Queen, 62, agreed: Her son's mail has been taking two weeks to arrive, and when he receives photos he finds them distorted or of such poor quality that he can barely make out the faces. She and others are equally dismayed with the situation in the visiting room, where a 90-day moratorium on food-vending visitors' only access to food has led many to curtail or cancel their visits. Queen, a diabetic, said she's had to cut her visits considerably shorter. "I try to maintain two to three hours, but it's hard." Lorraine "DeeDee" Haw of Philadelphia has canceled plans to visit her son, Phillip Ocampo. Since Ocampo is serving a life sentence at Smithfield state prison a four-hour drive from Philadelphia she would normally visit for several hours at a time. But she can't bring her 5-year-old great-granddaughter to see him without any access to food or drink. Haw is hopeful that she'll be able to visit when food service is restored. But the permanent elimination of mail service feels like a lasting blow. For nearly 22 years, Haw and Ocampo have played an ongoing tic-tac-toe game through the mail a trivial amusement that made their relationship feel slightly more normal. "He would try to let me win and I would try to let him win, and neither one of us would win," she said. "Now it won't be the same. And if I write to him, he won't be getting a letter that I touched, that I cried over, my feelings in the letter. He'll get a copy of something." She said she's stopped sending photos, and Ocampo's 5-year-old granddaughter no longer sends the crayon-on-construction-paper drawings she makes for Ocampo fanciful images of the entire family, reduced to stick figures but reunited. "She has a vivid imagination," Haw said. "We continue to let her draw what she wants; we just have to keep them." U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican form Hazleton, (left) portrays U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (right) as ineffective. Casey, a Democrat from Scranton, touts his record of passing bipartisan legislation. Read more The race for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania took a deeply personal turn this weekened with sick children serving as political proxies in the national debate about health care in America. U.S. Rep Lou Barletta, the Republican nominee, assailed U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. for a "hurtful, insensitive" new campaign ad that struck close to home because his 18-month-old grandson is being treated with chemotherapy for cancer. Casey, a Democrat from Scranton seeking a third term, put out three new campaign ads with supporters criticizing Barletta for a 2017 vote on legislation that would have allowed health insurance companies to charge customers much higher rates if they had pre-existing medical conditions. One of the three ads featured Stacie Ritter of Manheim in Lancaster County, explaining the fear her family felt when her twin daughters were stricken with cancer. "Thank God we had health insurance," Ritter says in the ad. "But if Lou Barletta has his way, kids like mine could be denied the care they need." Barletta, the former mayor of Hazleton, took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon in an emotionally charged video, recounting how he told Casey and his wife a month ago about his grandson's medical condition. Barletta's grandson, Jordan, is also a twin. "It's disgusting," Barletta said, appearing close to tears at the end of the 2-minute, 12-second video. "I'm ashamed. He should be ashamed. He's hurt my family. And the commercial should come down. Shame on him." Casey's campaign was quick to point out that he has spoken about Ritter's family for years during the debate about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and brought her up during a Senate hearing in January 2017. "Congressman Barletta's votes have real consequences for Pennsylvania families like Stacie's," Casey said in a statement released by his campaign Sunday. "On Election Day, he will be held accountable for his record of voting to end protections for preexisting conditions for 5.3 million Pennsylvanians." Barletta, like many Republicans in Congress, has voted periodically to overturn Obamacare, which was signed into law in 2010, the same year Barletta was running for his first term. That law offered protections for patients with preexisting conditions, preventing insurance companies from dropping their policies or denying them coverage. This was long expected to be a line of attack for Democrats against Republicans in this midterm election. Casey's campaign went after Barletta on the issue when the four-term congressman declared his challenge in August 2017. Barletta's campaign noted that he has supported GOP repeal legislation with protections for people with preexisting conditions. Coun Perez reiterates warning to barangay leaders involved in drugs 07 Aug 2017 Hits:37 Comments(0) Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Jerry Perez yesterday reiterated his warning to all barangay officials from using or selling drugs. Perez said he is closely monitoring the activities of all the barangay officials and vowed sanctions against erring leaders. Aqui gane na mio barangay ya quita ya iyo na puesto cunel dos barangay leaders quien mas temprano ya sale positivo na... New Delhi: A class 10 student was allegedly gangraped by four persons in the national capital. The incident took place on Saturday in east Delhi`s Vinod Nagar. The 16-year-old victim and her family knew Amit Kumar (26), one of the accused persons. Kumar asked her to meet him in a nearby park, where three more accused Kishan Negi (42), Pankaj Mehta (42) and Raju Kumar (20) were waiting. The four men then dragged the victim to a nearby flat and gangraped her. "The accused forcibly took the victim to a flat in same locality and gangraped her," the official from Kalyanpuri police station said. All the four accused have been arrested, added police. On Saturday night, a woman employed with a Multinational Company (MNC) in west Delhi`s Dwarka was allegedly gangraped by two of her colleagues on Saturday night, police said on Sunday. Birju (25), and his associate Vinod Kumar (31) offered her a lift after office hours on Saturday. During the journey, the accused served her cold drink lashed with sedatives and she became unconscious. "The victim was taken to a flat in an unconscious state where they took turns to rape her. After committing the crime, the accused dropped the victim near Vasant Kunj area," an official of Dwarka north police station said. With agency inputs New Delhi: A 26-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol at his girlfriend's house in southwest Delhi's Kapashera, police said Sunday. The incident took place on Saturday when Deepak Gujjar barged into his girlfriend's house and shot himself with the pistol, they said. He was rushed to AIIMS trauma centre where doctors declared him as brought dead, police said. It is suspected that Gujjar was upset over some relationship issue with his girlfriend, a police officer said. However, the exact cause that compelled him to take such an extreme step will be ascertained only after analysing the call record details, he added. No suicide note was found at the scene of the incident, police said. Gurugram: The Gurugram Police have detained the mother and cousin of the gunman who was arrested for opening fire on Additional District and Sessions Judge Krishan Kant's wife and 18-year-old son in Gurugram on Saturday. According to ANI, the two are being interrogated in connection with the shocking incident. Wife of additional sessions judge shot dead by the judge's gunman in Gurugram yesterday: The gunner's mother and cousin have been detained. They are being interrogated. #Haryana ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 Meanwhile, the Gurugram Police, which is yet to ascertain the motive behind the shooting, is also trying to decode the Facebook post of the judge's gunman. According to reports, the authorities found an old post on the Facebook profile of the accused in which he appears to have written something and then omitted the same. The police is trying to decode the four dots and ascertain if there is any connection with the Sunday's incident. While the wife of the judge, who was shot at by security guard Mahipal Singh on Sunday, succumb to injuries, their 18-year-old son was declared "brain dead" by the doctors attending them. The Gurugram Police, on its part, said the teenage boy was dead too. Judge Sharma's wife, Ritu (38), died overnight due to excessive bleeding at the Medanta Hospital, the 18-year-old Dhruv, who was shot in the head, is on ''critical life support and is brain dead", a spokesperson for the hospital said. The wife and son were seriously wounded after being shot from close range by Mahipal Singh, a Haryana Police Constable hailing from Bhungarka village in Mahindargarh who was posted with the judge for nearly two years. The Personal Security Guard was arrested while trying to flee to Faridabad. On Sunday, he was sacked from the Haryana Police and later remanded to 4-day judicial custody for shooting Judge's wife and son. The judge was not in the government car when the horrific incident occurred in Sector 49 on Saturday. Ritu suffered two bullet injuries in her chest and died due to excessive loss of blood, senior forensic expert and doctor Deepak Mathur said. Medanta Hospital said that she died at 9.30 PM on Saturday. To investigate the incident, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been set up under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), said a police officer. Gurugram: The wife of Additional District and Sessions Judge Krishan Kant, who was shot at by her husband's security guard on Saturday, has died while their teenager son is "brain dead", according to the doctors. However, the Gurugram Police said the boy too was dead. While the wife, Ritu (38), died overnight due to excessive bleeding at the Medanta - The Medicity hospital here, the 18-year-old son Dhruv was "brain dead", a spokesperson for the hospital told IANS. Dhruv, who was shot in the head, "is on critical life support and is brain dead", the official said. A police officer, Sub-Inspector Jitender Singh, had earlier said that the teenager also succumbed to his injuries early in the day. The wife and son were seriously wounded after being shot from close range by Mahipal Singh, a Haryana Police Constable hailing from Bhungarka village in Mahindargarh who was posted with the judge for nearly two years. The Personal Security Guard was arrested while trying to flee to Faridabad. On Sunday, he was sacked from the Haryana Police. The court later sent him to 4-day judicial custody for shooting Judge's wife and son. The judge was not in the government car when the horrific incident occurred in Sector 49 on Saturday. Ritu suffered two bullet injuries in her chest and died due to excessive loss of blood, senior forensic expert and doctor Deepak Mathur said. Medanta Hospital said that she died at 9.30 PM on Saturday. To investigate the incident, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been set up under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), said a police officer. Actor Alok Nath on Monday filed a civil defamation suit against writer producer Vinta Nanda for levelling sexual assault allegations against him. Alok Nath has also sought a written apology and Re 1 as compensation. The actor had earlier threatened that he will be taking legal action against her. Speaking to news agency ANI, Alok Naths lawyer Ashok Saraogi had said that legal proceedings would be initiated against her. "We are going to take action against her for the unnecessary defamatory statements issued by her," said Alok Naths lawyer had said. Citing that the allegations were pertaining to a 19-year-old incident, Ashok Saraogi said that the move was aimed at tarnishing Alok Naths reputation. "Easy to make allegations of an incident alleged to have taken place 19 years back. This shows the entire allegations are false. I believe of this has been done to defame his reputation," he had said. Earlier Alok Nath's wife Ashu Singh had moved court against Vinta Nanda for accusing him of sexually harassing. According to media reports, Ashu Singh, in an application to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Mumbai's court, had requested the police to probe into the matter. "A complaint was submitted to the police for defaming my client; we have also moved court in the matter," Saraogi had said. In a Facebook post last week, Vinta had accused Alok Nath of spiking her drink and raping her 19 years ago. She wrote: "I was invited to a party to this mans house, his wife, my best friend was out of town. As the evening flowed, my drinks were mixed and I began to feel strange. Then at around 2 am I left his house." She added, "I started to walk home on the empty streets although the distance to my own house was long. Midway I was accosted by this man who was driving his own car and he asked me to sit in it and said he would drop me home. I trusted him and sat in his car. I have faint memory after that. I can remember more liquor being poured into my mouth and I remember being violated endlessly. When I woke up the next afternoon, I was in pain. I hadnt just been raped, I was taken to my own house and had been brutalised. I couldnt get up for my bed." However, responding to the allegations, Alok Nath had said, "Neither I am denying this nor do I would agree with it. It must have happened, but someone else would have done it." Amid the political controversy over Rafale deal with France, the Dassault Aviation has announced that it will deliver the fighter jets to India from 2019 and may see new orders in coming months, reported news agency Reuters. Dassault Aviation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eric Trappier told this to Reuters ahead of the world`s largest business jet show in Orlando on Monday. The announcement comes amid a huge political row over the deal with France, with the Congress party spearheading a campaign against what it terms as Rafale scam. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of benefitting Reliance Defences Anil Ambani with the deal. The development comes shortly after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's visit to France, where she visited a Rafale manufacturing facility near Paris to take stock of progress in their production of the 36 fighter jets. Rahul Gandhi had also raised questions on the Defence Minister's visit to France, alleging that a cover up was on and that the media was pressured into not reporting the same. He had said, "Why has suddenly Defence Minister rushed to France to Rafale's plant? What is the emergency?" Defence ministry released a statement saying, "Annual Defence Ministerial Dialogue between India and France was decided during the summit meeting in March 2018 between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron." In another related development, an investigative report by French news website Mediapart claimed that it was imperative and obligatory for Dassault Aviation to agree to work with Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence in order to procure the contract to produce 36 Rafale jets for India. The report quoted from a leaked company document of Dassault Aviation, where a senior company executive was quoted as saying the same. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after talks with the then French President Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris. The final deal was sealed on September 23, 2016. Aligarh: Amid intense protests by Kashmiri students at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) demanding a revoke in sedition charges, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Asaduddin Owaisi has asked the Centre to intervene and solve the matter. It is very unfortunate that students are wanting to leave midway. AMU VC, teachers, HM Rajnath Singh and MHA officials should solve this issue. I hope this will be taken seriously, said Owaisi. More than 1,200 Kashmiri students studying at AMU threatened to leave their homes on October 17 the sedition charges slapped against three Kashmiri students are not dropped. In a letter to the AMU vice-chancellor, AMU students' union former vice-president Sajjad Rathar said that more than the students will leave for their homes in the Kashmir Valley on October 17 ''if this vilification does not stop''. He also termed the sedition charges slapped against three Kashmiri students as "vendetta". Three Kashmiri students of AMU were booked on sedition charges for allegedly for raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani on October 12. Twenty-seven-year-old Wani, pursuing PhD course in Allied Geology at the AMU, had quit the university and joined militant ranks in January this year. He was killed in an encounter at Shatgund village in Handwara area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Thursday. Aligarh's Senior Superintendent of Police Ajai Sahni said police took the action (on October 12) after a video surfaced, showing the three Kashmiri students raising "anti-India" slogans. The three students were suspended from the AMU earlier. Some AMU students from Kashmir had on October 11 gathered near Kennedy Hall on the campus to hold funeral prayers for Wani, following which the varsity staff and the students union leaders had rushed to the spot and tried to stop them. A heated exchange erupted between the students union leaders and the Kashmiri students and they finally moved out of the area. With agency inputs NEW DELHI: Yet another Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member from Madhya Pradesh has made a controversial statement against women in the ongoing social media storm #MeToo on sexual harassment. Some women compromise on their values and ideologies for the sake of personal gains and promotions, said Usha Thakur, BJP legislator from Indore. This is why women end up in troubles, she said, adding, Me Too is being used in a wrong way. This is not the first time that Thakur made such a controversial statement. In September 2014, Thakur stirred a row after banning of Muslim youths from Navratra Garba venues, they reportedly court Hindu women and then convert them to Islam. She had further asked the organisers to ensure that girls participating in Garba festivities are "decently" dressed up. Later that month, she advised Muslim community to either sacrifice their sons or give up the practice of sacrificing innocent animals on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, stirring up a hornet's nest. Thakur also reportedly performed aarti of controversial godman Asaram`s photograph, currently in prison for alleged sexual harassment case. The #MeToo movement gathered pace over the two last weeks with women speaking out on harassment at workplace. Several public figures including junior minister MJ Akbar and film personalities such as Kailash Kher, Alok Nath and Sajid Khan were caught in the firestorm. Last week, Chief of Madhya Pradesh BJP women also cast doubts on claims being made by certain women journalists. "I welcome the MeToo campaign but I don't consider women journalists to be so innocent that anyone can misuse them," she said. The government, however, has maintained a stony silence on the matter. Akbar, on the other hand, dismissed all the allegations as false and baseless. "Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge. These false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage to my reputation and goodwill," he said. The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed a closure report in the case of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed, who has been missing since 2016, news agency PTI said quoting officials. The closure report was filed at the Patiala House Court in the national capital and the court is expected to consider the report on November 29. The closure report was filed by the agency after the Delhi High Court allowed it for the same last week. The Delhi High Court had, however, said that Najeebs mother Fatima Nafees could move the trial court a status report in the case. Ahmed had gone missing from the Mahi-Mandvi hostel of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on October 15, 2016, following a scuffle with some other students, allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the previous night. The CBI had earlier told the court that after probing the case, it has decided to file a closure report. The central agency claimed that after examining the case from all angles, it does not think that any offence was committed against the missing person. The CBI had on September 4 told the court that it had not filed the closure report yet before the trial court concerned as it wanted to first bring it to the knowledge of the high court. However, objecting to the CBI report, Najeeb's mother had told the court that it was a "political case" and that the "CBI has succumbed to the pressure of its masters". Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Ahmed's mother, had said that neither the CBI has done its best in the case nor has it probed the matter in a fair manner. The petitioner had also sought setting up of an SIT comprising independent experts to enquire into the matter. Ahmed's mother had moved the high court on November 25, 2016, seeking directions to the police to trace her son. However, as the Delhi Police remained clueless about his whereabouts even seven months after he went missing, the probe was handed over to the CBI on May 16 last year. (With agency Inputs) NEW DELHI: Chinese Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) troops crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Arunachal Sector in the first week of October, said sources in the defence ministry. According to reports, the Chinese soldiers entered about 1000 metres into Dibang Valley, a district in Arunachal Pradesh. The troops later retreated after the Indian Army conveyed to them that they have entered the Indian side. The incident happened 10 days ago. Both the armies are resolving such matters as per a set protocol, reported news agency ANI. Two former top military commanders had suggested that the trajectory of Chinese actions suggests that there could be more Doklam-like incidents in the future and the Indian Army needs to build infrastructure in vulnerable border areas to prepare for it. Earlier this year, Chinese daily The Global Times had warned of another Doklam-like standoff showdown soon. The article had claimed, India has been sending provocative signals to China since the Doklam standoff of summer 2017, which makes the already soured Sino-Indian relationship more fragile. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam in the Sikkim sector from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped construction of a road in the disputed tri-junction by the Chinese army. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam and both the countries have been holding talks to resolve the issue. With agency inputs NEW DELHI: On 87th birth anniversary of former president APJ Abdul Kalam, fondly known as India's 'Missile Man', several celebreties and politicians took to twitter to recognise his contributions to the nation. Tributes to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul kalam on his birth anniversary today. His simplicity, his dedication to his profession, his patriotism & his love for children will continue to inspire us. His life will keep encouraging young people to have dreams with 'Wings of Fire, tweeted Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu. Kalam was born on October 15, 1931 in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. He studied physics and aerospace engineering and came to be known for his contribution to the world of science and humanity. Later, he was called as the 'Missile Man of India' for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. In 2002, Kalam became the 11th President of India. Fondly recognized as the 'People's President', he was honoured with prestigious awards such as Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, and Bharat Ratna, the country's highest-civilian award. Kalam died on 27 July 2015 at IIM Shillong while delivering a lecture to students. His last words reportedly were to his long-time aide Srijan Pal Singh "Funny guy! Are you doing well?" In a long Facebook post three years ago, Singh penned a heartfelt tribute to his mentor, reliving the minutes before after his sudden death due to cardiac arrest. With agency inputs An FIR has been registered by administration of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna against former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar over alleged altercation with junior doctors on Sunday evening. According to news agency ANI, the FIR has been registered at Pulwari Sharif police station against Kahaiya Kumar, Bihar AISF chief Sushil Kumar and at least 80 unidentified persons. The junior doctors had alleged that the altercation was triggered when Kanhaiya, along with his supporters, tried to enter the trauma emergency unit. They were at first stopped by the guard on duty, who was allegedly manhandled. Junior doctors who were on duty inside the ward then tried to stop Kanhaiyas supporters from entering. This led to an altercation between the AISF supporters and junior doctors, who decided to stop working at 10 pm on Sunday. After requests from the hospital administration, the doctors resumed their duty at night. However, all the junior doctors went on a strike at 11 am on Monday. The fresh trouble for Kanhaiya Kumar comes amid reports that he would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai in Bihar as a candidate of the Mahagathbandhan. While Kanhaiya Kumar is officially expected to contest the elections on a CPM ticket, he will be fielded under the banner of Mahagathbandhan, as a joint candidate. Kanhaiya Kumar has already faced a sedition case. The JNU administration had also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him over the 2016 event in the campus where alleged anti-India slogans were raised and Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was lauded. The fine on the former JNUSU president was imposed by a high-level JNU panel after a thorough investigation in this regard. However, the Delhi High Court in July set aside the move by the university administration, terming it as illegal, irrational and irregular. The High Court had asked the university to wait on the matter until a proper decision was taken by the court. It had directed JNU to not take any action against Kumar in connection with the sedition case registered against him. New Delhi: India has been ranked at the 103rd position among 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index, says a report. According to the report, prepared by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, India is among the 45 countries that have "serious levels of hunger". In 2017, India was ranked at the 100th position but ranking for this year is not comparable, it said. The GHI, now in its 13th year, ranks countries based on four key indicators -- undernourishment, child mortality, child wasting and child stunting. Child wasting refers to share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition. India is ranked below many neighbouring countries, including China (25th spot), Nepal (72), Myanmar (68), Sri Lanka (67) and Bangladesh (86). Pakistan is placed at the 106th position. While noting that hunger varies enormously by region, the report said this year's GHI scores for South Asia and Africa south of the Sahara reflect serious levels of hunger. Zero is the best score and a reading above 100 is the worst. The latter signifies that a country's undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality levels are at the highest level, it noted. Further, the report, released last week, said that the world has made gradual, long-term progress in reducing overall hunger, but this progress has been "uneven". "Areas of severe hunger and undernutrition stubbornly persist, reflecting human misery for millions," it added. Since the number of forcibly displaced people is on the rise, and hunger is often both a cause and a consequence of displacement, the report said that actions need to taken by international community, national governments, and civil society, among others. As per the report, around 124 million people suffer acute hunger in the world, a striking increase from 80 million two years ago while the reality of hunger and undernutrition continues to have a massive impact on the next generation. About 151 million children are stunted and 51 million children are wasted across the globe. Hard-won gains are being further threatened by conflict, climate change, poor governance, and a host of other challenges, it added. Welthungerhilfe is a not-for-profit group and Concern Worldwide works towards improving lives of poor people. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Monday described Hizbul Mujahideen militant Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gunbattle with security forces, as a "victim of relentless violence in Kashmir". The PDP president said this while demanding withdrawal of cases against three Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students from the Valley who were booked after they allegedly tried to hold a prayer meeting for Wani on Friday. "It will be a travesty to punish them (students) for remembering their former colleague (Wani) who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir," Mehbooba said in a tweet. Twenty-seven-year-old Wani, who was pursuing a Ph D course in allied geology at the AMU, had quit the university and joined militant ranks in January. The three Kashmiri students were booked for sedition for allegedly raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for the Hizbul 'commander', a day after he was killed in a gun battle with security forces in north Kashmir's Handwara area. Mehbooba also asked the Centre to intervene in the matter. "Pushing youth to the wall will be counter productive. Centre must intervene in withdrawing cases against students & AMU authorities must revoke their suspension," she said in another post on Twitter. The former chief minister said state governments outside Jammu and Kashmir should be "sensitive" to the situation and "prevent further alienation". In the wake of the suspension of the three Kashmiri students, more than 1,200 students from Jammu and Kashmir studying at the varsity have threatened to leave for their homes on October 17, if the sedition charges against the three were not dropped. In a letter to Proctor, AMU, students of Jammu and Kashmir, studying at the university said "no prayers or any relevant activity was observed and the directions of the AMU Proctor were duly followed". The tense situation as reported in the media caused a serious concern among the students at Aligarh Muslim University. The students at the University in panic were discussing the situation emerging in the valley at the Kennedy Hall Lawn, and were peacefully talking among each other. "No prayers or any relevant activity was observed, and the directions of the AMU Proctor were duly followed," the students said in the letter. They said some non-Kashmiri people armed with lathis attacked the sitting students and caused massive disturbance and noisy scenes. "However, the Kashmiri students dispersed immediately and no protest or law and order violation took place. Later, a vilification campaign against the students from Jammu and Kashmir was started by media that Kashmiri students violated the law and disturbed the peace in the campus. Though nothing of that sort had happened and the same was later confirmed by PRO AMU to the media," the letter read. The students said they strongly condemn the "fabricated allegations and a systematic vilification campaign" against the students and the university. "We take strong objection to fabricating cases against Kashmiri students and thereby attempting to jeopardize our career. We, the students from Kashmir are law abiding and did not breach the guaranteed freedom of speech, or act," they said, adding peace at AMU campus has always been the first priority of all Kashmiri students. Referring to the suspension of students by the university and subsequent sedition charges, the Jammu and Kashmir students refuted the allegations of violation of law and order and demanded an end to "defamation of highly educated Kashmiri scholars". "We demand an immediate revocation of suspension orders/show cause notices and an urgent withdrawal of the sedition charges and relevant legal sections against AMU scholars. Imposing such sections is to threaten the Kashmiri students at the university and is a cause of serious concern. We cannot stay at the campus with the burden of these politically motivated and fabricated charges," they said. The students threatened to surrender their degrees and leave for their homes if the suspension is not revoked and case withdrawn by Wednesday. "In case, the suspension/show cause notices are not revoked immediately and sedition charges and relevant charges are not withdrawn, we the students from the state of Jammu and Kashmir at AMU will be forced to leave the campus en-masse on Sir Syed Day (17 October). "We, the 1200 students will surrender our degrees and leave for our homes for reasons of safety and security. All the responsibility in that case will fall on the University, and local administration. We are feeling threatened and challenged and our career development is under stake, under such fearful circumstances," the letter reads. NEW DELHI: Several youth Congress workers on Monday staged a protest against Union Minister MJ Akbar, who has been recently accused of sexual harassment by several women, and demanded his immediate ouster from the Narendra Modi government. According to ANI, the youth wing of the Congress party protested outside the minister's residence and raised anti-government slogans while presing for his resignation. Several youth Congress workers were detained by the police. Delhi: Police detained members of Youth Congress who were protesting outside the residence of #MJAkbar demanding his resignation from the post of Minister of State of External Affairs. pic.twitter.com/8IzVEHvzjN ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 The protest comes hours after Akbar denied all allegations levelled against him and threatened to take legal action against those who have accused him. Meanwhile, the high-placed government sources told Zee News that Akbar won't be asked to quit over #MeToo allegations. Sources told Zee News that the government is of the view that asking Akbar to quit over #MeToo allegations will send a bad signal as this comes just a few months ahead of the crucial General Elections due next year. Though the party appears to be divided over Akbar, a section of its leaders feel that the minister should be given a fair chance to present his side. Others in the party, however, feel that Akbar should be asked to quit to save the party from further embarrassment as it was damaging BJP's known stand on women's safety and empowerment. On his part, Akbar has termed allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and warned that he will take appropriate legal action against them. Hours after returning from a trip to Nigeria, the Minister of State for External Affairs issued a statement, virtually rejecting calls for his resignation from the post and seeking to link the allegations against him to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. There have been mounting demands for his removal from the Union Council of Ministers after multiple women, as part of the #MeToo movement in India, came out with accounts of alleged sexual harassment by the 67-year-old Akbar when he was a journalist. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice. I could not reply earlier as I was on an official tour abroad," he said in the statement. "Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action," the BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh said. Before Akbar issued the statement, the Congress, at a press conference, questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the allegations against the junior minister and said as the head of the government he should speak on the issue. "It is for the Prime Minister to speak on this issue, let the country judge its PM by his actions. So far his silence is conspicuous. This question is not only the moral authority of the government, but his own also, and the dignity of the office he holds," Congress leader Anand Sharma said. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had earlier come out in support of the #MeToo movement, saying it was time for the truth to be told "loud and clear". Akbar said the "false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage" to his reputation and wondered why "this storm has risen" a few months before the general election? "Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy. This is deeply distressing. As indicated above, I will be taking appropriate legal action," he said. Akbar's name cropped up on social media when he was in Nigeria. The women who accused Akbar of sexual harassment included Priya Ramani, Ghazala Wahab, Shuma Raha, Anju Bharti and Shutapa Paul. "Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not, however, name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: 'Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything.' If I didn't do anything, where and what is the story?," he asked. "Shutapa Paul states, 'The man never laid a hand on me.' Shuma Raha says, 'I must clarify, however, that he didn't actually 'do' anything'. One woman, Anju Bharti, went to the absurd extent of claiming I was partying in a swimming pool. I do not know how to swim," Akbar said. The Minister said both Ramani and Wahab kept working with him even after these alleged incidents, claiming that it clearly established that they had no apprehension and discomfort. Besides the Congress, the CPI(M) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen demanded Akbar's removal as a minister. The Bharatiya Janata Party has maintained a studied silence on the matter so far. When questioned on the issue Textiles Minister Smriti Irani had on Thursday said Akbar himself would be better positioned to speak on the issue. She had urged people not to mock women speaking out against the harassment meted out to them. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has said her Ministry plans to set up a panel of legal experts to look into the allegations of sexual harassment that have surfaced in the #MeToo campaign, asserting that she believes in the "pain and trauma" of every complainant. (With Agency Inputs) NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for External Affairs (MoS) MJ Akbar, who has been accused of sexual harassment by several women, won't be asked to quit, according to highly-placed government sources. Sources told Zee News that the government is of the view that asking Akbar to quit over #MeToo allegations will send a bad signal as this comes just a few months ahead of the crucial crucial General Elections next year. Though the party appears to be divided over Akbar, a section of its leaders feel that the minister should be given a fair chance to present his side. Others in the party, however, feel that Akbar should be asked to quit to save the party from further embarrassment as it was damaging BJP's known stand on women's safety and empowerment. On his part, Akbar has termed allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and warned that he will take appropriate legal action against them. Hours after returning from a trip to Nigeria, the Minister of State for External Affairs issued a statement, virtually rejecting calls for his resignation from the post and seeking to link the allegations against him to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. There have been mounting demands for his removal from the Union Council of Ministers after multiple women, as part of the #MeToo movement in India, came out with accounts of alleged sexual harassment by the 67-year-old Akbar when he was a journalist. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice. I could not reply earlier as I was on an official tour abroad," he said in the statement. "Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action," the BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh said. Before Akbar issued the statement, the Congress, at a press conference, questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the allegations against the junior minister and said as the head of the government he should speak on the issue. "It is for the Prime Minister to speak on this issue, let the country judge its PM by his actions. So far his silence is conspicuous. This question is not only the moral authority of the government, but his own also, and the dignity of the office he holds," Congress leader Anand Sharma said. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had earlier come out in support of the #MeToo movement, saying it was time for the truth to be told "loud and clear". Akbar said the "false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage" to his reputation and wondered why "this storm has risen" a few months before the general election? "Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy. This is deeply distressing. As indicated above, I will be taking appropriate legal action," he said. Akbar's name cropped up on social media when he was in Nigeria. The women who accused Akbar of sexual harassment included Priya Ramani, Ghazala Wahab, Shuma Raha, Anju Bharti and Shutapa Paul. "Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not, however, name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: 'Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything.' If I didn't do anything, where and what is the story?," he asked. "Shutapa Paul states, 'The man never laid a hand on me.' Shuma Raha says, 'I must clarify, however, that he didn't actually 'do' anything'. One woman, Anju Bharti, went to the absurd extent of claiming I was partying in a swimming pool. I do not know how to swim," Akbar said. The Minister said both Ramani and Wahab kept working with him even after these alleged incidents, claiming that it clearly established that they had no apprehension and discomfort. Besides the Congress, the CPI(M) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen demanded Akbar's removal as a minister. The Bharatiya Janata Party has maintained a studied silence on the matter so far. When questioned on the issue Textiles Minister Smriti Irani had on Thursday said Akbar himself would be better positioned to speak on the issue. She had urged people not to mock women speaking out against the harassment meted out to them. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has said her Ministry plans to set up a panel of legal experts to look into the allegations of sexual harassment that have surfaced in the #MeToo campaign, asserting that she believes in the "pain and trauma" of every complainant. (With Agency Inputs) Union Minister MJ Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation case against the journalist who levelled sexual harassment allegations on him. He filed the case on Monday in Delhi's Patiala House Court against Priya Ramani, through his advocates Karanjawala and Company. Claiming that he was being framed, Akbar had on Sunday threatened to take legal action against those who have levelled allegations against him. In a detailed statement, Akbar had on Sunday said that the accusations against him are spiced up by innuendo and malice. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice. I could not reply earlier as I was on an official tour abroad. Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action," he had said. He also questioned the credibility of the accusations asking how there was a sudden uproar against him ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that are due in 2019. "Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge. These false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage to my reputation and goodwill," he said. Hitting out at Priya, he had on Sunday said: "Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not however name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: "Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything". If I didn't do anything, where and what is the story? There's no story. But a sea of innuendo, speculation and abusive diatribe has been built around something that never happened. Some are total, unsubstantiated hearsay; others confirm, on the record, that I didnt do anything." Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and spokespersons who had so far maintained a stoic silence on the issue, said on Monday that the Minister of State of External Affairs has given his version on the matter. "It is not about agreeing or disagreeing. He has presented his version," BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday brainstorm with chief executives of top global and Indian oil and gas companies amid spiralling oil prices and the US threat to impose sanctions on nations buying oil from Iran. According to ANI, the meeting is expected to begin around 10 AM. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet CEOs of global oil and gas companies at 10 am today. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/f9qKZKRQRF ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 During today's meeting, the emerging global energy scenario will be discussed. The meeting would look at measures to attract investments and steps for making it easier to do business in India. The meeting, which will be held under the aegis of the NITI Aayog, will focus on challenges posed by volatile oil prices and the US sanctions on Iran. PM Modi held a review meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday. This comes as fuel prices continue to rise across the four major metros, burning a hole in common man's pocket. Despite the governments move earlier this month to reduce VAT on fuel prices by Rs 2.5 and several BJP-ruled states announcing a similar rate cut on petrol and diesel prices, there has not been much relief for the common as the petrol reached Rs 82.72 per litre in Delhi and Rs 88.18 in Mumbai on Sunday. With the opposition cornering the government over spiralling fuel prices, the issue has become a major concern for the Narendra Modi government at the Centre as it comes ahead of the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram and also the Lok Sabha elections due next year. The meeting assumes significance as the US sanction against Iran kicks-in on November 4 and India is dependent on imports for more than 80 per cent of its oil requirement. The third annual meeting would also deliberate on ways to revive investment in oil and gas exploration and production, official sources said. Modis first meeting was on January 5, 2016, where suggestions for reforming natural gas prices were made. More than a year later, the government allowed higher natural gas price for yet-to-be-produced fields in difficult areas like the deep sea. In the last edition in October 2017, suggestions were made for giving out equity to foreign and private companies in producing oil and gas fields of state-owned ONGC and OIL. But the plan could not go through in view of strong opposition from Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). Sources said Saudi Oil Minister Khalid A Al Falih, BP CEO Bob Dudley, Total head Patrick Fouyane, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal are expected to attend the meeting on Monday. Among others who are likely to attend the meeting are - ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Shashi Shanker, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Chairman Sanjiv Singh, GAIL India head B C Tripathi, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) Chairman Mukesh Kumar Suran, Oil India Chairman Utpal Bora and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) Chairman D Rajkumar. Sources said reforms initiated in the last four years in the oil and gas sector, including open acreage policy, pricing reforms and liberalised licensing policy, will be showcased and suggestions would be sought on what more can be done to hasten growth. The government is looking at private investment to raise domestic oil and gas production, which has stagnated for the last few years while fuel demand has been rising by 5-6 per cent annually. India is dependent on imports to meet 83 per cent of its demand and more than half of its natural gas requirements. The Prime Minister in 2015 had set a target of reducing Indias oil dependence by 10 per cent to 67 per cent (based on import dependence of 77 per cent in 2014-15) by 2022. Import dependence has only increased since then and the government is now looking for ways to raise domestic output. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo and Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan would also attend the meeting, as per the sources. (With Agency Inputs) NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting China president Xi Jinping in November in Argentina, Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui announced on Monday. He was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan Diplomats. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November, the Chinese envoy said. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year -- at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. The ambassador said that China's state counselor and Foreign Minister will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high-level people to people exchanges mechanism. He added that the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration will deepen in future. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. With the Sabarimala Hindu temple set to open on Wednesday for monthly puja, Kerala BJP president PS Sreedharan Pillai warned the Left government to resolve the issue of women visitors or face "severe consequences". The BJP, RSS, Congress and Hindu groups are up in arms against a September 28 Supreme Court ruling lifting the ban on entry of women in the 10-50 age group into the temple, saying it will breach age-old traditions. Pillai, who led a huge protest from Pandalam on Monday, told the gathering of women and others in front of the state Secretariat here that if the Pinarayi Vijayan government failed to find a solution to the controversy, "then things will be bad". "We give him 24 hours to resolve the issue. If he fails to do it, then he should be prepared to see a different type of protest from us. We will make it very clear that we are not trying to make political capital through this campaign," said Pillai. Meanwhile, the Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), the custodian of the temple, said that if any woman in the banned age group turned up at the temple, they would be doing it only for publicity. Kannur resident Reshma Nishant told the media on Monday that she was fully geared to travel to the temple. "I am undertaking all the penance for the visit. When I made my intent known on social media, a section abused me while another section applauded me. I am a Communist and at the same time a believer in God," she said. At the temple town, the board which says that entry is banned for women between aged between 10 and 50 has not been removed. Meanwhile, senior CPI-M leader and Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan told the media on Monday that the Kerala government was duty bound to abide by the apex court directive. "The state government will provide all the needed support and safety to all women who wish to come and pray at the temple," he said. Senior CPI-M leader and Chairperson of the Kerala Women`s Commission, M.C. Josephine, said that all those women desiring to go to the temple may pray at the shrine. Leader of Opposition and Congress veteran Ramesh Chennithala said the BJP and RSS combine was trying to turn the Sabarimala issue into a problem area. "The Centre is playing a double game as they are not coming out with an ordinance. We (Congress-led UDF) are fully with the believers and will go to any extent to protect the traditions of the temple," he said. A meeting between TDB officials, the Pandalam royal family, representatives of the Sabarimala Tantri family and other Hindu organisations has been called by the TDB in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday condemned the malicious distortion of his remark on good Hindu. Facing attack for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments with his remark on Ram temple, Tharoor alleged that his statement was distorted by some media in the service of political masters. Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the Congress MP from Kerala said, I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Rams birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying anothers place of worship. I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Rams birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying anothers place of worship. Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 15, 2018 Some reports had quoted Tharoor as saying that no good Hindu wants Ram temple in Ayodhya. Tharoor has claimed that what he said at a literary event was in response to a question seeking his personal opinion on the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for @incindia, the Congress leader tweeted. I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for @incindia. https://t.co/aKeJvdLoqG Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 15, 2018 The Bharatiya Janata Party launched a scathing attack on Tharoor following his remark. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said that he was astonished with the opinion of the Congress leader on Ram temple. Astonished that Shashi Tharoor believes that true Hindus don't want a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. This could be a view of Tharoor or Rahul Gandhi, not of people. This shows how cut off they are from reality and how they only become Hindu during elections, said the Union Minister. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy had also attacked Tharoor over his comment, referring to him as a "neech aadmi". Swamy said, "There is a charge-sheet against him, what can we say on the statement of such a person. Woh neech aadmi hai." Bengaluru: A school principal was hacked to death Sunday by a six-member gang in front of 20 students, for whom he was holding a special class, police said. Ranganath (60), principal of the Havanur Public School in suburban Agrahara Dasarahalli, was holding classes for 10th standard students when the gang barged into the classroom and hacked him to death, they said. They later fled in the car in which they came to the school, police said. One of the gang members was nabbed later from Mahalaxmi Layout area here, based on a tip off. The man suffered a leg injury when police fired at him after he attacked them. He was later taken to a hospital and treated. Police suspect a land dispute relating to the school building to be the reason behind the killing. The Janata Dal Secular (JDS) and the Congress which have formed the government in Karnataka in an alliance will be fighting the upcoming bypolls in the state together. The two parties have worked out a seat-sharing arrangement for the polls as per which, JDS will be contesting on two seats while Congress will fight on one seat. "After meetings, we (Congress and JDS) have come to a conclusion regarding the seat sharing of upcoming by-elections in 3 Lok Sabha seats. Two seats in Shimoga and Mandiya will be contested by JDS. Congress candidate will file nomination from Bellary seat," Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy said on Monday. By-polls for three Lok Sabha constituencies- Shimoga, Bellary and Mandya, and two assembly constituencies- Ramanagara and Jamkhandi, will be held on November 3. The counting of votes will be on November 6. While BJP had already finalised the names of candidates for a few seats, the Congress and JDS had been trying to work out the names of candidates and seat-sharing formula between the two parties. Local Congress leaders from Ramanagara and Mandya had earlier expressed strong reservation against any decision by the party to give up seats to JDS by not fielding candidates. However, the Congress leadership had told them that a decision would be taken in a couple of days after due deliberations. Kumaraswamy had earlier met his father and party supremo HD Deve Gowda and secretary general Danish Ali to discuss candidates for the polls. Ramanagara assembly constituency and Mandya Lok Sabha constituency were earlier represented by the JDS. Congress also has a considerable support base in these two segments. Meanwhile, the BJP had announced that the names of state party chief BS Yeddyurappa's son BY Raghavendra and former MP Shanta for Shivamogga and Bellary constituencies. Thiruvananthapuram: Travancore Devaswom Board, a temple body which manages the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Kerala, has invited various stakeholders for a meeting to discuss 'various aspects', including preparations for the annual pilgrimage season which begins next month. According to ANI, the board has extended its invitation to the representatives of Pandalam Royal Family, Sabarimala temple priests and their organisation and Hindu organisations for a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting will be held at Devaswom board office in Trivandrum, said TDB president A Padmakumar. Kerala: Travancore Devaswom Board has invited the representatives of Pandalam Royal Family, Sabarimala priests, priests organisation and Hindu organisations for a meeting tomorrow. The meeting will be held at Devaswom board office in Trivandrum. #SabarimalaTemple ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 The meeting assumes significance as various Hindu outfits and Lord Ayyappa devotees continue to protests against the implementation of the recent Supreme Court order, permitting women of all age groups into the shrine. By inviting the stakeholders for talks, the board appears t be trying to build a consensus on the issue. The Travancore Devaswom Board has invited tantries (temple priests), Pandalam royals and devotee groups to the meeting. Besides the Tazhamon tantri family and the Pandalam royals, various stakeholders of the Sabarimala shrine, including Ayyappa Seva Sangam, Ayyappa Seva Samajam, tantri mahamandalam and Yoga Kshema Sabah have been invited for the talks, he said. The members of the Padalam royal family and tazhamon tantries have not yet confirmed whether they will attend the TDB meet or not. The three-month-long annual 'Mandalam-Makaravilakku' pilgrimage season of the Sabarimala Temple will begin on November 17. Meanwhile, various devotee groups and Hindu outfits took out protest marches in different places across the state on Sunday, demanding that the sanctity of the temple rituals be protected. The BJP-led NDA's 'Long March', which started last week from Pandalam in protest against the CPI(M)-led LDF government's decision to implement the top court order without going for a review, reached the capital city on Sunday. Actor-turned-MP Suresh Gopi flagged off the rally at Alamkode. The march, which criss-crossed the southern districts of the state, would conclude before the state Secretariat, the administrative hub, on Monday. Hundreds of activists of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) also took out a rally here, urging the state and union governments to address the concerns of devotees of Lord Ayyappa. AHP president Pravin Togadia called for a hartal in the state on October 18 if the Left government implements the apex court order. "We demand that the state government file a review petition in the Supreme Court. Till that petition is pending, they should not implement the court order," he said addressing the rally. A group of Yuva Morcha activists took out a march to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's residence at northern Kannur district. Police blocked the agitators by putting up barricades a few kilometers away from the residence. On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by the then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine. Bhopal: The Shiv Sena has released the first list of candidates for upcoming Madhya Pradesh state assembly elections, scheduled to be held on November 2018. The party has announced the names of 21 candidates who will contest in the upcoming polls. Shiv Sena releases first list of its candidates for #MadhyaPradesh state assembly elections, scheduled to be held on 28 November. pic.twitter.com/D3escBOEOn ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 Shiv Sena, a former ally of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in power in the state and the Centre, has been up in arms against its attitude towards Ram Temple. Asking to cut down its rhetoric on the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and instead bring an ordinance on the same, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said, ''We demand that like you (Centre) made a law on Triple Talaq and brought an amendment in SC/ST Act, bring an ordinance for Ram temple in Ayodhya. There's majority in Lok Sabha and state assembly and we have our President to sign ordinance. So instead of talking, bring the ordinance." Meanwhile, the Congress said it is exploring partners for any possible parties. Scindia, who is spearheading the Congress campaign in Madhya Pradesh, also said the entire state leadership and party cadre was "working cohesively" to chart out the party's plan to dislodge the BJP government after "14 years of misrule". His statement comes amid Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP's) decision to fight alone in the elections. The state will go to polls on November 28 and counting of votes will be held on December 11. New Delhi: Unfazed by the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP's) decision to not align with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said Sunday the party is "still in the driver's seat" and in touch with all "possible partners" in the poll-bound state. Scindia, who is spearheading the Congress campaign in Madhya Pradesh, also said the entire state leadership and party cadre was "working cohesively" to chart out the party's plan to dislodge the BJP government after "14 years of misrule". Asked if the BSP could cut into the Congress' vote share, he told PTI in an interview that: "I don't think so. Obviously, the alliance would have had its own benefits, but as things stand today, support for the Congress is running deep in Madhya Pradesh. The workers are motivated and the people are looking to us for change. So, we are definitely still in the driver's seat." Replying to a query about a possible tie-up with the Samajwadi Party and the Gondwana Gantantra Party after Bahujan Samaj Party's decision to not align with the Congress in the state, Scindia said, "We are in touch with all possible partners -- our ultimate goal is to beat the Bharatiya Janata Party. We are not currently ruling out the possibility of an alliance." His remarks come days after BSP chief Mayawati announced her party will not forge an alliance with the Congress "at any cost" for the upcoming Assembly polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. However, he said the general election next year will be a "different ball game altogether" and if state alliances don't work out, the possibilities still exist for a coalition in 2019. Scindia said the party's "driving mantra" is 'Waqt hai badlaav ka' (It is time for change), and added that this is "not a slogan, this is a reality, a commitment to change". "We are not fighting this election on the Modi or Shivraj factor but the 'people factor'. The people of Madhya Pradesh have suffered from the BJP rule for 14 years. Everywhere we look, the people are exasperated and angry," the MP from Guna said. Talking about the issues that the Congress will raise during the campaign, Scindia said the party will take the fight to the streets. "We are focusing on some key issues -- farmer distress across the state, complete breakdown of law and order, especially rising cases of crimes against women, unemployment, and massive corruption, be it Vyapam, e-tender or sand-mining." The state will go to polls on November 28 and counting of votes will be held on December 11. Congress has launched an aggressive campaign in Madhya Pradesh with party chief Rahul Gandhi visiting the state frequently. Gandhi will be in the state on Monday as well and will address several public meetings, and take part in a road show in Gwalior. Asked what was different internally in the Congress organisation as compared to the past three elections and whether differences between senior leaders had been sorted, Scindia said the party was united and there were regular meetings on key matters, including on overhauling the organisation, reviving and rejuvenating party cadres and strengthening the system at the district and block level. "We understand that to fight the BJP, we will have to go down to the booth level and fight. Under Congress President Rahul Gandhi's uniting leadership, we are working as a single INC unit, coming together under the umbrella of a common vision and mission for the development of Madhya Pradesh," the 47-year-old leader said. On opinion polls putting the Congress marginally ahead of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Scindia said he believes his party is "in the lead". The people are now looking to the Congress for change and are hopeful that the party will bring a wave of development, progress and honesty, the former Union minister said. Asked if the Congress was bargaining hard as a result of which state-level alliances were failing and damaging prospects of a grand alliance in 2019, Scindia said the party was trying to build reasonable alliances that were mutually beneficial for all involved actors, and one that will be able to give the BJP a strong fight. "For example, in Madhya Pradesh, there was clearly a mismatch between the BSP's vote share and the seats they were demanding - obviously, that would not be strategically-beneficial for us. So, it is not about bargaining hard for the sake of debate, it is about reaching the most effective agreement," he said. Washington: Ariana Grande has withdrawn from yet another scheduled performance as she is still trying to overcome her personal turmoil after Mac Miller`s death. The `Get Well Soon` singer was supposed to make her first onstage appearance on Saturday after staying away from the limelight since the death of her ex-boyfriend. Grande was due to perform at F--k Cancer`s inaugural Barbara Berlanti Heroes fundraising gala, according to E! Online. Confirming the news, Grande`s manager Scooter Braun said, "Someone I`m very close to was supposed to come to sing for you today, and because of things that she`s going through, she couldn`t be here today." Scooter further revealed that he has now arranged for The Daily Show host Trevor Noah to perform in place of the `No Tears Left To Cry` singer. On September 7, Mac Miller passed away, reportedly, after a possible drug overdose in California. Earlier this month, the singer skipped the 2018 Emmy awards besides also dropping out of the `Saturday Night Live` season 44 premiere. Grande, a little while back, took to her Twitter handle to share with her fans that she was having 'a tough month'. 'Can I pls have one okay day. just one. pls', she wrote. She later added that she was 'so tired'. New Delhi: Actress Rakul Preet is happy with the #MeToo movement gaining momentum in India, but feels it is important to differentiate between sexual harassment and sexual misconduct and deal accordingly. "A conversation of somebody forcing or somebody raping or somebody saying that 'you will get the project only if you sleep with me' and someone misbehaving are two different things. I feel that how we draw a line here and how we figure out what really happened and what didn't happen, is something that we need to look into," Rakul told IANS over the phone. "It shouldn't happen that the girls who have been really harassed and have been suffering for years... All their issues get dissolved just because there is too much happening," she added. The actress is happy that women have a voice "finally thanks to the social media". "I hope that something is done. I just hope it doesn't get dissolved." Rakul continued: "I am very happy with the way the movement has gained momentum. These things have existed. I have been very lucky in my life that I haven't faced it. But then you have heard of stories and I am glad that people are coming out and talking about it because it takes a lot of courage to do that." But she hopes that people don't misuse the movement. "My only request is to people not to misuse it because finally there is a voice for women and people are listening to them and an action can be taken, workplace can be made into a safer place. They should not misuse it." The actress, who is working with Luv Ranjan on his production "De De Pyaar De" with Ajay Devgn, was shocked when accusations against the filmmaker emerged. Ranjan has been accused by an anonymous actress of making her uncomfortable while giving an audition for his film "Pyaar Ka Punchnama". She claims Ranjan asked her some personal questions. He denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him, saying he has never misbehaved with a woman. Talking about it, Rakul said: "It did come as a shock to me. I am not saying anyone is right or wrong here. But I remember the first day when I met him to do this film... I went back home and called my mom and said, 'They are such amazing people'. "The moment I saw the accusation, I called him and said Sir, whatever happens, I know you and we all know you'. My experience with him has been amazing. I look up to him as a mentor. He is somebody with whom you can share anything whether it is some personal issue or professional." The actress emphasised that she doesn't think that the actress, who has made the accusation about Ranjan, is lying. "I don't know who the anonymous person is. But I can speak for my experience and I have had the most amazing experience with this team. "That is why if you see all his actors have already spoken. Nobody else has spoken for anybody. The way they have come out in support for him," said the actress, who has featured in Telugu and Hindi films. In Bollywood, Rakul has done "Yaariyan" and "Aiyaary". London: Gwyneth Paltrow has said she does not miss anything about acting. The 46-year-old actor, who was last seen in 'Avengers: Infinity War' in a cameo, is currently busy focusing on her lifestyle brand Goop. Asked what she misses about acting full time, Paltrow told Marie Claire magazine, "Nothing. It's so weird. I actually didn't hate it. But I just don't miss it. The level and breadth of creativity that I have in this job (at Goop) is so bananas, and I'm very fulfilled," she added. "I don't do a lot of acting right now, so when I do I look for what's going to have the best return on investment in terms of time and impact. It's fun to do something like 'The Avengers'. I get to go to Atlanta for two days, see my friends, do a scene with Robert (Downey Jr), come home," she had said. Paltrow's last full-fledged acting role was in 2015's comedy 'Mortdecai' alongside Johnny Depp. New Delhi: In a shocking development, senior journalist Vinod Dua was accused of sexual misconduct by filmmaker Nishtha Jain. In a long Twitter post, Nishtha wrote about how he openly cracked a lewd joke before her on their first official meeting (1989) and demeaned her. She revealed that after she got a job in another company, the senior journalist would often stalk her and on one occasion, even attacked her physically inside his car. Nishtha's post has raised another storm in the industry. While people from all walks of life have come forward and expressed their support to the filmmaker, Vinod's daughter Mallika Dua, also a popular face on social media, has come out and issued a statement that 'even though it's his battle, she will stand by him'. Mallika made her stand clear in an Instagram post she shared on Sunday, which is addressed to the filmmaker Nishtha Jain who accused Vinod Dua of sexually harassing her almost three decades ago. Her post opens with the endorsement of the movement in which she said, "If at all my father is truly guilty of what you described, it is unacceptable, traumatic and painful." However, she lashed out at the filmmaker for dragging her name into the matter and said 'it was in a terrible taste'. After Mallika's post, Nishtha issued an online apology to the well-known comedian saying, "Sorry, if I have inadvertently shamed Mallika Dua. I had no such intention. Thanks for friends and supporters for pointing this out. She's in no way responsible for her father's acts. However, I do hope she'll be able to, believe me, empathize with me as well as the other women he has harassed." But in the next post, she said, "the daughter will stand by her predator father. Wife will stand by her predator husband. Bloodlines run deeper than #MeToo". It is to be noted that Vinod Dua had openly lashed out at actor Akshay Kumar for passing sexist remarks on her daughter Mallika during the shooting of 'The Great Indian Laughter Challenge'. Sydney: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle landed in Australia on Monday a day before the official start of their first overseas tour as a married couple. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to ride a ferry across Sydney Harbour past the Opera House on Tuesday, as well as watch an indigenous contemporary dance troupe and see koalas at the Taronga Zoo. The couple will meet farmers affected by a severe drought on Wednesday. Their trip coincides with the Invictus Games to be held in Sydney from October 20-27. The games founded by Harry are an international paralympic-style event for military personnel wounded in action. Harry and Meghan will also visit New Zealand and the South Pacific islands of Tonga and Fiji during their tour. Australia, a constitutional monarchy whose head of state is the British monarch, voted in 1999 against becoming a republic. Support for a republic hovered around 50 per cent in a January poll, a level largely unchanged in recent years, and there is little appetite to put the issue back on the agenda. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who took the top job in August after a backbench revolt ousted predecessor Malcolm Turnbull, is a constitutional monarchist. ALIGARH: A group of Kashmiri students studying at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh has threatened to leave for their homes on October 17 if the sedition charges pressed against them are not dropped. According to reports, AMU students' union former vice-president Sajjad Rathar has written a letter to the AMU vice-chancellor in which he said that more than 1,200 Kashmiri students will leave for their homes in the Kashmir Valley on October 17 ''if this vilification does not stop''. Rathar also termed the sedition charges slapped against three Kashmiri students as "vendetta". In his letter, Rathar said, ''The option of holding Namaaz-e-Janaza (prayer meeting) in absentia was dropped after the AMU authorities did not give the permission." "If no prayer meeting was held as confirmed by all official agencies, the slapping of a case of sedition against three Kashmiri students is simply a vendetta, harassment and denial of justice," he alleged. Rathar's letter was handed over to AMU Proctor Mohsin Khan in presence of large number of Kashmiri students at his office on Saturday night. Meanwhile, AMU spokesman Shafay Kidwai has rejected the Kashmiri students' charges of harassment and stressed that "no innocent would be framed". Prof. Kidwai also made it clear that "there is zero tolerance for any anti-national activity on AMU campus". It may be recalled that three Kashmiri students of AMU were booked on sedition charges for allegedly for raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani on October 12. Twenty seven-year-old Wani, pursing a PhD course in Allied Geology at the AMU, had quit the university and joined militant ranks in January this year. He was killed in an encounter at Shatgund village in Handwara area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Thursday. Aligarh's Senior Superintendent of Police Ajai Sahni said police took the action after a video surfaced showing the three Kashmiri students raising "anti-India" slogans. "Police have filed an FIR against Wasim Malik, Abdul Mir and one unnamed person. They have been identified on the basis of a video recording," he said. Prof Kidwai said show-cause notices have been issued to nine students for trying to hold an unauthorised gathering Thursday. The university has also set up a three-member inquiry committee to probe the incident. The panel has been asked to submit a report in the next 72 hours. The three students were suspended from the AMU earlier. The matter came to light after some AMU students from Kashmir gathered near Kennedy Hall on the campus to hold funeral prayers for Wani, following which the varsity staff and the students union leaders had rushed to the spot and tried to stop them. A heated exchange erupted between the students union leaders and the Kashmiri students and they finally moved out of the area, Kidwai said, adding three Kashmiri students were suspended for trying to hold the "unlawful" gathering. Meanwhile, BJP lawmaker from Aligarh, Satish Gautam has said that those who tried to hold a prayer meeting for Wani on the AMU campus should be expelled. (With PTI inputs) Karan Jani, an astrophysicist from Vadodara settled in Atlanta in the US, was on Friday barred entering a garba venue there after the organisers said that his surname did not 'appear to be Hindu'. Posting the details about the incident, he said that he and his friends were denied entry at Shree Shakti Mandir Center in Atlanta. "Yes this happened in year 2018! In the United States! This is one of the biggest Hindu temple and Garba venue in the US. I have been going here for last 6 years," he said. Speaking about the incident, his father Pankaj Jani said: "Volunteers stopped him and told him he doesn't look like a Hindu and even his surname doesn't appear to be that of a Hindu. They check IDs. His ID has national emblem on it, even then he was asked to leave. Later he talked to me over phone and sounded nervous." In a Facebook post, Karan recalled the embarassment. He wrote: "My Konkani friend who came to Garba for the first time *due to enthusiasm of us Gujaratis* was pulled out of line & was told: We dont come to your events, you are not allowed to ours She: My last name is Murdeshwar. Im Kannada-Marathi! Him: What is Kannada? You are Ismaili My other friends last name had Dangarwala. We spoke in Gujarati to them. They still said we were Vohra, Sindhis. They actually kept stating other religions!! And what is wrong even if we are!! They ganged up and told us to leave. They were rude to the females in our group. In Amba Mas temple. What Irony!!" Questioning the treatement meted out to him, he lashed out at the organisers. "I come here to play Garba for last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of our last name," he asked. Tagging External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Consulate General of India in Atlanta, Karan wrote: "Bigotry is independent of spacetime. But this is an illegal and discriminatory treatment of Indian citizens on foreign soil. Such mandirs neither represent India, nor the values of our Constitution, nor the ethos we stood for thousands of years." Pakistan's almost paralysed economy is looking for crutches from the International Monetary Fund. The request for $8 billion notwithstanding, the country's finance minister Asad Umar has said that painful economic decisions need to be taken and that fellow countryman should be prepared for it. Pakistan's economy is in absolute doldrums and the current Imran Khan-led government has blamed the previous government for the prevailing conditions. Imports have far outpaced imports while foreign exchange reserves are limited. The PM himself has said that the country has no money, saying God has created conditions for Pakistan to re-invent itself. The process could well be an arduous one. Umar returned to the country on Monday after formally requesting IMF for a bailout package. Speaking to local reporters, he said that the country must brace itself for painful economic decisions. According to Dawn, Umar said that the lower middle-income group could take the bulk of the hit in the medium term as corrective economic structural reforms have to be taken. Dismissing reports that privatisation could be a path forward, Umar was also sceptical of the American view that Pakistan finds itself in this current situation because of Chinese debts. Continuing the narrative of friendly long-term loans from ally China, Umar said there is no truth to comments made by US government officials about China creating a hostile debt trap. He also refuted a statement made by his own colleague - Fawad Chaudhry - which said Pakistan chose to approach IMF because of unacceptable conditions set out by Saudi Arabia, China and the UAE for loans. Now, the country would wait for November 7 when an IMF team would land in Pakistan for talks on the request made. And the Americans would be keeping a close watch - especially because the US has repeatedly said it would oppose any bailout package for Pakistan which could be used to settle Chinese debt. Umar, on his part, attempted to show some degree of confidence when he said that the Americans may have 16.5% votes in IMF but has no veto power to deny bailout packages. Turkish authorities have an audio recording which indicates that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a Turkish official and a security source said on Monday. "Turkish police have an audio recording that indicates that Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate", the security source told Reuters. He gave no further details. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied killing Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom`s policies. Its interior minister has described the assertion as "lies". Saudi officials have said he left the consulate shortly after entering it. The Turkish official said evidence showing that Khashoggi had been killed was being shared with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident, has not been seen since entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage. His fiancee said he never left the building. "Evidence has been conveyed to all sides very clearly," the security source said. "Now we are at the stage of collecting concrete evidence at the consulate." Ukrinform The military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully repulsed an attack by pro-Russian militants in the area of Avdiivka, Donetsk Region. This is stated in a message posted on the JFO Facebook page. "Today, at 5:40, the invaders tried to check the vigilance and strength of one of the strongholds of the Joint forces in the Avdiivka area. Two groups of occupants, being completely sure that they were hiding their positions, approached the effective firing range. The enemys movement was constantly monitored by an observer Vitaly Parkhomovych, the fire weapons were preparing to perform the attack. A few more meters, and the company commander, Lieutenant Roman Sanin, ordered Fire! The prepared concentrated fire did not give an opponent a chance. Occupants have quickly retreated," said in a statement. Some of the militants were injured. However, their number and nature of injuries is not specified. After repelling the attack, the military of the Ukrainian Armed Forces searched the battlefield to finally be convinced of the enemys retreat. During the inspection, the machine gun was found, which, according to the registration number, was never been the lists of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Earlier it was reported that since the beginning of the day, 3 targeted enemy shelling from grenade launchers, large-caliber machine guns, and small arms were recorded in the Donetsk direction - in the area of Shyrokyne, Lebedynske, Avdiivka. As a result of the fighting, one Ukrainian military was wounded. Related: Magnitude 4,7 earthquake occured in Sea of Azov between Ukraine and Russia Ukraine's Foreign Minister Klimkin stated that in the next few days authorized minister for Zakarpattia post would be renamed Ukrinform Hungary will change the name of the authorized minister for Zakarpattia. This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin after a meeting with Peter Siyarto in Luxembourg, according to Facebook page. "We talked about how to deal with the name of their representative, and fully agreed that the name will be different. You will see it in the next few days," he said. The Minister stressed that Hungary will not do something in the territory of Zakarpattia without the knowledge of the Ukrainian government. Either we will work there together, coordinating our steps, or Hungarians will not work there at all, said Klimkin. Earlier the Foreign Ministry announced the Hungarian consul in Berehovo (Zakarpattia region) persona non grata and obliged him to leave the territory of Ukraine within 72 hours. Earlier Hungarian Foreign Ministry summoned Lyubov Nepop, Ukrainian Ambassador in Budapest, because of the publication on Myrotvorets website (reveals personal information of people who are considered to be "enemies of Ukraine;" curated by the government intelligence Security Service - Ed.) about more than 300 Zakarpattia officials, who have both Hungarian and Ukrainian citizenship, as Hungry Today reported referring to Levente Magyar, Hungarian Foreign Ministry State Secretary. Hungarys foreign ministry has summoned Ukraines ambassador to Budapest after Ukraines anti-Hungarian policy reached a new level", the message says. According to Magyar, the summons was due to the existence of a death list of Transcarpathian Hungarians in Ukraine, as well as a call for the collective deportation Ukrainian-Hungarian dual citizens on the Ukrainian Parliaments website. The state secretary referred to an extremist Ukrainian website that had published a list containing the data of 300 Hungarian state or local council officials in Transcarpathia who it claims are dual citizens, the news agency reads. Related: Ukrainian military repulsed attack of militants near Avdiivka, Donetsk region 112 Agency Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin asked NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to step up the work of the Trust Funds of the North Atlantic Alliance, designed to help strengthen the security of ammunition depots in Ukraine. It is reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. According to the report, such a request was made during a personal meeting of the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and NATO Secretary General. "When discussing areas of practical cooperation, Minister Klimkin asked to intensify the work of the NATO Trust Funds, designed to help strengthen the security of ammunition depots in Ukraine, which is particularly relevant in light of recent events in the city of Ichnya in Chernihiv region. The parties agreed on the need for joint continuous monitoring of the effectiveness of Alliances assistance to our state," the report says. In addition, during the meeting, Klimkin discussed with Stoltenberg the common security challenges faced by the NATO member states and Ukraine, in particular the safe situation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. "The Secretary General confirmed that measures within the framework of an enhanced presence in Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, the adaptation and creation of new military structures, and the substantial increase in defense spending are a clear response of the Allies to Russia's growing aggressiveness," the message says. It was also reported that the parties exchanged views on the work of the working mechanisms of a special partnership between Ukraine and NATO, in particular, meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Commission at the ministerial level. "According to the Secretary General, the key to unblocking the Commissions work lies in the level of agreements between Ukraine and Hungary on ensuring the linguistic rights of the Hungarian minority. An important step will be the full implementation of the recommendations of the Venice Commission regarding the law of Ukraine on education," the report says. Klimkin, in turn, noted that the goal of our state was to ensure equal rights for Transcarpathian residents, to create conditions for the full development of Ukrainian citizens, to support their languages, traditions, and culture. Related: Russian satellite communication system discovered in Donbas Federica Maria, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will also take part in the session Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin to take part in the session of the Eastern Partnership and to meet with Secretary General of North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Peter Szijjarto, reports the press office of the Ukrainian MFA. On October 15-16, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin will visit the City of Brussels and Luxembourg to participate in the ninth ministerial meeting of the Eastern Partnership and hold meetings with representatives of EU and NATO, reads the message. Related: Ukraines MFA to pay Stratcom firm $3,000 for KyivNotKiev campaign It is noted that Federica Maria, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, foreign ministers of EU member states and Eastern Partnership countries, as well as representatives of the civil society forum to take part in the session. Within the framework of Klimkins visit, meetings are scheduled with the leadership of the European Commission, representatives of the European Parliament, heads of foreign ministries of the EU countries, as well as a speech at the high-level conference "Interventions in elections in the digital era." Related: Ukraine may introduce biometric visas for Russians, - MFA In particular, the Minister will meet with Maros Sefcovic, Vice-President of the European Commission, EU Commissioner for Union Security Sir Julian Beresford King, Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, and Peter Szijjarto Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. Reportedly, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared the Hungarian consul in Berehove, Zakarpattia region, persona non grata and obliged him to leave Ukraine within 72 hours. In response, Hungary decided to expel a Ukrainian consul in Budapest as a reaction to the similar measures of Kyiv. Earlier, Ukrinfrom published a video where few Ukrainians were receiving Hungarian passports and owed allegiance to Hungry in the Consulate in Berehove. The Hungarian diplomat recommended not to inform the Ukrainian authorities about receiving the new documents. Ukraine's Foreign Minister said that the video was checked on the authenticity. If it is authentic, the Hungarian consul will be expelled from the country. In his turn, Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, claimed the attempts to intimidate the Transcarpathian Hungarians and threatened to make Ukraines integration more complicated. Later it was also reported that for seven years, the Hungarian consulates in Berehove and Uzhhorod of Zakarpattia region have been granting Hungarian citizenship to local residents who are citizens of Ukraine. Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, claimed that Ukraine's Security Service investigates this case; however, the service denied this. Tamas Menczer, Hungarys Foreign Minister Spokesperson later reported that Hungary does not intend to withdraw its consul from Berehove due to the scandalous video about the issuance of Hungarian passports to the Ukrainians. In its turn, Ukraine claimed that if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary does not withdraw its consul from Berehove, Ukraine will offer him to abandon the territory. Two-thirds of the MPs should vote positively for the ratification of the agreement Open source Today, on October 15, the Parliament of Macedonia will consider the matter on the name change of the country and will hold voting, AFP reports. Macedonia's parliament will vote Monday on whether to ratify a deal to change the country's name, in a bid to finally settle one of Europe's longest-running disputes, the outlet reported. Related: Referendum on name change of country takes place in Macedonia It is noted that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev faces an uphill battle to get the necessary votes to introduce the relevant constitutional amendment. If he succeeded, then the name of the country will change to North Macedonia, the text of the preamble and guarantees of the immutability of borders and sovereignty of neighboring countries will be changed. Support measures for diaspora abroad will also be adjusted. Related: Macedonia's President urges to protest against referendum on renaming Earlier, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, stated that Macedonia would be invited to the negotiations on the membership in NATO right after the question of the renaming of the state is finally settled. Stoltenberg said that the recent agreement on the renaming of the country into the North Macedonia with Greece and the end of a long-term conflict was a historic agreement, which provides a historic opportunity for Skopje to join NATO. Although, he didnt admit that Putin was involved in murder and poison all over the world President of the United States Donald Trump claimed in the interview with CBS that he was tough with President of Russia Vladimir Putin. The journalist asked Trump why he never had a harsh word for Vladimir Putin. I didn't? I'm the one that gave Ukraine offensive weapons and tank killers. Obama didn't. You know what he sent? He sent pillows and blankets, Trump answered. Related: Trump, Putin to meet in spring in Helsinki, - media Also, he claimed that he is very tough with Putin personally. In particular at the meeting in Helsinki in July this year. However, the US President couldnt clearly answer the question of whether Vladimir Putin is involved in assassinations and poisonings. Trump admitted that Russia interfered in the US Presidential Elections, however, he changed the topic by saying that China has also interfered. It was reported earlier that Trump and Putin may meet next time in Helsinki in the spring of 2019. 112 Agency Amnesty International human rights organization reported the abduction of its employee in Russia. This is stated in a document released by the press service of the Russian division of the organization. "Oleg Kozlovsky, an Amnesty International researcher who was sent to Ingushetias capital Magas to monitor mass protest rallies, was abducted, beaten and subjected to a staged execution by unknown persons who identified themselves as security officials," human rights activists say. October 5, Kozlovsky arrived in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia, to monitor peaceful protests that began after the leaders of Ingushetia and Chechnya signed an agreement on defining the administrative border between the two regions on September 26. The following evening, an unknown person who identified himself as the representative of the protest organizers took Kozlovsky into his car under the pretext of organizing a meeting with the protesters. Instead, the researcher was taken outside the city, where he was beaten and threatened to be shot," reads the message. Kozlovsky himself said that the abductors introduced themselves as employees of the Center for Combating Extremism. They put a gun to my head and said that they were going to kill me. The men called themselves employees of the local Center for Combating Extremism. They demanded from me the names of my contacts in Ingushetia and threatened to kill my wife and children if I report what happened," he said. Human rights activists report that Kozlovsky was beaten several times and participated in staged executions twice - putting his face down on the ground, putting a gun to the back of his head and threatening to kill him. In addition, they forced Kozlovsky to take off his clothes and took some photos of him naked, threatening to make public the pictures if he told about the abduction. Realizing that Kozlovsky would not disclose the information known to him, the kidnappers took him to North Ossetia and left him near the airport. Before letting go, one of the unknowns said:" Never come back and never write about Ingushetia, Kozlovsky claimed. This violent incident is shocking and alarming. But the authorities should understand that people who hide behind the masks cannot intimidate us, the director of Amnesty International for Eastern Europe and Central Asia noted. Kozlovsky clarified that he took his family and left Russia. He hopes to return and continue his work in the near future. Related: Russian satellite communication system discovered in Donbas Related: Ukraine's Former Minister of Defense Valeriy Shmarov dies aged 74 For more than two weeks, people in Ingushetia have been protesting a new regional border between Ingushetia and Chechnia in the streets of Magas, the capital of the Muslim North Caucasus republic. The current events in Ingushetia are ignored by Russian state media. Radio Liberty October 15, a magnitude 4,7 earthquake has hit the Sea of Azov on the border between Ukraine and Russia. This is reported by the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center. According to the agency, tremors recorded at a depth of 10 km at 13:42. The epicenter of the earthquake was located 58 km from Berdyansk, Zaporizhya region. At the same time, the Russian Emergency Ministry Directorate for the Krasnodar Territory, citing the geophysical service of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reports that the magnitude was 4.3 points. According to the report of operational duty officers of Yeisk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and Temryuk districts, the residents did not feel pushing, no victims and no damage fixed. The evacuation of the population was not carried out. Life support objects and the economy are operating normally, the regional emergency ministry said. Earlier President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko informed that Ukraine is preparing to resist Russian aggression in the Sea of Azov. We are preparing to repulse Russian aggression at the sea direction - in the Sea of Azov. Gunpowder should be kept ready, Poroshenko noted. October 12, President Petro Poroshenko introduced a partially secret decision of the Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to protect the interests of Ukraine in the south and east, as well as in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and in the Kerch Strait. Earlier, NSDC Secretary Olexandr Turchynov said that Ukraine would continue to expand its military presence in the Sea of Azov to repel "possible aggression" on the part of the Russian Federation. In particular, a shipboat group has already been created, and plans include the creation of a naval base on the Sea of Azov by the end of 2018. Related: Pope Francis plans to visit North Korea Radio Vaticana Pope Francis expressed a desire to visit North Korea in the spring of 2019. This was stated by the chairman of the South Korean Democratic Party, Lee Hwe Chan, reports Yonhap. I heard talks that Pope Francis wants to visit North Korea in the spring of next year, he said during a meeting with senior party members. However, at the same time, politician did not disclose the sources of his information. As you know, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has invited Pope Francis to Pyongyang. Earlier Pope Francis delivered an address to the members of the mafia during his visit to Sicily, BBC reports. In particular, the pontiff in his speech said that the members of the organized crime, most of them go to church and openly demonstrate their religiousness, they can't believe in God and be Mafiosi at the same time. 'A person who is a Mafioso does not live as a Christian because with his life he blasphemes against the name of God," Pope Francis said, before pleading: "Change, brothers and sisters! Stop thinking about yourselves and your money... Convert yourselves to the real God.' The outlet also noted that Pope Francis arrived in Palermo, the capital of Sicily to pay homage to Father Giuseppe Puglisi who was shot dead by the mafia in Sicily 25 years ago after he entered into an open confrontation with the organized crime, which controlled the city. Related: Electrotechnical plant caught fire in Kyiv, casualties reported, - media New evidence of the presence of Russian military equipment in Donbas was found, DFRLab Digital Forensic Research Lab reports. The investigation established that the recently developed satellite communications system was delivered to the occupied areas of Donbas. Related: Day in Donbas - Eleven attacks of pro-Russian militants On June 9, 2018, VKontakte user Artyom Donetsk posted an album with several photographs, which spanned an uncertain timeframe and depicted his activity as a Russia-led separatist fighter in Donetsk regin of eastern Ukraine, the representatives of the lab claimed. The album included two photographs of him posing with another fighter outside of a building complex with an army green satellite dish deployed in the background. This radar dish is identical in appearance to the Russian Auriga-1.2V satellite communications system, which went into production in 2014. Related: 27 Security Service members killed during fighting in Donbas This system has never been exported to Ukraine or used by its armed forces. In other words, it can only be in eastern Ukraine through direct Russian assistance to separatists, the researchers noted. The images depict facility held by so-called Donetsk Peoples Republics (DPR) 11th Motor-Rifle Regiment Vostok in the Donetsk suburb of Makiivka. An eye-opening and thrilling dramatization of historic events based largely on the true-life experiences of political provocateur Lance Gowland. The Stonewall riots of 1969when LGBTQ people fought back against an early morning police raid in Greenwich Villageare considered to be among the most important events in the struggle for gay rights in the U.S. But a similarly dramatic and pivotal activist movement took place in 1970s Australia, where homosexuality was still criminalized and persecution was commonplace. RIOTan eye-opening and thrilling dramatization of historic eventsis based largely on the true-life experiences of political provocateur Lance Gowland. The film vividly recounts his efforts, alongside Marg McMann, to bring together the diverse views of competing gay activist groups in Sydney: those who wished to combat the system at all costs, and those who preferred mainstream dialogue. Their fractious collaboration culminated in the first Sydney Mardi Gras street celebration in 1978, which, despite police brutality and arrests, planted the seeds of lasting civil rights change and equality. With sharp, witty dialogue and sensitive direction by Jeffrey Walker (MODERN FAMILY, DIFFICULT PEOPLE), RIOT gleefully re-creates the look (and hair and clothes) of its 70s Aussie activist ensemble, with a cast including Xavier Samuel (THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE) and Jessica De Gouw (ARROW). Released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original Mardi Gras and the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia, RIOT is an epic, uplifting film experience that highlights a historic event in the LGBTQ liberation movement. TICKET PRICES: $11.00 General Admission $9.00 for WOW Members Tickets purchased online will be held at will call of the venue of your first screening. Punch-cards and passes purchased online will have to be picked up starting September 29th at Self Serve Toys located at 3904B Central Ave SE (505-265-5815). You will NOT receive your pass or punch-card in the mail or at the venues. To pick up your online order, we ask that you bring along a picture ID to redeem your purchases. Simply showing up with a printout or a confirmation number isn't enough. TWEET ME DISCLAIMER *COMMENTS, LINKS, AND CUT AND PASTE ARTICLES, ARE NOT ALL ENDORSED BY THE PUBLISHER. THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed. MORE DISCLAIMERS This is a commercial free blog. Money is nice, but being able to speak my mind is better. "Real talk: Daniel Rubin has a great little piece up wherein he chats with The Field Negro, the Philly-based blogger who sharply ponders all things black on a daily basis. (Seriously, if youve never checked in with TFN, you should: Its author, Wayne Bennett, is a fantastic read who can cut through bullshit like a hot knife through butter, which is a far grosser analogy than I wanted to make, but there you have it.)" ~Philebrity~ "One of the most precocious and hilarious Black political minds on the net. Ive been a long-time fan!" ~Asad Malik~ "..While most of what he writes is tongue-in-cheek, his space is a safe house for candid discussions about race, especially in the comments section, where people of all colors meet." ~~Daniel Rubin, "The Philadelphia Inquirer"~~ "To white people, Bennett's musings are like kitchen-table talk from a kitchen they may otherwise never set foot in. To African Americans, he is part of a growing army of black Internet amateurs who have taken up the work once reserved for ministers and professional activists: the work of setting a black agenda, shaping black opinion and calling attention to the state of the nation's racial affairs." ~~Richard Fausset, "L.A. Times"~~~ ~Erik Hare, "The Twin Cities Daily Planet"~ "That's why I love the blog " Field Negro " so much. Field, as he's known to his fans, has the sense of reality that it takes to call out the ( CowPuckey ) of blame beating by those who are in positions of power and their lackeys. Because of his handle and his unabashed way of writing about racial issues, Field is often cited as a "Black blogger." What he is, however, is a first-class detector of blame deflection and an excellent student of history. If you want to write about the past and future of repression there's really no other perspective to take - which is why everyone should read Field."~Erik Hare, "The Twin Cities Daily Planet"~ 411 On The Field field negro Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Raised in the house, but field certified. Jamaica is the land of my birth, but I consider myself a citizen of the world. I currently practice law in the city of "brotherly love". View my complete profile "Half a century after Little Rock, the Montgomery bus boycott and the tumultuous dawn of the modern civil rights era, the new face of the movement is Facebook, MySpace and some 150 black blogs united in an Internet alliance they call the AfroSpear. Older, familiar leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, are under challenge by a younger generation of bloggers known by such provocative screen names as Field Negro, thefreeslave and African American Political Pundit. And many of the newest struggles are being waged online." ~Howard Witt-The Chicago Tribune~ "I had no idea, for example, of the extent of the African-American blogging world out there and its collective powers of dissemination.But now, after reading thousands of anguished, thoughtful comments posted on these blogs reflecting on issues of persistent racial discrimination in the nation's schools and courtrooms, what's clear to me is that there's a new, "virtual" civil rights movement out there on the Internet that can reach more people in a few hours than all the protest marches, sit-ins and boycotts of the 1950s and 60s put together." ~Chicago Tribune Reporter, Howard Witt~ IF YOU ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO FLAUNT IT. Come visit my store on CafePress! According to the envoy, the European country's financial institutions and investors view Peru as one of the most interesting nations in Latin America when it comes to investment. "For you, a 4% annual growth rate is a crisis, but for us and the world, this is a high expansion rate," de Boer expressed. Speaking at a conference along with Labor and Employment Promotion Minister Christian Sanchez, the statesman referred to an emblematic case that started as a workplace harassment situation and led to a subsequent incident of aggression. "Such indifference is a form of violence . So, we must react as a State and in the workplace. Hence the importance of launching Linea 1819," he affirmed. Besides bringing the State closer to them, this tool provides workers with an option to report and address violence at an early stage, he explained. "As a State, we've categorized harassment as a crime . It used to be an offense not long ago. Therefore, we need a complaint to proceed. Besides, we must facilitate contact with the population and victims," he noted. Linea 1819 According to the Head of State, all incoming calls will be redirected to Women's Emergency Centers or Directorates General of Employment. (END) JCC/VVS/RMB Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra presided over the launch of Linea 1819, a free-of-charge helpline aimed at reporting sexual harassment at work and providing a State response at an early stage.Published: 10/15/2018 Likewise, the Head of State emphasized the civic culture promoted at educational institutions. aspire to be a future In this sense, he urged students at this all-girls school toto be a future mayor or President of Peru , thus stressing the importance of civic culture to achieve excellence. He referred to a number of remarkable women such as Esther Caceres and Elvira Garcia. However, he believes there should be more like them. According to the Peruvian leader, more than 600 schools are being built at the district and regional level. His remarks were made during the opening of the refurbished Esther Caceres Salgado School in Lima's Rimac district. (END) JCC/VVS/RMB True education involves providing equal opportunities and possibilities for women, President Martin Vizcarra affirmed on Monday.Published: 10/15/2018 Roscoe Mitchell Master of sound and silence by Piotr Michalowski From the October, 2018 issue Saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, teacher, and composer Roscoe Mitchell comes to Ann Arbor this month to play at the twenty-second annual Edgefest, this year dedicated to the sounds of Chicago. He grew up in that city, eventually becoming a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Mitchell studied and played within AACM's Experimental Band, and it was out of this milieu that his own groups began to develop. Mitchell's 1966 recording Sound met with much critical acclaim and provided him and the Chicago experimental jazz scene with national and international exposure. Looking back, it is apparent that much of Mitchell's subsequent work developed logically from that project. He rigorously rehearsed the group, providing meticulously crafted compositions that explored multiple themes and shifting sound textures, with written and improvised passages wound together as kindred elements, often without a pronounced rhythmic pulse. As opposed to much of contemporary East Coast "free jazz," Sound did not continuously resound with fury but exploited the power of silence. Indeed, years later, Mitchell says "music is 50 percent sound and 50 percent silence." In 1969 Mitchell, trumpeter Lester Bowie, bassist Malachi Favors, and a new member, woodwind player Joseph Jarman, moved to France, where they reorganized as the cooperative Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC), eventually solidifying the group with the addition of percussionist Don Moye. The AEC's motto was "Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future," and it incorporated not only American and African elements, but also Western classical, Asian, and South American components. Dramatic visual effects and the integration of myriad saxophones, clarinets, flutes, and small sound makers contributed to a universalist musical and political hybrid. With face paint, costumes, and enormous bass drums, and flanked by two large bass saxophones, they were a sight to behold. After three years in Europe they returned to this country to pursue their individual paths but have regrouped regularly over the years. In 1974 Mitchell cofounded the Creative Arts Collective (CAC) in East Lansing with young musicians from Detroit. He will perform twice at Edgefest: with his Detroit friends in a celebration of the legacy of the CAC on October 17 at the Kerrytown Concert House, and leading a large ensemble in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the AEC on October 20 at Bethlehem United Church of Christ. [Originally published in October, 2018.] YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Washington has no information at the moment whether North Korea is working on the production of new missiles, US President Donald Trump said in an interview with CBS television channel, TASS reports. "We really don't know," Trump said. "Let's say the answer is yes, okay? In the meantime, they haven't tested a missile. They haven't tested a rocket." "They definitely haven't done a nuclear test because you know about them real fast," he said. "It sort of moves the earth. And we have a relationship now." The historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump took place at the Capella Hotel on Singapores Sentosa Island on June 12. The parties signed a joint document, in which Pyongyang made a commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula in return for US security guarantees. Trump pledged to meet Pyongyangs demand to halt joint military drills with South Korea. "We're meeting," Trump continued in his interview with CBS television channel. "I believe he [North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] likes me. I like him. We have a good relationship. It's very important." YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Russian Federal Security Service border guards in Armenia apprehended a trespasser on the Armenian-Turkish border, the Russian Federal Security Service told Armenpress. The border guards havent found any identification documents. According to preliminary data, the trespasser is a citizen of Iran. He informed that he crossed the border in order to avoid military service. The trespasser has been handed over to the Armenian law enforcement agencies. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The border crossing between Syria and Jordan officially reopened on October 15 after being closed for three years, Reuters reports. The border, however, will not open to normal traffic yet. The Syrian government retook the area around the border crossing with Jordan at Nassib in July during a weeks-long Russian-backed offensive to drive rebels from their stronghold in southwest Syria. The closure of the Nassib crossing in 2015 cut a crucial transit route for hundreds of trucks a day transporting goods between Turkey and the Gulf, and Lebanon and the Gulf, in multi-billion dollar annual trade. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. An unidentified gunman has opened gunfire in an Armenian restaurant in Glendale, California. One person has been killed and another was wounded, KTLA reported. The shooting took place October 14 in the evening at the Ararat restaurant. Police are questioning nearly 100 guests who attended a banquet. Local police said the gunmen fled the scene on a grey vehicle. Other details werent immediately clear. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will not tender his resignation today, PMs spokesperson Arman Yeghoyan told Tert.am online newspaper. Yeghoyan was asked if Pashinyan is planning to resign because in an earlier interview to France24 he had said that he will resign by October 16 in order to trigger the process of calling early elections of parliament. First of all I would like to remind what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had said entirely. He emphasized that according to preliminary information, if early elections are to be held December 9-10, it would require him to tender his resignation within the timeframe you mentioned. But if the election day, for example, get shifted by two, three or five days, then the resignation timeframe also changes, it will happen soon, Yeghoyan said. He said that the resignation day is also connected to several other issues which are currently being worked on. Under the law, the incumbent parliament will be dissolved in the event of failing to elect a new prime minister twice after the incumbent PM resigns. Pashinyan took office after massive protests in April forced president-turned PM Serzh Sargsyan to resign. But Sargsyans Republican Party (HHK) still has most seats in parliament. Since taking office, PM Nikol Pashinyan has numerously said that the incumbent parliament doesnt represent the people and that early elections should take place as soon as possible. Below is an excerpt from Article 149 of the Constitution of Armenia on Election and Appointment of the Prime Minister: In case the Prime Minister submits a resignation or in other cases of the office of the Prime Minister becoming vacant, the factions of the National Assembly shall be entitled to nominate candidates for Prime Minister within a period of seven days after accepting the resignation of the Government. The National Assembly shall elect the Prime Minister by majority of votes of the total number of Deputies [Members of Parliament]. In case Prime Minister is not elected, a new election of Prime Minister shall be held seven days after voting, wherein the candidates for Prime Minister nominated by at least one third of the total number of Deputies shall be entitled to participate. In case Prime Minister is not elected by majority of votes of the total number of Deputies, the National Assembly shall be dissolved by virtue of law. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The 8th international industrial exhibition EXPO-RUSSIA ARMENIA 2018 and the Yerevan Business Forum will be held in the Yerevan EXPO exhibition complex from October 17 to 19. Director of Expo-Russia Armenia 2018 Svetlana Zabelina told a press conference in ARMENPRESS that the event will be attended by companies representing the fields of machinery, energy, mining industry, IT, telecommunication, agriculture, education and etc. Traditionally, there is a high-level participation during these events. Members of Armenian, Russian executive, legislative powers, representatives of the diplomatic sector are taking part in the exhibition. This year Russias delegation is headed by first deputy minister of industry and trade Sergey Tsyb, she said. More than 100 companies from Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Belarus will present their potential within the frameworks of the events. Svetlana Zabelina informed that 50% of the participating companies are new ones. Guests are also expected from Georgia and Iran. These events are already a good platform to develop economic, commercial relations by strengthening also social, cultural ties. We have planned more than 1000 separate meetings for the participants, she said. Andrei Babko, Russias commercial representative to Armenia, attached importance to these events, stating that they are a good opportunity for business representatives. Of course, we are following how many companies established ties later, started working jointly within the frames of these events. There are such results, but its a little annoying that companies inform us about their cooperation works with each other very late or do not inform. I wish good luck to the process of the events, I think its really a great opportunity for the business representatives, he said. Zarubezh Expo OJSC director for international cooperation Anatoly Nikolayev said quite full agenda of events is planned. In addition to the official welcoming ceremony, comprehensive business programs, meetings with the representatives of Armenias various agencies are scheduled. Expo-Russia Armenia 2018 is a good platform for the Russian and foreign companies to find reliable partners, establish firm ties and enter new markets, he said. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has held a meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. State Departments Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent. The PM welcomed Kents visit to Armenia and said it is a good chance to discuss the agenda of bilateral relations and possibilities for developing cooperation, the PMs office said. George Kent said he is happy to visit Armenia in the period of ongoing changes in the country, and that the United States attaches importance to further enhancement of mutually beneficial partnership with Armenia. The Prime Minister addressed domestic political processes and stressed that Armenia is resolutely advancing on the path of developing democracy, which isnt a foreign political orientation for the Armenian society but an inner conviction and value. The PM also spoke about the coherent work as part of the anti-corruption combat and the reforms in various areas. Kent noted that the United States government is interested in Armenia having successes in developing democracy, economic progress, as well as in other priority directions of the country, and is ready to assist the Armenian government in the process of implementing reforms. During the meeting the sides also exchanged ideas over the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the current international situation, regional challenges and several other issues. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. Within the frameworks of his visit to the Republic of Artsakh, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian met with President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan in Stepanakert, reports Armenpress. President Sarkissian told reporters at Shushis museum of fine arts that he has discussed wide range of issues with his Artsakh counterpart. We talked about the domestic political life in Artsakh, the situation in the border, as well as a number of other issues. We also touched upon the future activity of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. No one can underestimate the works of this structure for these years. We expect that the Fund will continue not only operating well, but also ensuring good quality. I, as a chairman of the Funds Board of Trustees, will do everything possible for the structure to develop program led by the new executive director which will contribute to reaching the activities of the Fund to a higher level which in its turn will lead to recovering the activity which has been stopped for several months, the President said. The Armenian President added that he wouldnt like to separate his visit to Artsakh as a regular official visit. Every time by visiting Artsakh I discover it in a new way. In a sense, I come home. This time I visited with my wife and participated in the Harvest festival organized at the Revival square, Armen Sarkissian said, adding that he tasted the Artsakh dishes. After visiting Shushis museum of fine arts, which has a collection of very great paintings in a short period of time, representing the works of different painters, I would like to state that this structure is an architectural value, and its welcoming that classic music concerts are regularly being held here, President Sarkissian said. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The bomb threat called in at a public school in Yerevan turned out to be false, ministry of emergency situations spokesperson Satenik Asilyan told ARMENPRESS. She said there was no need to evacuate the building. The caller was a child, she said. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. In the first half of 2018 the trade turnover volume between Armenia and Russia has surpassed the figure of the same period of 2017 by nearly 26%, Andrei Babko, Russias commercial representative to Armenia, told a press conference in ARMENPRESS. Russia plays key role in Armenias economy, there are a lot of companies. Nearly 37% of all foreign direct investments in Armenia are Russian. By looking at the figures of the first half of 2018, we can state that we will have good results also by the end of the year, he said. Andrei Babko said Russia is trying to promote not only the export to Armenia, but also vice versa. The Russian side is trying to assist the Armenian companies to find their place in the Russian market. As you know, traditionally, agricultural goods, as well as brandy, wine are imported to Russia. In addition, the import of textile and footwear from Armenia to Russia has become quite active. The Armenian goods are demanded in Russia and distinguished by their quality, he said. During the press conference the reporters asked whether the recent political events in Armenia affected the Armenia-Russia trade, investment volumes. I would like to note that before these events we have already established cooperation. The political events didnt affect in a sense that everything was going on its path. We see that Armenia and Russia maintain and implement at a political level the agreements of the previous years. We see activeness of contacts between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russias President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Its another matter that while engaged in political reforms one should not forget that it is necessary to continue assisting and contributing to forming a favorable environment for investments, Andrei Babko said. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan on October 15 received the delegation of the Lebanese regional board of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavar Party) led by Avetis Takesyan, the Artsakh Presidential Office told Armenpress. A number of issues relating to Artsakhs domestic and foreign policy and socio-economic development were discussed during the meeting. The President highlighted maintenance of a continuous dialogue with traditional parties considering it among the practical manifestations of the Homeland-Diaspora ties. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, 15 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 15 October, USD exchange rate down by 0.34 drams to 485.28 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 4.22 drams to 562.25 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.06 drams to 7.40 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.83 drams to 638.00 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price up by 520.64 drams to 19030.68 drams. Silver price up by 4.13 drams to 227.79 drams. Platinum price up by 271.87 drams to 13074.57 drams. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan court of general jurisdiction has made a decision to extend the term of detention of MP Manvel Grigoryan for two month. Grigoryans lawyer Levon Baghdasaryan told ARMENPRESS that he plans to make an announcement over the decision. I will make an announcement about our position on October 17. My preliminary opinion is that the person is held in custody as a hostage, Baghdasaryan said. The court also rejected the motion of Grigoryans lawyers to change the preventive measure of Grigoryan by release on bail. A Yerevan court approved the motion of the Prosecutor General to remand Member of Parliament Manvel Grigoryan in custody on June 19 after the parliament stripped the lawmaker of parliamentary immunity. The lawmaker from the Republican Party faction is suspected in embezzling military supplies and illegal possession of firearms. Upon searching the compound of Grigoryan, agents found huge amounts of military weapons and ammunition and supplies, including donated food and clothing which was meant to be sent to soldiers in Artsakh back in 2016. The donated supplies even include letters written by schoolchildren during the days of the April War of 2016. The Prosecutor General requested an extraordinary sitting of the parliament to take place to strip the MP of parliamentary immunity, in order to keep him in pre-trial custody. A private zoo and a large car collection were also found during the search of the compound. On June 19, the parliament voted to strip the MP of immunity and approved launching criminal proceedings. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Iran's foreign ministry and diplomatic mission in Ankara on Monday rejected the reports on bombing and evacuation of the country's embassy in Turkey, ARMENPRESS reports, citing IRNA. Dismissing the reports as false, Irans foreign ministry spokesman Baharam Qasemi said that the staff in the embassy is safe and sound and doing their routine work. Turkish media today reported that the Iranian embassy has been evacuated following a warning on a possible suicide bomb attack. The reports also claimed that the street leading to the building was cordoned off after a suspected suicide attacker entered the embassy. Iran's Ambassador to Ankara has also rejected the evacuation of the embassy, describing the threat as 'false'. Ebrahim Taherianfard said that a person claiming to be affiliated to the terrorist group of Daesh (ISIS) had threatened to attack the embassy. Following the threat, Turkish police took strict security measures in the area. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is expected to resign on October 16, PMs spokesperson Arman Yeghoyan told ARMENPRESS. To the question if the PM will resign during the extraordinary session of the Cabinet, Yeghoyan answered, I cannot answer that question. It may happen during the session, an hour after the session or 7 hours after the session. PM Pashinyan announced about his intention to resign on October 10. He told France 24 TV that he plans to resign until October 16, which means that the early parliamentary elections will take place on December 9 or 10. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan Thinking of heading to Greece for your next holiday getaway? Well, you might want to be careful of packing on the kilos before you go as the popular tourist destination just banned overweight people from one of its most famous attractions. In a bid to protect the welfare of the iconic Santorini work donkeys, the countrys government passed a new law, putting a limit on how much weight the donkeys can carry. As millions of tourists visit the island each year its common for sightseers to pay for a donkey ride from the shore up the steep slopes to the islands main town. Millions of tourists take to the Greek island of Santorini each year and ride on the islands iconic donkeys. Source: Getty Images However, animal welfare groups have banded together suggesting the animals were suffering spinal injuries from carrying heavier travellers. So now, anyone wishing to ride the donkeys will have to weigh less than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) or one-fifth of the donkeys body weight. The animals should not be loaded with a weight excessive in size, age or physical condition, the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food instructed. The new regulations are also cracking down on the animals living conditions and treatment following complaints from activists. The guidelines insist that the animals are exercised once a day for at least half an hour and have access to adequate food and fresh drinking water. Furthermore, any injured animals will no longer be allowed to work. While it certainly is a step in the right direction animal rights group PETA have suggested that it is simply a throwaway gesture that wont prevent the daily suffering that these donkeys endure. Donkeys can still be forced to carry a person weighing 15 stone 10 pounds (100 kilograms) up more than 500 steep steps four to five times a day, said Mimi Bekhechi, PETA UKs director of international programs. Mules are also used by some operators, its a step in the right direction but animal rights groups are claiming it still isnt enough. Source: Getty Images Got a story tip? Send it to tips@oath.com Want more lifestyle and celebrity news? Follow Yahoo Lifestyle on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. At least 11 people died when violent rainstorms turned rivers into raging torrents in southwest France on Monday, prompting some of the deadliest flooding in years, officials said. The equivalent of three months rainfall was dumped overnight in the region of Carcassonne in just a few hours, sending rivers over their banks, including the Aude, which reached levels not seen in 100 years. Local authorities in the Aude department said 11 people were killed, a second reduction in the official toll which had earlier stood at 13, a figure given by the interior ministry. Two people were still missing with eight others seriously injured, authorities added. President Emmanuel Macron, whose office said he will soon visit the affected areas, offered "the sympathy and solidarity of the entire nation for the victims of the Aude flooding and their families." The rescue operations appear to have delayed an expected announcement on a government reshuffle, triggered by the sudden resignation of interior minister Gerard Collomb nearly two weeks ago. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who is acting as interim interior minister, said the government would ask insurers to process disaster claims and payments "as quickly as possible" while he assessed the damage in the region. - 'There's water everywhere' - One of the overnight victims was an 88-year-old nun who was swept from her room by floodwaters at the Burning Bush priory in the village of Villardonnel, north of the fortress city of Carcassonne. "The water crashed through the building's main door and on through the door to her room, the lowest in the convent," said Sister Irene, the mother superior. Elsewhere, flash floods overturned cars, gutted streets and battered buildings and bridges, especially to the north of Carcassonne where authorities ordered bridges closed. The Aude's levels were expected to peak late Monday evening. Evacuations were still being carried out in several towns in the afternoon, local authorities said. "There's water everywhere in the house. Everything is flooded," Helene Segura told AFP by telephone from the hard-hit village of Villegailhenc, where at least one small bridge had collapsed. "Rescue teams were deployed as quickly as possible, but operations have proved to be complicated," said interior ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle. In the town of Trebes, near Carcassonne, the Aude rose eight metres (26 feet) in just five hours, officials said. - Hundreds evacuated - According to the latest toll figures from the regional authorities, a total of six people died in Trebes, which made headlines earlier this year after a jihadist attacker killed four people in a shooting spree, including a police officer who took the place of a hostage. Two elderly residents died overnight in Villegailhenc, where the main bridge collapsed, and one person was killed in Villalier. On Monday evening the body of another victim was found in Carcassonne making this one of the deadliest storms in France for a decade. With many roads impassable, helicopters were used in the rescue operations. Around 1,000 people were evacuated from the area of Pezens, also near Carcassonne, amid fears that a nearby dam could burst, and thousands of homes throughout the area were without electricity after strong winds brought down power lines. The storms were triggered when a front of warm and humid air from the Mediterranean Sea slammed into colder air around the Massif Central mountain range, inundating an area from the eastern Pyrenees to Aveyron further north. This well-known weather pattern occurs three to six times a year in the region and nearly always triggers flash flooding. But the French weather forecasting service, Meteo France, suggested these episodes had recently become more frequent and more severe. An unrelated storm on Sunday also hit Portugal, leaving 28 people with minor injuries and hundreds of thousands without power amid flooding in the region around the capital Lisbon. The heavy rains, which later rolled on through Spain, were the tail end of Hurricane Leslie in the Atlantic, which weakened to a post-tropical storm as it made landfall. Last week, another weather system moving across the Mediterranean left 12 people dead on the Spanish island of Majorca as well as two people in southeast France. Further north, nearly 100 people have been evacuated because of flooding in Norway, where heavy rainfall has been accompanied by warm temperatures that have melted snow. Bridges and roads collapsed as flash floods swamped towns around the fortress city of Carcassonne in southern France French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe visited the scene, saying the government would press insurers to process disaster claims rapidly Some 600 firefighters rushed to help evacuate residents Map of southwestern France showing flood-hit areas The storms were triggered when a front of warm humid air from the Mediterranean Sea slammed into colder air around the Massif Central mountain range Authorities also rushed in helicopters to assist with rescue operations An Amnesty International researcher said Monday he was abducted and brutally beaten by men claiming to be from the Russian security service after he travelled to the North Caucasus to monitor peaceful protests. Oleg Kozlovsky was in the volatile Ingushetia region, where thousands have protested in recent weeks over a Moscow-backed deal that would hand over territory to the neighbouring region of Chechnya. A man claiming to represent a leader of the protest movement came to Kozlovsky's hotel on the evening of October 6 and led him to a waiting car, Amnesty said in a statement. Once the researcher was in the vehicle, two masked men entered, one of whom punched him in the face, before driving him to a field outside the regional capital Magas. "They held a gun to my head and told me they were going to kill me," Kozlovsky said. "The men identified themselves as being officers of the local Centre for Combating Extremism, a special police unit. "They demanded to know the names of my contacts in Ingushetia and threatened to kill my wife and children if I reported what happened." In a Facebook post, the Russian national said the men also threatened to rape him. But he added: "I won't be bullied into silence. It's imperative that the world knows the risks that human rights defenders and activists face in Russia." The attackers staged two mock executions and took photos of Kozlovsky naked, which they threatened to release if he told anyone about the ordeal, according to the statement. They later took his phone and camera before driving him to the nearby region of North Ossetia and releasing him near an airport. Amnesty said it had complained to the Russian authorities. Rights workers in Russia and particularly in the Caucasus region regularly report attacks and harassment. The head of the Chechen branch of Russia's top rights group Memorial was detained in January and is on trial on drugs charges that campaigners say are trumped up. The group's office in Ingushetia was also torched in January in an arson attack. The volatile Ingushetia region has been the scene of mass protests in recent weeks over a Moscow-backed deal that would hand over territory to neighbouring Chechnya Two male penguins who have paired up as a "same-sex couple" have become so good at nesting that zookeepers in Sydney have given them a real egg to look after. Sea Life Sydney said they had been watching "inseparable" gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic become a "great team" during this breeding season. Initially the pair were "constantly seen waddling around and going for swims together" and then they began to build a collective nest of pebbles. They gathered more than any other couple, prompting the aquarium to provide a dummy egg for them to look after. "They were absolute naturals and displayed great care for their egg, so much so, the team at Sea Life Sydney fostered a real egg to them from another couple who had two," the aquarium said. The pair are incubating their charge well enough that "there are often days where the egg cannot be seen," it added. But there is some room for parental improvement, with staff saying younger penguin Magic is still mastering the skill. This is not the first time same-sex penguin couples have adopted eggs in captivity, with a handful of zoos worldwide reporting similar cases. In 2009, two male penguins -- Z and Vielpunkt -- successfully hatched and reared a chick that was was rejected by its heterosexual parents at a zoo in Berlin. Before them came Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at a zoo in New York who were spotted frequently trying to mate with each other. After they tried to incubate a rock, zookeepers gave them a foster egg which they successfully hatched. Their foster chick, a female called Tango, eventually paired up with another female. Gentoo penguins build nests of pebbles to incubate their eggs Australia's indigenous affairs minister and several of his colleagues faced calls to resign Monday, after they backed a failed parliamentary motion tabled by a controversial senator that declared: "It is okay to be white." Several government ministers -- including those for trade, communications and indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion -- backed a resolution drafted by populist firebrand senator Pauline Hanson which railed against what it described as "the deplorable rise of anti-white racism". Luke Pearson, the founder of influential anti-racism group, IndigenousX, echoed a string of calls for Scullion to resign after the vote. "The minister for Indigenous Affairs, voting in support of what is widely known to be a white supremacist slogan, 'It's okay to be white', makes his position as minister entirely untenable. He needs to resign," Pearson wrote. Scullion, a white senator for the Northern Territory, has held the Indigenous Affairs portfolio since 2013. During parliamentary debate Hanson defended trying to codify what opponents see as race baiting. "Such a simple sentence should go without saying," Hanson told the chamber, before her motion was defeated 31 votes to 28. "But I suspect many members in this place would struggle to say it." Greens leader Richard Di Natale decried the move. "It's not just okay to be white in Australia, it's actually a ticket to winning the lotto. Look around this chamber and see how many faces aren't white," he said. "The reality is this 'it's okay to be white' slogan has a long history in the white supremacist movement where both these clowns get most of their material from," he said referring to Hanson and another senator who supported the motion. Although one-in-two Australians has a parent born abroad, racial inequality and public discourse on the issue is fraught. Australia's treatment of its indigenous population has long been a festering historical and political sore. The Aborginal population, who have occupied Australia for 50,000 years, were dispossessed of their lands by the arrival of settlers two centuries ago. They remain among the most disadvantaged Australians. They were believed to have numbered around one million at the time of British settlement, but now make up only about three percent of the total population of 25 million. The failed 'okay to be white' was tabled by right-wing senator Pauline Hanson The Himalayan nation of Bhutan, often described as a "Shangri-La" where happiness is equated to wealth, is holding elections this week. But the Lhotshampa people, brutally driven out of the small kingdom in the 1990s, won't be voting. The Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa were branded as immigrants and stripped of citizenship rights when the then-king introduced a "One Nation, One People" policy in 1985. The edict made following the customs of the Buddhist majority mandatory, including wearing their traditional dress, and speaking Nepali was banned. Those who resisted where labelled "anti-nationals", arrested and subjected to brutal treatment including rape and torture, according to Amnesty International. The security forces made detainees sign declarations saying they would leave Bhutan voluntarily as a condition of their release. Some 100,000 -- one sixth of Bhutan's population -- fled, ending up in refugee camps in eastern Nepal. One man who left Bhutan is Bhumpa Rai, who was serving as a royal doctor when the king's edict was promulgated. "They humiliated us... they said that we are not Bhutanese and chased me and my people from the country," Rai told AFP. The king offered him protection from the Draconian rules, introduced under the pretext of promoting "national harmony". But the doctor decided to join his fellow Lhotshampa and left Bhutan, becoming a refugee in Nepal. "They treated people of Nepali origin like enemies. I cannot respect them any more, though I admit that I used to clean their wounds. I was their doctor," the 68-year-old said. Rai is one of just 7,000 people who remain in the camps in Nepal. The majority have been resettled by the United Nations in third countries including the United States, Australia and Norway. But the UN programme ended in late 2016 with those remaining refusing resettlement because they say it absolves the Bhutanese authorities of what they did to the Lhotshampa. - 'Not happy' - Switzerland-sized Bhutan -- sandwiched between regional giants China and India -- has long resisted outside influences, with televisions only allowed in 1999. Its fight against Westernisation is often seen as a source of its mystic draw, along with its pursuit of "gross national happiness" -- made official policy in 1998 -- over economic gains. It only swapped absolute monarchy for constitutional monarchy in 2008 and the current elections, due to wrap up on Thursday, are the country's third. Bhutan still describes the Lhotshampa as immigrants, justifying its nationalistic laws as essential for cultural identity and political stability, according to Freedom House, a think tank. The refugees in Nepal do not expect the elections to bring any change. "The election results in Bhutan will reflect what the monarchy wants. Its decision won't come in our favour," said 80-year-old Durga Prasad Sharma -- an outspoken pronouncement that would be unheard of inside Bhutan where self-censorship is rife and the monarchy still revered. Sharma fled Bhutan in 1994 with a bounty on his head after he joined a political party demanding rights for the Lhotshampa. Such political parties are now banned under the constitution, which states that all parties have to promote national unity and are barred from using ethnicity or religion to attract voters. Parties also have to field candidates in all 47 constituencies. The rules have created a monolithic political environment leaving little room for minority rights, effectively disenfranchising the Lhotshampa who remain in Bhutan from the electoral process. It is unclear how many of the community are still in Bhutan: a 2017 census did not include questions about ethnicity, language or religion, which would have given an indication of how many people identify as part of Nepali-speaking, mostly Hindu minority. The government has prevented human rights groups established by Nepali-speakers from operating, categorising them as political organisations that do not promote national unity, according to the US State Department. In the lead up to the 2008 and 2013 polls there were reports of small protests by Nepali-speakers unable to vote, and during the 2013 elections international monitors also documented Nepali-speakers being turned away from polling centres. "We are also Bhutanese and we are not happy," said 54-year-old Rajman Gurung. "Lhotshampas in Bhutan are unhappy. We will be happy only if we are repatriated to our country and given equal status." Bhutanese refugee Durga Prasad Sharma fled Bhutan in 1994 with a bounty on his head after he joined a political party demanding rights for the Lhotshampa -- a Nepali-speaking minority who were branded as immigrants and stripped of citizenship Some 100,000 Lhotshampa -- one sixth of Bhutan's population -- fled the kingdom, ending up in refugee camps in eastern Nepal Bhutan still describes the Lhotshampa as immigrants, justifying its nationalistic laws as essential for cultural identity and political stability, according to Freedom House, a think tank The Lhotshampa refugees in Nepal do not expect this week's elections to bring any change Graphic on Bhutan's Nepali-speaking minority who were stripped of citizenship in the 1990s. Prince Harry and Meghan touched down in Sydney on Monday, kicking off a bumper Pacific tour that is the British royals' first major outing abroad as a couple. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a low-key arrival to a wet and wintery Australia after a weekend spent celebrating the marriage of their relative Princess Eugenie and following an overnight commercial flight with Qantas. They were seen leaving the airport with staff, looking relaxed, as Meghan clutched a pair of purple binders and Harry carried a brown and green manbag. Their more-than-two-week official visit will take in multiple stops in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand -- all parts of the Commonwealth, a group of predominantly former British colonies. Queen Elizabeth II is still the head of state in Australia although there is significant support for the country becoming a republic. Recent polls show Australians fairly evenly split on the issue, with only the slimmest of majorities in favour of ditching the British Queen and nominating an Australian head of state. During the trip, the royals plan to pet koalas, watch soldiers perform the haka and attend the Invictus Games, a multi-sport tournament for military service personnel and veterans who have been wounded or suffered injury or illness that opens on Saturday 20 October. The whole visit will be keenly watched by the British and Australian media. Meghan, a photogenic US actress, married the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II in May, becoming the newest royal to attract media obsession in Britain and beyond. The 37-year-old made waves recently by bucking protocol and closing her own car door. - Koalas and joeys - The couple will be accompanied by a staff of 10 and a substantially larger swarm of reporters from all the major British papers and TV broadcasters. The official visit begins on Tuesday in Sydney, where they will be welcomed by Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove -- the queen's official representative -- and his wife Lynne. The royals will meet two koalas and their joeys at Sydney's Taronga Zoo. After sailing Sydney Harbour and visiting the famous Bondi Beach, meeting flying doctors, attending functions at the Invictus Games and meeting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, they jet off to Fiji on October 23. Meghan will get a chance to speak at a UN women's empowerment in marketplaces event and meet some female vendors in the project in the Fiji capital Suva. They will meet the local royals in both Fiji and Tonga, which are members of the Commonwealth. The final leg coincides with the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in New Zealand -- the first country to give women the right to vote. Meghan is expected to speak at a suffrage anniversary celebration in Wellington on October 28. The couple will have a chance to watch members of the New Zealand defence force perform the haka -- the traditional warrior dance popularised globally by the nation's rugby team -- at a governor's reception earlier that afternoon. The trip officially ends in New Zealand on October 31. Meghan has previously visited New Zealand as a tourist in 2014. Prince Harry has been to all four countries, but on his own. The couple's first trip abroad saw them dash off to Dublin shortly after their wedding. Prince Harry and Meghan are set to visit Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand on their first major trip abroad as a couple British and European leaders insisted Monday they could still reach a Brexit deal despite the latest failed round of divorce talks, but the EU warned a no-deal scenario was "more likely than ever before". British Prime Minister Theresa May admitted there was still "disagreement" over how to keep open Britain's land border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, although she said a deal was still "achievable". "We'll just have to keep negotiating", said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed "we can make progress". But EU President Donald Tusk said in a letter to members of the European Council that while he encouraged all involved to "remain hopeful and determined... at the same time, responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before". The leaders were speaking two days before heading to Brussels for a summit that has been billed as the "moment of truth" ahead of Britain's exit from the bloc in March. May will update the other 27 European Union leaders before their dinner in Brussels on Wednesday, with the summit kicking off on Thursday, her Downing Street office confirmed. The EU's Brexit pointman Michel Barnier met his British counterpart Dominic Raab in Brussels on Sunday, but they failed to agree on a draft Brexit divorce arrangement as had been hoped. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, whose country would suffer the biggest economic impact if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, said an agreement was now more likely in November or December. May's Northern Irish unionist allies meanwhile warned the impasse meant it was "probably inevitable" Britain would leave the EU with no deal. Ireland's nationalist Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald cautioned her unionist rivals that if there were a hard Brexit, "then there will be an immediate demand for a referendum on Irish unity." - Time for 'cool heads' - Meanwhile, May made a statement to the House of Commons to address what she called "inaccurate speculation" about the Brexit talks. The Conservative leader, who is facing a political high-wire act in trying to reach a deal that is acceptable to both the EU and her MPs at home, said it was time for "cool, calm heads to prevail". "I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the EU. I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable," she said. But the threat she faces was revealed by Sammy Wilson, the Brexit spokesman for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which props up her government. He suggested there was no Brexit deal that would command the support of all British MPs, saying a no-deal scenario was "probably inevitable". European leaders insisted there was still time to resolve the outstanding issues before a possible emergency summit in November. "We were actually pretty hopeful that we would manage to seal an exit agreement. At the moment it looks more difficult," Merkel said, adding "we'll just have to keep negotiating". In Paris, Macron said: "I believe in our collective intelligence, so I think we can make progress", but added that "we are ready for all scenarios". Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Britain and the EU have "no alternative" to agreeing a divorce deal. "In the end we will find a way to deal with the UK," he told reporters after meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague. - Irish fundamentals - Sunday's talks between Barnier and Raab ended without a breakthrough on the crucial issue of future trade to and from the British province of Northern Ireland. London and Brussels say they want no physical checks on the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but the problem persists of how to square that aim with Britain's decision to leave the EU's single market and the customs union. Britain has proposed sticking with EU customs rules after Brexit as a fallback option to keep the border open until a wider trade deal is agreed that avoids the need for frontier checks. The EU's suggestion would see Northern Ireland remain aligned with Brussels' rules, thus varying from the rest of the United Kingdom -- an idea which is unacceptable to the DUP. May said this weekend's talks broke down because, while the EU accepted London's plan had merit, it was still insisting on its own proposal. She added that the two sides also remain at odds over how long the customs "backstop" would last, saying it could not continue "indefinitely." burs-pwd-ar-jwp/pvh/bmm Another round of talks ended without a breakthrough on the crucial issue of trade to and from Northern Ireland, which has emerged as a possible deal-breaker British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a political high-wire act in trying to reach a deal that is acceptable to both the EU and lawmakers at home Arlene Foster, the leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), whose spokesman has warned it was "probably inevitable" Britain would leave the EU with no deal The desert of northern Mexico seemed so perfect when the Mennonites moved here 26 years ago: a place free from electricity, television or cars. But then the government installed the first power lines. And now, this deeply traditional, tight-knit community is divided between those who want to stay in Sabinal, their far-flung, dusty village, and those who soon will load their wagons, hitch up their horses and move to a new, even more remote home. "When the power lines arrived, they decided to go," says Sabinal resident Enrique Friesen, 37, who for his part plans to stay, with his wife and eight children. "They don't want electricity -- just horses. They say electricity is a sin." The Mennonites of Mexico are the descendants of strictly conservative Protestants whose denominations emerged out of the 16th century Reformation in Europe. Their ancestors fled persecution in Germany and the Netherlands for Russia, then Canada and finally Mexico. Today, the people of Sabinal live in the Chihuahuan desert almost like an isolated indigenous tribe -- except that their skin is white, their hair typically blond, and their eyes blue. Men traditionally wear handmade overalls, while the women opt for long, flowing dresses. Their native language is Low German. In a sign of their limited contact with the rest of Mexico, they often speak little Spanish. They generally reject cell phones, television, cars and even rubber tires for their horse-drawn carriages. Of the estimated 60,000 Mennonites in the state of Chihuahua, Sabinal's 1,500 residents are among the most cloistered. But the arrival of electricity is bringing modernity -- and controversy -- to their door. Nearly a third of the village plans to move across Mexico to the southeastern state of Campeche, where another Mennonite community has already settled. "They want to conserve the faith. They don't want change," says Isaac Redecop, who runs the local store. Other Mennonites around the world "have already changed. They use cars, while we're still using horses," he told AFP. "But as far as I can tell, we have more peace and quiet than they do." - Reggaeton and Enrique Iglesias - For those who want to stay, electricity is a blessing -- and one that is not necessarily prohibited by their faith. Besides the convenience of electric lights and fans, it helps them irrigate their fields -- no small task in the desert. But those who want to leave say the outside world has already encroached far enough on their religion and culture. Sabinal is four hours from the nearest city, Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States -- it is located down a series of dirt roads that wind through mountains, hills and pastures. But outside influence has crept in, mainly through the farmhands the Mennonites hire from a nearby hamlet. On Sundays, Mennonite teens with a rebellious streak can be found in the fields covertly listening to reggaeton and Enrique Iglesias -- music picked up from the workers -- through battery-powered speakers. It is nearly impossible to totally isolate them from the world beyond -- especially since the Mennonites are hugely successful farmers. They make 1.5 tonnes a day of cheese, which has become popular in the surrounding area and draws a stream of customers to Sabinal. "It's the only cheese around without chemicals. Customers don't want chemicals. This cheese is pure milk," says Redecop. His store is one of a handful of businesses in town, alongside a doctor's office, a pharmacy, a feed shop and a hardware store. Besides making cheese, the Mennonites also farm cotton, sorghum and vegetables, having tamed the desert with a vast system of wells. When they moved here in 1992, they bought their land for $172 per hectare. Those who are leaving plan to sell it for $7,000 per hectare. - 'Can't blame the tires' - Sabinal's sprawling fields are dotted by houses adorned with colorful flowers. Chickens and cows roam the yards, along with playing children who shout excitedly in Low German when they see a stranger arrive, then run and hide. In a place where families have up to 17 kids, most of Sabinal's residents are children. They go to school six months a year -- six years total for girls, seven for boys -- studying subjects such as reading, writing, math, Mennonite history and the Bible. Their parents are apprehensive about the changes that technology could bring to a community that still prefers to fit its horse-drawn tractors and carriages with metal wheels. "People say (electricity) is bad. They say there are bad things on television. But I don't think everything on television is bad," says Jacobo, an unmarried 19-year-old whose family plans to stay. "They also say if people get rubber tires, they just use them to drive to town and buy liquor. But that's their own fault. You can't blame the tires." A Mennonite man rides a scooter in a cotton field in the Sabinal community in Mexico's Chihuahua State -- Mennonites do not use cars or any kind of mechanical mode of transportation Mexico's Mennonites reject cell phones, television and cars -- using horse-drawn carriages for transportation Mennonite women wear conservative, loose-fitting dresses and cover their heads For some Mennonites, electricity is allowed and can help with irrigating the fields -- no small task in the Chihuahuan desert A Mennonite man works at a cheese factory in Sabinal -- the community produces 1.5 tonnes of cheese every day Mennonite children play in Sabinal -- they go to school six months a year An argument at a toddlers birthday party in South Texas escalated into a shooting that left four men dead and a fifth man wounded, according to authorities. The shooting happened at a childs first birthday party in Taft, 19 kilometers north of Corpus Christi, on Saturday afternoon, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. Sergeant Nathan Brandley said those involved were distant relatives. Detectives search the scene of the shootings on Saturday evening. Source: KIIITV Authorities did not say what the men were arguing about. Sgt Brandley confirmed a 20-year-old man was in custody on Sunday. The mans 37-year-old father was also a suspect, but he had not yet been arrested, Sgt Brandley said. He identified those killed as 62-year-old Juan Espinoza Sr, 20-year-old Juan Sandoval III, 22-year-old Jeremy Sandoval and 25-year-old Nicky Sandoval. He said the three younger men are grandsons to Juan Espinoza Sr. The wounded man, 43-year-old Juan Espinoza Jr, was airlifted to a Corpus Christi hospital. Sgt Brandley said hes expected to survive. The incident comes just months after a young girl was stabbed to death at her own birthday party in Idaho. German police said Monday they were not eliminating terrorism as a possible motive for a hostage-taking at Cologne central station that left four people injured. "The investigation is considering all possibilities and we are not ruling out terrorism," said Cologne deputy police chief Miriam Brauns at a news conference. The suspect, who was badly wounded when police stormed the scene, had claimed to be a member of the Islamic State jihadist group, another police spokesman said. He had first hurled a Molotov cocktail inside a McDonalds restaurant, injuring a teenage girl, then taken another woman hostage in an adjacent pharmacy. He was holding a real or replica pistol when commandos stormed the site, said police, adding that the man was also in possession of camping gas containers. Police said they could not yet positively identify the hostage-taker, who was undergoing surgery, but believed he was a 55-year-old Syrian immigrant. Syrian identity documents had been found in the pharmacy, they said. The suspect in a hostage-taking in Germany's Cologne, who was badly wounded when police stormed the scene, had claimed to be a member of the Islamic State jihadist group, a police spokesman said Taking the ferry along a historic route between England and France has become a way of life for British retiree Peter Baker, who awaits Brexit with more than a little trepidation. The 63-year-old lives in the town of Plumpton in southern England near Newhaven, where he boards the boat to Dieppe about once a month to his second home in Normandy. "It is an excellent, excellent line and we fear for its future," said Baker, a member of the TUG-Horizon users' association which lobbies to preserve the often-threatened service. Twice a day, three times in the summer, the ferry from Dieppe unloads up to 140 cars, 40 trucks and 600 passengers into the small fishing port of Newhaven, home to 12,000 people. The route is also popular with French tourists travelling to London -- which is only 75 minutes away by train -- the seaside resort of Brighton or the English countryside. The line is currently subsidised to the tune of 25 million euros ($29 million) per year by the Seine-Maritime County Council. That subsidy was renewed for another four years in January but the concern is that potential customs controls after Britain leaves the European Union could slow down traffic. That could hit small seaside towns like Newhaven and Dieppe disproportionately hard. Jean-Christophe Lemaire, an official with the group that oversees the management of the port of Dieppe, said Brexit does not immediately threaten the passenger line. But he warned that a tough Brexit would "impact on the profitability of the line". "And the line will only be able to continue if we maintain a high level of freight," he said. - 'Antidote to Brexit' - Between 70 and 80 percent of the ferry's 350,000 annual passengers are British, but most do not stop to enjoy the charms of Dieppe, with around 5,000 visiting its tourist office every year. "I have English customers who come once or twice a year," said Michael Charaoui, 39, French owner of English pub "Le Cambridge", located a stone's throw from the pebble beach. "We can feel they are worried, but I reassure them," he added. Charaoui said Brexit could even be a benefit for him if duty-free on alcohol is reinstated on the ferries, increasing the demand for "booze cruises" from British customers. Brexit is also not a major concern for Marica Rolin, who runs three guest rooms in her red-brick home. "My British customers are regulars, who come two or three times a year," she said. "They will always come to buy wines and cheese," said the Dieppe native, whose clientele is 30 percent British. But the ferry being cancelled would be "a disaster", she said. Although Britain will leave the EU, the country "will not move", and links with Newhaven are of historic depth, said Brian Collinge, 70, who retired from publishing and moved to Dieppe's former English quarter 18 years ago. As early as 1824, customers of the General Steam Navigation Company boarded in Brighton to reach Dieppe in nine hours, before the line moved 9 miles (15 kilometres) east to Newhaven. Britain's decision almost two centuries later to leave the European Union came as a huge shock to Newhaven resident June Bradbury. "I think for a week I cried," she said. "It just felt like a terrible loss." The trauma led her to invite tourists into her home, putting her spare room on Airbnb two months after the vote. "This is my antidote to Brexit," she explained, calling it an "open door to Europe." The Newhaven-Dieppe ferry reverses out from the port in Newhaven, southern England Seine-Maritime departmental councilor Jean-Christophe Lemaire does not believe Brexit poses poses an immediate threat to the passenger ferry Some 350,000 ferry passengers arrive in Dieppe from England each year, but few stop to sample the town's charms Fish on display at West Quay Fisheries in Newhaven June Bradbury, an Airbnb host, serves her guests breakfast at her house in Newhaven, southern England South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday that world powers needed to reassure North Korea's Kim Jong Un that he had taken the right decision to commit to denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula. Moon, who has met Kim Jong Un three times this year, was set to convey the message to French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday as part of a seven-day European tour that will see him also stop in Rome, Brussels and Copenhagen. Moon told Le Figaro newspaper, in comments published in French, that Kim had "expressed his frustration at the continued scepticism of the international community" during their talks. "We have to reassure Kim Jong Un that he has made the right choice in denuclearising and we need to support his desire for durable and solid peace," Moon added. Moon, who met the North Korean leader in April, May and September, was instrumental in brokering a historic summit in Singapore between US President Donald Trump and Kim in June. But some analysts believe the dovish South Korean leader has gambled too much on securing an end to hostilities on the peninsula and has so far secured only minimal concessions from Pyongyang. It has also put him at odds with Washington, which is wary of the rapid pace of rapprochement between the two Koreas and believes pressure needs to be maintained until Kim fully dismantles his weapons programmes. But Moon defended his strategy, saying that "despite his young age, Kim Jong Un has demonstrated sincerity, simplicity, calm and politeness" during their talks, which explained the rapidly warming relations between the one-time foes. The two countries announced Monday that they will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the reconnection of their railways and roads as early as next month in yet another sign of the burgeoning ties. Moon, a Catholic, is set to meet the pope on Thursday and said he will personally convey Kim's desire for the pontiff to visit North Korea. He visits Brussels on Friday and Copenhagen on Saturday. South Korean President Moon Jae-in Moon is in Paris as part of a seven-day European tour that will see him also stop in Rome, Brussels and Copenhagen Macedonia's parliament finished its first day of a debate on Monday without reaching a decision on whether to approve a deal to change the country's name, pushing talks aimed at settling a long-running row with Greece into a second day. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev faces an uphill battle to secure the necessary two-thirds majority to rename the country North Macedonia, a move aimed at opening a path to NATO and EU membership. He needs to flip around 10 MPs in the 120-member assembly to overpower the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party, who staunchly opposes the name change. After hours of discussion on Monday, the session was set to resume Tuesday at 900 GMT. The debate could last up to 10 days. If an eventual vote fails, Zaev has said he will call snap elections in a bid to grow his coalition's clout in parliament. The proposed name change is an effort to end a 27-year stalemate with Greece, which has blocked Macedonia from joining both NATO and the EU because it claims exclusive rights to the name for its northern province. Athens has promised to lift its veto if the deal is finalised. But Zaev's task was made tougher by low turnout -- less than 40 percent -- in a referendum on the name change on September 30. While more than 90 percent of those who voted approved the new name, the lack of enthusiasm has fuelled efforts by opposition MPs to derail the deal in parliament, where it must be ratified. - Failure 'leaves us in isolation' - "I think that EU and NATO membership is one of the rare things that unites us," Zaev said in a plea to parliament on Monday. To reject the deal would "leave us in isolation and with an uncertain future," he added. The prime minister also called for reconciliation with the opposition and offered "forgiveness" for violence that rocked parliament in April 2017, when a nationalist mob stormed the assembly and injured scores, including Zaev. Several VMRO-DPMNE politicians and other officials from their former government are on trial over the bloody attack. Zaev hoped strong backing from the public in last month's referendum would help bring the opposition on board. He claimed a victory from the poll on the grounds that there was an overwhelming "yes" majority, and that the referendum was only "consultative" in legal terms. But the opposition, which had urged a boycott of the vote, says the result was invalid because the turnout was below 50 percent. On Monday MPs from all sides took the podium to debate the proposed amendment changes that would incorporate the new name into the constitution. "The parliament has no legitimacy to go forward with this procedure," said Ilija Dimovski, an opposition MP with VMRO-DPMNE, repeating his party's claim that the referendum was not successful. - Pressure on - Greece has protested the name Macedonia ever since the former Yugoslav republic declared independence in 1991. Athens says the name implies territorial claims on its own province of Macedonia across the border. A breakthrough came in June when Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras agreed on the compromise North Macedonia. Pressure is mounting to wrap up the deal soon so that it can go before Greek parliament before elections there next year. A change in power in Athens could quash political appetite for the agreement, where a rightwing opposition is also fiercely against the accord. Florian Bieber, a professor of Southeast European studies at the University of Graz in Austria, said Macedonia's failure to pass the deal "would certainly put the country and the government in a difficult position, as the responsibility would lie with it, and not with Greece". European and US leaders have pitched the name-change as a historic opportunity for Macedonia to tie its future to the West. "There is no plan B to join NATO without a name agreement," the military alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this month. "The only way to become a member of NATO is for the country to agree on the name issue with Greece," he said. Macedonia's parliament is debating whether to approve an agreement to change the country's name Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoram Zaev told parliament that to reject the name change would 'leave us in isolation and with an uncertain future' The Greek province of Macedonia borders the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Greece has long vetoed Macedonia joining NATO and the European Union over the name row The heartbroken family of a young model who died after being mysteriously shot while driving to work are hoping CCTV footage might shed some light on what happened to her. Kelsey Quayle, 28, was on her way to her job at a dental practice in the US state of Georgia last week when she was hit by a bullet that severed her spinal cord at the base of her brain. She then lost control of her Mazda, veering into oncoming traffic and slamming into two cars. Upon arriving at hospital with serious injuries, it was discovered she also had an unexplained bullet wound. On Wednesday, her family made the difficult decision to switch off her life support. CCTV shows the moment Kelsey Quayles Mazda (right) veered into the wrong lane and into oncoming traffic. Image: Clayton County Police Department Kelsey Quayle, 28, was shot in the neck while driving and died four days later. Source: GoFundMe/Facebook Police have now released surveillance video of the moment before Ms Quayles vehicle began drifting into oncoming traffic before crashing into two other cars. They are hoping it might help find the models killer. It seems to us to be random at this time. In our investigation, none of it takes it down a path that seems to be targeted. We have not been advised of any information in reference to anybody shooting in the area, Clayton County Police Department Captain Scott Stubbs told local media. We would especially like to speak with the driver of the white SUV and the driver of the grey sedan that is seen passing Kelseys vehicle as it is traveling in the lanes of oncoming traffic. Ms Quayle had moved to Georgia just a few months earlier alongside to pursue her modelling career in Atlanta. Authorities are now hoping this CCTV will help solve what happened to Ms Quayle. Image: Instagram/Kelsey Quayle Her devastated sister, Kayleigh Martin, said she just wants to know what happened. I just want to know who did this. Its ridiculous. She didnt deserve this, Ms Martin said. She was beautiful, she was the sweetest person she was humble she was a model but she never let that get to her head. She loved everybody, everybody loved her. A GoFundMe page set up to help with funeral costs described Ms Quayle as kind, loving, sweet, and so caring towards others. She was an amazing daughter, sister, friend and girlfriend, the GoFundMe page states. She wouldnt have passed so early on in life but she is now in peace and in heaven. A photo of a police officer getting down on his hands and knees to help a baby turtle safely cross a busy road has charmed the internet. Wildlife lovers paid tribute to the kind-hearted cop, whose name was not reported, following his selfless act in the city of Kastoria in northern Greece. The police officer was on duty when he spotted the baby turtle risking its life by trying to crawl across the busy road as vehicles sped by. He got down on his hands and knees, carefully picked up the young animal and gently placed it in the palm of his hand. The considerate officer then carried the baby turtle to the other side of the road and deposited it back down on the ground, among plants and bushes. The police officer helping a turtle in Greece (pictured). Source: CEN/ Australscope Photographs of the policemans good deed for the day made a big impression online after the General Regional Police Directorate of Western Macedonia shared them on social media. Online commentators said that the officer had undoubtedly saved the little turtle from certain death as the stretch of road was notoriously busy with speeding cars. He showed he is a sensitive man. Congratulations! one social media user said. Another social media user praised the cop for saving the turtle from drivers who would have smashed the creature. Picturesque Kastoria lies on the western shores of Lake Orestiada which is home to a host of wildlife, including turtles, although it is unclear what type of turtle it was. This turtle was luckier than others, who have fallen victim to ocean pollution in the US. -With CEN/ Australscope If you crave a pint (or two) at the end of a hard day, brace yourself: climate change is poised to make your favourite lager, ale or IPA more scarce and pricey. On current trends, a crescendo of heatwaves and droughts will periodically cause sharp declines in barley yields, a crucial ingredient in most beer, according to a study published Monday. "Decreases in the global supply of barley lead to proportionally larger decreases in barley used to make beer," said lead author Dabo Guan, a professor of climate change economics and the University of East Anglia in Britain. Only the highest quality grain -- less than 20 percent -- is used to make beer, with most of the rest used as feedstock. "High-quality barley is even more sensitive to extreme weather events linked to climate change," Guan told AFP. During severe climate events, global beer consumption would decline by 16 percent, or nearly 30 billion litres -- equal to all the beer quaffed each year in the United States, Guan and an international team of researchers reported in the journal Nature Plants. Beer prices in the wake of these disruptive weather events would, on average, double. By volume, beer is by far the most popular alcoholic drink in the world, with nearly 200 billion litres produced in 2017. Some countries will get hit harder by beer shortages and higher bar tabs than others, the study found. In China -- whose 1.3 billion people collectively down more brew than any other nation -- consumption would fall by a staggering 4.3 billion litres in a bad year. Britain would also get thirsty during a severe barley crunch, with consumption dropping by up to 1.3 billion litres, and the price of a pint doubling. Per capita, most of the top-20 beer-drinking nations are in Europe, along with the United States, New Zealand and Australia. - Keep calm, have a beer - Guan and colleagues calculated the impact of severe weather events under different future climate scenarios -- ranging from a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to our current "business as usual" trajectory -- on yields in the world's 34 most important barley-growing regions. An extreme weather year was defined as one with both heatwaves and drought -- in a barley region during growing season -- more severe than once-a-century events before global warming began. From 2010 to the end of the century, they found, there will be 17 such events if humanity manages to cap global warming under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and 139 if current rates of carbon pollution persist. The next step was to estimate how these "barley supply shocks" would affect the production and price of beer in each region. In a climate-addled world where staple crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans and rice are predicted to decline in yield and nutritional value, pressure will likely mount to use barley as a source of food rather than to make brew. "Climate change may undermine the availability, stability and access to 'luxury' goods," said Guan. At the same time, the "cross-cultural appreciation of beer" is deep and widespread, he noted. "There is little doubt that for millions of people around the world, the climate impact on beer availability and price will add insult to injury," he said. As the adage goes, "It's all fun and games until the beer runs out." The top exporters of barley are Australia, France, Russia, Ukraine and Argentina, with many European countries filling out the top-20. The biggest importers are China, Saudi Arabia and Iran, with three top brewing nations -- Netherlands, Belgium and Japan -- just behind. On current trends, a crescendo of heatwaves and droughts will periodically cause sharp declines in barley yields, a crucial ingredient in most beer, according to a study Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday he faces a new criminal charge for slander just a day after his release from two consecutive terms behind bars for organising anti-Kremlin protests. The fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin announced on his website that he was summoned for questioning by interior ministry investigators and expected to be charged with slander. But when he got to the station, in what Navalny called a "strange manoeuvre," the investigator told him and his lawyer that he need not come back that day and they would stay in touch. Authorities earlier this year delayed Navalny's court hearing over illegal protests from January to August, although the court case would normally immediately follow the demonstration. This was apparently to allow the authorities to detain him at a time of their choosing. He then found himself behind bars on the day of regional elections in September, when he had called for a protest against deeply unpopular pension reforms. He said the latest charge relates to accusations he made in 2015 about former interior ministry investigator Pavel Karpov, a key figure in the case of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian jail in 2009. Navalny wrote in 2015 that Karpov owned a flat worth almost $1 million and luxury cars including a Porsche Cayenne. He ridiculed Karpov's claim that these were gifts. Authorities opened a slander case and searched Navalny's home in 2016, after which he said he heard nothing for two years and that the statute of limitations passed in the case. Slander charges do not call for arrest but only large fines, Navalny said, adding that "Who knows how the elaborate and inventive legal machine in Putin's head works?" Karpov is one of the Russians blacklisted by the US over involvement in the death of whistleblowing lawyer Magnitsky, who accused him of being behind an embezzlement scam. Navalny was released from a Moscow detention centre on Sunday after being sentenced to 20 days for organising anti-Kremlin protests just a day after being released from a 30-day term. The 42-year-old activist told journalists as he left the detention centre: "If anyone thinks that with arrests... they can scare or stop us, that is clearly not the case." Navalny said his latest legal woes came as he had planned to respond to a bizarre summons to fight a duel from a top Putin ally. Viktor Zolotov, the head of Russia's National Guard, challenged Navalny to a duel last month over allegations of corrupt practices by his agency. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (C) was released from prison after serving time for organising protests, and now faces a slander charge. The Russian Orthodox Church said Monday it is breaking ties with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate over its decision to grant independence to the Ukrainian church, which Moscow does not recognise. "A decision has been made to rupture full communion with the Constantinople Patriarchate," which means priests from the two churches cannot serve and worshippers cannot take communion together, Hilarion, the bishop in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church's diplomacy, told journalists in Minsk. Speaking after a meeting of the Holy Synod, or decision-making body, of the Russian Orthodox Church, Hilarion said it does not recognise the decision taken last week by the Constantinople Patriarchate. Since Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and the ensuing conflict with pro-Russia separatists in east Ukraine, Kiev has been wary of the influence of the Moscow Patriarch Kirill, who is an avid supporter of Kremlin's policies. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko this year asked the Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew to make a decision in favour of an independent church for Ukraine, a prospect that the Russian Orthodox Church had rejected outright. Moscow considers the Kiev Patriarch Filaret to be a schismatic, a view Constantinople had backed since the 1990s but reversed last week amid the drive by Ukraine for its own Orthodox Church independent from Moscow. The Constantinople Patriarchate, a leading Orthodox authority, also overruled its own decision from the 17th century which adjoined Kievan Orthodox churches, or the Kievan Metropolis, to Moscow. Most of the Orthodox parishes in Ukraine have historically been under the umbrella of the Moscow Patriarchate, and many of these may eventually switch to the new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, despite Moscow's wishes. Hilarion said the decision by Constantinople to pronounce the entirety of Ukrainian churches as independent from Moscow "goes against historical truth" as the Kievan Metropolis of the 17th century corresponded to a different geographical area. - 'Illegal and canonically worthless' - He added that Constantinople's decision effectively creates a religious schism. "We cannot be in communication with this church," he said. "We hope that common sense prevails and that the Constantinople Patriarchate changes its mind." The decision in Istanbul was "illegal and canonically worthless," and means that "we will not be able to hold religious services together with the Constantinople Patriarchate... and worshippers will not be able to take communion in Constantinople Patriarchate's churches," Hilarion said. Many monks of the Russian Orthodox Church live and work in important monasteries under Constantinople, notably on Mount Athos in Greece, and many Orthodox sites in Greece and Cyprus are important pilgrimage centres for Russian Orthodox believers. Moscow has expressed concern over the past months that a decision to grant Ukrainian Orthodox Church independence would lead to physical confrontations in Ukraine over some of its most iconic Orthodox landmarks, such as the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery which is used by the Moscow Patriarchate. The Kremlin last week said that in case of "unlawful" and violent events, it would protect the interests of Orthodox believers through "political and diplomatic" means. On Sunday, Poroshenko said that "there would be no pressure" and any believer would "choose his own path to God," but stressed that an independent Ukrainian church goes hand in hand with its political sovereignty. "It's an issue of Ukrainian independence. It's an issue of Ukrainian national security. It's an issue of Ukrainian statehood," he said. Hilarion said Moscow "hopes for common sense" and that Poroshenko will fulfil his promise. "We hope that there won't be any clashes," he said. The Russian Orthodox Church is breaking ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate over its decision to grant independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Bishop Hilarion talks to reporters after the Holy Synod The sole crossing point between Syria and Israeli-controlled territory reopened Monday after a four-year hiatus, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime bolsters its control in the wake of sweeping advances against rebels. The reopening of the crossing on the Golan Heights was the result of a deal between Israel, Syria and the United Nations, and it will allow UN peacekeepers to monitor the region. Two UN white jeeps crossed into Israeli-controlled territory through the reopened crossing near Quneitra in the Golan Heights, during a low-key ceremony. The Syrian flag was raised on Syria's side of the crossing, an AFP correspondent said. The main border crossing between Syria and Jordan also reopened on Monday. The Quneitra crossing is used primarily by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has around 1,000 troops to monitor a ceasefire line separating Israeli-occupied parts of the Golan Heights from Syria. UNDOF resumed its patrols in the area of the crossing point in August, after withdrawing in 2014 when Al-Qaeda-linked rebels overran the area. An Israeli military official said initially the crossing would open twice a day for UNDOF forces, but openings could be expanded in the coming months. - Lifeline - Assad's forces, backed by Russian and Iranian military support, have regained control of large swathes of Syria in the past year, including forcing rebels from the Quneitra region and also along the border with Jordan. Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. The Jewish state supported some rebel groups in the Golan during the seven-year Syrian civil war, seeking to create a buffer zone against Iranian influence. Last month, it ended its 'Good Neighbour' support programme for rebels in the Golan that saw thousands brought to Israel for medical treatment, as well as aid shipped across the border. It has expressed concern that Iranian-backed groups allied to Assad, including Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, could move into the Golan, creating a threat to Israeli cities. So far there is no Hezbollah presence near the crossing, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and the Israeli army has said it expects the UNDOF forces to keep "hostile groups" from the region. The United States has hailed the reopening, saying it would "allow UN peacekeepers to step up their efforts to prevent hostilities in the Golan Heights region". Syria and Israel remain technically at war, though the border had been quiet for decades before the Syrian conflict. For Eyal Zisser, director of the Middle East Studies Department at Tel Aviv University, the reopening forms part of a "return to normal". "The border between Israel and Syria was very calm before the start of the Syrian civil war and the return to normal is very convenient for Israel," he said. "There is no Daesh (the Islamic State organisation), no Iranians or Hezbollah, there is a clear address on the other side, that's all that Israel wants," he added. The crossing is also used by Druze families who held onto Syrian citizenship after 1967 but live on the Israeli side to travel to Syria for trade, education, religious ceremonies and weddings. Nazeeh Ibrahim, 65, one of a handful of Golan Druze who witnessed Monday's opening, described the crossing as a "lifeline". "Every (Druze) household in the Golan has family" in Syria, he said. "We want to be with our parents, our families." An Israeli soldier walks opposite Syria's national flag (C) on the Israeli side of the newly-reopened Quneitra crossing Crowds gather at Syria's Quneitra border crossing with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on the day of its reopening An Israeli soldier opens the only crossing point between Syria and Israeli-annexed Golan Heights near Quneitra, 2018, four years after its closure Map of southwest Syria lcating the Quneitra and Nasib/Jaber border crossings Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit the island in a move aimed at deepening ties with the Vatican after the Holy See signed a historic deal with Beijing. Vice president Chen Chien-jen made the invitation during an audience with the pope ahead of the canonisation of Pope Paul VI on Sunday, Taiwan's presidential office said in a statement. Pope Francis asked Chen to send his greetings to President Tsai Ing-wen and "indicated that he would pray for Taiwan", the statement added. In footage aired on local TV, Chen told reporters that the pope "smiled" when he was invited to visit Taiwan. The presidential office said they had no further detail on his response to the invitation. The landmark agreement last month on the appointment of bishops paved the way for a rapprochement between the Vatican and China. That raised questions over the future of official ties between Taiwan and the Holy See -- the island's only official ally in Europe -- as China makes a concerted effort to poach its dwindling number of diplomatic allies. China sees self-ruling democratic Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified and demands its allies forfeit recognition of the island. Taiwanese officials have said that Chen's visit would help deepen Taiwan-Vatican relations and that they believe the Vatican will not abandon Taiwan. "I want to thank the pope for his greetings and blessings," Tsai said in a message on her Facebook page. "We will use active and concrete actions to continue to support the pope and the Vatican to spread common values of freedom, justice, peace and caring to every corner in the world," she added. Chen, a devote Catholic, also visited the Vatican in 2016 for the canonisation of Mother Teresa. Taiwan, which has around 300,000 Catholics, has lost five allies to Beijing in the past two years. Relations between Taiwan and China have deteriorated since President Tsai came to power in 2016, as she does not recognise the island is part of "one China". The Vatican has not had diplomatic relations with Beijing since 1951. Pope Francis has sought to improve relations since he took office in 2013, but previous attempts foundered over Beijing's insistence that the Vatican give up recognition of Taiwan and promise not to interfere in domestic religious issues. 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. Pope Francis has yet to respond to an invitiation to visit Taiwan, as the island seeks to deepen ties with the Vatican House Speaker Paul Ryan will return to central New York this week to boost U.S. Rep. John Katko's re-election campaign. A spokesman for Ryan confirmed Monday that the top House Republican will visit the region to campaign with Katko, R-Camillus, who is seeking a third term representing the 24th Congressional District. His opponent is Dana Balter, a Democrat. "The Speaker is very proud of all that House Republicans were able to accomplish over the past two years, and he's eager to take that record on the campaign trail and contrast it with the Democrats' promise to bring more disorder and more chaos to Washington," said Kevin Seifert, executive director of Team Ryan. More details about the event weren't released. It's part of an upstate New York swing for Ryan, who will campaign with Republican U.S. Reps. John Faso, Elise Stefanik and Claudia Tenney in their districts. Ryan campaigned with Katko in 2016. He headlined a Syracuse fundraiser during the congressman's first re-election bid. Katko won that race by more than 20 points. In this election cycle, Ryan's support for Katko has continued. Federal Election Commission records show Ryan's campaign committee donated $4,000 to Katko and his political action committee, Prosperity Action, gave $10,000. Ryan will be the latest high-ranking Republican to visit central New York for a joint appearance with Katko. In June, Vice President Mike Pence headlined a fundraiser for the congressman and toured Nucor Steel in Auburn. Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser to the president, joined Katko for a Syracuse education roundtable in July. The following month, Energy Secretary Rick Perry visited central New York and participated in events with Katko at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego. The Nov. 6 election will be Ryan's last as speaker. He is retiring from Congress at the end of his term. He was first elected to Congress in 1999 and became speaker in 2015. "Speaker Ryan said in his announcement in April that he was going to 'run through the tape' and he's making good on that promise with this ambitious schedule over the final three weeks in the lead-up to Election Day," Seifert added. Love 6 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 7 Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Oregon Coast Shipwrecks Exhibit Starts Off with Mystery in Cannon Beach Published 10/14/2018 at 5:24 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff (Cannon Beach, Oregon) - Oregon coast shipwrecks are the center of an upcoming exhibit at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum, and it kicks off this in-depth look with a special event on November 8. Then another event a day later digs into Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. On Saturday, November 10, the museum hosts a trivia night. (Photo above: Wreck of the Peter Iredale in its first days on the beach, courtesy Cannon Beach History Center & Museum). The new exhibit, Oregon Coast Shipwrecks, opens on Thursday, November 8 with a presentation from lead beeswax wreck investigator Scott Williams. His presentation will take place at 4 p.m. Williams is a maritime archaeologist who has been looking into the famed beeswax ship of Manzanita, apparently stranded ashore sometime in the 1700s, perhaps a little later. As Principal Investigator for the Beeswax Wreck Project, Williams will present the story of the wreck and the research to identify which ship it was and where the wreck is located. Since the earliest days of American exploration and settlement on the Oregon coast, stories have been told of an ancient shipwreck exposed on the Nehalem Spit. The wreck, laden with Chinese porcelain and large beeswax blocks and candles, predated American settlement of the area and was a mystery to the first settlers. For a couple of centuries, the puzzling pieces landed on the beaches around the Manzanita area. It finally ceased happening only in the last two decades. In the early days, as chunks of beeswax began washing up on shore, locals and natives alike were well aware a wreck had occurred. There were tales of men walking out of the water in full Spanish conquistador armor, even stories of cannibalism, but the truth has evaded archaeologists and historians for years. Where had the vessel come from, and where was it going? Why were they carrying such large amounts of beeswax, and why did blocks of the stuff have strange symbols and carved into them? For centuries it been unclear what ship and maybe even when, but new archaeological evidence has come to light just in the last year. Recent archaeological and historical research appears to confirm that the Beeswax Wreck was a Spanish galleon from Manila, lost on the Oregon coast on its voyage to Mexico. The museum said this will be a very popular lecture, so they urge attendees to arrive early, get a cup of coffee or tea and grab a seat. Seating is limited. The doors will close at 4:15 p.m. Historic events continue with a presentation from local author Brian Ratty on the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse on Friday, November 9 at 4 p.m. On Saturday, November 10, the museum hosts a fun trivia event. The clincher is, you should attend the November 8 and 9 lectures if you can because many of the questions will relate to topics covered during the lectures, said the museum in a press release. Shipwrecks of the Oregon Coast runs through November of 2019 after its opening next month. The Cannon Beach History Center & Museum is open Wednesday through Monday 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., closed on Tuesday. The museum is also home to a replica longhouse, tide pool exhibit and the cannon that Cannon Beach is named for. For more information visit www.cbhistory.org. 1387 S. Spruce (corner of Sunset and Spruce) in Cannon Beach. 503-436-9301. Lodging in Cannon Beach - Where to eat - Maps and Virtual Tours Above: Wreck of the Mimi in 1913, near Manzanita - courtesy Cannon Beach History Museum More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted Blake Fischer killed a family of baboons, including babies, to impress his wife by his own account, and shared the photos with a host of friends and colleagues. Photo by Alamy 13.9K shares Update: This evening, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter announced that he had asked for and accepted the resignation of Blake Fischer. I have high expectations and standards for every appointee in state government, Gov. Otter said in a press release. Every member of my administration is expected to exercise good judgment. We applaud Gov. Otter for this swift action, and for making it clear to Mr. Fischer, and the world, that there is no tolerance among decent people for the mindless killing of wildlife. The first thing that struck me about Blake Fischer, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission member who gleefully posed for a family photo with the group of baboons he killed in Namibia, and sent it out widely via email, was his cluelessness. His actions have caused a number of former Idaho Fish and Game Commission members to question his judgment. We do too. It is difficult to imagine a man who kills an entire family group of animals (to impress his wife by his own account) and whose subsequent instinct is to share the photographic evidence with a host of friends and colleagues. During his Namibia trip, Fischer and his wife killed at least 14 animals. In addition to the baboons, the toll included a giraffe, leopard, impala, sable antelope, waterbuck, kudu, warthog, gemsbok (oryx) and eland. A handful of onetime Idaho Fish and Game Commission members have criticized his conduct, and some are calling on Governor Butch Otter and the Idaho senate to reconsider his reappointment to the commission during its 2019 legislative session. Sportsmanlike behavior, one of them wrote, is the center pin to maintaining hunting as a socially acceptable activity. Fischers timing wasnt great, on another account. Back in July, Namibias Environment and Tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta announced that his ministry is working to amend the nations conservation ordinance to prohibit, and to punish those who post, photos with dead wild animals on social media. Taking selfies with their kills and sharing them with their friends and the public at large is one of the things trophy hunters like to do. Digital technology has dramatically altered perceptions about the propriety of image sharing, and its a problem for trophy hunters like Fischer who continue to do so. Some of Fischers fellow trophy hunters know better what is at stake, and their reaction reflects a growing self-consciousness on the part of sportsmen and wildlife agencies alike. They have come to understand that there is a lot at risk for them in the 21st century, with more and more trophy hunters taking the view that selfies and staged kill photos are drawing unwanted attention to their misconduct. We recommend that anyone feeling outraged by this photo channel that anger into respectfully amplifying calls for more humane leaders in departments of fish and game in Idaho and around the country. Trophy hunting organizations like Safari Club International are under increasing pressure to restrain the excesses of their members in the United States and abroad. Fischer is just the latest to shoot his way into this particular hall of shame. I didnt do anything illegal. I didnt do anything unethical. I didnt do anything immoral, Fischer said. Yes, Blake. Just keep telling yourself that. Ambiguous words and dictionary hacks A Mexican gentleman of my acquaintance, Marco Antonio Manzo, was complaining to me (on IRC) that what makes English hard was the large number of ambiguous words. For example, English has the word "free" where Spanish distinguishes "gratis" (free like free beer) from "libre" (free like free speech). I said I was surprised that he thought that was unique to English, and said that probably Spanish had just as many "ambiguous" words, but that he just hadn't noticed them. I couldn't think of any Spanish examples offhand, but I knew some German ones: in English, "suit" can mean a lawsuit, a suit of clothes, or a suit of playing cards. German has different words for all of these. In German, the suit of a playing card is its "farbe", its color. So German distinguishes between suit of clothes and suit of playing cards, which English does not, but fails to distinguish between colors of paint and suit of playing cards, which English does. Every language has these mismatches. Korean has two words for "thin", one meaning thin like paper and the other meaning thin like string. Korean distinguishes father's sister ("komo") from mother's sister ("imo") where English has only "aunt". Anyway, Sr. Manzo then went to lunch, and I wanted to find some examples of concepts distinguished by English but not by Spanish. I did this with a dictionary hack. A dictionary hack is when you take a plain text dictionary and do some sort of rough-and-ready processing on it to get an 80% solution to some problem. The oldest dictionary hack I know of is the old Unix rhyming dictionary hack: rev /usr/dict/words | sort | rev > rhyming.txt This takes the Unix word list and turns it into a semblance of a rhyming dictionary. It's not an especially accurate semblance, but you can't beat the price. ... ugh Marlborough choreograph Guelph Wabash Hugh Scarborough lithograph Adolph cash McHugh thorough electrocardiograph Randolph dash Pugh trough electroencephalograph Rudolph leash laugh sough nomograph triumph gash bough tough tomograph lymph hash cough tanh seismograph nymph lash dough Penh phonograph philosoph clash sourdough sinh chronograph Christoph eyelash hough oh polarograph homeomorph flash though pharaoh spectrograph isomorph backlash although Shiloh Addressograph polymorph whiplash McCullough pooh chromatograph glyph splash furlough graph autograph anaglyph slash slough paragraph epitaph petroglyph mash enough telegraph staph myrrh smash rough radiotelegrap aleph ash gnash through calligraph Joseph Nash Monash breakthrough epigraph caliph bash rash borough mimeograph Ralph abash brash ... It figures out that "clash" rhymes with "lash" and "backlash", but not that "myrrh" rhymes with "purr" or "her" or "sir". You can of course, do better, by using a text file that has two columns, one for orthography and one for pronunciation, and sorting it by reverse pronunciation. But like I said, you won't beat the price. But I digress. Last week I pulled an excellent dictionary hack. I found the Internet Dictionary Project's English-Spanish lexicon file on the web with a quick Google search; it looks like this: a un, uno, una[Article] aardvark cerdo hormiguero aardvark oso hormiguero[Noun] aardvarks cerdos hormigueros aardvarks osos hormigueros ab prefijo que indica separacio/n aback hacia atras aback hacia atrs,take aback, desconcertar. En facha. aback por sopresa, desprevenidamente, de improviso aback atra/s[Adverb] abacterial abacteriano, sin bacterias abacus a/baco abacuses a/bacos abaft A popa (towards stern)/En popa (in stern) abaft detra/s de[Adverb] abalone abulo/n abalone oreja de mar (molusco)[Noun] abalone oreja de mar[Noun] abalones abulones abalones orejas de mar (moluscos)[Noun] abalones orejas de mar[Noun] abandon abandonar abandon darse por vencido[Verb] abandon dejar abandon desamparar, desertar, renunciar, evacuar, repudiar abandon renunciar a[Verb] abandon abandono[Noun] abandoned abandonado abandoned dejado ... Then I did: sort +1 idengspa.txt | perl -nle '($ecur, $scur) = split /\s+/, $_, 2; print "$eprev $ecur $scur" if $sprev eq $scur && substr($eprev, 0, 1) ne substr($ecur, 0, 1); ($eprev, $sprev) = ($ecur, $scur)' The sort sorts the lexicon into Spanish order instead of English order. The Perl thing comes out looking a lot more complicated than it ought. It just says to look and print consecutive items that have the same Spanish, but whose English begins with different letters. The condition on the English is to filter out items where the Spanish is the same and the English is almost the same, such as: blond blonde rubio cake cakes tarta oceanographic oceanographical oceanografico[Adjective] palaces palazzi palacios[Noun] talc talcum talco taxi taxicab taxi It does filter out possible items of interest, such as: carefree careless sin cuidado But since the goal is just to produce some examples, and this cheap hack was never going to generate an exhaustive list anyway, that is all right. The output is: at letter a actions stock acciones[Noun] accredit certify acreditar around thereabout alrededor high tall alto comrade pal amigo[Noun] antecedents backgrounds antecedentes (...complete output...) A lot of these are useless, genuine synonyms. It would be silly to suggest that Spanish fails to preserve the English distinction between "marry" and "wed", between "ale" and "beer", between "desire" and "yearn", or between "vest" and "waistcoat". But some good possibilities remain. Of these, some probably fail for reasons that only a Spanish-speaker would be able to supply. For instance, is "el pastel" really the best translation of both "cake" and "pie"? If so, it is an example of the type I want. But perhaps it's just a poor translation; perhaps Spanish does have this distinction; say maybe "torta" for "cake" and "empanada" for "pie". (That's what Google suggests, anyway.) Another kind of failure arises because of idioms. The output: exactly o'clock en punto is of this type. It's not that Spanish fails to distinguish between the concepts of "exactly" and "o'clock"; it's that "en punto" (which means "on the point of") is used idiomatically to mean both of those things: some phrase like "en punto tres" ("on the point of three") means "exactly three" and so, by analogy, "three o'clock". I don't know just what the correct Spanish phrases are, but I can guess that they'll be something like this. Still, some of the outputs are suggestive: high tall alto low small bajo[Adjective] babble fumble balbucear[Verb] jealous zealous celoso contest debate debate[Noun] forlorn stranded desamparado[Adjective] docile meek do/cil[Adjective] picture square el cuadro fourth room el cuarto collar neck el cuello idiom language el idioma[Noun] clock watch el reloj floor ground el suelo ceiling roof el techo knife razor la navaja feather pen la pluma cloudy foggy nublado I put some of these to Sr. Manzo, and he agreed that some were indeed ambiguous in Spanish. I wouldn't have known what to suggest without the dictionary hack. [Other articles in category /lang] permanent link Yahoo! JAPAN Yahoo! JAPAN Solderer writes, "Old-school humor Magazine The American Bystander was dropped by its printer, citing prurient content (i.e. humor). Publisher Michael Gerber describes the ongoing situation in terms that would doubtless please Benjamin 'Fart Proudly' Franklin." When the guy picked up, he was as nice as pie. "I gotta tell you," he said, "this magazine looks great. Really funny, too." "Thanks," I said. "We have some wonderful folks. New Yorker, SNL, Simpsons people." "I saw that," he said. "Unfortunately, we can't print it." "Why not? Is it the format?" "No, our presses can do it, it's just well, this is a family-owned business, and the family, they're really Christian, and I don't think they'd approve." I was really surprised. You guys know what we print: hardly controversial stuff, especially to anybody who's ever read R. Crumb or The National Lampoon or, for that matter, browsed the internet for fifteen minutes. "Wow, [name hidden to preserve the innocent]. That is the first time anyone's ever said that. Was there anything in particular in issue #5 that " "No, no, it was nothing in particular," he said, audibly squirming. This wasn't any more fun for him than it was for me. "It's justWe have high school kids working here I mean, I would print it. I thought it was great. It's just that the owners if they found out, it would be my job." He paused, feeling lame. "The kids " As usual, John Oliver does a great job of explaining the circumstances surrounding the likely murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist who was last seen entering the Saudi Arabia embassy in Istanbul last week. Turkish authorities have identified 15 Saudi men as persons of interest only hours before Khashoggi went missing. Several of them were caught on camera arriving in Istanbul. A Turkish official told the New York Times Saudi agents had dismembered his body with a bone saw they brought for the purpose Saudi officials have scrambled to explain all the suspicious activity surrounding his disappearance with the Saudis' own channel, al Arabia, claiming that the 15 people who turned up in Istanbul were just tourists, which is clearly bullshit given that flight logs showed that most of the men arrived on a private charter plane at 3:13 a.m. and that all of them departed the same day they arrived, which is a pretty weird vacation isn't it. I want to see Istanbul but only for a few hours mostly at night and it need to bring a bone saw. : 902 - : - q . , ? : , e 2004 . , - . 2005/2006 . , , . , 12 - - 200 . , , , . 26 , . . , , . 21 10.03.2006 . . , - . , , . 1 . , 20 , , , , , , , , . : ? : , . , , , , . : ? : 2006/2007. - , , , . , . - , : "" - , ; "" - , ; " " - , ; "" - , . , , . "" - , , . , , . 6 . 40 000 4 . : ? : - " " . , . " " , -. , . . : ? : , 1- 2006/2007 , 1072. 902 . - 48, - 44, - 54, - 100, - 80, - 88, - 75, - 92, - 265. I destroy Apple Watches. It's not intentional. It just kinda happens. The first Apple Watch was a Series 1 piece of wrist candy. I loved how it kept reminders for me to take my medication, pay my bills, and all of the other things that my PTSD-addled brain refuses to keep track of on my wrist. I hated how slow it was to respond to requests and that it wasn't possible to hide apps that I never used from its interface. It died in a torrential downpour. Same thing for my second Apple watch. It was a Series 2. While it was a little bit faster and the OS was a tiny bit more agreeable, it was unable to avoid being smashed by a passerby at a street market in Costa Rica. From the impact, it looked like it had met with a single, focused impact, like the tip of a knife or another object that wouldn't be agreeable to have in my body. I'm sure that it's over reacting to say that my Apple Watch saved my life, but I think about this often. I am not made of money. I cannot afford to buy watch after watch (although that's kind of what I've ended up doing). Smartwatches provide me with a level of utility that makes my life a lot more manageable. It took some time, but I came to the conclusion that the best smartwatch for me was one that I could not kill. Enter the Garmin Tactix. I've owned three generations of Tactix: Garmin's military and police-focused GPS watches. I loved my original Tactix and wore it for a few years until it became apparent that, after too many battery recharges and battery upgrades, it was no longer the faithful companion it had once been. I sold it to buy my second Tactix (I'm not good at not buying watches), the Tactix Bravo. It was perfect. I adored it and wore it everywhere for close to two years. Unlike my Apple Watches, which needed to be charged, daily, the Bravo only had to be juiced up once every few weeks. It provided me with notifications from my Android handset or iPhone. It could control my music, tell me how hot it was outside, and without the need for a connection to a smartphone, let me navigate my way back to safety or find our car in a mall parking lot, via GPS. It was tough as nails, waterproof, and looked ridiculously bad ass. Somehow, I managed to lose it on a trip into Mexico. Garmin's Tactix line does not come cheap. At the time that I lost my Bravo, there was no way that I could afford to replace it. I went close to six months without a smartwatch. Appointments were missed, days went by without remembering to take my medication. Most frustrating of all was my compulsion to whip my smartphone out of my pocket every time that a notification came in. A few months ago, I got my hands on the latest iteration of Garmin's Tactix line, the Charlie. I love it. Everything baked into the Charlie feels like an upgrade from the Tactix Bravo. It's faster to respond to my requests. Its daylight-readable 1.2" display is large enough that I never have to squint to see what it's trying to tell me. Its GPS functionality kicks the holy hell out of what the last two generations of Tactix were capable of: the Charlie comes pre-loaded with TOPO maps, which can be upgraded via sideloading to show more detail from a number of different map sources. In combination with its ability to provide routable navigation data, it's a great companion on a hike. There's Built-in GPS and GLONASS nav hardware baked into it, plus a 3-axis compass, barometer, altimeter and gyroscope. If I ever get lost it's my own damn fault. That it can link to my InReach Mini is icing on the cake. Best of all is the fact that it's hella tough. With a titanium bezel and rear cover, stainless steel buttons and a domed sapphire lens, I'll have to work very hard to murder this thing. As I'm getting older, tracking my health has become a lot more important to me: I have a responsibility to be here and healthy for my wife. The Tactix Charlie helps me with this as well. It has a built-in heart rate sensor and a bevy of apps and widgets that help me to stay in shape, track my training, stress level, sleep and step count. Despite all of this functionality, it's far from fussy. If I don't like a feature, I can remove it. Granted, compared to many smartwatches, it is freaking huge. But I like the size. It's easy on my old eyes and, with its dimensions and heft, there's no way that I can mistakenly leave the house without noticing that I'm not wearing it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll own it for long enough to discover whether the battery will be easily user replaceable. Images via Seamus Bellamy and Garmin President Donald Trump talked to reporters today about his phone conversation with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz, during which the two despots discussed the disappearance and apparent killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The man is nothing if not consistent. First, Trump pointed out the fact that King Abdulaziz told him Khashoggi was a Saudi citizen, as in, not a U.S. citizen, so the man's death doesn't matter that much. Remaining loyal to his family's business interests with Saudi financiers, President Donald Trump also said "rogue killers" may have murdered Jamal Khashoggi, definitely probably not the government of Saudi Arabia, nope, because the Saudi king personally told him so. "His denial to me could not have been stronger," said the President of his conversation with King Salman bin Abdulaziz. Funny, that's the exact same thing he said about his chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the 2015 U.S. election "meddling." Putin denied it, and what he says must be true. "We are going to leave nothing uncovered," Trump today said of his conversation with the Saudi King. It's almost as if there is a pattern. How did these rogue killers get into the highly secure Saudi embassy in Istanbul? Can't wait for the Trump investigation to reveal all. Trump today on Khashoggi's disappearance "It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.pic.twitter.com/iz9M586pDa J.D. Durkin (@jiveDurkey) October 15, 2018 Trump says 'rogue killers' may be behind Khashoggi disappearance https://t.co/kdS8BTNvnl Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 15, 2018 If Saudi Arabia is held accountable, it will be by a bipartisan group of senators https://t.co/xyUcppx2hg Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) October 15, 2018 Trump's 400 pound mystery hacker has gotten off his bed and is now a lethal assassin. https://t.co/fgcFBhHRe8 Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) October 15, 2018 Rogue killers who managed to get into the embassy???? https://t.co/Sw8YRPJkmA Sam Stein (@samstein) October 15, 2018 I'm confused how "rogue killers" could break into the secure Saudi Consulate, kill and dismember Jamal Khashoggi and escape without being detected. Plus, what then was the team of Saudi agents doing with a bone saw? https://t.co/O7vaeCx6eS Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) October 15, 2018 Trump, sounding very similar to his Putin interference denials, says that it could have been "rogue killers" who murdered Jamal Khashoggi. "It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/uap6d2Db40 Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 15, 2018 I wonder if the rogue killers have met the 400-pound hacker. Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) October 15, 2018 Today's "It sounded to me like these could have been rogue killers" is 2016's "Somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds." Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 15, 2018 Trump just now, bringing up the Roy Moore, Rob Porter, Brett Kavanaugh defense regarding Jamal Khashoggi. "The King firmly denied any knowledge of it He said it very strongly. His denial could not have been stronger. "It could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" S.V. Date (@svdate) October 15, 2018 .@realDonaldTrump says he spoke to Saudi King Salman for about 20 minutes by phone, and the King "firmly denies" "any knowledge" in the disappearance of #Khashoggi. Trump suggested it could have been "rogue killers". pic.twitter.com/W6SjLEhIev Weijia Jiang (@weijia) October 15, 2018 Pres. Trump says King Salman "firmly denies any knowledge" of "what took place" with regards to journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it." https://t.co/ycHTGetpwh pic.twitter.com/NmJFzPbhzK ABC News (@ABC) October 15, 2018 Kanye West has been talking about getting back to his roots, and well he has touched down in Uganda with his family in tow. PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed! The rapper has admitted that he has been struggling to complete his album, Yandhi and thought that a trip to Africa will help to clear his head as well as get the creativity flowing. 'Yandhi' was scheduled to be released in November, but that date has changed since he ran into trouble with coming up with new music. Shortly after arriving at Entebbe International Airport, Kanye took to Twitter to share a clip of a new song he has been working on. It seems that Africas energy has already started to work its magic. PAY ATTENTION: Save mobile data with FreeBasics: Briefly is now available on the app Briefly.co.za previously reported that Yeezy is determined to become one with nature and will also be recording his music outdoors. According to TimesLIVE, Kanye has become quite the family man and thought that it was imperative for him to be able to work on his album with his kids around. In another video he shared on Twitter, Kanye and family seem to already be enjoying the whole outdoors thing. READ ALSO: Simz Ngema lovingly honours her late husband by completing his album After a recent outburst at the White House, maybe a change of scenery is the best thing for the rapper, especially since the whole world has been concerned about his mental state of late. Do you have a story to share with us? Inbox us on our Facebook page and we could feature your story. Watch the animated video and head over to Briefly South Africas Youtube channel for more. To stay up to date with the latest news, download our news app on Google Play or iTunes today. Source: Briefly.co.za - Patrice Motsepe studied at University of Swaziland, now known as eSwatini - He donated R168m to the university over the weekend - King Mswati III officiated the event PAY ATTENTION: Click "See first" under the "Following" tab to see Briefly News on your newsfeed! Billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe has donated a whopping R168million to the University of eSwatini. Motspe made the announcement during the university's 36th graduation ceremony held over the weekend, City Press reports. King Mswati III of the Kingdom of eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, officiated the event. The university also bestowed Motsepe an honorary doctorate, Briefly.co.za gathered. Patrice Motsepe was bestowed an honorary doctorate. Source: City Press Source: UGC PAY ATTENTION: Save mobile data with FreeBasics: Briefly is now available on the app Motsepe is the founder of his flagship business, African Rainbow Minerals. According to Forbes, he is worth $1.9billion. He studied Law at the University of eSwatini and completed his degree in 1984. In his speech, he urged lecturers to be "nice" to their students because they might become their bosses in future. READ ALSO: Twitter left shocked over man who fell in love with his sister Motsepe cited two of his former lecturers, Dr Vakashile Rejoice Simelane and Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo, who are now senior executives in his companies. King Mswati III commended Motsepe for his generosity and added: I am grateful that our university has managed to produce people like Motsepe and I would like to encourage you to work hard so that the university can produce more billionaires. READ ALSO: Security guard graduates with LLB degree, says he'll start LLM soon Do you have a story to share with us? Inbox us on our Facebook page and we could feature your story. Watch ahilarious Justin Bieber joke in the cartoon below from our Briefly - South Africa YouTube channel. To stay up to date with the latest news, download our news app on Google Play or iTunes today. Source: Briefly.co.za News / Health by Stephen Jakes Norton legislator Temba Mliswa has hailed Minister of Health and Child care Obadiah Moyo for visiting the constituency to assess the area as the cholera hit parts of Harare.In a letter to the residents Mliswa said he continue to work towards fulfilling his election pledges and creating an enabling environment for development in Norton, and he was pleased by the recent visit to Norton by the Minister of Health & Child Care, Dr. Obadiah Moyo."His visit follows the successful visit of the Minister of Industry & Commerce, Hon. Nqobizitha Ndhlovu which was targeted at resuscitating Norton's industry, facilitating job creation and subsequently the community's overall prosperity" he said."Norton Hospital has long laboured under the strain put on its facilities and services due to the growing population of the constituency. Whilst the staff have worked professionally and diligently under sometimes very tough conditions, the truth of the matter remains that Norton Hospital has outgrown its current status as a Council Hospital."He said there is an awkward staff situation at the Hospital where you find the doctors who are Government workers receiving their salaries but however the nurses under Council have not been paid, this is not sustainable and is a matter that urgently needs to be resolved."The town requires facilities such as a radiology department, a surgical theatre, more ambulances etc. Long distances travelled to seek specialised treatments and services or to visit and care for ailing relatives and friends must be cut, and as such the upgrade from Council to District status is a necessity that is not debatable. The welcome development will see the hospital benefit from Government funding and an expansion in services and facilities," he said."Councillors were democratically voted for, and that is good. I have never wanted to be involved in party affiliations but am more concerned with capacity and serving the people. Unfortunately it has been noted that some, not all, seem not to want to work together for the good of the people. Development will however continue with or without their involvement, it is entirely up to them to have a conscience and serve the people. On numerous occasions I have made fruitless attempts to communicate with errant Councillors and the evidence is available."He said the correspondence feedback or lack thereof, subsequently indicates who heeds and who turns a deaf ear."If for one reason or another, those that ignore do not want to work together to achieve developmental goals, it will not be at the prejudice of the people. They have a mandate to adhere to their obligations in terms of section 274 of the Constitution, whilst I am governed by sections 117-119. Our roles are clearly defined and mine is to make sure that there is oversight over Council. Councillors there just for the allowances are not of the calibre Norton wants or deserves. Have they come to thank the people for voting for them and started to work in their wards? That for me is critical," he said."There has been a lot of mismanagement and corruption slowly being unearthed at the Norton Town Council (NTC), and as you know I have previously articulated these suspicions which many people previously found hard to believe. Currently two Councillors have been arrested as well as the Director of Housing, Mutyambizi. Tendaupenyu has been suspended by the Town Secretary Kizito Muhomba and yet it is strange that Muhomba remains standing when all the approvals were made with his nod and he was involved in the payments made thereof.""He approved and purchased himself a motor vehicle for over $100,000.00 against an allocated budget of $70,000.00 that really should have been shelved looking at the precarious financial position of the NTC. Worse still, this extravagant purchase was made at expense of service delivery. The NTC Town Secretary must therefore explain the anomaly. Furthermore, why is it that Mutyambizi has not been suspended from work pending investigations to avoid evidence tampering? These are among issues that I have long brought to the fore."He said there is total mismanagement at the NTC and the only way Council can change is if Councillors devote time."There is no way that we can logically expect a person with an 8-5 job to effectively run the Council part time especially when things are so critical. How can we hope to see improvement in such a scenario? The Chairperson should be based at the NTC, have an office, secretary and car there and be able to supervise operations full time to see that things run smoothly. Norton is a vast area and being dedicated and hands on is the only way the NTC can perform.As you all know, I have an open door policy and development remains my top priority. I have certain powers vested in me and I draw on these powers to perform effectively. I was not voted in because I work with councillors but because of my deeds, with development being my driving force," he said."Norton, I stand by you all the way and we will bring about the change. Council we demand that systems be put in place. How do people pay where there are no systems? How is money accounted for? Where are people's statements? Where has the money been going? Councillors I am reiterating that you have a three month ultimatum to change the operations of the NTC with the first change that should be targeted towards Management. The Town Secretary and entire management team have let the people down and underperformed and as a result should be shown the exit door."Mliswa said new people with capacity who share the vision of developing Norton must subsequently replace them."It is not good enough for the Town Secretary to plead to be new in the system as if so, we would have recorded visible changes by now. Anyway which system is he presiding over when there are not any in the first place? Money has been stolen from the people and I will soon be perusing legal action until Council justifies themselves. An audit conducted by the Auditor General must take place. I used to advise the previous Chairperson, Precious Mufahore, to be wary of Management and now look, today the same Management is the one instigating Councillors' arrests and Management are now turning state witness against them. It is now very apparent that the Town Secretary has played a game of divide and rule between Council and the Legislative in a ruse to create disharmony and suspicion to avoid the detection of alleged nefarious activities and dealings. Note this well Councillors.Let us continue with development and let Councillors work in their wards. I am dealing with the aspect of road rehabilitation using ZINARA funding. Money cannot and will not be released to companies that are not doing a good job. Performance is critical," he said."I continue with my ward meetings, and last week held meetings in Wards 5, 7 & 11. I intend to continue with the programme as we go on the ground to ascertain the needs of the people. I will be having a NORDA meeting this morning, Saturday, 13th October 2018 at 10:00hrs at Dudley Hall Primary School to discuss new structures which will carry on with the development of the community. All are welcome to contribute on a voluntary basis and Councillors, as usual, are invited too invited and must not shy away as they will always be accorded their platform. On completion of all Ward meetings, I will formulate a proper people's way forward.""I am humbled to be reappointed as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines & Minerals and will do my upmost to ensure that the mining sector performs and meaningfully contributes to the country's Gross Domestic Product. I am cognisant of the mineral resources that we have in Norton and will push that the local sector performs productively and that GDI come in." News / National by Staff reporter PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's Zanu-PF party is heading for turbulent waters again, it has emerged.War veterans have petitioned the Zanu-PF leadership demanding the removal of former Cabinet ministers from their full-time positions in the party, threatening to remove the bigwigs from their offices if their demands are not met.According to the petition addressed to Zanu-PF chairperson Oppah Muchinguri and obtained by this publication last night, the former fighters want the party's secretary for administration Obert Mpofu, secretary for health David Parirenyatwa, commissar Engelbert Rugeje, secretary for finance Patrick Chinamasa and politburo member Sydney Sekeremayi fired.The war veterans accuse the Zanu-PF heavyweights of sabotaging President Emmerson Mnangagwa.Rugeje, who retired from the army after the coup that toppled former president Robert Mugabe in November last year, is being targeted for allegedly failing to campaign for Mnangagwa ahead of the July 30 elections.Mnangagwa narrowly avoided a run-off against MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa after registering a 50,6 % victory.Chamisa has refused to concede defeat saying the election result was manipulated in favour of Mnangagwa.The petition was signed yesterday by war veterans representatives from 10 provinces.The war veterans claimed it was difficult to restructure the party when there were still some members aligned to the G40 faction, which backed Mugabe at the height of Zanu-PF's succession wars.The former fighters, who supported Mnangagwa during his tussle for control of the ruling party with G40, threatened to storm the Zanu-PF headquarters to remove the targeted officials if the party failed to take action."Consequently, in pursuit of our constitutional mandate as custodians of the Zimbabwean people's revolution, as patriots, loyal and stockholders of Zanu-PF, we demand, as we hereby do through the copy of this petition, that the following members relinquish their posts and vacate offices at the Zanu-PF headquarters with immediate effect," reads part of the petition."Failure to do so, we, as veterans of the liberation struggle, shall force them out of the offices for the good of the people's revolution."Cde Obert Mpofu needs to clear the corruption allegations levelled against him before resuming office."The war veterans said they wanted the Zanu-PF commissariat to be overhauled immediately."Their involvement in the primary elections affected the president's performance in harmonised elections. It leaves us with more questions than answers where the President gets 50,6% while MPs could get more than 73%. We need an uncompromising team of dedicated cadres to take us to the 2023 elections," the petition added."Sekeramayi, Parirenyatwa and Chinamasa's unrepentant behaviour towards the new dispensation: Though we are not opposed to their ideas of having permanent appointments, these elements are known for factionalism and cannot be entrusted with such responsibility."Other officials targeted by the war veterans include Munyaradzi Machacha, the leader of the Chitepo Ideological College, who is accused of staffing the college with G40 elements, and Dixon Dzora, who is accused of mismanaging the party's resources."We are warning all the provincial leadership with G40 attitudes to either shape up or ship out," the war veterans warned."We strongly warn all provinces who purged or are purging war veterans and other bona-fide party members to reinstate them immediately and unconditionally."Failure to do so, veterans of the liberation struggle shall descend on those deviant provinces."Muchinguri demanded questions in writing, but had not responded to them by the time of going to print.Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo referred questions to war veterans spokesperson Douglas Mahiya, who said he was not aware of the petition. News / National by Staff reporter VICE president Constantino Chiwenga, who led the November 2017 coup which ousted long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe, is hospitalised in South Africa, the presidency admitted Monday, adding that he was expected to return home this week.Chiwinga was rushed to South Africa at a time foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo - who fronted the coup in the media - has also not been seen in public for three weeks after being hospitalised at an upmarket private clinic in Harare.The vice president, who reportedly vomited during a recent cabinet meeting, travelled to South Africa last Tuesday accompanied by wife Mary and deputy health minister Dr John Mangwiro."Both General Chiwenga and Amai Chiwenga are in good health," presidential spokesman George Charamba told the State-owned Herald."They have been cleared except for some little problems that were detected and have since been treated. The VP is very well and when I chatted with him he ended up barking orders to me in respect of Kanyemba projects and in respect of the Bulawayo Kraal project in Binga.According to Charamba, the medical review was related to injuries Chiwenga and wife sustained in the June bomb blast at Bulawayo's White City Stadium. News / National by Staff reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter have parted ways with Tiso Blackstar.The Sunday Times earlier confirmed to News24 that the two senior reporters were "not fired", without divulging further details."They haven't been fired Beyond that I am not prepared to comment on any contractual relationships with them," Sunday Times' Legal Editor Susan Smuts told News24.When contacted Hofstatter referred queries to Tiso Blackstar; while Wa Afrika did not respond to attempts to get comment from him.Sunday Times editor Bongani Siqoko also declined to comment, saying he "cannot discuss employees in the media".READ: Sunday Times to return awards, prize money for discredited reportsBoth reporters were investigative journalists involved in articles published in 2011, about a Cato Manor police unit dubbed as a 'death squad', a Sars 'rogue unit' and Zimbabwean 'renditions'.The articles have since been discredited.On Sunday, Siqoko announced in a piece published in the newspaper, that it apologised for the articles.He also said that the newspaper would return all awards and prize money received for the reports.Siqoko said that the newspaper accepted that "there was clearly a parallel political project aimed at undermining our democratic values and destroying state institutions and removing individuals who were seen as obstacles to this project"."We admit that our stories may have been used for this purpose," he added. News / National by Stephen Jakes A South Africa based prophet Pastor Alph Lukau has prophesied that Vice President Consstantino Chiwenga who has been airlifted to SA for medical attention is suffering illness due to witch craft.The prophet made the remarks while prophesying a woman who claimed to be Chiwenga's niece in his church."I am seeing somebody a family member who is sick. His body is swelling, you may lose your uncle. Is like is losing his colour is that true," he said."Right now the situation with your uncle is not natural, they could not real give the satisfactory results, they do not know what real is happening, because this is witchcraft. Your uncle stepped on the tail of a lion," he said.Lukau's church service was at his Allelujah Ministries International in Krameville, Sandton. China Bitcoin Exchange Regulation China Bitcoin Exchange Regulation Since early 2018, the government of China has tightened policies targeting millionaire investors in the country holding their wealth overseas to avoid large taxes, and it may lead local investors to alternative assets like crypto. Chinese investors rely on the Swiss offshore banking industry, Hong Kong real estate market, and foreign stock markets to hoard millions of dollars worth of properties, assets, and cash outside of mainland China. But, local financial authorities have started to crackdown on investors that amass significant wealth in overseas markets. Will Investors Move to Crypto? In recent months, the Chinese government has begun to cooperate with agencies in 83 countries that follow the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) established by the Organization for economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The involvement of the Chinese government with the OECD and CRS is expected to lead to direct communication and cooperation with Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the Bahamas, five regions that investors often depend on to save massive amounts of capital in the offshore banking sector. Last month, China disclosed that all 83 countries under CRS and OECD will share data related to financial accounts held by Chinese citizens, allowing the government to target high profile millionaire investors. The go-to market for Chinese investors in the real estate sector of Hong Kong. Individuals based in China can easily set up a shell company in Hong Kong and receive a bank account with the name of the firm to move funds from China to Hong Kong, with which the investor can invest in properties in the region. The influx of investors from China to the real estate market of Hong Kong led premiums on apartments to rise substantially, creating a real estate bubble that has made it more challenging for local residents to acquire properties. It is difficult and ineffective for the Chinese government to restrict money flowing from China to the Hong Kong real estate market as it would require a highly impractical process of banks cooperating with the government to censor and monitor every large transaction. Story continues But, it is possible for the government crackdown on individual investors holding large amounts of foreign assets and cash in offshore savings accounts. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum remain as the only alternative outside of the Hong Kong real estate and stock market for local investors to store significant capital in. The lack of correlation between crypto and the broader financial market could appeal to investors as a safe haven against the global economy. OTC Market Active Hong Kong and Taiwan-based digital asset exchange executive Terence Tsang stated in an interview that the over-the-counter (OTC) crypto market of China still remains active subsequent to the imposition of a blanket ban by the government. The latest warning and potentially increased monitoring of foreign platforms is targeted at a batch of smaller exchanges that had claimed to be foreign entities, but are in fact operating in China claiming they have outsourced their operations to a Chinese company, Tsang said. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post China Threatens Overseas Tax Havens, Will Investors Flock to Crypto? appeared first on CCN. DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka (AP) Half-centuries by captain Eoin Morgan and Joe Root set up England's win over Sri Lanka on the Duckworth/Lewis method in another rain-hit one-day international on Saturday. England made 278-9 in 50 overs, and Sri Lanka was 140-5 when rain stopped play after 29 overs. Sri Lanka was 31 runs short of what it needed under the D/L calculation, so England won by 31 runs. The first ODI on Wednesday was rained out after only an hour's play. England leads the five-match series 1-0. The next one is on Wednesday. Sri Lanka won the toss and wasted fast bowler Lasith Malinga taking 5-44. He removed Jason Roy without a run on the board. Root joined Jonny Bairstow and the pair added 72 runs for the second wicket before Bairstow was bowled by seam bowler Thisara Perera for 26. Root added another 68 with Morgan before being dismissed for 71. He faced 83 deliveries and hit six boundaries. Morgan fell eight runs short of a century, caught and bowled by Malinga. Morgan's aggressive innings came off 91 deliveries and included two sixes and 11 boundaries. England fast bowler Olly Stone, who could not bowl a ball on his debut on Wednesday, struck with the last ball of his first over by removing Upul Tharanga with Sri Lanka's score on 9. The hosts soon stumbled to 74-5 as Chris Woakes took 3-26. Thisara Perera, 44 not out, and Dhananjaya de Silva, 36 not out, shared an unbroken 66-run stand in their attempt to rescue Sri Lanka but their effort was curtailed by rain at the end of the 29th over. ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Longtime Liberal politician and former cabinet minister Donald Macdonald died on Sunday at the age of 86, his family said. His daughter Sonja Macdonald said he died in his sleep at his Toronto home. "He was a great Canadian," she said through tears. "He committed his life to building this country." Macdonald, who was born in Ottawa, was elected to the House of Commons in 1962 and was a cabinet minister under Pierre Trudeau. Chris Schwarz/UPC/Canadian Press Macdonald served as minister of national defence, minister of energy, mines and resources, minister of finance and president of the Privy Council during his career. In the early 1980s, he was appointed as the chairman of the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, where he endorsed free trade with the United States. The commission was given three years to complete the task of examining the future of Canada's economic prospects and its political institutions. The commission had a significant impact on the argument for the benefit of free trade with the U.S. The recommendations were then presented to Brian Mulroney, who became prime minister in 1984. In 1988, Mulroney appointed Macdonald High Commissioner of Canada to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a post he held for about three years. 'He was very humble' Macdonald was named a companion of the Order of Canada in 1994 for his contributions to trade and social policy development. "He was very humble," Sonja Macdonald said. "He was also funny, warm, smart and engaging." She co-wrote Thumper: The Memoirs of the Honourable Donald S. Macdonald, which was published in 2014. The book explored his four-decade political career. It and detailed his friendship with Trudeau and encounters with world leaders. The co-author of the memoir, Rod McQueen, told TVO that Thumper was a nickname for Macdonald because he had big feet. Macdonald, who had four children and seven step-children, was also an avid tree-planter for most of his life, Sonja Macdonald said. She said he was passionate about reforesting and that he had been planting trees on the family's property in Uxbridge, Ont. She said her father will also be remembered for his sense of fashion. "He was very sharp dresser," she said. "He went nowhere without a bow tie." AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The border crossing between Jordan and Syria will officially reopen on Monday after being closed for three years, the two countries said on Sunday, though it will not be open to normal traffic immediately. Meanwhile, the Syrian and Iraqi foreign ministers discussed accelerating efforts to reopen the border between their countries, Syrian state media said. The Syrian government retook the area around the border crossing with Jordan at Nassib in July during a weeks-long Russian-backed offensive to drive rebels from their stronghold in southwest Syria. The closure of the Nassib crossing in 2015 cut a crucial transit route for hundreds of trucks a day transporting goods between Turkey and the Gulf, and Lebanon and the Gulf, in multi-billion dollar annual trade. Since then, Syria's only normally operating frontier crossing has been with Lebanon, which itself has no other functioning land borders. The frontier with Turkey is still closed into Syrian government-held areas, and open only into territory controlled by rebels. Near Syria's border with Iraq, a U.S. military base has closed the main Damascus-Baghdad highway, though there is a smaller crossing at Albu Kamal further east that is presently open only for government or military traffic. INTERNAL TRAFFIC Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari arrived in Damascus on Sunday for a three-day visit. He and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem discussed "speeding up" the reopening of their border, the official Sana news agency reported. As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has taken more territory inside Syria, normal internal traffic has resumed between most big cities, easing the movement of goods and people and bringing an economic boost in government-held areas. Technical teams from Syria and Jordan met on the Jordanian side on Sunday and agreed on the final arrangements to open the crossing from Oct. 15, said Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat. However, although the crossing will be officially opened on Monday, it will not open to normal traffic just yet, said Nael Husami, head of the Amman chamber of industry. Syrian state television also cited Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar as saying the border crossing and roads leading to it were being renovated. Opening the border will also be important for Lebanon, which relies on Syria for overland connections to all other countries because its only other frontier is with Israel, with which it has no ties. In July Lebanese caretaker economy minister Raed Khoury said it was vital for Lebanese exporters to be able once again to send produce overland through Syria to the wider region. Lebanese exports fell by 35 percent after the Syrian conflict began, Khoury said. (Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Angus McDowall in Beirut; Editing by Mark Potter and Raissa Kasolowsky/Emelia Sithole-Matarise) A young man who suffered severe injuries in a 2008 school-bus crash in Rimbey, Alta. says the federal government should make seat belts mandatory in all school buses. Keenen Clark called for the major safety change following a CBC News: The Fifth Estate investigation that revealed major flaws with a landmark 1984 Transport Canada study. The study concluded seat belts in school buses were not necessary and may cause injuries. Clark was 14 when a gravel truck slammed into the back of his school bus, which had just stopped to pick up three passengers. The impact of the crash ejected Clark from the bus onto the pavement. He suffered head trauma, a crushed kidney and a ruptured spleen, and broke three vertebrae in his spine. "I would have probably received no injuries, if I would have stayed on the bus," Clark told The Fifth Estate's Bob McKeown for the episode Unbuckled: School Bus Safety. "Everything that happened to me, happened after I fell out of the bus." Another student on the bus, 17-year-old Jenny Noble, died after also being thrown from the bus. Transport Minister Marc Garneau declined The Fifth Estate's repeated on-camera interview requests. Following the fatal crash, the Alberta ministries of transportation and education published a report on school bus safety. The report included Transport Canada's claim that seats belts were not needed. "No Canadian province requires seat belts on school buses and Alberta is not considering a requirement for seat belts at this time," the report stated. "While any injury or fatality involving a school bus is one too many, studies have found that due to the design of school buses, seat belts would not necessarily make buses safer and may, in some circumstances, put students at greater risk of injury. "Transport Canada conducted consultations on this issue in both the 1970s and 1990s, and based on the evidence concluded that seat belts do not provide additional safety benefits in large school buses," the report continued. Story continues Landmark study seriously flawed Instead, according to Transport Canada, students on school buses were adequately protected by "compartmentalization," where strong, closely spaced and high-backed padded seats absorb the impact of a crash and prevent students from being thrown around. But the investigation by The Fifth Estate found Transport Canada's 1984 study, which still influences school bus safety policy across North America, was seriously flawed. A close examination of the 1984 study shows Transport Canada never tested side-impact crashes or rollovers, where most serious injuries and death occur. Nor were any of the dummies fitted with three-point lap and shoulder belts, already proven to prevent ejection and injuries in cars. An in-depth review of dozens of other studies prepared by academics, test crash facilities, and computer modelling spanning decades shows repeatedly that seat belts in school buses would have prevented serious injuries and death. The Fifth Estate A scathing review by University of Michigan researchers dismissed key findings in the Transport Canada study as "exaggerated" and its conclusions invalid. In fact, documents obtained by The Fifth Estate show Transport Canada had initially wanted to put seat belts on school buses and had even set a date in the late 1970s for the rule to take effect. But after some "aggressive" lobbying by school bus operators and school boards, the proposed seat belt law was withdrawn, mainly because of the so-called "cost-benefit ratio." In other words, operators and school boards did not think there would be enough injuries and deaths to justify the additional cost of installing seat belts in every school bus. Transport Canada conducted a test crash in 1984, the results of which influenced decision makers across North America. But The Fifth Estate revealed that, by the time of the 1984 test crash, Canadian officials were already aware of and had written about a previous study showing that seat belts would have saved lives had they been installed in school buses. Injury prevention expert calls for review Don Voaklander, director of the University of Alberta's Injury Prevention Centre, said the findings of the CBC News: The Fifth Estate investigation were shocking. "Most of us that work in the safety business in Canada have based our thoughts and our messaging on Transport Canada's recommendations, that compartmentalization is the way to go with school buses," Voaklander said. "We had hoped that Transport Canada was providing us with objective data and if that is not the case, we are disappointed," he said, adding that Transport Canada needs to fully disclose the research that informed its influential study. "Perhaps we need to revisit some of those studies with more modern techniques to make sure that we are actually making recommendations that will keep children safe on school buses," Voaklander said. Clark said he still suffers the effects of his injuries from the crash that flung him onto the pavement on that foggy morning in 2008. "A lot of trauma happened that day, maybe by things that could have been prevented. It definitely makes me think of what we are doing to keep everyone safe while they are on a bus," he said. "If something isn't changed now, it's just irresponsible." With files from The Fifth Estate Seven climbers are dead and two more are missing after a strong storm swept through a base camp on a Himalayan mountain. The group, five South Koreans and their four Nepali guides, were trying to ascend Mount Gurja, a 7,193m (23,599ft) peak. A storm on Friday night destroyed their camp and two rescue helicopters sent early Saturday were unable to land due to bad weather conditions. Police reports say the group were at their base camp at the time. Villagers who reached base camp on Saturday afternoon found the bodies of four South Korean climbers, two Nepalese guides and another person yet to be identified. The search continues for two more people, a Nepalese police official said. A police team heading to the base camp on foot are likely to reach there on Sunday. There were inconsistent reports about the suspected cause of the deaths, with some saying a landslide or avalanche swept through the camp. Helicopter pilot Siddartha Gurung told AFP: "Everything is gone, all the tents are blown apart. The conditions were too icy to continue the search." One of the South Korean climbers has been identified as Kim Chang-ho, who in 2013 became the fastest person to summit the world's 14 highest mountains without using supplemental oxygen. Wangchu Sherpa, of the Trekking Camp Nepal agency, which provided support to the climbers, said: "Our rescue operation is continuing and we are trying to find details." Mount Gurja, also called Gurja Himal, while not famous as one of Nepal's most challenging peaks, is part of the Dhaulagiri range, which is topped by Dhaulagiri I, the seventh-highest mountain in the world. The incident is the worst to hit climbers in Nepal since 18 people were killed at the Mount Everest base camp in 2015 in an avalanche triggered by a powerful earthquake. The Dhaulagiri massif, about 130 miles (210km) northwest of Kathmandu, has been responsible for the deaths of dozens of climbers since the first recorded attempt on one of its lower summits in 1954. Gurja itself was not conquered until as late as 1969 and is said to have a challenging south face. Nepal is in peak climbing season at present after the end of monsoon season. A loan program that would enable people, businesses and farms to switch over to more energy-efficient options and renewable energy is a key element of the Saskatchewan NDP's climate change plan. NDP leader Ryan Meili presented the Renew Saskatchewan plan to delegates at the party's convention in Saskatoon on Saturday. "This really lowers the cost of entry; it gets a lot more people into that place where they can start reducing their energy use and even producing electricity to feed back into the grid," Meili said, in an interview following his keynote address. Renew Saskatchewan would see agents examine homes and buildings to offer options on how people could reduce their energy use and costs. It would also offer loans spaced out to pay for some or all the costs of the installation. Bridget Yard/CBC Customers would pay the loans back through their power or energy bills, based on the value of the power generated or the fossil fuel energy saved by the installation. "It gets us past what's keeping so many people away from doing this transition, which is the cost," Meili said of the loan program. Talking with experts, engineers, economists, experts in renewable energy, this is a feasible way of doing things. - Ryan Meili, Saskatchewan NDP leader Specific details have yet to be hammered out, but these would answer how big the fund would be and how it would be financed, whether that was through borrowing, general interest spending, or another creative option like green energy saving bonds, he said. That would in turn determine if people had to pay interest on their loans, and how much the interest would be. "The thing that I like about this, is that because it's repaid, phase one leads to phase two which leads to phase three," he said. "The same money can be used over and over again to further advance the movement to renewable energy. "It's kind of a permanent transition." The Renew Saskatchewan plan could potentially be available not just to residents, but as it continued to build, to small towns and larger municipalities to retrofit buildings like arenas and swimming pools, he said. "Talking with experts, engineers, economists, experts in renewable energy, this is a feasible way of doing things," he said. "It would be Saskatchewan's own model, but that's because we're building on Saskatchewan's strengths." A military court has sentenced 17 people to death for their part in deadly bomb attacks on churches in Egypt. The suicide attacks on churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday in 2017 killed 45 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombings as well as another attack on St Mark's, Cairo, the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, that killed 28 people in December 2016. An additional 19 people were given life sentences for their involvement in the attacks. The sentences are subject to appeal. Egypt's Christians have been repeatedly targeted by militants. Earlier this year, security forces thwarted an attempted suicide bomb attack on a church in Qalyubiyah, a governorate north of Cairo. The suicide attacker was prevented by security forces from getting near the church and detonated his vest around 250 metres from the church, killing only himself. In May 2017, over 30 Christians were killed by gunmen while travelling to a monastery. They were shot dead after refusing to convert to Islam. Egypt has struggled to contain the Islamic State since President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, was overthrown by the military in 2013. The country is currently ranked number 17 in the Open Doors World Watch List of the 50 most dangerous countries to be a Christian. Although persecution already existed in Egypt, Open Doors said the ousting of Morsi only caused radical groups to become even more violent towards Christians and that this has been compounded by the state's 'low regard' for religious freedom and other fundamental rights. 'In a country where 90 percent of the population is Muslim, Egyptian Christians have been treated as second-class citizens since the advent of Islam in the region,' Open Doors says. 'The rise of radical Islamist groups has only exacerbated Egyptian Christian persecution, affecting believers in their villages, neighborhoods, and workplaces.' We recently spent a fair bit of money on security screens. This wasnt so much for the security aspect of them (even though thats handy to have), we just wanted to replace our ageing fly screens and security gates as they were becoming quite damaged from years of sunlight and we wanted something that our enthusiastic cats couldnt damage. It did, however, get me thinking of my childhood growing up in South Africa. I remember quite clearly everything that was done to my home to ensure our safety. We had 6-foot high walls that surrounded the property. A front gate with a chain and lock; our house also had big thick security gates on each door leading into or out of the house. We had an alarm system with panic buttons strategically placed all around the house. Our windows had big burglar bars that no one was getting through. When we went to sleep at night, my dad would lock a big security gate that sectioned off the bedrooms from the rest of the house. All to keep us and our possessions safe from those who would try and take them from us. Theft and other criminal activity is big business for the security and insurance industries. Even now in Australia people are going the route of buying security systems, security screens and security doors to ensure the safety of their possessions. Insurance companies are making a killing on our monthly premiums, we take these out just in case someone does break in and takes our possessions. What if it didnt have to be this way? What if we didnt have to spend our hard-earned money on security and contents insurance? What if we lived in a world where no one actually stole from each other? What if people followed the eighth commandment: Thou shall not steal. (Exodus chapter 20, verse 15) The 10 Commandments To understand the 10 commandments and the freedom it brought the Israelites and how they apply to us today, we have to understand their history. For generations they were enslaved by the Egyptians. Their men were murdered, their women were raped, their children and possessions stolen from them. Many were born into slavery and many died as slaves. Families torn apart, a culture almost destroyed. When Moses eventually lead his people to freedom and God gave them the 10 commandments, they were amazed at the potential their new lives could bring. Imagine for a moment you are an Israelite: you have just come out of Egypt, everything you ever owned was stolen from you, and Moses gives the command from God, Thou shall not steal. Imagine the surprise, imagine the elation you would feel. You mean I dont have to worry about my possessions being stolen? I can now live in peace knowing that my stuff is safe? Praise God! Imagine you are now an Israelite widow: you witnessed the brutal murder of your husband before you were set free, and Moses gives the command, Thou shall not murder. While you will grieve the death of your loved one for as long as you are alive, you will feel relief knowing the rest of your family will be spared from such an awful fate. Praise God! Imagine you are an Israelite husband: before your freedom your wife had been raped and beaten by your captors, and Moses gives the command, Thou shall not commit adultery. You mean my daughters will be safe from being raped? They wont have to suffer the injustice their mother did? Praise God! So what about stealing? I hope the three examples above give you an idea of the potential following the 10 commandments could bring society. The primary focus of this article is to introduce the series I am writing and today we are mainly talking about Thou shall not steal. If people abide by this one rule, these are the things that could potentially happen: No more break ins No more car high jackings No more phone and internet scams No more kidnappings No more pick pockets No more ATM skimming devises No more muggings No more armed hold ups People could just trust one another and we wouldnt have to live in fear of our safety and security being compromised. The thing is, this paints a picture of a perfect utopia, one where we assume people steal for all the same reason. The truth of the matter is its far more complex. Humans commit theft or steal for many different reasons: Greed Covetous Vengeance Addiction Poverty Desperation These reasons are a symptom of a greater issue with the world today. While they exist because of sin and the fallen nature of our world, they also exist because we do not love our neighbours as we do ourselves. Simply following one commandment will not fix society, it will not cause crime to just disappear. Its just a book of rules While growing up as a young Christian my class mates and my peers would always say to me that the Bible was just a book of rules, trying to take the fun out of life. I would never hold that against them, as they didnt understand. People think that when there are no rules there is true freedom, freedom to do what I want and when I want. This couldnt be further from the truth. In order to flourish as a society we need structure, we need order, and we need rules. Not rules that constrain us, but rather rules that will help us feel safe; rules that will put us at peace; rules that will give us a framework for what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. While stopping our tendency to steal will help take society in a better direction, we have to consider the other commandments and how they apply to a fruitful and ultimately beneficial society. It will take many steps to correct the wrong we as humans have caused against each other, and while we may not be able to change the world, we can certainly change our families and communities. We are all guilty of breaking the ten commandments, thats why we need Jesus and a new perspective. Jarred is an HPE and Mathematics teacher on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. He is married to Haley and has three beautiful children Chelsea, Nathan and Ryan. 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of when Zino Davidoff established the Davidoff White Label brand. While the centerpiece of the 50th anniversary has been the re-release of the Davidoff Diademas Finas as the 50th-anniversary cigar, the company has done other things throughout the year to mark the occasion, including putting special 50th-anniversary bands on select White Label cigars. The Diademas Finas is not the only cigar that made a return. Two other releases that were re-released include the Davidoff Limited Edition 2011 White Edition Belicoso Supremo and the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition 2009 with the latter considered to be one of the iconic releases in Davidoff history. Today we take a closer look at the re-release of the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition. The Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition 2009 derives its name from the 702 wrapper that covers the cigar. This is a Habano wrapper grown in Ecuador exclusively for Davidoff. It originates from Finca San Juan in the Ecuadorian province of Cotopaxi. Last year, Davidoff decided to take the 702 wrapper and use it on some of its popular existing Davidoff White Label brands and thus the Davidoff 702 Series was born. Some mistake the use of the 702 name as a return of the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition, but that was not the case. The 2018 release marks the first time the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition has returned. In addition, there have been other Davidoff and AVO branded releases where this wrapper is found: SPECIFICATIONS Blend and Origin In addition to the 702 wrapper, the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition features a San Vincente binder, and a combination of San Vincente, Piloto Cuban, and Olor tobaccos. Wrapper: 702 Habano from Ecuador Binder: San Vicente Seco from the Dominican Republic Filler: San Vicente Ligero, Piloto Seco, Piloto Ligero and Olor Seco from the Dominican Republic Country of Origin: Dominican Republic Factory: Cigars Davidoff Vitolas Offered The Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition is available in one size a 6 5/8 x 48 Toro Especial. A total of 2,000 boxes will be produced. Appearance The 702 wrapper of the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition has a medium brown color with a Colorado red tint to it. There was a light coating of oil on the surface. There were some visible veins as well as some visible wrapper seams on the surface of the wrapper. There are two bands on the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition cigar. The first band is similar to the classic Davidoff White label. It features the name Davidoff in classic cursive gold-colored font on an oval field of white. There are small gold circles going around the perimeter of the oval. The word GENEVE (in gold font) flanks to the right of the oval field. To the left of the oval, is the text LIMITED EDITION in gold font. The secondary band is also white in color. There is a gold pinstripe near the top of the band, as well as one toward the bottom of the band. On the center of the band is the text Seleccion 702 also in gold font. PERFORMANCE Pre-Light Draw A straight cut was used to remove the cap of the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition. After clipping the cap, it was time to commence with the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered a mix of leather with a natural tobacco note. I found a slight amount of bitterness to the natural tobacco. This wasnt the most exciting pre-light draw, but since this activity is not factored into the overall assessment, there was no loss of points. With the pre-light draw completed, it was time to light up the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition and see what the smoking phase would offer. Tasting Notes The Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition started out with a combination of cedar, classic wood, natural tobacco, and black pepper. Early on the cedar notes moved into the forefront. There was a slight creamy texture that emerged, smoothing out the flavor profile. The classic wood, natural tobacco, and black pepper settled in the background. As the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition moved through the first third, there were also some hay notes that surfaced in the forefront. Meanwhile, there was an additional layer of hay and black pepper on the retro-hale. The second third saw the cedar notes remain in the forefront. During this stage, the natural tobacco notes increased. The bitter component to the natural tobacco notes was also present, but it never became overpowering. By the midway point, the natural tobacco joined the cedar in the forefront. There were still notes of classic wood, hay, and black pepper in the background The last third saw an earthy component join the natural tobacco and cedar in the forefront. Meanwhile there was a slight increase in the black pepper. In the background were touches of classic wood and hay. This is the way the experience of the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature. Burn In terms of the burn, the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition scored very well. The cigar didnt have any problems in terms of maintaining a straight burn line and a straight burn path. The resulting ash had a classic salt and pepper color complexion. While this cigar didnt produce the firmest ash, this was not a loose or flaky ash either. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both were ideal. Draw The draw to the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition also performed quite well. This draw maintained a nice balance of openness and resistance. At the same time, this was a low maintenance cigar to derive flavor from. Strength and Body In terms of strength and body, the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition started out medium. Along the way, there was a slight increase in the strength and body, but it wasnt enough to go beyond the medium range of the spectrum. As a result, the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition maintained its medium profile from start to finish. Meanwhile, the strength and body balanced each other nicely with neither attribute overshadowing the other. OVERALL ASSESSMENT Final Thoughts I have not smoked the original Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition 2009, so I dont have a baseline to compare the 2018 edition. What I can say is on merit alone, the 2018 edition of the Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition scores a respectable 89. While respectable, that doesnt translate to the epic levels I have heard about this cigar. At the same time, at $30.00 it is a pricey cigar. While price doesnt factor into our merit score, it does have considerations when it comes to value. Im not opposed to paying $30.00 plus for a Davidoff, but this wouldnt be the cigar Id pick to spend the money on. In the end, this is a cigar Id certainly recommend trying a sample of first if you can, then decide if its in your profile and worth a purchase. Summary Key Flavors: Cedar, Natural Tobacco, Black Pepper, Classic Wood, Earth, Hay Burn: Excellent Draw: Excellent Complexity: Medium Plus Strength: Medium to Full Body: Medium to Full Finish: Excellent Rating Assessment: Try a Sample Score: 89 References News: Davidoff Seleccion 702 Limited Edition 2009 to Return in May Price: $30.00 Source: Purchased Brand Reference: Davidoff Photo Credits: Cigar Coop, except where noted MONDAY, Oct. 15, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Despite some parents' fears, girls who get vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) do not see it as permission to have sex, a new study finds. HPV is a sexually transmitted infection that can cause genital warts and cancers of the cervix, vagina, penis, anus and throat. Experts recommend that all kids ages 11 and 12 be immunized. "We already know this vaccine is safe, we already know it's effective," said Dr. Gina Ogilvie, the lead researcher on the new study. However, she added, surveys have found that some parents worry their kids will see the vaccine as tacit approval to have sex, or have riskier sex. So Ogilvie's team looked at what happened after British Columbia, Canada, launched an HPV vaccination program in schools, in 2008. The investigators found no evidence that teenage girls took more sexual risks after the program started. In fact, there was a decline in the percentage who said they'd ever had sex: from almost 21 percent in 2008, to about 18 percent in 2013. And when girls did have sex, they were more likely to use condoms and birth control in more recent years, the findings showed. The findings align with smaller studies from the United States and Europe, said Ogilvie, a professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health. "This study gives us more evidence HPV vaccination is not causing kids to make poorer choices in their sexual behavior," she said. Dr. Ina Park, an advisor to the American Sexual Health Association, agreed. She said she hopes the findings reassure parents who have lingering worries. "Any fears that HPV vaccination would lead to increased sexual risk-taking should finally be put to rest," said Park, who is also an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. "We should continue to encourage HPV vaccination for all preteen girls and boys," she said. The findings are based on nearly 300,000 girls who took part in a periodic health survey of British Columbia teenagers. The girls were 15 years old, on average. Of girls surveyed in 2003, 21 percent said they'd ever had sex. That figure was similar in 2008, the year the HPV vaccine program began. But by 2013, only about 18 percent of girls said they'd ever had sex. There were also signs that more girls were delaying sex in recent years. Among those who were sexually active, the percentage who'd had sex before age 14 dipped by one-quarter. Meanwhile, more girls in 2013 said they'd used condoms or birth control pills. "Their sexual health choices actually got better," Ogilvie said. She noted that there could be various reasons for that, and no one is saying the HPV vaccine program deserves the credit. Some parents, Ogilvie said, might wonder why their 11-year-old needs a vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease. "But that's exactly when we want to get them -- before they start having sex and are exposed to HPV," Ogilvie said. "This is about prevention." And ultimately, she added, it's about preventing cancer. "This is really a vaccine against cancer," Ogilvie said. "And it's exciting that we have a cancer vaccine." The study was published Oct. 15 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). It was funded by the Canadian government. More information The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on HPV vaccination. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Bangkok, October 15, 2018The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the second prison sentence handed to Vietnamese journalist Do Cong Duong and strongly reiterated its call for his immediate and unconditional release. On October 12, in a half-day trial, a Vietnamese court in the northern province of Bac Ninh sentenced Duong to five years in prison on anti-state charges of abusing democratic freedoms, a criminal offense under article 331 of the revised 2015 penal code, according to news reports. News reports said Duong was convicted for critical reports he posted on Facebook about local corruption and land disputes. His defense lawyer, Ha Huy Son, told Radio Free Asia that the methods authorities used to collect evidence against Duong were not compliant with local laws and that Duong was innocent of the charges. Duong was merely doing his job as a journalist and should be immediately and unconditionally released, said Shawn Crispin, CPJs Southeast Asia representative. Vietnams use of arbitrary and vague anti-state laws to jail journalists must stop. It was not immediately clear from the news reports if Duong intended to appeal the conviction. Vietnams Ministry of Public Security could not be reached by telephone today for comment on Duongs conviction. Duong was sentenced separately in September to four years in prison on charges of disturbing public order while filming and taking photographs of state authorities forcibly evicting residents of Nach Ninh provinces Tu Son commune. Disturbing public order is a criminal offense under the penal codes article 318. Duong regularly covers land rights and corruption, including on his Tieng Dan TV program, where he live-streamed video discussions over Facebook, according to the 88 Project, an independent advocacy group that monitors the status of Vietnamese political prisoners. The group said Duong was warned by Bac Ninh police in writing in September 2017 that his articles and live videos on Facebook included content that distorts the truth and contradicts the directions and policies of the Party and the law of the state. Defense attorney Son said Duong was in poor health when he visited him in prison in April and that authorities, including the local police, had harassed his family over Duongs land rights and anti-corruption reporting and activism, according to Radio Free Asia and 88 Project research. At least 10 journalists were held behind bars in Vietnam when CPJ conducted its annual census of jailed journalists worldwide in December 2017. All 10 were jailed on anti-state charges related to their work, CPJ research shows. Bihar: Bihar planning to ban fish from Andhra Pradesh by Abhay Kumar October 15,2018 | Source: Deccan Herald The Bihar government is mulling over a proposal to ban fish imported from Andhra Pradesh after laboratory test reports confirmed the presence of formalin, cadmium and lead. These harmful chemicals are used for the preservation of fish, transported from the far-off coastal state. The report has been forwarded to the health department, which is the competent body to take a call on banning the cancerous fish. We got the fish samples tested at Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Kochi and Food Testing Laboratory, Kolkata. The reports confirmed the presence of harmful chemicals like formalin, cadmium and lead, said Bihars Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras. Formalin is a toxic and carcinogenic chemical used to preserve dead bodies in mortuaries. This chemical is applied to prevent fish from rotting during transportation. Besides, exposure to cadmium can lead to flu, damage to lungs, kidney and even cancer, said a senior oicial in the fisheries department. The laboratory test reports have been forwarded to the health department which will take a call on banning Andhra fish, said Paras. The health department is, however, not in a hurry to enforce a ban on fish imported from Andhra Pradesh. The department has decided to collect fish samples afresh and get them tested at the designated laboratory before taking a stand on banning it. We will collect the fresh samples soon and send it to the laboratory for test. Based on the outcome of the report, the health department will decide the next course of action, said Health Minister Mangal Pandey. Bihar consumes 6.4 lakh metric tonnes of fish. Out of which 5.9 lakh metric tonnes of fish is supplied from within the state (ponds, lakes, reservoirs and rivers), while the remaining 50,000 metric tonnes of fish is procured from Andhra Pradesh, said the source. Claim: Some 170 States have either abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium on its use. Verdict: According to Amnesty International in 2017, 142 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty by praising the efforts of countries to end the practice. He said "170 States have either abolished the death penalty or introduced a moratorium on its use." A moratorium is an agreement to suspend a policy or action. So, is he right? The UN Secretary General's report on the death penalty presented to the Human Rights Council in September this year says that "some 170 States have abolished or introduced a moratorium on the death penalty either in law or in practice, or have suspended executions for more than 10 years." As the UN has 193 members, this implies that 23 states carried out at least one execution in the past decade. The UN says these figures are compiled from information provided by member states as well as civil society. However, Amnesty says that 142 countries have either abolished the death penalty in law or in practice and that in the past five years 33 countries have carried out at least one execution. Amnesty collects its statistics using official figures, media reports and information passed on from individuals sentenced to death and their families and representatives. Four countries were responsible for 84% of executions in 2017 (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran). That doesn't include China, where the statistics are a state secret. Amnesty estimates that China carries out thousands of executions each year. Methods of execution in 2017 were beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting. The human rights organisation recorded at least 2,591 death sentences in 53 countries in 2017. But in some cases the death sentences will be commuted, where countries are reluctant to enforce the punishment. According to Amnesty there are: - 106 countries where use of the death penalty is not allowed by law - 7 countries which permit the death penalty only for serious crimes in exceptional circumstances, such as those committed during times of war - 29 countries which have death penalty laws but haven't executed anyone for at least 10 years, and a policy or more formal commitment not to execute - 56 countries which retain death penalty laws and either carry out executions or the authorities have not made an official declaration not to execute (Amnesty includes five non UN-member countries. Thailand included for an execution carried out in 2018). The Malaysian government followed the secretary general's comments with an announcement that it intends to abolish the death penalty. About 1,200 people are thought to be on death row in Malaysia, where the punishment is given for offences including murder, drug trafficking and treason. The parliament will consider a bill at its next session. If Malaysia does abolish the death penalty, it would follow Guinea and Mongolia, which ended the practice in 2017. The Gambian president Adama Barrow announced a suspension earlier this year. The Guardian reported that the death penalty was last used in Gambia in 2012. In June, Burkina Faso's parliament adopted a new penal code which abolishes the death penalty. At the end of 2017 there were 20 countries which have abolished capital punishment in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Amnesty. In total 23 people were executed in the US last year. Washington state became the 20th to ban the death penalty in October 2018. The state's Supreme Court found that the punishment was applied in an "arbitrary and racially biased manner". The number of countries which have formally abolished the death penalty has been steadily increasing, from 48 in 1991 to 106 in 2017. In recent years the number of countries which carry out executions has also gradually declined. Countries that carried out executions between 2013 and 2017: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, Chad, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Taiwan, Thailand (2018), United Arab Emirates, USA, Vietnam and Yemen. (Due to ongoing conflicts in Libya and Syria, Amnesty International is not able to confirm that judicial executions were carried out in these countries). The 21 countries that did not carry out an execution in those years despite not having abolished the death penalty: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Comoros, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guyana, Jamaica, Lebanon, Lesotho, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Indonesia should follow in Malaysia's footsteps in abolishing the death penalty, a human rights group has said. Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid said an initiative to abolish the death penalty could come from the House of Representatives. "In Malaysia, the initiative comes from the government. In Indonesia, it could come from the House, as the initiator of the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes," he said, adding that such a move would be supported by the global community. Usman said he appreciated a statement made by Charles Honoris, a member of the House's foreign affairs and defense commission who suggested that Indonesia learn from Malaysia. RELATED: Malaysia to Repeal Death Penalty and Sedition Law "We recommend that the House communicate with the Malaysian parliament as soon as possible to process the proposal of a death sentence abolition" Usman said. Previously, Malaysia's cabinet agreed to abolish the death penalty, with more than 1,200 people on death row set to win a reprieve following a groundswell of opposition to capital punishment, AFP reported. Capital punishment in Malaysia is currently mandatory for murder, kidnapping, possession of firearms and drug trafficking, among other crimes, and is carried out by hanging - a legacy of British colonial rule. Malaysia's communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo confirmed that the cabinet had resolved to end the death penalty. "I hope the law will be amended soon," he said as quoted by AFP. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde The Jakarta Post, October 14, 2018 After 1-year-long lull, a condemned prisoner and notorious criminal Imran Ali will be executed in Lahore's central jail on Wednesday. The prison staff has finalised arrangements to execute the serial rapist-cum-killer in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail on October 17. But, Zainab's father Amin Ansari has once again approached the Lahore High Court and demanded public hanging of the merciless killer. An official said the murder convict would be given an opportunity to have a final meeting with his family inside the jail before his hanging. A team of doctors will also examine the prisoner before sending him to the gallows. Imran Ali had raped and killed 7-year-old Zainab in Kasur district early this year. He has been accused of being involved in at least 9 cases of child rape and murder which he had confessed during the investigation of Zainab murder case. He was booked by police in 7 cases and the court announced its verdict in 5 such cases. Imran Ali is one of the 8,000 prisoners who currently await execution across the country. His death warrants were issued after President Arif Alvi rejected his mercy petition in the Zainab murder case, officials said. Most of those put on the death row were convicted in murder cases and hundreds among them have exhausted their appeals and their clemency appeals have also been rejected. Some 4,000 inmates are on the death row only in Punjab where more than 2,700 people were murdered during the first 8 months of this year. Imran will be the 1st person to be hanged this year in Punjab. In November 2017, 2 inmates were hanged in Jhang and Sahiwal jails. Prisoner Nasir Abbas was hanged in the Central Jail Jhang. He had killed a man named Hafiz-ur-Rehman in 2001 over a minor dispute. Another convict Tahir was executed in Sahiwal district jail. Tahir had shot dead his wife over a family dispute in 2007. Pakistan had lifted 7-year unofficial moratorium on the death penalty in December 2014 in response to the deadly attack on Army Public School in Peshawar. The executions picked up momentum in 2015 with 332 convicts sent to gallows. However, the executions dropped drastically in 2016 and 2017. At least 87 convicts were hanged across the country in 2016 while 44 convicts were executed in 2017. According to Justice Project Pakistan, at least 496 convicts have been hanged in the country since the moratorium was lifted. It is not clear yet why the executions of the murder convicts are halted this year again. But key international players have been calling for an immediate halt to executions since the country had suspended the ban on the death penalty for all convicts. Many among those hanged to death in recent years were terrorists in addition to murderers. In 2016, several inmates were hanged to death in murder cases reported by police almost 20 years ago. They remained in the prison for 15 to 20 years before they were executed. Among them were double-murder convicts Mansha Munees and Salman Munees who were hanged in the Lahore's Central Prison on February 4, 2017. The police had reported the offense in 1996. While rights activists call for reforms in the criminal justice system stating that the death penalty does not deter crimes, the police officers think otherwise. Police investigators and jail officers say executions help control crime particularly murders in this society where thousands of people are killed each year. A police official said that if the convicts would not be hanged for many years the impact of the punishment would vanish. He said that thousands of people are murdered due to one or another reason each year in this province. "The suspects are arrested by police, sent to jails, and convicted in the courts. But they are rarely executed. They must be punished under the laws," he suggested. A former Inspector General of Prisons says that 95 % of those put on the death row were sentenced to death in murder cases. A few drug convicts are also on the death row in Punjab, he said. Farooq Nazir, who served in Punjab for many years to lead the Prisons Department, defends the capital punishment stating that it works as deterrence. "Hundreds of people are murdered (in Punjab) every month. But only a few convicts are hanged," he said. "The convicts are given fair trials. Even they can compromise with the heirs of the deceased under the laws." He went on to say that the ratio of homicides is zero in the countries where murder convicts are executed on fast-track like Singapore, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. He said only a few murder convicts are hanged in Pakistan after years long legal wrangling. "The impact of the punishment disappears if the convicts are sentenced after 20 years," he said. On the other hand, rights activists say the country's criminal justice system is too complicated and mired in corruption. They say the poor can't hire strong defence lawyers. "None of the millionaires is put on the death row. The lawyers of poor convicts don't appear in the courts even after accepting fees," activists say. LHC seeks replies on plea for public hanging of Zainab's killer The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday issued notices to the Punjab government and other respondents on a petition filed by Amin Ansari, father of 7-year-old Zainab, seeking court directives for public hanging of his daughter's murderer. A bench of the LHC directed the respondents to file their replies on the petition on Tuesday (tomorrow). The petitioner submitted that convict Imran Ali, who will be sent to the gallows on Oct 17, could be executed publicly under Section 22 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. He added the section allows the government to "specify the manner, mode and place of execution of any sentence passed under this Act having regard to the deterrent effect which such execution is likely to have." Amin said the murderer of Zainab should be given exemplary punishment to stop such incidents in future. The convict will be hanged on the morning of October 17 at the Lahore Central Jail. He was found guilty of rape and murder of seven minors including Zainab. The warrants were issued after President Arif Alvi rejected the mercy plea on October 10. Death row prisoner Imran Ali was handed 4 counts of death penalty, one life term, a 7-year jail term and Rs4.1 million in fines in the Zainab rape and murder case. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde The Nation, October 14, 2018: arynews.tv, October 15, 2018 Somalia on Sunday executed by firing squad a man linked to one of the country's deadliest ever attacks, one year after the tragedy which left over 500 dead, a court statement and police sources said. Hundreds of Somalis gathered at a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the attack in which a truck packed with explosives blew up at a busy intersection, destroying some 20 buildings in an apocalyptic scene in a city used to regular explosions at the hands of Islamist group Al-Shabaab. A year on, the Al-Qaeda linked group which still governs large swaths of territory, has never claimed responsibility, which observers attribute to the public outrage caused by the attack. To coincide with the anniversary, a military court announced early Sunday morning that a member of the team involved in the attack, had been executed. Hassan Adan Isak, was sentenced to death for "driving one of the vehicles used in the blast," read a statement from the court. "Today, the 14th October 2018, the death penalty was carried out against him." Isak was the driver of a vehicle which he parked near an airport checkpoint shortly after the truck went off, and was arrested for suspicious behaviour. The target of his attack was unclear and there were no casualties in the 2nd blast. Police sources said he died by firing squad. 'Justice and protection' Business at the Zoope intersection has returned to normal, and some buildings have been reconstructed, now carrying billboards depicting harrowing pictures of the blast and its victims. A memorial tower has been erected in the middle of the intersection. "All we can do is pray for them, I have lost them, I don't think commemoration would bring them back to me, but I hope nothing like the October tragedy happens again," said Omar Haji Mohamed, a disabled father who lost two children in the blast. "I still cry from the bottom of my heart where people cannot see and only God knows how much I go through every day of my life after that tragedy," he added. Some frustrated residents said mourning would not solve the insecurity in the capital. "I don't think mourning is the right and sufficient answer to wipe the tears from the eyes of those who have lost their loved ones, these people were massacred, so the perpetrators need to be chased and eliminated," said Ali Adan, a Mogadishu resident who lost 3 of his friends in the blast. Abdisalan Mohamed, 23, who lost his brother, agreed: "I can still see the disaster right in front of me. We can mourn as much as we can, but it will not bring back our relatives, all we need is justice and protection." | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde In the remaining months of 2018, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is likely to reach a grim milestone. Of the 4 remaining scheduled executions in Texas, 3 defendants were convicted in Fort Worth or Dallas. The next of those executions to proceed will be the 100th execution resulting from convictions in Tarrant and Dallas counties since our state resumed executions in 1982. 4 other individuals convicted in Tarrant or Dallas counties face execution in the remaining months of 2018. Historically, Tarrant and Dallas county juries have returned a combined 181 death sentences in the modern death penalty era, more than any major metropolitan area in Texas except for Houston. And while prosecutors across the nation are increasingly electing life without the possibility of parole over the huge expense of a death penalty trial, district attorney offices in Tarrant and Dallas continue to seek death sentences and advance executions, despite compelling evidence of waning public appetite for capital punishment. Since 2015, prosecutors in North Texas have sought the death penalty 4 times but secured just one death verdict from a jury. I was elected 4 times as district attorney for the 97th District of Texas. I can attest to the central role prosecutors play in the death penalty process. As district attorney, I faced the decision whether to seek life or death 17 times. Three times I chose to seek a death sentence. I was also responsible for seeking an execution date that resulted in the execution of Clifford Boggess, who was convicted of a murder in Montague County, Texas, and sentenced to death in 1987. As the death penalty decreases in popularity and use, district attorneys owe it to their constituents to consider the questions surrounding the death penalty before proceeding to seek a sentence that many believe has been administered unfairly in the past. Many of the arguments supporting the death penalty no longer hold up in 2018. Public support for the death penalty is now at a historical low in the modern era. I've heard all the arguments in favor of the death penalty. I have made those arguments myself. But after years of Texas' aggressive use of capital punishment, we know that executions seldom deter violent crime in our communities. And we are more aware than ever that our justice system is not perfect. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, juries and judges make mistakes. When it comes to the death penalty, there is no acceptable margin of error because a mistake means that an innocent person may be executed. Since 1996, over 150 men have been released from death rows around the country after being exonerated by the results of DNA tests or other evidence. How many innocent people were executed that we did not discover before these advances in forensic science? After years of confronting these decisions myself, I believe there is no longer an adequate justification for an irreversible punishment that does little to make our communities safer. Our district attorneys should stop and consider this before seeking the next death sentence or setting the next execution date. Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Opinion, Tim Cole, October 15, 2018. Mr. Cole was elected to 4 terms as 97th district attorney (1993-2006) and has tried more than 150 jury trials. He also served as counsel to Gov. Clements in 1990 and general counsel for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association from 1988 to 1990 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Vietnams recent exchange rate fluctuation will not carry into the last quarter thanks to strong government reserves, experts say. The USD/VND reference rate set by the central bank fluctuated in the early days of this month, reaching VND22,723 last Tuesday, the highest so far this year, up 1.31 percent from the end of last year. Banks traded their dollars for VND23,315-23,395 on Tuesday. But the central rate dropped by VND3 on Thursday, before returning to VND22,721 on Saturday, while local banks sold their greenback for VND23,300-23,385, VND10-15 lower than on Tuesday. However, financial experts are confident that the exchange rate will remain stable in the last months of the year. Andy Ho, CEO of Vietnams investment fund VinaCapital, said that the countrys foreign exchange reserves of over $62 billion are enough to ease the burden that the weakening Chinese yuan might bring to bear on the dong. The dong will only weaken if the government does so to boost exports, he added. Ngo Dang Khoa, country head of global markets, HSBC Vietnam, said that the USD/VND exchange rate has been stable compared to other countries in the region. The dong has only fallen by 2.6 percent since the beginning of the year, while other currencies have seen steeper drops, especially the Indonesian rupiah which has fallen by 10 percent, he said. The dong will surely be affected by the weakening Chinese yuan because of the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, Khoa said, noting that that the CNY has fallen by 8 percent to the USD since April. But the State Bank of Vietnam has made calculations with different variables, thus the dong wont experience too many fluctuations in upcoming months, he said. Local banks currently have good greenback reserves, and can supply customers who need between $1 million and $100 million, he added. The countrys trade surplus of $6.32 billion and the disbursed foreign direct investment of $13.25 billion in the first nine months this year are positive factors that will also keep the USD/VND exchange rate stable, Khoa said. The CEO of another foreign bank in Vietnam, who declined to be named, said the pressure on dollar repayments will not be high because the number of dollar borrowings was low. As the government is pushing equitization of state-owned enterprises, successful acquisitions by foreign investors will bring in more dollars to Vietnam, he added. In a recent report, the Standard Chartered bank projected that the USD/VND exchange rate will stand at around VND23,400 by the end of this year. The bank expected a small dong depreciation early next year, before ending 2019 mildly stronger against the USD as positive domestic and external factors support the currency. The north-south high-speed railway should be seized as an opportunity for the countrys manufacturing sector and labor, a senior official says. Nguyen Duc Kien, Vice Chairman of the National Assemblys Economic Committee, said railway parts for the project should be ordered from local manufacturing firms instead of importing everything. After reviewing official development assistance (ODA) projects, we think that what can be done by Vietnamese should be done by Vietnamese. We dont want foreigners to be the main contractor and Vietnamese to be subcontractors all the time, Kien told a meeting held late last week in Hanoi. Echoing Kien, Do Duc Tuan from the Hanoi-based University of Transport said that Vietnam should upgrade two railway manufacturing facilities in the north and south to produce parts for the high-speed railway. At the meeting, the consultancy consortium comprising firms TEDI, TRICC and TEDIS said that by 2030, the high-speed railway project would need a 5,100-strong workforce to operate it. An additional 7,600 people would be required by 2040. The consortium proposed that a training academy be established five to seven years before 2030. Experts at the meeting agreed with the idea of training people, but expressed concerns that a new academy would add to the projects financial burden. Kien said that the high-speed railway was not merely a transportation project but an opportunity to improve Vietnamese technical capabilities and boost the local economy. He noted current training facilities in the country were adequate to train people; no new academy was needed. The consultancy consortium should do more research to find out what the training costs are and use existing facilities in current universities for training. "A new academy would add more to the budget, and would not be supported by the people," Kien added. He proposed that training should start in 2019 so that by 2027, the country would have a group of Vietnamese specialists capable of overseeing, managing the project and training more people. With a local staff, we wouldnt have to hire foreign specialists with salaries of $10,000 per month, he said. Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong also said that the consultancy consortium should carry out more research to evaluate local training and manufacturing facilities. The north-south high-speed railroad was recently revived after being rejected by the National Assembly in 2010 due to its $56-billion price tag, which was half of Vietnams GDP then. It is now expected to cost $58 billion, according to a feasibility report released in August. The consortium has said that the project will use the distributed traction technology used by Japanese high-speed trains. Two sections - from Hanoi to the central city of Vinh and from the central city of Nha Trang to HCMC - will be built first in 2020-2030 at a cost of $24 billion, with commercial operations likely to begin in 2032. All sections are expected to be completed and operational by 2040-2045. Once complete, transport time from Hanoi to HCMC will be shortened to eight from the current 24 hours. Representatives of CPTPP country members pose for a photo after the signing of the deal in Santiago, Chile on March 8, 2018. Photo by Reuters Vietnam is set to discuss ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership this month. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA), Vietnams legislative body, said the NAs Standing Committee will decide Wednesday whether or not to present the CPTPP to the parliament for ratification. The Standing Committee will discuss the trade pact after listening to presentations from Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Industry and Trade and Nguyen Van Giau, Chairman of the NA's Committee for External Relations. Should the Standing Committee approve the trade agreement, the government will present this to the NA at its upcoming session that opens on October 22. Speaking to the media while on an official visit to Japan earlier this month, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had said that there was a high possibility that Vietnam will ratify the CPTPP this year. Vietnam is striving to be one of the first six country members to ratify the CPTPP, he said. PM Phuc also said that Vietnam welcomes countries which have announced interest in joining the CPTPP, like Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and the U.K. But the expansion of CPTPP will only happen after the trade pact has come into effect and will be decided on by all members, he added. Originally a 12-member agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the pact was thrown into limbo when President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in January 2017. Following the U.S. withdrawal, the remaining 11 countries renegotiated parts of the TPP, removing some of Washingtons demands. In March, they signed the revised CPTPP, also known as TPP-11. The trade deal would become effective 60 days after being ratified by at least six of its signatories. It will reduce tariffs in countries that together account for more than 13 percent of the global economy - a total of $10 trillion in gross domestic product. The current members of CPTTP are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Currently, the pact has been ratified by Mexico, Japan and Singapore. On the Hue imperial citadel, a World Heritage monument, thousands live in squalid conditions that theyre eager to escape. An estimated 15,000 people suffer severe weather conditions with scant protection, and live amidst squalor and pollution that they add to, not having recourse to normal amenities like toilets, bathrooms and stable roofs and walls. The slum stands in what is known as Hue Relic Area 1. For several decades, people have built their houses right on Thuong Thanh in Thuan Thanh Ward, Hue City, a strictly preserved relic. According to the Center for Conservation of Hue Imperial Citadel, Area 1 of the imperial city has about 4,200 households with more than 15,700 members seriously infringing on the monument. There are four wards in the citadel, Thua Loc, Thuan Thanh, Thuan Hoa and Tay Loc, that house 2,410 households. The 12km moat built in 1805 by the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), the last in Vietnams feudal history, is now home to 1,790 households in Phu Binh, Phu Hoa, and Phu Thuan wards. Many houses like the one in this picture are loosely and precariously constructed. Such constructions are illegal, but they are common in Phu Hoa Ward. 72 year-old Tran Hoa and his family have spent their life in Thuong Thanh since 1970. They still live in a house without a proper roof over their head. We want to build a strong home, but the government does not allow it because our house is located on the relic. We dont have money to move elsewhere. We dont have a certificate of house ownership for this house, so borrowing money from the bank is not an option, Hoa said. Houses in Thuong Thanh are all makeshift structures without proper roofs. Most lean on the citadel wall. Residents here are exposed to harsh weather conditions. These old car tires and sandbags are stacked on by some of the residents to protect themselves during stormy weather. The makeshift homes in Thuong Thanh are separated by narrow alleys. People living here discharge trash and wastewater down the citadels walls, damaging it and polluting the environment, but they have no choice. This is a 10-square meter house where the four-member family of Nguyen Van Bieu lives. Located in Thanh Loc Ward, the house does not have clean water or a toilet. The space is so small that Bieu has to leave furniture, clothes and other home appliances outside. Inside another 10-square meter house in Thuan Loc Ward. 50-year-old Vo Huu Tung only wants the Government to arrange some land for him to build a new home. He has lived in Thuong Thanh for nearly three decades. It is polluted, and everyone here wants to leave as soon as possible, Tung said. The over one-meter tall citadel wall makes it difficult for residents to get to their houses on Ong Ich Khiem Street, so many households have built concrete ladders to their makeshift homes. Local authorities have plans to relocate the residents of Hue Relic Area 1. The tentative budget for this project is more than VND4,000 billion (nearly $172 million), of which VND2,800 billion ($120 million) will be spent on land clearance. Establishing a new residential area is projected to cost about VND1,400 billion ($60.1 million). Ho Chi Minh City has many problems that need urgent attention, a new opera house is a skewed priority, people say. Last week, the municipal legislature, the citys Peoples Council, had approved a plan to build an opera house in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2. The project was crucial for the citys development and would improve the social life of local residents, Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, the councils chairwoman, said at a meeting. The city would raise the VND1.51 trillion ($64.53 million) needed for the project by auctioning a land lot in District 1 that had been chosen to build the symphony hall in the first place. The opera house in Thu Thiem would take four years to build, and when it is completed in 2022, it would seat 1,700 people in two halls. Le Thanh Liem, the citys Vice Chairman, highlighted the importance of the project, saying: HCMC is a modern, civilized city, a hub for economic, cultural, scientific and technical exchanges and thus it needs a worthy cultural project. HCMC used to have three theaters, but the Opera House in the downtown area was the only one still functional, the other two do not meet criteria to host international performances, he said. Thu Thiem New Urban Area is under construction to become the new financial and cultural hub of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran Public opposition The citys residents, however, are not impressed. As soon as the plan was made public, it received a backlash with many people saying it was a waste of money and a case of skewed priorities at a time when the city still needed to deal with urban flooding, traffic jams and overloaded public infrastructure every day. A VnExpress poll found that as of Monday morning, a week after the plan was announced, nearly 4,400 Vietnamese disagreed with the project and just 630 approved. Many people rejected the plans as they argue that the opera house would look like a piece of luxury, and that would be odd while the city lacks basic facilities. A reader nicknamed Goldenjet 79 said that when the people are still in need of hospitals and schools, they would have little interest in the opera house. Every year, parents have to do everything they can for months before a school year starts, just to make sure their kids can get into a decent school. Then theres the all too common scene of patients waiting in line before sunrise for a health check at public hospitals, the reader said in a comment which received almost 4,300 likes. The new opera house in Thu Thiem will lie near the edge of Thu Thiem Peninsula just across the Saigon River in District 2 and less than six kilometers from the Saigon Opera House in downtown HCMC. Tran Cong Bao, another reader, pointed to traffic infrastructure in the usually-congested city as an issue that deserves more investment. He said that spending VND1.5 trillion on a theater is unnecessary when traffic jams and urban flooding still put the lives of residents in misery very often. This theater will serve a minority group only, said Bao, whose comment got 1,500 likes. I think the city should invest in water puppetry instead because the city gets flooded every time it rains, a reader nicknamed VMT joked, referring to the fact that many streets in the city would be submerged any time the tides are high or the downpour is heavy. Some readers suggest that the city government should conduct a survey to know if their residents care more about having more hospitals and less flooding or having a big theater. For a city to be civilized, the first thing is that it should have complete infrastructure, quality healthcare and education. It should become a livable city first, said reader The Dung, revealing his vote if he has the chance. Experts' voices Through the lens of experts, a new opera house is a proper idea and that it can work as a new icon for the city, but that should be something for the future. As they argued, aside from all the ongoing problems HCMC needs to deal with now, it is a fact that the current theaters in the city, though they are small, still meet the demand of locals, and the iconic Saigon Opera House so far still cannot attract audiences every night. If Saigon Opera House holds one or two symphony concerts each week and the hall is packed, then the city can talk about building a bigger theater, Pham Sy Liem, former Deputy Minister of Construction. He shared the public' views that in order to make Thu Thiem a true new urban area, the city should focus on traffic infrastructure first. The interior of Saigon Opera House in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran Le Nhu Tien, former Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, and Children at the legislative National Assembly, also agreed that the city should place its attention in the right place at the moment. I dont think now is a good time to build an opera house at such a high cost, he said, pointing out that HCMC is facing a series of problems in urban development, including the planning of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area. Government inspectors last month said that the city authorities had committed many violations in site clearance, compensation and resettling process for the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, and years of residents grievances and protests are justified. Speaking of culture and entertainment facilities, Tien said, the city officials should ask the residents for their opinions about what is the most important, because the city also needs more stadiums, libraries, and parks. In March last year, the Administration of Technical Infrastructure under the Ministry of Construction warned that Vietnams biggest cities, including HCMC, have only two to three square meters of green area per person. That is a third or less than what the World Health Organization has recommended for a healthy urban life. People will care more about cultural projects when their more basic environment concerns, including health quality, are dealt with, experts said. Architect Ngo Viet Nam Son said that a standard cultural center is something that a city of more than 10 million should have, but along with other neccessities too. "It would be very odd if you travel in a luxury car, wear a suit and wade in a flooded, jammed street," Son said. Writer and researcher Nguyen Ngoc Tien showed rare support for the plan, saying people are entitled to the rights of cultural enjoyment. "People have the right to sit in a luxury theater for cultural enjoyment," he said. He said it is true that the city needs roads, hospitals, bridges and solve floods and traffic gridlocks, but it should dare to build big cultural works too, because otherwise, "future generations will have no meaningful projects." A scaffolding collapse caused by a truck blocked the Saigon River Tunnel Monday morning, causing traffic gridlock for five hours. River tunnel blocked, traffic chaos as truck hits scaffolding in Saigon River tunnel blocked, traffic chaos as truck hits scaffolding in Saigon The scaffolding was being used in building an overpass running beyond the Saigon River Tunnel, which connects District 1 and District 2, which is home to a large community of expats. At around 5 a.m. on Monday morning, a truck carrying oranges had taken the tunnel to District 2 when it hit the scaffolding standing about 50 meters ahead of the tunnels mouth. Police had to block the entire tunnel after the accident, causing heavy traffic gridlock on streets that run through and nearby the tunnel. A scaffolding collapse Monday morning caused heavy traffic jams in downtown HCMC. Photo by Huu Khoa Thousands of cars and motorbikes were stuck on Vo Van Kiet and Ton Duc Thang streets in District 1, Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh and Mai Chi Tho Street in District 2, from early in the morning until 10 a.m. All the drivers wanting to use the tunnel had to switch to the Thu Thiem Bridge several kilometers away. A driver named Chau was stuck for more than an hour. "We have to call our companies to tell them we are going to be late," he said of the solution for him and other stuck travelers. The scaffolding collapse caused heavy traffic jam for five hours in downtown HCMC. Photo by Huu Khoa Ngo Hai Duong, an official from the citys transport department, told VnExpress that the cargo truck was higher than the regulated height for the tunnel, which is 4.2 meters. Police said two passers-by injured in the accident have been admitted to hospital. The truck driver fled the scene with his truck and police are searching for him based on camera footage taken from the tunnel. The overpass that is being built will link to a street that runs into the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, which is under construction to become the new financial and cultural hub of HCMC in District 2. An overpass is under construction over the Saigon River Tunnel. Photo by Huu Khoa Opened in late 2011, Thu Thiem is the only river tunnel in Vietnam and the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. It is 1.49 kilometers (less than one mile) long, 33 meters wide and nine meters high with six lanes aside from two emergency exit lanes. More than 47,000 cars and 230,000-270,000 motorbikes use the tunnel each day. Russia's hybrid military forces have mounted 23 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with three Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA), the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has reported. "Russian invaders opened fire on the positions of our troops 23 times. At the same time, the enemy used weapons banned by the Minsk agreements four times ... During the hostilities, three soldiers of the JFO received injury," the JFO said on Facebook on Monday morning. According to the press center, Ukrainian positions came under attack near Krymske, Zolote, Katerynivka, Luhanske, Novoluhanske, Avdiyivka, Pisky, Mariyinka, Novotroitske, Bohdanivka, Pavlopil, Hnutove, Vodiane, Lebedynsky and Shyrokyne. The enemy fired for effect 82 mm mortars, various types of grenade launchers, heavy machineguns, and small arms near Luhanske, Novoluhanske, Hnutove and Vodiane, the press center said. Ukrainian intelligence said that two soldiers of the enemy were killed and four sustained injuries over the day. "Today, the enemy thrice fired at positions of the Joint Forces near Avdiyivka, Lebedynsky and Shyrokyne using grenade launchers, heavy machineguns, and small arms. No heavy weapons were engaged. A serviceman of the Joint Forces was injured," the press center said. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accepted the tender of Minister of Defense, General of the Army of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak on resignation from military service and decided to continue his work as Minister. "Poltorak submitted the relevant tender. And I, frankly speaking, accepted this tender heavy-heartedly," Poroshenko said at the solemn events devoted to honoring of Ukrainian military servicemen in Kyiv on Saturday. The head of state reminded that in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On the National Security of Ukraine", from January 1, 2019, the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine shall be occupied by a civilian. The president said that the law on the national security was agreed upon with our NATO partners, and that procedure was possible. "Therefore, my decision completely corresponds to the letter and spirit of the law," he added. "Appreciating the significant, crucial contribution of Stepan Poltorak to the revival of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to the revival and establishment of the National Guard of Ukraine, I decided that he would continue the management of the defense ministry already in the status of a civilian minister," the president said. Poroshenko thanked the Minister for his military service to which Poltorak gave 35 years of his life. The defense minister said that he completed military service, but he did not finish serving to the Ukrainian people. Poltorak thanked Poroshenko for the creation of the new Ukrainian Armed Forces, which finally became the guarantor of our statehood and independence of Ukraine. "Thank you for returning trust, respect and pride to the service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine," he said. He also thanked all the soldiers, sergeants, officers, generals with whom he served. "Especially those with whom I served the last four years, because these were the most difficult years in the life of the state and my life," the minister said. The president handed over to Stepan Poltorak the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of the first degree. The European Union Foreign Affairs Council, which is meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, has adopted a new set of restrictive measures to address the use and proliferation of chemical weapons, the council said in a communique. "The EU will now be able to impose sanctions on persons and entities involved in the development and use of chemical weapons anywhere, regardless of their nationality and location," the document reads. "The restrictive measures target persons and entities who are directly responsible for the development and use of chemical weapons as well as those who provide financial, technical or material support, and those who assist, encourage or are associated with them," it reads. "Sanctions consist of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze for persons, and an asset freeze for entities. In addition, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed," the document reads. "This decision contributes to the EU's efforts to counter the proliferation and use of chemical weapons which poses a serious threat to international security. It supports the global prohibition of chemical weapons as laid down by the Chemical Weapons Convention, against a background of increasing chemical attacks in various parts of the world," it reads. Almost ten months after the detention of several Iranian environmentalists, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic's judiciary says that no indictment has been issued for them. In his weekly press briefing on Sunday, October 14, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei admitted that the reason behind the delay is "some flaws" in the indictment against the detainees. However, he preferred to avoid any reference to the nature of the so-called flaws. The judiciary and hardliners have accused the environmentalists of espionage, without presenting any evidence. Earlier, the Rouhani Administration's official news agency, IRNA, had demanded, "Does the delay imply that the Judicial Department has not been able to collect enough proof and evidence against the detained environmentalists?" Tehran's outspoken pro-reform representative to Majles (Iranian parliament), Mahmoud Sadeghi has also been asking the judiciary to wrap up the case if they have not found enough evidence. Since January 2018, at least eight environmentalists have been detained in Iran even though the countrys own Intelligence Ministry has admitted theres no evidence to support the politically motivated charges the detainees are facing. Among those detained was Iranian-Canadian environmental activist and sociology professor Kavous Seyed Emami, who died in prison under suspicious circumstances. The judiciary said the 63-year-old managing director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, which works to protect endangered animals and raise public awareness about the environment in Iran, had committed suicide in prison. The claim has been questioned by his family and acquaintances. The detention and punishment of environmentalists for their work to conserve and protect the natural environment cannot be justified, several UN human rights experts said in a joint statement in February 2018, adding, "Nowhere in the world, including Iran, should conservation be equated to spying or regarded as a crime. Nearly two weeks after the controversy about the disappearance and possible death of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Iran has not reacted to the case. Tehran could have easily used such a big international issue as propaganda leverage against Saudi Arabia; its regional rival and enemy. Even the Iranian state TV which is controlled by the office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and IRGC-linked media outlets such as Fars and Tasnim News Agencies and Javan newspaper have been conspicuously silent about Khashoggi's disappearance. Perhaps it is because Iran and Saudi Arabia's leaders share the view that they are entitled to murder their opponents anywhere in the world. On the other hand, both states believe other countries should not intervene when Tehran or Riyadh violate human rights. On the other hand, Iran is currently in the spotlight because of the involvement one of its diplomats in a plot to attack a gathering of the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) in Paris. Iran's silence about Khashoggi's possible murder, is in sharp contrast with its propaganda stunt to take advantage of the execution of Saudi Shi'ite opposition figure Sheikh Nimr in 2016. Back then, not only Tehran went full force, blaring its propaganda against Riyadh, but mobs of pro-regime rabble-rousers were allowed to attack and burn the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Passing a judgement on the Khashoggi case would have reminded the media of Tehran's similar behavior at a time when Iran certainly does not like international attention on its policy of assassinating Iranian opposition figures in other countries. Iran has been accused and in some cases officially charged with assassinations, including the case involving an attack on Mykonos Restaurant in Berlin in September 1992 where Iranian agents killed Kurdish opposition figures, most notably Sadeq Sharafkandi. One of the witnesses at the Mykonos Case, Abolghassem Mesbahi, was a former Iranian Intelligence Ministry operative, who also disclosed the government's plot to assassinate Hadi Khorsandi, a prominent satirist based in London. One of the witnesses at the Mykonos Case, Abolghassem Mesbahi, was a former Iranian Intelligence Ministry operative, who also disclosed the government's plot to assassinate Hadi Khorsandi, a prominent satirist based in London. Although observers thought the Mykonos case would dissuade Iran from following other assassination plots in Europe, Tehran continued with the mischief and killed several others in various countries throughout the 1990s. In the 1980s, Iran unabashedly boasted about killing its opponents outside the country, but from late 1990s Tehran tried to distance itself from the murders although a series of assassination attempts took the lives of several Iranian politicians and artists including former Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar in France and outspoken TV artist Fereidoun Farrokhzad in Germany. In the meantime, during the 1990s Tehran continued murdering intellectuals and writers inside Iran in a series of events that were later disclosed as "chain murders." Yet another possibility is that Iran's reluctant stance in Khashoggis case is that Tehran does not attach any political significance to a renowned columnist while for instance in the case of Sheikh Nimr, Tehran had an opportunity to mark its strategic depth. Nimr was a dissident Saudi Shiite cleric and Tehran wanted to agitate the Shia in the region. From Tehran's point of view, even Turkey's elaborate position on the case might be an attempt to claim Ankara's political authority and its ambition to have the upper hand in the region by humiliating Riyadh. At the same time, they do not rule out the possibility of Ankara seeking some concessions from Saudi rulers. These reasons may have prompted Iran to contain its temptation to enter the blame game against Saudi Arabi and at the same time, make Riyadh indebted by not joining the West to exert more pressure on its troubled neighbor. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 28 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Oct. 15. Armenian armed forces were using heavy machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: In accordance with the mandate of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the next monitoring has been planned for October 16 at the state border of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the direction of Gazakh region, the press service of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Monday. The field assistants of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Gennady Petrika and Simon Tiller will conduct monitoring on the part of Azerbaijan. The field assistants of the personal representative Mikhail Olaru and Ognjen Jovic will conduct monitoring on the part of Armenia. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva have viewed the work carried out at Lankaran Istisu and Health Center as part of their visit to Lankaran district. The complex, which occupies a total area of 11 hectares, will feature a hotel, health center, and various thermal baths. Head of the project Nariman Topchubashov informed the head of state and the first lady of the history of Lankaran Istisu Sanatorium. The construction of Lankaran Istisu and Health Center started in November, 2016. The centers 182-room hotel is built in accordance with advanced standards. The hotel staff, mainly local specialists, will be involved in special training. The head of state and his wife viewed conditions created in the hotel rooms. President Ilham Aliyev also familiarized himself with istisu (thermal) baths. The center will create 250 jobs. It also features a 46-car indoor and an 80-car outdoor parking lots. After viewing the complex, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva met with representatives of the districts general public and staff of the center. The head of state made a speech at the meeting. Local residents thanked President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva for great attention and care. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended a ceremony to launch a drinking water supply system in the city of Astara. Chairman of Azersu Open Joint Stock Company Gorkhmaz Huseynov informed the head of state about the work carried out under the project on the reconstruction of the drinking water supply and sewerage systems of the city of Astara. The implementation of the project started in 2015 under the State Program on socio-economic development of districts signed by President Ilham Aliyev. The project is designed to improve drinking water and sewerage services for 28,500 people in the city of Astara. A 70.5 km-long sewerage network was built in the city of Astara. President Ilham Aliyev pressed a button to launch the drinking water supply system of Astara. The President met with representatives of the general public of Astara district. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has viewed the conditions created as part of the construction of the second part of the seaside park-boulevard complex in Astara. The president toured the territory of the complex in an electric car. The construction work on the expansion of the territory of the seaside park-boulevard complex in the city of Astara started in accordance with the decree of President Aliyev dated June 8, 2017. The construction work ended in August, 2018. The second part of the park-boulevard complex occupies an area of 10 hectares. The national flag flies on a 52m-high flagpole there. The complex features an equestrian center, kart racing track, outdoor fitness gym, bike lane, and amusement park for children. Details added (first version posted on 14:25) Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Successful foreign policy of Azerbaijan is backed by decisive and sustained policy of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, as well as flexible decisions taken by him and instructions given by him, Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on Oct. 15. Hajiyev stressed that under the leadership of President Aliyev, Azerbaijan achieved significant success in all areas of state-building, as well as in the sphere of foreign policy. "The Republic of Azerbaijan, literally, is a country pursuing an independent foreign policy, he said. The basis of this independent policy is the national interests of Azerbaijan and the interests of the country's citizens. This strategy, which was founded by Azerbaijani great leader Heydar Aliyev, taking into account historical experience, geopolitical realities, is implemented on the basis of pragmatic and realistic principles on a multilateral and balanced basis, he said. One must recognize that not every country is able to carry out independent foreign policy." Azerbaijani people fully support the presidents policy in the sphere of foreign policy, Hajiyev said. "Successful foreign policy of Azerbaijan is underway despite the ongoing aggression of Armenia, psychological war, disinformation campaigns being conducted by the Armenian lobby and its patrons against our country, he said. The result of this purposeful activity was that the entire international community supports the territorial integrity, sovereignty, inviolability of the borders of Azerbaijan and considers it necessary to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict on the basis of these principles." Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: The name of the British Foundation for Study of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus has been engraved on the Clarendon Arch. Rector of the Baku Branch of Moscow State University, vice-president of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), head of the Nizami Ganjavi Scientific Center of the University of Oxford (www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/nizami-ganjavi-programme-study-languages-and-cultures-azerbaijan-and-caucasus) from the Azerbaijani side, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the British Foundation for the Study of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus (www.bfsac.org.uk), Academician Nargiz Pashayeva has been solemnly accepted as a member of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors, led by Chancellor of Oxford University Lord Patten of Barnes. By an invitation letter from Chancellor of Oxford University Lord Patten of Barnes, Professor Nargiz Pashayeva on October 11 took part in the 28th annual special event of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors to receive this honorary title. Along with this, a ceremonial execution of the decision, which attracted attention and went down in history of the Oxford University, was held. Thus, by the decision of the management and the science council of the University of Oxford, the name of the British Foundation for the Study of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus has been engraved on a memorial plaque on the arch of the 17th-century Clarendon Building (www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/broad/buildings/south/clarendon.html) as a permanent member of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors, along with world-renowned scientists, public figures and authoritative organizations. The University of Oxford has a tradition to constantly promote partners that it values. According to this historical tradition, starting from the 14th century, the names of the most generous benefactors of the university and world-famous people are inscribed on the Clarendon Arch (www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/broad/buildings/south/clarendon.html) at the entrance to the famous Bodleian Library (www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk), the building of prime importance, which is considered the heart of the university. This building was built in 1711-1715 by Nicholas Hawksmoor. The building was originally intended for the Publishing House of the University of Oxford. Now a part of the Bodleian Library is located here. The Clarendon Building is at the forefront of the list of historical buildings registered in England. As a part of the building was financed by Lord Clarendon, the building was named after him. So far, the names of the most prominent philanthropists have been inscribed in the Clarendon Arch. It includes the names of the most famous personalities in the history of Oxford University and the world - Sir Thomas Bodley, Elizabeth I of England, John Radcliffe, William Camden, Charles I of England, Elias Ashmole, George I of Great Britain, George Aldridge, Joseph Bowden, Ann Kennicott, Sir Robert Taylor, John Hall, Charlotte Sutherland, John Ruskin, Rebecca Flower Squire, Christopher Evan Welch, Henry Wilde, The Rhodes Trust, The Rockefeller Foundation, Sir Arthur John Evans, Ford Foundation, Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation, as well as Transportation Institute, Action Research, Cancer Research UK, Fereydoon Soudavar, and British Petroleum. It also includes the names of 230 prominent scholars, public figures and authoritative organizations, perpetuated on a memorial plaque, including such celebrities as the Weston family, Professor Richard Diebold Jr., Sir Ronald Cohen, Leonard Blavatnik. Professor Nargiz Pashayeva became the first Azerbaijani admitted to the Chancellors Court of Benefactors, consisting of scholars, public figures and reputable organizations with special achievements in the history of the University of Oxford, which according to the latest ratings is considered the leading high school in the world. A special mantle and a hat of the University were presented to Nargiz Pashayeva. This honor is given to scholars with special merits in the history of the University. This testifies to the assessment given to the work of Professor Nargiz Pashayeva and the activity of the Nizami Ganjavi Scientific Center, created on her initiative at the University of Oxford. According to the protocol and tradition, the individuals admitted to the Chancellors Court of Benefactors are distinguished from other members by special clothing decorated with gold threads. Thus, the contribution of these members to the academic fields in the University of Oxford is recognized by the University with great respect. The traditional annual meeting of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors gathers the most prominent and loyal friends of the University of Oxford. At the event, new members are admitted to the Chancellors Court of Benefactors and a number of important research projects are demonstrated. On this day, the names of the most reputable scholars, philanthropists and organizations, as mentioned above, are inscribed on a memorial plaque. Presentations on topical issues by famous scholars are heard, discussions are held with the leadership of the University. By tradition, this year a special ceremony was held in the Divinity School building. Along with well-known scholars and intellectuals, a mantle and a hat were presented to Nargiz Pashayeva as a scholar who has merits in the history of the University of Oxford. Then, the members of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors and other participants of the ceremony met with Chancellor of the University of Oxford Lord Patten of Barnes and posed for photos. The 28th annual meeting of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors was held at the famous Convocation House, where the UK Parliament gathered in the 16th century. At the beginning of the event, a ceremony was held to admit new members to the Chancellors Court of Benefactors. According to the traditions of the University of Oxford, passing through the Wren Door and the Chancellors Court, new and existing members of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors upon the corresponding procedure solemnly entered the Convocation House from the Divinity School building. After Marshal, Chancellor of the University of Oxford Lord Patten of Barnes, Proctor, Senior Proctor, Junior Proctor, Vice-Chancellor, Proctor Secretary, the current members of the Chancellors Court entered the old ceremonial hall. Among them were Dr. Chung Hon-Dak, Peter Levin, Dr. Kotaro Ono, Sir Howard Stringer, Dr. Robert Easton, Professor Raymond Dueck, Marina Marks, Bernard Taylor, Professor Chas Bountra. After the current members of the Chancellors Court of Benefactors, along with Professor Nargiz Pashayeva, new members entered the hall. Among them are Sultan Nazrin Muizuddin Shah, Sir Peter Luff, Sir Martin Smith and Lady Smith. This year only three names have been engraved in the Clarendon Arch. One of them is the British Foundation for the Study of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus, chaired by Professor Nargiz Pashayeva. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: Azerbaijan will simplify the process of obtaining visas by citizens of the country to travel to foreign countries, the director of the e-Government Development Center Fariz Jafarov told reporters on Oct. 15. An agreement has already been reached with several European Union (EU) countries and a number of other non-EU countries. Jafarov also mentioned that ASAN viza was created in 2016 by the decree of President Ilham Aliyev. "In the initial period, the concept was that foreign tourists applying for a visa using an electronic portal, could obtain it within three days. Then this period was reduced to three hours. From May 15, 2018, foreigners can also get a visa at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport. Presently, visas are issued to citizens of 15 countries not in three days or three hours, but in less than two minutes. We are further developing this concept and are also working to simplify the process of obtaining a visa for Azerbaijani citizens to travel to foreign countries," Jafarov said. Jafarov also noted that, presently, Azerbaijani citizens should go to an embassy, present their passports and other documents in order to obtain a visa. "This process is quite long. We are thinking about switching to a new, unique model for our citizens to enter the e-government portal and only choose the country where they want to go. And at the next stage, the e-government portal would enter into operation, that is, the E-government Development Center would provide all necessary documents to the relevant embassy," Jafarov added. "A model of integration is possible directly to consulates or to intermediary companies. Each model is reflected in our concept. In this regard, meetings have been held with many embassies. We are considering various formats that would correspond to the legislation of Azerbaijan, as well as the legislation of the other side," Jafarov said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening of the Flag Museum in Lerik. The head of state cut the ribbon symbolizing the opening of the museum. The Flag Museum and the National Flag Complex, where the flag flies on a 36-meter flagpole, are situated in the Heydar Aliyev Square in the center of the city of Lerik. The construction of the museum started in March 2018 and ended in August. The museum occupies a total area of 1,200 square meters. The museum has an exhibition hall, the administrative and auxiliary rooms. The museum's collection features the map and flags of the khanate period in Azerbaijan, medieval warriors' clothing, coats of arms of the Azerbaijani cities dating back to the 19th century, ancient metal coins, constitutions, emblems, flags, postage stamps, orders and medals relating to Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan SSR and independent Republic of Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended a ceremony to put a 16.5 MW power station into service in Lerik district. Chairman of Azerenerji CJSC Baba Rzayev informed the head of state of the work done. The President launched the power station. The power station has an annual production capacity of 75 million kWh of electricity, which is 40 percent more than the demand for electricity in Lerik and Yardimli districts. Details added (first version posted on 14:25) Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Successful foreign policy of Azerbaijan is backed by logical and prudent policy of President Ilham Aliyev, as well as flexible decisions taken by him and instructions given by him, Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on Oct. 15. Hajiyev stressed that under the leadership of President Aliyev, Azerbaijan has achieved significant success in all areas of state-building, as well as in the foreign policy. "The Republic of Azerbaijan, literally, is a country pursuing an independent foreign policy, he said. The basis of this independent policy is the national interests of Azerbaijan and the interests of the country's citizens. This strategy, which was founded by Azerbaijan's great leader Heydar Aliyev, taking into account historical experience, geopolitical realities, is implemented on the basis of pragmatic and realistic principles on a multilateral and balanced basis, he said. One must recognize that not every country is able to carry out an independent foreign policy." Azerbaijani people fully support the presidents foreign policy line, Hajiyev said. Successful foreign policy of Azerbaijan is underway despite the ongoing aggression of Armenia, psychological war, disinformation campaigns being conducted by the Armenian lobby and its patrons against our country, he said. The result of this purposeful activity was that the entire international community supports the territorial integrity, sovereignty, inviolability of the borders of Azerbaijan and considers it necessary to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict on the basis of these principles. Hajiyev stressed that Azerbaijan, located in a complex geopolitical region, is an island of stability. "As the president stressed, today stability and security are fully ensured in Azerbaijan; there are no sources of internal threat in our country, he said. Through flexible and principled foreign policy, all external threats are prevented. An atmosphere of favorable cooperation around our country, as well as a fertile ground for internal development are created. At the same time, the internal development of our country ensures the independence and ability for strategic maneuver of our foreign policy." Hajiyev added that Azerbaijan, pursuing foreign policy in conditions of tense international relations on the basis of the norms and principles of international law, does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and does not allow any circles to interfere in its internal affairs. "The Republic of Azerbaijan is a decent, reliable and responsible member of international relations, he said. The authority and diplomatic resources possessed by our country are not limited to the region of the location - they are of international nature. The geography and content of our bilateral cooperation is constantly expanding, the number of supporters of Azerbaijan is growing, Hajiyev said. Our country with various cooperation projects contributes to the expansion of the borders of peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond. In other words, Azerbaijan today is an exporter of security and stability. Moreover, Azerbaijan directly supports the efforts of the international community to prevent modern threats." Baku, today, acts as a diplomatic capital in international relations, he added. It is not coincidence that countries and institutions, having completely different views, even contradictions, choose Baku as the venue for dialogue. "The tripartite regional cooperation format, initiated by Azerbaijan, is recognized internationally as a diplomatic innovation and complements our bilateral relations, creates new opportunities for cooperation, Hajiyev said. Azerbaijan, which does not have access to the seas, thanks to the far-sighted policy of President Aliyev, is the author of transport projects connecting the world's oceans and continents along the East-West, North-South, South-West routes, he added. Azerbaijan is a country contributing to the global energy security, including the energy security of Europe. Our active bilateral diplomatic efforts are accompanied by consistent steps taken on a multilateral basis, Hajiyev added. Azerbaijan is taking a principled and decisive position on fundamental issues on the international agenda." In conditions of intense diplomatic competition in 2012-2013, Azerbaijan, with the support of 155 countries, was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, which once again demonstrated the international communitys high confidence in our country, he said. Azerbaijan with honor and high professionalism carried out its task as a non-permanent member in the UN Security Council, authored a number of initiatives that are topical to the international agenda." Azerbaijans membership in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as well as in the Executive Council of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for 2017-2019, and representation of the country in the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2018-2022 testify to the confidence and support of the international community for Azerbaijan, he said. Moreover, in 2019-2022, Azerbaijan will chair the Non-Aligned Movement, where 120 countries are represented. "In international organizations, in which our country is a member, Azerbaijan acts as an initiator, rather than as a spectator, and plays an important role in shaping the organizations' agenda, he said. Along with international organizations, in which Azerbaijan is a full member, cooperation ties are developing with the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other institutions. Azerbaijan has diplomatic missions in about 80 countries. Azerbaijan reached these diplomatic achievements during a 15-year period." Successful foreign policy of Azerbaijan is backed by a well-considered, logical and prudent policy of President Aliyev, his busy work schedule, numerous and intensive meetings, foreign visits, speeches at prestigious international events, as well as flexible decisions taken by him and instructions given by him, Hajiyev said. Foreign policy covers a long-term perspective. There are a number of initiatives and projects put forward today by the president in the field of foreign policy, the benefits of which the Azerbaijani people will see in the coming decades. "In international socio-political and scientific circles, foreign policy being pursued by countries is explained by such various theoretical models, doctrines and concepts as smart, soft, hard power, etc., he said. It is not by chance that President Aliyevs foreign policy is assessed and characterized as Intelligent Foreign Policy. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: At the invitation of the Utah Valley University (UVU), Azerbaijans Consul General in Los Angeles addressed the students and professors of the University on October 8, 2018, Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles said in a message. Being the largest public university in the State of Utah, the UVU has about 40,000 students enrolled in more than 200 degrees and programs. In his presentation, Consul General Aghayev spoke about Azerbaijans ancient history, rich cultural heritage and its geostrategic location, as well as its steady development and modernization as an independent nation since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Consul General stated that 100 years ago on May 28, 1918, the people of Azerbaijan established the very first Republic in its history - the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. He further noted that it was also the first ever secular democracy among all Muslim nations and the first majority-Muslim nation to grant women the right to vote (1919). Stressing the ancient traditions of multiculturalism and interfaith understanding in Azerbaijan, Aghayev said that since many centuries there have always been strong traditions of tolerance and mutual respect among different ethnic and religious communities, including Muslims, Christians and Jews in Azerbaijan. He stated that thanks to tireless efforts by Azerbaijans leadership, these traditions have been further fostered and strengthened since re-independence. At the end, the Consul General responded to various questions from the audience. Following the presentation, the UVUs student coalition UIMF published an article about it together with student reflections on its website: http://utahimf.org/archives/3862 The article sums up: The example of Azerbaijan as a regional leader in advancing constructive religious dialogue and interfaith efforts to improve civic, political, and regional issues is one that should be seriously considered by those interested in diplomacy, sustainable development, and religious relevance. Certainly, the model offered by the Consul General should be discussed as a tool that leaders and organizations can use to solve critical issues that involve and transcend religious identification. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Rector of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) Elmar Gasimov hold a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Mexican States to Azerbaijan Rodrigo Labardini and Deputy Head of Mission Alberto Aura Gonzalez. At the meeting, prospects for expanding cooperation between BHOS and the Mexican Institute of Petroleum (Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo IMP) were discussed. Having welcomed the guests, Rector Elmar Gasimov highlighted the latest developments and accomplishments of BHOS and informed that all young engineers who graduated from the Higher School this year were employed by various national and international companies. He also told that this year, the Higher School launched its first Bachelors degree program in Information Security and first MBA program. Ambassador Rodrigo Labardini extended his gratitude to Rector Elmar Gasimov for the warm reception and said that he paid close attention to news about BHOS and success achieved by its alumni. He expressed confidence that the Mexican Institute of Petroleum, the largest public research center and services provider in the oil and gas sector of the country, would be interested in fostering cooperation with the Higher School. The meeting participants discussed spheres of such cooperation including experience sharing and student exchange programs and opportunities to give BHOS students access to the IMPs digital library resources. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 15 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: A meeting with the Deputy Minister of Communications, Deputy Secretary of State of Latvia Uldis Reimanis has taken place at the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Noting the work of the Turkmen-Latvian transport group, Reimanis made a number of proposals for the further development of transport cooperation, taking into account the development of bilateral multimodal corridors, the message says. The Turkmen side briefed on the possibilities of implementing joint projects in this direction. The parties agreed to consolidate joint efforts in the transport sector in order to further expand the trade turnover of both countries, the message says. Earlier it was reported that opportunities for cooperation on land transit and logistics of routes between Turkmenistan and Latvia are being discussed at a high level in order to develop effective and mutually beneficial solutions for cargo transshipment. Negotiations are also underway to use the experience of Latvia in this field, in connection with the development of maritime infrastructure in Turkmenistan. Tehran, Iran, Oct.15 Trend The reduction in the use of gold artifacts has closed nearly 5,000 production units between 2014 to 2017, a board member of the Gold and Jewelry Trade Union, Mohammad Kashti Aray told Trend. Referring to the impact of the sanctions on the price of gold and coins in the Iranian market, the board member of the Gold and Jewelry Trade Union says Iran experienced gold sanctions in 2011-12, but did not see its effect on the price of gold and coins, the sanctions cannot be defective and, given the current situation, there will be no problem in supplying the country's gold, although the November 4 sanctions can make it difficult to transfer money. US sanctions have cost the Iranian currency 50 percent of its value. Iranians were trying to protect their savings by buying gold. Given the decline in consumption in gold products, it's almost unnecessary to talk about smuggling. now we do not have smuggling of gold." "The gold smuggling is close to zero," he said. "On the other hand, this reduction in consumption in gold artifacts has closed nearly 5,000 production units between 2014-17. Also, this closure has continued on a daily basis since the beginning of the year. Earlier this year, 20 percent of production and distribution units were shut down," he said. Referring to the price situation he said that due to the relative stability in the foreign exchange market, there was a stabilization in the coin and gold market. Supply and demand were in balance, and some kind of market excitements has been reduced. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 By Azad Hasanli Trend: Tashkent and Moscow plan to sign agreements and contracts worth $ 20billion following the visit of Vladimir Putin to Uzbekistan, Podrobno.uz reported citing a source familiar with the situation. Vladimir Putin will visit Uzbekistan on October 18-19. The construction of the first nuclear power plant in Central Asia will be launched during the visit. It will be located near Tudakul Lake on the border of Navoi and Bukhara regions. Uzbekistan ranks fourth among the CIS countries by the volume of trade turnover with Russia. At the end of 2017, this figure amounted to $3.6 billion and increased by 33.9 percent. At the end of the first half of the current year, 16 percent of the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan has fallen to the share of Russia. The trade turnover between the two countries during this period amounted to $2.5 billion (exports - $811 million, imports - $1.7 billion). At the same time, the total volume of investments from Russia to Uzbekistan has exceeded $ 8.5 billion. About 1,200 enterprises with the participation of Russian capital operate in Uzbekistan. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 15 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: A meeting between the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov has been held in Brussels with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Federal State Service for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of Belgium Didier Reinders, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said. "The need to intensify activities aimed at deepening economic and trade cooperation through the creation of new programs and specific partnership mechanisms has been emphasized," the message says. The parties discussed prospects for further strengthening the cooperation in the political, economic, energy, transport and cultural-humanitarian spheres. As for the international agenda, the Turkmen side reaffirmed its commitment to further expand its partnership with Belgium in the framework of international organizations. The Belgian ENEX process engineering SA company, which cooperates in the processing and chemical industry, telecommunications, and the introduction of environmentally friendly energy-saving technologies, has its official representative office in Ashgabat. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 15 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: A meeting between the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov and the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WTO) Kunio Mikuriya has taken place in Brussels, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The promising areas of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the World Customs Organization were discussed during the meeting. In particular, the Turkmen side expressed interest in studying and learning the experience of the WTO in improving the organization of customs control at the borders, the message says. Turkmenistan, with its modern infrastructural facilities, is becoming an important part of trade and transport and logistics systems at the regional and international level. The World Customs Organization is an intergovernmental international organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The WTO focuses on the development of international instruments, conventions on such issues as classification of goods, estimation of customs value, rules of origin of goods, customs duties, security of the supply chain, simplification of international trade procedures, the fight against customs offenses and counterfeit goods (protection of intellectual property), and the fight against corruption. The Parliament of Turkmenistan ratified last year an agreement on transit and transport cooperation ("Lapis Lazuli"), which was previously signed at the level of senior officials of the Foreign Ministries of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey It is expected that railways and highways will connect the city of Torghundi in the Afghan province of Herat with Ashgabat, then with the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi. The corridor will extend to Baku, then will pass through Tbilisi and will reach Ankara with branches leading to Poti and Batumi, then will run from Ankara to Istanbul. The project budget, which aims to facilitate transit logistics and to simplify customs procedures, is estimated at $2 billion. The project is designed to increase the economic integration of the region and the volume of trade. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) has earned 319 million manats worth of profits for the first 9 months of 2018. These indicators reflect such positive trends in the banks activities, as successful completion of the recovery process and the transition to a new stage of development. As of September 30, 2018, the assets of IBA amounted to 8.32 billion manat, and the balance capital was 1.28 billion manat, the bank said in a statement Oct. 15. As of the end of the reporting period, the bank's loan portfolio amounted to 1.7 billion manat, and the volume of deposits of the population to 1.22 billion manat. During this period, the bank provided guarantees and loans worth about 200 million manats to the real sector of the country's economy. The improvement of the efficiency of activity of the International Bank of Azerbaijan has had a positive impact on the banks profit as well. During the reporting period, the interest incomes amounted to 308 million manat. The bank's operating incomes amounted to 87 million manats, and fully covered the non-interest expenses. The International Bank of Azerbaijan has also launched a number of new projects in the country's financial market. These projects strengthened the market position of the bank and covered such client segments as large corporate entities, small and medium-sized businesses, and individuals. The information on products and services of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, a modern state bank of the country, can be obtained on the official website www.ibar.az, in all 36 affiliates and 38 branches of the bank, by calling the Information Center on the short number 937, as well as on the banks official page in the Facebook social network. The official exchange rate on October 15 is 1.7 AZN / USD. Tehran, Iran, Oct. 15 Trend The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a document to boost customs cooperation, IRIB news agency reported. The agreement was signed during a ceremony in Tehran, with participation of Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration Foroud Askari and Yukihiro Kobayashi, the head of Iran's JICA office. According to the terms of the agreement, the Japanese governmental agency would hold training courses for customs staff of Irans neighboring countries, including Afghanistan. The Afghan participants would learn how to trace and identify contraband goods. Askari said the training deal would help facilitate trade between Iran and its regional neighbors. Kobayashi, for his part, said Irans customs has great training potential, hailing the move by Tehran to educate Afghans. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 By Rashid Shirinov Trend: Kyrgyzstan lifted restrictions on the import of poultry meat and poultry products from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz media reported referring to the State Inspectorate for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Safety of Kyrgyzstan. The inspectorate noted that the decision was made based on Kazakhstan's confirmation of the results of laboratory studies of the National Veterinary Reference Center on the stabilization of the epizootic situation. Temporary restrictions on the import of poultry meat and products from Kazakhstan were introduced in Kyrgyzstan on October 8. Later, Kazakh Agriculture Ministry called illegal the restrictions on the import of poultry meat and eggs from Almaty and North Kazakhstan regions. "No bird diseases have been recorded in the Almaty region over the past 10 years. Quarantine on the Newcastle disease of birds declared in the Aiyrtau District of North Kazakhstan region was lifted on September 19, 2018," the message by the ministry said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Tashkent Transport Service JSC will return the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Low Floor buses to operation after a detailed inspection, Podrobno.uz reported citing the companys statement. There have been cases when these buses caught fire, and it has been decided to stop their operation. On Oct. 10 and Oct. 12, the Mercedes-Benz Low Floor buses, running on the routes #87 and #95, caught fire. Another incident occurred on Sept. 28 when a bus caught fire at the Kuylik Ota bus stop on Fargona Yuli Street in Tashkent. However, Tashkent Transport Service JSC eyes to partially abandon the use of these buses. These buses have been temporarily removed from the roads; now they are being inspected. During the inspection, some of them will be overhauled. At the same time, the majority of buses will return to operation after an in-depth inspection and troubleshooting, the company stated. Tashkent Transport Service JSC also intends to purchase 120 SAZ LE 60 and MAN buses until the end of the year in order the replace the old vehicles. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 By Azad Hasanli Trend: Through the internet banking service, entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan can now carry out currency exchange operations around-the-clock. This business opportunity has been provided by the largest commercial bank in the country, PASHA Bank. All PASHA Bank customers will be able to use the new service, director of the banks treasury department, Jeyhun Hajiyev said in an interview with Trend. Imagine a situation where, for some reason, a client did not manage to complete the transaction and purchase a certain amount in foreign currency for his business needs before the end of the business day. In this case, the client will have to wait for the next day, but it is possible that the new exchange rate will be less profitable for his business, or not profitable at all. Therefore, the main advantage offered by PASHA Bank through this service to its customers is the possibility of not being tied to the trading day and to carry out currency exchange operations at any time convenient for the customer in accordance with the exchange rate established for the operation day," Hajiyev said. He noted that it is very convenient to convert currencies as part of the internet banking service: customers will only have to go to the appropriate section on the banks website, enter their login and password. In the corresponding section, they can make a choice regarding the accounts from and to which the money will be transferred, the amount and currency into which the funds will be converted. "As for the exchange rate, it will depend on supply and demand in the market. In this case, an additional fee for this service will not be charged," Hajiyev noted. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanli Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: The producer of medicinal plants in Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) Farma Shah LLC is planning to export its products to foreign markets, the company's director Yasin Babayev told Trend. According to Babayev, the company produces about 70 varieties of medicinal plants. "There is a great demand for our products in the domestic market, especially in Nakhchivan, but it is sold in Baku as well. We think about exporting our goods primarily to Turkey and Russia. Of course, we would like to export to Europe, but, unfortunately, we cannot yet put this idea into practice. There are certain difficulties associated with language barriers, as well as packaging design. Therefore, for the time being we intend to develop the markets of the neighbouring countries, especially since it is advantageous from the point of view of logistics and direct routes, which is important," the director of the company said. The Ministry of Economy of the NAR provides great support to the enterprise in promoting the company's products to foreign markets, Hajiyev added. He mentioned that the manufactured products have a certificate of conformity issued by the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents of the NAR. The company uses modern equipment manufactured in Iran and China. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.15 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, allows for diversification of supply paths in Europe and thus benefits Switzerland, Swiss Federal Council told Trend. "Azerbaijan and Switzerland concluded a Memorandum of Understanding in the energy sector back in 2007, which laid the basis for the development of closer ties in this sphere. The implementation of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project is an excellent example of our relations in the energy sector, with a Swiss company being a founding member of the TAP consortium (then named EGL Group, now named Axpo)," said the Federal Council. Swiss Federal Council said the country considers supply security through diversification an important pillar of its foreign energy policy. "This is why Switzerland supported the Southern Gas Corridor from the beginning." "With 14 percent (2017) of the total energy consumption of Switzerland, natural gas is a noticeable contributor to the Swiss energy mix. Considering the decline in natural gas production in Europe, the TAP allows for the diversification of gas sources and supply paths in Europe and thus benefits Switzerland." TAP worth 4.5 billion euros is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries. The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italys south. TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers). TAPs shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent). --- Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Uzbekistan has invited the Tatarstans (a subject of Russian Federation) TAIF Group of Companies to take part in the construction of one of the plants of the Ustyurt gas-chemical complex in Karakalpakstan, "Podrobno.uz" reported. The plant will produce polypropylene, various synthetic materials, rubbers and other products. To kickstart the project, a delegation of entrepreneurs and politicians from Uzbekistan has met with the leadership of TAIF Group in Kazan. The delegation was led by the Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Uzbekistan Musa Yerniyazov. "We have estimated the preliminary capacity of the new plant: it is profitable to build an enterprise that processes more than 2 billion cubic meters of gas per year. We are ready to cooperate in the construction of a gas chemical plant," Yerniyazov said. Ruslan Shigabutdinov, the Deputy General Director of Corporate Governance, Property & Investments of TAIF OJSC, announced his readiness to consider this proposal. Currently, the entire external infrastructure of the investment project, the cost of which exceeds $50 million, is being built at the expense of the state. The government of Uzbekistan undertakes to lay power lines, to build roads, and implement housing construction. In one of the industrial zones, comfortable conditions will be created for the enterprises engaged in gas chemistry. The Uzbek side invited TAIF representatives to visit Karakalpakstan in the near future in order to jointly discuss the details of the work on the project. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.15 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Higher oil prices hinder oil demand growth, they also make transportation more expensive, which hinders trade and growth in global GDP, Spencer Welch, director of the oil markets and downstream team in the London-based IHS Markit told Trend. He was commenting on the recent complains by India to OPEC over the higher oil prices. "President Trump has also complained. OPEC is doing what it can, Saudi has already ramped up rate, as has Russia, to try to compensate for Iran sanctions and Venezuelan decline. Saudi does have the ability to increase further but is concerned that if it increases rate this reduces the global spare production capacity, which is already relatively low, and the low spare capacity could spook the market into a price spike due to unplanned disruption fear," said the expert. However, Welch believes that higher oil prices increase oil income for producers, increasing spending power and boosting GDP. "So there is a balance, however, overall higher oil prices are probably slightly negative in terms of global GDP growth. This is the 50 million dollar question, trying to assess and get to the so called "Goldilocks price" not too high and not too low," noted the expert. Probably above $90/bbl is also a bit high, so around $70-80/bbl is probably the Goldilocks price range, according to Welch. Several weeks ago, OPEC received a letter from India complaining over the current situation in the oil market, said OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo. Addressing the briefing as part of the Oil & Money Conference, Barkindo noted that many major oil consumers are not happy with the current prices. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 15 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: The delegation of Turkmenistan headed by deputy prime minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov has been recently on a working visit to Brussels, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message. During the trip, a meeting was held with European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic, where issues of enhancing interaction of Turkmenistan with the EU in the energy sector were discussed. As part of the visit, a meeting was held with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, during which regional security issues were raised. The Turkmen delegation was also received by a representative of the European Commissions department for mobility and transport (DG MOVE). The development of transport and transit routes that may connect the region of Central Asia with the countries of Europe were considered. It was noted that the ongoing strategy of Turkmenistan in this area coincides with the strategy of the EU on the interaction between Europe and Asia, said the message. The negotiations on the delivery of Turkmen gas to Europe have been conducted since 2011. The Southern Gas Corridor, which also includes the Trans-Caspian project, remains a priority for the EU. In May 2015, the Ashgabat Declaration on energy was signed by the ministers of energy of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic. The project to lay a 300-kilometer gas pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan is optimal for the delivery of Turkmen resources to the European market. The Turkmen fuel can be transported further and delivered to Turkey, which borders European countries. The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline could become a part of several large-scale projects, including AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector), and TANAP, the participants of which are Azerbaijan and Turkey. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.15 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Italys Saipem company has been awarded a contract for the development of Azerbaijans Absheron gas field, said a message from the company. Total has awarded a SURF (subsea, umbilical, riser and flowline) contract to the consortium between Saipems subsidiary, Saipem Contracting Netherlands BV, Boshelf LLC and STAR GULF FZCO, for the development of the Absheron field. The scope of work includes engineering, procurement, fabrication and offshore installation, assistance to commissioning and to performance testing of a 12 single production flowline and its Flowline End Termination structure (FLET), and of a main umbilical, both being approximately 34 km in length, said the message. Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Total signed a framework agreement in 2016 on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the program of the first phase development of the Absheron field. The first phase of the fields development envisages drilling of one well at a sea depth of 450 meters. The production will stand at 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 700,000 tons of condensate per year and these volumes will be used in Azerbaijans domestic market. It is planned to produce up to 4 billion cubic meters of gas at the second stage. Absherons reserves are estimated at 326 billion cubic meters of gas and 108 million tons of condensate, according to the estimations of Total specialists. JOCAP, is a joint venture with 50 percent ownership by SOCAR and the remaining 50 percent - by Total, the operator of the development of the Absheron field. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Uzbekistan Airways is switching over to winter navigation, in connection with which the flights from Tashkent to Dushanbe and back will be operated in accordance with a new schedule beginning from Oct. 29. Thus, there will be two flights a week - on Mondays and Thursdays, Podrobno.uz reported. An Uzbek A320 airliner will depart from Tashkent at 21:00 and arrive in Dushanbe at 21:40 every Monday, and will depart from Dushanbe at 23:15 and arrive in Tashkent at 23:55 on the same day, Orif Ruzimurodov, a representative of Uzbekistan Airways in Tajikistan said. The plane will depart from Tashkent at 01:00 and arrive in Dushanbe at 01:40 on Thursdays, and depart from Dushanbe to Tashkent at 04:00 in the morning, he said. Former European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that Iran has complied with all of its commitments under the JCPOA, which rarely occurs in agreements, IRNA reports. Ashton made the remarks in an interview with the Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Karin von Hippel, saying that Irans full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), also known as Iran nuclear deal, is important because it does not happen in most of the agreements. She referred to the US exit from the JCPOA adding that she was worried not only about the unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA, but also about the other diplomatic affairs and joint collaborations in the future. Ashton referred to her diaries of the JCPOA negotiations and said, one of the big challenges of the talks was to harmonize the notions of the 5+1 countries in order to build trust between the parties. She added another issue that we faced during the negotiations was the disputes between the parties apart from the JCPOA. For example, the EU imposed sanctions on Russia due to Ukraine dispute, but the negotiations on the JCPOA continued normally. Elsewhere in her remarks, Ashton said that she hoped that the JCPOA talks would be a role model for other international agreements, but the United Nations Security Council permanent members have not taken any measures after the JCPOA. Iranian and Syrian businessmen were urged to get more acquainted with the economic opportunities of the two countries to help develop bilateral ties, IRNA reports. Addressing a meeting with Syrian merchants and businessmen in Damascus, Iranian Ambassador to Syria Javad Torkabadi said that relations have been established between Iranian and Syrian private sectors and investors since the recent international exhibition in Damascus. Iranian and Syrian business operators are attempting to pave the way for developing economic exchanges, he said. Torkabadi expressed hope that the private sectors of the two countries help strengthen bilateral economic relations. The businees people of Iran and Syria had meetings on the sidelines of the 4th exhibition for reconstruction of Syria recently held in that country. The sixth meeting of Iran-Pakistan Permanent Border Committee commenced in Pakistans southwestern city of Quetta on Monday, IRNA reports. Representatives of customs, security forces and other officials from Irans Sistan-Baluchestan and Pakistans Balochistan Provinces are taking part in the two-day meeting. Chairman of Sistan-Baluchestan Industry, Mine and Trade Authority, Mir Nadir Shikar is heading the Iranian delegation. Members of Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) are also attending the meeting. Pak-Iran border affairs, security issues, trade activities on border villages and mutual cooperation will be discussed in the meeting. The committee regularly meets to enhance joint cooperation. The 5th meeting of the committee was held in Zahedan. Tehran, Iran, Oct. 15 Trend Director General of Veterinary Organization in Golestan Province said the province is scheduled to export shrimps to Spain for the first time ever after obtaining license to ship shrimps to Europe directly. The shrimps cultured in the province can now be exported to European countries directly, Mahmoud Reza Vafaei told IRNA on October 14. "Plans are underway to export 50 kilogram of shrimps to Spain for the first time," he added. This could facilitate the export of the sea creature to European nations, Vafaei said. "We expect to export 2 to 3 million tons of processed shrimps to Spain by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21)," he said. He said the province is currently exporting shrimps to China and the UAE. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 By Elnur Baghishov - Trend: The statistics of South Koreas Customs Service show that the country didnt import oil from Iran in September for the first time in the past six years, Fars News Agency reported. According to the statistics, the last time when Seoul didnt import oil from Tehran was in September 2012. South Korean companies have stopped importing oil from Iran since July, as they failed to get the necessary approval from the US government. The South Korean government is in talks with the US to get permission to import oil from Iran. South Korea imported 9.1 percent less oil from Iran in the nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, and the figure reached 7.15 million tons. This is while South Korea increased oil import from the US five-fold in September compared to the same period last year and the oil import reached 668,704 tons. Tehran, Iran, Oct. 15 Trend Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Tehran is in talks with Tbilisi over the closure of Iranian foreign exchange offices in Georgia. This issue [shutting Iranian exchange offices in Georgia] is an exception. After removing visa requirements, Iranians traveled [to Georgia] for trade and business, Qassemi said Monday during his weekly press briefing, Tasnim reported on October 15. Apparently some currency dealers have committed violations, he added. "We have received some reports on that and are looking into them," the official said. We are in talks with the Georgian government, pursuing the issue and considering the accusations. Rial has lost about half of its value since April because of a weak economy and heavy demand for dollars among Iranians who fear the effect of US sanctions. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May, and Washington now plans to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. The first round of US sanctions on Iran went into effect on August 6, and are to be followed by the ones targeting Iran's oil exports on November 4. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 By Elnur Baghishov - Trend: Uzbekistan is interested in establishing trade, economic and tourism relations with Iran, Uzbek Ambassador to Iran Bakhodir Abdullaev said at a meeting with governor of Irans Markazi Province Seyyed Ali Aghazadeh, IRNA reported. He said that 117 production and industrial companies operate in Uzbekistan with the participation of Iranian investments, adding that businessmen from the Markazi Province of Iran made the majority of the investments. Abdullaev said that the Markazi Province of Iran was one of the first provinces to establish economic and trade relations with Uzbekistan and that these relations need to be developed further. A new page was opened in the past two years at the meetings between the trade delegations of the two countries to boost their cultural and economic cooperation, he noted. The ambassador expressed hope that the number of tourists traveling from Iran to Uzbekistan will increase, adding that in the first half of this year, 6,000 Iranian tourists visited Uzbekistan. He said that under the current conditions, the neighboring countries support Iran and this support will permanently remain in Irans memory and history. Tehran, Iran, Oct.15. Trend: Iran's decision on remaining in the nuclear deal depends on EU guarantees, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told reporters in Tehran. The United States insisted and devoted much effort, and today it continues these efforts to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero, which is definitely not realizing its dream, he said. The mechanisms have been designed and are still in place. We are moving in this direction and Iran's exports can be continued at the optimum level. "Trump cannot approach and reach the point he was targeting, but the amount, methods and destinations of the Iran oil exports should not be spoken about, because it is being misused by Iran's enemies, especially the United States, he said. Referring to the US withdrawal from a 63-year-old friendship treaty with Iran after decisions made by the International Court of Justice, he said Iran already has received a written letter of the US withdrawal from the treaty. The United States withdrew from two international accords on October 3, after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the country's government to ease sanctions on Iran. Answering the question on Tehran's decision on remaining in the Iran deal, Qassemi says with the withdrawal of the United States, Iran's consultations with other sides have begun, and today there is a positive outlook for continued cooperation. Our next decisions will be based on the latest final proposals of the European Union that will provide Iran with the necessary guarantees, he said. The Russian-US summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki last summer was tough, but only from the standpoint of the straightforward questions discussed, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday, TASS reports. In this way he commented on Trumps remark in a CBS interview his summit meeting with Putin in Helsinki was "very tough." "All questions were put in a very straightforward manner. In this respect the meeting was really tough, because both presidents openly mentioned the annoyances that there exist in bilateral relations," Peskov said. "The problems were frankly called their real names. In that sense the meeting was tough," he added. "As for the manner of the conversation - if he went beyond diplomatic politeness - well, he did not. Everything was within the established bounds." He recalled that Putin himself told a news conference the questions were discussed at the summit in a very straightforward way. "I think I'm very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him. The two of us. It was a very tough meeting and it was a very good meeting," Trump said about Putin. Putin and Trump met in Helsinki on July 16. The Russian leader spoke highly about the results of that summit, but at the same time remarked that nobody had ever expected all problems in bilateral relations would be resolved. Militants from the Islamic State terrorist group (Daesh) have attacked a refugee camp in Syria's town of Al-Bahra and captured 130 families totalling 700 people, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Savchenko, head of the Russian Center for Syrian reconciliation, said Monday, according to Sputnik. "Taking advantage of complete impunity, Daesh militants attacked a refugee camp in the Al-Bahra area on October 13, capturing 130 families of about 700 people, and transporting them to Hajin," Savchenko said at a news briefing. The general stressed that the abducted civilians were de-facto taken hostage and could be used by terrorists as a human shield to protect the militants from the possible attack by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) advancing towards the last Daesh-occupied areas on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. China and Pakistan agreed on Monday to build closer ties and facilitate the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Xinhua reported. The pledges were made during Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's meeting with Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. Khan said the new Pakistani government sees the relations with China as the priority and corner stone of its diplomacy, and is willing to enhance bilateral ties with China and jointly push forward the construction of CPEC. He said his government is willing to further strengthen relations between the two countries' ruling parties, learn from CPC's experience in party and country governance, and bring benefits to peoples of the two countries. For his part, Song said China and Pakistan are "iron friends" and China treasures the bilateral friendship with Pakistan. He said China is ready to join hands with Pakistan to facilitate the construction of CPEC under the Belt and Road Initiative and to build closer bilateral ties. Song said the CPC is willing to enhance communication and cooperation with Khan's ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, and play a political guiding role in China-Pakistan ties and CPEC construction. During his visit to Pakistan, Song also held meetings with Chairman of the Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and leaders of main political parties. The Ministry of Foreign affairs is adamant that it will stop employing flight security personnel overseas in January, Globes reports. "Our stance on the matter has not changed," Israel's Ministry of Foreign affairs stated in response to an inquiry from "Globes", two and a half months before the date on which the ministry is due to cease employing the security personnel of the three Israeli airlines. At stake is the future of some 1,200 people working at airports around the world from which El Al, Israir and Arkia operate flights, and the airlines' flight schedules themselves. In recent months, the ministry has repeatedly warned the security division of El Al, which also provides security services for Arkia and Israir, that employment of the security personnel will cease in January 2019, a date that is rapidly approaching. The ministry appears to be insisting on its position, placing the winter schedule of the Israeli airlines in jeopardy. Given rising competition from foreign airlines flying to and from Israel, there could be considerable harm to the Israeli companies. Flight security for Israeli airlines operating from overseas airports is subject to definitions and guidelines set by the Israel Security Agency (ISA). The representatives who examine passengers flying to Israel on El Al (including its Sun d'Or subsidiary), Arkia, and Israir at overseas airports are in fact employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with all that that implies for their status. The ministry is now in effect telling El Al that it will have to find solutions by itself, which could mean employing local security personnel, changing a system that has been in place for many years. The Ministry of Finance pays 90% of the overseas security costs of Israeli airlines, amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels annually. In the past, a similar warning from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ended in a compromise whereby the Ministry of Finance allocated more job slots for security workers and financed the employment of lawyers at El Al to find solutions to disputes involving those workers, who, although they are employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are not in a day to day employer-worker relationship with it. An Egyptian criminal court sentenced on Sunday three defendants to death over terrorism-related charges, Xinhua reported citing official Ahram Online news website. The court also sentenced another four defendants to life in prison and seven others to 15 years. Nine other defendants in the case have been acquitted, the report said. The court's verdict can still be appealed. Sunday's sentence came nearly four years after the 23 defendants were charged with establishing Ansar Al-Sharia terror group. In 2014, the defendants were convicted of forming and running the Ansar Al-Sharia terrorist group, attacking police, army personnel and institutions, government facilities, and Christians and their places of worship. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is sincere and really means to abandon nuclear weapons, South Korean President Moon Jae-in told a French newspaper, adding that the international community needed to reward him for that, Reuters reported. Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump pledged at a landmark summit in Singapore in June to work toward denuclearization. But the agreement was short on specifics and talks have made little headway since, with the North refusing to declare its nuclear weapons and facilities or agree to a concrete timeline. This year I have discussed in depth with Kim for hours. These meetings have convinced me that he has taken the strategic decision to abandon his nuclear weapon, Moon told Le Figaro in an interview before a state visit to Paris. Moon is to meet President Emmanuel Macron on Monday. While Pyongyang has stopped nuclear and missile tests this year, it failed to keep its promise to allow international inspections of its dismantling of the Punggye-ri site in May, stirring criticism that the move could be reversed. But Moon said Kim was sincere, calm and polite and felt frustrated by the international communitys continuing mistrust. It is now time to respond to these efforts that were hard to agree to, Moon said. We need to assure Kim Jong Un that he took the right decision in deciding to denuclearize and we need to accompany him in his wish for a durable and solid peace. Washington wants concrete action, such as a full disclosure of North Koreas nuclear and missile facilities, before meeting Pyongyangs demands, including an official end to the Korean war and the easing of international sanctions. Moon said he hoped another Trump-Kim summit would allow the two leaders to go further than the statements they made at their first meeting in Singapore. Declaring an end to the Korea war would be a start to establishing a regime of peace, he said, also calling for the United States to take reliable corresponding measures to guarantee the security of the regime. We could also in the future discuss the easing of sanctions, in accordance with progress on denuclearization, he added. At least four people including three of the same family were killed after rain-triggered landslides struck their houses in Bangladesh's southeastern Chattogram city early Sunday, Xinhua reported. Jashim Uddin, Fire Service deputy assistant director in Chattogram, 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka, told journalists that among the dead are two women, a man and a child. Three members of a family including two women and a child died after a landslide occurred at a hilly area of Chattogram's Firoz Shah area after midnight due to incessant rain, he said. Also in the hilly Panchlaish area of the city, he said, another person was killed due to a landslide. All the deceased trapped under the rubble, he said, had been pulled out after a hectic rescue operation. In recent years, according to experts, unplanned urbanization, and illegal constructions, mainly in the outskirts, have increased the chances of landslide and other disasters in five districts in Chattogram Hill Tracts. The World Bank (WB) announced on Sunday funding of up to 1 billion U.S. dollars to assist Indonesian government for its reconstruction efforts in disaster-affected areas of Lombok and Sulawesi, bolstering the nation's long-term resilience, Xinhua reported. The standby fund, available on request by the Indonesian government, will give a 5 million U.S. dollars grant for technical assistance for detailed planning to ensure reconstruction is resilient and community-led. The announcement was made in International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank (WB) annual meeting slated to end Sunday in Indonesia's Bali. "Indonesian government's immediate relief efforts are robust and impressive. As we enter the reconstruction phase we are making up to 1 billion U.S. dollars of comprehensive support available for Indonesia. The best memorial to those who lost their lives is build back better," WB Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement. WB package could include cash transfers to the poorest 150,000 affected families for a period between six months to one year. The package could also include a new standalone emergency recovery program to finance rebuilding of critical public facilities and infrastructure assets: hospitals, schools, bridges, roads, highways, water supply infrastructure. It would also strengthen monitoring and early warning systems, and help finance the reconstruction of housing settlements and neighborhood level infrastructure and services. "Indonesian government appreciates the attention and support of the international community in our time of need, including from the World Bank Group. Restoring lives and livelihoods of the people affected by natural disasters is the government's utmost priority," Indonesia Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in the statement. According to its preliminary damage assessment on the impacts of earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi, WB estimated that the multiple disasters has generated physical loss up to 8.07 trillion rupiah (about 531 million U.S. dollars). The loss estimation came from substantial damages in residential, non-residential and infrastructure sectors. "By working with the government on resilience, disaster recovery and preparedness we aim to help ensure that Indonesia continues its upward economic path," WB Country Director for Indonesia, Rodrigo A. Chaves said. Multiple earthquakes and an ensuing tsunami tore through Palu city on Sulawesi island on Sept. 28, killing more than 2,000 people and leaving thousands more missing. North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un refused to provide the list of the Asian nation's nuclear facilities to US State Secretary Mike Pompeo until the signing of a declaration ending the 1950-1953 Korean War, Sputnik reported citing media. When asked to provide at least a partial list of nuclear sites, Kim allegedly said that in the absence of trusting relationship between Washington and Pyongyang, the United States will not believe the list even if it gets it, according to the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. The Korean War ended with the armistice but a peace treaty was never signed. Pompeo and Kim Jong-un during their recent meeting in Pyonyang agreed to direct working groups to discuss four point of a document signed in Singapore, State Department said last week. US Secretary of State said after his recent meeting with North Korean leader that he can now see a path forward toward the goal of denuclearizing Pyongyang. Kim invited inspectors to visit the Punggye Ri nuclear test site to confirm it has been irreversibly dismantled, and both Kim and Pompeo agreed to have working-level teams meet in the near future to discuss other unresolved issues from the Singapore summit, State Department said last week. The situation on the peninsula improved this year since the leaders of North and South Korea began bilateral talks that resulted in a joint agreement to reach a peace deal. In June, Kim and Trump struck an agreement requiring Pyongyang to denuclearize in exchange for sanctions relief and a halt to US-South Korean military drills. However, In July, US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said it was unlikely that North Korea would dismantle its nuclear program within a year. US media reported earlier that Pyongyang was continuing to develop its nuclear program and trying to deceive the United States about its denuclearization efforts. Pompeo went on a three-day tour of East Asia earlier this month with a mission to advance the process of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and setting up the next summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump. TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over 50 actions are expected on Monday, October 15, when communities across Ontario mobilize in defense of new workers rights brought in by Bill 148: Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, including the $15 minimum wage that is scheduled for January 1. What stands to be the largest coordinated day of action for Ontario workers in the past decade will target ridings of Conservative MPPs, after Premier Doug Ford revealed the government is considering the full repeal of Bill 148, cancelling Ontarios decent work laws. It is not too late for Premier Doug Ford and his cabinet to do the right thing and help Ontario workers, said Ontario Federation of Labour President Chris Buckley. This October 15, wherever Conservative MPPs look across the province, theyll find workers who want, need and deserve decent work laws, including the $15 minimum wage. The law is the law, and as it stands, nearly 2 million workers are scheduled to get a raise in 11 weeks, says Pam Frache, Coordinator of Fight for $15 & Fairness Campaign. Every single day we encounter people who tell us they voted for Premier Ford because they thought his promise to be for the people meant standing up to corporate elites, like Galen Weston and Rocco Rossi. Repealing Bill 148 now would be a slap in the face of many workers who voted for Premier Ford, she added. Rocco Rossi is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, which has repeatedly called for a full repeal of Bill 148. That same bill brought in modest reforms like 10 days of job-protected emergency leave (the first two days paid), equal pay for equal work, and making it easier to join and keep a union (read more here ). Actions across the province range from public rallies, visits to the offices of Conservative MPPs, workplace actions in support of $15 & Fairness, campus actions at universities and colleges as well as neighbourhood outreach blitzes. The day of action is coordinated by the Fight for $15 and Fairness and the Ontario Federation of Labour as well as community, student, teacher, faculty, faith, health, labour and non-profit associations across the province. Scroll below for October 15 Actions, more details are coming, including actions at Ontarios 24 colleges. To see the latest listing of events, visit www.15andFairness.org or www.oflevents.ca . AJAX MPP Rod Phillips Office 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM 1 Rossland Road W, Suite 209 https://www.facebook.com/events/1890033274377097/ ALLISTON MPP Jim Wilsons Office 4:15 PM to 6:15 PM 180 Parsons Rd, Unit 28 https://www.facebook.com/events/1105764262908474/ AURORA Outreach Blitz 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM 15900 Bayview Avenue https://www.facebook.com/events/2278584029054493/ BRAMPTON Outreach Blitz 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM Brampton City Hall, 2 Wellington Street West https://www.facebook.com/events/1109860432517237/ BRANTFORD MPP Will Boumas Office 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM -- Assemble at Laurier Brantford (student centre), then visit the MPPs office at 96 Nelson Street (Suite 101) https://www.facebook.com/events/1925329787772168/ COBOURG MPP David Piccinis Office 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM 513 Division Street https://www.facebook.com/events/2239650782774692/ ETOBICOKE Outreach Blitz 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM Corner of Dixon and Islington https://www.facebook.com/events/273361209972051/ GUELPH Outreach Blitz and Banner Action 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM -- University Centre and Guelph City Hall https://www.facebook.com/events/2051966904867912/ HAMILTON Mohawk College 12:00 Noon to 1:00 pm Fennel Campus (135 Fennel Avenue West) https://www.facebook.com/events/660954794289049/ Rally 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM Jackson Square (James North and King Street) https://www.facebook.com/events/2126481291013219/ KINGSTON Outreach Blitz - Queens University 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM (University Avenue & Union Street West) Outreach Blitz - St. Lawrence College 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm (main entrance, transit stop) Outreach Blitz - Cataraqui Town Centre 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm (location TBA) https://www.facebook.com/events/163504867919883/ LONDON Fanshawe College 10 AM to 3 PM F Building at Fanshawe College https://www.facebook.com/events/548694465559530/ Chamber of Commerce Action 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM London Chamber of Commerce, 244 Pall Mall St https://www.facebook.com/events/240792906594680/ MISSISSAUGA Outreach Blitz 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM -- Westwood Mall, (7205 Goreway Drive), at the bus shelter https://www.facebook.com/events/314623869120414/ Outreach Blitz 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Mississauga Celebration Square (300 City Centre Dr) https://www.facebook.com/events/343116039596400/ NEWMARKET Action Against Corporate Bullies 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM Real Canadian Superstore, 18120 Yonge St https://www.facebook.com/events/550068845448883/ NORTH BAY 15 Workplace Actions 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM Across the city https://www.facebook.com/events/991736950987724/ OAKVILLE Banner Drop 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM Trafalgar Road exit South-West QEW off-Ramp https://www.facebook.com/events/1800350026749723/ OTTAWA Outreach Blitz 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in front of Loblaws, 363 Rideau St (corner of Nelson St) https://www.facebook.com/events/681597172211532/ PETERBOROUGH Outreach Blitz 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM South East corner of George St North & Simcoe St https://www.facebook.com/events/543791412738650/ SCARBOROUGH Centennial College, Progress Campus 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Progress Campus, the Bridge https://www.facebook.com/events/243984089622188/?event_time_id=243984096288854 Scarborough Centre 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM Intersection of Warden Ave and Lawrence Ave East https://www.facebook.com/events/550380335403347/ Scarborough Agincourt 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM Sheppard Ave East and Kennedy Road Intersection https://www.facebook.com/events/336959493705534/ Scarborough Rouge Park 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM Morningside Avenue and Milner Avenue Intersection https://www.facebook.com/events/1083895695111500/ ST. CATHARINES Rally 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM Outside the Ministry of Transportation, 289 St Paul St https://www.facebook.com/events/2143198219048121/ TORONTO Morning Outreach Blitz 7:30 AM to 8:45 AM Dufferin & Sherbourne TTC stations https://www.facebook.com/events/338555650239079/ York University Outreach Blitz 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM Vari Hall, York University at 198 York Blvd https://www.facebook.com/events/2149680478582507/ University of Toronto Outreach Blitz 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM Sid Smith (East Side) https://www.facebook.com/events/2186536938264706/ Rally outside Ministry of Labour 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM 400 University Ave https://www.facebook.com/events/251715398866409/ Educators at Lawrence West 3:15 PM to 5:00 PM Lawrence West Subway Station https://www.facebook.com/events/475332019618614/ WATERLOO MPP Mike Harris Office 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM 63 Arthur St South Unit 3&4 https://www.facebook.com/events/1109742122517576/ For more information: Meagan Perry, Director of Communications Ontario Federation of Labour mperry@ofl.ca l 416-894-3456 Nil Sendil Communications Coordinator Fight for $15 & Fairness info@15andfairness.org l 647-710-5795 cope343 Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will hold informal talks, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told, TASS reports. "If we briefly look at whats in the future, this will be a busy week. We will have a part linked to the visit of Egyptian President el-Sisi to Russia. These contacts will be held in Sochi and they will begin tomorrow," Peskov said. "Tomorrow there will be a working day in Moscow and a working day or a working evening, I would say, in Sochi," he said. An informal contact will begin on Tuesday evening, Peskov said, noting that "this is a very efficient format of communication, which enables the heads of state to discuss the most topical issues in private before the official talks." The full-fledged talks are scheduled for Wednesday. Earlier, the Kremlin press service said the leaders would discuss "key issues of further development of Russian-Egyptian cooperation, as well as exchange views on vital issues on the international agenda." The two leaders plan to sign a range of joint documents after the talks. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15 Trend: Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila will pay an official visit to Turkey's capital Ankara on Oct.15, Turkish media reported. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Dancila will discuss bilateral relations, as well as regional and international issues. They will also exchange views on bilateral cooperation,. "The talks, due to be held within the framework of the visit, constitute an important opportunity to enhance Turkish-Romanian relations, which were raised to the level of a strategic partnership in 2011," it added. Relations between Turkey and EU will also be discussed with Romania, which is set to take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on Jan. 1. As many as 40 people were hurt Sunday after a bus crashed on California's 405 freeway in San Fernando Valley, fire officials said, Fox News reported. Of those injured, 25 were rushed to a hospital by the Los Angeles Fire Department. Five of those were said to be in serious condition. The bus rammed into several vehicles and crashed through the median of the highway shortly after 1 p.m., Fox 11 reported. The crash shut down some freeway lanes. It was not immediately clear how long the closures would last. Three people included in the "patient" count "did not have serious injuries," but were considered patients due to the severity of the crash. China poses a bigger problem for the United States compared to Russia in terms of interfering into the American presidential election in 2016, President Donald Trump said in an interview with CBS television channel, TASS reports. "Because I think China meddled also," Trump said. "And I think, frankly, China is a bigger problem". The FBI and the intelligence committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives have been pursuing a probe into Russias alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In connection with the investigation, which has been going on for more than a year, charges have been brought against several Russian citizens, as well as against five Americans and one Dutch national. On July 13, US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced charges against another 12 individuals who were said to be Russian intelligence officers. US President Donald Trump and the key members of his team have been repeatedly rejecting all the accusations concerning collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Moscow has also been refuting these allegations. On July 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated at a joint press conference with his US counterpart Donald Trump that Moscow had not meddled in election processes in the United States and was ready to cooperate with Washington within a joint working group on cyber security. Washington has no information at the moment whether North Korea is working on the production of new missiles, US President Donald Trump said in an interviewwith CBS television channel, TASS reports. "We really don't know," Trump said. "Let's say the answer is yes, okay? In the meantime, they haven't tested a missile. They haven't tested a rocket." "They definitely haven't done a nuclear test because you know about them real fast," he said. "It sort of moves the earth. And we have a relationship now." The historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump took place at the Capella Hotel on Singapores Sentosa Island on June 12. The parties signed a joint document, in which Pyongyang made a commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula in return for US security guarantees. Trump pledged to meet Pyongyangs demand to halt joint military drills with South Korea. NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who returned to Moscow from the Baikonur spaceport on October 12 after the Soyuz boosters failure, flew to the United States, the Cosmonaut Training Centers press service told TASS. "Astronaut Hague flew to the United States on Saturday. When the crew (Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and Hague) again start training in the Star City for their flight to the ISS, Hague will return to Moscow," the press service said. Ovchinin and Hague will begin their pre-flight training after the exact date of their launch to the ISS is announced. "As soon as the date of this expeditions launch to the ISS is defined, a schedule of their preparations for the flight and trainings will be drawn up," a spokesperson said. Earlier, Head of Russias Roscosmos state space corporation Dmitry Rogozin said Ovchinin and Hague could fly into space in spring 2019. A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft blasted off from Kazakhstans Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, at 11:40 a.m. Moscow time. On board the spacecraft were veteran Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague, who was making his first space mission. Following a smooth liftoff, the Soyuzs booster malfunctioned between the first and second stages of separating, whereupon the crew was forced to abort the flight and switch to ballistic descent. The manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft ended up landing in the Kazakh steppe. The press office of Russias Central Military District reported that rescuers recovered the crew from the descent capsule. Later, the crew members were examined and found to be in good condition. After their medical check-up in the town of Baikonur, the astronauts were transported to Moscow. This is the first emergency landing with this type of carrier rocket over the past 35 years. KYODO NEWS - Oct 15, 2018 - 07:01 | All, Japan The amphibious troop unit of Japan's Self-Defense Forces conducted a joint exercise with the U.S. Marines on Sunday in southwestern Japan's Kagoshima, to prepare for operations to regain control of an enemy-held remote island. The drill on Tanegashima Island is aimed at strengthening coordination between the allies on the back of China's maritime assertiveness around the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. At around 6 a.m., five boats carrying members of the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade of the Ground Self-Defense Force left the transport ship Osumi off Tanegashima and landed on the island. The drill was open to the press. The Japanese and U.S. forces also conducted training to regain control of an enemy-held airport on the island with SDF and U.S. military personnel dropping off from an SDF CH-47 helicopter. The members, carrying unloaded rifles, acted out an engagement with the assumed enemy. Sunday's exercise, involving around 220 members from Japan's GSDF and 10 from the U.S. Marines, was the first amphibious drill conducted in Japan and follows one in Hawaii this summer. The joint exercise is scheduled to run through Friday. "We improved our ability to conduct amphibious missions and the exercise was satisfying," Major Keisuke Komatsu, who commanded the Japanese amphibious unit that conducted the drill at the airport, said in a statement. Speaking to reporters, Col. Mark Clingan, assistant division commander of the 3rd Marine Division, expressed hope of deepening coordination with the Japanese amphibious force unit. The SDF's amphibious brigade started off with about 2,100 members and is stationed at the GSDF Camp Ainoura in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. Despite a recent thaw in Sino-Japanese relations, the two countries remain at odds over the Senkaku Islands, a group of uninhabited islets that are called Diaoyu in China and claimed by Beijing. KYODO NEWS - Oct 15, 2018 - 16:35 | All, Feature Sharp Corp. said Monday its 8K ultra-high-definition TVs will hit the Japanese market on Nov. 17 ahead of the start of 8K broadcasting in the country in December. The electronics maker said its new 80-inch, 70-inch and 60-inch liquid crystal display Aquos 8K will be the world's first 8K TVs with embedded receivers. 8K resolution has 16 times as many pixels as a full high-definition image. Samsung Electronics Co. already has an 8K TV on the market. Sharp's 80-inch model will carry a price tag of around 2 million yen ($17,840), the 70-inch will cost 1 million yen and the 60-inch 750,000 yen, before tax, a company official said. TV manufacturers and broadcasters expect demand for such TVs to grow toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and beyond. The TVs will be unveiled to the public from Tuesday at the four-day Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies known as CEATEC, Asia's largest electronics and information technology fair at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo. The TVs can display greater contrast and produce more vibrant colors, according to the company. Sharp, which came under the control of Taiwanese parent Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in 2016 to restructure its finances, sees the 8K technology as central to its growth strategy, expecting commercial use to grow in healthcare and security industries among others. Commercial broadcasting of 4K and 8K contents is scheduled to begin in December in Japan. Sharp already sells 8K TVs without receivers in China. It eventually plans to launch 8K models in Europe and the United States. Pinarayi hinted that KIIFB resources were necessary to improve the faculty and infrastructure facilities like labs and libraries in the higher education sector. TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nutritional High International Inc. (the Company or Nutritional High) (CSE: EAT, OTCQB: SPLIF, FRANKFURT: 2NU) is pleased to announce the release of multiple new products to be sold under the Companys FLI brand (FLI) in California, manufactured at its FLI NorCal production site in Sacramento. The Company will be launching FLI Mini Mints (Mini Mints), FLI High Terpene Vape Cartridges and Syringes (High Terp Products) and FLI Select Vape Cartridges and Syringes (Select Products). These products will be produced out of the Companys FLI NorCal production facility and distributed through its wholly-owned licensed distributor, Calyx Brands Inc. (Calyx). The Company expects these innovative new products to drive additional sales and awareness of FLIs product portfolio going forward. FLIs Mini Mints are an infused edible product that will be available in 5mg THC doses, in 4 unique flavours. The Company believes the Mini Mint will drive significant sales volume due to its compact nature and creative flavour profile. According to BDS Analytics, cannabis-infused edibles products are one of industries fastest-growing product segments, with 12% growth year-over-year. In addition, Calyx identified mints as a fast growing vertical where they have seen demand increase significantly. The High Terp Products are made with distillate that is infused with strain-specific terpenes and tests at a minimum of 80% THC with total cannabinoids reaching around 85%. The Companys Select products are made with cannabis derived terpenes and distillate that tests at a minimum of 90% THC. The Company believes these types of differentiated cannabis products are key to gaining market share in knowledgeable markets like California, where consumers typically seek sophisticated cannabinoid and terpene profiles from their cannabis products. Jim Frazier, CEO of Nutritional High, commented, "We are very excited to be releasing these value-added products into the California marketplace and look forward to the enhanced profile they will drive for the FLI brand. These products were developed through diligent R&D, customer analytics and engineering methods that we think will drive a superior consumer experience. As a company, we focus on providing high-quality innovative cannabis products to our customers, and we are confident these products will support that strategy. About Nutritional High International Inc. Nutritional High is focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing products under recognized brands in the cannabis products industry, with a specific focus on edibles and oil extracts for medical and adult recreational use. The Company works exclusively through licensed facilities in jurisdictions where such activity is permitted and regulated by state law. The Company follows a vertically integrated model with a fully developed strategy for acquisitions in extraction, production, sales, and distribution sectors of the cannabis industry. Nutritional High has brought its flagship FLI edibles and extracts product line from production to market in California through its wholly owned distributor Calyx Brands Inc., and Colorado where its products are manufactured by a licensed producer. The Company also owns a 50% interest in The Clinic Effingham (an Illinois dispensary), and is entering the Nevada, Washington State, Oregon and Canadian markets in the near future. For updates on the Companys activities and highlights of the Companys press releases and other media coverage, please follow Nutritional High on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and Google+ or visit www.nutritionalhigh.com . For further information, please contact: David Posner Co-Chairman of the Board Nutritional High International Inc. 647-985-6727 Email: dposner@nutritionalhigh.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR OTC MARKETS GROUP INC., NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDERS HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. There is no certainty that any of these events will occur. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Company's securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Culver City, CA, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eWellness Healthcare Corporation (OTCQB: EWLL) a provider of the state of the art PHZIO platform for the physical therapy (PT) and telehealth markets, announced today that it will be hiring contract management, promotion and tech support professionals to support the launch of its workmans compensation partnerships. Darwin Fogt, CEO of EWLL stated, We are extremely excited to add to our existing professional team that will help to launch and manage our new workers compensation PHZIO platform. This workers compensation industry launch is built to drive leadership in the new industry of digital telehealth physical therapy (dPT). Our focus will be on highlighting that a majority of all future PT treatments can be accomplished with a smart phone. This new digital adoption will lower patient treatment costs, expand patient treatment access and improve patient compliance. Our PHZIO platform allows patients and PTs to cut the cord from the old-school, wait in line, brick and mortar clinical experience to an immediate response digital, in-home PT experience. 80% of all PT assessments and treatments can now be done on a patients smart phone in the privacy of their own home. Digital PT is clearly the next upgrade the industry needs to make. Our new team members will also be supporting our marketing to the workman compensation industry, where we are pitching to 12 separate industry silos of potential business within the 101 workmans compensation sales funnel prospects. At least 50 of our current prospects are whales, where gaining traction with any of these firms will mean tens of millions of dollars in revenue from any single contract. We are adding new prospects every week, with a goal to grow to nearly 200 by the end of 2018. About eWellness eWellness Healthcare Corporation (OTCQB: EWLL) is the first physical therapy telehealth company to offer insurance reimbursable real-time distance monitored treatments. Our business model is to license our PHZIO (PHZIO) platform to any physical therapy (PT) clinic in the U.S. and or have large-scale employers use our PHZIO platform as a fully PT monitored corporate wellness program. The Companys PHZIO home physical therapy exercise platform has been designed to disrupt the $30 billion physical therapy and the $8 billion corporate wellness industries. PHZIO re-defines the way physical therapy can be delivered. PHZIO is the first real-time remote monitored 1-to-many physical therapy platform for home use. Due to the real-time patient monitoring feature, the PHZIO platform is insurance reimbursable. For more information on eWellness go to: http://www.ewellnesshealth.com/ http://phzio.com/ http://prehabpt.com / Safe Harbor Statement This news release includes certain information that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by terminology such as could, may, will, expects, anticipates, future, intends, plans, believes, estimates, proposed, planned, potential and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including statements about eWellness beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although eWellness believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. eWellness cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Accordingly, due to the risks, uncertainties and assumptions inherent in forward-looking information, readers and prospective investors in the Companys securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof and is subject to change. The Company assumes no obligation to revise or update forward-looking information to reflect new circumstances, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. HARTSVILLE, S.C., Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Sonoco (NYSE:SON) today declared a $.41 per share quarterly common stock dividend. The dividend will be paid on December 10, 2018, to shareholders of record as of November 9, 2018. According to Rob Tiede, president and chief executive officer, this is the 374th consecutive quarter, dating back to 1925, that the Company has paid dividends to shareholders. About Sonoco Founded in 1899, Sonoco (NYSE:SON) is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately $5 billion, the Company has 21,000 employees working in approximately 300 operations in 33 countries, serving some of the worlds best known brands in some 85 nations. Sonoco is committed to Better Packaging. Better Life., and ranked first in the Packaging sector on Fortunes Worlds Most Admired Companies 2018 list. For more information, visit www.sonoco.com. FAIRFIELD, Conn., Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acme United Corporation (NYSE American: ACU) will release its financial results for the Third Quarter of 2018 on Friday, October 19, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. EDT. A conference call to discuss these results will be broadcast over the Internet on Friday, October 19, 2018, at 12:00 p.m. EDT. To listen or participate in a question and answer session, dial 855-719-5012 . International callers may dial 334-323-0522. Access to the live webcast of the conference call can be found in the Investor Relations section of the Companys website, www.acmeunited.com. A replay may be accessed under Investor Relations, Audio Archives. Acme United Corporation is a leading worldwide supplier of innovative safety solutions and cutting technology to the school, home, office, hardware, sporting goods and industrial markets. Its leading brands include First Aid Only, PhysiciansCare, Pac-Kit,Spill Magic, Westcott, Clauss, Camillus, Cuda, and DMT. Contacts Acme United Corporation Paul G. Driscoll, 203-254-6060 pdriscoll@acmeunited.com Japans Successful Economic Model Adair Turner TOKYO Nearly everyone says that Japans economic model has imploded. Since 1991, growth has averaged just 0.9% versus 4.5% over the previous two decades. Slow growth, combined with large fiscal deficits and near zero inflation, has driven government debt from 50% of GDP to 236% of GDP. Abenomics, the cluster of reforms initiated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he came to power six years ago, promised to get inflation up to 2%. But five years of zero interest rates and massive quantitative easing have failed to achieve this. A fertility rate of 1.4 and near-zero immigration mean that Japans workforce could shrink by 28% over the next 50 years, making health care for the elderly unaffordable and dramatically increasing the fiscal deficit, which is already running at 4% of GDP. Tax increases and public expenditure cuts to reduce the deficit are essential if a debt crisis is to be avoided. Structural reform is needed to raise the anemic growth rate. Despite all this, the prevailing wisdom about the supposed failure of the Japanese model might be wrong. While Japans demographic decline poses challenges, it may also imply some advantages: and Japans debts are far more sustainable than they appear. True, Japans GDP growth lags most other developed economies, and will likely continue to do so as the population slowly declines. But what matters for human welfare is GDP per capita, and on this front Japans 0.65% annual growth in the decade since 2007 equals the US and is better than the UKs 0.39% and Frances 0.34% not bad for a country starting with one of the worlds highest living standards. True, over the last 25 years, US per capita growth has been faster; but Japans economy is not disfigured by the massive increase in inequality that has left many American workers facing stagnant real wages throughout that period. Unemployment is below 3%. As a machine for delivering prosperity to a wide range of citizens, Japans economy therefore compares well today with almost any other. With crime rates among the lowest in the world, the Japanese social model must be doing some things right. And tourism is booming, with the number of foreign visitors up from six million to almost 20 million in the last 15 years. Of course, whats true today could be demographically unsustainable tomorrow; and if Japans birth rate remains permanently at 1.4, rapid population decline could pose severe problems. But warnings that the ratio of workers to retirees will fall from 2.1 to 1.3 overstate the case, because they arbitrarily define working age as ending at 65, and ignore the potential to increase retirement ages, as the Abe government is now doing. If the average age at which people stopped working rose to 70, the ratio of workers to retirees would still fall, but only from 2.1 today to 1.8 in 2050. Moreover, Japan leads the world in the technologies that can enable older people to remain economically active longer, and in the robotics that allow goods and services to be produced by ever fewer workers. Fears that robots will destroy jobs are notably absent in Japans national debate. A recent book extolling the benefits as well as challenges of The 100-Year Life has been a bestseller. In a world of radical automation possibilities, high and rising life expectancy and a declining population are better problems to face than the rapid population growth that threatens to overwhelm job creation in some emerging-market economies. As for government debt and unsustainable fiscal deficits, doom-mongers who warn of an inevitable crisis if belt tightening is not soon imposed are likely to be disappointed. Japans gross government debt may be 236% of GDP, but after netting out government-owned financial assets, the International Monetary Fund estimates net debt at a much lower 152%. Moreover, the Bank of Japan owns government bonds worth 90% of GDP, and ultimately returns to the government as dividends all the money it receives from the government as interest on the bonds it holds. Deducting both public financial assets and all the debts the Japanese government and people effectively owe to themselves, the debt level is only about 60% percent of GDP and not rising. This level of debt could be sustainable even if fiscal deficits remain high for many years. To see why, suppose a country had gross government debt of 250% of GDP, net debt of 150%, and central bank bond holdings of 100% of GDP, leaving net debt of 50%. Then suppose that inflation and real growth were steady at 1% each, so that nominal GDP grows at 2%. With bond yields at 2% (versus 0.1% in Japan today), those debt ratios would remain stable even if the government ran a primary deficit of 4% of GDP, and a total deficit of 5%, year after year. That is roughly what Japan is doing now. Far from reacting in horror at this clearly unsustainable behavior, bond buyers around the world still line up to buy government bonds in return for yields that are little more than zero. None of this is to deny important challenges. Health-care costs could drive fiscal deficits up further. And economic theory suggests that at some point, bond yields should be higher than nominal GDP growth. For both reasons, a medium-term plan for some fiscal consolidation is desirable. And, in the absence of an increase in the birth rate or at least some immigration, the technological progress that Japan seeks will be essential to cope with an aging society. But the commonplace gloom about Japans prospects is grossly overdone. Many countries would be lucky to have Japans problems. Adair Turner, a former chairman of the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority and former member of the UK's Financial Policy Committee, is Chairman of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. His latest book is Between Debt and the Devil. In an innovative study that promises to reduce production costs for the most potent form of vitamin K -- Menaquinone-7, Penn State researchers have developed a novel method to enhance the fermentation process that creates the supplement by agitated liquid fermentation in a biofilm reactor. The new process, assuming it can be scaled up to industrial production, is important because recent studies conducted by universities in the Netherlands and UCLA School of Medicine, among others, show essential health benefits associated with large doses of vitamin K -- especially the Menaquinone-7 form, known as MK-7. These benefits include reducing risks of cardiovascular disease and strokes, osteoporosis, and even battling cancer. Foods that are rich in vitamin K -- such as kale, red meat and egg yolk -- do not provide enough of the vitamin to achieve high-dose therapies, which will require supplements. However, MK-7 production on an industrial level is expensive and limited because the bacterial fermentation needed to create the vitamin so far has relied on "static" fermentation strategies that are inadequate to ramp up output of the vitamin. The present production system -- incorporating shallow trays of solid, soy-based medium growing microorganisms only on the surface -- will not support the expected increased demand for vitamin K, explained researcher Ehsan Mahdinia, a postdoctoral scholar in food science at Penn State. "Using biofilm reactors, however, appears to be a practical alternative," said Mahdinia. "Biofilm reactors provide a controlled environment for the microorganisms to form mature and robust biofilms that enable them to produce value-added products such as vitamin K with increased efficiency." Integral to the ability of biofilm reactors to produce vitamin K are specially designed internal plastic composite supports that microorganisms adhere to and on which they build intertwined colonies -- called biofilms -- that can withstand aeration and agitation needed to spur the microorganisms to secrete more vitamin K. "The supports are comprised of half plastic and half soybean hulls, with other nutrients mixed in, that are extruded together at high temperatures," said Mahdinia. "The composite material is porous enough to allow microbes to colonize and hold onto it. At the same time, it is hard enough that the supports do not fall apart when they are in the liquid." The study looked at producing MK-7 with an improved fermentation process, comparing the performance of strains of the microorganisms that create vitamin K. Researchers evaluated Bacillus species such as Bacillus subtilis natto, Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus amyloliquifaciens. Bacillus subtilis natto was determined to be the most efficient microorganism to be used in future Penn State studies in biofilm reactors, according to Mahdinia. It is a type of bacteria that produces fermented soy food such as Japanese traditional sticky natto, he pointed out. "Natto is a goo resulting from the microbes partially digesting soybeans, and like all fermented foods, it is very nutritious," he said. "It's basically rotten soybeans. I have been told it doesn't taste good, but I must admit that I have never had the courage to taste it." Finally, researchers experimented with the liquid medium, suspending and feeding the microorganisms in 12-day fermentation runs. The medium started as a soy broth supplemented with 0.8 percent yeast extract. In the study, they tested the addition of glucose and glycerol to the base media in the biofilm reactors. The carbon source addition seemed crucial in batch fermentations, Mahdinia noted. "Our results indicated that 'fed-batch' strategies can be significantly effective in glucose-based medium, rendering the biofilm reactors a promising replacement for static fermentation strategies. Under the same operational and medium conditions, suspended-cell bioreactors (with no biofilm present) could not reach MK-7 concentrations higher than 8.7 milligrams per liter, while in biofilm reactors concentrations were higher than 28.7 milligrams per liter -- a 2.3-fold enhancement." Ali Demirci, Penn State professor of agricultural and biological engineering, whose research group in the College of Agricultural Sciences conducted the study, has high hopes for this new technology. He is planning to scale up the 2-liter laboratory biofilm reactors and introduce pilot scale fermenters of perhaps 200 liters. "We believe those pilot scale biofilm reactors can produce a significant amount of vitamin K to compete with what is done in industry right now," he said. "Then we hope we can turn this into a patent and go to the industry and say, 'you can easily scale up these liquid fermenters to thousands of liters, similar to what is in use now for bioethanol production.' Each fermenter can reach up to 850,000 gallons of volume and produce much larger amounts of vitamin K." ### The research, recently published in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, was Mahdinia's doctoral thesis. He recently graduated with a doctoral degree in agricultural and biological engineering. Also collaborating in the research was Aydin Berenjian, University of Waikato, New Zealand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture supported this work. Al Arabiya op-ed warns of oil spike and 'economic disaster' if US sanctions Saudi Arabia "If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," Turki Aldakhil, the general manager of Saudi Arabia-based Al Arabiya television, said in an opinion piece published Sunday. The warning from Aldakhil comes amid heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the West. Jamal Khashoggi a U.S. resident and prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Oil prices could surge to all-time highs if the United States imposes economic sanctions against Saudi Arabia , according to an opinion piece written by the general manager of Saudi Arabia-based Al Arabiya television. The warning from Al Arabiya's Turki Aldakhil comes amid heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the West, after journalist Jamal Khashoggi a U.S. resident and prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish authorities claim Khashoggi was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has fiercely denied that. "If U.S. sanctions are imposed on Saudi Arabia, we will be facing an economic disaster that would rock the entire world," Aldakhil wrote on Sunday. "It would lead to Saudi Arabia's failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure." International benchmark Brent crude traded at around $81.43 Monday morning, up around 1.2 percent, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $72.12, slightly more than 1 percent higher. Expensive energy Energy watchers are closely monitoring Brent, which has pulled back from recent multiyear highs but remains firmly established above $80 a barrel. So far this year, the price of oil has surged more than 25 percent, prompting some investors to bet that a return to triple-digits could be just around the corner. Story continues Meanwhile, the U.S. is banking on Saudi Arabia to curtail soaring energy prices and help offset lost Iranian oil supply. But, in theory, an escalation of tensions in the Middle East could send prices sharply higher. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is already concerned rising energy prices could soon pose a threat to global economic growth, saying its position is " expensive energy is back ." Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih reportedly said Monday that while oil market conditions were challenging at present, the kingdom would remain committed to acting as a shock absorber to any upcoming supply shortages. Speaking in New Delhi, India, al-Falih explained the world's largest exporter wanted to help power the global economy, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia for rising gasoline costs, as prices continue to head in the wrong direction for American consumers with midterms coming up in less than four weeks' time. Saudi stocks tumble On Sunday, Trump threatened "severe punishment" against Saudi Arabia if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he also cautioned Washington would be "punishing" itself if it scrapped any military sales to Riyadh. Meanwhile, the governments of the U.K., France and Germany all called for a "credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened" on Sunday. "And if relevant to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account." In response, Saudi Arabia said it would retaliate to possible economic sanctions taken by other states over the case of Khashoggi. For the moment, suspicions about Saudi Arabia's role in Khashoggi's disappearance have tainted the reformist image carefully cultivated by Crown Prince Mohammed. Shares in Saudi Arabia plunged on Sunday, amid growing fears of global fallout. The country's main stock market index in Riyadh the Tadawul fell as much as 7 percent at one stage as billions of dollars were wiped off the value of leading Saudi companies. The index recovered some ground later in the trading day to close around 3.5 percent lower. More From CNBC FILE - In this March 7, 2017 file photo, rowers paddle down the Charles River past the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. A lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against Asian American applicants in Harvard's admissions process is heading to trial in Boston's federal court on Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Harvard denies any discrimination, saying it considers race as one of many factors when considering applicants. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) BOSTON (AP) -- A lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in Harvard University's admissions process is heading to trial in Boston's federal court. The group Students for Fair Admissions has accused the Ivy League school of bias against Asian-American applicants, saying it holds them to a higher standard than students of other races. Harvard denies any discrimination and says it considers race as one of many factors when considering applicants. Both sides will present their cases to U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs starting Monday. The lawsuit was filed in 2014 and carries implications for many other U.S. colleges that say they consider race to admit a diverse mix of students. The case already has pulled back the curtain on aspects of Harvard's secretive admissions process, including a "personal rating" that measures certain character traits. A look at the case and what to expect: ___ WHO'S INVOLVED? Students for Fair Admissions is a nonprofit led by Edward Blum, a legal strategist who argues schools should not consider race in admissions. The group is based in Arlington, Virginia, and says it has more than 20,000 members, including at least some Asian-Americans who were rejected from Harvard. Blum previously helped coordinate a lawsuit accusing the University of Texas of discriminating against white students. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case and upheld the school's consideration of race in 2016. Harvard, one of the nation's most selective colleges, is defending the "holistic" review process it uses to pick from thousands of applicants a year. It considers factors from grades to geography, but also race, a tricky topic for a school that has struggled to reflect the nation's growing diversity. Harvard says it has made strides in that area but must be able to consider race in order to continue progress. ___ WHAT ARE THE MAIN ARGUMENTS? Story continues The lawsuit accuses Harvard of imposing tougher standards for Asian-American applicants and says it discriminates against them using a "personal rating" category. It also alleges that Harvard practices "racial balancing," saying the school works to maintain a certain distribution of each race on campus, which in past cases was ruled unconstitutional. The group's case partly relies on an analysis of Harvard admissions records by Duke University economist Peter Arcidiacono, who found that Asian-Americans bring the strongest academic records but are admitted at the lowest rate. He also found that while Asian-Americans receive strong personal rating scores from alumni interviewers, they are consistently dealt lower scores in that area from the admissions office. Harvard denies the accusations and says the group has failed to provide any concrete evidence of discrimination. University leaders say race is considered only in the narrow way that has been upheld in earlier Supreme Court cases, and they note that Harvard's share of Asian-Americans has grown in recent years, reaching 23 percent of the current freshman class. School officials see the lawsuit as an attack on their ability to build a diverse campus, and they vowed to defend the consideration of race for schools across the U.S. Their defense partly relies on an analysis by David Card, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, who found no evidence of discrimination in Harvard's admissions records. ___ WHAT'S AT STAKE? The case follows a series of previous lawsuits challenging whether colleges can consider the race of applicants, a practice which generally has been upheld. Dozens of schools continue to factor race into admissions and will closely watch to see if their own practices are deemed fair or could be put into jeopardy. For observers, the case is expected to shine a light on Harvard's closely guarded admissions process. The judge allowed Harvard to redact many details from court documents, but they could be uncovered in trial testimony. There could be new revelations, for example, about preferences Harvard gives to children of alumni or donors, and a so-called "Z-List" that offers deferred admission to certain students who don't get in through the typical process. Ultimately Harvard believes its campus diversity is at stake and says it couldn't achieve a rich mix of students without considering race. Its leaders also believe the suit threatens the flexibility that other courts have granted schools to build the type of student population that's best for their own campus. Students for Fair Admissions believes the case could fix a system that places unfair weight on race, primarily at the expense of academically talented Asian Americans. The group's suit demands that Harvard make admissions decisions without any knowledge of students' race, and it asks for a broader ruling that the use of race in education is a civil rights violation. The case is going to a bench trial, meaning it will be decided by a judge, not a jury. But the case isn't likely to end there. Whoever loses would be expected to appeal, potentially setting the stage for another Supreme Court case. ___ Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley For five years, Father Roberto Cadavid led mass, heard confessions and guided children through the confirmation process as a priest at Catholic churches in Brooklyn and Queens, until he returned to his native Colombia in the summer of 2017. It wasnt until 10 months later that his old parishioners were informed of why he left the United States: children in Colombia had come forward to accuse Cadavid of sexual abuse. A review of records and correspondence by Gothamist shows that the Diocese of Brooklyn bypassed its own safety protocols to hire Cadavid in 2012. When the Diocese of Medellin eventually informed Brooklyn about Cadavids long history of alleged abuse in June 2017, the diocese let Cadavid go quietly. By the time Cadavid arrived in Brooklyn in December 2012 to start his work here, at least four young boys had come forward accusing Cadavid of abusing them, starting in 2005 when he was director of a school half an hour outside of Medellin. Cadavid was moved from church to church around Medellin as abuse allegations at his new assignments would emerge. One victim said Cadavid paid him 88 million Colombian pesos in 2009 (about U.S. $46,000) to remain silent about the abuse. We are still in the process of getting all the testimonies from victims, their families and witnesses, said attorney Sara Goznalez, who is representing the six people, five of them still minors, who have accused Father Cadavid of abuse. Some of the families are very afraid to come forward, so we are helping them through that. The church is very powerful in Colombia. According a 2010 audit of diocese protocols for hiring international priests conducted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the Diocese of Brooklyn requires recommendation letters from foreign bishops to include a specific assurance that the priest has never been charged with a crime, and that the priest has not manifested behavioral problems in the past that would indicate he might deal with minors in an inappropriate manner. When the Bishop of Medellin, Ricardo Tobon, wrote to the Bishop of Brooklyn, Nicholas DiMarzio, in November of 2012, he gave his blessing for the transfer. But his short letter included no such assurance language. The Diocese of Brooklyn hired him anyway. Father Cadavid, in a photo from his business card This is another example of why the institution cant police itself and the public has a reasonable fear that they wont follow their own safety policies, said Patrick Wall, a former priest and church sex abuse survivor advocate. Weve supposedly had a zero-tolerance policy since 2002. After the Boston Globes 2002 Spotlight investigation of sexual abuse, the USCCB created the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which called on church leaders to more thoroughly vet priests in order to prevent sexual abuse. In 2003, the USCCB published guidelines for vetting international priests, acknowledging the unique difficulties of conducting cross-border background checks. Despite the attention to more thorough vetting, a 2007 USCCB audit found that half of the credible sexual abuse allegations from children that year who were still minors were made against international priests. In 2008, USCCB began to publish annual audits of each dioceses protocols for hiring international priests. The USCCB stopped publishing these audits after 2010. That year, one in five priests serving in the U.S. were visiting from other countries, including 96 in Brooklyn. At least six international priests had sexually assaulted minors in Brooklyn prior to Cadavids arrival in 2012, according to a website that tracks allegations of abuse against priests. Twenty-two dioceses out of 183 audited in 2010 require recommendation letters from bishops to include an assurance that the priest has never been inappropriate with children. In a March 2018 interview with W Radio in Colombia, Tobon, the Bishop of Medellin, said he had no knowledge of Cadavid being in the U.S. and did not recommend him for the transfer to Brooklyn because he suspended Cadavid in 2012, immediately after he learned of abuse allegations against him. I took him out of the parish and I suspended him, when the information came to me. I presented the information to the Holy See and that's how it ended, Tobon said in the interview. But Bishop Tobons claims are contradicted by his own correspondence with Bishop DiMarzio, the Bishop of Brooklyn, which Gothamist has reviewed. Tobons short November 2012 letter recommending Cadavid said, in Spanish, I appreciate the reception and accompaniment that you can give him. He has permission from me to serve in the mission that you entrust him with. The letter appears on Archdiocese of Medellin blue and yellow letterhead and includes Tobons signature and stamp. In December 2012, Father Cadavid began working at Our Lady of Angels Church in Bay Ridge. He was made parochial vicar at St. Ritas Catholic Church in Long Island City in June 2013. St. Rita's Catholic Church in Long Island City, where Father Cadavid was stationed from June of 2013 until June of 2017 (Alix Piorun / Gothamist) When Bishop DiMarzio requested to extend Cadavids time in Brooklyn in November of 2014, Tobon sent another official letter three months later that failed to mention that he had suspended Cadavid in 2012 because of allegations of sexual abuse. If your excellence finds it convenient, I dont see any obstacle to responding affirmatively to this solicitation, hoping that Father Cadavid is for you a worthy help, Tobons letter said. That year, the USCCB again cautioned dioceses about ensuring international priests do not have histories of abuse. "A significant number of allegations continue to involve international priests. Dioceses should take note of this and ensure they are utilizing the appropriate methods for evaluating their backgrounds," the 2015 report said. Finally, on June 22, 2017, Tobon responded via email to a letter from DiMarzio in which DiMarzio thanked him for Cadavids service. First of all, I want to express my surprise about the information that Cadavid was practicing ministry in your diocese, the letter said, in Spanish. He, in effect, has been suspended since March 14, 2016, by means of the attached decree, a suspension that was imposed due to the accusation of sexual abuse of a minor. The decree, reviewed and transcribed by Gothamist, said Cadavid was accused of sexually abusing minors, accusations that were apparently credible enough for the diocese to suspend him. The next day, on June 23, 2017, the Diocese of Brooklyn responded to Tobon saying they suspended Cadavid. The question is why wasnt the Diocese of Brooklyn notified of his suspension before? Please let us know, the letter said, in Spanish. Tobon did not respond to this request. The Diocese of Brooklyn sent out an alert to leaders at each parish in Brooklyn saying Cadavid was suspended, but did not mention that the suspension was because of alleged sexual abuse. Tobon did not respond to multiple requests for comment and for clarification about when he suspended Cadavid and why he twice recommended Cadavid to the Diocese of Brooklyn. His press secretary, Mauricio Agudelo, and deputy, Oscar Alvarez, also did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He was lying and covering up for this priest, said journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos, who conducted the interview for W radio, and who has written a series of stories on the churchs efforts to shield priests accused of abuse for outlets like El Tiempo. Barrientos says that since the interview aired, hes been unable to get Tobon to answer any questions. He was caught in a lie. The Diocese of Brooklyn waited 10 months to tell parishioners about Cadavids alleged history of sexually abusing minors, finally informing them on April 8, 2018, one month after the W Radio investigation about Cadavid was published in Colombia. Diocesan officials spoke with families who were particularly close to Cadavid at St. Ritas and Our Lady of Angels and urged anyone with an allegation to contact the diocese hotline. In a statement, the Diocese of Brooklyn says they deeply regret that Father Cadavid was allowed to minister there. The letters from the Archbishop never indicated that there were any allegations against Cadavid and led us to believe that there was nothing in his background that would prevent him from ministering here, the statement reads, adding that they conducted a background check and that Cadavid passed. Adriana Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the diocese, added that the diocese now requires yearly affidavits from bishops assuring that international priests working for the Diocese of Brooklyn have never acted inappropriately with minors. The new policy went into effect on May 1, 2018, and is retroactive. Greg Burke, the director of the Vatican press office, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In Cadavids August 2012 letter expressing interest in coming to Brooklyn, he named two priests from Colombia who were working in Brooklyn and recommended him: Luis Fernando Laverde and Reinaldo Saldarriaga. Laverde is now a priest at Blessed Sacrament Church in Cypress Hills; he declined to comment. Saldarriaga worked in the tribunal of the diocese, but has since left. The Diocese of Brooklyn declined to comment on whether the diocese consulted these priests before hiring Cadavid. Cadavid did not respond to multiple requests for comment. His WhatsApp profile picture reads, in Spanish, Sometimes its not worth it to be sincere, people only hear what they want to hear. Cadavid has not been charged with a crime in Colombia. W Radio confirmed in September that 37 priests accused of abusing minors in Colombia have been reported to the federal prosecutor. Fourteen cases have been closed, seven have resulted in convictions, and 16 are pending. Gonzalez, the attorney for Cadavids accusers, said that she is still collecting evidence to bring to prosecutors and that the victims also intend to bring a civil lawsuit against the archdiocese. We have evidence of the dates that some of these victims were hidden inside the parishes, spending several days there at a time away from their families, Gonzalez said. We have their parents testimonies. Pope Francis leaves after opening the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, at the Vatican, October 3, 2018 (Gregorio Borgia/AP/Shutterstock) So far the Diocese of Brooklyn has not received any allegations of abuse against Cadavid during his time in Brooklyn. No criminal complaints have been made to the New York Police Department regarding Cadavid, according to several records requests. Advocates for sexual abuse survivors said it is rare that they come forward while they are still minors. Many go on to suffer from mental health disorders and substance abuse. In New York victims of child sexual abuse must come forward before they are 23 years old if they want to sue the priests who abused them. The New York state assembly considered the Child Victims Act to raise the age limit last year, but it was defeated. The Catholic church lobbied against it. Last year the Diocese of Brooklyn announced a compensation fund for victims of clergy sexual abuse that allows older victims to settle with the church. So far, 474 victims in Brooklyn have applied for settlements through the program, and 374 have received settlements, according to the New York Times. After a Pennsylvania grand jury report published in August detailed decades of sexual abuse by more than 1,000 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania, the New York State Attorney Generals office launched an investigation by subpoenaing all eight Catholic dioceses in the state. The attorney generals office would not comment on whether Cadavids case is within the scope of its investigation. On a recent Sunday at St. Ritas, parishioners filed out of the 9:30 a.m. Spanish mass down the steps of the tall, red brick church, and congregated by two long tables covered in wooden biblical figurines for sale. Everyone remembers Padre Roberto. One parishioner who did not want to share his name said Cadavid helped him through a time of trouble in his marriage. His son remembers Cadavid teaching catechism classes and being close friends with the churchs Director of Faith Formation, Helen Foster. Foster said she could not speak about Cadavid for this story. Another parishioner, Maura Martinez, said Cadavid helped her teenage daughter navigate her trauma after a cousin was murdered. He talked to her, he prayed with her, and I was always in the room, Martinez said. He was never alone with her. Carmen Quiroz said her children were servers who worked closely with Cadavid during mass. Earlier this year when the diocese told her Cadavid left because of sexual abuse allegations, she spoke to her kids to make sure he hadnt hurt them. Thank goodness he never disrespected them, she said. Lynda Arroyo, who has been attending St. Ritas for about three years, said Cadavid always gave her a bad feeling. He gave a weird mass, he made jokes, he wasnt very serious, she said If youre suspended and youre still blessing people and giving mass...He was a fraud. Arroyo said Cadavid told parishioners that he needed to return to Colombia to care for his sick mother and remembers him asking for goodbye gifts in the form of cash. All the parishioners interviewed said there was a going away party planned for Cadavid at St. Ritas, but he left urgently a few days before it was scheduled. Were all left wondering if its true or not, said a teacher who worked with Cadavid who did not want to share her name. In a 2015 interview with the Spanish language website for the Diocese of Brooklyn, Cadavid said he came to Brooklyn for spiritual renewal. For me it has been a great spiritual renewal, pastoral, because a lot of times changes can be traumatic, but necessary, he said. Perhaps one has regret and nostalgia, because one bonds with the community, but changes are important because they bring renewal. Last year, the Diocese of Brooklyn posted names of 13 priests on its website who have been accused of sexually abusing minors and have been laicized, the most serious punishment in Catholicism. In the interview with W Radio earlier this year, Tobon said he referred the sexual abuse allegations against Cadavid to the Vatican after suspending him in 2012, and that he was no longer a priest. The 13 priests named on the diocese website are priests from the Diocese of Brooklyn, so Cadavid is not included. Correction: A version of this story initially said that St. Rita's made Cadavid its head priest; in fact, he was made parochial vicar, and the story has been corrected. Taylor Dolven is a journalist in Brooklyn, NY. She recently won a Front Page Award from the Newswomens Club of New York for her work on an investigation into police shootings for Vice News. Additional reporting by Christopher Robbins. (Bloomberg) -- Harris Corp. and L3 Technologies Inc. arent exactly household names. A new deal could change that. The defense contractors agreed to a merger that will form one of the industrys largest players, a $33.5 billion behemoth to challenge weapons makers such as Raytheon Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. With product lines spanning communications and electronics, the newly formed L3 Harris Technologies Inc. is poised to capitalize on military spending increases under U.S. President Donald Trump. This looks to be a special transaction capable of catapulting both companies into the defense big league, Carter Copeland, an analyst at Melius Research, said in a note Monday. Years from now, most will view this deal as a turning point in the industry. The combination adds to a flurry of aerospace and defense deals fueled by higher government spending and a boom in jetliner sales. Boeing Co. last week closed its purchase of components distributor KLX Inc., a day before parts makers TransDigm Group Inc. and Esterline Technologies Corp. agreed to a $3.6 billion tie-up. Meanwhile United Technologies Corp. is poised to complete a $23 billion acquisition of Rockwell Collins Inc. The L3-Harris merger has the transformational potential of the 1990s combination of Lockheed and Martin Marietta, said Copeland. That deal formed Lockheed Martin Corp., which is now the nations largest defense contractor. L3 surged 8.5 percent to $212.41 at 11:37 a.m. Monday in New York after jumping as much as 11 percent, the biggest intraday gain in four years, while Harris climbed 7.4 percent to $166.39. L3 had a market value of $15.3 billion at Fridays close, while Harriss was $18.2 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, described as a merger of equals, L3 holders will exchange each share for 1.3 shares of Harris common stock, valued at about $201.33, the companies said in a joint statement Sunday. After the deal is complete in mid-2019, Harris shareholders will own about 54 percent of the combined company. Story continues The significant increase in scale should help make L3 a much more formidable challenger against the larger defense primes, something they have struggled with for some time, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Doug Rothacker. This will be key to their efforts in securing more high-margin prime contractor roles, versus their historical position as a subcontractor. F-35 Fighter Harris makes communications systems for battlefield management, as well as for civilian uses such as air-traffic control and wireless network transmission, and was recently selected by Lockheed to develop a next-generation computer processor for its most advanced jet, the F-35 Lightning II fighter. L3 provides communications equipment such as surveillance gear and cockpit electronics. It also makes night-vision devices, sensor systems and satellite communications. The Department of Defense may have some concern about overlap in night-vision systems, Robert Stallard, an analyst at Vertical Research Partners, said in a note. While its too soon to assess regulatory issues, the companies dont expect significant hurdles to closing the deal on antitrust grounds, said William Brown, Harriss chairman and chief executive officer. L3 and Harris expect to generate cost savings and better growth by increasing scale. The tie-up will bring together complementary businesses with similar cultures and will increase our scale, broaden our technology base and expand our customer set, Brown, who will be chairman and CEO of the new company, said on a conference call Monday. His counterpart at New York-based L3, Christopher Kubasik, will serve as vice chairman and become CEO in the third year after the transaction. Florida Headquarters The headquarters will be in Melbourne, Florida, where Harris is currently based. The new company will have a 12-member board that includes six directors from each company. The transaction will add to combined earnings per share in the first year after the close of the deal, and generate $500 million in annual pretax cost savings and $3 billion in free cash flow by the third year, according to the statement. For calendar 2018, the company would have about $16 billion in sales and earnings before interest and taxes of $2.4 billion. In separate releases, both companies released financial results Sunday. Harris reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $1.54 billion, up about 9 percent from a year earlier, thanks to growth in tactical communications, public safety and night vision. L3 said third-quarter sales rose about 10 percent to $2.52 billion. --With assistance from Craig Giammona. To contact the reporters on this story: Dana Hull in San Francisco at dhull12@bloomberg.net;Richard Clough in New York at rclough9@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, ;Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Tony Robinson For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2018 Bloomberg L.P. A UK flag next to the EU flag at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels (Getty) The moment of truth for Brexit has arrived. Despite 15 months of negotiations, the future of the UK rests on what happens in Brussels over the next five days. Heres our guide to the biggest week for Brexit so far. Monday Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt is in Luxembourg for the EUs foreign affairs council. While Brexit is not officially on the agenda, Hunt will use it as a chance to whisper in the ears of his EU counterparts. Hes also doing his bit to try and find agreement on the Irish backstop the last remaining major area of disagreement by meeting Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney. Monday is most notable though for what is not happening. A meeting of sherpas representatives of the heads of state of each EU member state was meant to be taking place. In the best-case scenario, they would have given their blessing to a draft deal in order for it to be ratified without fuss later in the week. However, the meeting was cancelled shortly after EU Brexit chief Michel Barnier met Brexit secretary Dominic Raab on Sunday because not enough progress towards a deal was made. Tuesday EU European affairs ministers will meet in Luxembourg to receive a briefing on the state of play in Brexit negotiations from Barnier. This was meant to be another formality in the process of signing-off a deal but now looks like it could be the stage for a significant debate. Each minister usually makes a statement before and after the meeting and the tone of their comments will reflect the position that the country is likely to take at the big meeting of the week the European Council. Wednesday EU heads of state will arrive in Brussels for the summit at which Barnier has said decisive progress needs to be made towards a deal in order to even continue negotiations. Theresa May will deliver a make or break address to her 27 counterparts, before they chew over her words at a working dinner on Brexit to which the prime minister is not invited. Story continues May will have to try a different approach to tough tone she took in a speech at the Salzburg summit in last month, which was blamed for sparking a crisis in negotiations by the EU. Thursday EU leaders are supposed to have moved on from Brexit by Thursday when migration and security are the big issue on the agenda. If a deal has been done by then, expect a triumphant Theresa May to skip the second day of the summit and go back to London for a major announcement. If not, then Brexit could continue to dominate. European Council president Donald Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will say whether they believe enough progress has been made to continue talks when they give their traditional end of summit press conference. Friday If decisive progress towards a deal has been made, then attention will turn towards the next Brexit checkpoints. An emergency European Council summit, at which the only agenda item will be signing off the Withdrawal Agreement, is set to be called for November. But before that, EU politicians will head to the European parliament in Strasbourg. MEPs, who have a veto on any Brexit deal, will debate whatever has come out of the European Council summit next Wednesday. Brexit divisions have sharpened over Irish backstop. Photo: Reuters Britains prime minister Theresa May revealed that the UK and European Union have come close to an agreement on the contentious issue of the Ireland border, but shes not willing to agree to any deal that would keep Northern Ireland alone in the single market and the customs union. Were in the final stages of negotiations. This is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail, said May in a speech to a background of laughter and heckling in the House of Commons on Monday. She said that there has been a great deal of inaccurate speculation about what has been going on within Brexit talks and said both sides have made real progress towards the withdrawal agreement and the future trade relationship. May also claimed that the terms of the exit are clear and the structure of the final relationship was broadly agreed upon by the EU and the UK. However she said that there are two problems that they have been trying to resolve. Both the UK and the EU share a profound responsibility to ensure the preservation of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, protecting the hard won peace and stability in Northern Ireland and ensuring that life continues essentially as it does now. We agree that our future economic partnership should provide for solutions to the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland in the long term, she said. She said that the EU proposed that it wants Northern Ireland to comply with single market regulation as well as the UK being in the customs union known as a backstop to a backstop. May claims that this would not be allowed under the terms of the amendment to the customs bill passed in July and that she wouldnt accept a backstop that would go on indefinitely. First, the EU says there is no time to work out the detail of this UK-wide solution in the next few weeks, she said. So even with the progress we have made, the EU still requires a backstop to the backstop effectively an insurance policy for the insurance policy. And they want this to be the Northern Ireland-only solution that they had previously proposed. Story continues We have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom. READ MORE: The moment of truth a guide to Brexits biggest week A backstop is an insurance policy or safety net that is intended to ensure theres no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The idea is that even if no formal deal can be reached by 29 March 2019, there will be no friction or change to day-to-day proceedings for the countries. The EU and UK signed up to a basic version of this proposal in December last year but there have been 10 months of disagreements on how this would be implemented, invariably holding up talks. READ MORE: A guide to why the Northern Irish border is a huge problem for Brexit Economists are viewing a no-deal Brexit as becoming increasingly likely and have released several ultra-gloomy forecasts. At the weekend, EY Item Club economists predicted that Britains economy is heading for its worst year in almost a decade after official figures revealed no growth in GDP in August. It predicted that the UK economy will grow just 1.3% in 2018, down from a previous 1.4% estimate, and downgraded the outlook for the second consecutive quarter. The week before, the Office for Budget Responsibility (the governments economic forecaster) warned that a no-deal Brexit would trigger border delays, which, in turn, could lead to companies and consumers stockpiling food and other supplies, including medicine. However, one EU diplomat today said I just listened in the car to what May said in the House of Commons and she didnt sound too pessimistic. I think we are close but we still need some time. We are close probably on the Withdrawal Agreement, but on the future relationship there are still some things open so you probably need more time to do that. READ MORE: What is a no-deal Brexit? The key things you need to know FILE PHOTO: Pump jacks operate at sunset in an oilfield in Midland, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Monday, supported by geopolitical tension over the disappearance of a Saudi journalist that has stoked worries about supplies from Riyadh, but weighed by concern over long-term demand outlook. Brent crude futures for December delivery rose 35 cents to settle at $80.78 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 44 cents to settle at $71.78 a barrel. Last week, both contracts fell by more than 4 percent as U.S. stock markets tumbled. However, rising geopolitical tension between the United States, the world's top oil consumer, and Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest crude producers, supported prices on Monday. Riyadh has been under pressure since journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom and a U.S. resident, disappeared on Oct. 2 after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened "severe punishment" if it is found that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate. Saudi Arabia said it would retaliate for any action against it over the Khashoggi case, state news agency SPA reported on Sunday, quoting an official source. This comes at a critical time for global oil markets, which are bracing for U.S. sanctions against Iran due to come into force on Nov. 4. The United States is still aiming to cut Iran's oil sales to zero, Washington's special envoy for Iran said on Monday. Turkey and Italy are the last buyers of Iranian crude outside China, India and the Middle East, according to tanker data and an industry source, the latest sign that shipments are taking a major hit from the looming sanctions. Story continues Some producers are aiming to boost production amid the falling Iranian exports, with Iraq planning to increase oil exports from its southern ports to 4 millions barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of 2019. "If the Saudis don't come to the rescue when the Iranian sanctions kick in ... it's going to be a very undersupplied market. That was the fear that was initially driving prices higher," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. However, some risk premium was taken out of the market when Trump on Monday raised the possibility that "rogue killers" could have been responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance. Exerting downward pressure on prices, Friday's monthly report from the International Energy Agency said the market looked "adequately supplied for now" and cut its forecasts for world oil demand growth this year and next. [IEA/M] The secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last week said that the group saw the oil market as well supplied and that it was wary of creating a glut next year. Market participants also focused on a weakening gasoline crack spread. Gasoline's premium to WTI sank to $9.49, the weakest since February 2017. "We are continuing to emphasize a virtual collapse in the NYMEX gasoline crack spreads as a bearish consideration to the crude markets that provided a significant offset to the weekend Saudi headlines in today's trade," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note. (Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York, Christopher Johnson in London and Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen in Beijing; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Sandra Maler) A man was found dead in what appears to be a freak escalator accident in a Bronx subway station early Sunday morning. Police responding to a 911 call about an emotionally disturbed person in the Intervale 2/5 Station in Longwood say they found a 48-year-old man "unconscious and unresponsive on the top landing of the escalator" around 3:45 a.m. The man, identified by the NYPD as Bronx resident Carlos Alvarez, was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death is under investigation by the NYC Medical Examiner, but a police source tells the NY Post that part of the man's shirt became "caught in the mechanism" and choked him. An MTA worker told the tabloid the man's death was "an accident. Somebody fell and went all the way up." PIX 11 reports that police had to cut Alvarez's shirt in order to free him. The station also reports that security camera video shows Alvarez struggling to free himself before police arrived. In a statement, MTA spokesperson Shams said, This is a tragic and unusual incident which is under investigation our thoughts are with this mans family and friends. Earlier this month, a man died in a Washington D.C. Metro station after riding an escalator in a wheelchair and tumbling backward near the top. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Concerned about downed power lines sparking wildfires, two major California utilities took the rare step of cutting power to customers amid high winds and another power provider was considering similar action. The move came as strong winds swept California, knocking down trees and power lines. One woman was killed when a tree fell onto her car. In Northern California, Pacific Gas & Electric for the first time began cutting power Sunday night to tens of thousands of customers after the National Weather Service warned of extreme fire danger across the state due to high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation. San Diego Gas & Electric followed suit Monday, turning off power to about 360 customers in foothill areas near Cleveland National Forest, where multiple blazes have scorched large swaths of land in recent years. SDG&E has pre-emptively shut off power to customers in the past, most recently in December when 14,000 customers went without power many for four days. Pacific Gas & Electric previously announced its plan to shut off power preemptively after authorities blamed its power lines for sparking some of California's most destructive wildfires. The utility expects to pay billions of dollars in wildfire damages and has sought ways to limit its liability through the courts and Legislature. The utility said about 87,000 customers had their power halted and more could be left in the dark depending on the weather. Some 60,000 customers remained without power. Schools in those affected areas canceled classes. PG&E said it expected to restore power Monday night to most customers though some residents won't get electricity back until Tuesday. Story continues "We know how much our customers rely on electric service, and we have made the decision to turn off power as a last resort given the extreme fire danger conditions these communities are experiencing," PG&E spokesman Pat Hogan said. PG&E said it began notifying affected customers on Saturday about possible outages. However, many said Monday they had received little or no notice. Stewart Munnerlyn was scrambling to find generators to save $8,000 worth of ice cream at his creamery shop in Pine Grove, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) east of Sacramento. Munnerlyn said he is in Virginia visiting a sick relative and received three text messages Sunday night from PG&E saying it might cut power, but he didn't know it actually happened until a friend called him. "They knew what they were going to do obviously," Munnerlyn said. "We weren't given enough notice to properly prepare." Kevin Kathman, executive chef of wine country restaurant All Seasons in Calistoga, said $12,000 worth of food at the site would spoil if power isn't restored soon. Instead of tossing it, he was planning to cook over a fire during a block party for the "stressed out community" that includes winery owners in the middle of grape harvest. The power went out Sunday night and Calistoga remained without electricity Monday, even though Kathman said there was no wind. "It's a beautiful day," he said. "We are all in disbelief that it's not back on." PG&E spokeswoman Melissa Subottin said power was also cut to hospitals and other medical providers that are required to have backup power sources. PG&E officials visited 4,400 medical customers in the affected areas to warn them of the possible outages, she said. Southern California Edison said it was considering shutting off power to an undetermined number of customers to prevent wildfires. It said more than 84,000 customers were experiencing power outages, but no shutdowns had been ordered. "We will only shut off the power as a last resort when weather conditions are so dangerous that flying branches, palm fronds and other vegetation pose a threat to power lines and the safety of the community," Paul Grigaux, the utility's incident commander, said in a statement. The weather service predicted winds gusting to 55 mph (89 kph) in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento. High winds were also expected in the state's wine country north of San Francisco. The woman killed in the Southern California city of Tustin was identified as 34-year-old Dennet O. Bermas. Authorities said a 40-foot eucalyptus tree fell and crushed her car as it pulled out of a carport at an apartment complex. "I saw the car crushed," neighbor Danny McCabe told KCAL-TV. "I checked for a pulse in her throat and I couldn't feel any." Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations, Monday Oct. 15, 2018. (PA via AP) LUXEMBOURG (AP) -- The moods in Britain and the European Union swung between hope and gloom on Monday over an intractable dispute about the Irish border shifts that came only two days ahead of a summit once seen as the last moment to reach a deal on Britain's divorce from the bloc. After a flurry of weekend meetings had raised expectations for a Brexit agreement only to dash them again, EU and British leaders sought to keep alive the possibility that Wednesday's summit could see a Brexit breakthrough, despite their conflicting stances. After a year and a half of talks aimed at a smooth breakup, both sides were still dogged by the same issue how to ensure that no hard border is created between the EU's Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland once Brexit happens on March 29. EU Council president and summit host Donald Tusk searched for a positive outlook. He used a quote saying "It always seems impossible until it's done" before adding himself "let us not give up." At the same time, he acknowledged that a breakup with no rules in place "is more likely than ever before." Despite a failed meeting Sunday between the two sides' Brexit negotiators, British Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons in London on Monday that "I do not believe the EU and the UK are far apart." Yet a chasm remains over a solution for the Irish border. The EU wants Northern Ireland to stay in its customs union to avoid a hard, policed land border between it and Ireland. But May says that would create "a border in the Irish Sea" between two parts of the United Kingdom a scenario that she and Britain will not accept. Story continues Britain is proposing instead to keep all of the U.K. in a customs union with the bloc but only temporarily. Tying Britain to the EU on customs would limit the U.K.'s power to strike new trade deals around the world a key goal of those who voted to leave the EU. "I need to be able to look the British people in the eye and say this 'backstop' is a temporary solution," May told the lawmakers. Insisting that a Brexit divorce deal was "achievable," May said the border dispute should not "derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with the no-deal outcome that no one wants." May is under intense pressure from her Conservative Party and its parliamentary allies not to give any more ground in Brexit negotiations. May's political allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, stand ready to scuttle a Brexit deal over the Irish border issue. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said "it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no-deal scenario" over Brexit. Many fear that any return to customs checks and other controls on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border could revive tensions between Northern Ireland's Irish Catholic community and its British Protestant one. More than 3,700 people were killed in Northern Ireland amid 30 years of violence between the two groups and Britain before a 1998 peace deal. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, speaking at a meeting Monday of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said the delays in solving the border issue were frustrating. He suggested that May was reneging on part of Britain's commitment, made in December, to ensure that there is no hard border on the island of Ireland. He said a backstop "cannot be time-limited." "Nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism, to calm nerves that we're not going to see physical border infrastructure re-emerging," Coveney said. The border impasse makes it is almost impossible that EU leaders will reach a Brexit deal at their summit this week. The British and EU parliaments need to approve any deal, a process that could take months. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, perhaps the strongest voice in the EU, insisted Monday that May should not count on the EU to blink first for fear of losing valuable business. Merkel said Germany wants an orderly departure of Britain from the bloc "but not at any price." EU negotiators and leaders have said that Britain should not seek to cherry-pick the best parts of staying in the EU without the costs and responsibilities. "We must not allow our single market, which is really our competitive advantage, to be destroyed by such a withdrawal," Merkel said told Germany's main exporters' association. "And if it doesn't work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear but time is pressing." If Britain leaves the EU without an agreement on future relations, there could be chaos tariffs would go up on trade, airlines could no longer have permits to fly between the two regions, and freight could be lined up for miles at border crossings as customs checks are restored overnight. The EU has said it is willing to call an extra meeting in November if needed to seal a Brexit deal, but only if there was decisive progress this week. "I figure November or December is the best opportunity for a deal," said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. "This is a dynamic situation." As the chances of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal rise, so do calls from pro-EU campaigners in Britain for a new referendum dubbed a "People's Vote" on whether to accept a divorce deal or stay in the bloc. Several opposition lawmakers, and even a few Conservatives, stood in Parliament on Monday to call for a new Brexit referendum. "We had a people's vote," May replied. "It was called the referendum and the people voted to leave." ___ Lawless reported from London. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed. An MTA employee was arrested on Sunday after two girls reported that a man exposed himself to them in separate incidents. The suspect was wearing an MTA hat in one incident, while he wore an MTA patch in the other. According to the NYPD, the first public lewdness incident took place last Monday, October 8th, at 4:30 p.m., near Ridge Boulevard and Fort Hamilton Park in Brooklyn. A 14-year-old girl who was walking with a friend was allegedly approached by a male individual driving gray a Toyota minivan. Police say he asked for directions and exposed himself while speaking with the girl. On October 11th, around 4:30 p.m., police say an 11-year-old girl was on Colonial Road when a male individual in a parked dark-colored SUV asked her for directions to McDonald's and asked her come inside the vehicle to help him with directions. Then, when she came closer to him, he allegedly exposed himself. The girl in the first incident described the suspect as having a mushroom style haircut and wearing a Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) hat, while the second girl described the suspect as wearing a light blue button down shirt with a Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) patch on his shoulder. Matthew Wohlfahrt, 28, was charged with multiple counts of public lewdness and endangering the welfare of a childplus grand larceny. The NY Post reports that "in one of the incidents he grabbed a victims phone, cops said. The girl was able to take it back from him before she ran off." Apparently both girls identified him ina police line-up, after the police "were able to identify Wohlfahrts car and track him to his house," according to the Post. The girl in the second incident told the Daily News, "I was walking home from school and I was on my way to dance and this guy approached me in his car and he was asking me where McDonald's was... I just pointed down the block, because it was only two blocks down. I kept saying it was two blocks down." She then approached Wohlfahrts car, which I shouldn't have, she admitted. I just showed him where it was. And then he grabbed my phone out of my hand." She began to sob as she recounted what happened next. "I went to grab (my phone) back and I saw he was masturbating in his car," the girl said through tears. "Then I just grabbed my phone back from his hand and I started walking away. Then he kept yelling at me from his car, like following me, and saying, 'I'm not done yet.'" She then called 911, and her father told reporters that Wohlfahrt was lucky to be arrested, "I was enraged. I would've loved to have found him." An MTA employee has been accused of exposing himself to girls https://t.co/iyAsapNCWQ New York Post (@nypost) October 15, 2018 The MTA has removed Wohlfahrt, a probationary bus driver, from duty without pay. Why pressure on Saudi Arabia could 'escalate quickly,' and bring pain for everyone else Saudi Arabia is pushing back against international pressure that it played a role in the disappearance of a prominent journalist. Western governments are pressing for answers, and vow the Saudis could pay a stiff price if they were involved. Experts say international pressure could ricochet across the world, hitting everything from oil prices to geo-strategic alliances. With Saudi Arabia denying a role in the sudden disappearance of a prominent journalist and vowing to push back against any effort at international retribution the chances are growing that the crisis could escalate, and ricochet across the global economy. On Sunday, the world reacted to last week's vanishing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi Government. The West has threatened consequences for the kingdom, which is suspected of having captured the journalist at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The governments of the United Kingdom , France and Germany on Sunday called for a "credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and if relevant to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account." Although Saudi Arabia has fiercely denied any involvement , reports suggest Riyadh may been behind Khashoggi's disappearance, with Turkey airing suspicions that the journalist may have been killed by Saudi operatives. For the moment, the suspicions alone have imperiled Saudi Arabia's carefully crafted plans to reform its economy and burnish its image abroad. Meanwhile, the reformist image cultivated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is also in jeopardy. "Right now, this episode is eroding all the good will and trust built up by MBS," said Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a national security think tank. He called for caution in the face of a lack of actionable evidence against Saudi Arabia, and cast doubt on intelligence and reporting from Turkey that implicated Riyadh. Story continues However, Saudi Arabia warned on Sunday against threats to punish the country over Khashoggi's disappearance, while a growing number of Western companies and governments canceling appearances at an upcoming summit in Riyadh. Among the high-profile executives who have said they won't attend the kingdom's Future Investment Initiative are J.P. Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon , Ford Motor's Bill Ford and Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi . Analysts say that trying to isolate the kingdom internationally would not be easy, and could bring consequences for everyone else. In theory, an escalation of tensions could send oil prices sharply higher, upend the Middle East peace process, and fracture international efforts to contain Iran. The Trump administration is pushing aggressively to take all Iranian oil off the market, and is relying on Saudi Arabia one of the world's largest oil producers that pumps over 10 million barrels per day to keep its oil spigots open to curb surging crude. Schanzer cited the fallout from the September 11 attacks. He said that realpolitik would likely prevent the West especially the U.S. from acting against the Saudis too aggressively, or pushing Riyadh into the embrace of antagonists of American interests, such as Russia. "Historically, at even at the worst moments the leadership had found a way to move past the crisis, because both [the U.S. and Saudi Arabia] need each other so badly," Schanzer told CNBC. Last year, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia sealed a weapons deal worth $350 billion over 10 years , solidifying an alliance that stretches back to the Cold War. "You can see the inter dependency, and this is not easily brushed aside," he added. "For the same reason we can't decouple from Russia or China despite significant differences on foreign policy," it would be equally difficult to isolate Riyadh, he added. 'A dangerous precedent' Meanwhile, Energy watchers are keeping a close eye on Brent crude , which has retreated from recent multiyear highs but remains near $80 per barrel. President Donald Trump, who vowed "severe punishment" if Khashoggi was killed, is banking on the Saudis to tamp down energy prices, and help offset lost Iranian supply. "I think this could escalate very quickly and oil is an obvious weapon for Saudi Arabia to use if there's retaliation against it," said John Kilduff of Again Capital. "If they're going to be sanctioned economically they will make sure everyone else is going to feel pain as well." Although oil prices haven't yet priced in the crisis, Saudi Arabia's benchmark stocks tumbled sharply on Sunday. Kilduff warned that the world could witness "a period of instability in Saudi Arabia like we've never seen before," he said. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, suggested that world oil prices were unlikely to be spurred by the Khashoggi mystery, "unless tension ratchets up dramatically from here. Although we have seen the Saudi equity market respond very negatively thus far, a risk premium in oil prices doesn't seem warranted at this time." However, given the high stakes, FDD's Schanzer added that Kashoggi's disappearance could embolden other countries to take similar action against dissidents, if there were no reprisals. "A dangerous precedent could be set, and there needs to be a response," Schanzer added. Reuters contributed to this report. WATCH: What is Saudi Aramco? More From CNBC Activists and civic organizations are pushing for Pakistans top judge to be put on trial for allegedly transgressing his constitutional authority. This week, 98 people filed a complaint before the Supreme Judicial Council, the highest constitutional body that hears cases against judges accused of misconduct. They are calling for an investigation to determine whether Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar is guilty of wrongdoing. [The chief justice] has, through his remarks and actions, indulged in conduct unbecoming of a judge, politicized the judiciary, [and] violated the principles of the separation of powers, read an October 14 press release by Women Action Forum (WAF), a nongovernmental organization. [He] has demonstrated negligence and the inability to adjudicate in an independent, neutral, non-partisan, and impartial manner. After taking office in late 2016, Nisar has frequently employed the power of suo motu, or taking up cases on his own initiative. He has scolded officials for failing to provide basic services and has been vocal on issues that many judges avoid discussing in public. He established a fund for the construction of dams and makes regular visits to hospitals and psychiatric facilities. As an activist judge, he has often questioned the integrity of politicians. Members of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the former ruling political party, and other politicians have accused Nisar of overreach by interfering in the executive branchs work and doing the countrys powerful militarys bidding by meddling in politics. Nisar and the military, however, reject such criticism. They have denied any role in politics and say they are acting in the interest of Pakistans 208 million people. Just last week, Nisar vowed to reform the Pakistani judiciary. When you [judges] fail to fulfill your obligations, there will be delays [in dispensing justice], he told a gathering in the eastern city of Lahore on October 12. Why wouldnt the peoples trust erode if you delay [delivering] justice? Unlike many of his predecessors, Nisar has suggested specific reforms. We have to do justice in accordance with [the] law, but the law needs to be improved, he said. The role of the judiciary is akin to that of an elder; without respect for the judiciary, there can be no balance in the society. Nisar denies acting against democracy. We are being accused of accepting certain cases, of being part of an anti-democracy campaign, but the judges must not come under any pressure, he said. "We have to fight for those people who unfortunately don't have the means to get their rights. For now, his activism is giving critics ample ammunition. One of the core reasons for the collapse of state functioning in Pakistan has been the inability and unwillingness of state pillars to remain committed to their immediate duties or to fulfill their direct obligations, WAF said. Delusions of grandeur have led the military and judiciary to repeatedly violate the principle of the separation of powers. Given the fact that Nisar now heads the Supreme Judicial Council because of his status as the countrys top judge, activists are calling for another judge to head the probe into his conduct. We have opted to file [this compliant] because this is the only lawful avenue available to us in order to record our protest and seek a corrective course, the activists said. Unofficial by-election results show that the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf party (PTI) and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) each appear to have won four seats in the lower house of parliament. Pakistanis voted on October 14 to elect 11 members of the lower house, known as the National Assembly, and to fill 24 seats in provincial assemblies. According to preliminary figures, the PTI won in the 53, 60, 63, and 243 constituencies. The PML-N won seats in the 56, 103, 131, and 124 constituencies. The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid e Azam (PML-Q) won two seats, while the Mutihida Majlis-e-Amal Party (MMA) won one seat. For the first time, Pakistanis living abroad could cast their ballots online. Officials said that 7,364 people applied to vote online and were declared eligible. Pakistans main opposition parties have formed an electoral alliance against the ruling PTI in an effort to increase their representation in the national and provincial legislatures. PTI leader Imran Khan became prime minister after the party won the most parliamentary seats in that vote, which was marred by allegations of massive rigging. The by-elections were held for seats that were vacated by candidates who had won more than one seat in the July 25 general elections. Some 370 candidates competed for the 11 National Assembly seats. The National Assembly has 342 members, 272 of which are directly elected. The rest are reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities. The ruling coalition had 176 seats prior to the vote. Geo TV reported that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived at a polling station in the NA-124 constituency of Lahore but was unable to vote because he did not have his national identity card. Khan cast his vote in the NA-53 constituency in the capital, Islamabad. With reporting by Geo TV, Dawn, and The International News Colorado guberbatorial candidates Walker Stapleton, left, and Jared Polis shake hands Saturday night after debating at the Penrose House. The pair will face off for the states top political position in the Nov. 6 midterm election. ROCKY FORD Vincent Gearhart had two beautiful daughters, so beautiful that he had to capture them in photographs. Thats why he got into photography. The plains might seem timeless, and its true, not much has changed in north La Junta, as they call those unincorporated fields north of the river where Gearhart was born and raised and stayed like his daddy before him. Still, a lot happened over the years. Two decades of work on the railroad. A divorce. A remarriage. The flood of 1999, the worst in 34 years that irreparably damaged his home and washed away those beautiful photos. And, before then, an unspeakable tragedy. But Gearharts interest remained. Only the subject changed. 092918-news-abandonedcolorado-002.jpg Vincent Gearhart looks out over the property at Harwood House in Rocky Ford . Now hes on his way to a place that cannot be seen along U.S. 50. The driver, his buddy Lex Nichols, pulls off, crossing the tracks and parking before the tall shrubs. They take their tripods from the trunk and hoist them over their shoulders, their Cannons strapped around their necks as they embark on another mission for Colorado Abandoned. Thats the name of the website, Instagram and Facebook they manage, posting the broken, rusted, leaning and lost relics of their native countryside. Some days theyll head out before dawn, roaming with the tumbleweeds through these southeast counties and towns forgotten by dwellers of Colorados booming metros beyond. They dare not pass a collapsing barn or shed, for fear it wont be there the next time. The more we do it, the more were finding that were collecting history. This is gonna be gone eventually, Gearhart says. Its about taking something thats totally ugly, nasty, horrible, and making a piece of art out of it. A few weeks ago, during one 300-plus-mile excursion, they were rewarded with old Chevys tangled in weeds. Another time, they stopped in Delhi, entering a darkened convenience store that was no more, where in the back it seemed a family made a home a Christmas tree still standing, adorned with tinsel and a star. Another time, a man checking on his chickens agreed to show his property. There was this tricycle that had just been sitting there out in the open for who knows how long, Gearhart recalls. It looked like a little kid just got up and left it. Today, theyre sticking close to Nichols home in Rocky Ford. Pray for Rocky Ford, request signs posted by the roads, overlooked by the stacks of the old sugar factory, the industry that left with the others over the years. 092918-news-abandonedcolorado-004.jpg Lex Nichols, left, and Vincent Gearhart prepare their camera gear last month in Rocky Ford . The friends and business partners work to preserv They crunch through the shrubs, careful of snakes as they hop over a dried ditch, crossing the field splashed orange by the setting sun. They arrive at twisting trees covering the crumbling walls of red brick. This house, its a beautiful house, Nichols says, but nobody knows its here. They clamber through the spaces where screens might have once wrapped around the porch. The wood floor splinters and bounces under their feet. The decaying ceiling sags. The cushion of a sofa is here, a high-heeled shoe there, the bones of a buzzard up the rickety stairs. The evening glow trickles through the cracks in the walls, illuminating the space heaven for the photographers, perfect. Not everything is perfect, Nichols says. If it was, it would lose its magic. They prop their tripods, adjust the settings on their cameras, and off they go to their shadowy, dusty corners. A beautiful house, Nichols says, not unlike his childhood home. Well, this is a little bit nicer than anything I grew up in, he says. But its an old farmhouse. It brings up memories of my youth. It went fast, as youth does for anyone who has a baby at 18. Hes now a husband of 24 years, a father of two beautiful daughters. But it doesnt seem so long ago he was shearing sheep for his dad, washing dishes at the cafe at night, never leaving to live with his mom in another state because Rocky Ford was where he belonged, despite there being no money. What was a luxury to us was so much different, he says. Being able to buy a pack of cigarettes or $2 of gas. There was also the Kodak camera his mom bought him. That inspired a passion and a shattered dream. Rather than travel the globe with his camera, Nichols ended up teaching skills at the local junior college. Gearhart sat in on those night classes. Part of it, Gearhart says, was trying to find a way to deal with stuff. Beyond photography, the two connected on a deeper level failed relationships and loves gone too soon. Nichols lost a child at 6 months. And Gearhart had lost his 15-year-old girl, a brain tumor taking her like the flood would take those captured memories, those photos washed away. Whatever it is, deal with it, move on, something like that, Gearhart utters under his breath. I dont know. Now theyre at the last destination of the day, the cobblestone and wood remains of a homestead. Nearby an old man sits in his pickup, swigging beer and swatting flies. Corroded tractors rest here, wagons there, old Coke bottles in the grasses, jumbled and creeping over a tricycle. Gearhart eyes it briefly. Then he turns his attention to the former home, the cracking, thatched roof. I love that, he says. Its so rough. He bends down to take pictures, his sleeves lifting to reveal a fresh tattoo. A cartoonish wizard juggles symbols: Yin and Yang, the Hindu Om, the Egyptian Ankh, the signs for peace and money. You ever heard of Mr. Natural? Gearhart asks. Anyway, Mr. Natural is the guy, a sage or whatever. And people ask him, What does it all mean? And he says, It dont mean (expletive). It dont mean (expletive). Youre here, youre gone, and thats the way it is. And thats the way it is out here on the plains, timeless only for the pictures that make everything last a little longer, if only they could. The city of Savannah, Georgia is seeking the person who adhered googly eyes to the American Revolution statue of Nathanael Greene in Johnson Square so they can potentially charge them with criminal trespassing instead of patting them on the back and sharing a LOL. I would have a hard time turning myself in. The reason why it's being taken seriously is because this is a monument to a deceased person who served in the military. Greene, who died in Georgia in 1786, was a major general under George Washington in the Continental Army. He started as a self-trained soldier who organized a local militia in Boston and eventually came to command the southern theater. If the damage to Greene's statue is found in excess of $500, the googly eye bandit could be hit with felony charges. Googly eyes: not everybody finds them so funny. Also they can apparently be extremely expensive to remove. Personally, I could have that statue looking better than brand new for less than the price of a shrimp po'boy. "You're not even gonna remove the eyes, are you?" Well I did promise better than brand new. Keep going for a worthwhile closeup of the googles. Thanks to Taylor, who agrees there are very few things that googly eyes don't improve. You've probably seen the videos by now: A mob of uniformed Proud Boys and right-wing skinheads gleefully circling a handful of protesters; cries of "faggot" as they kick and stomp a person lying in the fetal position on the sidewalk; a dazed protester punched into a car and shoved to the ground. Amid the chaos, members of the NYPD's Strategic Response Group arrive on scooters, and video appears to show one of the officers witnessing a protester getting punched. Yet police let the attackers casually disperse, shouting Proud Boy slogans and Brett Kavanaugh references"I LIKE BEER!"into the Upper East Side night. They pose triumphantly for a group photo as they make their way toward Park Avenue, trading tales of their violence: "I had one of their heads and I was just smashing it into the pavement," one brags. "That son of a bitch. He's a fucking foreigner." At no point do any of the Proud Boys seem the least bit concerned about the three police officers who witnessed the tail end of their beatdown. Likewise, the NYPD officers do not apprehend or question any of the Proud Boys as they walk away. Police said none of the victims pressed charges or received medical attention at the scene. On Saturday morning, a police spokesperson told Gothamist that there was no open investigation into the Proud Boys' conduct. "The NYPD rolled up when the attack was happening and just stared at it slack-jawed," recalls Shay Horse, an independent photojournalist who documented the incident. "I had to shout at them to do something. One of the Proud Boys who kicked the protesters was just standing next to the cop smiling afterward, and they casually let him walk away." Throughout the night, Horse says, the NYPD's Strategic Response Group seemed more preoccupied with left-wing activists, who'd gathered outside the Metropolitan Republican Club to protest an appearance by Proud Boys-founder Gavin McInnes. In addition to offering Proud Boys a police escort into and out of the building, police stood by as McInnes brandished a sword in the street, as part of his promised reenactment of the assassination of Japanese socialist Inejiro Asanuma, who was murdered while giving a speech in 1960. On Sunday, the Metropolitan Republican Club released a statement defending their decision to invite McInnes, and blamed the violence on protesters, who earlier in the week vandalized the clubhouse. "We cannot thank the NYPD enough for all their efforts to keep everyone safe and allow our event to take place," they wrote. Gavin has, on several occassions, talked about how he advocates for violence as much as possible, because it's "so effective". There is ZERO chance that nobody at your club knew about that. (@newtnewtriot) October 15, 2018 On Saturday afternoon, after footage of the incident went viral, the department released a statement noting that three individuals had been charged with assault, and that they were working "to determine if other crimes had been committed." The three people they arrested were reportedly antifascist protesters who, in a separate incident, allegedly punched a Proud Boy and stole his backpack, police said. As of Monday morning, the NYPD had not arrested anyone involved in the assaults captured on video. While the department claims to be soliciting information via a tip line, video journalist Sandi Bachomwho captured footage of the fight and of the Proud Boys leaving the clubsays that the officer who answered the phone was uninterested in her help. "He said it wasn't 'on his radar' and he was really condescending," she told Gothamist. Bachom says she eventually approached the 19th Precinct and was rebuffed again, and was only able to get the footage in front of detectives after contacting City Council Speaker Corey Johnson's office. (Johnson's office is hosting a press conference outside the club to condemn the incident at 3 p.m. today; while Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Comptroller Scott Stringer plan "to call for action" at 5 p.m.) In the view of some legal observers, the NYPD appears willing to give the benefit of the doubt to pro-police groups like the Proud Boys, while cracking down on those affiliated with movements more critical of police, like Black Lives Matter or antifa. "We saw that their treatment of the Proud Boys was incredibly deferential," said Gideon Orion Oliver, an attorney and the former president of the New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. "Not only did [NYPD] do nothing to intervene, but it's pretty apparent that they didn't investigate in a serious way, and instead arrested people they perceived to be protesters on the Proud Boys' word." NYPD Strategic Response Officers, standing next to a smiling Proud Boy seen kicking kicking a protester (Shay Horse) Oliver noted that the NYPD's Strategic Response Group typically has a zero tolerance policy during protests, which in the past has led cops to do things like arrest Black Lives Matter activists on jaywalking charges, or infiltrate anti-war demonstrations hosted by cyclists. "You can substitute a bunch of different groupsanarchists, people of color, Muslimsand see that the way police treated the Proud Boys here is much more favorable," he added. "That's scary." In other parts of the country, police departments have also come under fire for protecting and fraternizing with Proud Boys, despite the group's history of political violence. During last summer's deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesvillewhich members of the Proud Boys, including some reportedly involved in Friday's assault, took part inpolice were criticized for aiding the right-wing extremists. In one instance, Charlottesville police failed to to issue arrest warrants for neo-Nazis caught on video brutally beating a black man until weeks later, when public outcry had reached a fever pitch. (On the word of the neo-Nazis, the victim, Deandre Jordan, was also charged with a felony, which was later dropped). The NYPD has ignored multiple questions about why the Strategic Response Officers did not arrest or question any Proud Boys on Friday, or whether they've conducted interviews with Gavin McInnes or other known members of his group in the days since. While the department's Twitter account has shared video stills of three "persons-of-interest," it hasn't mentioned anything else about the dozens of others who were caught on video participating in the assault. We continue to investigate the violent incident on the UES on Friday night, and need information regarding these persons-of-interest. no complaints have been filed; If you were the victim of a crime, or have information about the incident, please call 1-800-577-TIPS. @NYPDTips pic.twitter.com/27hiXunk61 NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) October 14, 2018 Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have both released statements condemning the violence and, predictably, the two are now squabbling over whether State Police should be involved in the investigation. (Cuomo has also called for an FBI investigation into the incident.) But each has also stopped short of questioning the NYPD's response, and instead urged New Yorkers to reach out to the police with any information about the assaultsstatements that Oliver says are "really not enough." "Elected officials should be calling for answers and accountability from the police department for what just happened," he said. "Telling people to call the police when they're clearly not using their power in an equal manner really misses the point." JACKSONVILLE, FL, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE mCig, Inc. (OTCQB: MCIG), an innovative hemp and cannabis corporation, is pleased to provide an update on their high yielding CBD hemp project in New York. Harvest mCigs highly anticipated hemp harvest has begun in New York State. Over the next week, weather permitting, mCig will harvest its high yielding cannabidiol (CBD) hemp crop grown in an orchard style cultivation. mCigs Research and Development team will carefully analyze the cannabinoid profiles of the various hemp strains grown as it continues to perfect the most efficient and effective way to cultivate cannabidiol-rich hemp. We are on track with our initial timeline, and the plants are healthy and robust, stated Robert Kressa, President and CEO of Grow Contractors, an experienced outdoor cultivator. Drying and Storage Once the hemp is harvested, it will be dried onsite using commercial dehumidifiers and sterilization equipment. After the dried hemp reaches the appropriate moisture content, it can be stored in vacuum-sealed bags with little to no cannabinoid/plant matter degradation. Next Steps mCig is currently developing high-output ethanol extraction equipment with European partners. In addition to using the new equipment for its New York harvest, mCig also plans to use its customized extraction equipment for extracting CBD distillate and full spectrum oil from hemp in Europe. Current discussions with European hemp producers are promising, and mCig plans to leverage these relationships to gain traction in the European hemp and CBD markets. Were harvesting our first annual hemp crop and are already in discussions with other farmers interested in growing hemp as an alternative to traditional crops. With these partnerships, we plan to expand our operations in New York, and grow over one hundred acres of hemp there in 2019. And, were on the cusp of breaking into the European market, says Paul Rosenberg, CEO. Its great to be where were at right now. About MCIG Group ( MCIG ) Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, mCig, Inc. (OTCQB: MCIG ) is a diversified company servicing the legal cannabis, hemp, and CBD markets via its lifestyle brands. mCig, Inc. is committed to being the leading distributor of technology, products, and services to fit the needs of a rapidly expanding industry. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities and words such as "anticipate", "seek", intend", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "project", "plan", or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE: EXK) (TSX: EDR) announces, effective today, the appointment of Nicholas (Nick) Shakesby as the new Vice President, Operations to oversee the Companys underground mining operations in Mexico. Mr. Shakesby will report to Endeavour President and Chief Operating Officer, Godfrey Walton. Nick Shakesby is a senior mining executive who brings to Endeavour over 30 years hands-on experience in mining operations, mine planning and project development as well as related executive, technical and administrative expertise. Nicholas is fluent in both English and Spanish. Bradford Cooke, Endeavour CEO, commented, I am pleased to welcome Nick Shakesby to the Endeavour management team. His experience, knowledge and leadership skills should enhance our ability to improve the performance of our existing mines and extract full value from our new mines. Over the span of his career, Nick has worked with different commodities such as precious metals, base metals, iron and coal, in a variety of locations including the United States, Latin America, Central America, Philippines and South Africa. His work experience encompasses mining and construction with both large companies and small, including Newcrest Mining, Gold Fields South Africa, Ausdrill Pty and others. Nicholas graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York, USA. Most recently, Nicholas was the Director of Operations for Compania Minera Cerro Negro in Peru where he oversaw the development and operation of an underground coal mine. Prior to that, he was the Operations Manager at MMEX Mining Corp, where he oversaw five mines at different stages of operations including start up. Mr. Shakesbys responsibilities will include oversight over all Endeavours mining operations in Mexico, particularly with regard to the safety, production and costs of each operation, including mine, plant, tailings, warehouse, purchasing, construction, engineering, capital and operating budgets, community and government relations, and environmental functions. About Endeavour Silver Endeavour Silver Corp. is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that operates three high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. Endeavour is commissioning its fourth mine at El Compas, advancing the Terronera mine project and exploring its portfolio of exploration and development projects in Mexico and Chile to facilitate its goal to become a premier senior silver producer. Our philosophy of corporate social integrity creates value for all stakeholders. SOURCE Endeavour Silver Corp. Contact Information Galina Meleger, Director, Investor Relations Toll free: (877) 685-9775 Tel: (604) 640-4804 Fax: (604) 685-9744 Email: gmeleger@edrsilver.com Website: www.edrsilver.com Follow Endeavour Silver on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forwardlooking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding Endeavours anticipated performance in 2018 including changes in mining and operations and the timing and results of various activities. The Company does not intend to, and does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law. Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Endeavour and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and Mexico; financial risks due to precious metals prices, operating or technical difficulties in mineral exploration, development and mining activities; risks and hazards of mineral exploration, development and mining; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Companys title to properties; as well as those factors described in the section risk factors contained in the Companys most recent form 40F/Annual Information Form filed with the S.E.C. and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to: the continued operation of the Companys mining operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, mining operations will operate and the mining products will be completed in accordance with managements expectations and achieve their stated production outcomes, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. ISSY LES MOULINEAUX, France , Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- emovis has signed a two-year extension with Transport Infrastructure of Ireland (TII) for the operation of the M50 free-flow tolling up until March 2021. This year emovis celebrates also its tenth year of operating Irelands first free-flow toll road. Since inception in 2008, the traffic has grown by 63% to 143,000 passages a day which has resulted in emovis collecting funds of over 1billion euros for TII to invest back into infrastructures of Ireland. About emovis With over 650 employees worldwide, the company operates some of the worlds largest All Electronic Tolling infrastructures in the UK, Ireland, U.S. and Canada. With over 150 employees in Ireland, emovis was the first company to introduce All Electronic Tolling (also known as Free-Flow Tolling) in Europe. In the U.S., emovis is actively involved in Road User Charging in Oregon ( www.myorego.org ) and in state of Washington ( www.waroadusagecharge.org ). In July 2018, it successfully delivered the U.S. first Truck Tolling Back Office to Rhodes Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT). The company is 100% owned by Abertis, the worlds leader in highway concessions (5000 miles of roads): www.abertis.com www.emovis.com Benoit ROSSI | Head of Corporate Communication communication@emovis.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/03a913db-c544-4d9c-955f-7624d4126162 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Auryn Resources Inc. (TSX: AUG, NYSE AMERICAN: AUG, Auryn or the Company) is pleased to announce more favorable results from its Sombrero project in southern Peru following a rock sampling program focused on the Ferrobamba limestone. The Company has also staked an additional 11,000 hectares to the east and contiguous to its Sombrero North claims as a result of prospective sampling. A Message from Michael Henrichsen, C.O.O. and Chief Geologist: The presence of significant zones of gold-copper bearing jasperoid veins within the Ferrobamba limestone shows that there is mineralization on both sides of the contact zone. This is an important line of evidence that validates our premise that a significant copper-gold skarn body could exist within the 3.5-km-long target zone. Rock sampling has defined two separate mineralized jasperoid zones that are 650 meters and 200 meters in length respectively (Figure 1). These rock samples are taken from a series of 1 2 meter-wide jasperoid veins that collectively define the two areas of gold and copper mineralization within the limestone. The mineralized jasperoid veins are considered as leakage structures from interpreted underlying mineralization situated along the target zone. The additional 11,000 hectares the Company staked are based on positive stream sediment results that have defined a series of anomalous drainage basins. Collectively, these drainage basins illustrate two separate porphyry-style anomalies that are defined by copper molybdenum zinc geochemical signatures (Figure 2). Results from the rock samples are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Sombrero Rock Samples* Sample Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) W654602 31.60 35.20 0.420 W654607 5.91 6.02 5.250 W647941 3.51 13.25 0.273 W654692 3.09 24.40 0.021 W654604 2.98 22.50 0.020 W647943 1.05 23.20 0.122 W654611 0.88 5.66 0.071 W654605 0.84 0.53 0.138 W654615 0.69 2.97 0.376 W654612 0.62 2.97 0.012 W654614 0.62 1.99 0.026 W647949 0.55 1.32 0.016 W654606 0.50 1.82 0.436 W647948 0.42 1.74 0.047 W647944 0.41 19.65 0.284 W654666 0.30 5.56 0.039 W654667 0.24 7.17 0.054 W654617 0.01 1.18 0.413 W654655 < 0.01 1.34 0.378 W654632 < 0.01 9.51 0.215 W654619 < 0.01 0.58 0.149 * Approximately 2-3kg of material was collected for analysis and sent to ALS Lab in Lima, Peru for preparation and analysis. All samples are assayed using 30g nominal weight fire assay with ICP finish (Au-ICP21) and multi-element four acid digest ICP-AES/ICP-MS method (ME-MS61). Where ICP21 results were > 3 g/t Au the assay were repeated with 30g nominal weight fire assay with gravimetric finish (Au-GRA21). Where MS61 results were greater or near 10000 ppm Cu, 10000ppm Pb or 100ppm Ag the assay were repeated with ore grade four acid digest method (Cu-OG62). QA/QC programs for 2018 rock samples using lab duplicates, standards and blanks indicate good accuracy and precision in a large majority of standards assayed. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/58ab463c-178f-494d-bfdc-247d69cc3d64 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b6bd2950-6136-4a60-a041-8245c268cb05 Michael Henrichsen, P.Geo, COO of Auryn, is the Qualified Person who assumes responsibility for the technical disclosures in this press release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AURYN RESOURCES INC. Ivan Bebek Executive Chairman For further information on Auryn Resources Inc., please contact Natasha Frakes, Manager of Corporate Communications at (778) 729-0600 or info@aurynresources.com. About Auryn Auryn Resources is a technically driven junior mining exploration company focused on delivering shareholder value through project acquisition and development. The Companys management team is highly experienced with an impressive track record of success and has assembled an extensive technical team as well as a premier gold exploration portfolio. Auryn is focused on scalable high-grade gold deposits in established mining jurisdictions, which include the Committee Bay and Gibson MacQuoid gold projects located in Nunavut, the Homestake Ridge gold project in British Columbia and a portfolio of gold projects in southern Peru, through Corisur Peru SAC. About Sombrero This project consists of the North Sombrero and South Sombrero properties, comprising approximately 100,000 mineral claims owned or optioned by Auryn Resources. The copper-gold Sombrero mining concessions are located 340 kilometers SE of Lima in southern Peru and are hosted in the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt. This belt is interpreted to be on the north-western margins of this Eocene-Oligocene aged copper-gold porphyry and skarn belt that hosts the Las Bambas, Haquira, Los Chancas, Cotambambas, Constancia, Antapaccay and Tintaya deposits. The project is characterized by a strong structural control and significant copper and gold values from historical surface samples. The principle targets at Sombrero are copper-gold skarn and porphyry systems and precious metal epithermal deposits. Forward Looking Information and Additional Cautionary Language This release includes certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is information that includes implied future performance and/or forecast information including information relating to or associated with the acquisition and title to mineral concessions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different (either positively or negatively) from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers should refer to the risks discussed in the Companys Annual Information Form and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2017 and subsequent continuous disclosure filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators available at www.sedar.com and the Companys registration statement on Form 40-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. English French RICHMOND, British Columbia, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sage , a global technology business and Premier Partner of the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, today announces the launch of the Sage Power 50 a unique showcase of 50 leading veteran run or owned businesses from across Australia, UK, US, and Canada. Nominated for their leadership and determination to succeed, the Sage Power 50 is a unique collection of testimony from veteran entrepreneurs on how they built their business against the odds. Launched in the run up to the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, Sage believe that these compelling stories will educate the business community and inspire the next generation of veteran business leaders. Over the next five years, one million service members will transition out of just the U.S military alone; with one in four wanting to start their own business. The Sage Power 50 reveals the challenges, sacrifices and tough decisions that will underpin the transition into business for many veterans; as well as the advice and insight that helps to reshape service honed skills into the world of entrepreneurship. Debbie Wall, VP Sage Foundation, said: Every single story in the Power 50 is undeniable proof that when barriers are removed that prevent millions of veterans from living their fullest life after serviceit isnt just the right thing to do, its sound business. We believe that with tailored support, mentoring and early intervention, a new generation of veteran led businesses could unleash a wave of talent and innovation across the global entrepreneurial community. Together with our nonprofit partners, we are committed to helping more veterans secure a brighter future. Innovative business leaders just like Power 50 member, Steve Day, Founder of Reticle, based in Canada, believes in life after service to your country: "At Reticle we are proud of our nomination and affiliation with Sage's Power 50, The Invictus Games, and The Prince's Trust Canada. My journey from serving our country to serving our clients has been a seamless transition and exciting adventure. I believed that the vast majority of veteran leadership, teamwork, critical thinking and organizational skills would directly translate across to the business world and Ive been proven right with Reticle's success. Reticle encourages every Canadian and allied veteran to look for programs similar to what The Invictus Games and Prince's Trust Canada affords them. There is no reason that life after your service to your country cannot be just as exhilarating and meaningful if you find the right new team to fit into. In the business world you are just serving in a different foxhole as you help your country prosper." Sage Power 50 members were nominated by leading military nonprofits in countries who have hosted the Invictus Games; the UK, USA and Canada, alongside this years host Australia. In Canada, Sage Foundation non-profit partner Princes Trust Canada supported the Power 50. Sharon Broughton, CEO of Princes Trust Canada said: We are thrilled to have graduates from our Princes Operation Entrepreneur program showcased in Sage Power 50. It is a perfect opportunity to highlight their resilience, determination and achievements as they leave the military and become successful entrepreneurs. 2018 will mark the third year of Sages partnership with the Invictus Games. A signatory of the UKs Armed Forces Covenant and recognised as one of just 50 organisations in 2018 to be given the Gold Award for their outstanding support of the Armed Forces; Sage is already delivering the Sage Military Mentoring Programme in the UK. Sage will now build a legacy for after the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, by working with nonprofit, Soldier On. Sage Foundation funding and workshops in HR and entrepreneurialism will result in more veterans, service personnel and their families getting the support they need to start their own business or develop entrepreneurial skills. Sage Foundation will also work with Princes Trust Australias Enterprise for Veterans Program, including a roll out of donated Sage software and Cloud Accounting workshops to participants. From Monday 15 October: Download the Sage Power 50 here : featuring exclusive film content from UK Power 50 members. : featuring exclusive film content from UK Power 50 members. Read more Power 50 stories by following #SageServingHeroes on all Sage social channels including our #HumansOfBusiness takeover on @Sageofficial Instagram About the Sage Power 50 The Sage Power 50 was commissioned by Sage and supports our ongoing commitment to build sustainable social, economic and entrepreneurial opportunities in Sages local communities around the world through Sage Foundation. For Sage this is the right way to do business. The Sage Power 50 was curated with support from: Princes Operation Entrepreneur, a program of Princes Trust Canada: www.princesoperationentrepreneur.ca X-Forces: www.x-forces.com Princes Trust Australia: www.princes-trust.org.au Additional curation was led by Power 50 members, Brandon Shelton at TFX Capital Management and Cherisa CJ Bellis at Major Freedom . About Sage Sage (FTSE: SGE) is the global market leader for technology that helps businesses of all sizes manage everything from money to people whether theyre a start-up, scale-up, or enterprise. We do this through Sage Business Cloud the one and only platform that customers will ever need, comprising Accounting, Financials, Sage Intacct, Enterprise Management, People & Payroll, and Payments & Banking. Our mission is to free business builders from the burden of admin, so they can spend more time doing what they love and we do that every day for three million customers across 23 countries, through our 13,000 colleagues and a network of accountants and partners. We are committed to doing business the right way and giving back to our communities through Sage Foundation. Find out more at http://www.sage.com/ca/ . Media contact: A white Brooklyn woman became the target of widespread condemnation last Wednesday after a video went viral showing her calling police on a black child who she claimed groped her inside a Flatbush bodega. Security camera footage from inside the deli appeared to refute the woman's allegation, showing the boy innocently brushing by her. The woman, Teresa Klein, was immediately bestowed the nickname of "Cornerstore Caroline," positioning the video squarely in a series of videos showing white Americans weaponizing the police against persons of color. Klein, 53, returned to the Sahara Deli Market in Flatbush on Friday, issuing a public apology to the child after watching the security camera video and realizing her error in accusing the boy of groping her. "Young man, I don't know your name but I'm sorry," she said according to the Times. But neighborhood locals remained angered by the incident, with Jason LittleJohn, who took the initial video, telling the Post the apology was "so insincere. She just did not care." Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams asked the NYPD to investigate if Klein broke the law by impersonating a police officer, adding, "This incident is a modern-day Emmett Till moment, though the fortunate availability of video footage in this case will hopefully ensure justice is served." In a telephone interview with Gothamist, Klein tried to explain her mindset during the incident, and why she went so far as to call police and in the process, as she admits, scare a child "half to death." Klein said she has survived multiple sexual assaults in NYC. "I never, ever would have called 911 on the sexual assault, no matter who did it, child or adult," she said, audibly crying. "Just last week, I was touched inappropriately on the subway platform. And all I did was the exact same thing: I said 'don't touch me' in a loud voice. I never report sexual assault. It doesn't do any good." After collecting herself, she added, "This whole thing is really overwhelming. It's international." A few contradictions stick out in the retelling of the incident. It was initially widely reported that Klein had claimed she was a cop, based on the bits of audio that can be made out in the video. (This is why Adams, in his statement, said he's asked police to investigate whether she was impersonating an officer.) But Klein says the child's mother was the one who claimed to be an officer; Klein says the mom flashed a badge at her inside the bodega after the argument first started; you can see that she appears to flash some sort of badge around the :45 second mark in the surveillance video. NEW: Surveillance footage proves white woman who called 911 on a young black child claiming he groped her - was wrong @PIX11News #CornerstoreCaroline Full story at 5 pic.twitter.com/agTK0MpgUG Andrew Ramos (@AndrewRamosTV) October 12, 2018 As Klein was waiting to pay at the counter, she said she felt someone touch her butt, saw the child with her mother and others just outside the doorway of the bodega, and yelled "don't touch my butt." She claims the mother responded, "my son would never touch your flat white ass;" Klein then "said something rude to her" and the two began arguing. "And I said, 'ooh you like that don't you,' at her," Klein said. "I slapped my left butt cheek. Then I did an F-U gesture with my pelvis at her. That's when she rushes right after me." "We were yelling at each other, she ran into the bodega, flashed a badge in my face, and said, 'I'm gonna arrest you,'" Klein continued. "And I said, 'go ahead, I'm calling 911.' Because something in me registered this wasn't right. A cop doesn't flash a badge and threaten to arrest you. It wasn't right." Later, when Klein went to police, she was told that the badge she described likely wasn't an NYPD issued one, and that a lot of people (including EMS and MTA) have similar badges to what she was describing. Right before the viral video starts, Klein claims, "The very first thing I said to the 911 operator is, 'there's a woman here who says she's going to arrest me, she says she's a police officer.' She said that several times, she kept saying that while I was trying to dial 911." She says what you hear in the video when she says "I'm a cop" was her quoting the mother as she recapped their interaction. Klein said she ended up going to the 70th Precinct and filing an "impersonating a police officer" complaint; she later filed an aggravated harassment complaint as well after receiving a death threat from a number she claims belongs to the boy's mother. (Gothamist called the number in question, and a man answered. He said he did not know the mother, but he did say, with a chuckle, that he had "a lot of opinions" about the viral video.) "I have been sexually assaulted many times on the streets of NY, I've been grabbed everywhere: breasts, crotch, butt, many times. I quickly learned that reporting it to the police didn't do any good," she said. "The 911 call and the complaint I filed at the 70th had to do with the mother, not that child. I never, ever would have done that. It would have just been another sexual assault to add to the list. And I was wrong! I never would have seen the security camera footage if the press had not insisted they show it to me. All I knew at the time is that someone touched me, and I didn't know who it was until she yelled at me." "When I found out it wasn't true [after viewing security camera footage] I apologized, I said I was mistaken, and I offered to meet with the mother that day. It's true, her kid was scared half to death. Both of them were crying, both the son and daughter." A white woman named Teresa Klein, who lied to police and traumatized a young black child with her hysterical fiction, reminds many on social media of the accusations in our recent past that have lost black boys their freedom and even their lives. Fixed it for you. https://t.co/IHk50KZ0Gu Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 13, 2018 Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is holding a rally and "community conversation" outside the bodega Monday afternoon at 5:30 p.m., where he'll be joined by the mother, whose identity has not been released thus far, and her nine-year-old child. As of 1 p.m. today, Adams had not spoken to either the mother or Klein. "The statement was based on viewing of the viral video and surveillance video," said Adams's communications director Stefan Ringel. "The statement is asking what, if anything, may be warranted [for investigation by police], there's no presumption or determination involved." When pressed on whether she reacted too harshly to the initial contact, Klein admitted she has an anger problem: "Oh yeah, definitely. I have found that is a defense mechanism in NYC, especially with regards to being sexually assaulted on the street." But Klein says she was not motivated by racism: "[If it was a white child] I know I would have reacted the same. Because it wasn't the child I was directing my anger at, it was the mother. The poor kid was caught in the middle." Klein added that she has previously been groped by a "child who was about 9 or 10 years old" in Williamsburg in the late '90s. Regardless of Klein's apology, "Cornerstone Caroline" seems destined to endure in infamy alongside other viral videos of white women, including Barbecue Becky" and "Permit Patty," who called the police on African-Americans for specious reasons. In all of these cases, black people were just minding their own business sitting in Starbucks, shopping at CVS, mowing lawns, staying at an Airbnb or napping on a couch in a college dormuntil a white person felt compelled to get involved due to an imaginary crime. "Black people experience policing every day, even if it's just a look or a gaze," George Yancy, a professor of philosophy at Emory University and author of Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America, told USA Today of social media monitoring of these incidents. "What social media is doing is magnifying the elephant in the room in such a way as to reveal to white people the reality that black people experience all the time." And it's easy to deny allegations of racism without confronting your own biases. "Permit Patty" didn't think there was anything racist about what she did either, but she clearly crossed a line in the eyes of most. It's also easy to offer an anecdote about that one time you did something nice for someone of another race, as Klein did when she told me about the time she picked up two black teenagers pushing a cart on the Williamsburg Bridge at 2 a.m. to give them a lift (they then got into a car accident with an MTA bus in which Klein says she "broke my neck, my back, had traumatic brain injuries"she is currently unemployed, and blames it on those injuries which "have gotten worse as I've grown older and I can't work"). But then there is the vital matter of how one reacts in the heat of the confrontation. When I asked Klein whether she regrets how the situation escalated, whether she wishes she had let it go instead of jumping to a conclusion about the child, and whether she would have done anything differently now, this is what she said: "I would have said 'don't touch my ass,' and when she talked back I would have ignored her. I would not have not said anything, I cannot let that sort of thing just stand because between you and me, I've lived in poor neighborhoods for the last 24 years here in NYC, and if the word on the street is that you can grab that girl and she won't do anything, it escalates. So my go-to response is to yell. Looking back, I should have yelled, she starts yelling at me, I ignore it, and I just go home." VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New Age Farm Inc. (CSE:NF) (OTC:NWGFF) (FSE:ONF) (New Age Farm or the Company) is pleased to announce its wholly owned subsidiary, We Are Kured LLC (Kured), has received its first order from its Latin American subsidiary and has successfully shipped out the order of their new 500mg disposable vaporizer pens. Additionally, numerous retailers have expressed interest in the Companys Fresh Water CBD product. Arrangements are being made for shipment of this product into South America as well. Yves Yon, managing director of Kured Latin America LLC, stated: We are excited to bring the first high-quality Full Spectrum Hemp Oil disposable vaporizer pen to Chile. Based on conclusive results of an extensive test market, we anticipate both retail and online consumers to quickly migrate from imported CBD oil drops to the Kured product line. Joshua Bartch, New Age Farms Chief Executive Officer, stated: Were very excited to receive and ship out our first order to our Latin American division. Weve spent a lot of time evaluating and executing our plan to include an international and Latin American division. We feel like this is just the beginning of something great and look forward to expanding our reach further. About New Age Farm New Age Farm is an agricultural services company offering unique turnkey growing infrastructure and services for licensed growers and processors of luxury marijuana crops at its agri-campuses in Washington State. In November 2012, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) passed Initiative 502 (I-502). I-502 authorized the WSLCB to regulate and tax recreational marijuana products for persons over twenty-one years of age and thereby created a new industry for the growing, processing and selling of Washington State-regulated recreational marijuana products. New Age Farm provides innovative solutions for growers and processors in this burgeoning industry. About We Are Kured, LLC Kured is a wholly owned subsidiary of New Age Farm, acquired in December 2017. Kured is building an innovative online CBD and lifestyle company. Kured has partnered with best in class hemp cultivators, edible manufacturers, cutting edge product formulators to develop, market and distribute multiple lines of CBD products including, but not limited to, CBD vaporizer pens, topicals, gel capsules and more. All of Kureds products are 100% THC free and will be available for purchase internationally. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the primary active ingredient in cannabis. For further information about New Age Farm, please consult the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or visit the Companys website at www.newagefarminc.com . For further information about We Are Kured, please visit their website at www.wearekured.com . On Behalf of the Board of Directors Joshua Bartch Chief Executive Officer info@newagefarminc.com For Further Information Contact Corporate Communications corpcom@newagefarminc.com 888-871-3936 We Are Kured Contact: Ben Martch Founder & CEO www.wearekured.com The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect managements current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect managements current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to completion of planned improvements at both the Canadian and US sites on schedule and on budget, the availability of financing needed to complete the Companys planned improvements on commercially reasonable terms, planned occupancy by the tenant-growers, commencement of operations, differences in yield on expected harvests, delays in obtaining statutory approval for marijuana production plans, issues that may arise throughout the grow period, outdoor crops affected by weather, the ability to mitigate the risk of loss through appropriate insurance policies, and the risks presented by federal statutes that may contradict local and state legislation respecting legalized marijuana. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the Company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. These securities have not and will not be registered under United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person unless so registered, or an exemption from registration is relied upon. Washington, DC, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) and Wells Fargo will award up to $100,000 in grants to local Hispanic chambers. The Local Chamber Grants will go towards strengthening programs that increase the scale and capacity of Hispanic-owned businesses, address the specific needs of local Hispanic communities, and target aspiring small business owners to hone their leadership skills. The grants will be awarded to local chambers nationwide during the opening of the USHCC Legislative Summit in Washington, DC on April 2nd, 2019. With Wells Fargos generosity, the USHCC will disburse multiple grants ranging from $5,000 to $15,000. The grants will be awarded to exemplary local chambers who serve their members and local business communities. The Wells Fargo and USHCC Partnership for Success extends the commitment that Wells Fargo has made to the USHCC Foundation and Hispanic business community over many years. By investing in the development of diverse business communities, and through this partnership with the USHCC, Wells Fargo directly contributes to the growth of small Hispanic businesses. We are deeply committed to our local chambers, and are very happy that we are able to continue this program into 2019, said Ramiro Cavazos, USHCC President & CEO. Thanks to Wells Fargos commitment to the USHCC and to our local chambers, we look forward to supporting the philanthropic initiatives that our local chambers run on a community-level. We fully understand how vital Hispanic-owned businesses are to our local economies. This is why we are excited to collaborate with the Education Foundation of the USHCC on the local chamber grants for 2019, said Regina Heyward, head of Supplier Diversity, Wells Fargo. The grants for the local chambers of the UHSCC will help strengthen existing programs that foster and expand Hispanic small businesses throughout the United States. About USHCC The USHCC actively promotes the economic growth, development, and interests of more than 4.37 million Hispanic-owned businesses, that combined, contribute over $700 billion to the American economy every year. It also advocates on behalf of 260 major American corporations and serves as the umbrella organization for more than 200 local chambers and business associations nationwide. For more information, please visit ushcc.com. Follow us on Twitter @USHCC. About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargos vision is to satisfy our customers financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 8,050 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 38 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortunes 2018 rankings of Americas largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- USA Real Estate Holding Company (OTC PINK: USTC), a diversified public holding company, announced today that it has entered into Letter of Intent Agreement to acquire Green Pharma Colombia in an all stock transaction. The amount of shares will be determined upon the signing of the definitive agreement. The company Green Pharma Colombia S.A. is dedicated to the cultivation and extraction of cannabis oil, as well as the production of tinctures, creams and beauty products (shampoo, creams for skin relief) with different concentrations of CBD and THC. The company only grows the best strains with the highest quality standards, which assures us to be as consistent as possible from batch to batch in order to produce replicable results for patients. Were pleased to announce this acquisition as the Company is seeking out opportunities in the medical cannabis and CBD sectors. The global legal cannabis market is expected to reach USD 146.4 billion by end of 2025, stated by Sabahat Ullah, Director of USTC. He further added, We have decided to hold off on the launch of our crypto currency mining operations and Digital Asset Exchange platform until the Company register with the SEC and meet the standards of an SEC-registered national securities exchange. Nevertheless we are focused on the building our asset base and excited about the unique opportunities the legal Cannabis market presents at this time. About Green Pharma Colombia: The company Green Pharma Colombia S.A. is dedicated to the cultivation and extraction of cannabis oil, as well as the production of tinctures, creams and beauty products (shampoo, creams for skin relief) with different concentrations of CBD and THC. The company only grows the best strains with the highest quality standards, which assures us to be as consistent as possible from batch to batch in order to produce replicable results for patients. For more information visit: www.pharmagreen.co About USA Real Estate Holding Company: USA Real Estate Holding Company (OTC PINK: USTC) is a public holding company that is motivated in expanding its asset & revenue base through acquisition for the purpose of increasing shareholder value by diversifying as a multi-faceted Company. For more information visit: www.usarealestateholding.com/ FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release includes various "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which represent the Company's expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Statements containing expressions such as "believes," "anticipates," "intends," or "expects," used in the Company's press releases and in Disclosure Statements and Reports filed with the Over the Counter Markets through the OTC Disclosure and News Service are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurances that actual results will not differ materially from expected results. The Company cautions that these and similar statements included in this report are further qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. For further information contact: Public Relations Email: info@usarealestateholding.com SOURCE: USA Real Estate Holding Company TheConsequence wrote: Hi, thanks a lot for offering your advice - I have a couple of questions (upcoming 19D student here): 1. How important is an internship for landing a full-time job? To what extend does the internship increase your chances / what is the approx. percentage of interns getting offered a full-time position? -> I am also interested in other areas, so I would love to do an internship in other industries, but I am wondering whether it would be better to focus completely on consulting to increase the chances. 2. I'm particularly interested in MBB London and I know that it's more competitive than other offices. Do you have an idea, how much harder it is to get into MBB London than somewhere else? 3. I know this question is not easy to answer, but do you know the approximate application to acceptance ration for MBB internships and ft positions (just speaking about the INSEAD cohort)? 4. Any preparation advice apart of that? Thanks and best 1) Internships do help - but is not critical. Less than 40% of all people joining MBB interned there. It is different from US schools where the internship carries more weight. If you do an internship, i think you have 70-80% chance of getting a FT offer.2) Very tough to say outright, depends on which sector you apply to, who else is applying with a profile similar to yours, and the hiring needs. Best to check with MBB folks during their outreach.3) Out of 500, I think 250+ apply to MBB, maybe 150-170 get called for interviews, 80+ might get offers. Just high level numbers.4) Do you exit language prep early. Very important and can prevent you from getting your degree. It takes a lot of time and can add stress in the final months when you are already doing recruiting. Also, figure out your 1yr plan - i.e. which classes, activities, companies you want to recruit with. You will have limited time to stratagize once you start. You need to have a very clear path ready. Re: Neurons in the brain form cohesive decision groups by joining through [ #permalink 1 Kudos 1 Bookmarks State Wildlife Officials (A) Modifier / Meaning ( the number of which ) (B) CORRECT (C) Sentence Structure (D) Sentence Structure ( semi-colon ) Modifier / Meaning ( the number of which ) (E) Modifier ( when ) First glance Issues (1) Modifier / Meaning: the number of which; when Sentence Structure: semi-colon The number of which The Correct Answer All five choices begin with the word area, but some are followed by a comma and some are followed by a semi-colon, signaling a potential issue with Sentence Structure.signals the start of a modifier; what is it modifying?Logically, it should refer to the number of wolves, but the noun before the comma is the word area, an illogical match for the number of which Earlier, the sentence does talk about the wolf population, but the modifier is not talking about the number of wolf populations. Logically, it is talking about the number of wolvesa word that does not appear in the sentence. Eliminate choice (A) for a faulty modifier leading to an illogical meaning.Scan the other answers to see how they try to fix this construction. First, look for any that repeat the number of which language. Answer (D) repeats this error. Answer (D) also introduces a semi-colon, but the portion after the semi-colon is not a complete sentence. Eliminate (D) for multiple errors.The remaining answers change the structure more. Compare them:officials are scheduled to take over the job of increasing the wolf population in therecovery(B) area; the size of the population, however, will(C) area, however the number of wolves will(E) area, when the size of the population will, however,Choice (B) has a semi-colon; is there a complete sentence after the semicolon? Yes, there is. Choices (C) and (E) do not have semi-colons. When answers switch between having and not having a semi-colon, it is sometime the case that an incorrect answer will contain a comma-splice or run-on sentence (She likes cheese, however she is lactose intolerant). Check answers (C) and (E) to make sure that the plain comma is okay.Answer (C) is a comma-splice! Officials are scheduled to take overin the area, however the number of wolves will be dictated Eliminate choice (C) for faulty sentence structure.Choice (E) introduces a different modifier marker after area: when. This marker is used to discuss timeframes. The earlier part of the sentence does discuss a timeframe (next month), but this modifier is not happening next month. Rather, even though the officials are going to start trying, next month, to increase the wolf population, its the case that the number of prey in the area will determine the ultimate wolf population. Eliminate choice (E) for faulty modifier meaning.Correct answer (B) introduces a semi-colon; both the portions before and after the semi-colon are complete sentences. The portion after the semi-colon explicitly states that it is talking about the size of the wolf population; the meaning is logical. You'd think this goes without saying, but you're probably better off not petting random rats in NYC. Surely you have seen them in their natural habitatgarbage piles and subway tracksand you know that stroking their dirty coats means letting a layer of (probably) radioactive germ grease leach into your palms. And still, here I am, sounding the alarm because of a little piece of content Reddit coughed up over the weekend: To be clear: the video does seem unbelievable and probably staged! But Nicky T, the Redditor who posted the video and declined to provide his full last name, insists it's real. He tells Gothamist he filmed the clip at the Lower East Side's Pickle Day on Sunday, a neighborhood that ranks remarkably low on NYC's rat complaint index. "The rat was 100% real and not a pet," Nicky T told Gothamist. Nicky T said he was just helping his buddy run his pickle stand when he heard a commotion from behind the tent. He went to see what all the fuss was about, and spotted this woman petting a rat. Because the rat, as evidenced in the video, sat so perfectly still, he initially thought someone had staged a prank using a fake rat. But after watching for about five minutes, Nicky T says he saw it move, and is convinced this was not an elaborate joke but real life unfolding right before his eyes. If this is a hoax, Nicky T may also be in on ithe declined to provide a longer, unedited version of the video, supposedly because of a reluctance to expose the rat petter to unwanted attention. The rat seemed sick, Nicky T maintained, mentioning the possibility of, oh God, rabies. "She was just trying to make it feel better, I guess," Nick mused. "The woman seemed to be a bit intoxicated and just bonded with the rat, despite many people screaming or suggesting that she should avoid it." After a stretch of rat pettingin which a man who appeared to be the woman's boyfriend and a number of people in the small crowd assembled around the spectacle voiced their caution and their disgustNicky T said she moved on. After speaking with Nicky T, we contacted shadowy internet prankster-slash-performance-artist Zardulu, who has claimed credit for multiple viral rat videos, to ask if they were behind this particular video. Reached over Twitter DM, Zardulu immediately took credit for the video. "Did you notice that [the rat] doesn't move?" Zardulu winkingly replied to our inquiry. "The piece is entitled Assimilation. As my previous performance pieces that included rats were an allegory for interactions with our primitive, unconscious mind, this piece symbolizes what Carl Jung referees to as assimilation. It is the union of our conscious and unconscious minds, it is our supreme self." "I created this piece with two actors," Zardulu added. "We performed it a half dozen times until someone finally filmed it." Zardulu, who currently has an art show at 321 Canal Street called Triconis Aeternis (Eternal Trickster), declined to say where the alleged performance occurred or provide any further details about it. But please note: the video clip posted on Reddit does appear to show the rat moving. Trained rat? Animatronic rat? BIONIC RAT? It's certainly possible that Zardulu is falsely claiming credit, and we're falling deeper down the rat-hole now, so I will leave you with this last disclaimer: New York rats carry a terrifying smorgasbord of serious diseases and disease-causers. Traveling on the bodies of these pathogen bombs, you may find E. coli, Salmonella, a bacteria called Clostridium difficile that can blossom into infections of variable severity, a couple strains of rodent hepatitis C, and a fun one called Seoul hantavirus, which resembles Ebola in that it produces hemorrhagic fevers and organ failure. Please don't pet the rats! Sport US to co-host T20 cricket World Cup in 2024 with West Indies International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the host nations for major limited overs tournaments taking place between 2023 and 2031. In June 2024, the ICC men's T20 World Cup will go to the US, where it will be hosted alongside the West Indies, who hosted the tournament in 2010. 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 Voters this year are being asked whether they support an amendment to the Indiana Constitution obligating the General Assembly to adopt balanced budgets unless two-thirds of the members of both chambers vote to suspend the requirement. Public Question No. 1 goes before the voters in the Nov. 6 election after it cleared two separate General Assemblies as a resolution. It was first proposed by Vice President Mike Pence when he was Indiana's governor in his 2015 State of the State address. Rep. Todd Huston, R-Fishers, who sponsored the resolution in the Indiana House, said the amendment should be approved because it "limits the amount of gimmicks that can be played" with the state budget, such as not funding pension responsibilities and bonding responsibilities, "so that what we're bringing in and what we're spending is truly balanced." "We've held to that standard in recent years," Huston said. Huston pointed out the resolution received overwhelming support from lawmakers. State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, was one of just four senators who voted against the amendment last year, but not because she's opposed to balanced budgets. "I think we should have a balanced budget. We've always had a balanced budget. ... We already have a provision in the constitution that says we can't go into debt," Tallian said. The constitution already largely bans the state from incurring debt, except in times of war. Under the amendment, the General Assembly would be required to pass a balanced budget unless supermajorities of two-thirds of the members of each chamber vote to suspend the requirement. Tallian said the constitution adopted in 1851 should not be tinkered with. "I have never ever voted for any constitutional amendment because I don't think we need to mess around with the constitution. I'm probably the most conservative and most consistent person in the Senate on that issue," Tallian said. The Indiana electorate last voted to amend the constitution just two years ago when it approved a provision to protect the right to hunt and fish. Maryam Rajavi is the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance, who opposes the fundamentalism of the mullahs and wants to bring freedom and democracy to Iran. In a statement published on her website, Maryam Rajavi makes it clear that the conflict between fundamentalism and freedom is not a matter of religion or an East v West situation. Instead, fundamentalism is the result of a dictatorship that subjugates and oppresses its people. Maryam Rajavi makes it clear that this is in no way something that is inherent in the Iranian populace, the majority of whom have taken part in the nationwide uprising against the mullahs that began in December 2017, and then asks us to examine the misogyny that is at the heart of fundamentalist rule. Maryam Rajavi wrote: Indeed, why do more than all others, fundamentalists direct their vengeance and violence towards women? First, because their backward nature has rendered them misogynous. And second, during the 1979 revolution in Iran as well as in social movements in other Middle East countries, the fundamentalist were challenged and are being challenged today with an immense yearning for freedom and equality, which pivots around womens emancipation. Simply, Maryam Rajavi explains, sexism is at the core of the Iranian Regimes fundamentalist mindset as suppressing women oppresses and intimidates society as a whole. During the 1979 revolution, women were leading the protests against the shah, which eventually caused him to flee. When the mullahs stole power from the people, they realised that women were the revolutionaries, so they cracked down on women in education and employment until they felt they had control. Thats why confronting fundamentalism is one of Maryam Rajavis biggest goals; something that she intends to do through invoking Democratic Islam, which she calls the antithesis to fundamentalism. After all, the mullahs wrongly invoke Islam in their fundamentalist crusade. Maryam Rajavi wrote: I must therefore emphasize that these two phenomena are diametrically opposite one another. One is a dictatorial ideology and the other is the religion of freedom, which recognizes sovereignty as the most important right of the people. One defends religious discrimination; the other is an Islam which defends equal rights for the followers of other religions. One is monopolistic and dogmatic; the other is a tolerant Islam, which promotes respect for the belief in other ideas and religions. One is a religion imposed through force; the other is an Islam, which rejects any compulsion in religion. One practices misogyny; the other promotes gender equality. This is something that her husband, Massoud Rajavi, former leader of the Iranian Resistance, declared more than 50 years ago and it is something that Maryam Rajavi is still fighting now. The velayat-e faqih regime has dragged Iran backwards and put the Iranian people down, but by confronting fundamentalism and bringing down the mullahs Maryam Rajavi is certain that the world will be a safer place, for women, for Iranians, for everyone. - Mariel Padilla tweeted about a discovery she made in her dressing room - It turned out that somebody used her toilet without flushing - The star expressed her disgust at what the unidentified person did PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Mariel Rodriguez Padilla took to social media to complain about her disgusting discovery inside her dressing room for Its Showtime. KAMI learned that the host ranted about somebody using her dressing rooms comfort room without flushing. The Kapamilya star expressed how disgusted she felt when she saw the toilet. May kadireng tao na nagpoopoo sa dressing room kooooo!!! Hindi man lang nag flush, Mariel tweeted. Super nasusuka ako!!!! Kadire talagaaaaaaaaaaaa, she exclaimed. Here is her last tweet about the matter: Months ago, a video showing the interior of Mariel's "It's Showtime" dressing room viral. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! In a previous report by KAMI, Mariels birthday celebration turned into a childrens party for the sake of her daughter. Robin Padilla and Mariel tied the knot on August 19, 2010. The actress-host gave birth to Isabella on November 14, 2016. She delivered the baby in Delaware, USA. POPULAR: Read more news about Mariel Rodriguez! Philippines tricky questions: can you answer these tricky questions? Today we are going to ask Philippines strangers some very funny Tagalog tricky questions! Do you think you can answer them correctly? These individuals from the Philippines have their answers! on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - After 8 years, Lito Lapid is seeking a return in the Senate - He served as a senator from 2004 to 2010 - Lapid shared that he wants to continue what he has done for the Senate PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed! Former senator and Ang Probinsyano actor Lito Lapid filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on October 15 (Monday). KAMI has learned that Lito Lapid wants to finish what he started in the Senate. Wala ituloy lang natin yung dati natin yung hindi natin natuloy, he said as reported by Rappler. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! Under the Arroyo administration, he was with Lakas-Kampi party. But now, he is with Nationalist Peoples Coalition (NPC) party. Lapid has served in the Senate for 2 consecutive terms from 2004 to 2010. He is known for Lapid Law or the Free Legal Assistance Act (RA 9999) which proposed to extend legal assistance to indigent people. He also authored the Biometrics Law (Senate Bill 1030), which required biometrics registration for all the voters. Lapid co-authored the Expanded Seniors Citizens Act (RA 10645) which was passed into law in 2014. Lapid was also linked in the controversy regarding the fertilizer fund scam. In 2016, Sandiganbayan dismissed the graft case involving him. In 1992, he assumed the post of being Pampangas vice governor. He started acting in the late 60s and until now he can be seen on television as Leon in ABS-CBNs Ang Probinsyano. Today we are going to ask Philippines strangers some very funny Tagalog tricky questions! Do you think you can answer them correctly? These individuals from the Philippines have their answers! If a Ship Sank, Where Would You Bury The Survivors? This questions might sound easy, but in reality, they are pretty tricky and it is easy to make a mistake! on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph This is Whats Trending Today Another royal baby is on the way. Britains Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan Markle are expecting a child. Kensington Palace tweeted the announcement Monday morning. It read: Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Markle had been wearing looser clothing for several weeks. Then, on Friday, she wore a large coat to a royal wedding. Media reports quickly spread that she was possibly trying to hide signs of a pregnancy. The couple has been married almost five months. Their wedding ceremony last May in Windsor, England was a hugely popular televised event. The Duke and Dutchess currently are in Australia at the start of a 16-day trip that will also include visits to Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. The pregnancy news came out shortly after they landed in Sydney. It set off a series of congratulatory posts on social media sites. Many people are also guessing the sex of the baby, making lists of possible names and discussing the possibilities for its future in public service. Some guesses are funny. American journalist Greg Pollowitz posted that the child will be an American citizen and might run for president someday. He wrote, Congratulations to Princess Meghan and Harry, and to the #RoyalBaby who will one day rule the Great American Empire. Another Twitter user posted that the baby will help, Make America Great (Britain) Again. And thats Whats Trending Today. Im Caty Weaver. Caty Weaver wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story royal --adj. of or related to a king or a queen coat --n. a piece of outer clothing that can be either long or short that is worn to keep warm and dry wedding --n. a marriage ceremony The migrant caravan that started in San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras has grown as it crosses the country. Some people are walking. Some are in vehicles. But they all seem to have a common goal a better life. Many of them hope to find that life in the United States. Bartolo Fuentes is the organizer of the march. He told the Reuters news agency that the migrants are fleeing poverty and violence back home. San Pedro Sula has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Sixty-four percent of families in Honduras live in poverty. The caravans population has grown to an estimated 1,700 people. When the caravan began in San Pedro Sula, there were about 1,000 marchers. Local media reports and social media have spread word of the large migration. Many people who had been planning to leave Honduras thought that traveling in a large group would help keep them safer. So, they joined the caravan. The Associated Press reports that some families arrived with babies. Most who joined carried only a small bag. American Vice President Mike Pence recently told the presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to put an end to the mass migrations. Pence said, "Tell your people: Don't put your families at risk by taking the dangerous journey north to attempt to enter the United States illegally. American President Donald Trump has threatened to stop giving aid to countries that permit the passage of such caravans. But his threat does not mean much to people who are already extremely poor and who want better, safer lives for themselves and their children. Dunia Montoya is a volunteer who is helping the migrants in Honduras. Montoya told the Associated Press, Theres a misery and a violence that is overwhelming people. People no longer have faith in this country and they are fleeing. On Sunday night, the caravan arrived in Ocotepeque, a Honduran town near the Guatemalan border. The groups aim is to cross through Guatemala and into Mexico. Some of the migrants will seek refugee protection in Mexico. Others will request a visa to enter the United States. Some who are not given visas may then try to enter the U.S. illegally. Mexico released a statement about the caravan on Saturday. The statement said Mexico would not give entry visas to people who do not meet "the requirements to transit toward a neighboring country." Mexico also said it does not give visas at border entry stations. Roberto Castro is a 26-year old Honduran bus driver and laborer. He has had difficulty finding work. He joined the caravan because he put his two young children and their mother on a bus in San Pedro Sula two weeks ago. He has not heard from them in days. He said he hopes to find them along the caravan path between Honduras and the United States. As he cried, Castro told the AP, It hurts, because one just wants an opportunity. Im Ashley Thompson. VOAs Fern Robinson reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story caravan n. a group of people traveling together on a long journey bag - n. a container made of thin material (such as paper, plastic, or cloth) that opens at the top and is used for holding or carrying things misery n. extreme unhappiness and difficulties overwhelm v. to cause someone to have too many things to deal with faith - n. strong belief or trust in someone or something transit v. the act of people moving from one plave to another North and South Korea held more high-level talks Monday in the demilitarized zone separating the two countries. Both sides agreed to begin a joint project to improve roads and railways to link the two countries. Some international experts, however, remain cautious about the increase in cooperation between North and South Korea. They say North Korea must make progress toward ending its nuclear weapons program before economic restrictions are eased. The meeting Monday was part of continuing diplomatic talks. The two Korean leaders called for the continuing talks during a summit in September. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon led the five-member South Korean delegation. Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for Peaceful Reunification, led the Norths group. Officials said the two sides agreed to begin a joint project to modernize and connect railways and roads by the end of the year. They said teams would begin inspecting the transportation links along the Gyeongeui railway line by the middle of October and a line to the east by early November. Along with infrastructure plans, the sides also reached agreement on humanitarian and cultural issues. They agreed to hold talks with the Red Cross at the Mount Kumgang Resort in North Korea about families separated by the Korean War. They also agreed to discuss issues related to a North Korean art group that would soon be able to perform in the South. Moons diplomacy and experts concerns South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called for the international community to reward North Koreas effort to reduce its nuclear program. But several Korea experts have voiced concerns about some of Moons proposals. Bruce Klingner is a researcher for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. He said, in his opinion, Moon appears to be very willing to provide a long and growing list of economic benefits and economic promises to North Korea. Klingner warns that they could be violations of [United Nations] sanctions or [United States] law. Klingner added that there is growing concern in the United States about Moons willingness to improve inter-Korean relations without the required action by North Korea. Another Korea expert, Bruce Cumings, said North Korea has made progress. Cumings said it is very significant that over a year has passed since North Korea stopped testing missiles and nuclear weapons. He said this is important because the North has not reached a point where they have proved that they can marry a warhead to a missile and carry it across the oceans. Moon is currently visiting several nations in Europe. He is building support for easing sanctions on North Korea. Moon spoke to the French newspaper Le Figaro about his discussions with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He said the meetings have convinced me that he has taken the strategic decision to end his countrys nuclear weapons program. Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, however, said North Korea has not fully acted on its promises. Id like to hear the argument that suggests that theyve done something in denuclearization, he said. Im Mario Ritter. Steve Miller wrote this story for VOA News with contributions from Lee Ju-hyun. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson 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 cautious adj. careful about avoiding danger or risk summit n. a meeting between the leaders of groups such as countries or companies reward n. money or another kind of payment that is given or received for something that has been done or that is offered for something that might be done benefits n. a good or helpful result or effect sanction n. measure put in place to cause a country to obey international law, usually by limiting or banning trade significant adj. very important convince v. to cause someone to believe that something is true strategic adj. of or relating to a general plan that is created to reach a goal in war, politics, etc., usually over a long period of time From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle report. Air pollution is a killer. The World Health Organization says it kills an estimated seven million people around the world each year. Even if polluted air does not kill us, it can make us very sick. However, breathing dirty air may do more than hurt your body. It can also affect your brain and your ability to think. A new study shows that air pollution can cause a huge reduction in our intelligence. The study was a project involving researchers at Peking University in China and Yale University in the United States. The researchers reported that long-term exposure to air pollution can affect a persons mental abilities in two areas: language and mathematics. The researchers studied about 25,000 people from across China. Between 2010 and 2014, these Chinese men, women and children were given language and math tests. Then researchers compared the test results with measurements of pollution in the air, namely nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Xi Chen of the Yale School of Public Health led the study. He and his team found that breathing polluted air can reduce a persons education level by about one year. Chen said that the effect generally is worse for those over 64 years of age, for men and for those with little or no education. The older persons -- they are more affected. And we find, quite interestingly, males are more affected than females. And people working outdoors are more affected than people working indoors. He noted that the youngest people in the study were 10 years old, while the oldest was 90. They came from 25 of Chinas 33 provinces. In his words, this range of ages and locations across the country provided a good representative sample. The researchers noted that the effect of pollution on verbal ability is even more serious as people age, especially among men and the less educated. Why were language skills more affected than math? Xi Chen told VOA that there are two main kinds of tissue in the brain: white matter and gray matter. White matter, he said, is more connected with a persons language skills, while gray matter is connected to our ability to solve math problems. Other studies, he noted, have shown that air pollution has a great effect on the white matter in the brain, but not the gray matter. Our findings are very consistent with the hypothesis that the white matter is the key to explain this result. In our brains, we have two main tissues: one is white matter. The other is gray matter. And we know that gray matter is more responsible for peoples math skills. But white matter is more related to peoples language skills. So, thats why we find a much larger effect on language skills. Chen said that air pollution did affect the math skills of the study participants, just not as much as their language skills. The study was carried out in a single country. But the findings may be important to people all over the world, especially those living in highly polluted areas. In May 2018, the WHO reported that nine of every 10 people worldwide are breathing polluted air. WHO experts note that of the seven million deaths from air pollution, more than 90% of air pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa. In 2018, the WHO found that India had the worlds 14 most polluted cities. The study we described earlier found that people who work outdoors fall into a high-risk group. However, that does not mean those who work inside buildings are safe from air pollution. Researcher Xi Chen spoke about the smallest pieces of air pollution, called particulate matter 2.5 or simply PM2.5. These particulates are only 2.5 micrometers long; sometimes they are even smaller. So you can easily breathe them in, and they are found indoors. Everyone is actually affected. And there are some studies already showing that the very small particulate matter can go directly into the brain affecting office workers. So, no matter whether you stay outdoors or indoors, everyone is affected. Some studies show that PM2.5 which is very small particulate matter -- 70 percent of outdoor PM2.5 can go directly into the building. Chen urges government policymakers to make serious changes. "So, the longer term affects suggests to the policymakers that we need to engage in cleaning up the sky instead of investing in short-term avoidances, for example the face masks or air filters. Xi Chen and his team reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And thats the Health and Lifestyle report. Im Anna Matteo. Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Quiz - Air Pollution Affects Intelligence Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story exposure n. the fact or condition of being affected by something or experiencing something range n. a sequence, series, or scale between limits sample n. a representative part or a single item from a larger whole or group especially when presented for inspection or shown as evidence of quality verbal adj. of, relating to, or consisting of words consistent adj. always acting or behaving in the same way hypothesis n. an idea or theory that is not proven but that leads to further study or discussion participant n. a person who is involved in an activity or event : a person who participates in an activity or event occur v. to come into existence income n. money that is earned from work, investments, business, etc. engage v. to take part in or cause to take part in something American President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had spoken with Saudi Arabias King Salman. The president said the king denies any knowledge of what happened to the Saudi reporter who disappeared in Istanbul two weeks ago. Jamal Khashoggi is a Saudi citizen who was living in the United States at the time of his disappearance. Trump said the Saudi leader didnt really know what happened to him. Maybe, I dont want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers I mean, who knows? he added. Trump is sending American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the Middle East to investigate the situation. The president said Pompeo will meet with King Salman. Khashoggi wrote for the Washington Post newspaper. Some of his opinion pieces are critical King Salmans son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is called MBS. Many observers say he is a more powerful force in Saudi Arabia than the King. Turkish officials have said they believe Saudi agents killed Khashoggi after he entered Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul. They also said Turkey has audio and video recordings of the attack. The Saudi government says the Turkish claims are baseless. It says Khashoggi left the consulate the same day he came. However, it has not provided evidence to support that claim. Trump has promised severe punishment if the U.S. government finds that Khashoggi was killed inside the building. He made the comment to the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Saudi Arabia has threatened economic action for any U.S. action designed to punish the country. When embassies become places of terror Consulates, embassies and other diplomatic offices worldwide are often considered safe places. Yet they have not always been impervious to acts of violence. Killings, suicide bombings, militia attacks and hostage crises all have taken place in diplomatic buildings. Here are a few examples: Attack on U.S. offices in Libya Supporters of the Ansar al-Shariah militant group attacked two U.S. government offices in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died in the attack. Last year, a U.S. jury found Ahmed Abu Khattala, a Libyan man, guilty on several terrorism-related charges for his part in the attacks. Hostage-taking at Myanmar embassy in Thailand On October 7, 1999, a group known as the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors attacked Myanmars embassy in Bangkok. The attackers took 38 hostages to demand democracy in their country, also known as Burma. Thai officials gave the hostage-takers permission to fly to the border. The move angered the government in Myanmar but ended the incident without violence. Al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa Two hundred twenty-four people were killed when trucks carrying bombs exploded near U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attacks. Most of the victims were Kenyans, but 12 Americans also died. The man suspected of plotting the attacks, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, avoided capture for 13 years before he was killed at a security stop in Somalias capital, Mogadishu. Japanese embassy hostage crisis in Peru On December 17, 1996, Tupac Amaru rebels seized the Japanese ambassadors home in Lima, Peru. At that time, the ambassador was holding a large party to celebrate Emperor Akihitos birthday. Diplomats and government officials were taken hostage. The group demanded the release of jailed rebels. The group held 72 people hostage for 126 days before Peruvian government troops attacked. One hostage, two soldiers and all rebels were killed. Attack on Egyptian embassy in Pakistan A suicide attacker drove a truck filled with explosives into the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad on Nov. 19, 1995. Fifteen people died in the attack. Egypt found Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian citizen and leader of a militant group, guilty and sentenced him to death in absentia. Al-Zawahri later combined his group with al-Qaida and took the place of Osama bin Laden as al-Qaidas chief. Attacks on Israeli embassy, Jewish center in Argentina A bomb destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires on March 18, 1992. The attack killed 29 people. Two years later, a Jewish community center in the city was bombed, killing 85 people. It was the deadliest bombing ever in Argentina. Israel and Argentina have accused Iran of being responsible for the bombings. Iran has denied any part in the attacks. Im Caty Weaver. And Im Jonathan Evans. The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand and George Grow adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ____________________________________________________ Words in This Story rogue n. a dishonest, troublesome person consulate n. diplomatic office impervious adj. not permitting passage; not able to be harmed absentia adj. one who is not present (at a trial) Activists are protesting Hong Kongs disqualification of a legislative candidate on the grounds that she advocated self-determination for the Chinese territory. Lau Siu-lai, who was stripped of her seat in the Hong Kong legislature last year, was barred by the government on Friday from running in a Nov. 25 election. Hong Kong authorities are trying to quash pro-independence voices ahead of the election. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials have warned separatist activity will not be tolerated. The pro-independence Hong Kong National Party was banned in September by authorities who invoked a 1997 national security law for the first time. Pro-democracy activists complain Beijing interferes in Hong Kongs affairs in violation of its promise of a high degree of autonomy when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Some have called for more autonomy or outright independence for this prosperous business center of 7.5 million people. Authorities said Laus statements in 2016 in support of self-determination were illegal. Lau dropped that call from her election platform, but the Election Affairs Commission said her views hadnt really changed. The decision amounts to the political screening of candidates Beijing does not like, said Hong Kong Watch, a human rights group, in a statement. The decision is in breach of the right to stand in free and fair elections, the group said. A group of pro-democracy legislators said in a statement that the government is trying to use fear against dissident voices. The Hong Kong government defended Laus disqualification as consistent with the Basic Law, the territorys de facto constitution. Advocating independence is inconsistent with the constitutional and legal status of Hong Kong, a government statement said. It pointed to Article 1 of the Basic Law, which says Hong Kong is an inalienable part of the Peoples Republic of China. On Friday night, Lau and a dozen pro-democracy activists protested outside the Hong Kong government headquarters and marched to the office of the territorys chief executive, according to The South China Morning Post newspaper. Lau, a university sociology teacher, accused the government of using disqualification to make sure pro-establishment candidates win. What people will this administration allow into politics? Is it only those who kneel before them? the Post quoted Lau as saying. Lau complained election authorities completely twisted her views from 2016. Protests erupted in 2014 after Chinas ruling Communist Party said it would decide who was allowed to run for Hong Kongs leadership. Lau won a Legislative Council seat in 2016 but was barred by a court from taking her seat after she and other pro-independence members alterd the wording of their oaths of office. Lau was permanently stripped of the seat last year. Lau is the ninth person since then to be disqualified from running for office. AP Agnes Lam yesterday made an evaluation of her first- year as a lawmaker at the Legislative Assembly (AL) and of the work developed by the group she represents Macao Civic Power in support of her lawmaker duties. Not wanting to grade her work on a 100-point scale, the lawmaker said, Better you grade me, as a student, I do not grade myself. I rather the teachers tell me what they think about [my work], she said. We are trying our best to communicate with our voters and the general public and citizens. I want to listen to the people, and, actually, we have listened to some already and they have already told us they want us to do [more]. Remarking on the areas that Lam thinks she can improve upon or do more in the upcoming legislative year, the lawmaker said she would focus more upon the systematic issues in Macau, explaining that sometimes there are cases brought individually by one citizen and that they have been handled each as isolated cases, but afterwards, from time to time we realize that we are receiving repeated cases [which reveals] there is a systematic problem [and not an isolated one]. To tackle those issues, the lawmaker said a different approach will be taken. Whenever we have a case [we] should look at it and try to figure out if it is a systematic issue or an isolated case to see if we should launch an investigation or start a dialogue with the government. Another topic, which Lam proposes to improve this year, is concerned with law proposals. In the first year I tried to understand the system and how effective my suggestions would be. But I think in order to make my suggestions more effective we need to push them and submit [proposals or reviews] even to the government. We are not doing that yet, so I think we should include this [this year]. During the press conference held at Lams Office, the lawmaker also said she had noticed that during the past year she had addressed mostly topics on infrastructure and city planning, which she supported with the fact that the years AL session had been marked from the start by the effects and the aftermath of Typhoon Hato and its consequences to the city, and the highlighting of existing flaws at several levels. Still, she considered that her efforts in that field were successful in calling peoples attention [to these problems], adding, I think the government took many of my suggestions seriously, specifically in regards to alerts to populations in low-lying areas of the city to evacuate in an emergency. I cannot say I invented all those things, but I was one of those pushing [them] onto the agenda, she concluded. Another topic in which Lam believes her suggestions were well received was regarding the restructuring of the former Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, specifically the recommendation program for the bodys members: Now they have adopted it and doing it already, so this might be the case I can consider I was successful, but there are a lot of others in which I didnt do well. From an annual report of her work as a lawmaker, Lam mentioned that she had received a total of 177 contacts from citizens involving around 1,000 people in total. Of those, the lawmaker said they have already processed 166 cases that were either forwarded to the government or that resulted in some kind of legal advice. As the lawmaker mentioned, some of these cases also needed further investigation to be reported to the government as, she noted, we realize sometimes it is one case coming from one person but which reveals a larger problem which we need to investigate to make a proper enquiry to the government. Topping the list of the cases handled by Lams office (24) are housing issues followed by transportation (23) and urban/city issues (22). Such cases have resulted in submission to the AL of 46 written enquiries as well as five spoken enquiries and 18 topics addressed in the agenda. During the legislative year of 2017/2018, Lam also submitted one debate proposal to the AL. Final year of the CE should not change ALs pace QUESTIONED ON the topic of the soon to start legislative year be the last of Chui Sai On as Chief Executive and her expectations for this final year, lawmaker Agnes Lam said, I hope the work that we already have planned does not stop somewhere until the next Chief Executive and then we need to [re]design and discuss again and take another five years [to develop]. I dont want this to happen. Another of the aspects she noted is that because Chui comes, originally, from the social welfare sector and he is sensitive to such topics, We noticed that this sector is one of those that developed more over the last 10 years with a lot of subsidies and started a lot more programs to help the minorities, adding, there is still one more [minority] group that needs help which is the parents of special needs students. These people need something urgently from the government because we cannot just call on the parents to sacrifice themselves [more] to train those students, she added. Commenting on one of the new laws that the AL will start to address when it resumes this week, the so-called Wiretapping law, Lam said that what the AL must grant is that, we must assure [that the law] does not interfere with the personal freedom and personal rights [of people]. An influential body of newspaper editors in Bangladesh on Saturday criticized the government for a new digital security law that they say will stifle constitutionally protected freedom of speech and curtail press freedom. Members of the Editors Council told a news conference in the nations capital, Dhaka, that they were not pleased that the bill was made a law despite their objections. President Abdul Hamid approved the bill, known as the Digital Security Act, despite promises by three Cabinet ministers and an adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that they would address the journalists concerns about some disputed provisions. Shyamal Dutt, editor of the Bhorer Kagoj daily, said protesters would form a human chain in Dhaka on Monday to demand changes to the law. The Editors Council had postponed a street protest last month after the countrys information minister said officials would look into the journalists concerns. There is a Parliament session soon. We hope they will keep their promises and change some provisions, Dutt said at Saturdays news conference. Our points are very clear, but they did not keep their promises. Talking to The Associated Press after the news conference, Dutt said that the council was not against any cyber security law, but that keeping any ambiguities in the law that would hurt press freedom is not acceptable. We will continue to protest, he said. Observers say the law is part of a broader campaign to silence critics in Bangladesh, and reflects a worrying trend in fledgling Asian democracies. Journalists in Nepal are combating a similar law, part of an expansive rewriting of that countrys civil and criminal codes meant to define the parameters of Nepals new constitution. Such laws in Nepal and now in Bangladesh, where democracy was restored in 1990 after a military dictator was ousted, could make it more difficult for journalists to expose corruption. Bangladeshi journalists are taking particular umbrage with a section of the law that authorizes up to 14 years in prison for gathering, sending or preserving classified information of any government using a computer or other digital device. The journalists say publishing such information is a way to hold officials accountable. The section evokes the sentiment of a British colonial-era law about protecting official secrets. The law also authorizes prison sentences of up to three years for publishing information that is aggressive or frightening and up to 10 years for posting information that ruins communal harmony or creates instability or disorder or disturbs or is about to disturb the law and order situation. Human Rights Watch said the law would be ripe for abuse, in part because it would empower police to search or arrest suspects without a court order. Prime Minister Hasina has defended the law, saying it was meant to protect the country from propaganda and misinformation. Journalism is surely not for increasing conflict, or for tarnishing the image of the country, she said earlier. Julhas Alam, Dhaka, AP A month after Russia, Turkey and Iran came together in a last-ditch effort to avert a potentially catastrophic Syrian government offensive in Idlib, they appear to have succeeded in creating a buffer zone around the northern rebel-held province, defusing tensions in a major flashpoint region. The deal has for now averted a government offensive on the last major opposition stronghold in Syria, where tens of thousands of militants, including foreign jihadis, live alongside 3 million civilians and opposition fighters. But if the truce falls apart, the fighting could cause massive displacement and bloodshed. The Sept. 17 agreement called for setting up a demilitarized zone 15-20 kilometers deep and stretching along the front lines around Idlib, including parts of the provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo. Days ahead of an Oct. 10 deadline, Turkey-backed rebels and an al-Qaida-linked alliance pulled their heavy weaponry back from the front lines in accordance with the deal struck between the Russian and Turkish presidents. By Monday, all radical terrorist groups are also to pull back. At an unspecified date, Turkish troops and Russian military police plan to begin conducting coordinated patrols and monitoring with drones along the DMZs boundaries. Some jihadi groups have remained at their posts in the area, but for now they appear keen to avoid any confrontation with Turkey, activists say. Hours before the deadline for them to pull out, there were reports of an exchange of fire between rebel fighters and government forces. An editorial in the pro-government Al-Thawra newspaper on Sunday said The time for decisiveness has come in Idlib. Heres a look at what to expect next: TEMPORARY REPRIEVE Syrian President Bashar Assad said earlier this month that the Russia-Turkey deal is a temporary one and that his governments ultimate goal is to restore control over all of Syria. He described Western objections to an offensive in Idlib as hysterical. Most observers believe plans for a government offensive are simply on hold and that Assads forces will eventually retake the province by force if need be. Amid the myriad rebel groups and hard-core jihadis in Idlib, there are concerns that any of a number of factions could trigger renewed fighting. Those in the opposition fear the deal could end up like last years so-called de-escalation zones implemented in central and southern Syria, where government forces used temporary cease-fire agreements to regroup and then launch devastating offensives. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported yesterday that government forces shelled rebel areas in the DMZ, causing material damage and wounding a child. Rebels stationed in the DMZ lobbed missiles at government forces in Jurin, killing at least two soldiers Saturday, the Observatory said. International aid agencies working in northwestern Syria warn of dire consequences for millions of civilians if the Russia-Turkey deal doesnt result in a sustained reduction of violence in the overcrowded province. Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition, has deployed hundreds of soldiers to 12 observation posts that ring Idlib following a de-escalation agreement reached last year with Russia and Iran, both of which are allied with the government. That effectively positioned Turkey as a protector of the province and any government offensive risks leading to a direct clash between Syrian troops and Turkish forces. REBEL INFIGHTING Most rebel groups, including a Turkey-backed alliance known as the National Liberation Front, have accepted the deal on a demilitarized zone. At least two jihadi groups, however, have rejected it, but most of their positions are deep inside Idlib, far from the front lines with government forces. These are the al-Qaida-linked Horas al-Din, which described the deal as a great conspiracy, and the Ansar al-Din Front. Another jihadi group, the Turkistan Islamic Party, which is mostly made up of Chinese fighters, has not left its positions in the town of Jisr al-Shughour on the edge of the DMZ. It is clear that there will be a confrontation eventually because [jihadi factions] are not the type of groups who surrender easily, said Bassam Haji Mustafa, a senior official with the Turkey-backed Nour el-Din el-Zinki, one of 15 that form the National Liberation Front. He added that most people in Idlib support moderate rebel groups backed by Turkey and some Western nations. Unlike the Islamic State group, whose fighters were able to melt into the desert after major defeats, Haji Mustafa said jihadis in Idlib are surrounded on all sides and have no place to go. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Observatory, said last month that some 183 trucks full of ammunition and weapons arrived in Idlib, bringing in Turkish weapons to the National Liberation Front. He said the weapons are for possible use against jihadi factions in case they want to undermine Turkeys plans in Idlib. We are heading toward a confrontation for sure, Abdurrahman said, adding that Horas al-Din and Ansar al-Din have some 3,500 fighters in Idlib. THE AL-QAIDA WILD CARD The largest and most powerful armed group in Idlib is the al-Qaida-affiliated Levant Liberation Committee, known by the Arabic acronym HTS, a rebel alliance formerly known as Nusra Front. The group has not said whether it will comply with the deal, but it withdrew its heavy weapons from the demilitarized zone. The groups fighters are still on the front lines and it is unclear whether they will leave the area today. Analysts say the alliance could splinter if it decides to confront Turkish troops or the thousands of Turkey-backed opposition fighters, with whom it has clashed before. Ahmad al-Ahmad, who heads the oppositions Syria Press center, said Syrian members of the al-Qaida-linked group are not looking for confrontation with Turkey and its allies. Al-Ahmad said the groups leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and the Syrian members are close to the Turkish side, while the foreign fighters are opposed to the deal. Abu Yaqzan al-Masri, an Egyptian religious judge affiliated with the al-Qaida-linked group, warned against the rebels giving up their weapons after the Russia-Turkey deal was reached. He said the groups opponents will attempt to spark infighting to rid the area of jihadis and preserve the deal. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin signaled on Sept. 20 for the first time that if necessary, Turkey may use military action to remove the Levant Liberation Committee from the Idlib demilitarized zone in coordination with Russia. Bassem Mroue, Beirut, AP The 6th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries has been postponed to 2020. Last week, Chief Executive Chui Sai On presided over a plenary session of the Committee for Development of the Commercial and Trade Cooperation Service Platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries where he announced the delay. Originally, the conference was planned to take place this year. Forum Macau organizes a ministerial conference every three years in Macau. So far, five conferences have been held: October 2003, September 2006, November 2010, November 2013 and October 2016. At the end of each ministerial conference, an updated Strategic Plan for Economic and Trade Co-operation is approved. The resulting documentation sets out a plan for economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries for the following three years. Local international church, Jesus Alive Ministry (JAM), held a Day of Prayer & Fundraising for the Victims of 2018 Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami yesterday, raising MOP5,280 in the one-hour event. Attended by some 30 local Indonesians and representatives from Filipino churches and various other organizations, the Christian community gathered to spend time in worship and prayer. According to the organizer, Gilbert Humphrey, also known as Beto Bebeto, the donations will be in the form of goods that will be donated to Palu and Donggala cities, which have still not recovered from the devastation. To date around 2,000 people have been reported killed since the tremor struck on September 28, with hundreds still missing and more than 70,000 people still living in evacuation centres or displaced across the devastated provinces. We felt straightaway that we were impacted as well. One of our members, who goes to our church in Hong Kong, all nine family members of hers died in the quake-tsunami. Although this [the raised funds] will not help her family, [] every event in her familys life kind of stirred our hearts and we thought we had to do something, explained Bebeto. Meanwhile, the organizer had also hoped that there would be more local residents participating in the event, yet acknowledged the generosity of their donations I expected to have more [local residents attend]. Maybe because things like this dont happen often in Macau, so you dont really feel the kind of urge straightaway, said Bebeto, while noting that there were also some local residents who offered donations before the fundraising event. JAM church is collaborating with Jakarta-based Christian channel, Pijar TV, who will visit to distribute the donations, while also documenting the relief efforts in a report as a follow-up on the funds being donated from Macau. The prayer-fundraising event included some singing and dance performances from local Indonesian migrant groups. Meanwhile, Yosa Wariyanti, president of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union, said that the communitys alliance has raised over MOP17,000 in the past two weeks of fundraising efforts. Different Indonesian migrant groups have been raising awareness and funds for this cause by appearing in different areas throughout the city including the Three Lamps square and in the mosque. According to Wariyanti, the fundraising event will be held until the last Sunday of this month. My members families were affected but [missing people] have been found, but another friends family is still missing, Wariyanti explained. The alliance joined with an Indonesian organization [based in Indonesia], who will help us send the money to the villages [we aim to help], she said. Wariyanti implied that the group is also struggling to reach out to local residents in promoting their fundraising initiatives. For our community, we do not yet have support from local residents. We dont know how to ask them, or who and where to ask, she added. Over 400 soldiers from the Hong Kong garrison of the Peoples Liberation Army were quietly deployed for the first time on the weekend to help remove trees felled in country parks during the passage of Typhoon Mangkhut last month. The soldiers joined staff from Beijings Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong and hundreds of employees of state-owned enterprises to clean up a 100-kilometer hiking trail. Typhoon Mangkhut struck the coastal areas of Guangdong Province and the two special administrative regions on September 16, more than four weeks ago. According to Hong Kong authorities, the typhoon felled more than 46,000 trees as it passed by the city, many of which remain uncleared. The PLA garrison in Hong Kong may be deployed upon request of the Chief Executive and after approval from central authorities. The garrison is required to return to its barracks immediately after the operations conclusion. In the case of last weekend the Hong Kong government says it did not request such assistance. According to the South China Morning Post, Secretary Matthew Cheung tried to explain the situation as voluntary community service, adding that local authorities had not requested it. The newspaper cited the Hong Kong official as saying that residents of the city of 7.5 million should not read too much into the involvement of the PLA as it was intended for Hong Kongs good. The [Hong Kong] government did not interfere with their activity. We did not play any role, Cheung said, according to the SCMP. Our police, disciplined services, and our colleagues also took part in voluntary services. These things happen, so do not read too much into this. The government did not ask the PLA for help. Meanwhile, the government said that the clean-up efforts did not represent an official call for assistance, but rather a volunteer effort organized by the Liaison Office. It remains unclear whether the Office was in communication with the local government regarding the deployment, as Hong Kongers were not warned in advance. The deployment of the PLA garrison for initiatives other than community services has not occurred before in Hong Kong. It follows a similar deployment in Macau last year in the aftermath of Typhoon Hato, when Chief Executive Chui Sai On requested assistance from the garrison to help clean the streets and expedite the restoration of public services. In Macau, the assistance extended by the PLA garrison in the aftermath of Hato was generally well received by locals, even as it sparked concern in neighboring Hong Kong. The deployment was conducted within a few days of Hato making landfall and lasted for about 48 hours. The National Security Committee, which is headed by the Chief Executive, held its first plenary meeting recently. The development of systems and mechanisms for safeguarding national security was discussed during the meeting, outlining the direction of future efforts in that matter. In addressing the meeting, the Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, pointed out that it was the Macau SARs constitutional obligation to safeguard national security as specified in Article 23 of the Basic Law, and that this obligation had been acknowledged by the enactment of the National Security Law in 2009. The Chief Executive added that the goal of the National Security Committee was to better implement the National Security Law an important step for further fulfilment of the SARs constitutional obligation, and for upholding President Xi Jinpings major principle of comprehensive national security. Chui put forward three suggestions for the future work of the National Security Committee. First, he said that the National Security Committee should coordinate all efforts in strengthening Macaus systems, mechanisms and legislation with regard to national security so as to continuously improve Macaus overall capability in that matter. Chui also stated that all relevant departments should take proactive measures to prevent and combat different types of illegal activities that may harm national security or social stability. Second, Macau should stand firm on its political principles and raise the awareness of comprehensive national security, which was based on the core idea of the peoples safety. The government should take a forward-looking approach to preventing risks of all kinds and properly safeguard national security and social stability. Third, education in national security should be strengthened, namely via different types of publicity and education campaigns in the community and in schools. In particular, awareness about the legal aspects of national security should be promoted in the wider community so that residents would abide by the law and fulfil their legal obligations. During the meeting the vice president of the National Security Committee and Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak along with the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan briefed members about the work done so far by the government, in the field of national security. Nepalese internet providers have begun blocking thousands of pornographic websites as part of a government directive aimed at stopping sexual violence, officials said yesterday. The government issued new criminal and civil codes this year that include regulations against the use, broadcast and publication of pornographic materials with punishment for violators of up to one year in prison. Min Prasad Aryal of the Nepal Telecom Authority said yesterday that more than 25,000 websites have been blocked under the campaign. This is only the start, but a very good start, Aryal said, adding that a team of officials are monitoring internet service providers to ensure the order is followed. He said those providers who refuse or fail to comply face a fine of up to USD4,200 and risk losing their operating license. Internet service providers say they are complying with the government order but say it would be impossible to weed out and block all such sites. We are following the government order and have blocked the list of websites that was provided. However, it is not practical and technically not possible to block every pornographic website, said Binay Bohra of Vianet Communications. Bohra said they feared that with the new law service providers could easily be punished. Media rights groups have also expressed concern at the blanket ban of websites. This opens up the path for the government to block any websites in the future, saying they have obscene content. This order was issued without clarifying what is obscene and why or without doing any proper study, said Taranath Dahal, who heads the Freedom Forum, a Nepal- based media rights group. Dahal said there should be clear regulations from the government on what content is considered obscene and pornographic and what aged users should be barred. The government issued a similar ban in 2011, but this time there are more serious punishments for violations. AP A survey that asked fifth-grade students in Vermont about their sexual history, preference and gender identity has drawn complaints from parents. The survey sent to Windsor Elementary School students was conducted by WISE, a nonprofit domestic violence prevention and advocacy group, WPTZ-TV reported . A notice was sent to parents allowing them to opt their children out of the survey, but parent Vanessa Beach said she never received it. While she doesnt oppose topics on gender identity and sexuality being discussed, Beach said she feels the survey questions were inappropriate for her daughters age group. My daughter is 10. So are all the other kids who took this, Beach said. A sexual partner at 10 years old would be called sexual abuse. A WISE representative said the survey questions were created with University of New Hampshire researchers with whom the group is sharing the collected data. Beach said she told the school and WISE about her concerns. School administrators and WISE officials said they are working to address parents complaints. Students are told that they are not required to take the test and can choose not to, a WISE official said. Beach said she appreciates other work WISE does to raise awareness about domestic violence. China is encouraging insurers to invest in listed companies and help cut liquidity risks connected with the pledging of firms shares to secure loans, the China Securities Journal reported on Saturday, citing a senior official with the banking and insurance regulator. The government welcomes insurance companies making financial and strategic investments in quality, private, listed companies, the official newspaper cited Ren Chunsheng, of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, as saying. The insurers can play a more flexible role in cutting share-pledge risks, Ren said at a forum. The report didnt give more details on the issue from Ren, whos head of the regulators insurance asset management department. Share pledges, where company founders and other major investors put up stock as collateral, have emerged as a pressure point in Chinas debt-laden economy, especially as the stock market tumbles. Top regulators discussed the risks at a meeting in August, saying that further efforts are needed to ensure stability. Regulators will also revise rules to scrap sector restrictions on insurers private equity investments in a bid to boost the supply of long-term capital to the economy, Ren was cited as saying by the newspaper, which is affiliated with the official Xinhua News Agency. Officials are seeking to direct more insurance funds to small businesses and key projects that support state strategies, and will encourage insurers to participate in the financial derivatives market and set up units for debt-for-equity swaps, the report cited Ren as saying, without providing details. Bloomberg Nikita Khrushchev has unexpectedly stepped down as leader of the Soviet Union. The official Soviet news agency, Tass, announced that a plenary meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee had accepted Mr Khrushchevs request to depart in view of his advanced age and the deterioration of his health. Mr Khrushchev, who is 70, took over as First Secretary of the Central Committee soon after Stalins death. He has held the role of both party leader and prime minister since 1958. These posts will now be divided with 57-year-old Leonid Brezhnev heading the Soviet Communist Party, while 60-year-old Alexei Kosygin, will take the post of prime minister. The news has come as a shock to Soviet diplomats in London who were unaware that their leader might be unwell. Governments of Western Europe have also been taken aback and fear the new leadership might shift away from Mr Khrushchevs policy of peaceful co- existence with the West. A flamboyant character, Mr Khrushchev is described in the Times newspaper today as the most colourful leader world communism has produced. He took over from Joseph Stalin when he died in 1953. In 1955 he began the first of several visits abroad to improve Soviet relations with the rest of Europe, America and Asia. His first stop was Yugoslavia where he apologised in person to Marshal Josef Tito for Stalins attack on Yugoslav Communism in 1948. His denunciation of Stalin in 1956 in whats known as the secret speech to the 20th Party Congress gave Soviet satellite states such as Poland and Hungary new hope of more political freedom which were soon crushed by Warsaw Pact troops. During this speech, he also laid down the foundations of his foreign policy, moving away from the belligerent approach to capitalism and towards co- existence and competition. For Western leaders, his brash and extrovert sense of humour was a refreshing change from the stern image of previous Soviet public figures. He courted socialist parties abroad and encouraged cultural exchanges. But his temper sometimes got the better of him like the time he famously hit the table with his shoe during a United Nations debate in 1960 and he was quick to warn of the USSRs nuclear weapons capability in his speeches in the international arena. His leadership will also be remembered for bringing the world close to nuclear war by placing Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Courtesy BBC News In context The following day the Soviet government reassured the West it would continue the policy of peaceful co-existence. It also indicated Nikita Khrushchevs departure was certainly not voluntary and criticised his hare-brained scheming, bragging and phrase-mongering, without actually naming him. There had been a growing opposition to his failed agricultural and industrial policies, quarrels with China, and his humiliating climb-down over the Cuban missile crisis. There was also a feeling he was trying to create a cult of personality much like his predecessor Stalin in taking on the two roles of prime minister and head of the Communist Party. Mr Khrushchev lived the rest of his life away from the public eye in Moscow and at his country dacha as a special pensioner of the Soviet Government. In 1970 his memoirs were published in the United States and Europe, but not in the Soviet Union. He died on 11 September 1971 but was denied a state funeral and interment in the Kremlin wall, and is buried at Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow. A dozen Venezuelan doctors volunteered to join the USNS Comfort as the Navy hospital ship visits three South American countries that are struggling to cope with a flood of migrants from crisis-wracked Venezuela. The doctors all live in the United States, but they wanted to help fellow Venezuelans who have fled widespread shortages of food and medicine amid an economic collapse that has pushed millions of people into poverty. This is like a Band-Aid that will provide only temporary relief, said Dr. Marco Bologna, a cardiologist who now lives in Florida, where he is a member of the Venezuelan American Medical Association. But it is the right thing to do and it helps us to do something for our country. The Comfort has been described as a threat by Venezuelas socialist government and it will not visit that country during its 11-week tour of Latin America. The ship sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, on Thursday. It will spend several days at two Colombian ports, one of which is just a one-hour drive from the border with Venezuela. The ship will also dock at ports in Ecuador and Peru, two other nations that are now home to hundreds of thousands of struggling Venezuelans. It will wrap up its tour in the Central American country of Honduras. U.S. officials said the itinerary was designed with several local needs in mind, including the plight of Venezuelan migrants who are desperately seeking health care. A report published this month by a group of Venezuelan civil society groups estimated 20,000 doctors have left Venezuela since 2012. Each of the countries that we will spot was closely consulted. We have worked closely with them to ensure that we are providing the right care, at the right time, and at the right locations, said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Poullin, director of operations at the U.S. Southern Command. Obviously one of the factors that we considered was the Venezuelan crisis and the opportunity to treat Venezuelan migrants. According to the United Nations, 1.9 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015. The most recent migrants have little money for transport and many have been trying to reach their destinations on foot, in perilous journeys that can take several weeks. The Venezuelan American Medical Association said it has been working with the Southern Command for several months to prepare the mission. It said more than 1,000 civilian doctors applied to serve on the ship, but there were spots for only a dozen volunteers on board the vessel, whose crew of 300 is made up mostly of Navy personnel. One of the applicants who got left out was Gabriel Pinedo, a Venezuelan doctor who now delivers mail in Orlando, Florida, because he hasnt been able to have his degree validated in the United States. Pinedo said he is currently applying for asylum in the U.S. and his lawyer told him that it would not be wise to leave the country. It is frustrating not to be able to go, he said. I already saw myself there. The Comfort is equipped to attend to 750 patients a day during its South American journey and doctors on the ship will be able to perform 20 surgeries a day. The ships visit to South America comes just weeks after the U.S. put financial sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros wife. President Donald Trump has described Maduro as a dictator and said that all options are on the table when it comes to restoring democracy in Venezuela, including military intervention. Venezuelas government allowed a Chinese hospital ship to visit the country in September, but it has refused humanitarian aid from Western countries, arguing that such offers are just ploys for meddling in the countrys affairs. The Venezuelan doctors on the Comfort said they would like to see officials open a humanitarian channel that would allow medicine and food to be delivered into the country regularly. What we are doing here has a limited scope, said Dr. Rafael Gottenger, a plastic surgeon on the mission. But it is good to be able to help your people. AP China just dealt a blow to the global luxury goods industry. You can blame the trade war for that. The crackdown on the daigou trade in which tourists, friends and relatives buy high-value products overseas and send them back into the country to avoid Chinas hefty sales and import taxes has sent shares in luxury houses tumbling. After LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE told investors last week that officials were inspecting such grey imports at Chinese airports, stocks in a host of high-end companies fell by 5 percent or more. The announcement crystallized swirling fears in the industry by putting official confirmation on something thats been the subject of rumor on Chinese social media for the past week or so. China now accounts for about a third of luxury sales, and contributed about three-quarters of spending growth in the sector in the eight years through 2016. The question is: Why would officials choose this moment to antagonize its aspirational citizens? The best explanation relates to two aspects of Chinas trade tensions with the U.S. Firstly, theres the fact that the daigou trade is vast. Chinese tourists spent about USD762 a head on shopping while overseas in 2017, according to Nielsen Holdings. While thats just a quarter of their total outlays on holiday, when spread across 131 million trips, it represents about $100 billion of foreign goods being brought in under the counter. If anything, that possibly understates things: A great deal of the daigou trade is done by non-tourists, such as Chinese students in Melbourne buying vitamins and baby formula to send by post to contacts back home. Even before the current clashes with Washington, President Xi Jinping had made increasing the quantity of goods coming into the country a key objective, with an import expo scheduled in Shanghai next month. Encouraging Chinese consumers to buy more from overseas serves a dual purpose, further narrowing the countrys $350 billion trade surplus with the world and simultaneously nudging it along the road to rebalancing from industrial-led to consumption-led growth. Of course, searching bags and imposing swingeing sales taxes on people trying to bring whisky, cosmetics and bags through Shanghai airport isnt going to make that trade disappear overnight. Even after pruning its dizzying list of 1,500 import tariffs in July, China still levies a 17 percent sales tax thats far higher than rates elsewhere in Asia, as well as special consumption taxes for a range of sinful products such as alcohol, tobacco, high-end goods and cars. Still, any shift in that $100 billion shopping bill from off-the-books daigou imports to official transactions in Chinese shops will serve to narrow the trade surplus. If just a third of the annual total could be made official, the surplus would shrink by 10 percent. Theres a second-order benefit too. Like the U.S., China has been cutting income taxes to butter up its population for the fight ahead. Thats left it facing an impossible trilemma as it tries simultaneously to increase spending and reduce its deficit against the backdrop of a slowing economy. The reduction in import tariffs makes that worse, cutting a further 60 billion yuan from the budget, according to Deloitte. If Chinas luxury spending could only be brought onshore and formalized, that black hole could be much more easily filled. Sales taxes alone on half of the daigou trade would be sufficient to cover the reduction in import tariffs; add on consumption taxes, which have an array of different rates as high as 56 percent, and the government will be well ahead. Trying to plug imbalances in Chinas fiscal and trade balances by heavy-handed inspections of returning tourists is a clumsy way of doing public policy, and its more likely to fail than succeed. While luxury goods are famously inelastic in price meaning that raising their cost by bringing the trade onshore shouldnt reduce demand by much Chinese consumers often favor products brought in from overseas because of perceptions about quality and counterfeiting. That means locally bought equivalents arent a perfect substitute for imports. Thats little consolation to the luxury boutiques of Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, Milan and Hong Kong. David Fickling, Bloomberg SOUTH CHINA SEA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Vietnams prime minister have discussed efforts by their countries to delineate their maritime boundaries in the disputed South China Sea, most of which is claimed by China. INDONESIA Torrential rains triggered flash floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing at least 27 people, including a dozen children at a school. MALAYSIA Charismatic Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim won a by-election for a parliamentary seat with a landslide victory in a grand political comeback to help him prepare for his eventual takeover from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. RUSSIA Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from jail after serving 50 days on two consecutive sentences for organizing unsanctioned protests. The protests were against a Russian government plan to raise the eligibility age for state pensions, which has since been signed into law. NEPAL Internet providers have begun blocking thousands of pornographic websites as part of a government directive aimed at stopping sexual violence. INDIA Twelve people were feared dead in a cyclone shelter swamped by a landslide caused by heavy rains in eastern India, officials said Saturday. SYRIA A month after Russia, Turkey and Iran came together in a last-ditch effort to avert a potentially catastrophic Syrian government offensive in Idlib, they appear to have succeeded in creating a buffer zone around the northern rebel-held province, defusing tensions in a major flashpoint region. TURKEY At least 22 migrants, including children, have been killed in a truck accident yesterday, Turkeys official news agency said. SOMALIA is marking the first anniversary of one of the worlds deadliest attacks since 9/11, a truck bombing in the heart of Mogadishu that killed well over 500 people. POLAND Police used tear gas and a water cannon against right-wing extremists who were trying to block the first equality parade in the city of Lublin in eastern Poland. GERMANY Bavarians were voting yesterday in a state election that was expected to deal the prosperous regions long-dominant conservative party a stinging setback, with unpredictable consequences for German Chancellor Angela Merkels (pictured) federal government. PORTUGAL A weakened hurricane Leslie slammed into the coast of Portugal, leaving 27 people injured as it uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed store windows with gusting winds and heavy rain. October 15, 2018 13:45 The US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to China-based HelloCig Electronic Tech Company on Thursday for selling two e-liquids that contain erectile dysfunction drugs. No prescription drug is approved to be inhaled partly because no studies have been conducted on the risks, officials say, making this operation illegal. They warn users that the active ingredients tadalafil and sildenafil can turbocharge hypertension medications, driving down blood pressure dangerously low. Dr Premal Patel, a urologist at the University of Miami, warns that is a major concern because heart medications are common among men with erectile dysfunction problems. 'We are learning more and more than erectile dysfunction could be a harboring of cardiac problems in the future,' Dr Patel told DailyMail.com. 'The same blood vessels providing blood to the heart [provide blood to] the penis.' As a urologist, he says, it's part of the job to check patients' heart health too, and to be aware that drugs like Cialis or Viagra 'have side effects if you take them with medication.' 'So putting them in a vape... especially if it's not declared, it's risky,' he says. One of the marketed liquids, E-Cialis HelloCig E-Liquid, contains both tadalafil and sildenafil. Another one, E-Rimonabant, contains sildenafil and is marketed with a picture of an anti-obesity drug that is not legal in the US. When it comes to the actual impact of vaping tadalafil and sildenafil, it's uncharted territory. They work by dilating blood vessels to improve blood flow to the penis; they can also be prescribed to lower blood pressure in the lungs. But the drugs were designed to be swallowed. There was one trial in the early 2000s for an erectile dysfunction drug delivered via nasal spray, produced by a New Jersey pharmaceutical company. It would have become the first erectile dysfunction drug to act on the central nervous system. However, they didn't make it past early experiments. Fifteen years later, pills are the only approved form for ED drugs. 'All the studies ever done on [these drugs] are from an oral perspective so we don't know what it would do to inhale them,' Dr Patel explains. Another concern is that e-cigarettes allow users to ingest high concentrations of substances - be it nicotine or vitamins - very quickly. The warning against HelloCig comes hours after a report by the California Department of Food and Agriculture revealed hundreds of over-the-counter supplements contain active drugs - such as Viagra. The report said that the FDA is aware of these rule-breakers but, for unclear reasons, isn't cracking down. When it comes to e-cigarettes, however, the agency misses no opportunity. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, declared war on Juul, issuing a surprise raid on the company's headquarters earlier this month to seize information on how they market their product to children. They warn the product, which are promoted as ways for smokers to quit, is luring people into smoking, particularly teenagers, with attractive e-liquid flavorings like cinnamon and candy floss. Viagra, however, is a whole other issue they hadn't confronted, which could have mortal ramifications - and they are trying to nip in the bud. 'There are no e-liquid products approved to contain prescription drugs or any other medications that require a doctor's supervision,' said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD. 'Prescription drugs are carefully evaluated and labeled to reflect the risks of the medications and their potential interactions with other medicines, and vaping active drug ingredients is an ineffective route of delivery and can be dangerous. 'There are no e-liquids that contain prescription drugs that have been proven safe or effective through this route of administration. 'This action is part of FDA's broader effort to regulate the safety of vaping products, and crack down on misleading claims and illegal and dangerous e-liquids that may entice youth or put consumers at risk.' Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter Two in three ALD patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) survived for less than a year afterwards, the study shows. The findings highlight the need for increased support for ALD patients after they leave hospital, researchers suggest. The number of intensive care admissions for ALD are increasing in the UK but, until now, little was known about the long-term consequences for patients following time spent in critical care. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh looked at anonymised records of over 8000 ICU admissions in Scotland over six years to make their findings. Their study is the first to create a snapshot of ALD patients for a nation. Patients with ALD were 31 per cent more likely to die in the five years following a stay in intensive care, compared with those with severe heart, lung or kidney disease and other patients of similar age and background. ALD survivors were also more likely to undergo an emergency admission to hospital within five years after their stint in ICU compared with people with other conditions. Almost half of these emergency visits were linked to alcohol or liver problems, which highlights the long-term issues faced by patients living with addiction, researchers say. The study is published in Critical Care Medicine and was funded by the Chief Scientist Office, part of the Scottish Government Health Directorates. Dr. Nazir Lone, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Critical Care at the University of Edinburgh, who led the study, said: "Alcohol-related liver disease is often associated with stigma in society. Our findings underline the need for better community services for alcohol addiction and management of long-term conditions. "We hope that these findings will also help inform discussions between patients and doctors before they become critically ill so that they receive care in line with their wishes." Explore further One in four intensive care patients return to hospital, study shows In Alzheimer's disease state, the nuclear scaffold protein SRRM2 and the synapse-gene regulator PQBP1 are decreased. By increasing PQBP1 in neurons, expression of synapse genes are recovered and cognitive defects are rescued in Alzheimer's patients. Credit: Department of Neuropathology, TMDU Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, involving memory loss and a reduction in cognitive abilities. Patients with AD develop multiple abnormal protein structures in their brains that are thought to destroy or damage nerve cells (neurons). One of these structures, the senile plaque, is made up of clumps of beta-amyloid (A) peptide which form in the spaces between neurons. Many advanced clinical trials in patients with AD have attempted to slow down or reverse the disease by targeting these plaques for removal. However, despite the successful decrease in A aggregation, these trials mostly have failed to improve memory or cognitive function in AD patients. Before the formation of A aggregates, studies revealed changes in the phosphorylation (a chemical modification) of certain proteins, including SRRM2. This protein was thought to be involved in a form of gene regulation known as splicing, but its exact function was unclear. Now, a Japanese team of researchers led by Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) has examined levels of SRRM2 phosphorylation in a mouse model of AD, and found that they increased prior to A aggregation. This ultimately prevented the nuclear transport of SRRM2 and led to reduced levels of PQBP1 protein, which has been linked with the neurodevelopmental and intellectual disorders. The study results were reported in Molecular Psychiatry. "We showed that the increased phosphorylation of SRRM2 prevented it from interacting with another protein which aids protein folding," says first author Hikari Tanaka. "In the absence of this interaction, SRRM2 remained unfolded so was not transported to the nucleus and was degraded in the cytoplasm." The team next measured levels of SRRM2 and PQBP1 protein in the cerebral cortex of early-phase AD mice and human end-stage AD patients as well as in human AD iPS cells. Both proteins were greatly reduced compared with corresponding amounts in healthy controls. "To find out what effect a reduction in PQBP1 would have in vivo, we generated knockout mice in which the PQBP1 gene was disrupted," explains corresponding author Hitoshi Okazawa. "We observed cognitive decline and changes in the morphology of their synapses, which are junctions between neurons that allow electrical and chemical communication. These changes were caused by disrupted patterns of synapse gene splicing." A viral vector containing PQBP1 was used to recover the synapse protein expression in these mice. Not only did this restore PQBP1 expression, but it also recovered the abnormal phenotypes. These findings offer a new insight into early changes that occur during AD pathology involving splicing proteins, suggesting possibilities for gene therapies by virus vectors. Explore further Insights into familial middle-age dementia suggest new avenues for treatment More information: Hikari Tanaka et al, The intellectual disability gene PQBP1 rescues Alzheimer's disease pathology, Molecular Psychiatry (2018). Journal information: Molecular Psychiatry Hikari Tanaka et al, The intellectual disability gene PQBP1 rescues Alzheimer's disease pathology,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-018-0253-8 Provided by Tokyo Medical and Dental University Children with ADHD find it more difficult to focus and to complete their schoolwork. Credit: public domain image A new global study involving the University of Adelaide has found that children who are the youngest in their classroom are more likely to be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) than their older classmates. The research, led by Curtin University and published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, systematically reviewed studies that examine the relationship between a child's age relative to their classmates and their chances of being diagnosed with, or medicated for, ADHD. Seventeen studies covering more than 14 million children five in the USA, two in Spain and one each in Canada, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan and Australia found it was more common for the youngest children in a classroom to be diagnosed with ADHD and medicated. Co-author Professor Jon Jureidini, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist from the University of Adelaide, said the findings highlighted the importance of teachers, doctors and parents being aware of the impact of relative age and giving the youngest children in class the extra time they need to mature. "Mistaking perfectly normal age-related immaturity for ADHD is just one of many problems with the label. Children who are sleep deprived, bullied, have suffered abuse or have a host of other problems, often get labelled ADHD," Professor Jureidini said. "Not only does this result in them getting potentially harmful drugs they don't need, but their real problems don't get identified and addressed." Lead author Dr. Martin Whitely, Research Fellow at the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy based at Curtin University, said there are no biological markers or physical tests for ADHD and the diagnosis is based in large part on teacher reports of a child's behaviour. "It appears that across the globe some teachers are mistaking the immaturity of the youngest children in their class for ADHD. Although teachers don't diagnose it, they are often the first to suggest a child may have ADHD," Dr. Whitely said. "Our research shows that the ADHD late-birthday effect occurs in both high prescribing countries, like the USA, Canada and Iceland, and in countries where ADHD is far less common, like Finland, Sweden and Taiwan. Our findings challenge the notion that misdiagnosis only happens in countries where there is a high rate of prescriptions for ADHD." Dr. Whitely explained that only two studies, both in Denmark, demonstrated a weak or non-existent late birth-date effect, with the majority of late-born Danish boys held back a year, which makes it unclear whether this prevents or just disguises the effect. "Further research could help us determine whether allowing parents to decide if their child is ready to begin school helps reduce this and other late birthday effects. It could be that it helps the delayed-entry child but other children suffer," Dr. Whitely said. Explore further ADHD or just immature? More information: Martin Whitely et al. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder late birthdate effect common in both high and low prescribing international jurisdictions: systematic review, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2018). Journal information: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Martin Whitely et al. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder late birthdate effect common in both high and low prescribing international jurisdictions: systematic review,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12991 NHS patients are being let down by a global health innovation system which fails to deliver the treatments they need at prices that government can afford, according to a new report led by Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), in collaboration with STOPAIDS, Global Justice Now and Just Treatment. The report, The People's Prescription: Re-imagining health innovation to deliver public value, warns that health innovation is being hampered by a drive for profit and calls for a major overhaul of the system to ensure that more drugs and treatments are developed for critical health needs. Crucially it addresses both the rate and the direction of innovation. Although innovation in health is vital for the development of drugs used by the NHS and healthcare systems around the world, the report finds that the current system for developing drugs incentivises high prices and delivers short-term returns to shareholders, rather than focusing on riskier, longer-term research which leads to critically needed therapeutic advances. The authors warn that the high prices of medicines are causing severe patient access problems worldwide with damaging consequences for health and wellbeing. The solution is not as simple as demanding lower prices but to understand how the characteristics of the system must be overhauled, from the dynamics of patents which are hurting transparency and collaboration to the ways in which corporate governance hurt innovation. With the system 'fundamentally broken', the report maps out fault lines and recommends new concrete policy actions to deliver public value for the greatest health need. Last year, NHS England spent 1bn on medicines that had received public investment, while spending on drugs is rising at five times the rate its budget is rising. Key points include: Research and development priorities are not determined by public health needs. The system ignores diseasessuch as tuberculosisthat are most prevalent in developing countries. Meanwhile, more than half of approved medicines in recent years offered no additional health benefits. The number of new drugs approved against research and development (R & D) spend has declined from around 40 drugs per $1bn of R & D in the 1950s to less than 0.65 drugs per $1bn spend this century, representing a huge drop in innovation and productivity. Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly focused on maximising short-term financial returns to shareholders, rather than funding health advances in the public interest. The 19 pharmaceutical companies included in the S&P 500 Index in January 2017 (and listed 2006-15) spent $297bn on repurchasing their own shares between 2007-1661% of their combined R&D expenditures in this period. Professor Mariana Mazzucato said: "The diagnosis looks bleak for the health innovation system; it's expensive and unproductive and requires a complete transformation. We have a situation now where the NHS is a huge buyer of drugs and the UK government is a significant investor in the development of new treatments, yet big pharmaceutical companies are calling the shots. "In the year of the 70th anniversary of the NHS, this is an ideal time to take stock and rethink the system with a move towards a model that prioritises long-term public value above short-term corporate profits." As an immediate policy action, the report calls on governments to pursue their legal right to procure affordable generic versions of patented medicines if companies refuse to drop their prices to levels affordable to national health systems such as the NHS. These legal rights are known as Flexibilities within the World Trade Organisation's TRIPS rules (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). This could mean huge savings for the NHS. For example, evidence shows that the prices the UK pays for some cancer medicines could be reduced by between 75% and 99.6% if they could be procured as generics. Intellectual property rules should also be reformed to make vital medicines more affordable and open to innovation, with patents only issued to truly innovative technology. Long-term recommendations include: A mission-oriented approach to improving health outcomes, where governments can set the direction of health innovation by focusing the energy of state, civil society and the private sector on clearly articulated public health goals. Changing how corporate governance works; rethinking the role of the public sector and improving the structure of the private sector. Better deals through conditionality; governments should be able to negotiate better deals as the main investors in new treatments, instead of rewards being disproportionately shared with the private sector. Conditionality would also prevent the public from paying twice for medicines. A treatment for prostate cancerAbirateronewas discovered by the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR), which receives 38 per cent of its funding from charities and the UK Medical Research Council, and 14 per cent from other government funding. The NHS then spent 172 million on the drug between 2014 and 2016, following five years of negotiations when the price was set just below NICE's upper limit of acceptable costs. By the end of 2017, Johnson & Johnson had made around 1.9 billion in sales and the ICR had earned just 137 million. Mission-oriented research and innovation involves strategic decision making in both governments and business through purpose-led missions. This approach focuses on problem-specific challenges, which many different sectors interact to solve. The focus on problems, and new types of collaborations between public and private actors to solve them, creates the potential for greater spillovers than a sectoral approach. It was this approach that put a man on the moon, and lay behind the creation of the internet and entire new sectors like biotechnology. Heidi Chow, Senior Campaigns Manager, Global Justice Now, said: "A pharmaceutical industry that makes billions in profits without providing the affordable medicines that people need is one of the scandals of our time. It's easy to feel that there is no alternative, but in fact there are a whole host of alternatives that are already working in a number of countries. It is time to scale up what's working, and drop what's not so that people here in the UK and around the world can access the effective treatments they need." Saoirse Fitzpatrick, Senior Advocacy Adviser, STOPAIDS, added: "We have to face the reality that our current system for developing medicines is not matching people's health needs. If we carry on with business as usual then we are going to end up bankrupting patients and health services with high priced drugs and wasting precious financial resources on copycat medicines which do nothing but add to the pharmaceutical industry's profits. "We know there are other models out there, we need governments to work from this evidence base and build an alternative system for health innovation that gives us the medicines people need at prices we can all afford." Diarmaid McDonald, Lead Organiser, Just Treatment, said: "NHS patients, like those who lead Just Treatment, have had their access to vital medicines delayed or denied because of the unaffordable prices charged by the industry. Sadly these high prices are not going awaythey lie at the heart of our current medical innovation system. Until governments follow the recommendations in this report and set about creating a pharmaceutical system that puts patients and public health at its core, our health and our health systems will continue to suffer as pharmaceutical profits continue to soar." Design of the study described in the article. Credit: Corominas et al., 2018, supplementary materials A team from I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, together with foreign colleagues, analyzed the genomes of several families that have members with ADHD. The results have shown that all patients had specific features in certain genes. The identification of such patterns may help diagnose ADHD. The work was published in Molecular Psychiatry. ADHD, or attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder with manifestation usually occurring in childhood. According to various sources, this condition affects from 3 percent to 30 percent of the population. Children with ADHD are easily distracted, hyperactive and impulsive. ADHD patients may be aggressive and have higher risks for substance abuse and the development of other mental disorders. Only 40 percent show improvement with age. The pathological mechanisms behind ADHD are still unknown, but scientists prefer the version of joint influence of genetic factors and environmental adversities (e.g., stress or illness of the mother during pregnancy, complications during labor, or diseases suffered in early childhood). "We believe the development of ADHD may be caused by alterations in the structure of genes encoding proteins which participate in signal transmission in the nervous system using special biologically active substancesneuromediators. In the case of ADHD, the changes affect, among others, serotonin and dopamine pathways in the nervous system that play an important role in the processes of attention, motivation, and learning. The disorder has a complex genetic nature that hasn't been addressed until recently," says Evgeniy Svirin, junior research associate of the laboratory of psychiatric neurobiology at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. The scientists focused on studying the rare functional variants in whole set of genes in several generations of families with running ADHD. They managed to follow the patterns for certain genes, e.g., AAED1. The protein produced by this gene binds with several other proteins that participate in dopaminergic and glutamatergic transmission. Changes in its activity can potentially influence the excitability of some structures of the central nervous system leading to behavioral alterations. Moreover, to the association with ADHD was discovered for another gene with an unknown functionATAD2. Notably, these rare variants were also found in ADHD patients outside the studied families. These findings give further evidence for considering them as ADHD risk genes. "We have discovered new rare functional variants associated with the risk of ADHD development. Our results may be of use for the development of genetic diagnostics methods for this complex disorder. Further studies of the rare AAED1 gene variant on brain development that are already carried out by our joint team with German researchers, may help better understand pathological mechanisms that lead to the occurrence of this disease," concludes Evgeniy Svirin. Explore further Study identifies distinct origin of ADHD in children with history of brain injury More information: Jordi Corominas et al, Identification of ADHD risk genes in extended pedigrees by combining linkage analysis and whole-exome sequencing, Molecular Psychiatry (2018). Journal information: Molecular Psychiatry Jordi Corominas et al, Identification of ADHD risk genes in extended pedigrees by combining linkage analysis and whole-exome sequencing,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-018-0210-6 Provided by Sechenov University UT Dallas doctoral student Stephanie Shiers led a recent study with Dr. Sven Kroener (left) and Dr. Ted Price, both of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, that examined how metformin, gabapentin and clonidine affected neuropathic pain-induced impairments. Credit: University of Texas at Dallas Scientists seeking an effective treatment for one type of chronic pain believe a ubiquitous, generic diabetes medication might solve both the discomfort and the mental deficits that go with the pain. "People who are in constant pain have problems thinking straight sometimes. The longer you're in pain, the more entrenched the impairment becomes," said Stephanie Shiers, a fourth-year cognition and neuroscience doctoral student at The University of Texas at Dallas and lead author of a study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. "These impairments aren't addressed by existing therapeutics." In the study, UT Dallas researchers show how a type of chronic pain called neuropathic pain responds to metformin, one of the most prescribed medications worldwide, as well as to pain relievers gabapentin and clonidine. Neuropathic pain is caused by damage to nerve cells, as opposed to other body tissue. Examples include phantom limb syndrome, pain resulting from a stroke and the "pins and needles" sensations associated with diabetes. Dr. Sven Kroener, associate professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), and Dr. Ted Price, a Eugene McDermott Professor in BBS, are co-senior authors of the paper. Price, who is head of neuroscience, explained that pain affects a wide variety of regions of the brain. "The sensory input that drives pain sends electrochemical signals almost everywhere in your brain, including the prefrontal cortex," he said. "When neuropathic pain occurs and certain nerves become active all the time, a huge swath of your brain is now receiving this constant sensory input, and it has to adapt. It makes it go haywire." The study, which was conducted on mice, used a task that gauges attention and mental flexibility to measure how each drug helped or harmed the cognitive abilities of the rodents. "When we talk about flexibility, we mean being able to recognize and react to new stimuli in the environment," Kroener said. "The task that we used has been well studied in rodents, and we know what brain structures are involved." While clonidine did not change task performance and gabapentin affected it negatively, metformin reversed pain-induced impairments. "We chose clonidine because it has a very robust effect on pain if injected into the spinal canal and gabapentin because that's the most widely prescribed nonnarcotic pain drug," Shiers said. Previous studies have established that neuropathic pain patients' cognitive deficits can persist even when the pain has been treated. "That suggested to us that there was a long-lasting type of structural change at work in the brain," Shiers said. "In this regard, metformin outperformed both clonidine and gabapentin." The research also turned up a significant difference in performance for male and female micea trend that has become prominent in recent pain work. "Since we began doing studies on both sexes, we see a sex difference in almost everything we do involving pain," Price said. "I'm no longer surprised by it, but I can't explain it in most cases." Kroener, whose research focuses on the function of the prefrontal cortex in animal models of schizophrenia and addiction, said the next step is to gain a better understanding of why metformin is effective in these cases. "It's great if a drug works. It's even better if we know how it works," Kroener said. "We observe the results, but we don't know how they are achieved. That's what we should pursue next: determining the pathways in which metformin works to correct these defects and how the physiology changes." Explore further Scientists discover powerful potential pain reliever More information: Stephanie Shiers et al. Neuropathic Pain Creates an Enduring Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction Corrected by the Type II Diabetic Drug Metformin But Not by Gabapentin, The Journal of Neuroscience (2018). Journal information: Journal of Neuroscience Stephanie Shiers et al. Neuropathic Pain Creates an Enduring Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction Corrected by the Type II Diabetic Drug Metformin But Not by Gabapentin,(2018). DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0713-18.2018 UK researchers behind a potential 'universal' liquid biopsy blood test for cancer detection have licensed the technology to an industrial partner to take it to market. The research team believes that the test could be the first screening tool to 'rule in, or rule out' cancer in patients under suspicion of the disease, alongside other traditional diagnostics methods. The test was developed at the University of Bradford, UK. It measures the damage to the DNA of white blood cells when subjected to different intensities of ultraviolet (UV) light, revealing measurable differences in the cells' susceptibility to further damage in patients with cancer. The damage forms a 'comet tail' of DNA pieces that are pulled towards the positive end of an electric field. The longer the comet tail, the more DNA damage is present, which correlates with the presence of cancer. In a 2014 proof of concept study, the Bradford researchers showed they could identify which samples were from patients with three different types of cancereven those who had yet to be diagnosedwith 93 per cent success. However, in their two most recent clinical trials of the test involving over 700 blood samples from colorectal and prostate cancer patients (and further breast and lung cancer samples that were available), they were unable to distinguish those with cancer from healthy patients in 60 cases. To determine whether scoring more cells on the slides would explain this 'challenging subgroup', lead researcher Professor Diana Anderson from the University of Bradford asked IMSTAR, to reanalyse the inconclusive slides. The Bradford team had scored 100 cells per slide, but the Pathfinder system is able to analyse up to 10,000 cells per slide, and uses Artificial Intelligence concepts in its proprietary software. Scoring a minimum of 2,000 cells per slide, the IMSTAR Pathfinder system was able to separate all individuals of the cancer group from the healthy control group with confirmed statistical significance. These findings are published in FASEB BioAdvances journal. Professor Anderson said: "This test is different from other universal cancer tests being developed, because it is not looking for a specific biomarker or mutation. This is a generic test for cancer in an individual, regardless of the underlying mechanism that's causing their cancer. "I'm now convinced that if we used the powerful IMSTAR system to look at thousands of cells on all the slide samples in the trials, we would see a significant increase in the overall predictability beyond the original 93 per cent of the original 2014 study." Paris-based company IMSTAR has now coupled the innovative technology developed at Bradford with their fully-automated Pathfinder cell reader-analyser to create a powerful and robust test for early detection, called TumorScan. Co-first author Dr. Mojgan Najafzadeh from the University of Bradford said: "We feel that we've taken it as far as we can in proving that the test works with high predictability for cancer outcome, and IMSTAR are the right partners to improve it still further." Dr. Francoise Soussaline, Ph.D., DSc, IMSTAR's president said: "To bring a universal 'liquid biopsy' blood test for cancer to market, it must achieve a number of criteria, including high sensitivity and specificity and be fully automated with high throughput for a medical routine use. In addition, test results must be available in 24hrs and at affordable cost. "We believe that the combination of Bradford's innovation and IMSTAR's unique expertise has shown that TumorScan can achieve these requisites." IMSTAR's vice-president for medical applications, Dr. Michel Soussaline, confirmed that the company will be working to automate the full test workflow further to take it to market. Explore further New blood test determines whether you have or are likely to get cancer More information: Using a Modified Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity (LGS) test or TumorScan test to detect cancer at an early stage in each individual, Using a Modified Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity (LGS) test or TumorScan test to detect cancer at an early stage in each individual, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fba.1020 NOTICE: TO BE CLEAR: WE HAVE OUTLINED UNDER OUR RECORD MAINTENANCE POLICY WHAT WE BELIEVE TO BE A FAIR PROCESS FOR ALL. SIMPLY PUT: IF THE COURT SAW FIT TO EXPUNGE YOUR RECORD,SO WILL WE, FREE OF CHARGE. ARRESTS DO NOT IMPLY GUILT AND CRIMINAL CHARGES ARE MERELY ACCUSATIONS,EVERYONE IS PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW AND CONVICTED. FCRA DISCLAIMER: MUGSHOTS.COM DOES NOT PROVIDE CONSUMER REPORTS AND IS NOT A CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY. 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ARCHIVED - Gibraltar Brexit deal reported to be imminent Tax, environmental and anti-contraband measures are being negotiated, the airport and sovereignty are not being discussed The situation regarding the conditions of Brexit appears to be in as much doubt as ever as Wednesdays tussle in Brussels approaches, but the government of Gibraltar appears to be resigned to the fact that the British government and the EU are putting the finishing touches to a specific protocol by which fiscal, policing, customs and environmental policies will have to be re-designed in agreement with the Spanish government. The negotiating guidelines agreed upon by the 27 countries which will remain in the EU after 29th march next year specify that Spain should have the last word in deciding whether the terms specified regarding Gibraltar are beneficial, a role which the government in Madrid is attempting to use in order to ensure that fiscal, environmental and anti-contraband measures which have always been resisted by the UK government are implemented. Fabian Picardo, the Gibraltarian Chief Minister, has until now insisted that his administration is being included in discussions, but now it is recognized that a document similar to those affecting the Northern Ireland border with the Republic and the UKs bases in Cyprus is being discussed by the authorities in London and Madrid and that Gibraltar will most likely have to accept the conditions agreed on. Sr Picardo informed ministers on Saturday of the latest developments, and a government press release explains that the definition of the term United Kingdom, under the Withdrawal Agreement, includes Gibraltar and that the United Kingdom, under the 2006 Constitution, remains responsible for entering into international agreements on behalf of Gibraltar. Similarly, the recourse mechanism for the UK-EU Agreement, if agreed, will be a Joint Committee at the top, but with separate Specialised Committees covering areas like Gibraltar, Northern Ireland and Cyprus. The release warns that there will be a set of practical measures spelt out in separate arrangements with Spain covering tax cooperation, police and customs cooperation, the environment, citizens rights and tobacco. An update issued on Monday 15th October reports that an agreement which provides for Gibraltars orderly withdrawal from the European Union is almost complete, and that while there are a few issues that remain to be ironed out, the overarching principle of the discussions remains that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. The main thrust of Spains demands has been that the tax laws in Gibraltar should no longer constitute unfair competition to the neighbouring Spanish region of Andalucia, and in order to facilitate the reaching of an agreement the government in Madrid has sidelined not only its often repeated claims to sovereignty but also its aim of sharing control of the airport of the British Overseas Territory. But the Gibraltarian government remains defiant, insisting that if the agreement reached is not acceptable to them then it should be scrapped: No deal is better than a bad deal, one press release states. Image: Gibraltars Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia, who has been heavily involved in Brexit discussions. Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Region of Murcia and the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/ article_detail --> MyBroadbands Q3 2018 broadband speed test results show that Johannesburg is the South African city with the highest average broadband speed. The research further reveals that Gauteng enjoys the best broadband speeds, while the Northern Cape has the worst performance. MyBroadbands Q3 2018 speed test report is based on 676,220 speed tests performed on MyBroadbands speed test platform between 1 July and 30 September 2018. MyBroadbands speed test servers are hosted in Teracos vendor-neutral data centres to ensure a neutral testing environment. The speed tests include fixed-line, wireless, and mobile connections from ISPs, which means the results are representative of multiple technologies. According to the Q3 2018 statistics, the average download speed in South Africa was 15.35Mbps, while the average upload speed was 11.09Mbps. Big city ranking MyBroadbands Q3 2018 speed test report shows that Johannesburg is the top large city, followed by Cape Town, Pretoria, then Durban. Average Broadband Speeds City Download (Mbps) Upload (Mbps) Latency (ms) Johannesburg 22.176 16.345 37 Cape Town 18.022 11.371 41 Pretoria 16.660 9.519 46 Durban 13.552 7.392 57 Province ranking The report reveals that Gauteng and the Western Cape have big advantages over other provinces in South Africa. Having a smartphone with dual-SIM functionality can be a big advantage for South Africans. Using a dual-SIM device, you can make use of the great data deals on offer at a certain mobile operator while using another networks SIM card as your preferred number for making and receiving calls. There is also quite a selection of these devices available to customers in South Africa, including Huaweis flagship devices like the P20 and the more affordable P20 Lite. However, you cannot get one of these smartphones with working dual-SIM functionality through the two biggest mobile operators in South Africa MTN and Vodacom. Upon purchase of a dual-SIM device on contract from MTN, customers will realise that they are unable to make use of the second SIM slot. If they purchase through Vodacom, they will notice that their device is in fact not dual-SIM at all. The easiest way to ensure dual-SIM functionality is to purchase a confirmed dual-SIM device model from an independent retailer. To find out more, MyBroadband spoke to MTN and Vodacom to determine the extent to which these mobile operators support dual-SIM functionality. MTN MTN SA executive for corporate affairs Jacqui OSullivan told MyBroadband that it subsidises some devices on its contract packages, and subsequently blocks dual-SIM functionality on these smartphones. In our continued commitment to give more South Africans access to connectivity and the Internet, MTN has been subsidising 4G smartphones on some of our contract packages, OSullivan said. She added that many 4G smartphones include features that give customers a better experience on the MTN network. Some of these phones come with dual-SIM functionality, OSullivan said. Because some of the dual-SIM devices are already being subsidised to bring connectivity closer to our nation, MTN has decided to disable the dual-SIM functionality in these phones available through our retail channels. MTN said that customers are still able to exchange primary SIM cards on any of the smartphones they purchase through the mobile operator when needed. Vodacom Vodacom told MyBroadband that it does not sell any dual-SIM devices, meaning that only single-SIM versions of dual-SIM smartphones are available through its retail channels. Vodacom does not sell any dual-SIM devices, a company spokesperson told MyBroadband. There are no network restrictions placed on any of the devices that we offer on contract or prepaid. The company did not elaborate as to why it does not sell any dual-SIM devices. A year ago, a Sears bankruptcy would have fit better into the U.S. retail narrative, given the steady decline of shopping malls and foundering chains. Today, however, with shoppers feeling more free to spend and nicer malls on the upswing, bankruptcy is a clear sign of individual weakness, not an industry trend. Sears Holdings Corp., once a force in U.S. retail so dominant that it could be called the Amazon of the 20th century, has been suffocated by debt and a steady erosion of revenue. While department-store competitors invested in e-commerce and tried new brands and formats, Sears withered as majority shareholder and Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert repeatedly cut costs and shuttered stores. The retailers that are succeeding are investing in being good retailers, said Ivan Feinseth, chief investment officer of Tigress Financial Partners. All Sears did was close stores and sell assets, and it was a study in financial engineering that didnt work. In other words, dont expect the Sears failure to be a contagion threatening to infect the rest of retail. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors early on Monday, listing more than $10 billion in debts and more than $1 billion in assets. Sears and its Kmart stores plan to stay in business for now, with help from $600 million in new loans. The Napa Sears store is not owned by Sears Holdings and is not part of this bankruptcy filing. Located on Soscol Avenue, the Napa store is known as Sears Hometown Store. It is locally owned and operated by owner Samir Abdalla. The Sears Hometown Store business is completely separate, from Sears department stores, Abdalla said. Like Sears, Toys R Us Inc. was crippled by debt, which caused it to liquidate operations despite last years $11.5 billion of revenue. Both companies had seen cash flow increasingly constrained by interest payments. Sears has the added pressure of pension liabilities. Meanwhile, the rise of Amazon.com has forced retailers into an expensive race to provide the online and delivery capabilities that consumers demand. Shoppers also are expecting customer service that goes beyond ringing up a cash register. Walmart and Target have led the charge, expanding delivery and options like curbside pickup. Both have much lower debt levels and are tolerating the narrowing margins as a necessary cost of business. Other retailers have experienced varying degrees of success. But with the U.S. economy strong and unemployment low, most chains prospects are brighter today than they were a year ago. Investors have seized on the companies that are poised to survive the industrys protracted shakeup. Sears, ironically perhaps, just held a showcase for a renovated store in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Illinois. On a recent afternoon, the store was clean and bright, with a welcome center offering hot drinks and plush chairs. A few customers browsed the aisles, stocked neatly with Isotoner gloves and Rosetti handbags at a 40 percent discount. Cashier Christian Ambrosio, 22, blamed gloomy weather for the lack of customers. The parking lot, still under construction, held about 10 cars. Ambrosio said he attended the Oct. 4 re-opening, which brought out actress and Sears clothing designer Jaclyn Smith. He said the store has been pretty quiet since then. The younger customers, theyre inside the malls like at the food courts and shopping at H&M and Express, he said. Sears shares have lost about 90 percent of their value this year. Smaller apparel chains like American Eagle Outfitters and Urban Outfitters have rebounded in recent quarters as shoppers have started spending again. Meanwhile, bigger stores like Best Buy Inc. have steadily siphoned off some of the appliance sales that traditionally went to Sears. Its unclear whether the Oak Brook blueprint will be enough to bring in shoppers who might have defected long ago or who feel no loyalty to the brand. Too much rot has set in at Sears to make it viable business, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said in an email. The brand is now tarnished just as the economics of its model are firmly stacked against its future success. While the company will remain open through the holiday period, its bankruptcy might deter some shoppers from buying big-ticket items there because of concern that Sears wont be around much longer to back guarantees or take returns, Saunders said. Sears has also struggled because its sold off some of its best locations. Oak Brook is an affluent suburb, but the timing of the renovation could be better. The store reopened just months after McDonalds moved its corporate headquarters from across the highway to downtown Chicago. David Tawil, co-founder and president of Maglan Capital, said Sears is more of a unique, one-off situation, rather than a reflection of retails broader plight. He cited Searss unusual relationship with Lampert, who for years fended off the retailers demise by paying off debt and selling assets. Lampert is also the largest shareholder in businesses that have been spun off, such as Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust that counts Sears as its biggest tenant, and Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. Sears has closed hundreds of stores in recent years in a bid to cut expenses. Other businesses that were sold or spun off include Craftsman tools and apparel company Lands End Inc. Closing stores and selling good assets only leaves you with no stores left to close and no good assets, said Feinseth of Tigress. Its the ultimate pulling the plants and watering the weeds. Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears has tens of thousands of employees uncertain about their future and, despite corporate travails, loyal customers. At a Brooklyn, New York, store, Glenda Mitchell, 53, and her mother were recently in the process of buying toys for the grandkids along with a smattering of other shoppers. Mitchell said shes been coming to Sears for more than 20 years and will miss it if it goes away. This is basically the only store my mom usually comes to shop at, Mitchell said. Look at the foot traffic. Where are these people going when Sears closes? Its the middle of October, one year after the devastating wildfires, and Calistoga is in the national spotlight again for all the wrong reasons. Power was turned off Sunday night in Calistoga, as part of PG&E's fire safety measures. By about 1:45 p.m. on Monday, power started coming on for some residents and businesses, and Calistoga Police said the power in the town was likely to be fully restored by 8 p.m. that night. There was some confusion among residents and business owners as to when or even if the power was going to be turned off. PG&E sent out voice and text messages started a few days before the outage warning customers to be prepared in case of an outage, and to report any downed power lines. But some weren't sure if this meant the power was definitely going to be turned off, and some, like the Calistoga Police Department, didn't receive notice until the day before. "We didn't find out about it until Sunday. They're still working the bugs out," said officer James Inskeep. Michael Dunsford, owner of Calistoga Inn, was angry. The burden and cost of this effort (to prevent fires) is falling on the shoulders of small businesses, and that is unacceptable, Dunsford estimated that the shutdown will cost him between $5,000 and $10,000 and is costing about 15 workers a days pay since he cant open for lunch. Guests in three rooms demanded refunds Sunday night and left, and three more were talking about doing so Monday morning. The onsite brewery has six tanks with beer in production with no way to control the temperature, threatening several batches of fresh beer. Where some restaurants opted to close early on Sunday, Dunsford chose to stay open since PG&E gave no specific time for a possible shutdown. When the power went down after 8 p.m., there were at least 75 guests in the restaurant, and a number of employees in the kitchen in the dark. He had deployed a generator, but a technical problem prevented him from turning it on, leaving everyone in the dark, including hotel guests who were using candles to get to their rooms and the bathrooms. Dunsford said PG&E should have given a more specific estimate for the time of a shutdown, or waited until a later hour when most restaurants would have been closed anyway. Dunsford, who is also the citys vice mayor, said he did not feel any winds even remotely comparable to last Octobers firestorms, and he worried that if PG&E is too aggressive in turning of power in the late fire season, it would deter tourists from coming to Calistoga in the heart of harvest season. If this is the State of California or PG&Es plan for preventing forest fires in late October into early November, whats that going to do to businesses, he said. Monday morning all businesses in town were closed, including the always bustling Cafe Sarafornia, the Calistoga Roastary, and Cal Mart, which left tourists and residents wandering the town looking for coffee and breakfast. The local schools were also closed for the day. The only businesses with their doors open were a couple of retail shops and Calistoga Smoke Shop. Those business owners were upset and frustrated, saying theyve never seen anything like this. Andee Beresini has owned Sugar Daddys consignment store on Lincoln Avenue for 16 years. Why would they (PG&E) volunteer to turn off the power? I can see if it was warranted, she said. Matt Shimetz, manager at Mount View Hotel, said since the outage most guests have stayed on, but I doubt anyone is going to check in. Were trying to hang on to the ones we have. Were disappointed but we understand what they (PG&E) have to do. But couldnt they have given us a reprieve? Its sending a message that October is a scary time to come here. Visitors looking for something to eat were being sent to the next nearest town, St. Helena. At All Seasons Bistro, chef Kevin Kathman said that everyone in the world had been in to talk to him Monday about the outage including NBC, ABC, and the Associated Press. Reporter Will Schmitt from the Press Democrat, in Santa Rosa, was in town interviewing business owners about the power outage. He said he was writing a story about "What it's like to live and work in a place in 2018 when the power goes out." Kathman had all of the restaurants perishables packed in coolers and on ice, something he said he was embarrassed to show the world. Even if the power comes on in the next couple of hours, we cant pull everything together for dinner, he said, including gathering employees back to work. All Seasons did remain closed Monday evening, however Hydro Grill, Checkers, Calistoga Inn, Thai Kitchen, and Johnny's at the Mount View Hotel opened for business. CAl Mart also opened later in the afternoon. That morning, Cal Mart employees said they barely had enough back-up power to keep the freezers going, and couldn't remember when the last time the store was closed due to a power outage. Last year, during the wildfires and Calistoga's evacuation, Cal Mart remained open, feeding the first responders. At the downtown Mount View Hotel on Lincoln Avenue, coffee had been brought in from Santa Rosa, and croissants had been delivered as usual, said General Manager Derrick Dumont. The hotel also worked with Comcast Sunday evening to have hotel phone lines forwarded to employees' cell phones. Power also went out at about 8:30 p.m., Sunday in Hidden Valley Lake. As of Monday morning, it had not been restored and power also was out in downtown Middletown. From KCBS at about 7 a.m., there were reports of huge gusts of wind on the top of Mount St. Helena. "I was driving through there, past the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park at that time and didnt see any trees moving. After cresting Mount St. Helena on Highway 29, on the Napa County side, I did see the trees moving in the wind," said Dave Stoneberg, editor of the St. Helena Star. City of Calistoga public work crews had put up stop signs at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Washington Street to control traffic as of about 7:30 a.m., and there were three television trucks parked near the intersection, including one from San Francisco's NBC. Pacific Union College in Angwin has its own power system and was not affected by the PG&E outage. Classes and activities went on as usual on Monday, and the College Market remained open. Pope Valley Elementary School cancelled classes on Monday. The school is running on generators, but many of the students and faculty are without power at their homes. Superintendent/Principal Ken Burkhart said he hopes to resume classes on Tuesday, but it will depend on whether power is restored to the rest of Pope Valley. Were closed until the power comes back on, he said. The wine industry scored a small win in Sacramento recently, bringing a handful of post-Prohibition laws up to date in the age of social media. Signed by Gov. Brown in late September, Assembly Bill 2452, which takes effect in January, will let wineries freely use social media to promote certain events hosted by retailers that plan to feature their wines. The bill was the work of Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, state Sen. Bill Dodd and the Napa Valley Vintners trade group. The existing rules, called tied-house laws, have long kept wineries and other suppliers from advertising events being held by retailers like restaurants and wine shops. The new bill amends several exceptions in the laws that previously allowed wineries to promote events like winemaker dinners or instructional tastings hosted by retailers, but also limited what a winery could include in its promotion. Whereas previously a winery could promote such an event, for instance at a restaurant, it could not use a picture of the restaurant in its advertisement, and could not include an email address for the restaurant, or its web address. The rules around how suppliers could communicate about these events that they were authorized to have were really limited, said Michelle Novi, associate director of industry relations at the Napa Valley Vintners. Novi managed the Vintners effort to bring the reforms into law. Theyre still limited, dont get me wrong, Novi added. But, she noted, the new law now allows wineries to use pictures of the retailer premises in their posts. They can also now provide the retailers email and web addresses. Essentially what weve done is weve made it a little bit easier for wineries to communicate more authentically in the online space using images and information, Novi said. Tied house laws were designed to prevent unfair business practices between alcoholic beverage manufacturers and retailers, in part by limiting the influence the former can have on the latter. In this, the laws have blocked suppliers from giving retailers anything of value, including free advertising. In the age of social media, those laws have extended to block wineries from posting about such events on any of the many platforms at hand. For wineries that slip up, the cost can be steep. In 2014, a Sacramento-area winery landed in hot water with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control after tweeting about an upcoming event at a Sacramento SaveMart. As reported in the Sacramento Bee, the winery was given a choice of a 10-day suspension of its liquor license that would have amounted to thousands of dollars of lost revenue, or probation for a year, during which time another slip up would result in that 10-day suspension. Even with the new law, some restrictions are still in place. For one, a winery can make no laudatory statements about a retailer in a post. Videos also remain prohibited. But at least now when they make their Instagram posts or create their Facebook notification, they can put a picture of the venue in to show what the atmosphere is like and potentially entice them to attend, Novi said. At the end of the day, tied house is all about keeping suppliers and retailers separate, she added. And what we know is in 2018, the wine world is about relationships. So its challenge because youre existing in this space thats very visual and communicative and relationship-based, but you have all of these rules placed on you, limiting how you can express yourself. The Napa Valley Vintners will host a workshop in November to bring member wineries up to speed on the new law. Pop the cork on Napa Valley wine! Discover the hidden stories of Napa Valley wine and the people behind it -- plus expert analysis from our columnists and more with our weekly email newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. CALISTOGA PG&E pulled the plug on Calistoga Sunday night, de-energizing power lines as part of a new program intended to prevent a repeat of last Octobers devastating wildfires. The planned outage closed Calistogas public schools and left businesses in town shuttered Monday morning. As the day progressed, owners grumbled about mounting business losses and questioned the need for the cutoff. The intentional shutoff Sunday night, affecting about 5,700 customers in Napa County, was called because of the extreme risk of fires due to strong winds and exceptionally dry conditions, PG&E said. PG&E said lines would be re-energized starting mid-day Monday after they were individually inspected. Inspections were being made by helicopter, driving and on foot, spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said. Power to 70 percent of customers in Northern California was to be restored by midnight Monday, Contreras said. In Calistoga, police predicted full restoration by 8 p.m. Monday. Also affected by the shutoff in Napa County were customers in Angwin, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Pope Valley and rural areas outside St. Helena, the utility said. Shutdown hurts business The cautionary electrical shutdown angered Michael Dunsford, owner of the Calistoga Inn. The burden and cost of this effort (to prevent fires) is falling on the shoulders of small businesses, and that is unacceptable, he said. Dunsford estimated that the shutdown will cost him between $5,000 and $10,000 and is costing about 15 workers a days pay because he cant open for lunch. Guests in three rooms demanded refunds Sunday night and left, and three more were talking about doing so Monday morning. The onsite brewery has six tanks with beer in production with no way to control the temperature, threatening several batches of fresh beer. Where some restaurants closed early on Sunday, Dunsford chose to stay open since PG&E gave no specific time for a possible shutdown. When the power went down after 8 p.m., there were at least 75 guests in the restaurant, and a number of employees in the kitchen in the dark. He had deployed a generator, but a technical problem prevented him from turning it on, leaving everyone in the dark, including hotel guests who were using candles to get to their rooms and the bathrooms. Dunsford said PG&E should have given a more specific estimate for the time of a shutdown, or waited until a later hour when most restaurants would have been closed anyway. Dunsford, who is also the citys vice mayor, said he did not feel any winds even remotely comparable to last Octobers firestorms. He also worried that if PG&E is too aggressive in turning of power in the late fire season, it would deter tourists from coming to Calistoga in the heart of harvest season. The chef of an iconic Calistoga restaurant is planning a block party to feed the stressed out community if power were not restored soon. All Seasons chef Kevin Kathman said at mid-day that about $12,000 worth of food would spoil Monday if his refrigerators remain out of service. Rather than toss the food, Kathman said he would grill over fire and tap warming kegs of beer for worried neighbors, including winery owners in the middle of their annual grape harvest. Kathman says he understands Pacific Gas & Electrics new strategy of cutting power when weather conditions heighten the wildfire risk. But he questions the need to cut power on Monday, saying there was almost no wind blowing in Calistoga. Andee Beresini, who has owned Sugar Daddys consignment store on Lincoln Avenue for 16 years, asked, Why would they (PG&E) volunteer to turn off the power? I can see if it was warranted. Matt Shimetz, manager at Mount View Hotel said since the outage most guests have stayed on, but I doubt anyone is going to check in. Were trying to hang on to the ones we have. Were disappointed but we understand what they (PG&E) have to do. But couldnt they have given us a reprieve? Its sending a message that October is a scary time to come here. Visitors looking for something to eat were being sent to the next nearest town, St. Helena. At All Seasons Bistro, Kathman said that everyone in the world had been in to talk to him Monday about the outage, including NBC, ABC, and the Associated Press. Kathman had all of the restaurants perishables packed in coolers and on ice, something he was embarrassed to show the world. Even if the power comes on in the next couple of hours, we cant pull everything together for dinner, he said, including gathering employees back to work. Employees at Cal Mart said they couldnt remember the last time the store was closed due to a power outage. Last year, during the wildfires and Calistogas evacuation, Cal Mart remained open, feeding the first responders. At Calistogas Mount View Hotel on Lincoln Avenue, coffee had been brought in from Santa Rosa, and croissants had been delivered as usual, said general manager Derrick Dumont. City of Calistoga public works crews had put up stop signs at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Washington Street to control traffic as of about 7:30 a.m., and there were three television trucks parked near the intersection to cover the intentional blackout. Pacific Union College in Angwin has its own power system and was not affected by the PG&E outage. Classes and activities went on as usual on Monday, and the College Market remained open, officials said. Pope Valley Elementary School cancelled classes on Monday. The school is running on generators, but many of the students and faculty were without power at their homes, said Superintendent/Principal Ken Burkhart. Were closed until the power comes back on, he said. The National Weather Service said winds blew furiously atop Mount St. Helena Sunday night, with one gust registered at 77 mph. At between 2,000 feet and 3,000 feet, winds topped 50 mph at times, said Roger Gass, a Weather Service meteorologist. Sunday nights winds in the highest elevations were the strongest so far this season, Gass said. Most of Napa County did not receive extremely strong winds, he said. On the floor of the Upvalley, gusts were around 35 mph. Last October, when wildfires raged on three sides of the Napa Valley, winds were much stronger on the lower elevations , Gass said. PG&E is now cutting power in high winds because of last Octobers firestorms in which PG&E lines, brought down by tree limbs and snapping on their own, were found to contribute to at least 12 wildfires. Insurance claims against PG&E for last Octobers fires exceed $9 billion, putting pressure on the utility to adopt new procedures. PG&E has established weather stations in the region so it can better predict extreme weather. While mild weather is predicted for this coming week, the risk of extreme fire conditions exists until there is sufficient drenching rain to end the fire season, Gass said. Such rains are not in any immediate forecast, he said. All told, the utility turned off power Sunday to 17,500 customers in Napa, Lake and Sonoma counties, and another 42,000 customers in extreme fire-risk areas of the Sierra foothills in Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras counties, Contreras said. Dave Stoneberg and Jesse Duarte of the St. Helena Star and Kevin Courtney of the Napa Valley Register contributed to this story. "You don't hand matches to an arsonist," President Donald Trump declared at a rally in Topeka, Kansas, on Saturday. "And you don't give power to an angry left-wing mob." Trump was making what appears to be Republicans' closing argument for the midterm elections: that the Democratic "resistance" to Trump's presidency - particularly the hundreds of sexual assault survivors who confronted senators during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation battle - is an "angry mob" and a danger to democracy. He is not alone. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., have all used the same phrase to describe Democrats, and GOP strategist Frank Luntz has advised a number of other candidates to use the term in their campaigns. It takes a special kind of chutzpah for Trump, who has repeatedly urged supporters to violently attack protesters at his rallies, to call Democrats an "angry mob" - particularly when, just a few days earlier, he had a crowd of his own supporters chanting, "Lock her up." The fear of the angry mob has deeper roots, however. At some level, Americans have always worried that deliberative democracy could give way to violent, unreasoning mob rule. Fears of "tyranny of the majority" led James Madison to build extra checks and balances into the Constitution. And crowds of people have in fact done awful things in the past - the lynch mobs of the Jim Crow South, or Adolf Hitler's murderous brownshirts. Over the past 50 years, though, the fear of angry mobs has also been weaponized for partisan and ideological purposes. Over and over again, American conservatives have raised the specter of the angry mob to justify their law-and-order policies and to delegitimize the social justice movements of their opponents - drawing a false parallel between social activism and mob violence that is itself a disservice to democracy. Modern conservative rhetoric about crowds dates to 1896, when Gustave Le Bon's popular book "The Crowd" was first translated into English. Le Bon, a French sociologist, was haunted by the violence of France's many failed revolutions. He described crowds as a "servile flock" of "barbarians" characterized by "impulsiveness, irritability, [and] incapacity to reason" - behaviors otherwise observed in "inferior forms of evolution" such as "women, savages, and children." Like Trump and McConnell, who have insisted that many Kavanaugh protesters were trained by George Soros, Le Bon also refused to believe crowds could act unless ordered to by their leaders. Le Bon's book, a bestseller in its time, has shaped popular understandings of crowd psychology ever since - even though it's been largely discredited by over a century of psychological research. In fact, the latest work on mob psychology shows that "crowds are highly supportive, altruistic, friendly, and often fun places to be." Crowds raise hundreds of millions of dollars for people with severe medical expenses not covered by insurance. They make concerts, festivals and weddings fun and enjoyable. What's more, even if participating in a collective effort emboldens them, people who join crowds remain very much in control of their actions. "An individual in a crowd behaves just as he would behave alone," psychologist Floyd Allport argued in 1924, "only more so." Nevertheless, the stereotype of the angry, unreasoning mob remains an object of terror and fascination in American culture. During the 1920s and 1930s, proto-fascist crowds - such as Ku Klux Klan parades or the pro-Nazi rallies of the German-American Bund - understandably came in for the most criticism. In reality, though, these crowds were menacing mostly because of the ideology of their members. A Klan rally was terrifying because it was made up of Klansmen, not because those Klansmen were together in a crowd. But by the 1960s, fear of the angry mob became a tool to attack grass-roots organizing in the civil rights movement and student antiwar protests. Opponents branded Martin Luther King Jr. an extremist and his followers an angry mob "inciting" their opponents "to hatred and violence." In his 1963 "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," King embraced parts of this characterization. The collective action of civil rights protesters, he argued, sparked a "creative tension" that would "help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood." Noting that Jesus, St. Paul, Martin Luther, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln were all considered extremists during their lifetimes, King declared, "The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?" Likewise, student activists viewed collective action as the centerpiece of democratic life. As Tom Hayden explained in a 1962 manifesto, students hoped to transform America into a "participatory democracy" where decisions were made by deliberative public crowds. Politics, he argued, should have "the function of bringing people out of isolation and into community," helping them find meaning in their lives. But conservatives of the 1960s saw these activists as angry mobs undermining law and order - a view that led many conservatives to dehumanize protesters and even advocate violence against them. "If any demonstrator ever lays down in front of my car," George Wallace declared in 1968, "it'll be the last car he'll ever lay down in front of." After sending the National Guard to suppress a protest in 1970, Ronald Reagan agreed: "If it takes a bloodbath," he said, "let's get it over with." Just a few months later, National Guardsmen at Kent State University did just that, shooting four unarmed protesters at point-blank range. In the aftermath, a group of construction workers violently attacked protesters in New York City; they were so afraid of angry mobs that they had become one themselves. Ultimately, the myth of the angry mob serves to justify conservatives' indifference to the outrage of those they disagree with. Classifying protesters as a mob rather than citizens engaging in democratic activity allows Republicans to raise the specter of mob rule to avoid meeting their constituents' needs. The result: they're the ones doing violence to democracy. There's nothing quite so irrational, so irresponsible or so dangerous as an entire political party trying to convince voters that sexual assault survivors confronting their senators constitute an "angry mob." Trump, at least, should have known better. After all, he is in office because the angry crowds of people who cheered at his campaign rallies were committed and rational enough to show up again at the polls. Likewise, if the GOP loses control of Congress in the midterm elections, it will be because the "angry left-wing mob" in the streets has transformed into a tidal wave of angry left-wing voters at the ballot box. Now that really would be something for Republicans to worry about. Jeremy C. Young is an assistant professor of history at Dixie State University and the author of The Age of Charisma: Leaders, Followers, and Emotions in American Society, 1870-1940. He wrote this for The Washington Post. While Election Commission of India is trying its best to fine-tune the election process, Bhutan is definitely the best place in the neighbourhood to draw inspirations from. Also read: No gender balance in Bhutan politics As the National Assembly election is scheduled to be held on October 18 in Bhutan, only university degree holders have the right to contest. Unfortunately in India, still a large number of the politicians are college dropouts. In Bhutan, the candidates should be between the age group of 25 to 65 years to contest elections. In India, there is no upper age limit to fight elections and a large number of ministers, MLAs and MPs are old and ailing. Also read: Doklam and China factors in Bhutan National Assembly elections Citizens of Bhutan married to foreign nationals are not allowed to contest elections. But Indian politicians can marry a foreigner and can still contest elections. In Bhutan, any public servant dismissed or removed from public service or the corporate sector is barred from contesting elections. But in India, it is a common practice that corrupt bureaucrats begin a second innings of career as politicians. Also read: Why Tobgay-led PDP lost Bhutans parliamentary polls 2018? In Bhutan, members of the royal family are not allowed to contest elections. Unfortunately in India, the descendents of the royal families across India are still contesting elections, and continue to be Raja sahib for the subjects. Though a young democracy, Bhutan does not allow clergy or a religious leader to contest election. But in India, it is a fashion for the babas, maulanas and pastors to contest elections. Though India is a secular nation, religion still plays an important role in the electoral process. While money power plays an important role in the winning of elections in India, Bhutan is probably the only country in South Asia to have a Public Election Fund. The fund was created under the Public Election Fund Act 2008. Also read: Bhutan Polls 2018: Both parties woo voters with truck loads of promises The Election Commission of Bhutan disburses a base amount to political parties to fight the preliminary round and to the candidates to fight the final rounds of elections. The fund helps to curb undue influence of money power on elections and to prevent the unregulated flow of election funds from questionable sources. If the tiny Himalaya Kingdom of Bhutan, which has just 10 years experience of holding National Assembly elections, why cannot India take lessons from its neighbour and set an example of electoral reforms? Contract soldier Meruzhan Harutyunyan died in hostilities Armenia Ambassador stresses need for targeted condemning calls during talk with Amanda Sloat Minister: Armenian Nuclear Power Plant has major toolkit to protect itself from potential military attacks US calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to 'resume substantive negotiations' Armenia ruling party MP: At end of day, Azerbaijan lost advantages it had, Armenian army retrieved many positions His Holiness Aram I: Silence of Armenia's allies and friendly countries is strange Pashinyan to Putin: Actions of Azerbaijan are aggression against Armenia's sovereign territory Russia Ambassador to Armenia fails to comment on current situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border UN calls on Yerevan and Baku to show restraint US Ambassador to Armenia on escalation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border: We're trying to stabilize situation Meeting with foreign ambassadors at Armenian MFA is over France is concerned about escalation of situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Russian MOD: Armenia and Azerbaijan took measures to stabilize situation after talk with Sergey Shoygu Firing in eastern direction of Armenia's border stopped starting from 6:30 p.m. through Russia's mediation Azerbaijani and Turkish defense ministers discuss escalated situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Iran MFA calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to show restraint Russian MFA: Moscow is in contact with Yerevan and Baku to move escalated border situation to peaceful path CSTO hasn't received official applications from Armenia for assistance with regard to border escalation Putin, Pashinyan discuss current situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border Opposition 'Armenia' Alliance issues statement on situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border and solutions Sergey Shoygu calls on Armenian and Azerbaijani MODs to stop operations inciting escalation Armenia PM holds phone talks with Charles Michel Armenia PM delivers speech at Security Council session (LIVE) Republican Party of Armenia demands that authorities stop adventurism and apply to Russia through legal procedure Armenia Ombudsman: Azerbaijan's attacks of terrorist nature have endangered life and health of civilians Armenia Ambassador presents situation on Armenian borders to Dereck Hogan Armenia Ambassador discusses situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border with U.S. Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group Morgan Stanley predicts growth in luxury brand sales in the Metaverse UN Security Council still hasn't planned discussion on current situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Armenia President and PM discuss situation on border Jon Inarritu calls on international community for measures against continuous provocations of Aliyev regime BREAKING on Azerbaijani-Armenian border: 12 Armenian soldiers captured Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin calls on intl community, religious structures to suspend Azerbaijan's encroachments Opposition Homeland Party: All healthy national forces of Armenia need to gather and support army Armenia MOD releases new footage showing how Azerbaijani armored vehicles are struck Head of Armenia's Geghamasar: Situation is tense, enemy has accumulated a lot of armored vehicles on border Armenia's Yolyan Hematology Center says blood donors are needed Armenia MOD Suren Papikyan holds phone talks with Russian counterpart Armenian National Committee of Europe: We urge the EU to put political pressure on Azerbaijan Armenian political party leader: Armenia needs to address US, France and UN Security Council as soon as possible Baku is putting the blame on Yerevan Armenia minister: Unpredictable processes are unfolding after Karabakh war Armenia Security Council Secretary discusses situation on border with US Ambassador Armenia Security Council Secretary meets with Iran Ambassador, situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border discussed Charles Michel calls for urgent de-escalation of situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Employees of Armenia's Sotk gold mine are evacuated Armenia MP: We are anticipating more active steps from our strategic ally Armenia ruling party MP calls on CSTO to issue statement on situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border RFE/RL: Armenia parliament committee chair: Armenian side has 15 casualties, 7 soldiers are captured Armenia MOD: 12 Armenian servicemen captured, intensity of battles not weakening Dollar drops in Armenia Android banking apps and crypto wallets are under threat Ambassador: Russia, Armenia are holding consultations over escalation of situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border BREAKING: Armenia has casualties, 2 military posts lost, 6 soldiers reportedly captured Opposition MP: Faction of 'Armenia' Alliance is holding urgent and ongoing sessions and discussions Opposition MP on possibility of Armenia exiting Collective Security Treaty Organization ARF-D Armenia Supreme Body convenes urgent session Ruling party MP: Azerbaijan has launched armed attack against sovereign territory of Armenia Armenian army units destroying adversary's armored vehicles that invaded Armenia's territory on Nov. 16 Republican Party of Armenia vice-president: I told you a hundred times that the war is not over Republican Party of Armenia and Prosperous Armenia Party convene urgent sessions Armenian military-political figure Samvel Babayan: Enemy is trying to meet two objectives Ann Linde shares deep concern over situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border Armen Grigoryan: Pashinyan received Biden's invitation to participate in Summit for Democracy, confirmed participation WSJ: Ohio attorney's office sues Meta for $ 100 billion NEWS.am 16.11.21 BREAKING: Situation is tense on Armenia-Azerbaijan border Armenia Security Council Secretary receives France Ambassador Armenia MOD: Armenian side has casualties and injured, there is news about loss of two military posts MFA: Armenia, in accordance with the UN Charter, has the right by all means to reflect the use of force by Azerbaijan Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan Defense Ministry is trying to blame Armenian side for its large-scale provocation Armenia Ombudsman: Azerbaijani armed forces invaded and unlawfully deployed near Armenian communities Armenia Security Council Secretary: There are injured and casualties Security Council Secretary: If Armenia fails to resolve crisis via Russia and CSTO, it will have to use other mechanisms Armenia MOD: Situation hasn't changed essentially, adversary has major losses of armored vehicles and manpower Newspaper: Armenian side has 10 casualties as a result of exchange of fire Russian and Iranian presidents discuss situation around Nagorno-Karabakh Security Council Secretary: We are applying to Russia with call to protect Armenia's territorial integrity Bitcoin price collapsed Armenian Defense Ministry on situation on Azerbaijan border: Local battles are ongoing Armenia MP calls on CSTO, OSCE, PACE and EU to implement necessary acts of restraint STEPANAKERT. I would not like to set apart my visit to Artsakh as a regular official visit. Armenias President Armen Sarkissian on Monday stated the aforementioned at a briefing with reporters at the Fine Arts Museum of Shushi, in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR), Artsakhpress reported. Every time coming to Artsakh, I discover it anew, the Armenian president said, in particular. This time I visited with my wife, and participated in the () Harvest Holiday. [And] being at the Fine Arts Museum of Shushi, () I want to say that this is a structure of architectural value. President Sarkissian commented also on his talk with Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan, and stressed that, as every time, they had discussed a wide range of matters this time too. We spoke about the domestic politics of Artsakh, situation at the border [with Azerbaijan], as well as numerous practical issues, the President of Armenia added. We reflected also on the upcoming activities by the Hayastan [(Armenia)] All Armenian Fund. Over 22 million methamphetamine pills and 100 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine were seized in two separate raids over the weekend in Northern Thailand, Police said on Monday. Following tip-offs, police on Saturday arrested three Thai men transporting more than 12 million methamphetamine pills and 100 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine out of the northern province Chiang Rai, deputy national police chief Chalermkiat Srivorakan told reporters. On Sunday, another 10 million methamphetamine pills were seized in Chiang Rai after smugglers left them behind while fleeing police, Chalermkiat said. The busts were among Thailand's biggest drug confiscations this year. In April 29, million dollars worth of drugs including 1.7 million methamphetamine pills were seized in a week-long series of raids across the country. Methamphetamine pills are popular in Thailand and across South-East Asia. Most methamphetamine smuggled into Thailand comes from Myanmar through the "Golden Triangle," a shared border area between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, which is notorious for drug smuggling. dpa/NAN Korean Air Lines Co Ltd Chairman Cho Yang-ho was indicted on Monday on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust, South Korean prosecutors said, adding to a string of woes at the country's biggest airline group.Cho is the latest head of a big business group, or chaebol, to face legal challenges in South Korea since President Moon Jae-in took office in 2017 with a pledge to curb the excessive power of family-owned conglomerates and improve their governance.Earlier this month, an appeals court found the chairman of retail-to-chemicals conglomerate Lotte Group, Shin Dong-bin, guilty of charges including bribery and breach of trust for his role in an influence-peddling scandal that led to the ouster of the country's former president, Park Geun-hye.Samsung Group's de facto leader Jay Y. Lee was also convicted of corruption in the same bribery scandal. Both Lee and Shin are currently awaiting rulings from the country's top court after their jail terms were suspended by a lower court.A Seoul prosecutors' office on Monday said Cho took 19.6 billion won ($17 million) commission from 2003 through 2018 by setting up a trading company to broker aircraft equipment and in-flight duty-free goods purchase deals for Korean Air, causing the same amount of loss to the airline.Korean Air declined to comment and did not make Cho available for comment.Also on Monday, Emily Cho, the chairman's youngest daughter, was cleared of all charges related to her allegedly throwing a drink at two business meeting attendees in April, because the attendees did not want to press charges, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' office said.That incident re-ignited public resentment toward the perceived unchecked behavior of some chaebol family members, leading to investigations of alleged wrongdoing by other family members.Chairman Cho's elder daughter, Heather Cho, was jailed in 2014 for demanding a Korean Air Lines plane return to its gate at a New York airport due to the way she was served nuts in first class.Shares in Korean Air fell 0.6 percent on Monday, while its parent Hanjin Kal Corp, in which chairman Cho has a 17.84 percent stake, lost 2 percent.REUTERS Home | News | General | How Ekweremadu reportedly stopped southeast leaders from rejecting Peter Obis nomination - Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy senate president, dissuades leaders in the southeast from rejecting Peter Obis nomination as the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP - Ekweremadu says the major task now is to get the opposition party back to power and save the country from what he called a downward spiral - Osita Okechukwu, the director general of the voice of Nigeria (VON) urges Nigerians not to be swayed by the promises made by Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy senate president has called on leaders in the southeast zone to support the choice of Peter Obi as the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Cable reports that Ekweremadus call to the southeast leaders followed a complaint by the group that they were not properly consulted before Obi, a former governor of Anambra state, was chosen for the position. The deputy senate president at a meeting with southeast political leaders, comprising the zones PDP governors, national assembly caucus, board of trustee members and other party leaders convinced the group not to reject Obis nomination. READ ALSO: Corruption travel ban: 13 former governors, 7 ex-ministers, others allegedly affected (full list) A party leader who attended the meeting said Ekweremadu, who was one of those considered by Atiku Abubakar as running mate in the 2019 presidential election, urged the southeast leaders to back Obi. Ekweremadu reminded us that the major task now is to get the PDP back to power and save the country from its downward spiral, the insider told The Cable. He even joked that it wouldnt matter if Atiku picked a northerner as his running mate, as long as it would get the repressive government of Buhari out of power. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Although the meeting was convened with the agenda of rejecting Obis nomination, the south-east leaders were reportedly shocked by Ekweremadus position. You cannot weep more than the bereaved. We thought we were fighting for him, but he said we should allow Obi be. We were shocked by his sportsmanship." Meanwhile, Osita Okechukwu, the director general of the voice of Nigeria (VON), has urged people of the southeast and Nigerians not to be deceived by the campaign promises made by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. Okechukwu on Sunday, October 14, in Enugu, told reporters that the restructuring and quick fix measures promised by Atiku so far truly glitters but are not gold. He likened the Atiku/Obi ticket to a one chance bus and urged Nigerians not to be swayed by the euphoria that has greeted their emergence, The Tribune reports. The director general of the voice of Nigeria said it was better to reelect Buhari who he said had already began the silent restructuring of Nigeria through several projects that will enhance economic prosperity. Is Atiku the Right Man to Defeat President Buhari? 2019 Election - Nigeria Street Gist | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Why Nigeria needs $1trn to upgrade its energy infrastructure - Yemi Osinbajo - The vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, expresses optimism that the deliberations at the national energy and climate change summit - Osinbajo says the agreement the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) signed with International Energy Charter (IECh) will benefit the country. - The vice president states that Nigerias energy related policies were not only geared toward energy supply security but also to mitigate global warming The vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, says $1trn is required to modernise Nigerias energy infrastructure in 29 years. Osinbajo made this known while declaring open a 2-day National Energy and Climate Change Summit at the State House Banquet Hall on Thursday, October 11, in Abuja. The summit was organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in collaboration with the International Energy Charter (IECh) and the European Union, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. Represented by the minister of science and technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, the vice president said the summit would provide a high level forum to discuss energy and climate change in relation to economic development and environmental protection. He expressed optimism that the deliberations would provide solutions toward improving sustainable energy supply and access in Nigeria. READ ALSO: Let us try Atiku if he doesnt perform, we will send him out too - Reformed APC Chairman The vice president said he was happy that IECh, a reputable energy organisation that promotes multilateral framework for cross-border cooperation in the field of energy development, was part of the summit. I recall the ceremony last year, about 18 months ago, in this same hall, when Nigeria signed the International Energy Charter Political Declaration after obtaining the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari; Nigeria then joined the charter as an observer member state. I also recall, that the ECN immediately signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IECh secretariat in order to promote such activities that will be beneficial to our dear Nation. Following this, a study of the Energy Investment Risk Assessment for our country has been completed; the report which has just being presented to us here today. I am happy that the assessment which featured four performance indicators has scored our energy investment risk as moderate. This is challenging in view of the huge investment of about 1trillion dollars required to modernise our energy infrastructure in 29 years from 2014 to 2043, he said. The vice president said that Nigerias energy related policies were not only geared toward energy supply security but also to mitigate global warming. Osinbajo said that Nigerias determined contributions to the Paris climate protocol were robust. He said that to further support private investment, the Federal Government had increased transparency and openness in governance as well as instituted several executive orders to remove bottlenecks in business registrations and permit. On his part, Prof. Eli Bala, the Director-General, ECN, said that the commission had the mandate and responsibility for strategic planning and co-ordination of national policies in the field of energy. The importance of energy as an instrument for national development as well as international cooperation and diplomacy cannot be over emphasized. Modern societies, however, demand that development therefrom must be sustainable as defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 in its report, on Our Common Future. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! This years summit has the objective of assessing the investment environment in the energy sector for sustainable energy development, he said. In a remark, Urban Rusnak, IEChs Secretary-General, advised Nigeria to improve its investment in climate and decrease the risk perceived in investment in the country. Rusnak said there was need to highlight the importance of a rigorous impact assessment of existing and proposed policies. Without understanding how the policy works and what are the key performance indicators and to be able to adopt existing policies, there will be no progress; no possible development. Second and very important finding is that the level of transparency and public engagement needs to be increased. READ ALSO: Corruption travel ban: 13 former governors, 7 ex-ministers, others allegedly affected (full list) We have seen all over the world of issues of acceptance of energy investments. The most important finding is the streamline and clarification of judiciary procedures to give investment community security and feelings of the responsibility of the host Nation over investments, he said. The National Energy Summit was instituted by ECN in 2010 as an annual event to provide a platform for discussion on energy security, economic development and environmental protection. Meanwhile, the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe kachikwu, on Thursday, October 4, revealed that it would be saddening if the nations refineries are not functional by the end of 2019. According to him, the present administration is committed to ensuring that the importation of petroleum products is curtailed. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kachikwu stated in Ibigwe-Ohaji in Ohaji\Egbema council area of Imo during the ground-breaking for construction of the 5,000 BPD modular refinery by Walter Smith petro-chemical limited. Nigerian Electricity Crisis Explained | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Optometrists task govts on fight against blindness Elizabeth Uwandu BENIN CITY THE Edo state chapter of the Nigerian Optometric Association, NOA, yesterday, called on government at all levels to provide basic amenities in health centres to check rising cases of eye defects particularly cataract and glaucoma. Chairman of the association, Dr Joe Owie stated this in Benin City at an event to mark this years World Sight Day where he commended President Muhammadu Buhari on his efforts to ensure cataract surgeries in Nigeria were done free of charge to sufferers. Delta is God s divine mandate for PDP Osawota Owie said worldwide, a total of 124 million persons are suffering for blindness adding that the essence of the associations programme to mark the day was to intimate the general public about the menace of cataract. He advised that people should check their eyes twice if they have cataract. He also commended Edo State government on its efforts to equip primary health facilities across the state What we are doing is to collaborate with the state government so that the primary healthcare centres that have been constructed are manned by qualified Optometrists so that avoidable blindness can be reduced. Enugu 2019: How Ugwuanyi picked PDP ticket for second term We have 124 million individuals worldwide that are suffering for blindness, as a result of Cataract. We have 36 million persons worldwide that have suffered from blindness. And 80 per cent of all these cases can be eradicated, if they present the facilities on time. We are grateful to the governor Godwin Obaseki for putting in place facilities and centres that will assist the professionals to render eye care services to the general public. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Delta commissioner, Rotary Club donate relief materials to flood victims By Festus Ahon ASABARotary Club of Asaba Metropolitan has donated relief materials to flood victims at the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp at the Institute of Continuing Education, ICE, Asaba, Delta State. Items donated include tubers of yam, bags of garri, rice, dry fish, toiletries and writing materials to support the education of the displaced children. Presenting the items on behalf of the club, Mr. Andy Uwejeyan commended the Delta State government for acting timely at ensuring evacuation of persons affected by the flood. Uwejeyan, who represented the clubs President, Nneka Enwelu, urged the camp administrators to make judicious use of the items. Pensioners salute Obasekis drive to clear inherited pension arrears Receiving the items, Director of Delta State Emergency Management Authority, SEMA, Mr. Karo Ovemeso, commended members of the club for the gesture, assuring the club of effective distribution of the items to the displaced persons. Similarly, the state Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Mr. Chika Ossai, donated relief materials to the Holding Camps in Kwale and Ashaka in Ndokwa West and Ndokwa East Local Government Areas of the state. He commended the state government for taking proactive steps to ensure that no life was lost in Ndokwa East Local Government area as a result of the flood. Which vote-buying is not wrong? He said: Almost all the communities in the local government area are underwater, but it is gratifying to note that unlike the flood of 2012 that some persons lost their lives as a result of the flood. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Niger Delta youths back Kachikwu, dismiss claims on his degree classification Yenagoa Youths from the Niger Delta region on Sunday expressed solidarity with Dr Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum and dismissed reports that he lied about his degree class. Kachikwu: Hosted APC Northern leaders Pastor Tiedor Olayinka, Spokesman for coalition of Niger Delta Youth Leaders, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that reports that Kachikwu claimed to have obtained a first class degree was false and mischievous. The group noted that records of Kachikwus academic background were in public domain, even as the minister clarified in a statement at the weekend that he never claimed to hold a first class degree in law. Kachikwus profile has always been in public domain, and he is a man of impeccable character; we are therefore wondering the reason behind this mischievous report on him, which he has denied. How I made militants embrace amnesty It is worrisome that in spite of ongoing efforts by the Federal Government to contain the issue of fake news, some people circulate falsehood to the public as investigative news. We condemn this malicious campaign of calumny orchestrated by those who feel threatened by Kachikwus career and reforms in the oil and gas sector as Minister of State for Niger Delta. He remains a shining example of the caliber of brilliant minds from the Niger Delta and we stand by him, those who are envious of his position should look at his track records at Exxonmobil where he was Vice President before he was appointed minister, Olayinka said. The youth urged the Federal Government to be wary of the antics of those whose pastime is to blackmail top government functionaries. They further advised the Federal Government to intensify its war against fake news and take decisive action against those behind it. They noted that the coming of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu as the Petroleum Minister of State had sanitised the oil sector with renewed focus by the introduction of reforms and sound policy direction that brought about efficiency in the sector. They noted that efforts by Kachikwu in criss crossing the regions creeks in search of peace, had restored peace to the once restive Niger Delta and paved the way for increased oil production. Oil facilities and gas pipelines were attacked and production levels were disrupted while our output targets dropped sharply then. The concerted efforts Kachikwu put up during those dark days, meeting key relevant stakeholders at the creeks of the Niger Delta, eventually paved the way for the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to tour the Niger Delta, Olayinka said. He said that Kachikwus performance and pedigree were inspiration to the younger generation and deserved commendation from Nigerians. Herders/farmers clashes, killings are being fuelled by fake news Lai Mohammed CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Chuka is an experienced certified web developer with an extensive background in computer science and 18+ years in web design &development. His previous experience ranges from redesigning existing website to solving complex technical problems with object-oriented programming. Very experienced with Microsoft SQL Server, PHP and advanced JavaScript. He loves to travel and watch movies. Home | News | General | Why Buhari should investigate Obono-Obla - Group A civil society organisation has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate allegations of certificate forgery against his special adviser on Prosecution Okoi Obono-Obla. The Initiative for Integrity and Good Leadership (IIGL) urged the president not ignore calls by Nigerians to him to set up an Investigative panel to look into allegations against Obono-Obla. The group said it was worried by the deafening silence of the president on the matter despite calls from different stakeholders that Obono-Obla who is also the chairman of Presidential Panel on Recovery of Government Property should resign his appointment. READ ALSO: Jonathan reacts as south-east elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation Speaking during a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday, October 14, the national president of IIGL, Muhammadu Aliyu, said the continuous presence of Obono-Obla in President Buhari's cabinet would erode the integrity of the administration known for probity and war against corruption. Aliyu said the Executive Order 6 with which the presidency banned 50 high profile Nigerians from travelling abroad shows that the government is not relenting on its war against corruption. He however said that Nigerians would only take such war serious when people like Obono-Obla who is within the cabinet is not shielded but investigated and sanctioned accordingly if found guilty. "We urge President Muhammadu Buhari not to ignore calls by Nigerians to probe his special aide on prosecution. READ ALSO: Presidency distances itself from alleged travel ban list, issues clarification His recent Executive Order 6 has shown that the President meant business with his war against corruption, but such war would be seen as to be one sided if Obono-Obla is still in the government with such indictment and not investigated and sanctioned if found guilty," Aliyu said. He added that the 30 days ultimatum issued by the group on a planned mass action against to continued stay of Obono-Obla as a presidential aide is counting. Aliyu said the presidential aide has less than 15 days within which to toe the path of honour by tendering his resignation letter. He also commended former the past minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, who according to him, bowed out after her certificate scandal. "Yes, Adeosun deserves commendation because in this country, not many people can do what she did," he said. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that IIGL had on Wednesday, October 3, asked Obono-Obla to resign his appointment within 30 days or face mass action. IIGL said it will begin a mass action in 30 days if Obono-Obla does not resign. The group noted that the continuous presence of the pPresidential aide in the cabinet would erode the integrity of the administration known for probity and war against corruption. President Buhari's Return Will Teach Nigerians Sense on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Monarch blames security operatives for Abia pipeline explosion where 150 persons died - The death toll of Abia pipeline explosion has reportedly risen to 150 - A monarch revealed how security operatives were collecting N1000 bribe from people to allow them scoop oil before the explosion The chairman of Osisioma local government traditional rulers council, Eze Ikechukwu Chiavoghilefu, has confirmed that about 150 person died from the Friday, October 12 pipeline explosion in the area. The monarch said most of the victims who were rescued from the explosion died at the hospital, Vanguard reports. He said: "About 70 persons were packed to the health clinic near my palace on the first day it happened. All of them are now dead. Up to 150 have so far died. Another monarch from the area, Eze Godswill Mgbarime of Umueze accused security operatives of causing the disaster, as they were collecting the sum of N1000 from the villagers that came to scoop fuel, instead of preventing them from entering the site. He said: When the leakage occurred, some security men arrived the place and, instead of doing their job, they were collecting N1,000 from each person that came to scoop fuel there." PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app NAIJ.com earlier reported that the Abia command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) confirmed the death of 19 persons, following Fridays pipeline explosion in two villages in Osisioma local government area of the state. The state commander of the organisation, Benito Eze, confirmed the number of casualties to newsmen in Umuahia. Eze said that 16 persons, including one woman, died in the explosion that occurred around 2.47 a.m at Umuaduru Village in Umueze autonomous community. Lets Not Blame God For Our Problems - Deyemi Okanlawon Speaks on Otedola Bridge Fire on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Why Nigerians must support Atiku/Obi presidential ticket - Senator Abaribe - Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has given reasons for Nigerians to support the the Atiku Abubakar/ Peter Obi ticket - He said Obi is the finest choice for PDP's presidential candidate ahead of the 2019 election - According to Abaribe, Obi as an embodiment of discipline and positive attributes The Senator representing Abia south senatorial district, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has described the emergence of former governor Peter Obi as the running mate to Atiku Abubakar as the finest choice. Abaribe said the choice of Obi to run with the former vice president as the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2019 presidency had boosted the chances of the PDP winning the 2019 presidential election. Punch reports that Abaribe in a statement released on Sunday, October 14, said Obi as an embodiment of discipline and positive attributes. READ ALSO: Presidency distances itself from alleged travel ban list, issues clarification Ababribe said: "Mr Obis widely acknowledged good track record in infrastructural development and economic reforms as governor of Anambra State remains an eloquent testimony of what service delivery and good governance is all about. The ticket of the duo of former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Mr Obi represents the finest choice available and one that reflects the high-pitch push by Nigerians for total economic and political reforms. READ ALSO: Corruption travel ban: Dasuki, Gbenga Daniel, Amosu, Fani-Kayode, others top alleged travel ban list The present hopeless situation of fear, despondency and hunger in the land, which is occasioned by a seemingly rudderless and clueless government, requires experienced and steady hands in the saddle. Of course, the Atiku/Obi ticket presents that radical choice capable of pulling the country out of her present horrendous predicament," the Senator added. Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, has called on leaders in the southeast zone to support the choice of Obi as the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Ekweremadus call to the southeast leaders followed a complaint by the group that they were not properly consulted before Obi, a former governor of Anambra state, was chosen for the position. The deputy senate president at a meeting with southeast political leaders, comprising the zones PDP governors, national assembly caucus, board of trustee members and other party leaders convinced the group not to reject Obis nomination. Is Atiku the Right Man to Defeat President Buhari? 2019 Election - Nigeria Street Gist | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Buhari's minister drags APC, INEC to court for disqualifying him from primaries over NYSC certificate - Minister of communication, Adebayo Shittu, has filed a suit against INEC and APC - Shittu, a formal governorship aspirant on APC platform sued his party and INEC for disqualifying him from primary election - The minister was disqualified from Oyo APC governorship for not possessing NYSC discharge certificate The minister of communication, Adebayo Shittu, has filed a lawsuit against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC) for disqualifying him from the governorship primaries in Oyo state. Shittu was disqualified from participating in the governorship primaries of his state after he admitted that he did not participate in the compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The minister, who claimed he was treated unfairly and disqualified illegally, asked the court to declare that the submission/presentation of NYSC Discharge Certificate to APC is not part of the requirements for him to participate in the primary election for Nomination of Governorship candidate of the party in Oyo state for the 2019 General Election, The Nation reports. READ ALSO: I have been acquitted, you can't put me on travel ban - Bafarawa In the writ by his counsel, Mr. A.U. Mustapha( SAN), the embattled minister asked the court to determine five issues. They are: "Whether by the provision of Section 2(1) of the National Youth Service Corps Decree No. 24 of 1973 and/or any other provision of the Decree being the law in force as at 1978 when the Plaintiff graduated at the University of Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) he was under any legal obligation to have warranted the plaintiffs participation in the National Youth Service Corps in the absence of a call-up instrument duly served on the Plaintiff by the National Youth Service Corps. "Whether, by the combined reading of Sections 176-183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria [as Amended] and Article 20(iii) & (iv) of the Constitution of the All Progressive Congress; it is a condition that the gubernatorial aspirant of the 1st Defendant (APC) and/or any political party for that matter in Nigeria must present the National Youth Service Corps Discharge/Exemption Certificate; Whether it is ultra vires the powers of the 1st defendant to have disqualified the plaintiff from participating in its primary election for nomination of the governorship candidate of the 1st defendant in Oyo State for the 2019 General Election on the ground that the plaintiff does not possess National Youth Service Corps Discharge/Exemption Certificate; "Whether it does not amount to denial of fair hearing as enshrined in Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution of as amended for the 1st defendant to have purportedly disqualified the Plaintiff from contesting for governorship election in Oyo State under the platform of the 1st defendant without availing the Plaintiff an opportunity to be heard on the allegations that the plaintiff avoided the National Youth Service Scheme; and "Whether by the combined reading of the provisions of Sections 147(5), 65(1)(b) & (2), 66 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 12 of the National Youth Service Corps Act, Cap N84 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, the plaintiff was qualified to have been appointed as a Minister capable of holding the office, and/or any other governmental office at any level notwithstanding the fact that he did not participate in the National Youth Service Corps Scheme. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app In an affidavit which he personally sworn to, the 65-year old minister said: I was liable but not obligated to have participated in the National Youth Service Corps Scheme both at the time I graduated from the said University and as at the time I was called to the Nigerian Bar. I know as a fact that no call-up instrument was served on me as at 1978 when I graduated from the said University by the National Youth Service Corps to have warranted my participation in the scheme. I know as a fact that I was also not served any Notice or notified in any manner to proceed to participate in the National Youth Service Corps Scheme. I know as a fact that participation in the National Youth Service Corps programme is not one of the requirements to be satisfied under the 1st Defendants constitution to enable me participate in the primary election for Nominating the party flag bearer for the office of Governor of Oyo State in the 2019 General Election. A copy of the Constitution of the 1st Defendant is hereby attached and marked as Exhibit SHITTU 8. I also know as a fact that under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended) it is not a requirement for me to have participated in National Youth Service Corps Scheme to be eligible for participation in the 1st Defendants primary election for Nomination of its flag bearer in Oyo state for the 2019 General election. I know also as a fact that the Electoral Act 2010 [as Amended] did not make participation in the National Youth Service Corps Scheme a condition precedent for contesting any elective office whatsoever. I know also that participation in NYSC Scheme is not one of the requirements to enable me take part in primary election for Nomination of the 1st Defendants flag bearer for the office of Governor of Oyo state in the 2019 General election. NAIJ.com earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari is reportedly expecting the resignation of the minister of communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, over his failure to participate in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps scheme. Top sources in the government on Friday, October 12, disclosed that President Buhari had asked the embattled minister to do the needful. One of the sources allegedly said Buhari had made it clear that Shittu did not have to wait for him (the president) to act before doing the proper thing in this instance. What Should President Buhari do to Adeosun Over Alleged Certificate Forgery? | NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | I have been acquitted, you can't put me on travel ban - Bafarawa - Attahiru Bafarawa, has called for his name to be removed from the list of those banned from travelling outside Nigeria - The former Sokoto governor said he has been discharged and acquitted by a court - He added that he has no fraud case at the moment neither is any anti-graft agency investigating him The former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa has called on the Muhammadu Buhari's administration to remove his name from the travel ban list because he has been discharged and acquitted by a High Court on the case in which he was involved. Bafarawa, who spoke during an interview on Sunday, October 14, said he is not standing any trial on corruption and he is not under any investigation, The Nation reports. Bafarawa and some other people were travel ban list which was part of the Executive Order 6 (EO6) issued on Saturday, October 13, by President Muhammadu Buhari. READ ALSO: Jonathan reacts as south-east elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation He said: In respect of the case listed against me in the Executive Order 6, I have been discharged and acquitted since July 31st 2018 by a court. I stood trial for almost 10 years. I was not found wanting by the court. I also need to put on record that my accounts have not been frozen by any of the anti-graft agencies. "None of my properties has been confiscated till date. I have tried to live above board in public service and in my private life. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app In a related news, NAIJ.com earlier reported that the presidency has justified an executive order by Muhammadu Buhari which reportedly placed 50 Nigerians accused of corruption on a travel ban. The senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement on Sunday, October 14, said that the order was legal and constitutional. He said the measure was revolutionary as it would lead to quick determination of corruption cases in the country. EXCLUSIVE: Be patient with President Buhari, Femi Adesina tells Nigerians on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Nigerian Army confirms killing of soldier by unknown persons in Edo - The Nigerian Army has said that a soldier was killed by some unidentified perons in Edo state - Spokesperson for the Operation Delta Safe, Major Ibrahim Abdullahi, said the soldier was killed Ajakurama community in Ovia south west local government area - Abdullahi said the soldier was killed last Friday The Operation Delta Safe of the Nigerian Army has confirmed the killing of a soldier by yet to be identified persons at Ajakurama community, Ovia south west local government area, in Edo. Major Ibrahim Abdullahi, the spokesperson of the troop confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Benin on Sunday, October 14. Abdullahi, who said the name and rank of the soldier cannot be disclosed yet, said the soldier was killed last Friday, October 13. READ ALSO: Corruption travel ban: Dasuki, Gbenga Daniel, Amosu, Fani-Kayode, others top alleged travel ban list He also confirmed that the troop had deployed men to the community to carry out surgical operations with a view to arresting the culprits and handing them over to relevant security agencies for prosecution. Yes we have deployed some officers to Ajakurama community where one of our soldiers was killed by yet to be identified persons. The aim is for the soldiers to carry out a surgical operation to isolate the culprits so that they can be arrested and handed over to relevant security agencies and be prosecuted, he said. READ ALSO: Presidency distances itself from alleged travel ban list, issues clarification He, however, urged the villagers not to be afraid of the presence of military men in their midst but to go about their normal duties. NAN reports that the news of the killing of the soldier and his subsequent burial in a shallow grave broke out on Saturday, but the Army could not be reached for confirmation. Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the Nigerian Air Force neutralised several Boko Haram terrorists in Borno on Sunday, October 14. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The operation was carried out by the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole at Bogum in northern Borno state. A statement by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) director of public relations and information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said the attack was carried out on Sunday, October 14, after intelligence reports indicated significant terrorist activities within the settlement. Nigerian Air Force operations against Boko Haram - on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Peter Obi: Ndigbo at crossroads again (opinion) Editor's note: Public commentator, Chidiebere Nwobodo, writes on the choice of former governor of Anambra state, Mr Peter Obi, as the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming 2019 general elections. Read below DISCLAIMER: I want to state categorically and emphatically that the essence of this piece is not to promote, defend or antagonise any of the groups and camps in southeast PDP caught in this thickening web of conspiracies, intrigues and shenanigans trailing the nomination of H.E Peter Obi as vice presidential candidate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I will make the following assertions as proud Igbo activist; who has invested a lot in the court of public opinion to defend collective interests of Igbos in the turbulent political ocean called Nigeria. I am apologizing in advance for those my blurt narrative may offend their sensibilities. I am Igbo before any political, state or clannish affiliation. When the leaders of thought in the zone have decided to condescend too low and bury their heads in the sand of parochialism - like a typical ostrich, someone must rise to the occasion, raise the moral olympian torch and lighten up the pathway of statesmanship. History recycles itself, but out of acute amnesia, shortsightedness and selfish proclivities, men have failed to learn from it. Igbo nation is at crossroad again. We have embarked on political voyage of self-destruct and pull-him-down dirty game of thrones. Unfortunately, we have taken our stinking and dirty-ridden linens to the market square; in full public glare to wash - throwing decorum and dignity to the dogs. Who bewitched Igbos? Are we under a spell as a people? What is actually wrong with our type of politics? There is an Igbo adage that an elder does not sit in the house and watch a goat being strangulated by a rope. What happens when an elder - supposed custodian of morals, values, ethics and honour becomes the one desecrating the sacred altar of brotherhood and spirit of onye agha na nwanneya (be your brothers keepers)?? I received the appointment of Peter Obi as Atiku's running mate with mixed feelings, not because of his personality but ethno-religious considerations I highlighted in my previous article. I wanted the vice presidential slot to go to southwest for strategic political reasons. Atiku Abubakar has chosen his running mate from southeast for political reasons as well. All of us are bound to respect that decision. It is worthy of note to state that Peter Obi's nomination went down well with the masses beyond southeast. From reactions on social media, he is a popular choice; the right man for the job - square peg for a square hole; going by his curriculum vitae vis-a-vis his sterling track record. Business community across the country celebrated his pick. He is the economic maverick the nation needs now as vice presidential candidate. READ ALSO: Jonathan reacts as south-east elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation Southeast leaders of the PDP have strongly expressed reservations and utter disgust in reaction to the process that led to Peter Obi's emergence as Atiku's running mate. Their main grouse was that they were not consulted - by extension carried along in the decision that threw up former Anambra State governor as vice presidential candidate. They were ABSOLUTELY right to be angry and aggrieved. If I were in their shoes, I would have expressed disappointment for the fact that they heard the announcement on the social media like every other Nigerian. They should have been given firsthand information as stakeholders before it went public. From the grapevines, they're not happy with the choice of Peter Obi as Atiku's running mate. Peter Obi's style of politics and leadership are not in agreement with theirs. They said Obi is not a "team player." Its left for them to define the phrase "team player" to Igbo nation who are eagerly waiting for the explanation. They wouldn't have raised this type of faze in the polity, if it was not Peter Obi; even if they were not consulted as well. Like I wrote above, they have the democratic right to express their anguish at the decision but the manner it was done and the extent they went in exercising that right, is what I am TOTALLY against, because of the far-reaching effects it will have on the political future of Igbo nation, especially when juxtaposed with aged-long, flawed perception that Igbos cannot speak with one voice. Firstly, the Ebonyi state governor, David Umahi goofed big time and betrayed the leadership entrusted on him by rushing to the media to vent his frustrations at the nomination, even before the southeast PDP stakeholders meeting held in Enugu. Any leader who cannot activate emotional intelligence at an auspicious period like this, has no business being in a position of leadership. This is not meant to denigrate his personality but stating the obvious truth not minding whose ox is gored. The mind-boggling and thought-provoking questions and answers are: who is Peter Obi? Google his curriculum vitae. Is he unblemished - infallible? Like every other human, no. Is he an Igbo from southeast? Yes. Is he eminently qualified for the position? Yes. Will his candidacy brighten the PDP chances of winning the presidency? Yes. Is he the choice of Igbo masses? Yes. Does the views of the PDP stakeholders reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Igbo masses? No. Can his personality appeal to other non-Igbo Nigerians? Yes. Does he have any corruption baggage? No. Is vice presidential slot the only available position for others to take? No. Is he also going to defend the interests of southeast in particular and all Nigerians in general? Yes. If he becomes vice president by God's grace, will he assist Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to revive our recessed economy; cut down the cost of governance; create jobs for millions of unemployed and underemployed youths; pull millions out of extreme poverty; rebuild our dilapidated critical infrastructure; revamp ailing businesses and ultimately "Get Nigeria Working Again?" Absolutely yes. Then, what is the fuss all about? I think that the major reason that influenced Atiku's choice to pick someone from southeast, against some political permutations, is to reward loyalty of Ndigbo in standing with the PDP during its trying times vis-a-vis the urgency to give southeast a sense of belonging, by allocating number two position to the zone, of which Igbos held last 30 years ago. Another factor I believe Waziri of Adamawa considered, is to pick someone who is on the same intellectual wavelength and ideological spectrum with him as co-pilot. It won't make sense to have someone who does not share your leadership visions as running mate, simply for political correctness and exigencies. Imagine having someone as co-peddler on the same boat whose destination is in opposite direction with yours. While you will be peddling forward; he will peddle in a different direction. That is what stagnates a government and make it look clueless. Atiku Abubakar also rewarded Peter Obi's loyalty and sacrifices. It's on record that Atiku and Obi have been working on this presidential project for the last two years; even when some political pundits never gave him a chance of picking the PDP presidential ticket. When a potential running mate is competent and loyal, what else do you need. This narrative punctures the arguments of those who are alluding that the slot should have gone to a different camp in the party. Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi should reach out to other stakeholders in southeast in quest to get everyone on board. Southeast PDP stakeholders, it is time to accept our son, bury the hatchet and collectively work for the victory of the party. We should not be seen as antagonising our illustrious son when he is being celebrated by others. It is an abnormality. All the grievances and misgivings can be handled in-house as "family affair" without playing into the hands of our enemies. Southeast PDP should also remember that they did not "consult" Igbo masses as well before expressing displeasure at the modus operandi that brought Peter Obi's vice presidential candidacy. What is at stake now if the PDP fails to stop the emerging tyrant in the villa, is too grievous for all to bear and better imagined than experienced. Igbos will be the highest victims of Buhari's third coming, if we allow parochialism to overwhelm the big picture. Once beaten twice shy. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NAIJ.com. Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.coms step-by-step guide for guest contributors. Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App. Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter. Nigeria Latest News: PDP Convention - Atiku Elected as Presidential Candidate | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Jonathan reacts as south-east elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation - Former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged southeast elders to support Peter Obi as Atiku Abubakar's running mate - Jonathan said although consultation as requested by the elders is normal, Atiku has a right to choose whoever has been loyal to him - The former president cautioned the elders against putting Atiku under undue pressure over his choice The formal president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has called on south-east elders to cease their complains over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar's choice of Peter Obi as running mate in the 2019 general elections. Jonathan, in a press release on Sunday, October 14, said although consultation is necessary, Atiku is allowed to choose anyone loyal to him as his running mate and he has choosen Peter Obi. He urged the south-east elders to stop complaining that they were not informed before Atiku announced his choice and advised them to rather support Obi and work towards Atiku's success in the 2019 elections. READ ALSO: Corruption travel ban: 13 former governors, 7 ex-ministers, others allegedly affected (full list) The full statement read: I thank members of our great party for the successful conduct of the primaries for the various elective positions ahead of the 2019 general elections. By holding transparent, peaceful and rancor-free convention and primaries across the country, our party has once more, taken the nations democratic exercise a notch higher, in line with our well-established tradition of deepening the growth of democracy in our nation. I again congratulate all our candidates for various positions, including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was overwhelmingly elected by our delegates as the flag bearer of our party in the 2019 presidential election. The popularity and positive reviews of the exercise across the country is a clear demonstration of national endorsement for the choices we made, going into the 2019 elections. The task before us is to build on this firm foundation and momentum by pulling in one direction and working assiduously for the victory of these candidates at the polls. "It is against this backdrop that I appeal for calm and understanding in the South East where my attention has been drawn to the fact that some leaders of our party are openly expressing their discomfort with the reported nomination of former Governor of Anambra State Peter Obi as Atikus running mate. I am told that some of our leaders in the zone have raised issues with the process of consultation that produced the Vice Presidential candidate. I affirm that consultation is a key ingredient in every political process. Nonetheless, in the selection of a vice presidential candidate, a presidential candidate is allowed reasonable freedom to select his running mate based on loyalty, trust, experience, temperament and capacity to perform the responsibilities of the office. Anything other than this could create tension and acrimony between the presidential candidate and his running mate, even before the inauguration of the government. "My plea is for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to be given a free hand to choose who he wants to work with as his Vice President without putting him through undue pressure. In this regard, only minimal consultation is required which doesnt necessarily have to involve full regional review and approval. We have to be careful not to give the impression that the process of selecting a Vice Presidential candidate cannot progress until a regional stamp of approval is formally procured. The system we are used to right from the First Republic is one that places the choice of a running mate at the behest of the candidate, based on his own convictions on capacity and compatibility. From my political history beginning from Deputy Governor to President, I can say that this is the tradition and standard practice in countries where either the President and his Vice or Governor and his Deputy contest election on a common slate. In such instance, once a candidate emerges, he or she is given a free hand to select the person who understands his vision and plans for the country, as his running mate. "I therefore want to directly appeal to my brothers and sisters from the South East zone who are members of our party to reconsider their position and allow the presidential candidate of our party to select a candidate he thinks he can work with to be able to achieve the partys development goals. Since Atiku has nominated Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, I am pleading with my party members from the zone to accept his choice. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, NAIJ.com earlier reported that a Yoruba socio-political group in the southern part of Nigeria, Afenifere, said that it would support the presidential candidate of any political party that has the intention to restructure Nigeria. Yinka Odumakin, the spokesperson for Afenifere, said on Sunday, October 14, that while President Muhammadu Buharis administration had not shown any intention to restructure the country since 2015, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, had been consistent in that regard. Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | We pay N100 daily to sleep under Oshodi Bridge miscreants By Evelyn Usman One of the 62 miscreants arrested during a raid at Oshodi and its environs by the Lagos State Task Force, weekend, Gani Yusuf, 35, disclosed that they paid N100 everyday to their ring leader for a space to sleep under the Oshodi Bridge. Miscreants Another, Gbenga Ololade, 38, who came from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said he had been sleeping under Oshodi Bridge for three years, saying he was initiated into cultism with a particular tattoo on his face by their group leader, under the bridge. The raid, according to Chairman of the Task Force, CSP Yinka Egbeyemi, was part of ongoing efforts to flush out miscreants and other criminal elements out of Oshodi in particular and the state in general, adding that it was done on the directive of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, who expressed concern over the spate of criminal activities in some parts of the state. Fayose says he not going to escape or afraid of EFCC He said: Many of them have different tattoos on their arms indicating they belong to a particular sect or cult. Others chain smokers among them rob residents and pedestrians of their valuables such as phones, wallets and jewelleries, early morning and late at night. The Chairman added that the suspects were screened, during which the minors, who were between 12 and 17 years, were referred to the juvenile homes for rehabilitation. Informing that the suspects had been charged to court on the directive of Edgal, Egbeyemi hinted that after the completion of all ongoing projects by Lagos State government around Oshodi, there would no longer be any hideout for criminals to unleash terror on innocent members of the public again. Lagos Governorship 2019: Do not underestimate opponents-APC elders warn Sanwoolu Meanwhile, 18 traders earlier arrested around Trade Fair Complex, along the Mile Two-Badagry Expressway, but released following their undertaking with the Task Force, not to return to selling at unauthorised places, have been re-arrested and charged to court. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | NIBSS reiterates support for educational system By Elizabeth Adegbesan THE Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS, has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the nations educational system as the focus of its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, programme. Meanwhile, the company has supported twelve secondary schools in Lagos with office furniture for teaching staff as part of its CSR programme this year. The programme was flagged off with the presentation of the office furniture to Eti-osa Community Junior Secondary School and Obadore Junior Secondary School, Lagos. Speaking during the presentation, Legal Counsel, NIBSS, Mr. Agboola Oladele said: NIBBS is a shared service infrastructure for the financial system and as part of our CSR we reach out to schools as part of our support to the educational system and we provide Information Technology Communication, ICT, and technology tools both to aid their technological and educational development. We also provide them with furniture for the teaching and administrative staff. Today, what we are doing is to present furniture to this particular school and we are happy to be part of the educational development of the school. CSR is giving back to the community and we choose the educational sector as the system we want to support and we have been at it years back. We have been supporting schools. That is our own programme of CSR. This particular year we are supporting twelve schools. In the previous years we have provided, computer, laptops to so many schools within Lagos state. You will agree with me that CSR is about supporting the immediate community so our immediate community is the Lekki schools and schools within the Lagos metropolis. NLC Strike: Banks offer skeletal services in Niger Mrs. M.A Tokosi, Principal, Eti-osa Community Junior Secondary School, commended NIBSS saying: I am appreciative. Like Agboola said this is part of giving back to the society and doing this kind of thing goes a long way. It is a good gesture. It improves learning and teaching and it encourages us to work harder. It also provides comfort for us. When you are comfortable, you put in your best. We are saying a big thank you to NIBSS and we really appreciate their gesture and we pray that the company grows higher. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | ONDO Primaries: Akeredolus loyalists to dump APC By Dayo Johnson AKUREBARRING any last minute change, some aggrieved loyalists of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State may defect to other political parties following their displeasure over imposition of candidates by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu The aggrieved members of the APC were shut out from contesting during the primaries by the partys NWC and replaced with relatively new party members. It was gathered that two senatorial aspirants, Dr. Tunji Abayomi and the NDDC representative for Ondo State, Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa may dump the party this week for another party to realise their ambition. More reactions trail ex Gov Obis emergence as Atikus running mate The two, who are loyalists of Governor Akeredolu, have been pencilled down for the North and Southern senatorial districts respectively until the game changed. The Ondo State Commissioner for Physical Planning, Solagbade Amodeni and the Women Affairs Commissioner, Omowunmi Olatunji are already talking with other parties to represent them in the House of Representatives. Also, many other members of the House of Assembly are said to be on their way to other parties. Only six of the 26 members of the House of Assembly were given return tickets, while others were imposed by the partys NWC. The governor was said to have vowed not to work or support those imposed on the party in the National and state Assembly. A party chieftain, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: Beginning from today, there would be an exodus of APC members to other parties because some aspirants, who lost out in the last primary, have concluded plans to actualise their ambition on the platform of other political parties. Primaries: Buhari summons aggrieved APC Reps members Already, talks have been ongoing and some of the parties that already have candidates are ready to make replacement for strong candidate from the APC while those that dont have candidates would now field the APC defectors as their candidates. Reacting to the imposition, a senatorial aspirant, Dr Abayomi warned that the party may lose next years elections if impunity and candidate imposition by the party leadership is not immediately addressed. Abayomi said: The National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, should be held responsible if the APC failed to constitute the government at the centre next year. What is expected at least from the present leadership of Oshiomhole is to give premium to resolution of conflicts within the party, knowing very well that we have elections close by and that there is a need to have unity. He ought to have visited various states and find a way to resolve the conflicts after his election; instead, he was so excited. The consequences are what we are witnessing today in the party. APC is at the point of dissolution as a major political party and that is a very serious issue. I think the major problem is that the chairman of the party (Oshiomhole) did not take the trouble to read the constitution before he assumed office. He is more preoccupied with the badge of office instead of the burden of that office. If he pre-occupies himself with the burden of the office, he would have understood that he should not support the idea of automatic ticket. The implication of Oshiomholes action is grave. There is a possibility that the party may not make it in the coming elections. The leadership is so incompetent, that is why I said Oshiomhole should resign. You will see that if he does not resign, he is going to destroy this political party. Ondo APC refutes claim Reacting, the party state chairman, Ade Adetimehin said: I dont have any information that anybody is leaving the party, all of us are busy preparing for the general elections and we will be victorious. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | GTI: What the world needs to learn from Nigerian Army By Karen Goulding (Opinion) Editor's note: Karen Goulding from the United Kingdom writes on how the Global terrorism Index has been used to help governments understand whether activities in containing insurgencies in various communities. He also suggests that some countries would need to borrow a leaf from Nigeria's approach towards fighting terrorism. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NAIJ.com. Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.coms step-by-step guide for guest contributors. Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App. Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter. The Global Terrorism Index is a tool that has been developed to help governments understand whether and how they are making progress in containing insurgencies or hostile to the state or specific communities. The Index derives its scores by measuring the direct and indirect impact of terrorism. This includes the number of lives lost, injuries, property damage, business impact (closings and lost revenue), as well as the psychological effects on the communities affected. Between 2007 and 2015 Nigerias score was not good. The Boko Haram insurgency had reached its peak, destabilizing communities in the North-east all the way to the capital, Abuja. This worsened the life of the entire North-east region, but for specific localities that were targeted, there were maimed inhabitants, dislocated communities, shuttered schools and businesses, murders and kidnappings. The Boko Haram not only shook up the political status of the region, but also impacted the economic and social activities of the people. In 2015, Boko Haram overtook ISIL to become the deadliest terrorist group in the world. In the 2015 report, Nigeria moved up to the 3rd country with the highest impact of terrorism with an index score of 9.213, only surpassed by Iraq and Afghanistan. Little did the people of the region know that good news was on the way. And the way Nigeria turned the tide on terrorism is a lesson for other communities, a lesson of local capacity and local solutions, of a nation that didnt beg for help, but set itself on a course, together with key neighbors, to drive the insurgency from its territory. READ ALSO: Jonathan reacts as southeast elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation On assuming office in May 2015, the Buhari administration fast-tracked the governments response to the Boko Haram threat first by moving the military headquarters from the FCT to Maiduguri. Next, given the transnational dimension of Boko Haram, he reached out to garner support from Nigerias immediate neighbors: Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, which culminated in the formation of the regional Multi-National Joint Task Force (MMNJTF). The MNJTF framework allowed for joint operations between the countries concerned such that troops from Chad and Niger were permitted to operate on Nigerian soil specifically in the Lake Chad axis. The Nigerian armys intelligence gathering abilities, operational scope, and overall impetus became more active. Furthermore, Nigeria also entered into pacts with foreign nations in the fight against terrorism. This meant military aid from allies especially with regards to training of personnel, provision of ammunition and intelligence sharing improved the morale and made better the abilities of local and regional troops. This gave rise to a steady recapture of a sizeable portion of territories initially in control by Boko Haram. These territories during the peak of the violence in late 2014, covered an expanse the size of Belgium according to available reports. The Terrorism Index in Nigeria decreased to 9.01 in 2016 from 9.31 in 2015. The exploits of the Nigeria Army in the past three years speaks volume of a rededicated commitment to Nigeria. More specifically, implementing the basic tenets of professionalism in an unconventional war situation as well as respecting human rights and sticking to the rules of engagement are the hallmarks of the operations of the Nigeria Army under the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai. The era of Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai in the north-east has been unique and exemplary for many reasons. Clutching to the experience garnered as an infantry general, some may have questioned if he was the right man for the job. The Infantry is the branch of the army that engages in military combat on foot, distinguished from cavalry, artillery, and tank forces. How would a man who commands such close combat have the strategic awareness to effectively deal with the situation at hand? But he did, and his infantry experience may have been the key. Many security experts observe that the infantry have much greater local situational awareness than other military forces, due to their inherent intimate contact with the battlefield. This is vital for taking or holding ground (really for any military objectives), securing battlefield victories, maintaining military area control and security both at and behind the front lines, for capturing ordnance or material, taking prisoners, and military occupation. General Buratai brought all of these attributes to bear in his leadership of the Nigerian Army, in the course reclaiming all of the Nigerian territories that were once under the control of Boko Haram terrorists. One important step General Buratai took may not seem as vital, but in the end helped to secure not only territory, but also the hearts and minds of the population. Under the leadership of current Chief of Army Staff, the Nigerian Army commissioned its Human Rights Desk. The establishment of the Human Rights desk office was borne out of the increasing interest of the local and international human rights bodies on what the army was doing in the North East and other parts of the country. READ ALSO: Sad day for wrestling as WWE legend dies in the hospital But it was also a key tactic to earn the trust of the local population. This is also on the heels of the excellent record the Nigeria Army has attained by ensuring that civilian casualties are kept at the barest minimum. There are indeed lessons to be learned from the exploits of the Nigerian Army. Lessons on how to win a war and sustain the tempo. And how to keep the morale of a fighting force high. In some quarters, it has been stated that the coming of Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai in 2015 opened a new vista in the operations of the Nigerian Army, especially with the fight against terrorism. This fact was evident as mentioned earlier in the Global Terrorism Index rating that indicated a 33 percent reduction in the number of terrorism-related deaths in four of the terrorism ravaged countries including Nigeria compared to that of the previous years. Under Lt. Gen. Buratai, the leadership of the Nigerian Army nourishes the standards of discipline and professionalism through the enforcement of commensurate rewards and a strict punishment system. Similarly, a recent appraisal of the counter-insurgency campaigns in Nigeria, especially in the Northeast, by the United Nations Organization (UNO), also applauded, as exemplary, the Nigerian Armys professional execution on the Boko Haram terrorism and insurgency, as conforming to international best practices. Additionally, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) led by its President, Ambassador Mathew Rycroft, expressed same eulogies on Nigerian troops fighting the counter-insurgency war when they were in that country on assessment tour. An additional recognition of General Buratais superior leadership was the conferment of the Brazilian Military Order of Merit Award, in recognition of his contributions to world peace and for leading a most successful military campaign in northeast Nigeria with minimal casualties and respect for human rights. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the best news updates It is, therefore, safe to say that since the coming of the present administration in 2015, a lot has changed in the operations of the Nigerian military. If you call the Chief of Army Staff a rare breed, you wont be entirely wrong, because of his passion for not only the professional development of the troops but also providing for their welfare within the available resources. The Army has been reinvigorated since he assumed leadership. These are rare attributes worthy of emulation by critical stakeholders in Nigeria, other military forces in Africa, and indeed all active forces the world over. Boko Haram abducted my husband and the Gov't forgot about him - on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | APC fires back at PDP, says party's imminent fall in Akwa Ibom is near - APC has fired back at Akwa Ibom state chapter of the PDP - It said the crocodile tears of the party has shown its weakness ahead 2019 - It also boasted of its feats in the state, adding that more PDP members will defect to APC The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted to a statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Akwa Ibom state chapter, alleging the ruling part of plotting violence and votes rigging through its governorship candidate, Nsima Ekere. APC, through an official rejoinder personally signed by its deputy publicity secretary, Nabena Yekini, and sent to NAIJ.com berated the PDP chapter of Akwa Ibom state, adding that the party's wolf cry is because of its beckoning defeat come 2019. The party also accused the governor of the state, Udom Emmanuel, of covering up the rising number of security crisis, death and violence being perpetrated by PDP party leaders in the state. READ ALSO: Buharis executive order is constitutional - Presidency Nabena said: "In the face of imminent defeat in the forthcoming 2019 governorship and legislative election in Akwa Ibom state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has resorted to falsehood and propaganda against All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in the state in its desperation to remain in the reckoning of the Akwa Ibom electorate. "We view PDPs wild and unsubstantiated allegations against former governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Atuekong Don Etiebet and the 2019 APC governorship candidate, Obong Nsima Ekere as one of the falsehoods and propaganda by the PDP. "The PDP alleges that the APC chieftains are planning to foment violence in the state in order to ensure the postponement of the forthcoming elections. The allegation itself is a classic case of the aggressor playing the victim to cover up his misdeeds. "Since the issue is security, we may as well expose the PDP and their leaders in Akwa Ibom state for who they are: purveyors of violence. We are aware of several petitions in the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) against the PDP national legal adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, a former commissioner in Governor Udom Emmanuels administration." Nabena also boasted about the the feat recorded by APC in the state, adding that it was an indication that the people of the state are tired of the present PDP-led government and cannot wait to join the train of change come next year general election. He added:"The Akwa Ibom electorate cannot wait for the 2019 general elections to vote out the incompetent PDP government. The tide has turned in Akwa Ibom State. "As at today, APC, a party that did not win any councillorship seat in 2015 now has in its fold two out of three serving senators, many serving members of the House of Representatives, many serving members of the state House of Assembly. "A majority of political leaders in the state, including Senator Akpabio; immediate- past deputy governor, Noble Lady Valerie Ebe; former petroleum minister, Atuekong Don Etiebet; former secretaries to state government, Obong Umanah Umanah and Etekamba Umoren; many commissioners and aides have joined the APC family, 371,000 registered members and counting "It is laughable that the PDP continues to delude itself that Akwa Ibom state is a core PDP state and by implication canvassing for the coronation of the incumbent governor. The Akwa-Ibom electorate and indeed the political structure have rejected PDP and no amount of falsehood and propaganda can reverse their lost appeal in the state. "Any attempt by the current PDP administration in state to cause crisis and disrupt the 2019 election will not be tolerated. The PDP has already lost the forthcoming election as a result of the pedestrian performance of the Udom Emmanuel administration. The party should face its fate rather than engage in scare mongering." PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Senator Godswill Akpabio representing Akwa Ibom North-West district, had expressed optimism that President Muhammadu Buhari would record a massive victory in Akwa Ibom state in the 2019 presidential election. Akpabio, alongside Senator Ita Enang, an aide to the president on National Assembly matters (Senate), led delegation from Akwa Ibom state APC on a courtesy visit to Buhari at the presidential villa on Monday, September 17. Akpabio later told journalists that Akwa Ibom state would be the first state to vote massively for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019. APC Is The Worst Party in Nigeria, I Regret Being a Member | NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Breaking: IGP Idris orders detention of policemen allegedly involved in shooting of Abuja lady IGP Ibrahim Idris commiserates with the family of Anita Akapson over the death of their loved one who was allegedly shot by some policemen in Abuja Jimoh Moshood, the police spokesperson, says the Abuja police command is already in touch with the family of the deceased in efforts to investigate the issue The Inspector-general of police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, has ordered the detention and investigation of policeman accused of killing a lady identified as Anita Akapson. Jimoh Moshood, the police spokesperson in a statement on Monday, October 15, said the IGP had directed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) commissioner of police, Bala Ciroma, to detain and personally investigate the policemen accused of killing the lady who was reportedly shot dead on Saturday night, October 13, at Katampe Extension, Abuja. READ ALSO: Jonathan reacts as southeast elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation The statement disclosed that Idris also commiserated with the family of the deceased and assured them that justice will be done in the matter. The Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command is already in touch with the family as directed by the Inspector General of Police. "The public will be informed of the outcome of investigations into the incident, the police said. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app NAIJ.com had reported that Anita Akapson, was reportedly killed after having a verbal altercation with some policemen at Katampe Extension, Abuja. A friend of the deceased, identified on Twitter as Ms. Carla (@ihekauche) said Anita just retruned to Nigeria after having spent several years in the United Kingdom. Lagos Police Commissioner Parades Suspected Criminals (Nigeria News) | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | No amount of blackmail will deter Senator Sani - Aide - The financial allegation by the chairman of the Kaduna APC electoral panel against the senator Shehu Sani has been described as mischievous - Senator Sani's special adviser on media, Abdulsamad Chima Amadi, said no amount of blackmail will deter or distract his principal - The chairman of the electoral panel recently alleged that Senator Sani offered him N10 million bribe Abdulsamad Chima Amadi, the special adviser on media to the senator representing Kaduna senatorial district, Shehu Sani, described a financial allegation by the chairman of the state APC electoral panel against his boss as mischievous. Leadership reports that Amadi who made this available to newsmen in the state stressed that no amount of blackmail will deter or distract Senator Sani. According to him, Our attention has been drawn to a mischievous and frivolous news making the rounds that the chairman of the Kaduna APC electoral pane, Mathew lduoriyekemwen, purportedly claimed he was offered financial inducements by Senator Shehu Sani. READ ALSO: WWE legend Don Leo Jonathan dies at the age of 87 It is laughable of him to claim an aspirant who was the sole candidate cleared in Kaduna central offered him financial inducements. Senator Sani virtually had no rival in the primaries. Senator Sani is a distinguished and law abiding citizen who has over the years, earned a good name for himself through his uncompromising stance against corruption. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app It is obvious that some desperate politicians who have become synonymous with failure are behind all the baseless and frivolous accusations. Just like all their attempts to malign, frame up, intimidate and harm Sen Sani in the past failed, this one too has failed on arrival. Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that Senator Shehu Sani was accused of offering a N10 million bribe to the chairman of the APC electoral panel which presided over the partys recent primaries in Kaduna state, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, to get an affirmation for his controversial automatic ticket. Iduoriyekemwen disclosed this while responding to questions over allegations that the committee was bribed to skew the primary election results in favour of some aspirants of the APC in the state. The electoral panel chairman said: The only person in Kaduna state who offered me money was Senator Shehu Sani through one of my comittee members, to inform me that N10m gift was set aside for the committee chairman, and I said we didnt need the money, asking them what the money was for. '' Is Atiku the Right Man to Defeat President Buhari? 2019 Election - Nigeria Street Gist - on NAIJ.com TV: [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | El-Rufai's aide Ubani debunks rumours about restraining order on Kaduna central election - APC senatorial candidate in Kaduna state, Uba Sani, has debunked rumours that the restraining order he filed still subsists - He said the order had been vacated even before the primary election where he became the party's candidate for Kaduna central - The party's national leadership of APC had given automatic ticket for the current occupier of the seat, Shehu Sani, before the state chapter of the party overturned the decision The winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary for Kaduna central zone, Malam Uba Sani, has refuted reports that the case he filed in court restraining the APC from conducting primary elections subsists. Daily Trust repors that Sani, who spoke through his counsel, Sule Shaibu, said the order has been vacated even before the primary which threw up Uba Sani as the partys candidate. READ ALSO: 2019: We wont support Buhari - Coalition of ex-militants NAIJ.com gathered that the counsel said he was amazed by reports to the effect that the order subsists at the time the primary was conducted. He said while it is true Sani filed an action before a Kaduna state high court and obtained a restraining order against the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it is also true that the court duly vacated the order and paved the way for the conduct of the party primaries. He said it is saddening that those who are expected to know are saying things contrary to the reality on ground. We secured an interim injunction restraining not only the party from conducting any form of primary election as it were, but also INEC from observing any process or accepting any, where Uba Sanis name is excluded from the process of election. On Thursday October 2, it became clear that the national body of APC had resolved that all those who actually purchased nomination forms should be cleared, and were so cleared to contest the election. And the electoral body sent by the party actually came down on that date with the verified list of those qualified to contest duly signed by the national chairman of the party. Upon proper consideration and further instruction, we proceeded the following day, and filed a notice of discontinuance of the matter, he explained. The lawyer assigned by the APC to represent defendants in the motion, James Kanyip, had said to the best of his knowledge, the case had not been withdrawn from court at the time of the primary. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that Senator Shehu Sani, on Saturday, October 6, reportedly withdrew from the senatorial primary election of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for Kaduna central, which he had been representing since 2015 when he was elected. Sani, who is currently representing the Kaduna central senatorial district in the Senate, announced the withdrawal in a statement issued by his media aide, Abdulsamad Amadi, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna. Election 2019: President Buhari Proves He is Fit to Run in 2019 | - on NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Peace returns to Ogun APC as Amosuns former campaign director canvasses vote for governorship candidate recognised by partys NWC - Governor Amosuns former campaign DG has called for peace in the states chapter of the ruling party - He urged all the aggrieved members to join hands with the partys governorship candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun - The party had earlier been throwing into turmoil over the outcome of the gubernatorial primaries The former director general of the Governor Ibikunle Amosun Campaign Organisation during the 2015 elections, Chief Bode Mustapha, has called on all aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun state to join hands with the partys candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun, so as to win the governorship election in 2019. Mustapha who is the chairman, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, on Sunday, October 14, said this at the residence of Abiodun in Iperu, Ogun East senatorial district during a solidarity visit of the party faithful across the 20 local governments of the state to the governorship candidate, The Punch reports. The Muhammad Indabawa- led National Working Committee panel had declared Abiodun the governorship candidate of the APC, while the state executive committee of the party had also declared the Yewa Elders Council consensus governorship candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, as the winner of the governorship primary. READ ALSO: Jonathan reacts as southeast elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation The latter alleged that the NWC panel was highly compromised. Mustapha, however, added that he never thought Abiodun would be the one that would be brave enough to liberate the party. He said: Today I must thank God for the lives of all of us who believe in Prince Dapo Abiodun because I must tell you that I never believed that our liberation could come this early. If I was told that it is Prince Dapo Abiodun who will bravely lead the movement for our liberation in Ogun state, I wouldnt have believed. The first time he visited me then, I was not in support of any governorship candidate. I was the DG of the incumbent governor and then we had some agreement of which they reneged. But we must just thank God today because our most preferred candidate has emerged and as a result, we must continue to pray for the candidate and as well stretch the hands of fellowship to other aggrieved members. We must note today that, I am not doing this because I want to contest any political position but, I am doing this so as to set the records straight for our unborn generations. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that there were strong indications that Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state had been prevailed upon by some party leaders in the state to shelve his planned defection from the APC to another party. Amosun had earlier opposed the emergence of an oil magnate Dapo Abiodun as the partys governorship candidate in the state. A report by Vanguard, however, stated that the governor had been prevailed upon by the party leaders to shelve the planned defection because of the partys governorship candidate in the state. Lagos Governor: Is Sanwo-Olu a Better Candidate Than Ambode?| NAIJ.com TV: [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | FG should forget the idea of open grazen in Benue state - Governor Ortom insists - Governor Samuel Ortom has vowed not to implement recommendations of various judicial panels of enquiries on herdsmen attacks in the state - He claimed that none of the recommendations agreed with the states anti-grazing law - The Benue governor also asked the federal government to forget the idea of an open grazing in the state Recommendations of various judicial panels of enquiries on herdsmen attacks in different parts of Benue state would not be implemented, the governor of the state, Samuel Ortom has declared. The Benue state governor said this is because none of the recommendations agreed with the states anti-grazing law. READ ALSO: WWE legend Don Leo Jonathan dies at the age of 87 Going further, the Benue state governor also accused the federal government of ignoring the implementation of its aspect of the recommendations contained in the reports of the various panels, Punch reports. Ortom who disclosed this through Terver Akase, his chief press secretary, argued that if the federal government was not able to implement the report of the panels it set up, Nigerians should also not expect compliance from the state government. I think we heard that they have abandoned that idea; we dont know but there is no indication on the part of the Federal Government to implement whatever recommendations. We in Benue State have already said what we think should be the issue about this herdsmen/farmers crisis. We said if you are asking states to donate land, measuring 500 hectares, Benue State doesnt have such land and in addition to that, we have a law in place which has prohibited open grazing, he said. The governor also asked the federal government to forget the idea of an open grazing in the state. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app NAIJ.com had reported that the wife of the Benue state governor, Eunice Ortom stated that 19 out of the 23 local government areas of the state had been under siege by suspected herdsmen. The governors wife made the claim on Thursday, October 11, when speaking at the celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child organised by the Eunice Spring of Life Foundation. Benue Elders Speak on Herdsmen Attacks | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | South African Airways Celebrates 20 Years of Excellent Service In Nigeria With Remarkable Global Recognition. Celebration is in the air, as December 2018 marks the 20th year anniversary of South African Airways in Nigeria as we celebrate two decades of service. It has been a worthwhile journey as we have consistently managed to soar high in the face of every obstacle, by offering our passengers the best and putting you at the centre of all our decision making. For two decades, we have happily taken to the skies as we transcend beyond boundaries of countries, language and cultures, uniting families and fostering business partnerships. Over the years, we have become a global airline whose excellence has garnered us various awards and acknowledgements. Some of our recent accolades include: 2017: Business Traveller Magazines Best Airline in Africa (9th year running), Global Travellers Best Airline to Africa (14th year running), Sunday Times Coolest Domestic Airline, and Skytraxs 4-Star Rating (15th year running). 2018: Apex Regional Passenger Choice Awards for Best Seat Comfort, Best Cabin Service, Best Food and Beverage, and Best Overall in Africa, and Skytraxs 4-Star rating (16th year running). SAA is a member of Star Alliance, the biggest airline alliance in the world. SAA serves 32 destinations in 23 countries. SAA services the South African domestic market with destinations like Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and East London. SAA also flies to a range of regional and international destinations, including: Sao Paulo, London, Frankfurt, Perth, Hong Kong, New York, and Washington. As a reputable airline, we are dedicated to setting high standards in everything that we do. From our warm African hospitality and luxurious airport lounges, to our in-flight menu created by renowned chefs. We aim to deliver a world-class experience every time. Choosing SAA is choosing an airline you can bank on anytime and any day. Some of the benefits you enjoy on our flights include; seat-back TV screens on long haul flights, 2 | 4 | 2 seat layout, AirScape inflight entertainment with Audio Video On Demand (AVOD), our award-winning inflight magazine, Sawubona, and long haul amenity kits in Business and Economy Class. It has truly been an amazing journey, as we look back at our journey thus far in humility, and look forward to welcoming you on-board one of our aircrafts again soon. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Ilechukwu calls for conversion of churches to schools By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ABUJA NIGERIANS have been told to vote against any candidate that has exhibited any traits of nepotism and religious bigotry in the 2019 elections. The General Overseer of Charismatic Renewal Ministries, CRM, Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu gave the advice on Sunday in his message at the he 2018 Special Independence service and prayers for Nigeria and her leaders at the National Christian Center, NCC, Abuja. Ilechukwu who is also the National Coordinator of The Change We Need Nigeria Initiative also advised Church leaders to convert Churches to Schools for the development of the country. Atiku not a threat to President Buharis re-election, says senatorial candidate He said that Christians all over the country were quietly mobilizing to vote against any candidate in the 2019 elections that shows traits of nepotism, including those who will use financial inducement to buy votes in the forthcoming general elections. He said Christian bodies would not align with any political party or candidates who fail to define their political ideologies, especially those that would have far reaching impact on the citizenry. llustration: A teacher. TRCN says 50% private schools employ unprofessional teachers. According to him, the apathy against sugar coated politicians has become necessary owing to systemic failure in all ramification of the Nigerian society, stressing that the present crop of leaders in the country have failed to meet up with the yearnings and aspirations of the people despite the huge enormous resources that the country is blessed with. He said peace was also sacrosanct in next years general elections adding that a situation majority of the populace were hungry and angry peace becomes elusive. He said, We will only cast our votes for that good leader who loves Nigeria, patriotic Nigerians who will build a Nigeria for all Nigerians to emerge, somebody who can manage our economy, somebody that has a compassion to manage our diversity. One that is not nepotic in his dispositions, somebody that would embrace all and have a handshake across tribes and religions,that is the kind of person we are looking for in 2019. It is my ardent prayer that God will help us achieve that so that peace will reign in this country. Our political system is in disarray, is there anywhere we dont have problem in Nigeria? Look at our educational system, look at our schools, you can graduate in Nigerian universities without writing any exams, teachers are demoralized, libraries and laboratory are empty, there are no accommodation for the students, no bursary to assist them things are really hard , so we need prayers to get things right in this country. To start with, we should start drilling these politicians on their ideological foundations, its not just anybody who has money because you can bribe more people you will become our President, Senator or Governor. Anybody who get into power by bribing people is going there to steal our money, so we are going to insists that they have to face us with their ideological underpinning, with their economic blueprint, how they want to turn the economy of this country around. They must face us, they have to talk to us, they must explain how they would do it and if they dont convince us, we should be able to get them out. He said that the impunity which characterized recent gubernatorial election in Osun state will not repeat itself in 2019, adding that such irregularities were an invitation to crisis in a sane society. His said, Our leaders must make our votes count because its so demoralizing that you will go and vote, everybody knows who we all voted for and when the election results are out somebody that was not voted for will become the successful person, it wont happen in 2019, unless they are looking for war in this country. We must be vigilant for 2019 victory, says APC chieftain He advised the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be neutral and conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2019. He also urged the security agencies not to be partisan in carrying out their constitutional duties. He said that education was key to socio-economic development and advised Christians to build more schools instead of more Churches and also convert the Churches to schools in order to reduce crimes associated with not having formal education like in the case of Boko Haram. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | 2019: No going back on our verdict against APC in Zamfara - INEC comes hard The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, October 15, said it stands by its statement that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will not field candidates for the 2019 general elections in Zamafa. Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, stated this on the sideline of the opening of a two-day validation workshop in Abuja. We have issued a statement on Zamfara and nothing has changed. We stand by the statement that we issued, he said as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). The report quoted Yakubu as re-emphasising that the deadline for submission of party candidates name to the commission was October 18, saying that it would give a full report on that after November 18. READ ALSO: Buharis executive order is constitutional - Presidency The report said INEC had informed the ruling APC in a leaked memo that it would not be allowed to field candidates for elective positions in Zamfara in the 2019 elections. The commissions acting secretary, Okechukwe Ndeche, in a letter to the APC, said that the party was barred from fielding candidates for governorship, national assembly and state assembly elections. The commission said this was because APC failed to comply with sections 87 and 31 of the electoral act of 2010. Parties, according to the act, were expected to comply with the timetable and schedule of INEC, which says that the conduct of primaries must be held between August 18, and October 7. INEC said it received reports from its Zamfara office, indicating that no primaries were conducted in the state notwithstanding that our officials were fully mobilised and deployed. The APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, later responded to INEC in a statement and said that the party had already arrived at a consensus before the deadline. Oshiomhole said that following the high level of friction, disagreements and threats of violence by various political camps before the primaries, all the aspirants met at City King Hotel, Gusau, to find a truce. After hours of intense horse-trading, a consensus was reached within the spirit and context of the electoral act and the constitution of our party. This was done in strict compliance with section 87 (6) of the electoral act, 2010 (as amended), he said. He said that the claim by INEC that no primaries were conducted could only be referring to its officials observation that actual voting did not take place. The APC chairman said that conduct of primaries was not the only mode prescribed for producing candidates in the electoral act, 2010 (as amended). We, therefore, affirm that indeed, primaries took place in Zamfara state, Oshiomhole said. The party chairman also noted that PDP had similar issues in Kano state and wondered why INEC did not bar the opposition party from fielding candidates. Yakubu further said that the commission would by the end of November print the outstanding Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). We have printed the PVCs for those who registered in the first quarter of 2018. We are right now simultaneously printing for those who registered in the second and third quarters. We are looking at the end of November for all the PVCs to be printed including request for transfer and relocation. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app Let me just repeat the assurance that every citizen that registered and who have applied for transfer or replacement will get his or her PVC before 2019 general elections," he said. He, however, said that the commission had stopped every registration, request for transfer and replacement of damaged PVCs. NAIJ.com earlier reported that following its failure to meet the Sunday, October 7, deadline placed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared ineligible to field candidates for all elective positions in Zamfara ahead of the 2019 general polls. Can Sowore Break APC/PDP Stronghold on Nigerians? 2019 Election - Nigeria Street Gist | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Many people, organisations using us to make money - IDPs raise allegation - IDPs in Abuja warned NGOs and individuals to stop using their plight to make money - The IDPs said some persons who collect money on their behalf refuse to give it to them - They called on the government to empower them Leadership of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Monday called on organizations and individuals to refrain from making money from their plights. They made the call on the side lines of a Roundtable organised by The Civil Society Network on Migration and Development (CSOnetMADE) to call for speedy adoption of the National Policy on IDPs. READ ALSO: Daura lobbied me twice to support Buhari - Fayose Public Relations Officer (PRO) of IDPs in the FCT, Mr Chakuch Lawan, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that many governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and individuals were making money from IDPs predicaments. Lawan explained that most governments and groups collected huge allocations and donations to help them in addressing the plights of the displaced, but that the IDPs did not get enough benefit from such gestures. According to him, there are so many government agencies that carry out similar functions to assist us but when there is a problem and we go to them, they do not respond well. The spokesman said that against the assumptions that IDPs were lazy, they would appreciate if the government empowered them to begin their livelihood in the FCT, pending when conditions in their communities improved. We appreciate the Federal Government for all its support for us since we started living as IDPs. It has really tried. The only problem is that some organizations have been using us to make money. When they collect money to buy relief items for us, they will not spend everything for us. Most of us are farmers and we have our farms in neighbouring states like Nasarawa and we are working to feed ourselves. We are ready to return to our communities when we are sure that the security situation is alright and completely safe, he said. On his part, Secretary of the IDPs in the territory, Mr Elisha Ezikiel, said that the officials were more interested in procurements of contracts than what benefitted the displaced persons. When they were talking of relocating us, different agencies shared so many contracts among themselves. Some said they will make shirts for identification; others said they will make wrist bands, some said T-shirts. They have collected the money and contracts but we are still here. They should take pity on our conditions rather than making money from our conditions, Ezikiel said. Mrs Layatu Ayuba, Leader of women in IDPs in Durumi camp, shared in the complaints and called for a suitable IDPs camp, with better healthcare and sanitary condition. She said that she was the only woman that help in delivering pregnant women on their babies in the camp as most of them could not afford medical care. We are living in very bad conditions; the camps do not have toilets and we are not allowed to dig pit toilets in the place we are. Most of the women now have different toilet infections. Many NGOs come and teach us on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) but we do not have the environment and good water to practise it. Last week, a woman I was delivering her baby died because she had some complications and could not pay N150, 000 in the hospital for her treatment. It is sad because people come here to talk to us, take our pictures but we are not getting enough assistance. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Being here is not our making and we do not pray to remain in this condition, Ayuba said. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has said Nigeria is losing out on a literate and skilled workforce it needs to grow economically due to a huge number of out-of-school children. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deputy representative, UNICEF Nigeria, Pernille Ironside, stated this on Wednesday, October 10, in Kaduna, at the opening of a two-day Northern Nigeria Traditional Leaders Conference (NNTLC) on out-of-school children. NAIJ.com gathers that the conference was organised by the federal ministry of education, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), National Commission for Mass Education and Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development (NCMESFPD) in collaboration with UNICEF. Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Buhari vs Atiku: UPP chairman advises Nigerians on candidate to vote for - Chief Chekwas Okorieurged Nigerians to vote for Buhari in 2019 - The UPP chairman said it was better than enduring another eight years of Atiku - He commended the Buhari administration for the success recorded in the fight against corruption The national chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Chief Chekwas Okorie, has called on Nigerians to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari rather than bringing in Atiku Abubakar for another eight years. In an interview with Vanguard, Okorie noted that the Buhari administration has done its best although this may not be enough. He however said it was better to stich with Buhari than bringing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). READ ALSO: WWE legend Don Leo Jonathan dies at the age of 87 He said: Nigeria is still a work in progress but its unfortunate that we are in election mood. While those in government are busy convincing Nigerians that they have done enough to be re-elected, those willing to take over from them believe differently. But for me, the government has not met the expectations of Nigerians since the end of the civil war. The deplorable state of our economy, the poverty level, the low GDP and the very embarrassing low power supply and corruption in the country among others have retrogressively worsened over the years. We dont have any period since the end of the civil war which also marked the end of the First Republic which we will remember with certain nostalgia and wish to be like that period. Okorie accused the PDP of being responsible for the recession that Nigeria went through and commended the anti-corruption fight of the Buhari administration. He said: Nobody can take that from them because they were able to fight the anti-corruption war headlong. But for some to call the anti-corruption war of this administration a selective fight is illogical. Because the issue of fraud and corruption does not expire. Its a matter that lasts over time. And a government that is serious has to start from somewhere. If its one sided, who will they arrest, is it other innocent Nigerians or Chekwas Okorie who had never gone near government resources or treasury? And some particular Nigerians had access to the treasury for 16 good years. If they start from there and another government comes to power, they can continue from there. I always remind those that say anti-corruption war is one-sided of an Igbo proverb that says: A River can only drown somebody whose feet it has seen. If you did not go near the river, how can it drown you? Are they saying if they stole and the other people stole, it should be cancelled? Its only a corrupt man that will say that. They are not even ashamed that they had 16 years to rule and they messed the whole country up. They laid the foundation for recession. He insisted it was better for Buhari to rule again than for another Fulani man to come to power with the plan to spend eight years in power. He said: So for me, the Buhari administration is good to go for second term because there is nothing in PDP that Nigerians are missing that will make me want them to come back. I can live with another four years of Buhari but may not be able to endure another eight years of PDP. The reason is the person running under PDP moral baggage is known, his pasts are known and we know what they did with the opportunity they had when they were in power for 16 years. So a Leopard does not change its spots. The saying that the devil you know is better than the angels you dont know is true. In a situation where there are two devils, you can choose the better devil. To Nigerians that are ethnic minded, they are faced with two Fulani, the APC Fulani and the PDP Fulani. It is left for you to choose your own Fulani. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! For me, Buhari has an uncompleted job and the way he is going is a path of progress. It is for Nigerians to decide what they want but I personally will prefer another four years of Buhari before power shift to the South-West or South-East, than another eight years of another Fulani with the same spot and if you add it to the previous nightmare of the PDP it will be too much for Nigerians to bear. NAIJ.com had also reported that the founder and presiding bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedpo, debunked rumour that he endorsed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for 2019 presidential election. Oyedepo who spoke at a Sunday church service in Canaan Land Ota, Ogun state, said he does not belong to any political party. Buhari to Contest for Presidency in 2019! NAIJ.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Executive order: PDP runs to chief justice, asks Onnoghen to protect judiciary against alleged abuse of constitution The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, to immediately protect the judiciary from what it described as the unconstitutional and repressive policies being foisted on the system. The opposition party said this in reaction to the recent action on at least 50 Nigerians accused of corruption, many of whom are members of the PDP, using the executive order 6 recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari. READ ALSO: Buharis executive order is constitutional - Presidency The party said the admission by the presidency, on Sunday, October 14, that the executive order 6, as well as the travel ban and trailing of citizens, are devised to directly interfere in judicial processes and stifle accused persons of resources, under the guise of speedy trial, has left no one in doubt that the nation is fast sliding into fascism. The PDP alleged that the presidency has commenced an attack on the independence of the judiciary, using the instrument of blackmail and aspersion on its integrity and capacity to effectively and timeously dispense justice. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app In trying to use his executive order 6 to determine the process, procedures and progression of cases in court, the Buhari presidency directly seeks to usurp, commandeer and appropriate the constitutional powers of the judiciary and then arm-twist the courts and use them as slaughterhouses for opposition members and perceived political opponents, it said alleging that the action of the residency is a direct attempt to suspend sections 6 (6)(b), 36 (5), (6)(d) and 37 of the 1999 constitution (as amended). NAIJ.com earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari signed a new executive order, Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularization Scheme (VOARS), meant to target money launderers and tax evaders. In a statement by Garba Shehu on Wednesday, October 10, he said Nigerian taxpayers holding offshore assets and incomes are expected to pay taxes on them. Can Sowore Break APC/PDP Stronghold on Nigerians? 2019 Election - Nigeria Street Gist | Naij.com TV [embedded content] Subscribe to watch new videos Source: Naija.ng CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Gas supply : FG targets Northern Nigeria through AKK project The Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday said the country was looking beyond the Niger Delta in its effort to find alternative source for gas supply. Kachikwu disclosed this at a breakout session at the ongoing Nigerian Gas Association 11th International Conference and Exhibition in Abuja. The minister was represented by his Senior Technical Adviser, Upstream and Gas, Mr Gbite Adeniji. He said that the Federal Government was serious about taking gas to the Northern region of the country, through the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano( AKK) gas pipeline project, so as to address the huge economic challenges witnessed in the region. The minister stated that the country could no longer tolerate a situation where 11 power plants across the country would be forced to shut down, once there was disruption in gas supply through the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS). He said, As a government, you want to ensure that you have robustness in supply sources and robustness on delivery system. The position we have taken is that we have to look at as many options as possible in terms of supply sources. Today, we are very dependent on gas supply from the Niger Delta. The policy position is that we have to look at other terrains to see what is possible. We have discovered huge amount of gas resources in the offshore. Hence, the statement made earlier on that we must ensure that by the end of this quarter, we settle the issues of the contractual framework that would help us unlock those gas resources, so that we have optionality. It just does not do well that once the ELPS goes down, 11 power plants and many industrial enterprises also go down with it. That is not the system. A huge part of investment in there, but the reality of our life in Nigeria is that it goes down with them. The planning is that we have to create options to the ELPS for Lagos. Kachikwu further emphasised the strategic importance of the AKK pipeline project. He noted that the key was to ensure that the project was delivered in a manner that gives confidence to the upstream that there was viable anchor project to keep it going. According to him, until the AKK pipeline comes on stream, the country must look at the possibility of alternative gas supplies into the Northern region and into other stranded gas markets in the country. Let us focus a bit on Northern Nigeria, which is facing quadruple whammy, which is what I would call it today. It is significantly de-industrialised; there is deforestation going on; there is desertification going on; then the population is booming. Cheap access to energy sources is a big solution to these problems on Northern Nigeria, which is the key essence of the AKK project, he said CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Daura lobbied me twice to support Buhari Fayose OUTGOING Ekiti State Governor, Chief Ayodele Fayose, has said that the former Director General of the Department of State Service, Lawal Daura, twice asked him to support the government of President Muhammadu Buhari so that Fayoses party, the Peoples Democratic Party, would retain the control of the State. The governor, who spoke in Abuja on Sunday night at a send-off party organised for him by his colleagues in the PDP Governors Forum, said he turned down the request on both occasions. In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, on Monday, he quoted Fayose as saying that it was for that reason that Daura coordinated the security onslaught against him and his supporters during the July 14 governorship election in the state. If I had agreed to the proposal and operated like a bat, who has the features of an animal and a bird, they would not have attempted to muzzle me. I am not one of those that would be silenced or who will go and take over under his wifes bed because some people want to play God. I cannot deceive you, I can fight but rather than fight the PDP, I will deploy my energy to fight those holding our country hostage and retarding its growth by their incapability. The time is up for them and they know this, he said. On the fallout from the PDP presidential primary, Fayose urged the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secobdus, and others to give the necessary respect and recognition to state governors. The governors are institutions on their own and they must be accorded the necessary respect and recognition. When there is a need to get these governors to contribute money to meet some needs, they will contribute. But when there is a need to let them express their views and preferences, they will be accused of trying to impose, that must stop, he said. Fayose expressed confidence that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi would be elected president and vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria next year. He urged the party to unite, forge a common front to oust Buhari, saying that Nigerians are going through pains and are looking unto the PDP as saviour. Buharis time is up, he said. He gave the assurance that the South-West people would vote the PDP in the coming general elections. He thanked the organisers of the event and those who graced it for honouring him. The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Emmanuel Udom, described Fayose as a courageous and dependable man and said Fayose could defend a cause even at the cost of his life. The chairman of the occasion, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Yakubu Dogara said nobody who served his people the way Fayose did would be put to shame. He noted that Fayoses supporters shedding tears while he was departing Ekiti were actually praying for him. Mr Peter Obi, in his remarks, said the country needed people like Fayose who would speak the truth to power. Other speakers such as the Bayelsa State Governor, Rt Hon. Seriake Dickson, former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode poured encomiums on Fayose and prayed that God blesses his future endeavours. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | POWA donates relief materials to IDPs in Borno The Police Officers Wives Association (POWA), on Monday, donated relief materials to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), in Dalori Camp, Maiduguri. President of the association and wife of the Inspector-General of Police, Hajiya Asta Ibrahim, who led other police officers wives to the camp, listed the items to include mattresses, pillow, rice, bucket, soaps, and wrappers. She said that purpose of the gesture was to share love and care with the IDPs, currently facing consequences of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North/East region. I am extremely happy to be with you here in Dalori Camp, as the President of the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA). I am here with some of my management team and executives to visit you and share love and care with you. The Police Officers Wives Association is known for its humanitarian, charitable and philanthropic gestures. We are here, therefore, to showcase these and extend our hands of fellowship in your present predicament. I assure you that God has not abandoned you, keep your faith alive, by the grace of God, this menace shall be eliminated and peace shall reign supreme once more, she stated. In her remarks, Hajiya Nana Shettima, the wife of Borno governor, commended the gesture, saying that it would go a long way in providing succour to the beneficiaries. Shettima urged wealthy individuals and philanthropists to assist thousands of widows and children orphaned by insurgency in the state. Zainab Bukar, one of the IDPs, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed appreciation to the association for coming to their aid at this crucial time. She also commended Shettima for supporting widows, orphans and other vulnerable persons under her pet programme, SWOT Foundation. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | NAF seeks closer relationship with Enugu residents The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), has said that the success of its operations and internal security duties in Enugu State depends on the active and positive co-operation of residents of the State. AVM Saddiq Kaita, the new Air Officer Commanding (AOC), NAFs Ground Training Command (GTC), Enugu, said this during a courtesy call to the Traditional Ruler of Nike Kingdom, Igwe Julius Nnaji, on Monday in his palace. Kaita said that the NAF would also identify with positive developments within its host communities and states while contributing its quota to the success of the residents of the state. It is customary to identify with the owners of the land and its people and seek their co-operation in our operations and duties. Since I came, I continue to see and hear positive and good news about the entire Nike kingdom and how you have been living peacefully with our officers and men. We, NAF, are happy that the monarch and his cabinet members have continued to show good example to the youth, which resulted in the peace and progress in the kingdom, he said. He expressed his gratitude for the hospitality shown to the Nigerian Air Force and its personnel `since we established the base in the kingdom. Earlier, the Traditional Ruler of Nike Kingdom, Igwe Julius Nnaji, commended the AOC for the professionalism and discipline being displayed by NAF personnel in Enugu. Nnaji noted that the community had not recorded a single act of harassment from any NAF personnel all these years. We have been living harmoniously and cordially with the Nigerian Air Force and you people have been a good neighbour to the Nike people and by extension the people of Enugu State. The Nigerian Air Force and its personnel have shown us great love, even taking care of health needs of our people through routine healthcare outreaches, he said. The monarch, however, appealed to NAF to give employment to some of its able-bodied sons and daughters to strengthen the already existing relationship and co-operation. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the monarch prayed for the success of the AOC as well as NAFs personnel nationwide as they grappled with emerging security threats in the country. The AOC later presented a plaque to the monarch and later signed the visitors register of the palace. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Adeleke to be docked 31 October for exam fraud Senator Ademola Adeleke, the defeated governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun will be docked at a Federal High Court Abuja on 31 October for alleged examination malpractice. He will face, along with four others, a four-count charge for personation and registering as students of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Ojo-Aro Osun State to enable him sit for the National Examination Council (NECO) examination of June/July 2017. Adeleke Charged with Adeleke are: Sikiru Adeleke, Alhaji Aregbesola Mufutau, principal of the school, Gbadamosi Thomas Ojo, school Registrar and Dare Samuel Olutope, a teacher. They will be arraigned before Justice I. E. Ekwo. The police four weeks ago had declared Adeleke wanted over the offence and had asked him to report in the office of the Special Investigation Panel for prosecution. This was some few days to the governorship election on 22 September. According to reports, President Buhari overruled the invitation. OSUN: Omisore, Lasun brides of the rerun The text of the police statement issued in September: On 21st July 2017, the Osun State Police Intelligence Bureau (SIB) received and acted on an actionable intelligence about an ongoing examination malpractice involving Senator Ademola Adeleke and Sikiru Adeleke at OJO/Aro Community Grammar School in Osun state. When the Police operative arrived at the school, only Sikiru Adeleke was found seated for the examination while Senator Ademola Adeleke seat was vacant and was suspected to have escaped before the arrival of the Police operatives. Further investigation revealed that both Senator Ademola Adeleke and his brother Sikiru Adeleke registered and were sitting for the National Examination Council Examination (NECO) 2017 as internal candidates impersonating students of the School at the ages of 57years and 42years respectively. This crime was facilitated by the principal of the school, and two other members of staff of the school for which they are under investigation and being charged to court. The Principal of the school, Alhaji Aregbesola Mufutau, the staff responsible for registration, Mr Gbadamosi Thomas Ojo and a teacher Mr Dare Olutope were arrested on 21 July 2017. Senator Ademola Adeleke was arrested on 27 July 2017 and Sikiru Adeleke was arrested on 8 August 2017. Senator Ademola Adeleke made cautionary statement and admitted that he registered for the 2017 NECO examinations as an internal student in the said school but he didnt sit for the examination. However, Police investigation revealed the following primafacial and culpability facts against Senator Ademola Adeleke andfour (4) others. Senator Ademola Adeleke made cautionary statement and admitted that he registered for the 2017 NECO examinations as an internal student in the said school and did not sit for the examination but have a result from NECO with Seven (7) Credit and One (1) Pass, a copy of which was obtained from NECO by the Police. The Ojo/Aro 2017 NECO, SSCE school photo album (Schools copy), with Senator Ademola Adeleke and Sikiru Adeleke Photographs in school uniform in the said album. Senator Ademola Adeleke in the NECO 2017 Result obtained by the claimed that he was born on 12th June 1997 but in his statement to the Police, senator Ademola Adeleke wrote 13th May 1960 as his Date of Birth. The photographs of both Senator Ademola Adeleke and Sikiru Adeleke appearing side by side in the photo album have no NECO stamps on them. Osun election : High-wire intrigues as PDP, APC dig in for votes Senator Ademola Adeleke and four others were arrested, investigated, granted bail and being charged to court. Charges of Examination Malpractice, Criminal Conspiracy, Personation, Breach of Duty, Aiding and Abetting against Senator Ademola Adeleke (PDP Governorship Aspirant in the 22nd September, 2018 Gubernatorial Election in Osun State) and four (4) others namely; MR Sikiru Adeleke, Alhaji Aregbesola Mufutau (Principal of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Egbedore LGA, Osun State), Mr Gbadamosi Thomas Ojo (School Staff responsible for the registration of candidates for NECO), Mr Dare Olutope (School Teacher who facilitated the commission of the crime) have been filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja under the Examination Malpractice Act, CAP E15, 2004 today, Wednesday, 19th September, 2018. Consequently, Senator Ademola Adeleke (PDP Governorship Aspirant in the 22nd September, 2018 Gubernatorial Election in Osun State) and four (4) others namely; MR Sikiru Adeleke, Alhaji Aregbesola Mufutau (Principal of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Egbedore LGA, Osun State), Mr Gbadamosi Thomas Ojo (School Staff responsible for the registration of candidates for NECO), Mr Dare Olutope (School Teacher who facilitated the commission of the crime) are hereby advised in their own interest to report to the Special Investigation Panel, Force Headquarters, Abuja immediately for arraignment in court. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Umuahia: Enelamah applauds as Premier Club plans N250m intervention The Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah has commended the Umuahia Premier Club for its planned N250 million intervention in Education, Healthcare and skills development. Enelamah who hails from Umuahia disclosed this while delivering a speech at the Induction, Fund Raising and Awards Ceremony organized by the club with the theme: Raising 21St Century Leaders in Umuahia. The minister commended the club for particularly seeking to intervene in the three cardinal areas stressing that any intervention in education, healthcare and skills acquisition would go a long way in addressing the challenges of a people. Pogba not bigger than Man Utd Mourinho I have known Umuahia Premier Club to be a Socio-cultural organization that is always in the business of improving the socioeconomic wellbeing of Umuahians. I am, therefore, not surprised that this gathering is geared towards the three cardinal principles needed in every society that wishes to eradicate poverty and provide leaders of tomorrow. In a society where education is held sacrosanct, where the state of health of the populace is taken paramount and where entrepreneurship flourishes within the youth, the hope of a brighter tomorrow can be better imagined. Ogwah commends PDP for transparent primaries Umuahia Premier Club is one of the foremost clubs in the country it is known for championing the cause of the masses and the downtrodden in the society. The theme for the event which is Raising 21St Century Leaders in Umuahia is apt and relevant as we need to consciously raise future leaders who would key into the vision of present leaders. Having more entrepreneurs in our community would have the desired impact on our community that may likely produce the likes of Bill Gates and the Dangotes of this world. These great men became great leaders of the world through their entrepreneurial skills and development. I, therefore whole heartedly commend the UPC for this giant stride in planning to raise quality leaders for our great community of Umuahia in the 21st century., he said. Enelamah who was also an award recipient said that the vision and plan of the club also aligned with that of the Federal Government to promote entrepreneur capacities of our teeming youth. Speaking earlier, the Nationa Chairman of the Club, Nnanna Ochiugo urged members of the club to be generous in giving and the project before them was a very important one. From left: Member of the Board of Trustees, Umuahia Premier Club (UPC), retired AIG Ephraim Amakulor; Member of the Organising Committee, Mr Emeka Inyama and Abuja Chairman of the Club, Mr Acho Obinna, during the fund raising and induction of new members of the Club in Abuja Throwing more light on the project to be executed, Ochiugo said that the three areas chosen for intervention were very key to the development of Umuahia. This amount we are raising now is the first phase of the total sum of N650 million we we plan to raise and carry out some intervention programmes in Umuahia. We have three main local governments: we want to establish schools, vocational centres, health centres as well as equip existing schools and health facilities. This would boost the infrastructural base of these communities and empower our youths. We hope to establish a modern hospital in all three local governments, he said. He stressed that the club was for only middle class persons from Umuahia. The Chairman of the occasion, Dr Nelson Uwaga however cautioned members of the club to ensure they did their best in instilling the cultures, tradition and the language of Umuahia in their children. He expressed fear that being an elite club, many of its members would have their children schooling abroad and if they are not grounded in the language and culture, they soon lose their roots. He advised the igos generally to borrow a leaf from the yorubas who no matter how widely travelled still retain their culture of respect and their language. A total of 12 new members were inducted into the Premier Club. NAN CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Listen to Felas music for solutions to nations problems, Falana advises presidential candidates Lagos Activist lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), on Monday advised Nigerian presidential candidates seeking office in 2019 to listen to the late legendary musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kutis music, to get solutions proffered to the nations problems. Fela Falana gave the advice during the 2018 Felabration tagged Fela @ 80: Overtaking Overtake, at the Fela debates titled: African Leadership in the Millennium in Lagos. He said that the late Fela had seen Nigerias problems, as he gave warning and proffered solutions to such problems in his music before his death. Fela, who was born on Oct. 15, 1938 and died on Aug. 2, 1997, was the pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and a human rights activist. He composed many songs on societal ills in Nigeria and the African continent, and had many brushes with several Nigerian governments which he often criticised in his songs. Some of such popular songs include Suffering and Smiling, Authority Stealing, Zombie, Water No Get Enemy and Lady. Falana said: I want most of these presidential aspirants to listen to Felas music very well where they can find solutions to most of our problems. Our country is rich as Fela sang in his music, but our people are still hungry and poor; you must understand our society before you can lead us. Falana urged young Nigerians to get organised so that the sky would be their starting point. He said that if Nigeria could get it right, the black man all over Africa would be happy. Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Mr Omoyele Sowore, who also spoke at the event, advised Nigerians to take charge of their destinies by voting rightly, come 2019. Sowore said that History was important for the school curriculum, as the negative influences of the nations bad past leaders should be known to the younger generation. He urged Nigerian youths who feel capable of occupying public office to indicate interest and ensure novices are not given the opportunity to rule. Politician and legal practitioner, Eunice Atu-Ejide, who also spoke at the event, urged Nigerians to look out for virtues such as sincerity, honesty, positive character and integrity, rather than age, in choosing leaders. We must stop inciting violence and hatred, but focus on choosing rightly. Age is not a determinant if a presidential candidate will do well in the office, but the character and integrity should be considered, she said. NAN reports that the 2018 Felabration, which commenced on Monday, will run through the week with performances by artists from Togo, France and Nigeria, dance competitions, among others. Felabration is an annual festival of music and arts commemorating the life and times of Nigerias foremost musical icon, the late Fela Anikulakpo Kuti. The idea and concept of Felabration as an annual celebration of Felas music, life and times, originated from his eldest child Yeni who conceived it in 1998. Currently, Felabration organised by the Felabration Organising Committee has grown into a mega week-long musical event in Nigeria, attracting thousands of visitors annually to the New Africa Shrine from all over the world.(NAN) CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | World | Africa | Chiwenga, Moyo hospitalised in SA Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo are admitted at top South African hospitals where they are said to be in bad shape, the Daily News reported. The two highly-trained former military men were the face of the November 2017 army operation that led to the dramatic ouster of Robert Mugabe after 37 years of iron-fisted rule. Code-named Operation Restore Legacy, the soft coup saw Mugabe's long time confidante-turned-foe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, emerge from the political Siberia to take up the high-pressure job at Munhumutapa Building. Mnangagwa, aged 75, went on to appoint Chiwenga - who was the commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) at the time of the military intervention - as one of his two vice presidents (VPs). Moyo - who had acted as the army's spokesperson during the month-long military operation - was catapulted from the barracks to land the top post in the ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Daily News is reliably informed that while the officialdom is keeping Chiwenga and Moyo's ill-health a closely-guarded secret, the top government officials were airlifted to the neighbouring country for further treatment after their conditions deteriorated. Deputy Information minister Energy Mutodi could neither deny nor confirm that the former military chefs were receiving medical attention in South Africa saying the matter was under the purview of the Office of the President and Cabinet. "That is not an issue for this ministry because everything to do with the presidium, that is including the two VPs is communicated by George Charamba. He is the right person to talk about that," Mutodi said. Zanu-PF's information tsar Simon Khaya Moyo was also non-committal, referring questions to Charamba as well. "I know nothing about that because I haven't been informed. That information can only be obtained from the President's Office, so talk to George," Khaya Moyo said. Charamba was not immediately available for comment as his phone went unanswered. He also did not respond to a text message sent to his phone. While not much is known about Moyo's illness, Chiwenga and his wife, Mary, have been battling a rare skin disease that manifests in swollen hands and feet. They have also lost their skin pigmentation. In May, the former ZDF commander revealed that the condition started when he led a military coup against Mugabe, and that they had been to doctors who told them they could not diagnose what was afflicting them. In the end, Chiwenga said they had turned to traditional herbs recommended by a Catholic nun. Chiwenga's wife was also unfortunate after she got injured in June this year in a bomb blast at a rally held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo, described by government as an attempt on the life of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was the star attraction at the event. On October 2, the Daily News revealed that Chiwenga abruptly left a Cabinet meeting after falling seriously under the weather with an undisclosed ailment and was rushed to a local in the capital Harare later that night. Highly-placed government sources had confided in the paper that although Mnangagwa's second-in-command managed to attend the Zanu-PF politburo meeting a day later, his health together with that of his wife continued to deteriorate at a rate relatives felt needed attention in South Africa. This comes at a time Zimbabweans have expressed anger at top government officials who shun local health facilities preferring top-notch foreign hospitals. Vice President Kembo Mohadi and minister of Defence Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri sought treatment in neighbouring South Africa in June this year after they also sustained injuries following the White City Stadium bomb explosion. Even Mugabe prefers to be treated in Singapore where he has been making frequent visits even during his reign and on taxpayers' money. The decline of the health delivery system can be traced back to more than two decades ago. The country's health delivery system is on the verge of total collapse with locals still dying of mediaeval diseases such as cholera following decades of underfunding and mismanagement by government. Only recently, over 50 people lost their lives due to a cholera outbreak in Harare and some other parts of the country owing to a critical shortage of requisite medical equipment and drugs in hospitals and pharmacies around the country. The economic meltdown that has also characterised the country in recent years has seen thousands of medical practitioners leave the country in search of greener pastures in the region and abroad. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Home | World | Africa | 'Tax pain must be shared' While it is understandable for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to call on Zimbabweans to adjust to the two percent tax regime for better economic transformation, analysts believe that the pain should also be shared by those in power. On Monday, Mnangagwa urged citizens to bear the pain of new taxation and other economic reforms introduced by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube in order to revive the economy. Ncube had on October 1, announced a two percent tax to be levied on all electronic transfers above $10, albeit with a few exceptions. The tax was protested by individuals and companies, who complained that government has not demonstrated accountability for tax revenues and previous sacrifices demanded of them. Social analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said in principle, it is correct to say pain precedes transformation but Zimbabweans have taken pain for almost 30 uninterrupted years under the obnoxious authoritarian dictatorship of Robert Mugabe, Mnangagwa's chief mentor. Ngwenya said: "In 2002, we voted for MDC to replace the dysfunctional Zanu-PF regime but we were battered up to 2017 for our troubles, until 17 November last year when Mnangagwa painlessly' removed Mugabe from office. "So yes, transformation can be painless. Of course, Zimbabwe is 90 percent informal, so Mthuli Ncube is right to be creative about taxes, but we want to see him confronting Zanu-PF cronies on Chiadzwa and land reform monies they spirited from government. "A focus on debt relief is important, but debt collection is urgent collecting monies owed to Zimbabweans by Zanu-PF cronies. Zimbabweans are resilient, but more pain? Certainly not." Ngwenya added that an economy that cannot sustain self-sufficiency; an economy that has more imports than exports; and an economy that fails to provide five million safe jobs; an economy that has no own currency; an economy that is in $20 billion debt and sustaining 500 000 idle civil servants; an economy with no national airline and a broke railway system and an economy that despises property rights is a sick economy. He added: "If Mnangagwa is going to please the economy' to reverse our pain in the long term I can agree to that. However, does he and Zanu-PF have that capacity? I have my doubts." Human rights lawyer Dewa Mavhinga said the problem with the Zimbabwe economy cannot and will not be cured by the grossly unreasonable and unlawful two percent tax, rather, it will make things worse. "Zimbabwe's economy is dead because there is simply no production and there are no proper investments given the bad political and governance situation. "Mnangagwa's government is a very wasteful ...now taxing the poor to fund wanton expenditures. Mnangagwa must focus on political and governance reforms to create a conducive environment for the economy to revive and to attract much-needed investments from credible investors," said Mavhinga. Social analyst Rashweat Mukundu said so far it is ordinary citizens who are bearing the brunt of the austerity measures while the privileged continue to live large. "Can we see measures that cut government expenditure? The government continues to live large on travel and other allowances; cut the civil service wage bill, cut the number of the military, cut embassies and stop abuse of government vehicles. "The austerity must be across all and Mnangagwa can easily turn Zimbabwe's negative perception by scrapping repressive laws, remove AIPPA, POSA, stop police abuses and we are on the path to recovery. Sincerity and action are the two key words," said Mukundu. Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said there is nothing wrong with paying for transformation that will benefit all although in Mnangagwa's case his moves target those who have suffered decades of national plunder and economic mismanagement by him and Zanu-PF. "These taxes don't affect him or his kind who are filthy rich. If he meant real economic transformation he should have put in place measures that ensure those like him who looted the economy pay back, he should have appointed a lean Cabinet, he shouldn't hired private plane for Grace. "Him talking about paying by pain for transformation is like a devil asking you to fast and pray to go to heaven. The economy is in dire straits and may take time to recover," said Saungweme. MDC Thokozani Kupe's deputy president Obert Gutu said regrettably, the Zimbabwean economy remains on life support as a direct result of years of unsound economic policies, poor governance and of course, rampant corruption in both the public and private sectors. He said this economy has been shrinking for more than decades now; our import bill surpasses our export bill by more than US$3 billion monthly, hence this is a recipe for disaster. "The government has to take urgent and resolute measures to right-size the economy as well as to ruthlessly clamp down on corruption. We should immediately de-monitise the bond note and allow at least a 90-day moratorium on Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 to allow the importation of basic goods and products into the country at affordable customs duty. "The scourge of illegal money dealers has to be eliminated urgently. There are cash barons out there who are holding onto millions of bond notes for purely speculative purposes. "In the interim, we should maintain the multi-currency monetary regime after de-monitising the bond note." Gutu added that the bond note has been used as a lethal weapon for unscrupulous and illegal parallel money market dealings. "It should go! Of course, there will be some pain along the way to economic recovery but then the government should put in place adequate measures to cushion the vulnerable sectors of the population from the effects of socio-economic re-alignment and re- invigoration." Political analyst Piers Pigou believes Mnangagwa needs to work on his communication strategy and being seen to deal with venality of a predatory dining class. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa Home | World | Africa | Mnangagwa calls forex dealers a security threat President Emmerson Mnangagwa will soon descend on illegal currency trading, describing it and related illicit financial activities as a threat to national security. In the first installment of his new weekly column that will be exclusively carried by The Sunday Mail starting today, President Mnangagwa said new measures would be employed to restore sanity. It is also understood that President Mnangagwa last week summoned his security cluster and discussed the matter, paving way for the imminent arrests of high-profile figures who are suspected of masterminding black market activities. In that meeting were Defence Minister Oppah Muchunguri-Kashiri, Home Affairs Minister Cain Mathema, State Security Minister Owen Ncube and Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation Ambassador Isaac Moyo. Also present were Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda, and his deputy Mr George Charamba. This followed a sudden spike in black market currency trading that saw the bond note trading as low as 1:6 to the US dollar at some point, a spike in prices of basic commodities at retail point, panic buying of fuel that resulted in long queues at service stations, and propagation of angst within the citizenry by opponents of President Mnangagwa's Government with a view to sparking street protests. Government's contention that the currency, supply and price madness that gripped the country last week was driven by criminal shady business practices and political duplicity was validated by the sudden plunge in black market activities by Thursday evening. Further, the supplies of fuel and basic commodities has firmed. In his inaugural column in The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa says: "A great threat to our bid to stimulate productive activity in the economy comes by way of non-productive, speculative activities operating below the radar but involving millions in precious foreign currency and bond notes. "These nefarious activities thrive on different electronic platforms. New measures will be pursued to stop such malpractices. "I call on all of us to tread back into the real economy, away from the current practice where currencies become key commodities that transact in dark markets, controlled by shadowy figures. "The costs and havoc this wreaks on the whole economy have become quite apparent and most unfortunate. A bold response is merited. "To that end, this problem is now being treated as a serious security threat which requires a different response so that we get back to clean, productive and disciplined economic activity operating within norms and rules of the market." In addition to strategies that have been and continue to be rolled out to create an environment conducive for doing business, the State is also understood to be working on legal instruments to root out criminality as corruption had become entrenched in the prior administration. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa When two contestants on The Bachelor: Vietnam fell in love and wanted to run away from the show together last month, there wasn't really a happily ever after one contestant returned to the show. But maybe now, they've found it. SEE ALSO: Gender stereotypes are still alive and well in the online dating world, study says In an interview with NextShark, the show's producer Anh Tran said the contestants, Minh Thu and Truc Nhu, are now a couple. "They left the show and have been together since. We delivered on our promise that two people would find love," Tran told the publication. In a clip that went viral, contestant Minh Thu was left without a rose from the show's Bachelor, Quoc Trung. But before leaving for good, she decided to stun everyone by professing her love to another contestant, Truc Nhu, then convincing her to leave the show. "Come home with me," Minh Thu told Truc Nhu. While we see them walk out in the clip, it turned out Truc Nhu returned to the show later. Anh-Thu Nguyen, a producer for the show, who is also queer and Vietnamese-American, told the publication the moment was awe-inspiring. Its been a proud experience to see our clip resonate around the world and become an unexpected platform for discussing LGBTQI+ issues in Vietnam on a global scale, she said. Vietnam abolished a ban on same-sex marriage in 2015, but the state doesn't legally recognise unions between LGBTQ couples. as if every damn thing in this relationship hasn't happened on a "snap" lol this was prob the most impulsive thing i've seen either of them do and that's saying a lot Reply Thread Link I mean, it WAS probably way more lit to be head over heels infatuated with each other, have a long engagement and lots of positive press (with little pressure bc lbr who knows if they would've actually married) etc. before another actual tragedy happened. i'm just glad she didn't marry him, and that the tattoos are small. Reply Parent Thread Link I just hope she's on a plane to a tropical island rn with a head full of edibles and a ever ending pina colada and no phone. Reply Thread Link You should be doing copywriting for travel agencies, because now I want a vacation :( Reply Parent Thread Link I just wanna be on vacy all the time tbh Reply Parent Thread Link Dream job Reply Parent Thread Link lol Reply Parent Thread Link I just got back from vacation and now Im omw for this Reply Parent Thread Link I need to do this alone. Reply Parent Thread Link that's a major goal if i've ever seen one Reply Parent Thread Link Wow this is honestly what I need rn Plan all my vacations for me tbh Reply Parent Thread Expand Link damn if I were the type to do vision boards this would be IT (lava flow instead of pina coladas tho) Reply Parent Thread Link MY GOD that sounds like heaven. Reply Parent Thread Link brb booking this vacation stat Reply Parent Thread Link Set me up for February please. Reply Parent Thread Link this sounds like heaven Reply Parent Thread Link oooh sis, edibles and liquor? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link omg sign me up please Reply Parent Thread Link I'm embarassed but what are edibles Reply Parent Thread Expand Link this sounds like a dream Reply Parent Thread Link i can't believe i slept through this yesterday Reply Thread Link 1200 comments of us all saying the same thing, really nothing of value was lost bb Reply Parent Thread Link mte. that post was whack. When people started posting astrology, it took me out nnnnn Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I slept through Hostage Brituation 08, so I feel you. 5 posts x 5000 comments :( Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I believe that Pete couldnt handle Ariana grieving over Macs death tbh Reply Thread Link ita, he seems like the type to check out fast now that she's not as ~fun as she was, or paying him 100% of her attention. Reply Parent Thread Link YUP Reply Parent Thread Link I see it Reply Parent Thread Link It put their screeching love fest to a halt, he was probably still on the high of being with her and she was grieving Reply Parent Thread Link His insecure ass was probably annoyed by her instagram posts dedicated to Mac. Edited at 2018-10-15 04:23 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Mte Reply Parent Thread Link for all his posturing about how he didn't feel worthy of being with her he certainly didn't seem to be interested in legit anything except how hot and fuckable she is so... sadly believable. Reply Parent Thread Link I cant remember the exact interview but Carly Aquilino talked about how he would flip out over text misunderstandings all the time when she wasnt available to him Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Yeah he doesn't seem very mature. Reply Parent Thread Link He seems like the kind of motherfucker who would act like this so yeah, ita 100% Reply Parent Thread Link that was my guess yesterday too. like even if he isn't jealous or upset that she's not giving him all that attention or isn't fun anymore - which are all realistic guesses - i can just imagine him not being great at being there for her or supporting/comforting her, which would surely be a red flag. like, i think this was probably their first big major hurdle as a couple, and i wouldn't be surprised at all if pete failed majorly and gave ariana a wake up call Reply Parent Thread Link He probably pulled some dumb shit like, "but you're with me now" and it pissed her off. Not to mention if he's on drugs too Reply Parent Thread Expand Link https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo-GYIlAYut/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=vvue4jdn63uw I saw this on Insta idk how reputable it is especially with all the typos but I believe it Reply Parent Thread Link as someone who lost their ex to an overdose - there's no way I could have handlded being in a relationship when I had gotten the news. no matter how good it was. I personally would have ended things to process my feelings. I hope it's her who made this choice for her own good Reply Parent Thread Expand Link That, plus the way he talks about her like a prize makes me think he wasn't used to having to deal with her as an actual human being with needs. Reply Parent Thread Link Oh, so they split and the media was reporting in a few hours later? Yeah, I agree they'll probably be back together by the end of the week, lol. Whoever ran to TMZ with the story should have let it simmer for a few days. Reply Thread Link I think it was her's since is Pete even remotely media savvy he talks about his father burning alive while fucking his girlfriend so he doesn't orgasm too quickly Reply Parent Thread Link Omg did he say that somewhere!? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Ehhhh, it's possible to have a breakup in such a way that you know the relationship is dead immediately and neither one of them were ever press shy so why drag out a break up announcement? Reply Parent Thread Link <3 I recently did an IG unfollow spree just to clean up my dashboard?? Idk lol but, I swear I saw him in her IG stories in bed watching Spongebob with her on Saturday afternoon, like...this definitely happened yesterday. She does a lot of things impulsively which makes me kinda wonder if she ever really even "loves" these guys or just doesn't want to be alone. I do hope she takes a break, she's never actually been single most of her life. Reply Parent Thread Link oop i just realized you replied to my deleted comment! i wonder if her parents' divorce has anything to do with her inability to be single. she has a pretty strained relationship with her dad Reply Parent Thread Link People are saying Pete was terrible and Ariana is better off but ... girl clearly has issues when in relationships herself. Reply Parent Thread Link I wonder if they originally planned on getting married soon, otherwise why not just stay engaged for awhile. Reply Thread Link I think on her Beats 1 interview she said they wanted a year/year & a half engagement. Reply Parent Thread Link ariana to pete after ignoring everything he said about manchester victims and her being grouped by a priest but finally putting her foot down when he said her baby pig was ugly pic.twitter.com/K3MmNo5tqY harlot (@cIoudaura) October 14, 2018 Reply Thread Link chortle Reply Parent Thread Link She ended up choosing Taylor Made in the end though so I hope that's not Ari!!! Reply Parent Thread Link grouped by a priest Reply Parent Thread Link Of course, he was there for her when the attacks in Manchester happened. She's prob feeling extremely guilty about it even tho she did everything she could. Plus reading those comments online, that would've sent me off too. Reply Thread Link Disclaimer I am drunk so take anything I at with a grain of salt BUT I think she is too depressed To even think about being engaged or put in the effort into a relationtionship and I think their relationship is so premature it would never have made it through something like this anyway. When you truly love someone you stick by them Through tough times like these, when you truly love someone you want that Person there with you to be your anchor, your guidance, the safe place you land on when you are feeling like Complete shit Their relationship was never there and Im not sad about this I hope she is able To work on herself and find peace within herself. She has been through so much. Being with someone who cant handle this is a hindrance and being someone who doesnt see your significant other as that person whose shoulder you can lean on is a bad sign: Find happiness within yourself, mama. Reply Thread Link You really find out about the person you are with when you lose someone. Ive always known I had a great person, but my brothers death has really solidified my relationship and how willing he is to do anything to not only help me, but my family through this. Reply Parent Thread Link So true! When my wee Gran passed away my bf at the time didnt say anything to me - literally. Came over to my house, acted like everything was normal and tried to fool around. That was a few years ago now but still makes me seethe lol. Safe to say he didnt last long! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link this is so true. both of my grandparents passed away when i was with my ex and since it was close to his birthday, he went home both times rather than going with me to their funerals. i should have dumped him after the first one but i was in an emotionally bad place with all of that happening. Reply Parent Thread Link you're a good drunk speller, that's the first thing that goes with me Reply Parent Thread Link Rosie is that you? Reply Parent Thread Link I've been so heartbroken over my longterm bf breaking up with me and this comment really tipped me over the edge. He stuck by me countlessly after my grandma, mom, and friend all died one year after the last and it kills me knowing he's not here anymore. Now I'm crying lmao :( Your (drunk) words are completely right. Ari deserves better than to be with someone who can only think about himself while she's mourning the loss of someone who meant a lot to her. You really find out who's willing to be there for you and who's only there when it's convenient for them when you go through something traumatic. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link this is an adorable and on point drunk comment Reply Parent Thread Link the spacing here makes it so much better Reply Parent Thread Link this comment made me cry bc i had the worst year of my life this year , i was terribly depressed and using to try make it better i started becoming extrememly self destructive and my bf stuck with me and helped me get through it and now im in such a better place. he could have bailed straight away but he was willing to try and i can never thank him enough. now we're stronger than ever Reply Parent Thread Link this might end up being more annoying than the relationship itself Reply Thread Link All I can think about is that $16M apartment they bought, I mean, she bought to live with him. Reply Thread Link Can you imagine dropping that kind of money for a summer romance? Jfc Reply Parent Thread Link Im sure its nothing to ha Reply Parent Thread Expand Link It's hideous she should sell it, her house in LA is nicer and more homey Reply Parent Thread Expand Link And they have an illegal pig somehow that nobody is doing anything with Reply Parent Thread Expand Link it's in her name, so it's not like it impacts her financially. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm waiting for some move out pics. That'll really cement it. Reply Parent Thread Link ari doesn't really do on and off relationships. she hangs on to the end...remember mac? they were kissing up at coachella and then broken up a few days later even though they were having soooooo many problems leading up to it. i'm just confused bc this relationship timeline doesn't match her other ones. i did a stupid amount of research for that ontd original i did about her relationship history so idk what to think now Reply Thread Link She was on again off again with Jai Reply Parent Thread Link truuu but that she was a teenager then and has had a lot of relationships since. idk but i feel like it's more in her nature to hold on to the veryyyyyyyy end (and then monkey bar into a new relationship). but i guess it's more likely that they get back together than that she stays single. Reply Parent Thread Link please tell me this isn't jai courtney Reply Parent Thread Expand Link This is somehow her engaged relationship in comparison to literally all the other ones, so I guess it makes sense that its end is unusual too Reply Parent Thread Link South Korea has stopped importing crude oil from Iran ahead of the U.S. sanctions that will enter into effect on November 5, Reuters reports, citing customs data. The country imported zero Iranian oil in September for the first time in six years. The news is the expected end of a process: since the start of 2018, South Korean imports of Iranian crude had fallen by 49.1 percent from 2017, as of the end of September, to a total 7.15 million tons. The countrys total September imports also declined on an annual basis, by more than a tenth to 10.83 million tons. The share of U.S. crude went up fivefold to 668,704 tons in the reported month, while imports of Saudi crude declined by 6.9 percent to 3.41 million tons. South Korea is the worlds fifth-largest crude oil importer, and as such an important client for Irans oil alongside China and India. Yet South Korea is a close ally of the United States, and it is no surprise the country opted for full compliance with Washingtons insistence on importers to cut their intake of Iranian crude to zero. Perhaps the countrys government hopes it will be rewarded with a sanction waiver so it can restart purchases of Iranian oil, although it would be at a much lower rate in all likelihood. Since the start of the Iranian year, in late March, South Korea had been buying Iranian crude at a daily rate of almost 300,000 barrels. Earlier this year, reports emerged that South Korea was planning to stop buying Iranian oil in July, but official Korean sources refuted the claims, made by unnamed sources. In September, Bloomberg reported that South Korea had stopped importing Iranian earlier, in August, citing shipping data. Yet with Iranian tankers cloaking their journeys to crude oil buyers, official tracking data may not be as reliable as it used to be. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Investors in Big Oil are becoming more and more vocal about the negative effects of the industry on the planet. No longer is it just about profits. Investors are demanding that some of the biggest companies in the oil industry reduce emissions to help mitigate climate change. As a result, Big Oil has succumbed to the pressure and is beginning to release climate scenarios and set indicative emission-cutting targets. Some of the biggest oil and gas companiesincluding European majors BP, Shell, and Total, and even U.S. supermajor ExxonMobilfavor carbon pricing in America, as a group of major companies, also from outside the oil industry, said last year. Exxon has recently pledged US$1 million to back the campaign for introducing a carbon tax in the United States, but is it enough? Exxon and other oil companies support last year to put a price on carbon in the United States was met with skepticism by Greenpeace, which said that, A nicely worded public relations exercise is no cure for decades of deception. In Europe, Norways Equinorwhich rebranded from Statoil earlier this year to drop the reference to oil aiming to be a broader energy companyhas been working (and profiting) for decades under some kind of carbon pricing at home. Norway has a climate policy designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. More than 80 percent of domestic emissions is subject to mandatory emissions trading, a CO2 tax, or both, Norways Ministry of Climate and Environment says. Equinor has been working under such regulations and Regulations have been conducive to solutions, Eirik Waerness, chief economist at Equinor, told Forbes Christopher Helman in an interview published last week. The advantage is that weve been exposed to framework conditions that have put a price on carbon since 1991, Waerness said. When Norway started to develop its vast oil resources, it had a complete ban on flaring natural gas. Until the huge natural gas pipeline network from offshore to mainland Norway and to northwest Europe was built, Equinor used the natural gas to inject in reservoirs to keep the pressure, the companys chief economist told Forbes. To compare, drillers in the Permian, for example, are estimated to be flaring US$1 million worth of natural gas every day. Related: IEA: Expensive Energy Is Threatening Economic Growth Yet, not even Norways Equinor is giving up on oil and gas developmentit will continue to produce oil and gas. If we dont do it, somebody else will do it elsewhere, possibly with less commitment to preserve the environment as much as possible, Waerness told Forbes. Equinor cut its so-called CO2 intensity from oil and gas production by 10 percent annually in 2017, from 10kg CO2 per boe to 9kg CO2 per boe. It vows an additional reduction of the carbon intensity of its upstream oil and gas portfolio to 8 kg CO2/boe by 2030 and annual CO2 emission reductions of 3 million tons by 2030. Equinor will also invest up to 15-20 percent of its capital expenditure in new energy by 2030. Its a large percentage, but this leaves a much larger percentage of capex to be invested in oil and gas. Another European major, Shell, is not going soft on oil and gas, despite recent investments in cleaner energy and energy solutionsShells core business is and will continue to be oil and gas for the foreseeable future, its chief executive Ben van Beurden said last week. Shell aims to bring down the net carbon footprint of its energy products by around half by 2050, and last month it announced a target to maintain methane emissions intensity below 0.2 percent by 2025 for all oil and gas assets for which Shell is the operator. BP, for its part, says that it believes that carbon pricing provides the right incentives for everyone energy producers and consumers alike to play their part in reducing emissions. Related: Goldman Sachs: This Is The Next Big Risk For Oil The UK supermajor expects two thirds of BPs direct emissions to be in countries subject to emissions and carbon policies by 2020, and evaluates plans for new large projects assuming a carbon cost. These big oil players are vowing to reduce carbon emissions and make accommodations to prepare for an energy transition, but they are all their basing doomsday scenarios and alternative scenarios using different approaches, making it difficult to compare their projections, according to non-profit think tank Carbon Tracker. According to Equinors Waerness, the Industry needs help in setting framework conditions. The pendulum moves back and forth, but the overall trend of pricing carbon is a relatively heavy one. It would be a mistake to assume its not going to happen, he told Forbes. Carbon pricing may be coming, but the world may be a little late in its efforts to significantly cut emissionsthe world needs to spend US$2.4 trillion every year until 2035 to slow down the effects of climate change, the UN said in a report last week. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Saudi Arabia will retaliate with even greater action if the U.S. president goes through with a threat of severe punishment should it be proven that Saudi agents killed dissident journalist Jamal Kashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Saudi Press Agency yesterday cited an official source as saying that The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations that will not undermine the Kingdom and its staunch positions and Arab, Islamic and international status, the outcome of these weak endeavors, like their predecessors, is a demise. The source went on to add that, as reported by the SPA, The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy and that the Kingdom's economy is affected only by the impact of the global economy. President Trump last week mentioned the severe punishment option during an interview with 60 Minutes and the statement apparently came in response to it. Later that same day, however, the Saudi embassy in Washington tweeted a clarification that pretty much dismissed the tone of the official sources warning reported by the SPA. Related: Barclays: $70 More Likely Than $100 To help clarify recently issued Saudi statement, the tweet said, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia extends it appreciation to all, including the US administration, for refraining from jumping to conclusions on the ongoing investigation. Jamal Khashoggi has been missing since October 2, and Turkish authorities have claimed they have audio and video evidence that he was killed in the Saudi consulate, dismembered, and taken out unnoticed. The plot, fit for a gory mystery novel, led to a lot of prominent public figures distancing themselves from the Kingdom, canceling their participation in major projects and events. The latest in this string of cold shoulder was JPMorgans CEOs decision to cancel his participation in an investment conference in the Kingdom. Fords chairman, Bill Ford, also cancelled his plans to attend the conference. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Russia has really warmed up to the idea of becoming a competitive player on the LNG market, as we have established several times, largely thanks to the Yamal LNG project. On the waves of success, the Russian Energy Ministry is now putting forward its own agenda during the latest session of Gas Exporting Countries Forum the new deputy minister I. Sorokin stated the Ministry counts on the Shtokman gas field to be put onstream by 2035, to reinforce Russias LNG ambitions of becoming a top-5 exporter. That is quite a revolutionary idea for a project that has largely evaporated from the agenda over the past five years; a project that was so replete with inconsistencies and bad timing that it makes one wonder whether Gazprom can break through the rough patch. Shtokman was one of the last truly impressive discoveries of Soviet geology, after seven years of appraisal in depths of roughly 340-350 meters four Jurassic reservoirs were found in 1988 adding up to reserves of 3.9 TCm (135 TCf) of gas and 56 million tons of condensate. Throughout the 1990s, the field was left untouched and it only after the Russian economy started solidifying in early 2000s, led by an energy export boom, that Gazprom started to consider commissioning it in earnest. First, however, it had to sort out what sort of a project does it want to have out of Shtokman whether to join the promising LNG race or opt for the traditional pipeline gas transportation business? In fact, it never really cleared this stage, reshaping the project every time external conditions turned unfavorable. The first choice, taken largely around the year 2007, was to make Shtokman the Russian LNG flagship. For this, Gazprom invited Total into the project, later to be joined by Norsk Hydro (the former was given 25 percent, the latter a 24 percent stake). Total was to design the first phase, as well as to build all the relevant facilities, whilst the production license and marketing rights remained in Gazproms control. Expenses loomed large from square one, as Phase One of development, stipulating a 24 BCm per year production (840 BCf) of gas, was estimated to cost around $15 billion. The high cost was a confluence of many factors remoteness from continent (the field is some 300 miles north of Murmansk in the middle of the Barents Sea), heavy Arctic conditions (any production unit would have to cope with icebergs and waves that can be as high as 30 meters) and needlessly complex logistics solutions. Initially it was thought that the liquefaction facilities should not be built on-site but the shareholders should lay instead several hundred kilometers of subsea pipelines to Teriberka, the supposed site of the LNG plant. Why, you might ask. Well, the thing is that Gazprom always kept feeding Shtokman gas into its trunk pipeline system to Europe as a Plan B even though LNG was the first option, some part of the gas would have gone to Europe via pipelines anyway were the project to move ahead. Related: Profit Secrets of the Worlds Most Successful Energy Investors Thus, even though Gazprom might have scrambled together the required sum over the years, it never really managed to find out where to would the LNG volumes primarily go and how. The shareholders initial plans were premised on the potential of LNG exports to the United States, whose shale gas revolution was still regarded with grave skepticism. As time went on and shareholders still struggled to find an ideal business model that would not end up in evident cost overruns, America no longer seemed to need Shtokman LNG to satisfy its needs and European gas demand started to stagnate. Then came 2-3 years of experimenting with Shtokman, in an attempt to rebrand it as a purely pipeline-destined project, with most of its output feeding into Nord Stream. Several years of negotiations with palpable political backing notwithstanding, nothing came of it all. Of course, the magnitude of Shtokmans importance necessitate constant solution-seeking. Shtokmans resource bounty is immense if the project were to attain Phase Three, its output plateau would be a mind-boggling 71 Bcm (2.5 Tcf) per year. However, five years after Shtokman LNG was put on hold in 2013 Norsk Hydro has already left the shareholding structure by that time and only Total and Gazprom remained, at odds over almost every segment of project development almost no valid answer was generated to project-relevant challenges. For instance, what liquefaction technology would the project use? Yamal LNG uses US Air Liquids technology, whilst Arctic LNG-2 will be based on technology provided by the German Linde, whilst both NOVATEK and Gazprom are concurrently working on their proprietary technological solutions. Considering that sanctions are here to stay, it is a truly difficult choice. Yet even if we are to acknowledge that under current circumstances Shtokman LNG should be a purely LNG project (taxation is much more beneficial), even if we are to assume that Gazprom would receive some sort of government help, either in the form of infrastructure construction or further tax exemptions, even if we are to presume that the shareholders strike a cooperative tune (even though it allegedly remains in the project, Total gave Gazprom back its 25% stake), the most important questions remains unanswered. Gazprom could export Shtokman LNG volumes to Asia Pacific, however due to the field being far away from continent (unlike Yamal LNG which is onshore, similarly to fields that are to supply Arctic LNG-2) both the shipping and transportation costs would surpass those of its Russian competitors. Related: China Blinks First In LNG Face-Off With U.S. Moreover, Gazprom has other means to increase its LNG foothold in the Asia Pacific region, namely the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field (attesting to its significance the US levied sanctions on it on quite dubious grounds just four years after its discovery in 2010). Despite being at least five times smaller in terms of reserves (622 BCm), total costs to bring Yuzhno-Kirinskoye gas to China or Korea would hover around $4/MMBtu, surpassing the $6-7/MMBtu of Yamal LNG. Moreover, by tapping into it offshore Sakhalin, the company avoids the usage of the Northern Sea Route. Yet even if it were to orient Shtokman LNG towards Europe, Gazprom has a direct competitor within its own portfolio Baltic LNG. By liquefying W-Siberian gas that is now supplied via pipelines to Europe, Gazprom could send gas to countries now beyond its pipeline reach with an average total cost of $5/MMBtu. Thus, it seems highly likely that Shtokman will remain the worlds biggest trapped field in the next years ahead, at least until a suitable market outlet is found where Gazprom and Total can play to the projects strengths. It might make sense to wait for Norwegian gas to enter into terminal decline and then supplant it in markets traditionally supplied by Norway for this one or two European majors apart from Total should join the shareholders structure. Aiming Shtokman at markets in Asia Pacific is not unfeasible, however, the risks involved might be too much for a state-owned entity. Hence, the Energy Ministrys drive to reach its 83 mtpa LNG target for 2035 will largely omit Shtokman. By Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Protesters gathered on Monday morning outside a drilling site in northwest England, where fracking is returning for the first time in seven years, after a last-minute request for an injunction failed at court on Friday. The company that will go ahead with the fracking, Cuadrilla Resources, confirmed on Friday that it planned to go ahead with hydraulic fracturing operations at its Preston New Road shale gas exploration site in Lancashire on Saturday, October 13. On Friday, Justice Supperstone at the High Court in London dismissed a last-minute request for an interim injunction from a campaigner to prevent this from happening. We are delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations as planned, Cuadrillas chief executive Francis Egan said, commenting on the decision. Cuadrilla, however, had to postpone the drilling from Saturday to Monday due to a storm, with Cuadrilla saying that protests would not halt plans to start the fracturing operations today. Local police have closed off Preston New Road in both directions, while dozens of protesters gathered outside the Cuadrilla drilling site vow that their fight just got serious. Ginette Evans, 60, told Blackpool Gazzette: We'll be monitoring the site 24 hours a day. It is definitely not over, it has just got serious. The fights just really started. Anti-fracking group Reclaim The Power said on Twitter early on Monday that they are blockading Preston New Road for the start of Green Great Britain Week to stand with the Lancashire locals and stop the start of fracking to prevent climate chaos. According to Cuadrilla, the hydraulic fracturing process will take some three months to complete for both horizontal exploration wells. Cuadrilla will then test the flow of natural gas from those two wells with initial results expected in the New Year, the company said on Friday. In May this year, the UK government announced plans to facilitate timely decisions on shale gas exploration planning applications in England as part of a plan to reduce dependence on gas imports amid an ongoing decline in the UK North Seas conventional gas production. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Prince Harry and Meghan touched down in Sydney on Monday, kicking off a bumper Pacific tour that is the British royals' first major outing abroad as a couple. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a low-key arrival to a wet and wintery Australia after a weekend spent celebrating the marriage of their relative Princess Eugenie and following an overnight commercial flight with Qantas. They were seen leaving the airport with staff, looking relaxed, as Meghan clutched a pair of purple binders and Harry carried a brown and green manbag. Their more-than-two-week official visit will take in multiple stops in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand -- all parts of the Commonwealth, a group of predominantly former British colonies. Queen Elizabeth II is still the head of state in Australia although there is significant support for the country becoming a republic. Recent polls show Australians fairly evenly split on the issue, with only the slimmest of majorities in favour of ditching the British Queen and nominating an Australian head of state. During the trip, the royals plan to pet koalas, watch soldiers perform the haka and attend the Invictus Games, a multi-sport tournament for military service personnel and veterans who have been wounded or suffered injury or illness that opens on Saturday 20 October. The whole visit will be keenly watched by the British and Australian media. Meghan, a photogenic US actress, married the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II in May, becoming the newest royal to attract media obsession in Britain and beyond. The 37-year-old made waves recently by bucking protocol and closing her own car door. - Koalas and joeys - The couple will be accompanied by a staff of 10 and a substantially larger swarm of reporters from all the major British papers and TV broadcasters. The official visit begins on Tuesday in Sydney, where they will be welcomed by Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove -- the queen's official representative -- and his wife Lynne. The royals will meet two koalas and their joeys at Sydney's Taronga Zoo. After sailing Sydney Harbour and visiting the famous Bondi Beach, meeting flying doctors, attending functions at the Invictus Games and meeting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, they jet off to Fiji on October 23. Meghan will get a chance to speak at a UN women's empowerment in marketplaces event and meet some female vendors in the project in the Fiji capital Suva. They will meet the local royals in both Fiji and Tonga, which are members of the Commonwealth. The final leg coincides with the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in New Zealand -- the first country to give women the right to vote. Meghan is expected to speak at a suffrage anniversary celebration in Wellington on October 28. The couple will have a chance to watch members of the New Zealand defence force perform the haka -- the traditional warrior dance popularised globally by the nation's rugby team -- at a governor's reception earlier that afternoon. The trip officially ends in New Zealand on October 31. Meghan has previously visited New Zealand as a tourist in 2014. Prince Harry has been to all four countries, but on his own. The couple's first trip abroad saw them dash off to Dublin shortly after their wedding. Chinas navy to join Thailand and Malaysia for training exercise as military seeks to build bridges with neighbours China and the United States are competing in a new round of military diplomacy in Southeast Asia this week, as Beijing plays catch-up in an effort to build trust with its neighbours, analysts said. A joint naval exercise to be held this weekend between China, Malaysia and Thailand in the Strait of Malacca would follow US Defence Secretary James Mattiss visits to Vietnam and Singapore, a trip which began on Monday. China is to send three destroyers and frigates, two shipborne helicopters, three Il-76 transport aircraft and a total of 692 servicemen to the nine-day exercise named Peace and Friendship 2018. The drills start on Saturday and will be held off Port Dickson and Port Klang in Malaysia. Chinas defence ministry said that the exercise was intended to demonstrate the common will of the armed forces of the three countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea region, strengthen practical exchanges and cooperation, and enhance their ability to jointly respond to various security threats. It does not target any country, it added. The drill will be held amid the increasing bitter competition between China and the United States, which has spilled over into a stand-off between the two countries navies in the disputed South China Sea. Last month an American warship and a Chinese one came close to colliding in the waters near the Spratly Islands. It is the second time China has taken part in a drill in the Strait of Malacca, which links the Indian Ocean and the Pacific and is one of the worlds most important shipping lanes. The exercise will follow Mattiss visits, to Vietnam for the second time this year, and then to Singapore for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations defence ministers meeting. Mattis is meeting key leaders to reaffirm defence relationships and conduct bilateral and trilateral meetings with senior officials, the US embassy in Singapore said. Story continues China claims a large area of the resource-rich sea, but other countries, including Malaysia, have their own competing claims. Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam and the self-ruled island of Taiwan also claim various parts of the South China Sea. Military and diplomatic observers said the trilateral exercise was a way to demonstrate that Asean countries and China can work together on defence and security issues, especially in less sensitive areas. For Malaysia and Thailand its a way of showcasing confidence-building with China and also signals that they arent choosing sides in the Great Power rivalries in the South China Sea, said Collin Koh, a maritime security specialist at Singapores Nanyang Technological University. Their intention will be to demonstrate the resolve to promote regional peace and stability with anyone who wishes to do so. Koh added: China will likely see this as yet another showcase to prove that along with Asean countries it can safeguard peace and stability, and of course it may feed into the overall justifications China uses customarily to oppose external interference in the South China Sea. Zhang Jie, a South China Sea expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the drill could help China improve its military cooperation with Asean countries, which has long been a weak spot. Take into consideration that such a military exercise would have been prepared long ago. It would not necessarily be aimed at United States, but is more of a trust-building exercise between China and Asean countries, said Zhang. A stable relationship between China and Asean is vital for China to push its Belt and Road Initiative further and empower China when competing against the US in the region, Zhang added. This article Chinas navy to join Thailand and Malaysia for training exercise as military seeks to build bridges with neighbours first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. MANILA, Philippines Despite invitation from Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to attend the dry run of the reopening of Boracay Island, President Rodrigo Duterte maintained that he would skip the event. The President said he will not go there so as not to give an impression that he is politicking the event. Instead, President Duterte said he will only go to Boracay Island if the land titles are ready to be awarded to the Ati tribe and other beneficiaries of the governments land reform program in the island, I will go to Boracay but I will go to distribute the lands given to the Atis. Im not into sumptuous celebration, but I will go to Boracay to personally distribute land reform program certificates to natives, the President said in an engagement in Manila on Sunday (October 14). The President, meanwhile, expects that the local government units will continue the efforts that the national government has initiated for the recovery of Boracay Island. The LGU has kicked off its week-long dry run ahead of the islands soft opening next week. President Duterte ordered a six-month closure of Boracay in April 26 for rehabilitation after it was tagged a cesspool because of the rise in pollution level due to lack of proper waste water treatment facility. I might go there someday but not just to Ayaw ko ibandera. Maganda na kasi daw ang Boracay eh. And I saw the footages sa TV. And I hope that now that its clean, it has been eradicated of the bacteria, the President said. Marje Pelayo (with reports from Rosalie Coz) The post Duterte to skip Boracay reopening appeared first on UNTV News. British and European leaders insisted Monday they could still reach a Brexit deal despite the latest failed round of divorce talks, but the EU warned a no-deal scenario was "more likely than ever before". British Prime Minister Theresa May admitted there was still "disagreement" over how to keep open Britain's land border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, although she said a deal was still "achievable". "We'll just have to keep negotiating", said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed "we can make progress". But EU President Donald Tusk said in a letter to members of the European Council that while he encouraged all involved to "remain hopeful and determined... at the same time, responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before". The leaders were speaking two days before heading to Brussels for a summit that has been billed as the "moment of truth" ahead of Britain's exit from the bloc in March. May will update the other 27 European Union leaders before their dinner in Brussels on Wednesday, with the summit kicking off on Thursday, her Downing Street office confirmed. The EU's Brexit pointman Michel Barnier met his British counterpart Dominic Raab in Brussels on Sunday, but they failed to agree on a draft Brexit divorce arrangement as had been hoped. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, whose country would suffer the biggest economic impact if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, said an agreement was now more likely in November or December. May's Northern Irish unionist allies meanwhile warned the impasse meant it was "probably inevitable" Britain would leave the EU with no deal. Ireland's nationalist Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald cautioned her unionist rivals that if there were a hard Brexit, "then there will be an immediate demand for a referendum on Irish unity." - Time for 'cool heads' - Meanwhile, May made a statement to the House of Commons to address what she called "inaccurate speculation" about the Brexit talks. The Conservative leader, who is facing a political high-wire act in trying to reach a deal that is acceptable to both the EU and her MPs at home, said it was time for "cool, calm heads to prevail". "I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the EU. I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable," she said. But the threat she faces was revealed by Sammy Wilson, the Brexit spokesman for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which props up her government. He suggested there was no Brexit deal that would command the support of all British MPs, saying a no-deal scenario was "probably inevitable". European leaders insisted there was still time to resolve the outstanding issues before a possible emergency summit in November. "We were actually pretty hopeful that we would manage to seal an exit agreement. At the moment it looks more difficult," Merkel said, adding "we'll just have to keep negotiating". In Paris, Macron said: "I believe in our collective intelligence, so I think we can make progress", but added that "we are ready for all scenarios". Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Britain and the EU have "no alternative" to agreeing a divorce deal. "In the end we will find a way to deal with the UK," he told reporters after meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague. - Irish fundamentals - Sunday's talks between Barnier and Raab ended without a breakthrough on the crucial issue of future trade to and from the British province of Northern Ireland. London and Brussels say they want no physical checks on the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but the problem persists of how to square that aim with Britain's decision to leave the EU's single market and the customs union. Britain has proposed sticking with EU customs rules after Brexit as a fallback option to keep the border open until a wider trade deal is agreed that avoids the need for frontier checks. The EU's suggestion would see Northern Ireland remain aligned with Brussels' rules, thus varying from the rest of the United Kingdom -- an idea which is unacceptable to the DUP. May said this weekend's talks broke down because, while the EU accepted London's plan had merit, it was still insisting on its own proposal. She added that the two sides also remain at odds over how long the customs "backstop" would last, saying it could not continue "indefinitely." burs-pwd-ar-jwp/pvh/bmm CEBU Archbishop Jose Palma has urged the faithful to pray for the blessings they received in 2018 and for President Rodrigo Duterte.He appealed to the public not to cheer on the chief executives unflattering GOV. HILARIO DAVIDE III welcomed the plan of some members of the Senate to initiate an investigation on the unsolved killings in Cebu. Davide said a Senate hearing is necessary to determine who is behind these murders and what can be done. It will also clear the police of rumors that they are involved, he said. Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde also welcomed the development. We will support the probe. Palagi yan kung merong mga (We always do that if theres an) investigation or talagang merong (if theres a) resolution that necessitates an investigation. We are always supporting investigations. Wala namang itatago ang PNP diyan (The PNP has nothing to hide), he said. Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena continues to blame Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Debold Sinas and Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Royina Garma for the rash of killings. I will comment on that in the proper time. But I will tell you its the police. Im sorry, I take that back. Its Garma and Sinas. Our police were okay under (former CCPO director Joel) Doria. Our police were the best in the Philippines. That includes Davao City. When they (Garma and Sinas) came in, we have all of these killings. When they came into the picture, what happened? he said. Osmena said the Senate can go ahead with the investigation. Why do they always say they call for an investigation? Every other day they call for an investigation, but they do not investigate. Let them talk whatever they want, he said. Last Wednesday, opposition Senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Leila de Lima, Antonio Trillanes IV, Risa Hontiveros and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV filed Senate Resolution 915 due to concerns that police officers were behind the extrajudicial killings in Cebu. This year, four local public officials--three incumbents and one former official--were murdered by unidentified men. Ronda Mayor Mariano Blanco III and his nephew, Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab, were killed in separate incidents. Blanco was killed because of his alleged involvement in illegal drugs, while his nephew was the lawyer of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa. Barangay Lagtang, Talisay City Councilor Art Stephen Bas was also ambushed last July. Earlier this month, his father, former Lagtang barangay captain Marc Ferdinand Bas, was killed in Sibonga. (JKV, RVC, SunStar Philippines) Credit: Ron Miller Meticulous analysis of hundreds of photographic plates from the star J1407 between 1890 and 2007 show no stellar eclipses. Robin Mentel, a Master's student at Leiden University, could not detect eclipses of the star J1407 by a planet hypothesized to have giant rings, called J1407b. However, an eclipse may have been missed since the measurement series contains gaps. Mentel's research has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Robin Mentel studied J1407, a sun-like star, 16 million years young at about 460 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. In 2007, the star showed a strange series of star eclipses. In 2015, a team of researchers, including Mentel's supervisor Matthew Kenworthy, came out with an explanation for those eclipses. A planet, J1407b, with a huge ring system that was more than a hundred times larger than Saturn's ring system, would orbit the star. In 2016, Kenworthy and colleagues showed that the ring system can only really hold on if the rings move against the orbit direction of the planet around the star. And now, in 2018, the Leiden team has shown that in large periods between 1890 and 2007 no star eclipses have taken place. Two years ago, Mentel, who was still a bachelor's student visiting Leiden from Germany, studied 490 photographic plates with J1407 on it. The oldest records are from the Harvard DASCH survey and date from 1890. There are also records from collections from Bamberg and Sonneberg observatories. Mentel compared the brightness of the star J1407 with two equally bright stars close by on the sky. If the star J1407 was obscured at some point, it would appear to be fainter on the photo than the two nearby stars. Mentel could not detect any eclipses. As an extra check, Mentel compared J1407 with a third star that was just as weak as an eclipsing J1407. Thanks to these results, the researchers could then calculate how long the period between two eclipses might be. Mentel and his colleagues think that in 2021 or 2024 there may be another star eclipse and so they will have to wait until another eclipse event confirms it. Professional astronomers and amateur astronomers around the world are keeping an eye on the star J1407. If there is an eclipse in 2021, large telescopes can be aimed directly at the star. In their scientific article, the researchers thank Alison Doane, who died on 29 October 2017. She was the curator of the Harvard Astronomical Plate collection and taught the researchers how to study the plates best. Doane also made sure that in January 2016 61,000 records were saved from a flood of the Harvard College Observatory. Explore further Giant rings around exoplanet turn in unexpected direction Nicrophorus vespilloides male and female are caring for their young. The breeding pair is seen tending to a cadaver of a small rodent that it preserves by covering the carcass with anal secretions containing symbiotic gut microorganisms. Credit: Shantanu Shukla, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology The burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides buries the cadavers of small animals in soil to use them as a food source for its offspring. However, the carcass and thus the breeding site are highly susceptible to microbial decomposition and putrefaction, resulting in the production of toxic substances, the growth of microbial pathogens and nutrient loss. In a new study, researchers from the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Ecology, the University of Mainz and the University of Giessen, Germany, show that Nicrophorus vespilloides beetles are able to replace harmful microorganisms with their own beneficial gut symbionts, thus turning a carcass into a nursery with a microbial community that even promotes larval growth. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . How burying beetles prevent carrion decomposition Burying beetles exploit nutrient-rich, but challenging resources for breeding: Their larvae feed on the cadavers of small animals. If untended by these beetles, carcasses are usually taken over by microbial decomposers. Decomposition of carrion under natural conditions is associated with growth of microbial pathogens and competitors, accumulation of toxic metabolites and rapid nutrient loss. A team of scientists has now found that the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides preserves the food source for its offspring by inoculating it with beneficial microbes from its own gut. The researchers genetically characterized the bacterial and fungal communities of tended and untended carcasses and compared microbial metabolic activity. They also quantified putrescine and cadaverine, the foul-smelling organic compounds associated with carrion putrefaction, and amino acids. "Utilization of carcasses did not involve suppression of microbes, but the replacement of the native microbial community with the beetles' gut microbes. For example, tended carcasses showed suppression of a soil-associated mold but the growth of a beetle-associated yeast. This shift in microbial communities resulted in biochemical changes in beetle-tended carcasses," explains first author Shantanu Shukla from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. Symbionts from the beetle parents' gut replace competing microbes that would otherwise decompose the larvae's food source and make sure that the larvae thrive well. Credit: Shantanu Shukla, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology The importance of the symbionts for larval development The researchers then wanted to know if these changes were beneficial to the insects that invest so heavily in defending and preparing carcasses. Therefore they tested the effect of the carrion microbiota on host fitness by measuring larval performance with and without the microbial symbionts present on the carrion. The negative effects on larval growth were considerable: Larvae fed on carcasses from which the matrix had been removed were significantly smaller although they had consumed the same amount of carcass tissue. "Our study shows how insects can modify their habitats by culturing their symbionts both in their guts as well as outside on a breeding resource to increase fitness. The burying beetle is a fascinating example of symbiont-enabled exploitation of challenging resources," senior author Heiko Vogel summarizes. The potential of the identified yeasts The identified yeasts will now be studied in more detail, especially their role in detoxifying putrefaction products and (pre)digesting carrion to benefit the beetle larvae. "Since the microbiome transmitted by the beetles suppressed the growth of potentially harmful and toxin-producing bacteria and fungi, it is worthwhile to explore potential antimicrobials more closely, because they could also become relevant for medical applications," says Andreas Vilcinskas, who is leading the antibiotic research at the participating Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology. Explore further Burying beetles hatch survival plan to source food, study shows More information: Shantanu P. Shukla el al., "Microbiome-assisted carrion preservation aids larval development in a burying beetle," PNAS (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Shantanu P. Shukla el al., "Microbiome-assisted carrion preservation aids larval development in a burying beetle,"(2018). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1812808115 The partially ordered protein forms a stable, porous scaffold that can rapidly integrate into tissue and promote the formation of blood vessels. Credit: Stefan Roberts, Duke University Biomedical engineers from Duke University and Washington University in St. Louis have demonstrated that, by injecting an artificial protein made from a solution of ordered and disordered segments, a solid scaffold forms in response to body heat, and in a few weeks seamlessly integrates into tissue. The ability to combine these segments into proteins with unique properties will allow researchers to precisely control the properties of new biomaterials for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The research appears online on October 15 in the journal Nature Materials. Proteins function by folding, origami-like, and interacting with specific biomolecular structures. Researchers previously believed that proteins needed a fixed shape to function, but over the last two decades there has been a growing interest in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Unlike their well-folded counterparts, IDPs can adopt a plethora of distinct structures. However, these structural preferences are non-random, and recent advances have shown that there are well-defined rules that connect information in the amino acid sequences of IDPs to the collections of structures they can adopt. Researchers have hypothesized that versatility in protein function is achievable by stringing together well-folded proteins with IDPsrather like pearl necklaces. This versatility is obvious in biological materials like muscle and silk fibers, which are made of proteins that combine ordered and disordered regions, enabling the materials to exhibit characteristics like elasticity of rubber and the mechanical strength of steel. IDPs are instrumental to cellular function, and many biomedical engineers have concentrated their efforts on an extremely useful IDP called elastin. A highly elastic protein found throughout the body, elastin allows blood vessels and organslike the skin, uterus and lungsto return to their original shape after being stretched or compressed. However, creating the elastin outside the body proved to be a challenge. So the researchers decided to take a reductionist engineering approach to the problem. "We were curious to see what types of materials we could make by adding order to an otherwise highly disordered protein," said Stefan Roberts, a Ph.D. student in the Chilkoti lab and first author on the paper. Due to the challenges of using elastin itself, the research team worked with elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), which are fully disordered proteins made to mimic pieces of elastin. ELPs are useful biomaterials because they can undergo phase changesgo from a soluble to an insoluble state, or vice-versain response to changes in temperature. While this makes these materials useful for applications like long-term drug delivery, their liquid-like behavior prevents them from being effective scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. But by adding ordered domains to the ELPs, Roberts and the team created "Frankenstein" proteins that combine ordered domains and disordered regions leading to so-called partially ordered proteins (POPs), which are equipped with the structural stability of ordered proteins without losing the ELPs ability to become liquid or solid via temperature changes. Designed as a fluid at room temperature that solidifies at body temperature, these new biomaterials form a stable, porous scaffold when injected that rapidly integrates into the surrounding tissue with minimal inflammation and promotes the formation of blood vessels. "This material is very stable after injection. It doesn't degrade quickly and it holds its volume really well, which is unusual for a protein-based material," Roberts said. "Cells also thrive in the material, repopulating the tissue in the area where it is injected. All of these characteristics could make it a viable option for tissue engineering and wound healing." Although the scaffold created by the POP was stable, the team also observed that the material would completely re-dissolve once it was cooled. What's more, the formation and dissolution temperatures could be independently controlled by controlling the ratios of disordered and ordered segments in the biomaterial. This independent tunability confers shape memories on the POPs via a phenomenon known as hysteresis, allowing them to return to their original shape after a temperature cue. The Duke team collaborated with the laboratory of Rohit Pappu, the Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis to understand the molecular basis of sequence-encoded hysteretic behavior. Tyler S. Harmon, then a Physics Ph.D. student in the Pappu lab, developed a computational model to show that the hysteresis arises from the differential interactions of ordered and disordered regions with solvent versus alone. "Being able to simulate the molecular basis for tunable hysteresis puts us on the path to design bespoke materials with desired structures and shape memory profiles," Pappu said. "This appears to be a hitherto unrecognized feature of the synergy between ordered domains and IDPs." Moving ahead, the team hopes to study the material in animal models to examine potential uses in tissue engineering and wound healing and to develop a better understanding of why the material promotes vascularization. If these studies are effective, Roberts is optimistic that the new material could become the basis for a biotech company. They also want to develop a deeper understanding of the interactions between the ordered and disordered portions in these versatile materials. "We've been so fascinated with the phase behavior derived from the disordered domains that we neglected the properties of the ordered domains, which turned out to be quite important," Chilkoti said. "By combining ordered segments with disordered segments there's a whole new world of materials we can create with beautiful internal structure without losing the phase behavior of the disordered segment, and that's exciting." Explore further Modified biomaterials self-assemble on temperature cues More information: Stefan Roberts et al, Injectable tissue integrating networks from recombinant polypeptides with tunable order, Nature Materials (2018). Journal information: Nature Materials Stefan Roberts et al, Injectable tissue integrating networks from recombinant polypeptides with tunable order,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-018-0182-6 Left to right, Ray Ptucha, computer engineering assistant professor, Robbie Jimerson, computer science doctoral student, both from RIT, and Emily Prud'hommeaux, assistant professor of computer science, are leading the NSF project to use artificial intelligence technology to preserve the Seneca language. Credit: A. Sue Weisler/RIT A new research project at Rochester Institute of Technology will help ensure the endangered language of the Seneca Indian Nation will be preserved. Using deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence, RIT researchers are building an automatic speech recognition application to document and transcribe the traditional language of the Seneca people. The work is also intended to be a technological resource to preserve other rare or vanishing languages. "The motivation for this is personal. The first step in the preservation and revitalization of our language is documentation of it," said Robert Jimerson (Seneca), a computing and information sciences doctoral student at RIT and member of the research team. He brought together tribal elders and close friends, all speakers of Seneca, to help produce audio and textual documentation of this Native American language spoken fluently by fewer than 50 individuals. Like all languages, Seneca has different dialects. It also presents unique challenges because of its complex system for building new words, in which a whole sentence can be expressed in a single word. Jimerson is able to bridge both the technology and the language. "Under the hood, it is data. With many Native languages, you don't have that volume of data," he said, explaining that some languages, while spoken, may not have as many formal linguistical toolsdictionaries, grammatical materials or extensive classes for non-native speakers, similar to those for Spanish or Chinese. "One of the most expensive and time-consuming processes of documenting language is collecting and transcribing it. We are looking at taking deep networks and maybe changing the architecture, making some synthetic data to create more data, but how do you make this work in deep learning? How do you augment data you already have?" That process of attaining data is being coordinated by a wide-ranging team that includes Jimerson; the project principal investigator Emily Prud'hommeaux, assistant professor of computer science at Boston College and research faculty in RIT's College of Liberal Arts; Ray Ptucha, assistant professor of computer engineering in RIT's Kate Gleason College of Engineering and an expert in deep learning systems and technologies; and Karen Michaelson, professor of linguistics, the State University of New York at Buffalo. The research team was awarded $181, 682 in funding over four years from the National Science Foundation for "Collaborative Research: Deep learning speech recognition for document Seneca and other acutely under-resourced languages." "This is an exciting project because it brings together people from so many disciplines and backgrounds, from engineering and computer science to linguistics and language pedagogy," said Prud'hommeaux. "In addition to enabling us to develop cutting edge technology, this project supports undergraduate and graduate students and engages members of an indigenous community that few people know is right here in western New York." The researchers started the project in late June, bringing together the community members and linguists for data collectionacquiring and translating current and new, original recordings of Seneca conversations then converting data into textual output using deep learning models. "What you are really trying to do is find that line between the new data you can get and the changing of the architecture of a network," Jimerson explained. Since the summer, the team has just over 50 hours of recorded material with people working full time on the translations that include breaking down the language into individual phonetic symbols and using this information to begin training the models. "We use a process called transfer learning which starts with a model trained with readily available English speech to get the basic, initial training for the system, then we'll re-train the neural networks and fine tune it toward the Seneca language. We're getting very good results," said Ptucha, who is an expert in deep learning systems and technologies. Deep learning technology consists of multiple layers of artificial neurons, organized in an increasingly abstract hierarchy. These architectures have produced state-of-the-art results on all types of pattern recognition problems including image and speech recognition applications. "No one has really tried this before, training an automated speech recognition model on something as resource-constrained as Seneca. Robbie is the expert in transcribing Seneca and training the others on how to do this. He's a pretty rare guy, " said Ptucha, This current project is a continuation of Jimerson's work to expand the language resources available to his community. In 2013, while he was a graduate student in RIT's Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, he developed an online Seneca language translation dictionary for the Seneca Language Revitalization Program. The project was funded by the Seneca Nation and awarded to RIT's Future Steward's Program. Credit: CC0 Public Domain While temperatures in the tropical forests of northeastern Puerto Rico have climbed two degrees Celsius since the mid-1970s, the biomass of arthropodsinvertebrate animals such as insects, millipedes, and sowbugshas declined by as much as 60-fold, according to new findings published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The finding supports the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warnings of severe environmental threats given a 2.0 degree Celsius elevation in global temperature. Like some other tropical locations, the study area in the Luquillo rainforest has already reached or exceeded a 2.0 degree Celsius rise in average temperature, and the study finds that the consequences are potentially catastrophic. "Our results suggest that the effects of climate warming in tropical forests may be even greater than anticipated" said Brad Lister lead author of the study and a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "The insect populations in the Luquillo forest are crashing, and once that begins the animals that eat the insects have insufficient food, which results in decreased reproduction and survivorship and consequent declines in abundance." "Climate Driven Declines in Arthropod Abundance Restructure a Rainforest Food Web" is based on data collected between 1976 and 2013 by the authors and the Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research program at three mid-elevation habitats in Puerto Rico's protected Luquillo rainforest. During this time, mean maximum temperatures have risen by 2.0 degrees Celsius. Major findings include: Sticky traps used to sample arthropods on the ground and in the forest canopy were indicative of a collapse in forest arthropods, with biomass catch rates falling up to 60-fold between 1976 and 2013. The biomass of arthropods collected by ground-level sweep netting also declined as much as eight-fold from 1976 to 2013. As arthropods declined, simultaneous decreases occurred in Luquillo's insectivorous lizards, frogs, and birds. The authors also compared estimates of arthropod abundance they made in the 1980s in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve in western Mexico with estimates from 2014. Over this time period mean temperature increased 2.4 Celsius and arthropod biomass declined eightfold. Cold blooded animals living in tropical climates are particularly vulnerable to climate warming since that they are adapted to relatively stable year-round temperatures. Given their analyses of the data, which included new techniques to assess causality, the authors conclude that climate warming is the major driver of reductions in arthropod abundance in the Luquillo forest. These reductions have precipitated a major bottom-up trophic cascade and consequent collapse of the forest food web. Given that tropical forests harbor two thirds of the Earth's species, these results have profound implications for the future stability and biodiversity of rainforest ecosystems, as well as conservation efforts aimed at mitigating the effects of climate forcing. Andres Garcia, of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, was co-author on the study which was funded by the National Science Foundation. Research into the effects of climate change is an exciting aspect of The New Polytechnic, an emerging paradigm for teaching, learning, and research at Rensselaer. The foundation for this vision is the recognition that global challenges and opportunities are so great they cannot be adequately addressed by even the most talented person working alone. The New Polytechnic is transformative in the global impact of research, in its innovative pedagogy, and in the lives of students at Rensselaer. Explore further Tropical treetops are warming, putting sensitive species at risk More information: Bradford C. Lister el al., "Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web," PNAS (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Bradford C. Lister el al., "Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web,"(2018). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1722477115 Ethiopian villager with her chickens. Credit: Marisol Collins Adopting a more local and flexible approach to sustainable development could be key to boosting the productivity of small-scale chicken farms in Africa, a new study reports. Research led by the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with UK and African partners, reveals village chicken populations in Ethiopia to be genetically diverse and highly adapted to their local physical, cultural and social environments. Published in Nature Sustainability, the study suggests that in order to be successful, development interventions, including breeding programmes, need to consider this diversity and be locally tailored and designed to allow for flexible implementation, depending on local needs. Professor Paul Wigley from the University's Institute of Infection and Global Health said: "That chickens are so locally adapted, despite often appearing similar, does present challenges to increasing productivity. "There is not a 'one size fits all' chicken for Ethiopia or any village system. It could be argued that improvements in management, the use of vaccination and improvements to disease control such as simple biosecurity measures are as important as the genetic potential of the bird. Such measures need improvements in access to information and training." Chicken production is an important agricultural activity in Africa and can play an important role in reduction of poverty, and improved nutrition and gender empowerment. Whilst many people are able to raise village chickens and they require few inputs, productivity is low and constrained by, among other things, disease, predation and scarcity of feed. There is much interest in trying to breed a chicken resilient to its environment, whilst providing the basis of an economically sustainable enterprise. Globally, however, a wide variety of interventions have so far proved unable to deliver sustainable improvements. To better understand the barriers to sustainable development, the researchers investigated disease challenges, the genetics of the local chickens and, crucially, the nature of the production system and the socioeconomic reasons why chickens are kept. The study was conducted in two districts of Ethiopia; Horro, around 300 km northwest of Addis Ababa and Jarso, around 400 km east of Addis Ababa. The genetics of the village chickens showed high levels of adaptation to their local ecosystems, resistance to disease and to the management and cultural variations of their environment. On top of adaptation, the data suggest that there have been multiple introductions of chickens in Ethiopia that may relate to trade routes, religion and culture. Professor Rob Christley, who led the project, said: "The importance of culture and location should not be underestimated. Conventionally, the transfer of technology has often taken a top-down approachfrom researchers to farmersignoring the considerable knowledge of the farmers. This often leads to interventions that are inappropriate to the social, physical and economic settings in which farmers operate, leading to unsustainable interventions." The paper 'The role of local adaptation in sustainable village chicken production' is published in Nature Sustainability. Explore further Global study shows environmentally friendly farming can increase productivity More information: Judy M. Bettridge et al, The role of local adaptation in sustainable production of village chickens, Nature Sustainability (2018). Journal information: Nature Sustainability Judy M. Bettridge et al, The role of local adaptation in sustainable production of village chickens,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-018-0150-9 European Union ministers meeting in Luxembourg said they were on target to protect Baltic Sea fishing communities while ensuring long-term fish stocks for the 28 EU member countries European Union ministers agreed on Monday to sharply boost catch quotas for western Baltic Sea cod next year but put lower limits on fishing of western herring. The ministers meeting in Luxembourg said they were on target to protect Baltic Sea fishing communities while ensuring long-term fish stocks for the 28 EU member countries. "The 2020 deadline we set ourselves for achieving the sustainability of our fisheries resources is getting closer," said Elisabeth Koestinger of Austria, which currrently holds the six-month EU rotating presidency. "Today's decision is another important step towards meeting this goal, whilst at the same time respecting the socioeconomic viability of our coastal communities," said the minister for sustainability and tourism. The ministers set the quota for western cod at 9,515 tonnes for 2019, an increase of 70 percent over this year, even though the European Commission, the EU executive, called for limiting the increase to 31 percent. They put the limit for eastern cod at 24,112 tonnes, 15 percent less than currently and the same quota the commission supported. The ministers set the quota for western herring at 9,001 tonnes, a reduction of 48 percent, though the commission had called for a reduction of 63 percent. Koestinger said it was a "reasonable solution" that was close to the commission's proposal and avoided too much of a change for the concerned fishermen. The quota for main basin salmon was rolled over at 91,132 tonnes, even though the commission recommended an increase of 15 percent. For salmon in the Gulf of Finland, the quotas were reduced by three percent to 9,703 tonnes, against the commission proposal of one percent less. The ministers also called for reducing quotas for central herring, down 26 percent to 170,360 tonnes, and Bothnian herring down seven percent to 88,703 tonnes. However, the quota for Riga herring will increase by seven percent to 31,044 tonnes. Quotas for plaice will jump by 43 percent to 10,122 tonnes and those for sprat by three percent to 270,772 tonnes. Explore further EU draws fire for allowing 'overfishing' of Baltic cod 2018 AFP A group of European Union countries is calling for the urgent creation of a legal framework to hit hackers, warning that a lack of tough action leaves the impression that cyber attacks would go unpunished A group of EU states including Britain and the Baltic countries is pushing the bloc to slap sanctions on cyber attackers, as Europe seeks to strengthen its electronic defences. Eight countries are calling for the urgent creation of a legal framework to hit hackers, warning that a lack of tough action leaves the impression that cyber attacks would go unpunished. The move comes amid growing concern at Russia's alleged malign cyber activities, with Western powers blaming Moscow for numerous acts of hacking and electronic interference. This month the Netherlands revealed dramatic details of a bid by Russia's GRU military intelligence agency to hack the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. The confidential EU proposal seen by AFP, backed by Britain, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Finland, Romania and the Netherlands warns that "the pace of events has accelerated considerably". "This context makes the introduction of such a regime a pressing priority," the text says, urging EU leaders to formally back the proposal at their summit in Brussels this week. The paper warns it is "only a matter of time before we are hit by a critical operation with severe consequences on the EU". Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told AFP that evidence from NATO and other cyber experts showed the problem was "becoming more and more intense". "It's just a question of time whether it will be attacks on very vulnerable even strategic segments, so we should develop our own armoury to withstand," Linkevicius said. Real consequences Lithuania and the other Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia, say they come under near-daily cyber attacks, most originating in Russia, targeting everything from banks and government institutions to transport infrastructure. Attempts to tackle the problem have sometimes been hampered by the fact the hackers are adept at covering their tracks, making it hard to identify them with certainty. If approved, the sanctions regime would freeze assets held in the bloc by targeted individuals and ban them from travelling to the 28 member states. The new proposal says this would impose a "meaningful consequence" on hackers and also signal at a political level that cyber attacks will not be tolerated or overlooked. But the proposal may face resistance from some EU members who want to improve relations with Russia, such as the new Italian government. While the proposal calls for action at this week's summit, Linkevicius said it was difficult to be sure of the timing, acknowledging "there is not big enthusiasm from some capitals for sanctions". 2018 AFP Terahertz radiation may one day be used in wireless data networks that are many times faster than today's microwave networks. The conventional wisdom in the research community has been that, in addition to greater speed, terahertz data links would also have an inherent immunity to eavesdropping. Unlike microwaves, which travel in wide-angle broadcasts, terahertz waves travel directly from transmitter to receiver in narrow beams. The assumption was that it would be impossible to for an eavesdropper to intercept a terahertz signal without blocking some or all of the beam, which would be easily detected by an intended receiver. But new research finds that a clever eavesdropper can indeed steal terahertz signals undetected. In order for a link to be reliable, the beam's diameter must be slightly larger than the aperture of the receiver. That leaves a sliver of signal available for an attacker to steal without casting a shadow in a receiver. Credit: Mittleman lab / Brown University A new study shows that terahertz data links, which may play a role in ultra-high-speed wireless data networks of the future, aren't as immune to eavesdropping as many researchers have assumed. The research, published in the journal Nature, shows that it is possible for a clever eavesdropper to intercept a signal from a terahertz transmitter without the intrusion being detected at the receiver. "The conventional wisdom in the terahertz community has been that it's virtually impossible to spy on a terahertz data link without the attack being noticed," said Daniel Mittleman, a professor in Brown University's School of Engineering and a coauthor of the research. "But we show that undetected eavesdropping in the terahertz realm is easier than most people had assumed and that we need to be thinking about security issues as we think about designing network architectures." Because of its higher frequency, terahertz radiation can carry up to 100 times more data than the microwaves used in wireless communication today, which makes terahertz an attractive option for use in future wireless networks. Along with enhanced bandwidth, it has also been generally assumed that the way in which high-frequency waves propagate would naturally enhance security. Unlike microwaves, which propagate in wide-angle broadcasts, terahertz waves travel in narrow, very directional beams. "In microwave communications, an eavesdropper can put an antenna just about anywhere in the broadcast cone and pick up the signal without interfering with the intended receiver," Mittleman said. "Assuming that the attacker can decode that signal, they can then eavesdrop without being detected. But in terahertz networks, the narrow beams would mean that an eavesdropper would have to place the antenna between the transmitter and receiver. The thought was that there would be no way to do that without blocking some or all of the signal, which would make an eavesdropping attempt easily detectable by the intended receiver." Mittleman and colleagues from Brown, Rice University and the University at Buffalo set out to test that notion. They set up a direct line-of-site terahertz data link between a transmitter and receiver, and experimented with devices capable of intercepting signal. They were able show several strategies that could steal signal without being detectedeven when the data-carrying beam is very directional, with a cone angle of less than 2 degrees (in contrast to microwave transmission, where the angle is often as large as 120 degrees). One set of strategies involves placing objects at the very edge of a beam that is capable of scattering a tiny portion of the beam. In order for a data link to be reliable, the diameter of the beam must be slightly larger than the aperture of the receiver. That leaves a sliver of signal for an attacker to work with without casting a detectable shadow on the receiver. The researchers showed that a flat piece of metal could redirect a portion of the beam to a secondary receiver operated by an attacker. The researchers were able to acquire a usable signal at the second receiver with no significant loss of power at the primary receiver. The team showed an even more flexible approach (from the attacker's perspective) by using a metal cylinder in the beam instead of a flat plate. "Cylinders have the advantage that they scatter light in all directions, giving an attacker more options in setting up a receiver," said Josep Jornet, an assistant professor of engineering at Buffalo and a study co-author. "And given the physics of terahertz wave propagation, even a very small cylinder can significantly scatter the signal without blocking the line-of-sight path." The researchers went on to demonstrate another type of attack involving a lossless beam splitter that would also be difficult, if not impossible, to detect. The beam splitter placed in front of a transmitter would enable an attacker to steal just enough to be useful, yet not so much that it would set off alarm bells among network administrators. The bottom line, the researchers say, is that while there are inherent security enhancements associated with terahertz links in comparison with lower frequencies, these security improvements are still far from foolproof. "Securing wireless transmission from eavesdroppers has been a challenge since the days of Marconi," said Edward Knightly, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University and a study coauthor. "While terahertz bands take a huge leap in this direction, we unfortunately found that a determined adversary can still be effective in intercepting the signal." Explore further Researchers take terahertz data links around the bend More information: Jianjun Ma et al, Security and eavesdropping in terahertz wireless links, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Jianjun Ma et al, Security and eavesdropping in terahertz wireless links,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0609-x Rashid would be the first Arab Muslim on the county board. He adamantly opposes Morrison's efforts to stop a minimum wage hike and mandated paid sick leave countywide and Morrison's success at bringing together bi-partisan group that successfully repealed the countywide soda tax. PALOS PARK - Sounds crazy, but George Soros is spending money on national, state and even county races this season. One of only four Republicans serving on the 17 member Democrat-controlled Cook County Board of Commissioners, Sean Morrison of District 17 is facing an uphill battle against Democrat Abdelnasser Rashid, 29-year-old Harvard graduate that has worked as a community activist for Soros in the past. Morrison's efforts to stop tax hikes and employment mandates won him the endorsement of the Left-Leaning Chicago Sun Times. After listing his Democrat opponent's stance that Cook County's taxes really aren's that bad, and could be balanced with a tighter oversight of the county's budget, The Sun Times went with Morrison: That leaves us looking at the balance of power on the county board, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 13-4. A little more balance couldnt hurt, each side serving as a check on the other. Our pick is Morrison. Were counting on him to continue scrutinizing taxation and spending, as he did when he opposed Board President Toni Preckwinkles ill-conceived and since repealed soda tax. All politics is local, they say, and Morrison is looking for Republicans in his district to get out and vote - a necessity that down ballot candidates are pushing since the gubernatorial race has so many Republicans and conservatives disengaged. Morrison says his opponent a political operative for George Soros. Morrison says his opponent has substantial resources behind him. Rashid has worked for Soros' Our Revolution organization, and he's backed by "Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle and the Cook Democratic Party as well as JB Pritzker, sending a lot of money his way," Morrison told Illinois Review. "Im just going to keep working hard, stand by my three years of record at the board and have faith in the residents of the 17th district," he said. Rashid has raised $35,000 from unions, Democrat organizations and private donors. "Stop job cuts" read the T-shirts of trade unionists greeting French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire at a meeting Monday with Ford management over the fate of the Blanquefort factory outside Bordeaux in southwestern France. Some 850 jobs are at risk US carmaker Ford came under fire from the French government on Monday over its plans to close a factory producing gear boxes in southwest France that employs 850 people. After a stormy meeting between management and French officials, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire sounded furious at the US group's desire to shut the plant near Bordeaux, rather than sell it to a French buyer. "If they think they can just shut up shop and that the state and local authorities won't react, then they're making a mistake," Le Maire told reporters. "We're going to fight and we won't be taken advantage of." "Ford's position cannot be defended and what can't be defended needs to be combatted," he added. Ford announced in February that it would stop investing in its Blanquefort plant, which has produced gear boxes since 1972, and the issue has been raised by the French and US governments. The site has become another battleground between French trade unions and American multinationals that are often portrayed in France as heartless job-slashing capitalists. Plans by US appliance maker Whirlpool to close a factory in the northern town of Amiens became a controversy during last year's presidential election campaign, which was won by centrist Emmanuel Macron. One of Macron's far-left rivals, Philippe Poutou, is a mechanic at Ford's Blanquefort plant who became a minor celebrity during the election with his angry denunciations of multinationals and a pledge to outlaw redundancies. Other past factory closures by American companies such as Goodyear and Caterpillar, part of a wider trend of industrial decline in France, have also led to bitterness and public campaigns. Bordeaux's mayor, former prime minister Alain Juppe, walked out of the meeting with Ford's management on Monday before the endand angrily denounced the company afterwards as "leading us on". Juppe and Le Maire's anger has focused on Ford's reluctance to favour an offer for the site from Punch Powerglide, a manufacturer based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, which would come with pledges of more state aid. "I spoke to the chairman of Ford last Friday by phone and the chairman told me that between a purchase of the site by Punch and the closure of the site, Ford preferred closing the factory," Le Maire said. "I completely disagree with this choice," he added. Explore further Ford celebrates century of production at storied Rouge plant 2018 AFP Wittelsbacherplatz, June 2018, Munich, Germany. Credit: Christian Tietz, Author provided The constructed world around us provides the stage for our daily life. The term "built environment" is in the past tense, describing a scenario after the fact. What does it actually mean beyond the obvious connotation of buildings and parks? If we look closely at these two words they tell a hidden story. We have built, which is made, created and manufactured, and environment, which can be either human-made or natural. The term links the made world with our natural world. It describes the world we made so far. But the two are separated. The interesting thing is that the made world, the one we created, is mentioned first. The setting it creates or into which the buildings are placed comes second. There is a hierarchy here that relegates the environment to second place. Yet when we pay respect at a formal occasion to the traditional peoples of Australia it is generally referred to as Acknowledgement of Country. Here we acknowledge the environment (country) first and then the custodians of it. Today we are at pains to integrate environmental concerns into our building efforts. We are discussing how to meet climate targets, reduce heat island effects and limit the impacts of the built environs, which have harmed our planet. The term built environment seem to come from a time when we felt the need to dominate nature; now we are desperately trying to work with it. Viewed from a different perspective, the built environment is a constructed historical record of how societies developed and applied their technical skills to express the culture of their time. It is all the infrastructure, power grids, water pipelines, dams, refineries, cargo terminals and industrial manufacturing sites that enable our urban existence. The term also speaks about the expertise of the various trades and the craftsmen involved. But not so much about the professions that negotiate the abstract world of policies, council guidelines, building codes and the laws not only of physics but also of the legal framework of contracts and workers' rights. Together it creates visible structures that allow for comfortable living, business activities and transport networks. Looking beyond buildings The term built environment in an academic setting describes a suite of disciplines engaged in studying and therefore aiming to improve it. The late architect Col James "made housing a verb". He did so not only to reflect the human agency involved in the processes but to provide a more equitable and just living environment for people who don't have the means to get their own architect to design a dream home for a cool US$2 billion. The built environment looks like the material world conceived by planners, designed by architects and constructed by builders and labourers. Yet, if we look closer, we can see that these structures are only one part of the equation. These build things (buildings) on their own can not simply be populated by people. People would have nothing to do in these buildings were it not be for the fixtures, fittings, furnishings and products within them. Whod want to live in a home without a fridge? Credit: Filipe B Varela/Shutterstock These elements enable and activate these environments and make them usable and productive for their intended purposes. If the products within them fail they can make buildings harmful. These products are not so much built in the traditional sense, but are mass-produced high-volume items. From window frames to light switches, phones and furniture, these are products conceived, designed and specified by professionals like industrial designers. They form an integral part of the built environment. Even buildings themselves are not built in the traditional sense anymore, but are more and more the result of complex manufacturing processes. Project managers and builders are orchestrating a vast range of pre-manufactured items, which they assemble skilfully into an environment fit for human use. If we are at a hospital, train station or playground, these environments are populated with equipment that speaks explicitly to the use of the space. In hospitals we see kidney analysis machines, hospital beds and infusion stands. The station has signage, trains and turnstiles. And at the playground the equipment lets us play and have fun. Without these things these places wouldn't be what they are. They could not perform the function that is their reason for being. Therefore it is the things in these environments that give them their meaning and function, because they enable it. A ready-made kitchen at Ikea. Credit: Tooykrub/Shutterstock Our environment is and always has been integrated with products that help us with access to the services and infrastructure available at the time. Take for example the prosaic light switch. It activates the enormous resource-intensive electricity-generating industry, which delivers power over vast distances, from its massive powerplants, through its extensive grid via high-voltage cables, in and out of substations and transformers and finally through to the consumer switchboard into the home of the end user. Who, with an unremarkable flick of a switch, can power up a light, laptop, TV, heater or whatever else. Without this user interface of the switch or tap, or stove knob these entire huge networks are useless. It is the integration of these seemingly insignificant humble "actors" and their affordances that enables entire utility networks to be adjusted and controlled to create an enjoyable and healthy living environment for people. Explore further How to make healthy buildings in an era of mass migration This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Males have greater reproductive success if they spend more time taking care of kidsand not necessarily only their own, according to new research published by anthropologists at Northwestern University. In a previous study, the researchers found that wild male mountain gorillas living in Rwanda do something that is quite unusual for a mammalthey help take care of all of the kids that live in their social group, regardless of whether they are the father. The goal of the new study was to figure out why. "Mountain gorillas and humans are the only great apes in which males regularly develop strong social bonds with kids, so learning about what mountain gorillas do and why helps us understand how human males may have started down the path to our more involved form of fatherhood," said Stacy Rosenbaum, lead author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow in anthropology at Northwestern. Christopher Kuzawa, a co-author of the study, said the findings run counter to how we typically think of male mountain gorillashuge, competitive and with reproduction in the group dominated by a single alpha male. "Males are spending a lot of time with groups of kidsand those who groom and rest more with them end up having more reproductive opportunities," said Kuzawa, professor of anthropology at Northwestern and a faculty fellow at the University's Institute for Policy Research. "One likely interpretation is that females are choosing to mate with males based upon these interactions." Added Rosenbaum: "We've known for a long time that male mountain gorillas compete with one another to gain access to females and mating opportunities, but these new data suggest that they may have a more diverse strategy. Even after multiple controls for dominance ranks, age and the number of reproductive chances they get, males who have these bonds with kids are much more successful." This research suggests an alternative route by which fathering behaviors might have evolved in our own species, Rosenbaum said. "We traditionally have believed that male caretaking is reliant on a specific social structure, monogamy, because it helps ensure that males are taking care of their own kids. Our data suggest that there is an alternative pathway by which evolution can generate this behavior, even when males may not know who their offspring are," Rosenbaum said. This raises the possibility that similar behaviors could have been important in the initial establishment of fathering behaviors in distant human ancestors. The researchers are currently investigating whether hormones might play a role in helping facilitate these male behaviors, as they do in humans. Seminal work on the hormonal changes that men experience as they become fathers and care for kids has been conducted in the anthropology department at Northwestern. "In human males, testosterone declines as men become fathers, and this is believed to help focus their attention on the needs of the newborn," said Kuzawa, who co-authored a study on this topic in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2011. "Might gorillas that are particularly engaged in infant interaction experience similar declines in testosterone? Because this would probably impede their ability to compete with other males, evidence that testosterone goes down would be a clear indication that they must be gaining some real benefitsuch as attracting mates. Alternatively, if it does not go down, this suggests that high testosterone and caretaking behavior don't have to be mutually exclusive in mountain gorillas." The researchers look forward to exploring these new questions. "We're working on characterizing these males' hormone profiles across time, to see if events such as the birth of new infants might be related to their testosterone levels," Rosenbaum said. "We're fortunate to have data that span many years of their lives." The study's senior author, Tara Stoinski of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, added that such work highlights the critical importance of long-term research studies. "Dian Fossey first went to study these mountain gorillas in the 1960s hoping to further our understanding of human evolution," Stoinski said. "More than 50 years later, the continued research on this population is still providing insights, not only on a critically endangered species, but also into what it means to be human." "Caring for infants is associated with increased reproductive success in male mountain gorillas" will be published Oct. 15 in Scientific Reports. A new study finds evidence that livestock and wild mammals sometimes benefit from grazing on the same lands in central Kenya. Credit: Rachel Chaplin-Kramer A study of 3,588 square kilometers of privately owned land in central Kenya offers evidence that humans and their livestock can, in the right circumstances, share territory with zebras, giraffes, elephants and other wild mammalsto the benefit of all. The study, reported in the journal Nature Sustainability, focused on Laikipia County in central Kenya. "Laikipia County hosts 10 percent of Kenya's wildlife, but none of the country's national parks or preserves," said University of Illinois entomology professor Brian Allan, who conducted the study with Bard College professor Felicia Keesing . "Most people depend on livestock for income and almost 70 percent of the land is devoted to large-scale ranching or pastoralism," Allan said. As human populations increase, so does the pressure to expand agricultural and pastoral areas into grasslands now dominated by wildlife. Wildlife tourism is another source of revenue for landowners, however, as the area hosts exotic white and black rhinoceroses, Grevy's zebras and painted dogs, Keesing said. "This is leading some to remove traditional barriers between livestock and wildlife because there are benefits to having multiple sources of income," she said. There are big potential downsides to allowing livestock and wildlife to share territory, however, the researchers said. Wild cats sometimes prey on domestic animals. Wildlife and livestock may compete for water and grazing resources. They also can share diseases, including tick-borne infections like East Coast fever, Q fever and bovine anaplasmosis. "There is no greater diversity of tick species anywhere on the earth than in eastern and southern Africa," Allan said. "And many of the ticks are host generalists, meaning they'll happily feed on a cow, a gazelle or a zebraand they'll also bite humans." Tourists travel to the study area to see exotic animals, like this white rhino. Credit: Michael Jeffords and Susan Post, Illinois Natural History Survey To determine the ecological and economic effects of raising livestock on territory also used by wildlife, the researchers surveyed tick abundance, vegetation and the dung of large herbivorous mammals on 23 Laikipia County properties in July-August, 2014 and 2015. "We identified the ticks and sequenced DNA of tick-borne pathogens to identify infectious agents associated with the ticks," Keesing said. The team also interviewed managers and owners of each property about the type and abundance of livestock on their land and the percent of revenue derived from wildlife tourism and livestock operations. The researchers found that the practice of regularly spraying cattle with acaricides, which kill ticks without directly endangering birds or other creatures that feed on ticks, dramatically reduced the number of ticks in the grazed areas. "Reducing the number of ticks is one key part of a strategy to reduce the transmission of tick-borne diseases," Keesing said. "These diseases can sicken and kill people, livestock and wildlife, which is particularly devastating in a vulnerable ecosystem experiencing many competing demands." About 16 percent of the ticks collected on the study sites carried at least one bacterial or protozoal infection, the scientists found. There was no difference in the proportion of infected ticks found on properties devoted entirely to wildlife and those where wildlife and livestock were integrated. Tick abundance, however, was 75 percent lower on integrated properties than on those hosting only wildlife. Livestock- and wildlife-related income accounted for more than 70 percent of revenue for the properties studied. Wildlife abundance was highest on properties with moderate densities of cattlebut not on land supporting sheep and goats, the researchers found. There was less green grass on livestock-only and wildlife-only properties than on land shared by both, the researchers found. The quality of the forage also was highest on integrated lands. These findings suggest that certain management practices can enhance the viability of livestock operations while also maximizing wildlife abundance and health on the same lands, the researchers said. "It has been the attitude of conservationists that conservation lands must be kept secure and undisturbed from human uses, including livestock production, and I can sympathize with that perspective," Allan said. "But our data are starting to suggest that there could be circumstances where livestock-wildlife integration can workfor the benefit of all. A productive savanna ecosystem may be the perfect place to try it." Explore further Loss of African wildlife spurs a cascade of consequences in savannas More information: Felicia Keesing et al, Consequences of integrating livestock and wildlife in an African savanna, Nature Sustainability (2018). Journal information: Nature Sustainability Felicia Keesing et al, Consequences of integrating livestock and wildlife in an African savanna,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-018-0149-2 Leaving a major political body is nothing new for mainland Britain. In 409AD, more than 350 years after the Roman conquest of 43AD, the island slipped from the control of the Roman Empire. Much like the present Brexit, the process of this secession and its practical impacts on Britain's population in the early years of the 5th century remain ill-defined. As with the UK and Brussels, Britain had always been a mixed blessing for Rome. In around 415AD, St Jerome called the island "fertile in tyrants" (meaning usurpers) and late Roman writers portrayed a succession of rebellions in Britain, usually instigated by the army many of whom would have been born in the province. Around 407AD, the latest usurper, Constantine III, left Britain, taking the remaining elements of the army with him. The late Roman writer, Zosimus, then wrote that the pressure of Barbarian invaders obliged the British to throw off Roman rule and live "no longer subject to Roman laws but as they themselves pleased", a phrase guaranteed to warm the heart of any Brexiteer. This episode, around 409AD, seems to have been the end of Roman government in Britain. No "Romans" left, beyond the small number of soldiers who went to the continent to fight with Constantine III. Instead, the end of Roman Britain was, like the proposed present Brexit, a change in a relationship with a distant administration. But how did this change actually affect the people who lived in the island? And what were the consequences? Roman life disappearing One of the remarkable things about the first decades of the 5th century was the apparent speed with which the things we associate with Roman life disappeared. The use of coins seems to have been an early casualty. Coins were always supplied by Rome to do the things that the Roman government cared about, such as pay the army. The latest coins to be sent to Britain in any number stopped in 402AD. Coin use may have continued in places for some years after, using older coins, but there was no real attempt to introduce local copies or substitutes (as sometimes happened elsewhere). This suggests there was no demand for small change or faith in the value of base metal coinage. Industrial pottery manufacture (widespread in the fourth century) also vanished by about 420AD, while villas, some of which had achieved a peak of grandeur in the 4th century, were abandoned as luxury residences. Towns had already undergone dramatic changes, with monumental public buildings often abandoned from the 3rd century onwards, but signs of urban life vanish almost entirely after about 420AD. The forts of Hadrian's Wall, beset by what the 6th-century writer Gildas termed "loathsome hordes of Scots and Picts", seemingly turned from Roman garrisons into bases of local leaders and militias. Many archaeologists have argued that the change was more drawn out and less dramatic than I've described. Equally, our own views of what is and isn't "Roman" may not coincide with those held by people living during the 5th century. The notion of what was "Roman" was as complicated as "Britishness" is today. It's also clear that many aspects of Mediterranean Roman life such as towns and monumental building never really took off in Britain to the extent that they did elsewhere in the empire and much of what we consider to be "Roman" never saw much enthusiasm across large parts of Britain. Nonetheless, we can be fairly certain that people quickly lost interest in things like coins, mosaics, villas, towns and tableware. What came next Although external forces such as Barbarian invasion are often blamed for the end of Roman Britain, part of the answer may lie in changes to the way that people living in Britain viewed themselves. During the 5th century once Britain was no longer part of the Roman Empire, new forms of dress, buildings, pottery and burial rapidly appeared, particularly in the east of Britain. This may be partly associated with the coming of the "Germanic" immigrants from across the North Sea whose impacts are so bemoaned by writers such as Gildas. However, the change was so widespread that the existing population must also have adopted such novelties as well. Paradoxically, in western Britain, at places like Tintagel, people who had never shown much interest in Mediterranean life began in the 5th and 6th centuries to behave in ways that were more "Roman". They used inscriptions on stone and imported wine, tablewares (and presumably perishable goods like silk) from the eastern Mediterranean. For these people, "being Roman" (perhaps associated with Christianity) assumed a new importance, as a way of expressing their difference from those in the east who they associated with "Germanic" incomers. Archaeology suggests that late Roman Britain saw the same challenges to personal and group identities that the current Brexit debate stirs today. There can surely be little doubt that, had they lived in the 5th century, those who now identify as Leavers and Remainers would have debated the impact of foreign immigration and the merits of staying in the Roman Empire with equal passion. We must hope that some of the more dramatic changes of the 5th century, such as the disappearance of urban life and a monetary economy, do not find their 21st-century equivalents. Explore further Remains of weapons, sandals and coins shed new light on Roman conquest of Northwest Iberia This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A heat-map demonstrating where differences are most likely to occur in shell shape among gastropods exposed to raised CO 2 levels (with red indicating a greater degree of change) Credit: Ben Harvey Shelled marine creatures living in increasingly acidified oceans face a fight for survival as the impacts of climate change spread, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and the University of Plymouth, UK, assessed the impact of rising carbon dioxide levels on the large predatory "triton shell" gastropod (Charonia lampas). They found those living in regions with predicted future levels of CO 2 were on average around a third smaller than counterparts living in conditions seen throughout the world's oceans today. However there was also a noticeable negative impact on the thickness, density, and structure of their shells, causing visible deterioration to the shell surface. Writing in Frontiers in Marine Science, scientists say the effects are down to the increased stresses placed on the species in waters where the pH is lower, which reduce their ability to control the calcification process. And they have warned other shellfish are likely to be impacted in the same way, threatening their survival and that of other species that rely on them for food. Dr. Ben Harvey, Assistant Professor in the University of Tsukuba's Shimoda Marine Research Center, said: "Ocean acidification is a clear threat to marine life, acting as a stressor for many marine animals. Here we found that the ability of the triton shells to produce and maintain their shells was hindered by ocean acidification, with the corrosive seawater making them smoother, thinner, and less dense. The extensive dissolution of their shells has profound consequences for calcified animals into the future as it is not something they can biologically control, suggesting that some calcified species might be unable to adapt to the acidified seawater if carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise unchecked." A comparison of shells assessed during the research, with the top shell taken from waters with present-day CO 2 levels and the bottom one from waters with future predicted levels Credit: Ben Harvey/University of Tsukuba The research was conducted at a marine volcanic seep off the coast of Shikine-jima in Japan where carbon dioxide bubbling up through the seabed lowers seawater pH from present-day levels to future predicted levels. Using computed tomography (CT) scanning, the scientists measured the thickness, density and structure of the shells, with shell thickness halved in areas with raised CO 2 while average shell length was reduced from 178mm in sites with present day levels to 112mm. In some cases, these negative effects left body tissue exposed and the shell casing dissolved, with the corrosive effects of acidi?cation far more pronounced around the oldest parts of the shell. Jason Hall-Spencer, Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth, added: "Our study clearly shows that increasing carbon dioxide levels cause seawater to become corrosive to shellfish. As these calcified animals are a fundamental component of coastal marine communities, ocean acidi?cation is expected to impact shellfish fisheries." Explore further Study shows ocean acidification is having major impact on marine life More information: Ben P. Harvey et al, Dissolution: The Achilles' Heel of the Triton Shell in an Acidifying Ocean, Frontiers in Marine Science (2018). Ben P. Harvey et al, Dissolution: The Achilles' Heel of the Triton Shell in an Acidifying Ocean,(2018). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00371 Technology has a lot to teach kids, especially if its available in more than one language. Credit: Rich T Photo/Shutterstock Technology, like mobile apps and online learning platforms, is becoming an increasingly important teaching tool all over the world. That's also true in emerging markets; accessible technologies can essentially be used to take information and digital resources into remote, rural and under-resourced schools. But is this technology useful if it's not also provided in diverse languages? In subjects like maths and science, pupils must have a certain level of competency to comprehend and effectively respond to tasks. Extensive research shows how important language is in helping pupils better understand concepts. I set out to evaluate the role of language in mobile maths and science learning platforms like apps and websites. The aim was to enable pupils' access to mobile learning resources for maths and science subjects. I also wanted to see whether providing this technology in pupils' home languages would enhance their learning experience. I found that providing the mobile teaching tools in multiple languages increased pupils' engagement with their work. My research was done in South Africa where language use in schools remains a contentious issue. I tracked the use of an app I'd developed that allowed children to switch between languages. My research showed that it helped children grasp maths and science concepts much quicker. This suggests that schools in the country should consider offering mobile learning technology in multiple languages to help pupils learn better in subjects like maths and science. Testing an app The study was conducted with teachers from urban, rural and peri-urban schools in South Africa's economic hub, Gauteng, and the neighbouring North West province. More than 90 pupils were involved. The study was conducted over three years, and pupils' and teachers' experiences were evaluated several times. Each school was able to use an adaptive mobile learning app, called Mobile Thuto (that's the Setswana word for "learning"). The app provides text book resources, practice exercises, quizzes and teachers class notes for mathematics and science subjects for children in grades 10, 11 and 12. I developed the app in collaboration with teachers and subject heads, allowing them to tailor the content to their teaching plan so they could practice blended learning. This refers to the combination of technology and traditional lessons as part of the teaching and learning process. One of the app's key features was the ability to support code-switching the switch between two languages or more as a form of communication by bilingual or multilingual speakers. Code-switching can be used to enable a better understanding of concepts, especially where pupils have not been able to fully grasp the teaching language. For example, the app allows pupils to switch between English and Setswana content. Setswana and Sepedi were the most common home languages among the pupils we worked with. The results Once each phase of use of the app was finished, teachers were interviewed and, in a separate study, pupils were also asked about their experiences. Some of the teachers said they didn't feel confident using technology in their classrooms. They wanted to be trained to integrate technology into teaching and learning. Many reported that they thought of technology as an additional task rather than as something that could support their current work and resources. Despite this, the teachers we worked with were enthusiastic about the app and about the idea of working more with technology. They enjoyed helping their pupils to interact with the tasks set out by the app, and wove these tasks into their lessons. The teachers found it useful that the app was available in more than one language. This helped pupils who struggled with English. In the second study, pupils said they valued being able to learn on the go through their mobile phones. They enjoyed having mobile phones integrated into classroom teaching and learning. Those in the urban school weren't overly concerned with having another language option; they spoke English competently and also said English had more social capital than other languages. Those in the rural and peri-urban schools, meanwhile, found it very helpful to be able to switch between Setswana and English to help them grasp tricky concepts. Where to next My findings reflect the need for both ongoing support and training for teacher technology education in schools. This will help them and their pupils to really benefit from technology in this digital era. It's also a valuable way to equip pupils with basic computer literacy and the confidence to effectively use online and offline technology resources to learn. And language must not be ignored as a crucial factor. If technology is to have a positive effect, inclusion is key. By offering pupils educational technology in their own languages, you're also providing good context and boosting their learning. Now that the research project is complete, I am developing material for a Massive Open Online Course for teachers. This will guide them through embedding open education technology in their lessons. Explore further Six ways that tablets really can transform teaching This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The trial will be one of many to be conducted at the University of Southampton's Centre for Cancer Immunology, which is the UK's first and only center dedicated to cancer immunology research. Credit: University of Southampton The study, involving doctors and cancer scientists in Southampton, America and Germany, will boost the body's immune system to kill off neuroblastoma, one of the most common childhood cancers. The Phase 1 trial is funded by UK charities Solving Kids' Cancer (Europe), JACK and US charities Solving Kids' Cancer and Band of Parents. It will be one of many to be conducted at the University of Southampton's Centre for Cancer Immunology, which is the UK's first and only centre dedicated to cancer immunology research. The centre recently opened at University Hospital Southampton, thanks to the University's 25m fundraising campaign. Neuroblastoma affects around 100 childrenmostly under the age of fivein the UK every year and develops from immature nerve cells. It usually starts as a tumour in the abdomen or chest, however, in many children, it spreads to other places in the body such as the bones and bone marrow. In those cases, less than half of patients are cured despite intensive treatment which includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and stem cell transplants. More recently, a form of immunotherapy known as anti-GD2, which uses antibodies to lock onto cancer cells so the immune system can find, fight and destroy them, has shown the potential to improve survival rates. This new study, led by Dr. Juliet Gray, Associate Professor of Paediatric Oncology at the University of Southampton, involves combining mIBG, a special form of targeted radiotherapy which delivers radioactive iodine directly to neuroblastoma cells, with two different antibody therapies for the first time. One of these therapies, Nivolumab, has shown exciting results in adult cancers. It blocks a harmful protein called PD-1 and gives patients' own immune cells a boost so that they can be set free to kill tumour cells. The researchers will give Nivolumab alongside the currently-used anti-GD2 to target specific cancer cells while protecting normal healthy cells. The trial will be run from four centresthe University of Southampton's Centre for Cancer Immunology, UCH, Madison Children's Hospital, Wisconsin, and the University of Greifswald, Germany. It is also the first trial to be sponsored by University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust. "Immunotherapy with anti-GD2 has been shown to increase the number of children with neuroblastoma who stay in remission and has become a standard component of treatmentbut sadly a large number of children still relapse and die from their disease," explained University of Southampton's Dr. Gray who is also a consultant paediatric oncologist at Southampton Children's Hospital. "Work in the laboratory has shown that combining these types of antibodies with radiotherapy is potentially a very powerful way of eradicating neuroblastoma tumours and these three different therapies appear to work together to generate strong, protective immunity to the tumour." She added: "This trans-Atlantic trial will be the first time they have been tested together and we are hopeful the combination of treatments will substantially improve the cure rate of children with this form of cancer." Stephen Richards, CEO of Solving Kids' Cancer (Europe), said: "Cutting-edge clinical trials offer real hope for children with high-risk neuroblastoma and their families. The numbers of children affected are small, so funding collaborative international research is the only way we will improve survival rates and find a cure for this devastating disease." The researchers plan to give an initial course of mIBG-targeted radiotherapy followed by Nivolumab and anti-GD2 over a period of six months. Although the initial stages of the treatment process will require children to be in hospital, it is hoped that the therapy will be well tolerated and will eventually be delivered largely on an outpatient basis. The trial's objective is to ensure the combination is safe to deliver to children with neuroblastoma in order to develop further studies to compare it with current treatments. Provided by University of Southampton 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. A second new abortion clinic opened in Illinois this year - while they're closing in surrounding states - and drew the attention of the Illinois Right to Life. As reported last week in Illinois Review, Carafem Clinics advertise performing abortions, saying "There's no shame in it." A spokesperson for the Carafem Clinic located in Skokie Illinois told the Chicago Tribune that Carafem set up their third clinic nationwide in the Chicago area because Illinois has relaxed abortion laws, possibly drawing expectant mothers seeking abortions from other states. This is just one more indicator that the legal situation in our state is dire, said Mary Kate Knorr, executive director for Illinois Right to Life. This is the second clinic to open [in Illinois] this year alone, following Governor Bruce Rauners historic betrayal of pro-lifers in signing HB 40. Illinois lax abortion laws have made it the abortion oasis of the Midwest and created an environment where clinics like this can thrive and literally capitalize on women from other states. Sam McCann - a downstate senator wearing a red NRA cap during the interview - argued that Chicago politicians shouldn't run the state. McCann also has received rave reviews, endorsements and recommendations from what establishment Republicans scorn as "one-issue voters" : Illinois Family Action PAC, Illinois Federation for Right to Life PAC and the Lake County Life PAC: CHICAGO - Last week, Conservative Party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann and Libertarian Party candidate Kash Jackson spoke with Fox 32's Mike Flannery about why Illinois voters should vote for them in the November 6th election. He's visiting churches like Faith Center in Rockford Illinois - reaching out to evangelical voters: And McCann is running ads daily on Fox News cable network in the Chicago markets. How is the campaign funded? Except for one donor writing a $1000 check, McCann's ads and his efforts are completely funded by PACs affiliated with Local 150 Operating Engineers or the Fight Back Fund - a "corporation" formed by Local 150's officers. The Fight Back for a Better Tomorrow is listed as a corporation by McCann - and as a corporation, there's no public accountability for who their donors are. Political Action Committees must reveal their donors. Still, with the way Governor Rauner completely ignored and dismissed social issue conservatives during his first term, frustrated voters that would normally vote Republican are looking at an alternative like McCann for governor. And that's exactly what Democrats want to happen - and why perhaps, the donations to McCann's campaign is coming from a corporation that doesn't have to list where the money is coming from. Illinois Review has requested on several occasions opportunities to interview Mr. McCann, but he has not found the time or desire to do so. He has, however, had time to do interviews with the National Public Radio, Fox 32 and other local news outlets. We encourage you to seek more information online. Ad Investing Trends New this week - 318 interested How This Rare Metal Is Going To Solve A $173 TRILLION World Problem And Could Benefit Investors According to Bloomberg NEF, changing the world to "All Green Energy" could cost about $173 trillion. And without this rare metal, going green would be IMPOSSIBLE. That's why there's a literal "gold rush" to find it. (HINT: It's not electric vehicles, nuclear power, or wind energy). By Kate Youde Look beyond the hustle and bustle of South Americas largest city and you will find impressive cuisine and culture. Peoples of the world The estimated 22m people who call Sao Paulo home are a diverse community. Following the arrival of Japanese immigrants to work in Sao Paulo states coffee plantations more than a century ago, the citys population includes about 400,000 Japanese descendants. The worlds largest Japanese community outside Japan can be found in the Liberdade neighbourhood, while it has been suggested that 3m inhabitants of the greater Sao Paulo area have Italian family names. The citys 22m population is an ethnically diverse one After Tokyo, New Delhi and Shanghai, Sao Paulo is the worlds fourth most populous city, according to the UN, and it claims to host the worlds largest annual pride parade. Global gastronomy The megacitys ethnic diversity is reflected in a vibrant gastronomic scene, serving up food from around the globe. Diners can savour local flavours at D.O.M., which has two Michelin stars; the city has 13 other restaurants with at least one star. Chef Alex Atala promotes local ingredients such as priprioca, a root from the Amazon region, in his contemporary cuisine. D.O.M. ranks 30th on the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2018 list, while A Casa do Porco, known for its pork, and one Michelin-starred Mani make it into the top 100. D.O.M. chef Alex Atala, right, samples ingredients at the market Calling the cultural tune Sampa, as the city is nicknamed, is widely regarded as Brazils cultural capital. It has more than 100 museums, including Sao Paulo Museum of Art, which holds the most important collection of European art in Latin America, not to mention 300 cinemas and an annual international film festival. Marin Alsop, one of the worlds leading conductors, is music director of the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Sao Paulo Museum of Art, right, on Avenida Paulista National financial hub Brazils largest city is also its financial centre. The business hub of Sao Paulo state, which accounts for about a third of Brazils GDP, is the base of the countrys stock exchange, bank headquarters and many multinationals. Homebuyers can get more property for their buck in Sao Paulo than Rio de Janeiro, which has Brazils most expensive residential prices. In June, property in Sao Paulo had an average listing price of R$8,774 ($2,200) per square metre compared with R$9,556 in Rio. Sampa is home to 22 billionaires, putting it 16th on Forbes list of cities with the most billionaires ahead of Los Angeles. The Brazilian city is the only South American entry in the top 20. Rooftop to rooftop service Those billionaires might have their own helicopters but other paulistanos, as locals are known, can beat the citys notorious traffic jams by using on-demand helicopter-booking platform Voom, part of Airbus Helicopters. The service, which connects passengers with licensed operators, chose Sao Paulo as its launch city last year, before expanding into Mexico City earlier this year. Voom chose Sao Paulo to launch its helicopter on-demand service last year Photographs: Getty Images/iStockphoto; AFP/Getty Images Baccardax, a former bond salesman who spent 8 years on the trading floor in Toronto and London, has worked in and around the global financial markets for more than 25 years, covering companies from birth in the bond markets to death in the bankruptcy courts -- and all points in between. Following television stints with CNBC Europe in London, where he served as on-air Economics editor co-anchor of the Closing Bell program, Baccardax was named London Bureau Chief in October 2016. My next blog post will be a new addition to the RPG Lexicon series, entitled "Porn Logic," which, regrettably, has almost nothing... Providence, Rhode Island - After a recent multiagency intellectual property rights investigation resulted in federal convictions of two Rhode Island men on counterfeit goods trafficking charges and the seizure of more than $500,000 worth of counterfeit goods, special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Providence went on to coordinate an extraordinary effort that brought about the donation of half of the seized items to a non-governmental organization for use in humanitarian relief efforts. The leaders of the counterfeit scheme, Stephen Russell and Robert Brown, both of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, were convicted in February and March of this year of trafficking in counterfeit goods charges in Rhode Island federal court; final sentencing in the case is set for January 2019. Following the culmination of the investigation that shut down the counterfeit enterprise and ended in the successful prosecution of its leaders, HSI Providence Resident Agent in Charge Brendan Cullen his HSI personnel spearheaded an extraordinary effort to allow for the re-purposing and donation of half of the seized items to World Vision, an internationally-recognized humanitarian relief organization that brings aid and comfort to thousands of people in dire need worldwide. Working closely with ICEs Intellectual Property Rights Center, U.S. Customs and Border Protections Fines Penalties & Forfeitures division, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and with private sector partners, Cullen and his team worked tirelessly to ensure all required steps were done to allow for the transfer. After the removal of all counterfeit labels, Cullen and the team worked to help get approval from trademark holders, to have all items tested for non-flammability, and then arranged for delivery to World Vision liaisons, who expressed deep gratitude for the gifted items. This really was a win-win case said Cullen. Not only did the HSI and our local counterparts break this criminal counterfeit scheme, but we were able, with the hard work of our great partners and World Vision, to turn the spoils of this criminal enterprise into something that will bring a little light into the lives of people in need. In all, more than 1,500 clothing and footwear items out of approximately 3,000 items seized in the investigation were donated to the international humanitarian relief and development non-governmental organization. Yep, you read that headline correctly. Acclaimed Malaysian-born, Philippines-based director Bradley Liew (Singing In Graveyards) is gearing up his sophomore feature, Motel Acacia, and it involves a bed with a taste for blood. cue an assortment of bad night sleep jokes here, but before dismissing this as a cult oddity it's worth noting the caliber of cast here, which already includes Borgman's Jan Bijvoet and Only God Forgives' Vithaya Pansringarm. So it'll be odd, yeah, but also very, very well acted. Check out the full announcement below. Black Sheep (Philippines), Mandarin Vision (Taiwan), White Light Post (Thailand), Studio Virc (Slovenia), Nukleus Films (Croatia) and Tier Pictures (Singapore) board Bradley Liews second feature: Motel Acacia, produced by Epicmedia (Philippines) and Potocol (Singapore). Motel Acacia is co-written by Bradley and film producer Bianca Balbuena who was awarded Asia Pacific Screen Awards FIAPF Achievement in Film and Asian Film Commissions AFCnet Producer of the Year. Black Sheep is the latest branch under ABS-CBN Film Productions ecosystem for bold and daring films with commercial viability. ABS-CBN Film Productions have produced the highest grossing films in the Philippines and also distributed Berlinale Silver Bear winner, Lav Diazs A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis). Motel Acacia has been developed under Jerusalem Film Lab with script doctor Clare Downs, EAVE Ties That Bind, Talents Tokyo, and has been presented at BiFans NAFF IT Project and the Berlinale Co-Production Market. It was also awarded the Talents Tokyo Next Masters development fund. Bradleys debut feature, Singing in Graveyards, premiered at the Venice Film Festival Critics Week 2016, travelled to over 30 festivals and won in film festivals in Malaysia and Kolkata. He was already writing Motel Acacia while shooting and releasing Singing In Graveyards. Set in a fictional snowy United States, the film is about a young Filipino man who is groomed by his tyrannical Caucasian Father to take over Motel Acacia which is tasked with exterminating immigrants by the government through a BED, haunted with the spirit of a Filipino tree demon, that eats men and impregnates women, Bradley says. The film boasts of an ensemble cast led by audience favorite JC Santos and critically acclaimed Angel Aquino from the Philippines. International cast include Belgian actor Jan Bijvoet (Borgman, Academy Award nominated Embrace of the Serpent and the BBC series Peaky Blinders), Malaysias Bront Palarae (Satans Slaves), Thailands Vithaya Pansringarm (Only God Forgives), US/Australias Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo & Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger) and US/Australias Will Jaymes (Beast). They are in the middle of casting the main antagonist. Incredibly exciting collaborating with international actors of such high caliber and seeing where they take their characters., Bradley says. They also have a powerhouse staff including Thai editor Lee Chatametikool (Apichatpong Weerasethakuls Uncle Boonmee, Cemetery of Splendour) and South African composer Chris Letcher. From the Philippines are co-editor Benjamin Tolentino (American Film Institute), cinematographer Larry Manda (Lav Diazs North The End of History, Berlinale Silver Bear A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery) and production designers Benjamin Padero and Carlo Tabije (Asian Film Awards nominees). Asked about what its like working with the team, he quips, What a riot! At the end of the day, its really just friends having fun! Ive always felt that we in Southeast Asia are still fighting to heal ourselves from the scars of colonialism. This film may be horror in genre, but the voice of this film is an attempt to challenge a younger generation to open their eyes and to see that there is something very wrong with the world. Bradley says. Motel Acacia is set to start principle photography at the end of November in Philippines and Slovenia. Group-IB: The online market for counterfeit goods in Russia has reached $1,5 billion, while the number of phishing attacks has surpassed 1,200 daily Group-IB, an international company that specialises in the prevention of cyber attacks, has estimated that online sales of counterfeit goods are now worth $1.5 billion. This information was first made public by experts from Group-IBs Brand Protection team at the CyberCrimeCon 2018 international cybersecurity conference. According to Group-IB, the online market for counterfeit goods in Russia has increased by 23% in a year and totaled more than $1.5 billion in 2017, compared to $1.2 billion in 2016. Fraudsters use their websites to sell household appliances and computer equipment, clothing and footwear, jewelry, accessories, cosmetics, medicinal products, and much more, often at hugely discounted prices up to 80% off. According to Group-IBs statistics, every fifth counterfeit product was bought online. On average, Russians spend $78 per year on counterfeit goods. For large organisations, the actions of online fraudsters mean not only a direct loss in revenue, but also damaged customer loyalty, brand abuse, and fewer shoppers, says Andrey Busargin, Director of Brand Protection at Group-IB. It also leads to a decrease in what we call the psychological price, i.e. the cost that customers are willing to pay for a product from the official retailer. Around 64% of users stop buying a companys goods after a negative experience. Counterfeit goods are not the only threat to popular brands on the Internet. Scammers create fake websites of known brands, fraudulent promotional campaigns, and fake accounts on social media. In recent years, an often-used fraud method has been fake mobile applications: 36% of users are unable to distinguish between genuine and fake apps, and 60% of the latter request access to the users personal data. Fraudsters use various ways to deceive users: phishing websites, fake mobile apps, accounts and groups on social media. Phishing remains one of the most common online fraud. According to the experts from Group-IB Brand Protection, around 1,270 phishing attacks are carried out daily. The main goals of phishing resources are stealing money from bank cards and obtaining login credentials to personal accounts. Scammers do not simply copy a companys website, brand, logos, and colors in addition to registering a similar domain name; they also use the same promotional methods as the legal resources. To secure the traffic they need, scammers ensure that their websites appear at the top of search engine results: 96% of users click on links found on the first page displayed by search engines. Only 35% of them are official resources, however. Contextual advertising also plays a role: for only $15, it is possible to buy 100 guaranteed visits to a phishing website. Scammers also buy banner ads, use search engine optimisation (SEO), and social media promotion (every day, around 150 social media users are deceived by fraudsters on average). In addition to technological ways of attracting traffic by using bots that target opinion leaders, scammers do not shy away from the classic tactic of mass email blasts purporting to be from popular brands, with 20% of users opening emails that contain content that is characteristic of malware or phishing. Given that users blindly trust influencers (68% of people choose goods or services based on feedback on social media), scammers create fake accounts. For example, a fake account in Pavel Durovs name brought in more than $50000 in only a couple of hours after being created. According to Group-IB, 43% of celebrities and 31% of politicians have fake accounts that use their names. Fighting online fraudsters and counterfeiting requires adopting serious countermeasures, warns AndreyBusargin. We advise companies to continuously track phishing resources and monitor references to their brand in domain name databases, search engine results, social media, messengers, and context ads so as to identify scammers hiding behind the companys brand. It is also important to monitor mobile applications, in both official and unofficial stores, in addition to forums, search engine results, social media, and websites where they might be found. To effectively fight against scammers and fraudsters, it is important to detect and block all the resources connected with a fraudulent website. Fraudsters usually create several phishing websites at once, which can be detected using correlation and website affiliation analysis. About the author Group-IB Group-IB is one the worlds leading providers of solutions aimed at detection and prevention of cyber attacks, fraud exposure and protection of intellectual property on the Internet. GIB Threat Intelligence cyber threats data collection system has been named one of the best in class by Gartner, Forrester, and IDC. Group-IBs technological leadership is built on companys fifteen years of hands-on experience in cybercrime investigations all over the world and 55 000 hours of cyber security incident response accumulated in the largest forensic laboratory in Eastern Europe and a round-the-clock centre providing a rapid response to cyber incidentsCERT-GIB. Group-IB is a partner of INTERPOL, Europol, and a cybersecurity solutions provider, recommended by SWIFT and OSCE. Pierluigi Paganini ( Security Affairs counterfeit goods, cybercrime) Share this... Linkedin Share this: Twitter Print LinkedIn Facebook More Tumblr Pocket Share On StarHub CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos. (Photo courtesy StarHub) By Livia Yap and Joyce Koh StarHub Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Peter Kaliaropoulos said the company, Singapores No. 2 telephone carrier, is looking to pare costs even further by sharing infrastructure after announcing he would trim the companys workforce by about 12 percent. The city-states No. 2 telecommunications company may reach a commercial agreement on network sharing in 2019 or earlier, Kaliaropoulos, who joined as chief executive officer in July, said in an Oct. 11 interview. Financial benefits could be seen by the end of next year, he said. Were talking to a lot of people, Kaliaropoulos said. When an industry hits maturity, you need to start sharing facilities. The company and smaller competitor M1 Ltd. said in January last year that they would study further collaboration in mobile infrastructure sharing that could lead to lower spending. Kaliaropoulos, who took over as CEO in July, announced 300 job cuts earlier this month as part of a broader plan to save S$210 million ($152 million) over three years from 2019. Once an upstart third entrant itself, StarHub is seeing mobile subscribers dwindle amid price competition ahead of the entrance of a fourth player, TPG Telecom Ltd. At the same time, StarHubs model of offering users access to films, television and broadband services, is being challenged by streaming powerhouses like Netflix Inc. StarHub needs to be a bit more lean, a bit more agile and channel more resources to growth areas such as its enterprise business, Kaliaropoulos said. The companys enterprise, or corporate services, business has been growing about 20 percent a year and will probably make up more than half of total revenue within two years, compared with 40 percent now, he said. Along with cutting costs and arresting the slide in subscribers, Kaliaropoulos must also win back support from investors, whove pushed the shares down 52 percent since July 2015, knocking S$3.6 billion off the companys market value. Story continues With more mobile phones than people, Singapores telecommunications market is just 0.4 percent the size of Chinas, which has only three carriers. Regulators in the island state have sought to introduce more competition to bring down phone bills and improve services. Four mobile carriers may be too many, said Kaliaropoulos, who said it may be difficult for the smallest to survive. Kaliaropoulos, who built a reputation as a turnaround executive by leading mobile operator Zain Saudi Arabia to its first quarterly profit since the company was founded in 2008, said StarHub could begin to look for growth only after stabilizing its position in Singapore as the No. 2 provider. The next couple of years is to focus predominantly in Singapore, and be a very strong, clear challenger, a clear No. 2, and once we weather the storm, we do look at other opportunities, he said. 2018 Bloomberg L.P The Himalayan nation of Bhutan, often described as a "Shangri-La" where happiness is equated to wealth, is holding elections this week. But the Lhotshampa people, brutally driven out of the small kingdom in the 1990s, won't be voting. The Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa were branded as immigrants and stripped of citizenship rights when the then-king introduced a "One Nation, One People" policy in 1985. The edict made following the customs of the Buddhist majority mandatory, including wearing their traditional dress, and speaking Nepali was banned. Those who resisted where labelled "anti-nationals", arrested and subjected to brutal treatment including rape and torture, according to Amnesty International. The security forces made detainees sign declarations saying they would leave Bhutan voluntarily as a condition of their release. Some 100,000 -- one sixth of Bhutan's population -- fled, ending up in refugee camps in eastern Nepal. One man who left Bhutan is Bhumpa Rai, who was serving as a royal doctor when the king's edict was promulgated. "They humiliated us... they said that we are not Bhutanese and chased me and my people from the country," Rai told AFP. The king offered him protection from the Draconian rules, introduced under the pretext of promoting "national harmony". But the doctor decided to join his fellow Lhotshampa and left Bhutan, becoming a refugee in Nepal. "They treated people of Nepali origin like enemies. I cannot respect them any more, though I admit that I used to clean their wounds. I was their doctor," the 68-year-old said. Rai is one of just 7,000 people who remain in the camps in Nepal. The majority have been resettled by the United Nations in third countries including the United States, Australia and Norway. But the UN programme ended in late 2016 with those remaining refusing resettlement because they say it absolves the Bhutanese authorities of what they did to the Lhotshampa. - 'Not happy' - Switzerland-sized Bhutan -- sandwiched between regional giants China and India -- has long resisted outside influences, with televisions only allowed in 1999. Its fight against Westernisation is often seen as a source of its mystic draw, along with its pursuit of "gross national happiness" -- made official policy in 1998 -- over economic gains. It only swapped absolute monarchy for constitutional monarchy in 2008 and the current elections, due to wrap up on Thursday, are the country's third. Bhutan still describes the Lhotshampa as immigrants, justifying its nationalistic laws as essential for cultural identity and political stability, according to Freedom House, a think tank. The refugees in Nepal do not expect the elections to bring any change. "The election results in Bhutan will reflect what the monarchy wants. Its decision won't come in our favour," said 80-year-old Durga Prasad Sharma -- an outspoken pronouncement that would be unheard of inside Bhutan where self-censorship is rife and the monarchy still revered. Sharma fled Bhutan in 1994 with a bounty on his head after he joined a political party demanding rights for the Lhotshampa. Such political parties are now banned under the constitution, which states that all parties have to promote national unity and are barred from using ethnicity or religion to attract voters. Parties also have to field candidates in all 47 constituencies. The rules have created a monolithic political environment leaving little room for minority rights, effectively disenfranchising the Lhotshampa who remain in Bhutan from the electoral process. It is unclear how many of the community are still in Bhutan: a 2017 census did not include questions about ethnicity, language or religion, which would have given an indication of how many people identify as part of Nepali-speaking, mostly Hindu minority. The government has prevented human rights groups established by Nepali-speakers from operating, categorising them as political organisations that do not promote national unity, according to the US State Department. In the lead up to the 2008 and 2013 polls there were reports of small protests by Nepali-speakers unable to vote, and during the 2013 elections international monitors also documented Nepali-speakers being turned away from polling centres. "We are also Bhutanese and we are not happy," said 54-year-old Rajman Gurung. "Lhotshampas in Bhutan are unhappy. We will be happy only if we are repatriated to our country and given equal status." A popular Chinese live-streamer has been sentenced to five days detention for "insulting" China's national anthem by waving her arms and mimicking a conductor as she sung the song during a broadcast to millions of her followers. The woman, Yang Kaili, was detained by authorities in Shanghai Saturday for violating a national anthem law that was enacted last year. In a broadcast on the Huya live-stream website on October 7, Yang, 21, appeared wearing an antler-shaped headband and hummed a ceremonial song in combination with some of the words of "The March of the Volunteers", while waving her arms and mimicking a conductor. Huya subsequently blocked Yang's live-stream channel, froze her account and removed her videos. Yang's husky voice became popular on another live-stream platform, TikTok, and in August she was invited to perform by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. "The national anthem is solemn and should not be sung in a live-stream room," Yang wrote in an apology and self-criticism to her 1.1 million followers on Twitter-like platform Weibo. "I will stop all live-stream work, perform self-rectification, draw lessons from the bitter experience, deeply reflect and fully accept education on ideological politics and patriotism." In September last year, the National People's Congress passed a law against mocking the national anthem, with a punishment of up to 15 days in jail. The NPC changed the criminal law in November to allow those who disrespected the anthem to be jailed for up to three years. President Xi Jinping, considered Communist China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, has stepped up the promotion of patriotism in the world's most populous country. ETX Daily Up It will have escaped no one's notice that we are spending more and more time with headphones in or on our ears. While this listening time was previously associated with music, the rise of podcasts and audiobooks is shaking up our audio consumption habits. So much so that Americans are starting to abandon music streaming, according to a new study. Cuba has asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to cancel plans by the United States to launch a campaign at the United Nations on the plight of Cuban political prisoners. Cuban Ambassador Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo wrote a letter at the weekend to Guterres arguing that the event scheduled for Tuesday was in violation of UN rules about the use of its premises. The ambassador asked Guterres' office to "cancel the holding of the event," the Cuban mission to the United Nations said in a press release. UN officials will meet Cuban diplomats to discuss their concerns, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday. He noted that there are administrative rules for holding such events on UN premises and "that's the guidance the secretary-general will follow." "We will be in touch with them to answer those concerns," Dujarric said. The rules are vague and specify only that meetings and events held on UN premises must be "consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations" and be non-commercial. A US spokesman said the event entitled "Jailed for What?" will go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday to draw attention to the plight of an estimated 130 political prisoners held in Cuba. The meeting will be held at the UN's Economic and Social Council and the US representative to the council, Kelley Currie, will deliver remarks. The US move comes just weeks before the General Assembly is scheduled to hold its annual vote on ending the US embargo on Cuba, which last year was adopted by a vote of 191 to 2, with only the United States and Israel voting against. In 2016, the US abstained, marking in a major shift as the administration of former president Barack Obama worked to end decades of enmity with Havana. Ztore will explore developing cross-border e-commerce in the next two years to bring local brands to markets in the APAC region Ztore.com, an online shopping platform based in Hong Kong, has announced that it has raised US$8 million (over HK$ 62 million) in Series B funding led by Welight Capital, with participating from Kwai Hung Group. This round takes the companys total investment raised till date to over US$20 million. With the new funding, Ztore will hire and train more tech talent to develop in-house R&D that advances its warehouse and logistics management system for a more convenient and variety of delivery options for customers. In the near future, Ztore seeks to overcome the complex logistic challenges in Hong Kong and implement a streamlined delivery process. With the successful Series B financing, we will be able to advance our operating systems, develop new technologies to enhance the shopping platform, and launch new services. At the same time, we strive to lower our logistics costs and pass those savings along to customers to ensure they reap the benefits of shopping at Ztore.com, Danny Shum, Co-founder and CEO of Ztore.com, said. Also Read: Pro pitch deck rips for beginners Founded in 2015, Ztore.com features over 1,000 products from local brands that are made in Hong Kong. It aims to grow with fellow businesses in the city by empowering local brands and SMEs. There are currently over 330,000 SMEs in Hong Kong, accounting for 98 per cent of total number of registered enterprises, many of which are micro-enterprises including family-run businesses, while some only produce and sell a small amount of high quality products. Ztore also offers Neigbuy, a new community collective-buying business model with an aim to serve more people in Hong Kong. Residents form a small community network with neighbours living in residential blocks nearby can order from a selection of products, ranging from fresh produce and groceries, specially curated for each community by Neigbuy Team every day. Story continues While laser-focused on the local market, Ztore will continue to explore overseas and aims to develop cross-border e-commerce in the next two years, bringing local brands to markets in the APAC region. The firm has previously raised funding from S.F. Express and Vectr Ventures. Free Wu Xiaoguang, Co-founder of Welight Capital (former Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent), said: Ztore has a great business idea and operation model that not only is growing rapidly, but it is also leading the growth of the whole retail industry in Hong Kong. We are a true believer in the team who delivers a better living to Hongkongers. We are very positive about the prospects of Hong Kong e-commerce, and are delighted to support Hong Kong startups with great potential such as Ztore. Despite Hong Kong lagging behind in e-commerce with e-commerce absolute numbers accounting for just 4.7 per cent of total sales, significantly lower than 14.6 per cent in APAC, revenue is expected to show annual growth of 8.6 per cent from 2018 to 2022. The post Hong Kongs e-commerce company Ztore raises US$8M Series B funding appeared first on e27. By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea agreed on Monday to begin reconnecting rail and road links, another step in an improving relationship that has raised U.S. concern about the possible undermining of its bid to press the North to give up its nuclear programme. The agreement on transport links came during talks in the border village of Panmunjom aimed at following up on the third summit this year between South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, last month. "The South and North reached the agreement after sincerely discussing action plans to develop inter-Korean relations to a new, higher stage," said a joint statement released by the South's Unification Ministry. They agreed to hold ceremonies in late November or early December to inaugurate work on reconnecting the railways and roads that have been cut since the 1950-53 Korean War. The two sides will carry out joint field studies on the transport plans from late this month, according to the statement. They also agreed to discuss late this month a plan to pursue a bid to co-host the 2032 Olympic Games, and to explore in November ways to restart webcam reunions and video exchanges for families separated by the Korean War. Military officials from both sides are to meet "in the near future" to craft follow-on steps to a military pact struck at last month's summit. The accord includes the reinstatement of a joint military commission, the halting of military exercises, a no-fly zone near their border and the gradual removal of landmines and guard posts within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). Meetings will also be held on reforestation on Oct. 22, and on health and disease prevention in late October at a joint liaison office opened last month in the North's border city of Kaesong. The talks were led by the South's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North's committee for peaceful reunification that handles cross-border affairs. Story continues "We are at a very critical moment for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the advancement of inter-Korean relations, and there's also a second North Korea-U.S. summit coming up," Cho told reporters before leaving for Panmunjom. In June Kim met U.S. President Donald Trump in an unprecedented summit in Singapore and the two sides are arranging a second meeting, which Trump said was likely after U.S. congressional elections on Nov. 6. Despite the meeting between Kim and Trump, Washington is still pursuing a policy of "maximum pressure" to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles that Pyongyang says can hit the continental United States. 'PROBLEMS SHOULD BE FIXED' The thaw in ties between the neighbours has sparked U.S. concerns that it may be outpacing negotiations to dismantle the North's nuclear and missile programmes. In August, a joint inspection plan for the rail project was scrapped after the United Nations Command (UNC), which overlaps with U.S. forces in the South and oversees affairs in the DMZ, refused passage for a test train, military sources said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed "discontent" over the inter-Korean military agreement, South Korea's foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said last week. Kang's remarks amounted to a rare confirmation of discord between Seoul and Washington, though the allies have said they remain in lockstep on North Korea. In final remarks on Monday, the North struck a sour note, with Ri blaming Seoul for hurdles in implementing their pacts. "If we look back at the projects we have been carrying out so far, there are problems that should be fixed, and the South side knows better," Ri said, without elaborating. Asked later about the remarks, Cho said there was no "special background" but attributed delays in the rail and road initiative and other cultural exchanges to "each other's circumstances". The rail and road initiative and the joint Olympics bid were agreed by Moon and Kim at their latest summit, in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Moon also said the North would permanently abolish key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts. Trump said on Wednesday South Korea would not lift sanctions on North Korea without U.S. approval. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Joint Press Corps; Editing by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez) Reuters Overall India's monetary and credit conditions stay conducive for a durable economic recovery to take root, the Reserve Bank of India said in its monthly bulletin released on Monday. "Mobility is rapidly improving, the job market is recouping and overall economic activity is on the cusp of a strengthening revival," the RBI said in its chapter highlighting the state of the economy. The RBI said the global economic outlook remains shrouded in uncertainty with headwinds from multiple fronts at a time when many economies are struggling with nascent recoveries. "Polis Evo 2" will also be screened in Indonesia Since the first movie was well-received in Indonesia, the sequel will also be shown there Producer Dato' Khairul Anwar with the director and cast of "Polis Evo 2". 15 Oct "Polis Evo 2", the most anticipated movie of the year, is set to open in cinemas nationwide next month. What's more, the Astro Shaw, Surya Citra Media and BlackFlag-produced movie will also be released in neighbouring country, Indonesia. "After the success of the first movie in 2015, our neighbouring countries have been taking note of it and through "Polis Evo 2", for the first time ever a movie we produced will be shown in Indonesia. "The exact date for the release has not been confirmed but it will screen there in December," said Dato' Khairul Anwar Salleh, Vice President of Malay Language Business ASTRO, during the launch of "Polis Evo 2's" teaser poster at Gasket Alley, Petaling Jaya, recently. Shaheizy Sam and Zizan Razak partner up again for a more action-packed sequel. He added that following the success of "Hantu Kak Limah", another Astro Shaw-produced movie, his team would like to strengthen the momentum of audiences' faith in local movies by producing quality works that suit the audiences' taste. Helmed by young directors Joel Soh and Andre Chiew, "Polis Evo 2" will be the final Astro Shaw movie for the year. The movie will see lead actors Shaheizy Sam and Zizan Razak returning to reprise their roles as Inspector Khai and Inspector Sani. This time they will be facing a bigger challenge, when a group of terrorists take over a village, holding the villagers hostage. The sequel will feature a cast made up of talents from three countries: Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Aside from Sam and Zizan, other Malaysian cast members include Hairul Azreen, Syafie Naswip, Erra Fazira, Soffi Jikan, Dennis Yin, Hairue Othman and Rusdi Ramli. Hasnul Rahmat, Jeff Catz and Fir Rahman are the Singaporean actors involved while the Indonesian cast includes Raline Shah, Mike Lucock and Tanta Ginting. "Polis Evo 2" is hitting the big screens nationwide this 22 November. Right lets just settle what must currently be the internets dumbest debate: Who owns the Petronas Twin Towers? After playing a Samsung event in Kuala Lumpurs W Hotel, DJ Soda, whose real name is So Hee Hwang, did a few tourist activities in an around the city, including visiting Batu Caves, playing with monkeys, thanking our kind police officers, and of course, a token snap in front of the citys iconic Twin Towers. Look! She posted not one, but two photos, one stating the city she was in, and another claiming she bought a couple of inexpensive fish-eye lenses to take the pics. Seems fairly straightforward; however, one pic in particular of DJ Soda wearing a traditional, yellow baju kebaya has sparked a maelstrom of comments claiming that both the outfit, and subsequently the buildings, belonged to Indonesia. Ok, lets sort this out once and for all, shall we? While the kebaya certainly originated centuries ago in Indonesia, where it is the national dress, its also popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, southern Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. Story continues Lets take this into another context fashion history time: mercenary edition. Croatian soldiers serving in the French army popularized the cravat in the 16th century, and like many mens fashions of the day, trends trickled down from the military, to royal courts and beyond. Kings and nobles starting wearing them, and they would continue to be popular for centuries, eventually morphing into modern-day neckties. Sure, Croatia can technically lay claim to the cravat, and they even have a Cravat Day (Oct. 18), but a lot of people also wear variants around the world and they arent necessarily in Croatia anymore, nor are they Croatian. You vibe, netizens? Learn something new, at least? Next point. OK! Looking out the window, sitting in an office in Kuala Lumur, we can just about make out the Twin Towers through the cloudy skies. They are definitely in Malaysia, in KLCC and currently owned by KLCC Property Holdings. Cool. Sorted? On to the next one! The post South Korean DJ Soda posts Insta pic, sparks ridiculous online debate appeared first on Coconuts. A senior Hong Kong official has been accused of exercising privileges by passing through the immigration checkpoint at West Kowloon station without travel documents, but the government denied he had received any special treatment. Roy Tang Yun-kwong, permanent secretary at the citys Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, bypassed the normal entry and exit procedures when taking a train back to Hong Kong with other senior officials on the day the terminus opened for the citys new high-speed rail line to mainland China. The bureau admitted Tang had lost both his Hong Kong identity card and home return permit on September 22 during the railways opening ceremony. The home return permit is the document required by Hongkongers to enter and exit mainland China. Tang, 55, alongside Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and other guests, took a new express train to Guangzhou and returned via the railway. He lost his documents on the return trip and was only able to produce his guest pass for the ceremony and train ticket, which bore his name. He was allowed through by mainland Chinese immigration officers, before Hong Kong staff conducted an identity check, the bureau said. No one asked for special treatment, a bureau spokesman said. The lost documents were found the next day after the launch activities had wrapped up, and were returned to the official. Tang, a civil servant since 1987, was commissioner of customs and excise from 2015 to last year. Before that he was director of broadcasting between 2011 and 2015. He now works under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip Tak-kuen. Attending a meeting at Hong Kongs legislature on Monday, Tang admitted he had been careless. Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan said the incident raised concerns over the so-called co-location arrangement, under which both mainland Chinese and local immigration checks are under one roof at the downtown Hong Kong station. Story continues Turns out you dont need to go through the security checks, you just need to point at your face, Chan said. Tang should give a full explanation, she added. As a person in public office, Tang should have gone through the normal process and not invoked any special powers. Pro-establishment lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said officials had to be whiter than white. When it comes to matters unrelated to his duties, he should have even fewer privileges than a normal citizen, Tien said. But former security minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said the flexible treatment was not unusual. Some Hong Kong delegates to the National Peoples Congress rushing to the mainland to attend meetings might forget their home return permits, Ip said, referring to gatherings of Chinas national legislature. The New Peoples Party chairwoman said security officers only had to check a passengers identity and consider whether letting him or her through would pose a security risk. On its website, the Hong Kong government said residents who had lost their travel documents in mainland China should report the matter to public security authorities and apply for an Exit-Entry Permit for moving across the border. According to rules laid down by Hong Kongs railway operator, passengers unable to complete the entry process at West Kowloon are to be taken back to the mainland. Station staff shall assist the passenger to board the next available train back to the mainland station, with payment of the excess fare and handling charge to be handled on board the train during the return trip, the MTR Corporation stipulates. The MTR Corp said the express railway had not yet commenced public service on September 22. If guests had lost their belongings, we would handle the matter appropriately, a spokeswoman for the railway operator said. The Department of Public Security for Guangdong, the Chinese province bordering Hong Kong, could not be contacted. This article Special privileges row sparked after senior Hong Kong official passes West Kowloon immigration with no ID first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. A border crossing between Syria and Iraq is to re-open soon, Damascus and Baghdad's top diplomats said Monday, hours after other Syrian frontier posts reopened with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan. "We are now looking at the interest of the Syrian and Iraqi people in opening up the Albu Kamal crossing... as soon as possible," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said at a press conference in Damascus. Albu Kamal is the only one of three crossings on the Iraqi border in Syria's far east to be controlled by regime forces on the Syrian side. Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari added that the opening of the crossing, known as Al-Qaim in Iraq, was "imminent". After Syria's war broke out, rebels and then jihadists from Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate took over the Albu Kamal frontier post. In 2014, the Islamic State group seized control of the crossing as it swept across large parts of Syria and Iraq, declaring a so-called "caliphate" in areas it controlled. The two other border crossings between Syria and Iraq escape regime control. To the north, Yaarubiya, also known as Rabia on the Iraqi side, in the northeastern province of Hasakeh is held by Kurdish forces. And to the south, Al-Tanaf, named Al-Waleed by the Iraqis, is held by the US-led coalition and rebel factions it supports. "For us, the border posts are not just geographical crossings, but also cultural, economic, political and even demographic," Jaafari said. "This is why efforts have been made and will continue to be made to open these border posts," he said. Iraq recently redeployed its forces on the border with Syria in a bid to stem the flow of weapons and IS fighters. Today, the jihadists have lost much of their territory to various offensives in both countries but still retain a presence in the desert near the frontier. Both countries have coordinated their efforts in fighting IS, and Iraqi planes have carried out air strikes against the jihadists in coordination with the Damascus authorities. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday lauded this cooperation. "Victories against terrorism in Syria and Iraq are shared victories," he said. The sole crossing point between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in Quneitra, as well as the key Nassib trade post with neighbouring Jordan, re-opened on Monday. After seven years of civil war, Syria's government has recaptured large parts of the country with Russian backing. But it still only controls around half of the 19 crossing points with its neighbours, including Lebanon and Turkey. By Khalil Ashawi and Tom Perry ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Brothers Abu Eliyas and Abu Yousef have fought at opposite ends of the insurgency against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. One is a member of a rebel group that was once backed by the CIA. The other is a jihadist in an internationally proscribed terrorist movement. Yet despite their ideological differences, they live under the same roof in rebel-held Idlib province and have fought on the same side against pro-Assad forces and Islamic State. "The important thing is we fight the same enemy," said Abu Eliyas, 40, a member of the Turkey-backed Failaq al-Sham group. "At home, we exchange military skills and information, and discuss the Syrian scene." Abu Yousef, 27, belongs to the jihadist Tahrir al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front. He believes the brothers' "points of agreement are greater than the points of division." "We are members of one religion, one country and one goal", he said. Their parallel journeys through the civil war that began in Syria in 2011 illustrate the complexities of sorting insurgents deemed "radical" from more moderate rebels. This is the task facing Turkey as it seeks to shore up a deal with Russia over Idlib, which is part of an arc of rebel-held territory at the Turkish border. The province is part of the opposition's last big foothold in Syria and is effectively -- at least for now -- in a zone of Turkish influence under the agreement reached last month. Russia expects Turkey to bring about a separation of insurgents, with "radical" rebels to leave a newly created demilitarised zone at the frontline with government forces by Monday. Turkey says the "moderates" can stay where they are. The Turkey-backed groups, gathered under the umbrella of the National Liberation Front (NLF), have said they will cooperate with Turkey's efforts, despite some misgivings. The tougher part for Turkey is bringing the jihadists into line, particularly foreign fighters estimated to number in the thousands. President Tayyip Erdogan has suggested Tahrir al-Sham is cooperating. Story continues In its first comment on the deal, Tahrir al-Sham said on Sunday it welcomed efforts to protect "the liberated area" from attack - an apparent nod of approval for Turkey's efforts. But it also warned against Russian "trickery", said it would not give up "jihad and fighting" to topple Assad and singled out foreign jihadists for praise, saying "we will not forget" them. BATTLING ASSAD'S FORCES The experiences of Abu Yousef and Abu Eliyas show that the line between the "radical" and "moderate" rebels is not always easily drawn. Abu Eliyas is a trained lawyer with seven children who was working as a government employee when the conflict began. He took part in the first protests against Assad in the brothers' home town of Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria. "They were unforgettable days. The feeling was very strange for us that we are in Syria and going out in protest against the regime and the Assad family," he said. Abu Eliyas took up arms with a Free Syrian Army group early in the war. After seizing the area, Islamic State militants destroyed his house in Deir al-Zor by rigging it with explosives and then blowing it up in what he described as an act of revenge. Abu Yousef, who is not married, was a student when the conflict began. He joined Nusra Front when it first emerged in Deir al-Zor, drawn by what he saw as the piety of its members, including foreigners. Both fought Islamic State when it attacked eastern Syria in 2014 and went north with their family when IS conquered the area. Once there, Abu Eliyas joined Failaq al-Sham, and cited its standing in Turkey as one of the attractions. Failaq al-Sham has ties to the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which mounted an uprising in the 1980s and is deemed a terrorist group by the government. Close to Turkey, Failaq al-Sham was also one of the recipients of aid channelled through a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency programme that was shut down by President Donald Trump. Tahrir al-Sham has clashed several times with other rebels in the northwest, and crushed a number of foreign-backed factions. The brothers have always stayed out of these troubles, though enmity runs deep between the jihadists and some Idlib rebels. Tensions in Idlib have eased of late. Rebels formed a joint "operations room" in anticipation of an offensive by Syrian government forces that had been expected until Turkey and Russia struck their agreement last month. Tahrir al-Sham, with which Abu Yousef fights, has widened contacts with other groups and been visiting their rivals, an official in a rival faction said. 'RUSSIAN TRAP' If it holds, the agreement between Turkey and Russia could stabilise the map of the Syrian conflict for some time to come. Though Assad is still vowing to take back the area, an Idlib campaign without Russian support is seen as out of the question. Writing in the Wall Street Journal last month, Erdogan said "moderate rebels" should be part of an "international counterterrorism operation" that would target "terrorist and extremist elements" and "bring to justice foreign fighters". Abu Yousef sees a conspiracy to weaken the rebellion by dividing opposition forces. "The Russian-Turkish agreement is a tactic to finish off what remains of the areas held by the revolution," he said. "We must depend on ourselves, and nobody else." Despite his faith in Turkey, Abu Eliyas is also worried. "Failaq al-Sham's relationship with Turkey secured many benefits for the region ... but we fear the Turks will fall into the Russian trap that aims to disarm Tahrir al-Sham," he said. (Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Daniel Wallis) Also, Chinas ZStore raises a Series B round and CROWDE gets seed funding in Indonesia ZStore raises US$8million Series B for R&D and hiring [e27] ZStore, a Hong Kong-based e-commerce company, announced today it has raised a US$8 million Series B round led by Welight Capital with participation from Kwai Hung Group. To date, the company has raised US$20 million. The money will be used to hire more tech talent, fund R&D and streamline its logistics services. ZStore wants to build a local-first commerce company and it has over 1,000 Made-in-Hong Kong products on its platform. Go-Jek launches fuel delivery service [Tech In Asia] The on-demand services of Go-Jek continue after the launch of Go-Pertamina, a service that will deliver fuel to consumers from nearby Pertamina stations. According to Tech In Asia, the service will be available between the 8am to 8pm hours in North and South Jakarta. The article also theorises that a core customer base for Go-Pertamina would be Go-Jek drivers themselves. China mobile payment app raises from Sequoia [China Money Network] Ksher, a Chinese company that facilitates cross-border travel-related transactions, has raised a US$10 million Series A from Sequoia Capital, according to China Money Network. The company targets overseas travel companies like hotels, advertising and air travel by providing them a one-stop platform to charge customers via VISA, MasterCard or WeChat Pay. A big client of Ksher is King Power (Thailand) and the startup allows people to buy King Power goods via WeChat. Hong Kong considering regulations on cryptocurrencies [South China Morning Post] Carlson Tong Ka-shing, the retiring Chairman of the the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, told the South China Morning Post the agency is looking at ways to regulate crypto exchanges operating in the city. Tong clarified that he was speaking of exchanges that traded securities. Defining how or whether a crypto should be defined as a security is an important discussion point in the industry. Story continues The Chairman said there is no intention of flat-banning exchanges, but the regulatory commission has issued many warnings warning investors about the risks of trading crypto. CROWDE nabs seed funding [e27] Indonesian agritech startup CROWDE today announced that it has raised an undisclosed seed funding round from Tokyo-based venture capital firm GREE Ventures. Crevisse Ventures also participated in the funding round. In a press statement, CROWDE CEO Yohanes Sugihtononugroho explained that the funding will be used to increase the number of farmers that the company aims to help by giving them capital boost. The post Todays top tech news, October 15: Sequoia invests in Ksher and Hong Kong mulling crypto regulations appeared first on e27. Some 2,500 UK and Hong Kong retail funds could become available for cross-border sale in the two markets after regulators signed an agreement last week to offer more choice to both communities of investors, according to British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) executive director Megan Butler. The agreement is seen as the latest UK move to prepare for its post Brexit era by establishing more global alliances to maintain its heavyweight status as a leading fund centre. Hong Kong has already signed similar agreements with the mainland, Malaysia, Switzerland and France. This is the first time the UK has signed such a cross-border fund sales agreement, Butler told South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview during her visit in Hong Kong last week for the 9th annual Pan Asian Regulatory Summit. Hong Kong is a natural choice as our first partner, as regulations and rules are so similar in the two markets. The agreement will boost the fund industries of both, and benefit investors by offering more choice, she said. The agreement covers around 2,500 retail funds investing in stocks, bonds, index funds and others. Funds must be already approved by Hong Kongs Securities and Finance Commission (SFC) and the UK equivalent, the FCA, for cross border sale in the two markets. Hong Kong funds could apply to the FCA to be sold in the UK via a simple procedure, while UK funds can also be sold in Hong Kong under approval by the SFC. China stock market rises most in 2 years as pension funds granted entry Butler said the agreement is the first of its type to be signed by the FCA, and approval process could be as quick as two months. A previous agreement made in 2015 allowed 50 mainland funds to be sold in Hong Kong, and 15 Hong Kong funds to be offered to mainland buyers. Hong Kong is a natural choice as our first partner, as regulations and rules are so similar in the two markets. The agreement will boost the fund industries of both Megan Butler, Financial Conduct Authority Story continues Butler, who is also the FCAs director of supervision investment, wholesale and specialist, said she was confident the UK-Hong Kong fund agreement will work well. Hong Kong has a lot of leading British financial firms with a strong presence in the city and they can help distribute the UK funds, she said. Currently UK-registered funds fall under the control of the Undertakings for the Collective Investment of Transferable Securities (UCITS) a European Commission regulatory framework covering the management and sale of mutual funds across the area. After Brexit, however, all UK funds will no longer be categorised as UCITS funds. Stewart Aldcroft, chairman of Cititrust Limited, says UK funds will find selling in Hong Kong tough. More than 1,200 Luxembourg- or Dublin-domiciled UCITS funds are currently offered for sale in Hong Kong. So any UK onshore funds sold through the new scheme will face a lot of competition, Aldcroft said. He believes smaller UK fund houses could, however, be interested in upping the ante in Hong Kong as a result, as will Hong Kong fund managers selling to Britain, such as Value Partners, BEA Union Investment Management, Zeal, Income Partners. UK private equity firm Actis targets sharp rise in Asian investors UK insurance companies, pension funds and some institutional investors may have some interest in Hong Kong-domiciled funds, he added, while suggesting the FCA could next target Japan, Australia, New Zealand in its efforts to form alliances. Expanding the mutual recognition of funds framework is consistent with our strategic goal of positioning Hong Kong as an international asset management centre, said Ashley Alder, the SFCs chief executive in a statement. Sally Wong, chief executive of Hong Kong Investment Funds Association, added that establishing distribution channels would be key to the success of the new UK-Hong Kong fund agreement. Distribution dynamics differ by market; you have to identify partners and be able to get onto the shelf space, she said. While no French or Swiss funds are yet to be sold under their cross border fund sales agreements already in place, Wong said some fund houses from both have shown interest in selling their products in Hong Kong. We have provided some input to the French fund association which is preparing a fact sheet for its members, Wong added. This article UK, Hong Kong regulators line up 2,500 funds for cross-border selling first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: The US weapons Taiwan wants to bolster its defences A senior official Pentagon officials comments last week that the United States is moving towards a more normal foreign military sales relationship with Taiwan could signal that the self-ruled island will be able to boost its defence capabilities with US military hardware. Randall Schriver, the assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, said the Trump administration would push for more arms sales to Taiwan, a move that would be bitterly opposed by the Chinese government. Beijing sees the self-ruled island as part of its own territory to be reunified, by force if necessary, and criticised the announcement last month that the US planned to sell US$330 million worth of arms to the island. China has stepped up diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan since the independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen took office two years ago, while Tsai in turn has promised to increase defence spending. In light of these developments, here are the three US items at the top of Taiwans shopping list. Submarine technology and weapons systems Taiwan has long-sought to purchase the necessary technology and parts to upgrade its ageing submarine fleet and build its own indigenous submarines. Despite Beijings protestations, Washington agreed in April to allow US defence contractors to help Taiwan build its own submarines. But Taipei will need help from other nations as well, since the US navy uses only nuclear-powered vessels compared with the diesel-electric ones that Taiwan wants. F-35 fighter The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engined, all-weather stealth multi-role fighter. It was designed to be Americas premier surface-to-air missile killer and is equipped with cutting-edge processing power, synthetic aperture radar integration techniques and advanced target recognition. Story continues In an interview with Taiwan media in March, Taiwans Defence Minister Yen Teh-fa said the F-35B matched the Republic of China Air Forces requirements for a short take-off and vertical landing fighter aircraft. Yen also said negotiations about the purchase had started and the island would make a request to the US after completing the evaluation of the procurement proposal. M1A2 Abrams tanks The American third-generation battle tank designed is a good fit to replace the islands ageing fleet. Currently most of the Taiwanese armys tanks are older American models such as the M60 and M48. The island has long discussed the need to buy M1A2 Abrams tanks, since many people raised concerns about the operational feasibility of using older and heavier models in the islands coastal wetlands and mountainous interior. After debating for over a decade, the Taiwanese government said on July 10 it wanted to buy 108 US-made M1A2 Abrams battle tanks, but it is unclear when the first batch will arrive in the island. This article The US weapons Taiwan wants to bolster its defences first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #41 Posted on 14 October 2018 by John Hartz Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Legal Matters... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Hurricanes like Michael show why we cant ignore climate change The deadly storm came just days after a report on global warming People walk through rubble after Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., on Saturday (Oct 13, 2018). (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) This past week was a grim one in climate history, by any measure. First, an international group of scientists released a long-anticipated report (IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C) detailing in excruciating detail the extra damages we can expect unless we slam our foot on the fossil fuel brakes right now. Then, just a few days later, record-breaking Hurricane Michael came barreling out of the Gulf of Mexico with a late-breaking intensification that transformed the Florida Panhandle into a landscape straight out of a horror movie. The fact that both events occurred within a few days of each other is pure coincidence, of course. But it does leave the feeling that Nature just put one or more planetary-scale exclamation marks on the main takeaway from the IPCC report: Act now to reduce emissions, or suffer the consequences! Hurricanes like Michael show why we cant ignore climate change, Perspective by Kim Cobb, Post Everything, Washington Post, Oct 14, 2018 ____________________ Note: For more details about the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C see: Links to additional article and opinion pieces about the IPCC's Special Report are included in the 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #41 posted on this site yesterday. Opinion of the Week... Climate is not just changing it is breaking down Danger and destruction of global warming must trigger real modification of behaviour Climate change or climate breakdown? Growth or wellbeing? Growth as development? Degrowth? Prosperity without growth? Climate capitalism or ecosocialism? It matters hugely how this weeks news from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is framed in public debate. The most authoritative scientists tell us that unless global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times, the world faces extreme weather events, food shortages, wildfires, dying coral reefs, droughts, floods and poverty for hundreds of millions. To avoid this outcome, the world economy needs a transformation of unprecedented speed and scale, involving far-reaching changes in society. We have only 12 years, they say, to achieve it by making huge strides towards eliminating greenhouse gases arising from fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. The report underlines the qualitative difference between the 1.5- and 2-degree reductions previously seen as less stark. The case for radical action is reinforced by its finding that on present trends we are heading for more than a 3-degree increase by 2100 catastrophic territory. Climate is not just changing it is breaking down, Opinion by Paul Gillespie, Irish Times, Oct 13, 2018 Legal Matters... Trump Administration Launches Third Legal Hail Mary to Halt Youth Climate Case The youth climate case Juliana v. United States has survived numerous Trump administration appeals to stop it from advancing to trial. Photo credit: Robin Loznak The Trump administration has filed another extraordinary appeal in its attempt to avoid a trial in the landmark youth-led climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States. The government filed its third writ of mandamus petition to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay district court proceedings pending the resolution of a separate petition it plans to file with the Supreme Court next week. The Ninth Circuit denied the first two requests for a writ of mandamusa rarely used and even more rarely approved judicial appeal that asks a higher court to overrule a lower one before the conclusion of a caseand the Supreme Court has already once denied a request by the federal government to halt discovery. A writ of mandamus is usually granted only under extraordinary circumstances and is considered a legal last resort. The Ninth Circuit said after the first two requests that the government has not shown it would be meaningfully burdened by discovery or a trial. The trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 29 at U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore. Julia Olson, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said there is nothing new in the governments latest petition. To suggest that our government suffers harm greater than its citizens by having to participate in a trial when its youngest citizens bring legitimate claims of constitutional harm before our Article III courts flies in the face of democratic principles, said Olson.; Trump Administration Launches Third Legal Hail Mary to Halt Youth Climate Case by Karen Savage, Climate Liability News, Oct 12, 2018 Toon of the Week Coming Soon on SkS... There's one key takeaway point from the latest IPCC report (Dana) (Dana) SkS Analogy 15 - Ice Tea and Temperature Rise (Evan) (Evan) Climate change and compassion fatigue (Kate) (Kate) 1.5 Degree Climate Limit: Small Number; Huge Consequences (Climate Adam) (Climate Adam) New research this week (Ari) (Ari) 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #42 (John Hartz) (John Hartz) 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Weekly Digest #42 (John Hartz) Climate Feedback Reviews... [To be added.] SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Theres one key takeaway from last weeks IPCC report Posted on 15 October 2018 by dana1981 The Paris climate agreement set a target of no more than 2C global warming above pre-industrial temperatures, but also an aspirational target of no more than 1.5C. Thats because many participating countries especially island nations particularly vulnerable to sea level rise felt that even 2C global warming is too dangerous. But there hadnt been a lot of research into the climate impacts at 1.5C vs. 2C, and so the UN asked the IPCC to publish a special report summarizing what it would take to achieve the 1.5C limit and what the consequences would be of missing it. The details in the report are worth understanding, but theres one simple critical takeaway point: we need to cut carbon pollution as much as possible, as fast as possible. Were about to burn through the 1.5C carbon budget Depending on how we define pre-industrial temperatures and how fast we keep consuming fossil fuels, well likely burn through the rest of the 1.5C carbon budget within the next 3 to 10 years. To stay below 1.5C, the IPCC therefore concludes the world must embark on a World War II-level effort to transition away from fossil fuels, and also start removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at large scales anywhere from 400bn to 1.6tn tons of it. Global carbon dioxide emissions to date, and potential pathways to stay within the remaining 1.5C global warming budget. Illustration: IPCC SR15 Realistically, this isnt going to happen. Were currently on track for more than 3C global warming by 2100. We can do better than that if countries ratchet down their carbon pledges and implement more aggressive climate policies, but with some nations moving in the wrong direction, like the US and potentially Brazil electing climate denier presidents, even staying below 2C is looking increasingly less likely. However, these are somewhat arbitrary targets. 1.5C is less dangerous than 2C, which is less dangerous than 2.5C, which is less dangerous than 3C, and so on. Any further warming from todays already-hot temperatures (1C warmer than pre-industrial) increases global risks, and staying below any of these temperature thresholds is going to require aggressive climate policies from countries around the world. The answer to the question what should aim for? is simple: cut carbon pollution as much as possible, as fast as possible. Until the world reaches zero carbon, the answer will always be the same. What happens when temperatures rise above 1.5C? Carbon Brief created an excellent interactive page detailing the differences in climate impacts between 1.5C and 2C, based on 70 peer-reviewed studies. Generally speaking, the IPCC report finds that Climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth are projected to increase with global warming of 1.5C and increase further with 2C. One of the biggest differences between 1.5C and 2C is the impact on coral reefs, which support about 25% of all known marine species. Coral reefs are very vulnerable to the combination of hotter and more acidic ocean waters resulting from carbon pollution. At 1.5C, the IPCC estimates that well lose about 80% of coral reefs. At 2C, virtually all coral reefs will be gone. Summers with no remaining Arctic sea ice are also ten times more likely at 2C than 1.5C (at least once per decade vs. once per century). What happens in the Arctic doesnt stay in the Arctic disappearing sea ice appears to be connected to the weakening jet stream, which in turn causes weather systems to get stuck in place for extended periods of time. This can lead to particularly intense heat waves, floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events. The volume of sea ice in the Arctic has already declined by about 70% over just the past 40 years. Click here to read the rest First things first: The 1969 moon landing actually did happen, despite the surprisingly long-lived conspiracy theory that the manned missions to the moon were fakes staged in Hollywood. However, the lunatics who believe otherwise are likely to feel bolstered by the meticulously recreated, entirely believable moon landing in Damien Chazelles First Man, the story of Neil Armstrongs journey to taking that giant leap for mankind. Like its hero, First Man, based on James R. Hansens Armstrong biography of the same name, is understated, emotionally remote, and ambitious. But does it share his dedication to scrupulously accurate information? Below, we break down whats fact and whats artistic license. The opening X-15 flight The film starts off with a literal bang as NASA test pilot Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) breaks through the sound barrier in a X-15 rocket plane. He takes the plane to the limits of the Earths upper atmosphere from where he can see the darkness of space. He tries to begin his descent, but its controls do not respond. Keeping his cool instead of turning into a gibbering wreck as some of us might, he calculates he can use the planes rocket thrusters to help it fall back down into the atmosphere, and the plan works. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Armstrong was indeed one of the 12 pilots who tested the X-15. In the dense air of the Earths atmosphere the plane used conventional controls, but in the thin air above the atmosphere, the pilot was essentially flying in a vacuum, relying on hydrogen peroxide rocket engines to control the hybrid craft. Armstrong made the decision to keep the nose of the plane up as he came down from his peak altitude in order to test the G-force limiter, which was the purpose of his mission. However, the limiter didnt kick in as he expected, and he was at first unable bring the nose of the plane down and descend. According to Michelle Evans, author of The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying the First Wings into Space, the incident was seen as arising from Armstrongs concentrating on his instruments instead of following the procedure designed by the flight planners. This might have led to his being dropped from the X-15 program if he hadnt been accepted by the Gemini program instead. The death of Armstrongs daughter The movie suggests the pivotal emotional incident of Armstrongs life was the death of his toddler daughter, Karen, known in the family as Muffie, who had brain cancer. He tried to deal with his fears by keeping detailed notes about her treatment during her illness and then going right back to work after her death, all the while displaying little emotion in public, grieving only when alone. Advertisement Advertisement Karen Armstrong was indeed diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. After radiation treatment proved to be more than Karen could take, the Armstrongs took her home where she died from pneumonia a few months after diagnosis at age 2 and a half. According to Hansen, the film does not exaggerate the extent of Armstrongs stiff upper lip. People who knew Armstrong well, he writes, indicated Neil never once brought up the subject of his daughters illness and death. In fact, several of his closest working associates stated they did not know Neil ever had a daughter. Advertisement Karen died on Jan. 28, 1962. Armstrong made test flights throughout her illness until Jan. 17, and he was back in the air on Feb. 6, a week after her funeral, taking no time off until May. Neil kind of used work as an excuse, Grace Walker, a family friend, told Hansen. He got as far away from the emotional thing as he could. I know he hurt terribly over Karen. That was just his way of dealing with it. Gemini VIII flight Advertisement Advertisement Selected to be the command pilot for the Gemini VIII mission, Armstrong supervises the experimental process of docking the Gemini space capsule with the separately launched Atlas-Agena rocket. The mission seems to be going well as the Gemini completes the complicated docking, but then the Agena goes into a spin, thrashing the capsule with it. At the same time, the crews radio contact with Mission Control goes out. Armstrong makes the decision to decouple, but the detached Gemini capsule starts rolling even faster, tumbling end-over-end as the crews vision starts to blur, and it looks like disaster looms. But as in the X-15 test flight, Armstrong keeps his cool as he hastily works out some calculations and fires the capsules nose thrusters to stabilize the craft. Back in radio contact, Mission Control tells the astronauts to complete one more orbit and then splash down. Advertisement Advertisement This is pretty much what happened. According to a NASA account of the mission, it was later confirmed that a thruster in the Geminis orbital attitude and maneuvering system (OAMS) had started firing erratically, probably due to a short circuit. Armstrongs quick thinking led him to turn off the OAMS system and instead use the thrusters of the capsules re-entry control system to regain control. As a result, for future missions, NASA added a master switch to Gemini spacecraft that enabled astronauts to turn off individual elements of a system not working properly. Apollo 1 fire Advertisement Advertisement As Armstrong attends a schmoozefest at the White House in January 1967, his fellow astronauts Gus Grissom (Shea Whigham), Roger Chaffee (Cory Michael Smith), and his good friend Ed White (Jason Clarke) strap into the command module of Apollo 1 as part of a launch rehearsal test for the initial mission of the spacecraft that will take man all the way to the moon.* Confined to their seats and in cumbersome spacesuits, the astronauts are less than pleased to learn that the simulation will be delayed by a couple hours due to problems with the communications system. As the crew makes small talk and gripe, a small electrical spark ignites a fireball in a matter of seconds while the astronauts frantically but futilely try to open the cockpit door. Advertisement Advertisement This depiction of one of the most traumatic events in the U.S. space programs history is accurate. A subsequent investigation found that the cabins pure oxygen atmosphere meant that even a small spark could create an inferno, one fed by flammable material like foam pads and nylon netting. The pressure inside the sealed cockpit also made the door impossible to open, especially as it was designed to open inward. (These design flaws were corrected before the moon mission launches.) Ironically, Grissom had been tagged as the commander for the first moon landing mission, and had he lived, Armstrong would not be the name history remembers. Advertisement Advertisement In 1971, the crew of Apollo 15 secretly carried a small statue of a fallen astronaut to the moon. They left it there as a memorial, along with a plaque bearing the names of the astronauts who had lost their lives in the course of space exploration. Backlash to the Apollo program In the film, the incident triggers a backlash to the Apollo program, with conservative members of Congress questioning the expenditure of so much federal money on something so unlikely to succeed, and critics from the left asking why Congress could find large sums to go to the moon but so little to help people in poverty (such critics are represented by an extended excerpt from Gil Scott-Herons proto-rap classic Whitey on the Moon). Advertisement In fact, while this is true, the space program had much less public support all along than the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia suggest. According to Roger Launius, NASAs former chief historian, throughout the 1960s a majority of Americans did not believe Apollo was worth the cost, with the one exception to this a poll taken at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969. And consistently throughout the decade 45-60 percent of Americans believed that the government was spending too much on space. Neil Armstrongs marriage Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The movie shows Janet Armstrong getting on with raising the family and supporting Neil despite his emotional compartmentalization, keeping his family separate from his work and spending far more time and energy on the latter. She finally rebels when she asks him to speak to their two boys before he heads off for the moon landing mission to warn them he might not come back. This seems to be a fairly accurate representation of the relationship. Janet accepted that as the wife of an astronaut, our lives were dedicated to a cause, to try to reach the goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of 1969, she told Life magazine in a post-landing interview. At the same time, she did resent Armstrongs burying himself in his work to the exclusion of everything else. His leaving so little time for his family after Karens death, Walker told Hansen, made Janet angry for a very long time. Janet also confirmed that she had asked Neil to speak to the boys before the Apollo 11 launch, but, she told Hansen, I dont think that went very far. As her son Mark told the Daily Mail, Janet once said: Silence is Neils answer. The word no is an argument. The Armstrongs separated in 1990 and divorced in 1994. Buzz Aldrin Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By all accounts, the portrayal of Aldrin (Corey Stoll) as something of a loudmouth who speaks before he thinks is accurate. Writing in the Space Review, an observer of Aldrins speech to the 2017 Humans to Mars Summit (yes, there is such a thing) reported, By now, anybody who has been in the space field or attended a few space conferences knows that he is the space equivalent of Grandpa Simpson: once he starts talking, he wont stop, and he doesnt care if nobody is listening, or if hes interrupting the conversation, or if he is inconveniencing others. However, even this writer couldnt deny that Aldrin is brave and even a visionary, noting that he recently became the oldest person ever to reach the South Pole. Apollo 11 moon landing mission Advertisement Advertisement There are two major dramatic events in what is otherwise a largely silent, almost dream-like depiction of the climactic mission. One is when an insufficient-fuel alarm goes off as the seconds until a mandatory abort count down. However, there is nowhere to landfirst because of giant boulders on the surface and then because a huge crater looms beneath the craft. With barely two seconds to spare, Apollo 11 clears the canyon and lands on a smooth surface. Advertisement This first is depicted mostly as it actually happened, although in reality there were closer to 20 seconds to spare rather than two. Armstrong and co-pilot Aldrin overshot the predicted landing zone and, flying manually and low on fuel, were faced with a field full of truck-size boulders in contrast to the orbital maps that had indicated a smooth plain. The other is the films emotional climax, when Armstrong, having taken Karens tiny baby bracelet with him on the voyage, releases it into space, a sign his lost daughter has always been with him. This, sadly, is pure invention. Hansen writes that the mementos Armstrong took to the moon include some medallions commemorating the Apollo 11 lunar mission, some of his wifes pins, a piece of the Wright Brothers airplane, and his college fraternity pin, but that was all, adding Armstrong took nothing else for family membersnot even for his two boys or his daughter Karen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, journalist Jay Barbrees biography of Armstrong does suggest that Karen was in the astronauts thoughts. In Barbrees account of the moon landing, Armstrong noticed a baby crater he named Muffies Crater. As the book describes it, He stood there, remembering how Muffie would have loved sliding down into the pit. He had an overwhelming urge to do it for her. But then better judgment grabbed him. He settled for taking pictures and describing what he saw before heading back. One of the great pleasures of reading old newspapers is their credulous approach to the supernatural. The modern-day San Francisco Chronicle would presumably not run an article headlined A HEADLESS GOBLIN, reporting that a Missouri man found nude in the street claimed his clothing had been stolen byyou guessed ita headless goblin, but the Chronicle of 1887 was more than happy to. The New York Times definition of news that was fit to print was once expansive enough to include stories like A Homicide Pursued by the Ghost of His Victim (June 20, 1869), A Talking Ghost in Virginia (Feb. 2, 1871) and A Talking Ghost in Nevada (Nov. 24, 1872). And the Washington Post had an absolute mania for these sorts of stories into the early twentieth century. Between 1904 and 1912, the paper ran four lengthy feature articles about the supposed exploits of a single cursed mummy, the Unlucky Mummy, under these probably not-entirely accurate headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Face on Mummy Cace [sic] Comes To Life Again, June 19, 1904. Strange Mystery of a Mummy: Is This Priestess Still Alive At the Age of 3500 Years and Capable of Exercising Her Weird Powers? April 26, 1908. Coffin Carries Curse: Mummy Case of Priestess Has Sinister Record, Sep. 17, 1910. Ghost of the Titanic: Vengeance of Hoodoo Mummy Followed Man Who Wrote Its History, May 12, 1912. That last headline means exactly what you think it does: less than a month after the Titanic sank, the Washington Post ran a story blaming the whole thing on a mummys curse. Its unclear why the Post covered the cursed mummy beat so doggedly, although their decision to end the 1912 version of the story with a lengthy excerpt from William Butlers autobiography suggests that filling space was a concern, as does their decision to refer to Butlers autobiography as the autobiography of the late Lieutenant General the Right Honorable Sir William F. Butler, Grand Commander of the Bath, which was published last year by Constable & Co., Ltd., of London. Still, it matters what you use to fill space, and if youre going to publish fake news, better that it be about cursed mummies than, say, economic insecurity. So just in time for Halloween, heres the complete text of the all-time hottest take on the sinking of the Titanic, as published in the newspaper that eventually cleaned up its act enough to sink Nixon. Matthew Dessem Ghost of the Titanic VENGEANCE OF HOODOO MUMMY FOLLOWED MAN WHO WROTE ITS HISTORY Advertisement Advertisement Was the avenging spirit of an Egyptian priestess who died in the holy city of Thebes 1600 years before the birth of Christ present upon the Titanic, pursuing with immortal malevolence those who had desecrated her tomb and her memory? Did the curse pronounced 35,000 years ago by the storied Nile upon all who should insult her bones have power to rush down the centuries into the age of wireless telegraphy and the waters of the New World? Advertisement In the twentieth century, with its general rejection of the supernatural, these questions will at once be pronounced absurd. But even now persons will be found to take the problem seriously, because of the mysterious series of shocking tragedies which have befallen all who had to do, either in deed or in word, with the mummy case of a priestess of the College of Amen-Ra which now stands in the First Egyptian Room of the British Museum. Advertisement Among those who would not have been skeptical was the famous English editor, William T. Stead, who perished when the Titanic foundered, and who would, in all probability, consider himself as the latest of the long line of victims of the priestesss ancient malice. Advertisement Although trained in the modern rationalistic thought, Stead had a strong bias toward the supernatural, as was shown in his well-known interest in occultism and Spiritualism. At the saloon table of the Titanic he related to a fellow passenger, Frederick K. Seward, an uncanny tale of the adventures of the mummy in the British Museum, which had punished, he said, with great calamities all who had written his story. He told of one person after another who had come to disaster after writing its sinister history. Advertisement I know the story, but I shall never write it, added the veteran publicist, thus betraying how powerfully the somber doom of many less credulous persons had affected him. Stead did not say whether ill luck would attend the mere telling of the story, but it is difficult to see what distinction the malignant priestess would make between the written and the spoken word. The difference in affront would seem to be at most one of degree, not of kind. At any rate, a few hours after Stead related the grewsome narrative with obvious respect, his body lay lifeless beneath 2,000 fathoms of water. Advertisement The perilous tale, as related by Stead, was probably in gist as follows, the account being taken from the English edition of Pearsons Magazine for August, 1900. Advertisement Advertisement About 1,000 years before Christ, a priestess of the College of Amen-Ra lived and died in the mighty city of Thebes. Possibly she was a royal personage; she appears at least to have been of high rank, but of her name and life-history nothing is known. No doubt her body was embalmed with all the care that the Egyptians, particularly the priests, bestowed upon this work, an essential part of their religion. The mummy was inclosed in its wooden shell and placed in the appointed burial place of the priests and priestesses of the college. Probably the burial place was carefully hidden, for the object of embalming was that the body should remain preserved for the use of its owner on her return from the under-world; and the body of the priestess lay in peace through the centuries, until at last it was disturbed by a roving band of Arabs. This was about 60 years ago, and in some way the mummy was separated from its case, and disappeared. Advertisement About the middle of the sixties a party of five friends went in a dahabia for a trip up the Nile. They went to Luxor, on their way to the Second Cataract, and there explored Thebes with its temple to Amen-Ra, unequaled on earth for its ruined magnificence. Advertisement Advertisement A well-known English lady of title entertained the party, and the Consul, Mustaph Aga, gave a fete in their honor. One night, the Consul sent to his friends an Arab, who reported that he had just found a mummy case of unusual worth. Next morning he brought the case for inspection. It bore the painting of a woman of strange beauty, but the dark eyes stared into vacancy with a cold malignity of expression. The case was brought by one of the party, Mr. D., who, however, agreed to draw lots for possession of the treasure; and the case passed to a friend, who may be called Mr. W. Advertisement Advertisement Almost immediately it was recalled afterward with awe the vengeance of the ancient priestess began to display itself. It was as if she were hovering, a gloomy and implacable Nemesis, above them, armed with power to strike them even in their financial affairs in distant London. On the return trip one of the members of the party was shot accidentally in the arm by his servant, through a gun exploding without visible cause. The arm had to be amputated. Another died in poverty within a year. A third was shot. The owner of the mummy case found on reaching Cairo that he had lost a large part of his fortune, and died soon afterward. Advertisement If the inferences of the tale are to be believed the spirit of the priestess, with unappeasable wrath, did not halt at the confines of Egypt, but pursued the despoilers of her wooden shroud even to Great Britain. When the case arrived in England it was given by its owner, Mr. W., to a married sister living in London. At once large financial losses were suffered. Advertisement One day the famous theosophist, Mme. Blavatsky, entered the room in which the case had been placed. She soon declared there was a malignant influence in the room. On finding the cover, she begged her hostess to send it away, declaring it to be a thing of the utmost danger. The owner, however, laughed at this idea as a foolish superstition. Presently she sent the case to a well-known photographer in Baker street. Within a week he called upon her in great excitement to say that although he had photographed the case with the greatest care, and could guarantee that no one had touched either his negative or the photograph, the portrait showed the face of a living Egyptian woman staring straight before her with an expression of singular malevolence. Soon afterwards the photographer died suddenly and mysteriously. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement About this time Mr. D. happened to meet the owner of the coffin lid, and, hearing her story, begged her to part with it; and she sent it to the British Museum. The carrier who took it died within a week and the man who assisted him met a serious accident. This is the history as it was verified by the late B. Fletcher Robinson, who for three months was at pains to gather the tangled threads of evidence, and who declared that every one of the fatalities was authentic. He himself seems to have thought that when the mummys case arrived at the Museum, the anger of the spectral priestess would at last be appeased, for he wrote: Advertisement Perhaps it is that the priestess only used her powers against those who brought her into the light of day, and kept her as an ornament of a private room; but that now, standing among Queens and Princesses of equal rank, she no longer makes use of the malign powers which she possesses. How poor a prophet Robinson proved was shown a few weeks after he penned this hope, when he himself died at an early age, after a brief illness. And now, as the latest link in the chain of disasters intimately connected with the painted mummy case, comes the tragic death of William T. Stead, at the height of his powers and fame, soon after he had ventured to relate the sinister story of the Theban priestess. Advertisement Advertisement The Egyptians religious faith in the resurrection of both the soul and the body, which students hold is embodied in the Apostles Creed, made the rifling of a tomb the most infernal of impieties. It was held that if the soul returned from its journey to the under-world and was unable to find its body, it would be compelled to wander for eternity, unhoused, forlorn, and accursed. Hence the art to which the Nile dwellers brought the art of embalming, by which bodies have been preserved even unto to-day; hence, the enormous labors of the pyramids, the tombs of Egyptian Kings, whose bulk has defied time and those cunningly intricate passages, concealing the royal sarcophagi, frustrated until recently the curiosity of man; hence the frightful imprecations written upon the mummy case against irreverent hands which would molest them. Advertisement Advertisement The mummy case in the British museum is not the first Egyptian relic which has been credited with malign powers. Two such cases are recorded in the autobiography of the late Lieutenant General the Right Honorable Sir William F. Butler, Grand Commander of the Bath, which was published last year by Constable & Co., Ltd., of London. The author told of meeting a number of newspaper correspondents during the campaign to relieve Gordon at Khartoum. One of these, he related, was one of the most dauntless mortals I ever met in my life. The story of his end is so strange that I must tell it here. Advertisement Advertisement I first met him in California in 1873, Sir William continued, on my way from British Columbia to the West Coast of Africa. We next met at the Cataract of Dal, where I found him attempting to work up the Nile in a tiny steam launch which held himself, a stoker, and one other person. He was wrecked shortly after, but got up with the naval brigade, made the desert march and was present with Lord Charles Beresford in his action at Wad Habeshi, above Metemmeh. Advertisement On his way up the Nile he had indulged in the then, and now, fashionable tourist pursuit of tomb-rifling and mummy-lifting, and he had become possessed of a really first-class mummy, which, still wrapped in its cere-cloths, had been duly packed and sent to England. When the Nile expedition closed he went to Somaliland, and, somewhere in the foothills of Abyssinia, was finally killed by his elephant and was buried on a small island in a river flowing from Abyssinia southward. The mummy got at Luxor eventually reached London. The correspondents friends, anxious to get their brothers remains to England, sent out a man with orders to proceed to the spot where he had been buried and bring the remains home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This man reached the river, together with the Somali hunters who had accompanied the deceased on the hunting expedition the previous year, but no trace could be found of the little island on which the grave was made. A great flood had descended from the Abyssinian mountains, and the torrent had swept the island before it, leaving no trace of grave or island. Now comes the moral. The mummy was in due time unwound in London, and the experts in Egyptology set out to decipher the writings on the wrappings. Truly were they spirit rappings! There, in characters about which there was no caviling on the part of the experts, was written a varied series of curses upon the man who would attempt to disturb the long repose of the mummified dead. May he, ran the invocations, be abandoned by the gods. May wild beasts destroy his life on earth and after his death may the floods of the avenging rivers root up his bones and scatter his dust to the winds of heaven. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their first child, Kensington Palace announced in a tweet early Monday morning, ending a weekend of fevered speculation over the contents of Markles uterus after she showed up at Princess Eugenies wedding in an uncharacteristically loose-fitting coat. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. pic.twitter.com/Ut9C0RagLk Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 15, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The announcement does raise one key question: why are there so many scrunchies in that picture?? Nonetheless, this is happy news for the couple, who had announced their hopes for children in their first interview after their engagement. It had been a long three days of tabloid chatter since Eugenies wedding on Friday. Spectators on Twitter called the coat suspicious, wondering why the Duchess of Sussex would leave it on when she went indoors if not to conceal a bulging belly. The alarm bells rung by the Givenchy jacket sounded so loud in circles concerned with the tributaries of the royal family bloodline that the headline on Google News aggregation of the rumors simply read Meghan Markle wears coat to Princess Eugenie wedding, as if a coat at a royal marriage ceremony were as unambiguous a sign of pregnancy as a Baby on Board window cling on the royal horse and buggy. Advertisement The gossip heated up even more when Markle disembarked from a plane in Sydney over the weekend while carrying two purple binders that obscured her midsection. Members of the royal family are not typically seen carrying stationery on official engagements or tours, read a breathless report from an Australian news outlet. Talk on Twitter turned to the straighter hair, darker fabrics, and more relaxed cuts of blouses and skirts Markle had favored in recent weeksall possible signs of a royal fetus. Mondays confirmation of Markles pregnancy offered a payoff that was remarkably quick for the world of celebrity gossip, in which the same pregnancy rumors can bloom and wilt several times over without ever being rooted in truth. (See Jennifer Aniston for the ultimate example of a famous woman whose every inch of flesh is analyzed for signs of impending motherhood whenever she puts on a bikini.) Speculation over royal pregnancies makes for a particularly satisfying game for interested observers, since procreation is all but a mandatory pastime for bearers of a royal name. Rumors that Queen Elizabeth made Markle undergo fertility tests before consenting to her marriage to Prince Harry sounded sensational, but werent altogether unbelievable in a family whose lavish taxpayer-supported existence depends on the consistent babymaking of its members of reproductive age. In the Middleton-Markle subgenre of celebrity pregnancy gossip, the question isnt so much Will they or wont they? but When will they? Advertisement Advertisement Every famous woman finds her body photographed, disseminated, inspected, and analyzed in the public sphere. But needless to say, female royals are treated as public property to a particularly pointed degreein Markles case, the width of her face and her decision to travel to Fiji and Tonga, where there have been outbreaks of the fetus-endangering Zika virus, have been dissected for clues as to her stage of pregnancy and fitness for motherhood. British subjects feel a sense of ownership over members of the royal family, far more than Americans do over, say, Jennifer Aniston. When a beloved American movie star fails to give birth or turns out to be a bad parent, fans are merely disappointed. If the wife of a prince did so, it would be a betrayal of the public trust. Advertisement Advertisement Thats why the prospect of pregnancy and the ticking of 37-year-old Markles biological clock have become subjects of such unabashed public fervor since her May 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. Though it has no lawmaking power in the British government, the royal family is funded by the public and wields significant social and cultural power around the world. Waiting for Markles inevitable pregnancy was not unlike awaiting the results of a history-making election or the casting of a generations-long TV series; her reproductive capacity was of as much public interest as a presidential candidates medical records. At the same time, the absolute certainty with which we have been conditioned to expect a recently married royal couple to reproduce gives the whole affair a satisfying predictability, like watching a rom-com with a plot resolution we could see coming from a mile away. Advertisement That doesnt make it any less bizarre to witness the detailed analysis tabloid media has devoted to the topic of Markles uterus. After Kensington released the good news, the Sun ran an entire piece guessing at possible dates when Markle and Prince Harry could have had sex to land themselves a Spring 2019 baby. The paper narrowed it down to either their mini-moon in Ireland or their night at Harrys friends wedding, which coincided with Markles birthday. When your kids conception is a royal milestone and your stabs at babymaking are events of international import, no one wants to imagine it could have been unceremonious weeknight sex at home. On Monday afternoon, after a half day of debate over Elizabeth Warrens announcement (with a campaign-style video) that she had taken a DNA test and found evidence supporting her claim of having a Native American ancestor, the Cherokee Nationof which Warren had primarily claimed an ancestral affiliationreleased a scathing statement condemning the whole affair: Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage. Advertisement In the statement, Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. emphasized a point that Native American activists have been making all day: A DNA test is irrelevantand can even be harmfulwhen it comes to determining tribal citizenship and heritage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While many of President Trumps critics have pointed out that the president has repeatedly used a slur, Pocahontas, to mock Warrens claim to Native American ancestry, some Native Americans have said that both Trumps overt racism and Warrens claims to an indigenous identity should be criticized as harming the national understanding of indigenous identity and rights. The primary complaint about Warrens place in this affair has to do with her use of a DNA test to seek out evidence of a tribal ancestor. According to several activists and experts whom Slate spoke to Monday, the use of a genetics testsetting aside the unreliability of those testsindicated that Warren was buying into and promoting the notion that it is blood that determines who is and is not American Indian. Advertisement Theres this really critical distinction between DNA and ancestry on one hand and identity and belonging on the other, said Deborah Bolnick, an anthropological geneticist at the University of Connecticut. These are things based on social connections. Especially in the context of tribal nationsthese are sovereign nations with political and legal contexts to them. Its not genetically determined.* Bolnick said she understood Warrens desire to respond to Trumps attacks, but she thought Warrens search for genetic proof to back up her claims was misguided. I do have concerns that I dont think we should be looking to genetics to adjudicate these debates, she said. Its suggesting that science, that genetic technologies have answers to questions about identity and belonging. Advertisement Advertisement Krystal Tsosie, an indigenous geneticist-ethicist at Vanderbilt, said that on a practical level, tribal enrollment matters when it comes to arrangements with the United States government about the tribes rights and resources established in treaties. Access to water, air quality, health care is tied with an individuals ability to establish ascendancy to an individual Nation, she said. External factors that question biologically how we as indigenous individuals call ourselves would be dangerous. Advertisement Rebecca Nagle, a writer and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, said that Warrens decision to publicly tout a DNA test as evidence of Cherokee heritage had her terrified about the ways it could affect the publics understanding of tribal sovereignty. Nagle said she was concerned that if the public came to define native citizenship as one of blood and race, Americans with no legitimate link to a tribe could use the unreliable results of a DNA test to claim benefits and rights that tribes earned after being pushed from their lands. To support her argument, she cited the story of a man in Washington who heard family lore of having Native American ancestry, took a DNA test, found he was 6 percent indigenous (and also 4 percent black), applied for the U.S. Department of Transportations Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program on the basis of the test results, and sued the federal government. This kind of behavior, based on DNA, puts programs and rights for indigenous people at risk, she argued. Advertisement Advertisement The Cherokee Nation just this week had decided to challenge a recent decision by a federal judge in Texas who declared a law called the Indian Child Welfare Act unconstitutional. The law, which was passed in the 1970s to prevent the forced removal of Native American children from their tribes, gives tribes the right to intervene in adoptions in which non-native parents adopt native children. The federal judge decided earlier in the month that the law was unconstitutional, based on the Fifth Amendments equal protection clausein essence, arguing that Native American families were being given preferential treatment based on race. This decision hinges on the notion of native identity as racial, Nagle argued, and if upheld, it could set the precedent for other sovereign rights to be stripped. That conceptualization of identity is wrong, she said, because to be a member of a sovereign nation is a cultural and political matter. After all, Nagle notes, DNA tests could never tell anyone which particular tribe their ancestor belonged to, so someone claiming native identity from a test wouldnt know which tribe to register with. Advertisement Advertisement Instead of looking to genetics, tribal genealogists can look at the extensive records the tribes have kept of their members to check if someone claiming native ancestry does indeed have legitimacy. Warren participated in the extremely common tradition among Americans of claiming a Cherokee ancestor. While many Native Americans believe the vast majority of those claims are false, if her ancestor had appeared on their records, she would have been accepted into the tribe, Nagle said. In the video announcing the test results, Warren did clarify that she was talking only about family history and not claiming any sort of right to affiliation. Im not enrolled in a tribe, she says in the video. Only tribes determine tribal citizenship. I understand and respect that distinction. Later Monday, she reinforced the message with a tweet: DNA & family history has nothing to do with tribal affiliation or citizenship, which is determined onlyonlyby Tribal Nations. Advertisement I won't sit quietly for @realDonaldTrump's racism, so I took a test. But DNA & family history has nothing to do with tribal affiliation or citizenship, which is determined only only by Tribal Nations. I respect the distinction, & don't list myself as Native in the Senate. Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018 But some considered the statement far too lateshe had, after all, claimed Native American identity at Harvard Law School in the 1980s, and she listed herself as Cherokee in a local Oklahoma cookbook titled Pow Wow Chow. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some have said that Warren crossed a line, after years of holding on to her claim of Native ancestry, but others have said there is still room for her to make amends with the Cherokee people. Joshua Thompson, an accountant and member of the Cherokee Nation, said that he wants an apology from Warren. What Warren was doing was unequivocally racist, he saidjust as Trumps use of slurs is. I would prevail upon her good senses, he said. Shes a rational, thoughtful, good human being who is doing something thats bad right now. Be better. Floridas Republican governor, Rick Scott, will not be able to name three new justices to the Florida Supreme Court after his term has ended, that court ruled on Monday. Its decision denies Scott the ability to shift the court rightward for a generation, thwarting his plan to make midnight appointments. Instead, it ensures that the next governor will be able to fill those seats. The stakes of the Florida gubernatorial race, in other words, just got even higher: Whoever wins the election will enter office with three vacancies to fill on the states highest court. Advertisement The dispute over the Florida Supreme Court began in 2016, when Scott unexpectedly declared that he would appoint three more justices on the morning I finish my term. Scott was alluding to the fact that three of the courts seven justices face mandatory retirement due to age limits when their terms end in January. Under the state constitution, their terms expire on Jan. 8, 2019; by tradition, the next governor would be scheduled to be sworn in at noon on that same day. Thus, Scott intended to replace the justices just before his successor took the oath of office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are a number of flaws in Scotts theory, but the biggest problem is that he wont actually be governor that morning. The Florida Constitution states that a new governors term begin[s] on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January, which will be Jan. 8. Most governors have held formal swearing-in ceremonies at noon on that day. But the state constitution doesnt require it. Rather, it affirms that the new governors term begins on that calendar daythat is, at midnight. Advertisement Scott, who is now running for Senate, therefore planned to appoint three justices on the morning after his term ended. He wished to exercise an authority he simply wouldnt have. Last year, the League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit urging the Florida Supreme Court to block this scheme. The court ruled in December that the suit was premature, because Scott had taken no formal action to replace the justices. But last month, the governor directed Floridas Judicial Nominating Commission to begin accepting and reviewing applications for the court. (The JNC is a nine-member body that nominates three to six candidates for each vacancy, from which the governor selects the new justice.) So the league sued again, arguing that the time had come for the justices to act. Advertisement That means Floridas next governor must be sworn in at midnight, though of course he can hold a symbolic ceremony later that day. On Monday, the court agreed. It issued an order seeming to bar Scott from replacing the justices at the last minute. The court declared that the governor who is elected in the November 2018 general election has the sole authority to fill the vacancies, so long as the retiring justices dont leave office before their terms expire at midnight between January 7 and January 8, 2019and provided that the [new] governor takes office immediately upon the beginning of his term. Advertisement This second caveat puts some pressure on Scotts successor. It allows him to fill the vacancies if he is sworn in at the beginning of his term, meaning midnight between Jan. 7 and 8. The court essentially directed the next governor to take the oath immediately on his first day on the job, rather than allow the traditional 12-hour gap for a noon swearing in, during which Scott might attempt some chicanery. That means Floridas next governor must be sworn in at midnight, though of course he can hold a symbolic ceremony later that day. (It wont be the first time a Florida governor held a midnight oath to avoid subterfuge: Several past Florida governors have been sworn in at midnight to prevent their predecessors from making last-minute appointments.) Advertisement Advertisement There is essentially nothing Scott can do to get around Mondays ruling, unless his successor is foolish enough to forgo a midnight oath. (He wont be.) Any judge or notary public can swear in a governor, so Scott may not instruct his attorney general or secretary of state to refuse to administer the oath. Moreover, the decision is rooted exclusively in state law, so Scott cannot appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. His grand plan to pack the court has been foiled. Mondays decision will not matter much if Republican Ron DeSantis wins in November. The Trump acolyte would appoint the same kind of far-right judges whom Scott favors, rendering this controversy largely pointless. If Democrat Andrew Gillum triumphs, on the other hand, he will obviously wish to name progressive justices to the bench. Advertisement Gillum, however, might not be able to tilt the court as far left as he might like. State law requires the governor to pick a name from the list provided by the JNC. During his nearly eight years in office, Scott has made the JNC much more political and installed a number of allies. There is currently a 54 split between partisan and impartial commissioners, and the complex voting procedures all but demand at least a few compromise candidates. The JNC wont offer exclusively conservatives, but its unlikely to offer any liberal lions. Gillum will probably have to settle for moderate progressives, which, for Democrats, is no doubt preferable to Scotts reactionaries. Advertisement Advertisement The Florida Supreme Courts Monday order did leave open one question: When, exactly, can the JNC certify its nominations? Scott wanted the commission to send names before the justices had left the bench; his opponents believe it cant act until the vacancies occur. The court allowed the JNC to ignore Scotts request for nominations and set a hearing on the timing issue for the Thursday after the November election.This question may have little practical importance, other than clarifying the technical matter of when state Supreme Court nominations can commence. Advertisement Floridas 2018 gubernatorial election was always going to be consequential. Now its momentous. Among other things, the Florida Supreme Court enforces anti-gerrymandering provisions in the state constitution as well as privacy protections that safeguard the right to abortion access. If DeSantis gets to replace these three justices, he can create a court that rubber-stamps gerrymanders and draconian abortion restrictions. If Gillum fills the vacancies, he can cement his progressive legacy during his first days in office. Only one thing is certain: The man who decides the future of the Florida Supreme Court will not be Rick Scott. A central architect of the Constitution, James Madison was deeply sensitive to the threat majorities posed to minorities. On important social questions, [N]o other rule exists but the will of the majority, he wrote in 1785 while a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, but it is also true that the majority may trespass on the rights of the minority. Our governing document shows this sensitivity in its structure, which diffuses powers across multiple institutions, creates opportunities for representation at each level of government, and attempts to stymie passionate majorities in favor of deliberative ones. But Madison wasnt a minoritarian; he believed majorities, properly structured around consensus, had the right to govern. Advertisement That belief should inform our understanding of the present, where the Republican Party holds all three branches in Washington despite less-than-majority support among the public at large. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This was dramatized by the recent confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh was nominated by a minority president who lost the national popular vote by 3 million ballots. Unpopular from the start, Kavanaughs standing collapsed in the wake of Christine Blasey Fords credible allegation of sexual assault. He was confirmed by a narrow majority of the Senate representing just 44 percent of all Americans, and more Americans opposed his confirmation than supported it. Now aligned with four other conservative justicesincluding one nominated by his patron and two others by a president who also entered the White House with minority supportKavanaugh will likely back jurisprudence that enables voter suppression and extreme partisan gerrymandering, allowing the Republican Party to strengthen its anti-majoritarian hold on power. Advertisement With Kavanaughs confirmation, an electoral minority is now essentially dictating the terms of constitutional interpretation, thanks to two institutions: the Electoral Collegewhich favors the geographical distribution of supporters, not the total numberand the Senate, which creates huge disparities of representation. (A majority of Americans are represented by just 18 senators.) While theres no clear relationship between partisanship and state sizesome small states are heavily Democratic, some large ones are heavily Republicanthe present configuration of state partisanship makes the GOP Senate majority a minority of the overall population. Even the House of Representatives no longer conforms fully to principles of majority representationbecause of gerrymandering, come November, Democrats will have to win the House by at least 7 points to claim a majority of seats. At least one report says Democrats need to win by double digits to gain a majority. By contrast, Republicans could win just 45 to 46 percent of the overall House vote and still hold on to the lower chamber. Advertisement Advertisement Lurking behind arguments about "minority rule" is a more fundamental dispute about the structure of American democracy. Minority rule on this scale is unprecedented in recent American history, and many liberals are either concerned or angry. I am very far from being a majoritarian or populist democrat, wrote political theorist Jacob Levy on Twitter, But its a problem for democratic government if the majority cant gain entry anywhere. The conservative response to this liberal discontent is to scoff. Dismissing arguments for a rethinking of the structure of American democracy, National Review provides the traditional explanation for the Senate and Electoral College: The design of the Senate recognizes the status of the states as real governing entities with their own prerogatives under the Constitution. Like the equally hated Electoral College, the Senate ensures that flyover country isnt ignored. It reflects the dizzying geographic diversity of a continental nation and promotes national cohesion by giving every corner of it a voice. Advertisement Advertisement Conservative writer Lyman Stone goes even further: The thing you have to remember is that not only did the Founders fully understand the issue with lopsided state (populations), the foundations of our legislative system were specifically designed to under-represent populous states. The Senates malapportionment is intended. Activist and commentator Erick Erickson writes, The founders systematically put in place checks on the majority, which they viewed as a mob. Conservatives arent just channeling a familiar narrativethat the system was meant to stymie majority actionthey are making a case that minority rule reflects the original intentions of the Framers of the Constitution. For them, minority rule is a legitimate outcome produced by a sacred process not subject to dispute. But this rests on a vision of the framing of the Constitution that ignores the fierce disagreements that rocked the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Advertisement To say, for example, that the Framers consciously built minority rule into the Senate is to ignore the actual debates around the structure of the chamber, which show fierce disagreement leading to a tepid compromise between two sides, one advocating proportional representation and the other backing equal representation of the states. Madison flatly rejected the latter. [W]hatever reason might have existed for the equality of suffrage when the Union was a federal one among sovereign States it must cease when a national [government] should be put into place. Advertisement Advertisement On its first vote, the committee responsible for designing the chamber agreed on proportional representation. The Senates cooling functionits ability to be more deliberativewould rest not on equal representation, but on its smaller size and longer terms of office for members. (Its worth mentioning as well, in discussions over state sovereignty, that Madison wanted to give the Senate a veto over state legislation.) Advertisement When small state representatives pushed for equal representationwhich had been a feature of the Articles of ConfederationMadison and other advocates of proportional representation in the Senate responded with sharp arguments against. Madison dismissed the fear that large states would gang up on their smaller counterparts, pointing to cultural and economic differences among large states. In point of situation they could not have been more effectually separated from each other by the most jealous citizen of the most jealous state. Madison even made the pointedand to modern ears, familiarargument that the real division between the states was North and South, free and unfree. He summarizes the point in his notes from the convention, in which he contended that the States were divided into different interests not by their difference of size, but by other circumstances; the most material of which resulted partly from climate, but principally from the effects of their having or not having slaves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Benjamin Franklin, another opponent of equal representation of states, pushed back against the idea that small-state citizens would be burdened under proportional representation. The Interest of a State is made up of the interests of its individual members, he said. If they are not injured, the State is not injured. Pennsylvanias James Wilson was more prophetic: Equality of votes among the States will subject the majority of the People & Property to be governed by a minority of each. This, he said, was too palpable an error, too great a Defect in the Constitution to permit the expectation of public harmony & Happiness. Advertisement But small-state representatives wouldnt budge, using the threat of exit to force compromise. In Federalist No. 62, Madison says it is superfluous to justify the Senate according to republican principles. Instead, it is the result of a spirit of amity. Rather than lose the small states from the union, the advice of prudence must be to embrace the lesser evil. Advertisement Put simply, key voices anticipated the problems the Senate might pose for governance and democratic representation. That future Americans, to whom the Framers entrusted the republic and its maintenance, might seek reform to solve those problems is not an attack on the intent of the Constitution. It is in keeping with the debates around its creation. The "framing" of the Constitution is continuous, an ongoing process by which Americans revise their understanding of the republic. The same is true for those who seek a stronger majoritarianism in the operation of American governance. Conservative claims that the Framers feared the mob also miss the nuance in their arguments. In Federalist No. 10, Madison acknowledgesas he had in the pastthat popular government is vulnerable to an interested and overbearing majority. But he then pivots to his crucial insight. The problem isnt majorities per sewhich are capable of acting in the interests of the wholeits the factious spirit in public administration. And what are factions? He defines them as citizens who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community. (By Madisons standards, if there is a mob in todays politicsa faction adversed to the rights of other citizens, its the Republican Party, caught in the grip of demographic panic, ideological extremism, and growing authoritarianism.) Advertisement Madison argues that the nation would be able to deal with minoritarian factionsthe majority can just outvote them. Majoritarian factionalism is trickier. There, the solution is a large polity that includes a number of diverse interests that can diffuse the power of faction. Barring that, diversity itself acts as an obstacle to the formation of factional majoritiesthere are too many interests operating for their own gain for an overbearing majority to coalesce. Advertisement Advertisement Whats key is that Madison wants majorities to governhe believes it to be the central principle of republican government. But his concern was building sustainable majority rule, where the losers of political conflict arent excluded from governance, full stop. Lurking behind arguments about minority rule is a more fundamental dispute about the structure of American democracy. Was it set in stone with the ratification of the Constitution, or is it subject to reform and revision, to meet the changing sensibilities and beliefs of Americans? Understanding the debates around the Constitutionof the degree to which the Framers and ratifiers struggled with complex and unanticipated questions whose answers werent easily forthcominghelps us see how the process and theory behind the document suggests Americans ought to question institutional design when it conflicts with principles of majority rule and representation of the whole. Faced with a government that resolutely represents a minority of Americans, the proper response is the kind of constitutional debate that conservatives have dismissed out of hand. Advertisement Indeed, looking at the whole of American history thus far, we shouldnt think of the framing as a singular event that began in 1787 and ended with ratification. The framing of the Constitution is continuous, an ongoing process by which Americans revise their understanding of the republic in fits, starts, and occasional moments of revolutionary action. The Reconstruction Amendments that abolished slavery, established equal protection, and gave black men the vote transformed the relationship of individual to state, of state to nation. The 17th Amendment, which established direct election of senators, enshrined much of Madisons vision for the chamber, making it a body for national deliberation where each member represented individual citizens, not their states per se. The 19th and 26th amendments expanded the electorate, greatly widening the sphere of democracy. The civil rights laws of the 1960s operated in similar ways, enshrining the principle of racial egalitarianism even as we struggle to make it a reality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If, in the first decades of the 21st century, partisanship, polarization, and demographic change have made our democracy increasingly unrepresentativeif millions of Americans fear the prospect of judicial supremacy in opposition to their lives and freedomsthen theyre right to take a page from the Framers and work to align our institutions with our democratic beliefs, convictions, and intuitions. Calls to transform the Senate, or create new states, or even pack the court arent attacks on norms; they are Americans doing the hard work of crafting a democracy that works for them, of taking seriously the idea that the Constitution exists for us, not us for the Constitution. The Saudi government spends tens of millions of dollars every year on lobbying in Washington and has, to a large extent, gotten a good return on its investment. President Trump made the kingdom his first foreign visit as president last year, he repeatedly touts his friendship with the royal family, and he singled out Saudi Arabia as part of a beautiful constellation of like-minded nations in his speech to the United Nations last month. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman got a warm welcome from Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood during his trip to the U.S. last spring. And the U.S. has mostly looked the other way as the crown prince has continued to lock up his critics, carried on bizarre feuds with U.S. allies, detained the prime minister of a sovereign state, and, most egregiously, continued a brutal war with a sickening civilian toll in impoverished Yemen. But the surprisingly strong reaction to the disappearance and likely murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi indicates that the Saudi government overestimated its popularity in the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While few can match Trump for sycophancy, hes certainly not the first president to stick up for the Saudis. The U.S. political divide over the relationship with Saudi Arabia has long been less between Republicans and Democrats than between Congress and the executive branch. The George W. Bush administration defended the sale of precision-guided munitions equipment from critics in Congress who worried Saudi Arabia could pose a security threat to Israel. (This was a very different time; today, Saudi Arabia and Israel are essentially unofficial allies against Iran.) In 2016, Congress overturned Barack Obamas veto of a bill to allow families of 9/11 victims to sue the kingdom over its alleged role in the attacks. Advertisement Under Trump, congressional criticism over U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen has been growing, and a resolution blocking a sale of precision-guided munitions to the kingdom was narrowly defeated last summer. Saudi Arabia is not popular with the U.S. public, either. Only 31 percent of Americans had a favorable view of the kingdom, just behind China and just ahead of Russia, according to a Gallup poll from last year. So members of Congress generally feel safe expressing grave concerns about the kingdom. (Trump himself used to refer to the Saudis as the worlds biggest funders of terrorism back when he was running for president.) Presidents, meanwhile, have generally found the U.S.-Saudi partnership too valuable to cut loose, no doubt on the advice of the Pentagon. Advertisement Advertisement This dynamic is in play once again in the wake of the Khashoggi affair, but the Saudis critics do appear to have a stronger position this time. Sen. Bob Menendez, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who has sided with the administration on Saudi issues in the past, is pausing a proposed sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, and Congress would likely reject any proposed arms deal with the Saudis right now. Whats more, 22 senators have triggered a provision in the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to force an investigation to determine whether sanctions should be applied on Saudi officials in response to Khashoggis probable killing. While the strongest criticism of Saudi Arabia has typically come from liberals as well as libertarian-leaning Republicans like Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee, in the past week Iran hawks like Sens. Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham have spoken out too. Advertisement Advertisement Critics have, fairly, asked how these leaders can be so outraged about one death when Saudi Arabia has killed thousands of people in Yemen. But the death of a journalist and well-known Washington figure has had an impact in the U.S. Capitol that a murky, faraway war, with atrocities committed on both sides, has not. Advertisement Multiple presidents have made the case that for all their many flaws, the Saudis are necessary to broader U.S. priorities in the Middle East. But Crown Prince Mohammeds erratic and violent behavior, which has now struck someone at the heart of the Beltway, has made it harder to argue that Saudi Arabia is some sort of bulwark of stability in a sea of conflict and radicalism. Judging by Trumps remarks Monday and on 60 Minutes Sunday night, the Saudis dont have anything to worry about when it comes to the presidents unwavering support. But they may have miscalculated how deep the support is outside the White House. Donald Trump is returning to one of the oldest rhetorical ticks of his political careerchanneling blame for Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election over to China. In his Sunday interview with 60 Minutes, Trump was asked about Russian efforts to steal emails and distribute them to harm Hillary Clintons chances, as described by U.S. intelligence agencies and federal prosecutors, and he said, Well, maybe China did it. Or, to be more precise: Im saying Russia, but Im also saying China. Advertisement Lesley Stahl: do you believe that the Russians interfered in the 2016 campaign election? Our election- President Donald Trump: They they meddled. But I think China meddled too. Lesley Stahl: But why do you President Donald Trump: And I think other countries Lesley Stahl: say China meddled too? President Donald Trump: And you wanna know something? Lesley Stahl: Why do you say Chi why dont you just say President Donald Trump: Well, let me ask you Lesley Stahl: the Russians meddled? President Donald Trump: Because I think China meddled also. And I think, frankly, China Lesley Stahl: This is amazing. President Donald Trump: is a bigger problem. Lesley Stahl: You are diverting the whole Russia thing. President Donald Trump: Im not doing anything. Lesley Stahl: You are, you are President Donald Trump: Im saying Russia, but Im also saying China. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the first 2016 presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump demurred on Russias responsibility for the DNC hack, saying, I dont think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK? Since then, Trump has grown to accept Russias responsibility, with qualifications, but his new tack on China is part of an overall administration strategy to portray China as the United States most important adversary, not just on trade but on a whole range of issues, including interference in the U.S. political system. Advertisement Both Vice President Mike Pence and Trump have made high-profile accusations against China for interfering in the U.S. political system: Pence at a high-profile speech at a conservative think tank and Trump at the United Nations. But both have been able to muster only scant evidence: Namely an advertorial section in the Des Moines Register in September criticizing Trumps trade policy, created by a state-owned Chinese newspaper. Even if fully disclosed, paid-for advertising in a regional newspaper could fall under some vague definition of election interference, that would apply to the 2018 midterms, not the 2016 presidential election. But as long as it doesnt implicate Russia, to Trump it doesnt matter. Some interesting Monday morning thoughts from our president about the apparent Oct. 2 murder of Washington Post columnist and dissident Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul: Trump, sounding very similar to his Putin interference denials, says that it could have been "rogue killers" who murdered Jamal Khashoggi. "It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/uap6d2Db40 Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 15, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The king firmly denied any knowledge of it. He didnt really know maybe I dont want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. (That would be King Salman, whos largely designated power to his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.) Khashoggi had an Oct. 2 appointment at the Saudi consulatewhich is sovereign Saudi territoryto pick up a document. He was recorded on video arriving at his appointment but hasnt been seen since. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities have released what they say is evidence that a number of Saudi intelligence and military operatives arrived in Istanbul on Oct. 2, were seen at the consulate and the Saudi consuls residence at the same time Khashoggi was in the area, and then quickly left the country. Advertisement So it could have been the Saudis, or it could have been an independently operating team of murderers who knew where Khashoggi was going to be that day and were able to find him and kill him inside what were presumably secure Saudi government buildings. Saudi Arabia, incidentally, has been involved in multiple investment and lobbying deals that were financially beneficial to individuals close to Trump. The Saudis, on their end, released a summary of Trump and King Salmans call that says Trump praised the keenness of the Kingdoms leadership to clarify all relevant facts about Khashoggis disappearance. In 2020, 155 million people faced food-related crises, emergencies, or catastrophes, according to the UNa 20 million person increase compared to 2019. More than 41 million people worldwide are at risk of falling into famine or famine-like conditions if they do not receive immediate assistance. Conflict continues to be the primary driver for food insecurity, affecting 65 percent of food insecure people. However, the economic impact of COVID-19including weakening currencies, rapid inflation, high food prices, widening unemployment, increasing debt, and low purchasing poweris of increasing immediate and long-term concern. The special police units crackdown is connected with environmental criminality. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) raided the villages of Limbach and Most pri Bratislave on the morning of October 15. The raid is allegedly connected with environmental criminality and the transfer of dangerous waste to a dump site and beneath the D4 highway ring-road, the Tvnoviny.sk website informed. In July 2018, police started a criminal prosecution in the case of the alleged removal of dangerously contaminated soil from the complex of the former bus station at Mlynske Nivy in downtown Bratislava to the construction site of the D4 highway and the R7 dual carriageway. Read also: Read also: Contaminated soil might be used for the Bratislava ring-road Read more The crime has been defined as unauthorised handling of waste, the TASR newswire wrote on October 15. Everything declared OK The consortium which is building the D4 ring-road outside the capital had declared in the past that the material used for construction has valid quality certificates and that it has passed the strict criteria of assessment for its use, including the condition of zero contamination of soil. The motions pointing to the use of dangerous construction material in building the D4 and R7 involve the alleged movement of the contaminated soil from Mlynske Nivy to the construction site near the Bratislava borough of Podunajske Biskupice and the village of Ivanka pri Dunaji. There are also suspicions over the use of dangerous construction material and building waste during the construction of the ring-road near the Jarovske Rameno arm of the Danube in the Jarovce borough of the capital. In both cases, the Slovak Environmental Inspectorate, as well as the police are active. Presidents of the Visegrad Group countries discussed, among other things, the rise of xenophobia, extremism and nationalism in Europe. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The building of the Nord Stream II gas-pipeline project is a threat to Europe, the presidents of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries agreed during a two-day summit held on October 11-12 at the Slovak resort of Strbske Pleso. In the past, we have repeatedly discussed this issue, Slovak President Andrej Kiska stressed, as quoted by the Sme daily. Nord Stream II should not have been built in any case. He named three reasons for this, primarily that the capacity of the existing gas pipelines is not fully used some statistics demonstrating only 50 percent. Thus, it makes no sense to build a new pipeline. A tool for blackmailing Ukraine As another reason, Kiska cited deepening dependence on Russia as another factor against this project and as a third, he pointed to the political connotations. By building this gas pipeline, Russia would gain a tool for blackmailing Ukraine, the Slovak president added. It is not just business but a political project which could disrupt the energy security of the EU and also divide the European community this is where it is harmful, as it may potentially break up the European Union, Polish President Andrzej Duda agreed, as quoted by Sme. Future of the EU The presidents concurred over several issues during the summit. One of them was that potential migrants should be helped in their countries of origin so that they do not have to leave their homes. They also pointed out that the outer borders of the European Union (EU) need to be strictly guarded and protected and that human smugglers need to be fought against, as reported by Sme. Czech President Milos Zeman labelled the elimination of mandatory refugee quotas as the biggest success, stressing the idea that the best solution is to aid the people of plagued countries in their homelands. Kiska also addressed the rise of xenophobia, extremism and nationalism in Europe and suggested as the solution the more intense cooperation of politicians and citizens who should be the advocates of the project of peace and cooperation. The Slovak President emphasised the need to defend the EU project and pointed out that the task of the V4 countries is to unify the European Union. He also appealed to the mutual empathy of individual member states. Any discussions on the division of Europe into old and new, or into two-speeds is not how we see the EU in the future, Kiska added, as quoted by Sme, and positively evaluated the Frontex project of cooperation on the EUs outer borders. All you need to know about referral slips for medical specialists. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Whether electronic or in paper form, patients still need to use referral slips for now. Thus, it is advisable to know ones rights and understand how the general practitioners (GPs) recommendation for medical specialists works. Not every specialist needs to see the referral slip before a treatment, and there are some cases when the patient will not get into the doctors office even with a recommendation. Some common questions about referral slips - What is a referral slip good for? - Can I visit a specialist outside of my permanent residence? - Which doctors do not need a referral slip? - Can a specialist refuse to see a me even if I have a referral slip? - How long is a referral slip valid? - I changed my specialist during treatment. Do I need a new slip? What is a doctors recommendation good for? The recommendation to visit a specialist is filled in for the patient by a general practitioner or another specialist. Referral slips, called vymenne listky (singular is vymenny listok) in Slovak, are a pre-condition for the treatment being covered by the patient's health insurance company. A specialist must be able show the health insurer which doctor sent the patient for expert examination. The referral slip does not serve just for administrative purposes, however. First and foremost, it should inform the specialist on the patients health condition, their examinations so far, as well as the GPs possible suspicion of a specific illness. A detailed referral slip should save time for both the patient and the specialists, prevent duplicate examinations, and thus speed up the diagnostics and the treatment. Where the referral slip can be used College students or people who commute or travel for work do not have to rely just on specialists in the place of their permanent residence. Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship. Mountain Shadows in Wayanad is just the place for a dreamy vacation Much anticipated HBO drama My Brilliant Friend will launch on FOX Showcase in November. The 8 part series is based on Elena Ferrantes novel of the same name, and traces the friendship of two girls, Elena and Lila, in post-war Naples. The series tells the story of Elena Greco, a now-elderly woman who discovers the most important friend in her life, Raffaella Lila Cerullo, has disappeared without a trace. A writer, immersed in a house full of books, Greco turns on her computer and starts writing the story of their tempestuous friendship, stating from the point when Elena met Lila in their first year of school in 1950. Set in a dangerous and fascinating Naples, their story goes on to cover more than 60 years of their lives, as she tries to describe the mystery of Lila, Elenas brilliant friend and in a way her best friend and worst enemy. My Brilliant Friend is an HBO, RAI Fiction and TIMVISION series, produced by Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani for Wildside and by Domenico Procacci for Fandango, in co-production with Umedia Production. 8:30pm Tuesday November 20 on FOX Showcase. A government investigation into the events surrounding the exit of Michelle Guthrie and Justin Milne from the ABC has failed to draw any conclusions about Board interference into editorial, nor why she was sacked. Secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts, Mike Mrdak met with former managing director Michelle Guthrie, former Chairman Justin Milne and current Acting Managing Director David Anderson for his 9 page report. None of the current Board were interviewed, Fairfax reports. Mitch Fifield was told Milne had lost confidence in Guthrie on September 12, twelve days before her exit on September 24. The next day, Milne asked Guthrie to resign, but she refused. 2 days before her dismissal Guthrie wrote an 11 page dossier to the Board outlining concerns about Milnes claiming interference in the independence of the ABC. She warned the board that if it sacked her, it would be viewed as retribution for her disclosure. That document was not available to the investigation. Mitch Fifield, Minister for Communications, said he was "not aware" that the former ABC chair told the former managing director Michelle Guthrie to sack journalists. pic.twitter.com/KkgwhbHSoF BuzzFeed Oz News (@buzzfeedoznews) October 15, 2018 I have never in any way, shape or form sought to involve myself in staffing matters, nor am I aware of any current or former member of the government seeking to do so, Fifield told the Senate today. The then-chair spoke to me in Canberra on September 12 to advise that the board no longer believed the managing director was best placed to lead the organisation. He further advised that he would be conveying this to the managing director on behalf of the board the following day. Although not sure where this matter would land, he hoped that a mutually agreeable path could be found. I indicated to the chair that I respected the managing directors position was, under the legislation, a matter for the board. Given the uncertainty as to how this would conclude, and out of respect for the privacy of the managing director, I undertook to not further convey that information at that time. On the question of whether Emma Alberici and Andrew Probyn matters played a direct role in her downfall, Mrdak wrote: The Chair did write an email to the MD on 8 May 2018 regarding Ms Alberici and the termination of her employment. The Chair also conveyed his views on the Probyn report to the MD including in a specific phone conversation. The report stated Milne did not consider the email about Alberici to be a direction to sack her, and said he did not recall saying Guthrie had to shoot Probyn. The Chair acknowledges that there was a heated disagreement with the MD on the call, Mrdak wrote. The MD considers that this was an angry and upsetting phone call from the Chair where she felt significant pressure to terminate Mr Probyns employment. The Secretary said the inquiry could not determine whether Guthrie standing firm against Milnes demands was a factor in her losing her own job, ABC reports. He found no basis to support the media suggestion that former PM Malcolm Turnbull or other government ministers told Milne or Guthrie to sack political editor Andrew Probyn or chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici. Another confidential review is still underway via an external, independent investigator over issues she raised in her letter to the board. Meanwhile The Australian reports a rumoured Four Corners episode on the whole sorry saga is dividing staff, even suggesting it is having trouble assigning a reporter. ABC is not commenting on whether an episode is planned. Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour tweeted excellent decision immediately after Guthries firing. Season 2 of The Missing begins on SBS next week. The series sees Tcheky Karyo reprising his role as detective Julien Baptiste, with a completely new story, location and cast. His character has since received his own spin-off series, Baptiste. It kicks off with a double episode before settling into single eps the following week. This screened on Pay TV in March 2017. A young British woman stumbles through the streets of her German hometown and collapses. Her name is Alice Webster, and she has been missing for eleven years. Alices return sends shockwaves through the small community of Eckhausen, especially when it is revealed that she may hold vital clues to the whereabouts of another missing girl. Season Two, Episode One: Come Home A young British woman stumbles through the streets of Eckhausen in Germany and collapses. Her name is Alice Webster and she was abducted from the same town eleven years ago. As the search for the abductor gathers pace, Alice also appears to hold vital clues to the whereabouts of a second missing girl, Sophie Giroux. Episode Two: The Turtle And The Stick After Alice returns to her family home, the Websters struggle to deal with the trauma she has suffered. As Matthew is faced with an unbearable request, Gemmas suspicions about what happened to her daughter begin to grow. 8:35pm Wednesday October 24 (9:35pm the following week). Netflix has dropped a trailer for The Sinner season 2 which lures Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) back to his hometown in rural New York to assess an unsettling and heart wrenching crime parents murdered by their 11-year-old son, with no apparent motive. As Ambrose realises theres nothing ordinary about the boy or where he came from, the investigation pulls him into the hidden darkness of his hometown. Hes pitted against those wholl stop at nothing to protect its secrets and a mysterious woman who proves to be a complicated, enigmatic piece to this haunting puzzle. Friday November 9 on Netflix. Seven and ABC have both advised of programming to cover the Royal Tour from Tuesday. ABC / ABC News Tues 11am AEDT Royal Visit: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, meet the public in Sydney ahead of the Invictus Games. Presented by Joe OBrien and Annabel Crabb with Jeremy Fernandez amongst the crowds at the Sydney Opera House. Seven Seven News anchors Michael Usher, Ann Sanders and Sunrises Edwina Bartholomew will lead the team who will be with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle every step of the way as they commence their first official tour as a newly married couple. Sevens Royal Tour coverage begins tomorrow from 5.30am with special coverage on Sunrise live from the Royal couples first reception at Admiralty House. Then join Ann and Michael from 11.30am for Seven News live rolling coverage as the couple heads to Taronga Zoo before travelling by boat to the Sydney Opera House for their first public walkabout. Live rolling coverage will continue for all 16 days of the Royal Tour, with Seven News extensive team of presenters and reporters, including Chris Reason, Mike Amor, Sharyn Ghidella, Max Futcher, Angie Asimus, Alex Hart and Sarah Greenhalgh, live in the field at key tour locations. With expert commentary from Seven News Europe Bureau Chief Hugh Whitfeld, Sunrises Royal Editor Rob Jobson and HELLO! UK Editor Emily Nash. Then each night at 6pm, Seven News will have the most comprehensive coverage of the Royal Tour as well as the days other headlines from both Australia and abroad. Your Royal Network led the way with the top-rating coverage of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and again the only network to telecast Friday nights all-star wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. For every guaranteed moment of the Royal Tour, youll see it all on Seven. Tune into Sunrise from 5.30am Tuesday 16 October for Day One of the Royal Tour. Then join Seven News from 11.30am Live on Seven and 7PLUS. Check local guides. This post updates. This Sunday another Aussie drama will depart our screens when A Place to Call Home wraps for the very last time. The show ran for 2 seasons on Seven before it was axed then famously rescued by Foxtel where it continued for 4 more seasons. Ahead of the finale, TV Tonight asked stars Marta Dusseldorp, Frankie J. Holden & David Berry what they thought the shows legacy would be? The show is based on kindness when a lot of shows are driven by plot, Dusseldorp explained. Our show sustainably had a community at its core. And thats ok. Its enough to have people trying to understand each other, to maintain an audience level and interest, love and need. It doesnt have to be punch it up, kill it up, make it quirky or strange with weird things going on. It has a very traditional form of storytelling at its core. So we really were a family and will always be a family. Its ok to just explore humanity sometimes. But there isnt a death here. People often say to me How will you live without them? But I dont, they will always be with me. So those two things combined tell me that its ok to just explore humanity sometimes. Frankie J. Holden who played local farmer Roy Briggs said over the 6 seasons he had come to know the Inverness characters intimately. It will be like losing a large family. It was a huge slice of their lives throughout the show and I am able to stand outside and look at it as a viewer might look at it. I really felt that I knew those people and hat I would miss them out of my life. So I think that will be the take out for a lot of people, he said. It will be like losing a large family. But not in a bad way because they havent died. David Berry, who played the Bligh familys black sheep James believes the fan campaign to rescue the show from oblivion will be long-remembered. That will be part of the legacy, and I think embedded in that is that the show came at a time when we were putting a lot of money into Australian drama. So it was seen as an expensive show. But I hope this isnt the pinnacle of expensive shows on TV. I hope its the springboard for more stuff. I hope that its it legacy, he said. He added that while Australian TV has always been embarrassed by earnest storytelling, A Place to Call Home embraced its emotions. In many ways this took its tonality from American drama. Bevan was inspired by Douglas Sirk in the 1950s, he continued. To earnestly attack emotion and display it on the screen was something that was one of the strengths of the show. And thats why people responded to it internationally, as well. When Foxtel came on they were completely on board with it. The three also noted the benefits of having Lee as a true showrunner in Australian drama. Theres normally a network exec who wants to stick his neck in! Holden observed. Dusseldorp agreed, When Foxtel came on they were completely on board with it. They were always present around the table but there werent any directives. They had respect for Bevan so that was another reason why the show maintained its vision and it wasnt sidetracked into becoming something else, Holden added. The show also won praise for tackling social taboos in a period piece, forcing its key characters to deal with change. Dusseldorp is a fan of works that hit a target audience but can also effect change. When they think they are watching one thing and you show them something else thats my favourite type of theatre, she continued. People say I never thought I would understand that, and now I actually do, because they relate to whatever taboo we were putting up. So that was really clever. It was lovely to be given a woman who could be silent And Sarah was not a likeable character, I really liked that about her. You didnt necessarily want to snuggle up with her with a hot toddy and have a chat! It was lovely to be given a woman who could be silent and have her own ways and means of doing things. (Bevan) put that within the centre of a lot of fabulous characters. So I enjoyed the strength I was allowed to play. A Place to Call Home finale airs 8:30pm Sunday on FOX Showcase. Aargh, gosh we lost the appeal! Google AdSense allows website operators to contract with Google to provide space on members' ("partners'") websites to display advertisements ("ads" for short). Google has a further programme known as AdWords, which enables advertisers to cause ads to appear on the Google search results pages. The AdSense programme uses those ads but delivers them instead to websites operated by partners. Google charges for providing its services to advertisers depending on the level of consumer interest which is generated by the ad, and that revenue is shared with Google's partners who host the ads on their websites. On target? Image from https://tinyurl.com/y8vz54h8 The question in this case was "whether the average consumer would regard the service of the provision of advertising space on [Argos Systems]'s website as targeted at UK consumers"? "I still think you may not have understood the idea of putting these Google Ads. 99% of visitors of argos.com are people NOT interested into getting CAD software or potential customers in any way in the future. They are simply there because they typed something in their browsers. 10000 different visitors a day! And simply providing ads for them to VIEW is enough to make money (they don't even need to click on the ads!) Is this money worth the hassle who knows, but without trying how can you know??" Argos Systems was aware of the misdirected traffic arriving at its website; the vast majority of this traffic came from the UK and Ireland; and because of the way the Google algorithm works, it is very likely that these visitors would be shown ads of interest to them. Therefore the Court of Appeal concluded that Argos Systems was targeting the UK through its electronic billboards. Can a US corporation selling construction software only in the Americas under the name ARGOS be sued for infringement of a registered trade mark by a UK based consumer goods retailer who trades mainly in the UK and Ireland under the same name?This question is posed by Floyd LJ in the introduction to the Court of Appeal decision on the [2018] EWCA Civ 2211 . The formulation of the question may make it easy to guess the Court of Appeal's ultimate decision.The IPKat report on the High Court decision is available here . Broadly speaking, the dispute concerns the domain name argos.com and Google's AdSense programme. Floyd LJ handily describes this programme as follows:Argos Systems was a Google AdSense partner from 2008 to 2015. Argos UK was an advertiser in the AdSense programme throughout the same period. Consequently, Google delivered ads for Argos' UK and Irish retail business to various partner websites, including Argos System's website at argos.com.Because a lot of internet users in the UK and Ireland wrongly assumed that Argos UK owned the argos.com domain, it was common for these users to visit Argos Systems' website by mistake. When Argos Systems joined the Google AdSense programme it started to earn revenue based on the volume of this traffic. Argos UK considered this revenue to be taking unfair advantage of its reputation in its trade marks. Although there were earlier claims based on double identity infringement i.e. Article 9(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (then in force) and passing off. However, by the time of the appeal, the only remaining claim was to Argos Systems taking unfair advantage of the distinctive character of the ARGOS mark i.e. the Article 9(1)(c).As in the High Court, the big question on appeal was targeting.But what is targeting (in this context)? Floyd LJ summarised it as "the criterion which the law has adopted for determining whether a foreign website which is accessible from the state in which the trade mark is protected should be treated as using a sign in the course of trade in relation to goods or services in that state."Targeting is essentially a jurisdictional principle - a threshold which must be met in order for the question of infringement to be considered. In other words, if you are doing business exclusively outside the UK, your business dealings should not be subject to UK trade mark law. As Floyd LJ pointed out, just because a website can be accessed from anywhere in the world does not mean that it targets all territories worldwide.This means that in order to succeed on targeting, Argos UK had to show that Argos Systems was using ARGOS in the course of trade in relation to goods or services in the United Kingdom. The Court of Appeal clarified in [2017] EWCA Civ 1834 . that this targeting should be considered on an objective basis. A subjective intention to target could be a relevant factor that the court would take into account in a finely balanced case. However, "subjective intention cannot ... make a website or page (or part of a page) which is plainly, when objectively considered, not intended for the UK, into a page which is so intended" [51].There was some fairly strong evidence to show that Argos Systems signed up to the AdSense programme with the intention of making money from the mistaken visitors. An email between a related Finnish company and Argos Systems made this point in terms:These Google ads ultimately resulted in ad revenue of around $30,000 per year.The service which Argos Systems offered the UK was found to be electronic billboard services. Therefore it was necessary to look at the ads themselves in order to determine whether Argos Systems' use of the sign ARGOS targeted the UK. Where the ads were relevant to UK consumers "it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the average consumers ... would conclude that someone was targeting the billboard service at them."The first instance judge found, amongst other things, that Argos Systems introduced the AdSense ads "with the specific intention of making money, by means of the ads, from [Argos UK] customers who were in fact seeking [Argos UK]'s website" but ultimately concluded that the ads did not target the UK because Google and not Argos Systems played the key role of delivering the ads..Although Google played an important role, the Court of Appeal noted that there was "abundant material" that:Although the Court reached a different conclusion on targeting, this was not enough to get Argos UK home on infringement. The court was also required to determine whether Argos Systems' use of the sign:i)gave rise to a link between the sign and Argos UK's mark?ii)took unfair advantage of the distinctive character or repute of the trade mark?iii)was "without due cause"?By way of reminder, in order for this link to be established, it is sufficient that the sign calls the trade mark to the mind of the average consumer (this was established by the CJEU inand ECLI:EU:C:2008:655 ). However, it is possible to establish a link even without a calling to mind. For example, in Interflora, there was found to be the relevant link despite the fact that the consumer already had the trade mark in mind when they commenced their keyword search.In this case, the UK and Irish users type in argos.com and immediately realise that they have not reached Argos UK's website. They have come to Argos Systems' website on the strength of Argos UK's website and consequently already have the relevant ARGOS mark in mind. Upon arrival at argos.com, visitors are confronted by the advertising billboard service. Regardless of whether they leave to the site by clicking on an ad or not, Argos Systems will at least gain a small advertising fee via the ad impression. The Court of Appeal considered that was sufficient for there to be the necessary link - once again overturning the finding of the first instance judgeSo where did it all go wrong for Argos? They won on targeting and the establishment of a link but unfair advantage eluded them.What is unfair advantage? The court went back to basics by looking at the CJEU decision inat [50].In that case, the court said that it was all about riding on the coat-tails of a mark with a reputation by seeking to benefit from the mark's power of attraction, reputation and prestige by exploiting the marketing effort expended by the trade mark's owner without paying any form of compensation. However, there are limits to unfair advantage, particularly in these unusual circumstances.If the Argos name and domain name had been deliberately selected the court may well have considered the advantage that Argos Systems obtained to have been unfair, however, in this case, the internet traffic was initially unwanted and expensive due to the high bounce rate and participation in Google AdSense is a fairly common business practice. There was no attempt made by Argos Systems to draw a link with Argos UK on their website so it was immediately clear to visitors that they had come to the wrong place. Further, the revenue raised was minimal in the context of Argos Systems' overall business.Consequently whilst Argos Systems did obtain an advantage, the Court of Appeal saw no reason to overturn the High Court judge's conclusion that this advantage was not unfair. Fintech is fast becoming integral to banking. Photo: Reuters Norways largest financial services group DNB (DNBHF) has paid 3m for a 5% stake in a new services firm 11:FS, a fintech challenger consultancy in Britain. 11:FS Foundry helps banks build and deliver digital banking services. The move is the latest in a line of relationships within the industry showing how fintech has moved into an era of working in collaboration with banks, rather than against them. This is the trend. Fintechs started with a great deal of arrogance in the first few waves trying more to break the banks than help them. Im glad that the industry has grown up. Really 80% of Fintech is more scary to the big slow moving suppliers to the banks than it is to the banks themselves, particularly with the push towards more B2B than B2C models being deployed, David Brear, CEO and co-founder of 11:FS. told Yahoo Finance UK. Really though this cuts both ways. Banks must have a real emotional intelligence to admit that the skills they have need to evolve. The ones who get this and learn to work and act in a new way will be the leaders for the next few decades. The banking and financial services industry has been evolving in two ways. On one side, challenger banks such as Monzo, Revolut, and Transferwise have been disrupting the industry by offering digital-only faster, cheaper, banking, and transferring services than the incumbent banks. Meanwhile, the banks have been trying to improve and move its services as the population increasingly moves towards a cashless existence. For example, the trade association UK Finance revealed that in 2017, debit card payments overtook cash payments. However, many retail banks in the UK have been beset with IT glitches for years, leading to some CEOs resigning or bosses saying the banks reputation has been shattered. It has led to them fire-fighting on one side and then trying to launch their own digital-only bank on the side. 11:FS Foundry was built to support banks to help them bring digital services faster to market. Brear says this deal between 11:FS Foundry and DNB shows that these kind of partnership can be part of helping banks move on and build the services people want by leveraging the expertise of a company that isnt laden down by legacy. Story continues For us at 11:FS we feel strongly that most people make this a technology problem and that its actually about hiring and nurturing talent in to a culture that allows them to thrive. With a great culture and a talented group of people you can achieve great things, whether youre evolving an existing bank or starting a new one, Brear said. What you find is that the best projects with the best intentions can fail for the wrong reasons. Ive seen people who want to transform their whole organisations but are told they must use technology X, which they know isnt good but that has four more years on the ROI (return on investment) so the selection criteria is already made for them. So what you get is compromises being made that significantly impact the cost to serve and the quality of service to the customer. Neither of which I think you would do if you were a challenger/start up; their focus is based around the customer experience and then finding the technology to make it happen. Ultimately, banks need to realise that there is a better way but also that what got them to today is not will get them to where they want to be next. New Zealands Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is the latest high-profile individual to be used in perpetuating a cryptocurrency scam. According to the Prime Ministers office, various ads bearing her image have appeared on social media network Facebook with the intention of persuading citizens of the Asia Pacific country to invest in a cryptocurrency startup. To add to the legitimacy, the ads also allege that the New Zealand Treasury has invested approximately NZ$250 million, or 50% of its currency reserves in a cryptocurrency firm known as Bitcoin Revolution, according to Stuff. The New Zealand Treasury has just invested half of its wealth into a new project which the government believes will shape the future of the financial industry. The New Zealand Treasury now looks set to take the world of blockchain technology by storm. On Saturday, they finalized a $250 million deal with The Bitcoin Revolution, saying that the future of finance depends upon people having access to the best possible resources, read one of the ads before they were eventually deleted by Facebook. New Fraud Plan The ads which bore the headline New Investment Plan for Kiwis targeted different demographic groups with some of them aimed at those aged between 30 and 45 while others were directed at those aged between 46 and 65. Late last year, John Key, the immediate former Prime Minister of New Zealand, was also featured on ads that appeared on social media platforms and which claimed that an investment of NZ$1,000 he had made seven years prior had resulted in a NZ$300 million fortune. Such cryptocurrency scams are a global epidemic, however, and are not restricted to New Zealand. Last month, for instance, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) was forced to issue a statement warning citizens over a fraudulent bitcoin investment scheme which purported to have been endorsed by the chairman of the MAS and Singapores Deputy Prime Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Story continues Riding the Celebrity Bandwagon In August the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, was also a victim of cryptocurrency scammers who used his image and person to promote a fraudulent bitcoin giveaway on social media. During the same month, the Twitter account belonging to the co-founder and CEO of electric car maker Tesla, Elon Musk, was momentarily hacked and used to promote a bitcoin and ethereum giveaway scam to followers of the tech billionaire. Other high-profile figures who have been impersonated include the co-founder of ethereum Vitalik Buterin, Hollywood actor William Shatner, tech entrepreneur and cryptocurrency evangelist John McAfee, and the founder and chairman of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Exposed: Bitcoin Scam Used New Zealands Prime Minister as an Endorsement appeared first on CCN. By Noor Zainab Hussain and Olzhas Auyezov (Reuters) - Kazatomprom [KZTPR.UL], the world's biggest uranium producer, said it will float up to a 25 percent stake in its planned initial public offering in London and Kazakhstan, as it looks to cash in on robust demand for the rare metal. The Kazakh company said in an IPO registration document, seen by Reuters, that it plans to publish the prospectus for the offering on Nov. 13. However, the global market for IPOs has been hit by recent turmoil in financial markets, prompting a number of companies to put listing plans on hold and Kazatomprom's plans are also subject to market conditions. The IPO is part of an ambitious privatisation programme set by Kazakhstan after Central Asia's biggest economy was hard hit by the fall in world oil prices. Kazatomprom said in a statement on Monday that Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, its sole shareholder, would sell shares in the offering in London and Astana but would still hold at least 75 percent of the company's issued share capital after the IPO. Kazatomprom accounts for 20 percent of the world's uranium production and seven years on from Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, the beaten down uranium sector is attracting interest again. "The company believes that the supply side of the uranium market is undergoing a structural shift, following a prolonged period of depressed spot prices and oversupply, underpinned by the prevalence of legacy long-term contracts, the majority of which were concluded in the period between years 2005 and 2012," Kazatomprom said on Monday. "As a significant portion of such (legacy long-term) contracts are set to expire in early 2020s, many utilities are likely to return to the market in the near-to medium-term to begin covering their future fuel needs," it said. Fifty six new nuclear reactors were under construction in 17 countries at the end of August, it added. Story continues Kazakhstan's close economic links with Russia could pose risks as Western sanctions imposed on Russia, or any future sanctions, could have an adverse effect on Kazakhstans economy and the group's business, but the IPO is still expected to be keenly awaited. "It (Kazatomprom IPO) is only going to generate further interest and introduce new investors to the commodity," Andre Liebenberg, CEO of uranium fund Yellow Cake , said. Kazatomprom said it has hired Credit Suisse and JPMorgan as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the share offering. China International Capital Corporation, Halyk Finance and Mizuho International plc were joint bookrunners. PRIVATISATION PROGRAMME Kazatomprom was one of four large Kazakh companies slated to make public share offerings this year and next, alongside telecommunications firm Kazakhtelecom , flagship carrier Air Astana and state oil company KazMunayGaz. In a bid to develop Kazakhstan's domestic equities market, the government also wants https://in.reuters.com/article/kazmunaygaz-ipo-banks/kazakhstan-presses-ahead-with-plans-for-ipo-of-state-oil-firm-sources-idINL5N1W047T shares of newly privatised firms to be listed on its Astana bourse. As well as listing in London, Kazatomprom said it would list shares and potentially GDRs on the Astana International Exchange (AIX). Following recent global market turmoil, Spanish oil company Cepsa became on Monday the latest firm to postpone listing plans, in what would have been the biggest oil IPO in a decade. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; Editing by Bernard Orr and Susan Fenton) Theresa May must change her Brexit approach to include continued membership of the single market and the customs union rather than railroading MPs into a bad deal, Nicola Sturgeon has said. As Brexit talks hit an impasse ahead of a crucial EU summit, Scotlands first minister urged MPs to reject any cobbled-together agreement and called for a Norway-style deal with Brussels, as the only democratic compromise that would unite different factions. Ms Sturgeon said the SNP would vote against a deal based on the prime ministers Chequers proposals, which she described as impractical, undesirable and undeliverable, and she insisted the Canada-style approach favoured by Brexiteers also lacked widespread support. She urged MPs to reject the false choice between whatever deal Ms May secures and a no-deal Brexit, and not to allow themselves to be railroaded into backing the prime minister over fears of a catastrophic cliff-edge exit from the EU. The Scottish leaders intervention comes as the prime minister was due to make an unscheduled commons statement on the state of Brexit negotiations after weekend talks broke down over arrangements for the Irish border. SNP leader Ms Sturgeon, speaking at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in London, said: In these circumstances, it is probably the case that the only option with any chance of commanding a parliamentary majority is single market and customs union membership. Now, I am not saying that the way to such a solution would be easy. But it might well be the only option which is not completely impossible at this stage. It should be acceptable to the EU. It avoids the worst economic damage that Brexit will wreak. It resolves the Irish border issue. And it comes closest to reconciling the different views of Leavers and Remainers. She accused the government of threatening us with fire, to make us choose the frying pan, and argued any deal Ms May presents will probably be vague about the future relationship with the EU and damaging to the UKs interests. Story continues For MPs to support a bad or blindfold Brexit a cobbled together withdrawal agreement and a vague statement about our future relationship would in my view be a real dereliction of duty, Ms Sturgeon said. She added: As the crucial vote looms closer, it is also time for individual members of the House of Commons to consider what compromises they see as justified and which are not if they are to serve their constituents and the wider public interest. If they do that, I believe that a common sense outcome could yet be found. The first minister reiterated her support for a new Brexit referendum if a sensible plan cannot be agreed, an option The Independent is backing through its Final Say campaign. Scotland voted by 62 to 38 per cent in favour of remaining in the EU in 2016, and the SNP government has been vocal in its opposition to the prime ministers exit strategy. The SNP has also argued Brexit strengthens the case for Scottish independence, heaping pressure on Conservatives north of the border. Ruth Davidson, the Scots Tory leader, hinted she would resign if Northern Ireland was given special trading terms with the EU in a Brexit deal, against a background of the SNP arguing for Scotland to remain in the single market even if the rest of the UK leaves. Ms Davidson said she could not support such an agreement, in a joint letter to the prime minister also signed by David Mundell, the Scottish secretary. Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said Ms Sturgeons speech was merely drumming up the prospects for Scottish independence. If the SNP doesnt back a deal, it is automatically supporting a no-deal scenario something the nationalists have admitted would be bad for Scotland, he said. And, of course, they dont care if outcomes are bad for Scotland, so long as theyre good for the prospects of another independence referendum. This was just the latest opportunistic contribution from Nicola Sturgeon, whose behaviour on the Brexit process has been selfish and utterly shameless. FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, May 19, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/FIle photo (Reuters) - Ecuador has restored partial internet access to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who took refuge in the country's London Embassy more than six years ago, WikiLeaks and an Assange lawyer said separately on Sunday. The move comes nearly six months after the Ecuadorean government suspended Assange's communications in March, after he discussed issues on social media that could damage the country's diplomatic relations, including a diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow as well as Catalonian separatism. "Ecuador rolls back @JulianAssange isolation," WikiLeaks said in a message on Twitter. The change was also confirmed by Assange's Australian legal adviser, Greg Barns, who called it "a welcome development." An Assange spokesman said his communications have been only partially restored. Assange took refuge in Ecuador's London Embassy after British courts ordered his extradition to Sweden to face questioning in a sexual molestation case. That case has since been dropped. But friends and supporters say Assange now fears he could be arrested and eventually extradited to the United States if he leaves the embassy. WikiLeaks, which published U.S. diplomatic and military secrets when Assange ran the operation, faces a U.S. grand jury investigation. "The main issue, the requirement for the UK to give an undertaking that Julian would not be extradited to the U.S., remains unresolved," Barns told Reuters. Friends and supporters of Assange say he has had contact only with lawyers since Ecuador suspended his communications with the outside world. WikiLeaks recently announced that one of Assange's longtime associates, Kristin Hrafnsson, had taken over from him as WikiLeaks editor in chief. As a 2016 presidential candidate, President Donald Trump praised WikiLeaks for publishing hacked emails that embarrassed his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. But Trump administration officials have condemned Assange, while a federal grand jury continues a long-running criminal investigation of WikiLeaks and its personnel, a U.S. official recently confirmed. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball and Michael Holden; Writing by David Morgan; Editing by Sandra Maler) Residents of Seneca Avenue in Panama City, Florida, assessed the widespread damage to their neighborhood on October 11, the morning after Hurricane Michael made landfall on Floridas panhandle. Josh Champion wrote in an Instagram post that it took them and their neighbors two days to clear roadways through their neighborhood. It wouldve taken much longer to get out, Josh Champion said in an email to Storyful. But we worked with our neighbors using axes, small chainsaws, hatchets, machetes, handsaws, and whatever else we could find. It was us and 2 volunteers who own a tree service in Tampa that finally cleared an entrance, so the National Guard could finally gain access. Credit: @emeraldcoastchef via Storyful By Steve Holland LYNN HAVEN, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump got a first-hand look on Monday at the total devastation" that Hurricane Michael brought to Florida, as rescuers searched for scores of missing and hundreds of thousands of residents remained without electricity. Trump and first lady Melania Trump passed out bottles of water at an aid centre in Lynn Haven, a city of about 18,500 people near Panama City in northwestern Florida, after taking a helicopter flight from Eglin Air Force Base about 100 miles (160 km) to the west. "To see this personally is very tough - total devastation," said Trump, who later travelled to neighbouring Georgia to see storm damage there. At least 18 deaths in four states have been blamed on Michael, which crashed into the Panhandle last Wednesday as one of the most powerful storms on record to hit the continental United States. Thousands of rescuers, including volunteers, are still combing remote areas of the Florida Panhandle for those reported missing. They include 46 in Mexico Beach, according to ABC News. The town took a direct hit from the hurricane, and at least one person died there. With most Mexico Beach homes already searched for survivors, rescue workers began using cadaver dogs to try to recover any human remains that might be buried under debris. "The next phase is recovery," Ignatius Carroll, a Miami fire captain who leads a Federal Emergency Management Agency rescue team, said by phone as he combed through wreckage. "We start using the dogs for larger rubble piles that were created by the storm." Searchers went through debris by hand, rather than with machines, so as not to destroy any bodies, Mexico Beach Councillor Linda Albrecht said. "We expect to find everybody, because that's our mentality. We expect everything to work out, but who knows what's down the road?" said Albrecht, who returned to her home on Sunday to find it destroyed. Story continues About 200,000 people remained without power in the U.S. Southeast, with residents cooking with fires and barbecue grills during daylight in hard-hit coastal towns such as Port St. Joe, Florida. BILLIONS IN INSURED LOSSES Insured losses for wind and storm surge from Hurricane Michael will run between an estimated $6 billion and $10 billion, risk modeller AIR Worldwide said. Those figures do not include losses paid out by the National Flood Insurance Program or uninsured property, AIR Worldwide said. With top sustained winds of 155 miles per hour (250 kph), Michael hit the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Rescue efforts have been hampered by roads choked with downed trees after coastal woodlands and forests were uprooted by the storm. Water service was restored to some in Panama City on Monday but Bay County officials said it was not yet safe to drink. Homeowners were advised to keep toilet flushes to a minimum because the sewer system was operating only at half capacity. The Florida Division of Emergency Management said that while power was returning in most areas, at least 85 percent of customers in four mainly rural Panhandle counties were without electricity on Monday. Officials said it could be weeks before power returns to the most-damaged areas. "We're living in the daylight, and living in the dark once night gets here," said Port St. Joe Mayor Bo Patterson, whose town of 3,500 was without power. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Terray Sylvester, Bernie Woodall in Florida, Makini Brice and Roberta Rampton in Washington, Rich McKay in Atlanta and Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney) New Kat on the block c/o https://www.coolstuff.com/Kidults-Kitty-Blocks This Kat had the pleasure of attending IR Global s event on IP and blockchain this morning. A select gathering of IP experts from around the world sat down in a London hotel and considered the merits of blockchain and what it could mean for the (intellectual property) future. What is blockchain? The most well known example of a blockchain is Bitcoin , a form of cryptocurrency based on a particular blockchain but there are any more options. For the uninitiated , blockchain is a form of "distributed ledger technology". This essentially means that it is a database which is simultaneously available via a network to any number of computers in the same format at the same time. Rather than having a centralised authority stating whether or not a particular change to the database is accurate or "true," the accuracy of a transaction is determined via some pre-agreed method of consensus between the computers (or "nodes") which are part of the particular blockchain network. This means that the accuracy of the data in the blockchain is much more reliable, accurate and secure than a centralised system. This has various interesting use cases for the world of IP, particularly in terms of tracking (i) digital assets such as music or photographs to enable more accurate and transparent royalty payments and (ii) physical assets via a unique reference number (such as a QR code ) which is added to the physical product and enables an individual item to be identified in and tracked through the blockchain. How do you join a blockchain? Bitcoin is an open system which allows everyone to join the system but has a method for determining consensus via proof of state (also known as bitcoin mining). As some participants noted, you might need to get some help with tech support in downloading and installing the relevant software... Other closed systems may be available on an invitation only basis. Examples of the blockchain in practice Blockchain may be a hot topic but is it actually put into general practice? Judging by the experience of the attendees, a lot of businesses are considering potential use cases but the options are not necessarily ones where a blockchain would be necessary or even appropriate. For example, it is not necessary to record share certificates for a private company when all shareholders will typically have their own copy of the register in any event - a sort of unofficial blockchain. Similarly, there is a music payment platform which is looking at tracking music streams and downloads on Spotify and similar platforms in order to determine more precise royalty payments. This information is already available without the need for a blockchain but it could be helpful to make the payments process linked to a blockchain in order to improve transparency and, to use a popular tech term, reduce "friction" in the process. ecurity and transparency. This makes blockchain technology particularly useful in the context of supply chain management and anti-counterfeiting. For example, Everledger started off tracking diamonds and liaising with everyone from Customs to diamonds dealers in order to demonstrate the provenance of the gems listed on its blockchain. Its technology has since been embraced by other industries such as the luxury goods industry. The two major advantages of the blockchain are s Smart contracts Smart contracts are not necessarily contracts (or even than smart). Essentially they mean that X event (such as the transfer of an asset) occurs when Y conditions are met. This could be in the context of the release of funds in a transaction or even the transfer of deeds in a property. Apparently the Swedish real estate system has been streamlined thanks to smart contracts which have been both popular and efficient. Do you need a blockchain at all? In many circumstances, probably not but it can improve speed, transparency and security in a wide number of situations from factory audits and supply chain to digital rights management. It is a new technology which is still finding its feet and may not be useful in every situation but it is worth getting your head around the basic concepts now. Even if blockchain is just a trendy term which helps people to review their digital houses and physical supply chains, it is still a helpful process to go through. Want to find out more? Trademark Reporter which looks at the use of blockchain in the fashion industry. For those interested in finding out more about the blockchain - check out my article for thewhich looks at the use of blockchain in the fashion industry. The Guardian For a more negative view on blockchain see this recent article from Georgia Senator David Perdue reportedly snatched a phone from a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology when questioned on potential voter suppression on Saturday, October 13. The Republican senator was visiting the campus to campaign for Georgia governor nominee Brian Kemp, who faced criticism this week following the release of an Associated Press investigation that found Kemps office was holding 53,000 voter registration applications. The AP reported the majority of the applications belonged to Black Americans. When questioned about this issue by a student, Perdue grabbed the students phone before walking away, the Washington Post reported. A voice asking questions can be heard in this video calling out, He wont answer why hes endorsing a candidate whos trying to purge people from voting on the basis of their race. Credit: YDSA Georgia Tech via Storyful By Elizabeth Piper, Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May urged the EU on Monday not to allow a stand-off over a 'backstop' for Ireland to derail Brexit talks, saying she believed a deal was still achievable as a top EU official said chances of a no-deal divorce had increased. Addressing a rowdy session of parliament before she headed to Brussels for a summit on Wednesday, May remained upbeat but repeated she would not agree to anything that could split the United Kingdom. With less than six months before Britain leaves the bloc, talks stalled at the weekend over how to ensure there is no return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. The stalemate has increased the possibility of Britain leaving the bloc without an agreement, a "no deal" Brexit that could potentially disrupt trade, delay movement of goods, and starve the world's fifth largest economy of investment. European Council President Donald Tusk said that scenario was "more likely than ever before" and one that the EU should be ready for, though all parties must do their best to reach a deal. He said he had invited May to address her 27 EU peers on Brexit on Wednesday evening. May said it was frustrating that "almost all the remaining points of disagreement are focused on how we manage a scenario which both sides hope should never come to pass and which, if it does, would only be temporary. "We cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with a 'no-deal' outcome that no-one wants," she told parliament. Underlining the economic importance of Brexit, the head of British-headquartered pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca said it would keep its freeze on manufacturing investments in the country unless a deal provides clarity about future ties. DIVISIONS ON SHOW The 2016 referendum on membership of the EU deeply divided Britain, and those rifts were on show in parliament, where May received more demands for reassurance than words of support from lawmakers, even those in her own Conservative Party. Story continues May tried to explain the obstacles, which she described as largely technical, that had scuppered any hope of agreement in the talks in Brussels on Sunday. She said the EU had stuck to a proposal of keeping Northern Ireland in its customs union if a UK-wide plan was not ready to be put in place when a transitional arrangement runs out at the end of 2020. May insists any customs arrangement as part of the backstop must be temporary, ending at the latest in December 2021, but the EU has refused to set an end date. May described that as asking for "a backstop to a backstop" and said again Northern Ireland could not be treated differently from the rest of Britain. "As I have said many times, I could never accept that, no matter how unlikely such a scenario may be," she said. But May still faces a struggle to ease the concerns of not only the EU, but of her Conservative Party and her partners in parliament, Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The DUP's Nigel Dodds pressed May for new reassurance that she will stand by her words about Britain leaving as one country, rolling his eyes when she answered by repeating familiar phrases. May also needs to try to keep eurosceptics in her party on board. Her former foreign minister turned loudest critic, Boris Johnson, pressed her to put a firm time limit on any backstop. EU leaders expressed disappointment that the backstop row had sunk the possibility of a deal at the weekend, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying "at the moment it actually looks a bit more difficult". Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said any deal would now "take a bit more time than many people had hoped". But a spokesman for May expressed hope, saying there were "a number of means of achieving what we want to achieve" on the backstop, but declined to give details. And, in a change of tone, Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP, told reporters she also hoped for a "sensible" Brexit. Nigel Farage, who as head of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) was a leading 'leave' campaigner for the 2016 referendum on EU membership, said he believed negotiations had "hit a wall". (Additional reporting by Amanda Ferguson in Belfast, Gabriela Baczynska, Francesco Guarascio, Alastair Macdonald in Brussels and Michelle Martin in Berlin; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The leader of Sweden's Moderate Party, Ulf Kristersson, said on Sunday he had been unable to get enough support for a centre-right coalition government, putting the task of finding a candidate for prime minister back in the hands of parliament's speaker. Sweden has been in a state of political deadlock since a Sept. 9 election when neither the Alliance bloc - headed by Kristersson - nor a grouping of centre-left parties won enough votes for a majority and both ruled out a deal with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who hold the balance of power. Kristersson said on Friday he was prepared to try to form a minority government without all the parties in the four-party Alliance bloc, but the Liberal and Centre parties of his bloc scuppered the plan by refusing to back it. "I have done what I can, for now," Kristersson said on Sunday as he told the speaker he was giving up his attempts to form a government for the moment. The speaker has four attempts to find a prime minister acceptable to parliament or there will be another election. The speaker said on Sunday he would talk to the parties on Monday and hand someone else the task of forming the government. The baton is likely to pass next to Stefan Lofven, the leader of the Social Democrats and current caretaker prime minister. He lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Sept. 25. But if other candidates fail Kristersson can be handed a second chance. "I'm disappointed that (the Alliance) is now missing an opportunity to form a new government with a new policy... I'm still ready to be prime minister and to lead an Alliance government," Kristersson said. (Reporting by Johan Sennero and Esha Vaish; Editing by Johan Ahlander/Keith Weir) FILE PHOTO: A rebel fighter carries his weapon as he walks past the turret of a damaged tank at the Mastouma military base, after they seized it, in Idlib May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah/File Photo Thomson Reuters BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's main jihadist group signaled on Sunday it would abide by the terms of a Russian-Turkish deal to prevent a Syrian government offensive on rebel-held Idlib the day before a critical deadline. Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance spearheaded by al Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate previously known as the Nusra Front, said it had accepted the deal after taking time for "consultation". Idlib's other main rebel faction, a Turkish-aligned alliance of groups known as the National Liberation Front, has already expressed its support for the agreement. The deal sets up a demilitarized zone running 15-20 km (9-13 miles) deep into rebel territory that must be evacuated of all heavy weapons and all jihadist groups by Monday, Oct. 15. Turkey has been working to persuade Tahrir al-Sham to comply with the agreement, which it arranged with the Syrian government's main ally Russia to avert an assault that it feared would send a new wave of refugees toward its border. However, Tahrir al-Sham also said in its statement, issued via its social media channels, that it would not end its jihad or hand over its weapons. Idlib and adjacent areas are the last stronghold of rebels who rose against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. It is also home to an estimated 3 million people, more than half of whom have already been displaced at least once during the war. (Reporting by Angus McDowall; editing by David Stamp) See Also: SEOUL, South Korea (AP) The rival Koreas are holding high-level talks Monday to discuss further engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. South Korea said Monday's talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as Washington has expressed unease over the fast pace in inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with U.S.-led efforts to denuclearize the North. KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) The nine climbers who died during the worst disaster on a Nepal mountain in recent years included the first South Korean to summit all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 meters without using supplemental oxygen. Seoul's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday that Kim Chang-ho was among the dead but has not yet disclosed the names of the four other South Koreans. Four Nepalese guides also were killed when a storm swept the climbers' base camp on Gurja Himal mountain Friday. Rescuers had retrieved the climbers' bodies on Sunday after weather cleared. The body of one of the guides was taken to his village, while the eight others were flown to Kathmandu. The nine climbers who died during a storm on a Nepal mountain included Kim Chang-ho, who was the first South Korean to summit all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 meters without using supplemental oxygen. Seoul's Foreign Ministry confirmed his identity Monday but has not yet disclosed the names of the four other South Koreans who died in the weekend storm. Four Nepalese guides also were killed when a storm swept their base camp on Gurja Himal mountain Friday. Kim achieved his feat in 2013. The South Korean ministry told reporters the storm blew the victims from their base camp off a steep cliff. Story continues SYDNEY (AP) Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney on Monday, a day before they officially start a 16-day tour of Australia and the South Pacific. The trip is their only international tour since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were married in May, apart from a two-day visit to Ireland. The prince and the former American actress landed on an overcast morning after a commercial flight from London with a brief stopover in Singapore. They have 76 engagements scheduled over 16 days in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. In Australia, they will pet a koala in a Sydney zoo, visit in the drought-stricken Outback town of Dubbo and meet indigenous leaders on Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island, in northeastern Queensland state. WASHINGTON (AP) By making a rare second trip this year to Vietnam, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is signaling how intensively the Trump administration is trying to counter China's military assertiveness by cozying up to smaller nations in the region that share American wariness about Chinese intentions. The visit beginning Tuesday also shows how far U.S.-Vietnamese relations have advanced since the tumultuous years of the Vietnam War. Mattis, a retired general who entered the Marine Corps during Vietnam but did not serve there, visited Hanoi in January. By coincidence, that stop came just days before the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive in 1968. NEW DELHI (AP) India's junior external affairs minister on Sunday denied any wrongdoing after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct when he was a newspaper editor. M.J. Akbar threatened to take legal action against the women, calling the allegations "false, baseless and wild" in a statement issued hours after he returned from an official trip to Africa. It's the first time Akbar has reacted publicly to the string of accusations against him amid calls from journalists and opposition politicians for him to resign. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice," Akbar said in the statement. ASAKA, Japan (AP) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe renewed his pledge Sunday to push for a revision to the country's war-renouncing constitution, in which he wants the military explicitly mentioned. Speaking before a field of about 4,000 troops, Abe said that a revision is needed to give his troops sense of pride. "You have gained public trust with your own hands," Abe, wearing a tuxedo, told the troops in his address. "Now it's time to fulfill our responsibility as politicians to accommodate an environment where all Self-Defense Force can accomplish their duties with sense of pride." About 260 tanks and other military vehicles and 40 warplanes were exhibited at the event. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) Several thousand pro-military and nationalist demonstrators marched through Yangon on Sunday, voicing their support for Myanmar's armed forces and government while condemning foreign involvement in the country's affairs. The march led to a stage lined with portraits of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, where speakers addressed a flag-waving crowd and condemned the international community's involvement in Myanmar, claiming groups would "fight back" against international bodies who have called for the investigation and prosecution of the country's top generals. "We, the people of Myanmar, strongly denounce and condemn any intervention or intrusion by the foreign countries, international communities and various organizations which unrightfully manipulate our nation and our Myanmar armed forces," proclaimed one of the speakers of the event, reading from a prepared statement. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) Cambodia's prime minister says he has agreed to the resumption of U.S. military-led missions to search for the remains of Americans missing in action during the Vietnam War, following an appeal from two U.S. state lawmakers. The long-running program was suspended a year ago after the U.S. government stopped issuing visas to senior Cambodian Foreign Ministry officials and their families. The tit-for-tat move came amid sharply deteriorating relations between the two countries. In a letter released on Saturday addressed to Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen and Washington state Rep. Vincent Buys, both Republicans, Prime Minister Hun Sen said he appreciated their understanding of "Cambodia's ongoing socio-economic and democratic progress," and was agreeing to remove the block "in the same compassionate spirit." He added that he was making the move even though the visa ban remains in place. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Malaysian Prime Minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim has taken his oath as a lawmaker, marking his return to active politics three years after he was imprisoned for sodomy in a charge critics said was politically motivated. The swearing-in ceremony in parliament Monday followed Anwar's huge win in a by-election Saturday in the southern coastal town of Port Dickson. The seat was vacated after a lawmaker from his party quit to pave the way for Anwar's political comeback. Anwar, 71, was designated as successor to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad after the two men set aside a bitter feud and united to capture a stunning victory in May's general election. Muzamil Jaleel| Sun 31 Aug 2008| Kashmiri Muslims have broken new ground by waging a non-violent separation struggle but the Indian authorities seem unsure how to respond Flowing black beard, a headband with Allahu akbar (God is greatest) and a fluttering green flag. This has been the trademark picture of the recent azadi(freedom) processions of Kashmir, where hundreds of thousands marched the streets of this disputed Himalayan region seeking a separation from India. From a distance, it seems as if the past has returned to Kashmir. But the present contains an irrefutable truth: in place of guns, the people carry slogans. The politics of protest this time is not about the argument of power, but about the power of argument. Kashmir is the first conflict-ridden Muslim region in the world where people have consciously made a transition from violence to non-violence, and this includes the staunch Islamists too. In fact, the wisdom behind the use of arms to fight a political struggle was being silently debated within Kashmir ever since 9/11 blurred the lines dividing terrorism and genuine political movements. The deteriorating situation inside Pakistan too had tilted the balance towards a peaceful struggle. Thus when Kashmiris decided to come out to demand azadi recently, there were no militant attacks or suicide bombings. It was through massive unarmed processions where people shouted slogans and waved flags. And when the government tried to halt them, the anger was only manifested through stone pelting. Sensing the overwhelming public mood, the militant groups immediately declared a unilateral ceasefire, admitting the insignificance of the gun for an unarmed peoples movement. This major shift has not been registered even as it has already formed a new discourse for Kashmirs separatist struggle. New Delhis response was usual it again used its iron fist, killing 38 unarmed protesters and injuring more than a thousand and enforcing a strict curfew with a hope that the people will be ultimately cowed down. The separatist leadership too was rounded up. This only shows that New Delhi is misreading the script. This time the authorities are not faced with gun-wielding men but unarmed people. A heavy clampdown keeping the population indoors only puts a temporary lid on the seething anger. Instead of a military intervention, New Delhi should have immediately attempted sincere political and democratic means to engage Kashmir and calm the tempers. New Delhis approach to handling Kashmir for past two decades has been simple and straight: militancy is the only problem and that can be sorted out by stringent military measures. Though there have been several rounds of negotiations with a faction of the separatist leadership too, New Delhi used the process more as a photo-op than a serious effort to address the demands of the people. There have been half a dozen occasions when separatist leadership joined a dialogue with New Delhi to resolve the Kashmir problem amicably only to find the exercise nothing more than a surrender and thus futile. The distrust towards New Delhi had reached such proportions that when moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq decided to join talks with New Delhi, his uncle was murdered in Kashmir. Despite a serious threat to his life, he joined the talks directly with the prime minister of India. Again, the non-serious approach of New Delhi derailed the process, further eroding the credibility of talks with New Delhi in the eyes of Kashmiris. The public standing of separatist leaders who had agreed to talk to New Delhi also diminished substantially. The recent protests by hundreds of thousands of unarmed people too dont seem to have changed the mindset of New Delhis ruling elite. Instead of acknowledging the intensity of the uprising and the depth of the sentiment in Kashmir, New Delhi again refuses to face the reality and delays engaging in a sincere dialogue with the separatist leadership. The Kashmiris have overwhelmingly announced that peaceful processions and not guns are now their favoured means of protest. This needs to be encouraged and allowed to take firm roots because it could help to put an end to the bloodshed in Kashmir and make an amicable resolution of the problem easy. The phenomenon could also have a positive influence over a dozen such violent conflicts in other Muslim regions across the world. But if peaceful protests are crushed like armed movements, another wave of violence will take root, reinforcing the idea that the gun is mightier than a slogan. courtesy: Guardian UK Christmas Blessing 2018 "In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti Whether it's in China or Ethiopia, Pakistan or Egypt, Christians around the world anticipate the wonder of the Christmas season. Celebrating the Messiah's birth takes on a whole new meaning for those living in a hostile or restricted nation. Imagine then their surprise to receive a gift from Christian brothers and sisters thousands of miles away -- a gift that blesses their children; their families; and, in some cases, even their communities. The Christmas Blessing fund is designed specifically to be a means whereby Canadian Christians can express love and encouragement to their persecuted brothers and sisters. As gifts are typically given to family members and loved ones during the Christmas season, this fund provides a unique opportunity to remind persecuted Christians of the ultimate gift given by the Father: the gift of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Preparations for this year's Christmas Blessing project are already well underway. Winterization kits are now being developed to provide much needed relief and encouragement to Christian families in Syria and Iraq. Please consider helping The Voice of the Martyrs Canada be agents of God's hope and joy for our persecuted brothers and sisters through Christmas Blessing 2018. Srinagar:The students of Kashmir University on Monday staged a protest march in Srinagar to express solidarity with Kashmiri students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) facing harassment over the issue of funeral prayers for martyred PhD scholar, Dr Mannan Wani. Reports said the students from various departments took out a march and assembled outside the Humanities Block and in Hazratbal and raised pro-freedom slogans. The students, who took part in the protest, said they organised the peaceful march to protest the killing of Dr Mannan Wani and to express solidarity with AMU Kashmiri students, facing harassment in the campus for trying to offer funeral prayers in absentia for Dr Wani. The protesting students were also carrying banners with pictures of former KU faculty member martyred Dr Rafi Butt, who was killed during a cordon and search operation early this year. Ed Yong in The Atlantic: Last year, the world learned that researchers led by David Evans from the University of Alberta had resurrected a virus called horsepox. The virus hasnt been seen in nature for decades, but Evanss team assembled it using genetic material they ordered from a company that synthesizes DNA. The work caused a huge stir. Horsepox is harmless to people, but its close cousin, smallpox, killed hundreds of millions before being eradicated in 1980. Only two stocks of smallpox remain, one held by Russia and the other by the United States. But Evanss critics argued that his work makes it easier for others to re-create smallpox themselves, and, whether through accident or malice, release it. That would be horrific: Few people today are immunized against smallpox, and vaccine reserves are limited. Several concerned parties wrote letters urging scientific journals not to publish the paper that described the work, but PLOS One did so in January. This controversy is the latest chapter in an ongoing debate around dual-use research of concernresearch that could clearly be applied for both good and ill. More than that, it reflects a vulnerability at the heart of modern science, where small groups of researchers and reviewers can make virtually unilateral decisions about experiments that have potentially global consequences, and that everyone else only learns about after the fact. More here. by Evert Cilliers aka Evert Eden It was the most riveting TV of the 21st century. And why? Because we saw two American faces under the greatest strain. Something you only see acted out in the final moments of some grand fictional drama. Something Eugene ONeill mightve written. But here it was for real: an actual live event starring two actual live humans. How do you think you would have acted under such trying circumstances? Who do you think showed most clearly that admirable Hemingway quality of grace under pressure? Lets explore. There was the face of the woman. Doctor Christine Blasey Ford. Polite, modest, personable, reasonable, soft-spoken, civic-minded, rational, scientific (hippocampus). And so female: accommodating, seemingly fragile but steely, and terribly anxious to please. Collegial as she put it. And doing her best to be, in her own words, more helpful. She was other-directed: how can I help you? Cast as the accuser, Doctor Ford was anything but angrily accusatory. She had plenty to be angry about, but she wasnt angry. She had plenty to cry about, but she didnt cry. Yes, she teared up a lot. But she got at her most teary only when she was complimented on her bravery. Under horrible circumstances, having to relive her trauma in front of an audience of millions and terrified, Doctor Ford was utterly endearing. Sweet. In fact, charming. One wanted to reach out and comfort her. She was the face of the American woman. The good face of America. Then there was the face of the man. Judge Kavanaugh. Loud, yelling, blustery, arrogant, dominant, accusatory, raging, belligerent, out-of-control, rude, the judicial temperament of Godzilla. Judge Kavanaugh was self-directed: it was all about him. So male. And the weirdest part of all: he was a crybaby. Hey, people, Im the big victim here. Please, youve got to feel sorry for me, because Im so sorry for myself. Such a crybaby. John Wayne wouldve been disgusted. What a performance. Yes, Judge Kavanaugh performed, he acted out, he pulled a political stunt to appeal to Trumps base of Fox News viewers, he even sprouted conspiracy-nut cant (revenge on behalf of the Clintons dear lord). Doctor Ford did not perform: she just was. I believe she told the truth. And I believe Judge Kavanaugh lied. Not only because of his big lie that he didnt do what Doctor Ford so vividly described but also because of his little lies to make himself look better. About The Devils Triangle: its not a drinking game, its a sexual threesome of two men and one woman. About have you boofed yet?: its not about flatulence, it means anal sex. About Renates Alumni: it didnt mean she was a good friend, it was a frat-boy brag about sexual conquest. About his drinking to black-out excess: I like beer was all he admitted. Kind of funny, that. About the four people who were placed at the gathering by Doctor Ford, who all say they cant recall it: Judge Kavanaugh kept saying they said it never happened. That was NOT what they said. That was what he wished theyd said. A lying, self-pitying, blustering crybaby, who acted like a child whose candy was being snatched away from him. Or whod been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Acting very guilty-seeming. You didnt want to reach out and comfort the man. You wanted to stand back from his rage, in case his spit splattered you. What we saw was the face of the American male. The face of aggrieved entitlement and privilege. The face of toxic masculinity. The bad face of America. There was something fundamental and primeval about the event. It made me feel as though the entire history of humankind is about the struggle of women against men. As if some kind of veil had been ripped off reality and revealed the soul and spirit of America for what it was. The good and the bad America. The male and the female America. They ought to play the tape for school children. Teach them how to behave under stress. Learn what good and bad looks like. It also showed us two very good examples of our elite. How they comport themselves. How our elite trains their elite-educated children: to be either nice or nasty, to either exult in their privilege (I got into Yale) or to be deprecatingly modest and fair-minded about it (I like to be collegial). Anyway, this is what I saw. What did you see? Did you believe and admire Doctor Ford? Did you believe and admire Judge Kavanaugh? Inasmuch as you mightve admired Judge Kavanaughs performance, you are part of bad America. To get very political, this was also the face of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. And time for a lament: is this what the GOP has come to? The party of Lincoln, of Eisenhower, of noblesse-oblige country-clubbers is this party now the status-loss-anxiety pity party of privileged yahoos like Judge Kavanaugh and President Trump? Oy. To stay political: what was up with the Dem senators? With Cory Booker and Kamala Harris? Here was Kavanaugh on the attack, arrogant and rude, and they just soft-ball him? Why didnt they fight back as hard as he did? They style themselves to be Presidential contenders? Really? For that, you need a bit of gumption. Booker and Harris showed the gumption of a toasted marshmallow. Why did not one Senate Democrat ask: Judge Kavanaugh, you lied to us before during these hearings, why should we believe you now? Why did not one of them ask: Judge Kavanaugh, either youre lying now or you were too drunk to remember that you tried to rape a fifteen-year-old girl which is it? Darn it, why are the Democrats such wimps? Why dont they at least fight, even if they cant bring themselves to fight dirty like the Republicans? Kavanaugh fought with everything he had yet the Democrats did not fight him with one tiny percent of the big hundred percent he gave. He rolled over their polite questions like a tank. They even let him get away with being outright rude. Their civility was servile. At present theres only one fighter among our Democratic leaders: Senator Elizabeth Warren, who should run against Trump in 2020, because shes the only Democrat up for a good fight. I wouldve dearly liked to see Senator Warren question Judge Kavanaugh: she wouldve taken him apart (like shes done to some CEOs). Two final questions. Who would you yourself rather be: Doctor Ford or Judge Kavanaugh? And who do you want the face of America to be: Doctor Ford or Judge Kavanaugh? Let your vote this November be your answer. by Andrea Scrima Ally Klein was born in 1984 and studied philosophy and literature; she lives and works in Berlin. Carter (Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz, Austria, August 2018) is her first book. The novels plot is easily summarized. Carter, the main character of the eponymous novel, is dead. When the narrator hears the news, he or shethe sex is never clearis caught by surprise. The book opens with an introductory recapitulation of events, but reveals very little in the way of biographical information about the person telling the story. When the story proper begins, the narrating self wanders ghostlike through the streets of an unknown city until, one night, it runs into Cartera striking figure bursting with so much life energy that she immediately pulls the narrating self into her orbit. Fascinated, this self tries to court Carter; the ensuing relationship wavers between intimacy and distance, the respective degree of which always lies in Carters hands. In the end, everything ends in catastrophe, while the narrating self gradually appears to lose its sanity and its grasp on reality. Andrea Scrima: In one sense, Carter reads like a fever dream; when the narrating self moves to a small city divided by a river, its mind is already beginning to break down. Whether or not Carter might be a product of the selfs imagination or a projection of a part of the self is something the book leaves open. Without focusing too much on interpretation, my question is: does the novel allow for this read? Ally Klein: Yes, among all the other possible interpretations, you can also see Carter as a product of the imagination. The question is where this imagination begins, and how far it carries. As the book opens, the reader learns that Carter had been suffering from a heart condition that, in the end, proved fatal. The narrating self, which came close to getting a degree in medicine, is shocked by the news; somehow, it managed to ignore all the telltale signs. Perhaps the self doesnt want to face the obvious; when they meet the first time, it sees nothing but vitality in Carter. It interprets the sound she makes inhaling a cigarette as a potent life force, whereas for Carter, breathing presents a real struggle. This is where the so-called imagination begins. Carters entire identity is filtered through the perception of the narrating self. In the end, as the self increasingly loses its hold on reality and the ensuing delusion leads to open conflict, you have to ask yourself whether Carter actually exists as a real person, or if shes a construct of the imagination, of a mental disorder. Whether, from this point on, shes no longer actually there, whether shes been an invention all along. And, of course, you have to ask how this invention is defined: as a fictional, lets say literary figure, or as a real person perceived subjectively, in the way the narrating self sees her. I like to play with the figure of the narrator, to find out how much power I can give it. Where fiction begins, and how much space it takes up in our everyday lives. A human being is also a subject, and for this reason, were creating theoretical fictionalisms all the time. We are, after all, at the mercy of our perception and were always creating identities in response to our surroundings because we cant leave ourselves and see people as they really are, recognize them in their essential being. Carter is a more radical example of this, perhaps, but I wanted to address this theme in a literary context. In terms of language, this conjoins well with the motif of the narrating self losing its sanity. A.S.: Id like to take a closer look at the gender question. Its unclear whether the narrating self is a woman or a man, whether a rape took place between this self and another character named Kaan, or if it was a case of sexual frustration, a struggle born of jealousy and competitionor all of it combined. And it didnt, of course, escape me that Kaan is a writer. A.K.: Kaans writerly existence adds another level to the fictionality. Kaan is someone who invents himself and fails miserably at it. But in terms of the gender question, the self the reader meets at the beginning of the book is abstract, disembodied. It floats down the street like a ghost; at one point it hears an ambulance siren and becomes obsessed by the thought that the ambulance is headed for the building it lives in to reanimate its dead body. The self imagines that its moving through the streets as a kind of spirit, that it was so engrossed in thought that it left its body behind, at home. The writing self constructs a reality of the mind, an entire world. Its a pure, creative spirit that sometimes intersects with its human form, expressed in convulsive moments that overtake it and force it back into its body, which suddenly becomes so physically present that any other reality is momentarily eradicated. Its pure pain; it amounts to a kind of dissolution. The genderless nature of the self is not intended as a metaphor for the Creator, but for a self not in possession of its body. Its immaterial, and so the gender is inconsequential. As far as Kaan is concerned, however, the degree of his malice depends on our understanding of the selfs sex. If the reader imagines a male narrator, the violent attack against the self seems less shocking than if he were fighting a female narrator. This is true even though the suffering of this self, who is obviously physically weaker, is vividly conveyed. We can sense its fear of Kaans superior strength, his unpredictability. We see the self as a suffering person independent of the gender. But our image of Kaan is influenced by whether hes beating up a man or a woman. The interesting question is why. And Carter if she didnt have a pronoun attached to her, she would also be sexless. Her problem, so to speak, is the linguistic manifestation of the gender that she can never really escape. Nowhere in the novel do we read how feminine she is or anything like that. Because the construct is irrelevant to me, I portray this world with literary means. A.S.: Everyone longs for Carter, somehow, in the way we long for a former selfa freer, more intense, radical, risk-taking self, a nearly unattainable self in touch with its instincts, desires, its intrinsic truthnow that weve become reasonable, responsible, reliable, etc. A.K.: Yes, somehow shes the instinct-driven alter ego lurking inside us. And this accounts for her fascination. Shes a complicated, contradictory figurefor me, personally, these are the only people Im attracted to. Its not about interest, or curiosity, its nothing but pure, unreflected attraction. Im fascinated by Nastasya Filippovna and Rodion Raskolnikov, without wanting to draw a comparison. Both of whom, by the way, are not exactly positive. Theyre characters that seem to open up, but then shut down again and slip through our graspand this exerts a powerful, magical effect. A.S.: For me, the key moment in the book is when Carter hold the narrators face in her hands and suddenly theres this grammatical constructiona factor enclosed in bracketsthat defines the relationship between the selves. A.K.: Symbolically, the brackets are open to interpretation. The narrating self sees a symbol borrowed from phenomenology, the bracketing of the so-called natural attitude. But yes, there are several interpretations possible here. And of course it says something about their relationship. The brackets turn up twice in the book. The first time in the introduction, Chapter 0, when the self reminisces about Carter and wonders how to write about her. Here, they pop up as a concrete, fully formulated memory, and thats the only time theyre called what they actually are: tattoos. The second time they turn up, its in the novel proper, as part of the narrators story: in the chronology of events, when the self sees Carter for the first time in the barn and undergoes one of its somatic attacks. The passage is narrated from a perspective of pure perception. It sees the brackets on Carters wrists but fails to register them as tattoos. The novel oscillates between mediated reflection, immediate perceptual state, and, later on, madness. This stage of perception does entirely without any sort of explanation. Its about immediacy. The self is fully within it, theres no help from without, no visible motive to reconstruct reflection a posteriori. Thats how it is with our perception. To my mind, when it comes to language, things start to get interesting. We trust reflection and reason so much more. Pure perception is trusted less, but insanity is never trusted. In the novel, we have an unreliable narrator telling the story after its already occurred. You might assume that the events were reflected upon and are now related through this conscious filter. But thats not the case. Only in madness can you see whats actually going on. The body itself speaks, unfiltered, directly. Its a huge, profound immediacy that we cant rationally grasp. Its another language, like the language of dreams. You want to decode it, but theres no code. In the novel, it presents as a primordial language, as opposed to a verbal one: a language of images that exerts its effect directly. It just does this, and the reader has to surrender to it to get any closer. A.S.: Yes, it has an effect. Carter describes an extreme state of consciousness. A.K.: And for me, thats the reason I wrote Carter. More than anything, the book should have an effect. Im not interested in generating a series of thoughts in the readers mind, and I dont want the first thing people do in response is to string a few reasonable sentences together. By no means should it be possible for people to tell the books story! Its there, and it has an abrupt effect. You read it, and it leaves its imprint. Something you might not be able to completely verbalize at first. Its supposed to speak to something inside that hasnt yet surfaced. Were not really aware of this something, although its inside us. Or maybe were inside it. A.S.: What made you start writing? A.K.: I saw Tarkovskys The Mirror when I was fifteen or sixteen. Of course, I didnt understand anything. And by understand, I mean that I really didnt grasp the films concepts. I couldnt organize the content into ideas, I wasnt able to verbalize what Id seen. It left me with something that made me actually break down afterwards. It was the first time in my life that this had happened to me. Not out of desperation, because I had no notion of what Id just subjected myself to for two hours, but because it had unleashed something in me, or maybe dissolved something, Im not sure. I can recall the feeling to this day. It was a gigantic feeling, as though something long-forgotten and neglected had found its way out. Something deep inside my body, something physical, maybe. It was like a kind of primal scream. But my strongest memory of it is that I felt all kinds of things at once. A tangle of feelings deep inside that I was unable to sort out, didnt even want to sort out. There was a very strange beauty to seeing all this, to really see it. To peer into it, without any particular aim in mind. And I thought that Id like to achieve something like that, too. It wasnt a deliberately formulated goal, it was more of an impulse, but I wanted to create something that exerts it effect beyond consciousness, beyond reason, beyond conceptualization. Something that outsmarts reason and its reliance on causality, but that makes sense. And that has meaning. A.S.: After I finished reading Carter, I started reading it again from the beginning because I wanted to have a closer look at the circular structure alluded to on the books cover. In rereading the first chapters, I see how precisely you depict the mental state of the narrating self as an extremely unreliable witness to the events it experiences. Can you say something about the motif of the circle? A.K.: The spoiler is that the end of the novel leads back to the beginning. This is why the opening chapter is not numbered, in contrast to the rest of the book. And so if you follow this structure in the end and read Carter several times over, of course youll understand the book better. Youll be reading it with a different kind of background knowledge, to a certain extent as another person. In other words, its possible to destroy the inexpressibility of Carter, to ruin its initial effect. You can read it to death, to the point where it all makes sense, where the concepts reveal themselves. Its up to each reader how far they want to take this act of destruction. But it also says something about the person who makes this decision. A.S.: What about this conversation were having? One could object that what youre saying provides a tool for understanding the novel, or for understanding it better. A.K.: You could say that, sure. To my mind, though, Im only really addressing the theoretical underpinnings of the novel; were not talking about interpretation. The references to this type of poetics are abundant in the text itself; if youve read the book, none of this is really all that new. Anyone can explore the characters, the language of the body, the content of its expression and what that might meanand let it sink in. Im not addressing any of this. Its the first time Im talking about the novel. You know, about six months before it was published, I thought Id never talk about Carter, never be able to. I thought I simply couldnt. I wanted to leave it alone, unexpressed, inside me. Right now, though, Im grateful for this conversation. Its a beautiful conclusion. I can pretty much let go now. A.S.: Its really kind of strange and extraordinary how your use of languagethe insistence, the repetition of an idea or an image by saying it multiple times in a string of near-synonyms that accrue new nuances each timebecomes mirrored in the speech of the narrating self, which often stumbles over its words, says too much, rushes to correct itself, etc.Its interesting to take a speech pattern thats used to convey a particular psychology and convert that into a literary language that operates on another level altogether. A.K.: Its so great that you noticed that. Im going to chalk that up to your sensitivity for language, to your refined perception. I learned some of this from Handke. His narrator corrects himself frequently (at least in the books Im familiar with), in a different way, of course. And I have the feeling that hes always striving for precision. I liked the idea of representing the urge to reach this concretion through what appear to be synonyms. Its an attempt at understanding, perhaps, or maybe a longing to better grasp the unsayable with language. There are these strings of words that are related in meaning, but in their escalation, they open up new facets as they draw closer and closer to the object or situation or feeling described. Its a continuous approach that never actually goes beyond an approach, which can clearly be seen in the characters development. Each of them fails. And in the end, theres a so-called epic fail. A.S.: I get the feeling that the book embodies a kind of counteracting of something, a movement against something in language itself. But against what? You come from philosophy, isnt that right? A.K.: Yes, I started off studying philosophy. But in order to write, I had to let go of this identity altogether. Its a fundamentally different way of thinking and perceiving the world, and it wasnt possible to be both. I was a complete Schopenhauer scholarI say was, because I wouldnt call myself that anymore today, even if his ethics are still the absolute pinnacle for me. Ive given up this way of life. I no longer have this obsession, this mania. I used to perceive the world through a Schopenhauer filter; I analyzed everything from his system, like a Robocop. Today, Id say that I lost a lot of immediacy in my experience back then. I analyzed every word, every act, every contradiction. If someone embraced me, I wasnt inside the embrace, but floating somewhere above it, with my filter turned on. During my philosophy studies, I wrote a paper on Dostoevskys The Idiot and Schopenhauers ethics, two of my favorite authors at the time. It was a very close examination of Dostoevskys text. While I was working on it, I noticed the extent to which I was completely losing myself in his world. I got very close to things, they were clearly visible to me, altogether evident, and I noticed, sensed what language could be capable of in literature. When I chose literature, a friend of mine asked me why I wasnt writing my project of the time, which eventually developed into Carter, as a philosophical as opposed to a literary text. What I said then still applies today: I believe the linguistic approach to a particular object or situation is closer to me. In philosophy, I was operating within a system of scientifically rigorous terms (I was studying at the Phenomenological Institute), and this gives you tools to work with and to approach things, and its wonderful every time you discover something. In literature, my language consists of images. This is more immediate, its not equipment in a Heideggerian sense, its more physical. Literature shows, and philosophy explains. And while my mind operates at its full capacity in philosophy, I let literature lead me. If the book Im reading is good, I trust it unconditionally. More than any other author, Stanisaw Lems descriptions help me switch off my thinking. I love being carried through the landscapes of Solaris or The Invincible, to immerse myself in them, understand human impotence in the face of unknown worlds. I find them fascinating and see an uncanny beauty in them. But I dont understand these worlds, because theyre beyond my own human experience, they elude me conceptually, even while they clearly mean something. I explore them, get very close to them, and see themand at that moment, theres a kind of recognition of an immediate, pre-language sort. I feel that I have more to say as a writer than as a philosopher, because I work directly with this visual language. I have this, and it suits me. Im a better writer than a philosopher, even if I feel the same dedication as I did back then. I simply practice it less. Maybe it will come back one day. Whats it like for you? Do you feel that writing has been a departure from or a kind of branching-off from art? Or does it turn into a parallel self? And if so, can they co-exist? A.S.: At the moment, this is actually a difficult question for me. I originally come from the visual arts, basically a form of expression without words. Ive just recently put up an exhibition that stands in relation to my book, but speaks a language clearly different than literature. And so I find myself straddling two disciplines again, both of which are closely interconnected for me. But Im also conflicted. Stopping the art for a time was the only way I was able to formulate my own poetics and allow it to develop freelymuch as its been for you. But first Id like to return to your book. What should literature achieve? Do you want to tell a story, for instance? I doubt it. Do you want to further develop language in some way? Its not really about that either, is it? A.K.: Literature should simply show. I like to break apart the structures of comprehensibility, to push back against the this-here-follows-from-that-there. In your novel A Lesser Day, you dissolve the storys chronology in favor of following the logic of human memory. I like to blur the concepts, resist a one-dimensional understanding. I wanted to camouflage my text with a certain chronology of events, but make understanding depend on the whole; it shouldnt come bit by bit, shouldnt emerge slowly, in a predictably linear and successive way, but should arrive all at once. Thats why the text rushes the reader. Youre supposed to finish it without stopping anywhere for too long. You should just read. And in the end? Who knows, maybe the text leaves behind an unformed, unarticulated knowledge, some sort of lumped-together feeling in the body, maybe. That would be good. For me personally, Im less interested in novels I understand. If my mind is already analyzing everything to death while Im reading, if I can name the causal relationships, the whole thing is over with pretty quickly. I seek the puzzle, the enigma. Literature shouldnt only broaden my horizon, it should go ahead and blow it apart, and then I can put it back together from the remaining pieces. Whats it like for you? What is your own poetological approach to your writing? What do you want literature to achieve? A.S.: As a critic, I ask myself this all the time, but when it comes to my own books, I dont really know when and in what form I allow myself to pose the question. Because at first its about being able to write at all, about an inner necessity and the search for form that followsbecause the form is everything, really everything. If Ive found the right form, everything falls into place; the ideas I want to express are always tightly interwoven with the form. In my writing, I try to draw closer to certain states of consciousness; its not enough, of course, to describe them; they have to be translated into a form that exists on a level apart from the words themselves. The form comes about purely through instinct, but how it then develops is, of course, a result of deliberate decisions that have to do with my conception of literature. I want to break apart the linearity, want to obey an inner chronology. I tend to describe things very visually, but in a way that evokes the readers own inner imagesbecause these are always far more powerful. A.K.: I often have the feeling that the visual aspect of your literature derives from your art background, or has at least been influenced by it. Youre working with a different concept of narrative. And when you dissolve the chronology and dispense with linearity, youre also taking away the readers ability to describe the story, to summarize it. If you were to ask me what your novel A Lesser Day is about, Id have to dive right into the meta level. Its impossible to sum it up for a book jacket. The structure breaks down the novels story quality. A.S.: Yes, I think that what connects us is the space between the words, between the lines of text. An imprint of phenomena that exert their effect directly, before their lexical description, before theyve been translated into language. It less a matter of ideas than of consciousness itself. We spend a third of our lives sleeping, in a state of consciousness that we know very little about. The irrational, the confusion of all the coordinates known to us is inscribed into our bodies, and yet we live as though that werent the case. I can still remember the strange feeling I had while reading Robert Walsers The Walk: all at once, I perceived something through the form itself, something that had nothing to do with language, nothing to do with a narrative structure or with the books themes. Suddenly, something was inhabiting the linesas though, between the lines, something of whatever it is that resists language were not speaking, but: what, remaining silent? I felt addressed by a kind of smiling silence, as though that were the books essential message. But as soon as I try to talk about it, I notice how the words escape me. Ive already told you once that I had this weird feeling while reading your book: the feeling that I am Carter. Not: I identify with the character. Rather, I am her. These are fleeting impressions that cant be captured or recreated, but they make up the books magic. And while I dont know who Carter really is or was, she took hold of my subconscious for a short time, smiled, and then vanished again. Carter (Literaturverlag Droschl), August 2018. Visit the Droschl website and stay tuned for the English translation. by Robert Fay I spent my freshman year at a drab suburban college pining for the cosmopolitan life of Boston. I whined and schemed and eventually engineered a transfer to Suffolk University in the city, where I was certain Id meet fabulous Bohemian people who chain-smoked unfiltered Camels and read Rimbaud and William Blake by candlelight. Suffolk owned three Queen Anne revival buildings in the Back Bay and operated them as pseudo-rooming houses. I was 19 and had seemingly become an Emersonian self-actualized person overnight. I had propelled myself into the middle of a vibrant city, just two blocks from the upper-end of Newbury Street with Tower Records, the Avenue Victor Hugo book shop, the Trident Bookstore Cafe, Urban Outfitters (still indescribably outlaw in 1991) and Newbury Comics, the citys punk rock record store. I had arrived, or so it seemed, until I took stock of this new person and found he was remarkably unchanged, despite the sparkling offerings of the city. Old problems persisted. The ground rules of interpersonal relations remained mysterious to me. I overshared with acquaintances and got clingy. Good people quickly fled, leaving me withdrawn and depressed, and vulnerable to centripetal forces within. I desperately wanted to be loved by everyonethe consequences of a cold, unloving home I supposeand I discovered people, particularly young women, had no patience for needy college sophomores. Yet that autumn was not without its pleasure. I still recall one glorious weekcrimson and vermillion leaves swirling across Commonwealth Avenuewhen I curled up in bed with a Signet Classic paperback of Of Human Bondage (1915) by Somerset Maugham. I read the book with teenage abandon. I identified completely with the club-footed Philip Carey and his masochistic attraction to the cruel and vacuous paramour Mildred Rogers, who cared nothing for him, and got her kicks toying with his lap-dog like attention. Maughams narrator tell us, (Philip) hated her. He knew he was a fool to bother about her; she was not the sort of woman who would ever care two straws for him, and she must look upon his deformity with distaste, he made up his mind that he would not go to tea that afternoon, but hating himself, he went. I was enthralled. Mr. Maugham had mapped the deepest depths of my particular human condition, and I in turn as his reader, I felt had glimpsed inside him as well. In those pre-digital years, I knew nothing of Maughams biography except what I had read in the brief biographical note in the book. I didnt know he was homosexual, had lost his parents at a young age and in the words of Christopher Hitchens, was farmed out to mean relatives and cruel, monastic boarding schools. The traditional ration of bullying, beating, and buggery seems to have been unusually effective in his case, leaving him with a frightful lifelong speech impediment and a staunch commitment to homosexuality. * Now that Im middle-age, I find myself weary of readers wanting to identify with characters or to approach a novel as a vehicle for empathy-expansion. I read for intellectual stimulation, pleasure, the joy of navigating uncharted territory, but almost never for solace. Yet despite my vigilanceand almost against my willI find myself occasionally ambushed by a sentence or a snippet of dialogue. Its like turning the corner and glimpsing a beautiful womanand you are disarmed, achingly vulnerable. The author has slipped off the authorial veil for a moment and I find myself receiving a message outside the premeditations of craft, plot and stylesuddenly the author and I are both naked, and alone with one another. It happened recently while reading the new English translation of the novel The Females (2010), by the German writer Wolfgang Hilbig. The Females is centered in a universe not unlike that of Dostoevskys underground man, or better yet, the landscapes of Laszlo Krasznahorkai. The protagonist has been fired from his factory job. He lives in communist-ruled East Germany and must interview with a state magistrate to secure a new occupation. He is a failed writer of pornography who yearns for love from a mother and a state that is incapable of providing it. Holed up in his apartment, he is obsessing on his separateness from others, his alienation from normal people: Yet again it seemed possible that I could be one of them, that I could deceive them, that they could overlook my true condition. Yes, even overlook my boundless tension as I went into their midst, hoping to seem at least outwardly calm. That they wouldnt sense how utterly ensnared I was by my anxious desire for people to like me. That I was completely dominated by this one craving to be loved, and at the same time extremely concerned to reveal that craving to them. Hilbigs English translator Isabel Fargo Cole met the author in the 1990s and she remembers, there was something unapproachable about him though he had a warm, avuncular aura. He had intense social anxiety and severe alcohol problems, especially toward the end of his life. In some sense he wasnt of this world; even his closest friends felt they hardly knew him. The rest of the book does not betray Hilbigs social anxiety or separateness in any explicit way. It is largely a surreal book with stylized prose and big ideas, where the author remains hidden behind the machinations of the artist. But for a brief moment, I found Hilbig, and in a way, he found me too. * Moments of authorial vulnerability are not be confused with autobiographical fiction, or even the write what you know mantra of American creative writing programs. Mr. Tolstoys battle scenes in War and Peace, for example, are as detailed and as riveting as his St. Petersburg soirees. This is in part because Tolstoy knew both worlds intimatelyhe was a combat veteran of the Crimean War and a titled gentlemen, Count Leo Tolstoyand, even more importantly, he was a genius. Try as I might, I cannot find Tolstoy the man in any of his great works, for the genius-artist rules every comma and every conjunction. Looking for the finite person named Leo in Anna Karenina or War and Peace is like trying to find God in the beauty of a wind-swept forestone can certainly believe he is presentbut all you get are gusts, leaves and swaying trunks. The same is true of the books of Jane Austen, William Faulkner, Evelyn Waugh and Ernest Hemingway. In their great books, we certainly find reflections of their religious beliefs, regional affiliations, social backgrounds, etc., but do we really glimpse the 61-year-old man who shot himself in an Idaho cornfield with a shotgun? If we fast forward several decades and consider another American novelist who took his life, David Foster Wallace, it becomes easier to find the person in the prose. From the recent DFW biography by D.T. Max, Every Love Story is Ghost Story (2012) we know that during Wallaces days as a graduate student at Harvard, he had suicidal feelings and was addicted to alcohol and marijuana. He was admitted to the famed McClean Hospital in Massachusetts for rehab, the same institution where literary icons Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath had gone for their own psychiatric reboots. And though Wallace never revealed any of this publicly, the authors mental struggle is found in passages of Infinite Jest (1996), particularly via the minor character of Ken Erdedy, the cannabinoid addict who bunkers himself in his Boston apartment anxiously waiting on his pot dealer. Erdedy is locked within the downward spiral of obsessive, self-doubting, hyper-self-conscious thoughts familiar to anyone who has suffered from depression or anxiety. As Erdedy waits, he becomes more anxious his dealer wont come. He considers whether to call her, but checks himself, noting that calling is precisely what a creepy, obsessive drug-addicted person might do: He had this thing where hed frequently say he was getting dope mostly for friends. Then if the woman didnt have it when she said shed have it for him and he became anxious about it he could tell the woman that it was his friends who were becoming anxious, and he was sorry to bother the woman about something so casual but his friends were anxious and bothering him about it and he just wanted to know what you could maybe tell them. He was caught in the middle, is how he could represent itthinking back he was sure hed said whatever, which in retrospect worries him because it might have sounded as if he didnt care at all, not at all, so little that it wouldnt matter if she forgot to get it or call, and once hed made the decision to have marijuana in his home one more time it mattered a lot. It mattered a lot. * You could argue that examining the distinction between the author and the person is now an irrelevant exercise. The future will likely have far less once upon a time works of fiction and far more books that are a hybrid form of narrative nonfiction, history, fiction, memoir, literary criticism and personal essay. Books like W.G. Sebalds The Emigrants (1992) and Ben Lerners 10:04 (2014) are cases in point, or even Maggie Nelsons The Argonauts (2015), which is a fascinating blend of memoir and academic inquiry that manages to be both personally revelatory and intellectually substantial. The question of Maggie Nelson hiding or not hiding behind an authorial veil is moot here. The book establishes an immediate pact with the reader that what you read herein, will be frank and deeply personal, such as: Sometimes when Im teaching, when I interject a comment without anyone calling on me, without caring that I just spoke a moment before, or when I interrupt someone to redirect the conversation away from an eddy I personally find fruitless. I feel high on the knowledge that I can talk as much as I want to, in any direction that I want to, without anyone overtly rolling their eyes at me, or suggesting I go to speech therapy. Im not saying this is good pedagogy. Im saying that its pleasures are deep. The last two sentences are pitch-perfect, honestthe kinds of things we feel but rarely admitand representative of the kind of thoughtful self-examination that is woven into the book. Some of this ground has already been examined by David Shields in his manifesto Reality Hunger (2010). He makes the case for the irrelevancy of unselfconscious literary fiction in favor of new forms that incorporate journalism, memoir, historywhateverand result in new works of literature. Im an admirer of Shields book, but I take issue with the assertions: Every mans workwhether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything elseis always a portrait of himself, or more succinctly, Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. This is true, no doubt, of average-to-good artists. But who really cares about them? Why should I concern myself with averageness, particularly when it comes to art? We can accept average co-workers and middling brothers-in-laws, but life is too short for good novelists. Give me genius or give me death. Shields is arguing that writers should dispense with the tired conceits of the 19th Century novel and write more transparently, accept theyre writing about the life around them, own it, and experiment with new forms of narrative non-fiction and memoir. Shields believes the success of reality television is an indicator of our need for the real. And if the events of September 11th taught us anything, its that reality is always operating beyond the limits of our imaginations. In other words, dont discount reality, its likely a richer vein than something artfully constructed. Yet the great artists, the immortals, dont actually work on the plane of the real or even the personal. They are the mythmakers, the ones who raise their hands to the sky and summon muses and goddesses and shocks of lightening. They can slip free from the limitations of personal experience and speak for the universal human story. And were not just talking Cervantes or Homer or Shakespeare. Flannery OConner stories, F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby (1923) and Philip Roths American Pastoral (1998) are not examples of literary fiction, but mythological tales that will certainly outlast American civilization. Im undecided whether Maughams novels will be judged by history as immortal works. But he communed with my younger self at a critical time, and truthfully, his words have always had more impact on me than Tolstoys. So poor Philip will remain with me. I wont soon forget him or Maugham for that metter. I can still picture Philip in the streets of Edwardian London trying, pathetically, to get the most basic concessions from a woman who is spitefully indifferent. Its very hard when youre as much in love as I am, Philip says to Mildred. Have mercy on me. I dont mind that you dont care for me. After all you cant help it. I only want you to let me love you. Robert Fays essays, reviews and stories have appeared in The Atlantic, The Millions, The Los Angeles Review of Books and The Chicago Quarterly Review, among others. Follow him on Twitter @RobertFay1. 33-kg gold smuggling case: Gores accomplice Shrestha extradited from UAE One of the main accused in the 33-kg gold smuggling case and the murder of alleged gold carrier Sanam Shakya was extradited to Nepal fromthe United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday. by Bill Benzon Zeal Greenberg is one of the most amazing men Ive ever worked with. I emphasize worked with. Ive discussed Disneys Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 over dinner with Steve Martin. I took Malcolm Forbess photo with one of his fans, who then took a photo of me and Forbes. He and his motorcycle club, the Capitalist Tools, were at the Americade rally in Lake George on July 4th weekend. And I once told Sheldon Glashow (physics Nobel 1979) I thought that physicists search for a theory of everything was ill-conceived and a bit hubristic I didnt see that their theory of everything would help much with the problems that most interested me. Unfortunately the meeting we were attending started before I was able to explain myself and, alas, we didnt get back together afterward. I didnt WORK with these folks. Met them, chatted with them, but I never collaborated with them on a common project. I worked closely with Zeal for years early in the millennium. Im tempted to say that you couldnt imagine a stranger and more unlikely pair. But thats not true. Of course you could. But still Im a Ph. D. and rather Old School WASP in my sense of self-presentation. Zeal never went to college, started out as a schmatta salesman, and lives and breathes sales and marketing. But we had a common desire, to change the world. I was happy to help him pursue his vision. It was a dark and rainy night It didnt start out that way. I wanted him to hire me as a consultant. Yes, he had a wonder vision. But I needed money. It was a nasty rainy November evening in 2003 or 2004 and I was sitting in the lobby of the Faculty House at Columbia University. I was there for the monthly meeting of the University Seminar on Computers, Man, and Society. Wed gather in the lobby to chat and have a drink or two, then go up to the dining room for our meal. Afterward wed repair to a meeting room for the months presentation and discussion. I was sipping my scotch and merrily chatting with whomever when Takishi Utsumi, another member of the seminar, walked in with a guest, Jerry Greenberg. Jerry he didnt call himself Zeal until several years later was the head of The World Endowment Development Foundation (quite a mouthful, that). He proposed to transform Governors Island, a 172 acre former Coast Guard base in New York Harbor, into World Island, which he described as a permanent worlds fair for a world thats permanently fair. Think of it as a combination of the best features of the United Nations, Disney World, a kids rumpus room, the trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade, the Bibliotheque nationale de France, and the Japanese exhibit at the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. (Wow!) It would cost $25 billion or so (Wow wow woW!) and be planted with orchids. (Im likin this guy) Why orchids? Beauty aside, theyre an early warning system for climate change, when the orchids go, were not going to be far behind. (a lot!) Hmmmmthe mans got the soul of a poetthe projects crazy expensiveif hes going after it he MUST have money, no? I wonder if he needs some consulting help? We met at his Manhattan office on Fifth Avenue just off of Union Square. I walked through the door. Whoops! It didnt look good. The room was large and clean, but old and a bit battered. Not the Class A office space of a rich man determined to change the world as his last act. Perhaps hes eccentric? Well, of course hes eccentric. A permanent worlds fair for a world thats permanently fair? Orchids? On 172 acres in New York Harbor? Jerry was the only one there. He greeted me. We sat down. Table was piled with stuff. He began rambling his way through his spiel. Governors Island had been a Coast Guard base until the end of the century. Senator Moynihan convinced the government to was sell the island to GIPEC (Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation), jointly owned by New York State and New York City. GIPEC took possession for a couple dollars rather than a price at market rate. Can you imagine the market rate for a 172 acres of developable property in New York Harbor? There was a catch. Since the Feds gave the island away, it had to be used for the pubic good. In particular there could be no gambling on the island, no permanent residences, and the northern half was historically landmarked and so had to be preserved. GIPEC was accepting proposals for the non-profit development of the island, with the developer coming up with the money. All of it. In the case of Jerrys World Island scheme, 25 billion simoleons. Jerry didnt know where money was coming from. But the opportunity was too rich. He had to go for it. Others believed in him. There were signs. He showed me a handsome book describing the project. An inch thick. I judged it to be five-figures worth of NYC graphic design talent. There was another five-figures worth of CGI renderings of the proposed buildings (courtesy of Skanska, the Swedish construction firm). Jerrys team used to hold meetings at Lehman Brothers until, something happened, whatever. (Remember, this was before Lehman Brothers disappeared into a tornado of financial sorcery in 2008.) I asked about money. Hed been obviously been asked this before. He was ready: deferred compensation. I didnt laugh. I signed on. I liked the guy. I liked the project. Lifes too short. They all listened And so we began. Jerry didnt have much in the way of computer skills. Someone had done a bare bones PowerPoint presentation which hed printed out and used as a briefing book. I created a presentation worthy of the project. Heck, I did three, four, five, eleventy presentations. We went on a GIPEC tour of Governors Island. I met people. Bob Silverman, the Turner executive in charge of restoring the Battery Maritime Building, point of departure for the ferry to Governors Island. Janine James, her design company, The Moderns, had done Jerrys presentation book; they would also design our RFEI (request for expression of interest) submission. Paul Sladkus, head of Good News Broadcast; we worked out of his office space. Valentine Lehr, a consulting engineer whose firm had an international practice. Carman Moore, a composer with commissions from the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the U.N., Lincoln Center (who also did a hip hop piece for his granddaughter to perform). There were more, many more. We had meetings. Lots of them. The principals in a black-owned Wall Street investment firm, alas, Ive forgotten the name. Insurance executives. Caleb Koeppel, a New York real estate billionaire (son of Alfred Koeppel). We had to go through two or three meetings with his advisory staff before meeting him. It was a small room. Jerry and I on one side of the table. Caleb and, I believe, two or three associates on the other side of the table. One was Israeli. They listened to Jerry for over an hour, deep pin-drop silence. A worlds fair for a worlds thats permanently fair. Dinner theater from around the world. Each member country has an office for trade representatives. A hotel where each room is furnished by a different designer; everything in the room is for sale. A world map 100s of yards in diameter. Orchids. It was a good meeting. Nothing came of it. Percy Fahrbach introduced us to the German CEO roundtable. Percy was the New York representative of Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate. The German CEO roundtable was a forum for the 50 largest German firms having a presence in New York City. We got 20 minutes with the head of the roundtable. I forget him name it was over a decade ago and I forget his company. I have vague recollections of the building, his office sleek, modern, on an upper floor and of the meeting itself. When our twenty minutes were up, Jerry had just barely gotten started on his ramble, but Mr. German CEO could have cared less. He was entranced. We left after an hour and a quarter. It was a good meeting. Time after time it went like that. Busy New York City executives gave Jerry an hour or two hours of their time so he could tell them about orchids for a permanent worlds fair in a world thats permanently fair this was long before Piketty and Occupy put inequality on the public agenda. These were sophisticated people. They could see that this wonderful idea made no real-world sense at all. They could see that Jerry was doing this on a lick and a prayer. Whyd they listen? Jerrys charming. The ideas enormously attractive. These men and women know what dire straits the worlds in. Jerry gave them hope. You cant live without hope. A mad dash down the West Side Highway Our final proposal to GIPEC was due at noon on May 10, 2006. We ended up with, I dont know, 200-300-400 pieces of paper, printed on both sides, in color, bound in four volumes, and nestled in an elegant black museum case. Twenty copies, thirty-copies, I forget. It was a mad dash for three or four days. Tim Kunhardt of Z-Card North America gave us a room and a graphic designer; hed been a long-term supporter of the project. I forget the name of the firm that actually put the books together and printed them. Spent hours in one of their rooms as well, punching out pages on my Mac laptop and sending them to, you know, the people who actually made physical stuff from those electronic bits. Somehow we got everything printed and loaded into the van on the morning of May 10. We were in midtown Manhattan. GIPEC was accepting the proposals in the Battery Maritime Building at the southern tip of the island. It was only, I dont know, two, three, four miles, not far. But this was Manhattan at midday. It was a quarter past eleven when the van pulled out into the street. We had forty-five minutes to deliver the proposals. If we were as much as a minute late, several years of work, down the tubes. The driver was good, very good. It was like a mad dash in a Jackie Chan movie, but without Jackie fighting off villains at every street corner. There were no villains, just traffic and time. We made it with five minutes to spare. Our work was done. Of course our proposal wasnt accepted. No proposals were accepted. I dont think we were ever told why, but Id bet that the financials killed the deal for everyone. GIPEC scaled back its ambitions for the island. I believe theres a school there. Its now readily accessible to the public during the warm months. The non-descript buildings on the southern half of the island have been torn down and been replaced by a very cool park at least it seems so from the pictures. Ive not been there. I hear that last summer people were able to go glamping, as its called, on the island. Glamping = glamour + camping. A nice tent, 500-thread-count sheets, fine wine, gourmet food, $1000 a night. And superb views of the city. * * * * * Jerry did not quit. I continued to work with him, though my time commitment tapered off over the years. I havent seen him in well over a year or two, but we keep in touch by email and by phone just chatted with him an hour or so ago. Somewhere along the line he changed his name to Zeal. I dont think he went through the legal process, though I could be wrong. But he answers to Zeal and thats what hes on his business cards. He now has office space with Alan Ritchie, an architect. Ritchie was partners with Philip Johnson and took over the firm when Johnson died. Alan Ritchie is a lucky man. Hes got hope in house. As for my deferred compensation. Nothing was deferred. Hope is directed at the future, but its rewards are in the present. Thank you Zeal. The architectural renderings in this article are by Bob Kirchman of The Kirchman Studio. Heres the executive summary of our GIPEC proposal, Governors Island as a World Resource Center. Patient information: See related handout on depression and a handout from familydoctor.org on depression . Depression affects an estimated 8% of persons in the United States and accounts for more than $210 billion in health care costs annually. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and American Academy of Family Physicians recommend screening for depression in the general adult population. Additionally, the USPSTF recommends screening children and adolescents 12 to 18 years of age for major depressive disorder. All screening should be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up. The two-item and nine-item Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQs) are commonly used validated screening tools. The PHQ-2 has sensitivity comparable with the PHQ-9 in most populations; however, the specificity of the PHQ-9 ranges from 91% to 94%, compared with 78% to 92% for the PHQ-2. If the PHQ-2 is positive for depression, the PHQ-9 or a clinical interview should be administered. Screening all postpartum women for depression is recommended by the USPSTF, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Women should be screened for depression at least once during the perinatal period using the PHQ-2, PHQ-9, or Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. In older adults, the Geriatric Depression Scale is also an appropriate screening tool for depression. If screening is positive for possible depression, the diagnosis should be confirmed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed., criteria. Major depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States. Prevalence is estimated at 8% in persons 12 years and older.1 In 2015, an estimated 16.1 million adults 18 years and older had at least one major depressive episode in the previous year, and the condition accounted for 3.7% of all U.S. disability-adjusted life years.2 Globally, more than 300 million persons of all ages have depression, which is the leading cause of disability worldwide.3 WHAT IS NEW ON THIS TOPIC Depression is a major risk factor for suicide in older men, with suicide rates increasing with age in this population. A recent study showed that men older than 75 years had the highest annual incidence of suicide. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend screening all postpartum women for depression. Evidence supports the use of the two- or nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire or the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. A 2016 systematic review including three randomized trials with more than 6,500 women found a lower prevalence of postpartum depression at follow-up for those screened four to eight weeks after delivery. Enlarge Print SORT: KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE Clinical recommendation Evidence rating References The USPSTF recommends screening for depression in the general adult population. Screening must be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up. B 16 The PHQ-2 is accepted as an initial screening instrument for depression in all age groups. If depression is identified by the PHQ-2, completion of the PHQ-9 or a clinical interview is recommended. C 22, 23 The USPSTF recommends screening adolescents 12 to 18 years of age for major depressive disorder in the primary care setting. Screening must be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up. B 24 Pregnant women should be screened for depression at least once during the perinatal period using a validated screening instrument such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale or the PHQ-9. Consider screening at least once during pregnancy and again four to eight weeks after delivery. C 23, 34, 35 Older adults can be screened for depression using an instrument such as the PHQ-2, PHQ-9, Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, or Geriatric Depression Scale. B 42 When screening is positive for possible depression, the diagnosis should be confirmed using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. C 31 SORT: KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE Clinical recommendation Evidence rating References The USPSTF recommends screening for depression in the general adult population. Screening must be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up. B 16 The PHQ-2 is accepted as an initial screening instrument for depression in all age groups. If depression is identified by the PHQ-2, completion of the PHQ-9 or a clinical interview is recommended. C 22, 23 The USPSTF recommends screening adolescents 12 to 18 years of age for major depressive disorder in the primary care setting. Screening must be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up. B 24 Pregnant women should be screened for depression at least once during the perinatal period using a validated screening instrument such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale or the PHQ-9. Consider screening at least once during pregnancy and again four to eight weeks after delivery. C 23, 34, 35 Older adults can be screened for depression using an instrument such as the PHQ-2, PHQ-9, Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, or Geriatric Depression Scale. B 42 When screening is positive for possible depression, the diagnosis should be confirmed using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. C 31 If left untreated, depression may lead to suicide. Persons with an affective disorder have a 0.5% to 4% increased lifetime risk of suicide compared with the general population.4 The economic burden of major depressive disorder is estimated at $210.5 billion per year, with a 21.5% increase from 2005 to 2010.5 Approximately one-half of the costs are attributed to the workplace and one-half to direct medical costs. The burden is significant in the ambulatory care setting, with depression accounting for 10% of physician office visits in 2014.1 Screening for depression is the cornerstone of early recognition, diagnosis, and management. Despite the high prevalence of depression and recommendations for screening, a recent survey of 33,653 physician-patient encounters showed that less than 5% of adults are screened for depression in the primary care setting.6 Risk Factors Jump to section + Abstract Risk Factors Symptoms Screening for Depression Diagnosis of Depression References The risk factors for depression are multifactorial but can be split into the three broad categories of internal factors, external factors, and adverse life events (Table 1).79 Risk factors have been evaluated independently in men and women with no significant differences.79 Enlarge Print TABLE 1. Risk Factors for Depression Internal factors Female sex History of anxiety Low self-esteem Neuroticism* External factors Conduct disorder Substance use Adverse life events Childhood sexual abuse Chronic medical conditions Disturbed family environment History of divorce Lifetime trauma Low educational status Low social support Parental loss TABLE 1. Risk Factors for Depression Internal factors Female sex History of anxiety Low self-esteem Neuroticism* External factors Conduct disorder Substance use Adverse life events Childhood sexual abuse Chronic medical conditions Disturbed family environment History of divorce Lifetime trauma Low educational status Low social support Parental loss Risk factors for late-life depression include female sex, social isolation, death of a spouse, being divorced or separated, lower socioeconomic status, comorbid general medical conditions, uncontrolled pain, insomnia, and cognitive and functional impairments.10 For noninstitutionalized older patients, rates of depression are thought to be similar to those of the general adult population; however, as many as 50% of nursing home residents may be depressed.11 Depression is a major risk factor for suicide in older men, with suicide rates in this population increasing with age. A study showed that men older than 75 years have the highest annual incidence of suicide at 39 deaths per 100,000 men, compared with four deaths per 100,000 women older than 75 years.12 There are numerous medical conditions associated with depression, as mimics of depression or coexisting conditions. Associated neurologic conditions include epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, cerebrovascular disease, and traumatic brain injury. Other associated conditions include human immunodeficiency virus infection or AIDS, neurosyphilis, cardiomyopathy, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus, vitamin deficiencies, parathyroid disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, collagen vascular diseases, and chronic liver disorders.13 Symptoms Jump to section + Abstract Risk Factors Symptoms Screening for Depression Diagnosis of Depression References Symptoms of depression are commonly known by the SIGECAPS mnemonic: sleep disorders (either increased or decreased sleep); interest deficit (anhedonia); guilt (worthlessness, hopelessness, regret); energy deficit; concentration deficit; appetite disorder (either decreased or increased); psychomotor retardation or agitation; and suicidality. Depressed mood and anhedonia are the two cardinal symptoms of depression. The presence of four SIGECAPS symptoms plus depressed mood or anhedonia suggests depression, and further screening should be considered. Depression may manifest differently between men and women. Women with depression are more likely to report physical ailments such as headaches, myalgias, or gastrointestinal problems. They are also more likely to exhibit emotional effects such as stress and crying easily.14 Men with depression are more likely to report acts of aggression, anger, substance use disorder, and risky behavior.15 Screening for Depression Jump to section + Abstract Risk Factors Symptoms Screening for Depression Diagnosis of Depression References ADULTS The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and American Academy of Family Physicians recommend screening for depression in the general adult population, and screening should be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up.16,17 Screening is recommended for all adults older than 18 years, regardless of risk factors. There is a lack of evidence to suggest a specific screening interval. The USPSTF suggests a pragmatic approach of screening all adults who have not been previously screened, and using clinical judgment in consideration of risk factors, comorbid conditions, and life events to determine if additional screening of high-risk patients is warranted.16 The Department of Veterans Affairs recommends annual screening.18 The American College of Physicians does not make specific screening recommendations.19 For ease of implementation, one approach is to screen during routine health visits. There is a lack of evidence to recommend one screening instrument over another. The two-item and nine-item Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQs) are the most widely used. The PHQ-2 (Table 220) has similar sensitivity to the more comprehensive PHQ-9 (Table 320), but specificity of the PHQ-9 is higher at 91% to 94%, compared with 78% to 92% for the PHQ-2.21 The PHQ-2 is accepted as an initial screening tool in all age groups. If depression is identified, the PHQ-9 or a clinical interview should be completed.22,23 Enlarge Print TABLE 2. PHQ-2 Screening Instrument for Depression Over the past two weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems? Not at all Several days More than half the days Nearly every day Little interest or pleasure in doing things 0 1 2 3 Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless 0 1 2 3 TABLE 2. PHQ-2 Screening Instrument for Depression Over the past two weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems? Not at all Several days More than half the days Nearly every day Little interest or pleasure in doing things 0 1 2 3 Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless 0 1 2 3 Enlarge Print TABLE 3. PHQ-9 Screening Instrument for Depression Over the past two weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems? Not at all Several days More than half the days Nearly every day Little interest or pleasure in doing things 0 1 2 3 Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless 0 1 2 3 Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much 0 1 2 3 Feeling tired or having little energy 0 1 2 3 Poor appetite or overeating 0 1 2 3 Feeling bad about yourselfor that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down 0 1 2 3 Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television 0 1 2 3 Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed; or the oppositebeing so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual 0 1 2 3 Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way 0 1 2 3 TABLE 3. PHQ-9 Screening Instrument for Depression Over the past two weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems? Not at all Several days More than half the days Nearly every day Little interest or pleasure in doing things 0 1 2 3 Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless 0 1 2 3 Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much 0 1 2 3 Feeling tired or having little energy 0 1 2 3 Poor appetite or overeating 0 1 2 3 Feeling bad about yourselfor that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down 0 1 2 3 Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television 0 1 2 3 Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed; or the oppositebeing so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual 0 1 2 3 Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way 0 1 2 3 CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS The USPSTF recommends screening adolescents 12 to 18 years of age for major depressive disorder in the primary care setting when systems are in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up.24 This is in accordance with the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures guideline, which recommends annual screening for patients 12 to 21 years of age.22 The two most widely used screening instruments for depression in adolescents are the PHQ for Adolescents (available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/1215/p1109.html#afp20121215p1109-t5) and the primary care version of the Beck Depression Inventory (available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/0901/p442.html#afp20120901p442-f1). The traditional PHQ-2 may also be used in adolescents; a positive screening (score of 3 or more) should prompt additional assessment for major depressive disorder. In a primary care sample of 499 adolescents, a PHQ-2 score of 1 or more had a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 75% for detecting major depression.25 PREGNANT AND POSTPARTUM WOMEN The prevalence of depression in the postpartum period (commonly defined as the first 12 months after birth) has been estimated at 10%.26,27 The onset of postpartum depression occurs during the prenatal and antepartum periods in approximately 50% of pregnancies.28 For cases that begin after delivery, roughly 90% occur in the first four months.29 Postpartum depression has significant effects on the entire family. It is associated with abnormal development, cognitive impairment, and psychopathology in children.30 It can interfere with breastfeeding, maternal-infant bonding, and the mother's relationship with her partner.26 It is often overlooked and may be mistaken for normal behavioral changes that occur during this period, known as the postpartum blues. Postpartum depression is not listed as its own diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (DSM-5), but rather as a qualifier to the diagnosis of major depressive disorder.31 The USPSTF, American Academy of Family Physicians, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend screening all postpartum women for depression.16,17,23,32,33 Patients should be screened for depression at least once during the perinatal period. Evidence supports the use of the PHQ-2, PHQ-9, or Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/2010/1015/p926.html#afp20101015p926-f1).33 The Postpartum Depression Screening Scale is a more in-depth tool; however, it requires additional time to administer with more than 20 questions, limiting its use during routine outpatient office visits. The EPDS is the most commonly used tool, is simple to score, and is available in more than 50 languages.34 In a 2013 systematic review of 11 studies and more than 3,000 postpartum women, a cutoff score of 12 yielded sensitivities and specificities from 80% to 90%.35 The EPDS has been found to be more accurate at identifying women with and without postpartum depression than the PHQ-9 or the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale.36 Screening for postpartum depression appears to be effective. A 2016 systematic review including three randomized trials and more than 6,500 women found a lower prevalence of postpartum depression at follow-up for those screened four to eight weeks after delivery.23 If postpartum depression was diagnosed, improvement or remission of symptoms at follow-up (as measured by the EPDS) was 11% greater in patients who were screened than in those who were not screened. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not include guidance on the specific timing and frequency of screening. One approach is to screen at least once during pregnancy and again four to eight weeks after delivery. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that physicians screen mothers for postpartum depression at the infant's one-, two-, and four-month visits.22 Family physicians practicing full-spectrum care have other opportunities to screen for postpartum depression. Screening during infant hospitalizations can identify previously unscreened mothers. A 2016 prospective observational study of mothers screened during infant hospitalizations showed that only 14.6% of these women had previously received appropriate depression screening. Of those screened during the infant hospitalization, 28% had a positive screening result. However, few positive screening results were diagnostically confirmed, partly because of the high number of women lost to follow-up.37 OLDER PERSONS Multiple screening tests have been developed to address the confounding factors that make depression screening and diagnosis more challenging later in life. The Geriatric Depression Scale is a five-, 15-, or 30-item questionnaire that screens for depression in older patients without dementia. Notably, it does not assess for somatic issues because this is thought to interfere with the diagnosis.38 The five-item Geriatric Depression Scale (Table 439) was found to have a sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 81%, which are similar to those of the 15-item test (Table 540). Enlarge Print TABLE 4. Five-Item Geriatric Depression Scale Choose the best answer for how you have felt over the past week: Are you basically satisfied with your life? Yes/No Do you often get bored? Yes/No Do you often feel helpless? Yes/No Do you prefer to stay at home rather than going out and doing new things? Yes/No Do you feel pretty worthless the way you are now? Yes/No TABLE 4. Five-Item Geriatric Depression Scale Choose the best answer for how you have felt over the past week: Are you basically satisfied with your life? Yes/No Do you often get bored? Yes/No Do you often feel helpless? Yes/No Do you prefer to stay at home rather than going out and doing new things? Yes/No Do you feel pretty worthless the way you are now? Yes/No Enlarge Print TABLE 5. 15-Item Geriatric Depression Scale Choose the best answer for how you have felt over the past week: Are you basically satisfied with your life? Yes/No Have you dropped many of your activities and interests? Yes/No Do you feel that your life is empty? Yes/No Do you often get bored? Yes/No Are you in good spirits most of the time? Yes/No Are you afraid that something bad is going to happen to you? Yes/No Do you feel happy most of the time? Yes/No Do you often feel helpless? Yes/No Do you prefer to stay at home, rather than going out and doing new things? Yes/No Do you feel you have more problems with memory than most? Yes/No Do you think it is wonderful to be alive now? Yes/No Do you feel pretty worthless the way you are now? Yes/No Do you feel full of energy? Yes/No Do you feel that your situation is hopeless? Yes/No Do you think that most people are better off than you are? Yes/No TABLE 5. 15-Item Geriatric Depression Scale Choose the best answer for how you have felt over the past week: Are you basically satisfied with your life? Yes/No Have you dropped many of your activities and interests? Yes/No Do you feel that your life is empty? Yes/No Do you often get bored? Yes/No Are you in good spirits most of the time? Yes/No Are you afraid that something bad is going to happen to you? Yes/No Do you feel happy most of the time? Yes/No Do you often feel helpless? Yes/No Do you prefer to stay at home, rather than going out and doing new things? Yes/No Do you feel you have more problems with memory than most? Yes/No Do you think it is wonderful to be alive now? Yes/No Do you feel pretty worthless the way you are now? Yes/No Do you feel full of energy? Yes/No Do you feel that your situation is hopeless? Yes/No Do you think that most people are better off than you are? Yes/No The Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/2002/0915/p1001.html#afp20020915p1001-f4) is a 19-item screening tool that can be used in older patients. It retains its validity when used in patients with dementia, unlike the Geriatric Depression Scale. The Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia has a sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 97%.38 The PHQ-2 can be used in the older population and may have similar effectiveness with greater brevity and ease of use than other instruments. The PHQ-2 has been shown to have a sensitivity nearing 100% and specificity of 77% in non-institutionalized adults older than 65 years.41 In a more recent systematic review, combined data showed a sensitivity and specificity for the PHQ-2 of 91.8% and 67.7%, respectively. The performance of the PHQ-2 is comparable to that of other instruments, including clinician-rated scales, in noninstitutionalized older persons42 and nursing home residents.43 PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC MEDICAL CONDITIONS The incidence of depression is higher in patients with chronic medical conditions. A Canadian study demonstrated a 1.45 times greater risk of depression in these patients.44 A study of the relationship between depression and diabetes and coronary artery disease specifically showed it to be bidirectional.45 Given these findings, physicians should consider screening patients with chronic medical conditions for depression. Physicians should also be mindful that many symptoms commonly attributed to chronic medical conditions are also symptoms of underlying depression. Saints fall short to Dakota State in final football game Presentation College wasn't able to get its first win of the season, and fell to Dakota State after missing a potential game-winning field goal. Would you buy a home in a subdivision called Stormcloud Estates? If you live in New Mexico, the name could have a certain resonance for residents who welcome natures wild cloud formations and the inevitable deluge. In the Pacific Northwest, though, it might be a constant reminder of the gray, rainy climate and a total downer. Stormcloud is described by builder DR Horton as a new master-planned community on Albuquerques West Side that is offering the first multigenerational floor plan in the area. These separate living quarters have their own entrance, kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom, laundry and living areas, allowing privacy and unity to exist under the same roof, the marketing materials say. The builder, who declined to be interviewed about the reason for the name choice, also incorporated a word thats become popular in many U.S. housing communities: estates. Developers in the region say the thought process that goes into naming (or renaming) a neighborhood, a new building or a subdivision is pivotal once the ideal site, nececessary financing and high-quality construction are in play. The naming process can be both serious and fun, said Tim Brislin, whos part of the development team behind the Mariposa master-planned community in Rio Rancho. He said a subdivisions name can establish a tone and image for a community and might even affect sales. Done right, picking the perfect name and marketing it successfully are a nice complement to the overall, and often complex, development process. First and foremost, a great name doesnt make up for a bad project, said Brislin. You still need a good land plan and infrastructure, nearby amenties and quality builder partners. You just dont want to mess up the easy stuff like the name. In general, names come from natural features, Brislin said. In New Mexico, a prominent feature like a river, canyon, vista or arroyo offer lots of inspiration when it comes to naming the neighborhoods and its streets, Brislin said. Del Webbs Mirehaven (pronounced meer-haven), for example, is named for an arroyo that runs through the site. It also rolls nicely off the tongue, and the haven part has a nice connotation, said Jolene Montoya, marketing manager for the New Mexico division of PulteGroup Inc., which plans to build over 500 homes in the senior community on the citys West Side. It feels homey, said Montoya, adding that a brain trust of company managers usually gathers in a brainstorming session to name new communities. The goal is to come up with something catchy, something the homebuilder hopes will be inviting and appealing to future buyers, Montoya said. Brislin, vice president for Mariposa East, an affiliate of Harvard Investments, said PulteGroup, with its Redondo at Mariposa community, joins several other production homebuilders actively building on a variety of lot sizes and product types within the community. They include Twilight Homes, Abrazo Homes, RayLee Homes and DR Horton. Six of seven of the communities play off the words vista, view and peak, said Brislin. The Jemez Mountains loom large in the distance from the 1,600-acre Mariposa site. Brislin, who works in the Phoenix and Albuquerque markets, says many subdivision names in the region take into consideration the Western ethos, with words such as ranch, rancho or trails in heavy rotation when a project is launched. Hence Taylor Ranch and Ventana Ranch. Or Rancho Sereno and Rancho Encantado del Sur. Name changes often do wonders for a project. Harvard East acquired a platted community called Hillcrest in Phoenix, near the Salt River. There was no hill and no crest, which had folks scratching their heads, Brislin said. The companys senior partners and its marketing representative and land planner eventually came up with the newly rechristened Verde Trails. The area is green and lush and close to walking trails, and we wanted to play that up, Brislin saod. And it was just a matter of time for the humble @ symbol to start showing up on local real estate. For construction company owner and developer Zack Snyder and his business partners, use of the symbol is a signature look that began with the Village@La Orilla, a commercial center at Coors and La Orilla, just north of Montano. Now theyre back with @Rio, a jazzed-up renaming of the former Riverpointe Vistas, Snyder said. The development team weighed about 10 options and picked what it thinks is a winner. It has an attractive edge to it, said Snyder of @Rio. We believe the new name is a home run in terms of future branding and tenant interest, he said. The nearly $50 million project in Bernalillo will include restaurants, retail, housing, a walkway looking out onto the Rio Grande, and recreational opportunities like canoeing or kayaking, Snyder said. Because its a mixed-use project, Its a name that carries over to all the (development) categories, he added. You also cant go wrong with using something as simple as a street name or an address, said Kenny Hinkes, the developer behind Nob Hill condo projects The Carlisle and One Ten Richmond. Theyre like landmarks in the neighborhood. No ones going to have have a hard time finding them, Hinkes said of the 34-home condominium complex at Central and Carlisle in Nob Hill and the other at, of course, 110 Richmond SE. I like naming real estate with a location built into it, Hinkes said. Its simple and elegant. Hinkes also likes his real estate projects with the uppercase The, a trend he said is being used a lot nationwide. HOME ELITE HOME Its not just a matter of semantics. A study by two researchers at the University of Georgia showed that homebuyers pay an average of 4.2 percent more when the development has the word country in the name. And if it has the term country club, buyers will pay 5.2 percent on top of that because of the prestige associated with the term. Albuquerque-based Vibrant Corp. has expanded its facilities, technology capabilities, customer base and geographic reach for its manufactured-component testing services. The company, a homegrown startup that launched in 2007 with backing from the Verge Fund and the New Mexico Angels, moved from a 5,500-square-foot facility to a 10,000-square-foot space this year near Alameda and Jefferson. We needed more room for our people and for building our equipment, President and CEO Lee Hunter said. We moved into about 60 percent of the new space last January, and we took over the rest in August. The move reflects rapid growth at Vibrant, which has appeared on the Journals annual Flying 40 list of fast-growing technology companies six times. It earned sixth place among firms with under $10 million this year after hitting just above $4 million in revenue in 2017. Vibrant uses technology originally developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory that detects defects in parts by vibrating them. It then applies advanced software algorithms to compare the sound generated with that of a nondefective product. Most other testing processes assess only surface irregularities. But Vibrants system provides precision readings of internal defects without damaging them to determine whether a part is good or bad. Its applied the process largely to aircraft part manufacturers and maintenance and repair operations, allowing them to get more use out of parts and save money. For example, Delta Airlines, in Atlanta, uses Vibrants system to test engine turbine blades and other components. Now, the company is expanding to include customers in the automotive and power-generation industries. Its also developed more applications for existing customers to test a wider range of parts. And its established a partnership with an Asian firm to provide services in the Far East. Vibrant also operates a wholly owned subsidiary for testing services in Germany. We have more customers and more applications, Hunter said. We have one customer running 10 applications now. And weve expanded into more business markets. The company continues to upgrade its technology and capabilities. It developed a completely robotic turbine-blade testing system. It built new robotic arms for loading and unloading parts for testing with assistance from Albuquerque startup Build with Robots. And a new new life-cycle monitoring system can now follow wear and tear on specific parts over time. Last week, the company hosted its first users conference at its new facility, with customer representatives from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. It provided an opportunity for users to talk about their system applications and learn from each other and from Vibrant staff, Hunter said. It generated dialogue about how our process has helped solve issues and how it can be improved. Boeing partnership Robotic Skies could gain a significant boost in its network of repair and service stations for unmanned aerial systems through a new partnership with Boeing, announced this month. Robotic Skies, which launched in Albuquerque in 2014 and remains based here, has built an international network of 150 independently-owned and operated service stations in 30 countries where drones can fly in like manned aircraft for maintenance and repair. Its working with 17 UAS manufacturers to develop customized maintenance programs for the vehicles they build. Boeing Global Services, based in Dallas, provides aerospace supply chain management and maintenance-and-repair tracking for aircraft through its subsidiaries, Jeppesen and Aviall. The new partnership will allow Robotic Skies and Boeing to jointly market their services for UAS manufacturers and operators. With a partner like Boeing, we can really increase our capabilities, Robotic Skies President and CEO Brad Hayden said. Apart from maintenance and repairs through our network, we can now supply parts through Boeing and offer a platform to track and alert customers about things like field upgrades for unmanned aerial systems when original manufacturers offer new components or capabilities. We can effectively provide a one-stop shop for UAS operators. The agreement will begin with joint marketing efforts and could, over time, evolve into combined services in things like regulatory compliance, ground support, training, parts distribution and vehicle retrofits. Well start with joint sales campaigns, but that could lead to more formal agreements that take advantage of our respective capabilities, said Reggie Arsenault, Boeing director of business and general aviation flight operations. Robotic Skies has done a great job of setting up its network. We can help ensure robust distribution for parts and software solutions to manage and navigate things. The Robotic Skies network is already servicing unmanned aerial systems operating under current Federal Aviation Administration rules, which allow licensed UAS operators to fly small aircraft of under 55 pounds up to 400 feet in the air. Operators must fly only during daytime, maintain vehicles within their line of sight, and avoid flying over people. Despite the limitations, a broad range of commercial uses have emerged, such as inspecting remote infrastructure and industrial operations, mapping and surveying of real estate and construction sites, and aerial filming and photography. Robotic Skies and Boeing are now preparing for when unmanned aircraft can fly beyond the line of sight. Its hard to predict when well get there, but were positioning ourselves for when that space opens up, Arsenault said. That includes our partnership with Robotic Skies. The Robotic Skies network focuses exclusively on commercial operations, rather than consumer or military customers, Hayden said. The company received a first round of venture seed funding last year from the Kickstart Seed Fund in Utah and Santa Fe-based Sun Mountain Capital. First Balloon Fiesta Pitch Santa Fe-based startup OneForNeptune won a first place $10,000 prize at the ABQid business accelerators first Balloon Fiesta Pitch competition Oct. 5. The company makes specialty seafood jerky, and it can connect end users with fishermen who caught the fish, because OneForNeptune travels to seafood areas to buy product directly from producers. Albuquerque startup Smartloop, which developed artificial intelligence for marketing and customer service, won a $2,000 second-place prize. Nine companies participated: eight from New Mexico and one from Chicago. Nine investors representing venture firms that collectively manage about $2 billion in capital judged the pitches. All the participating companies got to meet and network with investors, which can lead to funding deals later on, said Harold Lavender, ABQid director of finance and business development. The judges also held a feedback session for companies to learn about positive, and potentially negative, things in their pitches to improve them. ABQid holds an annual Ski Lift Pitch every February at Taos Ski Valley, with 50 startups pitching to more than 30 investors since launching in 2015. It wants to offer more companies and investors opportunities to meet and network by converting the Balloon Fiesta pitch into a new annual event. NEW YORK It can be subtle, like failing to make eye contact with a female business owner but engaging in animated conversation with her male co-owner. Or more blatant, like asking an owner whos seeking investor money if she plans to have children. Many female business owners say theyve encountered gender discrimination from potential investors, customers and employees who dont grasp the reality that a woman can be a CEO or a trial attorney or own a technology company. Many women are taken aback at first and dont know how to respond to comments or behavior they find insulting, intrusive and demeaning. But over time, they find strategies to deal with bias. When Amanda Bradford speaks at technology conferences and forums, discussing coding and algorithms, some men tell her afterward, This is something I didnt expect when you opened your mouth. They assume that because shes a woman, shes the marketer, not the inventor, of The League, a dating app. When Bradford sought funding for her San Francisco-based company, I often felt like I didnt get the credit for having the technical experience, she says. Gender bias persists although the number of female-owned businesses in the U.S. has grown to more than 10 million from 5.4 million in 1997. Susan Duffy, executive director of the Center for Womens Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., says that although female owners are more visible and accepted than decades ago, Someone still assumes that if youre the CEO youre the white guy in the suit or the white guy in the hoodie. Potential customers or investors often assume that Gabby Slome and Alex Douzet, two of the co-founders of dog food manufacturer Ollie, are married. Outsiders cant seem to grasp that Slome, whos married to someone else, could be running a business without her husband, or without him bankrolling her. They think, he must have funded me. They dont understand that Im doing this independently of him, says Slome, whose 2-year-old company is based in Manhattan. Slome has learned to turn an uncomfortable moment into a pitch about Douzet and herself. I tell them we met because of shared business interests, and our joint abilities and skill sets make us good business partners, she says. Duffy, who oversees Babsons mentoring programs for female entrepreneurs, says gender discrimination and how to deal with it are frequently discussed at program meetings. Have your antenna up so you know it when you see it, and have two or three ready-to-go behaviors in your back pocket to manage it in the moment for the best outcome, Duffy says. Sally Strebel has noticed that when her male business partner leaves her side at meetings, other men will approach and ask me a question about my company and then tell me how they are building something better and that I should watch out. Strebel, co-founder of Pagely, a website hosting company based in Tucson, realizes they want to intimidate her. Shes also been in meetings at which she wasnt given the chance to speak. For a while, she was silent. But as time went on, she realized that she has the right to speak. I have more power. I have a voice now. I can actually say, Thats not OK,' Strebel says. Noushin Ketabi has noticed that when she and her husband and business partner, Rob Terenzi, meet with male executives, they speak to him and dont make eye contact with her. Ketabi responds by acting as an equal co-owner of Vega, their Santa Barbara, Calif.-based coffee company, speaking knowledgeably and authoritatively. She also uses humor to try to ease the awkwardness. Julia Fowler confronted the potential investor who asked if she planned to have children. The question itself was extremely inappropriate and personal that had nothing to do with the company, says Fowler, co-founder of Edited, a retail technology company with offices in New York, San Francisco and London. At first, Fowler was taken aback. Then, at a second meeting, she raised the issue. I said to the partner who had asked, I want to understand why this is important to you. He didnt have an explanation, Fowler says. Fowlers assertiveness wasnt a problem: Edited got the money. Gender discrimination is often a topic of discussion when Elizabeth Pekin attends conferences with other female trial attorneys. Everyone is a little shocked when it happens, and its harder than you think, says Pekin, co-founder of Momentum Funding, a Boca Raton-Fla.-based company that helps people finance litigation costs. Pekin advises women to market themselves as being qualified simply because they are women. Being a woman is something that can be a launching pad, she says. Abducted 5-year-old boy found dead in Bara A five-year-old boy, who was kidnapped on Wednesday, was found murdered near his residence at Simraungadh Municipality-3 in Bara district on Saturday night. City Councilors announced Sunday that they will consider a Netflix incentive package at a special meeting Thursday. The proposed package would give the media services giant $4.5 million in Local Economic Development funds on top of $10 million from the State Economic Development Department as it negotiates the purchase of Albuquerque Studios. The Albuquerque Development Commission voted last week to recommend councilors take immediate action to approve the incentive, and although the council meets tonight, councilors said moving the decision to Thursday will allow the public and the council additional time to look at the deal. Because of the magnitude of this project and the impact its going to have on our economy, we just felt a special meeting was necessary, said City Council President Ken Sanchez at a news conference Sunday. Sanchez said he is optimistic that the package will pass, and the Thursday meeting fits within Netflixs timeline for finalizing the purchase. Under the proposal, Netflix would commit to spending $1 billion in New Mexico over the next 10 years. The company announced last week that it plans to transform Albuquerque Studios into a principal production hub. Details about the sale price have not been announced; however, officials said the deal would bring around 1,000 film and television production jobs a year. Arts Editor Adrian Gomez contributed to this story. A state Public Education Commission member, who was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez about two years ago, has resigned, citing the direction of the commission as the reason. Danielle Johnston, who represented District 8, confirmed to the Journal last week that she has resigned effective immediately about three months before her appointment was up. She declined to comment to the Journal over the phone, but her resignation letter says my perception is that the Public Education Commission is moving in a direction that I cannot philosophically support. The letter, dated Sept. 27, said Johnstons resignation was a difficult and personal decision. My goal during these appointments has been to serve my District Eight constituents and all members of the New Mexico education community in a positive matter, she wrote. I feel I achieved this goal. PEC Chairwoman Patricia Gipson said she didnt see the resignation coming. No, actually not, she said when asked if Johnston had given any indication of the resignation beforehand. Gipson said she respects Johnstons decision but didnt want to talk specifically on her departure. While the PEC, which authorizes all state charter schools, still will be able to conduct business as usual, Gipson noted theres one less district represented in the conversation. Its unfortunate that its one less voice, she said. The seat which represents counties including Mora, Torrance and most of Otero will not be filled as no one filed to be a candidate, Gipson said. But the governor has the authority to appoint someone to fill the commission vacancy until the next general election. Gipson said in the four years she has been on the PEC, only one other commissioner had resigned before the fulfillment of their term. But resignations only would affect the voting capability of the 10-member commission if there were multiple people stepping down at one time. The PEC needs six commissioners to make a quorum. Before serving on the PEC, Johnston of Moriarty had worked in education for 35 years with 27 of them in New Mexico public schools and eight years in charters as an administrator. She also was formerly with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. SEOUL, South Korea North and South Korea continued their push for peace Monday with high-level talks that resulted in a host of agreements, including a plan by the rivals for a groundbreaking ceremony this year on an ambitious project to connect their railways and roads. The agreements come amid unease in Washington over the speed of inter-Korean engagement. Many outsiders believe that U.S.-led efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear-tipped missiles are lagging significantly behind the Koreas efforts to move past decades of bitter rivalry. There was also controversy over a decision by South Koreas Unification Ministry to block a North Korean defector-turned-reporter from covering the talks at the border village of Panmunjom over concerns of angering North Korea. This drew a fierce reaction from other journalists, who accused the ministry of infringing media freedoms and discriminating against North Korea-born citizens. A series of weapons tests by North Korea last year, and an exchange of insults and threats between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, had many on the Korean Peninsula fearing war. But there has since been a surprising peace initiative, with three inter-Korean summits and a June meeting in Singapore between Trump and Kim. The U.S. and North Korea are working on plans for a second such summit. Still, there is widespread skepticism that North Korea will disarm. And, despite the fanfare for the proposed railway and road projects, the Koreas cannot move much further along without the lifting of international sanctions against North Korea, which isnt likely to come before it takes firmer steps toward relinquishing its nuclear weapons and missiles. South Koreas Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with the North, said in a statement that the government will share details from Mondays meeting with the United States and other nations and will closely coordinate with them to avoid any friction over sanctions. The ministry said the rivals agreed Monday to hold general-level military talks soon to discuss reducing border tensions and setting up a joint military committee thats meant to maintain communication and avoid crises and accidental clashes. The Koreas also agreed to use their newly opened liaison office in the North Korean border town of Kaesong to host talks between sports officials in late October to discuss plans to send combined teams to the 2020 Summer Olympics and to make a push to co-host the 2032 Summer Games. And the two countries will hold Red Cross talks at North Koreas Diamond Mountain resort in November to set up video-conference meetings between aging relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and potentially expand face-to-face reunions between them. Mondays talks were aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after a summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said it was meaningful that the Koreas are getting faster in reaching agreements as their diplomacy gains traction. His North Korean counterpart, Ri Son Gwon, who heads an agency dealing with inter-Korean affairs, said no group and no force will be able to prevent the path toward peace, prosperity and our nations unification. At the most recent summit between Moon and Kim, the two leaders committed to reviving economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such activity. They also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border, removing 11 front-line guard posts by December, and demining sections of the Demilitarized Zone. Moon has described inter-Korean engagement as crucial to resolving the nuclear standoff and is eager to restart joint economic projects held back by sanctions if the larger nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea begin yielding results. However, South Koreas enthusiasm for engagement with its rival appears to have created discomfort with the United States, a key ally. Moons government last week walked back a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea following Trumps blunt retort that Seoul could do nothing without Washingtons approval. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed displeasure about the Koreas military agreements. Kang was not specific, but her comments fueled speculation that Washington wasnt fully on board before Seoul signed the agreements. Trump has encouraged U.S. allies to maintain sanctions on North Korea until it denuclearizes to maintain a campaign of pressure against Kims government. There also was criticism in South Korea on Monday of efforts by Moons government to keep North Korea happy. Unification Minister Cho said his call to exclude North Korea-born Kim Myeong-sung from a pool of reporters covering the meeting was an inevitable policy decision to improve the chance for successful talks. He said the ministry would work harder to assure that North Korea-born defectors can report on North Korea issues without restrictions. But he didnt offer a straightforward answer when asked whether he would make the same decision in the future. Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun earlier said North Korea did not demand that Kim be excluded from covering the meeting. Kim is a reporter for the conservative Chosun Ilbo, South Koreas biggest newspaper, which has been largely critical of Moons policies. The South Korean press corps covering the ministry issued a statement denouncing it for a grave infringement of media freedoms. Copyright 2018 Albuquerque Journal Albuquerque Public Schools, like districts across the country, is facing a teacher shortage. Superintendent Raquel Reedy gave the Board of Education a report recently, saying there were 427 total vacancies including teachers at the time, 10 more open positions than last year, with fewer candidates wanting the jobs. APS and other districts have a supply and demand problem, she said. To spur recruitment, the district looked outside the U.S., including to the Philippines for the first time, in order to fill empty spots. That resulted in about 60 Filipino teachers hired by APS, which has been working on the transfers since early May, according to Stanley Keith, APS personnel analyst and recruiter. The transfers were part of the J-1 educator exchange program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of State, billed as a way to promote cultural exchange. APS said the teachers are then assigned to schools with the greatest need based on vacancies, particularly for special education. While a glitch in visa processing delayed about half of the hires for at least a semester, more than 30 Filipino teachers are now in APS classrooms. We had hired 58 teachers and only 32 were able to get through the pipeline, if you will, Keith said. And he said the district is still recruiting, looking to hire more Filipino teachers in the future. Long-term solutions Districts across New Mexico have been using the J-1 teacher program to fill vacancy gaps. Some districts go through private firms, which recruit the teachers and assist in obtaining visas. APS uses recruiting firm Teach Quest USA, which does not charge the school district; instead the company charges the teachers, usually a percentage of their salaries. But Icela Pelayo, the state Public Education Department acting deputy secretary of teaching and learning, said thats not the intent nor spirit of the program. Rather, the point of the program is to contribute to and support a cultural exchange between countries, she said, adding that its concerning that districts are using the exchanges as a vacancy solution. The Filipino teachers can be in the states for a total of only five years, including extensions, according to APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta. She also noted that its not a long-term solution but said it helps as the teaching field as a whole struggles to attract professionals. Pelayo emphasized the program is supposed to focus on cross-cultural interchange. The federal government had to update its regulation for the teacher program specifically and in 2016 added additional language to strengthen the cross-cultural component, she said. The State Department also highlights this on its J-1 visa website, saying all exchange visitors are expected to return to their home country upon completion of their program in order to share their exchange experiences. Visa holdup But nearly half of the Filipino teachers given a job offer by APS have to wait until January to start. Emails obtained by the Journal from a public records request in August show thats due to a visa processing holdup, which one of APS recruiting firms says was exacerbated by the PED. The J1 sponsor that we are working with in Atlanta, Georgia, was able to process about half of the teachers that we had sent them, Roy Tipgos, CEO of the teacher-recruiting firm Teach Quest USA, said in an email. We contacted another of the J1 sponsors located in Seattle, Wash., who was eager to help us An official at NMPED refused to honor our request for using this other sponsor. Obtaining sponsors, which are designated entities by the U.S. State Department, is required to start teaching under the J-1 program. Those sponsors must secure a letter of no objection from the PED. Peter Perkins, who is in charge of logistics and placement at Teach Quest, said PED did not give the firm a reason why the sponsor was denied. He said that decision has been appealed and he expects the other teachers to begin next January regardless, even if he has to use a different sponsor. Pelayo said PED was not comfortable that the J-1 sponsor from Washington could meet its full requirements but did not provide details. She said PED can work with and re-evaluate companies after they were denied a letter of no objection. Teacher costs Even after teachers get a job offer and are able to get through the visa process, they often face financial burdens. Teach Quest charges up to 10 percent of a teachers salary for recruitment and placement fees, according to Perkins. For a Level 1 teacher making $36,000, that translates up to $3,600 for the new hire. Perkins said Teach Quest adheres to a 10 percent cap in place by the Filipino government. When coming to APS, the teachers also have to pay for their license, transportation to the states and visa costs, according to the district. APS human resources documents show the PED licensure application fee is $125 and $95 to add endorsements to a license. The district also charges a $44 fee for background checks. Still, Keith said the teachers from the Philippines have more financial opportunities in the U.S. than their home country, and thats part of the reason theyre recruited there. The majority of the teachers (in the Philippines) are getting paid peanuts for what they can make here, he said. Four recruiting agencies have sprung up in New Mexico. Each is run by a working teacher, a recently resigned state Public Education Department employee, a district superintendent or the close relative of a superintendent. Such close relationships to the school system give recruiters an edge in helping immigrant teachers navigate licensure and hiring protocol. But they also raise concerns about conflicts of interest and ethics violations. For example: Total Teaching Solutions International is run by Janice Bickert, wife of Ruidoso Municipal Schools superintendent George Bickert. She also works for 3Rivers, a state- and federally funded nonprofit that provides reading support to schools statewide. In 2015, she recruited seven Filipino teachers to New Mexico; in 2016, she recruited four; and in 2017, nine. This year, she placed 48 teachers in Albuquerque, Clovis Gallup, Grants and Roswell schools at a cost of $15,000 per person. I intend to be the No. 1 U.S. placement agency for foreign teachers, she says. Presidio Teach was founded in 2014 by Colin Taylor when he was still superintendent of San Jon Municipal Schools. Today, he runs the agency from Kentucky and says he has placed 60 teachers in New Mexico and Arizona schools over the past four years. Taylor says he doesnt see a conflict of interest in the overlap. I didnt recruit any teachers to my district using the J-1, he says. Any work I did was outside of my duties as superintendent. Taylor declined to say what he charges, but one teacher placed by Taylors agency reports he is paying 15 percent of his $55,000 salary annually for three years about $8,250 per year. Teach-USA is co-directed by Maria Gemma Hilotin, who resigned from an administrative position at the PED this summer, and Cora Barsana, a teacher at the Mescalero Apache School. Gemma Hilotin said in an email her firm charges $5,000 per client. Barsana did not respond to multiple requests for comment by phone, email and social media. Teach Quest USA is co-run by Roy Tipgos, a teacher in the Zuni Public School District, and Peter Perkins, a teacher who retired from the district. The agency has placed 21 teachers in New Mexico schools and charges up to 10 percent of a teachers first-year salary, Perkins says, to be paid up front. Were kind of a matchmaker, he says. We see what the districts have posted and we are looking for the people who have come to us. Who fits that description? We provide that information to the districts, and the principals can make the (hiring) decisions. World Food Day is celebrated on Oct. 16, but in Yemen people are eating leaves just to survive. A civil war between a Saudi Arabia-led coalition against Iran-backed Houthi rebels has plunged the already impoverished country near(er to) famine. If we do anything on World Food Day, lets feed Yemens starving population. We must end the war and hunger that is killing civilians. We must ensure humanitarian access to every part of Yemen so people can get life-saving food and nutrition. All Yemenis are at risk of some calamity in this war. Bombs are hitting homes, schools and hospitals. The United States has to stop its support of the Saudi coalition and become a peacemaker only. The United States has been providing intelligence and refueling to Saudi planes. As U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., says, How can the Trump administration deny what everyone can see with our own two eyes? It is as clear as day that Saudi-led coalition is recklessly and likely intentionally killing innocent civilians and children, and theyre doing it with U.S. bombs and so-called targeting assistance. Even where the bombs dont fall, hunger is present. Food shortages continue to worsen. Yemen was the poorest country in the Middle East before the conflict erupted. Now millions are on the brink of starvation. Around 2/3 of Yemenis live in hunger, according to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP). But the fighting has blocked access for WFP and other humanitarian agencies that are the peoples lifeline. The Hodeidah governorate in Yemen is where the fighting has intensified between the Saudi coalition and the Houthis. Civilians are being killed, and there are military blockades of key ports and roads for moving humanitarian supplies. Yemenis will starve unless those roads are opened. As Carolyn Miles, president of Save the Children, says, What happens in Hodeidah has a direct impact on children and families across Yemen. 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. The United States has to exert diplomatic power in getting the Saudi coalition and the Houthis off the battlefield and to the peace table. There is no military solution in sight for the conflict. The country will starve to death if the war continues. Malnutrition is slowly killing a generation of children. Without access to food, small children will become stunted physically and mentally. There is no recovery once this happens. The children may die as a result. Rhode Island-based Edesia has been producing PlumpySup around the clock to send to WFP in Yemen. This enriched peanut paste can save Yemens children. But military blockades have to end so all children can receive these and other foods. A cease-fire would allow full humanitarian access and encourage peace talks. You cannot build confidence for peace talks if people are starving. David Beasley, the World Food Programs director, pleads Only an immediate cessation of hostilities will give the humanitarian community the sustained access it needs to provide the food and other vital assistance needed to save Yemeni lives. WFP, Save the Children, UNICEF, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services and other agencies can save more lives if the fighting stops. The United States must also ensure funding through its Food for Peace program. Started by President Dwight Eisenhower, Food for Peace provides emergency aid overseas and is active in Yemen today supporting WFP. But much more funding is needed. However, President Trump threatened to eliminate Food for Peace and reduce U.S. hunger relief programs in the budget. That cannot happen. Congress must take charge here to ensure U.S. food aid increases during these times of massive need. As World Food Day arrives we cannot sit idly by as Yemen starves. The United States must do everything possible to feed Yemen and give a generation of children hope. Author William Lambers partnered with the UN World Food Program on Ending World Hunger. His writings have been published by the New York Times, History News Network, The Hill, HuffPost, Newsweek and other media outlets. Do you measure volume by A.) how big your glass is, or B.) how much is actually in it? At the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, the answer has always been A. The U.S. Department of Energy is asking New Mexico to switch that to B. Thats because WIPP, a series of underground salt caverns that has housed radioactive waste since 1999, is already more than half full using the current measurement method, which calculates the amount using the outermost containers, which may have smaller containers of waste within them. Switching to calculating volume using the innermost containers would mean WIPP is one-third full. WIPP is capped at 6.2 million cubic feet of transuranic waste under the 1992 federal Land Withdrawal Act that authorized it. DOE argues that the current system means a lot of the volume counted toward the limit is just air. Weigh in on WIPP What: NMED public hearing on request to modify permit When: 9 a.m. Oct. 23 Where: Room 153, New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, 1500 University Drive And so it is right that the New Mexicans who live closest to WIPP will have the opportunity to air their concerns about the change later this month. Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, has said a hearing is unnecessary, but, if there has to be one, it should be in Carlsbad. Don Hancock, director of the Nuclear Waste Program at the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center and a longtime WIPP critic, has said any technical testimony should be in Santa Fe and maintains that DOE and the state Environment Department are aiming to fast-track the request. Bigger concerns than whether trapped air counts as waste are the proposed mission creep that could bring the higher-level radioactive waste sitting around the nation to WIPP, and the fact that temporary storage of that higher-level waste at WIPP or the proposed Holtec interim storage facility nearby could become indefinite because the federal government has allowed Nevadas Yucca Mountain to remain a $15 billion empty parking garage. Nevertheless, the people who live near, and work in and around, WIPP deserve to be heard, and to have decision makers come to their community and explain, face to face, exactly what the changes mean. 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. BOSTON During the past six months, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has quietly built a shadow war room designed to elect Democrats across the country in the midterm elections, overtaking some of the traditional duties of Democratic Party campaign committees and further positioning herself for an all-but-certain 2020 presidential bid. Her effort, which goes far beyond the fundraising and endorsement speeches in which prospective presidential candidates typically engage, has encompassed work in all 50 states and close coordination with more than 150 campaigns. The result is a wide-ranging network that includes those running for state treasurer in Nevada, state legislature in Iowa and congressional offices around the country. It is unmistakably aimed at some of the early-primary states that Warren would need to contest in a presidential campaign. She has deployed staffers to all four early primary states two to New Hampshire and one each to Iowa, South Carolina, and Nevada as well as to traditional powerhouses like Ohio, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin. I feel the urgency of the moment nationally, Warren said in an interview. Its two parts: Its holding Donald Trump accountable for what he does. Its also trying to push this country toward working better for hard-working families. The Warren effort, while beneficial to a presidential campaign she said she will take a hard look at after the midterms, also signals how decentralized the national Democratic Party has become as most of the energy is being generated by individuals who are building their own operations. On the fundraising front alone, scores of Democrats have raised more than $1 million each in pursuit of House seats this year; in Texas, Democratic Senate candidate Beto ORourke pulled in more than $38 million in the most recent fundraising quarter. Warren is still helping the official campaign committees donating and raising money for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, for example but much of her work is independent of them and appears aimed at restocking a Democratic bench that has become woefully thin in recent years. Warren, who has built a prodigious fundraising network for her Senate campaign, has also raised or donated $7.6 million for other candidates and committees this cycle. On Monday, one of her aides said, she plans to donate another $460,000, which appears to place her ahead of most of her potential 2020 rivals except for Michael Bloomberg, who is spending $100 million of his own money on the midterms. I speak a lot to candidates who are running this year, said David Axelrod, a top political adviser to former President Barack Obama. Shes the first call they get after a primary. Its not just the winners shes calling, shes calling the losers, too. The scale is pretty impressive. This is how you go about building relationships and acquiring chits for a future project. Its very smart, he added. If you were advising someone who had the resources of someone who was going to run for president, this is what you would do. Warrens midterm operation is housed in a back office of her Senate re-election headquarters here. Every day, about a half dozen staffers report to work, picking at salads and pecking away on laptops, sending messages to the campaigns around the country to which they are assigned. Whiteboards on the wall list the various races they are tracking, a map shows the places Warren has visited or where staffers were currently based, and theres a list of candidates Warren needs to follow up with personally. The operation which internally is called the Democratic Outreach Team, or DOT began in early 2018 when Warrens staff started researching individual races in all 50 states, examining candidates and evaluating polling, fundraising, and on-the-ground dynamics. We know every single district, a Warren aide involved in the effort said. Weve researched every district. Were granularly paying attention to every place on the map. Warren deliberately stayed out of almost every Democratic primary. But shortly after a winner was declared, Warren placed a congratulatory call something she did for 172 candidates, by her staffs tally and offered campaign assistance. Someone from her staff was then assigned to the candidate to provide help or solicit requests. After Nevadas June primary, Warren was on the phone with Zach Conine, who is running for state treasurer (She was the only elected official outside of the state of Nevada who called, he said). When Deidre DeJear, who is running for secretary of state in Iowa, came to Washington a few weeks ago, Warrens staff made sure they had time to meet (She was super encouraging, and said, Dont let up,' DeJear said. I said, Yes maam.') In June, when Liuba Grechen Shirley won her House primary in New York, Warren was among the first to call. About once a week since then, Warrens team has been in touch with Shirleys campaign manager, Anna Brichacek. They share policy memos, craft fundraising emails, and discuss ways to amplify their social media messages. When one of Shirleys field directors was hospitalized, Warren called to wish her well. A lot people are being helpful, said Shirley, who is running against Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., in a race for a seat that most have expected to remain in Republicans hands. But no one has been more helpful than Elizabeth Warren. She said Warren is helping fill a void and able to energize the wave of first-time candidates running this year. The Republicans are really good at building a bench, Shirley said. This is something the Democratic Party hasnt done a great job of. I really appreciate that she is taking the time to build a bench. Warren insists she is not ignoring her race in Massachusetts, in which she is the runaway favorite. She did her 37th town hall on Saturday and is slated for three debates with her Republican opponent, Geoff Diehl. It is largely because she is on such firm political territory that she can look elsewhere. Warren insists that her efforts now are not about laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign and that shed be doing the same thing regardless of any national plans. This is about the urgency of now of the importance of the midterms. And the long arc here is about investing in democracy, which stretches way beyond 2020, she said. I said Id take a hard look after the election, she said of a presidential race. But not now. Thats not what this is about. The 2020 contest, though, is expected to begin in earnest almost immediately after the midterms. With a fluid Democratic race that has potential candidates numbering in the dozens, candidates are doing anything they can to gain an advantage. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has raised more than $7 million for other candidates and traveled to 21 states. Former Vice President Joe Biden has traveled or raised money for 24 candidates and offered endorsements to another 74 candidates, while Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, is launching a nine-state tour later this week. Sen. Kamala Harris, the California Democrat, has raised or contributed more than $6.5 million and has traveled to 10 states this year to campaign with candidates, and has plans for more. Like Warren, she has been calling candidates and offering assistance. One of her staffers left to work for Abby Finkenauer, a congressional candidate in Iowa. What seems to set Warren apart is the breadth of the operation. Warrens team has offered to send out emails to her list (180 times), given contributions (167 times) or provided policy documents (63 times). She has also met with candidates one-on-one (61 times), done videos (36 times) or fundraisers (41 times). Most of the candidates shes helped are running for Congress, but shes also met with candidates in key 2020 states like Mark Smith, running for re-election to the Iowa House or Catherine Byrne, who is running for controller in Nevada. The energizing part of the new 2018 candidates is theyre running hard and theyre running for something. And theyre not apologizing to anybody for it, she said. Then she left to record her latest batch of videos to be sent around the country for get-out-the-vote operations in dozens of races. WASHINGTON In a comment that could give Saudi officials a route to climb down from outright denials, President Donald Trump suggested Monday that rogue killers could be responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who hasnt been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. Trumps comment came after a 20-minute phone call with Saudi Arabias King Salman in which Trump said the king adamantly denied any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi. Trump announced hed dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the kingdom and anywhere else necessary to get to the bottom of the apparent demise of Khashoggi, a Saudi who had been living and working in the United States. The king firmly denied any knowledge of it, Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to survey hurricane damage in Florida and in Georgia. Trump said he didnt want to get into (Salmans) mind, but told reporters: it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. I mean, who knows? Were going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial. The comments marked a break from the Trump administrations strenuous refusal to speculate over what happened to Khashoggi and came as the U.S. president is under growing pressure to take action on the case of the Saudi writer, who was a contributor to The Washington Post and wrote columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkish officials say they believe Saudi agents killed and dismembered Khashoggi and say Turkey has audio and video recordings of it. The kingdom has called the allegations of foul play baseless but has offered no evidence the writer left the consulate. The State Department has urged a thorough investigation and called on Saudi Arabia to be transparent about the results advice broadly tracking messages from allies in Europe. Germany, Britain and France issued a joint statement over the weekend expressing grave concern and calling for a credible investigation to ensure those responsible for the disappearance are held to account. Trump quoted the King on Monday as saying that neither he nor his son, the crown prince, had any information about what had happened to Khashoggi. The crown prince, ambitious, aggressive and just 33 in a kingdom long ruled by aging monarchs, has considerable weight in Saudi government actions. He and Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, have forged close ties. In Istanbul, meanwhile, investigators entered the consulate for their own investigation. The members arrived by unmarked police cars but said nothing to journalists waiting outside as they entered the building. Trump tweeted early Monday that Salman denied any knowledge of whatever may have happened to our Saudi Arabian citizen.' He made that point again and again as he left the White House, telling reporters, All I can do is report what he told me. His denial to me could not have been stronger, Trump said, echoing language he has used to describe Russian President Vladimir Putins denials of meddling in the 2016 election that sent Trump to the White House. U.S. intelligence officials have reported they are certain the interference took place in an effort to hurt Hillary Clintons campaign. Trump last week vowed to uncover the truth about what happened to Khashoggi and promised severe punishment for those responsible. But he has said repeatedly that he does not want to halt a proposed $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia as some in Congress have said he should because it would harm the U.S. economically.. Saudi Arabia has pledged to retaliate economically for any U.S. punitive action. Trump said hed made clear the stakes. The world is watching, the world is talking. This is very important to get to the bottom of it, Trump said. I think he understands that very well. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin still plans to attend a previously scheduled Saudi conference this week to address terrorist financing, but those plans could change as the investigation progresses, said White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Sens. Marco Rubio and Jeff Flake, members of the Foreign Relations Committee, have said Congress is prepared to move quickly and firmly if Trump fails to adequately respond to Khashoggis disappearance. Rubio said Sunday that U.S.-Saudi relations may need to be completely revised. Theres not enough money in the world for us to buy back our credibility on human rights if we do not move forward and take swift action, Rubio said on CBS Face the Nation. More than 20 Republican and Democratic senators instructed Trump last week to order an investigation into Khashoggis disappearance under legislation that authorizes sanctions for perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, torture or other gross human rights violations. Khashoggi had been living in self-exile in Virginia for the past year. __ Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report. Two local real estate developers are requesting a total of $26.4 million in metropolitan redevelopment bonds from the city to build a Marriott Springhill Suites near Presbyterian Hospital near Downtown. The proposal by Titan Development and Maestas Development Group, applying under the name Urban Hospitality NM, will come before the Albuquerque Development Commission on Thursday. Final approval by the City Council is required before the deal is executed. The bonds are a mechanism for providing a property tax abatement to developers working in distressed neighborhoods. In this case, the abatement totals about $3.2 million over a seven-year period, according to city filings. The developers estimate the project will create 123 full-time construction jobs for one year and between 50 and 58 full-time jobs once the hotel is complete. The site is part of The Highlands, a $95 million, 12-acre mixed-use project north of Central Avenue near Presbyterian Hospital being developed by Titan and Maestas. The parcel on which the Marriott will be built is about 1.23 acres. Construction is expected to begin in December. In a statement, Titan Chief Development Officer Kurt Browning called The Highlands the model for urban, walkable development in Albuquerque and a stimulant for continued economic growth along historic Route 66. Maestas Development Group CEO Steve Maestas described the Highlands as an important and catalyzing project in Albuquerque, that will create a total of 500 new jobs when completed. This development will change the landscape of Central Avenue, said Maestas in an email. The building plans for the Marriott include a sky bridge over Central Avenue that would connect the hotel to the hospital. The Marriott will contain 118 rooms; an additional 20 rooms are designated for use by the Ronald McDonald House Charities of New Mexico, which provides housing for families seeking medical treatment for their children at little or no cost. The developers wrote in the filings that they believe this will create the first Ronald McDonald House in the country to be built as part of a newly constructed hotel. The cost to complete the project is $26.4 million, the amount of the bonds. The market value of the property is expected to be $29.1 million once it is completed in December 2019, according to the filings. Nepal-India air route talks: India makes U-turn Nepals request for India to grant air entry points from the L626 route in Mahendranagar and Nepalgunj has suffered a setback as the southern neighbour has apparently denied it, multiple sources at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) said. Inspector held with bribe cash The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Surkhet, on Sunday arrested Inspector Sushobhan Shrestha at the Area Police Office in Babiyachaur for taking bribe. A panel discussion on Tribetailing: Leaping Beyond Mass Customization organized by FICCI in the 8th edition of Massmerize 2018 was held recently in Delhi. The discussion was a part of the daylong convention that witnessed a great footfall as important dignitaries from Government, Retail, FMCG, and E-Commerce sectors had gathered to discuss regulatory issues, Macro-Economics and consumer trends. The Chief Guest, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Honble Union Minister, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, inaugurated the conference and stressed on the needs of introducing regional languages in the products so that the end consumer can understand it. Speaking on the new buzzword in retail Tribetailing, CA Kunal Singhal, MD EAZY ERP stressed that only 10% of India is organized retail, the remaining 90% are still the Brick & mortar shops or follow traditional distribution channels. So capturing the data of this unorganized sector is also important. Opting for solution like EAZY DMS or distributor management solution, FMCG companies like MDH, Bikano, Lotus Herbals, Crompton are not only gaining a clear visibility of their secondary sales but also helping in streamlining the data management at the distributor and remote retailer level. EAZY DMS recognizes the challenges of this unorganized sector in India. Therefore, it is built in a way which doesnt interfere in the daily workings of the distributor. It seamlessly integrates with the distributors billing system and provides all the required information to the principal company. He further added, With SFA or sales force integration, retailers can book their orders to the distributors/ wholesalers bringing some order to this unorganized sector. Through such applications you can control the pricing at the distributor level. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. David Del Vecchio, the president of MOX Services, will cooperate with the National Nuclear Security Administration's Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility termination order and expects project employees to do the same, according to an internal memo obtained by the Aiken Standard. "I know this news is troubling and disheartening," the memo, sent to workers, reads. "I also know that NNSA expects us to deliver a product that takes the project to termination, and that is exactly what I intend to do as your president, and what I expect you to do as team members." MOX Services is the prime contractor for the imperiled MOX project. Sen. Graham, Gov. McMaster to discuss MOX with Trump next week U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Saturday said he and S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster will sit down with President Donald Trump next week to discuss the f The NNSA a semiautonomous U.S. Department of Energy agency delivered its termination notice to MOX contractors and guarantors on Oct. 10, one day after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court's MOX-protecting injunction. U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry moved to kill MOX an incomplete Savannah River Site plant designed to turn weapons-grade plutonium into commercial reactor fuel on May 10. Perry, in writing to congressional defense committees, certified there was a cheaper and more efficient plutonium disposition pathway. The MOX termination notice, also obtained by the Aiken Standard, is seven pages long, save for attachments. The notice details the project wind down process and instructs how the work site should be preserved. The notice is currently "being reviewed, evaluated and analyzed" to understand what exactly must be done, according to Del Vecchio's memo. "Please remain focused on your personal safety and your assigned work," the memo reads. "I will be providing updates as more information becomes available." The NNSA is expecting a full termination plan within 30 days of the Oct. 10 issuance. Del Vecchio, in the memo, acknowledges layoffs related to project shutdown, adding that the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act will seemingly apply. NNSA delivered MOX termination notice this week; construction expected to wind down "This notice terminates the contract in its entirety, and is effective immediately," the notice, which the Aiken Standard obtained, reads. The WARN act is a labor law that requires major employers to notify staff of mass layoffs or plant closures. "Also note that the WARN act provides a minimum of 60 days' notice to those who will be laid off from the project," the memo reads, "and that eventually, every employee on the project will be laid off." In a statement Friday, the NNSA said it is "committed to supporting the current workforce and will work with MOX Services throughout this transition process to reduce short-term impacts to workers, the surrounding community, and the state of South Carolina." Del Vecchio also pledged to help MOX workers find "future opportunities." On Saturday, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he and S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster will sit down with President Donald Trump this week to discuss the future of MOX. Both men are ardent supporters of the project. Labour pact with Malaysia on Oct 29 Nepal and Malaysia are due to sign a labour agreement in two weeks time.The two countries will sign the bilateral agreement on October 29, according to Mahesh Prasad Dahal, secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security. The Al Khalifa royals hope that Bahrains upcoming quadrennial elections, set to take place Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, if runoffs are necessary will mark a new chapter of the march of democratic development in the island kingdom. Yet there is good reason to doubt that these elections will serve to enhance the ruling familys legitimacy in the eyes of the Shiite opposition. Indeed, on Oct. 9, Bahrains dominant Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society called for a national boycott of the elections. This further indicates the extent to which many Bahraini Shiites believe that they are not genuinely represented in the government and that participating in next months elections for the lower-house would be counterproductive to their struggle. Bahraini authorities dissolved Al-Wefaq in 2016, accusing the Shiite Islamist society of harboring terrorism, and issued a law in May that prohibits its leaders and members from running in next months elections. Last year, the regime also dissolved the dominant secular, left-wing group al-Waad. Amid this contraction of political space, more Shiite oppositionists have turned to militancy after abandoning hope for democratic reform in their country. This radicalization of some Shiites in Bahrain has taken place against the backdrop of the regimes hard-liners gaining leverage over the monarchys more moderate elements that are more open to making concessions to the Shiite opposition. In Bahrain the current state of affairs remains tense. The recent detention of 111 out of the 169 people who allegedly belonged to Bahrains local Hezbollah offshoot Bahrains Hezbollah has followed the arrests of scores of Bahraini Shiites accused by the state of waging or promoting terrorism, yet defended by human rights organizations as political prisoners and peaceful dissidents. In January 2017, the execution of three Shiites convicted of killing three policemen in March 2014 marked Bahrains first use of the death penalty since the Arab Spring broke out, leading to strong criticism from abroad based on the view of the trial as unfair. In May 2018, a Bahraini court voided the citizenship of 115 people, handing almost half of them life sentences based on terror-linked charges. These citizens join hundreds of others whose Bahraini nationalities have been revoked and rendered stateless by authorities since 2012. Of these native Bahrainis, some have been expelled from the archipelago country. The Manama regime continues to blame Iran for much of the countrys internal unrest. Notwithstanding open questions about Irans true involvement in Bahrains domestic affairs, which many accuse Bahraini/Saudi authorities of exaggerating, the current climate has afforded the Islamic Republic greater opportunity to exploit Bahrains internal problems to its own advantage. The contraction of political space in the archipelago state has added momentum to the arguments, made by certain Shiites, that the opposition might as well look for support from abroad (i.e., Tehran) while all efforts to constructively engage with the regime in Manama remain futile and pointless. As Bahrain fails to resolve the political crisis that has unleashed waves of instability in the country since 2011, the tense post-2011 regional climate continues to further undermine the prospects for peaceful resolution of Bahrains internal sources of unrest. Protecting the Al Khalifa rulers in Bahrain, which since 2003 has been the Arab worlds only Shiite-majority country ruled by a Sunni regime, remains a high priority for Saudi Arabia, which along with the UAE heavily influences Manama. The Saudis have constantly seen the specter of any successful Arab Spring revolution within the Gulf Cooperation Council especially if the revolution is led by Shiite Gulf Arabs who receive, at minimum, moral support from Tehran as crossing a red line. As Bahrain remains highly dependent on Saudi Arabia and the UAE for financial and security assistance in the post-2011 period, the regimes ability to make concessions to the opposition is greatly limited by its key regional alliances. From Riyadhs vantage point, the liberalization or democratization of Bahrains political system would inevitably serve to advance Irans geopolitical interests in the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf, and thus the Al Saud rulers maintain pressure on Bahrains royals to prevent the countrys Shiites from achieving significant political gains, seeing Al-Wefaq as merely a fifth column of Tehran. Having President Donald Trump in the Oval Office has further emboldened the Manama regime, with the US administration seeing Bahrains political crisis through Saudi lenses. The administration views the archipelago kingdom as an important battleground in the struggle to counter Irans regional ascendancy and refuses to put the same pressure however limited it was that the Obama administration applied on Bahrains leadership to make improvements in the area of human rights and democratization. With Al-Wefaq having called for a boycott of next months elections in Bahrain, a low voter turnout among large Shiite segments of the country can be expected. A legitimate concern is that the vote may result in new waves of instability if certain anti-regime elements violently protest the elections. Unfortunately, the combination of the regime's showing no sign of easing its grip on the Shiite opposition (including the of the detention of the Al-Wefaq leadership) and the Shiite societys call for a boycott show the two sides are not making the necessary concessions that could realistically move the archipelago state toward any resolution. Looking ahead, what remains to be seen is if either side will be willing to make concessions first, unquestionably taking political risks in doing so. Yet with Al-Wefaq leaders barred from running for the lower house, the opposition is clearly set on refusing to grant any sense of legitimacy to the electoral process. It seems that the regime leadership, with strong support from Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Washington, has determined that eradicating organized political opposition is the favored strategy for maintaining stability in Bahrain as Shiite militants, allegedly under the umbrella of Al-Wefaq, continue to clash. Undoubtedly, Bahrains failure to overcome the stalemate between the regime and opposition will come at the expense of the island kingdoms economic health. For Bahrain to once again capitalize on its transparent financial sector, highly educated population, relatively strong private sector and tourism industry to be a vibrant Gulf state, it is necessary to heal the sectarian divisions and end the 7-year impasse. Ultimately, Bahrains crisis is continuing largely due to a trust deficit that continues to grow; unfortunately, next months elections appear unlikely to narrow it. President Donald Trump is giving the Saudis an escape hatch over journalist Jamal Khashoggis disappearance. It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, Trump told reporters at the White House this morning. Who knows? Were going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon. The US president has repeatedly stressed that King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud firmly denies Turkish allegations that Saudi intelligence forces murdered Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Trump has also underscored that Khashoggi is not a US citizen, even though he lived in the United States under temporary asylum. Why it matters: Trump said during a Sunday CBS interview that there would be severe punishment for Riyadh if the Saudi royal court was found to be responsible for his disappearance, prompting Saudi threats of retaliation. Should the Saudis blame rogue killers for Khashoggis likely death, Trump now has room to back off from his threats to punish a close US ally he has leaned on extensively for everything from his hard-line Iran policy to his yet-to-be-unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. But Congress has other ideas: Congress isnt giving itself the same room to maneuver. Several members, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., took the unusual step last week of telling reporters that US intelligence assessments corroborate Turkish allegations placing the blame on Riyadh. Corker and his Democratic counterpart, Bob Menendez, D-N.J., used their authority under the Global Magnitsky Act to force Trump to launch a federal probe into Khashoggis disappearance. Bipartisan leadership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday also reinforced the Senates calls for a probe. But it would be up to Trump to implement sanctions should the probe implicate Saudi officials. Lawmakers are less united on cutting off arms sales to Saudi Arabia. But even previously pro-Saudi lawmakers such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have said theyre open to it. Trump, meanwhile, opposes cutting off arms sales, citing Saudi investment in the US defense industry. Whats next: Trump has dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia and possibly Turkey to discuss the matter. Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton have also given Saudi Ambassador Khalid bin Salman until Tuesday to return to Washington with answers. As the Turks prepare to search the Saudi Consulate today right after a cleaning crew was seen entering and leaving the premises it remains to be seen whether Riyadh will opt to run with Trumps rogue killers narrative. Know more: Stay up to speed on how Khashoggis disappearance has affected both Saudi-Turkish relations and Saudi-US relations at Al-Monitor. Bryant Harris The Donald Trump administration today designated Hezbollah as a top transnational criminal organization, devoting more resources to targeting the Lebanese paramilitary groups racketeering and drug trafficking activities abroad. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of a Justice Department task force specifically targeting Hezbollah along with four Latin American cartels. Why it matters: Hezbollah may seem like the odd man out in a list of gangs that are predominantly active in Latin America, but the Lebanese organization does its own fair share of trafficking and money laundering throughout South and Central America. The new task force is an effort to tighten the screws on Hezbollahs foreign funding streams as the Trump administration seeks to ratchet up the pressure on Iran and its proxies. The team is composed of experienced international narcotics trafficking, terrorism, organized crime and money laundering prosecutors who are tasked with investigating individuals and networks providing support to Hezbollah, Sessions said in remarks to federal prosecutors today. The task force is staffed with members of the Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team, which Sessions created earlier this year. Federal prosecutor Ilan Graff, who is currently prosecuting two alleged members of Hezbollahs External Security Organization, has been chosen to lead the task force. Whats next: Sessions has given the task force 90 days to craft a strategy to prosecute Hezbollah for its activities abroad. His announcement comes after Congress passed the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act last week to block the assets of anyone the president determines provides significant financial, material or technological support to Hezbollah and its affiliates. The bill, which now awaits Trumps signature, amends a 2015 law requiring the president to outline procedures for designating Hezbollah as a significant transnational criminal organization. Know more: Stay plugged in to Al-Monitors Washington Pulse for the latest on the Trump administrations efforts to crack down on Iran and its proxies. For more insight into the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act, read congressional correspondent Bryant Harris granular breakdown of the bill. - Bryant Harris Late NC leaders last rites held at Aryaghat The final rites of late Nepali Congress leader Chakra Prasad Banstola was conducted at Pashupati Aryaghat on Sunday. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan is visiting Iraq with a high-level US delegation this week to meet the countrys new president and the prime minister-designate in the first such visit since elections in May. Why it matters: Sullivan, a seasoned bureaucrat, is getting to know Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Adel Abdul Mahdi and President Barham Salih for the first time while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is preoccupied with the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The visit is an opportunity to restructure the US relationship with Baghdad amid growing Iranian influence in the country. Specifically, Sullivans visit could provide an opportunity to get the US-Iraq Strategic Framework, a document that lays out Washingtons ties with Baghdad, into more cohesive form after the deal got bogged down by six working groups. I think theyre kind of collapsing it down to focus on whats important, said Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute who recently returned from a visit to Iraqi Kurdistan. We tried to do broad-based work across a vast range of subjects and not much got done. Now they want to focus. One option, Knights added, could be to narrow the working groups charged with implementing the pact into two lanes: Political-Military and Energy/Economic cooperation. I'd think the key priority would be to maintain military cooperation, said Kirk Sowell, head of Utica Risk Services, a Middle East-focused consulting firm. That's the only area where we have a vital interest where the impact is tangible in any way at all. New kid on the block: Priority No. 1 for the man named to become Iraqi prime minister is shoring up his job security. As a compromise candidate, the new leader has a weak footing in Iraqi politics, experts say. His main problem is that he has conflicting demands and no real legislative or political base, Uticas Sowell said of Abdul Mahdi. The prime minister-designate, Sowell said, owes his nomination to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Sairoon coalition came in first in the May elections. The other political leaders don't like this non-party ministers idea, Sowell added. I doubt the relationship with the US is a major priority. Same old bad guys: Forging ties with the new government is all the more important amid signs that the reason the US got back into Iraq in the first place the Islamic State might not be eradicated just yet. Tribal leaders in Anbar province affiliated with the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Units say the militant group is resurfacing under the name Ansar Sharia. Whats next: Abdul Mahdi has 30 days to put together a cabinet and present it to parliament. Know more: Read Fazel Hawramy for more background on Abdul Mahdi. Jack Detsch In a joint editorial, four of Tehrans top newspapers decried the US exit from the nuclear deal and asked American journalists to speak up against the imposition of tyrannical sanctions against Iran. Hoping the gain a sympathetic ear in the West, particularly the United States, the 1,500-word editorial published in English and Persian framed the imposition of sanctions as an issue of freedom. The editorial, In Defense of Freedom, led with the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, concerning life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It echoed Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg address, beginning with the line, Just twelve scores [sic] and two years after Thomas Jefferson wrote this statement The editorial stated that despite numerous verifications by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the continued adherence of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the European Union, President Donald Trump left the nuclear deal and trampled over the US constitution and international law. In addition to the Declaration of Independence, the editorial also invoked UN Resolution 2625, the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation of Among States, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1970. The resolution forbids using economic measures coercively against other states. The editorial dismissed claims by the US government and notably also by the Iranian government about the impact of sanctions, specifically US claims that the sanctions target only the government and Iranian claims that civilians will not be harmed, warning that the sanctions will impact the lives of millions of Iranians and inhibit access to medicine, drugs and medical equipments. The editorial also made references to English philosopher John Locke, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Hannah Arendt, Karl Popper and Mahatma Ghandi and pled with journalists in the West to not keep silent" about "the principles of human freedom. The newspapers that ran the editorial Iran, Hamshahri, Sazandegi and Etelaat are operated under the direction of the Hassan Rouhani administration or the municipality of Tehran, or are sympathetic to the administrations policies, in particular the nuclear deal, which removed sanctions in return for Iran reducing its nuclear capabilities. These newspapers and in the journalists who work for them seek to improve relations with the outside world. However, how well the journalists who penned the letter can connect to the Western media remains to be seen. It is unlikely that many American journalists will be moved by references to John Locke or his influence on the founding fathers. Also, most American journalists are consumed with their own battles with Trump and his attacks on the media. Sanctions against Iran have historically had bipartisan support in the United States and even liberal columnists spoke in support of sanctions against Iran under President Barack Obama. While Trump may be unpopular at home and leaving the nuclear deal was not a widely popular move, there is a consensus among American pundits that the United States needs to be aggressive toward Iran. An editorial by four leading Iranian newspapers armed with references to a 17th century philosopher can do little to change that. Oren Hazan of the Likud is a controversial Israeli lawmaker. It should therefore come as no surprise that he was the first to speak out against the marriage of Arab TV presenter Lucy Aharish to actor Tzahi HaLevi, star of the successful TV series "Fauda." Jumping to defend HaLevi from being tainted by the scourge of mixed marriage, Hazan wrote in a crass Facebook post, I am not accusing Lucy Aharish of seducing a Jewish soul in an attempt to harm our state and preventing more descendants of Jews from carrying on the Jewish legacy. That is why she is invited to convert. To HaLevi, he wrote, Youve taken 'Fauda' a step too far. Step out of this film, man! According to a Channel 2 investigative report released right before he was elected to the Knesset in June 2015, Hazan ran a casino in Burges, Bulgaria, bought and used heavy drugs and provided his clients with prostitutes. Hazan was suspended from the Knesset floor in January for six months because of his outlandish behavior. If Hazan had been the only politician to worry about the future of the Jewish people, it would be easy to dismiss him. But he is not alone. A long line of politicians expressed their concern about the future of Israel and Judaism because of this highly publicized wedding. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) offered the most direct response. In an interview with Army Radio, he explained to the young couple that after all the attention surrounding their wedding subsides, the real battle over their lives will begin. I would like to tell Lucy that I have no doubt she did not intend to harm the State of Israel, he said. They are a couple in love, so they are getting married. But it is not the right thing to do. But I say to her, You will have children, and they will have a problem in Israel because of their status. We must not encourage these kinds of things. We must protect the Jewish people. If she is sincerely interested in Judaism, there is a conversion process. Since Deri is an ultra-Orthodox Jew, one could hardly expect him to respond any differently. On the other hand, one would expect a different response from Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, whose party has waged a long political battle against religious coercion in Israel. Neverthless, I have a problem with mixed marriages, he said in a radio interview. Jews are a small people. There are fewer Jews in the world today than there were at the time of the Holocaust. I want the Jewish people to grow, not shrink. Perhaps because of all the criticism his words attracted (he was flat-out accused of being a racist), he later tweeted, I love Lucy Aharish. Rght-wing religious groups are waging a daily battle against assimilation in Israel. Far-right activist Bentzi Gopsteins Lehava group openly states that its goal is to save the daughters of Israel seduced into relationships with gentiles. As for Aharish, when it was announced that she had been selected to light a torch to mark Israels Independence Day in 2015, Lehava planned to hold a demonstration during the ceremony. It later changed its mind when the courts set limitations on demonstrations held at the site of the ceremony on Mount Herzl. Personal relationships between Jews and Arabs have made headlines in Israel on more than one occasion. In August 2014, 200 police officers were needed to secure the wedding of Jaffa residents Mahmoud Mansour to Morel Malka, a Jew who had converted to Islam. In October 2017, it was reported that the father of reality star Opal Inbar had set off to rescue his daughter from a romantic relationship with a Muslim man. I made it clear to him that I do not reject him as a person. There is nothing to prevent us from being friends, he wrote on Facebook. Well go out and have a good time, just like I do with anybody else, because hes a person just like I am. But there will never be a blood relationship between us. He added, I am not a racist, but even though I am secular, I worry about the fate of Judaism. Aharish's is ostensibly a different story. Many Israelis see her as a popular television host who assimilated into Israeli society so successfully that she is more Israeli than many Israelis. She attended a Jewish school in Dimona and was injured when she was six years old by a Molotov cocktail thrown at her familys car during a visit to the Gaza Strip. She openly takes pro-Israel positions alongside her criticism of the racism and discrimination faced by Israels Arab population. For a moment it seemed like Aharish had managed to shatter a barrier. She would not give anyone the slightest reason to hurl the derogatory epithets at her that leaders on the right so frequently use to disparage 20% of Israels population. But her wedding proved that it is not so much assimilation that scares Israelis as the idea that Aharish is still an Arab and is preventing the Jewish people from growing. Her children can expect to suffer. Based on their hysterical responses, quite a few politicians are very agitated, yet only Knesset member Betzalel Smotrich (HaBayit HaYehudi) said openly what so many others think and express discretely. He took to Twitter, quoting I Samuel 15:29, The Glory of Israel will not lie or be deceived. It doesnt matter that Aharish and HaLevi are a handsome and happy young couple, or that they are all Israeli in their blood and soul. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned his electoral base on election day in 2015 that Arabs were heading to the polls in droves. In 2014, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that Arabs in Israel live in some kind of schizophrenia. As such, is anyone really surprised by the racist reactions of so many politicians? A strategically situated house in the Old City of Jerusalem near Al-Aqsa Mosque was taken over Oct. 3 by Jewish extremists belonging to the Ateret Cohanim group whose sole purpose is to Judaize the Old City of Jerusalem through the takeover of Palestinian homes. According to American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, The aim of Ateret Cohanim is to fulfill a generations old dream of rebuilding & securing a United Jerusalem, strengthening our Jewish roots and reestablishing the once thriving Jewish communities. The story of the transfer of the house to Jewish hands is full of intrigue, claims and counterclaims, money, internal politics and the role of local and international players, including ones in the United Arab Emirates. Al-Monitor was told key details of the story by reliable sources. Khaleel Assali, the correspondent of Sawa Radio in Jerusalem, told Al-Monitor that the case involved a well-respected Jerusalemite, Adeeb Jodeh, who has been looking to sell his family home. He made visits to various Palestinian organizations and individuals, trying to convince them to buy the house so that it doesnt fall in the wrong hands, Assali said. Homes in the Old City are sold for very high prices. Jodeh was not living in the house at the time of its sale. Fadi Elsalameen, an American-Palestinian known to be a crusader against the corruption of Palestinian officials and a nonresident fellow at The Foreign Policy Institute at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told Al-Monitor he was approached in 2013 by Nabil Jaabari, chairman of the board of Hebron University, and asked if he could help secure funds to purchase Jodehs house. I spoke to my contacts in the Gulf and was told that the UAE's Tharaa Fund is interested in protecting Palestinian homes and they were willing to advance me the $2.5 million as a grant to buy the house, Elsalameen said. Jaabari is a respected Palestinian leader and Elsalameens ancestors come from the Hebron area. The fact that Elsalameen has been an anti-corruption crusader provided comfort to Jaabari. It is unclear how exactly Elsalameen obtained the funds. While critics say he worked closely with Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah leader who is persona non grata with the Palestinian Authority, to secure the money, Elsalameen said this was not true in an interview with Al-Monitor. Elsalameen said he instructed his lawyer to set up a holding company in Ramallah to ensure that the house, once purchased, would be a protected waqf (endowment) and proceeded to make a $1.5 million down payment. Waqf properties are owned for life by an Islamic endowment. I spoke with the Palestinian security and told them what I was doing and everything seemed OK, he said. But the Palestinian government froze Elsalameens company shortly after the down payment was made and before the sale was completed. Elsalameen said Palestinian intelligence officers pressured Jodeh to rescind the deal even though he had received the down payment. Jodeh complied with the Palestinian officers and eventually, the deal was scrapped and the money was returned. The Palestinian leadership was adamant about stopping the sale of this house, Elsalameen said. The Palestinian leadership, largely the intelligence service, and its supporters have accused Elsalameen of being a proxy for Dahlan, who has close relations with leaders of the United Arab Emirates. Palestinian officials alleged that Elsalameen was a tool of Dahlan. Elsalameen denied the accusation and said what he tried to do was to protect a property from slipping to the other side. My fears have proven correct, he said by phone from Washington. Assali, the publisher of the Jerusalem-centric website Akhbar el-Balad, told Al-Monitor that the Ramallah-based leadership advised the homeowner to sell the house instead to a well-known Palestinian banker named Khaled Attari. The Palestinian governor of Jerusalem at the time, Adnan Husseini, vouched for Attari and the sale, which was consummated in April, seemed to have the blessing of the Palestinian government, Assali said. Husseini was relieved of his position Sept. 1 and replaced by Fatah Revolutionary Council member Adnan Ghaith. It is unclear if Husseinis replacement is connected to this case or not. On Oct. 3, about six months after this controversial sale to Attari, Jewish radicals moved into the house, claiming they had purchased it. The Israeli daily Haaretz ran a long piece Oct. 9 saying Ateret Cohanim had purchased the house using an offshore company named Daho Holdings for $17 million. The Israeli daily also wrote about Palestinians' internal struggles and the mutual recriminations over who is responsible for what happened. The case has caused a powerful reaction among Jerusalemites, with blame and accusations going seemingly everywhere; among those faulted is the head of the Palestinian intelligence service, Majed Faraj, as reported in the London-based Arabi21. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah announced in the weekly Cabinet meeting Oct. 9 that an investigative committee has been set up to get to the bottom of the story. In Jerusalem itself, a rare joint statement issued Oct. 12 by the nationalists and Islamic forces (a reference to Fatah- and Hamas-affiliated activists) called for the need to implement the Jordanian Penal Code of 1960, punishing with life imprisonment anyone convicted of selling properties to Jews. Khaled Abu Arafeh, the former minister for Jerusalem affairs in the short-lived 2006-07 Palestinian government of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, told Al-Monitor that while the sale of properties is still a minor issue, the Palestinian leadership has to explain its position to the public. These kinds of high-profile stories demoralize the people and cause shock and anger toward the official Palestinian leadership, which has failed to convince the public of its position in light of the accusations that the issue is an internal struggle between Dahlan and the intelligence service. Abu Arafeh called for a strategic stand and an action plan that will put a stop to the attempts to slowly double the Jewish presence in the Old City. Veteran Palestinian writer Jack Khazmo reiterated in a column published on the Akhbar el-Balad website Oct. 9 the need to put aside funds to ensure that properties are renovated, people are empowered to stay put and that no property in our beloved Jerusalem is allowed to slip through. The chaos surrounding the issue of properties in Jerusalem points to a larger problem, namely the absence of a unified solid political leadership that can guide the citys 330,000 Palestinians. The Palestinians of Jerusalem have become political orphans. with Israel trying to slowly deport them or make their lives miserable. while the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah is prevented from representing them. The Pentagons in-house tech incubator is trying to stop Russia from scrambling US battlefield signals in Syria, federal contract documents show. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA has awarded at least $9.6 million worth of contracts over the past couple of months for radio systems designed to protect US signals used to call in air and artillery strikes. The agreements with US defense contractors Northrop Grumman and L3 Technologies come amid rising concerns that Russia could intercept and manipulate US targeting data. DARPA says in contracting documents that the program aims to defend against a so-called kill chain, enabled by electronic warfare weapons, that could paralyze opponents and then pummel them with overwhelming firepower. Russia has deployed a bevy of electronic warfare systems in Syria to defend bases and air assets that are potentially capable of jamming and tricking US systems, experts say. The US military recognizes that Russian electronic warfare capabilities are evolving to the point where they can pose a threat to US systems, said Samuel Bendett, a research analyst at CNA, a Washington-based defense think tank. When it comes to Syria, Russia has used it as a massive laboratory for its weapons. The announcement of the DARPA program comes as US military officials are increasingly expressing worry, both privately and publicly, about the threat of Russian electronic warfare systems on the Syrian battlefield. In April, NBC News reported that the Russian military had jammed GPS signals to US drones in Syria, a technique first honed in Ukraine. US special operations chief Gen. Raymond Thomas has called the war-torn country the most aggressive [electronic warfare] environment on the planet. The program will support Special Operations Command, the Marine Corp, and the Air Forces command tasked with rescuing missing US troops. A DARPA spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. A representative for L3 Technologies, one of the contract awardees for the radio technology, refused to answer Al-Monitors questions at the US Armys annual trade show last week. The US campaign in Syria, including the fight for the former Islamic State capital of Raqqa, has relied heavily on the integration of close air support with American-backed proxy forces such as the Syrian Democratic Forces. Former military officers told Al-Monitor that advanced Russian electronic warfare systems could potentially be used to provide false targeting data to US troops coordinating close air support, mitigating their effectiveness. If [the enemy] can mess with those computers to provide wrong data, you could potentially call in airstrikes against your own position. If [the enemy] can mess with those computers to provide wrong data, you could potentially call in airstrikes against your own position, said Adam Routh, a research associate at the Center for a New American Security and a former Army Ranger who helped direct US close air support in Afghanistan. Its a high-risk activity. Youre not typically miles away. Youre typically hundreds of yards away. A major challenge, Routh said, is that the US military is used to operating in permissive environments such as Afghanistan, where there are fewer sophisticated challenges to deny American airpower on the battlefield. But if troops can no longer communicate or develop targeting data, close air support becomes more time-consuming or impossible, he said. A top US commander who spoke to Al-Monitor said that the military is waking up to the severity of the threat after getting outpaced by Russia in recent years. On the communications front, we have to secure our networks, said US Army Lt. Gen. Paul Funk, who commanded the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria until June. Our adversaries are going to adapt all the time, so we have to adapt faster and more frequently. Funk, who now commands the Armys III Corps out of Fort Hood, Texas, said he was not aware of the DARPA-led program. Since entering the conflict in 2015, Russia has rotated everybody whos anybody in the military through Syria, said CNAs Bendett. Valery Gerasimov, who leads Moscows armed forces, has described the Syrian battlefield as a preview for future wars. That includes ingraining electronic warfare (EW) into military training. Whenever we talk about Russian EW systems, its the constant training, Bendett said. Theyre doing this around the clock. ALEPPO, Syria Trade has been flourishing at Souq al-Hal, one of the most important markets in the opposition-held areas of northern Syria. At this market in al-Bab, in Aleppo province, crops and produce are imported and exported. Some even go to regime-held areas. Crops produced in Syrian opposition areas and in Turkey are sold at the market, and many go to regime-held areas in Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Damascus. Crops also go from Souq al-Hal to areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Manbij and northeastern Syria. Souq al-Hal provides jobs for hundreds of people in the Turkish-occupied Euphrates Shield area and has revived trade there. The market has come a long way since the Islamic State (IS) took control of al-Bab in 2014. The Islamic State started building the new Souq al-Hal in 2015 to replace the smaller old Souq al-Hal located in the city center, and construction was completed in 2016. IS sought to make the new souq an important commercial center to market crops in the areas under its control in the Aleppo countryside at the time, reaching eastern Syria and Iraq," Mahmoud Sultan, a grocer working in Souq al-Hal, told Al-Monitor. However, IS could not run the new market [for long] because the Free Syrian Army [FSA], backed by the Turkish army, launched a battle against the organization and expelled it in February 2017. The al-Bab local council seized public property in the area that April, including shops and markets such as the new Souq al-Hal. The council renovated these properties, which had been badly damaged by shelling and battles between the FSA and IS. Since then, stability has been restored and people have been returning to the area. By early 2018, all 285 shops in Souq al-Hal were being used to sell crops," Ibrahim al-Obeid, head of the Souq al-Hal Traders Union, told Al-Monitor recently. "Sales and purchases are booming and several products are sold to different Syrian cities. Traders also import fruits and vegetables from Turkey, such as grapes, potatoes, oranges, tomatoes and other products not available in the Aleppo countryside. Abdul Khalek Mohammad, who trades fruit in Souq al-Hal, told Al-Monitor, I rent the shop from the local council in al-Bab city. I pay 600,000 Syrian pounds ($1,164) annually. The local council owns all the shops in the market, and traders have to pay a sum of money as yearly rent. He said, Activity in Souq al-Hal is good. I import some kinds of fruit from Turkey, and I sell them to different areas. There are traders from Homs, Hama and Aleppo asking us to send shipments of vegetables and fruits. Daily shipments go to regime areas through al-Ais crossing in southern Aleppo, which separates FSA and regime areas. We also send shipments to SDF-held areas in Manbij, Raqqa and Hasakah, and trucks loaded with vegetables and fruit pass through the Umm Jalloud crossing in northeast Aleppo. Still, farmers and traders in Souq al-Hal face difficulties due to the checkpoints between opposition-held areas and cities controlled by the regime and the SDF, where taxes are imposed on goods. Mohammad added, Our trade faces many challenges. The regime forces controlling al-Ais crossing impose high taxes on loaded trucks to allow them to enter the regime areas. The tax is sometimes twice the price of the items loaded on the truck, which leads to a rise in the prices of vegetables and fruit for consumers. He said that a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes costs around 100 Syrian pounds (19 cents), but that traders must pay a tax of 50 Syrian pounds when entering the regimes crossing. The same applies for Umm Jalloud crossing, where the SDF imposes taxes on loaded trucks and forces traders to unload their cargo for inspection. Many crops are damaged as a result, and the price of what is left rises due to the high transportation cost and taxes, Mohammad said. Often, taxes are imposed randomly. Souq al-Hal also faces competition from Turkey. Sohail Abbas, a farmer from Aleppo province who markets his products in Souq al-Hal, told Al-Monitor, The crops entering our region from Turkey have affected the prices. I grow potatoes and market them in Souq al-Hal, but I dont get a good price. ... We have trouble marketing our local crops because Turkish products compete with them. Tomatoes, potatoes, grapes and apples from Turkey are 10% cheaper than local ones, as Syrian production costs are higher than Turkey's because the Turkish government gives subsidies to its farmers. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of renowned Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi has irritated some Islamist elements of Turkey's ruling elite, but doesn't seem to have resonated with the Turkish public as much as it has outside Turkey. Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, hasn't been seen in public since he entered the Saudi consulate Oct. 2 in Istanbul. The Turkish public is familiar with extrajudicial killings and the disappearance of dissidents. Indeed, for years, dozens of people have gathered in Istanbuls central Taksim neighborhood every Saturday seeking to learn the fate of their loved ones who disappeared during Turkeys troubled 1980s and 1990s. The protesters staging these sit-ins are called Saturday Mothers. Also, earlier this year, some Turkish nationals in Kosovo and in Moldova were abducted and brought back to Turkey, allegedly for being linked to Fethullah Gulen, a Sunni cleric the Turkish government blames for the botched coup attempt in July 2016. Hence, Turkey perhaps seems an appropriate place to abduct and even kill someone such as Khashoggi. The concern initially expressed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his adviser Yasin Aktay and presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Khashoggi's fate, therefore, is a matter of irony for many Turks. The case is not only embarrassing for Erdogan and his strongman image within Turkey itself, but could also tarnish his quest to be perceived as the leader and spokesman of the Sunni Muslim world. Though Erdogan refrained from openly accusing Saudi Arabia in Khashoggi's disappearance, Aktay first insisted that the journalist was brutally murdered in the consulate. Amazingly, Aktay backtracked later, saying there was no point in accusing Saudi Arabia; he blamed some Arabs for distorting his words. But on Turkey's broadcast media, everybody heard what he had said. Aktay's abrupt reversal demonstrates that Erdogan isn't interested in a feud with Saudi Arabia. Kalin, who earlier implied the Khashoggi affair was Saudi dirty work, also changed his tune and announced Oct. 11 that Turkey and Saudi Arabia had agreed to form a joint working group to investigate the case. For many Turks, that brings to mind the famous Turkish saying, If you don't want to resolve a matter, you form a committee to work on it. It is an unprecedented, bizarre issue for Turkey. On the one hand, Turkish authorities seem reluctant to inflame relations with the Saudis. On the other hand, it appears Turkish police, intelligence officials and some unidentified people holding important positions in the government are feeding The Washington Post and The New York Times sensitive and seemingly accurate information. According to these sources, Khashoggi was tortured and murdered by a Saudi hit squad dispatched by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. However, developments in Washington regarding the Khashoggi issue are still fragile and volatile, and could worsen tensions between Ankara and Riyadh. Turkey and Saudi Arabia both close allies of the United States managed a fairly decent relationship over the decades. The dictates of realpolitik and the rise of the quasi-Islamist Erdogan had brought the two countries closer. With King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud crowned in January 2015, a new page in bilateral relations opened. Turkeys president became a frequent visitor, both privately to Mecca and Medina for pilgrimage, and to Riyadh on official visits. Yet Ankara and Riyadh have never had genuinely fraternal relations. Turkeys history of a strong commitment to secularism, reaching even anti-Islamist magnitudes, prevented any relationship based on religious and ideological affinity with Saudi Arabia, where ultraconservative Wahhabism, a Salafi school of Islam, is considered the official religion. In 2011, Turkey backed the overthrow of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, which had forged close links with Saudi Arabia. Ankara also became close with the Muslim Brotherhood, a fatal enemy in the eyes of the House of Saud. Turkeys support for the Muslim Brotherhood went as far as to host the Egyptian parliament-in-exile those who belonged to the Brotherhood. Turkeys close connections with Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood allowed the groups to convene their meetings in Turkey, where they enjoyed political asylum. Thus, the seeds of discord between Ankara and Riyadh had already been sown when, in June 2017, Saudi Arabia came to the brink of war with Qatar, severing diplomatic relations and imposing a blockade. Turkey, which has a military base in Qatar, responded by sending some personnel and hardware to deter a military onslaught over Qatar. It also sent material aid, rendering the embargo imposed on Doha ineffective. Turkeys support, along with Iran's, kept the tiny Gulf state afloat against powerful Saudi Arabia and its allies. That action tacitly allied Turkey with Iran and projected the former into volatile Gulf politics, where Iran and Saudi Arabia represent opposing sectarian poles. This year, Turkey also extended its reach to the southern entrance of the Red Sea, to Somalia and Sudan, establishing a military base at Suakin, a strategically located island belonging to the latter. Cairo considers the Turkey-Sudan rapprochement a strategic threat. Erdogans Turkey and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisis Egypt had hostile relations following the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime through a military coup in the summer of 2013. Against Shiite Iran, Saudi Arabia leads a Sunni Arab axis in the Gulf, including Bahrain, with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates forming its main pillars. The Saudi-led Gulf axis is endorsed by US President Donald Trumps administration and Israel which both see Iran as the main threat to Middle Eastern regional order. Added to the geopolitical confrontation in the Gulf, the Turkish-Saudi rift is a Sunni-Sunni conflict arising as the Shiite-Sunni conflict represented by Iran and Saudi Arabia at loggerheads could turn into the Middle East eqivalent of the 30 Years' War of the 1600s, the bloodiest period of the interreligious wars in European history. Then there's Turkeys preoccupation with the Syrian civil war. Ankara's priority of preventing a Kurdish belt of self-rule in Syria, adjacent to Turkey's long southern border, led to an entente with Russia and Iran. And, as long as the Syrian war remains unresolved, Ankaras alienation with Washington due to latter providing military and diplomatic support to the Kurds will continue. Ties forged with Moscow and Tehran will strengthen. Turkey is dependent on Russia and Iran for its increasing energy needs. Political and economic imperatives keep Turkey on board with Iran, which could cause further rifts in relations between Ankara and Riyadh. The Khashoggi case can exacerbate them further. Khashoggi disappeared from an Istanbul neighborhood. The mystery has wide repercussions, even apart from the irreconcilable Sunni-Shiite divide in the Muslim world. The endgame of the Khashoggi case will be that, ultimately, the ball will be in the American court. It is a new and big headache for the United States, its global posture and its standing in the Middle East. Turkish officials began a long heralded search of Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul today where dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was allegedly murdered, according to anonymous Turkish officials commenting on his Oct. 2 disappearance. Since last week, Turkish officials have been insisting that a full forensic sweep of the building would be conducted. The Turkish officials seen entering the building were not wearing any protective gear, however, casting doubt over the exact nature of the visit. The pro-government Daily Sabah reported, About a dozen Saudi members of the Turkish-Saudi team investigating the disappearance Washington Post journalist Jamal Khasoggi were seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Monday afternoon. Saudi Arabias King Salman ordered a formal internal investigation into the case today amid mounting diplomatic pressure for a credible explanation as to why Khashoggi never re-emerged from the consulate, where he was arranging paperwork enabling him to marry his Turkish fiancee. France, Germany and the United Kingdom have called on Saudi Arabia to produce information about the incident, which has prompted global corporations and media outlets to pull out of a Saudi Future Investment Initiative Conference due to be held in Riyadh Oct. 23-25. The event is meant to showcase Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman Al Sauds proposed reforms for the kingdom. The powerful prince was the target of Khashoggis escalating critiques of his homeland. US Secretary of State of Mike Pompeo is flying to the kingdom, where he will meet Salman to discuss the case on the president's behalf and may continue on to Turkey if warranted. Donald Trump has seesawed between threats of severe punishment and reluctance to forsake billions of dollars in arms sales to the kingdom over Khashoggi, whom the president noted was not a US citizen. Briefing White House reporters on his telephone conversation with the Saudi monarch, Trump said Salman had issued a "flat denial" of the assassination claims and suggested the perpetrators may have been extrajudicial forces. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refrained from pointing fingers at the Saudi leadership so far, while vowing to pursue the affair. On Sunday he spoke with the Saudi monarch over the telephone, prompting speculation that Turkey might be looking for a face-saving path out of the morass. According to Turkeys pro-government A Haber news channel, the two leaders lauded their decision to conduct a joint investigation but no further details emerged. Turkeys relations with its former Ottoman dominion mirror to some extent those with its other regional rival Iran. Ankara and Riyadh are on opposite sides of the kingdoms hostility to Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, but are leery of allowing their differences to impinge on joint economic interests. However, Max Hoffman, associate director for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, noted how forward-leaning Turkey has been on this issue rather than trying to sweep it under the rug to preserve Saudi ties. Hoffman told Al-Monitor, Flash back to 2015 and the many observers who thought Turkey was being pulled by Saudi Arabia into a Sunni regional bloc largely against its wishes ready to confront Iran. Ankara shared the Saudi interest in overthrowing [President Bashar al-] Assad in Syria and limiting Saudi influence there, but it has otherwise always sought to compartmentalize relations with Tehran to preserve cooperation on energy, trade and cooperation against [the Kurdistan Workers Party]. A slew of gruesome allegations leaked by Turkish officials suggest he was murdered on site after being tortured by a team of 15 Saudi hit men dispatched from the kingdom the same day. The claims are said to based on audio and visual evidence Turkish officials say they have. Saudi Arabia denies all the claims, but has not offered proof of life for the missing journalist. Turkey has yet to formally confirm any of the information that Turkish officials have been leaking to the Western media, allegedly on Erdogans orders and via his spokesman Ibrahim Kalin. Hoffman noted that Turkey may not want to release the more sensitive stuff anything they have from inside the consulate for operational reasons. Gonul Tol, the executive director of the Middle East Institutes Turkey program, believes Erdogan is in a bind. His strategy, she told Al-Monitor, is trying to increase pressure on the Saudi leadership by releasing information in a controlled manner before he makes a decision as to what to do next. At the same time, he cannot afford to be perceived as capitulating to the Saudis on an issue that goes to the heart of Turkish sovereignty, of which Erdogan purports to be the biggest champion. One face-saving formula would be to pin the affair on rogue Saudi security forces, and Erdogans spin doctors could glibly manufacture fresh arguments to fit this version of events. The need to maintain a facade of muscular independence has been heightened by Fridays court decision to free US pastor Andrew Brunson. Turkey insists that his release after being held for two years on outlandish espionage and terror charges has nothing to do with Trumps threats of further US sanctions, and pro-government screeds sought to dispel any such notion in their columns today. Ahmet Kekec of the Star suggested the problem lay not with the government but the judiciary, which had allowed rotten witnesses to testify in the case. A 20-year-old Auburn University has been charged with second-degree assault after he was accused of attacking a 58-year-old woman in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Auburn in late September, Auburn police said. The student, Jess Erwin Ralston, was charged with second-degree assault. The alleged assault happened around 1 a.m. Sept. 23 at an apartment complex in the 200 block of W. Longleaf Drive in Auburn, police said. The victim was Lennie Hartzog, a local paramedic and Lyft and Uber driver, her attorney Trip Walton told AL.com. She was driving for Lyft at the time of the attack. Hartzog said Ralston, the sole rider, appeared agitated when he got in the car with Hartzog, his Lyft driver. When they arrived at his destination, he refused to get out of the car, so Hartzog called 911, Walton said. The 911 officials advised her to open the back door and ask Ralston to get out of the vehicle. Thats when Hartzog claims Ralston attacked her. The victim sustained injuries to her face and arms. She was taken to East Alabama Medical Center for treatment. Walton said she had to have surgery to place screws and plates in her shoulder and bicep area. Shes feeling a little better. Shes still in shock that this occurred, Walton told AL.com in a phone interview. Ralston was first charged with third-degree assault and taken into police custody. Police upgraded the charges after the victim was evaluated by doctors, police said. We were pleased the police followed back up with her, Walton said. The second warrant for second-degree assault was issued, and Ralston turned himself in to police Oct. 10. Second-degree assault is a Calass C felony, according to Alabama law. Auburn University officials confirmed Ralston is a student at Auburn University, but would not comment on any student disciplinary actions taken against him related to his charges. Auburn University is committed to the safety of our campus and surrounding community. All Auburn students are held to the behavioral standards found in the Student Code of Conduct, and many of those standards apply to student behavior that occurs on or off campus. Any violation of the Code is referred to the Office of Student Conduct for review and processing in accordance with University policy. Student privacy laws prevent the University from commenting on any specific student disciplinary matter, said Director of Student Conduct Nicholas Ward. Further details about the investigation were not immediately available. Frank Stitt rhapsodizes about the fresh Italian porcini mushrooms on tonight's menu in Bottega's dining room. "The porcini is meaty, luscious, earthy," the restaurant's owner and executive chef enthuses during a pre-service meeting. "It is umami." Stitt holds one up for the waiters, who are dressed alike in black vests and long white aprons. "Porcini means 'little pig.' You can see why. They're plump and chubby." Availability is brief, he adds. "If your guests haven't had fresh porcini, you should urge them to try them." Bottega, the middle child in Stitt's restaurant family, celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. But in that time, Stitt has not lost a grain of zeal for sharing its bounty. Whether praising the "personality" of salad greens from Terra Preta Farm, or raving about how tiny Fairy Tale eggplants from Belle Meadow cook so "pillowy soft," it's obvious, Stitt gets giddy about great ingredients. "I need to spread the gospel," he says. "I love to turn people on to flavors that are sensual and delicious." Stitt opened the Italian-influenced Bottega six years after founding his flagship restaurant, Highlands Bar and Grill. Both have profoundly affected Birmingham. Many local restaurant owners today trained at one or both. While Highlands gets the national press and accolades, including this year's prestigious Outstanding Restaurant award from the James Beard Foundation, Bottega seems to operate in its shadow, despite being every bit its equal. Those desserts that earned Dolester Miles this year's Beard award for national Outstanding Pastry Chef? She and her crew make them at Bottega. Over two and a half months this summer, Birmingham magazine gained unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Bottega, observing how its artists interweave cooking and service. This article explores a day in the life of the restaurant and how Stitt, along with his partner and wife, Pardis, sustain one of the greatest establishments in a nationally recognized restaurant city. Chef Frank Stitt discusses dinner service with Bottega's staff. Photo by Cary Norton. CULINARY WORKSHOP In Italy, a bottega is a workshop where artists recreate works by their mentor. Bottega is Stitt's workshop for Italian cuisine. Stitt first became interested in Italian food during visits to Italy in his early 20s, where he watched produce vendors set up and butchers hone their skills. After opening Highlands at age 28, Stitt traveled throughout Italy and fell hard for its regional cooking and wines. The trip inspired a desire to explore Italian cuisine in Birmingham, but he didn't want to distort Highlands' country French-inspired Southern menu by adding pastas and carpaccio to it. The result was Bottega. Stitt kept noticing Bottega Favorita, an ornate stone edifice built in 1926 on a high point along Highland Avenue. The architecture buff admired the Beaux-Arts design, with columns and arches, high ceilings and patio space. "So, I fall in love with the building just as I fall in love with Italian food," Stitt says, recounting the story of his restaurant's beginnings. On Oct. 27, 1988, Stitt opened Bottega's formal dining room, with white-cloth tables under imported chandeliers, and a grand staircase leading to a mezzanine. Expanding two years later into adjoining space, Stitt added a cafe with a menu built mainly around pizzas and dishes roasted in a wood-burning oven. The successful pairing--a casual yet top-quality concept next to a more formal restaurant--provided a blueprint when Frank and Pardis opened their third restaurant, the bistro Chez Fonfon next to Highlands in 2000. Bottega's dining room and cafe have different kitchens. Otherwise, they mostly overlap. Patrons can order off either menu. Staff often works on both sides. Waiters undergo the same rigorous training. Raw ingredients come from the same farmers, meat suppliers, cheesemakers, and importers, but take different spins depending on the side. "We have a bit more lobster in the dining room," Stitt says. "It has splurges like veal chops and truffles that are too expensive for the cafe." Unlike the dining room, the cafe is open all day and doesn't take reservations. "You may wait a few minutes," Stitt says. "But it's not a bad place to wait." MORNING GLORY Dolester Miles moves a flat of farm eggs to a work station in Bottega's spacious main kitchen early in the morning. She starts cracking, separating the yellow-orange yolks before combining them with white sugar in a large mixer. In go flour, buttermilk, white wine, and Spanish sherry for Frank's Favorite Cake. The lush dessert is technically named Zabaglione Meringue for its core components. That name doesn't sell quite as well, though. "You'd be surprised how well the same item sells just by changing the name," Miles says, chuckling. James Beard's 2018 Best Pastry Chef, Dolester Miles, ices a cake. Photo by Cary Norton. Miss Dol, as she's known, and her four-person team arrive at 5:30 a.m. Over the next eight hours they bake and frost various cakes. They prepare lemon tarts, sorbets, and other desserts. They make pizza dough and the egg-and-cheese base for parmesan souffle. One rolls dough balls simultaneously with each hand for hamburger buns at the cafe and Chez Fonfon. Another prepares Bottega's focaccia, topping dough with olive oil and salt before baking. An early start suits Miles. "We have first choice of everything," she says. "It's cooler and quiet. I wish I could get in even earlier." Miles has been with Stitt all along. She started as Highlands' first garde manger, making salads and starters. Transferring to Bottega as pastry chef, Miles also has worked there since day one. Making desserts evokes pleasant memories from Miles' childhood in Bessemer: holiday baking with her mother and aunt, and playfully sparring with siblings over spatulas. Miss Dol loves creating happiness. "Dessert is the last thing you eat and hopefully the first thing you remember," she says. Self-taught, she passes her skills to a new generation, most of whom weren't born when Bottega opened. But even after three-plus decades and a Beard award, she has no plan to retire. "Really," she says, "I'm just getting started." HEATING UP By 8 a.m., food preparation is well underway in the main kitchen. Bottega's prep-master, Jeff Mincey, cuts vegetables and butchers meats for the cafe. He makes marinara and other sauces, soup, and braises. He prepares most of the cafe's beloved vegetable plate, a summertime Wednesday special. Nearby, Miles gently scores her signature Coconut Pecan Cake with a long knife, indicating 16 portions. A pastry chef in an adjoining room applies thick swooshes of meringue on lemon tarts. More than a dozen cooks concentrate on their tasks. Aside from the dish washer rattling pans, the metallic smack as a cafe cook flattens chicken breasts on a stainless-steel table provides one of few other sounds. But the smells! Toasted marshmallow from torched meringue. Perfume from mint in simmering simple syrup. The olfactory blast when raw garlic hits hot olive oil. Aromas linger after each tray of bread and every cake come out of the oven. "Can you smell the herbs?" a server asks as a trainee stirs a vat of olive oil infused with garlic, coriander, chives, bay leaf, and other aromatics. John "Johnny" Rolen, Bottega's chef de cuisine, arrives and quickly checks in with Mincey, floor managers, and cafe line cooks. He looks through the walk-in cooler for deliveries, assessing what remains from yesterday. In the kitchen, Stitt samples lettuce freshly delivered by Terra Preta Farm, run by former Bottega waiter Michael Dean. The chef extols the benefits of Dean's approach to soil management, one of Stitt's passions. "You can taste it," he says, eyes gleaming. "It's got more character--more life." Dishes at Bottega are prepared with local ingredients. Photo by Cary Norton. FARMERS, FISHERS, FAMILY A printout in Bottega's kitchen lists local farms that supply Stitt's restaurants. It includes the farmers' names, their crops, and delivery days. What they and other vendors bring daily through Bottega's back door winds up on that night's dining-room menu. "That fuels our creativity," says Rolen, who text messages to stay in touch with farmers and coordinates orders with his counterparts at Highlands and Fonfon. Deliveries stream in throughout the morning. Belle Meadow's Andrew Kesterson brings heirloom tomatoes. Perry County's Bois d'Arc Farm has organic green onions, cherry tomatoes, and okra. Evans Meats and Seafood drops off ribeye, tenderloin, and snapper. From the Gulf of Mexico, Greg Abrams trucks in whole cobia and tuna loin. One supplier is Paradise Farm, the Stitts' 70-acre spread in Shelby County where they also keep polo horses. Stitt's son, Weston, helps grow herbs, lettuces, favas, asparagus, tomatoes, and other produce on a three-acre plot. Its hens supplement the 1,100 eggs that Bottega uses weekly for desserts, pasta dough, souffle, and dishes like Tuscan Egg Salad. Restaurant employees pitch in at Paradise. Planting, weeding, and harvesting strengthen bonds to the food they cook and serve, Pardis says. Abrams, who has supplied Stitt's restaurants for decades, contacts Rolen before fish even hit the dock. "He'll call and say he's got a grouper boat coming in," Rolen says, "or 'We don't have as much grouper as expected, but we have all the triggerfish you need.'" Stitt built and nurtured a supply network from scratch because most ingredients Bottega needs were not available here in the late 1980s. He started by foraging for the best producers at the Alabama Farmers Market on Finley Avenue. When Dean desired to farm, Stitt helped him start Terra Preta. The chef connects with legacy growers like Trent Boyd of Harvest Farms, a fourth-generation farmer, and new-generation farmers like David Snow of Snow's Bend. "They're vegetable whisperers," Stitt says. Every January, Stitt meets farmers to specify vegetables his restaurants need for the coming year. Accompaniments on the plate are as important to Stitt as the meat. SPRINKLING "FAIRY DUST" Pardis Stitt may be the biggest reason Bottega and its siblings maintain excellence year after year, decade upon decade. "She is the charming one who sprinkles the fairy dust and makes everyone feel they are the center of attention," her husband says. Pardis also cracks the whip, making sure employees strictly follow Bottega's standards and training at every shift and with every table. Chef Stitt says he's no exception. "She's really tough on me about dishes. She's always saying, 'What is the wow factor, Frank?' Usually she has a point." But Pardis is mama to a staff that the Stitts consider family. While talking about former employees now running restaurants she calls them "our children." Pardis Stitt manages front of house operations at Bottega. Photo by Cary Norton. The oldest of three daughters to a dentist and an educator--both born in Iran--Pardis Sooudi grew up in Birmingham with feet planted in two worlds. She spoke Farsi before learning English. Her mother insisted her daughters recite Persian poems that she taught students back home. But Pardis also danced jazz, tap, and ballet. She joined the Rebelette squad at Vestavia Hills High School. She worked at stylish clothing stores. Young Pardis' future started to coalesce when she began working as a hostess at the former Bombay Cafe. Off duty, she frequented Bottega's dining room. Its manager offered her a job, and in a few months she was promoted to manager. She immediately began developing systems and standards for front-of-house staff. Pardis, who married Frank in 1995, doesn't seek the limelight. "I'm really shy," she confides. "People don't know that because I'm out front. But I really have to work at it." But the limelight finds Pardis. Patrons seek her attention whenever she glides through the dining room in a flowing dress and heels. She stops to converse. She hugs people at the door. In between, the perfectionist adjusts place settings, removes a just-emptied wine glass, or ducks around the corner to tutor a trainee. Shyness aside, Pardis' hospitality is instinctive. She attributes that to her heritage and upbringing. Her mom, for example, always cooks for a crowd in case one shows up. "There always was a party in our house, or we were going to somebody's party in the Iranian community here," she says. "We would have 20-30 people gathering for food and drink, conversation, and laughter." Much of Pardis' day is quite unglamorous. Dressed casually in the cramped upstairs office at Bottega, she handles thousands of tasks to keep multiple restaurants running--overseeing website improvements, resolving issues with Bottega's sound system, monitoring how trainees progress, arranging replacement of Fonfon's awnings. She sweats special-event details, including menus. "Frank, they requested mac-and-cheese as a vegetable," she says as her husband stands nearby. "Are you OK with that?" He looks stunned but says nothing, provoking a laugh from Pardis. Someone notes treating the cheesy pasta bake as a vegetable is quintessentially Southern. Raised in Cullman County near his mother's family farm, Stitt firmly shakes his head. "That is not what I grew up with." Pardis moves on to valet issues and works with the office manager to resolve a payroll snafu. Seeds for the next planting at Paradise Farm need to be ordered. She telephones a new linen supplier. "Let's stay in touch," she says, "so we can get the first orders right." CAFE LUNCH Friday's cafe lunch rush hits early. People start arriving before the 11 a.m. opening. Tables and the bar soon fill. Some eat quickly. Others linger over wine. Cooks are in overdrive in the small open kitchen that's visible to most tables. They'll feed some 400 people before closing time. Paco LaTorre shuffles pizzas in the oven, which hits 750 degrees near the flaming hickory logs in the rear. He slides a pasta bake closer to the front, a "cooler" 500 degrees. Paco LaTorre works in the kitchen. Photo by Cary Norton. "Paco works oven day and night," chef de cuisine Rolen says. "He's tough." The kitchen's four cooks silently coordinate. When Antonio Artega flips a chicken on the grill, Carola Basilo makes salad for Chicken Paillard. She watches the oven, timing her end of a half-pizza and small-salad combo that is served exclusively at the bar. The half-pizza and small-salad lunch combo served at Bottega cafe's bar. Photo by Cary Norton. "Fire Table 7," a waiter calls, indicating cooks should start that table's entrees because customers are nearly done with starters. A waiter at the server station slices Peach Upside-down Cake for her table's dessert. In the dining room, another says hello to regulars on the way to his tables across the room. David Garcia removes a hot skillet from the oven. In go marinara and feta cheese. He tosses it, plates it, and tops it with shredded basil. He adds focaccia and tries pita--a new touch for the classic Baked Feta dish. "I like that," says manager Kim Thomas, smiling in affirmation as she checks finished dishes and coordinates with waiters. Frank or Pardis appear periodically, watching the kitchen and floor. They also check for diners looking uncomfortable, a sign they need service. EARNING THE VEST Service standards created by Pardis and managers over the years codify how waiters act, from posture to presentation. Customers are "guests." If a guest says thank you, thank them back. If anything anywhere is even slightly out of place, fix it. Before and after service, waiters must wipe all wood in their sections and ensure each chair and banquette is spotless. They even scrape seams with cotton swabs. No perfume or cologne. No exposed jewelry or anything jangling in pockets that could distract guests. Be in full uniform before evening staff meeting. To earn the black waiter's vest, prospects train for up to six weeks and must pass an extensive written test. Waiters earn a black vest by completing an extensive training program. Photo by Cary Norton. They start as Waiter Assistants (their training manual is the "WA Survival Guide"), shadowing vested servers. They learn to set a formal table, as well as the official methods to carry, place, and pick up plates. They're shown how to make espresso; prepare coffee and tea service; carry and open wine bottles; and wrap water pitchers so condensation doesn't drip. Waiters are taught the correct method for wrapping pitchers so they do not drip. Photo by Cary Norton. They put in kitchen shifts, learning how everything is prepared and watching servers interact with cooks. Oral quiz topics for budding waiters include how to make remoulade, what's in the spice rub for house-cured pancetta, and who supplies the pork. "It reinforces the fact we're serious," Pardis says. "They have a much greater appreciation of everyone's role and why they are important." The prospect returns to tables for several shifts, helping an experienced waiter and learning the point-of-sale system. Bar shifts teach wine pairings and cocktail-making. Back on the floor, the trainee gradually picks up more responsibilities. Managers must sign off on each step before the employee is awarded a waiter's vest. This depth of training presages long-term commitment. "We want them to fully share our excitement about learning and creating a great restaurant," Chef Stitt says. "That takes hold after you're here three, four, five years." Several staffers have a decade or more here. Leaders like Thomas leave briefly and return. Rolen, hired in 1998 and put in charge of the kitchens in 2001, left orbit briefly for Whole Foods and a saner schedule for his children, now ages 16 and 11. Bottega's gravitational pull eventually re-snagged Rolen, who returned in 2016. "I missed the restaurant family," he says. "Working for Frank is a growing experience. Every day I learn something new." BORN TO RUN A detail-oriented leader and gifted chef, Rolen practically was born to run Bottega's kitchens. His great-grandfather, an Italian immigrant, had a farm in Birmingham's West End from which he sold his ricotta and mozzarella cheeses dried in handwoven reed baskets. A Sicilian grandmother schooled Rolen in her homeland's rustic cooking. John Role is chef de cuisine at Bottega. Photo by Cary Norton Rolen revels in pasta-making. "I like finding the perfect ratio between silky, beautiful egg yolk and flour, and pushing it to the limit," he says. "Pasta reflects the maker. It shows who you are." Rolen's first Bottega encounter was on a high-school prom date. "I had a nice steak," he recalls. "My girlfriend had Capellini Bottega, my first time seeing the pasta pomodoro we still do today." He began working at the cafe, but left a year later to study art history--and the pasta arts--in Italy. Upon return, Rolen rejoined Bottega's kitchen. When the chef de cuisine position opened, he pounced on the top kitchen spot. Seventeen years later, Rolen and Stitt seem telepathically connected. Rolen has Stitt's total trust. "Sure, I tweak some things," Stitt says. "I encourage using certain ingredients. But he is the leader." Rolen maintains menus dating back some 20 years. "When someone asks for something they ate years before, you've got to be able to recreate it," he explains. On Mondays, one of two days Bottega is closed, Rolen supervises a deep clean of its bars and kitchens. Periodically, he throws a log into the cafe oven, which never is allowed to go cold. BACKWARD COUNTING Daily menu and prep planning for the dining room is a form of reverse engineering. It starts with a head count. Rolen scans reservations and reads details about a private party. He checks numbers from both previous weeks and this time last year to divine trends. Rolen's analysis is demand and supply. But he can only make educated guesses. Sometimes everyone seemingly orders the same thing. With snapper an option for tonight's 25-person party, will 15 portions be enough? The reservation list, broken into quarter-hour increments, also indicates tonight's ebb and flow. Rolen checks events around town: Concerts by bands like the Eagles likely means a pre-show rush. A symphony performance indicates a late walk-in crowd. Tonight's rush will arrive between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., when the mezzanine private party starts and nearly four-dozen others have reservations, including a table for nine. That doesn't include walk-in guests. The kitchen will be prepared. AFTERNOON TRANSITION "Want me to get on that pompano?" Rolen asks grill cook John Dunlap, who busily butchers beef about three hours before dining-room service. The kitchen night shift starts arriving around noon. Kyle Goldstein, who is in charge of the sets (kitchen term for accompaniments to the entree), peels asparagus, slices bulb onions, and pre-cooks. Dunlap cuts hanger steaks. Rolen filets fish. Night-side servers trickle in through the back door and start their routines. A front-of-house trainee observes in the kitchen. He rattles off ingredients when Mincey asks what's in the house marinara: "Mirepoix, tomato, garlic, shallots, bay leaf, thyme, Parmesan rind." The staff meets before dinner service. Photo by Cary Norton. Managers hold pre-service meetings with waiters and bartenders at 4:30 p.m. "Y'all ready?" Rolen asks, approaching the gathering at the dining room bar. "We're flipping on the mains from last night. Pompano gets risi e bisi (rice and peas). Seared scallops get the lentil set." Blueberry semifreddo replaces apple tart, Rolen tells waiters. "Halibut is now off the menu, but we have four left. Risi e bisi is the preferred set, but either fish set will work. We have 20 Parmesan souffle and 14 lamb porterhouse." Rolen dashes to join the cafe meeting. Manager Gray Maddox asks a server how tonight's special, braised duck, is made. "Beautiful," the manager says after the recitation. He adds a wine recommendation. "It goes great with Barbera." As the dining room opens, Rolen checks kitchen work stations. He pulls out pea tendrils, chive blossoms, and other garnishes to add to dishes. Minutes later, a machine spits out the first guest ticket. WRONG NARRATIVE? The night's dining room menu is typically mouthwatering. Entrees include fat diver scallops, Pennsylvania lamb, ruby-red Canadian veal, and pork from fabled Alabama purveyor Henry Fudge. The risotto appetizer features just-delivered crawfish. Tuscan Egg Salad, its greens wilted by soft-scrambled farm egg, includes house-cured pancetta and fried oysters. A pork chop dinner entree at Bottega. Photo by Cary Norton. Tuna belly, pounded thin, will be served carpaccio-style with dressing that includes high-end citrus vinegar from Italy. The appetizer is finished with crushed Marcona almonds, bright-green baby mint from Paradise Farm, and estate-grown Sicilian olive oil. "We get the best of everything at Bottega," Rolen says. So why does Highlands get all the national love, while Bottega remains Birmingham's secret? The dichotomy puzzles Pardis. It's bothersome, but to a degree understandable to Chef Stitt. "I think the food and experience at Bottega is equal to Highlands," he says. "The commitment to quality and excellence, I assure, is equal." But the national narrative about Stitt always goes like this: Native son leaves the Deep South, discovers the world, and returns to Alabama to reinvent and elevate Southern cuisine. Alabama food with French influences is a novelty in New York City, home to the Beard Foundation and most national media writing about Stitt. "Highlands has every box checked," he says. Italian restaurants in the Big Apple are ubiquitous. "An Italian restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama," Stitt says, "is not the story they needed or wanted." Rolen has no heartburn. Bottega gets Frank's and Pardis' attention daily, he says. "That's ultimately what matters to me." He mentions a Kansas City cook who recently applied after hearing how Bottega's kitchens run. "It means we're treating people well," he says. "We're tough. We're demanding. We have high standards. But people seeking excellence in themselves, that's what they want." CONDUCTOR, EDUCATOR Rolen has a saying: Even when Frank Stitt is not in the kitchen, his spirit is there. His standards and aesthetic are ever-present. Stitt likens his role to a conductor. His staff is the orchestra. "I say 'This is what we'll play and how we'll play it.' They have to pull it off." He has a legendary love for food, wine, and history, and for sharing how they all intersect. He talks about the joyous look on a young waiter's face upon trying Bottega's roasted red pepper, "a direct descendent of an old Sicilian dish," for the first time that morning. Chef Stitt shows off a bottle of wine from the restaurant's collection. Photo by Cary Norton. "Then he tried it with our new rose and said, 'This is one of the greatest things I ever tasted,'" Stitt says. "It's too easy to forget how life altering something like that can be." Ever the educator, Stitt detours while crossing the kitchen and tells a prep cook to slice lemons thinner so guests don't get a mouthful of rind. Later he warns a line cook about preparing the baby carrots and tiny eggplant too early. "Closer to serving time would be better so they don't dry out," he says. Old-school chefs have a reputation for pitching fits and screaming. Not Stitt. "It's got to be something outrageously stupid for him to yell," says prep-master Mincey, a 20-year veteran. "I've seen him do it maybe once or twice." Extremely well-versed in wine, Stitt regularly visits vintners and takes pride in finding unsung wines. The chef has introduced Birmingham to dry Austrian Rieslings, grower-produced sparkling wines, and cru Beaujolais. They now sell all over town. That could be one of his restaurants' most lasting impacts, Stitt says. "I have an opportunity to influence people's tastes and understanding of wines that need to be considered." ALL IN A DAY'S WORK The main kitchen hits a peak around 8 p.m. At least 50 people's orders are pending, progressing from appetizer to entree to dessert. Nearly two-dozen more make up the private party. Fish fills a griddle. A cook sears scallops and seasons meat. Another plates their sets. And a third boils pastas on an induction burner, while shaking pans with sauces and risotto on the adjacent stove. Every available server runs house salads upstairs to the party. Appetizers and salads flow to the dining room from two garde mangers. The table for nine orders doubles of everything the duo makes. A lemon meringue dessert. Photo by Cary Norton. Tickets constantly emit from two printers, one for line cooks, the other for garde manger and desserts. Rolen reads a couple's ticket and calls out, "Prefire pork. Prefire pork." Next ticket is a hanger steak, no appetizer. "Walk-in. Fire hanger mid-rare." He occasionally uses the phrase "all day" when summarizing all orders so nothing is overlooked. "Five hangers all day, one well-done. Three pompano all day." Rolen watches everything. Occasionally he tells cooks to adjust portions or presentation. "Break up those tomatoes," he tells one, mid-dinner rush. "See that big chunk?" He autopsies the few plates abandoned half-eaten. "She said she didn't look cute eating it," a waiter explains about an unfinished salad. "Too much frisee," Rolen concludes. "Fire the party," another waiter calls. Grill and stoves again fill with food. As expediter, Rolen wipes and garnishes every plate. "These go to one and two," he says, indicating assigned seat numbers so waiters automatically deliver what each diner orders. "Seat three ordered two entrees," he tells a manager pitching in. "Four is no chilies." Bottega's kitchen leader hates when plates sit, even for seconds. "Runner, please," he calls if no waiter is nearby. Any further delay, Rolen's body stiffens and his voice is more emphatic. "I need hands." The last plates go out after 10 p.m. The main kitchen has fed some 120 people. It's time to break down and clean up. "Good job fellas," Rolen says. The cooks reply in unison. "Thank you, Chef." Tomorrow, they'll do it all again. Details Bottega Restaurant | 2240 Highland Ave. s. | 205.939.1000 | bottegarestaurant.com This story appears in Birmingham magazine's October 2018 issue. Subscribe today! No festive joy for Musahar families in Bishariya Dashain, a major Hindu festival, is right around the corner. While most of the Nepali population prepares to celebrate the festival with good food and new clothes, the Musahar people an impoverished Dalit community of Bishariya in Rajbiraj Municipality, Saptari, struggle to arrange two square meals for their family. Hyundais Santa Fe is proving popular, judging by production figures at the Korean automakers Montgomery factory. According to Hyundai, the plant has already produced more than 46,000 vehicles this year, in only four months of full production through the end of September. In June, the first 2019 Santa Fe, which represented a significant redesign for Hyundai, rolled off the assembly line. The plant expects to produce more than 84,000 this year to meet demand, plant officials have said. The redesigned Santa Fe has earned praise from industry observers for its bold design. Hyundai has spotlighted certain new features, such as forward collision-avoidance assist, and safe exit assist to warn drivers if a car is approaching when they exit the vehicle. There is also rear occupant alert to remind drivers to check the rear seats when exiting the vehicle. The redesign drops Sport from the name, as well. Its also getting high marks in the industry. Last month, Wards 10 Best UX gave the model kudos for user experiences in driver-assist technologies, connectivity, navigation, voice-activated systems and intuitive controls. The Montgomery factory also produces the Sonata and Elantra models, and numbers there are also holding steady. The plant has produced more than 65,000 Sonatas, and almost 105,000 Elantras through September. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey this morning issued a moratorium on early paroles and demanded changes after she and Attorney General Steve Marshall met with the three members of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. In an executive order, the governor said the board has scheduled hundreds of violent offenders for early parole consideration without justification, causing a threat to public safety and undermining public confidence. Its obvious that we need a new approach so that we can strengthen management and the operations of that agency to better protect the people, the public safety, to restore confidence in the process of pardon and paroles, Ivey said. Ivey ordered the board to come up with a corrective action plan and submit it to her and Marshall within 30 days. The moratorium will expire in 75 days, or earlier if the board substantially implements a corrective action plan. Ivey and Marshall scheduled the meeting after victims advocates and prosecutors have said they are alarmed by what they say is a trend of early releases of violent offenders. Ivey said she was disappointed by what she heard from the parole board at this mornings meeting, including a lack of detailed information. In addition to the moratorium, Ivey replaced Cliff Walker as chairman of the three-member board. Walker remains on the board, but Ivey named Lyn Head as the chairman. In the executive order, Ivey said the boards apparently unjustified early-parole-hearing practices threaten public safety (where parole is granted) and impose substantial costs on victims (even when parole is not granted.). Ivey also said the board has apparently failed to properly evaluate inmates' suitability for parole and to maintain adequate supervision of dangerous offenders who have already been released on parole. An inmate who was paroled last year is charged with murdering three people in Guntersville in July. As you can imagine, since the Jimmy ONeal Spencer case, weve had multiple people express their concerns and ask a lot of questions, especially our victims families and prosecutors from around the state, Ivey said. Marshall said the discussion at the meeting was candid. He said the Spencer case was a cause for concern but not the only one. I think we left that meeting with the expectation that both for the governor and I, we need to be able to see change, Marshall said. Now some of this is the result of the Spencer case that we saw. But also its concerns that weve heard from prosecutors and victims advocates around the state. And we were able, I think, in a very candid way to express those concerns, to be able to explain why we believe there was a direction that we didnt believe was appropriate. An attorney who represents the families of those Spencer is accused of killing said he watched this mornings press conference. My clients share in the frustration of Governor Ivey because they want answers too, attorney Tommy James of Birmingham said in an email. The Governors comments and Executive Order confirm that inmates are not being properly evaluated prior to parole and that they are not being adequately supervised after parole. That is exactly what happened with Jimmy Spencer. These failures directly led to the murder of three innocent victims. James had met with Iveys legal team and the chief deputy attorney general last week. Darrell Morgan, an assistant director for the Board of Pardons and Paroles who handles media relations for the agency, said the board would not issue a statement or response today to the governors actions or the harsh criticism in her executive order. The parole board has operating procedures that determine when an inmate can initially be sentenced for parole. For some of the most serious crimes, inmates must serve at least 10 years or one-third of the sentence, whichever is less. For the worst crimes, including, murder, rape, first-degree robbery and others, inmates have to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence or 15 years, whichever is less, to be eligible for parole consideration. However, the operating procedures allow the board to make exceptions for mitigating circumstances and set early parole hearings. Iveys moratorium means that the board cant make exceptions and must cancel any early parole hearings that were scheduled. The moratorium does not apply to inmates who are considered for early parole because of medical reasons. Marshall said the moratorium applies to the worst of the worst in prison. These are not somebody thats there for drug possession, although those folks dont typically exist in prison, thats a myth, Marshall said. Its also not those that are there for very low-level, non-violent offenses. These are the worst of the worst that the people of Alabama expect us to be able to keep in prison and serve significant time. Ivey was asked if the states overcrowded prisons were a factor in early parole considerations for violent offenders. The mission of the pardon and parole board is to enhance public safety, the governor said. "It is not to focus on reducing the number of inmates in prison. Reducing prison overcrowding is not their call. " Even before todays order by the governor, the concerns raised by prosecutors and the victims' advocacy group VOCAL appeared to be having some effect. WSFA reported that the parole board removed 47 names from its original docket for October and that most of those removed were serving sentences for murder. You can read the governors executive order here. Cory Drew Vinson Sheffield police are asking people to be on the lookout for a trusty at the Sheffield City Jail who has gone missing. Cory Drew Vinson was wearing a white T-shirt, shorts and high-top shoes when last seen. He removed his jail-issued jumpsuit at the police department. Vinson has tattoos on his arms and his head is shaved. He has a scar on the back of his head. Authorities do not know his means of travel. He has ties to the Ford City area. Police ask anyone who makes contact with Vinson to call 911 of the Sheffield Police Department. Auburn is basically Astronaut U. The school just can't seem to stop producing space men. And space women. And NASA engineers. Even NASA historians. That quasi-controversial "First Man" that opened Friday? Yep, it's based on a Neil Armstrong biography penned by a retired, Auburn-hat wearing Auburn professor emeritus, a book that, save for a 1967 tragedy, easily could have been about an Auburn grad astronaut who--true story--wanted the first words on the moon to be "War Eagle." There have been Auburn shirts in space, Auburn pennants, Auburn satellites... However, the most Auburn of all the Auburn space missions was, hands down, the Space Shuttle Columbia's fourth and final test flight on Sunday, June 27, 1982. It was only America's fourth shuttle mission, and the first to include military experiments, something that took on a little extra significance when we learned the Soviets would have a few cosmonauts floating around up there at the same time. But with T-minus a week, some of the biggest buzz wasn't about the shuttle itself, but the two people who'd be inside: 1954 Auburn graduate Henry Hartsfield and 1958 Auburn graduate (and former SGA President) Ken "Played By Gary Sinise in 'Apollo 13'" Mattingly. That made it the first mission piloted by two graduates of the same university, a fact referenced in rare NASA footage of the launch in which cries of "War Eagle" can be heard from friends and family gathered to see the heroes off to the launchpad. "When they reach the pad and go up into the white room prior to entering the orbiter, they're going to greeted by a sign that was put up by the closeout crew, that for Auburn University War Eagles, containing those words plus a number of patches that are representative of the university," an announcer says. "Both of the astronauts, as well as center director of Kennedy Space Center Dick Smith, are graduates of Auburn University." At least three other NASA scientists and contractors directly involved in the mission were also Auburn grads. All told, more than 800 Auburn alumni were employed by NASA in 1982. Everyone hoped the flight would be the first to actually take off on time, but on Saturday, the day before the launch, chances seemed slim. A Cape Canaveral hailstorm put 400 tiny dents into the shuttle's heat-resistant tiles. The crew worked through the night to repair them. By morning, all systems were go. Among the cargo? Two personalized Auburn jerseys and a fancy copy of the Auburn Creed. "Godspeed and War Eagle," Smith told Hartsfield and Mattingly minutes before what turned out to be a perfect liftoff (that was actually a split-second early. At 10:59:59, half a million people along Florida's highways and beaches pointed toward the sky as two Auburn men hurlted into orbit at 17,500 miles per hour. Upon their return to earth a week later on July 4th, Pres. Ronald Reagan declared Columbia fully operational, compared the successful flight to the hammering of the golden spike that marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad, and introduced Mattingly and Hartsfield to the crowd of 30,000 gathered at Edwards Air Force Base in California as "two sons of Auburn." And if that weren't war damn enough, the AP reported that mission control had beamed up a recording of "Hold That Tiger" by the Auburn University Marching Band for one of Columbia's wake-up calls. "We love that tune," Mattingly responded. "Found out something up here though--you can't stomp your feet to it." Jeremy Henderson runs the popular Auburn culture website The War Eagle Reader. He lives in Auburn with his wife and three kids. Follow him on Twitter: @wareaglereader (USS Cassin (DD-43) Painting by Charles B. Falls, depicting the gallant but futile effort of Gunner's Mate First Class Osmond K. Ingram, USN, to release the ship's depth charges just before she was hit by a torpedo from the German submarine U-61 on 15 October 1917. Ingram was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism on this occasion. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.) Don't Edit "There never was a braver lad" than Osmond Kelly Ingram, a fire chief in Birmingham's Pratt City community told a reporter. Ingram, 30, on Oct. 15, 1917 became the first American killed during combat in World War I. By the time the war ended nearly 13 months later, on Nov. 11, 1918, Ingram was joined in death by more than 117,465 Americans 2,000 Alabamians among them -- as the war claimed 18 million lives. Ingram, born in Oneonta in 1887, moved to Pratt City with his family as a child, shortly before the death of his father, who was a Methodist Episcopal preacher and Confederate Army veteran, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. In 1903, at the age of 16, and with his mother's consent, Ingram enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served one tour before coming home and working as a Pratt City fireman before reenlisting in 1912. "In August 1913, Ingram reenlisted and was stationed aboard the Cassin, the ship he remained on following U.S. entry into the war on April 6, 1917," according to the state encyclopedia. Don't Edit "A German torpedo struck the destroyer on which Ingram was a gunner, he was blown overboard by the shock of the explosion, and his body was not recovered. The attack took place Tuesday in the war zone waters off England," The Birmingham Age-Herald reported on Oct. 18, 1917, three days after the attack. Ingram's mother, Betty Ingram, and his three brothers were devastated by news of his death, the newspaper reported. "I don't think she can stand it," Ben Ingram said of their mother. "She is 60 years old." He and a family doctor broke the news to her as gently as they could. The report continued: "My boy, my boy," Mrs. Ingram sobbed, and that was all she could say. Every week since Osmond Ingram went to sea last May he had written a letter to his mother. Every month he sent her $30 of his pay. Last May she had seen him, home on furlough. He had come home on the first of May, and on the second got a telegram summoning him back for service. Day before yesterday his brother, Ben, had sent him a package of 500 cigarettes. Last week there had been a card from him. Ingram was an old Navy man, and this was his second term of service. In 1903, when his mother moved here from Oneonta, Osmond, a boy just out of school, joined the Navy and served until 1908. Then he returned to Birmingham and for four years was a fireman at the Pratt City station of the fire department. In 1912 he joined the Navy again. "There never was a braver lad," said Chief McDonough of the Pratt City fire station. Everybody knew him in Pratt City, it seemed. Going out on the streetcar with The Age-Herald man who bore the news were three girls and two men who knew him. The girls wept when they heard that Ingram was dead.... Dr. Horton told last night how Ingram, ordered discharged from the Navy for physical reasons, had insisted on going into service. "For several months he had been treated for rheumatism at a naval hospital in the east," said Dr. Horton. "He had been ordered discharged, but begged the surgeon to give him a chance to fight, now that he had served his country almost 10 years in peace times. The commander of his vessel particularly wanted Ingram for his gun crews, and told him he would try to fix it. So when the regular surgeon went away on his vacation, the captain of the destroyer recommended his discharge to the surgeon in charge. It was then that Ingram got a brief leave of absence in May. He was called to arms after he had been here a day." (Halftone reproduction of a photograph, copied from the official publication Medal of Honor, 1861-1949, The Navy, page 117. Osmond K. Ingram was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism during the torpedoing of USS Cassin (DD-43) on 15 October 1917. He was a Gunner's Mate First Class at that time. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.) Don't Edit "During the war, the U.S. Navy's two most important roles were to halt the operations of German submarines, known as U-boats, and to protect American convoys of transport ships sailing to France and England," according to the state encyclopedia. "The Cassin was patrolling off the coast of Ireland on October 15, 1917, when it came in contact with German submarine U-61. Spotting a torpedo from the U-boat heading toward the Cassin's stern, or rear, where its depth charges were located, and realizing the potential damage and causalities it would inflict, Ingram tried to release the depth charges." (Halftone collage entitled, They, Too, Were Ready. Above: the stern of USS Cassin (Destroyer # 43) after she was torpedoed by German submarine U-61 on 15 October 1917. Inset: Gunner's Mate Osmond K. Ingram, USN, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism in attempting to save the Cassin when she was torpedoed. Below: USS Shaw (Destroyer # 68) after her collision with the British transport Aquitania on 9 October 1918. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.) Don't Edit "(Ingram) was not able to release the entire load before impact, and his was the only death in the ensuing explosion that blew off the rudder and severely damaged the vessel," the article continues. "His courageous deed and sacrifice prevented the ship from additional damage and saved many of his shipmates' lives. The Cassin was repaired, returned to service in World War I, and sold for scrap in 1934." (German submarine U-61 torpedoed Cassin on 15 October 1917. She is shown here while under repairs in England.) Don't Edit Don't Edit On Jan. 11, 1919, Navy secretary Josephus Daniels informed Ingram's mother that a new destroyer was to be named after her late son, the USS Osmond Ingram (DD-255) -- making him the first enlisted Navy man to have a destroyer named in his honor. The ship, pictured here, was used throughout World War II and scrapped in 1947. Don't Edit In 1920, Daniels informed Ingram's mother her son would be awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. The medal's citation states: For extraordinary heroism in the presence of the enemy on the occasion of the torpedoing of the Cassin, on 15 October 1917. While the Cassin was searching for the submarine, Ingram sighted the torpedo coming, and realizing that it might strike the ship aft in the vicinity of the depth charges, ran aft with the intention of releasing the depth charges before the torpedo could reach the Cassin. The torpedo struck the ship before he could accomplish his purpose and Ingram was killed by the explosion. The depth charges exploded immediately afterward. His life was sacrificed in an attempt to save the ship and his shipmates, as the damage to the ship would have been much less if he had been able to release the depth charges. (Halftone reproduction of a photograph, copied from an unidentified publication. Ingram was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism on 15 October 1917, when USS Cassin (DD-43) was torpedoed by a German submarine. He was a Gunner's Mate First Class at that time. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.) Don't Edit Antony McCallum WyrdLight.com (Brookwood American Cemetery and Memorial is a military cemetery for Americans killed during in Surrey, England. The chapel, shown in the picture, is home to the Wall of the Missing, a list of casualties whose remains were never recovered. Among them is native , who was killed in action aboard the USS Cassin on October 15, 1917. Photo courtesy of WyrdLight.com, Don't Edit Alabama's other WWI Medal of Honor Only one other Alabama native, Sidney Manning, received the Medal of Honor for service in WWI. Here is his biography: Sidney Manning, 1892-1960. Born in Butler County, Manning earned his medal during his service in France during World War I. "When his platoon commander and platoon sergeant had both become casualties soon after the beginning of an assault on strongly fortified heights overlooking the Ourcq River, Cpl. Manning took command of his platoon, which was near the center of the attacking line. Though himself severely wounded he led forward the 35 men remaining in the platoon and finally succeeded in gaining a foothold on the enemy's position, during which time he had received more wounds and all but 7 of his men had fallen. Directing the consolidation of the position, he held off a large body of the enemy only 50 yards away by fire from his automatic rifle. He declined to take cover until his line had been entirely consolidated with the line of the platoon on the front when he dragged himself to shelter, suffering from 9 wounds in all parts of the body," the citation states. Don't Edit The downtown Birmingham park named in honor of Ingram was the backdrop for many of the most historic moments of the state's civil rights movement. Statues there honor Martin Luther King Jr., the victims of the 16th Street bombing and other notable figures of the era. Don't Edit Don't Edit Bob Adelman (Despite force and violence by police and firemen, protesters hold onto each other and withstand the full fury of the water. Bob Adelman Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963 The photo is part of the "This Light of Ours" exhibition at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, on view from Sept. 29 to May 14, 2017. Bob Adelman) Don't Edit (Demonstrators taunt firefighters who have been using high pressure hoses to disperse the crowds in Kelly Ingram Park. Dean Integration Movement Negro demonstrations Al Lingo-Hwy Ptl Dir. Bull Connor singning payroll Kings press conference) Don't Edit AP (Associated Press) (The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., speaks in Birmingham on April 30, 1966 from a rostrum decorated with campaign stickers for Alabama Attorney General Richmond Flowers. An estimated 3,000 persons turned out to hear Reverend King's talk in Kelly Ingram park here. AP (Associated Press) Don't Edit AP (Associated Press) (The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., addresses a crowd of some 3,00 persons in Birmingham's Kelly Ingram park on April 30, 1966 on the last day of his three-day whistle-stop tour of Alabama encouraging African-American voters to vote as a block in Tuesday's Alabama primary election. Martin Luther King, Civil Rights Leader. AP (Associated Press) Don't Edit JOE SONGER (Scenes from the City of Birmingham's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2014. A wreath laying at Kelly Ingram Park at the King statue was followed by a march from Birmingham City Hall to Kelly Ingram Park. A rally followed the march. (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com). Don't Edit Don't Edit Ingram's legacy is carried on by a Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter named in his honor. (Memorial Day (1973) was celebrated Sunday in a number of services by patriotic and military groups in the Birmingham area. Today, though, is actually Memorial Day, the first in 10 years or more that Americans were not fighting and dying in Vietnam. Memorial Day traditionally pays homage to those soldiers who gave their lives defending their country. Here, E. W. Lockhart, trumpeter from Kelly Ingram Post of Veterans of Foreign Wars, solemnly sounds "Taps" at a service at Forest Hill Cemetery. Avenues of Flags also fluttered, when weather permitted, in memory of the United States' dead heroes. (Birmingham, Alabama) (Memorial Day Services) Don't Edit Relax, fellas. Especially you privileged onesyou among the male elite still quaking even as Brett Kavanaugh, one of your own, settles into his new, lifetime gig on the U.S. Supreme Court after being called to account for actions he was alleged to have committed as a sloppy, beer-drinkin, self-entitled teenager. Breathe, you who are worried more for your sons more than your daughters in the wake of the flotilla of privileged and powerful men whove toppled from their perch of privilege when past sexual improprieties were brought into the light by women who held their memories, their pain, their shame inside for years, maybe decades. Yes, Donald Trump, Jr., youre at the front of this ignorant line. Relax. All of you. Its been exactly a year since the tweet that changed usthat inspired millions of survivors or sexual harassment, violence, and assault to raise their hands and reply, me, too when actor/activist Alyssa Milano asked them to do so. Since then, their deafening crescendo of voices has refused to be diminished or ignored, or fearful of calling anyone to account for their actionsno matter when in the past they occurred. Or how powerful the perpetrators may be. But men, me too it isnt about you. Tarana Burke founded me, too more than two decades ago after she, herself a victim of childhood sexual violence, couldnt bring herself to share her own painful experience with a young girl named Heaven who had shared hers. I should have told her, Burke often says now, Me, too. Today, Burke is one of the nations most respected advocates for survivors of sexual violence. Last month she was in the room on that riveting day on Capitol Hill when Dr. Christine Blasely Ford testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that she was allegedly groped by Kavanaugh when both were teenagers and Kavanaugh followed with a frothing, erratic, I-like-beer! rebuttal. She was in Birmingham last week, speaking at the Alys Stephens Center as part of a lecture series sponsored by the University of Alabama at Birminghams Institute for Human Rights. She is not surprised at the ensuing backlash, especially from privileged white men. The narrative now is poor Brett Kavanaugh; his life is now destroyed, she told the audience. Those powerful men are a representation of unchecked power and privilege. Yet she also made it quite clear that me too is and never has been aimed at men. Misconceptions are dangerous, she said. Me too is not about taking down powerful men. Its not about crime and punishment. Its about pain and pain reduction. The movement was birthed in Selma, where Burkes family had moved after she was born in Brooklyn, NY. Burke was once turned away from a rape crisis center, where someone told her she had to go to the police first before anyone at the center would hear her. Young girls, she said, simply werent going to do that, especially when they werent being told that being touched by older men was wrong. Or not being believed at all. How do you tell a seventh-grade girl [having sex with a much older man] is not a relationship, its a crime? she said. Assaults had become so normal in their lives they didnt even call it violence. People carrying the baggage of sexual violence, she continues, Nobody was speaking healing in our community. Me too was born out of that. Burkes organizationJust Be, Inc.initially targeted seventh- and eighth-grade girls and was later introduced in schools in the northeast when she moved to Philadelphia. Me too was its mantra as more and more girls shared their experiences of sexual violence. Of course, this was before digital hashtags could be like matches to combustible kindlebefore Milano, exactly one year ago today, sent a tweet before going to bed asking any woman who had been sexually assaulted to reply me, too. If youve been sexually harassed or assaulted write me too as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2017 Her tweet was in response to the initial reports regarding widespread sexual assault allegations against then-Hollywood power mogul Harvey Weinstein. Within 24 hours, she received millions of replies, from women of all backgrounds and locales. Burke calls the tweet a lightning bolt that gave life to the healing she had been trying to bring to young girls for more than two decades. Until then, she said. it was hard to get people to talk about the realities of sexual violence. [Me too] was meant to be a movement among survivors, but I thought nobody else would care. Now, everyone cares. Or at least we should. We should care about the millions of survivors of sexual violence who have shared their stories with saviors like Burke, raised their pained voices since Millanos game-changing tweet and those still seeking the strength to raise their hands and seek the healing denied them for too many years. We should also care deeply for our sons and daughters, but not be scared for them. Instead, teach our sons to treat women with the respect they want their own mother, sister, niece or daughter to be treated. Teach them, simply, that no means NO! And teach our daughters to respect and honor themselvestheir hearts and their bodies. Teach them the difference between a relationship and a crime. Perhaps most important, empower them to speak up when sexually harassed or assaulted. Let them know what transpired was not their fault. Let them know they are believed. As for you, the privileged and the powerful, stop fretting (unless youve got something in your past to fret about) and heed this counsel from Burke: We have to work together to change this, she said. There is space for us to move forward with our humanity and dignity intact. We just want to hear you say, I hear you, I see you and I want to do things differently. Roy S. Johnsons column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Hit me up at rjohnson@al.com or/and follow me at twitter.com/roysj or on Instagram at instagram.com/roysj/ The Alabama Securities Commission is warning state residents to be cautious if they are considering investments in the budding legal marijuana industry. Investments in marijuana business ventures are becoming more prevalent and are receiving increased media coverage, reads an advisory released by the ASC on Monday. Fraudsters may attempt to use this attention to convince investors to hand over money for risky or outright fraudulent marijuana ventures. The Commission warns that marijuana businesses carry an extra risk due to the drugs variable legal status, and that scammers often latch on to the latest hot topic receiving heavy media attention to trick people into jumping on board with a dangerous or fraudulent enterprise. According to the ASC, common marijuana schemes include: A reverse merger or reverse takeover operation, in which promoters of a marijuana-related business purchase an existing (but worthless) publicly traded company that has no assets or operations in order to give their venture an appearance of legitimacy ; A pump and dump scheme in which scammers attempt to convince people to invest in shares of a worthless company in order to sell their existing shares at an inflated price; Crowdfunding schemes using new avenues to recruit a broad base of new investors; and Jurisdiction-dependent schemes, in which scammers attempt to convince investors to get in on the ground floor, in locations where marijuana is not yet legal. The ASC notes that even if there is no outright fraud, most marijuana-related investment opportunities are in high-risk start-up ventures with a significant chance of failure. The Commission recommends before making any financial decisions, ask questions, do your homework and contact the Alabama Securities Commission at 1-800-222-1253 if you have any questions about the product or the person selling it. The full marijuana-related advisory is available below. A Tennessee pair is under arrest in the September stabbing death of a Montgomery man. Darrell Rudolph, 33, was found dead in his Rosa L. Parks Avenue home on Sept. 19. According to charging documents, the fatal stabbing happened between 3 a.m. and 5:54 a.m. that Wednesday. Those charged are Abigail McKenzie Peach, 25, and Mitchell Ryan Call, 19, both of Kingsport. Police said the investigation indicates Rudoph had become a recent acquaintance of the suspects. Authorities have not released a motive or additional information about the slaying. The pair was taken into custody in Missouri on Sept. 26 by the U.S. Marshals Metropolitan Task Force in St. Louis and the St. Louis County Police Department Bureau of Crimes against Persons. They were extradited to Montgomery Saturday, Oct. 13. Both are being held at the Montgomery County Detention Facility with bond set at $150,000. A southwest Birmingham man sought on a capital murder warrant was captured early Monday by U.S. Marshals in Arkansas. Lee Roy McCullough, 48, was arrested in the 500 block of East Van Buren Avenue, said Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Cliff LaBarge. He was taken into custody without incident. McCullough is charged in the Oct. 2 shooting death of 44-year-old Jerry Kennedy. The shooting happened shortly after 8:30 a.m. that Tuesday at Westside Tire Center on 31st Street S.W. and Jefferson Avenue. Birmingham police said was the suspect and victim were involved in some kind of altercation shortly before the gunfire erupted. Kennedy was taken to UAB Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The suspect, police said, fired into a moving vehicle which constituted the capital murder charge. LaBarge said the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force developed information that McCullough was in Gould, Ark. They requested assistance from the U.S. Marshals East Arkansas Task Force in Little Rock, which arrest McCullough. He is being held in the Dumas City Jail pending extradition to Alabama. A Birmingham man was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of killing his girlfriend and shooting several of his children. Sedrick Letzie Norris, 39, was convicted after a trial in August on two counts of capital murder--the charges made capital because the victim had a protection order against Norris and because the crime was committed during the course of a burglary--and four counts of attempted murder for a 2016 shooting that killed Coral Anita Wilson and injured four of Wilson and Norris young children. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Laura Petro sentenced Norris last week to a term of life in prison, without the possibility of parole. Court records show Norris was not eligible for the death penalty under the Atkins U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states execution is not an option for people with intellectual disabilities. Birmingham police responded to the 1400 block of 21st Street North on the evening of May 11, 2016 after receiving several calls about gunshots in the area. Wilson was found dead on her living room floor, and the four wounded children were found outside and at a neighbors apartment. The couple had eight children together--three others at the house werent hurt, and one wasnt home. Deputy District Attorney Neal Zarzour said during the trial that on the night of the shooting, Norris grabbed an AK-47 he kept in the closet at Wilsons house and shot her in the neck while she held their infant son. He also shot and injured four of his children--5, 8, 11 and 12. The four children not wounded are ages 13, 9, 6 and 8 months. Norris attorney Michael Blalock said Norris snapped when he shot Wilson and the children because he saw Wilson in bed with another woman. After the verdict, Blalock said he disagreed. "I disagree with the verdict but I understand the jury returning that based on the facts presented to them," Blalock said. "I'm disappointed they couldn't hear about [Norris'] diminished capacity.... They had no information on his intellectual state." While jurors knew Norris was ineligible for the death penalty, they weren't informed of the Atkins rule. Under Alabama law, a defendant can't put on a diminished capacity defense where he or she claims they lacked the required intent because of a mental impairment, such as a learning disability. This is different than an insanity defense. Zarzour said he and DDA Joe Roberts, who also prosecuted the case, appreciated the jurys work. They had to deal with some disturbing, emotional evidence in order to reach their decision. Even for those of us who handle violent cases on daily basis, crimes involving young children are uniquely challenging. We are pleased that Mr. Norris has been held accountable for his actions and that Coral Wilson and her children received the justice they deserve. Rescue team retrieves climbers bodies A high altitude search and rescue team, with support of the local people, on Sunday retrieved the bodies of nine climbers killed in a snowstorm at the Mt Gurja base camp in Myagdi. Birminghams TrimTab Brewing Co. is introducing what is believed to be the first hard sparkling water brand produced in Alabama - RECwater. Launching within a month, RECwater comes in six packs of 12 oz. cans in three initial flavors - Watermelon/Cucumber/Lime, Mango/Kiwi and Pomegranate/Meyer Lemon. TrimTab Brewing Co. founder and CEO Harris Stewart said the new product launch goes hand-in-hand with the companys open-minded and exploratory ethos. Were in the fermented beverage industry, Stewart said. We were playing around with a number of things, and its really just a natural extension to our already existing portfolio. Were just reaching other people not already in our customer base. Hard seltzer is still technically and legally considered beer, Stewart said, but it is fermented with non-malt-based materials, such as cane sugar and rice syrup. The hard sparkling water is gluten-free and lower in carbs and sugar, with only 100 calories, two grams of sugar and two grams of carbs. Meanwhile, hard sparkling water is fast growing sector of the market. Sales of hard seltzers are up more than 170 percent over the last year through July, according to Nielsen. TrimTab spent the last three months developing the brand, which will begin full distribution in Alabama within the month. The name RECwater incorporates an acronym - Recreational Effervescent Craft water" - and is meant to celebrate the people that want to enjoy their life to the fullest whether theyre working out or chilling out. For more information, visit the website. This post was corrected at 2:16 p.m. Oct. 15 to reflect that distribution will begin within a month. A Bayou La Batre man who was given the death penalty after throwing his four children off a bridge in 2008 had his sentenced reduced Monday to life without a parole after two independent psychologists said that his IQ did not meet the state minimum to be executed. Lam Luong, 38, who born in Vietnam before moving to the United States as a teenager, was present in court when the new sentence was handed down. District Attorney Ashley Rich, who was visibly shaken while reading a press release at Government Plaza late Monday afternoon, said that "no one deserves the death penalty more" than Lam Luong. "Our hands are tied," she added, while citing Supreme Court determinations and Alabama case law that prohibits executing a person with an IQ of lower than 70 points. To do so would be considered cruel and unusual punishment, as outlined in the 8th Amendment. DA Rich said that no member of the legal profession that interacted with Luong during his initial trial in April 2009 believed he had learning issues. "None of these very experienced members of the bar specializing in criminal law ever had any indication that the defendant might be below average intelligence." Attorneys for Luong hired a licensed psychologist and developmental neuropsychologist to determine their clients IQ, which had never been done at the initial trial. His IQ was measured at 57, said Rich. An independent licensed psychologist hired by the Alabama Attorney General's Office, which sought to appeal the test's findings, measured Luong's IQ even lower, at 51. Luong will now spend the remainder of his life in prison. He has no opportunity for parole. A Baldwin County teenager was killed over the weekend after her vehicle was involved in an accident. Emily Marie Ellis, 18, of Lillian was traveling south on Soldiers Creek Road near to Perdido Beach when her 2009 Toyota 4-Runner left the roadway and struck a tree, according to a Alabama Law Enforcement Press Release. Ellis was not using a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene. TO BECOME AN AMERICAN YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR VALUES ... NOT YOUR LOCATION STAY HOME AND BUILD AMERICA ON YOUR SOIL Families in Rohingya camp in New Delhi fear forced deportation after seven men were handed to Myanmar border guards. New Delhi, India Jafar Alam sits by a small grocery shop in the Rohingya refugee camp in New Delhis Kalindi Kunj area. A police officer who visited the camp had asked Alam to fill a six-page personal data form. Alam refused. Today, if you will not cooperate with us, we will not cooperate with you tomorrow, the policeman warned. He then walked around the camp looking for other men but didnt find many as the majority had gone to work. The policeman left within 30 minutes but told Alam that he would be returning. He has been coming to the camp almost every day for a week and insists that we fill these forms, said Alam, a 27-year-old Rohingya refugee who has lived in India since 2012. {articleGUID} We told him several times that we will not submit these forms or give any biometric data. The Indian government will send these forms to the Myanmar embassy and then we will be deported forcibly. The Indian government has asked states to identify members of the Rohingya refugee community, record their biometric details and report them to the central administration. Advisories have been issued to states. They need to identify the Rohingyas, take their biometrics and send us a report. The [central government] will initiate action through diplomatic channels with Myanmar and get it resolved, Indias Home Minister Rajnath Singh said recently. On October 4, seven Rohingya men Mohammad Jalal, Mokbul Khan, Jalal Uddin, Mohammad Youns, Sabbir Ahamed, Rahim Uddin and Mohammad Salam arrested in 2012 for entering India without documentation, were deported to Myanmar. In the current situation, it would be better to kill us all here rather than deport us, because we will be killed there anyway. Noor Qasim, 30-year-old Rohingya refugee and father-of-two The deportation came hours after Indias Supreme Court refused to intervene in a plea by defence lawyer Prashant Bhushan to allow them to remain in the country. Even the country of their origin has accepted them as its citizens, the court said, adding that it would not interfere with the governments decision. The men were bussed to the border town of Moreh in Manipur state, where they were handed over to Myanmar border guards. Todays decision by the Supreme Court marks a dark day for human rights in India, said Aakar Patel of Amnesty India. This decision negates Indias proud tradition of providing refuge to those fleeing serious human rights violations. It endangers the most persecuted population in the world and is bereft of any empathy. Children from the Rohingya community play outside their shacks in a camp in New Delhi, India October 4, 2018 [Adnan Abidi/Reuters] The move came two days after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged India to support Bangladesh in providing humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya community and influence Myanmar to bring about reconciliation. Since then, tension and fear have gripped the refugee camp in Kalindi Kunj, where 50 Rohingya families have been living for several years. They fear deportation to Myanmar, where they say the government would throw them in jail or concentration camps. All the seven men who have been deported to Myanmar were in an Indian jail since 2012. After deportation, they were not sent back to their homes but thrown into jail again, Alam told Al Jazeera. We fear same will be done with us as well. An estimated 40,000 Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority, live in India having fled persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar over the years. The Indian government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has refused to grant the Rohingya refugee status. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars de-facto leader, is charged with complicity over killings of Rohingya [AFP] A minister of Prime Ministers Narendra Modis cabinet in August told the Indian parliament that the Rohingya were illegal immigrants. We know this, Rohingya are linked with wrong and illegal activities, said Kiren Rijiju, minister of state for home affairs. The Rohingya men in the camp, who mostly earn a living as day-wage labourers and rickshaw drivers, reject the allegations. We give a list of people living in the camp to police along with documents every month, said Aman Jamal, 24. {articleGUID} We work very hard to feed our families. We are not involved in any illegal activities. Not a single member from our community had been found involved in any wrongdoing. Some sections of government and society in India consider Rohingya refugees a threat to national security. In February 2017, at a Rohingya refugee camp in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, billboards were put up with messages such as Wake up Jammu, Rohingyas and Bangladeshis quit Jammu. Less than a month later, Jammus Chamber of Commerce and Industries issued an ultimatum to the state government and threatened to identify and kill Rohingya if they were not deported soon. Noor Qasim, 30, lives in the Kalindi Kunj refugee camp with his wife and two young daughters The Indian government should understand why are we here, in which situations we have come here, he told Al Jazeera. Qasim, who works as a labourer at a cement warehouse for $95 a month, has been living in the camp since 2012. His mother, two brothers and two sisters are in Bangladesh. Qasim claims the army killed his cousin sister last year as violence gripped Myanmars Rakhine state. Ive not seen my family since 2012. I want to go back home and live with my family again but we dont have any choice, Qasim said. We left everything behind our houses, businesses, fields, cattle and live like slaves here. The persecuted minority have fled what several international leaders have termed a genocide in Myanmar, the Rohingya peoples home country where they are not granted the simplest of rights including citizenship. Victims and rights groups have provided evidence of a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Myanmar security forces are accused of raping Rohingya women, tossing babies into fires, burning down entire villages and slaughtering thousands. India can deport us whenever it wants and we cant do anything because it is not our country, said Qasim. But [Indian officials] should at least see the situation in Myanmar once. In the current situation, it would be better to kill us all here rather than deport us, because we will be killed there anyway. Risky travelling Dashain has begun. Every year around this time, nearly 3 million people stream out of the Kathmandu Valley to their home districts to celebrate the festival with their loved ones. An American and an Arab journalist walk into a Saudi consulate, Thomas Friedman in New York and Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. One comes out smiling ear to ear like Lawrence of Arabia packing for a royal palace near Riyadh and the other disappears into the thin air and widely feared to have been rushed to meet his creator in more than one piece. Why do the Saudis love the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and invite him to Mohammed bin Salmans palace in Riyadh to tickle his Orientalist fantasies, but, if persistent reports by Turkish authorities turn out to be true, they sent a hit team of 15 assassins to beat, torture, murder, and cut to pieces the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi? No, this cannot be part of the rivalries between our two papers of record. Let us search for a more plausible reason. One jejune and sassy columnist One lovely autumn morning in November 2017, we, New Yorkers, woke up and picked up our Paper of Record, as our citys newspaper the New York Times calls itself, and read our dearly beloved globetrotting columnist Thomas Friedman telling us he had just been to Saudi Arabia and back having met the mighty and handsome Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and had brought us back the good tiding that the most significant reform process under way anywhere in the Middle East today is in Saudi Arabia. We were overjoyed. In his considered opinion, the semi-literate -jejune and sassy as Edward Said once called him columnist for the New York Times informed us that what his favourite Arab prince was doing will not only change the character of Saudi Arabia but the tone and tenor of Islam across the globe. My colleagues and I teaching Islam at Columbia University uptown thought we were all totally out to lunch having failed to grasp the depth and profundity of this mans again borrowing the late Saids choice words comic philistinism. Thomas Friedman proudly reported to us, his captured audience in his New York neighbourhood and beyond, how he and the Saudi Prince had met at night at his familys ornate adobe-walled palace in Ouja, north of Riyadh. MBS spoke in English, while his brother, Prince Khalid, the new Saudi ambassador to the US, and several senior ministers shared different lamb dishes and spiced the conversation. This, mind you, was November 2017, when we had hopes and reasons to believe the time for such gaudy Orientalia had passed but alas, the New York Times had no sense of editorial decency and no one was minding the shop to cut such gibberish from this idiots prose. My only conclusion was that someone in a position of power and authority at the New York Times must believe old-fashioned Orientalist prose and politics still sells. An entire library of literature critically dismantling this nauseating Orientalism be damned. {articleGUID} You can read the rest of the piece if you are in the mood of self-flagellation full of trite and hackneyed panegyrics for MBS, as he calls him. One crucial thing though please notice when Thomas Friedman tells you in no uncertain terms: But one thing I know for sure: Not a single Saudi I spoke to here over three days expressed anything other than effusive support for this anti-corruption drive. Not a single Saudi I spoke to lets keep that phrase in mind as we move forward. A premeditated murder Cut (no pun) to the second columnist: On October 2, Jamal Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document certifying his divorce, from which location there is no evidence he ever exited alive. Turkish authorities have reported they believe that upon his arrival Khashoggi was brutally beaten, tortured, killed and his body dismembered inside the consulate in a premeditated murder. (For the latest updates on Khashoggis unfolding story see Al Jazeera coverage here). Official reports from the scene of Khashoggis disappearance in Istanbul are not encouraging. Turkish officials have said, according to Washington Post for which Khashoggi was a columnist, they believe Khashoggi, 59, a critic of the Saudi leadership and a contributor to The Washington Posts Global Opinions section, was killed by a team of 15 Saudis flown in specifically to carry out the attack. All major news outlets in the US and Europe have echoed the same accounts. Turkish officials, according to BBC, have audio and video evidence that shows missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the BBC has been told. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports, top Turkish security officials have concluded that the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on orders from the highest levels of the royal court. The comic philistine Soon after Thomas Friedman published that bought and paid for propaganda piece promoting the cause of a juvenile tyrant in the US, decent people began to object to his whitewashing of a Saudi Zionist committing war crimes in Yemen, in answer to which he went public praising his seasoned-kebab buddy MBS for having balls, and told his critics: F**k you! to the approving laughter of his audience. (The full talk, if you have the stomach for it, is here). Upon Khashoggis disappearance from the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Thomas Friedman rushed to write a piece in which he defended and excused himself against his own previous fanciful vagaries, extensively quoting himself, which he prefaced by saying that one of the sources he had cited was, in fact, Jamal Khashoggi. Never mind the fact he had told us he never saw a single soul who disagreed with what his favourite prince, MBS, was doing. Alas, Jamal Khashoggi has gone AWOL and we have no way of verifying that he, indeed, said anything to Thomas Friedman. {articleGUID} None of these antic paraphernalia in Thomas Friedmans apothecary is strange or unusual any more. Thomas Friedman has now emerged as a bizarre character-type, proverbial to a specific kind of New York Times journalism. Puerile, fatuous, delusional claptrap, inane to the point of numbing incredulity, Thomas Friedman glides giddily from the top to the bottom of his columns seemingly oblivious to what a bizarre cartoonish character he cuts to the world at large. It is not just the comic philistinism of Friedmans ideas that I find so remarkably jejune, wrote the late Edward Said in his now legendary piece, The Orientalist Express: Thomas Friedman Wraps Up the Middle East (Village Voice 36:42, October 17, 1989), or his sassy and unbeguiling manner, or his grating indifference to values and principles by which, perhaps misguidedly, Arabs and Jews have believed themselves to be informed. It is rather the special combination of disarming incoherence and unearned egoism that gives him his cockily alarming plausibility. There is much that remains the same about Thomas Friedman since those prophetic words, and much that has worsened. In her witty and brilliant book, The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work (2011), Belen Fernandez has stripped naked the bare banality of Thomas Friedmans journalism and the bankruptcy of the media culture that has opted to recognise and even celebrate him. Badly in need of a half-decent undergraduate education, Thomas Friedman writes confidently from behind the arrogant hubris of two nuclear powers he defends, the US and Israel, and so what he says is uttered with the vertiginous mixture of undiluted stupidity and gaudy confidence. In another brilliant piece, in honour of Thomas Friedmans latest love letter to the ruling dynasty in Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Al-Arian has mapped out seventy years worth of the New York Times describing the [Saudi] royal family as reformers. It is an exceptionally revealing and yet damning piece, where you read how the New York Times has consistently offered Americans a decidedly abusive misreading of the US reactionary ally. I, too, have had occasions to expose the sophomoric silliness of Thomas Friedman and his unfailing illiteracy about a world he has made a career misreading. But all such and many more similar attentions raises a crucial question. Collecting garbage A young journalist friend recently observed how we keep criticizing Thomas Friedman and yet, we keep reading him. Indeed: why do we read him? The answer to that for me is very simple. Years ago, when I was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania writing my doctoral dissertation under the late Philip Rieff, one day I was sitting in my small cubical next to his office reading the New York Times. He walked to my desk, saw me reading the New York Times, quietly went back to his office and returned with a pair of scissors. Never read the Times without a pair of scissors, Hamid, he said with his posh Anglophilic tone, we are sociologists, we collect garbage. {articleGUID} This was in the late 1970s-early 1980s, when we still read newspapers in print. Today, I dont think reading the Times is to collect garbage, with a pair of scissors or just cutting and pasting for future citations. I have a different metaphor for it. The New York Times is the barometer of the health and sickness of the American society. So long as it keeps hasbara propaganda officers like Thomas Friedman on its columns the New York Times offers us a perfectly accurate measure of where this society is and where it is headed. It both reflects and manufactures the United States for us. At issue, therefore, and why we read puerile dilatants like Thomas Friedman, is the circumstances under which the New York Times deems it necessary to feature among its columnists such figures to keep a demographically significant portion of its readership happy. At issue is not even the unfortunate fate of one Saudi national who thought caring for the democratic future of his homeland would be safe from a long distance. At issue, also, is not to single out Saudi Arabia for this particularly vicious assassination of a political dissident for which it is suspected to be responsible. Saudi Arabias archrival, the ruling regime in Iran, has done similarly atrocious acts repeatedly, and so has its newly found ally, Israel. The Saudi murderous bombing of Yemen is of an order of magnitude far worse than the one it is now suspected to have done to just one dissident. At issue is the systematic distortion of the truth of the historical struggles of Arabs and Muslims striving for the democratic emancipation of their homeland that is so grotesquely abused and maligned, misread, denigrated, and denied by propaganda officers like Thomas Friedman and the newspaper that regularly features him. As the late Edward Said recognised decades ago, for them, only one thing matters: how to preserve the racist apartheid settler colony they call Israel. Israel is the prism through which they see the world. Anything that happens anywhere in the world, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world, they twist and turn to a narrative that best benefits their favourite garrison state. Thomas Friedman will continue to spin his gibberish on a regular basis; Jamal Khashoggi, the world now fears, will never be able to share his hopes for the democratic future of his homeland. The task at hand is never to allow the paparazzi prose and politics of Thomas Friedman to have the last word on his friend Jamal Khashoggi or on anything else for that matter. He and his ilk are the noxious symptoms of a disease, the disease of disinformation and untruth, of malignant illiteracy and purposeful ignorance. We are here to write back with a pair of shears cutting their entangled lies to their untruthful sizes, so the world knows which way to look for emancipatory truth. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Official says Lieutenant General Khoantle Motsomotso was shot by soldiers who had recently been fired. Lesothos army commander has been shot dead by rival military officers, according to the officials in the small southern African country. Defence Minister Sentje Lebona confirmed the death of Lieutenant General Khoantle Motsomotso on Tuesday morning, The Associated Press news agency reported. He was shot at his home by a group of soldiers who had recently been fired, said Ramanka Mokaloba, a defence official, according to DPA news agency. They attempted to forcefully enter his office. There was a shoot-out between the two and the commanders bodyguards, another military official who declined to be named told AFP news agency. At least one soldier was also killed during the attack and another injured. Calls for government of national unity in Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane confirmed the deaths at a press conference on Tuesday, describing them as a serious setback to vigorous efforts to restore peace and stability. Lesotho has been beset by power struggles and concerns about military interference in politics. The country has seen a number of high-profile assassinations, including the 2015 killing of a former army chief. Thabanes party won elections in June, returning him to power three years after he fled Lesotho because of fears he was an assassination target. Critics accuse the military of favouring Thabanes old rival Pakalitha Mosisili who ruled from 1998-2012 and 2015-2017. Years of political friction have hampered attempts to fight dire poverty and the worlds second highest HIV infection rate. Hong Kong officials turn to police forces Security Wing as they crack down on dissent in semi-autonomous territory. Hong Kongs government has deployed an elite police unit for political monitoring and surveillance as it tightens the political screws and moves closer to mainland China. Serving and retired police officers, lawyers and legislators told Reuters news agency of intensifying political operations by the police forces Security Wing, an elite unit that is supposed to handle sensitive tasks including VIP protection and counterterrorism investigations. Sources familiar with the Wings work say it led surveillance and monitoring operations against the National Party and more than a dozen other groups. We can see them [the government] being much more assertive in using these powers and in shaping their policy decisions to reflect the national interests, said Professor Simon Young of the University of Hong Kongs law school, adding that the courts may be a last line of defence against government overreach. In the past few months, the territory has banned the Hong Kong National Party, which wants separation from China, and barred some activists from standing in local elections. Earlier this month, it refused to renew the work visa of Victor Mallet, a journalist with the Financial Times, after he hosted a speech by an independence activist. The National Party was banned last month as an imminent threat to national security as the government invoked little-known clauses of a law regulating private groups and societies. Authorities have so far refused to explain their decision on Mallet, except to say no independence advocacy will be tolerated. The Financial Times has said it will appeal the decision. Hong Kongs mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, stresses freedoms of speech and assembly. Some of the young people who led 2014s pro-democracy Umbrella Revolution street protests say there is a growing sense of despair at the pressure on civil society and individual rights. House is crumbling Daniel Cheung, a 29-year-old photographer who worked on Chronicle of a Summer, a documentary on activists such as jailed independence leader Edward Leung, said the situation was worsening fast. Put simply, if you see Hong Kong as a house built by the British, this house is now crumbling and leaking. It has been hit by a typhoon and [is] close to toppling over, said Cheung. The Basic Law requires the city to create laws against treason, secession and subversion of the national government, effectively updating those from the colonial era. Legislation from British rule, while broad, does not outlaw calls for independence or self-determination. Some observers say the government is using the Security Wing to tighten its grip even without Article 23, a national security law that was withdrawn after mass protests. The government has yet to propose a new version. The wings officers were deeply involved in producing the 700-page dossier the government used to justify the National Party ban. The document tracked the partys statements, public appearances and activities. Headed by an assistant commissioner, the Wing has more than 700 staff, according to government information provided to legislators in recent years. Police declined to comment on whether other activists or groups, including those calling for greater autonomy in the longer term such as Joshua Wong, were being targeted, saying the department wouldnt disclose details of operations and investigations. James To, a veteran democracy advocate who has spent much of his 27 years in the citys parliament scrutinising the governments security policies, said the government had repeatedly refused legislators requests to discuss the Security Wings operations in detail. It is clear it [Security Wing] is doing much more political work now, he said. My worry is that when you monitor peoples political life and thoughts you are going against the spirit of the human rights provisions of the Basic Law. There is a need for balance. Top editors form human chain in Dhaka urging Bangladeshs government to overhaul law they say will curb press freedom. Dhaka, Bangladesh Newspaper editors in Bangladesh have staged a protest against a new digital security law they say will have a chilling effect on press freedom in the country. Sixteen members of a top editors council formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, in a rare protest on Monday, calling for an overhaul of the Digital Security Act. They carried a banner urging the government to abolish anti-free speech provisions in the recently enacted law. Mahfuz Anam, editor of Bangladeshs largest English-language newspaper, Daily Star, read out seven demands, including the scrapping of nine sections in the act which he said will curb media freedoms in the country. This law is incongruent with the intellectual environment of the digital age, he told Al Jazeera. The growth of digital Bangladesh will be stifled. Zafar Sobhan, editor of Dhaka Tribune, said the law will have a chilling effect on media freedom. Black law The law which came into effect on October 8 despite widespread criticism from journalists and human rights activists authorises prison sentences for up to 14 years for anyone who secretly records government officials or gathers information from a government agency using a computer or other digital device. It also sets similar punishments for people who spread negative propaganda about the countrys 1971 war of independence and its founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The protesting editors said they were also concerned over a provision that allows police to arrest journalists and confiscate their equipment without a court order. They fear such punishments will hamper investigative journalism and efforts to expose corruption in the South Asian country. {articleGUID} However, Hasanul Haq Inu, information minister, dismissed the journalists concerns, saying the government enacted the law to protect citizens from increasing cyber crimes and not to control the work of media professionals. The government has no plan to amend the law, he said. Earlier in the month, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told reporters that those who practise honest journalism without a criminal mindset or plan to commit an offence need not worry about the new law. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has termed the Digital Security Act a black law, and its leaders have pledged to scrap it if they take power in general elections, scheduled for either December or January. Critics of the law say it can also be used against dissidents, and was more draconian than the Information and Communication Technology Act, which has been used to target scores of people, including journalists, for criticising the government. In August, Shahidul Alam, a photographer, was arrested under that law for spreading misinformation and propaganda against the government. He remains in state custody. Olof Blomqvist, research and advocacy director with ASEAN parliamentarians for human rights, said it was disturbing that the government instead of improving the ICT Act introduced a new law that again flouts international human rights standards. Armed groups were supposed to withdraw from the buffer as a final condition to implementing a Russian-Turkish agreement. Fighters in Syrias Idlib have failed to meet a deadline to leave a planned buffer zone around the countrys last rebel bastion as set out under a Russian-Turkish deal. The armed groups were supposed to withdraw from the buffer on Monday as a final condition to implementing a Russian-Turkish agreement to stave off a Syrian government offensive on the northwestern region of Idlib. The accord hung in the balance early Monday, seven years into a grinding civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. Just hours before the deadline expired, rebels vowed to continue to fight. We have not abandoned our choice of jihad and fighting towards implementing our blessed revolution, said Hayet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance led by al-Qaedas former Syrian affiliate. We appreciate the efforts of all those who strive inside and abroad to protect the liberated area, it said in an apparent reference to Turkey. But at the same time, we warn of the deceitfulness of the Russian occupier, it said of President Bashar al-Assads ally. Under the deal, heavy weapons were to have been withdrawn from the horseshoe-shaped buffer by October 10 and fighters to have left by Monday. Looking for a fight? The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had not observed any fighters leaving the outlined demilitarised area by the time midnight struck. The jihadists not withdrawing gives the regime and Russia an excuse to carry out a military operation at least within the demilitarised zone, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. HTS likely tried to gain time by neither explicitly refusing nor accepting the deal between Russia and Turkey, he said. Late Saturday, heavy mortar shells were fired from the planned buffer area into regime territory, killing two soldiers, according to the Syrian Observatory. Rebels reportedly fulfilled the first part of the deal, with Turkish officials, armed factions, and the Observatory reporting the area was free of heavy weaponry. But the mortar fire that hit an army position in Hama province appears to have violated the accord. It was unclear which groups fired the mortars late Saturday as both the Turkish-backed National Liberation Front and rival factions were present in the area. The NLF holds about half of the Idlib region and has welcomed the accord. Vast ramifications The lions share of Idlib is held by Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, as well as more hardline fighters such as Hurras al-Deen and Ansar al-Islam. Those groups also control more than two-thirds of the planned buffer zone and were supposed to withdraw by Monday. Hurras al-Deen has publicly rejected the agreement, although it apparently withdrew its heavy arms from the area last week. HTS, widely considered the most powerful force in Idlib, had quietly abided by the deals first deadline and re-stationed heavy arms elsewhere. But getting the group to agree to the second part of the deal has proven more difficult. In a recent report for the Turkey-based Omran Center, analyst Nawar Oliver described HTSs approval as the deals ultimate test. If HTS acts as a spoiler to the agreement on the ground, this will probably lead to one of two scenarios: either Turkey and the NLF launch military action against HTS, or Russia will seize the opportunity with the support of the regime and its allies to enter Idlib, Oliver said. The ramifications of that move could be vast, he added. Humanitarian disaster Al-Assad and other top government officials have warned the Idlib deal was only a temporary measure. On Friday, residents around Idlib received warning messages on their mobile phones from the Syrian army. Get away from the fighters. Their fate is sealed and near, one said. The agreement signed on September 17 averted a large-scale offensive, which the United Nations had said could cause massive displacement and bloodshed. The UN warned that such action would provoke a humanitarian disaster in the region, where as many as 800,000 people half of whom are internally displaced from previous offensives could be forced to flee again by a regime assault on Idlib and surrounding areas. Nearly three million people live in the zone now, hundreds of thousands of them already displaced by the brutal seven-year war and others heavily dependent on humanitarian aid to survive. At least 12 dead as overnight torrential rain around Carcassonne sweeps away cars, trees and bridges. At least 12 people are known to have died on Sunday night as flash floods swept through villages around the southern French city of Carcassonne, according to the interior ministrys rescue service. In the village of Villegailhenc, the river Trapel swelled to such an extent that it swept away at least one road bridge. Local authorities revised the official death toll downwards from the previous total of 13. French emergency service personnel were out in area rescuing people from the floods. All this happened suddenly and in the hours of darkness as the tropical remains of Leslie were lifted over the eastern Pyrenees and the Haut Langeudoc. A spell of torrential rain resulted, with Carcassonne recording 70mm of rain in just three hours. The long-term average rainfall for October in Carcassonne is 60mm and, in the last 24 hours alone, 140mm have been collected. Rescue workers evacuate residents from a neighborhood after flash floods hit the southwestern Aude district of France after several months worth of rain fell in just a few hours overnight, in Trebes, France [Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters] Local reports describe waters rising by seven metres in a few hours and people scrabbling onto their roofs to await rescue. Flooding is not uncommon in this region when thunderstorms grow over the high ground, and flash-flooding down the valleys is often destructive. However, this could be the worst event for 20 years. The French weather service, Meteo France, issued a warning of flood risk for all surrounding areas for 24 hours. Over the next few days, the flood risk remains with northeast Spain, southern France, Corsica and Sardinia at risk. Lawsuit challenges the use of race as a factor in the Ivy League schools admissions and enrollment process. Harvard University went on trial on Monday over its admission selection process that critics say discriminates against students of Asian origin. The trial in a US federal court in Boston pits the Ivy League school against Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), whose 2014 lawsuit challenges the use of race as a factor in college admissions decisions. SFFA, which is headed by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, claims Harvard illegally engages in racial balancing that artificially limits the number of Asian American students at the elite school. Statistics showed Asian Americans applicants outperformed other racial groups on academic measures, yet that was not necessarily borne out on Harvards campus, Adam Mortara, a lawyer for SFFA, said in his opening statement on Monday. Harvard pushes down the scores Asian Americans receive on personal rating that measures an applicants subjective likability, grit and positivity and improperly allows race to play a factor in those scores, Mortara said. Theres no other possible explanation, he said. Affirmative action activist Edward Blum, founder of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), speaks to reporters at Sundays Rally for the American Dream Equal Education Rights for All [Brian Snyder/Reuters] But William Lee, a lawyer for Harvard, told US District Judge Allison Burroughs, who is presiding over the non-jury trial, that SFFAs claims were based on heavily manipulated data and invective accusations and innuendo. He said that in order to promote diversity, Harvard does consider race as one factor among many, as the US Supreme Court has long permitted. But he said race alone never by itself explains why an applicant is denied admission. Harvard never considers an applicants race to be negative, Lee said. If it considers race at all, it is always considered in a positive way. Sarah Chung, a junior at Harvard University, holding an orange sign at centre, participates in a defend diversity pro-affirmative-action rally in Harvard Square on Tuesday [Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe/Getty Images] The university also notes that the proportion of students of Asian origin has increased substantially since 2010 and today, account for 23 percent of the 2,000 students admitted to the freshman class, compared with 15 percent who are black and 12 percent who are Hispanic, out of 40,000 applicants. The US Justice Department, which launched a related probe of Harvard after Republican President Donald Trump took office last year, has backed SFFAs case, saying that Harvard has not seriously considered alternative, race-neutral approaches to admissions. The department also launched a similar investigation last month into whether Yale University also discriminates against Asian Americans, an allegation it denies. Trump rolls back guidance on affirmative action Earlier this year, the Trump administration also rolled back guidance put in place by former President Barack Obama on using race as a factor in the admissions process. {articleGUID} The Justice Department revoked a number of documents, including Obama administration memos encouraging schools to take race into account for admissions and enrollment decisions to foster diversity. The Trump administrations move is more in line with the policy of former President George W Bush that discouraged affirmative action and instead encouraged the use of race-neutral alternatives, like percentage plans and economic diversity programmes. Though such guidance does not have the force of law, schools could presumably use it to defend themselves against lawsuits over admission policies. Civil rights groups criticised the Trump administrations announcement, saying it went against decades of court precedent permitting colleges to take race into account. We condemn the Department of Educations politically motivated attack on affirmative action and deliberate attempt to discourage colleges and universities from pursuing racial diversity at our nations colleges and universities, Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement at the time. Supreme Court factor The lawsuit against Harvard could eventually reach the Supreme Court, giving the newly cemented five-member conservative majority a chance to bar the use of affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college. {articleGUID} Conservatives have long argued that affirmative action, which aims to offset historical patterns of racial discrimination, hurts white people and Asian Americans, who outperform other minority groups on academic measures. During the recent confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh, civil rights groups expressed concern over the newly minted Supreme Court Justices past writing on affirmative action. A letter signed by dozens of rights groups pointed to Kavanaughs involvement in former President Bushs work against the University of Michigans equal opportunity admissions policy, which included using race as a factor among many. According to a leaked email, Kavanaugh said the University of Michigan policy was unconstitutional because race-neutral programs should be employed, where possible, to achieve the goal of ensuring diversity and ensuring that minorities have access to and are represented in universities. Mondays trial in Boston is expected to last at three weeks. PM Zoran Zaev will need support of two-thirds of parliament to change the name to Republic of Northern Macedonia. Macedonian legislators will decide on Monday if the country will change its name from the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of Northern Macedonia over two weeks after a referendum on the issue was marred by low turnout. The name change pushed by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev would end a decades-long dispute with southern neighbour Greece and potentially open up the route to European Union and NATO membership for Macedonia. Zaev is looking to get two-thirds of the parliament behind the plan to amend the constitution. But for the change to happen, Zaev will need to garner support from members of the right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, which is against the name change. Currently, the ruling coalition has planned talks with several members of the opposition, of which it will need four or five members to implement the change. MPs from VMRO-DPMNE have sent mixed signals about their support on the issue, with some coming out strongly against it and others ambivalent. {articleGUID} There will be no two-thirds majority, do not hope for it, VMRO-DPMNE MP Trajko Veljanovski said last week. His fellow VMRO-DPMNE party member Ilja Dimovski was less outspoken, saying the issue is still undecided. We will see what will happen, but VMRO-DPMNE MPs, or most of them, will not support the deal, Dimovski said. Zaev has said that if parliament fails to pass the name, he will immediately call early elections. The vote comes several weeks after Macedonia held a referendum on the change, which has been a political issue ever since the country gained independence in 1991. In that referendum, 90 percent of voters approved changing the name to the Republic of Northern Macedonia. However, opponents have said the plebiscite was illegitimate since only a third of the electorate turned up. EU and NATO membership The countrys name change, a process that was initiated in June this year, has been a sticking point with Greece, which has objected to its neighbour being called Macedonia because it has a northern province of the same name, accusing Skopje of territorial ambitions and appropriating its cultural heritage. The historical region of Macedonia includes the modern Greek region and some territory within what is now the sovereign state of Macedonia. The Greek region was the birthplace of Alexander the Great born in Pella 356BC, northwest of Greeces second-biggest city of Thessaloniki whose empire stretched from Greece to India. {articleGUID} Apart from resolving the long-running fight with Greece, a name change would also pave the way for the former Yugoslav republic to join NATO and start accession talks with the EU. If Macedonia changes its name, Greece would have to ratify the agreement signed in June in its parliament and then lift its veto on the countrys entry into the EU and NATO. Official entry would happen well in advance of elections scheduled for the autumn of 2019 in both countries. With the midterms looming, Al Jazeera breaks down how the vote works, why it matters and what to expect. US midterm elections are scheduled for November 6, and the vote is largely expected to be a referendum on President Donald Trumps performance since taking office. Held every four years, midterm elections occur halfway through every presidential term. Midterms generally garner low voter participation, but the Pew Research Center recently published a poll that found increased enthusiasm among voters this year. Novembers vote will determine the future of Trumps legislative agenda, with Democrats hoping to take back a majority in the US Congress. Republicans currently enjoy a majority in both chambers of Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. This year all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 39 state and territories governorships are up for grabs. How do midterms work? Every two years, all 435 House seats are up for election. But in the Senate, where elected officials serve staggered six-year terms, one-third of the seats are decided during midterms. In the House, 218 seats are necessary for a majority, while 51 seats constitute a majority in the Senate. Additionally, state races will decide the elected representatives for state legislatures and dozens of governorships during midterm elections. Thousands of seats in state houses and senates will also be up for grabs this year. How many people vote? According to the US Census Bureau, 157.6 million people reported being registered to vote in the US. Voter turnout is generally around 40 percent during midterms, according to FairVote. But Pews new poll suggests that more than half of registered voters will take to the ballot box this year. {articleGUID} With the country increasingly polarised by Trump, more voters could cast their votes in November. Turnout for House primaries was nearly 20 percent, which marks a large increase compared with previous years, according to Pew. That poll found that turnout was higher for both Democrats and Republicans, but that Democrats bested their Republican counterparts, growing by 4.6 percentage points. Why do midterms matter? For the viability of President Trumps policy agenda, the turnout of the midterms will be a decisive factor. If Republicans can hold a majority in Congress, Trump can expect less resistance while pushing through his policies. If Democrats can take back the Congress, they could disrupt Trumps policy plans and stop him from implementing a number of campaign promises. For instance, if Democrats controlled Congress, they could block his ongoing efforts to crack down on immigrants, including the building of the wall on the US-Mexico border, efforts to remove Obama-era protections for undocumented immigrants and restrict the actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. After the controversy surrounding the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose hearings focused on several allegations that he was complicit in sexual assault, Democrats see the midterms as an opportunity to prevent Trumps future Supreme Court nominations. Without taking a majority in the Senate, the upper house of Congress, Democrats would be unable to achieve this goal. Most importantly, a Democratic majority in Congress could potentially launch impeachment proceedings against Trump, a threat that the president and his party have emphasised to encourage Republican voters to take to the ballot box next month. Those opposed to the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh vowed to move their fight to the November midterms [File: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo] Meanwhile, many state legislatures play an important role in redistricting processes, healthcare access, budgetary decisions and civil rights legislation, among others. {articleGUID} Gubernatorial elections could also usher in significant changes. In Florida, Governor Rick Scott has undone efforts to restore voting rights to convicted felons, at least 1.5 million of whom are disenfranchised in that state. And whichever party takes control will wield influence over the next redistricting process, slated to take place in 2020. What are the main issues? The largest partisan divides between Republicans and Democrats stemmed from immigration, healthcare and the role of the US in the world, according to a Pew survey. According to the September Pew report, about 75 percent of voters ranked healthcare as a very important. Womens rights, Supreme Court nominations and the economy also stand out as important factors in the upcoming midterms. Additionally, the Pew survey found that race was a central issue, with 85 percent of Democrats supporting more efforts towards equality for African Americans, compared with only 29 percent of Republicans. What can you expect? The final outcome of the midterms will likely depend on results in several key races across the country. Some of the most important races include the election for Republican Jeff Flakes seat. Flake is not seeking re-election this year and the current race between Republic Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema is too close to call, according to a number of projection websites. Many are also keeping an eye on tight Senate races in Indiana, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, and West Virginia, among others. There are also a number of key races in the House, including Californias 25th and 48th districts, Kentuckys 6th District, Texass 32nd District, New Yorks 19th District, Illinoiss 14th District, Iowas 1st District, among several others. Last month, a record number of people 800,000 registered to vote on National Voter Registration Day, although it remains unclear how many will show up on voter day. According to FiveThirtyEights most recent predictions, Democrats have a one-in-five chance of taking control of the Senate, while their chances of gaining a majority in the House sit at 81.3 percent. {articleGUID} The websites statistics also found that Trumps approval rating is currently 41.8 percent, and the percentage of those who disapprove of the president is more than 52 percent. In the increasingly unlikely scenario that Republicans lose control of both the Senate and the House, they would no longer be able to pass laws without the support of Democrats. And if Democrats took control of the Senate, they would be able to block Trumps nominations for judges and other positions. But if the Republican Party maintains its grip on both or either chambers, Democrats ability to challenge Trumps agenda will be significantly reduced. Police arrest at least 26 people as it quashes protests against President Daniel Ortega. Nicaraguan police have arrested at least 26 people after breaking up a group of demonstrators gathering for an anti-government protest on Sunday. Police wielded clubs and hurled stun grenades at the crowd in a shopping centre car park in the capital, Managua. Men and women, some of them elderly, were beaten by police before being dragged down the street and loaded into police vehicles. The demonstrations were part of an alliance of 40 opposition groups calling for President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo to step down. {articleGUID} Since April, at least 300 people have been killed and thousands more injured in protests. The unrest was sparked by pension reforms, but developed into a wider anti-government movement. Were being repressed, they wont let us march, theyre violating our constitutional right to protest, an elderly protester told Al Jazeera on Saturday. The whole thing is just terrible, the provocation against the people is too much. Its too much there has to be an end to this, said another woman. The demonstration was the first by an organised coalition of activists, calling themselves the Alliance for National Unity. Many of those taking part in Saturdays demonstration were women [Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters] Hundreds of anti-riot police were deployed early on Saturday to key points in the capital, while government supporters who are allowed to demonstrate took over city roundabouts where protesters had planned to assemble. Al Jazeeras Manuel Rapalo, reporting from Managua said authorities had previously warned that any protests would be broken up by force. The Nicaraguan police had announced [on Friday] that any protest against the government today would be considered illegal and would not be allowed. Despite this, weve seen several people come out on the streets to protest the government. Police have started arresting, one by one, every one of the peaceful protesters. We are seeing tear gas being deployed against protesters and against the press. The press have been victims of harassment as well as attacks by the police today, said Rapalo, who added that he and his producer had been hit with a tear gas canister. Peaceful protest in #Managua met with force by police. Dozens of arrests already, police saying any protest against the government is illegal. Press is being harassed as well, we were targeted with flash grenades, my producers phone was crushed while she was recording. pic.twitter.com/ZxsKr57Om7 Manuel Rapalo (@Manuel_Rapalo) October 14, 2018 Some reporters covering Sundays protests were also beaten and briefly detained by police, according to local media. Journalism is an increasingly dangerous profession in Nicaragua, where reporters face harassment, assault and death threats. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Miguel Mora, founder of 100% Noticias, a local TV channel, said being a journalist in Nicaragua today is a matter of life a death. Weve been harassed, shot at, angry mobs sent by the government to intimidate us. At one point we were under siege, unable to leave the building for several days {articleGUID} At least one journalist has been killed so far and several foreign reporters have been deported. The latest crackdown was criticised by both the Organization of American States (OAS) of which Nicaragua is a member and the president of neighbouring Costa Rica, where thousands have applied for asylum since the unrest began. We demand the government of Nicaragua release the protesters who have been detained, that it respect the right to peaceful protest nationwide, and stop repression and all intimidation of political leaders and civilians, OAS chief Luis Almagro said on Twitter. Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado said he was deeply concerned by the arrests. The repression the Nicaraguan people are being put through must stop, he said in a statement on Twitter. Squeezing the press The government has become more highhanded with regard to freedom of expression and press freedom. It ignored the amendment to the criminal code and its procedures. ICRC nurse Hauwa Liman was forced to kneel down with her hands tied, and then shot at close range, local media reports. A second aid worker has been executed by Boko Haram in Nigeria after a deadline imposed to release imprisoned members of the armed group expired, the government said. The Nigerian government was shocked and saddened by the killing of the woman, who was not identified, the information ministry said in a statement. A clip of the execution of 24-year-old Hauwa Liman was seen on Monday by a correspondent of Nigerias online news platform, The Cable. Liman was forced to kneel down, with her hands tied inside a white hijab which has a crest symbol, and then shot at a close range, The Cable reported. Liman, a nurse with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was kidnapped by the armed group in March along with two other medical workers in Rann, Borno State in the countrys northeast. A midwife with ICRC, Saifura Ahmed, who had been abducted at the same time, was executed by Boko Haram in September. We have kept our word exactly as we said, by killing another humanitarian worker, Hauwa Liman, who is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that were abducted during a raid on a military facility in Rann, Kala Balge in March 2018, the group said in a short statement sent to the Cable. Saifura and Hauwa were killed because they are considered as Murtads (apostates) by the group because they were once Muslims that have abandoned their Islam, the moment they chose to work with the Red Cross, and for us, there is no difference between Red Cross and UNICEF, the group added. If we see them, we will kill the apostates among them, men or women, and chose to kill or keep the infidels as slaves, men or women. Plea for mercy The armed group had earlier released a video message in which it threatened the immediate execution of one of the employees. The ICRC implored the hostage takers to show mercy and release the employees. The armed group is also holding a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, who was abducted in February from her school in the town of Dapchi, Yobe state. More than 20,000 people have been killed and two million others forced to flee their homes in northeastern Nigeria since Boko Haram launched a campaign in 2009, aimed at forming a breakaway Islamic state. Over the years, the armed group has kidnapped thousands of adults and children. PA calls plans to build 31 homes in Hebron the first since 2002 a declaration of new war against Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority has denounced an Israeli decision to expand an illegal settlement in the heart of Hebron city, describing the move as a declaration of war against the Palestinian people. On Sunday, government spokesman Yousef Al Mahmoud said in a statement that the move was a blatant targeting of the existence of the Palestinian people and an attack on international laws and resolutions, Wafa news agency reported. The 31 settler homes to be built in the flashpoint city of Hebron, located in the occupied West Bank will be the first Jewish settlement expansion in Hebron since 2002. It comes at a cost of $6.1m in government funding, according to Israeli daily Haaretz. Construction permits were agreed in October last year but needed the governments approval, according to the NGO Peace Now, which monitors settlement construction in occupied territory. Now that the cabinet has approved the funds for the plan, the settlement project can go ahead. For the first time in more than 20 years, Hebron will have a new Jewish neighbourhood where a military camp once stood, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday after the weekly cabinet meeting. He said in a statement that the project will comprise 31 settler homes and two kindergartens. It is an important step in the global activity which we are carrying out to reinforce settlements in Judea and Samaria, added Lieberman, referring to the occupied West Bank. Growing settlements Hebron is holy to both Muslims and Jews, with important religious figures including Abraham, seen as the forefather of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, believed to be buried there. It is home to around 200,000 Palestinians and some 800 settlers living under Israeli army protection in several heavily fortified compounds in the heart of the city. The Hebron units are to be built on Shuhada Street, once a bustling shopping street leading to a holy site where the Abraham is believed to have been buried. The street is now largely closed off to Palestinians who have repeatedly demanded that it be reopened to traffic. The area was seized in the 1980s by the Israeli army, which built a military base on it to protect Hebrons Jewish settlers. The 1994 massacre of 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron by Israeli-American Baruch Goldstein led to an agreement three years later, giving the Palestinian Authority control over 80 percent of the city. The settlers and about 30,000 Palestinians living adjacent to them fall under Israeli military rule. Peace Now said in a statement that the land on which the settler homes will be built legally belongs to the Palestinian municipality of Hebron. According to Peace Now, settlement plans in the West Bank have increased since the beginning of 2017, when Donald Trump, a key ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was inaugurated as president of the United States. According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with Israeli government approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank. International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlements on the land to be illegal. They are also viewed as major obstacles in peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians want for their future state. Legislator suggests pontiff wants to visit the isolated nation soon the first time a pope will travel to North Korea. Pope Francis wants to visit North Korea in the coming months, a South Korean official said on Monday, a further sign the isolated nation is opening up to the world. The move comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited the pontiff to his country last week. I heard that there is talk that Pope Francis wants to visit North Korea next spring, Lee Hae-chan, the chairman of South Koreas Democratic Party, was quoted as saying on Monday by Yonhap news agency. Lee didnt clarify the source of his information. If the visit happens, it would be the first time a pope visited North Korea. North Korea and the Vatican have no formal diplomatic relations. North Koreas constitution guarantees freedom of religion as long as it does not undermine the state, but beyond a handful of state-controlled places of worship, no open religious activity is allowed. Tension-reduction steps The two Koreas held high-level talks on Monday to discuss further engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. South Korea said discussions were aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as the United States has expressed unease over the fast pace of inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with US-led efforts to denuclearise the North. Before leaving for the meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the discussions will include setting up a joint survey of a North Korean railroad section the Koreas are planning to connect with the South. The Norths chief delegate to the talks, Ri Son Gwon, chairs the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. There could also be discussions over the specifics of a joint military committee agreed between their leaders to evaluate tension-reduction steps and maintain communication to prevent crises and accidental clashes. In their third summit this year, Moon and Kim committed to revive economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such activity, and hold a ground-breaking ceremony by the end of the year on an ambitious project to connect their roads and railways. The North and South also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border, removing 11 front-line guard posts by December, and demining sections of the Demilitarized Zone. The Koreas also said they will make a push to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Moon has described inter-Korean engagement as crucial to resolving the nuclear standoff and is eager to restart joint economic projects held back by sanctions if the larger nuclear negotiations between the US and North Korea begin yielding results. Do nothing However, South Koreas enthusiasm for engagement with its rival appears to have created discomfort with its ally the US amid growing concerns that the North is lagging behind its supposed promise to denuclearise. Moons government last week walked back a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea following US President Donald Trumps blunt retort that Seoul could do nothing without Washingtons approval. South Koreas Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed displeasure about the Koreas military agreement. Kang was not specific, but her comments fueled speculation Washington wasnt fully on board before Seoul signed the agreement. Despite three summits with Moon and one with Trump in June, Kim has yet to provide a convincing sign hes ready to deal away his nuclear weapons, which he may see as his strongest guarantee of survival. Pompeo recently visited Kim in Pyongyang in an effort to set up another summit between him and Trump, following rocky exchanges in lower-level talks that saw North Korea accuse Washington of gangster-like demands on denuclearisation. Fate of four Qatari nationals forcibly disappeared in Saudi Arabia since last year is still unknown, rights group says. A Qatari human rights group is demanding Saudi Arabia disclose the whereabouts of four Qatari citizens who were forcibly disappeared in the neighbouring kingdom in separate cases since May last year. The Doha-based National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) issued a statement on Sunday, saying it is holding the Saudi government responsible for the fate for the missing nationals, added it had grave concerns about the four. NHRC chairman Ali bin Samikh al-Marri asked the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to send a mission to investigate the cases. What the Saudi authorities are doing towards Qatari nationals is shameful and inhumane, he said. It will leave a major psychological mark on future generations, he added. The NHRC has also contacted the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urging it to intervene to secure the release of the Qataris. Arrested and extradited Among those who disappeared are Talal Nawaf al-Rashid, 29, and Mohsen Saleh al-Korbi, 63. The men entered Saudi Arabia last April and May respectively and have not been heard from since. Al-Rashid, who is a dual Qatari-Saudi citizen, was arrested in Kuwait after he was invited by a local poet and later extradited to Saudi Arabia. He hails from the al-Rashid family that ruled the emirate of Hail in todays central Saudi Arabia before the al-Saud clan, the current rulers of Saudi Arabia, deposed them. Qatari human rights officials said it was unclear why al-Rashid was arrested and extradited. Al-Korbi, who suffers from several chronic illnesses, was on his way to visit relatives in Yemen when he was arrested by Saudi forces at the border crossing between Yemen and Oman. The names of the two other disappeared Qataris have not been released to the public. One of them disappeared in Saudi Arabia this year, the other last year. Al Jazeera was unable to reach Saudi officials for comment. Abdullah al-Athbah, editor in chief of Qatari newspaper Al-Arab, told Al Jazeera that Saudi Arabias objective behind holding the Qataris was to spite Qatar and tarnish its reputation by accusing its citizens of being terrorists. On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut political and economic ties with Qatar, and imposed a sea, land, and air blockade on the country, accusing it of supporting extremists in the region. Qatar strongly denied the allegation. The disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi nearly two weeks ago inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has heightened the sense of urgency among Qatari officials demanding to know the fate of the missing four. Khashoggi went inside the Saudi consulate on October 2 to obtain legal documents but was never seen leaving the building. Qatari journalist Majed al-Khelaifi said he was worried over the fate of the disappeared Qataris in light of Khashoggis case, saying the journalists disappearance was a dark reminder of what could have happened to the Qatari nationals. Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports In the largest schism in Orthodox Christianity for over a century, the Russian Orthodox Church has cut all ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate over a historic decision to recognise the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as independent. Metropolitan Hilarion, a bishop in charge of the Russian Orthodox, told journalists that the decision to break relations with the Constantinople Patriarchate was taken by The Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, in Minsk, Belarus on Monday. In an official declaration, members of the Holy Synod wrote that allowing another church to break away is tantamount to renouncing its historical roots and commitments making it impossible for the Russian Orthodox Church to continue its union with Constantinople. The Holy Synod has also urged other Orthodox Churches to properly evaluate a decision taken by Constantinople and to search for ways out of the gravest crisis that is tearing apart the body of church. Metropolitan Hilarion said the decision was taken by The Holy Synod [Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters] On October 15, the Istanbul-based leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch I Bartholomew of Constantinople, took the monumental decision to recognise the full independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, after a three-day Synod. Victory over evil Speaking at a press conference last Thursday, Ukraines President Poroshenko dubbed the decision a historic event and a victory of good over evil. A spokesman for Russian Patriarch Kirill said it crossed a red line and is catastrophic for the entire Orthodox world. {articleGUID} The split is seen to have a deep political significance. Poroshenko said the decision was an issue about Ukraines statehood, national security and global geopolitics. This is the collapse of Moscows centuries-old claims for global domination as the Third Rome, he said. The independence of our church is part of our pro-European and pro-Ukrainian policies that weve been consistently pursuing over the last four years. For more than three centuries, Ukraine and Russia have been united in the Russian Orthodox Church. When it gained independence in 1991 following the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine strove to establish religious independence and an Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate was created. The popularity of the Kiev Patriarchate and calls for Ukraines independence have increased since Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula, Crimea, in 2014. More divisions Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian writer and director at Internews Ukraine, said the move could create divisions in and beyond Ukraine. Its possible some will support Constantinople, while some will turn to Russia. Russia will no longer recognise the Ukrainian Church and only see it as schismatic, he said. This could increase tensions, even though the whole idea was to end schism in Ukraine, by recognising those who are not willing to be under the Russian Church. {articleGUID} In todays Ukraine, there are three Orthodox Church branches: the Kiev Patriarchate, headed by Metropolitan Filaret, which does not recognise Moscows authority, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church the largest branch previously loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, founded in 1921, in defiance of the Kremlin and forced underground during Soviet rule. Beginning under then-President Boris Yeltsin, and continuing under President Vladimir Putin, the church has seen a massive national revival in its following. It is widely seen as a pillar of the Russian state in its promotion of traditional values. Many analysts, such as Jakub Janda, a director at the Prague-based think-tank, European Values, consider the Russian Orthodox Church a tool for spreading Russias influence, and entails the promotion of Russian nationalist and imperialist ambitions. It is the largest branch of the Orthodox faith representing half of the worlds 200 million or Orthodox believers, including Ukrainian followers, dwarfing the 17 remaining official Orthodox Churches. Senegal overfishing leaves an industry in crisis Huge trawlers off the coast of Senegal are endangering natural resources and a traditional way of life. Two key borders reopen in a major boost to the Syrian government as it takes over most rebels areas. The only crossing point between Syria and Israeli-occupied territory of Golan Heights has reopened for UN observers, four years after closing due to the civil war in Syria. Two white United Nations jeeps crossed into the Golan Heights on Monday through the reopened crossing near the Syrian border town of Quneitra after a deal between Israel, Syria and the UN. A Syrian woman walks towards the crossing checkpoint border between Jordan and Syria [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters] UN observers and local notables from the Druze community, the predominant population in the area, gathered near the crossing. The UN observers had left the Quneitra crossing in 2014 for the first time since deploying there in 1974 to monitor a ceasefire and a demilitarised zone. Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967. Syrian forces recaptured the Quneitra area in July. Russian military police deployed in the area, including on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, setting up checkpoints in the area. Moscow said it planned to work closely with the UN force. It is a day of victory, Youssef Jarbou, a Druze leader, told the Syrian Al-Ikhbariya TV from Quneitra. Meanwhile, another crossing between Syria and Jordan reopened on Monday, too, for the first time in three years, promising to restore trade and movement between the two countries that had halted because of the war. The passage is a vital lifeline for trade between the two brotherly countries Jordan and Syria through them to other Arab countries, Jumana Ghunaimat said, spokesperson for the Jordanian government, according to Petra news agency. The Nassib re-opening took place at 8am (05:00 GMT) and it came as a major boost to the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad. It also reinforces the Syrian governments message that it is slowly emerging victorious from the seven-year conflict. Dozens of private cars lined up to cross from Jordan. Security personnel and dogs searched the vehicles. Today is a feast, a feast for the whole Arab and Islamic nations and for the whole World, this crossing is vital for the whole Arab countries, said Mohammed Khalil, the first Syrian in line waiting to cross back into his country. Iraqs foreign minister also praised the move, saying Syria should not be isolated from its Arab neighbours, and lauded Damascus for staying strong and united in the face of many adversities. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said he hoped the al-Bukamal border crossing with neighbouring Iraq would open as soon as possible. We look to the interests of both the Syrian and Iraqi people in opening the al-Bukamal crossing, Moualem told reporters at a joint conference with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who is visiting Damascus. A Jordanian policeman opens the gate of Jordans Jaber border crossing checkpoint near Syrias Nasib checkpoint [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters] Boycotting the Syrian government Arab countries have boycotted the Syrian government since the early days of the war, freezing its membership in the 22-member state Arab League. Syrian rebels seized the Nassib crossing in 2015, disrupting a major trade route between Syria and Jordan, Lebanon and oil-rich Gulf countries. Syrian government troops recaptured it in July, after rebels reached an agreement with Russian mediators to end the violence in the southern province of Deraa and surrender the crossing. The crossing is also vital for Syrias neighbour Lebanon, providing its agricultural products with a route to foreign markets. Nearly 450,000 Syrians have been killed in the war and the country has been devastated by the violence that drew the involvement of regional and international powers, as well as foreign fighters. Holy See is Taiwans last diplomatic ally in Europe; one of only 17 around the world. Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit the self-ruled island, just weeks after China and the Vatican reached a landmark agreement on the appointment of bishops on the mainland. Taiwans Vice President Chen Chien-jen met the pope on Sunday and invited him to visit, the presidents office said in a statement. Chen added the pope said he would pray for Taiwan, but did not give a date for the proposed visit. China claims Taiwan as its own and the island has diplomatic relations with only 17 countries around the world, mostly in Central America and the Pacific. The Vatican is Taiwans last diplomatic ally in Europe. Last months deal with China gives the Holy See a say over the appointment of bishops, although both sides have called the agreement provisional. Diplomatic ties Chen stressed that the agreement between the Vatican and China did not involve a diplomatic element or affect the friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican. We urge everyone not to excessively interpret and worry about this [deal], the statement quoted Chen as saying. Although the Vatican has said the September 22 deal is not political, some officials in Taiwan worry it could be a prelude to establishing diplomatic ties with Beijing. Taipei has accused China, which considers the island a breakaway province, of using dollar diplomacy and bullying to lure away its allies, charges Beijing has denied. This year, former allies El Salvador, Burkina Faso, and the Dominican Republic became the latest to switch ties from Taipei to Beijing. US presidents comments come within days of landmark UN report warning of catastrophic risks posed by global warming. US President Donald Trump has again expressed doubt over whether rising global temperatures are being caused by humanity and accused scientists studying climate change of pursuing a political agenda. In a 60 Minutes interview with US-based broadcaster CBS aired on Sunday, Trump said any alterations to the earths climate would change back again. I dont think its a hoax But I dont know that its man-made, Trump said. I will say this. I dont wanna give trillions and trillions of dollars. I dont wanna lose millions and millions of jobs. I dont wanna be put at a disadvantage, he added. Trump has previously called climate change a hoax and said in November 2012 that the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive. UN warnings His comments on Sunday came less than a week after the publication of a landmark UN report which said human activities had already caused global warming of approximately one degree Celsius since pre-industrial times. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warned further increases would heighten climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth. {articleGUID} Keeping to the target of 1.5C of warming against pre-industrial levels agreed to in the internationally backed Paris climate change agreement of 2015 will mean rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, it added. Trump announced last year he would pull the US out of the pact, which set voluntary greenhouse gas emission targets in an effort to lessen the impact of fossil fuels, saying the agreement was disadvantageous to the US to the exclusive benefits of other countries. According to the rules of the Paris deal, the earliest date for the US to completely withdraw from the agreement is November 4, 2020, around the time of the next US presidential election. Willful ignorance Travis Nichols, media director for Greenpeace USA, said Trumps willful ignorance over climate change would have profound consequences for the entire world. If these comments were made by some guy muttering on a street corner, it would be easy to dismiss them as the ravings of a delusional crank. Tragically, this is the president of the United States, Nichols told Al Jazeera. Weve reached the moment of truth in our fight against climate change, a defining moment for all of us all generations where our collective fate hangs in the balance, he added. There is no safe level of warming, and theres no time to indulge fossil fuel stooges like Donald Trump in their science fiction fantasies. Temperature records kept by the US space agency, NASA, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that the world has not had a cooler-than-average year since 1976 or a cooler-than-normal month since the end of 1985. Additional reporting by David Child: @DavidChild90 New details emerge over the disappearance of Khashoggi, who was allegedly killed in Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Istanbul, Turkey Turkish authorities have an audio recording which indicates that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a Turkish official has told Al Jazeera. The official, who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity, said the audio originates from a different source than the Apple Watch that the journalist was reportedly wearing when he entered the consulate on October 2. Separately, the Reuters news agency on Monday reported that Turkish police were in possession of an audio recording that indicates Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, citing two anonymous officials. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied killing Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdoms policies. Its interior minister has described the assertion as lies. Saudi officials have said he left the consulate shortly after entering it. Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 [File: AP Photo] One of the Turkish officials told Reuters that evidence showing that Khashoggi had been killed was being shared with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States. Evidence has been conveyed to all sides very clearly, the security source said. Now we are at the stage of collecting concrete evidence at the consulate. The security official that Al Jazeera spoke to said the recording obtained by Turkish police has 11 minutes of audio. Technical voice analyses conducted by police identified three male voices who are believed to be Saudis, in addition to the voice of Khashoggi, the official said, adding that the journalist was assaulted immediately after he entered the consulate. The official also said that consulate staff were dismissed early on the day of Khashoggis disappearance, at 11:30am, having been told that there would be a meeting at the consulate that day. The Saudi embassy in Ankara did not respond to requests for comment. Sikta Irrigation Project: Team submits probe report to anti-graft body A government committee formed to identify the cause for repeated collapse of main canal of the Sikta Irrigation Project has submitted a copy of its report to the Commission of Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to aid the anti-graft bodys ongoing investigation into the case. Ukraine-Hungary row: Dual citizens outed in Ukraine Why a diplomatic spat over passports between Hungary and Ukraine is turning into something much bigger. With the 2018 midterm elections only weeks away, many think this is the most important election of recent times. Much is riding on the Republicans maintaining control of Congress. If the Democrats win the House, all current investigations into the Deep State will cease, replaced by every single Congressional committee opening an investigation into Trump and his administration. Subpoenas for documents and endless testimony will paralyze the Trump administration. The media will fan the flames, breathlessly reporting every leak and fabrication from House committees. Then there will be an effort at impeaching President Trump, depending on the extent of the new House majority. The Senate is unlikely to flip, but if it does, impeachment could potentially result in Trumps removal from office. I say potentially because that would start a civil war, but dont put it past the Bookers and Blumenthals of the Senate to give it a try. Judicial appointments would cease, with a Democrat Senate only confirming judges politically to the left of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Yet this is still only the second most important election of recent times. The most important one was two years ago, by far. If that one didnt play out as it did, everything mentioned above would be moot. Imagine Hillary Clinton winning in 2016, by the landslide that her media fanboys and fangirls all predicted. Like in the Christmas movie, Its a Wonderful Life, how would life in America be different if Donald Trump never existed, at least in terms of the 2016 presidential election? No one would have heard of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He would be a Circuit Court judge, one of many that few Americans know the names of. Instead the Merrick Garland nomination would have gone to Loretta Lynch with the Kennedy replacement going to Eric Holder or perhaps a far-left young senator like Kamala Harris or Cory Booker. Justice Clarence Thomas, after decades of service, might see the futility of his conservative voice in a strong liberal majority court, retiring only to be replaced by an uber leftist such as Cheryl Mills or Debra Katz. These picks would be approved by the cowed reach across the aisle GOP Congress, afraid to cross Madame President for fear of compromising information being leaked from her intelligence agencies or IRS. Gun rights and free speech would be in peril. The Constitution would be rewritten in the Holder/Obama manner, without resistance. We would have another Russian reset, Putin getting the green light to annex all of Ukraine, with some condemnation but little else. UN Ambassador Ben Rhodes would offer up excuses and justification. Iran would be full speed ahead on nuke production. ISIS would be alive and well, taking over the Middle East. Secretary of State Marie Harf would be ushering in the new world order with a jobs program for ISIS terrorists under the mantra of make America mediocre again The Paris Climate Accords would be in effect, as would a carbon tax. Paul Ryan would complain that Republicans need the White House to get anything done legislatively, afraid to stand up to Madame President. Hurricanes Michael and Florence, not getting the message, would have hit the U.S. this year, with the same force and devastation, despite a climate friendly administration being in place. The only difference would be that the Clinton Foundation, rather than FEMA, would be in charge of hurricane disaster relief. In keeping with tradition, most of the money flowing through the foundation would go to administrative expenses and the Clinton bank account rather than actual charity work. Clinton friends and family would be running the show, doing a bang-up job like they did in Haiti. Taxes would still be high, especially the corporate income tax. Factories would continue moving abroad. The unemployment rate would we significantly higher than the GDP, opposite to what we are now seeing. This is the new normal, is what we will be told by the smart set on CNN and MSNBC discussion panels. Get used to it. Black and Hispanic unemployment would still be sky high, blamed on the Republican-controlled Congress, used as a campaign issue to vote in Pelosi and Schumer as majority leaders. Consumer confidence would be in the cellar and optimism for a better future would be tossed to the wind. Harvey Weinstein, Meryl Streeps god, would still be raping and harassing women, as would Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, and Al Franken. The #MeToo movement wouldnt exist, as it would be inconvenient for the First Man, himself a serial sexual predator and credibly accused rapist. ObamaCare would remain in full force. Its shortcomings would be blamed on fat-cat business owners, not the failed legislation and regulations. Bernie Sanders Medicare-for-all would be the legislative priority of the Clinton administration. Congressional Republicans would eventually give in, under the onslaught of an energized national media, and threats from the deep state to key members of Congress to vote a certain way or else unflattering information might be released to the Washington Post. The IRS, under commissioner Lois Lerner, would leak confidential tax return information to influence the behavior of anyone standing in the way of the Clinton administration, including those in Congress opposing her agenda. James Comey would be running the FBI. Or perhaps he would move to CIA or DNI, with Andrew McCabe running the FBI. Sally Yates would be Attorney General, a reward for loyal service rigging the election. Other names in the news today would remain in obscurity -- Peter Strozk, Lisa Page, Bruce and Nellie Ohr. All would be promoted and rewarded. No one would have heard of Fusion GPS. The FISA warrants on Trump would continue to this day and be expanded to spy on his family and business. Any irregularity would be fully investigated by the DOJ with strategic leaks to the NY Times. Trumps tax returns would be leaked to Preet Bharara, still a U.S. Attorney, and to Eric Schneiderman, still New York Attorney General. Something, anything would be found or manufactured to indict and convict Donald Trump and his children of fraud, conspiracy, or tax evasion, with fines to bankrupt the Trump Organization sending some Trumps family to prison. Treason charges would be leveled at Donald Trump over colluding with a foreign government to subvert a presidential election. A bevy of witnesses to this conspiracy would appear, under threat or payment, from Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels, all witnesses to secret strategy sessions between Trump and Putin. The message would be clear: no outsider should ever threaten the deep state again. The people dont choose their leaders, the establishment does. Anyone daring to challenge the established order will be destroyed. Lastly there would be no every other day campaign rallies by Madame President, who would not be seen trotting up the stairs leading to Air Force One, even with a piece of toilet paper stuck to her shoe. The media would not be permitted to see the U.S. President entering Air Force One on a ramp or lift, on the rare times she even flew anywhere. Public appearances would be few and far between, as would the impromptu pressers now held as the President leaves the White House. I could go on, but its clear that the most important election was two years ago. That being said, the election in a few weeks is the second most important election as it is the difference between continuing the Trump agenda versus jamming on the brakes. Now is not the time for complacency, only the time to vote. Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The American conservative community is rejoicing over the belated news that Hillary Clinton supposedly volunteered to surrender her high-level security clearance back in August at the same time the clearances of five of her staffers were lifted. Those of you thinking we might have finally skunked the queen of political skunks had better take a deep breath and realize that, once again, the Clintons are attempting to pull another fast one on the American public. While the employable dollar worth of Hillary's five staffers' is now seriously reduced by the loss of those high-level clearances, the Queen of Sore Losers is not negatively impacted in any way. How can this be, you ask? Well, she is still married to predator-in-chief, Bill Clinton, who presumably still has his access to the inner sanctums of American intelligence operations, as do most ex-POTUSes. Frankly, I don't know how broad or deep this ex-POTUS privilege of access to current intelligence is because the principle of need to know generally limits the dissemination of classified material to those who have a role in acting on such intelligence. But there is no doubt in my mind that the Clintons, thoroughly practiced grifters that they are, as well as their increasingly shady daughter, will not hesitate to use such classified information as they may be able to access for personal and political enrichment. They've been doing it for decades, and they're not about to stop now. A question niggling at me right now is, what is the security clearance status of Huma Abedin? Was she, as Hillary's constant consort, one with close familial connections to the militant jihadist organization in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, one of those with access to top-level American intelligence who lost that privilege? If not, that is a lapse in our own national security that needs to be addressed immediately, when one takes into consideration the rock-bottom morals of her pedophile predator, weenie-wagging husband, who absolutely should never have any sort of access to any intelligence feeds. Lastly, our knowing bwa-ha-ha-ha's of disbelief simply will not be loud enough to counter this latest Clinton misinformation campaign to convince the American public that their family, and by extension the party they have long led, is not a completely corrupt political and criminal enterprise, one that the devious Democratic Party leadership and a compliant mainstream media recently tried to foist on this country as the best choice to head our national government. So we must look at this most recent Clinton maneuver for what it is: just more misdirection from reality to make it appear that Hillary graciously surrendered her security clearance. Trust your own common sense: there is no way the avaricious Hillary would have voluntarily surrendered something as commercially valuable as a high-level security clearance if she didn't have an ulterior motive as well as a safe fallback position. The more likely truth in all this is that Clinton is looking at possible prosecution for federal felony security and corruption charges from her secret server security violations. So this ostensibly sacrificial act by Hillary is no more than a way to head off the negative implications of an announcement by the DOJ of her top-level clearance's revocation, possibly ahead of a future criminal indictment. Politico had a nice summary of all the things the Democrats are promising to do if elected. It was the usual mix of authoritarian-socialism. 1. Single-payer health care. Single-payer health care. Isn't that great? And only one payer! And I suppose one payer won't be any of us, right? In reality, all of us who pay taxes (and none of us who doesn't) will end up being the single payer. They really should call it "single-doctor" health care, because once health care becomes "free," demand will overwhelm supply. As in Cuba, everyone will have a "right" to health care, but few will actually receive it. 2. $15 minimum wage. If $15 can improve the financial stability of families (a misnomer right there, since many on the minimum wage-earners are teenagers), why not make the minimum wage $30 an hour or even $100 an hour? Democrats act as if the obvious job losses from cutbacks and automation are non-existent. 3. Abolishing ICE. Dems are actually retreating this one, realizing that they have for once gotten ahead of their indoctrination of the public. Now they are calling for "retooling" ICE. The end result is the same: a flood of unchecked illegal aliens taking our jobs, using our schools and hospitals at our expense, and voting in our elections. By giving rights to others, Democrats are reducing rights for the rest of us a hallmark of most Democratic policies. 4. Repealing the Trump tax cuts. Democrats always feel that wage-earners are greedy when they ask to keep more of their own earnings, that one's income (and, by extension, one's property) is most morally allocated to the government. A loss of property rights is a loss of rights every bit as important as freedom of speech, association, and the right to bear arms. 5. Debt-free college. "Debt-free college" is a slightly contrived name for "totally free college," the latter being deemed too generous even by Democratic standards. Colleges produce Democratic voters almost as reliably as illegal immigration does. By having the "government" pay for it, Democrats are getting taxpayers to pay to create Democrats. Brilliant! 6. Net neutrality. Netflix uses a ton of bandwidth. Craigslist uses almost none. According to Democrats, both should bear the same costs of internet access. It's almost like passing a law saying customers in stores should be charged the same price regardless of how much or how little they buy. 7. A $1-trillion "infrastructure" plan. Remember Obama's infrastructure plan? It was a much needed payoff to unions, bureaucracies, and other Democratic Party interest groups. This is another plan to raid the treasury at taxpayer expense. 8. Defense cuts. Democrats want to shift money from national defense to fight global warming. Seriously. I'm not making this up. Instead of defending our nation from real enemies, they want to spend money on combating mass hysteria they themselves have created. 9. Limiting executive compensation. How much money should a corporate CEO make? It's a hard call, which is why Congress must set the answer. Democrats say they know best how much senior executives in the private sector should earn. They certainly know how much they should earn, having set their own salaries, so they are something of an expert on the subject. 10. Global warming tax. Democrats want a tax on energy consumption to fight global warming. The theory is that if the American standard of living can be dragged down, there will be less energy consumption, and the imaginary dangers of global warming will be reduced as well. It's mental illness as national policy. These policies all have different names, but the results are all the same: less freedom of choice, more confiscation of private property, and more government interference in our daily lives. Expect Nancy Pelosi to give us an eye-popping bill in her first weeks from the speaker's chair. Ed Straker is the senior editor of Newsmachete.com. If anyone doubts that evil exists, see the film Gosnell, The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer. The film was made (thanks to crowdfunding that took four years) by Phelim McAleer and Ann McIlhenny, Irish documentary filmmakers. The Gosnell film is based on their book, Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer. The title is a bit of an exaggeration according to some, given the numbers of murders of which other serial killers have been convicted. Gosnell was convicted of three murders of babies born alive. But as the story unfolds, it is clear that Gosnell is guilty of countless murders of infants born alive. Opponents of the film claim that the filmmakers' title means to include the thousands of abortions Gosnell performed in his filthy, trash-filled clinic, where cats roamed, ate, and pooped anywhere and everywhere. Perhaps they are counting aborted babies among his victims, but the film is about cold-blooded murder, not abortion rights. Gosnell very obviously killed any and all babies born alive by snipping the spinal cord at the base of their skulls with scissors. In short, one does not need to include the thousands of his first-trimester abortions to call him a serial killer. Those who try to make the film an anti-abortion tract are disingenuous. It is about murder and the presence of evil among us. Not once in the film is Gosnell's clinic presented as "the rule," as Robin Marty claims on NBC News. She believes that the film vilifies legal abortion! She could not be more wrong. Gosnell's clinic was so squalid, so overrun with cats, trash, turtles, and genuine filth, that none of the law enforcement personnel involved in the investigation had ever seen anything like it. It was horrific in every conceivable way. Gosnell is a seriously deranged man in my opinion, an outlier in any profession. That the Pennsylvania Health Department had not inspected the clinic in seventeen years was the problem. After 1993, the Penn. Dept. of Health stopped inspecting abortion clinics. No one cared about the women who sought out Gosnell's services. No one. Still, Robin Marty sees the film as an all-out attack on legal abortion. It is not. The film is an indictment of the governmental agencies that allowed such a man to operate for so very long in such contaminated surroundings, putting countless women at risk. Had a veterinarian been found to be as cruel and irresponsible to animals, he would likely have been inspected, charged, and convicted immediately upon the discovery of conditions half as grim as this evil man's place of business. Gosnell, on the other hand, operated his horrific clinic for three decades with impunity until his crimes were uncovered in a drug case. He was also guilty of paying homeless people for their IDs to illegally purchase prescription drugs. He was never even charged for those crimes or for allowing untrained help to perform procedures and to administer anesthesia which resulted in the death of at least one woman. He overdosed women, spread STDs with unsterilized instruments, and "perforated wombs and bowels." As Ed Morrissey reports, Gosnell saved his late or full-term abortions for Sundays, when only his wife would assist. He destroyed all those files, so how many full-term babies he killed is unknown. The film does not address this bit of information. And there is worse. Much worse. Read Morrissey's column. The trial in May 2013 was at first ignored by the media, ignored entirely. The Jodi Arias murder trial was ongoing at the same time. The media found that trial much more sensational and they were not inclined to publicize a trial of an abortionist even if he was a butcher of women. Our media were as corrupt then as they are now. They would rather ignore a serial murderer and abuser of women if it taints, in any remote way, the right to abortion on demand. That anyone could link safe and legal abortion to the gruesome crimes of Kermit Gosnell is demented. The film is about the gross negligence of the state and local agencies whose job it was to prevent exactly the kind of barbaric operation Gosnell was running. They failed because they revere abortion on demand above all else, so they allowed this deranged man to mutilate women for thirty years unmolested. See the film. With Harvard defending itself in court on Monday against a charge of bigotry, one wonders how we can stop discrimination. A little background may be helpful. In economics class, one learns that in a free market, businesses must maximize their profits, or they will go under. If a business favors employees based on a non-work factor, such as race, religion, or gender, it will fail. Bigotry is impossible in a free market. When there is a lack of a free market, there is the opportunity for discrimination. When an industry has monopoly power, with no alternative to its product, there is room for mischief. For example, in the 1920s, Harvard had an overt policy of quotas for Jewish students. Unfortunately, there is only one Harvard. Fortunately, there was popular backlash against this policy, and it was dropped. Harvard is now accused of treating Asians similarly, thus causing the university's legal difficulties. Harvard maintains its snooty reputation. In what kind of political system can bigotry flourish? Only in one where the government has a lot of power. In the fascist Germany of the 1930s and 1940s, Jews were put to death because this was their government's idea of efficiency. In another example of too much power, tsarist Russia routinely carried out pogroms against the Jews. For the duration of the Soviet Union that replaced it, anti-Semitic policies continued. This intensified under Stalin. For example, in 1952 and 1953, there was the infamous Doctors' Plot, in which Jewish doctors were falsely accused of plotting to assassinate Soviet leaders. Fortunately, Stalin died of natural causes, and the case was dropped. Ironically, the American Jewish couple Julius and Ethel Rosenberg provided nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union at around the same time. They helped those who hated them. In both cases, the head of state of an oppressive country had enough power to demonstrate his prejudice. It is not enough to avoid fascism and communism. Any government oligarchy, in which power is held by a few, is ripe for the prejudices of those few to flourish. This means that socialism, however nicely packaged, is a breeding ground for prejudice. A mistaken belief cited by the liberals of today is that the fascism of Nazi Germany was "right-wing" and just like the Republican platform. Their argument is that all Republicans are Christians and all Christians hate Jews. If Republicans are given power, then Jews will be oppressed. This argument shows ignorance of Republican values. Republicans seek a limited government. These limits prevent prejudice. Even if there are anti-Semites in a limited government, they will not have enough power to implement anti-Semitic policies. The moral of this story is that, to avoid supporting bigotry, you should prevent your government from being too powerful. One of the most prestigious and richest progressive think-tanks is urging Democrats in competitive races to hide their real intentions from voters. In a remarkable move, the Center for American Progress is telling Democrats running for office to avoid ("spend as little time as possible" on) discussing immigration because the issue works for Republicans, not Democrats. Let me translate: deceive voters about what you plan to accomplish if they hand you power. The Center for American Progress is the think-tank founded by John Podesta and lavishly funded by the radical billionaires who pose as saviors of the poor while pushing policies that enrich themselves and close the doors of opportunity to the underclass. CAP carries a lot of clout among Dems. I credit the New York Times for obtaining a copy of the four-page memo that CAP circulated among Dems running for office and explaining what's in it. Julie Hirschfeld Davis writes: Democrats, the strategists who prepared the memo advised, could neutralize the attacks if they responded head-on. But they should spend "as little time as possible" talking about immigration itself, and instead pivot to more fruitful issues for Democrats like health care and taxation. The strategists worry that Republicans' foreboding immigration message is far more personal to most voters than the more modulated position of Democrats, whose push to protect the young immigrants [sic] known as Dreamers and to ensure humane treatment of undocumented people [sic] does not, in many cases, affect voters themselves. "It is very difficult to win on immigration with vulnerable voters in the states Trump carried in 2016," the strategy memo said, arguing that "even the most draconian of Republican policies," such as family separation and threats to deport the Dreamers undocumented immigrants [sic] who were brought to the United States as children failed to sway most of them. Other Democrats in close races need no advice from CAP to know that they'd better stay mum about raising taxes. Cole Lauterbach of Watchdog.org writes in the Free Beacon: Democratic candidate for governor J.B. Pritzker has repeatedly dodged questions about the basic details of his progressive income tax proposal, but he's not alone in his refusal to talk specifics. When asked the progressive income tax plan, Republicans are quick to bash it while Democratic candidates in tight races have been as quiet as Pritzker. Questions about changing the state's income tax structure from a flat tax to a progressive tax have come in contested races in House Districts 46, 55 and 56. State Rep. Deborah Conroy, D-Villa Park, faces Republican challenger Dr. Gordon "Jay" Kinzler, a transplant surgeon who lives in Glendale Heights, in the 46th Illinois House District. In the 55th Illinois House District, Republican Marilyn Smolenski is going up against Democratic State Rep. Marty Moylan. And State Rep. Michelle Mussman, D-Schaumburg, faces Republican Jillian Bernas in the 56th Illinois House District. The stakes in Illinois are huge. Polls show the Dems possibly obtaining a supermajority in the legislature and capturing the governorship. Pritzker has said he will work to change Illinois' flat income tax into a progressive one that taxes higher earners a higher percentage. House Speaker Michael Madigan also has pushed for the state to adopt a progressive income tax structure without getting into the details. Pritzker has said it's the General Assembly's job to dictate rates, often to criticism that voters would reject the idea if they knew the details of his plan. A progressive income tax is just the ticket for Illinois to drive away more high-income residents. The state's fiscal black hole is so overwhelming that once this barrier is breached, income tax rates on higher income-payers could reach or exceed California's top rate, which is closing in on the mid-teens. Some rich people stay in California because of the weather, or because of the tech opportunities. Much though I like Chicago as a city, it and the entire state of Illinois lack such anchors to hold on to the wealthy. It tells you a lot about a party and its ideological think-tanks that it acts as though deceiving voters is good political practice. In short: Morgan Knutson, a former Googler that made a significant contribution to the firms Google+ network, blasted some of his former supervisors and the company as a whole over the weekend, resolving to share his story on Twitter shortly after Alphabets subsidiary announced its pulling the plug on the social media platform following a major privacy scandal that left private information of some 500,000 users potentially exposed to hundreds of developers. The veteran designer described the project and its executive team as awful, adding that the entire endeavor was led by fear instead of a desire to innovate or create something actually worth using. Mr. Knutson said the main purpose of Google+ was to help fulfill the tech giants vision of indexing all of the worlds data, which is something that Facebook was largely preventing by dominating the social media game. All non-Google+ teams at the Internet juggernaut were aggressively incentivized to integrate Google+ features such as +1 buttons and other functionalities powered by the platform into their own products like Gmail or Android; the source claims Google gave as much as a 50-percent increase to ones yearly bonus for such integrations, with the base bonus itself already amounting to around 15-percent of ones annual salary. Mr. Knutson described that incentive policy as a ton of money [meant] to ruin the product you were building with bloated garbage that no one wanted. The former Googler also said he was surprised about the lack of experience he encountered at his new workplace, describing several encounters with fellow designers who never designed anything and were fresh out of college. The project lacked a larger vision, with most designers working on inconsequential features and elements without a clear idea of what exactly theyre trying to build, Mr. Knutson said, adding that no one at that level cared about the customer experience and was just building a rip-off of Facebook. Advertisement The different design teams within Google had little interactions with one another and it was never clear who was supposed to be collaborating on what, the insider recalled. He took the initiative that led to the 2012 redesign of Google+ despite facing a lot of pushback, mostly from the people who designed the previous look that he described as plainly bad, adding that the project itself was extremely mismanaged to the point that an infrastructure engineer was once tasked with building a Google share box. Background: Mr. Knutson spent eight months at Google as a Level II UI Designer in charge of the social media platforms first major redesign that rolled out in April of 2012. He left the company only a month after seeing his work come to fruition, having left the company in much the same way he joined it befuddled. After not hearing back from Google for over three months following his interview, Mr. Knutson was brought into the company under the pretext of being hired to work on Chrome, only to find out hes been assigned to the Google+ project. This was in 2011 while Google+ was still a new thing, having just replaced Google Buzz. Some 12,000 employees were on the project which was led from Googles main building in Mountain View, with people working on Google+ being the only regular employees that had access to the office floor of CEO Larry Page (now CEO of Alphabet) as the project was managed close to the heart of the company following lobbying efforts from Vic Gundotra, former Social SVP who left Google in mid-2014. Mr. Knutson described Mr. Gundotra as detached and occasionally unprofessional, claiming he frequently flirted with female employees. Despite ending up at the helm of the 2012 redesign of Google+ and working immediately next to Mr. Gundotras office, the industry veteran had no direct interactions with the project lead during his eight months at the firm and many late hours. The executive was said to have pushed for a Google+ redesign every once in a while, with Mr. Knutson speculating he may have ended up leaving the conglomerate due to his sexual harassment tendencies. In early 2015, Business Insider reported several complaints about suggestive comments Mr. Gundotra made to and about female coworkers. Mr. Knutson eventually moved to Dropbox, describing his next employer as stellar, especially in comparison to the disjointed corporate structure he experienced at Google. I hate this company so much, he recalls thinking near the end of his time at the Mountain View, California-based juggernaut. Advertisement Impact: Mr. Knutsons story was given more credence by some other ex-Googlers who revealed similar experiences in response to his criticism that hes been sharing on Twitter over the last several days. The development sheds more light on how Google+ was managed even in its early days when it actually had a significant user base. Right now, the app has fewer than 2.5 million daily active users on mobile devices, AndroidHeadlines discovered last week. Google itself said more than 90-percent of all Google+ user sessions are shorter than five seconds, so combined with the privacy gaffe that the firm has been hiding for over half a year, the management decided pulling the plug is the right course of action as the project otherwise isnt worth maintaining. The cover-up is presently the subject of significant public scrutiny and may end up influencing data privacy regulations that lawmakers have been pondering for some time now. Google rarely comments on public criticism from former employees and isnt likely to go against its practices on this occasion. Privacy advocates, consumer protection groups, and lawmakers have all already taken aim at the company over the Google+ fiasco and it remains to be seen how the product will be received moving forward; despite planning to discontinue the consumer version of Google+ by August of 2019, the Alphabet-owned firm is still looking to continue maintaining the product as an enterprise service. While that may suggest Google is looking to introduce another social media network in the future, any subsequent platform seeking to rival Facebook is likely to have a difficult time generating momentum, especially seeing how the company itself is presently facing criticism and pressure from a wide variety of directions, meaning it will likely proceed with caution. In short: Google is adamant to continue pursuing its ambitions to launch and relaunch some of its services in China, the company said in an August 31 letter that emerged online several days back. The communication addressed to Senators Marco Rubio, Mark Warner, and several other top legislators who expressed concerns about the Project Dragonfly initiative seeking to introduce a censored version of Google Search in China saw Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai argue the firms plans for the Far Eastern country are just another step on its quest to make all of the worlds information available to everyone. The industry veteran indirectly dismissed allegations that Googles ambitions for China are meant to condone the Communist governments regime, stating any new service the tech giant may bring to the country is simply meant to serve its existing users and help more people leverage the power of the Internet for their personal benefit, as well as the benefit of their local communities. Mr. Pichai argued Google still has a significant presence in China despite shutting down the Chinese version of search in 2010, framing the decision as an act of protest against Beijings censorship, something it stopped criticizing in the past several years. Android alone has hundreds of millions of users in China and is by itself enough of a foothold for Google, the letter reads. Mr. Pichai failed to point out that the vast majority of Android implementations currently being used in China arent licensed on the standard OEM agreement the company has with manufacturers selling their devices in the West. Instead, most Android handsets available in the country feature heavily modified software and dont come pre-loaded with Google services such as the Play Store which consumers in the West deem an integral part of the mobile Android experience. Advertisement For those reasons, Google is still thoughtfully considering how to expand its presence in China while remaining loyal to its information-for-everyone mission, Mr. Pichai wrote. The letter failed to provide any actual details about that endeavor, having only promised the addressed lawmakers and their staff can arrange for a briefing on the matter should they want to. Background: The existence of Project Dragonfly was known to only several hundred out of 80,000 Google employees around the world before the initiative was outed in a series of media exposes this summer. What followed was a bipartisan backlash wave in the United States, with the company instantly finding itself under pressure to drop the endeavor. To date, Vice President Mike Pence was the highest-ranking U.S. official who publicly called for Project Dragonfly to be scrapped. While many industry watchers expected Google to oblige given how it already dropped its participation in Project Maven, an equally polarizing initiative that saw it collaborate with Pentagon on weaponizing artificial intelligence, the company was rather reluctant to even rule out directly helping Beijing censor Chinas population in the future. The Project Maven discontinuation also wasnt met positively by Washington, especially in light of revelations about Project Dragonfly. On one hand, Google was flat-out refusing to continue collaborating with the U.S. government while simultaneously working with Beijing on getting approval to relaunch its flagship Search service in the worlds most populous country, or at least thats how some stateside legislators saw it. Google pulled out from Project Maven largely due to employee activism but didnt do the same when faced with workforce backlash over the existence of Project Dragonfly, an initiative some claim goes against the very core of its original ideals. Advertisement The Mountain View, California-based technology juggernaut is presently also facing domestic criticism over allegation of left-leaning bias in Search and some of its other services, while its also under significant scrutiny with the advent of the November mid-terms, especially after the intelligence community and Google itself reported some of the companys solutions were abused during the 2016 presidential election with the goal of polarizing the American public and influencing the U.S. democratic process. On top of those issues, the firm recently admitted to identifying a major vulnerability that exposed data of approximately 500,000 Google+ users between 2015 and this March. The bug that was fixed this spring went publicly undisclosed for over half a year before the Wall Street Journal reported about it this fall. Authorities in both the U.S. and Europe are presently investigating the incident and while no evidence of abuse has been discovered, the evidence pool is extremely limited as Googles API logs date back only two weeks, whereas the vulnerability was live for around three years, with developers of over 400 apps having access to it, knowingly or not. Impact: Googles reluctance to rule out a major return to China and its insistence to argue over the semantics of what that would actually entail instead of tackling associated questions head-on suggest Project Dragonfly wont be going away anytime soon. The companys services have largely peaked in the West and its hunt for growth is now turning to many developing markets in spite of the global geopolitical situation thats currently less than conducive for such an expansion. Washingtons ongoing trade war with China placed Googles plans for the latter under additional scrutiny but the firm is opting to attempt defusing the situation before conceding yet another massive revenue generation opportunity for additional PR points. The Alphabet-owned firm still isnt claiming its certainly launching a censored version of Search for China but given its neutral reaction to the backlash outlined above and some previous reports that suggested such a solution may be ready for commercialization by early 2019, that scenario is becoming more likely by the day. Even though the current Washington-Beijing relations are low primarily due to the recent actions of the Republican government, the opposition to Project Dragonfly is largely bipartisan in nature due to the political implications of a scenario wherein Google helps a Communist regime maintain a tight grasp on the domestic flow of information. Whether walking that thin line between profits and politics is something Google can be successful at remains to be seen but given the firms recent issues, both at home and abroad, this may not be the ideal time for the firm to experiment with morally dubious growth projects and hope to get away with doing so. In short: The 6.3-inch P-OLED display panel found on the Google Pixel 3 XL is the best mobile screen ever commercialized and is visually indistinguishable from perfect, benchmarking experts at DisplayMate report. The recently unveiled smartphone matched or exceeded existing records in half a dozen aspects, with one of the more impressive ones being its best-in-class absolute color accuracy. As Google opted to equip the handset with an OLED panel, the very nature of that module also ensured the Pixel 3 XL offers an infinite contrast ratio given how its capable of delivering true blacks by simply not lighting up individual pixels, which also conserves energy, i.e. improves battery life compared to LCD solutions, making applications such as always-on displays much more easier to do with a minimal energy footprint. The Pixel 3 XL also experiences the smallest shift in color accuracy with changing average picture levels of image content, DisplayMate found, with the main implication of that claim being that the device should perform well with a variety of visual content, even when the scenes are changing quickly and varying radically. The 4.3-percent screen reflectance is also the smallest on the market, as is the 28-percent brightness variation at a 30-degree viewing angle. As is the case with other QHD+ smartphones, the Pixel 3 XL offers the absolute top of what the human eye can perceive in terms of resolution on a small mobile screen a panel with a 3K resolution of 2,960 by 1,440 pixels amounting to an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. While Sony previously commercialized 4K mobile screens, the difference between the two isnt visible to the human eye in regular use and can only be noticeable in the context of virtual reality applications, previous testing performed by numerous sources has revealed. In overall, Google surpassed all expectations in the display segment with its latest Android flagship that now stands as the best example of mobile screen excellence which is unlikely to be dethroned until next year, as suggested by DisplayMates in-depth review. While the smaller Pixel 3 utilizes a similar P-OLED panel, the FHD+ resolution of the 5.5-inch screen made it ineligible for a closer inspection from DisplayMate that only reviews the very best of what the industry has to offer at any given time. That resolution downgrade aside, the Pixel 3 should offer comparable performance in the display department as far as color accuracy and usable viewing angles are concerned, whereas its smaller pixel count shouldnt be too obvious given how the phone uses a more compact screen. Advertisement Background: Prior to the launch of Googles Pixel 3 XL, DisplayMate considered Samsungs Galaxy Note 9 to feature the best smartphone screen ever created. As Samsung designs, manufactures, and calibrates its mobile screens, the company traditionally tops its competitors in the display quality segment every year, though Apple broke precedent with the iPhone X last year, managing to outperform the Galaxy Note 8 with its custom OLED panel that was still manufactured by Samsung Display. Besides the three aforementioned devices, DisplayMates top-of-the-class rating has previously been given to the Galaxy S9 and the iPhone XS max, with all five of them delivering perfect calibration accuracy, excellent viewing angles, and ultra-premium performance in many other categories, though no single handset has been found to be the absolute best in every relevant respect. The fact that Google now managed to take the mobile display crown marks a massive comeback for the company whose last years handset was plagued with screen issues that prompted numerous complaints and refund requests. While not all industry watchers agreed with the assessment that the Pixel 2 XL had major display issues, Googles calibration decisions clearly werent to many peoples liking but the firm appears to have learned its lesson, having now mounted a display comeback in style. The companys 2017 flagship used an LG Display P-OLED panel but Google has yet to reveal the manufacturer of the Pixel 3 XL screen and may choose not to do so at all. Advertisement Impact: While Samsung has been returning to the mobile display throne on several occasions in recent times, it failed to remain seated in it in time for two straight holiday seasons in a row now. Given that state of affairs, especially in light of the fact that it was now surpassed by a relative newcomer to the smartphone market (at least in terms of hardware), the South Korean original equipment manufacturer may end up going all-out with the next generation of its Super AMOLED panels for smartphones. The results achieved by the Pixel 3 XL are impressive in virtually every respect, though the differences between the new Android flagship and Samsungs latest high-end release shouldnt be particularly obvious in everyday use. Much like the Pixel 3 XL, the Galaxy Note 9 was also described as being indistinguishable from perfect in more ways than one. As far as regular use is concerned, most consumers are unlikely to notice a significant difference in the performance of the two smartphones panels, particularly if they choose to use similar display settings on both, as suggested by the DisplayMates new review and the companys August findings about the Galaxy Note 9. Recent reports suggest the Galaxy S10 lineup may feature a design that will be revolutionary on several fronts, including that of display notches; as in it may somehow manage to continue inching closer to truly bezel-free designs without designing devices that feature such cutouts or any other elements that would break their symmetry. Whether that truly ends up being the case remains to be seen but given how Samsung isnt the undisputed mobile display leader any longer, the company will surely be incentivized to reclaim that title for more than a few months in 2019. As for Google, DisplayMates best-ever rating is a massive technical win for Alphabets subsidiary whose latest Android flagships have otherwise been met with a lukewarm response from the tech community, partly due to the fact they remained stuck on single rear cameras and were generally envisioned as a more of a refinement of the Pixel 2 line instead of a series offering major innovations, which is something that most other major manufacturers did with their 2018 handsets already. The FDI game Nepal, a resource-strained least developed country (LDC), needs capital. There are no ifs, and or buts about it. It has had the LDC status since 1971. In short: Blockchain pioneers are largely unconcerned about Googles recent decision to ban cryptocurrency mining Android apps from the Play Store, even though some believe the move may be somewhat detrimental to the industry as a whole. Eiland Glover, CEO of mineable stablecoin startup Kowala, and Rong Chen, CEO of Smart Web project Elastos, told AndroidHeadlines their products should be entirely unaffected by the development and expressed confidence in the industrys ability to continue churning along in spite of the ban. Though short-term ramifications are unlikely, Googles decision to eliminate every type of local cryptocurrency mining apps from the Play Store may still prevent innovation in the medium term, Mr. Glover said. Mr. Chen called the ban unconcerning because smartphones make for poor mining devices anyway so relying on them to generate cryptocurrency gains was far from an efficient strategy in the first place. Companies that still pursued such solutions will now have to focus on consumer-facing services or shut down but ultimately, any project should be able to deploy their apps on any app store because protecting ones users is everyones priority, the industry veteran concluded. Background: Google introduced its ban on crypto mining Android apps in late July, having done so in a highly discreet manner with a simple update to its developer policies. While the firm was slow to remove existing mining apps from the Play Store, all popular solutions have been pulled from the marketplace as of mid-October and most remaining ones arent in violation of the new policy even though theyre advertised as miners; namely, Google only banned apps that utilize local resources to mine cryptocurrency but those used for cloud mining are still fair game. Advertisement The company did not go into any significant details on why it went through with the decision, though the move was in line with its established way of handling third-party blockchain technologies, particularly those revolving around cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, the firm banned cryptocurrency exchange advertising from its digital platform, though went back on the decision in late September; as of this months, crypto exchanges in the United States and Japan can once again advertise through the companys gigantic network, albeit subject to strict regulations. This spring, the firm also started cracking down on cryptocurrency-related Chrome extensions, with industry watchers speculating the move was prompted by the sheer volume of shady initial coin offerings, many of which proved to be scams. Impact: The removal of crypto mining Android apps from the Play Store marks yet another step in the inconsistent relationship Google has had with the world of blockchain over the last several years. While its only been three months since co-founder Sergey Brin expressed regret the firm did not jump on the blockchain bandwagon quickly enough and numerous reports suggest it has been pursuing first-party projects based on digital ledgers for several years already, its stance on third-party apps and services centered on blockchain that are looking for users within its vast ecosystem has been changing on an almost monthly basis. In Short: The upcoming OnePlus 6T flagship has just appeared on Geekbench, and the variant of the phone that appeared on the benchmarking website features the Snapdragon 845, 8GB of RAM, and Android 9 Pie. Truth be said, all variants of the OnePlus 6T will ship with the same processor and same software variant, while a 6GB RAM model of the OnePlus 6T is also expected to become available. The device has been able to score 2,510 points in the single-core test on Geekbench, while its multi-core score is 8,639 points. This listing dates back to October 11, and aside from sharing the phones benchmarking scores, processor, RAM, and software info, this listing also mentions that the phones SoC will be clocked at 1.77GHz, which may or may not be accurate, well see. The model number that the OnePlus 6T appears under is FS FS P8801, in case you were wondering. Background: The OnePlus 6T will become official on October 30, the company had confirmed that quite recently. The device will be announced in New York, and the company has once again opted to sell tickets for the event via its official website. At this point, however, it seems like tickets are already gone. The OnePlus 6T will go on sale starting on November 6, that is also something that the company confirmed already, and it seems like that date goes for pretty much all markets the company is planning to sell the device in, including the US, Europe, and India, amongst others. The OnePlus 6T has been leaking for weeks now, and at this point in time, we have a pretty good idea as to what to expect from it, lets start with the info that has been confirmed by the company already, shall we. OnePlus already confirmed that the device will ship with an optical in-display fingerprint scanner, as expected, while the company also confirmed that a 3.5mm headphone jack will not be a part of the package, contrary to what the OnePlus 6 had to offer. A couple of days ago, OnePlus employee confirmed via the companys official forums, that a brand new UI is coming to the OnePlus 6T, and that some new navigation gestures will be added to the companys very own gesture-based navigation solution. OnePlus did not elaborate further on its new UI, but it seems like that UI will become available to all OnePlus device that are still being updated by the company, as its quite unrealistic that the company would keep in exclusive to the OnePlus 6T. The OnePlus 6T will ship with OxygenOS, of course, which means that OnePlus probably just spruced up its software offering on the OnePlus 6T. Now, as far as navigation is concerned, the company is adding a way to quickly switch between two of the most recent apps youve used, and for quickly calling up the Google Assistant, which is something OnePlus users have been complaining about ever since OnePlus gesture-based navigation was introduced. By quickly swiping from the center bottom portion of the device, to the mid-right side, you will be able to quickly switch between the last two apps youve used. If youd like to call upon the Google Assistant, all youll have to do is hold down the power button for 0.5 seconds. Advertisement The OnePlus 6T will be made out of metal and glass, just like its predecessor, though unlike the OnePlus 6, the OnePlus 6T will not sport a rear-facing fingerprint scanner, as already mentioned. The phones rear-facing cameras will be vertically-aligned, and OnePlus is planning to implement two of them on the back of the OnePlus 6T. The back of the device will look really similar to the back on the OnePlus 6, but the front side will be somewhat different it seems. The display notch will be a lot smaller on the OnePlus 6T, as the company will include the so-called waterdrop notch on the OnePlus 6T, the same one weve seen on the OPPO R17. That notch will include the front-facing camera, and an earpiece which will be located above it. The OnePlus 6T will be fueled by the Snapdragon 845 64-bit octa-core processor, while it will arrive in both 6GB and 8GB RAM variants, most probably. Several storage options for the device will be available, while the phone will likely sport a battery of around 3,700mAh, and that battery will not be removable. As far as fast charging is concerned, the same solution that has been available on the OnePlus 6 will be available here as well. The device will include a 6.4-inch fullHD+ Optic AMOLED display, while well probably see 12 and 20-megapixel cameras on the back of the OnePlus 6T. A 25-megapixel front-facing shooter is expected to be included on the phone, while the device will offer two SIM card slots. Do keep in mind that all of these specs are rumored at this point, nothing of the sort has been confirmed just yet. Impact: The OnePlus 6T will be the companys second flagship this year, which is a practice that the company has been applying for the last couple of years. In all honesty, the OnePlus 6T will be quite similar to the OnePlus 6 in many ways, as it will share most of its specs with its predecessor, but it will be a more polished device on the outside, mainly because of the noticeably smaller notch. It will be interesting to see how will the companys optical in-display fingerprint scanner work in practice, as OnePlus capacitive fingerprint scanner that is included on the OnePlus 6 is considered to be one of the best and fastest out there. Its hard to believe that an optical in-display fingerprint scanner will be as good, though OnePlus may surprise us, well just have to wait and see. Other than that, testing the phones camera setup will also be something to do, as OnePlus did promise a better camera experience with the OnePlus 6T in a recent forum post, so it remains to be seen if it will be a considerable improvement over the OnePlus 6, and will the company go with the same sensors it included in the OnePlus 6. The OnePlus 6Ts arrival is still about two weeks away, so were expecting quite a few additional teasers, rumors and leaks to pop up by then. In short: US Senators Marco Rubio and Mark R. Warner have written a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressing grave concerns about the Chinese government and Communist Partys influence over networking provider Huawei, TechCrunch reports. More directly, the letter warns that Huawei and other state-directed telecommunications companies should not be allowed to take part in the buildout of Canadas 5G networks. The primary cause for worry, according to the senators, is that Canadas safeguards and security would be wholly inadequate for dealing with the threat posed by Huawei and others who might act under the influence of Chinese officials. Background: The call to exclude Huawei and others from Canadas 5G networks follows comments from Head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Scott Jones. Speaking before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Mr. Jones claimed that a ban on Huawei was unnecessary. The countrys measures to ensure network resilience and security, he stated, were adequate to allow continued cooperation with Huawei. The concerns stem from two separate issues, according to Mr. Rubio and Mr. Warner. In terms of Canadian national security, the senators point to the recent discovery made by UK government officials which indicated that Huaweis engineering processes had exposed new national security risks in that country. More recently, both Huawei and ZTE have effectively been banned from the 5G network roll-outs in Austrailia. The move followed a similar move by the US government, instituted through the Defense Authorization Act, which banned the use of ZTE or Huawei equipment by government officials or domestic agencies. However, while the senators express unease regarding Canadas own national security, the chief concern is Canadas involvement in an ongoing shared intelligence initiative called Five Eyes. That effort includes cooperation between the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. The decades-old program could be seriously compromised by the work of Chinese signal-intelligence agencies, the senators say, as well as forcing a divergence in cooperation on network spectrum use for 5G roll-outs in for carriers in both Canada and the US. That would seriously diminish the speed with which 5G can be implemented in both countries. Advertisement Impact: At issue here is Canadas apparent confidence that it will be able to continue working closely with an array of global companies, including Huawei, in its network rollout process. That includes the incoming 5G implementation for which the US and Canada will share some spectrum. The senators worry that by opening up its own networks to the risks presented by Huaweis close ties to the Chinese government, US network traffic will inadvertently be put at risk. While thats not entirely unfounded, whether or not Canadian officials act on those concerns remains to be seen. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Yousef Al-Jassim, Chairman Kuwait Airways said: The A330-800 will seamlessly fit into our fleet expansion and growth plans. Its unbeatable operating economics and performance in addition to best in class passenger comfort make it a sound investment. We are confident that the A330-800 will support us to compete effectively on our expanding route network. Our relationship with Airbus extends beyond aircraft acquisitions and we look forward to further collaboration on technical fields. The announcement marks another step in Kuwait Airways fleet renewal and expansion strategy. The national carrier of Kuwait also has A350 XWB and A320neo Family aircraft on order. The delivery of the new Airbus fleet will start in 2019. We are delighted that Kuwait Airways has chosen the A330neo as a cornerstone of its future widebody fleet. The A330-800 with its unique efficiency and versatility will support the carriers ambition to develop its expanding long haul network, said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer. The aircraft will seamlessly complement Kuwait Airways A320neos and A350 XWBs and deliver unbeatable operating economics, full operational commonality and unmatched passenger experience. Launched in July 2014, the A330neo Family is the new generation A330, comprising two versions: the A330-800 and A330-900 sharing 99 percent commonality. It builds on the proven economics, versatility and reliability of the A330 Family, while reducing fuel consumption by about 25% per seat versus previous generation competitors and increasing range by up to 1,500 nm compared to the majority of A330s in operation. The A330neo is powered by Rolls-Royces latest-generation Trent 7000 engines and features a new wing with increased span and new A350 XWB-inspired Sharklets. The A330 is one of the most popular widebody families ever, having received over 1,700 orders from 120 customers. More than 1,400 A330s are flying with over 120 operators worldwide. Three arrested with leopard hide in Kathmandu Police have arrested three people with a leopards hide from Koteshwor, Kathmandu on Sunday. On October 11, the Lithuanian Armed Forces received 54 Unimog U5000 trucks manufactured by Daimler AG. The successful collaboration with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) continues to be demonstrated. Lithuania already received 88 such trucks under an agreement signed with NSPA in 2015. Unimog U5000 of the Lithanian army (Picture source : Lithuanian army / Master Sergeant Gintautas Mauricas) On October 11, the Lithuanian Armed Forces received 54 Unimog U5000 trucks manufactured by Daimler AG. The successful collaboration with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) continues to be demonstrated. Lithuania already received 88 such trucks under an agreement signed with NSPA in 2015. The Defence Materiel Agency under the Ministry of National Defence is planned to sign an updated agreement on Unimog procurement in 2019 with NSPA in late October. On preliminary data, Daimler AG is planned to contract to deliver another 110 trucks to the Lithuanian Armed Forces by September next year. The remaining 142 trucks can be ordered and delivered to Lithuania in 2020-2021. The newly delivered 5-ton capacity tactical trucks are assigned to the Lithuanian Land Force and other units. The Lithuanian Armed Forces signed an agreement with the German manufacturer Daimler AG in 2015 for the acquisition of 340 Unimog trucks in order to update its truck fleet. The contract foresees logistical support over the first 15 years of operation, specialised tools and testing equipment. The total value of the agreement is roughly Eur 70 million. 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. 1. Yes. Council members appear to have taken time to review each section carefully. 2. Yes. The council has set up town halls and a public hearing to inform the residents. 3. No. The council should have set up a charter review committee, including residents. 4. No. Some of the items proposed so far benefit the council more than the community. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say until after the public has had more opportunities to weigh in. Vote View Results The Aspen Public Education Fund is looking for new board members to help disburse tax revenues of more than $2.8 million that were earned through a 0.3 percent city of Aspen sales tax. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Hughes moves to the firm from Small, Myers, and Hughes, where he is founder and managing partner. He is one of only five accredited tax law specialists in Queensland. He focuses primarily on private clients and SMEs. Peters has been with the firm since 2012, rising to special counsel in 2017. She has extensive experience as a tax specialist and duty lawyer, with a focus on corporate taxation, transaction structuring, and tax controversy. David brings a depth of tax experience and has been recognised by Doyles Guide since 2015 as a Leading Tax Lawyer, as well as being named in Best Lawyers Australia for Tax Law, said Clarke, the firms corporate and commercial head. Melinda is recognised as a Tax Law Rising Star in Doyles Guide. Both have outstanding reputations in their field. McCullough Robertson promoted 12 lawyers to senior posts in July. Earlier this year, the firm also appointed a new leader amid a management structure revamp. Hello I am a 32 year old Australian man and am looking to sponsor my 28 year old female Canadian partner so she can stay with me in our lovely country. We have been together for over 4 years, we have had a names on joint leases and bank accounts for over 2 years now and I now have my Canadian PR through her so we have all the documentation from that application also at hand. We are going to do the application our selves starting today, we are both currently living in Brisbane, Natalie is on a tourist visa not working and waiting for the 12 weeks to run out so we can immediately apply for her bridging visa. I have done some research and it seems we are applying for a an 820 and 801 visa. Now is it me that starts the application online as I am the one sponsoring her? I started the application online and it is asking me for a Reference number type What is this, should I have one already? Does anyone on here know of a detailed step by step run through of what to do? Any help on getting started would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance Christian Lost animal. No bacon S jokes please but weve located a list piglet this evening. If you know anything about this please contact Sgt Jesse Brann at 207-626-2370. pic.twitter.com/CKDjPqleRh AugustaMEPolice (@augustamepolice) October 14, 2018 hours.The animal was spotted on North Belfast Avenue, just east of Church Hill Road, over the weekend, dodging traffic and causing quite a commotion, the Press Herald reports. A driver pulled over and managed to capture it, making sure it was safe and no longer a danger to humans until the cops arrived.Since then, police have been looking for its rightful owner, to little success. They even took the trouble to tweet about it on the official Twitter channel, with a photo of the culprit in a cage that is usually used for large dogs, the media outlet notes.As you can see for yourself in the tweet at the bottom of the page, the cops arent interested in any good bacon jokes. They only want to find the owner and make sure the animal is safe at home. (Presumably, they will also fine the owner for letting it loose in the first place, but thats a different story.)A good Samaritan stopped and caught the pig and was detaining it for us when officers arrived, Sgt. Jesse Brann tells the Press Herald of the strange incident, the fourth of its kind this year.The pig doesnt have any tags or collar, or anything else that would make identifying its owner easier, but it seemed pretty tired after its mad dash among cars. This would seem to indicate that it had traveled quite a distance before it was caught.The piglet is being cared for by someone who is familiar with farm animals until we can identify the owner, Brann adds. He seems to be in good condition. He looked like he had been running around for a while because he was pretty tired.As of the time of writing, cops havent been able to track down a single pig owner in the area where the piglet was caught. Having become the third country to independently send a man to space in 2003, China set a high bar for itself. A bar that can only be surpassed with the construction of its own space station and the build of new spaceships to tend to its needs.As per China Plus , the Asian country has put together a technical committee which has been tasked with creating the standards needed for the building of manned space technology, their applications, and the related services.Interestingly enough, the committee will create rules for both civilian and military in space, showing China is in a way responding to Donald Trumps decision to create a space force China plans to launch the core module of its own space station, Tianhe-1, in 2020. More modules will be launched in subsequent years until the station will become, sometime in 2022, the size of the now-defunct Mir and will be capable of housing a crew of three.China is forced to build its own space station because the countrys taikonauts have been banned by the U.S. from setting foot on the ISS.Despite having welcomed space travelers from nations like Malaysia, South Africa and former foe Russia, U.S. unspecified concerns (perhaps fears of space technology being used by the Chinese to bolster their military) about national security have prevented the Chinese from having a taste of the worlds most exciting experiment.Separately, the country is developing a new generation spacecraft to replace the current Shenzhou. This new capsule will not only be meant to send humans into low orbit but also to more distant destinations, like the Moon or Mars. It happened in Thailand last month and its now a viral video. The incredible scene was captured by a fellow motorist that the Daily Mail identifies as Khun Chumphon. He and his wife Tai (thats her you hear in the video) were parked on the shoulder in Nakhon Ratchasima when they came across the strange sight: a dog perched on top a red Nissan truck.They decided to follow the car and get closer to see if the dog was ok. Not only was the pooch fine, but by the looks of its human, who was just as chill behind the wheel, this is something theyd done before. One might even conclude that this is how they ride whenever they go out.Oh, wow, that's amazing! A dog standing on top of the car. Drive a little bit closer, Tai is heard saying. The dog is so acrobatic, so skillful, she enthuses.After the video was picked by local media, she explained: I've seen dogs on motorbikes before but I've never seen one standing on the roof of a car. It was very unusual.And unusual it is. As a side note, its also very dangerous not only to the dog but to other drivers, as well. Any unexpected stop or a sudden brake would send the animal flying into oncoming traffic, and the results could be fatal. The same goes for an accident, in which another car would smash into the Nissan pickup.Then again, were talking about Thailand. Theyre not exactly known for their concern about the well-being of dogs , to put it mildly. MQB ICE Scala is the name Skoda chose for its latest model, inspired, say the Czech, by the Latin word for stairs. Supposedly, the choice of name is meant to showcase the fact that the new model is a step forward [] in the compact hatch segment.With the new name also comes a change in styling as far as how the lettering is spread across the back end of the car. Until now, Skoda vehicles have had both the name of the brand and that of the model placed to the right and left, with the logo of the company dead center.With the introduction of the Scala, the logo will be replaced by letters across the center of the tailgate that spell the word Skoda. This layout will first be used on the new hatchback, with more models to follow."With the new Skoda Scala we are proposing a new chapter in the compact class of Skoda, said in a statement the companys chairman of the board Bernhard Maier.It is a completely new development that sets standards in terms of technology, safety, and design in this class. Thus we are confident that Scala has the best chance to redefine the A-segment for Skoda."The new hatchback of the VAG group will be revealed by the end of the year. The details known so far are that the model will be based on the widely used A0platform that allows for a compact exterior and good interior space and take inspiration from the Vision RS concept.What will power the Scala is anybodys guess, but well probably see alongside the regularversions a hybrid somewhere down the line. We are aware that not all our customers are in close proximity to a dealership. That is a pain point we want to address with this new and timely service. sad UAAGI president Rommel Sytin. The new program comes after their EC Genuine Parts Program , which made it easier for customers to order genuine parts without making multiple trips to the dealership. To further strenghten their after-sales service capabilities, United Asia Automotive Group (UAAGI), the official distributor of Foton vehicles in the Philippines, launched the new EC Mobile Service Truck Program. The program will allow authorized mechanics to service your vehicle using specialized Foton tools and genuine parts for customers who are not located near dealerships. The EC Mobile Truck carries not only the authorized mechanics but also all the parts and tools needed to service a vehicle. It is based on a Foton Tornado light-duty truck which has been fitted with a customized body in order to carry all the tools and parts, allowing mechanics to perform jobs from the usual Preventive Maintenance Services (PMS) and even minor and major repair works. Fitted in the EC Mobile Truck is a 3.5-kW generator which supplies power to the tools including an air compression, and impact wrenches. There are also two large capacity oil pans to avoid spills, a built-in oil depository tank, a creeper and other essential hand tools. There are also spotlights to help mechanics work in dark areas or even at night. Essentially, the EC Mobile Truck is a CASA on wheels, allowing dealerships to servce fleet customers and even reducing a truck's down time. For the time being, only a select Foton dealerships are offering this new aftersales service. However, Sytin adds that the EC Mobile Service Program will be able at the rest of their dealership network nationwide in the future. Moreso, the mobile service program is not just for commercial vehicles as passenger vehicle owners can also avail it. We are confident that these services will help both our dealer-partners and our customers by positively enhancing their Foton brand experience, said Sytin. Five dealers have been selected to take part in the pilot run of the EC Service Program: Foton A. Bonifacio (Autoperfection, Inc.); Foton Mandaue, Cebu (FOTON Cebu, Inc..); Foton Matina, Davao (Gateway Motors Inc.); Foton Pasong Tamo (Cherub Auto Dealer, Inc.); and Foton Quezon Avenue (Manindra Auto Corporation). For more information you may visit Foton's website or call their hotline at 0999-999-9998 In line with Toyota's Southeast Asian initiative, Toyota Motors Philippines (TMP) has partnered with Grab to help the country's TNVS (Transport Network Vehicle Services) operators and drivers. With the newly-established partnership, the goal is to get TNVS drivers and operators in getting their vehicles faster while including a care package to keep the units in tip-top shape. Toyota will be offering a vehicle replacement package for existing Grab drivers, plus an easy ownership package to go along with it. The easy ownership package sees discounts on vehicle servicing for up to 80,000 kilometers, slashed pricing on batteries, and more affordable air-con cleaning and detailing services. For those who are considering getting into the TNVS business, Toyota will also offer exclusive, flexible financing deals. Also, those looking to replace their old Grab unit can avail of competitive trade-in values for their vehicle. Friendly fire incidents usually involve the heat of combat but a Belgian Air Force F-16 on the ramp was a sitting duck for the serendipitously deadly aim of one of its stablemates. The Viper was fully fueled and thankfully unoccupied as it waited to go flying at the Florennes air base in southern Belgium. Meanwhile in the adjacent hangar, another F-16 was undergoing maintenance and someone apparently missed some items on a checklist. The 20-mm cannon was energized and loaded and you can guess the rest. The gun was fired and put several rounds into the aircraft outside. It exploded instantly and burned furiously. Belgian authorities are, of course, investigating and Lockheed Martin, which builds the F-16, will also undoubtedly be involved. Two technicians inside the hangar suffered hearing injuries. Gainesville, Florida, is the hub of a GA relief effort to help the hurricane-ravaged Florida Panhandle in the wake of Hurricane Michael. Only a few weeks after mounting a major effort to help some of the millions affected by Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas, Operation Airdrop began receiving and distributing supplies on Sunday. Gainesville is about 200 miles from Panama City, the hardest hit region. Operation Airdrops response protocol via a social media fanout was engaged on Saturday and the first load of supplies went out from Gainesville Sunday morning. By late Sunday, more than 20 aircraft filled with supplies had been deployed. Destin Airport, about 50 miles east of Panama City, is receiving supplies for local distribution but its not clear what other GA facilities are available for use. President Donald Trump will visit the area on Monday and that means a VIP Movement TFR will be in place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. local time. The TFR airspace boundaries vary during that time period but any flight activity beyond that supporting the presidential visit, first responders and other officials is restricted. The Notam is here. By Ritah Kemigisa. The Kyadondo East Legislator Robert Kyagulanyi AKA Bobi Wine has called upon Kenyan Youth to stand together and fight for their freedom. Speaking at a free ghetto free concert in Kibera yesterday, Bobi Wine said if the people in the East African region attain freedom the whole of Africa will also be free. He called for harmony among Kenyans and Ugandans noting that the two countries are like brothers and sisters bound by a history that they should reflect on. Bobi Wine has been in Kenya for five days following an invite from the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association. While in Kenya, he has graced various music concerts and rallies and also attended a parliamentary session on Friday. However back home his popular music concert the Kyarenga concert which was due to take place in Namboole national stadium has since been cancelled by the stadium management. Introduction After 5 years from my last award winning personal website (a daily life dashboard updated in real time with silly information) it was time for a new fun challenge. I needed a new portfolio that would stand out and inspire others. Nowadays the digital space is crowded more than ever; brands, products and personalities, all scream to be seen by their audiences like in a 4am yellowfin tuna auction. When it comes to personal websites, differentiating yourself from the mass yet creating audience, is quite a challenge. Being ignored is just a swipe away. As tradition, I wanted to make something different, unconventional and unique. I wanted a space to portray my personality and my wide range of skills, be weather resistant to volatile digital design trends and fun, explorative, heavily interactive: a long-lasting platform to build and evolve upon. I wanted a space to portray my personality and my wide range of skills, be weather resistant to volatile digital design trends and fun, explorative, heavily interactive: a long-lasting platform to build and evolve upon. The Role I am the Swiss Army Knife in my personal projects. A creative commando shooting bullets to each aspect of the production, from the idea and art direction to the UX, Design, Illustration, Animation, 3D modelling and programming. The Vision Core Idea The idea was to create my own medium, a place to host experiments, mini apps and games as well as more conventional work case studies. This medium took shape into an hyperbolic, caricatured personal computer. Following an operating system anatomy with windows and folders, allowed me to depart from a traditional page based layout. This approach brings one simple yet powerful benefit: multitasking. The user can adapt the interface to their own style, opening everything at once, minimizing for later, reading side by side or consuming one thing at a time. Thats why there isnt one layout but many, many layouts as per many users. There is beauty in giving a clean canvas with tools and observe users creating their unique version of your art. App Ideas I wanted my apps to be a reflection of myself. They had to include art, music and personality. The selected ones were a set of synthesizer and drummer, a tool to vandalize statues, a meme generator, a grumpy cat bot and a personality game with no end. The Visual Identity The visual identity is where the fun begins. After identifying the core values in personal, satirical, hilarious, timeless, hacky and brave, I shaped a visual identity inspired by the prehistoric computers era, with elements inspired by the first Macintosh and Windows operating systems. The color palette is deliberately rudimentary, with a primary bright yellow, magenta and blue, fluo-aqua, black and white. I also included shading through old school pixel art patterns, which were the actual reproduction of the ones found in MacPaint 1984. The color palette is deliberately rudimentary, with a primary bright yellow, magenta and blue, fluo-aqua, black and white. I also included shading through old school pixel art patterns, which were the actual reproduction of the ones found in MacPaint 1984. Once I nailed the style, I designed couple of lookdev visuals that acted as a visual identity manifesto. A very useful tool for consistency and inspiration during the design phase. The development How With my high demanding full time position in one of the fastest paced agencies of Australia, I knew from the beginning that committing to a personal project of this size would be challenging. I had to come up with a realistic plan to aim to. 2 months prototype, 4 months MVP and 6 months V1 launch. This helped to keep the focus and prioritize the development. System The designs modularity helped sectioning the progress in quantifiable chunks. The first and most important area was the OS itself; it had to lay foundations for the apps to come and be solid enough to host all the functionalities planned. Make it Scalable and Enjoyable: I built the OS with an interactive component based (you could say a la React) principle in mind, where each components look and behavior are encapsulated together. However, I didnt want to rely on existing frameworks. I wanted to focus on the project rather than the burden and overhead of adopting something that most likely would have been way too complex to build and maintain. My framework is completely custom and grew in parallel with the other apps when more features are required. Make it Quick: Another challenge was to solve the loading time that could have affected the website. The solution was to develop the apps as standalone Javascript executable, mimicking how actual operating systems work. Only when opened, the app requests all the needed dependencies, scripts, images, fonts and stylesheets. This made a 50Mb website loading in 0.1 seconds and enabled an incredibly pleasing experience for such a content heavy site. Make it Fast: To ensure butter-smooth 60fps animations and 3D interactions, an Activity Monitor was built to keep track of each app and direct processing power usage wisely. Apps Keyboard & Drummer The keyboard synthesizer uses Web Audio API. Its vintage sound was modeled with inspiration from the timeless Prophet 5. It has a track sequencer and pitch modulation built into each key. Through the display interface, the user creates the sound by adjusting the mood of a pistol shrimp, the loudest animal on earth. Using the same technology, the drummer allows the user to create a beat. It features quantization, trimming, looping, bmp modulation and live recording. Virtual Vandal Built on top of WebGL, Virtual Vandal its a fun tool where the user can vandalize a virtual statue like a bad boy. A good way of finishing off a daily meditation! The statue happened to be a caricatured bust of my face which I sculpted in ZBrush and prepared for real-time in Modo. The 3D painting system works by wrapping a Canvas element as a texture map into the UVs of the model and then transferring the 3D mouse position to the canvas 2D coordinates. Meme Generator This little Canvas tool makes meme generation easy and quick. The user can choose between the most popular memes or import their own images, type in their hilarious (do not argue!) copy and export. W R U The next app is W R U? A fictitious role-playing game where the player needs to answer unsettling questions about his personality. It has been built with videos and gif animations in sequence. Grumpy Chatbot To complete the experience there is a chatbot named Erwins grumpy cat (yes, Erwin Schrodinger cat). The website keeper that greets you on login and replies to human insults. The bot AI (even if not that intelligent you would say!) is built with a rudimentary intention recognition algorithm to extract the user sentence grammar and answer accordingly. To make the bot even more believable I added realistic reading and writing timings that mimicked the average write and reading speed of a normal human being. The results The results have been very satisfying. 12000 unique users in the first 3 weeks. 40000 instances of apps and games opened to date. The Meme Generator has been the most popular app. The project has also received amazing responses from the industry with an Awwward #SOTD win, a feature on BoredPanda and a couple of features in design book publications to be released next year. Conclusion Seven months of hard work that paid off and made me grew as an artist. During the process, I have improved drastically my programming skills which has brought me to improve every other skills in the arsenal. As you get comfortable with programming, your way to think, ideate and prototype interactions and interfaces changes. As a creative who codes, you have unlocked serious superpowers! Author Info Erik Bernacchi is a polymath mind whose areas of wizardry range from Product Design, UX, Art Direction, Illustration, Animation, 3D and Programming. Wildly obsessed with good ideas, art and softwares, Erik has an innate attitude to stretch the boundaries and challenge the benchmarks. Originally Born in Milan he has dedicated his last 10 years between Italy and Australia crafting products and experiences for the worlds biggest companies. On a call today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he's considering recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the Australian Embassy there, Netanyahu's office said in a statement. Why it matters: If Australia does move its embassy, it will be the first Western country to follow President Trump's lead. Guatemala and Paraguay moved their embassies to Jerusalem, but last month the new government in Paraguay backtracked and decided to move the embassy back to Tel Aviv. Background: According to the Australian press, this move by Morrison is about domestic politics as much as foreign policy. He's attempting to win Jewish votes in an upcoming election for a seat in the lower house of Parliament. The Liberal party needs to win the seat in order to maintain its majority. The candidate for the seat from Morrison's Liberal Party is Dave Sharma the former Australian ambassador to Israel. According to press reports in Australia, Morrison had different thoughts on the issue just a few months ago. In June, when he was still just a minister in the government, he said that moving the Australian Embassy to Jerusalem made no sense. What to watch: According to Australia's ABC, Morrison will give a foreign policy statement later today addressing the Jerusalem issue but stressing that Australia is not changing its position on supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Stephen Schwarzman, founder and CEO of The Blackstone Group, no longer plans to attend the Future Investment Initiative, hosted by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, Axios has learned. This comes after earlier Wall Street withdrawals from J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. What to watch: Blackstone's earnings call is this Thursday, and expect the investment giant to address the country's role as the cornerstone investor in a large global infrastructure fund that Blackstone continues to raise. Even in California, one of the nation's most liberal states, industry pressure and moderate lawmakers have stymied ambitious efforts to control health care costs. Why it matters: As the national Democratic Party swings left on health care, California shows that even with strong liberal majorities, it's still an uphill battle to successfully chip away at the health care industry's bottom line. Details: Even aside from California's failed single payer bill, more substantively realistic proposals have hit roadblocks, too. The biggest of these was a controversial bill that would have regulated prices for health care services within the private insurance system. That bill passed through committee in the state assembly, but then was shelved. It faced fierce opposition from doctors and hospitals, but the bill's sponsor said that he'd draft a new version of the bill next year, per the LA Times. Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, told reporters last week that it's unlikely that lawmakers will come up with a bill that's palatable to hospitals. "Any attempt to control prices will bring the health care industry out in force," the Kaiser Family Foundation's Larry Levitt said. "Politically speaking, there likely needs to be some counterweight to hospitals and doctors for that effort to succeed." An ambitious bill to cap dialysis payments also died, after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it late last month. The dialysis industry is now working to defeat a related ballot initiative that would cap dialysis clinics' profits. There are exceptions. California has passed laws regulating pharmacy benefit managers, requiring a justification for prescription drug price hikes above a certain amount, and creating more oversight of health plan mergers. Yes, but: California has so far had a lot more success expanding coverage and defending the Affordable Care Act than in controlling costs widely seen as the next big health care debate. The state has banned short-term health plans, and limited the use of association health plans. What's next: California lawmakers will likely continue to duke it out over high-profile efforts like the all-payer bill, but they will also continue to focus on coverage-related issues, like increasing the Affordable Care Act's subsidies. The big question, I think, is going to be, how do discussions happen in the next two years to lay the groundwork for...the next administration federally?" said Covered California's Peter Lee. "Whether or not California pulls out its wallet...well see. Will that information help thinking for 2020 and beyond? We think so. Some advocates are also hoping for a big change from Gavin Newsom, who's expected to win the governor's race this year. Newsom is seen as more liberal than Brown. "There are now high expectations for what a new governor might do beginning next year," Levitt said. Beer prices around the world could double as climate change-related droughts and heat waves cut into production of barley, one of the key ingredients in beer and a particularly heat-sensitive crop, according to a new study in Nature Plants. The big picture: One of the paper's authors, Steve Davis of the University of California, Irvine, told AP that, as a beer drinker, the study was "born of love and fear" and meant to provide a more concrete basis for the warnings of climate change. A UN report last week warned of dire consequences without "unprecedented" global action to slash greenhouse gas emissions. NASA data released Monday showed that 2018 is likely to become Earths fourth-warmest year on record. A foiled plot to bomb a rally of Iranian dissidents in Paris "has sparked growing anxiety in France, Germany and several other countries, including the United States and Israel, that Iran is planning audacious terrorist attacks and has stepped up its intelligence operations around the world," per the WashPost. Why it's happening: Iranian leaders are "under pressure from domestic protesters, Israeli intelligence operatives and the Trump administration, which is reimposing economic sanctions lifted under President Barack Obama." The leaders "are making contingency plans to strike at the countrys adversaries in the event of open conflict, according to American, European, Middle Eastern and Israeli officials and analysts." Pfizer said Tuesday it has asked the FDA for emergency authorization of Paxlovid, its experimental COVID-19 treatment. Why it matters: Antiviral drugs can be a key pandemic-fighting tool, as not everyone will get vaccinated against the virus, Axios Caitlin Owens reports. If authorized, the drugs can also be administered at home. J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon last night became the first prominent Wall Streeter to say he won't attend next week's Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, giving cover to folks like BlackRock's Larry Fink and Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman (both of whom officially pulled out this morning). Be smart: It's much easier to bail on a conference than it is to unwind complex and lucrative business relationships. Blackstone: Saudi Arabia committed up to $20 billion for a new global infrastructure fund that's targeting a total of $40 billion. Some other investors in the fund are beginning to murmur their disapproval, so we expect Blackstone to address the matter during its Thursday earnings call. Saudi Arabia committed up to $20 billion for a new global infrastructure fund that's targeting a total of $40 billion. Some other investors in the fund are beginning to murmur their disapproval, so we expect Blackstone to address the matter during its Thursday earnings call. BlackRock: Last year BlackRock announced plans to open an office in Saudi Arabia (still a work in progress), and Fink expressed bullishness on "opportunity" in the kindgom after a summer visit. Last year BlackRock announced plans to open an office in Saudi Arabia (still a work in progress), and Fink expressed bullishness on "opportunity" in the kindgom after a summer visit. J.P. Morgan: Picked to help manage the eventual Aramco IPO, J.P. Morgan has two operating licenses in Saudi Arabia, around 70 employees in Riyadh and has worked on sovereign bond offerings. The bottom line: As of late Friday afternoon, all of these organizations (and others) were hoping that the Saudis would cancel or postpone the conference. It would have been a major embarrassment for the kingdom, but could have been a wise long-term play by maintaining good relations with Western business partners. Now that ship has sailed, in part because of zero public pressure from the White House until a vague weekend threat via "60 Minutes" by President Trump (who also tweeted this morning that he's sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh). Treasury Secretary Mnuchin had reaffirmed on Friday that he'll attend the conference. Also, and this cannot be overemphasized: No one knows the geopolitical or economic end game here, particularly if it results in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman losing his clear path to the throne. Go deeper: Companies back away from Saudi business over missing journalist Crude oil prices are up Monday after the weekend's escalating rhetoric between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia over the disappearance and apparent killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Between the lines: Traders don't appear convinced at this point that the rupture will cause major upheaval in oil flows. Prices for the benchmark Brent crude are higher but they're not soaring. At the time of publishing, prices were up 44 cents for WTI and 81 cents for Brent. Why it matters: Saudi Arabia is the world's largest crude oil exporter and, along with the U.S. and Russia, one of the world's biggest producers. Any Saudi effort to use oil as a geopolitical weapon would rattle global oil markets and put sharp upward pressure on prices that are already near four-year-highs. Driving the news: Over the weekend President Trump said there would be "severe punishment" if the Saudis killed Khashoggi. In response, the Saudi's released a statement warning, "if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy." And on Sunday, the general manager of Saudi-owned Al Arabiya News Channel, Turki Aldakhil, published a column warning that U.S. sanctions could send oil prices to $100 per barrel, $200 or even higher. The latest: In remarks in India this morning, Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih emphasized the kingdom's role as a reliable global supplier. However, he also said that absent the Saudis' development and deployment of their spare production capacity, prices would be in the triple digits. We expect and demand that Saudi Arabias efforts be appreciated and acknowledged, al-Falih said at an livestreamed energy conference there. Go deeper: Friday morning, UT students from a diverse array of majors and backgrounds joined Axios' Mike Allen on campus for lunch, networking and a series of conversations on the Future of Work. Why it mattered: The students heard from thought leaders in business, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship to learn how these industries are changing and how soon-to-be college grads can succeed within these evolving landscapes. American Airlines Chairman & CEO Doug Parker American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and Axios Executive Editor Mike Allen. Photo: William Philpott for Axios Parker discussed the tough decision-making that comes along with being the head of the world's largest airline. The decision not to fly children separated from their families at the border. We fly over walls and borders to bring people together. We dont separate people. ... It didnt take long until we told the U.S. government we dont want to be a part of that." We fly over walls and borders to bring people together. We dont separate people. ... It didnt take long until we told the U.S. government we dont want to be a part of that." Shifting mindsets to stay profitable."We have to lead differently. In the old days, we focused on surviving the next 12 months. Now, we have the luxury of thinking long term. It changes the mentality of the entire firm." NBA All Star Chris Bosh NBA All Star Chris Bosh and Axios Executive Editor Mike Allen. Photo: William Philpott for Axios Bosh spoke about the importance of coding and imparted advice on how to deal with life-changing events speaking from the health issues that pulled him out of the NBA. The power of coding. "If you [learn to code], that's a skill that you can use and it makes you even more valuable than you are now." "If you [learn to code], that's a skill that you can use and it makes you even more valuable than you are now." How to push forward. "Things will happen that are out of your control, but the one thing you can control is your attitude." JPMorgan Chase & Co. Global Chief Information Officer Lori Beer JPMorgan Chase & Co. CIO Lori Beer and Axios Executive Editor Mike Allen. Photo: William Philpott for Axios As a leader within an institutionalized industry and company, she explained show JPMorgan Chase & Co. continues to innovate across departments. Artificial Intelligence today. "When we say AI driven, its not just applying technology solutions and applying machine learning, its really about how we embed technology into the services were creating." "When we say AI driven, its not just applying technology solutions and applying machine learning, its really about how we embed technology into the services were creating." Artificial Intelligence tomorrow. "AI opens a whole new world to solve problems. Successful people will use creativity with AI to solve business problems." DOSH Founder & CEO Ryan Wuerch and EverlyWell Founder & CEO Julia Cheek DOSH CEO Ryan Wuerch, EverlyWell CEO Julia Cheek and Axios Executive Editor Mike Allen. Photo: William Philpott for Axios As the heads of two successful Austin-based companies, Wuerch and Cheek gave students an insight into startup life and the excitement that comes with entrepreneurship. What makes the difference, according to Cheek. "The difference between success and failure is that you have to be able to analyze quickly and make a decision. You can't be paralyzed by ambiguity." "The difference between success and failure is that you have to be able to analyze quickly and make a decision. You can't be paralyzed by ambiguity." What hindsight can teach you, according to Wuerch. "Looking back, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldnt have changed the energy I put in every day for wanting to win and achieve great things, but I would have stopped and figured out who I am truly understanding my core values." A handful of UT students participated in a post-event meet and greet with our speakers. Go deeper: Watch the full conversations. Next stop on the Smarter Faster Revolution ... UCLA. See you there! Thank you JPMorgan Chase & Co. for sponsoring this event. By Samuel Sebuliba. Ugandas tycoon Sulaiman Kabangala Mbuga is yet to be charged in Dubai since is arrest in February this year. Mbuga is among the 45 Ugandans who are rotting in Dubai jails on several charges including fraud, drag trafficking , Alcoholism , abduction and others . Speaking to media today the spokesperson ministry of foreign affairs Moses Kasujja said SK Mbuga has never be charges with any offence due on going investigation and thus Uganda embassy in Dubai cant help him at this stage . For the case of other Ugandans Kasujja said that they are working with United Arab Emirates government to release them and be tried in Uganda. Tashkent, Uzbekistan Uzbekistan was until recently one of the world's most isolated countries, with institutionalized forced labor on its vast cotton fields, a torture record and restricted individual freedoms. Now, it's opening up. What's happening: Since President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took power in December 2016, following the death of Islam Karimov, who ruled the country since independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has been on the reform path. The reforms have encompassed all spheres of social and political life from freeing the country's currency to normalizing relations with its neighbors. The scope of change has come as a surprise to everyone, not least Uzbeks themselves. The latest: With the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the UN Development Program, the Supreme Court launched a new website that, among other features, allows the public to view court trials across the country in real time online. The pilot project will gradually extend to the rest of the country. Faced with a collapsing economy, international isolation and a growing number of unemployed youth following years of Karimov's misrule, the country had little choice but to open up. In a country with no democratic experience, where until recently citizens had few rights and fear prevailed, people finally feel they can discuss their problems openly. Social media has become a vibrant platform for activists, bloggers, journalists and citizens alike to discuss the country's most pressing issues. "There is a new confidence in politics, which was not there before. People used to say that nothing changes because no one thinks about us and we can say and do nothing, so let's live our simple life and forget about politics," Akhmed Rahmanov, an Uzbek business consultant told Al Jazeera. Much has changed. The government took 17,000 people off an infamous blacklist, at least five officials have been prosecuted for the use of torture during the Karimov years, and forced cotton picking obligatory for all public administration workers, medical and educational staff, students and schoolchildren has been abolished. But the most important change is also yet to come. Years of authoritarian rule wiped out all opposition, political ideas and democratic movements in the country. Today, despite all the changes, Uzbeks still find it hard to organize themselves politically, not least because they fear possible repercussions. "For the moment, a competitive, pluralistic democracy, or competitive elections even, remain distant dreams," says Steve Swerdlow, a researcher with Human Rights Watch Central Asia. Go deeper: Read the full Al Jazeera report. A senior U.S. State Department official met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan on Monday for talks that reportedly focused on regional security and the Armenian governments ambitious reform agenda. A government statement said Pashinian briefed George Kent, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, on wide-ranging reforms planned by his cabinet and its efforts to combat corruption. Armenia is firmly going down the path of democratic development, he said. The statement cited Kent as saying that the United States is interested in Armenias democratization and economic development. The U.S. is therefore ready to assist Pashinians government in implementing the promised reforms, the diplomat was reported to add. The outgoing U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Richard Mills, revealed last week that Washington provided Armenia with $14 million in additional aid following last springs dramatic change of the countrys government. In a September 21 message to Pashinian, U.S. President Donald Trump praised the mass protests that brought the 43-year-old former journalist to power in May. A peaceful, popular movement ushered in a new era in Armenia, and we look forward to working with you to help you execute the will of your people to combat corruption and to establish representative, accountable governance, rule of law buttressed by an independent judiciary, and political and economic competition, wrote Trump. Trumps national security adviser, John Bolton, is due to visit Yerevan later this month as part of a tour of Russia and the three South Caucasus states. Bolton said last week that the main purpose of the trip is to advance American interests on a range of security issues. Pashinians press office said international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other regional challenges were also on the agenda of the Armenian leaders talks with Kent. But it did not elaborate. Pashinian has expressed readiness to strengthen and expand Armenias relationship with the U.S. But he has ruled major changes in Armenian foreign policy traditionally oriented towards Russia. Richard Mills, the outgoing U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, sounded optimistic on Monday about Armenias chances of becoming an established democracy after the recent dramatic change of its government. I am [optimistic] because I know its what the Armenian people want, Mills told RFE/RLs Armenian service in an interview. Armenians know what they want and they will achieve that goal, he said. So Im confident. I think the democratic future here is bright. In that context, Mill pointed to last springs mass protests that brought down the previous Armenian government, saying that they resulted from public demand for sweeping changes in the country. What we saw in April and May were Armenian-led developments Armenians wanted a new society, a political will to solve problems, he said. The envoy, who is completing his more than three-year tour of duty in Armenia, admitted, though, that he was not sure about the outcome of the protest movement when it was launched by Nikol Pashinian, then an opposition leader, in Gyumri. The nationwide protests forced Armenias longtime leader Serzh Sarkisian to resign on April 23. The Armenian parliament elected Pashinian prime minister on May 8 under relentless pressure from scores of his supporters demonstrating in Yerevan and other parts of the country. Mills said that Pashinian has since been rapidly evolving from a protest leader into a head of government. Im impressed with the gravitas that he has, he said, drawing parallels between the 43-year-old former journalist and John Adams, one of the American founding fathers who served as second president of the United States from 1797-1801. By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 28 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Oct. 15. Armenian armed forces were using heavy machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Narmina Mammadova An export mission to Mongolia will be organized through the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), an informed source told Trend on October 12. The source noted that the export mission, which includes representatives of about 20 major Azerbaijani companies, will visit Ulan Bator. During the visit of the delegation, the Azerbaijan-Mongolia business forum will be organized at the beginning of the coming week. he meetings with officials of this country, as well as B2B meetings between representatives of business structures of the two countries will be held, the source said. The parties will discuss the issues of expanding cooperation between entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan and Mongolia and the possibility of exporting Azerbaijani products to this country. The export missions play an important role in expanding non-oil exports and promoting the domestic made products. To date, Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) has organized 13 export missions to 10 foreign countries-Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Hungary, China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. Exhibitions, organized by the state bring excellent results. National entrepreneurs took part in different international exhibitions-Gulfood 2017, Prowein, ANUGA, Worldfood Moscow 2017 and the International Exhibition of Wines and Alcoholic Beverages in Hong Kong to promote the brand. President Ilham Aliyev signed the decree on large-scale promotion of local non-oil products in foreign markets as Made in Azerbaijan on October 5, 2016. This decree includes nine different support mechanisms to stimulate exports and promote Made in Azerbaijan abroad. Depending on the support mechanisms, the costs relating to their realization are fully or partially covered by the state budget. Promotion of the Made in Azerbaijan brand on foreign markets became one of the priorities of the countrys foreign economic policy. In January 2018, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on amending the procedure for determining and regulating the payment mechanism for part of the expenses paid from the state budget for organizing export missions to foreign countries, studying foreign markets and marketing activities, promoting the Made in Azerbaijan brand to foreign markets, the receipt by local companies of certificates and patents in foreign countries in connection with exports, research programs and export development projects. According to the decree, this year the number of export missions that can be organized with the participation of Azerbaijani entrepreneurs in one calendar year has been increased from 10 to 25. Also, the number of international fairs and exhibitions, where a national stand can be presented with the participation of Azerbaijani businessmen was increased from five to ten. Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Mongolia were established in 1992. Relations and cooperation between two countries are expanding not only at the bilateral, but also at the international and regional levels. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova The Club of Exporters held discussions with the participation of representatives of companies that will take part in the China International Import Expo and international wine exhibition ProWine China in Shanghai. The Economy Ministry reported that Zohrab Gadirov, Executive Director of Exporters Club touched upon the significance of work carried out in foreign countries in order to promote the Made in Azerbaijan brand. In addition, he gave information about exhibitions and other events held in foreign countries in order to increase exports of local products, further saying that products made in Azerbaijan are in great demand in foreign markets, and in particular in China. Earlier, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev met with Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Wei Jinghua. The minister underlined that Azerbaijan plans to open its next trade and wine houses in Shanghai, adding that it will contribute not only to the expansion of trade and economic relations between the two countries, but also to the recognition of Azerbaijani products in China and cooperation in the sphere of culture and tourism. Azerbaijan has its Trade House in the Chinese city of Liuzhou and a wine house in Urumqi. China International Import Expo will be held on November 5-10 at the National Convention & Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China. The event will gather government officials, business communities, exhibitors and professional purchasers across the world and provide them with new channels for countries and regions to do business, strengthen cooperation and promote common prosperity of the world economy and trade. ProWine China, Chinas leading international trade fair for wines, will be held on November 13-15. It creates a platform both for international dealers and producers and for local suppliers to present themselves, establish contacts and get to know the Chinese market. Economic ties between Azerbaijan and China play a large role in the bilateral political relationships. The cooperation between China and Azerbaijan strongly contributes to the realization of the Great Silk road program. The Great Silk Road is a general name of a caravan road, which has been the main two-way trading bridge of East and West since the 3rd century BC up to now. The Great Silk Road starts in Japan and China stretches up to Europe cutting through India, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia, Caucasus, Asia Minor, Northern Africa including connecting the Indian Ocean, the Chinese Sea, the Japanese Sea, the Red Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. China became Azerbaijans 4th largest trading partner in 2017. Customs data of Azerbaijan estimated bilateral trade at a record close to $1.3 billion in 2017, up 33 percent from the previous year. Exports of Azerbaijani goods amounted to $433.8 million (3.21 percent of total exports), while imports of Chinese products to Azerbaijan reached $854.5 million (9.73 percent of total imports). The main export products from Azerbaijan to China last year were chemical products, fuel, and plastics. From China to Azerbaijan over the past year were imported electric equipment, vehicles and spare parts, clothing, ceramic products, household items. --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) has earned 319 million manats worth of profits for the first 9 months of 2018. These indicators reflect such positive trends in the banks activities, as successful completion of the recovery process and the transition to a new stage of development. As of September 30, 2018, the assets of IBA amounted to 8.32 billion manat, and the balance capital was 1.28 billion manat, the bank said in a statement Oct. 15. As of the end of the reporting period, the bank's loan portfolio amounted to 1.7 billion manat, and the volume of deposits of the population to 1.22 billion manat. During this period, the bank provided guarantees and loans worth about 200 million manats to the real sector of the country's economy. The improvement of the efficiency of activity of the International Bank of Azerbaijan has had a positive impact on the banks profit as well. During the reporting period, the interest incomes amounted to 308 million manat. The bank's operating incomes amounted to 87 million manats, and fully covered the non-interest expenses. The International Bank of Azerbaijan has also launched a number of new projects in the country's financial market. These projects strengthened the market position of the bank and covered such client segments as large corporate entities, small and medium-sized businesses, and individuals. The information on products and services of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, a modern state bank of the country, can be obtained on the official website www.ibar.az, in all 36 affiliates and 38 branches of the bank, by calling the Information Center on the short number 937, as well as on the banks official page in the Facebooksocial network. The official exchange rate on October 15 is 1.7 AZN / USD. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova The volume of foreign currency earnings in Azerbaijan reached $5.71 billion in January-September 2018, which is almost twice as high as the indicator of the same period of last year. In general, revenues from the sale of Azerbaijani oil abroad reached $11.588 billion, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. The export of Azerbaijani products for the nine months of the year amounted to $14.26 billion, and imports reached $6.35 billion. The main export products in the reporting period were crude oil - $11.59 billion (81.2 percent), natural gas - $1.029 billion (7.2 percent), petroleum products - $425.1 million (3 percent), fruits and vegetables - $342.5 million (2.4 percent) and other products - 883.9 million (6.2 percent). In imports, the leading place was taken by cars, electrical equipment, equipment and spare parts - $1.83 billion (23.2 percent), food products - $976.3 million (15.7 percent), ferrous metals and products made of them - $882.7 million (11.2 percent), vehicles and spare parts - $617.5 million (7.8 percent), plastics - $262.2 million (3.3 percent) and other goods - $3.07 billion (38 , 8 percent). The main trading partners of Azerbaijan in January-September of this year were Italy, which accounted for $4.09 billion of the total turnover, Turkey - $ 2.38 billion, Russia - $1.69 billion, Germany - $1.10 billion, Israel - $1.02 billion and China - $848.9 million. The economy of Azerbaijan has been developing successfully and dynamically over the last decade. Currently, the country is eager to develop the non-oil sector of the economy and the government does its best to create conditions for a business doing and a proper business climate in the country. Thus, the volume of non-oil exports of Azerbaijan increased by 14 percent in January-July 2018 compared to the same period of last year. In order to stimulate the business development in the country, the government creates favorable conditions for entrepreneurs. One of these steps is the suspension of inspections. During the period of the laws validity, only tax audits, quality control of medicines by relevant executive authorities, verification of compliance with safety regulations and safety control of food products, as well as checks on cases that threaten the health and life of people, national security and economic interests may be carried out. Moreover, the government creates many other conditions as, issuance of the investment incentives documents following the approval of amendments proposed to the Tax Code of the country. Under the investment incentives document, half of the revenue of an individual entrepreneur, profits of legal entity are exempted from income tax for seven years. Import of equipment for the implementation of the projects is also exempt of VAT and customs duties. Also, the state refunds 3-6 percent of the customs value of goods to non-oil exporters within the framework of mechanisms on promoting exports of non-oil products. Besides, the geography of export of Azerbaijani products is considerably expanding, and the number of entrepreneurs engaged in foreign trade activity is growing. Today it covers more than 80 countries of the world, and in particular, the CIS countries, the Persian Gulf region, the EU, China and others. Promotion of the Made in Azerbaijan brand, which is an initiative aimed at entering new markets, became one of the priorities of the countrys foreign economic policy. President Ilham Aliyev signed the Decree on large-scale promotion of local non-oil products in foreign markets as Made in Azerbaijan on 5 October 2016. This Decree includes nine different support mechanisms to stimulate exports and promote Made in Azerbaijan abroad. Depending on the support mechanisms, the costs relating to their realization are fully or partially covered by the state budget. The export missions play an important role in expanding non-oil exports and promoting the domestic made products. Over the past year Azerbaijan has organized a number of different missions to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, China, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Germany, Qatar and other countries. --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Narmina Mammadova The meeting of the trilateral working group on linking the energy systems of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran was held in Moscow on October 13. This was stated in the message on the official website of the Russian Ministry. Coordination of the overall project model and the main aspects of the feasibility study of the interconnection of the power systems of the three countries was the main topic of negotiations. The meeting was chaired by Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovski. The Iranian side in the negotiations was represented by Deputy Energy Minister Homayoun Haeri, the Azerbaijani side by Deputy Energy Minister Natig Abbasov. Following the meeting, representatives of the three countries agreed that interested parties should speed up the preparation of specific proposals on electricity trade in the three countries' integrated grid and consider the possibility of trial electricity supplies to Iran in 2019. An agreement was reached at a tripartite meeting of the deputy ministers of energy of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran, held in Baku in April, to hold activities related to construction of the second Yashma-Derbent interstate 330 kilovolt power transmission line between the energy systems of Azerbaijan and Russia. The capacity of the Azerbaijani energy system is more than 6,000 megawatts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Through the internet banking service, entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan can now carry out currency exchange operations around-the-clock. This business opportunity has been provided by the largest commercial bank in the country, PASHA Bank. All PASHA Bank customers will be able to use the new service, director of the banks treasury department, Jeyhun Hajiyev said in an interview with Trend. Imagine a situation where, for some reason, a client did not manage to complete the transaction and purchase a certain amount in foreign currency for his business needs before the end of the business day. In this case, the client will have to wait for the next day, but it is possible that the new exchange rate will be less profitable for his business, or not profitable at all. Therefore, the main advantage offered by PASHA Bank through this service to its customers is the possibility of not being tied to the trading day and to carry out currency exchange operations at any time convenient for the customer in accordance with the exchange rate established for the operation day," Hajiyev said. He noted that it is very convenient to convert currencies as part of the internet banking service: customers will only have to go to the appropriate section on the banks website, enter their login and password. In the corresponding section, they can make a choice regarding the accounts from and to which the money will be transferred, the amount and currency into which the funds will be converted. "As for the exchange rate, it will depend on supply and demand in the market. In this case, an additional fee for this service will not be charged," Hajiyev noted. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend In accordance with the mandate of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the next monitoring has been planned for October 16 at the state border of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the direction of Gazakh region, the press service of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Monday. The field assistants of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Gennady Petrika and Simon Tiller will conduct monitoring on the part of Azerbaijan. The field assistants of the personal representative Mikhail Olaru and Ognjen Jovic will conduct monitoring on the part of Armenia. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva have viewed the work carried out at Lankaran Istisu and Health Center as part of their visit to Lankaran. The complex, which occupies a total area of 11 hectares, will feature a hotel, health center, and various thermal baths. Head of the project Nariman Topchubashov informed the head of state and the first lady of the history of Lankaran Istisu Sanatorium. The construction of Lankaran Istisu and Health Center started in November, 2016. The centers 182-room hotel is built in accordance with advanced standards. The hotel staff, mainly local specialists, will be involved in special training. The head of state and his wife viewed conditions created in the hotel rooms. President Ilham Aliyev also familiarized himself with istisu (thermal) baths. The center will create 250 jobs. It also features a 46-car indoor and an 80-car outdoor parking lots. After viewing the complex, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva met with representatives of the districts general public and staff of the center. The head of state made a speech at the meeting. Local residents thanked President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva for great attention and care. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva have attended the inauguration of the Lankaran branch of Azerkhalcha Open Joint-Stock Company. The president and his spouse cut the ribbon symbolizing the inauguration of the enterprise. Chairman of the Board of Azerkhalcha Open Joint-Stock Company Vidadi Muradov informed President Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva about the development of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan and the activity of this company. The Lankaran branch of Azerkhalcha OJSC occupies a total area of 1300 square meters. The construction of the building started in March 2018. It is planned that 150 weavers and 13 administrative employees will work in the Lankaran branch. The president and the first lady then met with the company staffs Carpet weavers Sevda Jabrayilova, Irada Aliyeva, Nargila Gahramanova and others thanked President Aliyev for his attention to the development of the ancient art of carpet weaving in the country. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Recently, the latest meeting of the Caspian Chapter of the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) was held in Baku. Presentations and a Panel discussion on the topic of "Application of digital technologies in the oil and gas industry" were held. Representatives of well-known local and international companies working in various fields of industry were invited to the discussion. Opening the ceremony, Graham Clark, the Chairman of IADC's Caspian Chapter, Drilling Manager at SOCAR AQS, reported the Chapter Membership status. G. Clark noted that since the day of its creation, the Chapter pays particular attention to the development of cooperation between the oil and gas industry players and higher education institutions. He also noted the exceptional growth of the Chapter from 10 initial members to 30 in less than a year. The report also outlined the Action Plan for the first quarter of 2019. Later, Ramin Isayev, General Director of SOCAR AQS, delivered a presentation on the Application of digital technologies in the oil and gas industry and spoke about the necessity of applying technological innovations. Speaking about the extensive scientific and technical investigations in the oil and gas industry, R. Isayev spoke about the need to reestablish the lead role the industry formerly had in the 1980s and 90s in digitalization and automation, quoting examples such as rotary steerable drilling, the 3D seismic, and DP3 vessel positioning. According to the World Economic Forum / Accenture 2017 report, collecting and analyzing a Big data bank, IOT and creating new generation mobile devices will require large-scale investments over the next 3-5 years, including the most foreground areas. However, transition to digital technologies in the oil and gas industry will mainly be observed in optimization of operations, intelligent management of technical services and consumers' choice of energy sources. Implementing digital technologies in these areas will give you a more simple, secure and efficient organization of your work! - said R. Isayev. During the next presentation, BP Azerbaijan talked about digital technologies used in the company to optimize the drilling process. They highlighted in particularly their enhance data gathering, analysis, and presentation tools and their use of drone technology. A presentation by MWWirth followed, showing how enhanced data management could actually simplify the drilling process. Finally, Mrs. Kenzo Lahlow, the employee of eDrilling Norway, spoke about software support for the drilling process optimization. Mrs. K. Lahlow noted that the transition to digital technologies minimizes the chance of errors due to human error and helps drive down non-productive time. At the end, an interesting Q&A session was held between the audience and the speakers. The IADC, headquartered in Houston, USA, is a non-profit organization that unites around 1,600 member organizations around the world dealing with oil and gas exploration, well construction, exploitation, and production of oilfield equipment and related services. The IADC is regularly supporting partners in applying standards ensuring safe and efficient drilling for over 70 years. By Trend The delegation of Turkmenistan headed by deputy prime minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov has been recently on a working visit to Brussels, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message. During the trip, a meeting was held with European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic, where issues of enhancing interaction of Turkmenistan with the EU in the energy sector were discussed. As part of the visit, a meeting was held with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, during which regional security issues were raised. The Turkmen delegation was also received by a representative of the European Commissions department for mobility and transport (DG MOVE). The development of transport and transit routes that may connect the region of Central Asia with the countries of Europe were considered. It was noted that the ongoing strategy of Turkmenistan in this area coincides with the strategy of the EU on the interaction between Europe and Asia, said the message. The negotiations on the delivery of Turkmen gas to Europe have been conducted since 2011. The Southern Gas Corridor, which also includes the Trans-Caspian project, remains a priority for the EU. In May 2015, the Ashgabat Declaration on energy was signed by the ministers of energy of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic. The project to lay a 300-kilometer gas pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan is optimal for the delivery of Turkmen resources to the European market. The Turkmen fuel can be transported further and delivered to Turkey, which borders European countries. The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline could become a part of several large-scale projects, including AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector), and TANAP, the participants of which are Azerbaijan and Turkey. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The Russian-US summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki last summer was tough, but only from the standpoint of the straightforward questions discussed, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday, TASS reports. In this way he commented on Trumps remark in a CBS interview his summit meeting with Putin in Helsinki was "very tough." "All questions were put in a very straightforward manner. In this respect the meeting was really tough, because both presidents openly mentioned the annoyances that there exist in bilateral relations," Peskov said. "The problems were frankly called their real names. In that sense the meeting was tough," he added. "As for the manner of the conversation - if he went beyond diplomatic politeness - well, he did not. Everything was within the established bounds." He recalled that Putin himself told a news conference the questions were discussed at the summit in a very straightforward way. Earlier, Trump said he followed a hard line in relations with Putin. The interviewer asked Trump why he avoided criticizing the Russian president. "You don't know what I talked about with Putin in the meeting prior to the press conference. I'm the one that gave Ukraine offensive weapons and tank killers." He recalled that his predecessor Barak Obama had refrained from that decision and also was "the one that gave away a part of Ukraine," to Russia. "I think I'm very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him. The two of us. It was a very tough meeting and it was a very good meeting," Trump said about Putin. Putin and Trump met in Helsinki on July 16. The Russian leader spoke highly about the results of that summit, but at the same time remarked that nobody had ever expected all problems in bilateral relations would be resolved. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Tashkent Transport Service JSC will return the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Low Floor buses to operation after a detailed inspection, Podrobno.uz reported citing the companys statement. There have been cases when these buses caught fire, and it has been decided to stop their operation. On Oct. 10 and Oct. 12, the Mercedes-Benz Low Floor buses, running on the routes #87 and #95, caught fire. Another incident occurred on Sept. 28 when a bus caught fire at the Kuylik Ota bus stop on Fargona Yuli Street in Tashkent. However, Tashkent Transport Service JSC eyes to partially abandon the use of these buses. These buses have been temporarily removed from the roads; now they are being inspected. During the inspection, some of them will be overhauled. At the same time, the majority of buses will return to operation after an in-depth inspection and troubleshooting, the company stated. Tashkent Transport Service JSC also intends to purchase 120 SAZ LE 60 and MAN buses until the end of the year in order the replace the old vehicles. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan has entered the top three countries popular for sightseeing tourism. Analytical agency TurStat has announced the results of the National Geographic Traveler Awards 2018. The voting for the best travel destinations was held on the National Geographic Russia website, Azertag reported. According to TurStat, 25 percent of the votes were cast for the Czech Republic, 22 percent for France, 20 percent for Azerbaijan, 18 percent for Britain and 15 percent for Portugal. Azerbaijan also hits the top three countries for gastronomic tourism among Russians, along with Italy and Uzbekistan, as a result of voting. Earlier, the Pomegranate Festival in Azerbaijan entered the top three enogastronomic events of the CIS countries, popular among Russian tourists in October 2018. Pomegranate holiday is traditionally held every year in Goychay region since 2006. All 55 species of Azerbaijani pomegranate found grow in Goychay. The Annual Pomegranate Festival, one of Azerbaijans most loved and colorful festivals, was held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia last year. The event featured exhibition, displaying folk crafts, vivid national dresses etc. The originality and taste of Azerbaijani cuisine has attracted a lot of guests. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz President Moon Jae-in delivers opening remarks before the start of a dinner meeting with South Korean residents in France at the Maison de la Mutualite conference center in Paris, early Sunday (KST). Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul PARIS President Moon Jae-in is seeking France's help to make a breakthrough in denuclearization talks with North Korea. France is Moon's first stop on a nine-day tour of four European countries, which is largely centered on promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula. He arrived here Sunday morning. "A permanent peace is approaching for the Korean Peninsula. It's coming. I want your support. I will build a Republic of Korea that you can be proud of," Moon said in a meeting with some 200 South Korean residents of France, Sunday morning (KST). France, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) and a key member of the European Union (EU) is one of two EU members alongside Estonia that have no diplomatic ties with North Korea. Other EU members including Germany and Spain have some sort of diplomatic contact with the North since the 2000s. But France is one of the strongest backers for Moon's signature "engagement-centric" policy toward the North, and has long called for the international community to apply "carrots and sticks" to ensure the irreversible dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear program. Senior Cheong Wa Dae officials told The Korea Times that Moon plans to ask French President Emmanuel Macron to become a "responsible helper" in getting the UNSC to roll back some economic sanctions imposed on the North. "Macron has praised Moon's efforts toward denuclearization saying South Korea's diplomatic outreach is bringing stability to the peninsula and Northeast Asia," said one presidential office official. Although Moon will focus his second summit with the French leader, late Monday (KST), on the need for continued progress in nuclear talks, Cheong Wa Dae also said the two may discuss the outlines of sanctions relief for North Korea if it undertakes verifiable measures to abandon its nuclear capabilities. A joint press conference is planned after the summit. In a press release, Sunday, Moon's office said he thanked France for its support in the ongoing nuclear negotiations, and commitment to work with the United States to build a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. "President Moon thanked France for its continued support for negotiations on nuclear disarmament on the peninsula. Seoul wants more assistance from Paris to ensure the talks will advance further," Cheong Wa Dae said in the release. Winning more backing from the European Union (EU) for the complete denuclearization of the peninsula and to achieve a lasting peace are key agenda items for Moon on his European trip. Seoul has shifted its focus to justify its updated assessment of North Korea and help it get better access to the global economy with "corresponding measures" from the international community. This follows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reaffirming his commitment to continue working for a permanent peace on the peninsula. Since 1995, over 370 million euros in aid has been provided in the form of food, sanitation medical assistance and agricultural support. In 2011, EU offered 10 million Euros in emergency aid following a severe food crisis in the North. After France, Moon will fly to Italy, Tuesday, and visit the Vatican. He will also visit Belgium for this year's Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit. Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District officials ignored and covered up a 4-year old student's 2016 sexual assault, failing to notify parents of the incident, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the school district. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Oct. 2, contends that on Dec. 14, 2016, a 4-year old girl at Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary School in Baytown was sexually assaulted by a 4-year old boy in a unisex bathroom. The defendants in the lawsuit filed by the family of the girl are: Goose Creek Consolidated ISD; Goose Creek ISD Superintendent Randall O'Brien; Araceli De La Cruz, the district's director of student services; Maria Duarte, the school district's deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction; and Theresa Keel, the principal at Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary School. DICKINSON ISD: Violent threat found on girls' junior high bathroom wall The lawsuit alleges that the defendants committed numerous Title IX violations and violated the girl's constitutional rights under the color of the law. The girl's family is seeking $10 million in damages, a jury trial, and all attorney's fees paid. A pretrial conference has been set for Feb. 15 before U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore. An attorney for the plaintiff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Goose Creek CISD said that they have yet to be subpoenaed and provided the following statement on the allegations in the lawsuit to the Houston Chronicle. "It is important for our community to know that we strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit. Our District staff work every day to keep our students safe, to keep them learning, and to keep them free from any sort of sexual misconduct. Although federal and state law prohibits the district from disclosing the details of a specific student's confidential educational matters, Goose Creek CISD has strong policies and procedures in place to investigate and properly address allegations of sexual misconduct on school property. "We want to assure families in this District that student well-being and equal education opportunities are of paramount importance. Because this is a pending legal matter, the District will allow the judicial process to take its course and will refrain from commenting further on the matter." The plaintiff in the lawsuit, identified as a Jane Doe because she is a minor, left class unattended that day to go to the bathroom. A boy in the same classroom, whose name is also being withheld but is identified in the lawsuit as "Student A", followed her to the bathroom, also unattended by an adult or teacher. When Jane Doe returned to her classroom, the pants she was wearing were inside out and her shoes were on the wrong feet. Doe's parents immediately noticed her altered appearance when picking her up from school and later learned that she had been sexually assaulted when she had gone to the bathroom unattended. The lawsuit states that Doe's parents questioned the school's administration about the assault and that, "such questions were met by false statements and denials of wrongdoing." This is the second sexual misconduct allegation for the Goose Creek CISD in as many months. In August, a male teacher at James Bowie Elementary School in Baytown was accused of touching three fifth-grade students inappropriately. That teacher was immediately removed from campus and a report was filed with the Texas Education Agency. Nick Powell covers Galveston County and the Bay Area for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.com WASHINGTON - Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin on Monday criticized President Donald Trump for appearing to downplay human rights abuses that take place outside the United States, arguing that such offenses must be taken seriously wherever they occur. The Illinois Democrat's remarks came one day after the airing of a "60 Minutes" interview in which Trump said that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has "probably" been involved in assassinations and poisonings but that those incidents were "not in our country." "That can't be the standard," Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said in an interview on CNN. "For goodness' sake, when the Russians are killing off former spies in England, when we have this apparent complicity of the Saudis in the killing of one of their critics, we've got to take this seriously wherever it happens." "If these are countries that say they are allied with us in values, we have to make it clear they are not," he added. Among the many Putin critics to have allegedly been poisoned are Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter, who were the targets of an alleged nerve-agent attack in Britain by Russian operatives. Russia denies any involvement in the attack. Other Putin critics have died under mysterious circumstances. A Putin spokesman on Monday played down Trump's comments and suggested that the president may have misspoken. Durbin's mention of the Saudis was a reference to the case of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared after a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement, despite mounting evidence that the Saudi regime was implicated in the case. Trump said Monday morning that he is sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Saudi Arabia's King Salman to discuss Khashoggi's disappearance. Trump also mused that "maybe these could have been rogue killers" and said that the Saudi king had firmly denied any involvement. WASHINGTON - A former veteran Senate Intelligence Committee security director pleaded guilty Monday to lying to FBI agents about his contact with a reporter during a federal leak investigation. James Wolfe, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of lying to investigators about using encrypted messaging in October 2017 to tell a reporter about a subpoena issued by the committee. The reporter was not named in court or court filings. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss two other counts related to interactions Wolfe was accused of having with three other reporters. Wolfe was not charged with disclosing classified information, and his lawyers emphasized that in his plea hearing. Wolfe, of Ellicott City, Maryland, became emotional at several points during his plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Ketanji Jackson, taking long pauses at several points as he acknowledged his guilt and his possible loss of rights as a convicted felon. He wiped away tears as he sat down after one conversation with the judge, and his voice cracked as she asked him if he were ready to make his decision. "I'm guilty your honor," Wolfe then told the judge. Wolfe was indicted June 7 on three counts of making false statements about his contacts with reporters while he served as the committee's director of security, whose duties included overseeing the handling of secret and top-secret information turned over by the intelligence community for oversight purposes. The government in June alleged that Wolfe, who served in the Senate job for nearly 30 years, from 1987 until May, lied to FBI agents in December 2017 about repeated contacts with four reporters, including through the use of encrypted messaging applications. He was also accused of lying about giving two reporters nonpublic information about matters before the committee. "Jim has accepted responsibility for his actions," his lawyers said in a statement released after the hearing, "and has chosen to resolve this matter now so that he and his family can move forward with their lives." The attorneys, Preston Burton, Benjamin B. Klubes and Lauren Randell, said they would have more to say about "Jim's distinguished record of nearly three decades of dedicated service to the Senate and the intelligence community" at his sentencing hearing, which was set for Dec. 20. The judge said Wolfe faces a possible sentence of zero to six months in jail for his conviction. The defense and prosecutors said they had not reached an agreement on a recommended sentence. Wolfe pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his interactions only with Reporter #3. On Oct. 17, Reporter #3 asked Wolfe, using the encrypted messaging app Signal, to provide a contact information for the person subpoenaed, and Wolfe obliged, according to the indictment. Later that day, that reporter published a story disclosing the subpoena to testify before the committee. After the story published, Wolfe congratulated the reporter, using Signal, stating "Good job!" and "I'm glad you got the scoop," the indictment said. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne, the mind behind the blockbuster film "Interstellar," will connect Hollywood with the physical laws that govern the universe at his Tuesday lecture at Lamar University. "The Science Behind the Movie Interstellar" lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. at Lamar's University Theatre. Thorne and his team made history in 2015 when they detected ripples in the fabric of spacetime, proving the direct existence of gravitational waves, a feat that earned him the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics. He was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. READ MORE: Scientists discover gravitational waves, proving Einstein was right His bestselling book, "The Science of Interstellar," details "cutting-edge science," according to Lamar University physics chair Philip Cole, proving that the hit Christopher Nolan film is accurate and "true to the best of our knowledge." "However bizarre it (the science) is, it is correct," said Cole of the film. "It's truly a work of art in terms of computation and in terms of story." Thorne's research focuses on Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity and astrophysics, including black holes and gravitational waves. "For scientists, it's incumbent upon us to explain what we do, why it's important," said Cole. "A century ago, we barely had cars. Now we can travel to the stars, or we're trying," he said. Billboards arent just background on road trips. Cracker Barrel, a popular Southern-style restaurant, has mastered the art of converting outdoor advertisements into indoor customers. Cracker Barrel spends 49 percent of its total advertising budget on outdoor ads, per eMarketer. The brand carefully places its restaurants near exits and interstates to target road trippers. Billboards lead weary travelers not only to hot meals, but also to the stores and relaxation areas inside Cracker Barrel restaurants. Integration of outdoor advertising and restaurant placement, along with the rest of Cracker Barrels marketing strategy, continues to work in the digital age. Analysts cited in the Fairfield Current expect the chain to achieve an annual growth rate of 10.4 percent. While many observers dismiss outdoor ads as hard-to-track wastes of budget, Cracker Barrel and other savvy brands are making a killing. Why billboards still work. With such a broad spectrum of consumable media for brands to use, outdoor advertising doesnt immediately emerge as the top option. Digital ads and email campaigns offer much better targeting. TV commercials are more dynamic. What do outdoor ads have that makes them so special? Related: The Advantages of Transit Advertising People spend so much time in front of screens now that real-life advertisements have more power than they used to. Online browsers are masters at ignoring pop-up ads and banners, but when they see a billboard, street sign or other eye-catching object, they take a moment to look. For brands, that moment makes the difference between irrelevance and interest. According to Nielsen, outdoor advertising is the most effective nondigital medium for generating online activity. Cracker Barrel asks people to take the exit to grab dinner, so they do. Other brands use outdoor ads to encourage online searches, which lead to engagement, purchases and loyalty. The pathway from outdoor ads to increased revenue is straightforward -- but success depends entirely on execution. Brands not only need to expand their presence outside, but also to create memorable experiences that make the most of their ad budgets. These tips reveal how: 1. Borrow from other brands and industries. Outdoor advertising clearly works for other brands. If they do something right, take that idea and use it for a quick shortcut to successful advertising. Instacarts former expansion manager wrote in Adweek about his frustrations with the declining effectiveness of online ads. To remedy the problem, he took inspiration from billboards and subway posters. Even though he struggled to measure the effectiveness of his new collateral, the increase in subscribers (with no other campaigns running) spoke for itself. Refashion any borrowed content to reflect your brand positioning. Keep the values and voice consistent while infusing new style to maximize the impact of the outdoor content. 2. Create eye-popping, interacting messaging and visuals. Outdoor advertising exists in an interactive environment. Dont paste up boring posters and expect customers to come running. Check local municipal regulations, and then think of inventive ways to subvert visual expectations and get viewers engaged with the ads. Think about how brands stand out in Times Square or on the Las Vegas Strip. Interactive signs come to life for the viewers, moving and using hashtags and cameras to interact with their live audiences. Travelers take selfies with ads because the signs are an attraction all their own. The Times Square District Management Association reports that more than 355,000 people enter the heart of the square every day, so advertisers have plenty of opportunities to engage. Related: How Brands Build Trust Through OOH (Out of Home) Advertising 3. Capitalize on travel time. Whether on a cross-country road trip or a morning commute, Americans spend plenty of time on the go. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America reports that most consumers spend 70 percent of their waking hours away from home. Billboards, subway ads and other signs jockey for the attention of commuters and travelers everywhere they go. Investors Business Daily reports that the biggest digital brands, like Amazon and Netflix, are some of the top spenders in offline advertising. If online titans get that much value from outdoor ads, smaller companies can do the same. Think about the commute and travel behaviors of the target audience, and then optimize your outdoor campaign to meet them on their turf. 4. Blend new tracking with retro appeal. Outdoor ads naturally lend themselves to retro vibes, but that doesnt make them outdated. Digitize outdoor ads with dynamic copy, interactive elements and location-specific content to infuse modern effectiveness into a classic medium. Canva compiled a list of ingenious outdoor ads that made people stop and think. The Economist, for instance, made a lightbulb illuminate when passersby walked underneath its ad. Coca-Cola used retro flair when it combined a billboard with a sample dispenser. Related: Heat Up Sales With Out-of-Home Marketing Take advantage of smartphones and tracking tech at every opportunity. Investors Business Daily notes that Clear Channel uses mobile data to detect which phones (and phone owners) see their billboards. The smarter the tracking strategy, the more informed the campaign. One of the best things about outdoor advertising is that consumers expect to see it, even when they dont expect to see it in a certain place. Gas stations with ads on pump handles, a wall mural at a traffic tunnel entrance, connected scavenger hunt signs in subway stations -- for creative brands, the possibilities are endless. Marketers who keep their heads in their computers will lose out as their competitors find new and ingenious ways to turn old-school ads into modern profit. Related: Outdoor Advertising Is Conquering. Why Aren't You Using It? Lessons Outdoor Ad Media Needs to Learn from Mobile's Woes How This Creative Company Builds Signs That Stand Out Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Despite efforts to avoid closure by raising money through GoFundMe and soliciting donations from country music star Toby Keith, Pauls Valley (Okla.) Regional Medical Center opted to close its doors Oct. 12, according to the Pauls Valley Daily Democrat. The hospital narrowly avoided closure in September. It raised enough money to cover payroll and overdue costs for employee health benefits for the month. However, after failing to raise enough money throughout October, the Pauls Valley Hospital Trust Authority voted to close the hospital. "We have been fortunate enough to serve this community through thick and thin," the hospital posted on Facebook. "Unfortunately the time has arrived to close our doors, with no other path forward." The decision to close the hospital came after meeting with Frank Avignone, the CEO of Alliance Health Partners, the interim hospital operator. Mr. Avignone started the GoFundMe page with a $2 million fundraising goal. Only $3,840 was raised. The nearest hospital for Pauls Valley residents is about 30 miles away, according to the hospital's GoFundMe page. Because of the closure, about 130 employees will lose their jobs. More articles on finance: 10 hospitals seeking RCM talent 7 latest hospital credit downgrades Colorado hospitals doubled overhead spending over 7 years Some analysts estimate property damage caused by Hurricane Michael will cost the insurance industry up to $5 billion, while others project the losses could mount to $8 billion, according to NPR. The insurance industry's ability to cover these claims could have implications for some area health systems damaged by the storm, as well as for patients' propensity to pay. Here are four thoughts: 1. While damage caused by Hurricane Michael will create substantial losses for insurers, Fitch Ratings said Oct. 12 the industry is "well positioned to absorb the losses from Michael." 2. Still, the area's healthcare industry sustained significant damage. The hurricane caused five hospitals, 15 assisted-living facilities and five nursing homes to shut down, according to The Wall Street Journal. The storm forced other Florida hospitals to evacuate patients. Panama City, Fla.-based Bay Area Medical Sacred Heart began evacuating its 200 patients Oct. 11 after the storm's winds blew out the hospital's windows and caused a section of the roof above the hospital's materials management building to collapse. 3. Large and damaging storms increase concerns about whether insurance companies will be able to cover all their claims without risking bankruptcy. NPR referenced a similar situation in 1992, when damage caused by Hurricane Andrew forced some smaller insurance companies into bankruptcy because they couldn't cover the claims. As a result, premiums increased, putting more financial strain on businesses and residents. 4. Residents are also banking on the insurance industry to stay afloat. Without covered insurance claims, patients' propensity to pay could be negatively affected. And some communities in Florida, such as agricultural communities, were hit hard by Hurricane Michael, according to the report. "People's livelihoods depend on the crops that they have," Chris Chandler, an adjuster with Alfa Insurance in Alabama, told NPR. "This was [going to be] a good year for cotton. ... This is going to take a lot of farmers financially really, really hard." More articles on healthcare finance: Struggling Oklahoma hospital solicits donation from country music star HCA, Dignity Health and Tenet among 1,299 providers to join BPCI Advanced 22 latest hospital bankruptcies, closures At least five potential bidders have expressed interest in acquiring athenahealth, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. New York City-based hedge fund Elliott Management made an unsolicited all-cash bid for athenahealth worth roughly $7 billion in May, offering to acquire the company at $160 per share. One month later, athenahealth issued a statement that the company's board of directors initiated a process to consider "strategic alternatives" for the company, which might include a sale or merger. Athenahealth has received interest above $135 per share, according to sources who spoke with Bloomberg. However, offers for the company have come in below Elliott Management's bid of $160 per share. With final bids for athenahealth due by the end of October, athenahealth reportedly has reached out to some early bidders who hesitated to match Elliott Management's initial proposal. Some of these companies reportedly have re-entered the bidding process. The five private equity firms considering bids for athenahealth are: Elliott Management; Bain Capital; Hellman & Friedman; Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; and TPG. Elliott Management may maintain its current 9 percent stake in athenahealth, even if it is successful in acquiring the company, sources told Bloomberg. Representatives from athenahealth and the five private equity firms declined Bloomberg's request for comment. Cook County Health and Hospitals System in Chicago will reportedly add at least 240 jobs in 2019 to keep up with the system's growth, according to Crain's Chicago Business. A spokesperson confirmed to Crain's the system will add a total of 243 jobs in fiscal year 2019. Roughly 150 of those hired will be care managers who were hired as contract employees tasked with ensuring the system could accommodate an increase in patients. Physicians and physician assistants will reportedly account for about 40 new employees, while 40 more employees will be environmental workers focused on cleaning and maintaining the system's central campus facilities. The Cook County Board, which runs the health system, expects a $647 million increase in revenue next fiscal year for the system's Medicaid managed care program, called CountyCare, the report states. Approximately 335,000 individuals belong to CountyCare, Crain's reports. M. Hill Hammock, chairman of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System board of directors, told the publication 62 percent of the county's proposed $5.9 billion budget for fiscal year 2019 is expected to go toward the health system. To access the full report, click here. Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to Cook County Health and Hospitals System for comment and will update the report as more information becomes available. Medical schools across the U.S. are implementing programs to introduce students to healthy, active elders in an effort to ensure medical students have an accurate perception of these patients, according to The New York Times. Five report insights: 1. Ronald Adelman, co-chief of geriatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, developed an annual program where healthy seniors share their perspectives, including a theater piece, after he realized medical students were getting a distorted view of older adults. The program is required for all second-year medical students. "Unfortunately, most education takes place within the hospital," Dr. Adelman said. "If you're only seeing the hospitalized elderly, you're seeing the debilitated, the physically deteriorating, the demented. It's easy to pick up ageist stereotypes." 2. Ageist stereotypes can influence how physicians provide care. One patient, 88-year-old Marcia Levine, told students about a gastroenterologist who dismissed her complaints of fatigue by saying, "At your age, you can't expect to have much energy." After switching physicians, Ms. Levine learned she had a low-grade infection. 3. At least 20 U.S. medical schools are making similar efforts to introduce students to active and healthy elders, said Amit Shah, MD, a geriatrician who helps direct the Senior Sages program at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, Minn. 4. The programs vary in form, from Weill Cornell's two-hour introduction to a semester-long curriculum at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. Schools, including the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, match students with older patients whom they follow throughout their four-year educations. The students make home visits, join their senior mentors on medical appointments and visit them if they become hospitalized. 5. These efforts can be voluntary or mandatory and can emphasize clinical skills or encourage new perspectives. Although there are relatively few of these initiatives in U.S. medical schools, leaders can consider launching these programs, as they are inexpensive, and older patients are enthusiastic about participating. One patient who participated in Weill Cornell's program said she appreciated that the students had listened, calling the session "a gift to us, as well as to them. It's an acknowledgment that we are important and of interest." The CDC withdrew its Ebola experts from an outbreak zone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo due to security concerns, according to STAT. Here are three things to know: 1. The U.S. Department of State has prohibited the experts and other federal employees from traveling to the Congo to participate in on-the-ground aid, forcing these health advisors to aid the Congo's health ministry from thousands of miles away. Other CDC employees are helping neighboring countries near the Congo's eastern border strengthen their health operations and prepare prevention efforts in case the virus spreads. "CDC has responded to nearly two dozen filovirus outbreaks in its history and has people who've been working on these issues for 30 years," Tom Inglesby, MD, director of the Center for Health Security at the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told STAT. "It doesn't make sense to have those people hundreds or thousands of miles away from where the disease is actually spreading." 2. The decision to withdraw the CDC experts stemmed from increasing violence as armed rebel groups fight against governmental troops in the area. The city of Beni, which is the current epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, is "effectively a war zone," according to STAT. "This outbreak is occurring in a highly insecure environment, which complicates public health response activities," an anonymous state department official told the publication. 3. Additional obstacles, such as community mistrust and vaccine refusal have also hindered response and containment efforts. The World Health Organization thinks the Ebola outbreak may last 3 to 4 months due to these challenges. There have been 211 confirmed and probable Ebola cases in the Congo since the outbreak began Aug. 1, including 137 deaths. More articles on clinical leadership and infection control: Rush reports 95% 1-year survival rate for liver transplant patients Congress probes 15 largest health systems on childbirth safety Pennsylvania saw 302K medical errors and HAIs in 2017, patient safety authority finds Several Minnesota hospitals are struggling to maintain adequate supplies of critical care drugs, including the pain medications needed for surgery and recovery, according to the StarTribune. Here are five things to know: 1. There is a nationwide shortage of pain meds like fentanyl and morphine, which are injectable opioid pain medications, considered critical for surgeries and recovery, according to the FDA website. The shortage resulted from production delays due to a number of changes and upgrades at a Pfizer facility in Kansas. The shortage was further exacerbated by issues related to manufacturing quality at that same facility. Shortages are expected through 2019. "Pain medications are what keeps the wheels on the bus for the hospital," Jeffrey Bouman, pharmacy manager at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis told the StarTribune. "These drugs are what makes us tick, what makes us work." 2. In Minnesota, hospitals are forming special pharmacy teams to monitor inventories and search for new sources of these injectable pain medications. 3. While pharmacy managers have been able to meet demand for pain management, during this nationwide shortage of injectable opioids, pharmacy staff members have shifted from the normal routine by using a similar drug or the same drug in a different dose. These slight departures from the normal routine require retraining physicians and nurses to avoid harmful medication errors. "It causes the health system a lot of pain, literally," Vini Manchanda, vice president of supply chain services at Bloomington, Minn.-based based HealthPartners, told the StarTribune. 4. While these workarounds are helping, the common pain drugs are very hard to find. 5. There are several other critical medications in short supply, including EpiPen, the lifesaving epinephrine injection for allergic reactions, antibiotics and saline bags. Read the full story here. An investigation into Zimmer Biomet's Warsaw, Ind.-based manufacturing facility began following a Securities Class Action complaint filed in 2017. The complaint was filled by shareholders who purchased securities between June 7, 2016 and Nov. 7, 2016. According to the suit, Zimmer Biomet misled the general and investing public regarding quality control issues. An internal audit found Zimmer Biomet's headquarters in Warsaw misled the public about its products and production. Zimmer Biomet filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. However, a judge denied the device company's request Sept. 26. Pedicle screws harbor microbial and non-microbial contaminants due to repeated reprocessing and intraoperative exposure, which are then transplanted deep in the bone and can lead to infection. Aakash Agarwal, PhD, is the director of research and development at Spinal Balance, an adjunct professor at the University of Toledo (Ohio), and the lead author of Global Spine Journal studies on pedicle screw infection control. He recently spoke with Becker's Spine Review about the implications of his team's research for spine surgery practice. In one study published in Global Spine Journal, researchers randomly selected six "sterile" pedicle screws that underwent repeated reprocessing and sterilization, which they assessed using optical microscopy. Study authors identified three types of contaminants: corrosion, saccharides of unknown origin and soap residue. A single-center study published in Global Spine Journal, a multi-center study presented at the North American Spine Society 2018 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, Sept. 26-29, and a multi-center study presented at the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery 2018 forum in Las Vegas, Sept. 6-8, assessed the bacterial growth on pedicle screws in the sterile field during live surgeries. They found all unshielded pedicle screws harbored virulent bacterial species. When an intraoperative pedicle screw guard was used, however, no such bacterial growth occurred. Previous researchers also agree that both repeated reprocessing and sterilization as well as intraoperative handling seem to lead to contamination of sterilized implants, according to a study published in Global Spine Journal . Researchers conclude that using a terminally sterilized device may mitigate repeated reprocessing and sterilization. But only the use of fresh sterile gloves for handling each implant and/or a permanent shielding technique could potentially avoid recontamination at the operating theater. Question: What are the biggest study takeaways for spine surgeons? Dr. Aakash Agarwal: Our research work provides a consistently reliable and effortless method with no compliance required by hospital or operating room staff and surgeon to provide 'quantified' safety and savings to the community. The studies also strongly corroborate and complements our colleagues' discoveries, such as: A high correlation of screw loosening with the presence of bacterial growth in the interfacing tissue (Leitner et al 2018) , Reduced surgical site infection rates when changing gloves before handling screws (Rehman et al 2015) Reduced SSI rates when disinfecting pedicle screws in an antibiotics bath intraoperatively (Eren et al 2018) Q: How should spine surgeons advocate for pedicle screw led infection control? AA: This question was also raised earlier at the NASS 2018 solution showcase presented by Dean Steve Garfin, and panel discussions led by Neel Anand, MD, and Michael Stauff, MD. Spine surgeons can now reasonably demand their respective implant provider or industry representative to provide: 1. Prepackaged pre-sterile single use pedicle screws. 2. A mechanism to keep the pedicle screw sterile during surgery while the scrub tech is loading them onto the insertion device, waiting fully-exposed besides other instruments and when a surgeon checks the fit of the screw just before implantation. The mechanism shouldn't depend on glove change or disinfecting implants using antibiotics, because they add the issue of compliance, extra steps and supposedly cost to the operating room. Also, due to the availability of extensive set of evidences over multiple independent research teams, it deserves a spot in NASS advocacy guidelines. No one, including patients, surgeons, hospital, industry, insurance companies or policy makers, benefits from not complying with this. The best part of this 'evidence-based practice' is there are no side effects or exclusion criteria. David Rothbart, MD, a spine surgeon with Spine Team Texas in Southlake, discusses the biggest challenges his practice has faced and where he sees the biggest opportunity in the future. Dr. Rothbart is a featured speaker at the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + The Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference, June 13-15 in Chicago. Click here to learn more and register. For more information about exhibitor and sponsor opportunities, contact Maura Jodoin at mjodoin@beckershealthcare.com. Question: What is the biggest challenge your practice is facing today? How are you overcoming it? How do you see it growing and developing? Dr. David Rothbart: The transition of volume-based reimbursement to value-based has not significantly impacted spine surgeons in most markets thus far. We must be poised to evolve and be able to demonstrate our value. Building the infrastructure to accomplish this and selecting the right partners will be critical. Q: What are your top one or two goals for your practice over the next three to five years? DR: We have multiple opportunities for growth over the next few years. Selecting the right cadence, partners and scale of growth can be a daunting task for physicians. We utilize a combination of strong executive leadership within our organization as well as outside consultants with extensive healthcare expertise in our decision-making process. Q: What advice do you have for new spine surgeons just entering the field? DR: Spine surgeons completing their training have just finished an average of 15 years of education, residency and fellowship. This often leads to a thought process programmed in one-year increments. In selecting a practice, one needs to be thinking in three-, five- and 10-year increments. Rather than merely evaluating a potential job on the current performance of the practice, closely explore the growth potential of the practice given the rapidly changing environment. Dont necessarily jump solely at what appears to be the best offer now. Rather, ask yourself if this opportunity has the potential to grow and thrive over the next decade. Elmira, N.Y.-based Arnot Health Foundation will recognize David C-Y Kung, MD, with its Healthcare Hero award at the fifth annual Arnot Health Gala celebration, Oct. 20, Elmira Star-Gazette reports. Dr. Kung is a board-certified neurosurgeon at Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira. He received his medical degree from National Defense Medical Center in Taipei, Taiwan. "Dr. Kung's steadfast commitment to neurosurgery, his expertise and accessibility have all defined his role within our community," Lisa Ventura, senior director of the Arnot Health Foundation, told Elmira Star-Gazette. "As such, he has become one of the most identifiable and well-respected neurosurgeons in this area." Almost 80% of organisations in the charity and volunteer sector have reported a loss of paid staff in the past year, according to a report Almost 80% of organisations in the charity and volunteer sector have reported a loss of paid staff in the past year, according to a report. The research conducted by Ulster Bank and CO3 revealed that 77% of employees had left the third sector with most going to other sectors in the economy - 31% to the private sector and 44% to the public sector. Nearly half of the respondents (48%) indicated improved terms and position elsewhere were behind the move. Insecurity over funding (30%) was also cited as a major contributing factor. But the report said demand for the services provided for the voluntary and charitable sector was rising. And with staff numbers going down, today's report warns of skills shortages with half of respondents reporting a deficit in key skills or roles. Just under a third said their organisation is lacking expertise in marketing and communications, fundraising and operations. The report found that 71% believed political stability will worsen over the next 12 months and 79% anticipate the local economy will worsen, with 40% suggesting a return to direct rule in the absence of a functioning Assembly. Despite this 47% expect turnover to increase, up from 37% in the previous quarter, and 82% describe their cash flow as stable. Nora Smith, chief executive of CO3, said: "It's positive to note greater cash flow stability and a more positive outlook for turnover over the coming year for an increasing number of third sector organisations, but skills shortages still exist across the board. "A majority of our membership is in receipt of government funding, and the longer we continue without a functioning Executive the greater funding insecurity becomes. This is a major barrier when attracting new talent into the sector." UK firms should use automation to allow staff to work four-day weeks and ward off an epidemic of mental health issues, according to acclaimed technology entrepreneur Jason Stockwood. Mr Stockwood chief executive of Simply Business and former executive at lastminute.com and match.com told the Press Association that companies need to change their attitude to technology and the traditional workforce model, or he warned the wheels will come off. The author of new business book titled Reboot: A blueprint for happy, human business in the digital age, released in September is urging other firms to consider using automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to not just boost business, but also create happy and more productive workforces. Quite frankly, the wheels will come off in the next couple of years if we don't do somethingJason Stockwood, chief executive of Simply Business With this weeks World Mental Health Day highlighting the importance of employee psychological well-being, Mr Stockwood is hoping to lead a force for change in corporate Britain. Business insurance group Simply Business which has offices across London, Northampton and in Boston, America is already practising what he preaches with a four-day week trial and move to abolish sales force bonuses. But he said workers are often wrongly seeing AI as a threat, when it can and should be a force for good. He said: We are storing up an epidemic of mental health and psychological issues. Quite frankly, the wheels will come off in the next couple of years if we dont do something. He said it was time for an upgrade in terms of our models of what work should be. Lets work a bit less, he said. Lets have another change in society. The four-day week could be a next chapter in giving people more freedom, he added. But he said businesses need to change their attitude to management and the use of AI. With Brexit on the horizon and the potential shortage in skilled workers that it could create, he said it risks seeing firms use automation to replace staff rather than enhance workforces. He said: Some firms might think that if they cant get the talent then automation is their answer. But it cant be about businesses creating the most efficient operations. His vision may come up against some scepticism, with even the Bank of England recently warning about the impact of automation on jobs and wages. In a recent speech, the Banks chief economist Andy Haldane said: Increased automation and the dawn of a Fourth Industrial Revolution could result in slower pay growth and workers receiving a smaller slice of the income pie. But Mr Stockwood is optimistic firms can rise to the challenge. He said: Its beholden on business leaders to build businesses that can be seen in a broader social context. Its about benefits being shared by all stakeholders and not just shareholders. Simply Business which has around 500 staff was sold to US giant Travelers Companies Inc in March 2017 for 400 million. With the backing of Travelers, the group has plans to tap further into the US market a potential 50 billion US dollar (38 billion) market, according to Mr Stockwood with Europe to follow. But maintaining his ethos on working will remain key as it grows, while he said he is also now advising Travelers, with Simply Business acting as a petri dish for technology and workforce ideas. 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Mr Dodds denied that his party wanted to see a no-deal Brexit, but was clear that his party will not be moved on their red lines and said that if the EU continued to push for a backstop it would "inevitably lead to a stand off". Read More DUP leader Arlene Foster is set to meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin on Monday, while Sinn Fein are meeting Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in London. Unscheduled talks between Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Sunday failed to resolve key issues including the Irish border. The backstop, intended to avoid a hard border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, has been a major sticking point in the negotiations The EU version of the backstop, which would see just Northern Ireland remain aligned with Brussels' rules, has been called unacceptable by Mrs May and has been rejected out of hand by the DUP. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme on Monday morning Mr Dodds denied that his party wanted to get rid of Prime Minister Theresa May, but acknowledged unrest within the Conservative Party. "The Conservative Party are deeply troubled about the way things are going. What we need to see is a policy that delivers Brexit and which safeguards the union," the North Antrim MP said. "Mrs May said that there would be no new borders within the United Kingdom, the whole of the UK including Northern Ireland would leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. "What we need to see is that delivered. We want to see a sensible Brexit which delivers on the promises, because the whole of the United Kingdom voted that way." Expand Close Mairtin O Muilleoir / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mairtin O Muilleoir Mr Dodds pointed out that Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson held the same view as the DUP and that the narrative of the "DUP holding the government to ransom" was not true. "We're trying to solve one problem which is the Irish border issue, which has been overhyped, then you're going to create another more fundamental problem and what we're about is trying to solve problems not create more which will divide our economy off from our main market. "We don't want a no-deal, but if the arrogance and hubris of the EU continues, with Michel Barnier putting forward proposals about breaking up the Union, if they continue to maintain that hard line then the chance of a no-deal does increase. We don't want that to happen we're working to prevent it. Those who are running around criticising us, like Sinn Fein who don't even take their seats would be better off making their influence felt than putting up posters." The North Antrim MP took aim at Sinn Fein after they said that the DUP's Brexit demands were a threat to the economy. "We will ensure that the whole of the United Kingdom, that nothing will be done that can hurt the economy. The biggest damage done to the economy of Northern Ireland over the years was Sinn Fein, to listen to them now talk about instability when they still eulogise terrorists who actually murdered industrialists, livelihoods and bombs etc, the irony is unbelieveable," Mr Dodds said. "It is the EU if it maintains its position that it wants a backstop then that is something that will inevitably lead to a stand off. As Theresa May said no Prime Minister could ever except it. We need to get real. The United Kingdom cannot be broken up. This is now clearly turning into a battle for the union itself." Sinn Fein's Mairtin O Muilleoir said that his party had a clear message for the Prime Minister ahead of their meeting on Monday. "There's certainly something happening, we are reaching a crunch time in the negotiations, our message to Theresa May will be to keep her commitmnets. She's made a commitment that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland," he told Good Morning Ulster. "She is committed to the backstop which the majority of parties in the Assembly and people here voted for, to remain in the customs union and the single market. The Good Friday Agreement will not be crashed by this Brexit being foisted upon us." "That's our clear message, will Mrs May listen? We know she is a hostage of the DUP, or has been until recently because of this marriage she has, but we travel hopefully, the case makes itself, Ireland will be damaged by Brexit." The South Belfast MLA said that if an agreement was not reached everyone would suffer. "It's lose-lose. The British will lose. The European Union will lose and our job is to mitigate that loss," he said. Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann MLA last night hit out at EU negotiators and the Irish government, accusing both of "playing fast and loose" with the Belfast Agreement. His remarks came during a frantic day of negotiations which saw UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab head to Brussels for an unscheduled meeting with top EU negotiator Michel Barnier over the so-called 'Irish backstop' issue. Unionists are opposed to EU Brexit proposals, claiming they could see Northern Ireland cut adrift from the rest of the UK, becoming what Mr Swann described as an "EU Protectorate". He said the EU's 'Irish backstop' proposals - which would mean the whole UK staying in a customs union with the EU after Brexit, and Northern Ireland also remaining in the EU's single market - was an abuse of the Belfast Agreement. "The next few days will be pivotal in the history of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom," he said. "Brussels cannot simply dismiss the potential constitutional consequences of Brexit as something that they don't have to be concerned about as part of negotiations," he stated. "That approach ignores the Belfast Agreement and the principle of consent which underpinned it. They are playing fast and loose with an agreement which underpinned the relative peace which we have today." Any border in the Irish Sea would be as bad for the Republic of Ireland as for Northern Ireland, the UUP leader said. "The EU negotiators, the Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and their colleagues should be mindful of that. It certainly looks like the Belfast Agreement is being used and abused, twisted and contorted by those who are seeking to exploit the situation. "These same people claim they don't want a hard border on the island of Ireland but seem content to see economic, regulatory barriers imposed between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom which would have a huge detrimental impact on the local economy. "Any border down the Irish Sea, regulatory or otherwise, would be as bad as a no-deal Brexit for Northern Ireland and indeed the Republic of Ireland." Earlier, Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill accused the DUP of being prepared to drive Northern Ireland's economy 'over the cliff' against the will of the people. Speaking at an IRA commemoration event Mrs O'Neill said: "The majority of MLAs elected in the north are opposed to Brexit. "This is being wilfully ignored by Theresa May and her accomplice Arlene Foster and I have no doubt that one or the other, or both, will pay a heavy price politically. "Arlene Foster is prepared to drive our economy over the cliff in pursuit of her narrow agenda with no regard for the future prosperity of the people of the north who will pick up the tab for her reckless Brexit." In a statement, a DUP spokesperson said: "Our position remains that we want a deal that works for all parts of the UK and which preserves its constitutional and economic integrity. "It is the arrogance and hubris of the EU which is increasing the possibility of a 'no-deal' scenario through its desire to break up the UK." Donald Tusk said that while there was good will on both sides, the negotiations have been more complicated than expected (Rick Findler/PA) Britain is more likely than ever before to crash out of the European Union without a deal, Brussels has warned. Theresa May insisted a Brexit deal is still achievable despite deadlock in negotiations just days ahead of a crunch summit. But hours later, European Council president Donald Tusk said that while there was good will on both sides, the negotiations have been more complicated than expected. A group of Cabinet ministers met on Monday evening to discuss the developments, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Environment Secretary Michael Gove among those who attended, the Press Association understands. Mrs May will address the leaders of the remaining 27 EU nations on Wednesday before they discuss over dinner without her how to proceed in the talks. On a #Brexit deal: It always seems impossible until it's done. Let us not give up. My #euco invitation letter https://t.co/YaVdCF5gyf Charles Michel (@eucopresident) October 15, 2018 In a letter to EU leaders ahead of the summit, Mr Tusk said: As things stand today, it has proven to be more complicated than some may have expected. We should nevertheless remain hopeful and determined, as there is good will to continue these talks on both sides. But at the same time, responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before. Like the UK, the Commission has started such preparations, and will give us an update during the meeting. He added: But let me be absolutely clear. The fact that we are preparing for a no-deal scenario must not, under any circumstances, lead us away from making every effort to reach the best agreement possible, for all sides. This is what our state of mind should be at this stage. As someone rightly said: It always seems impossible until its done. Let us not give up. Mrs May called for cool, calm heads to prevail after talks last weekend failed to bridge differences between the UK and EU over the future status of the border in Ireland. And she warned of the danger that failure to reach agreement over the border could result in the UK leaving the EU without a deal in March next year. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) The European Council meeting this week had initially been pencilled in as the summit where the UKs withdrawal agreement and political declaration on future trade and security relations would be finalised. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the prospect of agreement looks a bit more difficult again, adding: If it doesnt work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear but time is pressing. Berlin wants the UKs withdrawal next March to be orderly but not at any price, Mrs Merkel told a conference of German exporters. And Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested a deal may be delayed as late as December. Mr Varadkar said Dublin was making preparations for a potentially catastrophic no-deal withdrawal, but did not believe this was the most likely outcome. But Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the DUP, which props up Mrs Mays minority administration in the Commons, said a no-deal outcome was now probably inevitable due to the intransigence of EU negotiators. Talks at the weekend foundered over the EUs demand for a backstop to the backstop designed to ensure the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic remains open under any circumstances. Mrs May has offered to keep the whole of the UK temporarily in a customs union with the EU until a broader trade deal is in place avoiding the need for customs and regulatory checks at the Irish border, with the expectation this will not be later than the end of 2021. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) But Mr Barnier insisted a carve-out keeping Northern Ireland alone in the EUs customs area should remain available in case the UK-wide arrangement lapses before the trade deal is finalised. Mrs May told MPs this was not acceptable as it risked undermining the integrity of the UK. The PM warned the Irish issue must not be allowed to derail progress towards a deal which she said was in the interests of both the UK and EU. She told MPs she would take steps to ensure that we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely. And she warned: We are entering the final stages of these negotiations. This is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail. And it is the time for a clear-eyed focus on the few remaining but critical issues that are still to be agreed. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed Mrs Mays comments as another nothing has changed moment from this shambles of a Government. A teenager was remanded in custody accused of having a knife during a weekend disturbance in Belfast. Jamie Love, 18, also faces two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The allegations relate to an incident in the Percy Street area last Friday night. Three people were arrested amid reports that a number of people had been injured. Love, of Rossmore Drive in the city, appeared before Belfast Magistrates' Court charged with the grievous bodily harm offences and possessing an offensive weapon, namely a knife, on Monday. He was remanded in custody to appear again by video-link later this week, the Courts Service confirmed. Meanwhile, a woman and a man, both in their thirties, who were also detained in connection with the same incident have been released on police bail pending further enquiries. ends The number of complaints about anti-social behaviour in Belfast's main student area at the start of the new university term was down by a third on last year, Belfast City Council has said The number of complaints about anti-social behaviour in Belfast's main student area at the start of the new university term was down by a third on last year, Belfast City Council has said. Most of the complaints were about noise. The council said the 33% decrease followed "concentrated and ongoing work" by community safety officers and partner agencies, including the PSNI and the universities. Read More "From September 24 to October 3, 2018 a total of 36 anti-social behaviour complaints were received as compared to 56 during the same period last year," it said. "The complaints included 32 about noise, two about anti-social behaviour in a crowd, one about damage to property and one relating to drug litter." The council said it had dealt with some of the complaints, while referrals were also made to the universities and the police. It added: "Council dealt with 16 complaints itself, mostly by way of verbal/informal warning, warning notices and, on occasion, a warning letter. "Three referrals were made to the PSNI; two relating to noise and one in relation to anti-social behaviour. "And 15 referrals were also made to higher education institutions." Queen's University did not disclose how many complaints it had received about anti-social behaviour by its undergraduates. It said: "The number of complaints...has remained static over the last two years." Ulster University said it had seen "a significant decrease in the number of reports of anti-social behaviour" from the council's noise team compared with last year, but did not give the numbers involved. The deadline for applications to join the PSNI is on Friday. The application process for the PSNI's Constable recruitment process closes this week. The closing date for applications is this Friday, October 19 at 12pm. Read More Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin encouraged anyone interested to get their applications in. There are only a few days left until the closing date and I would encourage anyone interested in a career in policing, to log onto our recruitment website at www.joinpsni.co.uk to find out more details," the Deputy Chief Constable said. We are looking for people who are committed to making a difference and who want to make a positive contribution in communities across Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland is committed to being representative of the community we serve and we welcome applications from across all sections of the community. For more information go to www.JoinPSNI.co.uk A DUP MLA described the Prime Minister's refusal to answer questions on when any backstop proposal would end in the event of a no-deal Brexit, as "slippery". South Belfast representative Christopher Stalford pointed out the Prime Minister had been asked four times about publishing a date when this proposed backstop will end, after she delivered a statement on the latest progress on the Brexit talks. "Expect that number to rise before this session is over. Slippery," he tweeted. Later it was reported eight MPs asked for a reassurance on a time-limit - something the EU has resisted and none "got a clear answer". Read More The PM gave a commitment in the House today that a backstop that would see NI carved off in the EUs customs union and parts of the single market....... is something I could never accept. She must hold to this. Nigel Dodds (@NigelDoddsDUP) October 15, 2018 By our team's count, 8 MP s asked PM for a reassurance on a time limit on UK wide customs union, none of them got a clear answer Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 15, 2018 The most interesting exchange during @theresa_may statement was with @NigelDoddsDUP. The vibes were not good. Ken Reid (@bigkenreid) October 15, 2018 During her Commons statement Mrs May reaffirmed she could "never accept" any deal which would separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. She called for "cool, calm heads to prevail" after talks at the weekend failed to bridge differences between the UK and EU over the future status of the border in Ireland. Mrs May told MPs keeping Northern Ireland within the EU's customs area was not acceptable as it risked undermining the integrity of the UK. The PM warned that the Irish issue must not be allowed to "derail" progress towards a deal which she said was in the interests of both the UK and EU. Read More She told MPs she would take steps to ensure "we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely". DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said that while no one wanted a border on the island of Ireland it was "never right" for a border to be placed down the Irish Sea. Quoting the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson who also said there could never be a border of any kind down the Irish Sea he asked for the Prime Minister to confirm any deal which "carved off" Northern Ireland leaving it in the EU customs union and parts of the single market and "separated through a border in the Irish Sea from the UK's own internal market, could never be accepted by her". "Will she confirm it is single market and customs union, the UK leaving the EU together with no part hived off either in the single market or customs differences?" A situation where NI businesses can both export freely to Great Britain and the EU... would be a good position for those Northern Ireland businesses. Theresa May The Prime Minister reaffirmed that the UK would leave the EU but said a deal which allowed Northern Ireland to export freely to both the rest of the UK and Ireland would be beneficial to business. "We will be leaving the European Union together. I am very clear there should be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland but as we put forward proposals we can deliver on that and maintain the integrity of our union," she said. Expand Close Christopher Stalford's tweet. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Christopher Stalford's tweet. "And we have made that very clear when the EU made their proposal which would have effectively carved Northern Ireland away from the rest of the UK in their backstop proposal. "It is precisely why we can not accept their backstop to the backstop because they continue to want to see that. What we want to see in a backstop is a situation where Northern Ireland businesses can both export freely to Great Britain and the EU. "Actually that would be a good position for those Northern Ireland businesses." Later South Belfast DUP MP Emma Little Pengelly asked for a firm commitment that nothing would be agreed with the EU which would exclude Northern Ireland from future trade deals. The Prime Minister rejected this saying any future trade deal would be for the whole UK including Northern Ireland. A former Sinn Fein MLA is to receive undisclosed compensation for being referred to as "a bigot" by an ex-DUP Assembly member, the High Court heard today. An apology and retraction was also read out to Rosie McCorley as part of the settlement reached in her defamation action against Nelson McCausland. Ms McCorley, who represented West Belfast until she lost her Stormont seat in 2016, sued over comments made in a BBC Radio Ulster interview. A judge was told today that a confidential resolution has been reached in the case. Under the terms of the settlement a statement was read out on behalf of Mr McCausland, who served as a DUP MLA for North Belfast for 14 years. His barrister told the court: "The defendant apologises to the plaintiff for the words he used during an interview on Good Morning Ulster on BBC Radio Ulster on February 16, 2016 wherein he referred to the plaintiff as "a bigot". "The defendant retracts his comments in their entirety, and has agreed to pay compensation and the legal costs she has incurred in bringing this action to the plaintiff." No further details of the case were revealed. Outside court, Ms McCorley's lawyer, Nicholas Quinn of O'Muirigh Solicitors, said: "My client is relieved at the retraction of the defamatory words used, and that the matter can now be put behind her." The Presbyterian Moderator has admitted that times are changing as he oversaw the closure of Fortwilliam and Macrory Church in north Belfast. The Antrim Road place of worship held its final Sunday morning service yesterday, with the congregation set to merge with Whitehouse Presbyterian a few miles away, bringing well over a century of history to a close. Rt Rev Dr Charles McMullen said it was time for the Church as a whole to look forward, not back. "Times are changing and we can't deny that," he said. "But I have visited so many lively, outgoing churches as Moderator and that has given me encouragement. "There are always trends and demographic shifts, and sadly Fortwilliam and Macrory has succumbed to that. "But if you look at my own church, West Church in Bangor, which was only founded in 1961, we now have 1,100 families attached. Where one tree is sadly withering another is bearing fruit." For 133 years the church has stood in imposing welcome to Presbyterians and the wider community of the area. Several hundred people turned out for the final morning of worship. For many it was a pleasant return to say farewell in the autumn sunshine, but for many more it was a sad occasion as the doors finally closed on a building that has been so much a part of their lives. Among those attending were two former Lord Mayors of Belfast, Sinn Fein's Tom Hartley and the SDLP's Nichola Mallon. It was a far cry from the dwindling congregation of 30-40 regular attenders. "Words don't come easy," its minister, Rev Ken Doherty, said. "This is the end of an era and there is a collective sadness, but we must remember the life of the congregation will continue." At its peak, Fortwilliam and Macrory welcomed over 600 to services every Sunday. It counts former BBC political correspondent John Cole and former Lord Chief Justice Brian Hutton as past members of the congregation. Lord Hutton also served many years as a Sunday School teacher. But there was one story in particular that stood out in the memory of church elder John McDowell. "John Gibson will be remembered by many," he said. "He served as the church committee building convener for many years. "He was a diabetic and had raised funds for the UK Diabetes Association, so much that in October 1993 the charity announced he was to be the first recipient of a new award. "We were all thrilled for him. "That same day he was murdered by the IRA as he worked for Henry Brothers in Magherafelt, and they had a security forces contract. "He was such a big loss to the community. "It was that period of political and religious change during the Troubles that started the decline. "Young families moved to the outskirts of Belfast and finally we reached our current situation. "My life has revolved around this church since 1941 and I will shed a tear as the doors close, but I'll also rejoice in the fellowship we've had." Claire Hughes is a current church elder. "The story I'm told is that my great aunt decided to get married here as the steps at the front would look good in a wedding photograph - and we've never left," she said. "I've grown up in this church and there's a great sadness. "But I suppose, when you're made an elder aged just 28, alarms bells should have been ringing." Brian Downey and his son Matthew were revisiting Fortwilliam and Macrory to say farewell, and his family is typical of the demographic shift that saw numbers in the congregation fall in recent years. "I was originally a member of Macrory until it closed 12 years ago, so I've been through an amalgamation before," Brian said. "We found a new home here, but we now live in Dundonald and it makes sense for us to go to church there. "This is a beautiful place and it's sad to see it go." Having served as clerk of session for 25 years and been a member of the congregation for all her adult life, Muriel Torrens is feeling the closure more than most. "I've been a part of this church since I was 11. It was 1952 when my family came to live in the prefabs at Cavehill," she said. "It's heartbreaking. Looking back, previous ministers always wished young couples well as they set off to new lives in Glengormley or Ballyclare, encouraging them to join with churches in their new communities. "No one saw a day like this coming." Church property convener Malcolm Kane has seen the building in good times and bad. "I came here in 1952 and the place was thriving. But the community has changed," he said. "Some weeks there are as few as 35 people attending, so we had to think practically. "Emotions could no longer outweigh common sense. "The building is old and it's very difficult to carry out essential maintenance, and very costly." Northern Ireland investigators have met with the Republic's Criminal Assets Bureau about Dublin man John Gilligan who is accused of money laundering, a court heard on Monday. A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigator revealed the meeting took place last Thursday and that he now requires an International Letter of Request. John Gilligan (66), of Greenfort Crescent, west Dublin, appeared at Coleraine Magistrates Court on Monday via video link from Maghaberry Prison where he has been on remand in connection with one charge of 'attempting to remove criminal property from Northern Ireland'. He was arrested while attempting to board a flight from Belfast to Spain in August. At the time the NCA said officers recovered around 23,000 Euro at the scene. At Coleraine Court via video link, Gilligan confirmed his name. A prosecutor said the application was to adjourn the case for a further four weeks as the investigator had told her the file in the case would be with her Department at the end of the month. District Judge Paul Copeland noted it had been "a lengthy case" and the prosecutor said the first appearance had been on August 24. Defence barrister Plunkett Nugent said his "strict instructions" were to seek a two week adjournment. Mr Nugent said the case involved "a very unusual set of circumstances" and the defendant had given a "full account of where the money came from". The lawyer said it was his understanding that "99 per cent of that money has been accounted for" and that the National Crime Agency has now received written confirmation from the people who provided the cash. Mr Nugent argued there was "no evidence" against his client. He said that there had been previous bail applications with the latest being last week but he said that court had not examined the issue of the evidence against the defendant. Mr Nugent said bail had been refused on the grounds of his client being seen as being a risk of offending and leaving the jurisdiction if freed. The NCA investigator confirmed to the court he intended to have a file with prosecutors by the end of October. The officer said he held a meeting last Thursday with the Criminal Assets Bureau to outline what he required from them and he was told he needed to get an International Letter of Request. The investigator said when he submits his file two statements of evidence will still be due and one is regarding an interview with the defendant. Judge Copeland said there was no reason why the case could not proceed "promptly" to the commital stage to potentially send the case to the Crown Court. He granted the defence application for the case to be adjourned for two weeks for an update. Mr Nugent said he wished to make an application for certification in the case "because I can see this possibly proceeding by way of a full examination of all the evidence at the commital stage" He added that "the evidence or lack of evidence" could be looked at then. The case was adjourned to October 29 and Gilligan was further remanded in custody. The defendant said: "Thank you very much" and as he left the video link prison booth he could be seen holding papers. Police discovered a man with serious injuries in Belfast. Police are appealing for information and witnesses after a man was discovered with serious injuries in Belfast. The man was discovered in the Woodbourne Court area on Sunday around 12:50pm. Police believe that the man may have been involved in an altercation between Saturday evening and Sunday. The man was taken to hospital for treatment to his injuries. Detective Sergeant Dane said: We are working to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident. "I would ask anyone who noticed any suspicious activity in the area or anyone who has information that could assist police with their enquiries to contact detectives at Musgrave on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 710 14/10/18. "Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime. The mother of an IRA man shot dead by police has failed in a new legal bid to have the inquest verdict quashed. Teresa Jordan claimed the coroner was wrong in finding it impossible to determine with certainty what happened when her son Pearse was killed by an RUC officer 26 years ago. But judges in the Court of Appeal rejected arguments that a failure to decide on central issues surrounding the lawfulness of the shooting in west Belfast amounted to an abdication of responsibility. Lord Justice Stephens said: "We are satisfied that the coroner demonstrated that he had striven hard to make a finding about the various issues and that he had explained the basis for his conclusion that it was not possible for him to do do." The ruling represents a further blow for the family's attempts to secure another examination into the circumstances surrounding a shooting they believe was unjustified. Pearse Jordan's death was one of several high-profile cases in Northern Ireland involving allegations the RUC were involved in shoot-to-kill incidents. The 22-year-old had been driving a hijacked car stopped by police in an anti-terrorist operation in November 1992. He was shot after getting out on the Falls Road and trying to run away, unarmed. In November 2016 the coroner overseeing a fresh inquest into the death said he was not convinced either by family claims that Jordan was gunned down in cold blood, or by police assertions that the RUC sergeant who opened fire acted in self-defence. He held that the State had failed to prove the use of lethal force was lawful, but concluded that the precise circumstances of how the IRA man met his death remains unknown. Expand Close Teresa Jordan, mother of Pearse Jordan, pictured in 2009. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Teresa Jordan, mother of Pearse Jordan, pictured in 2009. Mrs Jordan's lawyers claimed the disputed issues of fact should have been resolved in the evidence. Ballistic evidence was disregarded without evaluation or explanation, along with an alleged failure to apply the identified standard of proof to issues in the case, they contend. Mrs Jordan was seeking a declaration that the inquest was unfair, unlawful and in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Last year, the High Court dismissed her case after counsel for the coroner insisted he had been best placed to reach conclusions about the facts and assess the credibility of witnesses during 16 days of evidence. Appealing that ruling, her lawyers insisted there had been a legal obligation to make every effort to arrive at a conclusion. They submitted that the reasons given by the coroner for his failure to reach a conclusion were insufficient. However, the Court of Appeal held that there was a positive obligation to consider the "third possible outcome" of being unsure about what exactly occurred - provided reasons were given for being undecided. Dismissing the case, Lord Justice Stephens confirmed: "We consider that there is no arguable case that he abdicated his duty in the conduct of this inquest." Outside court, Mrs Jordan's solicitor did not rule out mounting a further challenge. Fearghal Shiels, of Madden & Finucane, said: "Notwithstanding that the coroner had found that the officer who shot Pearse Jordan in the back had failed to prove on the balance of probabilities that the shooting was justified, we are disappointed that other central questions relevant to the circumstances of Pearse's death remain unexplained. "We will consider the Court of Appeal's decision carefully with the family before deciding on a further appeal." Guests at the dedication of a plaque to the soldiers of the 6th Connaught Rangers in Ronssoy, France The unveiling of a bronze memorial to William McFadzean VC in Lurgan A bronze bust has been unveiled to commemorate Victoria Cross recipient Private William Frederick McFadzean in his home town of Lurgan. McFadzean was awarded the UK's highest honour for "the most conspicuous gallantry" during the Battle of the Somme. Saturday's ceremony commemorated his actions on July 1, 1916 when, while serving in the 4th Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles, McFadzean threw himself on top of a box of grenades that had slipped into his trench, dislodging two of the safety pins. They exploded, killing him instantly and wounding two others. McFadzean's actions saved the lives of all soldiers in the trench. The Lord Lieutenant of County Armagh, Lord Caledon, performed the official unveiling, with the Northern Ireland Military Wives Choir and the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Irish Regiment also taking part in the ceremony. Meanwhile, nationalist soldiers from the Falls Road who fought and died in World War One with the 6th Connaught Rangers have been remembered in a special ceremony in northern France. The service, held in Ronssoy yesterday, involved the dedication of a plaque to the battalion who fought alongside the 36th (Ulster) Division in March 1916. It was the second of two ceremonies held over the weekend, with the Ulster Division commemorated in Belgium on Saturday. Alan McFarland, chair of the Somme Association, said yesterday's ceremony, remembering around 600 young men, was "a unique event". As well as a laurel wreath laid by a representative of the Irish Defence Forces, poppy wreathes were laid by a member of the British armed forces. One person has been rushed to hospital after a crash on the A8 between Belfast and Larne. The crash happened at Ballynure at around 5pm on Monday involving a van and a lorry. The Ambulance Service said an A&E crew was sent to the scene and, following assessment and initial treatment, one patient was taken to Antrim Area Hospital. The road remains closed to traffic. A no-deal Brexit would risk 320m of trade between the UK and Ireland, the federation warns A no-deal Brexit would be disastrous for the drinks industry on both sides of the border, the sector's trade association has said. The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) warned that the UK leaving the EU without an agreement in place would hit Northern Ireland's whiskey distilleries and cider producers who use Armagh apples. It would also mean delay and disruption to 23,000 annual cross-border truck movements, unnecessary tariffs on cross-border supply chains and put at risk around 320m worth of trade between the UK and Ireland. In advance of this week's crunch EU summit, ABFI has published a new position paper, Brexit and the Irish drinks industry: Priorities for the future relationship. The paper says potential consequences of a no-deal Brexit include: Legal protection for drinks linked to Ireland - such as Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream Liqueur and Irish Poitin - could be jeopardised. Northern Ireland producers' access to global free trade opportunities would be at risk. Immediate tariffs on barley, malt, glass bottles, apples, finished cider and other supply chain inputs. Regulatory and customs checks at the border, leading to significant delays and additional costs for 23,000 cross-border truck movements. Requirement for up-front VAT payments on cross-border trade. The potential for regulatory divergence across a range of standards, from labelling to bottle sizes. ABFI is the all-island trade association for the Irish drinks industry and forms part of Ibec, Ireland's largest business representative body. ABFI director Patricia Callan said: "The Irish drinks industry is a highly integrated all-island sector that's important for both the Irish and Northern Irish economies. "For us, Brexit could be highly disruptive, particularly if there was to be a disastrous no-deal scenario. However, this need not be the case and we would urge all parties to seek to ensure that a withdrawal agreement is concluded and that a no-deal Brexit is avoided. "We want to see clear, robust provisions to safeguard the all-island economy and to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland." The ABFI paper outlines that global drinks exports from Ireland were valued at 1.6bn (1.4bn) in 2017. The total value of trade in drinks products between the UK and Ireland was 364m (320m), one-third of which, 121m (106m), was north-south trade. The UK remains the dominant market for Irish beer (71%) and cider (85%). Ms Callan added: "In terms of EU-UK trade, the economic interests of both the EU and the UK would be best served by the UK remaining in a customs union with the EU. If this cannot be achieved, then a comprehensive alternative approach must be put in place. A fall-back to EU external tariffs or WTO rates must be avoided." A no-deal Brexit could see a range of new tariffs on cross-border supply chains, including: Tariffs of up to 93 (82) a tonne on barley and 131 (115) a tonne on malt. An EU external tariff of 5% on 130 million glass bottles imported into Ireland from the UK. A 7.2% tariff on apples grown in Northern Ireland. "Tariffs would add significant costs to Northern Irish whiskey distilleries and breweries buying barley and malt from Ireland, to Irish craft distilleries and breweries buying specialist malts from the UK and to Irish cider producers buying apples from Co Armagh," said Ms Callan. "Similarly, tariffs on finished cider products would damage the cost competitiveness of Irish and Northern Irish cider producers, threatening sales and jobs." Ms Callan said Brexit not only risks disrupting free trade between Ireland and the UK, it threatens trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the world. "We do not want Northern Ireland producers to face any significant comparative disadvantage if they lose access to EU free trade agreements," she said. A Belfast man killed in a house in the Ormeau area of the city was shot "from a range of less than two metres", a jury has heard. Stephen Carson died after being blasted in the head through the door of the downstairs bathroom in his Walmer Street home in February 2016. Mr Carson - who had traces of drugs indicative of heroin use in his system when he died - was making a 999 call to police when the fatal shot was fired. A jury of seven men and five women at Belfast Crown Court heard evidence, on Monday, October 15, from the former deputy State Pathologist of Northern Ireland, who carried out a post mortem on the remains of the 28-year old. Dr Alistair Bentley confirmed he conducted the autopsy on Saturday February 27, 2016 - two days after Mr Carson's death. When asked to comment on Mr Carson's death, from the witness box Dr Bentley said: "Death was due to a gunshot wound to his head. "There was a gunshot entry wound on the left side of the scalp towards the front of the head. This has passed from left to right, causing extensive fracturing of the skull, with a very severe injury to the brain, which caused death." Dr Bentley also spoken of abrasions and grazing to Mr Carson's head, which the expert attributed as being caused by splinters from the door. The jury has already heard that Mr Carson sustained the fatal shot whilst crouched or leaning against the door. The pathologist said the presence of the door would have affected the spread of pellets from the shotgun. Another significant factor, Dr Bentley said, was the presence in the head wound of the wad from the shotgun cartridge, which he said "indicated a relatively close range discharge of this gun of a few meters." The abrasions caused by the splinters and the presence of the plastic wad led Dr Bentley to "tentatively suggest a range of less than two metres." When asked what he did with the pellets and plastic wad, Dr Bentley said: "They were handed over to a Crime Scene Investigator." Dr Bentley also confirmed he took a blood sample from the deceased for a toxicology report. He confirmed the tests were negative for alcohol, but there was the presence of several drugs including morphine, methodone, Diazepan and a substance not prescribed in the UK, namely Phenazepam which is used mainly in Russia. When asked what the presence of some of these substances indicated, Dr Bentley said: "Heroin use." The three cousins - David 'Dee' James Francis Smith (35) from Monagh Drive, 39-year old Michael 'Spud' Lawrence Smith also from Monagh Drive and 42-year old Francis Gerard Patrick Smith from Glenmurray Court - have all been charged with, and deny, murdering Mr Carson. Michael Smyth has also been charged with, and denied, possessing a firearm with intent to commit murder, while Francis Smith also denies possessing both a firearm, and ammunition, in suspicious circumstances. The Crown say the motive for Mr Carson's death was linked to a violent altercation in the Turf Lodge area of the city dating back to 2010. The DUP's Westminster leader Nigel Dodds has threatened to frustrate Theresa May's minority government should any Brexit deal "break up or fracture" the union. However, the North Belfast MP said they would not go as far to pull the government down. He was speaking to the BBC's Newsnight after the Prime Minister gave an update in parliament on the progress of the Brexit talks. She is pushing for a deal which would see the whole of the UK in a customs union with the EU in the event of a no-deal and for a time limited period. However, the EU has said that option as a backstop must be in addition to the original backstop which would see Northern Ireland only remain in the customs union and with no time limit attached. Nigel Dodds MP has warned the DUP would paralyse the Conservatives domestic agenda but stop short of causing a general election if Theresa May breaks her word on Northern Ireland#newsnight | @NigelDoddsDUP | @nicholaswatt pic.twitter.com/hXQ1vaShzn BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 15, 2018 Dodds said there were "very encouraging noises" from the Prime Minister's statement in the Commons. However, he said in some of her answers she seemed not to be as clear "causing again some confusion". "We need to see exactly what it is Theresa May is going to put forward," he said. "We would certainly not want to pull the plug on the government and allow Jeremy Corbyn to get into Number 10. Read More "But under the fixed term parliament act there is a lot we can not support in terms of the government's domestic, financial, welfare and other legislation which does not trigger Jeremy Corbyn getting into Number 10. "So what I would say to colleagues is, we do not want this. We want to work with the Conservative and Unionist party." The DUP has a confidence and supply deal with the Tories which see its 10 MPs support the government on crucial legislation. On Monday evening a group of Cabinet ministers met to discuss the developments, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Environment Secretary Michael Gove among those who attended. Mr Dodds added: "If there was a suggestion the union, 'our precious union' as the Prime Minister described it be broken up or fractured in any way by the Conservative party, then clearly we would have to say 'how can we continue to implement your domestic agenda, your budgets and everything else?'. "Of course we wouldn't push for a general election but there comes a point when you have to say 'enough is enough'." Sinn Fein's Brexit negotiator Conor Murphy says the Irish border issue is not a problem that we created for ourselves. We need a backstop arrangement which recognises the uniqueness of our position.@conormurphysf | @MarkUrban01 | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/qgu3eS9q2F BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 15, 2018 Sinn Fein Brexit spokesman Conor Murphy said his party got no further clarity from the Prime Minister after their meeting with her on Monday evening. "It is the British border in Ireland and it is not a problem we created and we didn't create the problem of Brexit," he said. "The British Prime Minister and the EU 27 in December recognised the uniqueness of the Irish situation, the border issues, the Good Friday Agreement and the implications for it as a consequence of taking us out of Europe against our will. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Prime Minister Theresa May with First Secretary of State Damian Green (far right), Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster, and DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds, as DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson shakes hands with Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip Gavin Williamson inside 10 Downing Street in June 2017 to seal the confidence and supply deal. Getty Images Nigel Dodds / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prime Minister Theresa May with First Secretary of State Damian Green (far right), Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster, and DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds, as DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson shakes hands with Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip Gavin Williamson inside 10 Downing Street in June 2017 to seal the confidence and supply deal. "The realty is we need a backstop arrangement which recognises the uniqueness of our situation. We can't have it time-limited. Brexit is not a one-off event. "It has huge implications for those that live in my country.. and we want to ensure our rights and entitlement's are protected in those arrangements." Read More He said he wanted Brexit to "go well" when asked if a "disorderly" withdrawal would progress Sinn Fein's goal of securing a border poll. He said he did not want to see peace threatened or the economy destroyed, "which is a real possibility of the consequence of Brexit". "I think the view in Ireland is changing anyway, I think there is an inevitable drift towards an examination of the constitutional position in Ireland," he added. "We don't want to see Brexit as a steam train to be driven through our political project on the island which is about reconciliation, about changing the politics of the island and that is why we have been so vociferous in terms of trying to get terms on a particular set of arangements." Theresa May is set to address MPs in the House of Commons on the state of Brexit negotiations on Monday afternoon (Jack Taylor/PA) Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted that a Brexit deal is still achievable despite deadlock in negotiations just days ahead of a crunch European Council summit. Mrs May called for cool, calm heads to prevail after talks last weekend failed to bridge differences between the UK and EU over the future status of the border in Ireland. And she warned of the danger that failure to reach agreement over the border could result in the UK leaving the EU without a deal in March next year. The Prime Minister was addressing the House of Commons just two days before she travels to Brussels for a summit at which it had initially been hoped to finalise the UKs withdrawal agreement as well as a political declaration on future trade and security relations. Following the failure to achieve a breakthrough when Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab met EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Sunday, the European Commission confirmed that no further negotiations will be held ahead of Wednesdays summit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the prospect of agreement looks a bit more difficult again, adding: If it doesnt work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear but time is pressing. Berlin wants the UKs withdrawal next March to be orderly but not at any price, Mrs Merkel told a conference of German exporters. And Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested a deal may be delayed as late as December. Mr Varadkar said Dublin was making preparations for a potentially catastrophic no-deal withdrawal, but did not believe that this was the most likely outcome. But Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the DUP, which props up Mrs Mays minority administration in the Commons, said that a no-deal outcome was now probably inevitable due to the intransigence of EU negotiators. Talks at the weekend foundered over the EUs demand for a backstop to the backstop designed to ensure that the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic remains open under any circumstances. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Mrs May has offered to keep the whole of the UK temporarily in a customs union with the EU until a broader trade deal is in place avoiding the need for customs and regulatory checks at the Irish border, with the expectation that this will not be later than the end of 2021. But Mr Barnier insisted that a carve-out keeping Northern Ireland alone in the EUs customs area should remain available in case the UK-wide arrangement lapses before the trade deal is finalised. Mrs May told MPs that this was not acceptable as it risked undermining the integrity of the UK. The PM warned that the Irish issue must not be allowed to derail progress towards a deal which she said was in the interests of both the UK and EU. She told MPs she would take steps to ensure that we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely. And she warned: We are entering the final stages of these negotiations. This is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail. And it is the time for a clear-eyed focus on the few remaining but critical issues that are still to be agreed. Mrs May voiced her frustration that the Irish border issue was holding up agreement on Brexit. But she said: We cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with the no-deal outcome that no-one wants. I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the European Union. I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable. And that is the spirit in which I will continue to work with our European partners. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed Mrs Mays comments as another nothing has changed moment from this shambles of a Government. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Mrs Mays call for calm came after former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said talks were entering the moment of crisis and urged the PM to reject the EUs offer and scrap the backstop. The EU is treating us with naked contempt (offering) a choice between the break-up of this country or the subjugation of this country, between separation or submission, Mr Johnson told the Daily Telegraph. The impasse threatens to throw into disarray carefully choreographed plans which would have seen leaders of the remaining 27 EU states give the green light on Wednesday to a special summit in November to finalise the terms of the UKs withdrawal from the bloc. It remains unclear whether Mrs May will be given the opportunity to address fellow leaders before they go into a working dinner to discuss Brexit in her absence. Reports from Brussels suggest that the EU27 are now considering using the mooted November summit to discuss preparations for a no-deal Brexit. With Mrs May under siege from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies, her room for manoeuvre is severely restricted. Although the absence of a deal has damped down expectations of ministerial resignations, Eurosceptic Cabinet members are reported to be planning to meet over pizza on Monday evening to co-ordinate their stance. Asked whether Mrs May regarded the so-called pizza summit as helpful, the PMs spokesman said: Cabinet ministers are free to eat whatever they choose. Cabinet colleagues have discussions with each other all the time. The febrile atmosphere in the Tory ranks has seen former Brexit secretary David Davis emerge as a potential successor to Mrs May, with allies saying he had been contacted by several MPs urging him to run for the leadership. Tory MP Nadine Dorries said: Getting May out and him becoming an interim leader may be the only way to deliver Brexit. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said the Prime Minister needed a reality check. Theresa May is preparing to update her divided Cabinet on the Brexit deadlock as Brussels warned Britain is more likely than ever before to crash out of the European Union without a deal. The Prime Minister has insisted an exit agreement is still achievable despite negotiations stalling just days ahead of a crunch summit. European Council president Donald Tusk said that while there was goodwill on both sides, the negotiations have been more complicated than expected. There is something of a grisly job to be done here, former Brexit minister Steve Baker says cabinet ministers need to change the prime ministers mind on where she is going.@SteveBakerHW | @MarkUrban01 | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/kWT8CKgDEi BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 15, 2018 A group of Cabinet ministers met on Monday evening to discuss the developments, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Environment Secretary Michael Gove among those who attended, the Press Association understands. Lord Hague, meanwhile, told the PM there was no disgrace in doing some fresh thinking on how to resolve the stalemate. Mrs May will address the leaders of the remaining 27 EU nations on Wednesday before they discuss over dinner without her how to proceed in the talks. On a #Brexit deal: It always seems impossible until it's done. Let us not give up. My #euco invitation letter https://t.co/YaVdCF5gyf Charles Michel (@eucopresident) October 15, 2018 In a letter to EU leaders ahead of the summit, Mr Tusk said: As things stand today, it has proven to be more complicated than some may have expected. We should nevertheless remain hopeful and determined, as there is good will to continue these talks on both sides. But at the same time, responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before. Like the UK, the Commission has started such preparations, and will give us an update during the meeting. He added: But let me be absolutely clear. The fact that we are preparing for a no-deal scenario must not, under any circumstances, lead us away from making every effort to reach the best agreement possible, for all sides. This is what our state of mind should be at this stage. As someone rightly said: It always seems impossible until its done. Let us not give up. Former Brexit minister Steve Baker told BBC Twos Newsnight the Cabinet needs to change the Prime Ministers mind on her plans or they will be rejected. Mrs May called for cool, calm heads to prevail after talks last weekend failed to bridge differences between the UK and EU over the future status of the border in Ireland. And she warned of the danger that failure to reach agreement over the border could result in the UK leaving the EU without a deal in March next year. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) The European Council meeting this week had initially been pencilled in as the summit where the UKs withdrawal agreement and political declaration on future trade and security relations would be finalised. Lord Hague said Mrs May was entitled to make clear to EU leaders that she has moved heaven and earth to reach a deal but can only clinch it and have any hope of getting it through Parliament with concessions from them that are wholly reasonable. There is no humiliation in trying again, he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. Lord Hague went on to say there is no disgrace in doing some fresh thinking. The peer said a proposal floated by Tory MP Nick Boles that the UK takes up temporary membership of the European Free Trade Association after withdrawal to allow time for a free trade agreement to be negotiated was worth thinking about. He said: As an alternative to chaos it could command wide support. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin wants the UKs withdrawal next March to be orderly but not at any price. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested a deal may be delayed as late as December. But Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the DUP, which props up Mrs Mays minority administration in the Commons, said a no-deal outcome was now probably inevitable due to the intransigence of EU negotiators. Talks at the weekend foundered over the EUs demand for a backstop to the backstop designed to ensure the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic remains open under any circumstances. The PM met with Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald and vice president Michelle ONeill and reaffirmed her commitment to there being no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and no border in the Irish Sea, Downing Street said. The PM told MPs the Irish issue must not be allowed to derail progress towards a deal, which she said was in the interests of both the UK and EU. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed Mrs Mays comments as another nothing has changed moment from this shambles of a Government. Four males have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Jamie Tighe Ennis in Dublin last year. The four were arrested in the Dublin area and were detained at Coolock, Clontarf, Ballymun and Swords Garda stations. One is a juvenile and the other three range in age from their 20s to their 50s. The shooting happened at around 2.20am on October 28 2017 as 24-year-old Mr Ennis, from Artane, was leaving a pub with friends in Moateview Avenue, Coolock. An inquest in January heard that Mr Ennis had to be identified using fingerprints after he was shot in the head. Mr Ennis had convictions for assaulting gardai and firearms offences, and had appeared in court in relation to a gun charge. Gardai probing the shooting say investigations are continuing. They are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident or who may have seen a black Audi A3, registration 00-OY-5067 which was burned out at Prospect Hill, Finglas, shortly before 3am the same day to call 01 6664200 or the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111. Irelands deputy leader Simon Coveney will hold a private meeting on Tuesday in Luxembourg with EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier. The Tanaiste and Minister of State for European Affairs Helen McEntee have travelled to Luxembourg for Brexit talks at the General Affairs Council. Mr Coveney, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, will meet separately with Mr Barnier to discuss the current state of play in negotiations, and in particular talks on the draft Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, including the backstop on avoiding a hard border. We want the negotiations to succeed but this will only be possible with agreement on a legally robust backstop to avoid a hard border in the Withdrawal Agreement, which must apply in all circumstancesSimon Coveney Mr Coveney said he was disappointed further progress had not been made on the UKs exit from the European Union. It is obviously disappointing that it has not yet been possible to make the decisive progress that we urgently need in the negotiations, despite the intensive efforts of both EU and UK negotiators, he said. The (Irish) Governments position is clear we want the negotiations to succeed but this will only be possible with agreement on a legally robust backstop to avoid a hard border in the Withdrawal Agreement, which must apply in all circumstances. Todays meeting offers another opportunity to thank our EU partners for their solid support and solidarity, which has been unwavering, and to reiterate our total support for Michel Barnier and his Task Force. In advance of the European Council this week, the 27 European Union countries involved in Brexit negotiations, known as EU27, will meet on Tuesday with the General Affairs Council, and on Wednesday will hold a European Leaders meeting. At the General Affairs Council, ministers will be looking at the internal and external aspects of migration and new measures to strengthen the internal security of the Union. The visit comes just a day after reports that Brexit talks have run into a significant problem over the issue of the Northern Ireland border. EU negotiators are said to be demanding a backstop to the backstop to prevent a return of a hard border between the North and the Irish Republic. Theresa May has insisted that any backstop must be time-limited, which the Irish Government has already ruled out. Irish presidential candidate Sean Gallagher said he could not even begin to countenance the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland post-Brexit. The former Irelands Dragons Den star said he had first-hand experience of how very intimidating crossing a militarised border could be and he was very fearful for young people should a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland be reinstated. I spent my teenage (years) and early twenties travelling across the border, only miles from where I lived, spending hours at checkpoints being stopped, Mr Gallagher said. Expand Close Mr Gallagher at the launch of his campaign (Aoife Moore/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mr Gallagher at the launch of his campaign (Aoife Moore/PA) Born in Co Monaghan in the 1960s, the businessman grew up in the small village of Ballyhaise in Co Cavan, about 10 miles from the border. Late at night it was precarious to cross the border, he said. Youd be stopped, perhaps searched maybe several times, (its) very fearful for young people. It sets a tone, an international militarised checkpoint. Mr Gallagher recalled that, when he was a child, his family would travel to visit his fathers relatives in Donegal and the car would be stopped at the border and guns would be pointed at them. It becomes a normality, a normality that should not be allowed to happen, he said. It should never be allowed to happen again. Expand Close Mr Gallagher will campaign for a united Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mr Gallagher will campaign for a united Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA) Mr Gallagher added that the closest politician to him growing up would have been DUP leader Arlene Foster, who lived about 20 miles from him, yet he said their lives would never have become entangled because they came from different communities. While geographically she was the closest, in everything else we were worlds apart, he said. The independent candidate has promised to campaign for a united Ireland. If elected as president, Mr Gallagher said, he would want to play an active role in achieving a united Ireland in his lifetime. The 56-year-old candidate said the time was right to start discussions and build relationships before making a move towards unification. It is the businessmans second bid for Aras an Uachtarain. Expand Close Mr Gallagher and his wife Trish (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mr Gallagher and his wife Trish (Niall Carson/PA) In 2011, Mr Gallagher was one of seven candidates who lost out to President Michael D Higgins during the last presidential election. The father-of-two said he had learned lessons since his last attempt to secure the office. I had to do some soul-searching after the last campaign, he said. He said he spent six years locked in a legal battle with national broadcaster RTE over a tweet read out during the last live TV debate. The tweet was purported to be from an official account linked to the late Martin McGuinness, who also ran for president in 2011. However it later emerged the account was not the official campaign account of the Sinn Fein candidate. Mr Gallagher said he was running for a second time because he had never shied away from a challenge. It was great to have some time to relax with my family today. pic.twitter.com/m5eFn0txOy Sean Gallagher (@seangallagher1) October 14, 2018 The businessman, who lives in Delgany, Co Wicklow, with his wife Trish and two young children, Bobby and Lucy, has faced criticism for not taking part in the first presidential debate of the campaign on state broadcaster RTE last week. President Higgins said he could not be present because of a scheduling conflict. Mr Gallagher said he had opted out for reasons of inclusivity. Out of respect to him (Mr Higgins) and of respect of the office, all candidates need to be accommodated, he said. The entrepreneur reiterated his stance that he will only take part in debates where all candidates were present. If elected, Mr Gallagher said he would champion the rights of people with disabilities, and introduce initiatives relating to the Irish language, wellness, and the role of women in public life. The candidate believes an important element of the job will be the advancement of Irelands role within Europe post-Brexit, while also maintaining the countrys existing relationship with Britain. Theresa May is set to address MPs in the House of Commons on the state of Brexit negotiations on Monday afternoon (Jack Taylor/PA) Downing Street has insisted that the Prime Minister remains confident of getting a Brexit deal, despite the failure to bridge differences over the future of the Irish border ahead of this weeks crunch summit. Theresa May is set to address MPs in the House of Commons on the state of Brexit negotiations on Monday afternoon after talks over the weekend failed to produce the hoped-for breakthrough on the so-called backstop arrangements for Ireland. Read More The impasse means that meetings between sherpas in Brussels have been cancelled, and UK Government ministers will have no withdrawal plan to approve at Cabinet on Tuesday, before Mrs May travels to the European Council summit the following day. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said: Despite intensive negotiations several key issues remain unresolved. I can say that no further negotiations are planned ahead of the European Council. The PMs official spokesman said that real progress had been made on a number of issues and the Government was determined to press on with talks. But he said that the EU continued to insist on the possibility of a carve-out for Northern Ireland which could see a customs border down the Irish Sea something Mrs May has already said would be unacceptable to any British Prime Minister. Britain is offering a temporary backstop arrangement under which the whole UK would remain in the EU customs area unless an open border in Ireland was secured by a broader trade agreement. Discussions were said to have broken down after EU negotiators demanded a backstop to the backstop, under which Northern Ireland would stay in the customs union after the time-limited UK-wide arrangement came to an end. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said talks were entering the moment of crisis and urged Mrs May to reject the EUs offer and scrap the backstop. The EU is treating us with naked contempt (offering) a choice between the break-up of this country or the subjugation of this country, between separation or submission, Mr Johnson told the Daily Telegraph. Mrs Mays spokesman said that reports that a deal had been reached at official level on Sunday, only to break down when Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab met EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, should be taken with a pinch of salt. The spokesman said: We have made real progress in a number of key areas. However, there remain a number of unresolved issues relating to the backstop. The European Union and the UK are both clear that they want to secure a good deal and that is what both sides are working towards. We remain confident of getting a deal because it is in the interests of both the UK and the European Union. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Weve said that we want to continue to make progress in the coming days and weeks. Thats what we are focused on. He added: The EU continues to insist on the possibility of a customs border down the Irish Sea. This is something which Parliament has already unanimously rejected and is not acceptable to the Prime Minister. Arriving in Luxembourg for an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Irish Tanaiste Simon Coveney said Dublin and Brussels simply wanted Mrs May to follow through with backstop agreements already made in December and March. Expand Close Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the backstop cannot be time-limited (European Commission Audiovisual Services) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the backstop cannot be time-limited (European Commission Audiovisual Services) He told reporters a backstop cant be time-limited, adding: The backstop will be there unless and until something else is agreed, but unless you have something to replace it well then the backstop needs to be there as an insurance mechanism. But the DUPs Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, told the Telegraph: One part of the UK cannot be left behind, bound to rules set in Brussels. The constitutional and economic consequences of such an approach would be catastrophic in the long run. The impasse threatens to throw into disarray carefully choreographed plans which would have seen EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Wednesday give the green light to a special summit in November to finalise the terms of the UKs withdrawal from the bloc. We met today @DominicRaab and UK negotiating team. Despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open, including the backstop for IE/NI to avoid a hard border. I will debrief the EU27 and @Europarl_EN on the #Brexit negotiations. Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) October 14, 2018 It remains unclear whether Mrs May will be given the opportunity to address leaders of the remaining 27 EU states on Wednesday before they go into a working dinner to discuss Brexit in her absence. Reports from Brussels suggest that the EU27 are considering instead using the mooted November summit to discuss preparations for a no-deal Brexit. With Mrs May under siege from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies, her room for manoeuvre is severely restricted. Although the absence of a deal has damped down expectations of ministerial resignations, eurosceptic Cabinet members are reported to be planning to meet over pizza on Monday evening to co-ordinate their stance. Asked whether Mrs May regarded the so-called pizza summit as helpful, the PMs spokesman said: Cabinet ministers are free to eat whatever they choose. Cabinet colleagues have discussions with each other all the time. For Labour, Sir Keir Starmer said the Government must now publish details of its revised proposals for the Irish border. Expand Close Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government must publish its backstop plan (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government must publish its backstop plan (Stefan Rousseau/PA) At the moment we dont even know what the proposal is that everybody has fallen out about over the weekend, the shadow Brexit secretary told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. That needs to be looked at and scrutinised in Parliament. Talks were taking place on Monday between DUP leader Arlene Foster and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, while Mrs May was meeting Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in Westminster. The febrile atmosphere in the Tory ranks has seen former Brexit secretary David Davis emerge as a potential successor to Mrs May. Tory MP Nadine Dorries said: Getting May out and him becoming an interim leader may be the only way to deliver Brexit and FTA (a free-trade agreement). Allies of Mr Davis said he has been contacted by several Tory MPs urging him to run for the leadership and he is understood to be prepared to take part in a contest. Prime Minister Theresa May has said Brexit talks have entered their "final stages", but admitted there was still work to do before an agreement could be reached. The Prime Minister said that progress had been made on the Northern Ireland border issue "where the EU have been working with us to respond to the real concerns we had about the initial draft text". Read More Mrs May addressed MPs on the state of Brexit negotiations on Monday afternoon after talks over the weekend failed to produce the hoped-for breakthrough on the backstop arrangements. She said that both the UK Government and the EU wanted to "protect the hard won peace in Northern Ireland" and to ensure stability and that life "continues essentially the same way it does now". The Prime Minister said there had been a "great deal of inaccurate speculation" about how the talks were progressing. Mrs May told MPs progress had been made on Northern Ireland but two problems remain - the EU's demands over the Northern Ireland backstop and the need for a time limit. She said she accepted there may be a need for a backstop to prevent a hard border in Ireland but said she could not accept anything which left Northern Ireland in a different position to the rest of the UK. Mrs May told MPs that the backstop would be intended to act as an "insurance period" but that any hard border in the Irish Sea would be rejected as it would create differences between the UK have a knock on effect on businesses, jobs and investment. The Prime Minister said the EU had agreed to having a "UK-wide backstop" but that there was not time to work out the precise details, she said that a Northern Ireland only solution had been discussed but that she could not agree to anything which threatens the integrity of the United Kingdom. Mrs May told MPs that she needed to be sure that any backstop would be temporary and that she would not risk being caught in the "permanent limbo" of a single customs territory. However she said that the UK Government and the EU were "not far apart" and they must work together to reach an agreement. Mrs May said that although many of the disagreements were technical they would affect the country, jobs and livelihoods in every community across the UK. She told MPs that although it was frustrating that the deal was becoming stuck on scenarios that likely won't come to pass the government could not "let this disagreement derail prospects". The Prime Minister said that she continued to believe a "negotiated deal" was the best outcome for both the UK and EU. In response Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that it was "more of the same" from Mrs May and that it felt like "Groundhog Day". He said that the Prime Minister's Chequers Plan had been abandoned and that divisions within the Conservative Party were dictating a poor Brexit deal. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Mr Corbyn said Mrs May's "blindfold Brexit" was a "bridge to nowhere" and a "dangerous leap in the dark". "The choice for this Parliament should never be her deal or no deal: if this Government cannot get a good deal for this country then it has to make way for those who can," the Labour leader said. "The Prime Minister faces a simple and inescapable choice: be buffeted this way and that way by the chaos of her own party, or back a deal that can win the support of Parliament and the people of this country." DUP leader Arlene Foster will meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin today after surprise talks between Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier last night failed to resolve key issues including the Irish border. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald will hold talks in Westminster with Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Read More The unscheduled talks in Brussels yesterday came amid speculation that officials working on the negotiations had reached a deal. But following the meeting Mr Barnier said that "despite intense efforts" there had been a failure to reach agreement on one of the trickiest aspects of the negotiations. The surprise announcement of the meeting fuelled rumours a deal was set to be done ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Wednesday. But after talks which lasted a little over an hour, it was clear that obstacles remained. Mr Barnier said "some key issues are still open", including the so-called backstop measure to prevent a hard border. The UK Government said there were still "unresolved issues" relating to the backstop but it remained committed to making progress at Wednesday's summit. A spokesman said: "In the last few days UK and EU negotiators have made real progress in a number of key areas. However there remain a number of unresolved issues relating to the backstop." A senior UK source suggested Brussels had sought to promote the idea a deal had been reached before the meeting so it would "look like we are the ones being intransigent". But with Mrs May under increasing pressure from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies, the Government also has a reason to appear to be taking a tough line. Former Brexit Secretary David Davis has urged a Cabinet revolt against the Prime Minister's approach to the talks. The issue of the backstop - a mechanism to avoid a hard border - is at the heart of the troubles facing Mrs May as she attempts to secure a deal. The EU version of the backstop, which would see just Northern Ireland remain aligned with Brussels' rules, has been called unacceptable by Mrs May and is loathed by the DUP. Mrs May's counter-proposal is for a "temporary customs arrangement" for the whole UK, but Tory Brexiteers fear this becoming an open-ended position that would prevent free trade deals with countries around the world. Last night DUP MP Jim Shannon echoed party leader Arlene Foster's (left) prediction in a leaked email that a 'no-deal' Brexit was increasingly likely. "If the EU insist that Northern Ireland is treated differently from the rest of the UK, then there is only one option - no deal," he stated. He said that though it was neither his nor the DUP's preferred outcome, operating under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules after a hard Brexit was nothing to be afraid of. That would be preferable to Northern Ireland being "annexed" by the EU, as would be the case under present EU plans, Mr Shannon said. He also said the Cabinet was concerned about the potential loss of DUP support, which it relies on in the House of Commons for key votes. "We've made it very clear to them that if the Prime Minister goes ahead with any sort of a deal which makes Northern Ireland's position within the UK different from anywhere else, then there will be repercussions," he said. "We're not joking. We're not going to take any watering down of Northern Ireland's place in the UK." He added that the DUP deal with the Tories was at stake: "If she lets us down on this, it can only go one way, and it will be a sad day for her." Ahead of her meeting with the Prime Minister, Ms McDonald said the DUP had aligned itself with "the hard right of the Brexiteers at the cost of imposing a hard border in Ireland". She added: "The DUP do not represent the majority of people in the North on Brexit, nor our economic interests, and oppose the Good Friday Agreement. "They cannot be allowed to set the pace for Brexit or political progress in the North." Meanwhile, Tory MP Nadine Dorries suggested Mr Davis should be installed as interim leader, claiming that was the only way to secure the kind of free trade deal Brexit demanded by Eurosceptics. But Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who was hosting eight EU counterparts at his Chevening country retreat, said "there is no one who is going to be able to negotiate the right deal for Britain better than Theresa May", adding "she is battling for Britain". Theresa May is under pressure from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies (Matt Dunham/PA) The Brexit talks have run into a significant problem over the fraught issue of the Northern Ireland border, Government sources have said. Negotiations are on a knife-edge after a hastily-arranged meeting on Sunday between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab broke up without a breakthrough. Discussions were said to have broken down after EU negotiators demanded a backstop to the backstop to prevent a return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Theresa May has proposed the backstop which would effectively keep Northern Ireland in the single market while a permanent solution is found should apply to the whole of the UK. However it is understood the EU is insisting it should be backed up by the original Northern Ireland-only backstop as it first proposed. We met today @DominicRaab and UK negotiating team. Despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open, including the backstop for IE/NI to avoid a hard border. I will debrief the EU27 and @Europarl_EN on the #Brexit negotiations. Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) October 14, 2018 That could lead to customs checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK effectively imposing a border in the Irish Sea something Mrs May has said is unacceptable. The impasse threatens to throw into disarray carefully choreographed plans which would have seen EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Wednesday give the green light to a special summit in November to finalise the terms of the UKs withdrawal from the bloc. Following Sundays meeting in Brussels, Mr Barnier said that, despite intense efforts, there had been a failure to reach agreement on the border issue. The Government said there were still unresolved issues relating to the backstop but that it remained committed to making progress at the European Council meeting. We remain confident of getting a deal because it is in the interests of both the UK and the European UnionTheresa May's spokesman But with Mrs May under siege from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies, her room for manoeuvre is severely restricted. Prime Minister Theresa Mays official spokesman said: We have made real progress in a number of key areas. However, there remain a number of unresolved issues relating to the backstop. The European Union and the UK are both clear that they want to secure a good deal and that is what both sides are working towards. We remain confident of getting a deal because it is in the interests of both the UK and the European Union. Weve said that we want to continue to make progress in the coming days and weeks. Thats what we are focused on. He added: The EU continues to insist on the possibility of a customs border down the Irish Sea. This is something which Parliament has already unanimously rejected and is not acceptable to the Prime Minister. In the last few days UK and EU negotiators have made real progress in a number of key areas. However there remain a number of unresolved issues relating to the backstop. The UK is still committed to making progress at the October European Council. Department for Exiting the EU (@DExEUgov) October 14, 2018 Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the DUPs Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, said: One part of the UK cannot be left behind, bound to rules set in Brussels. The constitutional and economic consequences of such an approach would be catastrophic in the long run. Arriving in Brussels for an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Irish Tanaiste Simon Coveney said Dublin and the EU simply wanted Theresa May to follow through with backstop agreements already made in March and December. He told reporters a backstop cant be time-limited, adding: The backstop will be there unless and until something else is agreed, but unless you have something to replace it well then the backstop needs to be there as an insurance mechanism. That is all we are asking for, thats all the Michel Barnier taskforce is also looking for now in terms of legal text. For Labour, Sir Keir Starmer said the Government must now publish details of its revised proposals for the Irish border. At the moment we dont even know what the proposal is that everybody has fallen out about over the weekend, the shadow Brexit secretary told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. That needs to be looked at and scrutinised in Parliament. Irelands ambassador to the UK, Adrian ONeill, said events in Brussels were a setback and could increase the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. Expand Close Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government must publish its backstop plan (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government must publish its backstop plan (Stefan Rousseau/PA) He told BBC Radio 4s Westminster Hour: Time is running out, there is no doubt about that. In all member states, preparation for all eventualities are ramping up quite significantly. The special EU summit pencilled in for November to sign off a Brexit agreement could instead end up being used as an emergency meeting to discuss no-deal plans. Talks will take place on Monday between DUP leader Arlene Foster and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, while Mrs May will meet Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in Westminster. The febrile atmosphere in the Tory ranks has seen former Brexit secretary David Davis emerge as a potential successor to Mrs May. Tory MP Nadine Dorries publicly suggested he could be the leader to deliver the kind of Brexit sought by Eurosceptics. The Prime Ministers critics believe the threshold of 48 Tory MPs calling for a no-confidence vote could be passed by Wednesday, depending on events in Brussels. Allies of Mr Davis said he has been contacted by several Tory MPs urging him to run for the leadership and he is understood to be prepared to take part in a contest. Ms Dorries backed Mr Davis for the top job, saying: Getting May out and him becoming an interim leader may be the only way to deliver Brexit and FTA (a free-trade agreement). Theresa May is under pressure from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies (Matt Dunham/PA) Theresa Mays leadership and her plans for Brexit are under pressure after a setback in talks with Brussels. A hastily arranged meeting between Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and European Union negotiator Michel Barnier failed to produce a breakthrough, leaving the process on a knife-edge ahead of a crunch summit on Wednesday. The impasse over measures to prevent a hard border with Ireland has thrown the timetable for reaching a Brexit deal into doubt. Following the meeting in Brussels, Mr Barnier said that despite intense efforts there had been a failure to reach agreement on one of the trickiest aspects of the negotiations. We met today @DominicRaab and UK negotiating team. Despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open, including the backstop for IE/NI to avoid a hard border. I will debrief the EU27 and @Europarl_EN on the #Brexit negotiations. Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) October 14, 2018 The surprise announcement of the meeting fuelled rumours a deal was set to be done ahead of this weeks summit of EU leaders. But after talks which lasted a little over an hour, it was clear that major obstacles remained including the so-called backstop measure to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit. The UK Government said there were still unresolved issues relating to the backstop but it remained committed to making progress at the European Council meeting. But with Mrs May under siege from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies, the Government also has a reason to appear to be taking a tough line. The Prime Ministers room for manoeuvre is severely restricted, with opposition to both the EUs proposed backstop and concerns about her own alternative. In presuming to change the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom, the EU is treating us with naked contemptBoris Johnson The EU version, which would see just Northern Ireland remain aligned with Brussels rules, has been called unacceptable by Mrs May and is loathed by the DUP. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the DUPs Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said: One part of the UK cannot be left behind, bound to rules set in Brussels. The constitutional and economic consequences of such an approach would be catastrophic in the long run. Mrs Mays counter-proposal for a temporary customs arrangement for the whole UK is viewed suspiciously by Brexiteers who fear it becoming an indefinite position which would prevent free trade deals with countries around the world. Agreeing to such a measure could trigger a Cabinet revolt and the potential resignation of senior ministers. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said the backstop idea as a whole should be jettisoned. In presuming to change the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom, the EU is treating us with naked contempt, he said. Like some chess player triumphantly forking our king and our queen, the EU Commission is offering the UK Government what appears to be a binary choice. It is a choice between the break-up of this country, or the subjugation of this country, between separation or submission. In the last few days UK and EU negotiators have made real progress in a number of key areas. However there remain a number of unresolved issues relating to the backstop. The UK is still committed to making progress at the October European Council. Department for Exiting the EU (@DExEUgov) October 14, 2018 Irelands ambassador to the UK Adrian ONeill said events in Brussels were a setback and could increase the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. He told BBC Radio 4s Westminster Hour: Time is running out, there is no doubt about that. In all member states, preparation for all eventualities are ramping up quite significantly. A special EU summit pencilled in for November to sign off a Brexit agreement could instead end up being used as an emergency meeting to discuss no-deal plans. Talks will take place on Monday between DUP leader Arlene Foster and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, while Mrs May will meet Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in Westminster. The febrile atmosphere in the Tory ranks has seen former Brexit secretary David Davis emerge as a potential successor to Mrs May. Tory MP Nadine Dorries publicly suggested he could be the leader to deliver the kind of Brexit sought by Eurosceptics. The Prime Ministers critics believe the threshold of 48 Tory MPs calling for a no-confidence vote could be passed by Wednesday, depending on events in Brussels. Allies of Mr Davis said he has been contacted by several Tory MPs urging him to run for the leadership and he is understood to be prepared to take part in a contest. Ms Dorries backed Mr Davis for the top job, saying: Getting May out and him becoming an interim leader may be the only way to deliver Brexit and FTA (a free-trade agreement). The wife of a British academic arrested five months ago in the United Arab Emirates has responded to reports that he will go on trial for spying by saying he is a man of principle with an impeccable track record. Matthew Hedges, a 31-year-old PhD student at Durham University who is from Exeter, was reportedly taken into custody at Dubai airport on May 5 after flying in to interview sources about the countrys foreign policy and security strategy. His wife Daniela Tejada, 27, said she was concerned about his mental health as he has been held in solitary confinement since then. She has seen reports that he will go on trial for spying and will appear in court next week, but has not received official confirmation. Expand Close Matthew Hedges with his wife Daniela Tejada (Daniela Tejada/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Matthew Hedges with his wife Daniela Tejada (Daniela Tejada/PA) In a statement she said: I have not been sent any official indication from the UAE nor the FCO (Foreign Office) that Matt was taken to court today. As his wife I have been informed that his trial is going to resume on Wednesday October 24. I have not received an official translation of the statement from the UAE Attorney General apparently published today. What I can confirm is that my husband Matt has not received appropriate medical care and attention, especially in regard to his mental health. Matt is a man of integrity and principle. He is kind and caring and greatly loved and respected. Please send him homeDaniela Tejada Matt has been kept in solitary confinement for over five months. Matt does not speak Arabic and is therefore unable to communicate fully with the court-appointed lawyer, who he has only met once, at his court hearing last week. Matt was in the UAE to carry out academic research for his PhD. Since he was detained on May 5 2018 he has only ever been granted two consular visits which is in direct violation of his rights. Matt is a man of integrity and principle. He has a brilliant academic mind and an impeccable track record. He is kind and caring and greatly loved and respected. Please send him home. Expand Close Jeremy Hunt (Jack Taylor/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jeremy Hunt (Jack Taylor/PA) Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is understood to have personally raised Mr Hedges case with his UAE counterpart. British officials have visited Mr Hedges twice, although he is said to have been prevented from discussing his case with them. According to a profile on the Durham University website, Mr Hedges research includes Middle Eastern politics, the changing nature of war, civil-military relations and tribalism. A police sergeant was injured by a firework during disorder in Edinburgh last year (Danny Lawson/PA) A team of specially trained officers will be on standby over Halloween and Bonfire Night after disorder last year which saw a policewoman injured by a firework. Police Scotland said damage and violence on Scotlands streets will not be tolerated as the force prepares for a spike in emergency calls associated with the time of year. It said extra resources will be available to all areas should they require them. Assistant Chief Constable Paul Anderson said: What we want to make it clear to our communities that the level of disorder witnessed last year cannot and will not be tolerated. Expand Close There was serious disorder in Edinburgh last year (Danny Lawson/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp There was serious disorder in Edinburgh last year (Danny Lawson/PA) Members of the public saw their vehicles and other items of property destroyed and emergency service personnel were the victims of attacks that put their safety and well-being at serious risk. To prevent similar incidents arising this year, a range of specialist police resources have been earmarked to provide additional capabilities to local policing teams throughout the country. A police officer in Edinburgh was treated for burns after being injured by a firework on Bonfire night last year, when emergency crews attended disturbances in Muirhouse and Craigentinny. Mr Anderson added: Each local division is still responsible for the planning and deployment of their officers in their area, but has the reassurance of having specially-trained national assets at their disposal in the event of any serious incidents arising. The Bloodhound 1,000mph supersonic racing car during its first public run at Cornwall Airport, near Newquay (Ben Birchall/PA) The company behind the Bloodhound supersonic car which aims to hit speeds of 1,000mph has entered administration. Bloodhound Programme Ltd, the firm behind the initiative to break the land speed world record, went into administration on Monday. Project Bloodhound was founded in 2007 with plans to race the car at a specially built track in the deserts of South Africa. The team is seeking 25 million investment to provide guaranteed funding and see the project to completion. Bloodhound Programme Ltd has entered into administration with the appointment of Andrew Sheridan and Geoff Rowley, partners at specialist business advisory firm FRP Advisory LLP, as joint administrators on 15 October 2018: https://t.co/jNMhShSGQ5 pic.twitter.com/N5MOTXxFGg Bloodhound LSR (@Bloodhound_LSR) October 15, 2018 Over the past 11 years, the project has operated on a partnership and sponsorship model with support from companies including Rolls-Royce and Rolex. The Ministry of Defence has lent prototype jet engines for the car and Northern Cape Provincial Government in South Africa supported the creation of the track. Members of the public have donated to support the cars development and a global education programme, which has reached more than two million children. Bloodhound has already reached 200mph during tests at Newquay Airport in Cornwall last year. Mark Chapman, chief engineer of Project Bloodhound, said: Bloodhound has had enormous success in creating the worlds most advanced land vehicle. As we now move out of the R&D phase and into the operational phase of the project, we recognise that we need a different approach to funding. This project is built around the most successful team in the history of land speed racing, and with the right support we have no doubt that the project will achieve its aims and could be racing for the record in as little as 10 months. Expand Close Pilot Andy Green with the Bloodhound 1,000mph supersonic car before its first public run at Newquay Airport (Ben Birchall/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pilot Andy Green with the Bloodhound 1,000mph supersonic car before its first public run at Newquay Airport (Ben Birchall/PA) Andrew Sheriden and Geoff Rowley, partners at FRP Advisory LLP, were appointed as joint administrators for Bloodhound Programme. Bloodhound is a truly ground-breaking project which has already built a global audience and helped to inspire a new generation of Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) talent in the UK and across the world, Mr Sheriden said. Entering into administration provides some breathing space to identify an investor who will bring the guaranteed funding, impetus and expertise required to drive the project forward. Whilst not an insignificant amount, the 25 million Bloodhound requires to break the land speed record is a fraction of the cost of, for example, finishing last in a F1 season or running an Americas Cup team. This is an opportunity for the right investor to leave a lasting legacy. We are already in discussion with a number of potential investors and would encourage any other interested party to contact us without delay. Bloodhound will cover a mile in 3.6 seconds at full speed. The world land speed record of 763mph is held by Thrust SSC, led by Bloodhounds project director Richard Noble and driver Andy Green. Sangarapillai Balachandran, 60, with his wife Shanthy (left), son Pranavan and daughters Karthika and Sinthuja are facing deportation from the UK (Stefan Rousseu/PA) A father who is due to be removed from the UK will fly with medics because of fears he may have a stroke on the plane. Sangarapillai Balachandran, an Australian citizen, has had three strokes in the last six years. The 60-year-old, who came to the UK in 2007, expects to be flown to Australia with his wife, son and two daughters on Monday. Mr Balachandrans family have said that four medics will join him on the long-haul flight to monitor his condition. The Home Office has said that medics will travel with Mr Balachandran on Monday but have not confirmed the number given by his family. The Balachandran family have exhausted their leave to remain status in the UK and have agreed to return to Australia voluntarily.The Home Office In February, Mr Balachandran and his family took voluntary departure from the UK but were taken off the flight due to him being unwell. His son Pranavan, 23, told the Press Association: Once he got on the plane, we noticed that he wasnt responding to us like he normally would. (He) started sweating and we started to see the same symptoms that we saw before when he had his previous strokes, so we asked the airline attendant what we should do, and they came down and they asked him some questions, and then they told all of us to get off the flight. The aborted attempt in February was the second time in three months that the family had agreed to go back to Australia. In December 2017, the family did not make it as far as the airport after noticing their fathers symptoms. The Home Office has said that Mr Balachandran has received an independent medical assessment and had been deemed fit to fly on Monday. The spokesman said: The Balachandran family have exhausted their leave to remain status in the UK and have agreed to return to Australia voluntarily. Expand Close Sangarapillai Balachandran (centre) is due to fly from the UK with his family on Monday. PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sangarapillai Balachandran (centre) is due to fly from the UK with his family on Monday. Mr Balachandran first came to work in the UK from Australia as an engineer for a company in 2007. After his work permit visa expired in November 2012, he was subsequently granted a Tier 1 (Highly Skilled) Migrant visa valid until March 2013. After Mr Balachandrans work visa expired the family applied for indefinite leave to remain, which was initially denied by the Home Office in June 2013. The family then lost an appeal in April 2015 on the grounds that there was no reason why they should not go back to Australia and the decision to remove them was upheld. Pranavan, his mother Shanthy, 53, and his sisters Karthika, 30, and Sinthuja, 28, are also Australian citizens and are all due to fly on Monday. The family, whose case was highlighted by The Guardian on Saturday, have been holed up in a hotel near Heathrow Airport since September 28, awaiting the flight. Pranavan told the Press Association: Right now weve come to the end of the line. If something happens on the flight and he needs to get off, we go homeless again. If we get on this flight, and say he does have a stroke, its a 27-hour flight, they just cant get medical attention to him. And its not like, say, a broken leg, which can be fixed. A stroke, you need medical attention in a hospital. Thats why I dont understand why the Home Office is sending four medics. I dont even know what one can do, let alone four. The car was found to have suffered severe damage when it was pulled over (North West Motorway Police/PA) A car being driven on a metal wheel rim has been stopped by police on a motorway. The battered red Citroen also had severely damaged bodywork and was missing a headlight and a wing mirror when it was pulled over on the M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road. Despite its condition, police said it was not involved in an accident today and the driver believed it was acceptable to be driven on the motorway. Expand Close The red Citroen was being driven on a metal wheel rim (North West Motorway Group/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The red Citroen was being driven on a metal wheel rim (North West Motorway Group/PA) Officers were alerted to the vehicle after receiving numerous reports from concerned motorists. North West Motorway Police, which represents four forces in the region, posted on Twitter that the driver was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving after giving a positive roadside sample. Expand Close Police pulled the vehicle over on the M60 on Monday (North West Motorway Police/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police pulled the vehicle over on the M60 on Monday (North West Motorway Police/PA) The group said patrols couldnt believe it once we got the vehicle stopped, adding: This is not a wind-up. Vehicle in question has not been involved in an accident today. Driver under the influence of drugs has entered the network thinking this is acceptable. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex start their 16-day tour by meeting Australias Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne Cosgrove at Sydneys Admiralty House (Phil Noble/PA) The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have begun their first tour overseas as a married couple and have already been given the first gift for their unborn baby. Kensington Palace announced on Monday that the couple, who married five months ago, were expecting a baby in the spring. The news came just hours after they arrived in Sydney ahead of a 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Their first engagement on Tuesday saw them meet Australias Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynn, Lady Cosgrove. Expand Close The Duchess of Sussex wore a white Karen Gee dress (Phil Noble/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Duchess of Sussex wore a white Karen Gee dress (Phil Noble/PA) The Duke and Duchess were presented with a toy kangaroo and its joey, with Meghan saying: Our first baby gift! They were also given a pair of baby Uggs which Harry said was awesome. The couple were greeted at Admiralty House by flag-bearing representatives from the 18 countries who will be competing at the Invictus Games in the city. Several of them congratulated the couple on their baby news, with Meghan, dressed in a white dress by Australian designer Karen Gee, replying: Thank you so much. We are very excited. The dignitaries also presented Harry and Meghan with the Akubras traditional wide-brimmed Australian hats which were gifted to them for their wedding in May. Expand Close The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are presented with Akubra hats (Phil Noble/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are presented with Akubra hats (Phil Noble/PA) Koalas and joeys are next on the itinerary as the couple visit Taronga Zoo before a walkabout on the forecourt of the iconic Sydney Opera House. The couple shared the news that Meghan was expecting with the Queen and royal family at Princess Eugenies wedding. Congratulations poured in for the thrilled couple, with Prime Minister Theresa May offering her warmest congratulations and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who married Harry and Meghan, saying: Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their happy news! Prayers for them in the months ahead. The baby will be seventh in line to the throne, and the Queens eighth great-grandchild. Kensington Palace said there would be no change to the itinerary of Harry and Meghans tour including to Fiji and Tonga, despite travel advice that pregnant women should consider not travelling to the countries because of the moderate Zika virus risk. The palace said the couple had sought medical advice and decided to continue with their plans. My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy news they are expecting a baby in the Spring. Wishing them all the best. https://t.co/nnneVi8rBO Theresa May (@theresa_may) October 15, 2018 In a statement, Kensington Palace said: Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be delighted for the couple. The Duchess of Sussex on a visit to Ireland (Jimmy Rainford/PA) The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby will have a host of relatives he or she is unlikely to see much of, if at all the Markles. While Meghan is close to her mother Doria Ragland, the remainder of her family did not attend her star-studded royal wedding. Since the nuptials, the Markles have slung a barrage of insults at Meghan and the Windsors after being supposedly cut out of the duchesss life. The Markles were branded by one newspaper a motley collection of individuals who, between them, have a long record of boozing, bust-ups and bankruptcies. Heres a look at Meghans relatives on the Markle side: Father Thomas Markle Thomas Markle pulled out of walking his daughter down the aisle at the last minute after being caught posing for staged paparazzi photographs and reportedly falling ill. He went on to sell his story to the press, appearing on Good Morning Britain to reveal how Meghan, whom he calls by the nickname Bean, cried when he said he could not attend her big day. WORLD EXCLUSIVE ON @ITVs GOOD MORNING BRITAIN LIVE NOW: Thomas Markle, father of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, gives his first ever interview #GMB pic.twitter.com/yrbYkOk00x Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 18, 2018 He also indiscreetly shared conversations he had with Harry about Donald Trump and Brexit, and said he expected Harry and Meghan to have children soon. Mr Markle, who has yet to meet Harry face to face, gave other interviews with the Mail on Sunday, in which he complained Meghan had cut him off and not contacted him since the wedding. He declared how it might be easier for his daughter if he died, and said he put the phone down on Harry after a heated discussion about the press. Expand Close Thomas Markle reportedly put the phone down on Harry (Steve Parsons/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Thomas Markle reportedly put the phone down on Harry (Steve Parsons/PA) He has also likened the royal family to a cult. The former TV lighting director, who is of Dutch and Irish descent, worked on shows such as hit sitcom Married With Children and popular US drama General Hospital. He won two Emmys for his teams work on General Hospital and was nominated for countless others. Meghan is his only child from his second marriage to Doria Ragland. He has two older children from his first marriage to Roslyn Markle. Before his daughter began dating royalty, he lived a quiet life in Mexico and filed for bankruptcy in 2016 after reports that he failed to pay his debts. A statement from Ms. Meghan Markle: pic.twitter.com/TjBNarmuBU The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) May 17, 2018 Meghan said she had always cared for Mr Markle after he pulled out of the wedding. She was previously gushing about her thoughtful, inspiring father. Writing on her lifestyle blog, she told how he believed in her grand dream of becoming an actress, and paid tribute to the blood, sweat and tears this man invested in my future so that I could grow up to have so much. She added: Its safe to say I have always been a daddys girl. Meghan revealed how one Christmas he created a customised Barbie family for her when they were only sold in sets of white dolls or black dolls. Half Sister Samantha Markle Samantha Markle, also known as Samantha Grant, has see-sawed between criticising and praising Meghan on social media. She vented her fury after the wedding, accusing the duchess on Twitter of hypocrisy and being cold and inhumane in her treatment of her father. Exclusive: Samantha Markle, the half-sister of the Duchess of Sussex, is pleading with Meghan to speak to her father. They haven't spoken for months over fears he'll leak details of their conversation to the press. pic.twitter.com/yVcq4pmpu2 Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 23, 2018 But she also later apologised to Meghan on live television during an appearance on Jeremy Vine on 5, saying: I wish things could be different. "I apologise and I wish things could be different." Samantha Markle apologises to her half sister after flying to the UK in the hopes of a reconciliation after publicly criticising Meghan and Harry.@TheJeremyVine | @Channel5_tv | #jeremyvine pic.twitter.com/Gq1UhnyOGd Jeremy Vine On 5 (@JeremyVineOn5) October 1, 2018 While visiting the UK in the hope of a reconciliation, she defended insulting the duchess, saying: We were hoping that private channels would be used. When they failed we went public. She added: It was also about bringing out a very important point that you dont isolate family. She is Meghans half-sister from her fathers first marriage. A one-time actress and model, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and uses a wheelchair. Based in Florida, the twice-divorced mother of three is 17 years older than Meghan. Like her father, she filed for bankruptcy and is estranged from her mother, Roslyn Thomas Markles first wife and brother, Thomas Jr. She claimed she raised Meghan for 12 years while she was growing up in California but her ex-husband, Scott Rasmussen, disputed this. When news of Meghans relationship with Harry broke, she described Meghan in interviews as a shallow social climber who had shunned her since making it in Hollywood. She later maintained she never made the critical comments, and described Meghan as very beautiful and conservative, very real, very giving and absolutely lovely. But ahead of the wedding, she expressed hurt at the lack of wedding invitations for the Markle family. Since Meghan became a royal, she has hit out at her for being cold, accused her of ignoring her father, branded Harry a wuss, and has gone as far as to say she would blame Meghan should Thomas Markle die. Half Brother Thomas Markle Junior Thomas Markle Jr Thomas Markles son has been bankrupt once, divorced twice and faced trial on gun charges before the case was dropped. The father-of-two lives in Grants Pass, Oregon, and works as a window fitter. He was arrested and charged in January 2017 for allegedly holding a gun to his girlfriend Darlene Blounts head during a drunken argument. The charges were later dismissed. He apologised for his actions and said he was seeking help for his drinking problems. Ms Blount was arrested in July 2018 after a domestic violence call at her house. Mr Markle Jr is not in contact with his famous half-sister but has given interviews about her and shared family photos with the media. After not being invited to the wedding, he told the Mirror: Im not bitter, just baffled. Its hurtful given how close we once were. In May 2018, he wrote an open letter telling Meghan to call off her wedding, calling it a fake fairy tale. He later backtracked and said he wrote the letter in a moment of madness. Uncle Michael Markle Former US diplomat Michael Markle, who is Thomas Markle Snrs brother, spoke of his hurt at not being invited. He told the Sunday Mirror how he had always supported Meghan and done more for her over the years than anyone else. He said his connections helped Meghan bag a prestigious internship at the American embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when she was 20. Mr Markle said he would have happily walked her down the aisle a duty which fell in the end to the Prince of Wales. Michael and Thomas Markle Snrs other brother, Fred, is a bishop in Florida. Ex-sister-in-law Tracy Dooley Meghans former sister-in-law Tracy Dooley and the duchesss nephews Tyler and TJ also spoke to the press, sharing a private family video of Meghan as a youngster. Ms Dooley, who was married to Meghans half brother Thomas Markle Jr, has not spoken to Meghan for 20 years, but described her as wonderful, creative and vivacious. Tyler is a legal cannabis farmer in Oregon. Ms Dooley and Tyler headed to London for the royal wedding despite not being invited, but went sightseeing during their stay and watched the nuptials on TV instead. MPs who help Theresa May get a cobbled-together Brexit deal through Parliament would be guilty of a dereliction of duty, Nicola Sturgeon has warned. The Scottish First Minister used a speech in London on Monday to urge Westminster politicians to vote down any compromise deal the Prime Minister can strike with Brussels. She accused the UK Government of threatening us with fire, to make us choose the frying pan, and argued that any deal that is presented to the Commons was likely to be deliberately vague about the future relationship and damaging to the UKs interests. For MPs to support a bad or blindfold Brexit a cobbled-together withdrawal agreement and a vague statement about our future relationship would, in my view, be a dereliction of duty.Nicola Sturgeon Ms Sturgeon told an audience at the Royal Society of Arts that voting down the Prime Ministers proposal would allow a deal keeping the UK in the customs union and single market which the SNP wants to be presented instead. Voting against a bad or blindfold Brexit was not a vote for no-deal, she argued, but the only chance the House of Commons will have to reset these negotiations and think again before it is too late. She said: As the crucial vote looms closer, it is also time for individual members of the House of Commons to consider what compromises they see as justified and which are not if they are to serve their constituents, and the wider public interest. If they do that, I believe that a commonsense outcome could yet be found. Expand Close Ms Sturgeon has said the SNPs strong preference is to remain in the EU (Jane Barlow/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ms Sturgeon has said the SNPs strong preference is to remain in the EU (Jane Barlow/PA) She added: For MPs to support a bad or blindfold Brexit a cobbled-together withdrawal agreement and a vague statement about our future relationship would, in my view, be a dereliction of duty. In the June 2016 referendum, Scotland voted by 62% to 38% in favour of remaining in the EU. As part of her speech, the First Minister presented a new paper from the Scottish Government Scotlands Place in Europe: Our Way Forward. It noted that the core of the proposal was the same as it set out in December 2016. Writing in her foreword to the paper, Ms Sturgeon said: The Scottish Government, in line with the overwhelming vote for Remain in Scotland, supports continued EU Membership. Remaining in the EU continues to be our strong preference. Nevertheless in December 2016 we set out a compromise plan to keep Scotland and the UK in the European Single Market and Customs Union to limit the damage of Brexit as much as possible. The UK Government's position is increasingly absurd.Nicola Sturgeon It is therefore simply incorrect for the Prime Minister to say that there is no alternative to Chequers. In fact, the UK Governments position is increasingly absurd insisting on pursuing proposals they have been told will not work while rejecting a plan that will. She adds: With crucial decisions coming up over the next few weeks and months at EU level and in the House of Commons, where the UK Government must seek the approval of the UK Parliament it is vital to break the deadlock. For the Prime Minister and the UK Government it is time to face reality. For MPs at Westminster it is time to come together in a commonsense coalition to minimise the Brexit damage. A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the European Union (Dexeu) said: We will have an ambitious course outside of the EU that enhances our prosperity and security and that genuinely works for everyone across the UK. We have put forward a precise and credible plan for our future relationship with the EU and look forward to continuing to engage with the EU Commission on our proposals. Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said there was nothing new in the speech, which had been made in the hope of drumming up the prospects for Scottish independence. He added: If the SNP doesnt back a deal, it is automatically supporting a no-deal scenario something the nationalists have admitted would be bad for Scotland. And, of course, they dont care if outcomes are bad for Scotland, so long as theyre good for the prospects of another independence referendum. Harry and Meghan may decide to surprise everyone when naming their first child (Geoff Pugh/The Daily Telegraph/PA) There will be much suspense amid the royal baby fever as to what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will call their baby. On the one hand, the youngster will be born into the British royal family, where tradition is an intrinsic part of the Windsors lives. If Harry and Meghan go classic, something like Alice, Mary, Elizabeth or Victoria for a girl, and Philip, Frederick, Charles, Arthur, Edward or James for a boy are possibilities. Expand Close Queen Victoria and Prince Albert could inspire the babys name (PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Queen Victoria and Prince Albert could inspire the babys name (PA) Meghan has immersed herself in the royal way of life, ending her career as an actress, and becoming a full-time royal. But the pair are also forward-thinking royals, and the duchess has her own American upbringing to draw on. They may decide to surprise everyone when naming their first child. Canadian-born Autumn Phillips, and husband Peter Phillips, opted for a non-traditional name for their daughter Savannah the Queens first great-grandchild in 2010. In the US, the most popular name for a baby girl is Emma and Liam for a baby boy. In the UK, the most popular name for a girl born in 2017 was Olivia, and for a boy Oliver. Meghan may seek inspiration from her friends. Her confidante and stylist Jessica Mulroney has twin boys Brian and John, and a daughter Isabel Veronica, who is known as Ivy who were pageboys and bridesmaid at the royal wedding. Other bridesmaids included Rylan and Remi Litt the daughters of Meghans close friend Benita Litt, and Harrys goddaughter the youngest bridesmaid Zalie Warren. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released three official photographs from their Wedding day. These photographs were taken by photographer Alexi Lubomirski at Windsor Castle, following the carriage procession. #RoyalWedding pic.twitter.com/WBim9EkI4D The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) May 21, 2018 Harry and Meghans royal baby, who will be seventh in line, is extremely unlikely ever to be king or queen, meaning the couple have more freedom with their choices. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went ultra-traditional by picking royal favourite George for their firstborn a future king. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to share a new photograph of Prince George to mark his fifth birthday thank you everyone for your lovely messages @mattporteous pic.twitter.com/KJ4c73ospG The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) July 21, 2018 Princess Charlotte also has a regal name, and Prince Louis, although not a traditional Windsor name, was a poignant choice for its connection to the Prince of Waless much-loved great-uncle Earl Mountbatten. One option considered a favourite for a girl is Diana in honour of Harrys late beloved mother. Expand Close Harrys mother Diana, Princess of Wales (John Stillwell/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Harrys mother Diana, Princess of Wales (John Stillwell/PA) William and Kate paid tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales in 2015 by choosing it as one of Charlottes middle names. Harry, who adored Diana, was just 12 when the princess was killed suddenly in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Charles would honour Harrys father, while Elizabeth, another of Charlottes middle names, would be out of respect for Harrys grandmother the Queen. Expand Close Harry looks at his grandmother the Queen at the Queens Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace (John Stillwell/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Harry looks at his grandmother the Queen at the Queens Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace (John Stillwell/PA) Meghans mother, to whom she is close, is called Doria, and the ex-Suits star may want to pay tribute to her as well. Thomas is a popular family name for the duchess. Her father is Thomas Markle, as is her half brother. But relations with her relatives have proved troublesome following her fathers absence from her wedding, his comments to the press, and the lack of invites extended to the rest of the family. Meghan, who is the first mixed-race person in modern history to marry a senior British royal, has written about the significance of choosing names within her own family. She told how her great-great-great-grandfather went on to create his own identity when freed from slavery. Because in 1865 (which is so shatteringly recent), when slavery was abolished in the United States, former slaves had to choose a name. A surname, to be exact, she wrote. Perhaps the closest thing to connecting me to my ever-complex family tree, my longing to know where I come from, and the commonality that links me to my bloodline, is the choice that my great-great-great-grandfather made to start anew. He chose the last name Wisdom. A helicopter carrying bodies of those killed in Gurja Himal mountain arrives at the Teaching hospital in Kathmandu, (Niranjan Shrestha/AP) Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of five South Korean climbers and their four Nepalese guides who died in a storm that destroyed their base camp on Gurja Himal mountain. Two helicopters brought eight of the bodies to Kathmandu from the mountain after the weather cleared. The body of one of the Nepalese guides was flown to his village. Expand Close Family members of the Nepalese guides as bodies of those killed in Gurja Himal mountain arrive at the Teaching hospital in Kathmandu (Niranjan Shrestha/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Family members of the Nepalese guides as bodies of those killed in Gurja Himal mountain arrive at the Teaching hospital in Kathmandu (Niranjan Shrestha/AP) Grieving family members gathered at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Nepals capital where the bodies were taken for autopsies before being handed to their families. The storm swept the camp on Friday night, and word of the destruction got out Saturday morning. Helicopters were not able to land due to the continuing bad weather, but villagers reached the base camp on Saturday evening and found the bodies. The climbers were attempting to scale the 23,590ft peak during the autumn climbing season. President Donald Trump stops to talk to members of the media before travelling to Florida (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) President Donald Trump has suggested rogue killers may be responsible for whatever happened to missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Mr Trump told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Florida that he spoke by phone with Saudi Arabias King and that The King firmly denied any knowledge of the disappearance. Mr Trump said he did not want to get into King Salmans mind, but said: It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. He added: Were going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial. Mr Trumps language was strikingly similar to the language he has used to describe Russian President Vladimir Putins denials of election meddling. Turkish officials say they fear a Saudi hit team killed Mr Khashoggi, who has been missing for nearly two weeks. Expand Close The Saudi consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Saudi consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) Mr Trump had earlier tweeted to say that he had spoken with Salman and that he was sending US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to Riyadh. Mr Khashoggi has not been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul amid speculation he may have been killed. The US and Saudis are close allies. Meanwhile, Turkeys foreign ministry has said the consulate at the centre of the mystery was due to be examined by Saudi and Turkish officials. Members of the inspection team enter Saudi Arabias Consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) A team of investigators has entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for what Turkish officials called a joint inspection of the building where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared nearly two weeks ago. The team arrived in unmarked police cars at the consulate and said nothing to journalists waiting outside as they entered the building. Police then pushed back journalists from the front of the consulate, where they have been stationed for days, setting up a new cordon to keep them away. Expand Close Members of the media on the blocked road leading to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP) AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Members of the media on the blocked road leading to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP) International concern continues to grow over the writers October 2 disappearance. American politicians have threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain have jointly called for a credible investigation into Mr Khashoggis disappearance. A Foreign Ministry official had earlier said the team would visit the diplomatic post on Monday. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team that flew into and out of Turkey on October 2 killed and dismembered Mr Khashoggi, who had written Washington Post columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations baseless but has not offered any evidence Mr Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Such a search would be an extraordinary development, as embassies and consulates under the Vienna Convention are technically foreign soil. Expand Close Security guards enter Saudi Arabias consulate (Petros Giannakouris/AP) AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Security guards enter Saudi Arabias consulate (Petros Giannakouris/AP) Saudi Arabia may have agreed to the search in order to appease its Western allies and the international community. However, it remained unclear what evidence, if any, would remain nearly two weeks after Mr Khashoggis disappearance. A cleaning crew with mops and rubbish bags walked in past journalists waiting outside the consulate. US President Donald Trump has said Saudi Arabia could face severe punishment if it was proven it was involved in Mr Khashoggis disappearance. Mr Trump tweeted on Monday that he had spoken with Saudi King Salman, who denies any knowledge of what happened to Mr Khashoggi. He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer, Mr Trump wrote. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State (Mike Pompeo) to meet with King! On Sunday, Saudi Arabia warned that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations, said the statement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The statement did not elaborate but a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news network suggested Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around 80 dollars a barrel and Mr Trump has criticised Opec and Saudi Arabia over rising prices. Already, international business leaders are pulling out of the kingdoms upcoming investment forum, a high-profile event known as Davos in the Desert, though it has no association with the World Economic Forum. They include the chief executive of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Sir Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co executive chairman Bill Ford. News that the chief executive of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, would pull out of the conference drew angry responses across the region. The foreign minister of the neighbouring island kingdom of Bahrain, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, tweeted that there should be a boycott of the ride-hailing app both there and in Saudi Arabia. Late on Sunday, Saudi King Salman spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about Mr Khashoggi. Expand Close Turkish police officers arrive at the consulate (Emrah Gurel/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Turkish police officers arrive at the consulate (Emrah Gurel/AP) Turkey said Mr Erdogan stressed the forming of a joint working group to probe the case. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said King Salman thanked Mr Erdogan for welcoming the kingdoms proposal for forming the working group. The king said Turkey and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and that no-one will get to undermine the strength of this relationship, according to a statement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency. While Turkey and the kingdom differ on political issues, Saudi investments are a crucial lifeline for Ankara amid trouble with its national currency, the Turkish lira. Mr Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post about Saudi Arabia, criticising its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of womens rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince. Teargas canisters fired by Israeli troops fall over Palestinians during a protest on a beach at the border with Israel near Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip (Khalil Hamra/AP) Thirty-two Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli fire during a mass protest along the beach near the Israeli frontier, Gazas Health Ministry said. Protesters threw flaming tyres over the fence, while fishing boats hoisted Palestinian flags. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live fire. Expand Close Palestinian protesters hang a national flag at the border fence (Khalil Hamra/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Palestinian protesters hang a national flag at the border fence (Khalil Hamra/AP) The ruling Hamas militant group has been staging border protests for the past six months in the hope of easing a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade. It has intensified the protests in recent weeks as Egyptian-mediated ceasefire efforts have faltered. Over the weekend, Israel halted Qatari-donated fuel shipments to Gazas power plant in response to the escalated protests. Expand Close Protesters cover teargas canisters with sand (Khalil Hamra/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Protesters cover teargas canisters with sand (Khalil Hamra/AP) Since March, 155 Palestinians participating in or attending the protests were killed. Israel says it is defending its border. An Israeli soldier was fatally shot in July. An UN vehicle enters the Quneitra border crossing between Syria and Israel, in the Golan Heights (AP) President Bashar Assads government has received a major boost as Syrias commercial gateway with Jordan and a crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights manned by UN peacekeepers were reopened years after the war disrupted their operations. The simultaneous reopening of the crossings was celebrated on state media with back-to-back coverage, reinforcing the governments narrative that it is slowly emerging victorious from the seven-year war. We are now witnessing the early fruits of victory, Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem said at a press conference in Damascus. Sitting next to his Iraqi counterpart, who was visiting on Monday, Mr al-Moallem said the two countries are discussing reopening a border crossing. Expand Close The border opening is a victory for Syrias President Bashar Assad, right (Sana/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The border opening is a victory for Syrias President Bashar Assad, right (Sana/AP) No one should isolate Syria, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraqs foreign minister, said, adding that he was advocating for Syrias return to the Arab League. Mr Assads government has been largely isolated by its Arab neighbours since the civil war broke out in 2011. The 22-member Arab League froze Syrias membership shortly after the war began, imposing sanctions the cutting diplomatic ties. Commercial delegations converged on the Naseeb crossing with Jordan on Monday, and members of the Syrian chamber of commerce went into Jordan to meet with their counterparts. Expand Close UN vehicles, soldiers and officials gather at the Quneitra border crossing (AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp UN vehicles, soldiers and officials gather at the Quneitra border crossing (AP) The first lorry carrying citrus fruits entered Jordan, and dozens of private cars drove into Syria. We are brothers. Our economy is connected to the Syrian economy, said Abdel-Salam Theyabat, the head of a Jordanian chamber of commerce. At the Quneitra border crossing, leaders of the Druze community, which straddles the frontier, were first on the scene to attend the flag-raising ceremony. A plaque announcing the re-activation of the crossing was signed off with Mercy To The Martyrs and To Syria Victory And Peace. Humanitarian and community leaders said they hoped the crossing would soon be open to trade and movement of students. Expand Close A national flag is seen on the Syrian side of Quneitra crossing (Ariel Schalit/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A national flag is seen on the Syrian side of Quneitra crossing (Ariel Schalit/AP) The Druze community was divided when Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967. UN observers had monitored the frontier since the 1974 ceasefire deal, but left their posts in 2014 as fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces approached. Syrian forces recaptured the Quneitra area in July. Russian military police deployed in the area, including on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, setting up checkpoints in the area. A joint Saudi-Turkish team has entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to search it, nearly two weeks after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The team arrived on Monday afternoon to the consulate in Istanbuls fourth Levent neighbourhood as journalists filmed and took photographs of their arrival. It was unclear what kind of search the officials will conduct and if it will involve forensics, especially since Mr Khashoggi disappeared on October 2. Expand Close This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet purportedly shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate (Hurriyet/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet purportedly shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate (Hurriyet/AP) A cleaning crew walked into the consulate hours ahead of the investigative teams arrival. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Mr Khashoggi, who wrote columns in the Washington Post that were critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations baseless but has not offered any evidence Mr Khashoggi ever left the consulate. At the end of this month, Sotheby's, the auctioneers, will place under the hammer an original paperback copy of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. This is the sexually explicit novel which was the subject of the very famous court case in 1960, when it was cleared of charges of being likely to deprave and corrupt. It was subsequently published for the multitudes in paperback. Lady Chatterley's Lover is widely acknowledged to have set the tone (or "opened the floodgates") for a more liberal society and a more open approach to sexuality. The antediluvian attitudes of the prosecuting counsel probably lost the jury when he asked them: "Is it a book you would wish your wife or your servant to read?" But one particular wife did read Lady Chatterley's Lover and marked it up for her husband's professional use. She was Dorothy Byrne, who was married to the judge in the Chatterley case, Sir Laurence Byrne. Justice Byrne was, as it happens, an Irish Catholic who subsequently spent some of his retiring years in Enniskerry - his family originally came from Rathdrum, Co Wicklow - and rather than facing the tedious task of reading DH Lawrence himself, he delegated Dorothy to do so on his behalf. Lady Byrne's annotated book is the very copy which will be auctioned by Sotheby's on October 30. There are quite a few explicit sexual passages in Lady Chatterley's Lover and Dorothy Byrne found some of the language coarse and vulgar - with much repetition of the f-word and the c-word. She also thought that parts of the book were "morally offensive" - such as the suggestion a wife could have a child by another man, if her husband were "crippled", as Sir Clifford Chatterley is, in the narrative. The Lady Chatterley trial was sensational: the book had been published in many expurgated editions, and smuggled into Britain, and Ireland, mainly to be read for "the dirty bits". Poor Lawrence! He wrote it in 1928 as an impassioned plea to stop people thinking that sex was "dirty". He wanted sex - between Connie Chatterley and her husband's gamekeeper, Mellors - to be seen as natural and fulfilling. And at the trial itself, churchmen came forward to support the long-dead Lawrence. The progressive Bishop of Woolwich said that "I think Lawrence tried to portray this [sexual] relation in the real sense as an act of holy communion, in the lower case. For him, flesh was sacramental". The lawyer and parliamentarian Norman St John Stevas said that DH Lawrence was "essentially in the Catholic tradition... the sex instinct is good in itself, is implanted in man by God, is one of his greatest gifts". Many experts testified to the high worth of Lawrence's text, including several women of letters, such as Dame Rebecca West. Although the opinion of an American critic, Katherine Anne Porter, was not so favourable. She called the book "a blood-chilling anatomy of the activities of the rutting season between two rather dull persons... written with much inflamed apostolic solemnity". Yes, Lawrence had a habit of emphasising his message about the naturalness of sex with a preacher's didacticism. EM Forster called him "a preacher in the great puritanical tradition" (Virginia Woolf also disliked DHL's "preaching". And she noted, of the repeated use of the f-word, the c-word and the s-word - "English has one million words: why confine yourself to six?"). In one way, the book's free publication has been hugely influential. Lawrence wanted to give writers "a language" in which to write about sex. But it's also naive and dated. As Doris Lessing has pointed out in an essay, Lawrence elevated the body because he was filled with bodily self-loathing: racked with TB, he was both feverish and impotent. He worshipped "virility" in men and feared that "men were becoming effeminate". His own marriage was turbulent and even violent: he humiliated his wife Frieda by making her scrub floors and they both hit each other. Lawrence might fit into our world for his mission to bring freedom to sexuality; yet he would hate the way the f-word and the c-word are employed nowadays, as aggressive forms of denigration. And the high-minded literary defenders of Lawrence's frankness about sexuality could hardly foresee the tsunami of casual porn transmitted by electronic means. Today, Lawrence is sternly critiqued by feminists as "phallocentric": he believed that women yearned for "real men". He might even be accused of feeding into the MeToo movement, unleashing restraints on sexual freedom. Events are always seen differently in retrospect and values and context change so much. The judge's wife found Lady Chatterley sometimes objectionable for its language, and for some of its morality. What strikes me, today, is that this book is as much about disability, the effects of war, and class, as it is about sex, which, as Katherine Anne Porter wrote, is often "unintentionally hilarious". Even in 1960, a strong objection to the paperback publication was that it would sell at three-and-sixpence. If it had been 10 guineas, it was suggested, it would be quite acceptable! After all the hysteria over the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, just a few thoughts. I follow American politics pretty closely but it wasn't until recently that I realised that the nine-judge Supreme Court was almost entirely composed of Catholics and Jews. The exception is Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's previous appointee, who attends a liberal Episcopalian church but was raised a Catholic. On the Supreme Court there now isn't a single WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) - the elite that dominated American law, politics and society until the mid-20th century. Catholics make up only 20% of the US population, yet I've seen no agitation and few complaints from WASPs and can't help reflecting that if there were no Catholics on the Supreme Court, protesters would be creating merry hell over it. In an article in America, a Jesuit magazine, considering why Catholics dominate the Supreme Court, there were quotes from Richard Doerflinger of the Catholic University of Notre Dame about the long American tradition of Catholics entering the legal profession - where they are disproportionately represented - and of the support given them for seats in the Supreme Court by "other devout Christians" with influence in Republican administrations. His colleague Professor Richard Garnett agrees, saying that: "Protestants in America for whom their faith is important can look to the court and say: 'Well, we do see representation on the court of people like us - people who take their religious faith and religious traditions seriously'." The real division in the US, he said presciently in 2010, is not between Catholics and Protestants, but is "more the kind of religious versus secular divide". As I frequently point out to my devout and traditionalist Protestant as well as Catholic friends on both sides of the Irish border, they should recognise each other as natural allies. So with the row over the Supreme Court having nothing do with religion and everything to do with liberals being driven nuts by the prospect of conservatives replacing liberals as a majority, it's been striking to see the split in nationalist Irish-American opinion. Within Irish America the split is evident in the website IrishCentral, owned by Niall O'Dowd, the proprietor of New York's Irish Voice newspaper and Irish America magazine - one of the deep green nationalists who has followed fashion to become a liberal on all social issues. In July, on Kavanaugh's nomination, O'Dowd's newspaper rejoiced in the Catholic triumph in the Supreme Court and complained about questions about Kavanaugh's loyalty to the Constitution rather than canon law, but by the end of September, after the accusations against Kavanaugh began, the split was becoming evident. The furore over the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford rapidly sorted the religious from the secular and the Republicans from the Democrats. A poll of IrishCentral readers asked "Should Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed as a Supreme Court judge?" To which two-thirds said yes. A few days later an unhappy O'Dowd wrote a ridiculous article on his website about Kavanaugh's high school yearbook and its revelations about what O'Dowd said piously was "crazy behaviour". That's pretty rich coming from a hero worshipper of Ted Kennedy, one of the very hardest of the hard-drinking Kennedys, and a man who, like Bill Clinton, another of O'Dowd's heroes, treated women atrociously. But Kavanaugh is a conservative and Republican, so to O'Dowd and his ilk the unsubstantiated accusations must be believed implicitly. It made me smile that in the next poll of IrishCentral readers, asking "Are Democrats hypocritical in their criticism of sexism and misogyny among Republicans?", that 52% said yes. I think probably Professor Ford had an unpleasant but not very significant experience at a party when she was young that she is making a ludicrous fuss about, but there is absolutely no evidence that Kavanaugh was involved. I'm with the IrishCentral voter who said: "I voted yes because it has gotten to a point in this country that anyone without any proof whatsoever can accuse a white male of anything they can think of and condemn him for all eternity." The American criminal justice system has at its core the belief that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. That should extend even to judges. It is said that a week is a long time in politics, but there is no doubt at the start of another week that the controversies over Brexit intensify, and Northern Ireland and the border lie at the heart of the storm. The pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May has been increased by the Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson who is hinting that she will resign if the Brexit deal gives Northern Ireland special trading terms with the EU. In a joint letter also signed by the Scottish Secretary David Mundell, they make it clear they could not support such an agreement, and they spell out the reasons why. Having fought just four years ago to keep our country together, the integrity of our United Kingdom remains the single most important issue for us in these negotiations. Across the Irish Sea, DUP leader Arlene Foster echoes the same sentiments when she urges Mrs May to stand firm on the border issue and not to accept a dodgy deal foisted on her by others. She told Mrs May that she should not make the same mistake as Mrs Thatcher, who signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement above the heads of the unionists, and later admitted that she had regretted it. Mrs Foster has also hinted that a no-deal with the EU would be better than a bad deal, and this stance undoubtedly adds to the tensions all round. UUP leader Robin Swann has spoken out forcefully too, warning that: Brussels cannot simply dismiss the potential constitutional consequences of Brexit as something they dont have to be concerned about as part of the negotiations. He also accused Brussels of playing fast and loose with the Belfast Agreement and the principle of consent which underpinned it. He urged Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and his colleagues to be mindful of this. Certainly the Irish government has been less than fulsome in its support of the unionists, and in its statements and interventions it is obvious that Dublin has its own agenda. There has been much talk about the Belfast Agreement in the speculations and negotiations, and many believe that Brexit has the potential to undermine it. The peace agreement here has been hard won, and there is still a significant threat from dissident republicans, as Ronnie Armour the head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, acknowledges in our newspaper today. Whatever the shape of Brexit, there are stiff challenges ahead. These are made all the more difficult for Northern Ireland where we have no unified voice due to the appalling inability of our politicians to keep Stormont running. Mrs May has repeatedly emphasized her support for the Union and her opposition to a break-up of the UK. Her pledge is being sorely tested in the most difficult of circumstances, and her reassurance about the Union may be less comforting to unionists than it once seemed. Arlene Foster is right to stress that the coming weeks are crucial, and that the decisions made will shape the type of Northern Ireland that our grandchildren will live in. Given such a background it is imperative that people on all sides should lower the temperature and soften the rhetoric. Any deal which sought to redefine the Union and the current position of Northern Ireland within the UK would be most unwise. The Good Friday Agreement enshrines the position of Northern Ireland within the UK. Anything that seeks to shift that position will not work. The decisions taken now will, for better or worse, definitively affect the future for all of us. In Northern Ireland we have had enough of our dark days. What we badly need is a real hope for a better future for everyone. A BELFAST Masonic Lodge has been rocked after a guest speaker won a sex toy in a raffle prize. The embarrassing situation developed after a leading academic - who had been a guest speaker at a lodge dinner - won a mystery raffle prize at the event earlier this year. It was only when he opened the gift-wrapped prize at his home that he was stunned to discover it was a male sex aid. Sources claimed the embarrassed academic opened the parcel in front of his shocked wife and daughter the following morning. The lodge is the Golden Pillar lodge no.156 which meets at a masonic hall on the Crumlin Road, Belfast. One member has been struck-off following the incident. A source described the male sex-aid as being "mechanical" and included "hips and all". The Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim has dismissed claims that the lodge has refused to apologise over the incident and that the Grand Lodge had told members not to talk about it. But the PGL of Antrim confirmed the incident did take place and said the lodge had now banned mystery raffle prizes. It says "the perpetrator" - the member who donated the gift - has since been struck off. In a statement to Sunday Life, the Provincial Grand Secretary, the Very Worshipful J Russell Miller said: "The Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim had no knowledge of this incident until informed by your (Sunday Life's) email. "Consequently, it would have been impossible for the PGLA to have issued instructions to PGLA members not to discuss the incident. "The PGLA have never received any complaints from anyone concerning this incident and have robust disciplinary procedures in place for dealing with allegations of unmasonic conduct. "The hosts immediately apologised to their guest. "The lodge has subsequently apologised in writing to the guest and also to the two members (who invited the guest). "The lodge tried to get the perpetrator of the action to apologise, but he has not returned to the lodge and has since been struck off the roll of lodge members for non-payment of dues. "The lodge have taken action to ensure that there will be no mystery prizes in the future." A masonic source, who contacted Sunday Life, claimed the incident had caused a row in the lodge. "We have been told to stay quiet, to do nothing and say nothing and let the hare sit but brethren are furious. "We are absolutely disgusted at this behaviour. "Our guest has been nothing but discreet but this shouldn't be brushed under the carpet, we are a fraternal organisation and this sort of conduct could ruin our reputation." He said the academic had been invited to an Installation Festive Board in February. During the event a ballot was held with the guest won the mystery prize. He was urged not to open the box immediately by the member who donated the sex-aid as a secret gift. Our source told Sunday Life he had spoken to 30 or 40 fellow masons who were "outraged" by the incident. He added: "Masonry runs in my family and in all my years of membership this is the worst and most abhorrent gift I have seen brought along to any event. "It should never have happened." He claimed members were very unhappy over the episode had been handled. A love-rat DUP councillor has issued a grovelling apology to party members almost six months after her affair with veteran MP and devout Christian David Simpson was exposed. Mum-of-two Louise Templeton has split with the Upper Bann MP and is re-united with her husband Andrew, who works for Mr Simpson and his wife Elaine's Portadown meat firm. It was in May that Sunday Life revealed that Elaine had kicked the MP dubbed "Dirty Dave" out of their family home after he was caught cheating with his younger DUP colleague. Ms Templeton confirmed to Sunday Life last night that the affair was over and said: "We (Andrew and I) are on a journey and are trying to reconcile our relationship." She also confirmed she has written to members of the DUP's Upper Bann constituency association expressing her regrets of the adulterous relationship. "It was a sincere apology and hope it is taken as such," she said. "I want to take sole responsibility for my actions which is why I did not name anyone else in the letter. "I have received numerous letters in return thanking me for my apology." Ms Templeton sent out letters to DUP members on Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council (ABC) headed notepaper, expressing her deep regrets over what she describes as her "inappropriate actions" and a "negative experience". The councillor's apology has been widely shared, but according to sources, her letter has not been universally well received. Expand Close Affair: David Simpson / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Affair: David Simpson In her letter, Ms Templeton said it has been very difficult for her to find the words to express her "deepest regrets and sincerest apologies for the inappropriate actions that I was involved in". Ms Templeton doesn't mention David Simpson by name or speak directly of their affair. But she states: "For my part, I accept responsibility for the pain and embarrassment that I have caused to families, elected colleagues and party friends and for this I offer my personal and most humble apology." Expand Close Broken bond: the DUP's David Simpson and his wife Elaine at an election count / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Broken bond: the DUP's David Simpson and his wife Elaine at an election count Ms Templeton also recognised the embarrassment the relationship had caused the party and said she wanted to work to rectify the damage caused. "I also recognise how my actions have reflected on our party locally and I want to assure you that I will work as hard as I can to try and rectify this in some way in the months ahead," she wrote. Ms Templeton also promises the party there will never be a repeat of her mistake. Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Sunday Life reporter Christopher Woodhouse speaks with DUP David Simpson MP Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Sunday Life reporter Christopher Woodhouse speaks with DUP David Simpson MP Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Sunday Life reporter Christopher Woodhouse speaks with DUP David Simpson MP Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX David Simpson with wife Elaine and their children, Steven, Leah (far left) and Kristy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sunday Life reporter Christopher Woodhouse speaks with DUP David Simpson MP "I will not attempt to try to excuse my behaviour but I believe I that owe you this apology and an assurance that it will not happen again," she said. But one recipient of her letter said it had gone down like a lead balloon. "In my view, she is playing the victim and it hasn't went down well, absolutely not," he told the Sunday Life. One source said some constituents have interpreted the move by Ms Templeton as a brazen attempt to save her political career at Simpson's expense. "It's almost a complete reversal of what King David did," he said. "He sent a man to be killed in battle so he could sleep with her wife but it seems that now Louise is back playing happy families she is seeking to politically execute a man after having the affair." Last week, Ms Templeton also posted photos of herself with her husband Andrew on Facebook. "Feeling loved with Andrew Wilson," she wrote with a series of pictures of a family day out. The photos, including two of the smiling, happy couple cheek-to-cheek. The affair between the 59-year-old veteran MP and the councillor first came to light after Mrs Templeton was caught lying to her husband about being on a work trip to the north of England last October. Ms Templeton was eventually forced to confess that she had, in fact, slipped away to London to enjoy a romantic weekend with dedicated Orangeman and Free Presbyterian Simpson, who was subsequently dubbed "Dirty Dave" by some disappointed church members. In her letter to colleagues, Ms Templeton, who formerly worked in Mr Simpson's constituency office, thanked those who have prayed for her family and expressed her hope that "healing and reconciliation" will be possible as she continues to work through this "dark period" of her life. Father-of-three Simpson - who left his family home in Portadown and took up residence in a plush bachelor pad in Gosford Castle after being confronted by Mrs Templeton's furious spouse - is also understood to be in the process of trying to patch up his 30-year marriage to wife Elaine. Their daughter Leah shared pictures of the couple reading bedtime stories to their grandchildren last week. Mr Simpson could not be contacted for comment. Kamal Hossain (center, in front of microphones), head of the National Unity Front, answers questions about the alliances new partnership with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, during a news conference in Dhaka, Oct. 13, 2018. Updated at 5:47 p.m. ET on 2018-10-23 The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and most of its coalition partners have joined forces with a new political alliance, whose 81-year-old leader is emerging as a potential rival to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina amid looming elections. Following a meeting with BNP officials in Dhaka on Monday, 18 of its partner parties in the coalition said they were siding with the National Unity Front (NUF) led by Kamal Hossain, a former minister in Hasinas Awami League party when her father governed Bangladesh in the 1970s. Officials with the BNP whose top two leaders were convicted earlier this year on corruption charges, effectively sidelining the pair from the polls announced over the weekend that the party was joining Hossains NUF. Leaders of the multi-party bloc headed by BNP on Monday agreed to extend support to the Oikya Front, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, a member of the BNPs highest policy-making standing committee, told BenarNews, using the Bengali name for the alliance spearheaded by the octogenarian Hossain. Most of the parties want to join the Oikya Front to oust this government, he added. On Saturday, the three-party National Unity Front announced it was dropping a fourth partner, the Bikalpa Dhara party led by A.Q.M. Badruddoza Chowdhury, who had insisted that the alliance not permit the faith-based Jamaat-e-Islami party a longtime ally of BNP into its ranks. Jamaat is widely viewed in Bangladesh as having collaborated with anti-liberation forces during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan, when Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan. The Islamic party was not among the parties that allied themselves with Hossains group on Monday. The BNP, earlier on, had considered linking up with the front when it was led by both Hossain and Chowdhury, who were seen as potential prime ministers in waiting. Now, the Oikya Front would not object to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami joining the alliance, Khasru said. The BNP, meanwhile, has not declared its intentions for the coming elections. Its figurehead, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, 73, is ailing and imprisoned on corruption charges. Her son, Tareq Rahman, is in exile and on trial in absentia for a grenade attack on a ruling party rally that killed 24 people in August 2004. NUF demands Along with its announcement Saturday, the NUF issued a list of demands. These included that a neutral caretaker administration run the country during the electoral period, the army be deployed to safeguard the polls which are expected to take place in December or January and that Khaleda Zia be freed from prison. On Sunday, Hasina blasted the NUF by accusing Kamal Hossain of shaking hands with killers and corrupt politicians in the BNP. The next day, Obaidul Quader, Awamis general secretary, branded the National Unity Front as a fake organization and said it would not make a dent in votes for the ruling party. This Dr. Kamal Hossain criticized the BNP for the August 21 grenade attack and it supports militant activities. Now, he has forged an alliance with the convicted Khaleda Zia and terrorist Tareq Rahman, Faruk Khan, a member of the Awami Leagues highest presidium council, told BenarNews. He was referring to the 2004 grenade attack, which was an assassination attempt against Hasina. He also accused Hossains group of being obstructionist vis-a-vis the next general election. BNP and its 20-party alliance opted not to participate in the last general election, in 2014, saying it would not be free and fair. Before that election, the Awami government had amended the constitution to remove a clause requiring that a neutral caretaker administration govern the nation during elections. Hasina has been in power since 2009, which together with her earlier 5-year stint (1996-2001) as PM makes her Bangladeshs longest-serving leader. The alliance between Hossains National Unity Front and the coalition headed by BNP will create pressure on the government because expectations among the electorate will grow during the run-up to the polls, said Tareque Shamsur Rehman, a political science professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka. Now, they can contest the polls under his leadership, he told BenarNews, referring to the BNP and Kamal Hossain. Now, we have to see whether the government takes tough police action against the leaders of the front as they usually do for those from the BNP and Jamaat. If the government takes no police action, the new opposition front will get stronger as elections near, he said. CORRECTION: This version corrects the headline and text that erroneously reported that faith-based party Jamaat-e-Islami had joined the new alliance led by Kamal Hossain. Surprise in the diplomatic establishment for the sudden resignation of the head of US diplomacy to the United Nations. Netanyahu praises her "energy" to "clear the air" at the UN. For many she represented the war-mongering and one-sided spirit of the Trump administration. Goal of the presidential elections behind resignation. And, perhaps, an investigation for wrongdoing. Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The resignation of Nikky Haley, 46, of Indian origin and former governor of South Carolina, as United States ambassador to the United Nations took the diplomatic establishment and the public opinion in the USA by surprise. Generating opposite sentiments that go from the deep displeasure of Israel, which saw in her one of her most strenuous defenders of the cause at the UN New York, to the harsh criticism of those who emphasized her "lack of diplomacy" and little "international experience". Israel's consideration of Haley emerges from the words pronounced at the end of September by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during the last UN General Assembly. He praised her "energy, motivation, spirit" her ability "make the air breathable" inside the United Nations. The diplomat also received a real star reception at the last conference of the Israeli-American public affairs committee (AIPAC), the main pro-Israel lobby in the US. A greeting second only to that reserved for President Donald Trump. Analysts and experts say that Haley exemplifies the "indignation" of the Trump administration for the traditional multilateral frameworks and the passionate commitment to the defense of Israel, against the "harassment" and "persecution" it has long received at the UN. According to the supporters, the outgoing US ambassador to the UN is "skilled, charismatic and able to capture the attention of her audience" in the context of an "extremely ideological" vision of the world. A feature that has certainly not favored the use of diplomacy at the UN in important issues, from Syria to Iran, to Russia not to mention Palestine and the direct attack on institutions that work for the Palestinian population . Already from the first months at the UN, some highlighted her "pragmatism" in the face of "little or no" international experience. Others instead described her as "disconnected" from reality, with conservative and pro-Israeli sentiments functional only to American domestic politics. So much so that, for many, the UN position has served as a springboard to compete for the presidential elections (even if she denies any participation in the 2020 campaign) and to become the first woman tenant in the White House. . The malicious men described her as a sycophant of President Trump and a horrible war merchant who used her position to nurture a neoconservative and anti-globalization foreign policy. So much so as to consider her the "most warlike and imperialist" among the senior officials of the US administration and, at least for some time, "the most loved" by the tycoon. Faced with these positions, the attempt by a part of the government leadership to paint her as a moderate figure is ridiculous. The commentator and political analyst Amir Amini recalls that Haley "spent every minute of her time at the UN threatening innocent nations with the weapon of war, terror, bullying and blackmailing miserably (while failing) the whole world to get support to an agenda dictated by the military industrial complex". Finally, behind the resignation there is a shadow of an investigation that could overwhelm her. The repeated use of flights (together with her husband) on board private and luxury aircraft is at the heart of the Washington Ethics Committee (Crew) investigation. For Immediate Release, October 15, 2018 Contact: Robert Ukeiley, Center for Biological Diversity, (720) 496-8568, rukeiley@biologicaldiversity.org Brian Willis, Sierra Club, (202) 675-2386, brian.willis@sierraclub.org Lawsuit Launched Against Trump's EPA for Failing to Protect People From Dangerous Coal Pollution Millions Across Kentucky, Six Other States at Risk From Harmful Sulfur Dioxide TUCSON, Ariz. Conservation and public-health groups today filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to ensure that seven states have effective plans in place for cleaning up harmful sulfur dioxide air pollution. The notice points out that the EPA has already determined that 12 areas where millions of people live have coal-driven sulfur dioxide pollution at levels high enough to trigger dangerous asthma attacks and harm fish and forests. The polluted areas are in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky, including Louisville. Its disgusting that coal-loving dinosaurs like Trump are forcing children to breathe dirtier, unhealthy air, said Robert Ukeiley, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Our kids, the elderly and our most imperiled wildlife and fish will pay a steep price for this heartless scheme to prop up dirty, outdated coal. Todays notice was triggered by acting EPA chief Andrew Wheelers failure to make sure the localities are taking the legally required steps to plan for cleaning up the air pollution, which is driven primarily by dirty coal emissions. Acting Administrator Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist for Bob Murray, the chief executive officer of one of the nations largest coal company, who donated $300,000 to President Trumps inauguration. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to identify and set air-quality standards to protect human health and the environment, then ensure plans are in place to clean up that pollution to meet clean-air standards. The law requires that the Trump administration act to cut dangerous sulfur dioxide pollution from the air we breathe, but it has ignored those deadlines for protecting the public and is instead turning a blind eye to corporate polluters, said Sierra Club attorney Zachary Fabish. Kids and families in some of our countrys most vulnerable communities are getting sick while Wheeler violates the law by not acting, so we are taking him to court so that the safeguards that protect the public are enforced. Measured as sulfur dioxide, sulfur pollution causes a range of public-health and environmental problems. Sulfur oxides trigger asthma attacks and developmental problems in children; they contribute to heart and lung diseases and are particularly threatening to the very young and very old. Sulfur oxides also contribute to acid rain and haze, damaging lakes, streams and ecosystems throughout the United States and decreasing visibility in national parks. Beyond Jefferson County, Ky., which contains the city of Louisville, and St. Clair, Mich., the areas where the EPA has failed to make sure proper air-pollution plans are in place include: Hayden and Miami, Ariz.; Allegheny, Beaver, Indiana and Warren, Pa.; Marshall, W.Va.; Alton Township and Williamson County, Ill.; and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, Md. The objective of the MoU signed between the two Countries is to promote the development of business relation between India and Republic of Korea, promoting bilateral trade, investment in both countries and the development and exchange of technology In a bid to further provide an impetus and boost Indian & Korean Medical Device Industry, The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BUSAN TECHNOPARK from Republic of Korea to jointly work to promote medical devices industry in both the countries. The agreement was signed by Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, AiMeD and Soo-Hoo Shin Chief of Healthcare Technique Division from BUSAN TECHNOPARK. The objective of the MoU signed between the two Countries is to promote the development of business relation between India and Republic of Korea, promoting bilateral trade, investment in both countries and the development and exchange of technology. Additionally, to encourage and promote participation from both the countries at various business platforms created by Indian Medical Devices Industry Association and BUSAN TECHNOPARK. Through this cooperation AiMeD and Busan Technopark will provide assistance for visiting delegations, comprising of officials and businessman, on both side with a view to promote their business missions and facilitate business collaborations..AiMeD will also offer business-to-business match making with regard to promotion of technology and investment tie-ups to companies based in Republic of Korea. Similarly, Busan Technopark will assist AiMeD Members in their business endeavours. The medical devices sector is being seen as the next big thing after IT and Defence sectors and India has the potential to emerge as a major manufacturer and exporter on the lines of pharma products. The government has undertaken several measures to promote its ambitious Make in India mission in Medical Devices. The MoU between AiMeD and BUSAN TECHNOPARK is in line with realising these national objectives, Nath said. Lion-faced Man's Transformation After Life-changing Surgery Life oi-Syeda Farah Noor Suffering from an unknown condition can be quite painful, especially when the doctors are clueless about your condition. Here is one such example of a person who suffers from a rare condition that left him with a lion-face for over two decades before he was operated on. Check out the details of the transformation of the 'lion-faced' man and how he looks after his surgery. He Hails From India Suresh hails from a village in Tamil Nadu, and he had developed the lion-face syndrome when he was just 18 years old. He is at peace now after he has been given a new lease on life by a plastic surgeon who rebuilt his face. Most Read : Her Disorder Did Not Stop Her From Becoming Famous! His Condition The doctor explained that he was suffering from a medical condition named fibrous dysplasia'. It is a condition where the normal bone gets replaced with the connective tissues. Doctors further revealed that the lion face syndrome when left untreated, can even encroach the eyes, mouth and nose and it can also kill the person. His Face Swelled His condition had caused his face to swell to an abnormal size. The doctors reveal that such a syndrome could lead to loss of senses and eventually death. He had been living with his condition for over twenty years, as doctors were unable to treat him as they could not understand his condition. Most Read : An 8-Year-Old Whose Heart Beats Outside Her Body He Got Treated After 20 Years Finally, after 20 years of disappointment, Suresh has undergone a surgery to modify the large bones on his face that gave him the look of a lion. The doctors had to chip his bones and reconstruct his face. Most Read : Horrifying Things Found In Humans His Transformation Has Been A Great Success Suresh's life-changing operation is now considered a milestone achievement in the field of plastic surgery. It's a transformation like none other and is supposed to be a great success. Story Of A Thai 'Caveman' Who Seduces Dozens Of Travellers Pulse oi-Syeda Farah Noor There are so many people out there who struggle to get into a relationship and then there are those who get laid with fewer efforts. This cave man's story will surely make many men feel jealous as he reveals that he gets more ladies that one can imagine! This is the story of 'Chatupoom Losiri' who is also known as the 'caveman'. Most Read : She Romanced With '80' Married Men To Have A Great Sex Life Check out the details of his lifestyle. Chatupoom Losiri Chatupoom Losiri' who is also known as the caveman' became a local sensation in no time after he began to document his holistic and off-the-grid lifestyle. He lives on Koh Phangan, an island where the full moon parties are hosted. He Shared Pictures Of Himself On Facebook He shared a picture with a Russian woman. Apparently, he had met her outside the grocery store. And when he shared another photo of a naked woman and people assumed that it was her. Later he revealed in a post that it was one of his lovers and not the Russian woman whose picture he had shared. Most Read : Why People Are Obsessed With Sex?? The Locals Claim He Lacks Decency Currently, Chatupoom is now being monitored by Thai authorities after scores of complaints from his neighbourhood as people complained that he lacks decency. He Never Forces Any Woman Chatupoom claims that he never forces the women to visit his cave. He added,'The women who sleep here, there is no compulsion in any way. None of the women is forced to do anything, and sometimes we don't have sex. Sometimes we just hug until morning. They are all happy, and I'm happy, too.' The Cops Revealed He Had Not Broken Any Law According to the police officers, Chatupoom has not broken any laws. They also revealed that they keep a close watch as his activity was 'precarious and risky' for women. Most Read : She Was Cheated, Hence Decided To Transform Herself Into A Sex Doll What is your take on this? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. What Causes A Miscarriage? Chromosomal abnormalities - During the first three months, the most common cause of miscarriage is chromosomal abnormalities. Chromosomes are the tiny structures inside the body cells that carry genes. A miscarriage can occur when there is some abnormality in the chromosomes of a foetus, which causes the foetus to not develop normally. Chromosomal abnormalities might lead to intrauterine foetal demise, blighted ovum, molar pregnancy and partial molar pregnancy. According to the American Pregnancy Association, most chromosomal abnormalities occur due to a damaged egg or sperm cell or when a zygote divides [2]. Problems with the placenta - A placenta is a temporary organ that develops inside the uterus during pregnancy. It develops during pregnancy and sheds after the pregnancy ends. If a placenta grows abnormally, the blood supply from the mother to the foetus is stopped [3]. Weakened cervix - When the cervix (lower part of the uterus) is weakened, it can cause early pregnancy loss. Other causes of miscarriage include: Infection [4] Hormonal problems. Maternal age [5] Maternal trauma. Obesity [6] High blood pressure [7]. Uterine abnormalities. Implantation of the egg into the uterine lining does not occur properly. Exposure to radiation or toxic substances. Smoking and drinking alcohol [8] Severe kidney disease. Congenital heart disease. Disorders of the immune system. Uncontrolled diabetes. Thyroid disease. Malnutrition or poor diet [9] Certain medications. Performing exercises or sexual intercourse doesn't cause a miscarriage. However, consult a doctor before trying out any exercises and ask which exercises are suitable for you. Air Pollution Can Increase The Risk Of Miscarriage, Studies Suggest Types Of Miscarriage Threatened miscarriage - If a pregnant woman has bleeding accompanied with cramping and a closed cervix, she may have had a threatened miscarriage [10]. Inevitable miscarriage - Bleeding and cramping with an open cervix during pregnancy. Incomplete miscarriage - The body doesn't pass all the pregnancy tissues and there are some remainings present inside. Complete miscarriage - When all the tissues have been passed out of the body. Missed miscarriage - When the foetus has died, but the body doesn't expel the foetus or tissues during pregnancy [11]. Septic miscarriage - An infection in the uterus. Symptoms Of Miscarriage Light to heavy bleeding Cramps. Abdominal pain. Mild to severe back pain. Pelvic pain. Back pain. Weakness. Spotting. Fluid or tissue passing out from your vagina. Weight loss [12]. 7 Healthy Foods To Eat During The First Trimester Of Pregnancy Risk Factors Of Miscarriage Age (pregnancy after the age 40) [13] Two or more consecutive miscarriages before. Uncontrolled diabetes. Underweight or overweight in pregnant women. Trauma to the body. Having a lot of caffeine [14] Smoking [15] Alcohol and drug abuse. Exposure to radiation. Invasive prenatal tests. Uterine or cervical problems. Women who are pregnant with twins or multiples can increase the risk of miscarriage, preterm birth orpreeclampsia. Diagnosis Of Miscarriage The tests used to diagnose a miscarriage are: [16] Ultrasound test - The test is done to check the heartbeat of the foetus. Pelvic exam - To see if your cervix has started to dilate. Blood tests - To check whether the beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and progesterone levels are normal. Stress And Anxiety During Pregnancy? Here Are Some Helpful Tips Treatment Of Miscarriage The treatment depends on the type of miscarriage you have had. If you have had a complete miscarriage, no further treatment is required. Waiting for the miscarriage to happen naturally without treatment which is known as expectant management. You will be monitored by the doctors in the hospital for a few weeks. In medical management, medications are given to help in expelling the remaining tissues out of the body. In surgical management, a surgical procedure called dilation and curettage (D&C) is performed, wherein the cervix is dilated and any remaining foetal tissue is removed [17]. Prevention Of Miscarriage Eat a nutritious diet. Avoid smoking and drinking during pregnancy. Maintain a healthy weight. Do not stress. Avoid contracting any infections. Limit caffeine consumption. Have prenatal vitamins daily as prescribed by the doctor. Get prenatal care when you are pregnant. PR Newswire SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 14, 2018 SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- I-ON Communications Corp. (OTCQB: IONI), (the "Company", "I-ON"), a Seoul, South Korea based global enterprise software company focused on delivering leading CMS and unstructured data management products and solutions to mid and large-scale enterprises, was notified by OTC Markets ("OTC") on October 10, 2018 of recent trading and promotional activity concerning its common stock. The Company has been informed that the higher-than-average trading volume in the Company's stock may be the result of unauthorized promotional activity. The Company has also been informed that emails and blogs promoting I-ON were sent out from unreliable sources. The Company did not authorize or engage these parties to promote any type of awareness in the Company's stock and had no knowledge of the subject promotional campaign until notified by OTC Markets and given copies of the materials. The Company did not prepare, review or consent to the release of these materials. After inquiry, the Company states definitively that its officers, directors and, to the Company's knowledge, its sole controlling shareholder (i.e., shareholders owning 10% or more of the Company's securities), have not, sold or purchased the Company's securities within the past 90 days on the open market. The promotional material primarily consisted of previously disclosed and available information. After a review of the material, the Company determined that while the statements contained therein are neither materially false nor misleading, they did contain highly speculative language, unsubstantiated figures relating to the industry, and future performance of I-ON shares and the Company. The Company encourages those interested in the Company to rely solely on information included in its press releases, combined with its filings and disclosures made with the S.E.C. (www.sec.gov) and OTC Markets Group. In October 2018, the Company the Company engaged and continues to engage Powell Corporate Communications Group, LLC for market awareness. The Company has engaged no other third party to provide marketing, provide investor relations, public relations, or other related services. About I-ON Communications Corp. I-ON Communications, Corp, is a Seoul, South Korea-based enterprise software company founded in 1999. After being awarded its first of six patents by 2003, the Company has since evolved into an industry-leading and recognized developer of enterprise-class unstructured data management and digital marketing software solutions. I-ON has sold to over 1,000 mid to large clients across numerous verticals in both the private and public sectors, primarily throughout South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia. The Company has 11 products at market that enable clients to create, measure, and optimizes digital experiences for their audiences across marketing channels and devices. These encompass enterprise web content management (CMS), web experience and service delivery software, digital marketing, smart mobility and analytics tools and energy management systems. I-ON's large R&D team has designed and developed industry-leading technologies that are compliant with global standards including GS (Good Software) and NET (New Excellent Technology), while holding numerous domestic and global industry awards and recognition from the likes of Gartner and Red Herring. Forward Looking Statements Statements in this document contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements are based on many assumptions and estimates and are not guarantees of future performance. These statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Our actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation those set forth as "Risk Factors" in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). There may be other factors not mentioned above or included in the Company's SEC filings that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by securities laws. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/i-on-communications-corp-issues-statement-about-promotional-activity-involving-its-common-stock-300730740.html SOURCE I-ON Communications Corp. Zhangjiajie, ChinaChinas Belt and Road Initiative will release 10 billion renminbi or $1.5 billion next month to finance development projects in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including the Philippines. The amount is a part of the initial 50 billion renminbi or about $7.2 billion in funding that China is making available to countries covered by the so-called Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road. The Belt and Road Initiative is a regional concept created by China to connect Asia with Africa and Europe through land and sea networks along six corridors. It aims to foster cohesiveness in the region and economic growth. The Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce is set to announce on Oct. 16 the first funding downloaded from the program at the opening of the 2018 Silk Road Summit here. We are giving the Philippines unlimited access to this fund provided that the projects they propose will pass the evaluation of the technical committee, said SRCIC chairman Lu Jianzhong. Candidates for the Silk Road projects are cultural, tourism and environmental project proposals, he said. The chamber will also pitch for development projects that may help resolve issues on the environment such as new technologies that can de-clog and sanitize sewer systems.Jianzhong said the Philippines could implement these projects to improve the efficiency of sewerage/drainage systems, prevent flash flooding and restore the integrity of old sewerage pipes and canals. Priority for projects like this are the Asean and Silk Road countries. These countries are the target markets for the bulk of the 10 billion renminbi, he said. The chamber agreed to raise the initial 50 billion renminbi in 2017 to get the program going. There are now 129 Silk Road chambers from 177 Silk Road countries, including the Philippine Silk Road International Chamber of Commerce which is chaired by Francis Chua. The Belt and Road Initiative was patterned after the Silk Road established during the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago. It was an ancient network of trade routes that connected China to the Mediterranean via Eurasia for centuries. It comprises a Silk Road Economic Belt a trans-continental passage that links China with Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Russia and Europe by land and a Maritime Silk Road, a sea route connecting Chinas coastal regions with Southeast and South Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East, Eastern Africa, and Europe. PR Newswire BEIJING, October 15, 2018 BEIJING, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Kezzler is deploying solutions in China for major brands, from food products to consumer goods, helping companies fight multi-billion dollar counterfeiting industry and ensure food safety Kezzler AS, a leader in serialization, today announced they are representing the Norwegian innovative technology and software industry in conjunction with the State visit to China by their Majesties King Harald and Queen Sonja. Norwegian businesses are being showcased in China this week as part of the Royal visit supported by Innovation Norway. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/767903/Kezzler_Logo.jpg ) Kezzler has a long history of deploying solutions in Asia for major global brands ranging from consumer goods to pharmaceutical products, helping companies overcome unauthorized distribution and the challenges posed by counterfeit goods. "With our proven technology to fight counterfeit products in Asian markets, we are honoured to be part of this delegation. The Chinese market is the second largest consumer market in the world. There are regulations initiated in China to fight counterfeiting and ensure food safety addressing the concerns of consumers. In this space, Kezzler offers solutions to companies, protecting their brands and building trust with consumers. Our technology platform can save companies large amounts in lost revenue, while keeping consumers safe," said Christine C. Akselsen, CEO of Kezzler. Kezzler are pioneers in mass serialization and have built unique competence in deploying solutions in high volume production facilities. The software platform is designed for flexibility and scale, and currently used in one of the largest commercial serialization projects in the consumer goods sector that is moving towards producing 7 billion product units a year with unique identities. The Kezzler solution is also used in the pharmaceutical industry to protect brands, track distribution and strengthen consumer loyalty, including for several of Pfizer's brands in Asian markets. Serialization: The Next Global Revolution in Consumer Goods Industry Serialization is the process of assigning a unique identifier to individual products. This can be applied to a product or packaging through any kind of carrier, like a human readable code, a QR code or NFC. Most importantly, serialization enables companies to provide consumers with a way of verifying that the products they purchase are authentic. Serialization also offers brands the potential to establish complete supply chain visibility giving them the tools to track each individual unit in real time, and offers transparency for the consumer on the origins and journey of an item. The Kezzler solution can additionally be used to enable direct consumer engagement and to gather information about the market and consumer in support of increased sales, the creation of a more efficient business operation and the development of a stronger product offering. About Kezzler Kezzler AS, a global leader in serialization technologies, offers solutions for brand protection, supply chain visibility and connecting with consumers. Kezzler is on a mission to build a world of authentic, transparent and connected products. We do this by giving every item a unique, secure and traceable identity, promising high flexibility and scalability with low operational burden. The patented, innovative and scalable technologies are used by global brands world-wide in multiple industries including fast moving consumer goods, food and beverage, agriculture, luxury, industrial, and pharmaceuticals. Kezzler has a strong network of partners and offices in Norway, United States, India, and the Netherlands. To learn more about Kezzler, visit http://www.kezzler.com. Contact: Paul Laland Vice President Corporate Affairs Mobile: +1-415-519-6610 Email: [email protected] PR Newswire LONDON, Oct. 15, 2018 LONDON, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Since developing the world's first 12 Volt LED TV back in 2000, Majestic has expanded into the latest technology LED TV's and other Audio Video related products. During this time Majestic Electronics has built exceptional relationships with various Marine OEM's and dealers globally and since then has set up the office and warehouse in the UK and begun appointing selected distributors throughout Europe. The latest addition is Merdian Projekt from Croatia, who is a well-established distributor of known marine brands such as Simrad, Lowrance, Fusion, B&G, C-Map, Navionics and many others. "Meridian Projekt understand the importance of all aspects of Marine electronics and getting the right solution for the right customer. Majestic products fit the market in Croatia perfectly and we are looking forward to building a successful business together in 2019 and the many years to come," says Matthew Forbes CEO of Majestic Electronics Europe. With technology in the Audio Video industry moving at a rapid pace and Majestic being a global leader in the Low Power Draw LED TV industry, they were looking for a strategic partner for the Adriatic sea and given Meridian Projekts' excellent network it made perfect sense for both companies to establish this relationship. The European expansion program embarked upon by Majestic Electronics is part of the organic growth to give the marine industry the access to a range of 12V LED TVs and other accessories that can be a trusted brand for reliability in the harsh marine environments, which domestic brands were not designed for. Some of the key features Majestic offers that no other company does is; Global TV Tuners to give the Majestic marine TV ability to work in over 150 different countries. Large voltage range so the TV will work from 9V through to 27V DC and comes with a 3 Year International Warranty. Majestic Electronics will be at METS Amsterdam in Nov on Stand - 01.553 showcasing the range of the latest in technology of phones and tablets interfacing to the Majestic 12V LED TVs and signing up New Distributors for selected regions. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/majestic-electronics-expands-into-croatia-with-meridian-projekt-300731434.html SOURCE Majestic Electronics Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION A panel in the House of Representatives has begun deliberation on a bill which provide for the welfare and protection of Business Process Outsourcing workers. The House Committee on Labor and Employment, chaired by Rep. Randolph Ting of Cagayan, tackled House Bill 2225, or An Act Increasing the Night Shift Premium Pay in Business Process Outsourcing Firms in the Philippines. The bill was authored by Rep. Zajid Mangundadatu of Maguindanao. Otherwise known as Additional Pay for Business Process Outsourcing Employees Act, the bill increases the mandated additional pay for work done in graveyard shifts from 10 percent to 25 percent of the regular rate per hour. The Business Process Outsourcing sector, dubbed as the sunshine industry of the country, emerged at the top of the call center industry. Accordingly, Mangudadatu said Filipinos are preferred by US companies because of low labor costs and their familiarity with the language. In 2016, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) projected a $20 billion revenue. In 2017, an estimated 1.5 million new jobs were projected courtesy of the industry. During the hearing, Executive Director Nicki Agcaoili of IBPAP informed the committee the BPO industry of the Philippines is providing direct employment to 1.3 million Filipinos and 3.2 million indirect jobs. Agcaoili said the BPO industry is over-all appreciative of all the measures which seek to protect the rights and welfare of its employees. He said, however, that they still have to take into consideration the take of the other sector members. We had to factor in competition like India and China. Kasalukuyan, ang Pilipinas lang ang nag-ooffer ng night differential, he added. Agcaoili said that majority of the clients of the BPO industry are from North America but they also support the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa), and the Asia-Pacific region. The bulk of the workers in the BPO industry cater to clients from North America, thus, 65 percent to 70 percent are working in the mid or night shift.Ting asked Agcaoili, as the representative of the BPO industry, to explain the current practice in the industry. The current practice is we pay 10 percent per hour if a call center agents shift falls 10 pm 6 am. 10 percent of their hourly rate, Agcaoili answered. Is the starting salary of our BPO workers within the minimum wage? Ting asked. Agcaoili replied that as compared to the other industries, the starting pay for an entry level staff in the BPO industry is significantly higher. Agcaoili said that workers usually last six to eight years in the industry. On the average, mabilis rin ang career progression sa industry. From agent, they can progress to a team leader and then as supervisor manager, Agcaoili added. Another resource person of the committee, Dr. Valeriano Timbang of the Department of Health (DOH) said that the notable cause of mortality is cardiovascular disease. Working in a BPO company, especially those with a night shift, would have an effect on body physiology. This could affect behaviors in eating and sleeping, which could all lead to cardiovascular disease, he said. Working night shifts may also take a toll on the health of the workers with older age, he said. Moreover, Timbang said they are particularly concerned with female workers who are pregnant. We are concerned with the health of the mother and the child, he said. Timbang also said that working in night shifts is stressful. Rep. Mark Go of Baguio City said BPO companies should look after the welfare of its hard-working employees. Companies should take care of their employees because they are the very reason why they [companies] are successful, said Go, vice chairman of the House committee on basic education and culture. A House of Representatives leader on Monday decried the revival of the case involving 17 counts of alleged arson against him, saying he had nothing to with the more than 20-year-old case. At the same time, House Deputy Speaker and Sulu Rep. Munir Arbison sought a legislative investigation in aid of legislation to look into the alleged abuses committed by some Sulu local officials and their cohorts in the police service. At a news conference, Arbison, who is seeking reelection as representative of the Second District of Sulu, said he was prevented from filing his certificate of candidacy at the Commission on Elections in Sulu because policemen from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group detailed at the poll bodys office were waiting for him to show up to arrest him. Arbison said there were 17 arson cases filed against him and the seven warrants of arrest issued by the local court against him have been stopped from being implemented by the Court of Appeals through temporary restraining orders. This is political harassment pure and simple. If this is done against me, a congressman, a House Deputy Speaker, how much more to an ordinary citizen. We have already filed a manifestation before the Court of Appeals and yet the PNP-CIDG seemed to have refuse to honor this, Arbison told reporters.I have nothing to do with this case. This is almost a 20-year case. The complainants were merely made to sign an affidavit they executed an affidavit despite the absence of a police report and a fire department report on the alleged fire, he added. Most of the complainants were already dead even before the filing of the case or already residing in Malaysia, Arbison said, even as he accused his political rivals in Sulu as having behind the political persecution he is currently fighting. The judicial system in Sulu disregarded the [regular] court process by issuing segmented warrants of arrest. The first warrant of arrest was issued on September 4, 2018 that only covers ten counts of arson compared to the total of seventeen counts, Arbison said, adding that the alleged arson took place in Luuk, Sulu. After the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Court of Appeals (CA), another warrant of arrest that covers only one (1) count of arson was issued against me, permitting the possible issuance of more for the remaining six charges, he added. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday slammed supporters of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes for showing contempt of court intended to pressure the Makati City judge not to rule against the lawmaker. Guevarra said he believes that acts by the so-called concerned citizens might influence the Makati City judges decision on the Department of Justices motion for issuance of the warrant of arrest against Trillanes and subsequently proceed with the trial of the coup detat charges against the senator. On Monday morning, a small group of people laid down a dozen flowers in front of Makati City Trial Court Branch 148 and brought cards that say rule of law, judicial independence, justice and truth, among others, in front of Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148. Presiding Judge Andres Soriano of Makati City RTC Branch 148 has yet to resolve the DOJs motion for Trillanes arrest, in connection with the pending coup detat charges against the opposition senator. Thats exactly the kind of pressure that has been exerted upon Judge Soriano. Some people have made it appear that any ruling against Senator Trillanes will be a deathblow to democracy and the rule of law, Guevarra said in a text message. Even a first-year law student will tell you that such acts tending to influence the decision of the judge are a clear and punishable case of contempt of court, the Justice secretary said.Guevarra earlier denied the allegation made by Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano that the DOJ was pressuring Judge Soriano into ruling against Trillanes. The DOJ does not interact with the judge except through the pleadings filed and arguments raised in open court, Guevarra said. The DOJ is pursuing criminal cases of coup detat and rebellion against Trillanes after President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation 572 nullifying the amnesty granted to him by the Aquino administration. Another Makati judge, Elmo Alameda, ordered Trillanes arrested for a previously dismissed case of rebellion last Sept. 25 but allowed him to post bail pursuant to a 2010 bail grant. Soriano is handling the coup detat case. Coup detat, punishable by reclusion perpetua, is a non-bailable offense if the evidence of guilt is strong. Austrlian missionary Patricia Fox on Monday asked the Department of Justice to reverse the decision of the Bureau of Immigration revoking her missionary visa and ordering her deportation, saying it should uphold constitutional guarantees on the protection of human rights. In a seven-page reply to the Immigrations comment, Fox, through her lawyers from the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, says her participation in protest rallies, which was the basis of Immigrations order to deport her, was not in violation of the laws of the Philippines. She says her joining fact-finding missions, press conferences and the rallies of leftist groups are manifestations of the right to freedom of expression and assembly to which the petitioner is entitled to. They are also consistent and in accordance with the representation that the petitioner and the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion made in the application for a change of admission status and the application for extension of stay and support for her in the country. They are further in consonance with the mission of petitioners congregation and the teaching of the Catholic faith which the petitioner has vowed to follow and disseminate beyond borders and race, Fox says in her pleading. She says Immigration cannot arbitrarily revoke her missionary visa, citing jurisprudence that only in cases where public interest is put on the line can the State be allowed to revoke a privilege it had granted to any person. Fox, 72, says she cannot be considered someone against the promotion of public interest. Petitioner now humbly invites the Honorable Office to breathe life to the constitutional guarantees on the promotion and protection of human rights, Fox says. She says that the Philippine Constitution, law and prevailing jurisprudence give utmost respect and deference to the right to free expression and peaceful assembly, which may only be curtailed if it threatens public welfare.If Filipino citizens may only be restricted from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and to peaceably assemble where there is clear and present danger, the same is also applicable to foreigners like the petitioner, Fox says. Immigration earlier asked the Justice department to dismiss the petition of Fox as the bureaus Board of Commissioners ordered the deportation of the missionary nun and her inclusion in the bureaus blacklist to prevent her from returning to the country.The bureau cited as basis for its order several photographs showing that Fox engaged in several partisan political activities sometime in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018including those where she reportedly demanded the release of political prisoners, joined the rallies for land distribution in Hacienda Luisita, and a labor rally in Davao City. The BI also considered President Rodrigo Dutertes earlier statements branding Fox as an undesirable alien by joining political rallies. In fact, the President even publicly admitted that it was upon his instructions to investigate Fox for disorderly conduct for participating in rallies. In an earlier order, Immigration revoked Foxs missionary visa for allegedly violating its conditions. The Justice department reversed the bureaus order last May, but when her missionary visa expired last month, Immigrations denied the nuns request for an extension. The Truth and Justice Coalition has filed a graft complaint with the Ombudsman against former President Benigno Aquino III over the release of the Disbursement Acceleration Program funds in 2011. Greco Belgica, the coalitions president and head of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, said the filing of the charges was not politically motivated. In a 61-page complaint, Belgica also filed 274 counts of graft against 139 members of the House of Representatives and 21 senators for allegedly receiving the illegal cross-border transfer for the first tranche, and 95 other congressmen and 18 other senators for the second tranche. Among those charged were ex-Budget secretary Florencio Abad, ex-Interior secretary Mar Roxas, ex-Cavite representative Joseph Emilio Abaya, who was then the House appropriations committee chairman; Senator Franklin Drilon, who was then the finance committee chairman; Senator Antonio Trillanes IV; Joseph Emilio Abaya; ex-Budget undersecretary Mario Relampagos and director Yolanda Doblon. Belgica identified only Drilon and Trillanes as the senator-respondents, saying the evidence gathered was directed to the culpability of the two senators. Note that our complaint was referring to several John Does, he said. He accused Abaya and Drilon of conniving with one another in the graft scheme for being the finance chairmen in Congress and at the Senate, respectively. Roxas could be held liable for his clandestine meetings with senators, he said.He questioned Trillanes amnesty grant and receipt of DAP funds for the implementation of supposed ghost projects. The amnesty, ghost project and the project not listed in the Fil-Chinese Chamber of Commerce website were matters that distinguish Senator Trillanes from the rest of the DAP recipient senators who voted for the conviction of [Supreme Court] Chief Justice [Renato] Corona, he said. He said the DAP fund were used to influence the legislators to impeach and convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona based on the account of then-senator Jose Jinggoy Estrada. The cross-border transfer to the legislators was to influence them in ousting the Chief Justice. It was the clear criminal intent to use public funds not for the purpose they were intended by the legislature but for their own selfish and individuals, the complaint read. Between Oct. 25, 2011 and Dec. 8, 2011, or just four days before Coronas impeachment, 124 House members received DAP funds of P1.565 billion. According to Belgica, when the articles of impeachment were turned over by the Senate, P7.322 billion in special release allotment orders were released to 11 senators. In addition, P1.975 billion in DAP funds were released to 21 senators between Nov. 16, 2011 and Dec. 22, 2011. Belgica invoked the Supreme Courts decision declaring cross-border transfer allotments as unconstitutional. READ: Ex-VP endorses Binays reelection bid Former Vice President Jejomar Binay said Monday he will let his sonrun against his sister, incumbent, in Makati City during the 2019 midterm elections. I will let the people of Makati decide, Binay said in a statement sent to the press. Binay said he respects the decision of both his children to run for mayor in the May 2019 elections and will leave it up to the people of Makati to choose who best deserves the mandate. Abigail has declared her decision to seek reelection as the official candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance, the former vice presidents party, while Junjun, who was elected mayor in 2013, has also decided to join the race as the candidate of his local party, Una ang Makati. I respect their decision to run for mayor. I am not the one who will decide who will be the rightful leader of the city. The people of Makati will be the one who will decide, the elder Binay added. He said both his children have proven themselves to be competent and experienced in government service. The former vice president said he does not intend to impose his opinion on his children because both are already of age and capable of making decisions for themselves. As a parent, all he can do is to give them advice, he said. Binay, who served as Makati mayor before he won as Vice President in 2010, revealed that both camps have come to an agreement to maintain civility and sobriety while campaigning by solely focusing on their respective platforms and plans for the city and its people. Campaign leaders and supporters will be asked to refrain from engaging in mudslinging and destructive propaganda, and instead keep the campaign positive and peaceful, he added. Binay also expressed their collective commitment to making Makati a model of clean and honest elections. He said his family would remain strong and intact, and would not be divided by politics. Abigail said their family had a meeting over the weekend, but she did not go. She said she spoke separately with her father instead.The mayor also said their father wanted Junjun to run for a congressional seat instead so that the former vice president would not have to, but her brother wanted the mayoral post. Junjun, who thanked his father for respecting the voters of Makati said earlier he was ready to run against his sister to maintain the Binay-brand of governance in Makati. The decision of my father shows his respect for the people of Makati and is consistent with the character of a public servant who had dedicated his life to Makati and has worked tirelessly for the welfare of its residents, said Junjun who also announced his plan to file his COC for the top post of Makati on Tuesday. In May, the Court of Appeals issued a resolution reversing the 2015 decision dismissing Junjun and several other city officials and barring them from holding public office in connection with the construction of Makati City Hall Building II. The CA, in its 159-page decision written by Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon, reversed the 2015 ruling of the Office of the Ombudsman, saying (Junjun) Binay is still covered by the 2010 Supreme Court decision that reiterated its 1959 condonation doctrine which extinguishes the administrative liability of an elective public official once reelected to the same post. In 2016, Abby was replaced by her husband Luis Campos as a representative in the second district of Makati when she ran and won for mayor against Romulo Pena Jr., who will challenge the former vice president in the first congressional district of the city in the coming elections. Abigail is the fourth in the Binay family elected mayor in Makati. First was her father followed by her mother Dr. Elenita Binay, and the last one was Junjun. Makati, a city with more than 370,000 registered voters, has been a stronghold of Binays since the Vice President was appointed by then late President Corazon Aquino as its officer-in-charge in 1986. There has been a 10% increase in property sales to buyers from the UK over the last year, a new survey has found. Almost half of estate agents in Ireland have seen an increase in inquiries from the UK in the last 12 months, while 17% of all property transactions with buyers from the UK are now directly related to Brexit. 12% of these are as a result of jobs moving to Ireland. The nationwide Brexit survey was carried out by Real Estate Alliance (REA), a property group of Chartered Surveyors with more than 55 branches around the country. The effects of Brexit were also seen in border areas, with 21% of agents reporting a decrease in calls from the UK. UK buyers make up 11% of overall enquiries and 6% of sales in the Irish market, according to REA spokesperson Barry McDonald. with "Our agents [reported] an average of five sales each last year, up 10% on the previous 12 months, he said. 17% of enquiries to REA agents cite Brexit as a direct reason for moving to Ireland. 23% are coming to live and work in Ireland, which is up from 16% in our comparable 2016 survey. He said that, of those making a move as a result of Brexit, one in five will commute to work in the UK, 34% will be working from home for UK companies, and 46% will be working in Ireland. The survey also found that 27% are buying for eventual or immediate retirement, 16% are investors, 11% are looking for a change in lifestyle, and 8% are purchasing holiday homes. According to REA, more than half (55%) of typical buyers from the UK are looking for property in rural areas. A large proportion of buyers are purchasing houses which cost more than the State average of 234,824, with 20% of sales between 250k-300k and 22% between 300k-500k. The study shows that the majority of buyers are coming from London or the South East of England, as agents reported that almost 40% of inquiries were coming from people living in those regions. While 52% of inquiries are coming from returned emigrants, 28% have no previous connection with the country, which we would note as a significant shift, said McDonald. Among our agents who have reported an increase, there is a sentiment that many buyers are leaving the UK in a mixture of fear of the future and disappointment with the result. UK activity is the higher end of the market has stalled, according to REA Forkin in Bray who claim that at the 700-800k mark, the prospective buyer is more likely to be engaged in an industry which is affected by Brexit. In traditional holiday home spots, agents feel that buyers are reluctant to make a final decision, with many opting to rent," he said. Meanwhile, Tanaiste Simon Coveney is in Luxembourg today to attend a meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers. He will also meet British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. He said it was frustrating and disappointing that Brexit talks have stalled after a meeting between the EU and the UK broke up without a breakthrough yesterday. We met today @DominicRaab and UK negotiating team. Despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open, including the backstop for IE/NI to avoid a hard border. I will debrief the EU27 and @Europarl_EN on the #Brexit negotiations. Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) October 14, 2018 Discussions between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab were said to have broken down after the EU demanded a backstop to the backstop to prevent a return of a hard border between Ireland and the North. Following the meeting in Brussels, Mr Barnier said that despite intense efforts there had been a failure to reach an agreement, while the UK Government said there were still unresolved issues relating to the backstop but it remained committed to making progress. Talks have now been delayed until Wednesday's crucial summit of EU leaders. In Ireland, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will meet the DUP leader Arlene Foster for a private dinner in Dublin this evening. An East Kerry farmer has spoken of the joy at the seeing first-hand how his very last dairy cow, which he gifted to a family in Rwanda, has transformed their lives. Tim Moynihan, from Gneeveguilla, Co. Kerry and his daughter Doreen travelled to the African country to see for themselves the remarkable impact that the cow had on the family. Tim gave up dairy farming six years ago and rather than sell his last cow he donated it through Bothar to the Rwandan family. Bothar has been sending Irish dairy cows and other food-and-income producing animals such as goats, pigs and sheep to Rwanda and other projects in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia since the late 90s. This has been possible only thanks to the generosity of Irish farmers and the wider public. Its current programme in Rwanda is in support of the Rwandan governments One Cow Per Family project which aims to reduce extreme poverty in rural areas of the country by providing each poor family with a cow. The cow has given the family a daily source of nutrition they otherwise would not get, while also allowing providing money to educate their children and buy land. The Kerry farmer said he was overjoyed at seeing the difference the cow had made and also at being reunited with her one last time. "I never dreamt in my life I'd ever again see that cow. I think she recognized me. We took a photograph of that cow before she left the farm and I have that photograph at home. Looking back on the donation and the reasons for it, he said: "We said we'd donate this heifer to a country that would need it more, and this was the last heifer to come from my farm." Tim's daughter Doreen travelled with him and spoke of the impact the trip had on her father. The experience we just had, seeing my fathers cow now on this farm was just amazing; quite emotional actually to see how well she's done and how much she's done for the family. Have you got something you think we'd like? Then send it onto us via WhatsApp on 0871520145. Temple Street Foundation has added the third installment to their emotional new Living Proof series of patient video stories. The series highlights the profound and transformative impact that donations have on the hospital, the children in its care and their families. The latest video's subject is 11-year-old Grace from Monaghan. Credit: Temple Street Foundation Grace has been coming to the hospital since she was a tiny baby for treatment for a rare metabolic disorder called Mucopolysaccharidosis or "Morquio" as Grace calls it This talented little star is only the third child in Ireland to be diagnosed with the condition. Since her diagnosis, little Grace has had eleven general anaesthetics in her short life. Temple Street to me is my comfort blanket, if theres anything going on, if theres something Im worried about, it doesnt matter what it is, I can lift the phone and ring somebody. Its like it is like a second home, said Grainne, Grace's Mum. This year, Grace is one of the faces of Temple Street's 'Trick or Treat' campaign, proudly supported by MiWadi. Joining other patients who will be dressed up as ghouls, monsters and dragons, the campaign aims to encourage people all over Ireland to host a Halloween party to raise vital funds for the hospital. Chief Executive of Temple Street Foundation, Denise Fitzgerald said, "There are so many children just like Grace in Temple Street who need great care right now." "With your support, the hospital can continue to provide world-class care to those children who need it most. From vital, life-saving equipment to ground-breaking research - your donations have the power to change little lives for the better." To sign up for this year's Trick or Treat for Temple Street, simply visit Temple Street's website. By Natasha Reid The son of a Dubliner man on trial for murder has said his father asked him three times not to come home on the night of the killing. The witness also told his fathers murder trial that when he returned home the following morning, the accused was powerwashing the ground behind their house. The court had already heard that this was the address where the deceased was shot dead, before his remains were dismembered and found in a canal. Gary Wells gave evidence to the Central Criminal Court today on the fourth day of his fathers trial. Gary Wells leaves the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. Photo: Collins Courts. Paul Wells Senior, 50, of Barnamore Park, Finglas, has admitted shooting Kenneth OBrien dead and dismembering his body. However, he has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 33-year-old at his home in Barnamore Park on January 15 or 16, 2016. He told Gardai that the deceased had wanted him to murder Mr OBriens partner. Gary Wells testified that he was 21 at the time and living at home in Barnamore Park with his parents and younger brother. His car had broken down so his father gave him a lift to work in Clondalkin on Friday morning, January 15. That morning when I was leaving, he did tell me not to come home that night, he testified. The witness told Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, that he used to stay with his partner and child nearby on a Friday and Saturday night anyway. He said that, as his father was dropping him at his workplace, he again told him not to come home. He said he had a friend coming over, he added. He rang me during that morning just to make sure I wasnt coming home that night, to go straight to my partners, he testified. He said that it was not usual for his father to ring him at work. His mother had also left home that morning. My mother went down to visit my sister. She lives down in Cork. She was going down to drop down Christmas presents, he explained. She got a lift to the train station from my father. She was to return on the Sunday. His younger brother was also in Cork that weekend, he added later. The witness stayed with his partner and child as planned that night. He returned home the following morning to meet a friend, who was selling him a new car. His father had lent him the 1,200 for the purchase. I walked into the kitchen and my father was out the back, he recalled. He was standing just outside the decking, power-hosing the ground. He said that he also saw two bottles of bleach in the area. Gary Wells stayed with his partner again that night and had gone to wash his new car when his father rang him that Sunday. The accused was ringing from outside his partners house. That was very out of the ordinary, remarked the witness, who returned to his partners home. He said his father had asked him if she had room in her shed for some stuff. The witness said she hadnt. He said his father had also asked him to come home as he needed to talk to him. He went into the shed. He came back out with a big bag, he said. It had a cable tie around the top of it. He said that he wasn't able to see inside, but formed the view that it contained a chainsaw. He said that his father asked him to bring it to another mans house and that he did so. He said that there had been layers of carpet in his fathers shed and that he had noticed that day that some of it was missing. I could see concrete, he recalled. He said that, later that evening, his father had asked him if he could take away some bags of rubbish from his shed. He agreed. He brought the bags out to my car, he explained. One of the bags had cardboard. There was a red stain on one of the pieces of cardboard. Gary Wells said that he had known Kenneth OBrien and recalled his fathers reaction when it emerged that he had died. He said he thought it was terrible what had happened and that theyd probably come to speak to him as precaution, he said. He was cross examined by Michael OHiggins SC, defending, who said there was no dispute about there being a chainsaw in the bag he had moved for his father. The witness agreed that by the time of his brother, Pauls, stag in Riga on January 22 the finger of suspicion (regarding the killing), even within the family, was pointing at him. He agreed that this was a very difficult situation for the family. The guards were talking to known associates of Kenneth OBrien. They were getting close to your father, noted Mr OHiggins. He suggested that his client was telling his family that theyll be coming for me soon. He was very edgy, replied Mr Wells. When asked about his normal routine of staying in his partners house at the weekend anyway, he said that he would usually go home from work first to change. Mr OHiggins read from his statements, where he said his father had asked him if he was alright to stay in his girlfriends house that night. There are nuances. One is an order. The other is, is that alright, suggested the barrister. However, Mr OHiggins said that he wanted to make it clear that the impression that his client didnt want him in the house at tea time was an accurate impression. Its more the tone that my father speaks, said the witness Mr OHiggins suggested that he was wrong when he said that his father had told him that he had a friend coming over. No, it was said to me, he insisted. In re-examination, Mr Gillane asked him what he had meant about his fathers tone. His tone, the way he speaks to people. Its an aggressive tone, he replied. Mr OBriens partner, Eimear Dunne, had earlier concluded her evidence. Mr OHiggins had begun his cross examination of her by telling her that his clients case was that her partner had wanted him to kill her. Mr OHiggins noted that the couples home CCTV system had been switched off on Thursday morning January 14. She confirmed to him that Paul Wells Snr had known on Sunday January 17 that it was not working. Mr OHiggins suggested that he must have learnt this from Mr OBrien. However, Mr Justice Paul McDermott interjected before she had a chance to respond. Thats a comment, he said. The trial continues tomorrow morning before a jury of five women and six men. A 12th juror was discharged earlier, after she discovered that she knew somebody mentioned in evidence. By By Aoife Nic Ardghail A Bulgarian circus worker who had sex with an underage girl in Cork has received a prison sentence of two years with six months suspended. Tsvetomir Velikov, 42, later told gardai that the then 16-year-old girl and her friend claimed they were overage, but they did appear younger. He admitted during interview that he had been reckless about their ages. Velikov, a Bulgarian national with an address at Coolfore Road, Ardbraccan, Navan, Co. Meath, pleaded guilty on his trial date at the Central Criminal Court to defiling a female under the age of 17 at a Cork town on February 28, 2015. He has no previous convictions in Ireland or Bulgaria. The court heard that the girl, who was a week off her 17th birthday, and her 15-year-old friend had arrived at the circus after consuming a considerable amount of vodka. Sergeant Mary Skehan told Alice Fawsitt SC, prosecuting, that the girls were whistled at and then invited into a caravan with about six circus workers. The girls were given more alcohol here, before the 16-year-old went to a different caravan with Velikov and her friend left with another circus worker, Ivan Peev, 34. Peev, a Bulgarian national, also of Coolfore Road, previously received a two and a half year prison sentence for defiling the then 15-year-old in a circus caravan on the same date. Today Justice Aileen Donnelly suspended the last six months of a two year prison term, backdated to June 26 last when Velikov pleaded guilty. She said while there was no physical violence the law existed to protect young people no matter how much alcohol they had consumed. She said Velikov had doubts about the child's age but decided to continue. She noted that he was now ashamed and embarrassed by his actions though the court heard he had not informed his wife and children. Sgt Skehan said that while there was no evidence of undue pressure or violence there was evidence that Velikov kept filling up the victim's glass with alcohol. CCTV footage of the girls leaving the circus afterwards showed them appearing very drunk and holding each other up. A mother and daughter met the girls and took them to a garda station because they appeared so intoxicated. Sgt Skehan said these witnesses and gardai at the station gave differing accounts of how drunk the girls were, but there was evidence that the 16-year-old had been vomiting on the night. Sgt Skehan told Ms Fawsitt that neither girl made a complaint, but that one of their care workers found out what happened the following day. In her victim impact statement read out in court, the then 16-year-old said that Velikov used her for her body and left her feeling very unhappy in herself. She said she felt ashamed and didn't like her body for a long time afterwards. She described how she had built herself up for the court case but was glad Velikov was taken into custody and off the streets. Sgt Skehan agreed with Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, that his client gave gardai a clear and concise description of what had happened. She agreed that Velikov had questioned the girls' ages. There was a question mark in his mind, but he continued on, counsel said. Velikov's employer told the court that the defendant was a valuable staff member and a good friend. Christopher Lester outlined Velikov's hardworking background since joining the company in 2013. Mr O'Carroll submitted to Ms Justice Donnelly that his client was at low risk of re-offending. He said Velikov had been a model prisoner while awaiting sentence and had completed various courses. He said his client was deeply embarrassed and extremely remorseful for his actions. There are calls for a new Garda oversight body to be established with powers to investigate retired members of the force. The calls come after reports former garda press officer Superintendent Dave Taylor has DubaiSaudi Arabia warned it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed on the oil-rich kingdom over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as more Western companies distanced themselves from the Gulf State. US President Donald Trump has threatened the kingdom with severe punishment if Khashoggi, who has been critical of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside its Istanbul mission. But Riyadh vowed to hit back on Sunday against any punitive measures as its stock market tumbled, with the fallout from the crisis threatening to imperil Prince Mohammeds much-hyped economic reform drive. The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats or attempts to undermine it whether through threats to impose economic sanctions or the use of political pressure, an official said, according to state news agency SPA. The official said Riyadh would respond to any action with a bigger one, pointing out that the oil superpower plays an effective and vital role in the world economy. According to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, the kingdom has over 30 measures it could implement. Following Riyadhs assertion it would retaliate, Britain, France and Germany released a joint statement saying they were treating Khashoggis disappearance with the utmost seriousness. There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and -- if relevant -- to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account. This message had been conveyed directly to the Saudi authorities, said the statement, signed by Britains foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germanys Heiko Maas. Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2. Saudi Arabia insists Khashoggi left the building safely and dismissed accusations that authorities had ordered his murder by a hit squad as lies and baseless allegations. Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the mission and claims have been leaked to media that he was tortured and even dismembered. A Saudi dissident in Quebec said on Sunday he believes the kingdom hacked his phone and listened to calls he had with Jamal Khashoggi prior to the journalists disappearance. For sure, they listened to the conversation between me and Jamal and other activists, in Canada, in the States, in Turkey, in Saudi Arabia, Omar Abdulaziz said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Saudi King Salman spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone on Sunday, the Saudi foreign ministry said, telling Erdogan: No-one will get (to) undermine the strength of this relationship.According to a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named, Erdogan and the king discussed the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi and also emphasised the importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation. In the US, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Saudi Arabia should take Trumps warning over the journalists fate seriously. When the president warns, people should take him at his word, he told Fox. If the Saudis are involved, if Khashoggi was killed or harmed or whatever, bad outcome here. He [Trump] will take action. Investors have taken fright, prompting Saudi stocks to tumble by around seven percent at one point on Sunday, wiping out their gains for 2018. The kingdoms Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) lost more than 500 points, diving by seven percent in the first two hours of trading Sunday, in panic selling reminiscent of the days after the global financial crisis in 2008. It later clawed back some losses to close the day down 3.5 percent at 7,266.59 points. Japanese SoftBanks shares also took a dive on Monday, falling by nearly seven percent over fears for its major financial ties with Saudi Arabia. Mohammed Zidan, market strategist at Thinkmarket in Dubai, said the drop in Saudi stocks was linked to the uncertainty surrounding the Khashoggi affair. The withdrawal of top participants from the Riyadh investment conference has also negatively impacted traders sentiment, he told AFP. Business barons including British billionaire Richard Branson and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, as well as media powerhouses like Bloomberg and CNN, have pulled out of next weeks Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh. JP Morgan CEO James Dimon and Ford chairman Bill Ford said on Sunday they would also not attend. The cancellations have cast a pall over the annual summit at which Prince Mohammed wowed investors last year with talking robots and blueprints for a futuristic mega city. The withdrawal of Ubers Khosrowshahi from the event is particularly symbolic as the kingdoms vast Public Investment Fund (PIF) has invested $3.5 billion in the ride-hailing app. By Liam Heylin A man has been jailed for throwing a glass at another man in a Cork pub and instead injuring a dancing woman, who had nothing to do with the situation. Sgt John Kelleher said: At 1am on October 15, 2016, in the Old Oak Bar on Oliver Plunkett St, a young woman was out socialising with friends. While on the dancefloor she was struck above the eye with glass. The glass caused two superficial lacerations above her eye and also some scratches to her face. She also experienced tenderness in her right shoulder, as the glass also struck her in that area. John Boland was identified by security staff as the person who threw the glass that caused the injury. Boland of St Vincents hostel, Anglesea Terrace, Cork, had 42 previous convictions, none for assault, but some for public order offences. Frank Buttimer, solicitor, emphasised the absence of any previous assault convictions and said Boland did not intend to assault the woman in this present case. Mr Buttimer said: When the incident happened, the accused remained in the bar and was there when the guards arrived and was amenable to the guards. He explained how the event happened. At the height of it, he was reckless rather than this being an intentional event. "The injury was caused to the woman, whom he did not know. She just happened to be in the area at the time. This was an act of recklessness. The solicitor said Boland was responding to a man threatening his friend and, to prevent that person from doing something, he flicked or threw the glass. He said the injury to the woman was a matter of recklessness. Judge Olann Kelleher concluded: He did not intend to injure this person [the young woman], he intended to injure someone else. Mr Buttimer said 41-year-old Boland had recently obtained work and, if given a chance, he would make a compensatory payment for what, he believed, was not a permanent injury. Judge Kelleher jailed him for five months. He said it was very serious that someone out enjoying herself just dancing on a dancefloor would be injured in this way by a thrown glass. The Taoiseach says Frances Fitzgerald could be considered for future cabinet positions. The former Tanaiste was cleared of any wrong-doing in the Disclosures Tribunal report last week. She was forced to resign last November after her knowledge of a Garda legal strategy against Maurice McCabe was called into question. Ms Fitzgerald said at the time of her resignation that she would be vindicated in the Disclosures Tribunal, and last week she was. Leo Varadkar says he spoke to Ms Fitzgerald over the weekend. "Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein, I think, very unfairly threatened to bring down the government on what has now turned out to be a false case against Frances Fitzgerald. "I believe [Fitzgerald] is in a position now where she is up there to be considered for future office and future service in the highest office in the land." Speaking to the Irish Examiner yesterday, Mr Varadkar has weighed in behind Health Minister Simon Harris Read More: Some of the stuff was bang out of order and should be withdrawn, he said. Those who forced the resignation of Frances Fitzgerald and precipitated the early retirement of Noirin OSullivan should reflect on their judgement, he added. - Digital Desk By Brion Hoban A man was caught with 3.5 million worth of drugs in his van when gardai stopped him for driving while using his mobile phone, a court heard. James Manning, 49, with an address at Belclare Avenue, Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of 177kg of cannabis on December 1, 2017. Judge Francis Comerford sentenced him to nine years imprisonment with the final three years suspended for a period of three years. Garda Thomas Barrett told John Byrne BL, prosecuting, that a garda in Offaly became suspicious of a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van parked outside a house and began following as it drove towards Dublin. He contacted Lucan Garda Station who dispatched Gda Barrett to await the van's arrival on the N4. When his car pulled up beside the van he noticed Manning was using his mobile phone and signalled for him to stop driving. Upon searching the van 15 cardboard boxes were discovered containing a total of 177 kilogram bags of cannabis which had an approximate street value of 3.5 million. Manning was arrested and has remained in custody since. Manning has 29 previous convictions, including one for false imprisonment, one for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and a conviction for dangerous driving causing death dealt with by the Children's Court in 1985. Gda Barrett agreed with Giollaiosa O Lideadha SC, defending, that Manning's previous offending was linked to extreme alcohol abuse. Mr O Lideadha said that Manning had struggled with alcohol and had been homeless for periods of his life. Manning stopped drinking in 2013 and had a job with IKEA at the time of his arrest. He said that Manning had agreed to transport the cannabis in order to pay off a drug debt and that there was no suggestion of being a captain or trusted footman. Judge Comerford said this was a crime of utmost gravity with the very greatest consequences and that without mitigation the appropriate sentence would have been 12 years imprisonment. He said the mitigating circumstances in the case were Manning's early guilty plea, the extreme vulnerabilty of his life and his supportive family background. A hearing regarding the forfeiture of the van will be held later this month. By Ann O'Loughlin A number of people who have been occupying a house in Dublin city since September in a bid to highlight different issues including the ongoing homelessness crisis have been ordered by the High Court to leave the building. A bank-appointed receiver was today granted an interlocutory injunction by the High Court giving him possession of the property in Dublin's Pearse Street. Mr Justice David Barniville granting the interlocutory injunction said everybody was entitled to protest but they have to do that in a manner that is lawful. The judge also directed that the occupants of No 76 Pearse Street remove all their personal belongings and equipment from the property and instructed them not to impede or obstruct the receiver in the carrying out of his functions. The court had previously heard the property, which the receiver wants to sell, has been occupied as part of "a politically motivated campaign" highlighting the current homelessness situation. The application seeking vacant possession of the premises at 76 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 had been brought by insolvency practitioner Mr Declan Taite who was appointed as receiver over the property by AIB in 2013. Mr Taite claimed that the property has been occupied by persons unknown since early September who have no lawful right to be on the premises. The court heard that agents for the receiver, who had been inspecting the property on a regular basis, first noticed that the locks had been changed and that persons had moved into the property around September 6th last. The receivers agents have been unable to gain access to the property due to some sort of a blockade placed behind the door. In court today counsel for the receiver Eithne Corry BL said the matter had become more serious as a number of posts had been posted on a Facebook page connected to the occupation where a number of alleged threats had been made against the person who had gone to the house to serve court documents on the occupants. A man who said he was representing the occupants of the house told the court the offensive social media comments were not endorsed by the occupants of the house and would be taken down from the Facebook page. He asked that the case be adjourned so that the occupants of the house could get legal representations. Mr Justice Barniville refused the application for an adjournment and said he was satisfied that the circumstances were one of considerable urgency. By Eoin Reynolds When pub door staff pulled a 54-year-old father-of-three away from a scuffle with the man who would later beat him to death, he said: "Why did you do that? I can look after myself." Anthony Walsh (31) has pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of 54-year-old Dermot Byrne on July 16, 2017 at North St, Swords, Co Dublin. Mr Walsh pleaded guilty to stealing a bank card, keys and a Zippo lighter from Mr Byrne on the same date and location. He is on trial at the Central Criminal Court. The jury today heard from witnesses who were drinking or working in Swords on the night Mr Byrne was found beaten to death. Vincent McCarthy told prosecution counsel Vincent Heneghan SC that he was working security at the Harp Bar and Mr Byrne came over to where the door staff stand. He said Mr Byrne would come over every week and talk to them. On this occasion he thanked one of the door staff for preventing him getting into his van on a previous night when he was drunk. He was standing around for a while and got into an argument with the accused at about 2.11am. The accused had earlier been drinking in the Harp Bar. "There was a bit of a scuffle between them," he said, so the door staff intervened. Mr McCarthy brought Mr Byrne away from the scuffle and he sat down on a ledge by the entrance to the bar. As he sat there he asked: Why did you do that? I can look after myself. After about five minutes Mr Byrne walked away, in the same direction as the accused. Another doorman, Krystzof Laszowski, told Remy Farrell SC for the defence that he saw the accused being followed by Mr Byrne who then grabbed Mr Walsh's hood. He believed Mr Byrne was looking for a cigarette and agreed with Mr Farrell that he intervened to stop Mr Byrne "getting at" Mr Walsh. Mr Laszowski told Mr Walsh: "Go home. Tomorrow you will forget all about this." A few minutes the scuffle Darren Kelly said he saw an argument further down the street between two men while a woman looked on. One of them, who he believed to be the aggressor, said something like "I'll kill you". The other man was trying to calm the situation. There was a lot of shouting and threatening, he said. Mr Kelly wanted to call the gardai but his girlfriend asked him not to because she was intimidated and wanted to get away. At around 2.40am Rory Robinson was walking with his friend by the nearby Fingal Community College when he heard a "long drawn out groan", like somebody getting sick. It was pitch dark, Mr Robinson said, and he kept walking in conversation with his friend. The trial continues tomorrow in front of Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of six men and six women. Ireland's towns and city centres are clean - but litter is on the increase in disadvantaged areas all over the country. The results of the Irish Business Against Litter summer survey shows Fermoy in Cork was the cleanest of the 40 towns and cities surveyed. By Denise O'Donoghue Update 4.49pm: The Michael D. Higgins reelection campaign team has addressed Sean Gallagher's comments regarding tonight's live debate, which the President will not be attending. Mr Gallagher hit out at President Higgins for his "unwillingness to participate in all debates" in a letter sent to Aras an Uachtarain last night. Mr Gallagher has said he would only attend debates which featured all of the candidates. President Higgins' campaign director, Claire Power, criticised Mr Gallagher's letter in a response released publicly this evening. She asked Mr Gallagher to direct future correspondance in relation to the election campaign to President Higgins' campaign office in Dublin 2 "for obvious reasons" before confirming the President will not take part in tonight's televised debate this evening on RTE's Claire Byrne Live. "Let me confirm that President Michael D Higgins will fulfil the debate engagements that he announced publicly on October 2," Ms Power said. Can I say that I was surprised to receive your missive last night before the airing of one particular debate. "As noted above President Higgins publicly indicated his commitment to debates 12 days ago." Earlier: 'It is insulting to the people of Ireland': Gallagher hits out at Higgins over debates By Steve Neville Update 12.38pm: Sean Gallagher has hit out at President Michael D Higgins for his "unwillingness to participate in all debates". Presidential hopeful Gallagher has written a letter to Mr Higgins urging him to reconsider his stance and attend all presidential debates in the lead up to the election. Mr Gallagher has said he would only attend debates which featured all of the candidates. RTE will host a televised debate this evening on Claire Byrne Live, but President Higgins is not expected to attend. In his letter, sent last night, Mr Gallagher has urged the President to change his mind and attend the debate. Last night I wrote to President Higgins urging him to reconsider his decision not to participate in all debates. #Transparency #Inclusivity pic.twitter.com/dXeNdkiTi9 Sean Gallagher (@seangallagher1) October 15, 2018 "Recently, I defended your position not to participate in the News at One debate due to your Presidential commitments," Mr Gallagher wrote. "However, on this occasion, I note there are no public engagements in your diary for Monday that preclude you from participating in the Claire Byrne Live debate and your decision, as stated by you, is a political one in the context of this campaign. "I am disappointed in your decision and believe it is insulting to the people of Ireland and shows contempt for the integrity of our electoral process. Furthermore, it serves to feed the disconnect between the peoples of Ireland and the office of President, particularly in the context of recent concerns about trust and transparency." Mr Gallagher added that given "the significance of this election" he feels it "incumbent on every candidate to engage in all debates. "You called for the remainder of this election to be a conversation on what the Presidency should be. However, your actions do not reflect your words. Mr Gallagher ured the President to reflect on his decision not to participate in all debates "with a view to providing the people of Ireland with the level of discourse they deserve and one which benefits the Office of President." Mr Gallagher added that he has left space in his schedule to attend the debate should Mr Higgins decide to attend. A man in his 30s has been injured after a shooting in west Dublin. It happened in the Neilstown area at around 11pm last night when a man with a gun forced himself into a house in the area. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party won 58.3% of the votes. The outgoing president Abdulla Yameen, a friend of China, was the favorite on the eve. Messages of appreciation from Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Male (AsiaNews / Agencies) - With a result that has surprised everyone, the presidential elections in the Maldives were won by the opposition parties candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. The newly elected member of the Maldivian Democratic Party (Mdp) is unknown to the general public. With 58.3% of the votes, he defeated his rival, the outgoing president Abdulla Yameen, a close friend of China who all gave for a certain win on the eve of the election which took place yesterday. The results were released this morning by the Election Commission. Out of a total of 262 thousand voters, more than 88% went to the polls. Solih, with the nickname of "Ibu", is one of the closest collaborators of Mohamed Nasheed, leader of the MDP and first president democratically elected in 2008, forced into exile in 2012 by a coup d'etat. From Sri Lanka, where he is a refugee, he tweeted: "Congratulations to the president-elect @busolin. You have rendered an extraordinary service not only to the people of the Maldives, but to all those who love freedom. Democracy is historical inevitability ". The vote took many by surprise. For the analysts Yameen's victory was almost obvious, especially after the constitutional crisis,this year, thanks to which he managed to silence the opposition. In February, the Supreme Court ruled the release of opponents belonging to the MDP and the reopening of their trials, including that for terrorism against Mohamed Nasheed. Fearing that Parliament could vote impeachment against him, Yameen suspended constitutional rights and declared a state of emergency. Then he arrested by Supreme Court President Abdulla Saeed and judge Ali Hameed and his half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (former dictator for 30 years until 2008). The highest judicial body, left without leadership, then withdrew its decision to release MP Opponents. The victory of "Ibu" was immediately welcomed by India, which competes with China to impose its commercial influence on the archipelago. At the news, the Indian foreign ministry issued a note of appreciation. "This election it reads - marks not only triumph of democratic forces in Maldives, but also reflects firm commitment to democracy and rule of law. In keeping with our 'Neighborhood First' Policy, India looks forward to working closely with Maldives in further deepening our partnership." "Although I would personally not want an ICC case commenced against Duterte, preferring a domestic trial, I understand where the victims are coming from." In the Communication and Complaint filed by Rise Up for Life and for Rights, assisted by the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the families of victims in the war against drugs by the current administration argue that President Rodrigo Duterte be indicted for crimes against humanity and that he should be held criminally responsible for the widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population. On the first argument, the complainants hold Duterte criminally responsible and liable for crimes against humanity through the above-mentioned acts of murder proscribed under Article 7 Paragraph 1 (a) of the Rome Statute, as perpetrator of the widespread and systematic attack against civilians which resulted in the mass killing of at least 4,410 civilians, including the the relatives of the complainants. In this regard, they argue that the President has made numerous public announcements about his policy to end the illegal drug problem in the Philippines through the killing and elimination of those he sweepingly labels as drug addicts, drug pushers and drug syndicates. This started during his campaign and was reiterated repeatedly when he became president. This he did in spite of the warning by the ICC Prosecutor in October 2016 that incitement to crimes against humanity was also within the scope of the Rome Treaty. According to the Rise UP complaint, the victims are civilians, and the attacks were directed against the civilian population because they are persons who are civilians as opposed to members of armed forces and other legitimate combatants. In fact, the report of the government has in fact admitted that most of these killed are civilians. The complainants characterize the attacks as systematic because killing drug suspects is the policy enunciated by President Duterte through many of his rambling and repetitious public speeches in various parts of the country. Likewise, his vaunted drug lists supposedly contain the names of drug suspects who are targets of his ruthless anti-drug campaign. In fact, the modus operandi of the killings show a unified designthree elements of a pattern, namely the public vilification of the victims, brazenness of the execution of the victims and the governments lack of interest to investigate and prosecute the crime and the perpetrators. According to the Rise Up complaint, President Duterte has knowledge of the killings and other attacks on the civilian population. Among others, the Duterte administration has boasted the number of casualties, now nearing 25,000, as successes in the war against illegal drugs. The Rise Up complaint also argue that Duterte is criminally liable for the widespread and systematic attack against civilians in the form of inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or mental or physical health proscribed under Article 7 Paragraph (k) of the Rome Statute under his anti-drug policy against drug suspects including through its Oplan Tokhang, Double Barrel, and the Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded policies. In support of this, the following acts are pointed as constituting the inhumane acts under Article 7 (k): namely the extra judicial killing of thousands drug suspects, the illegal searches in thousands of houses, the arbitrary drug testing of thousands of civilians even those not suspected of involvement in illegal drugs and the arrest of thousands under Duterte policies, including even the anti-tambay (anti- vagrancy campaign).The Rise Up complaint assert that it has clearly shown that President Duterte committed the acts of Crimes Against Humanity and had every intention of committing these acts. The direction and instructionsas well as the open incitement and encouragement and assurances of impunityfor the murders and inhumane acts, so widespread and systematic, constituting crimes against humanity, come from no less than President Duterte himself. The President is criminally responsible, under the principle of command responsibility under Article 28, paragraphs (a) and (b), being the commander and superior authority over the police and other state security forces who committed the above mentioned acts of murder, inhumane acts, and other forms of persecution in the implementation of his policy against suspected drug and crime suspects. At the very least, President Duterte, according to complainants, is guilty of crimes against humanity under Article 28 for command responsibility, for not taking all the actions needed to stop the crimes against humanity. Although I would personally not want an ICC case commenced against Duterte, preferring a domestic trial, I understand where the victims are coming from. I also understand the need to stop the killings now. In this regard, I welcome the Philippines election as member once again of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The administration has boasted that this is a validation of its war against drugs and a repudiation of the human rights issue raised against the Duterte government. This of course is not true. My esteemed colleague Ruben Carranza, one of the worlds top experts on transitional justice, explains what happened: NO, THE PHILIPPINES DID NOT WIN REELECTION AT THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL. When you have a five-seater car and the 193 persons who share it agree that only 5 people at a time can take turns riding in it, you cant claim you won a seat if it was your turn to ride with 4 others. But thats not the only reason Rodrigo Dutertes government cannot claim it won at the UN HRC. With no one else contesting the 5 UNHRC seats for the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines still got the least number of votes in the secret balloting that took place among the 193 countries in the UN General Assembly. 28 countries chose NOT to vote for the Philippines to get that 5th seat, leaving their ballot with at least one blank rather than going along with giving that UN HRC seat to a hypocritical, human-rights-violating and child-murdering government. In any case, I am glad that the Philippines is back in the UNHRC. I have worked with our diplomats on human rights issues, including in the UNHRC, for decades. I trust that, like me, they will take the long view. Duterte will not be there forever; when the transition comes, sooner rather than later in my view, membership in the Council would be invaluable. With this long view in mind, I also welcome the appointment of United Nations Ambassador Teddy Boy Locsin as Foreign Affairs Secretary. His acerbic, sarcastic, and biting language (which I always enjoy, although obviously I enjoy it more when we are in agreement), Locsin understands what is at stake in the ICC and in the UNHRC and will allow our diplomats to do what has to be done for the sake of national and not just Dutertes interest. By Ann O'Loughlin Permission has been granted by the High Court to the mother of a 16-year-old boy with autism to challenge his exclusion from a school following an alleged failure to carry out a proper assessment of him after he was first admitted to the school. The boy, who cannot be named, was admitted to the private school in the west of Ireland as a boarder at a time when he was also suffering from the flu, Eugene Gleeson SC, for the mother, told the court. However, for the four to five days he was there no proper intellectual and physical assessment was carried out on him before he was excluded from the school and is now being homeschooled, counsel said. The decision to remove him was appealed but his mother says no proper evidence was presented to the appeals committee which heard his case. His mother says that as a result of having to be taught at home "he has gone downhill intellectually", counsel said. Mr Justice Seamus Noonan granted Mr Gleeson leave to bring judicial review proceedings over the decision to remove him against the secretary general of the Department of Education and Skills and the appeals committee. The application was made on a one-side only represented basis. Mr Justice Noonan said the case could come back to court in three weeks. A lucky Roscommon woman was celebrating today after she won the top prize of 250,000 on a 10 National Lottery scratch card. Speaking after she received her cheque in National Lottery offices in Dublin, the Roscommon native discussed how news of her life-changing win is yet to hit home. "Its just very hard to believe that Ive won a quarter of a million euro on a scratch card," she said. "That moment when the top prize symbol appeared on the card was just so surreal. "The first reaction was that I must have made a mistake but just to be sure, I called the National Lottery to see if I was going mad and imagining things! There was a pause on the other end of the phone and the person from the National Lottery asked me if I was sitting down because Ive just won 250,000." The lucky lady, who wishes to keep her win private, admitted that she has yet to tell her close family about her massive slice of good fortune. "I havent told very many people yet because Im still coming to terms with it myself. "Im going to take a couple of weeks to get over this marvellous shock and then I will share the news with my close family. "Im looking forward to paying off all of my bills and well certainly have a small gathering to celebrate properly." The lucky 10 Money Multiplier scratch card was sold at the Newsround Store in the centre of Roscommon town. The Newsround store is no stranger to selling life-changing National Lottery tickets to their customers having had three Lotto jackpot wins in 1991 and two separate wins in 1999. "This is an incredible win for the town and there has been a genuine outpouring of support for whoever the lucky lady is," said Barry OConnor, owner of the Newsround store. There is a massive sense of achievement in the store today knowing that weve handed over a life-changing ticket to one of our regular customers. Digital Desk 'Long-awaited' and 'life-changing' is how the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland describes a new visa scheme launched today. The new programme announced by Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, will allow some non-EEA nationals permission to stay in Ireland. Those who studied here from 2005 to 2010 can apply over the next three months from today until January 20. "This is a long-awaited scheme and it is life-changing for people that will qualify for it," said Deputy Director of the MRCI Helen Lowry. "Regularisation schemes are good for families, the economy and our society. "In terms of the scheme itself, a lot depends on the approach taken by immigration authorities. It is a welcome development, it's a step in the right direction and the detail of the scheme and how it's rolled out is very important. Ms Lowry says it will not affect everyone but is a step in the right direction. "We're talking about undocumented migrants who are deeply embedded in Irish communities, working families up and down the length and breadth of the country, whose lives could potentially be transformed from a scheme such as this," she said. "A lot of people will not be eligible for this scheme who are in the country a long time and making a very valuable contribution." Digital Desk By David Raleigh A Limerick woman who was sexually assaulted and raped as a child, is to launch a new "12-step" support group programme for abuse survivors. Leona OCallaghan, 37 (pictured), has revealed her traumatic abuse and has bravely waived her anonymity, to help other victims find a path to survival. The mother of three will hold the inaugural meeting of her group Survivor Support Anonymous in Limerick city centre at 7pm on Wednesday. The group is aimed at helping survivors of sexual, physical, and domestic abuse. The group, which is free to attend, is based on a unique 12-step programme for men and women over 18, explained Ms O'Callaghan. We have formed adapted versions of the 12 steps that have helped so many recover from addictions and mental health difficulties in AA, GROW and other 12-step recovery groups, she said. The peer-led group will aim to help abuse victims gain the skills, confidence, and ability, to live fulfilling lives in spite of their trauma of abuse. Leona has described how she was abused by a man for two years from the age of 12. It was only as an adult that I learned how to deal with it. It came back to haunt me when I was about 28 and I was very stressed and had panic attacks. Ms O'Callaghan said her road to recovery eventually began after she was rescued from the River Shannon after attempting to die by suicide. I went to (St Patricks Hospital, Dublin) and I got an amazing amount of help...If you don't get the right help it can be detrimental. When you're in the midst of a depression (the supports) may not feel reachable to you," she added. Ms OCallaghan said her support group would not try to act as a professional counselling service. Professional counselling is very successful in addressing the traumatic experiences, and for me it has helped," she said. "One of our steps will encourage a person to get that professional help." She added: Unhealthy coping mechanisms can have a huge affect on our lives, so the 12 steps is all about turning that around for people. There is no pressure on anyone to share the details of their abuse at the meetings. They can just listen, if that's what they want to do. Ms O'Callaghan said she hoped the support group would give hope to others going through similar struggles that, "there is help and healing out there". "We (survivors) deserve that; We deserve a place to be how we are." To find out details on attending the group meetings contact 085-1492977. The FBI has confirmed that an American millionaire, who is wanted by the US authorities on charges of arranging the contract killing of his wife, has obtained an Irish passport. It is not known how long James Vincent Sullivan, 59, has the passport or how he got it. "I felt blessed then; I feel even more blessed now." There have been many occasions in my 70 years in journalism that I got recognized. The most memorable of all was when I shared a platform with His Holiness Pope Paul VI who came to the Philippines in 1970. He celebrated Mass at the Quezon Memorial Circle on Nov. 29, 1970. I was there as representative of the media. Can you imagine how proud I was for sharing the platform with him? I felt so blessed! And now I feel even more blessed because he is now a saint! Saint Pope Paul VI, please pray for me. *** As they say, they are off and running. I refer to the many senatorial aspirants for the 2019 midterm elections. According to surveys, those likely to be reelected are Senators Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara and Koko Pimentel. Returning senators also stand a good chanceJinggoy Estrada and Pia Cayetano. Plus of course there is Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos. Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, although now 94, stands a good chance of winning. That only leaves three slots for newcomers. That would not be a problem, I believe. Even if newcomers dont make it, it would be like they have won the lottery with the contributions given to them. Awareness is 50 percent of winning and this is why all the familiar names are topping the surveys. The other 50 percent is for all the other factorsfunding, political party, even luck. I say funding makes a lot of difference. Of course parties can provide funds, but it will be better if the money comes from the candidate himself or herself. Candidates who dont have funds of their own should forget about running altogether. Why do I say that money counts a lot? You have to have tarpaulins, posters, ads, gifts, entertainers. This is why campaign expenses become more expensive as the years go by. I have been told that a senatorial candidate now spends between P300 million and P500 million. What I find tragic in the 2019 polls is the status of the opposition. I wonder if any of them at all are sure to win.The only ones who might have a chance are reelectionist Bam Aquino because of his surname, and perhaps Quezon Rep. Erin Tanada. Then again, the Tanada name is foreign to the young voters. *** There are two tragedies happening in Metro Manila for next years polls. One is the brother-sister rivalry of Junjun and Abby Binay. Their father, former Vice President Jejomar Binay, is also running for Congress. He is not lifting a finger to stop the fight between his children. As a resident of Makati, I am saddened by this. I do wish they can settle their differences before the elections. The only thing I can say is that Mayor Abby is doing an excellent job. She has made the city crime- and drug-free. She has continued to look after the interest of senior citizens, and cleaned up the mess left by the former mayor. There is this project to build a subway that goes around Makati. I think its a good one. The patriarch has given his consent for Abby to run. I think the family should respect that. Another tragedy is the feud between the sons of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. JV Ejercito is going for reelection while Jinggoy Estrada wants to stage a comeback. I have no idea how this tragic situations will end. But it is clear that all this is happening because dynasties just want to maintain their hold. *** The Department of Tourism, Department of the Interior and Local Government and Department of Environment and Natural Resources had a soft opening for Boracay, with limited local and foreign tourists. Media people who have gone to the island say that it looks like Boracay has returned to its pristine state. It was closed when the President called it a cesspool. I hope the government can maintain it. *** Presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo is the new spokesman of the President. But how will he relate to the Malacanang Press Corps? Are we really better off with somebody flamboyant and who is akin to a clown? Meghan Markle and the UK's Prince Harry are expecting a baby in spring 2019, Kensington Palace has announced. In a statement, Kensington Palace said: "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public." Harry and Meghan were married at Windsor Castle in May and the news was announced on the eve of their first tour outside the UK and Ireland. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be "delighted" for the couple. Doria Ragland, the mother of the duchess, is "very happy about this lovely news" and "looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild". Meghan and Harry arrived in Sydney on Monday ahead of a 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. - PA Investor worries about media companies has put pressure on the proposed $3.2 billion merger of Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment Co with analysts now valuing Fairfax above the bid price. Nine, Fairfax and real estate offshoot Domain all faced renewed selling pressure on Monday after a tough end to the week on Friday when trading updates were published as part of the merger process. Domain and Fairfax Media chairman Nick Falloon said the merger remains compelling. Credit:Daniel Munoz Domain was hardest hit falling as much as 8 per cent on Monday and compounding a 13.4 per cent fall on Friday. The stock recovered to close 4.7 per cent down for the day at $2.64 but still recorded its lowest ever closing price since listing last year. Nine and Fairfax also fell at the market open but not to the same degree, with Nine finishing the day 1.3 per cent lower after its 12.4 per cent drop on Friday. Fairfax increased slightly (up 1 per cent) on Monday to 67 cents after falling 13.6 per cent on Friday. Ramsay Health Care shareholder meetings are usually very staid affairs, but that is set to change next month with a mysterious interloper making her bid for the health care providers blue-chip boardroom. Seeking election to the board, alongside former Telstra chief executive David Thodey, is another former Telstra employee with a very different career trajectory: Carlie Alisa Ramsay. The directors unanimously recommend that you vote against this resolution, said the company notice on her nomination for the board. Ms Ramsay has gone by at least two other names, according to the government-run Australian Business Register (ABR). Under one previous name, Carlie Streeter, she helped rewrite the industrial relations rule book when it came to acceptable behaviour at company Christmas parties. Miner Coronado Coal is seeking backers for the worlds largest mining listing since 2011, but Australian investors may have lost the race to global rivals. The coal hopeful is hunting for investors ahead of its multibillion-dollar public offering and while a turbulent sharemarket punished coal stocks in Australia last week, Coronado is optimistic that its metallurgical assets will differentiate it in the market from thermal coal miners. Coronado Coal chief Gerry Spindler sees coking coal playing a continuing important role in Australia's economy. Credit:Louise Douvis Coronado chief executive Gerry Spindler said interest in the listing can be seen as a revival for coking coal. We have been really pleased with the response around the world to our roadshow," Mr Spindler told Fairfax Media. A majority of female professionals who haven't experienced or witnessed sexual harassment in the workplace say they don't believe it's commonly happening, according to a survey of more than 5,000 workers. The survey compiled responses from more than 4,700 women professionals and about 1,000 male counterparts. Credit:Shutterstock The study's results show that many women are still afraid to report abuse, according to Elizabeth Alexander, a senior managing director in strategic communications at FTI Consulting. "Women who haven't seen it, or say it hasn't happened to me, they don't think it's a problem," Alexander said in an interview. That's because those that did are keeping it to themselves, she said. "It's this vicious cycle of under-reporting of what's actually happening and it's keeping it all still hidden from view." Business leaders, lawmakers and advocates have been grappling with how best to respond to the MeToo movement, which started in Hollywood and has unearthed harassment across the U. corporate landscape. Since film producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexually harassing and assaulting dozens of actresses about a year ago, more than one new accusation has emerged, on average, each day, according to cases tracked by Bloomberg. But, even when you're in the hands of an experienced practitioner, using a TGA-regulated injectable, should we be treating these procedures so casually? Use of such treatments has grown so rapidly, are we really able to grasp the potential long-term health implications of injectables? The physical health risks Cussell says she has "never" felt concerned about possible long-term health effects. "I've always been fully informed," she says. "With filler there's always the chance it can block an artery so it would just need to be hyalased - using a product that dissolves the filler straight away. With Botox there's the chance of having a temporary paralysis of the muscle. It wears off after three months so it can just mean that you've got an eyebrow droop for a couple of months. It comes down to the injector as well." Dr John Mahony, a board member of the Cosmetic Physicians College of Australasia, sees no cause for concern either. Mahony, who estimates the spend on non-surgical treatments in Australia is about $1.5 billion, says that 20 years of injecting Botox for beauty purposes has demonstrated that there are no long-term health issues while hyaluronic acid (HA, also known hyaluronan) is part of normal human physiology and "so we would say that it is highly unlikely that any long term issues would arise from HA filler injections". "Although technically we don't have 100-year safety data on cosmetic botulinum and HA injectables, the data we have so far indicates that there are no long-term health implications caused by these injectables," he adds. However, a 2009 report by ASERNIP (the Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures) concluded that "long term safety was limited and hence could not be determined." While it is true HA is part of normal human physiology, Ian Musgrave, a molecular toxicologist at the University of Adelaide says that doesn't mean it poses no risk. "The fact that you're being exposed to external concentrations over a long period of time may mean you have some form of adverse effect," Musgrave explains. "Hyaluronic acid is perfectly natural and it's not highly likely to have immune system effects, but the question is if you're continually injecting into the basement structure, you may cause physical disruption that can result in fibrosis - there's a whole range of things that potentially can happen... no therapy is free from adverse effects whatsoever." As for Botox (Botulinum toxin; a neurotoxin, that simple dilution has taken from being a killer to a localised medicine), Musgrave cites a study where people suffering chronic headaches were injected every 12 weeks for a little over two years. The study found Botox use was "safe for a reasonable amount of time" but, Musgrave says researchers are in the dark beyond this point. "We don't really have any good long term studies," he says. "We simply don't know. It's something that needs to be really looked at in great detail. It's a big question mark." It's not the only risk of beauty injectables. Dr Dan Kennedy, spokesperson for the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons cautions people to be "very wary" of permanent and semi-permanent fillers. "I always advise against them completely," he says. This is because he has witnessed the "significant problem" when they become infected or induce an inflammatory reaction. "They are the ones that can produce permanent internal scarring of the face and quite a distorted and irreparable problem," he says of permanent fillers, while semi-permanent fillers can "induce fibrosis". While infections do also occur from temporary fillers like HA and can cause damage to the skin and subcutaneous fat, they are rare, Kennedy says. The mental health risks "My problem is not the short-term complications with the temporary fillers," adds Kennedy who says temporary fillers are not carcinogenic or "anything like that" in the long-term. "My problem is the inappropriate volumes being injected." Not enough practitioners are taking charge and preventing patients from overdoing fillers and the result is more than a cartoonish-looking 'trout pout' or a frozen 'chipmunk face'. "There are practitioners who encourage it because they have developed a distorted body image," Kennedy explains. "This does do damage to people's lips and cheeks and facial structure and they lose their finish and natural animation, as in movement, and they lose attractiveness... You have to be conservative and work with the soft tissues that exist and not try to create a totally different, stretched appearance and expect that skin to behave normally afterwards." As well as stretching of the skin, excessive use of fillers can result in longer term damage including wrinkling of the lip and disturbance of the attachment of the facial fat pads and some degree of irregularity and ageing of the skin, he explains. "It's a compounded thing where either the injector or the patient or both gets some degree of distorted sense of norm and lose touch with normal body image." This risk of injectables creating mental health issues is often overlooked, although it was touched on in the ASERNIP review. "Altering physical characteristics that impart individuality, cosmetic surgery acts as a powerful force that promotes and maintains a narrow beauty ideal," argued one submission. "The socio-culturally defined body ideals for women and men are one of the factors involved in the creation and maintenance of body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders. It becomes a case of more is more as some people looking to make themselves as airbrushed as an Instagram filter in real life, detatch from the beautiful reality of expression and individuality. Musgrave's concern about fillers is less from a safety point of view and more from a cultural one. "Why would you need to do this to enhance your body? That beauty is more than not having wrinkles," he says. Cussell says that even among her demographic, there are "people with balloon faces". Heathers the Musical. Book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphey and Laurence OKeefe. Based on the film written by Daniel Waters. Directed by Kelly Roberts and Grant Pegg. Musical director:Matthew Webster. Choreography: Nathan Rutups. Dramatic Productions. Gungahlin Theatre. Until October 27. Not suitable for children. Bookings: stagecenta.com/showid/4619/ShowdetailsC.aspx. From left, Mikayla Brady (Heather McNamara), Belle Nicol (Veronica Sawyer) and Madeleine Betts (Heather Duke) in Heathers the Musical. Credit:Janelle McMenamin Heathers is a darkly sardonic look at life in an American high school, based on the 1989 film. Its rude and crude and probably not suitable for children wanting an introduction to the modern musical but it has a thread of sanity, mostly in its no- nonsense narrator, Veronica Sawyer (Belle Nicol). Veronica doesnt want to be a target at school so she attaches herself to the in-group, the Heathers. The Heathers are three girls who make the rules but they let Veronica in because she has talents as a forger of school documentation and passes and notes in others handwriting. One of these is left with devastating effect for the forlorn Martha (Chelsea Heaney) who is definitely not among the chosen when it comes to relationships and cool. How this all unfolds has echoes of Monty Python crashing into an American St Trinian's with a touch of The Book of Mormon and a dash of South Park. Veronica falls for new boy J.D. (Will Huang) who is not like the jocks and nerds but something almost more dangerous, a thinker and reader. The mafia had no reason to kill police chief Colin Winchester and his death served the organisation no purpose, prosecutors told a jury Monday. Murdered AFP assistant commissioner Colin Winchester. Prosecutor Murugan Thangaraj SC said it was extremely unlikely the mafia was responsible for the murder, and the suggestion they would have done it on the basis of what the informant "You Know Who" told them was laughable. He said members of the mafia would not be able to cross the street or get a parking ticket in the wake of a hit on Canberras most senior officer. The last thing these people want is to draw that sort of attention and scrutiny on them, he said, adding that theyre there to make money" in their illicit business dealings. Qatar reiterated its stand in support of Moroccos territorial integrity stressing that any settlement of the Shara issue should be found through dialogue in a way that safeguards Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara. Qatar reaffirmed its stand on the Sahara issue at the UNs 4th committee meeting where Qatari representative expressed support for the efforts made to reach consensus in the political process initiated in 2007 under the auspices of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy for the implementation of the resolutions of the Security Council in order to ensure the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco Settling the Sahara issue would strengthen cooperation between Maghreb countries and will bolster regional security and stability, the Qatari official said. Morocco has put on the table an autonomy plan described as serious and credible by the UN. The proposal fell on deaf Algerian and Polisario ears as both parties insist on holding a referendum on self-determination, an option judged unfeasible by the UN in view of disagreements over who is entitled to vote. The UN Envoy for the Sahara has invited Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario separatist front for direct talks in Geneva in December after many rounds of indirect talks failed to make any progress. A Bandidos bikie and his outlaw motorcycle gang associate have pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a man outside a Brisbane shopping centre in 2012. Ahead of their Brisbane Supreme Court trial for murder on Monday, Bogdan Cuic and Marko Cokara admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter over the death of Jei "Jack" Lee, 22, outside an Eight Mile Plains shopping centre. The family and friends of victim Jei "Jack" Lee are seen leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Credit:AAP Cucic was extradited from Serbia to Brisbane in 2016 to face prosecution over the "execution-style" killing of Mr Lee on April 12, 2012 after an alleged cocaine deal went wrong. The day after the shooting, Cuic left Australia but was arrested and extradited from Serbia despite the two countries not sharing an extradition treaty. The $110 million Howard Smith Wharves project isnt due to open for another month but eager residents are looking to make bookings for 2021. The development, approved by Brisbane City Council in 2015, will reactivate 3.4 hectares of riverside land underneath the Story Bridge, including restaurants, an overwater bar, a 164-room five-star hotel and multiple event spaces. Bougainvillea House within The Houses function space at Howard Smith Wharves. The event spaces can accommodate up to 1000 guests and the first two, The Rivershed and Howards Hall, would open in November. The spaces are designed to host anything from seminars to weddings and residents are already securing the space. Upgrades to more than 70 Brisbane bus stops will start in October as Brisbane City Council edges closer to having 50 per cent of its stops accessible to prams and wheelchairs. There are about 6200 bus stops across the city, with about 4700 identified in 2014 as needing to be upgraded to be more accessible. In October, accessibility upgrades will start at 74 Brisbane bus stops. Credit:Chris Hyde The council has completed about 2100 of those upgrades, and in October the upgrades to 74 additional stops across 24 suburbs will start. The suburbs to receive upgrades include Bulimba, Carindale, Eight Mile Plains, Manly and Sunnybank. Digging has begun to find the underground crypt where the coffin of one of Queensland's first parliamentarians lies in the Ipswich General Cemetery. A small excavator was used on Wednesday to begin the dig to find the body of former West Moreton MP Joseph Fleming and his wife, Phoebe Fleming, which has been identified in the burial crypt. University of Southern Queensland archaeology students were due to be on their hands and knees scraping the dirt away with their tools on Monday in search of the structure. Mr Fleming, who was known for never uttering a word in Parliament, represented West Moreton from July 9, 1860, until November 3, 1862, and again from September 11, 1866, until July 2, 1867. A man jailed for six months for neglecting a pony so badly it had to be put down could face a harsher penalty, following an appeal. Tony Cottle, 62, received a six-month jail term last December and was ordered to pay $16,183 in costs on a charge of aggravated cruelty to a chestnut and white pinto pony gelding on his Clyde property. Cottle appeared before the Melbourne County Court on Monday to appeal his conviction and sentence. During the hearing, Judge Trevor Wraight reinstated two cruelty-related charges previously struck out by the magistrate hearing his original case. The development means Cottle could face a harsher sentence after the addition of one count of failing to provide food, drink and shelter for an animal and unreasonable failure to provide treatment for a sick animal. The royals have made their first appearance in Sydney, a publicly pregnant Meghan looking radiant in a white dress. Follow their movements live here. Spot on 21 degrees in the city now ahead of a showery top of 23. There are major delays on the Cranbourne line due to a faulty train. Smooth on the roads. Parliament sitting today. We'll also be covering the penultimate day the AFL trading period. We'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning. Have a great day. A baby girl has sustained serious head injuries after a family was crushed when a tree fell on their tent near Dwellingup at the weekend. The family were camping at Nanga Mill campsite in Lane Poole Reserve when wild weather felled a pine tree above their tent around 3.30am Sunday. A tree has fallen and crushed a tent sheltering a young family in WA's south Credit:Mandurah Mail Its believed fellow campers rushed a man, woman and baby who sustained several broken bones, to Peel Health Campus. "It appears Darren has drawn his service-issued pistol from the police armoury this morning shortly after 6am," Mr Dawson said. Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said he was found by colleagues. Darren Igglesden, 50, died at Cockburn police station on Monday morning shortly after reporting for duty at 6am. A police officer has died following a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound at a police station south of Perth. "Darren's death has come as a complete shock to his family and friends and indeed the entire police force. "This is a difficult time for all people present." Mr Dawson said First Class Constable Igglesden had worked for the police for the past six-and-a-half-years. "He had a very respected time as a police officer... he initially was deployed to the traffic enforcement group... he was then stationed at Fremantle before being transferred to Cockburn. "I've got no information to suggest that Darren's death has been connected in any way to other recent [tragedies in WA]." The Coalition has blamed a rogue email from a minister's office for its "regrettable" decision to back One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's incendiary motion that declared, "It's OK to be white." Senator Hanson's motion condemning so-called "anti-white racism" was defeated in the Senate on Monday, but was backed by 23 Coalition senators and strongly endorsed on Twitter afterwards by cabinet ministers. The phrase "it's OK to be white" is widely associated with alt-right, white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements, particularly in the US. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson put forward a motion declaring: "It's OK to be white." Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Amid the fallout on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the actions of his own senators were "regrettable", and asked the government's leader in the Senate, Mathias Cormann, to explain. Labor will vow to help asylum seeker children who need medical help by setting up a new process to bring them to Australia for treatment, as Liberal MPs step up pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to make a similar intervention. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will force the issue in federal Parliament by planning a private member's bill to legislate the new approach, acting on an open letter from 6000 doctors saying the children detained on Nauru must have access to medical treatment in Australia. The Labor bill sets up a test for Liberal MPs who are urging Mr Morrison to adopt a more humanitarian approach, although it is not clear when the bill could be put to a vote in Parliament. Labor immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann and health spokeswoman Catherine King announced the proposal on Tuesday with a statement that they shared the concerns of the Australian Medical Association ove the health of children detained on Nauru. The Labor bill will "ensure the recommendation of treating clinicians" is the primary consideration when deciding the temporary transfer of a child to Australia for treatment. King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Sunday exchanged over the telephone views on the situation of missing Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who has vanished since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. A source at the Turkish Presidency told state-run news agency Anadolu that Erdogan stressed the need to form a joint working group to probe Khashoggis disappearance. The veteran journalist who left the kingdom more than a year ago and settled in Washington over fears for his life did not emerge from the consulate where he was to get documents necessary for his marriage with his Turkish fiancee. The Turkish fiancee and friends alerted police on October 2 few hours after Khashoggi entered the diplomatic facility and could not be found after the mission was closed. Turkish authorities believe that the journalist who has written several critical articles for the Washington Post might have been killed inside the consulate. The Saudis denied the claims but did not provide any evidence he actually left the mission. The Salman-Erdogan phone conversation took place following claims by Ankara that Riyadh has failed to cooperate in the investigations seeking to shed light on the journalists mysterious disappearance. We still have not seen cooperation in order to ensure a smooth investigation and bring everything to light. We want to see this, said Sunday Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. International pressure is being piled on the kingdom as France, Germany and the UK also on Sunday in a joint statement called on Riyadh to provide information on the whereabouts of the journalist who has become critical of the royal courts policies. Defending freedom of expression and a free press and ensuring the protection of journalists are key priorities for Germany, the United Kingdom and France, said a joint statement by the three European countries foreign ministers. In this spirit, light must be shed on the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose family has lost contact with him since October 2nd, said Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. The pressure and finger-pointing at Saudi authorities have become significant following the publication in Turkish media of a 15-man hit squad believed close to Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. The men arrived in Turkey aboard two different planes and happened to be in the consulate the day Khashoggi entered the building. The men, all of them Saudis, left the consulate a few moments after the journalists fiancee reported the disappearance of her would-be husband. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is being accused of playing "desperate" and risky politics with highly sensitive foreign policy after he announced the government would consider recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a contentious move that would bring Australia into line with the Trump administration and antagonise the Muslim world. The apparent openness to shifting Australia's embassy from Tel Aviv has been unveiled just days ahead of the high-stakes byelection in Wentworth, an electorate with a large Jewish population. The Liberal candidate Dave Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, has been a vocal advocate for reconsidering Australia's decades-long position. The Prime Minister has also announced the government would review Australia's support for the Iran nuclear deal to see whether it was still "fit for purpose" in preventing the country from acquiring nuclear weapons. Mr Trump has withdrawn the US from the Obama-era deal, which has faced hostility from Israel. The Palestinian representative in Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, and Middle East experts rebuked Mr Morrison's new position as a domestic political ploy that could damage the peace process and Australia's standing with Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Asia. Mohammed is a few months shy of his second birthday, and he has never met his father. The long shadow of Australia's harsh policies to deter boat arrivals keeps this family 5000 kilometres apart. Hani, Mohammed's father, has been stuck on Nauru for the past five years. Tina*, Mohammed's mother, is among a small group of refugees who were able to leave the island. She was transferred to Australia due to complications with her pregnancy, and gave birth in Cairns. She has since moved interstate where she is raising Mohammed alone. "Its hard to be a single mum," says Tina. "What makes it harder - and heartbreaking - is that my husband missed his [Mohammed's] first milestones and he missed all these precious moments here with us." Tina and her son Mohammed live in Australia, but father Hani remains on Nauru. Credit:Ben Searcy Tina is one of 63 people from 14 families who have now lodged a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Six of the families were separated due to medical transfers to Australia, while five were separated because relatives arrived either side of July 19, 2013 - the date the Rudd Labor government started sending asylum seekers for offshore processing. Another three families were in both categories. They were words which would have been better left unsaid. Tim Murray, the Labor candidate for Wentworth, was uncomfortably reminded of the impact of a careless phrase as he defended Bill Shortens failure to materialise in the electorate in the run-up to Saturdays crucial byelection contest. Liberal hopeful Dave Sharma arrives for The Battle for Wentworth forum, hosted by The Sydney Morning Herald, in Bondi on Monday. Credit:Nick Moir This is a sideshow, to be honest, he observed on Monday, sending a discernible ripple of disapproval through the 150 or so voters gathered upstairs at the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club. Hastily recovering himself, Mr Murray explained that Mr Shorten was focused on the main prize which was the general election due by May, and was thus concentrating on marginal electorates around the country. Queensland could rocket to the forefront of the world's space race with a study investigating the potential for a launch site in the state. The federal government is leading the charge with the Australian Space Agency, with a mandate to triple the size of the country's space industry to generate up to $12 billion by 2030 - and Queensland is keen to cash in too. A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket lifts off from the launch pad at the new Vostochny Cosmodrome outside the city of Uglegorsk in Russia. Queensland is investigating potential rocket launch sites in the hopes of capitalising on the space industry. Credit:AFP Pool The state government has launched a feasibility study to identify available sites and suitable regions in Queensland for a satellite park and launch facility. The study will investigate environmental, economic and infrastructure requirements. Beijing: Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit, its President Tsai Ing-wen said, just weeks after the Vatican reached a milestone deal on the appointment of bishops with China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own. Last month's deal gives the Holy See, Taiwan's last remaining diplomatic ally in Europe, a long-sought say over such appointments, although both sides call it "provisional" and sources have said some key issues remain unresolved. Taiwan Vice-President Chen Chien-jen met Francis on Sunday and invited him to visit, Tsai's office said in a statement, adding that the pope had replied he would pray for Taiwan. But it gave no date for the proposed visit. Chen emphasised the provisional nature of the agreement between the Vatican and China, saying it did not involve a "diplomatic element" or affect the friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican, the statement added. The sticking point, as it has been for at least a year, is the Irish border. Both sides have agreed that for the sake of peace in this troubled region there must be no hard border that is, customs checks at the land border with Ireland after Brexit. Both sides have agreed (perhaps optimistically) this can be sorted out with a frictionless trade deal hopefully negotiated during the 20-month transition period that follows Brexit day. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. Credit:PA And both sides agreed in December last year to a necessary backstop that will kick in after the transition ends in January 2021, if needed, to ensure there remains no hard border until that trade deal is fully sorted out. But there has been little progress since December on how the backstop should work. The EU says it must mean Northern Ireland stays in the EUs customs union and parts of the single market. May says that would effectively mean a border between Northern Ireland and Britain which threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom. The UK countered with a temporary customs arrangement to cover the whole of the UK, including Northern Ireland, under which the UK would apply EU customs rules at its own border. But, May said, the EU doesnt believe the UKs solution would work, or at least hasnt yet been persuaded it will work and doubts theres enough time left to be convinced. So now the EU wants its own backstop to be the backstop to Mays backstop. Even if May were to accept the EUs backstop to her backstop, which she doesnt, May said, there is the additional problem that it must somehow be time limited, because otherwise the UK risks being left in a permanent limbo trapped in a single customs territory unable to do meaningful trade deals. But the EU insists that a time limited backstop isnt a proper backstop. Nevertheless, May said she continues to believe that such a deal is achievable. An Irish flag flies over the graves in a cemetery in Carrickcarnan, Ireland, near Northern Ireland, where the Brexit deal runs into trouble. Credit:AP She did not explain why she continued to believe this. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn complained it was a groundhog day moment from this shambles of a government which had agreed to a backstop last December that it was now unable to sell to its own hardline Brexit wing and DUP allies. He was batted away by May, who ridiculed Labours own internal divisions over Brexit. The more wounding attack came from behind her. What we now see is complete chaos and a total mess, said Conservative Anna Soubry, who wants another referendum on the whole shebang. It prompted a firm line from the prime minister: come what may, there will be no turning back. The people voted to leave the European Union, and I believe it is a matter of faith in our democracy, and the integrity of politicians, that we deliver for people on that vote, she said. Several MPs, from both sides, reported that constituents and local businesses in their electorates were getting extremely worried about a no deal Brexit if negotiations break down. Loading During Saturdays excellent victory by Gloucester rugby club against the French league champions Castres Olympique, several representatives of small and medium-sized businesses focused on telling me how disastrous no deal would be, Gloucester Tory Richard Graham complained. My businesses and constituents in South Cambridgeshire are terrified of a no deal, too, said Heidi Allen of South Cambridgeshire, less of a rugby fan but no less concerned. And Mays reply to Allen, who was also asking for another referendum, was perhaps the most intriguing of the day. Dubai: Saudi Arabia has warned against threats to punish it over last week's disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as European and US allies piled on pressure. Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadh's policies, disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that. US President Donald Trump has threatened "severe punishment" if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he said Washington would be "punishing" itself if it halted military sales to Riyadh. A US couple who used tumbled trees to spell out HELP after being trapped by Hurricane Michael in Florida were rescued after their niece saw their plea on an aerial map. The upbeat tale comes as search crews somberly picked through the debris of entire neighborhoods blown apart by the fury of the storm. The confirmed death toll remained at 17 on Monday, but authorities said they expected the number to go higher. NOAA National Geodetic Survey damage assessment imagery showing a home near Youngstown, Florida where the word "HELP" has been spelled out with logs. Credit:NOAA Bay County Emergency Services said they were contacted by the niece, Amber Gee, and dispatched help. "This is an incredible story of how people are working together," the agency posted on its Facebook page. The state wants to double the number of students and visitors from Latin America, hoping to fill a gap created by US President Donald Trump as he alienates his closest neighbours. Wants closer ties with Latin America: Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis. Credit:Jesse Marlow The Trade Victoria Latin American strategy, first launched by Trade and Investment Minister Philip Dalidakis in May, also aims to double the volume of two-way trade between the state and Latin America, currently the smallest of Victorias trading partners. Take Mexico, for example. Dalidakis told The Age this week that recent spats with the United States over tariffs and immigration Trump famously insulted Mexican migrants as drug dealers, criminals and rapists present an opportunity for Victoria to welcome students and businesses here instead. The government's advertising, in Spanish and Portuguese throughout Latin America, promises "There is a place for you in Melbourne". Ana Sanchez, from Cali, Colombia, features in a video that is part of a Trade Victoria campaign trying to lure more Latin American students to the state. "The reason we started this campaign ... is because of the Trump administration, because of the very negative connotation that President Trump has had in many countries," Dalidakis said. When you treat people with disrespect ... I'm only too happy to extend the hand of friendship to Mexicans to demonstrate the opportunities that they would have here in Australia, but more importantly in Victoria, be in through international education, or through export markets." Loading He also said he welcomed the federal government's involvement in the reconfigured Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal signed by 11 nations in March, without the US. "The TPP has the very real chance of straightening our bilateral relationships into Mexico." In other words, Dalidakis wants Latin Americans to know that if they can't go to, or do business with, the United States, they can come to Victoria. Flavours of Colombia: Cento Mani cafe in Melbourne. Latin America accounts for less than $500 million in Victorian exports excluding educational services, having grown about 40 per cent in the last decade. Two-way trade was $1.1 billion in 2017. The state aims to double total figures in the next 10 years. For comparison, Victorian goods exports to China were $6.47 billion in 2017-18. But the number of student enrolments from the Latin America has grown 400 per cent in the same period. As at July, approx 14,000 Latin American students were enrolled at Victorian institutions Colombia, Brazil and Chile being the major source countries with Colombia alone accounting for more than 7000. Victoria is hoping to attract about 28,000 Latin American students in the next 10 years, with Dalidakis counting also on the flow-on effect to tourism, as families seek to visit their enrolled relatives. The goal is to welcome more than 90,000 Latin American travellers a year. Loading Time for closer relations, says the Victorian Trade Minister. Credit:Gerard Cockburn Trade Victoria has also opened an office in Santiago, Chile, last year, and Dalidakis hopes the next decade will see others in Brazil and Mexico. With several Victorian companies' South American operations, such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Orica already based in Santiago and a new direct flight route from Melbourne, Dalidakis is hoping for a closer relationship also with Chile. But first he has to convince the federal government to allow Chileans to travel to Australia on electronic visas (ETA). The son of a Jewish refugee mother and Greek migrant father, Dalidakis is willing to butt heads with the Morrison government on the question of bringing more people from overseas to Victoria. The fact is, we been built on the back of immigration and foreign direct investment. We cannot pretend we can operate as an island, we are dependent upon the world - it's always been thus and will continue." A broker group has told brokers to "keep being awesome" in the wake of the Royal Commission interim report. Acknowleding "anxiety and concern" in the industry at the moment, Loan Market held a digital discussion with brokers to answer questions and try to provide advice. Executive chairman Sam White told Australia Broker after the event that no one knew the answers so it was about pre-empting any change and continuing to work in the best interests of customers. Questions White said they faced at the digital discussion were asking about the groups level of engagement with politicians and decision makers and what they thought was going to come out of it in the end. White said, There were no answers to give on the Royal Commission. Theres uncertainty, so what we really said was that nothing has changed, the uncertainty is still there. We spoke about the lobbying were trying to do and educate decision makers but then the focus was what can you do about it now. The first thing is, its easy to lose energy in this market and it can be hard because it can get demoralising with all this extra work. Keep being awesome with your customers, that doesnt change. The second thing, what else does your customer really need? One of the biggest things out of the Royal Commission is this massive lack of trust. The institutions have shown they cant be trusted and the broker market has shown us that consumers want to keep dealing with brokers. Broker shares are rising, so the thing we spoke about was we have got to keep staying close, find out what your customers want and find solutions for them. Theres other things they need. Do you let them walk into and get ripped off by another asset finance, or do you come up with solutions? Bringing competition to a consumers need is the value brokers can bring rather than being one credit partner supplier. The event also included a dial-in from New Zealand Loan Market broker Bruce Patten. New Zealand is just starting to see trail commission come back into the market, after it was removed in 2006. Patten provided advice and insights in to how brokers in NZ grew their businesses without the use of trail, to address some of the anxiety felt by brokers in Australia. Asked if he thought changes would come out of the Royal Commission in the end, White said, "Yes, I think its unavoidable. "If you look through the reports and the questions that he asks, whether its legislation or a reinterpretation. "Increasingly brokers are becoming more credit assessors, where theyre doing more of the credit verification up front. Although its had a significant impact, brokers are working twice as long and at the same time theyre being told theyre not going to be paid as much. Will there be more changes coming out of the final report? I presume so. We need to take control of that future and not leave it up to others to decide how our businesses evolve." The Iranian judiciary has referred a military officer to authorities over his alleged conspiracy with attackers who killed at least 25 people during a parade near the Iraqi border last September. The officer, whose name has not been revealed, was arrested after eleven soldiers were summoned, according to Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, spokesman for the judiciary. The men were suspected for aiding an attack last month on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz, near the border with Iraq. At least 25 people among whom 8 members of powerful Supreme Guards were killed by four militants. The Islamic State group (ISIS) claimed the attack but Tehran has blamed the Arab separatist group, the Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front (ADPF) or Al-Ahwazi, for the attack. Authorities believed the ADPF received financial support from a US ally Arab country in the region. One of the countries in the south of the Persian Gulf took care of their financial, weaponry and political needs, President Hassan Rouhani had said. All these little mercenary countries we see in this region are backed by America. It is the Americans who incite them. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC Shes throwing a pit-y party! A new art exhibition will celebrate the beauty of pit bulls! Pit Bull Flower Power, by photographer and animal advocate Sophie Gamand, features portraits of the much maligned doggies, each adorned with a hand-crafted crown of flowers. Gamand hopes that her exhibit at the Invisible Dog Art Center, and a book collecting the images, launching at the gallery on Oct. 20, will change negative perceptions of the dogs and reveal something about the breeders who created them. The fate of the pit bull is so emblematic of how messed up humans are. We created these dogs, we made them strong, and then we decided we dont like this anymore, lets just destroy, euthanize you and hate on you and have all these legends around you, said the Brooklyn Heights photographer. Gamand, who has volunteered with animal rescue groups for the last eight years, said that shelters all over the country are full of unwanted pit bulls. The first thing a lot of people say when they come to a shelter is I want a dog, but anything but a pit bull. I cant tell you how often Ive heard that, she said. Gamand herself was wary of pit bulls because of a bad experience with a big dog as a child even though the canine that attacked her was a different breed. When she noticed her prejudice against the dogs, she decided to challenge herself through her art. I realized I was not giving them my best and that it was unfair and prejudiced towards the dogs. So I wanted to do a project that would force me to interact with them and get to know them. I thought there might be an opportunity there to shift our perception a bit, she said. Rather than portray the dogs as vicious, growling brutes, she put the rescued pit bulls in elegant poses and made bespoke flower crowns for them. The project quickly became an online sensation, and over the last four years her work has found hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. She gets messages every day from pit bull fans and converts, including one cute story of a girl who saw Gamands photos and began referring to pit bulls as flower dogs. Gamands exhibition and book also aims to draw attention to the more sobering side of animal rescue and shelters, with images of used collars and a virtual reality experience showing how confining shelters are for dogs, according to Gamand. Its beautiful that were saving all of these animals, but shelters are not a fun place for an animal, its like solitary confinement in many ways, she said. Gamand hopes that her book will raise awareness for the plight of pit bulls, which she calls the invisible dogs of animal shelters, in the same way that her online work has already converted skeptics. Many pit bull fans told me that Finally the dogs are being seen the way that we see them, she said. So even though the work is mine and its my baby, it has gone beyond me and spread this message of having an open mind and an open heart. Pit Bull Flower Power, at the Invisible Dog Art Center [51 Bergen St. between Smith Street and Boerum Place in Cobble Hill, (347) 5603641, www.thein visib ledog.org ]. Animal Haven Fund-raiser with food and wine on Oct. 18; 69 pm. $50. Exhibit on display Oct. 1921; FriSat, 17 pm; Sun, 15 pm. Book release party on Oct. 20, 47 pm. Free. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC This Brooklyn teacher has an important lesson for women and men. Keri Gioia began having an annual mammogram 11 years ago when she turned 40. The kindergarten teacher was single with no children, had no family history of breast cancer, and no symptoms. But in 2012, doctors spotted a suspicious area on her mammogram that was later confirmed to be breast cancer. The tumor was at an early stage, and Gioia decided to have a lumpectomy and follow-up radiation treatment. After a short period of recovery, she returned to her usual routine with a positive attitude: teaching in a public school in Brooklyn and leading an active social life on Staten Island, where she lives. She remained diligent about her annual mammogram. Then, in late 2017, during her annual screening before a visit with Dr. Janet Yeh, a breast surgeon at NYU Langone HospitalBrooklyn, Gioia told the mammography technician about a lump she recently felt in her other breast. Her mammograms and a subsequent biopsy of the suspicious area confirmed a malignancy. Again, it was at an early stage. She underwent a mastectomy with two-stage breast reconstruction, performed in Brooklyn by plastic surgeon Dr. Alyssa Golas, whom she praised along with Yeh for the care they provided. Dr. Yeh and Dr. Golas are an incredible team and I am very pleased with the result, Gioia said. The care I received from them was simply the best and its convenient that they work together and can see patients at one site. They are terrific doctors! The American Cancer Society currently recommends women without any symptoms or family history of breast cancer start receiving annual screening mammograms at age 45. False-positives and over-diagnosis are two main reasons for waiting until later, according to the society. Some cancers grow slowly, but some can be aggressive and reach an advanced stage more quickly. In Keris case, her tumors were found and treated early, when the chance for a good outcome or a cure is much greater, the doctor said. Self-examination and an annual mammogram can save many lives. For information about breast health, the diagnosis of breast cancer, breast-conserving surgery, advanced therapies for breast cancer, and breast reconstruction, visit www.nyulangone.org/conditions/breast-cancer. Reach James Harney at (718) 260-2529 or e-mail him at jharn ey@cn gloca l.com . Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor As the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) deadline for got over on Monday, almost all payments players claimed they were either fully compliant with the rules or were actively working towards it. For card companies, however, it was a different tale, with the three major players Visa, Mastercard, and American Express yet to toe the line. In a meeting between the non-compliant players and the RBI last week, the central bank had said the October 15 deadline would not be relaxed. Does this mean people will not be able to use their debit and credit cards from Tuesday? Stern action seems unlikely in the near term, said a source. Neither the RBI nor the payments want clients to be inconvenienced. Action against each company will depend on what progress they have made towards compliance, the source added. About 85 per cent of the are fully compliant, while the remaining 15 per cent have made significant progress towards compliance, said a source from the payments industry. After the RBI refused to extend the deadline, more payments have met requirements. Mastercard, Visa, and American Express have sought more time, said sources. Emails sent to and American Express went unanswered, while refused to comment. The companies that have failed to comply with the requirements are giving regular updates to the RBI. The fully compliant ones include global majors such as Google, Facebook (with its subsidiary WhatsApp), Amazon, and Alibaba. There are political implications of the RBIs move to force payments companies to localise customer data within the country. Two US senators wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to soften Indias stance and allow data mirroring measures, reported Reuters. The letter warned that measures requiring represent key trade barriers between the two nations. Business Standard had earlier reported that major US multinationals had sought the help of the US Treasury to ensure norms are watered down. Despite a suggestion from the finance ministry to allow data mirroring instead of exclusive storage, the RBI did not relent. Sources said the central bank was preparing the ground for a stringent Data Protection Bill, a draft of which was released by the Justice Srikrishna committee in August. A payments executive said, The data protection law would not make it feasible for Indian data to be stored elsewhere. Those companies resisting have a Plan B ready and will continue to leverage trade relations to push a lighter data storage stance, said sources. While the non-compliant global companies may temporarily comply with the regulations, they are likely to continue challenging the data-localisation norms, said a payments executive. The payments industry remains divided on the issue. Local players applauded the move saying it will bring greater security as well as opportunities for India. Global players have been vocal on the importance of free flow of data across borders. Vinay Kalantri, founder and managing director, The Mobile Wallet, said the RBIs stance could severely affect trade relations between the US and India. The RBI should get every stakeholder on the same page of the policy-making architecture by putting an end to policy confusions instead of rushing through new benchmarks. By doing so, the central bank will be serving the original purposes of payment companies enhancing financial inclusion and putting to use their full potential to spur existing business and creating new business, he added. India has the second-highest fintech adoption rate in the world, creating multiple opportunities for payments companies both national and international. This also translates into a growing volume of user and transaction data, coupled with the challenges of data breach and fraud, said Sampad Swain, chief executive officer and co-founder, Instamojo. He added: The RBIs regulation is a positive step towards ensuring data security and is a reassuring move for many potential users hesitant to embrace digital payments. Experts said data localisation norms would require global companies to increase their investment in the country. The payments companies would not only need to build more data centres in India but also employ greater resources in the country. The local data storage norms would require global companies to perform all of their processes, both transactional and supervisory, such as security and fraud prevention, said Munjal Kamdar, partner, Deloitte India. The condition of exclusive data storage would make Indias data localisation laws among the strictest in the world. Even in the most stringent markets, such as in Russia and China, specific data can be transferred, but only after storing it onshore first. The UK and Sweden are in favour of free flow of data, whereas Germany and France strongly oppose it. According to analysts, storing data locally is a time-consuming process and a humongous exercise. D-Day is here The battle for Jewish voters in the race for Florida governor escalated another notch Sunday when the Jewish outreach chairman for GOP nominee Ron DeSantis suggested his Democratic opponent might veto security funding for Jewish day schools. While introducing DeSantis to a crowd at Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El in Plantation, Randy Fine, the only Republican Jewish lawmaker in the Florida Legislature, warmed up the audience by describing the stakes of the election. He suggested that Democrat Andrew Gillum might ignore a relatively new law banning the state government from doing business with companies that support a boycott of the nation of Israel. And then Fine mentioned that, over the past two years, the state of Florida has allocated $2.65 million to fund security at Jewish day schools. Heres what I want you to know: When we pass a law it has to be overturned for it to go away. But when it comes to funding, the governor every single year has the ability to line item veto that funding, Fine said. So if we have $2 million in the budget next year to make sure Jewish children who go to Jewish schools are safe even though they are Jewish, which one of the candidates running for governor do we believe would sign that into law and which one do we believe might veto that? That is a decision that is at stake. The Gillum campaign called the assertion absurd. Rep. Fine is doing himself and his constituents a deep disservice by spreading lies and conshttps://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article220017410.htmlpiracy theories like this, Gillum campaign spokeswoman Carlie Waible said in a statement. Mayor Gillum strongly supports the $2 million in funding for security at Jewish Day Schools and Rep. Fine knows it. The back-and-forth is just the latest in a contentious and long-running tussle between the DeSantis and Gillum campaigns as they fight for support among Floridas Jewish community. In what polls and history show to be a tight race, both candidates are aggressively courting a Jewish community that is estimated at about 630,000 strong and known to be a reliable and predominately Democratic voting bloc. Read the rest here. Now, the dreadful pollution is back to the national capital and its nearby states. Meanwhile, recent satellite images from the NASA showed that farmers in Punjab and Haryana have started burning crop residue earlier this month. On Sunday, the air quality in Delhi remained poor, as the overall air quality index (AQI) recorded at 10 am Sunday stood at 208 which falls in the poor category, according to Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The delegation of power to acquire land for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad by the Centre to the Gujarat government is illegal, project-affected farmers told the Gujarat High Court on Monday. The high court was hearing petitions filed by farmers who are opposing acquisition of land for the project. In an affidavit filed on October 12, the Ministry of Railways had told the court that it had issued a notification on October 8, 2018 delegating to the state government the power to acquire land for the project with retrospective effect. The petitioners, in their reply on Monday, said the notification was issued when the petitions filed by farmers in June this year were pending before the court, and therefore it is "illegal and unconstitutional." The notification was also an admission by the Union government that it was the "appropriate government" to acquire land and not the Gujarat government, they said. "The issuance of notification...is an admission on part of the Ministry of Railways that the state government is not an appropriate government as per... Land Acquisition Act, 2013," the farmers' reply said. Such admission "automatically invalidates" all the earlier notifications issued by the state government for the land acquisition, the farmers said. The land should, therefore, be acquired under the unamended central legislation of the 2013 act and not according to the state's amended of 2016, they said. The petitioners have maintained that as this is a multi-state project (across Gujarat and Maharashtra), the acquisition should take place under the central act of 2013. The Gujarat version of the has diluted certain safeguards for land owners' rights, they contended. The state government had earlier told the court that as the width of the tract of land to be acquired is only 17.5 metres, resettlement issues were minimal. ALSO READ: 1000 farmers oppose land acquisition for bullet train project in Gujarat HC The ambitious was launched by Prime Minister and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in September last year. The government will need to compensate around 6,000 land owners for the project. India has been ranked at the 103rd position among 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index, says a report. According to the report, prepared by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, India is among the 45 countries that have "serious levels of hunger". In 2017, India was ranked at the 100th position but ranking for this year is not comparable, it said. The GHI, now in its 13th year, ranks countries based on four key indicators -- undernourishment, child mortality, child wasting and Child wasting refers to share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition. India is ranked below many neighbouring countries, including China (25th spot), Nepal (72), Myanmar (68), Sri Lanka (67) and Bangladesh (86). Pakistan is placed at the 106th position. While noting that hunger varies enormously by region, the report said this year's GHI scores for South Asia and Africa south of the Sahara reflect serious levels of hunger. Zero is the best score and a reading above 100 is the worst. The latter signifies that a country's undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality levels are at the highest level, it noted. Further, the report, released last week, said that the world has made gradual, long-term progress in reducing overall hunger, but this progress has been "uneven". "Areas of severe hunger and undernutrition stubbornly persist, reflecting human misery for millions," it added. Since the number of forcibly displaced people is on the rise, and hunger is often both a cause and a consequence of displacement, the report said that actions need to taken by the international community, governments, and civil society, among others. According to the report, around 124 million people suffer acute hunger in the world, a striking increase from 80 million two years ago while the reality of hunger and undernutrition continues to have a massive impact on the next generation. About 151 million children are stunted and 51 million children are wasted across the globe. Hard-won gains are being further threatened by conflict, climate change, poor governance, and a host of other challenges, it added. Welthungerhilfe is a not-for-profit group and Concern Worldwide works towards improving lives of poor people. As part of the #MeToo campaign in India, Ramani is one of the women to have levelled charges of sexual misconduct against Akbar from the time he was the editor of a newspaper. Akbar, the Minister of State for External Affairs, had accused Ramani of wilfully, deliberately, intentionally, and maliciously defaming him and has sought her prosecution under the penal provision on ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor A judge's wife, who was allegedly shot in a crowded market area in Gurgaon by his personal security guard, succumbed to injuries, while their 18-year-old son has been declared "brain dead", officials said Sunday. Additional Sessions Judge Krishan Kant's wife Ritu (45) and son Dhruv (18) had gone for shopping in the Arcadia market Saturday when they were shot by Mahipal. They were admitted to a hospital in critical condition. Regional Medical Officer, Gurgaon Civil Hospital, Pawan Choudhary confirmed the death of Ritu and said the post-mortem examination had been conducted. The reason for Ritu's death was excessive bleeding. A panel of three specialist doctors found two gunshot wounds on the right side and in the middle of the chest, Chaudhary said. Dhruv, who was shot in the head, is brain dead. He has been put on life support system. It would be a miracle if he is saved, the medical officer said. Mahipal was brought to a Gurgaon court at 1 pm which sent him to four-day police custody. The Gurgaon Police had sought a week's custody for extensive interrogation of Mahipal to establish the reason why he shot Ritu and Dhruv. It has set up a Special Investigation Team to investigate the case from all angles. "Mahipal is frequently changing his statements and becomes furious whenever he is questioned. He said he was depressed due to family problems," said a senior police officer, who is part of the interrogation team. "As per the statement of the accused, he was not happy with the behaviour of the victim's family members. He was also upset due to frequent fights with his wife which was confirmed by his neighbours in police lines, the officer told PTI. After initial interrogation of the accused, police officers said he was a Haryana police head constable and was serving as personal security guard of the judge for two years. He had been demanding leave to go home for the past few days but this was not granted, the officer said. "The judge also used to scold him often," one of the interrogating officers said. On Saturday, the judge's wife scolded him inside the car when they were going to the market, the officer said. "He harboured a grudge against the judge." Additional Sessions Judge Krishan Kant in a statement said that after committing the crime, Mahipal informed him about the incident on the phone. Ritu's family members had earlier decided to take her body to Hisar, her native city, for cremation. They later returned to the Medanta hospital to donate her organs. Police had earlier said the shooting happened around 3.30 pm Saturday. A police official said Ritu had suffered a bullet injury in her chest. In video footage of the incident recorded by a witness, Mahipal is seen with the gun in his hand. He was also seen trying to push Dhruv inside the car. The Youth Congress activists Monday staged a protest near the residence of Union minister MJ Akbar, demanding his "immediate resignation" over allegations of by several female journalists. The activists gathered at Teen Murti roundabout, raised slogans against the junior foreign minister and tried to march towards his residence when they were stopped by the police. A few protesters who tried to march ahead towards police barricades were removed. "The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) is protesting against for his and of journalists. As many as ten female journalists have come forward and detailed sexual by him," said a statement of the outfit. The ruling coalition of NDA led by the BJP which had made tall promises of " Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" cannot and must not be allowed to shield a man of "questionable conduct," it said. The government plans to bring in the Cape Town Convention Act which will help reduce risks related to asset-based financing and leasing transactions in the space. The main objective of the Convention/Protocol is to ensure efficient financing of high-value mobile equipment like airframes, helicopters and engines, in order to make the operations as cost-effective and affordable as possible, according to the Civil The proposed implementation of the Cape Town Convention Act also comes at a time when many Indian carriers have placed large orders for aircraft as they embark on ambitious expansion plans. The country's domestic aviation market is one of the fastest growing in the world and has been registering double-digit growth for more than three years. In November 2001, the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the Protocol to the Convention on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment were adopted. Since they were adopted during a conference in Cape Town, they have been named after the city in South Africa. While Cape Town Convention is for three sectors -- aviation, railways and space equipment -- there are separate protocols for each of the three. The aircraft protocol was adopted at Cape Town in 2001. The conference was under the auspices of the International Organisation (ICAO) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). The ministry has put out the draft Cape Town Convention Bill for public consultations and also has a clause that would accord primacy to the provisions of the Convention/ Protocol in case of conflict with any other law. The Convention/Protocol provides for basic default remedies for a creditor such as de-registration and export of aircraft as part of speedy interim relief as well as a universally applicable legal regime in case of disputes. Implementing various measures under the Protocol would help reduce the level of risk for the intending creditors or lessors, This would in turn lead to "reduction in the cost of aircraft financing/ leasing and eventually to reduction in cost of operation", the ministry said in a document posted on its website. ALSO READ: Govt to soon come out with cargo policy for sustainable growth of aviation The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has set a norm that 10 per cent discount would be given in the processing fee for a loan to acquire aircraft to airlines of any country that is party to the Cape Town Convention/ Protocol. This is subject to the condition that an implementing legislation has been passed by that country, the ministry said. As per the ministry, there is a need for a separate legislation as certain provisions of the Convention/ Protocol that are in conflict with the provisions of some other laws. Such laws include the Civil Procedure Code, 2008, the Specific Relief Act, 1963, the Companies Act, 2013 and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. "A separate legislation also appears necessary in view of the fact that the international financial institutions are not giving due weightage to accession to the Cape Town Convention/ Protocol by any country unless it is accompanied by an implementing legislation," it noted. The ministry also said that an Act of Parliament would provide greater confidence to the intending creditors resulting in reduction of the risk applicable to asset-based financing and leasing transactions. "The risk reduction will result in reduction in the cost of aviation credit and will also bring down the lease rentals... This will be of immense help to the Indian aviation industry. It will also benefit the passengers and other end users by pass-through price reductions and increased levels of service," it added. on Monday exuded confidence that the final phase of Bharat Net project to extend high-speed broadband connectivity infrastructure to remaining 125,000 gram panchayats will be completed "on schedule" by March 2019. Nearly 50 per cent of the work on the Bharat Net project - that entails connectivity to 250,000 gram panchayats in all - has been completed, Sinha said, adding that the network will also be extended to police stations, high schools and other educational institutions, post offices, and primary health centre, with government funding. "The work has been completed in nearly 125,000 gram panchayats. The project entails a total of 250,000 gram panchayats, and the second phase will be completed on schedule by March 2019," Sinha said while inaugurating the new corporate office of (BBNL), which is implementing the ambitious project. The project is aimed at facilitating the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking and other services to citizens across the country. "So far, BBNL was focusing on implementation, now it will also focus on aspects like maintenance and service delivery," he said. Sinha said that the states need to ensure that citizen-centric services - under Bharat Net - reach the public in a transparent manner, leveraging the high-speed connectivity infrastructure. "Decision has also been taken to extend the connectivity to police stations, high schools and above education institutions, primary health centre, and post offices, on government expenditure," the minister said. The target of completing 100,000 GPs under the first phase of Bharat Net was achieved in December 2017. The second phase is being implemented through three models state-led, Central PSU, and private sector. Further, provision has been made for last mile connectivity in all 250,000 gram panchayats through viability gap funding. Every will have, on an average, five WiFi access points, including three meant for public institutions (educational centres, health centres, post offices, police stations, amongst others). A tender for provisioning of WiFi services has been floated by BBNL, after consultation with telecom service providers and internet service providers, for wider participation. Monday hiked the dearness allowance (DA) of its employees and dearness relief of pensioners by two per cent. With this increase, the total DA of the state government employees has gone up to nine per cent, an official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said. The enhanced DA and dearness relief would be given to the state government employees and pensioners with retrospective effect from July 1, 2018, he said. Along with the state government employees, work charged employees and the teachers and staff of fully-aided private colleges will also be benefited from the hike, a statement from the CMO said. The hike was announced after a proposal in this regard was approved by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The increase in Odisha comes close on the heels of hike in the DA of central government employees by two per cent with effect from July this year. The state government had earlier hiked the DA and DR by two per cent in April this year. Gov. Rick Scott points out some damage caused by Hurricane Michael while flying somewhere over the panhandle of Florida Thursday. The devastation inflicted by Hurricane Michael the day before came into focus Thursday as rows upon rows of homes found smashed to pieces, and rescue crews began making their way into the stricken areas in hopes of accounting for hundreds of people who may have stayed behind. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Florida Gov. Rick Scott and CFO Jimmy Patronis have been taking aim at Verizon over the last 24 hours, apparently frustrated by how slow the cell carrier has been to restore service to the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Michael. During a Sunday press briefing, Scott mentioned Verizon's problems twice, while touting the company's chief competitor. "There in Bay County, were still waiting on Verizon," Scott said, adding why it was important for cell service to be restored. "Weve put a lot of food and water out all across the state," Scott said. "Well, if you have no internet and you have no cellphone, its hard to get the information out. AT&T is working there, but Verizon is not." Scott, continuing to dig at Verizon, has also been retweeting AT&T and praising the company on Twitter. Thanks, @ATT, for working to get communications back online quickly & helping Florida communities following Michael," Scott tweeted. Patronis, whose hometown is Bay County's Panama City, also took aim at Verizon on Twitter, complete with the hashtag #fixitnow. "We are on Day 6 with no @verizon service in Bay County," Patronis tweeted. "Phones are critical infrastructure for Search and Rescue and First Responder communications. We need the same response from @verizon as we have seen from our electric companies." Verizon in a statement said it's suffered "unprecedented damage to our fiber, which is essential for our network." "Our fiber crews are working around the clock to make repairs, and while they are making good progress, we still have work to do to get the fiber completely repaired," the company said. But the other three carriers are apparently not having the same problem. The Wall Street Journal quoted customers and company officials with AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint saying that all three carriers were up and running in the area. The Panhandle suffered widespread cell service outages in the wake of Hurricane Michael, with more than 70 percent of towers down in the hardest-hit areas the day after the storm came through. And the carriers have made little progress in Bay County since the storm made landfall. All other counties hit by the storm have at least half of their cell towers back in use, but in Bay County, more than 65 percent of cell towers were still out Monday morning down from 78 percent the morning after the storm, according to the FCC. Both Verizon and AT&T have been big donors to the Republican Party of Florida for years, and Verizon has given more than $50,000 to Scott's campaigns since 2013, records show. On Monday afternoon, Scott issued a press release noting that Verizon has opened an emergency communications center at their Panama City store and was also supporting the Bay County Emergency Operations Center. Herald/Times staff writer Emily L. Mahoney contributed to this report. After joining hands with India to be part of the Rs 3-trillion West Coast refinery project, the world's largest oil producer, Saudi Aramco, said on Monday that it will further be investing in the retail and petrochemical industry in India. "We will be looking at consumer-facing sectors India like fuel retail and petrochemicals, building an integrated downstream segment," said Khalid A Al-Falih, minister of energy of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the board of Saudi Aramco. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Indian oil companies like IOC have optional volumes built in their annual purchase contracts with suppliers like Saudi Arabia and Iraq that will be more than enough to make up for any shortfall in supplies from sanctions-hit Iran, senior officials said Monday. India had contracted to import about 25 million tonnes of from in the fiscal year 2018-19 (April 2018 to March 2019), up from 22.6 million tonnes imported in 2017-18. "We have optional volumes built in with all our term suppliers. These optional volumes can be taken at any time of the year and would be more than sufficient to make up for any shortfall that may arise because of against Iran," a top official at a state-run refiner said. India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, meets more than 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports. is its third-largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia and meets about 10 per cent of total needs. against oil sector kick in from November 4 that will block all payment routes to the Persian Gulf nation. Officials said supplies from Iran will not be a problem till month end, leaving only five months of contracted supplies at risk. Those volumes can be easily covered by exercising optional volumes available in contracts with Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other suppliers. "Every year when we sign term contracts with suppliers, there is an optional volume built in. This volume is to take care of any exigencies. Such optional volume is more than enough to make up for five months of Iranian oil supplies," an official said. "We have all plans in place for supplement any lost Iranian volume." Officials said Indian refineries will not be impacted even if Iranian oil imports were to completely stop, but New Delhi is keen to continue buying oil from its traditional ally. Last week, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had stated that two state refiners have placed orders for importing from Iran in November, the month when on Iranian oil purchases take effect. Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) have together placed orders for 1.25 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran. After US sanctions against Iran, paying in rupee is an option. Iran can use the rupee to settle its imports of pharmaceuticals and other goods from India. While India wants to continue importing Iranian oil, albeit a reduced volume, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month stated that Washington would consider waivers on the embargo but made it clear that these would be time-limited, if granted. IOC had planned to import 9 million tonnes of Iranian oil in the 2018-19 financial year or 0.75 million tonnes a month. For November, it has contracted its usual volume. For rupee payments, oil companies could use UCO Bank or IDBI Bank to route oil payments to Iran, sources said. India's actual import from Iran may be far less than the contracted volumes as companies like Reliance Industries have totally stopped buying oil from Iran and others too are scaling it down in hope of winning a sanction waiver from the US. Nayara Energy, formerly Essar Oil, too is stopping import from the Persian Gulf nation. US President in May withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, re-imposing economic sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation. Some sanctions took effect from August 6, while those affecting the oil and banking sectors will start from November 4. Sources said Iran is open to accepting rupee payment for oil and may use the money to pay for equipment and food items it buys from India. UCO Bank and IDBI Bank have been identified to route the payment as the two have no exposure to the US financial system. UCO Bank had in the previous round of sanctions handled rupee payments. Currently, India pays its third largest oil supplier in euros using European banking channels. These channels would get blocked from November. During the first round of sanctions when EU joined the US in imposing financial restrictions, India initially used a Turkish bank to pay Iran for the oil it bought, but beginning February 2013 paid nearly half of the oil import bill in rupees while keeping the remainder pending till the opening of payment routes. It began clearing the dues in 2015 when the restrictions were eased. Besides, New Delhi sought to get around the restrictions by supplying goods, including wheat, soybean meal and consumer products, to Iran in exchange for oil. Sources said this time around the entire 100 per cent of Iranian oil import bill can be paid in rupees. Iran was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11 but Western sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in the subsequent years. In the 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 million tonnes and 10.95 million tonnes respectively from it. Sourcing from Iran increased to 12.7 million tonnes in 2015-16, giving it the sixth spot. In the following year, the Iranian supplies jumped to 27.2 million tonnes to catapult it to the third spot. Iranian oil is a lucrative buy for refiners as the Persian Gulf nation provides 60 days of credit for purchases, terms not available from suppliers of substitute crudes -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Nigeria, and the US. Besides blocking of banking channels from November, the absence of payment mechanism may pose a challenge to the transportation of the oil as Iranian crude is bought on a CIF basis and shipped on Iranian tankers. Under Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) mode of shipping, the seller assumes the responsibility of transportation and insurance. The liability and costs associated with successful transit are paid by the seller until the goods are received by the buyer. Also, insurance companies may not be willing to provide cover to refineries processing Iranian oil. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given a clear indication that if a broad consensus is achieved, 'Allahabad will be renamed as Prayagraj'. "It might be the wish of many people that Allahabad can be renamed as Prayagraj. I think that it will give a very good message. If everyone agrees, we should know this city as Prayag Raj and it can be a good start", Yogi added. According to some media reports, the banners for the upcoming Kumbh Mela in 2019 mention the name of the city as Prayagraj instead of Allahabad. Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh ... Securing a deal will be vital for European security, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Monday, ahead of a week of crucial talks. "This is a crucial week both for the UK and our European partners," Hunt said in a statement ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg. "The importance of achieving a deal that respects the autonomy of the EU and the sovereignty of the UK cannot be overstated," he said. "And delivering this is vital for our security too because economic relations sit at the heart of all our partnerships including the vital security alliances we have with our friends in Europe." His statement comes ahead of a week in which British Prime Minister will be taking her proposal for a deal to an EU summit in Brussels. Before his EU counterparts, "Hunt will argue that the merits of achieving a deal are in our mutual interests, and will reiterate the importance of continued security cooperation in the face of new and emerging threats on a global scale," the Foreign Office said in a statement. Hunt hosted eight eastern European counterparts at the foreign secretary's official country residence in Chevening, southeast of London, on Sunday. Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab laid the groundwork for Wednesday's summit by holding talks with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. US President has claimed that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was "probably" involved in assassinations and poisonings, but "it's not in our country". Trump made the remarks in a CBS News interview aired on Sunday night where he also spoke about his relationship with North Korea, China, Russia, and his own West Wing staffers and Cabinet. When asked babout the accusation that he was leery of criticising Putin, he challenged the question. "I think I'm very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him, the two of us," Trump said, referring to his much-criticised summit with the Russian leader in which he declined at a press conference to endorse the US government's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. "It was a very tough meeting, and it was a very good meeting." Asked whether he thought Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential election, Trump said he did not think that it was just Russia. "They meddled. But I think China meddled, too. And I think other countries... And I think, frankly, China is a bigger problem," he said. China and the US are entangled in an ongoing trade war with Washington imposing $250 billion in tariffs. The President last month threatened to impose even more tariffs if China retaliates against American farmers or other industries. When asked if he was ready to negotiate, Trump told CBS News: "I have a great chemistry with President Xi (Jinping) of China. I don't know that that's necessarily going to continue. I told President Xi we cannot continue to have China take $500 billion a year out of the US in the form of trade and other things... And I said we can't do that, and we're not going to do that anymore." Regarding North Korea, Trump said that he knew about leader Kim Jong-un's human rights violations, but that his efforts have resulted in fewer threats to the US. "Sure. I know all these things. I mean, I'm not a baby. I know these things," he said. "Look, let it be whatever it is. I get along with him really well. I have a good energy with him. I have a good chemistry with him. Look at the horrible threats that were made. No more threats. No more threats." Speaking about his wife and First Lady Melania Trump's comments there were untrustworthy aides at the White House, he said: "I feel the same way. I don't trust everybody in the White House, I'll be honest with you." On mocking Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's accuser Christine Blasey Ford at a Mississippi rally, the President said: "I'm not going to get into it, because we won. It doesn't matter. We won." @alextdaugherty Retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has lined up her post-congressional gig. The University of Miami announced Monday that the first Latina in Congress and longest serving member of Congress from Florida was named a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at the University of Miami, where she will teach a class called "Congress and American Foreign Policy" during the spring 2019 semester. Im excited to be back home at the U where I will have the challenging opportunity to exchange ideas with todays bright minds and future leaders on the vexing foreign policy issues confronting our nation, Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. Ros-Lehtinen's husband Dexter, a former Florida legislator and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, will join her in the classroom. I am delighted to welcome Ileana Ros-Lehtinen back to her alma mater after an illustrious career in Congress. She has always maintained a close relationship with her hometown, and we are proud that she will join our academic community as a Distinguished Presidential Fellow. We look forward to her active participation, which will no doubt enrich the experience of our students and faculty, said University of Miami President Julio Frenk. Chinese experts have blamed the volatile organic compounds in hair spray, perfume and air refreshers for the recurring in the country as the dreaded returned to haunt the Beijing city on Monday. The air quality index in Beijing climbed to 213, which is categorised by the World Health Organisation, (WHO) as "very unhealthy". Beijing, the city of over 21-million people, every year experiences the problem of air pollution, which in recent years has dropped to moderate levels following series of measures initiated by the government since 2015 restricting the use of coal and shifting polluting industries out of the range. China has been fighting a tough war against for years. It has cut life expectancy in some Chinese regions and the government has asked its citizens to buy masks and air purifiers to protect themselves during peak pollution days. Beijing has a four-tier alert system for pollution, with red the highest, followed by orange, yellow and blue. The orange alert means the air quality index is forecast to exceed 200 for three consecutive days. During high alerts, heavy polluting vehicles and trucks carrying construction waste are banned from roads and some manufacturing firms cut production. The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau reported on Thursday that from January to September, the average concentration of PM 2.5 in Beijing dropped by 16.7 per cent compared to last year. While several studies have been conducted on the reasons for heavy pollution in Beijing and Northern part of China attributing to heavy industrialisation and emissions of automobiles, experts now blame the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for contributing to the poor air quality in the city. The VOCs are a group of carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperature. Many common household materials and products, such as paints and cleaning products, give off the VOCs. The VOC compounds comprise 12 per cent of PM 2.5 in Beijing, and call for regulating these "less significant" sources, state-run Global Times quoted experts as saying. The VOCs are concentrated in aerosols like perfume, hair gel, insecticide and cleaning agents, as well as kitchen and gas stations, Wang Gengchen, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Atmospheric Physics Institute, told the daily. These VOCs do not directly produce PM 2.5, but generate particle pollutants through a series of physical and chemical reactions, Wang said. A Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau report released in May said that life emissions account for 12 per cent of the city's total emissions, which equals industrial emission. Shi Aijun, deputy dean of the Beijing Academy of Environmental Sciences, told Science and Technology Daily that the proportion of pollution caused by everyday life activities is increasing in Beijing. "The data is only an estimate," Wang said, adding that the ratio will decline in winter when coal burning increases and urban areas will see a higher concentration than the suburbs. Policies should be made to deal with indirect pollution sources since strict measures have already been taken on vehicles and coal burning which contribute to almost half of the total PM 2.5 in Beijing, Wang said. These "less significant" sources (VOCs) should not be ignored, Peking University Professor Tang Xiaoyan told the Science and Technology Daily on Saturday. President Donald Trump is backing off his claim that is a hoax but says he doesn't know if it's manmade and suggests that the climate will "change back again". In an interview with CBS News's '60 Minutes' that aired Sunday night, Trump said he doesn't want to put the US at a disadvantage in responding to "I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again," he said. "I don't think it's a hoax. I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's manmade. I will say this: I don't want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don't want to lose millions and millions of jobs." Trump called a hoax in November 2012 when he sent a tweet stating, "The concept of was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive." He later said he was joking about the Chinese connection, but in years since has continued to call a hoax. "I'm not denying climate change," he said in the interview. "But it could very well go back. You know, we're talking about over a...millions of years." As far as the climate "changing back", temperature records kept by Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that the world hasn't had a cooler-than-average year since 1976 or a cooler-than-normal month since the end of 1985. Trump, who is scheduled on Monday to visit areas of Georgia and Florida damaged by Hurricane Michael, also expressed doubt over scientists' findings linking the changing climate to more powerful hurricanes. "They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael," said Trump, who identified "they" as "people" after being pressed by '60 Minutes' correspondent Leslie Stahl. She asked, "What about the scientists who say it's worse than ever?" the president replied, "You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda." Trump's comments came just days after a Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a warning that would increase climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth. The report detailed how Earth's weather, health and ecosystems would be in better shape if the world's leaders could somehow limit future human-caused warming. Citing concerns about the pact's economic impact, Trump said in 2017 that the US will leave the Paris climate accord. The agreement set voluntary greenhouse gas emission targets in an effort to lessen the impact of fossil fuels. On a different topic, Trump told '60 Minutes' that he's been surprised by Washington being a tough, deceptive and divisive place, though some accuse the real estate mogul elected president of those same tactics. "So I always used to say the toughest people are Manhattan real estate guys and blah, blah," he said. "Now I say they're babies." He said the political people in Washington have changed his thinking. "This is the most deceptive, vicious world. It is vicious, it's full of lies, deceit and deception," he said. "You make a deal with somebody and it's like making a deal with that table. Dozens of employers looking to hire the next generation of tech employees descended on the University of California, Berkeley in September to meet students at an electrical engineering and computer science career fair. Boris Yue, 20, was one of thousands of student attendees, threading his way among fellow job-seekers to meet recruiters. But Yue wasn't worried about so much potential competition. While the job outlook for those with computer skills is generally good, Yue is in an even more rarified category: he is studying artificial intelligence, working on technology that ... The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull made worldwide headlines in 2010 when it erupted ash that was blown towards Europe, so that air traffic was grounded across the continent. More recently, the volcanos bigger sister and neighbour, Katla, has also been in the news. First the papers said the giant volcano was ready to blow, yet within days articles were appearing to say it was all a mistake and the eruption news was premature. What is going on? Over the past 1,100 years, Katla has erupted at least 21 times - an average of around once every 50 years or so. ... Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman discussed the case of missing journalist in their first telephone talks on the controversy, both sides said. Erdogan and Salman discussed "the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi" and also emphasised the "importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation," said a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named. Ankara had previously said a working group would be set up in line with a Saudi proposal. But few details have emerged over how this will function. The Saudi foreign ministry said Salman affirmed his country's "solid" relations with in the phone call with Erdogan. The king phoned Erdogan "to thank the president for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to form a joint working group to discuss the disappearance of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi". Salman emphasised the importance of the Turkey-Saudi relationship and said no-one should be able to "undermine the strength of this relationship", it added. Khashoggi has been missing since he stepped inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Turkish officials say they believe he was killed inside the consulate and macabre claims have been published in Turkish media. But strongly rejects he was killed inside the mission. Erdogan, meanwhile, has behaved cautiously in the controversy, expressing concern but stopping short of directly accusing Riyadh. President Donald Trump has alleged China, in addition to Russia, meddled in the 2016 Last month, chairing a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump had alleged that China was trying to interfere in the 2018 mid-term polls and that it did not want him to be the president. China has denied these allegations. However, for the first time, Trump came out in open to say that China also meddled in the 2016 presidential elections. "They (Russians) meddled. But I think China meddled too," Trump told CBS News's popular '60 Minutes' in an interview. Recorded on Thursday, the interview was broadcast Sunday night. "I think China meddled also. And I think, frankly, China...is a bigger problem," Trump said and denied that by saying so he is not trying to divert the entire thing. "I'm saying Russia, but I'm also saying China," he said. But it's the investigation of Russia's intervention in the 2016 election that hangs over his presidency and caused a rift with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions, because he recused himself from the enquiry. Trump expressed disappointment that his Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescued himself from the investigation. "I was disappointed that he recused himself and many people think I was right on that. I was very disappointed. Why should he have recused himself? So I was very disappointed," he said. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is conducting investigations into the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Responding to a question, he said he has no intention of shutting down the Russian investigation. "Well, I don't pledge anything. But (I) will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it's a very unfair investigation because there was no collusion of any kind," he said. To date, 32 people have been charged or pleaded guilty in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. President Trump's campaign chairman, a top campaign aide, former national security advisor and longtime personal attorney are all cooperating in the enquiry, which the president calls a witch-hunt. Trump questioned the very proposition that he called to help him in the elections. "Do you really think I'd call Russia to help me with an election? Give me a break. They wouldn't be able to help me at all. Call Russia. It's so ridiculous," he said. Chinese President and Prime Minister will meet on the sidelines of the meeting in Argentina next month, China's Ambassador to India said Monday. Luo was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats here. He said the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration will deepen in future. Prime Minister and President Xi will meet on the sidelines of the summit in November, the Chinese envoy said. and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year -- at the Shanaghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. Luo also said China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. US President Donald Trump said on Monday "rogue killers" may have been behind the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman ordered an internal investigation into the case. Trump said he had spoken with King Salman about Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi policies, and that he was sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately to meet the king and travel to other places as needed. Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago to get ... President Donald Trump has said he is willing to negotiate a fair deal with China and want the Asian giant to open its market like the US. Having slapped China with an additional tariff on the import of its products worth $250 billion, Trump did not rule out coming up with more tariffs on Chinese products. In an interview with CBS News's popular '60 Minute' programme, Trump described this as a skirmish, and not war or a battle as being characterised by experts, and asserted that he would win this against China. If things do not improve, he might not have a good relationship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, he said. "I have a great chemistry also with President Xi of China. I don't know that that's necessarily going to continue. I told President Xi we cannot continue to have China take $500 billion a year out of the United States in the form of trade and others things," Trump told CBS news in his interview. Xi is one of the few world leaders to have been hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump has travelled to China and has met Xi multiple times after he became the US President On January 20, 2017. However, the relationship has deteriorated since then and has now reached an all-time low since the historic visit of the then US President Richard Nixon in 1972. Responding to a question, Trump claimed that China, even if it wants, cannot retaliate beyond a point. "They can retaliate, but they can't -- they don't have enough ammunition to retaliate. We do $100 billion (worth of business) with them. They do $531 billion with us," he said. He denied that he wanted to push the Chinese into depression. "No no, although they're down 32 per cent in four months, which is 1929," he said. "I don't want that. No, I don't want that. I want them to negotiate a fair deal with us. I want them to open their markets like our markets are open," Trump said, reiterating that he wants a fair deal with China. Trump exuded confidence that he will win what he described as a "skirmish" with China. "I called it, actually I called it a battle. But, actually, I'm gonna lower that. I consider it a skirmish. And we're gonna win," he said. The United States still aims to cut Iran's oil sales to zero and does not expect restored oil sanctions against Tehran to have a negative impact on a market that is well-supplied and balanced, a senior US official said on Monday. US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook was talking to reporters after a visit to India, a major importer of Iranian oil, and talks with officials from France, Britain and Germany before the start of a new round of US sanctions on Nov. 4 targeting Iran's energy sector and financial transactions. The three European countries have been trying to save ... Thirty-one Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended from Guwahati railway station here on Monday while they were planning to go back to Bangladesh. The 31 included ten men, eight women and thirteen children. "The group came from Bengaluru last night by Bangalore Express. They were expected to board the Kanchanjungha express to go to Agartala and from there to their ancestral home," Railway Police Deputy Superintendent of Police Iftekar Ali told reporters here. The alleged illegal migrants had planned to visit their ancestral home in Bangladesh ahead of the Durga Puja celebrations. The immigrants who had been working in Karnataka's Bengaluru for the past three years were held from platform number 1 of Guwahati railway station. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, United Arab Emirates Minister of State and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at an invitation-only energy leaders' roundtable. The roundtable held in New Delhi, was also attended by Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; Khalid Al Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of Saudi Aramco; Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary-General of OPEC; as well as global oil and gas industry leaders, including the CEOs of Total and BP. The UAE is seeking to expand partnership and investment opportunities, especially in the energy sector. During the meeting with Prime Minister Modi, Al Jaber conveyed the greetings of the UAE's leadership, and emphasised the importance of strategic relationship between the UAE and India. He also reaffirmed the close and longstanding political, economic and cultural ties between the two countries. Al Jaber also expressed the UAE leadership's wishes to strengthen mutual ties, particularly in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors. Speaking after the roundtable, Al Jaber said, "The UAE and India have long-enjoyed strong bonds of friendship, based on cultural, political and trading links between our two nations. This is especially true in the energy sector, where the relationship has advanced beyond a buyer-seller dynamic to that of strategic energy security cooperation." "Energy cooperation is an important aspect of the UAE's relations with India. We are keen to expand and deepen that relationship and believe there are mutually beneficial partnership and co-investment opportunities across our Upstream and Downstream value chains. ADNOC is ready to work with its existing and potential new partners to meet the growing demand for energy and petrochemical products in India," he added. The Minister of State also participated in the CERAWeek India Energy Forum, where he delivered a speech highlighting the key role the UAE will play in providing energy that will drive India's economic expansion over the next two decades. India's energy demand is set to grow by 165 percent - more than six times the global average and triple the rate of growth projected throughout non-OECD countries. "India's energy security is a top priority for the UAE and ADNOC. As ADNOC continues to explore opportunities internationally, we look forward to deepening our ties with Indian energy partners across the entire crude, refining, petrochemical and derivatives value chain," Dr. Al Jaber noted. "In addition, we are keen to invite Indian companies into our ambitious Downstream investment plans within the UAE. There are multiple opportunities to join us in partnerships that will generate attractive financial returns for strategic partners, while delivering long-lasting economic benefits for the UAE," he added. ADNOC Group CEO highlighted that while India is clearly in transition from a relatively low energy consumer to fast-becoming one of the world's biggest - India's energy transition does not mean a transition away from fossil fuels. On the contrary, he said, oil and gas will continue to be dominant sources of energy in India, a fundamental driver of the Indian economy; essential to transportation as well as critical to the massive growth in petrochemicals and higher value products in the Indian market. "India is undergoing a massive energy transition," he said. "It is a transition defined by opportunity, underpinned by partnership and driven by the enormous growth potential of India as an economic powerhouse. We in the oil and gas industry are fortunate to witness this pivotal moment in history, where a brave new energy map is emerging. At ADNOC, we look forward to continuing to play a central role as a trusted partner to India and to contribute to this great nation's progress and development." "ADNOC has a strong track record of energy cooperation with India and looks forward to continuing to play a central role as a trusted partner with India, so that together both can optimise the opportunities that lie ahead," Al Jaber said. As an example of the growing energy links between India and the UAE, he highlighted the June agreement with Saudi Aramco, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum - making ADNOC a strategic partner in the Ratnagiri refining and petrochemicals complex. ADNOC will be a key supplier of crude to the 1.2 million barrels per day refinery, which will plug directly into a plant with a capacity of 18 million tons of higher value petrochemical products destined for India's high growth market. Other examples of energy cooperation between India and UAE, the supply of six million barrels of ADNOC crude to India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to fortify India's energy security as well as the ONGC Videsh-led consortium participation in Abu Dhabi's Lower Zakum offshore concession, the first time Indian oil and gas companies have been awarded a stake in Abu Dhabi's Upstream business. The Indian community in the UAE numbers 3.3 million, making it the largest Indian diaspora in the world, underscoring the closeness of the UAE-India relationship. India is one of the UAE's top trading partners, recording US$53 billion in bilateral trade in 2017. The UAE is the third largest foreign trade partner to India, after China and USA. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Alok Nath has filed a civil defamation suit against writer-producer Vinta Nanda, who accused him of rape. The actor has sought a written apology, along with a compensation of Rupee 1. Earlier in the day, in a response to the notice issued by Cine and TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA), Alok Nath's lawyer Ashok Saraogi had denied all the allegations of sexual harassment made against his client. Vinta Nanda had accused Alok Nath of rape and narrated her horrifying ordeal in a Facebook post amidst the ongoing #MeToo movement. Nanda was the writer and producer of tele serial 'Tara' in the 90s, in which Nath played a lead role. Bollywood actors Sandhya Mridul and Deepika Amin also accused Alok Nath of rowdy behaviour and shared their ordeals on social media. In the wake of these allegations, the Indian Film and Television Directors' Association (IFTDA) also issued a notice to the veteran actor, seeking his stand on the rape allegations made against him. The #MeToo movement gained momentum in India after Tanushree Dutta accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of sexual misconduct. Following the revelation, similar cases have tumbled out, rattling the media industry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Monday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central Government for not demanding Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs MJ Akbar's resignation after various women levelled sexual harassment allegations against him. "In this whole MJ Akbar episode, the anti-women face of the BJP government has been exposed. By not asking the minister to resign, BJP is being arrogant and insensitive," read a statement from the BSP. Soon after the #MeToo campaign raged in India, at least seven women alleged Akbar of sexually harassing them in the 1990s, when he was working as the editor for various newspapers. Akbar has been facing flak over the allegations, with opposition parties demanding his resignation. However, the BJP leader didn't step down and filed a defamation case in Delhi's Patiala House Court against journalist Priya Ramani - one of the alleged victims. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is accused of raping a nun, was on Tuesday granted bail by the Kerala High Court. The court has laid down conditions for the bail, directing him to surrender his passport and asking him not to enter Kerala. The prelate, who was in charge of the Jalandhar diocese, was arrested three weeks ago- on September 21 after three days of questioning in Kerala, over the charges of raping a nun of his congregation, Missionaries of Jesus, repeatedly between 2014 and 2016. He became the first Indian Catholic bishop to be arrested in a case of the alleged sex crime against a nun. He, however, refuted the allegations, terming them "baseless and concocted." After the arrest, the senior Catholic priest was sent to police custody and was produced before the Pala Judicial Magistrate Court in Kerala's Kottayam, where he was sent to judicial custody till October 6. Bishop Mulakkal's bail plea was rejected by a lower court last week, following which he moved the high court. The case saw intense protests by various Catholic organisations and activists. The Kerala government formed the Special Investigation Team to look into the matter, assuring the protestors that justice will be done. The Bishop was temporarily relieved of his pastoral duties by Pope Francis on September 20, after he expressed his desire to 'temporarily step aside', allowing him time to fight his case. A delegation of 15 nuns from Jalandhar's Missionaries of Jesus had on September 26 met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Delhi over the Bishop's arrest. Following the meeting, Sister Amala of the Missionaries of Jesus had claimed that Bishop Mulakkal was falsely framed in the case and the investigation was biased. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Troops of China's People Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) into India in the first week of October in the Arunachal Sector. However, the Chinese soldiers returned after the Indian Army conveyed to them that they were on the Indian side of the LAC, sources told ANI. The armies of the two Asian neighbours now resolve such matters as per a set protocol, sources added. Last month, informed sources had revealed that the PLA transgressed the LAC at least thrice s in August in the Uttarakhand state. The troops, then, had crossed over as far as four kilometres into the Indian Territory in Barahoti village in the Chamoli district of the state. Similar incidents occurred in July last year when Chinese troops ventured up to a kilometre into Indian Territory in Barahoti. Speaking on transgressions along the LAC by the PLA, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC) Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh earlier this year said, it "took place in areas where we have different perception of the Line of Actual Control," adding that India and China have well-established mechanisms, especially at the highest level, where special representatives from both the countries discuss issues related to the resolution of the boundary dispute. LAC is a 4,057-km porous border between India and China and runs through glaciers, snow deserts, mountains and rivers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress and Janata Dal(Secular) reached a consensus on seat sharing arrangements for the upcoming bye-elections in three Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, announced Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday. Addressing media, Kumaraswamy said: "Ultimately, all Congress senior leaders and our party president came to one conclusion regarding the seat sharing. In the bye-election, party leaders have decided that two seats, Shimoga and Mandiya, will be contested by the JD(S) while the Congress will file nomination from Bellary seat. After several rounds of discussion, we reached the decision and we will win all the three seats." "Leaders of both the parties will share platforms in public meetings. From today, we will fight the (assembly) elections unitedly," Kumaraswamy added. The polls in these three parliamentary constituencies were necessitated after the three legislators resigned following their induction in the Karnataka assembly in May this year. Bye-polls for the three Lok Sabha constituencies -- Shimoga, Bellary and Mandya will be held on November 3. The counting of votes will take place on November 6. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) It doesnt start well. It is dated 10 November 2018. Clearly a mistake. Perhaps someone was in a hurry or it had to be released ahead of schedule? The PNG government has made a number of claims to try and justify their apparent extravagance and to deflect criticism. Unfortunately those claims do not stack up to any serious scrutiny. The public furore has put the PNG government onto the back-foot as locals fume at the highly visible excess in a country where basic health, education and transport infrastructure and services are in a deplorable condition and public health outcomes are among the worst in the world. The luxury cars have been brought to Port Moresby to chauffeur world leaders and other VIP guests around the capital for three days during next months Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The white-jacked Maserati Quattroporte cars were shown being off-loaded from two chartered Boeing 747 aircraft at Port Moresbys Jacksons airport. PORT MORESBY - A storm of public criticism and protest has erupted after the publication of photographs showing the delivery of 40 Maserati luxury supercars to the ONeill government. Maserati Quattroporte sedans have been secured and delivered, and are being committed to be paid for by the private sector, says Minister Tkatchenko in his signed statement. Having vehicles paid for by the private sector is the smartest way to have use of the vehicles for APEC at no overall cost to the State. The language is slightly tortured, but the message seems clear? The Maserati supercars have been paid for by some mysterious benefactors and bringing the cars to Port Moresby for use during the APEC summit is at no overall cost to the State. However, it didnt take long for a different truth to start emerging; one that sheds considerable doubt on the veracity of the Ministers claims. And then, as his story started to unravel, so the Ministers statements to the press started to change It costs about US$25,000 an hour to operate a Boeing 747. Flight time from Milan in Italy to Port Moresby is around 20 hours, plus a refuelling stop. Flying two 747s, each loaded with 20 Maserati cars, would cost around $1 million in aircraft operating costs alone. Then there are the profits for the freight company and the loading and refuelling times and the airport landing costs all to be added. It is hard to see how the freight costs could be less than US$1.2 million (K3.9 million); they could easily have amounted to much more. Were these freight costs paid by the private sector? No, not according to the specialist freight company that delivered the Maserati cars. AirBridgeCargo Airlines says its specialist planes were chartered by the PNG government. Mr Tkatchenko needs to confirm the cost to the PNG taxpayer of the charter and explain how that expense is going to be recovered if indeed the cars have come at no overall cost to the State. So who actually owns the 40 Maserati cars now in Port Moresby? According to the Minister, as quoted in the Post Courier newspaper on October 11, it couldnt be the government as they havent paid for them. For those who continue to spread lies and bring hype to the issue of the vehicles being brought into the country, the national government did not pay for any of the vehicles; these vehicles have been bought by the private sector. But perhaps all is not as it seems as the Minister adds, And once we conclude the APEC summit, the vehicles will be sold to individuals or businesses that wish to acquire such a car. For the government to sell something that it does not own would be theft; for it to sell something it hadnt paid for would be fraud. Perhaps this realisation has made the Minister change his story? First, he admitted to The Australian newspaper that of course we have paid a deposit to get everything here. This contradicts his earlier statements that everything was being paid for by the private sector and the national government did not pay for any of the vehicles. But he was still sticking to the idea that all the governments costs will be ultimately covered. all costs will be totally reimbursed and there will be no burden at all to the government at the end of the day. They are selling like hotcakes. Less than 24 hours later, in an interview with the ABC, the Minister had again subtly changed his position. Rather than speaking about a deposit he told the ABC the governments APEC Authority had paid for the whole fleet. The Guardian suggests the figure paid could be as high as K40 million; MP, and anti-corruption crusader, Bryan Kramer says he has a copy of an invoice showing the government paid US$6,357,684 (K20 million). Interestingly that invoice allegedly shows the cars were purchased from a backyard workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka. And rather than selling like hotcakes, as he had earlier claimed, Tkatchenko could only confirm to the ABC there has been a lot of interest in the cars from prospective buyers. A lot of interest in a bunch of second hand cars is a long way from the Ministers original signed media statement stating the private sector had committed to pay for the new cars and there was no overall cost to the State. After all, even if the government does manage to sell all forty cars, what about the depreciation? If the truth of the matter is that what the private sector is actually going to be paying for is the privilege of owning the second-hand Maseratis after the government and Port Moresbys notorious streets have finished with them then surely there is going to be a heavy dose of depreciation that the PNG tax payer is going to be lumbered with? Experts estimate that a new car looses 10-20% of its value as soon as it is driven off the retailers forecourt. But, in truth, the real figure depends on supply and demand. Unfortunately for anyone wanting to sell a used Maserati Quattroporte in Port Moresby, there is currently a gross oversupply (the government has forty to sell) and very low demand (Maseratis are unknown in PNG and for a very good reason). The only luxury cars to be seen on the streets of Port Moresby or any other town in PNG are top of the range Toyota Prado four-wheel drives. Anyone who has travelled on PNGs potholed and mainly unsealed roads will have the aches and bruises that attest to the reason why. There is also going to be the small problem of servicing. Any buyer will be hard pressed to find a mechanic in Port Moresby trained to tune the Maseratis V6 Ferrari engine. Gross oversupply and low demand, it is hard to see how the PNG government can possibly offload 40 used Maseratis at anything close to cost in the local market. Anyone from Australia or Asia wanting to pick up a bargain is going to be faced with considerable freight costs that will affect the sale price. Lets be generous, maybe the PNG government can offload 40 Maseratis at a modest 20% discount on the list price. Cost to the PNG taxpayer, at around A$40,000 per vehicle, would total some A$1.6 million (K4 million). This calculation though depends on the true cost of the cars to the PNG government. PNGi has used the figure of A$200,000 in the above calculation but the cars could be worth far more, or less, depending on your source. How much are the 40 Maserati Quattroporte cars delivered to the PNG government really worth? According to Minister Tkatchenko, they retail for US$107,000 in the United States (K350,000). The PNG media though has reported their value at substantially less, just US$70,000 (K230,000) . According to the ABC though, the cars retail for between A$209,000 and $345,000 in Australia (K500,000 K810,000). The Times of London meanwhile says that in the UK the cars retail from GBP75,000 (K325,000) but then those models havent had to fly halfway around the world in a chartered Boeing 747. If Bryan Kramer is correct, and the PNG government has paid US$125,000 for each of the cars, it could be the eventual buyers will be getting a substantial bargain, particularly if they are not invoiced for freight and the normal import duties. One hopes government Ministers and their friends will not be the ultimate beneficiaries. All this is, of course, just a storm in a teacup. What really matters to families in PNG is not a few million kina wasted on some fancy supercars, it is not even the billions wasted by the government on the glitzy APEC party, what really matters is the children being paralysed by polio, the families being ripped apart by tuberculosis, maternal mortality and rates of domestic violence and child sex abuse that are so high they are an international scandal. These are all statistics that are underpinned by rampant corruption, an illegal logging industry, mining companies that pay no taxes and state-sanctioned land grabbing. Papua New Guinea is a country ruled by a kleptocracy that clearly doesnt care about anything other than private profit and is propped up by international neighbours who are happy to exploit the country, its resources, geo-political location and, ultimately, its people, for their own gain. Forty Maserati Quattroporte luxury supercars with their V6 Ferrari engines are just the latest meme. Les lunettes de marque ne sont pas ce qui manque dans les commerces. Il y en a de toutes les sortes dont les lunettes de [] Former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president Prayar Gopalakrishnan has approached the Kerala High Court with a writ petition challenging the state government's move to appoint Non-Hindus as Devaswam Commissioners. In a petition filed before the court, Gopalakrishnan mentioned "Section 29 of Travancore- Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act was amended with an ill motive to appoint non-Hindu officers in Board. By the amendment the "who shall be appointed by the board, he shall be a Hindu" has been omitted and as per the new amendment a non-Hindu can be the Devaswom Commissioner." The petition further read, "Devaswom Commissioner shall be appointed by the Board is omitted and he can/may be a non-Hindu. This amendment is an encroachment to the religious rights of the Hindus as a whole." The petitioner also stated that as per Section 29 of the Act, Devaswom Commissioner is the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Devaswom and Hindu Religious Endowments. He further explained in the petition, "So by the new amendment a non-Hindu can be a Devaswom Commissioner and power of appointment of Devaswom Commissioner by the Board was taken away. The Ext. P1 amendment to sec. 29 of the act is violative of Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India. By giving a right to appoint a Non-Hindu, freedom to manage religious affairs. Article 25 of the Constitution of India enshrines the propagation of religion." "If a non-Hindu is appointed as Devaswom Commissioner the right to propagate the religion is lost. Article 26 of the constitution India protects the management of religious affairs. If a non-Hindu is appointed in the Devaswom Board freedom of managing the religious rights are lost." The TDB is an autonomous body formed as per the Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act of 1950 and manages all the Hindu temples in Kerala. After corruption allegations surfaced in 2007, the Board had suggested a direct appointment to the post of the Commissioner. Reportedly, after the pressure of the trade union, the Left Government had issued a notification for deploying the deputy commissioner to the post of Commissioner while abolishing the direct appointment of a Devaswom Commissioner in July this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Expressing astonishment at the alleged denial of his son at a garba event in Atlanta in the United States for "not looking like a Hindu", the astrophysicist's father said that his son sounded nervous on the telephone following the incident. Karan's father, Pankaj Jani told ANI, "He spoke to me over phone and sounded nervous. Such incident shouldn't have happened. He is a Gujarati and that too from Vadodara. Garba has a special place in our country". Residing in the US, Karan alleged that he and his friends were asked to leave the venue by the organisers of the garba event because "they didn't look like Hindu and their surnames also didn't appear to be Hindu". His father said Karan is a garba lover and he had gone to play garba on last Friday at a place he has been going on for years. However, "when he went there, volunteers stopped him and told him that he doesn't look Hindu by face and his surname doesn't appear to be that of a Hindu", Karan's father said quoting him. Karan was selected for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) team in US that discovered the gravitational waves in 2016, "Karna went there (garba event) along with his friends who were Gujarati and were speaking in Gujarati. His Kannada-Marathi friend who came to attend garba for the first time was pulled out of the line first. Karan told them that their IDs had Indian Emblem on it, even then they were asked to leave," he added. On Sunday, Karan tweeted the alleged ill-treatment he and his friends had to go through saying, "Year 2018 and Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends' entry from playing garba because: "You don't look Hindu and last name in your IDs don't sound Hindu"." "I was told by that organiser, a senior person, things in Gujarati which are so crude and demeaning that it can't be shared on public forum. Just to ensure we don't dare to enter the temple again. Such fuss just for Garba in Navratri - With friends - to celebrate Indian culture," he added. He further said that despite speaking in Gujarati, the organisers kept stating that they were from other religion and asked them to leave. "My other friend's last name had "Dangarwala". We spoke in Gujarati to them. They still said we were "Vohra, Sindhis". They actually kept stating other religions!! They ganged up and told us to leave," he tweeted. He also alleged that one of his friends, who was Konkani, was pulled out of line and told by a volunteer: "We don't come to your events, you are not allowed to ours." He added that when she told the volunteer that her surname was Murdeshwar and that she was a Kannada-Marathi, the volunteer asked: "What is Kannada? You are Ismaili." He claimed that he told the organisers that he had been doing the garba at that particular venue for the last six years and never faced any problem. He tweeted, "Our IDs had Indian Emblem. Yes emblem with "Satyamev Jayate" right? Apparently, it didn't have our religion. Our caste. It was embarrassing. I had tears in my eyes saying them: "I come here to play Garba for last 6 years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A mosque in Haryana's Palwal district has come under the scanner of the Investigation Agency (NIA) after a probe by the central agency revealed that it was allegedly built with the help of funds received from Pakistan-based terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The LeT is a terror outfit of Mumbai attack mastermind and US-designate terrorist Hafiz Saeed. The Khulafala-e-Rashideen mosque, located at Uttawar village, was searched by the NIA officers on October 3, days after its sleuths arrested three men, including the Imam (priest) of the mosque, Mohammad Salman, in New Delhi in a terror-funding case. A spokesperson for the NIA said that the Imam allegedly received a huge sum of money from a Dubai-based Pakistani citizen. "The Imam of the Masjid, Mohammed Salman received Rs. 70 lakh from a Dubai-based Pakistani citizen named Kamran. Salman received the money through Hawala from Dubai. We believe that Kamran is working for LeT and also provide funds for terrorist activities in India," the spokesperson told ANI. The NIA is further questioning the office bearers of the mosque and scrutinising the account books, while, details of donations and documents have been seized. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The inauguration of the first India-China joint training programme for Afghan Diplomats will be held today at the Indian Foreign Service Institute, according to Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui. Zhaohui took to his official Twitter account to announce the inauguration of the joint training program, while also informing that he would read out the message of the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China at the event. The training is being conducted under the aegis of the Trilateral Cooperation between India, China, and Afghanistan. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that the joint program would be held from October 15 to October 26 via an official press release. The Dean of the Foreign Service Institute will deliver the welcome note beside also reading out the External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj's message at the event, the MEA added. Earlier, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Vinay Kumar, had hosted 10 Afghan diplomats ahead of their departure for the 1st India-China Joint Training Programme on October 13. The event is slated to be live-streamed on the Chinese Ambassador's Twitter account. In a joint statement, various journalist organisations have expressed disappointment over Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs MJ Akbar's decision to file a defamation case in Delhi's Patiala House Court against journalist Priya Ramani. They have asked Akbar to step down so that the matter can be probed in a fair manner. "We are also deeply disappointed at the statement issued by MJ Akbar, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs wherein he has threatened legal action against all those who have alleged they were harassed by him," read a statement by the journalist organisations including Indian Women's Press Corps, Press Club of India, Press Association and South Asian Women in Media. "Akbar is a senior functionary of the government and his response should reflect the responsibility that is thus bestowed on him. There can be no dispute about the need for an impartial probe into all the complaints without fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants - and this acquires particular significance if one of the accused is an influential minister in the government," the statement added. The organisations stated that in the "interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it would only be appropriate that the minister step down from his post till the inquiry is completed." "We are disappointed that Akbar did not choose to take this step instead of threatening the complainants with legal action. We recognise that sexual harassment at the workplace is a worrisome reality and that media organisations and managements have been unable to put the systems in place which would have ordinarily addressed complaints of sexual harassment," the statement further read. "There can be no dispute about the need for an impartial probe into all the complaints without fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants - and this acquires particular significance if one of the accused is an influential minister in the government. An impartial probe should be conducted into all the complaints without fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants more so as the accused party is an influential minister in the present government," it added. This comes after Akbar earlier in the day filed a defamation case in Delhi's Patiala House Court against Ramani. A statement from Akbar's lawyers confirmed that the complaint has been filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. "The scandalous allegations leveled by the accused against the complainant herein, by their very tone and tenor, are ex-facie defamatory and have not only damaged the goodwill and reputation of the complainant, in his social circles and on the political stage, established after years of toil and hard work, but have also affected the personal reputation of the complainant in the community, friends, family and colleagues, thereby causing him irreparable loss and tremendous distress," the statement read. After the recent #MeToo campaign raged in India, at least seven women alleged Akbar of sexually harassing them in the 1990s, when he was working as the editor for various newspapers. Akbar has been facing flak over the allegations, with opposition parties demanding the minister's resignation. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Sunday did not indicate any decision to step down and said that he will take a legal recourse in the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian fighter Khabib NurmagomedoV, who recently handed over a thumping defeat to the biggest name in the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Conor McGregor, has now challenged another undefeated fighter- Floyd Mayweather. In an Instagram video, posted by his promoter Leonard Ellerbe, NurmagomedoV challenged Mayweather saying that there could only be one king in the jungle. "Let's go Floyd, we have to fight now. 50-0 versus 27-0, two guys (who) never lose. Let's go, why not? Because in the jungle (there's) only one king. Only one king... of course, I'm the king. Because, he cannot drop... McGregor but I drop him easily. That's why, let's go," he said in the video. While Mayweather is undefeated in the 50 professional fights that he has fought so far, Nurmagomedov holds a 27-0 winning streak record. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo will be travelling to Saudi Arabia at the request of President Donald Trump. Trump tweeted to announce the same saying, "Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened "to our Saudi Arabian citizen." He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!" Jamal Khashoggi has been missing ever since cameras captured him going inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Hatice Cengiz, his fiancee, who was waiting outside the consul, had stated that she did not see him re-emerging from the building. Department spokesperson Heather Nauert in a statement said, "At the request of President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today. The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi." Earlier, United States President Donald Trump had threatened of "severe punishment" for the Gulf country if there has indeed been any Saudi hand in the scribe's disappearance. The UK's Foreign Minister, Jeremy Hunt, had also said that they would have to "think about the appropriate way to react" if Saudi Arabia is found guilty in Khashoggi's disappearance. Turkish officials had previously claimed that their Saudi counterparts carried out Khashoggi's kidnapping and murder. They had alleged that a 15-man team flew from Riyadh to Istanbul on the day the senior journalist visited the consulate and carried out the alleged murder of the journalist. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) You are here Home New Search Known as the green man of Gujarat, Viral Sudhirbhai Desai was gifted 250 trees by Group Landmark along with the delivery of his new Mercedes car by the Mercedes-Benz. The noted entrepreneur and environmentalist Viral Desai, who runs the cause 'Clean India Green India', was gifted the car by Group landmark dealership. Known for adapting and implementing the 360-degree sustainability methods in his business, Viral Desai has been awarded three times consecutively as the winner of the Best Industry of Gujarat for Quality and Environmental Protection by the Government of Gujarat. "I am humbled and surprised by their kind gesture. I believe when you start getting such support and Inspiration from corporates, it truly translates to the next generation. Viral Desai's profile is a benchmark all over India, displaying and motivating many more entrepreneurs to walk the path of an ecopreneur, his work, recognitions and Social Initiatives in a brief embodies the massive scale that he has achieved in such a less span that can be no less compared to International personalities," said Viral Desai. "I have to admit that it was by far the most delightful surprise, so far in the journey of my life. I have been blessed and Lucky to have received Awards and Recognitions so far but this grand gesture really floored me and will be etched in Gold in the memories of my life," added Viral Desai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Harsh Vardhan on Monday informed that Indian scientists along with scientists of the US and Finland have developed a mechanism which will soon be able to forewarn depletion in air quality. Speaking at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Vardhan further elaborated that three institutions, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (Pune), IMD and meteorology centre in Noida, will work together on the air quality issue. These institutions will help to calculate, take measures and give a three-day prior warning about depleting air quality. The air quality in Delhi has been on a fall in the past few days. According to the data released by the Air Quality Index, the quality continued to remain between moderate and poor on Monday with a drop in airspeed. Vardhan said, "We follow a 'Graded response action plan' under which various steps are taken keeping in mind the degree to which the air quality depletes. There are 40-45 action plans in it." In past years with the help of the ministry, Air quality index (AQI) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. AQI uses around eight-ten parameters to judge the overall air quality which is then further graded as moderate, poor, good and so on. Referring to previous air quality records, the minister said: "Last year the government allotted Rs 1,100 crore following depletion in the air quality. Out of this, Rs 500 crore has already been disbursed for the Delhi-Haryana region. PM10 (presence of particles with diameter less than 10mm) and PM2.5 (presence of particles with diameter less than 2.5 mm) levels have diminished as compared to previous years, and we have also kept a thorough check on stubble burning. (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 [] All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor to take serious cognizance of the threat issued by Kashmiri students. Around 1,200 Kashmiri students studying in AMU have reportedly threatened to leave their studies midway if the sedition charges against three of them were not dropped. "It is very unfortunate that students want to leave midway. AMU Vice Chancellor, teachers, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Ministry of Home Affairs officials should resolve this issue. I hope this will be taken seriously," Owaisi said here. In a letter addressed to the Vice Chancellor, AMU students union's former vice-president Sajjad Rathar have asserted, "If this vilification does not stop, more than 1,200 Kashmiri students will leave for their homes in the Kashmir Valley on October 17 as the last option." Three Kashmiri students of AMU were reportedly booked on sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting to mourn the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a pot shot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he was only interested in helping rich businessmen and not the farmers. Addressing a rally here, Gandhi said, "I went to PMO (Prime Minister's Office) only once. I told the Prime Minister, farmers are requesting him to waive-off their farm loan. I told him I know he wants to write-off the bank loans of the rich but he should do it for farmers too. He didn't utter a word." The Nehru-Gandhi scion said that Prime Minister Modi has no space in his heart for the oppressed and women, but only for big industrialists like Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam key accused Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. "Prime Minister has no room in his heart for oppressed and women. He has room only for industrialists. Mehul Bhai, Nirav Bhai, Anil Bhai, Lalit Bhai, he never calls farmers and labourers 'Bhai'. Have you ever heard Modi ji calling poor 'Bhai'? Never. If he isn't in suit-boot, he isn't 'Bhai'," said Gandhi. The Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh will be held on November 28 to elect representatives of the 230 constituencies, and the Congress party is eyeing on, what it calls, the farmers' anger against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state. Over the last few months, the state has witnessed multiple farmers' protests. The counting for single phase assembly polls in the state will take place on December 11. The election in Madhya Pradesh is being seen as a direct political battle between the incumbent BJP and the Congress. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government will try to win for the fourth consecutive term, while the Congress will be fighting to regain power after 2003. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina in November, Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, said on Monday. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the G20 summit. The two leaders last met in July during the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. Speaking at the inaugural event of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats in New Delhi, the envoy said, "This will be their (President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) first meeting in Argentina. I am delighted to see that China-India relations are going along the fast track." He further informed that in December, both countries will jointly launch the people-to-people programme between the two countries. "In December, China's state councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India to launch the first India-China high level people-to-people exchanges mechanism," Zhaohui added. Talking about the India-China training programme that kick-started on Monday, the Chinese envoy asserted that this curriculum will help both New Delhi and Beijing to contribute immensely to the regional peace in Afghanistan. "The launch of the programme today will make coordination and cooperation closer between the two countries. This is also a very positive development in the India-China relationship. Afghanistan is also an important country in our region. China and India have been active supporters of Afghanistan's peace and reconstruction process. This joint program is an endeavour by China and India, both being major, responsible developed countries, to contribute to the regional peace and stability of Afghanistan. I am confident that this programme will go a long way to help the Afghan diplomats in enhancing friendship among the three nations," he stated. The training programme, which is being conducted as part of a trilateral cooperation between India, China, and Afghanistan will end on October 26. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday extended his sympathies with the farmers of the state over the prohibition on stubble burning but told them that the Green Tribunal (NGT) laws must be followed. Addressing a presser here, Singh said, "This is a law of Green Tribunal. My sympathies are with the farmers, but law is law and the law must take its course. I have written twice to the Prime Minister, Agriculture Minister and the Food Processing Industries Minister to compensate farmers who do not burn stubble with an additional Rs 100 per quintal." Singh further stated that if the Centre does not provide Rs 100 per quintal compensation to the farmers, it will be difficult to control stubble burning. Although many farmers have stopped burning stubble as they have resorted to converting it into bio-fuel, the practice still, to a limited extent, remains active in the state, the chief minister added. As autumn sets in, bringing along with it the harvesting period for Kharif crops, the increasing cases of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana are worsening the air pollution crisis in New Delhi and the neighbouring Capital Region. This in turn has necessitated the NGT to implement strict norms on the burning of stubble. However, farmers in Punjab on Saturday claimed that industries and vehicles majorly contribute to air pollution and not stubble burning. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The department has said that out of 72 persons tested positive for Zika virus, 60 have been cured. The latest figures were issued after a review meeting chaired by Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) medical and health, Veenu Gupta. Over 280 teams of medical and department are conducting surveys in the affected areas of the state. Till now, 96,000 houses have been surveyed, and as a precautionary measure, fogging is being done regularly. A total fine of Rs 44,000 has been imposed so far on 68 houses where larva was found. An 85-year-old woman from Shashtri Nagar area of was reportedly the first to be detected with The disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes, which bite during the day. Symptoms are generally mild and include fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or a headache. Symptoms typically last for two to seven days. infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and other congenital malformations, known as congenital Zika syndrome. Infection with is also associated with other complications of pregnancy including preterm birth and miscarriage. As per the World Organisation, there is no treatment available for Zika virus infection or its associated diseases. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will celebrate the festival of Dussehra with the Border Security Force (BSF) jawans during his two-day visit to Rajasthan's Bikaner on October 18 and 19. During the course of his visit, the minister will also perform Shastra Puja on the Bikaner Indo-Pakistan border. 'Shastra Puja' or worship of weapons is part of the Dussehra festival which is celebrated to mark the victory of Lord Ram over Ravana. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Travancore Devaswam Board, which manages Kerala's Sabarimala temple, has invited representatives of the Pandalam Royal family, Sabarimala priests and Hindu organisations, on Tuesday to discuss various crucial affairs ahead of the reopening of the temple. The doors of Lord Ayyappa shrine is scheduled to open on October 17, implementing the recent Supreme Court's verdict that lifted a ban on entry of women aged between 10-50 years into the temple. During the meeting, which will be held on Tuesday at 10 am at the Devaswam Board's office in Thiruvananthapuram, the current situation surrounding the uproar among a section of followers against the apex court ruling will also be discussed. On September 28, the apex court allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple saying that "no physiological and biological factor can be given legitimacy if it doesn't pass the test of conditionality". Although many, including the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government, have welcomed the decision, a section of followers have been staging protest across the country opposing the ruling. On Monday, a protest march led by the BJP was held in Thiruvananthapuram against the judgement. Supporters and activists of the Akhil Hindu Parishad on Sunday took to the streets of Thiruvananthapuram, demanding an ordinance in the Kerala legislative assembly against the verdict. Protests were also held in Chennai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz discussed Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance over a phone call on Sunday night. Khashoggi has been missing ever since cameras captured him going inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Hatice Cengiz, his fiancee, who was waiting outside the consul, had stated that she did not see him re-emerging from the building. Both the leaders emphasised on the need for a joint working group for investigations. The Saudi King also thanked the Turkish President for accepting a Saudi proposal to create the joint group, according to Al Jazeera. Abdulaziz further highlighted that no one could undermine Saudi Arabia and Turkey's relationship. Saudi Arabia had earlier rejected all allegations levied on the nation due to Khashoggi's disappearance and also threatened to retaliate "with greater action" against any sanctions put on the nation. They released a statement earlier on Sunday which read, "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations that will not undermine the Kingdom and its staunch positions and Arab, Islamic and international status, the outcome of these weak endeavors, like their predecessors, is a demise." "The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy is affected only by the impact of the global economy," the statement further added. There is mounting international pressure on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to explain Khashoggi's disappearance. Earlier, United States President Donald Trump had threatened of "severe punishment" for the Gulf country if there has indeed been any Saudi hand in the scribe's disappearance. The UK's Foreign Minister, Jeremy Hunt, had also said that they would have to "think about the appropriate way to react" if Saudi Arabia is found guilty in Khashoggi's disappearance. Turkish officials had previously claimed that their Saudi counterparts carried out Khashoggi's kidnapping and murder. They had alleged that a 15-man team flew from Riyadh to Istanbul on the day the senior journalist visited the consulate and carried out the alleged murder of the journalist. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiv Sena on Monday called upon the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led central government to "show some courage" and pass an ordinance for the construction of the controversial Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Speaking to ANI, Sena leader Sanjay Raut said, "They should show some courage; the Ram Temple issue has been their agenda for over 25 years now. Slogans like 'Mandir wahi banayenge', 'chalo Ayodhya', were ours as well, not just of the BJP. It is very unfortunate for the Hindus of the country that we have to raise the same slogans after so long." Raut further stated that even Muslims of the region have agreed to the construction of the Temple, adding there is no reason left for the BJP to delay the construction as they have a majority in the Centre and the state, and a President who will pass the ordinance. "Despite a majority in Parliament, the Uttar Pradesh assembly, even the Rashtrapati Bhawan is ours, the Ram Temple is not being constructed. The saints and priests there are resorting to hunger strikes, protests," Raut said. "Like you passed an ordinance in connection with the Triple Talaq to deliver justice to our Muslim sisters, you passed the SC/ST amendment, similarly pass an ordinance for the Ram Temple issue also. We have a majority in the LoK Sabha, the Vidhan Sabha, and a President who will sign the ordinance," Raut concluded. The Shiv Sena have stepped up their demands over the Ram Temple issue in recent days, with the party, through its editorial mouthpiece Saamna, warning the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government that it will be thrown out of power if it fails to build the temple as promised. Earlier, Raut told ANI that party president Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya in the near future upon the invitation of Janmejay Sharanji, the chief of Ram Janmabhoomi Trust. A number of saints in Ayodhya have started protests over the delay in the construction of the temple. Swami Paramhans Das, Mahant of Ayodhya's Tapaswi Chhawni had been fasting since October 1, before he was detained by the police on October 8. Additionally, a delegation of saints associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) met President Ram Nath Kovind on October 6, demanding the immediate construction of the temple. The Babri Masjid was built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya in 1528. On December 6, 1992, the Masjid was pulled down allegedly by a group of Hindu activists, claiming that the mosque was constructed after demolishing a Ram Temple that originally stood there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least four people were killed and six others were injured after a jeep they were travelling in, met with an accident in Uttarakhand on Monday. The accident took place on the Jogat- Chinyalisaur route in the Uttarkashi district of the mountainous state. The vehicle was carrying 10 people when, as initial reports suggest, its brakes failed. The images from the accident site show a badly mangled front of the jeep, suggesting it had a head-on collision. The police and the State Disaster Response Force teams have rushed to the spot. The injured persons have been shifted to a nearby hospital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Natco Pharma announced that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the District of Delaware's decision that Teva's Copaxone 40 mg/ml dosing patents are invalid as obvious. The Federal Circuit also affirmed today the final written decisions issued by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in three inter partes reviews filed by Natco's marketing partner, Mylan, related to the same patents. These were the last remaining patent infringement cases Mylan was defending in the U. S. relating to Glatiramer Acetate Injection 40mg/ml. The invalidated patents are U. S. Patent Numbers 8,232,250; 8,399,413; 8,969,302; and 9,155,776, which are owned by Veda Research & Development Co. and licensed to Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shares of Natco Pharma was up 6.09% at Rs 720.55 at 10:49 IST on BSE. Natco Pharma announced before trading hours today, 15 October 2018, that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the District of Delaware's decision that Teva's Copaxone 40 mg/ml dosing patents are invalid as obvious. The Federal Circuit also affirmed the final written decisions issued by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in three inter partes reviews filed by Natco's marketing partner, Mylan, related to the same patents. These were the last remaining patent infringement cases Mylan was defending in the US relating to Glatiramer Acetate Injection 40mg/ml. Decisions are important milestones as Natco Pharma continues to focus its efforts on meeting the needs of multiple sclerosis patients in the US. The invalidated patents are US Patent Numbers 8,232,250; 8,399,413; 8,969,302; and 9,155,776, which are owned by Veda Research & Development Co., and licensed to Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries. Copaxone is the most prescribed MS treatment for relapsing forms of MS in the US with brand sales for the 20 mg/ml dose of approximately $527 million and for the 40 mg/ml dose of approximately $2.86 billion for the 12 months ending 31 August 2018, according to IQVIA. Approximately 400,000 individuals in the US have MS and relapsing MS accounts for 85% of initial MS diagnoses. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 18 Afghan army soldiers were killed and 10 others kidnapped in attacks carried out by the Taliban militant group against several military checkpoints in the western province of Farah, officials told Efe on Sunday. The attacks come amid increased violence ahead of the Afghan legislative elections scheduled for October 20, in which four attacks have been carried out against campaign events, killing dozens, while the Taliban continues to control several districts in the country. The head of the Farah provincial council, Farid Bakhtawar, provided efe with the number of soldiers killed and captured in the attacks, which began Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning in the district of Poshtrod. Bakhtawar asserted that Afghan government forces maintained control of the positions. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed via Twitter that two Afghan army positions in Poshtrod were overrun in an attack Saturday night, and said that 25 Afghan army soldiers were killed and 12 were taken prisoner while no Taliban fighters were killed. The Taliban spokesperson also posted photos allegedly showing seized weapons and captured Afghan soldiers in camouflage uniforms seated in a room with their hands behind their backs. The confrontation between the Afghan army and the Taliban was confirmed by defense ministry spokesperson Sayed Ghafoor Javed in a press conference, although he did not provide details on the number of casualties. Javed added that the Taliban were forced to retreat and that Afghan authorities had begun an investigation into the incident. Farah police spokesperson Mohibullah Mohib told EFE that no official report on the total number of victims had been released. This attack comes a day after the Taliban's political chief confirmed for the first time that the group had met in Qatar with the United States' special envoy to negotiate an end to the 17-year-long conflict. The Taliban had issued warnings demanding a boycott of next week's parliamentary elections, calling them a "false" process that aimed to legitimize the presence of foreign troops in the country. According to media reports, attacks by the Taliban on Afghan army forces occur nearly every day. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thirty-one Bangladeshi nationals were detained at the railway station here on Monday, a police official said. "The group came to Guwahati from Bengaluru onboard the Guwahati-Bangalore Express. They were waiting to board the Kanchanjungha express to go to Agartala," Superintendent of Railway Police Hemanta Kumar Das told the media here. "During questioning, they admitted that they were from Bangladesh and had entered India without any valid documents some four years ago and were working in Bengaluru as manual labourers. "Their plan was to reach Agartala and then return to Bangladesh by crossing the border," Das added. The 31 comprised 10 men, eight women, eight boys and five girls. --IANS ah/ksk/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister M.J. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation complaint against a journalist, Priya Ramani, who had accused him of sexual harassment amidst the raging #MeToo movement in the country. Akbar has been accused of sexual harassment by several women journalists who had worked with him. He has denied the charges as "false, wild and baseless". Akbar, in his complaint, said that it was apparent that the false narrative against him was being circulated in a motivated manner and for the fulfilment of an agenda. Around a dozen women journalists have accused Akbar of sexual harassment and molestation, leading to a growing chorus for his ouster as the Minister of State for External Affairs. Countering the charges, Akbar claimed that false and defamatory statements which were widely published in the had caused irreparable loss to his reputation. Akbar's complaint was filed in the Patiala House court complex. Akbar has sought Ramani's prosecution under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. He alleged that Ramani wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously defamed him by making a completely false and frivolous statement which has harmed his goodwill and reputation within the political fraternity, media, friends, family, colleagues and society at large. "That the scandalous allegations leveled by the accused against the complainant (Akbar) herein, by their very tone and tenor, are ex facie defamatory and have not only damaged the goodwill and reputation of the complainant, in his social circles and on the political stage, established after years of toil and hard work, but have also affected the personal reputation of the complainant in the community, friends, family and colleagues, thereby causing him irreparable loss and tremendous distress," said the complaint filed by advocate Sandeep Kapur. The advocate said that woman journalist had mentioned incidents which allegedly occurred 20 years ago and she had simultaneously admitted that Akbar had not done anything to her. "It is pertinent to mention that the conduct of the accused person (Ramani), of not taking any action before any authority, qua the alleged incident against the complainant (Akbar) also clearly belies the sanctity of the article and allegations made by the accused person, which evidently goes on to prove that the said defamatory articles are only a figment of her imagination and are only intended to malign the reputation of the complainant," read the complaint. "...while admitting that the complainant (Akbar) has never done anything to her, the accused has intentionally put forward malicious, fabricated, and salacious imputations to harm the reputation of the complainant." Such publications have caused great humiliation to Akbar and his reputation had been severely tarnished in the eyes of the public as well as his family, friends, colleagues, political fraternity and associates, the advocate said and requested the court to take action against the woman journalist. Akbar listed two senior women journalist and four other people as witnesses to prove his defamation charges against the woman who accused him of sexual harassment charges. Advocate Kapur said that Akbar was a veteran journalist and had authored several renowned books. He had a long career in journalism and launched India's first weekly political news magazine, Sunday, in 1976, and two daily newspapers 'The Telegraph' and 'The Asian Age' in 1989 and 1994 respectively. Akbar has remained associated with leading houses and periodicals. --IANS akk/mr (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.) Expressing "deep disappointment" at Union Minister M.J. Akbar's threat of legal action against complainants alleging sexual harassment at his hands, journalist bodies on Monday said the Minister must step down for the sake of an impartial probe into the matter. "In the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it would only be appropriate that the Minister steps down from his post till such time as the inquiry is completed," the Press Club of India, Indian Women Press Corps, South Asian Women in Media and the Press Association said in a joint statement on Monday. "We are disappointed that Akbar did not choose to take this step (resigning) instead of threatening the complainants with legal action," it added. The joint statement said the need for an impartial probe into all the complaints "without fear or intimidation to the complainants" acquires particular significance if the accused was an "influential Minister" in the government. "Akbar is a senior functionary of the government and his response should reflect the responsibility that is thus bestowed on him," it said. The journalist organisations pointed out that sexual harassment at workplace was a "worrisome reality" and that media organisations and managements had been unable to put the systems in place to address this problem. "Sexual harassment at the workplace is a pervasive phenomenon. It has continued with impunity despite the enactment of a tough law to prevent, prohibit and redress it. The inability of women to speak out about such harassment needs serious introspection and redress. "We hope that employers in media organisations and the government will look into this with the seriousness it deserves and not treat the incidents as motivated complaints," the statement read. More than half a dozen women journalists have accused Akbar, now Minister of State for External Affairs, of sexually harassing them. --IANS mak/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After Union Minister M.J. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani for levelling allegations of sexual harassment, Ramani said Akbar is trying to "silence" the voices "through intimidation and harassment". Ramani is one of the many women who, in the raging #MeToo campaign, have accused Akbar of sexually harassing them in the capacity of the Editor of The Asian Age and other publications. "I am deeply disappointed that a Union Minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy. By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear," Ramani said in a statement that she shared on the social media. "Rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," she added. She insisted that she would fight allegations of defamation as "truth and absolute truth is my only defence". She said that all the women who have spoken out against Akbar did so "at great risk" to their personal and professional lives. "At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they (the victims) have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon the victims. Rather than case aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women," she said. "This is why I wish to register my strong protest against Mr. Akbar's most recent statement, which pays no heed to the trauma and fear of survivors or the courage required to speak the truth to power," Ramani said. --IANS mak/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid intense criticism from Congress leaders, the foundation stone for the "Museum of Prime Ministers" was laid on Monday by Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri at the Teen Murti estate here. The Congress leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been opposing the move, saying that the government was trying to "dilute" Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy by changing the character of the Nehru Memorial Museum Library. Sharma conducted the Bhoomi Poojan for the proposed museum at the Teen Murti Estate on Monday afternoon and said the museum will depict modern India through "the collections relating to each Prime Minister of India, their lives, works and significant contributions made towards nation building". He said the national capital at present has memorials dedicated to only three of India's Prime Ministers: Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. "The people of the country deserve to know the contribution of all PMs, including Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H.D. Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi," Sharma added. He said that the state-of-the-art design of the upcoming museum "is symbolic of an emergent and rising India". The Central government's move to construct the Museum of Prime Ministers inside the premises of the Teen Murti Estate, which, apart from housing the Nehru Memorial Museum Library (NMML) was also Nehru's residence for 16 years until his death on May 27, 1964, has courted much controversy over the past few months. In a letter to Modi sent last month, Manmohan Singh had urged Modi to "leave the Teen Murti Complex undisturbed as it is", reminding him that it is a memorial of our first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru. "This way we will be respecting both history and heritage." He had argued that "the museum itself must retain its primary focus on Jawaharlal Nehru and the freedom movement because of his unique role having spent almost 10 years in jail between the early 1920s and mid-1940s. There is hardly any space in the premises of the Teen Murti complex for the construction of the "Museum of Prime Ministers" without altering the Nehru Memorial Museum Library. The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, chaired by Sonia Gandhi and housed in the Teen Murti Estate, had been asked by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to vacate the premises on the grounds of "unauthorised occupation", last month. Sources told IANS that the move was to procure space for the upcoming museum. The letter from the Ministry had said that NMML is in "dire need of space" and alleged that the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund is occupying the premises "without any authority of law". Responding to the notice, N. Balakrishnan, Administrative Secretary of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, refuted its premise and asked that it be withdrawn. "I hereby refute in unequivocal terms your charge of unauthorised use or unauthorised occupation of the present office premises by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund in the Teen Murti Estate," Balakrishnan said in his response on September 20. Balakrishnan told IANS on Monday that there has been no further communication from the government in this regard so far. --IANS ss/nir/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former US Secretary of State defended her husband, former President Bill Clinton, saying that he was right not to resign in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and insisted that his affair with the White House intern wasn't abuse of power. In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, defended her husband and said "absolutely not" in response to a question about whether he should have resigned after his affair with Lewinsky came to light more than 20 years ago. Hillary Clinton's remarks come after New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand recently told The New York Times that the former President should have stepped down at the time after he was impeached by the Republican-led House in December 1998. But he was acquitted by the Senate and completed his term as President. In the interview, said Lewinsky "was an adult". "But let me ask you this," Clinton continued, "Where's the investigation of the current incumbent, against whom numerous allegations have been made, and which he dismisses, denies, and ridicules?" "So, there was an investigation (of President Clinton), and it, as I believe, came out in the right place." When asked what role, if any, she played in criticizing the character of the women who accused her husband of sexual misconduct, the former presidential hopeful told CBS News: "None. No role... I take responsibility for my life and my actions." A 36-year-old builder was beaten to death by three men after he failed to return the money borrowed from one of them, police said on Monday. All three accused have been arrested. Deputy Commissioner of Police Monika Bhardwaj said Nitin, a resident of Paschim Puri in west Delhi, died on Sunday, hours after he was badly beaten up by Sanjeev, 47, Rajeev, 37, and Jagdish, 49. "Nitin had borrowed Rs 12.5 lakh from Jagdish, who called him to his office and beat him with sticks along with other two. They forcibly took his scooty and got his signatures on the sale letters. "They kept him with them for three hours and then let him go. He had bruises all over his body when he reached home. His family took him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead," the officer said. The three were arrested on Monday. --IANS mg/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As Chris Evans' farewell tweet on "Avengers 4" led some fans to believe that Captain America will die in the upcoming Marvel movie, the actor has clarified it saying that the post wasn't an insinuation that "Captain America will die". During Comic Con here, the 37-year old silenced all the rumours and spoke about his tweet and the intense reaction it garnered, reports dailymail.co.uk. He said: "I should clarify that I know I did tweet something that made a lot of people think that it was in someway a spoiler. "I should clarify that regardless of how 'Avengers 4' ends, I would have tweeted the exact same thing. That last day of filming was a very emotional day and it was the culmination of almost 10 years of filming and 22 movies, this unbelievable tapestry." Buzz and speculations emerged among fans when Evans tweeted: "It was an emotional day to say the least. Playing this role over the last 8 years has been an honor. "To everyone in front of the camera, behind the camera, and in the audience, thank you for the memories! Eternally grateful." Neither has the actor denied nor agreed to the rumours. He said: "You feel a lot more emotions than I think even I thought I'd feel. And I felt it was appropriate to share the gratitude. I know it had a ripple effect but I am neither confirming nor denying anything." --IANS sim/rb/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A case was lodged on Monday against former JNU Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar and his dozens of supporters over their alleged misbehaviour with a doctor, nurses and a security guard of AIIMS-Patna, police said. "An FIR was lodged following a directive from state Health Department after AIIMS-Patna doctors threatened to go on indefinite strike if action is not taken against them soon," said Phulwarisharif Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohd Qaiser Alam said. After an emergency meeting on Monday morning, the doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here issued an ultimatum to the government to take action against Kanhaiya and his supporters by 5 p.m, failing which they would go on strike. Protesting doctors have communicated about the incident to the Union Health Minister and the Bihar government. According to doctors, Kanhaiya along with his dozens of supporters, visited the hospital here on Sunday night to meet an AISF leader Sushil Kumar, undergoing treatment there. During there stay at the AIIMS, some of them misbehaved and threatened the doctor on duty, nurses and the security guard. However, the All India Students Federation (AISF) has refuted the allegations made by the doctors. Kanhaiya Kumar, who is associated with the CPI's student body AISF, is likely to contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Begusarai seat in Bihar. --IANS ik/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least six people have been killed by flash floods in France's Aude region, authorities said on Monday. Officials said that several months' of rain fell in just a few hours overnight, blocking roads in some areas. One woman was swept away by the River Aude, according to local broadcaster BFMTV. Alain Thirion, the prefect of Aude, said people were stranded on rooftops and would have to be evacuated by air because it was too dangerous by boat, the BBC reported. Residents were urged to stay inside their homes by emergency services, who issued a red alert. In one area, floodwater was as high as seven metres (23 feet). Authorities said that a warning for flooding was issued for the nearby regions of Aveyron, la Haute-Garonne, Herault, Pyrenees-Orientales and Tarn. "These floods are the worst the Aude River has seen in more than 100 years," said the weather monitoring service Vigicrues. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Goa Forward Party President and Agriculture Minister Vijai Desai on Monay warned against dissolution of the Assembly even as the state Chief Minister is fighting a serious illness. Goa Forward Party is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the state government. Sardesai asked the BJP's central leadership, including party President Amit Shah, to "keep their word" and ensure continuance of the coalition government in Goa and not go in for dissolution of the Assembly. Sardesai's comments assume significance as Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar remains seriously ill, plunging the state into political uncertainty. "People of Goa are watching them because national parties need to keep their word. If they don't keep their word, people don't trust them. Now the onus is on them and they will have to fulfil their commitment to ensure that this government completes its term and gets the continued support of the central government," Sardesai said in a video statement issued here on Monday. The BJP is ruling the state in alliance with Goa Forward Party, and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. "The BJP national president Amit Shah has assured me that the BJP national leadership is not interested to have a mid-term poll or to dissolve the House. As such, when our commitment is there, and their commitment is also there, the onus of this government continuing for the full five-year term now lies with the BJP central leadership," he said. Parrikar arrived in Goa on Sunday after being discharged from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he was being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer since September 15. Parrikar, a former Union Defence Minister, was ferried in an ambulance from the airport and was taken inside his residence on a stretcher. Parrikar has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for the last seven months. --IANS maya/shs/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the countdown for the unveiling of the tallest statue in the world by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun, Gujarat Ministers have fanned out across the country with invites for Chief Ministers for the big show on October 31. Dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Statue of Unity with a height of 182 metres that has been claimed to be the world's tallest. It will be unveiled on Patel's birth anniversary. As the Gujarat Chief Minister, Modi had on October 31, 2013 laid the foundation stone for the project. Built at a cost of Rs 2,389 crore, the statue stands 3.2 km downstream of the Narmada dam on the islet, Sadhu bet. The Gujarat government wants this unveiling to be a grand event. If Chief Minister Vijay Rupani went to Uttar Pradesh to invite his counterpart Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Nitin Patel just returned from neighbouring Maharashtra after inviting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the event. Similarly, the only woman minister in the cabinet, Vibhavriben Dave, just visited Tripura. Agriculture Minister R.C. Faldu has been tasked to invite the Assam Chief Minister. Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama just returned from his trip to Haryana while Food and Civil Supplies Minister Jayesh Radadia has been sent to Uttarakhand. Energy and Petrochemicals Minister Saurabh Patel is now visiting Bihar with an invite for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja returned from his trip to Himachal Pradesh. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Ishwarbhai Parmar is in Goa for the purpose. Forest Minister Ganpat Vasava is in Tamil Nadu, Dilip Thakore has been sent to Naveen Patnaik's Orissa, Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel to Jharkhand, Ishwarbhai Patel to Arunachal Pradesh and Kishor Kanani has been sent to Meghalaya. The construction of the statue is almost finished, with the work going on at a fast pace and final touches being given right now. According to the government, the project is expected to bring in huge revenues in the form of tourism in the tribal region of the state. The statue will have a museum on the life of Sardar Patel at the base and a viewing gallery, from where the visitors can see beyond the Narmada dam. --IANS desai/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney on Monday to begin an official visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. It is the couple's first official royal tour since getting married in May, the BBC reported. The 16-day trip coincides with the fourth Invictus Games, beginning in Sydney on Saturday, and includes dozens of official events. Harry and Meghan were met by a large media contingent at the airport before heading to Admiralty House, the Sydney Harbour residence of Governor-General Peter Cosgrove -- who is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II. The royal couple's arrival coincided with the day a survey revealed that Australians want their country to become a republic. Harry, the son of Prince Charles and late Princess Diana, and his wife, who took a commercial flight were seen holding hands as they walked through a back door before boarding a vehicle to Cosgrove's residence. Harry and his wife, who was wearing black trousers and a dark coat with maroon lapels, were scheduled to rest on the first day before starting the 76 activities on the agenda from Tuesday to promote environmental and conservation issues. On October 16, Cosgrove who is Australia's Head of State, will give the couple an official welcome before their visit to Taronga Zoo and Sydney Opera House. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex would also attend the inauguration and closing ceremonies of the Invictus Games, which would be held from October 20 to 28. The event was founded by Harry in 2014 to give opportunities to disabled veterans and military services personnel, Efe news reported. On Monday, 52.4 per cent of the 1,000 respondents to a poll conducted by the Australian Republican Movement, said they wanted Australia to become a republic -- the favourite response of 58.6 per cent of responders between 25 and 34 years of age. Harry, 33, and Meghan, 37, have been invited by the governments of Australia and New Zealand, members of the Commonwealth. The couple would travel to Fiji and Tonga at the request of the British Foreign Office, on a tour that would end on October 31. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Rakul Preet is happy with the #MeToo movement gaining momentum in India, but feels it is important to differentiate between sexual harassment and sexual misconduct and deal accordingly. "A conversation of somebody forcing or somebody raping or somebody saying that 'you will get the project only if you sleep with me' and someone misbehaving are two different things. I feel that how we draw a line here and how we figure out what really happened and what didn't happen, is something that we need to look into," Rakul told IANS over the phone. "It shouldn't happen that the girls who have been really harassed and have been suffering for years... All their issues get dissolved just because there is too much happening," she added. The actress is happy that women have a voice "finally thanks to the social media". "I hope that something is done. I just hope it doesn't get dissolved." Rakul continued: "I am very happy with the way the movement has gained momentum. These things have existed. I have been very lucky in my life that I haven't faced it. But then you have heard of stories and I am glad that people are coming out and talking about it because it takes a lot of courage to do that." But she hopes that people don't misuse the movement. "My only request is to people not to misuse it because finally there is a voice for women and people are listening to them and an action can be taken, workplace can be made into a safer place. They should not misuse it." The actress, who is working with Luv Ranjan on his production "De De Pyaar De" with Ajay Devgn, was shocked when accusations against the filmmaker emerged. Ranjan has been accused by an anonymous actress of making her uncomfortable while giving an audition for his film "Pyaar Ka Punchnama". She claims Ranjan asked her some personal questions. He denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him, saying he has never misbehaved with a woman. Talking about it, Rakul said: "It did come as a shock to me. I am not saying anyone is right or wrong here. But I remember the first day when I met him to do this film... I went back home and called my mom and said, 'They are such amazing people'. "The moment I saw the accusation, I called him and said 'Sir, whatever happens, I know you and we all know you'. My experience with him has been amazing. I look up to him as a mentor. He is somebody with whom you can share anything whether it is some personal issue or professional." The actress emphasised that she doesn't think that the actress, who has made the accusation about Ranjan, is lying. "I don't know who the anonymous person is. But I can speak for my experience and I have had the most amazing experience with this team. "That is why if you see all his actors have already spoken. Nobody else has spoken for anybody. The way they have come out in support for him," said the actress, who has featured in Telugu and Hindi films. In Bollywood, Rakul has done "Yaariyan" and "Aiyaary". (Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in) --IANS sug/rb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hurricane Leslie, the most powerful Atlantic storm to hit Europe in decades, has claimed at least six lives in France and left devastation in its wake as it also blew across Portugal and Spain, officials said on Monday. Leslie dumped vast quantities of water across the west of the continent and left 28 people injured, including one in France, said Alain Thirion, prefect of France's Aude region. It was later downgraded to the category of a storm, Efe news reported. "About 350 firefighters are in place, 350 more have been deployed," said French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, adding that seven helicopters were mobilized to deal with the crisis. Officials said that several months of rain fell in just a few hours overnight, blocking roads in some areas of France. One woman was swept away by the River Aude, according to local broadcaster BFMTV. In one area, floodwater was as high as seven metres (23 feet). Authorities said that a warning for flooding was issued for the nearby French regions of Aveyron, la Haute-Garonne, Herault, Pyrenees-Orientales and Tarn. Leslie slammed into Portugal on Sunday and left a trail of destruction, injuring 27 persons. More than 100,000 homes were without electricity, flights were cancelled, hundreds of trees got uprooted and more than 60 persons evacuated. By the time Leslie entered Spain it had reduced its speed to storm strength, but it deluged regions from Galicia to Tarragona with vast amounts of intense rainfall. The Meteorological Service of Catalonia said it recorded very heavy precipitation in the regions of Blancafort, Prades, Falset, Ulldemolins and Torroja del Priorat. Heavy rain and flooding affected the ancient walled city of Carcassonne on France's Mediterranean coast, where images showed a hospital submerged knee-deep in flood water. --IANS soni/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and China on Monday launched a joint programme to train Afghan diplomats in pursuance of an understanding between the two countries to undertake joint projects in the war-torn nation. "I am very happy that today (Monday) we are chartering a new course with the beginning of a training programme for 10 diplomats from Afghanistan in partnership with China," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in a message at the launch of the programme at the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) here. At their informal summit in Wuhan, China, in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to jointly implement projects in Afghanistan as part of a rebuilding process in what was seen as a fresh impetus to ties between New Delhi and Beijing. The summit was held held after Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day face-off at Doklam on the India-Bhutan-China international trijunction last year. "The seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the meeting between the Prime Minister of India and the President of China when they met in Wuhan in April 2018," Sushma Swaraj said in her message that was read out by FSI Director J.S. Mukul. "This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long-term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan." The Minister reiterated India's commitment to partner with Afghanistan in its efforts to emerge as a united, peaceful, stable, inclusive and economically vibrant nation. "Development partnership, based on the priorities of the government and the people of Afghanistan, has been the cornerstone of our multifaceted bilateral cooperation." Stating that India had embarked on an ambitious development partnership programme with Afghanistan with a commitment of over $3 billion, she said this had four broad pillars: building infrastructure; developing human resource; enhancing connectivity; and promoting trade and investment links. "India-Afghanistan Friendship dam in Herat, Parliament Building in Kabul, operationalization of Chabahar port (in Iran) are prominent symbols of this partnership." The Minister said that high priority was being accorded to enable Afghanistan tap the true potential of its talented youth. "An ambitious capacity-building programme was being implemented through scholarships and training programmes for over 3,500 Afghan nationals every year in India," she stated. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a message read out by the country's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, said Xi and Modi had identified Afghanistan as a priority partner. "China and India are active supporters of the Afghan peace process," Wang said. Luo said that both India and China supported an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process. He also announced that Modi and Xi will again meet in Argentina in November on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. This will be the fourth meeting between the two leaders this year. Apart from Wuhan, they met during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China, in June and the BRICS Summit in South Africa in July. --IANS ab/shs/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat on Monday said India has a culture of "Atithi Devo Bhava" and has never considered the people of Tibet living in the state in exile any different from the native ones. Speaking at the "Thank You Himachal" public event on completion of 60 years of Tibetan community in exile in India, organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) here, he said by giving a message of generosity, love and goodwill, the Indians have respected every culture of the world. The Governor said India and Tibet have integral cultural and business relationships since centuries. "The people of the Tibetan community in exile are living with love, affection, unity and goodwill in this country and we had never considered them different from ours. It is their greatness that they always express gratitude to the people of India," he said in his address where CTA President Lobsang Sangay, State Irrigation Minister Mohinder Singh Thakur and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh were present. "The third generation of the Tibetan community is contributing to the progress of the country by adopting India's culture and language. This country belongs to you as much as to the people of India," Devvrat said. "The Tibetans gave the message of unity, love and goodwill all over the world and hence the culture is not diverse from the Indian culture." Expressing happiness over the basic amenities being provided to the people of this community, he hoped that mutual understanding between Indian and Tibetans would continue in the future as well. State Irrigation Minister Thakur said the state considers the Tibetan community to be Himachali only. He called upon the Tibetan community to join the natural farming campaign being run by the Governor. Sangay said the love, protection and acceptance that he received in India over past 60 years reflect the greatness of Indian culture. "The sentiments still persist, for which the Tibetan community expresses gratitude. The Tibetans called India their second home and they are also contributing in furthering high traditions and prosperous culture of India," he added. On the occasion, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama offered his greetings and gratitude to the state government and its people. In the seven-minute video message, he expressed himself as a proud citizen of Himachal Pradesh and student of the rich Indian tradition. He stated that India is the world's largest democratic nation with a rich civilisational history, which according to him is worth sharing with the world. As a student of the ancient Indian tradition, he offered his contribution in reviving knowledge in the country and particularly in Himachal Pradesh through an academic collaboration through Tibetan Buddhist centres. "I think India's civilisation, among the Chinese civilisation and Egyptian civilisation, is a very sophisticated civilisation so you should feel proud. I also feel proud as a student of this ancient knowledge," he said in a video message from Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing his homeland in 1959. The Tibetan exile administration is based in the northern Indian hill town Dharamsala. --IANS vg/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With the government on Monday saying it will not relax the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) October 15 deadline for data localisation, the road ahead has become tough for global digital payment providers who have sought more time to comply with the guidelines. The RBI guidelines say that all digital payment firms like Google Pay, WhatsApp and others must store data locally for their businesses. The deadline to comply with the norms ended on Monday. In a statement, WhatsApp said that in India, almost 1 million people are testing WhatsApp payments to send money to each other in a simple and secure way. "In response to India's payments data circular, we've built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India," a WhatsApp spokesperson told IANS. "WhatsApp payment is useful for people in their daily lives and we hope to expand the feature to all of India soon so we can contribute to the country's financial inclusion goals," the spokesperson added, without mentioning if the Facebook-owned company has finally submitted a compliance report sought by the RBI. With over 200 million users, India is the largest market for WhatsApp. Google Pay has reportedly asked the government for more time on this. In September, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai wrote to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, advocating free flow of data across borders as such a step will encourage global companies to contribute to India's digital economy. Pichai said that the free flow of data across borders would also benefit Indian start-ups looking to expand globally. "Free flow of data across borders -- with a focus on user privacy and security -- will encourage start-ups to innovate and expand globally and encourage global companies to contribute to India's digital economy," Pichai wrote. "The Google team in India will be in touch with your office to follow up on some of the specific topics we discussed during our meeting," said Pichai, thanking Prasad for his visit in August to Google's Mountain View campus in the US. On Monday, sources said the government is not in favour of extending the deadline for RBI's data localisation plan. "The government is also not in favour of the data-mirroring idea," they added. According to India's largest digital payment provider Paytm, all payments data of the Indian users must be processed and stored only within the country and must not be allowed to go out of the country, not even for processing. "We have complied with this mandate since day one and have welcomed this initiative right from the beginning," a Paytm spokesperson told IANS. "It is important that we do not become mere Internet colonies for global companies and make every organisation accountable towards the security and privacy of data of our fellow countrymen," the spokesperson added. This is a key matter of national interest, said Paytm, adding that we must discourage inappropriate use and transfer of data. --IANS na/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha on Monday filed her nomination to contest the Assembly by-poll from Ramanagara constituency, about 50 km southwest of here. Anitha filed her nomination for the November 3 election, accompanied by the Chief Minister, a Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader said. By-election is being held on November 3 in two Assembly seats -- Jamkhandi in northwestern Bagalkot district and Ramanagara city in Ramanagara district. Tuesday is the last day to file nominations. The vacancy in the two seats was caused following the resignation of the Chief Minister from Ramanagara seat and owing to the death of Congress legislator Siddu Nyamagouda in a road accident on May 28, after being elected from Jamkhandi constituency. Kumaraswamy, who contested and won from two adjacent Assembly segments, retained the Channapatna seat. Anitha, 55, declared total assets worth Rs 94 crore and said another Rs 7.88 crore worth of assets belong to her husband. Backed by the Congress, she is contesting against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s L. Chandrashekar. Anitha had earlier won a by-election in 2008 from Madhugiri Assembly seat but lost the by-election for Channapatna constituency in 2012. In the Jamakhandi seat, Congress candidate and son of late legislator Nyamagouda, Anand Siddu Nyamagouda, and BJP's Shrikant S. Kulkarni are in the fray. The JD-S is backing the Congress in Jamakhandi. Scrutiny for the nominations will take place on Wednesday and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is October 20. By-election for three Lok Sabha constituencies in the state -- Shivamogga, Ballari (ST) and Mandya -- will also be held on November 3. Coalition partners JD-S and Congress are also contesting the ensuing Lok Sabha by-election together. BJP's state unit president and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's son B.Y. Raghavendra is in fray from the Shivamogga seat, contesting against Janata Dal-United (JD-U)'s Mahima J. Patel, the son of late former Karnataka Chief Minister J.H. Patel (1996-1999). On the other hand, senior Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa is in fray from Ballari seat against BJP's J. Shantha. Shantha, a former member of Parliament in Lok Sabha in 2009, is the sister of BJP's legislator from the state, B. Sriramulu. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) will be used for the by-polls. In the 28 Lok Sabha seats from the southern state, the BJP has 15, Congress 9 and the JD-S 1, while three seats are vacant. In the 224-member Assembly, the BJP has 104, Congress 79 and the JD-S 36. --IANS bha/nir (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kerala High Court on Monday granted bail to Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was arrested in September on charges of raping a nun repeatedly between 2014 and 2016. The bishop secured the bail with strict conditions that he should not enter Kerala. He must also surrender his passport and should appear before the police once in every two weeks. Mulakkal was arrested on September 21 after three days of questioning. On September 24, he was sent to two weeks judicial custody. Mulakkal has been languishing in the Pala sub-jail since. Earlier on October 3, the high court had denied the bishop bail as Justice V. Raja Vijayaraghavan observed that there was evidence against him. Mulakkal, who heads the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar in Punjab, is the first bishop in the country to be jailed for rape. --IANS sg/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South and North Korea on Monday agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony to modernise and eventually connect their railways and roads across their borders in late November or early December. They also agreed to hold Red Cross talks in November to discuss issues related to families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and arrange a general-level military meeting "as soon as possible", reports Yonhap News Agency. The agreements were reached during high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom between South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and his North Korean counterpart, Ri Son-gwon. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has proposed to Northeast Asian countries and the US to jointly set up a so-called "East Asian Railroad Community" to connect railways across the region via inter-Korean railroad links. --IANS ksk/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at Narendra Modi, accusing the Prime Minister of insulting the people of India. "The Prime Minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the nation had been asleep for 70 years," he said here ahead of next month's Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. "This is an insult to every section of the society." On August 15, Modi had criticized the Congress that has ruled for long years since India's Independence in 1947. He had said that India was earlier a sleeping elephant, which had woken up and started running. President Donald Trump finds India and China competing with the US, Gandhi said at a public meeting here. "We have reached this stage because of the contribution of farmers, workers, small businessmen and women over the past 70 years." He called the Modi government at the Centre a "government of the country's top 15 businessmen". "The Centre is not ready to waive off loans of farmers but has done so for 15 top businessmen. The Congress had waived off farmers' loans," Gandhi added. The Congress leader reached Gwalior by a special plane on Monday and then went to the Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia, accompanied by party leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on November 28. --IANS hindi/shs/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nearly two months after Morocco introduced a year-long mandatory military service for those between 19 and 25 years of age, King Mohammed VI reiterated his backing for the decision. Chairing the opening of the first session of the third legislative year of Parliament, the King, responding to some concerns voiced on the issue in the north African nation of 35 million people, said that no one will be exempt from military service irrespective of social status or level of education, Morocco's MAP news agency reported. "With regard to performing military service, it must be emphasised that all the Moroccan citizens concerned -- without exception -- are equal, regardless of social background, diploma or education," he said. The monarch said military service "enhances the sense of belonging to the homeland". "It also gives access to training which opens up opportunities for the professional and social integration of qualified conscripts who demonstrate a sense of responsibility and commitment." Representatives of both Parliament houses, the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives, were in attendance. The King also said that foreign companies keen to invest in the Moroccan health sector must share their expertise with Moroccan youth. "To stimulate employment, we should consider the possibility of having quality initiatives and global leaders involved in some sectors and professions -- such as the health care sector -- which are not currently accessible to foreigners, provided the said projects contribute to the transfer of know-how and create employment opportunities for young Moroccans with the right qualifications," he said. The King said increased interest is being shown by many of the world's leading clinics and hospitals to invest in Morocco. He also said that "employment of youth is at the heart" of the country's interests. --IANS tb/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In what could be considered a Dussehra 'dhamaka', the two big Hindi releases this week, Vipul Shah's "Namaste England" and Amit Sharma's "Badhai Ho" have been given a last-minute early release. Instead of the two films opening on October 19 as per schedule, the two producers have taken a joint decision to release their respective films a day ahead, on October 18. "Namaste England" director Vipul Shah explained: "It was a very natural move. This year, Dussehra is being celebrated on both October 18 and October 19, so we decided to let the audience enjoy the film on both days." The decision was mutual, with both the producers equally gung-ho about the change. "Badhai Ho" is a naughty comedy about the embarrassment faced by a family when the matriarch becomes pregnant at an age when she is eligible for grandmotherly joys. Ayushmann Khurrana, now identified with quirky comedies and fresh on the heels of the success of his last release "Andhadhun", plays the lead. "Namaste England" is the breezy follow-up to the 2007 hit "Namastey London", with Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra taking the place of Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif. --IANS skj/rb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Group of Ministers (GoM) formed by the GST Council on Monday agreed that funding from the national and state disaster response funds -- NDRF and SDRF -- are not sufficient in case of disasters and a new mechanism to raise funds is required. "We had a preliminary discussion and the members felt SDRF and NDRF are not sufficient to compensate the states in case of natural calamities and disasters," GoM Convener and Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said after the group's first meeting here. The seven-member GoM, including members from North East, hill and coastal states, was set up on September 28 by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council after Kerala, ravaged by floods, demanded approval to raise additional cess over GST to meet the financial needs. Kerala has demanded that they should be allowed to raise 10 per cent cess on their SGST (state GST). The GoM will examine the modalities for revenue mobilisation based on six terms of reference in case of natural calamities and disasters. The GoM, which will meet again in November, will evaluate all possibilities and present its recommendations to the GST Council. Modi, who chaired the meeting of Finance Ministers from four states -- Punjab, Kerala, Odisha and Bihar, said the GoM will draft a questionnaire based on the terms of reference and will send it to all the states asking for their response on a set of 15-20 questions. "The questionnaire will be sent to the states asking whether this calamity tax should be state specific or should it be a Union tax and whether it should be levied on all the commodities or should it be on specific commodities, as NDRF and SDRF fund is not adequate," he said. Further, the GoM will have to decide the right mechanism both in case states are allowed to raise tax rates or levy cess at their individual level or if a pan-India rate hike or additional cess is considered in case of calamities. Also, whether it will be in the form of a permanent fund in case of a Union tax and who will manage that fund and what will be the disbursal norms. "We will take the opinion of Attorney General and will also discuss the issues with the Finance Commission before deciding on the way forward," he added. On NDRF, he said the funding has been going down for the last 4-5 years as major part of the National Calamity Contingency Duty (NCCD), the duty for NDRF, has been subsumed in the GST. "In 2016-17, this duty was Rs 6,450 crore and the last year (2017-18) it came down to Rs 3,660 crore, as a major part of this duty was subsumed in GST. The maximum fund of Rs 12,452 crore released under NDRF was in year 2015-16 but the duty part was only Rs 5,690 crore and the rest amount was provided by the Central budget. "This NDRF fund is not sufficient for the states as when they demand Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore, the states hardly get Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,500 crore as per the norms," he said. --IANS mgu/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas on Sunday that if it continues the violent attacks against Israel, "it will be stopped in a very painful way". Netanyahu made the remarks at the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Xinhua reported. The Prime Minister made his threat as a result of the increased riots by Palestinian demonstrators near the security border fence in the Gaza Strip. Last Friday, some 15,000 demonstrated in locations near the fence, burning tires and hurling rocks, explosive devices and grenades at Israeli troops. During the riots, according to Palestinian reports, seven demonstrators were killed, including three who crossed the fence and approached a post of the Israeli army. Netanyahu noted that "Hamas, apparently, has not internalized the message. We are very close to a different kind of activity that will include very powerful blows." Meanwhile, Israeli Minister of Defence Avigdor Lieberman told the website "Ynet" that "after months of rioting and burning of fields, we have reached the point that we must strike the hardest blow possible on Hamas." --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Monday said the government has allocated over 30 per cent of the farm-related funds to women to empower them and bring them to the agriculture mainstream, and sought appointment of more women in the extension services. Addressing a gathering on the occasion of Mahila Kisan Diwas here, he said about 18 per cent of the agricultural households in India are led by women, and they have also made exceptional contribution in horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry and beekeeping, among others. Citing a research by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) conducted in nine states, the Minister said the participation of women is 75 per cent in the production of major crops, 79 per cent in horticulture, 51 per cent in post-harvest work and 95 per cent in animal husbandry and fisheries. Singh also said that National Gender Resource Centre in Agriculture has developed a women sensitisation module to bring about change in the mindset and behaviour of male programme operators. Special importance has been given to the role of women in achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022, he said. Under the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), 38.78 lakh women have been trained in the last two years, he said. Similarly, 6.07 lakh and 7,000 women have benefited through KVKs (Krishi Vigyan Kendras) and skill training, respectively, he added. --IANS spk/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After knocking on the doors of Goa Raj Bhavan several times, the Congress on Monday wrote to President of India Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to keep a check on possible "constitutional overreach" by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who it alleged is trying to seek dissolution of the Assembly by foul means. State Congress president Girish Chodankar also said in his letter to Kovind that the prolonged illness of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had also resulted in an unprecedented situation in Goa, where the government as well as the state administration had completely collapsed. "...it is imperative that you issue instructions and guide the Governor of Goa, so that there is no constitutional overreach to seek a dissolution by foul play, contrary to the wishes of the majority," Chodankar said in his letter to Kovind on Monday. "The plea is being made as there has been an instance in the past under the chief ministership of Manohar Parrikar of dissolution of House through a forged resolution of Council of Ministers. There should not be recurrence of such a macabre situation and hence this petition," Chodankar further alleged in the letter, referring to accusations made by then ministers of a previous Parrikar-led administration, who had alleged that in 2002 Parrikar had recommended dissolution of the state Assembly without consulting them. Chodankar also said that Parrikar's illness had led to complete collapse of the state's administrative machinery. "The state government led by the BJP with Manohar Parrikar as the CM has ensured complete collapse of administration in the state inasmuch as the state and its people are being made to suffer with no governance in sight. It may be noted that the prolonged illness of the CM has also kept several issues pertaining to state administration pending..." Chodankar said in his letter to the President. The state Congress chief also demanded dismissal of the incumbent government and said that with 16 MLAs, the party is still the single-largest in the state Assembly, so and they should be invited to form government in Goa. "The Indian National Congress, which is still the single-largest party with 16 MLAs in the House and has numbers on its side, is willing to shoulder the responsibility of forming the government and is also ready to prove it strength at any given time," Chodankar said. --IANS maya/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least three people were killed and another eight injured on Sunday when a small propeller plane crashed into a group of people at an airfield in the central German state of Hesse, police officials reported. Citing the police, local media reported that the pilot was attempting to gain altitude after an aborted landing, but was unable to climb and crashed into the group at the Wasserkuppe hill mear the town of Fulda. In a brief statement, Hesse police reported that several people were killed by the accident, without providing further details. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Dubai-bound Air India Express flight that hit the upper portion of the five feet tall boundary wall of the Trichy airport in Tamil Nadu was not overloaded, an airline official said on Monday. On Friday morning, the flight with 136 persons on board had a miraculous escape when the aircraft's wheels scraped the airport's outer wall during take-off, damaging the wall as well as the plane's undercarriage. The aircraft hit the airport's instrument landing systems (ILS) and then the compound wall. Trichy is about 350 km from here. Aviation experts told IANS that there could be three major reasons for the aircraft not gaining height while crossing the boundary wall including that it could have been overloaded. An Air India Express official told IANS: "The total permissible carrying capacity of the plane is 79,000 kilos. This includes the weight of the passengers, cargo, fuel and others." He said there were 136 persons on the flight (127 passengers including three infants and six crew members). At an average each adult passenger is taken as 70 kg. "The total cargo weight was about 1,400 kg. The total weight of the plane at the time of take off was about 62,000 kg which is well within the permissible takeoff load," the official said. --IANS vj/mr (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.) President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the dignitaries who paid tributes to former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on his 87th birth anniversary on Monday. While President Kovind paid floral tributes to Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, Modi hailed the 'Missile Man of India' as "an exceptional teacher, a wonderful motivator, an outstanding scientist and a great President". "Dr. Kalam lives in the hearts and minds of every Indian," Modi posted on Twitter. Kalam was the 11th President of India between 2002 and 2007. --IANS mak/mr (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.) Over four decades after he began his scientific engagement with gravitational science, Professor Abhay Ashtekar is set to receive the prestigious Einstein Prize conferred by the American Physical Society (APS). The prize for 2018, which carries an award of $10,000, is scheduled to be announced on October 23. Its citation reads: "For numerous and seminal contributions to general relativity, including the theory of black holes, canonical quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology." Ashtekar is professor of physics, Evan Pugh Professor, Holder, Eberly Chair, and director of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos at the Pennsylvania State University. "The prize is special because is it the highest honour bestowed by APS in the broad area of gravitational science. The first Einstein prize was awarded jointly to Peter Bergmann and John Wheeler, who introduced general relativity to American universities by creating research groups. Perhaps because the first award often sets the tone, subsequent prizes have come to recognise 'lifetime achievements'. So the news was deeply satisfying," Ashtekar told IANS in an email interview. Ashtekar's passion for physical sciences started while he was in high school in India. "At first I knew only Marathi literature --that is my mother tongue, and was the medium of instruction until I was 11. Then was exposed Hindi and English literature and realised how deeply literature is tied to specific cultures. What is considered great in one language or context could well be mediocre in another. At the same time, I learned Newton's laws and universality of gravity -- what makes the apple fall on earth also makes the planets go around the sun. This was stunning by itself," he said. What he found most remarkable was that, unlike art and literature, which are "so tied to human conditions", Newton's laws transcend both. "It was striking to me that the same Newton's laws are taught and admired in India as in China, Japan and the West." "Later, in college, fundamental physics seemed to me to be the deepest and purest way to pursue understanding of Nature (the external world). In graduate school, I chose to work in general relativity, cosmology and quantum physics because that is where the most fundamental questions about space, time and the nature of the physical universe are discussed," he said. Somewhere along the line, he also recognised that although one of the main four forces of nature, gravity is the weakest, yet it is so crucial to the way the universe formed and exists. "Gravity has two key features that other forces do not share. Unlike the weak and strong force, it is long-range and therefore key to the large-scale structures and phenomena. Electromagnetic force is also long-range. But because electric charge comes with both signs, the force can be both attractive and repulsive. "Large bodies like the sun and planets are all electrically neutral and so they don't exert any electromagnetic force on one another. The dominant force between such bodies is therefore gravitational," he explained. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of Chicago, Ashtekar went on to hold influential positions in France, Canada and India. His biography on the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected a member in 2016, describes him as someone "best known for initiating the Loop Quantum Gravity programme by introducing new variables to simplify Einstein's equations, for analysing the very early universe using Loop Quantum Cosmology, and for his contributions to the study of the asymptotic structure of space-time and gravitational waves in full non-linear general relativity". After such a long career in a diversity of physics disciplines, he said science is currently in the "truly golden age for gravity". "Until about the mid-1960s, general relativity had remained isolated from mainstream science -- a pristine and beautiful theory, to be admired from a distance. "The paradigm has shifted completely and relativistic gravity has moved to centre stage of physics and astronomy. Through the big bang, black holes and gravitational waves, we realised that the universe is not a calm, peaceful place that the astronomers believed it to be in much of the 20th century," he pointed out. "There are highly energetic explosions sourced by strong gravity that have shaped the history of our universe. Thus, relativistic gravity has completely overhauled our understanding of the cosmos," he said. "The deepest puzzles in fundamental physics today are at the interface of general relativity and quantum physics. What really happened at the big bang? What is the end point of the quantum evaporation of black holes? How do we incorporate gravity into the unified theories of all fundamental forces? It is clear therefore that gravity will continue to dominate research in physics and astronomy in the coming decades as well," he said. Asked whether physicists in India are producing world-class research, Ashtekar said: "There are extremely talented physicists in India who are making first-rate contributions to pure physics in areas I have first-hand acquaintance with. I am particularly pleased by the 'LIGO-India' project that is now placing India firmly in the front ranks of international efforts. The Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, in particular, will play an important role in the major discoveries that will be made with the international network of gravitational wave observatories between 5 and 10 years from now. In this area India is ahead of China, for example." "My colleagues in other areas of physics, on the other hand, tell me that this is not the case in their field; that there is a lot of good research but not enough 'great' research that gets published in the most visible journals," he said. --IANS mayank/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday exuded confidence that the party will return to power in Madhya Pradesh after the November 28 Assembly elections. "The government that the Congress will form in the state will be responsive to farmers, small traders, women and party workers," Gandhi said at a public meeting here. The Congress has been out of power since 2004 and is keen on dislodging the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state. Gandhi, on a two-day visit of Madhya Pradesh ahead of next month's Assembly polls, reiterated his promise that the Congress, if elected, will waive off farm loans within 10 days of government formation. The Congress leader earlier on Monday hit out at Narendra Modi, accusing the Prime Minister of insulting the people of India. "The Prime Minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the nation had been asleep for 70 years," he said here ahead of next month's Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. "This is an insult to every section of the society." On August 15, Modi had criticized the Congress that has ruled for long years since India's Independence in 1947. He had said that India was earlier a sleeping elephant, which had woken up and started running. President Donald Trump finds India and China competing with the US, Gandhi said at a public meeting here. "We have reached this stage because of the contribution of farmers, workers, small businessmen and women over the past 70 years." He also called the Modi government at the Centre a "government of the country's top 15 businessmen". Gandhi reached Gwalior by a special plane on Monday and then went to the Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia, accompanied by party leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia. He will address a public meeting in Dabra, and then proceed to Gwalior, where he will pay tributes to late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia at his memorial. --IANS hindi/shs/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday exuded confidence that the party will return to power in Madhya Pradesh and tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "empty slogans" that he said have not helped farmers, women and small traders. "The government that the Congress will form in the state will be responsive to farmers, small traders, women, and party workers," Gandhi said at a public meeting here. The Congress has been out of power since 2004 and is keen on dislodging the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state. The state goes to polls on November 28. Gandhi, on a two-day visit of Madhya Pradesh ahead of next month's Assembly polls, reiterated his promise that the Congress, if elected, will waive off farm loans within 10 days of government formation. He also promised to open a food processing unit in every district where farmers can profitably sell their produce. He mocked the Prime Minister and the ruling BJP for paying lip service to the cause of women's safety. "When BJP MLA (Kuldeep Singh Sengar) rapes a girl in Unnao, the UP Chief Minister and the Prime Minister tried to save him. Neither was he expelled from the party nor did the PM speak a word about him. The actual slogan should be 'Beti Padhao aur Beti ko BJP ke MLA se Bachao' (Educate your daughter and save her from BJP MLA)," Gandhi said. Gandhi's attack on Modi and his government comes in the midst of a raging #MeToo campaign in which Union Minister M.J. Akbar has been accused of a long string of sexual harassments. Akbar has rejected the allegations as "wild and baseless" and has initiated defamation suits, starting with journalist Priya Ramani, who had first accused the Minister of the sexual misdemeanour. In Madhya Pradesh, too, women are afraid of moving out of their houses as was the case across he country, Gandhi said. Juxtaposing the tilts of the Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA governments, Gandhi reminded the people that the Congress-led UPA government had waived off farm loans worth Rs 70,000 crore. By contrast, the Modi government had in the last four years "waived loans worth Rs 350,000 crore of 15-20 rich industrialists". "He (Modi) has place only for industrialists in his heart, not for women, Dalits and farmers. He stays quiet if anything happens to them." He also raked up the Rafale fighter jet deal, alleging that the offset contract was taken away from state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and given to a private entity. The Congress leader earlier on Monday hit out at Modi, accusing him of insulting the people of India. "The Prime Minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the nation had been asleep for 70 years," he said. "This is an insult to every section of the society." On August 15, Modi had criticized the Congress that has ruled for long years since India's Independence in 1947. He had said that India was earlier a sleeping elephant, which had woken up and started running. President Donald Trump finds India and China competing with the US, Gandhi said earlier on Monday. "We have reached this stage because of the contribution of farmers, workers, small businessmen and women over the past 70 years." Gandhi reached Gwalior by a special plane on Monday and then went to the Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia, accompanied by party leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia. --IANS hindi rak-ps/shs/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling on Monday called for global cooperation to make agriculture totally organic the world over by 2050, citing the achievement of his Himalayan state in north-east India. Addressing a news conference at the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament, Chamling said to heed the warnings of climate scientists about impending dangers, the world must adopt farming without chemical fertilisers and pesticides as that would help reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent. "If we can do it in Sikkim, there is no reason it cannot be done elsewhere," he said. Chamling received the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Future Policy Gold Award for Sikkim's achievement in becoming the world's first totally organic agriculture state. The member of Parliament from Chamling's Sikkim Democratic Front, Prem Das Rai, was among those who attended the awards ceremony here. The news conference was hosted by the leaders of Italy's Agriculture Commission and Committee, who praised Sikkim's achievement as a trendsetter for the world. Italian MP Rossella Muroni, the Free and Equal Party leader on the Committee, congratulated Chamling and Sikkim for their pioneering work and showing how organic farming was possible. Maria Chiara Gadda, the Democratic Party leader at the Agriculture Commission, said that Sikkim is an inspiration for striving towards sustainable organic farming. Chamling said that organic farming is a form of action of non-violence. He said when his government embarked on the organic farming mission in 2003, it was confronted by opposition parties and vested interests of the chemical sector. But through hard work backed by a strong political commitment, Sikkim was able to overcome the odds and become totally organic by 2015. "Based on my long experience and association with the organic initiative, I can tell you in all good faith and confidence that a 100 per cent organic world is possible. If we could do it in Sikkim, there is no reason why policy makers, farmers and community leaders cannot do the same elsewhere in the world." "If we are to heed the warnings of the climate scientists then we have to stop the use of chemical fertilisers globally by over 50 per cent immediately. This will reduce the carbon dioxide emission by half," Chamling said. Now, several Indian states like Kerala and those in the North East were trying to follow the example of Sikkim. It is important to involve the youth in the organic mission and many educated young farmers in the state have developed marketing strategies that take the state's produce to places as far away as Delhi and Bengaluru, he said. "Sikkim is the most peaceful state in India... it is the best in many ways," Chamling said, highlighting its gender equality and the absence of extreme poverty or religious and caste tensions. Saying he is not a scientist or a researcher but simply a politician, he said: "It (organic farming) has taken us over a decade to do this. But due to our perseverance, political will...I must say a strong political will, sincerity and hard work, we have been able to achieve this." According to him, the forest cover of the state has increased from 43.95 per cent in 1993 to 47.80 per cent in 2015, an increase of over four per cent. In January 2016, he said, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Sikkim and declared Sikkim as a fully organic state in India and in the world. Vandana Shiva, activist and President of Navdanya International, said that "organic zones" are the "zones of democracy". "Sikkim shows the world it is possible to be 100 per cent free of the chemicals that destroy and defeat the forces that promote them," she said. Sikkim beat out 51 other nominees from 25 countries for the Future Policy Award 2018 -- the world's best laws and policies promoting agro-ecology. This year's award was co-organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Future Council (WFC) and IFOAM - Organics International. Brazil, Denmark and Quito shared the silver award. --IANS al-vg/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling on Monday called for global cooperation to make agriculture totally organic the world over by 2050, citing the achievement of his Himalayan state in northeastern India. Addressing a news conference at the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament, Chamling said that to heed the warnings of climate scientists about impending dangers, the world must adopt farming without chemical fertilisers and pesticides as that would help reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent. "If we can do it in Sikkim, there is no reason it cannot be done elsewhere," he said. Chamling was expected to receive later on Monday the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Future Policy Gold Award for Sikkim's achievement in becoming the world's first totally organic agriculture state. The news conference was hosted by the leaders of Italy's Agriculture Commission and Committee, who praised Sikkim's achievement as a trendsetter for the world. Italian MP Rossella Muroni, the Free and Equal Party leader on the Committee, congratulated Chamling and Sikkim for their pioneering work and showing how organic farming was possible. Maria Chiara Gadda, the Democratic Party leader at the Agriculture Commission, said that Sikkim was an inspiration for striving towards sustainable organic farming. Chamling said that organic farming was a form of action of non-violence. He said when his government embarked on the organic farming mission in 2003, it was confronted by opposition parties and vested interests of the chemical sector. But through hard work backed by a strong political commitment, Sikkim was able to overcome the odds and become totally organic by 2015. "Based on my long experience and association with the organic initiative, I can tell you in all good faith and confidence that a 100 per cent organic world is possible. If we could do it in Sikkim, there is no reason why policy makers, farmers and community leaders cannot do the same elsewhere in the world." "If we are to heed the warnings of the climate scientists then we have to stop the use of chemical fertilisers globally by over 50 per cent immediately. This will reduce the carbon dioxide emission by half," Chamling said. Now, several Indian states like Kerala and those in the northeast were trying to follow the example of Sikkim. It is important to involve the youth in the organic mission and many educated young farmers in the state have developed marketing strategies that take the state's produce to places as far away as Delhi and Bengaluru, he said. "Sikkim is the most peaceful state in India... it is the best in many ways," Chamling said, highlighting its gender equality and the absence of extreme poverty or religious and caste tensions. Vandana Shiva, activist and President of Navdanya International, said that "organic zones" were the "zones of democracy". "Sikkim shows the world it is possible to be 100 per cent free of the chemicals that destroy and defeat the forces that promote them," she said. --IANS al/soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Somy Ali, actress and former girlfriend of superstar Salman Khan, says she was sexually abused and raped as a minor. In an empowering Instagram note to the victims, Somy on Monday wrote: "As a survivor of sexual abuse at the age of five and rape at 14, I would like to salute all those that have spoken up and plan on doing so. I know it is very difficult to do it because I have been there and it took me many years to be able to talk about it." Hailing from Pakistan, Somy had first opened up about her sexual harassment in 2015 in her autobiography. At that time, she clarified the rumours of her abusive relationship with Salman, saying he simply poured a drink all over the table in frustration since he was angry at her for trying alcohol for the first time. Somy entered the film industry in the early 1990s, but left a few years later for Florida, where she founded her NGO, No More Tears. According to Somy, what hurts the most is when people close to you do not support you in such a situation. So, she urged victims "not to let the non-believers stop them". "This is your truth. Do not ever be afraid to speak your truth. Do not let this opportunity pass you. This is a moment that has been long overdue for all of us. This is your chance to be heard and finally obtain justice. I believe you. "It's even harder when you tell those that are close to you and they are supposed to protect you, yet they do nothing. I have been there too and it hurts like hell. But I want these survivors to know it is truly liberating and completely worth it," she added. --IANS sim/rb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell on Monday requested the Turkish authorities to launch an inquiry into Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who disappeared after visiting his country's consulate in Turkey. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, went missing on October 2 in Istanbul where he visited the Saudi consulate for paperwork needed for his planned marriage, according to the Turkish media. Turkish intelligence officials say they have audio and visual evidence that shows he was killed inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia, however, firmly denies any involvement in his disappearance. Borrell said a collaborative investigation of Turkish and Saudi authorities was required to clarify the circumstances that led to the journalist's disappearance, Efe news reported. Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also called for transparent cooperation between the two affected nations. Khashoggi's disappearance has drawn international condemnation and sparked warnings from US President Donald Trump of "severe punishment" if the Saudis were found to be behind his disappearance. Britain, France and Germany also demanded a "credible investigation". --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Syria opened two key border crossings on Monday after years of closure due to the ongoing civil war ravaging the country, re-establishing links with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, officials said. In the occupied Golan Heights, the Quneitra crossing was opened only for the UN peacekeeping force that maintains the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire, after remaining closed since 2014, when UN troops were transferred to the Israeli side of the boundary due to security risks posed by militants on the Syrian side. An Israeli Army officer told Efe news that UN peacekeepers would be progressively returning to the site. "In the future, if everything goes well, (the Quneitra crossing) will be opened for the transit of people for family visits and for trade," the officer said. The Israeli-occupied Golan Heights is a part of Syria that was captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in 1981 in a move that was not internationally recognized. Amira Ibrahim, a Syrian Druze woman from a village in the part of the Golan Heights under Israeli control, told Efe that she was very happy that the crossing was reopening, saying it would be a great benefit for all the Druze of the occupied Golan region to be able to regain contact with their families on the other side. She said it would help young people "to go to study in Syria, because they do not always get to study in Israeli universities". The Nassib-Jaber border crossing between Syria and Jordan was also reopened for commercial traffic after three years of inactivity, as the Syrian side of the border was controlled by militants until July, according to the state-run Syrian and Jordanian news services. Both the SANA and Petra news agencies confirmed traffic had begun to pass through the crossing, which would mean the reconnection of the international highway that crosses Syria from north to south and the resumption of exports to Jordan and the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, a major boost to the Syrian economy. --IANS soni/sed (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress Lok Sabha member Ninong Ering on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the recent intrusion of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops in the Upper Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Eleven PLA troopers were reportedly spotted in Upper Dibang by tribal villagers who had gone out hunting. The villagers reportedly clicked photographs of the armed PLA soldiers and alerted the Indian Army and local administration. It is believed that the intrusion took place five to six days ago. The incident comes almost 16 months after Chinese troops entered Doklam region, claimed by both China and India's ally Bhutan. "At many instances in recent time, Chinese troops have tried to enter Arunachal Pradesh and build roads," Ering noted in his letter, urging Modi's intervention and seeking firm action to protect India's integrity and sovereignty. The former Union Minister represents Arunachal East in the Lok Sabha. --IANS rrk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he spoke to Saudi King Salman over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and will send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the situation with the monarch. In a morning tweet, Trump said that the King denied any knowledge of the journalist's whereabouts. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, entered his country's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2 and has not been seen since. "Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.' He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find the answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King," Trump tweeted. Turkish intelligence officials say they have audio and visual evidence that shows Khashoggi, a permanent resident of the US in self-imposed exile, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia, however, denies any involvement in his disappearance and maintains that he left the consulate the same afternoon. Trump's comments came as the Saudis gave Turkish authorities permission to search the kingdom's consulate in Turkey, where Turkish officials believe the journalist was killed and dismembered, the New York Times reported. Saudi officials first granted permission for the consulate to be searched last week, but later asked for a delay. As per reports, Turkish officials also want to search the nearby Consul General's residence and have repeatedly accused the Saudis of failing to cooperate with their investigation. Diplomatic pressure is growing on the Saudis to give a fuller explanation. The UK, France and Germany demanded a "credible investigation" into the events and Trump warned of serious retribution if the Saudis were found to be behind Khashoggi's possible death. A joint Turkish-Saudi working group into the case has been proposed, but the results of a separate, internal Saudi investigation should be made public soon, a Saudi official told CNN. The Saudi official said that a royal decree was issued on Friday directing the public prosecutor to conduct an internal investigation, based on intelligence shared by Turkey. On Sunday, Washington and Riyadh traded a series of threats, with Trump warning of the potential for "severe punishment" and Saudi officials threatening to retaliate if the US imposed sanctions. Riyadh later softened its tone. "There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that were the case. So we're going to have to see," Trump said in a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast on Sunday. "We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment." The news that Turkey could enter the consulate came a day after the Saudi King called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the Khashoggi case. The two leaders agreed on a joint working group to look into the journalist's disappearance. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The #metoo movement has caught most organisations unawares, and the Government of India seems to be one of them. Most institutions have responded in some manner or the other when male employees have been accused of sexual harassment. In the non-institutionalised world of Bollywood and TV production, too, writers, actors and producers who have been named have been induced to step aside, and the National Commission for Women has responded to several complaints, among them Tanushree Duttas complaint against Nana Patekar. However, the stony silence from Raisina Hill stands in stark ... The Monday accused the of using its leaders to build a momentum against the construction of a in Ayodhya and wondered if its president is a Hindu or not. BJP's attack at Gandhi came following the reported comments of leader Shashi Tharoor that no good Hindu would have wanted to see the built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship, a reference to razing down of the in December 1992. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao said his party wants an early verdict from the Supreme Court on the case but the is trying everything to delay it. Congress leaders had earlier filed plea in the court to delay the matter, he alleged, adding that Tharoor is the latest to join the bandwagon by linking construction of a temple with the "demolition of disputed structure" that happened decades back. The wants a grand Ram temple and will wait for the court's verdict, Rao said, asking Gandhi to clear his stand. "You (Congress) are conspiring to ensure that there is no verdict from the court," he said. ALSO READ: Shatrughan Sinha criticises BJP govt over Rafale deal The Congress is doing "vote bank politics", he said, alleging that Gandhi had earlier claimed that his party was a "Muslims party". wears his "Shiv bhakti" (devotion to Lord Shiv) on his sleeve but he should answer whether he is a Hindu or not, Rao said. Speaking at an event in Chennai, Tharoor had said as a Hindu he was very conscious that a vast majority of his fellow Hindus believe that this (the site in Ayodhya) was the specific birth place of Lord Ram. "And for that reason most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted to see that temple built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," he said. At the press conference, Rao also accused the Congress of following a double-pronged strategy of showing its love for Pakistan and and "working to break India" as part of Gandhi's "divisive mindset". He cited Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's reported comments that he can relate to Pakistan more than south India to hit out at the opposition party. He demanded that Sidhu must be sacked as a minister in the Punjab government in a week or the would carry out protests. Sidhu's remarks are also a reflection on the opposition party's and its ruling Gandhi family's "hatred for south India", Rao alleged as he cited its "ill-treatment" of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. ALSO READ: BJP MPs oppose House panel report seeking review of GDP calculation method It was due to support from south India that the Congress came to power, he said in a reference to its win in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, claiming that "otherwise Sonia and would have fled to Italy". The Congress president should apologise for the alleged poor treatment meted out to Narasimha Rao, he said. "If you have any shame, at least use his (Narasimha Rao's) picture in Telangana," he said. Telangana is among the five states where assembly elections are being held. A key ally of the ruling BJP in Goa said on Monday that the government in the state should continue "with or without" the ailing as the Chief Minister. The remarks came on a day the BJP legislature party met without Parrikar, after which the state unit president Vinay Tendulkar ruled out change of the chief minister. Parrikar returned to his home state on Sunday night after being discharged from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where he was admitted for a pancreatic ailment since September 15. The 62-year-old leader is now undergoing treatment at his private residence at Dona Paula near here, where a team of doctors from the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) have set up make-shift medical facility. "The chief minister is recovering now. He will take rest for two days, before meeting party office-bearers and government officials," Tendulkar said after the meeting of the BJP legislature party. Tendulkar, along with BJP's state general secretary Sadanand Tanavade, also met Parrikar on Monday at the latter's residence. Queried about a change of leadership in the state, the state BJP president shot back, saying, "Why do you need a leadership change? The CM is for five years." Earlier, Goa Forward Party (GFP) president and Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai said BJP chief Amit Shah called him Sunday afternoon to discuss the political situation in Goa. "Amit Shah spoke to me and I have said no to mid-term polls. With or without as the chief minister, this government should continue," Sardesai told PTI. In the 40-member Goa Assembly, the Parrikar government has the support of 23 MLAs. These comprise 14 BJP MLAs, three each from the GFP and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) as well as three Independents. Sardesai said the BJP had given a commitment when the coalition was formed in Goa after assembly polls in March 2017 that the government headed by Parrikar would continue for five years. "We also want the same," the GFP leader said. "In the wake of our commitment to this government, the onus is on the BJP high command to fulfil their commitment and see that the government completes its tenure," he said. "If they (BJP) want, they can go for dissolution but not going for dissolution (of the Assembly) will prove they keep their word. The people of Goa are watching them," Sardesai said. Independent MLA and civil supplies minister Govind Gawade, who is supporting the Parrikar-led coalition, said the chief minister should have stayed back at AIIMS for some more time and fully recovered before returning to Goa. "But we welcome him back. Goa was missing its leader," he added. On Friday last, Parrikar met Goa BJP's core committee members and ministers from coalition partners at the AIIMS to discuss ways to ensure that his government functions normally during his absence from office due to ill health. In the morning, the Chief Minister's Office issued a statement, claiming that Parrikar would rest for a week. "CM Manohar Parrikar's condition has improved further. He had a chat with his family members today morning. Doctors have advised him to take rest for a week's time," read the statement issued by Rupesh Kamat, personal secretary to Parrikar. Meanwhile, the Congress, which is the single largest party in Goa with 16 seats, petitioned President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday, urging him to ensure that the state Assembly is not dissolved by "foul play". Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Girish Chodankar referred to the opposition party's earlier pleas to Governor Mridula Sinha about staking claim to form government in the state. He said it was imperative that the President issues instructions and guides the governor, so that there is no constitutional over-reach to seek dissolution of the Assembly. Repeating his 'suit-boot' jibe at Narendra Modi, Congress chief Monday alleged there is no place for the poor in the prime minister's heart, adding, "If you are not in suit-boot you are not PM's bhai". Gandhi also accused Modi of remaining silent when Dalits, women, minorities, tribals and the poor are attacked in the country and alleged that he and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were trying to save a rape accused BJP MLA in the northern state. On a campaign trail in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the Congress president again took on Modi over the controversial Rafale jet deal and alleged he had close proximity with businessmen like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Anil Ambani. He also said that loans of farmers will be waived in 10 days if the Congress comes to power in the state. Gandhi earlier began his two-day tour of the state by offering prayers at the famous Maa Peetambara Peeth temple complex in Datia in Gwalior division. Taking a swipe at BJP's assurance on women's safety, Gandhi, without naming anyone, said there is a "need to save our daughters from BJP MLAs". Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP MLA from UP, is accused of raping a minor girl in Unnao district. Noting that the prime minister had said before the 2014 polls he wanted to be a "chowkidar" (guard), Gandhi alleged only 15-20 industrialists of the country benefitted under his government, instead of farmers. ALSO READ: Rahul Gandhi concerned as activist fasting for Ganga hospitalised "Prime Minister addresses Mehul Choksi as Mehul bhai (brother), Nirav Modi as Nirav bhai and Anil Ambani as Anil bhai but he never addresses a labourer, a poor and a farmer as bhai or hugs them. There is no place for them in his heart.If you are not in suit-boot you are not PM's bhai," Gandhi said addressing a public gathering in Datia. "The prime minister let jeweller Nirav Modi escape with Rs 35,000 crore, which is equal to the entire budget of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," Gandhi further charged. He was referring to the PNB banking fraud allegedly involving Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others. Taking a dig at the ruling party over the issue of women's safety, Gandhi said, "The BJP gave a good slogan 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' (save and educate daughters). "But in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were trying to save a rape accused BJP MLA. The PM didn't speak a word," he alleged. "There is a need now to save our daughters from BJP MLAs." On the multi-billion dollar Rafale jet deal with France, Gandhi alleged that Modi ensured the offset contract for Anil Ambani, "who owes Rs 45,000 crore to public sector banks". "The prime minister does not have the courage to reply why the offset contract for the French aircraft was "snatched" from the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and instead, given to Ambani's firm," he said. ALSO READ: Rahul Gandhi condoles loss of lives due to cyclone Titli "The prime minister could not look me in the eye (during debate in Parliament). The PM gives speeches but no answers...he doesn't have the courage to reply as to why the contract was snatched from HAL and given to Anil Ambani." The Modi government has denied allegations of irregularities in Rafale deal and Ambani, too, has dismissed the Congress's allegations that he got any undue benefit. Gandhi accused Modi of "insulting every Indian by mocking the governance of other parties during 70 years, before the BJP-led NDA came to power. "From the Red Fort, Modi (during his Independence Day speech) said the country was sleeping before he took over as country's prime minister. This is not an insult to Congress leaders. This is insult to the country's people. "This is an insult to farmers, labourers, youths, small traders and people who toiled hard to build this country. This is an insult to your mother and father," he added. A 100 per cent organic world is possible, Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling said Monday as he called for making organic agriculture more fashionable and exciting as done in his remote Himalayan state. Addressing a conference at the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament, Chamling said it took Sikkim over a decade to transform from a state which used chemical fertilizers to one which is now a fully organic. "I am indeed very grateful to be here. I am not a scientist or researcher. I am simply a politician who experienced and led the transformation of a State of India, Sikkim, from one which used chemical fertilizers to one which is now a fully organic state," he said. "Based on my long experience and association with the Organic initiative, I can tell you in all good faith and confidence that a 100 per cent organic world is possible. If we could do it in Sikkim, there is no reason why policy makers, farmers and community leaders cannot do the same elsewhere in the world," he said. He said there was a need for making organic agriculture more fashionable and more exciting. "This can be done if we can position it correctly. I am happy to say that it is happening in our State where young, educated farmers are growing all kinds of exotic fruits and vegetables and connecting to markets in cities like Bangalore and New Delhi," he said. "Finally I would like to appeal to all that we need to approach development in a way that it is environmentally friendly and good for the planet. If we are to heed to the warnings of the climate scientists then we have to stop the use of chemical fertilizers globally by over fifty percent immediately. This will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by half," he said. Sikkim has won the "Oscar for best policies", conferred by the Food and Agriculture Organisation for the world's best policies promoting agroecological and sustainable food systems. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A persistent knock broke the silence of the winter night, jolting the Duttas awake at their home in Assam's Tinsukia district and marking the beginning of a 24-year ordeal, the family of Pradip Dutta, who was taken away never to be seen again, said Monday. It was 2 am on February 19, 1994. The Army had come calling for the 33-year-old businessman, who had been married just a month earlier, in connection with the killing of a tea estate manager by ULFA militants, his elder brother recalled. "We never saw him again," Deepak Dutta, a manager with the United Bank of India in Guwahati, told PTI. Pradip was picked up by an Army team along with four others and killed four days later on February 23, 1994 in what has come to be known as the Dangori fake encounter case. The Dutta family's nightmare saw some fruition on Saturday with a court martial sentencing seven Army personnel, including a major general, to life imprisonment in the case. The summary general court martial looked into the extra-judicial killing of five people in February 1994 after a unit of the Punjab Regiment picked them up along with four others from different places in Tinsukia. The memory of Dutta's tortured body that was returned to them continues to haunt the family. Pradip, who had been married just a month when he was picked up, was the second of the five children of Bupeswar Dutta, a resident of Talap in Tinsukia district. "The Army men searched our home and when they saw some wedding gifts which were yet to be opened they asked who they belonged to. My brother told them they were his. After sometime, they took him away and we never saw him again," Deepak said. When there was no information for 24 hours, the family moved the Gauhati High Court on February 20, 1994 and filed a habeas corpus seeking his immediate production before a magistrate court. "My lawyer was Hrishikesh Roy, who is now chief justice of the Kerala High Court. The Gauhati high court order directing the Army to produce Pradip in a magistrate court was given to the Army. But there was no result," Deepak said. Pradip's bullet riddled body, along with four others, was handed over to the respective families after they were killed on February 23. The Army officials then claimed they were ULFA militants and killed in an encounter. "Pradip had no links with any organisation. He was a simple guy doing his own business. But he was killed in a very brutal manner. All his nails were removed and the whole body had injury and burn marks which, we suspect, were due to electric shocks given to him," Deepak said. Overcome by grief, Pradip's father passed away after a few years. His mother, Subarnalata, also fell sick. "Our mother, who is 80 years old now, still weeps remembering Pradip. It is still incomprehensible for me how some people of the Indian Army, whom we all are proud of, can be involved in such barbarism," he said. Those found guilty are Major General A K Lal, Colonels Thomas Mathew and R S Sibiren and JCOs and NCOs Dilip Singh, Jagdeo Singh, Albindar Singh and Shivendar Singh. The verdict will have to be confirmed by the "higher competent authorities" like the Eastern Command in Kolkata and the Army Headquarters in New Delhi. The Army men can file appeals against the verdict before the armed forces tribunal and the Supreme Court. The Army detained a group of nine at the Dhola Army camp after the general manager of Assam Frontier Tea Limited at Talap Tea Estate, Rameswar Singh, was killed by Ulfa militants. Five of them were later killed in the infamous Dangori fake encounter case on February 23, 1994. They were Prabin Sonowal, Pradip Dutta, Debajit Biswas, Akhil Sonowal and Bhaben Moran. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two CRPF jawans were injured in a militant attack on a security force camp in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir Monday night, police said. "Terrorists late evening fired upon a security forces' camp at Newa in District Pulwama in south Kashmir," a police spokesman said here. The attack was repulsed by the forces, he said. "In this incident, however, two jawans sustained injuries," the spokesman said. The injured have been identified as Amit Kumar and Santosh Bharti of 183 BN CRPF, he said, adding the soldiers are being treated. Police have registered a case and investigation has been initiated in the matter, the spokesman added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Goa Congress legislators Dayanand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar Monday midnight left for Delhi amidst speculations that they may join the BJP. A senior BJP leader said they were likely to meet BJP president Amit Shah in the national capital. "Both the Congress MLAs will be resigning from Congress party on Tuesday and joining the BJP," a senior BJP leader told PTI. While Sopte, who defeated former BJP chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar in 2017 State legislative assembly election, represents Mandrem constituency, Shirodkar was elected on a Congress ticket from Shiroda constituency. Both the legislators left by a midnight flight to Delhi. Goa Health Minister and BJP MLA Vishwajit Rane also left for Delhi, little before their departure. "I am going on a business trip," Sopte told reporters at the airport. Similarly, when Shirodkar was asked whether he was joining the BJP, he responded, "You will come to know, if I do it". Goa is currently witnessing hectic political activities with Congress party petitioning President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking his intervention to ask Goa Governor Mridula Sinha to call them to form the government. BJP state core committee and party's legislature party also met in Panaji during the day. The meetings are happening at the backdrop of poor health condition of Chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently being treated by doctors from state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital at his residence at Dona Paula. When contacted, All India Congress Committee Secretary A Chellakumar said he had spoken to both the legislators Sopte and Shirodkar who had assured him that they were not resigning from the party. "I spoke to both of them Monday evening and they have refused that they are resigning," he said. Congress currently has 16 MLAs in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Their strength would be reduced to 14 if two legislators resign. BJP is having 14 MLAs while three each are from Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Independents. One legislator is from the NCP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Twenty-six people drowned when two boats overturned in a swollen river in northwestern Mali, officials and local residents said. "Two canoes carrying 48 people capsized on Saturday at Arnassey in Bourem Inaly district, in the Timbuktu region," Transport Minister Soumana Mory Coulibaly said in a statement released overnight Sunday. "This sad accident caused the death of 26 people. Twenty-two bodies have been recovered." A local resident, Martala Salley, told AFP that the passengers were farmers who had decided to go to their fields by boat as the river had risen from seasonal rain, which made water transport possible. "The two boats capsized before they reached their destination," said Yoro Maiga, a local councillor in the neighbouring district of Dire, explaining that winds had whipped up powerful currents. "We were able to save some people -- they weren't weighed down by heavy objects or luggage," Maiga said. Transport accidents in Mali, a poor landlocked state in the Sahel, are common. Poor safety standards or equipment are typically cited as the main cause. Last month, 20 people died when the truck carrying them plunged into a river in the centre of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three people were arrested from Delhi in connection with the killing of a 35-year-old man last week in Dadar here, police said Monday. Manoj Mourya, who worked at an electronic weighing scales firm, was shot dead on Senapati Bapat Road at around 7:30am Friday. Acting on a tip off, police Sunday arrested main accused Radhakrishna Kushwaha as well as Rajendra Ahirwar and Hemendra Kushwaha from Delhi, the official said. The official said that Radhakrishna had allegedly hired Ahirwar and Hemendra who executed the hit. The killing was the result of a past enmity between Mourya and the main accused, he informed. The three were produced before a court here which remanded them in police custody. Dadar police, which had registered a case of murder, is probing further, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of 31 suspected Bangladeshi nationals who allegedly entered the country illegally were apprehended on Monday from Guwahati Railway Station, according to police. The group was detained when they were preparing to board Kanchanjunga Express to go to Agartala this morning, Railway Police Deputy Superintendent Iftekar Ali said. The detained include eight women and 13 children, he said. "They could not produce any valid document to prove their Indian citizenship. ... They then confessed that they hail from Bagerhat district in Khulna division of Bangladesh," Ali said. During interrogation, the detainees said that they had entered India illegally two to three years ago and had moved to Bangalore where they did some petty jobs, the police official said. The group had reached Guwahati yesterday by the Bangalore Express and spent the night on the station platform. "They were on their way to Bangladesh via Agartala to visit their homes ... Investigation is on," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the number of people infected with Zika virus rose to 72 in Rajasthan, the Union Health Ministry Monday asked states to check mosquito breeding and intensify vector control strategies to contain the spread of the disease. Sanjeeva Kumar, Additional Secretary (Health), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare held a meeting with various state representatives through video conferencing. He asked them to implement the guidelines as prescribed under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme for effective control of Zika. "States have been asked to intensify vector control strategies which include anti-larvae activities and fogging, and also follow the guidelines as prescribed under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme for effective control of Zika virus disease," a health ministry official said. States have also been asked to strengthen their surveillance systems. Zika is caused by aedes aegypti mosquito which also transmits dengue and chikungunya and breeds in open stagnant water. Twelve new cases of Zika virus were detected in Jaipur Monday, taking the total number of infected people to 72. "Sixty out of the total 72 patients are healthy after treatment," a Rajasthan health department official said. Most of the cases have been reported from Shastri Nagar area in Jaipur where fogging and other anti-larvae activities are being carried out to prevent the spread of the virus, he said. So, far door-to-door survey of 96,000 households has been conducted in Shastri Nagar and neighbouring localities. Mosquito larvae was found in the area, the officer said. The state health department has also issued an advisory for pregnant women staying outside the affected area to not visit Shastri Nagar. The Zika virus causes fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain. It is harmful to pregnant women as it can lead to microcephaly, a condition in which a baby's head is significantly smaller than expected. In India, the first outbreak was reported in Ahmedabad in January 2017 and the second in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district in July that year. Both these outbreaks were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management. The disease is under surveillance of the Union Health Ministry although it is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern under the World Health Organisation (WHO) notification since November 18, 2016. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 79-year-old man was arrested for allegedly raping an eight-year-old girl on the pretext of giving her a chocolate in northeast Delhi's Khajuri Khas, police said Monday. The incident took place on Saturday when the girl was playing outside her house, a senior officer said. The accused allegedly threatened her of dire consequences if she reported the incident to anyone, he said. The girl narrated her ordeal to her parents, who took her to the police station, the officer added. Based on a complaint filed by the victim's parents, a case was registered under the relevant sections of Prevention of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Atul Kumar Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) said. Police are also probing if the accused had raped the victim on multiple occasions. In a similar incident, a class 10 student of a government school was allegedly raped by four men, including the son of her landlord, who lured her with an offer to buy a pizza, on Friday in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dengue cases have mounted in the city, with at least 830 people being diagnosed with the vector-borne disease this season, over 42 per cent of which were reported this month, according to a municipal report released Monday. The report says nearly 350 of the cases came to light in the first two weeks of this month alone. Also, 385 cases of malaria and 97 of chikungunya have been reported this season till October 13, the report said. Of the 830 dengue cases this year, 374 were recorded in September, 58 in August, 19 in July, eight in June, 10 in May, two in April, one in March, three in February and six cases in January. Two cases of malaria were reported in February, one each in April and March, 17 in May, 25 in June, 42 in July, 82 in August, 138 in September and 77 till October 6, according to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates data on vector-borne diseases for the city. A senior doctor at a government-run facility advised people to take all precautions like wearing full-sleeves and not allowing the breeding of mosquito larvae inside their homes. "Water coolers should be dried up when not in use as dengue infection carrying mosquitoes breed there a lot. Mosquito nets should be used at home," the doctor said. The cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between July and November, but the period may stretch to mid-December. No vector-borne disease case was reported till January 13. The report said domestic breeding checkers found mosquito breeding in 1,87,239 households in the city till October 13. It said 1,52,776 legal notices have been served for various violations and "26,388 prosecutions initiated". As a pro-active measure, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had few a months ago directed local bodies and other agencies to intensify vector-control measures. He had also asked for regular meetings at the level of district magistrates with all stakeholders to review the situation in their respective districts. According to the SDMC, 10 people died due to dengue in Delhi last year, of whom five were not residents of the national capital. Overall, the vector-borne disease had affected 9,271 people in the city last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Priya Ramani Monday asserted that she was ready to fight the defamation complaint filed in court against her by Union minister and expressed disappointment over his statement, saying it paid no heed to the "trauma and fear of the survivors". She also said Akbar was seeking to "silence" the survivors through "intimidation and harassment". After returning from Africa, the Minister of State for External Affairs had Sunday rejected the allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing". He filed a private criminal defamation complaint in a Delhi court Monday against Ramani, who has recently levelled the charges of sexual misconduct against him as the #MeToo campaign rages on in India. "I am deeply disappointed that a Union minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy," Ramani said in a statement. "By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," she added. "Needless to say, I am ready to fight the allegations of defamation laid against me as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence," Ramani said. She added that those who had spoken up against Akbar had done so at great risk to their personal and professional lives. "At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon victims. Rather than cast aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women," the said. Journalist Priya Ramani Monday asserted that she was ready to fight the defamation complaint filed in court against her by Union minister M J Akbar and expressed disappointment over his statement, saying it paid no heed to the "trauma and fear of the survivors". She also said Akbar was seeking to "silence" the survivors through "intimidation and harassment". After returning from Africa, the Minister of State for External Affairs had Sunday rejected the allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing". He filed a private criminal defamation complaint in a Delhi court Monday against Ramani, who has recently levelled the charges of sexual misconduct against him as the #MeToo campaign rages on in India. "I am deeply disappointed that a Union minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy," Ramani said in a statement. "By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," she added. "Needless to say, I am ready to fight the allegations of defamation laid against me as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence," Ramani said. She said those who had spoken up against Akbar had done so at great risk to their personal and professional lives. "At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon victims. Rather than cast aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women," the journalist said. Some women activists Monday termed as not surprising Union minister Akbar's decision to move court against a journalist who has accused him of sexual harassment. They said he was "not the first man to not accept his mistakes" and won't be the last. Women's rights activist Vani Subramanian told PTI that she is not surprised that Akbar had moved court as "such people tend to react in this way when their power and entitlement is challenged". "He is not the first man to not accept his mistake and unfortunately he wouldn't be the last man to not admit his mistakes," she said. Kavita Krishnan, secretary, All India Progressive Women's Association, said Akbar retaining his position as a Union minister is a "slap" on the face of all women not only by him but also by the government. "Akbar remaining a minister and intimidating victims with defamation cases is a slap on the face of all women - not by Akbar alone but by the Modi government too. "This is (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's version of (US President Donald) Trump's move to confirm Michael Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, mocking women who accused him of assault," she said. Director, Centre for Social Research, Ranjana Kumari, said as an individual, the Union minister has every right to move court but the case is not between him and a journalist but "14 other media persons", who have accused him of sexual misconduct. "He is in a position of power and he can influence people," Kumari alleged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav Monday attacked the Yogi Adityanath government's proposed move to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj, stating that the present dispensation wanted to show their work only by "renaming". Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit to Allahabad on Saturday had announced that there was a proposal to rename the city as Prayagraj ahead of the 2019 Kumbh Mela. In a Twitter post Monday, Yadav said today's rulers were trying to show that they are working by just changing the name of Allahabad. "... They have even re-named Ardh Kumbh to Kumbh. This is toying with tradition and belief," the former UP CM tweeted. However, reacting to Yadav, Energy Minister and government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma claimed that the belief of people were hurt when the city was named Allahabad. "Some persons are objecting to renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj. The objections are baseless. It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified," he said. UP Governor Ram Naik had already supported the demands of the saints and the people of the Sangam city, he had said. "The government will soon send a proposal to the Centre to change the name of the city," the CM had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bollywood actor Alok Nath on Monday filed a civil suit in a court here against writer-director Vinta Nanda in connection with her rape accusations against him, and sought Re 1 as damages for allegedly defaming him. Alok Nath's wife Ashu, meanwhile, recorded her statement before a magistrate in connection with her complaint against Nanda and sought that defamation proceedings be initiated against the writer-director. Responding to the development, Nanda's lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said they are going to fight the matter legally. Alok Nath moved the Dindoshi sessions court here with a civil suit seeking Re 1 as damages and an apology from Nanda for defaming him. The actor and his wife had Saturday filed an application before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, seeking a direction to the suburban Amboli police station to take cognisance of the letter sent by them in which they sought defamation proceedings against Nanda. The actor's wife on Monday appeared before Magistrate R M Nerlikar, who recorded her statement and complaint. She told the court that their (Nath and Ashu's) reputation has been damaged because of the allegations levelled by Nanda. The magistrate has now posted the matter for further hearing on November 1, when the court will also record statements of three witnesses on behalf of Nath and his wife. In a social media post last week, Nanda had alleged that the actor had raped her 19 years ago. Although she did not name Nath in her post, she referred to him as the actor who is known as the "most Sanskari person" in the field of acting. Nath is known for playing characters endorsing 'moral values' in films such as "Maine Pyaar Kiya", "Hum Aapke Hain Koun!", "Hum Saath Saath Hain" and "Vivah". His lawyer Ashok Sarogi had last Thursday refuted the allegations as "baseless" and "devoid of any merit". The complaint filed by the couple says, "The complainants (Nath and Ashu) have on October 12 addressed a letter to the Amboli police seeking action under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Nanda." The police, however, said since the offences are non-cognisable in nature, it would be appropriate if an order is passed by the court concerned, reads the complaint. "We are, hence, seeking the court to pass necessary direction to the Amboli police station in-charge to take cognisance of our complaint and hold an inquiry," the couple said in the complaint. "We have suffered grave and irreparable loss, harm and injury which could never be compensated in terms of money," they said. Because of Nanda's post, which although did not name Nath but subsequently he was named by others, Ashu and Nath have been victimised unnecessarily by way of defamation of their reputation in the society, the complaint said. "Without commenting on anything about her (Nanda), the fact remains that all such occasions, such as the #MeToo campaign, are being encashed by way of utilising the social media for the purpose of either gaining some name and fame or for the purpose of defaming the reputation of a person," it alleged. Because of the "baseless allegations", Ashu and Alok Nath were "terrorised" to even step out of their house as people are looking at them with a "different attitude", the complaint added. In a statement, Nanda's lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said, "The so called defamation proceedings are not served upon us as yet - however and whatever the proceedings will be, we will deal with everything following due process of law." The lawyer said they are awaiting decisions of various associations where Nanda has filed her complaint like Cine & TV Artistes Association (CINTAA), Screen Writers Association (SWA) and Indian Film & Television Directors Association (IFTDA). "Pursuant to decisions we will further decide our next step of action," the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australia's indigenous affairs minister and several of his colleagues faced calls to resign Monday, after they backed a failed parliamentary motion tabled by a controversial senator that declared: "It is okay to be white." Several government ministers -- including those for trade, communications and indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion -- backed a resolution drafted by populist firebrand senator Pauline Hanson which railed against what it described as "the deplorable rise of anti-white racism". Luke Pearson, the founder of influential anti-racism group, IndigenousX, echoed a string of calls for Scullion to resign after the vote. "The minister for Indigenous Affairs, voting in support of what is widely known to be a white supremacist slogan, 'It's okay to be white', makes his position as minister entirely untenable. He needs to resign," Pearson wrote. Scullion, a white senator for the Northern Territory, has held the Indigenous Affairs portfolio since 2013. During parliamentary debate Hanson defended trying to codify what opponents see as race baiting. "Such a simple sentence should go without saying," Hanson told the chamber, before her motion was defeated 31 votes to 28. "But I suspect many members in this place would struggle to say it." Greens leader Richard Di Natale decried the move. "It's not just okay to be white in Australia, it's actually a ticket to winning the lotto. Look around this chamber and see how many faces aren't white," he said. "The reality is this 'it's okay to be white' slogan has a long history in the white supremacist movement where both these clowns get most of their material from," he said referring to Hanson and another senator who supported the motion. Although one-in-two Australians has a parent born abroad, racial inequality and public discourse on the issue is fraught. Australia's treatment of its indigenous population has long been a festering historical and political sore. The Aborginal population, who have occupied Australia for 50,000 years, were dispossessed of their lands by the arrival of settlers two centuries ago. They remain among the most disadvantaged Australians. They were believed to have numbered around one million at the time of British settlement, but now make up only about three percent of the total population of 25 million. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bangladeshi newspaper editors formed a human chain in the heart of the national capital on Monday to protest a newly enacted digital security law, which they say will stifle constitutionally protected freedom of speech and curtail press freedom. President Abdul Hamid had approved the Digital Security Act on October 8 amidst widespread protests by journalists and rights group. Mediapersons are particularly concerned about a provision in the law under which journalists can be convicted of espionage for entering a government office and gathering information secretly using electronic device -- an offence that would carry a 14-year jail sentence. "The punishment will be life imprisonment and a monetary fine of Tk5 crore for second offenders," Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mostafa Jabbar had said when tabling the bill in parliament. The law also allows police to arrest a journalist without any warrant and confiscate his equipment. "The law is contrary to independent journalism and media," Mahfuz Anam, general secretary of the Editors' Council, said. "The Editors' Council is not opposed to the Digital Security Act, it is just demanding amendment to some of the provisions of the law," Anam, who is also the editor of The Daily Star, said. The protesting editors said they were open to any discussion on the amendment of the law but "the discussion must be meaningful". Top editors and journalists had held a last-minute meeting with ministers demanding that nine sections of the legislation be changed. The law minister had promised that he would discuss the issues. However, the President went ahead and signed the Act into law. The editors demanded that the proposed changes should be brought in the upcoming parliament session. The government, however, said the law is needed to "fight misinformation". Ruling out journalists' fear, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said no one should be worried about the law unless someone was harbouring "criminal mind". She said the law was meant to combat the abuse of digital platforms in spreading radicalisation, terrorism and pornography. The law was enacted weeks after top Bangladeshi journalist and activist Shahidul Alam was arrested during massive student protests in Dhaka for allegedly making "false" and "provocative" statements. Rights groups, UN rights experts, Nobel laureates and hundreds of academics have called for the immediate release of the 63-year-old, who says he has been beaten in custody. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Financial products distributor Bankbazaar Monday said it has appointed former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor S S Mundra as an advisor. Mundra, a commercial banker-turned-central banker who served as the DG till July last year, will drive paperless products distribution at the company, an official statement said. ********* Satin Creditcare partners with IndusInd Bank * Microfinance company, Satin Creditcare Network (SCNL), Monday said it has entered into a business correspondent (BC) partnership with private lender IndusInd Bank. "Our business strategy is to strike the right balance between secured and unsecured lending and enhance the quality of our portfolio," the company's chairman and managing director, HP Singh, said in a release. SCNL has also diversified into housing finance and BC partnerships with other banks/NBFC through its subsidiaries Satin Housing Finance and Taraashna Services, respectively. ************* CEAT launches new range of Gripp X3 tyres for bikes * Domestic tyre maker CEAT Monday announced the launch of its new range of Gripp X3 tyres for motorcycles. In the initial phase, Gripp X3 tyres will be available for 100 cc 125 cc motorcycles and soon will also be rolled for 150cc+ bikes, a release said. "We are pleased to announce the launch of CEAT Gripp X3 everlasting grip tyres in India. Gripp X3 effectively addresses the consumer pain point of reduced tyre grip as the tyre wears out and becomes old," said Nitish Bajaj, senior vice-president for marketing, CEAT Ltd. The newly-launched ranges is available with company's authorised oulets, dealers and distributors at key markets across the country, the release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Online financial services marketplace Monday said former Deputy Governor (DG) S S Mundra has been appointed as an advisor to the company. In a statement said Mundra's expertise will help in driving 100 per cent paperless and presence-less financing by the company in India. Co-Founder & CEO Adhil Shetty said as digital mode is increasingly becoming the preferred way to transact, there is a greater need for collaboration between fin-tech, regulators, and financial institutions. "This will ensure easy and frictionless access of financial products and services to all sections of the society," Shetty said. Mundra said the road to greater financial inclusion is through technology and innovation, and BankBazaar has taken giant strides in simplifying the access to personal finance in India. "I look forward to working with BankBazaar as an advisor in their journey to bring access to the right financial products to all Indians and will be happy to share my insights with them in this pursuit," Mundra said. Mundra was a deputy governor at the for three years till July 2017. The Bihar government on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi, to carry out medical courses designed to provide expertise to MBBS degree holders. Under the MoU, the two medical courses, approved by Medical Council of India, which will be offered are-- CSP (College of Physicians & Surgeons of Mumbai) and DNB (Diplomate in National Board)--, Health department's Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said. He said both are diploma courses. PHFI's vice-chairman Prof Sanjay Jorpe and a host of health department officials were also present on the occasion. The courses will be offered in four subjects- anaesthesiology, child care, obstetrics and gynecology and bacteriology, he said. "There is shortage of experts in the state. Normally CPS and DNB courses are offered at medical colleges but if these courses are started at district hospital level then the shortage of expert doctors can be minimised to some extent in the state," Kumar said. PHFI will provide technical support and hand holding to the state government in carrying out these courses which will be initially started at three district hospitals of Saharsa, Purnea and Nalanda, the Principal Secretary said. The admission to these courses will be made through NEET which is held for PG courses also, he said adding that general doctors (having MBBS degree) working at the government hospitals will be given priority/weightage of 15 marks in the examination. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera Monday alleged that BJP leaders run away from responsibilities and cannot "tolerate" people who ask questions. He also alleged that BJP poll manifestoes were "mere jumla (rhetoric) patras" as that for the last Gujarat assembly elections was released just a day ahead of polling. It was a one-page document, Khera said. The saffron party is yet to release its manifesto for Rajasthan where assembly elections are due on December 7. "They (BJP leaders) forget manifestoes and past promises, and when someone ask questions they declare them traitors. "They cannot tolerate people who ask questions. It is in their habit of running away from the accountability and issues, Khera said at a press conference here. He alleged that BJP leaders either do not believe in the democratic system or are "deliberately" ignoring questions. BJP leaders have a set pattern to avoid questions. They will talk about Pakistan, Hindus and Muslims, or Ayodhya, but they will not answer on issues, Khera said. He said the Congress, however, will not let the BJP run away and keep asking questions on issues relevant to the people of Rajasthan. The BJP in the state has made tall promises and the people are wise to understand the reality. The Congress will become the voice of the people and continue to ask questions, Khera added. The Congress leader said the people of Rajasthan will give an answer to BJP leaders in the upcoming polls in the state. Khera said his party's state unit has asked the BJP government in Rajasthan 37 "questions". Replying to a query, he said people have responded well to the polarisation attempt by the BJP in the recent bypolls in the state and would give an apt reply in the assembly election. Khera claimed that the Congress was the only party that works seriously on issues of farmers and the intent of the party for the welfare of farmers was clear. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister on Monday insisted a was "still achievable" despite differences with the EU, but warned against any attempt to "trap" the UK in a permanent Customs Unions, ahead of a crucial Brexit summit in later this week. In her statement to the House of Commons, May sought to quell a "great deal of inaccurate speculation" in the media about a falling out with the EU over the issue of managing the open border between UK territory and EU member-country Ireland once has formally left the economic bloc on March 29, 2019. "We are entering the final stages of these negotiations. This is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail," she said, ahead of European Council meetings starting in on Wednesday. "We cannot let this [Northern Ireland] disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with the no deal outcome that no-one wants. I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable," she said. May has dismissed the EU's previous suggestion of keeping aligned to its trade rules as a safety net, or a so-called "backstop" arrangement, saying this would divide the UK. In her statement to MPs, she said the EU had "responded positively" to her proposal for a time-bound UK-wide arrangement until a solution to the Irish border can be worked out. But the 27-member economic bloc is still insisting on keeping a specific "backstop" arrangement for on the table, which is unacceptable to The EU is insisting that there is not enough time to work out the details of a UK-wide customs solution in the next few weeks and is therefore calling for a "backstop to the backstop effectively an insurance policy for the insurance policy". "And they want this to be the Northern Ireland-only solution that they had previously proposed. We have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom," May said. The UK is leaving the EU in March 2019, along with its single market and customs union, which allow for friction-free trade between members. After Brexit, it will have a land border with the EU between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Both the UK and the EU want to avoid a "hard border" - physical checks or infrastructure between Northern Ireland and Ireland - but cannot agree how. In relation to another point of concern for pro-Brexit MPs, she stressed that she would not agree to any non-timebound Customs Union arrangement which would inhibit the UK's ability to do trade deals with other countries around the world. "I need to be able to look the British people in the eye and say this backstop is a temporary solution I am clear we are not going to be trapped permanently in a single customs territory unable to do meaningful trade deals," she said. ALSO READ: AstraZeneca will keep UK investment freeze if no Brexit clarity If a way forward is agreed by both sides, Britain's withdrawal agreement from the EU could be finalised by Thursday, signed at a special EU summit next month and voted on by Parliament at the end of November. The focus can then move on to the future relationship of the UK with the EU. May has already survived a number of senior resignations from her Cabinet over the future agreement with the EU, with few other ministers believed to be on resignation-watch if they disagree with her approach. The prospect of a no-deal exit from the EU is an equally major threat that looms over the led government. Meanwhile, the ongoing impasse over measures to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has thrown the entire Brexit timetable for reaching a deal into major doubt. Commercial cooling products maker Monday announced the launch of its new technology development centre at its facility, as part of efforts to consolidate its position in the The company is eyeing the opportunities coming in the commercial and light commercial airconditioning segment here as large number of offices, commercial buildings, airports, hospitals etc are coming here. "We are looking for situation by localising more and more products in India, under make-in-India campaign and for that we are augmenting our engineering capabilities," UTC Climate, Controls & Security Managing Director, India, Arun Bhatia, told PTI. The new facility features state-of-the-art laboratory and testing facilities would aid in the development of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) products; and will serve as an engineering hub in the region, the company said in a statement. However, the company has not shared the amount, which it has invested in the new centre. "We have a 30-year-old factory in India but we are now changing its direction. In the last five years, we are focusing on commercial and light commercial segments," he added. US-based United Technologies, which owns Air Conditioner, is a market leader in the industrial cooling in India. Presently, India is among top five emerging markets for Carrier globally, Bhatia added. "By opening a development centre, Carrier engineers will have greater resources to develop next-generation products using the latest technologies, and can better deliver products that meet the region's high energy-efficiency standards," the company said. Commenting on the development, UTC Climate, Controls & Security, VP Engineering, Global Commercial HVAC Giorgio Rusignuolo said, "At UTC, we are constantly trying to enhance engineering capabilities across our organization. The new development centre in India directly supports those efforts, enabling our team to develop and introduce new high-technology Carrier products for India. The Central Bureau of Investigation has finally closed the case of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmad as the agency's efforts to trace him have yielded no results, officials said Monday. The agency has submitted his report in Patiala House court recently after getting permission of the Delhi High Court, they said. The court is likely to hear the matter on November 29, they said. While taking permission of the Delhi High Court to close the case, the agency which began their probe in May last year had said all aspects were looked into but it could not find any trace of an offence. Najeeb Ahmad had gone missing from the Mahi-Mandvi hostel of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on October 15, 2016, following a scuffle the previous night with some students allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The agency had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone giving information about Najeeb and informed police chiefs of all state police in the country, they said. It also received some inputs from Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi where teams were immediately dispatched but to no avail, the officials said. The agency had carried out a thorough check on unidentified bodies and pasted Najeeb's photograph on toll stations seeking information about him but these efforts did not result in any positive results, they said. After exhaustive search, the agency has decided to close the case, they added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of Chinese Army personnel briefly came to the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh's Dibang Valley in July but returned after Indian security personnel objected to it, official sources said. They said it was "not a transgression" and that the Chinese army personnel came to the Indian side due to varying perception of the Line of Actual Control -the de facto border between the two countries. The sources said the incident took place around July 25. A source in Itanagar said Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Ninong Ering wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the incident, quoting media reports and inputs given by locals in Dibang valley. In the letter, he suggested that the government should take up the issue of "Chinese transgressions" in Arunachal Pradesh with Beijing. A group of Chinese Army personnel intruded around 300 metres into the Demchok area in eastern Ladakh and pitched four tents in the area in July. They came to the Indian side of the border in the garb of nomads and pitched the tents. The Chinese Army personnel later left the place after India protested against it. Officials said such transgressions are not unusual as there were varying perceptions of the LAC by both China and India. India regularly takes up all such incidents at the appropriate level with Chinese authorities. India and China share a nearly 4,000-km-long border. The number of "transgressions" by the Chinese Army into the Indian territory rose to 426 in 2017 from the 273 in 2016, according to official figures. Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam last year. The face-off had ended on August 28 last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shanghai (Gasgoo)- GAC Group posted a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 5.84% in sales with 198,034 vehicles delivered in September, the automaker reported recently. From January to September, the group delivered 1,558,105 vehicles in total, achieving a YoY increase of 6.24%. After compiled the sales data of each subsidiaries, Gasgoo found out that apart from GAC Honda and GAC Toyota, the other subsidiaries all suffered YoY decline in September sales. However, as to year-to-date (YTD) sales, most firms attained positive growth except GAC FCA and Honda Automobile (China) Co.,Ltd. GAC Motor saw its sales fall 6.0% from a year earlier to 43,427 units last month, while climbed 4.88% over a year ago to 394,592 units for the first nine months. By the end of September, the company has completed 56.4% of the 700,000-unit sales goal. The all-new Trumpchi GS5 made its world's debut at Paris Motor Show 2018, which drew lots of attention with its catchy design and advanced powertrain. GAC Honda gained a YoY increase of 3.8% with 69,660 vehicles handed over in September. During the past three quarters, 69.4% of the annual sale target (750,000 units) has been finished with its cumulative sales totaling 520,627 units. According to the sales data from Honda China, the Accord, the Odyssey and the Fit had sales of 16,369 units, 5,165 units and 13,560 units for September with positive YoY growth of 25.2%, 59.4% and 51.9% respectively. GAC Toyota's deliveries in September soared 48.4% over the year-ago period to 60,808 units. It sales from January to September aggregated 421,854 units with a YoY jump of 24.44%, a comparatively outstanding performance over other subsidiaries. It is reported that GAC Toyota's third assembly line was put into operation early this year with the overall yearly capacity elevated to 500,000 units from 400,000 units, thus its annual sales target was increased to 580,000 units in March. From the current sales performance, the Sino-Japanese joint venture has completed 72.7% of the updated sales goal. Shelled marine creatures living in increasingly acidified oceans face a fight for survival as the impacts of climate change spread, a study suggests. Researchers from the University of Plymouth in the UK and the University of Tsukuba, Japan assessed the impact of rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels on the large predatory "triton shell" gastropod. They found those living in regions with predicted future levels of CO2 were on average around a third smaller than counterparts living in conditions seen throughout the world's oceans today. However there was also a noticeable negative impact on the thickness, density, and structure of their shells, causing visible deterioration to the shell surface, researchers said. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, found that the effects are down to the increased stresses placed on the species in waters where the pH is lower, which reduce their ability to control the calcification process. The researchers have warned other shellfish are likely to be impacted in the same way, threatening their survival and that of other species that rely on them for food. "Ocean acidification is a clear threat to marine life, acting as a stressor for many marine animals," said Ben Harvey, an assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba. "Here we found that the ability of the triton shells to produce and maintain their shells was hindered by ocean acidification, with the corrosive seawater making them smoother, thinner, and less dense," Harvey said. "The extensive dissolution of their shells has profound consequences for calcified animals into the future as it is not something they can biologically control, suggesting that some calcified species might be unable to adapt to the acidified seawater if carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise unchecked," he said. The research was conducted at a marine volcanic seep off the coast of Shikine-jima in Japan where carbon dioxide bubbling up through the seabed lowers seawater pH from present-day levels to future predicted levels. Using computed tomography (CT) scanning, the scientists measured the thickness, density and structure of the shells, with shell thickness halved in areas with raised CO2 while average shell length was reduced from 178mm in sites with present day levels to 112mm. In some cases, these negative effects left body tissue exposed and the shell casing dissolved, with the corrosive effects of acidification far more pronounced around the oldest parts of the shell. "Our study clearly shows that increasing carbon dioxide levels cause seawater to become corrosive to shellfish," said Jason Hall-Spencer, a professor at the University of Plymouth. "As these calcified animals are a fundamental component of coastal marine communities, ocean acidification is expected to impact shellfish fisheries," Hall-Spencer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will rest for two days and then meet party functionaries and government officials, Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said Monday. Speaking to reporters after attending a meeting of the BJP legislature party here Monday afternoon, Tendulkar reiterated that the coastal state would not see a change in leadership. Parrikar, who has been suffering from a pancreatic aliment, returned to Goa Sunday post hospitalisation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. "The chief minister is recovering now. He will take rest for two days, before meeting party office-bearers and government officials," Tendulkar said. Tendulkar, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state general secretary Sadanand Tanavade, met Parrikar Monday at the latter's residence. Queried about a change of leadership in the state, Tendulkar shot back, asking, "Why do you need a leadership change? The CM is for five years." Speaking about the BJP legislature party meeting, he said a decision was taken that ministers would meet citizens at least once a week. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister's Office had issued a statement, claiming that Parrikar would rest for a week. "CM Manohar Parrikar's condition has improved further. He had a chat with his family members today morning. Doctors have advised him to take rest for a week's time," read the statement issued by Rupesh Kamat, personal secretary to Parrikar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- The Council of Architecture Training & Research Centre (COA-TRC) in Bhubaneshwar, in association with ICOMOS India, has selected Anant National University to host a faculty training programme on 'Documentation of Heritage Architecture'. The training will be conducted at the AnantU campus from 27th - 31st October and will be attended by architecture faculty and architects from across the country. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/625509/Anant_National_University_Logo.jpg ) Key objectives of the faculty development programme are to enhance the knowledge and understanding of historic structures for conservation, adaptive reuse and design development, to develop the participants' skills of observing traditional buildings, and to collectively understand architectural transitions throughout the ages. The programme intends to equip all participants with adequate knowledge of teaching tools and methodologies required for documenting the built environment. Panel of teaching experts for the programme includes Mr. Ashish Trambadia, Director, Ahmedabad World Heritage City Trust; Mr. Navin Piplani, Principal Director, INTACH Heritage Academy, New Delhi; Dr. Shikha Jain, Director - DRONAH, Gurgaon; Ms. Shalini Das Gupta, Conservation Architect, New Delhi; Dr. Kailash Rao, Professor, Manipal University, and Ms. Poonam Trambadia, Conservation Architect, Ahmedabad. Interested applicants can register here before 17th October. About Anant National University Anant National University is committed to nurture solutionaries who design, build and preserve a more equitable and sustainable India. It envisions in becoming India's leading private teaching and research university in the fields of built environment, design, and sustainability. Anant National University, located in the sprawling Sanskardham campus in Ahmedabad, is led by a cadre of eminent people from academia, business, and government, all of whom are leaders in their respective fields. Some members of AnantU's Governing Board: Mr Ajay Piramal, President, Anant National University (Chairman, Piramal Group and Shriram Group); Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha, Provost, Anant National University (Founding Dean, Indian School of Business; Founder & Trustee, Ashoka University); Mr. Abhishek Lodha (Managing Director, Lodha Group); Mr. Adil Zainulbhai (Chairman, Network18; Chairman, Quality Council of India; Former Chairman, McKinsey & Co., India); Ms. Indira Parikh (Founder President, FLAME University); Dr. Sudhir Jain (Director, IIT Gandhinagar) and several others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress and NCP workers Monday showed black flags to Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan as part of protest against the rising prices of essential commodities under the BJP-led government. The workers waived black flags at Mahajan when his convoy was in Satana tehsil of Nashik district in North Maharashtra, police said. The activists of the two opposition parties, who were protesting against the rising prices of essential items, were rounded up and later released, the police added. Mahajan, who is also the Guardian Minister of Nashik district, was in Satana to oversee an ongoing survey to determine whether a drought-like situation prevailed in the area in view of deficient rainfall. Local Congress leaders Kishor Kadam, Rahul Patil and NCP's Kakaji Sonawane led the agitation, the police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress workers Monday released black balloons here as a mark of protest against Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani following attacks on North Indians in the state. Rupani was shown black flags Sunday night on his arrival to the Uttar Pradesh capital and Monday morning the party workers released black balloons near the chief minister's residence here, Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said. Party workers also raised "Rupani go back" slogans to protest the attacks on North Indians in his state, Awasthi said. He claimed four party leaders were arrested and taken to the Hazratganj Police Station. "We have decided to continue the protest against Rupani till he is in Lucknow to give him the kind of reception that North Indians are getting in his state," Awasthi said. The protests will be held against him wherever he goes, he added. Hindi-speaking migrants from north Indian states were attacked in several parts of Gujarat after a labourer hailing from Bihar was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-months-old girl in Sabarkantha district on September 28. UPCC president Raj Babbar claimed Rupani's visit to Lucknow, at the time when North Indians are being targeted in his state, was like rubbing salt into the wounds. This was also against the ideology of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel whose massive statue is being unveiled in Gujarat later this month, Babbar claimed, Sunday night, party workers had tried to show black flags and raise slogans against Rupani when his cavalcade was passing through the VIP guest house. They were, however, prevented from doing so by the policemen. Rupani reached Lucknow Sunday evening to invite UP Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, whom he met at at his official residence, at unveiling of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's 'Statue of Unity' at Narmada bank on October 31. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday said the party's agenda in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was to maximise the anti-BJP votes in the country and it will work to defeat the saffron party in states where it will be in a direct fight with the Congress. The Left party would, however, have no alliance with the Congress, he added. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will field a minimum number of candidates in states where there will be a direct contest between the Congress and the saffron party to maximise the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) votes, Yechury told reporters here during his one-day visit to Odisha. It will support regional parties which were not in the government and were opposed to the BJP, he said. "Our agenda is to maximise the polling of anti-BJP votes in the coming elections. They (BJP) formed government at the Centre by securing only 31 per cent votes the last time, while 69 per cent of the electorate had opposed them. This time, we want to ensure that the secular parties come together to oppose the BJP," Yechury said. Referring to Odisha, where the Assembly polls are also due next year, he said the Left party will not have a formal alliance with the Congress in the state and will also oppose the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), though it was not an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). "We will have no alliance with the Congress and at the same time, the party will oppose both the BJP and the BJD in Odisha," Yechury said. To questions on why the Left party was opposed to Naveen Patnaik's BJD, he said, "We have decided to oppose the BJP and its allies. Though the BJD is not an ally of the BJP, the regional party has unfortunately, all along the last four-and-a-half years, supported the NDA government on different issues." The BJD's attitude towards the BJP had not been acceptable to secular parties, Yechury said. The regional party had supported the BJP on demonetisation, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the presidential and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman elections among other issues. "We will also not go with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and the TRS in Telangana, which were till in the recent past with the NDA. Since they were in the government, we had opposed their plans and policies. Now, during election time, we cannot support them," Yechury said. In West Bengal, the parties that are constituents of the Left Front will oppose both the ruling Trinamool Congress, which had ended its 34-year-long hold over the state, and the BJP, he said, adding, "Our slogan for West Bengal is 'Modi Hatao Desh Bachao, Mamata Hatao Bengal Bachao'." Yechury said in line with its agenda of defeating the BJP, the CPI(M) will support regional parties which were not in government and were opposed to the saffron party. Citing examples, he said the Left party will support the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and other secular forces in Bihar, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu and other like-minded parties in different states. The CPI(M) will field a candidate only from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat in Odisha in the 2019 general election and its state leadership will decide on the candidates and Assembly seats it will contest, he added. The government and the Reserve Bank are not in favour of extending the Monday's deadline for local data storage by foreign payment companies, an official said. The government would not relent under pressure from the global payment firms and the RBI is unlikely to extend the October 15 deadline for data localisation, the official said. "We are not in favour of extension. Also, data mirroring in not an option," the official told reporters. Data localisation is an act of storing data on any device that is physically present within the borders of a particular country where the data was generated. Two top American Senators John Cornyn and Mark Warner have asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt a soft stance on data localisation, warning that India's policy on the issue will adversely affect American businesses in the country. "Data localisation requirements, such as those contained in the draft data protection bill and draft national e-commerce policy framework, will have negative impacts on the ability of companies to do business in India, may undermine your own economic goals and will likely not improve the security of Indian citizens' data," they said. The Reserve Bank, in April, gave six months time to global payment companies to store transaction data of Indian customers within India. The deadline ends Monday. Global financial technology companies have reportedly sought an extension to the October 15 timeline. Foreign payment companies had reportedly also asked the RBI to allow data mirroring which would mean they can store a copy of the data overseas as well. The RBI in April had said that in order to ensure better monitoring of payment service operators it is important to have "unfettered supervisory access to data stored with these system providers as also with their service providers/ intermediaries/third party vendors and other entities in the payment ecosystem". "All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India," it had said. The RBI has further said that data should include the full end-to-end transaction details, information collected/carried/ processed as part of the message/payment instruction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA) Monday said all 400-odd petrol pumps in the national capital will remain closed on October 22 in protest against the Delhi government's refusal to cut VAT on petrol and diesel. "There are about 400 petrol pumps in Delhi which also have linked CNG pumps with them. Both will remain closed in protest from 6.00 am onwards on October 22 and remain closed till 5.00 am on October 23, 2018," the association said in a statement here. It said the Union government on October 4 slashed the petrol and diesel price by Rs 2.50 by reducing excise duty and asking state-owned oil firms to bear subsidy. This was matched by several states which reduced local sales tax or VAT. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, which border the national capital, have reduced VAT, the association said. "But Delhi government refused to reduce VAT on fuel both petrol and diesel resulting in fuel becoming more expensive than bordering Haryana and Uttar Pradesh." In comparison to Delhi, petrol in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana is cheaper by Rs 2.59 and Rs 1.95 per litre, respectively. Diesel in these two states is cheaper by Rs 2.02 and Rs 1.72 per litre, respectively. "Because of high price in Delhi and low prices in states like UP and Haryana, customers are deserting the petrol pumps in Delhi leading to huge drop in sales," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence Minister Nimala Sitharaman dedicated Monday a DRDO website -'The Kalam Vision - Dare to Dream' - to former president and 'Missile Man' Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The website was launched on the 87th birth anniversary of the former president and it focuses on subjects such as artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems and cyber security. It will also facilitate an open competition for students and startups, and it is available at drdo.gov.in/drdo/kalam/kalam.html. Speaking on the launch of the website, Sitharaman shared her experience of meeting Kalam. She said he was not only a good scientist but also an excellent administrator who could spot and nurture talent among his team members. Sitharaman's deputy in the ministry Subhash Bhamre said Kalam believed in a strong nation, one that is scientifically superior and always inspired people for putting their total commitment towards the mission in hand. The function was attended by students of three Delhi-based schools. These schools have set up Atal Tinkering Labs under the Centre's Atal Innovation Mission programme. Students and researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi also attended the function. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Congress on Monday launched its door-to-door campaign in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, seeking to expose alleged failures and corruption of the ruling AAP in Delhi and the BJP at the Centre. Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Ajay Maken, who launched the 'Lok Sampark Abhiyan' (public outreach campaign) at Sant Ravidas Chowk in central Delhi, claimed that people are fed up with the AAP and the BJP. "It has now become very clear that the people of Delhi have fully understood the false promises and non-performance of the Arvind Kejriwal government and Narendra Modi's jumlas (rhetorics) and inefficiency," he said. Maken claimed that people are now looking towards Congress president Rahul Gandhi with much hope as only his party can provide a stable and efficient government. During the launch of the campaign, Maken visited nearby areas and his party workers distributed two booklets pertaining to "false promises made by the Modi government and corruption in the Kejriwal government". The 'Lok Sampark Abhiyan' will continue till November 19 in which three lakh Congress workers will interact with people across the city. A police complaint was Monday filed by the SC-ST Teachers Association of the Delhi University over a "racist and misogynist question" asked in an examination conducted for recruitment of primary teachers. DU professor Hansraj Suman, who is the president of the varsity's SC-ST Teachers Association, demanded action against the officials responsible for the error. He submitted a complaint to the Maurice Nagar police station Monday. Police confirmed that they have received the complaint. The examination was conducted by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) on Saturday. The multiple choice question number 61 in the Hindi Language and Comprehension paper used some derogatory terms for describing the Dalit community. The DSSSB in a statement on Sunday said the question with "casteist" undertones appeared due to an "inadvertent error". It added that the question would not be considered during the evaluation process. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the small, oil-rich state with an iron fist since 1979, has appointed several members of his family to top military positions. His graft-tainted son Teodorin Nguema Obiang, who is already vice-president, was appointed major general in the army to mark the country's 50th anniversary of independence from Spain late last week, a statement said Monday. The 76-year-old leader also made his brother-in-law Victoriano Nsue Okomo and his cousin Jose Eneme Obama generals. His son-in-law Fausto Abeso Fuma was given the rank of air commodore. Obiang junior was handed a three-year suspended prison term by a French court last year and fined 30 million euros (USD 35 million) for money laundering, corruption and abuse of public assets. He was found to have embezzled 150 million euros to fund his lavish lifestyle, which included a six-storey mansion on the upscale Avenue Foch in Paris and paying huge sums to collect memorabilia such as Michael Jackson's glove. Critics accuse President Obiang of brutal repression of opponents as well as election fraud and corruption. Equatorial Guinea has become one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producers, but a large proportion of its 1.2 million population lives in dire poverty. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) has been informed by the authorities that the election of its office-bearers will be nullified if they do not submit original bills of campaign expenditure bearing the GST number, according to a letter issued to the students' body. The university authorities said the bills submitted were not in the correct format. The elected office-bearers of the union had submitted proofs of the expenditure they had incurred during the campaign for the students' body election on September 28, but was asked to submit the original bills in a letter from Dean of Students (DoS) Professor Umesh Kadam on October 4. On October 9, the JNUSU had submitted 28 bills of 19 candidates to the DoS, while stating that the "mashaal" (torch) and bamboo sticks used for the "Mashaal Juloos" on September 10 were bought from roadside shops and there were no bills for those. On October 12, they were asked to submit the original bills bearing the GST number. The letter from Kadam said the bills submitted by the JNUSU were not in accordance with the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations which said, "Each candidate shall, within two weeks of the declaration of the result, submit complete and audited accounts to the college/university authorities. "The college/university shall publish such audited accounts within two days of the submission of such accounts through a suitable medium so that any member of the students' body may freely examine the same." The letter also said each nominee was required to submit original bills bearing the GST number, failing which "the election of the candidate will be nullified in the event of any non-compliance or excessive expenditure". The JNUSU has expressed concerns in a letter to the Dean of Students about the details being sought since there are many shops in and around the university campus, the turnover of which is below the prescribed limit under the Goods and Service Tax (GST) rules, above which the tax applies. It described the Dean of Student's threat to nullify the election of its office-bearers as an attempt to intimidate the students' body and urged him to stop the "continuous harassment of the elected JNUSU members". Kadam said, "We have been asking them to submit the bills for over a month, but they have submitted consolidated bills rather than submitting the bills of individual candidates." Meanwhile, JNUSU president N Sai Balaji said the university never asked for the bills of individual candidates, always accepted consolidated bills and even if there were new rules, they should have been informed about them before the polls. "From 2012, they have been accepting the bills in the format in which we have submitted the bills this year. They asked us to submit the bills, which we did. They are informing us about the new rules now. "This year, we contested the polls in an alliance and submitted the combined bills. In the last few years, when the AISA contested alone, we had submitted consolidated bills even then," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress in Goa on Monday urged President Ram Nath Kovind to ensure that the state Assembly is not dissolved by "foul play". Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Girish Chodankar, in a petition, briefed Kovind about their earlier pleas to Governor Mridula Sinha about staking claim to form government in the state and said it is imperative that the President issues instructions and guides the governor, so that there is no constitutional over-reach to seek dissolution of the Assembly. The Congress is the largest party in the 40-member Goa Assembly with 16 MLAs, while the Parrikar government has the support of 23 MLAs. Accusing the BJP of acting "power hungry" in Goa, the Congress had on Saturday demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar step down and it be allowed to prove majority by convening a special session of the Assembly. Parrikar, 62, has been ailing since mid-February and has been treated at different hospitals including those in Goa, Mumbai and the US. He returned here Sunday by a special flight from New Delhi, where he underwent treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for pancreatic ailment. "We had petitioned the governor that we are staking claim to form the government and there should be no decision to dissolve the House without exploring the option of inviting our party to form the government," Chodankar said in the petition. "For this reason, it is imperative that you (Kovind) issue instructions and guide the governor, so that there is no constitutional over-reach to seek a dissolution by foul play, contrary to wishes of the majority," he said. The Congress had last month submitted a memorandum to the governor, urging her not to dissolve the Assembly and instead invite the party to form an alternative government. Chodankar alleged that the plea has been made to Kovind as there has been an instance in the past when the then chief minister Parrikar had dissolved the House through a "forged" resolution of Council of Ministers. Notably, Parrikar had in 2002 dissolved the House prematurely after it faced a series of defections. The then governor Mohammad Fazal had accepted the recommendation of the state Cabinet to dissolve the House. In the petition to Kovind, Chodankar claimed Parrikar's prolonged illness has kept several issues pertaining to the state administration pending and that the government has failed to address even the basic issues of people. The BJP-led alliance has not only lost trust of the people, but also lost confidence of the House, he claimed. Meanwhile, Congress' legislators in Goa met here Monday to discuss the political situation in the state in the wake of Parrikar's illness. Calling it an informal meet of the Congress legislature party, Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said, "The Congress legislature party (CLP) reiterated that they are intact as a group and are in a position to garner the required numbers if the Governor allows them to prove their majority on the floor of the House." The legislators ruled out rumours about a split in the CLP, Kavlekar added. Besides the 14 BJP MLAs, the Parrikar government has the support of three MLAs each from the Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party as well as three Independents. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress in Goa urged President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday to ensure that the state Assembly is not dissolved by "foul play". Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Girish Chodankar, in a petition, briefed Kovind about their earlier pleas to Governor Mridula Sinha about staking claim to form government in the state and said it is imperative that the President issues instructions and guides the governor, so that there is no constitutional over-reach to seek dissolution of the Assembly. The Congress is the largest party in the 40-member Goa Assembly with 16 MLAs, while the Parrikar government has the support of 23 MLAs. Accusing the BJP of acting "power hungry" in Goa, the Congress had on Saturday demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar step down and it be allowed to prove majority by convening a special session of the Assembly. Parrikar, 62, has been ailing since mid-February and has been treated at different hospitals including those in Goa, Mumbai and the US. He returned here Sunday by a special flight from New Delhi, where he underwent treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for pancreatic ailment. "We had petitioned the governor that we are staking claim to form the government and there should be no decision to dissolve the House without exploring the option of inviting our party to form the government," Chodankar said in the petition. "For this reason, it is imperative that you (Kovind) issue instructions and guide the governor, so that there is no constitutional over-reach to seek a dissolution by foul play, contrary to wishes of the majority," he said. The Congress had last month submitted a memorandum to the governor, urging her not to dissolve the Assembly and instead invite the party to form an alternative government. Chodankar alleged that the plea has been made to Kovind as there has been an instance in the past when the then chief minister Parrikar had dissolved the House through a "forged" resolution of Council of Ministers. Notably, Parrikar had in 2002 dissolved the House prematurely after it faced series of defections. The then governor Mohammad Fazal had accepted the recommendation of the state Cabinet to dissolve the House. In the petition to Kovind, Chodankar claimed Parrikar's prolonged illness has kept several issues pertaining to the state administration pending and that the government has failed to address even the basic issues of people. The BJP-led alliance has not only lost trust of the people, but also lost confidence of the House, he claimed. Besides the 14 BJP MLAs, the Parrikar government has the support of three MLAs each from the Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party as well as three Independents. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami Monday alleged that a hate campaign has been unleashed against Kashmiri students in the country and asked the Centre to take steps to ensure their safety outside the state. He urged the Centre to initiate criminal proceedings against people found guilty of harassing Kashmiri students in different parts of the country and also sought intervention of the state governor Satya Pal Malik to ensure safe and secure environment to Kashmiris outside the state. "The harassment of Kashmiri students at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and in different colleges and educational institutions in Punjab at the behest of communal forces is unacceptable and must be condemned in strongest words as such incidents have serious implications, the CPI(M) leader said in a statement here. Three Kashmiri students of AMU were booked on sedition charges for allegedly raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani on October 12 (Friday). Twenty seven-year-old Wani, pursing a PhD course in Allied Geology at the AMU, had quit the university and joined militant ranks in January this year. He was killed in an encounter at Shatgund village in Handwara area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Thursday. "The already prevailing uncertain situation in Kashmir gets compounded by such incidents. AMU incident is not an isolated one against Kashmiris as in the past, similar incidents have happened in various state of the country. "It is actually a hate campaign which has been unleashed on Kashmiris outside the state and it has patronage of ruling party in the country, Tarigami alleged. The Kulgam MLA said thousands of Kashmiri students are studying outside the state and the "atmosphere of hatred against them" has the potential to ruin their career. "Students need to be provided with peaceful and secure atmosphere both in and outside educational institutions, he said, adding the state governor must take up the issue of harassment of Kashmiri students with the concerned state governments at the earliest and ensure safe and secure environment for Kashmiri students, businessmen, labourers and others working in various states of the country. He said action must be taken against those found involved in intimidating innocent students from Jammu and Kashmir. Failure to do so will swell anger and further alienate the general masses. The sooner it is done, the better, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Environmental activists Monday said they would take the message of 'Save Ganga' crusader G D Agarwal to every nook and corner of the country. Agarwal died at a Rishikesh hospital on October 11, 111 days after he began a fast for a pollution-free Ganga. He was 86. Agarwal had begun his hunger strike on June 22 demanding government measures to save the Ganga. Sanjay Singh, national convenor, Jal Jan Jodo Abhiyan, said as a first step they would organise a march from Delhi to Banaras to carry the message of 'Save Ganga'. "We will also talk about the dreams of Agarwal in every capital city of the country so that his message reaches each and every person," he said. Another activist Rajendra Singh said they would also carry the message of cleaning Ganga to those attending the Kumbh festival next year. Meanwhile, he contradicted the Centre's claims that most of the demands of Agarwal were agreed upon. "None of the demands made by us were met. The government's claims are false," Singh hit back. Union Water Resources and Ganga River Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari had last week announced that the government had accepted almost all the demands of the deceased environmentalist. "We have accepted almost all his demands (on cleaning of the Ganga). One demand was to ensure environmental flow and we have come out with a notification," he had said. G D Agarwal, also known as Swami Gyanswaroop Sanand in his later years, was a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and had served on the Central Pollution Control Board. He was protesting against hydroelectric projects on the Ganga's tributaries and demanded a law to protect the river. Earlier, he had rejected a plea from Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to end his fast. Agarwal had been campaigning for the Ganga for several years and undertook a similar fast earlier as well. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Frustrated European ministers on Monday insisted there was still time to reach a Brexit deal despite the latest failed round of divorce talks, but the EU warned it was stepping up preparations for failure. Meeting in Luxembourg, foreign ministers from the bloc's 28 members admitted that no agreement will be struck this week at an EU leaders' summit that had earlier been billed as the "moment of truth". EU Brexit pointman Michel Barnier met his British counterpart Dominic Raab in Brussels on Sunday, but they failed to agree to a draft Brexit divorce arrangement, as EU leaders prepare to arrive on Wednesday for the summit. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, whose country would suffer the biggest economic impact after the United Kingdom from a "no-deal" Brexit, said the latest stumble was "frustrating and disappointing". And in Brussels, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the bloc's own "no deal" preparations were being stepped up. "While we are working hard for a deal, our preparedness and contingency work is continuing and intensifying," Schinas said. British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a political high-wire act in trying to reach a deal that is acceptable to both the EU and lawmakers at home, where her minority government relies on the support of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Highlighting the challenges she faces, the DUP's Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson on Monday warned it was "probably inevitable" Britain would leave the EU with no deal. But Europeans insisted there was still time to resolve the outstanding issues, including the dispute over rules for trade in and out of Northern Ireland, before a possible emergency summit in November. Much will depend on the stance taken by the EU's two big power players France and Germany, with French President Emmanuel Macron insisting on a firm line in Brexit talks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a breakthrough would require "quite a bit of finesse and if we aren't successful this week, we'll just have to keep negotiating". "We were actually pretty hopeful that we would manage to seal an exit agreement. At the moment it looks more difficult due to the problems surrounding the issue of Ireland and Northern Ireland," Merkel told the German Foreign Trade Federation. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Monday played down expectations of a Brexit deal being reached this week, saying an agreement was more likely in November or December. "There are some fundamentals that we can't compromise on," Varadkar told reporters in Dublin. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's exports entered the negative zone after five months, contracting 2.15 per cent in September to USD 27.95 billion mainly due to the base impact even though trade deficit narrowed to a five-month low. According to the commerce ministry data, imports in September grew by 10.45 per cent to USD 41.9 billion as against USD 37.9 billion in September 2017. The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, stood at USD 13.98 billion in the last month. During April-August 2018-19, exports recorded a growth of 12.54 per cent. Imports during the period rose by 16.16 per cent, leaving a trade deficit of USD 94.32 billion in the first half of the current fiscal. Exports were on the rise since April, after declining by 0.66 per cent in March 2018. Commenting on the data, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said that the decline is mainly on account of the base effect as exports showed an increase of 26 per cent in the year-ago month. "This is a temporary kind of phenomena. In October, we will again see good growth in dollar terms," he told reporters here. Exports grew in a healthy manner in the first six months of this fiscal even in the difficult circumstances, he said adding the trend is expected to be maintained in the remaining half of the fiscal. Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) President Ganesh Gupta said that the negative growth in September is primarily due to high base effect last year. The high growth witnessed in plastic and linoleum products, organic and inorganic chemicals, petroleum goods and pharma, are positive signs for future exports opined, Gupta said in a statement. He added that the reduction in trade deficit would ease out concerns of current account deficit and may sombre the Rupee fluctuation to some extent. Gupta demanded augmentation of the flow of credit to the export sector, as a sharp decline in credit when exports are growing at the double-digit does not augur well for the future. Talking about credit issue and GST refund, Wadhawan said exporters are happy for IGST refund as payments are roughly in time and there is no great pendency. "Input credit which is largely from the states, there is some delay and friction, which finance ministry is taking up with the states. We have written to them... We are hopeful that it will be resolved," the secretary said. He said the government is taking steps to improve overall liquidity in banks and this intervention will ease the situation for exporters also. "We have requested for addressing export credit issue particularly and we are pursuing it with the finance ministry," he said adding the request of granting priority sector lending to exports "is under consideration of the finance ministry". Further, he said that the challenges for exports include fragile global economic recovery. "There are threats to global recovery in terms of all these very confrontational trade stances that major countries have taken," he said. When asked about India's proposal to do trade in national currencies with some countries, he said, "Those channels are on and indications are positive as the whole idea is to have a better balance in our trade". India has proposed a trade in national currencies with countries like Russia, Iran and China. On the issue of recent hike in import duties on certain items, he said, "we are doing everything within our bound rates". Further, when asked about the progress of talks with the US on trade issues, a ministry official said India is having regular discussions with American officials and "most things are resolved between us". The government, for the second time, last month extended the deadline for the imposition of higher customs duties on 29 products, including almond, walnut and pulses, imported from the US, till November 2. The duty hike move by India was in retaliation to US President Donald Trump's March 9 decision to impose heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items. Senior officials of India and the US are in discussions to finalise a kind of trade deal. Both the sides holding two track discussions -- to increase trade in the short and medium term, and identify long-term trade potentials. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of farmers from Beed in central Maharashtra, which has witnessed scanty rains this monsoon, met officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here Monday and said its "inaccurate" rain forecast misled them. The farmers, under the banner of Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti, had earlier written two letters to the IMD, alleging that because of the Met department's inaccurate forecast they were facing losses. Gangabhishan Thavre, one of the farmers, said the IMD had forecast 104 per cent of the average rainfall this year, but the Marathwada region (of which Beed district is a part) is facing a drought now. "We trusted the forecast and on its basis the sowing was carried out, but due to deficient rainfall, most farmers are facing losses," hesaid. A delegation of farmers met IMD officials here and submitted a memorandum demanding that the department take responsibility for the losses, Thavre said. Lok Sabha member and farmer leader Raju Shetti said his organisation, Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana, will not hesitate to lock the IMD office here if the monsoon forecasts went wrong in future. "Several parts of the country including Maharashtra are facing drought-like situation. The state government should declare a drought without wasting time and take steps to protect farmers and cattle," Shetti demanded in a statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury Monday said the "faulty" policies of the BJP-led central government had pushed the Indian economy to its "worst ever crisis" and were also behind the recent spate of agrarian movements across the country. The industry and agriculture sectors were the "worst victims of the faulty economic policies", he said, adding that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) supported the farmers' agitation. "The recent agrarian movements across the country took place due to the faulty policies and the farmers are the worst victims," Yechury said, while claiming that farmer suicides had increased as they did not get an adequate price for their produce and therefore, could not repay their loans. He said the policies of the government had pushed the country's economy to its "worst ever crisis" and the farmers were faced with a low growth rate and a minus wholesale price index (WPI). The growth rate in the agriculture sector had reduced to 2.5 per cent from 5 per cent in 2013-14, while the WPI had witnessed a negative growth, the Left leader said, adding, "The WPI in 2013-14 was 11 points. Now, it is minus 4 -- it has fallen from the base." There was a "massive" farmers' agitation in September and other such protests will also be held, he said. "This kisan movement is going to increase and our party has decided to extend full support to all such struggles," Yechury added. Lashing out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre, he said the economy of the country had crumbled in the last three years. "The price of petrol and diesel, which was reduced by the BJP government a month ago, has gone up again," Yechury added. He also alleged that there was a bid to cover up the official figure on unemployment. "What is worst is that Parliament's Estimates Committee took up the issue, because the government was silent on the level of employment for two-three years. But the BJP members in the committee are preventing its chairman, M M Joshi, from presenting the report in Parliament," Yechury said, claiming that this showed how the government was concealing truth. "Therefore, our party has decided to support the youth march to Parliament on November 3," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 53-year-old female flight attendant fell off a stationary Air India plane while closing its door at the Mumbai airport Monday, suffering serious injuries, airline and hospital authorities said. The wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft was preparing to depart for New Delhi when Harsha Lobo fell on the tarmac from a height of 20 feet, apparently through a gap between the rear door and the step ladder, a senior Air India official said. The incident occurred at around 6 am, the official said. Lobo suffered multiple fractures in her legs and was rushed to the Nanavati Hospital where she is being treated, the airline said. Aviation regulator DGCA is probing the incident, a senior official told PTI. Owing to the incident, the flight AI-864, scheduled to take off at 7 am, got delayed by about one-and-a-half hours. "In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (member), Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing-777 aircraft," while closing its door, the airline said in a statement. The statement said Air India is inquiring into the incident. "Though full investigation will establish the reasons for the incident, prima facie it seems there was a gap between the aircraft gate and the step ladder, through which she slipped off 20 feet down on the tarmac," an official of the airline said. The airlines safety department has called all the people related to the incident on Tuesday as part of its probe, the official added. The Nanavati Hospital said a cabin crew member of the Air India flight was brought to the hospital at 7 am after she suffered "serious injuries". "The patient is suffering from right leg compound fracture, fracture in both heels and soft tissue injury in chest, abdomen and lower spine. She also suffered a sprain in the neck (cervical spine)," it said in a statement. The woman is under observation and is being treated by Dr Prakash M Doshi, director of orthopedics and traumatology, Nanavati Hospitals Chief Operating Officer Dr Rajendra Patankar said. Last week, 136 passengers and crew on board an aircraft of Air India Express, which is the low-cost international arm of the national carrier, had a miraculous escape after the plane hit a wall and suffered extensive damage while taking off from Tiruchirappalli airport for Dubai. Despite the extensive damage to the belly of the aircraft, the Boeing 737 continued flying for nearly four hours, before being recalled by the airline and made to land in Mumbai in emergency conditions. Earlier in September, about 370 passengers on board an Air India flight AI-101 between New Delhi and New York had a narrow escape after the B 777 plane's instrument landing system failed. This happened when the aircraft was about to land at New York's JFK airport, forcing the crew to abort landing and do a go around. The plane landed safely at New Jersey airport. Air India generally operates flights on its domestic routes with smaller planes such as A320s but deploys bigger planes to key destinations such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, among others to meet the increased passenger demand during festival periods such as Dussehra, Diwali and Holi. Besides B777, Air India would operate its 423-seater, double-decker Boeing 747 aircraft to Mumbai and Kolkata from New Delhi, starting Tuesday as part of this strategy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four persons have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a television journalist near his house in south Mumbai, police said Monday. The accused, all city residents aged between 20 and 25 years, were nabbed late Sunday night from Tardeo area, a senior police official said. Herman Gomes, working with a private TV channel, was returning home along with a friend in a taxi on Sunday when he saw four to six men waiting near his house in Gamdevi area. The men started abusing Gomes and later allegedly assaulted him and also hit his friend, as per the victim. Gomes was injured in the attack and later received six stitches near his eyes. Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone-II) Dnyaneshwar Chavan, said prima facie it appears the incident might have taken place in the heat of the moment following some argument. "However, we are trying to go into the depth of the matter," he said, adding, the accused do not have any criminal background. Based on Gomes' complaint, the Gamdevi Police had registered a case under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 324 (voluntary causing hurt by dangerous weapons) and other relevant provisions. Journalists' associations in the city had Sunday condemned the attack and alleged that police did not file the victim's complaint promptly. The Mumbai Press Club termed the attack on Gomes a "dastardly act". An association of crime reporters in the city have urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action against police officers who allegedly delayed registration of the First Information Report (FIR) in the matter. Minister of State for Home (urban), Ranjit Patil had later said an investigation was on into the incident and "correct steps will be taken in the direction". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four-members of a gang allegedly involved in several incidents of robbery, snatching and auto thefts were arrested in Dwarka, police said Monday. The accused, Mangal Singh (26), Ram Avtar (23), Rakesh (23) and Rajender (27), are residents of Jhinjhana area of Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh, they said. The accused mostly targeted morning walkers and women returning home late at night, a senior police officer said. Police claimed to have solved 12 cases of snatching and vehicle theft so far with the arrest. The accused were nabbed near a park in Dwarka on Friday and stolen motorcycles were recovered from them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Bhisham Singh said. Four country-made pistols and eight live cartridges were seized from them, he said. During interrogation, it was revealed that Mangal Singh was a wanted criminal and was previously involved in several other cases. He was declared a proclaimed offender in six cases related to robbery and snatching in Karnal and Chennai, he added. Around four years ago, Singh had formed a gang and started committing burglary, robbery, snatching and auto-theft in remote areas of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, the DCP said. They would rent a flat in a city, stay for a few days, commit crimes and then flee, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP Monday accused the Congress of using its leaders to build a momentum against the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, asserting that "the temple will be built at the Ram's birthplace". Union minister Prakash Javadekar attacked Congress president Rahul Gandhi and its leader Shashi Tharoor for his reported comments that no good Hindu would have wanted to see the temple built by demolishing a place of worship, a reference to razing down of the Babri mosque in December 1992. "Ram is the ethos of the nation. People want and have fought for a Ram temple for 500 years after it was destroyed. What Shashi Tharoor is saying must be the view of Rahul Gandhi and his that they do not want the temple at the Ram's birthplace," he told PTI. He said it was astonishing and shocking to hear from Tharoor that a "real Hindu" would not wish temple at the Babri mosque site. "Ram temple will be built only at Ram's birthplace. It is so natural. It was Ram temple which was destroyed and all proofs are before the Supreme Court. BJP wants a magnificent temple at the site," he said. The BJP, he added, has already said that it has to happen either through a court verdict, which it is sure will be favourable, or with an agreement between the two parties. The whole nation wants the Ram temple as it is not about the BJP or something political, he said. From north-east to north to south to east and west, everywhere you find Ram as Ram is the ethos of the nation, he said. Earlier at a press conference on Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao too accused the Congress of using its leaders to build a momentum against the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and wondered if Gandhi is a Hindu or not. He said his party wants an early verdict from the Supreme Court on the Ram temple case but the Congress is trying everything to delay it. Congress leaders had earlier filed plea in the court to delay the matter, he alleged, adding that Tharoor is the latest to join the bandwagon by linking construction of a temple with the "demolition of disputed structure" that happened decades back. "You (Congress) are conspiring to ensure that there is no verdict from the court," he said. The Congress is doing "vote bank politics", he said, alleging that Gandhi had earlier claimed that his party was a "Muslims party". Rahul Gandhi wears his "Shiv bhakti" (devotion to Lord Shiv) on his sleeve but he should answer whether he is a Hindu or not, Rao said. Speaking at an event in Chennai, Tharoor had said as a Hindu he was very conscious that a vast majority of his fellow Hindus believe that this (the site in Ayodhya) was the specific birth place of Lord Ram. "And for that reason most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted to see that temple built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," the Kerala MP said. At the press conference, Rao also accused the Congress of following a double-pronged strategy of showing its love for Pakistan and and "working to break India" as part of Gandhi's "divisive mindset". He cited Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's reported comments that he can relate to Pakistan more than south India to hit out at the opposition party. He demanded that Sidhu must be sacked as a minister in the Punjab government in a week or the BJP would carry out protests. Sidhu's remarks are also a reflection on the opposition party's and its ruling Gandhi family's "hatred for south India", Rao alleged as he cited its "ill-treatment" of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. It was due to support from south India that the Congress came to power, he said in a reference to its win in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, claiming that "otherwise Sonia and Rahul Gandhi would have fled to Italy". The Congress president should apologise for the alleged poor treatment meted out to Narasimha Rao, he said. "If you have any shame, at least use his (Narasimha Rao's) picture in Telangana," he said. Telangana is among the five states where assembly elections are being held. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP president Amit Shah Monday gave a call to "uproot" the Congress from Madhya Pradesh in next month's state Assembly polls to generate a "tsunami", the ripple effects of which will be felt in West Bengal and other states currently not ruled by the saffron party. Addressing party workers here in the state, which goes to the polls on November 28, Shah said winning over 200 of the 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh was not enough. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a strong hold over Madhya Pradesh, where it was in power since 2003, and if the Congress was hoping to rule the state, then the opposition party was just engaging in "daydreaming". "Our target is not to cross just 200 seats, but to uproot the Congress from the state to generate a tsunami that will have its effects in states like West Bengal," Shah said, addressing the BJP's "Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot" convention. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the "Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot" (my polling booth the strongest) call to prepare the party cadre for the Assembly polls in five states to be held in November-December. Referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's assertion earlier Monday that his party was coming to power in Madhya Pradesh, Shah said he should not indulge in "daydreaming". "After 2014, when Modi became the prime minister of the country, the BJP has emerged victorious in 14 state elections, including in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Goa and Himachal Pradesh. "Even after losing 14 elections, he (Gandhi) is dreaming of forming government in Madhya Pradesh," he said, adding, "The BJP's grip in Madhya Pradesh is like the feet of Angad (a mythological character in the Ramayana)." According to the Hindu epic, nobody was able to lift the feet of Angad in the court of Ravana. Referring to the BJP's progress since its formation in 1980, Shah said the party now had over 1,800 MLAs and 330 MPs, including those in the Rajya Sabha, and headed a government at the Centre that enjoyed full majority. "But this is not the high point for the BJP. It will be in the apex position only when it wins Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha, among other states," he added. Shah said after the Modi government came to power, India carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) to give Pakistan a befitting reply for a terrorist attack on Indian jawans. He criticised Gandhi for stating that the BJP was trading in the blood of soldiers by taking credit for the September, 2016 Army operation. India was the only country in the world after the US and Israel to carry out surgical strikes, Shah said. Talking about the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, he sought to know whether illegal immigrants should be deported from the country or not. Because of the illegal immigrants, unemployment was rising in the country, the BJP chief said, while calling them "termites" who indulged in terror activities. After the BJP formed governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, each and every illegal immigrant would be thrown out of the country, he said. Attacking the Congress over the issue, Shah sought to know why the opposition party was protecting the illegal immigrants. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nearly 200 refugees seeking to join their families in Germany left Greece on Monday, the Greek migration ministry said, reviving a reunification programme that had been stalled since last year. The 177 refugees mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq boarded a special charter plane to Munich, the ministry said in a statement. "The departure of the first 177 refugees is part of an administrative arrangement between Greece and Germany for the completion of family reunifications already approved by Germany," the ministry said. "More flights of this nature will follow," it added. Some 2,000 refugees are expected to join families in Germany from Greece, a ministry source told AFP. In turn, Greece and Spain agreed in June to take back refugees who reached the German border after earlier requesting asylum in the two countries. A decision by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to welcome refugees in 2015 is deemed to have cost her politically, and harsh infighting on immigration still rages in her 2017 coalition government. As a result, the reunification programme slowed in 2017 before halting altogether. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has kicked up a row with remarks that no "good" Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else's place of worship, drawing stinging criticism from the BJP which dubbed his party and its chief Rahul Gandhi "anti- Hindu". Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, made the comments at an event in Chennai on Sunday. "As a Hindu, obviously, I am conscious that a vast majority of my fellow Hindus believe that that was the specific birthplace of Ram. "For this reason, most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted that a temple be built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," he said. The BJP hit back at Tharoor over his remarks, with the party's national spokesman Sambit Patra saying they "exposed" the real face of Rahul Gandhi. "Rahul Gandhi's real face stands exposed," Patra told a tv channel, criticising Tharoor's comments. He made a reference to the Congress president's frequent visits to temples in election-bound states. He said while Gandhi "does fancy dress shows" by visiting Hindu temples, a leader of his party makes such comments. "These remarks completely expose the Congress....Rahul Gandhi. They are anti-Hindu," he said. Tharoor insisted his comments were personal and not those of his party. His remarks, Tharoor insisted, were distorted out of malice. "I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for @incindia," he tweeted. "I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Rams birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying anothers place of worship." Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said Tharoor was trying to "arrogate" to himself spiritual powers and that he has his "lost balance". "He is no authority on Hindu. He has led a life which has nothing to do with Hinduism. He is arrogating to himself spiritual powers or powers of religious authority. He has lost his balance," Swamy said. Tharoor had sparked off a controversy in July with comments that if the BJP was voted to power again, it will rewrite the Constitution that will eventually create a "Hindu Pakistan". At an event in Thiruvanthapuram, Tharoor said, "If they are able to win a repeat of their current strength in the Lok Sabha then, frankly, our own democratic Constitution, as we understand [it], will not survive... because then they will have all the three elements they need to tear up the Constitution of India and write a new one." "And that will enshrine the principle of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, and that will create a Hindu Pakistan...and that is not what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for," he noted. The Congress had distanced itself from Tharoor's comments. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Government's stake in the has increased by 7.6 per cent post allotment of equity shares on preferential basis, the state-owned lender said Monday. The preferential allotment of shares is against infusion of Rs 17.90 billion by the government in the Post allotment of the equity shares, the shareholding of the government has gone up to 79.41 per cent in the Bank is one of the of and majority stake is held by the ( of India). Shares of the bank closed at Rs 37.60 apiece on BSE, up 3.72 per cent. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Monday blamed the fiscal crisis "inherited" by his government from the previous SAD-BJP regime for his inability in resolving the problems of agitating teachers and other ad hoc employees in the state. Amarinder said he had full sympathies with the teachers, but his hands were tied on account of the fiscal crisis "inherited by my government from the erstwhile SAD-BJP government." He said he was looking into the problems of the agitating teachers and other ad hoc employees and his government was trying its best to resolve them. He would try to resolve the problem by the winter session of the assembly, the chief minister said without elaborating. Reiterating his government's earlier offer to ad hoc teachers, as decided by his Cabinet, the chief minister said, "They have the option to either continue working on ad-hoc basis for the time being, in view of the financial crunch faced by the state government, or join at a basic pay." He said the Education Department had asked the agitating teachers to either continue on contractual basis or join at a basic pay of Rs 15,000 and work for three years before getting regularised. Amarinder said "There are about 40,000 employees, including teachers, who have to be regularised." The teachers, however, have refused to accept the government's offer of having their services regularised after taking a 35 per cent pay cut and have resorted to protests. They have started a fast-unto-death in the chief minister's home constituency Patiala from Sunday. They have also begun demanding revocation of the Cabinet decision, which has offered regularisation of their services in lieu of a pay cut. As per the Cabinet decision, a total of 7,356 teachers under SSA, 1,194 under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), along with 220 for Model schools and 116 for Adarsh schools have to be regularised. Meanwhile, on the issue of stubble burning, the chief minister said exact situation could be assessed only after harvesting. He said while his sympathies were with the farmers, he was bound by law to take action against those burning paddy straw. At the same time, Amarinder Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to respond to his repeated pleas for compensation to farmers against stubble burning. The chief minister, meanwhile, announced his plans to visit Israel for four days from October 21 for discussions on issues of mutual interest, including innovative methods of farming, besides water conservation and irrigation, livestock development, horticulture and food processing. He reiterated the need for the farmers to get out of the wheat-paddy cycle to ensure a better earnings for themselves. Homeland security and training of police personnel are other areas in which Punjab is seeking cooperation with Israel, he added. Asked why Punjab has not reduced VAT as some other states did after the Centre cut fuel prices by Rs 2.50 per litre, the chief minister said due to fluctuating oil prices in international market, his government would wait till October end before taking a decision on it. Amarinder rued that all key sources of the state's income, except petrol and excise, were in the Union government's control. "What is left with us... how can we run Punjab?," he asked. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coal Minister Piyush Goyal Monday pitched for long-term planning for mining operations and concrete steps to ensure adequate supply of dry fuel to power plants. The minister made the suggestion while inspecting coal mining and dispatch operations at Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) in Odisha's Jharsuguda. Goyal inspected Samleshwari Open Cast Project in Ib Valley Coalfields where the concerned officers briefed him on coal mining and supply operations, MCL said in a release. Emphasising the need for preparing long-term project planning, the minister favoured mines-wise detailed plan to be prepared for at least 20 years of operations, it said. "We need to conduct mine-wise review regarding their coal dispatch capability," he said while stressing on ensuring adequate coal supply to power plants. Taking note of mines low performance following delay in shifting of a siding, the minister directed both MCL and railways officials to take up this project on fast track so that production from mines is not hampered. The minister was accompanied by Inderjit Singh, Coal secretary, A K Jha, chairman of Coal India, R R Mishra, CMD of MCL and other senior officers. Goyal, who is on a day-long visit to review coal mining and supply operations of MCL, also inspected mines in Talcher area. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The emergency plan to combat air pollution came into force Monday in the Delhi-NCR where air quality remained poor, even as the Centre claimed that bad air quality days in the city have come down considerably this year. The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which has come into effect for the second year, ensures stringent actions are taken based on the air quality. Under the plan, measures like mechanised sweeping of roads, ban on garbage burning, pollution control measures at brick kilns and deployment of police to ensure smooth passage of traffic at vulnerable areas are in force in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) as the air quality lies in the poor category. Minister Harsh Vardhan, who launched an air quality early warning system for Delhi, said the Badarpur Thermal Power Plant will be closed from October 15. He also said the number of mechanised road sweeping machines in the national capital will increase from 52 to 64 by November-end. With farmers already burning stubble, the Ministry said the government has released Rs 591.65 crore to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi for promotion of agricultural mechanisation to manage crop residue. It said the number of active fire detections was less in 2018 when compared to 2017 and 2016. The air quality in Delhi remained poor with a drop in wind speed, even as authorities predicted further fall in the air quality index of the national capital in the coming days. The overall air quality index (AQI) recorded at 4 pm Monday was 218 which falls in the poor category, according to Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). On Saturday, the AQI of the national capital stood at 201. According to the CPCB website, Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 318, DTU registered 288, ITO recorded 253 and Jahangirpuri recorded an AQI of 311. An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor', and 401-500 'severe'. Delhi's neighbouring regions of Faridabad and Gurgaon both recorded poor air quality. If the air quality deteriorates further to very poor category then additional measures under GRAP like enhancing parking fees 3-4 times and increasing frequency of metro and buses would be implemented, an official with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said. It said if the air quality falls in the severe category, measures like increasing frequency of sprinkling of water on roads and identifying road stretches with high dust generation would be implemented. If the air quality falls to severe plus emergency category, then measures like stopping entry of trucks into Delhi (except essential commodities), stopping construction activities and appointment of task force to take decision on any additional steps, including shutting of schools, are implemented. Union minister Vardhan said the use of water sprinklers and the opening of the Western Peripheral Expressway will bring about a further reduction in pollution. He said along with the initiatives taken by the government, the participation of the society is an imperative. "With an outlay of Rs 1,151.80 crore under the new Central Sector Scheme, the Centre has already released Rs 591.65 crore to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi for the promotion of agricultural mechanization for in-situ management of crop residue," an official statement quoting Vardhan said. The minister said 41 teams of the CPCB have been deployed in Delhi and NCR cities of Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Gurgaon and Faridabad to monitor and supervise dust mitigation and other air pollution abatement measures to ensure effective compliance, while terming them as "eyes and ears" of his ministry. He also said the use of water sprinklers and the opening of the expressway will bring about a further reduction in pollution. Union secretary C K Mishra said the number of "Good, Satisfactory and Moderate" days was 157 in 2018 (Up to October 13) compared to 150 in 2017 and 107 in 2016 during the corresponding period. He added that similarly, the number of "Poor, Very Poor and Severe days" have come down from 167 in 2016 to 136 in 2017 to 129 in 2018 during the corresponding period. Comparing the PM10 and PM2.5 levels, Mishra underlined that both PM 10 and PM 2.5 have shown a significant reduction in the winter months (September-October) this year compared to last year. "There is a reduction of 46 per cent in PM10 levels in September 2018 compared to last year and a 15 per cent reduction in October. "There is a reduction of 28 per cent in the PM2.5 levels in September 2018 compared to last year and a reduction of 22 per cent in October," Mishra said. He said the number of active fire detections in 2018 is less in comparison to 207 and 2016 till October 14, 2018 (From Sep 1, 2018). "The numbers are 75 per cent lower than last year in Punjab and 40 per cent lower in case of Haryana," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat government Monday extended formal invitation to Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister K Palaniswami for the inauguration of the world's tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in that state on October 31. A team led by Gujarat minister Ganpat Vasava, who holds Tribal Development and Tourism portfolios among others, extended invitation to Purohit, besides the chief minister. They met Palaniswami at the Secretariat here to attend the unveiling of the 'Statue of Unity,' an official release said. The Gujarat minister was accompanied by party MP Kirit Solanki and a couple of state Legislators, it said. Later, speaking to reporters, Vasava recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision as then chief minister of Gujarat to honour Patel, following which the idea of 'Statue of Unity' came up. Modi had laid the foundation stone for the project on October 31, 2013. The 'Statue of Unity' dedicated to Patel, India's first Home Minister, is touted to be the tallest in the world at 182 metres. He said the making of the statue involved 70,000 tonnes of cement and 18,500 tonnes of steel. The initiative would also enable employment opportunities for 15,000 people. Being built at a cost of Rs 2,389 crore at Sadhu Bet island on Narmada river, the statue is set to be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31 on the occasion of Sardar Patel's birth anniversary. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat government Monday extended formal invitation to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palsniwami for the inauguration of the world's tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in that state on October 31. A team led by Gujarat Minister Ganpat Vasava, who holds Tribal Development and Tourism portfolios among others, presented the invitation to Palaniswami at the Secretariat here to attend the unveiling of the 'Statue of Unity,' an official release said. The Gujarat Minister was accompanied by party MP Kirit Solanki and a couple of state Legislators, it said. The 'Statue of Unity' dedicated to Patel, India's first Home Minister, is touted to be the tallest in the world at 182 metres. Being built at a cost of Rs 2,389 crore at Sadhu Bet island on Narmada river, the statue is set to be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31 on the occasion of Sardar Patel's birth anniversary. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after the attacks on Hindi-speaking migrants in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said Monday his state was for all Indians and cared for everybody's "honour, development and safety". Migrants, especially those hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, were targeted in several parts of Gujarat following the arrest of a Bihar native for allegedly raping a 14-month-old girl earlier this month. "India is one, and this Gujarat is of (Mahatma) Gandhi, Sardar (Vallabhbhai Patel) and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modji. This is a mini-India (laghu Bharat) for all the Indians, and everyone's honour, safety and development is ensured," Rupani said. People from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states have contributed to the development of Gujarat, he said during the second day of his visit to Lucknow. Rupani had arrived in the Uttar Pradesh capital Sunday evening and has extended an invitation to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the unveiling ceremony of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's 'Statue of Unity' on the banks of the Narmada river on October 31. "The way sugar easily dissolves in milk, people from across the country living in Surat, Ahmedabad, Kutch and Baroda are living in harmony and taking Gujarat forward," he said at a function at the Indira Gandhi Pratisthaan here. The chief minister said in the development of Gujarat, there is the hardwork of people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra. People from southern and northern states, everyone has contributed to the development of Gujarat, he said. Describing the 'Statue of Unity' a true tribute to Patel, he said, "We challenge those people who want to break the country, we will keep it (India) safe. This is our pledge." "The 'Statue of Unity' is a symbol of our unity. Today, anti-India forces are indulging in every possible work to break this unity. "On the basis of the 'Statue of Unity', we want to challenge them that we all are one, and we will strive for the country's unity. No one will be able to break this country, and the Statue of Unity will unite people of this country. We are working in this direction," Rupani said. He claimed now nowhere in the world such a tall statue is going to come up in the next 25-50 years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kerala High Court Monday acquitted the prime accused undergoing double life imprisonment in the case relating to the mysterious disappearance of progressive Islamic cleric Chekannur Maulavi over two decades ago. According to the case investigated by the CBI, Maulavi, was abducted on July 29, 1993 from his home at Edapal in Malappuram district and later killed. The Central Bureau of Investigation special court here had found that after Maulavi was killed, his body was disposed of in some mysterious manner so that it can never be recovered. The CBI court in 2010 had sentenced V V Hamsa, the first accused in the case, to undergo double life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh, while the remaining eight accused were acquitted. Setting aside the CBI court order, a division bench, comprising Justices A M Shaffique and K P Somarajan, Monday acquitted Hamsa observing that there was no evidence to show that the cleric was dead. Despite earnest efforts by local police and later by the CBI, Maulavi's body was never recovered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the Haryana government to ensure strict implementation of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) during a two-day strike called by the state's Roadways Employees Union. Justice Rajan Gupta has passed these orders while disposing of a petition filed by some private transporters against the strike call given by the protesters. The roadways union has announced a two-day strike in the state on October 16 and 17 to protest against the state government's decision to hire around 700 private buses. The roadways union has been maintaining that the decision of hiring private buses is "unwarranted" and not in "public or employees interests". The private bus operators, in their plea, had argued that the roadways union leaders are liable to be punished for contempt of court, as they have been going on strike time and again despite the undertaking given before the high court earlier that they would not go on strike. During the hearing of the case, the counsel for Haryana government informed the high court that ESMA has already been promulgated in the state and appropriate action would be taken against those resorting to strike. In August too, the employees had gone on a day-long strike to protest the state government's decision to introduce 700 private buses in the state. The union leaders have said that the government should instead increase the number of buses under the roadways department rather than promoting private players. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two police officers were injured when a man with criminal antecedents dashed his car into their jeep near here in Maharashtra, police said Monday. The injured, Anil Survase (sub-inspector), and Bhagwan Tayde (assistant sub-inspector) are attached to the Virar police station of the Palghar district rural police, Palghar Police PRO Hemant Kumar Katkar said. The incident took place in Virar Sunday night when a police team patrolling in a jeep spotted Faiaz Khalij Shaikh, who has several criminal cases pending against him, in a car with two women, he said. When the team was about to arrest Shaikh, he pointed revolver at them and dashed his car into their jeep, injuring the two policemen, Katkar said. A manhunt has been launched to nab Shaikh and the women accompanying him, he said. He has been booked under IPC sections related to attempt to murder and other charges besides the provisions of the Arms Act, Katkar added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL) to which activist Arun Ferreira belonged had no connection with the Naxals, his lawyer told the court here Monday. Ferreira was arrested by Pune police for alleged Maoist links. Arguing on Ferreira's bail application before additional sessions judge K D Vadane here, his lawyer Sudeep Pasbola also said that mere possession of incriminating documents can not prove membership of a banned organisation. "There is no material to indicate that Ferreira is member of Communist Party of India (Maoist)," he said. "This lawyers' organisation (IAPL) fights legal battle for the downtrodden and marginalised and this legal battle is within the four corners of the Constitution," Pasbola argued, and dismissed police's claim that it was a front organisation of the CPI (Maoists). Ferreira is IAPL's treasurer, he said. On police's claim of seizing "incriminating material" (documents) from the possession of the accused, Pasbola said such material of banned organisations is easily available and merely possessing it does not make one a member of the organisation. Ferreira was earlier prosecuted in 11 cases but was acquitted in all, the lawyer said, adding that there was no evidence to suggest that he supported or participated in violence. Left-wing activists Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Telugu poet Varavara Rao are currently under house arrest in the case after their arrest in August. Another accused, Gautam Navlakha, was freed by the Delhi high court. They were arrested during police's probe into alleged Maoist connection to Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 which allegedly triggered violence at Bhima Koregaon in the district the next day. Bail applications of Gonsalves and Bharadwaj are likely to be heard Tuesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), an autonomous council under the Ministry, signed two pacts Monday to spread awareness about forests, and among the youths of the country, a government statement said. The first pact was signed between ICFRE, Dehradun, and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), and the second with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS). "The MoUs have been signed to launch the 'Prakriti' programme, which aims to promote awareness about forests and environment, and to stimulate interest among the students of NVS and KVS in maintaining a balanced and for acquiring skills that reflect care and protection towards forests, environment and society," an official statement said. It added that another objective of the programme is to provide a platform to school children to learn practical skills for judicious use of resources and to mobilise a cadre of youths for raising a peoples' movement committed to conserve forests and the environment. "Through this collaboration, knowledge will be imparted to students and teachers of NVS and KVS on environment, forests, environmental services and contemporary areas of forestry research by way of lectures and interactive sessions by scientists of ICFRE institutes. "Visits of students and teachers of NVS and KVS schools will also be arranged to the laboratories and field/experiments of ICFRE institutes for hands-on experiences," the statement added. Signed for a period of 10 years, the pact is expected to make the youth of the country sensitive towards national and global issues of environment and forests and help them become responsible citizens. ICFRE, through its nine Institutes and five centres across the country, is guiding, promoting and coordinating forestry research, extension and education at the national level. Currently ICFRE is focusing on contemporary issues of national and international importance particularly in the areas of climate change, forest productivity, bio-diversity conservation and skill development. Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti was established with the primary objective to provide modern quality education to talented children, predominantly from the rural areas, without regard to their family's socio-economic condition. At present, it has 660 functional residential schools. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan was established in 1963 to provide uninterrupted education to wards of the transferable Central Government employees. The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Environment Secretary C K Mishra, DG Forests Siddhanta Das and other senior officers. The MoUs were signed by DG ICFRE, Dehradun, S C Gairola, Commissioner, NVS B K Singh and Commissioner, KVS Santosh Kumar Mall. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A student of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore was killed and two of his classmates were injured in a road accident in Amravati district of Maharashtra, police said Monday. The incident took place near village Kalamkhar on Amravati-Burhanpur road Sunday evening. Mohammad Abdul Razak (23), resident of Chennai, was killed while his two friends, Manoj Kumar Shreedhar Reddy (22) and Nishant Ingle, were injured, police said. Razak, Reddy and Ingle, all first-year students of IIM-Indore, alongwith four other friends who were in another car, were returning to Indore after spending the weekend at Melghat Tiger Reserve. Police said that Ingle, who was driving the car, lost control following a collision with another vehicle. The car then rammed into a roadside tree. Razak, sitting next to the driver's seat, and Reddy, who was on the backseat, were seriously injured while Ingle had minor injuries, police said. They were taken to Amravati District Hospital where Razak died during treatment. Reddy, who received a serious head injury, was shifted to a hospital in Nagpur Monday evening and his condition was stable, police said. Further probe is on. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the first such initiative, India and China came together Monday to provide assistance to Afghanistan through a joint training programme for Afghan diplomats. The Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats,from October 15-26, began Monday as part of an understanding reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. Ten Afghan diplomats started training at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) here after an event where statements by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were read out by the diplomats of the two countries. China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, in his remarks at the inauguration of the programme, said such a 'China-India Plus' cooperation should be extended from Afghanistan to other countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar. Describing India as a "regional major power", he said China and India can also join hands under the mechanisms of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and BangladeshChinaIndia Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM), to promote regional peace, stability and prosperity. "Both of us (China and India) support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. Both of us uphold that Afghanistan should realise peace, stability and prosperity. Both of us are against terrorism. "We are talking a lot about the regional connectivity initiatives, such as International North-South Transport Corridor, India-Afghanistan-Iran transit and trade arrangement and China-Pakistan-Afghanistan cooperation. All of these have provided a solid foundation for the current and future cooperation between China and India in Afghanistan," he said. Noting that the training programme is the first step for the 'China-India Plus' cooperation in Afghanistan, the Chinese envoy said this was just the beginning. Swaraj, in her statement that was read out by FSI Dean Ambassador J S Mukul, said the seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi when they met in Wuhan in April 2018. "Today, we see it blooming with the initiation of this training programme. This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan," Swaraj was quoted as saying. India is committed to partner Afghanistan in its efforts to emerge as a united, peaceful, secure, stable, inclusive and economically vibrant nation, she said. Talking about India's New Development Partnership with Afghanistan, she said it aspires to bring prosperity to all 34 provinces of Afghanistan through high impact community development projects. "Guided by the vision of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas', the Indian government has embarked on an ambitious development partnership programme with commitment of over USD 3 billion," Swaraj said. There were four broad pillars of the programme -- building infrastructure, developing human resource, enhancing connectivity, and promoting trade and investment links, she said, noting that the India-Afghanistan friendship dam in Herat, Parliament building in Kabul, and operationalisation of the Chabahar port were prominent symbols of this partnership. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, in his statement read out by the Chinese ambassador, said the launch of the programme marks an important step forward as it reflects the closer coordination and cooperation between two countries on regional affairs and represents a positive development in Sino-India relations. "China and India have been active supporters of Afghanistan's peace, and reconstruction process. This Joint Capacity Building Programme is an essential part of the international efforts to assist Afghanistan and marks the start of China-India-Afghanistan cooperation. "It is a testament to the joint aspiration and endeavour of China and India, both being major, responsible developing countries, to contribute to regional peace and stability," Wang said. The Chinese envoy, in his remarks, also said that President Xi and Prime Minister Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month. Luo also Chinese state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. At the end of this week, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi will visit India, he said, observing that China-India relations were now on a fast track. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Monday said that the strategic stability in South Asia is being threatened by the offensive posture and induction of lethal weapons by India. Alvi said that nobody should doubt Pakistan's capability to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty, Radio Pakistan reported. "Discriminatory exemptions by certain countries for the supply of nuclear technology and supply of advanced military hardware to our neighbour has further complicated the regional security and undermined the credibility of non-proliferation regime," the report said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian parliamentary delegation participated in the meeting of Asia pacific geopolitical group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva, Lok Sabha secretariat said in a statement on Monday. The delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is on a five day trip to Geneva in Switzerland to participate in the 139th assembly of the IPU from October 14-18. Discussions were held on a wide range of issues pertaining to the group and also those having a bearing on the IPU. Mahajan also provocatively participated in the group deliberations, the statement said. A coordination meeting of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) was also held on the sidelines of IPU. Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai represented the Indian delegation in the meeting. While the two other members of the delegation Heena Vijaykumar Gavit and Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh also participated in the various meetings of the forum of women parliamentarians. They dwelt upon in detail about gender equality in science and technology. Last Friday, Mahajan left for Geneva along with Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambi Durai along with other MPs from both houses. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- Capacity-Building and Knowledge-Sharing in Citizen Media Enterprise, Deakin University, Australia has collaborated with Australian and Indian partners to establish this project for enhancing citizen media avenues irrespective of the platforms that are used - be it community radio and/or online community media sites. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/713572/Deakin_University_Logo.jpg ) "We are implementing parallel initiatives in India and Australia, where citizens and students will receive media production training to report on significant socio-economic issues in their respective communities," stated Dr. Usha M. Rodrigues, Senior Lecturer in Communication at Deakin University, Australia and the Project leader. Dr. Rodrigues and a team from Australian partners were in Bengaluru during the last week of September, to conduct their first international visit as part of this project. Titled 'Sambhashane: The Bengaluru Dialogues on Citizens & Community Media', this was a symposium for media stakeholders to connect and collaborate. It was focused on re-conceptualising community media and understanding the changing boundaries of media and art. Parallel initiatives in India and Australia are being implemented as part of this project. Here citizens and students will receive media production training to report on significant socio-economic issues in their respective communities. It will also bolster participant's knowledge of relevant local issues by providing access to experts in their chosen topics of reporting. Australian community broadcasting has set a benchmark with over 5.7 million Australian listeners at over 460 radio stations each week, covering news, information, arts and other specialist's programs. Indian community media has over 200 licensed stations and several innovative citizen media websites, facilitating youth and women participation in media production activities. By sharing knowledge about skills enhancing strategies and education programs for citizen media practitioners and university students, this project will strengthen the sustainability of community media sector in both countries. Government regulation and funding have supported the growth of Australian community media. While India and Australia are two disparate democracies, the case studies from Australian community media can help pave way for policy formulation in India. Some examples of community media successes in India are - Radio Active CR, which is located at Jain University in Bangalore, and a mobile journalism project CGNet Swara in central India. But the challenge for community media in India is, community broadcasters can cover only development and information. They are not licensed to cover that is covered by mainstream media. This major concern for Indian community broadcasters will also be dealt with during this project execution. The project team will submit a report to the Australia India Council, Australia, and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in India with a view to influence government policy setting for community media sector, particularly in India, where the sector needs legislative and funding support from the government. The project's aim is to have 6-10 citizens to be part of the project at each community media site, which would give it a manpower between 25-30 journalists. Each of these citizen storytellers will report on stories significant to their communities in the 9-month period between August 2018 and April 2019. Media partners of this project include: http://comedialab.in and Radio Active 90.4MHz at Jain University http://www.ideosyncmedia.org/comm_media_radio.htmGeelong FM 94.7 The Pulse - http://www.947thepulse.comGippsland FM 104.7 - http://www.gippslandfm.org.auAnd, http://www.cbaa.org.auAbout Deakin University:Established in 1974, Deakin University successfully combines excellence in teaching, research and effective partnerships with industry and government to deliver high quality courses and undertake research that makes a difference to the domestic and international communities it serves. Deakin's South Asia operations commenced in 1994 at New Delhi, India, making it one of the first overseas education provider to set operations in this region. Here, Deakin engages with the government, industry and the academia to share its vibrant culture of education and research. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iran's envoy to Turkey was evacuated from the embassy in Ankara on Monday after warnings of a possible bomb threat, local media reported. But Tehran flatly denied the report as a complete fabrication. "Such a claim is a sheer lie, and the personnel at our embassy are present at their workplace in full health and security," the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website. Earlier on Monday, DHA agency said Iran's mission in the Turkish capital had been given an intelligence warning about a possible suicide bomb attack, prompting the evacuation of Ambassador Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian Fard. The road by the embassy was shut off and police could be seen searching cars in the area, an AFP photographer said. In 2015 and 2016, Turkey was hit by a series of terror attacks which were blamed on both Kurdish militants and the Islamic State jihadist group. The last attack blamed on IS was in January 2017 when a gunman killed 39 people at an elite Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations. Since then, Turkish police have conducted regular raids across the country against suspected IS jihadists. They have also regularly targeted members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An IT advocacy group representing more than 1,000 small IT companies mostly run by Indian-Americans has filed a lawsuit against the US immigration agency for issuing H-1B visas for shorter than three years durations. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. These visas are typically issued for three to six years to employers to hire a foreign worker. Based out of Dallas in Texas, the ITServe Alliance in its lawsuit 43-page lawsuit filed last week alleged that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has recently begun a practice of approving H-1B petitions for shorter than three years durations. "These petitions are often valid for only months or days at a time, and some cases are expired by the time the approval is received," it said. ITServe lawsuit against the USCIS alleges that the agency has no authority to misinterpret the existing regulations and shorten the approval durations. In fact, the United States Congress has specifically granted power to the Department of Labor and DOL's regulations grant three-year approvals, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit also alleges that the itinerary requirement put forth by the USCIS is also unlawful. This is the second lawsuit filed by ITServe against USCIS. In the first lawsuit filed in July 2018, ITServe demanded USCIS to remove language from their website prohibiting F-1 STEM OPT students working at the third part client locations. "The USCIS has been making arbitrary rules and memos for over eight years, it's our top priority to set things right and hold USCIS accountable to follow the regulations set by the Unites States Congress," said ITServe's national president for 2018, Gopi Kandukuri. Referring to the recent spate of H-1B denials that ITServe members received, Kandukuri added members of ITServe Alliance are tired of receiving random denials for no reason. "The new battlefield for us is the federal courthouse and not USCIS service centers, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Suspected militants snatched two rifles from security personnel guarding the residence of a retired police officer in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district, police said Monday. The militants barged into the residence of former police officer Sheikh Ghulam Mohammad in central Kashmir's Chadoora area late Sunday night, a police official said. They looted two carbine rifles from the policemen. Police have launched a search to trace the weapons and nab the militants, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Johnny Depp has confirmed that he will reprise his role as the scheming wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the third installment of the "Fantastic Beasts" series. The 55-year-old actor, who will next be seen in the second film "The Crimes of Grindelwald" from JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" universe, said the team starts filming the next part in mid 2019, Collider reported. "The possibilities in that world are wide open, so you can really try anything. So it was a gas and I look forward to the next installment, which I think we start the middle of next year," Depp said while addressing an audience at Zurich Film Festival. The actor said he enjoyed playing the character as it gave him the space to try different things. "I loved it, because that's really an arena where you can fly around and try different things and approach a character with a lot more... To take someone who is teetering on being a fascist, yeah, he's a fascist, he's one of those, but to play him as a sensitive, concerned yet manipulative and powerful wizard, Depp said. Depp's casting as Grindelwald was severely opposed by fans amid claims of domestic abuse made by his former wife, Amber Heard, which he has denied. Last year, Rowling had said she is "genuinely happy" with Depp playing the role. The author said she and director David Yates had considered finding another actor to play Grindelwald after social media backlash, but had decided to respect the circumstances of Depp and Heard's divorce. Producer David Heyman hailed the actor as "extraordinary" back in August. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuador Embassy here since 2012, was allowed limited internet access by the south American nation, seven months after it disabled for alleged breach of asylum terms, Wikileaks has announced. The 47-year-old Australian national, who remains in hiding in a back room of the Ecuadorean Embassy in central London six years after losing a legal battle against extradition to Sweden, was told that his "isolation regime" would be ended following talks between UN officials and the Ecuador President Lenin Moreno last week. "Ecuador rolls back @JulianAssange isolation," WikiLeaks said in a message on Twitter on Sunday, and indicated that Assange's communications via phone and internet have been partially restored. "It is positive that, through UN intervention, Ecuador has partly ended the isolation of Mr Assange although it is of grave concern that his freedom to express his opinions is still limited," said Kristinn Hrafnsson, Wikileaks' editor-in-chief. "The UN has already declared Mr Assange a victim of arbitrary detention. This unacceptable situation must end. The UK government must abide by the UN's ruling and guarantee that he can leave the embassy without the threat of extradition to the United States," he said. The Ecuador government had disconnected Assange's internet access in March after it claimed that he had breached "a written commitment made to the government at the end of 2017 not to issue messages that might interfere with other states". Assange took refuge at the Ecuador Embassy in Knightsbridge in June 2012, having lost an appeal against extradition to Sweden for questioning on allegations of rape and sexual assault that went to the Supreme Court. While the Swedish case has since been dropped, Assange is still wanted by Scotland Yard for breach of bail and faces arrest the moment he steps out of the diplomatically immune territory. Assange, who claimed that the accusations were politically motivated, had been granted asylum six years ago by the Ecuador embassy on the grounds that he feared extradition to the United States to face imprisonment over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) JNU students' union former president Kanhaiya Kumar and many of his supporters were booked Monday on charges of assaulting a junior doctor and a security guard of AIIMS here and snatching the doctor's cell phone, an official said. The First Information Report against Kumar and his supporters was lodged at Phulwarisharif police station in western Patna on a complaint by the association of AIIMS doctors, Phulwarisharif SHO Mohd Qaiser Alam told PTI. Alam said "the doctors' association said in its complaint that Kanhaiya, along with about 100 others, had visited the hospital Sunday night to meet an old associate admitted there." "The complainants have alleged that they beat up an intern on duty and also thrashed a security guard who came to intervene," the SHO added. They also alleged that Kumar and his supporters snatched the doctor's mobile phone also after beating him up, he said. The FIR has been lodged under various IPC sections related to assault, snatching and preventing a public servant from discharging his duty, he said. The Sunday night incident has triggered angry reactions from doctors of the super-speciality hospital. They have threatened to go on an indefinite strike if "proper action" was not taken against Kumar and adequate security arrangements were not made in the hospital. Asked about the incident, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey told reporters, "I have talked to Patna AIIMS Director P K Singh and asked him to apprise me of the entire incident. We will take a call on what administrative action can be taken". "This is not JNU where you can do anything and get away with it," quipped the minister, a senior BJP leader. The minister's remarks were in an obvious reference to the sedition charges slapped against Kumar over two years ago for allegedly raising anti-national slogans on JNU campus. The alleged incident drew condemnation from many political parties, including the RJD which had earlier expressed its willingness to support Kumar in the next Lok Sabha polls if he is fielded by a Left party. Reacting to the episode, RJD MLA and spokesman Bhai Virendra said, "If such an incident has indeed taken place at the hospital, it is deplorable." JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh said, "This shows the character of the young leader who aspires to graduate from students politics and enter public life."The former JNUSU president could not be reached for his comments. He was said to be away at his native place in Begusarai district. There had been speculations that the CPI(M) may field Kumar from Begusarai, a Left bastion till the 1990s, in the next Lok Sabha polls. The RJD, which does not have a pre-poll alliance with the Left, had expressed its willingness to support his candidature. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday challenged the BJP-ruled Centre to show him the file of the Rafale deal, in return of his government's 400 files checked by a central committee. "I just need to be shown four files, including the one on the Rafale deal, for four days. I will send (them) to jail for life," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said at the launch of his party's donation campaign here. He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged corruption, while claiming that the AAP's rule in the national capital was "the most honest" in the country in the last 70 years. Asking his "honest" party workers and people to face both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress supporters with confidence, Kejriwal took a jibe at Modi, saying the chests of the people of Delhi puffed up to 60 inches, and not merely 56 inches, as they were filled with pride. He also said had the AAP attempted dishonest means to get money, it could have amassed Rs 2,000 crore by demanding just a one-per cent cut for works worth Rs 2 lakh crore awarded by his government in the last three-and-a-half years. Launching his party's donation campaign -- "Aap Ka Daan, Rashtra Ka Nirman" -- in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kejriwal said the campaign will become a model all over the world on how to do honest through public contributions. Asserting that the AAP government in Delhi was "the most honest" in the country in the last 70 years, Kejriwal took at dig at the Prime Minister, saying, "We have received clean chits from Narendra Modi and the committee that was formed to check our files." Attacking Modi, the AAP national convener alleged that attempts were made to stop the Delhi government from functioning -- first by forming a committee that went through 400 of its files and later through raids conducted against him, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, ministers Satyendar Jain and Kailash Gahlot. "Nothing was found by the committee and the raids. So, when I say ours is the most honest government, it is because we have received clean chits from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his committee," he said. The chief minister, however, challenged the Centre to show him the Rafale deal file in return of his government's files checked by its committee. He said anyone giving donations to the AAP would not do any "favour" to the party, but would do so for a better future of their children and nation building on the basis of honest "We have been able to work for the people honestly because our party was sustained by their small donations," Kejriwal said. Under the monthly donation scheme, people will need to give a missed call to a mobile phone number that was launched by the AAP supremo. They will be contacted by the staff of the service providers hired by the party for collecting donations. The minimum amount of donation is Rs 100. Kejriwal said the campaign will become a model all over the world on how to do honest through public contributions just as the Mohalla Clinic and doorstep delivery of services schemes of his government. The chief minister claimed that had his party attempted dishonest means, it could have collected at least Rs 2,000 crore through the contracts awarded by the Delhi government. "We awarded works worth Rs 2 lakh crore in the last three-and-a-half years of the AAP government in Delhi. Even if we asked for a one-per cent cut, we would have amassed Rs 2,000 crore. But then, we would not provide Mohalla clinics, schools, roads, flyovers to the people," he said. Kejriwal said his government did not allow any hike in the power tariff. "If we rise it by 50 paise, the power companies will give Rs 100 crore to our party fund," he claimed. Kejriwal said he would give Rs 10,000 per month to the party fund. His wife and daughter pledged donations of Rs 5,000 each while his father Rs 500 per month. All the top leaders of the party, including Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, MPs and MLAs among others also pledged to donate sums. Rajya Sabha MP Singh said he would donate Rs 21,000 per month to the party. Highlighting the Delhi government's achievements, Kejriwal asked the AAP workers to face the BJP and Congress supporters with confidence, because their party's government was honest. "The people of Delhi are filled with pride and their chests puff up to 60 inch. Not 56 inch, someone else's measures that," he said, taking a jibe at Modi for his "56-inch chest" quote. Kejriwal appealed to all the Delhi people who had benefitted from mohalla clinics, schools, improved power and water supplies and other welfare schemes of his government to donate to the AAP. Those who had not received any benefit from the AAP government should also donate to the party for its honest politics and nation building, he said. Kejriwal added that the Delhi government was rich but the AAP was "bankrupt", which he said was not the case when the Congress or the BJP ruled the national capital. "Then, the governments would be bankrupt and the parties would be malamaal (rich)," he charged. The chief minister also hit out at the BJP and the Congress, saying these parties ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for 15-20 years but did nothing to improve the health of the people or education there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Saudi King Salman has begun weighing in to try to defuse the growing crisis over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as the kingdom goes on the offensive triggering a fierce online media campaign. In a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Monday, the king denied "any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen'", the US leader said in a tweet. Trump added he was "immediately" sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh "to meet with the king" for talks on the crisis. The disappearance of Khashoggi, last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, has whipped up international concern, with new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman increasingly the focus of sharp criticism. Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi -- a Washington Post contributor who was critical of Prince Mohammed's policies -- was killed inside the mission, and lurid claims have even been leaked that he was tortured and even dismembered. After an initial silence, Riyadh said Khashoggi had left the consulate safely and then at the weekend denied as "baseless" claims that orders were given to have him killed. As western companies began to distance themselves from the oil-rich Gulf nation which is seeking outside investment to diversify its economy, the king also Sunday discussed the scandal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He reiterated Riyadh's "solid" relations with Ankara, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It is not the first time that King Salman has sought to ease tensions surrounding the 33-year-old Prince Mohammed, who has been cultivated by the US but whose reformist credentials are being quickly shredded by the mystery surrounding Khashoggi's fate. In an earlier phone call with Trump in April, King Salman reiterated Riyadh's position that Jerusalem must remain the capital of Palestine amid speculation that the kingdom had given up on the longstanding position. Aleksandar Mitreski, a security and defence analyst, said Saudi Arabia cannot control the international narrative but can try to alleviate the most damaging fallout. Saudi Arabia warned Sunday it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed over the Khashoggi's disappearance after Trump threatened "severe punishment" if the writer was found to be a victim of a state-sponsored killing. "The purpose of (Sunday's) message broadcasted by the Saudi national media is twofold: one goal is to satisfy the domestic public opinion that Saudi Arabia and its royal family will not be humiliated and the other goal is to send a message to the US," Mitreski, researcher at the University of Sydney, told AFP. The kingdom's warning was not only a response to Trump, but also targeted at US decision-makers amid rising calls for Congress to step in and put key arms sales on hold, he said. "It will be the task of political advisors and strategists to prevent Trump from causing damage to the US-Saudi relationship," he added. As the United States and Turkey have ratched up pressure on the kingdom, Saudi companies, officials and princes have also gone online in a wave of solidarity with the ruling family. Saudi flags, photos of the king and crown prince looking stern, and pro-Saudi hashtags were making the rounds on social media Monday with a common theme: Saudi Arabia and its ruling family are a "red line". Saudi Minister of Information Awwad al-Awwad tweeted on Sunday that the kingdom "always prevails against its enemies... under the wise leadership of the king and crown prince" using the Arabic hashtag #Saudis_In_Line_With_TheLeadership. Billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal -- who was among those temporarily detained as part of what Saudi authorities said was an anti-corruption crackdown -- tweeted an image of the Saudi flag Sunday in support of the ruling family, saying: "God, then the king, then the nation." One Twitter user said the Saudis "will not bow down and will not kneel, but only to God... We are all Salman, and we are all Mohammed". Some Saudis opted to remain silent for fear of consequences. "What is the use of discussing an issue that might throw you in a place you don't want to be?" a Saudi citizen, residing in Dubai, told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Let us wait quietly." James Dorsey, a fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said Saudi Arabia was stepping up moves against criticism. "There's been stark repression of anyone whose comments are not supportive of the government," he told AFP, as Saudi's public prosecutor warned earlier this week that those spreading fake can be sentenced to five years in jail. There has been "a concerted effort on social and state-controlled media to portray Khashoggi's disappearance as a conspiracy against the kingdom", he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The rival Koreas are holding high-level talks Monday to discuss further engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. South Korea said Monday's talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as Washington has expressed unease over the fast pace in inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with U.S.-led efforts to denuclearize the North. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the discussions will include setting up a joint survey of a North Korean railroad section the Koreas plan to connect with the South. The North's chief delegate to the talks is Ri Son Gwon, who chairs the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. There could also be discussions over the specifics of a joint military committee agreed between their leaders to evaluate tension-reduction steps and maintain communication to prevent crises and accidental clashes. "The infinite waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic start out as a gathering of smaller repositories of water," Ri told South Korean reporters as he arrived at the border village of Panmunjom for the meeting. "Likewise, the high-level meeting today will contribute to peace, prosperity and unification (between the countries) that are desired by the entire nation," he said, referring to the people of both Koreas. In their third summit this year, Moon and Kim committed to reviving economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such activity, and holding a groundbreaking ceremony by the end of the year on an ambitious project to connect their roads and railways. The North and South also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border, removing 11 front-line guard posts by December, and demining sections of the Demilitarized Zone. The Koreas also said they will make a push to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Moon has described inter-Korean engagement as crucial to resolving the nuclear standoff and is eager to restart joint economic projects held back by sanctions if the larger nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea begin yielding results. However, South Korea's enthusiasm for engagement with its rival appears to have created discomfort with ally United States amid growing concerns that the North is lagging behind its supposed promise to denuclearize. Moon's government last week walked back on a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea following President Donald Trump's blunt retort that Seoul could "do nothing" without Washington's approval. South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed displeasure about the Koreas' military agreement. Kang was not specific but her comments fueled speculation Washington wasn't fully on board before Seoul signed the agreement. Trump has encouraged US allies to maintain sanctions on North Korea until it denuclearizes to maintain a campaign of pressure against Kim's government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mizoram chief minister and state PCC chief Lal Thanhawla Monday exuded confidence that the ruling Congress party would make a hat-trick by winning the November 28 state assembly polls for the third consecutive terms. Lal Thanhawla told the ruling party workers that despite former home minister R. Lalzirliana and former health minister Lalrinliana Sailo leaving the party and joining the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) camp, the people of Mizoram still held hopes in the Congress. He said that the Congress workers were upbeat everywhere and had confidence to win at least 30 seats. The election to 40-member Mizoram assembly is slated on November 28. Stakes are high for the Congress in Mizoram as it would be a tough challenge for it to retain the only government in the entire North-East. Lal Thanhawala has been heading Mizoram Congress government continously since 2008. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat High Court on Monday said that experts should decide whether all lions in the state's Gir forest need to be vaccinated to prevent the outbreak of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV). The state government had told HC during the last hearing that out of the 23 lions which were found dead in Gir forest in September, 17 had succumbed to CDV and bacterial infection. These lions had died in the Dalkhaniya range of Gir (east) division of Amreli district. A bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi is hearing two PILs, one filed by wildlife activist Biren Pandya and a suo motu PIL on the unnatural deaths of lions due to electrocution and falling into open wells. The issue of deaths of lions in September due to infections was added at a later stage. The HC on Monday also asked the Union government as to why it has allocated an upkeep fund of Rs 95,000 for a lion when the same is Rs 15 lakh in the case of a tiger. The issue was raised by Hemang Shah, the lawyer appointed by court to argue the PIL. During the course of hearing Monday, the Gujarat government told court that lions in the affected areas of the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary were vaccinated along with cattle and dogs following the outbreak in September. Shah submitted that all lions residing in the forest, which the government says now number over 600, should be vaccinated. According to the May 2015 census, there are 523 lions in Gujarat. The court observed that the matter should be best kept for the experts to decide, while reserving its order for Wednesday. On the matter of erecting parapet walls around open wells, the government Monday said that three districts have been asked to submit reports. The government told the HC that work of covering wells was underway but did not give a deadline for its completion. The government has to inform the court every two months about the progress in this connection. On the matter of death of lions due to electrocution, advocate Shah suggested that power supply of farmers having electric fences around their farm land be suspended for three to six months. He said that criminal cases must be registered in the matter and day-to-day hearing of such cases should be held. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seven persons were arrested and 10 country-made pistols were recovered in separate police operations in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district, a senior official said Monday. While nine pistols and 16 cartridges were seized from Pusad town, one pistol and two cartridges were recovered in Yavatmal city, Superintendent of Police M Rajkumar said in a press conference here. The operations that led to these arrests and seizures were carried out the Anti-Gang Cell of Yavatmal police's Crime Branch, he said. The SP said that main accused Abhijit alias Pintu Rambhau Jagtap, a resident of Zodgaon village in Barsitakli tehsil of Akola district, procures illegal firearms from Betul in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and sells them to clients here. Based on a tip off, a police team led by sub inspector Santosh Manwar laid a trap in Pusad's Umerkhed Road and nabbed Jagtap along with three others Sunday, the SP said. Nine pistols and 16 cartridges, as well as four bikes, cumulatively worth Rs 7.26 lakh, were recovered from Jagtap, he said. He identified the other accused as Pusad-residents Jai Keshav Baber (30), Rakesh Sharadsingh Bayas (38) and Leeladhar alias Bablu Vijay Malghane (21). The four have been remanded in police custody for fours days, he said. In another raid led by inspector Amol Chaudhari, three persons were arrested with one country-made pistol and two live bullets, all worth Rs 1.32 lakh, from Yavatmal city, Rajkumar told mediapersons. Those arrested from Yavatmal city have been identified as Shahejad Khan Shabbir Khan (25), Javed Ahmad Khurshid Ahmad (33) and Azhgar alias Azad Khan Waheed Khan Pathan (30). They have been sent to police custody for three days. Cases have been registered under relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Bombay Police Act, the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 38-year-old man committed suicide in Maharashtra's Parbhani district as he was allegedly fed up with a woman's persistent demand for illicit sex, police said Monday. Sachin Mitkari, who worked in a hospital at Parbhani along with the woman, was found hanging from the ceiling of his house on the Parbhabni-Vasmat road Sunday, police said. Neighbours who found him hanging alerted police, who sent the body for post-mortem, said a police official at Parbhani, which is around 500 km from Mumbai. A suicide note written by Mitkari was found at the spot, police said. In it, he accused the woman of harassing him and of insisting on having sexual relationship with him, they said. Mitkari's note said the woman was aware that he was married but nonetheless was continuously after him, demanding to have sexual relations with him, police said. She used to blackmail the deceased by threatening to file a criminal case against him, the official said, quoting the note. Police have registered an abatement to suicide case against the woman, the official said. Further investigation in the matter was underway, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Outgoing Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has told the Supreme Court that disappearing ink and specially treated ballot papers were to blame for his heavy election defeat last month. The comments came as the court considered a petition by Yameen to have the September 23 election result annuled due to what his party called "rampant" vote-rigging. On Monday afternoon the five-judge bench put off the case until Tuesday when it will announce whether to allow testimony from three unnamed witness named by Yameen's lawyers. His lawyers told a packed court room that the trio of yet unnamed witnesses could substantiate Yameen's allegations. However, the country's independent Elections Commission (EC) through its lawyers insisted that the petition was based on false allegations and should be dismissed. Local media also reported four of the five election commissioners have fled the country and sought refuge in neighbouring Sri Lanka following death threats after Yameen lost the September 23 vote. The strongman leader of the honeymoon island nation had been expected to romp home in the election, with opposition leaders jailed or exiled, and warnings that he would try to fix the vote. But in a surprise turn of events, a little-known united opposition candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, was declared the winner, sparking celebrations across the tropical holiday destination. Yameen initially said he accepted defeat, and was ready to step down when his term ends on November 17. But last week he launched the Supreme Court challenge seeking a fresh vote. At a hearing on Sunday which resumed Monday, Yameen's lawyer Mohamed Saleem accused the printer of coating ballot papers with an unnamed substance to make votes marked in Yameen's box vanish. Saleem said a "special pen with disappearing ink" was also given to people who were going to vote for his client, a reporter at the hearing said. Counting officials also allegedly carried secret pens with which they marked ballots for the opposition. A lawyer for the EC denied any wrongdoing, including using any special ink. Yameen had also accused the EC of colluding with the printer of the ballots. Ahead of the court hearing in the capital Male, the United States warned "appropriate measures" would be taken if the will of the Maldivian people was undermined. Europe and India have also issued similar warnings in the past. The US and its allies have been concerned by growing Chinese influence in the strategically positioned Indian Ocean archipelago, especially under Yameen's authoritarian rule. Yameen's Progressive Party (PPM) on Saturday said the vote was the "most farcical election in living memory" with the organisation "abysmal" and vote-rigging "rampant". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thirty years after he was charged with raping a girl, a Mumbai court has acquitted a 46-year-old man, observing that at the time of the incident, consensual sex with a girl above 16 was not a crime. The man was 16 years-old at that time when the case was registered against him at the Airport police station in suburban Andheri in 1988. He was accused of "enticing" a 17-year-old girl from the custody of her parents by promising to marry her and raped her. The accused told the court that he had a love affair with the girl. Principal sessions judge P V Ganediwala acquitted the accused (his name not disclosed) of all charges last week, observing that the relationship was consensual. "From the testimony of the victim, it appears that she consented for the sexual intercourse. At the relevant time, she was above 16 years of age. As per Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, in its applicability in the year 1988, consensual sexual intercourse with a girl above 16 years of age was excluded from the definition of rape," the judge said. "The age of accused was also 16 years. By no stretch of imagination it can be said that he enticed the girl of age 17 years from the legal custody of her parents and committed rape," the judge said. Under the current law, the age of consent for sexual intercourse is 18, a city-based lawyer said. According to the prosecution, the alleged incident took place in January 1988. The girl's parents had filed a police complaint against the accused, a neighbour, when she did not return home and was later found at his house. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 55-year-old man died after falling from a hillock in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday. Dhani Ram, a resident of Gari village, was found dead in Thakrakote area of the district, a police spokesman said. He said preliminary investigation found that the deceased slipped while heading for his residence on Sunday evening. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Monday demanded a CBI probe into the death of Gaya resident Amarjit Singh in Surat. The 32-year-old Amarjit Singh, who had been living and working in Surat for over a decade, died on Friday with the police claiming that he was killed in a road mishap. There were, however, media reports which quoted the man's family members as alleging that he was beaten to death by a mob. Incidents of attacks on Hindi-speaking migrants were reported in some districts of Gujarat earlier this month after the rape of a 14-month-old girl in Sabarkantha district and arrest of a worker from Bihar for the crime. Surat is believed to have the highest number of migrant workers among all cities in Gujarat. Surat police commissioner Satish Sharma Sunday said the evidence shoed that the deceased, Amarjit Singh, died after his motorcycle hit a tree. Manjhi, who hails from Gaya and represents an assembly segment in the district, said in a statement that he will soon meet the bereaved family members, besides demanding a probe by the central probe agency and an ex-gratia of Rs one crore to the next of the kin of the deceased. On Sunday, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had said at a function that "prima facie" Amarjit's death was caused by a motorcycle crash. He had also blamed Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor for attacks on Hindi-speaking people and criticized the party for failure to take action against him. The CPI (ML) Liberation sent a team to Kaudiya village in Gaya, to which Amarjit belonged, and met the father of the deceased who is a retired BSF jawan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat government has invited Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma for the inauguration of the 'Statue of Unity' dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel which is set to be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31, officials said Monday. The formal invitation was handed over in person by Gujarat Health Minister Nitinbhai Ratilal Patel who called on Sangma at his office at the secretariat here Monday, they said. "Patel has formally handed over an invite to the chief minister to attend the ceremony on October 31," a senior official at the Chief Ministers Office told PTI. He said the chief minister has assured Patel of his presence at the function unless there is any other emergency situation which demands the chief ministers presence. The 182-metre tall statue, which is touted to be the tallest statue in the world, will be unveiled by the PM on birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, the first Home minister of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister M J Akbar on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint in a court here against journalist Priya Ramani, who has accused him of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago, alleging she "wilfully" and "maliciously" made imputations against him with the ulterior motive of maligning his reputation and political standing. The Minister of State for External Affairs filed the plea in the Patiala House district courts through law firm Karanjawala & Co and the 'vakalatnama' names 97 lawyers, who have been authorised by Akbar to represent him. "The accused (Ramani) has made false, derogatory and malicious imputations against the complainant (Akbar), in order to defame him, with the sole ulterior motive of maligning the reputation and political standing of the complainant, in furtherance of her own vested interests and underlying agenda," the BJP minister said in his complaint which sought her prosecution for the offence of defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Reacting to Akbar's step, Ramani said in a statement that she is ready to fight the defamation allegations. She alleged that "rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he (Akbar) seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment". Akbar's plea, which is likely to come up for hearing during the week, listed alleged defamatory imputations made by Ramani on social media and also referred to the "long and illustrious" career of Akbar as a journalist while terming the allegations of Ramani as a "figment of her imagination". "Whilst it is apparent that the accused has resorted to a series of maliciously serious allegations which she is diabolically and viciously spreading in media, it is also apparent that false narrative against the complainant (Akbar) is being circulated in a motivated manner for the fulfilment of an agenda," it alleged. It termed as "scandalous" the allegations made by Ramani against Akbar and said "very tone and tenor" are "ex-facie defamatory" and they have not only damaged his goodwill and reputation in his social circle but also affected Akbar's reputation in "the community, friends, family and colleagues" and caused "irreparable loss" and "tremendous distress". It claimed that the woman journalist, while putting forward the allegations relating to incidents which allegedly occurred 20 years ago, "intentionally put forward malicious, fabricated, and salacious imputations to harm the reputation of the complainant". "The conduct of the accused person, of not taking any action before any authority, qua the alleged incident against the complainant also clearly belies the sanctity of the article and allegations made by the accused person, which evidently goes on to prove that the said defamatory articles are only a figment of her imagination," it said. The complaint, filed through advocate Sandeep Kapur, seeks issuance of notice and prosecution of Ramani under Section 499 (defamation) of the IPC. Section 500 of the IPC provides for the sentence for the offence of defamation and an accused may be awarded two-years jail term or fine or both in the event of conviction. Akbar's name had cropped up in the social media campaign #Metoo against alleged sexual harassment when he was in Nigeria. Hours after returning from the Africa trip, Akbar had termed the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them. The women who accused Akbar of sexual harassment, included Ghazala Wahab, Shuma Raha, Anju Bharti and Shutapa Paul. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The pushback against the #MeToo wave that has swept through the ranks of the powerful with scores of women narrating their alleged experiences of sexual harassment began Monday with Union minister M J Akbar filing a criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani. In Mumbai, character actor Alok Nath moved a civil suit against writer-director Vinta Nanda, who accused him of raping her more than once during the making of her serial "Tara" in the 1990s, seeking a public apology and Re 1 as damages. As the two men, at the centre of the growing storm against sexual exploitation in the workplace and outside, approached the courts with defamation suits, their accusers said they would not be cowed by the intimidatory tactics. "By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," Ramani said after the minister of state for external affairs filed his case in a Delhi court. "Needless to say, I am ready to fight allegations of defamation laid against me, as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence," Ramani said. Accused by more than a dozen women journalists of sexual harassment and more while he was an editor, Akbar has filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani, who was the first one to name him. The minister has accused Ramani of "wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously" defaming him and has sought her prosecution under the penal provision on defamation. In his first statement on Sunday after returning from Nigeria, Akbar responded to the demands for his resignation by terming the accusations against him "false, fabricated and deeply distressing". Ghazala Wahab, who wrote a graphic account of her alleged prolonged harassment at the hands of Akbar, wrote in The Wire that Akbar's statement was "rambling" and "full of tired cliches". The #MeTooIndia handle tweeted that Akbar's defence team has 97 lawyers against Ramani. Several people, including lawyers, rallied around Ramani, offering help in meeting her legal expenses and some appealed on social media for crowd funding. "It is not about agreeing or disagreeing. He has presented his version," Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao said in the party's first reaction to the allegations against Akbar. The pressure for his resignation continued to build up. Women's rights activist Vani Subramanian told PTI she is not surprised by Akbar moving court as "such people tend to react in this way when their power and entitlement is challenged". "He is not the first man to not accept his mistake and unfortunately he wouldn't be the last man to not admit his mistakes," she said. In a joint statement, journalist organisations Indian Women's Press Corps, Press Club of India, Press Association and South Asian Women in Media asked for an impartial probe into all the complaints without "fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants". "We also feel that in the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it is only proper and appropriate that the minister step down from his post till as such time the probe is completed," it said. The ripples were inevitably felt in the Hindi film industry, where the movement began with Tanushree Dutta levelling allegations of harassment against actor Nana Patekar during a 2008 film shoot. Dutta's account opened the floodgates with Subhash Ghai, Sajid Khan and Rajat Kapoor along with Nath being "outed". Nanda's lawyer said in a statement that the case filed by Nath, who has made a name for himself playing the gentle father and grandfather in numerous Bollywood films, would be fought legally and her client won't be intimidated by threats and defamations suits. "The so called defamation proceedings are not served upon us as yet - however and whatever the proceedings will be, we will deal with everything following due process of law," Nanda's lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said, Actor Simran Suri, one of those who accused Sajid Khan of harassment, said threats of defamation will not discourage the strong women who have finally decided to come out and speak. "The truth remains the same and there's no looking back now.... We're all with Vinta Nanda," Suri told PTI. Senior journalist Vinod Dua and veteran action director Sham Kaushal are the latest figures to face allegations of misconduct. Filmmaker Nishtha Jain has accused Dua of harassing and stalking her almost three decades ago. In a statement, Dua's daughter, comedian Mallika Dua, called out Jain for dragging her in the controversy. Mallika, however, said she stands with the #MeToo movement and will let her father fight his own battle. Kaushal said he has always tried to be a good person, both professionally and personally but if he has ever hurt anyone, he would like to apologise unconditionally. An assistant director, Nameeta Parekh, has alleged that Kaushal invited her to his room for drinks when they were on an outdoor shoot in 2006. When she declined, he began persuading her and even showed porn on his phone, she alleged. In the South, more than 200 Carnatic musicians have signed a statement urging women to come forward with their stories. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : As the #MeToo storm rages in India with personalities from arts and politics being accused of sexual harassment by many women, actor-politician Kamal Haasan Monday said the cinema industry should not be singled out on this matter. When such charges are being levelled, both sides should be heard for their versions, he said. "Don't single out the cinema industry. We have to understand it (sexual harassment) is prevalent in all fields," he told reporters at the airport here. Actor Tanushree Dutta had recently levelled sexual harassment charges against veteran star Nana Patekar, with the incident being billed as the starting point of the Indian #MeToo movement, which originated in Hollywood in the U.S. Subsequently, a host of celebrities, including Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai, Rajat Kapoor and Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu, besides serving and former journalists like Union Minister M J Akbar have been charged with sexual harassment by a number of women. The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder-president said women were coming out with "a problem" and if the accusations needed to be examined, it should be done. It was now widely believed across the world that if such things came out in the open, there would not be any future harassment, he said. To a query, Haasan said he said he is opposed to caste and that this was reflected in most of his films. On repeatedly being targeted by the ruling AIADMK, including its Ministers, over a number of issues, Haasan said "this shows I am progressing in the right direction." The actor-politician has been often critical of the K Palaniswami government on various issues, including corruption. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) MG Motor India, a wholly-owned arm of China's SAIC Motor Corp, will roll out a locally manufactured pure-electric SUV by first half of 2020, within one year of its first product launch in the country, a top company official said Monday. The company is all set to drive in its first product, a mid-sized SUV with petrol and diesel powertrains, in the second quarter of 2019. MG Motor would manufacture both the products at its Halol plant in Gujarat, which it acquired from General Motors last year. "MG will launch a globally-competitive pure-electric SUV in India to make our contribution to India's energy and environmental strategies," SAIC Motor Executive Director International Business Michael Yang told reporters here. Yang, however, did not share details regarding the size as well as range of the electric SUV. MG Motor India President and Managing Director Rajeev Chaba said SAIC has proven technology in terms of EVs and the company is gearing up for a long haul in India in terms of environmental friendly products. "It (electric SUV) is just the first product. We have proven capability in terms of EVs. Depending upon the policy and regulations scenario in India, we would take a call on launching more of such products in the country," he added. When asked if lack of policy for EVs in India could be a deterrent for the company, Yang said "globally, there is a trend to move towards environment friendly vehicles. Indian government is pretty clear that electric is the way forward. There is no policy at the moment but we are not there (India) for short term. We are looking at the country with a long term perspective." Terming India as an important market for SAIC, Yang said the company would try to enhance localisation content in products for Indian market keeping in mind local conditions and customer requirements. Chaba added that the company will launch one new model in the country every year going ahead. On plans to expand Halol plant, Chaba said manufacturing capacity at the facility could be augmented to 2 lakh units per annum from 80,000 units currently, depending upon market demand. "We are investing USD 500 million in India by next year for the first phase. As we are in for a long term we will expand to second phase as well," he said adding this should be enough for first 3-4 years before going in for the second phase of expansion. On the launch of its first product in India next year, Chaba said the company is ramping up all pre-launch activities, beginning with product road shows for consumers in India next month. "This will be followed by various brand-awareness initiatives to get closer to our prospective customers. All our products will be designed and engineered in the UK and China with the support of Indian engineers," he added. The models would be heavily localised and manufactured at Halol conforming to global quality standards and validated and customised for India to suit the Indian road and driving conditions, Chaba said. MG Motor has also lined up around Rs 100 crore to build its own office in Gurgaon, he said adding that the premises would also have a brand store. The automaker also plans to hire close to 1,500 employees by the end of 2019, compared with a strength of 300 employees at present. SAIC sells over 6.5 million vehicles annually around the world. MG Motor sells a range of products, including hatchback MG3 and SUV MG GS in the European market. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Maharashtra Minister Ramdas Kadam ordered immediate action Monday after noticing that some devotees were using plastic bags, banned in the state, at the temple town of Shirdi. Kadam visited the famous Saibaba temple at Shirdi in Ahmednagar district Monday. On his orders, officials of the Shirdi Municipal Council recovered a fine of Rs 5,000 each from two shop keepers who provided plastic carry bags to devotees. The minister chided municipal authorities for not implementing the ban on plastic bags in the town. Earlier, 1,200 tonnes of plastic garbage was generated in the state daily, but the amount is now halved after the ban came into effect in June, the minister told reporters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Class 10 student of a government school was allegedly raped by four men, including the son of her landlord, who lured her with an offer to buy her a pizza, the police said Monday. The incident took place on Friday in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri, they added. The landlord's son offered to buy a pizza to lure the girl and took her to a room where three of his friends also joined them, said a senior police officer. They were under the influence of alcohol, he said. They allegedly forced themselves on her and threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed about the incident to anyone, he added. When the girl's mother returned from work, the victim narrated her ordeal to her mother, who took her to the police station, he said. A case was registered under the relevant sections of POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual offences) and IPC. The accused were arrested on the same day. The victim stays in a shanty in Kalyan Vaas while the four accused stay in east Vinod Nagar. The landlord's son is aged 28 and is married. One of the accused is a 19-year-old, who does the job of washing cars. Two of the accused are in their 30s, the officer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The highest number of questions asked in the 14th Rajasthan legislative assembly, which completes its five-year tenure this December, were related to education, medical and health, and public works departments, according to a report. The report released Monday by the Rajasthan Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) also said that 95 per cent of the bills tabled in the Assembly were passed. It said that the top five members in terms of attendance in the House were from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Questions asked in the House related to the education department were 3,325, followed by medical and health department (2,970) and public works department (2,965), the report said. The least number of questions, 1,472, were related to the urban development and housing department, it said. The report was prepared on the basis of replies of RTIs, pertaining to the performance of the MLAs, filed with the legislative assembly secretariat, Kamal Tak, the state coordinator of the Rajasthan Election Watch said here Monday. The Assembly had 11 sessions and on an average, the state sat for 28 days per year, with total number of sitting being 139, Tak said. He said the top five MLAs with highest number of attendance were from the ruling BJP. The highest attendance of 99 per cent was of BJP's Jhabar Singh Kharra, he added. Referring to the report, Tak said 152 bills were tabled in the Assembly and 145 of them (95 per cent) were passed. Eighty-five bills (59 per cent) passed within a week after they were tabled in the Assembly while 29 bills (20 per cent) passed within 15 days of tabling, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will be on a three-day visit to Belgium later this week to attend the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit, the first multilateral dialogue that he will attend after taking office, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Monday. Naidu will lead an Indian delegation to the summit, scheduled to be held on October 18-19 in Brussels. "The bi-annual event is considered the highest platform for dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe in the areas of trade, investment, security and tourism. This will also be the first multilateral summit that the vice president will be attending after taking office in August," the MEA said in a statement. The theme of this year's ASEM summit is 'Global Partners for Global Challenges'. The 2018 summit, hosted by the European Union, will be chaired by the President of the European Council. A number of heads of states and heads of government are expected to participate in the summit, it said. "ASEM Agenda for 2018 will prioritise issues related to connectivity, trade and investment, sustainable development, climate change, terrorism, migration, maritime security and cyberspace," the MEA said. Apart from the opening ceremony, Naidu will participate in the Plenary Session and have interactions with various stakeholders. In addition, the vice president will call on the King of the Belgians, it said. He will also have bilateral meetings with the heads of state and government from Austria, Portugal, Switzerland and other countries on the sidelines of the summit. On October 20, the vice president will address the Indian diaspora at the Jain Culture Centre in Wilrijk, Antwerp. He will also pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi by offering flowers to his statue located in the Governorate of Antwerp, the MEA said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) :Vice Admiral Narayan Prasad took over as Director General Naval Projects (DGNP)here Monday. Narayan Prasad was commissioned into the Indian Navy as an Engineering Officer in July 1983 and holds a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and an M.Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies. An alumnus of the Sainik School Tilaiyaand National Defence Academy, he has held various important positions in the Indian Navy including operations, Staff, Dockyard and Strategic Projects, a Navy release said here. He served onboard frontline warships Talwar, Ranjit, Rana and also as the Fleet Engineer Officer of Eastern Fleet. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Assistant Chief of Material (Nuclear Systems Maintenance) at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) at New Delhi; Admiral Superintendent of Naval Dockyard Visakhapatnam and Chief Staff Officer (Technical), ENC. He has been awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Nausena Medal for his distinguished services, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday stayed all proceedings against IL&FS and its 348 group firms till a further order, after an urgent petition moved by the government. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs swiftly approached the appellate tribunal after the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) turned down its plea to grant 90 days moratorium over the loans taken by IL&FS and its subsidiaries. Passing an interim order over the government's plea, a two-member NCLAT bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya stayed all the proceedings "taking into consideration the nature of the case, larger public interest and economy of the nation and interest of IL&FS and 348 group companies". The NCLAT also directed to implead the top five lenders of IL&FS and asked to submit their replies over the government's plea seeking 90 days moratorium. "There shall be stay of the institution or continuation of suits or any other proceedings by any party or person or bank or company, etc against IL&FS and its 348 group companies in any court of law/tribunal/arbitration panel or arbitration authority," the appellate tribunal said. There would also be stay on "any action by any party or person or bank or company etc to foreclose, recover or enforce any security interest created over the assets of IL&FS and its 348 group companies including any action under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002". The appellate tribunal has also put suspension of temporarily the acceleration of any term loan, corporate loan, bridge loan, commercial paper, debentures, fixed deposits and any other financial facility by the IL&FS and its 348 group companies. It has also stayed all banks, financial institutions from exercising the right to set off or lien against any amounts lying with any creditor against any dues. The appellate tribunal has directed to list the government's appeal on November 13 "for admission". Meanwhile, the NCLAT also clarified that the interim order will not be applicable to any writ petition filed before high courts or the Supreme Court. During the proceedings of the appellate tribunal, the government side was represented by Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. A moratorium period is a time during which the borrower is not required to make any repayment towards the loans. The government, in its application filed before the NCLT, had sought three months' moratorium over "institution or continuation" or any other proceedings against IL&FS and any of its group companies in "any court of law/tribunal/arbitration panel or arbitration authority". It has also asked for moratorium over any action by any party "to foreclose, recover or enforce any security interest" created over the assets of IL&FS or its group firms under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act. The Mumbai bench of the NCLT had on October 1 suspended the board of IL&FS on government's plea and had authorised reconstitution of the board by appointing seven directors two days later. The government had stated that the newly appointed board is "likely to face certain problems" relating to IL&FS and its group company and there may be a need to "rationalise/rethink" business process and strategies that may ensure effective and more efficient manner of functioning. It had further contended that the newly elected board required "status quo to be preserved qua the business and assets" of IL&FS and group companies. "In the light of the financial crisis which IL&FS was undergoing, the applicant (govt) is given to understand that a large number of creditors have threatened and some creditors have instituted legal proceedings against IL&FS and its group companies. Some proceedings sprouted against IL&FS and its group companies," the government said. It further added "by a letter dated October 11, 2018, the applicant (MCA) has been informed by ILFS Transport and IL&FS and its group companies have received letters or written communications from 49 different creditors including bond holders, many of whom have accelerated payments under financial facilities extended and demanded payment forthwith under threat of legal proceedings against IL&FS and the corresponding group companies." However, a two-member NCLT bench had said that moratorium sought by the government under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code can not be extended under section 241-242 of the Companies Act, under which the NCLT has dissolved IL&FS board. "In the circumstances, we are of the considered view that the moratorium which has been sought by the Union of India by an application u/s 242 of the Companies act 2013 cannot be granted," said the NCLT. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Commission for Scheduled Castes Monday asked all District Revenue Officers in Tamil Nadu to furnish information in 15 days on steps taken to remove encroachments of 'Panchami lands' given to Dalits. The Commission has sent notices to the DROs to specify details, including extent of panchami lands, encroachments and steps taken to remove them, NCSC vice-chairman L Murugan said. 'Panchami lands' denote land assigned to Dalits in Tamil Nadu by the British Indian government during the late 19th century. Though panchami lands were assigned on condition that it cannot be alienated to non-Scheduled Castes, these also came into the hands of people of other communities with the passage of time. NCSC has given the DROs 15 days time to respond, he said. Last week, at a high level review meeting, the Tamil Nadu government officials told the Commission that there are about 1.5 lakh acres of panchami lands in the state. However, there are also claims that there are about 12 lakh acres of panchami lands in the state, Murugan said. On the exact extent of Panchami lands, he said there were huge discrepancies which are being studied. "A committee of the state government is also looking into identification of panchami lands in Tamil Nadu following a High Court direction," he noted. Besides the state government's initiative, the Commission has also held review meetings in some districts, focusing on aspects of panchami lands like its extent and encroachments and steps to remove it, he said. DROs were asked to specify information since they are the custodians of such lands. Explaining the Commission's efforts to retrieve Panchami land, he said Salem district authorities appeared before the panel at Delhi last week over removal of encroachments of about nine acres. They said notices had been issued to the encroaches to vacate and follow up action was being taken to ensure that encroachments were removed, he said. In Coimbatore, 60 acres has been retrieved and given to the Dalits, who are now engaged in farming, Murugan said. On some villagers in Salem district recently objecting to a Dalit woman being appointed as a cook in a government school,he said three of the six accused were absconding (including the school headmaster) and three had been arrested. Departmental action has been recommended against the headmaster by the authorities, the NCSC vice chief said. "The headmaster had told the Dalit cook to abstain from preparing food. We are for the arrest all the six accused persons, including the headmaster," he said. According to the FIR, S Jothi, a nutritious meal helper, was elevated as cook and transferred to Kuppankottai panchayat Union Elementary School in Salem district on October 4. On October 11, five villagers came to the school's nutritious meal kitchen when Jothi was preparing food, allegedly objected to her cooking for children of their community and informed the school management that their wards would not consume the meals prepared by her. They also demanded that she be replaced and reportedly threatened to withdraw their wards from the school. On October 14, three of the five villagers were arrested. The SC panel vice chief said the commission was for ending discrimination and untouchability of all forms and all steps were being taken in this regard. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Women farmers are playing a significant role in the development of the farm sector and more females should be appointed in extension services to empower them further, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said Monday. Addressing an event to mark Mahila Kisan Diwas here, the minister said women farmers have to be empowered for the growth of the agriculture sector and the rural economy. About 400 women from 26 states participated in the two-day event that started on Sunday. Mahila Kisan Diwas is celebrated on October 15. Singh said of the total farmers in the country, about 14 per cent are women. The minister lauded the contribution of women in the development of agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry and beekeeping sectors. Singh pitched for appointing more women in agriculture extension service and said the Centre would write to states on this matter. In order to bring women in the agriculture mainstream, he said the government has allocated more than 30 per cnet of funds for women under various major schemes / programmes and development related activities. The minister informed that a research by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) conducted in nine states shows that the participation of women is 75 per cent in the production of major crops, 79 per cent in horticulture, 51 per cent in post-harvest work and 95 per cent in animal husbandry and fisheries. Singh said special importance is being given to the role of women in achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022. He said women are trained under various farm schemes. Under the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), 38.78 lakh women have been trained in the last two years. Similarly, 6.07 lakh and 7000 women have benefited through KVKs (Krishi Vigyan Kendra's) and skill training respectively. A total of 53.34 lakh women have benefited during the year 2016-17 and 2017-18. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal government on Monday unveiled the crown and 11 other artifacts of the Shah dynasty that represents two and a half century old monarchy, a decade after the Himalayan country was declared a Republic. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli unveiled the crown at a special function at Narayanhiti Royal palace-turned museum. The display of the crown will lure foreign tourists from around the world in the days ahead that would help in promote Nepal's tourism sector, Oli said. The Narayanhiti Palace was converted into a museum after the abolition of the monarchy in Nepal in May 28, 2008. The palace is now owned by the government. The then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala declared that the royal palace would be converted into a museum after the last king of the Shah dynasty, Gyanendra Shah, left the palace on June 11, 2008. Twelve valuable artifacts belonging to the ex-monarch, including the crown, scepter and a sword were made public on Monday. The crown and scepter were few artifacts that had been kept with the Nepal Army for protection after the museum opened for public on February 27, 2009. Special security arrangements were made for the unveiling of the crown full of diamond and gold. There are seven layers of protection for the crown. The crown is kept in a bullet-proof glass and the CCTV camera will operate round-the-clock. The box also has a censor that will activate an alarm if any one touches the box. The royal crown, which is bejeweled with diamonds and gold, used to be worn by the king on special occasions consists of 730 pieces of diamonds and other valuable stones. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 40-year-old Nepalese man has been apprehended at a Delhi Metro station for allegedly carrying a live bullet in his baggage, a senior official said Monday. Ram Prasad, a native of Dharampur in Nepal, was found carrying a live round by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the Jahangirpuri station when his bag was being scanned on Sunday, they said. He could not furnish any license or document for carrying the bullet, he said. He was handed over to the Delhi Police by the CISF team for further investigation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Some 20 protesters were arrested Sunday when Nicaraguan police swooped in to break up a meeting of demonstrators gathering for a march against the government of President Daniel Ortega. Police wielded clubs and hurled stun grenades to break up the demonstrators gathering at a shopping mall parking lot, beating men, women and even some elderly people. Those arrested were dragged down the street to be later loaded onto police patrol vehicles. Some reporters were also beaten and briefly detained, local independent reporters said. "They respect no one, not even older people or children," said Azhalea Solis, head of the Civic Alliance, an umbrella group that represents business people, students and social groups. And there was outrage from the Organization of American States and the president of neighboring Costa Rica. "We demand the government of #Nicaragua release the protesters who have been detained, that it respect the right to peaceful protest nationwide, and stop repression and all intimidation of political leaders and civilians," OAS chief Luis Almagro wrote on Twitter. "Deeply concerned by this morning's arrests in Nicaragua. The repression the Nicaraguan people are being put through must stop," Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado tweeted. Police had earlier announced that they would not allow any unauthorized demonstrations. Hundreds of anti-riot police officers were deployed early in the day to key points of the capital Managua as well as to the highway to the restive city of Masaya. Government supporters took over city roundabouts where protesters had planned to gather. Anti-government demonstrations began on April 18, initially protesting changes in the social security system. Since then the demonstrations have grown in size and the protestors are calling for the resignation of Ortega and his wife and vice president Rosario Murillo. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A no-deal scenario in Brexit negotiations is 'more likely than ever before', EU President Donald Tusk warned Monday, ahead of a crunch summit in Brussels billed as a crucial moment for planning Britain's exit from the bloc. In a letter to members of the European Council, Tusk said that while he encouraged all involved to "remain hopeful and determined... at the same time, responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gautam Buddh Nagar police Monday said they have arrested the key person who was running an illegal factory in Ghaziabad that was busted in the last week of September. Bobby Tomar alias Langda was absconding since September 26, when a police team from Noida Sector 24 had raided the Ghaziabad's Tronica City based factory. Around 15,000 litre of illicit liquor worth an estimated Rs 50 lakh was seized from the factory in a record haul in recent times by the city police and four persons arrested in the action, according to officials. The factory, which was running under the garb of a "juice manufacturing" unit, was being managed by Tomar, 38, they said. "Since the raid, the police were tracking Tomar's movement. On a tip-off from informers, we got to know that he would be coming to City Centre. Police teams were mobilised and Tomar was arrested this morning," Sector 24 Station House Officer Pankaj Pant said. Tomar was running the factory for gangster Amit alias Bhoora, who is presently lodged in the Patiala jail, according to the police. He was also involved in managing other illegal businesses of Bhoora, the police said, adding his role in other nefarious activities was being ascertained. Tomar, a resident of Baghpat district, has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink) and related offences, the police said. Tomar has been remanded in judicial custody, SHO Pant said. During the Operation 'Yellow Water' of the Gautam Buddh Nagar police in September, a bootlegger was held by the Sector 24 police station. Developing on the information obtained from him, the police team had raided the "juice factory" inTronica City in the Sector 2 of Ghaziabad's Loni area to unearth the illegal liquor factory. According to the police, they had recovered 15,000 litres of alcohol, ethyl alcohol,caramel chemical stashed in 200 drums, each having a capacity of 100 litres; empty bottles, wrappers, sealing machines, and three tanks of 5,000 litres each filled with liquor. A truck, loaded with 600 cartons of liquor, a hatchback car and a motorcycle were also impounded in the raid, they said. While four people were arrested from the factory, the Ghaziabad police had suspended a SHO, a police post in-charge, and alocal beat constable for alleged dereliction of duty. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) HMD Global, which designs and sells phones under the Nokia brand, Monday said it has appointed Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt as the 'face of Nokia phones' in India. HMD, in a statement said, Bhatt "connects strongly with today's generation of Indians who are multi-dimensional, multi-faceted and multi-achievers". "Her success and her personality therefore make her align perfectly with Nokia phones and with HMD-Global, itself a young, entrepreneurial brand," it added. As part of the partnership, a print campaign with Bhatt has been initiated already to mark the festive season. "We are really excited to have Alia Bhatt as the face of Nokia phones. She is one of the brightest stars of Bollywood...I am confident that in the coming together of Nokia phones and Alia Bhatt, we will further enhance the excitement around our new launches for our fans," Ajey Mehta, Vice President and Country Head India at HMD Global, said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The two Koreas will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the reconnection of their railways and roads as early as next month, they agreed Monday, as Seoul pursues an approach to the nuclear-armed North increasingly diverging from the US. The agreement was reached at a high-level meeting held at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, which has hosted ever more frequent cross-border talks in recent months. "The South and North agreed to hold the groundbreaking ceremony for the connection and modernisation of the east and west coast rail and road in late November or early December," read a joint statement issued after the meeting. But all civilian travel and communication between the two neighbours has been banned since the end of the Korean War in 1953, and it was not clear when construction and refurbishment work might start. Officials also agreed to hold military talks "as soon as possible" to ease tensions at the border area and to arrange a Red Cross meeting to discuss issues on reunions for war-separated families. They will also separately discuss a planned joint bid to host the 2032 Olympics and a show by North Korean performers in Seoul, the statement said. Monday's talks marked the second meeting between South Korean unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon and his North Korean counterpart Ri Son Gwon since President Moon Jae-in met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last month. But as Seoul takes strides with the North, it has displayed increasing differences with its ally Washington, which is wary of the rapid pace of rapprochement on the peninsula. At a summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore Kim declared his backing for denuclearisation of the peninsula, but no details were agreed and Washington and Pyongyang have subsequently sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved. The dovish Moon has long favoured engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Moon -- who is currently in France on a European tour -- has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearisation, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programmes. The head of Seoul's financial watchdog said last week that the US Department of Treasury held a conference call with South Korean banks in September urging them to "adhere to the UN and US sanctions against North Korea". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korea is coming along very well when it comes to its commitment to denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, US President Donald Trump said Monday, as he praised his administration for doing things in three or four months that nobody has done in 70 years. Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un held a historic first summit in Singapore on June 12 at which Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. His actions have fallen short, however, of Washington's demands for a complete inventory of its weapons and facilities and irreversible steps to give up its nuclear arsenal, which could threaten the United States. Still, Trump was upbeat on progress so far. "North Korea is coming along very well...I think a lot of good things will happen. It's complicated. You know we've done things in three or four months that nobody's done in 70 years," Trump told reporters at the White House before he left for Florida. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kerala High Court Monday granted conditional bail to Roman Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal, three weeks after he was arrested over allegations of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a nun. Granting the bail, Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan directed the accused to leave Kerala and surrender his passport. However, he has been directed to appear before the probe officer once in two weeks on Saturdays. This condition would be applicable till a charge sheet is filed in the case. Earlier on October 3, the high court had dismissed the bail plea of the clergyman while accepting the prosecution argument that the accused, holding a high position in the society, would try to influence witnesses in the case, if given bail. The 54-year-old bishop, currently lodged in a sub-jail in Pala in Kottayam district, moved the high court again after a magistrate court extended his judicial remand. Police opposed the bail application of Mulakkal, saying investigation was still on in the case. The court, however, granted him conditional bail considering the fact that investigation in the case was almost over. Fellow nuns of the victimised nun, who had staged public protest in Kochi seeking the bishop's arrest, expressed concern over the "speedy bail" of the accused, saying Bishop Mulakkal was very powerful who can influence the witnesses in the case even if he stays outside the state. They said there was a security threat for them and there was no guarantee that they would be alive tomorrow. Welcoming the decision, a Jalandhar diocese spokesperson said, "Thanks to the God." Without elaborating, he said the case was under the consideration of the court and "let the court decide". The bishop was arrested on September 21 after intense interrogation over the last three days. The Vatican had relieved him "temporarily" of all pastoral responsibilities as the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation to which the alleged victim also belongs. The nun had accused the clergyman of repeatedly raping and having unnatural sex with her between 2014 and 2016. 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 said she had to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman. However, Mulakkal has denied the charges as "baseless and concocted," insisting she levelled those as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man died and 18 others were injured when the tourist bus they were travelling in collided with a truck near Khatoli on Delhi-Rishikesh National Highway here Monday, officials said. According to circle officer Rajiv Kumar Singh, the accident took place when 25 pilgrims from Tamil Nadu were returning to Delhi from Rishikesh in a tourist bus. The deceased was identified as Pradeep Singh, 45, the bus driver. The injured have been hospitalised, he said. Based on local reports, police rushed to the spot and started rescue operations, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Most of the Rohingya refugees who had taken shelter in West Bengal have left allegedly out of fear of deportation and the only existing camp in South 24 Parganas district has six of its 29 inmates left, a spokesman of the organisation which had arranged their stay said on Monday. Twenty two Rohingyas left the Hardaha camp in South 24 Parganas district after the October 4 deportation of seven Rohingya immigrants, who had been staying in Assam illegally, to their home country Myanmar, Hussein Gazi, spokesman of the organisation 'Desh Banchao Samajik Committee' told PTI. Gazi said that the Rohingyas in the camp, besides several other local groups, became scared after hearing reports of the deportation. He claimed that those deported had told their counterparts in the camps on being contacted that they had been "beaten up after their return to Myanmar." They had reportedly also said that those in the camps should try to stay on in India and work for their living, he claimed. "This had created great fear among the camp inmates and they do not want to retrun to Myanmar," Gazi said. The organisation had set up camps for 400 Rohingyas at Basanti, Canning, Bhangor, Baruipur and Ghutiarisharif in South 24 Parganas district. "They (Rohingyas) were also scared after hearing reports that the Centre has asked states earlier this month to collect biometric details of all illegal migrants," Gazi said. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said on October 1 that the state governments have been asked to identify Rohingya refugees in their regions and collect their biometric details. The Centre will send the biometric reports collected by states to the Myanmar government through diplomatic channel for the resolution of the issue, he had said. Visits to the Rohingya camps by personnel of the Intelligence Bureau and the district intelligence bureau who inquired about the antecedents of the inmates and asked them to fill up a form had also worried them, Ghazi said. The six Rohingyas who are still in the Hardaha camp include two women and three children from two families, he said. Asked where the Rohingyas who left the camp had gone, Gazi said, "We have been told many of them have headed towards Jammu." Some had said they were going to Hyderabad to find jobs, he said. The Hardaha camp had come up on Gazi's land on December 2017. One group of Rohingyas started living there in January 2018, while another group arrived in March. The other camps included rented premises too. "We had sent a letter to the West Bengal Chief Minister's Office months back for help and security but there was no reply," Gazi said. He said 56 organisations, including Bandi Mukti Committee, Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, Centre for Protection of Democratic Rights will meet after Durga Puja to chalk out the next course of action to ensure safety of the Rohingyas in the camps. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over 200 private hospitals have been empanelled under the governments flagship healthcare scheme 'Ayushman Bharat' in state, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said here Monday. The process of empanelment for the scheme is on, Das said while interacting with media persons. The state government was spending Rs 400 crore to implement the scheme in Jharkhand, where 57 lakh families out of 68 lakh (85 per cent population of the state) will be brought under the purview of the scheme, he said. Responding to a query, the chief minister said a constructive meeting with Tata Group management was recently held to empanel Tata Main Hospital and Tata Motors Hospital for the scheme. An Advisory committee headed by the Health Secretary would be constituted soon to resolve all problems of the empanelled hospital in connection with the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, he said. Earlier, the Jharkhand chief minister greeted the people of the state after he inaugurated several Durga Puja pandals in the steel city here including the Hind Club Durga Puja Pandal in New Ranikudar, Kadma, Laxminagar, Premnagar, Agrico, Telco localities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "The number of confirmed dead as of now is 31 people", Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness Martin Owor told AFP. The Ugandan military has joined the search and rescue operation in the eastern district of Bududa where landslides hit villages in Bukalasi and Buwali sub-counties on Thursday. She said people were killed by boulders and chunks of mud rolling down hills following a sustained period of heavy rains Thursday afternoon in the district of Bududa. A picture tweeted by Uganda Red Cross showed uprooted and twisted trees, with the aid agency adding that both "animals and people were swept away in this disaster". A river burst its banks in the eastern town of Bukalasi in the Bududa district and floods swept away houses in the surrounding community, URC's head of communications and public relations, Irene Nakasiita, said in a statement Friday. The region close to the border with Kenya, are prone to landslides, in recent years there have been several similar tragic cases. Uganda Red Cross spokesperson Irene Nakasiita said their emergency team on the ground can't access the affected areas because it's still very unsafe. "There are people who were displaced and they need shelter, food and all other support and we're moving that relief to the area", he said. At least 100 people were reported killed in a landslide in Bududa in March 2010 and in 2012 landslides destroyed three villages. Government efforts to move vulnerable people to neighbouring districts have faced resistance from residents. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Monday said the row in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) over sedition charges against three Kashmiri students should be resolved with the intervention of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the university authorities. Kashmiri students should continue their studies in AMU, he said adding it was in national interest and the interest of Kashmir that the students pursue their academics and excel. "I hope that the Vice Chancellor of AMU, the faculty of AMU and the Home Minister and the Joint Secretary who looks after Kahsmir in MHA would sit down and resolve this issue," he told reporters here. The Hyderabad MP expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved with all the concerned people talking to the students. He also said the issue had been blown out of proportion. Kashmiri students studying at the university in Uttar Pradesh organised a protest march on the campus Monday against slapping of sedition charges on three of their peers and alleged harassment by local authorities. On Saturday, sedition cases were registered against the three students for allegedly raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in an encounter with the security forces in north Kashmir. The protesting students in a memorandum said if the sedition charges were not withdrawn, more than 1,200 Kashmiri students would leave the campus on October 17. Replying to query, Owaisi said no one had the right to question the loyalty and integrity of any Kashmiri student. Other countrymen should go out of their way to welcome students from Jammu and Kashmir and north eastern states, he said. Owaisi wanted the BJP and the Centre to clarify whether an assurance was given to the Bangladesh government that no illegal Bangladeshi migrant would be sent back. A top Bangladeshi official has recently stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has personally assured premier Sheikh Hasina that people excluded from the National Register of Citizens list would not be deported to the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed on Monday as the troops of the two countries exchanged fire after tensions over Pakistani officials fencing the border. The Friendship Gate near Chaman in Balochistan province in south-west was closed on Sunday after troops of the two sides exchanged fire about 60 km north of the border town of Chaman, with the clash lasting several hours, according to Dawn. However, it was briefly opened on Sunday evening to let stranded people cross over. Pakistani officials said Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani personnel who were erecting a fence along the border in the Tandah Dara Sarochahan area. There were no reports of casualties in the clash. After the incident, Pakistani border authorities closed the Friendship Gate near Chaman, leaving thousands of people stranded on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. The exchange of fire ended in the evening, the officials said. The firing stopped late in the evening but the situation is still tense, they said, adding that Pakistani officials deployed more troops to the area. Pakistan has been erecting a fence along its western border to stop "illegal influx of terrorists and smugglers from Afghanistan who often use infrequent routes to enter Pakistan." Pakistan has already informed the Afghan government of its decision to build a border fence. However, Afghan officials in the Spin Buldak area raised objections to Islamabad's decision. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A whopping Rs 460 crore worth of transactions were made through three bank accounts of a man who died months before these fake accounts were mysteriously opened under his name, a media report said Monday. Iqbal Aaraiyn, a resident of Karachi who passed away on May 9, 2014, had three bank accounts mysteriously opened under his name after his death, Geo TV reported. Citing its sources, the channel said that a total of Rs 460 crores worth of transactions were conducted through these accounts. The incident is the latest in a series of mysterious deposits in bank accounts of several individuals that have surfaced in recent days across the country, amid an investigation by the Federal Investigation Agency into several individual accounts, which have been used for money laundering by some influential businessmen and politicians. The agency recently found that Rs 300 crore worth of transactions were made to the bank account of an auto rickshaw driver in the city. The driver, identified as Muhammad Rasheed, came to know about the huge transactions in his account when the FIA summoned him for an explanation. He, however, convinced the FIA officials about his innocence. The FIA earlier this month traced an account of a student from Larkana with crores of rupees, a week after it found Rs 200 crore in a food vendor's bank account. A man from Hyderabad in Sindh province found nearly Rs five crore listed on his ATM slip. The FIA is investigating large-scale money laundering cases after the Supreme Court appointed a Joint Investigation Unit (JIT) to probe into the into the money laundering cases. In many cases dormant accounts of poor people have been activated with connivance of some bank officials for huge transactions. The JIT has been probing since September into the money laundering cases revealing several suspicious accounts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special court in Pakistan on Monday ordered the formation of a high-level judicial commission to record Pervez Musharraf's statement in Dubai in a treason case after the former military dictator declined to appear before the court through video conferencing. General (retd) Musharraf, 75, who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014. A conviction for high treason carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. The former army chief left for Dubai for medical treatment and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons. Musharraf's lawyer told a special court bench comprising Justice Yawar Ali, Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Nazar Akbar that his client was unable to record his statement via video link since he is "indisposed", Dawn reported. Justice Ali asked the lawyer whether Musharraf had been diagnosed with cancer, to which he responded that the former president had been diagnosed with heart problems, the report said. "He says he is not a coward. He wishes to appear before the court himself and present the evidence in his defence," the lawyer said. "The accused is in a foreign country right now. According to his lawyer, he is very ill," Justice Ali noted. "Pervez Musharraf's previous record is before us. He is not ready to record a statement via video link," the prosecution lawyer said. "We are told that Pervez Musharraf cannot appear in court due to his illness. He wishes to record his statement in the treason case," the bench observed. The court decided to order the formation of the judicial commission that will go to the UAE to record Musharraf's statement in the case. The members of the commission and its scope will be decided later and if anyone had objections, they could challenge the formation of the commission before the high court, the bench said. The case was adjourned until November 14. Last week, the Supreme Court Chief told Musharraf that "there are good doctors in Pakistan" and directed him to appear before the apex court to record his statement. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and the Red Mosque cleric killing case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) From raising awareness about the plight of orphaned children to recreating Satyajit Ray's celebrated film, "Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne," the Durga Puja pandal themes this year are varied. Giving the often neglected section of children -- the orphans, a voice is the Arambagh Puja Samiti. The theme is inspired by Abanindranath Tagore's 1935 painting 'Bharat Mata' that depicts a saffron-clad Mother India. The pandal features a 40-feet tall replica of Tagore's 'Bharat Mata', flanked with children on both sides. Also seen in the same frame of cluster of skyscrapers. "Even after 70 years of independence, the plight of the orphans has not changed. India is developing, but there is this section of orphan children, whom as a country we have failed miserably," Abhijit Bose, Executive Chairman, Arambagh Puja said. With Arambagh Puja receiving high footfall every year, Bose added that they wanted to use the celebrations as a platform to sensitise people about the issue. "We want to draw the attention of the government and private bodies to the fact that this crucial issue is a reality in India," he said. The Milan Samiti pandal in Mayur Vihar is also dedicated to children this year, as they bring to life Ray's beloved fantasy adventure film "Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne", 50 years after it released in 1969. "We felt the theme would be interesting for children as well as serve as an element of nostalgia for the grown-ups," Mrinal Biswas, General Secretary of Milan Samiti, said. The pandal features paintings and sculptures by West Bengal based artists -- Subhra Bera and Sudeep Ranjan Raut, depicting scenes from the film. Taking cue from the original story where Goopy and Bagha are granted three wishes by the bhooter raja (king of ghosts), Biswas explains, that the pandal too invites people to ask Maa Durga for three wishes -- "No Polythene, Yamuna Clean, and Delhi Green", placards of which can be seen across the venue. Matri Mandir Sarbojanin Durga Puja Samiti is showcasing glimpses from the Dilwara Temples of Mount Abu as part of their pandal decoration theme. The columns in the premises across the venue will replicate the intricate carvings of the original structure. "The design and architecture of the temples are a venerable illustration of balance in grandeur and simplicity, reflecting Jain values of honesty and frugality. This year we will try and replicate this architectural marvel with utmost sincerity," Debashis Saha, Chief Coordinator, said. Restaurants are also tapping in the festive fervour, as they whip up unique dishes reminiscent of the flavours of bengal. Monkey Bar in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata have come up with special menus for the Durga Puja, and will serve lip-smacking delicacies found on the streets of the city of joy. From Beadon Street's Fish Roll and College Street's 'Hing-er Kochuri' to Chitpur Road's Chicken Rezala and Tiretti Bazaar's Prawn Dumpling, the menu is an assortment of all things bong. The drinks too have elements of the Bengali cuisine with cocktails like 'Piara Peara', 'Puchka Caipiroshka', and Thaanda Chaa. Madhumita Pyne who runs 'Insomniac Cook', a home delivery outlet in Mumbai, has decided to deliver authentic bengali delights -- 'mangsher ghugni' (curried white peas with minced meat), 'bhoger khichuri with labra' (prasad style khichri and mixed vegetable mishmash), 'shukto' (bitter sweet vegetable melange), 'dudh begun' (brinjal cooked in milk) -- during the five days of celebration. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court Monday that it has constituted an experts' committee for addressing the issues of traffic congestion and unauthorised parking in the city. Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told a bench led by Acting Chief Justice Naresh Patil that the committee is headed by assistant commissioner of police (ACP), traffic. It also has representatives from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), police and the Regional Transport department, he said. In its first meeting on September 25, the committee decided to set up a 'Special Parking Authority', Kumbhakoni said. "The committee will be responsible for resolving all disputes related to unauthorised parking or inadequate parking space in the city. An email address and phone number will be made available to the public in case one needs to make a complaint," he said. The advocate general's submissions followed the high court's order to the government to implement certain long-term measures to reduce traffic congestion in the city. The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Janhit Manch. The PIL said the lack of adequate designated parking space which leads to unauthorised parking on roads and pavements is adding to the woes of citizens. The petition will be heard next on November 1. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Without naming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), senior Congress leader Anand Sharma Monday said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's 1948 order banning the organisation should be placed at the foot of his gigantic 'Statue of Unity', to be inaugurated soon in Gujarat's Narmada district. Speaking to media here, he noted that the move would tell people what the first home minister of the country thought of "them" (RSS). "They (RSS-BJP) do not have heroes of their own....So they are making the Statue of Unity of Sardar Patel and that too, has been made in China," the Congress leader said. "There is a written order by Patel in 1948 about banning, following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi...the same order should be placed at the base of the statue, so that the country will get to know Patel's thoughts about them," he said. Though the senior Congress leader did not name the RSS, he apparently referred to the ban on the organisation following Gandhi's assassination, which was later lifted. Sharma also accused the BJP of conducting a massive "cover-up operation" in the Rafale deal. "There is a massive cover-up operation going on to hide the Rafale scam and that is why we are appealing the Supreme Court to put a seal (place in a sealed cover) on all the files and notings related to the deal," he said. The former Union minister also questioned the decision to make National Security Advisor Ajit Doval head of the newly formed Strategic Policy Group instead of the cabinet secretary. "With this decision, the cabinet secretary, three services chiefs, defence secretary, foreign secretary, revenue secretary, finance secretary and chiefs of IB and RAW have come under the NSA, which is a political appointment," he said. During Doval's tenure, "even a country like Maldives has gone out of India's influence" and "everyone knows about his achievements regarding Pakistan", Sharma said. "It is a wrong decision and in the larger interest of the country, the security, defence, governance, administration, the cabinet secretary, three services chiefs, chiefs of IB and RAW cannot be subordinated to a political appointee," the Congress leader said. On the #MeToo movement and allegations of sexual harassment by some women journalists against Union minister M J Akbar, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who claims to be concerned about women's safety, should have reassured the country on the issue. "His (Modi's) silence is unacceptable," Sharma added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pickpockets seem to have discovered a novel method of disposing stolen wallets with ID cards finding the ubiquitous mail boxes a safe haven to deposit them, given the number of such cases the city postal department have come across in the past six months. Pickpockets just drop off the wallets after taking the money from them but the cards remain intact, a senior official in the city's postal department told PTI. The department has come across 70 such cases in the past six months in Chennai city corporation limits. Postal staff have found ID cards such as Aadhaar and PAN besides driving licences in the wallets. "The sub-postmasters in the post office concerned take the extra pain to ensure the cards are returned to the people to whom they belong. Even though there is no income to the department (from this activity), they do it as a service to the citizens," the official said. Postal staff inform those whose ID cards have contact numbers, asking them to collect it from the respective post office. In case, no number is available, they put the ID cards in an envelope and despatch it to the address provided, he said. Identity cards suspected to have gone missing also find their way to some post boxes which are duly forwarded to the rightful owners, the official said. Recently, passports that were found from a postbox here were reportedly handed over to the Regional Passport Office. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fatima Nafees, the mother of missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed, Monday said no one from the government came to her aid even after she challenged them to support her cause, on a day the CBI filed a closure report in the case of her son's disappearance. She was speaking at a protest march organised from Mandi House under the aegis of the "United Against Hate" campaign, during which politicians and activists urged people to oust the Bharatiya Janata Pary (BJP) government in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Nafees said 2019 will bring something new and give us happiness. "Has the 56-inch chest shrunken to 26 inches? I had heard about 'sabka sath sabka vikas'. It is all jumlebaazi (gimmickry) and false promises. I had challenged the government to come and join me, but nobody came. Where is sabka sath?" she said, taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan and the "56-inch chest" quote. Nafees claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) never probed her son's case and added that she would continue to look for Najeeb. "There are only false promises. The CBI never opened the case. So, there is no question of filing a closure report. The CBI worked at the behest of the government. But I will not give up," she said. Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee said it was saddening to see the JNU, a place where they were taught the culture of having a debate between different ideologies, was being billed as anti-national, while questioning if there was a "jungle raj" in the country. "Is there a jungle raj in the country? Despite evidence against certain people, they are being shielded. Where is Najeeb? Are the country's investigating agencies so bad that they cannot trace him?," she said, addressing the protest. Ashiyana Theba, the pregnant wife of Majid Theba, who went missing in July after he was picked up by the Bhuj 'A' division police officials in Gujarat, said she had been running from pillar to post seeking justice for her husband. "I am pregnant and I can understand the pain Najeeb's mother is going through. My husband disappeared in front of my eyes. These politicians literally come begging for votes at the time of elections but where are they now? Bring my husband back to me," she said. Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president N Sai Balaji alleged that there were efforts to give a communal colour to Najeeb's case. "This government wants to shut democracy inside the jails. But if you do not give us justice, we will uproot you in 2019," he said, while shouting "We are Najeeb" and "Justice for Najeeb". Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Annie Raja said there was a need to save the tricolour from fascist forces. "We have to snatch our tricolour from the killers of Akhlaq and Junaid, from the rapists of the minor girl in Kashmir. The tricolour is in the hands of fascist forces. This is not only a battle for Najeeb, but for everyone. Save the Constitution, save our country," she said. Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Javed Ali Khan said some fascist forces wanted to shut down the voices rising against them. "But fascism is very cruel. Fascism sees an end. This fascist government will definitely see defeat. Our country's legal system has double roles. There are some decisions it makes, which go way ahead of the Modi government and show its true colours," he said, taking a dig at the Delhi High Court allowing the CBI to file a closure report in Najeeb's case. Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid criticised the Delhi Police and CBI for not carrying out a thorough investigation in Najeeb's case. He said the voices demanding justice would not die. Radhika Vemula, mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide, said the CBI should be banned because it did not matter whether the central probe agency existed or not, while urging the voters not to vote the BJP back to power. "Dalits, adivasis and Muslims are being targeted. The BJP rule is worse than the British rule. But that day is not far when we will remove the BJP government. Do not vote for the BJP. Vote for peace-loving people," she said. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Nawal Kishore Yadav said there was an atmosphere of fear in the country and there was a need to stand against this fear. "There is an effort being made to turn Hindustan into Sanghistan," he said, in an apparent reference to the BJP's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind Monday paid floral tributes to former president A P J Abdul Kalam on his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan, an official statement said. Kalam, who served as the 11th president of India from 2002-07, was born October 15, 1931 at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. The president paid floral tributes to Kalam, the statement issued by Kovind's office said. "Officers and staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan also paid tributes on the occasion," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Categories Categories Select Category #abarare ABA Events ABA News Action Adventure Alaska AOU Apps Art Asides Attu BEX Big Year Bird Feeding Bird ID Bird of the Year Birders Guide Birdsong Blog Bites Blog Review BookReviews Building Birding Skills Commentary Conservation eBird Equipment Review Featured Gallery Festivals Field Identification Fun Gardening Gear Happening NOW HowToKnowTheBirds Human Dimensions of Birding Humor Listing Members Only Content North American Birds Obscure Hotspots Open Mic Outdoor Tips Photography podcast Point/Counterpoint Presidents Corner Publications RBA Science Science Art Social Media Sponsored Technology Top 10 Travel Young Birders Archives Archives Select Month January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 Blog Birding #383 The Cape May Bird Observatorys new 21st century banding station is already seeing dividends. The researchers there are place geotrackers on some of the catches to see where they go and and how they use the landscape. David La Puma has more. As of today, they have now been deployed on two resident species (Northern Mockingbird and Carolina Wren) and one short-distance migrant (Yellow-rumped Warbler). These transmitters will allow us to determine such things as habitat usage, home range, and migration decisions of these species and more. These transmitters communicate with an array of receivers distributed across our banding area, as well as a broader network throughout the Cape May Peninsula and the Delaware Bay region. Its also possible that our birds will be detected by base stations anywhere between the Canadian Maritimes and South America, and with more stations being deployed every day, the chance of a long-distance data point is ever increasing! Encouraging land managers in the Great Plains to think about birds other than waterfowl has been a tough argument to make, but the benefits are becoming clear and resistance is softening. At Shorebird Science, Maina Handmaker and Monica Iglecia discuss how they make that case. Cheyenne Bottoms is one of the largest interior marshes in the United States. It has been a Site of Hemispheric Importance in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) for 30 years, and the symposium celebrated this milestone by presenting certificates to the site partners. Migratory shorebirds passing through the mid-continent are subject to unpredictable weather patterns and a landscape of ephemeral wetlands in which to find their food. Water levels at Cheyenne Bottoms still vary on a regular basis, but the basin provides some of the most reliable food resources for shorebirds migrating through the center of the continent. Its looking like a big year for Red-breasted Nuthatches, at least in the eastern part of the continent, Andrew Del-Colle, writing at Audubon, has more. A year-round resident of Canada and certain parts of the Northeast, as well as higher elevations of Appalachia, the Rockies, and along the West Coast, the birds wintering grounds can fluctuate in the U.S. dramatically year to year, especially in the east. Typically, the birds remain more northern, but on an irruption year, they can be seen in unusually high numbers throughout the northern and eastern U.S. Birders and bird scientists know color. Or, at least, we know words for colors that the general public might not. As it turns out, ornithologists are as influential as any artist when it comes to naming the myriad shades available, as Bob Montgomerie writes at the History of Ornithology Blog. Because many of the species that Darwin collected were new to science, he was careful to record colours, especially those that might fade on specimens of fish and invertebrates preserved in spirits. To do this, he was keen to use a method that would allow him to record colours in a way that could be understood by others and reproduced accurately by artists reading his notes years later. For many of Darwins descriptions in his field notes, he used the colour swatches and names in Werners Nomenclature of Colours by Patrick Syme published in 1821. A new species of hummingbird was recently discovered on a mountaintop in Ecuadorone that is already critically endangered. Juan Freile, the birds discoverer, tells the tale at The AOS Publications Blog. Last year a new hummingbird species was unexpectedly discovered on a seldom-visited mountain top in southern Ecuador. A brief visit to the rocky outcrops of Cerro de Arcos in the southern province of El Oro produced a photographic record that rang a bell: a mysterious immature male clearly assignable to the genus Oreotrochilus, the hillstars, which included six species at the time. A few days later, an adult male was captured in another photo, and a week after that, several males and females were observed and a handful collected for scientific purposes. After her legal challenge to end her detention was rejected by an Israeli district court on Friday, academics and activists pledged their support on Friday for Lara Alqasem, the 22-year-old US graduate student who has been held for 10 days by Israel over accusations she has supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement that demands rights and freedom for Palestinians. Ben-Hillel lamented, adding that Alqasem had been criticised by her former connections with the movement for wanting to attend the Israeli university - which they say amounts to a de-facto recognition of Israel. A senior Israeli cabinet minister on Wednesday defended the government's handling of the case of an American graduate student held in detention at the country's global airport for the past week over allegations that she promotes a boycott against the Jewish state. Alqasem, 22, had a valid student visa to study at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. Last year, Israel passed legislation barring entry for anyone who "knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel". Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan has said that he would consider allowing Alqasem to take up her university place if she publicly denounces BDS. Just as serious, she is the only one who has been asked by the Israeli authorities to renounce her criticism of Israel. Its activities, the government said, included a campaign to boycott Sabra hummus, made and sold in the United States by a company partially owned by a firm in Israel. Her mother, Karen Alqasem, speaking from Florida, told the Associated Press, "She is being treated like a criminal but she is not a criminal". She was targeted because she was president of the University of Florida's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine that supports the BDS campaign against Israel and its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. "To her, this isn't a contradiction". Alqasem, whose grandparents are Palestinian, stated in her testimony to the court, "I don't support BDS". State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauertt, in turn, told reporters on Wednesday that Israel has a right to determine who should be allowed into the country, without specifying the USA position on the issue. It rejected Alqasem's appeal against the ban, but did not rule on whether she should be sent home. They claim her involvement in what they say is a small and insignificant chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine does not warrant Israel's deportation order. "We find it ironic that someone who calls on the indiscriminate boycott of Israel, as a tool to harm and destroy the State of Israel, wishes to study in the very country which they call to boycott". Statements from the Reform movement and J Street U, J Street's college arm, likewise said that barring Alqasem does not accord with Israel's democratic values. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle are expecting their first baby in the first half of next year, Kensington Palace announced on Monday as the royal couple embarked on a four nation tour. The 37-year-old former actress who had married 34-year-old Harry, Duke of Sussex, at a Windsor Castle ceremony in May, is due to deliver the couple's first baby in the Spring 2019. "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019," Kensington Palace said in a statement, as the royal couple arrived in Sydney on their first overseas tour as a royal couple. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy with the public," the statement said. The new baby, as Queen Elizabeth II's eighth great grandchild, will be seventh in line to the British throne. However, he or she is not automatically entitled to have a royal title or be known as Prince or Princess unless the Queen steps in because King George V, Prince Harry's great great grandfather, had limited titles within the royal family in 1917. The 92-year-old monarch and other senior Royals were told about the pregnancy on Friday, when members of the royal family had gathered at Windsor Castle once again for a royal wedding that of Princess Eugenie, the Queen's granddaughter. Kensington Palace said the Queen is "delighted" by the Meghan Markle had attended the wedding last Friday with Prince Harry wearing a long, dark blue Givenchy coat, which sparked some speculation on social media about her possibly hiding a pregnancy bulge. The speculation further intensified when she was seen clutching two large folders in front of her stomach as she was escorted out of the airport in Sydney on Monday. The Duke and Duchess are currently on a four-nation tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand in their role as Youth Ambassadors of the Commonwealth. Their first public engagement is on Tuesday, when crowds of well-wishers are expected to congratulate the couple. According to reports, Markle is believed to have crossed the critical 12-week mark of her pregnancy and it has been confirmed that she will complete the entire schedule of the royal visit as planned despite the threat of zika virus in Fiji and Tonga, the mosquito-borne disease considered a big risk for pregnant women. The couple reportedly decided to press ahead following medical advice, with an itinerary of 76 engagements which will see them watch the Invictus Games, tour a Sydney zoo, and visit a rural flying doctor service. After Australia, they will fly to Fiji, where Harry will pay tribute to Fijian war veterans and the couple will attend a state dinner, before travelling to Tonga. The tour will conclude with a four-day trip to New Zealand, where they will be greeted by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Harry and Meghan will return to London on November 1. British Prime Minister Theresa May congratulated the couple via Twitter, saying: "My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy they are expecting a baby in the spring. Wishing them all the best." Doria Ragland, the mother of Meghan Markle, said she was "very happy about this lovely news" and "looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild". There is no confirmation from the palace whether Markle's estranged father, former Hollywood lighting director Thomas Markle, has been informed about the news. In an interview in 2016, Meghan said becoming a mother was on her "bucket list". "I can't wait to start a family, but in due time," she said. The topic also came up in the couple's official engagement interview last year. "You know, I think one step at a time, and hopefully we'll start a family in the near future," Prince Harry said, who has indicated he would love to have children. Their baby will be a first cousin of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, the children of Harry's older brother Prince William. Harry and Meghan had famously met on a blind date, arranged by a mutual friend, and got married at a grand wedding ceremony at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19. The former American actress is best known for her role as Rachel Zane in US legal drama 'Suits', but has since given up her acting career to take on royal duties alongside her husband the sixth in line to the British throne. Bookmakers in the UK have already begun taking odds on the possible names for the new royal baby expected in 2019, with upmarket bookies Fitzdares quoting odds of 2/1 on Alexander, 3/1 on Arthur and 6/1 on Philip for a boy, and 5/2 for Alice, 4/1 Victoria and Mary if the baby is a girl. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bangladesh on Monday ordered police to investigate charges against a leading pro-Opposition rights activist accused of "treason" by the military for his "motivated and completely untrue" comments regarding the country's army chief. "Dr Jafarullah Chowdhury has been accused of treason....the Detective Branch (of police) has been entrusted with the task of investigating the case," Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) additional commissioner Abdul Baten said. The treason charge against 75-year-old Chowdhury, a doctor and founder of non-government Ganashasthya hospital and medical college, was brought after the army overnight filed a general diary case against him, days after his comments on a TV talk show. "The general diary was converted into a treason case on Sunday following approval of the Home Ministry," Baten said. Chowdhury in his comments on October 9 had alleged Army Chief General Aziz Ahmed had earlier faced a court martial as a huge quantum of military weapons went missing, or were "lost or stolen", from the army arsenal under his command in the northeastern Chattagram area. The military charged that Chowdhury had made "sudden and irrelevant" remarks about the army chief which were "targeted, motivated and plotted to spread stir among the armed forces were and tantamount to treason". The army on October 13 sharply reacted to the comments, prompting Chowdhury to call a press conference when he expressed regret for his "unintentional" mistake through "choice of wrong words". He said that he wrongly chose the word "court martial" to mean "court of enquiry", which the army in a fresh statement today called "untrue" adding that "General Aziz in his long career did not face any court of enquiry either". It said Chowdhury actually did not try to correct his earlier untrue remarks in his press conference and "it is clear from his remarks that he made evil attempts to misguide all serving army personnel of all ranks". The army alleged that Chowdhury had tried to blame the army for grenades used in the August 21, 2004 terror attack, on the talk show on October 9 which was just a day ahead of the verdict in the attack case. A special court on October 10 sentenced to death 19 people and another 19 to life imprisonment, including ex-premier Khaleda Zia's fugitive son Tarique Rahman, for the 2004 attack on an opposition rally that killed 24 people and injured 500 others. Those who were handed down death penalty also included some senior army officers who were serving in intelligence agencies at that time alongside the then home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Several media bodies on Monday demanded an "impartial probe" into all allegations of sexual misconduct against Union minister M J Akbar and said he should step down from his post till such an investigation is completed. Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), Press Club of India, Press Association and South Asian Women in Media issued a joint statement saying that Akbar is a "senior functionary of the government and his response should reflect the responsibility that is thus bestowed on him". Allegations against Akbar have been levelled by several women journalists under social media campaign #Metoo against sexual misconduct. The Minister of State for External Affairs has denied the allegations and on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against one of the scribes, Priya Ramani. "We the undersigned journalist organisations have been deeply concerned over the overwhelming complaints of sexual harassment in the media," the joint statement said. "We recognise that sexual harassment at workplace is a worrisome reality and that media organisations and managements have been unable to put the systems in place which would have ordinarily addressed complaints of sexual harassment," the statement said. The joint statement said an impartial probe should be conducted "into all the complaints without fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants more so as the accused party is an influential minister in the present government". "We also feel that in the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it is only proper and appropriate that the minister step down from his post till as such time the probe is completed," it said. The statement also alleged that sexual harassment at the workplace is a "pervasive phenomenon" and has "continued with impunity" despite the enactment of a tough law to prevent, prohibit and redress it. "The inability of women to speak out about such harassment needs serious introspection and redressal. We hope that employers in media organisations and the government will look into this with the seriousness it deserves and not treat the incidents as motivated complaints," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two months after torrential rains ravaged Kerala, a state run unit launched its programme of free 100 bags of cattle feed and 700 kg mineral mix to help dairy farmers whose business has taken a hit in the calamity. The project, named 'Snehasparsham' ('Touch of Love'), was inaugurated by the Kerala Feeds' Managing Director B Sreekumar at a function in this town of the hill district that was one of the worst hit in the August deluge. At a function in the district cooperative bank here, five farmers were handed over Kerala Feed's Keramin a mineral mix meant to improve reproductive efficiency in cattle. The rest 95 in the lot will get their share directly from the company this month, Sreekumar said. The selected farmers were identified by the state dairy development department. Kerala Feeds Snehasparsham project is being carried out in seven districts, worst-affected by the floods, Sreekumar said. To be carried out in three phases, Monday's function marked the start of the second phase. The first phase was completed last month when the PSU sold cattle feedbags at a discount of Rs 100, a release said here. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party defeated her son, who ran elections as an independent candidate against her, in a tough contest in the Punjab assembly by-polls, a media report said Monday. Zehra Batool defeated her son and three-time lawmaker Haroon Sultan in the Punjab Province-272 by-poll Sunday, Express reported. Her husband Abdullah Shah Bukhari is a former National Assembly member and their elder son, Basit Sultan Bukhari, had won from the seat in the July 2018 general elections. Basit had also won from the NA-185 constituency and decided to vacate the provincial seat, opening it up for a by-election. Batool secured 24,019 votes against Haroon's 17,072 votes. Haroon has been a member of the National Assembly three times and a provincial minister twice. Elections were held Sunday in nine National Assembly constituencies in Punjab and one each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 24 provincial assemblies seats, including 11 in Punjab, nine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two each in Sindh and Balochistan. Most of the seats where by-polls were held had been vacated by those elected on more than one seat in the July 25 general elections. The PML-N won six out of 11 contested seats in Punjab while its arch-rival PTI won five. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri Monday accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of stalling the ITO Skywalk project for one year, claiming that several projects including the Metro Phase-IV are stuck due to non-clearance from the AAP dispensation. Puri, who inaugurated the skywalk and FOB at ITO, alleged that "false narrative" was being created and said some people who have nothing to do with the project are trying to take credit. The housing and urban affairs minister claimed that when the Delhi government, which was supposed to provide 20 per cent of the project cost, did not give its clearance, his ministry decided to execute the same on its own. The ITO Crossing and 'W' Point Junction are the two busiest crossing as far as the pedestrian traffic is concerned. There are over 25 major offices and other institutions located in this area. Approximately 30,000 pedestrian cross various roads around ITO Crossing and 'W' Point. The skywalk, which has been constructed with a cost of Rs 55 crore, has six lifts. "When I became the minister in September 2017, I was told that the skywalk project, which was cleared in 2016, were still awaiting the Delhi government's nod. "We then decided to execute this project on our own after getting no signal from the Delhi government," Puri said while addressing a gathering here. The skywalk has become a bone of contention between the AAP dispensation and the BJP-led central government. Last week, Delhi PWD minister Satyendar Jain said that no Aam Aadmi Party minister was invited for the inauguration of the project. According to the ministry, the project has been executed with fund provided by the Centre. The PWD was an executing agency. "We are seeing a similar pattern in every urban project (in Delhi). Projects like DelhiMeerut RRTS and Metro Phase-IV have been stuck (due to non-clearance from AAP governement)... "One year back, we took this project in our hand, we completed this within one year," the Union minister said. On its part, the Delhi government said, "No amount of tall claims and rhetoric" will be able to mislead the people of Delhi, who will finally judge, whether cutting ribbons will be able a substitute for hard work." Puri said that bureaucratic queries were raised about the necessity of the project and a former Delhi PWD secretary, now posted outside the city, raised queries about the need for such a project. "His objections were, however, overruled by Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia who headed the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), which gave its approval for providing the Delhi government share of Rs 12 crore for the skywalk project," the government said in a statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A committee in Lucknow has based its pandal theme on the and said it wishes the goddess to clear hurdles in getting the aircraft to the country. "We are using four cutouts of in the pandal and using it as our theme for this We want 'Maa Durga' to make our (IAF) powerful and in clearing all the hurdles in getting the aircraft," Nihar Ranjan Dey, media secretary of the Cantonment committee. "With her blessings, upgradation and modernisation of the existing inventory of aircraft and weapon systems will happen. Also, the country will get Rafale," he said. Two cutouts of the fighter aircraft will be put at selfie points and other two will be placed near the goddess' mandap, he said. "We are not getting into controversies surrounding the deal. We want our citizens, jawans and borders to be safe and Rafale will certainly strengthen us," Dey said. The organisers of the committee, established in 1952, are hopeful that the Rafale-themed pandal will be a great attraction as nobody has thought on these lines. "Our committee always use patriotic themes. Last year, we had given pandal the theme of our flag. The purpose was to instill the feeling of patriotism among the masses," Dey said, adding that this year, another attraction will be the 'char dham darshan' theme at the pandal. Electricians from West Bengal will be creating the set-up and will use LED lights. "Last year too, we had replicated France's iconic Eiffel Tower (55ft)," Dey said, adding that the pandal will open for the public from Tuesday. India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September last year for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 580 billion, nearly one- and-half years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the proposal during a visit to Paris. The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September, 2019. The Congress recently raised several questions about the deal, including the rates, and accused the government of compromising interest and security while promoting "crony capitalism" and causing a loss to the public exchequer. However, the government has vehemently denied the charges. Other Durga puja committees here are also experimenting with different and unique pandal themes. Bondhu Mahal, a social organisation here, has taken up the theme of Kumbh 2019 with a slogan "Kumbh Chalo". "Next January, Uttar Pradesh will witness one of the biggest global events called Kumbh Mela in Prayag (Allahabad), which is described by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Congress president Monday alleged that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's family was involved in the multi-crore-rupee that came to light a few years ago. On the campaign trail in Madhya Pradesh, where the Assembly polls will be held on November 28, Gandhi said the massive recruitment and admission racket destroyed the future of lakhs of students in the state. He also targeted Prime Minister Narendra over the Rafale fighter jet deal and his alleged proximity with a handful of industrialists. Addressing a public meeting at the Phool Bagh Maidan here, Gandhi said, "Fifty people were killed in the The future of lakhs of students was destroyed. People gave money to clear the exams (conducted by a state-run body). "I want to know from Shivraj Singh Chouhan, how many people were sent to jail? The entire Madhya Pradesh knows that the chief minister's family is involved in the scam." In the past, Chouhan has denied his or his family's involvement in any recruitment test conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, popularly known by its Hindi acronym -- "Vyapam" (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal). The scam also hogged limelight for the death of a number of accused and witnesses. Taking potshots at Modi, Gandhi said the prime minister made false promises. "Who does the marketing of the prime minister? Who gives the money for his posters and his appearances on TV. This money is taken out of your (people's) pocket and given to Anil Ambani, Nirav and Vijay Mallya, who are doing his marketing. This is the truth," he added. The Congress chief said had promised to be the "chowkidar" (guard) of the people, but only 15-20 industrialists of the country had benefitted under his government. He said the prime minister let jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya flee India with the country's money. Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the key accused in the multi-crore Punjab Bank (PNB) scam, while Mallya, who is currently in the UK, is wanted in India for charges of money laundering and defaulting on bank loans. Referring to the Rafale deal, Gandhi said the prime minister did not have the courage to answer why the offset contract for the French aircraft was "snatched" from the State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and given to Anil Ambani's firm. Led by the Congress, the opposition parties are attacking the Modi government, alleging that it is procuring 36 Rafale fighter jets from France at an exorbitantly high cost. The government has denied charges of irregularities in the Rs 580-billion deal and Ambani, too, has dismissed the Congress's allegations that he got undue benefits under it. Earlier, Gandhi held a five-km roadshow in Gwalior after paying obeisance at the Achleshwar Mahadev temple. The Congress president also paid a visit to Jhansi's legendary queen Rani Laxmi Bai's memorial in the Phool Bagh area. He also paid tribute to late Congress stalwart Madhavrao Scindia at his memorial here. Congress leader and Scindia's son Jyotiraditya Scindia and state Congress president Kamal Nath were present on the occasion. Gandhi is on a two-day visit to Madhya Pradesh, where his party is out of power since 2003. He will take a night halt in Gwalior and visit a gurdwara located in the Gwalior Fort Tuesday morning, before holding roadshows and public meetings at Jaura, Sabalgarh and Sheopur later in the day. chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that Prime disregards the poor but has close proximity to businessmen like Nirav Modi, and Anil Ambani On a campaign trail in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh (MP), he again took on Modi over the Rafale jet deal. "The prime minister does not have the courage to reply why the offset contract for the French aircraft was "snatched" from the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and instead, given to Ambani's firm," he said. Taking a swipe at BJP's assurance on women's safety, Gandhi, without naming anyone, said there is a "need to save our daughters from BJP MLAs". Notably, an MLA in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was earlier accused of raping a minor girl in Unnao district. "Prime Minister addresses as Mehul bhai (brother), as Nirav bhai and as Anil bhai but he never addresses a labourer, a poor and a farmer as bhai or hugs them. There is no place for them in his heart. One who doesn't wear suit-boot is not a bhai for him," Gandhi said addressing a public gathering here in Madhya Pradesh. ALSO READ: Shatrughan Sinha criticises BJP govt over Rafale deal He charged the prime minister does not speak when Dalits and minorities are attacked in Gujarat or on atrocities against women and the weaker sections. The PM had said before the 2014 polls that he wanted to be a "chowkidar" (guard), but only 15-20 industrialists of the country benefitted under his government, instead of farmers, he alleged. "The prime minister let jeweller escape with Rs 350 billion, which is equal to the entire budget of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," Gandhi further charged. He was referring to the PNB banking fraud allegedly involving Nirav Modi, his uncle and others. Firing a fresh salvo at the prime minister amid the furore over the multi-billion dollar Rafale jet deal, he alleged that the PM ensured the offset contract to Anil Ambani, "who owes Rs 450 billion to public sector banks". "The prime minister could not look me in the eye (during debate in Parliament). The PM gives speeches but no answers...he doesn't have the courage to reply as to why the contract was snatched from HAL and given to " Led by the Congress, the Opposition parties have been attacking the Modi government alleging it is procuring 36 Rafale jets from France at an exorbitantly high cost. The Modi government has denied allegations of irregularities in and Amban, too, has dismissed the Congress's allegations that he got any undue benefit. Gandhi also accused of "insulting every Indian by mocking the governance of other parties during 70 years, before the BJP-led NDA came to power. "From the Red Fort, Modi (during his Independence Day speech) said the country was sleeping before he took over as country's prime minister. This is not an insult to leaders. This is insult of the country's people," Gandhi said. There was no infrastructure, road, rail line, university or college when the country got independence, he said. "Your (people's) ancestors, who worked hard to develop this country. This is an insult to farmers, labourers, youths, small traders and people who toiled hard to build this country. This is an insult to your mother and father," he told the gathering. Taking a dig at the ruling party over the issue of women's safety, he said, "The BJP gave a good slogan 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' (save and educate daughters). "But in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister saved a rape accused BJP MLA. The PM didn't speak a word," he alleged. "There is a need now to save our daughters from BJP MLAs," he said in remarks laced with sarcasm. Gandhi said workers are the party's backbone and they would be given priority once the party comes to power in Madhya Pradesh. He also said that loans of farmers would be waived off in 10 days if the Congress comes to power in the state after the next Assembly elections. Gandhi is on a two-day visit to the central state which will go to polls on November 28. BJP president Amit Shah Monday accused Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of raising a "hue and cry" over the arrest of "urban naxals", who allegedly plotted to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said the government would not tolerate those who speak about dividing the country. He alleged that the Congress, when in power, undermined the country's security. "The Maharashtra government arrested urban naxals and found through their email exchange that they wanted mortar guns and machine guns. They were plotting to kill Modi," Shah said, speaking at a BJP workers' gathering at Rewa in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. "But when they ('urban naxals') were arrested, Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) and company raised hue and cry," he said. "The slogan 'Bharat tere tukde honge, Inshallah ek hazar, ek hazar' was raised at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) but Rahul baba says there is freedom of speech. Naxals were arrested, but he saw (it as an issue of) freedom of speech," he added. Asserting that nobody would be allowed to harm the country's security, Shah said, "Rahul Baba, you can see whatever you want to, but there is a rule of Narendra Modi government....The voices which talk of dividing the country would be sent behind the bars." The Maharashtra police had arrested five rights activists on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- 'Elgaar Parishad' -- held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village. The BJP president alleged that opposition parties such as the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Trinamool Congress sympathised with the infiltrators. "The BJP government identified 40 lakh infiltrators by creating NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Assam. But opposition raised a hue and cry," Shah said, adding that the Congress, whenever in power, "weakened the country's security". "Nobody remembers human rights when infiltrators plant bombs to kill country's mothers and sisters. The country's youth remain unemployed as these infiltrators snatch away jobs. They are a vote bank for the Congress, but for us, they are a national security issue. They (infiltrators) are eating up the country like termites," he said. The BJP government would drive "each and every infiltrator" out of the coun try after winning elections in 2018 and 2019, Shah said. India's economy rose to sixth place globally from the ninth spot in the last four years, he claimed. Later, Shah spoke at a tribal convention at Dindori. The Modi government increased the budget for the welfare schemes for the scheduled tribes by 30 per cent, while the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state increased the funds for tribal areas by over Rs 25,000 crore, he said. The Modi government also set up 'mineral funds' (district mineral funds to which local miners contribute) for the development of tribal areas, he noted. The Congress ruled the country with the support of the tribal communities, but now they are with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shah claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In Australia, they will pet a koala in a Sydney zoo, visit in the drought-stricken Outback town of Dubbo and meet indigenous leaders on Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island, in northeastern Queensland state. They were driven to Admiralty House, the Sydney Harbour residence of Governor-General Peter Cosgrove - who is the Queen's representative in Australia. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have touched down in Sydney ahead of their long-awaited tour of Australia and New Zealand. Fans of the couple, who married in May, cheered as their auto was driven to the home near the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is the second tour of Australia by the younger generation of royals, after Prince William, Kate and their eldest son, George, visited in 2014. We did hear that they were coming in on the British flight but we have just heard from senior police officers in New South Wales, that they have in fact come in on the Qantas flight. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will attend 76 engagements across the four countries, including the Invictus Games in Sydney, which runs from October 20-28. Prince Harry will launch the fourth Invictus Games in Sydney on Friday, and attend the opening and closing ceremonies. The pair will then travel to Fiji and Tonga, before another day in Sydney, and will end their tour with four days in New Zealand. They're so close that when Markle was planning her wedding, Mulroney was rumored to be one of the friends she was considering as a maid of honor. The Duke and Duchess will learn about environmental challenges while in Wellington, visit a charity which supports children with parents in prison, and meet members of the public in Auckland and Rotura. A Kensington Palace spokesman said: "There is a long history of friendship between the royal family and Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, and their links with the United Kingdom are extensive". Citing a global survey on hunger that ranked India 103 among 119 nations, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Monday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying while he gave speeches and "enjoyed life", he forgot to give food to the people. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Welthungerhilfe, ranked India 103, clubbing its position with Nigeria in the index, according to media reports. "The chowkidaar (watchman) gave a lot of speeches, but forgot about people's stomach. Did a lot of Yoga and enjoyed life, but forgot to give food to people," Congress president Gandhi said in Hindi on Twitter. Terming the matter "very serious", Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said it was a matter of shame that India was ranked 103rd among 119 countries in the global hunger index. The NDA government should set its priorities right, he said. Gehlot targeted the prime minister on India's ranking in the index, claiming Modi and his team never talked about hunger. If they do not even acknowledge it how will they make policies to feed the people, he said. "India stands at a lowly 103rd position among 119 countries, in GLOBALHUNGERINDEX report, which is a matter of shame. This is a very serious concern and one which needs urgent attention. But for NDA govt, the grave issue of hunger doesn't exist. "Modi ji or his Ministers never talk about poor, hungry people. If they do not even acknowledge problem then can we expect them to make policies to feed hungry mouths. NDA needs to set its priorities right. 1st priority should be to eradicate hunger and provide food to all," Gehlot tweeted. In 2017, India stood at the 100th rank among 119 countries, while it was 97th in 2016. India was behind its neighbours Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, which stood at 67th, 72nd and 86th ranks in the index for 2018, as per a report. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- RailRestro in partnership with Yescom Global Kart Pvt Ltd is going to launch their very own food delivery fleet brand named Railivery. RailRestro being an authorized e-catering partner of IRCTC is trying to meet the concerns in terms of non-deliveries due to train delays and other situations through its partnership with businesses that are in the same niche. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/769032/RailRestro_Logo.jpg ) Railivery is a brand of Patna-based parent firm, Yescom Global Kart Pvt Ltd. Railivery is a step towards ensuring proper food deliveries to people who order food online in trains via e-catering service modes. Due to the growing number of concerns of non-deliveries and quality, this business model is coming into effect. Now, the end user doesn't have to rely on restaurant owners for the delivery concerns and this would be managed completely by RailRestro. Changing The E-Catering Delivery Model Talking about the new venture, Yescom Global Kart Pvt Ltd's founder, Mr. Nitish Kumar says "Delivery was a burdensome part for both restaurant owners and food aggregators like RailRestro. The ones suffering were the travelers. There was an urgent need to address this concern and this is how 'Railivery' came into existence. This would ease the whole supply chain of food delivery in trains. Currently, we are launching it on a pilot run for 20 cities," which include: New Jalpaiguri, Guwahati, Barauni, Hajipur, Patna, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mughalsarai, Ghaziabad, Agra Cantt., H. Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar, Old Delhi, Delhi Cantt., Yeshwantpur, Bangalore Cantt., Katpadi, Chennai Central, Egmore, Raipur, Bilaspur, Tata Nagar, Rourkela, Gondia, Jharsuguda, Asansol, Durgapur, Jasideeh, Lakhisarai, Kiul, Bardhhaman. This has been already running in 4 locations namely Mughalsarai, H. Nizamuddin, Raipur and Patna and has proved to be a fruitful one. Also, the plan ahead is to invest INR 20 million and take the whole supply chain to a new level and deliver meals across 50 stations by March 2019. Roadmap Ahead RailRestro is also entering into partnerships with multiple brands to generate awareness towards e-catering. In such an endeavor, RailRestro is entering into a partnership with major service aggregator named ' Global Garner' . Global Garner is a unique business that offers a galore of service touchpoints for end users. It offers its very own cash back model for every purchase made with their partner service providers. With RailRestro, Global Garner would be doing the same. This would entice more users to try e-catering services while traveling in trains. With such initiatives, the food delivery concerns would be sorted and will help in proper food delivery in trains. About Yescom Global Kart Yescom Global Kart Pvt Ltd is a Patna based firm engaged in offering state-of-the-art services for Indian Railways travelers. RailMitra is brand owned by Yescom Global Kart which offers a unique platform to plan train journey from scratch to finish. From Train ticket booking to PNR status and a lot more one can do with RailMitra app. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Goa Food and Drugs Administration Minister Vishwajit Rane said Monday that he has asked the secretary of health department to move a note to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, seeking a ban on the import of fish. During a recent meeting with FDA officials there was a discussion on dealing with the fear that the fish coming from outside the state may have been preserved by using formalin, he said. "I have requested the secretary of Health department to move a note to the chief minister regarding imposing ban on the import of fish for a period of 30 days," Rane said. Import of fish from outside had been banned earlier during July-August this year for fear of presence of formalin, which is toxic, in the fish. Until a state-of-the-art facility to check quality of fish is not set up in Goa, a ban on import is necessitated, the minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rani Jhansi Grade separator, the ambitious flyover project in north Delhi which had missed several deadlines, will be thrown open to public on Tuesday by Union minister Harsh Vardhan. North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta had last week inspected the flyover and said it would be commissioned on October 16. The 1.6-km-long flyover, near St Stephen's Hospital to Filmistan Cinema, was originally scheduled to be completed by 2010. "The grade separator will be inaugurated Tuesday by Union Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Varhan in the presence of Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and others," a senior NDMC official said Monday. The ambitious project will ease the traffic flow between ISBT Kashmere Gate and Karol Bagh. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had earlier said the project would be completed by November 30. Its commissioning will help in improving the overall traffic movement in this part of central Delhi, Gupta said. Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel, Lt Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal, BJP national vice president Shyam Jaju and its Delhi president Manoj Tiwari are slated to attend the event. "We had faced lot of challenges in construction of this separator, but we kept working on the project and finally it is ready for citizens. A free flow of traffic would help in reducing pollution and save fuel as well," the North Delhi mayor added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thousands of BJP activists Monday marched to the secretariat here to protest implementation of the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all age groups entry into the Sabarimala shrine. In another development, the Travancore Devaswom Board has convened a meeting of various stakeholders of the shrine including the Tantri (head priest) family, Pandalam royals and Ayyappa Seva Sangam here tomorrow. The meeting, called to discuss the preparations of the three-month-long annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season starting from November 17, was expected to discuss the recent Apex court order also. The shrine will reopen on Wednesday for monthly rituals. BJP activists, including a large number of women and children, marched to the administrative hub, Secretariat here, chanting mantras of Lord Ayyappa and holding the garlanded pictures of the deity. The mammoth foot march, which started last week from Pandalam, was in protest against the Left government's decision to implement the top court order without considering sentiments of believers and Lord Ayyappa devotees. The BJP has also alleged that the attempt to implement the judgement was a "conspiracy" to destroy the hillock shrine, where lakhs of people from the country and abroad visit during the three-month-long pilgrim season beginning mid-November. An array of senior leaders of NDA including actor-turned MP, Suresh Gopi, Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena chief Thushar Vellappally, were in the forefront of the march, led by BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai. Pillai said if the state government failed to resolve the issue at the earliest, the BJP-NDA's agitation would take a new turn. "We will meet each villager in Kerala and chalk out a massive agitation plan to protect the Sabarimala Temple, its centuries-old traditions and the sentiments of Lord Ayyappa devotees," he said. Claiming that their first phase of the Sabarimala stir was a major 'milestone,' the BJP said if the CPI(M)-led LDF government does not find a solution in the next 24 hours, the party-led NDA would chalk out a 'massive' agitation plan to reach their goal. The Sabarimala Temple, opening on October 17 evening, would be closed on October 22 after the five-day monthly pooja of Malayalam month of 'Thulam'. Heavy security arrangements were put in place across the capital city, especially on the routes through which the BJP foot march passed. Kerala has been witnessing a series of agitations by various devotee groups and Hindu outfits for some days demanding that the sanctity of the temple rituals be protected. On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Monday described Hizbul Mujahideen militant Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gun-battle with security forces, as a "victim of relentless violence in Kashmir". The PDP president said this while demanding withdrawal of cases against three Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students from the Valley who were booked after they allegedly tried to hold a prayer meeting for Wani on Friday. "It will be a travesty to punish them (students) for remembering their former colleague (Wani) who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir," Mehbooba said in a tweet. Twenty-seven-year-old Wani, who was pursing a Ph.D course in allied geology at the AMU, had quit the university and joined militant ranks in January. The three Kashmiri students were booked for sedition for allegedly raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for the Hizbul 'commander', a day after he was killed in a gun battle with security forces in north Kashmir's Handwara area. Mehbooba also asked the Centre to intervene in the matter. "Pushing youth to the wall will be counter productive. Centre must intervene in withdrawing cases against students &AMU authorities must revoke their suspension, she said in another post on Twitter. The former chief minister said state governments outside Jammu and Kashmir should be sensitive to the situation and prevent further alienation. In the wake of the suspension of the three Kashmiri students, more than 1,200 students from Jammu and Kashmir studying at the varsity have threatened to leave for their homes on October 17, if the sedition charges against the three were not dropped. In a letter to Proctor, AMU, students of Jammu and Kashmir, studying at the university said no prayers or any relevant activity was observed and the directions of the AMU Proctor were duly followed. The tense situation as reported in the media caused a serious concern among the students at Aligarh Muslim University. The students at the University in panic were discussing the situation emerging in the valley at the Kennedy Hall Lawn, and were peacefully talking among each other. "No prayers or any relevant activity was observed, and the directions of the AMU Proctor were duly followed, the students said in the letter. They said some non-Kashmiri people armed with lathis attacked the sitting students and caused massive disturbance and noisy scenes. However, the Kashmiri students dispersed immediately and no protest or law and order violation took place. Later, a vilification campaign against the students from Jammu and Kashmir was started by media that Kashmiri students violated the law and disturbed the peace in the campus. Though nothing of that sort had happened and the same was later confirmed by PRO AMU to the media, the letter read. The students said they strongly condemn the fabricated allegations and a systematic vilification campaign against the students and the university. We take strong objection to fabricating cases against Kashmiri students and thereby attempting to jeopardize our career. We, the students from Kashmir are law abiding and did not breach the guaranteed freedom of speech, or act, they s adding peace at AMU campus has always been the first priority of all Kashmiri students. Referring to the suspension of students by the university and subsequent sedition charges, the Jammu and Kashmir students refuted the allegations of violation of law and order and demanded an end to defamation of highly educated Kashmiri scholars. We demand an immediate revocation of suspension orders/show cause notices and an urgent withdrawal of the sedition charges and relevant legal sections against AMU scholars. Imposing such sections is to threaten the Kashmiri students at the university and is a cause of serious concern. We cannot stay at the campus with the burden of these politically motivated and fabricated charges, they said. The students threatened to surrender their degrees and leave for their homes if the suspension is not revoked and case withdrawn by Wednesday. In case, the suspension/show cause notices are not revoked immediately and sedition charges and relevant charges are not withdrawn, we the students from the state of Jammu and Kashmir at AMU will be forced to leave the campus en-masse on Sir Syed Day (17 October). We, the 1200 students will surrender our degrees and leave for our homes for reasons of safety and security. All the responsibility in that case will fall on the University, and local administration. We are feeling threatened and challenged and our career development is under stake, under such fearful circumstances, the letter reads. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Monday welcomed a general court martial verdict sentencing seven Army personnel, including a major general, to life imprisonment for a fake encounter 24 years ago and said it would strengthen people's faith in the judiciary and the Army. The court martial looked into the extra-judicial killing of five people after a unit of the Punjab Regiment picked them up along with four others from different places in Tinsukia between February 17-19 in 1994. Those found guilty are Major General A K Lal, Colonels Thomas Mathew and R S Sibiren and JCOs and NCOs Dilip Singh, Jagdeo Singh, Albindar Singh and Shivendar Singh. "It is a welcome judgement. The judgement will strengthen people's faith in judiciary and the Army," Sonowal told PTI. He said the verdict, which was delivered Saturday, will be a deterrent to people in authority not to engage in unlawful acts and to behave responsibly and in a fair manner. The verdict will give solace to the families of the victims, who were innocent students and youths, the chief minister added. The summary general court martial, held at the 2 Infantry Mountain Division at Dinjan in Dibrugarh district of Assam, held the seven army personnel guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Sonowal said the judgement is a reflection of India's democratic values where human rights and fairness are respected. "The Army has also worked in a fair manner without any prejudice," he said. During the 1994 fake encounter at Dangori in Tinsukia district of Assam, Sonowal was president of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and had sought an impartial probe into the case. "The long wait of the families for justice has come to an end and I hope the higher authorities will uphold the judgement," he said. The verdict will have to be confirmed by the "higher competent authorities" like the Eastern Command in Kolkata and Army Headquarters in New Delhi. The Army men can file appeals against the verdict before the armed forces tribunal and the Supreme Court. The Army detained the group of nine at the Dhola Army camp after the general manager of Assam Frontier Tea Limited at Talap Tea Estate, Rameswar Singh, was killed by Ulfa militants. Five of them were later killed in the infamous Dangori fake encounter case on February 23, 1994. They were Prabin Sonowal, Pradip Dutta, Debajit Biswas, Akhil Sonowal and Bhaben Moran. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Swiss woman has been apprehended by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the IGI Airport here for allegedly carrying a satellite phone illegally in her luggage, a senior official said Monday. I Emmenegger, a native of Switzerland, was apprehended after the phone was detected in her baggage on Sunday, he said. The woman, who works as a tour operator, was travelling to Kathmandu (Nepal) from here. She was handed over to the Delhi Police as carrying a satellite phone is banned under law, the official said. The communication gadget is allowed only for defence and other authorised category of people, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Telangana Pradesh Committee Chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy and other party leaders on Monday inspected the arrangements for the visit of party President to Telangana on October 20. Reddy and others left from Hyderabad by a chopper to Bhainsa near Adilabad where Gandhi will address a public meeting. Speaking on the occasion, Reddy attacked the TRS government in Telangana for allegedly ignoring farmers' and other sections and highlighted the promises of for the December 7 Legislative Assembly elections. Gandhi would address two public meetings in Telangana on October 20. He would hoist the flag near Charminar here and address the gathering on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Yatra commemoration day, they said. Former Chief Minister of undivided K Rosaiah will be conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Yatra commemoration award. Later, the Congress leader would visit Bhainsa town and address a public meeting and another one in Kamareddy, they added. The party has formed an alliance with the TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) and been holding talks on seat-sharing for the polls. Gandhi had visited Telangana in August last and interacted with women of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and others. The state Congress hoped Gandhi's visit would give a boost to its prospects in the assembly elections. Ahead of expiry of the deadline given to to devise Aadhaar eKYC-exit details, a large operator has sought more time to share its action plan to migrate to alternate system of authenticating mobile users, saying reverting to paper verification was not just costly but could also lead to delays and has security-related issues. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had asked to submit, by October 15, a plan to stop using Aadhaar for customer authentication after the imposed curbs on the use of the 12-digit unique ID number. When contacted, a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said the company had submitted its response to the UIDAI but did not divulge any details. E-mails sent to Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea Ltd remained unanswered. Industry body COAI, meanwhile, said the telecom department must give clear directions to on to be adopted by "COAI has not written to UIDAI. We have left it to individual operators to respond as they see fit. Our position is that Department of Telecom (DoT) must provide clarity on the issues raised by the UIDAI," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said. ALSO READ: Telecom beyond Aadhaar While all the operators remained tight-lipped on the issue, a source said that one of the large operators has written to the UIDAI saying it needs more time for sharing an exit plan for migration to an alternate process which should be done in consultation with the DoT. The operator has said that massive investments were made in setting up the infrastructure for digital KYC, as also for biometric devices and workforce training. An on-ground challenge would also be to re-train manpower for the new digital subscriber on-boarding process, which would be time-consuming, expensive and challenging in the current environment of intense competition and severe financial stress. The source said the operator has informed the UIDAI that it is working with the DoT on an alternate digital process for issuing mobile connections to new customers, which will require huge amounts of investment, training and customer education by the telecom service providers (TSPs). The operator is also learnt to have said that fall back to the paper verification process would be retrograde and could lead to delays in service activation, besides having security-related issues. It said that an Aadhaar-based activation took "less than 5 minutes" irrespective of the customer's location while paper activation takes 2-3 days for rural markets, and one day in the urban market. On October 1, the UIDAI had also asked all to "take immediate cognizance" of the request for delinking Aadhaar with mobile number as and when such requests are received from subscribers. "...all TSPs are called upon to immediately take actions in order to comply with the judgement dated 26.09.2018. In this regard, TSPs are hereby directed to submit by 15th October 2018, an action plan/exit plan to the authority for closure of use of Aadhaar based authentication systems..." the UIDAI circular had said. The authority noted that TSPs may take appropriate action to perform fresh KYC according to the DoT approved list of proof of identity, and proof of address within six months from the date of such request to avoid de-activation of the mobile number. The Supreme Court, last month, struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which allowed private companies to use the 12-digit biometric ID-based eKYC. Following this, private companies like will not be able to use this instantaneous and inexpensive Aadhaar eKYC authentication route. Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and Saudi citizen residing in the United States, vanished on October 2 after visiting the building to obtain official documents. Turkish officials refused to comment on the veracity of the report, the AFP reported. The development comes after The Washington Post reported that Turkey told U.S. officials it has audio and video proof that Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the consulate. Such a search would be an extraordinary development, as embassies and consulates under the Vienna Convention are technically foreign soil and must be protected by host nations. The Trump administration plans to reimpose sanctions on oil exports from Iran on November 5 and Trump has urged Saudi Arabia to boost oil output to help make up for the loss. Khashoggi's fate remains unclear. President Donald Trump initially made it clear that whatever the outcome of the inquiry into the disappearance of Khashoggi, the USA would not forgo billions of dollars in arms deals with Saudi Arabia. Writing on Twitter on Monday, Trump said he had spoken with Saudi King Salman, "who denies any knowledge" of what happened to Khashoggi. A key US lawmaker, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, told CNN on Sunday that if Saudi agents "went medieval" on Khashoggi, "that would be an outrage". "I think we need to continue to evaluate the facts and we'll make that decision-I talked to Secretary Mnuchin about it last night, we'll be taking a look at it through the rest of the week", Pompeo, alongside President Trump, told reporters in the Oval Office on Saturday. "The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy." the source added without elaborating. Mr. Trump also said "we would be punishing ourselves" by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which his administration touted on his first overseas trip. It showed a clenched fist made of a crowd of people in the country's green colour. Saudi Arabia has rejected the allegations as "lies". Russian Federation wanted it, China wanted it, we wanted it. The Kingdom "is committed to its principles, rules and traditions and is in compliance with worldwide laws and conventions", he added according to the official Saudi Press Agency. "I'll give you an example - they are ordering military equipment". Chief Executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co. News that the CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, would pull out of the conference drew angry responses across the region. According to the Saudi Arabia General Investment Agency, total American investments in the kingdom amount to some $55 billion. The agreement for a search of the consulate came a day after King Salman called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, thanking him for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to set up a "joint working group" to probe Khashoggi's disappearance, a Saudi statement said. "A delegation has arrived in Turkey as part of efforts to form a joint working group with Saudi Arabia", one of the three sources said. The UK must reconsider its relations with Saudi Arabia if the state ordered the murder of a journalist, a senior MP has said. Still, Ankara could expel the Saudi ambassador to Turkey over this, prompting tit-for-tat measures from Riyadh. Prince Mohammed, King Salman's son, has aggressively pitched the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. Bloomberg, the Financial Times, The Economist and The New York Times withdrew as media sponsors from the second Future Investment Initiative to be held between Oct 23-25 in Riyadh dubbed "Davos in the Desert" after the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort. The threat caused the stock market of the world's biggest oil exporter to lose as much as $33 billion of its value on Sunday in one of the first signs of the economic pain that Riyadh could suffer over the affair. "Investors do not feel solid in Saudi yet, so it's easy for them to take back their funds". He has written extensively for The Washington Post about the kingdom, including criticism of its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic row with Canada and its arrest of women's rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. The third generation of the Tibetan community is contributing towards the progress of the country by adopting India's culture and language, Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat said Monday. Devvrat was addressing the 'Thank You Himachal' public event organised at the historical Ridge area here by the Central Tibetan Administration and Tibetans living in Himachal Pradesh to mark the completion of 60 years of the Tibetan community in exile in India. A video message of Tibetan religious leader Dalai Lama was broadcast on the occasion in which he expressed gratitude to the people of Himachal Pradesh. Stating that India has a culture of 'Athithi Devo Bhava', Devvrat said India and Tibet have maintained integral culture and business relationships for centuries. The people of the Tibetan community in exile are living with love, affection, unity and goodwill in this country, he said, adding that it was their greatness that they always expressed gratitude to the people of India. The governor also inaugurated an exhibition put up by the Central Tibetan Administration on this occasion. Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Sikyong (president) of the Central Tibetan Administration, said the love, protection and acceptance that they received in India in the last 60 years reflected the greatness of the Indian culture. He called India his second home. The artists of the Tibetan community presented the 'Maitri Song' in Hindi. Irrigation and Public Health Minister Thakur Mahender Singh, former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and Central Tibetan Administration Deputy Speaker Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok, Finance Minister Karma Yeshi and Health Minister Choekyong Wangchuk were present on the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three alleged drug peddlers were arrested and charas and heroin seized in two incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday. Milap Chand alias Labbu, a resident of Birnoo village of Ramnagar, was arrested along with 300 grams of charas during patrolling in Udhampur district, a police spokesman said. He said Vijay Singh and Manpreet Singh were arrested after 25 grams of heroin worth Rs 1.25 lakh was recovered from them in Gandhi Nagar area of Jammu. They were riding a two-wheeler when they were stopped by police for checking, he said, adding 15 grams heroin was recovered from Vijay and 10 grams heroin was seized from Manpreet. Two separate cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic. Substances (NDPS) Act were registered in the police stations concerned against the accused who were being questioned, the spokesperson said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seven alleged drug peddlers, including three members of an inter-state gang, were arrested and 436 kg of poppy straw was seized from them in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, police said Monday. The three inter-state narcotic smugglers -- Harjinder Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Sukha Singh from Punjab -- were arrested when they were trying to smuggle 126 kg of poppy straw from the Kashmir Valley, Senior Superintendent of Police, Udhampur, Rayees Bhat said. He said a police party during vehicle checks noticed a Jeep tow chained to a load carrier at Jakheni on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The police searched the vehicle carefully, during which huge quantity of poppy straw was found in a false compartment in the load carrier, Bhat said. He said an alleged drug peddler Milap Chand, alias Labbu from Birnoo village in Ramnagar, was arrested during patrolling in Udhampur district on Sunday evening. The police seized 300 grams of charas from him. In nearby Ramban district, a police spokesman said the force recovered 300 kg of poppy straw from a Jammu-bound oil tanker near Cafeteria Morh in the highway town. However, the tanker driver managed to escape after his vehicle was stopped, Bhat said, adding that efforts are on to nab the driver. The poppy straw packed in gunny bags was kept in one of the empty compartments in the oil tanker, the spokesman said. Sachin Kumar, a resident of Punjab, was arrested after police recovered 10 kg of poppy straw from his possession at Panjtirthi in Jammu, he said. He said two more peddlers -- Vijay Singh and Manpreet Singh -- were arrested after 25 grams of heroin worth Rs 1.25 lakh was recovered from them in Gandhi Nagar area of Jammu. They were riding a two-wheeler when they were stopped by police for checking, he said. Separate cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered in the police stations concerned against the accused who are currently being questioned, the spokesperson said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Steps would be taken to address the demands of the plantation sector in Tamil Nadu such as permission for use of plantation land for cultivation of medicinal plants, state Principal Labour and Employment Secretary Sunil Paliwal assured Monday. Addressing the 65th annual conference of the Planters Association of Tamil Nadu here, Paliwal said he would work on evolving a roadmap to address various issues faced by them. The official said he would consider the demand for allowing the use a portion of their plantation land for cultivation of vanilla and medicinal crops. He said the state should have a law like Kerala had to utilise about five per cent of the plantation land for non-plantation activities. Also, he promised to consider other demands, including those related to professional tax and property tax. He assured to take up with Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan the request for activating the co-ordinating committee comprising secretaries of Labour, Forest and Revenue departments, set up to facilitate discussions on issues affecting the plantation sector and suggest relief measures. The association earlier said the committee had not met for several years. Besides, he would also seek inclusion of principal secretaries of some other related departments in the panel, the official said. He asked the planters to coordinate with the agricultural department, municipal corporations and local administration to redress their grievances that include spending for health care of workers and education of their children. Earlier, association vice-chairman Sakher Nagarajan said the state had a planted area of 1.41 lakh hectares with 1.2 lakh growers and two lakh workers. But, the sector was facing a mismatch between the cost of production and price of the products, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Donald Trump Monday spoke with the Saudi King Salman over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi and "immediately" dispatched his top diplomat to Riyadh to discuss the issue with the monarch who denied having any knowledge about the dissident who, the US president believes, could have been a victim of "rogue killers." "I just spoke to the king of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of what took place with regard to, as he said, his Saudi Arabian citizen. I've asked, and he firmly denied that," Trump told reporters at the White House after talking with Salman over phone. Trump said he has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to immediately get on a plane, go to Saudi Arabia, go to other places if necessary, which he probably will, but with regards to this, go to Turkey if necessary. Khashoggi, a 60-year-old Saudi journalist who became increasingly critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to receive documents regarding his marriage. Turkish officials believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. "The King told me that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are working hand in hand, very closely, on getting to the bottom of what happened. So, we'll see what happens, but Mike Pompeo is leaving literally within an hour or so. He's heading to Saudi Arabia," said the US President. Asserting that the US is going to leave nothing uncovered, Trump reiterated that the Saudi King firmly denied any knowledge of it. "He did not really know, maybe, I do not want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows. We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon. But his was a flat denial," he said. "All I can do is report what he told me, and he told me in a very firm way that he had no knowledge of it. He said it very strongly," he said. Responding to a question, Trump said his administration is going to try getting to the bottom of it. "I can only tell you that his denial to me, it was just one very relatively fast phone call, probably lasted 20 minutes, his denial to me could have not been stronger, that he had no knowledge," he said. Trump said it sounded like the King and also the Crown Prince had no knowledge about Khashoggi, who was a regular columnist for the Washington Post. During the phone call, Trump said he underscored the importance of the issue. "I did say this is very important. The world is watching, the world is talking, this is very important to get to the bottom of it. And I think he understands that very well," he said. "He did say very strongly that he's dealing with Turkey, that they've come to an agreement that they're investigating it together and I think that's a good thing, Trump said. The State Department confirmed that Pompeo was travelling to Riyadh. "At the request of President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today. The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. Meanwhile, Turkish media reported that police started probing a claim that Khashoggi's body was dissolved using acid inside the Saudi consulate. "Police and the MIT (Turkey's National Intelligence Agency) are now probing this claim seriously. They are looking into whether the body of Khashoggi was dissolved using acid," Haberturk website's columnist Sevilay Yilman wrote Monday. In a statement on October 6, Turkish police had that 15 Saudis, including several officials, had arrived in Istanbul on two planes and entered the consulate while Khashoggi was inside. The group included a leading forensic expert, as well as Saudi intelligence officers and Royal Guards. Last week, Trump threatened Saudi Arabia with "severe punishment" if Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate. Saudi Arabia Sunday warned against any punitive measures, with the state-owned Al Arabiya television saying that the kingdom has "over 30 measures" it could implement. Britain, France and Germany also released a rare joint statement Sunday saying they were treating Khashoggi's disappearance "with the utmost seriousness". "There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and -- if relevant -- to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account," the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkey has suspended more than 250 senior local officials over alleged terror links and activities unrelated to their posts, the interior ministry said on Monday, in the latest purge of the country's bureaucracy. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu removed 259 local neighbourhood heads -- known as "muhtar" in Turkish -- from their posts, his office said in a statement. It did not provide further detail on what terror organisations the officials were allegedly linked to. The muhtar is the elected chief of a village or a city neighbourhood, and responsible for day-to-day services for residents such as registration. Turkey has suspended or sacked over 140,000 public sector employees because of alleged links to the US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen blamed for the July 2016 failed coup and Kurdish militants. Turkey claims Gulen ordered the coup but he denies the accusations. Last week, the ministry suspended 559 village guards -- locals employed to combat Kurdish militants -- accused of links to terror organisations while 76 were accused of people trafficking and drug crimes. Turkey has been fighting an insurgency against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since 1984. The group is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. Turkish authorities detained 137 people in country-wide operations earlier this month over alleged links to the PKK. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish police and other officials on Monday entered Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to search the premises in the investigation over missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Uniformed Turkish police and other officials in suits believed to be prosecutors went inside the consulate after receiving agreement from Riyadh to conduct the search. Khashoggi has not been seen since entering the consulate on October 2. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chanting mantras of Lord Ayyappa and waving party flags, thousands of BJP workers Monday trooped into the Kerala capital demanding that the Left Front government file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict allowing female devotees of menstrual age to offer prayers at the shrine. With the contentious issue fast acquiring political overtones, BJP workers and sympathisers, including a large number of women, laid a virtual siege to the state secretariat in a massive show of strength against the government which has said it would enforce the apex court's order and not go for a review. The protesters, some clad in black and many others carrying garlanded pictures of the eternally celibate deity, had begun the "Save Sabrimala March" from Pandalam in Pathanamthitta district to Thiruvananthapuram, a distance of around 90 km, on October 10. Addressing the gathering outside the secretariat, BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao assailed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the government's decision against filing a review petition. "Ayyappa devotees not only in Kerala but across the country are disturbed by the recent developments. The state government is responsible for the crisis," he said. The protest march concluded just two days before the Sabrimala shrine opens to public on October 17. It would be closed on October 22 after the five-day monthly puja during the Malayalam month of Thulam. Enforcing the Supreme Court order allowing girls and women between 10 and 50 years of age into the shrine could be a daunting task for the government with several religous oufits threatening protests. The state's Industries Minister, E P Jayarajan, meanwhile, accused the 'Sangh Parivar' and the Congress of trying to incite violence over the emotive issue. "The Congress and the Sangh Parivar are deliberately trying to trigger violence under the cover of the Supreme Court verdict on entry of women into the Sabarimala temple," he said, and added it was the government's duty to implement the court's order. He, however, noted the government does not want any confrontation with Ayyappa devotees. He said women in the state were being "misled" by people with "vested interest". The BJP, a marginal player in Kerala politics, has been extremely critical of the Communist government's decision against seeking a review of the Supreme Court order, while the Congress, which earlier welcomed it, changed tack and said it was with the Ayyappa devotees. in Kerala has been dominated for years by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front spearheaded by the Congress, and political power has alternated between the two for decades. The divergent stand of the Left and the Congress, which may seek to align at the national level before or after the Lok Sabha polls next year, stems from their adversarial relations in Kerala The BJP, despite expanding its presence in the state over the last few years, largely remains a fringe player. The BJP and its local partner Bhartiya Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) pocketed over 14 per cent votes in the 2016 assembly polls but the saffron party could manage to win just one of the 140 assembly seats. The BJP-RSS cadre are locked in bloody feuds with the CPI(M) for quite some time, leaving scores of people dead over time. Addressing Monday's gathering outside the secretariat, speaker after speaker claimed there was a "conspiracy" to destroy the tradition of the hill shrine to which lakhs of devotees flock every year during the pilgrim season beginning in the middle of November. Several NDA leaders including actor-turned-MP Suresh Gopi, Nalin Kumar Kateel, BDJS chief and Rajya Sabha MP Thushar Vellappally and state BJP president P S Sreedharan Pillai were at the forefront of the march. "We will meet each villager in Kerala and chalk out a massive agitation plan to protect the Sabarimala Temple, its centuries-old traditions and the sentiments of Lord Ayyappa devotees," Pillai asserted. He said if the government failed to resolve the issue "in the next 24 hours", the NDA will formulate an elaborate agitational programme to "reach our goal". Amidst escalating protests, the Travancore Devaswom Board, the body that manages the shrine, is holding a meeting of stakeholders, including the Tantri (head priest) family, Pandalam royals and Ayyappa Seva Sangam, on Tuesday, a day before the doors of the shrine open for the first time after the SC verdict. The board on Sunday decided to convene the meeting, apparently to discuss the preparations for the three-month- long annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season starting Wednesday, but the Supreme Court's order and its fallout would weigh on their minds. The TDB, which was initially critical of the apex court order, had later said it would not file a review petition against it. The Supreme Court had on September 28 passed a historic judgement lifting the ban on entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the temple, a verdict that was hailed by rights activists but opposed by traditionalists. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons were killed when their motorcycle collided with an electric pole in a village here, police said Monday. The accident took place late Sunday night in Malkauli village under Salempur police station area, Additional Superintendent of Police Surendra Bahadur said. The deceased have been identified as Omprakash (40) and Vinay Prasad (24). The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two ultras of Trutiya Prastututi Committee (TPC), both carrying rewards on their head, surrendered with arms before senior police officers in Garwah district on Monday. The self styled 'zonal commander' of TPC II Mahendra Singh Kherwar alias Laldhari Singh, carrying a reward of Rs five lakh on his head, and 'zonal commander' Ashok Kumar Mehta alias Akshay ji alias Nirbhay ji, carrying reward of Rs two lakh, have surrendered with arms before the DIG Vipul Shukla and Superintendent of Police (Garwah) Shivani Tiwary, officials said. The DIG said the state government's surrender policy has been effective in brining the naxals back to the mainstream of the society. The SP said the operation connect launched by the district police was producing the desirable result as the ultras were returning to the mainstream of the society. Forty four cases including 31 in Garwah was pending against Kherwar, a resident of Palamau district, 18 cases have been registered against Mehta, a resident of Aurangabad district of Bihar, police said. Both the ultras were active in Garwah and Palamau district, they added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) They have also alleged that they have video of the killing, but not explained how they have it. Nevertheless, the Saudi Stock Exchange plummeted about 7 percent at one point Sunday on fears of economic fallout from the diplomatic dispute, before recovering some of its losses later in the day. Speaking with reporters at the White House later, Trump reiterated that there would be "very powerful" repercussions for Saudi Arabia should the United States determine that the kingdom is responsible for the death of Khashoggi, who wrote for the Post's Global Opinions section. Sunday's comments come just two days after US President Donald Trump warned that Riyadh would face "severe punishment" if it was found guilty of ordering the death of Khashoggi. The lawmakers' letter was a preliminary step under the Global Magnitsky Act toward taking punitive action. Journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished after visiting the building earlier this month, and simmering global suspicion puts the Saudi government behind his murder. He also brushed aside the apparent threats from the oil-rich kingdom of economic retaliation if the USA were to impose strict measures and said Mnuchin intends to attend the Saudi conference to address terrorist financing. He, however, said that he is against cancelling the $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia because of this. The President said that Cengiz wrote "a lovely letter" to him and first lady Melania Trump and that they would welcome her. But both the White House and the kingdom are under mounting pressure as concern grows over the fate of the veteran journalist. "Well, nobody knows yet, but we'll probably be able to find out", Trump said in the interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS's 60 Minutes, which will air in full today. Later at the White House, he reiterated that there would be "powerful consequences" for Saudi Arabia. "It's being investigated, it's being looked at very, very strongly", Trump said. It is unclear what those punishments could be, but Trump said he did not want to harm U.S. jobs by halting arms trade. But he added, "There are other ways of punishing, to use a word that's a pretty harsh word, but it's true". Media captionCCTV footage shows missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. A Saudi journalist and critic of the Saudi leadership has possibly been killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. This image taken from surveillance camera shows a still image of people inside Ataturk International Airport, Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018. Past US presidents have opposed the bill but the chances of it being passed may have increased because of Trump's frequent criticism of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which he accuses of driving up oil prices. "I believe the Trump administration will do something". "I'm glad the president didn't tie his hands in terms of exactly what we are going to do". Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter, and economic adviser Larry Kudlow was asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether a Saudi response could affect energy prices. In response to her article, Mr Hunt tweeted: 'From the party whose leader wouldn't even condemn Russian Federation by name after the first ever chemical weapons attack on British soil. we have been robust and will continue to be on this very troubling issue'. According to disclosures filed with the Justice Department, the Embassy of Saudi Arabia disbursed $270,000 for payments that went to Trump International Hotel between October 2016 and March 2017. / -- A gateway to the Indian jewellery market, with a special focus on South India's repertoire UBM India, the largest organizer of jewellery fairs in India, announced the launch of its premium international B2B jewellery fair in South India - the Chennai Jewellery & Gem Fair (CJGF). It is scheduled to be held between 20th - 22nd October, 2018 at the Chennai Trade Centre. The expo will be well-supported by the prominent jewellery association - the Chennai Jewellers Association and will showcase over 150 exhibitors. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/675607/UBM_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/769002/CJGF_October.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/769012/CJGF_Key_Dignitaries.jpg ) The CJGF owes its origins to the GJIIE, a show that UBM India had, over the years, nurtured as the gateway to the Indian jewellery market, particularly in South India. In its refurbished avatar, UBM India's new jewellery show in Chennai will truly provide an international experience, based on the organizer's proven expertise in understanding local, national and global markets. The expo will be studded with a number of features such as Luxury Pavilions, Artisan Zone, Designer Gallery and Networking Night. One of the key highlights of the expo will be a three-day insightful seminar. The topics for the same include - 'Identifying Synthetic Diamonds' by GII; 'How to Increase Your Business and Profits'; a panel discussion on 'Young Generation in the Jewellery Business'; 'Schemes in MSME for Clusters'; 'Profit Test for Retailers and Stock Management', 'How your Staff Can Help your Profits in Retailing'; 'Contemporary Issues in Diamond Testing: Experience at Gemological Institute of India' and 'Digital Marketing for Jewellers' to name a few. The expo will also have a Gem Museum by Madras Gem Museum and Gem Institute Chennai which will display an array of over 2,000 rare and precious gemstones. The expo will be an excellent platform for jewellery wholesalers, retailers, importers and exporters, jewellery manufacturers, diamond, gemstone, pearl suppliers and traders, precious metal and jewellery mounting traders and suppliers, machinery manufacturers and representatives from various trade and governmental organisations, to come under one roof to meet, connect, network and grow their businesses. In addition to Tier I, II and III cities in India, the exhibition will have delegate representatives from Singapore, Bangladesh, Nepal, Middle East and Malaysia among other countries. The list of exhibitors this year include: Anmol Jewellers, CNB Diamonds Pvt. Ltd., JKS Jewels Pvt. Ltd., Anmol Swarn (India) Pvt. Ltd., S.K. Jewels, The Bombay Jewel Case Co, Mehta Gold and Diamonds, Madhava Raghava Jewellers LLP, M M Gold Palace, D N Jewels, UTSSAV CZ Gold Jewels Ltd., White Fire Diamonds India Pvt. Ltd. and Kalinga Jewellers, Jai Gulab Dev, Laxmi Chains, Jewel 4 u, Navkar Sterling, Sankalp Jewels, Swarn Shanthi, P.R Jewellers, Ms Diagem amongst others. As a lead up to the main show, UBM India held a series of successful road shows in Madhurai, Chennai, Ramnadhapuram and Pondicherry. The CJGF is one of the five-city jewellery shows (Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi) that will be hosted throughout the year by UBM India. Internationally, UBM plc organises the World's Biggest Jewellery Trade Event - The Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair. Speaking at the launch of the CJGF, Mr. Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, UBM India, said, "We are excited to launch a new show in the midst of all the action in the Chennai market with a fresh, new and decidedly more international format. The market size of the gems and jewellery sector in India is expected to reach US$ 100-110 billion by 2021-2022. And despite economic challenges, Gold demand in India rose to 338.70 tonnes between January to June 2018 while the country's gems and jewellery exports stood at US$ 13.18 billion between April - August 2018 which bodes well for the market." He added, "Supported by quality conscious customers, corporate branding, modern retail formats, and evolving design, the gems and jewellery segment is not just expected to outpace others in domestic sales, but create a deserving and viable industry community which the CJGF is geared to provide." Speaking at the launch of the CJGF, Mr. Yogesh Shah, Director, Chennai Jewellers Association, said, "UBM has been an integral part of the jewellery industry for nearly three decades. Owing to its expertise in this portfolio, UBM India is perfectly placed to launch the Chennai Jewellery and Gem Fair. The show is an initiative by and for the trade, a superior sourcing platform and an opportunity for exchanging knowledge and market trends. We are glad to associate with UBM India through CJGF 2018 to support the established and upcoming centers of excellence in jewellery in the Southern region." Speaking at the announcement of the new show, Mr. Sultan Mohideen, Director, Chennai Jewellers Association, said, "Chennai Jewellery and Gem Fair (CJGF) to be launched in October will be the best platform for manufacturers and retailers to meet and create business as it serves key markets in the region which supply to jewelers across India and abroad. CJGF will give us this opportunity to widen the breadth of our business and make the necessary connects quickly." Adding to this, Mr. Uday Vummidi, Director, Chennai Jewellers Association, said, "It will be an absolute delight to extend our support to this magnificent event, Chennai Jewellery and Gem Fair (CJGF) to be organized by UBM India in October 2018. A platform of this sheer size and scale is hard to come across in India and we look forward to CJGF." About CJGF: CJGF will be organized by UBM, which in October 2018 combined with Informa PLC to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organiser in the world. Please visit https://delhi.jewelleryfair.in/ for more information on the DJGF and www.ubm.com/global-reach/ubm-asia for our presence in Asia. About UBM Asia: UBM Asia recently became part of Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organiser in the world. Please visit www.ubm.com/asia for more information about our presence in Asia. Source: UBM India Pvt. Ltd. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday she still believes a Brexit deal is "achievable", despite talks with the European Union becoming deadlocked on the issue of the Irish border. "We cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal, and leave us with the 'no deal' outcome that no-one wants," she told MPs in the House of Commons. "I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the EU. I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable." She was speaking the day after her Brexit minister Dominic Raab visited Brussels but failed to make a breakthrough as hoped ahead of a crucial summit of EU leaders on Wednesday and Thursday. There is now growing concern that Britain could crash out of the bloc without any deal at all in March, risking legal and economic chaos. May said both sides had made "real progress" on the terms of Britain's divorce from the bloc and the outline plan for future trading relations. The sticking point is how to keep open the land border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Britain leaves the bloc's single market and customs union. May said the EU had agreed to "explore" her proposal to keep Britain aligned with the bloc's customs rules until a wider trade deal could be agreed that resolved the need for frontier checks. But Brussels had said there was not time to work out the details, she said, and proposed its own fall-back plan -- the "backstop" -- that would see only Northern Ireland align with EU rules. "Even with the progress we have made, the EU still requires a 'backstop to the backstop', effectively an insurance policy for the insurance policy," the prime minister said. "And they want this to be the Northern Ireland-only solution that they had previously proposed. "We have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom." May also confirmed a disagreement over whether the backstop would be temporary -- Brussels wants no time limit, arguing that by its nature, the insurance policy must be permanent. "If the EU were not to co-operate on our future relationship, we must be able to ensure that we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One more labourer who was critically injured in the roof collapse of an under-construction building died here Monday, taking the death toll to three, an official said. "Rescue operations have been completed. Three labourers have died, while 15 were injured. Of these, one was referred to Lucknow for treatment. Rest 14 are out of danger," said District magistrate Amrit Tripathi. The deceased persons were identified as Manoj Sharma (25), Vinay (22) and Parmeshwar (22). The district administration has also issued orders for a magisterial probe and Additional District Magistrate Vandita Srivastava will be investigating the matter. "A case has been registered against three persons, including the building owner Swami Virendra Pal Shah and contractor Rajiv Kumar. Police have detained the contractor," Tripathi said. On Sunday, two labourers were killed and several others injured after the roof of an under-construction building collapsed. "The roof of an under-construction building of a private inter-college collapsed when over a dozen labourers were working there," Sadar Sub Divisional Magistrate Ramji Mishra had said. The incident had occurred in an area under Ram Chandra Mission police station in the district, he said. JCB machines and cranes were pressed into service to rescue the labourers trapped under the debris. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Drug firm Natco Pharma Monday said the US Court of Appeals has affirmed Teva's Copaxone dosing patents in the strength of 40 mg/ml as invalid. "United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the District of Delaware's decision that Teva's Copaxone 40 mg/ml dosing patents are invalid as obvious," Natco Pharma said in a filing to the BSE. The Federal Circuit also affirmed the final written decisions issued by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in three inter partes reviews filed by Natco's marketing partner Mylan related to the same patents, it added. "These were the last remaining patent infringement cases Mylan was defending in the US relating to Glatiramer Acetate injection 40mg/ml," Natco Pharma said. Copaxone is the most prescribed multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis in the US with brand sales for the 20 mg/ml dose of around USD 527 million and for the 40 mg/ml dose of about USD 2.86 billion for the 12 months ending August 31, 2018. Shares of Natco Pharma jumped steep 7.42 per cent to Rs 729.60 per scrip on the BSE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US military says it has conducted an airstrike that killed four al-Shabab extremists after "partner forces came under small arms fire." The US Africa Command says Sunday's airstrike was carried out near the community of Araara in Lower Juba region in the south. The statement says no U.S. service members were on the ground during the Somali-led operation and that according to its assessment no civilians were injured or killed in the airstrike. The US military has carried out more than two dozen airstrikes, including drone strikes, this year against the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in sub-Saharan Africa. Somalia on Sunday marked the first anniversary of al-Shabab's deadliest attack, a truck bombing in the capital, Mogadishu, that killed well over 500 people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US Senator seen as a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 has released a DNA test providing "strong evidence" that she has Native American ancestry after her claims had been mocked by Donald Trump, a report said Monday. Elizabeth Warren, a leading voice from the left of her party, has been derisively called "Pocahontas" by the president and accused of lying about her heritage in order to gain advantages in her career including a plum teaching job at Harvard. But an analysis of her DNA performed by Stanford University professor Carlos D Bustamante concluded that while "the vast majority" of Warren's ancestry is European, "the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor," the Boston Globe reported. Bustamente calculated that Warren's Native American ancestor appeared in her family tree "in the range of 6-10 generations ago." The result appears to tie in with what Warren has said about her family lore of a great-great-great-grandmother who was at least partially Native American. Warren, who was raised in Oklahoma but represents Massachusetts, was planning an elaborate rollout Monday of the results in order to dispel questions from Republican critics that have dogged her for years, the Globe said. At a campaign-style rally in July Trump revived the attack in a challenge to Warren: "I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian." "I have a feeling she will say no," the US president added. Warren's move is reminiscent of Barack Obama's decision in 2011 to release his long form birth certificate following years of haranguing led by Trump, who pushed the conspiracy theory that the nation's first black president was born in Kenya. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of villagers, earlier associated with the outlawed CPI (Maoist), surrendered seven firearms to police in Chhattisgarhs Narayanpur district Monday, an official said. These villagers, hailing from Ehnar in the Abhujmad region of Narayanpur district, were once active as 'jan militia' (lower-rung) members or supporters of the CPI (Maoist), but have now no link with the outfit spearheading the armed naxal movement, he said. The villagers voluntarily surrendered seven muzzle loading guns at the newly set up Sonpur police camp in the district, about 350km from state capital Raipur, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla told PTI over the phone. Of the villagers, three were active as jan militia cadres in the past, while others were supporters of Maoists, he said. On October 10, a police camp was established in Sonpur village on persistent demand of the local residents who said they were frustrated with the anti-development policies of naxals, the officer said. A police base was also important in the area from a strategic point of view as it would help security forces to swiftly carry out anti-naxal operations in eastern part of Abhujmad, considered a Maoist citadel, Shukla said. The villagers said from now onwards they would not allow any kind of support to Naxalites from their area and contribute in the region's development, Shukla said and termed the move as significant. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Monday asserted that he will not back out on his promise to bring to book culprits of the Bargari sacrilege case and subsequent incidents of firing at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura in 2015. The sacrilege incidents had led to massive protests in different parts of Punjab three years ago and two people were killed in the firings at Behbal Kalan. Police had also allegedly fired at protesters to disperse them in Kotkapura. Rejecting allegations that the situation in Bargari, where anti-sacrilege protesters have been staging a sit-in since June 1, had got out of control, Singh said his government was prepared to deal with any situation. He also said some people with vested political interests were seeking to politicise the sensitive issues. On Sunday, the protesters had organised a function to observe the third death anniversary of the two victims killed in the alleged police firing in 2015. They had given the government a 15-day ultimatum on October 7 to take action against those indicted by the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission which had probed the incidents of sacrilege. "I had promised (ahead of the 2017 assembly polls) that if the Congress forms government in Punjab, we will take strict action against those responsible both in the sacrilege as well the police firing incidents," the chief minister said at a press conference here. Singh made it clear that the SIT was investigating the Bargari and other incidents, but "under the law, I cannot interfere in its functioning." "I want to make one thing clear that it was my task to put up a SIT, but once an SIT is formed.. I have no role to play in the SIT... I cannot give them any orders, they are an independent investigation agency," he said. Singh said the SIT, headed by senior IPS officer Prabodh Kumar, was fully cognisant of the sensitivity and urgency of the matter, and would not delay its investigations. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) would move courts if they find any ground for action against anybody, the chief minister said. Pointing out that his government had initiated steps immediately after coming to power to fulfil the Congress's promise of strict action in these cases, he said the decision to hand over the probe to the SIT was unanimously taken in a recent session of the Punjab Assembly. "The government had initially decided to entrust the probe to the CBI, but the assembly decided against it out of fear that the central agency could get influenced because of the alliance of the ruling BJP with the SAD (at the Centre)," he added. "I picked up the best officer for the SIT, Prabodh Kumar. He has investigated several national level cases," Singh said. Asked if Bargari was becoming a rallying point for radicals, the chief minister said everyone knew that some people were trying to politicise the issue. The people of Punjab want peace and will not get carried away by the attempts of such elements to take political mileage, Singh said. He warned the radicals against trying to disturb the hard-earned peace of Punjab. On allegations that he was supporting radicals to get control of the SGPC, the apex religious body of the Sikhs, Singh said he had never had any links with such people and elements. He said he would support any moderate group of Sikhs to get control of the SGPC, as he wanted the Badals out of it. "They have ruined the Gurdwaras," he said, adding that as far as former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was concerned, "he is no moderate but an opportunist who uses people of all shades to meet his political ends." Replying to a question, Singh observed that the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, which probed the sacrilege cases of 2015, in its report, had clearly stated that it was only a fact-finding report and further investigations were required. Pointing out that he and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had visited Behbal Kalan soon after the incident, Singh said his ministers were in contact with the families of the deceased. These families have been given compensation beyond what was recommended by commission, the chief minister said. Even on Sunday, ministers and MLAs had gone to the house of aggrieved while others were merely indulging in political games over the issue, he said. Singh also said the police had detected all the 157 cases of sacrilege reported in Punjab, with 129 people arrested and 10 convicted. In response to another question, the chief minister said Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI had for long been active in Punjab and could be operating through some Kashmiri students. However, he said every student from Kashmir was not a separatist and police had so far not established any links of the arrested students with locals. Police had recently arrested four Kashmiri students and seized an assault rifle and explosives in a raid at a college hostel in Jalandhar Wednesday. "We have got thousands of children from Kashmir who are studying in colleges in Punjab. Every child from Kashmir is not an extremist," he said and mentioned about the students who were arrested recently. He also said the ISI's game was to "disturb India as much as they can, particularly the border states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat." The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) will try, so "we have to be one step ahead", the Punjab chief minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Some women activists Monday termed as not surprising Union minister M J Akbar's decision to move court against a journalist who has accused him of sexual harassment, saying he was "not the first man to not accept his mistakes" and won't be the last. Earlier in the day, Akbar filed a private criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani who recently levelled charges of sexual misconduct against him as the #MeToo campaign raged in India. Women's rights activist Vani Subramanian told PTI she is not surprised by Akbar moving court as "such people tend to react in this way when their power and entitlement is challenged". "He is not the first man to not accept his mistake and unfortunately he wouldn't be the last man to not admit his mistakes," she said. Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of All India Progressive Women's Association, said Akbar retaining his position as a Union minister is a "slap" on the face of all women not only by him but also by the government. "Akbar remaining a minister and intimidating victims with defamation cases is a slap on the face of all women - not by Akbar alone but by the Modi government too. This is Modi's version of (US President Donald) Trump's move to confirm Michael Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, mocking women who accused him of assault," she said. Ranjana Kumari, the director of the Centre for Social Research, said that as an individual, Akbar has every right to move court but the case is not between him and a journalist but "14 other media persons" have accused him. "He is in a position of power and he can influence people," Kumari alleged. The Minister of State of External Affairs Sunday rejected the allegations as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against the accusers. Chhavi Methi, another women rights activist, said Akbar should get a fair chance to put forward his point but at the same time "we should respect women and not take them for granted". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp reported a 35 percent rise in quarterly profit on Monday as the second-largest U.S. lender benefited from tax cuts, while growth in lending helped it offset lower bond trading revenue.Net income applicable to common shareholders rose to $6.7 billion, or 66 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $4.96 billion, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier.Analysts on average were expecting the bank to earn 62 cents per share, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv. It was not immediately clear if the numbers were comparable. Non-interest expense ... The company was started by Richard Sears, a train station agent in Minnesota who began selling watches by mail in 1886, according to the company's website. The company already has commitments for US$300 million of debtor-in-possession financing from its senior secured asset-based revolving lenders, according to the statement, and it's negotiating a US$300 million subordinated DIP financing with Lampert's hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc. The bleak figures are an outlier to chains like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Macy's, which have been enjoying stronger sales as they benefit from a robust economy and efforts to make the shopping experience more inviting by investing heavily on remodeling and de-cluttering their stores. That's the toughest part of this of all, of course; my first job outside of flipping burgers or making pizzas was at the Sears in Cerritos, California, where I worked for about eighteen months. Still, it was unclear whether the company would attempt some other restructuring plan and whether Lampert, would devise another plan to save the company he took over in 2013. But despite efforts to revive it, the company has not turned a profit since 2011. It has been run over that period by the hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert, who sold off numerous firm's brands and properties but failed to win customers back, many of whom now prefer to shop online. Lampert has often attempted to keep Sears viable with loans. Lampert bought Sears in 2004 and merged it with Kmart, in which he had a controlling stake, the next year. There are just four Sears open in metro Detroit: in Livonia, Lincoln Park, Novi and Westland. Lampert himself has had a controversial tenure at Sears. Less clear are the fortunes of the 90,000 or so current Sears workers nationwide. But Sears lost its footing in the 1980s with expansions into financial products such as banking, mortgages, insurance and credit cards, and Walmart Inc supplanted Sears as the biggest retailer in the early 1990s. Total revenue dropped 30 percent in the most recent quarter, hurt by continued store closings. Still, even given Lampert's mismanagement and Sears' drawn-on decline, Rosenblum distilled the company's downfall to one word: tragedy. LONDON (Reuters) - BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink will no longer attend a high profile conference in Saudi Arabia, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, becoming the latest senior executive to withdraw amid concerns about a missing journalist.The world's largest fund manager had previously planned to attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.Executives from media, technology and financial firms have in the last few days withdrawn from the conference, scheduled for Oct. 23-25. (Reporting By Rob Cox of Breakingviews, writing by Lawrence White; ... NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's trade deficit narrowed to $13.98 billion in September from $17.4 billion in August, the trade ministry said on Monday, the lowest figure in five months.Solid growth in manufacturing exports, which rose 12.54 percent in the first six months in dollar terms year-on-year, cancelled out a rising oil import bill for the world's third-biggest crude importer that has been suffering from rising oil prices. September imports were up 10.45 percent year-on-year. "India expects to maintain double-digit growth in exports in the current fiscal year despite fragile global ... By Jarrett RenshawNEW YORK (Reuters) - JP Morgan & Chase Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Ford Motor Co Chairman Bill Ford canceled plans to attend a Saudi investor conference, the companies said on Sunday, the latest such high-profile announcements after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The cancellations could add pressure on other U.S. firms like Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Mastercard Inc and Bank of America Corp to reconsider their plans to attend the investor event.Neither JP Morgan nor Ford would elaborate on the reasons for the decision not to attend the Future ... COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk might be able to complete an acquisition within its struggling biopharma business this year, its chief executive told Reuters on Monday."It is not always easy to predict when a transaction goes through, but we are in enough ongoing discussions that it might be possible this year if all goes well," CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said, declining to provide more detail on the potential deal. Novo announced on Monday it had hired an AstraZeneca executive to head its biopharma business. (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; editing by Jason Neely)(This story has not been ... By Christopher JohnsonLONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Monday as tension over the disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist stoked supply worries, balancing concerns over the long-term demand outlook.Benchmark Brent crude oil jumped by $1.49 a barrel to a high of $81.92 before giving up its gains to trade around $80.38, down 5 cents, by 1345 GMT. U.S. crude was down 5 cents at $71.29."Growing tensions over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has proved supportive," said ING commodities strategist Warren Patterson.Saudi Arabia has ... MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's energy minister Alexander Novak discussed the oil output cap agreed between OPEC and non-OPEC countries with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zanganeh at a meeting in Moscow on Monday, the Russian energy ministry said in a statement.They spoke about the possibility of further oil output regulation, the ministry added, without giving details. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Mark Potter)(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) FRANKFURT (Reuters) - SMA Solar, Germany's largest solar group, on Monday named Juergen Reinert, deputy chief executive and board member for operations and technology, as its new CEO, replacing Pierre-Pascal Urbon, who is leaving after seven years at the helm.The company, which last month cut its outlook for sales and profits, gave no reason for Urbon's resignation, only saying it took place at his own request.Last week, shares in SMA Solar hit their lowest level since June 2015. (Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Maria Sheahan)(This story has not been edited by Business Standard ... By Sam NusseyTOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp saw its shares drop on Monday as fallout from the disappearance of a Saudi journalist spread to the Japanese conglomerate, whose nearly $100 billion Vision Fund is almost half financed by Saudi Arabia.SoftBank's Vision Fund is the world's largest technology investment vehicle, and represents one of a number of deals group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son has sealed with the Saudi government.But the oil-rich kingdom has found itself threatened with "severe punishment" by U.S. President Donald Trump over the disappearance this month of Jamal ... By Tulay Karadeniz and Roberta RamptonANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday "rogue killers" may have been behind the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and despatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet King Salman over the case.Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, Washington Post columnist and leading critic of the powerful Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago to get marriage documents. Turkish officials say they believe he was murdered there and his body removed, ... With the RBI not relenting on extending the Monday's deadline for data localisation, as many as 80 per cent of industry players including Amazon, and have complied with the data storage norms, according to official sources. However, they said some debit/credit companies are yet to comply with data storage norms and have reportedly sought more time. The Reserve is not contemplating review of its notification on norms, the sources said. In April, the central had given six months to global payment companies to store transaction data of Indian customers within Although 80 per cent of the players operating in have complied with the Reserve directive, some global financial technology companies have reportedly sought an extension to the October 15 timeline. "The RBI will look at things on a case-to-case basis from tomorrow while handling the subject," one of the sources said, without mentioning if the central bank would take action or impose penalties for non-compliance. In its April monetary policy review, the RBI had said that in order to ensure better monitoring of payment service operators it was important to have "unfettered supervisory access to data stored with these system providers as also with their service providers/ intermediaries/third party vendors and other entities in the payment ecosystem". "All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India," it had said. The RBI had further said that data should include the full end-to-end transaction details, information collected, carried, processed as part of the message, payment instruction. "NBC News has totally and purposely changed the point and meaning of my story about General Robert E Lee and General Ulysses Grant", he wrote in a tweet on October 14. The tweet included a clip of the president referring to Lee as a "great general", but failed to provide additional, much-needed context. "Ohio is the state that gave us a great president who hasn't been properly recognized, OK?" said the president. "I encourage you to continue to be the people that God has called us to be, those people who are so enraged with holy anger that we do not sit by and let this happen." Trump's Friday remarks praising Lee for confounding then-president Abraham Lincoln were part of a build-up to him saying nice things about Ulysses S. Grant, the Ohioan and future USA president who eventually accepted Lee's surrender at the end of the Civil War. "And Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia". "He couldn't beat Robert E. Lee". Trump said that Abraham Lincoln was struggling because he couldn't find anyone who could defeat Robert E Lee. Trump said that it wasn't until Lincoln made Ulysees S Grant his general that the Union was able to bring down the Confederate army. "One day, it was looking really bad, and Lincoln just said "you", hardly knew his name, and they said don't take him, he's got a drinking problem". "NBC News has totally and purposely changed the point and meaning of my story about General Robert E Lee and General Ulysses Grant". Trump was not pleased, and zinged NBC News for its coverage. Trump praised Ulysses S Grant repeatedly during the speech, especially since the general was originally from Ohio. As for blacks, "Trump frequently claimed that Obama did not work hard as president", the New York Times reported in a piece headlined "Donald Trump's Racism: The Definitive List". "CORRECTION: An earlier tweet misidentified the general President Trump described as "incredible" at a rally in Ohio". With Confederate defeat a near certainty, Lee continued on, battling Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a series of clashes in Virginia in 1864-65 before finally surrendering what was left of his army in April 1865. Think about that. Tyler Cantrell, a random Twitter user, was able to spot the error within minutes of watching the clip in full context. Still, Trump thanked them for the correction on Twitter. "So Robert E. Lee was a great general". Lee was winning battle after battle after battle. "It was for states' rights, yes, but it was for states' rights to own slaves". The RBI's deadline for global financial technology (fintech) companies to comply with its data localisation norms kicks in on Monday. Senior officials said the deadline will not be deferred despite requests from foreign companies as they have already been given six months to prepare their systems for local storage of data. Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Google, Amazon and Facebook are reported to have met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley earlier this month to secure an extension of the deadline for local storage of payments data. Foreign payment companies were caught off guard in April by RBI's one-page directive that said all payments data should, within six months, be stored only in the country for "unfettered supervisory access". The RBI had made it clear that global payment companies will have to store transaction data of Indian customers within India. The US government is backing its tech giants on the issue. "We want to have prohibitions on data localisation to ensure free flow of information, free flow of data across borders,'' Dennis Shea, deputy US trade representative said in Washington on Friday. According to sources, global fintech companies reportedly sought an extension of the October 15 deadline but it seems that the RBI is not inclined to relax the norms. WhatsApp has already fallen in line with the RBI directive. The California-based firm said on Tuesday that it has now built a system to store payment-related data in India. The Facebookowned messenger has high stakes involved as it looks to deepen its offerings in its biggest market by users. WhatsApp has a user base of more than 200 million in India, has been trying to break into the country's payments space. Its move to comply with storage norms could potentially threaten entrenched players such as SoftBank and Alibababacked Paytm. Data localisation requires data about residents be collected, processed, and stored inside the country, often before being transferred internationally, and usually transferred only after meeting local privacy or data protection laws. Although domestic companies have welcomed the guidelines, global companies fear increase in their expenses for creation of local servers. To avoid this rise in cost, global companies in recent meeting with the RBI proposed to provide mirror data instead of original data to which the central bank did not agree, the sources said. Last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met RBI Deputy Governor B P Kanungo to discuss RBI's data localisation norms. The RBI in April said in order to ensure better monitoring of payment service operators it is important to have unfettered supervisory access to data stored with these system providers as also with their service providers, intermediaries as well third party vendors and other entities in the payment ecosystem. The RBI further said data should include the full end-to end transaction details, information collected or processed as part of the payment instruction. But a formal roll out has been delayed amid false messages circulating on the platform that have led to mob lynchings and more government scrutiny, according to local media. A lack of clarity about local data storage norms has also delayed a formal launch of WhatsApp's inter-bank money transfer service. Its compliance with data storage comes at a time when, according to sources, several other global payments firms are seeking extensions on the Oct. 15 data localization deadline. Some are asking for data mirroring that would allow data storage overseas along with a copy in India, as this would be easier to comply with. Home-grown restaurant chain Burger Singh is planning to raise around Rs 50 crore in series B funding by early next year. The chain that opened its first drive-through in Gurugram is planning to open 100 outlets in the next 2-3 years. Kabir Jeet Singh, Founder and CEO of Burger Singh said, "We expect to achieve breakeven at the company level by this year-end. Post that we will begin talks to raise series B round of funding of about Rs 50 crore. We will look at roping in institutional and PE investors with a long-term vision," as mentioned in a report in The Hindu Business Line. Singh said that by the end of the year they expect to have 40 operational outlets, adding that they'll first look at expanding in the northern and eastern regions. Besides Delhi-NCR region, they are also planning to expand in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Kolkata. The fast casual restaurant that was launched in 2014 expects to open 100 outlets by 2020-21. As a strategic measure, these stores are all going to be small-format stores. They will be around 500 sq ft and will focus on home delivery. Singh said that the primary focus is on strengthening the company's footprint. Singh said that they have adopted a disciplined strategy of looking at small format stores for quicker returns on investment instead of getting into flashy retail locations with high rentals, as mentioned in the daily. Moreover they are also keen on expanding through franchisee-owned company-operated model. As for the drive-through model, Singh said that they are usually located on highways in India but they believe it is going to work better within city limits and suburbs. That is the strategy they are planning to adopt. When it comes to expansion, Burger Singh is not only expanding in India. In August, the company announced its entry into the UK market through a master franchise deal. Two outlets are already operational there and another 18 will crop up in the next three years. Burger Singh that had already raised $1 million in pre-series A funding from investors currently operates 25 outlets, most of which are in Delhi-NCR, as well as in Pune, Nagpur and Dehradun. 22 Jan 2019, 1:12 PM RBI's local data storage norms kick in today; foreign firms seek more time The RBI's deadline for global financial technology (fintech) companies to comply with its data localisation norms kicks in today. Senior officials said the deadline will not be deferred despite requests from foreign companies as they have already been given six months to prepare their systems for local storage of data. Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Google, Amazon and Facebook are reported to have met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley earlier this month to secure an extension of the deadline for local storage of payments data. Foreign payment companies were caught off guard in April by RBI's one-page directive that said all payments data should, within six months, be stored only in the country for "unfettered supervisory access" Expect three more quarters of losses for telecom industry: COAI The telecom sector is likely to experience three more quarters of losses, hurt by high levies and "unsustainable tariffs", a top official of industry body COAI has said. Stating that the high incidence of levies -- licence fee and spectrum usage charges -- compounded by upfront payment for radio-waves have added to the operators' woes, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews noted that 2018-19 will certainly be a "tough year" in terms of financial performance of the industry. Govt invites bids for international Udan flights The central government has invited proposals from interested air operators for the international version of its 'Udan' (Ude Desk Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme as it seeks to enhance air connectivity from India to select overseas destinations. This is despite the domestic format of the scheme failing to yield desired results with almost half of the routes approved in the first phase of the bidding for the scheme still to be launched. Total in talks to buy stake in Adani's LNG, city gas projects French energy giant Total SA is in talks to buy up to half of Adani Group's stake in LNG projects in Gujarat and Odisha, an under-construction LPG import facility and in its city gas projects, sources privy to the development said. The French firm is keen on investing in fast growing gas market in India and finds Adani a suitable vehicle as it owns the crucial downstream infrastructure, they said. Adani holds 25 per cent stake in just-completed 5 million tonnes a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Mundra. Govt policy on anvil to extend 'courtesies' to honest, consistent taxpayers The government is working on an ambitious policy proposal to "facilitate" honest and consistent taxpayers in availing a variety of public services and tax-related works on priority. They said that a committee under the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the policy-making body for the Income Tax Department (ITD), is working to chalk out the broad parameters for extending such "courtesies" and benefits to taxpayers who pay their taxes on time and in full. The proposal will be vetted by the Finance Ministry and sent for final approval to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) before it is cleared by the Union cabinet. India urges IMF to implement quota reforms Stressing on the need to strengthen institutions like IMF to tackle financial crisis, Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg called for quota reforms so that share of emerging nations increases in line with their growing economic position. He also pointed out that protectionism, trade tensions and tightening of financial conditions are challenges for the world. In the context of these challenges, he said the time for building buffer and policy action by the emerging market economies is not there. Trade talks with China unsatisfactory: Kudlow The ongoing trade talks with China are unsatisfactory, the White House said Sunday, alleging that China is not playing by the rules. A trade conflict between Washington and Beijing has escalated as the countries slap mounting tariffs on imports. The Trump administration imposed duties on USD 200 billion worth of goods from China, prompting Beijing to put tariffs on USD 60 billion worth of US goods. Compiled by Rashi Bisaria Islamabad, Oct 14 (PTI) Pakistan is ready to share details of the debt related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with the IMF, Finance Minister Asad Umar has said while rejecting the US' view that China-funded projects were to blame for the cash-strapped country's current economic woes.Speaking to the media here on his return from Indonesia where he requested International Monetary Funds Managing Director Christine Lagarde for a bailout package for Pakistan, Umar said the decision to approach the global lender was taken after consultations with friendly countries.The IMF team, Umar said, was scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on November 7 to negotiate the programme, likely to span over a three-year period. He said Pakistans current year debt repayments were about USD 9 billion but obviously it would not entirely be available from the IMF.Lagarde has made it clear that the IMF would require absolute transparency on Pakistan's debts, including those owned by China under the USD 50 billion CPEC.Umar, however, rejected the US State Departments statement, suggesting that the debt accrued on the CPEC projects was to blame for Pakistans current economic crisis.The US Friday said that the huge Chinese debt was responsible for the economic challenges in Pakistan, adding that it will review Islamabads bailout plea to the IMF from all angles, including the country's debt position."We understand that Pakistan has formally requested assistance from the IMF. In all cases, we examine that closely from all angles of it, including Pakistan's debt position, in evaluating any type of loan programme," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert had said, adding this is something the US has been tracking fairly closely.Responding to a question, Nauert said; "The secretary (of state Mike Pompeo) had spoken about this a few months back, I know, in some interviews not that long ago. I think part of the reason that Pakistan found itself in this situation is Chinese debt, and the fact that there is debt that governments have incurred that they maybe thought wouldn't be so tough to bail themselves out of, but has become increasingly tough."Umar said the US was a key stakeholder in the IMF with about 16.5 per cent votes but enjoyed no veto power in its decision making that required majority 51 per cent votes.He said no government in Pakistan irrespective of any political background could compromise on national security and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, too, would not opt for an IMF programme if conditionalities are of that nature.But Umar Saturday said the government will have to take difficult decisions that would be painful for people but necessary under international commitments to get out of the current severe economic situation.The IMF, Umar said, had asked for details of loans, including ones secured in relation to the CPEC projects, for analysing the debt sustainability.Pakistan would share "normal debt-related information about CPEC with the IMF", the Express Tribune Sunday quoted the finance minister as saying.Reiterating that the government had decided to approach the Fund in consultation with friendly countries, he said that talks with these countries were still under way. He did not identify these countries but Islamabad was in contact with China and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.Unlike 2013, said the minister, the global environment was not favourable to Pakistan that was why the government thoroughly deliberated upon this matter before approaching the IMF.He said that Pakistan was facing a financing gap of USD 12 billion this year, adding that this gap would not be bridged by IMF alone."We will turn to friendly countries again if the IMF terms are unacceptable to Pakistan during talks on the programme," he asserted.The minister said that he had been contending for quite some time that economic conditions could lead to national security issues and the government would not compromise on matters of national security.He also said that Saudi Arabia, China and the United Arab Emirates had not placed tough conditions for bailing Pakistan out.But he declined to cite specific reasons why these countries had not provided any financial assistance to Pakistan, the report said.Categorically rejecting the US assertion that the country was in an economic mess because of the CPEC-related debt repayments, Umar said that over the next three years, such repayments amounted to just USD 300 million a year, which "is very nominal against USD 9 billion of total debt repayments payable during this fiscal year alone".The "statement of state department spokesperson is 100 per cent wrong", the minister said explaining that Pakistans financing gap for the current year was about USD 12 billion and total repayments to China averaged USD 300 million over the next three years.We totally disagree with that statement, Umar said, adding that he had already explained this to the US representatives and also to the IMF chief."The American narrative is totally wrong narrative, Umar was quoted as saying by the Dawn.Without disclosing exact numbers, Umar said Pakistans net foreign currency reserves were far below than the current gross level of USD 8.3 billion.The minister said that one of the reasons for widening current account deficit was increase in crude oil prices.He acknowledged that the IMF programme would impact the lower and middle-income groups in Pakistan."We can perhaps live without the IMF but this could be more painful," Umar added. PTI AKJ ZHZH If you are planning a trip between November and January this year, GoAir is offering heavy discounts, starting from Rs 1099. As per the GoAir website, the booking period for flights is 15th-16th October 2018. The airline says customers can book flights to as many as 17 places across the country, including Srinagar, Chennai, and Guwahati, at cheaper prices. "Plot your getaway with lowest fares! Fares starting at Rs 1,099. Also, become a GoStar member and avail Rs 225 off as convenience fee on your next flight," said the airline. The cheapest flight, originating from Srinagar, will cost Rs 1,099. The travel period for this flight is between November 8 and November 30. If you are travelling from Chennai anytime between November 24 and December 13, a GoAir ticket will cost you just Rs 1,199. To travel is to live!#FlySmart with our low fares starting 1099*. Offer valid till 16th Oct,2018. Book now: https://t.co/5CcPIrz0PD pic.twitter.com/mPYBx191WC - GoAir (@goairlinesindia) October 15, 2018 The fares for other cities are: Ex-Ahmedabad (means flights originating from Ahmedabad) Rs 1,399 (Nov 12 - Dec 15); Ex-Bengaluru Rs 1,499 (Nov 13 - Dec 16); Ex-Ranchi Rs 1,499 (Nov 8 - Jan 6); Ex-Pune Rs 1,599 (Nov 10 - Dec 14); Ex-Goa Rs 1,599 (Nov 8 - Dec 15); Ex-Mumbai Rs 1,699 (Nov 14 - Dec 16); Ex-Patna Rs 1,699 (Nov 13 - Jan 1); Ex-Hyderabad Rs 1,699 (Nov 19 - Dec 15); Ex-Jaipur Rs 1,699 (Nov 18 - Dec 16); Ex-Guwahati Rs 1,799 (Nov 8 - Dec 14); Ex-Nagpur Rs 1,799 (Nov 8 - Dec 20); Ex-Kolkata Rs 1,999 (Nov 8 - Dec 16); Ex-Delhi Rs 2,199 (Nov 8 - Dec 20); Ex-Lucknow Rs 2,199 (Nov 20 - Jan 1); Ex-Kochi Rs 2,599 (Nov 22 - Jan 6). Till October, GoAir used to operate only domestic flights despite meeting the eligibility criteria -- it had a fleet of over 20 aircraft -- for flying on international routes. But last Friday, GoAir commenced its international operations, with its first international flight to Phuket, Thailand, from New Delhi. The airline has also launched flights to Male from Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kochi. Edited by Manoj Sharma The Centre's Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), also known as Udan (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), has played a distinct role in fanning the country's double-digit air traffic growth. And now it is ready to help the "Aam Nagrik" dream about international flights, too. According to The Economic Times, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has cleared an international air connectivity scheme that will connect Guwahati airport with seven neighbouring countries. "The Airport Authority of India (AAI), on behalf of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Government of Assam, has invited bids for selection of airlines under the International Air Connectivity Scheme (IAC) Udan," Ravi Capoor, additional chief secretary (industries and commerce), told the daily. The bids could be submitted to the AAI by November 22, according to the notice inviting e-proposals from interested air operators. The draft scheme "envisions increasing the international ticketing to 20 crore by 2027", according to the document put out by the ministry in August. As a first step, direct international flights will operate between Guwahati and Singapore, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam, giving a major boost to connectivity in the region. As per the draft document, the scheme is to be made operational only for states which demonstrate their commitment to implement and provide the requisite support for promoting operations under the scheme. The Assam government was the first state to offer funds towards extending the Udan scheme international. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had proposed to provide Rs 100 crore as viability gap funding to this end at a meeting with captains of aviation industry in Delhi last December. This latest development comes within nine months of the foundation stone being laid down for Guwahati's new integrated international terminal. Expected to be completed by 2021, the new terminal building will be spread across 90,000 sq mts and will boast world-class features, including 20 aircraft parking bays, 64 check-in counters, eight immigration counters, eight customs counters, six arrival carousels. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will reportedly invest Rs 1,232 crore in this project. Speaking on the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had said that it would lead to the emergence of Guwahati as the gateway to South East Asia. "We have 800 million people in and around us in Southeast Asia. This is a great market," he had added. In its bid to make flying more affordable for masses and boost regional connectivity, the Modi government had announced the Udan scheme in October 2016 with airfares capped at Rs 2,500 for a one-hour journey through subsidised ticket rates. In the subsequent developments, five airlines were mandated to fly on 128 regional routes in the first phase of the bidding in March 2017, and 15 airlines on 325 regional routes - including those having chopper operations - in the second phase launched in January. However, the domestic format of the scheme has been lack-lustre with almost half of the routes approved in the first phase of the bidding yet to be launched. Perhaps IAC will have more success. According to Capoor, in another significant development, Bangladesh's Cabinet has approved the draft of a proposed agreement with India. This will allow India to use Chittagong and Mongla sea ports for transporting goods to and from its north-eastern states. (With PTI inputs; edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal) Cash-strapped airline Jet Airways has sought more time to pay the salaries of its employees for September. Though no confirmed deadline has been given for the disbursement of salaries for the month, the airline assured its employees that it is "committed" towards finding a solution. The airline paid the balance amount (50 per cent) of the salaries for August to its pilots, engineers and senior management last week only. The Mumbai-based full-service airline, partially owned by UAE national carrier Etihad Airways, has been suffering from the cash crunch for the past few months, resulting in constant delays in the salaries of its employees. A few days ago, its pilots had earlier threatened its management of "non-cooperation" over further delays in the disbursement of their salaries but to no avail. "First of all, we would like to apologise for the delayed payment of your salaries and appreciate your patience in this matter. We remain committed towards your dues and profusely thank you for doing what you do for Jet Airways every day," Jet Airways said in a statement to its employees on Sunday. The company also said it has met with the pilots' representatives and are "working towards a solution". The airline has been reportedly defaulting on employees' salaries for some time, making partial payments in some cases or not paying at all. The airline is facing a deep financial crisis due to high fuel cost and continuously depreciating value of rupee. A fierce competition from local players has also added to its woes, leading to Rs 1,036 crore and Rs 1,300 crore losses in the quarters ending March and June, respectively. Its total liabilities from banks have grown to over Rs 8,600 crore. The airline is now on a damage control mode, with a turnaround plan in place. But the alleged falsification of accounts and suspicious transactions coupled with its inability to pay salaries in time could create further troubles for Jet Airways. Industry analysts are even comparing the present-day crises at Jet Airways with that of the now dead Kingfisher Airlines. They say a couple of months before the Kingfisher Airlines went belly up, the carrier also struggled to pay salaries to its 7,000-strong employees. Edited by Manoj Sharma In May, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had sent a showcause notice to former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, seeking her response on the alleged non-compliance with norms in dealings with the Videocon Group and Nupower Renewables, a company co-founded by her husband. A source in the know told The Business Standard that Kochhar has sought more time to appear before the markets regulator for a personal hearing. October 16 had reportedly been set as a date for the personal hearing, cross-questioning and recording of her statement. "[Kochhar's] representative has informed Sebi's adjudicating officer, who is probing the case, that she would not be able to keep Tuesday's date and has sought a month's time," said the source, adding, "Regulatory officials are mulling the options and studying the reasons cited for the extension by Kochhar." Kochhar resigned from her position earlier this month, about half a year after the allegations first cropped up against her. However, she had been on an indefinite leave since June, soon after the board was forced to appoint an external probe under retired Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna to look into the matter. Sebi had issued showcause notices to ICICI Bank, Kochhar and others after its preliminary examination favoured initiating adjudication proceedings against them for alleged violation of listing disclosure norms regarding "conflict of interest" in business dealings. The allegations pertain to ICICI Bank's loan to the now bankrupt Videocon Industries and the business dalliances between its promoter Venugopal Dhoot and her husband, Deepak Kochhar. Dhoot had invested in and subsequently exited a power company promoted by the latter, and Kochhar did not recuse herself or disclose this when a loan was granted as part of a consortium. While she enjoyed the full backing of the bank's board initially, the growing list of allegations - an Essar group shell company of the Ruia family also emerged among those with whom the Kochhar family had ties - chipped away at that support. It was a second whistleblower's allegations in May that prompted ICICI Bank's board to opt for an independent investigation. All these allegations eventually led to probes by multiple agencies, including the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). The buzz is that Kochhar and her legal representative are awaiting the Srikrishna panel's report before the Sebi appearance. According to the daily, the panel will take one more month to release its findings, and is also likely to call Kochhar for a hearing before that. In September, Kochhar had replied to Sebi denying all allegations of impropriety. She claimed she had adhered to all the norms, in line with the code of conduct of the bank that's mandated for the top management and senior employees. Edited By Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal With PTI inputs Under pressure from the Reserve Bank of India, Rana Kapoor, Yes Bank Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, has given in to the Yes Bank board's diktats by agreeing to return bonuses given to him during the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16. He will also not get any bonuses for FY17, FY18 and the current financial years. The decision came after the Yes Bank board recommended that Kapoor should not get any bonus for these fiscal years as the RBI had cut short his tenure. Also, no salary enhancement has been proposed for Kapoor in the last and current financial years. Yes Bank's compliance team has written to the board and the RBI, informing them that Kapoor has agreed to pay back the bonus received for these years. However, the Yes Bank board is likely to take a final decision on Rana Kapoor's successor by December 15. The board is working on the final name and will soon convey its preference to the central bank, which will then take a final call on the matter before the new chief executive officer joins in February 2019. Kapoor, the founder and promoter of the bank, has been asked by the Reserve Bank to step down after the RBI found that the bank had under-reported its NPAs. Yes Bank last week appointed US-based advisory company Korn Ferry to find a new candidate for the top post. For this, the bank also set up a committee, including three internal and two external members, to find the right candidate. Earlier, the Yes Bank had decided to seek at least a three-month extension for Rana Kapoor, citing Kapoor's association with the bank since its formation in 2004. The bank had also said that finding a suitable successor was a "time-consuming challenge". Madhu Kapur, the wife of deceased co-promoter Ashok Kapur and also his legal heir, had also reportedly written to the board, asking Kapoor to be sent on leave till January 31 to ensure a fair search. She had also raised objections over Kapoor's leadership and had demanded a forensic audit of loans sanctioned under him. While Rana Kapoor owns 10.66 per cent of the bank, Madhu Kapur, the wife of late Ashok Kapur who co-founded the bank with Rana Kapoor, owns over 8 per cent. Yes Bank, along with another private lender Axis Bank, was found to have under-reported non-performing assets by over Rs 10,000 crore each for two consecutive years in regulatory audits conducted by the RBI. Thereafter, the central bank had cut short the tenures of Rana Kapoor and Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma. Edited by Manoj Sharma The RBI's deadline for its new data localisation requirements ends today. The buzz is that the RBI is unwilling to budge, but the pressure has been building up. Apart from the US companies already lobbying for a deadline extension, the co-chairs of the US Senate India Caucus wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday requesting a relaxation in the norms. According to The Economic Times, last week's closed-door meeting between Reserve Bank of India deputy governor BP Kanungo and some of the top US financial companies on the topic has also sparked complaints of bias and conflict of interest. Kanungo is in charge of payments and settlements and senior representatives from American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Amazon, Western Union, Discover and MoneyGram, among others, had met with him. In a strongly-worded letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) protested against the presence of a think-tank representing the interests of homegrown tech firms like Paytm, Ola, Flipkart et al at the meeting. "iSPIRT is a private association which is not a stakeholder in this consultation process. It must be noted that it is neither empanelled by the RBI, nor an official technical adviser to the government or the regulator," read the October 13 letter from Mukesh Aghi, CEO of USISPF, a trade body representing American corporates in India with senior CEOs from both countries on its board of directors. "The presence of such a party in the meeting may constitute as a conflict of interest, especially when they were asked by the RBI during the course of the meeting to provide technical expertise to companies on compliance to this directive," the letter sent on Saturday reportedly pointed out. "The RBI, in the course of the meeting, placed great reliance on technical inputs provided by iSPIRT, which was represented by four officials rather than the one or two persons mandated for all other companies present." Domestic e-payments companies like Paytm and Flipkart-backed PhonePe have previously come out in open support of the move towards data localisation, going so far as to accuse the global players of trying to find ways to avoid taxes and scrutiny. Aghi told the daily that the presence of iSPIRT, "a third-party advocacy organisation" in a meeting between the regulator and regulated entities underscores bias. It's worth mentioning here that RBI has its own IT and cyber security cell, ReBIT. "iSPIRT has long advocated for digital protectionism and their presence at the meeting makes it apparent that the regulator's rationale behind data localisation is aligned to iSPIRT's stand," he said, adding, "iSPIRT hijacked the meeting to raise technological issues which needed a more detailed meeting with the right stakeholders." According to him, the think-tank's "lack of payments experience" also led to many "assumptions" being made at the meeting, including "complete disregard for ecosystem safety and security" offered by global infrastructure. This development comes just a day after the two US senators, John Cornyn and Mark Warner, of the Senate India Caucus urged Modi to soften India's stance on data localisation, warning that measures requiring this represent "key trade barriers" between the two nations. Instead of the RBI's strong stand, their October 12 letter advocated a "light-touch" regulatory framework that would allow data to flow freely across borders. The government's firm stand on data localisation means cost escalation for these entities since a lot of their servers, which have been set up outside the country, will need to be brought here. Industry experts peg this cost at a few hundreds of millions of dollars. In a circular dated April 5 the regulator had said in order to ensure better monitoring of payment service operators it is important to have unfettered supervisory access to data stored with these system providers as also with their service providers/ intermediaries/third party vendors and other entities in the payment ecosystem . It had added that "all payment system operators will ensure that data related to payment systems operated by them are stored only inside the country within a period of 6 months". The buzz is that 80% of the payments entities have already shifted to storing payments data generated in India within its borders - WhatsApp being one of the most recent companies to comply with the RBI's April diktat. However, the consensus in the banking sector is that the regulator will not inconvenience the public and block card transactions to punish the companies yet to comply with its norms. "If cards stop functioning, then it will be worse than demonetisation. No one can afford to make citizens go through something like that again. At the most, there can be some penalty levied," a senior banker with a private sector bank told the daily. From tech tycoons to media giants, a host of Western companies are now distancing themselves from the Gulf state, imperilling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans much-hyped economic reform drive. US President Donald Trump on Monday said he was sending US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Saudi Arabia's King Salman over the unexplained disappearance of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi embassy in Washington later said Al Dakhil didn't represent the official position of the kingdom and Saudi officials, speaking privately, said there wasn't a change in the long-held policy that oil and politics don't mix. The official said Riyadh would "respond to any action with a bigger one", pointing out that the oil superpower "plays an effective and vital role in the world economy". The Saudi king has ordered an internal investigation. American lawmakers have threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a "credible investigation". A Saudi team that came to Turkey from Riyadh at the time of Khashoggi's disappearance left hours after his presumed murder. Rubio said U.S. -Saudi relations may need to be "completely revised" and stressed the U.S. would lose credibility on human rights if the Trump administration remained silent. Khashoggi, a Saudi-born writer who contributed to the Washington Post, was highly critical of the crown prince's government and has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States for a year because of fears he would be arrested in a crackdown on dissidents. He claimed there are many princes in jail right now in Saudi Arabia. Turkish authorities have claimed they have proof the journalist was tortured, killed and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia has said it would retaliate if any sanctions are imposed. King Salman spoke to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Sunday, and it is likely that this call ended the impasse. Last week the regional rivals agreed to set up a joint working group to solve the mystery over the disappearance. "We won't be commenting further". "When the president warns, people should take him at his word", he told Fox. Trump said he plans to review recordings from the Turkish Government that purport to show evidence of Khashoggi's killing. It later clawed back some losses to close down 3.5 per cent at 7,266.59 points. Mohammed Zidan, market strategist at Thinkmarket in Dubai, said the drop in Saudi stocks was linked to the uncertainty surrounding the Khashoggi affair. A range of punishments are under discussion within the US administration, from downgrading diplomatic relations or sanctioning Saudi officials to following major USA companies in withdrawing officials from an investment conference in Riyadh later this month. "As for the WWE, while they say they are monitoring the situation, their enormous Crown Jewel event is still scheduled for November, meaning John Cena could well be back there doing this, which I guess in this context means you don't see these human rights abuses right here", said Oliver while he waved his hand in front of his face, mocking Cena's trademark pose and "You can't see me" catchphrase. Prince Mohammed told Reuters a year ago that Blackstone and BlackRock Inc were planning to open offices in the kingdom. The withdrawal of Ubers Khosrowshahi from the event is particularly symbolic as the kingdoms vast Public Investment Fund (PIF) has invested $3.5 billion in the ride-hailing app. Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which British Prime Minister Theresa May's government depends on for support, believes a no-deal Brexit is "probably inevitable," the party's Brexit spokesman was quoted as saying on Monday. "Given the way in which the EU has behaved and the corner they've put Theresa May into, there's no deal which I can see at present which will command a majority in the House of Commons," Sammy Wilson told the Belfast News Letter. "So it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no deal scenario." With less than six months before Britain leaves the EU in its biggest shift in trade and foreign policy in more than 40 years, the latest round of talks in Brussels failed to clinch a deal on Britain's divorce terms, with negotiators pausing negotiations just days before a leaders' summit. The latest round of Brexit talks faltered over the so-called backstop arrangement to prevent the return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland, which the DUP has objected to. Wilson said he believed the current offer from the EU was "far worse" than a no deal and that it would not secure a majority in the British parliament. He said, however, that a series of "mini deals" could avoid the worst effects of a no-deal Brexit. "No deal doesn't mean there will be nothing agreed," he said. "It probably means there will be a lot of mini agreements on things which are essential, to keep planes flying, lorries moving, that sort of thing," he said. "It seems that the EU and the UK are both fairly far advanced in making preparations for that." (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie The dome is installed at the No. 3 unit of the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant, a demonstration nuclear power project using Hualong One technology, in Fangchenggang, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on May 23. Photo: VCG State-owned nuclear giant China General Nuclear Group Corp. (CGN) said that its plans to develop an advanced type of nuclear reactor in the U.K. will not be hindered by the U.S. governments move to tighten restrictions of the sale of nuclear components. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it will conduct more stringent reviews of Chinese applications for U.S. civil nuclear technology due to security concerns. The announcement singled out CGN, saying that there will be a presumption of denial for the company, although it did not provide details of the companys alleged offenses. CGN responded to the announcement with a statement of its own on Saturday, saying that it does not know what facts the U.S. based its argument on, and that its efforts to promote new nuclear projects in the U.K. would not be affected by the decision, as they do not rely on U.S. technology. CGN and its state-owned peer, China National Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., have signed contracts with the U.K. government to develop a new nuclear reactor at Maldon in Englands southeastern county of Essex. The project will make use of Chinas domestically developed advanced Hualong One reactor, the first instance of a Chinese-designed reactor being used in the West. CGN has also secured a 33.5% stake in the U.K.s planned $26 billion Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in southwestern Englands Somerset county. While Prime Minister Theresa May postponed the signing of the Hinkley deal while conducting a review of potential national security concerns, it was finalized in September 2016. U.S. nuclear component sales to China only came to around $170 million last year, according to Reuters, and so the new restrictions are unlikely to be a major hindrance to Chinese nuclear companies. With 40 existing nuclear reactors, China has the worlds largest installed nuclear capacity, according to the World Nuclear Association. The country has another 20 under construction or about to start construction. Contact reporter Ke Dawei (daweike@caixin.com) *Despite the authorities pledge to protect smaller investors, Chinas stock markets continued to decline Monday *An analyst told Caixin that investor confidence will take time to recover, especially in the face of recently released data which renewed concerns over the countrys economy (Beijing) Domestic stock markets on Monday disregarded the securities regulators pledge to protect the interests of small and midsize investors, with the two major stock indexes falling to near-four-year lows. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.49% to close at 2,568.10 on Monday, while the Shenzhen Component Index fell 1.51% to 7,444.48. The drops followed a statement from the head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) over the weekend that aimed to reassure investors. CSRC Chairman Liu Shiyu said (link in Chinese) at a panel in Beijing on Sunday that the commission would protect the rights of hundreds of millions of small to midsize investors. Liu made the pledge in response to investors calls for the government to boost market confidence in wake of last weeks stock sell-off. Chinese mainland stock markets suffered their biggest drop in two-and-half years on Thursday when the Shanghai and Shenzhen indexes both fell more than 5% following a 3.29% plunge in the U.S. stock benchmark on Wednesday. Sinolink Securities analyst Huang Cendong said it will take time for investors to regain their confidence as recently released data renewed concerns about the fundamentals of Chinas economy. Data on consumer spending over last weeks National Day holiday did not bode well for the next two quarters, Huang told Caixin. During this years National Day holiday, the growth of average daily sales in the retail and catering industries grew 9.5% year-on-year, the lowest since 2013, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce. The growth rates have fallen each year for the last five years. Chinas import data provided another sign of weakening domestic demand. Last month, growth in imports slowed to 14.3% year-on-year from a rate of 19.9% in August and 26.9% in July. During Thursdays stock market plunge, about 50 companies launched stock buybacks to stabilize their share prices. To support buybacks and strengthen investor confidence, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange promised on Friday to more closely scrutinize the buyback information that companies submitted to the exchange, according to a statement (link in Chinese) released by the exchange. The move aimed to curtail false buyback announcements that can mislead investors and increase market uncertainty, the release said. As of Thursday, more than 756 mainland-listed companies had announced stock buybacks, with many citing market volatility in their buyback announcements. The companies have completed 548 buybacks worth 28.7 billion yuan. The total exceeded the value of all stock buybacks in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 combined. Chen Xi, Cao Wenjiao and Qin Jie also contributed to the story. Contact reporter Liu Jiefei (jiefeiliu@caixin.com) Saudi authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of Khashoggi's fate, while several countries - particularly Turkey, the US, and the U.K - are pressing for the case to be cleared up as soon as possible. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) praised the Turkish-Saudi initiative of forming a joint working group and bringing together specialists from both countries to investigate the circumstances of Khashoggi's disappearance in Istanbul, Turkey. In a statement issued today, the speaker said that all the media must adhere to professionalism, take responsibility, play a positive role, verify the facts, wait for the results of the investigation, and not follow the malicious plans of the enemies that aims at undermining the reputation and status of a major Arab state. In a statement by the Saudi Press Agency, the government denied any involvement: "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by waving economic sanctions, using political pressure, or repeating false accusations". It did not directly acknowledge Mr Khashoggi's disappearance and came shortly after the Saudi stock market plunged by almost 7% at on Sunday. US President Donald Trump vowed "severe punishment" for Saudi Arabia if the United States determines that Saudi agents killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, calling the journalist's suspected murder "really awful and disgusting". Otherwise, the U.S. risks losing credibility when it comes to human rights, he told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday. American lawmakers threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a "credible investigation" into Khashoggi's disappearance. Turkey says it believes he was killed inside, telling USA officials that it has tapes and video from his final moments to prove it. Saudi Arabia has vehemently denied that it has anything to do with the disappearance. He said that allegations about orders to murder Khashoggi were "lies" targeting the government, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. The Sabah paper, which claims Turkish officials now have the audio, reports the recording was uploaded to a phone he had left with his fiance and his iCloud, a storage facility. However unlike iPhones, Apple watches do not have a fingerprint ID unlock function. The Washington Post reported that bin Salman had himself ordered an operation targeting the journalist, a former Saudi government adviser. "We would be very upset and angry if that were the case", he said of Saudi Arabia being responsible. Khashoggi's disappearance has put pressure on US President Donald Trump, who has enjoyed close relations with the Saudis since entering office. Trump's words led to a plunge of Saudi Arabia's stock market, in a possible foreshadowing of what could take place if countries take action against Riyadh in the form of sanctions. On Tuesday, the Turkish foreign ministry said the Saudi consulate in Istanbul would be searched as part of the investigation. "We're going to find out what happened", Trump pledged. Global business leaders also are reassessing their ties with Saudi Arabia, stoking pressure on the Gulf kingdom to explain what happened to Khashoggi. news, crime The value of property restrained under confiscation of criminal assets laws quadrupled to nearly $7.4 million last financial year, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions annual report reveals. The property restrained in 2017-18 includes more than $194,000 in cash, 26 cars worth about $511,000 and 13 houses with a net value of nearly $6.7 million. That is compared to the previous financial year, which saw the DPP restrain about $1.8m worth of property. Also in 2017-2018, $1.1 million worth of tainted interests in property was forfeited to the territory, including $624,000 cash, nine cars to the tune of $177,000 and interests in two houses valued at about $228,600. The ACT director of public prosecutions Jon White SC said an increase in resources for both the AFP and the DPP had allowed prosecutors to take on more complex and larger scale confiscation proceedings. The DPP now has a team of three prosecutors and support staff dedicated to the work. In one example cited in the report, the DPP had nearly $389,000 of an accused drug dealer's cash forfeited to the territory even though a judge found the man not guilty of the charge of money laundering. Canberra's top prosecutor, who retires at the end of the year, used his final annual report to reflect on the achievements and challenges of his 10 years as director. Mr White said he arrived at the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions office in 2008 to find a moribund organisation suffering from low morale. He said everything had to be rebuilt, from staff policies to petty cash procedures and records management. "The litigation record of the office was poor, as exemplified by the fact that no conviction had been obtained in a murder case for more than a decade," he said. He said the office was now one of which the community could be proud, and that it had earned the respect of the courts and the legal profession. Mr White cited strengthening the independence of the DPP as the greatest achievement of the last 10 years. He said where the DPP was once almost subservient to the government justice and community safety directorate there was now a more robust and appropriate relationship with the directorate. Mr White warned that the final achievement not yet met was that of fiscal independence. He pointed to fiscal independence as well as two other matters his successor would have to grapple with; allowing paralegals to appear in lower court list work, and the move to fully electronic briefs of evidence. The annual report also reveals a record number of appeals to the Court of Appeal in 2017-18. There were 50 appeals to the Court of Appeal last financial year, up from 41 on the year before. The figures represent a 25 per cent increase on average for the last five years. The report says the increase reflects the greater number of matters being dealt with in the supreme court, which flows to more appeals. Children's Court matters are also on the rise, with 255 matters finalised in the 2017-18 year, representing a 36 per cent increase on the year before. Just under half of all trials in the ACT Supreme Court last year were for sexual offences, according to the report. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/a01dd165-f46a-4f46-b114-e28f0cd4f02c/r0_203_2000_1333_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, crime The mafia had no reason to kill police chief Colin Winchester and his death served the organisation no purpose, prosecutors told a jury Monday. Prosecutor Murugan Thangaraj SC said it was extremely unlikely the mafia was responsible for the murder, and the suggestion they would have done it on the basis of what the informant "You Know Who" told them was laughable. He said members of the mafia would not be able to cross the street or get a parking ticket in the wake of a hit on Canberras most senior officer. The last thing these people want is to draw that sort of attention and scrutiny on them, he said, adding that theyre there to make money" in their illicit business dealings. Former treasury official David Harold Eastman, 73, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Winchester on January 10, 1989. His defence points to what they say is a reasonable possibility the mafia was behind the murder, believing they had been protected by the senior officer in their illegal activities before he appeared to betray them. On Monday, on what was his fifth day of closing arguments to the ACT Supreme Court jury, Mr Thangaraj moved to dispel the defence suggestion. The trial has heard Mr Winchester was in charge of an operation in the early 1980s that was observing marijuana growers produce crops near Bungendore with the hopes of gathering intelligence. At the centre of this operation was an Italian informant, who cannot be identified, who said he had an axe to grind against members of the group. The informant said he acted as "agent provacateur" and he had got himself into the group, where he encouraged their activites and told them they were under protection from authorities. Eleven people were eventually charged over the crops. But Mr Thangaraj said there were serious doubts over the credibility and reliability of the police informant who is said to have connected Mr Winchester to the Bungendore 11. This was the man police described as duplicitous and underhanded in his dealings with police, he said. It was fanciful that the mafia would have believed anything he said, Mr Thangaraj said. Mr Thangaraj said the only time the informant claimed to have mentioned Mr Winchester to the growers was after his murder, and he was trying to get police to look at the same people he was trying to bring down. Mr Thangaraj said the informant had directly betrayed the mafia yet nothing had happened to him - they had left the traitor alone. The silk said Mr Winchester had stepped away from the operation in 1982 - years before he was murdered. He compared that temporal distance from the murder to Mr Eastman, who only weeks before the murder had met with Mr Winchester and days before it had told his doctor he would teach police a lesson. He told the jury there was no evidence that pointed to the mafia but a mountain of evidence that pointed to Mr Eastman as Mr Winchester's killer. The prosecutor said it did not take a sharp shooter to shoot someone from close range. He said it was an amateur that would use a silencer with supersonic ammunition in a high-profile kill. He referred to the mafia murder of Griffith businessman Donald Mackay and noted it had been executed with a pistol and not a rifle bought locally through the pages of a newspaper. The trial continues. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/a7149845-92f6-4b5f-be66-3942ee1890c2/r0_121_353_320_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. Wings Of Fire The book speaks about Kalam's optimism. Though the book carries autobiography of Kalam, the journey of newspaper selling boy to scientist, it inspires a lot. This book also speaks about other scientists who worked effortlessly for Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 2020 - A Vision For The New Millennium Kalam felt that India had all the abilities to join the club of developed nations in the world by 2020. In this book, Kalam writes with various statistical proofs. He has also provided enough examples such as the Green Revolution and the recent success of missile development. Indomitable Spirit This book speaks about the thoughts and values of APJ. The readers will experience the travel of Kalam from Rameswaram to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The Science and Spirituality and Tomorrow's Citizens are the two main sections in this book that attracts each and every reader. Turning Points This is believed to be a sequel to Wings of Fire that broadly speaks about the journey of Kalam during his days in the office of President. Kalam stresses that India should embrace technology such as e-governance to earn the development face. Envisioning An Empowered Nation This book is dedicated to the youth and the student community of India because it contains a series of lectures given to the students at universities, colleges and schools. A lot of inspirational statements and stories are penned in this book by Kalam. Why World Student's Day Is Celebrated On APJ Abdul Kalam Birthday? Ignited Minds It talks about Kalam's experience and interaction with students during his Presidential days. This book broadly speaks about the ideas and thoughts for future generations. The Life Tree This book brings out APJ's love towards India's rich culture through his poems. It also speaks about Kalam's patriotism. Reading of the book will display Kalam's understanding of Indian society. Children Ask Kalam The President takes the time to answer most of the questions asked by children. This book will display the understanding of our President's world view. Mission India This book focuses on how can India become a developed country. It also addresses how India should act on sectors and industries such as agriculture, food processing, manufacturing, strategic industries, healthcare and infrastructure to achieve development. Inspiring Thoughts This is a book that provides insights about various aspects of human existence. It speaks about how to evolve yourself and shape your life through inspiring thoughts. Let's end the list of Abdul Kalam books with a quote from the Missile Man of India, ''All Birds find shelter during a rain. But Eagle avoids rain by flying above the Clouds.'' Famous Quotes by Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released an employment notification calling out aspirants to apply for the posts of Assistant Engineer, Deputy Architect, Principal Design Officer, Refrigeration Engineer, Deputy Director and Additional Assistant Director. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to level 12 pay matrix. The last date to apply for the government job is Nov 1, 2018. DRDO Recruitment 2018: Attend The Walk-In Interview On Oct 30 UPSC Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Assistant Engineer, Deputy Architect, Principal Design Officer, Refrigeration Engineer, Deputy Director and Additional Assistant Director Organisation Union Public Service Commission Educational Qualification BE or BTech in the respective field Experience 2 to 10 years Skills Required Engineering skills Job Location India Salary Scale Level 7 to level 12 pay matrix Industry Civil services Application Start Date October 14, 2018 Application End Date November 1, 2018 Maximum Age Limit: 35 to 40 years depending on the post Ministry of Defence Recruitment 2018 For Technicians How To Apply For The UPSC Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for the UPSC Recruitment 2018, follow the steps given here: Step 1: Log on to the UPSC official website. Step 2: Click on the link that reads ONLINE RECRUITMENT APPLICATION (ORA) FOR VARIOUS RECRUITMENT POSTS. Step 3: Click on the link that reads, New Registration. Step 4: The registration form will open. Enter your details in the fields provided. Step 5: Enter the captcha code. Step 6: Click Save & Continue and follow the subsequent pages to complete the registration process. Step 7: Go back to the main page and click Apply against the post you want to apply for. Follow the link - https://upsconline.nic.in/ora/oraauth/candidate/download_ad.php?id=195 to read the detailed official notification. Step 1 Log on to the MPSC official website. Step 2 On the left-hand side of the home page, click on the button that reads,New User Registration. Step 3 The registration form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided. Step 4 Enter the captcha code. Step 5 Click Create User and complete the registration process. Step 6 Go back to the home page, and enter your credentials in the login form. Step 7 Click Login and follow the subsequent pages to complete the application process. Its good to distribute medicine that helps people avoid a painful, potentially blinding eye disease. Its even better when that medicine also helps keep babies and children alive. The Carter Center is participating in an ongoing study by the University of California San Franciscos Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology. The study, known by its French acronym MORDOR, has shown a strong link between mass administration of the drug azithromycin (Zithromax, donated by Pfizer Inc.), which is used to treat or prevent trachoma, and a subsequent sharp decline in infant mortality. Worldwide each year, an estimated 7.7 million preschool-aged children die, the majority in underdeveloped countries; the most common causes are malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections. A study the Proctor Foundation conducted and The Carter Center implemented in Ethiopia, published in 2009, indicated that mass drug administration (MDA) for trachoma had reduced child mortality there. The Proctor Foundation created MORDOR to test the findings on a larger scale in a variety of locations. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding MORDOR, whose Phase 1 findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in early 2018. MORDOR agents Mahamane Boubacar (left) and Djamila Ali administer a dose for an infant. The Carter Center is the public health studys implementing partner in Niger. The first phase of MORDOR was conducted from 2015-2017 in the African nations of Malawi, Tanzania, and Niger. Children in randomized communities were given either azithromycin (Zithromax, donated by Pfizer Inc.) or a placebo. In communities that received the real drug, mortality from all causes among infants and children 1-59 months old was an average of 14 percent lower than in communities that received the placebo. The Carter Center, led by Country Representative Salissou Kane and epidemiologist Ahmed Arzika, is the studys implementing partner in Niger, where child deaths in treated communities were a startling 18 percent lower during the first phase. The results mean that azithromycin for trachoma can control the disease and save lives, said Kelly Callahan, director of the Carter Center Trachoma Program. This is a public health dream come true. A girl in Bossadje, Niger, drinks from a dosing cup as part of an international study that has shown a link between azithromycin and reductions in child mortality. The second phase of the study, being conducted in Niger alone, is looking out for longer-term effects of the treatment, including signs of antibiotic resistance. Health workers all Nigerien, many of them nurses and medical students visit 624 villages twice a year. The villages are divided into two groups: In mortality communities, health workers go door to door to count the number of children in the 1-59-month age group, take their height or weight, administer either Zithromax or a placebo (no one in the field knows which, as this is a double-masked study), and inquire whether any have died since the last census. All the data is fed into a custom-programmed tablet computer for later analysis. In morbidity communities, the children undergo various tests and measurements to monitor for antibiotic resistance and glean which potential causes of death the MDA is preventing, explained Catherine Cook, who monitors the study for the Proctor Foundation. Cook and Arzika, who recruited, trained, and supervises the health workers in Niger, gain permission beforehand from every level of government, including traditional leaders. At the anthropometry station, childrens height and weight are measured; their data is tracked through a tablet-based system that uses photographs and QR codes. On one scorching day in Poullo, a morbidity village in southern Nigers Dosso region, the wind roars relentlessly, adding to the oppression of heat the abrasion of blowing sand. Regardless, parents line up to register their under-5 children; the study has a rolling admission, so newborns are included and older children age out. All the children proceed to the open-air anthropometry station, where they are measured for height, weight, and mid-upper-arm circumference. For most, thats it. However, a subset of 40 babies and children, randomly selected by computer, are sent on to two other stations. At the blood station set up this day inside a mud-brick hut to ward off the wind and possible contamination, the childs finger is pricked and the blood is tested for malaria, anemia, and other illnesses; blood also is placed on microscope slides for analysis at a laboratory in Niger and on blotters for analysis in San Francisco and at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Any child who is feverish or ill is referred to the nearest health clinic. Next the children are taken to another hut, where workers use cotton swabs to take nasopharyngeal (nose and throat) and rectal samples. The former will be tested for the presence of strep pneumonia (a sign of antibiotic resistance), and the latter will provide a snapshot of the childs microbiome, or gut bacteria. Understandably, many children dont like the pricking, poking, and swabbing very much, but their wails stop as abruptly as they start, and their mothers are unanimously serene. Parents are free to take their children out of the process at any point, but few do, Cook said. For their trouble, each family receives a cake of soap, which helps reinforce the Trachoma Control Programs message that clean hands and faces can help curtail infections. Data from the first phase of the MORDOR study, conducted in three countries, suggested that in places where mass drug administration of azithromycin is carried out, child mortality declines significantly. Egypt's National Cement Co to be liquidated ICR Newsroom By 15 October 2018 The Egyptian government has decided to liquidate National Cement Co due to continued financial losses and debt accumulation, according to Ahramonline. Total accumulated financial obligations had reached over EGP4bn (US$223m), including EGP3.3bn owed to Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co and EGP600m to the Egyptian Electricity Co. Established in 1956, the company was the only public sector cement producer. Its general assembly agreed during a meeting last week on the liquidation and procedures for selling of the company assets, including land and equipment. The revenues of the process will be used to pay off accumulated debts and compensate employees. Published under Lafarge suffers loss on high tax payment ICR Newsroom By 15 October 2018 Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe reported a loss of ZWD1174m (US$4.9m) for 1H18 due to a significant tax settlement. In 2017, the company disclosed a contingent liability of ZWD7.9m relating to a tax assessment for the 2009-13 period. Last June the matter was heard in the courts but the judgment is yet to be handed down. Income tax payments rose ZWD2.7m from ZWD26,260 during the period under review. The company reviewed its risk assessment of the matter and booked a tax provision towards this case. This resulted in the company posting an after tax loss of ZWD1.8m which was flat on prior year performance, Kumbirai Katsande, Lafarge chairperson, said. However, the company achieved a sales growth of 41 per cent on the back of an increase in demand for cement, particularly in the out of Harare markets. But to generate foreign exchange, the company also exported 20,000t of clinker at lower margins, resulting in a negative impact on profitability. Therefore, gross profit fell by 14 per cent from ZWD11.9m to ZWD10.3m. Published under When Jair Messias Bolsonaro walked into TV Culturas studio in July, no one had any idea of the political tsunami that would engulf Brazil 90 days later. The Roda Viva is the oldest talk show on Brazilian television; a group of eight journalists sit on a wheel-shaped bench and in the center lies the interviewee. That Monday, Bolsonaro spoke about how he would toughen criminal laws, turn back the sexual revolution, and restore Christian morality. He admitted to not understanding much about economics; that said, he has been well advised. The retired army officer repeats the same performance on a similar TV program promoted by Rede Globo, the telecom giant. Bolsonaro was asked what he thought about the military dictatorship which ruled Brazil between 1964 until 1985. He reminded an astonished group of journalists that one of the most effusive supporters of the 1964 military coup was the founder of Globo, Roberto Marinho. He then challenged them to call their bosss father a coup-plotter. These are examples of how the man most likely to be Brazils next president has been setting fire to the political status quo. Bolsonaro began his political career in the City Council of Rio de Janeiro. In 1990 he became member of Brazils House of Representatives. His main platform was always the issue of fighting crime and defending the right to bear guns. Representing one of the most violent regions of Brazil, his message has found widespread acceptance. As a legislator, Bolsonaro combined social conservatism with statist and protectionist policies. He was a kind of big state conservative. His behavior was the one of a Latin American populist: the strong man who solves everything. It was, however, the internet which made Bolsonaro famous. By standing against the political correctness via, his videos on YouTube and Facebook have become a pop culture phenomenon. In 2014, a double crisis hit Brazil. On the one hand, there was an economic crisis triggered by the neo-Keynesian politics of President Dilma Rousseff; on the other, there was political turmoil following from investigations into corruption in the state oil company, Petrobras. One crisis began to feed the other. Soon after, Dilma Rousseff was removed from office. Corruption investigations engulfed the entire political class, starting with Rousseffs successor, Michel Temer. The two crises intensified the revolt against established politics. It was in this context of besieged Bastille that Jair Bolsonaro emerged as a real alternative of power. Bolsonaros unusual appeal does not only stem from his ideas. His campaign has been chaotic and amateurish, and clearly lacks central coordination. He relies on the Internet and social media networks rather than television to speak his message. His party, the Social-Liberal Party, was created exclusively for this presidential election. Bolsonaros campaign also lacks experienced politicians and voting strategists. Instead, his campaign is advised by seven army generals and a dozen outsiders who command surprisingly strong networks. Pundits predicted that Bolsonaro would fade and that conservative votes would drift back to the Social-Democrats. The polls, however, showed his resilience. On September 6, he was the victim of a knife attack that put him in a hospital bed for the rest of the campaign. Once more, pundits predicted that Bolsonaro was done. Once again, they turned out to be wrong as Bolsonaro started to rise slowly but steadily. He skyrocketed in the last week of the campaign and won the first round. Bolsonaro did not reach the necessary threshold of 50 percent plus one vote. Nonetheless, it is very likely that he is going to win the election in three weeks time because a second-placed candidate has never succeeded in the second round. The most recent polls put Bolsonaro in front by 16-percentage-points. Where should we place Bolsonaro on the ideological map? To begin with, Bolsonaro is a populist, and like all populists, he does not have ideological clarity. We know that he believes in social conservatism. He is a conservative according to Karl Mannheims definition of the word, someone that stands up to protect a present social structure in jeopardy. Bolsonaro is, however, also in favor of free markets. His conversion to free-market ideas is something new and has to be understood in the general context of the Brazilian center-right. Todays Brazilian Right is anti-globalist, pro-free market, and traditionalist. His economic adviser, Paulo Guedes, is a prominent banker and economist educated in the University of Chicago. Assuming Bolsonaro is elected president, his ideological outlines will start to become more precise. It is doubtful that he is going to rule as a conservative purist because there are many Brazilian political variables that tend to push policies in a more centrist or pragmatic direction. Many believe that the main contribution of Bolsonaro and the new Brazilian Right will be to reshape national politics, turning Brazil into a normal country: one where people can vote either on the left or the right knowing that the rules of the democratic game will not change regardless of the electoral outcome. home page image: Brazil The first 100% Brazilian oil platform. wikimedia Five top Algerian generals have been dismissed of their functions this week after they stood before justice on corruption charges, local Algerian media said. The major generals include three former heads of military regions, a former gendarmerie head and the Defense Ministrys financial services chief, local media outlets said. They all face charges of illicit enrichment and use of a senior officers function for personal purposes. The recent dismissals come at a context of a larger purge within the senior levels of the Algerian army as the pro-Bouteflika clans strengthen their stronghold on power. Last September, a group of top Algerian military commanders, including the heads of the air force and the army, have been dismissed. Some analysts argued that the purges indicate that the chief of staff Gaid Salah is reordering the military leadership in preparation for exerting more power independent of Bouteflika, especially as the president, who is beset by health problems, grows sicker and weaker. Despite poor health, President Bouteflika is bracing for a fifth term, encouraged by his entourage including his brother Said and chief of Staff Gaid Salah. Some analysts say that keeping Bouteflika as a President indicates an agreement among the power elite who run the country. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their first child together, and the news has sent the world into a literal frenzy. There has been some speculation for some time that the Duchess of Sussex was expecting. After all, she canceled her planned stop in Fiji with her husband on their royal tour, and many people thought it was to avoid the outbreak of the Zika virus, which affects pregnant women. Also, when she attended Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbanks royal wedding on Oct.12, 2018, the duchess wore a navy A-line Givenchy coat which she did not remove for the duration of the ceremony. Now Kensington Palace has officially announced that the royal couple is expecting and apparently, the royal family found out at a pretty awkward time. A very regal announcement In the early morning hours of Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, Kensington Palace took to Twitter to announce that Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis would be getting a cousin in the Spring of 2019. The palace tweeted, Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. pic.twitter.com/Ut9C0RagLk Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 15, 2018 According to Kensington Palace, Markle is about 12-weeks along, so she is entering her second trimester which is why the couple decided it was time to spill the beans. Also, the duchess and Prince Harry have just embarked on their first royal tour together, which will lead them to Australia and New Zealand for the next 16-days. Were sure that Markle didnt want to be buried under coats or forced to carry large bags everywhere she goes in an attempt to hide her growing belly. The couple was initially also scheduled to make stops in Fiji and the Kingdom of Tonga, but we dont believe the duchess will be attending that section of the tour anymore due to Zika. However, with nearly 70 events to get through, we hope that shes taking care of herself. A source told People that the duchess is feeling well after a successful 12-week scan, so hopefully, she will have no issues while on the tour. Telling the family It looks like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have kept the news of their forthcoming baby to themselves for the last three months, and they only told the royal family about their news at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbanks wedding. Though were sure they are super excited about their new addition, we dont think the Yorks were all that pleased about them stealing the spotlight AGAIN. In fact, while Queen Elizabeth II, Markles mother, Doria Ragland, Prince Charles, Duchess Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince William, and Duchess Kate Middleton have all congratulated the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and are reportedly delighted by the news, the York family has stayed quiet. Oct. 15, 2018, is actually Sarah, Duchess of Yorks 59th birthday, so she spent the morning tweeting out a thank you to the designer of her dress worn on her daughters big day. Some might call this a coincidence, but knowing Fergie and the York family, we doubt it. Seventh in line for the throne Unfortunately, mini- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry wont be an official prince or princess. However, they will fall seventh in line for the throne after Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and their dad, Prince Harry. ABC News contributor Victoria Murphy explained, This baby will actually not be a prince or a princess or an HRH His or Her Royal Highness unless the queen steps in and decides to offer those titles, at which point it will be up to Harry and Meghan to decide if thats what they want for their children. For now, we just hope Markle has a healthy and happy pregnancy and delivery. Pueblo police officer shoots and kills man said to have been armed Morocco has an open economy that qualifies it host the IMF-World Bank Group conference in 2021 said IMF chief Christine Lagarde. Speaking at the IMF-WB joint meetings in Bali, Lagarde lauded Morocco as a country that epitomizes the convergence of the humanitarian values that unite us all. She added that Morocco offers an optimal venue given its tolerance, openness, respect, generosity and hospitality, the Moroccan news agency reported. Morocco, which successfully hosted the UN climate conference COP22, will spare no effort to guarantee the 2021 IMF-WB meetings are held in best conditions, she added. The Annual Meetings bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, civil society, media and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, global financial stability, poverty eradication, inclusive economic growth and job creation, climate change, and others. The last time the Annual Meetings were held in Africa was in 1973, in Nairobi, Kenya. The Annual Meetings are usually held for two consecutive years at the WBG and IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C. and every third year in another member country. NAIROBI, Kenya, October 15, 2018 (Morning Star News) Islamic extremists suspected to be Al Shabaab militants on Wednesday at 1 a.m. (Oct. 10) killed two Christians in northern Kenya, sources said. In Mandera East, in Mandera County on Kenyas border with Somalia, more than 20 suspected Somali Al Shabaab rebels detonated an Improvised Explosive Device at the block housing where non-local teachers live, instantly killing two teachers. In an area with many Muslims of Somali descent, militants assume that Kenyans who come from the interior to work are Christians which, in this case as in previous ones, was correct. The non-local teachers were members of the Catholic Church and the East Africa Pentecostal Church, an area source told Morning Star News, requesting their names be withheld as relatives have yet to be notified. The attackers knew who to attack; they had a specific mission of targeting non-locals as they went straight to the house quarters of the four non-local teachers. One of the two non-local teachers who were able to flee the living quarters before the explosion notified a Morning Star News contact of the attack on the teachers quarters of the Arabia Boys Secondary School, Lafey Sub-County, two kilometers from the Somali border. But thank God two of us managed to escape, the surviving teacher said, requesting anonymity. They razed the house down with the hope that none of the non-local teachers survived. Area churches and schools have been shaken by previous attacks, and an area church leader said he has decided to leave until security is tightened. I am concerned for my church members and the future of the church in Mandera, he said. I know our presence meant a lot for the kingdom of God, but our hearts have been gripped with great fear. The attack was not random or accidental, since no local teacher, workers or students were killed, he said. As a non-local pastor, I feel frightened of a possible attack on our church, he said. My members are in a great, fearful state. We really need prayers for Gods protection. The two teachers who survived are traumatized and need prayers and counseling, he added. The bodies of the slain teachers have been flown to Nairobi, where notification of family members is pending. Al Shabaab, which is allied with Al Qaeda, or Al Shabaab sympathizers have killed several non-local people in northern Kenya since 2011, when Kenyan forces led an African coalition into Somalia against the rebels in response to terrorist attacks on tourists and others on Kenyas coast. Kenya ranked 32nd on Christian support organization Open Doors 2018 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. Economic Persecution in Coastal Kenya In coastal Kenya, hard-line Muslims are economically walling out Christians, leaving widows who lost their husbands to Islamist violence especially traumatized, area residents said. Muslims in Lamu are strategizing new ways of persecution using an economic approach, a Christian worker in Mpeketoni told Morning Star News. Lamu is predominantly Muslim, and most of the large farms producing crops and animal products are owned by the Muslims. Visit any market in Lamu, may it be Mpeketoni, Witu, Lamu town, you will see a hidden economic sanction imposed by Muslims on Christians, he said. Muslims engage their business to their own brothers and sisters in the faith, leaving non-Muslims deprived of basic economic needs: food stuff, animal products, just to name a few. Christians also face discrimination in obtaining transportations services, a Christian merchant in Mpeketoni told Morning Star News. A widow who lost her husband to an Al Shabaab attack said this discrimination is further hurting mothers already impoverished due to the loss of their husbands. It now apparent that the fortunate children who qualified for university education cannot afford to be sent to such universities, she said. My daughter is looking to me to provide the university school fees, but I remain helpless, discouraged and hopeless. At times I question the presence of God, yet God seemed to have decided to remain silent. A Christian worker in Lamu said area Christians, especially widows who lost their husbands to Al Shabaab attacks, are finding life unbearable. Please Christians, pray and intercede for us that the God of peace will intervene, the worker said. If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews. org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved. If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/ donate/ ? According to the Associated Press, Israels prime minister has suggested that he would like to appoint an envoy to the Christian world. Some people are calling this a sign of Israels efforts to create closer ties with its Christian allies. On Sunday, Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a meeting with visiting Christian media journalists in Jerusalem, when one journalist suggested that he appoint an ambassador to the Christian world. Netanyahu responded to the suggestion saying that it was a great idea. The attendees at the summit welcomed each other kindly illustrating growth in the ties between Israel and the evangelical Christian world. CBN News reports, in recent years, evangelicals have offered vast support to Israel, support that Israel has come to rely on. Though this support and reliance has been cause for concern for members of the local and world Jewish community, Netanyahu appears to find the relationship to be symbiotic. In a statement Netanyahu said, A great alliance with the evangelicals is something we do not apologize for. He continued, We have no better friends in the world. Photo courtesy: Ricardo Resende/Unsplash In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus finishes a long series of parables by asking his disciples, Have you understood all this? They reply, Yes. Then Jesus closes his teaching, saying, Therefore, every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old (13:5152). Like many Matthew scholars, I think that the new that Jesus refers to is his teachings passed on to his disciples, as with the immediately previous parable. The old, then, refers to the Scriptures that Jesus has on his lips throughout the gospel: the Law of Moses and the psalms of David and the words of the prophets. Not all Christians have received the old as treasure, however. At least since the time when Peter and Paul carried the good news of Jesus beyond the boundaries of Israel, Christians have struggled with the Old Testament (OT). Some outright reject the OT. Others simply ignore the OT unless it somehow illuminates a passage in the New Testament (NT). Whether through disdain or neglect, Christian history tells us that many Christians have not found the OT a treasure to their faith. Within this long tradition stands Andy Stanley, who received some sharp criticism earlier this year for claiming in a sermon that Christians should unhitch themselves from the OT. But, to be fair to Stanley, many preachers and teachers have unhitched themselves in practice from the OT, even if they have not made that clear in the stark way that Stanley did back in April. Thus, while I find Stanleys position troubling, I also think it provides an opportunity for us to consider the place of the OT in the life of the church and the Christian. Given that Stanleys comments pushed this topic to the fore in recent months, I begin my reflection on this topic by offering some comments on his recently published book, Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World, which elaborates on some of his preaching from earlier this year. After looking carefully at Stanleys work, I want to offer some positive comments on the OT within Christianity. Christians have good, biblically based, irresistible reasons for treasuring the OT. Removing Every Obstacle? The desire to eliminate anything that makes Christian faith resistible is what drives Stanley to make his provocative claim. I understand this concern. The percentage of people claiming to be Christians continues to decline in the US, which includes the decline of people claiming to be evangelicals. Correspondingly, the percentage of nonesreligiously unaffiliated peopleis on the rise. Furthermore, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, many of these nones were raised religious. Stanley, like many of us, wants to stem the bleeding. According to Stanley, many nones resist or reject Christianity because of the OT. In his argument, Stanley points to a number of problems the OT presents to young people in our culture. In our scientific age, some may reject faith because they see that the creation story does not fit with the teachings of evolution, for example. Archaeological discoveries and historical research at times seem to undermine some of the historical claims of the OT. Others, past and present, have been turned off the by the portrait of Gods violence in the OT. These same people are likely to also be offended by the apparent endorsement of slavery in the OT. And so on. Perhaps as importantly, Stanley finds precedence for Christians unhitching from the OT in select NT passages. Acts 15, which he discusses at length, proves especially helpful given his concern to eliminate barriers to Christian faith. Luke offers a summary of the Jerusalem Council, which met to settle a dispute over whether Gentiles needed to be circumcised in order to become Christians. According to the text, Paul and Barnabas, Peter and James, and none less than the Holy Spirit convinced the council to send a letter to Christians in Antioch with the aim of reducing their burden of what was necessary in their practice of Christianity. The letter listed a total of only fourfouritems that the Gentiles were to avoid as they adopted Christianity. Thats a far cry from the 613 commands recorded in Torah. Article continues below This story is, of course, not the only vision in the NT of the important place of the OT in Christianity. Stanley observes that Jesus, Peter, and Paul held texts that now comprise the OT in high regard, as carried along by the Holy Spirit, and as authoritative. But there arises a problem in the way that Stanley discusses some of the key passages. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus claims to have come, not to abolish the Law and Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). Stanley claims that fulfill means to bring to a designated end. But, even if this understanding is accurate, the problem is that Stanley does not follow Jesus to the end of his thought, where Jesus says that those who are great in the kingdom of heaven are those who do and teach the Law and Prophets (Matt. 5:19). Similarly, Stanley quotes 2 Timothy 3:16, affirming that Paul saw the OT as God-breathed and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness. But Stanley does not finish out the sentence, in which Paul claims the OT is inspired so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17). Both Jesus and Paul see the positive impact of the OT on the practice of Christianity. But it seems that Stanley leaves out these parts of these texts because they do not cohere with his thesis that the moral teachings of the OT should not be mixed with Christian moral teaching. So, does Stanley think the OT has any role to play in Christianity? He says, yes, it serves as the backstory to the Christian faith. In some cases, the OT can provide some good principles for life, for example, in the wisdom provided in the Book of Proverbs. But, Christians should be careful not to look to the OT for behavioral cues. It is the life and teaching of Jesus as taught in the NT, and there only, that Christians find guidance for Christian living. Should we, then, accept Stanleys vision for the OT in modern Christianity? I say, No. And I look to Paul to help me explain why. Old Testament Wisdom for New Testament Christians As Stanley writes about 2 Timothy 3:16, he encourages us to consider what else Paul says and to watch what else Paul does with the OT. Lets follow his advice and watch what Paul says about and does with the OT in the Letter to the Romans as we consider further the function of the OT for Christianity today. Romans seems like the perfect case study because, at one point in the letter, Paul asserts that Christ is the end of the Law (10:4). This word, telos, can mean end but can also refer to an attainment or goal, or the highest point or ideal. And, in light of the fact that Paul quotes from the OT in Romans more than in any of his other letters, we need to look at what Paul says about and does with the OT to understand his claim that Christ is the end of the Law. Nineteen times Paul uses as it is written to introduce a passage from the OT, four other times Scriptures says. To substantiate his argument, he invokes Moses (3x), David (2x), and Isaiah (5x). The sheer prevalence of the OT in Pauls argument indicates that the OT is not obsolete for Paul. In fact, his use of the OT in Romans offers us a vision for the potential for the OT in modern Christianity. Article continues below 1. The OT can help Christians understand the implications of the gospel for our lives. The righteous will live by faith (Rom. 1:17; Hab. 2:4). Paul writes to the church in Rome though he did not found it and had never visited it. Still, he finds himself eager to preach his gospel to them (Rom. 1:1415). Paul feels no shame about his eagerness because he knows that his gospel (a) is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16) and (b) reveals Gods justice, As it is written: The righteous will live by faith (Rom. 1:17). There is some debate about Pauls purpose in quoting the righteous will live by faith in this passage. But, apparently, Paul saw a parallel between the circumstances of the church in Rome and that of Habakkuk. Habakkuk lived in a world dominated by injustice, both in Judah and especially in the larger, Babylonian Empire. Paul sees that the small group of Christians in Rome live in a similar situation, with both Jews and the Roman Empire propagating injustice. Gods proclamation, the righteous will live by faith, exhorts both the prophet and the first-century church to practice the justice demanded by God, trusting that God has things well-in-hand. The justice the gospel reveals, then, refers to the justice that God demands from the church in spite of the pressures they face. Paul quotes from the OT because he sees that Habakkuk 2:4 helps clarify the implications of the gospel for the Christians of Rome. 2. The OT can illuminate Christians understanding of Gods way in the world. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion (Rom. 9:15; Ex. 33:19). In Romans 911, Paul focuses his discussion on his concern for his fellow Jews, which reflects Gods own concern for the Jews. Leading figures in Rome like Cicero and Seneca wrote disdainfully of the Jews for their practices of circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath rest. Paul apparently recognizes that Christians in Rome could easily adopt such disdain, especially given that Romans emphasizes the way Jews sinned against God and did not accept the gospel of Jesus. Paul pauses to disabuse the Christians in Rome of disdaining the Jews themselves. To convince the church, Paul works to explain what God is doing in the present moment, using a number of passages from the OT to support his argument. First, Paul admits that Gods election proves confusing: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated (Rom. 9:13; Mal. 1:23). One cannot ascertain why God accepts one but rejects another. People may question what God is doing but that seems like a vessel questioning the potter that made it (Rom. 9:20; Isa. 29:16). What Paul does know is that the temporary stumbling of the Jews over Jesus reflects what God has done before, laying a stumbling block in Zion (Rom. 9:33; Isa. 8:14; 28:16). Simultaneously, God has also always kept a remnant of Israel devoted to God, like the 7,000 in Elijahs day who had not bowed to Baal (Rom. 11:24; 1 Kings 19:10, 14, 18). Paul, though, saw that the present salvation of the Gentiles would lead to all Israel being saved, just as God promised in Isaiah to send a redeemer to remove godlessness from Jacob (Rom. 11:2526; Isa. 59:2021; 27:9). Paul finds great treasures of old in these texts that help the church comprehend Gods mysterious workings. Gods present actions are consonant with Gods actions of the past, teaching the church of Rome humility in their relationship to the Jews. Article continues below 3. The OT can provide a foundation for Christian moral conduct. It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord (Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35). In the last third of the Letter to the Romans, Paul instructs the church in their conduct. In 12:14, Paul moves from instructions on how the community cares for one another to the way they should conduct themselves with outsiders. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Paul writes to the church in Rome, which means these commands are no mere generalizations. Instead, Paul is offering concrete guidance to the church facing persecution from the authorities in Rome. Paul warns the church not to repay evil for evil (Rom. 12:17), concerned that the Christians might set themselves against or stand against what God has arranged (Rom. 13:2). The words translated rebel and resist in the NIV are both battle images, indicating the Paul fears the church may rise up in violence against the Roman authorities. It seems a bit ironic that in passages encouraging nonviolent response to Roman authorities, where invoking the image of Jesus would make sense, Paul does not mention Jesus. Paul certainly knows Jesus story, but Paul never quotes any words of Jesus in the Letter to the Romans, and seldom in his other letters. Instead, in Romans 12, Paul quotes Deuteronomy, the Law, encouraging the churchs nonviolent resistance on the basis of the OT promise that God will avenge them. Clearly, Paul thinks the OT promises apply to the church, which will enable them to resist Rome without resorting to violence. These examples barely scratch the surface of how Paul employs the OT in his instructions to the church in Rome. But it should be clear from the examples that Paul thinks the OT has much to say that can instruct the church in what it believes and practices; Paul is far from advising that Christians unhitch themselves from the OT. In fact, as he draws the body of the letter to a close, he writes, For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope (Rom. 15:4). Our Best Witness Stanley and I must be talking to different people. In the past several weeks, I have had conversations with nones and with people still in the church but with their hand on the door, to borrow a phrase from Stanley. In every case, what disturbs these folks who have left the church or are considering leaving is the churchs failure to do the good in the world. They understand that in spite of the problems present in both the OT and the NT, Christian Scripture teaches people love, goodness, justice, and compassion. Jesus commends those who teach and do what the Law and Prophets command when he instructs his disciples to let their light so shine before others that that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16). A church living out the best of the Old and the New Testaments is a church living its best witness in front of an on-looking world. Certainly, there are some who struggle with the OT in the ways that Stanley describes. But unhitching ourselves from the OT does not eliminate the problems Stanley identifies. People will still struggle with the Virgin Birth and the resurrection of the dead in a scientific age, with whether archaeology and history support all that the NT reports, with images of a violent God in the NT, and with passages that seem to condone slavery in Ephesians, Colossians, and 1 Peter. But if we unhitch ourselves from the OT, we divest ourselves of a wealth of Gods teaching and exhortation toward love and justice, mercy and compassion, goodness and faithfulness. If we are worried about our witness to this generation, I would argue that we need more scribes of the kingdom, who bring out treasures new and old that this generation may see our good deeds and glorify our God who is in the heavens. Robert L. Foster is a lecturer in New Testament and religion at the University of Georgia. He is the author of Wrestling with God and World: The Struggle for Justice in the Biblical Tradition. Christians in Nigeria are desperately praying for 15-year-old Leah Sharibu as the one-month deadline to save the only Dapchi schoolgirl left in Boko Haram captivity draws to an end this week. The terrorist groups ISIS-affiliated faction threatened last month to kill the teenager, who was held back for refusing to renounce her Christian beliefs. The other hostages, 104 of her schoolmates, were released following negotiations with the Nigerian government in March. Her resolute faith in the face of death has inspired evangelists, pastors, and everyday Christians across Africas most populous nation. Boko Haram started in 2002 as a nonviolent sect meant to purify Islamic practices, but in recent years rose to the second deadliest group in the Global Terrorism Index, responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and more than 2 million people displaced. In February, its ISIS wing abducted 112 female students preparing for final exams at Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi in the northeastern state of Yobe. Six of the girls from the all-female boarding school died during captivity while one escaped, leaving Sharibu the only Dapchi student still with her abductors. The other nurse and midwife will be executed in a similar manner in one month, including Leah Sharibu, the sect threatened on September 18 in a video of the execution of Saifura Khosa, a midwife with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Days before the execution video emerged, Sharibu pleaded for rescue in a 35-second audio clip. I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation, she said. I am begging you to treat me with compassion. I am calling on the government, particularly the president, to pity me and get me out of this serious situation. Thank you. Sharibus family has pleaded with the Nigerian government to save her. Her mother, Rebecca, held a press conference in Jos, shortly after the video circulated. The family finally heard from President Muhammadu Buhari this month, who told them by phone that no effort would be spared to ensure her rescue. But Sharibus father, Nathan, told CT he was losing hope of ever seeing his daughter again. We are very sad. The house is quiet, he said. We are so worried [the terrorists] could harm her. We want the government to please help us. I believe they can rescue her if they want to. They can get her out if they try enough. They should please not allow her to get killed. Advocates for Sharibus release are spurred by similar efforts for 276 girls abducted by Boko Haram from Government Secondary School Chibok in the northeastern state of Borno in April 2014, publicized worldwide through the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Chibok and Dapchi, where Sharibu was taken, are just four hours apart in northeast Nigeria, which has been battered by deadly terror attacks since 2010; Yobe, Borno, and neighboring Adamawa state were placed under a state of emergency in 2013. In both cases, Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of girls. Following negotiations, 26 of the Chibok students were freed in October 2016 and another 82 in May 2017, in the wake of leading international figures, including former First Lady Michelle Obama, calling for their release. But church leaders and Christian activists have been most vociferous in the campaigns for Sharibus rescue, inspired by the story of a teenager refusing to renounce her faith even when threatened with death. Emmanuel Ogebe, an international human right activist who facilitated the relocation of 10 of the freed Chibok girls to the US, believes Sharibus case is strikingly appealing. She is the modern-day heroine of the faith at just 15, he told CT. Leahs bold stance for her faith has resonated with the Christian community across Nigeria unlike anything we have seen in several decades, he said. While there are dueling narratives about Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen atrocities, everyone can understand clearly Leahs casewhich is that she is a Christian child being held hostage for her faith. Incidentally, even Muslims have expressed displeasure with her captivity, saying theres no compulsion in Islam, he said. Gideon Para-Mallam, a leader with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) and one of the organizers of the Sharibu familys recent press conference, is glad the campaign for her release has not been politicized thus far. The advocacy is being pursued with decency. No political hijacking of this struggle, he told CT. Leahs testimony is an inspirational one, he said. It is a defining moment of what Christians are going through in Nigeria. Sharibus refusal to renounce her faith has also become an inspirational theme for preachers across the West African nation evenly divided between predominantly Muslims in its north and predominantly Christians in its south. Some of the rescued girls recounted how Sharibu refused to deny her faith despite her classmates pleas that she should recant and return home with them. I am a Christian, they reported she kept telling her abductors, even after being pressured to accept Islam as a precondition to her release. Beyond the weekly prayer sessions in churches across the oil-rich nation, many Nigerian believers have challenged themselves to stand tall for Christ even in the most of the most grueling encounters. If a girl as young as 14 [Sharibu turned 15 in captivity] could stand for Christ in the face of death, it is clear no reason is good enough to deny the faith, said Abraham Olaleye, a popular Lagos-based evangelist and founder of Abraham Evangelistic Ministry. I draw a lot of personal lessons from her travails, and I use it to challenge my members every Sunday to stand. I tell them if Leah can stand, you have no reason to fall. Ladi Thompson, founder of the Macedonian Initiative, a support agency for persecuted Christians in northern Nigeria, said Sharibu has earned the public status of sainthood. She is the No. 1 Christian citizen of Nigeria at the moment, he said. To have stood for Christ in a jungle, surrounded by gun-wielding mean men, is a clear testimony of her personal walk with God. I believe God raised her to reawaken our consciousness to be ready to die for our faith at all costs, said Thompson. Felix Meduoye, general overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, said Buharis administration must ensure that Sharibu survives. If she is killed, it will speak volumes, he said. Despite the grim situation, Ogebe is optimistic Sharibu will be rescued. But in the extreme case that she is executed, it will just prove that they couldnt conquer a young girls faith, he said, and that their faith cannot be worth anything if they would execute an innocent child because of money. Para-Mallam, who has been in close touch with Sharibus family, believes the teen has redefined Christian courage in the face of persecution in Nigeria. Rather than discouragement, there is a lot of inspiration the Christian community is getting from the courage displayed by this 15-year-old high school girl, he said. Leah is a heroine of the Christian faith to many Christians, not just in Nigeria but around the world. Leah is inspiring many young girls, he said. Some have asked, if I were in Leahs shoes, would I deny Christ? Some have now quietly resolved to stand for Christ no matter the cost. Para-Mallam is also hopeful that she wont be executed. [But] if Leah were to die in the hands of the terrorists, many believers will be sad and angry, but never discouraged by the church. Leah is already an icon of faith, courage, and heroism. Nothing will change this fact and reality. Here is a recent Daily Record column. My past Daily Record articles can be accessed here. ***** Texas Bar on lawyers seeking legal advice from other lawyers in online forums Lawyer-only online forums and listservs are commonplace. Often these forums are hosted by bar associations, but thats not always the case. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit private groups are often created by lawyers for lawyers. Because these groups are typically gated communities, lawyers can comfortably discuss a multitude of issues. Referral sources are sought, trending legal issues are mulled over, and opinions are solicited regarding issues arising in a lawyers practice. Its the last topic that was addressed in a recent Texas ethics opinion. One issue considered in Opinion 673 was whether it is ethical for lawyers to seek advice for the benefit of their clients from other lawyers outside of their firm in an online discussion group. At the outset, the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas acknowledged that informal consultations with other attorneys occur often, both online and offline: It is common for lawyers to have informal lawyer-to-lawyer consultations touching on client-related issues. Informal consultations may occur in a variety of situations, such as when a lawyer poses questions to a speaker at a CLE seminar, when a lawyer seeks advice from members of an online discussion group, or when a lawyer solicits the insight of a trusted mentor. Informal consultations allow lawyers to test their knowledge, exchange ideas, and broaden their understanding of the law, with the realistic goal of benefiting their clients. However, the Committee emphasized that when doing so, its important to have a full understanding of your ethical obligations, including the duty of client confidentiality. Importantly, not all consultations will involve a discussion of confidential information, such as asking general questions about a particular statute, rule or legal procedure. Of course, thats not always the case, and on occasion, an attorney may consider it necessary to provide a certain amount of factual context in order to frame the issue and obtain useful feedback. In those cases, whether the consultations occurs online or off, a lawyer must tread lightly, and be fully aware of the ethical implications. That being said, the Committee explained that, with limitations, doing so is permissible, even in the absence of consent from ones client: It is the opinion of the Committee that Rules 1.05(d)(1) and (2) allow a lawyer to reveal a limited amount of unprivileged confidential information to lawyers outside the inquiring lawyers law firm, without the clients express consent, when the inquiring lawyer reasonably believes that the revelation will further the representation by obtaining the responding lawyers experience or expertise for the benefit of the client, and when it is not reasonably foreseeable that revelation will prejudice the client. The Committee provided the following tips to assist lawyers in walking the fine line between a permissible consultation and one that impermissibly disclosed client confidences. First, its important to limit the consultation to general or abstract inquiries that do not disclose confidential information relating to the representation. If thats not possible, its permissible to reveal a limited amount unprivileged client information in a lawyer-to-lawyer consultation, without the clients express consent, when and to the extent that the inquiring lawyer reasonably believes that the revelation will benefit the inquiring lawyers client in the subject of the representation. However, when doing so, its necessary to use a hypothetical that does not identify the client, otherwise doing so is unethical if it is reasonably foreseeable that the disclosure of the information will harm, prejudice or embarrass the client. So if youve ever wondered about the parameters of interacting ethically online in lawyer forums when discussing client hypotheticals, then some of your questions have been answered by this opinion. Not surprisingly, online discussions arent treated differently than offline discussions for ethics purposes. After all, as I always say, the online is simply an extension of the offline. That being said, online interactions are much more easily recorded for posteritys sake - and for review by an ethics committee. The lesson being - keep that in mind when engaging online and err on the side of caution when seeking consultation regarding issues that may involve client confidences. Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney, author, journalist, and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase law practice management software. She is the author of the ABA book Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a Thomson Reuters treatise. She writes legal technology columns for Above the Law and ABA Journal and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikiblack or email her at niki.black@mycase.com. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has appointed Scott W. Sunquistdean of Fuller Theological Seminarys School of Intercultural Studiesas its next president, making it the third major evangelical seminary to put a missiologist at its helm. With an interdisciplinary background studying evangelism, church history, and the global church, Sunquist reflects the missional focus at Gordon-Conwell and the growing presence of missions experts in seminary leadership. He will succeed current president Dennis Hollinger, who will retire at the end of this school year. The appointment of Scott Sunquist signals to me the commitment of the trustees to affirm the strong theological heritage of Gordon-Conwell, as well as the need for a leading seminary like it to engage in the major cultural and ecclesial challenges we face in our day, said Timothy Tennent, president of Asbury Theological Seminary and a Gordon-Conwell alumnus, in a statement to CT. Sunquist will join Tennent and Denver Seminarys Mark Young as missiologists appointed to lead major seminaries accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). Scott Sunquists disciplinary specialties suit Gordon-Conwells mission and current direction quite well, said ATS executive director Frank Yamada. While Sundquist is an ordained minister in the PCUSA, presidents of ATS schools come from many diverse contexts, he said. The most common candidates come from the churchdenominational executives or executive pastors of larger congregationsbut many come from theological schools, quite commonly as former academic deans and faculty with administrative experience. A multidenominational school founded by Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, and J. Howard Pew in 1969, Gordon-Conwell has grown into one of the 10 largest seminary programs in the US, welcoming students from more than 50 nations last year. Its main campus in Hamilton, Massachusetts, houses the Center for the Study of Global Christianity and the Wilson Center for World Mission. I want to seamlessly weave together spiritual and character formation with academic excellence, said Sunquist, a former missionary to Singapore and an ordained Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, in a 2016 Fuller video on his calling. That is good Christian theology. We pray, we study hard, we cant cut corners anywhere. Over the past six years, Sunquist grew Fullers School of Intercultural Studiesonce the School of World Missioninto a robust program for training missionaries and church planters alike. The seminary celebrated the significant impact of his leadership, noting his efforts to advocate for international students; consistently offer programs in multiple languages; and diversify the faculty and staff, including the addition of half a dozen Asian and Latino professors. Himself a Gordon-Conwell alumnus, Sunquist spent the bulk of his teaching career (17 years) at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and developed a reputation as an expert in missions and the church in Asia in particular, writing acclaimed titles such as The Unexpected Christian Century: The Reversal and Transformation of Global Christianity, which won the annual book award from the American Society of Missiology (ASM) in 2016 and Understanding Christian Mission: Participation in Suffering and Glory, which won a CT Book Award in 2014. I am delighted at the appointment of globally-minded and internationally-experienced scholar on world Christianity to lead one of premier evangelical seminaries in the United States, said Rich Starcher, who serves as editor of ASMs journal, Missiology, and teaches at Biola Universitys Cook School of Intercultural Studies. Sunquist brings to this role not only a heart for the world but also a deep understanding of the global church. The trustees who led the year-long search to select Hollingers successor likewise emphasized Sunquists global worldview. For some time, my belief has been that the time in which we live calls for preparing leaders who are global in vision, missional in thrust, biblical in conviction, Christocentric in orientation, authentic in relationship, multiethnic in appeal, socially just in consciousness, entrepreneurial in mindset, and collaborative in approach, said Claude Alexander, chairman of the Gordon-Conwell board of trustees (and also a member of Christianity Todays board). Scott is a missionary, scholar, pastor, and administrator who exhibits these characteristics himself and can raise up new leaders with a passion for reaching the world for Christ. He is a transformative leader who can usher Gordon-Conwell into its brightest years. Fellow educators celebrated the incoming presidents appointment following the seminarys announcement on Friday. Great that a missiologist will be leading GCTS into the future!, tweeted Allen Yeh, a Gordon-Conwell alumnus and missiology professor at Biola University. I think his faculty background and his missiological orientation will serve him well, Tennent told CT. As a faculty member, he will be well-versed in the peculiar governance structures of higher education, which often has confused large church pastors who serve, structurally, as CEOs. However, more important is Scotts missiological training. This will enable him to lead Gordon-Conwell within the context of an emerging North American culture, which is increasingly post-Christian. I am the child of Christian parents who were deeply committed to raising kids who care about others. My dad was a pastor and we were homeschooled, but my parents worked hard to intentionally break open our lives to learn and be in relationship with diverse communities. We volunteered in special ed classrooms. We spent multiple weeks in the summer in tiny indigenous villages. I grew up believing that every family invited a hodgepodge of lonely and isolated people to every holiday gathering. And yet, for all that was modeled to me to be outward looking, as a young adult in Bible college I struggled to find theological language for what seemed to be a fairly straightforward concept: that Christians have a responsibility to care about their neighbor, especially the most vulnerable. When I was in my 20s, I read The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day (who started the Catholic Worker Movement) and was electrified by the language of the common good. This, I thought, was what my parents raised me to believe in, and it was something I wanted to pass on to my own children. But now, as a mother, I realized I underestimated the challengesboth cultural and personalto modeling for my children a life that is lived with our neighbors in mind. What Do We Really Want? It is hard work to parent well in this, or any, age. Consumed by busy schedules, technology, and the desire to do it all perfectly, many of us can feel overwhelmed and go into autopilot. This is why it is helpful to step back consistently and ask ourselves: What is it that we really want for our children? Judging by blogs, sermons, and Instagram posts, what many in our culture desire is to raise children who are safe, happy, and loved. These are admirable and incredibly important goals, and ones that are often affirmed in the church. Indeed, in an age when child abuse and the long-term consequences of it constitute a crisis in our own country, it certainly makes sense that a Christian call to loving our families is seen as being of the utmost importance. And yet focusing primarily on raising securely attached children can quickly become myopic, warping our values of safety and success. As studies have shown, American parents in particular continue to press achievement and success as harbingers of happiness for their children, valuing good test scores and college placement over empathy and involvement in the community. Harvard psychologist Richard Weissbourd found that middle and high schoolers he surveyed shared similar values as their parents: 48 percent ranked achievement as their top value, while only 22 percent prioritized caring for others. CT science editor Rebecca Randall explains, The study found that American adults do want kids to be decent and caring, especially in their immediate communities, but that they are far less concerned about a commitment to the greater societys well-being. I suspect that, if asked, most parents would agree that we all want children who are outward focused and who are able to care for and empathize with other people. But do our lives actually match up to this value? In my own life, it has taken ongoing intentional efforts to get off the moving escalator of upward mobilitywhich itself is filled with materialism, segregation, homogeneity, and self-centered individualism. Elastic Walls In their book Belonging and Becoming: Creating a Thriving Family Culture, authors Mark and Lisa Scandrette say a family must maintain a balance between a common vision and routine practices in order to live out their values. Deeply committed Christians, the authors posit that a good starting place for a vision of what makes a thriving family is a place of belonging and becoming where each person feels safe, cared for and loved, and is supported to develop who they are for the good of the world. Article continues below Lisa grew up in a family that modeled radical hospitality. The walls were elastic, she told me, referring to the numerous Bible studies in her home, foster children that joined their family, and other avenues of community engagement her family did together. Now Lisa, a mom of three, sees this approach as an ongoing practice. We have the opportunity to model the way of love to our kids, she says. Part of the work we do as a family is to encourage each other to extend the sort of belonging we hope to cultivate to the people around us. The Scandrettes vision aims to strike a balance between focusing on the nuclear family and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:3739). Ministers, incarnational practitioners, and various lay leaders within Christianity agree that it is of utmost importance both to pour into your children and to model for them what it means to be outward focused. The Bubble Lindsy Wallacea missionary with the organization InnerCHANGE, which works among the urban poorbelieves in integrating family life and spiritual life. She notices that Christian culture can often pressure us to raise our children in a protective bubble full of church and Christian schools and friends and Bible stories but lacking the lived experience of a life that looks like Jesus. Its difficult to imagine how a deep love for Jesus and neighbor will develop in our children if all they have is book knowledge of Jesus but have never seen him in the eyes of the poor and have never witnessed their parents visiting him in prison, Wallace says, referring to Jesus teaching in Matthew 25:3536. As Wallace states, its one thing to raise our kids to be kind to one another and quite another to think about what it might mean to have our entire families be looking for ways to live like Jesus did on earth. What would it mean to examine our values in the light of Jesus Sermon on the Mount, for example? Do we believe Jesus when he told us that it is the poor, the sick, and the sad who are blessed? That we should not store up treasures for ourselves here on earth? That we should not worry about the next day but instead be present and grateful and attentive to how God is taking care of us today? Wallace, along with co-hosts Shannon Evans and Kayla Craig, runs the Upside Down podcast, which focuses on what it means to live out the upside-down values of Christianity. They regularly discuss the practical realities of trying to love our neighbors as ourselves, and each of the hosts regularly receives questions concerning how she parents her children and lives out these values. The questions point to what appears to be a common belief: Its fine and good to pursue lives of ministry and justice and mercy up until you have a family. Love and Fear My husband and I have committed to raising children who take the words of Jesus seriously. We continue to wrestle with what it looks like to live out passages like Micah 6:8to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God as a family. In our life, this commitment has involved living and working in low-income refugee communities in the US for the past 13 years. I wasnt aware of how strong the cultural values of success and achievement were in my own heart until it was time for my daughter to go to school. My precious, wild, highly gifted and highly sensitive child was going to a school in which English was the second language for the vast majority of children, where 98 percent of the students qualified for free school lunch, and that was currently ranked second-to-last out of every school in the state. But by the grace of God, the fear in my heartAm I damaging my child? Am I limiting her opportunities?was quickly swallowed up by love. Both my daughter and I fell deeply in love with our school because it is a microcosm of our neighborhood. Article continues below Yet our educational choices are seen as countercultural in a world where individual achievement and success are highly valued. I have had fellow Christians tell me they couldnt send their children to our local school because they loved their children too muchwhich felt like not only a slap in the face to me but also to all the other families who make up our community. We all love our children and are raising them as best as we can. And my daughter? She is getting a first-rate education in what it means to value being in proximity to people who are very different from her (not to mention she is doing well above average in math and reading, like many of her classmates). Active Modeling Christian parents can and should be leading the charge in raising children who transcend the values of the American dream and focus on loving our entire communities. Sandra Maria Van Opstal, executive pastor of Grace and Peace Community on the West Side of Chicago, believes that raising kids who care starts with modeling what it looks like to honor the dignity of every human beingand making that a part of family life. Whenever were at a stoplight or in front of a store and encounter someone whos asked for money, we acknowledge them, she says. We introduce ourselves and our kids, we shake their hands, we tell our kids to fist bump them, and we ask how their day is going. If we have money, we give some. If not, they get some cute smiles that add a little joy to their day. Our kids learn to acknowledge everyone and to not show partiality. Van Opstal also underlines the importance of intentionality: We specifically chose our neighborhood and church community so that they could be exposed to all kinds of people. When our first son was born, he had aunties and uncles of every ethnicity and socioeconomic background. Kathy Khang, author of Raise Your Voice, echoes the theme of intentionally living out your values for your children to see. My kids are 22, 18, and 16, and I am still learning about helping them find their own voice, Khang says. I try to model living out my values in ways they can integrate into their own lives as they enter into adulthood: recycle, vote, donate blood, volunteer, advocate, protest with your feet and your budget, but I have to remember they have their own interests, concerns, and skills. Khang shared how her oldest children have started educating her about new ways of living out her values. When we cultivate care in our children, an unexpected gift can be seeing the ways they uniquely live that out, changing us in the process. All of our children, at any age, can help us as parents see anew the possibilities for what it means to love our neighbors as ourselves. Intentional Choices Modeling, intentionality, and practice are the three keys that community-oriented Christians constantly use when speaking of raising kids who care. I think of my own childhood, and Im grateful for the values I was taught about hospitality, paying attention to inequality, and knowing that there was a place for me to work toward justice. I take these same values into my own parenting journey, adding some more along the way, including crafting a common vision that includes working for the flourishing of all in our world. Here are some ideas I have gleaned from friends along the way: Article continues below Practice with those around you. One thing I tell my children is that we only get good at what we practice, including showing kindness and empathy toward each other. Helen Lee, author of The Missional Mom, focuses on the language her boys use with each other and beyond. We monitor how they use their words on social media and call them on instances where they have crossed the lines into obnoxious or inappropriate, Lee says. It can be exhausting to try to turn all those moments into teaching moments, but thats part of what it means to teach kindness in this day and age. Be creative in diversity. Intentionally diversifying your life takes work and attention. Look at the restaurants, parks, schools, churches, extracurricular activities, and camps your children attend. Does everyone look, think, and act like you do? Try and change one or more of these locations. Alexa, a friend of mine, intentionally drives to a library location thats further away because it serves a large population of people experiencing homelessness. She enjoys striking up conversations with people who are looking for a friend, and she knows her small children might bring some joy to the regular patrons there. Look beyond the family. Teach your kids to look beyond their nuclear family and value neighborliness. Study Scripture passages that talk about how we belong to one another beyond blood or genes, what it means that we are all children of God, or what our responsibilities are to our neighbors and communities. (Deuteronomy 26 is a good place to start.) When they go to church, my friend Shannan makes sure her family doesnt all sit together, instead spreading out and sitting with friends and acquaintances who might be feeling left out. When holidays are approaching, think about inviting someone into your celebrations who might not have the same resources as you. Build a bigger table, as the refrain goes, and your children will learn this value as a way of life. A False Dichotomy We do not need to choose between raising a safe, healthy, and happy family and living a life with our neighbors in mind. Writer and thinker Hannah Anderson approaches this false dichotomy in a unique way. Our children are our closest neighborsand as such, we have a great responsibility to love them well, she says. Part of this love is teaching them to be focused on others, to prepare them to operate in the world, and also to pass down the values of our faith. Jewish families traditionally repeat the Shema together: Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut. 6:45). As Christians, we can take up the same practice, summing up the Law and the Prophets as Jesus did: Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). Imagine: What would it mean if this became a defining vision and value for our families? It is difficult to raise our children to care for others as Jesus did in a culture that constantly encourages autonomy, safety, and covetousness. This is where the church becomes an important place for encouraging Christians to name our values, model Christlike actions, and constantly reassess our choices in light of the call to love our neighbors as ourselves. There is no end goal, no finish line where we can pat ourselves on the back and say we've made itbut there is the benefit of cultivating the discipline of living with intentionality. And in the end, by raising kids who are outward focused, we trust that they'll experience what God is up to in our worldand that they'll feel empowered to jump in and join him. D. L. Mayfield is a frequent CT contributor and the author of Assimilate or Go Home. Learn more at DLMayfield.com. This article is part of our CT special issue focused on women raising their voices. In Heard, we explore how women are speaking up, not only in response to scandals or injustice, but also more broadly for the sake of the gospel and the values of Christs kingdom. Click here to download a free digital version of our special issue. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment On a cold November day in Moscow, 1991, there was already more than two feet of snow on the ground. It was in the early months of the fall of Communism. Everywhere I turned there was poverty. The streets were dark. There were long lines for food and the stores often ran out of supplies before 10 a.m. I had been invited to visit Cancer Hospital #62, the leading cancer institute in Russia. I didn't want to go at first. As a cancer survivor, the thought of seeing terminally ill patients was depressing. Reluctantly, I agreed to visit. Nearly every patient, nurse and doctor more than 300 total was waiting in the large meeting room to greet me. I had several boxes of Russian/English parallel New Testaments, which we gave each patient as a gift. The hospital officials asked me to speak to the patients and share my faith. "I am a cancer survivor," I said. Many people in the room began to weep. Though they had wonderful doctors and nurses, their medical resources were almost non-existent. I looked into the faces of men and women who would surely be dead in a few months. "Yes, I am a cancer survivor," I told them. "But someday I will die, and so will you. Today, I have come to tell you how you can live forever." For the next 15 minutes, I shared my faith through an interpreter. More than 50 of the doctors, nurses and patients came to faith in Jesus Christ that day in Cancer Hospital #62. After I spoke, hospital staff members took me on a tour of the hospital. I saw empty medicine cabinets and patients with no bandages to cover their wounds. I even witnessed a patient who had just received a tracheotomy. Because no surgical tubing was available, the doctors placed a used soda straw in his throat so he could breathe. I wanted to run from this frightening sight, but I knew God had sent me here for a reason. Dr. Mahkson, the Chief Surgeon of the hospital, gave me a list of urgent needs and asked for my help. "I can't promise you how much I will be able to help," I said. "But I will help you." On my next visit to Moscow weeks later, I led a team with Joni Eareckson Tada. In 1967, Joni suffered a spinal cord fracture in a diving accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down. After two years of rehabilitation and determination, she dedicated her life to helping others in similar situations. We spent the entire week visiting hospitals, orphanages and public schools. Joni presented her testimony of overcoming suffering and finding hope in life. One night at dinner, one of Joni's friends rolled over to my table in his wheelchair. He told me he had a friend in Tucson, Arizona who had a warehouse full of medical supplies just collecting dust. "If I can get him to donate these to World Help," he said, "will you see that they get to Cancer Hospital #62?" I immediately agreed. But shipping a container of medical supplies from the United States to Moscow would cost at least $10,000. My first thought was, "Dear God, what have I done?" But I realized that the same God who healed me from cancer was in control of this situation too. A few hours later, I attended the Bolshoi Ballet with Joni and her friends. At intermission, I recognized two U.S. Congressmen standing in the aisle, Newt Gingrich of Georgia and Dick Gephardt of Iowa. I introduced myself and asked why they were in Moscow. They said they were finalizing the details of the Russian American Aid Package since the Berlin Wall had just come down. My brain shifted into high gear. "Congressmen," I said. "If I had a container of medical supplies that needed to be shipped from the United States to Cancer Hospital #62, could that be considered part of the Russian American Aid Package?" "Of course!" they replied, and gave me the name of their liaison. When the container arrived, doctors and nurses lined up in front of the building. While they were unloading the boxes, a surgeon ran out of the operating room, ripped open a box and grabbed a package of surgical tubing. "I need this right now!" he said. He ran back inside and saved someone's life. On one of my last visits to Cancer Hospital #62, Dr. Mahkson took me aside and said, "At first, I did not believe in your faith. But I have seen it in action and now I accept it." When I began my journey with cancer, I had no idea where it would lead. I didn't even consider God would have a completely new direction for my ministry. But I came to realize through my ministry in Russia that God can turn tragedy into a platform to share His love and hope. Since 1991, World Help has sent 13 containers to Cancer Hospital #62 with medical supplies valued at nearly $2 million. When I thought my life was over, God was actually giving me a brand new beginning, and an incredible new ministry. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Excerpted from The CSB (in)Courage Devotional Bible, 2018 Holman Bibles, Denise J. Hughes, Editor. Nehemiah 23 I set the last box down and stared at the storage unit in front of me. It held everything I owned: a small table, a few chairs, an old navy couch, a banged up dresser, and a fridge that struggled to stay cool. With a heavy sigh I asked: Lord, how long will this season last? I needed every dollar I hadplus the next month's rentto replace the transmission in my car. Without a car, I couldn't get to work. Without a job, I couldn't support myself and my daughter. I didn't know what else to do. So when a friend said we could stay with her while I saved up enough money for a deposit on another apartment, I gave my landlord notice and paid for my car to get fixed. But that meant, basically, my five-year-old daughter and I were homeless. I locked the door to my storage unit and began the long process of rebuilding our lives. A few months later, my daughter and I settled into a new-for-us apartment. It wasn't especially nice, but it was clean and it was ours. I had a full-time job, but every month was still a struggle. We were always one unexpected bill or one car repair away from being homeless again. There was no such thing as hashtags back then, but if there had been, hashtags like #singlemomlife and #inthetrenches and #inthethickofit would have been recurring themes for us. I didn't have family nearby, or anyone who could help with childcare. And yet, as hard as this season was, I never felt alone. I knew God was with me. At every turn God was there, providing in the most unexpected ways, oftentimes through friends and church family. When I had to attend a night class and babysitting fell through, the professor said I could bring my daughter to class. When I had nowhere to go on Christmas Day, a friend invited us to her house. When I felt overwhelmed and worried that I wasn't going to make it, my pastor assured me that God wasn't asleep on the job, that God could bring good from a broken story. Even mine. All this was a lifetime agoin another millennium really. But through it all, God showed Himself faithful. There's no way I could have survived this season without God's grace and His people surrounding me. The walls of my life had crumbled around me. But just as the people of Jerusalem came together to rebuild the broken walls of their city, God's people came together to help me rebuild my life. When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he went on a secret mission at night to inspect the walls. With several men, he traveled around the city's perimeter and took extensive notes. He started at the Valley Gate, and the task before him looked like mission impossible (Neh 2:13). In the same way, our stories often begin in the valley, with stories of loss and heartache. Our stories often make us wonder what God is doing while His people suffer. After surveying the wall, Nehemiah mobilized the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Yet when he later recorded the reconstruction efforts, it's noteworthy that, this time, he started at the Sheep Gate (Neh 3:1). This gate was near the temple because this is where the sheep were brought in for the temple sacrifices. This was an integral part of Israel's history, both ritually and spiritually. The sacrifices pointed to their constant need for forgivenessours too. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to be baptized, he said, "Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29). From the outset of His public ministry, Jesus was named the Lamb of God, for one day He would walk through a gate in Jerusalem and become the ultimate sacrificial Lamb. It's fitting that Nehemiah's record of reconstruction begins at the Sheep Gate. When we need to rebuild the ruins of our lives, we can look to Jesus as the author of new life. That's not to say we're promised immunity from suffering once we're a believer in Christ. Jesus said, "You will have suffering in this world" (Jn 16:33). Valleys are a part of the broken world we live in, but we can walk through those valleys with a humble obedience because of the new life and sure hope we find in Jesus. Friend, I don't know what valley you may be walking through today. I don't know the damage that's been done or the devastation you've endured. But I do know where healing begins. It begins with Jesus. He can take any broken storyeven one that looks like mission impossibleand He exchanges beauty for ashes. Then He surrounds us with His familybrothers and sisters who will walk alongside us. After 70 years of exile, the restoration of Jerusalem became an ongoing work in progress. Men and women came together to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, with each person playing an important part. The same is true today. God has a unique purpose for each of our lives. He has a job for us to do. The apostle Paul wrote: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do" (Eph 2:10) God has prepared good works for us. He's given each of us a distinct role in the kingdom. In obedience we can step forward to fulfill the purpose He has for each of us, trusting Him to be the One who rebuilds lives. Reflection Questions: Have you ever found yourself in the midst of a "mission impossible" situation? Are you there now? How did God come through and meet your needs in that valley? How can you cling to His promises today? What truth will you keep at the front of your mind as you meditate on His faithfulness in your past? Better Together Devotional Reading Plan, page 1827 Author Index, page 1845 Denise is a lover of words and the Word. She's the author of Deeper Waters and the Bible study series Word Writers. EXCLUSIVE: Evangelical bishops issue blunt warning to Church of England on sexuality Anglican evangelical bishops have warned of 'major problems' and the danger of division if the Church of England changes its stance on sexuality. Eleven leading evangelical bishops have issued a joint letter in which they say that the traditional Christian view of sex as being for heterosexual marriage alone 'is the teaching of Scripture' and 'therefore expresses the character and will of God'. They warn any changes in that stance 'will create major problems for many of us, both here and in the wider [Anglican] Communion', declaring that 'recent history tragically demonstrates that introducing changes in teaching and liturgy has consistently divided Anglicans globally and within provinces'. The letter has been signed by the Bishops of Carlisle, Durham, Ludlow, Birkenhead, Willesden, Peterborough, Plymouth, Blackburn, Maidstone and Lancaster, and by the former bishop of Shrewsbury. It is understood other evangelical bishops are also in agreement with its contents. It has been sent to Bishop Christopher Cocksworth, who is chairing the Church of England's 'Living in Love and Faith' (LLF) project. This is aiming to tackle the 'tough questions and the divisions among Christians' over gender, marriage and sexuality. The project is due to report back in early 2020. The eleven bishops pointedly comment that the Church of England's current discussions are 'taking place after the gathering of nearly 2,000 Anglicans from 50 countries at Gafcon' the international Anglican grouping emerging as a potential future alternative to the Anglican Communion. They also highlight how the US Episcopal Church has 'struggled to enable the flourishing of those within it who remain committed to traditional biblical teaching'. Thus, they say, there is 'importance for our unity of how we teach and learn on these contested matters'. The letter states that while modern day questioning of traditional Christian views on sex and marriage cannot be dismissed out of hand, 'neither can we simply abandon what we have received in order to appear relevant and avoid feeling uncomfortable'. The bishops point to 'the traditional teaching of the Anglican Communion' as set out at various points including 1920, 1987 and 1998. The letter states: 'We believe that this vision of (1) sexual intercourse as "an act of total commitment which belongs properly within a permanent married relationship" (2) marriage as a union of a man and woman in a covenant of love marked by exclusivity and life-long commitment, and (3) faithful, sexually abstinent love in singleness and non-marital friendships is the teaching of Scripture. It therefore expresses the character and will of God which is our guide in ordering our lives and in addressing public global ethical issues'. They continue: 'We also believe that reaffirming this teaching offers us the best way of maintaining our unity-in-truth.' The bishops therefore say they hope that LLF 'will clearly articulate' this teaching and indeed 'commend it, explaining why [their italics] it has been, and remains, a deeply-held conviction for most Christians'. The letter goes on: 'The House of Bishops' conviction' set out in a report which ran into trouble at General Synod in 2017 'that we should reaffirm our current teaching, liturgy and discipline and consider the limits of legitimate pastoral practice within these, will be very difficult for many to accept. It is also clear, however, that any change in teaching or liturgy will also create major problems for many of us both here and in the wider Communion.' It may be necessary 'to consider how our structures may need to adapt' in order to enable continued fellowship 'while honestly recognising the impact of our disagreements on the shape and degrees of communion truly present among us'. A recent Church of England Evangelical Council paper exploring possible 'visible differentiation' in the future between those of conservative and liberal views in the C of E is described as 'helpful'. The bishops call for Scripture to be given a 'central place' in the Living in Love and Faith project. And addressing the contemporary idea that people can adopt whatever identity they wish, they say that 'fundamental identity is not something we define for ourselves: rather,... we are made in God's image, have fallen captive to sin, are redeemed by Christ, and are being sanctified by the Spirit'. This ethic, they say, 'has been repeatedly affirmed' by the Lambeth Conferences of global Anglican bishops over the decades. They describe the Church of England's witness and mission as being to 'share the good news of salvation in Christ and call people to turn, believe, and follow Him'. The full text of the letter is being posted on the website of the Church of England Evangelical Council. Christian Today understands that there are many other evangelical bishops who support the letter, but who for a variety of reasons have not been part of this current group of signatories. David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. Find him on Twitter @Baker_David_A Trump claims climate scientists have an 'agenda' as Britain looks to strengthen targets As US president Donald Trump accused climate change scientists of having a 'political agenda', the UK government has pressed for clarity about how to achieve more cuts in greenhouse emissions. A letter from the minister for energy and clean growth, Claire Perry, co-signed by representatives of the Scottish and Welsh governments, has been sent to the Committee on Climate Change. It asked for a report on what level UK greenhouse gases should be by 2050 as an 'appropriate contribution' to limiting global warming to 'well below' two degrees above pre-industrial levels, and specifically to 1.5 degrees. It also asked for indications of how these reductions might be delivered. The letter was welcomed by the Church of England's lead bishop for environmental affairs, Nicholas Holtam. He said: 'The Government's decision to ask the Committee on Climate Change to review the UK's long-term emission reduction target is a welcome and sensible response to our changing and very pressing circumstances. 'It is more and more obvious that climate change needs our urgent attention. The recent IPCC report helpfully summarised the implications of what we know and the need to pick up the pace and ambition of our response.' While most of the world's leaders agree that climate change is an imminent threat to the globe, US President Donald Trump remains unconvinced by the scientific consensus. As part of an interview for CBS' 60 Minutes yesterday, he accused scientists of having a 'political agenda'. 'I don't think it's a hoax, I think there's probably a difference,' he told journalist Lesley Stahl. 'But I don't know that it's manmade. I will say this. I don't want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don't want to lose millions and millions of jobs. I don't want to be put at a disadvantage.' Why the neglect of Britain's prisons needs to end: An ex-chaplain speaks out Bedford prison hit the headlines in September for all the wrong reasons. An inspection found it was dirty, rat-infested and violent. Prison officers were frequently assaulted and had ceded control of the jail to the inmates. Drugs were everywhere, with the inspectors noting their 'pervasive' smell. This prison, at least, wasn't working. Just last week, the secretary of state for justice, David Gauke, wrote to the chief inspector of prisons saying what he was doing about it. More experienced officers would be drafted in and newer ones given more training. Another 56 inmates would be transferred to other prisons. There would be more patrols and new windows to try to keep drugs out. Bedford would also become a national pilot site for a project aimed at teaching prisoners to keep their cells clean. And a sentence buried in the 'action plan' though not mentioned in the government press release is revealing. It says: 'Specific work will be undertaken to ensure that the regime is constructive and fully engages prisoners in activity and provides staff with sufficient time and space to undertake their core duties.' It's a sentence that might ring fairly hollow to Sharon Grenham-Thompson. She's an Anglican vicar who who until two years ago was Bedford's prison chaplain. Interviewed by Christian Today, she drew a picture of fundamental problems that were setting a whole system up to fail. Of the appalling conditions revealed there, she said: 'It didn't surprise me at all.' Grenham-Thompson who has written about her experiences in Jail Bird said the conditions under which she had to work had made her ministry there increasingly difficult. She was there, she says to provide pastoral care for 'every individual in the establishment, whether of faith or of no faith'. Chaplains aim to improve the prospects for prisoners to be rehabilitated. They bring a different perspective to the men's lives and 'open them up to the possibility of life being different because of how God views them'. In practical terms, this meant holding services and Bible studies, putting on special events with speakers, holding workshops and discussion groups and spending time with individuals. All of this involved movement either getting the prisoners to the chapel or for the chaplains to be out on the wings. However, staff shortages made all all of this problematic. 'It got to the point where it was almost impossible for prisoners to be moved,' Grenham-Thompson says. 'When I first got the prison we could have 70 people in the chapel for Sunday worship out of a population of 500. 'As staffing was more restricted, there were fewer prison officers and they couldn't safely be moved or supervised. And that caused aggro among the prisoners who wanted to come, it was frustrating for us because we couldn't plan. It got worse and worse.' There were problems even at the level of finding somewhere quiet to talk. 'I would try and find a room for our counsellors, for bereavement counsellors to go and visit individiual prisoners, and there wouldn't be rooms available for them. They'd be sitting with a prisoner in a gym changing room and it was entirely inappropriate. 'It was not the fault of the officers concerned there were not enough of them, and when the experienced ones retired, inexperienced staff were brought in. They were very difficult circumstances all round.' Shortages of staff and resources increased over time. 'When I first started, we weren't awash with money, but we could provide things people were properly paid for their time and their pains. By the end of my time there was no budget to recruit or pay for the chaplains that were needed. The expectation was that community faith leaders would have the time, the will to come in unpaid and see people. And many did the goodness of people's hearts Christian chaplains and all other faiths as well.' It reached the point, she says, when they couldn't even offer visitors a cup of coffee without paying for it out of their own pockets. And she believes it was because chaplaincy was seen as a soft target. But, she says: 'I would sit around the senior management table and the argument I would come up with was, look at the impact we can have on reducing reoffending. But when that's becoming more and more constrained, what can you do?' 'To my mind that comes down to lack of investment, lack of money, lack of will to look at these soft skills and to see them as important.' She stresses that she's not soft on crime. 'Of course a prison's first duty is to keep prisoners securely confined, to keep the public safe. But the other part of the Prison Service's own mission is to reduce the risk of reoffending. And I just feel that the agenda was about being more and more punitive, security based, and less on reducing reoffending.' Neither is her argument just that chaplaincy should be better funded the whole system is under-resourced. 'If you've got two or three prison officers looking after an 80-strong wing, how can those officers possibly have time to give a young man whose life is a mess? And I saw officers buckling under the strain because they wanted to do that. Contrary to popular opinion, they're not just uniformed thugs. It's demoralising for them as well.' Governors, senior staff and prison officers, she says, are 'good people, trying to do the best they can with ridiculous levels of resourcing'. And behind this is a lack of support for the 'rehabilitation agenda'. 'It's not a vote-winner. The average joe in the street is really not interested in what happens when someone's been locked up. You've got the lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key brigade which is quite a large proportion of society.' She is not remotely naive about this. 'I've been a victim of crime, I completely get that anger,' she says. Furthermore, 'Some of the men I've worked with have done dreadful things and hurt people unbelievably. So I'm not soft on crime, of course I'm not. But if you don't concentrate on changing the lives of these people, you're not actually solving the problem.' And sometimes, she says, an 'overdose of love' is the only thing that will turn people around. What has led them to the point where they've done what they've done? And you can't do that without time, energy and support. 'And if the general consensus of society is that they shouldn't even be eating porridge or having a TV to watch, then you've got a really big agenda to overturn.' Aside from campaigning for more resources so that prisons like Bedford can function as they were meant to do, Grenham-Thompson believes churches have a role to play. 'People are afraid of prison, they're afraid of prisoners it is a sort of shame, isn't it? But how many people sitting in our congregations, in one way or another, have a connection with someone who've served time? Which makes it so difficult to deal with the issue.' She praises Prisons Week, which begun yesterday, when churches deliberately focus on prisons, pray for them and think of how they can help. 'Quietly up and down the country there are people who go and volunteer. 'There is a Christian chaplain in every prison, doing absolutely fabulous front-line mission and pastoral work. 'People are asking big questions about themselves, about life and about faith. But it is just not high on the church's agenda.' And, she says, investing in prisons financially and spiritually makes sense at every level. 'It is a point of principle about valuing the individual. But even as a secular argument apart from about 50-odd prisoners who are serving whole-life tariffs, every single person serving time in prison today is going to be back out in society. 'We have a logical reason to invest in their rehabilitation.' According to the Howard League for Penal Reform, the UK's prison system is 'broken'. The number of men, women and children sent to prison has more than doubled over the last two decades, with most of them spending less than a year inside. It says: 'While the prison population continues to grow, the money and resources available to manage that population growth is simply not there. More and more we see prisoners lying on their bunks with little positive to do. There are problems of prison suicides, rising violence and drug abuse behind bars.' And, it says: 'We can never imprison our way to a safer society.' Rory Stewart MP, the UK's minister for prisons, declared in August that he would resign in a year if he did not succeed in reducing drug use and violence levels in 10 of Britain's worst prisons. With all its problems, Bedford didn't even make the list. In an article on the Ten Prisons Project he details how he plans to make it happen. But in an age when every government department is crying out for money so that the end of austerity can be proclaimed, the jury's still out on whether prisons really matter enough to claim a fair share of it. And the clock is ticking. Sharon Grenham-Thompson's book 'Jail Bird: The inside story of the Glam Vicar' is published by Lion. 5 minutes with An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste (1951) by Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art specialist Hala Khayat discusses the Egyptian artists masterwork There is a saying in the Arab world when you are trying to talk to someone but the person is not really listening, says Hala Khayat, specialist in Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art at Christies in Dubai. We say he is giving me an ear of mud, an ear of paste. The title of this work by Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar comes from this expression. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1925, El-Gazzar is today considered one of the pivotal figures of 20th-century Egyptian art. With a style derived entirely from his own imagination, rather than modern or contemporary trends, his paintings are full of a rich symbolism that is deeply embedded in Egyptian folk culture. At a time when poverty was at a high point in the country, El-Gazzar was one of the first to shed light on the suffering of Egypts marginalised people, many of whom sought solace in witchcraft and magic. An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste was painted in 1951, just two years after El-Gazzars imprisonment for another work, Popular Chorus, whose foregrounding of poverty was interpreted by King Farouk as a critique of his rule. One year later, in 1952, King Farouk would be overthrown in a coup detat that marked the start of modern Egyptian governance and led to the end of British occupation. Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar (1925-1966), An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste, 1951. Oil on board. 43 x 27 in (110 x 70 cm). Sold for 584,750 on 24 October 2018 at Christies in London At the time that El-Gazzar painted this piece, everybody else in Egypt was painting flowers and happy street scenes, Khayat explains. But El-Gazzar was interested in conveying deeper messages, and he continued to do so despite the explicit disapproval of King Farouk, who wanted him to paint the pyramids and the Nile and the beautiful boats. Thats what makes him so interesting. In An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste, the central figure, a beggar, is shown in a crouching position. Reflecting the Arabic saying from which the title is drawn, the figures ears have been drawn on the same side of his head, as if to emphasise his inability to hear or participate in any larger political discussion. Further reinforcing this sense of isolation, El-Gazzar sets the figure in a tomb-like space whose shelf-lined walls are filled with dead bodies. When it comes to Egyptian artists, there are only a handful who truly make you think. El-Gazzar is certainly one of them Hala Khayat The beautiful stillness of Vilhelm Hammershis Interior with an Easel The contemplative scenes painted in muted tones by the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershi rarely come to market. With the offer of this 1912 work on 31 October in New York, we visit Copenhagen to learn more about the artists life and practice There is little doubt that the defining motif of paintings by the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershi (1864-1916) are his vacant interiors, says Arne Everwijn, senior specialist in 19th-century European art at Christie's. He would often paint the inside of his house in Copenhagen, staging a few props such as vases, chairs and lamps around the domestic settings. Interior with an Easel is unusual, however, because it is one of only four works that Hammershi ever painted which depict an artists easel. Interestingly, photographs of Hammershi in his studio show him working at a much sturdier easel, which he paints in one of his works. This lighter, three-footed one might have been his travelling easel, suggests the specialist. This work was painted in Hammershis house at Bredgarde 25 in the Danish capital, where he lived between 1909 and 1913. Hammershi liked to be in his apartment and chose to work there, to be in this intimate space, to have the concentration to work deeply with his paintings, observes Annette Rosenvold Hvidt, Art Interpreter at the National Gallery of Denmark, in our short film. The setting for Interior with an Easel is typically sparse, save for a shaft of light coming in through the windows and an engraving of C.A. Lorentzens 1801 painting The Battle of Copenhagen, which is hung unusually high in order to protect it from the sun. Despite the absence of people, says Everwijn, the open door and the easel, turned to face away from the viewer, suggest the presence of the artist. Vilhelm Hammershi (1864-1916), Interior with an Easel, Bredgade 25, 1912. Oil on canvas. 31 x 27 in (78.5 x 70.3 cm). Estimate: $1,500,000-2,500,000. Offered in European Art: Part 1 on 31 October 2018 at Christies in New York Hammershi rarely spoke about his work, but once stated that what mattered to him most were the light and the lines, explains Gertrud Oelsner, Director of the Hirschsprung Collection. It was something to do with his interest in photography, which was a very modern medium in his own time. We have a very reduced scale of colours that he is working with. He liked greys, blacks and whites, she continues, but actually when you are looking at his paintings there are a lot of colours in them that you dont see at first glance. There are reds and greens, and sometimes even purple. This work hasn't been to market since the collector Adam Black bought it in the year it was painted. In fact, its never been seen outside the home of Blacks descendants Arne Everwijn 3 1 of 3 Fotolia / johnsroad7 - Fotolia Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Jose Luis Magana, FRE / Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3 U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Monday proposed a dramatic move to force the pharmaceutical industry to post the sticker prices of some popular drugs in television ads to the public. The move -- sure to be met with protest from drug makers -- is part of a Trump administration promise to tackle spiraling drug spending and promote price transparency. Voters casting early ballots in Iowa. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images For all the excitement surrounding Election Day, its important to keep in mind that voting has already begun in many parts of the country, and will intensify before November 6. Early voting (by one of three methods: absentee ballots, in-person early voting, or non-absentee voting by mail) has roughly doubled as a percentage of total turnout since 2004 from about 20 percent then to 40 percent in 2016. Early voting opportunities vary significantly by state, of course. Twelve states (including New York) only allow excused required absentee voting, which typically means a voter affidavit stipulating some accepted reason for being unable to vote on Election Day (generally travel or work). At the other end of the spectrum, three states (Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) conduct virtually all voting by mail. In 16 states, over half of the vote was cast early two years ago; that includes such electoral powerhouses as California (59 percent), Florida (68 percent), Georgia (59 percent), and Texas (63 percent). Illustration: U.S. Election Assistance Commission The pace of early voting does vary significantly: Balloting began on October 8 in California (where all of the early voting is by mail ballot); today in Georgia (where in-person and absentee ballot early voting is roughly equal in magnitude); and not until October 27 in Florida (where in-person voting represents a majority of early voting). All told, early voting is now underway in 20 states. The total number of votes is small now, but will start ballooning soon: 10/15 #earlyvote update: At least 793,007 people have voted in the 2018 general election https://t.co/re0Ev4JdHh Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) October 15, 2018 The strategic importance of early voting is obvious once you think about it: voter appeals (whether its ads, direct mail, door-to-door canvassing, or emails and social media organizing) must take into account the wildly varying Election Days that specific voters choose. Some campaigns focus on banking early votes with heavy expenditures aimed at getting favorable categories of voters to cast ballots as soon as possible. But its important to remember that this can give a misleading impression of how the overall election is trending, as this post-2016 note from Nate Silver points out: In North Carolina, Clinton won the early vote by 2.5 percentage points, or about 78,000 votes. Furthermore, about two-thirds of votes were cast early. But Trump won the Election Day vote by almost 16 percentage points. That was enough to bring him a relatively healthy, 3.6-point margin of victory over Clinton overall. In states where early voting is tracked by party registration and/or race, there is a tendency to follow reports as though they are early returns on Election Night. In some cases, they are just votes that would have otherwise been cast on Election Day, and tell you little about the outcome. Another important factor to keep in mind is that early voting doesnt just move Election Day up for those who use this option: It also (at least in terms of voting by mail) stretches Election Night out for days and even weeks. And at least two states with heavy voting by mail (California and Washington) count votes postmarked on Election Day that come in later. They also tend to count later mail ballots after they count everything else. In Californias June 5 primary, about 30 percent of the vote (more than 2 million ballots) were not counted by the end of Election Night. If the battle for control of the House is very close, the seven competitive House races in California and the three in Washington could make any early resolution difficult and not just because these are Pacific Time Zone states. Traditional notions of Election Day and Election Night are increasingly misleading. Legacy Community Health, the largest network of community health clinics in Texas, will send a group to Washington this week to lobby lawmakers against a new Trump administration rule change that could hold using health and nutrition assistance programs against immigrants seeking legal residency. At issue is a proposed revision in the so-called public charge rule that would greatly expand the negative factors determining if an immigrant seeking a temporary visa or green card is now or will "likely" become a burden on taxpayers. The Department of Homeland Security unveiled the expanded rules last month and a 60-day period for public comment began last week. "Legacy is doing a full-court press on this one," said Kevin Nix, a spokesman for Houston-based Legacy said on Monday. RELATED: New rule: Tougher scrutiny on legal immigrants using assistance brings widespread fear A delegation from the community health organization will meet Tuesday and Wednesday with 15 senior staff or Congress members across party lines to argue that the rule will not only do sweeping harm to legal immigrants but also financially hurt community health centers across the country, said Nix. Nix said they will meet mostly with Texas lawmakers and staff but also other lawmakers who have supported community health centers. He did not name the lawmakers. The delegation plans to make the case that if eligible patients do not enroll in health programs such as Medicaid and need-based Medicare prescription drug coverage, the impact will be felt far beyond immigrant communities, he said. Uninsured rates will increase, as will the use of emergency rooms for routine treatments and the amount of uncompensated care borne by taxpayers could rise dramatically, Nix said. The Department of Homeland Security has said it is expanding the public charge rule to encourage more self-sufficiency among immigrants seeking legal residency. The policy is in keeping with the Trump administration long-held goal to promote "merit-based" immigration among those with more means, higher education and marketable skills. The public charge designation has for nearly two decades been mostly focused on discouraging legal status for those who rely on cash-based benefits for primary income, or those who need long-term health care at government expense. The new rule would add applications for one or more health nutrition or housing assistance programs during the past three years, including most forms of Medicaid, need-based Medicare Part D prescription drug benefits, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, and Section 8 housing vouchers and assistance. It will also take into account income, education, chronic health conditions and insurance status when determining if an immigrant is likely to become a public charge. Some community health groups are already reporting a decline in enrollment even among current green card holders and other legal immigrants not touched by rule change out of fear and confusion. Katy Caldwell, executive director of Legacy, has said the rule will economically hit Houston especially hard because of the city's large immigrant population and the volume of medical institutions. RELATED: These immigrants are legal. It's unbelievable what that they are being penalized for this basic human need [Opinion] "The mission of Legacy Community Health, like any safety-net provider, is to provide quality, affordable care to low-income patients, including many legal immigrants," she wrote in a recent Houston Chronicle opinion piece, "Our goal is to provide preventive care to keep people out of the emergency room for non-emergencies, such as colds, or for treatment of chronic conditions. We've been doing this for decades in a fiscally responsible way and with bipartisan support. But this new rule would likely limit the amount of care we can provide, and it would be the same for many other Texas providers." Never underestimate the business power of icky. Jen Mortensen, an entrepreneur whose family was plagued by head lice, has turned her problem into a new business venture, opening a clinic in Kingwood that is part of a national chain dedicated to eradicating the little buggers. The Lice Clinic of America branch has opened at 2330 Timber Shadows Dr. It is one of four in the chain in the Houston region. It is open seven days a week by appointment and uses AirAlle, a medical device that looks a bit like a portable vacuum cleaner and uses heated air to dehydrate lice and their eggs rather than chemicals. RELATED: Mutant head lice found in Texas can resist common treatments Mortensen, who previously lived in California, knows firsthand how troublesome and persistent an infestation of head lice can be after she was hosting relatives who brought the unwelcome guests with them. No amount of drug-store treatments or manic housecleaning would rid her family of the lice. "We were frustrated, exhausted and angry," she said in a release from the company. "I am determined to advocate for parents to prevent them from going through what we did." Since treatment at the lice clinic worked, she and her husband decided to open their own franchise. Application of the treatment is done by certified operators, the company said in a statement. Lice treatment has become big business in this country as a recent study in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that 98 percent of so-called "super lice" in most states are resistant to chemical pesticides. Lice Clinics of America has more than 350 clinics in 36 countries. Several other businesses devoted to lice treatment operate in the Houston area. Houston is a bustling aviation hub, ferrying more than 54 million passengers to cities near and far in 2017. But its passenger counts can't compete with those in the Asia-Pacific region, which largely dominated the world's busiest passenger air routes. According to Routesonline.com, the busiest air route in the world is a 280-mile flight transporting leisure travelers from South Korea's capital, Seoul, to the island of Jeju, famed for its white sands beach resorts and volcanic landscape off the Korean Peninsula. BOOKINGS: Airport System hopes to reignite international interest in Houston The route has an average of 180 scheduled flights per day, or one flight every eight minutes, and flew 13.5 million passengers in 2017. That's up 9 percent from 2016, when this route also ranked as the world's busiest. Flying from Melbourne, Australia, to Sydney, Australia, ranked as the second-busiest route with 9.1 million passengers in 2017. Sapporo, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, to Tokyo was the third busiest with 8.7 million travelers. The Asia-Pacific region dominated the top 100 busiest routes by passenger numbers, accounting for more than 70 percent of the total. "This research backs up forecasts that the Asia-Pacific region will be the biggest driver of passenger demand over the next 20 years," Steven Small, brand director of Routes, said in the online article. The highest-ranked U.S. route on the Top 100 list is New York JFK to Los Angeles with 3.53 million passengers. It was No. 30. Los Angeles-San Francisco came in at No. 31, with 3.51 million passengers. New York JFK-London Heathrow was the busiest international route featuring an American city. With 3 million passengers, it ranked No. 49 overall but was No. 9 when just looking at the busiest international routes. No routes from Texas made the list of Top 100 busiest. (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia threatened on Sunday to use its economic clout to retaliate against any punitive measures, hitting back after U.S. President Donald Trump said he could take action against the worlds largest oil-exporter over the disappearance of a government critic. The kingdom emphasizes that it will respond to any measure against it with an even stronger measure, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. While the Saudi statement didnt make an explicit reference to oil, analysts and traders said it could be read as a veiled threat to use its energy riches as a political tool. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, earlier this month hit a 4-year high above $85 a barrel. Trump has vowed severe punishment should Saudi Arabia be linked to the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, who hasnt been seen since he entered the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to obtain a document for his upcoming wedding. In an excerpt from an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes to be broadcast on Sunday night, Trump said: Its being looked at very, very strongly. We would be very upset and angry if that was the case. Britains Independent newspaper also reported on Friday that U.K. officials have begun drawing up a list of Saudi officials who could face sanctions pending investigations into Khashoggis fate. The UK, France and Germany added to the pressure on Sunday, calling for a credible probe and urging Saudi Arabia to provide detailed answers. The pressure comes as Turkish officials say they have audio and video recordings showing a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate before killing him and dismembering his body, the Washington Post reported. Saudi officials say Khashoggi, a columnist for the newspaper, left the building alive. The threats mark a surprising turn in the otherwise warm relationship between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Since Trumps election in 2016, the two countries signed agreements worth hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and weapons deals. Saudi stocks dropped as much as 7 percent, the most since 2014, on concerns that relations with the U.S. may sour, before trimming losses to close 3.5 percent down. Saudi Stocks Sink as Tension With U.S. Escalates Over Khashoggi Oil Weapon? Saudi Arabia used its petroleum resources as a political weapon when it led an Arab oil embargo in 1973-1974 during a war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states. Since then, Riyadh has always put oil above politics, promising stable supply under any scenario. The biggest oil consumers at the time, including the U.S., Japan and Germany, responded by creating strategic oil reserves ready to be used in the event of a major disruption. Most industrialized nations today hold enough crude to cover 90 days of imports. During a recent diplomatic spat with Canada, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said his country had a "firm and long-standing policy" that petroleum exports not be mixed up with political considerations. State-owned company Aramco continued to supply a refinery in Canada though the Saudi state severed most other economic links. The energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Roger Diwan, a veteran OPEC watcher at consultant IHS Markit Ltd., said the Saudi comments broke "an essential oil market taboo" and could be self-defeating. "Saudi Arabia threatening oil flows at a time when the U.S. is implementing sanctions on Iran exports in coordination with Saudi Arabia shows the tenuous position oil markets are in," he said. The mystery surrounding Khashoggis fate and claims of his murder have created an international storm, with media following every grisly detail and demands from U.S. senators that Trump cut arms sales to Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, senators invoked the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016 to seek an investigation into Khashoggis fate, a move apparently aimed at prompting a more active response from an administration that has been restrained in its reaction. Before his latest threat, Trump had said it would be foolish for the United States to cancel arms deals worth more than $100 billion as Saudi Arabia would only buy Russian and Chinese weapons instead. The controversy has also overshadowed a major investment conference planned to start Oct. 23 in Riyadh. Several global executives have said they will pull out of the event, widely dubbed the Davos in the Desert though it is unrelated to the World Economic Forum. If there are U.S. sanctions against Saudi Arabia, we would be facing an economic disaster that would rattle the world, Turki Al Dakhil, who heads the Saudi state-owned Arabiya news network, wrote in an article on its website. Targeting Saudi Arabia would hit the oil production before any other vital thing. If President Trump was angered by $80 oil, nobody should rule out the price jumping to $100 and $200 a barrel or maybe double that figure, he wrote. (Updates with European demands in paragraph 4, analyst in paragraphs 11-12.) --With assistance from Alaa Shahine and Lin Noueihed. To contact the reporters on this story: Zainab Fattah in Dubai at zfattah@bloomberg.net;Javier Blas in London at jblas3@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Alaa Shahine 2018 Bloomberg L.P. The Port of Corpus Christi has broke a tonnage record set in 2015, with growing crude oil and fuels exports driving much of the growth. The port said 79.3 million tons of goods were shipped into and out of the port in the the first nine months of the year, up 1.8 percent from thee previous record of 77.9 million tons shipped during the same period in 2015. Oil rose as traders assessed a threat by Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest crude exporter, to retaliate against any punishment over the disappearance of a government critic. Futures climbed as much as 1.9 percent in New York as traders viewed the Saudi Foreign Ministry statement as a warning that the kingdom could use oil supplies as a political weapon. Yet gains later eased amid doubts that OPECs most powerful member would take such an extreme course. U.S. President Donald Trump has promised severe punishment should Saudi Arabia be linked to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. If the Saudis do use their crude resources to hit back, it would be a break from their decades-old policy of putting petroleum above politics. During a recent diplomatic spat with Canada, state-owned producer Aramco continued to supply a refinery there even though Riyadh severed most other economic links. RELATED: Saudis vow to hit back against any measures over Khashoggi The market will price in some risk premium, said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich. While Saudi Arabia hasnt used politics in recent years, its crown prince -- like President Trump -- isnt an ordinary politician and its unclear how hell react going forward. But if Saudi crude exports remain unchanged, this risk premium will disappear again. Crude has retreated more than 6 percent after reaching a four-year high earlier this month as a darkening demand outlook, coupled with global stock-market routs, spur investors to shun risky assets including commodities. Still, traders continue to speculate whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners can offset potential supply losses from Iran as U.S. sanctions are set to curb oil exports from the Persian Gulf state. West Texas Intermediate for November delivery rose as much as $1.36 to $72.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $71.54 as of 10:16 a.m. London time. The contract slid 4 percent to $71.34 last week. Total volume traded Monday was about 18 percent above the 100-day average. PRECEDENT: Saudi Arabia breaks 45-year taboo with veiled oil weapon threat Brent for December settlement climbed as much as $1.49, or 1.9 percent, to $81.92 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices declined 4.4 percent to $80.43 last week, the biggest weekly drop since early April. The global benchmark crude traded at a $9.53 premium to WTI for the same month. Khashoggi hasnt been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The U.S. administration is said to increasingly regard the kingdoms denial of any involvement in his disappearance as untenable. Turkish officials say they have audio and video recordings showing a Saudi security team detained the journalist before killing him and dismembering his body, according to the Washington Post. As OPECs top producer, Saudi Arabia has taken on an even more crucial role as the market awaits moves from key producers to make up for lost barrels from Iran to Venezuela. Although the kingdom did use energy as a weapon when it led an oil embargo in 1973-1974, its current threats mark a surprising turn in an otherwise warm relationship with the U.S. While Trump is reluctant to cancel multimillion-dollar arms sales to Saudi Arabia out of concern its ally will turn to Russia or China instead, a range of other punishments are under discussion within the administration, including downgrading diplomatic relations and sanctioning Saudi officials. Turki Al Dakhil, who heads the Saudi state-owned Arabiya news network, wrote in an article that U.S. sanctions against Saudi Arabia could wreak havoc on the global economy by taking oil prices beyond $200 a barrel. Faisal bin Farhan, a senior adviser to the Saudi embassy in Washington, said on Twitter that those comments dont represent the Saudi leadership. 2018 Bloomberg L.P. One of these two politicians was under investigation by the FBI for years. It was not Ammar Campa-Najjar, who is being called a security risk by Representative Duncan Hunter. Photo: Getty Images Ammar Campa-Najjar has an unusual background for a congressional candidate, even in diverse California. His mother was Mexican-American and his father Palestinian-American, and he spent three years of his childhood in the poverty-stricken and very dangerous Gaza Strip. He, his mother, and his brother moved back to California when he was 12, and he grew up in very modest circumstances. From then on, his biography is very American Dreamy: He went to community college, graduated from San Diego State University; worked on Barack Obamas reelection campaign; worked at the White House, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Labor Department (where he focused on apprenticeship programs), before returning to his hometown of San Diego. On the tender side of 30, Campa-Najjar launched an unlikely congressional campaign, but proved to be a remarkable fundraiser and championed a progressive platform at just the right time, defeating the national Democratic Partys favorite, ex-Navy SEAL Josh Butner. Campa-Najjars incumbent opponent, Duncan D. Hunter (not to be confused with Duncan L. Hunter, his politician father), represents quite a different background and outlook. His father was elected to Congress when he was 4 years old. He, too, graduated from San Diego State, and he worked as a tech consultant before joining the Marines the day after 9/11. He served as a field artillery officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. He basically inherited his fathers congressional seat in 2008, and he spent years happily voting a hard-core conservative line. His personal and campaign finances got very tangled up, however, and at some point in 2016, the FBI began investigating him on multiple fronts. Going into this election year, Hunter was under a cloud of uncertain magnitude. But in February, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz drew some unwelcome attention to the fact that Campa-Najjars Palestinian grandfather, Yusuf al-Najjar, was one of the perpetrators of the infamous Black September massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Haaretz did give Campa-Najjar the opportunity to comment on this history, and he was pretty clear about it: Campa-Najjar doesnt defend the actions of his grandfather, calling them horrific. Innocent civilians were murdered. There is never justification for killing innocent civilians. His thinking is also different from that of his father, whom, according to a 1996 Washington Post article, was proud of Yusuf al-Najjar and refused to accept that killing athletes was more repugnant than the violence of Israeli occupation over the years. According to Campa-Najjar, Im against comparisonism competing who suffered more. Too many people have been killed. What my grandfather did was inexcusable. The goal is for our generation to be better than our predecessors, and find a way to end this conflict. Some other aspects of this story minimized its apparent impact on the campaign. Yusuf al-Najjar died (he was killed by Israeli guerrillas in retaliation for Munich) 16 years before Campa-Najjar was born. He had no association with Palestinian activism in his own career. He was immediately defended by San Diego rabbis. And hes not a Muslim; the mother who raised him was Catholic, and he is affiliated with an evangelical church where he worked as a janitor during high school. It might not have been much of a campaign issue in this normally very Republican district had not a calamity struck Hunters campaign in August: a federal indictment of Hunter and his wife, who was his campaign treasurer, for hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal misuse of campaign funds for personal uses. The 48 pages of details cited by the Justice Department were abundant and deeply embarrassing, ranging from airfare for a pet rabbit to phony congressional business and lots of entertaining in Washington and in California. And the overall picture it painted of Hunter was of a man whose life was out of control. He probably did not help himself much by alternating between blaming it all on his wife and alleging a preposterous Democratic-controlled conspiracy by the office of a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney. So with Hunters political condition rapidly deteriorating, the incumbent, as some of us unhappily predicted, went after Campa-Najjar with the closest blunt instrument he could find: aggressive Islamophobia. It was no less offensive or potentially effective for the fact that its target is not himself Islamic. This ad is probably the most outlandish item in Hunters mendacious assault: This and other smears have aroused considerable outrage at Hunters campaign. Campa-Najjars pastor trashed the idea that this member of his flock was somehow part of a radical Muslim effort to infiltrate Congress: As the pastor of his non-denominational Christian church, Mike Meeks, explained in a statement, I have known Ammar since he was 16 when he became part of our youth ministry. Meeks added of Campa-Najjars time in the Obama administration after college, When he served in federal government, we talked regularly about life and the faith challenges of following Jesus in todays world. Hunter has also released a letter signed by retired Marine generals calling Campa-Najjar a security risk. Campa-Najjar has a pretty tart comeback: The truth? Hunter is a security risk. Hed fail a FBI background check today. A criminally indicted congressman known for excessive drinking and extramarital affairs is an ideal target for foreign actors. Thats why @SpeakerRyan removed him from the Armed Services Committee. pic.twitter.com/8ii1MqjTPR Ammar Campa-Najjar (@ACampaNajjar) October 15, 2018 To be fair, the rumored boozing and fooling around are not part of Hunters criminal indictment, and Hunter voluntarily (if under informal duress) resigned from his Armed Services Committee spot. But he doesnt exactly have the clean hands needed to complain about any of that. Theres some legitimate concern that Hunters nasty campaign tactics are working; a Monmouth survey late in September showed the incumbent up by double digits (though a University of California poll released just before it showed a very close race). But its worth remembering that this is a profoundly Republican district, which Donald Trump carried by 15 percent in 2016 (Hunter won that year by 27 points). Even an indicted congressman is going to have a big advantage in a district like that. But even if he wins, Duncan Hunter will not only have to face a trial; he may never live down the cynically un-American campaign hes run against Ammar Campa-Najjar. For 45 years, its been considered out of bounds for Saudi Arabia. But all of a sudden, Riyadh made what many read as a veiled threat to use the kingdoms oil wealth as a political weapon -- something unheard of since the 1973 Arab embargo that triggered the first oil crisis. Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest oil exporter, said on Sunday it would retaliate against any punitive measures linked to the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi with even stronger ones." In an implicit reference to the kingdoms petroleum wealth, the statement noted the Saudi economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. Roger Diwan, a longstanding OPEC watcher at consultant IHS Markit Ltd., said the Saudi comments broke an essential oil market taboo. RELATED: Saudis vow to hit back against any measures over Khashoggi While few think that Saudi Arabia is prepared to follow through, even the suggestion of using oil as a weapon undermines Riyadhs long-standing effort to project itself as a force for economic stability. Jeffrey Currie, the head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Inc., said Middle East tensions impacting the oil market have now "broadened to include Saudi Arabia." The anxieties were exacerbated by an opinion piece penned by Turki Al Dakhil, who heads the state-owned Arabiya news network and is close to the Royal Court, in which he openly talked about using oil as a weapon. If President Trump was angered by $80 oil, nobody should rule out the price jumping to $100 and $200 a barrel or maybe double that figure, he wrote. The Saudi embassy in Washington later said Al Dakhil didnt represent the official position of the kingdom and Saudi officials, speaking privately, said there wasnt a change in the long-held policy that oil and politics dont mix. On Monday, Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, used a speech in India to soothe concerns, pledging his country will continue to be a responsible actor and keep oil markets stable. "I want to assure markets and petroleum consumers around the world that we want to continue support the growth of the global economy, the prosperity of consumers around the world," Al Falih said. PRICING: IEA cuts oil demand forecasts but sees prices staying high Yet the fact that the Arabiya article was published only minutes after Saudi Arabias press release was issued led many to conclude it was either a message conveyed outside diplomatic channels or a trial balloon that quickly went flat. Oil rose in early trading, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, rising as much 2 percent to $81.92 a barrel. Prices later pared gained as concerns about global growth hit global equity markets. Whatever the Saudi leadership intended on Sunday, it broke with the kingdoms diplomatic orthodoxy: oil and politics are separate. For example, during a recent diplomatic spat with Canada, Al-Falih reiterated the kingdom had a "firm and long-standing policy" that petroleum exporters are not mixed with political considerations. Saudi state-owned company Aramco continued to supply a refinery in Canada despite Riyadh severing most other economic links. While the mere hint of Saudi Arabia using oil as an economic weapon still brings back memories of queues at the pump and stagflation in the Western world, there are good reasons why Saudi Arabia hasnt wanted to brandish oil-market power as a political tool. Essentially, it has lots in common with another relic of the 1970s: the Cold War doctrine of mutually assured destruction. True, Riyadh can bring the global economy to its knees in the short-term by cutting output and sending prices sharply up. The kingdom pumps one-in-ten oil barrels produced worldwide, and holds nearly all the spare capacity available to respond to any supply outage. Even just hinting that it wont replace the barrels lost from Iran due to U.S. sanctions could be enough to push prices toward $100 a barrel. DEMAND: 100 million barrels: The world hit a daily oil record But if the Saudis retaliate using oil, it would lead to calamity, said Stephen Innes, Singapore-based head of Asia Pacific trading at Oanda Corp. This would be so destabilizing for global markets that it would make the current trade tensions between the U.S. and China look like a game of Axis & Allies. Over the medium-term it would lead to massive oil demand destruction and an accelerated race into renewable energy and electric cars. The 1973-74 embargo, and the second oil crisis in 1979, destroyed oil demand for ever as industrialized countries taxed gasoline and diesel and embarked on conservation policies. Oil consumption is lower today than in 1974 in Germany, Japan, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. --With assistance from Heesu Lee. 2018 Bloomberg L.P. A city study has concluded that Houston housing requires an additional $12 billion for the 209,000 households hurt by Hurricane Harvey to fully recover. The report, which will play a role in allocating $1.17 billion in Houston housing relief coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development, offers a valuable but incomplete overview of Harvey recovery in the city. In its calculation of unmet need, the study subtracted the federal funding received from the amount of damage Hurricane Harvey caused Houston buildings and their contents. Although Houstonians received aid from nonprofits, private insurance and other resources as well, such aid was not considered in the study. Nine Cy-Fair ISD schools earned all possible distinction designations for the 2017-2018 school year from the Texas Education Agency. During the Cy-Fair ISD school board meeting on Oct. 8, representatives from the nine campuses were presented with plaques recognizing their achievement. Birkes Elementary School, Holbrook Elementary School, Lowery Elementary School, Pope Elementary School, Sampson Elementary School, Wilbern Elementary School, Aragon Middle School, Arnold Middle School and Cy-Fair High School all earned each possible distinction designation, according to a CFISD press release. One of the area's most popular steakhouses for out-of-towners looking for the "Lone Star State experience" has revealed a few new updates. Taste of Texas, located along the Katy Freeway for decades now, is one of the top independent steakhouses in the country and the largest restaurant user of Certified Angus Beef in the United States. GRILL AT HOME: Decades of Taste of Texas highlight new cookbook Nearly $2 million has been spent to update the location, including adding a retail area where customers can purchase food to grill and or heat up at home. Customers can even buy a set of Taste of Texas' steak knives with their name engraved on them on site. The "Grill-at-Home" store's offerings come in special thermal bags. The meal kits start at $99.95. Taste of Texas A new partnership with Shipt, the internet-based delivery service, means that customers can also order food directly from Taste of Texas if they can't make it to the restaurant. The delivery option allows them to get their food at home within an hour, in some cases. This is Shipt's first foray into restaurant partnerships. The restaurant has also rebranded its to-go options, complete with dedicated parking spots for those carrying out their meals. The facade outside has been revamped with extra stone, the kitchen has been expanded, and there is now more dining room and corporate meeting space. NEWBIE ON THE BLOCK: Georgia James steakhouse opens in Montrose Owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Nina and Edd Hendee since 1977, the brand shifted from chili and burgers to a top-flight steakhouse in 1984. The couple met while both working for Steak & Ale. According to recent Restaurant Business data the Texana-filled Taste of Texas does annual sales of nearly $17 million along with an average dining check of $55. Taste of Texas The interior is also a museum of Texas history of sorts, complete with a signed Sam Houston calling card, historic Texas art, and a replica of the famous "Come and Take It" flag among other replica Texas ensigns. Nina even takes elementary school kids on special Texas history tours around the restaurant. MEAT CITY: Steakhouses offer 'prime' example of Houston dining It's been in the same expansive location since 1989, making the decision to not become a multi-unit operation along the way. Late 2017 saw the release of Nina Hendee's cookbook, "Perfectly Aged: 40 Years of Recipes and Stories From the Taste of Texas" written to celebrate the restaurant's 40th anniversary. Craig Hlavaty covers Houston history and pop-culture. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | craig.hlavaty@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message Oct. 1 At 3:58 p.m., Officer Younger made contact with staff at Magpies Gifts in regards to collecting video surveillance as evidence for a previous shoplifting arrest made at 5000 Bellaire Blvd. Magpies staff was able to provide video surveillance for an additional theft that occurred at that location on the same suspect so additional charges could be filed. At 11:53 p.m., Officer Clisham observed a vehicle in the area of 8000 IH 610 East Service Road driving the wrong way on a one-way street and initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle. After making contact with the driver and further investigation, the driver was placed into custody and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Oct. 2 At 4:53 p.m., Officer Lysack was dispatched to 4747 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to an automobile theft. Officer Lysack met with the victim who stated he last saw his vehicle in his reserved parking spot in the parking garage about 9 a.m. Oct. 2. The victim returned to the parking garage at about 4:44 p.m. to discover the vehicle was stolen. The vehicle was entered into NCIC/TCIC as stolen. At 4:23 p.m., Officer Guerra was patrolling the 5400 block of Bellaire Blvd and observed a brown Ford Taurus with a defective brake light. Officer Guerra conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and conducted an interview with the driver. During the interview the driver was found to have a suspended drivers license and no financial responsibility. The driver was placed into custody and taken to the Bellaire Police Department for booking and processing. At 1:11 p.m., Officer Lysack was dispatched to 5210 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to a burglary of a vehicle. Officer Lysack met with the victim who stated he had just withdrawn cash from the Bank of America nearby, and believes he was followed. The unknown suspect broke the front passenger window with an unknown object, climbed through the window, and stole the envelope containing the cash which had been left on top of the center console. The suspect then fled in an unknown direction. At 9:46 p.m., Officer Clisham responded to the Walgreens Pharmacy at 5002 Bellaire Bvld. in reference to a credit card abuse case. Officer Clisham arrived on the scene and met with the victim. The victim stated that at 9:18 p.m. Oct. 2, an unknown suspect used the information from his Chase Debit card to make multiple purchases inside the Walgreens Pharmacy. The total amount withdrawn from his account was $1,212. All transactions were done without the victims consent. Officer Guerra assisted on this case. At 10:08 p.m., Officer Guerra responded to 5130 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to a credit card abuse case. Officer Guerra arrived on the scene and met with the victim who stated at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 2 an unknown suspect used her BBVA Compass credit card to make multiple purchases inside Randalls. All transactions were done without the victims consent. Officer Clisham assisted on this case. Oct. 3 At 8 a.m., Officer H. Lopez stopped a vehicle for expired registration. The driver was found to have a suspended drivers license / invalid and was subsequently placed under arrest for driving while license suspended / invalid. At 5:14 p.m., Officer OSullivan made contact with the victim of a credit card abuse case at 5130 Bellaire Blvd. The victim advised Officer OSullivan that his debit card was used without his knowledge or consent at the Randalls Grocery Store located at 5130 Bellaire Blvd. At 10:50 a.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to 6565 West Loop South in reference to a burglary of a building. Officer Andrade met with employees who stated an unknown person gained entry into the office and stole four office laptops. At 6:54 p.m., Officer Guerra was dispatched to the 4900 block of Linden Street in reference to a death investigation. The reportee indicated the victim was unresponsive and had suffered a gunshot wound. Officers arrived at 6:54 p.m. and observed the victim unconscious. Medics arrived on scene at 6:56 p.m. The victiom was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Detectives Salinas and Macedo, and Officers Lysack, OSullivan and Liccketto assisted with this case. At 11:11 a.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to 6565 West Loop South in reference to a burglary of a building. Officer Andrade met with the reportee who stated sometime on 10/02/2018 between the hours of 1820 and 2046, an unknown suspect forced entry into the business and stole a computer. Oct. 4 At 7:09 p.m., Officer Schwausch was dispatched to the Bellaire Fire Department lobby in reference to a harassment complaint in the 600 block of Mulberry Lane. Officer Schwausch met with the victim and upon further investigation, the suspect was charged with harassment by repeated electronic communication. Oct. 5 At 6:20 p.m., Officer Marcotte observed a 2007 Nissan to be traveling in the 5400 block of IH 610 NB with an unreadable registration and crossed a solid white line to exit. The passengers were found to be documented gang members and one was found to be wanted for aggravated robbery out of Houston. He was also found to be in possession of a handgun. He was charged with unlawful carry of a weapon (UCW) and additionally held on the felony warrant. At 9:47 p.m., Officer Marcotte observed a vehicle losing control at the intersection of Bissonnet Street and Bellaire Boulevard, driving over two grassy medians, and making a burnout in the parking lot of the Bank of Texas. The driver was found to be intoxicated and was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) as well as possession of a controlled substance (PCS). Oct. 6 At 1:59 a.m., Officer D. Norman was flagged down in reference to an intoxicated male wearing a black shirt and grey shorts walking in the middle of the street in the 6700 block of Ferris Drive. They advised the male also offered them marijuana he had in his pocket, which they refused. Officer Norman made contact with the Hispanic male, who was found to be intoxicated and in possession of marijuana. Harris County Assistant District Attorneys Office advised the male was a candidate for the Misdemeanor Marijuana Diversion Program (MMDP). The male agreed to participate in the MMDP program. The male was booked into the Bellaire Police Department Jail for public intoxication. At 8:07 a.m., Officer Vorhees was dispatched to 4747 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to a burglary of a building. Upon arrival, Officer Vorhees spoke with the reportee who stated when she arrived to work she heard some noise in the office. The reportee called 911 to report the incident. Once the suspect was seen she fled the office to the parking garage out of view of the reportee. At 6:24 p.m., Officer Younger initiated a traffic stop in the 4700 block of Bissonnet Street on a vehicle for displaying a paper license plate that was not assigned to the vehicle. During the traffic stop investigation it was found that the driver was in possession of cocaine and the front passenger had warrants for his arrest. Both occupants of the vehicle were placed into custody and transported to jail. Officer Younger was assisted by Officer Marcotte. Oct. 7 At 11:38 p.m., Officer Clisham initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle he observed in the 5300 block of Bissonnet Street after he found the temporary license plate displayed had no vehicle information in the electronic return. After making contact with the driver and further investigation, said driver was placed in custody and charged with felony possession of marijuana. The Houston Fire Department was founded on Aug. 14, 1838, and the department is partnering up with Mister McKinneys Historic Houston and the Fire Museum of Houston to celebrate the 180th anniversary. Historian R.W. McKinney, also known as Mister McKinney, is providing tours Oct. 19-29 on his open air Houston History Bus. Houston history is my passion and I've had the honor of telling Houstons stories to students, parents and groups for the last 16 years. I also learn so much from older Houstonians that have lived here all their lives. No one knows everything about Houston history, because none of us were here 182 years ago, says McKinney. We're all learning from each other. I am honored to join the members of the HFD and celebrate the 180th anniversary of this great organization, Houston Fire Department Chief Samual Pena said. The HFD is rich in history and tradition and has helped Houston grow into the vibrant city that it is today. Pena continued, I hope to continue the tradition of providing superior service to our citizens and setting the standard of what it means to excel in the fire service. The tour will include visits to old fire station locations, and people will also have the opportunity to learn about important fires in Houstons history. There was an 1894 fire at the 1887 St. Josephs infirmary, our oldest hospital. The fire claimed the lives of a few nuns. Our fire department staff became paid in 1895 because of that fire, McKinney explained. McKinney notes that his tours are free for anyone who registers through his Facebook page, which can be found under Mister McKinneys Historic Houston, and thanks to generous donations. The tours for the Houston fire department are sponsored by Central Bank of Houston which is the oldest Independent Bank in Houston founded in 1956. In addition, guests on the Houston History Bus tours will recieve free pizza samples from Bollo Woodfire Pizza. The Fire Museum of Houston will serve as the official meeting place for each of the tours. Those who register for the tours will get access to a private, after-hours museum experience, where they can learn all about the Houston fire service. The Fire Museum of Houston is honored to research, protect, and share the history of Houstons firefighters and delighted to work with such a passionate public historian as Mister McKinney, Marina Shimer, director of the Fire Museum of Houston said. According to Shimer, The Fire Museum of Houston is located in historic Station #7, the first station built after the Houston Fire Department members were paid in 1895, and the oldest standing fire station in Houston and Harris County. It was active as a station from its opening in 1899 until a new Station #7 was built at Elgin and Austin in 1969. Fire Museum of Houston tells the story of the Houston fire service from 1838 to present through a number of permanent and rotating exhibits. Main attractions include the 1870s horse-drawn hand pumper (once gifted to famous oil-well firefighter Red Adair) and our prized 1937 motorized Chevrolet Pumper, Shimer said. The museum also features a Jr. Fire Station just for kids. On Saturdays, the Jr. Fire Station is reserved for birthday parties. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the museum offers 90-minute field trips for groups of all ages. October is also national Fire Prevention Month, and the museum is partnering with the Independent Insurance Agents of Houston for its 44th Annual Fire Prevention Poster Contest, the winners of which will be celebrated at a reception at the end of the month. Museum staff and volunteers are also currently researching and developing a new exhibit set to open February 22, 2019, which will feature the untold stories of women and minorities within the fire service. The history of the fire service in Houston represents a cohesive narrative that can be used to trace the expansion of the city all the way back to its founding. Augustus Allen, one of the fathers of Houston, helped to establish the first volunteer bucket brigade in the city only a few months after its charter was issued. The Fire Museum of Houston believes that the men and women who make up Houston and Harris Countys fire services deserve to have these stories told and this history preserved, Shimer said. I dont think the fire departments and museum get as much attention as they should, McKinney said. We need to honor these heroes that have done so much for us. They do not think twice to run into a building and save someones life, and to me that matters. For more information about the Fire Museum of Houston, visit www.houstonfiremuseum.org. Mister McKinneys Historic Houston tour times can be found and signed up for online at www.mistermckinney.com. Texas mid term election is Tuesday, Nov. 6. All of the Texas House districts are up for election this year. Early voting takes place from Monday, Oct. 22 through Friday, Nov. 2. To find out where your polling station is, visit https://harrisvotes.com. Incumbent Sarah Davis (R) and Allison Lami Sawyer (D) are running in the Texas House of Representatives District 134 election. District 134 covers much of the western half of the inner-loop area including Bellaire, West University Place, River Oaks and Meyerland. Challenger Sawyer spoke about the issues important to her and to Texas for this upcoming election. Q. What is your background? Why have you decided to run for this election? A. After completing my MBA at Rice University, I co-founded Rebellion Photonics, Inc., an oil and gas safety startup. Im a long-time community volunteer with several organizations, including Child Advocates and the Leukemia Society. I also co-founded Start Here Now, the states largest womens startup competition that offers financial support to Texas female entrepreneurs. I am unhappy with our state government for failing to make evidence based decisions to resolve the issues with our schools, foster care, health care, infrastructure, and more. Q. Heading into the election, what do you think are the most important issues for Texas and Houston right now? A. The most important issues heading into next months election are funding public school education, significant investment in infrastructure, and addressing health care needs of our citizens across the board. Q. What is your stance on immigration and border security? A. Houstonians know that diversity makes us stronger and that the anti-immigrant fervor sweeping the nation has no place here. I want to keep our border secure while not inciting anti-immigrant anger toward law abiding individuals and families. Texas should outlaw the federal baby jails immediately. Q. What is your stance on gun restrictions? A. I believe in basic gun laws. We need background checks, even at gun shows and private sales. Also, we need to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and those on the terrorist watch list. Q. What is your stance on health care? A. I believe its wrong for our state to leave federal money on the table and allow others states to expand Medicaid on our dime. We need to expand Medicaid and ensure that our citizens are living healthier lives. Q. What is your stance on education? A. Property taxes have skyrocketed because of our state reducing their funding of public schools. I want to increase public school funding from the state to pre-Tea Party 2010 levels. Q. What are the most important issues for you personally? A. I initially decided to run for office because of the cuts that caused the Child Protective Service crisis. I would increase the foster care budget by 200%, which would raise it to the national average. Q. What are your goals for your term, if you are elected? A. 1. Increase Public School funding; 2. Invest in resilient infrastructure; 3. Increase the foster care budget by 200 percent; 4. Repeal the racist SB4 law, Show me your papers law. Q. What do you think sets you apart from your opponent? A. My opponent has voted to reduce state funding for public schools. As a result, we Houstonians have seen our property taxes skyrocket. Also, my opponent has made it harder to recoup insurance claims after storms, like Harvey, by sponsoring HB1774, The Blue Tarp Bill. I want to increase the states share of school funding, thereby reducing local property taxes. rebecca.hazen@chron.com Oct. 6 An officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby in regards to a report of found property. Oct. 8 An officer was dispatched to meet a City of Stafford officer, who had a subject (Fernando Herrera) with outstanding warrants with West University. Officer arrived and took custody of the subject, and brought him to the West U jail facility. An Officer observed a vehicle traveling with no front license plate. The officer initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 6800 block of Buffalo Speedway. Upon further investigation, it was discovered the driver had multiple outstanding warrants. The driver was subsequently arrested for the warrants. An officer was dispatched to the 3700 block of Georgetown in regards to a theft that had occurred. Oct. 9 An officer observed a vehicle traveling southbound in the 5400 block of Buffalo Speedway with expired registration. A traffic stop was conducted and after further investigation, the driver was arrested for Unlawful Carrying Weapons. Oct. 10 At 7:44 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the 3100 block of University Blvd. in regard to a report of a minor accident in which a vehicle did not stop to provide any information. Oct. 11 An officer was dispatched to the 2900 block of Nottingham in regards to a burglary that had already occurred. Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, a system of healthcare clinics in the Greater Houston, recently broke ground on a new facility in Cy-Fair meant to replace their current Cy-Fair location. A press release states that the new clinic, located at 13105 Wortham Center Drive, Houston, will be a 72,000-square-foot, $28 million clinic with room for 35 physicians. The old clinic, located at 13114 FM 1960 #200, Houston, will close once the new location opens, according to officials with Kelsey Seybold. Cecilia Fowler, director of ambulatory care for Kelsey-Seybold, said the center is an expansion of the previous clinic. The new four-story building will be used for a variety of specialized care, including family medicine, internal medicine, OB/GYN, podiatry and more. The clinic will also have a pharmacy on-site, lab services, 3D mammography and other forms of medical and diagnostic testing. Where individuals and families work and live, there will always be a need for medical services, she said. Our new, stand-alone clinic will offer residents in the area expanded services, including more specialties and additional diagnostic capabilities. John Lyle, vice president of operations for Kelsey-Seybold, said the clinics construction is expected to be complete in Nov. 2019. The clinic is project to open in Dec. 2019. Predominantly [the new clinic] will allow us to provide more services locally versus our patients having to travel to one of our other locations, he said. At the same time, other patients in the area who need healthcare services, then well have additional capacity to care of their specific need as well. Carminia Davidson, M.D., managing physician for Kelsey-Seybold Clinic-Cypress, said the center needed to develop with the surrounding area. We have all seen the radical transformation the Copperfield and Cypress area has undergone in the 25 years since we first opened our clinic here, she said. Our new clinic will help us improve access, bringing new specialties and services to new and current patients in the Cypress area. chevall.pryce@chron.com Lauren Gundersons The Book of Will, now playing at Houstons Main Street Theater, opens its second act with a powerful scene. Henry Condell and John Heminges, two of William Shakespeares friends and fellow actors are mourning the death of Heminges wife while standing on the darkened stage of the empty Globe Theatre. We sit in this barn, Heminges laments, playing fictions for willing dreamers. Its a haunting line in a generally comic and triumphal play premised on players rescuing Shakespeares work from oblivion by making a book of his plays. But with its subtle pun on the poets first name, the line also points to the heart of Gundersons richest insights about the role of human will in art, friendship, and the enigma of William Shakespeare, a seemingly ordinary man from the countryside whose extraordinary dramas defined his countrymen. How is it possible that the same writer can annually torment more high school students than the SAT yet still draw crowds to revel in the magic of his language and marvel at his wisdom? When another character announces early in this show, We are Will, it is a declaration both of a determination to save Shakespeares scripts and the announcement of a bond stretching across centuries that shows no signs of being broken or even thinned. At its best, Gundersons play wraps such teasing thoughts inside the desperate, Herculean efforts of Shakespeares friends who, watching his plays being turned into doggerel by actors exploiting his name without his actual words, realize that the stakes are publish or vanish. Theatre is lived, not kept, one of the aging players laments, It sleeps when we do. Thus the clock is ticking on these survivors fully aware that printing a substantial book filled with mere plays will be no small feat in a none-too-literate Elizabethan England where books are rare, expensive, and subject to pirated bowdlerization by less than scrupulous publishers. Setting up such a race against time, Gunderson creates a meta-play that finds Shakespeares works are not his alone. Like theater itself, the plays are a communal effort involving heroes and villains, clowns and cads, emotion and chance. And in stitching her play with moments of low comedy and philosophic pathos, Gunderson echoes, if only faintly, the broad span of Shakespeares book itself. Director Rebecca Greene Udden makes every effort to lead a production that matches the verve of Gundersons script while seeming fully aware of the challenge of capturing Shakespeares world while his shadow looms over the stage. If at times the result is uneven, the audience is reminded with references to Pericles that genius has its lapses as well. Nevertheless, Udden utilizes her stage to create a world that ranges from the Globe to the tavern to the intimate niches in private homes, and she elicits from her cast both effective wit and tragic lament. She also takes full advantage of Gundersons interest in the lives of underexplored women to create, if not a balance between the sexes, a clear sense that Shakespeares world and work owe a debt to wives, daughters, barmaids, and mistresses whose names have largely faded from history. Udden is aided by a hard-worked cast where most of the actors carry multiple roles. Dwight Clark as Henry Condell and Joel Sandel as John Heminges, two of the original founders of the Lord Chamberlains Men that included Shakespeare as a partner, insure that the plot keeps rolling along, with Clark excelling in comic moments and Sandel standing out during dramatic turns. Brittny Bush as Heminges daughter Alice makes a figure who could have been simply a functional barkeep into a lively contributing force. Nevertheless, the four actors in multiple roles give especially sterling performances. John Feltchs ale-inspired Ben Jonson, Shakepeares more socially approved rival, grows to embody arrogance melting into admiration. Ivy Castle Simpson as both Heminges wife Rebecca and Shakespeares daughter Susannah makes one a suffering and sacrificing wife and the other a woman dealing with the resentment of having an absent father. Rutherford Cravenss Richard Burbage, the first actor to play Romeo, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and Lear, is appropriately fiery and vigorous even as he shows the erosion of age. But equally resonant is his William Jaggard, a publisher whose only concern is to stuff his purse. Most impressively Elizabeth Marshall Black takes on three significant parts. As Elizabeth Cordell, Henrys wife, for much of the play she is practical but demanding, aggressive for her husband both in business and in bed. As Emilia Bassano Lanier, a poet, a mistress to a Baron, and possibly the Dark Lady of Shakespeares sonnets, she infuses a randy, comic turn to the project, even while as Shakespeares widow Anne, she creates, if only briefly, a believably, lonely figure. If some of the smaller parts fail to rise beyond blustery exaggeration, the show mercifully rushes by them. The focus holds steady on the creation of a book, not the scent of the groundlings in the pit. And that is apt. In the final analysis, it is the book that mattersnot just the volumes that emerged out of a London print shop in 1623 and have brought, for a single copy, over $6 million at auction in 2001, but the rescued words penned by that fellow from Stratford. Its those words that The Book of Will celebrates and, in its own way, works to keep alive by asking audiences to, again, be willing dreamers who know that if the facts are not all real, the feelings are. The Book of Will is at Houstons Main Street Theater through October 21 Robert Donahoo is a professor at Sam Houston State University and writes theater reviews for The Ticket. A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman with blood on his hands protests outside the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., demanding justice for missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images The fallout from the disappearance (and possible murder) of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and never left continues. Theres been a new wrinkle to the story: Khashoggi ostensibly used his Apple Watch and iPhone to record and transmit his torture and death. The story appeared in Sabah, a pro-government newspaper in Turkey: HUGE news by @Sabah on #Khashoggi : Khashoggi himself recorded his questioning via Apple Watch. Records were uploaded to ICloud Saudis questioned, tortured, and killed him Hit squad had access to watch via his fingerprints, deleted some files Phone had backup Ragp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 12, 2018 Reuters later quoted Turkish officials saying that Khashoggis torture and eventual murder were recorded via an Apple Watch connected to an iPhone that he left outside (reportedly with his fiancee) before entering the consulate. Here are the parts of the story that check out: Khashoggi did have a third-generation Apple Watch, as seen in pictures before his disappearance. The Apple Watch does have the ability to record audio. Heres what doesnt check out: nearly everything else about the story. First off, the most obvious error in the story: The Apple Watch isnt unlocked via fingerprints only iPhones are. Further, Khashoggis Watch would have needed to connect to a data network in one of three ways: an LTE network, a Wi-Fi network, or via Bluetooth. LTE connections for the Apple Watch arent supported in Turkey. Technically, its possible that Khashoggis Watch could have still found an LTE band Turkeys LTE network uses the same LTE bands as the Apple Watch. But its an outside possibility. The other two possibilities are even more remote. A Wi-Fi connection would require that Khashoggis phone could also connect to a Wi-Fi network within the building, and that Wi-Fi network would need to be unsecured, or one that Khashoggi or his fiancee knew the password to. And Bluetooth connectivity on the Apple Watch to an iPhone is only 30 to 50 feet, under the best conditions theres almost no way it could connect to an iPhone outside with multiple walls between them. Finally, theres the issue of how the recording would have ended up in the hands of Turkish authorities. Assuming that the recordings exist and were uploaded to iCloud, someone would have needed to know the password to access them, and then decided to turn those recordings over to Turkish authorities. (Turkish authorities couldnt have just gotten them from Khashoggis iCloud account. Apple has fought vigorously to protect iCloud accounts from government intrusion.) The much more likely scenario: Turkish authorities bugged the Saudi consulate, and attempted to float the Apple Watch scenario as a way of concealing why they are so sure that Khashoggi was tortured and killed within the walls of the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Perhaps Turkish intelligence realized that there were pictures of Khashoggi with the Apple Watch and attempted to plant the story. Perhaps a journalists at Sabah and Reuters got a bad tip and ran with it. But barring an extremely unlikely set of circumstances, theres almost no chance Jamal Khashoggis Apple Watch recorded what ultimately happened to the missing journalist. Authorities rescued five people from Lake Conroe on Saturday after bad weather conditions caused three different boats to sink. The rescues all happened in the span of one hour, between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., said Lt. Tim Cade with Montgomery County Precinct 1s Lake Division. The Montgomery County Sheriffs Office issued an arrest warrant for a man currently held in Harris County, describing him as a serial rapist. Houston police on Oct. 11 arrested Jorge Arturo Mar, 24, on multiple charges, including two counts of aggravated sexual assault, one on a child between 14 and 17. Mar is still in custody in Harris County, jail records indicate. Almost a year and a half after the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office declined to file criminal charges against County Judge Craig Doyal regarding a political video Doyal filmed in his county office, the Texas Ethics Commission has now dismissed the claim finding no wrong doing. The TEC released its decision Oct. 3. I want to thank the Texas Ethics Commission for their diligent review of the case, Doyal said. I appreciate their work in recognizing that we have always been a good steward of county dollars, not just use county dollars in anyway. This is just another example of political sabotage that I have been subjected to. On May 23, 2017, District Attorney Brett Ligon requested the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office investigate the video after receiving a complaint alleging criminal conduct regarding the video. The MCSO investigated allegations that Doyal violated a section of the of the Texas Election Code and Penal Code by posting the video taken inside his county office of him inviting people to his upcoming political fundraiser. The video was posted on the Facebook accounts of Montgomery County Lifestyle and Conroe City Limits, both hosted by Nathan Arrazate, who promotes local businesses, organizations and political candidates. The video also appeared on Doyal's campaign website www.craigdoyal.com. The MCSO investigation determined no wrong doing regarding the video. The focus of the Sheriff's Department inquiry was to determine if any additional facts were present other than those readily apparent from the video, Tyler Dunman, chief of the Special Crimes Bureau, stated in a previous Courier article. Their review discovered no additional facts and we feel confident in their results. Additional, the DAs office also found Doyals actions did not violate the county ethics policy. According to Bill Delmore with the DAs office, the ethics policy could conceivably constitute an agreement under which an official holds county property assigned to his use. Section XII of the new policy provides, County Public Servants shall not utilize county equipment or supplies of any kind for political purposes, but it does not prohibit county officials from engaging in political activities on county premises. No equipment or supplies are alleged to have been used in the recording of the political message and no violation of the policy has occurred, Delmore stated in a previous Courier article. Second, there is no law specifically restricting a county official's use of his assigned office. cdominguez@hcnonline.com The Harris County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday that its animal cruelty task force would be investigating the death of a duct-taped dog found inside a plastic bag along a north Houston road. The incident was originally reported by Tracy Gonzalez, who found the gruesome scene near Pear St. and W. Hardy in the Aldine area while dropping off her daughter at school on Monday. "I was scared to see what it was because I was afraid it was a little baby or kid," Tracy Gonzales told Chron.com When Gonzales examined the dog's body up close, she said she believed the dog was beaten before dying. She took photos that show the poor animal covered in duct-tape and placed inside a torn plastic bag. "I love dogs so much and I just cannot believe how somebody can be so cruel to a dog," Gonzales said. "If someone is capable of doing this to a sweet creature of God I can only imagine what they would be capable of doing to a human being," she said. Gonzales said she called the Harris County Sheriff's Office who told her they would send somebody out. She said the dog's body was removed on Tuesday. ICYMI: Swarm of one million "killer" bees removed from SW Houston home A demonstrator dressed as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman protests outside the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2018. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images On October 2, Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve a document related to his upcoming wedding. Two hours later, he was dead and dismembered, according to the Turkish government. Specifically, the Turks claim to have audio and video evidence demonstrating that Saudi operatives tortured and killed the dissident journalist and then, with the aid of a bone saw and a doctor of forensic medicine, chopped his body into pieces. Saudi Arabia unapologetically flogs, imprisons and occasionally, crucifies people for committing the crime of homosexual intercourse. It has spent the past several years bombing and deliberately starving the Middle Easts poorest nation, thereby leaving Yemen on the verge of the worst famine in a century. But no one in Washington, D.C., has ever been at a cocktail party with a starving Yemeni child, and so Riyadhs offenses against such children did not threaten the U.S.-Saudi alliance. Many in D.C. do, however, rub shoulders with Washington Post columnists of which Khashoggi was one and thus, his apparent murder has forced many American lobbyists, corporate titans, and public officials to feign shock and concern at the revelation that the totalitarian, Islamist government of Saudi Arabia does not respect the human rights of its dissidents. So, in recent days, the Saudis have scrambled to put together a story that will allow its hired hands in D.C. to save face. On Monday morning, President Trump offered a hand, telling reporters that, after speaking with King Salman about Khashoggis death, It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers who knows. The New York Times subsequently reported that the Saudis were, in fact, preparing to pin the murder on an overly entrepreneurial intelligence operative: One person familiar with the Saudi plans said on Monday that the Saudi government was preparing to describe a scenario that would protect the prince from any blame. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the plans. But he said the royal court would soon put out a narrative that an official within the kingdoms intelligence services who happened to be a friend of Prince Mohammed had carried out the killing. The person said Prince Mohammed had approved an interrogation or rendition of Mr. Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia. But, he said, the Saudi intelligence official was tragically incompetent as he eagerly sought to prove himself in secretive operations. On Monday afternoon, CNN drew a similar picture of the Saudis impending response, reporting that Riyadh would acknowledge Jamal Khashoggis death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey. One of CNNs sources told the network that the report will likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and transparency and that those involved will be held responsible. In other words: The Saudis official defense is, reportedly, We only wanted to torture and kidnap the dissident journalist, but the Crown Princes friend got a little too enthusiastic, and accidentally killed him. (In a bizarre coincidence, a doctor of forensic science and bone saw just happened to be on the scene at the consulate that day and, well, one thing led to another.) If the Trump administration, K Street, and D.C.s foreign policy Establishment cares about the reality of the Saudis actions, this cover story wont fly. But then, if they cared about such realities, the U.S. would have cut off support to the Saudi war in Yemen years ago. MORRIS A new solar energy array at White Flower Farm produces 80 percent of the nurserys electricity for its greenhouses, offices and outbuildings. On a sunny day, the photovoltaic panels can generate 250 kilowatts of electricity, said White Flower Farm Vice President of Marketing Eliot Wadsworth. Employees of the family-owned company, Wadsworth said, decided that the solar industry is stable and successful, so an investment in the technology made sense from both financial and environmental standpoints. The cost for the array was $650,000, Wadsworth noted, with $121,000 of the total coming from federal funding provided through the USDA Rural Development Grant program. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. visited the renowned nursery Monday to talk about the federal funding that helped pay for the installation of solar panels. This is the kind of picture that is worth a thousand words, he said, while standing in front of the 924-panel array. It benefits small businesses. Blumenthal said he would spread the word in Washington about the successful local and federal partnership. The grant document notes that the solar energy installation will save White Flower Farms more than $61,000 per year in electrical costs. In addition, the unused electricity will be diverted to the regions electric grid, the document stated, providing enough kilowatts to power 35 homes. This is the best fit for the company, said Facilities Manager Richard Berger, who has worked for the nursery for 25 years. He said the company is considering installing a geothermal power system. It would also be eligible for a USDA grant, according to federal documents. The grant program is part of the massive Federal Farm Bill, which passed the Senate in June, but has stalled in the House. Blumenthal said he believes the legislation will pass by the end of the year. ISTANBUL - Turkish investigators were permitted to search Saudi Arabia's Consulate on Monday, 13 days after journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished while visiting the mission, even as President Donald Trump dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the case with King Salman, the Saudi ruler. As pressure mounted on Saudi Arabia to disclose what it knows about Khashoggi's fate, U.S. officials began predicting over the weekend that the Saudis would inevitably admit complicity in the death of Khashoggi and claim a "botched operation," said one person familiar with the discussions. Over the past few days, Saudi officials have discussed issuing a statement that, in part, would mention a botched operation and call for the punishment of culpable officials, according to another person with knowledge of the discussions. The statement would be issued only after Saudi Arabia reached an agreement with Turkey on how to proceed with the investigation, the person said. Speaking to reporters, Trump said Monday that he talked for about 20 minutes with the king Monday and that the Saudi leader firmly denied the kingdom's involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance. "I don't want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers," Trump added. "Who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial." It was not clear whether Trump's mention of "rogue killers" was his own speculation, a theory he had heard from King Salman or intended as confirmation that Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate, as Turkish investigators have concluded. Saudi Arabia has so far strenuously denied any knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts, saying that he walked out the consulate soon after entering on Oct. 2, without providing any evidence. Trump said Pompeo has license to travel wherever necessary, including Turkey, to investigate what happened. Trump first announced Pompeo's trip in a tweet in which he said Saudi Arabia is "working closely with Turkey to find answer." Trump said he stressed the importance of the case to Salman. "The world is watching. The world is talking. And this is very important to get to the bottom of it. And I think he understands that very well," Trump said. "He did say, very strongly, that he's dealing with Turkey; that they've come to an agreement, that they're investigating it together. And I think that's a good thing." Khashoggi's family issued a statement Monday urging an "independent, impartial and internationally recognized investigation" into the journalist's disappearance. "Following our father's disappearance two weeks ago and his apparent murder, our family has been absolutely horrified and traumatized. As we await definitive answers and facts from multiple ongoing investigations, we believe it is imperative to launch an independent, impartial and internationally recognized investigation in order to provide us - and the many who loved him - with much needed clarity and resolution," the statement said. "As we mourn, we are grateful to those who respect our privacy during this difficult time, so that our family's distress is not overwhelmed by those who seek to politicize our tragedy. Our only hope now is for our family to be reunited safely so that we may find comfort and support in one another and to continue to seek answers." Trump's comments came hours before a team of Turkish investigators arrived at the Istanbul consulate to conduct a search of the premises with Saudi Arabia's cooperation. Turkish officials had complained publicly in recent days that the Saudis were refusing to allow a search of the property. An agreement allowing the inspection to proceed came after King Salman called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday. Salman thanked him for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to set up a "joint working group" to probe Khashoggi's disappearance, a Saudi statement said. But hours before the Turkish forensic team arrived, journalists photographed a cleaning crew entering the consulate, hauling buckets and mops and what appeared to be bottles of cleaning supplies. When the Turkish investigators entered the consulate building, some wearing white protective gear, they "smelled chemicals had been used," according to two officials in contact with the investigators. "They are trying to make fun of us and our willingness to cooperate," one of the officials said. Khashoggi lived in self-imposed exile in the United States for the past year and wrote columns in The Washington Post criticizing the Saudi leadership. He visited the Saudi consulate on Oct. 2 to obtain documents related to his upcoming wedding, but he was never seen leaving. The Saudi government has faced intense pressure to reveal his fate. Turkish officials have released details of their investigation, including video that suggests a team of Saudi agents was dispatched to Istanbul to either capture Khashoggi or kill him. The Turkish government has also told the Trump administration that it possesses audio and video recordings of what occurred inside the consulate that day. U.S. officials have said this material supports the conclusion that Khashoggi was interrogated, tortured and then killed. U.S. officials have also said that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered an operation to lure Khashoggi from his home in Virginia back to Saudi Arabia and then detain him, according to U.S. intelligence intercepts of Saudi officials discussing the plot. Trump has warned that Saudi Arabia would face "severe punishment" if it was found to have killed Khashoggi. And on Sunday, Britain, France and Germany released a joint statement expressing "grave concern" about Khashoggi's case and calling for a "credible investigation." A defiant Saudi statement Sunday said the kingdom rejects any "threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations." Democrats in Congress ridiculed the theory, floated by Trump, that "rogue killers" had slain Khashoggi. "Been hearing the ridiculous 'rogue killers' theory was where the Saudis would go with this," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a tweet. "Absolutely extraordinary they were able to enlist the President of the United States as their PR agent to float it." As part of a growing international backlash against the Saudi government, an increasing number of prominent business leaders and companies have said they will no longer attend a major investment conference scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia this month. Several high-profile finance executives have now withdrawn, including the heads of JPMorgan Chase and the asset management giants BlackRock and Blackstone Group. Their action came after tech and media executives said they would not participate. On Monday, two more Washington lobbying firms dropped their representation of Saudi Arabia amid the escalating uproar over Khashoggi's disappearance, according to people familiar with the decisions. The Glover Park Group notified the Saudi Embassy in Washington that it was canceling its two-year-old contract to represent the kingdom, according to a person with knowledge of the move. The consulting firm, which was established in 2001 by Democratic political veterans, had been receiving a fee of $150,000 a month to help the Saudis with a range of government relations issues, according to disclosure reports filed with the Justice Department. Separately, the GOP-founded lobbying powerhouse BGR Group, which had an $80,000-a-month contract with the Saudi government, announced that it was also dropping the kingdom as a client. "BGR is no longer working for Saudi Arabia," said Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, president of BGR's public relations division. In all, three major Washington lobbying firms have severed ties with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the reports that Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul this month. Late last week, the Harbour Group announced that it was terminating its relationship with the kingdom. The defections underscore the depth of the crisis facing Saudi Arabia, which plowed $27 million into lobbying in Washington last year, making it one of the highest-spending countries seeking to influence U.S. policy, according to public records. On Monday, the Saudi Embassy canceled a long-planned reception that was to be held Thursday evening honoring the country's annual National Day, which commemorates the renaming of the kingdom in 1932. Guests who had been invited to the embassy celebration received a short email Monday morning informing them that the event was off. "Please be advised that the reception for the National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 18, from 6:00pm-8:00 pm has been canceled," said the email, according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post. It did not explain the reason for the change in plans. The reception, which had been planned for weeks, would have been part of a weeks-long celebration. An embassy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. --- Wagner reported from Washington. --- Video Embed Code Video: The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung explains why the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi could change the U.S. and Saudi Arabia relationship.(Joyce Lee/The Washington Post) Embed code: An attempted conversation between a Georgia Tech student and Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., ended abruptly with the lawmaker snatching the student's cellphone away while he was being asked about possible voter suppression in the state. The senator's office has said the exchange, part of which was captured on video, was a misunderstanding. On Saturday, a student member of the Young Democratic Socialists of America at Georgia Tech approached Perdue, who was visiting the Atlanta campus to campaign for Brian Kemp. Kemp, a Republican and Georgia's secretary of state, is locked in a tight gubernatorial race with Democrat Stacey Abrams, a former state lawmaker. The race attracted additional scrutiny this week after the Associated Press reported that more than 53,000 voter registration applications were in limbo with Kemp's office; the overwhelming majority of those applications were for African American and other minority voters, according to an AP analysis. Abrams has accused Kemp of voter suppression and of using his current position to try to swing the gubernatorial race in his favor. Kemp has defended his office by saying it was simply complying with an "exact match" state law that requires election officials to put a registration application on hold if there are even minor discrepancies with existing records (for instance, a typo or an extra hyphen in a name). Polls show the race between Kemp and Abrams is a toss-up. On Thursday, the controversy escalated when a coalition of civil rights groups sued Kemp over the exact-match law, arguing it disproportionately and unfairly affects minority voters. This is evidently what an unnamed Georgia Tech student had in mind Saturday when he approached Perdue and began asking about Kemp, while recording video on his cellphone. "Hey, so, uh, how can you endorse a candidate - " That was as far into the question as the student got. Before he could continue, Perdue snatched the phone out of the student's hands, as evidence shows in a video suddenly turned erratic. "No, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that," the senator can be heard saying in the cellphone recording. "You stole my property," the student tells Perdue. "You stole my property." "All right, you wanted a picture?" the senator replies. "Give me my phone back, senator," the student says. "You wanted a picture? I'm going to give it to you," the senator continues, ignoring the student's request. "You wanted a picture?" "Give me my phone back, senator," the student repeats. At this point, the video rights itself again, apparently because the student is reunited with his phone. By then, Perdue is walking away, on a crowded pedestrian pathway. "That's U.S. Senator David Perdue. U.S. Senator David Perdue just snatched my phone because he won't answer a question from one of his constituents," the student can be heard saying as he follows Perdue for a short distance. "He's trying to leave. He's trying to leave because he won't answer why he's endorsing a candidate who's trying to purge people from voting on the basis of their race." On Sunday, Perdue's office characterized the exchange as a misunderstanding and said the senator had spent several hours meeting with hundreds of people at a Georgia Tech game over the weekend. "The senator spoke with many students and answered questions on a variety of topics," Perdue spokeswoman Casey Black said in a statement. "In this instance, the senator clearly thought he was being asked to take a picture, and he went to take a selfie as he often does. When he realized they didn't actually want to take a picture, he gave the phone back." The legal news site Law & Crime first reported on the video Saturday. Calls to Perdue's Atlanta and Washington offices were not immediately returned Sunday. In a statement, the Young Democratic Socialists of American at Georgia Tech said it believes Perdue accidentally stopped and restarted the recording for a few seconds as he hid the phone behind his back to keep it from the student. "Perdue walked into Georgia Tech's backyard, and students aren't allowed to ask him a simple question?" the group stated. "It would be one thing to say 'no comment' or inform us he's not taking questions. Perdue would have been within his legal rights to simply walk away or decline the question. But instead, he forcibly, suddenly, and violently took their phone without justification or provocation." "Had the situation today been the other way around, and if the Georgia Tech student had snatched a sitting U.S. senator's phone, the student would likely have been arrested on the spot," the group stated. "This behavior is shocking, appalling, and totally unbecoming of the supposedly hallowed office of U.S. senator." The group said the student, who wished to remain unnamed out of fear of retaliation, is considering filing a report with campus police to point out the double standard. The Washington Post spoke with the person who recorded the video and confirmed that he is a student at Georgia Tech. Perdue is not running for reelection this year but, with only a few weeks to go until the November midterm elections, has been campaigning for Kemp and other Republicans in Georgia. The senator drew attention this month for comparing those protesting then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to Nazis after the protesters cornered him in a Washington airport. Abrams on Sunday continued to call for national attention to what she described as a "problematic" state law. "We know this is a flawed system that has a disproportionate effect on people of color, but it also has the ability to erode trust in our system," she said on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "I know that Secretary Kemp is well aware of this, and it's part of a pattern of behavior where he tries to tilt the playing field in his favor or in the favor of his party." Abrams added she remained confident it would still be a fair election in November because the 53,000 whose voter registration applications were flagged would still be able to cast ballots - though they would be at the mercy of "subjective" verification by thousands of precinct poll workers across the state. "We are creating another set of hurdles for people who simply want to exercise their right to vote," Abrams told NBC News' Chuck Todd. "But . . . we have national organizations that are also paying attention [to voter protections], and I think we can make this work." Kemp on Sunday hit back at Abrams, calling her "unapologetically extreme" and retweeting a Daily Caller story that said he was being "Misleadingly Accused of Racist Voter Suppression . . . Again." The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress. Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions. Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has released a DNA test that suggests she has a distant Native American ancestor - a move that set off a fresh round of barbs Monday between the likely 2020 presidential contender and the current occupant of the Oval Office. A report distributed by Warren concludes that there is "strong evidence" that the senator had a Native American in her family tree dating back six to 10 generations, part of an extraordinary effort to discredit President Donald Trump and others who have questioned her claims about her heritage. The test results, after first being reported by the Boston Globe, were widely distributed to reporters Monday morning by Warren's Senate campaign committee, along with a video on her upbringing and a link to a new "fact squad" website that seeks to debunk her critics. The DNA analysis, by Carlos Bustamante, a Stanford University professor, concludes that "the vast majority" of Warren's ancestry is European but that "the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor in the individual's pedigree, likely in the range of 6-10 generations ago." Speaking to reporters Monday morning as he left the White House, Trump's initial reaction to the DNA report was: "Who cares?" "I hope she's running for president because I think she'd be very easy," he added. "I hope that she's running. I do not think that she'd be difficult at all. She'll destroy the country. She'll make our country into Venezuela. With that being said, I don't want to say bad things about her, because I hope she would be one of the people that would get through the process." Later, when asked whether he plans to honor a pledge he made in July to make a $1 million donation if Warren took a DNA test "and it shows you're an Indian," Trump laid out a new condition. "I'll only do it if I can test her personally," Trump said during an exchange with reporters at an American Red Cross building in Macon, Georgia, where he was touring areas hit by Hurricane Michael. He added that testing Warren would "not be something I will enjoy doing, either." It was not immediately clear what Trump meant by the comment. Trump went on to mock Warren, saying that she "owes the country an apology." "How much? 1/1000th?" he said when asked about the DNA test results. Trump has frequently mocked Warren's claims about her heritage, calling her "Pocahontas." During a freewheeling phone interview with Fox News last week, he asserted that the senator "faked her heritage," adding: "I have more Indian blood in me than her, and I have none." In a tweet Monday morning, Warren reminded Trump of his promise to make a donation and chose a charity. "Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center," she wrote, describing the organization as "a nonprofit working to protect Native women from violence." Asked about his pledge Monday, Trump denied to reporters having made it. "I didn't say that. You better read it again," Trump said as he left the White House en route to Florida to view hurricane damage. At the July rally, Trump said, "I'm going to get one of those little [DNA testing] kits and in the middle of the [presidential] debate, when she proclaims she's of Indian heritage. "And we will say, 'I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian.' And we'll see what she does. I have a feeling she will say no, but we will hold it for the debates." After Trump spoke to reporters, Warren tweeted: "Having some memory problems, @realDonaldTrump? Should we call for a doctor?" That timing in Bustamante's DNA report fits Warren's family lore, passed down during her Oklahoma upbringing, that her great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, was at least partially Native American, the Globe reported. But the Republican National Committee seized on the report, suggesting that it did little to bolster her contention. The RNC pointed out that if Warren's Native American ancestor was from 10 generations ago, that would make her less than 0.1 percent Native American. "To put that in perspective, Warren might even be less Native American than the average European American," the RNC said, pointing to a 2014 study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics that found that "European-Americans had genomes that were on average 98.6 percent European, .19 percent African, and .18 Native American." The video distributed by Warren's campaign begins with Trump's comments and features several of her relatives in Oklahoma, including some Republicans, saying they find them offensive. Warren then narrates her family history. "My mother was born in eastern Oklahoma," she says. "It had been Indian territory until just a few years earlier, when it had become a state. My daddy always said he fell head over heels in love with my mother the first time he saw her." But she recounts that her father's parents were "bitterly opposed" to a marriage because her mother's family was partly Native American. So the couple eloped, she says. The nearly six-minute video also tackles claims that Warren represented herself as a minority to advance as a law professor, a notion that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, among others, have advanced. The video shows Sanders making that claim from the White House briefing room and then shows interviews with several law professors who deny that Warren's Native American heritage played a role in her hiring or advancement. Her colleagues also tout Warren's skills as a teacher. Bustamante, a genetics professor, is also featured in the video, which closes with Warren taking aim at Trump, saying: "Trump can say whatever he wants about me, but mocking Native Americans or any group to try to get at me, that's not what America stands for." Later Monday morning on Twitter, Warren continued to goad Trump, "I took this test and released the results for anyone who cares to see because I've got nothing to hide," she wrote. "What are YOU hiding, @realDonaldTrump? Release your tax returns - or the Democratic-led House will do it for you soon enough. Tick-tock, Mr President." Warren previously cited family stories to claim Cherokee and Delaware Indian heritage, and her background has been publicly questioned since at least 2012. In a February speech to the National Congress of American Indians, Warren rebuked Trump's persistent mockery of her as "Pocahontas" and spoke in detail about her family's history. In August, she made her personnel files available to the Boston Globe, showing that ethnicity was not a factor in her rise as a law professor. Warren has been building an expansive shadow war room designed to help elect Democrats across the country in next month's midterm elections and bolster her presence in key states that hold 2020 nominating contests. She has deployed staffers to all four early primary or caucus states - two to New Hampshire and one each to Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada - as well as to traditional powerhouses such as Ohio, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin. Warren is seeking reelection herself in Massachusetts next month and is expected to easily win a second Senate term. She has said she will "take a hard look" at running for president after the midterms. --- The Washington Post's Matt Viser, Felicia Sonmez and Amy B Wang contributed to this report. --- Video Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a video on her family's heritage, featuring personal records, a review of her DNA and interviews with family. (Elizabeth for MA) Embed: CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- About 800 people rallied for Democratic congressional hopeful Leslie Cockburn Sunday night at an event headlined by actress Olivia Wilde, the candidate's daughter. Democrats said the size of the crowd signaled that Cockburn, a former "60 Minutes" producer and author, is gaining steam in Virginia's red-leaning 5th Congressional District against Republican Denver Riggleman, a distillery owner and former Air Force intelligence officer. "This is the type of energy we have never seen in this district for a Democrat," said Jake Rubenstein, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia. The free, two-hour event in Charlottesville's historic Jefferson Theater also featured Wilde's partner and fellow celebrity, Jason Sudeikis, and a string of polished musical acts, including a folk trio that performed a campaign song written for Cockburn. Cockburn and Riggleman are competing for the seat being vacated by Rep. Thomas Garrett, R, who announced in the spring that he was struggling with alcoholism and would not seek reelection to focus on recovery and his family. The mostly rural district stretches from wealthy northern Virginia exurbs to the North Carolina line with a few liberal college towns in the mix. Attendees at Cockburn's rally were urged to register to vote ahead of Monday's deadline and to get their friends to do so. They also were urged to volunteer for Cockburn's campaign, which was often cast as an effort to push back against President Donald Trump. "Tweeting is not leading," said Sudeikis, a comedian and actor who portrayed George W. Bush, Joe Biden and Mitt Romney over a long run on "Saturday Night Live." Sudeikis, who was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, but grew up in Kansas, said he was among those motivated to get involved as never before. "I've never voted in midterm in my life. I'm 43 years old," he said. "Enough is enough. I've got to do everything I can to oppose and resist." Wilde, who appeared on the TV hospital drama "House" and in a string of movies, noted that the event took place not far from the spot where white supremacists held a deadly rally in August 2017. "The nation is watching," she said. "This represents what's happening across this country, which is a demand for better, a demand for decency." As Cockburn's rally kicked off, Riggleman held a series of events in rural Charlotte County, which suffered damage from the remnants of Hurricane Michael. "Today, while Leslie Cockburn was calling in her Hollywood friends, Denver Riggleman was touring storm damage in Charlotte County, meeting with small business owners and listening to the concerns of local law enforcement," Republican National Committee spokesman Garren Shipley said. "Leslie can focus on Hollywood. Denver is focused on the 5th District." In reply, Rubenstein said: "If the Republican Party wants to attack a daughter campaigning with her mother, then that really shows the morality of the party of Corey Stewart and Donald Trump." Stewart, a Trump-style provocateur, is the GOP candidate running against Sen. Tim Kaine, D. Among the musical acts performing was the all-female folk trio After Jack, which hails from the district in Franklin County. The group has made several appearances with Cockburn and has written a tune for her - a gesture reminiscent of the bluegrass campaign song written for now-Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., as he courted rural voters in his successful bid for governor in 2001. The song, called "We Believe," has been made into a video showing Cockburn interacting with voters amid the district's scenic vistas. The chorus goes: "We believe, in our clear imagination, young and old, every color, every kind/There is dignity and harmony, when all are welcome and none are left behind." In remarks to the crowd, Cockburn talked about her opposition to some of Trump's policies, including the separation of immigrant children from their parents on the nation's border with Mexico. "Every day, what comes from Washington is really debilitating and shocking - separating children from parents," she said. "We have to stand up for what is right. This is a major human rights violation. If we saw this happening anywhere else in the world we would condemn it strongly. We have to protect what it means to be an American." Riggleman has stressed the need for a strong border but has said family separations should be avoided. Cockburn also highlighted her support for the Affordable Care Act and Medicare-for-all, a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to extend the government health insurance program for seniors to all Americans. Riggleman has said he opposed the ACA initially, but now thinks Congress should fix its flaws rather than "junk it." He's called Medicare-for-all "pie in the sky." On a more local issue, Cockburn stressed her opposition to two proposed natural gas pipelines that would cut across parts of the district. Riggleman also opposes the pipelines, one of which was originally slated to cross his property in Nelson County. Yesterday was the birthday of William Penn, the influential English Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania. This year also marks the 300th anniversary of his death. Although Penn was an Englishman, he became, as Gary M. Galles says, the first great champion of American liberty. As Galles notes, When Charles II died, a large debt to Penns father was settled in 1681 by granting him what would become Pennsylvania. Penn implemented his authority over the colony in his 1682 Frame of Government, Pennsylvanias first constitution. Despite being answerable only to the King, Penn provided for elected representatives, a separation of powers, religious freedom, and fair trials, all of which were incorporated in our Constitution. In 1679, three years before he took over the American colony, Penn laid the groundwork by arguing in the English Parliament for the recognition of three fundamental rights that should belong to all citizens: the right to property, the right to share in the making of the laws, and the right to be judged by a jury of ones peers. Penn wanted to warn his countrymen about the dangers of forgetting their rightsa lesson we still need to hear today. Because Penns seventeenth century grammar and vocabulary is unfamiliar to us, Ive taken the liberty of translating his speech for modern readers: We, the members of the House of Commons of England, are a great part of the fundamental government of the country. Three rights are so particular and important to us that we will not relinquish them for fear or favor, for meat and drink, or for those other little present profits, that men of ill will offer to tempt us with. These rights cannot be altered or repealed. And this I was willing to give you a brief hint of, that you may know what sort of creatures you are and what your power is, lest through ignorance of your own strength and authority, you become captive the fickle moods of those in power, that properly and truly are but your servants, and ought to be used so. The first of these three fundamentals is property. You have the right and title to your own lives, liberties, and lands. In this, every man is a sort of little supreme authority to himself. No other man has power over him, to imprison or hurt it, or over his property to trespass or seize it. Only your own violation of the civil laws, (and those you made through your representatives) lays you open to losing your property, which is but the punishment due to your crimes, and this but in proportion to the fault committed. So that the legitimate power of the state of England is the power of laws, which is the only form that should truly merit the name of legitimate government. That which is contrary to the rule of law, is a tyranny, and not properly a government. Now the law is umpire between King, Lords and Commons, and the right to ones property is the same for all men! The second fundamental right, as your birthright and inheritance as Englishmen, is the right of legislation, or the power of making laws. No law can be made or repealed in England without you. Before Henry IIIs time, your ancestors, the landowners of England, would represent themselves. But their population has increased, and there is now so many people that such direct assemblies are no longer a practicable way of conducting the business of governance. This way of representation was first proposed as an expedient measure, both to maintain the common right of making law, and to avoid the confusion of trying to do it in large assemblies of people. So that now, as in the past, no law can be made, no taxes imposed, and no money demanded of you (even to defray the costs of the government) without your own consent. Is there a better way of creating free and secure people? Your third great fundamental right and privilege is the right to a jury. The right is connected to the other two, in order to complete both your freedom and security. This right is your share in the administration of justice, in the execution and application of those laws that you agree to be made. To the extent that no man, according to the ancient laws of the nation, can be adjudged in matters of life, liberty, or property, but it must be by the judgment of his peers, that is, twelve men of the neighborhood, commonly called a jury. Though this right has been infringed by two acts made in the previous Parliamentone against the Quakers in particular, and the other against dissenters in generalcalled, An Act against Seditious Religious Meetings, where persons are declared offenders of the law and punished without a jury. It is hoped this Parliament will think fit in their wisdom to repeal this law, though with less severity, than one of the same nature (as to punishing men without juries) was by Henry VII, who beheaded Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson for embezzlement. Consider for your selves that there is nothing more important to your interest than for you to understand your rights in the government, and to be constantly protective of them, for your well-being depends upon their preservation. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from a death row prisoner convicted in a quadruple murder during a drug deal more than 25 years ago in southwest Houston. Arthur Brown, who was sent to death row in 1993, was appealing his case based on claims of false testimony from a Houston police ballistics expert who identified a pair of revolvers as the murder weapons. Two years ago, a Harris County judge sided with Brown, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed. On Monday, the nation's highest court did, too. DEADLY USE OF FORCE? Huntsville prisoner handcuffed when he died At the time of the 1992 slayings in southwest Houston, Brown was part of a cocaine smuggling ring, according to records. He and two other men - Marion Dudley and Antonio Dunson - set up a 3-kilogram buy, then showed up at the seller's home and tied up everyone inside and shot them execution-style. Jose Tovar, Frank Farias, Audrey Brown, and Jessica Quinones - who was pregnant at the time - all died. Two others survived and later identified the attackers. One of the men, Marion Dudley, was executed in 2006 for one of the slayings. The third man, Antonio Dunson, was sentenced to life in prison. In 2013, Brown was scheduled for execution but the date was called off to allow time for more testing on the guns prosecutors argued were used in the crime. Once the results came back, Brown's attorneys filed a new appeal in which they argued that Charles Anderson - the ballistics expert who testified at trial - was misleading when he said he was certain the two guns were the murder weapons. DENTAL WORK: More Texas inmates to get dentures In 2015, a state appeals court sent the case back to Harris County to re-examine Anderson's conclusions. Two other ballistics experts retested the guns and failed to reach the same result. After holding a hearing where all three experts testified, the trial court recommended relief. But when the case went back up to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the jurists there disagreed with the lower court and said that the false testimony wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome anyway. Instead, in a split decision, they pointed to the survivors' testimony and Brown's alleged admission of guilt to a family member - even though she later recanted and said she'd been coerced. On Monday, the Supreme Court without comment turned down his appeal. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. Brown is now eligible for an execution date, though one is not currently set. The Lone Star State has executed 10 men so far this year, and another six are scheduled to die in the coming months. Cliff Vacek knows Fort Bend County like the back of his hand. The former state district judge, now 71, has lived his whole life in the fast-growing, diverse suburb southwest of Houston, where hes also served as a teacher and had his own law practice. The criminal justice system ought to be fair, said Vacek, a Republican. I hope people feel like I do, that they want the prosecution to be swift, they want it to be vigorous, but they want it to be fair. Thats what I offer. Brian Middleton once worked as a prosecutor for longtime District Attorney John Healey, but the Houston native now wears many hats running his own law firm in southwest Houston in addition to working as a municipal prosecutor for the cities of Meadows Place, Jersey Village and Wallis and as a judge for the city of Jacinto. If elected, Middleton would become the first African-American district attorney for the county of more than 764,000 residents, which is 35 percent white, 21 percent black, 24 percent Hispanic, and 21 percent Asian and other. I think it would send a signal to the rest of the world that we in Fort Bend County have very strong values and value diversity, said Middleton, 46, a Democrat. People of color can succeed. Whoever wins, it will represent a major change in Fort Bend County, where Healey, a Republican, has presided over the district attorneys office since 1992, the year Bill Clinton was elected president. The race is being closely watched as the county backed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 but has continued to elect Republicans to top county offices. Other key races include county judge, where Republican incumbent Robert Hebert is trying to stave off a challenge from Fort Bend ISD board member KP George. At the federal level, meanwhile, Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni is trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, a Republican who has represented the 22nd Congressional District since 2009. As the son of an attorney who has practiced for nearly a half century, Middleton said entering the legal profession was on his mind from a young age. After graduating from Lamar High School in 1990 and the University of Houston with an economics degree in 1994, he attended Texas Southern Universitys law school, where he now works as an adjunct professor. During his third year of law school, he interned at the Harris County District Attorneys Office. Sitting inside the office of his Middleton Law Firm, he said he would welcome the chance to serve as a prosecutor again and bring improvements to the district attorneys office. Doing criminal defense, much of what you do is ensuring and protecting their rights. In that process you learn how the district attorneys office works and how it doesnt work, Middleton said. I feel like Im better situated than my opponent to improve the DAs office because Ive been studying their flaws for years. Middleton said the intake process can be reformed so cases are more thoroughly reviewed before trial, improving the quality of cases going to court. He said he also has a passion for bail reform, adding that a risk assessment tool could be created to determine what type of bond should be set for a suspect. He also wants the district attorneys office to set specific criteria when reviewing cases and to compile internal statistics to prevent biases from occurring within the office. What you see a lot of times is poor people languishing in jail, unable to afford a bond and ultimately pleading out even if they contend their innocence, because theyve just been in jail for so long and theyre desperate to get out, said Middleton, a married father of three. Vacek survived a grueling primary contest against Sugar Land attorney Shawn McDonald to win a place on the November ballot. The Sugar Land native served in the Texas Army National Guard and as a teacher at his alma mater, Needville High School, before pursuing a legal career. He began taking night classes at the University of Houston while he worked full time as a maintenance technician. Vacek went on to open his own law practice firm, employing 18 attorneys and 50 clerical staff members. He also served as managing partner at another law firm with five attorneys. Managing employees at different law firms provided Vacek with the knowledge and wherewithal to oversee attorneys within the Fort Bend DAs office, he said. He also noted that he oversaw hundreds of criminal jury trials as a judge for the 400th District Court for more than a decade. I had a reputation as a judge of being picky, particularly with search warrants or arrest warrants, Vacek said earlier this month at an IHOP restaurant in Richmond. I wanted the warrant to be good and not just issue a warrant that had false facts or false statements in it. Vacek said he would like to revamp the docket system, so that cases for trial can be set in a timely manner and witnesses wont get called down to the courthouse just to have the case reset. The public are the eyes and ears of the police and if they quit cooperating, then our criminal justice system is not going to work, Vacek said. Vacek, who lives in Simonton and has been married for 34 years, said hell be a hands-on district attorney who will go into the courtroom and monitor attorneys and case proceedings. His bid comes 16 years after he unsuccessfully ran for DA in 2002. Then, he said, he had suspicions that Healeys office was not complying with Brady v. Maryland, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that says prosecutors must disclose exculpatory evidence that could be favorable to the defense. In 2015, the Texas state bars Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed a petition against Healey and an assistant district attorney in his office alleging professional misconduct and that they delayed informing a man that evidence used against him in a drug possession case might be tainted. The petition eventually was dismissed by a district court judge. Its not going to be a culture there of win at all costs, Vacek said of the DAs office should he be elected. Its going to be, Let's be fair, lay the facts out there and let the jury decide. brooke.lewis@chron.com Mayor Sylvester Turners former press secretary has been charged with abusing her official capacity by misusing her government computer, cell phone and email account for private purposes, according to a charging document filed by the Harris County District Attorneys office. Darian Ward, who also was charged last July with refusing to turn over public records, intentionally and knowingly misused government property to obtain a benefit between March 22, 2014 and Nov. 15, 2017, states the charging document, which was filed Friday. The value of the alleged misuse was estimated to be at least $750 and less than $2,500. NASA has canceled Friday's spacewalk after the launch of a Russian spacecraft carrying American astronaut Nick Hague to the International Space Station was aborted last week. A rocket booster failure forced a dramatic emergency landing of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft Thursday the first of its kind since 2011 when NASA astronauts began hitching rides with the Russians after the space shuttles were retired. NASA has no other way to reach the space station and therefore is grounded until Russia sorts out the problem. GROUNDED: American, Russian astronauts safe after emergency landing of Soyuz MS-10 Hague and his crewmate, Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, are safe and in good condition after Thursday's abort. But Hague's spacewalk Friday to upgrade the station's power systems which he was supposed to conduct with European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, who arrived on the station in June has been canceled. No decisions have been made on Hague and Gerst's second spacewalk, scheduled for Oct. 25. "It's going to take a few days at least to sort out the near-term impacts. Longer for the long-term," said Kelly Humphries, spokesman at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "At this point, about the only things that are completely off the plate are an immediate crew launch and the U.S. [spacewalk] happening as soon as Oct. 19." TENSIONS RISE: Russian investigation into International Space Station air leak won't be completed until November The Russians also have canceled a Nov. 15 spacewalk in which Ovchinin was supposed to investigate the air leak-causing hole discovered in a different Soyuz attached to the station in August. Russian officials have said their investigation into this hole will be complete in November, but it's not clear if the aborted launch Thursday will impact that schedule. Russian officials also are investigating last week's rocket booster failure, which they have attributed to the collision of the rocket's first and second stages as they separated. A final report on the failed launch will be complete this weekend, they said. FAILED LAUNCH: Russians say they know the cause of rocket booster failure Roscosmos, Russia's State Space Corporation, told state run news-agency TASS on Monday that officials had started inspecting the rocket booster's developer, Progress Space Rocket Center, as part of their investigation. The aborted launch Thursday was the fourth major setback to befall NASA last week. On Oct. 8, the space agency announced that the Hubble Space Telescope was temporarily shut down because of a mechanical failure that crippled the groundbreaking observatory. Two days later, on Oct. 10, NASA's inspector general reported that cost and scheduling problems will likely delay the launch of Orion the spacecraft being built to take humans back to the moon past its scheduled mid-2020 liftoff. That same day, NASA's 19-year-old Chandra X-ray Observatory went dark for an unknown reason. By Monday, however, space agency personnel had traced the problem back to a glitch with one of its gyroscopes, which keeps it pointed accurately for extended periods of time. It will return to normal science operations by next week, NASA said. The failed mission Thursday would have been Hague's first spaceflight since being tapped as an astronaut in 2013. NASA officials weren't sure when Hague would get a chance to fly again, but Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Roscosmos, tweeted a photo of himself Friday with Hague and Ovchinin, saying the duo would get to fly again in spring 2019. How that would work still is unclear. The Soyuz' April 2019 launch already has an American crew assigned to it. NASA did not offer any insight into this development Monday. "The ISS Program and the international partners are reviewing options at this point," Humphries said. TASS also reported Monday that Hague returned to Houston this past weekend but that he would be back. "When the crew ... again start training in the Star City for their flight to the ISS, Hague will return to Moscow," the Cosmonaut Training Center press service told TASS. "As soon as the date of this expedition's launch to the ISS is defined, a schedule of their preparations for the flight and trainings will be drawn up." The United States funnels a significant amount of money into the space station each year $1.45 billion in fiscal year 2017 alone, plus the $82 million it pays Russia for each seat on the Soyuz. It's not clear if the U.S. already has paid Russia for Hague's seat NASA has repeatedly failed to answer the question. "At this time, NASA is focused on the anomaly resolution," said Stephanie Schierholz, NASA spokeswoman. "Procurement discussions have been put on hold while we focus on the safety of our crews." If shifting timetables are to be believed, Boeing and SpaceX's commercial crew vehicles, will have their first test flights in summer 2019. The vehicles, which would eliminate U.S. dependence on Russia for trips to the station, were supposed to be ready this year but still aren't. And the launch dates could easily slip again. Alex Stuckey writes about NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. Trustees are expected to announce Monday that interim superintendent Grenita Lathan will remain at the helm of the Houston Independent School District, an attempt to defuse fallout from a contentious 5-4 vote last Thursday that was mark by shouting matches and accusations of racism from board members. After a six-hour discussion during a weekend retreat Sunday, trustees and Abelardo Saavedra who led HISD from 2004 to 2009 and was to return Monday as the district's new interim leader mutually agreed that he would withdraw, Saavedra said. "It became apparent to me that the dysfunction is not at the superintendent or leadership level, it's at the board level," Saavedra said, adding that he was unaware the move to hire him was going to catch some board members by surprise. EDITORIAL: HISD boards rash replacement of interim leader fuels case for state takeover Lathan is expected to return as the interim leader of the nation's seventh-largest school district while a search continues for a permanent superintendent. District officials said late Sunday that trustees would "discuss the recent vote to make changes to the interim superintendent's position" at a 5 p.m. Monday news conference, but they offered no further details. State Sen. Borris Miles, a Houston Democrat who spoke Sunday with a senior Texas Education Agency official who attended the HISD retreat, cheered the outcome. "After pressure from the board and him reading the climate and the temperature of the board members, he backed off," Miles said of Saavedra. "Cooler heads have prevailed. The most important thing is the schools are back in the hands of somebody who has proven to be good at what she does. It's all about the kids." Trustees reached for comment Sunday offered no details on Monday's announcement, though board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones said the group had "decided to go in a different direction." Some hinted at a move toward unity. "All of us are working together for the betterment of our kids," said trustee Wanda Adams, who had opposed replacing Lathan. Trustee Sergio Lira, who had supported the switch, echoed that, saying the board had been "hashing out a lot of things" during its weekend retreat. "Hopefully it's going to be for the best interest of all of our students," Lira said. Saavedra was to be HISD's third leader this year. Richard Carranza quit in March to lead the New York City public school system after less than two years in Houston. He was replaced on an interim basis by Lathan, previously HISD's chief academic officer. Observers of HISD said the contentious Thursday meeting trustees spoke openly of a "race war" and at least one citizen was removed by officers after cursing at trustees again cast doubt on board members' ability to manage Texas' largest district. It's a critical time as state authorities have already placed HISD under observation and could, if certain schools continue to fall short of performance standards, shutter those campuses or take over the board. Carranza told the state-appointed monitor observing HISD that he had grown increasingly frustrated with the board, saying trustees "didn't have the stomach" to make reforms. The then-departing Carranza, the monitor wrote, complained that some trustees were politically motivated, overstepped their governance role and failed to carry out meaningful conversations about issues. Bob Sanborn, CEO of the nonprofit Children at Risk, said he believes Lathan remaining in her role is good for students, but he said the damage that has been done cannot be reversed by the trustees simply standing together at a press conference. "Nothing has really been defused. You still have this divide on the board racial, political or otherwise, it's a clear divide and they're going to have to work through it if they want a good superintendent, whether it's an African-American or Latino or any other turnaround leader," Sanborn said. "They're going to have to put aside some of these differences and make it work, or our schoolchildren will be the ones to bear the brunt of their dysfunction." Still, some political leaders said they viewed the reversal as de-escalating a situation that had seemed poised to deteriorate. "This is a good outcome for today," said Mayor Sylvester Turner in a statement late Sunday. "But our children need a board with trustees working together, harmoniously, for the good of the children now and in the future. "People have become impatient with a dysfunctional board," he added. "There is no tolerance for bad behavior, regardless of who the bad actors are, when it comes at the expense of what's best for our children." After Turner on Friday called the interim swap "unacceptable," a crowd of local, state and federal leaders from the black community gathered Saturday to call for Lathan to be reinstated and vowed to take legal action to achieve that outcome. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the Houston Democrat who led the event, called the switch of leaders "unprovoked, arbitrary and, we believe, unlawful," repeating concerns that trustees who supported Saavedra's hiring may have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act. The motion that trustee Diana Davila made to hire Saavedra surprised some colleagues, in part because it was listed on the meeting agenda only in vague terms, without his name. Not only did the public meeting notice likely need to be more specific, said Joe Larsen, a Houston attorney with expertise in open meetings law, but if the supporters of the move agreed on their plan before the meeting, their conversations could constitute a violation of the act. In a text message Sunday, Davila said no laws were broken. "Just (because) the HISD school board has split votes doesn't mean laws were violated, (it) just means we didn't agree," she wrote. Miles who was among those who had called for legal action on Saturday expressed relief that Sunday's developments had made those concerns moot. "The last thing we wanted was a black-and-brown race war," he said. Staff writers Shelby Webb and Lauren Caruba contributed to this report. mike.morris@chron.com Communication is the bedrock of all social behavior. And multilingual communication what linguists call code-switching is the human norm. The British Council, the United Kingdoms international cultural arm, has referred to recent surveys indicating that the majority of humanity is multilingual. The Linguistic Society of America reports that there are upwards of 6,000 languages worldwide, and humans have worked hard to accommodate this diversity. In Novi Sad, Serbia, for example, the sign to the mayors office is in the four official languages of the city: Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Pannonian Rusyn. IT leaders often say they have to focus on code-switching when working with colleagues outside of their department. They have to reframe and redefine how they present IT initiatives and strategies because the perceptions, technical aptitude, and interest level of their audiences may vary wildly. Closing this internal understanding gap has been a major focus for Christie Struckman, Gartner research vice president on the firms Leadership, Culture and People team. The purpose of communication is to create understanding, Struckman says. Without understanding, enterprise leaders and employees cannot take action. Communication plans should be renamed understanding plans, since that is their purpose. Struckman advises IT leaders that communication tools are not a panacea in and of themselves, and the medium is not necessarily the message. The IT profession is seduced by our own communication tools, she says. Just because we can communicate directly to all employees of the enterprise does not mean we should. Managers are the force multiplier of an organization and communication should travel through them. Create understanding with managers, and you have the most efficient path to enterprise-wide understanding. IDG / Gartner Ultimately, Struckman underscores the vital role that storytelling holds in any IT department. Ideas are fragile things. Like glowing embers, they need the right oxygen to catch fire. Storytelling is an ancient art that needs a renewed focus in our digital age, as it breaks down barriers, creates a compelling vision, and even puts wary skeptics at ease. CIOs are having success in communicating across the enterprise by using storytelling, Struckman says. Storytelling about technology is weaving a coherent theme from a problem or opportunity to new business value where digital is the heroine. Storytelling helps CIOs sidestep the inherent complexity of technology, focus on the value generated through technology, and create excitement through the exposition, conflict and resolution of the problem or opportunity that the enterprise leaders care about. In this edition of Transformation Nation, CIOs reflect on their own roles as storytellers and communicators. They reflect on the specific strategies that they have employed to make code-switching more effective and enjoyable. Chris Manriquez, vice president for IT and CIO, California State University, Dominguez Hills When it comes to communicating, the CIO is both storyteller and educator. This duality is crucial to success and arguably as important as technical knowledge. Over the past three to five years, there has been a focus in the IT organization to become business-line-focused and to speak their language. And the impact of digital transformations has brought a growing need for business lines to become technically literate. In the center of these shifts is the CIO, who as a storyteller must not only be able to span technical and business literacy, while conveying the forward-thinking momentum needed in todays reality, but also as an educator provide methods and practices to accomplish this goal. These two critical roles are really just two sides of the same coin they facilitate an ever-growing, digitally engaged workplace and economy. IDG / California State University, Dominguez Hills In my own institution, California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), these two roles have helped in the growth of the IT organization as it has moved from a transactionally focused operation to developing foundational strategic initiatives. Beginning in 2016, our six key strategic initiatives outlined a technology ecosystem focused on a systemwide graduation initiative (GI2025), data and analytics, digital production, instructional and research, digital smart campus, and technology partnerships. These foundational pieces were needed for digital transformation. Today, the dual communication role has grown to include the development of a multi-year, university digital transformation (DX) strategy. This strategy looks to address many digital divide issues that pose equity gaps for our students, as well as the transformative opportunities offered through a collaborative design. Again, these are vital components given what is at stake: successful engagement in the ever-growing digital economy for all university members (students, alumni, faculty, and staff). Communication is also crucial at a university, which functions like a small city, where diverse multi-industry is spread across a spectrum of invested constituents, such as infrastructure operations, academic facilities and labs, healthcare, police and parking, design and construction, instructional support, financial operations, food and retail, residential and dormitories, sporting venues, etc. Growing demands across these varied functions have been drivers towards constructing engagement platforms, which will allow us to hear from and speak to various university groups (students, alumni, faculty, staff, community members, partners) in the ways they interact with the campus functions. It will also allow IT to elevate the critical touchpoints students have with faculty, staff, and managers. In a higher education enterprise, like CSUDH, our astounding diversity is integral to who we are, and our partnership with community, corporate, governmental, and other educational systems puts communications in a heightened role. The CIO role brings together partners for internships while investing into corporate thought leadership alignments, not solely related to technology, while conveying the vision of collaborative thought leadership. Jamie Cutler, vice president and CIO, QEP Resources, Inc. Communication is the most important, and the least leveraged, aspect of leadership in my experience. Communicating across the organization is a common weakness in IT leadership. It is a fact of the pace and complexity of technology that company leaders (CEO, CFO, COO, VPs) are often less versed than ever in technology despite its prevalence in todays workplace. Projects that often extend well beyond original scope, security challenges and threats, performance and operations issues, changes to systems and people all of these stretch our everyday communications approach. Given the everyday distance of our executive peers who are rightly focused on dollars, operations performance and cost of capital, how does a good leader create a communications program that ensures a common dialogue and awareness? First and most important: Communications must be done in the language of business, not of technology. Over the course of my career, I have seen more highly intelligent, seasoned technology veterans launch into a technical conversation with business leaders, only to lose their audience in the first minute and torpedo their credibility. Next, create regular communications channels for projects, routine updates, changes and outages. These should be factual, clear (again in business language) and concise and should come out weekly or bi-weekly. Email and web portals are ideal mediums here. IDG / QEP Resources The role of IT Business Partners (BPs) (in some organizations these are Business Analysts) is key, in addition to IT management for ongoing person-to-person communication. BPs should be embedded inside the organizations they support, should be attending staff meetings and operations meetings in those areas, and should be delivering a one- to two-minute updates (again using business language) outlining IT initiatives, annual planning efforts, significant projects and operations changes that can affect the areas they support. Finally, it is their role to listen and to bring operations updates and back into the technology groups to build awareness inside the technology function of operations efforts, challenges, and opportunities for technology improvement. One of the more critical areas of communication is leader to leader. Technology leaders must create regular and ad hoc opportunities to establish communication channels with executive and mid-level management in operations, finance, and other key support functions inside the organization. These meetings, both informal and more formal, should occur across management levels and should establish the common goal of corporate success as the foundation. Most of us have a story about how we surprised an executive or other management peer without intending too during a group meeting. Using a heads-up approach to communication is a good tool to create common-ground leadership. Communication cannot be a one-time initiative; it needs to be an ongoing, integrated part of everything a technology leader and his team do. Good communication needs to be in the language of business, occur at all levels in the organizations, and be both regular and ad hoc to achieve the goal of common success. John DiCamillo, associate principal, CTO, Americas region, Arup When communicating with non-IT peers, it is critical that IT staff follow these three simple steps: [1] keep it simple, [2] avoid technical jargon, and [3] refrain from using acronyms. Many times, IT staff think they need to provide as much detail as possible to get their message across. This is not the case, and in many instances, a lot of details will cause the non-IT peer to lose interest or get confused. Keeping your message short by using simple sentences enables you to connect to the audience at their level of understanding. This should not be looked upon as talking down to your audience, but as a way for you to connect with them that they are comfortable with. IDG / Arup Many IT staff do not have a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from their university and may have difficulty speaking in terms their non-IT peers may understand. IT staff rely upon what comes natural to them, using technical jargon to relay their message. Depending upon the audience this can cause confusing, introduce more uncertainty and even alienate the non-IT peer. IT staff need to learn how to speak in the language of business benefit and the value, showcasing how IT provides to the firms business processes, services, efficiencies, and overall profits. Finally, just like technical jargon, acronyms should also be avoided. Many times, acronyms hold multiple meanings, even within the same industry and can seriously impact the message if the IT staff believes the acronym being used means one thing, while the non-IT peer believes it means another thing. By following these steps, you can easily get your message across without causing confusion, creating anxiety, or misleading your audience. I recently went through an exercise to review and update the monthly messages I wanted to share with my Board and Operational Executive and decided to follow these three simple steps. I immediately realized that in certain sections, I was violating these principles, using technical jargon like upgrading to Microsoft Exchange 2016 instead of business speak like enhanced email system with improved performance, larger mailbox sizes, etc. I also discovered that by using a simple risk register chart, I could remove multiple paragraphs of text that made the overall message easier to consume. Upon completion of this exercise, I had an executive update that was business-based, was to the point, and had a smaller footprint for my Board and Operational Executive to read. Though the Supreme Courts Janus ruling earlier this year was supposed to empty out their coffers, many government unions have yet to feel the full impact of the decision, which bars them from collecting fees from nonmembers. After decades of levying these charges, some unions remain flush with cash heading into this seasons elections, and theyre pouring millions of dollars into campaigns around the countryespecially in Republican-controlled statesto raise taxes, expand government programs, increase mandates on businesses, and support political allies. Their efforts are a reminder that, for the time being at least, government unions remain a formidable force in American politics, waging battles for bigger, more expensive government. One common union strategy is to go directly to voters in locations where unions havent been able to advance their agenda through legislatures. In Maine, over the opposition of Governor Paul LaPage and the Republican-majority legislature, union-sponsored groups are pushing a ballot initiative to boost taxes by some $300 million annually. The plan would institute a payroll tax on employers and employees for income above the current federal Social Security tax capcurrently $128,400 a year. Most of the nearly $1 million raised for the campaign effort comes from George Soross left-leaning Open Society Policy Center and from the Maine Peoples Alliance, a group backed by the Service Employees International Union, which represents public-sector employees and hospital workers. In Hawaii, the National Education Association and the Hawaii State Teachers Association are key drivers of a constitutional ballot initiative authorizing the legislature to tax investment properties, with the money earmarked for public education. So far, all the $600,000 money raised by the committee advancing the initiative comes from the two education unions. Trump Towers [Honolulu] was able to quickly sell out more than 400 units, with some condos selling for more than $10 million, Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said in support of the initiative. If these rich out-of-state investors can afford multi-million dollar properties, they can afford to pay taxes to help educate Hawaiis children. The union-funded Fairness Project is bankrolling Medicaid-expansion campaigns in several states, including Nebraska and Utah. Created by SEIU and funded with $12 million in union dollars since 2016, the Washington, D.C.-based group is spending $2.5 million on the Medicaid campaign in Utah, which seeks to expand the program to 150,000 state residents not currently eligible for it. In Nebraska, the group has donated $1 million in cash and in-kind contributions for an initiative to extend Medicaid to those making 138 percent of the federal poverty limit. The Fairness Project has joined forces with another labor-backed organization, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, to hike minimum wages in two Republican states. Founded by former Clinton administration staffer Eric Kessler, the Sixteen Thirty Fund has received $5.5 million from labor unions since 2016, including NEA, AFSCME, and SEIU. So far, the groups have invested $1.1 million in an effort to raise the minimum wage in Missouri to $12 an hour, and half a million dollars for an Arkansas initiative that would boost the minimum to $11 an hour. Unions are also spending liberally on midterm elections that will determine the makeup of Congress. So far, government labor groups have contributed about $30 million this cycle to federal elections, according to Opensecrets.org. The American Federation of Teachers leads with $8.6 million, while AFSCME has spent $6.7 million and the National Education Association has provided $6 million. This money almost exclusively supports Democratic candidates and causes. So far, for instance, 99 percent of AFSCMEs contributions to federal candidates has gone to Democrats. This highly partisan spending reflects the priorities of left-leaning union leaders and the Democratic Party, but not necessarily of government workers. Few government employees rely on Medicaid for health insurance, for instance, and few public workers benefit from hikes in the minimum wage. Even efforts to raise taxes anger some government workers, who have to pay the levies, too. This tension underlines why public-sector unions now face a potential exodus of members. The union voice is not my voice. The unions fight is not my fight, the plaintiff in the Janus case, Illinois state worker Mark Janus, wrote in a 2016 opinion piece. And I shouldnt be forced to pay money to a union if I dont think it does a good job representing my interests. In Janus v. AFSCME, the court sided with the Illinois worker and ruled unconstitutional state laws that mandate that government workers who refuse to join a union must still pay an agency fee to unions for the work that they do representing employees. In states such as Wisconsin, which had previously banned these fees, public-sector union revenues dropped significantly, crimping their ability to finance political activities. Now unions in every state face the same restrictions, potentially leading to the loss of millions of members and fee-payers nationwide. Those defections are just beginning, and labor leaders know that many more workers are ready to opt out of making payments. Still, union honchos hope that the money they spend this election cycle can make an impact that will be felt for years to come. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Photo credit: Joey Lawrence WaterAid At a time of heightened scepticism towards foreign aid and wavering trust in the not-for-profit sector, development issues are becoming increasingly challenging to translate to UK audiences. Furthermore, traditional fundraising tactics are not yielding the same results, forcing us to constantly innovate, evaluate and improve. It was against this backdrop that WaterAid devised its most ambitious campaign yet Untapped. Through the threemonth winter appeal, we aimed to raise 4m to be matched by the UK government, to help bring clean water, decent sanitation and good hygiene to some of the worlds poorest communities. Rosie Ferguson (left), the new chair of Acevo, with Vicky Browning, chief executive of Acevo Rosie Ferguson, chief executive of single parents charity Gingerbread, has been named chair-elect of Acevo, the network for charity leaders. Ferguson will take over from current chair Joe Irvin, chief executive of Living Streets, at Acevos AGM on 6 December. Vicky Browning, chief executive of Acevo, said: Im really looking forward to working with Rosie and the rest of the trustee board to deliver Acevos purpose. "Id also like to thank Joe Irvin, who steps down as both Acevo chair and trustee in December after six years of service. Joe has been an absolute rock on the board, delivering strategic advice and insight with both rigour and humour. Ferguson said: I believe strongly in ensuring that the UK has a thriving civil society and am utterly committed to championing and developing excellent leadership within civil society organisations. Im looking forward to working with the Acevo trustees and chief executive Vicky Browning, and her team, to deliver the new strategy and inspire and support civil society leaders to make the biggest possible difference. Ive been chief executive of two membership organisations, which has given me insight into the importance of being responsive to the needs of a membership community. And as an Acevo member myself, I believe I can help ensure it is relevant, engaging and at the forefront of what members need. Irvin said: Rosie is passionate about leadership for social change. She is an exciting choice to take on the role of leading Acevos trustee board and executive team to deliver our ambitious strategy for inspiring, supporting and connecting our sectors leaders. For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here. The Indian rupee fell in early trade today as brent crude oil price rose over 1% to $81 per barrel amid increasing demand for dollars from importers. The currency opened at 73.80, down 23 paise from its previous close of 73.57 compared to the American dollar. It was trading 30 paise lower at 73.87 in early trade. Brent crude oil prices which came under pressure last week on lowering of global growth forecast by IMF rose to $81.44 putting pressure on the home currency. Oil prices rose amid uncertainty of events after US President Donald Trump has vowed "severe punishment" if oil-rich Saudi Arabia was behind the disappearance of its dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi who is feared killed at the kingdom's consulate in Turkey. His remarks came amid mounting pressure as reports coming out of Turkey suggest that Khashoggi was brutally killed by Saudi officials inside their consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, 59, a Washington Post contributor, had gone there to collect some papers for his marriage. Saudi Arabia is facing increasing international pressure to clarify what happened to Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, with US President Donald Trump and British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt among those demanding answers. On Sunday, Saudi stocks dived 7% in early trading amid international pressure over the disappearance of its dissident journalist. India is 81 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs and is the third-largest importer of crude after US and China. Since payment of crude oil prices is done in dollars, a higher crude rate leads to more amount of rupee being converted to dollar, thereby strengthening the US currency. Crude prices crossed the $86 per barrel mark last month triggering a fall in home currency. The rupee fell to its all time-low of 74.48 on Thursday last week when Sensex crashed over 1,000 points intra day on global markets tumbling on decline in US markets. On Friday, the rupee strengthened by 55 paise to settle at 73.57 against the US dollar, marking its biggest gain in over three weeks as global crude prices eased and domestic indices staged a smart rebound. JustGiving has today announced that it will be completely removing its fees from all pages set up in response to what it called major incidents and disasters. It will also scrap fees from all crowdfunding pages. As part of todays announcement, JustGiving also said it will be "consulting with key charity partners" to gather feedback on its approach to Gift Aid. The move follows a critical report on BBC 5 Live Investigates, which focused on fundraising platforms and included criticism of JustGiving's fee structure. Today JustGiving said it will not charge platform fees on its crowdfunding products, although it will continue to charge a third-party processing fee on card payments. Those donating to crowdfunding pages will instead be offered the option of making a contribution to support the operation of the platform. JustGiving also said it will be removing all platform fees charged on campaigns in response to major incidents, such as acts of terrorism or major disasters in the UK. These are 'significant changes' Jerry Needel, JustGivings president, said: The UK is one of the worlds most generous nations; 24 million JustGiving users have donated an incredible 3.5bn for charitable and personal causes over the last 18 years. We are very proud to announce that from today, people using JustGiving can crowdfund for free. These changes mean our users can raise money for personal causes, using our world class technology, all without paying a platform fee. We also recently released Donation Boost for charities, which has reduced their costs by 70 per cent. We are committed to finding even more ways to ensure that JustGiving continues to lead the market with best-in-class in technology and fair fees. Our mission is to grow the world of giving to ensure no good cause goes unfunded. Following feedback from our amazing community of fundraisers, we are also announcing that JustGiving will now be free to use following major incidents; including acts of terrorism, catastrophes or natural disasters. We know people want to help those affected as quickly as possible after these events and we want to do everything we can to support that. We are excited about the significant changes we are making and look forward to continuing our work supporting thousands of charities and millions of individuals raising funds for the causes that matter to them the most. Both the Charity Tax Group and the Institute of Fundraising have welcomed the announcement. JustGiving has faced pressure on its prices from rival platforms, including American site GoFundMe, which launched in the UK in January 2017. GoFundMe dropped its own platform fees in January this year and launched its own charity fundraising pages in April. Parliamentary pressure The announcement also follows months of sustained pressure from various MPs across the political spectrum, including from Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, and Robert Jenrick, Conservative MP for Newark and exchequer secretary to the Treasury. Coyle has been particularly vociferous in his calls in parliament to stop digital giving platforms from charging fees from donations made in response to terror attacks and other major incidents. In September he wrote to Tracey Crouch, minister for civil society, labelling JustGving a disgrace and said he was very disturbed to learn that the platform had retained profit from pages set up in the wake of the 2017 terror attacks in London and Manchester and from the Grenfell Fire. He claimed JustGiving had made 500,000 from these incidents last year. Jenrick has also publicly criticised digital giving platforms. In early July he spoke to The Sun and said he would take action on platforms taking fees from Gift Aid at the next budget, if the platforms themselves didnt stop this practice. JustGiving has always had a page on its website dedicated to its fee structures and how they work. It historically deducted 5 per cent from each donation made through the site, as well as a 5 per cent fee on Gift Aid. Client charities are also charged a monthly subscription fee of either 15 or 39 a month, plus VAT. The latest buzzword in the charity sector seems to be place. Everyone seems to be talking about place-based giving at the moment. So much so that the Office for Civil Society has recently commissioned the largest ever study of place based giving, published by Cat Walker of The Researchery. But for community foundations, place-based giving is more than just a buzzword. Its what we do. And its what we have been doing for the past few decades. And after distributing one billion pounds to local communities, we are confident to say that were the experts at place based giving. Im pleased that the report acknowledges this and uses a number of examples from community foundations across the UK. The report rightly states that place-based giving works best when it is genuinely about the local area and tackling specific issues. That is the benefit of a community foundation. We know what the issues are in a local area, which local charities and groups to support and how to encourage donors to support these issues. The community foundation can also bring together different partners and funders and use their convening power to make a bigger impact in a place. Look at the Leeds Fund for example, were the community foundation has brought together big business, the public sector and individual donors to tackle the biggest issues in the city together. Traditional model leading the way The report suggests that community foundations are traditional models of grant giving and that we may not be not disruptive enough. Id like to challenge this firstly by saying that traditional is not always a bad thing. We are seen as a safe pair of hands and that is because we are. Donors can trust that their money will make the impact that theyre looking for. Funders know that community foundations are trusted experts at local grant making. But, this definitely doesnt mean that we just stick with the old ways of doing things. Community Foundations are constantly evaluating how they work, who they work with and how they can do things better, particularly as need is growing and public services are cut further. Look at Devon Community Foundation. They have joined forces with local health partners to look at patients as people and to think more broadly about their needs in life rather than just their medical needs. Their Wellbeing Exeter partnership brings together Devon Community Foundation, Exeter GPs and Exeter City Council to help people reduce their dependence on medical and other statutory services and to receive support from being more involved in their local community and having better access to social activities that they may not be aware of. This type of programme is the first of its kind in the UK and is just one example of a Community Foundation leading the way and responding to changes in society. We could do more We know that were the best vehicles to distribute funds to local communities in a strategic way. But we want to do more. We want to respond further to need in local areas and build communities by supporting the small and local charities which are increasingly finding it hard to survive. The best way that well be able to do this is by deploying the funds from dormant assets. These funds have been promised by government to fund good causes. I am biased, of course, but I strongly believe that community foundations are by far the best way to distribute these funds. We recognise that there are other very valuable organisations that support communities, and we are happy to partner with them. But however these vital funds are to be distributed, I urge the government to speed up the legislative process so that communities can benefit as quickly as possible. Earlier this month, meteorologist and Washington Post contributor Bryan Norcross wrote about how the medias focus on hurricane category does a disservice to the public. Norcross argued the obsession with the SaffirSimpson scale, which is based solely on a hurricanes sustained wind speed and runs from one to five, can come at the cost of explaining more nuanced but life-threatening storm characteristics such as rainfall and ocean surges. He wasnt alone. Norcross, his fellow meteorologists, and weather and climate reporters spent the first half of the 2018 hurricane season working to retrain the media. The stories aimed to get writers and newscasters to contextualize category or avoid it when possible. In addition to Norcross column, the Post published at least two more pieces about how Hurricane Florence exemplified the flaws of fixating on category. The Post joined a chorus of other outlets with similar messagessee related stories in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Time magazine, and The Los Angeles Times. ICYMI: Almost every sentence contained a misleading statement: USA Today heavily criticized for op-ed Yet, as Hurricane Michael approached landfall last week, these same outlets and many more emphasized category in headline after headline, lede after lede. They repeatedly highlighted Michaels move from a Cat 3 to a Cat 4. Many outlets pointed out it only needed to pick up two miles per hour of wind speed to become a Category 5. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 reinforced the SaffirSimpson scale, developed in 1971, as the default shorthand for profiling a storm when Katrinas epic impactthen the deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland in more than 75 yearsappeared to confirm its classification as a Cat 5. But a string of recent storms has shown how relatively ineffective the scale is in predicting life-threatening dangers and property destruction. Focusing on categories can do everyone a disservice, says Marshall Shepherd, the director of the University of Georgias atmospheric sciences program. If you look at Harvey [in 2017], the story with that storm was the days and days and days of rain after it made landfall and wasnt even listed as a category one storm. If you think about Sandy [in 2012], it was barely a category one when it made landfall and still did all that damage. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Harvey peaked as a Cat 4, but wind caused few problems. After it moved over Houston and meteorologists downgraded the system to a tropical storm, Harvey began dumping rain on the city, and flooding caused dozens of deaths and $125 billion in damage. As with Harvey, the massive amounts of precipitation produced by Sandy in 2012 and Florence last month proved the storms most destructive quality. The theme for the media should be, Dont focus on the category, focus on the impact, Shepherd says. Spotlighting impact works best once skies clear. But before and during storms, numbers make for effortless, eye-catching hooks. Category, wind speed, size, and the number of named storms in a season frequently appear at the top of hurricane coverage because, even if they dont reveal much, they provide straightforward data people can easily digest. Dr. Richard Knabb, a former director of the National Hurricane Center and currently a hurricane expert at the Weather Channel, isnt ready to abandon SaffirSimpson completely because warnings of Cat 3, 4, and 5, hurricanes rightly raise the likelihood people will evacuate ahead of a storm. But he wants to see more reports with information readers and viewers can use to make important decisions. Local news is doing a really good job of being as urgent as needed. We are the people with teams of meteorologists in the studio, on the ground, and we dont want to cry wolf because we need to be taken seriously when it matters. Its always been futile to try and sum up with one scale what kind of wind and water you are going to experience at your house, Knabb says. We need to expand what we talk about to let people know how many feet above dry ground ocean water will reach as it gets pushed ashore and how many inches of rain could fall and where it will flood. I have not seen anyone come forth with a new scale that conveys all this information. I dont think its possible. There is no consensus on what a better system would look like. Jason Samenow, the weather editor at the Post, sees coverage improving and cites the National Weather Services move last year to add storm surge watches and warnings to its alerts as an important step forward. Samenow would like to see the service develop a whole range of metrics the media can use to publicize impending storm dangers. We need more tools in our toolbox to convey threats to the public, he says. The National Weather Service needs to think carefully about all of this and needs to be innovative with the products and services it provides because ultimately it all starts with them. The media mirrors their messaging. Samenow agrees with Bryan Norcross suggestions in the Post that weather forecasters make small changes in language to reduce ambiguity. For example, Norcross would strike the nebulous label major from storm reports and have every reference to category to include the word wind (Hurricane Florence is now Wind Category 4). While Allyson Rae, the chief meteorologist at NBC2 WBBH-TV in Fort Myers, Florida, echoes her peers complaints about the overuse of category, she offers a simple fix for consumers: Read beyond headlines, listen past soundbites. Rae recommends paying close attention to details delivered by experts whether in print, online, or on TV. Like most important stories, storms cant be summed up in a few dramatic sentences. Meteorologists are very sensitive to the term sensationalized and want to make sure we are appropriately reacting to a storm, she says. Local news is doing a really good job of being as urgent as needed. We are the people with teams of meteorologists in the studio, on the ground, and we dont want to cry wolf because we need to be taken seriously when it matters. TRENDING: Do journalists pay too much attention to Twitter? Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jed Gottlieb spent a decade as the music & theater critic at the Boston Herald. He has written about arts, politics, and Back to the Future for Newsweek, Paste and many more publications. Follow him on Twitter. Speed cameras rank among the most cost-effective social policies, saving both money and lives according to research conducted at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Using the 140 speed cameras in New York City as a case study, researchers analyzed how to optimize the number of cameras such that the most lives can be saved at the lowest cost. They reported that doubling the number of cameras from 140 to 300 would save $1.2 billion while improving the quality and the duration of New Yorkers lives. The findings are published online in the BMJ journal Injury Research. There are an optimal number of speed cameras, above which the return-on-investment diminishes. In New York City, the optimal number is more than double the current number in use, said Peter Muennig, MD, professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia Mailman School. Over the lifetime of an average New York City resident, the existing 140 speed cameras reduced costs by an average $70 compared with no speed cameras. Increasing the number of cameras to 300 would further reduce medical costs by $147 per person. As a whole, New Yorkers would gain 7,000 quality-adjusted life years, a measure of disease burden, including both the quality and the quantity of life lived. As with vaccines, there are declining returns on the investment as more cameras are installed. That is, there is a herd immunity effect with speed cameras in which an optimal number will produce a very low accident rate, and only minuscule gains can be achieved with additional investments, says Muennig, senior author. Muennig and colleagues built a computer model to explore the economic and health impacts of speed camera installations in New York City as well as the optimal number and placement. Both direct and indirect medical savings associated with speed cameras were weighed against their cost. The researchers modeled three scenarios: one with no cameras installed (the previous status quo), one with the existing network of cameras (the current status quo), and one with a hypothetical scenario in which more cameras are placed in precise locations that would, in theory, maximize the return on investment. The aim is to give policymakers a sense of whether, setting aside political concerns, it is efficient to expand, or perhaps reposition, existing networks of speed cameras. Speed cameras have become one of the most widely used tools in wealthier nations to prevent motor vehicle collisions. Studies have shown that driver behavior improves and motor vehicle collisions fall at locations near speed cameras. The effect size depends on the type of camera, the distance from the camera location and local setting characteristics. For example, fixed cameras appear to be more effective in rural settings while both fixed cameras and mobile cameras produce similar reductions in accidents in urban settings. The research by Muennig and colleagues coincided with city-wide protests by parents when New York State had the cameras removed from school zones. One week before the 2018 academic term began, parents won the battle and an agreement was reached among the New York City Council, Mayor di Blasio and Governor Cuomo to reinstate the cameras. The legislation allows the city to track and ticket drivers who exceed the posted limit in school zones. Currently New York CIty has 140 speed cameras which can only be operated within approximately 1,300 feet from schools and during school time. Our research suggests that speed cameras should be added to the arsenal that public health practitioners have for improving population health, observed Muennig. While we use New York City as a case study, our analysis likely underestimates the benefits that would be realized in other locales because we add a good deal of latitude for the cost savings and health benefits. Thus, when used in moderation and in politically palatable ways, they can both save money and livesa feat rarely accomplished in health. Co-authors include Shukai Li, Boshen Jiao, and Zafar Zafari, Columbia Mailman School. The study was funded by Columbias Global Research Analytics for Population Health. Source: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health A series of explosions that rocked several towns north of Boston, Mass., last month has been linked to work orders given to a crew replacing aging natural gas pipes, according to federal safety investigators. Crews contracted by NiSource Inc.s Columbia Gas of Massachusetts unit, including an inspector from the company, were removing a cast-iron distribution main and installing a plastic main, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board. The report, released Thursday, didnt reach a conclusion on the cause of the blasts that are still under investigation. Workers removed a section of pipe containing sensors needed to regulate pressure in the system. The system then mistakenly registered a drop in system pressure and compensated with a surge of gas into the pipes beyond maximum levels, the report said. The work package developed by Columbia Gas did not account for the location of the sensing lines or require their relocation to ensure the regulators were sensing actual system pressure, according to the NTSB. The spike in pressure triggered dozens of explosions in homes and businesses across three Massachusetts towns on Sept. 13 and killed one person struck by a falling chimney. The leaks occurred in a pipe network that served about 8,600 customers. It snaked through the towns of Lawrence, North Andover and Andover, located about 20 miles north of Boston. NiSource President Joe Hamrock said in a statement that the company is limited in what is can say about the incident while the investigation is underway. However, we can say that, because safety is our top priority, in the hours immediately after the incident we suspended similar work and enhanced procedures related to our low pressure systems, Hamrock said. Im very proud of the strong, dedicated team driving the restoration effort in the streets and homes, Hamrock said. We continue to expect completion by November 19th. NiSource fell 1.7 percent to $24.65 in New York. The decline was roughly in line with its peer group. The traders that are watching like hawks probably went through that just like you did and didnt see anything that came out that we didnt already know, Charles Fishman, an analyst for Morningstar Inc., said in an interview. Fishman expects costs of $100 million from lawsuits and fines stemming from the accident. NiSource is likely to ask regulators for permission to speed up efforts to replace old pipe, a move that could boost earnings, he said. Fishman has a hold rating on the stock with a $26 price target. Theyll fine them something, and theyll accelerate the capital expenditure, Fishman said. Theyll give them return on that capex and since its accelerated, that increases earnings. It pretty much washes out in my mind over time. The NTSB report raises more questions than answers, Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey said in a statement, including whether the utility was prepared to respond to the scale of the disaster. We need to turn over every stone and shine a light on the workings of this company and the entire industry, so that people can both trust that their gas system is safe and verify that nothing like this will ever happen again, said Markey. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. On the heels of a horrific limousine crash that killed 20 people in upstate New York, the Senates top Democrat is pointing to glaring gaps in safety data that he says exist because federal officials have not done enough to investigate limo wrecks. Sen. Chuck Schumer is pointing a spotlight at the National Transportation Safety Board, which he says hasnt thoroughly investigated a single limousine crash in the last three years. His criticism comes a week after a stretch limo loaded with 18 people ran a stop sign and crashed at the bottom of a long hill in Schoharie. Everyone in the limousine died, including four sisters, along with two pedestrians. The sad fact here is that right now everyone is talking about limo safety when we could have been studying it for the past few years, Schumer said. The NTSB knows they need to fix this situation so we can have as much information as possible available. The agency charged by Congress to conduct independent probes and make safety recommendations agreed to investigate limo crashes on a case-by-case basis after a 2015 wreck that killed four women on New Yorks Long Island. But Schumer says that since then, multiple crashes should have been investigated and would have netted critical safety data about the structure and safety components of limousines. Federal crash data compiled by The Associated Press shows there were seven limousine crashes in 2015 and two in 2016. Factory-built limousines must meet stringent safety regulations. But luxury cars converted to limos, like the one in last weeks crash, often lack such safety components as side-impact air bags, reinforced rollover protection bars and accessible emergency exits. Few federal regulations govern limos modified after leaving the factory, and regulations often vary by state. Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the NTSB, declined to comment on Saturday. In a 2015 letter, then-NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said the board shared Schumers concern that relatively little information is available about how stretch limousines perform in a variety of crash scenarios. Schumer says the NTSB should recommit and follow-through on the agencys promise to investigate limousine crashes across the U.S. not just those that result in multiple deaths in order to gather crucial safety information and determine whether regulations or laws need to be changed. The board must also issue immediate safety recommendations on stretch limousines as it investigates last weekends crash, he said. While authorities continue to investigate the cause that wreck, New York prosecutors have charged the operator of the limousine company, Nauman Hussain, with criminally negligent homicide, saying he allowed an improperly licensed driver to operate an unserviceable vehicle. Hussain has pleaded not guilty and has declined to comment on the crash. (Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.) Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio -- Found property, North Franklin Street: Someone dropped a bag of marijuana on the street Oct. 2. It was placed in police evidence, where it will likely remain. An officer said it was doubtful that anyone would report it missing or claim it. Traffic stop, East Washington Street: While on patrol at 3:16 p.m. Oct. 3, an officer stopped a Shaker Heights woman, 33, for having fictitious license plates. She said she traded in an old vehicle for the one she was driving and used the same plates. Her record showed she had multiple outstanding arrest warrants. The vehicle was towed and she faces a mandatory court appearance. Suspicious, Shopping Plaza: Police are investigating after a business owner reported on Oct. 1 that a suspicious incident had happened in the store. Due to the investigation, no further details are available at this time. Disturbance, East Washington Street: A woman called police at 12:29 p.m. Oct. 7 to the high school stadium, reporting that things were getting out of hand on the visitors side. The issue was resolved when police arrived. Suspicious, West Washington Street: Police are investigating whether or not a woman's cell phone was hacked. She reported the incident Oct. 7. Found property, North Main Street: Police removed a men's bike Oct. 2 that had been locked on a fence at the stairs of the falls and left there for several days. It is being stored at the Chagrin Falls Armory. Harassing communications, Miles Road: A woman told police Oct. 3 that she had received a voicemail from a man using inappropriate words. The phone number was blocked, and she was advised to contact police if it happened again. CLEVELAND, Ohio - A Cleveland woman is accused of intentionally ramming into her ex-boyfriend's car while four young children were inside it. The four children - a 10-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy, a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy - were taken to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital as a precaution following the Sunday crash on East 89th Street near Chester Avenue, according to a police report. Crystal J. Felder, 29, is charged with felonious assault in the incident. Her arraignment is scheduled Tuesday in Cleveland Municipal Court. She remains in custody at the Cuyahoga County Jail, court records say. Felder broke up with a 29-year-old man the night before the crash. The ex-boyfriend said Felder had been following his car before she rammed it, police reports say. Felder was driving her 2015 Ford Taurus in front of the ex-boyfriend's 2011 Chevrolet Impala when she slammed on her brakes. She then put the Taurus into reverse and rammed into the Impala, police reports say. The ex-boyfriend had four children and two other women in his car. Cleveland EMS took all of them to the hospital to be evaluated. Felder initially claimed the ex-boyfriend rear-ended her car. She also claimed not to know him, but later admitted they'd been dating, police reports say. To comment on this story, visit Monday's crime and courts comments page. MEDINA, Ohio -- A crash closed a portion of Interstate 71 in Medina Sunday afternoon, the State Highway Patrol said. The crash was reported about 2:30 p.m. in the southbound lanes of I-71 between State Route 18 and I-76, according to State Highway Patrol and the Ohio Department of Transportation's website. Troopers did not immediately know how many vehicles were involved in the crash or if anyone was injured. This story is developing and cleveland.com will provide an update if any information becomes available. CLEVELAND, Ohio - David Brennan, the Akron industrialist who helped create tuition vouchers and charter schools in Ohio but whose low-performing White Hat charter schools became a lightning rod for critics, has died at 87. Throughout more than 25 years of leading voucher and charter school efforts in Ohio, Brennan played a major role in shaping school choice. Admirers said he opened doors to educational opportunity by removing legal barriers to how public-school dollars could be spent. Critics saw him as a profiteer who used political donations to limit quality controls on charters, making Ohio the Wild West of the charter movement nationally. The White Hat schools managed by his company were some of the lowest scoring in the state. The company said its schools were in some of the state's poorest areas, where traditional public schools fared no better. Chad Aldis of the Fordham Foundation, which supports school choice, said Brennan's impact extended far beyond his own schools. Brennan energetically and effectively advocated for Cleveland students to use vouchers for tuition regional private schools, mostly Catholic. "Many fewer Ohio students would have access to a variety of school options without his long-term advocacy," Aldis said. William Phillis, a former Ohio Department of Education official and critic of privatization of education through charters, is among the critics of White Hat profits. "He made money on public policies that he helped promote," Phillis said. "He seemed to have a great disdain for public education. He thought he had a better idea." Tom Needles, a longtime lobbyist for White Hat, disagreed and said profit was much less a concern for Brennan than helping families find schools that fit them. "Families have rights," Needles said. "He and Ann Brennan cared about public schools. They just wanted another alternative." Brennan was central to Ohio starting its first private school tuition vouchers - the Cleveland Scholarship voucher program in 1995 - after chairing a commission on school choice created by George Voinovich, the former governor and former Cleveland mayor. Brennan created private schools in Cleveland to use the vouchers. Two years later, he converted them to charter schools after the state offered more money to charters, partially at his urging. White Hat expanded rapidly, and was soon Ohio's largest charter chain. It eventually included Hope Academy charters, Life Skills dropout recovery schools, and the OhDELA online school. With his health failing in recent years, Brennan sold off pieces of that chain bit by bit. Many schools were absorbed by the new Accel charter school chain, which now operates OhDELA and the Hope Academy schools, including some in Cleveland. Accel founder Ron Packard said Brennan was "instrumental" in creating charters in Ohio that provide choices of schools and save taxpayers money, by costing less than traditional district schools. "The performance of (charter) schools is a powerful legacy of which I am sure David would be proud," he said. Brennan was a major political donor, mostly for Republicans. The Plain Dealer reported in 2006 that "Brennan, 74, secured his standing in increasingly Republican Columbus in the mid-1990s with generous campaign contributions." He donated more than $120,000 to Voinovich, and raised another $500,000. "Brennan gave hundreds of thousands more to the Ohio Republican Party and its candidates, including key legislators who ushered through various 'school choice' proposals that Brennan both lobbied for and has tried ever since to profit from," The Plain Dealer reported. Later, Brennan became a major donor to former House Speaker William Batchelder, then hired Batchelder's firm as a lobbyist when Batchelder left office. The business model of White Hat was also controversial and the subject of an Ohio Supreme Court case that Brennan won, but which sparked changes in state law. White Hat schools typically turned over 95 percent of their revenue, mostly tax dollars, to White Hat to run the school. Once given to White Hat, that money was considered private and few records made public of how it was used. In 2012, the boards of 10 White Hat schools broke free of the chain and sued for belongings of the schools - desks, books, computers - to continue under new management. White Hat won in court and kept the items. The legislature changed state law in 2015 so that property belongs to the school, not a management company that might be replaced. Full funeral arrangements are not yet available, but services will be Saturday at St. Sebastian in Akron with calling hours the day before. Less than five months after Xiaomi launched its own instant lending platform Mi Credit to give MIUI users in India access to quick loans, it is ready for a bigger play in the lending arena. On October 10 the Chinese handset and electronics maker incorporated a new company, Xiaomi Financial Services India, to foray into consumer finance and business-to-business lending, The Economic Times reported. Xiaomi Financial Services India will soon seek the Reserve Bank of India's approval to operate as an NBFC. It has been incorporated as a subsidiary of Xiaomi Finance HK Ltd and Xiaomi Singapore Fintech. The new firm plans to provide loans to consumers for purchasing electronics, home appliances, lifestyle products, vehicles, furniture, tools, utensils and office equipment. It also aims to extend credit to firms, corporates or any other entity "for the purpose of purchase and acquisition of goods, merchandise, assets of any nature", regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies reveal. And its Memorandum of Association lists Xiaomi Corp cofounder Feng Hong and Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain among its directors. While Xiaomi is known mostly for its mobile phones in India, its product portfolio in China goes much beyond that, and over the next two years it plans to launch most of them in India. "Smart TV, scooters, cycles, air purifier, water purifier, shoes, power banks, T-shirts, back packs, laptops, drones," Jain said in an earlier interview with Business Today. "Even refrigerators and possibly air-conditioners. Why not? We are an Internet company. Anything that can be a smart-connected device, we want to be there." According to the daily, Xiaomi has indicated that it will operate these services through online platforms. Edited by Sushmita Choudhary Agarwal JEFFERSONVILLE, Ohio -- A Fayette County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a suspect early Sunday morning after being wounded by gunfire while responding to a reported disturbance at a hotel. The deputy was called to the Quality Inn/Amerihost in Jeffersonville at about 12:43 a.m., according to WCMH Channel 4. Officials say the unidentified suspect shot and wounded the deputy, ABC 6 reports. The deputy managed to return fire, killing the suspect. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene, WCMH reports. The deputy is in stable condition in an undisclosed hospital. The shooting remains under investigation by the sheriff's department on the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Jeffersonville is about 40 miles southwest of Columbus. To comment on this story, go to the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Richmond Heights police believe the body of a woman that was found near the city's mall last week was dumped there. Ginger Blanchard, 40, was found Oct. 7 about 1 p.m. by two juveniles who reported seeing a body in the wooded area of the overflow parking lot, according to a Richmond Heights police report. Officers found a Blanchard's body lying face down with a bandage on her left arm, police said. Investigators have not said whether they believe she died as a result of a homicide. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office identified the body belonging to Blanchard. Authorities have not release many details about what happened but think someone might have dropped Blanchard's body in the area and left her there. Police said Blanchard had multiple addresses listed for her, including one that puts her on the far east side of Cleveland. The investigation remains open. To comment on this story, go to the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Chief Tristan Harker of Southwest General Health Center's Protection Services Department wants police powers conferred on his 23 hospital officers. He appeared Oct. 8 before the Middleburg Heights Safety Committee to state his case. "They are all ready to go and have already gone through the police academy," Harker said. "There would be no financial burden on the city. It's basically granting us the authority to act." He talked about incidents involving active shooters and violence that increasingly have become common in today's society. His department's jurisdiction would apply only to the health center grounds, and officers would not engage in traffic stops. "It's becoming the industry standard for hospitals to have their own private police departments," Harker explained. "It would give us access to law enforcement information we currently don't have, such as running a license plate or driver's license, or checking to see if somebody has an active warrant or criminal history. We're currently flying blind in that category." Even if city officials approve the request, the Middleburg Heights Police Department would continue to have overriding authority on all cases, Harker emphasized. Currently, his officers call the Police Department "a couple times a month." Detained offenders would be transported to a jail facility elsewhere. Anyone on the hospital campus who dials 911 will continue to be connected to the city Police Department. Middleburg Heights Police Chief Ed Tomba told the committee he has no objection to granting police authority to Harker's officers. "We've been in discussion about it for six to eight months, and it's been a cooperative effort, so I think this is a good step," Tomba said. "It is the trend to be a little more self-sufficient." An affidavit from Ohio Gov. John Kasich gives the chief law enforcement officer of a municipality the authority to grant such powers. A Memorandum of Understanding already has been reviewed by the city's Law Department and Southwest officials. "It's going to enhance the service they provide ... and we think they're going to be better trained," Tomba added. "It's a good plan." NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio -- Criminal mischief, Center Ridge Road: Officers were dispatched to a business in reference to an employee causing a scene and destroying work orders on Oct. 6. The suspect was fired and information was gathered for a report. Drunken driving, Root Road: On Oct. 14, officers investigated a hit-skip crash. Police located the driver, who was cited for marijuana possession and OVI. Falsification, Mills Road: Police stopped a driver for speeding and the suspect gave false information, attempting to incriminate another person. The Olmsted Township man's identity was established and he was arrested for falsification and several outstanding warrants. Criminal damaging, Northview Circle: On Sept. 23, a resident reported that she had video of her neighbor keying her car. Drunken driving, Lorain Road: On Oct. 6, an officer was sent to the area of Lorain Road and Interstate 480 in reference to a possible drunken driving/reckless operations complaint. Police stopped the driver, who was arrested on a drunken driving charge. Assault, Oakwood Circle: A man was arrested on an assault charge in a disturbance on Oct. 7. Criminal mischief, Center Ridge Road: Officers were dispatched in reference to a possible breaking and entering on Oct. 1. Drug investigation, Ohio 83: Officers responded to a car driving off the road on Oct. 13. The driver was arrested for having a suspended license and an active warrant for his arrest. During an inventory of the vehicle, drugs and drug abuse instruments were discovered. The suspect could not arrange bond and was booked into jail. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio - The number of voters casting ballots ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm election is up in Northeast Ohio. At stake on Nov. 6 is the governor's race, since Gov. John Kasich is term-limited - and other statewide and local issues and offices. On a national level, Republicans are hoping to hold on to Congress. "I'm seeing an uptick compared to four years ago, I'm seeing energy from Republicans and Democrats for wanting to vote early," Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Director Pat McDonald said. Additionally, voting by mail, also known as absentee voting, is up 10 percent compared to 2014 - a midterm election with the governor up for re-election, McDonald said. By Friday, 25 days from Election Day, 1,180 people voted in person in Cuyahoga County. That's up from 484 people 25 days out from Election day in 2014, McDonald said. Also by Friday this year, 140,512 people had requested absentee mail ballots. That's up from 127,644 in 2014, McDonald said. McDonald had previously estimated 45 percent of registered Cuyahoga County voters were going to participate in the election. He now expected it to be closer to 50 percent, he said. In Lorain County, about 400 people are voting early in person on average a day, said Lorain County Board of Elections Director Paul Adams. "I think we've seen a slight increase from what we saw in the last midterm gubernatorial election -- in 2014," he said. "I wouldn't say it's a drastic increase. But all the numbers we're seeing in person and via mail are slightly up." Adams expects the daily numbers to increase the closer it gets to Election Day, which he said is typical. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Sherrod Brown and Jim Renacci swapped insults and shared contrasting policy positions in Cleveland on Sunday in the first debate between the two Ohio Senate candidates. Although he's held a comfortable lead in nearly every public poll, Brown, a Democrat, spent plenty of time on the offensive and peppered Renacci with sharp critiques. He lambasted Renacci for voting more than a dozen times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which banned insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and expanded Medicaid. Renacci, a Republican who needed a strong debate to give a jolt to his campaign, was less specific in his attacks, saying repeatedly that Brown loves serving in Washington, D.C. more than he cares about Ohio, and that Brown is too liberal to represent Ohio. In doing so, he invoked the name of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, no fewer than six times. In one representative exchange, Brown had pressed Renacci to use his influence with President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Renacci's candidacy, to prevent the White House from separating children at the U.S.-Mexico border from their parents. "This is Congress's issue... It's frustrating when I hear Sen. Brown talk about the president when he's been there himself for 25 years. He loves Washington and Chuck Schumer so much, he's forgotten about voting to fix the immigration system," Renacci said. Brown retorted with a quip: "Congressman Renacci talks about my time in Washington. But he's hardly a newbie at this. Number two, he's been in the majority party since [Renacci was elected to Congress in 2011.] The Republicans control the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Supreme Court, yet they can't seem to get anything done on wages or on trade or on health care or on climate change." The candidates squared off at the Westfield Studio in Playhouse Square. About 130 audience members attended and, for the most part, followed moderators' guidelines to not applaud so the debate could stay on track. But one exchange drew applause, and admonition from the moderators. Moderator Ann Fisher, a Columbus public-media journalist, said the process that saw Brett Kavanaugh appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court was "a low point for political discourse," and asked the candidates what could have been done differently. Brown said he believed Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her while they were in high school. But he also said he opposed Kavanaugh's conservative judicial philosophy before the allegations were made public. Renacci responded by bringing up Brown's 1986 divorce, in which his then-wife, in seeking a restraining order against him, accused him of being rough with her and frightening her. Renacci has made the topic the subject of a six-figure campaign ad buy. Brown responded by releasing a video from his ex-wife, who's now a supporter, denouncing Renacci for raising the issue. Renacci said Democrats have set a standard that unsubstantiated allegations should disqualify someone from public office. "My opponent, Sherrod Brown, has a voluminous record, substantiated claims of abuse," Renacci said to faint applause. "The people of Ohio need to look at that abuse and understand it. He will say his ex-wife forgave him, God bless her... That situation is a standard of conduct that Sherrod Brown violated, and he should not be serving anymore." "My former wife asked you to stop attacking our family," Brown said to louder, sustained applause. "She called these charges and your attacks despicable. She is supporting me, and you should be ashamed of yourself." Some other quick-hitting areas of contrast on Sunday: - Asked about Trump's tariffs, Brown touted his vote against the original North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 as a congressman. "While I've fought against trade agreements, Congressman Renacci supported every trade agreement that's been in front of him," Brown said. Renacci said he supports Trump's efforts to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices. But he said he's concerned that the tariffs will hurt soybean growers and manufacturers in Ohio if they are left in place long-term. "People are concerned. They want to see this trade situation in China fixed, and I do too," Renacci said. - In response to a question about rising housing costs for lower-income people, Brown said: "It's hard to detect a lot of interest for working-class people when my opponent called the federal minimum wage 'ridiculous.' Not ridiculously low, but ridiculous." Renacci responded that each state has different costs of living and said he considers the minimum wage to be a state issue. - Brown repeatedly attacked Renacci for voting more than a dozen times to repeal Obamacare. A component of the health-care law is the Medicaid expansion, supported by Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, that extended coverage to more than 700,000 Ohioans, and provides drug-addiction treatment to 200,000 Ohioans. Earlier in this campaign cycle, when Renacci was running for governor, Renacci called for ending Medicaid expansion. He said the costly program is financially unsustainable. Renacci said the federal government should give Ohio a set amount of money, rather than guaranteeing coverage. He also said there are things that can be done to fight the opioid crisis that don't require much funding. "Ohio's got plenty of money. As the Senator said, Ohio got Medicaid expansion and look what happened," Renacci said. The candidates are scheduled to meet against next Saturday in Columbus, and will debate again the following week in Oxford, in Southwest Ohio. The election is on Nov. 6. Sunday's debate was organized by the Ohio Debate Commission, a nonpartisan collaboration between civic organizations, universities and media outlets. Cleveland.com/Advance Ohio is among the founding members of the Ohio Debate commission. Josh Abbott Band To Play Pre-Race Show Before AAA Texas 500 On Nov 4 Posted by: newsla on Oct 15, 2018 - 06:34 AM Josh Abbott Band To Play Pre-Race Show Before AAA Texas 500 On Nov 4 Before the green flag flies on the AAA Texas 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race on Sunday, Nov. 4, fans will have the opportunity to rock out to some country music - Texas style. Beginning at 12 p.m. CT, the Josh Abbott Band will take the stage for the Texas Corn Producers Loud & Proud Pre-Race Show Powered By American Ethanol. This will be the band's first performance at Texas Motor Speedway, but the group certainly is no stranger to the Lone Star State. Lead vocalist Josh Abbott founded the seven-member band in 2006 while attending Texas Tech University in Lubbock, which is about 300 miles west of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. "We can't wait to hit the stage at Texas Motor Speedway," Abbott said. "There's nothing like the great state of Texas, and there's nothing like the great fans of NASCAR. We're honored to perform at one of the most iconic race tracks in the United States." The Josh Abbott Band is comprised of seven musicians, including Abbott (lead vocals, guitar), Austin Davis (banjo), Preston Wait (fiddle, guitar, steel), Edward Villanueva (drums), Caleb Keeter (guitar), David Fralin (keys/mandolin) and Jimmy Hartman (bass guitar). The band is celebrating its 10th anniversary since recording its first single, "Taste," as well as its most recent album, Until My Voice Goes Out. The Josh Abbott Band's last album, Front Row Seat, captured the life cycle of a relationship, from its passionate start to its heartbreaking conclusion. It was a summary document of events from the past. By contrast, Until My Voice Goes Out is an optimistic look into the future, a roll-up-the-sleeves-and-move-forward embrace of life and its potential. Texas' red-dirt scene provides a wealth of touring opportunities for young bands and over the last 10 years Josh Abbott made the most of it, quickly vaulting into the upper realms of the state's live acts with a raucous, raw sound and certain unpredictability. Once "Taste" appeared on radio stations across the Lone Star State, audiences came out to hear - and sing along with - that song and a wealth of hooky, accessible titles on Scapegoat and their 2010 breakthrough, She's Like Texas, both released on the band's own indie label, Pretty Damn Tough Records. The Josh Abbott Band nabbed Top 10 debuts on the Billboard country albums chart with 2012's Small Town Family Dream and 2015's Front Row Seat, and the band lobbed five singles onto the Hot Country Songs chart, including the infectious "Hangin' Around" and "Amnesia." Fans of the Josh Abbott Band will have the ability to be stage-side for the concert as well as pre-race driver introductions for the AAA Texas 500 with the purchase of a $79 pre-race pass. The pre-race pass must accompany a race ticket. The AAA Texas 500 is the feature event of a NASCAR Playoffs tripleheader weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. In addition to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 on Sunday, Nov. 4, Texas Motor Speedway also will play host to the Camping World Truck Series JAG Metals 350 on Friday, Nov. 2, and Xfinity Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 on Saturday, Nov. 3. PaddockTalk Perspective Kevin O'Leary, a star of ABC's "Shark Tank," is certainly qualified to dish out entrepreneurial advice. With the show in its tenth season, he's counseled hundreds of aspiring and established entrepreneurs. He's also a wildly successful entrepreneur in his own right. In 1986, O'Leary started Softkey Software Products, which was later re-named The Learning Company, in his basement with no cash. He ultimately grew Softkey into a huge operation and, along with his nine other co-founders, sold it for $4.2 billion to the Mattel Toy Company in 1999. Along the way, O'Leary learned a key lesson that he now passes on to every entrepreneur: Don't focus on money. Focus on freedom. O'Leary recalls the day after he sold his company: He and his co-founders were suddenly wildly wealthy. One might expect a newly minted multimillionaire to buy a yacht or jet-set around the world for awhile. Not O'Leary. "What do we do? We're right back to work. We don't know anything else," O'Leary says. Starting your own business is "a journey," he explains. It sometimes ends up with liquidity, which helps you build personal freedom and that's what you should focus on. "I don't need more money," he adds. "I just want to do the things in my life that I want to do, and money allows me to do that." "I tell every entrepreneur," O'Leary says: "Don't focus on the cash. It's nothing about greed. It's all about personal freedom." While the massive fortunes of icons like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson might seem reason enough to become your own boss, that's not really what the field is about, O'Leary argues. "You don't do entrepreneurship for the greed of money," he says. "Because what does it mean to be wealthy in America? [It means] you're personally free. That's what's important." Growing up, O'Leary was passionate about photography; he even wanted to do it as a full-time career. But, due to the competitive nature of the photography profession, his father recommended that O'Leary learn how to run a business first. So O'Leary went on to earn his MBA from Ivey Business School at Western University, and then pursued entrepreneurship. Now, he says, his success in business has given him the freedom to return to photography. "Now, because of personal freedom I have a massive collection of cameras from Leicas to Nikons and Canons and every lens they make," O'Leary says. "In a way, it's a full circle. I've gotten to do what I wanted to because I was successful in something else, and that's the great thing about entrepreneurship you can pursue your dreams." Indeed, many successful entrepreneurs have preached the importance of not focusing on money as the end game. Virgin Group founder and billionaire Richard Branson says that true success is not measured by how wealthy you are, but how happy you are. Meanwhile, billionaire Warren Buffett says he measures success by how many people love him. "The pursuit towards success is to be personally free," O'Leary says, "to provide for your family and to be able to do the things you want to do with your life. That's a great gift of entrepreneurship." Don't miss: Kevin O'Leary: Don't buy a car, do this instead Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube! Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank." With Saudi Arabia denying a role in the sudden disappearance of a prominent journalist and vowing to push back against any effort at international retribution the chances are growing that the crisis could escalate, and ricochet across the global economy. On Sunday, the world reacted to last week's vanishing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi Government. The West has threatened consequences for the kingdom, which is suspected of having captured the journalist at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The governments of the United Kingdom, France and Germany on Sunday called for a "credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and if relevant to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account." Although Saudi Arabia has fiercely denied any involvement, reports suggest Riyadh may been behind Khashoggi's disappearance, with Turkey airing suspicions that the journalist may have been killed by Saudi operatives. President Donald Trump shows off posters as he talks with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images For the moment, the suspicions alone have imperiled Saudi Arabia's carefully crafted plans to reform its economy and burnish its image abroad. Meanwhile, the reformist image cultivated by Crown Prince (MBS) is also in jeopardy. "Right now, this episode is eroding all the good will and trust built up by MBS," said Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a national security think tank. He called for caution in the face of a lack of actionable evidence against Saudi Arabia, and cast doubt on intelligence and reporting from Turkey that implicated Riyadh. However, Saudi Arabia warned on Sunday against threats to punish the country over Khashoggi's disappearance, while a growing number of Western companies and governments canceling appearances at an upcoming summit in Riyadh. Among the high-profile executives who have said they won't attend the kingdom's Future Investment Initiative are J.P. Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, Ford Motor's Bill Ford and Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi. Analysts say that trying to isolate the kingdom internationally would not be easy, and could bring consequences for everyone else. Human rights activists and friends of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi hold his pictures during a protest outside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 8, 2018. Murad Sezer | Reuters In theory, an escalation of tensions could send oil prices sharply higher, upend the Middle East peace process, and fracture international efforts to contain Iran. The Trump administration is pushing aggressively to take all Iranian oil off the market, and is relying on Saudi Arabia one of the world's largest oil producers that pumps over 10 million barrels per day to keep its oil spigots open to curb surging crude. Schanzer cited the fallout from the September 11 attacks. He said that realpolitik would likely prevent the West especially the U.S. from acting against the Saudis too aggressively, or pushing Riyadh into the embrace of antagonists of American interests, such as Russia. "Historically, at even at the worst moments the leadership had found a way to move past the crisis, because both [the U.S. and Saudi Arabia] need each other so badly," Schanzer told CNBC. Last year, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia sealed a weapons deal worth $350 billion over 10 years, solidifying an alliance that stretches back to the Cold War. "You can see the inter dependency, and this is not easily brushed aside," he added. "For the same reason we can't decouple from Russia or China despite significant differences on foreign policy," it would be equally difficult to isolate Riyadh, he added. 'A dangerous precedent' Meanwhile, Energy watchers are keeping a close eye on Brent crude, which has retreated from recent multiyear highs but remains near $80 per barrel. President Donald Trump, who vowed "severe punishment" if Khashoggi was killed, is banking on the Saudis to tamp down energy prices, and help offset lost Iranian supply. "I think this could escalate very quickly and oil is an obvious weapon for Saudi Arabia to use if there's retaliation against it," said John Kilduff of Again Capital. "If they're going to be sanctioned economically they will make sure everyone else is going to feel pain as well." Although oil prices haven't yet priced in the crisis, Saudi Arabia's benchmark stocks tumbled sharply on Sunday. Kilduff warned that the world could witness "a period of instability in Saudi Arabia like we've never seen before," he said. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, suggested that world oil prices were unlikely to be spurred by the Khashoggi mystery, "unless tension ratchets up dramatically from here. Although we have seen the Saudi equity market respond very negatively thus far, a risk premium in oil prices doesn't seem warranted at this time." However, given the high stakes, FDD's Schanzer added that Kashoggi's disappearance could embolden other countries to take similar action against dissidents, if there were no reprisals. "A dangerous precedent could be set, and there needs to be a response," Schanzer added. Reuters contributed to this report. WATCH: What is Saudi Aramco? "The number one thing is consistency," Mishler told CNBC Make It in London. "If you want to be a teacher (for instance), you can't sub out; you need to show up. And it's not just in the digital space for anything, any practice, any service." " Yoga With Adriene " host Adriene Mishler, who has accumulated 4 million subscribers and produced over 400 videos on YouTube, reveals her top two tips to cultivate a strong following whether online or off. Six years in the making and "Yoga With Adriene" (YWA) is one of the top-ranking brands on Google and YouTube for yoga tutorials. At the end of the day, "it's a commitment," Mishler explained. While millions may follow the YouTube channel now, in the initial years, Mishler and her producer Chris Sharpe would get excited when a video received just 100 views. "I was like: '100 views! Oh my gosh, this is amazing. A hundred people are doing yoga. This is amazing, let's keep going,'" she said. Now, the videos tend to get hundreds of thousands of views, and the channel's most popular tutorial a 20-minute video for complete beginners has received over 18 million views to date. Of course, it's hard to keep going, Mishler explained. "You have to show up when you don't want to. You have to show up when you have a big pimple on your face. You have to show up when you're in the middle of a breakup or a loss, and you have to show up even when the light is bad." "I can think of a million things over the years where I didn't want to show up for the 'Yoga With Adriene' videos," she continued, "but I've never missed a week of the year, except for two times. And those were the two times that I had vocal surgery. And even then, we did a little series of silent ones." "I don't say that to say, 'We're so amazing.' I say it because it's hard. It's probably the most challenging thing." Damaged cotton field in the Wiregrass area of Alabama after taking a beating during Hurricane Michael. Source: Alabama Farmers Federation Agricultural damage from Hurricane Michael's rampage last week across Georgia, Alabama and Florida is forecast to top $1.3 billion, with pecan and cotton farms the hardest hit as well as the region's poultry operations, according to officials. "Hurricane and cotton is like oil and water it just doesn't mix at all," said William Birdsong, an agronomist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Auburn University in Headland. He estimated the loss to Alabama cotton crops could total just over $100 million and said the price of cotton could increase given damage also is in nearby production centers, including Georgia. In Georgia alone, the latest farm-related damage estimate from the storm is $1.2 billion, and in Florida another $100 million to $200 million, according to agricultural economist Jeffrey Dorfman at the University of Georgia in Athens, who calculated damage in the region. This marked the third straight year that Georgia pecan growers have suffered from damage due to hurricanes. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melanie Trump toured areas stricken by Hurricane Michael in Florida and Georgia on Monday. Trump tweeted Monday after arriving in Florida that he was "thinking about our GREAT Alabama farmers and our many friends in North and South Carolina today. We are with you!" https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1051861686842474496 Last month, Hurricane Florence caused widespread devastation in the Carolinas, including significant losses to crops and to poultry and swine operations. "Having seen firsthand some of the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Michael, I know that farmers will need all the help they can get to recover," Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement. "In addition to crop insurance, USDA has a variety of programs to assist producers." Cotton, pecan losses As a result of Hurricane Michael's high winds and heavy rains, Dorfman estimates losses of $300 million on the Georgia cotton crop as well as over $600 million in losses to pecans. Hurricane Matthew in 2016 caused the loss of about one-third of Georgia's pecan crop. Only about 15 percent of Georgia's cotton crop was harvested before last week's Category 4 hurricane struck the region. Cotton is the top crop in terms of production value in Georgia, followed by peanuts and pecans, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. "We lost most of this year's (pecan) crop plus tens of thousands of acres of orchards that will take a decade to replace," Dorfman said in an email. USDA figures show Georgia had about 120,000 acres of pecans planted last year. Peanuts, vegetable-growing operations and pine plantations in Georgia were also damaged. About 30 percent of the vegetables were harvested before the hurricane and approximately half of the peanut crop. Poultry farm impacts Dorfman said "nearly 100 chicken houses" were confirmed destroyed in Georgia, but he didn't have a dollar figure on livestock losses. The Georgia Department of Agriculture estimated more than 2 million chickens were lost. It estimated the poultry industry contributes about $23 billion to the state's economy. Strong winds exceeding 120 mph tore through some areas of Georgia, causing some chicken houses to topple. Heavy rains also contributed to the damage. "Florida losses in agriculture are much smaller," Dorfman added, explaining that "there was less farmland in the path." Even so, he estimated the Sunshine State suffered between $100 million and $200 million, reflecting in part significant losses in pine plantations in Florida. Florida timber losses Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam last week indicated at least 3 million acres of timber were damaged by the hurricane along with other commodities, including peanuts, cotton and tomatoes as well as dairy, poultry and aquaculture. Despite damage to trees, some of the lumber felled by the storm could potentially be salvaged to help in the rebuilding. It could take years for the industry to recover and renew lost trees. "We'll continue to do everything we can to help Florida agriculture recover from this catastrophic hurricane," Putnam said in a release. Alabama damage Supporters of the Christian Social Union (CSU) political party react to initial election results after the Bavarian state elections on October 14, 2018 in Munich, Germany. Alexander Hassenstein | Getty Images News | Getty Images Angela Merkel's coalition government in Berlin looks more fragile than ever after voters in the state of Bavaria roundly rejected the chancellor's allied parties at a regional election this weekend. The result was likened to a "political earthquake" and "landslide" by experts. The Christian Social Union (CSU), Merkel's Bavarian sister party, saw its worst election result since 1950 on Sunday and lost its long-held majority, while the Green party and far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party saw their vote share increase. Political analysts and economists say the result will have big ramifications on the fractious coalition government in Berlin, made up of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) that has continued to see its popularity slide, in Bavaria and beyond. "The major takeaway is that the two traditional people's parties the CSU and the SPD saw combined losses of 21 percentage points of the vote compared to the last election so that is a clear signal back to the grand coalition that the center is moving out to the fringes both left and right," Andrew Bosomworth, head of German Portfolio Management at PIMCO, told CNBC on Monday. This is a "local political earthquake," Bosomworth added, speaking to CNBC's Annette Weisbach in Munich, saying there could be "reverberations that will filter through to Berlin." The CSU won 36.8 percent of the vote, losing its absolute majority (and falling from a 46.5 percent share in the last election in 2013), preliminary results published by the Bavarian state early Monday morning showed. The Greens won 17.5 percent of the vote, putting them the second place. A collective of independent candidates, the Free Voters, came third with 11.9 percent of the vote. The AfD won 10.3 percent of the vote putting it in fourth place but marking a stark rise for the anti-immigration, euroskeptic party that didn't even participate in the last Bavarian state election. What's worse for the 'grand coalition' in Berlin, the SPD its coalition partner and one that already joined the CDU-CSU alliance reluctantly after being trounced in last October's national election fared worse than the upstart AfD, with only 10.1 percent of the vote. From the last state vote in 2013, the SPD saw its share of the vote fall by almost 10 percentage points. Political 'landslide' One economist said the results had created a "landslide" in German politics amid already tense relations and policy disagreements between the parties within the 'grand coalition' not least of all between Merkel and Horst Seehofer, the head of the CSU. "Sunday's elections in Bavaria will have created a landslide. Not only for Bavaria but probably also for German national politics," Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING, said in a note Sunday. "Given that the CSU had reached an absolute majority in twelve out of the last thirteen elections, this result marks a political landslide." Relations between Merkel and the CSU leader Seehofer have been strained in recent months despite the CDU and CSU being long-standing political allies. Seehofer has been openly critical of Merkel's more permissive stance on refugees and migration policy. ING's Brzeski remarked that this strategy had backfired on the CSU with it hemorrhaging voters to both the left and right. "The party's strategy to criticize Chancellor Angela Merkel's stance on refugees and migration did not work out well. Instead, the party left the political center vacant, leading to the increase of the Greens as a kind of liberal alternative for the CSU. The Greens won many votes in Bavarian cities. At the same time, the CSU's strategy strengthened rather than prevented the AfD," he said. Still, the CSU gained the highest share of the vote in Bavaria and analysts believe it could see a coalition with the Free Voters. "Currently, a coalition of CSU and Free Voters seems like the most probable outcome, which could keep the damage for the CSU limited, even though the party is shaken to its core and some personnel changes cannot be ruled it," Brzeski noted. Jumping ship or trapped? The poor performance of Merkel's coalition partner, the SPD, has also led to questions over whether it will remain in the 'grand coalition' or whether it will see its continuing alliance with the CDU and CSU as politically toxic. How that could affect the coalition as a whole, or what is seen as Merkel's fourth (and predicted to be last) term in government is uncertain. "The results were a blow to the coalition but it was an expected blow and I guess the good news for Merkel is that the main loser was not the CSU, they will stay in government," Clemens Fuest, president of the Ifo Institute in Germany, told CNBC on Monday. "The main loser is the SPD, in absolute terms they have lost twice as many voters as the CDU and that's an absolute disaster for the SPD and now they have reasons to leave the coalition. But then, new elections would be another disaster for them so in a way they're trapped in the coalition and that's why I think the coalition will continue." PIMCO's Andrew Bosomworth said the Bavarian election could have an impact on the make-up of German politics. The 2 bottles of French Burgundy sold from the personal cellar of Robert Drouhin, patriarch of the family-run Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy. A 73-year-old bottle of French Burgundy became the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at auction, fetching $558,000. The bottle of 1945 Romanee-Conti sold at Sotheby's for more than 17 times its original estimate of $32,000. Another bottle of the same wine and vintage went for $496,000 moments later at Saturday's auction. The bottles shattered the previous record for the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold a 3-liter (known as "large format") bottle of 1945 Mouton-Rothschild that sold at Sotheby's in 2007 for $310,000. The sales along with a bottle of whiskey that sold at Sotheby's on Saturday for $843,200 shows that demand for the rarest and best trophy wines and spirits remains strong despite global stock market jitters and trade wars. Demand for the top vintage French wines especially Burgundy is largely being driven by China, so the sales also suggest that while China's economy may be slowing, China's rich are still spending. "The new world record established in today's sale is further proof that the demand for wine and spirits of exceptional quality is at an all-time high, and that global collectors are willing to go the extra mile to acquire the rarest bottles of any kind," said Jamie Ritchie, worldwide head of Sotheby's Wine. Romanee-Conti has become the king of collectible wines, and the 1945 is considered its most prized vintage. Romanee-Conti only produced 600 bottles in 1945, which was the last year before the producer pulled up its older, prized vines and replaced them with younger vines in 1947. While wealthy Chinese wine buyers drove up prices of Bordeaux in the early 2000s, they quickly shifted to Burgundy, which are much more scarce. Domaine de la Romanee-Conti has led Sotheby's Wine Annual Market Report, which looks at sales and price performance, as a top producer since 2013. Sotheby's described the 1945 vintage as "concentrated and exotic, with seemingly everlasting power a wine at peace with itself." Adding to the value of the bottles sold Saturday was its ownership or "provenance." They were sold from the personal cellar of Robert Drouhin, a legend in the wine world and the patriarch of the family-run Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy. Drouhin originally bought the bottles directly from Romanee Conti, which made for what Sotheby's called "pristine provenance." WATCH: Canned wine is no longer a fad, it's a $45 million industry Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has unveiled what it describes as the region's first autonomous taxi. In a statement Sunday, the RTA said the technology underscored its commitment to enhance the Dubai government's strategy to turn 25 percent of mass transit journeys in the emirate into autonomous ones by 2030. Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of the RTA's Public Transport Agency, said that the vehicle featured "high safety and security standards" and was able to monitor objects that had the potential to trigger collisions. Bahrozyan said that a three month trial run of the vehicle would start toward the end of 2018 on designated routes. "The vehicle can drive at a speed of up to 35km (kilometers) per hour and can accommodate four riders including a standby driver in the cabin," he added. "The driver's service can be called in when the vehicle experiences a potential technical glitch by pressing a button, which shifts the operation from autonomous driving to the human driving mode." As technology develops, a number of "self-driving" milestones are being reached in countries around the world. In August 2018, for example, the Hyundai Motor Company announced that the first journey by an autonomous truck on a highway in South Korea had taken place. The auto firm's Xcient truck, which has a maximum load capacity of 40 tons, drove around 40 kilometers between Uiwang and Incheon. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. WATCH: Uber unveiled its flying taxi prototype, which looks like a giant drone Trump discussed the million-dollar wager at a July rally in Montana, while stumping in the state against vulnerable Senate incumbent Jon Tester. Giving himself some wiggle room, he said that if he faced Warren in the 2020 election, he would publicly demand she take a DNA test while on television at a presidential debate. "I'll only do it if I can test her personally," the president added. "That will not be something I will enjoy." Trump told reporters later Monday afternoon that his bet only applied if Warren won the Democratic nomination. The president does not appear to be in a hurry to make the donation. Asked Monday morning on the South Lawn of the White House about the results of the DNA test, Trump told reporters: "Who cares?" On Monday, Warren launched her most aggressive campaign to date rebutting claims the president has made about her heritage. That campaign included the public release of a report by a Stanford genetics professor who analyzed a sample of her DNA and found "strong evidence" that it included Native American ancestry between six and 10 generations ago. Now the Massachusetts Democrat wants the president to pay up. Three months ago, President Donald Trump offered to donate $1 million to charity if Sen. Elizabeth Warren , one of his potential 2020 rivals, took a DNA test proving her Native American heritage. "We will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesn't hit her and injure her arm, even though it only weighs probably 2 ounces," Trump said at the rally. "And we will say, 'I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian.'" "And let's see what she does, right? I have a feeling she will say 'no,' but we'll hold that for the debates!" Warren, who has said that she would "take a hard look" at a 2020 run after the November midterms are over, apparently wanted to get the testing out of the way ahead of time. The Massachusetts Democrat is building out a national political operation and has increasingly gone on the offensive against Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot in recent months. According to a CNN poll released over the weekend, Warren is favored by 8 percent of voters in the crowded pool of potential 2020 Democratic candidates, trailing former Vice President Joe Biden, and her fellow Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif. In a post on Twitter, Warren asked Trump to donate the money to the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, a nonprofit that works to prevent violence against Native women and their children. Warren tweet "Send them your $1M check, @realDonaldTrump," Warren tweeted. The organization did not respond to a request for comment. It is likely that the results of the test will not quell Trump's criticism of the senator, who the president derisively refers to as "Pocahontas." Warren has said that her great-great grandmother is at least part Native American, which is consistent with the test results' findings. But the test results also leave open the possibility that Warren's Native American heritage goes back 10 generations, which would make her only 1/1,024 Native American. An earlier effort to tamp down on the president's claim that Warren has benefited professionally from her Native American heritage has not seemed to yield much success. In September, the Boston Globe published an article, citing more than 100 interviews, that found that ethnicity was "not a factor" in Warren's professional rise. But that has not stopped the president from claiming otherwise. As recently as Tuesday, at a rally in Iowa, the president said that Warren has "gotten so many advantages" thanks to her claims of Native American heritage. Two days later, on Fox News, the president continued his attack. "She can't prove anything," Trump said. "She said her mother told her she had high cheekbones therefore she's got Indian blood. You know what? I have more Indian blood in me than she does, I have none unfortunately. I have none." But Warren appears to be doubling down on the strategy of forcefully rejecting the president's claims. The release of her DNA test came alongside the roll out of a "fact squad" campaign, including its own website dedicated to combating misinformation about her family history. Correction: The test results leave open the possibility that Warren's Native American heritage goes back 10 generations, which would make her 1/1,024 Native American. An earlier version misstated the figure. European stocks closed higher Monday afternoon, as concerns over Brexit progress, a potential slowdown in the Chinese economy and higher U.S. borrowing costs limited investor appetite. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up around 0.6 percent, with more sectors and major bourses in positive territory than negative. Many investors remained in a cautious mood on Monday, following an abrupt market shakeout in the previous trading week. The global sell-off was blamed on a series of factors, including the impact of a U.S.-China trade war, a spike in U.S. bond yields and nervousness ahead of earnings season. Europe's industrial and financial stocks led the losses Monday, both sectors down 0.7 percent. Britain's Hays was among the worst sectoral performers, with shares slipping over 3 percent after Kepler Cheuvreux cut its target price for the stock. Looking at another individual stock, Britain's Convatec tumbled to the bottom of the FTSE 250. This after CEO Paul Moraviec told the company's board he wished to retire. The global medical products and technologies firm also cut its full-year forecast on Monday, prompting shares to tank almost 30 percent. Sean Parker, founder of Napster and the first president of Facebook, pivoted to medical technology because he worried about how his social media and consumer internet products were impacting society. "You're not 100 percent sure if you're having a totally positive or totally negative impact in the world when you're working in consumer internet," Parker explained at the Wired25 conference in San Francisco on Monday. "You're spending a lot of time trying to make your products as addictive as possible. Transitioning to life sciences is incredibly refreshing, because you really feel as though the energy and time you are putting into it are helping people. It's about saving lives, really changing people's lives, advancing medicine." Parker said he could never have predicted the impact Facebook would have on today's world, pointing out the move to mobile made it "ubiquitous" and "rewire(d) the fabric of society." In 2016, he started the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) to develop better cancer treatments. "I, at some point, got a little bit frustrated with the monoculture of the consumer internet world," Parker said. "It feels somewhat unsatisfying to constantly make products for teenage girls.... You worry about what this effect may be having on their development and on society." It was refreshing to work with scientists instead of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, he said. "Every 22-year- old shows up at your doorstep with this sort of belief that they are going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, and they deserve to be a billionaire, and their company deserves an absolutely obscene valuation," Parker said. Scientists find the work itself "the true reward," Parker said. His new work reminds Parker of the early days working on the Internet when people like him were more interested in making products that were "great for the world." "Scientists have a level of humility where they have quite a bit of pride in their work, and being published is important, and being recognized by your peers is important, and having an impact on patients is important - but scientists aren't running around trying to get rich and don't have the same distorted expectations about how rich they are going to become," he pointed out. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi regime, didn't emerge from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month. Turkish media outlets have said that audio and video evidence prove that Khashoggi was killed by an elite Saudi "assassination squad," though the Saudi regime has pushed back against those allegations. Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene will no longer speak at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia, joining a number of Silicon Valley leaders to drop out of the high-profile event following the disappearance and suspected slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As global outrage has grown over Khashoggi's disappearance, tech executives including Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, AOL co-founder Steve Case and others have all dropped out of the so-called "Davos in the Desert," which brings together business leaders from all over the world. J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Ford Chairman Bill Ford, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman have all cancelled their attendance as well. A company spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that Greene will not attend the conference though offered no further comment. Although Silicon Valley has sought to distance itself from the Saudi government, many start-ups such as Uber, Slack, and WeWork have received money from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, primarily through SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund. The Public Investment fund co-hosts the FII conference, which is scheduled for Oct. 23 to 25 in Riyadh. There's about a 50-50 chance that tensions between the United States and Saudi Arabia significantly escalate, retired Adm. James Stavridis told CNBC on Monday. International outcry over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is already growing. On Monday, President Donald Trump said he would "immediately" send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Saudi Arabia's King Salman. Trump also suggested "rogue killers" might have murdered Khashoggi. "This is the first true foreign policy crisis of the administration," said Stavridis, former NATO supreme allied commander. King Salman has ordered an internal investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The journalist, a Saudi national, is a critic of the royal family and lives in the U.S. under self-imposed exile. "If we don't get answers as to what happened, this could get very inflamed," Stavridis said on "Power Lunch." "Who's the big winner? Iran, which will continue to press across the entire region and the potential for instability rises," he said. Stavridis called Pompeo's pending visit a good move. "We can't just let this go. That doesn't mean that we're going to end up absolutely shattering this vital relationship with the kingdom but we're going to have to have some answers before we take next steps, which could include some level of sanctions," he said. "That's the path that gets us down in flames." Those sanctions could start as diplomatic, such as expelling the Saudi ambassador, and could move to sanctions against Saudi companies doing business with U.S. firms and other companies doing business with the kingdom, Stavridis said. Another possibility is withdrawing military support for Saudi Arabia in Yemen, he added. However, it is too soon to have that conversation. 'We've got to get through a legitimate investigation first," Stavridis said. Fred Kempe, president and CEO of public policy group the Atlantic Council, said while it could turn into a foreign policy crisis, he pointed out that there has been a U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship since 1945. "Ever since then, one has looked the other way at some of the more controversial aspects of Saudi Arabia because there was just so much at stake with the relationship," he said on "Closing Bell." Therefore, Kempe thinks Pompeo will "find a way around this." "I was really interested in the president's term, 'rogue killers.' That may be the escape hatch," he added. Maine Maine is offering student debt relief to graduates who live and work in the state. Known for its lobster and lighthouses, Maine also has one of the oldest populations in the U.S. the median age in the state is 43, around five years older than the rest of the country. To attract younger workers, Maine is providing tax credits to student loan borrowers. "We don't have enough people in Maine to satiate our long-term workforce needs," said Nate Wildes, engagement director of Live and Work in Maine, which markets the campaign. "The fact that you have debt and the fact that you've graduated indicate you have something to offer to the economy." The state government shelled out $13.1 million in tax credits to 7,290 student loan borrowers in 2016, up from around $6.7 million to 4,666 borrowers in 2014. It's unsurprising that demand for relief is on the rise. Outstanding education debt in the U.S. now exceeds $1.5 trillion, posing a greater burden to Americans than auto or credit card debt. Average debt at graduation is currently around $30,000, up from $13,000 in the late 1990s. Maine's program called the Educational Opportunity Tax Credit began as a way to encourage residents to stay in the state after they graduated college and was available only to people who had studied there. It has since expanded to people who hail from any college in the U.S., so long as they graduated after 2016. The details of the program vary based on when you graduated and whether you are from Maine or elsewhere. But generally, people are able to subtract their total student loan payments over the year from their state income tax liability. So if you owe the state $2,000 in state income taxes and you paid $1,800 in student loans, you'll owe Maine just $200. The terms are more generous for people with STEM degrees. Borrowers from science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields can get a check from the state if the amount they paid for their student loans exceeds their state income tax liability for the year. For example, if an engineer paid $2,500 in student loans and owed just $2,000 in state income taxes, she'll receive $500 from Maine. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament Monday that while negotiations with the European Union have resulted in progress, the status of the Irish border has remained a critical stumbling block. Over the weekend, rumors arose that a full withdrawal deal had been put in place after a sudden unscheduled meeting was announced between Britain's Minister for Exiting the European Union, Dominic Raab, and the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier. However, it soon became clear that the sticking point of how to treat the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, which is a member of the European Union, had again caused talks to stall. Speaking in the House of Commons Monday afternoon, May insisted that the two sides were edging toward a deal: "I do not believe that the EU and the U.K. are far apart," May said, to a mix of jeers and cheers. May repeated to the U.K. Parliament that she would never accept a situation where there was a border in the Irish Sea, forcing Northern Ireland to be treated differently to the rest of the U.K. A separate "backstop" arrangement has been discussed which would ensure no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, even if no formal Brexit deal can be reached. Financial markets signal that the torrent of American CEOs pulling out next week's Saudi investment conference is not a great concern among global investors and traders, economist Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC on Monday. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman are among the latest who have decided not to attend as questions mount over the disappearance and suspected killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin reported on Monday, citing sources. At least another half dozen executives are also expected to bow out Monday, the sources said. Over the weekend, J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Ford Chairman Bill Ford canceled their planned trips to the Future Investment Initiative (FII), also known as "Davos in the Desert," scheduled for Oct. 23 to 25. Oil prices on Monday were building on modest gains on Friday after taking a beating in the global sell-off on Wednesday and Thursday. "You're talking about a major oil producer" in Saudi Arabia and only a small move in crude, El-Erian told "Squawk Box." "The market is telling you ... this thing is not going to be a big deal." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) walk after the official welcome ceremony for the Inter-Korean Summit on April 27, 2018 in Panmunjom, South Korea. North and South Korea agreed on Monday to begin reconnecting rail and road links, another step in an improving relationship that has raised U.S. concern about the possible undermining of its bid to press the North to give up its nuclear program. The agreement on transport links came during talks in the border village of Panmunjom aimed at following up on the third summit this year between South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, last month. "The South and North reached the agreement after sincerely discussing action plans to develop inter-Korean relations to a new, higher stage," said a joint statement released by the South's Unification Ministry. They agreed to hold ceremonies in late November or early December to inaugurate work on reconnecting the railways and roads that have been cut since the 1950-53 Korean War. The two sides will carry out joint field studies on the transport plans from late this month, according to the statement. They also agreed to discuss late this month a plan to pursue a bid to co-host the 2032 Olympic Games, and to explore in November ways to restart webcam reunions and video exchanges for families separated by the Korean War. Military officials from both sides are to meet "in the near future" to craft follow-on steps to a military pact struck at last month's summit. The accord includes the reinstatement of a joint military commission, the halting of military exercises, a no-fly zone near their border and the gradual removal of landmines and guard posts within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Meetings will also be held on reforestation on Oct. 22, and on health and disease prevention in late October at a joint liaison office opened last month in the North's border city of Kaesong. The talks were led by the South's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North's committee for peaceful reunification that handles cross-border affairs. "We are at a very critical moment for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the advancement of inter-Korean relations, and there's also a second North Korea-U.S. summit coming up," Cho told reporters before leaving for Panmunjom. In June, Kim met U.S. President Donald Trump in an unprecedented summit in Singapore and the two sides are arranging a second meeting, which Trump said was likely after U.S. congressional elections on Nov. 6. Despite the meeting between Kim and Trump, Washington is still pursuing a policy of "maximum pressure" to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles that Pyongyang says can hit the continental United States. President Donald Trump welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 20, 2018. Oil prices could surge to all-time highs if the U.S. imposes economic sanctions against Saudi Arabia, according to an opinion piece written by the general manager of Saudi Arabia-based Al Arabiya television. The warning from Al Arabiya's Turki Aldakhil comes amid heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the West, after journalist Jamal Khashoggi a U.S. resident and prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish authorities claim Khashoggi was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has fiercely denied that. "If U.S. sanctions are imposed on Saudi Arabia, we will be facing an economic disaster that would rock the entire world," Aldakhil wrote on Sunday. "It would lead to Saudi Arabia's failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure." International benchmark Brent crude traded at around $81.43 Monday morning, up around 1.2 percent, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $72.12, slightly more than 1 percent higher. As Saudi Arabia pushes back against international pressure that it played a role in the disappearance of a prominent journalist, analysts are warning there could be fallout for global oil markets. Relations between the kingdom and the some parts of the international community have deteriorated rapidly after Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who resided in the U.S., disappeared early this month after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey reportedly believes the Washington Post journalist and critic of the Saudi administration was deliberately killed inside the building and his body removed. Riyadh has dismissed the claims. The stock market in Saudi Arabia plunged on Sunday, and analysts believe oil could be the next to be affected. Robert Carnell, chief economist head of research at ING, said the incident "opens a new source of risk." "Any Saudi retaliation will presumably mainly come through reduced oil supply and higher prices. That won't help market sentiment," he wrote in a note on Monday. Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Monday ordered an internal probe into the unexplained disappearance of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a joint Turkish-Saudi team was set to search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he was last seen on Oct. 2. A Turkish diplomatic source said investigators would inspect the consulate on Monday afternoon, following delays last week when the two countries agreed to work together to find out what happened to Khashoggi, a critic of the Kingdom's policies. "The King has ordered the Public Prosecutor to open an internal investigation into the Khashoggi matter based on the info from the joint team in Istanbul," a Saudi official, not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters. Asked when the public prosecutor could make an announcement about the investigation, the official said: "He was instructed to work quickly." Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, disappeared after entering the consulate to get marriage documents. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed, while Saudi Arabia has denied the allegations. Workers at an oil facility near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hasan Jamali | AP The oil market is on edge after Saudi Arabia issued a combative statement that some are interpreting as a veiled threat to wield crude as a weapon in the ongoing scandal over missing dissident Jamal Khashoggi. The question is whether Saudi Arabia the world's largest oil exporter, a close ally of President Donald Trump and the de facto leader of OPEC would take that extraordinary step, one it has not taken since the Arab oil embargo of 1973-1974. To be sure, the current leadership in Riyadh is facing unprecedented scrutiny over allegations that the kingdom ordered the abduction of Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist. Turkey says it believes that Saudi agents detained and killed Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia denies those claims. The scandal has caused businesses, influential individuals and media companies to drop out of this month's Future Investment Initiative, a conference in Riyadh meant to attract investment in the kingdom. The United States and European nations have threatened punishment if Saudi Arabia is found to be behind Khashoggi's alleged murder. That has caused Saudi Arabia to react forcefully. Here's why Riyadh's response is roiling the oil market. What exactly did Saudi Arabia say to worry the market? In interview excerpts released Saturday, Trump told the CBS program "60 Minutes" that the kingdom would face "severe punishment" if the allegations against it turn out to be true. This came after U.S. lawmakers raised the prospect of applying sanctions against Saudi individuals meant to punish human rights abuses. The following morning, the Saudi Press Agency issued a statement saying Riyadh rejects all threats of economic sanctions, political pressure and false accusations, adding that it will respond to any action with "greater action." What caught the eye of many oil market watchers was a reminder in the statement that "the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy." Some took that as a veiled threat that Saudi Arabia could withhold supply and let oil prices rise. A few hours later, the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., tweeted a clarification of the statement, saying it appreciated those who are not jumping to conclusions, including the United States. @SaudiEmbassyUSA: To help clarify recently issued Saudi statement, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia extends it appreciation to all, including the US administration, for refraining from jumping to conclusions on the ongoing investigation. Oil prices initially rose on Monday, but backed down after Trump said he spoke to Saudi Arabia's King Salman and was dispatching Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh. Trump also suggested that "rogue killers" could have been responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance. Why does this matter? Saudi Arabia produces about 10.5 million barrels of oil per day, equal to more than 10 percent of global crude demand. It exports about 7 million barrels a day of oil, depending on the month. Given those figures, the kingdom is a central pillar of the global oil market at any time. But its influence is especially pronounced right now. That's because the Trump administration is aiming to wipe out oil exports from Iran, OPEC's third-biggest partner and a longtime enemy of both Saudi Arabia and the United States. Trump restored sanctions on Iran in May and gave oil buyers until Nov. 4 to stop importing Iranian crude. Saudi Arabia is one of the few OPEC nations with enough spare capacity to offset the loss of Iranian barrels. The Trump administration is relying on the kingdom to increase output and blunt the upward pressure on oil prices caused by its Iran policy. Brent crude recently hit a nearly four-year high above $86 a barrel, largely fueled by uncertainty over the impact of the Iran sanctions and concerns about Saudi Arabia's ability to fill the gap. Why might Saudi Arabia pull the trigger? Under the rule of King Salman and his son, the king-in-waiting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has taken the world by surprise several times with a bold and unapologetic approach to foreign policy. In August, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland called on Saudi Arabia to release a women's rights activist. In response, the Saudis recalled their ambassador to Canada, expelled the nation's top diplomat to the kingdom, froze new business ties with Canada and forced Saudi students to return home from the North American country. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also orchestrated a swift, unexpected embargo against their neighbor, the tiny natural gas-rich country Qatar, in June 2017. Despite international pressure to lift diplomatic and economic barriers, the Saudis and Emiratis have kept the embargo in place. At home, Crown Prince Mohammed oversaw the detainment of hundreds of influential Saudis last year, including members of the royal family. The kingdom portrayed the campaign as a crackdown on corruption, but many analysts believe it was also a move to consolidate power. In short, it remains to be seen how far the current leadership of Saudi Arabia would go if faced with a severe punishment like economic sanctions or a refusal by the U.S. Congress to approve weapons sales to the kingdom. "I think it's unlikely but I also think it's not outside of the realm of possibility," said John Kilduff, founding partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital. What would stop Saudi Arabia? Masayoshi Son speaks during a joint announcement with Toyota Motor to make new venture to develop mobility services in Tokyo in October 2018. Global concerns about a missing Saudi journalist are dragging down one of Japan's largest tech giants. Conglomerate SoftBank saw its stock fall by 7.27 percent on Monday by the end of the trading day in Tokyo. The company, which has reshaped the global technology landscape with investments in companies such as co-working space operator WeWork, Indian e-commerce heavyweight Flipkart, and ride-hailing giants Uber, Didi Chuxing, Grab and Ola, has close ties to the Saudi Arabia government. In fact, a significant amount of SoftBank's investment capital comes from the country, which is now under withering global scrutiny amid concerns about the disappearance and suspected killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Analysts attributed the Monday stock move to the questions swirling about how other countries and investors will respond to the kingdom. "We are seeing a massive backlash right now on Tech companies and investors who are receiving funding from the Saudi Arabian government," Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder at Constellation Research, told CNBC in an email. Attendees look at Sony Corp. PlayStation 4 (PS4) game consoles on display during the 2018 Taipei Game Show in Taipei, Taiwan, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018. Nomura analyst Yu Okazaki said in a note published Friday that Sony's business model is shifting to focus on content, citing the good start of new PlayStation 4 game "Spider-Man," and movie "Venom," both of which are produced by the company's content studios. And expectations have been rising quickly. Just three months ago, the average price target for the stock among analysts was 6,587.27 yen. Sony shares are already up over 22 percent so far in 2018. On Friday, Nomura upped its price target for Sony's stock to 8,000 Japanese yen ($71.43), marking a more than 27 percent rise from Monday's opening price. Last month, Credit Suisse upgraded its outlook on the shares from "neutral" to "outperform." The average price target from analysts on Sony's shares is 7,730.50 yen, which if realized, would represent a 23.7 percent increase, according to data from Reuters. Investors are getting increasingly bullish on Japanese technology giant Sony thanks to its booming PlayStation gaming business, which could help propel the company's earnings to a new record level. "Strong performance in these content-related areas means that near-term earnings have probably been better than we had previously expected," Okazaki said in the note. The analyst added that a relatively stronger dollar has been "a concern" for hardware manufacturers such as Sony, but the company is likely to maintain growth by "sticking to its high value-added strategy." The games business, which accounts for over 24 percent of total revenues, grew 35.6 percent year-on-year in the three months that ended on June 30. Sony has also seen growth in its image sensor business, which sells to smartphone makers for cameras within the handsets. High expectations for those business have led analysts to forecast that the Japanese giant could see a record operating profit for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. Analysts polled by Reuters projected that Sony would report an operating profit of 794.71 billion yen, topping the record 729.9 billion yen reported in the last fiscal year. Still, there are some risks to the business. A slowdown in the smartphone market could hamper demand for components that Sony makes like image sensors and increased competition in other categories could weigh on the stock. "Sony faces intense rivalry in each of its product lines including television, game platform and smartphone and services across the world. Failure to create new products that are in sync with customer demand may reduce sales of the company's products," Zack's Investment Research said in a note published on Oct. 9. "Each of these markets witnesses stiff price wars, continuous product innovations and changing customer preferences, which put immense pressure on Sony to come up with better products so as to sustain the competition," the note said. The co-founders of Back Market. Courtesy of Back Market. 9. Tiller Systems Global Headcount: 145 Headquarters: Paris Since 2014, Tiller Systems has been assisting various restauranteurs and merchants in over 30 countries. Its main aim is to offer a cash register for this increasingly-digital world one that takes and cashes orders, along with analyzing real-time transactions and optimizing the process of an order. Inside the business, Tiller's motto is "Go big or go home," with the group looking to recruit the most ambitious, talented and fun employees to join their team. Courtesy of Tiller Systems 8. Aircall Global Headcount: 150+ Headquarters: Paris To aid sales and support teams, Aircall has developed advanced cloud-based call center software for businesses that integrates a combination of services, including messaging platforms making everyday communication tasks with clients more seamless. The company's software has been utilized by over 3,000 businesses, including Uber, Vice and Tiller Systems. For those employed here, staff are entitled to health coverage, competitive salary with a gym membership, and annual offsite visits to "exotic locations" with other team members. Courtesy of Aircall 7. NAVYA Group Global Headcount: 197 Headquarters: Villeurbanne, near Lyon Describing itself as a "pioneer and specialist in the autonomous vehicle market," NAVYA is all about improving what transport is on offer to cities around the world, in a sustainable, fluid manner. At present, NAVYA has two types of autonomous vehicles: the AUTONOM shuttle and the robot-taxi AUTONOM cab. The shuttles are already in service in parts of Asia, Europe and the U.S. NAVYA describes its teams as "passionate, dynamic and creative," with jobs available in many arenas including commercial, maintenance, and research and development. Photo credit: Michael GOUNON. Courtesy of NAVYA Group 6. Wemanity Global Headcount: 250+ Headquarters: Paris Since 2013, Wemanity has been dedicated to uncovering the hidden potential a company has, by offering expertise that helps transform a business into a more responsive, innovative one. With a desire to make businesses more "agile" with the use of its own model framework, Wemanity offers services in several areas including training, coaching, and operations. For company workers, each employee's main purpose is to spark change for corporate clients, in the hope of making businesses more future-proof. 5. Blade Shadow Global Headcount: 100+ Headquarters: Paris Ever since 2015, Blade has been committed to establishing the "PC of the future," that doesn't have physical hardware constricting it. The first PC product it debuted was "Shadow," which is entirely based in the cloud and helps the gaming community, in terms of accessibility. With offices in California and Paris, Blade describes its team as highly skilled and passionate about what they do; with the tech firm offering work in several areas, including engineering, infrastructure, and marketing. Courtesy of Shadow (Blade Group) 4. Everoad (ex-Convargo) Global Headcount: 50+ Headquarters: Paris Starting out in 2016, this group is all about advancing freight transport across the European continent, by looking to connect carriers and shippers in real time. In January 2018, the company announced that it was changing its name from "Convargo" to "Everoad," with the new title reflecting its relationship to continuity and the road itself. At the start of each week, Everoad employees gather for an "all hands meeting" which aims to reflect on what has happened over the past week, and what to look forward to, while on Wednesdays, everyone has lunch together. Tweet 3. Qonto Global Headcount: 75+ Headquarters: Paris Launching its product in 2017, Qonto is all about establishing the "best banking service" for small and medium-sized enterprises. Already, Qonto has over 25,000 business customers and has raised 32 million euros ($37 million) with the help of top venture capitalists (VCs) and business angels, like Peter Thiel's Valar. For those at the firm, work perks include monthly parties and dinners, a new Macbook Pro, and a Qonto Mastercard, to cover expenses. Courtesy of Qonto 2. Snips Global Headcount: 50+ Headquarters: Paris At the core, Snips offers an AI-powered voice platform designed for connected devices; which gives firms the chance to add voice recognition to the services and goods that they offer. Snips has raised more than $20 million from leading VCs in France and in the States, since being founded 2013. The tech firm describes its team as a community that embodies several values, including curiosity, grit, purpose and inclusiveness. For employees who work at its head office, benefits include language and sports classes, relocation support, free lunches and full health insurance. 1. PayFit Global Headcount: 100+ Headquarters: Paris Launched in 2015, PayFit aims to tackle the everyday stress surrounding payroll management solutions, with it currently offering a service that helps small and medium-sized enterprises manage payroll, absences, expense reports, time off, and more. The company's payroll and employee management tool has garnered the trust of 2,500 firms, including Konbini, Gameloft and OpenClassrooms. Inside the company, PayFit offers a cooperative, lively environment for its employees, with karaoke, BBQ and soccer tournaments being regularly seen on the agenda. President Donald Trump said Monday morning that he would send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "immediately" to meet with the Saudi king as the international outcry continued to grow over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump tweet The president also said King Salman denied knowledge of anything regarding the writer's fate. "His denial to me could not have been stronger," Trump told reporters later Monday morning. The president also suggested that "rogue killers" might have murdered Khashoggi, a Saudi national and critic of the royal family who was living in the U.S. under self-imposed exile. Trump said Pompeo would be departing for the kingdom on Monday morning. The State Department confirmed the top diplomat would be leaving Monday. "At the request of President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today. The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the department said in a statement. The White House didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for further comment on the president's tweet. In a readout of the king's call with Trump, the Saudi government said the president "praised the joint Saudi-Turkish cooperation in the investigation into the disappearance of Jamal bin Ahmed Khashoggi and the keenness of the Kingdom's leadership to clarify all relevant facts." Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter, and a standoff with the royal family could create turbulence for the global economy, particularly in crude markets. The Trump administration is relying on Saudi Arabia to pump more oil to compensate for the loss of Iranian supplies due to U.S. sanctions on Iran, OPEC's third largest crude producer. The sanctions are poised to remove about 1 million barrels a day from the market, or roughly 1 percent of global oil demand. Oil prices initially rose on Monday after Saudi Arabia vowed on Sunday to retaliate against any sanctions or other measures taken against the kingdom. The statement raises concerns that Saudi Arabia could respond to international punishment by allowing oil prices to drift higher. Crude futures turned negative following Trump's tweet and his comment regarding "rogue killers." Trump's tweet came after King Salman ordered an investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance. The journalist, a critic of the Saudi royal family who wrote columns for The Washington Post, was last seen Oct. 2, when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. While Salman is the official head of state, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has exerted extraordinary influence over the country's defense, intelligence and economic policy and strategy. The Turkish government believes Khashoggi was murdered. Turkey has reportedly informed the U.S. that it has video and audio evidence showing the journalist was killed inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia denies wrongdoing, a point Trump stressed in his Monday morning tweet. "Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen,'" Trump wrote, noting again that Khashoggi is not an American. The U.S. is "a long way" from taking any "punitive action" against Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi any time soon, a former ambassador said Monday. "For President Trump, it is a difficult balancing act," Nicholas Burns, who served under Republican and Democratic administrations as ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Greece, said on CNBC's "Squawk Alley." "He doesn't want to end the relationship with Saudi Arabia," he added. "But on the other hand, you have American values to uphold." Burns gave his view on the tensions between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the U.S. shortly after Trump told reporters that the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, may have been murdered by "rogue killers." He added in the same remarks outside the White House that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be dispatched to Saudi Arabia that day. "The president just hasn't been consistent," Burns said. Turkish officials have reportedly claimed that Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi-backed hit men at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi has been missing since he entered the consulate on Oct. 2. He had publicly criticized Saudi rulers and was living in self-imposed exile in the U.S., but reportedly needed to pick up a document for his wedding at the consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia denies harming Khashoggi, insisting that he left the building shortly after he arrived. "This is a very serious thing and we're looking at it in a very serious manner," Trump told reporters while traveling in Ohio last week. But on Monday, Trump announced in a tweet that he had spoken to "the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.'" Trump tweet The president has previously made multiple references to the fact that Khashoggi was not a U.S. citizen, and told reporters on Monday that Saudi King Salman's denial of any knowledge or involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance "could not have been stronger." Some critics have interpreted those statements as a signal that Trump is reluctant to pursue any form of retaliation against the world's biggest oil exporter. "The president needs to speak to both sides of the equation," Burns said. "I hope there will be some punitive action," he added, referring to a letter proffered Wednesday by a bipartisan group of senators that triggered a probe into whether the U.S. should slap sanctions on the kingdom. "But I think we're a long way from that," Burns said, "because the Saudis aren't likely to come clean on what happened." U.S. government debt yields rose across the board Monday, rekindling fears higher borrowing costs would slow the economy. Buy rates were rising again Monday with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note higher at around 3.158 percent Monday morning, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at 3.335 percent. Yields rise as bond prices fall. The uptick in Treasury yields Monday came nearly a week after the rate on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note topped its highest level since 2011 above 3.26 percent. A number of market analysts blamed the rapid rise in rates for a surge in volatility across the broader market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both shedding more than 4 percent last week. Rates retreated later last week as investors sought the relative safety of the government debt market, bidding up bond prices and sending yields lower from their highs. "There are only a handful of moments in the Treasury market in which the price action itself is the story and the experience of the last several weeks represents such an occurrence," wrote Ian Lyngen and Jon Hill, rates strategists at BMO Capital Markets. "Investors offered a collective 'ah ha!' as it relates to Fed hikes, growth, and supply [but] we continue to suspect something more pedestrian is at hand," the strategist added. "By this, we simply mean that this year's 'big trade' was timing the backup in long-end yields." America has a retirement savings crisis. Nearly half of working-age households can't continue their current standard of living in retirement, according to data from the U.S. Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. People are living longer, and traditional pension plans are vanishing, hurting the chances for people to save enough to live comfortably in retirement. What's more, employer-sponsored 401(k) plans are falling short in helping people save for retirement. According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, more than a third of private-sector workers don't have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Of those, only about half take advantage of it. And many of those who do take advantage of a 401(k) plan fall victim to high fees, confusing fund lineups and lack of clarity around what the impact of their investment decisions will be in the long run. The powers that be in Washington must take action to prevent the retirement crisis from getting even worse. Sadly, sweeping retirement regulation changes may not be realistic. We saw this recently with the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule. That rule required retirement-plan advisors to act in investors' best interests, and it was struck down by the courts. Many in the retirement industry fight for policy changes like the fiduciary rule, but when revenue is at stake for companies that don't benefit from regulatory changes, their lobbying and political support arms win. Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. 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. New York University professor and global economist Nouriel Roubini testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking last week, saying cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are the mother of all scams and bubbles. He followed that assertion up by calling blockchain, the technology unpinning bitcoin, "the most over-hyped and least useful technology in human history." Today, Roubini doubled down on his claims in a column published on CNBC.com in which he said blockchain has promised to cure the world's ills through decentralization but is "just a ruse to separate retail investors from their hard-earned real money." Blockchain, which can be used to create a decentralized, permissioned electronic ledger for all kinds of business transactions, "has not even improved upon the standard electronic spreadsheet, which was invented in 1979," Roubini wrote in the op-ed column. "There is no institution under the sun bank, corporation, non-governmental organization, or government agency that would put its balance sheet or register of transactions, trades, and interactions with clients and suppliers on public decentralized peer-to-peer permissionless ledgers," Roubini wrote. "There is no good reason why such proprietary and highly valuable information should be recorded publicly." Roubini is known for having been one of the few economists who predicted the 2008 financial crisis. Yet, after witnessing bitcoin's fall in value over the past year, Roubini said it and other cryptocurrencies represent the mother of all market bubbles, enticing investors, "especially folks with zero financial literacy individuals who could not tell the difference between stocks and bonds" into a frenzy of bitcoin and crypto buying. Does Roubini understand cryptocurrency and blockchain? Roubini's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee was "certainly entertaining and will get lot of media attention," said Vipul Goyal, an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). "However, it's unclear to me if he is really a technology expert and understands the world of crypto," he added. Forrester Research Goyal pointed to leading tech vendors such as Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle who are investing heavily in blockchain and have rolled out blockchain-as-a-service offerings (BaaS) that let businesses use the cloud to create permissioned blockchains for business partners to use. Prior to becoming a professor at CMU, Goyal worked as a Microsoft researcher for seven years. He noted that while he was employed there, Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, spoke multiple times about his vision for blockchain. "Surely, these are not naive gullible people which Roubini talked about," Goyal said. Created in 2009, a single bitcoin's value as a universal digital currency skyrocketed in 2017 and early 2018, reaching $19,666 at its apex last year. Over the past nine months, however, bitcoin's value has tumbled more than 65% to about $6,500 today. Roubini called the collapse the "crypto-apocalypse." At the same time bitcoin's value was plummeting, the technology underpinning it was growing in popularity as a business transaction tool, enabling a "permissioned" or private electronic ledger that is both immutable and transparent to anyone authorized to view it in a group. Blockchain has been piloted and rolled out for cross-border financial transactions, as a platform for supply chain management and as the basis for a new "trust economy." Even healthcare facilities are investigating the technology as a way to securely exchange patient healthcare information. In some ways, blockchain is a victim of its own success, Goyal said, noting that blockchain was taken "public" too soon. "Wall Street and financial investors started tracking it on a daily basis and that became the measure of success rather than how the underlying technology was developing," Goyal said. Any disruptive technology takes several years to play out, become mature and find its place in the world, he said. The internet, Goyal noted, needed a decade to gain traction, and AI took even more time. Even cloud computing took several years to catch on, he said. "I think one should be patient and give [blockchain] time to mature rather than pass a sweeping judgement without any technical understanding just based on the price of cryptocurrencies," Goyal said. Martha Bennett, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, said that while blockchain is not unique in its ability to securely exchange data among disparate parties, other technologies lack key blockchain attributes. For example, blockchain-based architectures provide the basis for exchanging data and automating processes in a shared infrastructure, without any single party being in charge, Bennett noted. "This, combined with the innovation opportunities inherent in the tokenization of digital and physical assets, means that we can build new business and trust models," Bennett said via email. "However, we need to design these first; evidence to date suggests that this is going to be the hardest part." FinTech is the real revolution Roubini was adamant, however, arguing that the real revolution in financial services is FinTech and it has nothing to do with Blockchain or crypto. "It is a revolution built on artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things," he said. Thousands of businesses such as PayPal, Venmo and Square use FinTech to disrupt every aspect of financial intermediation involving hundreds of millions of daily users in the US. Around the globe, billions more use similar low-cost, efficient digital payment systems such as Alypay and WeChat Pay in China; UPI-based systems in India; and M-Pesa in Kenya and Africa, according to Roubini. Maersk A blockchain solution from IBM and Maersk can help manage and track the paper trail of tens of millions of shipping containers across the world by digitizing the supply chain process. "And financial institutions are making precise lending decisions in seconds rather than weeks, thanks to a wealth of online data on individuals and firms," Roubini said. "With time, such data-driven improvements in credit allocation could even eliminate cyclical credit driven booms and busts." James Wester, IDC's research director Worldwide Blockchain Strategies, said he read all 37 pages of Roubini's Senate testimony and while some of his criticisms are "slightly overstated," they're not off-base especially the ones concerning bitcoin, blockchain and financial services. Blockchain and other cryptocurrencies are currently less efficient than existing solutions for clearing and settling a high volume of transactions, Wester noted. For example, Roubini accurately pointed out that because its proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism requires nodes (servers) to complete a complicated mathematical problem as a way of authenticating new data entries, bitcoin only allows for five to seven transactions a second. "It is secure so far but at the cost of no scalability," Roubini told legislators. "And since its mining is now massively centralized as an oligopoly of miners now control its mining its security is at risk." IBM After piloting a blockchain-based supply chain tracking system, Walmart and Sam's Club are telling suppliers to get their product data into the system so they can begin tracking produce from farm to store. The deadline: September 2019. Industry groups, including the Ethereum Foundation, have taken on the challenge of increasing the scalability and performance of blockchains. "But, he [Roubini] insists on using a very narrow definition of 'blockchain' that discounts implementations and use cases that are already seeing some traction and success," Wester said via email. "For instance, he says private permissioned blockchains are 'not truly a 'blockchain.'" Wester took the biggest exception to Roubini's implication that everyone involved in blockchain is a charlatan. "There are certainly people who are selling blockchain as a panacea for just about everything that plagues humanity, but even within the community of technology providers, programmers and more who are involved in blockchain projects those people are not taken seriously," Wester said. "There are also plenty of thoughtful, smart people involved in blockchain across multiple industries who are looking to apply the technology even as Professor Roubini defines it to solve some interesting problems," he continued. "It might be more fruitful to engage them in good faith." Raabs unscheduled meeting with Barnier yesterday ended in lack of consensus There were a flurry of crisis meetings that led to speculation Daily Express But its claimed that Raab played for time Guardian Barnier says key issues remain open Daily Mail The border is the crunch Guardian Monday meeting cancelled owing to lack of progress The Sun Heres a timeline FT Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, travelled to Brussels yesterday for an unscheduled meeting with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, amid speculation that officials on both sides had reached agreement over the so-called Irish backstop. But Theresa Mays hopes of sealing a deal at the summit in Brussels that starts on Wednesday were left on a knife-edge when both sides declared that there had been no consensus. Mr Raab travelled to Brussels yesterday to try to find a solution on the backstop. Olly Robbins, Mrs Mays leading official, and his EU counterparts had the outlines of a technical agreement yesterday afternoon, The Times understands. But the prime minister and Mr Raab face a difficult task persuading several members of the cabinet and many Conservative backbenchers that the backstop does not lock Britain into an indefinite customs union with the EU. The Times Editorials: Only compromise can break the deadlock The Times We need a time-limit agreement for the temporary customs union The Sun EU had expected May to announce deal outline as soon as today. But she refused to endorse it. Is it unsellable? Theresa May refused to endorse a draft Brexit deal negotiated by UK and EU officials on Sunday night amid fears that her Cabinet would fail to back the plan.On Sunday night, it was unclear whether Downing Street had effectively put the talks on hold to allow the Prime Minister more time to win over Brexiteers in the Cabinet. It may also be designed to wring final concessions over the language in the agreement from the Brussels negotiators. However, there is also growing concern in both Westminster and Brussels that the Prime Minister may have been warned that the deal is unsellable and that she may not have the political backing to sign up to the blueprint at this weeks summit. This would leave the talks in crisis. Daily Telegraph Could this lead to total breakdown? FT A leaked memo suggested May would agree to customs union deal Daily Telegraph Davidson and Mundell prepared to resign if deal means border down the Irish Sea Daily Telegraph Davis had called for rebellion against customs solution Daily Telegraph He said the cabinet should exert its collective authority against Chequers, as nine are considering their positions Guardian May faces cabinet mutiny Daily Mail Johnson says its time to scrap backstop Daily Express May to host lunches and dinners for Brexiter MPs over next two days The Times Starmer says parliament should scrutinise any backstop agreement Guardian Meanwhile, Bavaria exemplifies increasing German political fragmentation Leopold Traugott, The Times >Today: ToryDiay: The backstop threatens the Union. Davidson knows it. And May cant afford to lose her >Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Hancock wants the backstop to be temporary and time-limited Johnson: We are entering the moment of crisis. Its time to stand up to the EU bullies. May needs to talk tough like Trump Tim Newark, Daily Express Mays way is looking like a disaster Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun Harper: The EU has interpreted the backstop to suit itself There comes a point when you have to stand up to bullies. After more than two years of being ruthlessly pushed around by the EU, it is time for the UK to resist. With painful politeness, we have agreed to the EUs timetable for discussions. We have consented to hand over huge quantities of taxpayers money 39bn of it. We have quite properly volunteered to protect the rights of EU nationals in the UK. So far we have nothing to show for our generosity and understanding. We are now entering the moment of crisis. Matters cannot go on as they are. In presuming to change the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom, the EU is treating us with naked contempt. Like some chess player triumphantly forking our king and our queen, the EU Commission is offering the UK government what appears to be a binary choice. Daily Telegraph Later this week, the Prime Minister travels to Brussels for a meeting of the European Council, where Brexit takes centre stage. One of the important issues which still needs to be resolved is ensuring that Northern Ireland continues to be treated as an integral part of the United Kingdom and that businesses in Northern Ireland have unfettered access to the rest of the United Kingdoms internal market. It will also be necessary to agree with the other European countries, including the Republic of Ireland, arrangements for ensuring that the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic remains the personnel-free, barrier-free entity that it is today. Some are of the opinion that maintaining this state of affairs at the border cannot be solved with a Canada-style Free Trade Agreement. However, this view is mistaken for several reasons. The EU has interpreted Decembers backstop to suit itself, effectively demanding a border in the Irish Sea in what amounts to a de facto annexation of Northern Ireland by the EU in a flagrant breach of both the Belfast Agreement as well as the territorial and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom. Daily Express We dont gamble with the Union Nigel Dodds, The Times Brexiter cabinet members to meet today, chaired by Leadsom Brexiter cabinet members have called a meeting to be chaired by the Commons leader, Andrea Leadsom, to discuss their next move on Monday. Previous attendees of such meetings have included the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, the international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, the work and pensions secretary, Esther McVey, and the transport secretary, Chris Grayling. Guardian Backbenchers call for Davis to become interim leader Furious Tories openly called for David Davis to become interim leader yesterday in protest at Theresa Mays Brexit strategy. Backbencher Nadine Dorries said it may be time to get Mrs May out of the way and let the ex-Brexit Secretary do the top job. It came after DD stunned Downing Street by calling on Cabinet Ministers to rise up in a bid to kill off Mrs Mays soft Brexit plan. Separately, allies of Mr Davis questioned Boris Johnsons ability to be PM. One friend said: People realise Boris cant win now. Theres no way he can get through the Parliamentary party. Meanwhile, Next boss Simon Wolfson denied a No Deal would push up clothing prices in the UK, saying it wouldnt be a disaster. The Sun Comment: Dont underestimate Davis Matthew dAncona, Guardian Much of this is his fault Peter Oborne, Daily Mail No deal plans to be start being put into effect by end of month The Times has learnt that senior civil servants have warned ministers that whatever happens this week, the governments contingency plans for Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal agreed must start being put into effect by the end of the month. Ministers have been told to start implementing plans for a no-deal Brexit within weeks as last-ditch talks in Brussels between Britain and the EU broke up after little more than an hour. Rather than wait for the conclusion of talks in Brussels, or the ratification of any deal by MPs, the work of stockpiling medicines and telling businesses to begin registering for new customs processes must begin shortly, ministers have concluded. Those involved in the discussions said that if the government delayed taking action to prepare for a no-deal Brexit beyond this month, it faced being under-prepared by March 29 next year, when Britain officially leaves the EU. The Times Both sides signal a speed up to no deal planning The Sun DUP thinks no deal likely after hostile exchange with Barnier Daily Express Treasury asks high-street banks to assess their risks in case of no deal The Times Flint and other Labour MPs say theyll back May rather than no deal Senior Labour MPs have publicly vowed to back Theresa Mays Brexit deal for the first time, as the Prime Minister faces a battle to keep her own party together ahead of a crucial Commons vote. Caroline Flint, Gareth Snell and Ruth Smeeth all ruled out voting against the agreement Mrs May wins from Brussels if the alternative is a no-deal Brexit. Their votes could be the difference between the Prime Minister getting her plans through the House of Commons and her dealing failing altogether, which some have claimed would mean the end of her leadership. Labours official position is that the party will only support the final Brexit deal in the so-call meaningful vote in Parliament if it passes their six tests. Daily Telegraph >Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Peoples Vote campaigners and some MPs are patronising and offensive to Leave voters, says Flint Conservative Brexiters join with DUP to call for cut to air passenger duty Tory Brexiteers and the DUP are joining forces to demand the Chancellor slash air passenger duty (APD) in half, the Sun can reveal. They claim a 1.5billion cut to the levy on holidays will get Britain ready for take-off after Brexit. And Ulster unionists in the DUP will take their demand to the doors of the Treasury in another high profile attack on Theresa Mays Government which they prop up in the Commons. Dozens of Tories are believed to support the call. APD has soared from just 10 in 1994 to 78 on one-way economy ticket for long-haul journeys. Campaigners claim this can make up nearly a third of the ticket price for some flights to Dubai. The Sun Hunt speaks of grave concern about Khashoggi And he will ask EU to put chemical weapons sanctions on Russia Daily Express Williamson threatens to close RAF base in Trusss constituency unless she scraps defence cuts Reports that a missing Arab journalist has been murdered in Turkey are of grave concern, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. Audio recordings of 59-year-old Jamal Khashoggi, who hasnt been seen since October 2, may have captured his death on his Apple Watch, reports claimed last week. Today Mr Hunt expressed British concerns for the journalist for the first time with a joint statement with other European counterparts. He, the foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian of France and Heiko Maas of Germany said today: Defending freedom of expression and a free press and ensuring the protection of journalists are key priorities for Germany, the United Kingdom and France. They demanded a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened and make sure those who are responsible are held to account. The Sun Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson threatened to close a key RAF base in a blazing row with a fellow Cabinet minister. He told Liz Truss to her face that he would axe RAF Marham in her Norfolk constituency unless she scrapped defence cuts. The feud between the two has been going on for months and shows no sign of letting up. Last month, Mr Williamson told Miss Truss he intended to ban television cameras invited to RAF Marham to publicise a visit by her. Marham is the new home of the RAF and Royal Navy F-35 Lightning, the most advanced fighter jet in the world. The first planes arrived in Norfolk in June. The face to face spending clash between Mr Williamson and Miss Truss, both seen as possible Tory leaders, took place in the summer. He made similar threats aimed at her in other meetings with Ministry of Defence officials. Daily Mail Truss recalculation when justice secretary has led to mass NHS payout The Times More Conservatives Duncan Smith says UC must have more money Daily Telegraph Will there be a policy to cap ground rents? FT Could budget include VAT for private school fees? The Sun Hammond should think about HS2 costs Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail McVey says theyre tantamount to a blank cheque Daily Mail We cannot forget air pollution Nus Ghani, The Times Virtue-signal environmentalism is often regressive Robert Halfon, The Times >Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Duncan Smith. Universal Credit must be funded properly to be transformative >Today: Chloe Westleys column: In praise of the small business people I met, who help create the wealth which keeps public services going Foster faces down criticism and says shes staying as leader Whitehall says Claim of Right doesnt give Sturgeon mandate for IndyRef2 Herald Arlene Foster has told internal opponents that she will not be walking away from the DUP leadership after a series of criticisms of the party emerged at an unusually forthright meeting of the DUP executive in Omagh last week. Over recent weeks there have been rumours of a potential challenge to Mrs Foster before the partys annual conference at the end of next month. Power within the party has shifted from Stormont where Mrs Foster has now not been first minister for almost two years to Westminster, while the tide of revelations from the RHI Inquiry have exposed problem after problem in how the party has been run. Belfast News Letter Labour Thornberry talks of fundamental reform of UC rather than getting rid of it The Times Maybe McDonnell isnt so committed to workers shares? FT >Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Thornberry defends Labours six Brexit tests News in Brief This week, the selection process for the London Assembly opens for candidates across London, and it should be a moment for the party to reflect on how we engage with Londoners, a breed of voter that is becoming increasingly tricky for Conservatives. Those of us involved with local associations across the city know how hard fought the recent local elections were for many councils in London, whilst the last General Election left a bitter taste in the mouth for members across Battersea, Kensington and Twickenham. As CCHQ calls for a 50/50 split of our Parliamentary candidates, now is also the time for the Conservatives to look at equal representation of our London Assembly nominees too. At the Tory Reform Group, weve been doing some number crunching recently, and it seems that there is still much to be done in terms of Conservatives properly representing Londoners and the gender split up of the city as a whole. The Tory Reform Group found that since 2000, there have only been five women Conservative London Assembly Members. Those five served for only eight out of a total of 46 seats per term, which means that Conservative women were only represented for 17 per cent of the total time of the London Assembly. Elizabeth Howlett represented Merton & Wandsworth for two terms (2000-2008), Angie Bray for three for West Central (2000-2012), and Victoria Borwick, a list candidate standing for two terms (2008-2015) with two further candidates replacing her Kemi Badenoch and Susan Hall. With Kemi now the MP for Saffron Walden, and leading on the candidates drive for CCHQ, now is the time more than ever to assess whether this is really the right legacy for the party that has given Britain its only two female Prime Ministers. All of these excellent women have done a great deal to empower more Conservative women in the Capital to stand for council and GLA roles, and many of them continue to serve the party in various roles across both local and national politics. Now is not the time for complacency, and this shouldnt deflect from what remains a pretty dismal record for the Party overall. We need to consider what more can be done by Associations to remedy this gender imbalance. Firstly, this reflects declining female membership within the Party itself events are often in the evening, which makes it difficult for those with young children to attend, whilst Association executives are typically rather male heavy. Change is afoot. With London associations selecting in target seats, there are reports of concerted efforts to have more women represented on selection panels, and of course excellent organisations such as Women2Win and the Conservative Womens Organisation are making strides in supporting potential candidates. But more must be done. As the selection process for the London Assembly opens this week, the Tory Reform Group is calling on more women to consider putting themselves forward. The TRG is here to support potential candidates be they looking to apply for council, GLA, or parliamentary seats, and together we want to help. Lets use the London Assembly selection as the first step for the party in getting a more equal, representative, and above all Conservative voice in power. I can reveal that the local Conservative Association in Peterborough (Labour majority: 607) will select their candidate this Friday, 19th October. As a seat lost by the Conservatives at the 2017 election, Peterborough is a natural fit as a target, but it is also a particular constituency of interest because of the unusual circumstances of the Labour incumbent Fiona Onasanya is set to stand trial over allegations that she lied about who was driving in a speeding case. No-one can know the outcome of that trial, of course, but it would be pragmatic to at least prepare for the possibility of a by-election. Im told that the local association has fought hard for the right to select now, under the normal and more democratic selection rules, rather than run the risk of having their candidate picked for them by CCHQ, as would be the case under by-election procedures. They were originally going to select a few weeks ago, so there has been some delay, but they have evidently managed to stave off the threat of a restricted choice. The three candidates who are through to the final are: Paul Bristow: A Peterborough resident, and already a prospective council candidate in the city, Bristow fought Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in the 2010 General Election, and is also a former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor and cabinet member. He is Managing Director of his own public affairs consultancy, and chairman of the Association of Professional Political Consultancies. He has written for ConservativeHome, including on the topic of Momentums activities in Peterborough, and contested a previous selection final in Bedford last week. Cllr Helen Harrison: A District Councillor in East Northamptonshire, Harrison runs her own physiotherapy business, having previously spent much of her career in the NHS. She fought Ashfield in the 2015 General Election and Bolsover in 2017, and serves as Chairman of the Corby and East Northants Conservative Association. She is Chief Executive of the pro-Brexit campaign group Grassroots Out and involved in the Leave Means Leave campaign. Harrison has written for ConservativeHome, most recently about scrapping hospital parking charges. Clarence Mitchell: A former BBC journalist turned PR consultant, Mitchell acted as spokesman for the McCann family in their search for their missing daughter. In 2015 he stood as Conservative candidate in the Greens stronghold of Brighton Pavilion. His communications work has included the private sector, government, charities, and the Conservative Party, for whom he worked as Head of Election Media Monitoring during the 2010 General Election campaign Henson selected in Bedford Congratulations to Cllr Ryan Henson, who won the recent selection contest in Bedford (Labour majority: 789). To recap, here is his sketch bio: Cllr Ryan Henson: An East Hertfordshire councillor, Hensons day job is as Senior Political Advisor to CAFOD, the international development charity. He too has written for ConservativeHome, most recently on social mobility and opportunity for working class white boys. New tranche of seats open for applications Meanwhile, the candidates list have been informed that half a dozen new target seats are now open for applications, with a deadline of Monday 29th October. The core of the tranche represents the first London constituencies to select including Twickenham, which Vince Cable regained last year with a sizeable majority. Interestingly, the four London seats are joined by Darlington and Wirral West, both of which I revealed on Saturday had to have their selections postponed and restarted amid a shortage of willing candidates. Here is the full tranche: Battersea (Labour majority: 2,416) Croydon Central (Labour majority: 5,652) Darlington (Labour majority: 3,280) Kingston and Surbiton (Lib Dem majority: 4,124) Twickenham (Lib Dem majority: 9,762) Wirral West (Labour majority 5,365) Prospects of Taliban-US peace talks 15 October, 2018 By Asif Haroon Raja Related News COAS Raheel assures Pak help for peaceful Afghan polls US seeks to ease Pak-Afghan tensions Related Articles Indo-US-Afghan collusion hinders peace By By Asif Haroon Raja Connections between Afghan Situation and CPEC By By Zaheerul Hassan More on this View All COAS Raheel assures Pak help for peaceful Afghan polls US seeks to ease Pak-Afghan tensions Defence lawyer: Diyani's case not processed properly Kabul I Love You brings Afghan woes to the big screen Panetta, Hammond discuss Afghanistan Zardari calls for all-inclusive dialogue on Afghan conflict Afghan schools shut down over swine flu 17 years have gone by but so far there are little prospects for the longest war in Afghanistan to come to an end. Lilliputians have paralyzed the Gulliver and brought a standoff in the war. Neither side is in a position to defeat the other. Since time is on the side of the Taliban, a change is discernible in the jingoistic mindset of the US administration under Donald Trump over the last six months. Both the military and civil American leaders are talking of peace which is something new and unique since so far their outlook toward Afghanistan has been to derive an outcome of their choice by using excessive force. All these years, the successive regimes of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump sought to defeat the Taliban on the battlefield, force them to surrender their arms, bring them to the negotiating table and then compel them to sign the US dictated peace treaty and arrive at a political settlement. Governed by geo-economics interests, George Bush had initiated the war on terror after 9/11. After occupying Afghanistan in November 2001, ignoring demographic factor he installed Northern Alliance heavy regime and sidelined the majority Pashtuns. In May 2003, Iraq was occupied under trumped up charges and a Shia regime installed. Torture dens like Bagram prison, Abu Gharaib and Guantanamo Bay functioned unchallenged. Bush used force throughout his 8-year rule and it was during his rule that the apparently defeated Taliban after regrouping had started striking the occupying forces and Afghan forces (ANSF) fiercely. Likewise, Iraqi resistance forces in league with Al-Qaeda gave a tough time to the invaders. Besides the two-front war, the US in collaboration with India and the puppet regime in Kabul had opened a third front against Pakistan which it had declared as an ally, a frontline state and non-NATO ally to fight terrorism. The US and its strategic allies had opted for a secret covert war against Pakistan to extract its nuclear teeth and make it a compliant state. When the militancy in Afghanistan was pushed into Pakistan in 2003/04, latter had to deploy 100,000 security forces in FATA to combat foreign paid terrorists in FATA. Baluchistan was also heated up in the same timeframe. The troop numbers have now increased to about 200,000 in the northwest. CIA spread its outreach to Eastern Europe and color revolutions started in Baltic States during Bush time. China-US and Russia-US rivalry picked up momentum. Black water was used in Iraq. From 2004 onwards Indo-US-Afghan nexus embarked upon a coordinated and sustained vicious propaganda campaign against Pakistan to supplement covert operations through proxies. Major accusations were: Nuclear proliferation, unsafe nuclear program, Pak Army and ISI in cahoots with militant groups are rogue outfits, Al-Qaeda headquartered in South Waziristan. Later on, it was accused of not doing enough. Do more mantra was aimed at weakening Pakistan from within. Once Obama took over in January 2009, he closed the Iraq front and carried out two troop surges in 2009 under his Af-Pak policy in order to let ISAF under Gen McChrystal and ANSF to quell the Al-Qaeda and Taliban threat. ISAF strength rose to 1, 50,000. Proxy war in FATA and settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was stepped up forcing Pakistan to launch military operations in Malakand Division, Swat, Bajaur, South Waziristan and other agencies of FATA in 2009-10. Black Water was inducted in Pakistan in 2008/09 to fan terrorism in urban centres. Quetta Shura was added in the list of accusation in 2011. Pakistan was blamed for terrorism in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Obama brought in drones to target militants in Afghanistan and Waziristan. He also opened fronts in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Somalia, Niger, and Sudan through Arab Spring. ISIS phenomenon took birth in Iraq, Syria and other Middle East (ME) countries in his tenure. Regime change in Ukraine was masterminded by CIA, which impelled Russia to capture Crimea and to support resistance forces in Eastern Ukraine. Russian air force stepped into Syrian war in September 2015 during Obama time. The only de-escalating step taken by Obama regime was the nuclear deal with Iran in July 2015 which averted a warlike situation in the ME. When troop casualties of occupying forces in Afghanistan doubled in 2009 and 2010, Obama was forced to announce a drawdown plan starting July 2011 and ending it by December 2014. During this period, not only the Taliban remained aggressive and maintained a dominating edge in southern and eastern Afghanistan, the ISAF faced increased suicide and post stress disorder cases as well as green over blue attacks. Occupying troops indulged in atrocities through night raids and air war. As a result, Obama initiated a political prong in 2011 and resorted to the strategy of fight and talk and to divide the Taliban. Efforts were made to separate Haqqanis under Jalaluddin and his sons from Taliban under Mullah Omar and pitch former against the latter but failed. No worthwhile results accrued from backdoor parleys because of the insincerity of the US and its allies and the insistence of USA that talks should be between Taliban and the Kabul government only. This was unacceptable to the Taliban who viewed the Karzai and later the Ghani regimes as collaborators and illegitimate. In 2011, Raymond Davis incident, followed by US Navy Seals raid in Abbottabad and Apache helicopters attacks on military posts in Salala dipped Pak-US relations to lowest ebb, forcing Pakistan to cut off military relations and close the NATO supply lines for 8 months. Washington had to apologize to normalize the relations. In June 2013, a political office of Taliban was setup at Doha. When the drawdown was nearing completion, the Pentagon, CIA, Israel, India and Kabul regime prevailed upon Obama and forced him to sign another bilateral agreement with the unity regime in Kabul managed by John Kerry to leave behind a Resolute Support Group (RSG) of 5-6000 to provide training, technical assistance, counter terrorism and air support to ANSF. The security situation in Afghanistan began to deteriorate after departure of bulk of ISAF troops and the Taliban gained total control over 47% of the countrys districts from where they could strike targets in all parts of the country. In June 2014, Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched by Pak Army in North Waziristan which dismantled all the bases of foreign sponsored TTP and other militant groups totaling over 60, flushing them out of FATA. Although the major demand of USA was fulfilled, but it was in reality a setback for the schemers as far as their ulterior designs against Pakistan were concerned. In 2015, quadrilateral peace talks were initiated by the US, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan and Pakistan was asked to use its influence and make the Taliban agree to talk. When Islamabad arranged the talks in July that year and scheduled another meeting in the same month which would have surely made a breakthrough, the spoilers in Afghanistan scuttled the peace process by announcing the death of Mullah Omar. They didnt want to negotiate from a weaker wicket. Pakistan made another attempt when the Taliban were under the leadership of Mullah Akhtar Mansour. But the latter was killed by a US drone in Baluchistan in May 2016, thereby demolishing the peace process. The US want the Taliban to compromise and accept the US drafted democracy and constitution, share power as a junior partner, disallow use of Afghan territory by foreign terrorists and to maintain friendly relations with USA. The Taliban under Haibatullah Akhundzada have continued with their offensive drive to free their homeland from foreign occupation, regain the seat of power they were deprived of, and restore Islamic system of governance. Like Bush, Obama kept its tilt toward India and visited India twice skipping Pakistan. All big deals with India like civil nuclear agreement, strategic partnership, missile deal, logistics, strategic communications and maritime security agreements were signed with India during Obamas tenure. The two US leaders have been instrumental in enhancing the presence and influence of India in Afghanistan. When Trump took over power in January 2017, the US was no more a great country. It had lost its prestige owing to failures in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, uni-polarism had given way to multi-polarism, and USA had become the most hated nation in the Muslim world because of its anti-Muslim agenda. Instead of taking steps to call off war on terror, he sheathed the political prong, increased the troop level of RSG to 18000, and gave a signal for a fresh military push against the Taliban to shore up ANSF. At the same time, while announcing his new Afghan policy in August 2017, he put the whole blame of instability in Afghanistan upon Pakistan, and not only accused it of providing safe havens to the HN and Afghan Taliban, but also supporting them. Since then, Pakistan is on notice and there is no letup in his belligerence. Punitive steps have been taken to compel Pakistan to do more. These include disinformation campaign, threats, suspension of reimbursement of CSF, putting Pakistan in grey list, suspending military training, and directing IMF not to provide loans for repaying loans to China or for CPEC, provoking India and Afghanistan to step up hostile acts against Pakistan. Trump has earned the hostility of Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, North Korea, Mexico and Pakistan, and has made NATO and EU resentful. Over one year has lapsed but the US military and ANSF have failed to turn the tide in their favor. Taliban have now started fighting battles in provincial capitals Lashkargah, Ghazni, Farah, Zabul, Urzugan and Kunduz. Kabul and Bagram have been attacked repeatedly. They now control about 65% of the territory. While the Taliban have expressed their desire to hold talks and that too with the US only, they are not desperate for talks. They know that the wind is blowing in their favor. Ashraf Ghani has been offering unconditional talks since last February and reportedly offered them control over four provinces in southern Afghanistan. Without peace holding of parliamentary elections in coming October will be problematic. The US on the other hand is desperate for peace since the ANSF lacking in fighting spirit and rived in discipline problems cannot defeat or even contain the Taliban, and are in disarray. The unity government is tumbling due to inner rift, inefficiency, corruption and unpopularity. The RSG is fast losing heart and is feeling insecure. General public has now started holding protest marches asking the foreign troops to quit. Home pressure is building on Trump asking him to exit from the quagmire of Afghanistan at the earliest since it has become a drain on countrys economy. The TTP created by Indo-US-Afghan nexus to defeat Pak military is in tatters. In anger, Fazlullah was killed in June 2018. India which has been made a leading player, has abstained from helping in reversing the dipping fortunes of USA in Afghanistan. The US has lost its leverage over Pakistan after closing the taps of military aid and training. Pakistan has refused to get intimidated and is veering towards China and Russia. The prospects for peace talks brightened when a 3-day ceasefire was religiously implemented on the occasion of Eidul Fitr in June. The two warring opponents mingled and embraced each other and took selfies. Effectiveness of the truce during which the Taliban laid down their arms, and then resumed fighting after the truce signaled how much control the Taliban leaders have over their fighters. It was under such distressful circumstances that the US agreed to hold preliminary direct talks with Taliban at Doha for the first time on July 28 to find a way out for restoring peace. Its willingness indicates the urgency to end the conflict. This comedown is seen as a diplomatic victory for the Taliban. The latter are no more solely dependent upon Pakistan since Russia, China, Iran, Qatar are supporting them. Moscow had invited the Taliban, US and Kabul for peace talks, but the latter two declined. Increased interest of Russia in Afghan affairs is another factor which is impelling USA to patch up with Taliban. The second direct talks are likely to be held this month, in which the issue of release of Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay will be discussed to create an amiable atmosphere. The Taliban are showing flexibility in their stance by not insisting on occupying forces to withdraw first and then hold talks. They now want a firm timetable of withdrawal and do not agree to retention of even a single military base as desired by USA. They would certainly seek a larger role in the future government. One of the major reason for Russia and Iran to support the Taliban is the presence of Daesh (Khurasan) under Wilayat Khurasan (WK) who were brought and settled in Nangarhar and married with Jamaat-al-Ahrar by CIA-RAW in 2014 to fight the Taliban as well destabilize Pakistan. Russia and Iran are also opposed to the US led reconciliation. Central Asian Republics (CARs) are also wary of Daesh who have an international agenda. Having seen the fate of Syria at the hands of Daesh, the Taliban are also desirous of peace and are seeking cooperation of other regional countries. They are suffering since 1978 and have learnt lessons and would not like to commit old mistakes and get isolated in the world comity. They also do not want recurrence of 1991-94 like civil war, or Syria like conditions and like to have peaceful transition of power. They have given an assurance that unlike al-Qaeda and Daesh, they have no international agenda. They opened communications with Russia, China and Iran which enabled them more avenues of arms supplies to continue with their freedom struggle with greater vigor. But the fact is that no one want the US to pullout abruptly and ignite another civil war. Notwithstanding the desire for peace by Haibatullah, it must not be overlooked that he has opponents within the Taliban movement who are opposed to him and to peace talks. Rahbari Shura and HN have little appetite for peace talks. Quetta Shura leaders particularly WK linked with HN oppose Haibatullah. It is owing to internal strife that Haibatullah wants to consolidate his position and negotiate from position of strength after achieving major victories in the battlefield. He aims at capturing a provincial capital. It was with this end in view that big efforts were made to capture Kunduz and Lashkargah and lately Ghazni. While the Taliban have the capability to capture a city but do not have the capacity to retain it as had been seen in Kunduz. The US was at ease as long as Kabul, provincial capitals, strategic communication lines and its eight military bases were safe. Attacks on Kabul and other capitals have unnerved the military forces. What is most worrisome for the US is that it is losing on all counts and finds itself in a nutcracker situation. It can neither afford to exit as a defeated super power, nor can it stay for long. It has lost the war but is not acknowledging it and badly wants a face saving formula. It can exit only through Pakistan and not via northern network which is no more available to ship out heavy baggage. The US is faring poorly on all other fronts including the domestic front where Trump has become highly unpopular. Both Pakistan and Taliban are defiant and holding their ground. Judging from the mood of new Pakistan in which the civil-military leadership have come on one page, it cannot rule out the fast emerging possibility of Pakistan slipping out of its hands and shifting to Russo-Sino camp, which could be joined by Iran and Turkey, both antagonist to USA. The US has realized that the ANSF has become a liability, and Ghani-Abdullah unity government is not delivering. The only tangible factor which has handicapped the Taliban from capturing and retaining the captured cities is the air factor. The US fears the possibility of Russia giving surface-to-air missiles to the Taliban to counter air threat. Ever growing Russo-US rift over Syria and Ukraine is turning the possibility into a reality. That will be doomsday for the occupiers and collaborators. Last but not the least, CPEC has come up as a hissing cobra for both USA and India, which would not only smash their global ambitions and isolate them, but also strengthen their foes China and Pakistan. While Indo-US-Afghan nexus had yet to absorb the shocks of near demise of TTP, and Pakistans decision to repatriate Afghan refugees, the trio got another shock when Pakistan undertook the construction of 830 km fence, and over 400 border forts, along some of the worlds harshest terrain the Pak-Afghan border last year. Work is expected to be completed by 2019. Why would Pakistan exert such monumental effort, allocating thousands of troops and required logistics for this undertaking? Perhaps Pakistan grows weary of waiting for other vested interests to fulfil their promises. It is strange that the US, Afghan regime and India are objecting instead of assisting to prevent the alleged cross border infiltration from both sides. Obviously, it would block the covert war. Finding itself cornered with very little room to manoeuvre, it appears that Washington has now decided to make one last attempt to secure its mercantile interests in the region at a low cost. To this end, it has once again appointed former American ambassador Zalmey Khalilzad in USA as a special envoy of Af-Pak region. He served as an ambassador in Kabul for 5 years during Karzai rule and he had great influence over Karzai and his administration. Being a Pashtun, he has had access to key areas, and had developed relationship with Mujahideen leaders including Hikmatyar during the occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet troops. He has an ill reputation of inflicting extreme torture and excesses upon the Afghan Pashtuns. It seems another plan has been hatched as a last resort to re-enact the reign of terror in Afghanistan. After inducting Daesh, the US is actively considering to induct Black Water in Afghanistan and hand over security duties to it and kill key leaders of Taliban. Eric Prince has already undertaken two visits to Kabul. Black water was initially inducted in Afghanistan during his last tenure and he had a big hand in the persecution and slaughter of militant Pashtuns. Khalilzad and Blackwater coming together once again may not be a coincidence and possibly a repeat action could be in the offing. Khalilzad wants to regain contacts with old Mujahideen leaders and also help Hikmatyar in winning election and in paving the way for exit of US troops and formation of a new regime. He is likely to play a role in next presidential election and possibly in bringing Karzai and his team back in the saddle. From the above, it is evident that the US is not interested in peace since it wants to extract mineral resources of Afghanistan and Central Asia and to accomplish its agenda of denuclearizing Pakistan. India is also anti-peace since it wants to retain its presence to encircle Pakistan and to gain access to CARs through Pakistans land corridor. The Kabul government is also not keen since it knows it will crumble and ANSF will splinter soon after the exit of occupying forces. Peace talks are a ruse to throw wool into the eyes of the world. Had the US been sincere in arriving at a viable political settlement, it should have accepted the basic demands of Taliban such as freeing of prisoners, putting them off the black list, allowing them freedom of movement, unfreezing their accounts, curtailing human rights abuses and making them a stakeholder. Peace talks could be a deception to widen the existing rift within Taliban and exploit it by pitching WK against Haibatullah. Similarly, the US should not have distrusted and mal treated Pakistan because without its wholehearted cooperation, peace is not possible. It should have acknowledged its huge sacrifices in a war it didnt ask for, nor did it initiate. It should have lauded the efforts of Pakistan, the only country in the region to turn the tide against militancy despite heaviest odds. It should not have prioritized Indian interests in Afghanistan over ours and pressured Pakistan to grant land access to India for trade with Afghanistan/CARs. The US must not forget that in the war against the Soviets in 1980s, America spent billions of dollars destroying the region but practically did nothing to rebuild much of the destroyed basic infrastructure, forcing millions of Afghan refugees to flee to Pakistan where, according to UNHCR reports, approximately 1.38 million registered and one million unregistered remain sheltered to this day. The US callously overlooks the human and financial sacrifices Pakistan has made, including 70,000 war-related civilians and security forces injured or killed; and a financial loss of $ 120 million. Stable, peaceful and friendly Afghanistan is vital for Pakistan since it frees Pakistan of twin threat to its security and plays a part in dictating our relations with the US and India. It is with this end in view that earnest efforts have been made to appease the US installed regime in Kabul which have so far borne no fruit mainly due to the role of spoilers. FM Qureshi visited Kabul on Sept 15 with the hope of melting the ice. He seems satisfied saying the visit was advantageous. Taking a cue from the frivolous statement of the US Ambassador in Kabul, Pakistan should remain vigilant that in its enthusiasm to melt the ice, it shouldnt barter away national interests. Any concession to India regarding trade corridor should be linked with resolution of Kashmir dispute and end to clandestine operations against Pakistan by India. What should be understood by Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah is that the war in unwinnable, and only way to end the war is through a negotiated settlement with the Taliban. Pakistan can play a constructive role in Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and is in best position to bring all sides together and work for a detente. Pakistans efforts will be fruitful only if its sacrifices and good work are acknowledged and spoilers are kept aside. Except for India and Kabul regime and some hawks in US administration/Senate that have constantly poured scorn on Pakistan out of malice, the world comity including UNSC Monitoring Team, Global Terrorism Index and others have heaped praises. Pakistan will have to promote its counter narrative cogently to convince the world that it played a lead role in war on terror, was the biggest victim of terrorism, and has achieved best results. Pakistan should remain watchful of the designs of Indo-US-Afghan nexus, be prepared to take on the emerging threats of Daesh and Black Water, speed up fencing and return of refugees, deal effectively with internal enemies promoting foreign agenda and find ways and means to deal with catastrophic effects of hybrid war attacking the homogeneity of the society. Factionalism within Taliban leadership and vested interests of the spoilers preclude the possibility of a big breakthrough in peace talks in 2018. The writer is a retired Brig, war veteran, defence analyst, columnist, author of five books, Vice Chairman Thinkers Forum Pakistan, Director Measac Research Centre, takes part in TV talk shows and seminars. asifharoonraja@gmail.com Bob Blackman is MP for Harrow East. He is Co-Chair of the Equitable Life APPG. Enough is enough. That is the message to the Chancellor from 60 of my Conservative colleagues on the Equitable Life APPG and why we have written to him, to demand that the Governments 2.6 billion debt to Equitable Life victims is finally repaid in the Budget later this month. This scandal cannot be ignored any longer. Almost 20 years ago, just before Christmas in 2000, Equitable Life, the worlds oldest mutual insurance company, collapsed following a decade of mismanagement and proven regulatory maladministration. Since 2000, there have been countless debates, inquiries, and investigations into what went wrong. In 2008, the Parliamentary Ombudsman blamed serious, serial regulatory maladministration. The Coalition Government later accepted this in full, agreeing that victims of the scandal were owed 4.3 billion. Indeed, in a meeting that the APPG had with the City Minister last month, he again confirmed that the Treasury does not contest its culpability. Over a million policyholders typically nurses, teachers, factory workers and small business owners lost a huge proportion of their pensions. The regulators knew what was going on. So did the government, Bank of England, Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Treasury. The FSA and the Treasury even conspired to prevent it becoming public knowledge, so people carried on paying in their money. The collapse remains one of the most serious scandals of financial regulation in modern political history. For me and many others, it continues to undermine confidence in government and our financial institutions. Until it is resolved, responsible savers, as well as their families and friends, will rightly lack any confidence in our political and regulatory system. While a few policyholders have rightly received their full relative losses in compensation, hundreds of thousands have received only 22 per cent of this loss a gross injustice. 2.6 billion of the sum the government accepted as the compensation owed has still not been paid. A decade on from the Parliamentary Ombudsmans report, MPs from all parties continue to campaign for this missing sum. The APPG now has 238 members, drawn from every party in the Commons. Despite this incredible support, the Treasury has done nothing but twist the facts and try to cover its own backside. As Conservatives, we recognise the importance of fiscal restraint. We know that sustainable public spending has underpinned our strong economic performance which permitted the Prime Minister to officially announce an end to austerity in her Conference speech. This year, more than a decade on from the crash, the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the public sector to borrow just one quarter of what it borrowed in 2009-10. Back then, the partial compensation allocated to Equitable Life victims was explicitly justified on the basis of the extreme pressures on the public purse. These hardworking and responsible pension savers took a hit, while the big banks and building societies were bailed out. So ten years after UK Financial Investments was set up to manage the taxpayers shareholding in these bailed out banks, we believe a small portion of the money raised through its sales should be used to settle the Governments outstanding debt to our pensioners. As the Prime Minister said in Birmingham, after a decade of austerity, people need to know that their hard work has paid off. With public debt starting to fall, the Budget is the right time to settle this debt. The age and financial profile of the victims means that the money would be put straight back into the economy if there is ever to be a Budget at which this debt can be repaid before its too late, it is this one. In doing so, the Government would be sending a signal that it is right to save prudently for retirement. In the publics perception, the Equitable Life scandal shows that pension savings are not safe, and you that cannot trust the Government or its financial regulators. It is vital to show that if such a scandal were to happen again, government would swiftly step in to protect those who have saved prudently for their retirement. Tragically, an estimated 15 policyholders die every day without ever receiving proper justice. The longer this matter is unresolved, the more the death rate will increase. To have 60 Conservative colleagues, including 16 former Ministers and four current Select Committee Chairs, write to the Chancellor shows just how strong feelings remain on this matter. The Chancellor should be in no doubt there is no parliamentary majority for the Treasurys current approach. This is a debt of honour, which must be settled now. Robert Colvile: The boost to home ownership that would come from Help to Own and the work weve been doing on it Robert Colvile is the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies. Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. But its sometimes possible to hope they had come a little later. Last week, reading ConservativeHome, I found myself choking on my cornflakes at the proposal by Will Tanner, director of Onward, that owners of second homes should be incentivised via Capital Gains Tax rebates to sell them to their tenants. Not because I didnt think it was a good idea. I did. Such a good idea, in fact, that we at the Centre for Policy Studies were shortly due to publish our own paper, proposing that owners of second homes should be incentivised via Capital Gains Tax rebates to sell them to their tenants. Like the simultaneous discovery of calculus, or oxygen, or evolution, this is clearly a case of great minds thinking alike. It also shows that it is an idea whose time has come: those who we have consulted on this proposal over recent weeks and months, both inside and outside government, have been near-unanimous in their enthusiasm. The basic case is simple. Britain faces, as I have repeatedly pointed out (see here, for example), not just a housing crisis but a home ownership crisis. This is arguably the single greatest domestic policy challenge for the Government and the single greatest political challenge for the Conservatives, given that (as Matt Singh has shown ) 77 per cent of the swing towards Labour at the last election can be explained by the increasing number of young renters and the falling number of young owners. To solve this crisis, building more houses is necessary but it is not sufficient. We also need to address the fact that a combination of ill-advised reforms under the Blair and Brown governments, and the impact of the financial crisis, sparked a boom in buy-to-let at the expense of first-time buyers. In total, our research shows that there has been a shift in incentives worth 220 billion, as elderly savers were pushed to seek a safe harbour for their assets in the property market at the expense of those who, a generation ago, would have been buying their first homes. (As recently as 1995-6, two thirds of average earners in their twenties owned their own homes. Today, it is just a quarter.) Much of the rhetoric in this area involves attacking landlords. But we at the CPS do not believe that people should be punished for having made sound investment decisions often to provide for their retirement. Indeed, most landlords have meagre property portfolios and are making limited returns. That is why they should be offered carrots rather than sticks to persuade them to sell up although the prospect of Jeremy Corbyns rent controls and tax rises is a pretty big stick in and of itself. Selling, however, is only half of the equation. We need to ensure that those properties that are being sold end up being owner-occupied rather than rented because a society based on mass ownership is one that is more prosperous, more content and more secure. It is also one in which people have greater control of their lives and their futures a key theme of all the policies the CPS has been working on. What we propose, therefore, is that the Government should make every buy-to-let landlord in the country a time-limited offer. For one year, if they sell up, they will get a CGT rebate worth 33 per cent of the tax they would have paid, plus (in the case of those with only one property) a cash bonus of 3,000. The buyer will get the remainder of the rebate, as the core of a deposit up to 6.66 per cent of the value of the property, with them having to put in the remainder. (This is, emblematically, similar to the discount on the original Right to Buy.) The landlord will have to give first refusal to the current tenant, at the date the scheme is announced (to prevent fast practice involving the installation of friends or family members). The landlord will also be offered the option of investing the proceeds of the sale in a shared ownership scheme with reliable returns, to ensure they have a revenue stream to replace that which was lost. There are, of course, potential objections. Is it fair that a tenant in London or the South-East whose landlord has owned for decades will receive a bonanza, while her neighbour in an identical house might only get a few hundred pounds? What about parts of the country where shocking as it may seem to those inside the M25 house prices have actually fallen? How can we be sure that house prices will have risen by enough to fund the scheme? And isnt this just a giveaway to feckless young people? We at the CPS are fortunate, then, to have had Alex Morton working on this. Alex, who is well-known to readers of this site as one of its columnists, has worked in housing for eight years, including in Number 10 under David Cameron, and is a key centre-right thinker in this area. Alex and the rest of our research team have spent weeks crunching the numbers to ensure that they stack up showing that this can be done with no actual loss to the Treasury, due to the fall in housing benefit as people transition from renting to owning, and the fact that we propose capping the amount of relief that a tenant or landlord can receive on an individual property at a highly generous 35,000. They have also shown that this cap, plus a system of cross-subsidy, can ensure that even those tenants whose properties have not appreciate in price, or who do not like their current property, or cannot afford to buy all of it, or whose landlords do not want to take part in the scheme, can benefit in short, that this is a genuine mass home ownership offer rather than a lottery in which a lucky few benefit, to the fury of others. We would also make sure that the properties remained in owner-occupation for at least a decade: this is about giving tenants a long-term hand up on to the housing ladder, not a short-term quick buck. This is also why we would require people to contribute towards their own deposit: this is about a hand up, not a handout. The challenge that Alex and I set ourselves, when we joined the Centre for Policy Studies a year ago, was to return the think tank to its roots as the engine room of practical, radical, free-market thinking, a place that would redress the burning injustices in our society by adapting the philosophy of Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph to the challenges of today. There could be no better expression of that ambition than working to promote home ownership, which is the bedrock of a prosperous and decent society. This report is just a sample of the work we have been doing, which will be fully unveiled in the coming weeks and months. But we hope, and believe, that it is a policy which both the Government and the wider conservative movement can and should embrace. Chloe Westley is the Campaign Manager of the TaxPayers Alliance. I recently went to Southend to meet with some business owners in Essex. My mission was simple: I wanted to hear what the Government can do to make life easier for small businesses. Its critical that the Chancellor prioritises helping small businesses in the next budget by making taxes lower and simpler, especially as we approach March next year. But which taxes should be cut, and how? Entrepreneurship is awesome. Im always annoyed at people who claim that government is to thank for human progress and improvements in society. Because, more often than not, its the private sector that finds new and innovative ways of improving our standards of living. Businesses generate the wealth that pays for the public sector, and employ most of the workforce. Small businesses alone provide employment to 60 per cent of the workers in the UK . I believe that if you want to hear whats really going on in the country youve sometimes got to travel outside the M25. During my time at the Taxpayers Alliance, Ive been lucky enough to travel across this great country to meet with activists and supporters from all walks of life students, young professionals, families concerned about the cost of council tax, retired folks, right-wing activists, left-wing activists (yes there are some left-leaning people who want their taxes spent efficiently!) and of course many people who run a local business. Over a two hour discussion in a fish and chips restaurant on the beach, I asked this question. Unsurprisingly, nearly every business owner cited business rates as a killer, as well as council tax. Most of the day to day impediments were blamed on local government, since that provided their most frequent interface between themselves and the public sector. There was a real sense of frustration that their local councils not only take so much money away from them through taxation and charges, but also often made expanding their businesses all the more difficult by standing in the way. Many at the lunch were concerned raised the apprenticeship levy, parking charges and corporation tax, too. But hough I travelled to Southend to get a better idea on which taxes the TPA should call to be lowered in the next budget, I came back to London with a lot more than that. I returned with a sense of admiration for the people I met. One business owner said she woke up at 4:30am every morning to get some admin work done before the calls start coming in at 7am from her staff. She spends the rest of the day answering the phones and liaising between her clients and employees, before settling down at 6 or 7pm. She said that the biggest burden from the government isnt necessarily ever higher taxes which she is happy to pay but bureaucracy. Thats a word which came up over and over again. A man who runs a manufacturing business, and exports to predominantly non-EU markets, was livid with the extent to which the government keeps piling on new rules, regulations and standards. Some of the standards are so obvious that any functioning business would meet them, and the hours spent having to deal with the increasing regulatory burden and complicated tax code is time that could have been spent improving his business and seeking out new opportunities. In return for taking a huge risk with their own money, finding a niche in the market, establishing a viable idea and employing people in the community, the Government hammers these small business owners with higher taxes and bureaucracy that they cant hope to keep up with. The Left talk about businesses as if they are always the bad guys rich, powerful, elitist and greedy. In their eyes, any success or profit should be punished by higher taxation. Youll often find the likes of John McDonnell accuse them of not paying their fair share. I wonder if he would have the courage to tell these small business owners in Southend that they should be forced to hand over even more of their hard-earned profits to the state. The Conservative Party should be the natural home for these small business people. Instead of adding to the burden and disincentivising entrepreneurship, the Chancellor has an opportunity in the forthcoming budget to give small business owners, who are some of the hardest working people in the country, a well-deserved break. The Northern Ireland backstop as presently drafted would, were Olly Robbins Brexit plan were to be implemented, apply a customs union to the whole United Kingdom. This would actually represent a diplomatic win for the Government, because the EUs previous position was that the backstop must apply only to Northern Ireland, according to its reading of Articles 49 and 50 of last years outline Withdrawal Agreement. (Let us not be detained by the disaster that permanent customs union membership would suggest for our freedom to strike meaningful global trade deals, a Brexit essential.) However, the Robbins proposal would only solve half of Northern Irelands problem, from a pro-Union point of view. This is because while the province would get no special treatement in relation to a Customs Union, it would get this in relation to the Single Market. In effect, Northern Ireland would stay in it. This would harden and deepen the regulatory barrier that already exists in the Irish Sea. It is all a question of degree. As we say, there are already some checks, mainly on live animals and other agricultural products. The island of Ireland is already a single epidemiological area. Our sense is that Conservative Brexiteers and the DUP are ultimately willing to sign up to continued full regulatory alignment in this respect. There is also an all-island of Ireland single electricity market. But a huge uptick in east-west agricultural checks and Single Market absorption altogether would be a giant step too far. Northern Ireland would be in the Single Market and the rest of the UK would not. That would surely be too much for the DUP. Its support for the Government would collapse and the Prime Minister would be left without a majority. The Robbins solution would also, frankly, make a liar of her. Her precise objection to the EUs version of a Brexit Canada-type settlement is that it would draw exactly such a higher regulatory barrier in the Irish Sea. Check out her recent Road to Brexit video where she says that the present EU version would keep Northern Ireland in parts of the Single Market. That would would break up the UK economically, and creating new barriers to our own internal market. But the regulatory implications of the Robbins plan are being less thoroughly probed than the customs ones especially when it comes to Scotland. David Mundell and Ruth Davidson have written jointly to Theresa May to say that we could not support any deal that creates a border of any kind in the Irish Sea and undermines the Union or leads to Northern Ireland having a different relationship with the EU than the rest of the UK, beyond what currently exists. The letter has duly found its way into the public domain, together with briefing that both would resign were the Government to sign up to the Robbins solution. The SNP is trying to portray the letter as signalling support by the pair for a hard Brexit. This gambit deliberately misses the point. Davidson and Mundell will not be motivated by support for a clean Brexit, in which the UK leaves the Single Market. Indeed, Davidson is on record as supporting continued membership. Rather, both grasp that the Unionist case in Scotland would be severely damaged were Northern Ireland to remain in the Single Market while Scotland leaves it. Nicola Sturgeon would claim that the Government was deliberately disadvantaging Scotland. Given the pro-EU sentiment there, the claim would carry electoral weight. The Robbins plan would thus put rocket boosters under Scottish independence. And up with that Mundell and Davidson presumably would not put. The former is the Partys most enduring Parliamentary representative with a Scottish seat. His loss would be serious. Davidsons would be in another dimension altogether. She is the great enduring hope of the Partys centre-left, for all her recent ruling-out of eventually coming south and seeking the Conservative premiership. Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt, Esther Mcvey, Liam Fox, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab: all these Ministers backed Brexit. So for any of them to resign would be one thing very serious, of course, and the possible spark to a leadership vote. But for Davidson to go would be another. Were she do so, May would stand alone, bereft of backing from her Remainers as well as Leavers, from her Left as well as her Right from the very heart of the modernisation project. This morning, she seems to backing off the Robbins solution. But we repeat: it isnt just pro-Brexit MPs who should be watching the Prime Minister carefully. Its pro-Union ones in other words, all of them. Peter Goldsmiths advice was crucial to Tony Blairs Government during the run-up to the Iraq War. Had the then Attorney General not said that the further use of force would be legal, the Commons would have refused to back it. Goldsmith produced three versions of his advice, the first of which suggested that it would not, and the third of which said in unambiguous terms that it would. His gradual change of position remains famous to this day (or notorious, if you prefer). The claim is that he changed his view to suit the man who appointed him, and it seems well-founded. ConservativeHome is told that last weeks meeting of senior Cabinet Ministers was full of wishful thinking about the Northern Ireland backstop from former Remain-supporting and Leave-backing members alike. Ingenious efforts were made to talk round the plain meaning of Article 49 In the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement. It is true that Article 50, apparently inserted as an assurance to the DUP, says that although, as we have seen, there is to be full aligment north-south, there are also to be no new barriers east-west. In the absence of agreed solutions, as set out in the previous paragraph, the United Kingdom will ensure that no new regulatory barriers develop between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, unless, consistent with the 1998 Agreement, the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly agree that distinct arrangements are appropriate for Northern Ireland. In all circumstances, the United Kingdom will continue to ensure the same unfettered access for Northern Irelands businesses to the whole of the United Kingdom internal market. How one reconciles these aims strains imagination. It is worth noting in passing that the Robbins plan agreed last week, which Downing Street appears now to have resiled from, may have set aside the requirement of Executive and Assembly agreement. But at any rate, Geoffrey Cox played a crucial role in the meetings conclusion. He simply cut through all the waffle and told them, with all the command of a QC, that the backstop means what it says, were told. In other words, that theres no way of escaping it without a strict time limit or a unilateral departure mechanism being slapped on it. That swung those present. The office of Attorney General is sometimes thought of as a kind of Cabinet add-on a role that is technically rather than politically important. But as the very different Goldsmith and Cox stories demonstrate, it can sometimes turn the story of a government. Turkeminstan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline 15 October, 2018 By Asif Haroon Raja Till recent, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project was seen as a pipedream, but it has suddenly turned into a reality and apparently its completion is not too far. Lobbyists of the mega project are painting a rosy picture. They see in it a huge potential, and term it as a vehicle for connectivity and peace, offering sustainable source of energy. It is argued that contrary to popular belief, instead of being contingent upon Afghan stability, it is likely to become a source of unprecedented peace for Afghanistan. The optimists say that it will create job opportunities for Afghanistan, add gas to the dwindling Pakistans energy resources, lighten its kitchens, and increase their urea fertilizer production which has a direct bearing on agriculture. TAPI will also bring prosperity to the Indian Punjab. Turkmenistan which will deliver the gas has invested $ 25 billion, of which $15 billion is for gas field development and $10 billion for laying the pipeline. This project is likely to be completed by 2020, and made operational in 2024. Gas will be provided for next 25 years and its price will be 20% cheaper than Brent crude. Japanese, Chinese and some other companies have won contracts for gas field and pipeline. TAPI is an energy based mega project, which provides an alternative market to Turkmenistans abundant gas resources. It is hoped that TAPIs success will attract many Central Asian States and will be a win-win project for all. Apparently, it has the potential to supplement CPEC. The 56 inches diameter TAPI gas pipeline project will transport 3.2 billion cubic ft of gas annually from the Galkynysh gas fields in Turkmenistan, with 16% earmarked for Afghanistan, and 42% each for Pakistan and India. The 1814 km long TAPI gas pipeline project after passing through Afghanistan (Herat, Farah, Nimroz, Helmand, Kandahar), will enter Pakistan at Chaman. The 820 km long Pakistan section pipeline will traverse through Qila Abdullah, Pishin, Ziarat, Loralai and Musakhel districts in Balochistan; and Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Multan, Khanewal, Vehari, Pakpattan and Okara districts in Punjab. From Chaman, one branch will veer towards Pasni along Mekran Coast. Pipeline will journey through 17 districts including 8 in Baluchistan and 9 in Punjab. From Punjab, it will then home into India at Fazilka. Critical analysis It is good to be optimistic but optimism should not be at the cost of ignoring ground realities, as well as the fate of Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project. While TAPI gas pipeline project surfaced as a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan project in 2006, IPI project came up much earlier, which was signed in 1999. Iran being next door, is economically viable, cost effective and secure. TAPI, which is the new version of the pipeline conceived by UNOCOL in 1996, is backed by USA. Pakistan was in a way induced/coerced to join it asserting that it had far greater benefits than IPI. The US was averse to IPI because of its rift with Iran, which had been put under sanctions. The US opposed the materialization of the IPI project mainly because it feared that Iran could become an important player once it became a gas supplier for the two major countries of South Asia, and also a strong country because of its nuclear energy program. The US succeeded in tempting India by offering a civilian nuclear deal in 2006. After signing the nuclear deal in 2008, India stepped out of IPI in 2009. Reasons given by India were the insecurity of gas pipeline passing through Baluchistan which in that timeframe was vulnerable to attacks by Baloch insurgents, and the fear that Pakistan might close the tap to exert pressure on India. In the back of its mind was the possible neutralization of its strategy to blackmail Pakistan through water terrorism. India had already made a comprehensive plan to destabilize Baluchistan, Mekran Coast and Karachi by deploying serving Naval Comd Kulbushan Jhadev at Chahbahar in 2003. He was eventually caught in March 2016 and has been awarded death sentence. The $7.4 billion IPI line envisaged transporting 5.4 Billion cubic feet (Bcf) Iranian natural gas to Pakistan and India. From South Pars, the pipeline stretched over 1,100 km within Iran before entering Pakistan, travelling through Khuzdar. One section was to run through Karachi, and the main section going through Multan to the Indian border (760 km), thereafter travelling 860 km to Delhi. In 2002, Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement on a feasibility study for Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. Iran later on proposed an extension of the pipeline into India, with Pakistan standing to benefit from transit fees. The pipeline envisaged supplying 90 and 60 million cubic meters gas per day to India and Pakistan respectively. Despite the delays due to the US pressures, the project remained alive as was evident from the meeting between Gen Musharraf and Ahmadinejad in April 2008, and later on, another meeting in 2012. Iran is eager to sell gas because of its transition economy, where unemployment is rising and budget deficits have been a chronic problem. About 18% of the Irans population lives below the poverty line and unemployment rate is about 11%. Energy starved Pakistan is keen to fulfil its energy needs and strengthen its economy. Indias need of energy is much higher, but it remained disinclined, although land based line from Iran is the cheapest option. While Pakistan demanded transit fee of 50 cents per MBTU, India wanted it to be 15 cents. China showed interest in joining IPI project and informed Pakistan that it is keen on importing 1.05 billion cubic feet of gas from Iran through the pipeline if India didnt participate in the project. China also offered to provide funds to Pakistan to lay the gas pipeline from Nawabshah to connect it with Iranian pipeline. While Iran completed the process of pipe laying inside its territory, Pakistan couldnt do its bit due to lack of funds, fear of USA and reservations on gas charges. Iran kept an inviting tone rather than dictating one with reference to IPI pipeline project. Pakistan was enthusiastic for IPI because of energy shortfall that it faces. While Pakistan was interested because of the transit benefits and lower cost it can enjoy (when compared with prevalent LNG prices), Iran needed foreign exchanges to support the economy. So both Iran and Pakistan didnt have much bargaining power on the IPI pipeline issue. Indias security fears were unfounded since Pakistan would never have sabotaged this project because it has its own economic interest in form of transit fee of about $700 million per year. Iran was interested in gas exports mainly because of its transition economy where unemployment had risen and budget deficits had been a chronic problem. About 18% of the Irans population lives below the poverty line and unemployment rate is about 11 percent. India has made no effort to rejoin the project which is now lying in limbo. The TAPI agreement was signed by Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan at Ashgabat in 2010. The project was held up due to insecurity in Afghanistan. TAPI project was given a go-ahead signal in February 2018 by four partners including India after settling transit dues and each member promising to contribute $500 million. Saudi backed Asian Development Bank pledged to provide $750 million. Trump administration support the project. While Turkmenistan will be the major beneficiary since it would supply gas to three countries, Afghanistan will be next beneficiary since it would earn $420 million royalty per annum. Pakistan will be the third beneficiary since it would also be charging transit fee from India. It is to be determined whether the gas imported from Turkmenistan will be more viable and cheaper or from Iran. India was reluctant to join IPI project owing to security and transit fee issues and was also having similar concerns over TAPI. Why it has now agreed to join TAPI which involves transit fee from two countries and passage through war torn Afghanistan and yet to be fully stabilized Baluchistan? Challenges faced by TAPI 1. Escalating insurgency in Afghanistan, particularly along the route of pipeline which passes through Taliban dominated five provinces. 2. Although Taliban have vowed to protect the mega project, given its tradition of extortion, each of the five provinces may demand protection money. 3. Unabated Indo-Pakistan rivalry. 4. Mutual suspicions and distrust between Afghanistan-Pakistan. 5. Hot western border and foreign inspired terrorism in Baluchistan. 6. ANSFs inability to contain Taliban insurgency and to protect the pipeline. 7. Vulnerability of pipeline in Baluchistan to TTP/Daesh attacks. Implications for Pakistan 1. Would Pakistan afford to raise another security division to protect pipeline within its territory? Security division for CPEC is funded and equipped by China. 2. With opening of TAPI, how Pakistan will be able to block Wagah border for Indo-Afghan trade? 3. What if the unity regime in Kabul collapses and either the Taliban take over power, or there is a civil war? 4. Under any of the above possibilities, India is sure to drop out of the project on account of security and also pullout from Afghanistan. 5. What if Pakistan is unable to pay its share of $500 million due to its financial crisis, or it gets blacklisted by FATF, or it has to pay $ one million daily fine to Iran on account of failing to abide by the terms of IPI agreement? 6. What will be the future of TAPI if Iran-Pakistan pipeline project gets completed with China-Russia help? Would Pakistan afford to remain part of CPEC, IP and TAPI simultaneously? Conclusion. Till such time Afghanistan becomes peaceful and Kashmir issue is resolved, TAPI project will remain a pipedream. The writer is a retired Brig, war veteran, defence analyst, columnist, author of five books, Vice Chairman TFP, Director Measac Research Centre. asifharoonraja@gmail.com Norways Kristiansand was the second European port to offer shorepower to cruise ships when its 16 MW installation came on line in September. The only other European port offering shorepower is Hamburg, at its Altona Terminal, while Livorno expects to be operational by the end of the year. A spokesperson for the Port of Hamburg said that preparations were underway for a feasibility study to install shorepower at all of its the cruise terminals. In addition, Warnemunde-Rostock and Kiel have announced plans for shorepower installations for cruise ships. Meanwhile, AIDA Cruises also has a hybrid solution, with the AIDAperla and AIDAprima running on LNG supplied by truck while in port in Hamburg, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Southampton and Zeebrugge, as well as in Barcelona for the AIDAprima, and in Madeira during the winter. According to AIDA, Marseille, Civitavecchia and Kiel are also preparing to supply LNG for the dual fuel ships, while the line is in the discussion stage with Palma de Mallorca. The only other shorepower installations for cruise ships are in the United States and Canada on the West Coast in Juneau, Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver and on the East Coast in Montreal, Halifax and New Yorks Brooklyn terminal. Additional shorepower facilities in North America and Europe are dedicated to ferries, container ships, tugboats, fishing vessels and offshore vessels and rigs. Cruise ports in Europe have so far been reluctant to install shorepower due to the high investment cost combined with relatively low usage in addition to many ships not having the equipment to connect. Enova, a Norwegian government agency providing public funding for cold ironing installations, claims that funding shorepower for cruise ships is too costly, considering the power requirement and the limited seasonal use. It has instead thrown the challenge back to the cruise industry, with Enovas CEO stating that it is the cruise lines responsibility to clean up their own business. The investment for supplying 1 to 2 MW of power is relatively low compared to a system for a cruise ship. The 16 MW Kristiansand installation was made possible by a 4 million euro EU grant. Meanwhile, some cruise ports are facing negative public reaction on heavy traffic days due to the visible exhaust that can literally cover a port, a town or a fjord. Kjetil Paulsen, senior adviser on shipping at the Bellona Foundation, an environmental organization based in Norway, and working with Carnival Corporation, added that it is in the interest of the industry and the ports to reduce emissions. What tourist would pay to visit destinations covered by clouds of exhaust, he asked. Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Fall 2018 Smart contracts are a key component of blockchains. These little slices of business logic are the self-executing code that enables developers to create the rules and processes that make up any blockchain-based application. However, while they have the potential to automate and simplify business processes, they are also the main target of any malicious actor looking to compromise such an application. A study by the National University of Singapore and University College London earlier this year found over 34,000 vulnerable smart contracts on the Ethereum network. Attacks involving poorly coded contracts could be something as trivial as the ability to cheat in a blockchain-based game of rock paper scissors, to the loss of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency, to the need to fork the underlying platform entirely, as happened in the wake of the DAO hack. What are the ways smart contracts can be exploited, and what best practices can be applicated to ensure secure smart contracts? Common smart contract vulnerabilities Smart contracts offer interesting new ways to do business and manage business processes. They also offer new avenues for potential malicious activity. Despite Microsoft patching a zero-day vulnerability in its JET Database Engine, you are not fully protected. Researchers at 0patch warned that Microsofts official patch was incomplete. The Zero Day Initiative first revealed the flaw, which could lead to remote code execution, in September after Microsoft failed to patch it within the 120-day disclosure timeline. Within 24 hours, 0patch released a micropatch, as all versions of Windows contain the JET Database Engine. Microsoft released a fix on Octobers Patch Tuesday, but 0patch said Microsofts fix only limited the vulnerability instead of eliminating it. We promptly notified Microsoft about it and will not reveal further details or proof-or-concept until they issue a correct fix. In the meantime, 0patch advised deploying a micropatch until Microsoft ships a proper fix. NSA yet to find proof of Bloomberg-reported Chinese spy chips Bloomberg Businessweek did not back off its hotly denied claim of Chinese spy chips in motherboards used by 30 U.S. companies and government agencies, adding fire to the claims by saying the implanted microchips in Super Micro hardware had also affected the network of a major U.S. telecommunications company. The telecommunication company was not named. However, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all gave quotes denying being affected by the Chinese-inserted spy chip. NSA official Rob Joyce, who also happens to give some pretty awesome talks about Christmas light shows, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the NSA hasnt turned up any ties to the claims made in the Bloomberg article, saying: I have pretty great access, [and yet] I dont have a lead to pull from the government side. Were just befuddled. He asked for anyone with knowledge of the Chinese implants to contact the NSA, FBI or Department of Homeland Security. Pentagon discloses breach that affects 30,000 workers Several days after the world learned that the Pentagons modern weapons systems are easy to hack, the Pentagon admitted to a breach of Department of Defense (DoD) travel records that compromised the personal information and credit card data of about 30,000 military and civilian personnel. The Associated Press said the number of people affected by the breach could increase as the investigation continues. Vigilante hacker patching MikroTik routers A Russian-speaking gray hat has been breaking into vulnerable MikroTik routers to patch them. Although he claimed to have disinfected and added firewall rules to as many as 100,000 routers, there are still hundreds of thousands of vulnerable MikroTik routers still infected and mining cryptocurrencies. MikroTik released firmware patches six months ago back in April but Tenable Research recently revealed additional vulnerabilities, the most critical of which would allow attackers to potentially gain fully system access. Users were advised to upgrade to RouterOS versions 6.40.9, 6.42.7 and 6.43, as well as change default passwords. More than 9 million security cameras, DVRs, and NVRs open to remote attack Sec Consult warned that millions security cameras, DVRs, and NVRs manufactured by Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology Co., Ltd. contain flaws that could allow an attacker to remotely take over the devices without much effort. You might have one of the devices and not know it, since other companies put their logos on the affected products. Researchers warned that the company failed to provide proper mitigations for Xiongmai devices vulnerable to RCE via XMeye P2P Cloud. Senators demand to see copy of internal Google Plux memo After Google announced it is finally putting Google Plus out of its misery and oh, by the way, there had been a breach that the company opted not to disclose, three senators sent Google a letter (pdf) demanding to see a copy of Googles internal memo that discussed the breach. In addition, the senators asked for written answers to seven other questions about the vulnerability and other potentially similar incidents that Google opted not to publicly disclose. Facebook claims only 30 million users had access tokens stolen In an update about the View As bug, Facebook revealed, Of the 50 million people whose access tokens we believed were affected, about 30 million actually had their tokens stolen. The post goes on to explain how the attackers pulled it off. Don't pull a Kanye Kanye West accidentally showed the world his iPhone passcode while meeting with President Donald Trump. Despite cameras pointed at him from every angle, West didnt stop to think before tapping in his passcode. Even worse than his OpSec was his idea of good security locking his phone with 000000. Between his expressed views and showing off his passcode, people went nuts. Just for yucks, lets look at who would benefit if Bob Stefanowskis vow to eliminate the state income tax were to come true. It cant happen, of course, and he would know that if he understood public finance but its all he talks about so its worth a glance. Spoiler alert: You probably dont run into the big winners at the supermarket. Based on a 2014 state study of 2011 taxes, with updated analysis, it appears that fewer than 400 families would reap an average of at least $3.6 million each if the personal income tax were to disappear. Those households pay an estimated $1.3 billion, which equals two-thirds of all state school aid to cities and towns. This tiny klatch of earners pulls in yearly incomes starting at around $15 million and going much higher from there. The top 4,000 taxpayers, or about one-quarter of 1 percent of households, would see breaks averaging at least $600,000 each and probably a lot more. That group makes at least $2 million a year, in most cases far more than that. Their $2.4 billion would almost pay the states entire Medicaid outlay Husky-covered children and all. Its a lot of big numbers and it all comes down to this: When you hear Stefanowski, the Republican nominee for governor, say he wants to eliminate the income tax over the next eight years, hes saying he wants to give a gargantuan break to the very rich and, in exchange, squeeze state services. How big a share do the rich pay? In 2011, the year the state Department of Revenue Services studied in depth, the top 3.6 percent of households paid 45 percent of the entire personal income tax. Those were people making at least $287,000 back then. And there is no question that the income thresholds, and the totals paid by the very rich, are significantly higher now. By contrast, the bottom two-thirds of all taxpayers, those making as much as about $75,000 a year, pay about $800 million a year of the income tax, barely more than $1,000 per taxpayer. That botton two-thirds pays nearly half of the sales tax and more than 40 percent of the poroperty tax the levies Stefanowski doesnt want to cut. Elusive middle-class benefits Of course, all Connecticut residents who pay the income tax would benefit if it ended, in the range of $3,500 for households earning $75,000 to $95,000 a year, for example. That would be a nice break but it cant happen without those same families kicking in huge increases someplace else, starting with their local property taxes, along with massive cuts in state services. Theres a fake debate in Connecticut about whether Stefanowski can eliminate the income tax without increasing other taxes. He says eliminating 62 percent of all state revenue would boost the economy enough to keep the state afloat. Thats like saying I could fly to the moon if I ate enough Moon Pies. Theres not a whit of science behind it. Thats what Democrat Ned Lamont has been saying, and his look at the numbers raised his hackles. This isnt just voodoo economics and far-right thinking. Its morally wrong, Lamont said in a written statement Friday. Bob will give just 300 people more than $1 billion in tax breaks each year. For everyone else, thats going to mean huge local property tax increases, extraordinary cuts to schools and classrooms, the end of health coverage for people across the state, an infrastructure that keeps crumbling, and more. Stefanowskis campaign is sticking by its claim that ending the tax would help taxpayers broadly. Kendall Marr, his spokesman, said the plan would put roughly $5 billion dollars a year back in the hands of the taxpayers in the bottom 3 brackets alone. Ned Lamont, who inherited tens of millions of dollars, doesn't understand how much that would mean for our hard-working middle-class families, but Bob Stefanowski knows that tax relief will make a huge difference for families trying to pay their heating bills, make a down payment on a car, or invest in their retirement, Marr said in a written statement. His math isnt even close. I estimated the numbers using two methods. In the income tax, the major cut Stefanowski wants to make, the bottom three brackets those making under $100,000 pay a total of about $2 billion a year. Adding the next bracket, up to $200,000 a year, would bring it up to perhaps $3.2 billion. If Stefanowski wanted to offer a broad cut, hed talk about tax credits, not elimination of the income tax. Keep the rich! Stefanowski is right that Connecticut spends and taxes too much. We all get that. But its not a Republican or Democratic idea. The problem is not current spending, its rising debt, health care and pension costs from long-ago promises made by both parties. And Gov. Dannel P. Malloys income tax hikes were smaller than Stefanowski is making them out to be. Take the increase in 2015, for example, when the top rate moved from 6.7 percent to 6.99 percent and households making more than $500,000 also saw an increase. For all the bluster, for all the national media about Malloy driving people out, that increase generated an extra $160 million a year. And it affected no households making less than $500,000 a year. That year, the income tax generated $9.15 billion. In 2018: $10.13 billion, more than half the general fund. And yet we still faced shortfalls, and Malloy and the General Assembly were forced to cut state jobs. Yes, the states economy remains weak (although its improving) and high taxes are a reason for it, as Stefanowski says. Lamont agrees, and has proposed a $400 million property tax cut aimed at middle- class taxpayers. The bigger issue is Connecticuts lack of a magnet city and tax cuts wont affect that issue. Stefanowskis plan isnt a middle-class tax break. Its an across-the-board end to the taxes that hit the rich far harder than the middle class. Stefanowski is also right that the rich are leaving. There is mixed evidence on how much, but clearly its a problem. What to do about it? He suggests eliminating the gift tax, which Connecticut alone levies, and hes right about that, too. And we should knock the estate inheritance tax way down, perhaps below federal thresholds. We should also trim the $1 billion-a-year corporate earnings tax, which Stefanowski wants to eliminate altogether. All of that will help stanch the exit of rich people without turning Connecticut into Mississippi, which, by the way, hasnt been a haven for the rich since Bernie Ebbers went to the federal slammer. How the numbers work We all agree it would be better to lower taxes. Finding waste and fraud in state government, the nearest thing to a plan by Stefanowski, wont do it because our fixed obligations are rising faster than waste-hunting can cure. Its no wonder Donald Trump endorsed Stefanowski, and its no wonder that Stefanowski proudly stands with Trump, Lamont said in the written comments. The idea that a few hundred people, who already take home tens of millions of dollars a year, would get over a billion dollars in breaks annually is simply staggering. In 2011, the year of the state tax study, 357 taxpayers paid $683 million, or 11.7 percent of the state income tax. If we add in the effects of the tax increases and assume that same group pays the same proportion of todays income tax, we come up with the $1.3 billion, or $3.6 million per filer. Likewise, the 4,000 richest Connecticut taxpayers paid 22.5 percent of the state income tax in 2011, and the same calculations give us the $600,000 in tax breaks theyd average today. Those numbers are almost certainly too low. We know the top 1 percent holds an increased share of the income. Tax collection data from 2016 shows that in withholding alone, the top 4,000 households paid $1.3 billion, and we know they earned a huge share of the $3.2 billion in capital gains, dividends and interest not shown in the withholding figures. The cautious number is enough to make the point: A $3.6 million bounty per taxpayer while dismantling the state is not a great deal for anyone. dhaar@hearstmediact.com BRIDGEPORT -A local man being sought in connection with the fatal shooting of the citys hero barber last year was arrested in Troy, N.Y. Jordan Gunner Hinton was brought back to the city on Monday and charged with murder, felony murder, attempted robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and gun charges. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond. Police said the 30-year-old Hinton is accused with Mark Pockets Christian of the murder of Deon Rodney, a local barber who was shot to death on Oct. 14, 2017, while trying to protect his customers including a young boy. Police said Hinton and Christian had confronted another man on Park Avenue and attempted to rob him but the intended victim fled into the nearby Just Right Cutz barbershop seeking refuge. Police said Hinton went into the barbershop, gun drawn, seeking his prey. Who wants it! Hinton yelled as customers screamed and ran to the back of the barbershop, according to police. Police said Rodney leaped forward, punching Hinton in the face and tackling him. The two rolled out of the barbershop where Christian was waiting. Christian shot Rodney once in the pelvis and he and Hinton fled, police said. Rodney later died on the operating table at St. Vincents Medical Center. Christian was arrested a couple weeks later and is awaiting trial on murder and robbery charges but Police Lt. Chris LaMaine said Hinton fled the city following the crime. BRIDGEPORT Her braids bobbing as she fidgeted in her chair, 7-year-old Aylin Sophia Hernandez recounted the early morning her mother was stabbed to death. There was a lot of blood on the kitchen floor Daddy had blood on his hand, she testified. Rather than facing a courtroom of strangers, the young girl was video recorded earlier speaking with a social worker in a small room. The video was projected onto a movie screen in the courtroom as state prosecutors wound down their murder case against her father, Oscar Ziggy Hernandez. Hernandez sat transfixed to the screen, sometimes smiling, once brushing tears from his eyes, as he saw his daughter for the first time since his arrest two years ago. Dressed in a pink shirt, dark pants and pink light-up sneakers, Aylin sat down in a chair facing the social worker, a large white pad on an easel between them. Together they began to draw a picture of the girls face on the pad all the while the social worker gently prodded Aylin to talk about the early morning of Feb. 24, 2017. I think I saw a policeman hit my daddy, the girl volunteered as she continued drawing. At the social workers direction, the girl began drawing a picture of the apartment she lived in with her mother and father on Greenwood Street here. Mommy and daddy and Brenda (Castellanos) were in the kitchen, she continued, drawing the small space. I was asleep in the bedroom. Daddy picked me up and carried me to the car and said we were going to Texas, we were going to Texas because he said mommy was with another guy. There was a lot of blood on the kitchen floor and a broken bottle and daddy woke me up and carried me out. Hernandez, an undocumented resident from El Salvador who was working at a Stamford deli, is accused of stabbing his girlfriend, 26-year-old Nidia Yubi Gonzalez, to death and wounding her friend Brenda Castellanos in his home and then fleeing with his daughter. He was captured following a high-speed chase in central Pennsylvania. Hernandez is charged with murder, attempted murder, first-degree assault and risk of injury to a child. Guided back to her mention of her mother possibly seeing another man, the girl recalled that one time she had gone to eat at a diner with her mother and a police officer and her mom had told her not to tell anyone about it. Because she liked him, Aylin explained as she continued to draw. She then remembered that she and her father had stopped at McDonalds for breakfast that morning, although she didnt know where it was. While they were there she noticed her father had blood on his hand and had her mothers cell phone which also had blood on it. Asked again if she remembered seeing her mother and Castellanos in the kitchen, the girl was adamant, shaking her head. I was asleep, she said. Can I have my drawings? she added, ending the session. Chaudhry Shujaat expressed satisfaction over the conduct of by-elections LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President and former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Sunday expressed satisfaction over the conduct of by-elections in the country. Talking to the media after casting his vote at Muslim Abad Polling Station in NA-69 of Gujrat, he said that the PTI government was functioning quite successfully. The government was established after passing through difficult circumstances, he said, adding those who are conspiring against the government would continue to do so. Rubbishing rumours that the opposition would remove the government constitutionally, he said that the incumbent government should be given the opportunity to deliver. Imran Khan had no idea prior to coming into power that how much circumstances in the country had been worsened by the previous government. To a question, Shujaat said that Shehbaz Sharif was imprisoned not due to Ashiana Housing Scheme but because of his oppressive attitude. Shehbaz is facing the wrath of Almighty Allah due to Model Town tragedy. I strongly hope that the justice will soon be delivered to the families of martyrs of Model Town tragedy. Meanwhile, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday said that excellent arrangements were put in place for holding the by-elections. Speaking to the media after casting his vote in Gujrat, he said that incarcerated PML-N president Shehbaz was facing divine wrath due to Model Town tragedy. To a question, he said that the circumstances would move towards betterment in the coming time. Damage done to the country during the last ten years cannot be set right in just 60 days, he said, adding that the government should be given time so that it could move forward. Replying to another question, he hoped that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar would deliver. He maintained that those officers who were involved in Model Town tragedy should be changed so that impartial inquiry could take place. LaShawn Robinsons teenage son wasnt being challenged at school and it was clear it was only a matter of time before he would drop out. She needed for him to finally win a seat in one of the nearby high-performing magnet schools. Desperate, she picked up the phone and called the University High School of Science and Engineering where her son Jerod was first in line on the schools wait list for a seat. How is he number one and never got picked? the Hartford mom remembers asking. I was told, Well, white kids from the suburbs have to apply for him to get in. My son was crushed. More minority students from the neighborhood couldnt be let in because the school has to be integrated, meaning no more than three out of every four students could be black or Hispanic. Thats because University High is part of a network of 40-plus themed magnet schools in the Hartford region that were designed to lure white, middle-class children to voluntarily enroll in schools with city youth. The schools were opened after the Connecticut Supreme Court found 22 year ago in the landmark Sheff vs. ONeill case that poor and minority students in Hartford suffer daily from inequities caused by severe racial and economic isolation. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Bridgeport will hear arguments from lawyers who represent parents like Robinson who believe the states lottery is enforcing discriminatory racial quotas because it is designed to limit black and Hispanic enrollment to 75 percent of a magnet schools enrollment. The federal court will consider whether to dismiss the case, leaving it to the state courts to decide. The state case is occurring in the context of increased scrutiny by the Trump administration and other conservative groups over race-based admission policies for schools and colleges. Last month, the U.S. Justice and Education Departments launched a civil rights investigation to determine whether Yales affirmative action admissions policies discriminate against white and Asian students. In a similar lawsuit at Harvard, the administration supported Asian students challenging the universitys affirmative action policies. In the Hartford case, a difference in philosophies about whether segregation contributes to poor educational outcomes divides parents, educators and lawmakers. While the bulk of the regions magnet schools have no problem attracting enough white students from the suburbs to go to school with city kids, some struggle. This means seats in some schools are left open to maintain diversity - a reality that is causing a rift among neighbors about what should happen next. Why dont they offer those seats to some of the kids in the neighborhood? Because they think it would make the schools fail, said Robinson, who has five children, two of whom have never won the school choice lottery. I dont believe that. Thats discrimination to say, Oh, we cant have too many kids with special needs. We cant have too many kids who are English language learners because that will mess up the whole school. Thats not fair. But doing so could overwhelm teachers and staff, since it would be difficult for them to address so many needs successfully, advocates of desegregated schools say. In Hartford, three out of every four students come from a low-income family and receives free school meals. For a single mom, thats less than $21,400 a year in annual income. One out of every forty students are homeless. One out of every five speak and understand limited English. A remarkably different student population attend the magnet schools, and better reflect the states school-aged population. One out of every 250 students attending magnets operated by the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) are homeless. Half come from a low-income family and one-in-18 are English language learners. The wealth of the families living in a particular school district is extremely important in Connecticut since local taxpayers pick up the majority of the costs to operate public schools. Connecticut relies more on local taxpayers to pay for public K-12 schools than 43 other states, federal data show. Courts to decide next steps Whatever the federal court decides, it could have a far-reaching impact. In Connecticut, there are many other regional magnet schools located outside the Hartford area that enroll thousands of students and are funded by the state in the Bridgeport, New Haven, New London, Stamford, Waterbury and other regions. State law also requires they enroll no more than 75 percent black and Hispanic students. State officials questioned how much diversity these schools need to succeed, and asked a state judge last Spring to allow them to fill some of the empty seats with black and Hispanic city children eager to attend when not enough white students enroll. Under the rules worked out for implementing the Sheff decision, 75 percent minority enrollment has been the upper limit allowed for a school to be deemed desegregated. The state wanted to raise the limit to 80 percent, but Hartford Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger rejected that request. Further isolation - particularly, without any defined plan for the future - constitutes irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law. Furthermore, equity cannot favor more segregation, Berger ruled. Robinson and other Hartford families who are disheartened by a school choice system that doesnt have enough seats in high-quality schools and is leaving seats empty, are looking for the federal courts to mandate a color-blind lottery. There shouldnt be a cap. It shouldnt be, They all have special needs so we cant let them in. Our kids can learn, said Robinson. The Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing the Hartford families for free in the Robinson vs. Wentzell case, has argued against affirmative action in lawsuits across the country. The point that we are trying to make is that the government should not be discriminating on the basis of race, Wen Fa, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, said during an interview about the Hartford case. I think a world-class school that is 100 percent black or Hispanic would still be a world-class school. Frankly, its appalling for people to suggest otherwise. But lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU, and The Center for Childrens Advocacy say that if the federal courts bar the state from conducting a lottery that is tailored to enroll no more than 75 percent black and Hispanic students in a school, the schools would cease to be diverse. That, in turn, means the state Supreme Courts order to desegregate schools would be almost impossible to accomplish. They just want to destroy what we have and move on to another state, Cara McClellan, a NAACP attorney representing the Sheff plaintiffs. This case is a threat for our country. Pacific Legal Foundation would have us just stick our heads in the sand and say, These things will work themselves out. Student segregation is a national trend, but Connecticut is somewhat ahead of the pack. Connecticut is in 13th place in the U.S. for the segregation of its Hispanic students and in 14th place for segregation of black students in public schools, according to a 2016 report by the UCLAs Civil Rights Project. The center reports that this segregation often coincides with the segregation of students from poor families. A national report by the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank, ranked Connecticut among the worst in 2012 for its housing, zoning and school assignment policies.Among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country, the school districts in the Bridgeport region had the largest gap in test scores between low-income students and their better-off peers, the Brookings report found. The Hartford region had the second largest and New Haven the fourth. Matt DeRienzo has joined Hearst Connecticut Media Group as vice president of news and digital content, a position in which he will be overseeing the groups eight daily and 13 weekly newspapers, along with their 21 news websites. He joins Hearst at a time of great challenges for traditional newspapers, which remain at the core of the groups business. One thing we have to keep in mind is that Hearst Connecticut Media is, by far, the largest news-gathering organization in the state, DeRienzo said. So our challenge will be to organize our newsrooms and to organize our priorities and vision so that the group really feels and acts like its size. And our size gives us the flexibility to focus on the things that nobody else can do enterprise and investigative work. DeRienzo, 42, comes to Hearst as the executive director of LION, or Local Independent Online News, a nonprofit group that represents more than 200 online news organizations in the United States and Canada. He also has served as assistant managing editor of The News-Times of Danbury and as the editor of the New Haven Register, Middletown Press and the Register Citizen of Torrington. Hes been in journalism all of his adult life, starting out at 18 as a reporter for the Westbrook (Maine) American Journal. He later returned as the papers managing editor. DeRienzo, of Litchfield, also is an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University and the University of New Haven. He is a 2018 Punch Sulzberger fellow at Columbia University School of Journalism. Matt's 25-year career as a reporter, editor and publisher ideally positions him to lead our news efforts in our mission to provide essential news to Connecticut's communities, said Paul Barbetta, group president and publisher. I'm confident he'll focus on ambitious journalism while fostering collaboration and a cohesive vision for our news coverage a nd across all platforms. jburgeson@ctpost.com Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media A report of possible drink tampering at a Yale University on-campus party Friday is under investigation according to what Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins told the Yale Daily News. Higgins informed the Yale community of the incident, and that the Yale Police Department is investigating, in a campus-wide email Sunday evening, the YDN reported. Editors Note: Inspire Me is a series in which entrepreneurs and leaders share what motivates them through good times and bad, while also sharing stories of how they overcame challenges in hopes of inspiring others. When Katie Kitchens co-founded FabFitFun in 2010, she wanted to create an online magazine to write about products that would make women feel great, inside and out. Three years into the companys tenure, she and her co-founders Michael and Daniel Broukhim decided to make a change. Instead of just writing about the products they loved, they wanted to get them into their readers hands so they could try them for themselves. While there were other subscription box services on the market, the FabFitFun team aimed to make their idea stand out from the pack. Nobody was really looking at the whole woman. All of them were focused around little sample products, says Kitchens, who serves as the companys editor-in-chief. Its not just about sending people stuff in a box. We still consider ourselves storytellers and whether its founder stories or ingredients or how to wear -- the idea is that we are really bringing these products to life. Kitchens says that while the companys rapid growth -- in 2013 they sent the first boxes to 2,000 members and today the business has more than 350,000 members -- has been gratifying, it has also created its own stressors. Related: These First-Time Founders Share What Gave Them The Inspiration to Take the Plunge In the beginning, Kitchens says one of the biggest issues they faced was getting brands to believe in what they were doing and convincing them to come on board. While sample boxes are generally understood in the beauty world the idea of full size products is still pretty new. On top of that, getting non-replenishable brands in fashion, home, fitness and tech was probably the biggest struggle, she says. And initially, with an audience that was largely in a similar demographic as her, Kitchens said it was an easier process to choose what would go in the boxes. She was confident about what would appeal to the members, because she knew she liked what she was choosing. But having the broader audience has kicked things into a higher gear. Now that we are curating for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of women, its a different game. The members are much more diverse, explains Kitchens. A 17-year-old in San Diego probably does not want the same product as a 65-year-old in Kansas City. Another new wrinkle is that while now brands are more eager to be a part of a FabFitFun box, they dont necessarily have the capacity to fulfill that scale Kitchens and her team are after. But Kitchens says that it is the feedback from her customers that inspires her the most when things get challenging. She says the biggest lesson she has learned over the last several years is to not be afraid to seek help from from her support system, and trusting that the people she has empowered to lead, like the companys consumer insights and merchandising teams, will find products that will most resonate with their members. Kitchens shared her insights about why you should never play it safe. When you know you're facing a serious challenge or obstacle, how do you motivate yourself to tackle it? In the beginning, it felt easier and faster to try and do things on my own. It took me awhile to get rid of that mentality. We have spent the last few years building a really amazing team that has been the absolute key to our growth. We are definitely not ones to shy away from new ideas and challenges. Between my co-founders, co-workers, other founders and entrepreneurs, my husband, my parents and friends, I have a pretty amazing network that allows me to bounce ideas, work through challenges and find new solutions. What is a quote that inspires you and why? "The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere." -- Barack Obama. The reality is that it is impossible to be successful without some kind of failure. While I have certainly had more than my fair share of failures, it hasnt stopped me. When we first launched the boxes, I would try and cold call brands to convince them about the opportunity. I got far more nos than yeses. It was quite frankly the worst. But I kept calling and eventually got some yeses. You have to keep going. Who really encouraged you when it came to launching the company? I am probably one of the rare people who has quite a few cheerleaders in my life. My co-founders tell me often that I am capable of anything. My husband is an amazing support system. He believes and encourages me in everything I do and makes what I do possible by sharing in all of our parenting and other adult responsibilities. And my dad has always been my number one supporter, instilling a love of creativity and teaching me from a very early age that you should always chase your passion rather than the money. Who is a woman that inspires you and why? My mom. She is a psychologist and got her PhD when I was a kid. She was the first in her family to go to college. And while I know it wasnt easy, she made it very clear that it is 100 percent possible to be an amazing mom while having a great career. I think true work and life balance is a bit of a myth. But if I do half as much as she did, I will be in a good. Related: The Co-Founder of This Celebrity-Favorite Subscription Box Shares Why Failure Is So Important for Success How Women Entrepreneurs in This Rural Peru Community Work Together to Build a Stronger Business This Founder Explains Why Self-Care Must Be a Priority When You Have Big Goals Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Hurricane Michael The League of Southeastern Credit Unions is working with other credit unions to deliver portable generators and other supplies and resources to credit unions that are unable to service their members primarily because of widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Michael. Even though cell phone coverage continues to be sporadic and spotty along the Panhandles areas hardest hit by the hurricane, the league managed to contact Friday morning with Panama City-based Bay Credit Union CEO Bob Little and CFO Bill Collins. LSCU also has been in contact with other credit unions affected by the hurricane. Although numerous Florida and Alabama credit unions reopened their branches and call centers Thursday and Friday, some cooperatives announced they wont be able to reopen until Monday, and a few have said their branches will be closed until further notice though their online, mobile and ATM systems are operating. LHC issued notice to Punjab home secretary regarding public hanging of Imran Ali Lahore High Court on Monday issued a notice to the Punjab home secretary to appear before the bench tomorrow [Tuesday] for the hearing on the appeal regarding public hanging of Imran Ali. A two-member bench, comprising Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed and Justice Shehbaz Rizvi, was hearing the petition of Amin Ansari father of seven-year-old Zainab who was raped and murdered in Kasur for the public hanging of his daughter's killer. "The convict is a serial killer and will be hanged day after tomorrow [Wednesday]," said Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhry in court. The bench issued a notice to the Punjab home secretary to appear in court tomorrow. In a writ petition filed on Saturday, Ansari submitted that all appeals of the convict had been dismissed by available legal forums the high court, Supreme Court and president of Pakistan. He said the trial court had also issued death warrants of the convict for Oct 17. He had stated that Section 22 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 empowered the government to hang a convict publicly, complaining that the government was not complying with the law available on the subject. The petitioner has asked the court to order the government to ensure that the convict is hanged publicly to satisfy the requirement of deterrence in society. Previously, the high court on a similar petition by Amin had referred the matter to the government. On death row On Friday, an anti-terrorism court had issued death warrants for the convicts execution in Kot Lakhpat jail. The court directed the jail superintendent to execute the warrants and submit a compliance report. The ATC had on Feb 17, 2018, handed down death sentence on four counts to the 24-year-old convict, following a four-day jail trial at Kot Lakhpat Central Jail. The death penalty was handed down under four sections of laws including 364-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) (kidnapping a person under the age of fourteen), 376 of the PPC (rape), 302-B of the PPC (murder) and section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 (for terrorising society by an act). The court had further awarded life imprisonment to the convict under section 377 of PPC (unnatural offence/sodomy) and seven-year jail term under section 201 of PPC (dumping the dead body). The court had also imposed a fine of Rs1 million on the convict to be paid to legal heirs of the victim, in addition to a collective fine of Rs3.2m imposed under different sections of law. Zainab's rape and murder in January had sparked outrage and protests across the country after the minor was found dead in a trash heap in Kasur, with #JusticeforZainab becoming a rallying cry for an end to violence against children. Her case was the twelfth such incident to occur within a 10 kilometre radius in the city over a 12-month period. Following intense pressure, the Punjab government had declared the arrest of Ali, the prime suspect, on January 23. Cyberattack Revelations Appear To Undercut Russia's UN Efforts The recent revelations about the cyberattacks conducted by Russian military intelligence (GRU) in several countries did not come as a surprise. The UK and its allies have been calling for public attribution of cyberattacks coupled with, when appropriate, a series of diplomatic and economic responses, and even retaliation-in-kind. The thinking behind this is that attribution, coupled with sanctions initiated by a united front of like-minded states, could create a deterring effect. However, these revelations also play into wrangling over cyber regulation at the UN level. Russia is planning to submit two UN resolutions later this month, one on a code of conduct to regulate states behaviour in cyberspace and one on a new UN cybercrime convention. It is expected that the US and EU countries will reject these proposals, in line with their previous positions. Coordinated revelations about Russias behaviour could be part of a negotiation strategy that the UK and its allies are implementing with the aim of challenging Russias negotiating position, as it tries to lobby other countries to endorse its resolutions. This is a critical juncture in the debate over the future of cyberspace. Russia, together with China and other countries, is pushing for more regulations to clarify how international law applies to cyberspace, with the aim of exercising more sovereignty and state control over the internet. The US, the UK and other likeminded states oppose this approach as they claim it would legitimize repressive state practices and instead want to largely preserve the idea of an open, free and stable internet, and instead to focus on the application of existing rules of international law as the basis for maintaining security and for conflict prevention. Common ground between the two sides is diminishing and views are diverging rather than converging. It was not always this way. In 2015, after the UN established a Group of Governmental Experts (UN GGE) on the security of information and communication technologies, a consensus was reached by participating countries, including Russia. It affirmed that international law applies to cyberspace and recommending norms and principles for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. However, in 2017, when the UN GGE tried to take the process a step further and discuss the application of international law to cyber conflicts, it was faced with a deadlock. Some countries, including Russia and China, opposed the mention of international humanitarian law, the law of self-defence and the right of states to take countermeasures. They claimed this would lead to the militarization of cyberspace. Since then, little has been achieved in public diplomacy terms to bring the two sides together. Instead, Russia has been trying to rally endorsement for its proposals from other countries notably those in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS. Its first resolution to be proposed in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly will be based on the SCO International Code of Conduct for Information Security (opens in new window), and the second resolution in the Third Committee will propose a draft convention on cybercrime. The draft convention has been circulated on a number of occasions as an alternative to the Council of Europe convention on cybercrime, known as the Budapest Convention. From the perspective of Western states, no additional regulations are needed. Cyberspace is not lawless, and international law applies to peace and cyber conflicts. However, given the nature of cyberspace, states need to clarify their positions on the application of international law, which is what countries like the UK have started doing. On the issue of cybercrime, Western states have always opposed a new convention to replace the Budapest Convention and have been supporting numerous efforts to expand its membership, currently at 61 countries. They would rather reinforce what exists already. In the absence of an agreement on the rules of engagement in cyber space, the approaches that are being adopted consist of imposing costs on adversaries for their malicious cyber activities and pursuing bilateral agreements when needed. Given that Russia has been calling for rules in cyberspace based on UN Charter principles such as respect for national sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs, exposing its numerous attacks which go against these same principles undermines Moscows stance. By strategically timing the announcement it has been almost six months since GRU operators were caught in an attempted hack and signals interception of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons the UK, the US and their allies hope to weaken Russias position in the UN deliberations. As the new wave of UN discussions begin this month, they may lead to several countries leaving the Russian camp. By Joyce Hakmeh Cyber Research Fellow, International Security Department, Royal Institute of International Affairs. @joycehakmeh Chatham House: You Might Also Read: Britain Plots Cyber Revenge On Russia For Novichok Poisonings: Search underway for missing western Pa. woman Nancy Smith was reported missing near Johnstown and is now believed to be driving on Route 22. Pak-Afghan forces exchanged fire on Chaman border QUETTA: Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire on Sunday about 60km north of the border town of Chaman, with the clash lasting several hours. Pakistani officials confirmed the incident and said Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani personnel who were erecting a fence along the border in the Tandah Dara Sarochahan area. There were no reports of casualties in the clash. After the incident, Pakistani border authorities closed the Friendship Gate near Chaman, leaving thousands of people stranded on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. According to sources, Afghan security personnel had been converging onto the border area for the last several days and on Sunday afternoon they began firing towards the Pakistani troops who were busy erecting the fence. Pakistani troops returned the fire. According to some sources, Afghan troops exchanged harsh words with Pakistani military men before opening fire on the latter. The exchange of fire ended in the evening, said officials. The firing stopped late in the evening but the situation is still tense, they said, adding that Pakistani officials had deployed more troops to the area. Pakistan has been erecting a fence along its western border to stop illegal influx of terrorists and smugglers from Afghanistan who often use infrequent routes to enter Pakistan. Pakistan has already informed the Afghan government of its decision to build a border fence. However, Afghan officials in the Spin Buldak area raised objections to Islamabads decision. Afghan officials visited Chaman a few months ago to hold talks with Pakistani officials on the matter. Meanwhile, Pakistani and Afghan border officials reopened the Friendship Gate in the evening after mediation by Muhammad Asghar Khan, a member of the Balochistan Assembly. Mr Khan contacted officials of both the sides and requested them to allow people stranded on the two sides of the border to cross over to the other side. In the evening the gate was reopened and people were allowed to cross over to the other side. The border crossing, however, would remain closed on Monday (today). COATESVILLE With about three weeks left until the midterm elections, Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, both incumbent Democrats seeking re-election this year, spoke at a rally at the New Life in Christ Fellowship church and urged voters to cast ballots for Dan Williams, a Democratic candidate for state representative in the 74th Legislative District, and to support Democratic candidates up and down the ticket. Wolf said to the gathered crowd of more than 100 people that he was honored to be there to support Williams, and its important to elect him to help make change in Harrisburg. Williams, whos the senior pastor at the church, is running against Republican candidate Amber Little-Turner for the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Harry Lewis Jr., who decided not to seek re-election. Wolf said that Harrisburg was broken when he first took office nearly four years ago, but he accomplished goals including expanding Medicaid, funding public education, balancing the state budget, and fighting the opioid crisis. He said Pennsylvania is now doing a lot better than four years ago, but there is still more work to be done. He said this years elections may be the most important in his lifetime, and he encouraged voters to elect candidates like Williams to help keep Pennsylvania moving forward. If we make the right choice, we can do great things together, he said. Wolf also voiced support for Democratic candidates Katie Muth, a health care provider and professor challenging Republican state Sen. John Rafferty in the 44th Senatorial District, and Chrissy Houlahan, an educator, businesswoman and Air Force veteran running against Republican tax attorney Greg McCauley for Pennsylvanias 6th Congressional District seat, which is open as Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello is not seeking re-election. Wolf, who is seeking his second four-year term as governor, is being challenged by Republican Scott Wagner, a former state senator, as well as Libertarian Ken Krawchuk and Green Party candidate Paul Glover. Casey said protecting peoples access to health care, especially for those with pre-existing conditions, is one of the defining issues in his race for re-election and this years midterm elections in general. Casey quoted the lyrics We are called to act with justice, from the hymn We are called, to explain how more people are now getting involved in the political process. He said the hard right and corporate special interests have gained an unprecedented amount of power in the federal government, and theyre obsessed with giving rich people money and taking away peoples health care, but its up to voters and candidates to protect basic principles of justice in this country as justice is currently under assault. Casey said average people like Williams and Houlahan have been called to run for office in a difficult time, and community members have been called to support them in their efforts to work for justice. He mentioned a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.: If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. We have a lot of drum majors for justice in the assemblage here tonight, Casey said. Were gonna work and were gonna win. Casey, who is seeking his third six-year term in the Senate, is being challenged by Republican U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta as well as Libertarian Dale Kerns Jr. and Green Party candidate Neal Gale. Williams spoke about his background and said hes not just a pastor, but also a professor, a parent and a taxpayer. He said its important for people of faith to get involved in the political process, and he wants to work to get things done, instead of just complaining from the sidelines. Williams said its important to protect the rights of people who may be forgotten sometimes, such as the poor and senior citizens. Often people in power forget that the people who get lost in the debate about the poor are still people, he said. Part of what we want to do is move in a direction that doesnt just lift some, but lifts every single one of us so that we can become contributors to this country, to this community, to this district. Williams said the term working poor is an oxymoron that should not be present, and theres something wrong when one person is working three jobs and still struggling to survive. He said seniors shouldnt have to worry about being driving out of their homes due to high school property taxes and rising health care costs. He said its important to vote for Wolf, Casey, Houlahan and Muth so they can fight for reforms to allow seniors and retirees to live in peace. Williams said the war on drugs has come to be known as the opioid crisis as the demographics of drug victims have changed. We dont need incarceration, we need treatment, he said. State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, said hes known Williams since the time he was a student in Dinnimans African-American history class at West Chester University. Dinniman said Williams would question and challenge him, which made him a better professor and they both learned together because of it. Dinniman said Williams has frequently stood with him on issues affecting the Coatesville community, such as advocating for economic development that benefits everyone and questioning the Coatesville Area School District on parts of its curriculum, as well as urging an end to using the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement. Dinniman said Williams will be a great state representative, and in that role hell also serve as a teacher for the community. The midterm elections will be held Tuesday, Nov. 6. Theresa Mays formidable speech to the Tory Party conference barely two weeks ago ought to have put paid to all leadership speculation for the foreseeable future. But, sadly, the knives are being sharpened again. This time, its not Boris Johnsons blade at the whetstone. The man putting an edge to his weapon is former Brexit secretary David Davis. Former Brexit secretary David Davis has called for a full-scale Cabinet revolt against Mrs May Treacherously, he accuses the PM of incipient panic under pressure from Brussels and has called for a full-scale Cabinet revolt against her over what he portentously calls one of the most fundamental decisions that government has taken in modern times. For good measure, he adds: This week the authority of our constitution is on the line. This is high-blown claptrap. In truth, what we are witnessing is not the British constitution under threat but one of the oldest and most familiar stories in politics: An old man in a hurry. I know Mr Davis (wholl be 70 in December) very well. He is a thoroughly decent man and an ornament to the House of Commons. Unlike most MPs, hes had experience of real life outside politics, both as a director of sugar giant Tate & Lyle where he worked for 17 years and as an infantryman in the territorial SAS. And unlike many Tory MPs, hes had to make his own way in life, being brought up by a single mother and spending his early years mainly on a council estate. Hes been touted as a possible future Tory leader ever since he was first elected MP when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister in 1987. Indeed, he stood as a leadership candidate 13 years ago. But for all his many qualities, he lacks the record of substantial achievement in politics that is essential for someone with his experience who seeks the top job. Indeed, Mr Davis is chiefly notable for his record of resignations. To misquote Oscar Wilde: One ministerial resignation may be regarded as a misfortune; two looks like carelessness. True, Mr Daviss two resignations have always been on points of principle but there have, nevertheless, been too many. The most baffling occurred ten years ago when he was shadow home secretary causing embarrassment to his boss David Cameron when he was leader of the opposition. He stepped down to fight a by-election over his anger over the then Labour governments plans for 42-day pre-charge detention as part of its anti-terror policy. Mr Daviss most recent resignation was in the summer, in protest against Mrs Mays so-called Chequers plan for Brexit. His strop made headlines for a few days. But as Brexit secretary he should never have allowed Mrs May to have got boxed into such a tight corner by Brussels Brexit negotiators. He had originally been given the job by her in recognition of his role as one of the few Tory big-hitters who had campaigned for Brexit during the 2016 referendum campaign. Suddenly, he was offered his chance to earn a place in history and put his own imprimatur on Britains departure from the EU. Im afraid to say he failed. Most shamefully, not only was he repulsed by Michel Barnier & Co but he was weakly shoved aside by his own pro-Remain civil servants. Equally heinous, Mr Davis gave the impression of failing to master his brief. He was considered lazy away from his desk too often, attending, for example, the Hay Festival to listen to feminist author Margaret Atwood. Pro-Brexit Cabinet Ministers will assemble tomorrow night to decide whether they'll accept Theresa May's (pictured) latest Brexit plan or whether they'll walk out in protest at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting Very soon, Brussels negotiators realised that Whitehall mandarin Olly Robbins, not Mr Davis, was the man in charge. Instead of playing a central role in this countrys biggest and most important negotiation in 40 years, David Davis had allowed himself to be sidelined. So why should Mrs May listen to such a man? Why should Cabinet ministers be expected to heed his call to rise against her and agree with his claim that failure to get agreement on a final trade deal would leave Britain paying 39billion to Brussels for a pig in a poke? For all his bravado, Mr Davis doesnt seem to have noticed that his far less experienced replacement, Dominic Raab ironically a man who was his protege and his one-time chief of staff looks much more at ease in the job. If Mr Davis had true self-knowledge, he would not as he did yesterday criticise Mrs May for accepting the EUs language on the Irish border issue. The fact is that the minister in charge of negotiations at the time was none other than Mr Davis himself. But such is the dishonest and disingenuous world of politics. Over recent months, Theresa May has been forced to put up with treachery and betrayal from some Tory colleagues. As we reach the Brexit negotiations endgame, she and, more importantly, the British people deserve better than to be subjected to the flouncing egotism of a man who palpably failed in his job to secure us an orderly and proper break from the European Union. Theresa May wore a white coat yesterday afternoon for yet another Commons Statement on Brexit. White for surrender? If so, to which side? Or was it the white coat of a psychiatric nurse? It must now be apparent to most bystanders that the London political class has been unhinged by our imminent departure from the EU? A testy session. Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May should let him have a go at being PM. Mrs May, you will be shattered to hear, disagreed. Amid the brouhaha, Speaker Bercows tonsils flapped like a pennant on the Solent. MPs heckled, shouted, shook their heads, sucked their upper gums as if playing Monty Python crones. They aimed their crossness not so much at Mrs May as at one another and at that unavoidable fact of political life: Brexit was chosen by the electorate. The Grouse of Commons may hate that but it has happened. Tea and sympathy: Theresa May heads to the Commons yesterday after earlier having a chat and a cuppa at the launch of her loneliness strategy Mrs May was asked a good ten times if she would support a second referendum a Peoples Vote. After repeatedly saying that the people had a vote in 2016, she finally reverted to I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave earlier. This made Tory Remainers such as Anna Soubry (Broxtowe) and Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield) and their ilk about six of them nesting at the back of the House v. batey. Miss Soubry scolded the air in front of her sharp nose. Mr Grieve, who has finally tipped over the edge, to no great surprise, announced that he would not be supporting the Government on Brexit unless stamp of little booties he was given his second referendum. Mrs May noted calmly that he had changed his position a fair bit over the months. When Boris Johnson (Con, Uxbridge & S Ruislip) was called, there was more noise than when the England pack are going for a pushover try at Twickenham. Mayhem. In the event, Mr Johnson created no difficulties for Mrs May and reserved his criticism for Jeremy Corbyn. David Davis (Con, Haltemprice & Howden) tried for a while to catch the Speakers eye but after a while he left the Chamber. Trouble brewing, Theresa? Mrs May peers into a tea urn during a visit to a charity working to combat loneliness in Vauxhall, south London, yesterday Mrs May was asked a good ten times if she would support a second referendum a Peoples Vote. After repeatedly saying that the people had a vote in 2016, she finally reverted to I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave earlier Almost an hour passed before we had the first jocular question. It came when pleasingly plump-tummied Sir Oliver Heald (Con, NE Herts) picked up on Mr Corbyns allegation that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab had been sent to Brussels amid chaos at the weekend and that he had returned with his tail between his legs. Sir Oliver gave a buttery little chuckle it contained enough cream for ducklings to have paddled in it. He hoped Mr Raab would be sent over to the Continent as often as possible provided he secured a decent agreement with the Europeans. It was hardly a wisecrack at all but it was said with a generosity of spirit that had until that moment been absent. It thus helped pop some of the nastiness in the air. Testy: Jeremy Corbyn and his Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer yesterday On the Labour backbenches, meanwhile, Chuka Umunna (Streatham) was a portrait of tragedy. Blowing bubbles. Owen Paterson (Con, N Shropshire) had a good point: what exactly is the EUs problem with letting Irish customs checks be done using new technology. Mrs May muttered something about how any new warehouses could possibly be attacked. It was not wildly convincing. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley, on the front bench, looked unhappy. Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable had the days other good question: er, why was Mrs May making a Statement, given that she had nothing new to report? Sir Vince was belaboured from all sides for asking this. Such is his fate in a Chamber where he has so few MPs and where Speaker Bercow seems to care little for him. Mrs May was not much amused by the question. She is not much amused by anything. But Sir Vince had a point. The sole function of Mrs Mays appearance was to show that she was still at the helm. Not dead yet. Q&A by Jack Doyle Why have the talks hit a brick wall? The issue of what to do about the Ireland/Northern Ireland border after Brexit has reared its head again. Last December, both sides agreed there should be a backstop or fall-back agreement to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the South, and to protect the Good Friday Agreement. Theresa May told the House yesterday there had been real progress in the talks in recent weeks but on the backstop the two sides appear as far apart as ever. What does the European Union want? The EU has argued that the backstop must be specific to Northern Ireland, which would stay in the EUs customs union and parts of the single market, while Great Britain went its own way. This would apply from the end of the transition period at the end of 2020 until the point at which a whole UK-EU trading arrangement is struck. What does No 10 want? Mrs May has proposed a backstop which applies to the whole of the UK. Until a future trading arrangement was agreed, both Great Britain and Northern Ireland would stay within certain elements of the EUs customs arrangements. Mrs May stressed this would be for a temporary period and not a permanent limbo, although there will be no specific date contained within the Withdrawal Agreement. What happened on Sunday? The EU demanded a backstop to the backstop. While agreeing that in principle the UK-wide backstop could apply, Brussels said there was not time to agree all the details in time to sign the Withdrawal Agreement. As a result, they said, their original proposal of a Northern Ireland-only solution should also be in place. In truth, they just reverted to their original position, and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab pulled the plug on the talks. Why wont Theresa May agree to the EUs demands? An avowed unionist, Mrs May has insisted anything which threatens the integrity of the UK will not fly, and that includes customs checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea. Parliament has also voted, in the Trade Bill, to ban Northern Ireland becoming part of a separate customs territory to the rest of the UK. The Democratic Unionist Party, on whom Mrs May relies for her majority, have said customs and regulatory checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain are a blood-red line and even threatened to vote down the Budget if they think the Prime Minister is making too many compromises. What happens next? Mrs May travels to Brussels on Wednesday afternoon for dinner with the other 27 member states, in a last-ditch attempt to hammer out a deal that she and Parliament is prepared to swallow. If the two sides cannot bridge the gap, theyre heading for no deal. Advertisement PM says she will never leave the UK tied to EU's trade rules By Jason Groves and David Churchill Theresa May last night vowed she will never sign a Brexit deal that would consign Britain to permanent limbo in the EUs customs union. The Prime Minister, who faces a potential Cabinet revolt over the issue today, refused eight times to say whether a temporary customs plan would contain a firm end date. But she told the Commons she accepted the need for some form of exit mechanism or break clause, saying: People are rightly concerned that what is only meant to be temporary could become a permanent limbo, with no new relationship between the UK and EU ever agreed. I am clear we are not going to be trapped permanently in a single customs territory unable to do meaningful trade deals. Negotiations with Brussels hit the rocks on Sunday after Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab rejected EU proposals for resolving the Irish border issue at a frank meeting with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier. Mrs May insisted hopes for a deal were still alive, saying the two sides were not far apart. Tomorrow, she will address fellow EU leaders at a crunch summit in Brussels in a bid to break the deadlock. But EU president Donald Tusk said a no-deal Brexit was now more likely than ever before. And EU leaders suggested the timetable for any deal was slipping. One Cabinet minister last night said Mrs May was engaged in a game of chicken with the EU, adding The chances of a no-deal have gone up considerably. It came as: Eurosceptic MPs piled pressure on ministers to use todays Cabinet meeting to force Mrs May to change tack and pursue a Canada-style trade deal; The Prime Minister ruled out a second referendum, saying: The people voted in 2016 and they voted to leave; International trade secretary Liam Fox warned Brussels that a no-deal would cause disruption for the EU economy as well as Britains; Mrs May spoke to French president Emmanuel Macron for the first time since he urged EU leaders to reject her Chequers deal at last months Salzburg summit; Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for Mrs Mays DUP partners, said a no-deal exit was probably inevitable given the EUs intransigence over the Irish border issue. The breakdown in talks centres on the so-called backstop plans designed to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. Mrs May revealed for the first time that the EU has agreed to consider her plan to keep the whole UK in a temporary customs arrangement if a backstop is needed. But she told MPs that Brussels had also demanded a backstop to the backstop, which would ultimately require Northern Ireland to remain in the customs union an idea Mrs May said was unacceptable. She insisted that a deal was still achievable, but government sources played down hopes of a breakthrough this week. She voiced her frustration that the Irish issue was holding up talks, but added: We are entering the final stages of these negotiations. This is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail. Negotiations with Brussels hit the rocks on Sunday after Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab rejected EU proposals for resolving the Irish border issue at a frank meeting with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier Eurosceptic MPs accused No 10 of manufacturing a confected row to distract attention from a potential sellout. Former Brexit minister Steve Baker said the breakdown in talks was almost certainly theatre. Fellow Tory Sir Bernard Jenkin added: Of course this is a confected row which will be resolved to overshadow the unacceptable nature of the rest of the deal. Eurosceptic MPs also urged ministers to force Mrs May to change tack. Former minister Mark Francois, a leading member of the European Research Group, said: We believe the Cabinet should do what they have not done at all, which is debate the merits of a super-Canada trade deal. I think they will find it is superior to Chequers. But Mrs May told MPs that a Canada-style deal was on offer only if the UK was willing to see Northern Ireland carved out into a permanent customs union with the EU something she would never contemplate. One senior EU diplomat said: Mrs May didnt sound too pessimistic and I think were close, but we still need some time. The Whitehall department that meets every week to give me something to write about has surpassed itself. Just look at Page One of today's Mail. Beneath promotions for the memoirs of Strictly's Mr Nasty, whoever he is, and recipes from the Great British Bake Off, you'll find a perfect example of the ingenuity of some of the Government's finest minds. 'Elderly people could be prescribed ballroom dancing lessons and cookery classes on the NHS as part of a new strategy to combat loneliness, Theresa May will announce today.' Brilliant. 'Beneath promotions for the memoirs of Strictly's Mr Nasty, whoever he is, and recipes from the Great British Bake Off, you'll find a perfect example of the ingenuity of some of the Government's finest minds in the Whitehall department' How many brainstorming sessions, how many cups of Fairtrade coffee, how many late-night pizzas did it take them to come up with that? Now, pay attention everyone. The PM's in deep trouble over Brexit. We desperately need a diversionary tactic to get the Irish backstop off the front pages. And we need it fast. Any ideas? We have to focus on what people really care about. Go on. Look, while Westminster is obsessing about the Brexit negotiations, everyone else is talking about a couple caught snogging on Strictly Come Dancing. What's Strictly Come Dancing? It's a television show. Really? Yes, like The Great British Bake Off, only with dancing instead of cakes. People actually watch this stuff? In their millions. Almost as many as voted Leave. I'm listening. What if we could harness the popularity of these two programmes to some new Government initiative? How so? The NHS, for instance. We could do with something to take everybody's mind off the crisis in the health service. Didn't we try that last week, suggesting people should see their GP 15 at a time, like Alcoholics Anonymous? Whose bright idea was that? Never mind. Concentrate on the job in hand. What I'm suggesting is that we exploit the popularity of Strictly and Bake Off by announcing the NHS is going to offer free dancing and cookery lessons? Why? Oh, I dunno, to combat some disease or other. How about obesity? Dancing would help people lose weight. So it might. But teaching people how to bake a scrumptious stem ginger cake with cream cheese frosting and salted caramel isn't exactly the best way to tackle an obesity crisis. True, but think of the publicity. We could even launch an ad campaign and get Prue Leith and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, from Bake Off, and Claudia Wossername from Strictly to front it. I like that. But linking it to obesity isn't going to fly. Any other ideas? Didn't I read somewhere that there's a loneliness epidemic? A what? According to a new report, up to a fifth of adults in the UK suffer from loneliness most or all of the time. Where on earth did that figure come from? 'The PM's in deep trouble over Brexit. We desperately need a diversionary tactic to get the Irish backstop off the front pages. And we need it fast. Any ideas?' I just made it up. Apparently, there are some people who go for days, weeks, even months without seeing another living soul. I'm not surprised. They're all sitting at home watching Strictly Come Dancing and The Great British Bake Off. What's any of this got to do with the NHS? We could produce a report saying loneliness causes strokes, Alzheimer's, heart disease, ingrowing toenails, take your pick. Then we say that by offering dancing classes and cookery lessons, we'll actually be saving the NHS money. And how much will that cost? Ball park, give or take, call it 20 mill for cash. Prue Leith doesn't come cheap. And we're already spending 1.8 million setting up a chain of community cafes to combat loneliness. I didn't know that. You were on holiday that day. The Prime Minister's announcing it to coincide with the next wave of Cabinet resignations over Brexit. Why are we spending 1.8 million of taxpayers' money bankrolling a chain of cafes? Isn't that what Starbucks and Costa are for? You can't move for coffee shops on most High Streets these days. What's a couple of mill between friends? Drop in the ocean. The PM has promised we'll be spending an extra 20 billion on health. And anyway, the NHS already offers everything from tattoo removal and breast enlargement to IVF for transsexuals. Rotherham NHS Trust has laid out 500,000 a year on a range of alternative treatments, including tai chi, quizzes and indoor curling. Curling? Helps people overcome depression, by all accounts. That's the theory, anyway. OK, dancing and cooking on the NHS. It's worth a try. Let's brief No 10 and draw up a press release. If nothing else, it'll give Littlejohn something to write about next Tuesday. On it already. But we need a back-up plan, just in case. What else are people interested in? You can't go wrong with the royals. That's it! If the Brexit talks go belly up, we'll get the Palace to announce that Meghan Markle's having a baby . . . Forgive me for not wasting much space on the Brexit betrayal today. As Mother Theresa says, nothing has changed. Too true, but not in the way she would have us believe. She never had any intention of delivering the Brexit 17.4 million people voted for. What we're seeing now is a charade, the carefully choreographed pretence that the Prime Minister is finally getting tough with Brussels. Read the small print and all they are arguing about is the 'language' which will be used to finesse her abject surrender. Then her sycophants will present it as a famous 'victory'. They really think we're that stupid. I told you from the off that she wasn't up to the job, that her heart wasn't in Brexit. If the PM had any decency, she would have resigned by now. Nothing has changed and nothing will change while this dishonest, dishonourable woman remains in No 10. A Portashrine for Commissioner Coward Deputy Commissioner Sir Craig Mackey, 54, was branded 'Commissioner Coward' after he told Khalid Masood's inquest that he locked himself in his car when he saw the jihadi attacking PC Palmer outside Parliament Chief police officers have been rallying to the defence of Craig Mackey, the acting Met boss who fled the scene of the Westminster terror attack while one of his brave officers was being stabbed to death before his eyes. My judgment on Friday that in another lifetime a bottle of single malt and a loaded service revolver would have been a more appropriate escape route may have been considered harsh in some quarters, but struck a chord with most proper coppers. Since then I've been racking my brains to remember when I last wrote about Mackey. It was back in April, when travellers set up a shrine in South London to one of their own, Henry Vincent, a violent career criminal killed while he was committing an armed burglary. Vincent, who was carrying a screwdriver, died from stab wounds after a scuffle with the homeowner, Richard Osborn-Brooks, who was defending his wife, who suffers from dementia. The reaction of the police was to arrest Mr Osborn-Brooks for murder. Deputy Commissioner Mackey described Vincent's death as a 'tragedy' and threatened to arrest any local resident caught tearing down the grotesque floral tributes left at the scene by Vincent's friends and family. I asked: 'Here's a question for Deputy Commissioner Mackey. Should the family of the Westminster Bridge terrorist Khalid Masood . . . be allowed to erect a floral tribute to him underneath Big Ben? And if any MP, or relative of one of Masood's victims, attempted to tear down that memorial, would Mackey threaten them with arrest?' He never answered the question. Perhaps we now know why. Just one question about those airline passengers who prevented Home Office officials deporting a convicted Somali rapist. Since the incident was caught on film and they can be easily identified, why haven't they been arrested and charged with obstruction or perverting the course of justice? There is usually no one-size-fits-all approach to skincare, particularly when every woman has a different concern they're looking to target. Whether it be spots, pigmentation or just the early signs of ageing there are thousands of ointments and serums to choose from, but some of them only amplify the issue. In a bid to simplify things in the beauty space, Supple Skin Co has launched an oily mixture dubbed 'Dew Drops' that promises to be your best friend in the mission to prevent dry skin, acne and eczema. Scroll down for video In a bid to simplify things in the beauty space, Supple Skin Co has launched an oily mixture dubbed 'Dew Drops' that promises to be your best friend in the mission to prevent dry skin, acne and eczema They're so confident in their $39 hemp-filled remedy that the company will give you your money back if it doesn't work for you in the first two weeks. It contains carrot seed (anti-ageing), lavender (kills bacteria), frankincense (to reduce scarring) and tea tree (prevents acne). Already the product has been receiving rave reviews from influencers and models alike. Blogger Rebekah Emilie said she was initially skeptical before the drops spoke for themselves. They're so confident in their $39 hemp-filled remedy that the company will give your money back if it doesn't work for you in the first two weeks It contains carrot seed (anti-ageing), lavender (kills bacteria), frankincense (to reduce scarring) and tea tree (prevents acne) 'This product is an absolute game changer, and it has fully changed my skincare routine,' she wrote on her blog. 'I came across this company a few weeks ago and was umming and ahhing buying the serum because I generally try and avoid any products made with oils. 'In my head, oily skin and oily face products equal an absolute disaster. However, I read that they had a money back guarantee if the serum didn't work for your skin, so I decided to give it a go, and I'm so glad I did! 'Not only is it super easy to use, as it removes the need for toner and moisturiser, but I have seen such a huge difference in the quality of my skin after less than a week of using it.' The company recommends using six drops of the elixir on your face morning and night to see a visible difference Moana Bikini owner Karina Irby was also suitably impressed, particularly as she's been on a very vocal mission to rid herself of eczema Moana Bikini owner Karina Irby was also suitably impressed, particularly as she's been on a very vocal mission to rid herself of eczema. 'When all you want is for the skin on your legs to match the skin on the rest of your body,' she captioned a raw photo of herself. 'Shout out to all my dry skin sufferers, try a product called Dew Drops from Supple Skin Co. This product is meant for the face, however I also use it all over my legs. 'I squeeze a few drops into my moisturiser tub and use it over my entire body when I have a break out. Which is now! 'I find this product seriously helps with my dryness and as you all know... no dry skin means no itching. Which means less breakouts.' The company recommends using six drops of the elixir on your face morning and night to see a visible difference. Jayne Wallace lives in Essex with her fiance, Lee. She is the founder of clairvoyants the Psychic Sisters. MAGIC E45 CREAM My favourite moisturiser is E45 Cream (2.35, boots.com). Ive been using it since I was a child, as both my parents swore by it for dry skin. I have since tried pricier products, but always end up going back. I also add it into my foundation, to create a dewy base that looks less heavy and smooths fine lines. Plus, you can mix a few drops of lavender oil in to help calm redness. BLITZ EYE BAGS Im obsessed with the new Charlotte Tilbury Magic Away Liquid Concealer (24, charlottetilbury.com). It has a super precise application sponge, which gives amazing coverage. I use it to cover pigmentation from sun damage and dark circles under my eyes which I get when travelling to LA for work. Ive even caught my fiance stealing it out of my handbag! Jayne Wallace, 51, (pictured) revealed her top tips for maintaining a youthful appearance CRYSTALS FOR CALM Its important to look after your wellbeing. My mother was spiritual and taught me to use crystals as a way to calm and centre myself. I always keep one close to me, which I can hold in times of stress. I wear an amethyst around my neck to remind me to stay positive, as well as a rose quartz bracelet, to re-balance my emotions. Plus, I drink my water out of a beautiful bottle with a crystal inside it. LIFE-CHANGING HRT I started the menopause two years ago. The hot flushes, sleepless nights and mood swings affected me badly my tolerance levels dropped dramatically. So, three months ago, my doctor recommended I try HRT and Ive noticed such a difference already! I finally feel like myself again. TRY AQUA AEROBICS Since turning 50, Ive found it harder to stay in shape. But I have arthritis, so cant do weight training or anything too strenuous. Instead, I do low-impact workouts, such as aqua aerobics, to keep my joints supple. Its great fun, as I go with a friend, and surprisingly hardcore: my entire body aches afterwards. I got into it two years ago and its helped to add definition to my legs, bum and stomach. Do you look good for your age? Reveal your secrets to inspire@dailymail.co.uk If you're thinking about renovating your investment property but wondering whether you should wait until it's time to sell, the answer is simple. Australia's renovation queen, Cherie Barber, who has more than 27 years experience in the field, said you should always choose to renovate now. 'If you're a property investor with a rental property, you're in it for one thing and that is a financial return,' she explained on her blog Renovating for Profit. Here, FEMAIL looks at how she transformed one property in order to net a $20,000 profit. Australia's so-called 'renovation queen' Cherie Barber (pictured), who has more than 27 years experience in the field, said you should always choose to renovate now Slide me 'If you're a property investor with a rental property, you're in it for one thing and that is a financial return,' she explained on her blog Renovating for Profit According to Cherie, there are two ways to maximise your return. 'Hold your property for long term capital growth, and make sure you get the highest rent with minimal change of tenants as possible.' To demonstrate how it works Cherie helped newlyweds and aspiring renovators, Richard and Linda, transform their two bedroom apartment in Sydney's inner-west. 'By renovating your investment property now, you'll manufacture equity by increasing the value of your property,' she explained. Slide me To demonstrate how it works Cherie helped newlyweds and aspiring renovators, Richard and Linda, transform their two bedroom apartment in Sydney's inner-west 'By renovating your investment property now, you'll manufacture equity by increasing the value of your property,' she explained Slide me In five days they spent $19,376 on the refurbishment which has increased the value of the property by $40,000 'That makes you more palatable to banks and lenders should you want to refinance or borrow again for your next property. Renovating also makes sure that you can ask top dollar in terms of rent. 'Great looking, freshly renovated rental properties are rare, so tenants will be willing to pay more to snap yours up, and they'll stay longer, minimising rental losses you would otherwise experience in between tenants.' In five days they spent $19,376 on the refurbishment which has increased the value of the property by $40,000. Slide me 'A fresh white colour scheme in Taubmans "Cotton Ball", with bold feature walls in Taubmans "Private Jet" give this 60s apartment a modern update,' she said Cherie Barber's epic two-bedroom apartment makeover These are the things the top renovator decided to add to the home: * Installation of a brand-new kitchen including new appliances * New waterproof laminate floorboards throughout * Internal painting throughout (DIY) * Update electricals including; new lights, switches, relocation of several power points, and electrical rough-in for new kitchen appliances * Relocate existing hot water service in kitchen * Installation of large mirrored wardrobe in the master bedroom * Install new window furnishings (white timber venetian blinds, curtains & rods) * Bathroom refresh including; tile painting, new shower screen, new vanity, new mirrored shaving cabinet and new bath, shower and vanity taps Advertisement Slide me After all of the costs are accounted for that leaves a $20,624 profit for the owners After all of the costs are accounted for that leaves a $20,624 profit for the owners. 'A fresh white colour scheme in Taubmans "Cotton Ball", with bold feature walls in Taubmans "Private Jet" give this 60s apartment a modern update,' she said. 'Black accessories, like curtain rods, light fixtures, kitchen cabinet handles and tap ware throughout... keep the theme consistent. Their total rental price increase by the end of the redecorating was $95 (kitchen pictured) Slide me 'This monochromatic scheme is perfect as a backdrop for fun colourful styling and accessories, from pinks to poppy yellows and aqua,' she said 'This monochromatic scheme is perfect as a backdrop for fun colourful styling and accessories, from pinks to poppy yellows and aqua. 'It's a smart colour scheme for rentals too because any tenant can easily see their own furnishings fitting in.' Their total rental price increase by the end of the redecorating was $95. Scottish-born Nikki Bardis is a woman with a keen eye for business. Now based in Melbourne, she is the owner of SilkyTots, a bedding company which specialises in silk cot sheets for children and infants. Despite having no qualifications in either design or business management, Ms Bardis' fledgling company has sold out of numerous styles online and turned over more than $130,000 since launching four months ago. Speaking to FEMAIL, the mother-of-two shared her journey from dreaming about becoming her own boss to being on track to make half a million in her first year of business. Nikki Bardis (pictured) is the founder of SilkyTots, a silk bedding company which specialises in infant cot slips Ms Bardis, 34, first sparked the idea for her niche offering when she noticed clumps of hair in her daughter's cot, the first sign of common baby baldness. 'Silk has become a huge thing in recent times, but long before the Kardashians endorsed it my Gran swore by silk pillowcases for maintaining the quality and condition of your hair,' she told FEMAIL. Despite trawling through the internet, Ms Bardis couldn't find any silk bedding for children, and after toying with the idea on and off for three years she eventually decided to create her own solution. Using finance from a previous business venture, the clever mum 'got on Google and listened to podcasts' to educate herself about the silk industry, a depth of knowledge which was clear when speaking with her. Silk is an ideal fabric for children's bedding thanks to its hypoallergenic qualities which promote healthy hair, skin and respiratory function 'I knew a handful of silk baby sheets were around, but they're all hugely expensive - the very few cot slips I found online were about $400, so I wanted to make a product which was more accessible to the general public. 'Our silk is made from a very fine Mulberry, and the quality is so high it can be machine washed or just wiped down with a damp cloth. 'It wears very well, doesn't breed mould or fungus and is naturally hypoallergenic which means it's great for babies with asthma or other respiratory conditions, and also for anyone with sensitive skin. 'It doesn't absorb natural oils so it's great for keeping skin and hair hydrated,' she said. Ms Bardis with her two daughters, who were the inspiration behind SilkyTots Since launching in late May, SilkyTots has made an incredible $130,000, a figure which looks set to increase exponentially. 'It's been crazy. When we launched we had less than 300 followers on Instagram, mostly just friends and family, and that's now grown organically to 7,500. 'I did no paid advertising, just worked with bloggers and did some gifting. 'Continuing as we are right now, we are set to make well over $500,000 by the end of the first year, and that's without factoring in our planned expansion to the UK and US.' Since launching in late May, SilkyTots has made an incredible $130,000 'Continuing as we are right now, we are set to make well over $500,000 by the end of the first year' - Ms Bardis Her most popular products are the sold-out SilkyTots silk cot slips which retail at $84.99, and the silk bassinet slips which cost $54.99. 'The pillowcases are really popular too, but I think people are so interested because cot slips are a totally new product - they make for great gifts too.' 'Our biggest buyers are parents whose children have existing bald spots, and they notice the difference and regrowth in their kids' hair in just two to three weeks of using the silk.' Asked about the most challenging aspect of bringing her unique product to market, Ms Bardis said the production process threw up some difficulties. 'Our biggest buyers are parents who's children have existing bald spots, and they notice the difference and regrowth in their kids' hair in just two to three weeks of using the silk' - Ms Bardis 'Getting production right was definitely a battle - we had aimed to launch in September 2017, but between one thing and another we ended up being eight months behind. 'I went to China with an idea thinking I could design the product there, but communication was a real issue. 'My advice to anyone starting out would be to work with an Australian manufacturer to begin with, get your offering exactly right and then send the prototype to China to be produced. 'I started giving samples of our test slips to people about 12 months before we launched, and I collected all the feedback which has helped me to believe more both in myself and in the quality of my product.' SilkyTots are launching full sized cot sheets within the next six weeks thanks to personal requests from already loyal customers. 'I'm just trying to keep up with where we are at right now, it's hard to believe!' Ms Bardis said. Special Assistant to PM on Accountability to visit UK ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar Sunday said that he would visit the United Kingdom (UK) this week to share the list of pending corruption cases and take up those cases with the UK authorities. We have increased pace to counter challenges such as money laundering and corruption in mega projects, he told a press conference flanked by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Media Iftikhar Durrani here at the Press Information Department (PID) Shehzad said an agreement with the UK government to reopen corruption cases was in place. We have requested UK for cooperation on Ishaq Dars return though we do not have any agreement with them for the transfer or deportation of accused persons, he said. Pakistan has solicited details of 33 companies from the National Crime Agency, he added. He said the ratification of Swiss treaty for exchange of information, which would give Pakistan information on bank accounts, was supposed to be completed by 2013-14 but had been intentionally delayed. He said Pakistan had officially asked the German government for information. Once it is received, we will be able to access information regarding accounts opened both in the past and in the future, he added. He said the overall debt of Pakistan has crossed Rs 30,000 billion. Among the public-sector entities, PIA faces loss of Rs 400 billion and power sector Rs 1,200 billion. Similarly, Pakistan Railways and the Utility Stores Corporation are also facing losses. In total, public sector losses have crossed Rs1 trillion, he said. We inherited this economic crisis from the previous governments. Pakistans foreign debt of Rs 30,000 billion and economic problems are the result of faulty policies of previous regimes, he added. Taking a step forward to fulfill its promise of retrieving the ill-gotten wealth of Pakistanis stashed in foreign countries, Shahzad said the PTI government has formed a high-powered task force comprising officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as well as intelligence agencies. Matters pertaining to corruption are not limited to the FIA anymore. A joint investigation team (JIT) is also looking into these cases, he said, adding that the government was in talks with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China for possible agreements to bring back money taken out of the country through illegal channels. The government would pursue any traces of black money, he said, and added, We will contact the governments of all countries where we find traces of illegally transferred money. He said that corruption in mega projects like Multan Metro Bus has surfaced. Different accounts and fake companies were opened in the past on fake names. There is a private company but an investigation revealed that the owners are lower-grade employees. A street vendors account surfaced with Rs 2 billion transactions. Five transactions of Rs 2 billion were made in rickshaw owner Rashids account while Rs 800 million was transferred to a quilt sellers account, he lamented. Replying to a question, Shahzad said NAB was an independent institution which had undergone complete overhaul after the appointment of Justice (r) JavedIqbal as its chairman. Losing a parent is hard enough, but it becomes even harder when you're diagnosed with the same disease that killed them. Christy Collier, 40, a Chief Operations Officer from Sydney, was still mourning the death of her mother in 2012 when she found out she had breast cancer and could be infertile. This was the same cancer that had claimed the life of mum Ann, 54, in 2009. 'Being told you have breast cancer is truly like someone just punching you as hard as they can! It takes the wind out of you,' she told FEMAIL. 'I actually held it together at the doctor's surgery, but then came home and literally collapsed on my lounge room floor.' Christy Collier, 40, a Chief Operations Officer from Sydney was still mourning the death of her mother in 2012 when she found out she had breast cancer (pictured with fiance Daniel and daughter Charlie) 'For the first time in my life I was faced with my own mortality and the thought that I might actually die. Nothing can prepare you for that,' Ms Collier added. Within a matter of weeks she was rushed through to have her right breast removed, which she said was followed by a fast and painful recovery. She then had to do three months of chemotherapy and 25 bouts of radiation. Ms Collier had been diagnosed with the BRCA-2 gene mutation so made the decision to have her other breast removed in 2013. 'Being told you have breast cancer is truly like someone just punching you as hard as they can! It takes the wind out of you,' she told FEMAIL Ms Collier's diagnosis came after she found a slight indentation on her right nipple that she had checked, as due to her mother's own health she had learnt to be breast aware. The doctor sent her for some biopsies to test the breast tissue, and called her back in for the results. 'I said to my partner at the time he didn't need to come with me as I'm sure everything was fine. It wasn't,' she said. As part of the medical process Ms Collier was also told she could speak to a fertility specialist. 'You actually get to speak to a fertility specialist and they explain what is 'likely' to happen, and that's that you'll be unable to conceive after chemo,' she explained It is their job to explain what is most likely to happen, which was that she most likely wouldn't be able to conceive after chemotherapy. For young women like Ms Collier if children is something they want they are encouraged to freeze eggs or embryos. As she had been through chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a good few years of medication which stopped her ovulating, as well as the fact she was getting older, the chances of her falling pregnant were 'incredibly slim'. 'I cant recall the exact percentage they gave me, but it was something like less than 5 per cent. I remember thinking "this is just never going to happen",' Ms Collier said. She and her now-fiance, Daniel, had only been together since late 2015 so having that conversation with him was incredibly difficult Some of the symptoms of breast cancer - A lump or area of thickened tissue in either breast - A change in the size or shape of one or both breasts - Discharge from either of your nipples (which may be streaked with blood) - A lump or swelling in either of your armpits - A dimpling on the skin of your breasts - A rash on or around your nipple - A change in the appearance of your nipple, such as becoming sunken into your breast - Pain in either of your breasts or armpits not related to your period Source: Health Direct Advertisement On top of that her oncologist had given her a small window of time to try and fall pregnant, which was the year of 2016. She and her now-fiance, Daniel, had only been together since late 2015 so having that conversation with him was incredibly difficult. 'But, honestly, it couldnt have gone any better. He was all in, which was truly amazing,' she said. They were told IVF would give them the best chance of conceiving so they started the process straight away. When it came to the Monday of the week they were due to start IVF she suddenly didnt feel well. 'Id gone home from work feeling completely nauseous, and just continued to feel that way during the evening,' she said. 'Although it could have been anything, we popped to the chemist for a pregnancy test, and what do you know, we were pregnant!' After such a rollercoaster of emotions the pair were ecstatic that what they wished for had managed to happen naturally. According to Ms Collier the pregnancy went incredibly smoothly and their 'beautiful little girl' Charlie was born on the 10th of January 2017 (middle) According to Ms Collier the pregnancy went incredibly smoothly and their 'beautiful little girl' Charlie was born on the 10th of January 2017. A few months after Charlie was born the senior manager went to see her oncologist who asked if they were planning on trying for another. 'We were unsure but I asked him about having another 12-months off my medication, and wed just see what happens. He said I could have six!,' she said. 'So I thought I better stick to the tight schedule and amazingly, three months ago I fell pregnant again, and on May 16 this year, our beautiful baby boy Harry was born.' The start of this chain of events is when Ms Collier woke up one day in early December 2002 after having been living in England for three years and had the sudden urge to go home. 'Within a couple of weeks I was back there and mum was diagnosed [with breast cancer] the week after that,' she said. Ms Collier's diagnosis came after she found a slight indentation on her right nipple that she had checked as due to her mother's own health she had learnt to be breast aware 'Mum kept a lot to herself, so we really didn't know it was 'coming to the end' until it was too late. 'One day she just literally couldn't get out of bed so we had to call the ambulance. They took her up to the hospital and she never came back out.' Now Ms Collier says her health has been as good as it's ever been and she said she eats well, exercises and makes self-care a priority and said her future looks 'amazing'. 'We have two amazing children, Daniel and I are engaged to be married, which will happen at some stage, we both have great jobs, amazing family and friends, and are living life to the full,' she said. The busy mother-of-two said she is now a strong advocate for the benefits of exercise and a healthy lifestyle to aid in the recovery of breast cancer. This is what has led to the creation of her passion project, The Pink Movement. 'Im making it my personal mission is to help those with a breast cancer diagnosis to make movement their mission,' she said. 'The Pink Movement currently includes a Podcast, Blog and Resources aimed at helping those diagnosed with breast cancer to stress less, move more and feel better.' For a sparkling bathroom, most homeowners know the best cleaning products can cut your scrubbing time in half. But a new review has found some of the popular bathroom products you're cleaning with are better off not using anything at all. Australian consumer watchdog CHOICE has put the supermarket products to the test - and the results may surprise you. To make your tedious household chore easier, CHOICE has rounded up the best and worst performing bathroom cleaning products. Of the 31 toilet cleaning products tested, Aldi's Power Force Bright & Clean Oxy Thick Toilet Gel, retailed at $2.19, was voted one of the best after scoring an impressive 75 per cent Janola Power Clean Toilet Bleach Gel ($4.50) and White King Premium Bleach ($2.49) also finished at the top of the ladder with 75 per cent 'Anything that makes cleaning your toilet quicker and easier will be a welcome addition to any bathroom,' CHOICE said. 'But toilet cleaners aren't all created equal the best ones can remove stubborn stains as well as particle matter, but the bad ones are worse than not using anything at all. We've tested the top toilet cleaners to tell you what works and what doesn't.' Of the 31 toilet cleaning products tested on the market, Aldi's Power Force Bright & Clean Oxy Thick Toilet Gel, retailed at $2.19, was voted one of the best after scoring an impressive 75 per cent. And the German supermarket giant wasn't the only brand to impress the judges. Strike Bleach Toilet Gel ($2.30), Janola Power Clean Toilet Bleach Gel Ultra Strength ($3.50) and One Shot Thick Concentrated Acidic Toilet Bowl Cleaner ($11.99) came equally second White King Toilet Gel Power Clean 5 in 1 ($3.30) and Bref 10x Effect Toilet Gel - Ultra White ($2.50) scored 65 per cent, followed by Domestos Thick Original ($5.50) at 60 per cent Janola Power Clean Toilet Bleach Gel ($4.50) and White King Premium Bleach ($2.49) also finished at the top of the ladder with 75 per cent. At 70 per cent, Strike Bleach Toilet Gel ($2.30), Janola Power Clean Toilet Bleach Gel Ultra Strength ($3.50) and One Shot Thick Concentrated Acidic Toilet Bowl Cleaner ($11.99) came equally second on the leader board. White King Toilet Gel Power Clean 5 in 1 ($3.30) and Bref 10x Effect Toilet Gel - Ultra White ($2.50) scored 65 per cent, followed by White King Double Strength Toilet Power Gel ($3.95) and Domestos Thick Original ($5.50) at 60 per cent. Meanwhile, the review found four products that performed no better than water. Harpic Fresh Power, Woolworths Essentials Toilet Cleaner, Coles Toilet Cleaner and Coles Ultra Toilet Gel all finished with an equal low score of 40 per cent. Newlyweds Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank were hilariously photobombed by a guest in an official wedding portrait released by the Palace. Eagle-eyed royal fans pointed out a blonde woman just visible in the background of one of four shots released to the public, which shows a radiant Eugenie hand in hand with her new husband as they make their way to a private dinner at Royal Lodge Windsor - blissfully unaware of the interloper behind them. Closer inspection suggests the mystery woman, who appears to be taking a selfie, is Eugenie's close friend - and Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend - Cressida Bonas. The blonde actress, 29, attended the lavish ceremony at St George's Chapel on Friday morning, arriving in a pretty blue Tory Burch dress with a matching headband. The woman captured in the background of Eugenie and Jack's portrait is in a different outfit, suggesting Cressida brought along a change of clothes ready to party the night away at the couple's tequila-fuelled evening do. Eagle-eyed royal fans spotted something in the background in Alex Bramall's stunning photograph of newlyweds Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank making their way to a private evening dinner following their wedding ceremony at Windsor Castle Closer inspection reveals a blonde guest - believed to be Cressida Bonas - in the background of photographer Alex Bramall's shot of the glamorous couple Princess Eugenie, 28, and Jack Brooksbank, 32, exchanged vows at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on Friday, watched by the royal family and a host of celebrity pals, including Robbie Williams, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Demi Moore. The palace released four official portraits following the ceremony, including one of the happy couple sharing a kiss in the carriage used for their procession around the castle grounds after exchanging vows. In the photobombed image, the bride has swapped her Peter Pilotto wedding gown for a stunning Hollywood-inspired Zac Posen dress, while her new husband is dapper in a tux. Royal fans who spotted the woman in the background immediately named her as Cressida Bonas on social media. Actress Cressida, who dazzled in Tory Burch at the ceremony, is a long-time friend of the bride, who is widely believed to have introduced her to her former flame Prince Harry. Cressida, who was also a guest at Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle at the same venue in May, dated the royal for two years between 2012 and 2014. Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas, a good friend of Princess Eugenie, is thought to be the mystery blonde guest visible in one of the official wedding portraits released by the palace. Cressida is seen here arriving at the ceremony at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on Friday October 12th Princess Eugenie and her long-term partner Jack exchanged vows in a lavish ceremony at St George's Chapel on Friday, watched by the royal family and a host of celebrity pals - including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Robbie Williams and Demi Moore Fairytale wedding: The newlyweds share a kiss in their carriage following their Windsor Castle wedding ceremony on Friday October 12th Harry's first love Chelsy Davy, and rumoured former flame Ellie Goulding, were also among the guests at Jack and Eugenie's lavish two day celebrations in Windsor over the weekend. Andrea Bocelli sang the hymns at the ceremony, and the royal bride was accompanied by a troop of adorable attendants that included Prince George and Princess Charlotte, Robbie Williams' six-year-old daughter Theodora, and Eugenie's goddaughter, Maud Windsor. It emerged today that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex used the occasion to tell the royal family they are expecting a baby. The couple, who just arrived in Australia ahead of their first official overseas tour as a married couple, will welcome a baby in the spring, Kensington Palace confirmed. Actress Cressida, 29, looked stunning in a Tory Burch dress and co-ordinating headband at Eugenie and Jack's ceremony on Friday. The mystery woman in the couple's photograph is in a different outfit, suggesting Cressida could have changed into a second outfit for the reception Princess Eugenie, 28, chose a gown by Peter Pilotto for her big day, which was embellished with symbols meaningful to the happy couple, including thistle to reflect their love of Balmoral, and shamrocks - a nod to the heritage of the bride's maternal family The royal family was out in force to see Eugenie tie the knot on Friday. Back row left to right: The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duchess of Sussex, Princess Anne. Front row left to right: Mother of the bride Sarah Ferguson, maid of honour Princess Beatrice, Peter Phillips, Autumn Phillips, Mike Tindall, Zara Tindall Models strutted down the catwalk in nothing but tape at a racy runway show over the weekend. The Black Tape Project is famous for its daring aesthetic, and its Los Angeles Fashion Week show was no different with its SS/19 collection one of its most revealing yet. The new range was showcased at The Majestic Downtown on Sunday, with the latest installment of Fashion Week sponsored by Art Hearts Fashion. Models including Nadia Almualem and Yilena Hernandez sported a series of hair-raising looks, with dozens of strips of sticky tape painstakingly plastered onto their skin in the shape of lingerie and swimming costumes. Nadia Almualem walks the runway wearing Black Tape Project at Los Angeles Fashion Week Powered by Art Hearts Fashion LAFW SS/19 at The Majestic Downtown on October 14 Models don black and gold tape in the shape of lingerie and swimwear as they parade down the runway for The Black Tape Project, famous for its daring aesthetic The label was launched by photographer Joel Alvarez, from Miami, who describes himself as a 'tape artist'. His website reveals he started the project in 2008 after a model asked him to photograph her covered in electrical tape. He has previously said of his collection: 'So I basically wrapped [the model] in black electrical tape. Mind you she looked like two Christmas hams wrapped in rubber bands when I was done. 'I'd never show you these images, but it sparked an idea in my head.' Alvarez started expanding his portfolio by taking snaps of Hooters waitresses covered in the tape, before moving on to over types of tape. The Black Tape Project's Los Angeles Fashion Week show on Sunday was no different with its SS/19 collection one of its most revealing yet Model Yilena Hernandez on the runway. The new range was showcased at The Majestic Downtown on Sunday, with the latest installment of Fashion Week sponsored by Art Hearts Fashion Models don a series of purple outfits made from tape. They wore dozens of strips of sticky tape painstakingly plastered onto their skin in the shape of lingerie and swimming costumes Another hair raising look at the Black Tape Project runway show. The label was launched by photographer Joel Alvarez, from Miami, who describes himself as a 'tape artist' Designer Joel Alvarez's website reveals he started the project in 2008 after a model asked him to photograph her covered in electrical tape (pictured: one of his latest designs) Models storm the runway for the fashion show's grand finale. Creator Joel Alvarez has previously said of his collection: 'I basically wrapped [the model] in black electrical tape. Mind you she looked like two Christmas hams wrapped in rubber bands when I was done' He then started to sell his creations in nightclubs in Miami, before taking them across the world to Ibiza, France, Norway and Canada. After he photographed a former Miss Puerto Rico he uploaded a video of their shoot, which received 7 million views and over 50,000 shares worldwide. He now sells golden tape on his website for up to $49.99 (37.63) so fans can recreate the look for themselves. He claims to receive hundreds of messages on his Instagram account every day asking him to come to music festivals and clubs around the world. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's child will be seventh-in-line to the British throne. The child will come behind his or her father Prince Harry in the line of succession, bumping his uncle, the Duke of York, further down the line into eighth place. However the child will not be given the title of prince or princess unless the Queen steps into change the rules. Instead a son would be styled the Earl of Dumbarton, while a daughter would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor. Kensington Palace announced today the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant with her first child. The baby is expected in Spring next year. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's child will be seventh-in-line to the throne. This graphic reveals how he or she will come after his or her father Prince Harry in the line of succession Harry and Meghan, pictured two weeks ago, announced today that they are expecting their first child in the spring of next year. Their child will not be given the title of prince or princess The child will bump Harry's uncle the Duke of York further down the line into eighth place. Pictured, Prince Andrew with daughter Princess Eugenie at her wedding last Friday The happy news was announced hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex touched down in Sydney, pictured, for their first major international tour since their wedding in May How the line of succession will change after baby Sussex's birth Current line of succession Prince Charles Prince William Prince George Princess Charlotte Prince Louis Prince Harry Prince Andrew Princess Beatrice Princess Eugenie Prince Edward James, Viscount Severn Lady Louise Windsor Princess Anne Peter Phillips Savannah Phillips Isla Phillips Zara Tindall Mia Tindall Lena Tindall ... Following baby Sussex's birth Prince Charles Prince William Prince George Princess Charlotte Prince Louis Prince Harry Baby Sussex Prince Andrew Princess Beatrice Princess Eugenie Prince Edward James, Viscount Severn Lady Louise Windsor Princess Anne Peter Phillips Savannah Phillips Isla Phillips Zara Tindall Mia Tindall Lena Tindall Advertisement The happy news was announced hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex touched down in Sydney for their first major international tour since their wedding in May. A Kensington Palace said: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. 'Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.' The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were told in person at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle last Friday. Line of succession: Prince Charles (left at Princess Eugenie's wedding last Friday) is the heir to the throne, followed by his son Prince William (second from left) Prince George, five, pictured at Eugenie's wedding, is third in line to the British throne, while three-year-old Princess Charlotte, pictured, is fourth in line to the throne Prince Louis, the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, is fifth in line to the British throne. Pictured, William and Kate with their newborn son after his birth in April Rumours were rife that Meghan may be pregnant after her mother Doria Ragland was seen taking baby-care classes in Pasadena with a view to looking after her new grandchild. The duchess has also been seen in a number of looser-fitting outfits over recent weeks. Why was Archie not born a prince or HRH? King George V - Harry's great, great grandfather - limited titles within the royal family in 1917 as far as grandchildren of the serving monarch. This means Archie, as Harry and Meghan's first born, is too far down the line of succession to be an HRH or a prince. George V, speaking in 1917, declared that: 'The grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms.' The eldest son and heir apparent of a duke can use one of his father's lesser grade peerage titles by courtesy. So Archie is entitled to call himself the Earl of Dumbarton - one of the subsidiary titles Harry received from the Queen on the morning of his wedding. However his parents have never stylised him as such, instead opting for Master Archie. As such, his full title is Master Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The same is true of Zara Phillip's children, Mia Grace Tindall and Lena Elizabeth Tindall. However, as neither of their parents are not Dukes or Duchesses, they have no secondary titles to take, as Archie potentially did with the Earldom of Dumbarton. While great-grandchildren are not normally titled HRH or Prince, that privilege does extend to first-born heirs, which is why Prince George was designated as such on in birth in 2012. In that year, the Queen issued letters that deemed all of Prince William's children would be designated HRH from birth, which is why Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis enjoy those titles. As such, their full titles are; His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, and His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge. Advertisement The new royal baby is expected to take the surname Sussex in the same way that Prince William's children, George, Charlotte and Louis have taken his title Cambridge as their last name at school and nursery. The baby will supersede Prince Andrew in the line of succession, regardless of whether they are a boy or a girl, following a 2011 change in law that granted the same status to sons and daughters. However as the second son of the current Prince of Wales, Harry's children are not automatically given the title of prince or princess. King George V - Harry's great great grandfather - limited titles within the royal family in 1917. This means Harry and Meghan's first born, as a great-grandchild of the sovereign, is too far down the line of succession to be an HRH. George V declared that: "the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms." The eldest son and heir apparent of a duke can use one of his father's lesser grade peerage titles by courtesy, according to Debrett's. So a first son of Harry's would become Earl of Dumbarton - one of the subsidiary titles Harry received from the Queen on the morning of his wedding. A daughter would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor, and any subsequent sons Lord (first name) Mounbatten-Windsor. But the Queen could make changes to allow Harry and Meghan's children to be HRHs and princes and princesses. Prince Harry, pictured arriving in Sydney with his pregnant wife the Duchess of Sussex on Monday, is sixth in line to the British throne. His son or daughter will be seventh in line Ahead of Prince Georges birth, the monarch issued a Letters Patent to ensure the Cambridge children had fitting titles. Without this Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis would have been a Lady and a Lord instead, but Prince George, as the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, would still have been a prince. The Queen could decide to do the same for Harry and Meghans baby. The Earl and Countess of Wessexs children Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Viscount Severn are actually entitled to be a princess and prince as children of the son of the sovereign. But the couple decided, with the Queens agreement, that their children would use the courtesy titles as sons or daughters of an earl rather than the style prince or princess. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their engagement in November 2017, shortly after confirming their relationship. The couple married at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May this year. Bookmakers William Hill have paid out bets that Harry and Meghan would have a baby in 2019 following confirmation from the Palace today. At the moment, the name Alexander is the 7/1 favourite with Alice, Elizabeth and Victoria joint second at 8/1. The Duchess of Sussex hid her growing baby bump with a series of clever styling tricks, MailOnline can reveal. Meghan, who announced her pregnancy this morning via Kensington Palace, is already in her second trimester but has managed to keep her news under wraps thanks to some carefully-planned outfit choices. She will no doubt have sought the advice from her stylist and confidante Jessica Mulroney, a mother-of-three who is joining her on her first major overseas tour with Prince Harry this week. And touching down in Sydney on Monday, just hours before her happy news was announced, fans couldn't help but notice the strategically-placed plastic folders Meghan was clutching to her chest. Just hours before Harry and Meghan's happy news was announced this morning, fans couldn't help but notice the strategically-placed plastic folders the Duchess was clutching to her chest in Sydney in a boxy, oversized coat and polo neck jumper Meghan's choice of outfit for Princess Eugenie's wedding - a structured A-line Givenchy coat - sent the rumour mill spinning as fans noticed she appeared to have deliberately covered up her frame (pictured with the Queen and Prince Harry outside St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle following the wedding ceremony) But it was her choice of clothing that was the most telling, with the Duchess - once a fan of figure-hugging silhouettes - wrapping up in a turtleneck jumper and oversized navy coat. Likewise, her choice of outfit for Princess Eugenie's wedding last week - a boxy A-line Givenchy coat - sent the rumour mill spinning as fans noticed she appeared to have deliberately covered up her slender frame. Coincidentally, it was also the day that Meghan and Harry chose to share their happy news with the rest of the royal family. Celebrity stylist Lucas Armitage told Femail: 'We are so used to seeing Meghan in form-fitting apparel, it was hard not to speculate that a new arrival was imminent when she recently started to sport baggier items. 'The use of knee-length coats has cleverly helped Meghan avoid speculation and, as its now very much the autumnal season, the use of long oversized coats didn't arouse suspicion. Earlier this month, Meghan visited Sussex in a businesslike bottle-green ensemble but was careful to drape a structured coat over the top to carefully conceal her silhouette while flashing a glimpse of leg (pictured with Harry at Edes House in Chichester) Meghan wore a draped Givenchy dress at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (left) and on 24 SEPTEMBER she donned an Oscar de la Renta peplum top in Loughborough to take part in a sports demonstration with Coach Core apprentices (right) 'I particularly like the navy coat [which Meghan wore in Sydney on Monday] and styling it how she has; by doing up the top two buttons and allowing the rest to move freely away from her body to create drape and disguise any bump. 'Its also interesting to see how she keeps her legs on show even when wearing heavy coats - another styling trick to make her look less covered and avoid speculation.' The Duchess is at least three months into her first pregnancy, and has already had a successful 12 week scan - suggesting that she fell pregnant around mid-July. While Meghan's baby bump will not have been visible until recently, the mother-to-be has been careful to avoid fuelling speculation by keeping her tummy firmly covered. Meghan wore an oversized blue coat for the launch of a charity cookbook at Kensington Palace last month (pictured on with her mother Doria Ragland, who said today she was 'very happy' about the couple's pregnancy news and may move to the UK) The Duchess of Sussex, then in her first trimester, wore a baggy Jason Wu number when she joined Prince Harry at a gala music evening in London marking the centenary of the end of the First World War - sending the baby rumour mill into overdrive Wearing dark colours such as black (pictured at the WellChild Awards at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London) also helped to obscure a pregnant Meghan's silhouette Meghan wore a daring 327 Judith and Charles tuxedo dress to watch a performance of Hamilton. Stylist Lucas Armitage notes this is likely to be 'another styling trick to make her look less covered and avoid speculation' Earlier this month, she visited Sussex in a businesslike bottle-green ensemble but was careful to drape a structured coat over the top to carefully conceal her silhouette. Likewise, the draped Givenchy dress she wore to the Royal Academy of Arts in September and a peplum Oscar de la Renta top she wore in Loughborough worked wonders to hide her midriff. Meghan's mother Doria Ragland - said to be planning a permanent move to the UK in the near future - said in a statement she was 'very happy about this lovely news' and 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild'. Meghan's stylist best friend Jessica Mulroney is joining her on her overseas tour with Prince Harry - and it seems she'll be offering the Duchess more than just fashion advice. Kensington Palace confirmed on Monday that the Duchess, 37, is expecting her first child, which perhaps explains why Meghan wanted Jessica - herself a mother-of-three - close at hand as she navigates a whirlwind two weeks of engagements. The news came as parents-to-be Harry, 34, and Meghan touched down in Sydney at the start of a major tour taking in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Jessica and her husband Ben are understood to be joining the couple in an 'unofficial' capacity - meaning they will cover their own expenses - and a video Jessica shared on her Instagram Stories on Sunday evening appeared to show the pair in an airport departure lounge. Canadian mumpreneur Jessica, 38, was Meghan's unofficial wedding planner ahead of her big day in May and has styled her for subsequent royal engagements - and it's likely the Duchess will now turn to her close friend for advice on navigating her first pregnancy, too. Kensington Palace confirmed on Monday that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who arrived the same day in Australia at the start of their first overseas royal tour as a married couple, are expecting a baby in the spring of 2019. Meghan is seen at an engagement at London's Southbank Centre in July wearing a House of Nonie trench dress selected for her by her best pal Jessica, who is understood to be flying out to join her on her overseas tour Meghan's best friend and unofficial stylist Jessica Mulroney - seen with her daughter, Ivy - is joining the royal couple on the tour, suggesting she may be supporting the Duchess as she navigates multiple engagements in the early stages of pregnancy Parenting expert Anna Williamson told FEMAIL: Becoming a first time mum is a change physically, mentally and emotionally like no other. 'For someone like Meghan, her already very public and scrutinised professional and personal life is going to step up another notch - this can create huge pressure on an already nervous and overwhelmed new mum to be. Having trusted friends around to support and advise is key,' she added. 'Jessica is vital to offer a confidential knowledgeable ear to her friend on pregnancy, juggling work and family, and crucially on how to be a mum,' said Anna, the author of Breaking Mum and Dad: The Insider's Guide to Parenting Anxiety. Jessica's daughter Ivy was a flower girl at Meghan and Harry's weddings, and her twin sons Brian and John were page boys. The stylist and wedding planner is open about her family life on social media, and regularly shares tidbits of how she juggles a busy career with raising three small children with her fans. Jessica recently shared footage of herself cooking up a storm with her daughter Ivy and chef Kate Daniels, telling fans: 'When you include your kids in the kitchen, miracles really do happen.' Anna said Meghan has 'set up her support network well' as she prepares to welcome her first child. 'Being away from home and creature comforts during pregnancy can also be hard to cope with,' she said. 'The nesting instinct can kick in straight away and the need to be safe and secure. But Meghan has her husband Prince Harry by her side in Australia, [and] her best friend is joining. 'She has set up her support network well, with a knowledgeable trusted mum friend on hand. As the weeks and months ramp up to the birth, friends such as Jessica will become even more valuable to show her the ropes of motherhood. 'The Duchess of Cambridge will also serve as the perfect royal mum pal to help her get to grips mentally with the enormity of giving birth to a possible future monarch,' Anna added. Mother-of-three Jessica, seen with the now Duchess in Toronto in 2016, was Meghan's unofficial maid of honour at the royal wedding in May. Her daughter Ivy was a flower girl, and her twin sons John and Brian were page boys Earlier this month Jessica shared a snap of her husband and their three children out for an evening stroll near their home in Toronto, Canada, writing: 'Because work life is crazy... and business travel is at an all time high, simple evening strolls help me pause and remember what is truly important.' As a seasoned pro at balancing public life with raising children, Jessica is well placed to support and advise her best friend through this newest chapter, too. Harry and Meghan's first child will be born in the Spring of 2019. Kensington Palace said in a statement on Monday morning: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. 'Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.' Both the Duchess, seen chatting to some young admirers after leaving a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey back in March, and Harry were open about their desire to start a family together A video clip shared by Jessica on her Instagram Stories on Sunday evening suggested she and her husband Ben Mulroney were in an airport. The couple are understood to be joining Harry and Meghan on tour in an 'unofficial' capacity - meaning they will cover their own expenses It is believed stylist Jessica has been helping the Duchess with her royal wardrobe, including on a recent visit to the Nelson Mandela Centenary Exhibit at London's South Bank. The Duchess, 37, wore a sleeveless trench coat by the Canadian brand House of Nonie. The thrilled designer publicly thanked Jessica on the brand's Instagram account for choosing the 629 dress. She also helped Meghan plan her 'engagement outfit' when her betrothal to Prince Harry was officially announced in November 2017. Jessica, who is married to Ben Mulroney, the oldest son of the former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, is believed to have met Meghan in 2011 while the actress lived in Toronto. The McGill University graduate works in PR and as a wedding planner, and previously founded the Shoebox Project, a charity initiative that distributes shoeboxes full of gifts to women in need. Kensington Palace has not commented on reports the Mulroneys will join Harry and Meghan on tour. Support: Jessica, seen helping her flower girl daughter Ivy up the steps of St George's Chapel along with the Duchess of Cambridge at Meghan and Harry's wedding in May, is open about her family life on social media, and regularly remarks on juggling her busy career with raising three young children The Duchess' choice of a loose-fitting coat for Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding on Friday prompted a flood of speculation among fans - and it turned out to be right on the money, as Kensington Palace has since confirmed that Meghan is indeed expecting A Sharia Law scholar has defended Marks & Spencer's decision to sell hijabs to girls as young as four, claiming it's a smart business move. Dr Amra Bone, who sits on the Sharia Council in Birmingham, says the high street brand is just responding to the needs of British Muslims who are wearing the garment as part of their school uniform in both state and Muslim schools. The Good Morning Britain panel was discussing the issue after the company's social media posts were flooded with criticism over the 6 hijab, which is sold in their 'School Essentials' section. She was debating the issue with Birmingham Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, who accused the store of 'sexualising' young girls by giving them something to cover their modesty at such a young age. Dr Amra Bone, who sits on the Sharia Council in Birmingham, (left) defended Marks and Spencer for selling hijabs for primary school girls. Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood, (right) who accused the store of 'sexualising' young girls by selling the hijab Shoppers have threatened to boycott Marks and Spencer while they sell the hijab (pictured), which is sold for 6 in their 'School Essentials' section Dr Bone said her husband is a headteacher at a Muslim school in Croydon and hijabs are part of the uniform, but they are only compulsory during prayer time. She believes this is the reason the garments are for sale in Marks & Spencer as many schoolchildren will need them for school. She said: 'Marks & Spencer are a business, they're responding to the needs of British Muslims and stocking what they think is required.' Dr Bone said 'modesty is a form of grace' in Islam and believes the decision to wear a hijab should be down to the girl or woman alone. Dr Bone (pictured) said her husband is a headteacher at a Muslim school in Croydon and hijabs are part of the uniform Mr Mahmood (pictured) said children as young as four do not need to be wearing the hijab because they are not women yet Muslim Mr Mahmood disagreed, arguing that forcing children to wear hijabs is 'sexualising' them because it tells them they need to cover up to protect their modesty. He explained: 'It is oppressive and what it also does is sexualises girls as young as nine but even younger because theres a debate about girls wearing it in primary school, and that really is not acceptable.' M&S faced dozens of comments from angry shoppers who threatened to boycott the store until the hijab was taken off the shelves. The brand has defended their decision to stock the controversial product, saying they are meeting the demand from schools who have requested it. Marks and Spencer included the hijab in the school uniform section of its website in response to requests from the schools it supplies Addressing the complaints on their Twitter page on Thursday, Marks & Spencer wrote: 'We provide bespoke uniforms for 250 schools across the country. 'They tell us which items they need as part of their school uniform list, and for a number of schools this year, they requested the option of the hijab.' The hijab is a garment worn by Muslim women when they not in the company of their immediate family and usually covers the hair, neck and the top part of the chest. It is seen as a symbol of modesty by people who wear them. Most Islamic scholars agree that the hijab is only obligatory for females once they reach puberty. Hijabs are different from other Islamic veils like the burka and niqab, which both cover the face. Where will the baby fall in the line of succession? Seventh in line. The baby will bump Harrys uncle the Duke of York into eighth place in the line of succession. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie move into ninth and 10th place, and the Earl of Wessex - the Queens youngest son - drops out of the top 10 for the first time to 11th in line. How will the baby be related to the Queen? The baby will be a great-grandchild of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Waless grandchild and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges niece or nephew. Will he or she ever be monarch? Unlikely. The baby will have three cousins Prince George - a future king - and Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who are further up the line of succession, so it is a safe bet that throne will stay on the Cambridge side of the family. What will the baby be called? William and Kate chose royal favourites for their children. But will Harry and American-born Meghan go classic or break the royal mould when naming their baby? If they stay traditional, something like Alice, Mary, Elizabeth or Victoria for a girl, and James, Philip, Frederick or Arthur for a boy are possibilities. In the US, the most popular name for a baby girl is Emma and Liam for a baby boy. Will the baby be a prince or princess? No they will not be a prince nor a princess, nor an HRH because George V limited titles within the Royal Family in 1917. So what will their title be? A son would be known as Earl of Dumbarton - because a first son of a duke is allowed to use one of his fathers other lesser titles as a courtesy title. Harry was also made the Earl of Dumbarton on the morning of his wedding, as well as being given a dukedom. A daughter would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor. But the Queen could change this? Yes. The Queen stepped in ahead of Georges birth to issue a Letters Patent to ensure the Cambridges children had fitting titles, but this royal baby is much further down the line of succession. Will Harry and Meghan hire a nanny? Harry has been close to all his nannies and it is likely he and Meghan will arrange for a nanny to care for their baby while they are on official engagements Kate and William have the help of their full-time live-in nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo. Meghans close friend Jessica Mulroney had two nannies to help her with her twin boys and younger daughter. But Meghan's mother Doria has been seen attending baby care classes, suggesting that she may move to the UK to help out. When and where will the baby be born? Kate had three successful deliveries at the private Lindo Wing in St Marys Hospital, Paddington, so Meghan might follow her sister-in-laws lead. Harry was also born there in 1984. It is close to Kensington Palace and well practiced at dealing with royal births, and the publicity surrounding them. But Meghan could do down a different path and have a home birth. Will the baby have dual citizenship? Harry and Meghan could apply for their child to have dual US-UK citizenship. Meghan is planning to become a British citizen - but it is not known whether she will hold dual nationality, and at present is still a US citizen. According to the American Embassy in the UK, a child born outside of the US and in wedlock to a US citizen parent and a non US citizen parent, may acquire US citizenship at birth if the US parent lived in America for five years - two of which were after the age of 14. The Duchess of Sussex might have taken a leaf out of the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy playbook and used her hair as a way to distract from any hint of a baby bump, experts have suggested. Kensington Palace announced today that Meghan, 37, and Prince Harry, 34, are expecting their first child together in Spring 2019. The confirmation came after widespread speculation that the duchess was pregnant after she wore a loose-fitting coat to the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle last Friday. Celebrity hair stylist Jason Collier told FEMAIL the mother-to-be might have also used her hair to try and keep the news private, noting she drew widespread attention when she experimented with a sleeker, straighter style on recent public outings. Distraction technique? The Duchess of Sussex might have experimented with a straighter hairstyle at an outing to Loughborough University last month, pictured, in a bid to keep attention away from any hint of a baby bump, celebrity hair stylist Jason Collier suggested New 'do: The sleek, straight look was dramatically different to the soft waves or loose low chignon favoured by Meghan for her royal appearances. Pictured, the royal in July this year Following Kate's lead? Commentators noted how Kate changed her hairstyle in the lead-up to announcing all three of her pregnancies, with some speculating it was used as a distraction technique. Pictured, Kate chopped inches off her hair (left in May 2017) and sported a long bob at Wimbledon in July 2017 (right), weeks before revealing she was pregnant with Prince Louis 'We are all intrigued by what she wears and how she looks,' Jason said. 'So perhaps the straightening of the hair for a while was a decoy to put us off the scent till they were ready to make their pregnancy announcement.' Royal commentators have previously noted how the Duchess of Cambridge changed her hairstyle in the lead-up to announcing all three of her pregnancies, with some speculating it was used as a similar distraction technique. It could be that the Duchess of Sussex has followed in her sister-in-law's footsteps. Celebrity stylist Jay Birmingham, owner of Jay Birmingham Hair, said Meghan's hair texture suggested she might have also swapped chemical straightening, which is often avoided during pregnancy, in favour of using straighteners to achieve the sleek look. The royal baby news was announced hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex touched down in Sydney for their first major international tour since their wedding in May. Mixing it up: The transformation in the lead-up to the Kate's second pregnancy announcement in September 2014 was far less dramatic. However some noted Kate did swap her favoured full hair (as seen left in May 2014) for half-up hairstyles (right in July 2014) A Kensington Palace said: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. 'Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.' Meghan arrived in Sydney with the poker straight style she has sported on two previous outings in recent weeks, including her first solo royal appearance to the Royal Academy of Arts on 25 September. The hairdo marked a dramatic departure from Meghan's favoured soft curls and loosely styled chignons. Fringe effect: Ahead of announcing her first pregnancy in December 2012, the Duchess of Cambridge sparked widespread speculation she was expecting when she sported a long fringe during an outing to the Natural History Museum in London on 27 November 2012, right. Pictured left, Kate with her signature loose curls at an appearance earlier that same month Speaking to FEMAIL, Mr Collier explained such a style could hold practical benefits too. 'If the Duchess has been feeling tired or poorly it is a quick and easy hairstyle to achieve that doesnt take too long,' he said. 'It also lasts longer than the up dos and waves were used to seeing her wear and can be worn for a couple of days without washing.' The celebrity stylist added there had been a change in the 'finish' of her hair in recent weeks that could be attributed to a switch to a more low-tech straightening regime. He said: 'I have a feeling Meghan probably was used to having a treatment known as the Brazilian Blow Dry which is an in-salon treatment where which forms a coating over the hair to mimic smoothness and shine. Its great for those with frizzy or unruly hair.' Sleek and stylish: Celebrity stylist Jason Collier explained there appeared to have been a change in the 'finish' of the Duchess of Sussex's hair in recent weeks that could be attributed to a switch to a more low-tech straightening regime. Pictured, Meghan sporting the sleek style, believed to have been created using straighteners, at the Royal Academy of Arts last month Straight and smooth: Jay Birmingham, a stylist to the stars, agreed the duchess' straighter look, as pictured in Sydney today, might have been achieved with straightening irons As there is 'limited' research available on such treatments salons do not often recommend them for pregnant women, he explained. Jason continued: 'The Duchess of Sussex's hair is straighter which would lead me to believe she is using a heated appliance. Straighteners give a sharper finish. The Brazilian Blow Dry would make the hair straight but still maintains its volume.' Jay Birmingham agreed: 'I think Meghans hair has looked slightly different over the past few weeks and there has been a slight change in the finish of her hair. 'This could be Meghan avoiding Keratin Blowdrys and other chemical straightening treatments as there is a lot of speculation surrounding this style of treatments whilst pregnant. 'Meghan's stylist may be using straightening irons to gently relax her hair instead, either way her hair looks incredible.' As hair bleach should be avoided while pregnant, mothers-to-be tend to opt for a darker root while expecting. Jay added: 'Be gentle, your body is going through an incredible journey and needs to be taken care of even down to smaller things like your hair. 'Treat yourself to regular trims to keep your ends healthy and avoid any splitting and try to colour your hair as little as possible. If you can, opt for a stretched root to give you a low maintenance look that will still look amazing but wont require any upkeep.' State must ensure human rights of citizens: Asma Jahangir Conference LAHORE: The Asma Jahangir Conference 2018 under the theme Justice for Empowerment successfully concluded with fiery speeches from PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, ANP leader Afrasiab Khattak, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari and former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq. A wide range of discussions focused on the protection of fundamental rights, justice for all and impunity for none, freedom of expression, and challenges to implementing Rights Legislation. The conference resolved that the state must ensure human rights of citizens and protect their fundamental rights, lift the ban on non-government organizations and stop harassment of human rights defenders. All political parties must have a new charter of democracy to set ground rules to protect the democratic process and major political parties must take the lead in doing so. Judicial overreach must be checked as it is impinging upon the constitutional role of other state institutions and the Supreme Court must formulate parameters for taking suo motto notice, panellists noted. Speakers were of the view that the freedom of expression must not be curtailed by the state and unannounced censorship in print and electronic media must be lifted. They urged parliament to approve a new bill for independence of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). Panellists noted with concern that electoral laws that were not implemented in the 2018 General Elections. They said that there should be thorough accountability of the Election Commission of Pakistan by presenting its performance report to parliament. Pakistan must implement legislation to criminalise forced disappearances. The government must prevent torture by adopting 2014 bill passed by the Senate. The conference resolved that the Commission of Missing Persons must prosecute 153 identified officials responsible for enforced disappearances. They said that the government should revise the syllabus of educational institutions. The states appeasement of religious fundamentalism must end and the Christian minority must be protected in the face of new threats. Laws that are discriminatory against minorities must be abolished. On violence against women, panellists said that the law on sexual harassment against women at workplace was not being implemented. There are hardly any cases under this act before the ombudspersons despite a large number of women reporting sexual harassment in surveys. The law should be refined to introduce the crime of sextortion and sexual bribery as introduced in Bangladesh. It was said that the Transgender Act 2018 must be implemented in letter and spirit. It was recommended that a monitoring body for the implementation of current protection laws for the transgender community be established. The conference called for visa-free policies to be introduced to reclaim solidarity among South Asian countries. There is a need to revive South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) co-founded by Asma Jahangir. Referring to gender equality, the conference called for equal treatment of women by law. There is a need to change the way media portrays women in order to transform mindsets and attitudes regarding the role and status of women in society. Experts said that attempts aimed at rolling back of provincial autonomy and entitlements granted by the 18th Amendment as well as by the constitution, such as the National Finance Commission Award, must be resisted. Pakistani federalism must be based on cooperation between constitutionally autonomous provinces and empowerment of the local governments. The role of parliamentary committee in judicial appointments to the superior courts must be revived. While referring to promulgation of refugee laws, it was said that Pakistan needed to conduct a survey on internal migration and research. Pakistan should accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention and promulgate refugee law. On death penalty, there was clear consensus that currently the system does not provide due process of law and until this is in place death penalty leads to irrevocable gross injustice. Head of the European Union Delegation Jean Fracois Cautain German Ambassador Martin Koebler, Swedish Ambassador Johansonn, Australian High Commissioner Margaret Adamson, Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria also attended the conference. Loads of international guests, judges and human rights defenders were also in attendance. The conference was hosted by the Asma Jahangir Foundation and AGHS Legal Aid Cell. The organizers committed to holding an annual conference in order to keep the mission of Asma Jahangir alive. Among the distinguished guest speakers were Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Mr Yawar Ali, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former Punjab IG Rana Maqbool, IA Rehman, Farhatullah Babar, Akhter Hussein, Farooq Sattar, Shazia Marri, Bushra Gouhar, Kamran Arif and others. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex paid a subtle tribute to Prince Charles and Prince William by choosing Australia as the location for their pregnancy announcement, a royal fan has noted. Harry, 34, and Meghan, 37, revealed they are expecting their first child together shortly after touching down in Sydney on Monday on their first major royal tour together as a married couple. An Instagram fan account dedicated to the royal family pointed out the move could be seen as a nod to Charles and William, both of whom chose Australia as the destination for their first royal tours after becoming fathers for the first time. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex paid a subtle tribute to Prince Charles and Prince William by choosing Australia as the location for their pregnancy announcement, a royal fan has noted. The couple announced they are expecting their first child after arriving in Sydney, pictured An Instagram fan account pointed out the move could be seen as a nod to Charles and William, both of whom chose Australia as the destination for their first royal tours after becoming fathers for the first time. Pictured, William and Kate with baby George in Sydney in April 2014 Prince Charles and Princess Diana brought along a nine-month-old Prince William when they embarked on a tour of Australia and New Zealand in the Spring of 1983, pictured The post on Swedish British Family Royal read: 'When Charles and Diana flew to Australia for the first time, there were three of them, taking little William with them. [In] 2014 when William and Kate first flew to Australia, they came with George. 'And now that Harry and Meghan head out together for the first time, they are also three. Meghan is pregnant and has a baby [on the way].' The royal fan shared the caption with a collage of all three Windsor men in Australia. Prince Charles and Princess Diana brought along a nine-month-old Prince William when they embarked on a tour of Australia and New Zealand in the Spring of 1983. The touching connection between Prince Charles and his two sons was noted by the Swedish British Family Royal Instagram fan account, pictured, shortly after the news was announced In April 2014 the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took Prince George, then nine months old, with them when they jetted off on their tour of New Zealand and Australia. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Sydney on Monday to kick start a 16-day tour of Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji. Shortly after their arrival, Kensington Palace put an end to widespread speculation by confirming Meghan's pregnancy. In April 2014 the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took Prince George, then nine months old, with them when they jetted off on their tour of New Zealand (pictured) and Australia New parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana made headlines around the world when they showed off their adorable baby Prince William in New Zealand (pictured) and Australia A statement said: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. 'Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.' The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were told in person at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle last Friday. Rumours were rife that Meghan may be pregnant after her mother Doria Ragland was seen taking baby-care classes in Pasadena with a view to looking after her new grandchild. The duchess has also been seen in a number of looser-fitting outfits over recent weeks. An image has emerged of Barbara Bush and her new husband on the night they first met giving a glimpse into the defining moment that sparked their whirlwind romance and culminated into their wedding earlier this month. Barbara, 36, and Craig Coyne, 37, can be seen in the photo posing next to each other along with Barbara's twin sister Jenna Bush Hager, and author Emily Giffin, 46. Emily, who shared the snap on Instagram, said it was taken on the night Craig and Barbara who are believed to have been set up on a blind date by friends in November last year met for the first time. Young love: A newly-released snap shows Barbara Bush, 36, and new husband Craig Coyne, 37, on the day they first met, pictured next to author Emily Giffin, 46, and Jenna Bush Hager Celebration! Barbara and Craig tied the knot at her family's Maine estate on October 7, after keeping their engagement under wraps Amazingly, the author said she foresaw Barbara and Craig's romance going far beyond their initial meeting and somehow predicted that the pair might end up tying the knot. 'So giddy that I have a photo from the night they met!!!' Emily wrote next to the snap. 'I told them they needed to get a quick snapshot "just in case you end up getting married." And they DID!!! Ahhhh!!! Heres to forever!!!!' Barbara is wearing an emerald green dress in the photo and is standing very close to Craig, who is dressed in jeans and a dark button-down shirt. Jenna, who is donning a dark blue dress and nude pumps, seems thrilled to be posing next to Emily, who is rocking an all-black outfit and all four are happily raising a glass as they strike a pose. On Monday, Jenna told Hoda Kotb, 54, more about Barbara's wedding, which took place on October 7 at the Bush family's compound in Maine after a five-week engagement. 'It wasn't exactly a royal wedding but it was a surprise wedding!' Jenna gushed, before telling the Today co-anchor that she 'wept' abundantly during her sister's wedding especially after seeing her for the first time in her wedding dress, ready to walk down the aisle. 'I helped her get dressed and then she went down to take pictures with Greg, and then we hugged and I just, like, wept in her arms,' Jenna told Hoda. 'I was like, "This is not starting off right!"' She called Craig 'a wonderful human being', adding: 'He's compassionate and empathetic and the main thing is and I think this is what we want for people we love is that he loves her.' Jenna also dished about her daughter Poppy Louise, three, who acted as both a flower girl and as a ring bearer during the ceremony, admitting that her vivacious daughter went 'totally crazy' during the ceremony. Oops! Barbara's father, George W., looked pleased as punch while walking his daughter down the aisle - but Jenna has now revealed that he nearly ruined her surprise proposal Prankster: George W. was also pictured photobombing his daughters as they tried to pose for a sweet snap at the family home in Maine 'She first of all was sitting with Henry and then ran up in the middle of it and nearly knocked Barbara over and hugged her,' Jenna said. 'And then she kept holding open the box and going, "It's fake. It's fake. Nothing in here, it's fake." And then she would run and show it to my grandpa who she's named after. I was like, "You're acting so naughty but this is beautiful."' Jenna revealed that her father George W. Bush, 72, almost spoiled the surprise by revealing that Barbara and Craig were set to marry before the groom had actually proposed to his daughter. Craig asked George W. for permission to marry Barbara before eventually popping the question in Maine, in the same spot where Barbara's grandparents got engaged. According to Jenna, George W. didn't go easy on the groom and asked him 'a lot of questions'. 'It was like Meet the Fockers, kind of,' she told Hoda on Monday. 'He asked him a lot of questions. He didn't just let him get away with it. 'But my dad thought he was proposed to. So he texted family members and he's like, "Barbara and Craig are getting married!"' George W.'s eagerness in spreading the news led to Barbara receiving congratulations messages before Craig had even proposed, Jenna recounted. 'So Barbara and I went for a walk and our cousins started texting and going "Congrats! Congrats!"' she said. 'Barbara texted my dad and was like, "Dad, Craig has not asked me." My aunt said my dad ran over and was like, "Nevermind!"' Cheeky! Jenna revealed that her youngest daughter Poppy (pictured), who was a flower girl and the ring bearer, caused some chaos during the ceremony Jenna, who revealed she jumped into the cold ocean with the couple before the nuptials adhering to their family tradition of taking a dip in the water every time they are in Maine gushed about the happy couple: 'They're going to make some beautiful babies!' Barbara and Craig tied the knot in an 'intimate' ceremony at the family's estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, after keeping their five-week engagement under wraps. A beaming George W. proudly walked his daughter down the aisle at the event, where the bride wowed in a stunning custom Vera Wang gown, while family members including her twin sister Jenna and her grandfather George H. W., 94, watched on. The wedding, which was officiated by Barbara's aunt, Dorothy Bush Koch, came just six months after Barbara's grandmother and namesake, former first lady Barbara Bush, passed away. Barbara paid tribute to her late grandmother by wearing a piece of her jewelry a bracelet that had been given to her by George H. W. on their 70th wedding anniversary as her 'something borrowed'. Both of Jenna's daughters, five-year-old Mila and three-year-old Poppy, participated in the ceremony as flower girls, with Poppy also acting as the ring bearer. Barbara and her groom wanted to tie the knot in Maine because that is where Barbara's grandfather resides, Jenna previously told Today. The bride's twin sister served as matron of honor during Barbara's nuptials a natural gesture, given that Barbara was her maid of honor when Jenna tied the knot with Henry Chase Hager, now 40, in 2008. 'I'm crying 24 hours later,' Jenna said on Today on the Monday after the nuptials. 'There were so many happy tears.' The matron of honor said the 'elusive' bride and her groom kept the ceremony on the down-low and focused on making it a family occasion. Close: Today host Jenna spoke about the first time she saw Barbara in her dress, admitting that she was overwhelmed with emotion 'It was a very secret wedding, a little bit like my elusive sister,' Jenna added between tears. 'But also, just family in a place that means family love, and it was just beautiful.' The groom, too, had his sibling by his side during the ceremony: his brother Edward Coyne III served as his best man, while his parents, Darlene, 63, and Edward James Jr., 65, were also in attendance as was his sister Kathleen, 32, who is known as Katie. Who is Craig Coyne, the man who stole Barbara Bush's heart? The world was stunned when former first daughter Barbara announced that she had wed in an intimate ceremony over the weekend - but just who exactly is the man lucky enough to win her hand in marriage According to a statement from the Bush family, Craig Louis Coyne, 37, is a writer who originally hails from Georgia, and a graduate of Vanderbilt University. He is the son of Edward James Jr. and his wife Darlene, and has two siblings - older brother Edward James III, and a younger sister, Kathleen. As well as boasting credentials as a writer however, Craig has also worked as an actor, appearing in a handful of movies, including Jarhead (2005) and Unlovable (2018), as well as the web series Lonelygirl15 (2006) according to his IMDB page. Craig was cast by director Sam Mendes for Jarhead, which is based on the memoir of US Marine Anthony Swofford and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead. The website for Craig's agent - Independent Talent - also reveals that he once worked as a Page in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pages in this position typically serve in their junior year of high school, meaning Craig likely worked as a page between 1997 and 1998, when Bill Clinton was in the White House. Since turning his hand to writing, Craig has worked on a live-action show for Comedy Central, and an original series with Parks and Rec star Jim OHeir, which is said to be in post-production. The groom, who creates web content and series with producers located in Los Angeles and in the UK, has also written a play, Delusions of Grammar, which has him a spot in the selection of the 2016 William Inge Theatre Festival in Kansas. Craig first met Barbara after the pair were set up on a blind date in November last year, and they then got engaged over the summer - in the same place that Barbara's grandfather popped the question. Advertisement Barbara and Craig are now planning to live in New York, which is where Barbara is based. For much of their relationship, the couple was doing long-distance because Craig was living in Los Angeles. Jenna and Barbara's grandmother, who died in April this year, was honored during the reception when Jenna read a letter that George H. W. wrote her years ago. 'I ended with a letter that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother because I searched all the romantics and Shakespeare just wasn't doing it. He was sitting right next to me as I read it,' Jenna told Today. Jenna paid tribute to her sister in an emotional Instagram post on Monday morning. She shared a photo of herself embracing her sister and wrote next to the shot: 'Happy tears, heart exploding as I watched this beautiful girl get married in the place that means love and family. I'm so proud to be this beauty's sister.' Barbara's father also took to social media to mark the happy occasion. He shared a photo of himself walking Barbara down the aisle and wrote: 'Barbara is named for a unique and strong woman - and rightly so, because she is unique and strong. @laurawbush and I are so proud of our compassionate, daring, fierce, kind, intelligent, loving daughter. And we're thrilled to welcome Craig Coyne to our family.' Barbara and Craig were set up on a blind date by friends in November last year and officially became an item by New Year's Eve. Craig proposed to Barbara just five weeks before they tied the knot, during a family gathering in Maine. 'It's just been a very sweet romance,' Barbara told People. 'And we've been long-distance for most of it - he's been in LA and I've been in New York - but we've gotten to spend a lot of time together.' Barbara has long been more reserved than her twin sister. While Jenna has 611,000 followers on her Instagram account and regularly shares snapshots of her family life with Today viewers, Barbara does not have an official account on the platform and has worked as the co-founder of Global Health Corps, a nonprofit focused on public health. She turns 37 years old November 25 and less than two years ago the Greenwich Village resident was believed to be dating filmmaker Andrew Jenks. The pair had been at a Rangers Game and Chris Gethard comedy show at the Lynn Redgrave Theater in December 2016. She was reportedly seeing Ping-Pong club SPiN business partner, Franck Raharinosy prior to that and the venue was often the location of events she hosted. Viewers were left in tears over Monday night's episode of Old People's Home for Four-Year-Olds following a heartwarming moment on the show. Last night's episode of the Channel 4 documentary, which sees four-year-olds placed with the elderly for a TV experiment, saw the pensioners tested on their cognitive memory skills. Part of the challenge saw the two age groups try and make their way out of a maze having memorised the route beforehand. And viewers were left touched when four-year-old Mason went to rescue 81-year-old Lavinia after she became lost en-route. Viewers of Channel 4's Old People's Home for Four-Year-Olds were left in tears after four-year-old Mason (right) was seen helping 81-year-old Lavinia find her way out of the maze The retired library assistant who suffers from Parkinson's was placed on a team alongside Ken and Lilian as well as four-year-old Mason. However, Lavinia got off to a slow start when her mobility scooter wouldn't start leaving her team to go ahead without her. The grandmother, who struggled most with her cognitive test, then found herself lost in the half-mile maze while her fellow team mates completed it in just over six minutes. But, determined not to leave her behind, Ken, 87 and Mason made their way back into the maze to rescue Lavinia. The elderly group took part in the half-mile maze as part of a cognitive memory challenge but Lavinia became separated from her group Viewers were left in tears by the touching moment, taking to Twitter to gush over the pair's friendship The toddler can be heard calling 'Lavinia where are you?' before helping to guide her safely back to the entrance. She then gives the little boy a hug to thank him and adds: 'I've ever been so pleased to see anybody as when Mason came round the corner.' The exchange left viewers highly emotional, taking to Twitter to gush over the touching moment. One wrote: 'Mason being so proud of finding Lavinia warms my cold black heart.' Another agreed adding: 'How adorable is Mason with Lavinia? Made me cry. Beautiful programme.' 'Mason and Lavinia giving me all the feels!' posted another. She was quick to thank Mason after he and Ken (pictured left with Lilian, right) came to help her complete the challenge Of all the pensioners Lavinia struggled the most with the cognitive challenges and quickly found herself lost At 81, Lavinia is the youngest of the elderly group, and says that the children have now given her 'something to get up for in the mornings.' Four years ago she and her husband of 52 years, Len moved from London to Larkhill, but just six weeks later Len died. In an emotional moment the mother-of-two said: 'I've still got his ashes in my wardrobe so I just think he's still there you know? 'Strangely enough I didn't miss him at first, but as time went on I began to. And I never cried but lately I have been Lavinia lost her husband of 52 years, Len (pictured together) four years ago after moving to Larkhill She explained on the show that having the children as company has given her 'a reason to get up in the morning' She later added: 'I've got Parkinson's but I won't let it beat me I always try and do everything - you just musn't give in.' Monday's episode also saw aheartwarming friendship blossomed in the unlikeliest of places when a pensioner and a four-year-old bonded on the set of a TV experiment. Widower Kenneth Pidcock, 87, meet Lily 'Bobtail', as she calls herself, when the youngster cheekily asked him if she could swap her vegetables for his chips during lunch at a Nottingham retirement home. From there the two became inseparable as Lily joined Ken at Lark Hill Village on a daily basis during filming for the experiment, which aims to tackle loneliness and give pensioners a new lease of life by encouraging interaction with children. Ken said on the show that bonding with Lily was a 'special feeling', like 'being a grandfather all over again'. Kenneth Pidcock, 87, and Lily, four, developed an adorable friendship during Channel 4's Old People's Home for Four-Year-Old's Ken had moved to the retirement village with his wife Barbara, who he'd been with for 70 years and married for 57, but when she passed away from cancer five years ago he retreated into himself. They had been active members of the community but Ken said he struggled to cope without her and didn't leave Lark Hill for two years after her death: 'When she passed away I literally became a hermit.' But young Lily manages to pull Ken out of his shell and they quickly become firm friends. He said: 'Lily Bobtail is becoming a special friend of mine and its like being a grandfather all over again. Its a special feeling.' The feeling is mutual for Lily, who counts Ken as one of her new best friends. He meets Lily's parents Emma and Alex, after being invited to her house for a special birthday tea to celebrate her turning four. The unlikely duo first met during the experiment which aims to to reduce loneliness and give pensioners a new lease of life by bringing in the children to bond with them They tell Ken that Lily talks non-stop about him and has 'demoted' her father from story-telling duties. Ive been demoted from being a top story teller, because Ken is a top story teller,' jokes Alex. This is backed up by Emma, as Ken thanks them: You have no idea how proud this makes me I really appreciate it.' Seeing their blossoming friendship Emma says: 'Its just so nice to see that they are so natural, they are real buddies. 'Now she is bumping her actual best friend down the pecking list and he is shooting up makes us think this is something really special.' Ken said when he lost his wife he just retracted into himself and Lily has helped him come out of that shell, its great,' added Alex. Old People's Home for Four Year Old's builds on studies that show mixing children with older people has huge benefits for both age groups The aim of the experiment is to give the pensioners a new lease of life, building on studies that show mixing children with older people has huge benefits for both age groups. The youngsters relocated to a temporary nursery set up at Lark Hill Village, Nottingham, which is home to more than 400 OAPs, for three months. In parts of the US, nurseries have existed in old peoples homes for 25 years, but last years Channel 4 series set in Bristol was the first time a similar scheme had been attempted in the UK. This year it was the turn of Lark Hill Village in Nottingham, where ten pensioners ranging in age from 81 to 102 were chosen to take part, with a team of experts on hand to test how their mood, memory and mobility could be impacted by regular interaction with children. The pensioners this time were much older and the nursery runs for twice as long, stretching the older group's stamina with excursions, dancing and a daily timetable of nursery activities. A team of geriatric specialists medically tested the impact the children had on the older group and the results demonstrated significant improvements in mood, movement and mobility of the older group. Old People's Home for Four-Year-Old's airs on Mondays on Channel 4 at 9pm New BBC editorial director Kamal Ahmed has revealed how he was called 'jungle bunny' and told to 'go home' while growing up as one of the only-mixed race pupils at his school. Ahmed, now 50, describes in his frank new memoir, The Life and Times of a Very British Man, how he was called names by two boys while on the way home from his comprehensive school in Ealing, west London, during the 1970s. The former BBC economics editor, who was born to a Sudanese father and an English mother, says he was used to racial slurs and taunts growing up. However, he recalls how their comments sparked 'anger' inside of him - who was then not yet a teenager- which led to him running after the pair and punching and kicking them. Top BBC editor Kamal Ahmed (pictured) has revealed how he was called 'jungle bunny' and told to 'go home' while growing up as one of the only-mixed race pupils at his school Describing growing up as a mixed-race child, Ahmed - who until recently was the BBC's Economics Editor - writes in his new book: 'In the 1970s and 1980s, no one really knew where to put you. 'I remember having fights. One happened on a day I was wearing new brogues, which could cause pain, I knew, if applied in the right way. Kicking, for example.' He recalls how he was called 'Jungle bunny', adding: 'Now, of course, I had been called that name before. And most often I would ignore it, outwardly at least, despite the churn inside.' Ahmed continues: 'This time came anger, the fight response, rather than the other two options - flee or freeze.' Ahmed (pictured with his mother Elaine as a child) was born to a Sudanese father and an English mother and says he was used to racial slurs and taunts growing up After punching and kicking the boys, he ran home to his mother Elaine, who was waiting for him, before bursting into tears. Ahead of the release of his new memoir, Ahmed explained how it was important for him to write about his mother, who couldn't remember ever meeting a black person when growing up in Torquay. She went on to marry his Sudanese father, who came to UK on a scholarship as a research scientist. Ahmed (pictured with girlfriend Polly Glynn) has written frank new memoir, The Life and Times of a Very British Man He told the Evening Standard: ''As kids we don't often think of what our parents have achieved. I particularly wanted my mother's story told. 'She was one of that first generation of women who actually took a brave step, not just in her personal life by marrying a first generation black person from Sudan, but also in her professional life.' Ahmed described how his mother would tackle racism at school, recalling: 'She stood toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye and told those teachers who said, "the coloured kids with their chips on their shoulders, they're just a bit thick" and she said: 'Actually you're the problem, not the kids.'" The Life and Times of a Very British Man (Bloomsbury, 16.99) is published on October 18. As well as giving the Queen a new great-grandchild, the Duchess of Sussex could produce America's first royal when she birth to her first child in 2019. It was announced today that Meghan, 37, is expecting a baby believed to be due in April next year and once the child arrives the Duchess will be entitled to apply for US citizenship. The palace previously announced that Meghan will become a British citizen in the future, but she is entitled to hold dual nationality and retain her US passport. If she chooses this path, she will be able to apply for US citizenship for her child. A child who is born abroad to a citizen within a marriage to a non-American is entitled to US citizenship as long as the US parent lived there for five years, two of which were after the age of 14. Meghan was born in LA, California in 1981 and lived in the US until 2011 when she moved to Toronto to film Suits, meaning she easily meets the requirements. The Duchess of Sussex, pictured on a visit to Dublin in July, will be entitled to apply for US citizenship for her future child as long as she retains her own after becoming a British citizen A child born in wedlock to a US citizen and a non-American can apply for a US passport, provided the US parent lived there for five years, including two after the age of 14 Last year, Prince Harry's communication's secretary Jason Knauf confirmed that Meghan would go through the process of becoming a British citizen. He added that she would be 'compliant with immigration requirements at all times' during the lengthy process. He added: 'I can also say she intends to become a UK citizen and will go through the process of that, which some of you may know takes a number of years. This means that Meghan will have to take a Life in the UK test in order to gain citizenship. Despite the long-haul flight from the UK, the Royal couple had beaming smiles when they disembarked the A380 aircraft in Sydney today The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's child will be seventh-in-line to the British throne. The couple, pictured two weeks ago, announced today that they are expecting their first child To pass the test, which costs 50 and is compiled from roughly 3,000 facts, Meghan has to answer 18 out of 24 questions correctly on a range of topics including the height of the London Eye, when Britain became permanently separated from the continent by the Channel, and British environmental charities. Will Meghan's child be an American royal? A child born outside of the United States and in wedlock to a U.S. citizen parent and a non U.S. citizen parent, may acquire U.S. citizenship at birth if the U.S. citizen parent has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a period of five years, two of which were after the age of fourteen. The U.S. citizen parent must be the genetic or the gestational parent, and the legal parent of the child under local law at the time and place of the childs birth. Source: US Embassy in the UK Advertisement Other typical topics include questions about how local councils are funded, what important event happened in 1066 and what are some examples of civil law. Even when she becomes a UK citizen, the Duchess will be entitled to retain her US citizenship and carry both passports. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's child will be seventh-in-line to the British throne. The child will come behind his or her father Prince Harry in the line of succession, bumping his uncle, the Duke of York, further down the line into eighth place. However the child will not be given the title of prince or princess unless the Queen steps into change the rules. Instead a son would be styled the Earl of Dumbarton, while a daughter would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor. Kensington Palace announced today the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant with her first child. The baby is expected in Spring next year. The happy news was announced hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex touched down in Sydney for their first major international tour since their wedding in May. A Kensington Palace said: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. The baby news was released in a statement by Kensington Palace this morning (pictured) and the baby is due in Spring 2019 Harry and Meghan attended the wedding of his cousin Princess Eugenie on Friday in Windsor (pictured) - where they told the Queen and the royal family they were expecting and she was wearing a wide fitting coat The Duchess of Sussex, 37, was holding hands with her husband, 34, was dressed casually for the occasion as she donned a black turtle-neck top, with a dark-coloured blazer she wore last week Meghan Markle laughs and says hello as the royal couple got off a plane in Sydney today for their first major royal tour since they got married - and announced they are having their first baby hours later 'Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.' Meghan and Harry's baby will be SEVENTH in line to the throne - but WON'T be a prince or princess Baby Sussex would become seventh in line to the throne but very unlikely to become monarch The Duke and Duchess of Sussex 's child will be seventh-in-line to the British throne. The child will come behind his or her father Prince Harry in the line of succession, bumping his uncle, the Duke of York, further down the line into eighth place. However the child will not be given the title of prince or princess unless the Queen steps into change the rules. Instead a son would be styled the Earl of Dumbarton, while a daughter would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor. Kensington Palace announced today the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant with her first child. The baby is expected in Spring next year. The baby will bump Harry's uncle the Duke of York into eighth place in the line of succession. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie move into ninth and 10th place, and the Earl of Wessex - the Queen's youngest son - drops out of the top 10 for the first time to 11th in line. Advertisement The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were told in person at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle last Friday. Rumours were rife that Meghan may be pregnant after her mother Doria Ragland was seen taking baby-care classes in Pasadena with a view to looking after her new grandchild. The duchess has also been seen in a number of looser-fitting outfits over recent weeks. The new royal baby is expected to take the surname Sussex in the same way that Prince William's children, George, Charlotte and Louis have taken his title Cambridge as their last name at school and nursery. The baby will supersede Prince Andrew in the line of succession, regardless of whether they are a boy or a girl, following a 2011 change in law that granted the same status to sons and daughters. However as the second son of the current Prince of Wales, Harry's children are not automatically given the title of prince or princess. King George V - Harry's great great grandfather - limited titles within the royal family in 1917. This means Harry and Meghan's first born, as a great-grandchild of the sovereign, is too far down the line of succession to be an HRH. George V declared that: "the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms." The eldest son and heir apparent of a duke can use one of his father's lesser grade peerage titles by courtesy, according to Debrett's. So a first son of Harry's would become Earl of Dumbarton - one of the subsidiary titles Harry received from the Queen on the morning of his wedding. A daughter would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor, and any subsequent sons Lord (first name) Mounbatten-Windsor. But the Queen could make changes to allow Harry and Meghan's children to be HRHs and princes and princesses. Children should be weighed every year at school under radical proposals to reduce obesity, say leading paediatricians. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says pupils health in England is lagging behind other European countries and risks getting worse by 2030. Growing levels of obesity, mental health issues and rising infant mortality rates show there is danger on the horizon for the next generation, it warns. The RCPCH is urging officials to introduce annual health checks for all children to look for warning signs of problems as part of a raft of recommendations aimed at improving young health. Children should be weighed every year at school under radical proposals to reduce obesity, say leading paediatricians It says the current national measurement programme of primary school children should also include teenagers. RCPCH president Professor Russell Viner, who wrote the report, said further investment in health visitors and school nursing services was vital to address the growing disparities with our European neighbours. He said: Trends shown here are not inevitable. Each of them could be turned around if key actions are undertaken. Doctors used long-term historical data to project outcomes for children and young peoples health in 2030 in comparison to 15 countries in the EU plus Canada and Australia. While England was found to rank average in areas such as premature births, it had some of the worst outcomes for a range of health problems. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says pupils health in England is lagging behind other European countries and risks getting worse by 2030 Rates of smoking during pregnancy in the UK remain higher than in many other countries, at about 23 per cent, compared to less than 10 per cent in Portugal and Luxembourg. Breastfeeding is known to boost a babys immune system from the start. But while more than eight in 10 women try breastfeeding in the UK, just 0.5 per cent are still doing so at 12 months the highest drop-off rate in Europe. Infant mortality rates also rose in England and Wales in 2015 and 2016 for the first time in a century, with experts suggesting smoking and obesity could be to blame. If the current stall continues, experts warn infant mortality will be 140 per cent higher than other comparable countries by 2030. The number of deaths in children from common respiratory infections and meningitis are higher nationwide than elsewhere. Deaths from long-term conditions, including asthma and epilepsy, also seem higher in England. And growing numbers of children are reporting mental health problems with forecasts this could rise by 63 per cent within 12 years, with the NHS ill-equipped to cope. A&E attendances among children and young people could rise by half if trends continue. The report calls on health officials to expand childrens health services across the board as part of the ten-year plan, due out imminently. The Government childhood obesity plan must be implemented fully, it says, with children given greater access to specialist weight management services. Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said there was currently very little done to track the progress of an individual child. He said: The RCPCH is right to recommend annual measurements for every UK child. Monitoring height and weight from age two onwards is vital to pick up as early as practicable the first signs of obesity. Maria Trewern, from the Royal College of Nursing, said: This report paints a bleak picture for children and young people if we do not act now to improve their health and wellbeing. RCPCH is right to highlight the important role of health visitors and school nurses in ensuring children have a healthy start to life. They are the frontline defence against childhood obesity and poor child mental health, but all too often nurses report they are understaffed, which means time with the children is rushed. Nigel Edwards, chief executive of health think tank the Nuffield Trust, said: Todays warnings from the RCPCH should set alarm bells ringing for anyone who cares about the future of some of the youngest and most vulnerable members of society. The report comes days after official figures show that more than a third 197,888 of children in England leave primary school overweight or obese. A 'miracle' baby survived being born two days before the abortion limit - despite weighing only 1lb 4oz. Anita Hyams, from Southend, Essex, gave birth to her third child, William, after just 23 weeks and five days. Doctors devastatingly told her that he would not be resuscitated unless he had a heartbeat because he was born so prematurely. But William defied all of the odds. Now 16 months, he is healthy and thriving, after spending four months in hospital. Mrs Hyams, 38, and her police detention officer husband Dan, 36, are now calling for the 24 week abortion limit to be lowered. Anita Hyams, from Southend, Essex, gave birth to her third child, William, after just 23 weeks and five days (William is pictured now, at 16 months) Doctors devastatingly told her that he would not be resuscitated unless he had a heartbeat because he was born so prematurely (pictured: her first cuddle with 27-day-old William) She said: 'People have abortions at 24 weeks and yet look at William, he is alive and kicking and a fully-formed baby. 'He is not quite as developed as other babies his age, but he is getting there, and he is alive. 'I was only 23 weeks pregnant when I went into labour and I knew that people could have abortions up to 24 weeks. 'After my experience, I think the abortion limit should be lower, or at least the limit should be lowered for when they will resuscitate a premature baby to 22 weeks.' Currently, the abortion limit in England, Wales and Scotland is 24 weeks - but campaigners have argued it should be lowered. However, the limit can be raised in exceptional circumstances, such as the mother's life being at risk, or the child being born with very severe disabilities. Mrs Hyams thought nothing of it when she felt feverish after completing a long shift as an intensive care nurse in June 2016. Going to bed, she woke in the early hours and, feeling achy and unwell, she took a paracetamol and hoped the pain would subside. William defied all of the odds. Now 16 months, he is healthy and thriving, after spending four months in hospital (pictured in hospital after he was born) Mrs Hyams said: 'People have abortions at 24 weeks and yet look at William, he is alive and kicking and a fully-formed baby' (pictured: William's first Christmas) WHAT IS THE ABORTION TIME LIMIT IN THE UK? Most abortions in England, Wales and Scotland are carried out by the end of the 24th week of pregnancy. They can be carried out after 24 weeks in certain circumstances, for example, if the mother's life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability. Campaigners urge for the time-limit to be reduced due to figures revealing one-third of babies born at 23 weeks survive. Some argue that at 23 weeks, babies can detect their mothers' movements, as well as having a decent sense of hearing. They can also make facial expressions and produce urine at just 14 weeks, and hiccup at 11 weeks. Advertisement Then at 5am, she woke again and knew at once that she was in labour. Mrs Hyams said: 'I'd already had two children, so knew exactly what the feeling was. I was having contractions. 'I went downstairs and walked around for a bit, praying I wasn't having the baby.' Ringing her father, Alan Bull, 62, who lived three miles away in Rochford, he advised her to wake her sleeping husband and call the hospital. Leaving Mr Bull to look after their daughters, terrified Mr and Mrs Hyams drove to Southend University Hospital. 'We wanted this baby so badly, as I'd miscarried before,' she said, recalling how she had lost a child at nine weeks in December 2015. Mrs Hyams struggled to get pregnant because of her polycystic ovary syndrome and underactive thyroid. She had taken the fertility drug metformin to improve her rate of ovulation before conceiving Olivia, eight, and Marion, five. Mrs Hyams thought nothing of it when she felt feverish after completing a long shift as an intensive care nurse in June 2016. Then at 5am, she woke again and knew at once that she was in labour (pictured: William now) William had already beat the odds before he was born, being the only one of Mrs Hyams' children to be conceived without fertility drugs (pictured from left to right: Olivia, eight, Dan, 36, William, Anita and Marion, five) Luckily, he took a breath on his own and he was then given oxygen tubes to help him breath (pictured with his mother) William had already beat the odds before he was born, being the only one of Mrs Hyams' children to be conceived without the drug. Luckily, he took a breath on his own and he was then given oxygen tubes to help him breath. He was immediately whisked away to the special care baby unit, before Mrs Hyams even had chance to see him. 'I saw William for the first time at three hours old,' she said. 'I was scared to even touch him, because he was so tiny, just the size of my hand. 'But it was like looking at a little miracle. He was fully formed, but not completely developed. 'All his fingers and toes were there, he was just like a miniature version of a baby.' Transferred to the more specialist Royal London Hospital in east London that night, William was looked after in the neonatal intensive care unit for 45 days. He was immediately whisked away to the special care baby unit, before Mrs Hyams even had chance to see him (pictured: William's foot in his father's hand) 'I saw William for the first time at three hours old,' Mrs Hyams said. 'I was scared to even touch him, because he was so tiny, just the size of my hand' (pictured: 20 weeks pregnant) Transferred to the more specialist Royal London Hospital in east London that night, William was looked after in the neonatal intensive care unit for 45 days (William's parents are pictured with him in Southend University Hospital) Visiting him and watching him go from strength to strength every day, William's family stayed in Stevenson House for the duration. The free accommodation for families with unwell children is run by national charity The Sick Children's Trust, which supports 4,00 children a year. 'We stayed with him as much as we could and read to him every day,' said Mrs Hyams. 'He got stronger every day and, on August 31, was taken back to Southend University Hospital, as he had made so much progress.' Eventually, the family took William home on October 7 - just eight days after his official due date of September 29. Mrs Hyams continued: 'His sisters adore him and are like two extra little mummies to him. 'I still feel so emotional talking about it all. He is so full of smiles and life. He can sit up on his own, but can't crawl just yet. I know he'll get there, though. 'And I'm just so grateful that he's here.' For more information about The Sick Children's Trust visit here. Visiting him and watching him go from strength to strength every day, William's family stayed in Stevenson House for the duration (pictured: Mrs Hyams holding her son's hand) Eventually, the family took William home on October 7 - just eight days after his official due date of September 29 (pictured with him when he was discharged) The NHS paid out more than 100million within just 24 hours to disabled children who suffered brain damage at birth. The High Court approved settlements in 11 cases on Monday and Tuesday last week, which breached the monumental sum in total. One of the payouts was for a record 37million, which was awarded to a six-year-old boy who suffered a catastrophic brain injury after contracting herpes in hospital. Negligence victims receive up to three times what they used to after ministers decided to alter how payouts are calculated last year. The NHS paid out over 100million within just 24 hours to disabled children who suffered brain damage at birth. The High Court approved settlements in 11 cases last week (stock) However, ministers are urgently seeking to reverse these changes and find a new way of settling compensation rates. Damages are awarded to cover the costs of providing care over the victim's life. The amount they receive is adjusted according to the interest they can expect to earn by investing it. When finalising the compensation amount, courts apply a calculation called the Discount Rate. From 2002 until March 2017, discount rate was set at 2.5 per cent. As a rule of thumb, the higher the discount rate, the lower the lump sum that is paid out. Former justice secretary Liz Truss then reduced this to -0.75 per cent last year. She claimed this should put the negligence victim in the same financial position had they not been injured, including loss of future earnings and care costs. The law is absolutely clear as lord chancellor, I must make sure the right rate is set to compensate claimants,' Ms Truss said last February. 'I am clear that this is the only legally acceptable rate I can set. The law states claimants of medical negligence payouts must be treated as 'risk averse investors'. This reflects the fact they are financially dependent on this lump sum; often for their entire lives. However, the cost of the negative discount rate to the NHS' spring budget last year was estimated to be 6billion, according to chancellor Philip Hammond. A bill is now going through the House of Commons that will provide a new way of settling compensation rates, The Times reported. It is awaiting approval and is expected to become law by next summer. After consultation, a new discount rate will be introduced around nine months after that. The unnamed six-year-old boy who won a record 37million NHS compensation was infected with herpes following his birth at Watford General Hospital. The infection developed into a brain fever and 'should have been but was not detected and acted upon' soon enough, his barrister Henry Witcomb QC said. Treatment was delayed by two days, resulting in 'catastrophic damage to his brain', he told London's High Court. The boy suffers from eyesight and communication problems, as well as cognitive, movement and behavioural issues. A week before that payout, an 18-year-old woman was awarded almost 20million in compensation after she suffered brain injuries from being starved of oxygen at birth when doctors failed to properly ventilate her. A trainee barber whose rash and persistent itching were dismissed as eczema for 17 months was actually suffering from blood cancer. Kaiser Khan, now 24, was diagnosed with eczema in January 2015 after breaking out in unbearably itchy spots all over his body shortly after he started at Liverpool John Moores University. After trying several prescribed eczema medication and home remedy available, Mr Khan was eventually forced to drop out of his course when the painful itching became unbearable. More than a year after the itching began, Mr Khan started to develop constant sweating, extreme weight loss and even coughing up blood, which nearly drove him to suicide. After insisting on a second opinion, he was eventually diagnosed with stage 4B Hodgkin's Lymphoma in January 2016 and was told he would have died had it been left any longer. Mr Khan, from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was then forced to endure 12 rounds of gruelling chemotherapy before being told his tumour had shrunk that August. Although no longer needing treatment, Mr Khan lives with a smaller, non-cancerous tumour on his chest and must have regular check-ups until 2021 to ensure it does not become malignant again. Trainee barber Kaiser Khan's rash and persistent itching were dismissed as eczema for 17 months. After insisting on a second opinion, the student was diagnosed with aggressive blood cancer. He is pictured in hospital while undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy with the Arabic caption 'alhamdulillah', which roughly translates as 'all praise is due to God alone' Pictured after the ordeal, Mr Khan was told the tumour on his chest had shrunk and become non cancerous in August 2016. However, doctors have warned him it could become malignant again at any time. He now lives with the growth and will require regular check ups until 2021 Image shows the raised bumps on Mr Khan's ankles, which doctors dismissed as eczema. His skin later became cracked and bleeding, and covered in cuts from him scratching in the night 'I went to university in 2014 and around October time then I started getting symptoms. I'd moved away from home and my health just started deteriorating,' Mr Khan said. 'I wasn't getting along with my flatmates in my halls and I couldn't cope with the pressure. 'As my health was worsening I was just locking myself away in my room - I wasn't sleeping or eating and felt quite anxious.' Mr Khan first went to see his GP in January 2015 when he developed rashes on his arms. 'They told me it was eczema and gave me creams and ointment,s as well as doing my own research into home remedies,' he said. 'A few weeks after visiting the doctors my whole body broke out in little itchy raised bumps. I was itching head-to-toe constantly and it wasn't going away. 'After going back and forth to the doctors I ended up visiting a skin specialist but again they told me it was eczema. 'My mind was telling me it had to be something else as I know what eczema is. I've had eczema before but not like that and none of the creams I had were working.' Before being diagnosed, Mr Khan also started coughing up blood and suffered such extreme weight loss he claims his face 'looked sucked in'. At one point he even considered suicide Extreme weight loss also caused his spine to stick out and left his clothes hanging off him WHAT IS HODGKIN'S LYMPHOMA? Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of cancer that starts in the white blood cells. It affects around 1,950 people each year in the UK. A common early symptom is having a painless swelling in the armpits, neck and groin. Some people also experience heavy night sweating, extreme weight loss, itching, shortness of breath and coughing. Hodgkin's lymphoma is most common between the ages of 20 and 24, and 75 and 79. It has been linked to people with lowered immunity, a family history of the condition, smokers and those who are overweight. Treatment may include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, steroids and stem cell or bone marrow transplants. Source: Cancer Research UK Advertisement As the months went by, Mr Khan's health continued to deteriorate, despite him visiting his GP 'every other day'. The relentless itching left Mr Khan with cracked, bleeding skin, as well as his body being covered in cuts from when he would scratch during the night. 'I was constantly sweating and itching all the time. I'd be itching [in the] early hours of the morning, sat at the end of my bed in despair because it just wouldn't go away,' he said. 'I lost a lot of weight and my clothes were just sticking to me because I was just sweating all the time. 'Around June 2015 I was still going to the doctors and they told me it was eczema or scabies. I was going to the doctors every other day and they were quite dismissive when they spoke to me - I just really needed help. 'I felt really upset and frustrated because they kept pushing me away. 'At this point my fingers were cracking I had really bad cuts on my back, my spine was starting to stick out and my face looked sucked in.' At one point, his agony became so severe, Mr Khan even considered suicide. 'I told the doctors I really couldn't deal with it anymore and I told them I wanted to kill myself. It was getting to a stage where I really couldn't deal with it,' he said. 'I searched everywhere for treatments. I even paid for a private hospital and I was told there it was folliculitis [infection and inflammation of the hair follicles]. 'I tried apple cider vinegar and using aloe vera - anything to try and stop the itching and burning. 'My nails had to be kept short too because I was really badly cutting my skin from the scratching.' Pictured left at his thinnest, Mr Khan claims he was also sweating constantly, which caused his clothes to stick to him. Now healthy again (right), Mr Khan has put on the weight he lost but lives in constant panic his cancer could return or develop into leukaemia After finding the determination to keep going, Mr Khan contacted a professor at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, in November 2015. 'When I saw the professor, he was the only one that said to me that it didn't look like allergies or eczema and he sent me for a scan,' Mr Khan said. 'He could see my pain and discomfort and told me he was going to do everything he could to find out what it was. 'I had started to develop a cough at this point too and I was coughing up blood.' Scans revealed Mr Khan was suffering from a tumour on his chest. 'They told me I had a huge mass on my chest above my heart and that it was very aggressive. It was stage 4B Hodgkin's Lymphoma and it had spread to my right lung,' he said. 'When I found out I was heartbroken but also angry - my emotions were just all over the place. 'I was happy because I'd found out what it actually was but also just angry because it had taken so long to find out. 'I had to go in for a biopsy to remove some of the cancer and it had to be quick because it could have spread to my heart. 'When I was diagnosed I just thought I was going to die. The doctor told me that if it was left any longer I wouldn't be here right now.' Mr Khan also had a raised lump on the back of his neck that kept growing (seen left). Despite his doctors' initial diagnosis, he knew his hard, itchy skin (right) was more severe than eczema After enduring chemotherapy, Mr Khan was told his tumour had shrunk in August 2016. 'My uncle was battling throat cancer at the same time so I found it very difficult,' he said. 'Straight after finishing my treatment, my uncle passed away - I thought he was going to beat it. 'Every day after that I thought it was going to come back and I wasn't going to be so fortunate. 'When I had my follow up appointment after treatment they told me it had shrunk. He added: 'It's good news but at the same time it could come back as leukaemia so I haven't got the official all clear until five years from then. 'I'm worrying every day but I have to just get on with life' Despite his obvious weight loss, Mr Khans claims doctors kept 'pushing him away' Now training to become a barber, Mr Khan is speaking out to encourage others to push for scans and tests if they feel they have been misdiagnosed. 'You need to keep pushing and stay positive. I know it's hard because everyone has bad days,' he said. 'But you just have to keep believing and don't let cancer overcome you - you have to stay strong. 'Keep a smile on your face because every single day is a blessing. 'If anyone is unsure about symptoms keep pursuing and it will eventually come out - an early diagnosis is so important so don't give up. 'I want to share my story to help others and prevent people having to go through what I've been through.' Now living with a smaller, non-cancerous tumour, Mr Khan is speaking out to encourage others to push for scans and tests if they feel they have been misdiagnosed Kaiser is working with the charity CLIC Sargent, which helped him while he was receiving treatment on the young person's ward. CLIC Sargent aims to provide financial and emotional support to young cancer sufferers. 'The social workers made it a lot easier for me. They made me feel at home and I always had someone to talk to,' Mr Khan said. 'If I didn't have the charity I don't think I would have been able to get through it. 'I'm very appreciative and thankful to the professor too if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here.' Clare Laxton, associate director of policy and influencing at CLIC Sargent, added: 'We frequently hear that young cancer patients have a mixed experience of diagnosis. 'With over half of young people and almost half of parents we surveyed visiting their GP at least three times before their diagnosis. 'In February 2017 CLIC Sargent, the Royal College of GPs and Teenage Cancer Trust launched an e-learning tool on cancer in children and young people which is free for GPs. 'We strongly encourage professionals to use this resource so that cancer can be identified in children and young people as soon as possible.' A grotesque video has shown a 'forest' of fungi growing inside a patient's ear because of a fungal infection. The unnamed man visited hospital with pain and an itchy ear, and doctors looked inside his ear to find the black spores. They found an ear infection which had caused fungus resembling 'mushrooms' or 'a forest of trees' to grow in the ear canal. In the footage filmed by the doctor, the man's ear has a clear film in it with black spots of mould dotted throughout it and clustered in a lump. One expert says what happened is a classic fungal growth and was probably caused by a doctor wrongly treating a previous bacterial infection. The black blobs of mould known as spores grew on white stalks inside the man's ear in what one UK ear, nose and throat specialist described as 'trees in a forest' At Hai Duong Hospital in Vietnam, near the capital city of Hanoi, the man sought help because his ear had become painful. His doctor, identified only as Mr Thuoc claimed: 'If left too long the fungus will grow and destroy the man's ear.' This was contradicted by David Bowdler, an ear, nose and throat specialist at London Bridge Hospital. Mr Bowdler told MailOnline: 'This is a classic ear infection and was likely caused by bad initial treatment. 'It's a fungal infection of the external ear canal, called aspergillus niger. It could muffle the hearing and just lingers in a grumbling manner. 'Fungal infections are usually not painful, but it could be itchy.' Aspergillus is responsible for more than 75 per cent of fungal ear infections, with candida which causes thrush the second most common cause. Mr Bowdler said the fungal infection was likely a secondary infection after doctors tried to treat a bacterial ear infection with oral drugs instead of ear drops. This means medicine cannot get to the ear as effectively so the infection is not cured and a secondary fungal infection can develop as a result. To treat an condition like the one in the video, Mr Bowdler said, the patient should have direct ear drops and doctors should use a technique called microsuction. Microsuction involves using a small vacuum to clear debris out of the ear canal. The clear material around the black spores are like the trunks of the fungi, Mr Bowdler added, which grow 'like a forest of trees' inside the ear canal. Fungal ear infections, known medically as otomycosis, vary in how serious their effects are and can make someone's hearing worse and cause discharge, redness or pain in the ear. The infections may occur if someone does not have enough ear wax, because the wax is the body's way of keeping the ear canal clean. And they are more common in humid or tropical countries because fungi grow faster in warm conditions. Wajid Zia recorded his statement in Flagship corruption reference Panamagate joint investigation team (JIT) head Wajid Zia recorded his statement in the Flagship corruption reference against ousted premier Nawaz Sharif before an accountability court on Monday. Zia, in today's hearing, told the court that he was nominated by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after the Supreme Court ordered the formation of a JIT to investigate the Panama Papers case. The top court had ordered the JIT to probe the ownership of Flagship Investments, as well as the source of the money used to set up the company, Zia said. The investigation team was also supposed to find out if Nawaz's sons, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, were his dependants in 1989-1990, he added. The JIT wrote to United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities to request Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) and received a response from the latter, Zia said. He then submitted the statement of Sharif's cousin Tariq Shafi in the court. Nawaz's counsel Khawaja Haris, however, objected and said that the statement was inadmissible in the case as Shafi was neither a suspect nor a witness in the case. Haris also pointed out that Shafi's statement was not verified as is required by law and could not be submitted as testimony. Zia said that it would take two to three days to submit complete evidence in the case. According to the charge-sheet against the former premier, Nawaz told the JIT that he was a shareholder in 15 companies, including Flagship Investments, Hartstone Properties, Que Holdings, Quint Eaton Place 2, Quint Saloane, Quaint, Flagship Securities, Quint Gloucester Place, Quint Paddington, Flagship Developments, Alanna Services (BVI), Lankin SA (BVI), Chadron, Ansbacher, Coomber and Capital FZE, Dubai. Dementia may start in the womb, research suggests. Mutations that lead to the disease can occur in DNA as the brain cells of embryos divide, a Cambridge University study found. Researchers believe the findings offer hope of new treatments for dementia, as the world of science continues their quest to find a cure. They hope they could explain why so many people develop dementia - even when the individual has no family history. Professor Patrick Chinnery, who led the trial, said: 'These spelling errors arise in our DNA as cells divide.' Dementia may start in the womb. Mutations that led to the disease can occur in the brain cells of embryos, which may explain why few patients have a family history of the disease (stock) The researchers analysed 173 brain tissue samples from the Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource; part of the Medical Research Council's UK Brain Banks Network. The samples came from the brains of 54 people. Of which, 14 were healthy, 20 had Alzheimer's and 20 had Lewy body dementia. Lewy body dementia occurs when tiny protein deposits occur in the nerve cells of the brain. It is thought to affect more than 100,000 people in the UK and 1.3 million in the US. 'As the global population ages, we're seeing increasing numbers of people affected by diseases such as Alzheimer's, yet we still don't understand enough about the majority of these cases,' Professor Chinnery said. 'Why do some people get these diseases while others don't? We know genetics plays a part, but why do people with no family history develop the disease?' To answer this question, the scientists assessed 102 genes in the sample brain cells more than 5,000 times using computer technology. These genes included those that are known to increase a person's risk of dementia. Results showed 27 of the 54 brains contained spontaneous mutations, which means they were not inherited. The researchers believe these mutations came about when the patient was just an embryo developing in the womb. The DNA changes discovered were found in both the healthy and dementia-affected brains. 'Islands' of brains cells may contain dangerous mutations, which might be common among the public, the scientists concluded. 'Our discovery may also explain why no two cases of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's are the same,' Professor Chinnery said. 'Errors in the DNA in different patterns of brain cells may manifest as subtly different symptoms. 'These mutations likely form when our brain develops before birth - in other words, they are sat there waiting to cause problems when we are older.' Further research is required to determine whether certain mutations are more common in dementia sufferers. However, the study's findings may help in the diagnosis and treatment of rare neurodegenerative diseases, the scientists claim. 'Our data suggests the same genetic mechanisms could be responsible in non-inherited forms of these diseases, so these patients may benefit from the treatments being developed for the rare genetic forms,' Professor Chinnery said. Diseases like Alzheimer's are thought to come about when toxic proteins build up in the brain, destroying parts of the vital organ. This can lead to personality changes, forgetfulness and a loss of control. Only around one in 20 sufferers has a family history of these diseases; where genes are inherited from one or both parents. The vast majority of dementia cases were once thought to be a mystery, however, this new study suggests spontaneous mutations before birth may be to blame. Alzheimer's affects around 5.5 million people in the US and 550,000 in the UK. Most sufferers live just eight-to-10 years after being diagnosed. Persistent pain after childbirth may predict postpartum depression - even if a woman's labor and delivery were not particularly painful, new research suggests. Doctors have long observed that pain related to childbirth was linked to depression afterwards, but had not been about to specify what period of pain was most closely associated with the potentially debilitating mental health condition. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital have uncovered that it is the post-birth period that needs special attention. They advise that doctors need to make sure that women are not sent home to suffer in order to protect their physical and mental health. Making sure women have better pain management after giving birth - especially via C-section - may reduce their risks of postpartum depression, new study suggests About one in every nine women in the US experience postpartum depression. The symptoms of the disorder may come on any time in the first year of a newborn's life, and may last weeks or even months, though the trajectory is different for everyone. In some ways, postpartum depression resembles other forms of the mood disorder, with symptoms like deep general sadness and fatigue, but it can also cause women to feel violent toward themselves and their newborns. The disorder can interfere with the ability of a woman and and her child to bond, leading to poorer health outcomes for both. Postpartum depression is in part caused by the dramatic hormonal shifts women experience during and following pregnancy, but that's made worse by the emotional rollercoaster and exhaustion of taking care of a new baby. Plus, doctors believe other factors, including how much physical pain a woman is in, contribute to whether or not she will develop postpartum depression. This is particularly true, the authors of the new study found, if a woman has a great deal of pain during her recovery after giving birth. Complications such as tearing or wounds left by a caesarean section have a greater than expected impact. Until now it had been thought only pain during childbirth was linked to the condition, but now it appears the dominant factor is the pain new mothers suffer once they leave the delivery room. Assistant Professor Dr Jie Zhou, who led the study from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, said: 'For many years, we have been concerned about how to manage labour pain. 'But recovery pain after labour and delivery often is overlooked. 'Our research suggests we need to focus more on helping new mothers manage pain after the baby is born.' In the new study, Dr Zhou's research group reviewed pain scores, from the start of labor to being discharged from hospital, for more than 4,300 first-time mothers who gave birth naturally or by C-section. Scientists compared the results to the scores from mothers' Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS), used in postpartum depression screening, one week after delivery. Results showed strong links between depression and higher postnatal pain scores. Mothers with postpartum depression demonstrated more pain-related complaints during recovery and often needed additional pain medication. Those women group were also more likely to have given birth by C-section. That means that doctors had to cut through layers of their abdominal muscle as well as the uterus to get surgically remove the baby. While safe, these procedures are far more invasive and likely to result in a longer, more painful recovery. Yet women who had C-sections were more likely to report inadequate pain control after labor. Though clinical guidance says that post-delivery pain should be manageable with ibuprofen, previous research suggests that about half of American women who get C-sections are also prescribed opioid painkillers. This practice is risky, as the drugs are powerful and addictive. Yet, the new study found that many C-section patients are still in too much pain, raising risks of depression. Much more needs to be done to mitigate these, and other, risks of postpartum depression, the study authors wrote. A number of factors, besides having a c-section and postnatal pain, can contribute to postpartum but researchers found it was more common among women who were overweight or obese. It was also more prevalent among women who cried during childbirth, who had a history of depression, anxiety or chronic pain and whose babies were smaller and had lower physical health scores minutes after birth. Dr Zhou said: 'While ibuprofen and similar pain medications are considered adequate for pain control after childbirth, clearly some women need additional help managing pain. 'We need to do a better job identifying who is at risk for postpartum pain and ensure they have adequate postpartum care.' The findings were presented by the American Society of Anesthesiologists in San Francisco. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry today revealed that they are expecting their first royal baby next Spring. However, because of the Duchess of Sussex's age, the 37-year-old is technically classed as having a 'geriatric pregnancy'. The term has been around for decades to describe a pregnant woman over the age of 35 - but is not widely used anymore because of its 'insulting' tone. Meghan is in 'good health' and has already had a successful 12 week scan - meaning the child was conceived towards the end of July and start of August. But the former Suits actress, who is currently in Sydney ahead of a three-week tour, is one of thousands of women to have delayed their pregnancy. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured) have arrived in Sydney for their first major royal tour since they got married and announced they are having their first baby hours later The Royals made the extraordinary announcement hours after the landed in Australia for their first tour as a couple The Queen, who today congratulated the couple on their news, was also 37 when she gave birth to her fourth child, Prince Edward, in 1964. Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was 38 when she gave birth to Lady Louise in 2003 and 42 when James, Viscount Severn, was delivered four years later. NHS figures released last year showed the number of women over 40 giving birth in England and Wales has tripled since the 1980s. The data revealed 14.7 per 1,000 had a child after turning 40 in 2014 - drastically up from the 4.9 per 1,000 recorded back in 1984. Delayed pregnancies are usually made by career-focused women who have instead decided to focus on establishing themselves a high-flying job. Female fertility begins to sharply decline after age 35 - the age technically classed as being a geriatric pregnancy. However, the term has gone out of fashion and has been replaced by other names, such as 'older mothers' and being of an 'advanced maternal age'. Parenting blogs slam the term - which has been used for decades - as being 'atrocious' and 'insulting'. The stylish Duchess of Sussex, 37, who was holding hands with her husband, 34, was dressed casually for the occasion as she donned a black turtle-neck top, with a dark-coloured blazer featuring maroon lapel and cuff Meghan Markle was carrying two purple folders as she stepped off the plane, while Prince Harry wore a grey jumper over a smart shirt. The folders covering her stomach added to speculation the new Duchess could be pregnant Meghan and Harry will have the baby in the spring of last year after rumours emerged overnight WHAT ARE THE HEALTH RISKS OF A LATE PREGNANCY? Greater difficulty in initially conceiving a child, with the personal and psychological difficulties that this can cause. Increased risk of complications for both mother and infant during pregnancy and delivery (although the actual size of the risk may be small). Greater risk of general maternal health problems, such as high blood pressure, which can contribute to complications. Higher risk of miscarriage in women above the age of 35. Higher risk of having twins or triplets, which is itself associated with higher risk of complications. Increased chance of having a baby with a congenital abnormality, such as Downs syndrome. Increased risk of pre-eclampsia. Increased risk of complications during delivery, such as prolonged labour, need for assisted delivery or Caesarean section, or stillbirth. Source: NHS Advertisement The Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians defines the 'optimum period for childbearing' as being between 20 and 35. In a position statement nearly a decade old, the body said it encourages women to 'consider having families during the period of optimum fertility'. Women in their late forties have as little as a one in 20 chance of becoming pregnant because of their lower egg supply, which are less capable of being fertilised. However, better maternal medicine and scientific advances, such as IVF, has given older women more hope for motherhood. Yet they still face higher risks for both themselves and their babies, including higher odds of a stillbirth or Down's syndrome. The NHS also warns older mothers face a higher risk of having twins, miscarriage, pre-eclampsia and needing a Caesarean section. The British Fertility Society has previously warned celebrities who have children in their 40s are giving women false hope about late motherhood. Chairman Adam Balen said last year celebrities who paraded miracle babies will often have used IVF or donor eggs, both of which can cost thousands of pounds. Because they do not make this public, their fans fail to realise the fertility issues and health problems that may result. The average age for a woman to have her first child in the UK is now 30. A staggering one in 25 of all UK births is now to a mother over the age of 40. The trend of having a family later is also being replicated in the US, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Older mothers are also driving record numbers of caesareans, according to experts, alongside obesity and a fear of childbirth. A Portuguese man had breasts, a micropenis and had a high-pitched voice because his testicles disappeared in the womb. The unnamed patient was only diagnosed with 'vanishing testis syndrome' at 42 - despite lacking testicles, which produce testosterone, his entire life. Testosterone injections to make-up for his lack of the male sex hormone and helped him get a deeper voice, smaller breasts and even facial hair. Doctors remain baffled as to exactly what happened to him as a child because he was separated from his parents as an infant. However, they believe his testicles may have become twisted, which cut off their blood supply and caused them to waste away in the womb. A man developed breasts and a micropenis after a mysterious condition caused him to lose his testicles as a baby. He is pictured before having testosterone treatment The bizarre tale was published by doctors in Lisbon in the British Medical Journal Case Reports. The man, originally from Angola, went to Hospital de Egas Moniz complaining of the physical female features he had suffered with his entire life. Doctors found he had 'intersexuality' - when a person is born with hormones and genitals that 'do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies'. Although he had a male face, his physique was womanly, with breasts, broad hips and shapely thighs, Dr Francisco Sousa Santos and colleagues revealed. As well as having a micropenis, the man's testicles were also missing, which initially led medics to believe they never descended from his abdomen. Although he admitted to being somewhat attracted to women in the past, he had never had sex. A hormone test also revealed he was producing insufficient amounts of testosterone - which is produced by the testicles. The medics then performed an ultrasound scan, which suggested his testicles were not lying undescended in his abdomen. The patient decided against surgery to confirm this, but was diagnosed with bilateral anorchia, or VTS, on the back of his hormone test and ultrasound. Vanishing testis syndrome is usually diagnosed at birth, which allows patients to have testosterone replacement therapy at a young age. The man is just one of two known cases to be discovered during adulthood. Due to the condition's rarity, there are no guidelines on how best to treat it. To combat his female features, doctors decided to inject 250mg of testosterone into the man's muscles every three weeks. Within the first few months, he claimed to have a boosted libido, facial hair, a deeper voice, smaller breasts and more energy. Doctors claim this case highlights how medics should be aware of hypogonadism - the reduction or absence of hormones produced by testes and ovaries - even in adults. A three-year-old girl was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the nasal cavity after doctors dismissed her runny nose as just a sinus infection. The unnamed toddler complained of pain and swelling in her right cheek, as well as having green, blood-streaked mucus seeping from her right nostril. After twice being prescribed antibiotics and nasal drops for a suspected eye and sinus infection, medics finally performed an MRI scan. The scan revealed a large tumour in the youngster's nasal cavity, which had invaded the bone at the root of her nose, the base of her skull and the muscles she used for chewing. Parts of her brainstem, which controls breathing, sleeping and blood pressure, had also become cancerous. The girl, who is believed to be from Camberley, Surrey, immediately started an aggressive course of chemo and radiotherapy. It is unclear how she is doing. After finally having an MRI scan, doctors discovered the unnamed three-year-old was suffering from cancer of the nasal cavity. The tumour (circled) had invaded the bone at the root of her nose, the base of her skull, the muscles she used for chewing and even her brainstem The otherwise healthy toddler complained of facial pain and unusual nasal discharge for five days. She also developed redness around her right cheek, jaw and eye. Doctors diagnosed her with periorbital cellulitis - infection of the eyelid and sections of skin around the eye. They prescribed her oral antibiotics but those didn't work. When her symptoms persisted, the girl was taken back to her doctor, who carried out blood tests, as well as ultrasound scans of her neck and salivary glands. The tests came back as normal and the girl was diagnosed with mumps, which has no recommended treatment except rest, painkillers and drinking plenty of fluids. When her symptoms still did not get better, she was eventually given more antibiotics as well as nasal drops for a sinus infection. However, the youngster still showed no sign of improvement. Three weeks after her symptoms began, she finally had a brain scan when she developed a squint, pain while eating and increasing difficulty breathing through her right nostril. The scan revealed she was suffering from parameningeal rhabdomyosarcoma - cancer of the bone, and soft and connective tissue in the nasal cavity. The disease had not spread elsewhere in her body. On the back of this case, scientists from Frimley Park Hospital, where the girl's MRI was taken, are urging doctors to consider nasal cancer if a patient has a persistently runny nose in just one nostril. Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common type of childhood cancer that affects the soft tissue. It usually occurs in boys aged between two and four years old. Fewer than 60 new cases occur every year in the UK. Between 400 and 500 diagnoses are made annually in the US. Around 20 per cent of cases affect the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord, which are found in the nasal cavity and middle ear. The disease can be difficult to diagnose due to tumours not always showing up in scans. Although challenging, an early diagnosis is important to prevent the cancer invading the face and skull. Treatment can also be tricky due to vital organs, such as the brain, typically being affected. The life-saving HPV vaccine does not make girls more likely to have sex at a young age, a study has revealed. In its early days, there were concerns the jab would encourage teenage girls to be more promiscuous or have unprotected sex. But a study by Canadian researchers has found girls who had the jab actually had less sex in the years after it started to be given in schools. The number of girls who admitted to having sex before turning 17 before the jab was rolled out in Canada was 21.3 per cent. But this dropped to 18.3 per cent a decade later, when officials adopted a vaccination programme for teenage girls. They were also older when they lost their virginity, used condoms more often and were less likely to take drugs before having sex. Girls who are given the HPV vaccine do not become more promiscuous, Canadian researchers say, and they actually had less sex in the years after the jab was rolled out The scientists said 'HPV vaccination did not lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviours' and called it 'remarkably effective'. Research did not explain whether the vaccine itself had any impact on promiscuity. It may have simply coincided with the new 'Generation Sensible' of teenagers, who drink and smoke less and have less sex than older generations did. Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver studied survey results from 298,265 heterosexual teenage girls aged 12 to 18. The surveys were done in 2003, 2008 and 2013 in British Columbia, a province on the west coast of Canada. In 2003, the vaccine had not yet been introduced, in 2008 it was given to girls in Years 6 and 9, and in 2013, it had been given to girls in Year 6. They wanted to see if there was any truth to fears the jab would make girls more likely to have underage, unprotected sex. Study co-author Dr Gina Ogilvie said: 'The HPV vaccine has proved to be a remarkably effective and safe vaccine. SEX AND BOOZE SHUNNED BY 'GENERATION SENSIBLE' Teenagers are having less sex, drinking less and taking fewer drugs than their older relatives, research has shown. In 2015, just 41.2 per cent of high school students had sexual intercourse, down from 46.8 per cent in 2013. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US suggested this is because of new 'medically accurate' sex education. And scientists said it is 'very encouraging' because having sex at a younger age is associated with having more sexual partners, not using condoms, STIs and teenage pregnancy. A study by Sheffield University has also revealed today's young people are becoming less bothered about booze, cigarettes and cannabis. Only 44 per cent of teenagers under 15 had ever had an alcoholic drink in 2016, compared with 61 per cent in 2002. The share of people aged 18-24 who had used cannabis fell from 17 per cent in 2002 to 11 per cent in 2016. And the proportion of those smoking tobacco dropped from 38 per cent in 2002 to 17 per cent in 2016. Advertisement 'However, parents have expressed concern that the use of the HPV vaccine might promote or condone risky sexual behavior in adolescents.' But the parents' fears were disproven the number of teenage girls who had ever had sex fell from 21.3 per cent in 2003 to 18.3 per cent in 2013. The proportion of girls who first had sex before they were 14 years old fell by 24 per cent between 2008 and 2013. And the use of condoms increased by five per cent from 65.6 per cent in 2003 to 68.9 per cent in 2013. Taking drugs before sex also fell by 31 per cent, while girls' average number of sexual partners did not change among those who were sexually active. Another author of the study, Dr Elizabeth Saewyc said: 'Data from this survey suggests that implementing a school-based program for HPV vaccination did not lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviours among adolescent girls. 'These findings should help allay any parent or provider fears that participating in HPV vaccination might increase sexual behaviours among teenaged girls.' The vaccine has been proven to prevent cervical cancers, the vast majority of which are caused by the common human papillomavirus (HPV) sexually transmitted infection. The vaccination effectively stops girls getting the types of HPV which cause most cancers, and can also stop the spread of genital warts. There are more than 100 different types of HPV which is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world and most of them are harmless and will be destroyed by the immune system over time. However, there are some higher-risk strains which don't go away and can contribute to cancer of the cervix, vagina, throat, penis and anus. Both the UK and Canada give teenage girls a vaccine called Gardasil, which prevents against the high risk HPV strains six, 11, 16 and 18. Strains 16 and 18 are known to cause cancer of the cervix, anus, penis, mouth and throat in both men and women. And types six and 11 cause most cases of genital warts. Vaccinating girls also protects boys from these types of cancer and genital warts because they can't catch HPV from vaccinated girls. This is known as herd immunity. Experts say African countries must work together to save people from Ebola Health workers in Zambia are training to deal with Ebola amid fears it will spread from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. More than 100 people in DRC have died from the contagious fever since the most recent outbreak began at the start of August. Now Zambia, which borders the stricken country, is preparing in case it has to fight its own deadly epidemic. Staff are learning how to recognise signs of Ebola, how to treat patients and how to stop the infection spreading in case it is transmitted by travellers. Zambia borders Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 106 people have died from Ebola since the current outbreak began at the beginning of August Zambian health officials are now being trained how to spot, treat and prevent the spread of the virus The government is focusing on regions of the country which are closest to DRC, where a now months-long outbreak has killed 106 people. Ebola has killed almost two thirds (65 per cent) of the 162 people confirmed to have had it since the DRC's epidemic began on August 1, SciDev.Net reported. And fears surrounding the disease have been heightened since a devastating outbreak in western Africa in 2014 killed more than 11,000 people. 'We do not want a repeat of the tragedy that hit the Western part of our continent in 2014,' said Victor Mukonka, the director of the Zambia National Public Health Institute. 'Having trained rapid response teams at all levels assures capacity for any community, and we encourage all states to take up this strategy.' Some 216 health workers were trained in the country's north-western provinces in September, with another 86 in the north in August. Doctors, nurses, environmental and public health officers, pharmacists and laboratory staff have all been included in the education programme. An Ebola patient being helped by medical workers in Beni in Democratic Republic of the Congo: 106 people are believed to have died since the outbreak started in August They are taught how to explain the infection to local people, how to collect and transport specimens for testing, and how to prevent the virus spreading. The programme is designed to give workers the ability to set up a rapid response in the event of Ebola beginning to spread. This could happen if the virus was brought into the country by a traveller or a refugee from military fighting in the DRC. Around 50,000 people fleeing violence in the country are thought to have travelled to Zambia, according to the United Nations. Both Zambia and the DRC should work together to monitor the virus and movement of people across the border, said Nathan Bakyaita, the World Health Organization representative for Zambia. The public health institute's Mr Mukonka told SciDev.Net: 'It is important that Africa takes ownership and leads in addressing matters of health and other determinants affecting the continent.' She is, of course, one of the world's most beautiful women. So it's perhaps not surprising that American actress Michelle Williams wowed fans when she attended the premiere of her new film Venom in LA, this week. The 38-year-old, who shot to fame in Dawson's Creek,dazzled in a Louis Vuitton gown that showed off her toned arms. Looking good! American actress Michelle Williams wowed fans when she attended the premiere of her new film Venom in Los Angeles, earlier this week The critically acclaimed star likes to mix mini trampolining with ballet-inspired exercise, yoga and high-intensity dance. Exercise is as much for your brain as your body, she has previously said. So how can you replicate her physical fitness and figure? Here, we reveal the most effective exercises. WHAT TO TRY - The dumbbell curl and press tones the upper arms. Kneel on the floor, with your body upright, holding the weights by your sides, palms facing forwards. - Curl the weights up to your shoulders and chest, keeping your elbows tight to your body. Turn the weights out, so your palms are facing out. - Push them up over your head, with your elbows at right angles to your body. Lower and repeat ten times. A plaster stuck on the side of the neck could be a simple new way to monitor blood pressure. The 1-inch patch is placed over one of the two carotid arteries located in either side of the neck which supply blood to the head, neck and face. Once in place, it beams sound waves through the skin into the artery. Sensors in the patch then monitor the rate at which the waves are reflected back. The speed at which they travel is used to calculate how pliable the artery walls are. A plaster stuck on the side of the neck could be a simple new way to monitor blood pressure When blood pressure is healthy, artery walls are elastic, stretchy and dilate easily to let blood pass smoothly. When blood pressure is too high, called hypertension, the walls are stiff, less pliable and blood moves less smoothly. A microchip inside the patch stores the findings, which are wirelessly beamed to a computer that converts them into blood pressure readings. High blood pressure is a reading above 140/90 and it is responsible for half of all heart attacks and strokes. The majority of patients need pills to control it. But diagnosis can be difficult, as blood pressure can vary greatly over a day and many patients with otherwise normal readings can experience a spike brought on by anxiety during a visit to a doctor. To avoid this, patients can wear a cuff around the upper arm attached to a blood pressure monitor that clips on to a waistband and takes round-the-clock readings. But these devices are bulky and uncomfortable. The new patch, developed at the University of California, San Diego, may be a convenient alternative. How does yours rate? High blood pressure is a reading above 140/90 and it is responsible for half of all heart attacks and strokes Made from stretchy silicone, it resembles a normal plaster, but contains 20 electrodes. Alongside each is a transducer, a miniature device that converts electrical signals into sound waves. The battery-powered electrodes constantly send an electrical charge to each adjacent transducer, which converts the charge into sound waves that travel through the skin. Their speed of travel is recorded in the plaster and this provides minute-by-minute blood pressure readings. MEANWHILE... Scientists in Japan have developed a tiny, solar-powered heart monitor that can be taped to your finger. It consists of a sensor in a flexible solar cell thats attached to the skin using a clear, plaster-like material. Researchers at the University of Tokyo used it to measure the heartbeats of rats and humans under bright light conditions (10,000 lux, similar to the light in the shade on a sunny day). They said it was a step forward in the quest to make self-powered medical monitors that can provide real-time updates of a patients health. Advertisement Scientists predict the patch could give a more accurate assessment of blood pressure than the standard technique of inflating a cuff around a patients arm. A more accurate way of predicting heart disease is using core blood pressure readings, where doctors track readings in blood vessels in and around the heart and lungs. Getting these generally involves using a tonometer, a pen-like probe held by a doctor on the skin above a major blood vessel. But the device has to be held at precisely the right angle and with a specific amount of pressure. The patch which is still at prototype stage and will need several years testing before it can be widely used could be more convenient than the tonometer. The patch has only been tested on one male, who wore it for several days. He then had his blood pressure checked with a tonometer. The patch gave more precise and consistent findings, reports the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. Dr Cara Hendry, a consultant cardiologist at the Manchester Heart Centre, said: This interesting device could provide valuable data on arterial stiffness, which is directly related to the risk of stroke and heart disease. But much more research is needed. For the thousands of women caught up in the vaginal mesh scandal, the question must be: how did a product thats caused them such agony ever come to be approved? And it was a seemingly innocuous email response last week from Johnson & Johnson that provided the final, damning piece in the jigsaw puzzle. According to our records, it read: TVT devices were launched in Europe in late 1997. It was an astonishing admission, because at that time a major trial in the UK to check whether TVT tension-free vaginal tape was a safe, or even effective, treatment for women with stress incontinence had not even begun recruiting patients. And yet this email showed that UK regulators had already approved the use of these mesh devices. This was purely on the basis of evidence provided by Ethicon, the subsidiary of U.S. drugs and medical devices manufacturer Johnson & Johnson that made them. Shocking: Vaginal mesh implants, made of brittle plastic that can curl, twist and cut through tissue, have been branded the 'biggest medical scandal' since thalidomide That utter failure of regulatory oversight was bad enough. But we can also reveal that this evidence was tainted by a multi-million- dollar deal between that company and the Swedish doctor who invented TVT. Furthermore, the professional organisations representing surgeons who do these procedures have accepted funding from implant manufacturers, while surgeons themselves have received fees for speaking and consultancy work. TVT has been a public health disaster. Good Health has campaigned for eight years to raise awareness about problems with the surgery which, while it has helped many, has also left thousands of women with complications including chronic infections, agonising pain and bleeding. For years, the medical profession apart from a few, lone voices failed to take the suffering of these patients seriously, refusing to accept that it was the mesh causing them so much distress. But now, across the world, mesh manufacturers are facing multiple claims for compensation. Last week, as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) finally ruled that the mesh should be used to treat stress incontinence only as a last resort, and only by specialists, the BMJ published my investigation into how it was fast-tracked into widespread use. The word scandal is overused. But in the case of an unproven procedure, foisted upon tens of thousands of women in the UK alone, often with crippling consequences, no other word will do. Tragic: Thousands of women have been maimed by mesh across the world and have been left on the brink of suicide, unable to work and reliant on wheelchairs Stress incontinence, caused by a weakening of the ligaments or muscles that support the urethra and bladder, affects up to a third of women over the age of 40. It means that coughing, sneezing or other sudden exertion causes them to pass urine involuntarily. Until 1998, the standard surgical treatment, in use since 1959, was colposuspension, a specialist operation where tissue around the urethra is raised and held in place by stitches attached to ligaments at the back of the pubic bone. Still performed in a very small number of cases, colposuspension is a major operation. In the Nineties, it meant seven days in hospital and a long recovery a daunting prospect for patients and a costly one for NHS trusts. Unsurprisingly, not many women were offered it. Then, in 1996, a Swedish obstetrician and gynaecologist called Ulf Ulmsten published a paper reporting the results of a revolutionary new operation. He was about to become a very rich man. Ulmsten and colleagues at Uppsala University Hospital had developed a procedure in which a narrow length of plastic mesh tape was inserted to act as a kind of hammock for the urethra. As the name suggests, tension-free vaginal tape allows the bladder to work normally, until it is tightened by a sudden muscle contraction, such as that caused by coughing or sneezing, which closes the opening of the urethra. The operation could be performed under local anaesthetic as an outpatient procedure in less than half an hour. The financial implications were immediately obvious especially to Ethicon. Fight: Tireless fights by campaigners, backed by MailOnline, and 'meshed up' victims have led to internal investigation by the NHS and debates in the House of Commons Ulmstens team had operated on 75 women and reported the results in a paper published in the International Urogynecology Journal in March 1996: 63 patients (84 per cent) were completely cured throughout a two-year follow-up, and six (8 per cent) significantly improved. Ethicon made Ulmsten an offer he couldnt refuse. If the results of a larger trial due to be carried out across several hospitals matched those of the first, they would pay him $1 million to secure the rights to TVT for starters. On February 25, 1997, Ulmsten filed a U.S. patent application naming himself and a colleague as the inventors. He formed a company, Medscand, to which he assigned the patent, and the following month signed a licensing agreement with Johnson & Johnson. The results of his larger trial, involving 131 women in six hospitals in Sweden and Finland, appeared in the International Urogynecology Journal in July 1998. TVT performed even better than before: 119 patients (91 per cent) were declared cured, and a further nine (7 per cent) significantly improved. Ulmstens million dollars would soon look like small change. A Johnson & Johnson spokesman confirmed that in 1999 it paid Medscand 18.6 million, at todays exchange rate, for all assets associated with the TVT business. Was the outcome of Ulmstens second trial influenced by that prospect? Ulmsten cant answer that he died in 2004. But a systematic review of 75 studies (covering all kinds of medical treatments) by the authoritative Cochrane Library in 2017 concluded that industry-sponsored studies were more favourable to the sponsors products than non-industry- backed studies. In the UK, mesh was adopted with indecent haste. In 1998-99, only 214 women in England had the treatment. The following year there was an explosion in its use, and by 2009 the number of annual operations using polypropylene mesh tape (not just Ethicons) had climbed to an all-time high of 11,365 in England alone. The use of colposuspension fell from 3,719 cases in 2000-01 to just 276 by 2008-09. TVT wasnt cheap in 2003, each kit cost 425 plus VAT but the major saving was in hospital time. Sore: Usually made from synthetic polypropylene, a type of plastic, the implants are intended to repair damaged or weakened tissue in the vagina wall The advent of mesh meant that more women were being offered surgery for stress incontinence. Between 2000 and 2008 the overall number of surgical procedures a year in England and Wales more than doubled, to 13,201. In the U.S., TVT had been approved thanks to a principle known as substantial equivalence approval is fast-tracked if a device works in a similar way to one already approved. That was a woven polyester sling made by a rival company and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996. That product was recalled early in 1999 after it was found to cause erosion of the urethra and bladder, leading to infection and pain all side-effects that have since been suffered by TVT patients. But by then, Ethicon had been able to use the original approval to piggyback Ulmstens product to market. In the UK, TVT was nodded into use with no scrutiny by the Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures (SERNIP), the forerunner of NICE. Evidence of this shocking regulatory failure came to light in the pages of a forgotten medical textbook, sent to me by an anonymous, concerned gynaecologist. Incontinence in Women, a collection of reports from a study group convened by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2001, includes a verbatim record of a revealing exchange between members of the UK and Ireland TVT Trial Group, which was still in the throes of assessing the safety of mesh. One gynaecologist said it was astonishing that SERNIP had approved the use of TVT without evidence from any random controlled trials where a new drug or product is tested on one group of patients and the results compared with those in another group having the standard treatment. The lead investigator of the trial group said it was highly regrettable that TVT had been approved on the basis of no evidence at all, other than documentation submitted by the manufacturers of the device. And as Johnson & Johnson confirmed, it was marketing TVT in Europe by late 1997. Surgeons and hospitals in the UK were quick to jump on the cost-effective TVT bandwagon. But in the process the medical profession, from individual surgeons and their trusts to the royal colleges responsible for the specialities involved, failed to ensure surgeons were properly trained to carry out the procedure which, although quick to perform, demanded a high degree of skill. WHAT ARE VAGINAL MESH IMPLANTS? THE CONTROVERSIAL DEVICES THAT HAVE BEEN COMPARED TO THALIDOMIDE WHAT ARE VAGINAL MESH IMPLANTS? Vaginal mesh implants are devices used by surgeons to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence in women. Usually made from synthetic polypropylene, a type of plastic, the implants are intended to repair damaged or weakened tissue in the vagina wall. Other fabrics include polyester, human tissue and absorbable synthetic materials. Some women report severe and constant abdominal and vaginal pain after the surgery. In some, the pain is so severe they are unable to have sex. Infections, bleeding and even organ erosion has also been reported. Vaginal mesh implants are devices used by surgeons to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence in women WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MESH? Mini-sling: This implant is embedded with a metallic inserter. It sits close to the mid-section of a woman's urethra. The use of an inserter is thought to lower the risk of cutting during the procedure. TVT sling: Such a sling is held in place by the patient's body. It is inserted with a plastic tape by cutting the vagina and making two incisions in the abdomen. The mesh sits beneath the urethra. TVTO sling: Inserted through the groin and sits under the urethra. This sling was intended to prevent bladder perforation. TOT sling: Involves forming a 'hammock' of fibrous tissue in the urethra. Surgeons often claim this form of implant gives them the most control during implantation. Kath Samson, a journalist, is the founder of Sling The Mesh Ventral mesh rectopexy: Releases the rectum from the back of the vagina or bladder. A mesh is then fitted to the back of the rectum to prevent prolapse. HOW MANY WOMEN SUFFER? According to the NHS and MHRA, the risk of vaginal mesh pain after an implant is between one and three per cent. But a study by Case Western Reserve University found that up to 42 per cent of patients experience complications. Of which, 77 per cent report severe pain and 30 per cent claim to have a lost or reduced sex life. Urinary infections have been reported in around 22 per cent of cases, while bladder perforation occurs in up to 31 per cent of incidences. Critics of the implants say trials confirming their supposed safety have been small or conducted in animals, who are unable to describe pain or a loss of sex life. Kath Samson, founder of the Sling The Mesh campaign, said surgeons often refuse to accept vaginal mesh implants are causing pain. She warned that they are not obligated to report such complications anyway, and as a result, less than 40 per cent of surgeons do. Advertisement Insufficient care was also taken to ensure that only appropriate patients were selected to undergo the operation some would have benefited better from non-invasive treatments such as pelvic floor and bladder training exercises. Perhaps worst of all, in the scramble to adopt the new, cheap operation, no one bothered to set up a registry of procedures a record of results and other outcomes that is a standard method of determining whether a procedure is safe. At the same time, however, as my six-month investigation revealed, individual surgeons were and still are happy to accept money from mesh manufacturers in the form of fees for speaking and consultancy work, while many industry bodies are heavily subsidised by industry sponsorship. In 2016-17 the Royal College of Surgeons had funding partnerships with 68 companies, including Ethicon, while recently published accounts for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists show a contribution of 133,402 from Ethicon. The UK Pelvic Floor Society, whose members use synthetic meshes for prolapse and incontinence surgery, is supported by several mesh manufacturers. Had a registry of procedures been in existence from the earliest days, many of the longer-term problems with mesh would have been spotted sooner, sparing countless thousands of women unnecessary suffering. Yet time after time, calls for such a registry to be set up were ignored NICE first suggested it in 2003. Patient campaigners and concerned medics have also repeatedly called for it. It wasnt until February 21, 2018 20 years after mesh was introduced that Jeremy Hunt, then Health Secretary, announced his department would be investing 1.1 million to develop a comprehensive database for vaginal mesh to improve clinical practice and identify issues. It was, as campaigners pointed out, much too little, far too late. It took the scandal of a faulty hip replacement in 1998 to persuade the government to set up the National Joint Registry, which since 2002 has monitored all hip, knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder joint replacements. Since then, the registry has been used to identify and remove unsafe devices from the market and shine a light on poor surgical practice. Similarly, a registry of breast implants was launched in 2016 in the wake of the PIP scandal, in which thousands of women were found to have been fitted with implants made from non-medical grade silicone. The only correct response is for the Government to introduce mandatory registries for all devices that companies would have doctors insert in our bodies. This should be an obligatory pre-condition of approval. That way the suffering of the thousands of victims of mesh will not have been completely in vain. From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As... One day in the summer heatwave, Sarah Bradshaw finished work early and took her five-year-old twins, Alfie and Archie, out. We piled in the car, drove to the beach and watched the sun set, says Sarah, 37, from Winchester in Hampshire. It doesnt sound much, but only a few months before, I was suffering from such debilitating depression and anxiety that Id never have done anything like that. Id have had anxiety about how it would affect the childrens routine, Id worry about driving and Id have talked myself out of it. But Im seeing things clearer now. Im even smelling things clearer. Im off the antidepressants Ive taken for 16 years and no longer need four painkillers a day. Game-changer: Sarah Bradshaw, 37, from Hampshire, suffered with depression and anxiety Sarah, a mother of three who owns a home carers business, owes this turnaround to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The non-invasive treatment for depression was approved by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) in 2015, for use when other treatments such as medication and talking therapy have failed. RTMS uses pulsing magnetic fields to activate or suppress the brain centre associated with a number of psychiatric disorders, including depression, says Dr Leigh Neal, a former NHS consultant in psychiatry and medical director of Smart TMS clinics. It generates a highly concentrated magnetic field of the same type and strength as those produced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Studies show certain circuits in the brain, associated with certain psychiatric conditions, have abnormal connections at some points too strong or too weak. The pulse stimulates or inhibits part of the circuit, repairing the abnormality. Over time, it increases nerve cell connectivity and levels of dopamine and serotonin. Decreased chemical activity in the brain is associated with depression, so increasing it is likely to help. Unlike bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) also known as shock treatment which induces similar chemical changes, but shocks the whole brain, rTMSs magnetic field reaches only about 2cm from the surface. The mother-of-three had repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and it changed her life RTMS is effective for some people who have not responded to antidepressants and talking therapies, says Professor Wendy Burn, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. It is an innovative treatment I would like to see available to more patients. The treatment was first developed in the UK some 30 years ago. There is good evidence that it works for several conditions, but it seems particularly robust for depression, says Dr Michael Craig, a consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in London. Unlike ECT, you dont need an anaesthetic and, afterwards, you can get on with your day. But it is a time-consuming and expensive treatment, which may explain why very few NHS units offer it. Over more than 20 years, Sarah had become accustomed to the exhaustion, tearfulness and low mood that plagued most of her adult life. Five years ago, she also started suffering physically. I was getting headaches and pain all over my body, I had zero energy and became convinced that I was seriously ill, says Sarah, who lives with wife Sam, 30, and children Georgia, 16, and Alfie and Archie. I stayed on Prozac for years, gradually increasing the dose. I tried other antidepressants as well. But I still felt depressed. I was breathless and had chest pain, but the GP couldnt find anything wrong. Then, one night, I got into bed and felt a tightness in my chest that I thought was trapped wind. But I couldnt breathe. I started to panic. Sam called an ambulance. When I got to hospital, my heart rate was 120 a normal rate is around 60 but physically, there was nothing else wrong. The doctors put it down to anxiety, and I didnt need any treatment, but it was scary. It was a wake-up call for Sarah, who had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety at 17 after a traumatic childhood. I lived in a constant state of fight or flight, she says. I suspect now that I was dealing with issues around my sexuality, too. My GP was fantastic, although he didnt prescribe any medication at that point, due to my young age, I expect. Sarah visited her GP about six times before the age of 21, when she was prescribed the antidepressant fluoxetine, better known as Prozac. The pills let me cope with life, she says. I worked in the care industry and fire service, which meant helping other people, and that made me feel good. But in every other part of my life, I had no joy. Its hard to describe to anyone who hasnt had depression, but you feel an underlying low mood all the time. It sits behind your eyes. Id feel tired all the time. Id laugh when I was expected to laugh, but it wasnt real. 'Im seeing things clearer now. Im even smelling things clearer. Im off the antidepressants Ive taken for 16 years and no longer need four painkillers a day, she says Every morning, Id take my antidepressant and I knew I would be taking them for life. But it didnt bother me. If anything, I feared coming off them, because I knew Id feel worse. I stayed on Prozac for years, gradually increasing the dose. I tried other antidepressants as well. But I still felt depressed. After the urgent trip to hospital, Sarah consulted a private psychotherapist. She taught me not to be so hard on myself and gave me coping techniques, says Sarah. I tried cognitive behavioural therapy, which works by making you focus on other things, rather than your low mood. It helped, although at 45 for 40 minutes, I couldnt afford many sessions. In June, Sarah heard about rTMS via social media and applied for one of ten free places at the Smart TMS clinic in Manchester. The day after a short assessment by a clinic psychiatrist, she started the two-week treatment. I worried it would hurt and make me feel vulnerable, but nothing could be further from the truth, she says. I sat in a comfortable, dentist-like chair. A cotton cap was put on my head and measurements were taken to assess which area of my brain needed stimulation. Sarah had 40 seconds of treatment on the right side and 20 minutes on her left, although Dr Craig admits psychiatrists are still in the dark about how long to give treatment for and which side of the brain to stimulate. We still dont know what protocol will be right for each individual, he says. HOW DOES IT WORK? The technique is non-invasive and uses magnetic stimulation to target the part of brain that regulates mood. A purpose-built electromagnetic coil is held against the scalp of the patient, who sits comfortably in a chair with head leaning back during the treatment. There is no need for anaesthesia or sedation. The treatment comprises of daily sessions five days a week lasting about 30-45 minutes, typically for 4-6 weeks. Patients are able to resume their daily routine immediately after a treatment session. It is generally pain free and well tolerated by most patients. There can be minor transient side effects such as headache and scalp discomfort. The course of treatment is delivered by consultant psychiatrists and specialist nurses at EPUT. SOURCE: NHS Advertisement Theres some suggestion that, with depression, you have got too much function on the right of the brain, and too little on the left, so by delivering different frequencies to both sides, some people believe you might optimise the outcome. Sarah describes the treatment as like pulses of air being pushed against your head. It doesnt hurt, but its a very loud tick, tick, tick. You have to sit still, but you can talk to the team or read. After, I felt very tired, but otherwise fine. Its hard to describe the improvement. It wasnt like a light switching on. Its more like when youve had a headache and take a painkiller. You dont think: My headache has gone. It disappears gradually. But there must have been a change in my mood, because four days into treatment, I walked past a sunbed salon and spontaneously had a session. That might not sound like much, but Id never done anything like it in my life. So she could get home sooner, Sarah asked for three treatments a day, rather than one daily. Accelerated treatment of up to five sessions in one day has been shown to be as effective, but it can cause fatigue, says Dr Neal. There is a small risk of convulsions: about one in every 30,000 sessions. There are some transient minor side-effects, such as headaches, in a small percentage, but no long-term side-effects. When Sarah returned home two weeks later, the differences were tangible. The constant jumpiness has gone. Im off the painkillers completely as I dont ache any more. Ive lost weight. I feel like a new person. Before when a tantrum erupted with the boys, it would be like World War III, but now Im calm and so much more positive. After tapering down over a few months, I finally stopped taking antidepressants at the beginning of August. Its changed my life. Whether she will need more rTMS is not known. Around 40 per cent relapse after six to 12 months in the absence of medication, therapy or more rTMS, says Dr Craig. We need further research in this area, as it is difficult to predict. A New York man died after he developed a rare and fatal brain disorder from eating squirrel brains. In a case report, researchers said the 61-year-old was brought to Rochester Regional Health in 2015 saying he was having trouble thinking, he was losing touch with reality and he couldn't walk. Doctors discovered he developed a degenerative disease caused by the same infectious proteins that also result in the more infamous 'mad cow disease'. However, it wasn't contaminated beef that caused this man's death. His family told doctors he enjoyed hunting and had recently eaten squirrel brains - although it's unclear if he ate the whole brain or squirrel meat contaminated with parts of the brain. A 61-year-old New York man died in 2015 after he developed a rare and fatal brain disorder from eating squirrel brains (file image) The findings of the report were presented on October 4 at IDWeek, an annual meeting of infectious diseases professionals, reported Live Science. Lead author Dr Tara Chen, a medical resident at Rochester Regional Health, told the website she discovered the case while doing a report on cases of the disease seen at her hospital during a five-year period. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, degenerative brain disorder that is caused by coming into contact with tissue that has been infected, such as eating contaminated meat. It is caused due to abnormal versions of a protein known as prion. Prions are normally harmless but, when misshapen, they become infectious and create lesions, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms include depression, anxiety, memory loss, personality changes, impaired thinking, difficulty swallowing and difficulty speaking. The mental deterioration is rapid, usually occurring within a few months. Many sufferers lapse into coma. Usually symptoms begin to appear around age 60 and approximately 70 percent of sufferers die within a year. There is no treatment or cure for CJD. Treatment plans currently involve lessening the severity of symptoms and making those affected comfortable. CJD occurs in three forms. One is sporadic with no known causes, which accounts for 85 percent of cases, according to the National Institutes of Health. Another form is hereditary. Those with a family history of the disease and have a genetic mutation account for 10 to 15 percent of US cases. The rarest form is acquired CJD, which is when the brain or nervous system tissue becomes infected through exposure - only causing one percent of cases. A type of CJD called variant CJD (vCJD) can occur from eating infected beef. First described in 1996 in the UK, this beef is already infected with a disease that is similar called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or 'mad cow disease'. About one in a million people around the world become infected, with just 350 cases occurring annually in the US. Doctors at Rochester Regional Health wrote in the report that they were shocked when four suspected cases of CJD were presented between November 2017 and April 2018 because the disorder is so rare. According to co-author Dr John Hanna, a medical resident at Rochester Regional Health that number is high when just one million people live in the area. This unusually high number caused the doctors to review all suspected CJD cases at the hospital between 2013 and 2018. They found five cases in total, but two of them turned out to be negative for the disease. During this review, they found the case of the man who ate squirrel brains. An MRI and a test of his cerebrospinal fluid found the proteins tied to CJD, and it was determined he had the most severe form, vCJD. The authors note that CJD is only confirmed by testing the brain tissue during an autopsy. The team is currently working to obtain the patient's medical records to see if a coroner confirmed CJD upon his death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have only been four confirmed cases of vCJD ever been reported in the US. A chance conversation overheard in a health food shop involving the words amazing pain relief has transformed Rebecca Robinsons life. Amazing pain relief is an elusive, much sought-after goal for many millions of people with a huge range of health problems but after almost a lifetime of enduring the effects of a joint disorder, Rebecca, 47, has found a solution she says is better than ibuprofen, paracetamol and codeine put together. I cant believe the overwhelming difference its made to my quality of life and how much more I can get done, she says. I sleep properly because Im not in pain and when Im awake Im really awake. Its had a profound effect, more than anything Ive ever taken. The wonder painkiller is an over-the-counter cannabis compound called cannabidiol (CBD). Did you know? Medicinal cannabis contains tetra-hydrocannabinol (THC), the mood- altering compound that causes a high - which is also effective for some pain management There has been growing interest in medicinal cannabis, which is slightly different to CBD, since the summer when the Mail highlighted the cases of seven-year-old Alfie Dingley and 13-year-old Billy Caldwell, children stricken by a potentially life-threatening epilepsy that their parents and doctors said could only be controlled by using this currently illegal form of cannabis. Medicinal cannabis contains tetra-hydrocannabinol (THC), the mood- altering compound that causes a high. Last week, the Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced that from next month specialist (hospital) doctors such as neurologists or paediatricians will be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis it will not be available from GPs. There are concerns that, despite Mr Javids insistence otherwise, the decriminalisation of the medicinal use of cannabis will be followed by the same for its recreational use Canada, which approved the medicinal use in 2001, has just become the first G7 country to do this. CBD products, however, are different to medicinal cannabis by law they contain under 0.2 per cent THC, and were approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for High-Street sale in late 2016. CBD has since flown off the shelves typically, its sold in the form of oils and capsules, but there are now plans to add it to food and drink, including possibly Coca-Cola, coffee, chocolate and even porridge. Rebecca Robinson is a very recent convert to CBD. A professional photographer from Hessle, North Humberside, she suffers from joint hypermobility syndrome an inherited condition which means the joints can move beyond the normal range, often leading to pain. Popular: CBD has since flown off the shelves typically, its sold in the form of oils and capsules, but there are now plans to add it to food and drink, including possibly Coca-Cola A divorced former civil servant, Rebecca, who lives with her 16- year-old daughter Molly, set up her own photography business 15 years ago, but has battled daily with her symptoms. I had constant problems with aches and pains, clicking joints, easily pulled muscles, strains and fatigue, she says. It was like a nagging tooth ache, that never went away it was bad enough to keep me awake at night and utterly draining. Then she went to her local health food shop a few weeks ago looking for a new alternative to painkillers. I overheard someone talking about the amazing results with this new product. I just had to interrupt and ask them what they were talking about, and I havent looked back, she says. Since I started using the CBD oil I just feel completely different. I honestly cant believe it. If Rebeccas response to the treatment seems too good to be true, Chris Taylor, 41, a gas fitter from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire and a martial arts enthusiast says hes had a similar experience. He began taking CBD oil recently for a dislocated shoulder. I have slept through the night for the first time since my son was born nearly 11 years ago, he says. I had various other aches and pains caused by the amount of heavy lifting of boilers, pipes and radiators I do for work and they have all gone. I was often taking co-codamol just to get to sleep, but no treatments really worked. History: Its over a century since Queen Victoria reportedly took to smoking cannabis to relieve period pain, but the drug gradually fell out of favour as a medicine It was my 68-year-old mum who put me on to it. Shes really fit and goes to the gym, but she started taking CBD oil for sciatica and said it worked for her. Then theres Alan Tunley, a 62-year-old construction site manager from Dudley, West Midlands, who told Good Health that CBD oil had speeded up his recovery from a hip replacement operation. And retired Lancashire property consultant Georgina Taylor, 68, who suffers from osteoarthritis, says: I take CBD oil capsules twice a day and the difference it has made to my life is astonishing. I never used to sleep properly, but now I do. Id given up on conventional medicines I cant tolerate ibuprofen or codeine as they upset my stomach and paracetamol doesnt even touch the pain but this works, with no side-effects. Its over a century since Queen Victoria reportedly took to smoking cannabis to relieve period pain, but the drug gradually fell out of favour as a medicine and after the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, its use was banned altogether. Now, however, hemp or cannabis sativa, to use its scientific name is being recognised for its medicinal properties, with evidence to suggest it can help with conditions such as epilepsy. The CBD oil used by the patients we spoke to is derived from so-called industrial hemp, which used to be grown in fields across Britain for rope, textiles and nutritious oil, but is now limited to just a few farms. Hemp cannot be grown in this country without a licence (a further licence is needed to extract CBD). Its the THC which doctors argue has to be present for patients to experience the beneficial effect and its THC products that could now become available with a specialist prescription. The issue with CBD is not legality, clearly but it is expensive and there are concerns that many of the unregulated over-the- counter products may not contain enough to have any effect. Changes for patients: British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has made medicinal cannabis available to some - but not via GPs There is little doubt that it can help with pain in cancer patients, suggests Professor Angus Dalgleish a cancer specialist at St Georges Hospital University of London. About a third of my patients are taking it, he says. To me theres no question CBD is more effective and better than THC which makes people zombie-like. We know it works because there have been numerous studies comparing it with a placebo. We have also just published the first evidence that cannabis may actually inhibit cancer cell growth in humans. It is early days but this could be very exciting indeed. A review published last month in the Psychiatry Journal of the American Medical Association, which looked at 18 studies comparing different forms of CBD with dummy treatments in alleviating pain caused by extreme cold or heat in healthy volunteers, concluded that it influenced the emotional element of pain, somehow making it more tolerable. We know that it interferes with inflammatory signalling in the body and has a range of effects, says Professor Michael Heinrich, head of the school of pharmacy at University College London. It is potentially more effective for pain than ibuprofen or paracetamol if its used properly but the problem is that it is a completely unregulated market. Some CBD products may contain practically none of the actual ingredient, or the amount may be too high. Its a real issue. Professor Heinrich is a member of the medical board at Cambridge Nutraceuticals which manufactures Future You CBD oil +, one of the new higher-concentration over-the-counter CBD brands (which, like the others, is not cheap, at 33 for just 28 daily capsules). At the moment consumers have little way of knowing whether they are getting a quality product. Cambridge Nutraceuticals is attempting to highlight the issue by commissioning a series of independent tests of CBD products by an external specialist laboratory. We want to demonstrate why better quality standards are needed to protect consumers, said Adam Cleevely, the companys chief executive. The sea change in public attitudes towards CBD at least means companies are now considering using it to produce mood-boosting food and drinks. Coors is already also developing a non-alcoholic cannabidiol-laced version of its best-selling lager in the U.S. and Coca-Cola is poised to get in on the act with plans to add CBD to its drinks in the U.S. As the company has just taken over Costa Coffee, CBD in coffee could follow. Meanwhile, Diageo, which owns dozens of alcohol brands from Pimms to Dom Perignon, has had recent meetings with three Canadian cannabis manufacturers, although a spokesman would only tell Good Health that we are monitoring this space closely. Cambridge Nutraceuticals has also looked at adding CBD to chocolate and coffee and is now in talks with Moma, the maker of trendy porridge for on-the-go health- conscious commuters. Its not clear if British hemp farmers will be able to meet growing demand. Hemp comes in about 50 subspecies, with the oil-rich seeds containing varying levels of different canna-binoid chemicals as well as vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Will the Home Office now issue CBD production licences in the UK? It wont say, but Geremy Thomas, chief executive of Sativa Investments in London, who has set up a 160-acre hemp farm in Beckington, Somerset, thinks things will soon change. Hes recruited Sir Alastair Breckenridge, former chairman of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, to his medical advisory board. There is such a huge demand for this product because of its anti-inflammatory and other health properties, says Mr Thomas. David Connolly, chairman of Celtic Wind Crops, an Irish CBD oil producer based near Dundalk, agrees. His company is supplying Lloyds Pharmacy which next Friday will become the first national pharmacy chain to offer a high-quality CBD health supplement. Celtic Wind Crops itself is now planning to branch into skin products, soap and ultimately pet medicines. Theres no reason it shouldnt work just as well on animals as humans, he says. Ive started taking it and now sleep well and dont suffer from anxiety. My two sons and two daughters take it and so does my 91-year-old mother who has gout in her fingers. There are huge possibilities with this. Trips by shoppers to the high street fell again last month as consumers remained under financial pressure. Footfall dropped 2.2 per cent after a mixed summer in which they flocked to stock up on barbecue staples in June but stayed at home in the heatwave of July and August. Shopping malls recorded a 2.4 per cent drop in September, the 18th consecutive month of decline, according to retail analysts Springboard. Retail parks continued to be the only places to attract more visitors but growth slowed to 0.1 per cent compared to 0.3 per cent in August Retail parks continued to be the only area to attract more visitors but growth slowed to 0.1 per cent compared to 0.3 per cent in August. Diane Wehrle, of Springboard, said: Footfall is simply reflecting the underlying constraints on consumer spend generally. She said indicators included falling sales for new cars, slower growth in house prices and rising consumer credit levels. No region had footfall growth in September. The worst-hit areas included the East of England and Wales, with declines of just over 5 per cent each. Helen Dickinson, of the British Retail Consortium, called for tax reforms to ease the burden on retailers. Shopping malls recorded a 2.4 per cent drop in September, the 18th consecutive month of decline (stock picture) Northern Ireland was also among the worst-performing regions for high street and retail park footfall. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that the government should reform the tax system to ease the burden on retailers. This months footfall figures are yet further demonstration of the increasingly difficult operating environment British retailers are facing, she said. And yet, the countrys largest private sector employer is not seeing any action from Government to help. The AA, RAC and Green Flag - the nation's three biggest breakdown providers - have joined forces to lobby the Government for improved motorway safety rules to protect road users and their patrols. The firms have all called on Road Safety Minister Jesse Norman to influence change, following a spate of serious incidents involving some of their staff attending broken down vehicles, three of which resulted in the death of recovery drivers. They have asked for the introduction of a 'slow down, move over' rule to be enforced whenever a breakdown vehicle is stopped with its amber beacons flashing. 'Slow down, move over': The AA has joined forces with market rivals the RAC and Green Flag in a bid to help better protect their patrols when attending stricken vehicles on motorways In a groundbreaking move in coming together for what is a fiercely competitive market, the three companies have also called for the Department for Transport to sponsor a THINK! road safety campaign highlighting the dangers faced by motorists and patrols when vehicles break down at the side of the road. The calls follow a separate letter sent to the road safety minister from the AA asking for changes to be made to the Highway Code in November. In the request, the AA wanted an update to the driving guidelines, especially concerning Smart motorways and the issues they cause for emergency services vehicles as well as breakdown patrols. However, those previous recommendations were not adopted. The latest call for change has come after the death of RAC worker David Stokes, 33, from Chellaston, Derby in June this year. The breakdown technician was killed when he was hit by a car while repairing a vehicle in Nottinghamshire. Since the beginning of 2018, all three organisations said they have experienced numerous other cases where patrols have nearly been hit by a passing vehicle while attending breakdowns. United by the fear of vulnerability of the nation's fastest-moving roads, the three groups jointly penned the letter to Mr Norman, which was sent on October 1. The three services said: 'We have strengthened our resolve to work together to do all that we can to prevent similar incidents in the future.' In the joint letter, the breakdown providers said they had strengthened their resolve to work together to do they can to protect their staff We have joined with @TheAA_UK and @GreenFlagUK to call for enhanced road safety rules to aid in the protection of our Patrol and customers, more here https://t.co/ajqxuvX252 #SlowDownMoveOver pic.twitter.com/nAxa1uwfDS The RAC (@TheRAC_UK) October 11, 2018 Edmund King, AA president added: 'Standing at the side of a motorway is a frightening experience, but our patrols rescue stranded motorists daily in all weathers. 'Unfortunately their safety is being compromised by some who drive too fast and too close. 'Between our organisations we have seen too many near misses and too many fatalities caused by this problem. That needs to change quickly. 'Slow down, move over is not a difficult request, but this simple act of kindness will make a world of difference to vulnerable drivers, patrols and road workers alike.' The collaboration comes just months after an RAC patrol man was knocked down and killed at the side of a motorway while working on a broken-down vehicle in Nottinghamshire James Knight, chief operations officer for the RAC said: 'Working or breaking down at the side of a busy road or motorway is a nerve-racking experience and one we know carries risks. 'We do everything we can to minimise the dangers and to ensure our patrols put their own safety and that of drivers and passengers first. 'But in light of the recent fatalities we now urgently need the Government to work with us to raise awareness of the issue among drivers and to promote a 'slow down, move over' message. 'This must be backed by a high-profile publicity campaign and a change to the Highway Code.' Damon Jowett, head of service delivery at Green Flag, said: 'Much investment has been undertaken to allow the continuous flow of traffic on the UK's major roads, and motorways are becoming more responsive in real time to constantly manage the volumes of road users. 'While this is a positive step in enabling road users to get to their destination more easily, rule changes and greater awareness is needed, to ensure roadside recovery workers on all roads including, motorways and main carriage ways are not left even more vulnerable.' Superdry shares crashed 22 per cent in early trading today after the global clothing firm warned that its annual profits would be 10million short. The company, which was founded in 1985 in Cheltenham, said the ongoing warm weather in the UK, US and Europe has knocked its bottom line. The unseasonable weather killed off demand for coats, jackets and winter-wear - lines that usually account for nearly half of Superdry's annual sales. Superdry said its autumn/winter lines typically account for 45% of its yearly sales Superdry also revealed 8million of surprise foreign exchange costs, after its hedging mechanisms failed to provide adequate protection. Boss Euan Sutherland insisted that 'Superdry is a strong brand with significant growth opportunities, backed by robust operational capabilities.' 'But we are not immune to the challenges presented by this extraordinary period of unseasonably hot weather,' he added. In a move to become less reliant on winter sales, Superdry has started an 18-month product diversification programme. It also plans to spend 5million growing its online business. The firm once again pointed to the turbulent retail environment today, noting the 'well-publicised challenges' faced by some of its peers. Along with volatile consumer confidence and falling footfall, a number of brands have been stung by the collapse of House of Fraser. The administration process, which hurt the likes of Ted Baker, Mulberry and Coast, left Superdry out of pocket by an estimated 236,000. Superdry boss Euan Sutherland (left) with co-founder Julian Dunkerton (right) Commenting on today's profit warning, retail analyst Nick Bubb says: 'It is true that Superdry is more dependent than most fashion retailers on heavy outerwear, but, even so, it seems a bit feeble to blame the latest profit warning on the warm weather. 'Management credibility is on the wane and the City will punish Superdry's rating even more today.' The unscheduled statement triggered a steep slide in the share price to 7.95 - a far cry from the 19.80 its shares fetched at the start of 2018. Superdry is the latest in a long line of fashion firms to bemoan unusual weather patterns this year. Industry body, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned in August that if the warmer temperatures carried on into October it could cost non-food firms more than 300million. The boss of tainted Grant Thornton has quit just days after the firm was slammed for missing a 40million black hole at Patisserie Valerie. Sacha Romanovitchs resignation is unexpected and comes days after she vowed to stay on at the accountancy group. The 41-year-old has been at the centre of a power struggle in the partnership, which saw colleagues leak her annual performance review to the media. Shock: Sacha Romanovitchs resignation comes days after she vowed to stay on at the accountancy group Grant Thornton itself has been repeatedly criticised as the audit industry faces accusations of sloppy practice and conflicts of interest. The firm is in the firing line over the near-collapse of cake chain Patisserie Valerie, whose finance director Chris Marsh has been arrested on suspicion of fraud following the discovery of a shock 40million funding shortfall. Grant Thornton which has audited parent firm Patisserie Holdings since 2006 and pocketed up to 600,000 in fees in the last four years alone could face legal action for failing to spot the problems. The business said that Romanovitch has decided not to seek a second four-year term as chief executive after consultation with its board. It means she will not run for re-election in a vote by Grant Thorntons 200 partners, and instead will stay on only until a successor is found by the end of the year. Chairman Ed Warner said: The board has agreed that a new chief executive is the logical next step to create long-term sustainable profits for the firm. The announcement follows a wrangle over the direction of the business. Romanovitch the only female boss of a large British accountant put noses out of joint with a bid to turn the company into a shared enterprise in which all 4,500 staff had a stake. She also stopped competing with rivals such as KPMG and PwC for contracts with the biggest listed companies. A poison pen letter sent to national newspapers allegedly backed by 15 partners accused Romanovitch of pursuing a socialist agenda and included a copy of her performance review. But less than two weeks ago she said she would face down the critics and keep her job. And colleagues claimed the Oxford educated boss was likely to run for re-election unopposed. In a defiant interview early this month, Romanovitch had said: Fundamentally, do I think Im the right person to lead this firm now? Yes. Do I think theres unfinished business, in terms of delivering what I set out to achieve? Absolutely. Announcing her resignation yesterday, she said: Following discussions with Grant Thorntons board, we have agreed that the time is right for a new chief executive to take the firm forward. It has been a privilege and an honour to lead this Firm. I am proud of what we have achieved in the market, with our people and with our clients, breaking the mould in so many ways. Britain's top companies are handing bosses obscene rewards while turning a deaf ear to protests from shareholders, a Mail investigation reveals today. We examined the pay and incentives given to the chief executive of every company in the FTSE 100. Our research lays bare the worst examples of unabashed greed and excess at the top of corporate Britain. Persimmon boss Jeff Fairburn, Lloyds chief Antonio Horto-Osorio, GVC boss Kenneth Alexander and Unilever's Paul Polman are some of the FTSE's best paid bosses As MPs on the Business Select Committee today quiz Unilever and Royal Mail over fat-cat pay, the investigation reveals: The two highest-paid chief executives each received more than 42million for a single years work in 2017; More than one in six of the top 100 companies ended up on an official blacklist ordered by Prime Minister Theresa May to name and shame those doling out fat-cat pay despite shareholder protests; They include Unilever, which recently was forced to ditch plans to move its headquarters from London to Rotterdam after an investor backlash, and Royal Mail, which is under fire from investors for a huge fall in its share price; At bailed-out lender Lloyds Banking Group, chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio has pocketed 45million in pay, bonuses and incentives since he took the helm in 2011; The findings will be sobering for the Prime Minister, who last year declared war on fat cat pay and accused greedy and irresponsible corporate chieftains of wrecking Britains social fabric. May ordered that firms must be named on a public register if more than 20 per cent of their shareholders complained about pay. Blue-chip companies on the list include Unilever, led by Dutch chief executive Paul Polman, 62, who has said he is embarrassed at how much he earns and that he would work at the company for free. He received a 10.5million package last year, with the approval of shareholders. But the company is facing a backlash from investors over its pay plans for the future. More than a third voted against the remuneration policy because it could yield large pay rises and bonuses over the coming years. The biggest revolt was at Royal Mail, where more than 70 per cent voted against its pay report. Shares are down by around 30 per cent this month after it issued a profit warning. How investors rebelled Moya Greene, who stepped down as chief executive at the start of the year, received pay of 1.8million for 2017 but was also given a golden goodbye worth 914,000, plus a series of guaranteed and performance-linked share incentives. That adds up to around 4.4million. Shareholders were also upset at the amounts given to her successor, Rico Back. He will receive a basic salary 17 per cent higher than Greene at 640,000, as well as a 6million payment to buy out his package from his previous employer, a Royal Mail subsidiary. Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said: It looks terrible to ordinary workers who have endured meagre pay growth for over a decade. The system allows firms to persist with huge pay packets in defiance of investors, who have very limited powers of veto. Shareholders can express their anger by voting at the yearly investor meeting. However, this vote is not binding and it is retrospective. Investors are given a separate vote on a companys remuneration policy which sets out its proposals on how it will reward its top brass in the future. This vote is binding but only happens every three years. Some protests have already attracted publicity, including the row over the 47million paid last year to Jeff Fairburn, chief executive of builder Persimmon and more than 42million to Simon Peckham, boss of corporate raider Melrose. Others slipped by with less notice, including rewards at gambling giant GVC Group, which were slammed as excessive and exceptionally disproportionate by advisory firm Glass Lewis. The 18million paid to chief executive Kenneth Alexander this year provoked a substantial protest, with nearly 44 per cent voting against the pay report. Another unnoticed revolt was at British American Tobacco where almost a quarter of shareholders rejected the 11.4million pay and bonus package handed to departing boss Nicandro Durante, 62, for 2017. Lloyds Banking Group suffered a protest over Horta-Osorios 2017 pay, which was 6.4million 95 times what the average employee makes. The financier has made more than 45million in pay, bonuses and incentives since he took over at the bailed-out bank in 2011. Tory MP Robert Halfon said: All these pay levels are obscene. Its a gift to Jeremy Corbyns arguments about the excesses of capitalism and corporate greed. If Conservatives are to have some chance of getting a proper working majority again, we have got to deal with it. A dozen bosses were paid more than 10million in 2017 but not all suffered enough disapproval from shareholders to place them on the list of shame because most investors deemed them to have done a good enough job. They include Rob Perrins, 53, boss of Berkeley Homes, who made nearly 28m, and Jeremy Darroch, 56, of Sky, who took home more than 16m. A married couple and civil partners can pass assets to each other free of inheritance tax on death and effectively double up their tax-free allowance. But that benefit does not exist for siblings who live together, meaning that some feel forced out of their home if its value is above the inheritance tax threshold. New rules allow opposite sex couples to have a civil partnership, but siblings cannot do this. So what happens next? Here, Jacqueline Thomson, a senior manager at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP, answers the key questions on this tricky topic. Complex: Knowing how inheritance tax works for cohabiting siblings is difficult What is the problem? There are considerable tax advantages given to married couples or those in a civil partnership. This includes large inheritance tax allowances and exemptions during lifetime and on death in particular, complete exemption on the value of an estate which passes to a surviving spouse or civil partner (although this exemption is restricted to 325,000 for couples transferring estate from a UK-domiciled individual to a non-UK domiciled partner). These exemptions do not apply to long-term cohabiting siblings. In their situation the lack of IHT allowances and exemptions has led to considerable difficulties in meeting inheritance bills on the death of one sibling, largely due to increases in the value of their home over many years. Hasnt this been the case for a long time? Yes, the issue was highlighted over 10 years ago when sisters Joyce and Sybil Burden complained to the European Court of Human Rights that the difference between the treatment of spouses or civil partners and siblings was discriminatory. However, because you do not sign a legally binding document as siblings, in 2008 the ECHR ruled that there was no discrimination as a siblings relationship is fundamentally different to a married or civil partnership couple. Have any attempts been made to resolve the problem? The House of Lords was in favour of including sibling couples when the UK introduced civil partnerships in 2004, but this was rejected by the House of Commons. All change: A government Bill could pave the way for new rules on cohabiting siblings and inheritance tax Currently, a Bill seeking to include sibling couples who have cohabited for 12 years in civil partnerships received its second reading in the House of Lords in July, and is awaiting examination at Committee stage. Does everyone agree that extending civil partnerships for siblings is the answer? No. Both sides in the House of Lords sympathise with those affected, but the sibling relationship is not one of choice and cannot be ended. There is also concern that allowing siblings to have civil partnerships could lead to abuse and coercion. For example, if one sibling wants to move out, and is coerced to stay to benefit from the perks of a civil partnership. Questions have also been raised about potential unfairness to other relationships and the position for multiple siblings, as marriage and civil partnerships are strictly limited to two partners. What next? Any method of alleviating the problem would entail a cost, which would add to the cost of extending civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples. As finances will also be stretched to meet the commitments to increase NHS funding and provide a reserve for Brexit uncertainties, this issue will join a list of other pressing matters that are competing for government resources. During the second reading of the current Bill, Baroness Williams of Trafford, Minister for Equalities, echoed the argument that the sibling relationship is of a different nature to marriage and civil partnerships. She was not convinced that altering civil partnerships was the solution. Following his Golden Man Booker Prize win for 'The English Patient', published in 1992, Michael Ondaatje has also been named in the Man Booker Prize 2018 long list for his seventh novel 'Warlight'. The Booker Prize 2018 longlist, that features four debut novels and four authors under the age of 30, also includes cartoonist Nick Drnasos 'Sabrina', becoming the first graphic novel to be selected. Of the 13 authors included on the Man Booker long list 2018, six are from the UK, three from the US and two each from Ireland and Canada respectively. In addition to this, seven of those in the longlist are female. Heres everything you need to know about the Man Booker Prize, the 2018 longlist and when the award will be announced. Michael Ondaatje, Golden Man Booker Prize winner, has also been longlisted for Warlight What is the Man Booker Prize? The Man Booker Prize, which launched in 1969, is a literary prize that promotes the best in fiction, and awards the best English language novel published in the UK of the year, according to the official website. Ion Trewin, the former Literary Director of the Booker Prize Foundation from 2006 until his death in 2015, said that from the start, there was just one criterion - the prize would be for the best novel in the opinion of the judges. And 45 years later that is still a key sentence in the rules, he said in 2013. Just what youve been waiting for its the #ManBooker50 song! Can you name all the Man Booker Prize winners in less than a minute? Well @amateuradam can... Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/j20nZPNyQs The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) July 18, 2018 He continued: It is a measure of the quality of the original drafting that the main ambitions of the prize have not changed. The aim was to increase the reading of quality fiction and to attract the intelligent general audience. Our judges are not confined to any in-group of literary critics, authors and academics, but over the years have included poets, politicians, journalists, broadcasters and actors. This common man approach to the selection of Man Booker juries is, I believe, one of the key reasons why the intelligent general audience trusts the prize, Trewin said. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is awarded with 50,000 and all shortlisted authors will also receive a cheque for 2,500 along with a designer bound copy of their book. 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the Prize and a celebration was held at the Southbank Centre in London in July. We are pleased to announce our #ManBooker2018 longlist! Watch what our judges had to say and read more here: https://t.co/Cuh2QfU0hn #FinestFiction pic.twitter.com/mLQVDppTH9 The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) July 23, 2018 Man Booker longlist 2018 The Man Booker longlist for the 2018 prize has been announced and 13 authors are in the running for the top award. The selected novels include debuts from Robin Robertson, Sophie Mackintosh, Guy Gunaratne and Daisy Johnson, the latter tying with Sally Rooney as the youngest on the list. In addition to this, US author Nick Drnasos 'Sabrina' has impressed the jury and has become the first ever graphic novel to enter the long list, riffing on the subject of violence and fake news. Heres the full list of those long listed for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. Belinda Bauer (UK) - Snap (Bantam Press) Dubbed by many as the best crime novel theyve read in a long time, Belinda Bauers story follows three children who are left in their broken down car on a summer day by their mother, but she never returns. Booker judges said: An acute, stylish, intelligent novel about how we survive trauma. Expertly paced, Snap offers a beautiful evocation of the lives of children, and how they perceive and manage tragedy. Anna Burns (UK) - Milkman (Faber & Faber) Northern Irish author Anna Burns has been longlisted for her novel 'Milkman', which follows Burns being shortlisted for the Orange prize in 2002 for 'No Bones', which also depicted the ecosystem that emerged during the conflict of the Troubles. Booker judges said of the book: At the intersection of class, race, gender and sexual violence, it deals with oppression and power with a Beckettian sense of humour, offering a wholly original take on Ireland in the time of the Troubles through the mind of a young girl. At turns frightening and inspirational, Milkman is stylistically utterly distinctive. #ManBooker2018 judges on Anna Burns Milkmanpic.twitter.com/CAD8Z5wv8b Faber Books (@FaberBooks) July 24, 2018 Nick Drnaso (USA) - Sabrina (Granta Books) As the first ever graphic novel to be long listed for the Man Booker Prize, Drnaso was selected by judges who were captivated by his work about a woman who disappears and the 24 hours that follow. With illustrations, this artist presents a tale of violence and fake news conspiracy. Oblique, subtle, minimal, unmanipulative: the style of the pictures is the books worldview. Drnaso uses images to express an idea about whats invisible an idea about uncertainty, and the different kinds of holes that missing people leave in our lives, Booker judges said of 'Sabrina'. Nick Drnaso's 'Sabrina' has become the first graphic novel to be longlisted for the @ManBookerPrize. Read David Terrien's review of a story set in a 'world gone mad' that too closely resembles our own, from our summer issue: https://t.co/xi2CPtBIHm pic.twitter.com/ob28By2OQT ArtReview_ (@ArtReview_) July 24, 2018 Esi Edugyan (Canada) - Washington Black (Serpents Tail) Previous shortlister, Esi Edugyan is back in the Man Booker 2018 long list but this time for her novel, 'Washington Black', which is a stunning historical fiction piece about slavery, freedom and adventure. A dazzling exploration of race in the Atlantic world, which also manages to be a yarn and a chase story. It manages to keep you on the edge of your seat, while making you, as a reader, want to savour every moment, the judges said. Guy Gunaratne (UK) - In Our Mad And Furious City (Tinder Press) Guy Gunaratne makes his debut this year with his book, 'In Our Mad and Furious City', which presents a different perspective of the city of London and one that is rarely seen. The Prize judges referred to this novel as: An ambitious mosaic of virtuosic ventriloquism, Guy Gunaratnes book is an inner city novel for our times, exploring the endurance of social trauma across generations, and conveying the agony and energy of the marginalised, the outsider, and the oppressed. Daisy Johnson (UK) - Everything Under (Jonathan Cape) Another author making their debut in the 2018 long list, Daisy Johnson is also one of the youngest in the running for the Man Booker Prize. 'Everything Under' has been described as a fairy tale and tells the story of a lexicographers journey recollecting her childhood. A hypnotic, mythic, unexpected story from a beguiling new voice. Everything Under is an exploration of family, gender, the ways we understand each other and the hands we hold out to each other a story thats like the waterways at its heart. Rachel Kushner (USA) - The Mars Room (Jonathan Cape) Twice National Book Award nominee Rachel Kushner brings book lovers a noteworthy follow-up to 'The Flamethrowers' and depicts what it means to be poor and female in America, in her newest release 'The Mars Room'. A novel about gender, class and the absolute corruption of the American dream, The Mars Room explores the meaning of incarceration in our moment. It feels terrifyingly authentic, Booker said. We're over the moon to wake up to THREE wonderful titles on the #ManBooker2018 longlist - Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Rachel Kushner's The Mars Room and @djdaisyjohnson's Everything Under. If your ears have pricked up at these titles, here's a little guide to them pic.twitter.com/Oxu6NwP04X Vintage Books (@vintagebooks) July 24, 2018 Sophie Mackintosh (UK) - The Water Cure (Hamish Hamilton) Sophie Mackintoshs 'The Water Cure' tells the story about three sisters who are stranded on an island in a tale reminiscent of Shakespeares King Lear. Booker judges said: This chilling, beautifully written novel explores the ways in which extreme parental protection can fail, and unpicks patriarchy at its core, forcing us to ask what it means to survive, indeed whether it is possible to survive, in a mans world. Michael Ondaatje (Canada) - Warlight (Jonathan Cape) 2018 Golden Man Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje has caused controversy after also being longlisted for the Prize for another novel, 'Warlight'. The author of 'The English Patient' also plays with the theme of childhood and absent parents in his new book. Wonderfully atmospheric, beautifully paced, subtle storytelling. Warlight contains an incredible array of characters through whom Ondaatje tells the hidden, barely spoken, tale of war, especially as it impacts on children, the judges said. Richard Powers (USA) - The Overstory (William Heinemann) 'The Overstory' by Richard Powers tells the story of an air force loadmaster who is shot out of the sky into a banyan tree during the Vietnam War and this is just one of the many narratives that carry the follow up to 'The Echo Maker', which won the National Book award in 2006. An ecological epic, a novel of ideas, The Overstory begins with five apparently distinct narratives and then binds them into a compelling network of connections, the Booker judges said. Robin Robertson (UK) - The Long Take (Picador) Scottish poet Robin Robertsons 'The Long Take' is a novel in verse that follows a Canadian who has been recently demobilised after the war. A book about a man and a city in shock, its an extraordinary evocation of the debris and the ongoing destruction of war even in times of peace. Robin Robertson shows the flexibility a poet can bring to form and style. Sally Rooney (Ireland) - Normal People (Faber & Faber) Sally Rooneys second novel 'Normal People' has been long listed for a Man Booker Prize and also makes her one of two youngest authors on the list, at age 27. Her book has been described as a very intimate character study of two young people trying to figure out how to love each other, Normal People is written in compressed, composed, allusive prose that invites you read behind the lines. Donal Ryan (Ireland) - From a Low and Quiet Sea (Doubleday Ireland) 'From a Low and Quiet Sea' is divided into four parts, the first three of which include characters with very different stories. A deft, unshowy novel about manhood and momentous contingency, it evokes the way in which real lives unfold and wrap around each other. When is the Man Booker Prize announced? The shortlist of six books will be announced on September 20, 2018 and the winner of the 50,000 prize will be announced at a gala event on October 16. Australia's favourite retail brands are in danger of being 'wiped out within a decade' as multinationals Amazon and Aldi rapidly expand and undercut century-old, home-grown brands. Foreign giants are already crushing smaller retailers with 80-year-old leather goods maker Oroton and Australian fashion retailer Metalicus last year going bust. Even online retailers aren't immune from failure, with Billabong subsidiary SurfStitch going into voluntary administration. Australia's favourite retail brands could be 'wiped out within a decade' as multinational giants such as Amazon and Aldi (pictured) expand and undercut century-old, home-grown brands Foreign giants are already crushing smaller retailers with 80-year-old leather goods maker Oroton (Sydney store pictured) last year going bust Foreign retailers also appear to be struggling against the might of online shopping, with German women's fashion brand Espirit leaving Australia at the end of the year and American children's store Toys 'R' Us going bankrupt. Veteran entrepreneur Dick Smith, who made his fortune after starting an electronics chain in his 20s, said Amazon, which had turned its American multi-billionaire founder Jeff Bezos into the world's richest man, and German supermarket giant Aldi were likely to force the closure of Australian retail giants Coles and Woolworths and department stores. 'It's extreme capitalism,' the 74-year-old millionaire businessman told Daily Mail Australia. 'As you get to the limits of growth, which we're getting to, you have to be more and more ruthless. 'In the end, we'll end up with two businesses in each field; there will be two retailers in the world. They have to take each other over to grow.' Fashion brand Metalicus also went into voluntary administration last year Even online retailers aren't immune from failure, with Billabong subsidiary SurfStitch going into voluntary administration Under Mr Smith's doomsday scenario of Aldi and Amazon taking over, prices would come down as two foreign behemoths reduced consumer choice and operated with fewer workers and more robots. 'For the first time ever, virtually all of this wealth will go to the northern hemisphere,' he said. 'What I predict is less and less small business, a lesser number of large business and basically nothing will be owned in Australia - 10 to 15 years.' Woolworths was still Australia's biggest supermarket chain in 2017 with a 32.2 per cent market share, putting it ahead of Coles on 28.8 per cent, Roy Morgan market research showed. Aldi, which came to Australia in 2001, was a distant third with a 12.1 per cent share, but its share grew by 0.8 percentage points over the year. Veteran entrepreneur Dick Smith, who made his fortune after starting an electronics chain in his 20s, said Amazon and Aldi were likely to kill Australian retail giants Coles and Woolworths Its home-grown rivals, however, had a big head start with Coles opening its first store in at Collingwood in Melbourne in 1914 while Woolworths debuted a decade later in Sydney's Imperial Arcade in the city. Established department stores are struggling with customers increasingly shopping online, with Myer reporting a half-year loss of $476million early this year, following poorer sales in the second half of 2017. Amazon is yet to establish a firm foot hold in Australia, and made an $8.9million loss in calendar 2017 as it set up in Australia. However, Mr Smith feared the local version of amazon.com.au would eventually turn a profit and wipe out Australia's existing retail chains, which would put at risk the jobs of 200,000 who collectively work at Coles and Woolworths. Under Mr Smith's doomsday scenario of Aldi and Amazon (warehouse at Dandenong in Melbourne's east pictured) taking over, prices would come down as choice went down CMC Markets Stockbroking chief markets strategist Michael McCarthy said Mr Smith's forecasts were far-fetched. 'This sort of comment reminds me of people who said that video would destroy cinema,' he said. 'It did bring changes and cinema was reduced but it still has a role to play because people still seek that experience.' Mr McCarthy, who has been a stockbroker for 35 years, said smaller retailers offered the kind of service that larger, multinational chains couldn't. 'When somebody's got a problem or they need to talk to somebody, they can, and they want to know that there are people involved in the business,' he said. 'The idea that Amazon's going to roll over everybody is a commonly expressed view but one that's not really based in reality.' CMC Markets Stockbroking chief markets strategist Michael McCarthy said it was unrealistic to expect Aldi to kill off Australian retailers (Coles supermarket in Canberra pictured) Mr Smith pointed out that Aldi employed far fewer people than traditional supermarket rivals Coles and Woolworths, which spent eight per cent of their revenue on labour. 'Their formula is quite simple: four per cent of their income is spent on labour,' he said. 'They've worked out a way of doing something with half the number of Australians employed. 'Amazon will have a quarter as many as JB Hi-Fi or something like that.' Mr Smith said Australian family-owned retail businesses were now being forced to sell their goods through Amazon at dramatically reduced margins to survive. Coles opened its first store in Melbourne in 1914 while Woolworths debuted a decade later in Sydney - well before Aldi came to Australia in 2001 'What's happening, which I couldn't believe, wonderful Australian businesses they now sell through Amazon and they lose 20 per cent of their income. 'Now I know Australian family businesses who have imported, say toys, and sold for over 50 years are now selling through Amazon and losing 20 per cent of their margin. 'And why I asked them, 'Why are you selling through Amazon?'. They said, 'Dick, Amazon is cheaper so they don't come directly to our website, they go to Amazon.' Mr Smith said the law would need to change to protect Australian retail businesses. He advocated a legal minimum staffing level, similar to airline cabin crew ratios, so larger retailers had to spend eight per cent of their revenue on labour, as Coles and Woolworths do now. Mr Smith said Aldi employed far fewer people than traditional supermarket rivals Coles (supermarket pictured) and Woolworths, which spent 8 per cent of their revenue on labour Coles, which is demerging from its parent company Wesfarmers, announced this week it would copy its rival Woolworths and roll out an automated distribution centre. Two of them are being built during the next five years, which would see $150million spent on redundancies as robots replaced humans. Perhaps Australia's supermarket rivals will just have to slash costs to survive against the onslaught of more innovative, foreign competition. 'Disruption is the story of economies. This is the way economics evolve over time,' Mr McCarthy said. 'There's always room for innovation, they'll always be niche players in any market and the idea that small retail will be wiped out is absurd.' Outside of the free market, the Foreign Investment Review Board has the power to block foreign takeovers of Australian companies. A journalist has filed suit against a film company over the 'unauthorized' use of tapes featuring her interviews with Gilda Radner, according to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com. Hillary Johnson is fighting Magnolia Pictures to be compensated and credited in the recently released documentary about the late comedienne, Love, Gilda. Johnson sat down with Radner in 1987 to conduct interviews with the former Saturday Night Live star, who died two years later of ovarian cancer, in effort to help her write her autobiography, It's Always Something. Over a period of five months, Radner had opened up to Johnson about her life, career and battle with ovarian cancer, all between Radner's chemotherapy sessions. The writer claims that Lisa D'Apolito, the documentary's director, reached out after finding the interview tapes in Radner's brother's attic and asked to interview her. When Johnson asked to be compensated for her work, she never heard from D'Apolito again and later discovered her tapes were an 'undeniable contribution' to the film, which premiered on September 21, according to court papers. Journalist Hillary Johnson is fighting Magnolia Pictures to be compensated and credited in the recently released documentary about Gilda Radner (pictured in 1980) Johnson (left) sat down with Radner in 1987 to conduct interviews with the former Saturday Night Live star in effort to help her write her autobiography, It's Always Something. When Johnson asked Magnolia Pictures to be compensated for her work, she claims she never heard back. Pictured right: Audio tapes of Radner seen in the documentary's trailer Johnson filed suit in New York on Friday and is suing on the grounds of copyright infringement, wanting to be compensated and credited in the film. Radner was the first comic cast for the new show Saturday Night Live in 1975, also co-writing most of her sketches. She quickly became a standout performer on the show and was a permanent cast member until her departure in 1980. Radner went on to do movies, meeting her second husband actor Gene Wilder on the set of Hanky Panky in the early 1980s. They married in 1984. The writer claims Lisa D'Apaolito, the director, reached out after finding the interview tapes in Radner's brother's attic and asked to interview her After her wedding, Radner experienced extreme fatigue and pains in her legs for the next year, bouncing from doctor to doctor in a desperate attempt to figure out what was ailing her. Finally, in October of 1986, Radner was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. It was in the midst of her cancer battle that Radner decided to write her life's story, enlisting the help of Johnson to interview her in 1987. In an obituary for Rolling Stone about Radner, Johnson wrote: 'Gilda decided to talk her book before she wrote it; my role was to help her stay on track, to ask relevant questions. 'She liked perhaps required an audience. And so she manned the tape recorder, deftly unraveling her story between chemotherapy sessions, which terrified her for days in advance and leveled her for days afterward. 'When the meetings began, it was spring 1987. Gilda already had endured a hysterectomy and the removal of a tumor so advanced it had spread from her ovary to the surface of her liver, as well as six of nine ''chemos,'' as she called them. 'When she began her story, she was still searching for that purpose with the nearly compulsive energy she turned on everything about which she cared.' Johnson adds in her article: 'She yearned to share this story all of it including its occasional utter silliness, its crush of ironies, its humiliations, its razor-sharp pain.' 'The meetings ended on the upbeat in the fall of 1987,' writes Johnson. 'Her pathologist found microscopic cancer on the second look, Gilda had finished the courses of drugs and radiation, and by her manner she gave every evidence of surviving the disease.' In October of 1986, Radner was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. She died May 20, 1989 at the age of 42. Pictured: The funny woman in the midst of her cancer treatment Radner was the first person cast for Saturday Night Live in 1975. She was a standout performer on the show until her departure in 1980. Pictured: Radner as her beloved character Rosanne Roseannadanna during the 'Weekend Update' skit in 1979 Johnson continues: 'One year later, she called. There was more to tell before she could write her final chapter. 'The bad news was the fact that her cancer had recurred in the spring of that year. Even worse, the discovery was delayed by a medical computer that had misread a crucial blood test. 'She recalled sitting in his office as he explained the new developments to his West Coast corollary over the phone. Gilda could hear her former doctor's response emanating all the way from L.A. It was a dismayed, helpless, ''Oh, s***.'' 'She moved slowly, she seemed unable to stand completely straight. Sometimes, she held her stomach. Her feistiness was gone; the fatigue was back. Her voice seemed smaller. 'Still, as always, she had organized her material thoughtfully in a small notebook, and she presented it powerfully over a two-day stretch, stopping only for lunches of homemade soup and sandwiches... dishearteningly, Gilda was back to eating almost nothing. 'Eventually, Gilda was losing a pound a day, and Gene had had enough. By the time he was able to persuade his wife to consult with a real doctor once again, she weighed ninety-five pounds.' Johnson says that the tapes she recorded with Radner were primarily used by the funny woman for when she wrote her autobiography It's Always Something. Johnson wrote that Radner was sitting at her doctor's office when she could 'her former doctor's response emanating all the way from L.A. It was a dismayed, helpless, ''Oh, s***'', after learning her ovarian cancer had returned Radner had also kept a journal of her cancer battle and life reflections during this time, Johnson notes. Johnson says in court papers: 'In or about the fall of 2016, the Producer of Love, Gilda, Lisa D'Apolito, contacted [Johnson] to say she had come across the Taped Interviews in Radner's brother's attic. 'D'Apolito was very excited about them and wanted to do an interview with [Johnson]. '[Johnson] asked for a modest sum of money and told D'Apolito she would spend as much time with her as she needed, but [Johnson] never heard from D'Apolito or anyone else connected with Love, Gilda again. 'In or about August of 2018, [Johnson] saw a synopsis and trailer for Love, Gilda, released by [Magnolia Pictures] on the Internet. 'The synopsis and trailer made reference to ''recently rediscovered audiotapes'' that ''open up an unique window'' into Radner ''whose greatest role was sharing her story''. ' After leaving Saturday Night Live, Radner went on to do movies, meeting her second husband actor Gene Wilder (pictured together) on the set of Hanky Panky in the early 1980s. They married in 1984 The suit adds: 'Based on the synopsis and the trailer and the call from D'Apolito, it is evident that the recently discovered audio tapes were used in the film, and that the ''recently discovered audiotapes'' referenced in the synopsis and trailer for Love Gilda are [Johnson's] Taped interviews of Radner.' Johnson sent a letter to Magnolia Pictures on August 10, 2018, according to court documents. In the letter, she demanded appropriate credit in the documentary and to be 'fairly and reasonably compensated' for investing 'significant time and effort creating questions for the Taped Interviews and her creativity and skill as an interviewer'. Magnolia Pictures responded on September 4, 2018, refusing to provide credit or payment, the suit claims. Now Johnson is taking her fight to court to establish copyright ownership over the tapes, as well as seeking compensation and credit for the use of the tapes. She is pursuing damages, which an amount has yet to be determined, from Magnolia Pictures. Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang must practise 'Chinese-style Islam' to promote ethnic solidarity and religious harmony, a senior Chinese official has said in the troubled region, which is home to a large Muslim population. China's state-run Xinhua news agency on Saturday quoted You Quan, head of the ruling Communist Party's United Front Work Department, which oversees ethnic and religious affairs, as making the remarks on an official visit to Xinjiang last week. 'The Party's leadership over religious work must be upheld,' Mr You said, adding that 'the infiltration of religious extremism must be guarded against'. Muslims in Xinjiang must practise 'Chinese-style Islam' to promote ethnic solidarity and religious harmony, a senior Chinese official has said in the western region Residents walk past a statue showing Mao Zedong near billboards with the words for 'Welcome 19th Congress,' 'Patriotism' and 'Democracy' near a square in Kashgar in Xinjiang The process is also referred as 'sinicisation', which means means bringing people who are not of Han Chinese descent under the influence of Han Chinese culture, including dress code, religion, customs and language. Reports of mass detentions and strict surveillance of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang have provoked international criticism, prompting the United States to consider sanctions against officials and companies linked to allegations of human rights abuses. According to estimates cited by the UN, up to one million Uighurs may be held involuntarily in extra-legal detention on the 'pretext of countering terrorism'. China says Xinjiang faces a threat from Islamist militants and separatists and has rejected all accusations of mistreatment in an area where hundreds have been killed in recent years in unrest between Uighurs and members of the ethnic Han Chinese majority. Entrance to a jail which locals say is used to hold those undergoing political indoctrination program in Korla, Xinjiang. Local laws have now been revised to allow such establishments A Uighur man looks on as a truck carrying policemen travel along a street during an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally in Urumqi. The characters on the banner read, 'Willingness to spill blood for the people. Countering terrorism and fighting the enemies is part of the police spirit' Uyghur vendors trade Halal meat to costumers in the Tianshan District knows as the Uyghur district of Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China Last week, the government of Xinjiang had revised legislation to allow the detention of suspected extremists in such 'education and training centres' and launched a campaign against halal products to stop Islam penetrating secular life and fuelling 'extremism'. In a meeting on Monday, the Communist Party leaders of Urumqi led cadres to swear an oath to 'fight a decisive battle against "pan-halalisation",' which means extending halal labelling to non-food items to appeal to Muslim consumers. Xinhua said You expressed the hope 'that people in religious circles can inherit and carry forward the fine traditions to love the motherland and their faith, lead religious believers to follow the right faith and abide by the law and contribute to the healthy development of Islam'. You is a member of the influential secretariat of the party's central committee. A Pennsylvania man accused of killing his wife and tossing her body into Lake Erie faces a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole following his first-degree murder conviction. Christopher Leclair, who faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole, was also convicted Friday on other charges, including abuse of a corpse, evidence-tampering and false reports, after jurors deliberated for an hour and 40 minutes, the Erie Times-News reported . Prosecutors in Erie County said the Albion resident was having an affair and killed his 51-year-old wife, Karen, in the summer of 2017 because his girlfriend had given him an ultimatum to choose between her and his wife. Christopher Leclair, 49, left, was convicted on all charges for the shooting death of his wife, Karen, 51, on Lake Erie. He originally claimed that she took her own life Investigators said Leclair shot his wife Karen, 51, in the head, tied her to an anchor, then threw her body into Lake Erie from their fishing vessel the Doris-M Authorities said Leclair, who will be sentenced December 11, reported his wife missing in June 2017, but dock surveillance images showed the two leaving and him returning alone, and he went out on the lake the next day and put out a distress call saying she had apparently fallen overboard. Her body was found in July a few miles from Dunkirk, New York, which is about 50 miles northeast of Erie. Authorities say she had been shot in the head, tied up and she had an anchor attached to her body. Karen will killed in the summer of 2017 because Leclair was having an affair and his girlfriend had given him an ultimatum to choose between her and his wife Defense attorney Bruce Sandmeyer argued Friday that Karen Leclair killed herself because she was upset that her husband had been cheating on her. 'This was a period of time where Karen Leclair had had enough,' Sandmeyer said. The defense conceded that Leclair tied his wife's body to the anchor and dropped her into the lake, but Sandmeyer argued that his client dumped the body because he didn't want anyone to know that his actions had caused his wife to take her own life. First Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz called that contention 'nonsense' in her closing argument. The story was 'another desperate lie by the defendant, which was completely inconsistent with any of the evidence that we had,' Hirz said after the verdict. Dawn Leombruno, Karen Leclair's niece, said after the verdict that it was difficult to hear stories about Leclair's treatment of his wife, who she said 'would do anything for anybody.' 'It doesn't bring her back, but at least we know she's getting justice now,' said Leombruno, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been freed after 50 days in jail for organising anti-Kremlin protests. Authorities have turned up the heat on Vladimir Putins chief critic since the presidents ratings tumbled over unpopular pension reforms. Mr Navalny, 42, served back-to-back sentences for his opposition to plans to raise the eligibility age for state pensions, which is now law. Outside a detention centre in Moscow yesterday, he said: I think over the 50 days which I spent here, we saw a lot of evidence this regime is in complete decline. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (pictured) has been freed after 50 days in jail An Australian man has made an impassioned plea for Al Qaeda militants to release his elderly father. Ken Elliott, 83, was kidnapped in the West African nation of Burkina Faso in January 2016, alongside his wife Jocelyn. She was released to journalists three weeks later at a news conference in Niger. Speaking via a Facebook video, his son, David Elliott, from Perth, pleaded for an update on his father's health, which is said to be deteriorating, before declaring Mr Elliot is 'an old man in his last years'. Mr Elliott is 'an old man in his last years' - his wife Jocelyn pleads with Al Qaeda militants to release her husband Dr Ken Elliott (pictured) was kidnapped by Al Qaeda militants in Burkina Faso in January of 2016 - his exact whereabouts remain unknown David Elliott (pictured) is pleading with Al Qaeda militants to release his 83-year-old, after he was kidnapped in 2016 Jocelyn and Ken Elliott (pictured) before they were kidnapped in January of 2016 - Jocelyn was released three weeks later in Niger 'I put to you this question: Doesn't he deserve your generosity?' Mr Elliott said via messaging app Telegram. 'It is a long time since we have had any news about the health of my father. He's an old man and we are very worried. 'We would like to communicate with you about his health. We appreciate that it may be difficult for you to communicate with us, so we have created a Telegram account.' Dr Elliott and his wife, Jocelyn, were abducted in the city of Djibo, where they ran a 120-bed charitable hospital for more than 40 years. Mr Elliott was seen alive in a video issued by Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, who are aligned to al-Qa'ida, more than a year ago. The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed they are working hard behind the scenes to free Dr Elliott. Before he was kidnapped, Dr Ken Elliott (pictured) was running a charitable hospital in the city of Djibo The exact whereabouts of Dr Ken Elliott (pictured) remains unknown after he was kidnapped by militants in 2016 Jocelyn Elliott (left) chatting with Burkina Faso's president Roch Christian Kobore after her release in 2016 'Dr Elliott's case remains a high priority for the Australian government and we continue to work with the family and with others to secure his release,' a DFAT spokesman said. The Elliott's were kidnapped on the same day jihadists targeted a hotel in the Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, killing 30 people. The Australian government has a firm policy that does not permit the country to pay ransoms for citizens abducted abroad. Images have been released in a bid to find the thug who punched a man in the head during an unprovoked AFL Grand Final Day attack. Police have been told the victim, a 56-year-old Collingwood man, was in a lift at a Hoddle Street apartment block in Collingwood just before 8am on September 29 when three men got in. One of the men then suddenly punched the victim in the head, leaving him with multiple facial injuries including swelling and bruising. A 28-year-old-man, wearing the grey hat in the footage, was arrested on Monday after the CCTV footage was made public, and is helping police with their inquires. Scroll down for video Images have been released in a bid to find the thug who punched a man in the head during an unprovoked AFL Grand Final Day attack Police have been told the victim, a 56-year-old Collingwood man, was in a lift at a Hoddle Street apartment block in Collingwood just before 8am on September 29 when three men got in Police are still searching for the other two men. The accused offender is described as Caucasian, approximately 30-years-old, 170cm tall with short dark hair and facial hair. He was wearing a dark top and pants and blue Nike runners. Police have released images and CCTV of three men who may be able to assist with their inquiries. One of the men, seen wearing a grey baseball cap, has been arrested and is being interviewed by police. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Inactive Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier walked onto the field at Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday for the first time since he was carted off of it following a horrific spinal injury last December. The 26-year-old Shazier signed autographs for Steelers and rival Bengals fans ahead of Pittsburgh's 28-21 road win a day after visiting the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was initially treated last year. At the time, doctors feared he may never walk again, although he has been for several months now. Shazier shared a photo of the night he was taken off the field with these words on Twitter: 'It's been a long journey, but this is still a ways to go. But it all started here in Cincinnati. Today was an amazing day I was so thankful to be able to tell everyone thank you. #Shalieve' Even Bengals players, such as quarterback Andy Dalton, shared hugs with Shazier, who was also involved in the Steelers' team huddle prior to the game. (Left) Ryan Shazier signs autographs before quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (near right) and the Steelers pulled out a 28-21 win over the Bengals in Cincinnati Shazier was left motionless on the field after an awkward collision during a Week 13 game in Cincinnati last season. He was rushed to a nearby hospital before returning to Pittsburgh, where he underwent spinal stabilization surgery. Now 26, Shazier still hopes to play again Shazier suffered the injury while tackling Bengals receiver Josh Malone in the legs. The Ohio State product then fell to the ground and grabbed the middle of his back before lying motionless from the waist down on the field. In the days that followed he was brought back to Pittsburgh where he underwent spinal stabilization surgery. After that, Shazier spent weeks in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Rehabilitation Institute. And after his discharge on February 1, he entered an outpatient therapy program. Shazier is on the Steelers' physically unable to perform list and will not play this season, but he has continued to be a spectator at practices and games. In June Shazier explained that he hopes to return to the NFL and play again. 'My dream is to come back and play football again,' Shazier said. 'I've been working my tail off every single day, so I have that in the back of my mind every single time I go to rehab. I just try to stay positive every day, so I'm just trying to do everything I can to get back.' Although they're rivals on the field, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and Shazier enjoyed a quick hug before Sunday's game 'They feel like I'm doing a lot better than they expected,' Shazier says of medical professionals tracking his progress now. 'One of the things I'm looking forward to doing is I just want to be able to start walking a little bit more by myself without using a cane,' Shazier said of his immediate goals. 'And if that's camp, I'm happy for it. If it's the regular season, I'll be happy for it.' His football career is an uncertainty, but Shazier has said he plans to get back on the field. In one of the moving moments from the 2018 NFL Draft, Shazier, who has been wheelchair bound but able to stand on his own power recently, walked across the stage with his fiancee to announce Pittsburgh's first-round pick. Shazier was first ruled out for the 2018 season by general manager Kevin Colbert in February. The team made it official by placing him on the physically unable to perform list in early May. Shazier encourages his teammates during warmups ahead of Sunday's game in Cincinnati Shazier has received tremendous support during his recovery. In addition to teammates, such as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (near left), the former Ohio State star also received a standing ovation at a Pittsburgh Penguins game last year (right) and at the NFL Draft Its been a long journey, but this is still a ways to go. But it all started here in Cincinnati. Today was an amazing day I was so thankful to be able to tell everyone thank you. #Shalieve pic.twitter.com/wItKXNp5ya Ryan Shazier (@RyanShazier) October 14, 2018 A taxidermist has recalled the terrifying moment he was thrown to the ground and attacked by a 800kg 'monster' buffalo. Danny Vanbrugh was visiting Northern Territory with his son and his son's friend on a hunting expedition a fortnight ago when they came across a buffalo, which fled into bush after they shot it. The trio followed his tracks before the hunted beast became the hunter. '10 operations and more to go. Feeling a lot better,' Danny Vanbrugh posted on Facebook on Saturday, two weeks after a near-death ordeal with a buffalo 'He charged at me from the side and threw me onto the ground,' Mr Vanbrugh told Daily Mail Australia from his hospital bed. 'It charged at me a second time, where it grabbed me by the horn, spun me around and flipped me into the air with its nose. That's when I managed to escape and started running towards the car. I yelled at my mate's son to shoot it.' He admits he was lucky to survive the attack, where his right bicep was ripped open with the bull's horn. 'I've done this before so I had the mindset to not panic,' Mr Vanbrugh said. 'I wasn't worried about myself, I was more worried it would charge at the boys.' Despite Mr Vanbrugh's injuries, this buffalo (pictured) came off second best The Queenslander says he 'not too bad', despite spending more than two weeks recovering in Royal Darwin Hospital. He's yet to be told by doctors when he'll be allowed to go home. 'I've had 10 operations already and am going in for another tomorrow (Tuesday) to reconstruct my arm,' Mr Vanbrugh told Daily Mail Australia. 'I also suffered a bruised kidney, collapsed lung, bruised back and suspected spinal fractures.' Mr Vanbrugh wouldn't reveal the location of the attack in fear buffaloes will be culled, which he described as 'a beautiful animal.' Danny Vanbrugh (pictured) has been a taxidermist for more than 30 years It's the closest to death he's been in 30 years as a taxidermist, which hasn't put him off hunting. 'I've had a few close calls but nothing like this,' Mr Vanbrugh said. 'It's the first time I've been attacked. I can't wait to get out of hospital and start hunting again. It's what I do. That's why I was up here in the Northern Territory- to do some demonstrations and show some hunters a few things.' 'I can't wait to get out of hospital and start hunting again. It's what I do,' Mr Vanbrugh told Daily Mail Australia He has kept the buffalo's horn, which he'll mount on the wall at home as a memento of his victory against the massive beast. 'It's a memory of the day, that's for sure,' Mr Vanbrugh told Daily Mail Australia. 'But it won't bring back any nightmares.' The Queensland taxidermist had been in the Northern Territory to do some demonstrations Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Coalition has edged closer to Labor in the polls ahead of a crucial by-election in his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull's old seat. A Newspoll released on Monday showed the government recovering for the second consecutive poll to trail the Opposition 53 to 47 per cent after preferences. While the Liberal and National parties would still lose a general election held now, it's a better result than late August and early September, when Labor had a 56 to 44 per cent lead over the government. Prime Minister Scott Morrison's (pictured) Coalition has edged closer to Labor in the polls ahead of a crucial by-election in his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull's old seat A Newspoll released on Monday showed the government trailing Labor (Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pictured with Chisholm electorate candidate Jennifer Yang) 53 to 47 per cent The Liberal Party's primary vote had also risen one percentage point to 37 per cent, as Labor's fell by the same margin to 38 per cent. The news about Mr Morrison closing the gap came five days ahead of the Wentworth October 20 by-election in Mr Turnbull's former electorate in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs. The news there wasn't so good for the government with separate poll showing Liberal candidate Dave Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, struggling against high-profile independent Dr Kerryn Phelps, a former Australian Medical Association president and same-sex marriage campaigner. The Voter Choice Project online poll showed Dr Phelps would win the Wentworth by-election against Mr Sharma, 55.4 per cent to 44.6 per cent, after preferences. A Newspoll released on Monday showed the government (Scott Morrison pictured with Wentworth Liberal by-election candidate Dave Sharma) trailing Labor 53 to 47 per cent A Voter Choice Project online poll showed independent Kerryn Phelps (pictured) would win the Wentworth by-election against Liberal Dave Sharma, 55.4 per cent to 44.6 per cent Her primary vote of 23.5 per cent was well behind Mr Sharma's 38.8 per cent but were she to finish second on first preferences, ahead of Labor, she could get elected with the preferences of the other candidates in a crowded 16-field race. The bad result for Mr Sharma came after Malcolm Turnbull's son Alex Turnbull released a Facebook video calling on Wentworth voters to avoid supporting the Liberal Party. A win for Dr Phelps would also deprive the Morrison Government of its one-seat majority, which would force it to negotiate with independent Cathy McGowan, maverick Katter's Australian Party leader Bob Katter and Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie to pass legislation. The seat of Wentworth has only ever been held by the conservative side of politics since it was created at Federation in 1901 and Mr Turnbull held it with a 17.7 per cent margin, after preferences, at the 2016 election. The bad result for Mr Sharma came after Malcolm Turnbull's son Alex Turnbull released a Facebook video calling on Wentworth voters to avoid supporting the Liberal Party In September 2015, the Coalition gained a spike in voter support, to prevail over Labor 51 to 49 per cent after preferences, a week after Mr Turnbull overthrew first-term Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott in a leadership coup. That support, however, evaporated with Mr Turnbull's authority eroding after he had used Mr Abbott's 30 consecutive Newspoll losses to justify challenging him. Mr Turnbull resigned as prime minister on August 24 after his 38 Newspoll losses in a row gave Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton the impetus to launch two leadership challenges in three days. Mr Morrison, who beat Mr Dutton 45 votes to 40 in a subsequent Liberal Party leadership ballot, has presided over the Coalition's 42nd consecutive Newspoll loss. He did, however, have an edge over Mr Shorten in the preferred prime minister measure, leading him 45 to 34 per cent. 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 If you think mutant soldiers with unstoppable physical and mental powers sound like nothing more than science fiction, you may be in for a shock. A chilling Government report today warns that the breeding of genetically-modified troops could be a reality within a generation. The creation of bionic soldiers would allow countries to increase their military capability and improve performance of fighting forces. Within 30 years, mutant soldiers could be able to lift huge weights and run at high speeds over extreme distances, the report by the Ministry of Defences think-tank says. They could also have infra-red night vision and be capable of transmitting their thoughts through electronically-aided telepathy. It is believed mutant soldiers could revolutionise the world's battlefields within the next 30 years in a manner similar to those portrayed in 1992 film 'Universal Soldier' (pictured) There are concerns that states which are willing to exploit emerging human enhancement technologies in defiance of the international community would have an upper hand on the battlefield. The report states that gene-editing, bionic limbs, brain-boosting adaptations and performance-enhancing drugs will offer profound expansion of the boundaries of human performance. It adds: An actors willingness and appetite to exploit these technologies may confer a competitive advantage over an adversary. The report warns laws must be introduced and moral and ethical considerations taken into account before mutant armies are created. The report, called Global Strategic Trends: The Future Starts Today, is published today by the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre think-tank. It looks at global threats and identifies issues which need to be addressed. One such issue is the prospect of violent protests by people whose jobs are taken by robots. Among the features which could be enhanced on the so-called 'mutant soldiers' are bionic limbs and brain adaptations. Pictured: 2014 film Robocop showcased many of the innovations predicted to be featured in future years The report warns of the risk of societal upheaval and possibly violent protest by the disadvantaged. The need for better regulation of social media is also highlighted by the report. It says misinformation spread online could be polarising populations, eroding trust in institutions, creating uncertainty, and fuelling grievances. Defence secretary Gavin Williamson said yesterday: We are living in a world becoming rapidly more dangerous, with intensifying challenges from state aggressors who flout the rules, terrorists who want to harm our way of life and the technological race with our adversaries. The late Professor Stephen Hawking suggested that genetic engineering is likely to lead to the destruction of the rest of humanity. The theoretical physicist, who died in March, said: Once superhumans appear, there will be significant political problems with unimproved humans, who wont be able to compete. Presumably, they will die out, or become unimportant. Battle of the Bulge! 1 in 10 of armed forces obese Nearly one in ten British troops are clinically obese, Freedom of Information figures show. In July, there were 8,662 obese soldiers in the Army, 4,666 in the Royal Navy and 4,274 in the RAF the highest ever recorded. The Ministry of Defence is being accused of retaining unfit soldiers to plug the staffing gap. Colonel Richard Kemp, former Army commander in Afghanistan, told the Mail on Sunday: It is embarrassing to see troops in such poor physical condition wearing the uniform. They are only retained because of the manpower crisis. A report in April found the number of full-time troops was 8,200 short of the required level. The MoD said yesterday: Our personnel are required to pass our challenging fitness tests. A house sitter has been found dead with serious head injuries at the end of a trail of blood in the kitchen of the home he was meant to be looking after. The 33-year-old man's body was found at a home in Mount Gravatt in Brisbane, Queensland at about 9.30pm on Sunday night. The man's parents became concerned when he stopped responding to them, and urgently sent someone with keys to the home to go check up on him. Police were called to the home shortly after the grim discovery, 9 News reports. Police officers were alerted of the incident on Hoff Street where they found a trail of blood that led to the man found dead in the kitchen A Queensland police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they are not 100 per cent sure about the circumstances behind the head injury A Queensland police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they were not 100 per cent sure about the circumstances behind the head injury. Detectives remained on the scene on Monday morning and are treating the incident as a suspicious death investigation. The house has been cordoned off as forensic officers sweep for prints and search for evidence. Anyone that may have information concerning the death is being asked to contact police on 131 444 or provide information using an anonymous form. Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money will be ploughed into transforming the shopping area where Sergei Skripal and his daughter collapsed after being attacked with a deadly nerve agent. The Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, which was closed for 11 weeks after the novichok poisoning, will receive a 69million makeover with 6.1million coming from the taxpayer. The plans, unveiled after it was revealed the city has hired consultancy firm Heavenly to rebrand it, will focus on 'radically changing' the area. The shopping area where Sergei Skripal and his daughter collapsed will received a 69million makeover in an attempt to 'radically change' the area (stock picture) The Maltings shopping centre was closed for 11 weeks after the novichok poising of Sergei Skripal and Yulia (pictured) Market Walk, which links the park to the street outside Zizzi's restaurant (pictured) where the Skripal's were poisoned will become a covered arcade Shops will have new fronts, while Market Walk, which links the park to the street outside Zizzi's restaurant where Sergei, 67, and 33-year-old Yulia ate on March 4, will become a covered arcade. A hotel, a gym, two restaurants and a seven-screen cinema will be added to the area, says Wiltshire council. Councillor Pauline Church said: 'Salisbury is now world-renowned and perhaps not for the reason we would want it to be.' Ms Church, cabinet member for economic development and Salisbury recovery, also added: 'We're delighted to be working with partners on a new approach to the redevelopment of The Maltings, in Salisbury. 'As a prime city centre location, The Maltings redevelopment is a vital site in the regeneration and economic growth for Salisbury. 'The new scheme is designed to attract new businesses and visitors into the city. 'The first phase of this regeneration project will include the library, public realm around the existing shops, and opening up of the Market Walk. 'We are aiming to submit an application for the first phase of the scheme by the end of the year. Delivery of the first phase will then take place over the following three years.' It comes as residents slammed the decision to draft in private consultancy firm Heavenly to 're-brand' the city after a second Novichok poisoning which killed mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45. Footfall in the city plummeted by 20 per cent after the first poisoning, then rose slightly before the second poisoning caused it to decline again. Typical tourist hotspots including Salisbury Cathedral and its famous 123-metre spire, The Salisbury Museum and the Playhouse theatre have all reported a decline in numbers. Donald Trump's economic adviser Larry Ludlow has questioned a recent report from the United Nations warning that the world needs to take action against climate change, suggesting numbers may have been exaggerated. The director of the White House National Economic Council suggested the advice that over the next 12 years we must change the way we approach global warming may not be as urgent as the UN says. During an interview with ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on This Week Ludlow made out that figures stating there could be irreversible consequences by 2040 were inflated. Donald Trump's economic adviser Larry Ludlow questioned a report from the UN warning that the world needs to take action against climate change 'We're always studying these things,' Kudlow said. 'The issue here though is magnitudes and timing. Personally, I think the UN study is way, way too difficult. I won't say it's a scare tactic but I think they overestimate.' Although he maintained he wasn't denying climate change existed, Ludlow hinted he thought it would be a while before humans should be worried. He explained that he thought the figures didn't hit on the extent of the exact threat posed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that there could be serious consequences by 2040 if we don't act to pointedly reduce carbon emissions in the Earth's atmosphere. With 91 scientists from around the world taking part, they suggested taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, something the US has been opposed to. 'George, I'm just saying, do we know precisely? And I mean, [is it] worth modeling things like how much of it is manmade, how much of it is solar, how much of it is oceanic, how much of it is rain forest and other issues?' Kudlow said. 'I think we're still exploring all of that. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders called the response 'so irresponsible, so dangerous' Republican Senator Jeff Flake said climate change needed to be acted upon now. He agreed we are 'going in the wrong direction' adding there are things we 'can do and should do' 'I don't think we should panic. I don't think there's a, you know, imminent catastrophe coming, but I think we should look at this in a level-headed and analytical way.' Commissioned for the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which Trump withdrew the country from, perhaps it's no surprise Ludlow took the approach he did against the findings. But his comments outraged Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who ran as a Democrat presidential candidate in 2016. He called the response to the October 7 report 'so irresponsible, so dangerous'. 'It's just hard to believe that a leading government official could make them,' Sanders said about Kudlow's words. 'We are in crisis mode and you have an administration that virtually does not even recognize the reality of climate change and their policies, [like] working with the fossil fuel industry, are making a bad situation worse.' Even Republican Senator Jeff Flake agreed that climate change was something that needed to be acted upon now. The 55-year-old from Arizona said 'I think so,' in response to Stephanopoulos' question of whether we are 'going in the wrong direction'. 'There's been more recognition among Republicans, [but] the administration hasn't taken the view of the some of us that this is something we really need to deal with,' Flake said on the show. 'I hope that we can move along with the rest of the world and, and address this. 'Obviously that report that came out is, is pretty dire, but there are things that we can do and should do, and I think Republicans need to be at the forefront if we want to keep ... our place and keep our seats.' All flour will be fortified with folic acid to prevent hundreds of babies being born with defects, it was reported last night. Downing Street is understood to have backed the measure following a long-running campaign by doctors and baby health campaigners. But critics warned the mass medication of bread without the populations consent was an invasion of their human rights. Defects also include anencephaly, in which the foetus develops without a major portion of its brain, skull and scalp, and dies in the womb or shortly after birth. Britain is believed to have the highest rate of neural tube defects in Europe [File photo] Ministers are expected to announce the policy in weeks after advisers reportedly convinced them it would reduce the risk of babies suffering so-called neural-tube defects such as spina bifida and other conditions that lead to severe disability or death. The move is a significant U-turn as ministers in successive governments have ignored repeated pleas on the issue. A key official said Theresa May, who was opposed, had been persuaded to change her mind, The Guardian reported. Every week, two women give birth to a child with a neural tube defect, often spina bifida, which means they will spend their lives in a wheelchair [File photo] Medical groups and health charities welcomed the decision to instruct flour makers to start adding folic acid to products. Kate Steele, of the charity Shine, which helps families affected by neural-tube defects, said: Mandatory fortification will be a game-changer. It will mean a major positive impact for the health and well-being of babies born in the future. In many cases, it will be the difference between life and death. Fortification is already used in more than 80 countries. In the US, there has been an estimated 23 per cent drop in neural-tube defects since the policy started in 1998. Taking enough folic acid in pregnancy is thought to cut the risk of a baby suffering a neural-tube defect by up to 70 per cent. Birth defects also include anencephaly, in which the foetus develops without a major portion of its brain, skull and scalp, and dies in the womb or shortly after birth. Britain is believed to have the highest rate of neural tube defects in Europe. It is estimated that two pregnant women a day in the UK have an abortion after doctors have identified the problem. All flour, above, will be fortified by folic acid. But critics warned the mass medication of bread without the populations consent was an invasion of their human rights [File photo] Every week, two women give birth to a child with a neural tube defect, often spina bifida, which means they will spend their lives in a wheelchair. Official advice is to take 400mg of folic acid a day for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. But many women fail to take enough. Dan Poulter, a former Tory health minister who is also an NHS doctor, welcomed fortification. He added that vested business interests had prevented it by claiming it would cost too much. Alison Tedstone, Public Health Englands chief nutritionist, said fortification was an effective and safe measure to reduce the number of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects. The Department of Health and Social Care said: Ministers are considering expert advice and will respond in due course. Jeremy Hunt invited comparisons to Brexit when he shared a picture of himself and his fellow EU foreign ministers in the middle of a hedge maze. Mr Hunt hosted eight EU counterparts at his Chevening country retreat where they discussed Brexit and the missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Posting a picture of the ministers, he tweeted: 'Challenged a few of my fellow ministers to navigate the Chevening maze in the rain... by comparison to which Brexit discussions seem more straightforward.' Representatives from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania spent the afternoon with Mr Hunt. Jeremy Hunt invited comparisons to Brexit when he shared a picture of himself and his fellow EU foreign ministers in the middle of a hedge maze Posting a picture of the ministers, he tweeted that discussions on Britain's departure from the EU 'seemed more straightforward' compared to navigating their way out of the maze Last year Boris Johnson took an impromptu boat trip with a foreign counterpart despite desperate pleas from his then-wife to stay on dry land for fear they would be drowned. During a walk around the estate the then- Foreign Secretary tried to encourage ministers from eight European allies to join him for a spin out in a rowing boat. After Mr Johnson pushed the vessel out on to the water, wife Marina Wheeler - whom he is now divorcing - tried to persuade him to head to the house with the delegation. Taking him by the arm, Ms Wheeler said: 'Come on, they have got a programme. We don't want to drown we are not drowning the foreign ministers, come on.' The timing of Sunday's gathering comes at a critical point in the Brexit process, with EU leaders set to meet on Wednesday to consider progress in the talks. It also comes ahead of meetings at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday where new chemical weapons sanctions will be formally adopted. Last year Boris Johnson took an impromptu boat trip with a foreign counterpart despite desperate pleas from his then-wife to stay on dry land for fear they would be drowned The EU is expected to adopt a new regime which will allow for asset freezes and travel bans to be imposed on individuals linked to chemical weapons use. It follows the Novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury which has been blamed on agents from Russia's GRU military intelligence service. Mr Hunt said: 'For years there has been an international taboo on the use of chemical weapons, but that is at risk now after Syria and Salisbury. 'We now need to redraw the red line that says that for anyone using these horrific weapons, the price will always be too high. 'These new sanctions are vital, but they are not the end of the story.' The GRU's activities in cyberspace have been highlighted by the UK and its allies in recent weeks, with Russian hackers blamed for attacks including an attempt to infiltrate the systems of the chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague. A Sydney University student newspaper has come under fire for publishing an article revealing secret ways to avoid paying train fares. The article titled 'State of Non-Compliance' was printed in the latest edition of Honi Soit a newspaper published at the university for almost 90 years and includes a full page instructional guide. 'No one should feel guilty about evading fares, especially those among us who have no other option. You're not going to harm the state's bottom line if you don't buy a ticket,' the authors, Liam Thorne and Liam Donohoe, who is also an editor at the paper, wrote. A Sydney University student newspaper has come under fire for publishing an article revealing secret ways to avoid paying train fares The newspaper has been published at the university (pictured) for almost 90 years The article titled 'State of Non-Compliance' was printed in the latest edition of Honi Soit a newspaper published at the university (pictured) 'The government estimates it loses $80 million each year to fare evasion, which is a fraction of the $1.2 billion it made from passenger services this year,' it continues. The article provides a list of strategies for avoiding fares, including moving through carriages to avoid transport officers. They also suggests joining Facebook groups that regularly post updates on the whereabouts of what they refer to as the 'natural enemy'. The article also describes how to distract bus drivers when boarding and how to bypass Opal card reader gates at stations. Transport Minister Andrew Constance has called the article 'outright stupidity', saying that those involved in the article should 'be spending more time on their studies and less time encouraging people to break the law.' A spokesperson for the University told The Daily Telegraph that the paper's editorial decisions were independent but it did not condone illegal behaviour. Among the article's more satirical advice such as to 'mime tapping your Opal, letting out a falsetto bing as you do so,' are more serious tips such as getting a friend to ask a bus driver about directions and sneaking behind them. The article also mentions that some Opal gates at train stations can be snuck through by jumping or forcing your way through the barriers and that bus drivers, when given a large note such as $50 will frequently let on passengers for free as they do not have change. Transport officers do not have the same powers of arrest as police, the authors write, and that they may not give chase if someone they are talking to simply runs away. The article also describes how to distract bus drivers when tapping on and how to bypass opal reader gates at stations Families of the 11 crew members who died when their World War II bomber was shot down in 1944, are celebrating the recovery of the aircraft from the Pacific Ocean. The crew members were onboard the B-24 bomber named Heaven Can Wait when it was shot down on March 11, 1944, by Japanese anti-aircraft fire while on a mission in Papua New Guinea and plunged into the sea. Earlier this year, the plane's wreckage was discovered by a team with Project Recover in 200 feet of water after more than 70 years. On Saturday, the families received closure during a ceremony in Minnesota. Families of the 11 crew members (pictured) who died when their World War II bomber was shot down in 1944, are celebrating the recovery of the aircraft from the Pacific Ocean The crew members were onboard the B-24 bomber named Heaven Can Wait (pictured) when it was shot down on March 11, 1944, by Japanese anti-aircraft fire while on a mission in Papua New Guinea and plunged into the sea Earlier this year, the plane's wreckage was discovered by a team with Project Recover in 200 feet of water after more than 70 years. On Saturday, the families (pictured) of the crew received closure during a ceremony in Minnesota Jim Emmer was born three years after his uncle, John Emmer, was reported missing when the aircraft was shot down. Emmer gathered with other families on Saturday at a high school to celebrate the recovery of the aircraft and to thank the individuals behind the search efforts. 'To see these people face to face and thank them for what they are doing and what they've done, it's beyond words,' Jim Emmer told FOX9. Emmer said that the celebration brought 'some closure to it'. Co-founder of Project Recover Mark Moline also told the station that 'this is fuel for me to keep the mission going'. 'When I see the faces of the families it sort of reassures me I'm doing a good thing and gives me energy to work on the next case.' Jim Emmer was born three years after his uncle, John Emmer, was reported missing when the aircraft was shot down Emmer gathered with other families (pictured) on Saturday at a high school to celebrate the aircraft recovery and to thank the individuals behind the search efforts When Heaven Can Wait was found earlier this year at the bottom of a bay off the coast of Papua New Guinea, a wave of exhilaration - albeit one mixed with grief - washed over the families. The family of Tom Kelly was one of those families. Kelly grew up on a Northern California farm and once thought of becoming a cowboy before the Second World War got in the way. He enlisted in the US Army Air Forces and was a 21-year-old 2nd Lieutenant when his plane was shot down. 'This discovery of where the wreck is, of seeing pictures and videos of the wreck on the floor of Hansa Bay - my goodness, it brings closure in a way we didn't expect,' Scott Althaus of Urbana, Illinois - Kelly's first cousin once removed - said at the time. On Memorial Day 2013 Althaus had launched what would quickly become a family-wide project to learn everything relatives could about the young man who grew up thinking he'd be a cowboy but then, inspired by his military service, decided he wanted to be a pilot instead. He was the bombardier on Heaven Can Wait. Heaven Can Wait (pictured) was found earlier this year at the bottom of a bay off the coast of Papua New Guinea Wreckage from the incident was found 200 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean '[Kelly] was a very gregarious man. He kept up correspondence with I think 38 different people stateside while he was overseas. He was just everybody's friend, very well liked,' said Althaus. 'It would have been something to see what he would have done after coming back from the war if that had been his outcome.' A year ago, Kelly's family turned over what they learned to Project Recover, a team of marine scientists, historians, archaeologists, divers and others who seek out military crash sites connected to cases involving those listed as Missing in Action. The organization announced the find in May, and said its search was aided greatly by what the family provided, including eyewitness narratives, military reports, flight documents and even diary entries from crew members on planes flying in formation with Kelly's when it was hit. This also marked the first time that an MIA family had provided his group such support, said Eric Terrill, Project Recover's co-founder and leader of the search. 'The results from our efforts in Hansa Bay have stirred a mix of lasting emotions within our team and drives home the need to recognize the sacrifices that service members and their families make in protecting our freedoms,' said Terrill, who works at San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said at the time. Brexit talks came to a juddering halt last night after the EU rebuffed Theresa May's demand for a 'break clause' to prevent the UK being locked in the customs union for ever. With just 48 hours to go before a crunch EU summit designed to agree the UK's exit terms, talks were suspended leaving hopes of striking a deal on a knife-edge. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab briefly raised hopes of a breakthrough when he travelled to Brussels for unscheduled talks with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier yesterday. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, briefly travelled to Brussels for unscheduled talks with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier yesterday. He is pictured appearing on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show Aid Secretary Penny Mordaunt (pictured in Downing Street last week) is among the ministers said to be considering if they can accept the Brexit compromise Jeremy Hunt yesterday tweeted a photo of himself and other foreign ministers navigating the maze at Chevening House in Kent, joking: 'Brexit discussions seem more straightforward.' It followed a meeting at the Foreign Secretary's grace and favour residence Jason Groves looks at how this critical week in Brexit talks could play out after they came to a juddering halt. PM gets a deal acceptable to her Cabinet and the DUP Only a few people know the precise details of what is being proposed. It is still possible that Theresa May could emerge this week with a deal that satisfies both Cabinet demands for a clear exit route and the DUP's insistence there must be no border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. In this scenario, Mrs May would sign a withdrawal agreement in Brussels on Thursday, with talks on the future economic partnership moving on to a summit next month. A Commons vote on the package could be held by November 27. Mrs May agrees a deal that sparks a Cabinet walkout The whole Cabinet is due to debate the final detail of the UK's proposal, if it has been agreed. All eyes are on the so-called 'Brexitettes' Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt and Esther McVey who have let it be known they could quit. Several pro-Brexit ministers are expected to debate tactics tonight at a weekly 'pizza club' held in Mrs Leadsom's Commons office. Mrs May has survived the departures of David Davis and Boris Johnson, but a fresh walkout could trigger a collapse in support among Tory MPs, prompting a vote of no confidence. It is still possible that Theresa May could emerge this week with a deal that satisfies both Cabinet demands for a clear exit route and the DUP's insistence there must be no border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK She strikes a deal that is unacceptable to the DUP The DUP's objection to the PM's plans for a so-called Irish backstop centre on her acceptance of the need for regulatory checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK to allow free movement of goods. In theory, Mrs May could get a Brexit deal through the Commons without the DUP, but she would find it impossible to govern on a day-to-day basis, which could hasten an early election. Britain and the EU are unable to sign a deal this week This would increase the likelihood of the UK leaving without a deal in March. European Council president Donald Tusk has described the summit as the 'moment of truth', with 'maximum progress' needed if a deal is to be clinched in time. A man has tragically drowned while attempting to save a child struggling to swim in the ocean. Angelo Tuyay, believed to be in his 50s, died after rushing to save the young child at Hot Water Beach on New Zealand's North Island on Sunday afternoon. Mr Tuyay, who was a respected member of the Tauranga Christian organisation, was pulled from the water at 4pm. Rescuers performed CPR, but he was unable to be revived. Angelo Tuyay (pictured) drowned on Sunday at New Zealand's Hot Water Beach after heroically entering the surf to help a child in distress Mr Tuyay is believed to have been with family members at the popular tourist beach when the incident unfolded. Daily Mail Australia understands he heroically responded after hearing cries for help from the child who was caught in a rip. The child is expected to make a full recovery. Gary Hinds, the Hot Water Beach Lifeguard Service chairman, revealed the service were packing their up supplies on the beach following a day of training when they heard the commotion. Crucially, they were not notified of the emergency call out until six or seven minutes after Fire and Emergency New Zealand raced to the scene. 'We need to be there as soon as other people,'' he told the New Zealand Herald. 'If we get stood down that is fine, but seven to eight minutes in a life-saving situation is crucial.' Mr Tuyay's death follows a disturbing incident two weeks ago, when another Hot Water Beach visitor almost drowned. A police spokesperson said the Mr Tuyay's death has been referred to the coroner. A selfie may have caused a Sydney seaplane to crash killing six people, including a British millionaire tycoon, according to the company's new part owner. Hotelier Jerry Schwartz, who announced his new partnership with Sydney Seaplanes this week, has said he has full confidence in the company's safety record. Britons Richard Cousins, 58, his fiancee Emma Bowden, 48, her daughter Heather, 11 and Cousins' two sons Edward, 23, and William, 25, were killed in the crash on New Year's Eve, 2017. Australian pilot Gareth Morgan, 44, who had many years experience flying for Sydney Seaplanes, also died in the incident. Australian pilot Gareth Morgan, 44, who had many years experience flying for Sydney Seaplanes, died in the incident Richard Cousins, 58, a millionaire CEO, his fiancee Emma Bowden, 48 died in the accident Mr Cousins' sons Edward, 23 (left) and William, 25 (right) were also killed when their seaplane plunged into the Hawkesbury River Ms Bowden's 11-year-old daughter Heather also died in the tragic incident Mr Schwartz has ruled out pilot error and claims Mr Morgan was knocked out prior to the crash on the Hawkesbury River. 'The investigation has shown that safety is good and it's actually believed to not be pilot error,' Mr Schwartz told The Australian. 'The current belief is the passenger at the front actually knocked out the pilot.' It is now thought that a passenger was taking photographs of the river and accidentally struck the pilot in the head with their elbow. Previous investigators said that the pilot probably became disoriented or incapacitated, which caused the plane to nose dive into the river. Multi-millionaire Mr Cousins died from multiple blunt force injuries, while his bride-to-be died from the combined effects of head injuries and drowning. William died from head and facial injuries. His younger brother Edward's death was consistent with drowning. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating the crash, which occurred on December 31, 2017. Sydney Seaplanes managing director Aaron Shaw told The Australian that something would have caused the pilot to become 'incapacitated' but would not comment any further due the ongoing investigation. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating the crash, which occurred on December 31, 2017 The investigation has now revealed that a passenger was taking photographs of the river and accidentally struck the pilot in the head with his elbow A preliminary report by the ATSB said the aircraft, operated by Sydney Seaplanes, left Cottage Point bound for Rose Bay at 3.01pm on January 31. The report said: 'The operator reported that the aircraft's expected and standard flight path after departing Cottage Point was to climb initially to the north then turn right along Cowan Creek toward the main body of the Hawkesbury River, until sufficient altitude was gained to fly above terrain and return to Rose Bay. 'While the exact take-off path from Cottage Point has yet to be established, the aircraft was observed by witnesses to enter Jerusalem Bay around 0.6 miles off course. 'The aircraft was observed to enter the bay at an altitude below the height of the surrounding terrain. 'Several witnesses also reported hearing the aircraft's engine and stated that the sound was constant and appeared normal. 'Shortly after entering Jerusalem Bay, numerous witnesses reported seeing the aircraft suddenly enter a steep right turn and the aircraft's nose suddenly drop before the aircraft collided with the water in a near vertical position.' A preliminary report by the ATSB said the aircraft operated by Sydney Seaplanes left Cottage Point bound for Rose Bay at 3.01pm on January 31 The wreckage was lifted from 15m of water in Jerusalem Bay on January 4, in an operation by police divers and the ATSB. The seaplane did not have a cockpit voice or flight data recorder, although aircraft of its size are not required to have one fitted, the report said. There was no evidence of the aircraft hitting a bird or an object prior to takeoff in flight. There was also no evidence that the plane had broken up in flight. A final report is due early next year. Fundraising website JustGiving will today announce it will stop taking a cut of some donations following a Daily Mail investigation and criticism by politicians. The website, which is used by Britons to give more than 400million a year to charities, takes a cut of more than 6 per cent from almost all donations. While much of the money is spent on running the site and removing fraudulent appeals, one director was paid almost 200,000 in 2016. Fundraising website JustGiving will today announce it will stop taking a cut of some donations Last month Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said he had been sickened to learn that JustGiving had taken 500,000 pledged for the victims of major incidents such as the London Bridge attack, Manchester Arena bombing and the Grenfell fire. Now the website will no longer charge what it calls a platform fee for donations in response to terrorist incidents or major disasters in this country. It has also scrapped the charges for crowd-funding appeals which allow individuals and communities to raise money for personal causes. Announcing the move, the sites president, Jerry Needel, said: These changes mean our users can raise money for personal causes, using our world-class technology, all without paying a platform fee. Labour MP Neil Coyle was sickened to learn JustGiving had taken 500,000 pledged for the victims of major disasters Following feedback from our amazing community of fundraisers, we are also announcing that JustGiving will now be free to use following major incidents, including acts of terrorism, catastrophes or natural disasters. Some charity bosses had accused JustGiving of greed, saying the fees were hard to stomach. JustGiving officially says it takes 5 per cent from donations. But the percentage is calculated after including a Gift Aid tax rebate, so the cut works out as more than 6 per cent. JustGiving took nearly six per cent of donations raised for victims affected by the Grenfell fire Last year a Daily Mail investigation revealed how JustGiving was taking 20million a year from donations, half of it spent on staff costs. Employees took home an average salary of more than 60,000. Some of the money is spent keeping the site working 24 hours a day and finding innovative ways of raising more for good causes, as well as closing down fraudulent appeals. The sites 24million British users have donated a staggering 3.5billion for charitable and personal causes over the last 18 years. JustGiving will stop taking a cut from donations as it did with money raised in the aftermath of the Manchester bombings Mr Coyle had called for JustGiving to be compelled to return fees it had charged on donations for victims of Grenfell, London Bridge and the Manchester Arena bombing. But a JustGiving source said the changes would not apply retrospectively. The removal of platform fees for crowdfunding starts immediately while changes for appeals relating to major incidents will be introduced in the coming weeks. A third party card processing fee will continue to be charged. The move comes after Treasury ministers threatened a crackdown in the Budget aimed at banning fundraising firms from charging commission on the Gift Aid element of donations. Georgie Gardner mocked Karl Stefanovic on The Today show on Monday morning after one of his jokes was met by awkward laughs. During an interview with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Stefanovic made a dig at the controversial decision to advertise the Everest racing event on the Sydney Opera House. Premier, I did hear on the grapevine one of the surprises is that youll be shining the British flag on the sails of the opera house, he said. Georgie Gardner mocked Karl Stefanovic on The Today show on Monday morning after one of his jokes was met by awkward laughs What followed was some forced and quite uncomfortable laughter from both Gardner and the Premier who looked awkwardly off-screen before responding. Well its on the public record that were actually putting up the Invictus flag were doing that on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, she said through uneasy laughter. More strained laughter followed before Gardner cut in saying: Nice try Karl! During an interview with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Stefanovic said: Premier, I did hear on the grapevine one of the surprises is that youll be shining the British flag on the sails of the opera house Well its on the public record that were actually putting up the Invictus flag were doing that on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Premier replied through uneasy laughter Karl hit back with: OK, awkward laughter. But then the Premier took a shot too, asking Stefanovic: From you or from me? There was then a final explosion of forced laughter and a loud snort from someone off-screen before the discussion moved on. Last week, Sydney Opera House hosted a six minute light display to promote the $13 million Everest horse race, which resulted in hundreds protesting and hundreds of thousands signing a petition. Safety stair gates that are potentially hazardous to small children have been discovered on sale in a number of major retailers - a report has revealed. Consumer champion Which? found faults in three different types of stair gates after testing the durability of 10 stair gates, all of which are popular buys on the UK high street. They were tested by applying the 'fatigue test' - which forms part of the EU safety standard for stair gates. This is designed to simulate the gate being pulled back and forth by a boisterous toddler 10,000 times. Samples of the Dreambaby Retractable Gate, the Lindam Easy Fit Plus Deluxe Safety Gate and the Safetots Self-closing Gate, when attached with adhesive pads, all failed to meet the criteria for EU safety standards when Which? tested them. Which? tested several child safety gates using a 'fatigue test'. Pictured: The Dreambaby Retractable Gate Which? is now calling for manufacturers to take immediate action on the three child stair gates, after the damning test results. The consumer watchdog reported that, shockingly, the Dreambaby Retractable Gate failed after just ten applications of force, with the metal tube that is attached to the stair gate becoming bent and detaching from the casing that holds it in place, which led to the gate sagging in the middle. The Safetots Self Closing Gate failed after 3,700 applications of force, with the adhesive pads that secure the gate to a door frame becoming detached, which could lead to the gate becoming loose due to a lack of pressure. This gate can also be fitted using screws instead of adhesive pads. When it was tested as a screw fit gate, it passed the fatigue test. The Lindam Easy Fit Plus Deluxe Safety Gate also failed when the adhesive pads that secure the gate to the door frame became detached, after 2,570 applications of force. Which? has made all three stair gates Don't Buys on its website and is calling for an immediate recall of the Dreambaby Retractable Gate. Anyone who owns this gate should stop using it immediately. The company is also advising those who own the Safetots Self Closing Gate and have fitted it with adhesive pads or the Lindam Easy Fit Plus Deluxe Safety Gate that they should stop using it for the time being until a fix can be implemented. The findings have been reported to Trading Standards and the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). Alex Neill, Which? Managing Director of Home Products and Services, said: 'It's shocking that the products people buy to keep their children safe may actually be a danger to them. Which? is now calling for manufacturers to take immediate action. Pictured: The Lindam Easy Fit Plus Deluxe Safety Gate 'The manufacturers need to act urgently to prevent any more children from being put at risk by products which may be unsafe.' A Dreambaby spokesperson told Which?: ' Complaints relating to the quality of our products are rare but when received they are investigated immediately. However, our ability to undertake a thorough investigation of the matters raised have been significantly frustrated by the failure of Which? to provide sufficient background detail despite our repeated requests for this information. We are therefore unable to provide a considered response at this time.' While spokesperson for Munchkin, the company that owns Lindam, said: that it is not aware of any evidence supporting our allegations. Munchkin said it has reviewed and analysed customer complaints for the gate and not encountered any of the purported safety or reliability issues that we have alleged. It has said it has performed an internal inventory audit and found its gates to be compliant with all product safety standards. And a Safetots spokesperson said: 'The company has not yet provided an official reply, but it has disputed Which?'s findings. It told Which? that the gate has been exhaustively tested in China and the UK, and has successfully satisfied the selected requirements. This is the same standard that Which? tests to.' A bank loophole gave a country barman millions of dollars which he splurged on luxury hotels, private jets and top restaurants. Dan Saunders, from Wangaratta, in north-eastern Victoria, knew the high life wouldn't last. After spending 12 months in prison for fraud he's back behind the bar earning just $22 an hour. Talking to Adam Shand on the podcast, ATM Boy, Saunders has revealed everything about his lavish lifestyle. In 2011 Saunders stumbled across a technical fault in the National Australia Bank's ATM system meaning he had access to free money whenever and wherever he wanted. The barman has no idea why or how he was able to cheat the system to this day and was only caught after he owned up to taking the cash. Dan Saunders (pictured), from Wangaratta in north-eastern Victoria, knew the high life wouldn't last and now he's back behind the bar earning just $22 an hour After a four-and-a-half spending binge he stopped making the transfers and began to question why no one came after him. He went to the media to tell his incredible story, but National Australia Bank never came after him. 'I went to the media and I said, 'Look this happened and I just want a resolution, I'm more than happy to do a story about it,'' he said. Saunders' adventure began when he was drinking with friends one evening. It was his round but when he went to withdraw money from the ATM, he saw he had just $3 in his savings account. He then transferred $200 from his credit card to his savings account. The ATM said the transaction failed, but the money appeared nonetheless. Later that night he decided to try his luck once again and pushed his withdrawals up to over $2000, which was the limit of his credit card. 'I can't really tell you why I did it, it's not like I was going to do anything crazy,' Saunders said. He expected the free money to last just a few days, but he was having too much fun and the bank did nothing to stop him. Whatever decadence his friends and himself could dream up, he would make a reality. A bank loophole gave a country barman millions of dollars, all of which he splurged on luxury hotels, private jets and top restaurants In an interview with A Current Affair Saunders was shown flying in private jets and drinking champagne HOW THE ATM 'LOOPHOLE' WORKED - He would transfer money from credit to his savings account while ATM system was 'offline' -The ATM would read 'transaction cancelled' - but still dished out the money - He took advantage of a loophole in the system which meant the ATM couldn't record transactions during late-night maintenance - but still dispensed cash - The withdrawal would not register on his account - effectively giving him free cash - He continued withdrawing and the bank didn't catch up - He also tricked the ATM by transferring money from his 'credit' option to his Mastercard... even though he only had one credit card Advertisement From private jets, limousines, brothels, yachts and luxury hotels - Saunders began to have it all. 'I felt like a dumb secret agent, because it was too easy,' Saunders said. Like any decent human being cheating the system, Saunders soon started to feel guilty about his adventures. It was in June, four and a half months after making his costly discovery that he stopped making continuous transfers. After ripping off millions from the bank, he called them and they replied that the issue was under police investigation but they couldn't talk to him. Three and a half years after he stopped the transfers, he still hadn't received any consequences for his actions. 'All the statements say that I was always behind in money, but to spend the money I actually had to be in front. So, the accounts had millions of bucks in them,' Saunders said. From private jets, limousines, brothels, yachts and luxury hotels - Saunders began to have it all He went to the media multiple times and told his story, but was never charged, despite an interview with A Current Affair that showed off the private jets, champagne and the lavish lifestyle. However, on returning to the studio to pick up some photos, police were waiting. Thinking he'd be spending at least 5 years locked up for his action, Saunders spent just a year behind bars. 'Jail was hard, I saw a man killed in there, but losing my liberty was also a part of the overall experience.' Saunders aid. Boris Johnson and other Brexiteers should get back to the 'playground' and let Theresa May get on with delivering a deal, ministers warned today. Energy Minister Claire Perry said the high stakes negotiations were a 'time for serious grown ups' after Mr Johnson launched his latest assault on Mrs May and 'EU bullies'. The former foreign secretary claimed today the Brexit talks were in 'crisis' and demanding the PM stand up to Brussels to get a Canada-style trade deal. His warning comes a day after former Brexit Secretary David Davis called on Cabinet ministers to mutiny and stop Mrs May cutting a soft deal with the EU. Mr Johnson's intervention today heaps further pressure on the PM after she reportedly refused to sign off on a Brexit agreement amid last-gasp talks between Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier in Brussels on Sunday. Boris Johnson (pictured last week) has called on the UK to 'stand up to bullies' in negotiations with the EU as he demanded a 'Super Canada' deal to break the Brexit deadlock. Energy Minister Claire Perry (pictured today on Sky News) said the high stakes negotiations were a 'time for serious grown ups' after Mr Johnson launched his latest assault on Mrs May and 'EU bullies' But asked how she responded to the latest spat, Ms Perry told Sky News: 'My message would be the Prime Minister has delivered so far. ''Standing up to the bullies'' is playground language - this is the time for serious grown ups around the table. 'It might not be this month... but we will get a deal and she is the right person to get it.' Aid Secretary Penny Mordaunt, a Brexiteer minister who is rumoured to be considering quitting over Mrs May's plans, insisted today she was not resigning. She told broadcasters outside her home everyone needs to 'calm down' and the Cabinet backed the Prime Minister. Mr Johnson said Brexit talks were 'now entering the moment of crisis' and that 'matters cannot go on as they are', in his column for the Daily Telegraph. In his article he said the EU was forcing Britain to choose between reclaiming its sovereignty from Brussels and keeping the UK intact. Mrs May's 'backstop' plan would keep Northern Ireland in the single market and could lead to greater checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea. Mr Johnson said: 'After more than two years of being ruthlessly pushed around by the EU, it is time for the UK to resist. 'In presuming to change the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom, the EU is treating us with naked contempt. 'It is time to scrap the backstop, and simply agree what is manifestly the case that no one wants any new physical checks at the Northern Irish border, nor is there any need for them.' Mr Johnson said it had been 'completely wrong' for the Government to agree to the 'backstop' in December last year - while he was Foreign Secretary. He called for a 'Super Canada, zero tariff, zero quota, free trade deal at the heart of a deep and special partnership'. Mrs May is under severe pressure from Brexiteers within her party and her DUP parliamentary allies to take a tough line with Brussels ahead of this week's crunch EU summit. His intervention heaps further pressure on Theresa May (pictured going to church on Sunday) amid an ongoing Tory feud over Brexit just days before a critical EU summit in Brussels Sturgeon says MPs must not be 'railroaded' into accepting deal Nicola Sturgeon will warn MPs should not be 'railroaded' into accepting a bad or blindfold deal on Brexit on the grounds that no deal would be catastrophic. In a speech in London, Scotland's First Minister will say MPs do not have to fall for such a 'false choice' and there are other options. Ms Sturgeon is expected to say: 'The UK Government has spent two years asserting that no deal is better than a bad deal. 'However they will almost certainly try to railroad MPs into accepting a bad or blindfold deal on the grounds that no deal would be a catastrophe. 'They are threatening us with fire, to make us choose the frying pan. 'MPs do not have to fall for that false choice. Other options are available. Voting against a bad or blindfold deal isn't a vote for no deal. It would be a vote to open the door to a better deal. 'In fact if the UK Government comes back to Parliament with a bad or blindfold deal, voting against it is the only chance the Westminster parliament will have, to re-set the negotiations and think again.' In the June 2016 referendum, Scotland voted by 62 per cent to 38 per cent in favour of remaining in the EU. Ms Sturgeon said : 'The Scottish Government, in line with the overwhelming vote for remain in Scotland, supports continued EU Membership. Remaining in the EU continues to be our strong preference. 'Nevertheless in December 2016 we set out a compromise plan to keep Scotland and the UK in the Single Market and Customs Union to limit the damage of Brexit as much as possible. 'It is therefore simply incorrect for the Prime Minister to say that there is no alternative to Chequers. 'In fact, the UK Government's position is increasingly absurd. Insisting on pursuing proposals they have been told will not work while rejecting a plan that will.' Advertisement A hastily-arranged meeting between Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and European Union negotiator Michel Barnier failed to produce a breakthrough on Sunday. Following the meeting in Brussels, Mr Barnier said that 'despite intense efforts' there had been a failure to reach agreement on the Irish border. Officials including UK negotiator Olly Robbins were reported to have reached a preliminary deal. But Mrs May refused to endorse the draft agreement, fearing her Cabinet would reject it as the EU refused to guarantee an end date for the backstop, the Telegraph reported. The UK Government said there were still 'unresolved issues' relating to the backstop but it remained committed to making progress at the European Council meeting. Talks will now resume at the Brussels summit on Wednesday. An EU official said no further negotiations were planned before the leaders of EU countries convene in Brussels. Both sides previously agreed that a special November meeting - to be called only if there is enough progress this week - would be the deadline for reaching an agreement since Britain is set to leave the EU on March 29. Earlier Mr Johnson had warned the UK faced the greatest national humiliation since Suez', saying: 'We will be heading for colony status, with many laws imposed on us, with no control over our trade, and with internal checks at the behest of a foreign power.' Mrs May is thought to be trying to break the deadlock by proposing a new 'backstop' arrangement for the Irish border. The blueprint could mean the whole UK staying in the EU customs union 'temporarily' and accepting regulatory checks between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. But there is not expected to be any hard end date, and many Cabinet ministers and Tory MPs fear that in reality it would keep the UK subject to Brussels rules for good. Brexiteers fear the 'temporary customs arrangement' would prevent free trade deals with countries around the world. The ideas have also provoked fury from the DUP - which is propping Mrs May up in power - as they warned against any agreement that would risk splitting the UK. The party's leader Arlene Foster is said to have had an angry showdown with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier last week, and now believes no deal is the 'most likely' outcome. Former Brexit secretary David Davis has urged a Cabinet revolt against the Prime Minister's approach to the talks. And Tory MP Nadine Dorries suggested Mr Davis should be installed as interim leader, claiming that was the only way to secure the kind of free-trade deal Brexit demanded by Eurosceptics. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab (pictured) went to Brussels for talks with Michel Barnier on Sunday amid rumours of an imminent Brexit deal but no agreement was reached Allies of Mr Davis said he has been contacted by several Tory MPs urging him to run for the leadership. Health Secretary Matt Hancock sought to play down the potential for Cabinet resignations but was unable to say whether a fixed deadline for any customs arrangement would be written into a deal with Brussels. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: 'There are different ways that you can make sure that something is credibly time limited and that's what I want to see.' Staunch Brexiteers Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt and Esther McVey are at the centre of resignation speculation. Speculation has also surrounded Scottish Secretary David Mundell and Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson who could quit because of the sensitivity of the issue in relation to calls for Scottish independence. Mrs May's own position also appeared in jeopardy, with as many as 44 letters demanding a vote of no confidence reportedly submitted to the Conservative 1922 Committee - just four short of the number required to trigger a ballot. Mr Barnier (pictured in Brussels last week) met Dominic Raab in Brussels as negotiations gather pace ahead of a crunch EU summit this week Mrs May's hopes of getting a Brexit deal through Parliament could depend on the actions of Labour MPs. Some have voiced fears about blocking any Brexit agreement with former minister Caroline Flint telling Sky she would back a 'reasonable' deal. But shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry told the BBC: 'If she comes back with something that's just a fudge she's cooked up with Brussels... we're not voting for something that's essentially a bridge to nowhere.' Ireland's ambassador to the UK Adrian O'Neill said events in Brussels on Sunday were a 'setback' and could increase the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. He told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour: 'Time is running out, there is no doubt about that. In all member states, preparation for all eventualities are ramping up quite significantly.' A special EU summit pencilled in for November to sign off a Brexit agreement could instead end up being used as an emergency meeting to discuss 'no-deal' plans. Talks will take place on Monday between DUP leader Arlene Foster and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, while Mrs May will meet Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in Westminster. President Donald Trump alternated between defensive and snappy in a wide-ranging interview with '60 Minutes' anchor Lesley Stahl on Sunday as the two went round-after-round of verbal fisticuffs over a variety of topics. The interview, which aired for about 30 minutes, was filled with a lighting round of questions and answers. Trump and Stahl engaged in several contentious back-and-forths on almost every topic- climate change, tariffs, NATO, North Korea, Russia and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. 'It's okay. In the meantime, I'm president and you're not,' he told after one long exchange. It was the president's first sit down with '60 Minutes' since he entered the White House and it comes less than a month before voters head to the polls for November's midterm election. President Donald Trump alternated between defensive and snappy in a wide-ranging interview with '60 Minutes' anchor Lesley Stahl Trump and Stahl engaged in several contentious back-and-forths on almost every topic The fireworks began in the first minutes and continued to when the credits rolled. There were several memorable moments. RUSSIA Trump dismissed talk that Russia helped him win the White House in the 2016 presidential election. 'Do you really think I'd call Russia to help me with an election? Give me a break. They wouldn't be able to help me at all. Call Russia. It's so ridiculous,' the president said. Russia's role in the election - and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow - is the subject of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, which Trump calls a 'witch hunt.' He has repeatedly and forcefully denied collusion with Russia. He also argued he is tough with Russian President Vladimir Putin in private after Stahl asked him about his friendly demeanor with his counterpart in their now-infamous press conference in Helsinki in July. 'I think I'm very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him. The two of us. It was a very tough meeting and it was a very good meeting,' the president said. He also conceded, when asked, that Putin is 'probably' involved in political assassinations. 'Probably he is, yeah. Probably,' Trump said. British officials claim Russian militants were dispatched to the United Kingdom to kill Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who had given information to British intelligence, charges Moscow has denied. President Trump and President Putin in Helsinki in July One of the heated back-and-forths with Stahl was on whether he thinks Moscow meddled in the election, which U.S. intelligence agencies contend happened. Trump started a firestorm of criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike when he agreed with Putin in their July press conference that Moscow didn't meddle. He later walked that back, saying his misspoke and he did believe the finding of U.S. intelligence. 'Do you believe that the Russians interfered in the 2016 campaign election?,' Stahl asked. 'They meddled. But I think China meddled too,' he said. Stahl pressed him on why he included China. 'Why do you say China, why don't you just say the Russians meddled?,' she asked. 'Because I think China meddled also,' he said. 'And I think, frankly, China--' 'This is amazing,' Stahl interrupted. 'You are diverting the whole Russia thing.' 'I'm not doing anything,' the president replied. 'You are, you are,' Stahl injected. 'I'm saying Russia, but I'm also saying China,' he said. Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford President Trump at an Oct. 2 campaign rally in Mississippi where he mocked Christine Ford 'Had I not made that speech, we would not have won,' Trump said of his remarks on Christine Blasey Ford (right), which came before the Senate voted on Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation The two went at it again when Stahl asked the president about his speech in Mississippi during Kavanaugh's confirmation process, where he mocked Christine Blasey Ford, who had accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed, groping her and covering her mouth when she screamed during a teenage party in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denied the allegations and Trump mocked Ford's testimony on her accusation before the Senate Judiciary Committee in what he called his 'famous Mississippi speech.' 'Had I not made that speech, we would not have won,' the president told '60 Minutes.' 'I was just saying she didn't seem to know anything.' At his rally in Mississippi, he mocked Ford for not remembering more details of the evening, including how much she drank, where the party took place or how she got home. His remarks came a few days before the Senate voted on his Supreme Court nominee. Kavanaugh was confirmed in a close 50-48 vote. But Trump argued he wasn't really mocking her. 'I didn't really make fun of her,' he said. 'Well, they were laughing,' Stahl said of the crowd at the rally. 'What I said the person that we're talking about didn't know the year, the time, the place,' Trump said. 'Do you think you treated her with respect?,' Stahl asked. 'I think so, yeah. I did,' he said. Stahl pressed the president: 'But you seem to be saying that she lied.' 'You know what? I'm not gonna get into it because we won. It doesn't matter. We won,' the president said. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION Trump defended his 'zero tolerance' immigration policy, which resulted in children being separated from their families as seen in this June 2018 photo of children at a facility in McAllen, Texas First lady Melania Trump visited a detention center in McAllen, Texas, in June The president also offered a forceful defense of his 'zero tolerance' immigration policy, which resulted in immigrant children being separated from their families who illegally crossed the border. 'The same as the Obama law. You know, Obama had the same thing,' Trump said of his predecessor Barack Obama. Stahl pointed out Obama did not enforce the law but Trump did. 'No,' Trump said. 'But then everybody decided and the courts don't want separation. And frankly, when you don't do separa - when you allow the parents to stay together, okay, when you allow that, then what happens is people are gonna pour into our country.' He added: 'There have to be consequences, Lesley, for coming into our country illegally.' He also said he was to blame for the illegal immigration numbers. 'I have to blame myself, the economy is so strong that everybody wants to come into the United States,' he said. In June, Trump abandoned his policy after images of youngsters in cages sparked outrage at home and abroad. It was a policy that even his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka criticized. Attorney General Jeff Session Attorney General Jeff Sessions (left) is said to be on the way out; Trump spoke with Sessions' chief of staff Matthew Whitaker (right) about replacing him Trump and interviewer Lesley Stahl engaged in several contentious back-and-forths on almost every topic Trump also again expressed his disappointment in his Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has become someone he regularly criticizes in interviews and on Twitter, for recusing himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. 'I was disappointed that he recused himself and many people think I was right on that. I was very disappointed. Why should he have recused himself?,' Trump said. But the president also cautioned no one could assume Sessions will be gone from the Justice Department after the midterms - an item that had been much talked about in Washington's favorite parlor game of who will is in and who is out. 'No. No. You can't assume that,' he said. He also declined to pledge not to shut down Mueller's probe. 'I don't pledge anything. But I will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it's a very unfair investigation because there was no collusion of any kind,' he said. Trump has spoken personally with Sessions' chief of staff Matthew Whitaker about replacing the attorney general in late September, according to a West Wing aide. Sessions' unsteady future has been the subject of news stories and cocktail party chatter for months. Unfounded rumors two weeks ago about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's departure fed discussions of a wholesale shakeup at the top of the DOJ. Rosenstein, however, appears to be staying. Senior Republicans told DailyMail.com on Monday that Whitaker is in a 'grooming exercise' to become attorney general, and was expected to become acting deputy attorney general until Rosenstein's planned resignation evaporated. That would have been a dry-run for the top job. Sessions, when he was a senator from Alabama, was one of Trump's earliest supporters on Capitol Hill - loyalty that earned him the top spot at the Justice Department. But he met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice during the campaign and did not disclose that to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his January confirmation hearing. It ultimately led to him recusing himself from overseeing the investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election, a move that infuriated the president. 'VICIOUS' WASHINGTON D.C. Trump said Washington D.C. was vicious The president spoke to CBS' Lesley Stahl in his first interview with the program since he entered the White House In the interview, Trump also had strong words for Washington D.C.'s political establishment, calling them 'vicious.' 'I always used to say the toughest people are Manhattan real estate guys and blah, blah. Now I say they're babies,' he said. He added: 'They're babies, the political people. This is the most deceptive, vicious world. It is vicious, it's full of lies, deceit and deception. You make a deal with somebody and it's like making a deal with that table.' Trump was a political outsider when he was elected, having never previously held public office. He went to say of the U.S. capitol that 'it's a very deceptive world. The other thing I've really learned is I never knew how dishonest the media was. And I really mean it. I'm not saying that as a sound bite...' Stahl interrupted him: 'I'm gonna change the subject again.' Trump snapped at her again: 'Well, no, even the way you asked me a question, like, about separation. When I say Obama did it, you don't wanna talk about it.'' 'I'm gonna run your answer, but you did it four times,' Stahl said. 'I'm just telling you that you treated me much differently on the subject,' Trump complained. 'I disagree, but I don't wanna have that fight with you,' Stahl said. Trump responded: 'Hey, it's okay.' 'All right, I'll get in another fight with you,' she said. 'Lesley, it's okay. In the meantime, I'm president and you're not,' Trump said. THE NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED President Trump said said 'maybe it was The New York Times' who wrote the resistance op-ed that ran in its newspaper about his administration Stahl said she doubted the president's theory on the op-ed authorship Trump said it was possible The New York Times wrote the anonymous op-ed about a resistance movement in the White House working against him to protect the country. The Times said it was written by a 'senior official in the Trump administration.' 'Whoever it is,' Trump said of the author. 'Maybe it was The New York Times too.' He added: 'You don't know how dishonest The New York Times is. It could've been The New York Times. I doubt it. But it could've been.' 'Okay. I doubt it too,' Stahl said. 'Well, don't count on it. It also could've been any one of 3,000 people,' Trump said. The op-ed, which The Times ran last month, sparked a witch hunt of Trump's own in his administration as his staff searched for the author and a bevy of officials - from Vice President Mike Pence to first lady Melania Trump to every member of the Cabinet - denied writing it. The author's identity has yet to be revealed. MORE CABINET CHANGES President Trump said there could be more changes coming to his Cabinet Defense Secretary James Mattis could be on the chopping block Trump signaled there are more changes to his Cabinet to come with Defense Secretary James Mattis possibly on the chopping block. 'General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves,' he said. 'I think he's sort of a Democrat if you want to know the truth,' he noted. Mattis has been rumored to be on the way out for more than a month amid reports relations between the two men have deteriorated to the point that Trump now calls his former 'Mad Dog' the 'Moderate Dog.' The president also indicated more people will exit his Cabinet - likely after the election. 'Other people will go for sure,' he said. And while he didn't name specific names,' he did say there are some people in his Cabinet he is not happy with. 'I have a great cabinet. I have some people I'm not happy with. I have some people I'm not thrilled with. And I have other people I'm beyond thrilled with,' he said. The president said he has 'phenomenal' waiting in the wings to join his team. 'I have people now on standby that will be phenomenal when they come into the administration,' he said. The question of who might be lined up to join the Trump administration has been in the regular rotation of Washington guessing games as reports speculation on who may be next to leave. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced last week she would leave her post at the end of the year, which could be the first hint of a major Cabinet turn over. Already gone: Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price; Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who became chief of staff; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin; and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. CLIMATE CHANGE President Trump and CBS' Lesley Stahl taped their interview at the White House In the wake of Hurricane Michael, which devastated the Florida panhandle, Stahl pressed the president on whether the current season of 'super storms' meant climate change was real. Trump dismissed the idea. 'I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again. I don't think it's a hoax, I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's manmade,' Trump said. Stahl used the moment to question Trump on something he often says when making a point: 'they say.' When he did it in talking about climate change, Stahl challenge him on who are 'they.' 'They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael,' Trump said. 'Who says that? 'They say'?,' Stahl asked. 'People say. People say that,' Trump responded, declining to get more specific. NORTH KOREA President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands at their June summit in Singapore President Donald Trump shows a letter he said he received the previous day from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Septemer at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York Trump snapped at Stahl after she read him a list of North Korean leaderKim Jong-Un's atrocities and asked him how he could love someone who's done such things. 'I'm not a baby. I know all these things,' Trump told her before going on to explain the two men get along well. Stahl proceeded to read to him what she called Kim's 'resume': 'He presides over a cruel kingdom of repression, gulags, starvation. Reports that he had his half-brother assassinated. Slave labor. Public executions. This is a guy you love?' 'Sure. I know all these things. I'm not a baby. I know these things,' Trump replied. 'I get along with him okay.' Stahl then questioned Trump's comments that he made at a September campaign rally where he said he 'fell in love' with Kim, who sent him 'beautiful letters.' 'You said you love him,' she said to the president. Trump defended his comment as a 'figure of speech.' 'No it's like an embrace,' Stahl said. 'Let it be an embrace. Let it be whatever it is to get the job done,' Trump replied. 'He's a bad guy,' Stahl countered. 'Let it be whatever it is. I get along with him really well,' Trump responded. 'I have a good energy with him. I have a good chemistry with him. Look at the horrible threats that were made. No more threats. No more threats.' The president also claimed the United States was on the brink of war with North Korea when came into office. 'The day before I came in, we were goin' to war with North Korea. I sat with President Obama,' he said. Stahl interrupted him to ask: 'We were goin' to war?' 'I think it was going to end up in war. And my impression is - and even in my first few months, I mean, that rhetoric was as tough as it could possibly get,' he said. Trump previously has said he'd like a second sit-down with Kim, whom he first met in Singapore in July. Since Trump and Kim met at their summit, relations between their nations have stalled and questions have emerged about the accord they signed, which had no timetable and no measurable factors to show North Korea was denuclearizing. TRADE Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the president visited China in November 2017 President Donald Trump and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada in June Stahl pressed the president on the $250 billion in tariffs he has leveraged against China, which he denied is a trade war. 'I called it, actually I called it a battle. But, actually, I'm gonna lower that. I consider it a skirmish. And we're gonna win,' he said. He also wouldn't rule out slapping more tariffs on Beijing. 'I want them to negotiate a fair deal with us. I want them to open their markets like our markets are open,' Trump said in the interview that aired Sunday, while adding that more tariffs 'might' be in the mix. The president also dismissed her question on the tariffs he imposed on American allies. 'I mean, what's an ally?,' he said. 'We have wonderful relationships with a lot of people. But nobody treats us much worse than the European Union. The European Union was formed in order to take advantage of us on trade, and that's what they've done.' Earlier this year, Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from most countries, including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. Stahl asked him if tariffs were a 'hostile' action. 'You know what's hostile? The way they treat us. We're not hostile,' he replied. The president also said he would keep the U.S. with NATO as long as they paid their own way. 'I will always be there with NATO, but they have to pay their way. I'm fully in favor of NATO, but I don't wanna be taken advantage of,' he said. Stahl asked him about a report Defense Secretary James Mattis had to explain to him that NATO was established to prevent World War III. 'No, it's not true,' Trump said, adding: 'Frankly, I like General Mattis. I think I know more about it than he does.' 'I FEEL VERY COMFORTABLE' ON THE JOB President Trump said he feels very comfortable on the job The president agreed with first lady Melania Trump that there are some people he can't trust In his final lightening round of questions, Trump denied his White House is in chaos. 'It's wrong. It's so false. It's fake news,' he told '60 Minutes.' But when Stahl asked him about first lady Melania Trump's comment there aren't people in the White House they can trust, the president agreed. 'I feel the same way. I don't trust everybody in the White House, I'll be honest with you,' he said. He added: 'I'm not saying I trust everybody in the White House. I'm not a baby. It's a tough business.' Trump also said there was no adjustment period for him when he took the oath of office. 'I felt comfortable at the beginning, other than it was a little surreal to say I'm the president of the United States, but I think that's true with everybody,' he said. 'Now I very much feel like POTUS,' he said. 'I do. I feel like the president. You know, for a little while, it's like 'Mr. President, sir.' Even my friends, they call me, they don't call me Donald, they call me Mr. President. And I say, 'Will you please loosen up?' I've learned on the job. I have.' 'And you feel comfortable?,' Stahl asked. 'I feel very comfortable, yeah,' Trump responded. Taxpayers will have to meet legal bills of almost 500,000 racked up after parents tried to force doctors to keep treating two severely ill children. Hospital trusts spent more than 420,000 on lawyers during medical disputes involving Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans. In addition, the taxpayer-funded Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), which represents the interests of children in family courts, spent just under 50,000 on the cases. Hospital trusts spent more than 420,000 on lawyers during medical disputes involving Charlie Gard and his parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard (pictured) Charlie (pictured right and left) who suffered from the rare disease died in July last year after his parents (pictured left) lost a legal battle Cafcass, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where Charlie was treated, and Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool, where Alfie was treated, provided figures following a Freedom of Information request by the Press Association. Great Ormond Street spent 205,000, Alder Hey paid 218,000 not including VAT, and Cafcass spent nearly 32,500 on Charlies case and almost 17,000 on Alfies legal fight. Doctors at Alder Hey were locked in a legal battle with Alfie Evans parents Tom Evans (pictured) and Kate James Alfie, (pictured) who has a degenerative neurological condition, died in April after his parents lost their legal fight Charlie, who suffered from the rare inherited disease infantile onset encephalomyopathy mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, died in July last year, a few days short of his first birthday after his parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, of Bedfont, west London, lost a legal battle. Great Ormond Street specialists had said further life-support treatment was futile and should end. A judge in the Family Division of the High Court in London ruled in their favour. Alfie, who had a degenerative neurological condition that was never identified definitively, died in April shortly before his second birthday after his parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, from Liverpool, lost their legal fight. Doctors at Alder Hey had insisted it was pointless to continue with life-support. A judge in the Family Division of the High Court in Liverpool ruled in their favour. Georgia Sen David Perdue has been caught on video snatching a cellphone from a college student who was confronting him with questions about the upcoming governor's race. The Republican senator was visiting Georgia Tech Saturday to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp when a member of the Young Democratic Socialists of America approached him with his cell phone recording Perdue. 'How can you endorse a candidate ...' the student says in an attempt to ask Perdue about the federal lawsuit filed against Kemp accusing him of preventing minority voters from registering ahead of next month's vote. Perdue cuts the student off, saying: 'No, I'm not doing that', before he grabs the phone from his hand. 'You stole my property, you stole my property!' the student says. Georgia Senator David Perdue was visiting Georgia Tech Saturday to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp when he was approached by a student recording him with his cell phone The student approached him with his cell phone recording Perdue and attempted to ask him about his endorsement of Brian Kemp, but was interrupted when the Senator snatched his phone The 30 second clip was shared on Twitter by the YDSA Georgia Tech Chapter and quickly went viral. It was posted with the caption: 'Today @sendavidperdue visited Tech to campaign for Kemp. A student tried asking a simple question about @BrianKempGA's racist scheme to threaten voter registrations from black people, but before he could even finish the question, Perdue stole his phone.' A statement by Young Democratic Socialists of America's Georgia Tech says Perdue snatched the phone and held it briefly behind his back. After the student accuses Perdue of 'stealing' his phone in the video, Perdue responds: 'All right, you wanted a picture?' 'Give me my phone back,' the student replies. 'You wanted a picture? I'm going to give it to you,' Perdue says again. 'Give me my phone back, senator,' the student insists. The video shows Perdue returning the phone to the student. He continues recording as the senator walks away and says: 'US Senator David Perdue snatched my phone because he won't answer a question by one of his constituents.' The student tried to ask him about he federal lawsuit filed against Kemp accusing him of preventing minority voters from registering Young Democratic Socialists of America posted the video Saturday and it quickly went viral This comes amid a contentious battle for Georgia's gubernatorial seat between GOP candidate Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams However, a spokesperson for Perdue says it was all a misunderstanding and the Senator thought he was being asked to take a picture. They say Perdue grabbed the phone to take a selfie and when he realized the student did not want a photo the senator returned it. This comes amid a contentious battle for Georgia's gubernatorial seat between GOP candidate Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams. The lawsuit filed Thursday against Kemp targets Georgia's 'exact match' verification process, which requires that information on voter applications precisely match information already on file. An analysis by The Associated Press found over 53,000 voter registration applications sitting in pending status. Nearly 70 percent of those affected are black. Kemp oversees elections and is facing Abrams, who is vying to become the nation's black female governor. Recent public polling indicates the race is a dead heat. Kemp refuted the claims saying in a tweet: 'Stacey Abrams - and her radical friends - are incredibly dishonest. The 53,000 Georgians on our 'pending' list can vote in the Nov 6th election. Her dark money voter registration group submitted sloppy forms. Now, they are faking outrage for political gain.' The European Commission has been accused of putting the privacy of paedophiles ahead of tackling online child abuse, it was reported last night. Charities claimed new EU regulations will restrict tech firms from flagging up child abuse images to police as it would be deemed a breach of paedophiles privacy. Unlike new data laws, the proposed EU rules will not let investigators overrule the rights of paedophiles in order to protect children from harm. The European Commission has reportedly been accused of putting the privacy of paedophiles ahead of tackling online child abuse The government is believed to have told the European Commission that personal rights should not obstruct companies from protecting children who use social media platforms, the Telegraph reported. A source told the paper that home secretary Sajid Javid backed firms having the authority to take action against abhorrent images and child grooming. A government spokesman said: We have taken note of the EUs proposal for the introduction of European Privacy Regulation (EPR) and are discussing it with EU member states. A source told the Telegraph that home secretary Sajid Javid backed firms having the authority to take action against abhorrent images and child grooming Last week John Carr, secretary of the Childrens Charities Coalition on Internet Safety - which represents 11 of the biggest charities including Barnardos and the NSPCC - wrote to the European Commission and demanded alter the regulations so investigators can remove inappropriate images. Mr Carr said: There ought to be no room for doubt or ambiguity on a matter of such fundamental importance to the protection of children. And yet there is. Javed Khan, chief executive of Barnardos, Britains biggest charity, said: Online child abuse is appalling. Any regulation change should not restrict the ability of tech companies and law enforcement to work together to stop child abuse online. Javed Khan, chief executive of Barnardos, said: We would urge the European Commission to make a simple change to the new e-privacy regulation so that all EU countries can continue to fight this horrific crime effectively (pictured: Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker) We would urge the European Commission to make a simple change to the new e-privacy regulation so that all EU countries can continue to fight this horrific crime effectively. There are three exemptions to a users right to privacy which give tech firms the power to seize and report indecent images of children under new data laws, called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These come into effect when it is imperative to protect an individuals interest, to comply with the law or to carry out a task in the public interest. However, the European Privacy Regulations (EPR) do not have these exemptions. Coles customers are set to see some big changes when the supermarket eventually splits with Wesfarmers, according to industry insiders. The supermarket giant is to become a standalone company for the first time in a decade as parent company Wesfarmers prepares to demerge its supermarket division. Wesfarmers shareholders will vote next month whether to approve the $20 billion split. And while no details have been revealed, experts think this could lead to a few significant changes to the way people shop. An analyst was warned that the proposed Coles (pictured) demerger from Wesfarmers won't have a drastic affect on consumers If the demerger gets the green light, IBISWorld senior industry analyst Tom Youl doesn't believe it will have a drastic affect on prices. But he does believe the price war between Coles and Woolworths will subside, perhaps leading to a gradual increase in basic prices. There could also be big changes in terms of the layout of stores, as Coles switches its attention to tackling new boys on the block Aldi and Kaufland. 'The demerger won't have a noticeable affect on consumers,' Mr Youl told Daily Mail Australia. 'One affect it will have on prices is that has its price reductions and specials won't be as prevalent as Coles puts its capital investment towards store fitouts. Consumers will start to see updated store layouts as Coles attempts to differentiate itself from warehouse-style competitors such as Aldi.' Wesfarmers plans to retain a minority ownership interest of 15 per cent in Coles and a 50 per cent interest in the flybuys joint venture. Wesfarmers shareholders will vote on the Coles demerger on November 15 Mr Youl said consumers may start to see the emergence of more generic private label items, which currently consists of 20 per cent of the product range on Coles' store shelves. 'I see that expanding to 40 per cent by 2020,' Mr Youl told Daily Mail Australia. 'It will come at the expense of bigger name brands, which will begin to struggle. It will bring Australia in line with what European supermarkets are doing.' Consumers will start to see updated store layouts as Coles attempts to differentiate itself from warehouse-style competitors such as Aldi,' analyst Tom Youl told Daily Mail Australia The company has indicated it may invest up to $1 billion in store and on consumer experience upgrades, as well as operating efficiency improvements under the demerger. The supermarket chain recently announced it will open two massive automated distribution centres in a bid to cut costs and improve delivery efficiency. 'While this can be seen as a response to Woolworths' automated warehouse, set to open early 2019, these cost-reduction measures are also in response to industry disruptors, AmazonFresh and Kaufland. These players are expected to offer low prices, further pressuring supermarket profitability,' Mr Youl said Coles regained momentum from Woolworths in recent months with its hugely popular Little Shop promotion (pictured) It was announced on Monday that Coles recorded its best quarterly sales result in recent years with a 5.8 per cent increase in the three months ending September. 'Strong growth in basket size, transaction numbers and units sold, as well as improvements in fresh market share supported the sales result,' Wesfarmers' managing director Rob Scott said. The recent sales surge is largely to Coles' recent and hugely popular Little Shop promotion, where shoppers scored a free mini collectable for every $30 they spent. 'The six per cent growth recorded in the first quarter of 2018-9 is unlikely to be sustained,' Mr Youl told Daily Mail Australia. 'Coming into the start of financial year, Woolworths had the momentum. Coles arrested some of the momentum with its Little Shop promotion But whether that it can be sustained remains to be seen.' Judge Stephen John threatened to put a 14-year-old girl in a cell if she cried while her mother gave evidence in court A judge has been criticised after he threatened to put a 14-year-old girl in a cell if she cried while her mother gave evidence in court. Natasha Myers was on trial in front of Judge Stephen John for smuggling contraband items into a prison, when the judge made the shocking threat to her daughter. The mother was accused of smuggling two mobile phones, a sim card and cannabis to her boyfriend, David Akende, in Wandsworth prison during a visit with her daughter. The Appeal Court heard last month that the day before she gave evidence, Judge John had withdrawn her bail because he was concerned she could abscond. The following morning, he ordered her daughter to apologise for being rude to him, though it is not known what she is alleged to have said, and warned her that if she showed any reaction during her mothers evidence, she would be arrested. He told her: I dont care if youre 14, youll go into a cell the same as anybody else. The mother, who was found guilty in April and jailed for 18 months, has now had her convictions overturned after the Appeal Court found she had not received a fair trial owing to Judge Johns treatment of her, the Times reported. Lord Justice Hamblen, one of three Appeal Court judges, said Judge Johns actions could have handicapped her in giving evidence. Natasha Myers was on trial in front of Judge John at Kingston Crown Court (pictured) for smuggling contraband items into a prison, when the judge made the shocking threat to her daughter He said: It was not appropriate for the judge to threaten to send a 14-year-old girl to the cells at all, let alone for a mere facial reaction. This is likely to have caused considerable upset [to her mother] and potentially to have handicapped her in the continued giving of her evidence. Penelope Gibbs, founder of the Transform Justice charity, said that the judge may have been having a bad week but his treatment of a child who was about to be deprived of her mother was totally unacceptable. The Kremlin is actively targeting former MI6 officers and diplomats in a bid to turn them into double agents. The Foreign Office has put out an urgent warning over Putin's spies' tactics, with a memo stating: 'Russian service regard them as high-priority targets.' Russia's president's attempts to recruit traitors from Britain come at a crucial time for Putin amid the high-profile Salisbury Novichok attack and a flagging domestic economy. Russia's president's attempts to recruit traitors from Britain come at a crucial time for Putin amid the high-profile Salisbury Novichok attack and a flagging domestic economy Experts suggest the move is designed to make Putin appear strong at home. A former British intelligence officer told the Daily Mirror: 'The perceived threat Putin wants to portray to Russians is that the West is surrounding them and that his motherland is a victim. 'Whilst all the time he can smirk at the suggestion the GRU has been trying to disrupt Western democracies, the blunders his men have made are becoming embarrassing. 'His intelligence agencies are desperate to claw back credibility by making inroads into Britain's intelligence operations by recruiting insiders.' Such is the escalating campaign by Russian leaders that British officials have sent out an urgent warning to ex-MI6 staff and diplomats. The memo says loved ones could be threatened. A former British intelligence officer told the Mirror: 'The perceived threat Putin wants to portray to Russians is that the West is surrounding them and that his motherland is a victim. It adds: 'Russian services regard both current and former retired members of the service as high-priority targets. 'Russian services have a tradition of using pressure in their operations. This may be used against both former members of staff and close relations.' The relationship between Russia and Britain deteriorated in March with the novichok nerve agent attack by GRU operatives Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin on former Kremlin intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia. Twelve GRU men have also been indicted with hacking the US election. A candidate in the upcoming Wentworth by-election wants to stop 'westies' from visiting Australia's wealthiest suburbs. Robert Callanan, an independent who wants to replace former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in Parliament, said visitors to Bondi Beach from Sydney's western suburbs were 'very annoying'. 'Always causing major issues in North Bondi. They are like blowflies,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Monday. A candidate in the upcoming Wentworth by-election wants to stop lower-class 'westies' from visiting Australia's wealthiest suburbs (Bondi Beach pictured) Robert Callanan, an independent who wants to replace former PM Malcolm Turnbull in parliament, said visitors to Bondi Beach from Sydney's western suburbs were 'very annoying' 'When you're trying to relax and enjoy a coffee by the beach, they are very disturbing in that you can't hold a conversation with their loud music and talking.' Mr Callanan, a tax accountant who was this month disendorsed by the Katter's Australian Party over his links to a high-class brothel, has an $18billion solution, involving infrastructure bonds, to keep 'westies' out of Sydney's eastern suburbs. He wants investors to fund an inland irrigation scheme that he hoped would create 20,000 farming jobs away from Sydney and add $100billion to the economy. 'This policy will get the westies out of the elite electorate so that the elite won't be disturbed while they're sipping their lattes and eating their smashed avo on toast,' he said. Mr Callanan has an $18billion solution, involving infrastructure bonds, to keep 'westies' out of Sydney's eastern suburbs (Bondi Beach swimmers pictured) Mr Callanan, a tax accountant who was this month disendorsed by the Katter's Australian Party, said 'westies' often talked too loud at Bondi Beach (pictured from the southern end) The 45-year-old businessman, who lives at upmarket Bellevue Hill in the electorate, said he could tell the rude people in his area were visitors from Sydney's western suburbs by 'the loudness in their voice' - and didn't care if he was called a snob. 'We are what we are,' he said. Foreign backpackers, however, often create a lot of mess on Bondi Beach on Christmas and New Year's days. Mr Callanan, who describes himself in pamphlets as 'pro-business, pro-family', was earlier this month disendorsed by the conservative Katter's Australian Party, after it was revealed he was the former director of a company linked to a high-class Sydney escort service. The independent candidate is proposing an $18billion irrigation scheme in the bush so westies don't visit Sydney's eastern suburbs and interrupt the 'elites' eating smashed avocado He claimed his connection with The Penthouse - The Ultimate Gentlemen's Club would in fact help him politically as he campaigned in the upcoming Wentworth by-election as an independent. With parts of western Sydney, including Lakemba and Auburn, home to Australia's largest Muslim population, he is also proposing a binding plebiscite on banning Muslim immigration in a bid to 'protect Australia from terrorist threats'. 'It's like a strengthening of counter-terrorism laws,' he said. 'Mainly I just have a look around the world at what goes on with other terrorist attacks and the primary source of those attacks and the people that cause those attacks.' The disendorsed Katter's Australian Party candidate also wants a plebiscite on banning Muslim immigration Mr Callanan is one of 16 candidates running in the October 20 Wentworth by-election following Mr Turnbull's resignation from Parliament. He drew the top spot on the ballot as a Katter's Australian Party candidate, but has long odds against Liberal candidate Dave Sharma and fellow independent Dr Kerryn Phelps, a former head of the Australian Medical Association. Sydney's east is home to Australia's most expensive suburbs of Point Piper and Vaucluse, with harbour-view mansions often selling for more than $20million. Even duplex houses are expensive, with one at North Bondi earlier this year selling for $4million, or more than four times Sydney's median house price, even in a slowing real estate market. French President Emmanual Macron has been told that he is too arrogant by his own wife Brigitte, who claims she is fed up of his high-handed manner. Brigitte Macron has urged his inner circle to tell him the truth because she feels like she is the only person who risks telling him when he is being high-handed, reports Le Parisien newspaper. She reportedly confided in members of her entourage that President Macron is 'too arrogant, too snappy', and nobody dares tell him otherwise. This comes as a new book revealed Mrs Macron has allegedly vowed retribution to the person who started whispers that her husband was secretly in a gay relationship. French President Emmanual Macron has been told that he is too arrogant by his own wife Brigitte, who claims she is fed up of his high-handed manner These remarks came to light in a new biography about Michele 'Mimi' Marchand, an adviser to the Macron family. The book has also left the couple red-faced by claiming that they were dependant on PR adviser Ms Marchard, 71. President Macron has been forced to deny rumours that Mr Marchand used her connections to figure out who fuelled the gay rumours, with Mrs Macron at the helm of the operation. Brigitte Macron has urged his inner circle to tell him the truth because she feels like she is the only person who risks telling him when he is being high-handed, reports Le Parisien newspaper The newspaper also noted that Mrs Macron, who is 25 years older than her husband, is sick of the press focusing on her age. She was also allegedly infuriated that social media posts wrongly claimed that she had lied about her date of birth. A friend of Brigitte told them: 'She's sick of talk of her age, she's had enough.' The president has recently been facing struggles of his own as he grapples to reshuffle his government following two resignations of ministers. One of the two ministers claimed that his presidency 'lacked humility'. A man with face tattoos who was allegedly shot dead in front of his girlfriend is believed to be a member of the King Cobras gang. Luke Riddell, 28, was killed on the side of Grange Road, west of Christchurch, in New Zealand, on Saturday, following an altercation, according to Stuff. Emergency services were called to the scene at 3.30pm. There were a number of witnesses to the alleged murder, including Riddell's girlfriend - all of whom are helping police with their inquires. A large number of King Cobras gang members waited across from the crime scene as police combed the area for evidence, it has been reported. Luke Riddell, 28, was killed on the side of Grange Road, west of Christchurch, in New Zealand, on Saturday (pictured with his girlfriend) There were a number of witnesses to the alleged murder, including Riddell's (pictured together) girlfriend, who has not been named - all of whom are helping police with their inquires Police said they believe Riddell (pictured) was shot and killed during an altercation The offender or offenders are still at large, Detective Inspector Corrie Parnell told Stuff. Roughly 40 investigators are working the case, he added. 'We will make every effort to bring this and those persons that are responsible to account for this incident expediently,' he said. 'I would encourage any members of the public who may have witnessed or have information in respect of this killing to come forward.' Roughly 40 investigators are working the case, Detective Inspector Corrie Parnell said Police officers warned members of the public that they can expect to see a high presence of police in the area over the coming week. 'We acknowledge the public's concerns regarding this incident. We continue to follow positive lines of inquiry and are working towards holding those responsible accountable,' the statement read. An anonymous witness who spoke to Stuff said Riddell's girlfriend lived close to the scene. 'The guy was lying there blood spurting out everywhere. He was still alive, she tried to revive him, but he died,' the man said. Police seized a number of cars, including a black Mercedes Benz that Riddell was driving. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call Christchurch Police. The ex-wife of a sheik whose 4 million mansion was gutted by a fire last year has said she fears she is being targeted 'just like' a missing journalist - but she 'won't be silenced.' Nivin El-Gamal, 41, who was married to Emirates Airline chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and has a ten-year-old son with him, fears she 'could be the next Khashoggi.' Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen on CCTV entering the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul on October 2. Nivin El-Gamal, 41, fears she may be 'the next Khashoggi' but she 'won't be silenced' Ms El-Gamal told The Sun that she believes 'shadowy forces' were behind the fire at her house which happened last October. Police and the London Fire Brigade couldn't determine the source of the blaze at the Belgravia mansion but Ms El-Gamal reported seeing three men outside shortly before. All four floors of the property were severely damaged by fire. The ground floor, basement and first floors were totally gutted and the second and third floor were 30% damaged by fire. The lavish Grade Two listed property, designed by architect Sir Matthew Wyatt, was once the home of James Bond author Ian Fleming. Ms El-Gamal, whose ex-husband is an uncle of the leader of Dubai, said: 'The Saudi government acts with impunity and I believe the same can be said for the United Arab Emirates. I fear I could be the next Khashoggi.' Ms El-Gamal's 4million mansion in Belgravia, London, caught fire last October and she believes 'shadowy forces' were behind it Sheik Ahmed (pictured) and Ms El-Gamal became engaged in 2006 after they met in Dubai two years previously. The Emirates boss gave her a 30,000 dowry as part of the engagement Sheikh Ahmed and Ms El-Gamal became engaged in 2006 after they met in Dubai two years previously. The Emirates boss gave her a 30,000 dowry as part of the engagement. However wedded life wasn't as smooth as it seemed from the outside. Things began to fall apart after she announced she was pregnant, and after her son Saeed was born in Los Angeles in April 2008, the Sheikh married his cousin. Ms El-Gamal said: 'Everyone would think I had the dream life but my life is in danger. The fire at my property could have killed. I won't be silenced.' Ms El-Gamal also told the Sun that she noticed her cars, a Maserati and Bentley, had shown signs of being tampered with, only adding to her concerns. In 2013 the concerned mother, who is originally from Egypt, applied for UK residency and was given indefinite leave to remain. The sheikh, 59, strongly denies being behind any plot. A spokesman said: 'All such allegations are denied.' Ms El-Gamal wed Sheikh Ahmed in a secret ceremony in 2007, but the pair split leaving her with a son he refused to admit was his. After a series of court hearings and a paternity test, Sheikh Ahmed who is said to be worth billions was forced to agree a generous maintenance settlement of 15,000-a-month. Bilingual pupils who speak English as their second language outperform native Britons throughout their school years, researchers found. The study found that bilingual children were stronger at school than their monolingual peers at the ages of five, seven, eleven and at their GCSEs. Teenagers who dont speak English as their first language performed better than native speakers in GCSEs for the first time this summer. Teenagers who dont speak English as their first language performed better than native speakers in GCSEs for the first time this summer [File photo] The Oxford University study suggested that fluent bilingual pupils who do not speak English as their mother tongue record better school performances at every age. Researchers looked at the results of 14,000 pupils across 15,000 schools in six local authorities deemed to be representative of the country, the Times reported. The findings published by social mobility charity the Bell Foundation found that by the end of reception, 88 per cent of non-native fluent English speakers achieved a good level of development. This contrasted with 72.9 per cent of their monolingual classmates and a national average of 70.9 per cent. More than 90 per cent of 7-year-olds fluent in speaking English as a second language were reaching the required reading level, compared with 86.2 per cent of children who spoke English competently as a second language. The figure for those who were monolingual, meanwhile, was 76.1 per cent. The national average stands at 75.5 per cent. More than 90 per cent of 7-year-olds fluent in speaking English as a second language were reaching the required reading level, compared with 86.2 per cent of children who spoke English competently as a second language [File photo] The report said: The results show clearly the average for EAL pupils obscure huge variation, with only 34 per cent of those new to English achieving a good level of development (aged 5), compared to nearly 90 per cent among the one third of EAL pupils rated as competent or above. This has significant implications. For example, the national funding formula includes a fixed element for all EAL pupils in their first three years at school but clearly some of these pupils need substantially more support than others. The low levels of fluency in English in the early years suggest that language support would be most warranted in key stage 1. The earlier a pupil catches up with their language skills, the earlier they can access the curriculum. In later years, support may be needed for fewer pupils. Thoms Bak, a cognitive neuroscientist, said: The realisation that learning languages is a great asset is making its way, albeit slowly, into the general consciousness. Australia may have found the next David Attenborough after hilarious commentary emerged from an epic battle between a kookaburra and a snake. Gold Coast bricklayer Rhys Scott, 27, was working at a house in Brisbane's southern outskirts when he spotted the native Australian bird in the backyard next door, which spotted a meal of what appears to be a green tree snake. Mr Scott pulled out his phone to begin filming and commentating on the fiercely contested showdown. 'F****n' kookaburra's goin' the snake outta' the weep hole It's on like Donkey Kong,' he narrates in the footage obtained by mygc.com.au. 'Oh it's on, it's on. They're battlin' it off.' The kookaburra drags the snake out of the hole in the wall before the slippery serpent gains upper hand when it wraps itself around the kookaburra as another bird watches on. Meanwhile, Mr Scott fancies himself as the next legendary wildlife commentator. 'The kookaburra's goin' down hill. He's got him, he's got him,' the larrikin tradesman commentates. Bricklayer Rhys Scott added some comical commentary to his footage of an epic battle between a kookaburra and snake 'F*****n' David Attenborough at his finest here.' But the kookaburra fights back and ends up getting the last laugh. 'It's on again!,' Mr Scott says. 'Kookie's got him. Right on! Kookie's just chewin him up for lunch, wearin' him like a bib. 'F****n' kookaburra's swallowin' him and the snake's just stranglin' him. Yep, that snake is in his mouth.' Mr Scott then starts cheering on the kookaburra to end the battle and finish its meal. 'Kookie's definitely me favourite. Go kookie!' he says. 'F****n' snake for lunch, thank you very much. You're f*****d ow, chief. Night night.' Unfortunately, Mr Scott couldn't film the end of the battle. 'It went on for like 30 minutes but I had to stop recording and get back to work,' he told myGC.com.au. 'I was annoyed I didn't get the bird taking off with it on camera. That would of made it.' The tradesman said he has seen more snakes in four years of living on the Gold Coast than in four years than growing up in the New South Wales country town of Junee. A pregnant mother-of-three has died three weeks after the stolen high-performance car she was a passenger in smashed into a petrol station. Kiera Forster was in the back seat of the Subaru WRX when the driver lost control on the Pacific Highway south of Newcastle, about 2am on September 21. The 32-year-old was rushed to John Hunter Hospital in a serious but stable condition, however she died on Friday along with her unborn child. Ms Forster is the second pregnant woman to be killed in car accidents in New South Wales in the past fortnight, after the tragic death of Katherine Hoang, 23, who was carrying twins. Kiera Forster, 32, died three weeks after the stolen high-performance car she was in ploughed into a service station The pregnant mother-of-three (one of her children pictured as a baby) was rushed to hospital in a serious but stable condition, however she died on Friday along with her unborn child Ms Forster's brother Dylan, who said she was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of the crash, defended her on social media from criticism about her being in a stolen car. 'I'll stick up for my sister any day, she wasn't a bad person and she didn't do any crime,' he said in response to comments that 'her crime could have killed someone'. 'She didn't steal the car she wasn't driving all she was [was] a passenger, and it did kill someone it killed my sister and that person (the driver) is going to live with that for the rest of their life.' Ms Forster, a mother of two young boys and a girl, was mourned by friends and family who posted online about her tragic death. 'My heart is in a million pieces as one beautiful soul was taken too soon,' her aunt Rose Marks wrote after her death. 'You will never be forgotten and will be truly missed by many, you were one amazing person.' Ms Forster (pictured with her boyfriend) was in the back seat of the Subaru WRX when the driver lost control on the Pacific Highway in Newcastle's south about 2am on September 21 Police said the stolen car lost control in Charlestown near the intersection of Frederick Street and crashed into a service station and an unattended parked car Ms Forster's close friend Giselle Martiniez wrote a moving tribute, saying 'words could not describe the pain' of losing her. 'I'm struggling to imagine life without you, I'm lost I keep hoping it's a bad dream and I'm going [to] wake up now and your (sic) gunna (sic) be here, but your (sic) not,' she wrote. 'You will be forever missed and never forgotten 'cause with memories like ours people will always here (sic) you[r] name. 'I love you baby, you were my best friend... now and forever fly high angel, spread those big white wings.' Police said the stolen car lost control in Charlestown near the intersection of Frederick Street and crashed into a service station and an unattended parked car. The 24-year-old driver from Taree was rushed to hospital alongside Ms Forster and remained there in a stable condition after her death. He has not been charged with a crime. The mother of two young boys and a girl was mourned by friends and family, who earlier made numerous posts online begging her to wake up in hospital Police were continuing investigations and would prepare a report for the coroner after Ms Forster's death Ms Forster's close friend Giselle Martiniez wrote a moving tribute, saying 'words could not describe the pain' of losing her Drivers cannot be charged over the deaths of unborn babies, but NSW is considering changing the law after the death of Ms Hoang and her twins. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would speak to police and the public about 'restarting the conversation'. The government in 2014 tried to implement 'Zoe's Law' that would allow charges of manslaughter for killing foetuses, but it never made it through the upper house. The front-seat passenger, a 22-year-old man, from Gateshead like Ms Forster, suffered minor injuries and was released a short time later. Police were continuing investigations and would prepare a report for the coroner after Ms Forster's death. Ted Cruz made a joke about the Chappaquiddick tragedy in a dig at Congressman Joe Kennedy III who is in Texas to campaign with the Senators Democratic challenger Beto ORourke. By the way, [ORourke] had Joe Kennedy down here campaigning with him, Cruz said on Friday during a campaign event in Houston. And Joe Kennedy was driving him around. I have to admit, it may be the first time in history anyone's ever asked a Kennedy to drive. Cruzs comments were first reported by the Dallas News. Ted Cruz made a joke about the Chappaquiddick tragedy in a dig at Congressman Joe Kennedy III who is in Texas to campaign with the Senators Democratic challenger Beto ORourke Cruz referenced a photo of Kennedy (right) driving ORourke (left) and their wives after the Massachusetts congressman arrived in the Lone Star State to help the Democrat try and pull off the upset in next months election Joe Kennedy III, a congressman from Massachusetts, is the great nephew of the late Senator Ted Kennedy Cruz referenced a photo of Kennedy driving ORourke and their wives after the Massachusetts congressman arrived in the Lone Star State to help the Democrat try and pull off the upset in next months election. Chappaquiddick is the island next to Marthas Vineyard where Kennedys great uncle, the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, drove his car off a bridge and into the ocean with a young woman in the passengers seat in 1969. Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, drowned in the crash. Kennedy managed to swim to shore. He didnt report the crash to authorities for 10 hours. Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He received a two-month suspended sentence. While Kennedy was fortunate he was not sent to prison, the Chappaquiddick incident is believed to have destroyed any chance he had of one day being elected president. Joe Kennedy III released a statement in response to Cruzs joke. Chappaquiddick is the island where Kennedys great uncle, the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, drove his car (above) off a bridge with a young woman in the passengers seat in 1969. Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, drowned in the crash. Kennedy managed to swim to shore Kennedy didnt report the crash to authorities for 10 hours. He pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He received a two-month suspended sentence My uncle fought his entire life to try make sure that everybody got access to health care, the Massachusetts congressman said. And you have a senator that shut down the federal government to try to deny millions of people access to health care. ORourke also responded, saying: That just says everything you need to know about Senator Cruz. ORourke said Friday that he raised more than $38.1million for his Texas Senate campaign in the last three months, a record haul that more than triples rival Ted Cruzs total despite recent polls showing a widening lead for the Republican incumbent. ORourke said the contributions came from 800,000-plus donors nationwide. The El Paso congressman, who has refused support from outside political groups and declined to hire consultants and pollsters, has become a star in national liberal circles. His totals through Sept. 30 shattered the previous quarterly fundraising high for a U.S. Senate race of about $22 million that Rick Lazio notched in 2000, during his unsuccessful bid against then-first lady Hillary Clinton. They also should ensure that the Cruz-ORourke Senate race remains the countrys costliest. This is a historic campaign of people: all people, all the time, everywhere, every single day - thats how were going to win this election, ORourke said in a statement. Cruz and ORourke are set to debate for a second time on Tuesday night in San Antonio. The Democrat is then planning to appear on a CNN townhall from the U.S.-Mexico border city of McAllen that will be carried live on national television Thursday night. Anxiety, I suspect, is the prevailing emotion on the part of any taxpayer attempting to read the political entrails ahead of this years Budget on October 29. Last week, the Financial Times led with a story declaring that Philip Hammond has told officials nothing is off the table, as the Chancellor considers a range of tax increases to help fund Theresa Mays promised 20 billion cash boost to the NHS. Among the options favoured by Hammond, according to the FT, are cutting tax relief on private pensions contributions, delaying the promised raising of income tax thresholds and a controversial shake-up of VAT rules for small companies. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, is set to announce the Budget on Monday, October 29 But how about doing something which wont be controversial? Something which might actually be a popular way to save a colossal sum of money. I realise the cost of this vanity project of a new high-speed South-North railway line is a one-off capital project rather than a recurring fiscal item of the sort Chancellors think about at Budget time. But the sum is vast and comes out of the same pockets. Ours. For some time, the Government has claimed that the project will cost only 56 billion which is itself equivalent to an average of 1,700 from each taxpayer. Honeypot But critics with deep knowledge of massive capital projects have long argued that the real outlay will be of the order of 100 billion, and yesterday, Esther McVey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, was revealed to have told her Cheshire constituents that the final bill could exceed 100 billion. She had said this at a public meeting last November (before she got her current job), at which she attacked the scheme in these words: The cost, we believe, will now be more than 100 billion. Weve written them a blank cheque. Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has told her constituents the HS2 project could now cost the taxpayer 100billion - double the original forecasts The plans for the exterior of the new HS2 interchange at Curzon Street in Birmingham (HS2) And the result of such a blank cheque is a honeypot of public funds for those involved. Almost a quarter of the 1,346 staff currently working on the project are being paid more than 100,000 a year, and 15 of them have salaries over 250,000. I wonder if any of these planners ask themselves: Is my job really necessary? Thats what McVey was driving at, by telling her constituents: When I look at what HS2 is about, I ask: what problem is it trying to solve? That is the fundamental question or mystery. Originally, HS2 was said to be essential to cut the time that businesspeople spent travelling between London and Birmingham. Well, time is money. But 100 billion for 30 minutes off a journey? Especially as those same businesspeople are not sitting just twiddling their thumbs. We can all work efficiently on trains. Why, one can even read documents on them. As this time-saved justification proved increasingly hard to sustain in public debate, the Government switched to a different argument. In 2013, the then Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, declared it had been wrong to justify the project on the grounds that it would save businesspeople time. No, he said, the case should always have been about capacity Unless we take action, by the 2020s the West Coast mainline will be full. So, sceptical opponents of HS2 applied under the Freedom of Information Act to access the Transport Departments own figures for seat utilisation on the line. Ministers tried to block the request, claiming commercial confidentiality, and argued that in any case the figures would add nothing to the debate. On the eve of a High Court judgment in the case, the department backed down. And guess what? The reluctantly released Government figures showed that on long- distance trains leaving the HS2 start-point of London Euston during the peak early evening hours, just 52.5 per cent of the seats were occupied; and on some peak-time trains, the occupancy rate was as low as 34 per cent. The truth is, the British public are hardly short of South-North rail links already. And if it is the North of England which the Government most wishes to benefit (as it claims), then that should be met by a new East-West line the project known as HS3. As Esther McVey pointed out to her constituents at that anti-HS2 meeting: We need services across the North, not high-speed to London. Blighted The other question to be answered is: will the journeys on the HS2 be affordable by anyone other than the affluent? Seven years ago, when Philip Hammond was, as Transport Secretary, asked by a Labour MP whether HS2 would be a rich persons toy unavailable to people of low or moderate means, he replied with his customary tact: Uncomfortable fact No 1 is that the railway is already relatively a rich mans toy the whole railway. But actually, its the rich who should be most concerned about the ballooning HS2 budget, as they will be paying for a huge chunk of it (the top one per cent of earners in the UK pay 27 per cent of all income tax). Some of them have been kicking up: those who have houses in some of the most scenic parts of the country, and whose homes are facing demolition. But they are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones are those whose properties will be blighted but who will receive no recompense. For example, the (far from rich) parents of my friend, Melissa Kite. Melissa wrote in the Mail a few years ago: At the end of their line of pebble-dash houses, the road will be raised high in the air and the railway line sent underneath From living on a quiet road surrounded by fields, my parents will be living below a flyover, and next to a rail line with 250mph trains thundering past every four minutes. The proposed route of the HS2 project Melissas parents will receive not a penny of compensation. The zone officially considered blighted by HS2 must be within 60 metres of the track. Last week, the company running HS2 conceded that the environmental and social impact would be far worse than original estimates. Setting out for the first time the full assessment of those effects, HS2 Ltd admitted that up to 1,740 buildings would be demolished, including 888 homes, and that a further 985 businesses and 27 community facilities would be physically annihilated. Thats the human side of it. Critical But the assessment also conceded that more than 60 irreplaceable ancient woodlands would be partly destroyed, and nine rivers diverted. The Woodland Trust observed: This is far worse than we were expecting. The schemes supporters argue that thousands of jobs will be created by this vast upheaval. Thats true. If you throw 100 billion at any project, it will generate loads of jobs. But if the Government were to leave that 100 billion in the pockets of the taxpayers, we will spend that money, overwhelmingly, in this country and that supports employment, too. And we would be spending that money on what our families actually want. Whats more, it would certainly not involve the destruction of 60 ancient woodlands for a project which even rail enthusiasts regard as completely crazy. A few years ago, the former chairman of Eurostar, Adam Mills, wrote that the claimed economic and social benefits of HS2 were away with the fairies. He added: It would be wiser to spend the money or less on traditional rail enhancements, given the relatively short distances between UK cities. I love high-speed trains. But in economic terms, HS2 is unjustifiable. Youd expect Fiscal Phil Hammond to understand this. But he is the chap who, having been appointed Transport Secretary by David Cameron in 2010, confirmed that the project first approved by the previous Labour administration would go ahead. This was a sop to the construction lobby, after Cameron had pledged not to continue with Labours plans for a new runway at Heathrow. But now the Conservatives are backing the Heathrow expansion, so even that (nakedly political) argument has lost all relevance. This is a critical juncture: the main construction phase of HS2 is just about to start. Far better to admit the error and write off the billions already spent, rather than continue with this monstrous misinvestment of our taxes. A sexy rendezvous between a 'sugar daddy' and a young woman took a violent turn when the man was hit in the head with a tomahawk, a court heard. In the early hours of Friday morning 'sugar baby' Shannon Haynes, 26, arranged to meet a 37-year-old man at a home in Wollongong, south of Sydney. She had signed up to 'Seeking Arrangement' just three days before the violent encounter, The Illawarra Mercury reported. Haynes goes by the name Sienna on the unique dating website, which allows 'sugar babies' and 'sugar daddies' to meet in exchange for money. In the early hours of Friday morning 'sugar baby' Shannon Haynes (pictured) arranged to meet a 37-year-old man at a home in Wollongong, south of Sydney On her profile, the 26-year-old describes herself as a 'fun, smart and sexy blonde bombshell'. She also made clear that she has 'expensive taste' and loves to shop, have expensive dinners and spontaneous holidays. The pair allegedly agreed Haynes would be paid $1000 a week for her services, but the agreement was later changed to $300 per meeting. Police allege they met on Friday morning at a home in Buckland Street, Fernhill, and began to have sex after the 37-year-old man put $300 on the side table. During the encounter, Haynes stopped and repeatedly asked to be paid $1000, but the man refused. He decided to leave, however he was allegedly stopped by the 26-year-old woman and two men who arrived at the house. One of the men was holding a tomahawk and demanded the 'sugar daddy' pay Haynes $1000. An early morning rendezvous between a 'sugar daddy' and a young woman took a violent turn when the man was hit in the head with a tomahawk After saying he didn't have any more money on him, he was hit in the head with the tomahawk, leaving a large wound to the side of his head. He left the house and called police before he rushed to hospital and had his ear stitched up. When police arrived to the house, they found methamphetamine and arrested Haynes on the spot, charging her with demand property by force in company and drug possession. The 26-year-old appeared in court on Friday via video link wearing a dressing gown and with her mother sitting by her side. Haynes goes by the name Sienna on the unique dating website, which allows 'sugar babies' and 'sugar daddies' to meet in exchange for money Legal Aid solicitor, Felicity Jackson, told the court Haynes was a full-time carer for her mother and suffered from anxiety, which would be made worse if in custody. Police prosecutor Sergeant Amelia Wall told the court the allegations against Haynes were serious and if convicted could face prison. Haynes then allegedly yelled out 'Mum, please do something', with her mother replying, 'there's no proof of anything'. Registrar Bruiceen Coulthard denied the 26-year-old bail. The case continues. Advertisement Twenty-five people have been taken to hospitals following a series of crashes involving at least two cars and a bus that crashed through a concrete divider on a Los Angeles highway. Five patients were in serious condition following the collisions shortly after 1pm that shut down all lanes on Interstate 405 in the city's San Fernando Valley area, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said. The 20 others were in fair condition with minor injuries. A total of 40 people were evaluated at the scene, she said. The southbound side of the 405 Freeway in North Hills was still closed down late on Sunday night after a serious bus crash Authorities say 25 people were transported to hospitals with mostly minor injuries following a crash on a Los Angeles highway involving a bus and several cars The emergency services were on hand quickly to help ferry people to hospital for them to receive medical attention A bus slammed into a concrete divider after colliding with other vehicles leaving a mess all over the road Twenty-five people were taken to hospitals, with five listed in serious condition ranging in age from 30 to 88 and all others in fair condition with minor injuries, officials said. These people pictured here, were not so badly hurt The private charter bus was carrying at least 37 people coming from a church event at the Forum in Inglewood 40 people were seen by paramedics after being hurt in the crash leaving them stranded by the side of the road Five patients were in serious condition following the collisions Sunday afternoon on Interstate 405 Firecrews are seen by the side of the road as they deal with the carnage on the busy Los Angeles freeway Most of the wreckage was in southbound lanes. At least one crashed vehicle was on the northbound side before being cleared It appeared as though the bus had turned sideways on the northbound side and then through the divider People were triaged at the side of the road by paramedics and the Los Angeles Fire Department The California Highway Patrol was investigating the cause of the pile-up on the key north-south artery. It wasn't immediately known how many people were on the bus or where it was headed. Television news footage showed a white charter bus marked 'Transit Systems' splayed sideways but upright across southbound lanes in the North Hills neighborhood. Its skid marks indicated it had gone sideways on the northbound side and then through the divider. Television news footage showed a white charter bus marked 'Transit Systems' splayed sideways but upright across southbound lanes in the North Hills neighborhood Southbound lanes remained closed nearly two hours after the initial crash in LA's San Fernando Valley area All of the highway's lanes were closed, backing up traffic for miles on the key north-south artery that runs across Los Angeles The bus's front end was crumpled, and emergency window exits were popped open. An SUV next to it had extensive front-end damage. At least one crashed vehicle was in northbound lanes, which were reopened by about 2:30pm. The southbound side remained closed hours later, backing up traffic for miles. Some motorists stuck in their cars walked off the freeway, apparently in search of toilets or drinks. The patients in serious condition were three women, ages 49, 60 and 88, and two men, ages 30 and 69, Stewart said. Nobody answered at a phone number listed for Los Angeles-based Transit Systems bus company. Dozens of ambulances were required to help 25 people to hospital - five of whom were very seriously hurt A teenage gang member who repeatedly raped a mother in front of her seven-year-old daughter while on a two-day ice binge forced his victim to carry out another sickening act. After the terrifying ordeal, Lorenz Shannyn Mekuli, 17, demanded the 23-year-old mother wipe down the windows to get rid of his fingerprints. Mekuli had used the window to break into the victim's property and presumably wanted to remove any evidence of his presence. Lorenz Shannyn Mekuli (pictured), 17, has been sentenced to eight years in jail for raping a 23-year-old mother in front of her seven-year-old daughter The teenager from Hamilton in New Zealand's North Island has been given an eight year jail sentence. He appeared in Hamilton District Court last Friday where he faced charges for rape, threatening to kill, sexual violation, attempted kidnapping, burglary and assault on a child. The 23-year-old victim told the NZ Herald she was 'really disappointed' with the sentence as it's hard to live a normal life following the ordeal. 'He almost killed me and he almost killed my daughter,' she said. 'I still can't believe that it happened in my own place. How can this happen in New Zealand?' The court heard Mekuli (pictured), then 16, broke into his victim's home through a window that had been left open at about 7am on Saturday April 7 The court heard Mekuli, then 16, broke into his victim's home via the window that had been left open at about 7am on Saturday April 7. After stealing cash, the teenage gang associate made his way into the bedroom where the woman and her seven-year-old daughter were sleeping. He jumped onto the bed and strangled the mother and daughter despite their screams and resistance. Details of the horrific and lengthy attack were revealed in court. Mekuli pulled the woman into the hallway and forced her to remove her clothes. After stealing cash, Mekuli pulled the victim into the hallway and forced her to remove her clothes He raped the woman three times, punched her in the face and ordered her to perform oral sex while her daughter was forced to watch He raped the woman three times, punched her in the face and ordered her to perform oral sex while her daughter was forced to watch. He also performed oral sex on her, Stuff reported. At the end of the sexual violation, the woman was punched in the face a second time and forced to wipe down the window sills to remove Mekuli's fingerprints. The victims managed to escape to a neighbour's house after the teenager demanded he be driven away from the crime scene. Police were called and Mekuli was tracked down six days later. The court heard the teenager had been smoking methamphetamine in the two days before the incident. The court heard the teenager had been smoking methamphetamine in the two days before the incident The 23-year-old victim told the NZ Herald she was 'really disappointed' with the sentence as it's hard to live a normal life following the ordeal Judge Louis Bidois told the court the victim's life had been 'totally destroyed' by the ordeal. Crown prosecutor Louella Dunn said the victim lost confidence and struggled to go about normal activities of life including sleeping, exercising and socialising. Ms Dunn sought a minimum of 14 years in jail claiming the community needed to be protected. 'There is a risk of re-offending. There is a risk to the public,' she said. Defence counsel Sacha Nepe argued for a lower sentence as the teenager endured a tough childhood involving domestic violence and drug use. Mekuli, who showed no remorse for his victim, was sentenced to eight years in jail as the judge allowed a 35 per cent discount for a guilty plea and his youth. The Idaho state conservation official who posted photos of himself smiling alongside wild animals he killed during an African hunt triggered outrage on social media. Ricky Gervais, the British comedian and animal rights advocate, referred to Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer as a pathetic c***. Others on Twitter lashed out at Fischer, who - along with his wife - is seen posing with slaughtered baboons, giraffes, and other hunted game during a recent trip to Namibia. A spokesman for Governor C.L 'Butch' Otter's Jon Hanian told The Idaho Statesman in a story on Friday that the governor's office is looking into the matter involving Fischer. Fischer and his wife shot at least 14 animals in Namibia, according to the photos and descriptions included in an email he sent to more than 100 recipients. Ricky Gervais, the British comedian and animal rights advocate, referred to Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer as a pathetic c*** Fischer posted a picture of a family of baboons he shot dead with a bow and arrow Fischer (pictured) has been severely criticized over his action given that he is a member of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission and his judgement has been called into question Daniel Schneider demanded that Fischer resign because he was 'without any respect for life' Another Twitter user called him 'human garbage' who 'epitomizes the worst of what our species is' Actor Tom Arnold called Fischer 'a big coward' and 'scum of the earth' 'Tweet the governor and demand that this awful man is fired,' tweeted another Twitter user Another Twitter user called Fischer's trip through Africa a 'reign of terror' This Twitter user said Fischer was 'a monster' who was 'adding more tarnish to Idaho' The animals included a giraffe, leopard, impala, sable antelope, waterbuck, kudu, warthog, gemsbok (oryx) and eland. Fischer responded to the criticism by saying he didn't do anything illegal, unethical or immoral. Former commission member Fred Trevey also called on Fischer to resign. But Fischer: 'I didn't do anything illegal. I didn't do anything unethical. I didn't do anything immoral'. Most of the photos with the African animals are posed as standard big game hunting photos of the kind often seen in Idaho with deer, elk and mountain lions. The photo causing some to question Fischer's judgment and ability to remain a commission member is one of him smiling broadly with four dead baboons propped in front of him, blood visible on the abdomen of the smallest baboon. Fischer killed them using a bow and arrows. A spokesman for C.L Butch Otter (pictured) called on Fischer to resign over the hunting trip 'So I shot a whole family of baboons,' Fischer wrote below the photo in the emails he sent. Keith Stonebraker, a former commission member, told the newspaper an apology by Fischer would satisfy him. 'They killed a whole family, including small baboons, and I think that's revolting," Stonebraker said. 'It just puts a bad light on us'. The commission Fischer serves on makes policy decisions concerning Idaho's wildlife, and it often manages game populations through hunting and fishing regulations. Fischer took part in a hunting trip with his wife Namibia, according to the photos and descriptions included in an email he sent to more than 100 recipients Those regulations are intended to require ethical behavior in the pursuit of wildlife. Some of Idaho's policies, such as on wolf and grizzly bear hunting, have been challenged in federal courts. The commission has seven members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Fischer was re-appointed this year, but he needs Senate confirmation. Former commission member Fred Trevey called on Fischer to resign. 'Sportsmanlike behavior is the center pin to maintaining hunting as a socially acceptable activity,' he wrote in an email obtained by the newspaper through a public records request. A man who bashed six penguins to death on a beach has had his sentence increased after his original punishment was appealed. Tasmanian man Joshua Jeffrey, 20, was convicted of animal cruelty in June for a January 2016 incident where he battered six little penguins to death on a beach at Sulphur Creek in Tasmania. His original sentence of 49 hours of community service caused outrage among animal welfare groups, the Mercury reported. Tasmanian man Joshua Jeffrey, 20, (pictured) who was convicted of animal cruelty after bashing six penguins to death on a beach has had his sentence increased after his original punishment was appealed Jeffrey, was convicted of animal cruelty in June for a January 2016 incident in which he battered six little penguins to death on a beach at Sulphur Creek, Tasmania (file photo) The sentence was appealed by the Director of Public Prosecutions on the grounds that it didn't 'reflect community anger and changed attitudes to animal welfare'. On Monday, in the Burnie Supreme Court Justice Stephen Estcourt re-sentenced Jeffrey to 98 hours of community service and two months jail time, which was wholly suspended. 'Community attitudes are important in this case, the original sentences shocked the public conscience,' he said. 'Denunciation is paramount in this case. The nature of offending is such that a suspended sentence is called for and coupled with a significant amount of community service.' In June, the court heard that Jeffrey was drinking on the beach with friends when he attacked and killed the penguins using a stick. An autopsy revealed all six animals had suffered fractured skulls. On Monday, Burnie Supreme Court Justice Stephen Estcourt re-sentenced Jeffrey (pictured) to 98 hours of community service and two months jail, which was wholly suspended The court also heard bystanders on the beach attempted to stop Jeffrey from bludgeoning the animals, but he continued his assault despite their pleas. In 2015, the Tasmanian state government introduced harsher maximum penalties for those convicted of animal cruelty. A person found guilty of aggravated cruelty can be sentenced to up to five years' imprisonment and/or be fined up to $30,000. A person found guilty of aggravated cruelty can be sentenced to up to five years' imprisonment and/or be fined up to $30,000 (file photo) Under the Animal Welfare Act 1993 animal cruelty is defined as 'a person must not do any act, or omit to do any duty, which causes or is likely to cause unreasonable and unjustifiable pain or suffering to an animal'. If you witness acts of animal cruelty you can contact the RSPCA anywhere in Australia. However, to investigate a complaint from Tasmania, RSPCA Inspectors require a reasonable belief that an animal cruelty offence was committed. A woman accused of hiring a bikie kingpin and his henchmen to beat a man over leaked naked photos has been refused bail. Tara Egglestone faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday on multiple charges including aggravated home invasion. The 29-year-old was among seven people who were arrested by police a day earlier as part of a major bikie gang operation, the Herald Sun reported. Egglestone was also charged with aggravated burglary, intentionally causing injury, making threats to kill and unlawful assault. Tara Egglestone (pictured) faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday after she was charged with multiple offences including aggravated home invasion Egglestone is alleged to have planned a revenge attack by hiring Finks bikie boss Brent James 'BJ' Reker (pictured) after naked photos of her were posted online At the time of the alleged offences, Egglestone was on bail for driving offence charges, the court heard. She is alleged to have planned a revenge attack by hiring Finks bikie boss Brent James 'BJ' Reker after the photos were posted online. Reker, 33, is then alleged to have gathered three bikies and entered a home in Hampton Park, Melbourne's south-east, on September 9, armed with a tyre lever and assaulted a man he knew. The court heard Egglestone had made contact with Reker on September 5. She had asked him for retaliation after the naked photos were posted to a Facebook account which had been created in her name, the court heard. 'Despite reporting it (the fraud social media account) to police, the accused took matters into her own hands,' Detective Senior Constable Cassandra Borg, from the anti-bikie Echo Taskforce, told the court. The court heard Egglestone (pictured) was on bail at the time of the alleged offences Reker (pictured), 33, was arrested at his property in Karingal Drive Frankston, last month Listening devices at the Finks clubhouse had recorded Egglestone conspiring with Reker, Sen-Constable Borg told the court. Sen-Constable Borg also told the court Egglestone was seen by police driving by the victim's home on the instruction of Reker. Egglestone was not at the victim's home at the time of the alleged offences but she 'actively aided and abetted', the court heard. Reker was arrested at his property in Karingal Drive, Frankston last month and faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court days later. The offences Reker has been charged with include aggravated home invasion, intention to cause injury, unlawful assault and threats to kill. Frankston man Corey Wanakore-Moeke, 33, has also been charged over the home invasion but he did not apply for bail when he faced court. The trio will be back in court on January 23. A couple and their child had a miracle escape on Sunday after a pine tree crashed on to their tent while they were sleeping. The family, which also included a three-month old baby, were camping at Nanga Brook, located in the Peel region of Western Australia, when the incident occurred at 3.30am. The baby was rushed to Perth Children's Hospital in a serious but stable condition. A Perth family were counting their blessings after a pine tree collapsed on their tent early on Sunday morning - all three survived A pine tree fell on a tent where a family from Western Australia were camping on Sunday - in a minor miracle, all three family members survived A man and woman were taken to Peel Health Campus for treatment, with the father later discharging himself. The mother is also expected to make a full recovery. Police were called to Lane Poole Reserve early on Sunday morning, with reports the trio were trapped inside. Nearby campers quickly came to their assistance, reportedly removing large limbs from the fallen tree off of the family. Sadly, two pet dogs who were also in the tent at the time of the freak accident, died. Lane Poole Reserve in Western Australia (pictured) has long been a popular camping spot for families A Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions spokesperson said the area at Nanga Brook has since been taped off to restrict public access. 'DBCA will continue to work closely with WA Police Force as investigations continue,' the spokesperson said. The Lane-Poole Reserve in Nanga Brook is a 55,000 hectare forest with stands of jarrah, wandoo, marri and blackbutt. An estimated 175,000 visitors spend a day or overnight at the camping venue annually. Former prime minister Tony Abbott has revealed the one thing he would like from his bitter Liberal rival Malcolm Turnbull. Now in New York, Mr Turnbull was earlier this month recorded describing Mr Abbott and another former PM, on the Labor side, Kevin Rudd as 'miserable ghosts'. Asked about those unkind comments made to a youth leadership group, Mr Abbott said he would prefer to remain civil to the man who overthrew him as PM in 2015. Scroll down for audio Former prime minister Tony Abbott (pictured) has revealed the one thing he would like from his Liberal predecessor Malcolm Turnbull Now in New York, Malcolm Turnbull (right with wife Lucy) was recorded describing Mr Abbott and another former PM, on the Labor side, Kevin Rudd as 'miserable ghosts' 'Well, I don't call people names generally speaking, Ray,' he told Sydney radio 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley on Monday. 'I'm not going to engage in a slanging match here.' Mr Abbott did, however, call on Mr Turnbull to endorse the Liberal candidate for his former seat of Wentworth, in Sydney's east, at this Saturday's by-election. 'The one thing that I would like to see from Malcolm this week is a tweet from New York endorsing Dave Sharma,' he said. Mr Abbott did called on Mr Turnbull to endorse the Liberal candidate for his former seat of Wentworth Dave Sharma (right with PM Scott Morrison) ahead of this Saturday's by-election 'I reckon he owes it to the party, and to the people of Wentworth, to give Dave Sharma a solid, clear, personal endorsement.' While Mr Sharma was Mr Turnbull's preferred candidate, the former prime minister has stayed silent since his son Alex Turnbull last week made a Facebook video calling for Wentworth voters to refrain from supporting the Liberal Party. The government is also in danger of losing Wentworth to high-profile independent Dr Kerryn Phelps, in a wealthy electorate the conservative side of politics has held since Federation in 1901. A Voter Choice Project online poll showed Dr Phelps would win the October 20 Wentworth by-election against Mr Sharma, 55.4 per cent to 44.6 per cent, after preferences. The former prime minister has stayed silent since his son Alex Turnbull (pictured) made a Facebook video calling for Wentworth voters to refrain from supporting the Liberal Party While her primary vote of 23.5 per cent was well behind Mr Sharma's 38.8 per cent, she could still get elected with preferences, were she to finish second ahead of Labor. The government would lose its one-seat majority if it lost Wentworth, forcing it to rely on maverick Katter's Australian Party leader Bob Katter, Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie or independent Cathy McGowan to pass legislation and maintain confidence. In another dig at Mr Turnbull, Mr Abbott praised his successor Prime Minister Scott Morrison for helping the Coalition stage another Newspoll recovery, since taking over from Mr Turnbull in August. A Voter Choice Project online poll showed Kerryn Phelps (pictured) would win the October 20 Wentworth by-election against Mr Sharma, 55.4 per cent to 44.6 per cent, after preferences 'I certainly think the government is in better shape now than it was a couple of months ago,' he said. 'The great thing about Prime Minister Scott Morrison is when he addresses a subject, you understand exactly what he means.' A Newspoll released on Monday showed Labor leading the Coalition 53 to 47 per cent after preferences, but it was a better result for the government than a 56 to 44 per cent thrashing recorded in late August, when Mr Turnbull quit as PM. Animal lovers have praised wildlife officials who worked hard for three days to help free a bear whose head got stuck inside a bucket. The helpers in Maryland tracked a black bear cub to tranquilize it and remove the plastic pot that had trapped its face inside. The Cumberland Times-News reported Sunday the 100-pound cub was freed near the Wisp Resort in McHenry during an annual autumn festival. Wildlife and Heritage Service of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources came to the rescue of a 100-pound cub by tracking it for three days before tranquilizing it The Wildlife and Heritage Service of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said in a Facebook post that a crowd of onlookers at the resort was happy to see the little one get back to normal. 'With assistance from the Maryland Natural Resources Police, were able to rescue this 100lb male cub from the bucket that covered his head,' the note from staff read on Facebook. 'A crowd of on-lookers at Wisp Resort were giddy to see the cub safely tranquilized and returned to the nearby woods with the sow and one other cub.' The bear cub was freed near the Wisp Resort in McHenry, Maryland during an annual autumn festival Onlookers at a resort were happy to see the bear be freed with assistance from Maryland Natural Resources Police Calling it 'a great ending to Autumn Glory weekend' many on the social media platform thanked them for the impressive work. One local man even shared a clip of the same furry animal running around outside his home before it was released from the bucket. 'Great job DNR. Here he was off my deck Friday at 6pm. Glad you were able to help little guy,' Paul Morris wrote. Another Facebook user added: 'Wonderful job! Had to be one hungry bear after 3 days with that on his head!' A group of Liberal National MPs have put away more than $45,000 after going on a luxurious five-day getaway to the wine country. Seven current and former members of the Liberal National coalition spent time in the coastal town of Albany, located in Western Australia's picturesque wine district. Five members for regions in Queensland, John-Paul Langbroek, Ray Stevens, Trevor Watts, Tony Perrett and Ian Rickuss went to a gathering of National Party state parliamentarians. Just a four hour drive from the Margaret River, Albany, is known for vineyards, luxurious accommodation and craft beer. A group of Liberal National MPs have put away more than $45,000 after going on a luxurious five-day getaway to the wine country, with them was Trevor Watts (pictured) A group of Liberal National MPs have put away more than $45,000 after going on a luxurious five-day getaway to the wine country, with them was Howard Hobbs (pictured, right) and John-Paul Langbroek (pictured, left) They travelled to the little-known gathering with their wives in tow, The Courier Mail reported. Ann Leahy also made the trip west along with former member Howard Hobbs, who claimed his flight under former MP entitlements. When they got back from the trip, the group of five claimed flights, car hire and accommodation back for the trip. The six current members of parliament claimed the expedition under rules that allow state MPs to claim costs in which they attended meetings of their political parties. Not much is known in regards to the gathering, but a source told the The Courier Mail that it lasted for one day. Mermaid Beach member Mr Stevens managed to return home with a bill of $9457.77. Mr Stevens told the publication the meeting was critically important and gave all that attended invaluable insights. 'Having rural roots with cattle and sheep farming, I am more countrified than many people in the National Party,' he said. Ann Leahy also made the trip west along with former member Howard Hobbs, who claimed his flight under former MP entitlements Queensland Liberal National Party members Tony Perrett (left) and Ian Ruckuss (right) were also in Alnbany 'It was a really good exercise, we came back with the Royalties for the Regions policy.' The Mermaid Beach member said he spent more time than other members as he had more work to undergo, but insists he didn't visit the wine region. Mr Langbroek and Mr Watts both travelled to the area for just four days. Former Liberal National Party leader Mr Langbroek claimed $5687.16 for flights, $810 in daily travel and $676.93 for car hire. Mr Watts claimed $3204.40 for his flights, $1125 in daily travel, $480.65 for car hire and $54.55 in other costs. Mr Rickuss spent the most out of the group, claiming $9784.94 just in expenses over seven days. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to the LNP for comment. A police officer has pleaded guilty to grabbing a woman's crotch at the trance festival Defqon. 1. Constable Mitchell James Willey was off duty and drunk when he indecently assaulted the woman at the rave party in Western Sydney, Daily Telegraph reported. The 26-year-old, who was suspended on full pay over the incident in September 2017, pleaded guilty at Penrith Local Court on Monday. Constable Mitchell James Willey was off duty and drunk when he indecently assaulted the woman at the rave party in Western Sydney Willey's lawyer argued against a conviction. Prosecutor Kate Owens argued that women should feel safe in their day-to-day activities and that 'there's a vocal protest about this kind of behaviour'. Defence barrister Ben Clark said the political movements should not be used as they weren't relevant to his clients case. He said Willey acted in a 'moment of madness'. 'My client is not to be sentenced for being Harvey Weinstein your honour, this is not #MeToo,' he told the court. 'It was momentary, it was brief, it was on the outside of clothing. He obviously got carried away.' At the time of the incident, Willey was apprehended by a senior officer and was requested by the victim to be kicked out. The court heard the accused's relationship with his girlfriend also broke down due to the pressure from the case. Magistrate Geoff Hyatt said he 'couldn't find Willey to be genuinely remorseful', while Ms Owens said he just felt sorry for himself anad the impact it would have on his future, the publication reported. Willey was convicted and sentenced to a two-year community corrections order for his 'reprehensible actions'. Earlier this year a 23-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman died from a suspected overdose. A grandmother let her 20-month-granddaughter be abused by her new boyfriend after he revealed he was sexually obsessed with little girls. The 47-year-old Adelaide woman watched partner, Shane Alan Hartley, 35, sexually abuse the toddler. The woman, who can not be named for legal reasons, was jailed for four years and four months today. Judge Liesl Chapman described the crime as 'unspeakable' and 'abhorrent', Adelaide Now reported. A 47-year-old woman took her 20-month-granddaughter to her new boyfriend Shane Alan Hartley, 35, after he revealed he was sexually obsessed with little girls (stock image) Hartley will spend at least ten years and two months in jail for the abuse of the child and distribution of child exploitation material sent to almost 100 paedophiles around the world. 'Who could have thought a grandmother could let those things be done to her grandchildren?' Judge Chapman asked. 'Yours was the grossest abuse of trust that can be imagined.' The pair met in 2017 and messaged on social media where Hartley told the older woman he was sexually interested in little girls. He asked for sexually explicit photos of the woman's grandchildren, aged 20 months and under 12 months, which she agreed to send. The court heard the grandmother took the 20-month-year-old to Hartley's house in the northern suburbs of Adelaide in August 2017. The toddler was abused so badly that she 'wakes screaming with night terrors, has a violent reaction to nappy changes (and) refuses to enter a room that males are in,' Judge Chapman said The toddler was abused so badly that she 'wakes screaming with night terrors, has a violent reaction to nappy changes (and) refuses to enter a room that males are in,' Judge Chapman said. The judge said it was premeditated as the grandmother willingly took the child to Hartley, knowing that she was going to be sexually abused. Judge Chapman said the parents were not to blame as they were entitled to place their trust in the biological grandmother of the child. Hartley was arrested on August 23, 2017, and police found hundreds of videos and pictures of child exploitation material. They also found evidence he had been posing as a teenage boy in a bid to get naked photos from teenage girls. The grandmother was handed a minimum of four years and four months behind bars. Hartley will spend at least ten years and two months in jail He had been in communication with a mother from New South Wales who sent 120 pictures of her nine-year-old daughter over a two-month period. Hartley, who was already on the sex offenders' register, was declared a serious repeat offender. He was originally sentenced to more than 13 years in jail but it was lowered by a year after he made a testimony against a paedophile from Canada. The grandmother will eligible for parole in December 2021. A woman lay unconscious on the ground in one's of Darwin's busiest streets for more than two hours in broad daylight before she was raped, a court has heard. Rodney Alimankinni, 41, was sentenced to four years and six months in jail after he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting the woman for 45 minutes in the city's CBD December last year. Prosecutor Stephen Geary told the court the woman, 39, had spent the day drinking with family before she caught a bus into the city, The NT News reported. A woman laid unconscious on the ground in one's of Darwin's busiest streets for more than two hours in broad daylight (stock image) She ended up passing out across the road from the Throb nightclub near the corner of Smith and Edmunds streets, where she laid unconscious for more than two hours before nightclub staff alerted police. During the hours she was unconscious a female passer-by stole her skirt. After over two hours of lying on the ground, the assault occurred. Rodney Alimankinni raped his alcohol-inebriated victim for around 45 minutes. Mr Geary told the court the victim would have been noticed by 'hundreds of cars, numerous people that walked past'. 'It's hard to imagine that that would occur in any other major city in Australia, but it occurred here in Darwin,' Mr Geary said. He added the incident was a 'shocking event on so many levels' and argued for a lengthy prison term to be imposed. The victim ended up passing out across the road from the Throb nightclub near the corner of Smith and Edmunds streets Justice Jenny Blokland also found it astonishing no one came to the woman's aid. 'I would like to think anyone who did comprehend what was happening would take some action to protect the victim and to call for police or other help,' she said. Up-market department store David Jones has come up with a solution for the $1 reusable supermarket bags - but it'll cost you $2,120. The Balenciaga Heritage Shopping tote is made of calfskin and costs about the same as three-and-a-half months worth of groceries for the average Australian. David Jones appears to be preparing for increased demand in reusable totes, with Christmas approaching and Coles and Woolworth having banned single-use bags. Up-market department store David Jones has come up with a solution for the $1 reusable supermarket bags - but it'll cost you $2,120 (pictured) David Jones appears to be preparing for increased demand in reusable totes, with Christmas approaching and Coles and Woolworth having banned single-use bags (stock image of Woolies reusable bag) DJs is also stocking a more traditional version of their leather shopping bag, which is actually shaped like the now frowned-upon shopping bags. That bag won't set you back quite as much, but still costs an eye-watering $1,705. The partnership between the luxury brand store and the Spanish designer comes as the leather goods industry fights to stay alive. The luxury bags are similar to the ones Australian designer Deborah Barnet created for fashion label Scanlan Theodore. The bag, which is made from 100 per cent PVC, comes as part of a range of see-through accessories, and is supposed to resemble a traditional grocery bag. The partnership between the luxury brand store (pictured) and the Spanish designer comes as the leather goods industry fights to stay alive On Barnet's website, the $260 (AUD) bag is advertised as being made from recycled PVC and comes in crystal blue, amethyst, brilliant green, ruby and quartz Exports of India's leather, one of the largest parts of the industry, declined by more than 4 per cent between 2016 and 2018. Research firm Euromonitor is forecasting a decline in the Australian luxury leather goods market, with it expected to slow over the next four years to an annual rate of three per cent. Two men were caught laughing as they spiked alcohol in an off-license before forcing a woman to drink it then raping her. Belal Ahmed, 24, and Mizad Miah, 24, picked up the 21-year-old woman and offered to show her around a flat she was interested in renting in Tower Hamlets, London. The pair drove to a shop where they were captured on CCTV dropping MDMA into alcohol while their victim waited in the car. Ahmed then sat next to the victim and forced her to drink the alcohol as he held her nose, before she lost consciousness and they raped her then dumped her at the side of the road in her underwear. Belal Ahmed, 24, (left) has been jailed for 11 years and Mizad Miah, 24, (right) has been jailed for 13 years The pair, who both knew the victim, carried out the assault in Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, in November last year. Shocking CCTV footage from the off-license shows Ahmed and Miah placing something into the alcohol and Ahmed shaking the bottle. When she regained consciousness, the victim found herself sat on the side of the road with just her vest and underwear on with no recollection of how she got there, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. Miah and Ahmed laughed at the victim before they all then got back into the car. Miah drove them around various car parks to retrieve items of the victim's clothing which the pair had discarded during the sexual assaults. She was eventually dropped off at around 3am the following morning in Tower Hamlets and made her way back to a friend's house. The pair drove to a shop where they were captured on CCTV dropping MDMA into alcohol while their victim waited in the car Shocking CCTV footage from the off-license shows Ahmed and Miah placing something into the alcohol and Ahmed shaking the bottle Ahmed then sat next to the victim and forced her to drink the alcohol as he held her nose, before she lost consciousness They raped and sexually assaulted their victim then dumped her at the side of the road in her her underwear The victim reported the incident to police last November. Toxicology results showed that MDMA, was placed in the alcohol which had caused her to pass out. Both men were arrested at Gatwick Airport on 18 November 2017, having returned to the country after holidaying together in Morocco. Miah, 24, from Tower Hamlets, was jailed for 13 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 12 October, after being found guilty of rape, administering a substance with intent to overpower to allow sexual activity, and assault by penetration. Ahmed, 24, also from Tower Hamlets, was jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of administering a substance with intent to overpower to allow sexual activity, and assault by penetration. Police stopped and chatted to a thief as he emptied thousands of pounds worth of tools from a plumber's van then let him drive away. Officers were called to Morden in south London by neighbours concerned about a man acting suspiciously. But they watched as he took tools from Slawek Zareba's vehicle and into his own, before fleeing the scene. CCTV footage shows the thief with his car boot open and full of Mr Zareba's tools CCTV footage shows the thief with his car boot open and full of Mr Zareba's tools on Saturday, October 6. Police arrive and talk to him, before driving off. He then returns some 30 minutes later and carries on emptying the van. Mr Zareba 42, said he has been left unable to work. He told The Sun: 'I was inside my house, completely unaware of what was happening. Officers watched as he took tools from Slawek Zareba's vehicle and into his own, before fleeing the scene 'Instead of quizzing the thief, checking the car registration details or even knocking my door to double-check, they had a talk with him and watched as they let him waltz off into the night.' Mr Zareba said officers have not been back to apologise or investigate evidence at the scene. The Met Police said a man has now been jailed five months. A spokesman for the force said: 'David Walpole, 47, from Mordon, was sentenced on 13 October at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to theft from a motor vehicle. 'Police were called at around 4.56am on Saturday, 6 October to reports of a vehicle being broken into in Morden. 'Officers attended and found a man loading tools from a van into another vehicle. The man gave an explanation for his actions. Police later established the tools had been stolen. An investigation was launched and on Wednesday, 10 October a warrant was executed at a property in Morden. A number of items were recovered.' Luciano de Oliveira was found trapped in the Churrascaria steakhouse in Brazil This is the incredible moment firefighters rescued a thief who almost suffocated after getting trapped inside a steakhouse chimney. Astonishing video captured emergency crews in Machado, south east Brazil, as they lifted Luciano de Oliveira out of the wall after smashing open brickwork. It took rescuers more than four hours to free the trapped 41-year-old who was pulled out head first, covered in oil and soot, and suffering from dehydration and hypothermia. Firefighters rescued a thief who almost suffocated after getting trapped inside a steakhouse chimney in Brazil The Churrascaria steakhouse, situated in a motorway service station, had already closed for business when the trapped man was found. He was only discovered after muffled cries for help were heard by a woman passing the bistro around midnight on Wednesday, October 10. She then called the police, who arrived with the owner to find the man's dirty white socked feet poking out of the bottom of the fireplace. Officers said he is known to them and has a string of convictions for stealing. Police were filmed putting a wooden crate and upturned metal cooking pot underneath the dangling toes to allow the stranded man to ease the strain on his trapped body. Emergency crews in Machado, south east Brazil, lifted Luciano de Oliveira out of the wall after smashing open the brickwork The smokestack, used as a barbecue range, is embedded inside a brick hearth and has a wide aperture at the top tapering to narrow a vent at the bottom. Emergency crews used sledgehammers to break into the difficult to reach area, securing the metal funnel with a rope tied to a nearby window grill to stop it from collapsing. The would-be burglar reportedly climbed onto the roof of the restaurant believing he could enter the premises through the outlet. He slid down the vent but got stuck as it narrowed. 'It's the first time I've seen anyone trapped in a chimney,' said Sergeant Miller Almeida of Alfenas Fire Brigade. 'We don't know how he managed to get onto the roof and into this confined passage. At the beginning we thought we could pull him out from the top but realised the restrictions in the funnel meant we wouldn't be able to dislodge him from above.' Police arrived with the owner to find the man's dirty white socked feet poking out of the bottom of the fireplace after a passing woman heard his cries It took rescuers more than four hours to free the trapped 41-year-old who was pulled out head first and covered in oil and soot Fire crews assessed the situation and decided the only way to rescue Mr de Oliveira was to hack through the brick work inside the kitchen. Sergeant Miller said: 'We had to be careful because there was a risk the chimney would fall down. 'We secured the metal chamber with rope and used sledgehammers to break through the wall then cut a section from the steel to get him out.' Police said the suspect was immediately remorseful and admitted he had entered the restaurant to rob it. 'He confessed he had entered the place to rob it and admitted he had carried out another burglary at a local supermarket the week before,' an officer said. Police said the suspect was immediately remorseful and admitted he entered the restaurant to rob it The would-be thief was taken to Machado Municipal Hospital and will be kept under police guard until his transfer to a detention centre. He is said to be in a serious condition. The steakhouse owner, who didn't want to be named, said despite the gaping hole left in his kitchen wall, he was glad the suspect was rescued alive. 'It appears he forgot he was several weeks too early for Christmas and instead of bearing gifts, he came planning to steal from my establishment,' the businessman said. 'Luckily someone heard his cries otherwise he could have stayed there all night until I opened the following day. If that had happened the outcome could have been fatal.' Some are poisoned and thrown into rivers. Others are shot dead and left to rot in pools of their own blood. Stray dogs in Egypt are being culled by the government amid fears of a public health crisis - but animal activists furious about the policy are gathering momentum. There are 22million stray dogs in the country and each of the past five years has seen increasing numbers of attacks, with 65 people killed by vicious strays in the last year alone, according to government figures. Stray dogs in Egypt are being culled by the government. Pictured: Dogs dead in a river in a photo shared by animals activists There are 22million stray dogs in the country and each of the past five years has seen increasing numbers of attacks. Pictured: Dead dogs in Egypt On Saturday, the government reminded Egyptians that a fatwa (Islamic legal ruling) issued in 2007 allowed the killing of harmful dogs. It said a rabies control plan has been implemented, with vaccinations given out in rural areas, where dog bites transfer the disease via saliva. In the government cull - which kills around 80 per week - the strays are killed by state vets who spray poison on food and serve it to the dogs. Ministers have admitted, though, that sometimes dogs are shot dead by local officials. Campaigners say dogs rarely die in one shot and are left twitching in agony in their final moments. Officially, the bodies are then transported out of the cities for safe burial - but photos of bodies in lakes and on roadsides have raised fears that this is not always the case. Officially, the bodies are then transported out of the cities for safe burial - but photos of bodies in lakes and roadsides have raised fears that this is not always the case Under the government cull - which kills around 80 per week - the strays are killed by state vets who spray poison on food and serve it to the dogs On Saturday, the government reminded Egyptians that a fatwa (Islamic legal ruling) issued in 2007 allowed the killing of harmful dogs Many support the measures and one enthusiastic minister even suggested making the policy profitable by selling the dog meat to Korea for consumption. But campaigners have been rallying against what they see as an increasingly brutal assault on Earth's creatures. Dozens of animal rights groups are gaining followers on social media, able to drum up support by posting graphic images and videos of dogs left to die in the streets which are often shared thousands of times. While some groups say the dogs are 'peaceful' and 'friendly' and say there should be no policy of killing strays, others recognise the need to control the population but advocate a' more humane' policy. A group called the TNR Initiative (Trap, Neuter, and Release) has campaigned for a switch in policy from killing to simply neutering the dogs so they can't breed. Although Egypt has moved on from a stage of mass shooting of dogs from 2007 to 2013, controversy surrounding the dog cull policy is not likely to end soon. Indeed, the government's statement on Saturday emphasising rising number of dog attacks suggest the cull is about to intensify. EU Council President Donald Tusk today admitted the chances of a no deal Brexit are 'more likely than ever before' as the talks hit the buffers. But he urged both sides not to 'give up' and said a Brexit deal always 'seems impossible until it's done'. And he confirmed that Theresa May will make a last-ditch plea to EU leaders to strike a Brexit compromise over dinner on Wednesday night at a Brussels summit. It comes as the PM launched a desperate bid to win over EU leaders tonight embarking on a ring round to urge them to strike a compromise. But in a stormy session of the Commons this afternoon, she also warned there will be no deal unless Brussels drops its Irish border demands. The Prime Minister laid down the marker after she dramatically pulled the plug on a fledgling divorce settlement. She called for 'cool heads' in talks but said the UK will leave the bloc without a deal if the EU sticks to its call for Northern Ireland to be 'carved off' from the rest of the UK. But she faced a barrage of interventions from Remainers and Brexiteers who demanded she radically change her strategy in the final weeks of talks. Boris Johnson - who quit the Cabinet in fury at her Chequers plan - demanded she stands up to Brussels 'bullies' to get a Canada-style trade deal. While arch Remainer and Tory Dominic Grieve warned he would vote against the PM's plans unless they were 'put to the British people again' in a second referendum. EU Council President Donald Tusk (pictured in Poland last week) today admitted that the chances of a no deal Brexit are 'more likely than ever before' as the talks hit the buffers Donald Tusk cloaked his stark warning in conciliatory language - saying that a Brexit deal can still be done In a statement to MPs, the Prime Minister urged 'cool heads' and said the 'broad shape' of a divorce deal was becoming clear Boris Johnson pressed the PM on whether the Irish border 'backstop' would be time-limited DUP leader Arlene Foster (pictured today speaking with Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough, Michael Jackson in Dublin today) is holding showdown Brexit talks with the Irish PM Leo Varadkar today Chief whip Julian Smith raised eyebrows amid the frenzied negotiations last night by posting a photograph of a phone off the hook Mr Tusk cloaked his stark warning that a no deal Brexit is now on the cards in conciliatory language. He tweeted this evening: 'On a Brexit deal: It always seems impossible until it's done. Let us not give up.' In a statement posted online, he added: 'The European Council will start on Wednesday evening with a debate on Brexit. 'I have invited Prime Minister May to address the EU27, giving the UK Government's assessment of the negotiations. Later at 27, we will decide on how to take the negotiations forward, on the basis of a recommendation by our chief negotiator, Michel Barnier. 'As you remember from Salzburg, we wished for maximum progress and results that would lead to a deal in October. 'As things stand today, it has proven to be more complicated than some may have expected. We should nevertheless remain hopeful and determined, as there is good will to continue these talks on both sides. 'But at the same time, responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before.' He added: 'Like the UK, the Commission has started such preparations, and will give us an update during the meeting. 'But let me be absolutely clear. The fact that we are preparing for a no-deal scenario must not, under any circumstances, lead us away from making every effort to reach the best agreement possible, for all sides. 'This is what our state of mind should be at this stage. As someone rightly said: "It always seems impossible until it's done." Let us not give up.' Why can't the UK and EU agree on a Brexit divorce deal? The Irish border is the major sticking point in the Brexit divorce negotiations. The concept of a 'backstop', to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic whatever the future trade relationship, was agreed by both sides in December last year. But they have dramatically different idea on how the mechanism would work. Brussels insists that Northern Ireland should stay under its customs jurisdiction. But Mrs May says that would be unacceptable as it would split up the UK. The PM was thought to be trying to break the deadlock by proposing a new 'backstop' arrangement for the Irish border. The blueprint could mean the whole UK staying in the EU customs union 'temporarily' and accepting regulatory checks between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. But Mrs May was already facing a huge outcry as there was not expected to be any hard end date - with many Cabinet ministers and Tory MPs fearing that in reality it would keep the UK subject to Brussels rules for good. It is understood the EU surprised the UK team by demanding a 'backstop on the backstop' - underpinning the UK proposals with its own original Northern Ireland-only backstop. That would involve customs checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK - effectively imposing a 'border in the Irish Sea'. Government sources said there was a 'real problem' to be overcome. Advertisement Earlier this evening, the PM said she had no choice but to torpedo the draft deal last night after Brussels tried to create a 'backstop to the backstop', she told MPs: 'I could never accept that. 'We have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom.' Mrs May has been ringing round EU leaders including Angela Merkel and Dutch PM Mark Rutte, and will be telephoning the most hawkish - Emmanuel Macron - later. But she is coming under heavy pressure from Eurosceptics including Mr Johnson and the DUP to toughen up her stance further by putting a hard end date on any backstop. In the House this afternoon, Mrs May dodged the issue of an end date, but made clear that any UK-wide customs union put in place would need to be 'temporary' to avoid the country being left 'in limbo'. Yesterday the two sides appeared to be within touching distance of a 'backstop' arrangement to ensure there is no hard Irish border if a broader trade deal does not materialise. The proposals would have seen the whole UK stay in the customs union and accept more regulatory checks. But the compromise abruptly collapsed when it became clear Michel Barnier still wanted the pact underpinned with his original backstop plan - for Northern Ireland to stay within the EU's customs jurisdiction while the rest of the UK leaves. And his demand was today backed by EU Parliament's Brexit steering group, headed by Guy Verhofstadt. They said: 'We have followed very closely the developments of the last 24 hours. 'It is our very strong view that the Withdrawal Agreement must include a workable, legally operational and all-weather backstop for the Ireland/Northern Ireland border fully in line with the Joint Report of last December and the Prime Minister May's letter to President Tusk of 19 March 2018. 'Without such a backstop, the European Parliament would not be in a position to give its consent to the Withdrawal Agreement. 'We reiterate our full support for the chief negotiator and his negotiating strategy.' Upping the stakes today, a senior DUP figure said they believe a no-deal outcome is now 'probably inevitable' due to the intransigence of the EU. Meanwhile, Irish PM Leo Varadkar suggested there would not be any clarity until December. However, leading Tory Eurosceptic Steve Baker claimed the impasse was 'theatre' designed to help Mrs May sell an agreement domestically. Mrs May (pictured in the Commons today) appealed for MPs to hold their nerve as she ran the gauntlet of the Commons in the wake of the debacle Remain supporter and former home secretary Amber Rudd urged Mrs May to work on compromises with the EU 'not just on behalf of the 52 per cent but also on behalf of the 48 per cent', adding: 'It's on behalf of the 100 per cent we need to deliver on leaving the European Union.' Remain-Tory Mr Grieve told Mrs May he would vote against her plans unless they were 'put to the British people again' in a second referendum. Mrs May appealed for MPs to hold their nerve as she ran the gauntlet of the Commons in the wake of the debacle. DUP chief Arlene Foster calls for 'cool heads' in the crisis-hit Brexit talks Arlene Foster (pictured today in Brussels) today called for 'cool heads' in the Brexit talks amid growing fears that Britain will crash out of the bloc without a deal Arlene Foster today called for 'cool heads' in the Brexit talks amid growing fears that Britain will crash out of the bloc without a deal. Theresa May's Brexit plans have reached a crisis after she dramatically pulled the plug on a fledgling divorce settlement over the EU's demands for the Irish backstop. Mrs Foster, leader of the DUP, arrived in Dublin this afternoon where she is holding crunch talks with the Irish PM Leo Varadkar. She repeated her 'blood red' line - saying that a deal which creates new barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK would be totally unacceptable. With Brexit negotiations in turmoil, she said: 'There have to be cool heads in what is a very febrile atmosphere.' And she lashed the EU's 'backstop to a backstop' to the thorny issue of the Irish border, which would leave Northern Ireland tied to the the bloc's customs and some single market rules if no free trade deal is done in time. Mrs Foster - whose ten DUP MPs wield a massive amount of political power as they prop the Tories up in No10 - said: 'Great Britain is our largest market by far and we cannot have barriers.' Advertisement 'We are entering the final stages of these negotiations,' she said. 'This is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail. 'And it is the time for a clear-eyed focus on the few remaining but critical issues that are still to be agreed.' She said the 'vast majority' of the Withdrawal terms were now settled, and there was also 'broad agreement on the structure and scope of the framework for our future relationship'. She also argued that the EU had 'responded positively' to the government's proposals for a UK-wide backstop. But Mrs May added that she would not tolerate the proposals for a 'backstop to the backstop'. 'The EU says there is not time to work out the detail of this UK-wide solution in the next few weeks,' she said. 'So even with the progress we have made, the EU still requires a 'backstop to the backstop' effectively an insurance policy for the insurance policy. 'And they want this to be the Northern Ireland-only solution that they had previously proposed. 'We have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom.' Mrs May also said she needed to be able to 'look the British people in the eye and say this backstop is a temporary solution'. In a nod to Eurosceptic anger at her concessions, she said: 'People are rightly concerned that what is only meant to be temporary could become a permanent limbo with no new relationship between the UK and the EU ever agreed. 'I am clear we are not going to be trapped permanently in a single customs territory unable to do meaningful trade deals. 'So it must be the case, first, that the backstop should not need to come into force. 'Second, that if it does, it must be temporary. 'And third while I do not believe this will be the case - if the EU were not to co-operate on our future relationship, we must be able to ensure that we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely. 'I would not expect this House to agree to a deal unless we have the reassurance that the UK, as a sovereign nation, has this say over our arrangements with the EU.' Hopes were raised that a divorce settlement was close yesterday when Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab made an unscheduled trip to Brussels for talks with Michel Barnier. Mrs May told the Commons that she had to pull the plug on a draft deal after Brussels demanded a 'backstop to the backstop' Mrs May, pictured leaving Downing Street today, is struggling to thrash out a deal with the EU Officials including UK negotiator Olly Robbins were reported to have reached an outline deal, with political approval needed. But after more than an hour of discussions, Mr Barnier emerged to say that 'despite intense efforts' there was still no agreement. Mrs May was thought to be trying to break the deadlock by proposing a new 'backstop' arrangement for the Irish border. What would Theresa May's backstop deal mean? The PM's backstop proposal is designed to ensure there is no hard Irish border. It would see the whole of the UK stay in the customs union 'temporarily' until a wider trade deal is struck. Northern Ireland would effectively remain in the single market to avoid regulatory checks on the border with the Republic. The government's previous plan said that it wanted the UK to stay in the customs union until 2021 'at the latest'. But it is not clear whether the UK would be subject to rules that stop countries striking their own trade deals outside the bloc. It also remains to be seen whether free movement rules would still apply in Northern Ireland. The Common Travel Area already protects movement between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The blueprint would reduce friction on the Irish border but lead to greater checks across the Irish Sea. These would include health and sanitary inspections for animals and animal products. The backstop is designed to fall away when a wider trade pact is agreed - which Mrs May says should be based on her Chequers plan for a 'combined customs territory' with the EU. Advertisement The blueprint could mean the whole UK staying in the EU customs union 'temporarily' and accepting regulatory checks between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. Mrs May was already facing a huge outcry as there was not expected to be any hard end date - with many Cabinet ministers and Tory MPs fearing that in reality it would keep the UK subject to Brussels rules for good. But sources said in the end the breakthrough was prevented by EU's refusal to budge on the carve-out for Northern Ireland. The bloc's version of the backstop would have taken effect if the UK's came to an end or proved to be undeliverable. Mr Johnson renewed his attack on the PM today, demanding she stands up to Brussels 'bullies' to get a Canada-style trade deal. In the Commons, he said: 'Will the Prime Minister confirm, as I think she has just said, that the very latest deadline by which this country will take back control of its tariffsand vary those tariffs independently of Brussels in order to do free trade deals, will be December 2021? 'And if that isn't the deadline could she say what is.' Mrs May replied: 'When we published the temporary customs arrangements proposals back in June we set that point that the expectation would be completed by December 2021. One of the issues we are discussing with the European Union is how we can ensure that we do reflect the temporary nature of the backstop. 'I continue to believe that we should be working to ensure that the backstop does not come into place.' DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said: 'She knows that we cannot support any deal which creates a border of any kind on the Irish sea not my words, the words of Ruth Davidson the leader of the Scottish Conservatives. 'Will she confirm today that a proposed backstop that would see Northern Ireland carved off in the EU customs union and parts of the single market, separated by a border in the Irish Sea from the UK's own internal market could never be accepted by her. DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds warned that his party could not support any deal that created 'a border of any kind in the Irish Sea' 'She has said that today, will she confirm it is single market and customs union the UK leaving the EU together with no part hived off either in the single market or customs union.' The PM replied: When the UK leaves the European Union it will be the UK which leaves the European Union. We will be leaving the European Union together. 'I am very clear there should be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland but as we put forward proposals we can deliver on that and maintain the integrity of our union.' Earlier, Tory former minister Mr Baker sent a message round to MPs in the Brexiteer European Research Group (ERG) saying the clashes with the EU were 'almost certainly theatre' and the government should be 'called out'. 'The markets will gyrate, colleagues will swoon. Terrible threats will be made by those who wish to reverse the result,' he wrote. 'And then at this Council: breakthrough! We can make progress towards a Cheuqers based deal.' The standoff means that meetings between 'sherpas' in Brussels have been cancelled, and UK Government ministers will have no withdrawal plan to approve at Cabinet tomorrow. Progress at a gathering of EU leaders on Wednesday now looks all-but impossible. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said: 'Despite intensive negotiations several key issues remain unresolved. 'I can say that no further negotiations are planned ahead of the European Council.' Government sources said there was a 'very significant problem' to be overcome. A special November meeting had been mooted to sign off the separate political declaration on future trade relations. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab (pictured right in Whitehall today) made an unscheduled dash to Brussels for talks with Michel Barnier (left) but failed to seal a deal DUP leader Arlene Foster is said to believe no deal is the 'most likely outcome' after holding bad-tempered talks with Mr Barnier last week But that might not now happen as Mr Macron has threatened to boycott it if there are not UK concessions on the Irish border. Another sabre-rattling option would be for the EU to turn it into a summit planning for no deal. What is in Theresa May's Brexit blueprint? These are some of the key features of the Chequers plan being pushed by the UK government: A new free trade area in goods, based on a 'common rulebook' of EU regulations necessary. This will require the UK to commit by treaty to match EU rules 'Mobility' rules which will end automatic freedom of movement, but still allow UK and EU citizens to travel without visas for tourism and temporary work. It will also enable businesses to move staff between countries. Continued UK participation in and funding of European agencies covering areas like chemicals, aviation safety and medicines A 'facilitated customs arrangement', removing the need for customs checks at UK-EU ports. It would allow differing UK and EU tariffs on goods from elsewhere in the world to be paid at the border, removing the need for rebates in the vast majority of cases. This is designed to avoid the need for a hard Irish border. But in theory it still allows Britain to sign trade deals. Keeping services - such as banking or legal support - outside of the common rule book, meaning the UK is completely free to set its own regulations. It accepts it will mean less trade in services between the UK and EU. Continued co-operation on energy and transport, a 'common rulebook' on state aid and commitments to maintain high standards of environmental and workplace protections. A security deal allowing continued UK participation in Europol and Eurojust, 'co-ordination' of UK and EU policies on foreign affairs, defence and development. Continued use of the EHIC health insurance card. Advertisement The PM's spokesman said she was speaking to a slew of counterparts from the bloc ahead of the summit. 'She has had, as she does ahead of any European Council summit, conversations with some European leaders in recent days and she will be having more in the days to come,' he said. Ireland's premier Leo Varadkar said that a Brexit deal could be delayed until December. He said that negotiations are still ongoing but admitted that 'no one knows for sure' when an agreement can be reached. Speaking in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said: 'We are at a sensitive phase and I know some people were optimistic about an agreement on the withdrawal protocol this week, I have to say I always thought that was unlikely, I figure November or December the best opportunity for a deal.' Jeremy Hunt admitted the negotiations were going through a 'difficult time' as he attended a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels today. But he added: 'We should remember that a huge amount of progress has been made. 'I think we can get there. Whether we do this week or not, who knows.' Chief whip Julian Smith raised eyebrows last night by tweeting a photograph of a phone off the hook. Although there was no accompanying message, it appeared to be a reference to contacts between the sides being suspended. DUP leader Arlene Foster is said to have left a meeting with Mr Barnier last week convinced that no deal was the 'most likely outcome'. And the party's Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson told the Belfast Newsletter today that he did not believe there was any package on offer that MPs would accept. 'Given the way in which the EU has behaved and the corner they've put Theresa May into, there's no deal which I can see at present which will command a majority in the House of Commons,' he said, 'So it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no deal scenario.' Mrs May was putting a brave face on her Brexit woes on a visit to a charity in London today The DUP's Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson (pictured) said today that he did not believe there was any package on offer that MPs would accept Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney today insisted there could be no hard 'end date' to a border backstop. Arriving in Brussels for meetings, he said that Dublin and the EU simply wanted Mrs May to follow through with agreements already made in March and December. He said: 'A backstop can't be time-limited. That is new, it hasn't been there before. 'Nobody was suggesting in March that a backstop would be time-limited in terms of picking a date in the future as an endpoint for the backstop. 'The backstop will be there unless and until something else is agreed, but unless you have something to replace it well then the backstop needs to be there as an insurance mechanism. 'That is all we are asking for, that's all the Michel Barnier taskforce is also looking for now in terms of legal text.' Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell offered hope to Mrs May's Government, saying he was optimistic a deal could be reached because the alternative would be 'hard' on Britain and the EU. Arriving at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels he said that a deal was unlikely at the EU27 meeting on Wednesday as leaders 'are not going to have a miraculous solution on the spot'. But he added: 'In Europe, agreements never come before the end of the time. We don't have to dramatise, we still have time. We still have one month.' He added: 'We will continue negotiating, it is difficult for me to believe we will not be able to reach an agreement, it is too difficult, too hard, for both parts.' Senior civil servants have told ministers that more of the government's contingency plans for no deal must start being put into effect by the end of the month, according to The Times. Work has already begun on projects such as turning the M26 into a lorry park in case Dover suffers disruption, but other schemes such as stockpiling medicine and getting businesses ready for new customs arrangements must be stepped up. Princess Eugenie's mother today tweeted a picture of her royal wedding outfit at the exact moment the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were having a baby. Kensington Palace officially revealed the pregnancy at 8.40am this morning, on what is the 59th birthday of Eugenie's mother Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. And at that exact time of the announcement, Sarah posted a tweet thanking the designer of her dress for the outfit worn on her daughter's big day last Friday. She then posted three further messages saying how 'proud' she was of her daughter and new son-in-law Jack Brooksbank - but made no mention of Harry and Meghan. Eugenie's father the Duke of York, who wished his ex-wife Sarah a 'very happy day' on her birthday today, also retweeted one of Sarah's tweets featuring Eugenie and Jack. The news of Harry and Meghan's pregnancy was revealed at 8.40am today - and at that exact time, Eugenie's mother Sarah, Duchess of York posted a tweet about her daughter's big day The Duchess of York also posted a series of pictures this morning following Eugenie's wedding She said how 'proud' she was of Jack and Eugenie following their wedding in Windsor on Friday Eugenie is pictured with her father outside St George's Chapel, in another image shared today Prince Andrew also made no mention of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's news. But the Clarence House Twitter account - which represents the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall - did retweet the Kensington Palace baby announcement. Senior royals attending Eugenie's wedding at Windsor Castle last Friday were told by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that they were expecting their first child. It comes after Prince Andrew rejected calls from within Buckingham Palace for a more modest wedding for Eugenie and Jack amid concerns about the public cost. Eugenie and Jack's wedding last Friday was a lavish and star-studded affair, with celebrities from Robbie Williams to Demi Moore and Naomi Campbell to Pixie Geldof. Eugenie's father the Duke of York wished Sarah a 'very happy day' on her birthday today Prince Andrew also retweeted one of Sarah's tweets today featuring Eugenie and Jack Harry and Meghan were wed at the same chapel in another impressive wedding in May, and their news emerged as their first tour outside the UK and Ireland begins. The couple arrived in Sydney today ahead of their hotly-anticipated 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Eugenie's star-studded two-day event garnered huge media attention, but many have questioned whether the minor royal's occasion warranted such extravagance. It is thought royal aides were concerned about public reaction to the extravagant celebrations, which cost the taxpayer 2million, and suggested toning it down. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex speak with the Queen at Windsor Castle last Friday But it was revealed yesterday that Prince Andrew rejected calls from within Buckingham Palace for a more modest wedding for Eugenie and Jack. Palace sources said it was the Duke of York who insisted his daughter take a carriage ride through Windsor, mimicking Harry and Meghan earlier this year. Speaking ahead of Eugenie's wedding last Friday, her father Prince Andrew, Duke of York, talked about how it would be very different to Harry and Meghan's big day. He told ITV's This Morning: 'It will not be the same as the previous one that was held in May. It's not a public wedding, this is meant to be a family wedding. Meghan talks to Princess Anne at Eugenie and Jack's wedding at St George's Chapel last Friday 'There will be a few more people than most people have. There are a few more than Harry had but that's just the nature of Eugenie and Jack. 'They've got so many friends and they need a church of that size to fit them all in.' Minor royal weddings in the past have been short and held in private - a stark contrast to celebrations over the weekend. Among them was when Princess Margaret's daughter Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, the Queen's niece, tied the knot to Daniel Chatto in 1994. The Duchess of Cambridge talks to Harry and Meghan at the wedding in Windsor last week The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the wedding at St George's Chapel in Windsor last Friday Their service at St Stephen Walbrook Church in the City of London lasted just 30 minutes and 200 guests were invited. But Eugenie handed out 1,400 invitations. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be 'delighted' for Harry and Meghan. Doria Ragland, the mother of the duchess, is 'very happy about this lovely news' and 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild'. A Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Meghan and Harry leave St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle after their wedding in May Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel last Friday 'Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.' Last Friday, Eugenie shared two shy kisses on the West Steps of St George's Chapel with her new husband Jack after their lavish royal wedding ceremony. The couple tentatively performed the kisses for the cameras on the steps, which were decorated with masses of autumn flowers and lined with Grenadier Guards. After their afternoon reception in Windsor Castle, Jack drove Eugenie away in a silver DB10 Aston Martin sports car. The wedding drew in a peak of 3.9million on ITV. Piers Morgan accused a white poppy peace campaigner of wanting to honour dead Nazi soldiers and ISIS fighters in a furious TV debate about Remembrance Day. Symon Hill of the Peace Pledge Union and Timur Coskun of Cambridge University's Conservative Association went on Good Morning Britain to discuss a recent row about Remembrance Day on campus. But the interview became heated when GMB host Piers probed Mr Hill on his views on who should be remembered by the British Legion's annual poppy appeal. Mr Hill said he believed everyone who suffers in conflict should be remembered on November 11, but Piers demanded to know whether that should include fallen Nazi soldiers and ISIS jihadis. The presenter also wanted to know whether his pacifist views meant he believes the Second World War was not justified and Britain should not have fought against Hitler. Mr Hill wears a white poppy instead of a red one on Remembrance Day as a symbol of pacifism. Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan got into a furious row with white poppy peace campaigner Symon Hill over his views on Remembrance Day this morning His appearance on GMB comes after St John's Ambulance service workers were granted permission to wear the white poppy on November 11 for the first time. The move is controversial as the ambulance service's history is tightly wrapped up in the First World War battle at The Somme in France. Piers asked Mr Hill: 'I'm talking about the Second World War, were we right to defend ourselves?' Mr Hill tried to respond but he demanded to know: 'Was the Second World War justified? The peace campaigner said he would have urged the British Government not to sell arms to fascist states trying to invade Europe in the 1930s. But Piers carried on: 'How else do you fight fascism, if they're armed to the teeth and they're invading Europe, how do you defeat them without military force? 'Was Britain's decision to go to war against Adolf Hitler and the Nazis to stop them invading this country and taking us over and turning us into fascists justified or not? 'Why can't you say yes or no?' Mr Hill had explained his grandfather fought for the British Army in the Second World War - so he is remembered by the British Legion. But if he had fought in the German Army, he would not have been honoured on November 11 in the UK, because he is not British. He said he believes all people should be remembered on Remembrance Day - not just British soldiers. But a frustrated Piers said that would mean British people remembering Nazi soldiers and ISIS fighters who committed atrocities before being killed. He asked Mr Hill: 'Do you say you want to remember all soldiers who lose their lives in conflict, would that extend for argument's sake to ISIS soldiers? Mr Hill replied: 'I think that's a red herring.' The white poppy: Controversial from the start Some veterans believe the white poppy undermines the lasting meaning of the red one The White Poppy was first introduced by the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1933 and was intended as a lasting symbol for peace and an end to all wars. It was was produced by the Co-operative Wholesale Society because the Royal British Legion had refused to be associated with its manufacture. But many veterans felt that its significance undermined their contribution and the lasting meaning of the red poppy. Such was the seriousness of this issue that some women lost their jobs in the 1930s for wearing white poppies. The Peace Pledge Union (PPU), meanwhile, which began producing and distributing the white poppy in association with the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1934 after falling out with the Legion over the wording of the tribute. Advertisement But Piers interrupted: 'It's actually fundamental. You said your objection to this motion was because it doesn't extend to people on all sides of conflict. 'Does your belief extend to ISIS soldiers in the battlefield? Do you say they should be honoured on Remembrance Day?' Mr Hill furiously denied wanting to honour ISIS soldiers. But Piers accused him of having 'warped priorities'. Mr Hill added: 'I don't want to honour them, no. I want to remember the realities of war. But Piers continued to probe him further, saying: 'So you've eliminated them, would you include Nazis?' Mr Hill said the presenter was 'going off on a tangent', to which he responded: 'No what I'm fundamentally doing is picking holes in your logic. Mr Hill was accompanied on the show by Timur Coskun of Cambridge University's Conservative Association (pictured) who backed a motion to promote Remembrance Day on campus 'You object to this [Cambridge University] motion because somehow it glorifies war and you want to remember everyone, but you don't want to honour ISIS soldiers or the Nazis. 'So you do have limits. Do you want to remember Nazis?' Mr Hill said no, explaining that he wants to remember British civilians - not just British soldiers like the British Legion and its poppy appeal. But Piers said there were other ways to remember British civilians who have died in conflict and that Remembrance Day is about acknowledging British sacrifices made at war. Mr Hill was accompanied on the show by Timur Coskun of Cambridge University's Conservative Association, who backed a motion to promote Remembrance Day on campus. The motion was rejected over fears it glorifies war and focuses only on British soldiers and not others. Students who voted against the motion received death threats over their views. On GMB Mr Coskun said Mr Hill could not respond to Piers's questions is because he could not admit the 'the reason we can have this debate today is because of the sacrifices our British veterans have made'. Piers confessed he had a 'vested interest' in the debate as his brother is currently serving abroad as a British Army colonel. He asked Mr Hill again: 'If another Adolf Hitler came along tomorrow and built up another military arsenal like he had with the Nazis. Would you fight back? 'What would you do if they started killing people and exterminating Jews? How would you fight them without military force?' Mr Hill branded the debate 'ridiculous'. Piers Morgan is pictured on Good Morning Britain with Timur Coskun (pictured second right) and Symon Hill (centre right) and fellow host Susanna Reid 'You invited me on to talk about Remembrance Day, and Remembrance Day is about remembering the suffering from war so we can learn from the past.' But Piers ended the interview, saying: 'You want to remember the suffering of ISIS soldiers. I think your priorities are completely warped. 'You have no answer. Nobody likes war. But you actually have to defend yourself. 'You're more concerned about recognising the suffering of ISIS supporters than you are about endorsing a motion which reminds British students of the sacrifices made by British soldiers in warfare.' Mr Hill's organisation the PPU has welcomed the introduction of the white poppy among St John Ambulance service workers. He said: 'We're pleased that St John Ambulance has recognised that many people wish to remember victims of war without the military associations of the red poppy. 'How we remember the past affects how we live in the present. It is vital that we value non-British lives, and civilian lives, as much as the lives of British military personnel. 'Remembrance is an important and sensitive topic and we need to listen to each other's perspectives.' The change came after Simone Ramacci, a St John Ambulance volunteer and PPU member who lives in Colchester, Essex, asked to be allowed to wear a white poppy while on duty. He said he 'could not in good conscience wear the red poppy'. 'I hope more organisations will follow St John Ambulance's lead in becoming more inclusive,' he added. Ann Cable, chief volunteer at St John Ambulance, said 'valid' concerns about the commemoration of war had been raised. She added: 'Whilst many volunteers do choose to wear a red poppy, we realise this is not the case for everyone and there are a few types of poppy, not only red and white, that are increasingly widely recognised and worn in the UK during the remembrance period.' The PPU believes the white poppy represents 'remembrance for all victims of war of all nationalities, a commitment to peace and a rejection of attempts to glamorise war', according to a statement. By contrast, red British Legion poppies 'commemorate only British and allied armed forces personnel', it adds. Red poppies were first worn commemoratively in Britain in 1921, whereas the white poppy was first sold by the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1933. St John Ambulance supports hundreds of remembrance events and also provides free first aid cover for the parade at the Cenotaph in London's Whitehall. Chancellor Angela Merkel and her fragile left-right coalition could become even more unstable after the paruffered humiliating results in an election in the southern state of Bavaria. Merkel's conservative sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) slumped to their worst election results in almost 70 years and her junior coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), saw support in Bavaria halved. German newspapers have today warned of 'turbulence' following the election result, saying it may spread and 'sweep away' Merkel's coalition government. Fighting for survival: German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party headquarters in Berlin today 'It's gonna be turbulent,' headlined the Die Welt newspaper. 'The result in Bavaria is a vote against the grand coalition in Berlin.' The Sueddeutsche daily commented that Merkel's alliance faces 'a fight for its survival', following the dramatic losses of the 'so-called people's parties' as big-tent political groupings are known in Germany. Spiegel Online commented that although 'the epicentre of the political earthquake was in Bavaria ... the tidal wave could sweep away the federal government'. The CSU, which has ruled the wealthy southern state almost single-handedly since the 1960s, is projected to lose its absolute majority after dropping more than 10 percentage points to register around 37 per cent of the vote. The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) won its first seats in the Bavarian parliament, scoring more than 10 per cent in spite of the CSU's efforts to fend it off with a hardline stance on immigration and law and order. The SPD, who are Merkel's coalition partners in Berlin, also slumped to a historic low with barely 10 per cent, as the Greens doubled their vote share to leapfrog them in second. Members of the Christian Social Union await the results in Munich, as the ruling party slumped to a historic low in state elections in a result which piles further pressure on Angela Merkel Alice Weidel and Katrin Ebner-Steiner of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) react after the announcement of the first exit polls in Bavaria on Sunday evening Green Party leaders Robert Habeck, centre, and Anton Hofreiter, right, react to the exit polls after their party surged into second place in Bavaria's state elections on Sunday The punishing results for the CSU and SPD were widely seen as a rejection of months of ugly infighting, mostly about immigration, between the parties in Merkel's uneasy left-right 'grand coalition'. The CSU's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has harshly criticised Merkel and the labour party SPD over their more liberal stance on immigration, repeatedly bringing their fragile alliance to the brink of collapse. The battles this summer, one centred on securing German borders against asylum seekers, have distracted Merkel's fourth-term government which took half a year to cobble together after inconclusive September 2017 elections. The results also signalled a failure for the CSU's efforts to maintain its dominant position in Bavaria in the face of the AfD's hardline rhetoric. 'Of course today is not an easy day for the CSU. We did not achieve a good result,' CSU state leader Markus Soeder told a gathering of his party. 'We accept the result with humility,' he said, adding that the CSU - which will need a coalition partner - nonetheless wanted to form a stable government as soon as possible. Since Germany's mass migrant influx of 2015, the CSU has hardened its folksy beer hall brand with an increasingly aggressive anti-immigration and law and order rhetoric intended to stop its voters drifting to the AfD. Bavaria became Germany's frontline state for a mass influx of mostly Muslim refugees and migrants, half of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. During the campaign the CSU has promoted crucifixes in school classrooms and opposed Islamic veils in public. At the national level, its Interior Minister Horst Seehofer became Merkel's harshest internal critic, echoing the AfD's rhetoric about the more than one million refugee and migrant arrivals. The poll result on Sunday showed that the tactic - and Seehofer's brinkmanship in Berlin, including threats to resign - have backfired badly. Following Sunday's results Seehofer, 69, said: 'It was not a nice day for us', but both he and Soeder have indicated they will stay in their jobs. AfD chair Alice Weidel (left) drinks beer with fellow party members after their party entered the Bavarian state parliament for the first time and was projected to reach over 10 per cent Leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) Horst Seehofer - a rival of the Bavarian state premier - reacts to the first exit poll in the state elections on Sunday Top candidate of the Green party in Bavaria Ludwig Hartmann and co-leader of the Greens Robert Habeck celebrate with their supporters following a surge in support Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder gives a TV interview to journalist Bettina Schausten Soeder has recently pointed to turbulent 'Berlin politics' for the CSU's poor outlook, suggesting he is likely to point the blame at longtime rival Seehofer. The exit polls leave them on course for their worst result in a Bavarian state election since 1950, while the AfD - which had never previously competed in one - are now represented in 15 of Germany's 16 state parliaments. Profiting from the refugee backlash, the AfD took millions of votes in last year's general election to weaken all the mainstream parties. The Free Voters, a protest party who could form a coalition with the CSU, were projected to come third in Sunday's Bavarian election with 11.5 per cent. The Greens, who are also regarded as a possible coalition partner, more than doubled their share and attracted support from more liberal CSU voters. 'If you copy the far right, you lose,' said the Greens' national co-leader Annalena Baerbock. The coalition arithmetic may hinge on whether the FDP clears the five per cent threshold to be eligible for seats, which was not certain from early exit polls. For Merkel, who was largely spurned by the CSU during the campaign, the results will heighten tensions in her fragile coalition. State premier Markus Soeder, left, shakes hands with Hubert Aiwanger of the Free Voters, who were projected to come third and could form a coalition with the weakened CSU Markus Soeder (second right) speaks on German television after the results were announced Supporters of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) look dejected as they watch exit polls at the Bavarian state parliament in Munich. Their party slumped to a historic low in the election A screen shows the first projections according to German broadcaster ARD, with the CSU remaining in first place but losing its absolute majority with its lowest share for 68 years Members of the Christian Social Union Party (CSU) react after the announcement of the first exit polls in the Bavarian state elections which saw the party suffer record losses She forged the 'grand coalition' between her CDU - allied to the CSU - and the reluctant SPD after months of talks following the last nationwide election in 2017. Across Germany, support for the CDU-CSU conservative union has dropped to an all-time low of 26 percent, according to a recent poll. The 'bitter' losses in Bavaria reflect voter dismay over recent coalition infighting in Berlin, conceded the CDU's general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. SPD leader Andrea Nahles conceded a 'bad result for the SPD ... and for all mainstream parties' that she said was partially due to 'the bad performance of the grand coalition in Berlin'. For the SPD, who are projected to come fifth, the result is a further humiliation after they slumped to barely 20 per cent of the vote at last year's federal election. A poll by public broadcaster ARD showed that most voters blame Berlin-based politicians for the CSU's poor performance. Angela Merkel's arch-conservative CSU allies suffered heavy losses in Bavaria Sunday - a result which will pile further pressure on her coalition. She is pictured in Berlin last week German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer attends a television debate to comment on the results of the the regional elections. He has said he will stay on as leader of the CSU Volunteers count the votes in Bavaria's state elections in Munich on Sunday evening CSU state premier Markus Soeder (pictured), 51, as he cast his ballot amid high turnout from the 9.5 million eligible voters. His party slumped to its worst result for 68 years Electoral officials sort ballot papers in Munich after the conclusion of voting in Bavaria People dressed in typical Bavarian clothes cast their votes for regional elections in Bavaria at a polling station in Neukirchen, southern Germany While 56 per cent saw Seehofer as the chief culprit, 24 per cent pointed to Merkel, followed by Soeder at eight per cent. Seehofer has already declared he intends to stay on and 'complete my mission' as interior minister. Another breakdown suggested that the Greens had come first in towns and cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Early results showed them in the lead in Munich, the state's largest city. Early results suggested the turnout, at 72 per cent, was the highest in a Bavarian state election since 1982. It comes just two weeks before another dangerous vote, in the central state of Hesse, and ahead of a December Christian Democrats (CDU) congress where Merkel plans to run again as party chief. 'Merkel knows, no matter the election outcome, uncomfortable times lie ahead,' said the Sueddeutsche newspaper, predicting that a 'humiliated CSU will be looking for culprits ... and the name Angela Merkel will certainly fall'. Merkel has been largely absent from the CSU election campaign, which in its final rally on Friday invited instead Austria's right-wing Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. In a classroom in the South African township of Soweto, girls listen carefully, knowing they need to learn how to avoid the threat of rape that hangs over their daily lives. 'You are going to pretend that it is the rapist's testicles,' says trainer Dimakatso Monokoli, holding out a padded target. An 11-year-old girl charges without flinching and delivers a powerful knee slam. It is part of a day of self-defence and rape avoidance strategies taught at the Thabisang school, where chairs and desks have been pushed back to the pink walls of the classroom. South African girls as young as 11 (pictured) are taught self defence in classes designed to help them avoid the threat of rape Girls practice self defense during a session with Action (ABS), a South African charity that works with schools to educate girls in self-defence Official statistics suggest that more than 110 rapes are recorded by the police every day in South Africa. But such numbers are widely seen as inaccurate due to under-reporting. Some studies suggest only one in 13 rapes is reported to the police. Recent news stories have triggered fresh horror among South Africans over the prevalence of rape. In September, a 17-year-old was raped in a hospital maternity ward by a man pretending to be a doctor one day after she had given birth. Around the same time, a seven-year-old girl was raped in the toilets of a popular chain restaurant in the capital Pretoria, with a video footage emerging of the naked man moments after the attack. For the African National Congress Women's League, drastic action is needed. Action Breaks Silence has already worked with 13,000 children some as young as 11 Official statistics suggest that more than 110 rapes are recorded by the police every day in South Africa 'We have tried our best... there's nothing that seems to lower (the number of attacks). Hence, we are calling for chemical castration,' ANCWL secretary general Meokgo Matuba said after the two rapes. Back in another classroom in Soweto, Monokoli teaches not only self-defence, but how girls can read and react to potentially risky situations. 'Don't ever, ever make the mistake of being in the same room as someone you don't feel comfortable with because your guts have warned you,' she says. 'They have sent a message - you are not supposed to be alone with that person.' If you are attacked, she says: 'Scream as much as you can.' Monokoli works for Action Breaks Silence (ABS), a South African charity that works with schools to educate girls in self-defence. As South Africa's political class struggles to address the rape epidemic, young girls are taught to protect themselves. It also runs a 'Hero Empathy' programme for boys to try to preempt abusive and violent behaviour. ABS founder Debi Steven was herself raped as a child, and has spent decades teaching and advising at schools and companies. 'Violence has been normalised in South Africa,' she told AFP. 'There is so much rape that people have become desensitised to it.' She advocates a mix of self-defence training with mental awareness. ABS also works with young boys to talk about their feelings and develop empathy In many cases, sexual violence is committed by relatives or people known to the victim 'The self-defence gives girls the confidence to set boundaries,' she said. 'If I have an education about what is wrong and right, I know what abuses it, and I am going to identify the minute you start abusing me emotionally, physically, sexually, financially.' In many cases, sexual violence is committed by relatives or people known to the victim. Steven says two women are murdered every day by their partners or former partners in South Africa. In the classroom, the girls - wearing their blue school uniform and long socks - giggle occasionally but the atmosphere is serious and focused. 'We are going to teach you how to fight smart, without strength,' one male instructor tells them, pointing out they can always 'rip off the ears and nostrils.' The boys are given role play games to perform and share their own stories of abuse And the lessons seem to have sunk in. 'We are warriors,' says Nonkululeko, an energetic 11-year-old. 'I have this amazing drug in me, adrenaline, that helps you fight. It helps you to do almost the impossible.' The classes are often cathartic, with pupils occasionally sharing with instructors their own stories of abuse they have suffered. At another Soweto school, boys in the 'Hero Empathy' programme run through roleplay games that encourage them to show emotions and develop empathy for other people's feelings. The classes are often cathartic, with pupils occasionally sharing with instructors their own stories of abuse they have suffered ABS has taught over 13,000 children, and its impact has impressed the government health ministry They have to act out moods such as anger or sadness while their classmates try to guess how they feel - not always successfully. 'In an African community, it is often taught that boys (should not) show emotions. When you show emotions, it is like a sign of weakness,' said instructor Isaac Mkhize. ABS has taught over 13,000 children, and its impact has impressed the government health ministry, which has asked the charity to train 160 new staff. One mother, Mali Masondo, explained how deeply the fear of rape is embedded in the daily lives of children and families. 'You don't know who to trust, who to love and who to care for,' she said. 'Sometimes you don't even allow people to love your kids as they wish because every time you think of the negative side.' Senior MI5 chiefs actively discriminated against black people during the 1960s, according to declassified files. Senior officials at the security service would refuse to recruit black spies and believed the ethnic minority group could not be trusted in such roles, according to the documents. Professor Dan Lomas found the files after looking through papers from the interdepartmental committee on security. The lecturer of international history from the University of Salford found the information while looking at documents that existed during the 1960s. Senior MI5 officials actively discriminated against black people during the 1960s according to declassified files discovered by University of Salford Professor Dan Lomas (above) The papers show how employers could refuse employment to a person on the grounds of one's skin colour. Professor Lomas said there had been no reference of the security risks they felt black people posed in their official documents before now. He said that the exclusive papers show how bosses saw a person's skin colour as a security issue. The professor told the Guardian: 'The discussions around new legislation on racial discrimination being introduced in the 1960s seem to have presented a threat to the established, but unspoken, rule that black people risked national security.' The information follows the criticism UK spy agencies received earlier this year for their lack of black staff and leaders. Former MI5 director general Sir Martin Furnival (left) Jones qualified as a solicitor before joining the Service in 1941. The current Director General of MI5 Andrew Parker (right) told the Guardian that: 'It is essential to our success that ours is an inclusive workplace offering varied, rewarding and challenging careers for all' The minutes from a Cabinet Office meeting, two years before Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood speech', reveal MI5's concerns about those living in the UK under the 1948 British Nationality Act and in allowing ethnic minorites to apply for top posts. Minutes from the meeting , also attended by the then MI5 director general, Martin Furnival Jones, showed MI5 believed the colour of a mans skin gave him 'a chip on his shoulder'. According to the Guardian, Furnival Jones told the committee: 'It must be assumed that the communist intelligence services were fully aware of the possibilities of recruiting agents from among disaffected coloured people in this country.' From 2016-2017 neither the MI6 or MI5 recruited black, Asian or people from a ethnic backgrounds into top posts. The current MI5 director general, Andrew Parker told the Guardian that: 'It is essential to our success that ours is an inclusive workplace offering varied, rewarding and challenging careers for all.' At least ten people, including an 88-year-old nun, have been killed in flash floods in southwest France, after several months worth of rain fell in just a few hours last night. One person remains missing and eight others are seriously hurt after flash floods tore through towns in the Aude region, turning streams into raging torrents. Local authorities in the Aude department said ten people were killed, down from a previous toll of 13 dead given by the interior ministry. President Emmanuel Macron, whose office said he will soon visit the affected areas, offered 'the sympathy and solidarity of the entire nation for the victims of the Aude flooding and their families.' Scroll down for video Damage: Residents stand by a broken bridge on the river Trapel following floods in Villegailhenc, near Carcassone, southern France Under water: This photo shows the city of Trebes, near Carcassone, southern France, on Monday following the storm and flooding overnight A car park outside a supermarket in Trebes is completely under water today In the worst hit areas, waters rose as high as the first-floor windows of some houses, and at least one victim was swept away by raging waters while sleeping. The elderly nun was swept from her room by floodwaters at the Burning Bush priory in the village of Villardonnel, north of the fortress city of Carcassonne. 'The water crashed through the building's main door and on through the door to her room, the lowest in the convent,' said Sister Irene, the mother superior. 'It carried away her furniture which ended up on the veranda. ' Elsewhere, flash floods overturned cars, ripped up streets and battered buildings and bridges, especially to the north of Carcassonne where authorities ordered bridges closed because of the rising Aude river. Rescued: A firefighter helps a young person get down a flooded street in Trebes, near Carcassone, southern France Residents stand by a car swept away by floods in Villegailhenc, near Carcassone Firefighters walk in a flooded street during a rescue operation in Trebes, near Carcassone As the emergency intensified, villages and towns with up to 2,000 residents were being evacuated. Four people died in the small town of Villegailhenc which was cut in two by a raging torrent of muddy water. In Villegailhenc, witness Ines Siguet said the waters rose so quickly that people were stranded on the roofs of their homes and were helicoptered to safety. She posted video of the ripped-up road where the bridge used to be, with the town now cut in half. 'There's nothing left, there's just a hole,' she told The Associated Press in a phone interview. 'It was very violent.' Tragedy: Six people died following overnight storm and flash floods in the Aude department in southern France, authorities said Casualties: A Catholic nun is among the six people killed. Pictured is Villegailhenc where the Trapel river burst its banks following heavy rains A resident shows how high the water reached before subsiding in Villegailhenc, near Carcassone, southern France Other roads also were flooded, leaving the town cut off, said the 17-year-old whose school was closed. Video footage from the area sees villagers evacuated by a helicopter. As helicopters hovered overheard, Aude prefect Alain Thirion said worsening weather was hampering rescue operations. 'People are stranded on rooftops and can't go anywhere,' said Mr Thirion. Houses are seen at a flood-damaged area in Villegailhenc, France This photo from Villemoustaussou, near Carcassone, shows a car and other debris swept away by floods A car is seen in a sinkhole after the night's flash flooding 'We're going to have to use aircraft to evacuate them because we cannot reach them by boat, given the force of the water. It's much too dangerous.' Mr Thiron said one river rose by more than 20 feet and that floodwaters were in some cases too powerful for the emergency services to get through. Water levels were expected to continue to rise in the area on Monday, with rain forecast until late in the morning. Schools in the Aude area were closed and residents were told to stay at home. Torrential rains are not uncommon in France at this time of year, but meteorologists said an exceptionally warm Mediterranean was intensifying the rains. The safety of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have been at risk as they touched down in Sydney on Monday amid revelations NSW Police are wildly understaffed. The counter-terrorism unit is in need of at least 40 more officers, according to an alarming announcement made on Monday in the wake of the royal couple's arrival. The Police Association has called on the government to recognise the urgency of the situation created by the dramatic shortage and allocate resources accordingly. The safety of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured) may have been at risk as they touched down in Sydney on Monday amid revelations NSW Police are wildly understaffed The elite counter-terrorism unit is in dire need of officers, according to an alarming announcement made on Monday in the wake of the Royal couple's arrival 'Large numbers are needed to keep the community safe. The government needs to commit to putting more resources into this area of counter-terrorism,' Police Association president Tony King told Seven News. The desperate need for more officers has been highlighted during Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's first international tour ahead of the Invictus Games. The event, created by Prince Harry for wounded servicemen, is due to kick off in Sydney on Saturday and will attract visitors from around the world. But it seems authorities are seriously unprepared ahead of the seven-day sporting calendar, potentially putting the safety of locals and visiting athletes in jeopardy. The desperate need for more officers has been highlighted during Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's first international tour and ahead of the Invictus Games (detectives pictured) Mr King said the shortage was the result of officers being pulled from local area commands to work in squads 'addressing crime trends and crime hotspots'. 'The spots are there for them, but the officers are not assigned. They're performing other duties than in the commands,' Mr Kind told Sky News. He added the shortages could only be amended if officers were replacing those that were removed from commands to work in special squads. News of the officer shortage in counter-terrorism followed an announcement at least 2500 more police were needed to adequately protect the state. A British test pilot has made history by performing a rolling landing with an F-35 stealth fighter onto the deck of an aircraft carrier Peter 'Wizzer Wilson', a BAE Systems test pilot, put the 120m aircraft down on HMS Queen Elizabeth without using its vertical landing system or a tailhook. Despite blustery conditions, he performed a more conventional short landing in a world first. The new landing technique means that the cutting-edge jet will now not have to jettison fuel or expensive weapons into the sea before it touches down on the aircraft carrier after a mission. The Royal Navy describe the manoeuvre as 'a method which looks like a conventional aircraft landing but requires even more intense skill and precision.' HMS Queen Elizabeth's official account tweeted their joy afterwards. The new landing technique means that the cutting-edge jet will now not have to jettison fuel The Royal Navy describe the manoeuvre as 'a method which looks like a conventional aircraft landing but requires even more intense skill and precision' Despite blustery conditions, he performed a more conventional short landing in a world first The account posted a message, saying: 'Disk Brakes Engaged! 'Yesterday one of our #F35 performed the Worlds first Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing. 'With this capability @thef35 can land with increased fuel and munitions load resulting in less wastage. Looks pretty cool too! #CapabilityIncreased #F35ondeck @USMC' Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives in Portsmouth in 2017 A US Navy officer launching an F-35B Lightning II from the US Navy Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex The F-35's official account responded with a tweet, saying: 'Terrific milestone, team. History is being made aboard the @HMSQnlz!' Previously the jets have conducted only vertical landings, hovering by the side of the ship before moving sideways over the deck and gently lowering down. A rolling landing however requires the jet to make a more conventional landing approach, approaching the ship from behind at speed, before using thrust from its nozzle and lift created by air over the wings to touch down and gently come to a stop. The UK is the only nation currently planning to use the manoeuvre, which will allow jets to land on board the carrier with heavier loads . Britain has committed to a 9.1 billion programme to buy 48 of the jets by 2025, with a pledge to purchase 138, they will be jointly operated by Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots. The lead manufacturer is US firm Lockheed Martin but across the 3,000 jets being built, 15% of each one is comprised of parts from British companies. The planes have been brought over to the UK from the US over the last few months and the Royal Air Force now has a stock of 15. The first four, which cost 120million each, landed in United Kingdom in June and are now based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. The success comes after the UK apparently ground its fleet of 120 million F-35 stealth fighters following the crash of a US jet. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told the Mail Online the aircraft, which landed in the UK in June, were just being examined to see whether they have a faulty fuel tube after the crash of the US Marine Corps F-35B in September. He said: 'We are flying!' before adding that the fleet had never been fully grounded and a majority of their 16 jets were fully operational and serviceable. He added that out of the nine jets at RAF Marham, most were fully operational and serviceable. All jets that aren't equipped with the faulty part remain in action. F-35: How the planes serving HMS Elizabeth have been plagued with problems The delivery of the RAF's new, US-built F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter in July marked a rare moment of celebration in what has been a troubled project. The 'fifth generation' fighter aircraft is the world's most expensive weapons system, though costs have finally stabilised at an eye-watering $406billion. Manufacturer Lockheed-Martin agreed to cap costs after US President Donald Trump critised the project and even tweeted support for a rival aircraft. Britain is currently embarked on a 9.1billion programme to purchase 48 of the F-35s, from American aviation giant Lockheed Martin, by 2025. One of the first four F-35B Lightning II aircraft arrives at RAF Marham in Norfolk on June 6, 2018 America enticed its Nato and other allies into sharing the cost of the aircraft by offering input into manufacture and 15 per cent of each one is comprised of parts from British companies while some of the jets will be made in Italy. But the planes have been plagued by a catalogue of problems which have sent costs soaring. There are fears about shortcomings in the technical systems underpinning the new generation of war planes will leave them unable to function properly. The true cost of the British planes delivered this year is estimated to be over 150million each to cover 'extras' such as software upgrades and spare parts. There are also concerns plane's software system is vulnerable to cyber-attack and cannot be tested independently by the UK. The weak broadband on the Royal Navy's principal aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is also hampering the jet's abilities. The problems are not helped by the department responsible for the computer networks essential to the aircraft's operation needs to find savings of 400 million this year. The reports into the costs and other problems prompted the Defence Select Committee to launch an inquiry into the project. It reprimanded the Ministry of Defence for keeping parliament and the public in the dark about the costs. The MoD has so far refused to provide the estimated cost to the UK of buying the F-35, beyond referring to a National Audit Office which used the 9.1billion figure. MPs said 'it is simply not acceptable for the MoD to refuse to disclose to parliament and the public its estimates for the total cost of the programme'. Though the cost of the F-35 has been the focus of attention, there have also been embarrassing reports of operational shortcomings emerging from the United States. In a mock air battle in 2015, the cutting edge plane was defeated by an older generation F-16, a plane designed in the 1970s. Last year Pentagon tests found 276 different faults in jet's combat system. They included the 25mm cannon vibrating excessively and problems with the he aircraft's 'virtual reality' helmet Overheating, premature wear of components in the vertical tails and vulnerability to fire were also found to be issues. The US Air Force temporarily grounded dozens its F-35 stealth fighters while it investigated an oxygen supply issue. The Marine Corps, who also operate the same F-35B model the UK has purchased, was forced to ground its planes after flaws were found in the computer system. Advertisement As the UK wakes up to the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their first child, there is already fevered excitement as to what the pair will call their first-born. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's first child, expected in Spring 2019, will be seventh in line to the throne. Bookmakers have already revealed the odds on the Queen's eight great-grandchild will be called, with Victoria, Albert and Arthur among the favourites. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured) arrived in Sydney for their first major royal tour since they got married and announced they are having their first baby hours later Bookies' latest odds on the Royal baby name Boys' names: Albert 10/1 Arthur 10/1 Phillip 10/1 Alfred 16/1 Charles 16/1 James 16/1 Alexander 20/1 William 20/1 Girls' names: Victoria 8/1 Alice 12/1 Diana 16/1 Elizabeth 16/1 Mary 16/1 Alexandria 20/1 25/1 bar Gender of Royal Baby: Boy 10/11 Girl 10/11 Advertisement Diana, Victoria and Alexander are all among the early favourites at the bookmakers. Paddy Power has Diana at 8/1, with many believing Harry and Meghan will pick this for a girl in tribute to the duke's late mother Diana, Princess of Wales. William Hill has Alexander as its favourite at 7/1, while Ladbrokes said Victoria - the name of the nation's second-longest reigning monarch - is its favourite at 8/1. The baby will be born into the British royal family, where tradition is an intrinsic part of the Windsors' lives. As such, bookmakers predict names including Alice, Mary, Elizabeth or Victoria for a girl, and Philip, Frederick, Charles, Arthur, Edward or James for a boy are possibilities. But the pair are also forward-thinking royals, and the Duchess has her own American upbringing to draw upon. They may therefore decide to surprise everyone when naming their first child. In the US, the most popular name for a baby girl is Emma and Liam for a baby boy. In the UK, the most popular name for a girl born in 2017 was Olivia, and for a boy Oliver. The Royals made the extraordinary announcement hours after the landed in Australia for their first tour as a couple Meghan and Harry will have the baby in the spring of last year after rumours emerged overnight The stylish Duchess of Sussex, 37, who was holding hands with her husband, 34, was dressed casually for the occasion as she donned a black turtle-neck top, with a dark-coloured blazer featuring maroon lapel and cuff THE WAIT FOR ROYAL NAMES Royals traditionally keep the public guessing before revealing their choice of name. William and Kate took two days to announce both George and Charlotte's names, informing the Queen of their choice beforehand. Mike and Zara Tindall used Twitter to unveil their daughter's name six days after she was born in 2014. Princess Beatrice's name was announced two weeks after her birth in 1988. In 1982, the Prince and Princess of Wales waited seven days before announcing Prince William's name. Advertisement Meghan may even seek inspiration from her friends. Her confidante and stylist Jessica Mulroney has twin boys Brian and John, and a daughter Isabel Veronica, who is known as Ivy - who were pageboys and bridesmaid at the royal wedding. Other bridesmaids included Rylan and Remi Litt - the daughters of Meghan's close friend Benita Litt, and Harry's goddaughter - the youngest bridesmaid - Zalie Warren. Harry and Meghan's royal baby, who will be seventh in line, is extremely unlikely ever to be king or queen, meaning the couple have more freedom with their choices. One option - considered a favourite for a girl - is Diana in honour of Harry's late beloved mother. William and Kate paid tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales in 2015 by choosing it as one of Charlotte's middle names. Harry, who adored Diana, was just 12 when the princess was killed suddenly in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Charles would honour Harry's father, while Elizabeth, another of Charlotte's middle names, would be out of respect for Harry's grandmother the Queen. Meghan's mother, to whom she is close, is called Doria, and the ex-Suits star may want to pay tribute to her as well. Thomas is a popular family name for the duchess. Her father is Thomas Markle, as is her half brother. But relations with her relatives have proved troublesome following her father's absence from her wedding, his comments to the press, and the lack of invites extended to the rest of the family. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their wedding day in Windsor Castle, with their flower girls and pageboys from left, back row, Brian Mulroney, Remi Litt, Rylan Litt, Jasper Dyer, Prince George, Ivy Mulroney, John Mulroney; front row, Zalie Warren, Princess Charlotte, Florence van Cutsem Rupert Adams, spokesman for William Hill, said: 'We took eight bets in the first minute today, and given the popularity of the couple this could be bigger than the original market we had for Prince George.' A Paddy Power spokesman said Diana was the firm's clear favourite. 'Diana is an obvious favourite with our punters so far, and it wouldn't be the first tribute the couple have paid to the late princess, while Arthur and Alice have been popular picks too,' a spokesman said. Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes said: 'Given this child will be in line to the throne, it's probably a safe assumption that the couple will opt for a regal name that has been used in the royal family over the generations. 'However, with Meghan's USA roots it would be remiss of bookmakers to rule out an American moniker featuring somewhere.' FROM RULE-BREAKERS TO TRADITIONAL NAMES: QUEEN'S OTHER GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN George: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chose traditional by picking royal favourite George for their firstborn - a future king. Charlotte: Princess Charlotte also has a regal name. Louis: Prince Louis, although not a traditional Windsor name, was a poignant choice for its connection to the Prince of Wales's much-loved great-uncle Earl Mountbatten. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chose traditional names for their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis Savannah: Canadian-born Autumn Phillips, and husband Peter Phillips, opted for a non-traditional name for their daughter Savannah - the Queen's first great-grandchild - in 2010. Isla: They named their second daughter, now six, Isla Phillips. Canadian-born Autumn Phillips, and husband Peter Phillips, opted for non-traditional names for their daughter Savannah (right) and Isla (Left) Lena Elizabeth: The Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall, described her second daughters name choice as 'more adventurous' than that of her cousin Prince William. She and husband Mike Tindall chose Lena Elizabeth as the name of their youngest daughter born in June this year. Mia Grace: Princess Anne's daughter and her rugby player husband named their first-born daughter, now four, Mia Grace. The Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike named their first daughter Mia Tindall (pictured) Advertisement Meghan Markle was carrying two purple folders as she stepped off the plane, while Prince Harry wore a grey jumper over a smart shirt. The folders covering her stomach added to speculation the new Duchess could be pregnant The Duchess of Sussex with her mother Doria Ragland and husband Prince Harry at the launch of her charity cookbook in September Doria Ragland, pictured with her daughter in May, said she was 'very happy about this lovely news' and 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild' How the line of succession will change after baby Sussex's birth Current line of succession Prince Charles Prince William Prince George Princess Charlotte Prince Louis Prince Harry Prince Andrew Princess Beatrice Princess Eugenie Prince Edward James, Viscount Severn Lady Louise Windsor Princess Anne Peter Phillips Savannah Phillips Isla Phillips Zara Tindall Mia Tindall Lena Tindall ... Following baby Sussex's birth Prince Charles Prince William Prince George Princess Charlotte Prince Louis Prince Harry Baby Sussex Prince Andrew Princess Beatrice Princess Eugenie Prince Edward James, Viscount Severn Lady Louise Windsor Princess Anne Peter Phillips Savannah Phillips Isla Phillips Zara Tindall Mia Tindall Lena Tindall Advertisement Meghan has written about the significance of choosing names within her own family. She told how her great-great-great-grandfather went on to create his own identity when freed from slavery. 'Because in 1865 (which is so shatteringly recent), when slavery was abolished in the United States, former slaves had to choose a name. A surname, to be exact,' she wrote. 'Perhaps the closest thing to connecting me to my ever-complex family tree, my longing to know where I come from, and the commonality that links me to my bloodline, is the choice that my great-great-great-grandfather made to start anew. 'He chose the last name Wisdom.' The Duke and Duchess of Sussex could have a 'Brexit Baby', it was claimed today. Kensington Palace revealed the couple are due to have their first child in spring 2019 - around the time Britain is set to leave the European Union on March 29. And some people suggested that the baby the Queen's eighth great-grandchild - could even arrive on the same day, with one joking: 'Just imagine the celebrations.' Meghan is known to have already had her 12-week scan of the baby, which - if it took place in recent weeks - puts the due date at around mid to late April. One internet joker said: 'They should call the new baby Prince/Princess Brexit Backstop of Sussex - and will can all kill two birds with one stone this morning.' She was referring to the so-called 'backstop' to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit, an issue of dispute in the negotiations. Another Twitter user said: 'The way this Brexit carry on is going we're gonna end up with an independent Scotland, Gibraltar, a couple of aircraft carriers and royal babies seeking asylum from the post apocalyptic wasteland of the Home Counties.' Others said 'Brexit baby means Brexit' - referring to Theresa May's term 'Brexit means Brexit', while TV's Kay Burley asked: 'Will the new royal baby have a blue passport?' Some people used the hashtag #BrexitBaby, with LBC radio host Shelagh Fogarty joking: 'Angela for a girl. Donald for a boy' - referring to Mrs Merkel and Mr Tusk. Meanwhile singer Lily Allen bizarrely claimed that the pregnancy was deliberately announced to distract from Brexit negotiations, saying: 'That should take the heat off #BrexitShambles for a week. Well played everyone.' And Giles Blower posted in a group supporting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn: 'The royals have agreed to coincide a royal 'big news' announcement at any time when the Tories are in deep s***. 'I made this point back in April just after Philip's ill health had twice coincided with a Brexit deadline and then Harry and Meghan's wedding announcement. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pictured in Chichester on October 3, are expecting a baby 'And this week when Brexit is going to s*** in a hand cart, guess what? Meghan's caught for a sprog and will drop it around March 31, 2019. Possibly around 10.45pm-ish.' The newly-wed Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Sydney today ahead of their 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Harry and Meghan were wed at Windsor Castle in May and the news was announced on the eve of their first tour outside the UK and Ireland. Britain is set to leave the European Union at 11pm on March 29 next year, but it is not yet known exactly what will happen on this day as negotiations continue. The UK invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, giving the sides two years to agree how to split, on March 29 last year following the referendum result in June 2016. 'I'm screaming! I am not okay!' Meghan fans go into overdrive with hilarious royal baby memes following duchess' pregnancy announcement Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they are expecting their first child The exciting baby news sent royal fans into overdrive on social media Dozens shared hilarious memes celebrating the pregnancy announcement News was announced as the couple arrived in Sydney for their royal tour By STEPHANIE LINNING FOR MAILONLINE Royal fans were sent into a frenzy following the Duchess of Sussex's pregnancy announcement on Monday. Well-wishers from around the world celebrated Harry and Meghan's baby news in gushing tweets and Instagram posts, with some using memes to capture their excitement. Royal photos, reality TV shows and shots of Meghan in US legal drama Suits all provided inspiration for the hilarious posts. Royal fans were sent into a frenzy following the Duchess of Sussex's pregnancy announcement. Pictured, Harry and Meghan on their arrival in Sydney on Monday Well-wishers from around the world congratulated Harry and Meghan in gushing social media posts, while others used hilarious memes to capture their excitement Kensington Palace the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their first child together hours after they touched down in Sydney for their first major international tour since their wedding in May. The baby is due in Spring 2019. A Kensington Palace said: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Memes captured just how excited fans were over the pregnancy announcement today. Others claimed they were not shocked at the news the Duchess of Sussex is expecting her first child 'Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public.' The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were told in person at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle last Friday. Rumours were rife that Meghan may be pregnant after her mother Doria Ragland was seen taking baby-care classes in Pasadena with a view to looking after her new grandchild. TV shows, films and royal photos all provided inspiration for the hilarious royal baby memes The duchess has also been seen in a number of loose-fitting outfits over recent weeks. The new royal baby is expected to take the surname Sussex in the same way that Prince William's children, George, Charlotte and Louis have taken his title Cambridge as their last name at school and nursery. The baby will supersede Prince Andrew in the line of succession, regardless of whether they are a boy or a girl, following a 2011 change in law that granted the same status to sons and daughters. However as the second son of the current Prince of Wales, Harry's children are not automatically given the title of prince or princess. The U.S. embassy in Australia has apologised after an email invite to a 'cat pajama-jam' was sent out instead of an official meeting. In the email - which was titled 'meeting' - was an image of a tabby cat dressed as the Cookie Monster and holding a plate of choc-chip biscuits. The invitation described the meeting as a 'cat pajama-jam' and was hosted by the U.S. State Department. The U.S. embassy has apologised after an email invite to a 'cat pajama-jam' was sent out instead of an official meeting The email was sent out last week and has been described as a 'training error' Below the image was some Latin text and RSVP button to the event. The email was sent out last week and has been described as a 'training error'. 'It was a training error made by one of our new staff testing out our email newsletter platform,' US Mission to Australia public affairs counsellor Gavin Sundwall said. As he apologised for the blunder, Mr Sundwall remained light-hearted stating the hosting the 'cat pajama-jam' was outside of their skill-set As he apologised for the blunder, Mr Sundwall remained light-hearted and claimed the 'cat pajama-jam' was outside of their skill-set. 'Sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping to attend this 'cat pajama-jam' party, but such an event falls well outside our area of expertise,' he said. He also said 'strong new management controls' would be put in place to prevent a repeat of the mistake. It is unknown how widely the invite to the 'cat pajama-jam' was circulated. A brave army veteran has told how she was beaten and raped by her jealous and controlling ex-boyfriend as he held her at knifepoint during a nine-hour ordeal. She waived her anonymity to speak out ahead of the Stephen Graham's sentencing for rape and assault at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 16. Carin, 29, who asked to withhold her surname, described the horrific physical and sexual abuse she suffered at his hands and said he'd left her feeling 'broken' and suicidal. She first met Graham, 29, from Glenrothes, Fife, at high school before bumping into him years later after she returned from military service. Army veteran Carin (left and right), 29, from Fife, Scotland, who asked to withold her surname, spoke out about how she was beaten and raped by her ex-boyfriend as he held her at knifepoint during a nine-hour ordeal The veteran met Stephen Graham (above), 29, from Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland, began a relationship after returning from military service. She waived her right to anonymity to speak out ahead of Graham's sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 16 Unaware of his evil character the 29-year-old began a relationship with him and described the couple's first six weeks together as 'perfect'. She said: 'In my head, it was the best relationship I'd ever been in. I thought I had found the one. We laughed all the time and we didn't argue even once. 'But when I got my own flat, it started going downhill. He was so jealous and didn't want me to have any male friends, even on social media. 'I wanted to ease his worries so I would always have my phone out and open so he could see what I was doing.' Before the campaign of abuse started Carin had served in the army as a medic for seven years and had saved lives in Afghanistan. She said: 'I've been through a lot and I've seen a lot but my mind was trained to deal with that. 'After this happened, I was broken. I was literally stripped to the bone. I had nothing left. 'If someone handed me a pill to end it all, I would have. I've been through hell but I survived.' Carin said: 'After this happened, I was broken. I was literally stripped to the bone. I had nothing left. 'If someone handed me a pill to end it all, I would have. I've been through hell but I survived' 'Looking back now, I can see how good he was manipulating me and reeling me in. It got to the point that he actually made me feel that I needed him. 'It got the point that I was trying to argue his defence with my family and friends. Obviously looking back now, I feel like such an idiot.' Carin eventually told him she could no longer be in his life and walked away. She said: 'When this all happened, I think I punished myself because I couldn't help but think what had I done wrong that was making him act this way. 'Now I know more about narcissism and the way they work, I've learnt that it wasn't my fault. 'I've never once in my whole entire life ever been involved with a guy like him. 'I just didn't think it could happen to me. But it did. If I could change anything in this whole situation, I would train myself to more aware and understanding of these types of people before getting involved. 'Now, as they say, once bitten, twice as shy. Even the slightest little sign now, I wouldn't even entertain it. I was just so oblivious to it, I didn't see it coming.' Carin told how Graham first turned violent in September 2017 when he grabbed her by the throat and threw her across the living room as she was getting ready for college. She eventually managed to escape before calling the police who arrested him. Despite being remanded in custody, his hold over his victim was strong and Carin went to visit him in prison where he begged her for forgiveness. Carin said: 'He said he'd never hurt me again and he'd make it up to me. He was crying like a baby. 'I just kept remembering all the little love and affection he had shown me before. I still loved him which sounds daft now.' Graham's abuse continued from behind bars and Carin was bombarded with abusive voicemails and phone calls. When he was released in December 2017, the couple reunited briefly before Graham's violent streak re-emerged just days later and they split. In February 2018, she had enjoyed a night out with friends before she was attacked outside her Markinch flat and woke up, dazed and confused on the couch in Graham's living room. He then subjected her to a horrendous nine-hour ordeal where he kept her trapped, threatened her with a knife and beat her repeatedly before raping her. She said: 'I knew if he caught me trying to escape, he'd kill me. I could hear my heart beating. I don't even remember shutting the door, I think I was in shock.' Carin eventually managed to make it to her grandmother's house before an ambulance and the police were called. Graham was found guilty of assaulting and raping Carin following a trial at Livingston High Court and is due to be sentenced on Tuesday. He was also convicted of two counts of threatening and abusive behaviour towards police officers at his flat and at Levenmouth Police Station in September last year. His name was added to the sex offenders registered and details of his conviction were passed to the Scottish Minister under protection of vulnerable groups legislation. A one dollar coin marked with the year '2019' has left the internet baffled. Social media users speculated if time travel or a bungle at the mint was responsible for the oddity - but it turns out neither were to blame. The Royal Australian Mint has cleared up the mystery surrounding the coin, telling Daily Mail Australia its forging was no mistake. When an Aussie coin was found to be marked with the year '2019', it left the internet speculating about whether time travel was in fact possible However mystery still surrounds the reason for the forward-dated coins. CEO Ross MacDiarmid explained: 'The 'time travelling' 2019-dated coins that have been found and shared online are no mistake.' 'At the Royal Australian Mint, we've broken with tradition and purposely released these coins early for a special reason that will be revealed on 1 November.' 'If you find a coin, we suggest you keep it in a safe place until we can tell you more. 'Likewise, we encourage all Aussies to pay close attention to their spare change and if you spot a 2019 coin then hold on to it!' The Royal Australian Mint has since cleared up the mystery surrounding the coin, telling Daily Mail Australia its forging was no mistake (stock image) The coin producer offered no further explanation of the marking, leaving it anyone's guess as to the reason behind the unique coins. The Mint pledged to reveal the reason behind why they decided to circulate '2019' coins early on November 1, keeping lucky coin-holders and curious members of the public on the edge of their seat. The mystery started when an image of a coin was uploaded on social media, strangely embossed with next year's date - despite being found more than two months before the end of 2018. One commenter on the Reddit post said the coin could have been deliberately minted in past few months to replenish diminishing 2018 stocks. They said the mint often releases the next year's coins at the end of the previous year, putting a dampener on speculation the social media user had actually been to the future and back. The Royal Australian Mint has since cleared up the mystery surrounding the coin, telling Daily Mail Australia its forging was no mistake. The mint also produces special commemorative coins marked with the next year's date before the previous year has ended. Next month's releases include a coin designed around the first moon landing. Reddit users encouraged the owner to cash in by selling their rare find. Others joked the coin was a sign that the Queen had survived the remaining months of the year - saying she should make the most of her temporary indestructibility by base jumping and climbing cranes. The unusual find comes after a British woman received a coin in her change in 2010 which said it was minted in 2011. Reddit users encouraged the owner to cash in by selling their rare find A police officer has died of a self-inflicted gun wound while on duty at a police station. Western Australian police constable Darren Igglesden, 50, was found by his colleagues with a gunshot wound shortly after 6am on Monday at the Cockburn police station. It is believed he shot himself with his service-issued pistol. Western Australian police constable Darren Igglesden, 50, was found by colleagues with a gunshot wound shortly after 6am on Monday at the Cockburn police station (pictured) 'Darren's death has come as a complete shock to his family, to his friends, and indeed the entire police force,' Commissioner Chris Dawson told reporters at a press conference. 'Constable Igglesden has been with the WA Police Force for six-and-a-half years, he joined us at about 44 years of age, he has had a varied career in the private sector prior to joining police,' he said. He was a well-liked and respected member of the police force, he said. The Cockburn station has been temporarily closed. Police are redirecting the public to Fremantle or Mandurah stations. A coronial investigation is underway. Commissioner Chris Dawson told reporters at a press conference that constable Darren Igglesden's death had come as a complete shock to everyone His death comes just months after an inquest into the self-inflicted death of another officer in 2015. Detective Sergeant Scott Andrew Blanchard of Kalgoorie, commited suicide in July 2015. During the inquest a senior detective said some officers were hesitant to speak to police-funded psychologists out of fear of what it would mean for their careers. The inquest into sergeant Blanchard's death was to help raise awareness around the efforts being made by WA Police to provide health and welfare support to its members and families. For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14. Anyone across Australia experiencing a personal crisis or thinking about suicide can contact Lifeline. Regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation their trained volunteers are ready to listen, provide support and referrals. A policeman who looked after the body of a little girl who fell from the airliner blown up over Lockerbie in 1988 has discovered her identity 30 years on from the tragedy. Colin Dorrance was a young police officer on the night when 259 passengers and crew were killed by a terrorist bomb which blew up a Boeing 747 over Scotland. Eleven residents of the town were also killed by falling debris. Mr Dorrance has told how one of the first bodies to be brought to Lockerbie's police station that night was that of 20 month-old toddler. She had fallen from the sky outside the town and a farmer drove her body down to a makeshift mortuary on the front seat of his tractor. Mr Dorrance said it looked as if she was just sleeping. He did not find out the identity of the youngster as the full scale of the tragedy unfolded that night and felt that prying into the details later in his career would be unprofessional. But Mr Dorrance, now 48 and retired from the police, discovered last week that the baby was actually Bryony Owen, a little girl who was on board Pan Am flight 103 with her mother Yvonne. The pair were buried together. A policeman who looked after the body of Bryony Owen (pictured with her mother Yvonne) following the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 only discovered her identity this week Bryony Owen was killed with her mother Yvonne (both pictured) when terrorists blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie Colin Dorrance was a young policeman on duty in Lockerbie on the night of the bombing. He is now taking part in a cycle to Syracuse, to where some of the victims were flying Describing the terrible night in 1988, Mr Dorrance told the BBC: 'It was the body of a child he'd found in a field at the back of his farm. 'It was a young child under the age of five. It looked as though they were asleep, it wasn't obviously injured, and it was just a shock to realise it was a passenger from Pan Am 103. 'At the time it all happened so fast. There were hundreds of passengers brought into the town hall. In years since it was something that bothered me. It was such an extreme, intense moment.' Three decades later, Mr Dorrance was helping a family of another victim look around the town where their relatives died when they visited the farm where the little girl's body was found. He added: 'The farmer was there and it was his father who'd brought the child to the town hall. 'He said it was a child by the name of Bryony Owen who was 20 months old and it had affected his father very badly over the years.' All 259 passengers were killed when terrorists blew up the Boeing 747. Eleven died in the town Social worker Ms Owen, 29, was flying to New York to meet her American fiance Seth Friedman to prepare for their wedding early in the new year. Pregnant with her second child, she stepped on to the flight at Heathrow with her 20-month-old daughter Bryony. Her mother Betty Thomas, from Carmarthen in Wales, later said: 'She had everything to look forward to. She had met the love of her life and was about to spend Christmas with him. She was so excited.' Mr Dorrance is now among those undertaking a 3,238 mile journey to mark the approaching 30th anniversary of the bombing. Thirty-five of the victims were students at Syracuse University in the US, who were travelling home for the Christmas holidays. Three decades on from the tragedy the Cycle To Syracuse, in which Mr Dorrance is taking part, aims to complete the journey on behalf of those who could not. Mr Dorrance said a farmer brought little Bryony's body down to the police station after the plane was brought down Other members of the group include David Whalley, who led the RAF search and rescue team on the night, and Paul Rae, who was an 18-year-old Lockerbie resident in 1988 and volunteered to help search the hills that night. The other two in the group are David Walpole who was a bank manager in Dumfries in 1988 and is now a paramedic in the Lockerbie/Annan area and Brian Asher, the head teacher at Lockerbie Academy. MPs should vote down Theresa May's deal to unlock talks on a better exit agreement, Nicola Sturgeon claimed today. The SNP leader warned the Government against forcing a 'false choice' between a bad deal and no deal on Parliament. She insisted she still wanted to cancel the referendum and remain in the EU - but said if Brexit was to happen Scotland should be allowed to stay inside the single market and customs union. Ms Sturgeon said the entire UK staying inside the free trade zone would be the 'best' Brexit option. The SNP wants to delay Brexit Day from March 29, 2019, to allow time for more negotiations to take place if any deal Mrs May gets is voted down. MPs should vote down Theresa May's deal to unlock talks on a better exit agreement, Nicola Sturgeon (pictured today in London) claimed today If the Prime Minister gets a divorce treaty and political outline from Brussels, MPs will be given a simple yes or no vote on the package. Mrs May has always insisted if MPs reject her deal, Britain will leave the EU in March without an agreement in place. But Ms Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minster, said today there was an alternative in a speech at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) on Monday. Ms Sturgeon said: 'The UK Government has spent two years asserting that no deal is better than a bad deal. 'However they will almost certainly try to railroad MPs into accepting a bad or blindfold deal on the grounds that no deal would be a catastrophe. Theresa May (pictured today launching a loneliness strategy) has always insisted if MPs reject her deal, Britain will leave the EU in March without an agreement in place 'They are threatening us with fire, to make us choose the frying pan. 'MPs do not have to fall for that false choice. Other options are available. Voting against a bad or blindfold deal isn't a vote for no deal. It would be a vote to open the door to a better deal. 'In fact if the UK Government comes back to Parliament with a bad or blindfold deal, voting against it is the only chance the Westminster parliament will have, to re-set the negotiations and think again.' Ms Sturgeon said Mrs May would never get her Chequers plans agreed in the EU - quipping: 'We should be clear about this - a head in the sand approach will not make the Chequers ostrich fly.' Ms Sturgeon launched a new paper from the Scottish Government - Scotland's Place in Europe: Our Way Forward. In the June 2016 referendum, Scotland voted by 62 per cent to 38 per cent in favour of remaining in the EU. Writing in her foreword to the paper, Ms Sturgeon said: 'The Scottish Government, in line with the overwhelming vote for remain in Scotland, supports continued EU Membership. Remaining in the EU continues to be our strong preference. SNP leader Ms Sturgeon warned the Government against forcing a 'false choice' between a bad deal and no deal on Parliament 'Nevertheless in December 2016 we set out a compromise plan to keep Scotland and the UK in the European Single Market and Customs Union to limit the damage of Brexit as much as possible. 'It is therefore simply incorrect for the Prime Minister to say that there is no alternative to Chequers. 'In fact, the UK Government's position is increasingly absurd. Insisting on pursuing proposals they have been told will not work while rejecting a plan that will.' She added: 'With crucial decisions coming up over the next few weeks and months at EU level - and in the House of Commons where the UK Government must seek the approval of the UK Parliament - it is vital to break the deadlock. 'For the Prime Minister and the UK Government it is time to face reality. For MPs at Westminster it is time to come together in a common sense coalition to minimise the Brexit damage.' A spokesman for the UK Government's Department for Exiting the European Union (Dexeu) said: 'We will have an ambitious course outside of the EU that enhances our prosperity and security and that genuinely works for everyone across the UK. 'We have put forward a precise and credible plan for our future relationship with the EU and look forward to continuing to engage with the EU Commission on our proposals.' John Bercow today faced fresh calls to quit as Commons Speaker after a damning inquiry exposed a culture of bullying and harassment at the heart of Parliament. And he was hit by allegations his office stepped in to block historic cases of abuse in Westminster being investigated after he was hit with bullying claims. Dame Laura Cox said that a string of male MPs past and present have allegedly lunged, groped and propositioned women. She lashed the 'institutional failings' in the Commons and warned a culture of 'deference, subservience, acquiescence and silence' exists in Parliament. She said victims have lost all faith in the current regime's ability to usher in the 'seismic shift' needed to finally end the culture of abuse. Her scathing remarks will be seen as an excoriating indictment of Mr Bercow, who as Commons Speaker has been in charge of discipline in Parliament since 2009. He has faced widespread calls to resign after he was accused of bullying by many members of his own staff - but has vowed to cling on in his post. Dame Laura added: 'I find it difficult to envisage how the necessary changes can be successfully delivered, and the confidence of the staff restored, under the current senior House administration.' Tory MP James Duddridge said Mr Bercow must now go, telling MailOnline: 'This is pretty damning and requires root and branch change.' And Business Minister Claire Perry accused the Speaker's Office of stopping historic cases being investigated as part of the revamped code of conduct unveiled this year, in a move she branded 'entirely inappropriate'. The regime overseen by Commons Speaker John Bercow (pictured in Parliament in July) is hammered in the report as Dame Laura Cox blasted the 'institutional failings' in Parliament Dame Laura Cox said there is a culture of bullying and harassment in parliament (pictured) a nd says those who have been subjected to abuse have been met with a lack of support and a 'cover-up' culture While Labour MP John Mann, who helped expose the sexual harassment in the corridors of power, called for all MPs caught up in the scandal to be named and shamed. Dame Laura spoke to some 200 people for her wide-reaching report which lays bare the culture of bullying and harassment at the heart of Parliament. She said those who have been subjected to abuse have a 'profound fear' of complaining because they fear being branded a 'troublemaker' and losing their careers. And when they dare to come forward they have been met with a lack of support and a 'cover-up' culture, the report found. Dame Laura - who refused to give any names in her report - also warned that some MPs have a reputation for being 'serial offenders' who are well known bullies. And she said that Parliament has such a woeful reputation for tackling the abuse that many members of staff have fundamentally lost faith in the system altogether. The government has brought in a new code of conduct in a desperate scramble to try to tackle the abuse, but it has been slammed for containing a loophole which means historic allegations cannot be probed. What are the claims of bullying and bad behaviour made against John Bercow? John Bercow has been hit by a number of bullying claims, all of which he denies. Here are the allegations: Andrew Sinclair, the former Speaker's Secretary: Said he left his post in 2010 after he was subjected to angry outbursts, foul- mouthed tirades and mimicry by John Bercow. He said was 'gagged' and stopped from speaking out about his time in the role as part of an 86,000 early retirement payoff. David Leakey, former Black Rod: Mr Leakey, who retired last year, said staff were terrified of the Speaker. Kate Emms, John Bercow's former private secretary: She took a job as Mr Bercow's private secretary in May 2010 but left her role less than a year later in February 2011 amid claims she was bullied by the Speaker. Her colleagues alleged that this was because of the behaviour of Mr Bercow after she told staff that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Colleagues told Newsnight that she was undermined by Mr Bercow in a range of ways and he seemed to shout at her a lot. Advertisement But Dame Laura said that employees in Parliament have complained that senior management have 'buried their heads in the sand'. And she demanded an overhaul so that old complaints can be investigated too and that the investigations should be placed in the hands of an entirely independent panel. Meanwhile, Ms Perry, who has previously accused Mr Bercow of sexism after he told her to avoid 'dilation' in the Chamber, said he blocked efforts to investigate historic bullying reports. Speaking to the BBC Two's Politics Live Show, she said: 'Of course the ability to look back on historic allegations was blocked by the Speaker's Office, which I think was entirely inappropriate.' In an extraordinary and strongly-worded report, Dame Laura blasted the failure to tackle bullying. She attacked the 'systemic or institutional failings and to a collective ethos in the House that has, over the years, enabled the underlying culture to develop and to persist'. She added: 'Within this culture, there are a number of individuals who are regarded as bearing some personal responsibility for the criticisms made, and whose continued presence is viewed as unlikely to facilitate the necessary changes, but whom it would also be wrong for me to name, having regard to the terms of reference for this inquiry. 'I hope, however, that the findings in this report will enable a period of reflection in that respect in addition.' She said the reputation of MPs and parliament 'is being damaged by the allegations of unacceptable behaviour made against some of their number and by the inadequacy of the procedures in place to deal with complaints'. Her comments are seen as a veiled swipe at Mr Bercow and has renewed demands for him to step down. Mr Duddridge said: 'John Bercow has served too long in the role. He has carried on and the Labour party have allowed him too carry on, but members of the House deserve better and people who work in the House deserve better.' He said that tackling bullying must get the attention it deserves and not be 'swept aside' because politicians are tied up with Brexit. Business Minister Claire Perry (pictured, left, with Labour's Barry Gardiner on the BBC's Politics Live show today) accused the Speaker's Office of stopping historic cases being investigated as part of the revamped code of conduct unveiled this year, in a move she branded 'entirely inappropriate' He added: 'We need to deal with Brexit, bullying and Bercow.' Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline: 'The conclusions make for pretty grim reading, but unfortunately will come as no surprise to anyone who works in Parliament. 'It is a damning indictment. 'I think the current regime will only pay lip service to change. We need a system which complainants can have confidence in. Currently all whistleblowers know that making a complaint could be terminal to their career.' Dame Laura's inquiry was launched after Parliament was rocked by a series of sexual harassment and bullying scandals which ended the Cabinet careers of two of the PM's closest ministers. Sir Micheal Fallon quit as defence secretary after he was accused of making inappropriate sexual passes at women during his parliamentary career. Tory ministers claims John Bercow blocked historic bullying allegations being investigated A Tory minister today claimed that John Bercow blocked the parliamentary authorities from launching new investigations into historic bullying allegations. The Government unveiled a new code of practice for parliamentary staff in the wake of the Westminster harassment scandal. Ministers were slammed as their plans contained a loophole which meant that historic allegations would not be probed. But Tory Business Minister Claire Perry today said that the Speaker's Office intervened to stop the historic cases being investigated. Ms Perry has previously accused Mr Bercow of sexism after he told her to avoid 'dilation' in the Chamber. Speaking to the BBC Two's Politics Live show, she said Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom deserves credit for bringing in the new code of practice. She added: 'Of course the ability to look back on historic allegations was blocked by the Speaker's Office, which I think was entirely inappropriate. 'I just wish we can have a bit of banter in the Chamber I just think it's inappropriate for someone to use their position of power the Speaker is the person who allows people to speak including the Prime Minister downwards I think there should be a culture of respect in the Chamber. 'And I don't think remarks about people being 'dilated' are appropriate unless you are in a delivery room delivering a baby.' Advertisement Damian Green was ousted as the PM's deputy after he was found to have made misleading statements about allegations that he looked at porn on his office computers. He was also accused of making a sexual pass at Tory activist and classicist Kate Maltby, who is 30 years his junior. Several Labour MPs were also accused of inappropriate sexual conduct, including Kelvin Hopkins who was suspended from the party over claims he sexually harassed a young party activist. In a damning indictment of the culture at the heart of Westminster, Dame Laura said there is a 'palpable lack of protection' for those who dare to report sexual harassment or bullying. And she said that while no workplace is immune to accusations of bullying, Parliament is a 'particularly serious case' where many 'disturbing' allegations have been made against MPs. She said: 'Those present or former members of staff who came forward care very deeply that the place regarded as the heart of our democracy is failing to live up to the standards to be expected of any 21st century workplace.' Dame Laura said that many who work in Parliament have a deep sense of attachment to Parliament and do not want to see its reputation damaged. But she warned: 'But that sense of loyalty has been tested to breaking point by a culture, cascading from the top down, of deference, subservience, acquiescence and silence, in which bullying, harassment and sexual harassment have been able to thrive and have long been tolerated and concealed.' She added: 'But these are urgent and serious problems that the House now needs to tackle properly, once and for all. 'Underpinning all the recommendations in this report is the need for broad cultural change in the House and the need to restore the trust and confidence of the staff and of the wider public. Delivering fundamental and permanent change will require a focus and a genuine commitment on the part of the leadership of the House.' She also revealed that many parliamentary staff have lost faith that their complaints will be dealt with properly. The judge said: 'A significant number of those members of House staff who came forward regard the status quo as untenable and express the view that 'it will take several generations until the senior administration are capable of delivering the necessary changes'.' Ms Perry, who has accused Mr Bercow of 'sexism' after he told her to avoid 'dilation' in a scathing put-down in the Chamber, said that Parliament is a horrendous place for many to work. She told the BBC's Politics Live Show: 'What was very damning in the report was her view that the culture in the House was , cascading from the top down, of deference, subservience, acquiescence and silence'. 'And that is often what happens in the Chamber that you get put in your place, often with a rather acerbic comment. 'It's not respectful to members of Parliament. It must be horrendous to be a staffer working in some of these offices. 'I am really glad this report has come out. I think it is not a great environment for people to work in and it really needs to change.' Asked if Mr Bercow should quit, she said: 'That is his decision to make.' A spokesman for the Commons said: 'Bullying and harassment have no place in the House of Commons, and the well-being of our people will always be our top priority. 'Staff must be confident that unacceptable behaviour will be dealt with seriously, independently and with effective sanctions. 'Urgent work has already been undertaken to improve internal processes - including the introduction of new confidential support services and helplines run by external, independent specialist providers and a clear pathway for the investigation of allegations. 'The findings of this inquiry will be taken into careful account'. The House of Commons Executive Board - which is made up of leading parliamentary officials - apologised for the scandal. They said: 'Dame Laura Coxs report makes difficult reading for all of us. Bullying and harassment have no place in the House of Commons and the Parliamentary Digital Service. 'We fully accept the need for change and, as a leadership team, are determined to learn lessons from the report. We apologise for past failings and are committed to changing our culture for the better.' Former Cabinet ministers Damian Green (pictured left) and Sir Michael Fallon (pictured right) both resigned after being caught up in the Westminster sex pest scandal The Committee on Standards in Public Life, which advises the PM on ethics, said: 'We will be discussing her report and important observations at our next meeting and will be maintaining a close interest in how the House Authorities and senior leadership respond.' A Downing Street spokesman said the report 'highlights the importance of changing the culture in Westminster'. He said: 'The Government could not be clearer that everyone in Parliament deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.' Asked if the PM had confidence in Mr Bercow, the spokesman said the 'Speaker is elected by MPs' and his future is a 'matter for the House'. A spokeswoman for the Speaker's Office said: 'This is a serious report into a serious subject which deserves a serious response. 'The House of Commons Commission will meet as a matter of urgency in the coming days to consider the report and our response to it.' Anti-fracking protestors were arrested today after they angry staged demonstrations over the controversial pumping process. Police closed off the road outside energy firm Cuadrilla's site in Little Plumpton near Blackpool, Lancashire this morning as 50 demonstrators staged a protest. The protesters said their fight had just 'got serious' and had vowed to stay there 24 hours a day while the hydraulic pumping process continues for three months. A police team had to cut a man and woman out of a set of tyres which they had apparently cemented their arms into. Two protestors had to be cut free by police after they parked their van at the entrance of the site and secured themselves with D-locks to a platform structure on top of their vehicle. Scroll down for video One protestor used a D-lock to secure himself to the top a platform attached to the top of a van outside energy firm Cuadrilla's site in Little Plumpton Two protestors had to be cut free and were taken away by police after securing themselves to the top of the van Demonstrators vowed to stay there 24 hours a day while the hydraulic pumping process continues A police team had to cut a man safely down from a platform after he refused to move Police closed off Preston New Road after arout 50 protesters gathered outside energy firm Cuadrilla's site ahead of the start of the hydraulic fracturing process A woman is pictured after she had to be cut by police from a set of tyres when she cemented her arms into them as part of anti-fracking protests in Lancashire today Furious campaigners chained themselves together inside cement-filled tyres in Little Plumpton, Lancashire this morning One protestor with a gas mask on holds a sign that says: 'Hands off our precious water Cuadrilla' Ginette Evans, 60, from Fleetwood, said: 'We'll be monitoring the site 24 hours a day. It is definitely not over, it has just got serious. The fight's just really started.' She said the there was a mood of disappointment among protesters. WHAT IS FRACKING AND WHY IS IT CONTROVERSIAL? Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before inserting a high-pressure water mixture to release gas and oil within rocks. This allows drilling firms to access hard-to-reach gas and oil sources. Although banned in Scotland, other parts of the UK are expected to legalise fracking in 2018, according to British shale gas companies. This comes after another year of campaigners protesting with little progress. Fracking could be introduced to the resource-rich area stretching from Lancashire to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Currently, drilling licenses are only issued to select companies. In the US, fracking has significantly boosted oil production and reduced gas prices. Fracking is estimated to have offered gas security to the US and Canada for around the next 100 years. Why is it controversial? Fracking is controversial due to the potentially cancer-causing chemicals used to extract oil and gas, which could then contaminate local water supplies. Some also argue, fracking, which requires a huge amount of water, may distract energy firms and the Government from investing in renewable energy sources. The process has even been linked to the recent rise in earthquakes in Oklahoma as drilling can penetrate rock crisscrossed with tectonic faults, triggering such natural disasters. Source: BBC and The Guardian Advertisement She added: 'I'm gutted really. It's such a dangerous industry and it shouldn't be here.' One activist sat on top of a van outside the site with a banner which read 'Stop the Start' while another lay down in front of railings. Justin Vanparys, 47, from Blackburn, said: 'Fossil fuels should stay in the ground. We have already got global warming.' He said activists had not been listened to but added: 'That just makes you come back even stronger.' The work had been due to start on Saturday but was delayed by the effects of Storm Callum. It followed an environmental campaigner failing in a bid to halt the work at the High Court on Friday. A spokesman for Cuadrilla said on Saturday: 'Due to the weather conditions yesterday afternoon and this morning, we will now start pumping on Monday. 'In high winds we couldn't use the crane to manoeuvre some equipment into place.' At a hearing in London on Friday, Mr Justice Supperstone dismissed Bob Dennett's application for an injunction preventing the company from fracking the UK's first horizontal shale gas well pending his proposed legal challenge. Mr Dennett claimed Lancashire County Council's emergency response planning and procedures at the site were inadequate, but the judge ruled there was not a 'serious issue' to be tried which would justify an interim order. In a statement after the ruling, Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: 'We are delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations as planned. 'We are now commencing the final operational phase to evaluate the commercial potential for a new source of indigenous natural gas in Lancashire. 'If commercially recoverable, this will displace costly imported gas with lower emissions, significant economic benefit and better security of energy supply for the UK.' Lancashire police confirmed that two separate arrests were made at the demonstration but did not reveal any more details. Another anti-fracking campaigner is pictured being freed after he chained himself to cement-filled tyres in Little Plumpton, Lancashire A large police van was stationed outside Cuadrilla's Lancashire site this morning after protestors staged a demonstration there Police officers put up a cordon to block off the road where protestors chained themselves to cement-filled tyres and branded placards against fracking in Lancashire Protestors left placards on the gates of Caudrilla's Lancashire site saying things like 'land for food not gas equals independence and 'frack off' An elderly protestor sits by the side of the road in Little Plumtpon, Lancashire, waving a sign that reads: 'Hands off our precious water Cuadrilla' Two activists mounted a large sign outside the energy firm's Lancashire site today as part of their anti-fracking demonstration Activists branded the words 'dirty filthy fracking' on barriers outside energy firm Cuadrilla's site in Lancashire where the controversial gas extraction process is starting today The house where best-selling children's writer Helen Bailey was murdered and her body dumped in a cesspit by her fiance has gone on the market for 1.4m. Estate agency photos showing the spacious five-bedroom home at Royston Heath, Hertfordshire, have gone online. They include images of the double garage where the body of Helen Bailey, 51, was concealed after she was drugged and smothered to death. The property is also the scene where Helen's fiance Ian Stewart was confronted by police after being rumbled over his plot to get his hands on her 4m fortune. In February last year, Ian Stewart (right), 56, was jailed for a minimum of 34 years after being found guilty of Helen Bailey's (left) murder The couple met in October 2011 and lived in Hartwell Lodge (pictured) for three years after buying it together in 2013. The detached Edwardian property is said to offer a 'wealth of potential for the right buyer' Ms Bailey's body was found in July 2016 after forensics were informed of a 15ft deep underground cesspit (pictured) tucked away under the floor of the garage. It had been installed to act as a 'well' by a previous owner who had joked to neighbour it was the 'one place to hide a body' The five-bedroom house in Royston has gone on the market for 1.4million. Agents Radcliffe and Rust say the property 'has been updated in parts, but is also in need of certain amount of TLC' However, there is no mention in the agent's particulars of the murder of Ms Bailey and her pet dog Boris which took place inside the property. The detached Edwardian 'Hartwell Lodge' has now been put up for sale, claiming to offer a 'wealth of potential for the right buyer'. Agents Radcliffe and Rust say the property 'has been updated in parts, but is also in need of certain amount of TLC'. It boasts stunning views over nearby Royston Heath, a large conservatory and outdoor swimming pool - and the spacious double garage where the author was found dead. Ms Bailey, 51, left the bulk of her estate to her partner Ian Stewart, 56, who was jailed for a minimum of 34 years last year after being found guilty of her murder. He will not get a penny because killers cannot inherit from their victims. Stewart (pictured) secretly started drugging Helen with zopiclone, a sleeping medication he had been prescribed before reporting her missing in April 2016 But questions have been raised over how much money his children Jamie, 24, and Oliver 21, will inherit - because they were named in Ms Bailey's will as 'discretionary beneficiaries'. Financial adviser Tony Hurley is the sole executor with the power to divide up the money into other trusts. When contacted by MailOnline today he would not comment on who would benefit from the sale of the property. Stewart met Ms Bailey in October 2011. They lived in Hartwell Lodge for three years after buying it together in 2013. Ms Bailey wrote about rebuilding her life following the death of her first husband, John Sinfield, who drowned on holiday in Barbados in February 2011. In her blog, Planet Grief, she described meeting Ian Stewart, referred to as her 'gorgeous grey-haired widower' through an online group for people who had lost their spouses. Ms Bailey and Stewart got engaged and she gave him power of attorney over her estate, changing her will so he would inherit almost all of her fortune in the event of her death. She also took out a life insurance policy to cover a potential 1.2m inheritance tax bill should she die before they were married. But despite appearing 'just an ordinary couple' to their new neighbours, Stewart secretly starting drugging Helen with zopiclone, a sleeping medication he had been prescribed. In April 2016, he reported Ms Bailey missing in April 2016 after convincing her friends and family she had gone away, 'needing time to herself'. Ms Bailey is best known for creating the teenage Electra Brown series. She met Stewart through an online group for people who had lost their spouses The property boasts stunning views over nearby Royston Heath, a large conservatory and outdoor swimming pool - and the spacious double garage where the author was found dead A court heard that the writer had been dragged to the garage (pictured) and dumped there with her beloved dog Boris, a dog's toy, a couple of bin bags and a pillow slip which could have been used to smother her Search and Rescue Teams experienced in recovering bodies from disaster zones were brought in to retrieve the author's body from the cesspit (pictured). They were forced to remove brickwork to gain access to her body in order not to damage it in the retrieval process Ms Bailey, best known for creating the teenage Electra Brown series, was said to have gone to stay at the couple's holiday home in Broadstairs, Kent. But when she didn't turn up, Stewart paid for posters to be produced, highlighting her disappearance. But three months on from when she was last seen, police began carrying out specialist searches of the area near to the couple's home. The author, who had no children of her own, drew up a new ten-page will in July 2014. It is not known if any of her grandchildren will benefit from the sale of the house Ms Bailey's body was found in July 2016 after forensics were informed of a 15ft deep underground cesspit tucked away under the floor of the garage. It had been installed to act as a 'well' by a previous owner who had joked to a neighbour it was the 'one place to hide a body'. Search and Rescue Teams experienced in recovering bodies from disaster zones were brought in to retrieve the author's body. They were forced to remove brickwork to gain access to her body in order not to damage it in the retrieval process. St Albans' Crown Court heard the writer had been dragged to the garage and dumped there with her beloved dog Boris, a dog's toy, a couple of bin bags and a pillow slip which could have been used to smother her. Stewart later claimed two men called Nick and Joe kidnapped her and were responsible for dumping her body in the underground cesspit. But following a six-week trial, a jury unanimously found him guilty of murder, one count of fraud, preventing lawful burial, and three counts of perverting the course of justice. The property listing on Rightmove claims the property is 'a rare opportunity to purchase a quite stunning detached residence, in a highly sought after location' According to the listing, the property also boasts a 'large garage and studio' alongside a number of other features including four reception rooms Police carried out thorough investigations at the property after Ms Bailey was found dead in 2016 In August, Stewart was arrested for the murder of his first wife Diane, 47, who died suddenly' at their family home in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, seven years ago. Although her death was unexpected, it was ruled to have been caused by her epilepsy. However, police opened up a new line of enquiry after Stewart was found guilty of killing Ms Bailey. He has been released under investigation, but will not be considered for release following the author's murder until he is 90 years old. When voters in Tennessees House District 30 head to the polls on Nov. 6, I encourage them to vote for their best interests by voting for Joda Thongnopnua. I know I will be. Though I have a history of voting down the right side of the ballot, I dont care much for party politics never have, never will. What I try to invest in, politically speaking, lies beyond the left/right, red/blue paradigm. I vote for ideas and authenticity. And thats why Im voting for Joda. Ive known Joda for quite a few years now and have always been impressed with his appreciation for bipartisanship, his commitment to his community, and his relentless desire to promote policies that benefit his neighbors. Its true that times are good for many of us here in Tennessee. Its impossible to deny that. However, there is always room for improvement, and I believe that a key to securing improvement across the Volunteer State is to do everything we can to create an environment wherein more boats have the opportunity to rise. Too many hard-working Tennessee families have been left on the sidelines as the rest of the state enjoys record productivity. In Nashville, we need representatives who are committed to making sure these overall good economic fortunes continue, while simultaneously working to find ways for more Tennesseans to enjoy them. Thats exactly what Joda will do. Knowing him, I know that Joda is hands down the best candidate for Tennessee House District 30. Join me in voting for him. David Martin A daredevil holiday maker has died from a suspected heart attack after leaping from a cliff top and battling a fierce ocean current on his way back to shore. Justin Jordanoff, 44, from Busselton in Western Australia's south west, took his final jump from a diving board at Mahana Point on Nusa Ceningan, an island south of Bali on Friday, Nine News reported. The father-of-three survived the plunge and floated his way to shore before walking to nearby Blue Lagoon Beach - but his condition dramatically worsened. A daredevil holiday maker (pictured) has died from a suspected heart attack after leaping from a cliff top and battling a fierce ocean current on his way back to shore Within minutes he began feeling dizzy and hot, and a short time later he lost consciousness. A friend rushed him to a nearby hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival. While the exact cause of his death has not yet been confirmed, the Balinese doctor that greeted Mr Jordanoff believes he suffered a heart attack. 'The local Balinese doctor believes Justin suffered a heart attack due to strenuous swimming against a rip in the ocean,' Mr Jordanoff's family said in a statement. 'He was fine after getting out of the water but half an hour later had the heart attack.' Justin Jordanoff (pictured) from Busselton in Western Australia's south west, took his final jump from a diving board at Mahana Point on Nusa Ceningan, an island south of Bali on Friday The family have flown to Bali in the wake of Mr Jordanoff's death to deal with the aftermath. Tributes have flown in for Mr Jordanoff, who has been described by friends as a 'lovely guy' and 'top bloke'. He left behind his partner Vanessa Pelle, three children, and their mother Kristy Jordanoff. 'I'm the mother of his children and we are struggling enough with this tragedy and I'm shielding them in this nightmare that we are living,' Ms Jordanoff told Daily Mail Australia. 'We would like the respect of our privacy.' We've still got about six months to wait until the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's first child. But a forensic artist has provided his take on what their baby might look like, putting together mock-ups after studying photographs of Harry and Meghan. Joe Mullins, who is based in Washington DC, predicts a girl would have brown eyes and black hair - while a boy would have blue eyes and brown hair. Forensic artist Joe Mullins has provided his take on how Harry and Meghan's baby might look Mr Mullins, who has worked in forensics for 17 years, has previously done mock-up pictures predicting the looks of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children. He has insisted that his work is highly scientific, taking account of the parents' colouring, predominant genes, outstanding features and complexions. Mr Mullins trained as a graphic designer before joining the police to do both age progressions of missing children and facial reconstruction from the skull. Speaking in 2012, he said: 'Over the years I have done lots of different celebrities. I did Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt when they were married. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pictured on October 3, are expecting their first child 'I have done a few of Angelina Jolie. When I did Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise I did the child as a boy, but the image actually does look a lot like Suri. 'My day job means I have acquired a skill which means it is always in the ball park. I was inspired after seeing some other versions of celebrities' children that were done. 'I remember thinking 'those things look scary. I could do something more accurate.' Kensington Palace announced this morning that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby in spring 2019. Harry and Meghan were wed in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Berkshire in May The newly-wed couple arrived in Sydney today ahead of a 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Harry and Meghan were wed at Windsor Castle in May and the news was announced on the eve of their first tour outside the UK and Ireland. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be 'delighted' for the couple. Doria Ragland, the mother of the duchess, is 'very happy about this lovely news' and 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild'. This is the dramatic moment a cyclist accused a driver of 'killing kids' as he blocked her path because she 'almost hit him.' Laura Corbett filmed the male cyclist as he hurled insults at her while blocking her car on a dual carriageway in Canterbury, Kent. According to the cyclist, Ms Corbett didn't look where she was going on her approached to a nearby roundabout. A cyclist accused a driver of 'killing kids' as he blocked her path because she 'almost hit him' The man, who is holding his bicycle across the front of her car, said: 'F**king look!' 'You drive a f***kwit vehicle that pollutes the s**t out of things. It kills kids, f**ks people up.' Laura Corbett filmed the male cyclist as he hurled insults at her while blocking her car on a dual carriageway in Canterbury, Kent She said: 'You don't pull out in front of a car! I kill kids? You didn't look at what was coming. 'You just pulled out in front of my car.' Ms Corbett said the argumentative cyclist didn't look when he pulled out in front of her on the dual carriageway. After asking him repeatedly to move away from the front of her car, she moved back into the driver's seat and beeped her car's horn. The cyclist again refused to move, and the motorist continued sounding the horn, desperate for the man to leave. 'Move, or I will ring the police. Get out of the way' she said. The man ignored the loud beeping for a few more seconds, before reaching into a bag on his bike to grab his phone. Ms Corbett posted the footage to Facebook with the caption 'If this absolute idiot belongs to you I suggest you educate him on how to ride a bloody bike and the highway code!!!' According to the argumentative cyclist, Ms Corbett didn't look where she was going on her approached to a nearby roundabout Shannon Cole said: 'What a plonker, you tell him girl!' Keeley Riley commented: 'He knows best obviously but where's his helmet?' Avril Satchwell added: 'Shame on you cyclist! And get a bike helmet if you think cars are dangerous. I would have called the police had I been you.' Playtime Beds boss Craig Williams (pictured arriving at Leeds Crown Court today) denies manslaughter by gross negligence and fraud A seven-month-old baby died in his 655 designer cot after becoming stuck and choking to death, a jury has been told. Oscar Abbey was found face-down and 'cold' at his York home on November 3, 2016, just days after parents Charlie and Shannon Abbey splashed out on the bespoke bed. Seven-month-old Oscar Abbey was put to bed by his parents in the combined cot and bed he was to share with his elder brother Maxwell and bought by his parents who specifically checked that they were safe for babies to sleep in. But in the morning his father found him face down and 'cold' in their York home. Charlie Abbey, 24, described the moment he found his son dead in the cot in a statement read at Leeds Crown Court on Monday. He said: 'I instantly realised he'd gone. 'It looked like he's tried to crawl out backwards but his head was stuck.' In her statement, his wife Shannon Abbey, 23, said she woke up and 'I heard Charlie shouting and screaming, 'he's not breathing'. 'I ran to the landing and Charlie was holding Oscar in both arms.' Craig Williams, 37, the boss of the Playtime Beds firm, reassured Oscar's mother Shannon Abbey that the beds were safe for children of 'any age' the court was told. Even after Oscar's death, Williams continued to falsely claim that his beds met British Standards so that he could continue to sell them, the court was told. John Elvidge QC, prosecuting, said: 'This prosecution arises out of a fatal incident when a seven-month-old child, Oscar Abbey, died at home from positional asphyxia. The parents of the baby boy found him dead with his head through the bars of this 665 cot 'During the course of the night he wriggled his body through holes at the front of his cot bed, but his head was too big to fit through and in effect he was choked to death, he was starved of oxygen. 'He died because his cot bed, bought by his parents from this defendant's company, was designed and constructed without any care or thought to the safety of the child who was sleeping in it. Oscar died because if the defendant's gross negligence.' Mr Elvidge said that Oscar, who was born on March 23 of that year, was the youngest of Charlie and Shannon Abbey's little boys. Their elder son Maxwell was aged two and a half when the tragedy occurred. The couple had moved into a two bedroom local authority house in York and needed a bed that both their children could use because Oscar had grown too big for his Moses basket. Mrs Abbey, a McDonald's shift worker, saw an advert for Playtime Beds online and saw they produced a bed with a cot underneath it for 655 with a 45 charge to deliver and assemble it. She paid a 100 deposit but before she bought the bed she made enquiries in an email exchange with Williams about the age of the children who could sleep in it. Even after the child's death, Williams (pictured) continued to falsely claim that his beds met British Standards so that he could continue to sell them, the court was told Shannon asked Williams: 'What age is the bed suitable for with the cot front please?' The court heard that Williams responded: 'Any age.' The bed was delivered on September 16 2016 but Oscar only started to use it on October 28 and tragedy struck seven days later. Mr Elvidge told the court: 'At about 7pm on Wednesday November 2, Oscar's father put him to bed because his mother was working late at McDonalds and she would return home at 11.30pm. 'She checked on the boys and Oscar was awake and gurgling so she gave him some milk and put him back into his cot. 'At 6.30am Oscar's father found him lying face down with his whole body outside of the cot side but with his head stuck inside. He was unconscious, not breathing. 'His parents attempted to revive him, they called the emergency services and the emergency services attended but sadly to no avail, Oscar was dead.' Mr Elvidge told the court that it was Williams who was responsible for the little boy's death. He established his company in Sheffield and had two members of staff who helped to make the beds out of MDF wood, assemble and paint them, the court heard. How bed 'had holes bigger than safety standards allowed' The bed in which seven-month-old Oscar tragically died had holes which were bigger than safety standards allowed, the court was told today. Gaps in the front of the cot-bed measured 116mm (4.6in) across and were bigger than industry standards allowing the toddler's body to slip through, the jury heard. A post-mortem was conducted on November 7, 2016 where the diameter of baby Oscar's head was measured at 130mm (5.1in). The prosecution's case is that the toddler died after his body slipped through large holes in two gates at the bottom of the bunkbed-style cot, trapping his head The jury were told there were a number of standards of safety which are met in the manufacture of beds. The prosecutor added: 'The bed does not comply with (the standards) because of the near 120mm (4.7in) gaps made in the bed designed by the defendant.' Advertisement Mr Elvidge said: 'The defendant was the controlling mind of the company, he was the business's designer, head of sales, financial controller, the lot.' Playtime Beds opened in two industrial units in Sheffield in 2011 and became a limited company in 2015 selling 'bespoke children's beds' The designs featured some beds with slides, steps or play areas under a raised bunk However when police searched his business premises and computer equipment they found a web page open on the site of Ana-White.com, a firm who also make beds. Mr Elvidge said Williams's firm 'partially copied designs from the internet' and used them to make templates for his beds. He told the court that on their website Playtime Beds said their products are 'designed with children's safety in mind.' He added: 'Unfortunately for their customers, particularly Oscar Abbey and his family, the defendant did not, say the prosecution, have regard to the risks to users and more particularly the users of the cot when drawing up his designs. 'He owed a duty to take reasonable care to provide a cot bed in which it was safe for Oscar Abbey to sleep.' Later, the court was told that Williams ignored the risks to children in a bid to save money. And his indifference following Oscar's death was such that he continued to sell beds under a different name even when Playtime Beds was forced to cease business by Sheffield trading standards, it was claimed. Williams allegedly tried to hide his involvement in a new company he set up, Magical Dream Beds, installing his employee Joe Bruce as the 'notional' boss. However his ruse came unstuck when his identity was blown by Bruce who asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee within earshot of a customer, the court heard. Mr Elvidge said: 'The defendant tried to conceal his identity from customers but was given away by Joe Bruce who carelessly asked him 'Craig, do you want a coffee?' Mr Elvidge said that the cot bed manufactured by Williams's firm failed safety standards because the holes in it allowed a baby's hips to pass through but not the head. He told jurors: 'The size of the gaps chosen were for ease of manufacture rather than any safety consideration given to a child sleeping in the bed.' Williams, who had an NVQ in wood occupations and construction gained in 1998, 'chose to ignore the risks, probably in his desire to make or save money,' the prosecutor said. Mr Elvidge continued: 'The defendant could have stopped designing, selling, manufacturing and installing children's beds but he did not, he did not even alter the designs to account for safety standards. 'Maybe the only reasonable inference is that he did not care at all about the fate of those using his beds.' Sheffield Trading Standards issued a 'withdrawal notice' preventing Playtime Beds from trading. Williams then set up another company Magical Dream Beds trading from exactly the same premises and selling the same designs to customers, it was claimed. Even when challenged about the safety of the beds by customers, Williams allegedly claimed the beds were safe and met British Standards safety requirements. Mr Elvidge said: 'This defendant determinedly and dishonestly attempted to continue to make money by misleading customers about the quality and safety of his beds as well as the identity of the controlling mind behind the company.' Oscar's father Charlie Abbey's harrowing account of the moment he found his baby son dead was read to the court. In a statement he said: 'Daylight was coming in through the curtains and I saw Oscar and realised he was stuck. I crouched next to him and thought to myself 'he has wriggled out'. 'I reached down and I could feel he was very cold. I put one arm under him and the other on the side of the bed and lifted him back through the hole. As I did so I turned him round and when I saw his face I instantly saw that he was gone.' Mr Abbey, who is now 23, shouted for Mrs Abbey to come through. He saw that Maxwell was waking in the bed above the cot and the couple took Oscar downstairs so that his brother would not see what was happening. The couple attempted CPR and called the emergency services but they were given confirmation on arrival at York Hospital that Oscar was dead. Williams, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, denies manslaughter by gross negligence and fraud. The fraud charge states that between November 14 and 22, 2016 - after Oscar's death - he continued to trade, falsely claiming his beds complied with British Standards and that he had 'no knowledge what had happened to a company called Playtime Beds.' The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues. Air India on Friday grounded two pilots after one of its jets carrying 136 people hit an airport perimeter wall on takeoff and then flew for almost four hours with a damaged body, officials said. The Boeing 737 suffered the damage as it left Trichy in southern India bound for Dubai. Officials at the airport in Tamil Nadu state 'observed that aircraft might have come in contact with the airport perimeter wall,' said an Air India statement. 'The matter was conveyed to the pilot in command. The pilot in command reported that the aircraft systems were operating normally. An Air India flight carrying 136 people hit an airport perimeter wall (pictured) while taking off The damaged Boeing 737 (pictured) kept flying for four hours before landing in Mumbai Air hostess breaks her legs after falling out of a plane in India A flight attendant fell out of an Air India plane while trying to close its door on Monday, the airline said, reportedly breaking her leg when she landed on the tarmac. The accident occurred at Mumbai's international airport as the crew were getting ready to welcome passengers aboard the New Delhi-bound flight. 'The cabin crew member fell off while closing the back door of the Boeing 777 and sustained injuries on Monday morning,' Pravin Bhatnagar, a senior manager at Air India, told AFP. 'She is receiving treatment in hospital. An investigation will be carried out to determine the exact cause of the incident.' Indian media reports said the woman, a 52-year-old, was conscious but had leg fractures. A spokesperson for Nanavati Hospital, where the flight attendant was taken, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP. Debt-laden Air India has been hit by a string of technical glitches and other embarrassing incidents, including staff turning up late for flights, over the years. The state carrier last week grounded two pilots after one of its jets carrying 136 people hit an airport perimeter wall on take-off and then flew for almost four hours with a damaged body before landing safely. In December 2015 a technician working for Air India died after being sucked into a jet engine as the plane pushed back for take-off at Mumbai airport. The tragedy happened when the co-pilot mistook a signal from ground staff and started the engine. Last month an Indian passenger sparked panic in mid-air when he tried to open a plane door, apparently mistaking it for the toilet. The man, who according to media reports was a first-time flyer, was travelling on a GoAir flight from New Dehli to Patna. Advertisement 'It was decided to divert the aircraft to Mumbai as a precautionary measure.' The jet landed in Mumbai four hours later and pictures of the damaged aircraft went viral on social media soon after it landed safely. The 130 passengers were moved to a new flight to Dubai. Air India said the two pilots were 'derostered pending investigation' and the incident had been reported to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation for an investigation. 'The airline is fully cooperating with the investigation,' it added. Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday said the government had recently ordered an independent 'airline safety' review of Air India. Air traffic in India is booming but Prabhu said on Twitter that 'safety of the passengers is of paramount importance for us.' The airline has launched an investigation into the crash and grounded the pilots Air India said the two pilots were 'derostered pending investigation' and the incident had been reported to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation for an investigation Saudi Arabia is preparing to admit that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in its consulate, it was reported last night. But the government will claim he died in a botched interrogation that King Salman and Prince Mohammed did not authorise, sources told CNN. According to the publication, the Saudi Arabian government is preparing a report which will say Khashoggi was supposed to be taken to the kingdom but died in the consulate during interrogation. CNN said that two sources had leaked the report, which could change' and is 'still being prepared'. The Saudis will likely claim the alleged murder was carried out 'without clearance and transparency' and that the alleged hit squad of 15 Saudi assassins will be punished, the sources said. President Donald Trump said last night he has heard about the report but that it may just be a 'rumour.' 'I heard that report, but nobody knows if it's an official report,' he said in Georgia. 'So far, it's just a rumor of a report coming out.' Today: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) arrived in Saudi Arabia to quiz King Salman (right) over the mystery 'I hope you are comfortable here,' the king told Pompeo who responded, 'Thank you for accepting my visit on behalf of President Trump' Turkish forensic investigators gather on the steps of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul as they prepare to enter the building this evening The crack team of investigators could be seen marching through the door which Jamal Khashoggi walked through two weeks ago A group of Saudi security officials prepare to let the Turkish police officers into the building at the center of the scandal Today, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia to quiz King Salman over the mystery as Turkish police announced plans to search the Saudi consul's residence in Istanbul as part of a joint investigation. Turkish media also said that investigators are expected to search the consulate again today after a forensic team entered last night. This morning Google became the latest company to say it would boycott a business conference in Saudi Arabia next week. Google said in a statement that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not attend the Future Investment Initiative Summit starting in Riyadh on Tuesday. Many American companies, including Uber, Viacom and Ford, have pulled out of the three-day conference, known as Davos in the Desert. Britain's trade secretary Liam Fox and US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin are due to attend. Last night, a team of Turkish and Saudi officials entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for a joint inspection two weeks after Khashoggi went missing. At least a dozen officials arrived in unmarked police cars at 6pm local time and mingled outside the building before filing inside. The inspection was agreed after Saudi King Salman and Turkish President Erdogan spoke yesterday for the first time since Turkey accused the Saudis of killing and dismembering Khashoggi who criticised the Saudi crown prince. Just hours before the forensic inspection, the Saudis let in a team of cleaners armed with several large mops and buckets. President Trump said in a visit to Georgia on Monday that 'nobody knows' if the Saudi report is real yet A Turkish crime scene investigation team member inspects the roof of the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on Monday night Crime scene officers from the Turkish police investigated every inch of the consulate on Monday night Turkish police officers gather as they prepare to enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate as evening draws in on Monday The team of officers arrived by van and were met by a horde of reporters from the global media as they entered the building A police escort featuring several motorbikes went ahead of the forensics squad as they rolled up on Monday evening The team of forensics experts were sent in amid reports that the building has been repainted in the last two weeks Searching another country's consulate - which is considered foreign soil under the Vienna Convention - is an extraordinary measure which reflects the gravity of the diplomatic crisis. A Turkish official yesterday claimed the consulate walls have been repainted since the alleged murder and said the Turks don't trust the Saudis not to obfuscate the investigation, reported the Middle Eastern Eye. On Monday, President Donald Trump speculated 'rogue killers' were to blame after revealing the Saudi king denied any murder plot during a phone conversation between the pair last night. Speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump said King Salman's denial 'could not have been stronger.' 'He said it very strongly,' Trump said when pressed to say whether he believed the Saudi king. He added: 'It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Riyadh on Monday, the State Department said, adding that 'the president has called for a prompt and open investigation.' It comes after oil prices rose following Saudi Arabia's thinly veiled threat yesterday to cut production if the US imposes sanctions amid growing international tension over the disappearance. Officers could be seen jumping out of the back of the vehicle and heading towards the busy consulate Police officers disappeared inside the building and were given license to examine it by Saudi officials Saudi and Turkish investigators arrive to search the Saudi Arabian consulate Saudi and Turkish investigators arrive to search the consulate at 6pm local time on Monday The group (pictured) entered the building at 6pm local time, hours after a cleaning team swept the premises Britain, Germany and France have jointly called for a 'credible investigation,' Egypt has backed Saudi Arabia and warned of 'false claims' against its ally and Australia's foreign minister has said she is 'deeply concerned'. Khashoggi, who was notoriously critical of Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince, entered the consulate on 2 October to get documents to marry his Turkish wife - but has not been seen since. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia has called such allegations 'baseless' but has not proved the writer ever left the consulate. A Saudi source said on Monday that the Crown Prince has ordered an internal investigation of the disappearance. Britain, Germany and France have jointly called for a 'credible investigation' into the disappearance. Pictured: Officials enter the consulate for the inspection Saudi and Turkish investigators arrive at the consulate for the joint inspection on Monday Khashoggi, who was notoriously critical of Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince, entered the consulate on 2 October. Pictured: Investigators outside on Monday Tonight's inspection (pictured) was agreed after Saudi King Salman and Turkish President Erdogan spoke yesterday A team of cleaners entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul today ahead of an inspection by Turkish and Saudi officials Cleaning personnel wait to enter Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul on Monday afternoon Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post reporter who spent much time in the west, on holiday An official at Turkey's Foreign Ministry announced the inspection this morning. Saudi Arabia then released a statement thanking Turkey for the co-oporation. It read: 'Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud telephoned his brother Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to thank the president for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to form a joint working group to discuss the disappearance of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi. 'The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques stressed the keenness of the Kingdom on its relations with Turkey as much as the brotherly Republic of Turkey is keen on that and that no one will get undermine the strength of this relationship. 'For his part, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of the Republic of Turkey, appreciated the fraternal, distinguished, historical and close relations between the two countries and the two peoples and his keenness to strengthen and develop them.' On Saturday, Trump said Saudi Arabia could face 'severe punishment' if it is proven it was involved in Khashoggi's disappearance. Trump said in a Monday morning tweet that he would send a top U.S. official, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to Middle East to confront Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in person Talks: Trump said he had now spoken to King Salman, the Saudi king. He and Melania Trump met the king on their very first foreign trip (pictured) in May 2017 Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi. Pictured: Cleaners at the consulate Saudi Arabia has called such allegations 'baseless' but has not proved the writer ever left the consulate. Pictured: Cleaners at the consulate A Saudi source said on Monday that the Crown Prince has ordered an internal investigation of the disappearance. Pictured: Cleaners at the consulate People wait for visa procedures in front of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul before the inspection this evening Visitors leave the Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul on the day of a joint inspection Oil prices rise and the Riyal dips On Monday morning Benchmark Brent crude oil jumped by $1.49 a barrel to a high of $81.92. The riyal was quoted at 3.7524 to the US dollar in the spot market early on Monday, its weakest rate since September 2016, Refinitiv data showed. It comes after Saudi Arabia issued a thinly veiled threat to cut oil production if the US imposes sanctions over the disappearance. There are also fears companies will turn away from investing in the Kingdom UKOIL chart by TradingView TradingView Privacy Policy Advertisement In response on Sunday, in a thinly veiled threat to cut oil production, Saudi Arabia warned that if it 'receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy.' 'The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations,' said the statement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. Trump has said repeatedly he does not want to halt a proposed $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia - as some in Congress have suggested - because it would harm the US economically. But on Monday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said: 'We will take stern action with the Saudis if necessary. The United States is the dominant energy player so we're in pretty good shape, in my opinion, with our energy boom to cover any shortfalls. We'll wait and see, but rest assured that when the president says we will take actions if we find out bad outcomes, he means it.' On Monday Benchmark Brent crude oil jumped by $1.49 a barrel to a high of $81.92 amid fears of diminishing supply, exacerbated by the fact that new US sanctions on Iran come into force on November 4. Traders Trafigura and Mercuria said Brent could rise to $90 per barrel by Christmas and pass $100 in early 2019. Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago,said: 'If the Saudis don't come to the rescue when the Iranian sanctions kick in, the US will really going to be short this market. It's going to be a very undersupplied market. That was the fear that was initially driving prices higher.' However, some risk premium was taken out and prices dipped when Trump said rogue killers may be responsible. The Kingdom's currency fell to its lowest level in two years and its international bond prices slipped over fears that foreign investment inflows could shrink. Saudi media backed up the government's strong statement in television broadcasts and newspaper front pages Monday. The Arabic-language daily Okaz wrote a headline on Monday in English, warning: 'Don't Test Our Patience.' It showed a clenched fist made of a crowd of people in the country's green color. Jamal Khashoggi (right) arriving at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2. He has not been seen since and Turkey has accused Saudi agents of murdering him Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pictured in Switzerland in 2011, may have been murdered because he knew too much about the Saudi royal family, one of his friends has said The Saudi Gazette trumpeted: 'Enough Is Enough,' while the Arab News said: 'Saudi Arabia 'will not be bullied'.' The Arab News' headline was above a front-page editorial by Dubai-based real-estate tycoon Khalaf al-Habtoor, calling on Gulf Arab nations to boycott international firms now backing out of a planned economic summit in Riyadh later this month. 'Together we must prove we will not be bullied or else, mark my words, once they have finished kicking the kingdom, we will be next in line,' al-Habtoor said. Already, international business leaders are pulling out of the kingdom's upcoming investment forum, a high-profile event known as 'Davos in the Desert.' They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford. Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) News that the CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, would pull out of the conference drew angry responses across the region. The foreign minister of the neighboring island kingdom of Bahrain, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, tweeted Sunday night that there should be a boycott of the ride-hailing app both there and in Saudi Arabia. Late Sunday, Saudi King Salman spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about Khashoggi. Turkey said Erdogan 'stressed the forming of a joint working group to probe the case.' Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said King Salman thanked Erdogan 'for welcoming the kingdom's proposal' for forming the working group. The king also said Turkey and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and 'that no one will get to undermine the strength of this relationship,' according to a statement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency. While Turkey and the kingdom differ on political issues, Saudi investments are a crucial lifeline for Ankara amid trouble with its national currency, the Turkish lira. Prince Mohammed, King Salman's son, has aggressively pitched the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. But Khashoggi's disappearance has led several business leaders and media outlets to back out of the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh called the Future Investment Initiative. Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post about Saudi Arabia, criticizing its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of women's rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince. This is the moment a mother launches a vicious attack on a schoolgirl who she thought had bullied her daughter. Auckland mother Nicola-Jane Jenks can be seen in the video screaming at a group of girls in school uniform as she launches into an attack on a 17-year-old girl. 'You f***ing little b****. You touch my daughter again...' she can be heard yelling in the video that was sent to the New Zealand Herald. Auckland mother Nicola-Jane Jenks (pictured) can be seen in the video screaming at a group of girls in school uniform as she launches into an attack on a 17-year-old girl She appears to drag the girl by her hair as her friend's yell for Jenks to get off her. 'You touch my daughter again you little cow and I will hurt you and that goes for the rest of you, alright.' Jenks then appears to hit the girl on the back of the head. 'F*** off, f*** off, f*** off,' Jenks screams at the group. 'And you, you little cow, if you come near me or my daughter again I will bash you so hard into the middle of next week. Do you understand?' She yells at the girl before slapping her across the face. Auckland mother Nicola-Jane Jenks was filmed screaming at a group of high school students before she assaulted a teenager Nicola-Jane Jenks assaulted a 17-year-old girl near Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland after she received a phone call from her daughter, who was terrified and upset The video, which was filmed in May near Mount Albert Grammar School, was sent to the New Zealand Herald by the victim's mother. Jenks leaded guilty to common assault at Auckland District Court but escaped without conviction at her sentencing hearing on Thursday. Judge Tony Fitzgerald said the 'bad decision' shouldn't impact the rest of her life. The victims mother said she felt disheartened at the result of the sentencing. 'It's not okay to for a 50-year-old woman to hit a child, especially around the head.' Nicola-Jane Jenks was discharged without conviction after pleading guilty to assaulting a 17-year-old girl near Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland The assault was allegedly sparked after Jenks received a phone call from her daughter, who was terrified and upset. While Ms Jenks is apologetic for her actions, she told the NZ Herald her actions were the product of unrelenting bullying. Her young daughter had been suffering panic attacks and avoiding school due to the verbal and physical abuse the bully was inflicting on her, and Ms Jenks was fed up with the school's inaction. The teenager suffered some bruising and spent some time in hospital to monitor for internal injuries. President Trump has denied mocking Dr Christine Blasey Ford and said Brett Kavanaugh would not have been confirmed if he had not made a speech in which he mimicked her. In an interview with 60 Minutes, the president said without his remarks mocking Dr Ford's testimony about her sexual assault allegations, his Supreme Court nominee would not have been approved. Trump told a Make America Great Again rally in Mississippi two weeks ago, that Dr Ford was not a credible witness because she did not remember details of the night she accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed, groping her and covering her mouth when she screamed during a teenage party in the 1980s. He ridiculed how much she drank, not knowing where the party took place or how she got home. President Trump mimicked Dr Christine Blasey Ford's testimony because she did not remember certain details of the night that alleges she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Dr Christine Blasey Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee Mr Kavanaugh and other men pinned her to a bed during a house party in the 1980s and tried to remove her clothes Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh denied the allegations and was sworn into office last week Trump said as he imitated Dr Ford: 'I had one beer. Well, you think it was, nope! It was one beer. Oh good. How did you get home? I don't remember. How did you get there? I don't remember. Where is the place? I don't remember. How many years ago was it? I don't know. I don't know, I don't know. 'What neighborhood was it in? "I don't know. Where's the house? I don't know". Upstairs. Downstairs. "I don't know". But I had one beer that's the only thing I remember!' 'Guilty until proven innocent, that's very dangerous for our country.' But when 60 Minutes interviewer, Lesley Stahl, asked the president last night about his speech in Mississippi during Kavanaugh's confirmation process, he showed little remorse. Kavanaugh denied the allegations and Trump mocked Ford's testimony on her accusation before the Senate Judiciary Committee in what he called his 'famous Mississippi speech'. Donald Trump told 60 Minutes that 'had I not made that speech, we would not have won' when asked about his rally comments in Mississippi Correspondent Lesley Stahl asked the president why he mimicked Dr Ford if he was not ridiculing her evidence During the interview last night Trump denied mocking Dr Ford and claimed she was treated with 'respect' He told her: 'I didn't really make fun of her. I said the person that we're talking about didn't know the year, the time, the place. 'I was just saying she didn't seem to know anything and she tried to destroy the life of a man who has been extraordinary,. 'Had I not made that speech, we would not have won.' During her testimony to the Senate's Judiciary Committee last month, Dr Ford recalled details Trump claimed she had forgotten. During her evidence, she said part of the alleged assault which haunted her for decades was the laughter of Mr Kavanaugh and the other men she claims pinned her to a bed during a house party and tried to remove her clothes. Brett Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and was sworn in last week despite these accusation of three women. Ms Stahl asked Trump if it was right of him to provoke even more laughter and ridicule from the crowd at his Mississippi rally, but the president insisted his supporters could do what they wanted. He said: 'The way now Justice Kavanaugh was treated has become a big factor in the midterms. Have you seen what's gone on with the polls? I think she was treated with great respect. 'I'm not going to get into it because we won. It doesn't matter, we won.' Shocking footage shows two women screaming as a man clings on to the bonnet of their moving car. The clip shows a man with a cigarette holding on for his life trying to tell the scared driver to pull over. Whilst this is happening, the woman is on speaking to her father about the bizarre incident. The clip shows a man with cigarette holding on for life telling the scared driver to pull over The clip which has gone viral was posted to social media yesterday. It is believed to have been filmed in Calderwood, East Kilbride, Scotland. The clip has been shared hundreds of times and has been viewed over 90 thousand times. In the bizarre footage which was uploaded to Facebook and Twitter, the clips starts with the man with a cigarette in his mouth holding on to the car bonnet after the driver begins to pick up pace. Whilst this is happening, the woman is on the phone to her dad about the bizarre incident Before, the camera quickly pans to show the driver holding her phone as she steers the wheel with one hand. The driver who is terrified can be heard shouting and screaming at the man telling him to get off her car, while she is talking to her father. Her friend who is equally terrified can be heard trying to speak but is cut off by the driver who is screaming at the top of her voice to her father telling him: 'he's on my f*****g bonnet.' Her father can be heard shocked repeating what was said while the driver tells him. 'Dad, I'm driving' before screaming further while her friend can be heard panicking as well. The clip has been shared hundreds of times and has been viewed over 90 thousand times The man with the cigarette can be heard calling her a f*****g idiot, as she steadily increases her pace to try and force him off. However, he can be seen pulling himself up to stay on the bonnet, while using his head to signal her to pull over. The car then speeds up and the man can now be seen continuing to pull himself up as he struggles to hold onto the bonnet. The driver is now screaming: 'get off my car' repeatedly while her friend can be heard screaming. Thousands of people commented on the video on social media. Eveline Higgins said: 'Omg. Feeling so so helpless for his daughter. This is very disturbing.' Sofie Louise Todd wrote: 'I would have sped up & slammed on reversed & drove round him.' This is the adorable moment a 72-year-old tap danced with his granddaughter after she asked him to be her partner for a recital. Maeve Jones, 10, was in desperate need of a dance partner for her tap routine, so she turned to her 72-year-old grandfather, who proved age really is just a number. Bill 'Gramps' Jones - who has never missed one of Maeve's recitals - was taught the routine across six one-hour lessons in Wakefield, Massachusetts. A 72-year-old tap danced with his granddaughter Maeve after she asked him to help her practice for a recital Bill 'Gramps' Jones was taught the routine across six one-hour lessons in Wakefield, Massachusetts Tapping, twirling and even cart-wheeling in perfect synchronicity with his granddaughter, the retired headteacher rolls back the years in an impressive performance. Mr Jones performed in a tap-dancing quartet known as the Four Flashes in his teens Beaming with pride as she watched her father-in-law and daughter's jive last month, Jaime Jones said: 'Maeve and I were talking about how much Bill loved tap, and she asked him to perform with her - the rest is history. 'Bill was definitely not expecting to be asked. 'He was so happy and accepted the invitation without hesitation. 'Their performance was quite amazing. Maeve really loved dancing with her grandfather. 'She shares him with two siblings and five cousins, so having this special time set aside for just the two of them was very special. 'They share a very special bond through their love of dance.' In his early teens, Mr Jones performed in a tap-dancing quartet known as the Four Flashes. Following in the footsteps of his mother, the 72-year-old was delighted to see his passion for the art passed down to Maeve. Following in the footsteps of his mother, the 72-year-old was delighted to see his passion for dance passed down to Maeve Ms Jones said: 'I think for many people [the video] brings back fond memories of their own grandparents - these are times to be cherished. 'I could not be prouder of my daughter for thinking of her grandfather and wanting to showcase their love in a dance. 'They would both love to perform together again, on a grander stage.' A British PhD student was today charged with spying for a foreign government in the United Arab Emirates. Matthew Hedges has been held for five months in solitary confinement in a secret prison after being arrested at Dubai airport on his way back to the UK. His wife Daniela Tejada, who fears for her husband's failing health, said he is 'absolutely not a spy'. The charges were announced today after the country's foreign minister, Dr Anwar Gargash, warned in a cryptic tweet there will be 'unusual and embarrassing revelations' about the student's 'friends and allies'. Matthew Hedges, pictured with his wife Daniela Tejada, has spent the past five months in solitary confinement after being arrested in Dubai Airport The charges were announced today after the country's foreign minister, Dr Anwar Gargash, warned in a cryptic tweet there will be 'unusual and embarrassing revelations' about the student's 'friends and allies' Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, former adviser to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan and political expert, wrote on twitter: 'Durham U PhD student Matthew Hedges appeared at Abu Dhabi court today. 'He was officially charged spying for a foreign government backed by all the legal evidences. His rights were fully guaranteed during investigations.His embassy was also informed about his case all along.' Mr Hedges, 31, was seized at Dubai Airport on May 5 on his way home from a two-week research trip for his PhD at Durham University. He was studying the impact of the Arab Spring on security policies in the United Arab Emirates for his thesis. Mr Hedges' mother was with him when he was arrested but police would not tell her anything. Sources in the UAE on Sunday said he would be charged with espionage. One claimed investigators had accused Mr Hedges of trying to procure 'confidential information for a foreign agency', believed to be neighbouring Gulf state Qatar. But Mrs Tejada, 27, insisted: 'He most certainly wasn't. Not just because he knows the region very well, and he knows that it's not a safe thing to do, but because he's a man of integrity. 'He would never do anything to compromise that. The only reason he went to the UAE was for his academic research.' She told the Mail: 'It's not just that I know him well. Of course, if he was really a spy, he wouldn't be able to tell me, but he wouldn't make a good spy at all. He would be too conspicuous. 'The fair and just thing for the UAE to do would be to admit they've made a mistake and release him.' Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has raised the matter with his Emirati counterpart, and British officials have visited Mr Hedges twice, although they were prevented from discussing his case with the authorities. Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has raised Mr Hedges' case with Emirati authorities but his wife has decided to go public British diplomats have been urging the family to be patient while they try to resolve the matter behind the scenes. But after Mr Hedges appeared in the secretive State Security Court on Wednesday accused of spying, without a lawyer, his frustrated wife decided to go public. She said: 'I have been very trusting and patient. But we can no longer go on like this. Matt needs our help.' Miss Tejada has only been allowed to see her husband once in five months, in a 'heart-breaking' 45-minute police station visit in Abu Dhabi in July. She said: 'He was visibly shaking when he saw me. For the first part of the visit he didn't look me in the eye and spoke in low voice and was very fidgety. 'This is not typical of him. He is a self-confident, bubbly person.' Colombian-born Miss Tejada, who met Mr Hedges at Exeter University in 2010, believes he is suffering depression and anxiety attacks and was 'heavily medicated' when she saw him. He has been vomiting every day for the past three months, she added. The couple have been allowed weekly five-minute phone calls but are forbidden from discussing the case. Miss Tejada said: 'Matt is a British citizen. More must be done to ensure he is safely brought home.' The UAE is a tourism and trade hub for the Middle East, but its authoritarian regime tolerates little public criticism. Last year Mr Hedges, who spent his teenage years in Dubai and worked there before his research, co-wrote an article in an academic journal on the Muslim Brotherhood political movement, which the UAE regards as an enemy. Radha Stirling, of Detained In Dubai and a legal expert on the UAE, said: 'It is possible the authorities disliked what he has written, and suspect him on political and ideological grounds.' She added it was almost certain charges would relate to espionage or defaming the government, which can carry prison sentences of around 10 years. Intelligence sources said yesterday that Mr Hedges was not a British spy. And the Foreign Secretary said: 'We are very worried about Mr Hedges. I've spoken to the Emirati foreign minister twice now on this matter face to face so they are aware of our concerns.' Mr Hedges' case was adjourned to October 24. A loving granddaughter in China has surprised her elderly grandmother with a gift she had wished for life: to be a bride. Wang Na, a 40-year-old woman from Nanjing, arranged her 96-year-old grandmother to be dressed in a bridal gown before posing for a set of touching pictures with the pensioner in place of her late grandfather. Ms Wang's grandmother had never worn a wedding dress or had nuptial pictures taken, and Ms Wang knew it had become a life-long regret for her. Scroll down for video Wang Na, in China, has helped her grandmother realise her dream of wearing a bridal gown The 40-year-old from Nanjing stands in for her late grandfather to pose for a set of 'wedding pictures for with her 96-year-old grandmother. The pictures have become viral online Ms Wang said she only did what she should have done: to make her grandmother happy 'I cannot replace my grandfather, but in this manner, I hope she could find the taste of love again,' Ms Wang told MailOnline. On her social media account, Wang penned an emotional 'love letter' to her grandmother along with the pictures: 'I wish to see what you would have looked when you first put on a wedding dress. 'I wish to hold your hand to find the love together. I wish to give you all the vulnerable places in my heart. I wish to capture all your beauty with still frames.' Ms Wang, who works at a local technology company, said her grandmother met her grandfather at the age of 16. 'She saw him reading a book under a big tree and thought he was graceful and scholarly.' After Ms Wang's grandparents got married, her grandfather, who was a soldier, served in the armies for a long time and her grandmother raised the couple's four children at home, including Ms Wang's father. Ms Wang's grandfather died when she was little. Ms Wang's grandmother had never had the chance to wear a wedding dress for photos When Ms Wang saw another elderly couple's wedding picture online, she decided it was time her grandmother had had her dream realised. She took her to have 'wedding pictures' taken She contacted a photo studio and planned the shooting without her grandmother's knowledge Ms Wang was brought up by her grandmother and has always been close to her. 'Every woman wants to look beautiful,' said Ms Wang. 'When my grandmother was young, the difficult situation at the time did not allow her to have a wedding dress. Now our living standard has improved, why couldn't we give her what she always wanted?' So when Ms Wang saw another elderly couple's wedding picture online, she decided it was high time her grandmother had had her dream come true. 'I thought why couldn't I turn myself into my grandfather. This way, [my grandmother] would have some happiness in her retirement and she could feel like 18 again.' 'I cannot replace my grandfather, but in this manner, I hope she could find the taste of love again,' Ms Wang (left) said. Her grandmother wore a wedding dress for the first time too (right) Ms Wang was brought up by her grandmother and has always been very close to her She contacted a local photo studio without her grandmother's knowledge. On the day of the shooting, Ms Wang told her grandmother they were going to visit Ms Wang's father, and when the pensioner saw a photographer and a wedding dress instead, she was caught by surprise. The 96-year-old was a little nervous at the beginning, but after a few snaps, she started to relax. 'She smiled like a teenage girl,' said Ms Wang. She added when her grandmother saw the pictures, the pensioner's eyes suddenly brightened up and she told Ms Wang she couldn't believe how beautiful the pictures were. The granddaughter even wrote a 'love letter' to her grandmother on her social media account 'To me, the pictures are moving because they are real and they are full of love,' Ms Wang said The meaningful and special 'wedding pictures' will be kept by Ms Wang as a family heirloom The set of special wedding pictures have moved the hearts of millions in China, but Ms Wang said she only did what she should have done as a grandchild. 'I only wanted my grandmother to be happy,' she said. 'To me, the pictures are moving because they are real and they are full of love, therefore they become especially precious.' Ms Wang said her grandmother's wedding pictures were the most meaningful possession for her and she would pass them on to her children as a family heirloom. President Donald Trump mocked Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday, hours after she trumpeted the results of a DNA analysis that concluded she was between 0.097 per cent and 0.156 per cent American Indian. What's the percentage? One one-thousandth?' the president asked reporters during a short briefing in Warner Robins, Georgia, where he and first lady Melania Trump were surveying hurricane wreckage. Asked if he owed Warren an apology for relentlessly ridiculing her claims of Cherokee lineage, he scoffed while Melania smiled broadly. 'No I don't. Absolutely. Do I owe her? She owes the country an apology!' he snarked. Moments later the Cherokee Nation heaped more cold water on what began as a front-page Boston Globe story calculated to help Warren rise above her greatest political vulnerability. 'Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage,' scolded Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. 'Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong,' Hoskins said in a statement. 'It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven.' Trump had already jeered the DNA report, issued by a Stanford University geneticist who determined that a small amount of Warren's genome points to an American Indian ancestor. Warren released a heavily produced video Monday along with a raft of related documents, strongly indicating she plans to run for president in 2020 and that she considers herself vulnerable to Trump's frequent barbs on the topic. The president pooh-poohed Warren's scripted public-relations rollout before he left the White House on Monday, swatting down her claim that during a July rally in Montana he had offered a $1 million charitable donation in the event she could prove her Cherokee heritage. With first lady Melania Trump grinning, President Donald Trump joked Monday that before he would write a $1 million charity check acknowledging Sen. Elizabeth Warren's American Indian heritage, he would have to do the DNA testing himself Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, could be punching her ticket to the 2020 presidential sweepstakes with a report that confirms she has a small amount of American Indian blood Trump said it's Warren, not him, who should apologize, after mocking the 'one one-thousandth' of the Democrat's blood line that might be traceable back to Cherokee Indians A DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship. Current DNA tests do not even distinguish whether a person's ancestors were indigenous to North or South America. Sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while DNA tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation. Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage. Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. Trump has taken pleasure in mocking Warren, who has claimed for decades that she's part American Indian based partly on her mother's observation of her 'high cheekbones'; on Monday he sniped 'Who cares?' when first asked about the DNA test results Warren is an unapologetic liberal firebrand pressed from the Bernie Sanders mold, and Trump has chosen to make fun of her rather than meet her head-on for now 'I didn't say that,' he insisted. 'You'd better read it again.' Hours later in Georgia, Trump clarified that his seven-figure offer would only apply if he were to challenge her to provide a DNA sample in the context of a presidential debate and oversee the testing himself. 'You mean if she gets the nomination? In a debate, where I was going to have her tested?' he asked. 'Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage,' scolded Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. 'I'll only do it if I can test her personally, okay? That will not be something I enjoy doing either.' Warren shoved back amid news reports that quickly turned in Trump's favor. 'We all know why @realDonaldTrump makes creepy physical threats about me, right? Hes scared,' she tweeted. 'Hes trying to do what he always does to women who scare him: call us names, attack us personally, shrink us down to feel better about himself. It may soothe his ego but it wont work.' At the rally where he made his pledge in July, Trump told a laughing crowd that if he ever faced Warren on a debate stage he would toss a DNA kit at her and offer 'a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian.' 'We will take that little kit and say, but we have to do it gently, because we're in the MeToo generation, so we have to be very gentle,' Trump said to laughter as he pantomimed an underhand throw. 'And we will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it hoping it doesn't hit her and injure her arm, even though it only weighs probably two ounces.' Warren named her charity on Monday, tweeting at Trump: 'Remember saying on 7/5 that youd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? I remember and here's the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Womens Resource Center.' 'I took this test and released the results for anyone who cares to see because Ive got nothing to hide,' Warren said in a follow-up tweet. 'What are YOU hiding, @realDonaldTrump? Release your tax returns or the Democratic-led House will do it for you soon enough. Tick-tock, Mr President.' Warren fired back at the president after he said he wanted to test her DNA personally as a condition of making good on his $1 million pledge Trump flatly denied saying he would pay $1 million to charity if Warren turned out to have American Indian blood, but the wording of his pledge leaves him plenty of wiggle room Warren told Trump Monday on Twitter that she wanted him to pay up with a $1 million check to a women's charity, recalling his July boast that he would make a donation if she proved she was 'an Indian' Carlos D. Bustamante, the scientist who analyzed Warren's DNA data, concluded that 'the vast majority' of her ancestry is European. But 'the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor,' he wrote. That forefather or foremother could have been between six and 10 generations ago, meaning she could be as much as 1/64 Native American, or as little as 1/1024. The lower end of that range corresponds to 0.097 per cent, which would make Warren less Indian than the average European-American. A landmark study published in 2014 in the American Journal of Human Genetics found that European-American genomes are, on average, 0.18 per cent American Indian. The authors reported that they used 'conservative' estimates. A landmark study published in 2014 in the American Journal of Human Genetics found that European-American genomes are, on average, 0.18 per cent 'Native American' (highlighting added by DailyMail.com for clarity) Trump shrugged the whole thing off, concluding that he doesn't want to say anything that might deter Warren from challenging him in 2020. WHAT'S IN ELIZABETH WARREN'S DNA? HOW WAS IT ANALYZED? Stanford geneticist Carols Bustamante analyzed data from a laboratory that sequenced Elizabeth Warren's DNA and compared it with samples from different regions of the world. Bustamante used a set of 185 known genetic samples 99 people from Utah who are largely European-Americans and 86 others from Great Britain who were also ethnically European. He found that Warren is at least 95 per cent of Warren's DNA corresponds to European ancestry, but there were 5 DNA segments that are 'Native American in origin.' The sizes of those portions of her genome suggest that they date back to somewhere betwen six and 10 generations in Warren's family tree. That would mean she is between 1/64 and 1/1,024 American Indian. Warren's DNA also tested as more Native American than the samples from Utah and the UK. Most American Indian tribes discourage their members from participating in commercial DNA databases out of fear that it would be used to exploit them. So the 'Native American reference' samples Bustamante relied on belonged to people who were from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. Some American Indian populations that entered North America via a land bridge in modern-day Alaska settled in the Great Plains, while others migrated to what is now Central and South America. Archaeology and DNA samples recovered from grave sites dating back many millennia have established genetic ties among a wide variety of those populations. Advertisement 'I hope she's running for president because I think she'd be very easy. I hope that she is running. I do not think she'd be difficult at all,' he said. 'She'll destroy the country. She'll make our country into Venezuela. What that being said, I don't want to say bad things about her because I hope she would be one of the people that would get through the process. It's going to be a long process for the Democrats.' Former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina tweeted his amazement that Warren would release her report '22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America.' '[W]hy did @SenWarren have to do her announcement now? Why cant Dems ever stay focused???' he asked. Trump's well-documented $1 million bounty may have a rhetorical loophole: requiring Warren to prove she's 'an Indian' before he writes a check. Since she's not enrolled with a tribe, she doesn't legally qualify. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) issues official Certificates of Degree of Indian Blood, which most tribes require for membership. The certificates identify what specific percentage of a person's ancestry can be traced back to a Native American population. The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma requires a minimum of 1/4 Indian blood for membership. In order to qualify for a BIA higher education grant, students must also prove they are at least 1/4 native. By that metric, many people identified as seminal American Indian figures wouldn't qualify. Cherokee Chief Little John, who led the tribe during the infamous Trail of Tears period, was just 1/8 Indian. Whether Warren is 1.56 per cent American Indian or 0.097 per cent, it won't matter to her supporters. She possesses 12 times more Native American blood than a white person from Great Britain, Bustamante found, and 10 times more than a typical white person from Utah. 'We did find five segments of native American ancestry with very high confidence where we believe the error rate is less than one in 1,000,' he said in a video distributed by Warren's Senate campaign. In July Trump said he would bring a tiny DNA testing kit with him if he ever squared off with Sen. Warren in a presidential debate, offering $1 to her favorite charity if it established that she was actually part American Indian The president mocked Warren at the time, saying he would have to toss her the DNA kit 'very gently' because America is now 'in the MeToo generation' In a scene filmed from both ends of a phone call presented as spontaneous, Warren tells Bustamante: 'The president likes to call my mom a liar. What do the facts say?' He replies: 'The facts suggest that you absolutely have Native American ancestry in your pedigree.' Warren's video doesn't explain how Bustamante reached that conclusion. Teasing out ancestry from a DNA test relies heavily on pools of samples for comparison. And Indian tribes have historically urged their members not to add their genomes to commercial databases. To get around what National Institutes of Health researcher Lawrence Brody told The Boston Globe was a 'sparse' American Indian DNA data set, Bustamante used samples 'from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia' as proxies, according to his report. Warren narrates her family history in a video distributed Monday by her U>S. Senate re-election campaign; here she points to her mother (2nd left), who was brought up in eastern Oklahoma The liberal firebrand recounts how her father and mother eloped because of suspicions about Indian blood in her past Ann Rowsey White, a retail sales manager in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is identified in the video as both a Cherokee Nation citizen and Elizabeth Warren's cousin Warren's attempt to flood the zone on Monday with positive information about her heritage and her career included testimonials from a long line of law school professors and deans from Harvard and elsewhere who say she was hired on merit and considered a white woman at the time. Warren did, however, list herself for 10 years as a minority in directories maintained by the Association of American Law Schools, beginning in 1986. That period of time stretched from the year before the University of Pennsylvania hired her to the year after Harvard Law School lured her away. She told reporters in 2012, during her first Senate campaign, that 'I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group, something that might happen with people who are like I am.' Still, Trump has mocked her for years, calling her 'Pocahontas' and a 'fake Indian.' The New England Historic Genealogical Society reported in 2012 that it had unearthed a 1894 document suggesting Warren's great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, was at least partially Native American. It turned out the society had found a family newsletter that described a marriage license application, but hadn't seen that document. The conservative Breitbart News website later tracked down the marriage license and certificate and found that a column on both marked 'race' was left blank. Stanford geneticist Carlos Bustamante found a small amount of Native American DNA in Warren's sample but acknowledged it could amount to just 1/512 or about 1/5 of 1 per cent Warren, an avowed far-left progressive, was among Trump's antagonists during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation fight Warren's video doubles as an all-purpose mini-biopic, tracing her life story from school years to a law school professorship at Harvard The Republican National Committee scoffed at Warren's reveal on Monday, with communications director Michael Reed saying in a statement that her 'latest "disclosure" is a glaring signal that she recognizes this issue is going to be a major problem for her all-but-announced presidential campaign.' Reed said evidence of a sliver of Cherokee background 'does not give you the right to claim minority status. And today's disclosure still does nothing to answer the question as to why she started checking the box as a minority in the years before she made it to the Ivy League, and went back to being white after being hired by Harvard Law.' Warren's launch included Ivy League faculty insisting that she was a legendary teacher whose ethnicity didn't come into play during her recruiting. But Trump said last week that he believes Warren 'faked' her claim of American Indian heritage for career advancement. As Warren raises her national profile, he has returned more often to ridiculing her as 'Pocahontas' in public speeches. 'She faked her heritage for years and used that. She can't prove anything,' he said Thursday. 'She said her mother told her she had high cheekbones, therefore she's got Indian blood. You know what? I have more Indian blood in me than she does, and I have none, unfortunately. But I have none.' Trump let a casual 'Pohahontas' jab fly at Warren during a November 2017 White House event honoring Navajo 'Code Talkers' for their service during World War II In March at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, he jabbed that Warren had said 'Rex Tillerson and I should sit down with the leaders of Iran and North Korea and smoke a peace pipe.' Warren had de-emphasized her Cherokee lineage since winning her Senate seat in 2012, but the president's use of the issue to marginalize her was always expected to become a flashpoint if the two were to go head-to-head in 2020. While Trump's rally crowds eagerly lap up his snarks about 'Pocahontas,' Trump has used the polarizing nicknamt in at least one cringe-worthy moment at the White House. In November 2017 he slipped it into a speech during an event honoring Navajo 'Code Talkers' who had used their native language as an unbreakable secret code to protect American military communications during World War II. Asked minutes later during a press briefing why the president would use 'offensive' language at such an event, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders shot back: 'I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career.' In an email Monday to supporters, Warren said she 'never expected the President of the United States to use my family's story as a racist political joke against Native American history, culture, and people over, and over, and over.' Presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters at the White House: 'I haven't looked at the test. I know that everybody likes to pick their junk science or sound science depending on the conclusion, it seems, some days. 'But I haven't looked at the DNA test and it really doesn't interest me.' The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle is pregnant with her first child. Meghan and Prince Harry told the Royal family they were expecting on Friday, at Princess Eugenies Royal Wedding. Announcing their baby news, Kensington Palace said on Monday, October 15: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public'. Kensington Palace announced that Meghan Markle was pregnant on Monday, October 15 The 37-year-old is said to be in good health after having a successful 12-week scan, suggesting that the Royal baby was conceived sometime towards the end of July, around ten weeks after Meghan and Harrys Royal Wedding. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have said they are delighted to be welcoming their eighth great-grandchild. The parents-to-be were also congratulated by Prince Harrys brother Prince William, Kate Middleton, and his father Prince Charles, who will become a grandfather for the fourth time. Rumours of Meghans pregnancy started swirling in September, when her mother Doria Ragland was seen attending baby-care classes in Pasadena, California. Royal sources are cited as saying that she may even move to London to help out her daughter, who allegedly doesnt want to hire a nanny. After Kensington Palaces announcement, social media platforms exploded with speculation over the Royal babys potential birthday. Here is all you need to know about when Meghan Markle is due and when is Spring 2019. When is Meghan Markles Royal baby due? Kensington Palace has said that Meghan and Harry are expecting the baby in the Spring of 2019. Traditionally, the first day of spring is March 20, the day of the vernal equinox, while the last day is normally June 21, meaning that the Royal baby technically can be born as late as the end of June. Thats not mentioning the meteorological calendar, which states that spring always starts on March 1. However, with Meghan having had her 12-week scanmeaning that she is now in her second trimester the Royal baby is expected to be born sometime in April, which is six months from Kensington Palaces official announcement date on October 15. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. pic.twitter.com/Ut9C0RagLk The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) October 15, 2018 Many social media users jokingly named Meghan and Harrys child Brexit Baby, given the closeness of the due date to the time when Britain is expected to leave the EU on March 29. One internet joker said: 'They should call the new baby Prince/Princess Brexit Backstop of Sussex - and we can all kill two birds with one stone this morning.' However, if the baby is born towards the end of April, there is a chance it could be born on the same day as its cousin and current youngest member of the Royal family, Prince Louis. Prince William and Kate Middletons third child was born on April 23, 2018. A toddler in south China was almost blinded when a phone charger plug got lodged in his forehead after he fell on it at home. The two-year-old boy, identified as Xiao Yu, had fallen off his bed during his sleep and landed on the adaptor on Saturday morning in Nanning, Guangxi, according to Chinese media. The boy's parents, who were asleep next to him at the time, heard Xiao Yu crying loudly and were shocked to discover the horrific wound on their baby. A two-year-old toddler in Nanning, south China's Guangxi region was almost blinded when a phone charger plug got lodged in his forehead after he fell on it at home They immediately took Xiao Yu to Minzu Hospital, where doctors were able to remove the charger in surgery. Following a CT scan, the toddler was found to have two small wounds on his skull above his right eyebrow, each roughly 0.5 centimetres (0.2 inches) wide, according to Kan Kan news. As a result of the puncture wounds, Xiao Yu sustained a right bone fracture to the skull and air had entered the skull through the wound, according to Dr Zhao Guanyan from the hospital's department of neurosurgery. His father, Mr Zhao, told reporters they didn't know why the charger was on the floor Doctor Zhao Guanyan from Minzu Hospital said the accident could have blinded the boy 'If the plug was embedded at a lower position, it could have caused significant injuries to the eyeball,' Dr Zhao said, adding that there should be no long-term effects from the injury. His father, Mr Zhao, told reporters that Xiao Yu liked to roll around in bed and they didn't know why the charger was on the floor. Xiao Yu is said to be recovering well from his injuries, according to the report. Doctors have also advised parents to put away any sharp objects at home to prevent similar accidents. Prince Harry was asked if he and Meghan were trying for a baby close to when the child was conceived, MailOnline can reveal today. The Duchess of Sussex is believed to have become pregnant around ten weeks after they married at Windsor Castle in May and just after their trip to Ireland in July. Meghan is believed to have had her 12-week scan last week, meaning the couple went on a two-day visit across the Irish Sea around the time they were trying for a baby. In one extraordinary exchange in Dublin, Harry was asked about it directly as he met people in the city. One woman was heard asking him: 'My husband also has red hair and he gave me five children - when are you and Meghan going to get going?' - Harry laughed and replied: 'Five children? Too many'. The Duchess of Sussex is believed to have become pregnant just ten weeks after they married at Windsor Castle in May - just after their trip to Ireland (pictured) Harrt was on this walkabout in Dublin when one woman asked: 'My husband also has red hair and he gave me five children - when are you and Meghan going to get going?' Later that day Meghan seen sipping Champagne at a black tie party in the Irish capital, suggesting she was not pregnant at the time. Today the couple announced they are expecting their first child and Meghan is believed to be approaching 13 weeks and 'in good health'. This means the baby was conceived around July 20 - just ten weeks after they walked down the aisle. It may also have been conceived up until her birthday on August 4, when Prince Harry was best man at the wedding of Charlie van Straubenzee. And the child is due in late April 2019, possibly around St George's Day, April 23, meaning the child could share a birthday with his cousin Prince Louis. Both Harry and Meghan have spoken openly about wanting to start a family. The topic cropped up in their engagement interview, with Harry, saying: 'Hopefully we'll start a family in the near future.' The pair are also known for their warm, caring approach when meeting youngsters on official visits. Even the duchess's father Thomas Markle, whom she is believed not to have spoken to since her wedding, said he expected children soon. Mr Markle is not believed to have been told the news in advance of today's announcement. He told ITV's Good Morning Britain in an interview a month after the duke and duchess married: 'She's wanted children for a long time and when she met Harry and she spoke about how much she loves him, there's got to be a child in the making, somewhere soon.' Announcing their baby news Kensington Palace said today: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public'. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry arrived in Australia today where they gave the happy news that they are having a baby The Royals made the extraordinary announcement hours after the landed in Australia for their first tour as a couple The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have said they are 'delighted' to be welcoming their eighth great-grandchild in a joint statement with Prince Charles, who will have four grandchildren when baby Sussex is born next year. Prince William and his wife Kate also hailed his brother and sister-in-law's good news. Last month Meghan's mother Doria Ragland was seen taking baby-care classes in Pasadena, California, and could move to London to help look after the child because Meghan may not want to hire a nanny. Ms Ragland today issued a statement saying she was 'very happy at this lovely news and is looking forward to welcoming her first grandchild'. The Duchess found fame played Rachel Zane in the US legal drama Suits. Harry, 34, and 37-year-old Meghan became engaged following a whirlwind 16-month romance after going on a blind date in London. The prince has told how 'all the stars were aligned' when they met. 'This beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life, I fell into her life,' he said when their engagement was announced last November. They wed in a glittering ceremony in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, just five months ago. Melania Trump will join President Donald Trump on a visit to Florida's storm-ravaged Panhandle on Monday. The White House said the First Lady would accompany the president on his first tour of the destruction left by the deadly Hurricane Michael. The president's exact itinerary was not released late but he and Mrs Trump are scheduled to arrive at Elgin Air Force Base in the Panhandle about 11.30am local time on Monday. They are not scheduled to return to the White House until 8.30pm, the White House said. It was previously announced that Trump would also inspect south Georgia, which was also battered by the storm that came ashore on Florida's Gulf Coast last week before it moved up the East Coast. Scroll down for video Melania Trump will join President Donald Trump (pictured in August) on a visit to Florida's storm-ravaged Panhandle on Monday The visit comes as Mrs Trump addressed the controversy surrounding a jacket she wore on a trip to visit migrant children who had been separated from their parents. She sparked a backlash after wearing a jacket that said 'I really don't care, do u?' on a trip to visit to the Upbring New Hope Children's Centre in McAllen, Texas, in June. Now, she has declared it was a message to 'people and the left-wing media who are criticising me.' At the time of the June visit, her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said: 'It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn't going to choose to focus on her wardrobe.' But in an interview with ABC News during her solo trip to Africa last week, Mrs Trump insisted the jacket was a statement that the criticism will not stop her from doing 'what I feel is right'. The White House said the First Lady would accompany the president on his first tour of the destruction left by the deadly Hurricane Michael. Pictured, the devastation in Mexico Beach, florida View of the destruction next to Kristen Garcia's house in Mexico Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday She noted that she wore the jacket getting on and off the plane, but not during her visits with children. She said she purposely wore the jacket on the flight back to Washington after seeing 'how the media was obsessed about it'. 'It was kind of a message, yes,' she said. The First Lady's visit to Florida with her husband also comes after she was forced to dismiss allegations of infidelity, saying people are just spreading rumors about her marriage. Melania Trump addressed the controversy surrounding a jacket she wore on a trip to visit migrant children who had been separated from their parents in an ABC News interview Mrs Trump said she loves her husband and has 'much more important things to think about' than allegations he cheated on her. 'I know people like to speculate and media like to speculate about our marriage and circulate the gossip,' she said. 'But I understand the gossip sells newspapers, magazines ... and, unfortunately, we live in this kind of world today.' She insisted allegations of her husband's infidelities are not a concern. Asked in the interview if she loves her husband, Mrs Trump said: 'Yes, we are fine. Yes.' She added: 'It is not a concern and focus of mine. I'm a mother and a first lady, and I have much more important things to think about and to do.' The president and First Lady's visit comes as dozens of people remained missing in Florida Panhandle communities reduced to ruins. At least 18 people in four states have died because of the storm. Mrs Trump sparked a backlash after wearing a jacket that said 'I really don't care, do u?' on a trip to visit to the Upbring New Hope Children's Centre in McAllen, Texas, on June 21 Michael hit land on October 10 as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with 155 mph winds, one of the most powerful storms to make landfall in the continental US since records have been kept. Rescuers said they expected the death toll to rise and they were using cadaver dogs and heavy equipment to search through collapsed homes in small towns such as Mexico Beach and Panama City for more victims. Rescue efforts have been hampered by blocked roads and huge piles of rubble in many communities such as Mexico Beach, which took a direct hit from the massive storm that killed at least one person there. 'If we lose only one life, to me that's going to be a miracle,' Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey told Florida media. Cathey told ABC News that 46 people out of the town of some 1,000 residents remained missing or unaccounted for on Sunday. Survivors grappled with power outages and shortages of food and water amid the mazes of uprooted trees and debris. It comes after First Lady Melania Trump took a solo trip to Africa earlier this month. Pictured, Mrs Trump with children during a visit to the Nest Orphanage in Limuru, Kenya on October 5 Electricity and telephone service were being slowly restored but it could be weeks before power returns to the state's most damaged areas. More than 1,700 search and rescue workers were deployed, Florida Governor Rick Scott's office said, including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300 ambulances. In Panama City, one of the hardest-hit communities, Fire Chief Alex Baird said search and rescue teams were now in 'recovery mode' after largely giving up hope of finding any more survivors. Trump is fully committed to helping state and local agencies with the recovery, the White House said. It was announced late on Sunday that he declared a state of emergency in Georgia, freeing up federal resources for the state. A similar declaration had already been made for Florida. Homelessness has officially become a crime in Hungary, after a tough new law came into force on Monday. The new law bans 'habitual residence in a public space', and empowers police to order homeless people to move into shelters - or face jail. If a homeless person disobeys police order to move off the streets three times within a 90-day period, the police can detain them and destroy their personal belongings. New law: A homeless woman is seen sleeping on a street in Budapest on Sunday, a day before the law came into force banning people from living in public spaces in Hungary The law, which follows a constitutional amendment approved in June has prompted criticism from human rights groups, who say it is inhumane. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government has said the new law aims to provide proper living conditions for the homeless and has set aside money to help them. But Gabor Ivanyi, who leads the group Oltalom (Shelter) which operates homeless shelters with 600 beds in Budapest, said the government had failed to conduct a proper dialogue with charity organisations before it passed the legislation. 'This law serves the aim of scaring the homeless to prompt them to flee (the streets),' Ivanyi said. 'They are scared and don't know what to do now. We don't know what will happen tomorrow.' Making changes: Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government has said the new law aims to provide proper living conditions for the homeless Civilians attend a demonstration in support of the homeless in front of the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest on Sunday Homeless people had all but disappeared on Monday morning from underpasses in central Budapest where there would normally be plenty. The government says it has allocated about 9 billion forints (24.6million) to homeless care in its 2018 budget plus an additional 300 million forints (819,000) to expand shelter capacities. 'We believe we need to give additional help and not additional rights to homeless people,' Bence Retvari, state secretary, told reporters on Saturday according to a video posted on HirTv website. Retvari said further help would be available from Monday, without elaborating. The law bans 'habitual residence in a public space' in Hungary, and if a person disobeys police order to move into a shelter three times they'll be detained and their possessions destroyed On Sunday around 500 protesters demonstrated against the law outside the Hungarian parliament. 'I believe this is shameful... that they criminalise the impossible and helpless situation that these people are in,' said Agnes Merenyi, one of the demonstrators. An activist group called 'Varos Mindenkie' (which means 'the city is for everyone') said in a statement: '(The constitutional amendment) allows the authorities to persecute the most helpless people with a wider range of police tools from Oct. 15.' Last month the European Parliament voted to sanction Hungary for flouting EU rules on democracy, civil rights and corruption in a move the Orban government said was an attempt to punish Budapest for its anti-migration stance. Orban's Fidesz party won a third consecutive four-year term on a landslide in an election in April. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will still visit Tonga and Fiji during their 16-day royal tour despite fears over the Zika virus, it was confirmed today. It goes against travel advice that pregnant women should consider not travelling to the countries because of the 'moderate risk' of catching the tropical disease. But Kensington Palace said the couple had sought medical advice and decided to continue with their plans, with no change expected to their itinerary. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are going to Fiji and Tonga during their 16-day royal tour Zika can endanger unborn babies, with pregnant women being advised to avoid all travel to areas where cases of the mosquito-borne virus have been reported. The virus - which had an outbreak in Brazil in 2016 - can cause microcephaly for children in the womb, causing babies to be born with abnormally small skulls. WHAT IS ZIKA VIRUS AND HOW IS IT SPREAD? The Zika virus is spread by mosquito bites, between people during unprotected sex, and from pregnant mothers to their children. It cannot be cured or prevented with medicines. Although most adults do not become seriously ill from the infection, it can cause serious birth defects if pregnant women get it. Foetuses' brains can be affected by the virus when it is passed on from the mother and it can cause microcephaly. Microcephaly is a condition in which babies' heads are unusually small, which can lead to seizures, delayed development and other disabilities. The virus can also increase the risk of unborn children developing Guillain-Barre syndrome an uncommon illness in which the immune system attacks the nerves and can cause muscle weakness and paralysis. Zika is a tropical disease and is most common in Central and South America, Africa and South East Asia. There was an outbreak of the virus in Brazil's capital, Rio de Janeiro, in 2016 and there were fears that year's Olympic Games would have to be cancelled after more than 200 academics wrote to the World Health Organization warning about it. The virus is not commonly found in developed countries like the UK, US and Australia. But it is present in the Pacific Islands such as Fiji and Tonga, where the pregnant Duchess of Sussex will visit on her royal tour this month. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advertisement The London-based National Travel Health Network and Centre advises pregnant women looking at visiting either Fiji or Tonga to 'consider postponing non-essential travel until after the pregnancy'. Official advice from the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office also tells couples visiting Zika areas to use condoms for sex to prevent transmission of the virus. Couples should also follow official health guidance on avoiding transmitting Zika through other forms of sexual contact - and avoid conception while travelling and for up to six months on return. The NHS advises tourists to Fiji and Tonga to stringently follow steps to avoid mosquito bites, ensure they have adequate medical insurance and seek health advice before travelling. The various health and travel warnings had previously led some sources to believe that Meghan might have pulled out of the trip if she fell pregnant. But a royal source told the Daily Mirror: 'The Duke and Duchess will have taken advice at the highest level before deciding that they were happy to go ahead and plan the trip. Every precaution will be taken. The royal couple's health is naturally of the utmost importance.' Meghan, who wed Harry just five months ago, has had her 12 week scan and is believed to be due in late April. The news came hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex touched down in Sydney to begin their tour of Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific islands. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be 'delighted' for the couple. Harry and Meghan told the Queen and other members of their family at Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding last Friday. Speculation grew that Meghan was expecting when she wore a loose fitting Givenchy coat to the service at St George's Chapel in Windsor. Doria Ragland, the duchess's mother, is 'very happy about this lovely news' and 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild'. Ivanka Trump may be taking a page out of Hillary Clinton's book when it comes to providing 'cover' for the president's sexism, a new book claims. In Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump's Women, published by Simon & Schuster on October 16, Newsweek journalist Nina Burleigh describes the first daughter's political style as 'something America had seen very recently' because it echoes Hillary's when she was first lady. The book claims Ivanka provides cover for Trump just like Hillary did for Bill Clinton when he was accused of sexual misconduct in the White House. Despite their opposing political views, they are both 'in the emotionally and logically contorted position of supporting men whose real behavior with women has been utterly reprehensible at best, illegal at worst,' Burleigh writes. In fact, Hillary and Ivanka have used their roles to try to make the embattled presidents 'more palatable toward women.' Daddy's girl: A new book has revealed how Ivanka Trump is following in Hillary Clinton's footsteps when it comes to protecting the president from scandals Ivanka has stood by her father's side similarly to how Hillary defended her husband when he was accused of sexual misconduct in the White House Burleigh points out the similarities between the two political figures, including how both are obsessed with controlling their image and spark a sense of 'distrust' among American women. Even Ivanka's advocacy of female entrepreneurship is straight out of Hillary's playbook and both women are neocon hawks and are 'ethically challenged,' she claims. The book also describes in detail Trump's complicated relationships with the women in his life, including his ex-wife, daughters, and current wife Melania. It details Ivanka's relationship with her dad and how she allegedly underwent multiple plastic surgery operations when she was younger because she 'wanted her father's attention.' Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump's Women, published by Simon & Schuster on October 16, details Trump's complicated relationships with the women in his life On the surface, the parallels between Ivanka, 36, and Hillary, 70, do not seem obvious. The women are two generations apart and appear to be on different sides of the political spectrum. Ivanka was born into extreme privilege and wealth in Manhattan while Hillary was raised a Methodist in a middle-class suburb of Chicago. But the once in power the differences disappear, argues Burleigh. In the early days of the Trump White House there was even speculation that Ivanka would take on the role of first lady instead of Trump's wife Melania. Instead she became a senior advisor to her father, a role which Burleigh describes as 'vague and unlimited' just like Hillary when she was first lady. During Bill's two terms in office, Hillary led a Senate committee on healthcare reform but her proposals stalled. She lobbied for adoption reform, pressed for the Violence Against Women act and advised her husband behind the scenes. She also stood by him during the Lewinsky scandal, just as Ivanka has stayed by her father's side despite a slew of allegations of infidelity, sexual harassment and sexual assault against him. In Golden Handcuffs Burleigh writes that, like Hillary, Ivanka promoted 'Davos style globalist solutions' and has come to be a symbol for their significant other. Ivanka has used her role as first daughter to try to make her embattled father 'more palatable toward women' despite the allegations of sexual harassment against him Daddy issues: Ivanka, 36, has a complicated relationship with her dad and allegedly got a nose job and breast augmentation somewhere between 2004 and 2005 to get her father's attention, the book claims 'Like their nemesis (Hillary) Ivanka became a political and personal cipher whose real relationship with her father remains a deeply complicated mess of love and horror and is fundamentally unknowable,' she writes. 'When women contemplate Ivanka, as when they do the same with Hillary, they cannot do without a sense of vicarious unease at best, distrust at worst'. Women know how angry Hillary is at Bill and how appalled Ivanka must be at her father and those emotions 'lurking behind the masks' make women leery of them both, argues Burleigh. Hillary, to this day, continues to stand by her husband after the Monica Lewinsky scandal that tainted his presidency. In an interview with CBS on Sunday, she said she believed Bill was right not to resign as president in the wake of the scandal after he was impeached for lying about the affair. When asked if her husband should have stepped down, Hillary responded: 'Absolutely not.' Golden Handcuffs says that Ivanka is not married to a serial philanderer but like Hillary she provides 'cognitive dissonance' and a 'feministic warping' to Trump. Burleigh writes: 'While the men actually treat women like objects, reduce them to their sexual essence, they also seem to respect and even rely on one particularly smart woman who is not a thing at all'. Burleigh argues that Hillary created the mold of the first lady which Ivanka is effectively playing. Ivanka's advocacy of women in business is 'straight out of the Hillary handbook'. Burleigh describes her speeches on the subject as 'cut-and-pasted, Davos approved market-based solution to gender inequality that was always the signature goal and achievement of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton'. Both women are described foreign policy hawks: Clinton voted for the Iraq War when she was a senator and Ivanka was said to be responsible for persuading her father to bomb Syria when its government used chemical weapons on its own people. Hillary has infamously stood by Bill Clinton's side after Monica Lewinsky scandal, and continues to defend her husband most recently stating that she believes he was right not to resign Hillary Clinton says her husband's affair with Monica Lewinsky when she was a White House intern wasn't an abuse of power because the 22-year-old 'was an adult' at the time The book states how those emotions 'lurking behind the masks' make women leery of Hillary and Ivanka Both women have been accused of having shady finances and Burleigh draws a parallel between the Clinton Foundation and Ivanka's 'octopus' of various LLCs for the Trump family real estate business. Both women are 'deeply guarded to the point of being obsessive' about their image, the only difference is that Ivanka is better at it because she has been doing it since she was a pre-teen. Whereas Hillary used listening tours to try and communicate authenticity, Ivanka uses Instagram to post photos of herself as a doting wife and mother. But both women are obsessed with privacy; Hillary used a private server while she was Secretary of State and Ivanka urged her father to fire former FBI director James Comey to stop him poking into the Trump family finances. Burleigh's book claims that Ivanka's devotion to her father is such that she underwent extensive plastic surgery including a nose job somewhere between 2004 and 2005. Golden Handcuffs says that, according to a Trump family friend, Ivanka has undergone work on her chin and cheeks along with two breast enlargements. The book claims that the first was not large enough for Trump who remarked upon her chest after seeing her sunbathing after the operation, so she had another one. According to a friend of the family: 'I think even Ivanka wanted her father's attention. And from a very young age she knew he liked beautiful women, he liked elegance, and she wanted to be a model'. Burleigh admits that the exact amount of plastic surgery Ivanka underwent is unclear but the goal was clear. She writes: 'Donald's very specific Playboy Bunny/porn star ideal of a big-boobed and sanitized female beauty, plus the example of her own mother's increasingly dramatic efforts to stave off natural aging must have left a mark on the young woman's self image'. Burleigh says that for all her efforts to ingratiate herself with female chief executives and present herself as an empowered parent, Ivanka 'still dresses not for the girls or even for Jared, but as an extension of her father's brand'. When Ivanka looks at her father she does not see an 'ethically challenged, coddled rich kid and a bully, a cutter or corners' like most people do. What she sees is 'the Great Man who built the Tower in which she passed her princess years,' a man who one day might give her the keys of the business - of which her brother Eric is currently in control while Trump is president. Golden Handcuffs questions just how oblivious Ivanka is to the goings on in the Trump Organization, the family real estate business. Alexandra Wrage, of anti bribery organization TRACE International, said she does not think there is 'any way' Ivanka could be so close to her father and not know the ins and outs of the business. She said: 'The whole pitch she has made and her father had made on her behalf is that she is this flinty businesswoman with her own brand and a supply in China'. A New York man was strangled by his own shirt after it got caught in a subway escalator and choked him to death. Carlos Alvarez, 48, was at the Intervale Station in the Bronx around 3.45am on Sunday when he fell onto the escalator and his shirt got stuck. The neckline choked Alvarez as he tried to free himself in vain. Bystander Giovanni Fernandez said witnesses tried to help Alvarez during the horrific incident. Carlos Alvarez, 48, was at the Intervale Station in the Bronx (pictured) around 3.45am on Sunday when his shirt got stuck in the escalator and choked him to death Authorities found Alvarez unconscious and unresponsive at the top of the escalator 'When I got off the train, I saw the guy stuck on the escalator. A lot of people were surrounding him,' Fernandez told the New York Post. 'He was at the top. I saw the blood. His head was split open. All you see is this guy sprawled face down.' Authorities found Alvarez unconscious and unresponsive at the top of the escalator. NYPD officers cut the shirt off to free him and Alvarez was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. NYPD officers cut the shirt off to free him and Alvarez was then rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The escalator has been taken out of service until Tuesday Surveillance video captured the horror as Alvarez tried to free himself, according to WPIX. Authorities were responding to reports of an emotionally disturbed person when they found Alvarez. Police said he had been drinking before he fell at the subway station, according to NBC New York. The MTA said Alvarez's death is under investigation. 'This is a tragic and unusual incident,' a spokesman said. 'Our thoughts are with this man's family and friends.' The escalator has been taken out of service until Tuesday. A Florida family who rode out Hurricane Michael have been rescued after a relative miraculously spotted a 'HELP' message on satellite images that had been spelled out using downed trees. Mother-of-two Amber Gee evacuated her home in Callaway, just outside Panama City, on Thursday after the deadly Category 4 hurricane made landfall. Gee was using NOAA's interactive satellite maps on Saturday to view any potential damage to her grandmother's property in Youngstown. But when Gee zoomed in on her grandmother's house, she spotted the word 'HELP' spelled out on the grass. Amber Gee was using NOAA's satellite maps on Saturday to view any potential damage to her grandmother's property in Youngstown, Florida when she saw the HELP message She told ABC News that her uncle, Ernest Gee, had used fallen trees to create the S.O.S. message in the hope of being rescued. 'I was checking on damages in the area on houses that belong to my family and I came across my grandma's house... and they had the word HELP written out in the yard,' she said. Gee had assumed her relatives had all evacuated prior to the hurricane striking. While her 80-year-old grandmother had evacuated, her uncle, aunt and a family friend became trapped after riding out the storm. Gee immediately sent authorities a photo of the message and emergency services went out to inspect the property. Her relatives were rescued at about 2am on Sunday. 'Apparently, they had to cut through a lot of downed trees to get there,' Gee said. 'The hurricane has turned everything upside down everywhere.' Her uncle Ernest Gee had used fallen trees to create the S.O.S. message in the hope of being rescued after they became trapped by Hurricane Michael Amber Gee, a mother-of-two, had evacuated her home in Callaway, just outside Panama City, on Thursday after the deadly Category 4 hurricane made landfall Michael made landfall with 155 mph winds on the Florida Panhandle on October 10. At least 18 people in four states have died as a result of the storm and dozens remained missing on Sunday in Florida Panhandle communities reduced to ruins. Rescuers said they expected the death toll to rise and they were using cadaver dogs and heavy equipment to search through collapsed homes in small towns such as Mexico Beach and Panama City for more victims. Rescue efforts have been hampered by blocked roads and huge piles of rubble in many communities such as Mexico Beach, which took a direct hit from the massive storm that killed at least one person there. Survivors are grappling with power outages and shortages of food and water amid the mazes of uprooted trees and debris. Electricity and telephone service are slowly being restored but it could be weeks before power returns to the state's most damaged areas. More than 1,700 search and rescue workers have been deployed, Florida Governor Rick Scott's office said, including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300 ambulances. Lavonia Fortner helps her father-in-law, John E. Fortner, search for memorabilia his wife collected, in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach Entire homes were swept away in Mexico Beach when the deadly hurricane made landfall on October 10 A woman who suffered six miscarriages has finally welcomed a baby after her best friend served as her surrogate. Erin Boelhower, 33, from Woodstock, Illinois, endured nine IVF transfers and more than 600 injections over the course of three years trying to get pregnant with husband Matthew, 33. Erin and Matthew were left devastated after suffering a string of miscarriages, but never lost hope that they would one day become parents. This womans best friend gave her the gift of a lifetime This womans best friend gave her the gift of a lifetime Posted by Daily Mail on Sunday, October 14, 2018 Matching: Rachel and Erin both wore the same floral print while in the hospital to welcome Scottie Gift of a lifetime: Rachel (center) offered Erin and and her husband Matthew (left), 33, to be their surrogate after seeing the couple go through the pain of infertility together Their dream finally became a reality when Erin's best friend Rachel Checolinski, 34, gave them the gift of a lifetime and offered to be their surrogate. In January, two of Erin's embryos were transferred to Rachel's uterus. That same month, a test revealed she was pregnant. The pals spent the next nine months side by side and Erin was at the hospital with Rachel, herself a mother of three, when she went into labor with baby Scottie on September 19. A precious photo shows Erin overwhelmed with emotion as she holds her newborn daughter for the first time, while husband Matthew bawls in the background. I have no clue how I lived this long without Scottie,' Erin said. 'I will never forget everything that we went through to get her here and she was definitely worth it all.' Trying: Erin accepted Rachel's offer of surrogacy after several failed attempts to conceive a child with Matthew Father-daughter: Matthew held baby Scottie skin to skin after she was born Rachel, a full-time mom from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, met Erin in 2008 when they worked at an airport together. 'I feel like the lucky one,' Rachel said.'I'm so grateful Erin allowed me to be her surrogate.' As soon as Erin married her husband Matthew, a former Marine, in October 2012, the couple began trying for children. Matthew now works as a corrections officer while Erin is a sales rep. After a year with no positive pregnancy test, Erin discovered that her left fallopian tube was infected and needed to be removed, making it very difficult for her to conceive naturally. Bond: 'I want Scottie to know how big a role Rachel has played in her life,' Erin (pictured with Rachel) said. 'It's an unbreakable bond' Gift: 'I knew I was carrying and having a baby that wasn't mine,' Rachel (pictured holding Scottie) said. 'I was most excited about seeing my best friend become a mom' Understanding: Rachel, a mother of three, struggled to conceive her second child and knew what it felt like to wrestle with fertility issues After surgery, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and hypothyroidism. The couple then began intrauterine insemination (IUI), a fertility treatment where sperm is placed inside a woman's uterus. 'This would be the beginning of our hundreds of injections,' Erin said. 'I was terrified of needles. When we first started these treatments, I would go to Matt's work every night for him to inject me with the hormones that's how scared of injections I was. Emotional: The new mother was moved to tears as she cradled her baby after spending years trying to conceive a child Family: Erin Boelhower, 33, welcomed her first child, Scottie, last month after her best friend Rachel Checolinski, 34, offered to be her surrogate 'Matt and I tried three IUIs with no luck. None of them with even the slightest speck of that second line on a pregnancy test.' In November 2014 Erin and Matt began their first cycle of IVF. On Thanksgiving that year, Erin discovered she was pregnant for the first time. She learnt that she had miscarried the baby on her 30th birthday, during her six-week scan. Together: Matthew and Erin immediately started bonding with their long-awaited child Surrogacy: Scottie now counts Rachel among her godmothers and she will one day learn what a big part Rachel played in her life 'It's heartbreaking. You do IVF and then it works. But you never think a miscarriage will happen to you,' she said. 'You are not only disappointed in yourself, but you feel bad because you are not giving your husband the baby he dreamed of, or your mother the grandchild she dreamed of.' Erin's best friend Rachel, mom of Amarach, 13, Cillian, five, and Teagan, three, was beside her every step of the way. After Erin's fourth miscarriage, Rachel volunteered to be her surrogate. Overwhelmed: Erin was clearly overcome with emotion as she got to hold newborn Scottie Friends: Erin was by Rachel's side as her best friend gave birth to baby Scottie at Aurora Health Centre in Oshkosh, Wisconsin Overwhelmed: Erin was clearly overcome with emotion as she got to hold newborn Scottie 'I wrote on Instagram about how I was reaching my breaking point and she sent me a message,' Erin said. 'She said: "What if a friend is your surrogate?" 'It was such a generous offer. I couldn't get my head around it.' Rachel's own difficulties conceiving her second child with husband Dan, 34, a pilot, had convinced her that she should be a surrogate for Erin. 'I struggled for two years to conceive Cillian so I knew the pain of wanting something really badly and not being able to fulfill that dream,' Rachel said. Healthy baby: Scottie weighed six pounds and eight ounces when she was born Moved: Erin kept shedding tears as she held the baby against her chest 'I had been there through all of Erin's infertility treatments, I cried with her when she lost each one of her babies. 'I would say to her: 'I wish there's something I could do.' 'I was in the shower one day, praying for her, and suddenly the answer came. I could be her surrogate.' It was only when Erin suffered her sixth miscarriage in June 2017 that she accepted Rachel's offer. Best friends then: Rachel is pictured with the bride during Erin's wedding to Matthew in 2012 Erin and Matthew raised $40,000 to cover the costs of the surrogacy agency, fertility clinic, legal fees, and Rachel's medical bills. In January 2018, Rachel took a pregnancy test and discovered she was pregnant with Erin's baby. 'I knew I was carrying and having a baby that wasn't mine,' Rachel said. 'I was most excited about seeing my best friend become a mom and holding the baby she had always wanted.' On September 19, Rachel gave birth to Scottie, who weighed six pounds eight ounces, at Aurora Health Centre in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 'What made it even more special was that Scottie was born on my late father Scott's birthday. He passed away from stomach cancer in 2015,' Erin said. 'It was very hard for me to watch Rachel screaming in pain during the labor and knowing it was all for me. 'Rachel is one of Scottie's godmothers. She is pumping for Scottie now so that she grows up on breast milk. 'I want Scottie to know how big a role Rachel has played in her life. It's an unbreakable bond.' Erin and Matthew previously spoke to Love What Matters about their difficulties to conceive a child. After a routine pap smear in March 2013, Erin found out she had an abnormal cervical cancer screen result and would need a LEEP (loop electrosurgical excision procedure) to remove the cells. Best friends then: Rachel is pictured with the bride during Erin's wedding to Matthew in 2012 All together: Erin was in the hospital with Rachel as her best friend went into labor A doctor advised that she should wait a year before trying to conceive and despite doing ovulation tests, tracking her cycle and taking her basal body temperature, she couldn't get pregnant. After an ultrasound discovered two cysts on her left ovary, Erin had to pick between waiting to see if the cysts would resolve on their own or if she should undergo surgery to remove them. 'I opted to have the surgery. Upon surgery, it was discovered that what looked like giant cysts on the ultrasound machine was actually my left Fallopian tube,' she explained. 'At some point, it had become infected, died, and needed to be removed. At this time, I was also diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and hypothyroidism.' After surgery, she started taking Clomid, a drug to help stimulate ovulation. 'I was starting to get very frustrated and discouraged because so many of my family and friends were having kids and starting their families. And so many of them had used Clomid with success so I thought we would be no different. It was beginning to become very stressful and emotional. Never did I ever think infertility would affect meand this was literally, only the beginning,' she added. In May 2014 Erin and her husband met with a fertility specialist and doctors there decided that their first course of action should be IUI (intrauterine insemination) which she described as 'basically a 'turkey baster' method to inject sperm into the uterus to aide fertilization'. After three failed attempts, the couple decided to start IVF in November 2014. 'It was almost like I became a human pin cushion overnight,' Erin said of the experience. 'My stomach was covered in bruises and the side effects of the drugs had my emotions going haywire.' Some days she had to do five or more injections. Her first egg retrieval took place in 2014 and nine days after two embryos were transferred, Erin was given a blood test to test for HcG, the pregnancy hormone. 'I got the call that day that would forever change my life. We were pregnant, finally. I had a life growing inside of me and it was pure magic,' she recounted. However, at six and a half weeks pregnant on her 30th birthday, Erin and her husband Matt were told there was no heartbeat. From 2014 to 2017, the couple would go on to do a total of five egg retrievals and nine IVF transfers with 15 embryos. They also suffered six miscarriages. 'With each new cycle, new hope was found only to be followed by fear, devastation, and heartbreak. We saw different doctors, tried different protocols, anything for us to reach our dream of becoming parents. We became the living definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And it was exhausting,' Erin said of the painful time. Bliss: Erin and Matthew kissed while finally cradling their newborn daughter Celebration: Erin has a baby shower, which Rachel of course attended while she was pregnant with Scottie And she also shared how seeing their friends creating their own families was particularly painful. After her fifth miscarriage, the couple decided to explore other options and when Erin's best friend Rachel Checolinski offered to be their gestational surrogate, they decided to take her up on her offer. 'As badly as I wanted to carry my child, I couldn't continue to pump my body full of hormones and lose our babies. For the past five years, we were living on an emotional roller coaster and it was time to get off and move on. At one point during our journey, my husband said to me, "Being a mom is more important than being pregnant." And he was so right.' The couple had also spent several thousand dollars on treatment and although surrogates usually cost in the region of $50,000 and upwards, by Rachel offering to carry Erin and Matt's child, the couple could save on the gestational carrier fee. On January 12, 2018, the couple transferred two embryos into Rachel and on January 21, it was confirmed that Rachel was pregnant with one baby and the couple later found out that they were having a girl. For more videos like this follow Daily Mails Watch show Try Not To Cry. A man accused of being a 'fanatical' neo-Nazi terrorist allegedly posed for a photo with his newborn baby while wearing the hooded white robes of the Ku Klux Klan, a court heard. Adam Thomas, 22, and his partner Claudia Patatas, 38, gave their child the middle name Adolf, which the prosecution has alleged was in honour of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were for the first time on Monday shown the image, along with another photo showing Thomas holding a swastika flag next to a smiling Patatas, who is holding their baby in the couple's lounge. Adam Thomas, 22, and Claudia Patatas, 38, holding a swastika flag whilst holding their baby This photo allegedly shows Adam Thomas, who is accused of being a neo-Nazi terrorist, posing with his new-born baby Adam Thomas alleged to be wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe, clutching and machete and posing in front of a US confederate Ku Klux Klan branded flag Ku Klux Klan-styled Christmas card shown to jurors at Birmingham Crown Court, found on the side board during police searches of Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas' home in Oxfordshire, who are alleged to be members of banned far-right terrorist group National Action Another image, from what barrister Barnaby Jameson QC called the 'Thomas-Patatas family album', allegedly showed Thomas at home in a KKK robe brandishing a machete in front of a Confederate American flag. Thomas and Patatas, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, are on trial accused of being members of the far-right terrorist group National Action, which was banned in December 2016. Co-defendant Daniel Bogunovic, 27, from Leicester, is facing the same charge. Mr Jameson QC showed jurors a series of photographs including one, found on a memory card at the house, showing Patatas holding her baby, standing next to another man, Darren Fletcher who is holding a swastika flag and performing a Nazi-style salute (pictured) Adam Thomas, 22, and his partner Claudia Patatas, 38, posing with a Nazi flag. The couple gave their child the middle name of Adolf Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court today were shown a number of pictures of memrobelia including of two scatter cushions, each with a Swastika, found on the living room sofa, during police searches of the home in Oxfordshire, of Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas A picture shown to jurors at Birmingham Crown Court, allegedly showing Adam Thomas, who is accused of being a neo-Nazi terrorist, wearing a mask and posing with a knife and a book called 'National Anarchism' at his home in Oxfordshire A host of Nazi and far-right memorabilia, and National Action flags, badges and banners, were found at the couple's home, as well as what prosecutors described as an 'extensive' collection of weapons, including crossbows, an axe and knives. The couple also allegedly had a poster stuck to their fridge reading 'Britain is ours - the rest must go'. Thomas faces a separate charge of having a terrorist document, the Anarchy Cookbook, which contained bomb-making instructions. As well as a number of weapons (pictured) Adam Thomas was also alleged to have a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook on his computer, following a police search of his home Mr Jameson QC showed jurors a series of photographs including one, found on a memory card at the house, showing Patatas holding her baby, standing next to another man holding a swastika flag and performing a Nazi-style salute. Describing another image, said to show Thomas in the hooded robe with his child, the prosecuting barrister said: 'The suggestion is that is Mr Thomas and his child, whose middle name is Adolf.' Turning to an image of a hooded man with a machete, he added: 'There is a strong inference, and you'll appreciate this when you look inside the Thomas and Patatas house, that that was taken inside their home, and that the person in the robes was Thomas.' It was alleged last week that in a message to another 'vehement Nazi', Patatas said: 'All Jews must be put to death,' while Thomas told his partner, in a separate conversation, that he 'found that all non-whites are intolerable'. Two cushions bearing the swastika were found during police searches of the couple's home after their arrest for alleged terrorism offences in January. A greetings card on the sideboard of the couple's living room featured KKK figures and read: 'May all your Christmases be white.' It emerged in court that counter-terrorism officers from Prevent had visited the couple's home in October last year 'due to concerns Ms Patatas may be involved in the extreme right wing'. A crossbow found in the couple's home along with a number of other pieces of Nazi memorabilia A swastika pastry cutter (pictured left) found at the couple's home and a white hood of the Klu Klux Klan A host of Nazi and far-right memorabilia, and National Action flags, badges and banners, were found at the couple's home, as well as what prosecutors described as an 'extensive' collection of weapons, such as this crossbow (pictured) Weapons found in Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas's house in Banbury, Oxfordshire, including an axe (pictured right) and a Nazi embossed knife (pictured left) Following National Action's ban, the prosecution alleged the group tried to 'shed one skin for another' to evade the law and that the three defendants were part of a successor organisation called the TripleK Mafia. The Crown's case is that the group was still National Action in all but name, and went through a 'rebranding' exercise to evade scrutiny by the authorities. Mr Jameson said: 'The Crown say all the defendants in this case along with those that have pleaded guilty or been convicted were cut from the same National Action cloth. A black jacket with a Swastika armband and an SS death skull badge found at the couple's home along with other Nazi memorabilia Adam Thomas & Claudia Patatas's house in Banbury, Oxfordshire. A US Confederate flag is hanging up in the window 'They were fanatical, highly motivated, energetic, closely linked and mobile. 'And they all had, we say, a similar interest in ethnic cleansing, with violence if necessary, and the evidence in this case, we say, speaks for itself.' The court also heard that National Action members held a Miss England-style competition in the run up to the EU Referendum - called Miss Hitler. Barnaby Jameson QC, prosecuting, said the far-right group took part took in the online competition to raise publicity in the run up to Brexit. Patatas, 38, is pictured leaving court last week. The trial, set to last four weeks, continues He said: 'Female members took part in 'Miss Hitler 2016'. That was done to increase the group's profile.' The photographs of Thomas and Patatas were introduced into evidence today (Mon) by Detective Constable Matthew Fletcher, of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, who investigated National Action. He told the court the group - which had up to 50 members - set up a training camp in Wales which they called 'white Jihad camps' He said: 'Extreme-right groups like National Action are neo-Nazi or white supremacist. 'It rejects democracy. It's enemies are ethnic minorities, 'race traitors', the LGBT community and the Jewish community. 'There is also opposition to the banking sector and the capitalist system generally. 'The group first came to light due to an online profile they had created. 'Then we started to see them appear on the street, with flash demonstrations and banner drops. 'At its highest there was around 50 members but a core element of around 30 members. A mug displaying the emblem of the Nazi-era SS organisation, found on the living room side board, during police searches of the home in Oxfordshire, of Adam Thomas and Claudia Patatas 'At the start the group concentrated on males, then you started to see a pattern of females being entered into the group. The age range was mid to late teens to mid 20s. 'The first training camp that National Action was involved in was 2015 which was in the Wales area - and they were labelled 'white Jihad camps'. 'They undertook mixed martial arts training and discussed security measures.' This afternoon the court heard that Claudia Patatas told National Action pals she would kill mixed-race children if she was told to. Messages from an online chat group called 'Triple K Mafia' from February 15, 2017 were read to the jury. National Action Midlands leader Alex Deakin posed the question: 'Would you kill mixed children if order[ed] to?' Claudia Patatas, 38, covers up as she leaves Birmingham Crown Court this afternoon In response, Ms Patatas - using the username 'Sigrun' - said: 'Yes.' Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC read out online chat messages from Bogunovic to other members posted in 2017 - four months after National Action was banned. The messages concern security measures to avoid suspected spies in the organisation gaining insight into the workings of the 'inner circle'. The messages were found by police on a mobile phone seized from National Action Midlands leader Alex Deakin, 23, from Birmingham. In the chat messages, Bogunovic said: 'I think this is a good opportunity to revise how we look at this whole setup. 'I wish Charles [aka Alex Deakin] would consult with other inner circle on issues like this. 'As for infiltrators, it's just a thing we're going to have to deal with as part and parcel of this thing.' In a group discussion about recruiting new members on April 13, 2017, Bogunovic said: 'I'll be honest, I really don't want more older people than we already have. This is a youth group after all. 'I don't mind people getting old in the movement.New people will come. 'However I was always against over 25 recruiting. 'I want people involved who can carry the torch forward.' All three defendants deny wrongdoing and the trial, set to last four weeks, continues. This is the cramped, shabby Liverpool home of suicide bomber Enzo Almeni, from where he plotted to carry out his failed Poppy Day attack and made pizzas in his spare time. Almeni, 32, who was born Emad Jamil Al-Swealmeen, is believed to have been living in the terraced property in the Kensington area of the city, which he shared with three other asylum seekers, for more than a year. It had been converted from three bedrooms to four and was managed by Serco, which provides housing for asylum seekers and is valued at around 70,000. Asylum seekers have been housed there for the past ten years. One former resident told MailOnline that he often complained to Serco officials about conditions inside the home and pleaded with them to move him, which they eventually did in early 2020. TJ Jayaweera, 29 an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka revealed that the bedroom walls were made of thin plywood and it was difficult to sleep at night because of continual noise. Mr Jayaweera, who lived in the property for almost three years moaned: 'It was filthy and very noise and horrible to live in. There were a lot of asylum seekers like me coming and going but I was there for the longest period of time. The place was filthy and not very well maintained. It was a struggle to live there but I didn't have any other choice. It's been used to house asylum seekers for almost ten years.' President Trump said Monday that he has spoken to Saudi's King Salman about the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi and he 'firmly denied' any involvement in the journalist's disappearance. Trump said that he would send a top U.S. official, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to Middle East to confront Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in person - but wouldn't say whether he believed the Saudi leader's 'flat' denial of wrongdoing in a 20-minute phone conversation. The president had a theory of his own as to what may have happened to the Saudi-born writer who Turkey says was lured to his death earlier this month in Istanbul. He suggested without evidence that 'rogue killers' could have been responsible for the disappearance that Trump also framed as a murder. As he left the White House to board Marine One on the South Lawn, the president said the king's denial 'could not have been stronger' and that is all he currently has to go off of. 'He said it very strongly,' Trump said when pressed to give his assessment of the Saudi king's trustworthiness. President Trump said Monday that he has spoken to Saudi's King Salman about the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi and he 'firmly denied' any involvement in the journalist's disappearance Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pictured in Bahrain in 2014, may have been murdered after criticizing the Saudi government Trump said in a tweet just before he talked to reporters outside the White House that he was sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to probe the disappearance CLOSE TALKS: Trump said he had now spoken to King Salman, the Saudi king. He and Melania Trump met the king on their very first foreign trip With a $110 billion arms deal at stake, Trump and other U.S. officials have been loathe to blame Salman's kingdom for the suspected murder of the Washington Post columnist who had become an outspoken Saudi government critic. Trump has at the same time attempted to signal that his administration takes violence against the free press seriously given his own tormenting at rallies of 'fake news' journalists he's unabashedly claimed are the 'enemy of the people.' 'Were going to just see what happened. We have to see what happened,' Trump said Saturday in the Oval Office as he celebrated the return of an American pastor who had been detained in Istanbul. 'Theres plenty of things we can do that are very tough. Lets see what happened first.' Trump said then that he had not reviewed the video evidence that Turkey says it has to prove that Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul but that he would be seeing it soon. He did not say Monday whether that remains the case. He promised in remarks to reporters to 'get to the bottom' of the suspected killing that he says King Salman personally denied having ordered. 'I can only tell you that his denial to me in this one very you know relatively fast phone call, probably lasted 20 minutes, his denial to me could not have been stronger that he had no knowledge. And it sounds like he and also the crown prince had no knowledge,' Trump said. The U.S. president has come under heavy pressure to intervene in the probe of Khashoggi's abduction after the Virginia resident was captured on video entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago and never leaving. Also at stake is the the relationship Trump built with Saudi Arabia - a relationship cemented during the first stop of his first foreign trip last year as president. The connection blossomed into a lucrative arms deal for the U.S. Trump told reporters on Saturday that he does not want to jeopardize jobs and business for Americans by punishing Saudi Arabia, if it was responsible, with sanctions that affect the purchase of weapons. 'Its $110 billion. I believe its the largest order ever made. Its 450,000 jobs. Its the best equipment in the world. But if they dont buy it from us, theyre going to buy it from Russia or theyre going to buy it from China, or theyre going to buy it from other countries,' he explained. 'And I would from the standpoint of jobs, economic development, a lot of other reasons, I would like to do something where we could maybe look at other things I will tell the senators because thats a tremendous order for our companies. Its a tremendous order for really, from an economic development standpoint,' he said. 'Almost all of our states are involved in that order.' The crisis also complicates the close friendship the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner has cultivated with the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the administration's efforts to eliminate state-sponsored terror. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow noted on Sunday that terror financing is a topic of the Vision 2030 conference set to take place in Saudi Arabia later this month. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin still plans to attend the conference for that reason, Kudlow said, despite other high-profile exits like JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Real power: Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and had been hailed by Trump and given a red-carpet welcome to the Oval Office in March Trump said Saturday that he would speak to the Saudi king about the suspected tragedy imminently, but the conversation apparently did not take place until Monday morning. 'Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened "to our Saudi Arabian citizen." He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!' Trump said in a tweet just before he left the White House to tour southern storm damage. The description of Khashoggi as 'our Saudi Arabian citizen' distances Trump from the disappearance of the Washington Post columnist who Turkey says was tortured, murdered and dismembered by Saudi assassins. The two countries have nonetheless announced a coalition that will probe the disappearance that technically took place on Saudi soil. He repeated the phrase as he spoke to journalists in a light drizzle near the entrance to the residential wing of the White House during a media avail before his departure with the first lady in Marine One. 'I just spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia and he denies any knowledge of what took place with regards to, as he said, to Saudi Arabia's citizen. He firmly denies that. I asked the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to immediately get on a plane, go to Saudi Arabia, go to other places if necessary which he probably will, with regards to this. Go to Turkey if necessary,' Trump said. 'The King told me Turkey and Saudi Arabia are working hand in hand very closely on getting to the bottom of what happened so well see what happened. Mike Pompeo is leaving literally within an hour or so heading to Saudi Arabia.' Trump pledged 'to leave nothing uncovered' in the search. 'With that being said the king firmly denies any knowledge of it. He didnt really know. 'I dont want to get into his mind but it sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers, who knows?' Trump added. 'Were going to try get to the bottom of it very soon but his was a flat denial.' The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, known as MBS, 33, is seen as having the real power in the kingdom that's formally overseen by his 82-year-old father. Oil prices rise and the Riyal dips Benchmark Brent crude oil jumped by $1.49 a barrel to a high of $81.92 on Monday. The riyal was quoted at 3.7524 to the U.S. dollar early on Monday, as well, its weakest rate since September 2016, Refinitiv data showed. It comes after Saudi Arabia issued a thinly-veiled threat to cut oil production if the U.S. imposes sanctions over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance. There are also fears companies will turn away from investing in the kingdom, as CEOs pulled out of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 conference this month in droves. UKOIL chart by TradingView TradingView Privacy Policy Advertisement He has introduced ambitious reforms as part of his Vision 2030 campaign. But he has also ruled over a crackdown on 'corruption' last year that was effectively seen as a power grab. The Saudis on Monday agreed to allow Turkey to inspect the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for evidence of Khashoggi's murder. The joint effort sprouted from a call between King Salman and Turkish President Recep Erdogan on Sunday. Khashoggi has not been seen since he entered the embassy on Oct. 2. Turkey claims to have evidence that Saudi hit team killed and dismembered the journalist. Saudi Arabia has called the allegations 'baseless' and denied that the kingdom was involved. An internal investigation has been opened into the disappearance. U.S. lawmakers have taken steps to introduce sanctions on Saudi Arabia for the suspected murder, and and President Trump has promised 'severe punishment' for the culprit. Saudi Arabia has warned in return that if it 'receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy.' 'The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations,' a statement in the state-run Saudi Press Agency aid. Another Arabic-language newspaper in Saudi Arabia, Okaz, said in an English headline on Monday: 'Don't Test Our Patience.' A team of cleaners entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul today ahead of an inspection by Turkish and Saudi officials Jamal Khashoggi (right) arriving at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2. He has not been seen since and Turkey has accused Saudi agents of murdering him Prominent business leaders like Dimon and Ford Motor Co. executive Bill Ford meanwhile pulled out of the investment conference in Riyadh that is known as 'Davos in the Desert' for the number of billionaires and CEOs and it attracts. Trump punted on the topic on Saturday, asking Pompeo to respond to a question about Mnuchin's planned participation, instead. 'I think we need to continue to evaluate the facts and well make that decision. As I talked with Secretary Mnuchin about it last night, well be taking a look at it through the rest of the week,' Pompeo responded. Richard Moananu (pictured) was allegedly four times over the legal alcohol limit during a fatal crash in Sydney's western suburbs An unlicensed and speeding father-of-four charged over the deaths of two women was allegedly more than four times over the legal alcohol limit at the time of the fatal crash. Richard Moananu, 29, has already faced ten charges over the tragic deaths of expectant mother Katherine Hoang and her 17-year-old relative. Additional charges could be laid against the man, relating to the deaths of Mrs Hoang's unborn twin boys, who were due within days of the September 28 crash in Sydney's west. As police awaited confirmation whether fresh charges can be laid, the Daily Telegraph reported the accused was allegedly intoxicated and driving erratically. They reported blood tests on Mr Moananu allegedly returned a reading of 0.204. The legal limit for fully licensed drivers is 0.05. A father-of-four, Mr Moananu was released from hospital last Friday and remained in police custody. In court documents, police allege he was unlicensed and driving at more than 105kph in a 60kph zone. Scroll down for video In the horror crash, a 23-year-old expectant mother and 17-year-old learner driver died Bronko Hoang (right) cried in agony after learning his wife Katherine (left), 23, and her unborn babies were killed in a horrific smash in Sydney's west on the evening of September 28 They alleged he crossed the median strip and was driving into oncoming traffic when the crash occurred. The court heard two other cars were forced to take evasive action to avoid crashing, with Moananu also facing charges over injuries sustained by one of these drivers. An 18-year-old man behind the wheel of a ute suffered minor facial injuries while the other driver was uninjured. Moananu's lawyer, Sarah Ha'angana, previously said they were working toward a bail application that will be put forward at his hearing at Penrith Local Court on Friday. Mr Hoang (pictured with his late wife) has reportedly not stopped crying since being delivered the shattering news by a doctor and social worker at Westmead Hospital on Friday Mr Hoang (right with Mrs Hoang) survived the collision with broken ribs, a smashed leg and fractured cheekbone The husband of Mrs Hoang woke from a coma to the shattering news his family was dead. Bronko Hoang was told by a doctor and social worker and became so hysterical he had to be sedated for his own safety. The couple, who married in May, were due to become parents to two twin boys next week 'He screamed so loudly, 'Why Katherine? Please not the babies',' his aunt, Pham Crawford, told the Daily Telegraph. 'He can't stop crying and feels guilty he's the only one who survived. He's in complete shock and in so much pain. 'We're all devastated, it would have been the first grandchildren for both families.' Mr Hoang suffered broken ribs, a smashed leg and a fractured cheekbone. Ms Crawford said his nephew was 'in a bad state' and continued to tell her 'everything hurts so much' when she called to check on him. The couple married in May after meeting and falling in love years ago at the Western Sydney University Taekwondo Club. Father-of-four Richard Moananu (pictured), 29, has already faced ten charges over the tragic deaths of expectant mother Katherine Hoang and her 17-year-old relative Mrs Hoang, 23, her unborn twins and her teenage relative who was driving the vehicle were killed Lucy La, a family friend of the victims, launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for the family. 'The money we raised will be given to both Katherine's family as they begin to make funeral preparations,' the page says. 'We have also discussed with the family and they have agreed to donate some of the money to the trauma team who worked endlessly to save Katherine's life at the scene of the accident and rescuing Bronco.' More than 800 people had donated to the page in eight days, raising close to $50,000. A furious father has complained to his daughter's school after she was shown a film clip that contained the F-word 16 times. The secondary school has launched an investigation after the 12-year-old student told her father she saw the profanity-strewn segment from famous rapper Eminem's biopic 8 Mile. Pupils in a Year 7 history class were reportedly asked to watch a rap battle scene from the popular movie, based on the young life of the American hip-hop legend. A father, who did not wish to be named, was left furious after his 12-year-old daughter who attends Southchurch High School in Southend, Essex, was shown a clip from Eminem's rap battle scene in the film 8 Mile which contains the f-word 16 times (Pictured: rap battle scene) Along with the repeated 'f***s', the sing-off included references to guns and inappropriate comments about women. The parent, who did not want to be named, said the clip was inappropriate for a child of 12 and demanded an apology from Southchurch High School in Southend, Essex. He said: 'With what we read about crime happening in Southend currently, these young children could be influenced badly by scenes like this, especially the boys who think it is cool to listen to this music that degrades women and assault people, it is just not acceptable. 'The language that was used when I read them I could not believe. The father said that children could be influenced badly by such scenes, especially the boys. Pictured: Outside of the Southchurch High School in Essex 'If you actually listen to them, I think that any parent would be horrified that a teacher would show something such as this to a child.' The father said that although parents might be unable to stop their children from hearing music like that shown in the film, he felt a classroom was not the appropriate place for them to come into contact with it. He added: 'There are other methods of putting things across as this just encourages the children. The father said that he felt a classroom was not the appropriate place for children to hear that type of music and has demanded an apology from the school. Pictured: Eminem at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2018 'We often hear things from my daughter when she comes home from school, we don't mind those things too much but when they come home and tell us about things such as this, it does not give me a huge amount of confidence in the school. 'It should at least contact parents to make us aware the teacher is planning something like this. 'I would like the school to apologise for this happening.' The school told the Echo it had been made aware of the father's complaint. Stuart Reynolds, headteacher of the school, said: 'I do not allow staff or the children to swear within the school, but I cannot make any further comment. 'The school is aware of the allegation and an investigation will take place into this.' The 2002 film 8 Mile follows the young Marshall Mathers - more commonly known as Eminem - as he grows up in Detroit and struggles to break out of poverty and establish himself as a professional musician. It is unclear as this stage why the school was showing the film in a history class. Southchurch High School, formerly known as Futures Community College, opened in September 2016. The school was placed into special measures in 2014 after being rated 'inadequate' in an Ofsted report, while Mr Reynolds was acting headteacher. At its last inspection in 2016, it was upgraded to 'requires improvement'. The Trump administration is considering using West Coast military installations or other federal properties to open the way for more U.S. fossil fuel exports to Asia in the name of national security and despite opposition from coastal states. The proposal was described to The Associated Press by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and two Republican lawmakers. 'I respect the state of Washington and Oregon and California,' Zinke said in an interview with AP. 'But also, it's in our interest for national security and our allies to make sure that they have access to affordable energy commodities.' Accomplishing that, Zinke said, may require the use of 'some of our naval facilities, some of our federal facilities on the West Coast.' He only identified one prospect, a mostly abandoned Alaska military base. The idea generated a quick backlash Monday from some Democrats and environmentalists. It's tantamount to an end-run around West Coast officials who have rejected private-sector efforts to build new coal ports in their states. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, called the proposal a 'harebrained idea,' and said President Donald Trump should instead consider that climate change represents a national security threat. Ready for export: The Trump administration is considering using West Coast military bases or other federal properties as transit points for shipments of U.S. coal - such as this being extracted in Decker, Montana, and natural gas to Asia End-run: Interior secretary Ryan Zinke wants a way round the three lower West Coast states' refusal to give permission to new coal ports Boosting coal and gas exports would advance the administration's agenda to establish U.S. 'energy dominance' on the world stage. The potential use of government properties for exports underscores a willingness to intervene in markets to make that happen. The administration in recent months has cited national security as justification for keeping domestic coal-burning power plants online to prevent disruptions of electricity supplies. Zinke said the administration was interested in partnering with private entities in the use of federal facilities designated to help handle exports and cautioned that the idea is still in its early stages. He specified only one site, for natural gas: the former Adak Naval Air Facility in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, which he suggested could receive fuel by barge from the North Slope. The base closed in 1997 and has been largely abandoned. Roughly 300 people live in the town of Adak, the westernmost community in the U.S. Zinke did not name government properties that could serve as potential coal ports or which states they are in. Inslee responded to the proposal in a statement that Washington state officials had been left in the dark on any planning by the Trump administration. Another Democrat, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said the proposal shows the Trump administration was 'disregarding the realities around climate change.' Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said Zinke was looking at all possibilities for export terminals, including West Coast military installations. Six proposed coal ports in Washington and Oregon have been rejected or shelved due to worries about air and water pollution and rail safety, combined with changing market conditions. 'As a Montanan, he's looking for ways here to help these Rocky Mountain states like Montana and Wyoming get access to Asian markets,' Daines said. Jan Hasselman, an attorney for opponents of coal ports in Washington state, said using federal property for exports would get around some local land use restrictions, but not the need for state and federal clean water permits. Asian exports have been held up as a lifeline for struggling U.S. coal miners as demand from the domestic power sector has plummeted and utilities switch to cheaper, cleaner fuels. The West Coast offers the most economical route because of its relative proximity to the largest coal-producing region in the U.S.: the Powder River Basin, which straddles the Montana-Wyoming border. Only suggestion: Zinke said Adak Naval Air Facility on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska could be used to export gas Any export site needs access to deep waters to accommodate large ships and enough land to store fuel awaiting shipment. Few such locations can be found on the West Coast, said Joe Aldina, a coal industry analyst with S&P Global Platts Analytics. U.S. coal exports lately have been growing but are expected to fall over the long-term, particularly in Europe. Aldina expressed skepticism that government intervention could make much difference. 'Like everything else the Trump administration has tried to do, it's a long shot whether some of these things will work, and it's questionable whether they will really help the market,' he said. A $680 million project in Longview, Washington, was denied a key permit last year by state regulators who said it would increase greenhouse gas emissions and cause 'significant and unavoidable harm to the environment.' That brought a backlash from elected officials in coal-producing states. They argue the rejection of the Longview port, sponsored by Utah-based Lighthouse Resources, violated the commerce clause in the Constitution that says only Congress has the power to regulate international and interstate trade. Montana, Wyoming and four other states joined Lighthouse Resources in a lawsuit challenging the rejection of the company's Millennium Bulk Terminals port, which could handle up to 48.5 million tons of coal a year. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said she's spoken with Zinke and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry about how to break through the bottleneck of port capacity that now exists. 'That might be, for example, retired military facilities or other places where we would be able to use those for exports - frankly, to get around some of the unreasonable obstacles that have been thrown up,' Cheney said. Prior to joining Trump's cabinet, Zinke was a Montana congressman and Perry was governor of Texas. Both states are among the top U.S. coal producers. Coal exports to Asia more than doubled in 2017, according to the Energy Information Administration. The rise continued in the first half of 2018 with almost 23 million tons of U.S. coal exported to Asian nations through June. South Korea, Japan and China were among the biggest recipients. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will welcome their first child together in spring 2019, the palace announced today, after telling the Royal family during Princess Eugenies wedding on Friday. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019, the statement read. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have confirmed that they're expecting their first child together Prince Harry, 34, and Meghans son or daughter will be the Queens eighth great grandchild. He or she will be seventh in line for the British throne behind their father. Cant get enough Royal baby news? Heres everything you need to know about Prince Harry and Meghan Markles baby, including when she is due, possible names and what his or her title will be. When is Meghan Markle due? In a statement from Kensington Palace, it was revealed that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will welcome their first child in spring 2019. As is always the case with Royal babies, an exact due date hasnt been revealed. When is spring? Spring begins March 20, 2019. It ends June 21, 2019. The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby will be born somewhere within that three-month window. How far along is Meghan Markle? Typically Royal pregnancies are announced about 12-weeks in, according to PopSugar. Kate Middleton is thought to have announced her third around that time, if not a bit earlier, due to her severe morning sickness. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married on May 19. That's five months, or 25 weeks and five days. Meghan Markle baby bump Meghan Markle, 37, does not appear to have much of a baby bump at this time. This is likely because shes not very far along and its her first child, however she has used several different styling tricks to cover up her stomach. The former actress was photographed at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbanks wedding over the weekend wearing a navy dress and matching coat designed by Givenchy. The latter carefully concealed any hints of a bump that may have been present. Where will Prince Harry and Meghan Markles baby sit in the line of succession? The latest Royal baby will be seventh in line for the British throne. The child will be sat behind his or her father as well as Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince William and Prince Charles. Kate Middleton in Alexander McQueen and Meghan Markle in Givenchy at Princess Eugenies wedding pic.twitter.com/ZkkUTykk0T FASHION & MAKEUP (@marcellabisou) October 12, 2018 What title will Prince Harry and Meghan Markles baby get? Unlike Prince William and Kate Middletons children, Prince Harrys son or daughter will not get a Prince or Princess title. Unless, of course, the Queen steps in to change the rules. Should the couple welcome a son, his title would be styled the Earl of Dumbarton. A daughter, on the other hand, would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor. This is because of a change King George V made in 1917. He declared: The grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms. If Prince Harry and Meghan were to welcome a son as their first child and have another down the line, the second son would get the title of Lord (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle baby name Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expected to choose a traditional name for their son or daughter. Examples include Victoria, Mary, Elizabeth, Philip, Charles, Arthur, Edward or James. Betway spokesperson Alan Alger told Hello Magazine, Victoria and James are the current favorites at 15-2 and 9-1 odds respectively. Diana is also thought to be a contender at 12-1 odds. Where will Meghan Markle give birth? While home births were once tradition for members of the Royal family, hospital births have become accepted. The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to all three of her children at the Lindo Wing at St Marys Hospital. Meghan Markle will likely do the same. She could also give birth at the Stroud Maternity Unit in Gloucester, England, like Zara Tindall. A home birth is also still an option. Meghan Markle Sydney Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are currently travelling in Sydney, Australia and are expected to visit Tonga and Fiji. Due to the risk of contracting the Zika virus in Tonga and Fiji, some thought the pair may be considering switching up their travel plans. According to Hello Magazine, its been confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markles trip will go on as planned. Theyve consulted a doctor about it and were given the go ahead. They have made slight alterations to their itinerary, however. The Duke and Duchess wont be visiting the Colo-i-Suva forest site or the Fiji War Memorial in Suva. Instead, Prince Harry will make those trips on his own. He's the outspoken billionaire renowned for his entrepreneurial skills and savvy business deals. But Sir Richard Branson, 69, has revealed that while he might be worth over 4.865 billion, he hardly ever picks up the bill when he eats out. Speaking to news.com.au in Australia, the Virgin Group founder said his hard earned cash was often rejected when it came to dinning in his favourite restaurants around the world. Sir Richard Branson, 69, has revealed that while he might be worth over 4.865 billion, he hardly ever picks up the bill when he eats out 'Obviously if you're in that lucky position where you can afford (to pick up the bill) you should do it,' he said. 'But one of the bizarre things about being successful and making money is the amount of times restaurants will say, "oh, don't worry Richard, we don't expect you to pay".' Almost 55 years ago Branson dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and founded his first business, an unsuccessful attempt at farming Christmas trees. And while that venture may have bottomed out, he's overseen around 500 companies globally throughout his lifetime, many of them household names. Branson, originally from Blackheath, says it's weird that he's work his whole life only to be told now that he doesn't need to pay for his meal. Branson, originally from Blackheath, says it's weird that he's work his whole life only to be told now that he doesn't need to pay for his meal 'Surely there's someone else who would warrant that more than me. Picking up the tab is a luxury I can afford to do,' he said. Last week he announced that he would suspend business talks with Saudi Arabia over claims the kingdom murdered missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) The Billionaire has flown to Australia just days after he announced that he would suspend talks with Saudi Arabia over $1billion investment in Virgin Galactic amid claims that the kingdom murdered missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Branson's announcement came after Turkish authorities claimed that Khashoggi was targeted by Saudi agents after he was last seen entering the consulate in Istanbul on October 2. 'What has reportedly happened in Turkey around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if proved true, would clearly change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi Government,' Branson said in a statement Thursday. 'We have asked for more information from the authorities in Saudi and to clarify their position in relation to Mr Khashoggi.' Invasive procedures designed to rid homosexual people of their 'sinful' attraction to the same sex have been revealed in a shocking report on 'gay conversion therapy'. One woman involved in the La Trobe University and Human Rights Law Centre's research said she had electrical shocks sent through her genitals as part of her 'healing'. She was also forced into a bath filled with ice cubes and repeatedly read Bible verses, while one man was convinced he could 'pray the gay away', news.com.au reported. Invasive procedures designed to rid homosexual people of their 'sinful' attraction to the same sex have been revealed in a shocking report on 'gay conversion therapy' (stock photo) Several people came forward with horrifying tales of how their church groups and parents lead them to believe they were 'abnormal' because they weren't straight. Bathing in ice cubes and having electricity pulsed through her genitals left one of the research subjects hating her body and unable to trust its pleasure signals. 'I remember going into another room...with a surgical table, and being restrained... having an electrode attached to my labia; and images projected onto the ceiling... and a lot of pain from the electrodes; and being left there for quite a long time afterwards, exposed and alone,' she told the publication. The woman, aged 48 and who could not be named, said when her father came to collect her from 'therapy', his words were: 'I hope you've learnt your lesson, and that you never sin like this ever again'. Several people came forward with horrifying tales of how their church groups and parents lead them to believe they were 'abnormal' because they weren't straight (stock photo) A man who married a woman and had children because he was convinced there was something wrong with him psychologically said he didn't 'come out' until age 53. He said as a result of being heavily immersed in the church, his sexual preferences left him feeling like 'the most sick, abnormal, twisted nut person on the planet'. Counsellors even tried convincing him his absent father and overbearing mother were to blame, and tried persuading him he had been sexually abused when he hadn't. Just two years ago, another man aged 44 was involved in a program run by an 'ex-gay ministry', where members would read ex-gay testimonies. As part of the program he would discuss Bible passages where evangelical Christian stories were used as evidence of homosexuality being a sin. As part of the program he would discuss Bible passages where evangelical Christian stories were used as evidence of homosexuality being a sin (stock photo) He also felt compelled to lie to counsellors about his progress where he would reply 'Oh yeah, met this girl' when asked if he had begun to find women attractive. Senior lecturer in history at La Trobe University Dr Tim Jones condemned such practices and said it forced participants into profound trauma and grief. 'The report reveals the immense trauma and grief participants felt at the prospect of having to choose between their faith or their gender and sexuality, both intimate and important parts of themselves.' Gay conversion therapy first surfaced in the 1970s because many religious leaders believed people could 'free themselves' from homosexuality through their faith. While many ex-gay churches cease to exist, there are still at least 10 organisations in Australia and New Zealand promoting 'gay conversion therapy'. Law enforcement officials in Wisconsin are asking for the public's help in locating an endangered 13-year-old girl who had gone missing from a home where her parents were found shot to death. According to a press release from the Barron County Sheriff's Office, just before 1am on Monday, a 911 call summoned deputies to a residence in the 1200 block of Highway 8, just outside Barron. There, responding deputies discovered two dead adults, who have since been identified as the parents of the missing 13-year-old Jayme Closs. Where is Jayme? Deputies in Wisconsin are searching for 13-year-old Jayme Closs, who is considered missing and endangered after the killings of her mother Denise (right) and father James at their home Crime scene: Closs had gone missing overnight from this home on Highway 8 near Barron, Wisconsin, where deputies found the bullet-riddled bodies of Denise and James Closs During a press conference on Monday afternoon, Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald told reporters the victims suffered gunshot wounds and that Jayme is not considered a suspect in their deaths. While Fitzgerald has not named the suspects, DailyMail.com can now reveal the home where the violent crime took place was owned by Jamye's mother, 46-year-old Denise Closs, and her father, 56-year-old James Closs. The sheriff said his priority now is to find Jayme, whose life is considered endangered. An Amber Alert hasn't been issued because no suspect has been identified in the girl's disappearance. Jayme is described as 5 feet tall and weighing 100lbs, with green eyes and blond or strawberry-blond hair. Officials would not say how Jayme (left and right) is connected to the victims, but records show her parents are listed as residents on the Highway 8 property According to Jayme's Facebook age, the 13-year-old is a dancer, as well as a cross-country and track athlete. Anyone with information on her whereabouts or anyone that has contact with Jayme is asked to contact the Barron County Sheriffs Department at 715-537-3106. Two young men were assassinated in broad daylight in the Pacific coast of Mexico, what once was an inviting hot spot, while tourists nonchalantly went on with their lives. The bodies of the two victims, whose identities and ages were not revealed by law enforcement authorities, were found laying on the pavement just feet away from the entrance to a local beachside restaurant and hotel. Beachgoers were caught by surprise and some ran for safety Sunday afternoon at about 4pm local time when shots rang out at Caleta Beach in Acapulco, the world's third-most dangerous city. But video of the scene recorded by local media outlet El Sol de Acapulco shows people were soon back relaxing in the Mexico sun while the bodies lay nearby. Tourists in shorts and swimsuits were spotted seated in the background as the murder area was cordoned off and investigators from various law enforcement divisions inspected the crime site. Bodies of two assassinated men lay on the ground outside the entrance to a beach in Acapulco From the 1950s to 1980s, the beaches of Acapulco was once a main destination for Hollywood stars and former U.S. presidents. Today it is marred by warring drug cartels. According to various Mexican media outlets, the pair was followed by a vehicle and attempted to escape through the crowd before they were shot dead. Investigators found four nine-millimeter bullet casings and five bags containing marijuana. Police were still looking for the suspect[s]. However, no injuries were reported among the throng of people that were enjoying their day out in what was once considered a vibrant resort town in the state of Guerrero that's now become Mexico's murder capital due to the warring rival drug cartels. Tourists continue to visit the beaches of Acapulco despite the Mexican town being the third most dangerous city in the world Former U.S. President was among the many ex-leaders that from time to time would flock down to Acapulco to enjoy the scene of glamorous beaches Investigators look over the crime scene that shook a beach in Acapulco after two men were assassinated on Sunday Acapulco was once a hot spot for Hollywood stars and even former United States presidents. In his 1958 song 'Come Fly with Me', Frank Sinatra described the glamorous resort city as 'perfect for a flying honeymoon'. A year before Sinatra's hit, Elizabeth Taylor celebrated the honeymoon of her third marriage with her husband Mike Todd in the Mexican coastal town. In 1971, as governor of California, Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy visited Acapulco. Just last month, the Mexican military descended on the beachside tourist zone and completely disarmed its local police force after concerns were raised over the influence of drug trafficking organizations in the city. An Acapulco law enforcement agent stands near the bodies of two men who were assassinated right near the beach's entrance Elizabeth Taylor jetted to Acapulco for the honeymoon of her third marriage in 1957 Acapulco now has the world's third-highest murder rate with 103 per 100,000 residents. Mexico has been mired for nearly 12 years in a bloody, military-led battle against drug gangs. Cartels have fragmented into warring groups and murders have risen to record levels. Local Acapulco business leaders lamented Sunday's shooting and demanded a meeting with the state's governor, Hector Astudillo Flores, just four three days after the skeletal remains of six men were found buried inside a house in a low-income neighborhood near the beaches. Area hoteliers and other businessmen called for a higher increased security presence from the Mexican marines and police force. The celebration of a quinceanera, or a Sweet 15, in the Hispanic culture is traditionally held to mark a girl's coming of age, moving on from childhood to adulthood. But one teen girl has added a bizarre and controversial twist by paying homage to Narco culture and pretending to be kidnapped and rescued in her dance. The unnamed teen decided to ditch the traditional romantic ballad dance with an ode to the tunes of the polemical narcocorrido genre which hails the lives of drug smugglers. A girl (left) celebrating her Sweet 15 has sparked outrage on social media after paying homage to the narco culture, shying away from the traditional romantic ballad dance The celebration of a Sweet 15 in the Hispanic culture has always been strictly observed as a girl's coming of age, moving on from childhood to adulthood The viral Facebook video then shows a choreographed set of what seems to be a two masked actors pretending to kidnap the birthday girl before another actor portraying a police officer rushes at her and places her on his shoulders. Another guy acting out as a kidnapper tries to fight off the cops while the introduction to a narco soap opera is played over the loud speakers. After regaining her freedom from the kidnappers, the 15-year-old unidentified girl starts dancing with another person playing the role of a heroic police officer. The minute-long social media post has had over 7million views since it was posted om October 6. Since then it has received over 23,000 comments and shared more than 77,000 times. Instead of waltzing to a romantic song, a teenage girl (pictured) caused furor in Mexico by dancing to the tunes of a controversial narco ballad. A video of it has been view 7million times Viral images of a girl paying homage to the drug culture during a dance routine for her Sweet 15 celebration has been seen by more than 7million Facebook users One parent expressed dismay over incorporating the element of a culture that has caused so much harm to the Mexican people. The original corrido went as far back as the Mexican Revolution of 1910, relating the stories of the revolutionary fighters. But the new age of corrido ballads have hailed the lives of some of the cruelest drug cartel leaders, especially El Chapo. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox once tried to ban the narcocorrido genre. 'As a parent you must be very aware of type of message that kind of music [can portray],' Israel Diaz told Univision. A Facebook user that commented on the video claimed she would go as far as removing her daughter's last name if 'she ever came at me with such foolishness'. The deaths of three people whose bodies were found after a house fire in Oklahoma are being investigated as a triple homicide. Police said the fire broke out early Sunday at a home in north Tulsa. When firefighters arrived on scene, the entire home was burning except a back bedroom. In the bedroom they found Hosea Fletcher dead. He was engaged to be married to his girlfriend of six years. Oklahoma police say the deaths of three people whose bodies were found after a house fire (pictured) are being investigated as a triple homicide In one bedroom they found the body of Hosea Fletcher (pictured), who was engaged to be married to his girlfriend of six years. Fletcher also had a young son When firefighters arrived on scene, the entire home was burning except the back bedroom where Fletcher was found Fletcher was also the father of his young son. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Fletcher's family with funeral costs. Police Sgt Brandon Watkins told Tulsa World that the case is 'definitely' a homicide, but he declined to give further details. It is believed that the fire was set in the front of the home after police found Fletcher's body less burned than the other two victims. Firefighters from the Tulsa Fire Department discovered the bodies while fighting the fire. Police said the bodies are so badly burned, it will be difficult to identify them and how they died. Police Sgt Brandon Watkins said the case is 'definitely' a homicide, but he declined to give further details Firefighters (pictured) from the Tulsa Fire Department discovered the bodies while fighting the fire. Police said the bodies are so badly burned, it will be difficult to identify them and how they died The other two victims have not been identified and no arrests have been made. But detectives said they believe the second victim may be a man and the third may be a young girl. Pictured is the back of the home where Fletcher was found The state medical examiner's office has not yet determined the causes of death. The other two victims have not been identified and no arrests have been made. But detectives said they believe the second victim may be a man and the third may be a young girl. Rhonda Youngblood, who lives next door to the now destroyed home, told the news outlet that said she didn't hear anything unusual prior to the fire. Youngblood said she later heard the fire trucks rushing to the area. Neighbors said two men lived in the home. According to the neighbors, the people living at the home were nice and hardworking individuals. Rayna Davis told News on 6 that the men 'are peaceful people'. 'They just went to work and came home. They didn't cause any trouble,' she added. Authorities are searching for suspects and a motive. If you know anything about this or can provide any information to police, you are asked to call Tulsa Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS. Lance Corporal David Plumstead, 24 (pictured outside court left) is accused of helping Lance Corporal Kyle Harris and Zidnan Ahmed, 36, smuggle migrants into the UK for 5,000 via the Channel Tunnel A British Army soldier is accused of being part of a people smuggling ring that trafficked illegal immigrants through the Channel Tunnel from Calais to the UK. Lance Corporal David Plumstead and Lance Corporal Kyle Harris were serving in the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment based in Paderborn, Germany, when it is alleged they were involved in the scam in 2016. A trial at Maidstone Crown Court heard they initially agreed to smuggle 'one every Friday' for 5,000 each during trips back and forth to England from their barracks. But that later increased to two immigrants at a time, who they planned to collect from a McDonald's restaurant near the Calais Jungle and drive through the Channel Tunnel. The operation only came to an end in May 2016 when an 'anxious and nervous' Harris, driving a German-registered hire car, was stopped by border officials in the French town of Coquelles and found to have an Iraqi and Syrian man in the boot. The two men, both in their 20s, were hiding under the soldier's combat kit. Plumstead, 24, is accused alongside Zindan Ahmed, 36, of Middlesbrough, who is in the dock with a Kurdish interpreter. He is only on trial for being involved one trip to smuggle migrants, which turned out to be unsuccessful. Harris, 29, was arrested in May 2016 and pleaded guilty to his charges in August. He was subsequently given 21 months' imprisonment suspended for two years for the single people-smuggling trip. The other two men face a charge of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration between November 1 2015 and July 1 2016. The jury heard that Harris arranged with Ahmed to be paid 2,500 in advance and a further 2,500 once each of the migrants had been delivered to the UK. He met them at a McDonald's restaurant in the French town of Coquelles, just outside Calais and close to the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, where he loaded one or two migrants into the boot of his rental car, the court was told. The court heard that on April 29 2016, Plumstead accompanied Harris in the car when they attempted to meet an unknown people smuggler at the McDonald's who was due to hand two migrants to Harris to take to the UK. It is alleged the trio met at a McDonald's in the French town of Coquelles just outside the Calais Jungle encampment (pictured) so they could smuggle them to the UK via the Channel Tunnel But the meeting was unsuccessful and the two soldiers returned to the UK alone, and Plumstead denies knowing anything about the operation or helping Harris. Prosecutor Walton Hornsby said: 'David Plumstead's involvement in this conspiracy is a very minor one and did not involve the bringing of an illegal migrant into the UK. 'But in getting into the car and going to pick up a migrant he must have been an active participant with Kyle Harris on this particular trip. 'If that's correct than he played a minor but nonetheless significant part of this conspiracy.' Plumstead's alleged involvement came to light following Harris's arrest in May 2016. Harris told Border Force he was a serving soldier, produced his army identification card, and said he was on his way to spend two days with his mother in Epsom, the jury heard. When asked to open the boot he replied: 'Ok, I'm going to have to own up to this. There's two people in the back.' The jury heard that Harris pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy in August and is awaiting sentence at the conclusion of the current trial. Mr Hornsby said to the jury with regards to the other two defendants: 'What is the significance of that plea of guilty in relation to the same conspiracy that you are considering in relation to Mr Ahmed and Mr Plumstead? 'It establishes that there was such a conspiracy and that will not be disputed in this case - but it does not help you as to who else was involved in that conspiracy.' After his arrest, Plumstead told police he had known Harris for three to four years and they were 'good mates'. He said he thought Harris's claims he was involved in people-smuggling were just 'talk' and that it was a normal arrangement for soldiers to give each other lifts back from Germany. Summarising Plumstead's interview with police after his arrest, the prosecutor told the court: 'He said he had travelled with Kyle Harris twice and he, Harris, dropped him off at home in Portsmouth on both occasions. Pictured: Lance Corporal Plumstead and Harris were serving at Barker Barracks in Paderborn, Germany when they became involved in the scam 'Harris told him he was earning 8,000 to 10,000 smuggling people, had done it a few times for someone up north, was travelling at the weekend and said he had a 'dodgy job' lined up and was going to bring in 'some foreign bloke' but Plumstead didn't believe him. 'He said Harris asked him to become involved but he didn't believe his people-smuggling activities, believed it was just talk, and he didn't get involved.' The court was told the Hyundai was hired on April 29 after Harris's own Ford Mondeo broke down. Harris was driving and Plumstead was the passenger. Still referring to Plumstead's interview, Mr Hornsby added: 'He stopped at McDonald's in Calais for 10 minutes with Harris to stretch their legs, use the toilet and have a bite to eat after a 400-mile journey from Germany before boarding the train at the Channel Tunnel. 'He said it was Harris's idea to stop there and they had stopped there before. 'He said Harris used his phone and texted someone during the journey but he didn't know who it was or what it was about. Zidnan Ahmed (pictured outside court today), 36, is in the dock with the help of a Kurdish interpreter 'He denied any knowledge of any arrangements to meet anyone or collect anyone from McDonald's.' The prosecutor told the jury: 'The issues are quite simply whether he was aware that Harris was involved, as he accepts Harris told him he was. 'What was the purpose of him coming long? Would Harris have brought him along if he wasn't going to be involved? 'His case is simply that he was just along for the ride and had no idea that Harris was involved in this activity. He just thought it was talk.' After his arrest Ahmed denied being the person Harris spoke to on the journey or having any involvement in the conspiracy. But the court heard text messages between Harris and a mobile phone associated with Ahmed arranging meetings to drop off cash and also arranging the next collection of migrants, and also a message allegedly from Ahmed asking Harris to pick up his brother. Ahmed claimed that while he did use that phone on occasions, he was not the only person using it and he was not the person who sent the text messages related to the people-smuggling operation. One text message in broken English and allegedly from Ahmed to Harris on March 14 read: 'Hello mate. 'Somebody my friend gave me your number. You did bring in brother so can you bring my brother as well if you can.' The court heard contact continued between them 'to discuss the mechanics' of the plot, with a reference to 'lots people in'. 'The inference is that there was a lot more in the pipeline and it was not just about Zinden Ahmed's brother,' said Mr Hornsby. Plumstead and Ahmed are not believed to have know each other or ever communicated, the jury was told. The trial, which is due to conclude early next week, continues. A mother who was flown to hospital by the Duke of Cambridge on his final shift as an air ambulance pilot died of a traumatic brain injury after she was struck by a police van that was looking for her, an inquest has heard. Helen Loveday, 52, was seen 'veering in and out the road' late at night when she was fatally injured by the police van that was searching for her in Hethel, Norfolk The mother-of-three from Market Harborough, Leicestershire was rushed to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge by Prince WIlliam's East Anglian Ambulance (EAAA) helicopter. Ms Loveday had been reported missing by her 'hysterical' sister before she was hit at around 10.20pm on July 27 last year. Helen Loveday (pictured) was seen 'veering in and out the road' late at night when she was fatally injured by the police van that was searching for her in Hethel, Norfolk Prince WIlliam's last shift working for the air ambulance. The mother-of-three was rushed to hospital in Cambridge by his helicopter Earlier in the night, younger sister Rachel Hurn called 999 after her elder sister stormed out after a conversation with her boyfriend, saying she was going to 'kill herself'. In the 999 audio which was played before the jury, Ms Hurn can be heard saying: 'She has just left me and I don't know where she is and what she is going to do. 'She told me she was going to kill herself, I don't know where she is. 'Please can someone help me- I do not know what to do.' In a separate statement by Ms Hurn read out to the court she told how she believed her death was 'caused by alcohol'. Prince William pictured with his colleagues from the East Anglian Ambulance (EAAA). His last job was flying Helen Loveday to hospital after she was hit by a police van Senior Coroner for Norfolk Jacqueline Lake heard today at Norwich County Court how told how on the evening of her death, she had drunk 'a bottle and a quarter' of rose wine. Anna- Marie Hainsby, communications officer at Norfolk Constabulary ,who took the call from Ms Hurn said in a statement that the caller was 'hysterical' and that it was 'hard to get information' about the incident. She ordered for police vehicles to be dispatched to search for the missing woman at 10.15pm. One witness Tony Ling called the police after seeing the 'distressed' woman walking in the middle of the road 'veering' from side to side 'a matter of yards' from his car. He told the court of how he was 'worried about the state she was in' and stayed in his vehicle to watch over Mr Loveday once he pulled over. Mr Ling had left the Lotus building on Potash Lane in Hethel when he spotted Ms Loveday, said: 'I was trying to keep enough distance between me and the lady in front of me- she was crying. 'I did not want to scare her because I did not know what she was going to do. 'She was veering in and out of the road and waving her hands back and forth- it is difficult to describe. The mother-of-three (pictured) from Market Harborough, Leicestershire was rushed to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge by Prince WIlliam's East Anglian Ambulance (EAAA) helicopter Mr ling added how he waved his hands out the window and kept his hazards on to alert drivers that there was an ongoing incident. He added: 'I put my hands out the window and put my hazards on- anything to warn people that she was about. 'I was worried about the state that she was in and I was not going to leave. I kept an eye on the situation.' Mr Ling told the inquest that the road was poorly lit when he stopped his vehicle and was concerned by 'the manner of the way she was walking in the road.' He said how he only lost sight of the woman at one moment when she 'moved from the front and down the side' of his vehicle. 'At one moment she put her hands on my vehicle and then ran off again. 'The only time I couldn't see her was when she went from the front of my van round the side and down the back. It was then that he heard sirens and a police car drove past him at 'around 55mph' and Ms Loveday was struck. 'As she went from front to back the second police van came past me, and for a split second I lost her, that was it.' The inquest, which is listed for five days continues. The mysterious case of Roxlyn Bowie a mother who vanished from her home more than 30 years ago has been revisited as her daughter pleads for the truth. The 31-year-old mother-of-two disappeared from her marital home in the small-town of Walgett in north-west New South Wales on September 5, 1982. All she left behind was a note to her husband John Bowie which detailed she was 'leaving him with the kids for good' and not to find her because 'she would never come back'. Scroll down for video The mysterious case of Roxlyn Bowie (pictured)- a mother who vanished from her home more than 30 years ago has been revisited as her daughter pleads for the truth Six days after she vanished, her husband applied for a transfer to Sydney and soon remarried the following year before pawning off his ex-wife's jewellery. The former ambulance officer who now lives in Toowoomba said he 'has come to a dead end' as to why his former wife would have abandoned their two children, then aged 18 months and six. 'I did not kill her. I've got no idea where she's at or what has happened to her. I swear on the bible, I did not have anything to do with the disappearance of Roxlyn,' Mr Bowie told A Current Affair. Despite his adamance, the pair's eldest child Brenda Boyd believes her father could shed some light on the disappearance of her mother. the pair's eldest child Brenda Boyd (pictured) believes her father could shed some light on the disappearance At the time Coroner Mary Jerrum said Mr Bowie evidence was non-credible and 'very little weight on it' 'I think there's things that my dad might know that he hasn't told me,' Ms Boyd told the publication. 'I think I deserve the truth, I deserve answers, my children deserve answers,' she said. In 2014, a coronal inquest in to the disappearance of the mother found she was most likely dead but was unable to determine how she died. At the time Coroner Mary Jerrum said Mr Bowie evidence was non-credible and 'very little weight on it.' In 2014, a coronal inquest in to the disappearance of the mother found she was most likely dead but was unable to determine how she died The formal finding was that Roxlyn Bowie died on or about the night she disappeared but she was unable to determine the place, manner or cause of death and it was referred to the Unsolved Homicide Unit. Since her disappearance, Detective Chief Inspector Russell Oxford has been working on the case. 'I don't want it to go away, I want to find out myself. I suppose in a way, the driving force behind this is Brenda's quest for answers,' he said. NSW police have opened a new investigation into the young mother's disappearance. The Daily Mail Australia are in no way implying Mr Bowie is being investigated by police. The CEO of JPMorgan Chase has become the latest high-profile attendee to pull out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia amid concerns about missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In major new twin blows to the credibility of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) on Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who was due to speak at the event, and Ford chairman Bill Ford cancelled plans to attend. Dubbed 'Davos in the Desert', the conference - seen as a platform for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is due to take next week in Riyadh. But it has been hit by a string of prominent cancellations after the disappearance of Khashoggi, who hasn't been seen since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. In the past few days, a string of executives from media, technology and financial firms have withdrawn from the conference, scheduled for October 23 to 25. Scroll down for video JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon (pictured) has pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has pulled out despite the fact Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in the company. Business barons including British billionaire Richard Branson as well as media powerhouses like Bloomberg and CNN have also pulled out. Branson has suspended all business links with Saudi Arabia, including talks over a $1billion investment in Virgin Galactic. Other high-profile withdrawals include: World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, AOL founder Steve Case and Android creator Andy Rubin. But US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday that he still plans to attend the Saudi conference. 'If more information comes out over the next week, I will obviously take that into account,' he said. Ford chairman Bill Ford also cancelled plans to attend the event - dubbed 'Davos in the desert' Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) hasn't been seen since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 CNN, the Financial Times, the New York Times, CNBC and Bloomberg, as well as reporters and editors from the Economist, said they were no longer participating in the conference, which relies heavily on journalists to moderate top sessions. CNBC and Bloomberg, along with Fox Business Network, were among media partners with a big role at the event. CNBC anchor and New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin announced he would not be attending on Thursday, saying he was terribly distressed by Khashoggi's disappearance. Who's pulled out? JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Ford chairman Bill Ford Virgin Group founder Richard Branson Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman World Bank president Jim Yong Kim Viacom CEO Bob Bakish AOL founder Steve Case Android creator Andy Rubin Rodger Novak, co-founder of Crispr Therapeutics AG CNN CNBC The New York Times Financial Times Bloomberg Ariana Huffington Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times columnist and CNBC anchor Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong Advertisement Entrepreneur Arianna Huffington will also not participate and has resigned from the conference advisory board, her company Thrive Global PR said. BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink and Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman will also no longer attend a high profile conference in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported on Monday. BlackRock, the world's largest fund manager, and Blackstone, the world's biggest manager of alternative investments had both previously planned to attend the conference in Riyadh. But a number of media personalities are still backing the event, including Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo whose employer Rupert Murdoch has been cultivating ties with Crown Prince Mohammed and hosted him for dinner during his trip to the US earlier this year. Meanwhile, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Saturday she was 'horrified' by reports about the fate of Saudi dissident Khashoggi but still plans to attend. In Washington, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, is coming under pressure after having spearheaded the administration's strategy to forge close ties with Mohammed. On Friday, conference organizers removed all the names of attendees from its website as the number of cancellations grew. 'Whilst it is disappointing that some speakers and partners have pulled out, we are looking forward to welcoming thousands of speakers, moderators and guests from all over the world to Riyadh,' a FII spokesperson said. Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadh's policies, disappeared on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday that he still plans to attend the Saudi conference Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has pulled out despite the fact Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in the company Turkish officials say they fear a Saudi hit team killed Khashoggi, who has been missing for nearly two weeks, and removed his body. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied killing Khashoggi. Its interior minister has described the assertion as 'lies'. Saudi officials have said he left the consulate shortly after entering it. On Sunday. Saudi Arabia warned against threats to punish it over Khashoggi's disappearance, as European leaders piled on pressure. The controversy has troubled Saudi Arabia's traditional Western allies - many of them arms suppliers to the kingdom - and also undermined efforts by the prince, Mohammed, to present himself as the modernizing future of the kingdom. On Monday, President Donald Trump suggested 'rogue killers' may be responsible for whatever happened to the missing journalist. Trump told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Florida that he spoke by phone with Saudi Arabia's King and that 'the King firmly denied any knowledge' of the disappearance. On Monday, President Donald Trump suggested 'rogue killers' may be responsible for whatever happened to the missing journalist The president said he did not 'want to get' into King Salman's mind, but said: 'It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers.' He added: 'We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial.' Trump had earlier tweeted to say that he had spoken with Salman and that he was sending US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to Riyadh. He has taken a cautious position since Khashoggi's disappearance, threatening 'severe punishment' should proof emerge to back claims that Saudi agents killed Khashoggi and disposed of his body. However, he has repeatedly made clear that he will not risk billions of dollars in deals to sell weapons to the kingdom, which is a strategic ally in the tinder box Middle East. Meanwhile, Turkey's foreign ministry has said the consulate at the center of the mystery was due to be examined by Saudi and Turkish officials. Britain, France and Germany released a rare joint statement saying they were treating Khashoggi's disappearance 'with the utmost seriousness' and calling for a 'credible investigation'. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: A cleaner who claimed he was a cook for the Triads before being poached by the Mafia savagely raped a vulnerable teenage girl under state care. Rodney James Smith, 40, of Traralgon, forced himself on the terrified 13-year old after she returned to her Kyabram home drunk sometime between 2009 and 2010. 'I want to f**k you,' he told the girl before climbing on top of her. Rodney James Smith, 40, of Traralgon, was brought to justice seven years after raping a girl Smith had been living across the street from the state-controlled home, in Victoria's north, which had become a hangout for drunken teens. Smith was 33 when he joined a drunken party there and made his way up the stairs to a bedroom where his victim had gone to crash after a heavy night on the grog. 'The night can only get better,' he told his prey. But things were about to get much worse for her. 'Please don't do this,' the girl pleaded. 'You've got no idea how long I've like you for,' he replied. The County Court of Victoria heard Smith grabbed her face and bit her on the lips. He sexually assaulted the crying teenager, telling her she was a 'good girl' before raping her. 'See, it wasn't that hard was it,' he said before leaving her in the bed. The creep thought he had got away with his crime until police came knocking about seven years later. He pleaded guilty to a charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16, which carries a maximum jail term of 10 years. The now adult victim faced down Smith in court to deliver her impact statement in person. She spoke of a life riddled with self-harm, denial and hardship. Judge Lisa Hannan was scathing of Smith, who had previous convictions for dishonesty and aggravated cruelty to an animal. 'This was disgraceful exploitation of a girl that was 13 or 14 years old,' she said. 'She was intoxicated, she was crying and you did not use a condom.' The County Court of Victoria where Judge Lisa Hannan sentenced Smith for his attack Smith told a psychiatrist that he hated women and had worked for the Triads crime gang as a cook before being 'sussed out' by the Mafia. He claimed he was a 'made man', the doctor said, but in reality Smith was a simple cleaner working in a Queensland bar. Judge Hannan sentenced Smith to two-years and nine months in jail with a non-parole period of 18-months. 'The court and the community cannot and will not tolerate offending which so seriously damages the lives of our children,' she said. 'The sentence must manifest the community's denunciation of your conduct and impose just punishment.' President Donald Trump is doubling down on the midterm election, going on a campaign blitz and bragging about the size of the crowds coming out to see him as the 2018 election becomes a referendum on his presidency. 'The crowds at my Rallies are far bigger than they have ever been before, including the 2016 election. Never an empty seat in these large venues, many thousands of people watching screens outside. Enthusiasm & Spirit is through the roof. SOMETHING BIG IS HAPPENING - WATCH!,' he tweeted on Monday morning. The results of the first midterm after a new president takes office is usually seen as the voters' judgement of the occupant of the Oval Office. And the question for Republicans is how much control they will retain on Capitol Hill when all is said and done in November. President Trump at a campaign rally last week in Lebanon, Ohio Trump is bragging about campaign crowds as 2018 becomes a referendum on his presidency Trump at a campaign rally in Southaven, Mississippi on Oct. 2. Trump is going all in, endorsing candidates on Twitter and hitting the campaign trail multiple times a week to rally his base to come to the polls on November 6. He has already done eight rallies this month and has three stops on his schedule this week: Thursday in Missoula, Mont.; Friday in Mesa, Ariz.; and on Saturday in Elko, Nev. All three states have crucial Senate races that Republicans need to win as they fight to hold on to control of the upper chamber. And while the president has gone all out on the campaign trail, pushing Republicans to vote, his focus has been in Republican red territory, where the friendly crowds eat up the red meat he throws at them. His comments are filled with jabs at Democrats such as at 'crazy' Maxine Waters, the California congresswoman, or arguing that Democrats want to bring crime into the country with their immigration policy. He also enjoys bragging about his time in the White House and his election night victory over Hillary Clinton. A crowd waits to get in President Trump's rally in Kentucky earlier this month Supporters wave signs at the Southaven, Mississippi rally earlier this month Trump is rallying the Republican base to get to the polls on election day 'Was that the most exciting evening of our lives?' Trump said last Wednesday at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. 'Was that the most exciting night? Was that the greatest?' The crowds respond with cheers and love. They chant the Trump favorites: 'Build that wall!' and 'Lock her up!' They wave signs in a range of colors - such as hot pink 'women for Trump,' red 'Build the wall,' and blue 'Make American Great Again.' Other popular logos include 'Drain the Swamp,' 'Keep America Great,' and 'Promises Kept.' And, of course, they wear the red 'Make American Great Again' hats. Trump's latest bragging rights come as Republicans look more and more like they're conceding the House of Representatives to the Democrats and focusing on holding the Senate as a congressional firewall. Republicans are spinning the possible loss as a 'green wave,' complaining they are being outspent by the Democrats. 'The GOP is now facing a green wave,' wrote Corry Bliss, who leads the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC tied to Speaker Paul Ryan that spends heavily in House races, in a memo obtained by the Associated Press. 'Democratic candidates are outspending Republican candidates in key races by $50 million.' Democrats are vowing to investigate Trump's tax returns and other financial matters should they retake the House with some on the left arguing for impeachment proceedings. Obtaining the president's tax returns would be "one of the first things we'd do" and the "easiest thing in the world," Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said during an interview last week with the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board. Pelosi would likely return to the speaker's chair in the aftermath of Democratic victory. Supporters reach for a 'Make American Great Again' hat thrown a them at an October 4 rally in Rochester, Minnesota Supporters wave signs at an April rally for Trump in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania The results of the first midterm after a new president takes office is usually seen as the voters' judgement of the occupant of the Oval Office A Republican-controlled Senate could act as a check against any actions taken by the House against the president. History shows it's common for the party of the president in power to lose seats on Capitol Hill in the first midterm election of their presidency. In 2010, the first midterm of Barack Obama's presidency, Democrats suffered massive losses. Republicans picked up a record 63 House seats to take control of the lower chamber and took six Senate seats, expanding their then-minority there. Obama called it a 'schallacking.' Veterans groups and Yale students are asking the VA to change its motto which is currently a quote from Abraham Lincoln The words of Abraham Lincoln are usually revered, but not so for some when it comes to the motto for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans groups and Yale Law School students are asking the VA to change its creed, saying it excludes women and ignores their contributions to the military. 'To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan,' the quote reads. The VA's mission is to fulfill a promise of America's 16th president - with his words service as the VA's motto for the past 59 years. Yale students and three advocacy groups - Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, NYC Veterans Alliance and Service Women's Action Network - petitioned the VA Friday to change the motto. A VA spokesman says Lincoln's words are a tribute to all veterans and the agency is now reviewing the petition. This comes amid mounting pressure to change the motto after female veterans asked for the change earlier this year and at the end of 2017. 'To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan,' Lincoln said in his second inaugural address Previoulsy in November, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America asked Virginia Secretary David Shulkin if he could change the motto. They claimed that Lincoln's quote was exclusionary to women service members and represented complications they faced in the VA's health system, according to Stars and Stripes. 'They're missing the point that women don't feel comfortable at the VA,' said IAVA Executive Director Allison Jaslow, a former U.S. Army captain who served in Iraq. 'We want to be respected and appreciated as much as male veterans are, and the motto is symbolic of overall challenges.' An altered version of the quote has been introduced, gradually, according to Kayla Williams the director of the VA Center for Women Veterans earlier this year. It reads: 'To care for those who shall have borne the battle and their families and survivors.' This would not be the first agency to change their motto to be more inclusive. In 2004, the Air Force Academy replaced its 'Bring Me Men' sign at its entrance with 'Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence in All We Do.' That same year the U.S. Naval Academy changed its school song to include gender-specific lyrics. West Point followed suit in 2008. A Russian agent accused of carrying out the Salisbury novichok attack previously worked as a wine waiter at a top restaurant, former friends have claimed. Last week, the assassin previously named as 'Alexander Petrov' was unmasked as Alexander Miskin, a GRU agent who has received a 'Hero of Russia' medal. Old colleagues say they worked alongside him at the 'Garcon Garcon' restaurant in St Petersburg while he was training to become a military doctor. Investigators at the website Bellingcat, who first exposed Mishkin, said he was born in a remote town in northern Russia but went on to study at the prestigious Kirov Military Medical Academy, St Petersburg. Former workers at the Garcon Garcon bistro said he did shifts serving wine and food at the eatery to support himself during his studies, Russian news site Dozhd TV reported. A photo said to show novichok suspect Alexander Mishkin working as a wine waiter in 2000. Former colleagues recognised him and alerted Russian TV channel Dozhd It comes after Alexander Mishkin was named as the suspect previous referred to as 'Petrov' One former colleague went on Facebook after Mishkin, still using the name Petrov, appeared Russia's RT channel and claimed he was just a tourist visiting Salisbury for the cathedral. The friend wrote: 'I remember in the Garcon Garcon, year 2000, [he] worked as a waiter... as far as I can remember, studying for a doctor.' Another woman posted underneath: 'Remembered! Sasha Mishkin!' Sasha is a Russian nickname for people called Alexander. This weekend, after Petrov was revealed to be Mishkin, the former colleague went back online to write: 'Indeed, Sasha Mishkin. Of course, it doesn't really matter, but it's still surprising.' Bellingcat said Mishkin started studying in St Petersburg 'no later than 2001', suggesting he could have been in the city at the time the other restaurant workers claim he was. Investigators claim the man pictured on CCTV from Salisbury is GRU agent Alexander Miskin Dozht TV, the channel which uncovered the picture, has previously been described as 'Russia's only independent television channel' by The Guardian. It was founded in 2010 by the businessman Aleksandr Vinokurov and Natalia Sindeeva. Last year, the channel announced a partnership with the BBC to aid the corporation's coverage from the country. The picture emerged after Russia's ambassador to the UK accused Britain of waging an 'aggressive anti-Russian campaign' which has left relations between the two countries at a 'very low level'. During a lengthy press conference at the embassy in London on Friday, Alexander Yakovenko dismissed his country's involvement in the Salisbury nerve agent incident. Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko claimed the men could well have been tourists Vladimir Putin described Skripal as a 'traitor' and a 'scumbag' but denies Russia was involved Mr Yakovenko insisted there was no reason to doubt the alleged assassin's claims they were innocent tourists on a visit to Salisbury when the attack on Mr Skripal took place. 'We have the official statement of these people and we do not have any reason not to trust them,' he said. He repeated Russian claims that Bellingcat was simply a tool of the 'British special services'. 'Bellingcat is not the media. This is the tool of the deep establishment to leak certain things,' he said. Keith Morgan, 61 (pictured) pretended to be one of the world's richest men with connections to Downing Street, the US Government and the Saudi Royal Family A 'fantasist' who convinced top investors Tom Cruise wanted to buy a 50million mansion from him despite living off benefits has been jailed for fraud. Keith Morgan, 61, pretended to be one of the world's richest men with connections to Downing Street, the US Government and the Saudi Royal Family. But the father-of-two was actually bankrupt and living off state handouts in a rented three-bedroom house in the Welsh valleys. A court heard he had 'just enough financial knowledge' to convince international financiers that he was the genuine article. His bizarre claims included having a 20 per cent stake in one of the most expensive real estates in Hollywood, having a team of ex-SAS bodyguards for round the clock protection and building a haven for Syrian refugees. Morgan of Pontypridd, Wales, was jailed for eight years after being convicted of fraud and two charges of money laundering. After his bank tipped off police that 1million had mysteriously landed in his account a warrant was issued for his arrest. The day after he failed to turn up in court he triggered an armed siege at the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff Bay. But father-of-two Mr Morgan (pictured arriving at court for sentencing in handcuffs) was actually bankrupt and living off state handouts in a rented three-bedroom house in the Welsh valleys He went there with a 12-inch hunting knife, which he was eventually convinced to put down after two and a half hours of threatening to slit his own throat. Morgan told investors he had a 20 per cent stake in one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Hollywood called The Vineyard, his trial heard. He said Top Gun star Cruise, 56, wanted to buy a property on the land but he turned him down because his profile wasn't high enough. Cardiff Crown Court heard he met with Lex Grensill, an economic advisor to former Prime Minister David Cameron, at London's Royal Horseguard's Hotel. He referred to him as 'his man in Downing Street' and only referred to him by the letter 'L'. He also posed as a humanitarian benefactor boasting he had his own' foundation', donating vast amounts of money to international causes. This is the house Keith Morgan was living in in Pontypridd, Wales, while claiming he was a millionaire businessman Whitehall Court, which houses the Royal Horseguards Hotel as well as the National Liberal Club Morgan set up a 200million deal with New York fund manager Wa'el Chehab claiming he had access to the money through a guaranteed loan from the HSBC bank, the jury was told. The court heard he persuaded Mr Chehab to advance him 1million to help set up three field hospitals for Syrian refugees. Prosecutor Tim Evans said: 'Mr Morgan is a confident, brash, and at times convincing, con man. A team of ex-SAS bodyguards and plans to start a mobile field hospital: Morgans wild claims Pictured: Keith Morgan, 61, of Wales Keith Morgan, 61, of Pontypridd, Wales, made a series of elaborate false claims about his wealth and connections to fraud people out of over 1million. His bizarre stories included: - Having a 20 per cent stake in The Vineyard, one of the world's most expensive real estates in Hollywood - Tom Cruise wanted to buy a 50million property on the land but he planned to turn him down for not being 'high profile enough - Needing 20million to set up three field hospitals for Syrian refugees - Knowing Lex Greensill, former economic advisor to David Cameron, who acted as Morgan's 'man in Downing Street' - Being a secret agent for the US Treasury Department - Having 24-hour protection from a team of ex-SAS bodyguards - Knowing members of the Saudi Royal family Advertisement 'He set out to create an image of as one of the world's most successful investment specialists, bragging about dealing in billions of pounds and dollars across continents and about his personal wealth' 'In fact, he was living in a rented house on state benefits. Among other things, Mr Morgan said he was the owner of the best piece of land in Hollywood, where he was going to build and sell $50million homes. 'He said he was in direct discussion with Tom Cruise to buy a house, but that he would probably turn Mr Cruise down, as he wanted. What he described as 'higher end people'. Mr Evans told how Morgan claimed to be involved in humanitarian aid work providing financing for various projects for people in war-torn parts of the world. He said: 'He asked Mr Wa-el Chehab for a short-term loan pounds was a short-term loan to kick-start a mobile field hospital agreement he was in the middle of negotiating. 'That is a wonderful aim, to provide shelter and assistance for refugees in need although the money of course had gone into his own personal account.' Morgan blew the money on a fleet of top-of-the-range Jaguar cars, two motorbikes and a 19,000 Ford Kuga car. But his bank became suspicious that 1million had suddenly arrived in his account and tipped off police in case it was laundered money. The court heard Morgan spent almost 250,000 in just a few weeks, putting some of it in an offshore bank account. When he was arrested Morgan told police he could not answer some of their questions because he was a secret agent for the US Treasury Department. Judge Lloyd-Clarke told him: 'It is clear to me that you are a fantasist - you claimed to be one of the world's most wealthy men. 'You claimed to be someone sort of agent of the United States Treasury and that your were connected to someone in the Saudi Royal Family. 'In the fantasy world you created you told police you had a man in Downing Street. 'You have just enough knowledge of financial matters to be able to tell enormous lies.' Keith Morgan claimed to have links to film star Tom Cruise (pictured left) and former Prime Minister David Cameron (right) South Wales Police have recovered one of the Jaguars and almost 750,000 from Morgan's bank accounts. A Proceeds of Crime Hearing will be held next year. Police and lawyers in the case said Morgan's audacity was 'breathtaking'. Detective Constable Neil Richards, who led the South Wales Police investigation, said after the case: 'This was a long and complex case but which had a relatively simple concept a persuasive conman who managed to obtain, fraudulently, a huge sum of money which he then attempted to spend. 'We are pleased that the majority of the money has been recovered, although work will continue to attempt to get the remainder back as well. 'I want to pay tribute to colleagues in South Wales Police as well as the banks involved, and partners across the world, who have helped us pursue this investigation.' Hong Kong movie legend Chow Yun-fat says he plans to leave his entire fortune worth HKD5.6 billion (543 million) to charity, Chinese media has reported. The 63-year-old star of the Oscar-winning film 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' is known for leading a humble and frugal lifestyle, spending only HKD800 (78) a month. In fact, Chow is often spotted taking public transit and shopping at discount stores. The down-to-earth actor has also been using his first-generation Nokia phone for more than 17 years before upgrading to a smartphone two years ago, after his Nokia had stopped working. Hong Kong movie legend Chow Yun-fat (pictured) says he plans to leave his entire fortune worth HKD5.6 billion (543 million) to charity, Chinese media has reported The 63-year-old star of the Oscar-winning film 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' is known for leading a humble and frugal lifestyle, spending only 800HKD (78) a month 'The money doesn't really belong to me, I am only in charge of it temporarily,' he previously told reporters when he first revealed the plans for his fortune. News of his philanthropic plans resurfaced this week after he was spotted in Taiwan promoting his new film, Project Gutenberg, released on October 4. The award-winning actor was seen taking selfies with excited fans while taking the Taipei subway and jogging at Yangmingshan National Park, according to Oriental Daily. Chow and his wife, Jasmine Tan, have set up their own foundation years ago, according to an earlier interview with Apple Daily. The couple don't have any children. Chow and his wife, Jasmine Tan, have set up their own charity foundation years ago Chow was seen taking selfies with excited fans while jogging at a park in Taiwan last week Chow has won three Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor and two Golden Horse Awards 'My dream is to be a happy and ordinary person,' Chow said. 'The hardest thing to achieve in life is not fortune, but how to maintain a peaceful mindset and live the rest of your life in a simple and carefree manner.' Having been working in the film industry for more than 40 years, the superstar has amassed his huge fortune through appearing in blockbusters including A Better Tomorrow (1986), The Killer (1989), Hard Boiled (1992) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). He has won three Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor and two Golden Horse Awards for Best Actor. The Los Angeles Times one called him 'the coolest actor in the world'. This is the hilarious moment an elephant calf ticked a tourist on the backside when he tried to take a selfie with him. The video, filmed in Chiang Mai, Thailand, captured the young elephant as it rested against a stone wall with its front feet elevated. A man, who was visiting the city, then approached the baby elephant with his camera, holding it out as if to take a picture. A playful elephant calf ticked a tourist on the backside when he tried to take a selfie with him But the calf wasn't interested in being in a selfie, and instead jumped down from the wall with its head facing the ground. The tourist moved with him, bending down with his camera to take the picture from a different angle. But when he moved to touch the side of the elephant's head, the youngster lashed out, kicking the tourist on the backside with his back foot. The video, filmed in Chiang Mai, Thailand, captured the young elephant as it rested against a stone wall A group of onlookers laughed behind the camera as their friend jumped on the impact, moving away from the tiny elephant. But the mischievous mammal turned to follow the tourist as he backed away, only to be pushed back by the offending selfie-taker. Another of the group reached out gingerly to touch his tail as the video ended. Undercover police officers and armed members of the Pagans motorcycle club have been caught up in a wild Pittsburgh bar brawl that ended in multiple arrests. The fight broke out at Kopy's Bar on South 12th Street in the early hours of Friday morning after another bar patron outed the undercover officers as police. The officers were there to investigate a drug complaint when the brawl escalated. Bikers Frank Deluca, 36, Michael Zokaites, 38, Erik Hertzrater, 28, and Bruce Thomas, 61, were all arrested as a result of the fight. The fight between Pagans bikers and police broke out at Kopy's Bar in Pittsburgh in the early hours of Friday morning after another bar patron outed the undercover officers as detectives Deluca's mugshot showed him bruised and bloodied following the brawl. Footage of the ordeal showed undercover and uniformed officers brawling with the bikers as multiple punches were thrown. Frank Deluca, 36, was among the four men arrested following the wild bar brawl. They are charged with aggravated assault and riot Some officers were spotted holding tasers and pepper spray was used, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Post-Gazette. The footage from inside the bar showed an officer yelling: 'I'm a f**king cop' as he shoved one of the men to the ground. 'What the f**k is wrong with you. You're a f**king b**ch'. Roll over,' the officer screamed. Police said six men, some who were wearing Pagan vests, were sitting at the back of the bar when a patron gestured at the undercover officers and said: 'Those guys are cops'. One of the detectives walked over to the group and confirmed they were officers but they were 'not there to infringe on anyone's good time'. Police said two of the bikers then left the bar before the remaining four men approached the detectives at their table. Footage of the ordeal showed undercover and uniformed officers brawling with the bikers as multiple punches were thrown Police said they were at Kopy's Bar to investigate a drug complaint when the brawl escalated in the early hours of Friday moring The complaint said the conversation was cordial at first and the men all shook hands several times before one of the men, Deluca, started yelling and pushed one of the officers. Police say Zokaites then punched two of the officers in the face, which resulted in him being tackled to the ground. Deluca, who police say had a gun in his waistband, also allegedly started kicking and punching the officers. The four men were taken into custody using force, according to police. They said two guns and three large knives were recovered after the fight. Deluca, Zokaites, Hertzrater and Thomas are each are facing several charges, including aggravated assault and riot. Chinese workers are constructing a huge high-speed railway bridge over another high-speed railway bridge which remain open. To complete the challenging engineering feat, workers built two bridge sections at an angle and then swinging them into position. The two girders, each weighing 7,000 tonnes and measuring 128 metres (419 feet) long, rotated 19.5 degrees counter-clockwise simultaneously before connecting. Before: A high-speed train whizzes on Ningqi Railway before the two bridge sections connect After: The massive girders are linked above the Ningqi Railway after being swinging into place The enormous overpass on Lianyungang-Zhengjiang railway line was successfully joined last week. The impressive engineer feat was completed in 73 minutes last Thursday night, according to People's Daily Online. Yang Shibin, a supervisor of the construction project, explained the difficulties of the project to the newspaper. Mr Yang said the bridge was situated 'very close' to the elevated Ningqi Railway, and more than 60 trains whiz on it every day. The bridge is also less than half a metre away from high-voltage power lines. Moreover, the two sections form a slope on the bridge with an elevation of three metres (9.8 feet), which made the rotating project unprecedented in China. To ensure the success of the project, bridge builders worked with professors from multiple universities to calculate the most ideal rotating speed and angle. China has the world's longest high-speed rail network, expected to reach 18,641 miles in 2020. The bridge is a part of the Lianyungang-Zhengjiang railway line which links the Lianyungang city in Jiangsu province with the Zhenjiang city in Zhejiang province. The railway line in east China is 305.2 kilometres (190 miles) long and is expected to complete next September. It will support high-speed trains with an average operating speed of 250 kilometres per hour (155 miles per hour). China has the world's longest high-speed rail network with more than 20,000 kilometres (12,427 miles) of track. The country expects the network to grow to 30,000 kilometres (18,641 miles) by 2020, according to Xinhua News Agency. Beijing has also been planning to build the world's longest undersea railway tunnel to link the mainland and Taiwan. It was reported in August that scientists were close to confirming the tunnel's design. A bestselling American author cancelled her talk at the prestigious Frankfurt book fair in Germany because she was left feeling unsafe after being harassed and verbally abused by a group of men at her hotel bar there. Anna Todd, whose fan fiction on the Wattpadd website turned into a bestselling book series, had been set to speak at the annual book lovers' extravaganza on Saturday. But the 29-year-old cancelled her talk set to be one of the biggest of the fair after an incident at a bar at the Marriott hotel on Friday night left her feeling unsafe. In a series of tweets, Todd said the unidentified men 'harassed us for hours' and 'called us sad, stupid women who they don't want to f***!' Scroll down for video An American author cancelled her talk at the Frankfurt book fair after she says she was harassed and verbally abused by a group of men at her hotel. She also posted a video showing part of the incident, which she said she was made to delete by police. She later posted another clip that didn't identify the men, only showing their legs and feet, adding it was 'funny' that the men who harassed her were more protected than she was. Todd told the German-language publication Bild that she and a group of women literary agents, managers and others had met in the bar of the Marriot hotel when the group of men came in and approached them. She told the newspaper that they asked the group politely to go, but they started hurling insults at them. Todd said the men called them 'stupid American women,' told them to 'shoot some more people' and 'nobody wants you' among other insults. 'The men literally harassed us for hours and were kicked out of the bar but came back,' she wrote on Twitter. She also posted a video showing part of the incident, which she said she was made to delete by police. She later posted another clip that didn't identify the men 'When I asked the @Marriott manager what he would have done if they physically assaulted us- he told me he would talk to the police twice.' She added: 'So I'm so sorry if I don't sign at Frankfurt but if these men aren't identified and removed from the book fair - I can't consciously sign at this fair. 'They called us sad, stupid women who they don't want to f***!' In another tweet, Todd added that the men weren't German. In a series of tweets, Todd said the unidentified men 'harassed us for hours' and 'called us sad, stupid women who they don't want to f***!' She added: 'I LOVE Germany and my German readers- and I will 1000% come back and sign for you but I can't sign at #fbm18 if these men aren't removed.' Her German publishers Heyne Verlag said she feared the same men might attend her event and she 'no longer felt safe.' It came during a year when the #MeToo movement was a dominant theme at the fair. Police are looking for two gang members who allegedly stabbed a Queens teenager in August. The NYPDs 103rd Precinct recently tweeted photos of two known gang members Dani Cruz, 25, and Maxwell Martinez, 24, in the hope that someone will recognize the men. They are part of the MS-13 gang, which was started by Central American immigrants and has been responsible for dozens of heinous and brutal killings across the US. Police issued pictures of Maxwell Martinez, 24, (left) and Dani Cruz, 25, (right) to find them Police said Cruz and Martinez were involved in a stabbing incident on Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue near the Long Island Railroad tracks in Jamaica on August 31. The 17-year-old male victim was knifed in the chest back in August. The public are warned to be vigilant as both men are 'considered armed and dangerous'. The teen survived the attack and was taken to Jamaica Hospital in stable condition. Police did not say what the motive was or why he was targeted. Parts of Long Island and Queens have been ravaged by violence at the hands of MS-13 gang members in recent years. In August, four alleged MS-13 members were arrested after they attempted to kill a 16-year-old boy in Queens. The area between Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue where the stabbing occurred The teen survived the shooting, but was left paralyzed, the New York Post reported. Kayla Cuevas, 16, was bludgeoned to death with her friend Nisa Mickens, 15, in 2016 allegedly by MS-13 gang members. Kayla's mom, Evelyn Rodriguez, became an anti-gang activist after her daughters murder and was a guest at President Trumps State of the Union address earlier this year. Evelyn died in September after being struck by an SUV just before a memorial service for her daughters death. In August, an MS-13 member pleaded guilty to his role in the 2017 murder of four young men he thought were rivals in a Long Island park. Josue Portillo killed Justin Llivicura, 16, Michael Lopez, 20, Jorge Tigre, 18, and Jefferson Villalobos, 18, with two female associates at a community park in Central Islip in April 2017, The New York Times reported. They used machetes, knives and wooden clubs. A fifth intended victim escaped. Since 2010, Brooklyn federal prosecutors have charged MS-13 members with carrying out more than 45 murders in the New York area. The gang, which is responsible for dozens of gruesome deaths throughout the US, was designated a 'priority' last year by the Department of Justices Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Prosecutors are able to pursue any legal avenue to target MS-13, according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Kayla Cuevas, 16, (left) was bludgeoned to death with friend Nisa Mickens, 15, (right) in 2016 Evelyn Rodriguez began campaigning against anti-gang violence after her daughters murder MS-13s motto is 'mata, viola, controla' which means 'kill, rape, control,' Robert Hur, an official with the Justice Department told Fox News. Gang members perpetuate a number of various criminal acts, according to the FBI. It said most of the crimes are carried out against members of rival gangs, but 'often' innocent people are hurt as well. MS-13 recruits are middle- and high-school students, predominantly in immigrant communities, who are said to risk violent retribution if they leave. Authorities estimate the group has tens of thousands of members across several Central American countries and many U.S. states. MS-13's presence is higher in the western and northeastern parts of the U.S., according to the FBI. President Trump called on Congress to 'finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 members' into the U.S. during his first State of the Union address. He also acknowledged parents of MS-13 victims some of whom were guests of the White House for the speech and said the country 'is praying for you'. Thomas Markle is desperate to be a part of his grandchild's life as he said his estranged daughter would 'make a great mom'. Mr Markle is reportedly delighted at the news his daughter the Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry are expecting their first child, and hopes to be able to play a role as a proud grandfather. The 74-year-old was pictured shopping in America as members of the royal family including the Queen were told the happy news at Princess Eugenie's wedding last week. Grandfather-to-be Thomas Markle was spotted shopping alone for groceries in California on Friday as Meghan and Harry were breaking news of their pregnancy to the Royal Family Insiders have said Prince Harry is 'happier than he has ever been' as he and Meghan prepare to become parents next Spring The Duke and Duchess of Sussex walk in the grounds of Admiralty House in Sydney on the first day of their visit to Australia The announcement by Kensington Palace revealed Meghan's mother Doria Ragland was 'very happy' about her daughter's pregnancy, but Thomas was not mentioned. A source told The Sun: 'Thomas is absolutely delighted. He heard the news before it was made public and was overjoyed. He thinks Meghan will make a great mum as she is already so maternal.' The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently on marathon 16-day Commonwealth trip taking in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Meghan and Harry sparked a whirlwind by announcing they are having their first child just hours after touching down in Sydney. Meghan is believed to have not spoken to her father since before her wedding in May after he backed out at the last minute due to ill health. Thomas was pictured buying beers, pot pies and firewood from the grocery store in San Ysidro, California The Duchess of Sussex's mother, pictured today, has said she 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild' Her half-sister Samantha, meanwhile, was pictured yesterday buying a congratulatory card for the couple. She told The Sun she hoped the baby would bring the family closer together. She said: 'I would hope that for the sake of the baby, the family, the world and my dad that leaving him out of the statement was not intentional. 'I hope my dad is included and at a proper time. If he is excluded, I won't be happy. It is in the best interests of the baby for my dad to be included. 'A baby changes everything and softens everyone. I would only hope that there would be some adjustment or some way of including him.' Meghan is seen resting her head on Prince Harry's shoulder as the meet and greet came to an end on Tuesday afternoon The royal couple are pictured coming down the steps of the iconic Sydney Opera House to speak with fans waiting outside The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed the news of their pregnancy just days after telling the Queen at Princess Eugenie's wedding (above) As his daughter was set to get married in May, Mr Markle was caught posing for staged paparazzi photographs. He went on to sell his story to the press, appearing on Good Morning Britain to reveal how Meghan, whom he calls by the nickname Bean, cried when he said he could not attend her big day. He also indiscreetly shared conversations he had with Harry about Donald Trump and Brexit, and said he expected Harry and Meghan to have children soon. Mr Markle, who has yet to meet Harry face to face, gave other interviews in which he complained Meghan had cut him off and not contacted him since the wedding. He declared how it might be easier for his daughter if he died, and said he put the phone down on Harry after a heated discussion about the press. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Findlay Blue , four, and Dasha Gallagher, six, after they officially opened the Taronga Institute of Science and Learning at Taronga Zoo in Sydney today The grandfather-to-be was spotted buying chicken pot pies and beers in the California supermarket Meghan's mother, meanwhile, released a statement expressing her joy about the news she is set to become a grandmother for the first time. Doria Ragland said she was 'very happy about this lovely news' and 'looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild'. Last month, Ms Ragland was spotted taking baby-care classes in her hometown of Pasadena, California. There is a possibility she could move to London to help look after the child because Meghan may not want to hire a nanny. Meghan, who wed Harry just five months ago, has had her 12 week scan and is believed to be due in late April. Kensington Palace declined to comment on whether Meghan's father was told. Thomas was spotted out and about buying groceries during which time the former Hollywood lighting director denied reports that he dabbled with using cocaine as he brought Meghan up. 'Never happened, no comment,' Thomas said when asked about the drug use reports. Doria Ragland, pictured with her daughter in May, said she was 'very happy about this lovely news' The 74-year-old loaded firewood into his shopping cart on Friday during his shopping trip across the US-Mexico border The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were greeted by huge crowds desperate to see them and congratulate them about their baby, who will be seventh in line to the throne and is due in late April next year. Today - the first full day of their tour - culminated in a Sydney reception at the grand Admiralty House overlooking the city's opera house where Meghan said she and her husband are 'excited' about becoming parents. The pair stepped out for their first official engagements in Sydney - less than 24 hours after arriving in Australia and revealing their baby news. First at Admiralty House they were given Ugg boots and a stuffed kangaroo with a joey in the pouch for Baby Sussex from Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and Meghan declared: 'Our first baby gift'. They then met Findlay Blue, four, and Dasha Gallagher, six, after they officially opened the Taronga Institute of Science and Learning at Taronga Zoo. The couple concluded the first day of their royal tour with a reception hosted by Australia's Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lady Cosgrove. Mr Balachandran will be flown back to Australia with four doctors over fears he will have a stroke A father who is due to be removed from the UK will fly with four doctors over of fears he may have a stroke on the plane. Sangarapillai Balachandran, an Australian citizen, has had three strokes in the last six years. The 60-year-old, who came to the UK in 2007, is to be deported to Australia with his wife, son and two daughters on Monday after his work visa expired. Mr Balachandran's family have said that four medics will join him on the 27-hour long flight to monitor his condition. And the family have been holed up in a hotel near Heathrow Airport since September awaiting to leave the country. In February, Mr Balachandran and his family took voluntary departure from the UK had to get off the flight due to him falling ill. His son Pranavan, 23, said: 'Once he got on the plane, we noticed that he wasn't responding to us like he normally would. 'He started sweating and we started to see the same symptoms that we saw before when he had his previous strokes. 'So we asked the airline attendant what we should do, and they came down and they asked him some questions, and then they told all of us to get off the flight.' It was the second time in three months that the family had agreed to go back to Australia. The 60-year-old is due to fly back with with his wife Shanthy (pictured left), son Pranavan (pictured top right) and daughters Karthika (pictured top centre) and Sinthuja (pictured bottom right) as the family is facing deportation from the UK In December 2017, the family did not make it as far as the airport after noticing their father's symptoms. The Home Office has said that Mr Balachandran has received an independent medical assessment and had been deemed fit to fly on Monday. The spokesman said: 'The Balachandran family have exhausted their leave to remain status in the UK and have agreed to return to Australia voluntarily.' Mr Balachandran first came to work in the UK from Australia as an engineer for a company in 2007. After his work permit visa expired in November 2012, he was subsequently granted a Tier 1 (Highly Skilled) Migrant visa valid until March 2013. After Mr Balachandran's work visa expired the family applied for indefinite leave to remain, which was initially denied by the Home Office in June 2013. The family then lost an appeal in April 2015 on the grounds that there was 'no reason why they should not go back to Australia' and the decision to remove them was upheld. The family have been living in a hotel near Heathrow Airport since September waiting until it is safe enough for Mr Balachandran to fly Mrs Balachandran's wife Shanthy, 53, and his daughters Karthika, 30, and Sinthuja, 28, are his son Pranavan are also Australian citizens and are all due to fly on Monday. But if Mr Balachandran has a stroke on the plane and is unable to leave the UK, they will be left with nowhere to live. Pranavan said: 'Right now we've come to the end of the line. If something happens on the flight and he needs to get off, we go homeless again. 'If we get on this flight, and say he does have a stroke, it's a 27-hour flight, they just can't get medical attention to him. 'And it's not like, say, a broken leg, which can be fixed. A stroke, you need medical attention in a hospital. 'That's why I don't understand why the Home Office is sending four medics. I don't even know what one can do, let alone four.' Eighth grade Arkansas teacher Chrystal Vega, 40, as been arrested for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old student An eighth grade Arkansas teacher has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old student. Married mother-of-two Chrystal Vega, 40, was charged on Friday with first-degree sexual assault, a class A felony. Vega admitted to police that she had a 'texting relationship' with the student, and that 'some of their texts had crossed the line'. The student came forward to police in September and claimed he had sex with Vega in a park. Surveillance footage showed Vega's car arriving and leaving Old Post Park in Russellville during the same time frame that the 16-year-old reported to police. The teacher admitted to investigators that she met with the teen at the park, but denied that they had sex, according to River Valley Now. Vega was a language arts teacher at Dardanelle Middle School but is no longer listed as an employee on the Dardanelle Public Schools website. The mother, who has two sons, has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a student from Dardanelle High School - which is in the same district. Video courtesy of KARK The student came forward to police in September and claimed he had sex with Vega in a park She turned herself into police on Monday after a bench warrant was issued for her arrest on Friday. Vega was released from the Pope County Detention Center after posting $7,500 bond. She could be sentenced anywhere from six to 30 years in prison and face a $15,000 fine if convicted. She is next scheduled to appear in court on December 10 for a plea arraignment hearing. A leading Democratic strategist pushed back Monday within hours of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's gambit to release the results of her DNA test with a plea for Democrats to 'stay focused' on 2018. Jim Messina, who helped President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, pushed back after Warren released a video on her web site and the results of genetic testing that proves some amount of Native American ancestry though the amount could 1.6 per cent or lower. The move immediately stoked further speculation about Warren's potential as a 2020 presidential candidate, brought back video of President Donald Trump's 'Pocahontas' attacks on her and took the spotlight away from Democrats vying to take back Congress. Sen. Elizabeth Warren posted a video and results of a genetic test she said proves she has Native American heritage 'Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did @SenWarren have to do her announcement now?' asked Messina in a tweet. 'Why cant Dems ever stay focused???' he vented. In addition to steering Obama's steady and successful reelect, Messina served as the president's deputy chief of staff and in senior positions in the Senate before putting out a shingle as the head of a global consulting firm. 'Why cant Dems ever stay focused???' vented former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, pointing to Warren's October effort Messina blasted Warren's decision within hours of her PR push As the former campaign manager for President Barack Obama, Messina's view carried additional weight The pushback comes after some GOP Senate candidates saw polls tilt in their direction amid a furious fight over confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Trump since then has undertaken a strategy of soaking up political oxygen with a slew of extended TV interviews, call-ins, and rallies. Marsha Blackburn has opened up a strong lead over Phil Bredesen in Tennessee, endangered Republican Sen. Dean Heller is up seven points over his Democratic opponent in Nevada a poll released Monday, and Rep. Beto O'Rourke was down eight points against Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, even while pulling in huge campaign contributions from around the country. Neither Messina nor Obama's office immediately responded to requests for comment Monday. President Donald Trump has taken unusual pleasure in mocking Warren, who has claimed for decades that she's part American Indian based partly on her mother's observation of her 'high cheekbones'; on Monday he sniped 'Who cares?' when asked about the DNA test results Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren could be punching her ticket to the 2020 presidential sweepstakes with a report that confirms she has a small amount of American Indian heritage Warren released a heavily produced video Monday along with a raft of related documents, strongly indicating she plans to run for president in 2020 and that she considers herself vulnerable to President Trump's frequent barbs on the topic. Carlos D. Bustamante, the scientist who analyzed Warren's DNA, concluded that 'the vast majority' of her ancestry is European. But 'the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor,' he wrote. That forefather or foremother could have been between six and 10 generations ago, meaning she could be as much as 1/64 Native American, or as little as 1/1024. The lower end of that range corresponds to 0.097 per cent, which would make Warren less Indian than the average European-American. Warren's move predictably provoked pushback from Trump at the White House on Monday, feeding the instant media excitement. 'I hope she's running for president because I think she'd be very easy. I hope that she is running. I do not think she'd be difficult at all,' Trump said. 'She'll destroy the country. She'll make our country into Venezuela. What that being said, I don't want to say bad things about her because I hope she would be one of the people that would get through the process. It's going to be a long process for the Democrats.' Although Warren may prove formidable in a Democratic primary, the party at present is focused on a few dozen swing districts, including many in suburban areas, where Trump is unpopular. In other races, such as Sen. Heidi Heitkamp's reelection race in North Dakota, candidates are anxious to stress local issues, while it is the national GOP that on Monday sent out email blasts about Warren and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who could become speaker in a Democratic House. Fists-flying, this is the moment a top London night erupted into a huge bar-room brawl. The London Late Club, which describes itself as the jewel in the capitals night-life, descended into mass violence on Saturday night, as members of two rival gangs attacked each other. Smartly-dressed revelers at the club, in the heart of Londons West End, were drenched with water and alcohol after an ice-bucket was thrown into the crowd and bottles sailed through the air. One terrified young woman, dressed in a cocktail dress, can be seen running out of the club, which is located Leicester Square. The brawl took place at the exclusive London Late Club in Mayfair and involved dozens of partygoers Other bystanders could only watch in horror as their evening-out turned into a nightmare. Security staff, wearing high-visibility vests, appeared unable to stop the fighting, which erupted at about 2.45 on Sunday morning. It was mad, an eye-witness told MailOnline. There were these two guys having a bit of a scuffle and then it all kicked off. All of a sudden two groups of blokes got up and started fighting. There were fists flying, bottles flying, kicking, punching, they were really going for it. The security staff did their best but they couldnt do anything to stop it. They had to turn off the music and turn on the lights to get them to stop. Security staff in hi-vis jackets seemed unable to break up the scrap which reportedly involved two rival gangs Dramatic footage captured by a bystander showed bottles of water and ice buckets being thrown as weapons during the fight Marketed as the ultimate West End hot-spot the London Late Club is the latest name for the basement venue located between a pub and a cinema in Leicester Square. The strict dress code requiring collared shirts and shoes for men and evening dress for women did nothing to stop the violence. However, London Lates manager today tried to play down the violence, insisting no one was seriously injured and the club was still open. We are still trading, it wasnt that bad, the manager, who declined to be named, told MailOnline. Yes there was some fighting but none of the customers got seriously hurt. A few clients got punched but we dealt with it. One of the security staff had an injury to his ear and had to go to A&E but apart from that everyone was fine. The manager of the club played down the violence on Monday claiming no-one was hurt by the fighting It was nothing major. There were no weapons. Fighting happens. Police were not call to the incident. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: We were not alerted to a fight there on Satuday night. The 300-capacity club, which opened under its new name just months ago, plays a variety of commercial music including pop, house and RnB. Customers can sit in booths around the dance floor or book VIP tables where they can be served champagne and cocktails. The club states: We are committed to making our customers enjoy their night to the fullest, giving them the night and qualified service they deserve. Megyn Kelly is once again standing up to her critics by speaking out in a new interview, this time with New York magazine. The Today host is featured in the magazine's Women and Power issue, where she talks little about her current NBC gig and instead focuses on her time at Fox News. Kelly specifically talks about the spaghetti-strap dress she wore to the Republican National Convention back in 2016, saying she was well aware of how she looked on camera and declaring: 'I put on the most feminine thing I had, and I rocked the coverage.' The look confused many viewers, who only seeing Kelly from the chest up noted that she looked to be wearing a bathing suit or negligee on the penultimate night of the convention. In the interview, Kelly also speaks about the ousting of Roger Ailes at Fox News, and by her own account reveals that while Carlson's lawsuit may have been the powder keg that took down the disgraced executive, she was the one who lit the match. Scroll down for video Hot in Cleveland: Megyn Kelly is interviewed by New York magazine for its annual Women and Power issue, and reveals why she wore a spaghetti-strap dress at the RNC (Kelly above at the 2016 RNC) Bearing arms: 'That dress telegraphed a lot. Heres Donald Trump, accepting the nomination after how many months of trying to bully me, calling me a bimbo,' said Kelly (above at the RNC) Feud: 'Just because Im blonde and I have my sexy dress on doesnt make me a bimbo. It doesnt mean I need to go along with people who think only loyalty matters,' said Kelly (Trump above at the 2016 RNC) 'Fashion and bolder fashion choices can be empowering. The biggest example of that for me was the spaghetti-strap dress at the Republican National Convention in 2016,' explained Kelly. 'That dress telegraphed a lot. Heres Donald Trump, accepting the Republican nomination after how many months of trying to bully me, calling me a bimbo.' Kelly said she was proud of her look and her coverage on the night in question, recounting the evening in a tone of victory. 'I asked all my normal questions, which are always probing and often merciless, in my sexy dress,' noted Kelly. 'For me, it was a double-barrel moment of I can do it all. Just because Im blonde and I have my sexy dress on doesnt make me a bimbo. It doesnt mean I need to go along with people who think only loyalty matters.' At the time, social media platforms were full of critical comments about the ensemble. '@FoxNews Still hard to take your coverage seriously when @megynkelly looks like she's working for an escort agency,' tweeted Susan MacLaren. 'What is she wearing? Not appropriate. Would appreciate a more professional outfit for the air. It's not about you tonight #MegynKelly,' wrote a Twitter user named Cydney. Get it done: Kelly also stated that she ordered that an investigation be launched into Roger Ailes (left in 2005) after Gretchen Carlson (right in 2017) filed her lawsuit against the CEO and Fox News Bad move: 'Once I learned that they were not going to hire outside counsel, I said, "I have a story to tell you, and you do need to do a real investigation,'" Kelly told Murdoch (Rupert and Lachlan above in July 2016 on the day Ailes was ousted from the network) She also pointed out her belief that much of the negative coverage she received about the dress was the result of her being recently outed as an alleged victim of Ailes sexual misconduct. 'Many people were very angry at me that I wasnt backing Ailes,' said Kelly. 'Finally it comes out, not only is she not backing him, shes one of the people complaining against him. Raising a hand against him.' How she raised that hand is also revealed in the interview, with Kelly discussing her decision to speak with one of the Murdochs about her concerns. 'That is the reason I went to Lachlan Murdoch when the Gretchen Carlson complaint was filed,' explained Kelly. 'Once I learned that they were not going to hire outside counsel, I said, "I have a story to tell you, and you do need to do a real investigation because it is a possibility that he is what she says I dont know but this is the time you need to figure it out."' That investigation uncovered multiple victims, and led to the termination of Ailes. In a surprising aside, Kelly goes on to declare how well she would have done at the company if Ailes had remained in power. 'Roger and I got along just fine. He loved me,' stated Kelly. 'I would have had a long and profitable career had Roger stayed at the helm, but it would have been the wrong thing to do once confronted with the allegations that I read in the paper. Not just Gretchens but the ones that came in the days thereafter.' A four-year-old boy was killed outside his family's home in Georgia when officials say his father accidentally backed up his pickup truck over the child. Lamar County Sheriffs deputies and paramedics responded to a home on Shady Brooke Lane near Barnesville on Sunday afternoon after getting a 911 call about a vehicular accident involving a child. According to the local authorities, a 36-year-old man was backing up in his Toyota pickup truck when his four-year-old son darted into the path of the vehicle and was run over. Deputies in Lamar County, Georgia, says a father on Sunday accidentally backed up his pickup truck over his four-year-old son, killing him It does not appears alcohol played a role in the accident, reported WSB Radio. Georgia State Troopers, who are investigating the incident, have not said whether or not the father will face criminal charges in connection to the toddler's death. Barnesville a community of 6,700 is located 65 miles south of downtown Atlanta. A mother-of-four who was left paralysed after falling from a super-king size bed during sex has launched a legal battle for 1million compensation. Claire Busby, 46, suffered catastrophic spinal injuries when she fell backwards from her recently delivered double-divan in August 2013. Successful business woman Mrs Busby from Maidenhead said she was in bed naked with her then partner when the bizarre tragedy unfolded. Mrs Busby, who was left tetraplegic and appeared in court in a wheelchair, claims the bed was missing two vital 'glider' feet when delivered, which created a 4cm difference in the height from one side to another. Mrs Busby, who ran a chain of hairdressing and beauty salons is suing Berkshire Bed Company Ltd - trading as Beds Are Uzzz - claiming the bed was 'defective'. The salon owner said she was 'performing a sexual act' when she toppled over. 'I was positioned kneeling over him,' she explained, to Judge Barry Cotter QC. 'I was kneeling over him and my right hand was touching him, maybe my left hand was touching his leg. I was half way down the bed.' Claire Busby, 46, (left), of Maidenhead, Berkshire, outside the High Court in London, where she is suing Berkshire Bed Company The claimant said the 'missing gliders' caused a 'slope from head to foot' which caused her to lose balance as she changed position and she 'catapulted' to the floor. At the time she was attempting to 'swing her legs towards the top of the bed', she told the High Court. 'I span around and put my hand down and then I felt as if I was catapulted off the back of the bed,' she said. 'My head hit the floor and I fell to the side and heard a spring in my body snap.' Her QC, Winston Hunter, said two missing 'gliders' created a hazardous height difference between the bottom end of the left and right divans. 'At its maximum this difference would be 40mm,' he told the judge. This had the effect of creating 'an enhanced, albeit localised, slope at the edge of the mattress', the barrister argued. The bed company denies all blame for the accident, its barrister, Neil Block QC, insisting: 'All gliders were fitted to the bed at the time of the assembly.' But Mr Hunter told the judge: 'Mrs Busby denies this, and this is a central factual issue in the case.' Explaining the dynamics of the accident, he went on: 'She had been performing a sex act and, thereafter, she sat up with the intention of swinging her legs forward underneath her - and lying on her back with feet towards the headboard and her head towards the end of the bed. 'Her case is that, having taken the weight off her body through her buttocks, she lay back with the expectation that the mattress would support the weight of her upper torso and her head and shoulders. 'However, as she placed her weight through her upper body onto the mattress it failed to support her weight, and she continued moving backwards and downwards. Successful salon owner Mrs Busby, 46, was injured during a freak accident in 2016 'The effect of this movement was that her head and upper torso came off the edge of the bed, and she slid to the floor with the weight of her body and legs rotating into a vertical position and forcing the weight of the same through her neck.' At the time of her accident Mrs Busby was in the middle of refurbishing her home after she split from her husband, the court heard. She had ordered five beds in total - three singles and the deluxe super king size bed from which she fell. The key issue in the case is whether the bed was delivered in a defective state - as Mrs Busby claims - and, if so, whether this caused her injuries. Beds are Uzzz is a family run business which operates six stores in the South West of England, according to its website. The High Court hearing continues. An investigation has found that Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthys brother-in-law secured more than $7million in no-bid, federal contracts for government properties while making dubious claims of having Native American ancestry. The Los Angeles Times said in a new investigative report that Vortex Construction, co-owned by William Wages the brother of McCarthy's wife, Judy received $7.6million in no-bid and other lucrative government properties since 2000, after it applied for the Small Business Administration's program for minority contractors in 1998. To apply for the program, Wages claimed a Cherokee background, despite being listed as white on his birth certificate. A new report reveals that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (left) brother-in-law, William Wages (right), claimed Cherokee heritage to apply for a government minority business owner program, resulting in $7.6million in no-bid contracts Wages became a card-holding member of the Northern Cherokee Nation after it decreed he was one-eighth Cherokee. Legally-recognized Cherokee tribal leaders say the Northern Cherokee Nation is a fraud and doubt Wages' claims as his family is listed 'white' on the census Vortex Construction is based in Bakersfield, California. Wages co-owns it with his mother. Judy McCarthy was once a partner in the company, but no longer has ties to it. The majority of the notable construction contracts awarded to Vortex were said to be construction jobs at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and nearby Naval Air Station Lemoore. In applying for the minority contractors program, Wages, 55, claimed that he is one-eighth Cherokee Indian and provided paperwork proving that he is a member of the Northern Cherokee Nation. Unlike other Cherokee tribes, however, the Northern Cherokee Nation is not recognized as a legitimate tribe at either the federal or state level and is apparently thought to be a fraud by recognized Cherokee tribal leaders. A leading Cherokee genealogist who examined government and tribal records at the LA Times' behest has doubts about Wages' claims of Cherokee heritage. Wages' father, Harvey Wages, said that the family has long thought it had Cherokee ancestors back in Arkansas, including his now-deceased grandmother, who he said might've been passing as white to avoid discrimination, as both she and her parents are listed as being white in census records. At the time when the SBA approved Wages' application, it did not require membership in a recognize tribe, but it did require that applicants 'demonstrate that he or she has held himself or herself out, and is currently identified by others,' as Native American. The majority of the notable construction contracts awarded to Vortex Construction were said to be jobs at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and Naval Air Station Lemoore (shown) Vortex received $4million in contracts at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (shown), which is in McCarthy's congressional district McCarthy (with wife, Judy) has denied funneling work toward Vortex, discussing Wages' Native American status or helping him apply for the SBA program Both Wages and his father are literal card-holding members of the Northern Cherokee Nation. Once the SBA approved Wages' application, though, he became eligible for no-bid government contracts aimed at helping funnel work towards economically and socially-disadvantaged minority business owners. Added up, Vortex received in excess of $4million in contracts at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake alone, a fact that is now raising eyebrows since McCarthy is said to be a major advocate of directing Congressional funding and staffing towards the military facility which is located in his congressional district. Although the LA Times did not find any evidence suggestion that McCarthy had tried to steer the lucrative government contracts towards Vortex Construction, government ethics experts question the coincidence that Vortex received so much work within and around McCarthy's district and also believe it's necessary to reexamine Wages' claimed Cherokee roots. Both Wages and McCarthy, however, told the newspaper that they never discussed with each other Vortex's work. McCarthy said that he did not set aside any contracts for Wages, discuss his Northern Cherokee Nation membership or help him qualify for the SBA minority program. Similarly, Wages said that he stopped discussing government contracts with McCarthy in 1995, presciently thinking to avoid accusations of impropriety, because he knew even back then that McCarthy was a rising political star. He also avoided talking about his Cherokee background. Wages told the LA Times that anyone who said that Vortex Construction made money due to his familial ties to McCarthy 'is a liar.' Still, ethics watchdogs have alerted the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate the possibility that McCarthy might've had any influence on the contracts awarded to his brother-in-law and whether he knew about Wages' minority contracting program participation. 'There is a direct and symbiotic connection between who McCarthy is and what he does and what his brother-in-law does,' Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson told the LA Times. Levinson, a former member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, said that McCarthy's congressional district 'should never have happened at all' since Wages' federal contract work is significant to McCarthy's wife's family. Vortex Construction is said to have aged out of the SBA's minority contractor program in 2007. Meghan Markle is officially pregnant with another heir to the British throne. The Duchess of Sussex and her husband, Prince Harry, confirmed the exciting news in a statement from Kensington Palace on Monday, October 15. Now that Meghan, 37, is pregnant, shell have a whole slew of new Royal protocols and traditions to follow. The monarchy has established guidelines to almost every aspect of pregnancy, including when the news is shared with the public, where the birth takes place, whos the first to learn of the babys arrival and even what the childs named. Now that Meghan Markle is pregnant, she'll have to follow Royal protocol that dictates where she gives birth, who learns of her child's arrival first and more Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they're expecting a child together on Monday What are the rules and traditions Meghan Markle will have to follow now that shes with child? Check it out. Royal pregnancies are announced about 12-weeks in Traditionally, Royal women announce their pregnancies about 12-weeks in. Kate Middleton went public about her third child a bit earlier due to severe morning sickness, according to PopSugar. This could explain why Meghan didnt appear to have much of a baby bump when she and Prince Harry announced the impending arrival of their first child. There wont be a baby shower Unlike regular women, Royals dont have baby showers. According to a 2013 ABC News interview with Victoria Arbiter, this is because theres nothing they cant go out and buy themselves. She added that a lavish baby shower would be seen as highly inappropriate because members of the Royal family are very wealthy. Should a pregnant member of the Royal family receive a gift, theyre expected to respectfully return it to whomever gifted it. Meghan probably wont find out the gender of her baby While this isnt practiced so widely anymore, there was a time when it wasnt uncommon for Royals not to find out the gender of their baby. Prince William and Kate reportedly didnt find out what their third child was until he arrived. Even if Meghan and Prince Harry do decide to learn what they're having ahead of the child's birth, that information will be kept from the public. Meghan probably won't do much overseas traveling For the most part, pregnant Royals are discouraged from traveling internationally until the birth of their child, according to Metro UK. Meghan is currently with her husband in Sydney, Australia and is headed to Tonga and Fiji in the coming days. Although there is a risk of contracting Zika in Tonga and Fiji, the couple confirmed that they consulted a doctor and were cleared for the trip. They did, however, alter their plans a little so that Meghan could avoid higher risk situations. Prince Harry will get paternity leave After Prince Harry and Meghan Markles first child is born, the 34-year-old will take a leave of absence from his Royal duties and other work. The leave is unpaid, however. Meghan will go on a lengthy maternity leave Expectant Royals get a long maternity leave period during which theyre not required to attend any events. This period typically begins before their due date and ends after a few months. Kate began her maternity leave in late March, just before Prince Louis was born in April. Her time off ended in October, five full months after her third childs birth. Meghan will likely take a similar break from Royal duties. Home births were once the Royal standard There was a time when all Royal women were expected to give birth in their homes. That time has come and gone, however. Princess Diana delivered both her children at the Lindo Wing at St Marys hospital in London, as did Kate. Meghan will likely follow suit, though home birth is still an option. Midwives are common and are very involved in the birth Although Royals dont generally have home births anymore, its not uncommon for expected mothers to have a midwife in addition to a team of doctors, nurses and their Royal gynecologist. Midwives are at the bedside during each Royal babys birth. Kate had three midwives when she gave birth. Each of the midwives are sworn to secrecy. The Queen must be the first person to learn of a Royal babys arrival Prince Harry and Meghan Markles first call after the arrival of their son or daughter must be to Queen Elizabeth II. After shes been informed, other family members and members of the public may be looped in on the news. The birth of a Royal baby is celebrated with a 62-gun salute After a Royal baby is born, a 62-gun salute takes place at the Tower of London. This takes about 10 minutes to complete. An official birth announcement is posted outside Buckingham Palace Although the Royal family tends to share updates about their lives on social media, they still hold the tradition of posting an official birth announcement on an easel outside Buckingham Palace. Details revealed on the announcement include the childs gender, when he or she was born and more. An official portrait will be shared by the parents in the coming weeks. A town crier announces the Royal babys birth in London Since medieval times, an unofficial town crier has been announcing the arrival of a Royal baby in London. Tony Appleton served as the town crier for Princess Charlottes birth. Royal babies arent given surnames Many Royals get more than one name, but none have an official last name. Queen Elizabeth II selected Mountbatten-Windsor as a last name in 1960 to separate her lineage from that of the Windsor house. Still, surnames are optional and rarely used in the Royal family. The Royal babys first official appearance will be his or her christening Members of the public wont get to lay their eyes on the Royal baby until his or her christening. Typically this event takes place in the days or weeks after the childs birth, though there isnt a set window of time in which it must be completed. Each Royal baby wears a traditional christening gown thats been passed through the monarchy for eight generations. This protocol has evolved ever so slightly, as recently its become common for Royals to make an appearance with the baby outside the hospital wing. The child is well covered and hardly visible during this moment, however. All Royal babies get the same baby blanket The Royal family has a tradition of gifting each new baby with a knitted-lace shawl from GH Hurt & Son Ltd. As previously reported, the company has a long-standing connection with the Royal Family. The blankets are identical to the ones Prince William and Prince Harry were wrapped in when they made their debuts. All Royal babies must get registered. Just like everyone else, members of the Royal family have to register their children with the British government. This has to be completed within 42 days of the childs birth. Most Royals have about six Godparents Royal children generally have about six godparents. Prince George has seven while his sister, Princess Charlotte, has five. None of those chosen as Godparents can be blood relatives. Meghan will be encouraged to breastfeed According to The Guardian, the Queen has begun encouraging Royal mothers to breastfeed. She was breastfed after her 1926 birth, as were her own children, and she believes its the best practice. Opposing views in today's political climate can be a dealbreaker when it comes to finding romance. A new dating app called Donald Daters is now launching to help 'right-minded' conservative singles find each other. The Tinder-like app was officially launched Monday by Emily Moreno, a former GOP aide and publicist, who said in a statement: 'For many young Trump supporters, liberal intolerance has made meeting and dating nearly impossible.' She now promises to 'Make America Date Again' with her free dating platform that's made for 'Trump supporters to meet people without being afraid of talking politics.' A dating app called Donald Daters - inspired by the president - launched Monday for conservative singles The app uses Tinder's famous 'swipe' feature so users can reject or accept others as possible matches. This app uses a Tinder-like swipe for users who support the president Users can chat for free after being given 25 curated matches based on likes and dislikes. Though the app is geared toward supporting the Trump supporters, it is open everyone. 'We encourage freethinking and welcome anyone to download and enjoy our community,' the site reads. Moreno said: 'Support for the president has become a dealbreaker instead of an icebreaker.' A 2016 survey found this to be true, as 71 percent of online daters consider political differences to be a dealbreaker. Moreno said she got the idea after a Trump supporter in Washington ran into an issue while on a third date with a woman. She said in the bathroom the woman searched the man's name, found out his political views and ended the date in a rage. The site suggests for users to 'Fox News and chill' and has testimonials on its page of users with rave reviews. Laura R from Ohio said: 'Finally I can meet people with the same values and beliefs as me.' 'Meeting people is hard enough on dating apps,' said Lance J form Michigan. 'So being able to find a Republican match is a big deal for me.' A display of the app shows prospective dates with their photo, age, name and location Ahead of Monday's launch, the app's page tweeted 'Fox News and chill' as many conservatives are avid watchers of the news channel This is not the first Trump-inspired dating app or website. TrumpSingles.com and Trump Dating also exist for single who share the same views and beliefs as the president. Trump Dating's objective is to connect like-minded Americans with one another to build a relationship on the foundation of matching patriotic and political viewpoints. Similarly, it hopes to help its users find the America first partner of your dreams without sifting through profiles featuring anti-Trump sentiments like no Trump supporters and Proud liberal. However, Trump Dating came under fire earlier this year after the man featured in the site's promotional photo was convicted for videotaping himself having sex with a 15-year-old girl. Shocking footage of a man being punched to the ground outside a London pub has been released by detectives as they hunt for the unknown attacker. CCTV from Station Parade, Barking has shown how the victim was hanging around in the street when he was attacked. The assailant came from behind a group of three men with his hood up before striding towards his victim and swinging a punch at his face, at around 11.15pm on April 6. The man was knocked to the ground where he lay motionless, as his attacker fled the scene. Security staff in the doorway of the pub stood motionless while passersby knelt down to check on the man. After being hit, the 31-year-old victim's head struck the pavement. He sustained a fractured skull and bleed to the brain, and required treatment at an east London hospital. He has since been discharged but still suffers a number of side effects as a result of the attack, including recurrent headaches. Officers from East Area Command Unit CID have now released an image and CCTV footage of a man they want to speak to in connection with the attack, and want anyone who knows who he is to contact police. The victim stands in a grey top to the left of a row of chained bicycles before the attack A man runs up to him, from behind the crowd of three men in front of him, and throws a punch at his face The man is left sprawled on the floor with his arms out as the attacker flees the scene No arrest has yet been made in connection with the incident. The man is described as of Eastern European appearance in his mid-20s. He is around 5ft 5in tall, and with short, dark-coloured hair. He was wearing a bomber-style jacket with light-coloured arms, a grey zip-up top, blue jeans and black trainers. Police are looking for this man who was seen exiting the pub before the attack at around 11.15pm The man wanted by police was wearing a dark sleeveless jacket, jeans and a light coloured hoody If you recognise the man in the picture or have any information about the assault, please call 101 quoting CAD 8944/6APR, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 A father who killed his three children and stepchild in 2008 by throwing them off a bridge after a fight with their mother has been spared execution because his IQ is so low it would be unconstitutional for him to be killed. Lam Luong was given the reprieve on Monday in a courtroom in Alabama where lawyers revealed his IQ is 51. The average IQ of an adult is between 90 and 100. In 2008, he tossed his three babies and stepchild off the Dauphin Island bridge and into the Mississippi Sound after arguing with their mother. He tried to lie about it afterwards and told police they had been kidnapped by two Asian women but he was convicted of murder and was sentenced to death in 2009. But because of a 2002 Supreme Court decision which states that it is unconstitutional to execute anyone with intellectual disabilities, he will be spared execution and will now spend the rest of his life behind bars Lam Luong (seen in a January court appearance) was spared execution on Monday because his IQ is so low it is unconstitutional for him to be killed. He murdered four children, three of which were his own, in 2008 by throwing them off of a bridge after arguing with their mother Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich was pained by the decision on Monday. Speaking afterwards, she said: 'Our hands are tied. 'No one deserves the death penalty more than the man who on Jan. 7, 2008 who lived a normal life and no signs of below average IQ and cold and calculatedly threw his four children off the Dauphin Island bridge.' Three of the children were his own and the other was his wife Kieu Phan's from a previous relationship. He killed them after having an argument with her. The children were all under two when they died and the youngest was four. They plunged 80ft and were alive when they hit the water. When he was sentenced in 2009, the judge ordered him to look at a photograph of the children every day until he was executed. It is not known if the children's mother was present in court for Monday's decision. Three of the children were his own and one of them was his stepchild. He threw them off the bridge after a fight with their mother The youngest of the children was just four months old. The oldest was two. One of the babies is pictured Whoopi Goldberg (pictured) implied that actresses had used their sexuality to land film roles and awards Whoopi Goldberg has controversially said actresses had sex with men to land film roles and awards during a talk on the #Metoo movement. The outspoken co-host of the View also argued that women need to admit they used their sexuality to land film roles and awards during a talk in Leeds in the UK on Saturday. According to AOL, the actress, 62, said: Now theres some things my mother always said to me that I knew were true. Its like, if some guy said to me were gonna have a meeting up in my hotel room, you dont f***ing go you dont go. And if you do, cop to it. Say, "Thats right I went up there and had sex with that ugly-ass man so I could get an Oscar and a Tony." Am I talking about myself? No. We have to teach young women better, she said. Its not the first time Whoopi has courted controversy when discussing issues of sexual assault and the #metoomovement. She once startled The View fans by defending Bill Cosby and lashing out at his accusers and those who support them in an angry rants on her day time chat show. She went a step further and compared the allegations against Cosby's to the woman who falsely accused three players from the Duke lacrosse team of rape in 2006. The actor was sentenced last month to three to 10 years in state prison for drugging and molesting a woman more than a decade ago. Goldberg (left) defended her one time friend, actor Bill Cosby, (right) who was sentenced to between three to ten years in prison for drugging and molesting women back in the eighties She later began to voice a shift in opinion when she admitted that she was unaware that there is a statute of limitations on charges of rape. She said on air: 'All the information that is out there kind of points to guilt It looks bad, Bill. Either speak up or shut up. In her October 13 speech, the Oscar winner also blasted men for 'coming after' women who had used the #MeToo movement to reveal sexual attacks. Goldberg, who has often been a loose cannon on her morning talk show, noted: 'Apparently American white men are angry cause theyre top of the food chain, they can get anything they f***ing want but its not enough so theyre coming after women. The #metoo movement started on Twitter and went viral soon after sexual assault allegations were made against Harvey Weinstein (pictured) 'Women are saying, Are you kidding me? You cant put this genie back in the bottle. Women are not taking any bulls**t'. The #Metoo movement was triggered in October 2017 when the phrase was used as a hashtag to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment especially in the workplace. It came after a series of sexual misconduct allegations were made against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Some of the women, who were aspiring actresses or models, had claimed Weinstein had invited them to his hotel room to discuss film roles but subsequently propositioned them sexually or assaulted them. Rose McGowan (left), one of Weinstein's original accusers, pictured with another survivor The #Metoo movement has seen thousands of women taking to the streets to oppose assault More than 80 allegations of sex assault, harassment and rape were made against Weinstein, 66, who remains free after posting $1million bail. If Weinstein is convicted of a rape or a criminal sexual act he could spend up to 25 years in prison, officials said. Weinstein, whose company has filed for bankruptcy, is confident the charges against him will be thrown out when the case returns to court on September 20. Despite over 80 women accusing Weinstein of wrongdoing, many of the incidents that allegedly involve criminal sexual acts are now too old to be actionable. Since that time, other movements have started and hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest against sexual harassment across the US and the world. A man has miraculously survived an attack by a 500-pound grizzly bear in Montana. Bob Legasa, 57, was out bow hunting for elk in Livingston, just north of Yellowstone National Park, on Saturday with his friend when he was mauled by the grizzly. The hunter said he didn't even notice the grizzly sow and her cub until he was just 12 yards away. 'We walked up to within 12 yards when we all saw each other and before I could even reach for my bear spray she was at full charge,' Legasa said. Bob Legasa, 57, was out bow hunting for elk in Livingston, just north of Yellowstone National Park, on Saturday with his friend when he was mauled by the grizzly 'I was able to get my arm up to someone at protect my face when she knocked me over.' The bear clawed Legasa's face, gashed and fractured his arm and punctured his wrist with her teeth. He said his hunting partner Greg Gibson was just a few steps behind him but was able to grab his bear spray and give one shot in the grizzly's direction. 'She reared up and came towards him... he was able to give her one more blast where she and her cub retreated,' he said. The bear clawed Legasa's face, gashed and fractured his arm and punctured his wrist with her teeth Legasa will undergo a second surgery on his arm after the bear broke it in two places Legasa received stitches for a gash to his eye in the bear attack and expects to be released from the hospital on Tuesday Legasa was able to get to a hospital in Livingston and then Bozeman to have surgery to clean the wound and prevent infection. He received a tetanus shot and started rabies treatment. 'My arm is broken in two spots where she grabbed on with her mouth and I have a nice couple of scratches on my face where she got me with her claws,' he said. Legasa said doctors planned to insert a plate and a screw in his arm to secure a broken bone. He expects to be discharged from hospital on Tuesday. Legasa said doctors planned to insert a plate and a screw in his arm to secure a broken bone Legasa was able to get to a hospital in Livingston and then Bozeman to have surgery to clean the wound and prevent infection President Donald Trump slammed the management of Sears, which filed for bankruptcy protection, as improperly running the department store chain and the owner he criticized was the college roommate of his Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin, who used to sit on its board. Sears Holdings Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection Monday after years of staying afloat through billions in loans from its CEO Eddie Lampert, whose hedge fund ESL Investments owns a controlling stake. Lampert and Mnunchin were roommates at Yale and Mnunchin joined Sears' board of directors in 2005. He stepped down in December 2016, after Trump named him as head of the Treasury Department. President Donald Trump slammed the managers of Sears, which filed for bankruptcy protection, as improperly running the department store chain Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin - seen here at a press conference in Bali over the weekend - was college roommates with Sears CEO Eddie Lampert Edward Lampert, chairman of Sears Holdings Corp., left, and his wife Kinga Lampert, attend the Breast Cancer Research Foundation Hot Pink Party at the Waldorf Astoria in 2011 The president lamented the status of the once prominent Sears, remembering the store's golden days, and he criticized its leadership for the situation. 'It's a shame. So Sears, Roebuck, when I was growing up, was the big deal. And it's very sad what happened,' he told reporters on Monday morning before leaving for a trip to Florida to survey the damage from Hurricane Michael. 'Somebody that is of my generation - Sears, Roebuck was a big deal, so it's very sad to see.' He noted that 'Sears has been dying for many years. It's been obviously improperly run for many years, and it's a shame.' It's not the first time Trump has criticized a company. Amazon - plus its founder Jeff Bezos - and Nike are month those retailers who have felt his wrath. But Sears has closer ties to his administration thanks to Mnunchin's friendship with Lambert. Sears filed for bankruptcy protection when it was unable to afford a $134 million debt payment. In total, it owes around $5 billion to lenders. Sears Holding Corporation filed for bankruptcy on Monday Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin was on Sears' board but stepped down after joining President Trump's administration The company, which has 687 stores and about 68,000 employees, said that it would 142 stores before the end of the year on top of the 46 brick and mortar businesses it was already shutting down as it struggles to keep up with online marketing outlets. Lampert is stepping down as CEO while remaining the company's chairman. Lampert said that Sears and Kmart stores would 'remain open for business' into the holiday season. 'I invested so much of my time and money in the company because I believe Sears has a future,' he said, vowing to keep investing in the business. Lambert purchased his stake in Sears in 2005, combining it with his stake in Kmart. Sears' last profitable year was 2010. The company started with Richard Sears in 1886 to sell watches by mail. It evolved into Sears, Roebuck and Co. and launched a successful catalog. Eventually, Sears became the largest U.S. retailer. But Walmart surpassed it in 1990 to become the largest retailer in the U.S. and Sears struggled to compete with retail giants like Walmart, Target and Amazon. Actor Gerard Butler dropped by the Pentagon Monday and touted the Navy's efforts to provide insights for his new submarine movie after cancelling a planned visit to Saudi Arabia to promote the film amid an uproar over the alleged murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Butler spoke to reporters from the Pentagon's briefing room, using a venue that hasn't gotten much use lately (Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White's last briefing was in May). Butler thanked the Naval officers and crew who allowed him to conduct a three-day visit to the USS Houston in 2016 to assist in making his new movie, Hunter Killer, look as realistic as possible. 'The platforms, the weaponry, the sub itself, is just - you're entering another country, another world, it's like an alien planet, but just fascinating,' the 300 star said into his 'briefing' about the film and his naval advisors. Actor Gerard Butler spoke to reporters from the Pentagon's briefing room, and thanked the Navy for providing insights into submarine training and procedures 'I felt like I could spend a year just on sonar trying to pick up what they do but,' only to be shown parts of the sub dealing with navigation, the engine room, and other areas. The Scottish-born Butler visited the center of U.S. military might just a day after he explained his last-minute decision to cancel his trip to Saudi Arabia following the disappearance journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Gerard Butler stars as 'Capt. Joe Glass' in HUNTER KILLER This image released by Lionsgate shows Michael Nyqvist, left, and Gerard Butler in a scene from "Hunter Killer." Butler says he learned a great deal from sailors and officers during three days on the USS Houston 'The timing couldn't have been worse,' Butler told CNN over the weekend. The plan was to show the film about a U.S. attack sub in Riyadh, which only just allowed the showing of western films as part of a liberalization in some areas even as the regime continued to crack down on dissent. The Pentagon spokeswoman hasn't conducted a public briefing from the podium since May 'It felt very insensitive and it's something that we shouldn't really be getting involved with, so we thought we're going to stay away from that,' Butler said. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia warned it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed over Khashoggi's disappearance as the Riyadh stock market suffered its biggest plunge in years. But on Monday, the regime was reportedly on the verge of admitting Khashoggi died accidentally under questioning. Butler told reporters Monday that he had been scheduled with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who is under scrutiny for as the regime's alleged killing of Khashoggi. Butler was terse when asked if he had planned to meet the crown prince. 'Yes. That's the answer to the first question,' he replied. He said watching sailors lean back during his first dive aboard the Houston helped Butler and the film's director decide to order up a special hydraulic set to try to replicate the look. 'The sub could move, and we didn't have to do the Star Trek thing, you know,' he quipped. Butler was accompanied at the briefing by Vice Admiral Fritz Roegge. Sen. Susan Collins' husband and dog were quarantined on Monday until the hazmat team cleared her home after a letter arrived that was said to contain ricin, a highly toxic poison. Her office called it 'the latest in a series of threats' against the senator, who was the target of multiple protests during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process. After the all clear was given, the Collins were allowed to spend Monday night at their Bangor, Maine, home. A person in a hazmat suit appears to be handling a letter that is enclosed in a plastic bag in Bangor, Maine, after a hazardous materials team was called Monday to investigate a suspicious letter sent to the home of Sen. Susan Collins The suspicious letter was sent to the Bangor, Maine, home of Sen. Susan Collins, who supported President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Sen. Collins and her husband released a letter Monday night thanking first responders 'Senator Collins's husband, Tom Daffron, today received a threatening letter that the writer claimed was contaminated with ricin, a highly hazardous substance which was used in a previous attack against the United States Senate,' Annie Clark, spokesperson for Collins, said in a statement Monday night. 'Mr. Daffron, their dog, and parts of their home were quarantined while the crime lab undertook an analysis of the premises. The affected areas have now been cleared, and Senator Collins and Mr. Daffron will be able to remain at home tonight,' she noted. Collins office said the letter continues to be tested and the investigation into the matter remains ongoing. 'Today's incident is the latest in a series of threats against Senator Collins, her loved ones, and her staff,' Clark said. A dose of ricin the size of a few grains of table salt can kill an adult human. Collins, who was a target of protests during the Kavanaugh confirmation process, has gone about her life in Bangor without signs of increased security, the Bangor Daily News reported. She was spotted grocery shopping with her husband and attending church over the weekend. Her office did not respond to DailyMail.com's inquiry about whether she would receive increased protection. Collins was such a target of protestors during Kavanaugh's confirmation process she was guarded by U.S. Capitol Police when she was in the Capitol building. Protestors swarmed her office in an effort to persuade her to vote against Kavanaugh and she said her staff had received threats. During the confirmation process, the senator described the campaign to sway her against Kavanaugh as 'horrendous' and told Politico that she recalled one caller threatening to rape a female aide if she voted yes on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. The letter was said to have arrived at her Maine home around 1:30 p.m. The Bangor Police Department, Fire Department and local hazmat crew were on site, yellow police tape was wrapped around the property, and the street in front of her home was shut down. Police tape was up around Susan Collins' Bangor, Maine, home Collins was so swarmed during the Kavanaugh confirmation process she was under police protection Sen. Collins with her husband Thomas Daffron at a 2014 dinner in Washington Around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, the FBI and a fleet of unmarked vans arrived and police wearing military uniforms stepped out, the Bangor Daily News reported. A staging area with tents was erected on the street near Collins' home. A photo taken shows a person in a hazmat suit putting what appears to be a letter in plastic bag. Collins and her husband, Thomas Daffron, released a statement Monday night thanking a fleet of first responders and their neighbors. 'We are very grateful for the immediate and professional assistance that we received from the Bangor Police Department, the Maine Crime Lab, the Maine State Police Department, the Capitol Police, the FBI, the Orono Hazmat Unit, the Bangor Fire Department, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Postal Service,' they said. 'We are also truly appreciative of the many well wishes that we received today. Our friends and neighbors have been incredibly kind and have even offered to open their homes to us. We feel blessed to live in such a supportive community,' the couple, who were married in 2012, added. Officials said there was no danger to the public. 'At this time, preliminary testing has indicated there is no threat to public safety in connection with this mailing,' said Kristen Setera, a spokeswoman for the FBI Boston Division. 'We encourage the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement.' Collins' husband was home at the time of the incident and the senator was in route on Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for Collins told DailyMail.com. The senator was in Washington D.C. on Monday and arrived in Maine that evening. Local police called in federal authorities, including the FBI. U.S. Capitol Police will take the lead on the probe. A spokesperson told DailyMail.com they do not comment on ongoing investigations. Bangor Police Sgt. Wade Betters said the couple received 'a suspicious letter,' but offered no further details. 'The contents of what's in it or who sent it I have no information on that,' he said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. Betters reassured that the public was not in any danger: 'We have no information that suggest the public at large was in any danger.' Bangor police are coordinating with federal authorities and U.S. Capitol Police. And Betters said he had no information about any other lawmakers being targeted. 'At this time we have no other information to suggest this has happened any where else,' he said. Mail sent to lawmakers in Washington D.C. is sent through a screening process to detect threats, a process put into place after anthrax was sent to Senate offices in 2001. Regular U.S. postal mail would not under go such a screening. It's unclear if the letter was sent in connection with Collins' Kavanaugh vote. But she came under the national spotlight during the contentious debate over his nomination. Lawmakers had their personal information posted online during the contentious hearings on Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court. Jackson Cosko, a Capitol Hill intern, was arrested and charged publishing the private contact information of at least one Republican senator during the Kavanaugh confirmation process. Kavanaugh, his wife Ashley and accuser Christine Blasey Ford all received death threats Collins cast a deciding vote to put Kavanaugh on the high court. She was the target of so many protests during his confirmation process that she got protection for U.S. Capitol Police while she was in the Capitol building. Bangor Police Sgt. Wade Betters said the public was not in any danger The Bangor Police Department, Fire Department and local hazmat crew are on site After weighing the sexual harassment allegations against Kavanaugh, Collins gave a 45 minute speech on the Senate floor explaining why she would vote for him. 'I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court,' she said on October 5, the day before the Senate confirmed Kavanaugh, 50-48. President Donald Trump praised her remarks. 'I thought that Susan was incredible yesterday,' Trump said the day after her remarks. 'She gave an impassioned, beautiful speech yesterday. And that was from the heart, that was from the heart.' Collins was a target of any protestors during the time she weighed which way to go on the controversial nominee. Hundred of protestors were arrested in the Russell Senate Office building in late September when they swarmed Collins' office and that of the other deciding GOP vote: Sen. Jeff Flake. Collins wavered on her support for Kavanauagh after Christine Blasey Ford went public with her allegation he sexually assaulted her at a high school party in the 1980s. She said she wanted to hear from Ford and then read the FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh before deciding to vote in his favor. Protestors swarmed Collins' office September to urge her not to vote for Kavanaugh Capitol Police escorted Collins from the Capitol after she announced she was voting for Kavanaugh Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear before the vote that the protestors chasing lawmakers will not intimidate senators. 'I want to make it clear to these people who are chasing my members down the hall here, or harassing them at the airport or going to their homes, we will not be intimidated by these people,' he said on the Senate floor. 'There's no chance in the world they're gonna scare us out of doing our duty. I don't care how many members they chase, how many people they harass here in the halls. I want to make one thing perfectly clear, we will not be intimidated by these people,' McConnell said. Firefighters in Florida have come to the aid of a dog who was found struggling to swim after becoming trapped in a canal. Rescue crews responded to reports of a tired dog in a canal in Southwest Miami-Dade on Sunday. The Rottweiler-mix was struggling to stay afloat when they arrived. Rescue crews responded to reports of a tired dog trapped in a canal in Southwest Miami-Dade in Florida on Sunday Three firefighters jumped into the canal to help get the dog to shore. Footage of the rescue shows the firefighters placing the dog onto a yellow tarp before helping to warm the pooch up. The exhausted dog was then lifted onto an ambulance stretcher so it could rest. Fire crews said the rescuers would help nurse the dog back to health and try to locate its owners. Three firefighters jumped into the canal to help get the dog to shore because he was struggling to stay afloat when they arrived Footage of the rescue shows the firefighters placing the dog onto a yellow tarp before helping to warm the pooch up Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East The building site (pictured) where the construction worker fell four storeys A construction worker defied death after he fell four stories at a building site and was impaled on a steel bar in New Jersey. Harrison police said the worker, who has not yet been identified, is 'resting comfortably' at a local hospital after undergoing surgery over the weekend. The 23-year-old man, who is an employee of Iron Works and Design of Elizabeth, was working at 700 Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard. He was working at the site of a major residential project owned and being developed by Heller Urban Renewal. When he fell, the man landed on rebar that was jutting out of concrete and the rebar went through his hip, Harrison Lieutenant David Doyle said. 'He was very lucky, in that the metal bar missed all major vessels,' Doyle said. 'He is dealing with some minor complications that may require surgery, but is expected to be OK'. Rebar is short for reinforcing bar, a steel bar used to reinforce concrete in new construction. Firefighters from Harrison cut the rebar from the ground to release the worker. Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Joanna Hawkins said the incident is under investigation. OSHA has up to six months to complete its investigation, she said. Reinforcing bars (pictured) similar to those that the construction worker was impaled on When asked for comment by NJ.com, a person who identified himself as Iron Works and Design owner Rolando Alvarez declined to comment. A representative with Heller Urban Renewal did not return a call for comment on the incident. Last year a construction worker has miraculously survived after being impaled on a rusty bar that shot through his buttocks and chest. The unnamed workman was rushed to hospital as a priority after falling six feet onto the bar during works in Chenzhou, China. The 64-year-old's coworker said he lost his footing while working on a platform and landed on the protruding 31.5 inch rebar. He was treated at the city's First People's Hospital for his injuries. Not for a generation has there been quite such a rush of blue blood. Little wonder Prince Charles was beaming as he hurried back to Scotland to join the Duchess of Cornwall after Princess Eugenies wedding. In a trice, one royal event had been upstaged by another with the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were to provide him with his fourth grandchild. Some 37 years ago, Charles and Princess Diana had their own joyous announcement of a baby within a year of marriage, now matched almost exactly by Prince Harry and Meghan. When the two princes were growing up, where William, above, was wilful, Harry was biddable. For Charles the difference is crucial. Perhaps because of diffidence on his part and hostility on the part of William, Charles did not play the role he had hoped to in the early days of Georges life. But with the arrival of baby Sussex, the tectonic plates of royalty are shifting The Prince of Wales, above left, pictured at Trooping The Colour earlier this year. He was spotted smiling as he was told of the pregnancy of Meghan Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex. He is now said to have a good relationship with his grandchildren Their baby is due in mid-April, 11 months after their wedding and less than three years after they first met. Compare that with the slow progress of Prince William and Kate from first date to first child encompassed some 12 years. For the Prince of Wales, the glad tidings have been received with delight. Not even the distinct possibility that Meghans pregnancy might yet overshadow his own celebration next month, when he marks his landmark 70th birthday, has brought so much as a princely murmur. How times have changed. Where once aides would have fretted about how away from the public gaze a prince so often consumed by gloomy introspection would handle such news, today there are no concerns. Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall with the Duchess of Sussex earlier this year. His paternal grandfather, Prince Andrew of Greece, died before he was born. The Queen Mother stepped into the void left by her late husband to become a consoling figure So why is it that now, as he is pushed further from the limelight, the heir to the throne is so remarkably upbeat? One key reason concerns his role within his own close family. More than ever, Charles wants to be the grandfather he never had himself. His paternal grandfather, the dissolute Prince Andrew of Greece, died before he was born and he was only three years old when the Queens beloved father, King George VI died. The Queen Mother stepped into the void left by her late husband to become a consoling figure and shoulder to lean on for the prince until her death in 2002. Ever since the birth of Prince George in 2013, Charles has sought to play a similar role in the lives of his own grandchildren. At times, it has been a difficult and thwarting experience. Three years ago, he was said to feel excluded from Prince Georges life, complaining that he almost never sees his eldest grandchild. With the arrival of Princess Charlotte in 2015 and then Prince Louis earlier this year, those frustrations have eased. The Prince of Wales is now said to have a good relationship with his grandchildren or at least as good as a man can who does not always welcome the interruption small children may bring to his fastidiously tidy homes. He has also had to accept a secondary role as grandparent to Kates parents, Michael and Carole Middleton. But with the Prince Harrys baby, that will surely change. Although Meghan is certain to want her mother, Doria Ragland, close at hand, especially in the run-up to the birth and in the early days of motherhood, the future is less clear. In the unlikely event that Doria plans to move from her home in Los Angeles and settle permanently in Britain, Meghan will inevitably find herself relying on her husbands family for support. Charles will certainly hope that is the case. All this matters for the prince who has anticipated the role of grandfather ever since he asked a ladies circle in Wales for any tips shortly before Georges birth. Spoil them and enjoy them but give them back at the end of the day, were the words of wisdom they imparted. Here, then, is an opportunity for Charles that was denied him with his first three grandchildren. He will be anxious to take it. Can he have the mentoring role with Harrys child that he did not initially get with Williams family? His relationship with his younger son is central to all of this. In recent times, Charles has had many opportunities to mull over the incredible change that marriage and stability have brought in Harrys life. Despite his wayward reputation some years ago, in trouble with drink and drugs and a lack of judgment, Harry has always been closer to his father than William. Prince Charles arrives to attend the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York to Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. When the brothers appeared on TV documentaries about their late mother last year to mark the 20th anniversary of Dianas death, it was Harry alone who singled out the role their father had played in their lives When the brothers appeared on TV documentaries about their late mother last year to mark the 20th anniversary of Dianas death it was Harry alone who singled out the role their father had played in their lives. Then, at Christmas, father and son collaborated on a recording about climate and the environment when Harry guest edited Radio 4s Today programme. When the two princes were growing up, where William was wilful, Harry was biddable. For Charles the difference is crucial. Perhaps because of diffidence on his part and hostility on the part of William, Charles did not play the role he had hoped to in the early days of Georges life. But with the arrival of baby Sussex, the tectonic plates of royalty are shifting. The glamour of Harry and Meghan if anything, more popular now than they were when they married in May has always been offset by the public respect for the dutiful Cambridges. Now, with two attractive young families at the heart of the Royal Family the beguiling Charlotte in particular was a star at Princess Eugenies wedding popularity for the monarchy seems assured. How clever, too, that Harry and Meghan chose to announce the news of the duchesss pregnancy once they had set foot on Australian soil. It can only be a setback for the republican cause Down Under. What is intriguing is Charless own position as the father of two sons and the head of two delightful families that represent the best of the monarchy. Rather than undermining him, as once might have been the case, they appear to shore him up as a benign patriarch as well as shoring up the rest of the Royal Family. Years ago, the glitz and glitter of Diana reduced Charles to the margins. But in those days he was a prince who was envious of the attention garnered by his ex-wife. Maturity and remarriage to the former Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles have changed him. These days, after some initial misgivings, he has adjusted to the fact that his sons and daughters-in-law are the focus of public approval. There is a contentment about him that didnt exist even ten years ago, says an old friend. He knows the spotlight is on the younger family members, but rather than resenting it, he regards it positively. He is showing he doesnt need to be centre of attention. Princess Diana, carrying baby William, with Prince Charles in Australia, in 1983. Some 37 years ago, Charles and Princess Diana had their own joyous announcement of a baby within a year of marriage, now matched almost exactly by Prince Harry and Meghan Lately, even the clamour over that old chestnut about the monarchy skipping a generation once the Queen is no longer with us has scarcely been heard. This is because the public are seeing how Charles is taking on ever more of his mothers duties. Of course, Charles also knows that popularity can be fragile, especially when those eternal questions arise about the future role of his wife, Camilla, as consort when he becomes king. For now, though, all eyes are on Kensington Palace, just as they were more than 35 years ago when Charles and Diana were beginning their family life there. According to one of the princes oldest friends, Charles thinks Harry will be every bit as good a father as William has been perhaps even better. Harry is much more open than William, has bucket-loads of likeable qualities and the human touch that he inherited from his mother, says the friend. Charles knows that William learned much about the art of kingship and duty from the knee of his grandmother during what Diana called his granny chats at Windsor Castle. In time, Charles would like to give those vital life lessons to all of his grandchildren. One thing is certain: the showbiz razzmatazz of last Fridays royal wedding at Windsor has been all but vaporised by the announcement of a first child for Prince Harry and Meghan. For it has given us a glimpse of the future line-up on the Buckingham Palace balcony, which has been part of so many famous scenes in our island history. In time, baby Sussex will be taking his or her place there, at the heart of the Royal Family. ABC host Michael Rowland was savaged on live television for suggesting Meghan Markle may be pregnant, before his critics were forced to eat 'humble pie' when the baby news was announced. The News Breakfast presenter said on Monday's edition of the program he 'saw a bump' when Prince Harry and Meghan arrived at Windsor Castle for Princess Eugenie's wedding last week. Rowland's comments, which came around 12 hours before Kensington Palace confirmed the royal couple was expecting, were slammed by his co-hosts. 'I think you're exceptionally brave for sparking pregnancy rumours,' journalist and part-time weather presenter Lara Hyams said. ABC host Michael Rowland was savaged on live television by his co-hosts, including Lara Hyams (pictured) for suggesting Meghan Markle may be pregnant 'I think that everyone should know that people should not be talking about whether or not a female is pregnant. So I think you're very brave.' Veteran presenter Virginia Trioli added: 'Brave slash stupid.' Rowland defended himself and said: 'I only know what I saw'. 'When Meghan arrived at St George's cathedral on Friday night - I saw a bump,' Rowland reiterated, prompting Trioli to throw her head in her hands. Later, Kensington Palace tweeted: 'Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the spring of 2019.' Meghan is seen arriving in Sydney on Monday morning ahead of the news of her pregnancy announcement 'I saw a bump,' Rowland (second from left) reiterated, prompting Trioli (second from right) to throw her head in her hands 'Am I good, or am I perfect?,' Rowland gloated on Tuesday's episode of the program, sparking an apology from the most vocal of his critics. 'Hi, my name is Lara and I have no idea what I'm talking about,' Hyams tweeted, adding the hashtag 'humble pie'. Meanwhile, Tuesday will be the first opportunity for the Australian public to interact with Meghan and Prince Harry when they visit Taronga Zoo and the Opera House. In a jam-packed schedule of 76 engagements across 16 days, the royal duo will tour around Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Tuesday will be the first opportunity for the Australian public to interact with Meghan and Prince Harry when they visit Taronga Zoo and the Opera House Prince Harry and wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex pose with Australia's Governor General Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne Cosgrove in Sydney on Tuesday The tour coincides with the Invictus Games in Sydney, which kick off on Saturday and run for a week. The Bureau of Meteorology says Sydney's forecast for Tuesday is drizzly and cool, with showers continuing for most of the week. Starting on Tuesday morning at Admiralty House, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be officially welcomed by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove. They will then head to Taronga Zoo to meet two joey koalas named in their honour, before heading to the Opera House to watch a rehearsal by the Bangarra Dance Theatre. The Duchess of Sussex arrives at Admiralty House in Sydney on Tuesday morning Pictured: An artist's impression of what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's child may look like A Labor politician has delivered a stinging rebuttal to a Christian deputy principal concerned about losing the ability to hire people whose values align with the school. Terri Butler hit back during a heated discussion on Monday night's Q&A program over whether religious schools should be able to exclude LGBT teachers. Ms Butler, the member for Griffith in Queensland, lashed out at Kevin Muslayah, the deputy principal of Red Rock Christian College, in Sunbury, north-west Melbourne. Queensland Labor MP Terri Butler (pictured) has hit back at a Christian school deputy principal who was concerned losing the ability to hire people whose values align with the school She asked Mr Muslayah about his Christian faith that 'Aren't your values love thy neighbour?'. 'Why would you discriminate on sexual identity? A gay teacher doesn't teach gay maths. They just teach maths,' Ms Butler told Mr Muslayah. Her comments came amid a push by government MPs to allow religious schools to hire and fire staff based on sexual orientation, gender identity or relationship status. 'I grow increasingly concerned that schools like mine will one day lose its ability to preference staff that align with... the values and faith-based position within our school community, under provisions of current anti-discrimination legislation,' Mr Muslayah had earlier said on the program. When asked by Q&A host Tony Jones if his preference was to have the right to sack teachers who identity as gay, Mr Muslayah described it a 'case by case' issue and added 'it is very hard to be able to articulate that'. 'And despite public criticism around that, the very preface that we are a Christian school, there is a particular alignment of values,' he said. Kevin Muslayah (pictured), the deputy principal of Red Rock Christian College, in Sunbury, said he was growing increasingly concerned schools like his will one day lose their ability to preference staff who align with the school's values 'When that comes into question we have to ask: how is that having an impact on that value base and how we promote that?' Liberal Senator James Paterson, who also appeared on the Q&A panel alongside Ms Butler, said he believed schools should retain the right to hire teachers who are willing to teach the values of that school. 'I want to make a very clear emphasis on willing to teach the values of their school. I'm not interested in other characteristics of that teacher except their willingness to teach the ethos of their school,' he said. Labor wants laws protecting gay teachers from discrimination at religious schools brought in immediately but the coalition isn't backing down yet. The comments on Q&A came amid national debate over whether religious schools should be able to hire and fire staff based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or relationship status (stock image) Instead, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the government will first protect gay students from any religious school discrimination before considering other law changes. Religious schools in most states have been able to exclude LGBTI students since 2013 but have not been using the powers. Labor Senator Penny Wong called on the government to release the full report of the religious freedoms review, which recommended laws be changed to allow schools to discriminate based upon their values. Former senior Trump aide Jason Miller has sued Gizmodo for $100 million, claiming the website teamed up with his embittered ex lover to hatch a plot to ruin his reputation, according to court documents seen exclusively by DailyMail.com. Miller claims Gizmodo Media and its reporter Katherine Krueger worked with Arlene 'AJ' Delgado to run a story that accused him of slipping an abortion pill into the smoothie of a stripper he got pregnant, in a lawsuit filed in Miami on Monday. The former Senior Communications Advisor for Trumps 2016 campaign had an affair with Delgado after meeting her on the campaign trial in 2016. She became pregnant and the two are currently embroiled in a messy custody battle over their son. In the wake of Gizmodo running the accusation about the abortion pill, Miller stepped down from his job at CNN as a political correspondent. Now, he is suing Gizmodo and Krueger for $100 million for publishing the article which he claims is actual malice, defamatory, emotional distressing, an invasion of privacy and a conspiracy against him. Jason Miller (pictured) has accused Gizmodo of working with his embittered ex lover to publish a 'false' story that accused him of slipping an abortion pill into the smoothie of a stripper he got pregnant The married former Trump campaign aide had an affair with Arlene 'AJ' Delgado (pictured) after meeting her on the campaign trial in 2016. She became pregnant and the two are currently embroiled in a messy custody battle over their son Now, Miller is suing Gizmodo and its reporter for $100 million for publishing the article (pictured) which he claims is untrue, defamatory and a conspiracy against him Splinter's story claimed Miller allegedly visited Rachel's Gentleman's Club in Orlando with clients of a consulting company he worked at in 2012. Delgado claimed Miller, who is married to his current wife Kelly and has a four-year-old daughter, met a dancer who worked there and allegedly continued a sexual relationship, which resulted in the woman's pregnancy. Soon after the woman revealed her pregnancy, Miller allegedly arrived at her apartment, holding a smoothie which contained an abortion drug, Splinter reported. The woman, who has not been identified, drank the smoothie with no knowledge of what was in it, and soon suffered a miscarriage, Delgado claims. The woman wound up in the hospital, where she stayed for two days, and allegedly nearly lost her life. Miller blasted Gizmodo for the 'false accusations', in his suit, writing: 'The Defendants carried out the final step in a plot hatched by Delgado to publicly accuse Miller of having an affair with, impregnating, attempting to murder, and killing the unborn child of one woman by slipping her an ''abortion pill'' as well as beating another unidentified woman; and then trying to cover up these horrific crimes. 'Before that weekend was over, Millers life was in shambles and his reputation was destroyed. 'Miller was labeled a ''murderer,'' he lost his job on CNN, he is being harassed and threatened online, he and his family are being shunned in their community. 'Miller was a prime target for [Gizmodo] and Delgado who is waging ''all-out war'' in a highly-publicized court case with Miller in Miami-Dade family court. 'Because of Millers politics and association with the current Presidential Administration, [Gizmodo] knew they could benefit financially and editorially by attacking him.' The former Senior Communications Advisor for Trumps 2016 campaign had an affair with Delgado after meeting her on the campaign trial in 2016. She became pregnant and the two are currently embroiled in a messy custody battle over their son. Pictured: Miller and Delgado (right) Miller claims in court papers that Delgado attempted to enlist the help of other journalists, including Jordan Bloom and Yashar Ali, to publish the accusation about the abortion pill The lawsuit accuses Delgado of 'feeding' information to journalist Yashar Ali, who later said that Delgado 'would not let the story go', according to court papers. Pictured: Tweets where Ali acknowledged his involvement in the matter The suit adds: 'Delgados actions toward Miller are symptomatic of deep-seeded issues. 'As the judge in the Family Case was trying to put an end to the war Delgado was waging, Delgado hatched a scheme to try to destroy Miller once and for all.' Miller claims in court papers that Delgado attempted to enlist the help of other journalists, including Jordan Bloom and Yashar Ali, to publish the accusation about the abortion pill. The lawsuit accuses Delgado of 'feeding' information to Ali, who later said Delgado 'would not let the story go', according to court papers. The suit continues: 'For a week while Delgados Supplement remained sealed in the Family Case file, she tried to find someone willing to risk liability by publishing the false and defamatory accusations she leveled against Miller. 'Splinter.coman off-shoot of Gawker, the notorious web company that met its demise in 2016 after years of defamatory publications and violations of privacy rightswas willing to agree with her to take that risk.' Miller has already vehemently denied the accusations in a lengthy statement shared to Twitter, where he also announced he would step down from his role with CNN Miller allegedly met the women at Rachel's Steakhouse and Gentleman's club (pictured), where she worked as a dancer. The pair allegedly had an ongoing sexual relationship Miller has already vehemently denied the accusations in a lengthy statement shared to Twitter, where he also announced he would step down from his role with CNN. 'I have decided to step away from my role as a Political Commentator at CNN to focus on clearing my name and fighting the false and defamatory accusations made against me,' he wrote. 'To be clear, none of this is is in any way true. That doesn't matter however in the current court of public opinion, where fraudulent statements and a lack of factual support rule the day as long as it fits into a tweet.' Miller and Delgado had an affair on the Trump campaign trail, which resulted in Delgado becoming pregnant and giving birth to a son named William. The pair have been in a bitter custody battle for nearly a year, and the bombshell accusations were filed in the case earlier this month, accompanied by a request for the court to order a psychological evaluation of Miller. She claims she fears for their son's safety during his unsupervised time with the former commentator. More than 600 people have contributed over $47,000 for the two daughters of the white Chicago police officer who was convicted in the shooting death of black teenager Laquan McDonald. One of Jason Van Dyke's attorneys, Tammy Wendt, launched the GoFundMe campaign shortly after a jury earlier this month found the officer guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm - one for each time Van Dyke shot the teen on Oct. 20, 2014. Van Dyke is in jail awaiting sentencing. Wendt says on the GoFundMe page that Van Dyke's wife, Tiffany, is 'left to raise their two children on her own' and that she hopes to raise $100,000 for things like clothing, shelter and school. The donations range from $5 to $1,000. The 2014 shooting of McDonald, 17, was captured on shocking dashcam video that showed him crumpling to the ground in a hail of 16 bullets as he walked away from police. More than 600 people contributed over $47,000 for the two daughters of white Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke McDonald (above) was carrying a knife when Van Dyke fired at him on a dimly lit street where he was surrounded by other officers on Oct. 20, 2014 The video, some of the most graphic police footage to emerge in years, stoked outrage nationwide and put the nation's third-largest city at the center of the debate about police misconduct and use of force. The shooting also led to a federal inquiry and calls to reform the Chicago Police Department. Dyke, 40, was the first Chicago officer to be charged with murder for an on-duty shooting in about 50 years. He was taken into custody moments after the verdict was read. The second-degree verdict reflected the jury's finding that Van Dyke believed his life was in danger but that the belief was unreasonable. The jury also had the option of first degree-murder, which required finding that the shooting was unnecessary and unreasonable. A first-degree conviction, with enhancements for the use of a gun, would have carried a mandatory minimum of 45 years. Second-degree murder usually carries a sentence of less than 20 years, especially for someone with no criminal history. Probation is also an option. Van Dyke was also convicted of 16 counts of aggravated battery - one for each bullet. One legal expert predicted that Van Dyke will be sentenced to no more than six years total. But because he's an officer, it will be 'hard time,' possibly spent in isolation, said Steve Greenberg, who has defended clients at more than 100 murder trials. Van Dyke (seen with wife) was found guilty this month of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm - one for each time Van Dyke shot the teen Van Dyke (R) is lead away at the Leighton Criminal Court in Chicago, October 5, 2018 following the guilty verdict for fatally shooting a black teen McDonald was carrying a knife when Van Dyke fired at him on a dimly lit street where he was surrounded by other officers. One of Chicago's leading civil rights attorneys said the conviction sends a message to minority communities that the police reforms that began after the video became public were not just for show. Andrew Stroth said an acquittal would have sent the opposite message, dashing hopes for change. 'I think Chicago would have erupted,' he said. Defense attorney Dan Herbert called Van Dyke 'a sacrificial lamb' offered by political and community leaders 'to save themselves.' He said it was a 'sad day for law enforcement' because the verdict tells officers they cannot do their jobs. 'Police officers are going to become security guards,' he said. A McDonald family spokesman thanked prosecutors for pursuing a case that, he said, many black attorneys did not believe could be won. 'I can't rejoice because this man is going to jail,' said McDonald's uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter. 'I saw his wife and father. His wife and daughter didn't pull the trigger. I could see the pain in these people. It bothered me that they couldn't see the pain in us.' The verdict was the latest chapter in a story that accelerated soon after a judge ordered the release of the video in November 2015. The 12-person jury included just one African-American member, although blacks make up one-third of Chicago's population. The jury also had seven whites, three Hispanics and one Asian-American. Evidence including photographs of the wounds to McDonald is shown to the jury in the murder trial of Van Dyke at the Leighton Criminal Court Building September 24, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois Officer Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder for the October 20, 2014 shooting in which McDonald was hit with 16 bullets In this still image taken from a police vehicle dash camera released by the Chicago Police Department on November 24, 2015, McDonald walks up a street just prior to being shot by Chicago Police officer Van Dyke on October 20, 2014 McDonald falls to the ground after being shot by Van Dyke on October 20, 2014 in Chicago The 2014 shooting of McDonald, 17, was captured on shocking dashcam video that showed him crumpling to the ground in a hail of 16 bullets as he walked away from police Jurors said they spent much of their deliberations discussing whether to convict on first-degree or second-degree murder, not an acquittal. They said Van Dyke's testimony did not help him. One woman said he 'messed up' and should not have testified. The jurors' names were not made public during the trial and were not disclosed Friday during interviews with reporters at the courthouse. One said Van Dyke needed to 'contain the situation, not escalate it.' He said the jury settled on second-degree murder because Van Dyke believed he was experiencing a real threat. On the night of the shooting, officers were waiting for someone with a stun gun to use on the teenager when Van Dyke arrived, according to testimony and video. The video, played repeatedly at trial, showed him firing even after the teen lay motionless on the pavement. Prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed over what the footage actually proved. During closing arguments, prosecutor Jody Gleason noted that Van Dyke told detectives that McDonald raised the knife and that McDonald tried to get up off the ground after being shot. 'None of that happened,' she said. 'You've seen it on video. He made it up.' But Van Dyke and his attorneys maintained that the video did not tell the whole story. His attorneys portrayed the officer as being scared by the young man who he knew had already punctured a tire of a squad car with the knife. Van Dyke testified that the teen was advancing on him and ignoring his shouted orders to drop the knife. Van Dyke conceded that he stepped toward McDonald and not away from the teen, as he had initially claimed. But the officer maintained the rest of his account. 'The video doesn't show my perspective,' he said. The officer had been on the force for 13 years. In that time, he was the subject of at least 20 citizen complaints - eight of which alleged excessive force, according to a database that includes reports from 2002 to 2008 and 2011 until 2015. Though he was never disciplined, a jury did award $350,000 to a man who filed an excessive-force lawsuit against him. Van Dyke testified that McDonald was the first person he ever shot. To boost their contention that McDonald was dangerous, defense attorneys built a case against the teenager, who had been a ward of the state for most of his life and wound up in juvenile detention after an arrest for marijuana possession. They also pointed to an autopsy that showed he had the hallucinogen PCP in his system. Prosecutors stressed that Van Dyke was the only officer ever to fire a shot at McDonald. They called multiple officers who were there that night as they sought to chip away at the 'blue wall of silence' long associated with the city's police force and other law enforcement agencies across the country. Three officers, including Van Dyke's partner that night, have been charged with conspiring to cover up and lie about what happened to protect Van Dyke. They have all pleaded not guilty. There is one member of the Royal Family who knows exactly how it feels to wake up in the midst of a hectic overseas royal tour while also expecting a child for the first time. That is why the Queen will have every sympathy for the Duchess of Sussex this morning. For she was in the very same situation seven decades back as she embarked on her first visit to France while three months pregnant with Prince Charles. And there is no way that the Duchess of Sussex will be expected to endure the sort of stress and challenges which Princess Elizabeth faced in May 1948 including crowds of half a million, a late-night visit to a night club and long, champagne-fuelled five-course banquets with piles of unpasteurised food (Prince Philip succumbed to food poisoning). As I discovered while writing my new book, Queen of the World, there was even a serious emergency on the royal plane on the way home. Coming in to land at London Airport, the Vickers Viking of the King's Flight was heading for the wrong runway and only altered course after ground staff fired a salvo of flares. The new royal baby, will be seventh in line to the throne yet he or she will still not be Royal - at least not to begin with - thanks to the fantastically baffling rules that make our monarchy a cut above.Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit the Catalyst Museum by the Mersey Gateway Bridge Unlike the Duchess of Sussex, however, the future Queen was still keeping her condition a closely-guarded secret so much so that she even won plaudits from French fashion writers for the slenderness of her waistline. And when she did get home, it was considered so inappropriate to discuss a royal pregnancy that there was no formal announcement about her condition. Instead, the Palace simply issued a statement saying that Princess Elizabeth would 'undertake no public engagements after the end of June'. Such were the niceties back in the age of deference. The spotlight is less forgiving in the age of the iphone and 24-hour rolling news. Which is why the monarch will be keeping a protective eye on her granddaughter-in-law as the Sussexes embark on their big tour Down Under. But while the Queen must be delighted by yesterday's news, will she be minded to change the rules in order to make the child royal when he or she finally arrives? For, as things stand, this will not be a royal baby. Harry and Meghan's child will be seventh in line to the Throne. Yet he or she will still not be royal. For that to happen, the monarch would need to change the rules laid down by her grandfather George V. He or she will merely enjoy the same status as the child of any ordinary duke (if there is such a thing as an ordinary duke). If the baby is a boy, then he will take the Duke's courtesy title and be called the Earl of Dumbarton. If the baby is a girl, she will be either 'Lady X Windsor' or 'Lady X Mountbatten-Windsor' (for extremely complicated reasons, the 'Mountbatten' barrel applies automatically to descendants of the Queen's two younger sons but is optional for the descendants of the Prince of Wales). The child will be seventh in line to the Throne. Yet he or she will still not be royal. For that to happen, the monarch would need to change the rules laid down by her grandfather George V. I understand that the Queen has no such plans. Nor do the Duke and Duchess of Sussex want it to happen. As a thoroughly modern royal couple, they are not about to start demanding extra royal perks in addition to the ones they already enjoy. Besides, as we shall see, any children from that marriage will eventually end up being royal one day anyway. When he created the House of Windsor in 1917, King George V wanted to place certain limits on the size and scope of the Royal Family. After all, there was a war on, not to mention a revolution underway in Russia. He decreed that only a monarch's children and grandchildren (via the male line) could be called royal. It is why British royal titles carry more clout than the ten-a-penny continental variety which confer royal status on pretty much every branch of a family tree. Europe is littered with people entitled to call themselves 'prince' and 'princess', especially in countries which abolished their monarchies years ago. With no overarching authority governing these titles, there have been plenty of bogus princelings, too. In Britain, however, the monarchy serves as a sort of TOFFCOM watchdog for royal pedigrees. And the law is straightforward: except for the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son of the monarch, HRH status lapses after two royal generations. It is why, say, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra all grandchildren of George V are HRH but their children are not. The rules can still be adapted, though, whenever the monarch wishes to do so. It is not widely known that the two children of the Earl and Countess of Wessex Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Viscount Severn are officially both HRH and could therefore be Princess Louise and Prince James. They do not use their royal titles, however, because their parents prefer it that way and the Queen has agreed. In 2012, the Queen also changed the rules solely for the benefit of the children of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, even though they had yet to start a family. As things stand, once the child is born, the usual dynastic quirks will still apply. As a result, Harry and Meghan's baby will not be royal, despite being seventh in line to the Throne. She decreed that all of their children should become HRH, not just the first-born as George V had originally insisted. It explains why second-born Charlotte is Princess Charlotte and not Lady Charlotte and why Prince Louis is not just Lord Louis. It was not a question of Prince William wanting to give his children some sort of royal romotion. The reasons were actually political. When the Queen made that change in the rules, legislation was already under way to reform the laws of royal succession and abolish the system of male primogeniture. It would have been pretty odd if the couple's first-born child had been a girl who was in direct line to the Throne yet not considered royal. That issue does not apply to a child of Prince Harry since he or she is not in direct line to the Throne. Hence, there is no pressing need for any change in the rules. Besides, once the Prince of Wales becomes King the child will automatically be upgraded to HRH by dint of being the grandchild of a reigning sovereign. So royal status is not being denied. It is merely deferred. As things stand, once the child is born, the usual dynastic quirks will still apply. As a result, Harry and Meghan's baby will not be royal, despite being seventh in line to the Throne. On the other hand Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra will still be as royal as ever because she is the granddaughter of a ruling sovereign (George V) even if the new arrival will push her down the pecking order to Number 54. It is hardly surprising other countries find our royal titles baffling, if not inexplicable. But never mind. They will all be watching next spring as the world's media gather on the hospital steps for that first glimpse of a new royal generation. Such is the magic of monarchy. A former security director for the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee admitted Monday that he lied to the FBI about contacts with three reporters. James Wolfe was arrested and indicted in June as part of an investigation into how journalists got access to classified materials. The Justice Department said Monday that Wolfe's involvement was limited to disclosing 'unclassified, but not otherwise publicly available, information.' Federal investigators seized large numbers of phone records and emails this year from New York Times national security reporter Ali Watkins, who had a three-year relationship with Wolfe, 32 years her senior. Wolfe is married to a former senior FBI official. He has insisted he never shared classified information with Watkins. James Wolfe, a former top security official with the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, admitted Monday in court that he lied to the FBI about his contacts with reporters Wolfe was carrying on a three-year affair with New York Times reporter Ali Watkins, one of the reporters he was suspected of leaking to Watkins (second from right) has been transferred from Washington to New York but kept her job with the Times despite her relationship with Wolfe (left) But the FBI focused on Wolfe in part because agents suspected he was the source for an article Watkins wrote in April 2017 while working for BuzzFeed. She had also previously worked for the Huffington Post, McClatchy and Politico. Watkins is 32 years younger than Wolfe, who romanced her for three years despite being married to a former Justice Department official himself Watkins reported in the story that Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, was recruited by a Russian spy. Communications records seized by the FBI revealed later that Wolfe spoke to Watkins a half-hour after the story was published. President Donald Trump said in June after Wolfe's indictment was made public that he was 'a very important leaker.' 'It could be a terrific thing,' he told reporters. Trump emphasized that 'Im a very big believer in freedom of the press, but Im also a believer that you cannot leak classified information.' Wolfe could be sentenced to five years and a $250,000 fine on December 20, but federal guidelines suggest he will draw a six month prison term. His job, which he held for nearly three decades, gave him access to the most sensitive materials flowing back and forth between the Senate and the White House. He also oversaw some of the Intelligence Committee's probe of claims the Russian government interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Wolfe's attorneys underscored on Monday that he was never charged with leaking any classified information. 'Jim has accepted responsibility for his actions and has chosen to resolve this matter now so that he and his family can move forward with their lives,' the lawyers said. 'We will have much more to say about the facts and Jim's distinguished record of nearly three decades of dedicated service to the Senate and the intelligence community at his sentencing hearing.' Wolfe was arrested in the summer and charged with lying to the FBI about his contact with reporters Wolfe held the keys to most of the secrets passed between the White House and the Senate; he's pictured in JUly 2017 following an Intelligence Committee meeting with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner The Times moved Watkins away from Washington over the summer and assigned her to a different beat in New York with 'close supervision' under a senior mentor, according to a statement from the paper's executive editor Dean Baquet. 'We are troubled by Ali's conduct, particularly while she was employed by other news organizations,' he wrote. 'For a reporter to have an intimate relationship with someone he or she covers is unacceptable. It violates our written standards and the norms of journalism.' Watkins' contact with Wolfe hay have begun while she was still in college. He gave her a pearl bracelet when she graduated in May 2014. Friends of Watkins say her relationship with Wolfe did not begin until the following autumn. Baquet wrote in a staff memo that no one has challenged the accuracy of Watkins' stories, and said she was 'not well served' by her some of her former editors at other publicationswho 'failed to respond appropriately to her disclosures about her relationships.' Prince Harry is happier than he has ever been as he and Meghan prepare to become parents next spring. He has been an emotional wreck - but in a good way! since discovering the Duchess of Sussex is pregnant, one source said last night. It is something he has wanted for a long time and he couldnt be happier. He is so protective of her, the source added. Overjoyed: Meghan arriving in Sydney yesterday ahead of the news of her pregnancy announced today The news was announced by Kensington Palace after the smiling couple arrived in Sydney for the start of a gruelling 16-day tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. They insisted on going ahead with the trip in spite of Foreign Office advice to pregnant women about the risk of the Zika virus. There is no vaccination to prevent infection by the virus, which causes foetuses to develop severe deformities, but the couple will still travel to Fiji and Tonga next week, Last night it emerged: Meghans mother Doria Ragland was said to be among the first to know; She was very happy about this lovely news and looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild; Meghans estranged father Thomas Markle is delighted and told her by letter: You will make a great mother; The baby will be seventh in line to the throne and is likely to be titled Earl of Dumbarton or Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor; Moments after the baby announcement, Sarah Ferguson began tweeting pictures from her daughter Princess Eugenies wedding leading some to question if she felt upstaged. Being a father is something that Prince Harry has 'wanted for a long time', a source revealed Meghan, 37, is understood to have just had her 12-week scan. It means she is already in her second trimester, when the risk of miscarriage is deemed to lessen considerably. The couple excitedly told the rest of the Royal Family last Friday when they saw them at Princess Eugenies wedding. It sets the seal on a whirlwind year for Harry, 34, who has made no secret of his desire to start a family. It is only 12 months since the couple stepped out together in public for the first time, when they appeared together at the Invictus Games in Toronto. At the time, Meghan was still living full time in Canada and the couple were not even engaged. After Harry popped the question at the end of last year, they married in May and just two months later, toward the end of July, conceived their first child. In the middle of that month, they were on a mini-moon royal tour to Dublin, their first trip together as a married couple. And on August 4, they were partying at the wedding of Harrys best friend Charlie Van Straubenzee. In the spotlight: The Duke and Duchess Of Sussex pictured on arrival into Sydney. Harry is said to be an 'emotional wreck' at the news of Meghan's pregnancy Yesterday a Kensington Palace spokesman said the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were all delighted for the couple. They were able to share their happy news with the Royal Family in person at Fridays wedding, said an aide, which may have accounted for their low-key appearance at the nuptials. A friend added: They didnt make a grand announcement but had conversations with their family and friends and told them their news. Kensington Palace announced via Twitter that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby in spring Meghan is said to be in good health and has not had to cancel any public appearances because of her pregnancy. The Duchess of Cambridge who sadly suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of pregnancy-related sickness. Her pregnancy is likely to be monitored closely, however, as by the age of 35 any woman expecting a baby is technically classed by doctors as a geriatric mother. The couples tour will be highly demanding. It includes opening the princes Invictus Games for injured service personnel in Sydney later this week. Yesterday they flew into the city, where they were staying at Admiralty House, the residence of the governor-general. Harry and Meghan have insisted their trip to the two most remote South Pacific islands will go ahead despite the risk of Zika. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises pregnant women to avoid all but essential travel there. It is believed one of the first to know about the pregnancy was Meghans mother, who friends suspect she told in person when she came to visit her in London last month. In a statement issued through Kensington Palace. Miss Ragland said she was very happy about this lovely news and looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild. Meghans father, Thomas Markle, from whom she is estranged after a series of hugely public embarrassments, is believed to have been informed by Miss Ragland a little while ago, said a friend, and is absolutely overjoyed at the news. The couples new baby will be seventh in line to the throne but will not be a prince or princess because of rules brought in by George V. In its statement yesterday, Kensington Palace said: Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news. Florida police have released disturbing video of a city politician shooting and killing a shoplifter at point-blank range after he robbed his story. Michael Dunn, a Lakeland city commissioner, is seen wrestling with 50-year-old Christobal Lopez at the entrance to his Vets Army Navy Surplus store in Lakeland on October 3. Lopez is seen trying to escape while Dunn, 47, holds on to the intruder's arm in one hand and a pistol in the other hand. Michael Dunn, a Lakeland city commissioner, is seen wrestling with 50-year-old Christobal Lopez at the entrance to his Vets Army Navy Surplus store in Lakeland, Florida, on October 3 As Lopez is about to slip away and flee the store, Dunn tries to grab his shoulder. The entire time, Dunn is pointing his gun at Lopez. As Lopez struggles to break free of Dunns grip, Dunn pulls the trigger and shoots him. Lopez is seen falling to the pavement just outside of the store. Nobody tries to offer Lopez assistance or first aid, and lies on the pavement unattended for three minutes. Dunn accused Lopez of trying to steal a hatchet. Dunns lawyer, Rusty Franklin, claims that his client was justified in shooting Lopez because he was holding a hatchet during the struggle, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The Lakeland Police Department and the State Attorneys Office continue to investigate the shooting. Lopez is seen trying to escape while Dunn, 47, holds on to the intruder's arm in one hand and a pistol in the other hand The entire time, Dunn is pointing his gun at Lopez. As Lopez struggles to break free of Dunns grip, Dunn pulls the trigger and shoots him. A state attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit told the Times that the investigation is expected to wrap up sometime this week. Police said that Lopez tried to shoplift a hatchet from inside the store. They arrived at the store at around 2:30pm and found Lopez dead on the sidewalk. Dunn told police that he confronted Lopez by asking him if he was going to pay for the hatchet. In Florida, a person is legally permitted to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. From viewing the video, it does not appear that Dunns life was in any danger. The so-called stand your ground law does not require anyone who perceives themselves as being under threat to retreat before using force. The video appears to show Lopez trying to flee. At no time did he appear to pose a threat to Dunn. Two lawyers who reviewed the footage for the Times said that Dunn will have a difficult time explaining his position in court if charges are filed. Lopez lies on the ground for at least three minutes without anyone approaching to render first aid Cops then arrive and find him on the sidewalk. He was declared dead a short time later Dunn, a Lakeland City Commissioner, is seen on the left. Lopez is seen on the right Two lawyers who reviewed the footage from the Vets Army Navy surplus store (above) said that Dunn will have a difficult time explaining his position in court if charges are filed Florida law does allow store employees to use reasonable force to detain suspected shoplifters. Dunn may claim that he feared Lopez would take a swipe at him with the hatchet while they were struggling near the door. Lopez was laid to rest Monday morning in Wauchula, Florida. This is the second time that Dunn has shot a person, though its the first time the shooting was fatal. When Dunn was 19, Dunn accidentally shot a man, according to the Lakeland Ledger. Dunn is known to be a strong advocate of gun ownership. Authorities are investigating why two planes flew dangerously close to each other in wild weather last week. A Qantas 737 was flying into Brisbane from Melbourne as a Virgin Australia 737 departed Brisbane for Proserpine, Queensland. Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and Airservices Australia have launched separate investigations into 'a loss of separation' between the aircrafts. The incident happened last Thursday over the Ipswich suburb of Amberley, 66 kilometres from Brisbane Airport. A Virgin Australia 737 (pictured) was involved in an incident with a Qantas aircraft last week after it left Brisbane bound for Proserpine in North Queensland It's understood both planes were following directions from air traffic controllers, The Australian reported. Airservices Australia was investigating the role of air traffic controllers in the incident. 'A loss of required separation was reported between two Boeing 737 aircraft near Amberley on 11 October 11,' a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. 'Controllers issued a weather diversion and approach clearance to the inbound aircraft, which resulted in a loss of separation with the departing aircraft.' She wouldn't reveal the distance between the planes but said that significant safety margins were built into its systems. The ATSB will conduct interviews as part of their investigation. 'A report will be published at the completion of the investigation,' said an ATSB statement. 'However, should a critical safety issue be identified during the course of the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify relevant parties.' A Qantas spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia their crew 'followed air traffic control directions at all times'. A Qantas 737 (pictured bottom) was flying into Brisbane from Melbourne when it flew dangerously close to another aircraft departing Brisbane A Virgin Australia spokeswoman added: 'Virgin Australia takes the safety of our aircraft, passengers and crew very seriously. The matter is currently being investigated by the ATSB and Virgin Australia will cooperate with this investigation.' Airservices Australia's recently released annual report citing 'zero significant safety occurrences' in the 2017-18 financial year. The latest incident came as dozens of flights from Sydney Airport were cancelled when two air traffic controllers called in sick last week. Airservices Australia is investigating the role of air traffic controllers in the incident There's a shortage of air traffic controllers worldwide, according to Civil Air Australia president Tom McRobert. 'We have lost some people overseas, and when ATC (air traffic control) was taken off the 457 visa list, that created issues for some international recruits,' he told The Australian. The Airservices spokeswoman denied understaffing claims and said that a national recruitment program was in place to ensure an 'adequate supply of controllers at all our locations'. A surveillance camera captured the moment a heavy-set Texas man beat a woman and hurled her small body into the road as they appeared to argue over a parking space. The footage shows the tattooed man - who donned a Nike tank top with his sunglasses and black neck chain confront a gray-haired lady as she got out of her car at the Golden Wok Chinese restaurant parking lot near Loop 410 and Marbach in San Antonio in September. After a brief chat with the older woman during which he points at his van and she gestures in the direction she's heading, the female leaves the frame. Anjelica Lozano was left battered and bruised after the incident outside a Chinese restaurant A Texas man was caught on camera beating up Norma Lozano's (pictured) daughter who threw a punch at him after he kicked her car Surveillance camera captured the moment the heavy-set man punched Anjelica multiple times in a San Antonio in September It's not clear what's being said at that point but the woman confirmed they were talking about a space he had his eyes on in the video obtained by Liveleak.com. She added that he was cursing and yelling as he accused them of taking the spot he had been waiting for. 'I just blew him off I'm parked I'm going in,' she told Fox San Antonio. 'I'm parked, go find another parking. There's other parking slots in the parking lot.' Then the video shows her daughter step out the back of the parked vehicle. After seeing the man kick the motor on the opposite, the younger lady wearing a yellow top, walks over and punches him in the side of the face. At that point he turns around and slams her head against another vehicle then pounds her several times in the head and body before her much smaller frame falls to the floor. He delivered several blows as the woman fell to the ground in between two vehicles 'I just remember my hair being pulled getting hit to my face he threw me down to the ground he was punching me,' Anjelica Lozano said. The original woman he spoke to about the car then returns and seemingly tries to reason with him but he pushes her out of the way causing her to take a tumble. Although the footage does not show what happened behind her car, Norma shared he also punched her. 'He came at me, and he pushed me and he uppercut me I flew through the air and I landed and I hit my head,' she explained. 'I didn't know what was happening, I was on the ground, my head was pounding, my back is hurting. I didn't know what was happening.' The clips shows onlookers rush over to the side of the women but do not approach the man as he heads off in another direction. But the shocking retaliation doesn't put off the woman in the yellow and she follows the man whose van is stopped in the middle of the parking lot road toward his blue vehicle. He then threw her across the parking lot after she followed him to his car and onlookers rushed over to the group Another car obstructs the view of the further violence but she ends up on the ground with her feet in the air once more. The persistent woman gets back up almost immediately and seems to have words with him at the door of the driver's side. He doesn't use any more violence and drives away as she kicks the van. 'I want this guy off the street he's a monster,' Norma said. 'He's a monster with a short fuse. I want this guy off the street, I want him behind bars.' Police said they had identified a suspect and were moving forward with the investigation. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated he could move Australia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv - mimicking US President Donald Trump's decision that led to riots and bloodshed. Mr Morrison is expected to make an announcement on Tuesday as part of a foreign policy statement on Israel, in Canberra. The prime minister has also credited the Liberal Party's Wentworth by-election candidate Dave Sharma, a former Australian ambassador to Israel, with raising the issue. Scroll down for video Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated he could move Australia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv The decision by the prime minister (pictured) would mimick US President Donald Trump's decision that led to riots and bloodshed 'He's arguing it can be done consistent with Australia's long-running position ... he's actually changing the way in which the issue is conceived,' Mr Morrison told Fairfax Media. Wentworth, the former Sydney blue-ribbon electorate of Malcolm Turnbull, has a large Jewish community and voters will go to the polls this weekend. If Australia does proceed, it will be following the US which earlier this year moved its embassy, effectively recognising the holy city of Jerusalem as the 'true' capital of Israel. Mr Trump opened the new US embassy in the city in May. On the same day Israeli forces shot dead 58 Palestinians protesting the move. Jerusalem is also a holy city for the largely Muslim population of the Palestinian territories, and they feared that recognition of the city as a Jewish capital would imperil shared access to the many religious sites. The incident in Gaza was the bloodiest day for the region in four years. It would also be a departure from the position taken by former prime minister Mr Turnbull and former foreign minister Julie Bishop. Mr Trump opened the new US embassy in the city in May, on the same day Israeli forces shot dead 58 Palestinians protesting the move (pictured protests against him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following announcement) Labor, meanwhile, has attacked Mr Morrison's 'desperation' for signalling the move. Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the prime minister was playing 'dangerous and deceitful' word games. 'Foreign policy, and Australia's national interest are far too important to be played with in this fashion,' Senator Wong said. The decision to move the embassy by Mr Trump (pictured visiting the Western Wall in East Jerusalem in May 2017) led to the bloodiest day in Gaza in four years 'The people of Wentworth, and all Australians, deserve a leader who puts the national interest ahead of his self-interest, and governs in the best long term interest of the nation.' Labor is concerned the approach could undermine the prospect of a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. So far only the US and its ally Guatemala have moved their embassies to Jerusalem. If you think your rail service is bad, spare a thought for commuters who have to use Manchester's Oxford Road station every day. The Northern transport hub, which hosts more than nine million rail journeys every year, has been named as the worst 'train travel blackspot' in Britain. An investigation by consumer group Which? has found more than three quarters (77 per cent) of trains are either cancelled or fail to arrive or leave the station on time. Manchester Oxford Road station (pictured) saw 68 per cent of services delayed or cancelled Overall, more than two thirds (68 per cent) of trains have been late or cancelled since the beginning of the year. Of these one in twenty (5 per cent) were cancelled. Manchester was one of the cities hit hardest by the botched introduction of a new timetable across Britain's rail network in May, which wreaked havoc across England. Of the train companies which operate at Oxford Road station, East Midlands Trains was the most unreliable, with more than three quarters (78 per cent) of trains departing or arriving late. Many of the passengers are going to or from destinations including Sheffield, Liverpool Lime Street, Norwich, Newcastle, Leeds or Manchester Airport. York (above) was identified by Which? as the second worst 'train travel blackspot' in Britain York was identified by Which? as the second worst 'train travel blackspot'. Ten million train trips go through the station every year, with many passengers using heading to or from London King's Cross, Edinburgh Waverley, Newcastle and Leeds. The worst 10 stations in the UK for delays Just under two thirds (65 per cent) of trains departed or arrived late or were cancelled, according to the report. Virgin East Coast Trains performed the worst for passengers at this station, with more than three quarters (78 per cent) arriving or departing late or being cancelled. The franchise, which was run jointly by Stagecoach and Virgin, was temporarily renationalised towards the end of June, and is now operated under the LNER (London North Eastern Railway) brand. The rail service was followed closely by Grand Central (77 per cent) which serves Sunderland, London and Hartlepool among a host of other destinations. Passengers at Gatwick Airport and Birmingham New Street have put up with the joint third worst punctuality, with 60 per cent of services failing to run on schedule. Birmingham New Street Station was the joint third worst affected station in the whole of the UK Many Gatwick passengers would have been relying on their train to get them to the airport in time for a flight. At this station, Southern had 66 per cent of trains late or cancelled, while Thameslink was only marginally better, with 59 per cent. The analysis adopts a more stringent approach to punctuality than the rail industry, which only classifies a train as late if it arrives at its final destination more than five minutes behind schedule. This rises to ten minutes or more for long distance trains. But Which? - which obtained the data between January 1 and September 30 from tracking site On Time Trains - marked a train as late if it arrived at least one minute behind schedule. It said that even a delay of a few minutes can have a knock on effect on other services on the network, and can cause a passenger to miss their onward journey. Many Gatwick passengers would have been relying on their train to get them to the airport in time for a flight. At this station (above), Southern had 66 per cent of trains late or cancelled The consumer group acknowledged that not all delays and cancellations are the fault of the train operating companies. Three of Scotland's busiest railway stations among worst for delays and cancellations in UK Three of Scotland's busiest railway stations have been named among the UK's worst for delays and cancellations. More than four in ten trains leaving Edinburgh Waverley Station were delayed by at least a minute and 4 per cent were cancelled so far this year. Glasgow's Queen Street and Central stations were in the top 20 worst performing stations, in figures published by consumer group Which? It obtained data covering January 1 to September 30 from tracking site On Time Trains and marked a train as late if it arrived at least one minute behind schedule. Waverley was ranked 16th worst in the UK, with 42 per cent of services delayed, while Glasgow Queen Street ranked 18th with 39 per cent delayed and 3 per cent cancelled. Glasgow Central was 19th worst, with 34 per cent of services delayed and 3 per cent cancelled. ScotRail runs the majority of services from the three stations. A spokesman said: 'The most recent figures show more than four out of five trains met their punctuality target over the previous four weeks. 'The investment we are making in new and upgraded trains, and our recruitment drive to increase the number of people working on our front line, will help us to significantly improve the service we provide to our customers.' Advertisement Much of the disruption is caused by problems with the tracks or signalling systems which are looked after by Network Rail, backed by the government. An independent report published by the Office of Rail and Road last month concluded that rail companies, Network Rail, the Department of Transport and the ORR itself were all to blame to the travel mayhem caused by the new timetable. Of those whose journeys were disrupted, relatively few will be entitled to any compensation. The analysis from Which? found that just 3 per cent of services were delayed by 15 minutes or more and 3 per cent were cancelled. This means that passengers on up to 13 per cent of delayed or cancelled services could be eligible for compensation under the tougher Delay Repay 15 compensation scheme adopted by some rail companies. Many train companies still only offer compensation for delays of 30 minutes or more or run an alternative compensation scheme. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has recently announced the launch of another independent review into Britain's railways to see how they can be run more efficiently. Alex Hayman, managing director of public markets at Which? said: 'Passengers have told us reliability is hugely important to them. People have been left deeply frustrated at the unacceptably high levels of delays and cancellations which impact on their everyday lives. 'Passengers must be at the centre of the forthcoming Government rail review, it must look at performance targets to drive improvements in punctuality and reliability for passengers.' China has issued a chilling warning to Australia after it emerged that the Morrison government would be increasing its naval cooperation with the US in the South China Sea. An editorial published in the China Daily, the state media outlet, said that Australia was walking a tightrope between the US and China. It warned of a Cold War if the government aligned too closely with the US. China and America are caught in conflict over the South China Sea which sees a third of the worlds shipping pass through it every year, carrying more than $3 trillion in trade. China has issued a terrifying warning to Australia after it emerged that the Morrison government would be increasing its naval cooperation with the US in the South China Sea Huge oil and gas reserves are also believed to sit beneath the seabed and ownership of the region has long been disputed. John Bolton, the US national security advisor, said in a radio interview last week that President Trump believed China had benefitted from one-sided trade agreements for far too long, and not enough Americans had stood up to it, news.com.au reports. The Trump position was that China had no more sovereignty over the South China Sea than the other countries that border it, and it should remain as international waters. Weve got to do more to establish for the Chinese that we do not acknowledge the legitimacy of any of (their claims to the South China Sea), Mr Bolton said. They need to know they have not achieved a fait accompli here this is not a Chinese province and will not be. China and the US are caught in conflict over the South China Sea which sees a third of the worlds shipping pass through it every year, carrying more than $3 trillion in trade Canberra and Tokyo condemned Chinese government militarisation in the region last week, which prompted the statement in The China Daily. The statement said that Australia should not allow the resurgence of the Cold War paranoia that has already taken hold of the US, affect their decisions. (Australian leaders) should realise the full significance of a return of the full-scale mistrust of the Cold War, as it will create a fragile peace that risks being shattered by the slightest misstep, it read. They should be aware that letting the US lead them by the nose as it pursues a confrontational strategy is really not in their best interests. Canberra and Tokyo condemned Chinese government militarisation in the South China Sea last week which prompted the statement in the China Daily John Bolton, US President Donald Trumps national security advisor, said in a radio interview last week: Weve got to do more to establish for the Chinese that we do not acknowledge the legitimacy of any of (their claims to the South China Sea)' If a Cold War were to break out between China and the US, Australia would be in a vulnerable position between the two given the increasing significance of trade deals with China and the continued strong military and security ties to the US. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters last month that Australia seeks to maintain strong and peaceful relationships with both countries. He added that Australia would provide a calming influence to the rising tensions between the two. Were cool heads in this situation, he said. Times of uncertainty are exactly that and its our job to work with everybody to reduce that uncertainty. A seven-year-old girl has died after a head-on car collision which injured six others, leaving a woman fighting for her life. A Holden Commodore was believed to be travelling in the opposite direction of a Honda Civic when the collision occurred at Brown Coalmine Road near Yallourn North in Gippsland, eastern Victoria, at about 3.30pm on Monday. Police confirmed the injured seven-year-old was airlifted to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital after the crash in the Commodore but died on Monday night. A brutal two-car collision has killed one girl and injured six others on a highway in Victoria A 29-year-old woman, believed to be the girl's mother and who was in the same vehicle, was flown to The Alfred Hospital with serious injuries to her ankle, pelvis, chest and neck. The woman was initially in a critical condition but was confirmed as stable on Tuesday morning. Police have said two other children, a boy, 5 and a girl, 3, were also in Commodore during the incident and were hospitalised with minor injuries. The three-year-old was released from hospital. The seven-year-old girl and the 29-year-old woman were airlifted after the car crash A witness has described the scene to be a 'horrific incident' with 'petrol and glass and crying kids everywhere' A 49-year-old woman and two 15-year-old boys were in the Honda Civic when the incident happened and were taken to Latrobe Regional Hospital in a stable condition. A witness Amy Hunt described the scene a 'horrific' accident, with 'petrol and glass and crying kids everywhere'. A spokesperson for Yallourn North Urban Fire Brigade told The Herald Sun the head-on crash was one of the worst he had witnessed. Both directions of Brown Coalmine Road have been closed. Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the accident. The hunt for saboteurs who spiked strawberries with needles, sparking a national crisis, has been scaled back as police admit theyre no closer to catching the saboteurs. Queensland Police have pulled all but one officer from the investigation. 'A lead investigator is coordinating the ongoing QPS investigation with the support of a number of officers attached to the Drug and Serious Crime Group within State Crime Command,' the QPS said in a statement. Queensland police have admitted that they are no closer to catching the strawberry vandals The contamination crisis began on September 9 when a young man was hospitalised after swallowing a needle 'Queensland officers are continuing to work closely with multiple jurisdictions and government agencies investigating the matter. 'At this stage, there is no evidence of a coordinated and organised contamination occurring.' The contamination crisis began on September 9 when a young man was hospitalised after swallowing a needle. Several other people also claimed they had found needles in their strawberries which led to a nationwide recall of the affected products. Six brands - Donnybrook Berries, Love Berry, Delightful Strawberries, Oasis, Berry Obsession and Berry Licious - were recalled amid the contamination scare, with shoppers advised to cut into the fruit before eating it. With more than 100 reports of tampered fruit, many of which are thought to be fake or copycat cases, has led to officers mitigating their investigation. Six brands - Donnybrook Berries, Love Berry, Delightful Strawberries, Oasis, Berry Obsession and Berry Licious - were recalled amid the contamination scare A police source told Fairfax media that the series of copycat offences had distracted officers from the original attacks on three Queensland-based brands. There were also two witnesses in the Caboolture area, near the affected farms, who are still waiting to be contacted by the detectives, Fairfax reported. Other states' police forces, including the Australian Federal police have all directed their media inquiries to Queensland Police Services. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a maximum of 15 years' jail for anyone found guilty of contaminating food. 'It's not a joke, it's not funny. You are putting the livelihoods of hard-working Australians at risk, and you are scaring children... and you're a coward and a grub,' he said. 'This is a shocking and cowardly thing for this individual and others who have jumped onto the bandwagon here to have engaged in.' National bans on smacking children have been linked to lower rates of violence among young people. When parents cannot smack and corporal punishment is banned in schools, the rate of fighting in boys falls by more than two-thirds. In girls it falls by more than 40 per cent, according to a study of teenagers across 88 countries. Researchers suggest repeated physical punishment may reinforce aggressive thoughts, emotions and actions. Research has found that when parents cannot smack and corporal punishment is banned in schools, the rate of fighting in boys falls by more than two-thirds. In girls it falls by more than 40 per cent (stock picture) The Government has come under growing pressure to outlaw smacking in the home in England. Wales and Scotland are already due to ban it. The study was led by McGill University in Canada and published in the journal BMJ Open. The authors say: These results support the hypothesis that societies that prohibit the use of corporal punishment are less violent to grow up in. But critics say ministers should not intrude into family life by changing the law, which now allows smacking at home as long as it causes no physical or mental harm. The study gives Britain as an example of a country with a partial ban on smacking. These countries, where physical punishment is banned in schools but not homes, have a 56 per cent lower rate of violence among girls, it states, although there is no difference for boys. Surveys on teenage behaviour were examined for 88 countries to determine if smacking bans altered rates of violence. The study, which was led by McGill University in Canada, found research that suggested repeated physical punishment may reinforce aggressive thoughts and actions (stock picture) The surveys principally involved children aged 11 to 17 and included a question on whether, and how often, the respondent had been involved in a physical fight over the past 12 months. Analysis of the responses showed that frequent physical fighting was more than three times as common among boys as girls. In countries were full bans were in force, the prevalence of physical fighting was 69 per cent lower among young men and 42 per cent lower among young women than it was in countries without any ban. In countries operating a partial ban, which include the UK, the US and Canada, the prevalence of physical violence was lower only among girls. This remained the case even when national wealth, murder rates and government programmes to reduce exposure to violence were taken into account. The study, published in the journal BMJ Open, states: A growing number of countries have banned corporal punishment as an acceptable means of child discipline and this is an important step that should be encouraged, especially in countries that have seen an effective lobby against such prohibitive approaches. A Menulog delivery driver has been spotted dropping off takeaway food at the luxurious Sydney accommodation of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The driver was snapped outside Admiralty House in the city's harbourside suburb of Kirribilli just hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's arrival on Monday. The couple spent their first night together in Australia at the address, which is the Sydney residence of Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove. A Menulog driver dropped off a takeaway meal at Admiralty House on Monday, possibly for a jet-lagged Harry and Meghan. The driver handed over the curry to police to take inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spent their first night together in Australia at the address after announcing their exciting baby news. They are pictured on Tuesday morning The food, from a nearby restaurant, was handed over to a police officer to take inside. But the delivery driver told reporters he was surprised to hear the Royal couple were staying inside the home. 'Oh they're in there? English people love curry, right?,' the delivery driver told The Daily Telegraph. But it is unclear who the food delivery was for. The pair were whisked away to Admiralty House after arriving in Sydney on Monday morning (pictured) The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had a quiet start to their tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, with no official duties on Monday after a long-haul flight via Singapore. Kensington Palace announced late on Monday afternoon the couple were expecting their first child early next year. On Tuesday, the Royal couple visited Taronga Zoo, near Admiralty House, before later heading to the Sydney Opera House. The following day, they were to head to Dubbo, in the New South Wales Central West, then Melbourne, before returning to Sydney on Friday. Australia's most senior Muslim cleric has claimed gay teachers 'contradict nature' and suffer from 'mental illness'. Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly made the claims as he weighed into the debate about whether religious schools should have the right to exclude homosexual teachers because they did not reflect school values. Sheikh Hilaly backed moves to support such religious freedom and said same-sex-attracted teachers should 'not impose their lifestyle on the rest of society'. The controversial Sunni Muslim leader, who in 2006 described immodestly dressed women as 'uncovered meat', told The Australian through a translator schools should not be 'a club for those seeking to satisfy their desires'. Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly has weighed into the debate about religious freedom in schools with a declaration homosexual teachers should 'not impose their lifestyle on the rest of society' 'We are a free democratic society that believes in diversity and human rights and we reject constrictions on the rights of others even if they are afflicted with abnormal practices that contradict nature,' he said. 'In such cases, we must respect their humanity and deal with the issue as a mental illness that requires care and treatment.' Sheikh Hilaly made his remarks in Arabic after Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a Pentecostal Christian, and Labor leader Bill Shorten, a Jesuit Catholic, both said they would like to remove anti-discrimination exemptions for religious schools. Mr Morrison has indicated he wants to remove loopholes that allow faith-based schools to expel openly-gay students while Mr Shorten has gone further and announced he wanted to also ban such discrimination against gay teachers. The controversial Sunni Muslim leader told The Australian through a translator schools should not be ' a club for those seeking to satisfy their desires' (Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras pictured) The government has yet to release in full the religious freedom review by former federal attorney-general Philip Ruddock which reportedly recommended removing the right of faith-based schools to expel gay students. Sheikh Hilaly ascension to his former role as Grand Mufti was last month challenged by the Australian National Imams Council and the United Muslims of New South Wales. They issued a media release in September questioning how Muslims at Logan, south of Brisbane, had bestowed the title on him. Of the 17 electorates across Australia, that last year voted no to same-sex marriage in a postal vote survey, nine were Labor electorates in western Sydney. Senior Labor frontbencher Tony Burke's electorate of Watson, which includes the Lakemba mosque, had Australia's highest 'no' vote of 70 per cent. A newlywed couple's dream honeymoon has been left in tatters after a horrified husband found his wife unconscious on a gym floor, having suffered multiple strokes. Joe and Francheska Bechara set off for New York City on a three-week trip around the United States one day after getting married in Sydney on October 7. On the second day of their romantic getaway, Mr Bechara, 28, was devastated to find his new bride, 27, on the floor of a gym, and she was rushed to hospital. She had suffered from multiple strokes and had to undergo three major emergency brain surgeries at Mount Sinai Hospital in order to reduce swelling and save her life. Mrs Bechara faces a four-month recovery in the United States - leaving the couple with huge medical bills soon after they purchased a new home. Joe and Francheska Bechara set off for three weeks in New York City after getting married in Sydney on October 7 On the second day of their romantic getaway, Mr Bechara, 28, was devastated to find his new bride, 27, on the floor of a gym, and she was rushed to hospital She had suffered from multiple strokes and had to undergo three major emergency brain surgeries at Mount Sinai Hospital in order to reduce swelling and save her life A Go Fund Me page was set up to raise money for the couple. 'All the costs are upfront and we want to help Francheska and Joe get through this horrific time,' the page reads. 'We also want to make sure after this terrible event they won't struggle when they return home. 'We want to eliminate all the financial stress for this beautiful couple so they focus on Francheska's recovery.' Mrs Bechara's brother-in-law Joe Toubia said his family - including her three sisters and one brother - are 'devastated', and are still in the dark as to what caused her sudden health problems. Both of the couple's mothers jumped on a plane and flew to New York to be at Mrs Bechara's bedside when they found out about her condition. The Becharas did have travel insurance, and their hospital costs are estimated to be about $20,000 per day. Mrs Bechara's brother-in-law Joe Toubia said his family - including her three sisters and one brother - are 'devastated' The couple have been together for eight years after meeting at their local church, where their romance began with 'love at first sight' The couple had been together for eight years after meeting at their local church Our Lady of Lebanon, where their romance began with 'love at first sight' The couple were engaged in February 2016 at Cedars Restaurant in Ryde during a family celebration with more than 80 guests in attendance The couple had been together for eight years after meeting at their local church Our Lady of Lebanon, where their romance began with 'love at first sight'. 'They have been working all these years to save for the perfect wedding,' the Go Fund Me page stated. The couple were engaged in February 2016 at Cedars Restaurant in Ryde during a family celebration with more than 80 guests in attendance. The fundraising page set a goal of $300,000, having raised $27062 in less than a day. A charity event and auction is being scheduled for late November or early December at La Montage in Lilyfield, Sydney to raise money for Mrs Bechara's recovery. A charity event and auction is being scheduled for late November or early December at La Montage in Lilyfield, Sydney to raise money for Mrs Bechara's recovery A British-built spacecraft will blast off for Mercury in an adventurous mission later this month. BepiColombo will be the first spacecraft to use electrical ion thrusters to travel to the planet - and report back on what it finds. And it uses engines that use so little fuel that compared to a petrol engine, it would achieve 17.8 million miles to the gallon. A British-built spacecraft will blast off for Mercury in an adventurous mission later this month. BepiColombo will be the first spacecraft to use electrical ion thrusters to travel to the planet During BepiColombo's seven-year trip to Mercury its ion thrusters will be operating for 4.5 years. The resulting 'plasma' is fired out of the thruster at 90,000mph. Although the speed of the emerging plasma is rapid, the force it produces is tiny. But it can be maintained with high efficiency over a long period of time. Two engines will fire at any one time producing 290 millinewtons of thrust, the equivalent of about an ounce of force. MERCURY: THE MYSTERY PLANET For all its bland 'dead' appearance, Mercury is a very interesting place It is the smallest planet in our solar system - only slightly larger than the Earth's moon. On its sunward half, the planet sizzles at a temperature of 510C (950CF while its night side maintains 210C (346F). It is the closest planet to the sun at a distance of about 36 million miles (58 million km) or 0.39 AU. Mercury has a solid iron core that measures more than half the planet's diameter. Earth, by contrast, has a solid core that's just 9.5 per cent of its overall girth. One day on Mercury takes 59 Earth days. Mercury makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Mercury time) in just 88 Earth days. Advertisement The high-tech propulsion units work by 'ionising' inert xenon gas - knocking an electron off the gas atoms to give them a positive charge. Dr Jerry Bolter, project manager at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, where the thrusters were assembled, said: 'We recognised very early on that for BepiColumbo to do what we wanted it to do and get from here to Mercury we needed to have a very efficient propulsion system. If we relied on chemical propulsion then we'd need 17 tonnes of propellant.' 'The ion drive needs just 581 kilograms of propellant and does the equivalent of 17.8 million miles to the gallon.' Four T6 ion engines supplied by British defence and technology company QinetiQ are fitted to the craft's power unit, the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM). They work by 'ionising' inert xenon gas knocking an electron off the gas atoms to give them a positive charge. Ion drives have been used before to power Earth orbiting satellites and deep space missions to asteroids. But BepiColombo is the first interplanetary mission to rely on the technology. One probe was built by satellite makers Airbus Space and Defence at its assembly centre in Stevenage, Herts. The other was constructed in Japan. The mission, launching on October 20, has cost an estimated 1.6 billion Euros (1.4 billion). Unlike any other interplanetary spacecraft in history, BepiColombo carries a futuristic ion electric propulsion drive, also designed and built in the UK. During BepiColombo's seven-year trip to Mercury its ion thrusters will be operating for 4.5 years. The resulting 'plasma' is fired out of the thruster at 90,000mph Although the speed of the emerging plasma is rapid, the force it produces is tiny. But it can be maintained with high efficiency over a long period of time. Two engines will fire at any one time producing 290 millinewtons of thrust, the equivalent of about an ounce of force 2011 data from Nasa's Messenger probe revealed that Mercury had a violent, volcanic past. Pictured is a topographic map of Mercury constructed from data taken by the Messenger probe. The colours indicate elevation, with purple indicating low-lying regions and red meaning higher elevations Four ion engines on the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) transporting the orbiters will provide thrust by electrically ejecting a 'plasma' of charged xenon gas. Although the force an ion motor produces is very small - far less than that of a chemical rocket - it can be kept firing for a long period of time. The four-tonne spacecraft will be launched into an 'escape trajectory' orbit by Esa's most powerful rocket, the Ariane 5, from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana. HOW IT WILL GET TO MERCURY BepiColombo's two orbiters, Japan's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter and ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter, will be carried together by the Mercury Transport Module. The carrier will use a combination of electric propulsion and multiple gravity-assists at Earth, Venus and Mercury to complete the 7.2 year journey to the Solar System's mysterious innermost planet Once at Mercury, the orbiters will separate and move into their own orbits to make complementary measurements of Mercury's interior, surface, exosphere and magnetosphere. The information will tell us more about the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star, providing a better understanding of the overall evolution of our own Solar System. Scientists will first seek to launch what they termed 'a technological masterpiece' on October 5, 2018 from Kourou in French Guiana on the back of an Ariane rocket, with an eight-week launch window if there are any difficulties. 'Arrival at Mercury is first foreseen ... on December 5, 2025,' added Reininghaus. Advertisement It will then set off on a seven-year 8.5 billion kilometre (5.2 billion mile) journey involving a complex series of gravity-assist fly-bys around the Earth, Venus, and Mercury. As it circles towards the sun, BepiColombo will use its ion drive and the fly-bys not to build up speed but to brake and overcome the star's powerful gravity. After playing tag with Mercury six times while crossing the planet's orbital path, the spacecraft will arrive at its destination in 2025. Esa's Mercury Planet Orbiter (MPO) and the Japanese space agency Jaxa's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) will then separate to study the little-known sun-baked world for up to two years. The high-tech propulsion units work by 'ionising' inert xenon gas - knocking an electron off the gas atoms to give them a positive charge (Mission controllers at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, as they prepare for the BepiColombo launch) The latest theory contradicts the view that a large impact early in Mercury's history may have destroyed most of its outer layers MPO will make global maps of Mercury's surface chemistry and geological features, while MMO investigates the planet's internal structure and magnetic field. One of MPO's key instruments, the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (Mixs), was designed and built at the University of Leicester. Only two spacecraft have previously visited Mercury. Nasa's Mariner 10 flew past the planet three times in 1974-75, and the American space agency's Messenger probe orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015, taking photos of the surface. Dr Jerry Bolter, project manager at Airbus Defence and Space, said: 'The only other spacecraft to go in orbit around Mercury was Nasa's Messenger. That was a very, very light spacecraft and no-where near as capable as Bepi will be. The scientists describe Messenger as the hors d'oeuvre and Bepi as the main course.' Describing the spacecraft's ion drive, supplied by British defence tech company QinetiQ and installed at Airbus, he said: 'If we relied on chemical propulsion then we'd need 17 tonnes of propellant. 'The ion drive needs just 581 kilograms of propellant and does the equivalent of 17.8 million miles to the gallon.' Two ion engines run at any one time, producing a maximum thrust of 290 millinewtons - the equivalent of about an ounce of force. They will be actively firing for four-and-a-half years, more than half the total journey time. BepiColombo, a joint mission between Europe and Japan, is due to launch in 2016 and reach Mercury in 2024. Pictured here is the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter being constructed while MMO investigates the planet's internal structure and magnetic field. One of MPO's key instruments, the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (Mixs), was designed and built at the University of Leicester Dr Bolter added: 'I've been working on this project since 2006. It will be very emotional I think. It's a fundamental milestone getting the spacecraft off the ground. Then you start worrying: will we get communication? Will we get power? But it's also exciting.' A key challenge for mission scientists was coping with searing temperatures of more than 350C. In Greek mythology, Icarus flew too close to the sun and paid the ultimate price. Likewise, BepiColumbo's orbiters would face destruction without adequate protection. Among the measures employed were a heat shield, multi-layers of novel ceramic and titanium insulation, and ammonia-filled 'heat pipes' that conduct heat to a radiator face always pointed away from the sun. Only the MMO will spin to reduce overheating on any one surface. 'We have an environment inside the spacecraft where the electronics can run at normal temperature,' said Dr Bolter. Mixs scientist Professor Emma Bunce said: 'There are some interesting quirks about Mercury that we still don't understand. Messenger told us a great deal but also raised more questions. 'It's extremely exciting but also a little bit terrifying.' BepiColombo is named after the late Guiseppe 'Bepi' Colombo, an Italian scientist and engineer from the University of Padua who played a leading role in the 1974 Mariner 10 mission to Mercury. BepiColombo will be the first spacecraft to use electrical ion thrusters to travel to another planet. Four T6 ion engines supplied by British defence and technology company QinetiQ are fitted to the craft's power unit, the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM). They work by 'ionising' inert xenon gas - knocking an electron off the gas atoms to give them a positive charge. The resulting 'plasma' is attracted by electrostatic forces to a grid with an opposite negative charge and fired out of the thruster at 90,000mph. Although the force produced is tiny, it can be maintained with high efficiency over a long period of time. Four T6 ion engines supplied by British defence and technology company QinetiQ are fitted to the craft's power unit, the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) During BepiColombo's seven-year trip to Mercury its ion thrusters will be operating for 4.5 years. Two engines will fire at any one time producing 290 millinewtons of thrust, the equivalent of about an ounce of force. Unusually, the spacecraft will use energy not to speed up but to put the brakes on as it 'falls' towards the sun. It will achieve this both by firing the ion thrusters in the direction of travel, and by means of a complex series of fly-bys past the Earth, Venus and Mercury. Ion drives have been used before to power Earth orbiting satellites and deep space missions to asteroids. But BepiColombo is the first interplanetary mission to rely on the technology. Dr Jerry Bolter, project manager at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, where the MTM was assembled, said: 'We recognised very early on that for BepiColumbo to do what we wanted it to do and get from here to Mercury we needed to have a very efficient propulsion system. If we relied on chemical propulsion then we'd need 17 tonnes of propellant. 'The ion drive needs just 581 kilograms of propellant and does the equivalent of 17.8 million miles to the gallon.' He said the drive unit was 'very complicated' involving a lot of intricate computer-controlled electronics to control fuel rates and pressure. BepiColombo, Europe's first mission to Mercury, will use a host of instruments on two orbiters to unravel the planet's mysteries. After launch, the spacecraft will take seven years to reach the scorching planet closest to the sun. It will then deploy two probes packed with sophisticated technology. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), built in Britain, will study Mercury's surface and composition while the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) focuses on the electromagnetic environment surrounding the planet. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), built in Britain, will study Mercury's surface and composition while the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) focuses on the electromagnetic environment surrounding the planet A key instrument on the MPO, the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (Mixs), was developed and built at the University of Leicester. The 13kg (28lb) metre-long device consists of two X-ray telescopes, one designed to capture images of the surface and the other to analyse its composition. The planet is bombarded by high energy sub-atomic particles from the sun, causing the surface to 'fluoresce' and emit X-rays. Written into the rays are the 'fingerprints' of atoms, and analysing them provides information about what the planet is made of. Mixs scientist Professor Emma Bunce said there were 'interesting quirks' about Mercury that scientists still did not fully understand. Nasa's 2011 Messenger mission to Mercury supplied some answers but 'also raised more questions'. One of the planet's peculiarities was its unusually large iron core, which takes up much more room than the iron hearts at the centre of Earth, Mars and Venus. Prof Bunce said: 'It suggests that something dramatic happened early in Mercury's evolution, like a massive impact with another body that stripped away most of the mantle. 'However, one thing Messenger taught us is that there are many volatile substances on Mercury's surface. This is a puzzle because the heat of a major impact should have burned these volatiles away. 'One of the things we're looking at is a much more detailed study of volatile substances like sodium, potassium and chlorine.' Another Mercury mystery is the fact that X-ray fluorescence occurs on the planet's 'dark side', despite the lack of sun. Scientists believe they must be generated by a different process from the one on the sunlit side. 'The X-rays on the dark side appear to be organised and channelled by the magnetic field,' said Prof Bunce. 'Electrons from the magnetosphere are channelled along, impact the surface, and fluoresce X-rays. 'It's a bit like an aurora on the surface. That's really exciting - it's a really unusual scenario in the solar system that we can study.' To protect Mixs from the searing 350C heat, the instrument's finely crafted lenses are coated in aluminium, and the frame holding the optics in place is covered by a thin layer of 22 carat gold. Prof Bunce added: 'We want to understand how the solar system works and how it was formed. Mercury is a place of extremes; a small planet and the planet closest to the sun. Knowing how it has survived will help us piece together a bigger picture of the solar system and our place in it.' The Messenger mission was limited by the fact that it used one orbiter and only covered Mercury's northern hemisphere. BepiColombo would map the entire surface, said Prof Bunce. She was sure the wealth of science and technological spin-offs from the mission justified its 1.6 billion euro (1.4 billion) price tag. 'A billion pounds is what it takes to build a fairly short stretch of motorway, say from Leicester to Birmingham, and we're trying to answer fundamental questions about our solar system,' she said. Prof Bunce admitted to having mixed feelings as the countdown to the launch continued. 'It's extremely exciting but also a little bit terrifying,' she said. 'There's so much work our engineering and technical team has put into it over the past decade - all that blood, sweat and tears invested in that instrument sitting on the top of a rocket. It will be great to see it get on its way.' Greenhouse gas emissions need to be slashed to zero across the economy, the Prime Minister signalled yesterday. If adopted, the new targets would mean more radical changes than the countrys existing commitments. The need to reduce carbon will be across every single sector of the economy, with the Government pointing specifically to industry, homes, transport and agriculture. Prime Minister Theresa May wants greenhouse gas emissions to be slashed to zero across the UK For instance, it is likely to mean faster progress in switching to electric power for transport and an increase in planting trees. Ministers will also set out proposals for new laws for smart energy appliances, such as washing machines and electric heating, with the aim of making all new buildings smart by 2030. Prime Minister Theresa May said: On the global stage, the UK is driving forward action on climate change through our work at the UN and with our Commonwealth partners. To ensure that we continue to lead from the front, we are asking the experts to advise on targets for net zero emissions. Currently, the Government is committed under the 2008 Climate Change Act to cut emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels. But net zero the point at which emissions are balanced by the removal of greenhouse gases would be even more stringent. Yesterday, the Government said it wanted advice from the Committee on Climate Change, its advisory body, on how it could cut emissions even further. The need to reduce carbon will be across every single sector of the economy including transport Climate Change minister Claire Perry said it would give advice on a roadmap to a net zero economy, including how emissions might be reduced and the expected costs and benefits of doing so. Pressure group Plan B has already started legal action against the Government to review its targets in line with the 2014 Paris Agreement. This commits its 195 signatories to keep temperatures below 2C and try to cut them to 1.5C. Last week, the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned a failure to cut to 1.5C would lead to environmental catastrophes, including rising sea levels, heatwaves and droughts. If zero net emissions is adopted, the new targets would mean more radical changes than the countrys existing commitments Ed Matthew, of environment campaigners The Climate Coalition, said: It is not just the target that matters, its how fast we get there. The CCC must ensure that this net-zero pathway is compliant with no more than 1.5C of warming. Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron said the Tories had lurched drastically away from supporting green technologies. The Labour Party has already indicated it also wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. Pupils are being labelled as hyperactive and given medication when they are simply younger than others in their year, a study warns. Researchers examined the relationship between a childs age relative to classmates and their chances of being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). After reviewing 17 studies, covering more than 14million children, researchers found it was more common for the youngest in a classroom to be diagnosed with ADHD. After reviewing 17 studies, covering more than 14million children, researchers found it was more common for the youngest in a classroom to be diagnosed with ADHD (stock) Symptoms of the condition include being disruptive, fidgety, interrupting others and showing signs of emotional upset. But these are often just the result of the pupils being among the youngest in their year, the researchers claim. They say that as a result children are being given potentially harmful medication they do not need. Instead of treating the children with drugs, they should be given extra time to mature. Co-author Dr Joanna Moncrieff, of University College London, which carried out the study with other institutions, told the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry: The diagnosis of ADHD is sometimes applied to behaviour that is disruptive in the classroom because the child is young for their year. Children who are developing within the normal range may end up labelled and medicated because of the pressures and inflexibility of our school system. Lead author Dr Martin Whitely, research fellow at Curtin University, Western Australia, said there are no biological markers or physical tests for ADHD and the diagnosis is based in large part on teacher reports of a childs behaviour. He added: It appears that across the globe some teachers are mistaking the immaturity of the youngest children in their class for ADHD. Although teachers dont diagnose it, they are often the first to suggest a child may have ADHD. Our research shows that the ADHD late-birthday effect occurs in both high prescribing countries, like the US, Canada and Iceland, and in countries where ADHD is far less common, like Finland and Sweden. Symptoms of the condition include being disruptive, fidgety, interrupting others and showing signs of emotional upset. But these are often just the result of the pupils being among the youngest in their year, the researchers claim (stock image) Professor Jon Jureidini, a child psychiatrist at the University of Adelaide, said the findings showed the importance of teachers, doctors and parents giving the youngest children extra time to mature. He said: Mistaking perfectly normal age-related immaturity for ADHD is just one of many problems with the label. Children who are sleep-deprived, bullied, have suffered abuse or have a host of other problems, often get labelled ADHD. Not only does this result in them getting potentially harmful drugs they dont need, but their real problems dont get identified and addressed. Vietnam is preparing to strictly enforce a new cybersecurity law requiring global technology companies to set up local offices and store data in the country. That's despite pleas from Facebook, Google and other firms, a government document has revealed. Vietnamese lawmakers approved the new law in June, overriding strong objections from the business community, rights groups and Western governments. This includes the United States, who said the measure would undermine economic development, digital innovation and further stifle political dissent. Google, Facebook and other big technology firms had hoped a draft bill on how the law should be implemented would soften provisions they find most objectionable. Scroll down for video Vietnam is preparing to strictly enforce a new cybersecurity law requiring global technology companies to set up local offices and store data in the country. Critics say the controversial measure undermines economic development and further stifles political dissent (stock) WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE NEW LAW MEAN? The cyber law, which takes effect on 1 January, 2019, requires Facebook, Google and other global technology firms to store locally 'important' personal data on users in Vietnam and open offices there. Under the law, social media companies in Vietnam are required to remove offending content from their platforms within one day of receiving a request from the authorities. Human rights group Amnesty International said the law was a 'devastating blow' for freedom of expression, allowing the state to force tech companies to hand over potentially vast amounts of data, including personal information, and censor users posts. 'With the sweeping powers it grants the government to monitor online activity, this vote means there is now no safe place left in Vietnam for people to speak freely,' Clare Algar, Amnestys director of global operations, said in a statement. Advertisement The document, seen by Reuters, indicates those hopes are unlikely to materialise, potentially setting up a showdown over whether the companies will ultimately comply with the law or pull out of the country. Vietnams foreign ministry, which handles foreign media requests for comments from the government, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Facebook declined to comment. A Google spokesman had no immediate comment. Despite sweeping economic reforms and increasing openness to social change, Vietnams ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate political dissent. The new draft decree requires companies providing a range of services, including email, social media, video, messaging, banking and e-commerce, to set up offices in Vietnam if they collect, analyse or process personal user data. The companies would also be required to store a wide range of user data, ranging from financial records and biometric data to information on peoples ethnicity and political views, or strengths and interests inside Vietnams border. Facebook and Google, both of which are widely used in the country, do not have local offices or local data storage facilities and have pushed back on the localisation requirements. Mark Zuckerberg's social networking company has pleaded with Vietnams ruling Communist Party, which retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate political dissent (stock) The companies have been more muted on other parts of the law that bolster the governments online policing powers, though company officials have privately expressed concerns that the new law would make it easier for the authorities to seize customer data and expose local employees to arrest. A number of other countries in Asia and elsewhere are also pursuing data localisation laws as they seek greater control over the internet. Vietnam offers something of a case study in the conflicting pressures the likes of Facebook and Google confront when operating in countries with repressive governments. It also shows how authoritarian regimes try to walk a line in controlling online information and suppressing political activism without crippling the digital economy. Critics fear the new law will both dampen the burgeoning internet economy and intensify a crackdown on online dissent. Under the law, social media companies in Vietnam are required to remove offending content from their platforms within one day of receiving a request from the authorities Vietnam has been increasingly aggressive in prosecuting dissidents for anti-government Facebook posts, and activists have called on the company to do more to resist the governments censorship. The draft decree also gives the Vietnamese polices cybersecurity and high-tech crime unit authority to request data for investigation or to handle law violations on cyberspace or for national security protection. The head of the National Assemblys defense and security committee, Vo Trong Viet, said in June that storing data inside Vietnam was feasible, crucial to fighting cyber crime and in line with international rules. He has said placing data centres in Vietnam, which the companies say would increase costs and weaken security, is necessary to meet the cybersecurity needs of the country. The draft decree is expected to be published within days to seek public opinion. Once it is approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the law will go into effect on January 1 next year, though the provisions on local offices and data localisation would not go into effect for another year. An 85 million-year-old marine reptile that roamed the world's oceans during the time of the dinosaurs behaved similarly and shared physical traits with killer whales. That's the finding of a study that examined Tylosaurus mosasaurs, which grew up to 50 feet (15 metres) in length. The enormous creature, featured in the hit movie Jurassic World, were at the top of the prehistoric food chain and had no natural enemies, due to its intimidating size and fearsome appetite. Scientists studying small pieces of a fossil first found in 1991 in Kansas now believe it to be a baby T mosasaur that perished shortly after birth. Analysis of the bone fragments from the snout, skull and upper jaw led experts to conclude that these extinct predators behaved similarly to modern-day Orcas. A bony protrusion shared by both species let them subdue their prey by ramming them with snouts. Scroll down for video Scientists studying small pieces of an 85-million-year-old fossil found in Kansas in 1991 now believe it to be a baby mosasaur that perished shortly after birth. Tylosaurus mosasaurs' roamed the world's oceans during the time of the dinosaurs and grew up to 50 feet long WHAT IS A TYLOSAURUS MOSASAURUS? These animals are now extinct but they roamed the ocean's at the time of the dinosaurs. They are often colloquially known as the T-rex of the sea, due to its fearsome size and reputation. There are more than 30 different animals in the mosasauridae group and they all have distinct qualities. Tylosaurus have a bone protrusion on its head which is believed to be used in ramming and disabling its prey. They could grow up to 50 feet (15 metres) in length and their large head made up around one-sixth of the animal's body weight. The animal was brought to the public's attention in the film Jurassic World where a Tylosaurus appears to leap out of a tank and devours a dangling shark. Advertisement Scientists have been unable to provide a definitive answer to the fossil's identity despite it being first spotted more than 25 years ago. Paleontologists knew the specimen belonged to the mosasaur family, a group of large marine reptiles, but couldn't determine which. The specimen was initially identified as a mosasaur called Platecarpus, a species commonly found in that area during the same period 85 million years ago. Mosasauridae is a group of animals which features more than 30 genera of species, so identifying a particular specimen from a handful of fossil fragments can be daunting. Researchers from the University in Cincinnati have no discovered after decades of careful analysis that the bones represent an infant Tylosaurus mosasaur. The fossil's structure and the absence of the species's trademark snout made identification difficult and confused the investigating academics. 'Having looked at the specimen in 2004 for the first time myself, it too took me nearly 10 years to think out of that box and realize what it really was - a baby Tylosaurus yet to develop such a snout,' Takuya Konishi, professor at the University of Cincinnati and author of the research which has now been published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 'When orcas hunt dolphins and small whales, they subdue them by ramming them. And when you look at them, you see they have a protruding snout as well.' Like many other kinds of baby animals today, the baby mosasaur had not yet developed certain telltale features found in adults, Professor Konishi said. 'The degree of snout development was nowhere near that of an adult, which made me look elsewhere such as the braincase to call it Tylosaurus in the end. It was the ugly duckling that hadn't yet become the graceful swan,' Professor Konishi said. As a result of the new classification of the specimen, the researchers claim the snout developed and elongated at a rapid rate between infancy and adolescence. Snouts of the prehistoric predator were unusually large, accounting for around one-sixth of the animal's body weight. Because individual development patterns and the evolution of a species are often correlated, scientists think the oldest Tylosaurus specimens likely featured shorter snouts. Analysis of the bone fragments from the snout, braincase and upper jaw (pictured) led the experts to the conclusion that these extinct predators behaved similarly to modern-day killer whales, subduing prey by ramming them with their bony snouts Tylosaurus mosasaurs grew up to 50 feet (15 metres) in length and became an unlikely star in the Hollywood blockbuster Jurassic World. The behemoth rises from the depths of its vast tank and eats a shark dangling on a crane (pictured) Mosasaurs have a similar body shape and size to that of the orca, the current apex predator in Earth's oceans. 'Killer whales don't hunt big prey by biting. They hunt by ramming and tearing them apart after the prey is weak,' Professor Konishi said. 'They are chasing fast-moving animals so they use inertia. If they were swimming full speed at you, they would generate a lot of force. And their snout is conspicuously protruding.' Ken Balcomb, senior scientist with the nonprofit Center for Whale Research outside Seattle, Washington, explains that killer whales employ a variety of tactics and methods to hunt. 'They pummel their prey quite a bit. They will throw their body against a gray whale. They'll ram great white sharks, too,' Mr Balcomb said. Mr Balcomb said they're choosy about what and how they attack, often using their flukes or whole body rather than their heads. They even distinguish between different types of prey. 'They know which kinds of seals will fight back,' Mr Balcomb said. 'So they're cautious. They don't want to get hurt.' Unlike other mosasaur species, Professor Konishi said the tylosaur had broader and more robust facial bones connected to a sturdy cranial vault that would have provided support as a battering ram, much like its modern-day counterpart. Both predators have similar body shapes with flippers, powerful tails and sharp teeth, the mosasaurs grew bigger than orcas to nearly the size of a bus. 'A colleague of mine told me mosasaurs are boring because they all look the same. That's sort of true,' Professor Konishi said. 'But once you know more about them you can begin to tell them apart.' Professor Konishi of the University of Cincinnati stands in front of a plaster cast of a mature mosasaur skull. The extinct reptile had a large head that made up one-sixth of its body mass and was used to ram into its prey in a similar way to modern-day orcas Both orcas and mosasaurs (artist's impression pictured) have similar body shapes with flippers, powerful tails and sharp teeth. The mosasaurs grew bigger than orcas to nearly the size of a bus As a result of the new classification of the specimen, the researchers claim the snout developed and elongated at a rapid rate between infancy and adolescence. The older specimens previously found (pictured) all had longer snouts than the baby Some mosasaurs had short, powerful jaws capable of crushing the shells of sea turtles. Others had pointy teeth that suggested they feed mostly on fish. In re-examining the skull fragments from the newborn mosasaur, Professor Konishi found it did not resemble other specimens of Platecarpus, which it had originally been classified as. These creatures had teeth that begia virtually at the tip of their snouts whereas Tylosaurus had a bony protrusion called a rostrum that extends out from its face. Orcas have a very similar feature which is thought to be used to protect its front teeth when they slammed into prey. 'It's a subtle feature perhaps by horned dinosaur standards, but for us it really signifies what kind of mosasaur you're looking at,' Professor Konishi said. 'If you have this protruding snout in this part of western Kansas, you're a Tylosaurus.' Professor Konishi said this breakthrough in the understanding of the baby mosasaurs could help scientists learn more about fossils of other baby dinosaurs and marine reptiles. 'We now have a bit better insight into how this trademark feature evolved in this lineage,' he said. 'It's a good starting point for more studies in the future,' he said. China has unveiled its 46 million ($61 million) base designed to simulate what life would be like for astronauts on Mars. The site in a remote section of China's arid Gobi desert features living accommodation, and aims to boost local tourism and research of the red planet. Beijing hopes the project will inspire China's next generation of deep space astronauts. Last year, officials revealed plans to launch an unmanned probe to Mars in 2020. They claimed the mission would pave the way for a 'robotic and human settlement' on the planet, but stopped short of providing a date for manned missions. The new simulation base is located in the Gobi Desert, 25 miles (40 kilometres) outside the city of Jinchang, in northwest China's Gansu Province. The spot was picked for its distinctive red and rocky land form, making it an ideal setting for Mars simulations. It comprises a large Mars-themed tourist attraction open to the general public and a simulated space exploration camp for those who want a taste of life on the planet. Among the site's nine cabins are living quarters, an airlock room and a mission control centre - modules that could be used by China's future Mars colonies. The park also features an area for visitors to experience a trip on the 'Martian surface' in mock spacesuits. '[The base] has several sections. It can tell us how to survive in severe environment when we arrive in the Mars,' site spokesperson Tian Rusen said. The site features an 'extravehicular site' for visitors to experience a trip on the 'Martian surface' in mock spacesuits (pictured) Pictured is a futuristic section of the new Mars simulation base, which is located in a remote section of China's arid Gobi desert Visitors will answer 'questions such as where we can stay, where we can do scientific experiments to serve the globe and which experiments are more valuable,' he said. The base opened its doors for media previews last week, but it remains unclear when tickets will be available to members of the public. The base will become China's first cultural and tourist experience base for space education, Mars-themed tourism, scientific research and film shooting, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Officials said that while the site may be used to conduct some small research experiments, it will primarily be used as a tourist attraction. The base opened its doors for media previews last week, but it remains unclear when tickets will be available to members of the public Pictured is one of the nine cabins that make up China's new 46 million ($61 million) base designed to simulate what life would like for astronauts on Mars Mr Tian said: 'The base provides teenagers a chance to experience what it's like to live on Mars and learn how technology leads society forward.' The base is a part of the country's 'C Space Plan', a project of space education for Chinese teenagers, which was launched in Jinchang last week. 'People dream about migrating to Mars,' said Liu Xiaoqun, director of lunar and deep space exploration at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 'We want to give people a high-end experience of what it would actually be like to live in outer space.' China is attempting to drive interest in its space exploration programme, which has accelerated rapidly over the past two decades. The Gobi desert (pictured) was picked as a location for its distinctive red and rocky land form, making it an ideal setting for Mars simulations A mission to land an unmanned probe on the red planet by 2020 is 'well underway', according to one of the country's top space scientists. Zhang Rongqiao, the mission's chief architect, revealed last year that a probe carrying 13 types of payload is under development. China hopes to land six rovers on the surface of the planet as well as seven vehicles in orbit, collecting vital data including surface temperature and soil readings. This could one day lead to both a 'robotic and human settlement' on the red planet, Rongqiao told an audience at the 2017 Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep-space Exploration. The new simulation base is located in the Gobi Desert, 25 miles (40 kilometres) outside the city of Jinchang, in northwest China's Gansu Province Giving your partner the 'silent treatment' could keep a relationship going, according to new research. A survey of US couples suggests the so-called cold shoulder may work as a manipulation tactic - depending on how much you earn. Experts at California University in Los Angeles say ignoring a spouse's demands is likely to be the best policy for those on a lower income. But, conversely, it backfires among those on higher salaries. This is because spouses who earn more have higher expectations that their partner will bend to their demands, say researchers. Giving your partner the 'silent treatment' could keep a relationship going, according to new research - but experts believe it's all dependent on a couple's earning power Lead author of the study Jaclyn Ross, of California University in Los Angeles, explained: 'Consider this example. 'A wife requests her husband ask for a raise at work. For a husband in a low-wage job with less job security, that is a risky proposition. 'By showing reluctance to ask for the raise, he can preserve his self-esteem and lessen emphasis on the couple's vulnerable financial situation. 'For a wealthier couple in the same situation, the wife may perceive the husband is unwilling to make a sacrifice for his family and that can cause friction in the relationship.' Dubbed 'demand-withdraw' behaviour, it has been documented by clinicians since the 1930s - but only recently researched. It's been found to be one of the most frequently used responses to conflict in romances - and a major cause of divorce. But the US team say the classic 'relationship stalemate' when a partner shuts down at being asked to do something is much more complicated than previously believed. Ignoring a spouse's demands is likely to be the best policy - for those on a lower income. The controversial tactic backfires among those on higher salaries however, say psychologists Graduate student Ms Ross and colleagues said previous studies on the phenomenon have focused almost exclusively on middle-class couples. They came up with conflicting results suggesting the common behaviour could be harmful - or helpful. So the latest research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology included more racially and ethnically diverse participants - and analysed their socioeconomic status. It found dishing out the silent treatment helped relationships stay stable for couples with fewer financial resources - and decline for those who were more affluent. Interestingly, relationship satisfaction dropped for lower-income couples when the picked on spouse did not 'exhibit strong withdrawal behaviours,' said Ms Ross. Co-author Professor Thomas Bradbury said: 'Even though it's easier for wealthier couples to access resources to address their relationship problems, it can also create higher expectations that partners will make accommodations for one another's demands and needs that underlie their problems. 'But if those expectations are not met, rifts can occur in the relationship and exacerbate the existing problems.' As in earlier studies it focused on the wife giving the demand - and the husband being the one to withdraw. Examples of the behaviour included the wives being hostile, dominating, threatening or blaming - while their husbands avoided the confrontation. His-n-hers: Examples of the behaviour included the wives being hostile, dominating, threatening or blaming - while their husbands avoided the confrontation (stock image) The researchers conducted two experiments, the first of which followed 515 couples with at least one child, or with one on-the-way, for 18 months. Four-in-ten were at or below the federal poverty line in California - around $24,300 (18,500) per year for a family of four. They were visited in their homes and asked to engage in a series of discussions about something each partner wanted to change about themselves - as well as a topic of disagreement. The second experiment recruited 414 newlywed couples who were asked to do the same. They were seen four times over 27 months. Again the disadvantaged volunteers experienced more dissatisfaction when the husbands displayed lower withdrawal in the face of the wives' demands. But it was not as robust this time - possibly because they had only just got hitched whereas the others had been married for an average of five years, said Ms Ross. She said the study highlights the importance of using diverse samples in research on couples because results can vary based on differing life circumstances. The results could benefit counsellors who work with couples in therapy and policymakers focused on marriage and family. WHAT IS LOVE? The science of love is somewhat of a mystery to many, but scientists have attempted to scientifically define the phenomena. Many studies from various different institutions has found that there are certain neurological and biochemical clues that come with falling in love. Numerous brain regions, particularly those associated with reward and motivation, are activated by the thought or presence of a romantic partner. These include the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and anterior cingulated cortex regions of the brain. It is thought that by firing up these areas of the brain, it can help to lower a person's walls. These areas, when activated, serve to inhibit defensive behaviour, reduce anxiety and increase trust in a new romantic partner. Biochemical responses to love include oxytocin and vasopressin which are produced by the hypothalamus and released by the pituaitary gland. This gland is associated with many chemicals which have a range of functions in the human body. These chemicals serve to increase the most intense stages of love. They can also stimulate the release of dopamine in the brain, a chemical associated with happiness. Advertisement Ms Ross said: 'Life circumstances may matter for relationships far more than we think - so much so that these circumstances appear to moderate the effects of communication on how happy we are in our partnerships. 'Creating safe and secure environments helps to allow partners to relate well to each other and to their children, giving more people the kinds of relationships and families that will keep them healthy and happy.' The silent treatment is the most common pattern of conflict in marriage or any committed, established romantic relationship. And it can do tremendous damage. Previous research has suggested people who resort to it are more prone to anxiety and aggression. This could also lead to psychological issues that ultimately develop into physical ones such as urinary, bowel and erectile dysfunction. One study based on more than 14,000 participants found the damage remained the same whether it was the male who was being silent - or the female. Psychologists call it the demand-withdraw pattern which happens when one partner makes constant requests of the other and is met with frequent repudiation. Typically, the way the refusing partner expresses their denial is by ignoring their partner - which is of course what is known as the silent treatment. Interestingly, women are more likely than men to be the demanders when it comes to the silent treatment. Stephen Hawking probed the very limits of human understanding both in the vastness of space and in the bizarre sub-molecular world of quantum theory. As well as numerous best-selling books, Hawking also published several important scientific papers during an illustrious research career. Through his groundbreaking theories, the legendary physicist examined the origins of the universe and helped explain the behaviour of black holes. Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain some of the most complicated questions of life while working under the shadow of a likely premature death, has died at 76 1970 Space-time in black holes One of Hawking's first key ideas was how space and time react within the brutal confines of black holes. Black holes are regions of space with a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape. The objects are so powerful they bend time and space in bizarre ways, and in 1970 Hawking showed how black holes alter 'space-time'. 'Space-time' is a theory used by physicists to describe the fusion of 3D space and time into a four-dimensional continuum. Up until the '70s physicists had known Einstein's theory allowed for 'singularities' - points where space-time appeared to be infinitely curved. But it was unclear whether or not these singularities actually existed. Birkbeck College physicist Sir Roger Penrose showed that singularities do exist as they can form in black holes. Alongside Sir Penrose, Hawking applied the same idea to the universe in its entirety in 1970. They showed that Einstein's theory predicted a singularity in our distant past: The Big Bang. 1971-72 Black hole mechanics Black holes are regions of space with a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape. Their field is so intense that they form their own set of physical laws unlike anything else in the universe. Hawking devised the second law of black holes, which states that the total surface area of a black hole will never get smaller. In separate work, Hawking sparked the 'no hair' theorem of black holes. This states that black holes can be characterised by three numbers their mass, charge and angular momentum. The 'hair' in Hawking's idea is other information that disappears when it falls into the black hole. 1974-75 How black holes vanish Hawking showed that black holes emit heat and eventually vanish in an extremely slow process. While a black hole with the mass of the sun would take longer than the age of our universe to evaporate, smaller ones disappear faster. Near the end of their lives they release heat at a dramatic rate, with an average-sized black hole releasing the energy of a million hydrogen bombs in just a tenth of a second. Hawking's drew on 'quantum theory' for the finding - the branch of physics concerned with how the universe works at the subatomic level. Through his groundbreaking theories, the legendary physicist helped explain the behaviour of black holes (artist's impression) and examined the origins of the universe 1982 How galaxies arise Many physicists believe the universe inflated rapidly shortly after the Big Bang. Hawking was one of the first to show how galaxies may have formed during this explosion of time and space. He found that quantum fluctuations - tiny variations in the distribution of matter - grew into the galaxies that dot the cosmos today. This is because strong gravitational forces made matter clump together. Hawking's theory is supported by recent observations of the faint afterglow of the Big Bang, which spotted the sort of variations Hawking worked with. 1983 How the universe began Hawking is best known for his attempts to combine two key theories of physics: Quantum theory and Einstein's general relativity. While quantum theory covers how tiny subatomic particles stitch together the fabric of our universe, general relativity deals with larger objects. It describes how galaxies, stars, black holes, planets and more interact with one another via gravitational forces. Much of Hawking;s work focussed on combining quantum theory and general relativity with Einstein's theory of gravity. He suggested that this new theory, known as quantum gravity, could fill in many of the gaps of our current understanding of physics and the universe. In 1983 the physicist partnered with Chicago University's Professor Jim Hartle to propose a 'wave function of the universe'. Known as the Hartle-Hawking state, this notion is meant to figure out how the universe began through quantum mechanics. In theory, this could be used to understand the properties of the universe around us. 1988 A brief history of time Hawking's bestselling book A Brief History of Time has sold more than ten million copies since it was published in 1988. The book, which described the structure, origin, development and eventual fate of the universe, was a surprise success for the relatively unknown physicist, staying in the Sunday Times bestseller list for 237 weeks. Hawking wrote the book for readers with no knowledge of any scientific theories. The physicist joked himself that many who owned the book struggled to understand its complexity and never finished it. The book ultimately propelled Hawking to stardom, with the physicist publishing or co-publishing 15 books in total and writing or starring in multiple scientific documentaries, television shows, films and more. What happened before the Big Bang? At the time of the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, all matter in the universe erupted from a singularity to create the cosmos. But scientists are unsure what happened before then. In a recent TV interview, Hawking said 'nothing was around before the Big Bang'. Instead, time and space existed in a 'bent state' that was distorted along another dimension. The physicist believes the Big Bang was the formation of what we now regard as time because the event broke down the laws of physics. This means that anything that preceded it cannot be applied to our understanding of time and existence. By Harry Pettit, science and technology reporter Microsoft employees have hit back at the firm's plan to bid for a controversial $10bn Pentagon contract. In a letter published on blogging site Medium, the employees wrote that they joined Microsoft with 'the expectation that the technologies we build will not cause harm or human suffering.' They also accused Microsoft executives of betraying the company's artificial intelligence principlesones that state A.I. should be 'fair, reliable and safe, private and secure, inclusive, transparent, and accountable'in pursuit of 'short-term profits.' Scroll down for video In a letter published on blogging site Medium, the employees wrote that they joined Microsoft with 'the expectation that the technologies we build will not cause harm or human suffering.' It comes after Google dropped out of the bidding for a huge Pentagon cloud computing contract that could be worth up to $10 billion, saying the deal would be 'inconsistent with its principles'. The decision by Google left a handful of other tech giants including Amazon and Microsoft in the running for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract aimed at modernizing the military's computing systems. The Microsoft post specifically mentioned comments by Department of Defense Chief Management Officer John H. Gibson II that the JEDI program 'is truly about increasing the lethality of our department.' 'We need to put JEDI in perspective,' it said. However, it was unclear how many employees were behind the letter. 'This is a secretive $10 billion project with the ambition of building 'a more lethal' military force overseen by the Trump Administration. 'The Google workers who protested these collaborations and forced the company to take action saw this. We do too. 'So we ask, what are Microsoft's A.I. Principles, especially regarding the violent application of powerful A.I. technology? How will workers, who build and maintain these services in the first place, know whether our work is being used to aid profiling, surveillance, or killing?' When it pulled out, Google said in a statement 'we couldn't be assured that [the JEDI deal] would align with our AI Principles and second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications.' Google says it is not bidding on a $10 billion cloud computing contract for the US military GOOGLE'S SEVEN RULES OF AI Google says for its AI to be used, projects must: 1. Be socially beneficial. 2. Avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias. 3. Be built and tested for safety. 4. Be accountable to people. 5. Incorporate privacy design principles. 6. Uphold high standards of scientific excellence. 7. Be made available for uses that accord with these principles. Advertisement The principles bar use of Google's artificial intelligence (AI) software in weapons as well as services that violate international norms for surveillance and human rights. Google was provisionally certified in March to handle U.S. government data with 'moderate' security, but Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp have higher clearances. Amazon was widely viewed among Pentagon officials and technology vendors as the front-runner for the contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI. Google had been angling for the deal, hoping that the $10 billion annual contract could provide a giant boost to its nascent cloud business and catch up with Amazon and fellow JEDI competitor Microsoft. That the Pentagon could trust housing its digital data with Google would have been helpful to its marketing efforts with large companies. Google has been dealing with significant backlash since it was revealed that the firm is participating in a military drone project. Thousands of employees penned a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai (pictured) urging the company to pull out of the contract The move comes following protests by Google employees on the tech giant's involvement in separate military effort known as Project Maven using artificial intelligence to help interpret video images. Google decided not to renew its involvement in Maven and this week backed away from the cloud computing contract, citing similar concerns about values. MICROSOFT BOOSTS CLOUD TO BID FOR $10BN PENTAGON CONTRACT Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday its expanded Azure cloud service to help government clients save data on their own servers would be available by the end of the first quarter of 2019, as it battles with Amazon.com for a $10 billion Pentagon contract. The two companies are left in the fray for the lucrative contract after Alphabet Inc's Google dropped out on Monday, saying the company's new ethical guidelines do not align with the project. Pentagon's JEDI, or Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, cloud computing solution contract is part of the Department of Defense's efforts to modernize its IT infrastructure. The expanded Azure Government Secret cloud service will make Microsoft 'a strong option for the JEDI contract,' said Julia White, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure, adding that the company is capable of meeting the highest classification requirement for handling 'top secret U.S. classified data'. Advertisement 'While we are working to support the US government with our cloud in many areas, we are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles and second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications,' Google said in a statement. 'We will continue to pursue strategic work to help state, local and federal customers modernize their infrastructure and meet their mission critical requirements.' In June, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai unveiled a set of principles on the company's use of artificial intelligence, saying that the company would not participate in 'technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm' and would stay away from 'weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people. When Joe Durek decided to run for Signal Mountain town council, he explained that he thought he would make a good member because of his knowledge of government. Among the experiences which helped him gain that knowledge, he said, was the fact that he previously was a county commissioner in Orange County, Florida, where I learned how to listen to the citizens and answer their questions. His comment came in response to one of the 15 questions on a survey emailed Aug. 15 to all town council candidates: former Mayor Bill Lusk, Councilman Dan Landrum and newcomers Durek, Rob Hensley, Dun Monroe, Susannan Murdock and Rick Saputa. All but Mr. Hensley, a leader in the defunct effort to create an independent Signal Mountain school system, responded to the inquiries. Mr. Hensley ignored the questionnaire, choosing instead to set up a Rob Hensley for Town Council facebook page. Mr. Dureks entry into the Signal Council race this year was unexpected, since he had not been active in town politics other than serving as a member of the towns personnel committee. He was better known as an occasional writer for the Signal Mountain Mirror, a small monthly paper circulated in and around the town. Nearly two months after Mr. Durek made his claim to political experience in Florida, it was noted by readers on League of Signal Mountain Voters, a blog maintained by former Signal mayor Paul Hendricks. Joe, you wrote that when you served on the Orange County Commission, you learned how an elected official could positively change peoples lives, Anne Hagood asked him on Oct. 12. Could you tell us more, please? What did you see as your greatest challenges and accomplishments on that commission? Mr. Durek, responding, told he that he had not served on the Orange County Commission. However, he added, he did serve on the Orange County Charter Review Commission. It was not an elected position, he explained, it was an appointment by the Orange County Commission. According to articles from the Orlando Sentinel, Mr. Durek was active in Republican political circles in Florida during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, when he ran unsuccessfully for a series of local and state offices. An aggressive and litigious campaigner, he repeatedly made headlines during a 1990 run in the Republican primary for the District 4 seat on the board of commissioners. Mr. Durek, an auditor, filed a lawsuit against the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority for spending money on advertising. The high profile suit was dismissed in December 1990 after the judge noted that a series of omissions by the plaintiff, including failure to notify the authority of his lawsuit. On Signal, Mr. Dureks response to the Aug. 15 survey question Why do you think you would be a good council member? reads as follows: I have been fortunate to have many experiences that have increased my knowledge of government. I have been fortunate to have many experiences that have increased my knowledge of government matters and how we can help our citizens. I was a combat correspondent in Vietnam and learned how to help those who can not help themselves. I was selected to work for the Defense Secretary at the Pentagon to work on the last President Carter budget and the first President Reagan Budget. I was a County Commissioner in Orange County Florida where I learned how to listen to the citizens and answer their questions. I served on many Boards including as Treasurer of the Orange County History Center which is 1/2 public and 1/2 Government. His response to Ms. Hagoods Oct. 12 question on League of Signal Mountain Voters is shown below: "I served on the Orange County Charter Review Commission. It was not an elected position it was an appointment by the Orange County Commission. Fifteen people were appointed by elected County Commissioners for the 2-year commission. The first 12 months we held forums around the county and heard from the citizens, elected officials, community organizations and civil groups. The Charter is reviewed every 4 years and I served on the 2nd charter review commission. "After the 12-month listening period, the commission decided which recommendations we would propose to the citizens on the ballot. The Orlando Sentinel said we were the 15 most important people in the county since the Charter Review Commission had the authority to write the changes to the charter and present them directly to the citizens for their vote. Once it got on the ballot all the recommended charter changes passed by at least 80%. "I learned that it is important to listen to the recommendations of the citizens, how to explain the reason that some recommendations would not get on the ballot and that sometimes-elected officials would use the charter review commission to pass changes to the charter that they did not have the nerve to present themselves. "Two county commissioners asked the charter review commission to place a pay increase on the ballot. I told the two commissioners that it was their responsibility to pass a pay raise and not ask us to do their job. No pay raise was on the ballot and they did receive a pay raise that year. "At the end of the 2-year commission, I wrote with 2 other commissioners our recommended changes to the charter which were placed on the ballot for the citizens vote. The citizens voted for all recommended changes including making the sheriff a constitutional officer and no longer under the county commission and term limits of 2 terms." While many dogs owners think their pets really do understand them, a new study has found they really do have a 'rudimentary' understands of words. It could help explain the 'squirrel phenomenon' where dogs instantly perk up, become agigated and even start hunting for squirrels when their owner tells them one is close by. However, researchers have been unclear what is actually happening in the canine brain - and how much they really understand. Scroll down for video Eddie, a golden retriever-Labrador mix, was part of the study, along with his toys Piggy and Monkey. For the study, 12 dogs of varying breeds were trained for months by their owners to retrieve two different objects, based on the objects' names. 'Many dog owners think that their dogs know what some words mean, but there really isn't much scientific evidence to support that,' says Ashley Prichard, a PhD candidate in at Emory's University and first author of the study. 'We wanted to get data from the dogs themselves - not just owner reports.' The study, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, used brain imaging to probe how dogs process words they have been taught to associate with objects. The results suggest that dogs have at least a rudimentary neural representation of meaning for words they have been taught, differentiating words they have heard before from those they have not. 'We know that dogs have the capacity to process at least some aspects of human language since they can learn to follow verbal commands,' adds Emory neuroscientist Gregory Berns, senior author of the study. 'Previous research, however, suggests dogs may rely on many other cues to follow a verbal command, such as gaze, gestures and even emotional expressions from their owners.' HOW THE STUDY WAS DONE Study participant Stella and her toys For the current study, 12 dogs of varying breeds were trained for months by their owners to retrieve two different objects, based on the objects' names. Each dog's pair of objects consisted of one with a soft texture, such as a stuffed animal, and another of a different texture, such as rubber, to facilitate discrimination. Training consisted of instructing the dogs to fetch one of the objects and then rewarding them with food or praise. Training was considered complete when a dog showed that it could discriminate between the two objects by consistently fetching the one requested by the owner when presented with both of the objects. During one experiment, the trained dog lay in the fMRI scanner while the dog's owner stood directly in front of the dog at the opening of the machine and said the names of the dog's toys at set intervals, then showed the dog the corresponding toys. Eddie, a golden retriever-Labrador mix, for instance, heard his owner say the words 'Piggy' or 'Monkey,' then his owner held up the matching toy. As a control, the owner then spoke gibberish words, such as 'bobbu' and 'bodmick,' then held up novel objects like a hat or a doll. Advertisement The Emory researchers focused on questions surrounding the brain mechanisms dogs use to differentiate between words, or even what constitutes a word to a dog. The results showed greater activation in auditory regions of the brain to the novel pseudowords relative to the trained words. 'We expected to see that dogs neurally discriminate between words that they know and words that they don't,' Prichard says. 'What's surprising is that the result is opposite to that of research on humans - people typically show greater neural activation for known words than novel words.' The researchers say the dogs may show greater neural activation to a novel word because they sense their owners want them to understand what they are saying, and they are trying to do so. 'Dogs ultimately want to please their owners, and perhaps also receive praise or food,' Berns says. Half of the dogs in the experiment showed the increased activation for the novel words in their parietotemporal cortex, an area of the brain that the researchers believe may be analogous to the angular gyrus in humans, where lexical differences are processed. The other half of the dogs, however, showed heightened activity to novel words in other brain regions, including the other parts of the left temporal cortex and amygdala, caudate nucleus, and the thalamus. A major challenge in mapping the cognitive processes of the canine brain, the researchers acknowledge, is the variety of shapes and sizes of dogs' brains across breeds. HOW MUCH DO DOGS UNDERSTAND? A previous study to investigate how dog brains process speech has revealed canines care about both what we say and how we say it. It discovered that dogs, like people, use the left hemisphere to process words, and the right hemisphere brain region to process intonation. Trained dogs around the fMRI scanner used in the study: Dogs, like people, use the left hemisphere to process words, and the right hemisphere brain region to process intonation, according to the new study in Science. It found praise activates dog's reward centre only when both words and intonation match, according to the new study in Science. Researchers also say dogs developed the neural mechanisms to process words much earlier than thought. 'The human brain not only separately analyzes what we say and how we say it, but also integrates the two types of information, to arrive at a unified meaning. 'Our findings suggest that dogs can also do all that, and they use very similar brain mechanisms,' said lead researcher Attila Andics of Department of Ethology and MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. Advertisement 'Dogs may have varying capacity and motivation for learning and understanding human words,' Berns says, 'but they appear to have a neural representation for the meaning of words they have been taught, beyond just a low-level Pavlovian response.' This conclusion does not mean that spoken words are the most effective way for an owner to communicate with a dog. In fact, other research also led by Prichard and Berns and recently published in Scientific Reports, showed that the neural reward system of dogs is more attuned to visual and to scent cues than to verbal ones. 'When people want to teach their dog a trick, they often use a verbal command because that's what we humans prefer,' Prichard says. 'From the dog's perspective, however, a visual command might be more effective, helping the dog learn the trick faster.' NASA has said its Chandra space telescope will return to normal operation next week following a major technical problems. Chandra automatically went into so-called safe mode last Wednesday, because of a gyroscope problem. Hubble went into hibernation last Friday due to a similar gyroscope failure. Scroll down for video This illustration made available by NASA shows the Chandra X-ray Observatory. On Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, the space agency said that the telescope automatically went into so-called safe mode on Wednesday, possibly because of a gyroscope problem. WHAT IS 'SAFE MODE' When Chandra automatically entered safe mode, the telescopes instruments are put into a safe configuration. Critical hardware is swapped to back-up units, the spacecraft points so that the solar panels get maximum sunlight, and the mirrors point away from the Sun. Advertisement Now, NASA said it has fixed the problem on Chandra 'The cause of Chandra's safe mode on October 10 has now been understood and the Operations team has successfully returned the spacecraft to its normal pointing mode,' NASA said. It claimed the safe mode was caused by a glitch in one of Chandra's gyroscopes resulting in a 3-second period of bad data that in turn led the on-board computer to calculate an incorrect value for the spacecraft momentum. The erroneous momentum indication then triggered the safe mode. 'The team has completed plans to switch gyroscopes and place the gyroscope that experienced the glitch in reserve,' NASA said. 'Once configured with a series of pre-tested flight software patches, the team will return Chandra to science operations which are expected to commence by next week.' Both orbiting observatories are old: Hubble is 28, while Chandra is 19. Flight controllers are working to resume operations with both. NASA says it's coincidental both went 'asleep' within a week of one another. It 'continues to work toward resuming science operations of the Hubble Space Telescope after the spacecraft entered safe mode due to a failed gyroscope (gyro) on Friday, Oct. 5.' An astronomer who works on Chandra, Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, tweeted Friday that 'Chandra decided that if Hubble could have a little vacation, it wanted one, too.' 'At approximately 1355 GMT on October 10, 2018, NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory entered Safe Mode, where the telescopes instruments are put into a safe configuration, critical hardware is swapped to back-up units, the spacecraft points so that the solar panels get maximum sunlight, and the mirrors point away from the Sun,' NASA said. 'Analysis of available data indicates the transition to safe mode was nominal, i.e., consistent with normal behavior for such an event. 'All systems functioned as expected and the scientific instruments are safe. The cause of the Safe Mode transition is currently under investigation.' The Hubble Space Telescope was been sidelined by a serious pointing problem. NASA announced that one of Hubble's gyroscopes failed last Friday. As a result, Hubble is in so-called safe mode with non-essential systems turned off, putting all science observations on hold. Most of the giant Hubble Space Telescope can be seen as it is suspended in space by Discovery's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) following the deployment of part of its solar panels and antennae. The Hubble Space Telescope has been sidelined by a pointing system failure. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH HUBBLE? Hubble entered safe mode after one of the three gyroscopes (gyros) actively being used to point and steady the telescope failed. Hubble has six gyroscopes, all of which were replaced by spacewalking astronauts during a servicing mission in May 2009. The telescope needs three working gyroscopes to 'ensure optimal efficiency.' The latest failure brings that number down to two (if the 'problematic' one that had been off can't be brought back online) Advertisement NASA says mission controllers are working to restore the 28-year-old telescope. Gyroscopes are needed to keep Hubble pointed in the right direction during observations. 'It's true. Very stressful weekend,' Rachel Osten, Hubble's deputy mission head at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said on Twitter. 'Right now HST is in safe mode while we figure out what to do. 'Another gyro failed. 'First step is try to bring back the last gyro, which had been off, and is being problematic.' Launched in 1990, Hubble has had trouble with its gyroscopes before. Spacewalking shuttle astronauts replaced all six in 2009. The telescope could work with as few as one or two gyroscopes, although that leaves little room for additional breakdowns. Olsten confirmed the problem would not mean the end of Hubble. 'Not really scary, we knew it was coming. WHAT ARE THE PILLARS OF CREATION? The original Hubble Space Telescope image of the famous Pillars of Creation was taken two decades ago and immediately became one of its most famous and evocative pictures. The jutting structures, along with the nearby star cluster, NGC 6611, are parts of a star formation region called the Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16 or M16. The nebula and its associated objects are located about 7000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent). The Pillars of Creation are a classic example of the column-like shapes that develop in the giant clouds of gas and dust that are the birthplaces of new stars. The columns arise when immense, freshly formed bluewhite O and B stars give off intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds that blow away less dense materials from their vicinity. Denser pockets of gas and dust, however, can resist this erosion for longer. Behind such thicker dust pockets, material is shielded from the harsh, withering glare of O and B stars. This shielding creates dark 'tails' or 'elephant trunks', which we see as the dusky body of a pillar, that point away from the brilliant stars. Advertisement 'The gyro lasted about six months longer than we thought it would (almost pulled the plug on it back in the spring). 'We'll work through the issues and be back.' Even with one gyro working , Hubble will still be able to take part in science, NASA confirmed. 'There isn't much difference between 2- and 1, and it buys lots of extra observing time. Which the Astro community wants desperately.' Astronomers use the orbiting observatory to peer deep into the cosmos, revealing faraway solar systems as well as galaxies and black holes. Huge numbers of bugs have been lost in a pristine national forest in Puerto Rico, along with the forest's insect-eating animals, a shocking new study revealing the global crisis in insect numbers has found. The finding supports the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warnings of severe environmental threats given a 2.0 degree Celsius elevation in global temperature. While temperatures in the tropical forests of northeastern Puerto Rico have climbed two degrees Celsius since the mid-1970s, the biomass of arthropods - invertebrate animals such as insects, millipedes, and sowbugs - has declined by as much as 60-fold, according to the new findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scroll down for video A red leaf cutter ant in Costa Rica: carrying away a piece of leaf: The finding supports the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warnings of severe environmental threats given a 2.0 degree Celsius elevation in global temperature. INSECT LOSS AROUND THE WORLD In 2014, an international team of biologists estimated that, in the past 35 years, the abundance of invertebrates such as beetles and bees had decreased by 45 percent. In places where long-term insect data are available, mainly in Europe, insect numbers are plummeting. A study last year showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves. Advertisement The study area in the Luquillo rainforest has already reached or exceeded a 2.0 degree Celsius rise in average temperature, and says the consequences are potentially catastrophic. 'Our results suggest that the effects of climate warming in tropical forests may be even greater than anticipated' said Brad Lister lead author of the study and a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 'The insect populations in the Luquillo forest are crashing, and once that begins the animals that eat the insects have insufficient food, which results in decreased reproduction and survivorship and consequent declines in abundance.' 'This study in PNAS is a real wake-up call - a clarion call - that the phenomenon could be much, much bigger, and across many more ecosystems,' David Wagner, an expert in invertebrate conservation at the University of Connecticut who was not involved with this research, told The Washington Post. He added: 'This is one of the most disturbing articles I have ever read.' 'Climate Driven Declines in Arthropod Abundance Restructure a Rainforest Food Web' is based on data collected between 1976 and 2013 by the authors and the Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research program at three mid-elevation habitats in Puerto Rico's protected Luquillo rainforest. During this time, mean maximum temperatures have risen by 2.0 degrees Celsius. Researchers found cold blooded animals living in tropical climates are particularly vulnerable to climate warming since that they are adapted to relatively stable year-round temperatures. Given their analyses of the data, which included new techniques to assess causality, the authors conclude that climate warming is the major driver of reductions in arthropod abundance in the Luquillo forest. THE 'ENCHANTED FOREST' Puerto Rico is known as the island of enchantment 'la isla del encanto' making its rainforest 'the enchanted forest on the enchanted isle,' said Brad Lister lead author of the study. Birds and coqui frogs trill beneath a 50-foot-tall emerald canopy. Tree-ferns in a subtropical rainforest clearing of El Yunque, Caribbean National Forest, Sierra de Luquillo, Puerto Rico The forest, named El Yunque, is well-protected. Spanish King Alfonso XII claimed the jungle as a 19th-century royal preserve. Decades later, Theodore Roosevelt made it a national reserve. Advertisement These reductions have precipitated a major bottom-up trophic cascade and consequent collapse of the forest food web. 'Given that tropical forests harbor two thirds of the Earth's species, these results have profound implications for the future stability and biodiversity of rainforest ecosystems, as well as conservation efforts aimed at mitigating the effects of climate forcing,' the team say Apple's chief design officer has revealed his thoughts on phone addiction. Sir Jonathan Ive, the British designer behind the iPhone, told the Wired25 conference in San Francisco 'the nature of innovation is that you cannot predict all the consequences. 'In my experience, there have been surprising consequences,' he told Anna Wintour. 'Some fabulous, and some less so.' Scroll down for video Sir Jonathan Ive, the British designer behind the iPhone, told the Wired25 conference in San Francisco 'the nature of innovation is that you cannot predict all the consequences Ive spoke to Anna Wintour at the WIRED25 Summit, and opened the questioning with a question about addiction. 'First there were iPhones, and now there's iPhone addiction,' said Wintour. 'How do you feel about that? Is the world too connected?' 'I think it's good to be connected,' Ive replied. 'I think the real question is what you do with that connection.' 'We've been doing a lot of work in terms of not only understanding how long you use a device, but how you're using it,' Ive said. Part of Apple's answer to the problem, called Screen Time, launched as part of the free iOS 12 software update for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch. It offers new tools for managing screen time, letting users see will let you see how often they (or their kids) picked up the phone after bedtime or how long they were on Instagram at work for. Ive said the key to beating addiction in human connection. He said the work Apple has been doing on emoji and messaging are meant to 'restore some humanity to the way we connect.' He also addressed Apple's secrecy, saying 'I've been doing this for long enough where I actually feel a responsibility to not confuse or add more noise about what's being worked on because I know that sometimes it does not work out.' Wintour also asked what keeps Ive driven at Apple, and he says excitement was the key. 'If you lose that childlike excitement, I think it's time to do something else.' Wintour asked if he's at that point, to which he responded 'Oh goodness no.' Jeff Bezos has hit out at tech firms who refuse to work on military projects. Google recently pulled out of bidding for a lucrative $10bn Pentagon contract, saying the deal would be 'inconsistent with its principles', leaving Amazon and Microsoft among those in the race. Microsoft employees called today for it to pull out of bidding for the same contract, saying that they joined Microsoft with 'the expectation that the technologies we build will not cause harm or human suffering.' Scroll down for video Jeff Bezos at the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference: Today the amazon founder hit out at tech firms who refuse to work on military projects 'If big tech companies are going to turn their back on US Department of Defense, this country is going to be in trouble,' Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told the Wired25 summit in San Francisco. 'We are going to continue to support the DOD and I think we should,' Bezos replied. The Amazon founder said he was baffled by the employee revolts at Microsoft and Google. 'It doesn't make any sense to me,' Bezos said. He believes working on military contracts will keep america safe. 'I like this country. I know everybody is very conflicted about the current politics and so on,' he said, but, 'This country is a gem.' He did however hit out at current immigration policies,telling interviewer and Wired write Steven Levy 'there aren't other countries where everybody is trying to get in,' Bezos hit out at current immigration policies, saying 'there aren't other countries where everybody is trying to get in, I'd let them in if it were me. I like 'em, I want all of them in. 'I'd let them in if it were me. I like 'em, I want all of them in. 'But this is a great country and it does need to be defended.' Bezos also warned, 'I worry that some of these technologies will be very useful for autocratic regimes to enforce their goal.' It comes as Microsoft employees have hit back at the firm's plan to bid for a controversial $10bn Pentagon contract. In a letter published on blogging site Medium, the employees wrote that they joined Microsoft with 'the expectation that the technologies we build will not cause harm or human suffering.' They also accused Microsoft executives of betraying the company's artificial intelligence principlesones that state A.I. should be 'fair, reliable and safe, private and secure, inclusive, transparent, and accountable'in pursuit of 'short-term profits.' In a letter published on blogging site Medium, the employees wrote that they joined Microsoft with 'the expectation that the technologies we build will not cause harm or human suffering.' It comes after Google dropped out of the bidding for a huge Pentagon cloud computing contract that could be worth up to $10 billion, saying the deal would be 'inconsistent with its principles'. The decision by Google left a handful of other tech giants including Amazon and Microsoft in the running for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract aimed at modernizing the military's computing systems. The Microsoft post specifically mentioned comments by Department of Defense Chief Management Officer John H. Gibson II that the JEDI program 'is truly about increasing the lethality of our department.' 'We need to put JEDI in perspective,' it said. However, it was unclear how many employees were behind the letter. 'This is a secretive $10 billion project with the ambition of building 'a more lethal' military force overseen by the Trump Administration. 'The Google workers who protested these collaborations and forced the company to take action saw this. We do too. 'So we ask, what are Microsoft's A.I. Principles, especially regarding the violent application of powerful A.I. technology? How will workers, who build and maintain these services in the first place, know whether our work is being used to aid profiling, surveillance, or killing?' When it pulled out, Google said in a statement 'we couldn't be assured that [the JEDI deal] would align with our AI Principles and second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications.' Google says it is not bidding on a $10 billion cloud computing contract for the US military GOOGLE'S SEVEN RULES OF AI Google says for its AI to be used, projects must: 1. Be socially beneficial. 2. Avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias. 3. Be built and tested for safety. 4. Be accountable to people. 5. Incorporate privacy design principles. 6. Uphold high standards of scientific excellence. 7. Be made available for uses that accord with these principles. Advertisement The principles bar use of Google's artificial intelligence (AI) software in weapons as well as services that violate international norms for surveillance and human rights. Google was provisionally certified in March to handle U.S. government data with 'moderate' security, but Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp have higher clearances. Amazon was widely viewed among Pentagon officials and technology vendors as the front-runner for the contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI. Google had been angling for the deal, hoping that the $10 billion annual contract could provide a giant boost to its nascent cloud business and catch up with Amazon and fellow JEDI competitor Microsoft. That the Pentagon could trust housing its digital data with Google would have been helpful to its marketing efforts with large companies. Google has been dealing with significant backlash since it was revealed that the firm is participating in a military drone project. Thousands of employees penned a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai (pictured) urging the company to pull out of the contract The move comes following protests by Google employees on the tech giant's involvement in separate military effort known as Project Maven using artificial intelligence to help interpret video images. Google decided not to renew its involvement in Maven and this week backed away from the cloud computing contract, citing similar concerns about values. MICROSOFT BOOSTS CLOUD TO BID FOR $10BN PENTAGON CONTRACT Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday its expanded Azure cloud service to help government clients save data on their own servers would be available by the end of the first quarter of 2019, as it battles with Amazon.com for a $10 billion Pentagon contract. The two companies are left in the fray for the lucrative contract after Alphabet Inc's Google dropped out on Monday, saying the company's new ethical guidelines do not align with the project. Pentagon's JEDI, or Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, cloud computing solution contract is part of the Department of Defense's efforts to modernize its IT infrastructure. The expanded Azure Government Secret cloud service will make Microsoft 'a strong option for the JEDI contract,' said Julia White, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure, adding that the company is capable of meeting the highest classification requirement for handling 'top secret U.S. classified data'. Advertisement 'While we are working to support the US government with our cloud in many areas, we are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles and second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications,' Google said in a statement. 'We will continue to pursue strategic work to help state, local and federal customers modernize their infrastructure and meet their mission critical requirements.' In June, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai unveiled a set of principles on the company's use of artificial intelligence, saying that the company would not participate in 'technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm' and would stay away from 'weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people. Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has sent a message of congratulations to his father Pierre after he became the first-ever black elected-mayor in Belgium. Pierre was announced as the chosen representative for the Brussels municipality of Ganshoren on Sunday evening following elections. He won the race with 28.38 per cent of the vote and will now begin his three-year term overseeing the area that is home to 25,000 people. Vincent Kompany congratulated father Pierre after he won an election to become a mayor - he recorded a video of him (left) with his brother Francois to mark the achievement Alongside a video of him and brother Francois on Instagram, Kompany congratulated his father on his historic election in French. He wrote alongside the short clip: 'History! We are so proud of you dad. Came over from the DR Congo, as a refugee, in 1975. 'Now gained the trust of your local community becoming the first-ever black elected-mayor in Belgium! It was long overdue but its progress. Massive congrats!' Pierre Kompany, pictured in 2014, is the new mayor of the Brussels municipality of Ganshoren Pierre won the race with 28.38 per cent of the vote and will now begin his three-year term Kompany is currently away in Brussels with the Belgian national team for their UEFA Nations League win over Switzerland and the upcoming friendly against Holland. Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku scored twice as Roberto Martinez's side defeated the Swiss 2-1 in Brussels on Friday night. The Red Devils now welcome the Dutch to the Belgian capital on Tuesday after their impressive 3-0 win over Germany on Saturday. Advertisement The publication of the new Landscape Photographer Of The Year book always heralds a collective dropping of jaws. Thats because without fail, every year, it showcases exquisite images of the United Kingdoms most beautiful and dramatic scenery. This years tome keeps the standard sky high, as this sneak peek of its contents reveals. AA Publishing, which produces the book, has kindly allowed MailOnline Travel to publish ten of the prints - and choosing them was a headache. Here you can gaze upon the overall winner a stunning shot of Glencoe in Scotland by Pete Rowbottom a dramatic picture of a train ploughing through sea water on the Welsh coast and fog flowing mesmerisingly over Dorset cliffs. Plus seven other quite wonderful shots with subjects that include poppy fields, strange monolithic structures and heavenly starry skies. Scroll down and gorge on a true feast for the eyes. The images will be displayed in a free 11-week-long exhibition, hosted by Network Rail, on the balcony at London's Waterloo Station from November 19. This stunning photograph is the overall Landscape Photographer Of The Year 2018 winner. It is called Ice Spikes and was taken at Glencoe in Scotland by Pete Rowbottom, who takes away a 10,000 prize. He used flat rocks as a makeshift tripod to capture a partially frozen pond. 'I got very wet,' he said This incredible picture of The Daymark - an imposing, alien-like monolithic edifice in Brixham, Devon - won Will Milner the Adobe Prize. The structure was built to provide mariners with a navigational marker. Mr Milner said he used 'traditional landscape techniques' for the foreground and 'advanced astro-photography' to capture the stars. He then blended them together. He said: 'I headed down to Devon on a whim after seeing potential in the weather forecast for the clear conditions needed for both aspects of the image' This image, by Edward Hyde, is called Lighthouse And The Sea Serpent. It was taken at Newhaven Harbour during Storm Brian in October 2017. The winds were hitting about 40mph. Mr Hyde said: 'I am fascinated by the way one can see familiar shapes and characters in the waves that break over the harbour wall. In this image I see the head of a sea monster or serpent peering over the wall at the lighthouse' British trains have a reputation for failing at the slightest hint of interference with the tracks from Mother Nature. But as this quite remarkable shot from Paul Fowles shows, they have their moments of defiance. His shot was taken in October 2017 at Tywyn in Cardigan Bay, Wales, and shows a train ploughing through foaming sea water churned up by Storm Brian James Loveridge described his picture here as a 'once-in-a-lifetime view of the Dorset coast'. It was taken at West Bay at sunrise and he added: 'Never before, in 27 years of living here, have I seen fog flowing over the cliffs and down onto the beach and it hasn't happened again since. The Facbook post of the aerial time-lapse sequences that I took alongside this photograph have had over four million views' This photograph was taken at sunrise at Houghton in West Sussex by Marie Davey, who said it was 'simply the most beautiful place I have ever seen'. She set her alarm at 2.45am so she could capture the view This mesmerising image was taken by Chris Fletcher at Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire. He said: 'Each spring, the bluebells come out in force, but the wood remains quiet with few visitors' This image, called Moody Day At Kilt Rock, was taken at Mealt Fall on the Isle of Skye by Pawel Zygmunt. He said: 'The cliff has massive columns looking like pleats in a tartan kilt. A long exposure on a gloomy day gave the scene a nice look' As you can see, this dramatic image, of the north face of Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons in Wales, was taken on a very cold day. The photographer, Harry Tilsley-Winch, commented that icicles had formed in his beard This image by Josef Fitzgerald-Patrick is the Your View Youth Class Winner, which is open to under-17s only. It was taken at Porthgwarra Cove in Cornwall. Fitzgerald-Patrick said: 'Porthgwarra has always been one of my favourite places for photographing the Milky Way. It has incredibly dark skies with fantastic views that make brilliant foregrounds... on this particular night I was gifted with clear skies and a boat lowered down the very steep slipway' A picture has emerged showing Ryanair cabin crew lying on an airport office floor after becoming stranded by bad weather. The image was staged by six crew members in protest at their treatment at Malaga Airport in Spain in the early hours of Sunday morning. They were part of a group of eight pilots and 16 cabin crew based in Portugal who claim they were forced to spend several hours in the room, which had just eight chairs. They had no access to food or drink and no hotel accommodation was arranged. A picture that was posted online showing Ryanair cabin crew sleeping on the floor in Malaga Airport after becoming stranded by bad weather They had landed just after midnight, having been diverted from various departure points because of Hurricane Leslie. The office they gathered in was one of the few rooms that wasn't locked. They were discovered around 6am by crews based in Malaga, who arranged for a VIP lounge to be opened up for them. Fernando Rikote, a Malaga-based delegate for SITCPLA, the Spanish union for airline employees, said that Ryanair European Operations in Dublin was told about the plight of the crews by one of the captains, but lodgings couldnt be found. The duty manager of Lesma, the company which is under contract at Malaga for ground handling of Ryanair operations, tried to find a hotel but was unsuccessful. Mr Rikote said: In the end, they were informed it was impossible to find any hotels. Friday was a bank holiday in Spain and the duty manager said all hotels were full. He continued: Finally, at 11.30, the crews flew back to Porto on a 737 ferry flight. Without having proper rest, without sleeping at all. They had to wait aboard that aircraft for nearly three hours while a captain was flown in from London to operate the flight. A Malaga-based first officer operated the flight as well, according to Mr Rikote. Ryanair's chief operations officer, Peter Bellew, took to Twitter to explain that the airline was unable to find accommodation in Malaga for the crew He claims that when the crew asked the operating captain if they could open the aircraft bar and heat up some sandwiches and have some soft drinks, he reportedly called the operation room in Dublin for permission but was told no, they cant. Mr Rikote added: Maybe all hotels around Malaga airport and the city were full, but for sure it would have been possible to accommodate these crews in different hotels, even ones far away from the airport. And to provide a taxi service for all of them. From SITCPLA we certainly believe that this disrespectful situation towards the crew could have been avoided. Ryanair's chief operations officer, Peter Bellew, took to Twitter to explain that the airline was unable to find accommodation in Malaga for the crew. Aviation expert Alex Macheras was surprised that a hotel couldn't be found for the crew He said: 'Later after this the crew moved to VIP lounge. Apologies to the crew we could not find accommodation.' The picture first appeared on Sunday night on a Facebook page called Ryanair MUST Change. After aviation expert Alex Macheras saw it he tweeted: Once again, it becomes quite clear why #Ryanair cabin crew are frequently striking, citing poor working conditions. 'Ryanair says it couldn't accommodate crew, as "all hotels were booked up". '@peterbellew There are 400+ hotels in the city, & it's mid-October (low season)...?' Flight attendant Jay Robert, who blogs about his travels under the name Fly Guy, told MailOnline Travel that the crew deserved better. He said: 'Ryanair crew are some of the hardest working cabin crew in the airline industry and deserve more than a cold floor to sleep on.' Ryanair crew from Portugal and staff from six other countries took part in a 24-hour strike last month Ryanair said in a statement: 'This picture is clearly staged and no crew slept on the floor. Due to storms in Porto (13 October) a number of flights diverted to Malaga and as this was a Spanish national holiday, hotels were fully booked. The crew spent a short period of time in the crew room before being moved to a VIP lounge, and returned to Porto the next day (none of the crew operated flights).' Portuguese Ryanair crew along with their counterparts from six other countries took part in a 24-hour strike last month in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Last week Portugal's SNPVAC union unveiled proposals that would see Ryanair staff be given employment contracts based on Portuguese law, rather than Irish law. Karl Stefanovic's teenage daughter has been spending quality time with his fiancee Jasmine Yarbrough over the school holidays. Ava Stefanovic, 13, enjoyed a picnic with Jasmine and her sister Jade Yarbrough at Whale Beach, Sydney last Monday, The Daily Telegraph reported over the weekend. According to the publication, Ava also spent time alone with her 'stepmother'. She's a stepmum now! Karl Stefanovic's fiancee Jasmine Yarbrough has been spending quality time with his teenage daughter Ava. Pictured left: Jasmine and her sister Jade in an Instagram post shared by Ava last Monday. Right: Another post indicating they were at Whale Beach The pair are also believed to have shared coffee and juice at Palm Beach cafe The Boathouse on another occasion. It comes after Karl's ex-wife Cassandra Thorburn claimed that his family have 'practically no contact' with the former couple's three children following their split. During an interview with The Australian's Women's Weekly in August, Cassandra claimed that Karl's family had 'discarded and disposed of' their children in the wake of their separation in 2016. Out and about: Ava, 13, enjoyed a picnic with Jasmine (right) and her sister Jade Yarbrough (left) at Whale Beach, Sydney last Monday, The Daily Telegraph reported over the weekend 'Last year, I declared that Karl really was dead to me, a man I no longer know, but the children still have their father,' she told the magazine. 'The flip-side of that is I feel like we're dead to his family and almost anyone from our old life. There has been practically no contact. I feel like we've been discarded and disposed of, replaced by a whole new line-up of starters. 'It has been a real adjustment period for me.' In a statement to TheFix at the time, a spokesperson for the Stefanovic family said they were disappointed by Cassandra's claims and insisted they were still in touch with his children. Bonding: According to the publication, Ava also spent time alone with her 'stepmother'. Pictured (left to right): Karl Stefanovic, Jade Yarbrough and Jasmine Yarbrough 'We are disappointed Cass would claim such inflammatory suggestions that we have alienated Karl's children from our family,' the statement read. 'Nothing could be further from the truth. Karl regularly co parents his children and has his loving family around them. 'Family is often compromised when parents go through a painful divorce and we do our best to continue our love and support for the children.' It has previously been reported that Karl and his eldest son Jackson, 19, 'have been estranged for some time' following his marriage split. Prosecutors appeal Russian priest Grozovskys sentence for pedophilia RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov 15:35 12/10/2018 ST. PETERSBURG, October 12 (RAPSI) Russias Prosecutor Generals Office filed an appeal against a 14-year prison sentence given to Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky for sexual abuse against underage pupils of orthodox recreation camps, that had already become effective, RAPSI learnt Friday in the Supreme Courts press service. Demands of Deputy Prosecutor General Leonid Korzhinek, who has appealed the sentence, are unknown yet. The trial of Grozovsky lasted over seven months and was held behind closed doors, yet the press was allowed to stay during the sentencing. Grozovsky was found guilty on all charges in January. In addition to the prison term, he was ordered to pay each victim 400,000 rubles (about $7,000) in compensation for moral damages. In April, the sentence of Gleb Grozovsky took effect. According to investigators, Grozovsky committed several sexual crimes against minors in 2009 and 2013. In April 2014, he was put on the international wanted list. Israeli police arrested the priest in September 2014. In January 2015, a court in Jerusalem ruled that the priest should be extradited to Russia pursuant to the European Convention on Extradition. The ruling was appealed but rejected. In April 2016, the Justice Minister signed an order on Grozovskys extradition. In September 2016, the priest was extradited from Israel to Russia. Defense lawyers claimed that charges against Grozovsky were politically motivated. The Project's Carrie Bickmore is reportedly 'furious' her colleague Lisa Wilkinson continues to get big celebrity interviews, overseas trips and a multi-million dollar salary. According to Woman's Day magazine, Carrie, 37, who has helmed the Channel 10 panel show since its' premiere nine years ago, is allegedly 'shocked at Lisa's travel and overseas expenditure as well as her big star interviews.' 'Carrie cannot believe the money being thrown at Lisa's travel and overseas interviews, and furious that Lisa has the pick of any interviews - and takes all the big ones. You have to remember The Project is Carrie's show,' one 'insider' claimed to the publication. Scroll down for video 'It's become a war between the Sunday Project and The Project': Carrie Bickmore (left) is 'furious' Lisa Wilkinson (right) gets big celebrity interviews, overseas trips and a multi-million dollar salary 'It's become a war between the Sunday Project and The Project.' The magazine also reported that the alleged 'feud' between Carrie and Lisa reached fever pitch one week ago when the former Today show co-host scored the exclusive interview with Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins,' which aired on Sunday night. 'Lisa was in London last week and the USA before that, and while Carrie is pregnant and can't fly, she was absolutely furious that Lisa was given the interview with 'The Honey Badger' over her, as that was shot here in Australia,' the 'source' alleged. Ouch! The magazine reported the alleged feud between Carrie (left) and Lisa (right) reached fever pitch one week ago when the former Today show co-host scored the exclusive interview with The Bachelor star, Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins,' which aired on Sunday night What's more, the magazine claims Studio 10 star Kerri-Anne Kennerley, 65, has reportedly been 'banned' from appearing on The Project in light of the simmering tensions between Carrie and Lisa. However when the veteran television personality was quizzed about the rumoured tension between the Network 10 female hosts, she told the publication she believes she's been blocked from appearing on The Project because she's 'too right wing.' Lisa only joined The Project in late January, but has already made multiple trips to the US for exclusive interviews. 'Banned?' What's more, the magazine claims Studio 10 star, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, 65, has reportedly been 'banned' from appearing on The Project in light of the simmering tensions between Carrie and Lisa In October, Lisa flew to New York City to interview US actor Bradley Cooper, and one week prior she was in London interviewing 'a very special person.' Lisa captioned a photo of herself in the English capital last week: 'In London right now for an interview with a very special someone that's been eight months in the planning.' In February, she flew to Las Vegas to interview Celine Dion, while in April she traveled to New York for an exclusive sit-down with comedian Amy Schumer. And in May, Lisa flew to London to cover the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, while Carrie stayed home. 'There's a lot of tension behind the scenes': Lisa only joined The Project in late January, but has already made multiple trips to the US for exclusive interviews, and flew to London to cover the Royal Wedding 'It does feel a bit like Lisa rubs Carrie's nose in it when she posts shots of herself on location around the world while Carrie is left holding the fort,' the anonymous 'insider' told the magazine this week. In June, Woman's Day quoted sources as saying that Carrie is also 'beyond annoyed' by Lisa's list of demands, as well as her whopping salary. 'Who wouldn't be filthy to be relegated to second place after effectively holding a program together for years?' one insider reportedly asked the magazine. 'There's a lot of tension behind the scenes,' a 'source' is alleged to have told Woman's Day at the time. 'Lisa is getting paid all that money for just two nights a week on camera, and she wants all the best stories here and overseas,' the 'insider' is quoted as saying in Woman's Day. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Ten, Carrie Bickmore and Lisa Wilkinson for comment. Nick Cummins is continuing to evade the media after sparking a nationwide backlash following The Bachelor's season finale earlier this month. Following his pre-recorded interview with The Sunday Project over the weekend, the 31-year-old former Wallaby cancelled his scheduled appearance on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday. Host Jackie 'O' Henderson explained on air that she checked with the program's booker on Sunday to see if Nick's interview was still going ahead because he had abruptly 'cancelled his book signing appearances'. 'He's scared how the public will react': The Bachelor's Nick Cummins cancelled his Kyle and Jackie O Show appearance on Monday after his pre-recorded interview on The Sunday Project. Pictured with Tommy Little (right) on The Sunday Project 'I think he's scared of how the public are going to react to him,' she said. 'I said to Palestine [Sonia Jahshan ,KIIS FM staffer], "Is he still on with us?" And she says, "Nah, he's cancelled everything". 'I think he's a bit shaken up about the whole thing. You know how he got hunted down by A Current Affair when he was in Papua New Guinea? I think that rattled him.' Discussion: Jackie 'O' Henderson (left) said, 'I think he's a bit shaken up about the whole thing', which prompted Kyle Sandilands (right) to ask, 'Maybe he thinks we care more than we do?' 'Maybe he thinks we care more than we do?' co-host Kyle Sandilands suggested, before laughing off the public backlash and suggesting he's been through worse scandals himself in the past. It comes after Nick's 'live' appearance on The Sunday Project over the weekend was changed to a pre-recorded interview at the eleventh hour. 'Honestly he's a beautiful man! It's the most depressed he's been. It was heartbreaking to see,' panellist Tommy Little explained to the studio audience. Change of plan! It comes after Nick's 'live' appearance on The Sunday Project over the weekend was changed to a pre-recorded interview at the eleventh hour 'He was genuinely so nervous... he wouldn't have been able to do the interview live I don't think. Otherwise he would have probably freaked out and said f**k on-air!' A Network Ten crew member also told the crowd during the taping that '[Nick] decided last minute he didn't want to speak in front of an audience.' Instead, the studio audience watched the pre-recorded interview on a TV monitor and were encouraged by a producer to react 'like it's actually happening right now'. Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise made a stylish mother daughter pairing when they stepped out in New York on Saturday. Mom Katie looked fab in white trousers, sleeveless top and sandals, with a gold loose-knit cardigan. Her 12-year-old girl however upstaged her in the style stakes, in a cute all pink ensemble. Mommy and me: Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise made a stylish mother daughter pairing when they stepped out in New York on Saturday She rocked pink Uggs, pastel pink trousers and T-shirt, a pink and grey puffer coat and even a pink purse. Not pictured was Katie's boyfriend Jamie Foxx. The couple weren't even pictured together on Saturday night, despite being at the same party. The pair arrived to the Lumiere De Vie Hommes launch event aboard the superyacht Utopia IV in NY, but spent the evening apart, according to Us Weekly. Gorgeous: Mom Katie looked fab in white trousers, sleeveless top and sandals, with a gold loose-knit cardigan Stylish: Her 12-year-old girl however upstaged her in the style stakes, in a cute all pink ensemble Coordinated: She rocked pink Uggs, pastel pink trousers and T-shirt, a pink and grey puffer coat and even a pink purse 'Jamie was holding Katies hand when they got out of their car and then they walked onto the boat together,' an onlooker told the mag. The sourced noted that 'Jamie held her hand as she stepped up onto the ramp and they looked very much like a couple.' However they then 'walked quickly through the party and were taken to private quarters in the back, where Katie stayed the rest of the night.' Jamie enjoyed the party by himself nevertheless, doing four shots of Patron in 20 minutes, before telling the crowd: 'sh*t I'm drunk now.' Solo: Katie and beau Jamie Foxx attended the same party on Saturday night but spent the night apart (Pictured with La La Anthony) On the mic: The pair arrived to the Lumiere De Vie Hommes launch event aboard the superyacht Utopia IV in NY (Jamie pictured with Evan L-R Ross, Amber Ridinger and Duane McLaughlin) Who needs her? Jamie enjoyed the party by himself nevertheless, doing four shots of Patron in 20 minutes, before telling the crowd: 'sh*t I'm drunk now.' 'Jamie went to the DJ booth and started spinning for the party,' the insider said, adding he played 'lots of 90s hip-hop and hyping the party up, he really made everyone turn up and was a great DJ.' The pair have been linked since a year after Katie ended her six year marriage to Suri's father, Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise. The very private couple have reportedly been dating since being spotted dancing together at the Hamptons a year after the Dawson Creek star's highly-publicised separation from Cruise. They have taken extraordinary measures to keep their relationship secret amid claims Katie's ex-husband included a clause in her 2012 divorce settlement banning her from publicly dating for five years. Australia's beloved TV series A Country Practice is reportedly returning to the TV screens. New Idea reports that Fremantle Australia has purchased the rights to the multi-Logie award-winning soap and are planning to reboot it. 'A well-placed television insider' allegedly told the magazine that there are plans to 'bring back some of the original characters' as well as recruit new stars to join the cast. It's back! Australia's beloved TV series A Country Practice 'returning to the TV screens' after Fremantle Australia 'purchase the rights to the multi-Logie award-winning soap' Beloved: Set in the fictional NSW rural town of Wandin Valley, the series revolved around the medical practice's staff and their interactions with the rest of the town 'The general idea of the show is that it will focus on a new generation of locals,' the 'insider' told the magazine. 'But Fremantle also want to bring back some of the original characters to give it that nostalgic element to it.' Shane Porteous, who played lovable doctor Dr Terence Elliot and became the heart of the Wandin Valley practice for 12 years, is among many of the old favourites of the soap. Meanwhile, Lorrae Desmond, who portrayed Nurse Shirley Gilroy from 1981 to 1992, was memorable for her marriage to policeman Frank Gilroy (played by Brian Henzel). Joan Sydney was everyone's favourite Matron Maggie Sloan, and Penny Cook, who played Vet Vicky Dean Bowen, was also another memorable character. Old and new: 'A well-placed television insider' allegedly told the magazine that there are plans to 'bring back some of the original characters' as well as recruit new stars to join the cast. Pictured is Joan Sydney who played everyone's favourite, Matron Maggie Sloan New Idea have predicted that new talent could include Jessica Marais, Doctor Doctor star Rodger Corser, Love Child favourite Mandy McElhinney, Erik Thomson from Packed To The Rafters and Aussie superstar Deborah Mailman. A Country Practice still holds the record as one of Australia's most popular television series, running for more than 13 years from 1981 to 1994. Set in the fictional NSW rural town of Wandin Valley, the series revolved around the medical practice's staff and their interactions with the rest of the town. Will she join? New Idea have predicted that new talent could include popular actress Jessica Marais Hunks! Other names New Idea have thrown about are Doctor star Rodger Corser and Erik Thomson from Packed To The Rafters Shown in twice weekly hour long episodes, the show tackled its fair share of hot button issues such as HIV, suicide and recognition of Aboriginals. It also boasted a slew of A-list guest stars including Nicole Kidman, Toni Colette, Simon Baker and Delta Goodrem, with even then-prime minister Bob Hawke appearing on screen in 1986. The show was cancelled by Channel Seven in 1993, but was rebooted for a short-lived stint on Channel 10 in 1994. Matron 2.0? The magazine also mentioned Love Child favourite Mandy McElhinney She's quite the busy lady. But it seems there's always time to hit the gym for Eiza Gonzalez, who flaunted her voluptuous curves in a photo she posted on her Instagram on Sunday. The 28-year-old looked incredible in a skimpy two-piece bikini while accompanying her ensemble with a pair of black sunglasses as she showed off her ample cleavage and toned abs. That's quite the body: Eiza Gonzalez posted a photo to her Instagram page in a very revealing two-piece bikini on Sunday 'A sunny Sunday in South Africa,' the brunette had captioned the sultry photo. And despite the beautiful background scenery, it appeared as if Eiza's fans were strictly focused on gushing over her incredible physique in the comments section. 'Can I have this body? My wig is snatched,' one fan wrote, clearly in awe of Gonzalez. It seemed as the majority of Eiza's followers felt the same way. Having a blast: Gonzalez appears to have made the most out of her trip to South Africa Another user wrote: 'One day I'll put down the flaming hot Fritos and look like that.' The Baby Driver star could quite possibly be in such great shape to prep for the hectic promotional tour she's embarking on later this year. In December, Gonzalez will kick off her press run for the Steve Carrell-led motion picture Welcome to Marwen. Two months later, the Mexico-born beauty will star in the upcoming Alita: Battle Angel film starring Christoph Waltz and Jennifer Connelly. It's coming! Eiza will star in the forthcoming release of Alita; expected for release on February 14 Just last week, Eiza had plugged the film's release on her Instagram page. 'Alita is ready for battle. February 14th #AlitaBattleAngel,' her caption read. With her career skyrocketing, the same can't be said for Eiza's love life. Staying single? She reportedly ended her romance with Josh Duhamel over the summer due to her hectic work schedule In July, it was reported that she had called it quits with actor Josh Duhamel, with sources telling ET Online that their hectic work schedules were making it difficult for the former couple to form a serious relationship. 'Josh truly enjoyed Eiza's company but is ready to move on,' an insider revealed. 'Eiza was very busy with work and so was Josh.' Nick Cummins appeared on The Sunday Project in a pre-recorded segment over the weekend after pulling out of his live appearance at the last minute. And on KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday, veteran journalist Peter Ford claimed the eleventh-hour change was due to Nick, 31, being in a 'dark place' mentally. Ford also alleged that the former Wallaby's manager Nick Fordham demanded that the segment be pre-recorded so he could have 'final say over [the] final edit'. 'They are seriously worried about his mental health': Nick Cummins is reportedly 'in a dark place' after The Bachelor finale backlash... as it's claimed his manager Nick Fordham 'demanded The Sunday Project was pre-recorded'. Pictured: Cummins on The Sunday Project 'My information is that [Nick Cummins] is in a very dark place,' Ford claimed. 'They are seriously worried about his mental health. That's why the interview last night on The Project could not go live. 'He might be more fragile than we think. The whole thing may have pushed him over the edge.' 'He might be more fragile than we think': Speaking to Kyle Sandilands (pictured) and Jackie 'O' Henderson on Monday, veteran journalist Peter Ford claimed that Nick was at breaking point Nick's public image as a likeable Aussie larrikin was shattered earlier this month following The Bachelor finale, which saw him refuse to pick a winner. The former rugby star has faced a backlash from outraged fans, who continue to demand answers. However, Ford claimed it wasn't necessarily the viewer response that troubled Nick. 'What's interesting about the interview last night is that he seems to be indicating the dark place that... the health issues actually began during the filming of the show which was five months ago,' he said. 'And it's not really related to the blowback from not making a choice or getting cornered by A Current Affair.' Backlash: Nick's public image as a likeable Aussie larrikin was shattered earlier this month following The Bachelor finale, which saw him refuse to pick a winner. Pictured in the finale Not the one: Bachelor finalists Sophie Tieman (left) and Brittany Hockley (right) were left heartbroken when Nick dumped them both in the finale Ford also doubled-down on a tweet he posted on Sunday in which he claimed that Nick's manager demanded his client's 'live' interview be pre-recorded. His original tweet read: 'Exclusive... Honey Badgers manager demanded the interview be pre-recorded so he could have final say over final edit. Amazingly the show agreed. Given @theprojecttv considers itself a news show this is an amazing agreement. On-air talent may not have been told the reasons.' Speaking to Kyle and Jackie O on Monday, Ford said he was 'sticking by his story' and added that Nick's situation 'highlighted the dark side to television'. Despite filing for divorce a month ago, Jenni 'JWoww' Farley and estranged husband Roger Mathews celebrated their wedding anniversary Saturday night. Mathews, 43, shared a photo on Instagram Saturday night, dining at a white-linen restaurant with Farley, 32. Later that night, he also shared a video, filmed on his cell phone, of himself and Farley walking to a horse and carriage he had arranged for them. Estranged dinner: Jenni 'JWoww' Farley and estranged husband Roger Mathews celebrated their third wedding anniversary despite Farley filing for divorce Mathews' Instagram photo was accompanied with the message, 'Rome wasnt built in a day,' indicating he's still trying to 'build' his relationship with Farley. Matthews was wearing a dark grey dress shirt and dark pants while Farley wore a light grey sweater and blue pants, with glasses. Both Mathews and Farley were raising glasses of red wine in the photo, before surprising her with carriage ride. The once happy couple: Farley and Mathews, seen at the New York premiere of Jersey Shore Family Vacation in April have been estranged since Farley filed for divorce in September Not long after posting the anniversary dinner photo, Mathews posted an Instagram video which begins with Mathews saying, 'Is what for us?' 'The horse,' Farley responds, adding, 'Oh my God' while laughing and putting on a black jacket. The video also shows where the couple were seemingly having their anniversary dinner, revealing a sign for Peter Shields Inn & Restaurant in Cape May, New Jersey. Marriage on the mend: Not long after posting the anniversary dinner photo, Mathews posted an Instagram video which begins with Mathews (seen with Farley above in 2016) saying, 'Is what for us?' 'Your chariot awaits,' Mathews says in the video, which causes Farley to laugh before she adds, 'That's why you were worried about timing.' As they both walk up to the carriage and politely greet their driver, Mathews walks ahead and says, 'Let me get that door for you, babe.' He then opens the door and steps aside for Farley to enter the carriage, where there are flowers waiting for her as Mathews adds, 'Happy anniversary,' which Farley responds to by saying, 'Oh, why thank you. Look at that.' Once happy couple: 'Your chariot awaits,' Mathews says in the video, while Farley (seen with Mathews above in 2014) adds, 'That's why you were worried about timing' The video ends with Mathews picking up the bouquet of flowers and handing them to Farley, saying, 'These are for you.' Farley and Mathews reunited earlier this month, attending a Disney show in New Jersey with their daughter Meilani. Mathews also joked earlier this month that he had a spinal cord shock therapy device installed, and JWoww is in possession of the remote control. Chris Evans' so-called goodbye tweet, sent out after he wrapped filming Avengers 4, led some fans to believe that Captain America dies in the upcoming Marvel movie. Now, a little more than a week later, and the 37-year old actor tried to put those fans at ease and said his social media post wasn't an insinuation that Captain America will die. 'I should clarify that I know I did tweet something that made a lot of people think that it was in someway a spoiler,' Evans said during ACE Comic Con in Chicago over the weekend. 'I should clarify that regardless of how Avengers 4 ends, I would have tweeted the exact same thing. That last day of filming was a very emotional day and it was the culmination of almost 10 years of filming and 22 movies, this unbelievable tapestry.' Clarification: Chris Evans said his Marvel goodbye tweet from October 4 wasn't an insinuation that Captain America will die in Avengers 4 Not a spoiler: 'I should clarify that regardless of how Avengers 4 ends, I would have tweeted the exact same thing. That last day of filming was a very emotional day and it was the culmination of almost 10 years of filming and 22 movies, this unbelievable tapestry' Evans added: 'You feel a lot more emotions than I think even I thought Id feel. And I felt it was appropriate to share the gratitude. I know it had a ripple effect but I am neither confirming or denying anything,' he added. The fan firestorm started last wee when the actor tweeted: Officially wrapped on Avengers 4. It was an emotional day to say the least. Playing this role over the last 8 years has been an honor. To everyone in front of the camera, behind the camera, and in the audience, thank you for the memories! Eternally grateful. Fan firestorm:The actor's tweet was interpreted some as the death of Captain America in the upcoming Avengers 4 Moving on: Chris Evans has said he will no longer be playing Captain America; the 37-year old actor is seen in Captain America: Civil War in 2016 The actor had previously eluded to having retired the character in an interview with the New York Times before the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War earlier this year. 'You want to get off the train before they push you off,' he confessed. 'I used to have thoughts of wanting to climb to the top of something, or wanting to be somebody. 'But when you get the thing that you think you want and then you wake up and realize that you still have pockets of sadness, and that your struggle will reinvent itself, you stop chasing after those things and it is liberating, because you realize that right here, right now, is exactly all I need.' End of an era: The actor had previously eluded to having retired Captain America in an interview with the New York Times earlier this year It has been a long and adventurous journey together for Evans and Marvel. He first joined the Marvel universe when he played Johnny Storm/Human Torch in the Fantastic Four in 2005 and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007. The Massachusetts native went on to play Steve Rogers/Captain America in nine films beginning with 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. The still untitled Avengers 4 movie is set to hit theaters in the US May 3, 2019. History: Evans has played Steve Rogers/Captain America in nine films beginning with 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger Ali Oetjen's season of The Bachelorette has delivered the worst ratings in the franchise's history. But on Monday, NW magazine reported that producers may have come up with a way to boost audience figures. A source claimed that her ex-boyfriend Grant Kemp was asked to appear on the show as a late-arrival contestant, or 'intruder'. Will he make a surprise appearance? The Bachelorette producers reportedly wanted Grant Kemp to feature on Ali Oetjen's season as an intruder. Pictured on Bachelor in Paradise 'They asked if he was willing to fly back Down Under and film part of the show,' said the insider. 'They knew that [his episode] would rate through the roof - but he would've had to have taken the opportunity to patch things up with Ali.' Grant and Ali met and fell in love while filming Bachelor In Paradise in 2017. Ready to forgive? A source told NW magazine that her Ali's ex-boyfriend Grant was asked to appear on the show as a late-arrival contestant, or 'intruder'. Pictured: Ali and Osher Gunsberg However the relationship fell apart in March of this year amid sensational claims of infidelity. Ali, 32, had flown to Los Angeles to visit the 29-year-old firefighter, as they had been in a long distance relationship. Grant described what allegedly happened during that ill-fated trip in graphic detail several weeks later. Bitter split: Grant and Ali met and fell in love while filming Bachelor In Paradise in 2017. However the relationship fell apart in March of this year amid sensational claims of infidelity Speaking with The Kyle and Jackie O Show in May, Grant said: 'I had left to go and find my friends. I came back inside [my house] and a man was going down on her on my stairs. So I kicked her out that night.' Ali has previously described Grant's accusations as 'horrible', but has not denied them. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Network Ten for comment. The Bachelorette airs Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm on Network Ten Grant Denyer has hinted that Queensland-based convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby may make her reality TV debut on Dancing With The Stars. Speaking to TV Week, the 41-year-old Game of Games host surprisingly confessed that his first celebrity pick for the show would be Schapelle. 'These shows are perfect for redemption,' he told the publication. 'These shows are perfect for redemption': Grant Denyer (left) has hinted convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby (right) could make her reality TV debut on Dancing With The Stars Schapelle's served almost a decade behind bars and three years on parole for smuggling drugs into Indonesia. She was arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport in October 2004 after customs officers discovered 4.1kg of marijuana wrapped in plastic inside her boogie board bag. Schapelle finally returned to Australia in May, 2017 after being released from Kerobokan Prison in February, 2014. Dance it off! Speaking to TV Week, the 41-year-old Game of Games host surprisingly confessed that his first celebrity pick for the show would be Schapelle Convicted: Schapelle was arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport in October 2004 after customs officers discovered 4.1kg of marijuana wrapped in plastic inside her boogie board bag Meanwhile, Grant went on to list celebrities who have experienced the benefits of appearing on reality shows in the past. 'Look at Casey Donovan and what the jungle did for her [winning I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!] or Brendan Fevola,' the TV personality said. Past: Schapelle's served almost a decade behind bars and three years on parole for smuggling drugs into Indonesia 'Or Shannon Noll [faced drug charges this year] - Australia has a soft spot for him, despite having a bump or two along the way.' And Grant credits Dancing With The Stars for kick starting his career as an entertainer. After strutting his stuff on the dance floor in 2014, Grant went on to establish himself as a host on It Takes Two and Australia's Got Talent. Moscow court extends detention of three defendants in Argentina-Russia drug case 16:43 12/10/2018 MOSCOW, October 12 (RAPSI) Moscows Tverskoy District Court on Friday extended detention for three defendants in a criminal case over attempted cocaine smuggling from Argentina to Russia for a month, the courts spokesperson Anastasia Dzyurko told RAPSI. Thus, Vladimir Kalmykov and Ishtimir Khudzhamov will remain detained until December 13, while Ali Abyanov will stay in jail until December 12. One more defendant in the case is Andrey Kovalchuk, who earlier was detained until December 1 upon a court order. Kovalchuk was arrested in Germany on March 1. Later, he was extradited to Russia and put in jail. All the men are charged with drug trafficking and illegal production, sale or transportation of drugs. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, law enforcement authorities of Russia and Argentina have collaboratively suppressed delivery of a large consignment of drugs (cocaine) from Argentina to Europe. The drugs ready for delivery were found in one of the Russian embassy buildings in Buenos Aires in 2016. Cocaine allegedly belonged to an embassy technical staff member, whose duty journey was over by that time. During the conducted operation, Russian and Argentinean citizens were arrested, the ministry stated earlier. Kenya Moore is expecting a baby shower gift from all her friends even if they aren't able to attend the party. The former Real Housewives of Atlanta star, 47, had taken to her official Instagram page on Sunday, using the Story feature to let it be known that the event is just days away from taking place. Moore, who is expecting her first child with businessman Marc Daly, appeared somewhat bothered by the fact that certain guests hadn't responded to the invitation yet. Its the thought that counts: Kenya Moore says she will expect baby shower gifts - even from invited guests who aren't able to attend Given that the baby shower is quickly approaching, it seemed rather evident that Kenya was annoyed by the lengthy delay of a response from several friends. 'RSVP literally means RESPOND PLEASE in French so if you get an invitation respond with a yes or no if you will be attending,' the 47-year-old wrote on her first Instagram Story post. But she wasn't done yet. Baby on the way: The TV personality is expecting her first child with her husband Marc Daly; pictured at the Atlanta Four Seasons Hotel in March Kenya continued by stressing that even if some of her friends weren't to show up, she still expects a gift from them. Moore argues that the same gratitude she had to invite her pals to her 'life-changing event' is the same gratitude that should be applied to purchase the socialite a baby shower gift, regardless of whether they are in attendance or not. '#Etiquette101 if you cannot attend a monumental life changing event in a friend's life, it's nice to send a gift anyway. (Weddings, graduations, baby showers),' the soon-to-be mother gushed. Sporting her baby bump: Moore recently flaunted her pregnant bump at the Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta season premiere on October 2 in Atlanta 'Or it's about class? It's NOT about a dollar amount it's to show you care the same way the person cared to invite you to share a moment in their life.' Meanwhile, in a statement obtained by Us Weekly, Kenya had confirmed that she would not be returning to the Real Housewives franchise. Given the difficulty it took to conceive her first child as previously documented on the show Kenya says it was important to take time off from reality TV to give her full attention on her journey to motherhood. 'I have decided to take this season off to focus on my high-risk pregnancy in a healthy and drama-free environment,' Moore told the news publication earlier this month. Despite the initial rumor being that the mother-to-be was let go from the show because of her alleged salary increase demand, Kenya had nothing but positive things to say about Bravo. 'I thank Bravo for this amazing platform that has allowed me to grow, flourish and appreciate the value of what is truly important in life,' she concluded in her statement. Former cast member Sheree Whitfield also confirmed that she won't be returning to Housewives, noting that she strictly wants to focus her attention on her She by Sheree collection. The 11th series of Real Housewives of Atlanta returns to Bravo on November 4. Not coming back: Sheree Whitfield confirmed in a statement that she won't be returning to the popular franchise, stressing that she wants to focus her attention on her business It's been a horror year for the Today show, which saw ratings plunge to a 12-year low. And former breakfast TV executive producer Rob McKnight has weighed in with his opinion on the future of Today. Speaking on the latest edition of his podcast TV Blackbox last week, Rob claimed it would be difficult for Channel Nine's flagship to recover. 'It's over for Today': A former TV producer has claimed there is 'no coming back' for Channel Nine's struggling breakfast show without major changes - after ratings fell to a 12-year low. Pictured: Today hosts Karl Stefanovic (left) and Georgie Gardner (right) 'It's over for Today,' Rob said, referencing the program's struggling ratings. 'I don't think there's any coming back unless there's some major changes.' Comparing Today to Channel Seven's Sunrise, Rob said the rival program was better at sustaining its audience over a long period of time. 'They've done a great job at holding Australians and staying at number one,' said Rob, who previously worked for Network Ten's Studio 10. 'There's been a few wobbles. Once upon a time they could say they won every single day for X amount of years. Then they had to say every week. Then they had to say every year. But they still managed to do it.' 'I don't think there's any coming back unless there's some major changes': Former Studio 10 executive producer Rob McKnight (pictured) claimed Today needs a major shake-up to survive 'They've done a great job at holding Australians and staying at number one': Rob praised Channel Seven's Sunrise for sustaining its audience over the years. Pictured: Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and David Koch The Today show and its longtime host Karl Stefanovic continue to be at the centre of a negative publicity storm. Speculation is rife that Karl, who is earning a rumoured $2million a year, is set to be sacked from the program due to poor ratings. Speaking on the Woman's Day Uncensored Podcast earlier this month, Woman's Day editor-in-chief Fiona Connolly claimed that Today co-host Georgie Gardner, 48, was told by Nine executives that she only has to 'wait it out until the end of the year' before Karl is given the boot. Getting the boot? Speculation is rife that Today host Karl Stefanovic (pictured) is set to be sacked from Today by the end of the year due to poor ratings Meanwhile, Channel Nine favourite Ben Fordham is tipped to replace Karl. A source told Woman's Day in March: '[Nine management] plan to wheel Karl out as much as possible for 60 Minutes assignments, which will justify his absence from Today. 'Ben Fordham will fill in while he's gone, prepping him to take over in January 2019.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment. She found fame at a young age thanks to winning a role on ABC's Modern Family. And on Sunday, Ariel Winter, 20, looked every inch the Hollywood star as she attended an awards luncheon in Los Angeles. The actress showed off her curves in a sleeveless white dress with spaghetti straps at the Girl Up event. Glamorous: Ariel Winter, 20, looked every inch the Hollywood star as she attended a Girl Up event in LA on Sunday, showing off her curves in a sleeveless white dress with spaghetti straps Ariel's figure-hugging dress was low-cut revealing some of her ample cleavage. The number was cinched at the waist and then fell in a straight line to just below the knee. It was low-cut at the back, too, revealing more skin and had a zipper running down the back as well. Stylish: The actress, 20, flaunted her cleavage in the figure-hugging dress that was cinched at the waist and then fell in a straight line to just below the knee Dared to bare: The outfit was low-cut at the back, too, revealing more skin and had a zipper running down the back as well She chose to step out in white pointed toe heels which were ringed with silver studs. Her long hair was scraped back from her face and was worn in a high ponytail. Ariel accessorized with long diamond earrings and diamond bracelets, and was made up with lashings of black mascara and eye liner and scarlet red lip color. Blinged: She chose to step out in white pointed toe heels which were ringed with silver studs. Her hair was worn in a high ponytail and she accessorized with diamond earrings and bracelets Worthy cause: The luncheon was held for the Girl Up's first annual #GirlHero Awards that aimed to celebrate those advocating for gender equality The luncheon was held to celebrate Girl Up's first annual #GirlHero Awards, which were presented to Yara Shahidi, Olivia Munn and Chrissy Metz. The event aimed to celebrate those advocating for gender equality, THR.com reported last month. Girl Up was founded by the United Nations Foundation in 2010 and provides its participants with leadership and social impact programs, as well as science, technology, engineering and math training. Meanwhile, Ariel and her boyfriend Levi Meaden, 31, recently added a fourth dog to their family. The couple adopted a cute black rescue puppy named Cleo after attending the American Humane Hero Dog Awards in Hollywood. 'Were so in love with this tiny addition to our now family of 6!' the actress wrote on Instagram as she shared several snaps of the adorable pup. 'We are so honored to be able to support and help American Humane. October is #adoptadogmonth so please consider adopting from your local shelter as there are so many beautiful dogs waiting to love and be loved.' Ayda Field has revealed that her husband Robbie Williams developed a new nickname for her after she breastfed their three children, branding her 'Picasso t**s'. And the American star, in return, refers to Robbie as a 'manw***e' and 'dirty boy'. Ayda - who currently acts as a mentor with her other half on The X Factor - revealed, 'that is Robs not-endearing nickname for me after breastfeeding,' as reported by The Sun. Saucy: Ayda Field has revealed that her husband Robbie Williams developed a new nickname for her after she breastfed their three children, branding her 'Picasso t**s'. And the American star, in return, refers to Robbie as a 'manw***e' and 'dirty boy' 'Dont call your wife after she breastfeeds her children Picasso t**s. Just a heads up that its not a good idea,' she said of the moniker, based on the 20th Century Cubist painter. The couple - Ayda, 39, and Robbie, 44 - share children Teddy, six, Charlton, three, and Coco, one month. Take That star Robbie has been known in the past to makes inappropriate jabs in jest at his wife's child-rearing, telling Graham Norton once that when she was in labour her vagina resembled a burning down pub. Ayda went on: 'You know how like there are those quotes of like Prince Philip of funny things that he has said? I feel like Rob is starting to compile a list of funny things that he has said about my body parts and at some point in 20 years there will be a list this long, it could be like Top 25.' Candid: Ayda - who currently acts as a mentor with her other half on The X Factor - revealed, 'that is Robs not-endearing nickname for me after breastfeeding' Bants: Take That star Robbie has been known in the past to makes inappropriate jabs in jest at his wife's child-rearing, telling Graham Norton once that when she was in labour her vagina resembled a burning down pub Ayda went on to say: 'Robbie has slept with pretty much all of the UK, I couldnt possibly be a jealous person. I think, "yep manw***e". Former manw***e' She went on to say: 'Robbie has slept with pretty much all of the UK, I couldnt possibly be a jealous person. I think, "yep manw***e". Former manw***e. 'He was a dirty boy; but I love him, hes my dirty boy.' The latest insight into the Williams' marriage comes after they attended Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding at Windsor Castle on Friday, at which their eldest child Theodora 'Teddy' Williams made her own outspoken faux pas. Acting as a flower girl, the youngster stole the show when she spotted Sarah Ferguson on the steps outside St George's Chapel, and boldly asked if she was the Queen. Stealing the show: The latest insight into the Williams' marriage comes after they attended Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding at Windsor Castle on Friday, at which their eldest child Theodora 'Teddy' Williams made her own outspoken faux pas Cheeky: Acting as a flower girl, the youngster stole the show when she spotted Sarah Ferguson on the steps outside St George's Chapel, and boldly asked if she was the Queen 'No, I'm not the Queen,' Fergie replied. 'You're a princess?' Teddy inquired further, with confidence. 'Yes' Sarah responded, despite the fact she is actually the Duchess of York. Teddy then got back to her duties as she confidently held her bouquet in the air as the group posed for photographs, while the other children politely held a pose. The six-year-old was a flower girl with Princess Charlotte and pageboy Prince George. Ellie Kemper opens up about her rocky start on Instagram earlier this year, on Monday's edition of Ellen. 'I figured it was 2018 - it was maybe a little too early to join Instagram, but I was ready for it,' said the 38-year-old actress, who noted she's stayed away from social media to avoid additional busywork. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star, 38, said the deciding factor was Julia Roberts getting an account this past June, as she thought she could make her entree onto the social media site with similar fervor. Lots of likes: Ellie Kemper, 38, opens up on Monday's edition of Ellen about her adjustment to Instagram, including an embarrassing moment she had with a Riverdale star 'I figured, "I'm like Julia Roberts" - she got like two million followers in a week or something, I thought, "I'll get that too" - I don't have that,' said Kemper. 'She's Julia Roberts.' The St. Louis native said she figured she would get a windfall of followers due to her status on the Netflix series, and was frustrated when the growth began to slow. (She's currently at nearly 32,000 followers.) Kemper said she was attending an industry luncheon for the Emmys - Glamour x Tory Burch's function in mid-September - and was seated next to actress Madelaine Petsch of Riverdale fame. Kemper said she wanted to help out the younger actress when the two began discussing Instagram, as she offered tips about stories, time lapses and emojis. Pretty woman: Kemper said she was inspired to join the site after Julia Roberts did so this past June Good advice: Ellen, who has more than 58 million followers, said that selfies and cute animal shots are good fodder to attract followers 'Why did I feel the need to impress this beautiful woman who - I went home and - she has 10 million followers!' said Kemper, who shares two-year-old son James with husband Michael Koman. Kemper said she thought a good way to curry interest would be to share shots from the luxe event - Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae and Busy Philipps were among the stars in attendance - but she was barely visible in the group shot she had hoped to post. Miss: Ellie tried to gain followers with a shot from an Emmys party, but was barely visible in the group shot she had hoped to post Exciting new project: Kemper was on to promote her new book My Squirrel Days Oops! Kemper accidentally gave Instagram advice to Riverdale actress Madelaine Petsch, who has 10 million followers Ellen, who has more than 58 million followers, advised Kemper to include selfies and cute animal shots. Kemper was on to promote her new book My Squirrel Days, which details her 'journey from Midwestern naif to Hollywood semi-celebrity to outrageously reasonable New Yorker,' according to the publisher. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's final stretch, part two of season four, will begin streaming in January. Margot Robbie is back on the set of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood on Sunday, sporting a very familiar look. Robbie, 28, offered a bright smile on the set, wearing the exact same outfit she was seen wearing in the first look photo of her character, late film actress Sharon Tate, which she shared on Instagram in early August. The actress was also seen filming inside a classic Porsche, which is likely a replica of a car that has an important connection to the 1969 Tate murder. Stunning in black and white: Margot Robbie rocks a black and white look with a short skirt and big boots on the set of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Robbie was seen wearing a chic black long-sleeved sweater, with a tiny white mini-skirt and white boots. The Suicide Squad star was at one point seen stretching her arms behind her head, perhaps to adjust her hair. None of her co-stars were seen in the actress' vicinity, but judging by her radiant smile, she certainly seemed to be enjoying herself on set. Loving her work: Robbie was seen wearing a chic black long-sleeved sweater, with a tiny white mini-skirt and white boots The black Porsche Robbie was seen in appears to be a 1966 Porsche 911 Targa, which was positioned on a trailer rig, with Tarantino seated on the rig. This is same year and model car owned by Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring, one of the four victims along with Sharon Tate in the infamous August 9, 1969 murder at Tate and director Roman Polanski's home at 10050 Cileo Drive in Los Angeles. The vehicle became part of the investigation briefly after authorities found several drugs in the car, including marijuana and possibly LSD. Along for the ride: The black Porsche Robbie was seen in appears to be a 1966 Porsche 911 Targa, which was positioned on a trailer rig, with Tarantino seated on the rig Sebring will be played by Emile Hirsch in the film, with the other murder victims, Polish filmmaker Voityck Frokowsky and coffee heiress Abigail Folger, being played by Costa Ronin and Samantha Robinson, respectively. The story follows a once-famous Western TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) who find themselves struggling to find a foothold in an ever-changing Hollywood. The plot thickens when Dalton discovers that his new neighbor is none other than Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). On set: This is same year and model car owned by Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring, one of the four victims along with Sharon Tate in the infamous August 9, 1969 murder at Tate and director Roman Polanski's home at 10050 Cileo Drive in Los Angeles The impressive cast also includes Damon Herriman as Charles Manson, Dakota Fanning as Manson Family member Squeaky Fromme and Al Pacino as Dalton's talent agent, Marvin Schwarzs. Sony will release the film on July 26, 2019, just weeks before the 50th anniversary of the infamous Tate murders. Robbie will next be seen in Mary Queen of Scots, alongside Saoirse Ronan, which hits theaters December 7. She's a star who has embraced her fuller figure and advocated for body positivity. And on Sunday Chrissy Metz was honored at Girl Up's first annual #GirlHero Awards held in Los Angeles. The 38-year-old actress, who found fame on NBC's This Is Us, arrived at the event in a floral custom LOFT dress. Honoree: She's a star who has embraced her fuller figure and advocated for body positivity. And on Sunday Chrissy Metz was honored at the Girl Up #GirlHero Awards held in LA Chrissy's frock featured blue, white and pink flowers on a black background and wide black brocade on the edges. Her black flat sandals matched the brocade pattern. The actress added dangly turquoise earrings and pink lip color and wore her brunette hair loose with a lightly off-center parting. She sported dark red polish on her finger and toe nails. Lovely: Chrissy's custom LOFT dress featured blue, white and pink flowers on a black background and wide black brocade on the edges. Her black flat sandals matched the brocade pattern Got awards: Chrissy was joined on the pink carpet by her fellow honorees Yara Shahidi, left, and Olivia Munn, right The #GirlHero Awards aimed to celebrate those advocating for gender equality, THR.com reported last month. Girl Up was founded by the United Nations Foundation in 2010 and provides its participants with leadership and social impact programs, as well as science, technology, engineering and math training. Chrissy was joined on the pink carpet by her fellow honorees Yara Shahidi and Olivia Munn. In the spotlight: Girl Up was founded by the United Nations Foundation in 2010 and the #GirlHero Awards aimed to celebrate those advocating for gender equality In the November issue of Glamour magazine, Chrissy spoke about how it has taken her whole life to get brave enough to wear a swimsuit in public. 'I grew up wearing a T-shirt at the pool,' she explained. 'As an adult, I was like, Im gonna find a bathing suit I like and Im gonna wear it.'' At the end of June, she vacationed in Barbados and finally took the plunge, sharing photos from the resort showing her in a black one-piece in the swimming pool. 'People whove never been overweight dont understand what it all entails. They think youre just sitting in the corner and all you do is eat,' Chrissy told Glamour. 'My thing is, lets get to the real issues because the food is the symptom; its not the issue. Everyones filling a void with something,' she said. Alessandra Ambrosio took care of herself on Sunday with a yoga session and organic juices. The 37-year-old model wore a black People Over Power cowl-neck hoodie along with grey Beyond Yoga leggings while out in Santa Monica, California. She completed her workout outfit with blue sneakers. Staying healthy: Alessandra Ambrosio headed out for a yoga session and grabbed organic juice on Sunday in Santa Monica, California The Brazilian beauty accessorized with black round sunglasses, stud earrings and bracelets. The Vogue cover girl had her brown hair up in a high knot and displayed her flawless complexion without makeup. Alessandra was spotted carrying her yoga mat and also holding bags of organic juices. The former Victoria's Secret Angel has a 10-year-old daughter Anja Louise and six-year-old son Noah Phoenix with ex-boyfriend Jamie Mazur, 37. Yoga time: The 37-year-old model carried her yoga mat as she returned to her regular routine Alessandra and Jamie split earlier this year after being engaged for 10 years. They first started dating in 2005. The 5foot9 model recently attended Paris Fashion Week events with new boyfriend Nicolo Oddo. Fresh juice: The former Victoria's Secret Angel also was spotted carrying bags of organic juice She arrived back in Los Angeles last week and has resumed her regular yoga routine. Alessandra portrayed herself in a cameo in the 2016 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. She also appeared in the 2015 comedy Daddy's Home and its 2017 sequel Daddy's Home 2. A contestant on New Zealand's Married At First Sight has exposed the manipulative editing tricks used to create dramatic storylines. Auckland socialite Samuel Levi, who 'married' Tayler Morgan last month, lashed out at the show's producers on social media over the weekend. In a series of Instagram posts on Sunday, the 25-year-old revealed how interviews filmed days apart were spliced together in post-production. 'I'm wearing three different outfits during these interviews!' Married At First Sight NZ star Samuel Levi (pictured) has exposed the manipulative editing tricks used in post-production 'Amazing editing on the show tonight... not,' he captioned a screenshot of a recent MAFS NZ episode. Sam explained that he was wearing different outfits during the episode, which demonstrated how his interviews were actually filmed across several days. He claimed that these interviews were used out of context in different scenarios to fit the purposes of the show's storyline. 'Not cool!' In a series of Instagram posts, the 25-year-old revealed how interviews filmed days apart were spliced together in post-production 'I'm clearly wearing 3-4 outfits in some of my interviews, which means these are done on different days,' he wrote. 'So to pull a conversation about something else, and to place it in a different scenario. I have no problem at pulling you up on it.' MediaWorks, the production company behind the series, refuted Samuel's claims in a statement to Daily Mail Australia. 'We do not put words in peoples mouths or edit anyone to be a character they are not,' they said. 'The actions and behaviour of the participants on Married At First Sight NZ, on both on screen and off, are their own doing. However we empathise that it can be confronting to see yourself and the things you say play out on national television. 'We take the duty of care of our participants very seriously. They have unlimited access to psychological support throughout the entire shoot and on air period.' It's not the first time the MAFS franchise has been accused of manipulative editing. Earlier this year, Australian contestant Davina Rankin blamed the show's post-production trickery for making her look like the 'villain'. Familiar face: Samuel (pictured) is one of the breakout stars of Married At First Sight NZ She told The Courier Mail: 'A lot happens behind the scenes. It's so hard for me to even watch the show as I know the context of the conversations and some sentences are even from days before so it's almost impossible for me to try and make sense. 'But I know that I'm a good person and what's happened and I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy. 'I know it's everybody's job whether it's selling magazines or getting listeners on radio stations but until it directly affects you it's really hard to get your head around.' Married At First Sight New Zealand airs on Channel Three at 7pm on Sunday and 7:30pm every Monday and Tuesday. They are the most experienced contestants on The Block. And it appears Kerrie Charter and Spence Thomson's past renovation experience could pay off the for South Australian couple, with one expert claiming they will win. Australian tax specialist, Bradley Beer, who is the CEO of BMT Tax Depreciation, said Kerrie and Spence's Gatwick property holds the most depreciation value out of all the teams. Is this proof Kerrie and Spence will win The Block? Tax expert reveals the simple reason underdog team have an advantage over the others The couple's three bedroom, two bathroom property holds $3,104,786 in total depreciation value. 'If an investor buys Kerrie and Spence's property, they will be able to claim $135,132 in depreciation deductions in the first year alone,' Bradley told realestate.com.au on Monday. 'Savvy investors often assess the depreciation potential of properties before they make an offer,' Mr Beer said. Stunning bathroom: Kerrie and Spence's bathroom renovation wowed the judges in August 'In this case, Kerrie and Spence will have a large competitive advantage come auction day with their property holding $100,000 more deductions than their closest rival.' Other teams with a similar advantage reportedly include Courtney and Hans ($2,977,031), Hayden and Sara ($2,877,638), Bianca and Carla ($2,686,636) and Norm and Jess ($2,650,481). Kerrie, 48, and Spence's, 46, St Kilda property is listed between $2,500,000 to $2,700,000 on Domain.com.au. Cashing in: The couple's St Kilda property is listed between $2,500,000 to $2,700,000 on Domain.com.au The couple completed their first ever renovation together on their property in Victoria around six years ago and the end result was featured in Grand Designs magazine. 'What will be, will be. We got the quality right and the design right, even if some of the styling isn't perfect. The meat and bones are fantastic,' Kerrie recently told news.com.au. 'It's easily the best apartment we'd buy it if we had the money!' Advantage: The couple's three bedroom, two bathroom property holds $3,104,786 in total depreciation value Each team is renovating luxury apartment spaces at the infamous Gatwick hotel in Melbourne. They are all competing to win $100,000, in addition to any profits made during auction. Russian court once more dismisses Sberbanks claim against Kekhman TASS, Kirill Kukhmar 10:53 15/10/2018 MOSCOW, October 15 (RAPSI) The North-Western Commercial Court has upheld a ruling of a lower court dismissing a Sberbanks motion to impose subsidiary liability on ex-CEO of JFC Group Vladimir Kekhman, the court ruling reads. The bank challenged the April 5 ruling of the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region as well as an appeal courts decision of July 5. During the audit of JFC, a company currently undergoing bankruptcy procedure, its temporary manager found out that the company was unprofitable from 2012 to 2015. Kekhman, acting as CEO of JFC, allegedly conducted unprofitable business on purpose, abusing his power and causing damage to the company. This damage allegedly prevented JFC from repaying debts to creditors making Kekhman legible for being brought to subsidiary responsibility. Overall, the companys losses are estimated at 4 billion rubles ($69.5 million). Earlier, the court extended JFCs bankruptcy procedure by three months. According to court records, in April 2017, an overall sum of creditor demands against the head company of JFC group, the largest importer of fruits in Russia, reached 18.2 billion rubles (about $316.5 million). In September 2015, the court found Kekhmans company bankrupt. In July 2016, Kekhman himself was found bankrupt under an application of Sberbank. On July 21 of the same year, a court in St. Petersburg dismissed a petition lodged by Kekhman seeking the recognition of Londons High Courts judgment declaring him bankrupt. Kekhmans financial executive Mikhail Bologov, Russias Federal Tax Service, Sberbank, Rosbank, Promsvyazbank, Raiffeisenbank, UniCredit Bank, Aquamarine Company and Pulkovo Trade Company are named as interested parties in the dispute. A representative of Kekhman claimed during bankruptcy hearings that the former head of JFC had no obligations before Sberbank because he had already been declared bankrupt by The High Court of Justice of England in 2012, and Sberbank received its share from sales of Kekhmans property. A representative of Sberbank, on the other hand, claimed that the bank was not involved in the process and did not receive any compensation. According to the Sberbanks representative, the bank had rulings of several Russian courts on debt recovery from Kekhman. Nevertheless, Kekhmans lawyer insisted that the ruling of The High Court of Justice of England had been recognized by Sberbank and was to be complied with in Russia. In its ruling, the court pointed out that in the absence of international treaties, entered into by the Russian Federation, decisions on bankruptcies taken in foreign jurisdictions were to be recognized in Russia only on the reciprocity basis unless otherwise stipulated by federal laws. At present, the court stressed, the Russian Federation was not a party in any international treaty on bankruptcy issues. Earlier this year, Grant Kemp described in graphic detail how he allegedly walked in on his then-girlfriend Ali Oetjen receiving oral sex from another man in his LA home. And in one of the most unfortunate Freudian slips in recent memory, Ali told KIIS FM's Celeb HQ last week that she wasn't going to let the scandal 'eat her up'. The 32-year-old account manager was trying to take the moral high ground when asked about the 'cheating' claims, but only ended up embarrassing herself further. How embarrassing! Ali Oetjen (pictured) suffered a VERY unfortunate Freudian slip as she discussed 'cheating' on her ex-boyfriend Grant Kemp during a live radio interview last week Responding to a question about Grant's lurid accusations, Ali said: 'I just have to get over that and be at peace with it, otherwise it's going to eat me up.' Seemingly unaware of her own slip of the tongue, the show's hosts Zoe Marshall and Jonathan 'JC' Caldwell also chose not to mention it. However, the 'eat me up' remark was later brought up by a KIIS FM listener during Monday morning's Kyle and Jackie O Show. Kyle Sandilands exploded into fits of laughter after he heard the gaffe played on air. Scandalous! Earlier this year, Grant Kemp (left) described in graphic detail how he allegedly walked in on his then-girlfriend Ali Oetjen receiving oral sex from another man in his LA home Last week, bombshell text messages emerged just hours before Ali's debut as The Bachelorette which appeared to confirm reports she cheated on Grant in Los Angeles in March this year. In a series of SMS conversations obtained by Daily Mail Australia, Ali begged Grant for forgiveness and claimed there was 'no excuse' for her behaviour, which allegedly involved her engaging in oral sex with a man on Grant's staircase. 'I can't ever walk up those f**king stairs again without thinking of that,' Grant wrote, to which Ali replied: 'I wasn't even functioning, babe. There's no excuses. And I understand that we're over but we should talk.' You have to laugh! In one of the most unfortunate Freudian slips in recent memory, Ali told KIIS FM's Celeb HQ last week that she wasn't going to let the scandal 'eat her up' 'A man was going down on her on my stairs': Grant, who previously appeared on the American Bachelorette franchise, described the alleged cheating incident in graphic detail on The Kyle and Jackie O Show in May Grant, who previously appeared on the American Bachelorette franchise, described the alleged cheating incident in graphic detail on Kyle and Jackie O in May. 'I had left to go and find my friends. I came back inside [my house] and a man was going down on her on my stairs. So I kicked her out that night,' he said. Ali has previously described Grant's accusations as 'horrible', but has not denied them. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Network Ten for comment. The Bachelorette continues Wednesdays at 7:30pm on Network Ten Mark Wahlberg attended the Drake and Migos concert in Los Angeles on Saturday night with wife Rhea Durham. The 47-year-old actor was casually clad in a t-shirt and black jeans, while Rhea wore a faux fur coat and a plunging, black blouse. 'I was up way past my bedtime last night. I had to go see my guy Drake,' Mark said on Instagram Sunday morning. 'It was off the charts. He's blowing up. The Staples Center was packed.' Backstage pass: Mark Wahlberg attended the Drake and Migos concert in Los Angeles on Saturday night Wahlberg, who was on the 'family' guest list, hung backstage ahead of Drake's performance. 'Appreciate you my brother. Keep up the amazing work,' the Shooter star captioned a photo from the nightly prayer circle hosted by the Canadian rapper. Mark and Rhea, along with several friends, watched the show from the VIP section. VIP: Wahlberg, who was on the 'family' guest list, hung backstage ahead of Drake's performance. 'Appreciate you my brother. Keep up the amazing work,' the Shooter star captioned a photo from the nightly prayer circle hosted by the Canadian rapper Date night: Mark was accompanied to the concert by his wife, Rhea Durham Durham has been married to Wahlberg since 2009. The couple share four childrenElla, 15, Michael, 12, Brendan, 10, and Grace, eight. 'I owe a lot to my wife,' Mark told The Sun in a recent interview. 'She has helped me become the man that I am and created a beautiful life for me and our children.' Selfie: The couple watched Drake from the VIP section of the Staples Center Mark is gearing up for the premiere of his new movie, Instant Family. The comedy follows Pete and Ellie as they experience the ups and downs of raising three foster children. Instant Family also stars Rose Byrne and Octavia Spencer. Ali Oetjen may have spent up to $20,000 on plastic surgery, according to a leading plastic surgeon. Speaking to New Idea magazine on Monday, Dr Laith Barnouti of Australia Plastic Surgery claimed the 32-year-old Bachelorette has had everything from laser treatments to a breast augmentation. In the past, Ali has been open about having breast implants, lip injections and Botox in the past, but Dr Barnouti told the magazine she may have had other procedures. A boob job, lip fillers, Botox and more! Leading plastic surgeon claims The Bachelorette's Ali Oetjen had a $20,000 Barbie transformation 'She appears to have had teeth whitening or dental veneers,' he told the publication. 'Her face also appears to be wrinkle-free and shiny. Such a look is usually achieved by Botox, laser and or fat injections.' Estimating the cost of her alleged procedures, Dr Barnouti claimed Ali may have spent approximately $10,000 on breast implants, $680 on Botox, $600 on lip fillers, $2000 on laser, and $5000 on fat injections. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Ten for comment. Barbie makeover? Dr Laith Barnouti said, 'She appears to have had teeth whitening or dental veneers,' he told the publication. 'Her face also appears to be wrinkle-free and shiny. Such a look is usually achieved by Botox, laser and or fat injections' In June, LA-based plastic surgeon Dr Urmen Desai told Daily Mail Australia Ali appears to have had multiple procedures. 'When looking at current images of her body [compared] to those when she starred on The Bachelor in 2013, it is clear she has had breast augmentation,' he said. 'With regards to her face, Ali has obviously had her upper and lower lips over-injected with fillers. 'In addition to this, her forehead is frozen without any motion, which points to the fact that she likely had Botox injections to her forehead. 'Finally, in order to assist with reversing the ageing process, she has likely received filler injections to her cheeks to achieve a more youthful face.' Before and after: Ali is pictured left on The Bachelor in 2013, and right on The Bachelorette in 2018 Dr Desai believes Ali may have also undergone rhinoplasty. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph last month, Ali revealed she regretted having breast implants. 'If I had my time over, I would not have gotten them done,' she told the newspaper. 'I would only ever have plastic surgery again to get my breast implants removed. I do not like my boobs.' The tough times continue for Teresa Giudice. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 46, posted a shot of the Statue of Liberty covering her face with her hands on Sunday, adding four prayer emojis to the shot. With Lady Liberty known as a beacon for immigrants seeking a better life, the message was a reference to her family crisis, as her husband Joe is slated to be deported to Italy when he's released from prison next year, upon a court order. Keeping the faith: Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice, 46, posted a shot of the Statue of Liberty covering her face with her hands on Sunday The post was the first from Teresa since news broke that Joe - currently in custody at Pennsylvania's FCI Allenwood serving the 41-month prison sentence he received in his fraud conviction - was ordered back to Italy after he completes his sentence. The 46-year-old father-of-four - to Gia, 17, Gabriella, 14, Milania, 13, and Audriana, nine - was born in Italy, and brought to America as an infant. Joe, who can appeal the decision within 30 days, is slated to be released from custody next year, after he first entered the facility in March of 2016. Teresa's post came after their 13-year-old daughter Milania took to social media Sunday to express her anguish over the issue on Instagram on Sunday. Breaking her silence: Teresa posted a sad shot of the Statue of Liberty Sunday, her first since the bad news about Joe broke Sad: Joe Giudice's 13-year-old daughter Milania shares heartbreaking post about her dad's deportation: 'I cant imagine another day without you' Joe shares three more daughters with wife Teresa: (R-L) Gia, 17, Gabriella, 14, and Audriana, nine (pictured 2016) 'My dad, who is the best dad in the world, needs to come home. We arent done fighting dad,' she captioned snaps of the pair together. 'I cant believe this is happening. I cant imagine another day without you. We are gonna do everything we can to fight this daddy!! I love you with all my heart buddy #heartbroken.' It has been reported that Teresa will not follow her husband to Italy because their four daughters would face too much of a culture shock. Also challenging would be their lack of friends and family in the European country. Earlier, Joe made it clear he did not think it was right to send him back to Italy. Fighting: 'My dad, who is the best dad in the world, needs to come home. We arent done fighting dad,' she captioned snaps of the pair together Paying the piper: The couple pleaded guilty in 2014 to 41 counts of fraud. There were also unpaid taxes that totaled $200,000 'I consider myself an American,' he said in the 2015 Bravo special Teresa Checks In. 'I dont really know the laws there. I dont know s*** there. In order for me to go there it would be like an immigrant coming here and not knowing anything here. 'Besides eating pasta and making the sauce, I dont know anything in Italy.' And when he first received the news, Joe said: 'I dont understand how I can be deported on this case. If you will, Ill tell you my side. I shouldnt even be here right now. I have to go back and tell my kids this, and theyve been waiting to hear from me.' The couple pleaded guilty in 2014 to 41 counts of fraud. There were also unpaid taxes that totaled $200,000. Teresa already completed her 15-month prison sentence; they were allowed to serve separately to avoid leaving their children without parents. Brigitte Nielsen attended Sarah Jones' play, Sell/Buy/Date, in Los Angeles on Sunday night. The 55-year-old actress, who gave birth just four months ago, dazzled in a leopard-print dress as she walked the opening night red carpet. She was accompanied to the show by her son, Douglas Meyer, 25. Opening night: Brigitte Nielsen attended Sarah Jones' play, Sell/Buy/Date, in Los Angeles on Sunday night Picture perfect: Her glam for the evening included a nude lip and well highlighted cheekbones Nielsen paired her wild ensemble with a chest harness and kitten heels. Her glam for the evening included a nude lip and well highlighted cheekbones. As for Douglas, he looked handsome in a blazer and boots. Theater threads: The 55-year-old actress, who gave birth just four months ago, dazzled in a leopard-print dress as she walked the opening night red carpet Quality time: Brigitte was accompanied to the show by son Douglas Meyer, 25 Brigitte was among several A-list celebrities including Debra Messing, Rashida Jones, and Laverne Cox. Messing looked chic in a silver blouse and leather skirt, while Jones donned a white dress and platform heels. Cox commanded attention in distressed denim, a bodysuit, and black gloves. Star-studded event: Debra Messing and Rashida Jones attended the Sunday night show MJ vibes: Laverne Cox commanded attention in distressed denim, a bodysuit, and black gloves Sarah Jones created the one-woman show Sell/Buy/Date, where she plays more than a dozen multicultural characters. 'The show is really about empowerment for all of us,' she told Build in a brief synopsis. 'It's about women. It's about empowerment. It's about sex. It's about how we identify and, of course, the men in our lives.' The play runs through November 4 at the Renberg Theatre. Hollywood legends: Jennifer Lewis and Lily Tomlin were all smiles as they walked the carpet Most of the upcoming fantasy film Come Away was filmed in the UK. But on Saturday star Angelina Jolie was spotted before she shot one of the last scenes of the movie in Los Angeles, dressed in a full length Victorian-style black dress and a blonde bouffant hairdo. It turned out, Saturday was the last day of filming. Vintage: Angelina Jolie was spotted wearing a Victorian era dress and a blonde bouffant on the set of Come Away in Los Angeles on Saturday In one of the photos, the 43-year old actress could be seen walking, in between takes, in her black costume as she carried a drink of water in her hand. Two other photos show the former Mrs. Brad Pitt in her street cloths as she hurried along with her new blonde tresses still intact. A third picture shows co-star David Oyelowo arriving on the set. 'Our film COME AWAY is now in the can! Cant wait to share this magical reimagining of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan with you all,' Oyelowo said afterwards in the caption of an Instagram photo that showed him with cast and crew members. Transformation: The actress was also seen on the set in her street cloths and blonde bouffant Post time: Saturday was the final day of shooting for the film; most of the shoot was done in the UK Quiet on the set: Jolie's co-star David Oyelowo was also spotted arriving on the set of Come Away on Saturday In the selfie, Oyelowo flashed a big grin as he tried to fit as many faces as he could into the frame. While everyone seemed to be dressed in modern 2018 garb, Jolie stood out like someone from the 1800s with her voluminous blond locks and dress that covered her from head to toe. Stylists had her tresses parted off her chiseled face but added some little tendrils of curls to flow down both sides of her face. Last week, the actress was spotted in another regal costume while on set in Los Angeles. Her character Rose's signature blonde bouffant was adorned with a rust color flower and her burnt orange gown flowed behind her as she headed to shoot a scene. That's a wrap! Oyelowo took to Instagram on Saturday to celebrate wrapping the movie Come Away. In the photo a Victorian era Angelina Jolie was spotted, sporting a blonde bouffant Come Away: Angelina smiled while posing with the cast and crew, still in costume from shooting a scene Fantastic! The film reimagines the lives of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland; Angelina plays the mother of Peter and Alice The fantasy drama is a retooling of two classic children's tales, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Angelina and Oyelowo play Rose and Jack, respectively, who are the parents of Peter and Alice. Come Away has a darker overtone than the cartoon versions of the stories where Peter and Alice work to help their parents overcome the death of one of their children. However, the fantasy drama will still take viewers through the looking glass and to Neverland Custody battle: Brad and Angelina are currently in the middle of a custody battle over their six children The Maleficent star has been busy juggling several projects as she and ex-husband Brad Pitt, 54, continue their ongoing custody battle over their children. Last month the couple reportedly met for a secret meeting after a particularly tense few months in their divorce proceedings. 'Brad and Angelina actually set up a secret meeting at her house. Its the first time they have truly gotten together to make things work since their group therapy with the children,' a source told ET in September. 'Brad and Angies meeting was a success. They are going to stay with the plan set forth through the courts,' the insider continued. 'Angelina decided it was time to try to make things work and Brad was relieved and very ready for the offer. The former mega-star couple - who split in 2016 after a decade together - share six children: Maddox, 17, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 10. It's the Channel Ten reality series that sticks some of Australia's biggest stars in a South African jungle together. And while I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! has attracted some A-list talent in the past, including Shane Warne and Anthony Mundine, the upcoming season seems to be leaning towards former reality TV contestants to fill the cast. On Monday, NW magazine reported that Love Island winner Grant Crapp is 'keen as mustard' to be back on TV. From the island to the jungle! Love Island winner Grant Crapp is rumoured to star on the next season of Channel Ten's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Despite being a Channel 9 personality, a source claims that the 23-year-old has managed to work out a deal with Channel Ten to enter the jungle. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Ten for comment. Other rumoured stars set for the series include Married At First Sight's Nasser Sultan and disgraced Bachelor In Paradise star Tara Pavlovic. Deal: Despite being a Channel 9 personality, a source claims that the 23-year-old has managed to work out a deal with Channel Ten to enter the jungle While Nasser is also signed to Channel 9, the pint-sized groom has already appeared on Channel Ten's Trial By Kyle. On Monday, New Idea reported that Bachelor reject Tara Pavlovic will enter the jungle with her famous mother, Debbie Newsome. According to an 'insider', 'Tara has been approached by producers'. He's back! Married At First Sight's Nasser Sultan is also rumoured to star on the series 'Tara has been approached by producers': On Monday, New Idea reported that Bachelor reject Tara Pavlovic (pictured) will enter the jungle with her famous mother, Debbie Newsome 'They know she is a fan favourite, but they also thought it would be great to get Debbie on board too, to appeal across a whole range of ages,' the 'source' told the publication. However, the 'insider' added that Tara is worried that her mother, who famously hosted Perfect Match in the 1980's, may steal the spotlight. Tara's casting could also be a PR issue for Channel Ten following allegations from her ex-fiance Sam Cochrane that she was 'physically and verbally abusive' to him during their tumultuous relationship. The fifth season of the Network Ten show is believed to start filming in January 2019, with hosts Dr Chris Brown and Julia Morris both said to be returning. Cruel Intentions alum Selma Blair confirmed her on/off romance with silver fox Ron Carlson was back on Sunday with a very public passionate kiss at the Studio City Farmers Market. It was the first sighting of the 46-year-old Grammy nominee canoodling with the Daytime Emmy-nominated producer since December of last year. The Gong Show contestant has been linked to the Dead Ant director as far back as February 2015, and he's also father to an eight-year-old daughter called Chloe. Still going strong! Cruel Intentions alum Selma Blair confirmed her on/off romance with silver fox Ron Carlson was back on Sunday with a very public passionate kiss at the Studio City Farmers Market Selma covered up in a cropped Frame trench coat over grey Madewell skinny jeans, a black turtleneck, and brown-suede knee-high boots. Blair (born Beitner) sported glasses over her make-up free complexion and she wore her dark blonde locks down and sideswept for the cloudy outing. The University of Michigan grad held hands with her 'ride or die' - seven-year-old son Arthur Saint - looking cute in a b&w casual outfit. The Lost in Space guest star also got a chance to meet up with some guy friends, including photographer Alex Berliner and interior/architectural designer Bryan Wark. Reunited: It was the first sighting of the 46-year-old Grammy nominee canoodling with the Daytime Emmy-nominated producer since December of last year PDA: The Gong Show contestant has been linked to the Dead Ant director as far back as 2015, and he's also father to an eight-year-old daughter called Chloe (pictured in 2017) Selma triumphantly celebrated two years of sobriety on June 21 after suffering a 'total psychotic blackout' back in 2016 by mixing alcohol with medication on a Delta flight. On Saturday, Blair locked lips with her gal pal of over 20 years, Escape Plan 2 stunner Jaime King. The avid equestrian - who boasts 646K Instagram followers - gushed: 'It is the best feeling to have girlfriends who love you so much!' The acting duo co-starred in Marcos Siega's 2005 sexual harassment dramedy Pretty Persuasion as well as directing duo Matt Checkowski and Kurt Mattila's 2006 rom-com Lies & Alibis. Gloomy day in LA: Selma covered up in a cropped Frame trench coat over grey Madewell skinny jeans, a black turtleneck, and brown-suede knee-high boots Fresh faced: Blair (born Beitner) sported glasses over her make-up free complexion and she wore her dark blonde locks down and sideswept for the cloudy outing Love of her life: The University of Michigan grad held hands with her 'ride or die' - seven-year-old son Arthur Saint - looking cute in a b&w casual outfit 'So many men at the farmers market today!' The Lost in Space guest star also got a chance to meet up with photographer Alex Berliner (L) and interior designer Bryan Wark (R) Healthy: Selma triumphantly celebrated two years of sobriety on June 21 after suffering a 'total psychotic blackout' back in 2016 by mixing alcohol with medication on a Delta flight Selma also acted in Jaime's directorial debut, a 2011 short film about couple's therapy called The Break In. Blair and King happened to reunite at the LA studio owned by Arthur's father - fashion designer Jason Bleick - whom she split from in 2012 after two years of dating. Fans can finally catch the Mom and Dad actress as Jade Duke in the long-shelved spin-off of the 1988 cult classic Heathers, which starts streaming October 25 on the Paramount Network. In the five-night binge event, the James Toback accuser portrays Heath's (Brendan Scannell) stepmother, a 'stripper who is biding her time until her 82-year-old husband kicks the bucket.' 'It is the best feeling to have girlfriends who love you so much!' On Saturday, Blair locked lips with her gal pal of over 20 years, Escape Plan 2 stunner Jaime King 'Saturday love!' The acting duo co-starred in Marcos Siega's 2005 sexual harassment dramedy Pretty Persuasion as well as the 2006 rom-com Lies & Alibis Babydaddy: Blair and King reunited at the studio owned by Arthur's father - fashion designer Jason Bleick (L) - whom she split from in 2012 after two years of dating (pictured October 6) 'I am beyond excited that American audiences will finally get to see Heathers,' showrunner Jason Micallef told EW in a statement. 'Obviously I wish fans could see the 10th episode but the producers and I felt strongly about not changing anything in it, and so, it's been considered too controversial for U.S. audiences. 'Still, every day at this job is a delightful dream so it's hard to complain. Plus, what matters most is fans will now get to see the satire we all love so much.' Sofia Richie and Scott Disick spent the day with Scott and his ex Kourtney Kardashian's son Mason, which included a cool treat and dinner. Richie, 20, and Disick, 35, were spotted getting ice cream with the eight-year-old boy, before heading to Nobu in Malibu for a sushi dinner. Later that night, Caitlyn Jenner was also spotted at Nobu Malibu for a solo dinner excursion. Ice cream trio: Sofia Richie, Scott Disick and his eight year old son Mason go out for ice cream together on Sunday On the go: Richie was spotted talking on her phone while walking with Disick and Mason The trio kept things casual and comfortable for their ice cream outing, with Richie wearing a white, midriff-exposing top, under a sleek black jacket, black pants and white heels with large hoop earrings. Scott wore a dark green hoodie with camo pants and black shoes with dark sunglasses. Mason was also wearing sunglasses with a black hoodie with white designs going down the sleeves, black pants, white Fendi shoes and numerous chains around his neck. On the go: The trio kept things casual and comfortable for their ice cream outing, with Richie wearing a white, midriff-exposing top, under a sleek black jacket, black pants and white heels with large hoop earrings Later that day, the trio, wearing the same outfits, all had a sushi dinner together at Nobu Malibu. They were spotted pulling up to the restaurant in a black Rolls Royce, which Disick was driving. Jenner was spotted arriving at the restaurant when it was much darker outside, while Richie and the Disick's seemed to arrive as the sun was beginning to set. Solo dinner: Jenner was spotted arriving at the restaurant when it was much darker outside, while Richie and the Disick's seemed to arrive as the sun was beginning to set Richie and Disick were first rumored to be dating in May 2017, when they were spotted on a yacht together at Cannes, though Richie denied they were together. Their relationship was confirmed in September 2017 when videos surfaced of the pair kissing in Miami. In June, rumors spread that they had split, with People reporting that Richie had confronted Disick about him cheating on her. Happy couple: Richie and Disick were first rumored to be dating in May 2017, when they were spotted on a yacht together at Cannes, though Richie denied they were together Dinner for three: Their relationship was confirmed in September 2017 when videos surfaced of the pair kissing in Miami. That report claimed Richie was living with her father, musician Lionel Richie, but just days later they were spotted together again. Disick denied that a split even occurred on his Instagram story, responding to a TMZ story that they were still together. 'We had no idea we even broke up but thanks for thinking about us,' Disick said on his Instagram story. Still together: In June, rumors spread that they had split, with People reporting that Richie had confronted Disick about him cheating on her Bikini blogger Natasha Oakley appears to have rekindled her romance with French model Gilles Souteyrand. The Australian bombshell, 28, has been spending time in Paris and attending the same events as her famous ex. On Sunday, the pair both shared black and white photos of a vintage Jaguar, before Natasha hinted that she has moved back into the apartment she used to share with her beau. Reuniting? Bikini blogger Natasha Oakley appears to be back with her ex-boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand as they spend time in Paris Before their break-up, the couple used to live in a stunning Parisian apartment easily identifiable by its herringbone floorboards. And it seems Natasha is back living in the abode, sharing a series of snaps from inside the Saint-Germain residence on Sunday. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Natasha for comment. Suspiciously similar! Gilles' Sunday snap of a vintage Jaguar (left) looked almost identical to the one posted by Natasha (right) Back in the love nest? It seems Natasha is back living in the abode she shared with Gilles before their split Last month, Gilles sent fans into overdrive after sharing a snap with Natasha to Instagram. 'Hope you guys are back together! Cute couple,' one fan wrote at the time. Just weeks before, the pair were both in Las Vegas sharing suspiciously similar snaps at the Bellagio Hotel. Fancy seeing you here! It comes after Gilles and Natasha recently crossed paths when they were both photographed partying in Las Vegas two weeks ago Natasha confirmed her break-up with Gilles back in July, telling her two million social media followers that she was single. The pair had been dating for several years. Once dubbed 'Instagram's hottest couple', the couple frequently shared amorous shots on social media. Former Russian Deputy Culture Minister to stay in detention until January 17 RIA Novosti, Kirill Kallinikov 16:53 15/10/2018 MOSCOW, October 15 (RAPSI) The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has extended detention of the previously convicted former Deputy Culture Minister Grigory Pirumov on new charges, until January 17, the press-service of the court has told RAPSI. Detention of another defendant in the case, head of Rospan company Nikita Kolesnikov, was extended until January 16. Both defendants are charged with embezzlement committed by an organized criminal group or on an especially large scale. Investigators believe that Pirumov, Kolesnikov and ex-director of the Culture Ministrys department of property management and investment policy Boris Mazo, who was put on an international wanted list, as well as other unidentified persons embezzled 450 million rubles ($6.8 million) by signing of contract for construction of the Hermitage Museums facilities without intending to complete the contract. In October 2017, the Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Pirumov to 1.5 years in a penal colony. The court took into consideration the time Pirumov spent in detention and freed him in the courtroom. On December 19, the Moscow City Court toughened punishment for Pirumov. The court imposed a 1-million-ruble fine ($17,000) on ex-official and deprived him of the second-class medal of the Order of Merit for the Motherland. However, prosecutors again filed an appeal against Pirumovs sentence demanding a 5-year prison term for him. The appeal has been set for May 25. As part of the case for other defendants including Mazo, received prison sentence from 1 to 1.5 years and were released as Pirumov. Three more defendants, BaltStroy manager Alexander Kochenov, businessman Andrey Kokushkin and ex-director of the State Center of Contemporary Art Mikhail Mindlin, received suspended sentence ranging from 1 year to 1 year and 5 months. Investigators claimed that between 2012 and 2016 the defendants embezzled over 160 million rubles allocated on restoration of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow and other objects across Russia. In December 2016, Chairman of the Russian Government Dmitry Medvedev relieved Pirumov of his post. She's a working mom-of-four. And on Sunday night, Jessica Alba took a night off from mom duty to attend the Drake and Migos concert in Los Angeles. The 37-year-old actress, who was accompanied by several gal pals, rocked an army green jacket and combat boots as she made her way into the Staples Center. Girls night: On Sunday, Jessica Alba took a night off from mom duty to attend the Drake and Migos concert in Los Angeles Alba paired her outerwear with skintight black jeans and a tank top. She carried her belongings in a crossbody purse and accessorized with large hoop earrings. The Fantastic Four star and her friends, who were on the 'family' guest list, hung backstage ahead of Drake's performance. Mom off duty: The 37-year-old actress, who was accompanied by several gal pals, rocked an army green jacket and combat boots as she made her way into the Staples Center VIP: The Fantastic Four star and her friends, who were on the 'family' guest list, hung backstage ahead of Drake's performance Christina Milian made an appearance at the concert alongside boyfriend Matt Pokora. The 37-year-old performer looked trendy in distressed denim, a crop top, and towering nude heels. She battled the Southern California chill with a Furst Of A Kind plaid shirt. Artist behavior: Christina Milian made an appearance at the high-profile show on Sunday Date night: She was joined by her boyfriend, Matt Pokora Kevin Hart arrived at the concert wearing a heart-patterned leather jacket and black skinny jeans. He was joined by his wife, Eniko Parrish, who wowed in leather pants and leopard-print mules. She paired the cheeky ensemble with a sheer turtleneck and a black leather jacket. Dressed to impress: Kevin Hart arrived at the concert wearing a heart-patterned leather jacket and black skinny jeans Hot mama! Kevin was joined by his wife Eniko Parrish, who wowed in leather pants and leopard-print mules Artist attire: Diplo donned a LimeWire sweatshirt and sneakers to the concert Former Victoria's Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio spent her Sunday afternoon with friends and family at the British members-only club, Little Beach House Malibu. The 37-year-old IMG Model and her guy pal Raul Guterres were spotted outside the 10K-square-foot venue on Carbon Beach, which reportedly costs a $1500 premium and a $2800 membership fee. The Brazilian bombshell - who relies on stylist Chloe Bartoli - looked leggy in a frayed pair of Daisy Dukes cut-offs, a classic white T-shirt, navy bandana-print ankle-strap sneakers and a luxe Ellie Mae cardigan. Sunday fun day! Former Victoria's Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio spent her Sunday afternoon with friends and family at the British members-only club, Little Beach House Malibu Just friends: The 37-year-old IMG Model and her guy pal Raul Guterres (L) were spotted outside the 10K-square-foot venue on Carbon Beach, which reportedly costs a $1500 premium and a $2800 membership fee Alessandra let her natural beauty shine through beneath her Persol sunglasses and she wore her shoulder-length brunette locks down for the sandy outing. Ambrosio - who boasts 16.8M social media followers - later Insta-storied a cute clip of her precocious daughter Anja Louise demonstrating her best runway strut inside a kitchen. Network USA founder/CEO Daniel Urzedo cheered as the Daddy's Home 2 actress' 10-year-old mini-me dramatically threw off her mother's $303 Ellie Mae 'Emerson' cardigan to reveal a patterned bikini. Relies on stylist Chloe Bartoli: The Brazilian bombshell looked leggy in a frayed pair of Daisy Dukes cut-offs, a classic white T-shirt, and navy bandana-print ankle-strap sneakers Fresh faced: Alessandra let her natural beauty shine through beneath her Persol sunglasses and she wore her shoulder-length brunette locks down for the sandy outing Like mother, like daughter: Ambrosio later Insta-storied a cute clip of her precocious daughter Anja Louise demonstrating her best runway strut inside a kitchen Werk! Network USA CEO Daniel Urzedo (R) cheered as the Daddy's Home 2 actress' 10-year-old mini-me dramatically threw off her mother's $303 Ellie Mae 'Emerson' cardigan to reveal a patterned bikini When Harper's Bazaar Arabia asked the M.I.L.F. $ video vixen last week who would play her in a movie, she replied: 'Probably the person who knows me best - my daughter. And she looks like me!' When Harper's Bazaar Arabia asked the M.I.L.F. $ video vixen last week who would play her in a movie, she replied: 'Probably the person who knows me best - my daughter. And she looks like me!' Meanwhile, Ambrosio's six-year-old son Noah Phoenix practiced his guitar playing skills under the watchful eye of 48-year-old Raul, a photographer who's shot campaigns for her ale by Alessandra line. Alessandra ended her decade-long engagement to Re/Done denim founder Jamie Mazur in March, and he's shared his passion for music with both of their children. Budding musician: Meanwhile, Ambrosio's six-year-old son Noah Phoenix practiced his guitar playing skills under the watchful eye of 48-year-old Raul, a photographer who's shot campaigns for her ale by Alessandra line 'So happy together!' Alessandra ended her decade-long engagement to Re/Done denim founder Jamie Mazur (R) in March, and he's shared his passion for music with both of their children (pictured August 12) Missing from the former Fyre Festival spokesmodel's side on Sunday was her rumored beau, Nicolo Oddi, whom she posed with at the CR Fashion Book X Luisaviaroma party in Paris on September 30. The handsome Italian designer and his sister Carlotta Oddi co-founded the Milan-based knitwear label Alanui (the Hawaiian word for 'large path') in 2016. New leading man? Missing from the former Fyre Festival spokesmodel's side on Sunday was her rumored beau, Nicolo Oddi, whom she posed with at the CR Fashion Book X Luisaviaroma party in Paris on September 30 It's another heartwarming reality TV romance. Cody Nickson and Jessica Graf, of Big Brother fame, tied the knot Sunday at Malibu's The Chateau Le Dome at Saddlerock Ranch, the newlyweds confirmed to People. 'Our wildest dreams came true today - we're married!' Nickson, 33, and Graf, 27, told the publication in a joint statement. 'Being surrounded by our closest family and friends and sharing this special day with them was all we ever wanted. Scroll below for video Wedding bells: Cody Nickson and Jessica Graf, of Big Brother fame, tied the knot Sunday at Malibu's The Chateau Le Dome at Saddlerock Ranch, the newlyweds confirmed to People 'We are so lucky to have found each other in the most unconventional of ways but we did.' The bride and groom, who announced last month they're expecting a child, said they 'found [their] forever in each other and can't wait to begin this new chapter of our lives.' Reality TV peers who were among the present to see the couple exchange vows included Big Brother stars Mark Jansen and Elena Davies, as well as the Amazing Race's Conor Daly. Graf said the time of year complemented the outdoor location they chose. Exciting: The reality TV duo announced they're expecting last month Winners: The couple prevailed on the CBS series The Amazing Race earlier this year Fast romance: The pair first came together last year on the series Big Brother 'Fall in L.A. is just so gorgeous out, so I wanted to be dancing under the stars all night long,' she told the outlet. 'I wanted for it to be dripping in flowers, and string lights and lots and lots of candles. 'I wanted it to look just very romantic. Like a daydream.' The pair, who met during last year's Big Brother and went on to win The Amazing Race, traded bands they got from Hamra Diamonds, People reported. Cody, an Iowa native, donned a tuxedo with cowboy boots, while Jessica, who's from Rhode Island, was clad in a silk gown designed by Mark Zunino, that complemented her baby bump. 'Jessica knew exactly what she was looking for,' Zunino told E! News in a statement. 'She had researched many gowns by several designers but fell in love with the winner, which I was honored to have been mine. 'The simplicity of the draped English net over faint blush was all that was needed to create a breathtaking WOW, when Jessica appeared in her dress!!!' Cody's six-year-old daughter (from a former relatonship) Paisley was the flower girl at the event, according to People. Their first dance was to Aaron Watson's Shut Up and Dance, which held sentimental value for the pair. 'He sang it to me when we were in the Big Brother house,' she told the outlet, 'and we danced to it and it just always sat in the back of my mind as one of our special moments.' He is the hunky Hollywood action-man who is known for death-defying roles in blockbusters like Terminator and Robo-Cop. And Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to have ditched the hair dye for a more natural look, as he showed off his natural grey locks while attending a business forum in Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday. The actor, 71, cut a dapper figure in a royal blue suit as he spoke about the event's theme of Humans And Technology: Transformation Of Opportunities. Dye [won't] be back: Arnold Schwarzenegger, 71, looked dapper as he showed off his natural grey hair at business forum in Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday Arnold completed his look with a black shirt which he kept unbuttoned at the top, while he accessorised with a stylish watch. The Terminator star proudly flaunted his salt-and-pepper 'do and close-cropped beard as he appeared on the panel. The former governor of California was last seen with dark locks in March, when he attended POLITICO's Off Message SXSW Festival, in Austin, Texas. His outing comes after he apologised for 'misbehaving with women' one year after the breakout of the #MeToo movement. Natural look: The Terminator star proudly flaunted his salt-and-pepper tresses and close-cropped beard, showing he is happy to age gracefully (pictured right in March) 'Looking back, I stepped over the line several times, and I was the first one to say sorry. I feel bad about it, and I apologise,' he said in an interview published in Men's Health magazine on Thursday. Arnold had accusations of groping several women leveled against him just days before he won the recall election to become the governor of California in 2003. When discussing his treatment of women before #MeToo, he admitted he has regrets: 'When I became governor, I wanted to make sure that no one, including me, ever makes this mistake. 'That's why we took sexual harassment courses, to have a clear understanding, from a legal point of view and also from a regular-behaviour point of view, of what is accepted and what is not.' Admission: His outing comes after he apologised for 'misbehaving with women' one year after the breakout of the #MeToo movement in an interview with Men's Health Magazine Despite the fallout from the groping scandal, Schwarzenegger maintains that he has not wavered in his sense of who he is as a man and his relationships with women. 'I've not changed my view (on masculinity). I'm a guy. I would not change my view of who I am. The woman I was originally most in love with was my mother. I respected her, and she was a fantastic woman. I always had respect for women.' In the interview, Schwarzenegger also added that he regretted calling his political opponents as 'girlie men' during a 2004 Republican National Convention. 'At the time it felt like the right thing to do... I called them girlie men because they weren't willing to take risks. They were afraid of everything,' he said. 'But it was shortsighted. In the long term, it's better to not say that, because you want to work with them.' She recently shared her desires to join a celebrity porn app in a bid to raise money, after her company was struck off. And in true Lauren Goodger fashion, the former TOWIE star turned up the heat as she treated her followers to a sizzling snap on Sunday evening. The 32-year-old posed up a storm as she slipped her peachy posterior into a tiny bandage-style thong, which was held together by a racy ribbon band. Commanding attention: In true Lauren Goodger fashion, the former TOWIE star turned up the heat as she treated her followers to a sizzling snap on Sunday evening Living up to her vixen persona, the TV personality teased a hint of sideboob in a skimpy black bra, which left little to imagination. Reality star Lauren ensured focus remained on her scantily-clad appearance as she accessorised with a dainty gold bracelet. The Essex bombshell displayed her naturally radiant complexion as she went make-up free, and framed her visage with poker straight tresses. Ooh-la-la! The 32-year-old posed up a storm as she slipped her peachy posterior into a tiny bandage-style thong, which was held together by a racy ribbon band Wow-factor! The TV personality is no stranger to showcasing her ample assets in skimpy ensembles on social media Lauren's racy post comes after she revealed she want to join celebrity porn app, Only Fans, in a bid to raise more cash. It comes as little surprise, as her company, LRG Marketing, has been struck off. Meanwhile, all her other companies have either been dissolved or are very close to being shut down and she is not making money from them. Lauren does earn an income from promotional work on her social media and she has affiliations with brands such as Pink Casino and So Monroe. Candid: The reality star recently shared her desires to join a celebrity porn app in a bid to raise money, after her company LRG Marketing was struck off Earnings: Lauren does earn an income from promotional work on her social media and she has affiliations with brands such as Pink Casino and So Monroe Honest: Last week, she picked her fans' brains on Instagram, using the 'Ask Me' feature, about what she should do as her next career move She's also been picking her fans' brains on Instagram, using the 'Ask Me' feature, about what she should do as her next career move. One fan said 'Wish you had an OnlyFans account (or similar) to see you more.' She responded: 'I am doing that very soon.' CBB's Chloe Khan and Love Island's Katie Salmon are among those who appear on the app so far. Lauren has also been taking bookings as a make-up artist in a bid to earn more money. She has also said she would like to bring out her own lingerie line. He's one of the current frontrunners on The Bachelorette. And despite Ali Oetjen's season being just two episodes in, it seems that Charlie Newling, 31, may not be winning the show despite early speculation. The Sydney builder appears to have accidentally hinted he could soon be packing his bags and starring on Bachelor In Paradise for a second shot of love instead. Scroll down for video The Bachelorette SPOILER: The Instagram error that suggests Charlie Newling is dumped by Ali Oetjen and may appear on Bachelor In Paradise to find love instead ...despite the pair getting off to a flying start and kissing on Thursday's episode of the show In the days leading up to his season airing, Charlie starting following recently single stars including Brittany Hockley, Sophie Tieman and Cassandra Wood. Other contestants from Nick Cummins' season he has now followed include Romy Poulier, Shannon Baff, Brooke Blurton and Dasha Gaivoronski. He has also reached out to stars from previous years, including Megan Marx, Elora Tahiti and Florence Alexandra Sophia by following their profiles too. If Charlie had indeed found love with Ali on the show, it would be unlikely that he would now be trying to connect with so many single women. Keeping his options option? The Sydney builder has recently followed over 15 single female stars from the Bachelor franchise, who may soon appear on Bachelor In Paradise New friends! Many of Nick Cummins' rejects from his season of The Bachelor appear to have caught Charlie's eye online as he recently attempted to connect to them online Charlie's choice to reach out to so many single stars of the franchise seems suspicious given that the second season of Bachelor In Paradise is currently casting. It is likely that several of these girls may appear on the show, and if Charlie is able to spark up some romance with one prior to filming, it is also likely he could appear. It is also worth noting that Charlie does not follow Ali on Instagram, suggesting the pair do not end things amicably on the current season of The Bachelorette. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Network Ten for comment. What does this mean? Whereas if Charlie had indeed found love with Ali on the show, it would be unlikely that he would now be interacting with all these single girls Does this prove he's single and looking to mingle? Megan Marx and Elora Tahiti are among the beauties that Charlie has recently reached out to online As each season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette airs, the contestants' social media accounts are carefully monitored to avoid revealing any spoilers. The only posts that seem to be permitted on their profiles from the day filming commences up until the day their exit airs features promotional content from Ten. Once viewers have then watched them leave the show, their pages become much more personal and contain real time selfies as they start interacting with followers. However, Charlie has broke the mould followed by most previous contestants as Daily Mail Australia can reveal he has been reaching out to many Bachelor babes. Rosie Williams is reportedly dating businessman Wayne Davies, 31, who is currently awaiting trial for causing the death of a navy recruit through careless driving. According to The Sun, the Love Island's star new man faces charges of 'failing to stop after a road accident, failing to report an accident and possession of a class A drug'. Reports surrounding finance director Davies come as Rosie was seen confirming her new relationship and gushing over her new beau on Instagram, as they enjoyed a romantic trip away to Zante. Smitten: Rosie Williams is reportedly dating businessman Wayne Davies - The Sun claims he is currently awaiting trial for causing the death of a navy recruit through careless driving It's claimed Davies will go on trial in May - accused of causing the death of 22-year-old James Edwards in Greater Manchester in March 2017. MailOnline have contacted a representative for Rosie for comment. The brunette beauty shot to stardom on hit ITV series Love Island this summer on the show's fourth season, but has now claimed she was looking for a love she 'already had at home'. Reflecting on her time on the show, now she is in a new relationship, Rosie told fans: 'When you went on Love Island to find love without even realizing you already had it at home - everything happens for a reason & now I know what that reason was #boyfriend.' New love: Reports surrounding finance director Davies come as Rosie was seen confirming her new relationship and gushing over her new beau on a romantic trip away to Zante New beau: According to the paper, the Love Island's star new man faces charges of 'failing to stop after a road accident, failing to report an accident and possession of a class A drug' Her admission came as she confirmed she is dating again by sharing a sweet snap of herself and her new beau kissing while enjoying a romantic break overseas on Greek island Zakynthos. The duo are pictured locking lips while taking in the sunset on an idyllic boat ride. While she may not have been successful in her quest to find love on dating series Love Island, Rosie told fans in another post that she now feels like she has 'won'. Sharing a similar sunset shot, with herself and her boyfriend looking out to sea, Rosie penned: '...& in the end she won.' In love: Championing her new romance, Rosie told fans alongside her loved-up holiday snaps: 'When you went on Love Island to find love without even realizing you already had it at home - everything happens for a reason & now I know what that reason was' Rise to fame: The brunette beauty - who previously dated Ibiza Weekender's Jordan Davies - shot to stardom on hit ITV series Love Island this summer on the show's fourth season Rosie had been a late addition to the Love Island villa and caused a storm, as Adam Collard was quick to ditch Kendall Rae Knight to couple up with her instead. Although, her romance with Adam wasn't plain sailing and after tensions grew between the pair, he decided to dump Rosie and couple up with girlfriend Zara McDermott - whom he reunited with following his exit from the show. Rosie had then been battling it out with Samira Mighty to win the affection of Sam Bird, but lost out to her co-star and subsequently lost her place on the series. Following her stint on the show, Rosie has been linked to Love Island star Dean Overson, after they were spotted leaving the show's wrap party together - seeming to have hit it off, despite not actually having crossed paths during filming. Early exit: Rosie had been a late addition to the Love Island villa and caused a storm, as Adam Collard was quick to ditch Kendall Rae Knight to couple up with her instead Dumped: Her romance with Adam wasn't plain sailing and after tensions grew between the pair, he decided to dump Rosie and couple up with girlfriend Zara McDermott Enjoying the ride: Despite her early departure from the ITV2 series, Rosie has made no secret of the success she has experienced since Despite her early departure from the ITV2 series, Rosie has made no secret of the success she has experienced since. Rosie - who previously dated Ibiza Weekender star Jordan Davies - gave up her career as a solicitor to take part in the show, but has since revealed she has no regrets about her decision, as she is making far more money from personal appearances and Instagram endorsements. Appearing on Radio 5 Live, Rosie said: 'For me I went from a job that I studied eight years to achieve to doing this. 'I feel like the legal profession is struggling at the moment. I've made my year earnings in a month, let's just say that, doing this.' She's won much critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, following the debut of her role as femme fatale Villanelle on the hit BBC show Killing Eve. And Jodie Comer, 25, was seen getting back into character as she shot scenes for the widly popular drama's second season on the streets of London last week. However, what appeared to be just another day at the office for the Liverpudlian actress proved to be quite a revelation, as a huge spoiler for upcoming episodes was given away as the actress stood before cameras with a co-star. Back to work she goes: Jodie Comer was seen donning a pink wig as she shot scenes for the second season of Killing Eve on the streets of London last week Fans of the show recently saw Jodie's assassin character Villanelle vengefully murder her old mentor Konstantin Vasiliev (Kim Bodnia). But it now appears that all is not how it may have initially seemed, as Danish actor Kim, 53, was spotted shooting scenes for the acclaimed drama's second season alongside Jodie. Jodie was seen chatting away with her co-star on set as they prepared to portray their respective characters, whose relationship crumbled after Konstantin doubled-crossed Villanelle prompting her to calmly shoot him to death. Surprise: As she got back into character, Jodie was joined on the set by her co-star Kim Bodnia Shock: The Danish actor's appearance on the set came as a surprise, as Jodie's character Villanelle was seen vengefully murdering her old mentor Konstantin Vasiliev (Bodnia) Chat: The stars were seen in deep conversation as they strolled before rolling cameras on set However, it appeared that Konstantin had somehow come back to life, as Kim strolled before cameras in a blue duffel coat over a smart black ensemble. Jodie looked typically stylish in a dark blazer over a pink pleated blouse, which she teamed with high-waisted striped trousers and black buckled shoes. With her golden tresses air tied back in a sleek bun, she sipped on an iced beverage, while Kim chowed down on a wrap. At another point during production that day, the actress showcased a dramatic wardrobe change when she donned a long, pink wig, which perfectly matched her fluffy jacket and spike-heeled ankle boots. Iced: The 25-year-old actress sipped on an iced beverage, while her co-star munched a wrap Risen from the dead? It appeared that Konstantin had somehow come back to life, as Kim strolled before cameras in a blue duffel coat over a smart black ensemble Typically stylish: Jodie looked typically stylish in a dark blazer over a pink pleated blouse, which she teamed with high-waisted striped trousers and black buckled shoes Praise: Jodie has received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic since the show's debut Killing Eve is an eight-part series about a bored, deskbound MI5 operative, Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and glamorous Russian assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Eve is assigned by her boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) to track the psychotic Villanelle and becomes obsessed with her target. But when Villanelle realises shes being watched she becomes equally fixated with Eve. The two begin a deadly cat-and-mouse game falling in espionage love as writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge puts it that takes them all over Europe. Much of the drama was shot around north London, but the cast also travelled to Paris, Bucharest and Tuscany for scenes. Pretty in pink: At another point during production that day, the actress showcased a dramatic wardrobe change when she donned a long, pink wig Fifty shades: The eye-catching wig matched Jodie's fluffy jacket and spike heeled ankle boots Talking: She was seen chatting away with a member of the production team between scenes Soured: On the show, Konstantin was Villanelle old mentor, but their relationship crumbled after he doubled-crossed her prompting the femme fatale to calmly shoot him to death For the second season, whose release date has yet to be announced, castmembers are currently filming in Amsterdam, London and Paris. While she's now found fame in both the US, where the show was first released almost six months ago, and the UK, Jodie still lives at home in middle-class Childwall, Liverpool, in the same red-brick semi she grew up in. She shares the home with her mother Donna, 54, who works for a transport company; dad Jimmy, 53, a masseur, and younger brother Charlie, 23. Im a real homebird, Jodie said recently. I honestly cannot imagine not living with my mum and dad. I like having these two worlds I get to travel and visit cool places, but then go back to reality. Storyline: It it not yet known how Konstantin has been woven back into the gripping storyline All over Europe: For the second season, whose release date has yet to be announced, castmembers are currently filming in Amsterdam, London and Paris Grin: The actress flashed a broad grin as she chatted with members of the crew during a break Femme fatale: Villanelle is a Russian killer tasked with taking out certain targets around Europe, and she has a special knack for getting the job done without being detected The Bachelorette boys are usually kept on a strict lock-down from public events until after they've been axed from the show. But it seems that Ali Oetjen's current contestants Damien Rider, Nathan Favro and Paddy Collier have already ignored this rule by going rogue on Sunday evening. The trio attended Oxygen Magazine Australia's 100th edition launch at The Island Gold Coast, seemingly suggesting they'll soon face the chop on the show. Scroll down for video The next three to go? Bachelorette starss Nathan Favro, Damien Rider and Paddy Collier from were spotted at a magazine party while ignoring their show's strict social media rules on Sunday evening Damien, 42, proudly shared photographs of their outing to his Instagram Story. The public posts will likely infuriate Network Ten bosses, as the showbiz party didn't seem to have any association with the show, which is still airing. Mocking their recent confrontation during the first cocktail party, Paddy and Nathan even posed while pretending to fight in front of the event's branded photo board. Remember this? The trio attended Oxygen Magazine Australia's 100th edition launch at The Island Gold Coast, seemingly suggesting they'll soon face the chop on the show, and referenced their infamous clash from the first cocktail party last Wednesday What does this mean? The Bachelorette boys are usually kept on a strict lock-down from public events until after they've been axed from the show to prevent any spoilers Since first appearing on the show last Wednesday, Damien has repeatedly promoted his own personal ventures on his Instagram page. This goes against the usual behaviour by contestants from all seasons of the show, who only post promotional content from Ten until they have left the program. Some of the things Damien has been using his new platform to plug include his former documentary, Heart Of The Sea. Making the most of his platform! Since first appearing on the show last Wednesday, Damien, 42, has repeatedly promoted his own personal ventures on his Instagram page Nathan is potentially making the most of his fifteen minutes of fame too, after he is expected to be axed from the show this week after clashing with Ali. The 32-year-old Bachelorette will confront the Sydney carpenter, 23, after he has been allegedly gossiping about her personal life behind her back. It has since been reported that following the heated scenes, Ali immediately sends one person home, potentially Nathan, and cancels the rose ceremony. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Network Ten for comment. WARNING for European visitors European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent. As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies. They've been embroiled in scandal with Katya Jones was pictured kissing her Strictly dance partner, comedian Seann Walsh on October 3. But she and her husband Neil proved that their marriage is on track when they were pictured out together for the first time since the news broke. Wearing big smiles on their faces, there was no indication of any strain as they walked down the street, heading to rehearsals in their workout gear. Strictly's Katya and Neil Jones were pictured out together for the first time on Monday since THAT kissing scandal... after the public saved her and Seann Walsh from being voted off show Casual: Wearing big smiles on their faces, there was no indication of any strain as they walked down the street, heading to rehearsals in their workout gear The same, sadly, cannot be said for Seann's now ex-girlfriend of five years, actress Rebecca Humphries, 32 - it was her birthday on the day of the kiss. They have since broken up and she claims that Seann is yet to apologise to her - a claim he denies. On Sunday night, Seann and Katya escaped elimination, despite being the favourites to be kicked off the show - Katie Piper was instead sent home. Another chance: On Sunday night, Seann and Katya escaped elimination, despite being the favourites to be kicked off the show It started with a kiss: The pair have been at the centre of an avalanche of headlines after they were photographed kissing passionately on a London street Raging: Strictly viewers noted Neil Jones' 'seething looks' after his wife Katya and Seann took to the dancefloor Last dance: Katie Piper, seen with her dancer partner Gorka Marquez, became the third celebrity to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing The couple performed the Charleston to Bills by Lunchmoney Lewis on Saturday night's episode. Eagle-eyed viewers noting Neil's deathly stare towards Seann during the programme following recent events. On Wednesday's edition of Strictly sister show It Takes Two Katya apologised to 'everyone it hurt and involved', but said she and husband Neil were 'absolutely fine'. Nothing to see here: On Wednesday's edition of Strictly sister show It Takes Two Katya apologised to 'everyone it hurt and involved', but said she and husband Neil were 'absolutely fine' She said: 'Obviously I apologise, and I can't apologise enough to everyone who it hurt and involved,' Adding: 'But, the main thing, me and Neil are absolutely fine and thats what matters to me the most right now and focusing on my job and doing it as professionally I can' 'Obviously I apologise, and I can't apologise enough to everyone who it hurt and involved,' she said. 'But, the main thing, me and Neil are absolutely fine and thats what matters to me the most right now and focusing on my job and doing it as professionally I can.' In fact, things were so fine between Neil and Katya that he was posting his support for the pair on social media, just hours after the kissing pictures emerged. Seann's ex, Rebecca, meanwhile, shared a scathing post about him, saying he had called her a 'psycho' when she questioned if he had been cheating on her. He is also rumoured to have had a fling with Inbetweeners' star Emily Atack back in 2016, while he was with Rebecca after clicking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. All over: Actress Rebecca Humphries confirmed that he had ended her relationship with comedian Walsh after details of the kiss emerged - they had been together for five years Candid: The actress heaped further condemnation on Walsh by revealing his passionate kiss with Katya happened on her birthday, while she sat alone in their London flat Sorry: Speaking on Wednesday's edition of Strictly sister show It Takes Two the dancer apologised to 'everyone it hurt and involved' , but said she and Neil were 'absolutely fine' She recently marked the 10th anniversary of her eponymous fashion brand, celebrating with a star-studded party and choosing to show at London Fashion Week instead of New York for the first time. And looking back at her decade in the business, Victoria Beckham has admitted she can barely believe all that she has achieved, explaining the key to her success is never taking a break from work. Speaking to Vogue Australia as their stunning November cover star, the 42-year-old designer confessed that she considers the brand so close to her heart that she has dubbed it her fifth child. Doting mother: Speaking to Vogue Australia, Victoria Beckham confessed that she considers her eponymous fashion brand as so close to her heart that she has dubbed it her fifth child Victoria, who has sons Brooklyn, 19, Romeo, 16, and Cruz, 12, and daughter Harper, seven, with husband David, told the fashion bible's Tim Blanks: 'What Ive accomplished within 10 years is far more than I could have dreamed. I feel like Ive been doing this a lifetime. 'I live and breathe this brand seven days a week: I never switch off, I never go on holiday and turn my phone or email off. This is my fifth child.' Looking back at her beginnings, the former Spice Girl added: '(When launching Victoria Beckham) There was a way in the industry of doing things Out soon: Vogue Australia's November issue goes on sale Monday 22 October I knew there were rules I had to abide by, but I wanted to be entrepreneurial and find different ways of doing things. 'I was a pop star who turned into a fashion designer and I didnt want to do things the same way everyone else was doing them. And probably because I was a little naive, I wasnt scared to take on those challenges in my own way.' Discussing when she believed she'd 'made it' in the industry, Victoria reasoned: 'I still dont think the penny has dropped. 'There have been great moments along the way, winning awards, selling well, but for me, getting success is one thing and maintaining it is something completely different. Im always head down, focused, on to the next thing.' Always working: Looking back at her decade in the business, Victoria admitted she can barely believe all that she has achieved, explaining the key to her success is never taking a break Humble: Discussing when she believed she'd 'made it' in the industry, Victoria reasoned: 'I still dont think the penny has dropped' As a successful singer-turned designer Victoria is well versed with a Vogue spread, yet pulled out all the stops for her latest shoot with the Australian magazine. Styled by Vogue Australia fashion director Christine Centenera, the mother-of-four sizzled in a nude Wixson Paris bustier teamed with a high-waisted rust skirt with a thigh high split that flashed her toned pins. Donning a slick of glossy red lipstick and wearing her chestnut locks in loose waves, the Wannabe hitmaker looked phenomenal as she stared down the lens. In another shot from the spread, snapped by Bibi Cornejo Borthwick, the designer dazzled in a pink velour midi dress as she posed with her legs outspread. Family fun: Victoria, who has sons Brooklyn, 19, Romeo, 16, and Cruz, 12, and daughter Harper, seven, with husband David called the brand her child and admits she never stops working Victoria's label was launched in September 2008 in a low-key presentation, but by 2011, it had grown into a fixture of New York Fashion Week and she had launched a lower-priced (diffusion) label. The star's Spring/Summer 2019 show last month was met with widespread praise from fashion insiders. The former Spice Girl celebrated her London debut and 10th anniversary with a party hosted by British Vogue editor Edward Enninful and husband David at Mayfair's Mark's Club, where she was filmed singing and dancing to Spice Up Your Life. For the full cover shoot and interview with Victoria Beckham head to vogue.com.au. He is the talented writer and director behind coming-of-age film Boy Erased. And on Monday, Joel Edgerton, 44, stole the show when he hit the red carpet for the film's Sydney premiere. Clad in a classic slim-fit back suit paired with a crisp white shirt and black tie, Joel looked nothing short of chic as he posed against the media wall at the high-profile event. Scroll down to video Man of the hour! On Monday, Joel Edgerton, 44, stole the show when he hit the red carpet for the film's Sydney premiere of his new film Boy Erased Known for his laid-back personality, Joel was spotted posing with his arms casually resting in his pockets while he shot a smouldering expression to onlookers. Joel's dark tresses were slicked upwards, while his beard was left unshaven. His look was completed with a pair of patent leather dress shoes. Big night! Hollywood hunk Joel looked relaxed while fronting the cameras at the premiere, choosing to wear a slim-fit suit Joining Joel on the red carpet was Australian actress and LGBT activist Magda Szubanski, who was all smiles as she posed alongside her pal. For the screenings, Magda also opted for a classic, low-maintenance look choosing a flowing black dress and semi-sheer blue cardigan. The stalwart Australian actress opted to wear her blonde hair in a high bun, leaving her fringe parted. Close: Joel and LGBT activist and actress Magda Szubanski posed together in front of the media wall, looking like old friends Finishing her look, the Kath And Kim actress opted to finish her look with a pair of black slides, black rim glasses and a number of long silver chains. Joining Joel and Magda on the red carpet were a host of other celebrities including E! host Ksenija Lukich who opted for a fashion forward look at the outing. The TV presenter flaunted her statuesque figure in a tight-fitted skivvy which she paired with a teal fishnet-style skirt with featured a satin petticoat. Glam! MTV presenter Ksenija Lukich looked elegant in a teal fishnet style skirt and a stylish lightweight skivvy For the outing, Ksenjia opted to wear her brunette locks out while she enhanced her flawless complexion with glossy make-up and a rouge lipstick. Meanwhile, Australian actress Claudia Karvan hit the media wall in a relaxed black-and-white ensemble. Appearing to rug-up in order to brave Sydney's chilly weather, Claudia opted to wear skinny black jeans while she paired with a longline black coat. Monochrome: Actress Claudia Karvan, 46, braved Sydney's chilly weather in black jeans and a long line black coat for the film premiere Claudia gave the outfit some contrast by pairing it with a black and white stripe t-shirt, along with a blue and purple scarf, and low shine black shoes. Meanwhile, Cameron Daddo, 53, and his model wife Alison Brahe, 48, with both opting for quirky cool looks. Smiling for the cameras, Cameron opted to wear a pair of blue jeans with he paired with a grey t-shirt, black jumper and olive denim jacket. Quirky cool! Couple Cameron Daddo and Alison Brahe, 48, looked quirky cool when they fronted the media wall at the premiere of Boy Erased While Alison looked chic in ripped olive jeans which she paired with a dual colour white and muted orange blouse. Finishing her outfit, Alison topped off her look with a tan-coloured leather jacket which she completed with tan boots, and a leather bag she wore across her body. Wearing her brunette locks out, Alison opted to give the look an edge with a textured stylish cap. Relaxed! TV personality Cameron Daddo opted for an olive denim jacket and blue jeans for the premiere Joel has recently been doing the media rounds for Boy Erased, with it obviously being a passion project for the Hollywood actor. 'You always hope your films will live forever,' Joel told Sydney Morning Herald this week, 'but I kind of hope Boy Erased is a redundant movie.' 'It would be great if it was redundant now or in a year, or in five years time that there's no point even watching this movie. That it's a museum piece.' They're all advocates for gender equality and are successful businesswomen in their own rights. So it was not surprising to see Fearne Cotton, Ashley Roberts and Laura Whitmore leading the pack at the Women of the Year Lunch and Awards in London on Monday. All suited and booted for the occasion, the glamorous trio dazzled as they hit the red carpet at the bash. Glamorous: Fearne Cotton lead the pack of glamorous ladies at the Women of the Year Lunch and Awards in London on Monday. Showcasing her sartorial flair, Fearne, 37, oozed glamour in a navy velour suit with flared trousers. The stylish garment skimmed over her lithe frame, with the blonde bombshell proving that you don't need to flash the flesh to get noticed, rocking a chic blouse from her Fearne @ Cath Kidston collection beneath the two piece. Wearing her glossy golden locks loose and tousled, the mother-of-two finished off the look with a Fearne @ Cath Kidston pouch. Girl power! As advocates for gender equality and are successful businesswomen in their own rightsit was not surprising to see Laura Whitmore (L) and Ashley Roberts also in attendance Laura, 33, looked equally as stylish as she also opted for velvet black suit with cropped trousers that exposed dusty pink heels. The Irish presenter added to the glamour with a ruffled pussycat bow blouse, whilst she toted a small black boxy clutch bag. Laura finished off the look by sweeping her glossy golden locks into a chic chignon, with loose tendrils framing her pretty features. Blue-tiful: Showcasing her sartorial flair, Fearne, 37, oozed glamour in a navy velour suit with flared trousers teamed with a Fearne @ Cath Kidston blouse Chic and cheerful: Wearing her glossy golden locks loose and tousled, the mother-of-two finished off the look with an oversized clutch bag Also rocking a trouser suit was former Pussycat Doll Ashley, 37. The Strictly Come Dancing star dazzled in a brown tweed two-piece that she teamed with a gold lurex top. Injecting some splashes of colour into the look, Ashley rocked a pair of scarlet peep toe heels that matched the glossy lipstick on her plump pout. Dressed to impress: Laura, 33, looked equally as stylish as she also opted for velvet black suit with cropped trousers that exposed dusty pink heels Blonde beauty: Laura finished off the look by sweeping her glossy golden locks into a chic chignon, with loose tendrils framing her pretty features Each year a nominating council elects just 450 women to attend the annual Women of the Year Lunch handpicked for their achievements and contribution to society. Each guest is regarded as a Woman of the Year, representing herself, her work and the millions of extraordinary women who make a difference every day. Women of the Year has recognised, celebrated and inspired women of all backgrounds since 1955, when it was founded by the late Lady Tony (Antonella) Lothian OBE with Lady Georgina Coleridge and Odette Hallowes. Stylish: Also rocking a trouser suit was former Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts. The Strictly Come Dancing star dazzled in a brown tweed two-piece that she teamed with a gold lurex top One of the awards on the evening was in partnership with Lorraine Kelly's eponymous ITV show, with Andrea Smith winning for her outstanding work setting up a football academy for children on the autistic spectrum. Launched in 2010, Lorraine's Inspirational Woman of the Year award has celebrated some remarkable winners; ordinary women who've achieved the extraordinary. Prime Minister Theresa May also sent a message of support saying it's such women who inspire her. Speaking ahead of today's event, the Prime Minister said: 'I've always drawn more inspiration from the seemingly ordinary women who quietly, and without fanfare, do extraordinary things that make this country the very special place it is. 'Women like this year's inspirational nominees Karen Morrison, Andrea Smith and Karen Williams who don't do what they do for fame or riches, they do it simply to improve the lives of the children they are dedicated to helping.' Working it: Injecting some splashes of colour into the look, Ashley rocked a pair of scarlet peep toe heels that matched the glossy lipstick on her plump pout Meanwhile, Fearne recently spoke with Women's Health magazine to reveal her struggles with balancing her life and her battle with depression. The presenter, who is married to Ronnie Wood's son Jesse, said she's doing her best to relish life's joys and not let the dark times in. She revealed: 'My social life has gone down the s***ter. I used to see my friends every day, but I just can't fit it in right now. 'If I did I'd be burnt out because my work life is so busy. So, I think you do have to lose something. My girlfriends aren't going anywhere.' Ladies who lunch: Fearne, Ashley and Laura were joined by Natalie Dormer at the lunch Stripe up your life! Game Of Thrones star Natalie dazzled in a pinstripe maxi dress by Chalayan teamed with polka dot kitten heels Stylish: Natalie's gown featured stylish puffball sleeves as she posed up a storm Fearne also admitted she's not one of those people who sails through life without regrets. She said:'I will never be one of those people who has no regrets I've got loads of regrets, I don't understand how you can't.' Fearne also admitted that she's struggled this summer when it comes to her mental health. Pretty in pink! Debbie McGee looked elegant at the party in a two-piece pink skirt suit Stylish: Paralympian and Strictly Come Dancing star Lauren Steadman looked stylish in a black pencil skirt teamed with a batwing sleeve top Going dotty! Lorraine Kelly looked effortlessly chic in a polka dot blouse and tapered trousers She said: 'I'm good now, but this summer was weird everything was worrying or annoying. 'I had a feeling of being a bit overwhelmed and knowing I wasn't enjoying the things that I should. Then there was this weird turning point 'I hadn't changed anything but I just woke up and felt a bit better one day. I had some friends over and my husband [of four years] said, 'Oh my god! Your spark's back, I can see it!' Joel Edgerton has praised his Boy Erased co-star Troye Sivan for inspiring the LGBT community. The 44-year-old appeared on The Project on Monday to discuss the drama film, which follows a teenage boy going through a church-based conversion therapy program. 'He's a real hero, for not just for LGBTQ kids or people, but young people in general who want to live their life their own way,' Joel gushed. 'He's a real hero': Joel Edgerton praised his Boy Erased co-star Troye Sivan for inspiring the LGBT community on The Project He continued: 'He's become a hero to so many people, and he holds that space really well even though he's also a really internally shy and reserved person.' In addition to starring in Boy Erased, Joel also wrote, directed, and produced the film. Troye has been earning rave reviews for his role in the coming-of-age drama, released in Australia in November. Praise: 'He's become a hero to so many people, and he holds that space really well even though he's also a really internally shy and reserved person,' Joel gushed Based on the 2018 memoir by Garrard Conley, Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges portrays the son of a baptist minister in a small American town. Outed to his parents (played by Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman) at the age of 19, he's shipped off to a gay conversion therapy camp where he encounters Sivan's character, Gary, a fellow gay teen. At the same time, Troye has been celebrating the release of his sophomore album Bloom. He can do it all! In addition to starring in Boy Erased, Joel also wrote, directed, and produced the film The critically-acclaimed disc has found moderate success since its release, reaching No. 3 on the Australian ARIA charts and No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Unsurprisingly, Boy Erased is already garnering Oscar buzz. Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman are already tipped to be nominated, as is leading man Lucas. Jonathan Cheban has been a busy man. Last week the FoodGod was seen with his good friend Gemma Collins on Towie. And on Sunday the reality TV star was back in California as he dined at Nobu Malibu. The New Jersey native is in the LA area to shoot more scenes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Boys night out: Jonathan Cheban was seen with several pals as he left Nobu Malibu on Sunday evening Bling it on: Jonathan wore a black T-shirt and a thick chain around his neck and had on a diamond encrusted watch with a bangle Also at Nobu were Kendall Jenner and parent Caitlyn. Jonathan wore a black T-shirt and a thick chain around his neck and had on a diamond encrusted watch with a bangle. The best friend of Kim Kardashian appeared to be with a large group of men as they dined on sushi. Domo Arigato: The best friend of Kim Kardashian appeared to be with a large group of men as they dined on sushi He sure loves shoes: He had a jacket tied around his waist that had pictures of sneakers A KUWTK pal: Kendall Jenner, seen leaving Nuce Guy on Sunday, was earlier at Nobu They formed a firm yet unlikely friendship in the Celebrity Big Brother house back in 2016. And Collins and Cheban were working together again on TOWIE. Cheban, 44, makes his debut on the show, with Gemma, 37, introducing him to the Essex lifestyle over pie and mash. He's gone UK: They formed a firm yet unlikely friendship in the Celebrity Big Brother house back in 2016. And Collins and Cheban were working together again on TOWIE They were joined by Bobby Norris, who entered the cafe saying: Gemsy, how you doing babes? I'm Bobby, lovely to meet you.' To which Jonathan replied: 'Nice to meet you. I'm so sorry about my dinner date because she's already ate before you got here.' The pair proved they were thick as thieves as Jonathan helped pick out some food remnants from Gemma's teeth ahead of being served their dinner. Tasty night: And on Friday Cheban posed during the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival New friend: Here he is with Julia Lang. The event was held at The Bowery Hotel in New York City Jonathan spends most of his time in New York City or Miami. His latest gig was on Celebrity Big Brother. He has also done a dating show in London. But these days he is focusing into making FoodGod a major empire. The star loves posting photos of his delicious meals on his Instagram account, where he goes by 'foodgod.' And on Friday Cheban posed during the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival. The event was held at The Bowery Hotel in New York City. The food guru wore a dark jacket over a black shirt and had on his usual necklace. They all vowed to stay in touch with one another after leaving Love Island, with the contestants all joining a group WhatsApp chat. Yet it seems the Islanders have grown tired of the constant updates about their former co-stars lives, with the majority of stars leaving the group the morning after Dani Dyer's In The Style Launch. Speaking on talkRADIO, Alex Miller revealed that one former Islander had shared a hungover selfie after the party, prompting several other stars to just quit the show. Out of the loop: It seems the Love Island stars have grown tired of the constant updates about their former co-stars lives, with the majority of them leaving the group chat the morning after Dani Dyer's In The Style Launch He explained: 'The infamous WhatsApp group. Well there was a WhatsApp group, I don't think there is a WhatsApp group anymore. 'It's started to dissolve. Everyone was in it. There was a mass exodus.' 'I was sitting at home, someone sent a message in and everyone started leaving, leaving, leaving, left, right and centre. But who? Speaking on talkRADIO, Alex Miller revealed that one former Islander had shared a hungover selfie after the party, prompting several other stars to just quit the show 'It was nothing bad. It was just like a funny, hungover picture. A face in the morning like, "This is what I feel like". And everyone started leaving. 'People were laughing at everyone going. I don't remember whose face it was. It was a pretty face. It was a guy. It wasn't Wes (Nelson).' Alex revealed that the mass exit took place earlier this month, the morning after Dani's fashion bash, which was attended by the likes of Jack Fincham, Adam Collard, Paul Knops, Hayley Hughes and Samira Mighty. Reunited: Alex revealed that the mass exit took place the morning after Dani's fashion bash, which was attended by the likes of Samira Mighty, Laura Anderson and Ellie Young Over the summer there was more drama with the group Whatsapp, when Georgia Steele left the chat. However, a representative for Georgia told MailOnline that the drama student was removed from the group following an identity mix up - with an incorrect Georgia being added alongside the Love Island star. They went on to explain that both phone numbers were then deleted, but the real Georgia is now back in the group chat among her fellow reality stars. Her star in on the rise after landing a gig on American comedy-drama Unreal. But Kassandra Clementi was convinced her dreams of becoming a successful actress were over before she landed the breakthrough role. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, the former Home and Away actress, 28, admitted that a hard couple of months left her doubting herself. Scroll down to video 'I thought that was my last job': UnREAL star Kassandra Clementi (pictured) believed she would never work again before landing a role on the hit US series '[I remember] worrying, "This is it for me, this is it,"' Kassandra confessed. She added that being an up-and-coming actress can sometimes be difficult, with rejection being a regular part of life. 'You always have this little bug in the back of your brain telling you that every job is the last job,' she said. 'Having to persevere and keep up that thick skin and keep challenging yourself through the "no's" makes you appreciate the "yes".' 'You always have this little bug in the back of your brain telling you that every job is the last job': Kassandra said that frequent rejections in Hollywood made her doubt herself Kassandra, who is now based in Los Angeles, landed her role on Unreal in 2016. She previously starred on long-running Channel Seven soap Home and Away for three years before relocating to America. Originally from Adelaide, Kassandra recently told News Corp that LA is slowly starting to feel like home. Moving on up: Originally from Adelaide, Kassandra previously told News Corp that LA is slowly starting to feel like home 'Obviously home is where the heart is, and that's Australia. But for now, while it still makes sense, I'm calling LA home momentarily,' she said. Earlier this year, Kassandra said she still reflects on her Home and Away days with fondness and keeps in touch with the cast members. 'I had a family reunion with Georgie Parker and Ray Meagher not too long ago,' she told OK! Magazine in February. 'That was so much fun.' She is set to portray Cosette in the BBC's hotly anticipated six-part TV adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. And Ellie Bamber was on hand to promote the series at a photocall alongside her co-star Dominic West as part of the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes on Monday. The actress, 21, looked chic in a quirky white shirt and blue peplum tiered skirt, which had a zig-zag print. Hard at work: Ellie Bamber promoted the BBC's adaptation of Les Miserables as part of the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes on Monday Keeping her accessories simple with an array of silver jewellery, the star completed her look with a pair of white heels. Ellie was joined at the event by Dominic, 49, who looked dapper in a black jacket worn over a grey shirt and blue trousers. David Oyelowo will portray the police inspectors cat-and-mouse relationship with ex-convict Jean Valjean, played by Dominic. Yet any fans of the story waiting to hear her singing voice might be disappointed, as award-winning screenwriter Andrew Daviess adaptation will be strictly non-musical, the BBC has announced. Zig-a-zig-ah! The actress, 21, looked chic in a quirky white shirt and blue peplum tiered skirt, which had a zig-zag print as she joined forces with co-star Dominic West, 49 Stunning: Her fiery-red locks were styled into loose waves, while she wore a slick of red lipstick to highlight her pretty features Star-studded cast: Ellie is set to play Cosette while David Oyelowo will portray the police inspectors cat-and-mouse relationship with ex-convict Jean Valjean, played by Dominic The cast shot scenes in Belgium and northern France earlier this year, and the six-part series is expected to air in early 2019. The 2012 film, directed by Tom Hooper, picked up 81 awards, including a Golden Globe for best actor for Hugh Jackman, who played Jean Valjean. Anne Hathaways emotional portrayal of Fantine also won critical acclaim. However, Crowe failed to pick up any individual awards, whose vocal performance was widely panned. Star-studded: Also attending was Richard Gere, who was promoting the TV series MotherFatherSon Dapper: The Pretty Woman star, 69, cut a smart casual figure in a light blue shirt and dark trousers Strike a pose: Richard posed with The Seagull star Billy Howle Meanwhile, Ellie's beau Richard Madden has been tipped to become the new James Bond following Daniel Craig's final stint in Bond 25 in 2020. Bond producers are reportedly on the brink of approaching Richard to take on the most famous role in British film. The Scottish star's portrayal of a steely diplomatic protection officer in BBC drama Bodyguard and his bedroom antics with Home Secretary Julia Montague, played by Keeley Hawes, made him the bookies favourite to be the next 007. It is understood Barbara Broccoli, the executive producer at Eon Productions who has the final say on all Bond characters, is likely to approach Richard in the next few days. Talented star: Also present was Ben Stiller who was promoting Escape at Dannemora Elegant: British actress Phoebe Fox was also in attendance to promote the TV series Curfew Casual: Also promoting the show was British actor Sean Bean Smart: The Zoolander actor, 52, wore an all-black ensemble with a blue striped tie Top pick: Ellie's beau Richard Madden has been tipped to become the new James Bond following Daniel Craig's final stint in Bond 25 in 2020 after his Bodyguard success (pictured) A source said: Its seriously looking like he [Madden] is going to get the job. Not only is he on top of Barbaras list, but she is preparing to offer the role. If confirmed, Maddens selection would end a year of speculation as to who will succeed screen star Daniel, 50. There was talk that Barbara, 58, would choose the first black Bond or even cast a woman. For a long time, Idris Elba, 46, was the frontrunner after his impressive performance in the TV series Luther. Keen: Bond producers are reportedly on the brink of approaching Richard to take on the most famous role in British film and replace Daniel (pictured) They might have a new baby in the house, but Jessica Alba is making sure she spends quality time with each of her three children. The actress turned businesswoman was seen taking daughter Honor on an early visit to Starbucks on Monday morning, before dropping the ten-year-old at school. The pair were pictured walking side by side in Brentwood, California, with Honor nearly as tall as her 5ft7 mother. Bonding time: Jessica Alba and Honor enjoy a mommy-daughter Starbucks run before school Despite the early hour, mother-of-three Jessica was perfectly turned out in green wide leg trousers, a crisp white T-shirt and chic wool coat. The 37-year-old welcomed her son Hayes into the world eight months ago, and also has daughter Haven, seven. The Sin City: A Dame To Kill For star was a co-founder of the hugely successful Honest Company diaper, baby care and cosmetics company. She has said despite her apparent ease as a mother, she isn't perfect. Mom style: Despite the early hour, mother-of-three Jessica was perfectly turned out in green wide leg trousers, a crisp white T-shirt and chic wool coat Indeed Jessica revealed that she had many a parenting mishap when her children were young, including a memorably embarrassing incident with one of her daughters. She told People magazine: 'I have made the mistake of not having diapers, and its always at the worst time. Probably walking out of a restaurant with a swaddle blanket around my kid because I didnt have any more diapers and she pooped through three outfits and on me. Really fun.' But the Fantastic Four actress understands parenting isnt always 'easy', and says she wants to teach her brood to put in 'a great deal of effort' in order to achieve their dreams. She said: 'Things arent gonna always come easy in life and anything thats worth having, you have to work for. I wasnt naturally really good at anything, so it always took a great deal of effort to accomplish anything for me.' A former Polisario executive, who was in charge of overseeing the conveyance of international humanitarian aid from the port of Oran (northern Algeria) to the Tindouf camps, revealed last Friday, how the aid was systematically diverted instead of being handed over to the needy populations of the camps. Addressing the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly, the Sahrawi petitioner, Hamada El Bihi asserted that the Tindouf camps are actually used as a mere business by the Polisario leaders who continue to profit from the status quo and build up wealth abroad to the detriment of the Sahrawi populations. El Bihi explained that the Polisario leaders and their Algerian mentors oppose any census operation of the Tindouf camps populations, for fear to see the real numbers revealed, numbers that are far below the inflated figures they put forward. Despite repeated calls from the UN Security Council and specialized agencies, Algeria still refuses to allow such a census by the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), making of the case of the Tindouf camps refugees, a unique case in the world. The petitioner explained that it is for this reason that the European Union, after it took note of the massive diversions of humanitarian aid and after it realized that the Polisario was inflating the number of refugees to obtain more assistance, drastically reduced its aid by limiting it to 90,000 people instead of the 160,000 declared by the separatist front. The Polisario also plays with the figures to justify its self-proclaimed status of sole and legitimate representative of the Sahrawi populations, Hamada El Bihi added. He said the figures put forward by the Polisario are far from reflecting the reality on the ground, because, he said, the number of sequestrated people in the Tindouf camps cannot, in the best cases, exceed 40 to 50 thousand people. Therefore, the Polisario used to receive from the European Union three times more assistance than needed on the basis of the 160,000 refugees it claimed. The separatists have thus been diverting the assistance for years, as revealed in 2015 by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in a damning report on the large-scale and systematic diversions of humanitarian aid destined to the Tindouf camps, the Sahrawi petitioner stated. Blac Chyna broke up with Tyga four years ago but it looks like the two have stayed close. On Sunday evening the Rob & Chyna star was seen heading to a birthday party for their son King Cairo held at Dave & Buster's in Hollywood. Also with the beauty was her daughter Dream, who she had with Keeping Up With The Kardashians vet Rob Kardashian. With her mini me: Blac Chyna was seen arriving at Dave & Buster's in Hollywood on Sunday for her son King Cairo's birthday party Already a trend setter: King Cairo looked perfectly styled as the boy wore a red Gucci sweatshirt with green jeans and sneakers. He turned six years old Chyna arrived in style as she wore a red pleather outfit that hugged her impressive post-baby curves to a T. The leggings seemed to melt onto her legs. And the top was buttoned down enough to get a look at the former exotic dancer's chest. The mini diva had on over-the-knee Gucci boots - which Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian also have - that had a cute tie in front. Ex Mr Jenner: Tyga looked like a walking trendsetter as he had on a green top with rust colored velvet slacks and trainers with bright neon green laces. The rapper - who used to date Kylie Jenner - wore his hair in little dread locks Cute kid: Chyna held in her right arm her little daughter Dream, who she had with Rob Kardashian That Chyna look: Chyna arrived in style as she wore a red pleather outfit that hugged her impressive post-baby curves to a T. The leggings seemed to melt onto her legs Sweet: Kris Jenner's granddaughter had on a red vest that matched her hair clip and added a white print shirt with a skirt and blue-and-white sneakers The TV star wore her long hair down and had on layers of jewelry. Chyna held in her right arm her little daughter Dream, who she had with Rob. Kris Jenner's granddaughter had on a red vest that matched her hair clip and added a white print shirt with a skirt and blue-and-white sneakers. Mommy duty: The siren runs several businesses as she raises her two children The way they were: Chyna seen with Rob in 2016 in NYC; they last only about one year King Cairo looked perfectly styled as the boy wore a red Gucci sweatshirt with green jeans and sneakers. He turned six years old. Tyga looked like a walking trendsetter as he had on a green top with rust colored velvet slacks and trainers with bright neon green laces. The rapper - who used to date Kylie Jenner - wore his hair in little dread locks. He also carried a backpack, which may have been from having Cairo sleep over at his home, and several gifts. Meanwhile, Kim has been in Uganda. She was in the presidential press office at the State House in Entebbe, Uganda with Kanye West on Monday as she met with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni. Amber Heard enjoyed another outing with designer Kristopher Brock on Sunday night. The actress was photographed at Matsuhisa restaurant in Beverly Hills with her handsome companion, marking the second time they have been seen together this month. The sushi outing came just a week after the duo were spotted slow dancing at New York dive bar Doc Holliday's. Dressed up: Amber Heard enjoys a dinner outing with Kristopher Brock at sushi restaurant Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills on Sunday The actress, 32, was seen putting coins in a jukebox and selecting music with her companion before the pair started dancing closely. On Sunday Amber and Kristopher were dressed up in evening wear for a more elegant affair in the upscale neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Aquaman beauty wore a black midi dress with long coat layered over the top and patent high-heel pumps. She wore her blonde locks in a wet-look style swept back from her face and sported sexy crimson lips. Kristopher, who hails from Texas, meanwhile looked dapper in a navy suit. Glam: Amber, 32, was dressed up in a black midi dress and patent heels for the outing which came hot on the heels of the duo's night at a dive bar last week At the wheel: Brock is a designer who founded label Brock Collection with wife and designer partner Laura Vasser Brock is a designer who founded label Brock Collection with wife and designer partner Laura Vasser. The couple were married in August 2014 and have a son, charlie, who turns four in December. The family relocated from New York to Newport Beach, California, two years ago for a better work-life balance, Vasser told The Cut. They were most recently photographed together attending the CFDAs in New York in June, an event Amber was also photographed at. Heard was most recently linked with art curator Vito Schnabel after her relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Her contentious divorce from Johnny Depp, who she married in February 2015, was finalized in January 2017. Partners: Brock is pictured with wife and designer partner Laura Vasser at the CFDAs in New York in June, an event that Amber (right) also attended Teresa Giudice and 17-year-old daughter Gia shared a picture on Monday as they toured US colleges. 'Taking it one day at a time, with my beautiful Gia checking out @rutgersu,' the Real Housewives Of New Jersey star wrote, as both smiled into the camera. Last week it was announced Joe Giudice was facing deportation back to Italy after he completes his three year prison sentence due to fraud. Staying put: Teresa Giudice defiantly toured colleges with her daughter Gia on Monday as her husband Joe faces deportation The reality stars are preparing to fight it. And with her latest post, Teresa confirmed Gia was going to be staying in the US for college. Hours earlier the 46-year-old vented her frustration with the situation, posting a shot of the Statue of Liberty covering her face with her hands, adding four prayer emojis to the picture. With Lady Liberty known as a beacon for immigrants seeking a better life, the message was a clear reference to the family crisis. Keeping the faith: The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 46, posted a shot of the Statue of Liberty covering her face with her hands on Sunday The post was the first from Teresa since news broke that Joe - currently in custody at Pennsylvania's FCI Allenwood serving the 41-month prison sentence he received in his fraud conviction - was ordered back to Italy after he completes his sentence. The 46-year-old father-of-four - to Gia, Gabriella, 14, Milania, 13, and Audriana, nine - was born in Italy, and brought to America as an infant. Joe, who can appeal the decision within 30 days, is slated to be released from custody next year, after he first entered the facility in March of 2016. Teresa's post came after their 13-year-old daughter Milania took to social media Sunday to express her anguish over the issue on Instagram on Sunday. Breaking her silence: Teresa posted a sad shot of the Statue of Liberty Sunday, her first since the bad news about Joe broke Sad: Joe's 13-year-old daughter Milania shares heartbreaking post about her dad's deportation: 'I cant imagine another day without you' Joe shares three more daughters with wife Teresa: (R-L) Gia, 17, Gabriella, 14, and Audriana, nine (pictured 2016) 'My dad, who is the best dad in the world, needs to come home. We arent done fighting dad,' she captioned snaps of the pair together. 'I cant believe this is happening. I cant imagine another day without you. We are gonna do everything we can to fight this daddy!! I love you with all my heart buddy #heartbroken.' It has been reported that Teresa will not follow her husband to Italy because their four daughters would face too much of a culture shock. Also challenging would be their lack of friends and family in the European country. Earlier, Joe made it clear he did not think it was right to send him back to Italy. 'I consider myself an American,' he said in the 2015 Bravo special Teresa Checks In. 'I dont really know the laws there. I dont know s*** there. In order for me to go there it would be like an immigrant coming here and not knowing anything here. 'Besides eating pasta and making the sauce, I dont know anything in Italy.' And when he first received the news, Joe said: 'I dont understand how I can be deported on this case. If you will, Ill tell you my side. I shouldnt even be here right now. I have to go back and tell my kids this, and theyve been waiting to hear from me.' The couple pleaded guilty in 2014 to 41 counts of fraud. There were also unpaid taxes that totaled $200,000. Teresa already completed her 15-month prison sentence; they were allowed to serve separately to avoid leaving their children without parents. She's currently starring in Wildlife alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. And Carey Mulligan stunned on the set of the Today show on Monday at the Rockefeller Center in New York, wearing a full length fuchsia shirt dress. The critically-acclaimed actress, 33, also said the news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal baby was 'amazing' and 'very exciting'. Pretty in pink: Carey Mulligan, 33, stunned on the set of the Today show on Monday at the Rockefeller Center in New York in a full length fuchsia shirt dress Hugs: The star embraced her co-star Jake Gylenhaal as the two discussed their new film 'Wildlife' The star is friends with the royal couple and attended their wedding in April. It's believed the pair met when Carey's husband Marcus Mumford invited Harry and his then girlfriend Cressida Bonas backstage at Mumford and Sons gig in 2013. On the show, the Oscar-winning actress wore her statement blonde locks in a loose curl tumbling down past her shoulders as she hugged her co-star Jake, 37. Very exciting: The critically-acclaimed actress also said the news of the royal baby announced this morning was 'amazing' and 'very exciting' Fans: The actress appeared in good spirits as she eagerly waved to her fans while attending the Today set Co-stars: Jake, 37, discussed her new film alongside co-star Carey in a casual grey trousers and t-shirt look The natural beauty wore a minimal make-up look with just a thin layer of foundation and lick of black mascara. Keeping the look simple, the An Education star wore just a simple dangle earring and black strappy stiletto. Tumbling over her gym-honed figure was a loose-fitting fuchsia dress that was cinched in at her enviably tiny waist. Meanwhile Jake oozed confidence in a casual grey trouser and button up blue t-shirt. Natural beauty: Tumbling over her gym-honed figure was a loose-fitting fuchsia dress that was cinched in at her enviably tiny waist Speaking of the news her friend Prince Harry was to become a father, the mother-of-one told hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie: 'I saw [the news] on your show! Amazing! Very exciting, yeah. Massively exciting.' She added: 'It's lovely, it's lovely.' Also starring Thora Birch and Mamie Gummer, among others, Wildlife is based on the Richard Ford novel with the same name. It follows the story of a boy witnessing the breakdown of his parents' marriage after his mother falls in love with someone else. The film is set to debut in the US on October 19, arriving on UK screens weeks later on November 9. Casual cool: Meanwhile Jake oozed confidence in a casual grey trouser and button up blue t-shirt He plays the gravity-defying superhero Spider-Man. And Tom Holland threw himself into character once again Sunday as he filmed the action film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, with co-star Zendaya. The actor, 22, was completely suited up in costume as he swung from a street pole in Manhattan on Sunday. Back at it! Tom Holland threw himself into character once again Sunday as he filmed the upcoming action film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, with co-star Zendaya in Manhattan on Sunday Zendaya's eyes grew wide as she watched her co-star prepare for the stunt. Tom was attached to a harness as he performed the stunt, which helped him grab the street pole as he flew several feet off the ground. Zendaya stood close by, watching the scene unfold in a black jacket, graphic print T-shirt, and Converse sneakers. The co-stars were seen filming the exact same scene just a few days earlier, and Tom appeared confident as he tried out the stunt once again on Sunday. Flying high! Tom was attached to a harness as he performed the stunt, which helped him grab the street pole as he flew several feet off the ground Lights, camera, action! Cameras were trained on Holland as he leaped into the air All ears! The star listened intently to a crew member Suits him! Tom channeled the iconic superhero while dressed in costume Far From Home appears to be an appropriate title for the Hollywood film, with a far reaching shoot taking in locations across England, Czech Republic and Italy. According to producer Kevin Feige, the premise of the film reportedly revolves around Peter Parker and his friends going to Europe on summer vacation, though few other details about the film have been revealed to the public so far. Speaking to Den of Geek, Feige also divulged: 'We've chosen a villain and I think the story line is fairly impacted by the locations we go to. Ready for lift-off! Zendaya's eyes grew wide as she watched her co-star prepare for the stunt Casual cool: The actress rocked a black jacket, cropped jeans, and a graphic print T-shirt 'We love the notion of taking Spider-Man to places around the world that we haven't seen him in before. And we have a villain who I think will play into that nicely.' Marissa Tomei is reprising her role as Aunt May. Jacob Batalon is expected to return as Ned Leeds and Michael Keaton will reportedly play Vulture. The film is scheduled to be released on July 5, 2019 in the United States, although it is yet to be given an official release date in the United Kingdom. It's all good! The actor gave the thumb's up while working on the stunt-heavy scene Jessica Chastain pushed a baby stroller as she walked to work in Boston on Friday. The actress hid her face beneath dark sunglasses and wrapped up warm in a black woolen coat, as she strolled onto the set of her new action film, Eve. The stroller Jessica pushed was a high-end Bugaboo Bee, with an infant Maxi-Cosi car seat attached. Jessica Chastain, 41, pushes a baby stroller as she walks to walk on set of new film Eve in Boston on Friday The interior of the car seat was obscured by a white waffle-knit baby blanket. The 41-year-old celebrated her first wedding anniversary this June. She is married to Italian count Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, an executive for Moncler. The two have been together for six years. High-end: The stroller Jessica pushed was a Bugaboo Bee, with an infant Maxi-Cosi car seat Jessica is notoriously private about her personal life, and never attends red carpet events with her husband, with whom she lives in New York. As for her new film, insights with respect to the film's plot and storyline have stayed under wraps since the film's title and the cast were first revealed at the Toronto Film Festival a month ago. Jessica co-stars in the action flick alongside Colin Farrell, 42, and the pair have been pictured bloodied and bruised on set. Keeping warm: The actress hid her face beneath dark sunglasses and wrapped up warm in a black woolen coat Action role: Few details are known about Jessica's new project Eve, but she has been pictured bloodied on set Other notable names include John Malkovich and rapper Common, who is expected to play Chastain's ex-fiance. Tate Taylor reportedly took over Matthew Newton's position as the director of the project following claims that Newton had an extensive past with domestic violence and alleged assault, according to Variety. Chastain wrapped shooting scenes for It: Chapter 2 only weeks prior to starting work on Eve. A spokesperson for the star did not reply to a request for comment. No big reveal: Insights with respect to Eve's plot and storyline have stayed under wraps since the film's title and the cast was first declared at the Toronto Film Festival a month ago A Manhattan judge has accused Bethenny Frankel's ex-husband of taking advantage of the tragic death of her ex-boyfriend this summer. Jason Hoppy, who Bethenny shares daughter Bryn, eight, with, asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Katz to order drug testing for Frankel after her on-off beau died of a suspected overdose in August. 'There was a tragedy which I think you're trying to exploit to embarrass Ms. Frankel,' Katz told Hoppy as he denied the request for drug testing,Page Six reports. Custody war: Bethenny's ex husband Jason Hoppy has been accused of a Manhattan judge of trying to exploit her on-off beau's death The Real Housewives of New York star is still embroiled in a bitter custody war over her only child with Hoppy. Hoppy's lawyer argued that Frankel, 47, posted an Instagram of herself 'clearly intoxicated and slurring her speech' last week. Attorney Robert Wallack also said that Frankel 'appeared on TV passed out from mixing alcohol with Ambien,' He was referring to an episode of RHONY on May 30 titled 'Holidazed and Confused'. Wallack added 'If this is what she's putting out in public, we don't know what she's doing in private,' Frankel's attorney Allan Mayefsky denied Frankel has a substance abuse problem. Exploiting the tragedy: Hoppy requested a drug test from Frankel after Dennis Shields (pictured together in 2016) died of a suspected overdose in August amid their custody battle 'Shes on television, shes entertaining. Its her livelihood to say, "Im out with friends having a good time,"' Mayefsky said after Hoppy's lawyer accused her of being intoxicated on Instagram last week 'She's on television, she's entertaining. It's her livelihood to say, "I'm out with friends having a good time,"' Mayefsky said. Shields died aged 51 on August 10 after reportedly telling EMTs that he had taken oxycodone, Vicodin and a sleeping pill to ease back pain in the moments before he died. Bethenny dated the businessman on an off from 2016 Judge Katz was skeptical about the timing of the drug test request because he made it after Frankel was granted a custody trial. Frankel and Hoppy split in 2012 and finalized their divorce in 2016. They agreed to share parenting time with Bryn in 2016 but Frankel requested full custody last year after Hoppy was charged with stalking her after bombarding her with abuse on a 'daily basis' for years. The custody trial begins in March. Contentious: Frankel has requested full custody after Hoppy was charged with stalking her. The pharmaceutical sales executive is pictured with an unidentified woman last month Lena Dunham had a hysterectomy as a result of her endometriosis battle. That means the Girls star - who has been shooting Once Upon A Time In Hollywood with Brad Pitt this autumn - will never be able to get pregnant. But on Monday the 32-year-old Lenny Letter founder told fans she has found a way to cope with it as she exclaimed it was 'hot2me.' The naked truth: Lena Dunham said she will always look pregnant and will never be pregnant and she thinks that's hot in a Monday social media post The New York native shared a selfie from a marble-top bathroom. In the mirror Dunham can be see in profile as she shows off her tummy while in a black top and Fenty underwear. Lena is makeup free with her brunette locks pushed back as she has a serious expression for the eye-popping post. The caption reads, 'I'll always have a belly like I'm 4 months pregnant, even though I'll never be 4 months pregnant. And that's hot2me! #reebok #not sponsored.' Her thoughts: The caption reads, 'I'll always have a belly like I'm 4 months pregnant, even though I'll never be 4 months pregnant. And that's hot2me! #reebok #not sponsored' Briefs from Rihanna: In the mirror Dunham can be see in profile as she shows off her tummy while in a black top and Fenty underwear This comes after the Camping star said she suffers from Fibromyalgia, which is often accompanied by fatigue and altered sleep, memory, and mood. Widespread muscle pain and tenderness are the most common symptoms. In September, Dunham posted a Polaroid taken from her recent 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, 32, 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. In the hospital: This comes after the Camping star said she suffers from Fibromyalgia, which is often accompanied by fatigue and altered sleep, memory, and mood. Widespread muscle pain and tenderness are the most common symptoms 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.' '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. On set: The New Yorker has been shooting Once Upon A Time In Hollywood with Brad Pitt '@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.' Fortunately for Lena, the actress was greeted by the love and support of her friends and family when she returned home from the hospital. Lena also revealed she had relied on the help of healers to help her in her pain management. 'And I have my pain managed by these queens,' she wrote in a snap of herself laying on a bed. 'Woman healers change lives and open new possibilities and keep me out of the f**king hospital - I am blessed in every way.' The X Factor has been hit by fresh 'fix' claims after an Aer Lingus passenger claimed that the contestants flying to Los Angeles for the Judges' Houses were 'sent back to economy' after filming scenes in first class. Twitter user, Paddy McGrath, took to his social media account on Saturday to allege that he had been on the same flight and witnessed the scenes. The photographer, from Ireland, re-tweeted a video filmed by Aer Lingus, which said: 'It was a LOT of fun flying contestants from The #XFactor to Judges Houses.' 'Awkward': The X Factor has been hit by fresh 'fix' claims after an Aer Lingus passenger claimed contestants flying to LA were 'sent back to economy' after filming scenes in first class In the footage created by the Irish airline, it showed the contestants sipping champagne, and other tasty-looking drinks, and reclining in luxury seats as they travelled first class. To which Paddy re-tweed the video and claimed: 'So, I just happened to be on this flight... 'When the cameras were switched off, the contestants were all sent back to economy with the rest of us. So much for that Aer Lingus hospitality,' followed by a crying laugh face emoji. He also alleged: 'They shot the piece when we were in the air, taking turns to alternate the contestants (which is why theyre all sat in the same seats in the video).' Fresh 'fix' claims: Twitter user, Paddy McGrath, took to his social media account on Saturday to allege that he had been on the same flight and witnessed the scenes 'Exposed'?: The photographer, from Ireland, re-tweeted a video filmed by Aer Lingus, which said: 'It was a LOT of fun flying contestants from The #XFactor to Judges Houses.' MailOnline contacted an Aer Lingus representative, who said in a statement: 'As part of Aer Lingus partnership with X Factor we flew contestants to perform at the judges houses. 'The contestants were shown sampling the business class cabins. All footage was filmed by X Factor production team and provided to Aer Lingus.' MailOnline has contacted ITV for further comment. 'First class': To which Paddy re-tweed the video and claimed: 'So, I just happened to be on this flight...When the cameras were switched off, the contestants were all sent back to economy with the rest of us.' Oops: He also alleged: 'They shot the piece when we were in the air, taking turns to alternate the contestants (which is why theyre all sat in the same seats in the video).' The talented hopefuls were travelling to Los Angeles for the Judges' Houses, where Simon Cowell, Ayda Field, and Robbie Williams all made their choices. Louis Tomlinson decided to fly his acts to Ibiza where he was joined by mentors Nile Rodgers and Liam Payne, who helped him make his final choice. The X Factor continues on Saturday at 8:25pm on ITV. They've been together for seven years. And Vanessa Hudgens and her beau Austin Butler looked as much in love as ever when they grabbed lunch at Commissary Coffee in Burbank, California, on Sunday. The 29-year-old High School Musical star rocked an eclectic outfit for their date. Lunch date: Vanessa Hudgens wore a furry crop top and wide-leg pants under a jean jacket out with her beau Austin Butler at Commissary Coffee in Burbank, Los Angeles, on Sunday She wore an oversized denim jacket over a black furry crop top that offered a glimpse of her taut tummy, and long flowing black pants with very wide legs. The beautiful brunette tied her hair up in an animal print scarf - making it look like she had on a turban - and she protected her eyes with a pair of round, wire-rimmed sunglasses. Austin, 27, looked casual in a khaki green jacket, cropped blue pants and heavy black boots as he strolled next to his lady love when they left the cafe. The Shannara Chronicles actor, tied his raven-hair back into a stubby ponytail, looked like he's growing a small mustache and designer stubble Lazy Sunday: She tied up her brunette tresses with a leopard spot scarf while The Shannara Chronicles star, 27, looked casual in a khaki jacket, cropped blue pants and heavy black boots Carrying a large water bottle, he and Vanessa made their way back to their car. The busy careers often mean they are apart, but not at the moment. Austin is presently filming director Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. Vuch a gent: Vanessa showed off her decolletage and her tummy in her furry crop top as Austin walked around their car to open the door for her Out and about: The next day Vanessa went solo as she stopped by Aroma Coffee in Los Angeles Meanwhile Vanessa is co-starring with Jennifer Lopez in Second Act about a big box store worker who reinvents her life-story and shows Madison Avenue what street smarts can do. The romantic comedy is due out December 14. She also has Polar set up for next year starring Mads Mikkelsen as a master assassin who comes out of retirement to deal with a group of young hit men. Jessica Lange's eagerly anticipated return to American Horror Story is here. Lange's season one character Constance comes back for the episode titled Return to Murder House as part of American Horror Story: Apocalypse, the eighth installment of the anthology series. And luckily for fans, Wednesday's episode six will be extra long, running 13 minutes longer (excluding commercials) than a standard episode. Jessica Lange's eagerly anticipated return to American Horror Story takes place next week in an episode called Return To Murder House In a sneak peek unveiled on Monday Lange, 69, seen only from the back, descends a staircase to confront Emma Roberts' character Madison, asking 'Now, who do you think you are?' Return To Murder House is expected to finally deliver on the promise of a Murder House (season 1) and Coven (season 3) crossover. Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott also return in the episode along with Taissa Farmiga who are coming back as Murder House family the Harmons. Evan Peters will be back playing Tate. In a sneak peek unveiled by The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, Lange, 69, seen only from the back, descends a staircase to confront Emma Roberts' character Madison, asking 'Now, who do you think you are?'. Highly anticipated: Return To Murder House is expected to finally deliver on the promise of a Murder House (season 1) and Coven (season 3) crossover Creepy: The teaser shows Madison with Billie Dean (Sarah Paulson) and one of the warlocks (Billy Porter) in tow purchasing Murder House so they can summon up the spirits who inhabit the home The teaser shows Madison with Billie Dean (Sarah Paulson) and one of the warlocks (Billy Porter) in tow purchasing Murder House so they can summon up the spirits who inhabit the home. The haunted Hollywood home is where AHS all began. Lange, the former leading lady of the series won two Emmys for the characters she played on AHS and left the series after season four. 'Next week Jessica Lange comes back, and that was very exciting for all of us. People that werent even in the scenes were just dropping by and watching the master at work,' Actor Cheyenne Jackson told Variety at an event on Saturday. More to enjoy: Luckily for fans, Wednesday's episode six will be extra long, running 13 minutes longer (excluding commercials) than a standard episode Coming next Wednesday: The episode will mark Sarah Paulson's AHS directorial debut Horrifying: American Horror Story: Apocalypse airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX 'She's the queen.' he added. Jackson, 43, teased a 'huge, amazing moment' in next week's episode. It will also be Sarah Paulson's AHS directorial debut and Jackson dished that the actress is very detail-oriented and made a large binder for each character. American Horror Story: Apocalypse airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX. Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott also return in the episode along with Taissa Farmiga who are coming back as Murder House family the Harmons Kyle Sandilands has landed himself in hot water with Channel Ten executives by announcing his Pilot Week show Trial By Kyle had been commissioned for a full season. The 47-year-old revealed on KIIS FM on Tuesday that network bosses were unhappy he broke an embargo by telling listeners that new episodes will air in February 2019. This is the second time Kyle has angered Ten by jumping the gun, as he threw management a curveball when he announced the original pilot prematurely in July. Off to a bad start? Kyle Sandilands is apparently in trouble with Network Ten after breaking ANOTHER embargo by announcing that Trial By Kyle had been commissioned for a full season 'I got a message saying that was a secret and I wasn't to tell anyone,' Kyle said on air, which prompted co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson to say, 'You can never keep a secret!' It comes after Kyle claimed on Monday that Trial By Kyle was the only show from August's Pilot Week lineup that was being granted a full season. A Network Ten spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: 'We get that keeping a secret is tricky but we are pretty good at it, so we will be announcing which shows made it to series from Pilot Week at the Upfronts later this month.' Jumping the gun! The 47-year-old revealed on KIIS FM on Tuesday that network bosses were unhappy he broke an embargo by telling listeners that new episodes will air in February 2019. Pictured: Instagram model Skye Wheatley in a scene from the Trial By Kyle pilot Back in July, Kyle confirmed on live radio that an episode of Trial By Kyle was being produced before Ten had a chance to properly announce Pilot Week. At the time, it was rumoured Ten management was upset by this announcement and that relations between Kyle and the network were strained. The Daily Telegraph reported that the outspoken radio host 'jumped the gun' before Ten's publicity machine was ready, and executives were left 'blindsided'. Oops! 'I got a message saying that was a secret and I wasn't to tell anyone,' Kyle (left) said on air, which prompted co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson (right) to say, 'You can never keep a secret!' Kyle's early announcement may have added strain to his previously tumultuous relationship with Ten. In 2009, he was sacked from Australian Idol after airing a controversial lie detector segment involving a teenage rape victim on his radio show, which was then on 2Day FM. Amid the backlash, Network Ten confirmed that Kyle had been axed from the judging panel of Australian Idol. He allegedly got into a physical altercation with his rocker father Tommy Lee earlier this year. And now Brandon Lee is punching himself into a new gig. The 22-year-old son of Pamela Anderson is set to join the revival of MTV reality show The Hills according to a Monday report from Page Six. Punching up: Brandon Lee -pictured on Saturday in Hollywood - is set to join the revival of MTV reality show The Hills according to a Monday report from Page Six Ouch: The casting comes at an interesting time as he has had a very public feud with his father Tommy Lee who posted this image of his bloody lip after an alleged physical altercation with Brandon in March Brandon resides in Malibu, California along with Caitlyn Jenner's son and original castmember Brody Jenner and it seems like that may be the reason for his inclusion on the show. 'The show is very Brody Jenner centric,' a source told the publication. 'The cast is circling around him and his friends.' The casting comes at an interesting time as he has had a very public feud with his 56-year-old Motley Crue member father. Back in March Tommy took to social media to claim that he had been assaulted by his own son who said had knocked him 'unconscious.' Tommy even posted an image of his busted, bloody lip, implying it was his son, 21, who dealt him the injury. Wild Side: On Father's Day in June, Brandon posted this video of his father passed out in his underwear that is believed to have been taken directly after he punched Tommy on March 5 The duo came to blows after Tommy had criticized ex Pamela for discussing his arrest for spousal battery against her in 1998 in an interview with Piers Morgan. Tommy tweeted at the time: 'Think she'd find something new to discuss instead of rehashing old s*** but I guess she has nothing else going on & needs attention. Signed, 'The abuser' (who she texts everyday & asks for me back).' At the time Brandon had blamed the fight on his father's alleged alcoholism. In April, TMZ reported that the Los Angeles District Attorney rejected a criminal case against Brandon because Tommy stopped cooperating with authorities - despite earlier saying that he would. Tight-knit: Brandon pictured with his mother Pamela Anderson in June 2017 However things once again heated up between the father-and-son on Father's Day back in June as Tommy posted two throwback photos in honor of Father's Day with an extensive caption in which he praised his own father before calling his two sons and wife Pamela Anderson 'a**holes'. Brandon hit back with a video of his father passed out in his underwear that is believed to have been taken directly after the 22-year-old sucker punched Tommy on March 5. In the caption he wrote: 'Remember what happened last time you said this s***?' Back in the day: Pamela and Tommy with Brandon in Hollywood back in 1997 Brandon joining the cast of The Hills comes nearly two weeks after actress Mischa Barton confirmed that she would star on the MTV reality program. The actress, 32, posted a video of herself declaring 'Welcome to The Hills, b*tch!' as she took off her sunglasses while listening to the original theme song, Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. 'The secret's out,' Mischa began in the Instagram video caption. 'I'm joining the cast of The Hills. When MTV approached me with the chance to be a part of the reality show that was inspired by The OC, it felt like the perfect opportunity for an irresistibly inviting new chapter.' The Hills aired from 2006-10 and were a spin-off to Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and focused on the personal and professional lives of several young women residing in Los Angeles. 'Welcome to The Hills, b*tch!' Mischa Barton confirmed she joined the cast of The Hills reboot earlier this month Sounds familiar! Barton was listening to the theme song from The Hills, Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield Oddly enough from 2003 to 2006, Mischa played Marissa Cooper on The O.C., a series about an affluent group of teenagers living in Southern California. In addition to Brody Jenner series regulars Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Audrina Patridge, Whitney Port, Jason Wahler, Justin 'Bobby' Brescia, and Frankie Delgado will be returning. However biggest names Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari will not be coming back in addition to Lo Bosworth. The Hils: New Beginnings is currently filming and is slated to release sometime in 2019. Andy Cohen has called Joe Giudice's deportation order 'extreme', revealing he was 'stunned' to learn of the reality star's painful outcome. Speaking on SiriusXM Radio Andy, the Bravo TV host admitted he was 'really upset' over the news, explaining he felt the judgement was excessive as Joe will have already paid back his debt to society with the completion of his prison sentence. 'I was just stunned by this news,' Andy, 50, admitted. 'I'm really upset about it. The man has done his time, he will have served his sentence, Teresa served her sentence. 'I was just stunned by the news': Andy Cohen has called Joe Giudice's deportation order 'extreme', revealing he was 'stunned' to learn of the painful outcome (pictured last week in London) 'I know there were a lot of people who believed that they were being made examples of because they were people in the public eye, and now it seems so extreme to deport him. 'He's done his time, they have paid back their debt as far as I understand, and why not sentence him to community service or to something else that he can do to enrich the community instead of deporting him?' Andy said his heart went out to Joe's wife Teresa and their daughters, Gia, 17, Gabriella, 14, Milania, 13, and Audriana, nine. 'They spent his whole life here. He's got kids, he's got a family, he's never lived in Italy. I'm really upset about it, my heart just really goes out to Teresa and the kids and I just think at some point the man has done his service, and his time, his penance. 'He's got kids, he's got a family': Andy said his heart went out to Joe's wife Teresa and their daughters, Gia, 17, Gabriella, 14, Milania, 13, and Audriana, nine (pictured March 2016 in Mount Pocono City) Painful: It's already been a week since Joe was ordered to be deported by a judge (Giudice pictured June 2014 at Superior Court in Paterson, New Jersey) 'He's paid penance. It says, "Even though he's lived in America since he was a child, he never obtained American citizenship, immigrants can be deported from the U.S. if they had an aggravated felony", according to US Law. So I guess by law he can be deported, it seems extreme to me.' Andy also suggested Teresa contact President Donald Trump, who she got to know while appearing on Celebrity Apprentice. The star has already reportedly reached out to the President. 'Figure out another way. By the way I realized on the way here, Teresa knows the president, maybe she can make an appeal. You know, Joe said, "My parents are citizens, my brother and sister are citizens, they were born here I just never thought to file for citizenship." He was one when he came here. It seems extreme. Teresa, call your friend in the White House.' Behind bars: The star is currently serving out a three year prison sentence for fraud at FCI Allenwood in Pennsylvania, and is set to be deported once he is released from prison next year (pictured with Teresa March 2014) TMZ reported she had asked the President to write a character letter in support of Joe before his sentence began in 2016, but his office allegedly replied they were unable to help. It's almost been a week since Joe was ordered to be deported back to Italy by a judge. The star is currently serving out a three year prison sentence for fraud at FCI Allenwood in Pennsylvania, and is set to be deported once he is released from prison next year. Soon after news broke, TMZ added that his wife Teresa will not follow her husband to Italy because their four daughters would face too much of a culture shock. Joe and Teresa pleaded guilty in 2014 to 41 counts of fraud. There were also unpaid taxes that totaled $200,000. Joe can appeal by November 9. She's one of the nation's favourite TV stars thanks to her role as Demelza in Poldark. And Eleanor Tomlinson was naturally in attendance at The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Women's Initiative Lunch presented by Swarovski at Claridge's Hotel in London on Monday night. The redhead, 26, opted for a simple and sophisticated ensemble, donning a black blazer and matching jeans. Stepping out: Eleanor Tomlinson was naturally in attendance at The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Women's Initiative Lunch at Claridge's Hotel in London on Monday Eleanor paired her smart ensemble with a matching top, cinching in the look at the waist. She completed the look with a pair of ankle boots and wore her auburn tresses in a half-up, half-down style. The actress joined forces with fellow young thespians Bel Powley and Andrea Riseborough at the event. Smart: The redhead, 26, opted for a simple and sophisticated ensemble, donning a black blazer and matching jeans Strike a pose: The actress joined forces with fellow young thespians Bel Powley and Andrea Riseborough at the event Pretty in prints: Andrea looked lovely in a pastel pink and green floral dress Last week, Eleanor oozed Hollywood glamour at the star-studded premiere of Colette in Leicester Square. She's starring alongside the likes of Keira Knightley and Dominic West in her new movie. The beauty, who plays Georgie RaoulDuval in the film, looked sensational in a plunging black floor-length Tom Ford gown with a mesh neckline and daring slit at the back. Work it: Last week, Eleanor oozed Hollywood glamour at the star-studded premiere of Colette in Leicester Square She accessorised the item of clothing with matching coloured accessories, which included barely-there heeled sandals, a delicate clutch bag and gold Vhernier earrings. Eleanor styled her fiery red locks into a glamorous and sleek wavy hairdo, which was swept to one side. The beauty added a slick of red carpet ready make-up, which included a rusty coloured eye shadow and nude lipstick. Bombshell: The Poldark actress, 26, looked sensational in a plunging black floor-length Tom Ford gown with a mesh neckline and daring slit at the back Details: She accessorised the item of clothing with matching coloured accessories, which included barely-there heeled sandals and a delicate clutch bag Gorgeous: Eleanor styled her fiery red locks into a glamorous and sleek wavy hairdo, which was swept to one side Colette is based on the life of the author of the same name who lived from 1875 to 1954, dying at age 81. Set in the early 20th century, author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, played by Keira Knightley, is pushed by her overbearing husband, Henry Gauthier-Villars, to write novels under his name in the biopic. When they become bestsellers, she fights to make her talents known, challenging gender norms of the time - Dominic West plays her husband. Work it: The beauty added a slick of red carpet ready make-up, which included a rusty coloured eye shadow and nude lipstick Bling: Eleanor made a statement with oversized gold Vhernier earrings, which cuffed her ear Don't Rain on My Parade!: The actress was given a clear umbrella as she walked the red carpet in the unpredictable Autumn weather Speaking on Good Morning America, Keira touched on the importance of the movie: 'The film focuses on the early years of her life, when she was married to first husband, who took credit for her first four novels. It's about the fight for her own voice, feminism and gender politics.' Colette also sees the actress share a steamy kiss with co-star Eleanor as the character explores her sexuality. Keira elaborated: 'They were a celebrity couple, and her husband was brilliant at marketing. He marketed her and didn't give her voice, but she took her voice back.' Colette will have a nationwide cinema release date of January 25 2019. She's known for her flair for fashion and chic ensembles. And Millie Mackintosh did not disappoint as she showed off her stylish side once again at the launch of the method slow fashion store pop-up in Shoreditch, London, on Monday night. The former Made In Chelsea star, 29, wore a wild leopard buttoned shirt maxi-dress, which cinched in at the waist. Wild thing!: Millie Mackintosh showed off her stylish side once again at the launch of the method slow fashion store pop-up in Shoreditch, London, on Monday night She accessorised the look with a pair of knee-high black ankle boots and a collection of gold necklaces. Millie styled her brunette locks into a sleek blow-dried hairdo, she added a slick of glamorous make-up. The reality star was joined by food and lifestyle star Jasmine Hemsley, who looked as equally as stylish in a pastel patterned tea dress. Chic: The former Made In Chelsea star, 29, wore a wild leopard buttoned shirt maxi-dress, which cinched in at the waist Method slow fashion store enables customers to buy second-hand clothing donated by celebrities and influencers, they can also donate their own clothes. Only recently, Millie got to relive her wedding day to husband Hugo Taylor all over again, as she slipped back into her bridal gown over the weekend. The former Made In Chelsea star took to Instagram with a sweet snap of herself and her grandparents and revealed it was the first time they had seen her in her dress. She explained that her grandparents - who have been married for 66 years themselves - were forced to skip her nuptials in July due to ill health. Details: She accessorised the look with a pair of knee-high black ankle boots and a collection of gold necklaces Stylish duo: The reality star was joined by food and lifestyle star Jasmine Hemsley, who looked as equally as stylish in a pastel patterned tea dress While they couldn't be there for Millie's wedding, the reality star turned designer brought her big day to them as she slipped back into her Kate Halfpenny gown to give her grandparents their very own private viewing. The beauty couldn't hide her delight as she stepped back into the elegant design that came complete with a lace full skirt and ruched sheer sleeves. Cuddling up to her grandparents, Millie was pictured sporting her wedding veil along with her gown. She penned alongside her post: 'Today was such a happy day! I finally got to show my grandparents my wedding dress as they couldnt make it on the day due to bad health. 'They have been married for 66 years and still going strong.' The Bachelorette's Damien Rider has had his assault charge downgraded in court. The 42-year-old, who is currently starring on the Network Ten reality show, was initially charged with 'assault occasioning actual bodily harm' pertaining to an incident at the Splendour In The Grass music festival in July. But on Monday, a prosecutor at Tweed Heads Local Court reduced the charge to 'common assault'. The Bachelorette's Damien Rider, 42, had his assault charge downgraded in Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday following his arrest at Splendour in the Grass Damien is also charged with 'entering enclosed lands without a lawful excuse'. The 42-year-old did not appear at the hearing. According to The Gold Coast Bulletin, the retreat director was arrested on July 21 after 'allegedly attempting to jump a fence at Splendour in the Grass'. Court date: Damien did not appear at Monday's hearing and the matter has now been adjourned until October 29 The newspaper further reported that: 'Police allege the incident occurred about 10.54pm and that Damien assaulted a security guard, Christopher Yousif'. The matter has been adjourned until October 29. It seems that Damien's arrest in July has ruled him out as a serious contender on The Bachelorette, as the show was still in the middle of production at the time. Suitor: Damien is currently appearing The Bachelorette, starring Ali Oetjen. Pictured on the cover of Men's Health several years ago Filming commenced on June 28 and did not wrap until the start of September in Sydney. Damien was presumably eliminated by Ali Oetjen early on as his arrest clashed with this shooting schedule. Around the time of his July 21 arrest, there were still approximately 10 out of the 18 suitors left in the mansion. He doesn't go far then? With Ali Oetjen's season filming from June 27 until early September, Damien's arrest on July 21 appears to prove that he leaves the show fairly early Ahead of his appearance on The Bachelorette, the divorced father-of-one told NW magazine he was hoping to have more children in the future. 'I have a son, and will have more children with the right person,' he said. Discussing his reasons for doing the show, he added: 'I'm single by choice because I want the next relationship to be right and not, "just because."' He may be known for his cringeworthy 'dad jokes', but Karl Stefanovic perhaps missed the mark during the Today show's coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal tour of Australia on Tuesday. As newsreader Sylvia Jeffreys interviewed 98-year-old royal superfan Daphne Dunne outside Sydney's Admiralty House, Karl couldn't resist asking a bizarre question about the Duke Of Sussex's signature scent. He told Sylvia from the Channel Nine studio, 'Can you ask Daphne what he smelled like? Was it a summer breeze?' 'I'm not sure this is appropriate': Watch the bizarre moment Today host Karl Stefanovic (far left) asks a 98-year-old royal superfan (right) 'what Prince Harry smells like' during his Sydney tour Sylvia, who seemed reluctant to relay the question, then said to Daphne: 'I'm not sure this is appropriate... but Karl would like to know what Prince Harry smells like.' The pensioner - who has previously met Prince Harry during visits to Australia in 2015 and 2017, and admires him for his work with veterans - offered a rather surprising response. 'Oh, quite nice! Mannish,' she said, prompting Today co-host Georgie Gardner to respond: 'Daphne doesn't miss a trick, does she?' 'She doesn't miss a trick!' Daphne Dunne (right, with Today newsreader Sylvia Jeffreys) said that The Duke Of Sussex smelled 'quite nice' and 'mannish' in response to Karl's question The eyebrow-raising moment comes amid The Duke and Duchess of Of Sussex's royal tour of Australia, which began in Sydney this week. It is the couple's first official royal tour since getting married on May 19. Harry and Meghan's arrival Down Under coincided with the official announcement from Kensington Palace that they are expecting their first child together. Down Under: The eyebrow-raising moment comes amid The Duke and Duchess of Of Sussex's royal tour of Australia, which began in Sydney this week. Pictured: Harry and Meghan with Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne at Admiralty House The former Suits actress, 37, concealed her stomach behind a pair of large purple folders when she arrived in the harbour city on Monday, before the announcement. She later debuted a baby bump in a white Karen Gee dress while visiting Admiralty House, the official residence of the Governor-General in Sydney, on Tuesday. After Harry proposed at the end of last year, the couple married in May and just two months later, towards the end of July, conceived their first child. Each F-22 aircraft costs around $150 million, which soars to over $330 million when research and development are priced in The United States Air Force said Sunday that a group of F-22 stealth fighters left behind at a base to ride out Hurricane Michael were intact but it was too soon to say whether all of them would fly again. Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida was hit by the Category 4 storm on October 10 and suffered extensive damage, with some hangars partially stripped of their roofs, according to official footage of the coastal facility. Numerous reports had speculated on the fate of an unspecified number of the ultra-advanced fifth-generation fighter jets that could not be flown out to safe havens due to maintenance or safety reasons. The unit cost of the aircraft is around $150 million, which soars to over $330 million when research and development are priced in. "As we drove through the base and assessed the damage, it was clear that the hurricane's toll was severe in places, especially around the Tyndall flightline," said a statement attributed to Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson and other senior officials. "We also looked into each of the hangars that housed aircraft which weathered the storm for maintenance or safety reasons," it added. "Visually, they were all intact and looked much better than expected considering the surrounding damage to some structures. "Our maintenance professionals will do a detailed assessment of the F-22 Raptors and other aircraft before we can say with certainty that damaged aircraft can be repaired and sent back into the skies. "However, damage was less than we feared and preliminary indications are promising." Hurricane Michael made landfall not far from the base on Wednesday, and went on to claim at least 17 lives across four states, with Florida the worst hit. Bhutanese refugee Durga Prasad Sharma fled Bhutan in 1994 with a bounty on his head after he joined a political party demanding rights for the Lhotshampa -- a Nepali-speaking minority who were branded as immigrants and stripped of citizenship The Himalayan nation of Bhutan, often described as a "Shangri-La" where happiness is equated to wealth, is holding elections this week. But the Lhotshampa people, brutally driven out of the small kingdom in the 1990s, won't be voting. The Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa were branded as immigrants and stripped of citizenship rights when the then-king introduced a "One Nation, One People" policy in 1985. The edict made following the customs of the Buddhist majority mandatory, including wearing their traditional dress, and speaking Nepali was banned. Those who resisted where labelled "anti-nationals", arrested and subjected to brutal treatment including rape and torture, according to Amnesty International. Some 100,000 Lhotshampa -- one sixth of Bhutan's population -- fled the kingdom, ending up in refugee camps in eastern Nepal The security forces made detainees sign declarations saying they would leave Bhutan voluntarily as a condition of their release. Some 100,000 -- one sixth of Bhutan's population -- fled, ending up in refugee camps in eastern Nepal. One man who left Bhutan is Bhumpa Rai, who was serving as a royal doctor when the king's edict was promulgated. "They humiliated us... they said that we are not Bhutanese and chased me and my people from the country," Rai told AFP. The king offered him protection from the Draconian rules, introduced under the pretext of promoting "national harmony". But the doctor decided to join his fellow Lhotshampa and left Bhutan, becoming a refugee in Nepal. "They treated people of Nepali origin like enemies. I cannot respect them any more, though I admit that I used to clean their wounds. I was their doctor," the 68-year-old said. Bhutan still describes the Lhotshampa as immigrants, justifying its nationalistic laws as essential for cultural identity and political stability, according to Freedom House, a think tank Rai is one of just 7,000 people who remain in the camps in Nepal. The majority have been resettled by the United Nations in third countries including the United States, Australia and Norway. But the UN programme ended in late 2016 with those remaining refusing resettlement because they say it absolves the Bhutanese authorities of what they did to the Lhotshampa. - 'Not happy' - Switzerland-sized Bhutan -- sandwiched between regional giants China and India -- has long resisted outside influences, with televisions only allowed in 1999. The Lhotshampa refugees in Nepal do not expect this week's elections to bring any change Its fight against Westernisation is often seen as a source of its mystic draw, along with its pursuit of "gross national happiness" -- made official policy in 1998 -- over economic gains. It only swapped absolute monarchy for constitutional monarchy in 2008 and the current elections, due to wrap up on Thursday, are the country's third. Bhutan still describes the Lhotshampa as immigrants, justifying its nationalistic laws as essential for cultural identity and political stability, according to Freedom House, a think tank. The refugees in Nepal do not expect the elections to bring any change. Bhutan's Nepali-speaking exiles "The election results in Bhutan will reflect what the monarchy wants. Its decision won't come in our favour," said 80-year-old Durga Prasad Sharma -- an outspoken pronouncement that would be unheard of inside Bhutan where self-censorship is rife and the monarchy still revered. Sharma fled Bhutan in 1994 with a bounty on his head after he joined a political party demanding rights for the Lhotshampa. Such political parties are now banned under the constitution, which states that all parties have to promote national unity and are barred from using ethnicity or religion to attract voters. Parties also have to field candidates in all 47 constituencies. The rules have created a monolithic political environment leaving little room for minority rights, effectively disenfranchising the Lhotshampa who remain in Bhutan from the electoral process. It is unclear how many of the community are still in Bhutan: a 2017 census did not include questions about ethnicity, language or religion, which would have given an indication of how many people identify as part of Nepali-speaking, mostly Hindu minority. The government has prevented human rights groups established by Nepali-speakers from operating, categorising them as political organisations that do not promote national unity, according to the US State Department. In the lead up to the 2008 and 2013 polls there were reports of small protests by Nepali-speakers unable to vote, and during the 2013 elections international monitors also documented Nepali-speakers being turned away from polling centres. "We are also Bhutanese and we are not happy," said 54-year-old Rajman Gurung. "Lhotshampas in Bhutan are unhappy. We will be happy only if we are repatriated to our country and given equal status." All civilian travel and communication between the two neighbours has been banned since the end of the Korean War in 1953 The two Koreas will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the reconnection of their railways and roads as early as next month, they agreed Monday, as Seoul pursues an approach to the nuclear-armed North increasingly diverging from the US. The agreement was reached at a high-level meeting held at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, which has hosted ever more frequent cross-border talks in recent months. "The South and North agreed to hold the groundbreaking ceremony for the connection and modernisation of the east and west coast rail and road in late November or early December," read a joint statement issued after the meeting. But all civilian travel and communication between the two neighbours has been banned since the end of the Korean War in 1953, and it was not clear when construction and refurbishment work might start. Officials also agreed to hold military talks "as soon as possible" to ease tensions at the border area and to arrange a Red Cross meeting to discuss issues on reunions for war-separated families. They will also separately discuss a planned joint bid to host the 2032 Olympics and a show by North Korean performers in Seoul, the statement said. Monday's talks marked the second meeting between South Korean unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon and his North Korean counterpart Ri Son Gwon since President Moon Jae-in met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last month. But as Seoul takes strides with the North, it has displayed increasing differences with its ally Washington, which is wary of the rapid pace of rapprochement on the peninsula. At a summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore Kim declared his backing for denuclearisation of the peninsula, but no details were agreed and Washington and Pyongyang have subsequently sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved. The dovish Moon has long favoured engagement with the North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Moon -- who is currently in France on a European tour -- has dangled large investment and joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearisation, while the US has been adamant pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programmes. The head of Seoul's financial watchdog said last week that the US Department of Treasury held a conference call with South Korean banks in September urging them to "adhere to the UN and US sanctions against North Korea". Pope Francis has yet to respond to an invitiation to visit Taiwan, as the island seeks to deepen ties with the Vatican Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit the island in a move aimed at deepening ties with the Vatican after the Holy See signed a historic deal with Beijing. Vice president Chen Chien-jen made the invitation during an audience with the pope ahead of the canonisation of Pope John Paul VI on Sunday, Taiwan's presidential office said in a statement. Pope Francis asked Chen to send his greetings to President Tsai Ing-wen and "indicated that he would pray for Taiwan", the statement added. In footage aired on local TV, Chen told reporters that the pope "smiled" when he was invited to visit Taiwan. The presidential office said they had no further detail on his response to the invitation. The landmark agreement last month on the appointment of bishops paved the way for a rapprochement between the Vatican and China. That raised questions over the future of official ties between Taiwan and the Holy See -- the island's only official ally in Europe -- as China makes a concerted effort to poach its dwindling number of diplomatic allies. China sees self-ruling democratic Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified and demands its allies forfeit recognition of the island. Taiwanese officials have said that Chen's visit would help deepen Taiwan-Vatican relations and that they believe the Vatican will not abandon Taiwan. "I want to thank the pope for his greetings and blessings," Tsai said in a message on her Facebook page. "We will use active and concrete actions to continue to support the pope and the Vatican to spread common values of freedom, justice, peace and caring to every corner in the world," she added. Chen, a devote Catholic, also visited the Vatican in 2016 for the canonisation of Mother Teresa. Taiwan, which has around 300,000 Catholics, has lost five allies to Beijing in the past two years. Relations between Taiwan and China have deteriorated since President Tsai came to power in 2016, as she does not recognise the island is part of "one China". The Vatican has not had diplomatic relations with Beijing since 1951. Pope Francis has sought to improve relations since he took office in 2013, but previous attempts foundered over Beijing's insistence that the Vatican give up recognition of Taiwan and promise not to interfere in domestic religious issues. 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. Up to 1,000 people have been arriving every hour, overwhelming Congolese border officials Life fell apart last week for mother of four Dorcas who was among 200,000 Congolese attacked and then forcibly thrown out of neighbouring Angola despite having lived there for a decade. Speaking in Kamako, a frontier town in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, the woman in her forties said she and her husband had made their lives in the Angolan border town of Lupaca until the nightmare began. "There were rumours circulating that the Angolan authorities would be expelling foreigners," from Lunda Norte province which borders on DRC, she said. "Suddenly on Monday (last week) we saw youths from the Tchiokwe community with Angolan policemen starting to burn the homes of those perceived to be foreigners. "When they came to our house, they attacked my husband with a machete and we were forced to flee taking whatever little we could carry," she said. "All our children were born in Angola and only speak Portuguese," she said. Angola was a former Portuguese colony while DR Congo was ruled by the Belgians and is a francophone country. Oil-rich Angola attracts hordes of Congolese as it is relatively more stable and offers better employment prospects. DR Congo has an abundance of mineral wealth but large swathes are rocked by unrest and violence unleashed by rebel groups and militias from within and neighbouring nations such as Uganda and Rwanda. The operations last week against migrants triggered clashes between Congolese, security forces and local Angolans. The returnees say they have valid Angolan residence permits Local media and an NGO reported that several migrants have been killed, though Angolan authorities deny any deaths or forcible repatriations. Lunda Norte's governor, Ernesto Muangala, on Saturday said that that "more than 200,000 Congolese living illegally in Angola have been repatriated on a voluntary basis." Trucks were seen plying incessantly over the weekend taking Congolese nationals to the border from Dundo, the capital of Lunda Norte. Several Congolese patiently waited outside the Angolan consulate in Kamako, brandishing their Angolan residence permits. The doors of the mission were closed. "What are we going to do in DRC? We have all lived in Lucapa for 10 or 20 years," said Daniel Mukenge, a man in his forties. - 'We are condemned to death here' - "Our papers are all in order. We have invested and built homes," he said. "Now the authorities are refusing to recognise the documents that they themselves delivered. We are now asking our authorities to intervene so that the Angolan authorities buy our houses otherwise we are condemned to death here," he said. An Angolan official at the consulate meanwhile told the group: "The solution does not lie here." And an Angolan immigration official at the Kamako border outpost feigned incredulity. "How can these people refuse to go back to their country? It makes me laugh," he said. The Congolese authorities say they are struggling to cope with the returnees, with up to 1,000 arrivals every hour. "At this rate we cannot register them," said Mahieu Boma, a local official from the national commission of refugees. In Kamako, the new arrivals take shelter wherever they can -- under mango trees, in schools and churches. Many people have lost all their belongings Sunday mass in many churches began late as a result of the influx. "For the present, there are 750 families of between three and four people each who are sheltering in our facilities," said Father Crispin Mfamba from the local Saint Gabriel parish. Dorcas meanwhile has lost track of one of her four children during the move. "We are here in Kamako without money," she said. "We are selling what little we have so that we can eat. "My four-year-old child has disappeared and I sold my dress for $1.20 to pay for a radio announcement to help find my child," she said. The Indian Ocean archipelago has been rocked by instability and is in the grip of a crackdown by President Azali Assoumani Security forces in Comoros moved to break up roadblocks, apparently erected by opponents of President Azali Assoumani, across Mutsamudu, the capital of Anjouan Island, on Monday according to witnesses who reported gunfire. The Indian Ocean archipelago has been rocked by instability since July when Assoumani won a referendum on constitutional changes that includes ending the traditional rotation of the presidency between the country's three main islands after one term. Assoumani, from Grand Comore island, launched a crackdown on rivals following the poll, which was boycotted by opposition parties and which he won with 92.74 percent support. No opposition party claimed responsibility for the blockades in Anjouan, in which tree trunks were used to sever main roads, but an AFP correspondent reported that they were thought to have been erected by young people opposed to the president. "It started around 4:00 am (0100 GMT) and lasted almost three hours, we heard gunshots," said a resident who spoke to AFP by telephone and declined to be named. Anjouan Island governor Abdou Salami Abdou, member of the opposition Juwa party, confirmed the incidents. "This has been ongoing since this morning, there is shooting everywhere," he said by phone. But Interior Minister Mohamed Daoudou blamed Abdou for the unrest. "The government of Anjouan is responsible... Their people have been clearly, individually identified," he told journalists in Moroni. "Arresting governor Abdou Salami Abdou is the task of law enforcement." Daoudou said security forces on the island would be reinforced, accusing the protesters of using firearms but denying that officers opened fire. There were no reports of any fatalities. Daoudou also claimed that "boats with armed men" had sailed to Anjouan from the nearby French territory of Mayotte. Opposition figures targeted in Assoumani's crackdown include former president Abdallah Sambi, who has been charged with corruption. He is the head of the opposition Juwa party and is originally from Anjouan. Under July's constitutional changes, Assoumani, who previously came to power in a military coup and was elected in 2016, will be able to run for consecutive terms. He has indicated that he hopes to stage polls next year which would allow him to reset his term limits and theoretically rule until 2029. His critics have accused him of a "dictatorial power grab". Jammeh flew into self-imposed exile in Equatorial Guinea -- whether he will eventually be put in the dock is far from certain The tiny West African state of The Gambia on Monday swore in an 11-member commission tasked with shedding light on summary executions, disappearances, torture, rape and other crimes under ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh. President Adama Barrow hailed the panel as a vital step towards national healing. In a tweet, he said: "Let us stand together to say: 'Never again shall a few people oppress us as a nation. Never again shall the beautiful Smiling Coast experience a tyranny of the minority against the majority'." Inspired by South Africa's investigation into the apartheid era, the commission will hold witness hearings into Jammeh's 22-year era of oppression. The goal is to open the way to prosecuting those responsible and offering victims and their relatives the hope of closure. "Gambians who were tortured or raped in prison, who were shot for peacefully demonstrating, who were forced into Jammehs phony HIV 'treatment' programmes, whose family members were killed or who were targeted in literal witch hunts will all be able to come forward," said Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch (HRW). "We know so much more today about the crimes of Jammehs government than we did a year ago -- and when the truth commission is finished hearing from all the victims we should have a complete picture." The two-year process, he hoped, marked the first step to "holding Yahya Jammeh and his henchmen to account." Jammeh took over The Gambia, the smallest country on land in Africa, in a military coup in 1994. He installed a structure of oppression and corruption that touched nearly every part of society. Dissidents and journalists were picked up and tortured by the dreaded National Intelligence Agency (NIA). An ultra-loyal death squad called the Junglers carried out summary killings, including the alleged murder of scores of West African migrants. - Exile - Jammeh's reign began to crumble in December 2016, when he dramatically lost elections to Barrow, the opposition's leader. He refused to step down, but was forced out the following month after other West African countries intervened militarily and diplomatically. He flew into self-imposed exile in Equatorial Guinea. Created under an act of parliament, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) aims at using openness and a court-like approach to investigate over two years how abuse began and became systemic and the impacts it had. Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou, a former UN court prosecutor on human rights in Rwanda, said the TRRC would be a bulwark against any future dictators. "Our nation may be small, we may be poor, but we have one tremendous resource, the illustrious sons and daughters of this country," he said. The commission will be empowered to advise prosecution of perpetrators and recommend financial compensation to victims. Its members are drawn from all the major regions, its five main ethnic groups and two religions, led by a retired UN diplomat, Lamin Sise. Gender-based violence is expected to be a major theme of its mission, and four of the commissioners are women, on of whom is Sise's deputy chair. - Shadow of Jammeh - The Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, an NGO set up by victims and relatives of victims, says it has already documented hundreds of cases. The Gambia at a glance But the full extent of abuse may never be known and whether Jammeh himself will be put in the dock is far from clear. Barrow has said that any decision to bring Jammeh to justice would wait until the TRRC has completed its work. But Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema -- who has governed his country with an iron fist since 1979 -- has ruled out any demand for extradition. "Jammeh must be protected... (as) a guarantee for other African leaders that they will not be harassed after they leave power," he said in January this year. Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Chad's President Idriss Deby and Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore (L to R) attend a G5 Sahel summit in February 2018 A military school gathering five countries in the Sahel inducted its first officers on Monday into a programme to train future leaders of a joint anti-terror force. Thirty-five senior officers were inducted into the G5 Sahel Defence Academy, located in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, for an eight-month course, an AFP reporter saw. "They will be trained in techniques of high command and warfare, preparing them to be promoted" to general, a Mauritanian military official told AFP. The G5 Sahel is an initiative conceived in 2015 to roll back jihadism and lawlessness in five states on the Sahara's southern rim. Bringing together Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, it aims to create a 5,000-man joint force to restore authority in areas grappling with jihadi raiders and brutal gangs. But the scheme, which brings together five of the world's poorest and most fragile countries, has run into problems of financing, poor equipment and lack of training. Since late last year, the French-backed force has carried out only six operations, with three more in the works. It also has yet to win over civilians who fear retribution from the rebels if they provide support. On June 29, the G5's then headquarters, in the central Malian town of Sevare, came under suicide attack, causing three deaths, two of them Malian soldiers. Its commanding officer, Malian General Didier Dacko, was replaced by a Mauritanian, Hanena Ould Sidi, who in September ordered the HQ be moved to Bamako, Mali's capital. About 420 million euros ($488 million) pledged at an international donors' conference in Brussels on February 23 has also been slow to materialise. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, pictured in New Delhi on October 2, 2018, received a letter from Cuba complaining of a violation of UN rules Cuba has asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to cancel plans by the United States to launch a campaign at the United Nations on the plight of Cuban political prisoners. Cuban Ambassador Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo wrote a letter at the weekend to Guterres arguing that the event scheduled for Tuesday was in violation of UN rules about the use of its premises. The ambassador asked Guterres' office to "cancel the holding of the event," the Cuban mission to the United Nations said in a press release. UN officials will meet Cuban diplomats to discuss their concerns, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday. He noted that there are administrative rules for holding such events on UN premises and "that's the guidance the secretary-general will follow." "We will be in touch with them to answer those concerns," Dujarric said. The rules are vague and specify only that meetings and events held on UN premises must be "consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations" and be non-commercial. A US spokesman said the event entitled "Jailed for What?" will go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday to draw attention to the plight of an estimated 130 political prisoners held in Cuba. The meeting will be held at the UN's Economic and Social Council and the US representative to the council, Kelley Currie, will deliver remarks. The US move comes just weeks before the General Assembly is scheduled to hold its annual vote on ending the US embargo on Cuba, which last year was adopted by a vote of 191 to 2, with only the United States and Israel voting against. In 2016, the US abstained, marking in a major shift as the administration of former president Barack Obama worked to end decades of enmity with Havana. PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - Joanne Garone Behnke has replayed every possible scenario in her mind a hundred times. Maybe her 79-year-old aunt sought shelter at the sturdy condo nearby that withstood Hurricane Michael's devastating winds. Maybe she was rescued and is lying in a hospital bed somewhere. The pile of rubble that was once her Mexico Beach home is shallow, too shallow for a body to go unnoticed, Garone Behnke tells herself. "It's torture," says Garone Behnke, who last talked to her Aunt Aggie Vicari right before the storm hit, begging her to leave her cinderblock home. Five days after the hurricane slammed into the Florida Panhandle, people are struggling to locate friends and loved ones who haven't been heard from, though how many residents are missing seems to be anyone's guess. "I've been on the phone to reporters, to fire chiefs, to heads of task force from Miami, to you name it, I've called them. I've called every hospital," Garone Behnke said Monday, then stopped to look at a text from the fire chief in Mexico Beach. To her disappointment, it read: "We're still working on it ... we'll keep you posted." A damaged home stands in the background as soldiers with Florida National Guard's Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment, load food and water for the public at an aid distribution point in the wake of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman) As President Donald Trump visited the devastated zone, the death toll from Michael's march from Florida to Virginia stood at 17, and the search for victims continued. As the hurricane closed in and more than 375,000 people were warned to evacuate, emergency authorities expressed frustration that many residents weren't leaving. Since the storm, many people have been rescued from the devastated zones. Emergency officials said that because of widespread cellphone outages, others could be safe and just haven't been able to tell friends or family. Rescue worker Trevor Lewis and the rest of his six-member squad lent their cellphones to storm victims so that they could contact loved ones for the first time in days. He said he watched them "cry out in joy." "Just the desperation in the family members' voices that hadn't contacted their loved one for a few days was bad," he said. "Then we get on scene and find their family members and they have no food, no water, no power." There was just one confirmed death so far in Mexico Beach, the town of about 1,000 people that was nearly wiped off the map in a direct hit from the hurricane and its 155 mph (250 kph) winds. Mexico Beach City Clerk Adrian Welle told local media Sunday that 46 people were unaccounted for. That number had previously been 285, but officials think many left right before the storm hit. Other city officials told reporters that the number of unaccounted for was three. A Houston-based organization called CrowdSource Rescue that takes calls from worried family members and sends the details to rescue crews on the ground said it has helped find nearly 1,500 people across the region since Michael struck. George Ruiz, a former Coast Guard rescue boat driver from Alabama who runs Geaux Rescue, a nonprofit search-and-rescue operation, complained that authorities aren't allowing volunteer groups into hard-hit Mexico Beach and Panama City. "There's a lot of work to be done still as far as the rescue and recovery goes," said Ruiz, whose organization still has 433 requests for help from family members looking for loved ones. "We listened to voicemails we received overnight," he said, "and you can just hear in their voice their desperation, wanting to know if their family member is alive and well or if their family member has passed." Melissa and Rodney Reinhardt spent days wondering whether Rodney's 79-year-old father survived the storm at his home in the devastated Port St. Joe area. "Our hope was that he evacuated but nobody had heard from him," she said. "It's horrifying not knowing. It's scary. Seeing the pictures on the news makes it even scarier." Emergency officials checked on him Thursday night and said he was there, but that was all the information they received. Rodney finally went in with a church group on Sunday and picked him up. "It was a happy ending," Melissa Reinhardt said. During his visit to the devastated zone, Trump commended Republican Gov. Rick Scott for an "incredible" response to the disaster and said: "You're a great governor." Scott, who is running for the U.S. Senate, returned the praise, saying, "Every time I've called, he's come through." Some in the affected area were lukewarm about the president's visit. About 5 miles from a neighborhood Trump visited, 57-year-old Sheila Vann sat on a cooler in her garage, taking a break from cleaning up. The hurricane tore off much of her roof in Panama City, and most of her ceiling collapsed. She had four freezers filled with fish and meat that were starting to spoil and smell. "You want to see the president?" Vann asked her husband, Joseph, with a dismissive tone. "I ain't got time, unless he wants to help clean up." Nanya Thompson, 68, of Lynn Haven, said of the president: "He's doing this, I believe, to project a different image of himself because of all the bad publicity he's had. He's not going into get into the sewage water with other people and start digging." "If this is just going to be another reality show, I don't think he should come," she added. ___ Contributors in Florida include Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Mexico Beach, Brendan Farrington in Panama City, Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Kelli Kennedy in Miami and AP Photographer Gerald Herbert in Panama City. ___ For the latest on Hurricane Michael, visit https://www.apnews.com/tag/Hurricanes Soldiers with Florida National Guard's Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment, load food and water for the public at an aid distribution point in the wake of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman) People line up for daywork cleaning debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Some of those who lined up lost their jobs to the storm as many businesses are still not operating. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Billy Pardue, right, and Kiersten Phillips wait for their names to be called while lining up for daywork cleaning debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Pardue hasn't been able to work since Hurricane Michael damaged the Jimmy John's sandwich shop where he was employed. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Matthew Thrasher eats his breakfast while while waiting for his name to be called along with others looking for daywork cleaning debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Chuan Milford, left, cries while she thanks Florida National Guard soldiers for loading up her car with food and water at an aid distribution point in the wake of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Milford and her husband, John, right, lost their home to the storm. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Candace Phillips sifts through what was her third-floor bedroom while returning to her damaged home in Mexico Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. "We spent 25 years of our marriage working to get here and we're going to stay," said Phillips of her and husband's plans to rebuild. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Ron Hyatt spray paints a message to warn off looters outside his damaged home from Hurricane Michael in Callaway, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A message reading "Help us Trump" is written on a damaged business from Hurricane Michael in Callaway, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Rachel Hyatt holds her daughter, Eva, 2, in their damaged home as they prepare to spend a fifth night without power and running water in the aftermath of hurricane Michael in Callaway, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. "It was hard at first but we're adjusting," said Hyatt. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Rachel Hyatt bathes her daughter, Eva, 2, using a lantern and bottled water in their damaged home as they spend a fifth night without power and running water in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Callaway, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. "It was hard at first, but we're adjusting," said Hyatt. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Rachel Hyatt bathes her daughter, Eva, 2, using a lantern and bottled water in their damaged home as they spend a fifth night without power and running water in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Callaway, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. "It was hard at first, but we're adjusting," said Hyatt. (AP Photo/David Goldman) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate for any sanctions imposed against it after President Donald Trump said the oil-rich kingdom deserves "severe punishment" if it is responsible for the disappearance and suspected murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. The warning from the world's top oil exporter came after a turbulent day on the Saudi stock exchange, which plunged as much as 7 percent at one point Sunday. The statement was issued as international concern grew over the writer who vanished on a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over a week ago. American lawmakers threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a "credible investigation" into Khashoggi's disappearance. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations "baseless" but has not offered any evidence Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Already, international business leaders are pulling out of the kingdom's upcoming investment forum, a high-profile event known as "Davos in the Desert," and the sell-off on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange showed that investors are uneasy. The exchange dropped by over 500 points, then clawed back some of the losses, ending the day down 264 points, or more than 4 percent. Of 188 stocks traded on the exchange, 179 ended the day with a loss. A security personnel looks out from the entrance of the Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. Writer Jamal Khashoggi, vanished after he walked into the consulate on Oct. 2. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) "Something this big would definitely spook investors, and Saudi just opened up for foreign direct investment, so that was big," said Issam Kassabieh, a financial analyst at Dubai-based firm Menacorp Finance. "Investors do not feel solid in Saudi yet, so it's easy for them to take back their funds." In an interview aired Sunday, Trump told CBS' "60 Minutes" that Saudi Arabia would face strong consequences if involved in Khashoggi's disappearance. "There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we're going to have to see," Trump said. "We're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment." But the president has also said "we would be punishing ourselves" by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The sales are a "tremendous order for our companies," and if the Saudis don't buy their weaponry from the U.S., they will get it from others, he said. In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom warned that if it "receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy." "The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations," the statement said. The statement did not elaborate. However, a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news network suggested Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around $80 a barrel, and Trump has criticized OPEC and Saudi Arabia over rising prices. "If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," Turki Aldakhil wrote. It's unclear, however, whether Saudi Arabia would be willing to unilaterally cut production. Aldakhil added that Saudi arms purchases from the U.S. and other trade could be at risk as well. "The truth is that if Washington imposes sanctions on Riyadh, it will stab its own economy to death, even though it thinks that it is stabbing only Riyadh!" he wrote. The Saudi Embassy in Washington tweeted Sunday night it appreciated America "for refraining from jumping to conclusions on the ongoing investigation," likely trying to walk back the rhetoric. Meanwhile, Saudi King Salman spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about Khashoggi. Turkey said Erdogan "stressed forming a joint working group to probe the case." Saudi Arabia meanwhile said King Salman thanked Erdogan "for welcoming the kingdom's proposal" for forming the working group. The king also said Turkey and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and "that no one will get to undermine the strength of this relationship," according to a statement on the Saudi Press Agency. While Turkey and the kingdom differ on political issues, Saudi investments are a crucial lifeline for Ankara amid trouble with its lira currency. Prince Mohammed, King Salman's son, has aggressively pitched the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. But Khashoggi's disappearance has led several business leaders and media outlets to back out of the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh called the Future Investment Initiative. They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford. Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post about Saudi Arabia, criticizing its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of women's rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince. ___ Associated Press writer Malak Harb contributed to this report. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump suggested Monday that "rogue killers" could be responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an explanation offering U.S. ally Saudi Arabia a possible path out of a global diplomatic firestorm. The Saudis continued to deny they killed the writer, but there were indications the story could soon change. While Trump commented at the White House, Turkish crime scene investigators finally entered the Saudi consulate to comb the building where Khashoggi was last seen alive two weeks ago. Trump spoke after a personal 20-minute phone call with Saudi King Salman and as the president dispatched his secretary of state to Riyadh for a face-to-face discussion with the king. Late in the day, there were published reports that the Saudis were preparing to concede that Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Saudi contributor to The Washington Post, had been killed in an interrogation gone wrong. "The king firmly denied any knowledge of it," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to survey hurricane damage in Florida and Georgia. Trump said he didn't "want to get into (Salman's) mind," but he added, "it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. I mean, who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial." Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government and in particular Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the consulate on Oct. 2 to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage to a Turkish woman. Turkish officials have said he was killed and dismembered. In a sign of new cooperation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia that could shed light on the disappearance, Turkish investigators wearing coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday. It remained unclear what evidence they might be able to uncover. Earlier Monday, a cleaning crew with mops, trash bags and what appeared to be bottles of bleach walked in past waiting journalists. Turkish police forensic officer exits the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are conducting a joint "inspection" on Monday of the consulate, where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi went missing nearly two weeks ago, Turkish authorities said.v(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Trump administration officials told The Associated Press that intelligence collected by the U.S. is inconclusive as to what actually happened to Khashoggi. With such a lack of clarity, the administration has not ruled out any possible scenario. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and requested anonymity. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, hurriedly sent to Riyadh, expected to get more clarity during talks with Saudi leaders Tuesday. The White House expects credible answers quickly after Pompeo wraps up his trip with a stop in Ankara for meetings with senior Turkish officials. The State Department has urged a thorough investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance and called on Saudi Arabia to be transparent about the results - advice broadly tracking messages from allies in Europe. Germany, Britain and France issued a joint statement over the weekend expressing "grave concern" and calling for a credible investigation to ensure those responsible for the disappearance "are held to account." Trump quoted the King on Monday as saying that neither he nor his son, Crown Prince Mohammed, had any information about what had happened to Khashoggi. The prince, ambitious, aggressive and just 33 in a kingdom long ruled by aging monarchs, has considerable weight in Saudi government actions. He and Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, have forged close ties. Just last week, Trump vowed to uncover the truth about what happened to Khashoggi and promised "severe punishment" for those responsible. But he has said repeatedly that he does not want to halt a proposed $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia - as some in Congress have said he should - because it would harm the U.S. economically. Saudi Arabia has pledged to retaliate economically for any U.S. punitive action. That would be an unprecedented breach in a decades-old, deep economic and security relationship that is key to Washington's policies in the Middle East. A Saudi-owned satellite channel later suggested the world's largest oil exporter could wield that production as a weapon against America. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin still plans to attend a previously scheduled Saudi conference this week to address terrorist financing, but those plans could change as the investigation progresses. The New York Times reported that the Saudi royal court would soon put out a narrative that an official within the kingdom's intelligence services - who happened to be a friend of Prince Mohammed - had carried out the killing. According to that narrative, the crown prince had approved an interrogation or rendition of Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia, but the intelligence official was tragically incompetent as he eagerly sought to prove himself. The Times report cited an unnamed person said to be familiar with the Saudi plans. Trump said he could not confirm such reports. "I've heard that report but nobody's knows if it's an official report. So far it's just the rumor, the rumor of a report coming out," he said. Turkey has wanted to search the consulate for days. Permission apparently came after a late Sunday night call between King Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In statements after the call, both praised the creation of a joint Saudi-Turkish probe. The Turkish inspection team included a prosecutor, a deputy prosecutor, anti-terror police and forensic experts, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Certain areas of the consulate were to remain off-limits, although officials would be able to inspect surveillance cameras, Turkish media reported. The furor over Khashoggi has dealt a serious setback to Prince Mohammed's aggressive pitch for the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. Several business leaders and media outlets have backed out of the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh, called the Future Investment Initiative. They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford. ____ Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report. President Donald Trump stops to talk to members of the media before walking across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, to board Marine One helicopter for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to Florida to tour areas the devastation left behind from Hurricane Michael last week. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Cleaning personnel enter Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkey says an "inspection" of the consulate is expected to take place later on Monday, nearly two weeks after Saudi journalist after Jamal Khashoggi disappeared there. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) President Donald Trump stops to talk to members of the media before walking across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, to board Marine One helicopter for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to Florida to tour areas the devastation left behind from Hurricane Michael last week. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Turkish police officers enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are conducting a joint "inspection" on Monday of the consulate, where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi went missing nearly two weeks ago, Turkish authorities said.v(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Members of the inspection team enter Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are conducting a joint "inspection" on Monday of the consulate, where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi went missing nearly two weeks ago, Turkish authorities said. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A security guard passes a document to a colleague outside Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are expected to conduct a joint "inspection" on Monday of the consulate, where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi went missing nearly two weeks ago, Turkish authorities said. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) QUNEITRA, Syria (AP) - President Bashar Assad's government received a major boost Monday as Syria's commercial gateway with Jordan and a crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights manned by U.N peacekeepers were reopened years after the war disrupted their operations. The simultaneous reopening of the crossings was celebrated on state media with back-to-back coverage, reinforcing the government's narrative that it is slowly emerging victorious from the seven-year war. "We are now witnessing the early fruits of victory," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said at a press conference in Damascus. Sitting next to his Iraqi counterpart, who was visiting on Monday, al-Moallem said the two countries are discussing reopening a border crossing. "No one should isolate Syria," Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraq's foreign minister, said, adding that he was advocating for Syria's return to the Arab League. Assad's government has been largely isolated by its Arab neighbors since the civil war broke out in 2011. The 22-member Arab League froze Syria's membership shortly after the war began, imposing sanctions the cutting diplomatic ties. Commercial delegations converged on the Naseeb crossing with Jordan on Monday, and members of the Syrian chamber of commerce went into Jordan to meet with their counterparts. The first truck carrying citrus fruits entered Jordan, and dozens of private cars drove into Syria. Jordanian cars prepare to cross into Syria, at the Jordanian-Syrian border Jaber crossing point, in Mafraq, Jordan, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. A vital border crossing linking Syria and Jordan has reopened for the first time in three years, promising to restore commercial trade and travel between the two countries. (AP Photo/Omar Akour) "We are brothers. Our economy is connected to the Syrian economy," said Abdel-Salam Theyabat, the head of a Jordanian chamber of commerce. At the Quneitra border crossing, leaders of the Druze community, which straddles the frontier, were first on the scene to attend the flag-raising ceremony. A plaque announcing the re-activation of the crossing was signed off with "Mercy to the martyrs and to Syria victory and peace." Humanitarian and community leaders said they hoped the crossing would soon be open to trade and movement of students. The Druze community was divided when Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967. U.N. observers had monitored the frontier since the 1974 cease-fire deal, but left their posts in 2014 as fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces approached. Syrian forces recaptured the Quneitra area in July. Russian military police deployed in the area, including on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, setting up checkpoints in the area. Moscow said it planned to work closely with the U.N. force. On Monday, Russian officers were on the scene. The opening of the crossing is a "signal of the return of stability to Syria and the failure of the efforts to divide the country," said Syrian army Brig. Mazen Younes. The commercial crossing with Jordan promises to restore millions of dollars' worth of trade. Syrian vegetables and fruits will find their way to the Gulf, Turkey and Arab markets more easily, and construction and raw materials will find a faster route into Syrian cities and towns devastated by the war. Once one of Syria's busiest, the Naseeb crossing was closed in 2015 when it fell to rebel hands, disrupting a major trade route between Syria and Jordan, Lebanon and oil-rich Gulf countries. Before the war, an average of 7,000 trucks went through daily, according to some estimates. Lebanon's President Michel Aoun has praised the agreement between Jordan and Syria to open a main border crossing between the two countries, saying it will benefit the country whose imports to the Gulf had been hit by the closure. Government troops recaptured Naseeb in July, after rebels reached an agreement with Russian mediators to end the violence in the southern province of Daraa and surrender the crossing. Jordan government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat said the Naseeb crossing is a vital lifeline for trade between the "two brotherly countries." "Today is a feast, a feast for the whole Arab and Islamic nations and for the whole world," said Mohammed Khalil, one of the first Syrians to cross back into his country from Jordan. Syria's war has killed an estimated 450,000 people and drawn in regional and international powers, leaving entire towns and neighborhoods in ruins. Aided by Russia and Iran, the Syrian military has clawed its way back and recaptured key territory from the Syrian opposition in the past two years. Al-Moallem said "real victory" will come when Syria recaptures its territory in full, citing areas in the north including Idlib province, still outside government control. A Russia-Turkey deal for Idlib was reached last month, setting up a demilitarized zone and a cease-fire in the province, which is home to 3 million people. Al-Moallem said his country will give its ally Russia time to assess whether Turkey and the Syrian armed opposition have fulfilled their part of the cease-fire deal He vowed to move on remaining parts of Syria outside of government control, saying it is "impossible' for his government to give up on the oil-rich parts of eastern Syria held by U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led forces. He said that would be the next target after the government resolves the situation in rebel-held Idlib. ___ Akour reported from the crossing in Jordan. Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed. An U.N. vehicle enters the Quneitra border crossing between Syria and Israel, in the Golan Heights, Quneitra, Syria, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing was reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of fighting there. (AP Photo) A national flag is seen on the Syrian side of Quneitra crossing from the Israeli controlled Golan Heights, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of the fighting there. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) A UN soldier waves as UN vehicle enters Syria in Quneitra crossing in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights , Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of the fighting there. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Al-Jaafari said Syria should not be isolated from its Arab neighbors, and lauded Damascus for staying "strong" and united in the face of many adversities. (SANA via AP) An Israeli soldier opens the border gates as an UN vehicle enters Syria in Quneitra crossing in the Israeli controlled Golan, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of the fighting there. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) U.N. soldiers and officials stand next to vehicles at the Quneitra border crossing between Syria and Israel, in the Golan Heights, in Quneitra, Syria, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing was reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of fighting there. (AP Photo) An Israeli soldier opens the border gates as an UN vehicle enters Syria in Quneitra crossing in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights , Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of the fighting there. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Jordanian security forces stand guard, as cars prepare to cross into Syria, at the Jordanian-Syrian border Jaber crossing point, in Mafraq, Jordan, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. A vital border crossing linking Syria and Jordan has reopened for the first time in three years, promising to restore commercial trade and travel between the two countries. (AP Photo/Omar Akour) UN soldiers attend the Syria-Israel Quneitra border crossing, in the Golan Heights, in Quneitra, Syria, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The Quneitra crossing will only be opened for the U.N. observers for now, who have been stationed there to monitor a cease-fire between the two countries since 1974. (AP Photo) UN officers wacth as UN vehicle enters Syria in Quneitra crossing in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights , Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of the fighting there. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) UN officers watch from an observation tower as UN vehicle enters Syria in Quneitra crossing in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights , Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights reopened for U.N. observers who had left the area four years ago because of the fighting there. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, right, speaks during a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Al-Jaafari said Syria should not be isolated from its Arab neighbors, and lauded Damascus for staying "strong" and united in the face of many adversities. (SANA via AP) ISTANBUL (AP) - The Latest on the disappearance of a Saudi writer who Turkish officials fear was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul (all times local): 6:25 a.m. A Washington lobbying firm has told Saudi Arabia it will no longer represent the kingdom, as international furor builds over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A person familiar with the move says The Glover Park Group informed the Saudis on Monday of the decision. The person wasn't authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. Disclosure records filed with the Justice Department show the firm has been providing the Saudi Embassy with "government relations and communications counsel" for $150,000 a month. The decision underscores the growing pressure facing Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi hasn't been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. He wrote columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkish police officers gather as they prepare to enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi there. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Another lobbying firm, The Harbour Group, severed its contract with the Saudi government late last week. --Contributed by Richard Lardner in Washington ___ 12:30 a.m. Tuesday Saudi Arabia is reportedly ready to concede that a missing Saudi writer was killed in its consulate in Istanbul. CNN reports that the Saudi government is preparing to say Jamal Khashoggi died during an interrogation that went wrong. The report was attributed to two unnamed sources. It says one of the sources told them that the intention was to abduct Khashoggi and it had not been authorized by the Saudi government. President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that he was aware of the report but did not know if it was correct. He says the U.S. is working with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to figure out what happened. Trump calls Khashoggi's disappearance a "terrible situation." Khashoggi wrote for The Washington Post opinion pages. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on Oct. 2. ___ 12:15 a.m. A Washington think tank has announced it will no longer accept financial contributions from the Saudi Arabian government following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. An emailed statement from the Middle East Institute says the organization's board of governors expresses its shock and outrage over what it calls Khashoggi's "possible murder." The statement describes Khashoggi as a "friend of the Institute and a frequent participant in its public panels and conferences." The statement doesn't define what constitutes a donation from the Saudi government. The Institute also doesn't disclose the exact amount of contributions. Information on its webpage shows that in 2017, the Institute received between $100,000 and just under $1 million from Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company. The Saudi Arabian embassy donated between $50,000 and just under $100,000. ___ 6 p.m. Monday Turkish crime scene investigators have searched the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi. The search came nearly two weeks after Khashoggi, a Saudi critic, vanished after entering the building. A joint Saudi-Turkish team arrived at the consulate in Istanbul's upscale 4th Levent neighborhood as journalists filmed and shot photographs of their arrival. A cleaning crew walked into the consulate hours ahead of the investigative team's arrival. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote columns in the Washington Post that were critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations "baseless" but has not offered any evidence Khashoggi ever left the consulate. ___ 3:30 p.m. A Spanish government spokeswoman has urged Turkey and Saudi Arabia to launch an "open, transparent" investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi nearly two weeks ago. Spain, a longtime commercial ally of the government of Riyadh, is joining growing international concern over the writer who vanished on a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Spanish Education Minister Isabel Celaa says that "Spain demands an open, transparent investigation," and that "freedom of speech and press freedom are pillars of democracy." A Foreign Ministry statement on Monday said Spain is hoping for "urgent results" from the probe. Spain's strong trade and investment ties with Saudi Arabia were put to a test earlier this year when the center-left government in Madrid tried to cancel a weapons sale to Riyadh only to backtrack weeks later over fears of losing a job-intensive shipbuilding contract. ___ 3:10 p.m. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive and chairman, has decided not to participate in Saudi Arabia's "Davos in the Desert" event this month as the outrage over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues to grow. Dimon was asked last week if he was going to participate in the event, but declined to comment. A JPMorgan spokesman said the bank was not giving any additional comment on Dimon's decision to pull out. Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations "baseless" but has not offered any evidence Khashoggi ever left the consulate. ___ 12:45 p.m. Turkey says an "inspection" of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul is expected to take place late this afternoon, nearly two weeks after Jamal Khashoggi disappeared there. A Foreign Ministry official told The Associated Press on Monday that the inspection would be a joint one carried out by Turkish and Saudi officials. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations. The inspection comes after the disappearance of the Saudi writer, who vanished Oct. 2 on a visit to the consulate. Turkish officials fear Saudi authorities killed and dismembered Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia calls the allegation "baseless," but has yet to explain how the writer simply vanished while visiting the consulate as his fiancee stood outside waiting for him. -Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; ___ 12:15 p.m. Pakistan has urged Turkey and Saudi Arabia to work together to resolve the case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared on a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul earlier this month. Turkish officials fear that Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate when he went there on Oct. 2. Pakistan, which enjoys friendly relations with both Turkey and the kingdom, says it hopes that the "two brotherly countries will be able to jointly address the matter." A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that since an investigation is ongoing into the matter, "it would therefore be appropriate to await the outcome." In Monday's carefully worded brief statement, the ministry welcomed Saudi and Turkish efforts to resolve the issue. ___ 12:10 p.m. Australia's foreign minister says she is deeply concerned by the disappearance and suspected murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He vanished during a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul almost two weeks ago. Foreign Minister Marise Payne says she is discussing with government colleagues and officials in her department how Australia will react. She told reporters: "I have expressed my very deep concerns over what appears to have occurred in Turkey. I will be speaking with my colleagues to determine Australia's next step." ___ 10:10 a.m. Saudi newspapers have published aggressive front-page headlines, mirroring a statement by the kingdom warning that it won't be threatened amid concerns about the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Arabic-language daily Okaz wrote a headline on Monday in English warning: "Don't Test Our Patience." It showed a clenched fist. The Saudi Gazette trumpeted: "Enough Is Enough." The Arab News said: "Saudi Arabia 'will not be bullied'." The Arab News' headline was above a front-page editorial by Dubai-based real-estate tycoon Khalaf al-Habtoor calling on Gulf Arab nations to boycott international firms now backing out of a planned economic summit in Riyadh later this month. Al-Habtoor wrote: "Together we must prove we will not be bullied or else, mark my words, once they have finished kicking the kingdom, we will be next in line." ___ 7:40 a.m. Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate for any sanctions imposed against it. President Donald Trump says the oil-rich kingdom deserves "severe punishment" if it is responsible for the disappearance and suspected murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. The warning from the world's top oil exporter came Sunday after a turbulent day on the Saudi stock exchange, which plunged as much as 7 percent at one point. The statement was issued as international concern grew over the writer who vanished on a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over a week ago. American lawmakers have threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a "credible investigation" into Khashoggi's disappearance. Turkish police officers gather as they prepare to enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi there. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Turkish police officers gather as they prepare to enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi there. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Turkish police officers gather as they prepare to enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi there. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Turkish police officers gather as they prepare to enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi there. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A Turkish forensic police officer searches for evidence as he works on the rooftop of the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, late Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi there. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Turkish police officers gather as they prepare to enter the Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday, nearly two weeks after the disappearance and alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi there. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) PARIS (AP) - Flash floods that tore through several towns in southwest France following an overnight storm killed at least 12 people, authorities said Monday. Some residents had to be helicoptered from rooftops as the equivalent of several months of rain poured down in a few hours and turned waterways into raging torrents. Initially, the French Interior Ministry reported 13 deaths from the floods in the Aude region. French officials lowered the number to 10 later, saying some victims had been counted twice. The Interior Ministry and Aude officials put it at 12 after two more bodies were recovered in the towns of Trebes and Carcassonne. At least six of the deaths happened in Trebes, Mayor Eric Menassi said. Eight people were injured throughout the affected region and one person was missing as of late Monday. The River Aude that flows through towns such as Carcassonne and Trebes was among the waterways that overflowed from the exceptional rainfall, and the flooding was the region's worst in more than a century, the French agency that monitors flood risks said. In the town of Villegailhenc, resident Ines Siguet said floodwaters rose so quickly after the rains swept in from the Mediterranean that residents fled to rooftops. Siguet, 17, posted video of a ripped-up road where a bridge used to stand. "There's nothing left. There's just a hole," the teenager, whose school was closed amid the destruction, told The Associated Press. "It was very violent." A man rides past a damaged car in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Residents described violent walls of water that crashed through doors and quickly inundated homes. A Villegailhenc resident described for French news channel BFMTV how little time there was to escape. "It was raining, raining, raining and my wife says to me, 'We can hear water, switch on the light.' So I switch on the light and nothing, it's pitch black. So, what do I do? I get up and my feet are in water. I go to the kitchen, I open the door. Impossible. I am trying hard and then the water rose up to my belly," the resident, who was identified only as Jean-Marc, told the broadcaster. "We took what we could and went to the attic. So I had to take the ladder that was behind the house and had water up to my torso. I was terribly afraid." Some of the dead appeared to have been swept away by floodwaters, Aude prefect Alain Thirion said. In the town of Conques-sur-Orbiel, the river rose by more than six meters (20 feet), and floodwaters were in some cases too powerful for emergency services to get through, even on boats, he said. Vigicrues, the French agency that monitors rivers for flood risks, said water levels in the Aude region were higher than at any time since 1891. Television images showed water coursing through towns and villages, stranding cars and piling them on top of each other like children's toys. The French government rushed hundreds of rescue workers to the flood zone and helicopters buzzed overhead. French President Emmanuel Macron planned to visit the flooded region "as soon as possible," but a date wasn't set to avoid disturbing the emergency response work, a government official said. The official asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. An anticipated reshuffling of government ministers would not be announced while the government was focused on the flooding, the official said. ___ AP writers Sylvie Corbet and Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed. Rescue workers and soldiers walk in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, after flash floods Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) A rescue worker inspects damages in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) This photo provided by Stephane Jourdain, after a torrent of water ripped out the bridge in Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday Oct. 15, 2018. Flash floods have left several people dead in southwest France, with roads swept away and streams become raging torrents as the equivalent of several months of rain fell overnight, authorities said Monday. (AP Photo/Stephane Jourdain) A car and debris are pictured after floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Residents watch the waters after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Rescue workers, background, secure the area by a collapsed bridge after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Rescue workers, background, secure the area by a collapsed bridge in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Cars are pictured in a vineyard in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Rescue workers, background, secure the area by a collapsed bridge in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Rescue workers stand by a collpased bridge in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) A police officer inspects a damaged car in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) A woman rides past a man cleaning his house in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) An helicopter flies over the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, after flash floods Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) A man watches a damaged bridge over a torrent after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Soldiers patrol past a vintage car after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Cars pile up after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Residents watch workers pulling a car out of a torrent after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) Residents talk with a soldier, center, after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) French soldiers patrol after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) People react while residents pull a car out of a torrent after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) People try to pull a car out of a torrent after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed several people and seriously injured at least five others. (AP Photo/Fred Lancelot) LUXEMBOURG (AP) - The Latest on Brexit negotiations (all times local): 9:10 p.m. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz say they still think a Brexit deal can be reached even though the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland has been an impasse in negotiations. Kurz and Rutte met ahead of a European Union summit that starts Wednesday and where the terms of Britain's divorce from the bloc will take center stage. Rutte said on Monday night: "It is not a question of do there still need to be concessions. It is more a question of can we, by continuing to talk and by being as creative as possible, see if we can solve the final problems." Rutte said that while it "would be great if we succeed this week," negotiators will take more time if the summit doesn't produce an agreement. In this photo taken on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, a sign in a parking lot of a cemetery reads: "No EU border in Ireland" near Carrickcarnan, Ireland, just next to the Jonesborough Parish church in Northern Ireland. The land around the small town of Carrickcarnan, Ireland is the kind of place where Britain's plan to leave the European Union walks right into a wall - an invisible one that is proving insanely difficult to overcome. Somehow, a border of sorts will have to be drawn between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and EU member country Ireland to allow customs control over goods, produce and livestock once the U.K. has left the bloc. (AP Photo/Lorne Cook) Kurz, speaking through an interpreter, said he thinks the Irish border issue "is more a tactic than a situation in which you can't find a solution." ___ 7:20 p.m. EU Council President Donald Tusk is expressing continued optimism that the European Union and Britain can reach a Brexit deal despite an impasse on the Irish border issue. In a letter to the leaders of EU member countries sent Monday, Tusk used an oft-quoted motivational line - "It always seems impossible until it's done" - and added: "Let us not give up." In 48 hours, Tusk will be hosting British Prime Minister Theresa and the 27 other EU leaders at a summit in Brussels hoping to clinch a breakthrough on the deal setting terms for Britain's departure and future relationship with the EU. Britain is set to leave the EU on March 29, and could make its exit without an agreement in place. Tusk wrote in his invitation to Wednesday's summit that "responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before." ___ 4:40 p.m. French President Emmanuel Macron says progress toward a Brexit deal between Britain and the European Union can be made over coming days. At a news conference in Paris following a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Macron said he will have a phone call with British Prime Minister Theresa May later Monday and with EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Tuesday. "I believe we can move forward," he said. EU leaders meet for a two-day summit from Wednesday with Brexit high on the agenda. The discussions appear to have made little headway in recent days and expectations of a deal at that summit have been scaled back. Macron insisted France is prepared for all possible scenarios including a no-deal Brexit which is "not what we want." ___ 3:50 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May says the U.K. and the European Union are not far apart in Brexit negotiations and a divorce deal remains achievable. Speaking to lawmakers Monday after weekend Brexit talks failed to make a breakthrough, May said "the shape of a deal" is clear in most areas, but a gap remains on the issue of the Irish border. Talks have stalled around how to ensure there is no hard border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit. Britain rejects the EU's "backstop" proposal, which would keep Northern Ireland in a customs union with the bloc. May says that's unacceptable, but the two sides are now discussing "a U.K.-wide customs solution" where all of Britain stays in a customs partnership with the EU. The main sticking point is Britain's insistence that such a solution must be temporary. ___ 3:35 p.m. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says a Brexit deal with Britain is more likely to be struck in November or December than at a summit this week. Speaking after Britain and the EU failed to resolve their differences over the Irish border, Varadkar said this is a "dynamic situation." The EU had been hoping for a breakthrough at this week's summit. But Varadkar told reporters Monday that November or December were likely "the best opportunity for a deal." The current deadlock has raised fears of a chaotic "no-deal" Brexit in March. Varadkar said that would be "really bad for Ireland, relatively bad for the EU, but quite a disaster for the U.K., and I am sure that the British government is motivated to make sure we don't end up in a no-deal scenario." ___ 4:00 p.m. Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany wants Britain's departure from the European Union on March 29 to be orderly, "but not at any price." Merkel said Monday she had been hopeful the EU and the British government would reach a Brexit agreement, but "at the moment, it looks a bit more difficult again." EU negotiators and leaders have said they won't accept Britain cherry-picking the best parts of EU membership and leaving the obligations or unresolved issues out of the withdrawal agreement and the country's future relations with the bloc. Merkel said during a conference of German exporters: "We must not allow our single market, which is really our competitive advantage, to be destroyed by such a withdrawal." She added: "So this requires a great deal of finesse. And if it doesn't work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear - but time is pressing." ___ 12:40 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman says Brexit talks are stuck because the European Union "continues to insist on the possibility of a customs border down the Irish Sea." James Slack says May cannot accept an EU proposal to keep Northern Ireland inside the bloc's customs union in order to avoid a hard border between it and EU member Ireland. Britain says it will only accept that plan if it is temporary and does not hive Northern Ireland off permanently from the rest of the U.K. in terms of customs arrangements. The border issue remains the chief obstacle to a divorce agreement. High-level talks on Sunday failed to produce a breakthrough. Slack says the British government is still confident of striking a deal this fall, before Britain leaves the EU on March 29. He says "continuous" negotiations are still going on ahead of an EU summit starting Wednesday. May is due to update lawmakers on the talks later Monday. ___ 11:25 a.m. Ireland's foreign minister says that Britain has placed new conditions on the use of a mechanism to ensure that goods keep flowing across the Irish border after Brexit. Simon Coveney says that Britain agreed in December and again in March that the unpopular "backstop" would remain in place until a better solution is found. The backstop is a guarantee that would ensure no "hard border" of lengthy customs checks and controls would emerge between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland in the U.K. Coveney said "nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism to calm nerves that we're not going to see physical border infrastructure re-emerging." Britain only wants it in place for a limited time, but Coveney said that "a backstop cannot be time limited. That's new. It hasn't been there before." ___ 10:50 a.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a Brexit crisis, with her political allies insisting they will scuttle a divorce deal with the European Union over the issue of the Irish border. The Democratic Unionist Party is opposed to any customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. after Britain leaves the European Union. But EU officials say that may be the only way to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said "it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no-deal scenario" because there was no agreement that would be accepted by Britain's Parliament. High-level talks in Brussels ended without agreement Sunday, and no more are planned before an EU summit starting Wednesday. International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said Monday that "everyone needs to calm down" and support May as she tries to get a deal with the EU. ___ 10:05 a.m. Britain's foreign secretary is cautiously optimistic that the U.K. and the European Union will secure an agreement on Britain leaving the bloc although perhaps not at an EU summit this week. Jeremy Hunt said Monday that "there are one or two very difficult outstanding issues, but I think we can get there. Whether we do this week or not, who knows?" Hunt said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that "everyone is trying incredibly hard. I think it is possible to do it and I think with good will on both sides we can get there." Britain officially leaves the EU on March 29, but a deal must be clinched in coming weeks to allow time for the EU and U.K. parliaments to ratify it. Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt walks with Slovakian Europe Minister Frantisek Ruzickas, left, during a walk in the grounds of Chevening House, in Sevenoaks, England, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. Hunt played host to Eastern European Foreign Ministers at his official country residence ahead of a meeting on Monday at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg where chemical weapons sanctions will be formally adopted. (Jack Taylor/Pool Photo via AP) BERLIN (AP) - A Moroccan man convicted of helping Mohamed Atta and the other Hamburg-based Sept. 11 suicide pilots as they plotted attacks on New York and Washington was deported Monday from Germany to his homeland. German authorities confirmed that Mounir el Motassadeq was aboard a plane that had taken off from Frankfurt airport in the evening. El Motassadeq was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and accessory to the murder of the 246 passengers and crew on the four jetliners used in the 9/11 attacks in 2001. "It's a good feeling to know that Mr. Motassadeq is out of the country," Hamburg's Interior Minister Andy Grote told The Associated Press. Earlier in the day, he had been taken from a Hamburg prison to Frankfurt airport. El Motassadeq was released shortly before completing his 15-year-sentence on the condition that he agreed to be deported to Morocco. That would allow Germany to re-arrest him if he ever returned. FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2007 file picture Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq waits prior his trial at a court in Hamburg, northern Germany, The Moroccan man has been sentenced to a 15-year prison sentence in Germany for helping three of the suicide pilots in the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. (AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer, Pool) It wasn't immediately clear what awaited him in Morocco. El Motassadeq was convicted of being part of the so-called Hamburg cell, including Atta and fellow Sept. 11 pilots Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. German courts ruled that el Motassadeq was aware the three planned to hijack and crash planes, even though he might not have known specifics of the plot. They said el Motassadeq helped "watch the attackers' backs and conceal them" by helping them keep up the appearance of being university students paying tuition and rent and transferring money. El Motassadeq acknowledged training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan but insisted he knew nothing of his friends' plans to attack the U.S. "I swear by God that I did know the attackers were in America," he shouted in accented German at a sentencing hearing. "I swear by God that I did not know what they wanted to do." Originally arrested in Hamburg in November 2001, el Motassadeq was convicted in 2003 of membership in a terrorist organization and thousands of counts of accessory to murder - taking into account victims on the ground - becoming the first person convicted anywhere on charges related to Sept. 11. He was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison. However, a federal court overturned that verdict in 2004, largely because of a lack of evidence from al-Qaida suspects in U.S. custody, and sent the case back to Hamburg. After a 2005 retrial, el Motassadeq was again convicted of membership in a terrorist organization that included Atta, al-Shehhi and Jarrah. But he was acquitted of being an accessory to murder after the court ruled it didn't have enough evidence that he knew of the hijackers' plot. El Motassadeq was sentenced to seven years in prison at the time, but was freed in early 2006 until his appeal could be heard. Later that year, the federal court reversed the Hamburg court's acquittal of el Motassadeq on the accessory to murder charges, ruling that the evidence showed he knew the plotters planned to hijack and crash planes. It limited the number of counts, however, to the 246 people killed aboard the airplanes, and the 15-year sentence was restored. ___ Frank Jordans contributed to this story. Terrorist Mounir el Motassadeq is led from one helipcopter to another at the airport in Hamburg, northern Germany, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The Moroccan man convicted of helping three of the Sept. 11 attackers as they plotted to strike New York and Washington was flown from a Hamburg jail on Monday to the city's airport in preparation for his deportation to his home country. (Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa via AP) Terrorist Mounir el Motassadeq is led from one helipcopter to another at the airport in Hamburg, northern Germany, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The Moroccan man convicted of helping three of the Sept. 11 attackers as they plotted to strike New York and Washington was flown from a Hamburg jail on Monday to the city's airport in preparation for his deportation to his home country. (Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa via AP) A helicopter deports takes off from the prison in Hamburg, Germany, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Authorities did not confirm that terrorist Mounir el-Motassadeq was transported to the airport to be deported to Morocco after he was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in 2006 for supporting the Sept. 11 attackers. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) The terrorist helper Mounir el Motassadeq, center, is led by police officers from a helicopter at the business aviation centre in Hamburg, northern Germany, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. After almost 15 years in prison, the Sept. 11 terrorist Mounir el Motassadeq was picked up by a helicopter from Fuhlsbuettel prison on Monday. He is to be deported to Morocco. (Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa/via AP) A helicopter deports takes off from the prison in Hamburg, Germany, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Authorities did not confirm that terrorist Mounir el-Motassadeq was transported to the airport to be deported to Morocco after he was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in 2006 for supporting the Sept. 11 attackers. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) Terrorist Mounir el Motassadeq is led from one helipcopter to another at the airport in Hamburg, northern Germany, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. The Moroccan man convicted of helping three of the Sept. 11 attackers as they plotted to strike New York and Washington was flown from a Hamburg jail on Monday to the city's airport in preparation for his deportation to his home country. (Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa via AP) A helicopter deports takes off from the prison in Hamburg, Germany, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Authorities did not confirm that terrorist Mounir el-Motassadeq was transported to the airport to be deported to Morocco after he was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in 2006 for supporting the Sept. 11 attackers. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - In Iraqi orphanages, you find all the ways that war wreaks its destruction, embodied in the most innocent of faces: Children of those killed, children born of rape, children abandoned in the chaos of battle. There are also the children of the enemy. Salhiya orphanage, Iraq's state-run facility in Baghdad, is now home to children of foreign jihadis who came to join the Islamic State group and are now either dead or incarcerated. During a recent visit by The Associated Press, more than a dozen cribs were arranged end-to-end in a room set for babies. Toddlers able to stand rocked side to side, holding the sides of the cribs. There were plenty of cuddles by staff, who left no baby to cry. The facility houses a mix of infants born to Iraqi women enslaved by militants and older children brought to Iraq; some were simply abandoned. A newborn given the name Helen by the caretakers was left by her mother at a hospital after her birth. In northern Iraq, nearly 60 Iraqi children are kept in two orphanages in Mosul, the country's second largest city, which was captured by IS in 2014 and liberated by U.S.-backed security forces last year after a nearly year-long battle. Many of them are the children of Iraqi members of the militant group. Toddlers scooted around in tiny walkers, holding up their favorite toys in the bright and tidy playroom. Television was deployed to entertain the kids - two of the girls acted out an entire Tom & Jerry episode. In this Aug. 19, 2018, photo, two girls act out an episode from a Tom & Jerry cartoon at the state-run al-Zuhour Orphanage in Mosul, Iraq. Nearly 60 Iraqi children are kept in two orphanages in Iraq's second largest city that was captured by the Islamic State group in 2014 and liberated by U.S.-backed security forces last year after a nearly year-long battle. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) Abeer al-Chalabi, a senior government official in Baghdad who oversees orphanages, said some of the foreign children came to the facilities with the radical ideas instilled by the parents. One 5-year-old boy, she said, refused to shake her hand because she's a woman. A 7-year-old boy asked for a knife to show a friend how to behead a doll. "We have slowly changed their ideas and the way they think," al-Chalabi said. Here is a selection of photos from Baghdad and Mosul. ___ Follow Maya Alleruzzo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mayaalleruzzolang=en And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayaalleruzzo/ . In this Aug. 15, 2018 photo, shoes are stacked on shelves at the state-run Salhiya Orphanage, which now hosts foreign and Iraqi children of Islamic State militants, in Baghdad, Iraq.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 15, 2018 photo, a boy plays in the hallway at the state-run Salhiya Orphanage, which now hosts foreign and Iraqi children of Islamic State militants, in Baghdad, Iraq. "We have slowly changed their ideas and the way they think," said Abeer al-Chalabi, a senior government official in charge of social affairs in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 16, 2018 photo, a caregiver soothes a newborn baby girl named Helen at the state-run Salhiya Orphanage, which now hosts foreign and Iraqi orphans, in Baghdad, Iraq. Helen was left behind at a hospital shortly after her birth, according to caretakers at the orphanage. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 19, 2018 photo, a girl has a tantrum at the state-run al-Zuhour Orphanage, in Mosul, Iraq. Orphanages are where wars play out: children abandoned in the chaos of battle, children born of rape and sexual slavery, babies left behind in the hospital in the hopes of a fresh start, and those left in state care after their parents are sentenced to death. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 16, 2018 photo, a toddler drinks from a cup at the state-run Salhiya Orphanage, which now hosts foreign and Iraqi children orphaned by Islamic State militants and the battle to oust them, in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 15, 2018 photo, a worker comforts a toddler at the state-run Salhiya Orphanage, which now hosts foreign and Iraqi children orphaned by Islamic State militants and the battle to oust them, in Baghdad, Iraq. Orphanages are where wars play out: children abandoned in the chaos of battle, children born of rape and sexual slavery, babies left behind in the hospital in the hopes of a fresh start, and those left in state care after their parents are sentenced to death. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 19, 2018 photo, a newborn lies in her crib at the state-run al-Zuhour orphanage, in Mosul, Iraq. Here, it's a mix of infants born to Iraqi women who were enslaved by militants and older children whose parents are jailed; some were simply abandoned in the chaos that follows a war. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 16, 2018 photo, an infant lies in her crib at the state-run Salhiya Orphanage, which now hosts foreign and Iraqi children, in Baghdad, Iraq. Salhiya hosts children of foreign jihadists whose parents are either dead or incarcerated. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 19, 2018 photo, babies toddle around in walkers at the state-run al-Zuhour Orphanage in Mosul, Iraq. Orphanages are where wars play out: children abandoned in the chaos of battle, children born of rape and sexual slavery, babies left behind in the hospital in the hopes of a fresh start, and those left in state care after their parents are sentenced to death. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this Aug. 15, 2018 photo, girls play in a playpen at the state-run Salhiya Orphanage, which now hosts foreign and Iraqi children orphaned by Islamic State militants and the battle to oust them, in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) Ecuador has ordered Julian Assange to keep its London embassy's bathroom clean and take good care of his cat or it will be confiscated. The demands are among a comprehensive list of orders from Ecuadorian officials which was leaked online on Monday. The document formally orders Assange to steer clear of topics that could harm its diplomatic interests - but reveals that his WiFi has been restored, something which will delight supporters of his website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange greets supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017 Assange's cat wearing a collar and tie looks out of the window of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London The document also states that Assange must tell officials the serial number and model of all his devices and will have to pay for his own medical evaluations and food. Embassy staff said he can use no 'communication equipment' except his computer and mobile phone and reserved the right to seize his equipment. He will only be allowed three visitors at once, the document says, adding that they will have to get written permission from the ambassador at least three days in advance. Assange's cat can often be seen at the embassy's windows and has its own Twitter account which states it is interested in 'counter-purrveilance'. The nine-page memo published by Ecuadorean website Codigo Vidrio said Assange is prohibited from 'interfering in the internal affairs of other states' or from activities 'that could prejudice Ecuador's good relations with other states.' Codigo Vidrio has a track record of publishing inside material from the London embassy, and the restrictions detailed in the memo echo the conditions Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno recently described in an interview. Assange's lawyers reject the new rules, in place since Saturday, saying they 'violate international agreements' and 'a prison regime is being imposed on him.' Tension has been long building between Assange and his hosts, particularly after the Australian ex-hacker began cheering on Catalonian secessionists in Spain last year. In March, Ecuador announced it was restricting Assange's access to the internet. Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy (pictured) in London since 2012 Assange has been holed up the in Ecuadorian embassy for six years, fearing if he leaves he will be arrested by UK police for breaking bail conditions. Last month it was reported that in December 2017 Assange was given a diplomatic role as a councillor in Ecuador's embassy to Russia. Assange was 'given a role at Ecuador embassy in Moscow' In December 2017 Assange was given a diplomatic role as a councillor in Ecuador's embassy to Russia, sources told The Guardian. The move was part of an aborted Russian plan to get him out of the UK. The alleged plot involved smuggling the WikiLeaks founder in a diplomatic vehicle from the Ecuadorian embassy and moving him to another country by boat or plane. The extraction was scheduled for Christmas Eve 2017 and was to be overseen by the head of Ecuador's intelligence agency who arrived in London on 15 December, it was claimed. But the British government refused to give him diplomatic status so the plan was cancelled. Advertisement The move was part of a Russian plan to get him out of the UK - but the British government refused to give him diplomatic status and the plot was aborted, reported The Guardian. In March Assange fuelled suspicious that he was in league with the Russians by tweeting that he doubted the Novichok assassination attempts in Salisbury were carried out by Russia. In response, the centrist Ecuadorian President, Lenin Moreno, cut off his access to the internet. Moreno on Wednesday said that he was negotiating with Britain to find a way for Assange to leave the embassy without being arrested. Assange initially went into the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden on sex assault allegations. The charges have been dropped but Assange fears he will be arrested by UK police for breaking bail conditions by entering the embassy in the first place. He fears he could then be extradited to the US, where high-level officials have spoken about prosecuting him for stealing classified information. Moreno said his country will work for Assange's safety and the preservation of his human rights as it seeks a way for him to leave the embassy. In the first such initiative, India and China came together Monday to provide assistance to Afghanistan through a joint training programme for Afghan diplomats. The Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats,from October 15-26, began Monday as part of an understanding reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. Ten Afghan diplomats started training at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) here after an event where statements by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were read out by the diplomats of the two countries. China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, in his remarks at the inauguration of the programme, said such a 'China-India Plus' cooperation should be extended from Afghanistan to other countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar. Describing India as a "regional major power", he said China and India can also join hands under the mechanisms of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and BangladeshChinaIndia Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM), to promote regional peace, stability and prosperity. "Both of us (China and India) support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. Both of us uphold that Afghanistan should realise peace, stability and prosperity. Both of us are against terrorism. "We are talking a lot about the regional connectivity initiatives, such as International North-South Transport Corridor, India-Afghanistan-Iran transit and trade arrangement and China-Pakistan-Afghanistan cooperation. All of these have provided a solid foundation for the current and future cooperation between China and India in Afghanistan," he said. Noting that the training programme is the first step for the 'China-India Plus' cooperation in Afghanistan, the Chinese envoy said this was just the beginning. Swaraj, in her statement that was read out by FSI Dean Ambassador J S Mukul, said the seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi when they met in Wuhan in April 2018. "Today, we see it blooming with the initiation of this training programme. This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan," Swaraj was quoted as saying. India is committed to partner Afghanistan in its efforts to emerge as a united, peaceful, secure, stable, inclusive and economically vibrant nation, she said. Talking about India's New Development Partnership with Afghanistan, she said it aspires to bring prosperity to all 34 provinces of Afghanistan through high impact community development projects. "Guided by the vision of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas', the Indian government has embarked on an ambitious development partnership programme with commitment of over USD 3 billion," Swaraj said. There were four broad pillars of the programme -- building infrastructure, developing human resource, enhancing connectivity, and promoting trade and investment links, she said, noting that the India-Afghanistan friendship dam in Herat, Parliament building in Kabul, and operationalisation of the Chabahar port were prominent symbols of this partnership. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, in his statement read out by the Chinese ambassador, said the launch of the programme marks an important step forward as it reflects the closer coordination and cooperation between two countries on regional affairs and represents a positive development in Sino-India relations. "China and India have been active supporters of Afghanistan's peace, and reconstruction process. This Joint Capacity Building Programme is an essential part of the international efforts to assist Afghanistan and marks the start of China-India-Afghanistan cooperation. "It is a testament to the joint aspiration and endeavour of China and India, both being major, responsible developing countries, to contribute to regional peace and stability," Wang said. The Chinese envoy, in his remarks, also said that President Xi and Prime Minister Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month. Luo also Chinese state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. At the end of this week, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi will visit India, he said, observing that China-India relations were now on a fast track. The Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested four members of an inter-State gang of robbers who targeted vulnerable victims, specifically people on their morning walks, women picking up their children from school and women coming home late from work. They were arrested from a park in Sector-19 Dwarka. The gang active in different parts of India would rent flats which they used as their base to commit crimes, police revealed Monday. The accused persons Ram Avtar (23), Rakesh (23), Rajender (27) and their kingpin Mangal singh (26), all residents of Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, are involved in several cases of robbery, snatching and auto-theft all over India. In Delhi alone, 12 cases of snatching and vehicle theft have been worked out. Mangal is a proclaimed offender (PO) in six cases at Karnal and Bangalore, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Bhisham Singh stated. On Friday, information was received that some members of the gang of robbers would be gathering in a park at Sector-19 Dwarka. The information was developed under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police Aditya Gautam led by Inspector Ricchpal Singh and a trap was laid to nab them. Four members were successfully arrested with stolen motorcycles. Four country-made pistols and 8 live cartridges were recovered from their possession, Singh revealed. During interrogation, the accused persons told the police that Mangal allegedly formed the gang four years ago. They revealed that they started committing robbery, snatching and auto-theft at remote areas in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. They took rooms on rent in the city and would stay there for few days and leave after committing a series of crime. After that, they proceeded to their next destination and so on. In this way, they managed to avoid arrest by local police, said the DCP, adding that more cases were likely to be worked out in the process of investigation. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Monday assured that the people of Uttar Pradesh were fully secured in his home state and had blamed Congress for hatching a conspiracy to malign the image of Gujarat which had developed due to the support and hard work of the people of other states. I can assure you that the situation is normal and every non-Gujarati individual is safe and secure. It is the tradition of all Gujaratis to safeguard the life and property of non-Gujaratis, Rupani said while claiming that Gujaratis and non-Gujaratis had mixed in the state like milk and sugar and they all were behind the development of Gujarat. Addressing a press conference here on Monday along with his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath, Rupani said that everyone knew who was behind the conspiracy. We have arrested around 700 people for the conspiracy in which more than 50 are Congress leaders and workers. They also conspired through social media in which 70 people have been arrested, the Gujarat Chief Minister said. Without taking the name of Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, who was allegedly behind the conspiracy, Rupani said the government had initiated legal action against the legislator. However, Rupani was critical of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying just a tweet against his MLA was not enough. Gandhi should have taken action against his MLA and not just tweeting and forgetting everything, he said, adding that it was surprising that the alleged MLA was also the party in-charge of Bihar and had conspired against the people of Bihar. Giving reason for such conspiracy by the Congress, the Gujarat Chief Minister said that the party, which was lagging behind Bharatiya Janata Party in the country, had tried to implicate the Gujarat government just before the assembly polls in several states and also to counter the move of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the Statue of Unity at Sardar Sarovar dam on October 31. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath in his brief interaction said that he has accepted the invitation of Rupani to attend the inauguration function of Statue of Unity on October 31. He further said that the Gujarat CM has also accepted the UPs demand for land to construct a guest house near the Statue of Unity. It will be the highest statue in the world and the credit for it goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Gujarat government, he said. Earlier, both the Chief Ministers attended an Ekta Sambaad function in which they launched a solar charkha. Yogi Adityanath on the occasion said that solar power was becoming a revolution in the country and now powerloom would run by it. Mahatma Gandhis dream of village empowerment will be fulfilled through this solar power revolution and it will also help UPs policy of One District, One product (ODOP), he said. Rupani said that Gujarat had always welcomed the people from other parts of the country and it was the contribution of non-Gujaratis that Gujarat had developed to such an extent. In Surat, Baroda and other parts of Gujarat, north Indians are working efficiently to develop the state, he stated. He also appealed to the people of UP to visit Gujarat, particularly religious places of Somnath and Dwarka, tourist places like Kutch and Gir forest and Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi, which was the ultimate place for all the people. Rupani had arrived in the UP capital on Sunday evening and had extended an invitation to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the unveiling ceremony of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patels Statue of Unity on the banks of the Narmada river on October 31. James Scott, education curator at the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center, has been recognized with The National Medal of Honor Foundations Excellence in Character Education Award. The Excellence in Character Education Award honors teachers who inspire their students to live by the values of the Medal: courage and sacrifice, commitment and integrity, citizenship and patriotism. Four educators from across the nation were honored at the recent Medal of Honor Foundation Gala at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles. Mr. Scotts award was presented by Medal of Honor recipient, Brian Thacker, U. S. Army, Vietnam Conflict. Along with the award presentation, Mr. Scott received a $5,000 grant to further the educational program at the Heritage Center. Mr. Scott was accompanied to the awards ceremony by his mother, Rose Decosimo and the Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center was represented by Col. Frank Hughes, USMC [Ret], vice-president for Capital Campaign and Linda Moss Mines, vice-president, Education and Programming. Mr. Scott was recognized for innovative curriculum design and a multi-faceted outreach program that reaches young people in public and private school classrooms, City of Chattanooga Recreational Center After-School programs and in community settings across the Southeast Tennessee region. Mr. Scotts Character Club booklets caught the attention of Medal of Honor recipient Chuck Hagemeister when he visited Chattanooga in July for a MOH Character Development Teachers Workshop, attended by more than 50 area teachers. His ideas are being adapted for other programs within the Medal of Honor instructional model. Mr. Scott earned his B.A., History, summa cum laude, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he was awarded the Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger Scholarship for American History, received the Outstanding Senior Award for scholastic achievement in history and was elected to membership in Phi Alpha Theta, National History Honor Society and Golden Key International Honor Society. In 2015, he earned his Master of Letters in War Studies from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, with distinction. He has served as an adjunct instructor in the History Department at UTC. A U. S. Army veteran with two tours of duty in Iraq, Mr. Scott served as the Explosive Ordinance Disposal [EOD] platoon sergeant and team leader and was awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service in Iraq. Among his many duties with EOD, he planned and executed a UXO clearance operation in southern Baghdad, resulting in the removal and disposal of over 8,000 ordinance items. A recognized piper, Mr. Scott is the son of Rose Decosimo and the late Robert Bruce Warren Scott, and he and his wife, Vanessa, are parents to Bobby. For more information about the Coolidge Medal of Honor Character Development Program, contact the Center at localhistorycounts@gmail.com. Over dissent, SCOTUS refuses to take up Johnson challenge to then-mandatory career-offender guidelines | Main | Federal judge decides Missouri parole practices fail to comply with requirements of Miller and Graham This lengthy new NPR piece, headlined "In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest On Women," reports on new media research showing women are treated particularly harshly in prisons. Here are excerpts from the piece which should be read in full: Across the country, women in prison are disciplined at higher rates than men often two to three times more often, and sometimes more for smaller infractions of prison rules. That is the finding of an investigation by NPR and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. We collected data from women's and men's prisons, visited five women's prisons around the country, and interviewed current and former prisoners along with past and present wardens and prison officials. We also spoke with academics and other experts. In 13 of the 15 states we analyzed, women get in trouble at higher rates than men. The discrepancies are highest for more minor infractions of prison rules.... In California, according to our data analysis, women get more than twice the disciplinary tickets for what's called "disrespect." In Vermont, women are more than three times as likely as men to get in trouble for "derogatory comments" about a corrections officer or another inmate. In Rhode Island, women get more than three times the tickets for "disobedience." And in Iowa, female prisoners were nearly three times as likely as men to get in trouble for the violation of being "disruptive." While the infractions might seem minor, punishment for them can have significant consequences, we found. In Idaho and Rhode Island, for instance, women are more likely than men to end up in solitary confinement for violations like disobedience. Women can lose "good conduct credits" that would shorten an inmate's sentence, causing them to spend more time behind bars. In California, between January 2016 and February 2018, women had the equivalent of 1,483 years added to their sentences through good-credit revocations, and at a higher rate than for male prisoners, according to the data we collected. Discipline for small infractions can also result in the loss of privileges like being able to buy food or supplies including women's hygiene products at the prison commissary. Or inmates lose their visitation and phone privileges. That can have a particular effect on women, because more than half of women in prison are the mothers of children 18 or younger. We found a disproportionate pattern in punishment as well, with women often receiving more serious sanctions than men. In Massachusetts, according to our analysis, 60 percent of punishments for women restricted where they could go in prison, including confinement to their cells. Men received those punishments half as often.... We asked experts why women get disciplined more for minor infractions. They noted that prison rules were set up to control men, especially violent ones. But that strict system of control doesn't always work for female prisoners. One reason, researchers have increasingly come to understand, is that women typically come to prison for different reasons than do men and respond differently to prison life. Most prison staffers, meanwhile, are not trained to understand these differences. Women are more likely than men to come for drug and property crimes and less likely to be convicted of violent crimes. They're also less likely to be violent once they're in prison. They're also more likely than men to have significant problems with substance abuse, to have mental health problems and to be the caregiving parent of a minor child. The dwellers of the slum colonies near Kukrail Nala in Lucknow have been given sanitation and cleanliness tips by Rishikesh-based ascetic Swami Chidanand Saraswati to mark the Global Hand Washing Day on Monday. As many as 400 families which reside in Lavkush Nagar and Indira Nagar in the capital of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh have been made aware of the importance of washing hands with soap to keep diseases at bay. An awareness rally has also been taken out by the people associated with Harijan Sewak Sangh on the occasion and a tree plantation has also been carried out. Swami Chidanand also invited the slum dwellers to attend Kumbh Mela slated in Allahabad. He said, The people living in these colonies contribute in keeping the city areas clean. They, thus, deserve respect and love from others of the city. We must remember that they are not just safai karamchari but badhai karamchari. Distributing the soaps among some children and their parents, Chidanand said that the children must be taught to develop the habit of washing their hands before they eat. In Rishikesh also, an awareness drive has been taken out by Rishi Kumars (students) of Parmarth Niketan in the slum areas. Speaking on the occasion, Sadhvi Bhagawati said, Washing hands is a simple technique for protecting our lives from diseases. It just takes less than a minute. The results are amazing. Dwelling further of the importance of developing the habit of washing hands before one eats anything, she said that one million lives could be saved every year if the habit develops in one and all. The Sadhvi, further, said that by just washing hands, 40% of cases of diarrhoea and 25% breathing-related diseases can be controlled. Things are very simple, but their importance is immense. This is the day to pledge to develop the habit in ourselves as well as to inculcate it in others who are yet to develop it, she said. Lashing out at vested political interests seeking to politicise a sensitive issue, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday made it clear that registering cases against guilty in sacrilege and related firing cases and taking the matter to trial court is now the responsibility of the special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe these cases. SIT is an independent body, comprising senior and experienced officials, and it should be allowed to do its work, said Capt Amarinder while reaffirming his resolve to punish those behind the sacrilege and police firing. He said that constituting a SIT was the unanimous decision of the House including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), though Akalis had then ran away. The Chief Minister made it clear that the SIT was on its job of investigating the Bargari and other incidents but under the law, I cannot interfere in its functioning. The SIT was fully cognisant of the sensitivity and urgency of the matter and would not delay its investigations, he said, declaring that the SIT would move the courts for action if they find any ground for action against anyone. Responding to allegations from all quarters on deliberately delaying action against those guilty, he asserted that there was no question of backing out of his promise to bring to book the culprits of Bargari sacrilege case and the subsequent incidents of firing at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura. At the same time, he rejected allegations of the situation in Bargari getting out of control saying that his government was fully equipped to deal with it. Everyone knew that some people are trying to politicise the issue but the people of the state wanted peace and would not get carried away by the attempts of such elements to take political mileage from it, he said. Capt Amarinder observed that Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, in its report, had clearly stated that it was only a fact-finding report and further investigations were required. We have picked the best professional SIT team for the probe, he said. Coming down heavily on those taking political advantage out of situation, Capt Amarinder said that he, and even Congress national president Rahul Gandhi, had visited Behbal Kalan soon after the incident. Our Ministers are in contact with the families of the deceased, we paid them compensation beyond what the Commission recommended. Even yesterday, the Ministers and Congress MLAs had gone to the house of the deceased to attend their bhog while others were merely indulging in political games, sitting on the stage, he said. At Bargari, none of the families of those killed in police firing were present. The families of the two youths organised bhog ceremonies at their respective villages, where our Ministers were present, he added. NOT ALL KASHMIRI STUDENTS TERRORIST Admitting that ISI had, for long, been active in Punjab, Capt Amarinder said that the Pak intelligence agency could be operating through Kashmiri students. At the same time, he maintained that we have many students from Kashmir studying in various colleges across state and every student from Kashmir was not a terrorist. The police had, so far, not established any links of the arrested students with locals, he added. STUBBLE BURNING: BOUND BY LAW TO ACT Expressing his sympathies with the states farmers, the Chief Minister said that the Government was bound by law to take action against those indulging in burning of paddy straw as per NGT orders. I have written to the Prime Minister twice, Agriculture Minister, seeking Rs 100 per quintal compensation for farmers to manage stubble, but they have failed to respond to our repeated pleas, he said. ISREAL VISIT: FOUR MOUs TO BE SIGNED Chief Minister also announced his plans to visit Israel next week to have meaningful discussions on issues of mutual interest, including signing an MoU to further strengthen the special operations group (SOG). Punjab would seek greater cooperation with Israel on homeland security and training of police personnel, he said, while adding that other areas would be innovative methods of farming, besides water conservation and irrigation, livestock development, horticulture and food processing. FUEL PRICES: WOULD WAIT AND WATCH TILL MONTH END Saying that the government has not yet taken any decision on reducing fuel prices, he said that they would wait till the month end to see the trend of international fuel prices and then take a call on the issue as international prices were fluctuating. He lamented that all the key sources of the states income, except petrol and excise, were in the Central Governments control. WANT SGPC FREE OF BADALS, BUT DONT SUPPORT RADICALS Maintaining that he want the SGPC free of the Badals, Chief Minister said that he would never allow radicals to gain control over the Sikh mini parliament. I would support any moderate group of Sikhs to get control of the SGPC, as I want the Badals out of it...They have ruined the Gurdwaras, he said, adding that as far as Badal was concerned, he was no moderate but an opportunist who uses people of all shades to meet his political ends. He also warned the radicals against trying to disturb the hard-earned peace of Punjab. Council to impart forest related knowledge in schools Two memoranda of understanding were signed in New Delhi by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun, with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS). The MoUs have been signed to launch the Prakriti programme to promote awareness about forests and environment, stimulate interest among the students of NVS and KVS in maintaining a balanced environment and for acquiring skills that reflect care and protection towards forests, environment and society. The aim is also to provide a platform to school children to learn practical skills towards judicious use of resources and to mobilise a cadre of youth for raising a peoples movement committed to conservation of forest and environment. Through this collaboration, knowledge shall be imparted to students/teachers of NVS and KVS on environment, forest, environmental services and contemporary areas of forestry research by way of lectures and interactive sessions by scientists of ICFRE institutes. Visits of students/teachers of NVS and KVS schools will also be arranged to the laboratories and field/experiments of ICFRE institutes for hands-on experiences. The MoUs, signed for a period of 10 years, are expected to make the youth of the country sensitive about national and global issues of environment and forests and help them to become responsible citizens. ICFRE, through its nine institutes and five centres located across the country, is guiding, promoting and coordinating forestry research, extension and education at the national level. The council is currently focusing on contemporary issues of national and international importance particularly in the areas of climate change, forest productivity, biodiversity conservation and skill development. NVS was established with the primary objective of providing modern quality education to the talented children predominantly from the rural areas, without regard to their familys socio-economic condition. At present, it has 660 functional residential schools. KVS was established in 1963 to provide uninterrupted education to wards of the transferable Central Government Employees. KVS established Kendriya Vidyalayas all over the country to impart quality education, promotion of national integration, adventure activities and physical education. The MoUs were signed by ICFRE director general SC Gairola, NVS commissioner BK Singh and KVS commissioner Santosh Kumar Mall. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change secretary CK Mishra, director general of forests Sidhanta Das and other officials were also present on the occasion. BBMB opens automation of Barnala substation Chandigarh: Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) joined the elite club of Power Utilities of India who have converted their conventional substations into remote operated ones by installing state-of-the-art Substation Automation System in 220kV Barnala Substation, said BBMB chairman DK Sharma on Monday while inaugurating the Remote Operation of 220kV Barnala Substation. The inauguration ceremony was held in the premises of 220kV substation of BBMB at Sangrur from where Barnala substation shall be remotely operated. The project has been completed at a cost of Rs 1.7 crores. GMCH-32 celebrates Annual Research Day Chandigarh: Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32, Chandigarh, on Monday celebrated its first Annual Research Day, on the birthday of former President and researcher of par excellence late APJ Abdul Kalam. It was decided that the day will be celebrated each year as GMCHs Annual Research Day. GMCH director principal Prof BS Chavan said that since January 2018, GMCH has taken many initiatives to promote research including setting up of Research Cell for supporting young faculty and postgraduate students, setting up of multi-disciplinary research unit (MDRU), improving visibility of GMCH journal and recognition of research contribution of faculty and students. Dussehra holiday on Oct 19 Chandigarh: Haryana Government has notified that October 19, 2018, will be observed as public holiday on account of Dussehra instead of October 18, 2018, for all government employees posted in government offices, Boards, Corporations and educational institutions under the state government. A notification to this effect has been issued by Chief Secretary office on Monday. 10.89 LMT paddy procured in Punjab Chandigarh: The Government agencies and private millers have procured 10.89 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in Punjab till October 14. Spokesperson said that out of total procurement of 10,89,174 MT from various procurement centres, government agencies procured 10,59,192 MT while 29,982 MT has been procured by millers. PUNGRAIN had procured 3,38,007 tonnes, MARKFED procured 2,67,542 tonnes and PUNSUP procured 2,20,776 tonnes while Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation procured 1,02,349 and 1,14,092 MT respectively. Central Government agency FCI has procured 16,426 MT. Head constable caught while taking bribe Chandigarh: Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has caught a head constable Rajesh, posted at Gurugram, red-handed while accepting illegal gratification of Rs 10,000 from a resident of Heli Mandi, Jhatoli, Tehsil Pataudi, in Gurugram district, in lieu of giving him a promissory note for not to transfer complainants relative from Bhondsi Jail to Hisar Jail.Spokesperson said that a case has been registered against the accused under Sections 7 and 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act at the Bureaus Police Station in Gurugram. Syndicate Bank celebrating Foundation Day Chandigarh: Syndicate Bank is celebrating 93rd Foundation Day as a fortnight of activities from October 10 to 25. During this period, the Bank and its employees, known for their faithful and friendly motto of service, will contact new and existing customers. During the fortnight, celebrations will be combined with expansion of its business by garnering new clientele under both deposits and advances. Banks managing director and CEO Sri Mrutyunjay Mahapatra reiterated Banks commitment to the nation, especially to the customers, youth and entrepreneurs, who are the backbone of Banks business. Tata Starbucks launches in Chandigarh Chandigarh: Tata Starbucks on Monday announced its launch into the city of Chandigarh. Celebrating its sixth anniversary in the Indian market, an entry into Chandigarh marks Tata Starbucks first non-metro city entry and its second city launch this year. India continues to be one of Starbucks fastest growing markets and Chandigarh now becomes the eighth city for the company in India. The first Starbucks store in the city at Elante Mall will welcome its customers on October 19, Friday. Champions of Dil Da Connection declared Chandigarh: In a unique customer connect initiative, Connect Broadband the market leader in wireline and broadband services across Punjab gave away 120 winners free broadband services for one year in their Dil da Connection campaign. The campaign invited customers to join a daily lucky draw and entitled winners to one-year of free broadband service The author presented to the audience a crux of the storyline of her novel Kavya Sharmas debut novel To Naddiyya was released in Dehradun on Monday. Sharma, who has pursued her creative witting course from Nottingham University, UK and her graduation from IP University Delhi, interacted with the audience during the session moderated by Rohan Raj. The author presented to the audience a crux of the storyline of her novel and shared with it her journey and her entry into the literary world. She shared that most of the work on the novel had been done when she was in England. Rohan Raj then inquired about the difference in reading culture between the two countries, her childhood, struggles she had faced while trying to get published. He also asked about the relationship between an editor and an author to which she honestly replied that there always remain disagreements. During the session, Sharma who is also a poet was requested to perform one of her poems. The next event which marks the third anniversary of The Booknerds would be held on October 21, the organisers said and added that ComicNerd would bring together comic book lovers on a platform to celebrate their love for comic characters and superheroes. Judges wife says in dying declaration: Mahipal started firing when asked to hand over car keys The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Haryana Police has detained the personal security officer (PSO) Mahipal Singhs mother and his cousin in connection with the murder of Additional District and Sessions (ASJ) Judge Krishan Kant Sharmas wife and murderous attack on his son on Saturday. The gunman had called his cousin soon after he had shot at the Judges wife Ritu Sharma (37) and his son Dhruv (17) in the crowded Sector-49 market on Saturday. While Ritu succumbed to her injuries on Saturday night, Dhruv remains highly critical and has been put on ventilator. Post-mortem examination report of slain Ritu has revealed that the PSO had hit her many times before opening fire. Ritu had sustained eight contusions on her chest, neck and face. Ritu before breathing her last had told her husband that Dhruv has asked Mahipal for the car keys. Mahipal flew into rage and started hurling abuses at Dhruv and her. He thrashed them before firing at them from his service weapon. The SIT detained Mahipals mother Tirpati and his cousin Manoj Kumar from Kosli town in Rewari district to ascertain the reasons behind the shooting by the accused. Mahipal had called up his cousin Manoj (23) a BSC student, soon after the incident. He told him to take his mother Tirpati from his residence at Gurugrams police line but he didnt share anything about the incident to Manoj, said Mahipals uncle Daan Singh. Manoj reached Kosli along with Tirpati at around 7 pm on Saturday and around 8 pm a local police detained her and took her to Gurugram. Also, in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, they had detained my son Manoj as well. A team of police came to his house and took the duo to Gurugram stating that they were to question them in connection with the shootout, said Daan. The case was filed on the complaint of Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Krishna Kant Sharma at Sector-50 police station. On Saturday at about 3.30 pm while I was in the court complex during the course of my duty hours, I received a phone call from my Personnel Security Officer (PSO) Mahipal and he told me that he had shot my wife Ritu and son Dhruv. On this, I immediately informed my colleagues and when one of them, RK Mehta, called my wifes number. It was answered by an unknown man who said she and a boy had been brought to Park Hospital with gunshot injuries. We all immediately rushed to Park Hospital, ASJ Sharma wrote in his complaint to police. There, my wife, Ritu told me that she along with son Dhruv reached Arcadia market and asked PSO Mahipal to wait near the car and thereafter when they returned, Dhruv asked him to hand over the keys of Honda City car on which he got angry. He then shouted and without any provocation rushed towards them and fired at her. When Dhruv came to her rescue, he shot him also, ASJ Sharma claimed in his compliant to police and First Information Report (FIR) was registered. Meanwhile, throughout Monday the SIT officials as well as senior police officials were tight-lipped and didnt share anything with the media about the PSOs interrogation and detention of his family members. Police are yet to ascertain the motive behind the shooting which had shocked the city. Also, SIT is looking into Mahipals post on Facebook the night prior to the killing some strange scribbling on a piece of paper, mentioning Pastor Robin. What has made police suspicious is that he wrote two words starting with the letters R and D and then crossed these. Furthermore, on Monday the family members of ASJ took the body of his wife to her native place in Hisar for performing the last rites. Mahipal, a humanities graduate, had joined Haryana Police in 2007. Between 2015 and 16, he was posted with Chandigarh based judge and completed his commando training. Mahipal had come on September 23 to celebrate his younger brother Manojs birthday party and was very happy. In the past, he didnt share anything about conversion to Christianity and any harassment by the Judges family. Yes, he used to visit a church every Sunday located in Gurugram. It could be a sudden provocation incident that why he took such an extreme step, his uncle said. The interrogation of the accused is underway. It is early to disclose anything at this stage. He is changing his statement frequently. SIT is probing it from all possible angles. The accused will be produced before the court by October 18, said P K Agrawal, Director General of Haryana Police (Crime). Chairman of Congress partys State Election Manifesto Committee TS Singhdeo on Monday said that the partys commitment to enforce Prohibition in State if it comes to power is being included in the poll manifesto. On the lines of Barack Obamas Health Care Programme in United States, in Chhattisgarh too Universal Health Care Programme would be conducted if Congress party comes to power, he declared. Apart from that, Public Distribution System in Chhattisgarh would also be made universal and clause of being Below Poverty Line (BPL) would be removed from both of them, he said. Singhdeo was addressing the mediapersons here at the Press Club to garner views of journalists about the issues which could to be included in poll manifesto of Congress. He said the Congress party will take back the decision taken by Bharatiya Janata Party Government on private sector participation in the fields of Education and Health. The party will also take back the orders of privatisation of Government Model Schools, Singhdeo said. The Congress leader said recommendations of Majithia Commission would be implemented and Journalist Security Act would be enforced in State if Congress party comes to power after the elections. Pakistan's deposed premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N recovered some ground in the by-elections by eating up the votes of prime minister Imran Khan's PTI, winning four out of 11 parliamentary seats which went to the polls, according to the results on Monday. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost its two seats vacated be Prime Minister Khan. His seat in Lahore was won by former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) and in Bannu by of Zahid Akram Durrani of the Muttahida Majlis Aml party. The outcome of the by-election will not impact the federal or provincial government but help reinvigorate the opposition parties. Polling for 11 National Assembly -- the lower house of Parliament -- and 24 provincial seats saw a tough competition between the ruling PTI led by Khan and the main opposition PML-N. The PML-N and the PTI won four seats each of the National Assembly whereas Pakistan Muslims League-Quadi won two seats and Muttahida Majlis Amal one seat, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said. The PTI won 11 seats of the provincial assemblies while the PML-N won seven. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by former president Asif Ali Zardari, and Awami National Party won two each and independent candidates grab two seats. The PML-N won six out of 11 contested seats in Punjab while its arch-rival PTI won five. The PML-N also won a provincial assembly seat in Khyber-Pakhtukhwa, which is the stronghold of the PTI. The PML-N won several seats vacated by the PTI candidates during July 25 general elections including at least two seats of the National Assembly. According to the ECP, 9.28 million voters were eligible to vote. For the first time, overseas Pakistanis also participated in the elections though a special online portal designed by the ECP. Thousands of army soldiers, police and paramilitary Rangers and Frontier Corps were deployed to provide security at 7,489 polling stations. The ECP had designated as many as 1,727 polling stations as highly sensitive where extra troops were deployed and security cameras installed. Most of the seats which went to the polls were vacated by those candidates who had won on more than one seat during the July 25 general elections. Prime Minister Khan had won five seats and vacated four which were also up for grabs. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. The auction will be held by the Aguttes company at the Drouot auction centre in Paris, France, on October 22. The painting shows a young girl sitting on a divan with a paper fan in her right hand. The girl is crouching, with her left foot flat on the ground, and her right foot bent under. She is wearing a green traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai and white trousers. Her face is imbued with sweetness and a subtle, elegant beauty. Her long hair is wound around her head like a crown. "Tonkinoise a leventail depicts a peaceful atmosphere that highlights the models tender beauty. Her lips seem on the point of smiling, and she seems blissfully happy. The artwork on silk, measuring 43 x 61.5 cm, was painted in 1935-1936, according to the artist family. Silk was one of Nguyen Nam Sons favorite materials. The painting was bought by French battalion commander Mallet, who was posted to Hanoi between 1936 and 1938. He has kept it at his home in France. It is auctioned at the starting price from EUR 50,000-80,000. Painter Nguyen Nam Son whose real name is Nguyen Van Tho was born in Hanoi. He was one of the first Vietnamese contemporary artists. He was a co-founder of the Indochine Fine Arts College with French professor Victor Tardieu. Nam Son worked as a lecturer for the Indochina Fine Arts College since its opening to 1945, closing the 20 years of operation of the college. Another his painting titled Peasants of Tonkin" was sold at EUR 205,000 at an auction which was also held by the Aguttes company in Paris last March. The silk painting titled Tonkinoise a leventail (Tonkin girl with a fan) by Nguyen Nam Son The silk painting titled Tonkinoise a leventail (Tonkin girl with a fan) by Nguyen Nam Son Painter Nguyen Nam Son The painting titled Peasants of Tonkin" is sold at EUR 205,000. By MINH AN - Translated by Kim Khanh Countryside Properties PLC operates as a home builder and urban regeneration partner in the United Kingdom. It operates through two segments, Partnerships and Housebuilding. The Partnerships segment specializes in the urban regeneration of public sector land that delivers private, affordable, and private rented sector homes in partnership with local authorities and housing associations. This segment also develops brownfield land in the Midlands, the North West of England, and Yorkshire. The Housebuilding segment delivers homes to local owner occupiers; and develops primarily private and affordable homes located in outer London and the home counties. The company also offers estate management services. It has a total land bank of 42,000 plots. The company was formerly known as Hackplimco (No. 121) plc and changed its name to Countryside Properties PLC in January 2016. Countryside Properties PLC was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Brentwood, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. 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Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. 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Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. 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Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc., ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics. Three new infirmaries include the General Hospital Thu Duc, the General Hospital Hoc Mon and the General Hospital Cu Chi. Spending on the infirmaries will be taken from the city budget to improve healthcare services for city dwellers. Director of the Department of Health Nguyen Tan Binh said the construction project of three hospitals is one of the health sectors six major projects from now to 2020 with the vision to 2030. Six major projects include to build five hospitals: City Children Hospital, Tumor Hospital, the General Hospital Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, Thu Duc, and Pham Ngoc Thach Medicine University Hospital. Amongst hospitals, only City Children Hospital was put into operation in 2017 and the Tumor Hospital will be put in use in 2019. Around VND1,915 billion will be spent on Thu Duc general Hospital while VND1,895 billion and VND1,854 billion will be for building the General Hospital Hoc Mon and Cu Chi respectively. The three 1,000-bed hospitals will be equipped with modern devices to help reduce patient overload in big hospitals in inner city and provide examination and treatment on residents in outlying districts and neighboring south east provinces. For personnel preparation of the three infirmaries, Pham Ngoc Thach Medicine University has allowed to train more students who will work in clinics in districts. Moreover, medical workers in big hospitals will help their peers in newly-built hospitals and take turn to work in new hospitals in six months or one years. After the City Children Hospital received patients, it has helped reducing patient overload for Children Hospital 1 and 2 especially in fighting hand-foot-mouth disease and other diseases. Alongside with this, medical clinic system in districts work well. For years, Peoples Committee has poured much investment in these clinics by building new facilities and repairing old ones. District clinics can treat normal diseases and some of them receive good response from patients. Next time, Can Gio general Hospital and a hospital in district 12 are expected to put into operation and Nha Be hospital and hospital in district 2 will start the work later on. Moreover, hospitals in 24 districts citiwide will have more new wards to meet increasing demand of patients. It is expected grass-root hospitals will help fighting overload in big medical institutions by 2020. By THANH AN - Translated by UYEN PHUONG 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 inauguration ceremony, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, was jointly held by the Cho Ray Hospital and Japans International University of Health and Welfare. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Truong Son, Director of the Cho Ray Hospital said the centre will provide high-quality health check-ups, meeting the demand of local residents. Results collected by the centre can help detect implicit diseases and health risks, which will serve in-depth health examinations and monitoring, and prevention of diseases and health improvement; and contribute to reducing overload in the Cho Ray Hospital. With a team of doctors and medical staff trained in Japan and a modern medical equipment system, the centre is aiming to become one of the international standard medical establishments to serve locals, those from other southern localities and foreigners, including the Japanese community living in Vietnam. The centre will provide the highest standard-health diagnostic services in the world like those provided in Japan under the model of Ningen Dock, which targets prevention instead of treatment. One of the advantages of the centre is that it offers the dual and remote diagnosis with the support from Japanese experts. Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio highlighted the significance of the project, saying that the projects investment certificate was handed over at the APEC Summit in Da Nang in 2017. He expressed his hope that the centre will contribute to improving the health of Vietnamese people, especially in raising the life expectancy. While showing his gratitude for the Japanese sides support for the health sector in recent years, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien highly valued Japans coordination to help Vietnam develop its health sector. He affirmed that the screening and detection of dangerous and chronic diseases are very necessary in the current situation in Vietnam, hoping that Japan will continue to assist Vietnam in opening more similar centres in the time to come. Vietnamnews iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF's stock was trading at $80.84 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, HYG stock has increased by 7.4% and is now trading at $86.81. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. CSS Industries, Inc., a consumer products company, designs, manufactures, procures, distributes, and sells seasonal, gift, and craft products principally to mass market retailers in the United States and Canada. Its craft and gift consumer products include craft ribbons and bows, trims, buttons, sewing patterns, knitting needles, needle arts, kids' crafts, infant products, journals, gift card holders, all occasion boxed greeting cards, memory books, scrapbooks, stationery, stickers, and other gift and craft items, as well as floral accessories, including pot covers, foil, waxed tissue, shred, aisle runners, corsage bags, and other paper and film products. The company's seasonal consumer products comprise Christmas products, such as packaging ribbon and bows, boxed greeting cards, gift wraps, gift bags, gift boxes, gift tags, gift card holders, tissue papers, and decorations; Valentine products consisting of classroom exchange Valentine cards and other related Valentine products; Easter products, including Easter egg dyes and related Easter seasonal products; and back-to-school products, such as teachers' aids and other learning oriented products. CSS Industries, Inc. offers its products principally under the Paper Magic, Berwick, Offray, C.R. Gibson, McCall's, Butterick, Kwik Sew, Vogue Patterns, Markings, Stepping Stones, Tapestry, Seastone, Dudley's, Eureka, Stickerfitti, Favorite Findings, La Mode, Simplicity, Wrights, Boye, Dimensions, and Perler brand names. The company sells its products to mass market retailers, discount department stores, specialty chains, warehouse clubs, drug and food chains, dollar stores, office supply stores, and retail teachers' stores, as well as to independent card, gift, and floral shops through account sales managers, sales representatives, product specialists, and a network of independent manufacturers' representatives. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Read More Closed-circuit television cameras will be installed on almost every street corner in HCMC. Urban order management teams and construction inspectors will patrol the streets and issue fines on those who drop litter in the streets base on camera pictures. Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Thi Thanh My said the city produces 8,900 tons of waste from daily activities per day. Apart from that public places produce around 2,300 tons of litter a day. From the beginning of the year till now, urban inspectors have handled over 450 violations collecting more than VND1.3 billion ($55,728 ); however, fines dont deter people from throwing litter away on streets. Chairman of Peoples Council Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam said in the last time, city authorities had issued guidance on environment issues; however, inspectors have relented in imposing fines while peoples awareness of keeping hygiene in public places and residential quarters have seemed so low; therefore, environment violations have not been rolled back. Deputy Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee Trieu Le Khanh suggested HCMC should launch a campaign to encourage people in protecting environment especially dropping litter and urinating in public places. Additionally, city authorities will build regulations of environment protection from taking residents opinions; people will self-consciously follow the regulations. Present voters at the TV program proposed increasing fines comprising of paying money and doing community service work. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh My said violators will receive fines as per the resolution No. 155/2016 adding that urban order management team and construction inspectors in districts have to oversee the regulations. As per the resolution 155/2016 on administrative fine for dropping litter in public places, violators will pay VND500,000 to VND1 million for throwing cigarette butts and ash in commercial centers or public places. Those who urinate in streets will receive a fine of VND1-3 million. Residents will be fined VND3 - 5 million for leaving waste household garbage in wrong places and VND5-7 million for leaving household garbage in sidewalk or drainage system throughout the city. By KIEU PHONG - Translated by UYEN PHUONG American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at contact@marketbeat.com | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. Equinox Gold Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral deposits. The company's principal properties include the Aurizona project covering a total land package of approximately 223,160 hectares located in Maranhao State, Brazil; and the Castle Mountain property situated in California, the United States. It primarily explores for gold, copper, and silver deposits. The company was formerly known as Trek Mining Inc. and changed its name to Equinox Gold Corp. in December 2017. Equinox Gold Corp. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Read More Herc Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental supplier. It rents aerial, earthmoving, material handling, trucks and trailers, air compressors, compaction, and lighting equipment, as well as generators, and safety supplies and expendables; and provides ProSolutions, an industry specific solution based services, such as pumping solutions, power generation, climate control, remediation and restoration, and studio and production equipment. The company also sells used equipment and contractor supplies, such as construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; provides repair, maintenance, equipment management, and safety training services, as well as offers ancillary services, such as equipment transport, rental protection, cleaning, refueling, and labor. It serves non-residential and residential construction, specialty trade, restoration, remediation and environment, and facility maintenance contractors; industrial manufacturing industries, including automotive and aerospace, power, metals and mining, agriculture, pulp, paper and wood, food and beverage, and refineries and petrochemical industries; infrastructure and government sectors; and commercial and retail service, hospitality, healthcare, recreation, entertainment production, and special event management customers through its sales team, industry catalogs, as well as through participation and sponsorship of industry events, trade shows, and Internet. As of December 31, 2017, it operated approximately 275 locations in the United States, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Herc Holdings Inc. is based in Bonita Springs, Florida. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Humana: 154th Street Medical Plaza, 516-526 West Main Street Condominium Council of Co-Owners, 54th Street Medical Plaza, American Eldercare, American Eldercare of North Florida, Anvita Health, Arcadian Health Plan, Arcadian Management Services, Atlantis Physician Group, CAC Medical Center Holdings, CAC-Florida Medical Centers, CDO 1, CDO 2, CHA HMO, CHA Service Company, Care Partners Home Care, CareNetwork, CarePlus Health, CarePlus Health Plans, Cariten Health Plan Inc., Certify Data Systems, CompBenefits, CompBenefits Company, CompBenefits Corporation, CompBenefits Dental, CompBenefits Direct, CompBenefits Insurance Company, Complex Clinical Management, Concentra Managed Care, Continucare Corporation, Continucare MDHC, Continucare MSO, Continucare Medical Management, Dental Care Plus Management, DentiCare, Emphesys, Emphesys Insurance Company, Enclara Healthcare, FPG, FPG Acquisition Corp., FPG Acquisition Holdings Corp., FPG Senior Services, Family Physicians of Winter Park, Go365, HUM Provider Holdings, HUM-e-FL, Harris Rothenberg International, Health Value Management, Humana Active Outlook, Humana At Home (Dallas), Humana At Home (Houston), Humana At Home (San Antonio), Humana At Home (TLC), Humana At Home 1, Humana Behavioral Health, Humana Benefit Plan of Illinois, Humana Dental Company, Humana Digital Health and Analytics Platform Services, Humana EAP and Work-Life Services of California, Humana Employers Health Plan of Georgia, Humana Government Business, Humana Health Benefit Plan of Louisiana, Humana Health Company of New York, Humana Health Insurance Company of Florida, Humana Health Plan, Humana Health Plan of California, Humana Health Plan of Ohio, Humana Health Plan of Texas, Humana Health Plans of Puerto Rico, Humana Healthcare Research, Humana Inc., Humana Innovation Enterprises, Humana Insurance Company, Humana Insurance Company of Kentucky, Humana Insurance Company of New York, Humana Insurance of Puerto Rico, Humana Management Services of Puerto Rico, Humana MarketPOINT, Humana MarketPOINT of Puerto Rico, Humana Medical Plan, Humana Medical Plan of Michigan, Humana Medical Plan of Pennsylvania, Humana Medical Plan of Utah, Humana Pharmacy, Humana Pharmacy Solutions, Humana Regional Health Plan, Humana Veterans Healthcare Services, Humana WellWorks LLC, Humana Wisconsin Health Organization Insurance Corporation, Humana at Home, HumanaDental, HumanaDental Insurance Company, Humco, Hummingbird Coaching Systems LLC, Independent Care Health Plan, KMG America, Kindred Healthcare, MCCI Group Holdings, MCCI Holdings, MCCI Medical Group, MCCI Specialty, MCCI/Lifetime of Aventura, MD Care, METCARE of Florida, Managed Care Indemnity, Medical Care Consortium Incorporated of Texas, MetCare, Metropolitan Health Networks, Naples Health Care Specialists, North Region Providers, Nursing Solutions, OSF HealthCare, PHP Companies, Partners in Integrated Care, Preferred Health Partnership, Preservation on Main, Primary Care Holdings, Primary Care Holdings II, Primary Care Specialists of the Palm Beaches, RMA Medical Centers of Florida, RMA Medical Group of Florida, ROHC, SeniorBridge, SeniorBridge Family Companies (CT), SeniorBridge Family Companies (FL), SeniorBridge Family Companies (IN), SeniorBridge Family Companies (MO), SeniorBridge Family Companies (NY), SeniorBridge-Florida, Texas Dental Plans, The Dental Concern, Transcend Population Health Management, and Transcend Population Health Management II. iShares North American Tech-Software ETF's stock was trading at $211.67 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, IGV stock has increased by 108.2% and is now trading at $440.76. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Speaking with reporters, Malaysian Minister of Economic Affairs Mohamed Azmin Ali said the immediate directive was approved in a recent meeting of the cabinet. For a working visit of less than seven days, a minister can be accompanied by only two aids, he said. The ministers can bring their spouses if they fork out their own expenses for trips less than seven days, he added. However, the directive does not apply to the Prime Minister as his wife is still required to carry out official duties in the countries visit. Reducing public spending to curb public debt is one of the major priorities of Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad since he assumed power in May 2018. He previously announced that salaries of Cabinet ministers will be cut by 10 percent with immediate effect. He explained this measure comes as the new government looks to reduce the government's debt, which is in excess of 1 trillion ringgit (251.5 billion USD). In addition, he is working to narrow down the government and seize assets related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) State fund. He announced that the Land Public Transport Commission and other government-linked agencies will be disbanded. The Malaysian PM also has reviewed all billion-dollar infrastructure projects, many of which were cancelled or suspended due to budget limitation.-VNA The following companies are subsidiares of Kroger: 84.51 HQ Building Company, 84.51 LLC, Agri-Products, Alpha Beta, Alpha Beta Company, Ansonborough Square Investors I, Ansonborough Square Retail, Ardrey Kell Investments, Bay Area Warehouse Stores, Beech Tree Holdings, Bell Markets, Bleecker Ventures LLC, Bluefield Beverage, Bluefield Beverage Company, Box Cutter, Brier Creek Arbors Drive Retail, CB&S Advertising Agency, Cala Co., Cala Foods, Cheeses of All Nations, Country Oven, Crawford Stores, Creedmoor Retail, Dillon Companies, Dillon Real Estate Co, Dillon Real Estate Co., Dillons, Distribution Trucking Company, Dotto, Edgewood Plaza Holdings, Embassy International, FM, FMJ, Farmacia Doral, Food 4 Less GM, Food 4 Less Holdings, Food 4 Less Merchandising, Food 4 Less of California, Food 4 Less of Southern California, Fred Meyer, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Fred Meyer Stores, Gerbes Supermarkets, Glasswing Labs, Glendale/Goodwin Realty I, Grubstake Investments, HT Fuel DE, HT Fuel MD, HT Fuel NC, HT Fuel SC, HT Fuel VA, HTGBD, HTP Bluffton, HTP Plaza, HTP Plaza LLC, HTP Relo, HTPS, HTTAH, Harris Teeter, Harris Teeter LLC, Harris Teeter Properties, Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Harris-Teeter Services, Healthy Options, Healthy Options Inc., Henpil, Home Chef, Hood-Clayton Logistics, Hood-Clayton Logistics LLC, Hughes Markets, Hughes Realty, I.T.A., IRP, ITAC 119, ITAC 265, Infusion Solutions of Puerto Rico, Inter-American Foods, Inter-American Products, J.V. Distributing, Jondex Corp, Jondex Corp., Jubilee Carolina, Junior Food Stores of West Florida, KCDE, KCDE 2012, KCDE 2013, KCDE-2 LLC, KCDE-3 LLC, KCDE-4 LLC, KCDE-5 LLC, KGO, KGO LLC, KP Sourcing, KPF, KPF Insurance Services, KPF Insurance Services LLC, KPS, KPS AG, KRGP, KRGP Inc., KRLP, KRLP Inc., Kee Trans, Kessel FP, Kessel Pharmacies, Kessel RCD, Kessel Saginaw, King Soopers, Kiosk Medicine Kentucky, Kirkpatrick West Retail, Kroger, Kroger Community Development Entity, Kroger Dedicated Logistics Co, Kroger Dedicated Logistics Co., Kroger Fresh Fare, Kroger G.O., Kroger G.O. LLC, Kroger Limited Partnership I, Kroger Limited Partnership II, Kroger MC Holdings, Kroger MTL Management, Kroger Management Co, Kroger Management Co., Kroger Management Corryville, Kroger Management NMTC Athens I, Kroger Management NMTC Champaign I, Kroger Management NMTC Champaign II, Kroger Management NMTC Cincinnati I, Kroger Management NMTC Dallas I, Kroger Management NMTC Danville I, Kroger Management NMTC Griffin I, Kroger Management NMTC Logansport I, Kroger Management NMTC Missouri I, Kroger Management NMTC Oak Ridge I, Kroger Management NMTC Olney I, Kroger Management NMTC Omaha I, Kroger Management NMTC Portsmouth I, Kroger Management NMTC Starkville I, Kroger Management NMTC Topeka I, Kroger Management NMTC Warrenton I, Kroger NMTC Fremont I, Kroger OZ1 Inc., Kroger OZ1 LLC, Kroger OZ2 Inc., Kroger OZ2 LLC, Kroger OZ3 Inc., Kroger OZ3 LLC, Kroger Opportunity Fund I, Kroger Prescription Plans, Kroger Specialty Infusion, Kroger Specialty Infusion AL, Kroger Specialty Infusion CA, Kroger Specialty Infusion Holdings, Kroger Specialty Infusion TX, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy CA, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy CA 2 LLC, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy FL 2 LLC, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings 2, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings 3, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings I, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy LA, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy TN, Kroger Texas L.P., LCGP3 Home Cooking, Local Mkt LLC, Main & Vine LLC, Matthews Property 1, Mega Marts, Michigan Dairy, ModernHealth LTC, Murrays Cheese LLC, Murrays LIC LLC, Murrays Table LLC, Pace Dairy Foods Company, Paramount Logistics, Pay Less Super Markets, Peytons Fountain, Peytons-Southeastern, Plum Labs LLC, Pontiac Foods, Queen City Assurance, RBF, Ralphs Grocery Company, Relish Labs LLC, Rocket Newco, Roundy's, Roundys, Roundys Acquisition Corp., Roundys Illinois, Roundys Supermarkets, Second Story, Shop-Rite, Smiths Beverage of Wyoming, Smiths Food & Drug Centers, Southern Ice Cream Specialties, Stallings Investors I, Sunrise R&D Holdings, Sunrise Technology LLC, THGP Co., THLP Co., TLC Corporate Services LLC, TLC Immunization Clinic LLC, TLC of Georgia LLC, The Kroger Co. of Michigan, The Little Clinic LLC, The Little Clinic Management Services LLC, The Little Clinic of Arizona LLC, The Little Clinic of Colorado LLC, The Little Clinic of IN LLC, The Little Clinic of Kansas LLC, The Little Clinic of Mississippi LLC, The Little Clinic of Ohio LLC, The Little Clinic of TX LLC, The Little Clinic of Tennessee LLC, The Little Clinic of VA LLC, Topvalco, Turkey Hill, Ultimate Mart, Ultra Mart Foods, Vine Court Assurance Incorporated, Vitacost, Vitacost.com, Woodmont Holdings, and YOU Technology. The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various personal and commercial banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases through auto dealer network. It also provides credit cards; real estate secured lending; auto finance; consumer lending; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, private banking, investment advisory, and trust services to retail and institutional clients; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to companies, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,085 branches, 3,440 automated teller machines, and 1,223 stores, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business. The following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan. The 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.. Bristow Group Inc. provides industrial aviation services to the offshore energy companies in Europe Caspian, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers helicopter charter services to transport personnel between onshore bases and offshore production platforms, drilling rigs, and other installations, as well as to transport time-sensitive equipment to these offshore locations. It also provides search and rescue services for the oil and gas industry, and governmental agencies; and aircraft support services. The company was formerly known as Offshore Logistics Inc. and changed its name to Bristow Group Inc. in February 2006. Bristow Group Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. 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). Red Hat, Inc. provides open source software solutions to develop and offer operating system, virtualization, management, middleware, cloud, mobile, and storage technologies to various enterprises worldwide. It offers infrastructure-related solutions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, an operating system platform that runs on hardware for use in hybrid cloud environments; Red Hat Satellite, a system management offering that helps to deploy, scale, and manage in hybrid cloud environments; and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, a software solution that allows customers to utilize and manage a common hardware infrastructure to run multiple operating systems and applications. The company offers application development-related and other technology solutions, such as Red Hat JBoss Middleware, a solution for developing, deploying, and managing applications; integrating applications, data, and devices; and automating business processes in hybrid cloud environments; The company's application development-related and other technology solutions also includes Red Hat cloud offerings, a software solution that enables customers to build and manage various cloud computing environments; Red Hat Mobile, a software development platform that enables customers to develop, integrate, deploy, and manage mobile applications for enterprises; and Red Hat Storage, a software solution that enables customers to manage large, unstructured, or semi-structured data in hybrid cloud environments. It also provides consulting, support, and training services; and realtime operating system, distributed computing, directory services, and user authentication. Red Hat, Inc. has collaboration with Juniper Networks Expand to provide a unified solution for enterprises designed to manage and run applications and services. The company was formerly known as Red Hat Software, Inc. and changed its name to Red Hat, Inc. in June 1999. Red Hat, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. Read More Xcel Energy, Inc. operates as a holding company, which engages in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits and distributes electricity primarily in portions of generates, transmits and distributes electricity in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. In addition, this segment includes sales for resale and provides wholesale transmission service to various entities in the United States. It also includes commodity trading operations. The Regulated Natural Gas Utility segment transports, stores, and distributes natural gas primarily in portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan and Colorado. The All Others segment engages in steam, appliance repair services, nonutility real estate activities, processing solid waste into refuse-derived fuel and investments in rental housing projects that qualify for low-income housing tax credits. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. Read More MidSouth Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company, through its subsidiary MidSouth Bank, N.A., provides various community banking products and services to commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking accounts, money market, savings accounts, investment accounts, and NOW account deposits, as well as time deposits, such as certificates of deposit; and commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and consumer loans, as well as other loans secured by real estate. It also provides cash management services; and electronic banking services comprising remote deposit capturing services, Internet banking, and debit and credit cards. As of March 1, 2019, the company had 42 offices located in Louisiana and Texas, as well as a network of approximately 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs. MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana. Read More (CNN) Parents are getting a sneak peek at new textbooks heading to Elk Grove Unified School District. But some say a lesson on honesty about a San Francisco drag queen caught them off guard. Did they research who these heroes were? asked Greg Burt with the California Family Council. Thursday night, parents had the opportunity to read through several textbooks aimed at meeting new state standards and decide for themselves if there is a place in their childs curriculum for the material. California law now requires public school curriculum to include contributions from LGBT people and certain cultural groups. I want to make sure that its age appropriate and I want to know what is going to be taught to my child, said Carrie Harrell. On the back of the parental feedback form, there are two columns: one for sweet spots or positive comments and another for red flags or questions. Parents can choose from three sets of curriculum still in the pilot stage at this point. But some say lessons on gay rights arent appropriate for children of a certain age. Burt has an issue with a second-grade textbook called My World Interactive by publishers Pearson, Scott Foresman and Prentice Hall. On the page with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, the name Jose Julio Sarria appears. Hes widely believed to be first openly gay person to run for public office. One page highlights Sarria saying He decided to be honest. He told people he was gay and that sometimes he dressed as a woman. He was the first person to do this when running for office. It inspired other gay leaders to run for office too. I just dont think Elk Grove parents are ready or interested in having their second graders learn honesty from a drag queen who has a criminal record! Burt said. According to a New York Times article, Sarria was arrested on morals charges in 1947 in a public bathroom at the St. Francis Hotel. But Elk Grove Unified School District Spokesperson Xanthi Pinkerton said thats not the focus of the lesson. This chapter is about how people can make a difference! She said. Im not anti-LGBT, said Carrie Harrell, a mom of three in Elk Grove. I love all people. She told CBS13 shes simply concerned about teachers discussing sexuality with her 7-year-old. It needs to be dealt with appropriately, Harrell said. I hope they read the feedback and Im hoping its not just a piece of paper. Pinkerton said a committee plans to review the feedback and had a reminder for parents: the district is following state standards by including leaders from all walks of life. When that person is standing up for the rights of their people and the things that they believe in, thats what were going to be talking about, she said. Several schools across the state are looking at how to meet the new standards. The books will be reviewed this winter and if approved, theyll be in the classroom next fall. The next review session is on Nov. 6. There are several things that Ms. Helton would like to see improved within District 30, which includes East Hamilton County, including areas of Chattanooga, East Ridge, East Brainerd, Apison, and Collegedale. These are very serious issues such as healthcare, vocational education and good paying jobs and keeping our taxes low. The two issues Im supporting Ms. Helton is one, the opportunity for vocational education for our students who are leaving high school with no real job skills and no opportunity for a good paying job. Not everyone can afford to go to college and some students dont want to go to college. If we give high school students the opportunity and hope for skilled jobs, such as welders, plumbers, and data support systems, heat and air for residential and commercial, pharmacy tech, certified nurse assistant, these are all good paying jobs that would make sure we have graduates from high school who are ready to leave high school and have a needed job skills to go to work. The second reason Im supporting Ms. Helton is her background knowledge of the healthcare system. Im one of those that cant afford healthcare. In order for me to have healthcare, I must rely on my husbands insurance from his work place. That puts him in the position that he cant retire. I dont want to see a single payer system in District 30 or anywhere in this country. Ms. Helton is willing to go up against the insurance companies and demand that healthcare be put back into the hands of the doctors and patients. Esther Helton will face Democrat Joda Thongnopnua on Nov. 6 for the chance to serve a two-year term in the Tennessee General Assembly. Mr. Thongnopnua says that he wants to be a part of the bread and butter issues, however, Mr. Thongnopnua is advocating for a $15 increase in minimum wage and expanding Medicaid. To quote Mr. Thongnopnua "But because of the inaction and negligence of our state legislature, too many Tennesseans are falling further behind and find themselves locked out of the promise of opportunity." I must disagree with Mr. Thongnopnua assessment of Tennessee. Tennessee posted an 8.7 percent gain the number of new business filings, compared to the first three months of 2016. The increase marks the 22nd consecutive quarter of growth, according to a report from the Secretary of States office. The more overall growth for District 30 and for the state of Tennessee the more opportunity there is for people to have a good job with a good paycheck for their families. I support Ms. Helton for District 30 because of the very serious issues such as healthcare, vocational education and good paying jobs and keeping our taxes low. As a supporter for Esther Helton Im asking that you vote for her. Early voting for the great state of Tennessee starts Wednesday, Oct. 17. I encourage everyone in District 30 to get out and vote for Esther Helton as your state representative. She is the right person for the job and will work hard for our district. Gayla Dunfee Over the weekend, State Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith (FL-D) got the birthday present of his lifetime. His longtime partner, Jerick Mediavilla, proposed while the couple attended Pride. Mediavilla popped the question at the Orlando Come Out With Pride festival on Saturday, October 13, Florida Politics reports. Mediavilla reportedly surprised Smith by getting down on one knee at the Walt Disney Amphitheater, which was painted in rainbow colors. I couldnt be happier to have the freedom to marry the man of my dreams, Guillermo Smith told The Advocate. According to Ida Eskamani, the proposal was in the works since June and Pride organizers helped Mediavilla arrange everything. As noted by Florida Politics, Guillermo Smith used to be the Legislative Director for Equality Florida, fighting for marriage equality. He currently chairs the Legislative Progressive Caucus in the state House of Representatives. He is described by The Advocate as one of Floridas most prominent LGBT leaders. Congratulations to my sweet friend @CarlosGSmith who is now engaged!! His partner Jerick surprised Carlos on stage during #OrlandoPride in front of thousands of people. It was perfect, and we are all in tears! #LoveIsLove #sayfie #flapol pic.twitter.com/nUDKrOuKoj Anna V. Eskamani (@AnnaForFlorida) October 13, 2018 "From the beginning, people here celebrate diversity even undergoing adversity, and for the first time in my now 37 years, I feel free to love openly and have an entire city celebrate that love I grew up hiding to avoid offending people," Mediavilla said. "So I wanted to share this with Orlando, out of gratitude showing me how to finally love unconditionally." The couple sealed the engagement with an embrace and a kiss. Hyundai had confirmed earlier this year that it will be bringing its first electric vehicle to the Indian markets by way of the Kona Electric. Hyundai had confirmed earlier this year that it will be bringing its first electric vehicle to the Indian markets by way of the Kona Electric, which is a Creta-sized compact SUV. It will be assembled locally and is expected to be launched in the second half of 2019. With the recent spotting in Delhi-NCR, however, it wouldnt be a surprise if the e-SUV is launched earlier than the expected timeline. Seen here in white, the Kona is hard to single out as an electric vehicle. But its design features are likely to pique interest at first glance. Hyundai had mentioned earlier that the Kona Electric would be available in select cities only, including Delhi and Mumbai, and would be sold via select dealers only. The Kona Electric is a long-range e-SUV that is currently offered in two specifications in international markets - the Kona Short Range that packs a 39.2kWh battery for a range of 312km and the Kona Long Range that packs a bigger 64kWh battery that should allow it to cover a maximum distance of 482km on a single charge (as per WLTP cycle). For India, Hyundai will be bringing the smaller battery spec and estimates suggest that in our driving conditions it should have a range of around 250km on a single charge. The only other EVs currently on sale in India is the Mahindra e2o Plus and the eVerito, both of which offer a range of less than 200km. Hyundai is expected to offer infrastructural solutions such as a home charging kit for the Kona Electric for faster charging times. However, it remains to be seen whether the charging kit will be included in the price of the car itself. The Euro-spec version of the Kona Electric Short range takes about 54 minutes to charge up to 80% when connected to a 100kW DC fast charger as opposed to six hours when connected to a standard AC point. While the Kona Electric has been confirmed for India as part of Hyundais plan to launch eight cars here by 2020, there has not been any official word on whether or not the Kona will also be offered in petrol or diesel powered variants. The Kona Electric SUV is expected to get a price tag of around Rs 25 lakh (ex-showroom). Check out: MG Confirms Internet SUV and Electric SUV for India Image source Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: CarDekho. Renault has launched the Captur SUV in a new Radiant Red colour option, which was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo in February. Renault has launched the Captur SUV in a new Radiant Red colour option, which was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo in February. It is also offering discounted prices on select variants. The Renault Captur now also gets roof rails as standard with the RXT petrol and diesel variant along with the top-spec Platine Diesel. The discounts on ex-showroom prices are only for the following variants: Model Discount offered Renault Captur RXT Petrol Dual Tone Rs 41,000 Renault Captur RXE Diesel Rs 40,000 Renault Captur RXT Diesel Dual Tone Rs 60,000 Renault Captur Platine Diesel Dual Tone Rs 81,000 The Renault Captur is available with two engines - a 1.5-litre petrol unit (106PS/142Nm) which is paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox and a 1.5-litre diesel unit (110PS/240Nm) with a 6-speed manual gearbox. For more details refer to Renaults official press release below: Press Release RENAULT ANNOUNCES ATTRACTIVE PRICING ON CAPTUR RANGE AS PART OF FESTIVE CELEBRATIONS Customer benefits of up to INR 81,000 on Indias most stylish SUV Also launches new Radiant Red colour and Roof Rails as a standard feature in RXT Petrol, RXT Diesel & Platine Diesel New Delhi, October 12 2018: Renault, the number One European automotive brand in India, has announced attractive pricing and new features on the CAPTUR range. Enhancing its overall SUV appeal, Renault Captur now comes equipped with roof rails as a standard feature in RXT Petrol, RXT Diesel & Platine Diesel. Creating a unique vehicle class, led by its stunning expressive design, premium & class-leading features, innovative technology, Indias most stylish SUV, Renault Captur is offered at an outstanding price enabling an unmatched value proposition. Renault CAPTUR has a stunning French design clearly reflecting Renaults new design DNA. Together with its global styling cues, the designing of Renault CAPTUR also accounts for Indian conditions and consumers preferences, with Renault CAPTUR being the widest and longest offering in its category, with best-in-class ground clearance of 210mm. This is well matched by an elevated driving position that offers wraparound panoramic visibility, which sets a new benchmark for comfort. Renault CAPTUR comes loaded with more than 50 premium features as standard offerings from the starting variant onwards. These include projector headlamps, C-shaped Sapphire LED DRLs, fully automatic temperature control with rear cooling vents, integrated audio system with USB & Aux-in and Bluetooth, steering wheel controls, push- button start with remote central locking, dual airbags, Antilock-Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) & Brake Assist and rear defogger with wiper. The top-end variant, Platine which is the most premium version across Renault cars, features ultra-premium white and gold interiors and takes the feel of sophistication a notch higher with AC vents engulfed in chrome, along with the stylish bezel with golden finish. Its ErgoDesign leather seats are engineered to set a new benchmark in comfort, and are 6-way adjustable. Renault CAPTUR delivers the next level of drive experience enabled by the One Integration concept, Renaults design approach that seamlessly connects car and driver. Renault CAPTUR is equipped with modern hi-tech solutions which makes driving comfortable and pleasant. These include the smart access card, the Infinity Instrument Cluster enabling a complete cockpit experience, a user-friendly new generation Intelligent ULC 3.0 multimedia navigation system with a seven-inch display, voice recognition (for iOS), maps along with temperature and time display. Renault CAPTUR is available with both petrol and diesel powertrain options. For the petrol option, it will be powered by the 16 valves 4 cylinder 1.5L H4K petrol engine mated to a 5 speed manual gear box, producing 106 PS at 5,600 rpm and 142 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. The petrol powertrain delivers a mileage of 13.87 kmpl (ARAI certified). The diesel version is powered by the 1.5L K9K diesel engine (common rail injection), mated to 6 speed manual gear box, delivering a maximum power of 110 PS at 3,850 rpm and peak torque of 240 Nm at 1,750 rpm. The diesel powertrain delivers a mileage of 20.37 kmpl (ARAI certified). Renault CAPTUR is available in 3 variants with both petrol and diesel powertrain options. In addition, the exclusive PLATINE variant will be available in a diesel option. Price List VARIANTS PRICE RXE PETROL 9,99,999 RXL PETROL 11,07,999 RXT PETROL DUAL TONE 11,45,999 RXE DIESEL 10,99,999 RXL DIESEL 12,47,999 RXT DIESEL DUAL TONE 12,66,999 PLATINE DIESEL DUAL TONE 13,24,999 Also Read: Renault Kwid-Based Electric Car Concept K-Ze Revealed At Paris Motor Show 2018 Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: CarDekho. Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Monday exuded confidence that the final phase of Bharat Net project to extend high-speed broadband connectivity infrastructure to remaining 1.25 lakh gram panchayats will be completed "on schedule" by March 2019. New Delhi: Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Monday exuded confidence that the final phase of Bharat Net project to extend high-speed broadband connectivity infrastructure to remaining 1.25 lakh gram panchayats will be completed "on schedule" by March 2019. Nearly 50 per cent of the work on the Bharat Net project - that entails connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in all - has been completed, Sinha said, adding that the network will also be extended to police stations, high schools and other educational institutions, post offices, and primary health centre, with government funding. "The work has been completed in nearly 1.25 lakh gram panchayats. The project entails a total of 2.5 lakh gram panchayats, and the second phase will be completed on schedule by March 2019," Sinha said while inaugurating the new corporate office of Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), which is implementing the ambitious project. The project is aimed at facilitating delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking and other services to citizens across the country. "So far, BBNL was focusing on implementation, now it will also focus on aspects like maintenance and service delivery," he said. Sinha said that the states need to ensure that citizen-centric services - under Bharat Net - reach the public in a transparent manner, leveraging the high-speed connectivity infrastructure. "Decision has also been taken to extend the connectivity to police stations, high schools and above education institutions, primary health centre, and post offices, on government expenditure," the minister said. The target of completing 1 lakh GPs under the first phase of BharatNet was achieved in December 2017. The second phase is being implemented through three models state-led, Central PSU, and private sector. Further, provision has been made for last mile connectivity in all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through viability gap funding. Every gram panchayat will have, on an average, five WiFi access points, including three meant for public institutions (educational centres, health centres, post offices, police stations, amongst others). A tender for provisioning of WiFi services has been floated by BBNL, after consultation with telecom service providers and internet service providers, for wider participation. China will impose anti-dumping tariffs on imports of hydroiodic acid from the United States and Japan, the Ministry of Commerce said on Monday. Beijing: China will impose anti-dumping tariffs on imports of hydroiodic acid from the United States and Japan, the Ministry of Commerce said on Monday. The tariffs will take effect from October 16, with levies set at 123.4 per cent on US suppliers and 41.1 percent on Japanese, and will last for five years, the ministry said. (CNN) Prime Minister Scott Morrison said religious schools in Australia are already legally allowed to deny students a place based on their sexual orientation, following criticism of a leaked report that proposes allowing schools to bar them. Morrison was commenting on the contents of a leaked report on religious freedoms, reigniting debate about what constitutes unlawful discrimination against gay people just months after Australia's Parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Fairfax Media reported Wednesday it had seen contents of the report, which recommended amendments to a federal law that allows religious schools to discriminate against students "on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or relationship status." When asked if he thought religious schools should be able to turn away students on the basis of sexual orientation, Morrison demurred twice, saying "that is the existing law." The Prime Minister's office said he was referring to a section in the federal Sex Discrimination Act that exempts religious educational institutions from some discrimination requirements. However, some states have passed their own discrimination laws and do not allow religious schools to reject students on the basis of sexual orientation. "We're not proposing to change that law to take away that existing arrangement that exists," Morrison said. Morrison, who opposed the same-sex marriage bill and abstained from the final vote in December 2017, vowed to change the law to protect religious freedom in an interview last month, shortly after the sudden ouster of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. But Morrison said any new laws would take into account the religious freedom review, which Turnbull commissioned in order to assuage the concerns of marriage equality opponents who said the new law infringed on their religious rights. The report was compiled after a public consultation period that attracted 15,000 submissions and submitted to Turnbull in May, but the government has yet to formally release it, Fairfax reported. "We have a report that's been provided to the government. It's a report to government, not from government. It's a report that the government will be considering and developing a balanced response to, and we will do that in our orderly process, taking it through Cabinet," Morrison said Wednesday. Critics, including civil liberty groups, members of the opposition Labor Party and gay rights advocates, said the government should not be proposing avenues for discrimination. "The fact of the matter is that every child is entitled to human dignity. We shouldn't even be having this debate," opposition leader Bill Shorten said. Alex Greenwich, an MP from Sydney and a gay rights activist, said he was concerned about the divisiveness of the report. "One of the tragic things out of this report is it seeks to establish a narrative of gay versus God," he told Sky News Australia. "The faith community is largely supportive of the LGBTQI community and the LGBTQI community is very supportive and respective of the faith community." According to Fairfax, the panel rejected the idea put forward by Australian conservatives that religious freedom was in "imminent peril." It also found that businesses should not be allowed to refuse service to customers on religious grounds because it would "unnecessarily encroach on other human rights" and "may cause significant harm to vulnerable groups," Fairfax reported. Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter said in a statement Wednesday that the report does not propose creating any new exemptions for religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexuality, nor does it make any changes to the regime currently in place. The law was last amended in 2012, when the opposition Labor party was in power. "The exemption that allows schools to make employment and student admission decisions in a way consistent with the tenets of their religion already exists for religious schools," he said. Morrison said the report has not been considered by the Cabinet, but would be released "in due course." "It will be released with a response from the Government, once we're in a position to advise our comprehensive response to that report, and once we've carefully considered and respectfully considered all the measures and recommendations and proposals that have been put forward," he said. Vinta Nanda has credited Tanushree Dutta for courage in opening up against Alok Nath. Mumbai: Actor Alok Nath filed a defamation case on Saturday against Vinta Nanda, the writer and TV producer who recently alleged that Nath sexually harassed and raped her in the '90s.This comes less than a week after Nanda narrated her ordeal on Facebook amidst the ongoing #MeToo movement. According to a Times of India report, they will purportedly file a Re 1 defamation suit. In the complaint filed before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate, Nath and his wife sought a direction to the suburban Amboli police station to take cognisance of the letter sent by them in which they sought defamation proceedings against Nanda. Also Read | Alok Nath responds to CINTAA, his wife moves court against Vinta Nanda Nanda was the writer and producer of teleserial 'Tara' in the 90s. Nath played a lead role in the soap. In her post, Nanda alleged that Alok Nath harassed her sexually, following which Nath was taken off the show and things continued. Also Read | Renuka Shahane comes out in support of victims accusing Alok Nath Bollywood actors Sandhya Mridul and Deepika Amin also accused Alok Nath of sexual misconduct and shared their ordeals on social media. Veteran actress Himani Shivpuri mentioned that Alok Naths behaviour is an open secret in the industry and added that he was even asked to leave from an aeroplane for the same reason. The #MeToo movement gained momentum in India after Tanushree Dutta accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of harassment. Following the revelation, similar cases have tumbled out, rattling the media industry. Alok Nath was seen in Kartik Aaryan starrer Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety earlier this year. Mumbai: Last week in a Facebook post, writer-producer Vinta Nanda accused actor Alok Nath of spiking her drink and raping her 19 years ago. Since then, actor Sandhya Mridul and Deepika Amin also accused Alok Nath of rowdy behaviour and shared their ordeals on social media. Also Read | Rape allegation: Alok Nath slaps defamation case against Vinta Nanda While Alok Nath has denied Vintas accusations, Nath's wife Ashu Singh has moved court against Vinta Nanda. In a complaint addressed to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Mumbai's Andheri Court, Ashu has asked for the court to direct Amboli police to take cognizance of her complaint against Vinta and investigate the matter. Mumbai Mirror quoted Alok Nath's advocate Ashok Saraogi as saying. A complaint was submitted to the police for defaming my client; we have also moved court in the matter. Also Read | Alok Nath lunged at me saying, You are mine, reveals Sandhya Mridul The actor has also filed a defamation case against her on Saturday. Meanwhile, in response to the notice issued by Cine and TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA), actor Alok Nath's lawyer Ashok Saraogi has denied all the allegations of sexual harassment made against his client. In the wake of the allegations, the Indian Film and Television Directors' Association (IFTDA) issued a notice to the veteran actor, seeking his stand on the rape allegations made against him. The #MeToo movement gained momentum in India after Tanushree Dutta accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of harassment. Following the revelation, similar cases have tumbled out, rattling the media industry. Mumbai: The #MeToo movement has opened a can of worms and Saif Ali Khan says he stands in solidarity with women sharing their stories of sexual harassment as he understands the pain they have been through. The Sacred Games star said he faced harassment years ago, even though it was not sexual in nature. "I have also been harassed in my career, not sexually, but I have been harassed 25 years ago and I am still angry about it," Saif told PTI. "Most people don't understand other people. It is very difficult to understand other people's pain. I don't want to talk about it because I am not important today. Even when I think about what happened with me I still get angry. Today, we have to look after women," he added. Saif said the offenders must be punished even if they are found guilty in an old case. "People are offended and they want justice. What it is happening is good and it gives you a sense that something is happening. You are removing someone (from the job) and it is a big deal. You are removing a person, but everybody has worked on a project so you have to balance things. People who have sexually harassed and abused women should pay for it," said Saif. His co-stars from Humshakals - Bipasha Basu and Esha Gupta - recently opened up about director Sajid Khan's "rude" behaviour towards women on the sets of the 2014 film. While Bipasha said she was disturbed with Sajid's attitude towards women, Esha revealed she got into a lot of arguments with him. Sajid is accused of sexual misconduct by three female actors and a journalist. He has since been replaced by Farhad Samji as the director of Housefull 4. Recalling his experience during Humshakals, Saif said, "I don't remember anything like this happening genuinely because if it would have happened I would not have been comfortable in that environment or allowed it to happen in front of me." "I would hate an atmosphere where women are being looked down upon or mistreated in any way. I don't think that's how an atmosphere should be," he added. Saif, 48, asserted he will not work with those who have been accused of sexual misconduct. "We all need to have the same attitude. I don't want to work with them. We have to understand that how these people are behaving, it is not ok, it is disgusting," said the actor. A report on TheIndianExpress however quoted him saying, "I dont even want to call them my colleagues. I dont think of these guys as my colleagues, I would be very shocked and surprised if a friend of mine was named in this. I think it is disgusting, and I have never liked any kind of bullying, and I know this is something that people do. And they cant do it. The actor told Times Of India digital, I am not saying that I am aware of it because of my family. I am saying, everyones got a wife, sister and daughter. You just cant treat women like this. I have not heard about it too much, but it must be horrible. Its awful to take advantage of pretty young girls who come looking for work with no one to protect them. They suddenly feel that they are put in a situation where they have to compromise on their values! Its terrible for ones soul and thats not right. Its not going to happen anymore. People will now think twice before asking someone to come to their bungalow for an audition. On Sara Ali Khan having to face such a situation, he says, If someone asks my daughter to come see him at Madh Island, I will go with her and punch that man in the face. If she tells me that this guy said this to me, he will then be fighting me in court. I am sorry, but thats my reaction to it. He wouldnt dare to do it again. Every girl should have that kind of security. Thanks to you, the #MeToo movement is raging in India. I feel it has gone far beyond me. I never thought Id trigger something like this, but I have, and it gives me a sense of purpose. I never knew fate had this in store for me. Do you feel the #MeToo movement in Bollywood doesnt have the support of A-list voices that its counterpart in the USA did? You mean, you want to know why the really popular actresses have not spoken up? You will have to ask them. We all know that many of them have their own stories to tell. Why they are keeping quiet only they can say. Having said that, I feel that categorising the #MeToo voices as A-list and B-list is doing the movement a disservice. Every woman who has been harmed, damaged or destroyed is equally important. Agreed. But when an Uma Thurman or an Angelina Jolie speaks about the campaign, they bring attention to it. I agree with you. Id love to have the big stars speak out. But I suspect they wont. There is still so much stigma attached to the topic of sexual violation. Even today, women, and not their perpetrators, are questioned, ostracized, and harangued; their reputation is smashed and shredded. Can you believe it? When a girl is violated, its perceived as a threat to the dignity of her household. Do you think that is the mindset that is stopping actresses from speaking out about their experiences? Bipasha Basu, for example, maintains that nothing happened with her and Sajid Khan when the whole industry knows that he misbehaved with her. This oath of secrecy is what stops the movement from growing in our country. You think its easy for women to come forward and open up about their experiences? Many of the voices you are hearing today belong to women who came to the film industry with dreams, but were driven into anonymity by predators their morale, self-confidence and careers destroyed. You think it was easy for me to speak about my experience? It took me ten years to heal through spiritual guidance. Were you prepared for this movement youve started? Not at all! If I knew about it, Id never have come to India for this so-called holiday. I am glad one doesnt know Gods plans. If I knew this would happen, Id have found a way to avoid it. Now that you have become the face of the #MeToo movement in India, are you happy with the way its going? At last, a debate on sexual misconduct is raging across the country its a healthy and positive sign. What really irks me is when empowered women in positions of responsibility get on television and condemn the brave women who are sharing their #MeToo stories as publicity seekers. That is so frustrating and self-defeating. Do these entitled women realize how much it takes to narrate your story of violation? But merely speaking about an incident on social media without following it up legally is self-defeating too, is it not? No, it is not! In fact, naming and shaming these culprits on social media is the only option. Once these criminals are exposed, taking legal action becomes easier. The legal route is not easy it shames you and drains you emotionally and financially. Many times, the culprits get the best legal aid to help them fight costly legal battles that the victims cannot afford. Do you see any change in the way victims are positioned now as compared to the situation ten years ago? I would say there has been a change, but its not enough. Ten years ago, when I approached the police, my efforts were thwarted. I faced the same hurdles this time too, but I was better equipped to handle it. The #MeToo movement has given me confidence and strength. Why do we have to ape the west and call it the #MeToo movement? Because sexual violation is not about east or west. Its a global shame that binds all survivors as sisters. Five artisans were sent to Yunnan province by the puja committee of B J Block, Salt Lake, a few months ago to learn about the art, culture and way of life of the people there. (Representational Image/ PTI) Kolkata: A piece of China has come alive in Kolkata with Durga Puja organizers in the Salt Lake area setting up a Yunnan-themed pandal, replete with dragon motifs, lanterns and a replica of Hulu (Chinese bottle gourd). Durga Puja here has a Chinese connection this time with culture and traditions of the two places blending into one, Chinese Consul General to Kolkata Ma Zhanwu said Sunday. Five artisans were sent to Yunnan province by the puja committee of B J Block, Salt Lake, a few months ago to learn about the art, culture and way of life of the people there. The Chinese consulate helped the committee find a sponsor for the trip. "It feels good to see that a puja committee has installed a giant Hulu before the pagoda-shaped pandal, with the help of the local artisans. Much like Hulu, which signifies happiness and prosperity, the festival fills lives with joy," he said. Zhanwu also performed Tai Chi moves on the occasion while his wife played pipa (stringed instrument). "Over the next five days, a troupe of 39 artistes from Yunnan will be performing at the B J block puja ground. They will perform side by side the Indian artistes," he said. Governor K N Tripathi, who inaugurated the festival, said the cultural exchanges between the two countries will strengthen bilateral ties. He also prayed for peace and welfare of the people in the city. "On this occasion, we should take a pledge to remain united and work together for the betterment of society," Tripathi added. Echoing similar sentiments, Zhanwu said he was looking forward to similar exchanges with the city on other occasions, too. "In March, when the organisers approached us with the idea, we lapped it up instantly. We are happy to showcase Chinese culture at a festival like Durga puja in Bengal and look forward to more people-to-people exchanges in the coming years," he stated. Asked about the state government's initiative to promote Durga Puja festival among foreign tourists, Zhanwu said, "I had the opportunity to attend the Red Road carnival, showcasing the diverse creativity surrounding the five-day festival. It was a unique and wonderful experience." The state government, in 2016, decided to up the grandeur of Durga Puja celebrations in the city by a few notches by organising a massive farewell procession at Red Road every year before the immersion of the goddess. The carnival gives people an opportunity to witness the best pujas in the city at one place. Ranganath, 60, principal of the Havanur Public School in suburban Agrahara Dasarahalli in Bengaluru, was teaching Class 10 students when the gang barged into the classroom and hacked him to death, police said. (Photo: http://havanurpublicschool.com) Bengaluru: A school principal was hacked to death Sunday by a six member gang in front of 20 students, for whom he was holding a special class, police said. Ranganath, 60, principal of the Havanur Public School in suburban Agrahara Dasarahalli in Bengaluru, was teaching Class 10 students when the gang barged into the classroom and hacked him to death, they said. They later ran away in the car in which they came to the school, police said. One of the gang members was arrested later from Bengaluru's Mahalaxmi Layout area, based on a tip off. The man received a leg injury when police fired at him after he attacked them. He was later taken to a hospital and treated. Police suspect a land dispute relating to the school building to be the reason behind the murder. The accused offered the victim a soft drink laced with sedatives and after consuming it, she became unconscious. (Representational Image) New Delhi: A woman employed with a multinational company (MNC) in west Delhi's Dwarka was gangraped allegedly by two of her colleagues late on Saturday night, the police said on Sunday. The accused identified as Birju (25), and his associate Vinod Kumar (31), had offered her a lift in their car after office hours on Saturday evening. During the journey, the accused offered the victim a soft drink laced with sedatives and after consuming it, she became unconscious. The victim was taken to a flat in an unconscious state where they took turns to rape her and after committing the crime, the accused dropped the victim near her home at the Vasant Kunj area, an official of Dwarka north police station said. The survivor managed her way home and revealed her ordeal to her family. On Sunday, she reached the police station and lodged a complaint against the accused. "We have conducted medical examination of the victim which confirms rape. The accused have been arrested from their houses," the official further said. (With inputs from agencies) Kochi: Bishop Franco Mulakkal accused of raping Kerala nun has been granted conditional bail by the Kerala High Court on Monday. Granting the bail, the high court directed accused Roman Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal to surrender his passport and not to enter Kerala state except for appearing before the probe officer once in two weeks on Saturdays. This condition would be applicable till a charge sheet is filed in the case. The bail comes after three weeks of his arrest. The 54-year-old bishop had approached the high court last month after a magistrates court in Pala rejected his bail application, in which he stated that he had been implicated for taking action against the nun. Earlier on October 3, the Kerala High Court had dismissed the bail plea of the bishop while accepting the prosecution argument that the accused, holding a high position in society will try to influence witnesses in the case, if granted bail. Bishop Mulakkal is currently under judicial remand in a sub-jail in Pala in Kottayam district. The police had earlier opposed bail on grounds that the case was still progressing after the arrest of Bishop Malakkal on September 21. Bishop Mulakkal was arrested after three days of questioning by the Kerala police team over the sexual assault allegations. The Kerala government had assured the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was proceeding in the "right direction" and that justice will be done. In her complaint in June, a Kerala nun had alleged that she was sexually abused by Franco Mulakkal 13 times between 2014 and 2016 during his visits to a convent in Kottayam. The nun who wrote to the Vatican earlier had said she was forced to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the bishop. However, Bishop Mulakkal has denied the charges as "baseless and concocted," insisting she levelled those as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours. He had last month stepped aside as the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese. The core committee is the BJP's key decision-making body in Goa, comprising senior leaders Parrikar, Union minister Shripad Naik, Lok Sabha MP Narendra Sawaikar and party state chief Vinay Tendulkar, among others. (Photo: File) Panaji: The BJP core committee in Goa will meet on Monday to discuss the political situation in the state, a senior party leader said. The discussions have been planned a day after Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar returned to Goa from New Delhi where he was undergoing treatment for pancreatic ailment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). "The state core committee will meet today and discuss the current political situation in Goa," the leader said. The core committee is the BJP's key decision-making body in Goa, comprising senior leaders Parrikar, Union minister Shripad Naik, Lok Sabha MP Narendra Sawaikar and party state chief Vinay Tendulkar, among others. Meanwhile, Parrikar, 62, was undergoing treatment at his private residence at Dona Paula near Panaji, where a team of doctors from the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) have set up make-shift medical facility. "Parrikar is at home and is being taken care by a team of doctors from the GCMH," a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) told PTI. The chief minister is following the line of treatment prescribed by the doctors at AIIMS, he said. BJP legislator and power minister Nilesh Cabral Sunday said, "We hope that he recovers fast. I think it must be his personal decision to come back to Goa. When I met him last time, he spoke well." State civil supplies minister and Independent MLA Govind Gawade, who is supporting the Parrikar-led coalition, said the chief minister should have stayed back at AIIMS for some more time and fully recovered before returning to Goa. "But we welcome him back. Goa was missing its leader," he added. Parrikar was on Sunday morning discharged from the AIIMS, where he was admitted on September 15, and was flown in a special flight to Goa. He was later taken to his private residence in an ambulance. Parrikar had Friday met Goa BJP's core committee members and ministers from coalition partners at AIIMS to discuss ways to ensure his government functions normally during his absence from office due to ill health. Leaders of the ruling BJP and its allies, who met Parrikar separately, had ruled out any change in leadership in the coastal state. Bengaluru: With the resignation of BSP Minister N. Mahesh from the coalition government taking a political colour, JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda is doing his best to retain him in the cabinet and has reportedly instructed Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy not to forward his resignation to the governor till he speaks to BSP supremo Mayawati on the issue. Though the resignation came soon after Ms Mayawati announced her breakup with the Congress for the coming Assembly polls in five states, sources said Ms Mayawati was miffed with Mr Mahesh, who had claimed that the BSP in Karnataka had survived because of him. There are even unconfirmed reports that these claims had reached Ms Mayawatis ears and she wanted him to resign as minister. Mr Mahesh has sent his resignation letter both to the CM as well as the Governor. However, Mr Kumaraswamy has not yet forwarded the resignation to the Governor and so it is yet to be accepted. With the campaign for the Assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls in full swing, Mr Maheshs resignation may send the wrong signal to Dalits the support base of the BSP and realising the damage it would cause, Mr Gowda has decided to convince Ms Mayavati to retain Mr Mahesh in the cabinet, sources added. Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza. Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres. Congress leader clarified that he expressed as a personal opinion and had not spoken on the behalf of the party. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor on Monday said that he condemned the malicious distortion of his words on Ram temple at the site of razed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Tharoor, at a literature festival in Chennai, kicked up a row with remarks that no "good" Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else's place of worship, drawing stinging criticism from the BJP which dubbed his party and its chief Rahul Gandhi "anti- Hindu". Tharoor said that as a Hindu, he was very conscious that a vast majority of Hindus believed that Ayodhya site was the specific birthplace of Lord Ram, reported NDTV. "And for that reason, most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted to see that temple built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," Tharoor said, referring to the demolition of Babri mosque by thousands of kar sevaks in December 1992. BJPs Nalin Kohli attacked Tharoor on his statement and said, Who are the Congress or Tharoor to decide? Who are they to certify who is a good Hindu and who is bad Hindu? How can they play with the faith of crores of people?" Tharoors statement provoked sharp reactions and he decided to set the record straight in his tweets. Tharoor tweeted: I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Rams birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying anothers place of worship. Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 15, 2018 Congress leader clarified that he expressed as a personal opinion and had not spoken on the behalf of the party. I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for @incindia. https://t.co/aKeJvdLoqG Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 15, 2018 Read: Rahul, Tharoor may not want but nation wants Ram temple in Ayodhya: BJP In some reports, Congress MP's comment became this: "No good Hindu would want temple at the Babri mosque site". BJP hit back at Tharoor over his remarks and spokesman Sambit Patra said they exposed the real face of Rahul Gandhi. Previously, Tharoor had sparked off a controversy in July with comments that if BJP comes to power again, it will rewrite the Constitution that would eventually create a Hindu Pakistan. (With PTI inputs) The Minister of State for External Affairs has denied the allegations and on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against one of the scribes, Priya Ramani. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Several media bodies on Monday demanded an "impartial probe" into all allegations of sexual misconduct against Union minister M J Akbar and said he should step down from his post till such an investigation is completed. Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), Press Club of India, Press Association and South Asian Women in Media issued a joint statement saying that Akbar is a "senior functionary of the government and his response should reflect the responsibility that is thus bestowed on him". Allegations against Akbar have been levelled by several women journalists under social media campaign #MeToo against sexual misconduct. The Minister of State for External Affairs has denied the allegations and on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against one of the scribes, Priya Ramani. "We the undersigned journalist organisations have been deeply concerned over the overwhelming complaints of sexual harassment in the media," the joint statement said. "We recognise that sexual harassment at workplace is a worrisome reality and that media organisations and managements have been unable to put the systems in place which would have ordinarily addressed complaints of sexual harassment," the statement said. The joint statement said an impartial probe should be conducted "into all the complaints without fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants more so as the accused party is an influential minister in the present government". "We also feel that in the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it is only proper and appropriate that the minister step down from his post till as such time the probe is completed," it said. The statement also alleged that sexual harassment at the workplace is a "pervasive phenomenon" and has "continued with impunity" despite the enactment of a tough law to prevent, prohibit and redress it. "The inability of women to speak out about such harassment needs serious introspection and redressal. We hope that employers in media organisations and the government will look into this with the seriousness it deserves and not treat the incidents as motivated complaints," it said. 'Ram is the ethos of the nation. People want and have fought for a Ram temple for 500 years after it was destroyed. What Shashi Tharoor is saying must be the view of Rahul Gandhi and his that they do not want the temple at the Ram's birthplace,' he told PTI. (Photo: File) New Delhi: The BJP Monday accused the Congress of using its leaders to build a momentum against the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, asserting that "the temple will be built at the Ram's birthplace". Union minister Prakash Javadekar attacked Congress president Rahul Gandhi and its leader Shashi Tharoor for his reported comments that no good Hindu would have wanted to see the temple built by demolishing a place of worship, a reference to razing down of the Babri mosque in December 1992. "Ram is the ethos of the nation. People want and have fought for a Ram temple for 500 years after it was destroyed. What Shashi Tharoor is saying must be the view of Rahul Gandhi and his that they do not want the temple at the Ram's birthplace," he told PTI. He said it was astonishing and shocking to hear from Tharoor that a "real Hindu" would not wish temple at the Babri mosque site. "Ram temple will be built only at Ram's birthplace. It is so natural. It was Ram temple which was destroyed and all proofs are before the Supreme Court. BJP wants a magnificent temple at the site," he said. The BJP, he added, has already said that it has to happen either through a court verdict, which it is sure will be favourable, or with an agreement between the two parties. The whole nation wants the Ram temple as it is not about the BJP or something political, he said. From north-east to north to south to east and west, everywhere you find Ram as Ram is the ethos of the nation, he said. Earlier at a press conference on Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao too accused the Congress of using its leaders to build a momentum against the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and wondered if Gandhi is a Hindu or not. He said his party wants an early verdict from the Supreme Court on the Ram temple case but the Congress is trying everything to delay it. Congress leaders had earlier filed plea in the court to delay the matter, he alleged, adding that Tharoor is the latest to join the bandwagon by linking construction of a temple with the "demolition of disputed structure" that happened decades back. "You (Congress) are conspiring to ensure that there is no verdict from the court," he said. The Congress is doing "vote bank politics", he said, alleging that Gandhi had earlier claimed that his party was a "Muslims party". Rahul Gandhi wears his "Shiv bhakti" (devotion to Lord Shiv) on his sleeve but he should answer whether he is a Hindu or not, Rao said. Speaking at an event in Chennai, Tharoor had said as a Hindu he was very conscious that a vast majority of his fellow Hindus believe that this (the site in Ayodhya) was the specific birth place of Lord Ram. "And for that reason most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted to see that temple built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," the Kerala MP said. At the press conference, Rao also accused the Congress of following a double-pronged strategy of showing its love for Pakistan and and "working to break India" as part of Gandhi's "divisive mindset". He cited Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's reported comments that he can relate to Pakistan more than south India to hit out at the opposition party. He demanded that Sidhu must be sacked as a minister in the Punjab government in a week or the BJP would carry out protests. Sidhu's remarks are also a reflection on the opposition party's and its ruling Gandhi family's "hatred for south India", Rao alleged as he cited its "ill-treatment" of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. It was due to support from south India that the Congress came to power, he said in a reference to its win in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, claiming that "otherwise Sonia and Rahul Gandhi would have fled to Italy". The Congress president should apologise for the alleged poor treatment meted out to Narasimha Rao, he said. "If you have any shame, at least use his (Narasimha Rao's) picture in Telangana," he said. Telangana is among the five states where assembly elections are being held. Devotees raised slogans and held pictures of Lord Ayyappa, placards as a part of their 'Save Sabarimala' campaign steered by the state unit of BJP-led NDA. (Photo: PTI) Thiruvananthapuram: Thousands of devotees of Lord Ayyappa, including women and children, today protested in Keralas capital against the Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala temple. As the temple complex opens on Wednesday for monthly rituals, the protesters have warned that they will not allow women inside the complex and if needed, they will lie down at the entry point, reported NDTV. Devotees raised slogans and held pictures of Lord Ayyappa, placards as a part of their Save Sabarimala campaign steered by the state unit of BJP-led NDA. According to reports, the Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs the shrine, will meet the patrons, including the Tantri (head priest) family, Pandalam royals and Ayyappa Seva Sangam on Tuesday to discuss the preparations ahead of three-month-long annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season starting on October 17. Heavy security has been deployed for the opening of the temple and no special arrangements have been made for women devotees. Kerala has been witnessing several protests by the state units of Congress and BJP and other Hindu outfits against the verdict. Some of the groups have demanded the state government should come out with an ordinance to stop the entry of women to the shrine. BJP has alleged that the government is "conspiring" to destroy the hillock shrine. PS Sreedharan Pillai, BJPs state president has warned of a bigger agitation if the government fails to resolve the issue in the next 24 hours. We will meet each villager in Kerala, and prepare a massive agitation plan to protect the Sabarimala Temple, its centuries-old traditions and sentiments of Lord Ayyappa devotees, Pillai added. The temple has traditionally barred all women of menstruating age and the rule followed the belief that menstruating women are impure. On September 28, 2018, in a four-one majority verdict, Supreme Court allowed women to enter the temple. Karan Jani, a 29-year-old from Vadodra, who in 2016 had made it to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory team in the US that discovered the gravitational waves, narrated on Facebook and Twitter how he and his friends were 'thrown out' of the venue by the organisers at Sri Shakti Mandir. (Photo: Facebook | @AstroKPJ) New Delhi: A renowned Indian-origin astrophysicist and three of his friends were thrown out of a garba venue in Atlanta in the United States on Friday by the organisers who said that their surnames did not appear to be Hindu. Karan Jani, a 29-year-old from Vadodra, who in 2016 had made it to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) team in the US that discovered the gravitational waves, narrated on Facebook and Twitter how he and his friends were thrown out of the venue by the organisers at Sri Shakti Mandir. Jani said that despite talking to the organisers in Gujarati, they refused to budge and asked him and his friends to leave. He said he had been performing garba at the same venue for the last six years and had never faced any such trouble before. Narrating his account along with a video on social media, Jani wrote: Year 2018 & Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA, denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because: You dont look Hindu and last name in your IDs dont sound Hindu. Jani further claimed that when one of his friends gave the volunteers ID proofs, they said that they would not be allowed as his surname ended with wala and it didnt seem to be a Hindu surname. Year 2018 & Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because: You dont look Hindu and last name in your IDs dont sound Hindu -THREAD- pic.twitter.com/lLVq4KhJtw Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018 Jani tweeted that one of the volunteers told his friend, We dont come to your events, you are not allowed to ours. His friend is Konkani and was attending garba for the first time. He tweeted that when she told the volunteer that her last name was Murdeshwar and that she was a Kannada-Marathi, the volunteer said: What is Kannada? You are Ismaili." My Konkani friend who came to Garba for 1st time *due to enthusiasm of us Gujaratis* was pulled out of line & was told: We dont come to your events, you are not allowed to ours She: My last name is Murdeshwar. Im Kannada-Marathi! Him: What is Kannada? You are Ismaili Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018 Our IDs had Indian Emblem. Yes emblem with Satyamev Jayate right? Apparently, it didnt have our religion. Our caste. It was embarrassing. I had tears in my eyes saying them: I come here to play Garba for last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of last name Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018 Jani said he had never faced such discrimination even from the Americans during 12 years of stay here, The Times of India quoted him as saying. Jani said he received a call from the temples management later and added that the chairman apologised saying the temple doesnt believe in discrimination. He said it was miscommunication on the part of the volunteer. But the treatment meted out to us was embarrassing, Jani said. Dr Vijaya Baskar claimed that there was no outbreak of the dreaded disease in Tamil Nadu and that it had come from other states. Chennai: With at least five persons, including four from a family in Palayamkottai town in Tirunelveli district, have been infected with swine flu. The State health machinery is getting geared up to tackle any emergency. While admitting the prevalence of swine flu in the State, Health Minister Dr C. Vijaya Baskar said the government has enhanced measures to contain the spread of this influenza. We have enough stock of medicine to combat swine flu in the State. There is a stock of 12 lakh tablets with the health department meant for patients use. And all the government hospitals are well equipped to treat the patients, Dr Vijaya Baskar informed on Sunday and called upon the people not to panic. We have instructed all the regional joint directors and district deputy directors of the health and family welfare department to monitor the cases. At present, there are only four cases admitted in the Tirunelveli government medical college hospital, he told reporters in Pudukottai. Of the four who have been admitted, two are doctors: 45-year-old Kalyankumar, doctor at the Tirunelveli government medical college hospital and his wife Dr Pon Kokila. The other two are said to be their relatives. Dr Vijaya Baskar claimed that there was no outbreak of the dreaded disease in Tamil Nadu and that it had come from other states. Reports indicated that a farmer Ravichandran of Karur near Tiruchy in the state was admitted to hospital with symptoms of H1N1. Similar cases were said to have been reported in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirupur and Vellore. According to an official from the health department, people suffering from a mild fever with throat pain should consult a doctor immediately. Those having the symptoms of fever, diarrhoea and jaundice should take adequate precautions, he advised. The Youth Congress activists Monday staged a protest near the residence of Union minister MJ Akbar, demanding his "immediate resignation" over allegations of sexual misconduct by several women journalists. (Photo: Twitter | @IYC) New Delhi: The Youth Congress activists on Monday staged a protest near the residence of Union minister M J Akbar, demanding his "immediate resignation" over allegations of sexual misconduct by several women journalists. The activists gathered at Teen Murti roundabout raised slogans against the junior foreign minister and tried to march towards his residence when they were stopped by the police. A few protesters who tried to march ahead towards police barricades were detained. "The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) is protesting against M J Akbar for his sexual misconduct and harassment of journalists. As many as 10 women journalists have come forward and detailed sexual harassment by him," the outfit said in a statement. Leading the protesters, vice president of IYC BV Srinivas demanded Akbar's "immediate resignation" saying he has no "moral right" to continue in his post. "No one in Indian politics till now has the kind of sullied image as M J Akbar," he said in the statement. Despite "serious allegations" against the minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has maintained a "studied silence" on the matter, he alleged. The ruling coalition of NDA led by the BJP which had made tall promises of "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" cannot and must not be allowed to shield a man of "questionable conduct," the IYC statement added. Akbar on Sunday termed the allegations against him as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action in the matter. His comments followed those by his party's, with the BJP saying on Monday that Akbar has given his version on the row and that it is not about whether the party agrees or disagrees with him. Lobo is suffering from a right leg compound fracture, fracture in both heels and soft tissue injury in her chest, abdomen and lower spine. Mumbai: A 53-year-old Air India air hostess suffered grievous injuries after falling off a Delhi-bound aircraft before take-off at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Mumbai on Monday morning. The air hostess, Harsha Lobo, has been admitted to privately-run Nanavati Hospital with multiple fractures. The incident took place early Monday morning on the Air Indias New Delhi-bound AI 864, the airline said, terming the incident as unfortunate and promising an inquiry. The air hostess was reportedly closing the door of the aircraft when she fell. The airline said in a statement that the incident occurred when Ms Lobo was closing the door of the aircraft, adding that it was investigating why the flight was about to take off at about 7 am, around an hour after its scheduled departure time. In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (members), Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing-777 aircraft door while closing it She sustained injuries to her legs and has been taken to the hospital for further treatment, the airline said in a statement. The flight bound for Delhi and scheduled to depart at 7 am, finally departed at 8.30 am. Dr Rajendra Patankar, COO, Nanavati Hospital, said, The patient is suffering from a right leg compound fracture, fracture in both heels and soft tissue injury in her chest, abdomen and lower spine. She also suffered from a sprain in the neck (cervical spine). She is receiving treated under the orthopaedics and traumatology departments. Asked if Ms Lobo was out of danger, he stated, She is under observation. We cant say whether she is out of danger or not yet. Three years ago, an Air India engineer was sucked into an aircrafts engine at the Mumbai airport when the pilots started the engines prematurely after mistaking a signal. Last week, a Dubai-bound Air India Express flight, IX 611, struck a wall at the end of Trichy airports runway during take-off. It diverted to Mumbai and had flown with a ripped underbelly for four hours when it landed. Lucknow: Prince Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy, a self proclaimed sixth generation descendant of Babar, will now meet the President and offer the disputed land for temple construction. He further said that since the dispute was mainly regarding the title of the disputed land, he would gift the land for temple construction. I would also want to be given the privilege of placing the first gold brick for temple construction, he added. Prince Tucy said that, Even Babar, in his will, had condemned the act and had called it a blot. He had instead asked for respect to be given to the saints and Mahatmas and protection of temples in the country. He offered a symbolic apology for destruction of the Ram temple by the Mughal ruler by placing the charan paduka of Lord Ram on his head and also went for darshan at the makeshift temple. This was Prince Tucys third visit to Ayodhya in the past two years and he had offered prayers at the makeshift temple on each of the visit. There are ways to check the authenticity of a person approaching to connect with you and the same should be taken up by the public. (Representional Image) Hyderabad: Platforms like Tinder, Match.com, etc., have become a new place for scamsters to target and catfish to extort money. A catfisher scours through the user base, looking for a particularly vulnerable and eager user open to emotional manipulation. Based on your preference, the scamsters will make a profile accordingly to connect with you and lure you in, said an official from Hyderabad city police adding that after making a promise to finally meet, they trot out a need for help for a last-minute problem such as visa processing fees, an inheritance stuck in customs, an unexpected bankruptcy and so on, to loot money. I would caution the young generation in particular as they tend to resort to blind dates and accepting friend requests from unknown individuals, said the Hyderabad Police Commissioner, Anjani Kumar. There are ways to check the authenticity of a person approaching to connect with you and the same should be taken up by the public. The same rules go for dating apps as well as social media platforms. There are many such cases wherein people get conned easily, said the official. Single mothers and single women in their middle-age are the most vulnerable. The cheats usually target middle-aged women. The victims are divorcees, widows or unmarried women in their 30s and 40s. The scamsters pretend to be younger than them and claim to be MNC employees or NRIs, he said. They give emotional support to the victims and send gifts to impress them. Single women, who do not have elders to verify or check the background of prospective grooms they meet online, might get persuaded, said an investigator of matrimony fraud cases in Hyderabad city police. Explaining the Modus Operandi, the official said that the pattern observed in these cases was inevitably the same. Once the scamster makes contact with the target on one of these platforms, the acquaintance is taken forward on other social media platforms, such as Facebook, where fake accounts have been created to match their dating profiles. Having gained the trust of the target, the scamster demands money on the pretext of paying medical bills of a sick parent or by promising marriage or future dates. However, soon after the transactions are made, the impostor disappears and becomes a ghost, he said. Men too have faced such incidents wherein women masquerade as damsels in distress to dupe them. Earlier, Cyber Crime Police had arrested one Y. Srilatha alias Sushmitha, from Bangalore, who had trapped and conned men and made them transfer more than `1.5 lakh within a week. She claims that she has a property in Bangalore worth about `30 crore and asks their help to clear some family feud regarding the said property, said the DCP, Detective Department, CCS, Avinash Mohanty. Earlier this April, a Hyderabad man was duped by a woman he met online, who claimed to be from Singapore. The victim, a resident of LB Nagar, said that he got a friend request on Facebook from the woman which he accepted. The terms and condition posted by such apps state that it is the users responsibility. Police thus say its not possible to take action against websites due to this. Most websites have included these sentences in their terms and conditions: As with all technology companies, although we take steps to secure information, we do not promise, that your personal information remains secure. Reshma herself had revealed this through her Facebook page and it had become viral drawing bouquets and brickbats. Kannur: Many Ayyappa devotees will not be amused by the vow taken by Reshma Nishanth, 32, of Irinavu here to pray to Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala this time. If lakhs of women devotees visit Sabarimala, as Reshma hopes, only the Lord will know the outcome. Reshma, a teacher in an unaided college here, has long cherished the desire to worship Lord Ayyappa and has been taking vruta since 2006 though she knew that the shrine was out of bounds for females in the 10-50 age group. But after the Supreme Courtsverdict, she wore black dress and a garland of Tulsi and Rudraksha for the first time, ready to enter the temple. I am determined to go to Sabarimala as the apex court has permitted it. I have taken vruta abiding by all its principles and values. The 41-day vruta will be completed by the beginning of the Malayalam month of Vrishika and I will go to Sabarimala after that, she told DC. She has the full support of her family. Reshma herself had revealed this through her Facebook page and it had become viral drawing bouquets and brickbats. A group of people claiming to be Ayyappa devotees led a torch-light protestmarch to her house on Sunday night. She has also been showered with abuses on the social media. But Reshma is unfazed and said, I dont view it as a revolution.My small step will encourage lakhs of women devotees in future. There is no gender divide in beliefs. I seek the support of the public in my journey for gender equality, she said. Reshma takes menstruation as a normal body function like any other. Reacting to her links with the CPM, she admits that she lives in a party-village and that her in-laws have party connections. My belief has nothing to do with the party, she says. Local people at Eloor near Kochi has converted a bus shelter into cattle shed due cattle sheds in their residential premises getting inundated. (File pic). Kochi: The dairy development department has announced project worth `22 crore for revival of the devastated diary sector in the state. The project will be implemented in the 50 flood affected block panchayat areas. As part of the project, financial assistance of Rs 33, 000 will be provided to purchase cattle. Funds will be provided to 1200 farmers to purchase one cow while assistance will be given to 900 farmers to buy two cows. Assistance will also be given to reconstruct damaged cow sheds for which there is a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh. The project will be implemented through the block level offices of dairy development department. Floods have badly affected the states efforts to achieve self sufficiency in milk production by the year end. MILMA to provide Rs 10,000 to farmers Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (MILMA) will provide Rs 10,000 to its flood hit members in various societies to purchase cows. As part of the financial package, farmers will get Rs 10,000 for loss of cow, Rs 5000 for loss of calf and Rs 7500 for damage of cow shed. However, the maximum amount a farmer can get is `33,000 to purchase cows, even if the loss is higher. MILMA has earmarked Rs 1.1 crore for the project. After visiting the affected areas, MILMA has prepared a list of beneficiaries which will be approved by the director board during a meeting scheduled for October 17. Once, the list is cleared, the amount will be transferred to the bank accounts of farmers, said Balan master, chairman of Ernakulam region of MILMA. More than 1000 farmers in the four badly affected districts like Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kottayam and Idukki will get the benefit. In Ernakulam region, comprising of the four districts, nearly 650 cows and 450 calves were lost. A total of 650 cow sheds were completely damaged. Meanwhile, the Ernakulam region of MILMA has submitted a comprehensive revival proposal worth `15 crore to the Union government and is awaiting a favourable response. The rain means one thing in Bengaluru: mosquitoes. Infections like dengue and chikungunya, transmitted through mosquitoes, are a very real danger. While the authorities are looking for mosquito larvae, citizens should also ensure mosquitoes don't get a chance to breed. Not only that 46 cases of H1N1, airborne flu, have been reported in the city in a single week, raising concern. Private hospitals have been asked to record all swine flu cases on a government portal, for authorities to work on preventing the spread of the disease. Authorities say there is no need to panic, for no acute cases or deaths have been reported. Even so, its crucial to seek treatment as soon as symptoms appear, for they resemble those of a regular flu but can be deadly. Patients with the symptoms must stay at home and wear a mask at all times and cover the nose or mouth while sneezing or coughing so the virus doesn't release in the air putting others at risk of this respiratory illness. Abilash Mariswamy reports The monsoon has, as always, led to a surge in viral infections in the city. Long queues of people suffering from symptoms of dengue, chikungunya, and H1N1 are now often seen at clinics and hospitals. The spurt in H1N1 with 46 cases reported in just a week from September 29 to October 5 in the city has left doctors worried. Going by the health department as on October 15, 2,426 people have tested positive for dengue, 1878 for chikungunya and 524 for H1N1 across the state since January 1. Bengaluru alone has seen 131 H1N1 cases, and six people have died from the disease across the state The citys Fortis hospital treated 16 cases of H1N1, 13 of dengue and three of chikungunya in September. Seeing the rise in the infections, doctors are keen that people watch out for symptoms of swine flu like cough, fever, runny nose, bodyache, sore throat, fatigue, and chills. They warn that the symptoms of chikungunya and dengue include loss of appetite, nausea, severe pain in the eyes, skin rash, headache, swelling in the joints and rapidly falling platelets (white blood cells). Dr. Pratik Patil, consultant, infectious diseases at Fortis Hospital says as flu is caused by the influenza group of viruses that spread through direct exposure to respiratory secretions and indirectly by fomites, vaccines can help contain it. Everyone can take them. The vaccines need to be taken every year as the flu virus rapidly changes and the vaccine is modified accordingly annually, he says. The World Health Organisation (WHO) in fact, recommends an annual vaccination for children between six months and five years of age, elderly individuals (over 65), pregnant women, individuals with chronic medical conditions and health care workers. H1N1, which affects humans, is highly contagious and can spread through human contact. The patients incubation period is usually for three to four days and the disease can last for seven to 10 days or more. The recovery time may be longer if the patient is also suffering from pneumonia. The preventive measures are staying home and reducing direct contact with humans, drinking plenty of fluids and covering your mouth with a tissue while coughing or sneezing, says Dr. Shylaja Shyamsunder, consultant, internal medicine, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospitals. While chikungunya is also a viral fever, it is transmitted by a mosquito and is accompanied by severe bodyache and fever, which can last upto a few weeks and severe joint pain, which lasts for four to six weeks or more. It is essential to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in freshwater and to keep the environment clean to prevent this disease, the doctor stresses. With dengue and chikungunya being mosquito-borne diseases, there is no vaccine available for them, but both are easily preventable, says Dr Patil. Mosquito control measures like destroying their breeding sites and insecticide sprays help in reducing their number, he adds, strongly recommending that along with mosquito nets and repellents, people should wear full-sleeved shirts and long pants to prevent mosquito bites. Tamiflu distributed, 3k houses surveyed While the health department claims it is taking adequate measures to prevent the rise of communicable diseases, a large number of people continue to test positive for them across the state. Experts blame the absence of a good public health system and involvement of the community in preventing the diseases. Says Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, public health doctor and researcher, When the government is aware that these diseases see a rise at a certain time of the year it should take early precautionary measures like educating the people and holding community plays to prevent them from dying from such simple treatable diseases. Unfortunately, primary health centres (PHCs) and district health hospitals are not able to treat such diseases properly, she regrets. Private hospitals are doing good business as more and more people are going to them for help, Dr. Karpagam adds. Ask Bengaluru Urban district surveillance officer, Dr. Sunanda, and she concedes that the present outbreak is one of the biggest in recent years. The virus has already spread and those who are susceptible to it are falling ill. We have directed all the hospitals to have sufficient stock of medicines and to ensure proper diagnosis of patients across the state, she says, also revealing that health officials have distributed over 150 antiviral and Tamiflu tablets in the worst affected areas and are doing door to door surveys to prevent a recurrence of the fevers. Around 3,000 houses have been surveyed to detect H1N1 cases in the city till now, she adds. Dr. S Sajjan Shetty, joint director, communicable disease, department of health and family welfare too observes with concern that there has been a serious rise in these diseases, especially in September. We plan an awareness campaign in anganwadis (child care centres) to prevent the outbreak of such diseases, he assures, adding that the health department is conducting a drive across the city and destroying the mosquito larvae by identifying and cleaning their breeding places. While the officer advises people to take precautions and keep their environment to avoid falling ill, Dr. Srinivas Gulur, district health and family welfare officer, (Bengaluru Urban) warns against panicking as no acute cases have been identified so far and no deaths have been reported across the state. We have asked all private hospitals to enter the details of their cases on the government portal so that we can trace them and ensure there is no spread of the virus, he adds. Q&A: Drive in every ward to destroy mosquito larvae There has been a spurt in cases of of H1N1, Dengue and Chikungunya of late. What is the government doing to contain the spread of the virus? Most of the identified cases have been from private hospitals. We have asked them to enter the details on their portals so we can trace the people and give them Tamiflu tablets to contain the spread of the virus. We are also trying to create awareness through the radio and media. Have any particular instructions been issued to private hospitals by the government regarding these communicable diseases? As no acute cases have been identified and no deaths have occurred across the state till now, we have directed all the private hospitals not to create panic among people and directly inform the government about the cases they come across. In a recent interview you had said that work is on to spread information and educate the people in the city about these diseases. Can you elaborate? Its about basic things like telling people to use a handkerchief when coughing or sneezing, to have adequate sleep on time, to drink clean water and not to go to highly populated areas. How are you planning to identify and destroy the larvae breeding spots? There is no particular plan as such to identify these spots. We are generally on a drive in every ward to destroy mosquito larvae by identifying and cleaning their breeding places. What about the proposal to involve ASHA workers in an awareness campaign if there was an increase in these cases ? We have asked 1025 ASHA workers to visit 20 houses every day as part of their exercise to detect H1N1 cases. If there is a further increase in these cases, we will speed up the work. Dr. Srinivas Gulur District health and family welfare officer (Bengaluru Urban) Chennai: A 14-year-old boy died after he fell from the second floor of his house while playing on the terrace in Tondiarpet on Saturday. He was immediately rushed to hospital but succumbed to his injuries. Police identified the boy as Somasekar (14) son of Mathiazhagan. The family had been staying in an apartment complex in Kappal Polu street in Tondiarpet. Somasekar was a class seven student in a private school, while his mother is a housewife and father works in a private firm. According to the police, on Saturday evening, Somasekar went to the terrace to play while his mother was asleep and was playing near the parapet wall when he lost his balance and fell from the second floor. Hearing the noise, neighbours rushed only to find him bleeding profusely with a severe head injury. They rushed the boy to Stanley government hospital where he was declared brought dead. His parents claimed the incident took place when he went to the terrace to play. They are not blaming anybody for it. Still, we are investigating the case from all possible angles said a police officer from Tondiarpet. Chennai: BJP state president Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan ridiculed actor-politician Kamal Haasan who sought an electoral alliance with the Congress, saying it was immaterial who sailed along with the Congress, as that party is bound to be defeated by the BJP again. It does not matter who is with the Congress the DMK or Kamal Haasan. The Congress combine is a doomed alliance because it will anyway be defeated (in the Lok Sabha election) by the BJP again, Tamilisai said on Sunday. The Congress-led UPA government had faced a humiliating defeat in the hands of the Narendra Modi-led BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. While speaking against the DMK for the first time, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president Kamal Haasan, floated his party earlier this year, told a Tamil news channel that his party is ready for an alliance with the Congress if it parts ways with DMK for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Recently, he was snubbed by the DMK and allies when they decided not to attend the all-party meeting proposed by him on the Cauvery issue. If DMK-Congress alliance breaks, I would be ready to join hands with Congress in the 2019 elections. I need to have a word with Congress to make sure our alliance would benefit the people of Tamil Nadu, he had said. Speaking to reporters at Manali here on Sunday the BJP president asked the veteran actor to have some concern for the well-being of the students and stop campaigning on college premises. Though there were several issues affecting the people, actors idle away their time criticising politicians. This selective targeting of politicians is unacceptable, she said. Hyderabad: Alleging that development in Telangana state had taken a backseat as caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had prematurely dissolved the Assembly, Union minister Sadananda Gowda said that people would teach the TRS a lesson. He said Prime Minister Narender Modi was on the development mode and had released funds to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh crore to the state. But minister K.T. Rama Rao was projecting the schemes funded by this money as the TRS governments own, without giving due credit to the Centre. Mr Gowda said the Centre had granted Rs 5,200 crore just for reviving one project, Ramagundam Fertilisers Addressing a meeting at Kalwakurthi in Mahbub-nagar district after participating in the BJP Yuva Morcha rally, Mr Gowda said Mr Chandrasekhar Rao had sensed imminent defeat if simultaneous polls were held for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly. That is why he advanced the polls, the Union minister claimed. He said the planned expenditure for the rest of the period in the 2018-19 financial year had become nullified because Mr Chandrasekhar Rao had dissolved the Assembly. Hyderabad: MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday demanded a probe into the alleged harassment of three Muslim youths including an Army personnel in a hotel in Assam, after a video of his speech was found in the memory of their smartphone. According to reports, Imran Hussain Laskar, Sahab Uddin and Zahid Islam Barbhuiyan had checked into a four-star hotel after missing a flight to Delhi. While Mr Laskar is a dental hygienist in the Army, Mr Sahab Uddin owns a college near Silchar and Mr Barbhuiyan is a teacher. According to Mr Barbhuiyan, who spoke to a local newspaper, the trio checked in at 2 pm, paid Rs 2,000 for an extra bed in their room and went out. He added that they returned at 4 pm to find the hotel full of security men who were reportedly watching their movements. The trio said the hotel staff had not complied with their request for an extra bed. When questioned, the receptionist allegedly misbehaved with them. The hotels chief executive officer allegedly threatened to send them to prison when they tried to speak to mediapersons who were there to cover an event of the Assam Chief Minister at the hotel. Mr Owaisi in a tweet said, Sir please inquire. Is it wrong to have a speech of an MP given in Lok Sabha or a public meeting on a cell phone? If yes, please also book a criminal case against me. What will happen to Fundamental Rights CM saheb? This is clear example of communal bias (sic). Security sources said they did not now about the incident. They said security at the hotel had been rightened for the Chief Ministers programme and every visitor was frisked and checked routinely. Rajnath Singh asked to intervene in AMU issue MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi sought the intervention of Union home minister Rajnath Singh to find an amicable solution in the matter of Kashmiri students at the Aligarh Muslim University. He was reacting to reports that 1,200 students belonging to Kashmir had threatened to quit the university after sedition charges were filed against three students from the Valley. He urged Mr Rajnath Singh, the AMU Vice-Chancellor and teachers of the university to solve the issue amicably. Students came there to study, we have to interact with them and convince them, Mr Owaisi said. No one had the right to suspect the loyalty of any Kashmiri Muslim. We have to provide an atmosphere where northeast and Kashmiri students feel comfortable, he said. Hyderabad: Low equity and high profits are the characteristic feature of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode of contracts which have become the norm for politicians, who can influence governments and bag them. Like Telugu Desam MP C.M. Ramesh, a close aide of AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who found a gold mine in this mode and bagged Rs 7,748 crore worth of projects. The projects are being executed by his flagship company Rithwik Projects Private Ltd. Mr Ramesh has been a cynosure of all eyes in TD as Mr Naidu apparently even sidelined former Union minister Y.S. Chowdary sometimes, to bestow favours on him, a TD leader said. He started his career with the family liquor business and rose to be the most trusted person. Ms Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, wife of late Chief Minister Dr Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy, in her affidavit filed before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in 2009, had asked how could Mr Ramesh, a subcontractor, with Rs 61 crore revenue in 2003 notch up Rs 488 crore by 2009. She demanded a CBI inquiry into it but the petition was dismissed as politically motivated. Costs to government, but profits to private developers is the crux of EPC contracts that made defunct companies of politicians do roaring business. A total of 100 tippers, 16 hydraulic excavators, scaffolding equipment of 1 lakh sqft, single digit crushers and JCB loaders is all that the company boasts of as its assets. The company partners with Zarubezhvodstroy Public Limited Company, Russia, Continental Engineering Corporation, Taiwan, Atlantia S.P.A, Italy, Galfar Engineering and Contracting SAOG, Oman, Ratna Infrastructure Projects Pvt. Ltd, IL&FS, SEW Infra Limited, NCC Ltd, HES Infra, Patel, Backbone projects. The companys major clients include the irrigation department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Konkan Railway, NTPC, SAIL and all public sector units. For the last five years, Mr Ramesh owned companies but did not bid for any projects that required equity... whatever he bid for was EPC, a top infrastructure developer said. He said that with the new RBI norms in place and with the general reluctance of banks to lend to the infrastructure sector, developers will turn EPC contractors, while all the capital expenditure will be done by the government. No private player will put any more money into the infrastructure sector, all will be done on EPC basis, while the government will have to fund the projects as it has high targets to achieve, he added. Hyderabad: Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, which was contracted by the TRS government to build several projects, is like an East India Company for the state, former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy said in an unprecedented attack on the ruling party. He alleged that caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had allotted about Rs 60,000 worth works to the companies owned by Mr Megha Krishna Reddy. Speaking to mediapersons here on Monday, Mr Jaipal Reddy said, KCR has become a slave to construction companies, especially Megha Constructions and the Navayuga Group. He said the government had allotted works worth Rs 43,436 crore to Megha Constructions in the irrigation sector alone. Koya Constructions, also owned by Mr Megha Krishna Reddy, was given Mission Bhagiratha projects worth Rs 14,000 crore. This means only one single company has got contracts worth Rs 60,000 crore, which was never seen in the history of any state, he said. He alleged that Mr Rao had directed the company to distribute commissions to the Chief Minister, ministers, MLAs and local TRS leaders. This was done by Navayuga Constructions, which was given irrigation works worth Rs 17,000 crore. In four years, no project was completed. Only pipelines were laid for Mission Bhagiratha as the pipes were manufactured by the company that belongs to Megha Krishna Reddy. I challenge the government to deny the numbers, Mr Jaipal Reddy said. He said that the cost of all projects had been over-estimated by 30 per cent. The corruption can be calculated according to the overestimations, the Congress leader said. Mr Jaipal Reddy alleged that the government had borrowed Rs 2 lakh crore to pay the construction companies and pushed the state into debts. Soon after the Congress forms government, a detailed inquiry will be ordered and we will ensure the guilty are punished. Both the companies will be disqualified. Mr KCR had said that the Congress is trying to sell Telangana state to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. But, these irregularities show how Mr KCR is helping Andhra contractors by plundering the state. The Congress is not against Andhra contractors, but the two companies will be blacklisted for irregularities, he said. Bengaluru: In a clear sign that the Congress, attempting to portray a picture of an united coalition in the run up to upcoming polls, will not rock the boat in Karnataka, it has allowed its smaller regional partner to yet again walk away with a bigger slice of the cake - ceding two of the three Lok Sabha seats up for bypolls on November 3. The party threw up a surprise decision by allowing late chief minister S Bangarappas son and JD (S) leader Madhu Bangarappa to contest from Shivamogga, a bastion of the BJP, while also agreeing to a JD(S) candidate for the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, only retaining Ballari for its candidate V S Ugrappa, MLC. This decision, however, was defended by KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao who cited the winnability criteria for allowing JD (S) to contest two of the three parliament seats. A hint of this development was evident when Congress president Rahul Gandhi invited Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy for lunch along with top party leaders during his visit to Bengaluru on October 13. Elaborating his partys strategy, Mr Rao told the media: Though the Congress had been consistently securing four lakh plus votes in the constituency (Shivamogga), we have not won from this seat for a long time. He said the issue of seat-sharing and pre-poll alliance between the coalition partners was announced long ago and was also an affirmation of its earlier stand vis-a-vis its partners. We will sit and chalk out strategies to contest jointly in all 28 constituencies once these by-elections are over. We have some strengths, and so does the JD(S). We need to pool our strengths to defeat the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he said. Bypolls: its uphill for Congress Joladarashi Shantha, the BJP candidate is expected to sweep the Nayaka dominated constituency, backed as she is by the Reddy mine barons. The Congress has fielded anti-illegal mine crusader V.C Ugrappa - also a Nayaka - for the November 3 Lok Sabha and assembly bypoll. In Shivamogga, State BJP president, B.S. Yeddyurappas son, B.Y. Raghavendra, the front-runner filed his papers for the Shivamogga bypoll in the presence of senior BJP leader, K.S. Eshwarappa, MLA, Halappa and former MLC, Banuprakash. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will stand alongside Madhu Bangarappa, son of late Chief Minister, S Bangarappa, as he files his nomination on Tuesday for the Shivamogga LS bypoll which will see no Congress candidate being fielded. B01 Hundreds of scientists and Mars-exploration enthusiasts will convene in a hotel ballroom just north of Los Angeles later this week to present, discuss and deliberate the future landing site for NASA's next Red Planet rover - Mars 2020. The three-day workshop is the fourth and final in a series designed to ensure NASA receives the broadest range of data and opinion from the scientific community before the Agency chooses where to send the new rover. The Mars 2020 mission is tasked with not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life. The landing site for Mars 2020 is of great interest to the planetary community because, among the rover's new medley of science gear for surface exploration, it carries a sample system that will collect rock and soil samples and set them aside in a "cache" on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. The next Mars landing, after Mars 2020, could very well be a vehicle that would retrieve these Mars 2020 samples. "The Mars 2020 landing site could set the stage for Mars exploration for the next decade," said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. "I'm looking forward to the spirited debate and critical input from the science and engineering community. Whichever landing site is ultimately chosen, it may hold the very first batch of Mars soil that humans touch." The workshop begins with an opening address by the lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Michael Meyer. After project status, engineering constraints, and site-assessment criteria are discussed come the presentations. Fair warning: Expect plenty of technical jargon as terms like biosignatures, geochemical conditions, impact deformation, biogenetic potential, olivine lithologies, and serpentinization and its astrobiological potential roll off presenters' tongues. "We have been doing these workshops in support of 2020 landing site selection since 2014," said Matt Golombek, cochair of the Mars Landing Site Steering Committee from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "At our first workshop, we started with about 30 candidate landing sites, and after additional orbital imaging and a second landing site workshop, we had a recommendation of eight sites to move forward for further evaluation. There were so many great locations to choose from, the whittling-down process was tough. This time around, with four finalists, it promises to be even more difficult. Each site has its own intriguing science potential and knowledgeable advocates." Champions for four landing options will take their turn at the podium, presenting and defending their favorite parcel on the Red Planet. It is one more site than was expected after the completion of the third workshop, in 2017, where three locations on Mars were recommended for consideration - Columbia Hills, Jezero Crater and Northeast Syrtis. "At the end of the workshop in February of 2017, there were only three sites on our radar as potential Mars 2020 landing locations," said Ken Farley, project scientist of Mars 2020 at JPL. "But in the ensuing months, a proposal came forward for a landing site that is in between Jezero and Northeast Syrtis. Our goal is to get to the right site that provides the maximum science for Mars 2020, and this new site - dubbed 'Midway' - was viewed as worthy of being included in the discussions." On the final day, after all presentations have concluded, workshop participants will weigh the positives and negatives of each site. The results of these deliberations will be provided to the Mars 2020 Project, which will incorporate them into a recommendation to NASA Headquarters in Washington, where final selection will be made. The announcement of the Mars 2020 landing site is expected to come by the end of the year. "I have attended all the workshops so far, and none have disappointed when it comes to intelligent advocation and lively debate," said Farley. "But this is what science is all about - the cogent and respectable exchange of ideas. The passion of the participants shows just how much they care about Mars exploration. They know they are playing a key role in the process, and they know how important the landing site for Mars 2020 will be." Mars 2020 will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in July 2020. It is expected to reach Mars in February 2021. The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. Scientists will use the instruments aboard the rover to identify and collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in sealed tubes and leave them on the planet's surface for potential return to Earth on a future Mars mission. The Mars 2020 Project at JPL in Pasadena, California, manages rover development for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. For more information on the workshop, go to: https://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/workshops/wkshp_2018_10.cfm For information on how to listen in to workshop presentations, go to: https://ac.arc.nasa.gov/landing-site-workshop/ For more information on Mars 2020, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ For more information about NASA's Mars missions, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. The critical polling centres were identified based on the incidents of violation of the model code of conduct that took place during the 2014 general elections. Hyderabad: With the Assembly elections just about 50 days away in the state, the Telangana police are developing applications to monitor the ground-level happenings during elections. The technological initiatives include live monitoring of the police personnel posted at the polling centres and also on flying squad duty. After a series of meetings held by the top cops of the state, it was found that there were over 3,300 critical polling stations across the state, with 1,600 among them being identified as hypersensitive polling stations, where additional forces would be deployed to prevent untoward incidents during the polling on December 7. The critical polling centres were identified based on the incidents of violation of the model code of conduct that took place during the 2014 general elections. Additional Director General (Law and Order) Jitender said Initiatives like developing a software to sync in the existing TS COP application is to pinpoint the personnel deployed at the polling centres and also at the critical centres. A live-tracking facility will be enabled to trace the movement of every officer so that in case of emergency, the nearest stationed officer would be directed to attend. Another software is being developed to generate reports from all the polling stations on an hourly basis. The reports will be updated online for the review at the state police headquarters and they would be submitted to the Election Commission, as and when required, said the Additional DG. Around 1,300 cases of violation of the model code of conduct were registered during the previous general elections, and have been charge-sheeted. About 12 cases of Arms Act were also registered, said the official. During the 2014 general elections, polling took place in as many as 29,732 stations. This time, about 32,500 have been identified so far, and over 1,000 centres may be increased as around 20 lakh voters have been added. Social media under scanner During the upcoming elections, the social media posts of political parties and groups in poll-bound Telangana will come under the Election Commissions scanner for any objectionable content under the model code of conduct, said the state chief electoral officer Rajat Kumar. DGP, M. Mahender Reddy, has also offered the help of the Cyber wing in taking action in cases of violation of the code. An agency was appointed in the state to help Mr. Kumar on social media issues and the EC at the national and the state level is in touch with companies such as Google and Facebook, which have assured cooperation in cases of violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said they would keep an eye on bulk messaging sent through social media or the traditional way with a malafide intention. Meanwhile, Cyberabad police warned that criticising politicos on social media will be punished. Warning the citizens and politicos and their aides to be careful while posting on social media and making it viral, Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar said any person who posted derogatory or defaming posts, morphed pictures and critical material would face stringent action as it would be treated as a violation of the model code of conduct. Commissioner Sajjanar on Monday said anybody involved in posting or sharing of content or pictures against the candidates, use abusive language or spread false information to defame or degrade any person would be subjected to legal action. Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has a Test double hundred to his name, and yet seems to have little situational awareness a failing his political opponents invariably jump in to exploit. He recently exclaimed that culturally he felt more at ease in Pakistan than in South India. Is he being anti-South Indian? Of course not. But is he being utterly foolish? Of course, what else? It wouldnt have mattered if the Partition of India hadnt occurred. But today, with Pakistan a reality and bilateral relations mostly hostile, Mr Sidhus remarks can be seen as politically incorrect, and probably best avoided, although we Indians believe in the ancient philosophy of vasudhaiv kutumbkam the world being one family. Left to be freely twisted in a BJP spokesmans hands, the ministers observation was truly anti-national. Two decades ago, visiting Lahore as a member of an eminent persons group, a Tamil Nadu MP said that to him NorthIndians and Pakistanis were equally distant, culturally speaking. He was warming up to an argument on why India and Pakistan should waste their time fighting and not forge a cooperative outlook. He was dead right. Was that Mr Sidhu in reverse? Perhaps. But it was the forum and the context that matters. The MP was speaking in the broad context of constructing peaceful relations and saying generously that a part of his own country seemed as culturally apart for him as next-door Pakistan. He was also alluding to the great diversities of our subcontinental home in food, language, and dress. Mr Sidhu still appears more reality TV, a world he has known, than bare-knuckled politicking. Lets hope that he never learns his new game. The Madras high court has ordered a CBI probe into complaints of nepotism and corruption in the award of contracts by Tamil Nadus highways department. The order is politically significant as the portfolio is under the charge of Edappadi K. Palaniswami for the past seven years, including the time he was not the CM. While legally there is no bar on his continuing as CM, it appears that morally he should have stepped aside until the CBI probe was completed in three months, as prescribed by the court. The judge himself had, however, made it clear he was expressing no opinion over the allegations made in the complaints by DMK organising secretary R.S. Bharathi. The judge ordered a CBI probe only on the ground that the preliminary enquiry was not done in a fair and just manner by the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption. At issue here is the fact that the DVAC reports to the Tamil Nadu chief minister. The CBI probe was then ostensibly only to assign it to an independent body over which the prime decision-maker would have no control or influence. In a state in which there is no lokayukta in place yet, the question of a probe that will not only be fair but also be seen to be fair is a difficult proposition. A transfer of the probe to the CBI would mean a Central agency, not too well-known for its efficiency or quickness, would be handling it, on the directions of the Centre. The problem of finding an appropriate authority to probe charges of corruption in high places is a nationwide one. Also, in political history, there have been only a handful of exceptions in anyone facing charges stepping aside until the probe is complete. The crux of the issue is that the main highways contracting company belongs to a man whose son-in-law is the chief ministers son. It has been said in defence of his company that it had been granted contracts for decades, including in the 2006-2011 period when the DMK was in power. The ministers are defending their chief by quoting the online bidding process, which is more secure and less prone to fiddling as the box contracts of yesteryear. The DVAC had concluded that many past contracts had been given out at greater average cost per km of highway than the ones being questioned now. Huge outlays are involved in road building and Tamil Nadu is a state that has generated more corruption complaints than most others on this score. The judges order has set the cat among the pigeons, but it is still far from certain that any probe would establish actual corruption and a money trail in loaded contracts, that too in a meaningful timeframe. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was instituted in 1968 by the Swedish central bank, and laureates are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is commonly called the Nobel Prize in Economics, though the Nobel Endowment has nothing to do with it. It has mostly tended to go to scholars doing esoteric research in economics. Much of economic research has tended to be quite remote from influencing public policy. My professor at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government, Prof. Thomas Schelling, who taught me game theory used in nuclear strategy, and only sometimes in economics, got an Economics Nobel for just that in 2005. Now the trend from the esoteric and philosophical is moving towards the practical. This year two American economists, William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for their work in two diverse areas, but current concerns. Nordhaus won it for his warning policymakers during the first stirrings of concern about climate change in the 1970s that their economic models were not properly taking account of the impact of global warming and he is seen as one of the pioneers of environmental economics. The co-winner Romer is seen as the prime mover behind the endogenous growth theory, the notion that countries can improve their underlying performance if they concentrate on supply-side measures such as research and development, innovation and skills. This simply means developing nations that want to get out of their rut, like India, must invest in quality education and R&D. Instead, our bureaucratic centralism has created a huge system whose outcomes are so low grade, that mediocrity passes off as brilliance. The fact that Indian students and scholars have to go abroad to fully harness their brilliance and gain recognition tells us what has gone wrong with our system. Paul Romer has argued: Technological change can be accelerated by the targeted use of state interventions in areas such as R&D tax credits and patent regulation. He called it post colonial endogenous growth theory. This famously inspired the Oxford don and economist Derek Morris to write an ode to endogenous growth with that title. Its the history of economic theory in verse and is very witty and clever. The relevant verse for us is: Only inventions seemed to have any effect/ And from where these arose everyone was quite bereft/ So people then began to get rather weary/ Of the once almighty neoclassical growth theory/ A new explanation arrived, over which there was quite a fuss/ Technical progress innovation, ideas were endogenous/ Invention was crucial but needed embodiment/ In people in skills and in capital investment/ So these were important to make growth shine/ Although others had known this for a very long time But how does one nurture invention without a national mood? For it is now well understood that how we do as a nation depends a great deal on how we perceive ourselves? This psychological factor is now understood to be critical to sustained economic growth. Classical economics was linked closely with psychology. Adam Smiths other great work was The Theory of Moral Sentiments and dealt with the psychological principles of individual behaviour. Smith emphasised the concept of empathy, the capacity to recognise feelings that are being experienced by another being. Jeremy Bentham described utilitarianism as the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong and is considered by many as the father of the welfare state. Classical economic theory, also known as laissez faire, claims that leaving individuals to make free choices in a free market results in the best allocation of resources. Since individuals made choices the emphasis was on understanding human beings and their behaviour as individual and as groups. Neo-classical economists based their thinking on the assumptions that people have rational preferences; individuals maximise utility and firms profits; and people act independently. Consequently, neo-classical economists distanced themselves from psychology and sought explanations for economic analysis heavily based on the concept of rational expectations. For most of the last century economics became increasingly mathematical. Much of economic theory came to be presented as mathematical models, mostly calculus, to clarify assumptions and implications. It is not as if the switch was complete. Many great economists like Vilfredo Pareto, John Maynard Keynes and Joseph Schumpeter continued to base their analysis on psychological explanations. In more recent times this school of economics has been given greater importance and is reflected in the award of Nobel Prizes to behavioural economists like Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University and last year to Richard Thaler. Making the announcement, the Nobel Committee said: His empirical findings and theoretical insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field of behavioural economics, which has had a profound impact on many areas of economic research and policy. There is a delicious irony in the award of the Nobel to Richard H. Thaler. He works in the University of Chicago, the nursery of classical economics, where he is the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioural Science and Economics at the Booth School of Business. Incidentally Raghuram Rajan, who is also an economics professor, is a colleague, and was reported to also being considered for the Nobel Prize for his contributions illuminating the dimensions of decisions in corporate finance. The dominance of the classical school on the world of economics can be gauged by the fact that since the relatively recent inception of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1968, the Chicago economics department faculty have won the Nobel as many as 12 times, twice as many as MIT, which has six Nobel laureates. Seen from Harvard Universitys ivory tower, even MIT is considered as leaning more towards classical economic theory. Recent Harvard winners for economics such as Oliver Hart (2016), Alvin Roth (2012) and Eric Maskin (2007) were rewarded for their work based on mathematical empiricism than behavioural speculation. Amartya Sen (1998) was one of the few who broke this mould and won it in recognition of his work and abiding interest in welfare economics. Every politician worth his salt knows that the national mood and perceptions are decisive in determining national outcomes. And often people do not always make rational choices, something that marketers of diverse products such as automobiles and soap, and political dreams know well. But economists took their time recognising this, and the Nobel Committee even longer. Better late than never. The writer, a policy analyst studying economic and security issues, held senior positions in government and industry. He also specialises in the Chinese economy. The powerbank automatically adjusts output based on the connected device, compatible with all popular smartphones and Tablets. QHMPL, under the brand Quantum Hi Tech launched the slimmest pocket sized power bank with a capacity of 4000mAh QHM 4KP. The Polymer Power Bank supports up to 500 times charge discharge cycle complimenting the slim profile with functionality. The Power Bank is lighter to carry and also remains dormant when not in use to avoid any power waste. Engineered with practicality and suitability in mind, it also includes LED Indicator which exhibits the battery status. In sync with the dynamic lifestyle, the Power bank comes with Dual Charging interface and RISC Micro Processor controlled that ensures fast charging and efficient output. The Dual Output gives a maximum output of 5V-2AMPS, which allows you to charge two devices at one go, even while you are on the go. With conversion rate of upto 80% the PowerBank automatically adjusts output based on the connected device, compatible with all popular smartphones and Tablets. BIS Certified, the power bank equips a multitude of advanced safety features - Short Circuit Protection, Over-charge Protection, Over Discharge Protection & Over Voltage Protection, that assures maximum user and device safety at all times. The product in shades of black and white is available with leading retail and ecommerce stores in India for Rs 999. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The feature will be rolled out as an update on 18th October to the first generation Pixel, the Pixel 2 and the newly launched Pixel 3. Since its inception, the Google Pixel series of smartphones have been known to lead the pack when it comes to mobile photography. 2017s Pixel 2 was still regarded as one of the best camera smartphones, even with Apple and Samsung rolling out new optical advancements for enhanced photography performance. However, despite the unparalleled computational photography performance, the Pixel phones have always been lacking one thing the ability to record audio via external microphones using the stock camera app. Google has heard complaints about the issue and is now ready to fix it. In one of the threads on their official product forum, an engineer from the Pixel Camera team has confirmed that they will be rolling out the support for plugging in external microphones to all Google Pixel smartphones. Users will now be able to plug in compatible external microphones to the ports on all the Pixel smartphones. The feature will be rolled out as an update on 18th October to the first generation Pixel, the Pixel 2 and the newly launched Pixel 3. This comes across as a good news for those who keep the Pixel phones as their primary device to capture videos. Until now, users were only left with the option to record via the on-device microphones in the stock app, which offers several brilliant shooting conveniences. Previously, users had to install Open Camera on the device in order to record audio via the external port. With the new update, users will now be able to take advantage of Google's computational photography to record high quality videos while capturing professional quality audio at the same time. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Trump said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way to Saudi Arabia within the hour to discuss the controversy over journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Photo: File) Washington: US President Donald Trump said Monday he'd received a strong denial from Saudi Arabia's king of any involvement in the disappearance of a critical journalist and that "rogue killers" might be to blame. "The denial was very, very strong," Trump told reporters at the White House after talking to King Salman by telephone. "It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" Trump said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way to Saudi Arabia within the hour to discuss the controversy over journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post who vanished after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. In a surprise turn of events, a little-known united opposition candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, was declared the winner, sparking celebrations across the country. (Photo: File | PTI) Colombo: Outgoing Maldives President Abdulla Yameen says disappearing ink and specially treated ballot papers were to blame for his heavy election defeat last month. The strongman leader of the honeymoon island nation had been expected to romp home in the September 23 poll, with opposition leaders jailed or exiled, and warnings that he would try to fix the vote. But in a surprise turn of events, a little-known united opposition candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, was declared the winner, sparking celebrations across the tropical holiday destination. Yameen initially said he accepted defeat, and was ready to step down when his term ends on November 17. But last week he launched a Supreme Court challenge, seeking to annul the result. At a hearing on Sunday, which resumed Monday, Yameen's lawyer Mohamed Saleem accused the printer of coating ballot papers with an unnamed substance to make votes marked in Yameen's box vanish. Saleem said a "special pen with disappearing ink" had been given to people who were going to vote for his client, a reporter at the hearing said. A lawyer for the Elections Commission, which Yameen accused of colluding with the printer to ensure his defeat, on Sunday denied any wrongdoing, including using any special ink. A day ahead of the court hearing in the capital Male, the United States warned "appropriate measures" would be taken if the will of the Maldivian people was undermined. Europe and India have also issued similar warnings in the past. The US and its allies have been concerned by growing Chinese influence in the strategically positioned Indian Ocean archipelago, especially under Yameen's authoritarian rule. Yameen's Progressive Party (PPM) on Saturday said the vote was the "most farcical election in living memory" with the organisation "abysmal" and vote-rigging "rampant". Khashoggi has been missing since he stepped inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. (Photo: AP) Ankara: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman discussed the case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their first telephone talks on the controversy, both sides said. Erdogan and Salman discussed "the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi" and also emphasised the "importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation," said a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named. Ankara had previously said a working group would be set up in line with a Saudi proposal. But few details have emerged over how this will function. The Saudi foreign ministry said Salman affirmed his country's "solid" relations with Turkey in the phone call with Erdogan. The king phoned Erdogan "to thank the president for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to form a joint working group to discuss the disappearance of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi". Salman emphasised the importance of the Turkey-Saudi relationship and said no-one should be able to "undermine the strength of this relationship", it added. Khashoggi has been missing since he stepped inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Turkish officials say they believe he was killed inside the consulate and macabre claims have been published in Turkish media. But Saudi Arabia strongly rejects he was killed inside the mission. Erdogan, meanwhile, has behaved cautiously in the controversy, expressing concern but stopping short of directly accusing Riyadh. The advent of technology has irreversibly changed how people and businesses interact with each other. Today, businesses worldwide are digitally transforming their operational models to stay relevant to the times and consumers have embraced an always-on mode of living where smartphones and apps have become an integral part of their daily lives. This approach has made life extremely convenient in a lot of cases but it comes with a catch. The huge digital footprint each and every one of us leaves behind in the process includes a bevy of information that is personal, financial, and personal in nature. Recent data leaks by major Internet companies have brought to light the impact of the data we share and generate. Taking these factors into consideration, governments and regulatory bodies worldwide have started putting checks and balances in place to ensure that end users privacy is not compromised. For most Internet-based companies, harnessing the power of customer data is crucial for innovation and growth. However, recent data breach incidents have raised concerns about the integrity and safety of customer data and subsequently, the privacy of individuals. Companies and governments alike are waking up to the fact that loss or misuse of data is synonymous to loss of not just money, but also reputation. Similarly, frequent headlines of identity thefts and other forms of Internet-based attacks have resulted in a growing demand amongst consumers for the privacy and protection of the information they share. At a time when India is becoming a major economic power, it is mandatory that there exists robust data protection laws, especially in sectors that deal with sensitive data. The cornerstone for a strong data privacy regime in India was laid last year when the Supreme Court held Right to privacy as a fundamental right. Further, the recent data protection framework, proposed by the Committee of experts under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court judge Justice B N Srikrishna, is the first step in Indias data privacy journey. Introduction of the Bill To address the fragmented legislative landscape of data protection across the European Union, the GDPR was introduced to protect data and privacy for all individuals within the EU and the EEA. The regulation impacts any organisation that does business with citizens of the EU and EEA, even if they dont hold an office there. This has forced organisations across the world working hard towards being 100% GDPR compliant because failure to comply implies reputational losses and a fine that could run into millions of Euros. The Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 in India aims at an approach that adopts aspects of data protection regulations put forward by the US, the EU and China, and to apply it in a way that best suits the largest democracy in the world. However, introduction of Indias Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 adds to the number of challenges companies would have to tackle in order to business in addition to the one created by GDPR. The bill introduces a framework for Indias data protection laws, prescribing how organisations should collect, process, and store citizens data; it essentially makes individual consent central to data sharing. Predictably, the introduction of Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 in India took several sectors by surprise as many were still working towards GDPR compliance. Impact on BFSI/FinTech sector While the deadline for organisations to become GDPR compliant has passed, several sectors in India are still lagging; BFSI and FinTech being two prominent sectors that need to ensure compliance quickly; both sectors collect and / or process sensitive personal data in various forms including biometrics thus making it critical for them to take data protection seriously. However, recent studies show that 68% of BFSI organisations have just begun preparing for GDPR changes. BFSI is among the three least responsive sectors in terms of starting their GDPR journey and preparedness. If the Personal Data Protection Bill becomes a law today, then a majority of BFSI and FinTech companies may struggle to be compliant to both the regulations, further delaying the overall process. The proposed bill has been extensively compared with EUs GDPR leading to several discussions about its impact across sectors. While most of the areas such as having a clear purpose of processing of personal data, consent, other rights and appointing of Data Protection Officers in organisations are taken directly from GDPR provisions, there are still a few significant differences. Unlike in GDPR, Indian draft legislation does not require the data fiduciary (a person, state, company, or any entity that decides why data should be processed and how it should be processed) to share the names and categories of other recipients of the personal data with the data principal (the person, company, or entity whose information is being collected). There is no obligation on data fiduciary to share with the data principal for how long the data will be stored while collecting or at any time, as GDPR mandates. The data fiduciary does not need to share the source of the personal data to the data principal in case the data has not been collected from him/her which is an explicit requirement in GDPR. One of the biggest differences is that in India, a citizen has not been given the right to demand his/her data to be erased. Data reassure, which is an article in itself in GDPR, does not even find a mention in the Indian draft bill. In case of a breach, theres no requirement by the Indian draft bill to share it with the data principal; rather, the data protection Authority shall determine whether such breach should be reported to the data principal. This is also in contrast to GDPR provisions. In the FinTech industry, this difference is critical as information involves credit card data, personal transaction history and other personal data. In the last few years, the government has time and again sensitised the BFSI sector about adopting better cyber security postures. In 2016, RBIs advisory to banks was to beef up security architectures and had mandated the formulation of a Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP) which will address the aspects of detection, response, recovery and containment of cyber threats. Again, this year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed international financial companies that all payments data should be stored locally in India within six months. With less than two months to go, this may get extended due to overlap with the Personal Data Protection Bill. This also impacts Indian companies that store data of Indian citizens on overseas clouds. BFSI and FinTech companies will need to relook at their processes, technologies and third-party contracts to ensure the entire ecosystem understands and abides by the new law. The benefits of complying The likely challenges for BFSI and FinTech companies in India to be privacy-ready are building and maintaining a culture of privacy and allocating budgets to increase technical and administrative procedures to ensure compliance. Since privacy and data protection requirements arent usually one-time actions, continued efforts will be required to sustain a privacy-enabled business environment. Doing so, it is likely to add cost as organisations will need to make investments in order to implement or strengthen operational process to meet regulatory norms. BFSI and FinTech companies will need to relook at their existing applications, policies, and external contracts to ensure the entire ecosystem understands, abides and is able to quickly adhere to any changes in the privacy law. But as it stands, an effective data privacy policy in place serves as a great tool to build trust and while compliance might add to operational costs in the beginning, it will be good for business in the long run. (The writer is Executive Director, i-exceed) ESA is challenging 'citizen scientists' to apply the latest AI and image processing techniques to upscale images acquired by the Earth-watching Proba-V minisatellite. Upscaling is a familiar concept from modern HD or 4K TVs, which perform image processing to enhance the appearance of low-resolution, standard definition footage when played on higher-resolution screens. That is purely cosmetic processing, however; what this new 'super-resolution' competition is interested in is enhancing the spatial resolution of Earth observation images. This means you can see smaller objects more clearly by combining multiple lower-resolution images together to extract extra information on detailed features of the target site. "Proba-V is a very interesting mission because it provides two types of imagery to researchers," explains Dario Izzo of ESA's Advanced Concepts Team (ACT), overseeing the competition. "The wide-swath main Vegetation instrument images 90% of the vegetated surface of Earth every day, at 300 m spatial resolution. It also acquires a limited amount of imagery at 100 m resolution. "So the challenge we're setting is to take nine or more of these 300 m resolution images of a given view then combine them together using super-resolution techniques to enhance the quality beyond the capability of the original camera, to try and come as close as possible to the equivalent 100 m resolution view." The competition was planned with ESA's Proba-V system engineer Jorg Versluys: "Proba-V's Vegetation instrument is composed of three telescopes side by side, providing a 100 m resolution in its central field of view, declining to 300 m resolution at the sides - this a unique situation where different resolution images are available of a given scene on the ground using the same instrument. "These images are also geo-referenced to a sub-pixel level accuracy using startrackers and GPS to precisely fix Proba-V's orbital position, along with additional fine-tuning performed with known control points on the ground." The ACT has gathered a dataset of more than 1 460 Proba-V images covering 74 selected locations around the globe. "We don't include 100 m resolution images for 20% of the dataset," adds ACT fellow Marcus Martens. "Instead the idea is for competitors to learn from the data how to reconstruct them from multiple 300 m resolution images, plus the 80% of 100 m resolution images that can be employed as a benchmark. "We're interested in seeing how traditional processing algorithms compare in performance to modern machine learning, where neural networks can be taught how to interpret the combined images." Super-resolution has found various terrestrial applications, such as enhancing the resolution of security video footage to facilitate facial recognition software or medical imaging at hospitals. For Proba-V, super-resolution could help fill in the gaps between 100 m resolution imagery, responding to increasing interest from users in global 100 m resolution coverage. "For our competition we've selected areas that are mostly cloud free, but some pixels will still be lost to cloud cover," adds Marcus. "The teams will also have to contend with different illumination and atmospheric conditions, as well as shifts in vegetation or the built environment on the ground across a timescale of up to a month between images." This is the latest competition hosted at the ACT's Kelvins website, named after the temperature unit of measurement - with the idea that competitors should aim to reach the lowest possible error, as close as possible to absolute zero. The Proba-V dataset will be available there from Monday 15 October, with the six-month competition starting on 1 November. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Troops from the Peoples Liberation Army recently intruded into the Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh triggering an alarm along the disputed Sino-Indian boundary, a few weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. The development comes a year after the 72-day military face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan. More than 10 Chinese soldiers were spotted in the upper Dibang region of the northeastern state. Locals photographed them and brought the matter to the notice of Indian Army officials, who asked the PLA troops to return. The crossover that took place in July came to light on Monday ahead of the scheduled Modi-Xi meeting on the sidelines of G20 summit in Buenos Aires in Argentina where the two leaders will discuss bilateral issues. The G20 summit will be held on November 30-December 1. Modi and Xi had met twice following their informal summit in Wuhan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the Brics summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. After the Wuhan summit, the two countries decided to bury the ghosts of Doklam and move ahead to maintain peace and tranquillity along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control. When the defence ministers of the two sides met in August, they also agreed on greater interaction at the working level. The intrusion happening within a few months was dealt with laid-down procedures. The Chinese troops responded positively when it was pointed out to them that they strayed into what is perceived to be the Indian territory. Due to a difference in perceptions about the border, transgression of PLA troops into Indian territory is a regular affair. But the number of such crossovers can vary in accordance with bilateral relations. Due to changing perception of the Line of Actual Control, patrols do go till their perception. The PLA soldiers did that. On being conveyed, the Chinese patrols returned to their territory, Army sources told DH. Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui on Monday disclosed the Modi-Xi meeting plans along the sidelines of the annual multilateral conference. The ambassador was speaking at an event to train Afghan diplomats jointly by India and China. Luo said Chinas State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also scheduled to visit India in December for the launch of the first India-China high-level people-to-people exchange mechanism. India has witnessed a sudden spurt in gold smuggling from abroad with customs officials seizing yellow metal worth over Rs 188 crore at various airports across the country till June this year. While the highest number of cases this year was registered in Mumbai after seizure worth over Rs 42 crore from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, airports in Kerala remained the next hotspots of smuggled gold worth over Rs 31 crore. The department of customs in Mumbai registered as many as 290 cases of gold smuggling after seizures at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. However, only 57 people could be arrested on recovery of the smuggled item from their possession. Customs sleuths in Kerala seized smuggled gold worth over Rs 11 crore from the Cochin International Airport in a total of 116 cases, but could arrest only 14 people on charges of smuggling. A total of 135 cases were registered after seizure of smuggled gold worth over Rs 16 crore at the Calicut International Airport. Again, only 14 could be arrested for the crime. The Trivandrum International Airport saw recovery of smuggled gold worth over Rs 4 crore in a total of 30 cases while the number of arrests was 11. While the customs department recorded a total of 93 cases, with recoveries worth over Rs 141 crore at various airports in 2015-16, the number of such cases went up to 60 in 2016-17 and 143 in the fiscal 2017-18. The seizure of smuggled gold in 2016-17 was valued at over Rs 64 crore (Rs 6453.45 lakh to be precise) and over Rs 227 crore (Rs 22721.54 lakh) in 2017-18. Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi has been the third spot, after the international airports in Mumbai and Kerala, where the customs officials seized high value smuggled gold in various cases. The department of customs registered a total of 109 cases of gold smuggling in 2018 (till June) and arrested a total of 123 persons after recovery of the yellow metal worth over Rs 46 crore from their possession. The customs sleuth in Karnataka this year seized smuggled gold worth over Rs 4.46 crore at Mangalore International Airport and registered a total 25 cases. The Kempegowda International Airport saw seizure of smuggled yellow metal worth over Rs 16 crore in in 16 cases. Authorities could arrest just one person each in connection with the Mangalore International Airport gold smuggling cases and those at the Kempegowda International Airport. India levies 10% custom duty on import of gold. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, on Monday, termed the upcoming by-polls as the "semi-final" to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Addressing the media at the JD(S) party office, Kumaraswamy said that both the Congress and the JD(S) were confident of winning all five constituencies going to polls on November 3. "The BJP has termed this partnership as an unholy alliance. But people will decide the fate of this coalition. These by-polls will stand testimony to it," he added. The Chief Minister said that none of the three major political parties, including the BJP, had either expected or anticipated the announcement of the by-polls by the Election Commission of India (ECI). "Now that the election dates are announced, it has become inevitable for us to enter the electoral battlefield," he said. Kumaraswamy also said that the BJP was continuing to make futile attempts to regain power. "The BJP has been making futile attempts to form a new government after Deepavali. Hopefully the party will stop making such attempts after the by-poll results are announced," he added. Anitha's candidature Kumaraswamy, who will be accompanying his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy when she files her nominations in Ramanagara today, said that it was not his decision to field her. "There are no personal or selfish motives here. The party workers had demanded that somebody from the family (H D Deve Gowda family) be fielded in Ramanagara when the seat fell vacant. The people of the constituency treat me like their son - I am merely fulfilling their wish. There were also speculations that the third generation of the Gowda family would be fielded in these elections. But such was never the case," added Kumaraswamy. Kumaraswamy contested from both Ramanagara and Channapatna during the Assembly elections held earlier this year. He won both seats. Kumaraswamy chose to retain Channapatna and vacate Ramanagara. 'God's wish' On his party's decision to field former MLA Madhu Bangarappa from Shivamogga, Kumaraswamy said that it was "God's wish". "I was very upset that he was defeated in Soraba -- that a young and dynamic leader like him couldn't join me in the cabinet. None of us had expected the outcome. But if he had won the Assembly election, we wouldn't field him in these by-polls. It was the unanimous decision of both the Congress and the JD(S) to field him from Shivamogga. This is nothing but God's wish. I consider him my blood brother. I will be by his side when he files his nomination papers tomorrow," he said. Kumaraswamy said that Madhu would be the party's candidate for the Lok Sabha elections also. BSP alliance On BSP MLA N Mahesh's exit from the cabinet, Kumaraswamy said that it was BSP's "internal matter". He however said that the JD(S)-BSP alliance was intact. When asked if either he or JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had spoken to BSP chief Mayawati, Kumaraswamy said that he had spoken to BSP National General Secretary, Satish Mishra. "Satish Mishra called me. He requested me to accept Mahesh's resignation. His decision to resign was BSP's internal matter. Why should I question those decisions? That's not in my purview. The alliance with BSP will continue," he added. Ending speculations, coalition partners - Congress and the JD(S) - on Sunday finalised candidates for the bypolls to three Lok Sabha constituencies - Shimoga, Bellary and Mandya Lok Sabha constituencies. The Congress finally let go of the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency to the JD(S), which has decided to field former MLA Madhu Bangarappa from the segment. Madhu Bangarappa who will be contesting against BJP state president B S Yeddyurappas son B Y Raghavendra, had contested and lost the Soraba seat in Shimoga district to his brother Kumar Bangarappa (BJP) during the Assembly elections held earlier this year. Shimoga, along with two other Parliament segments (Bellary and Mandya) and Assembly constituencies (Ramanagara and Jamkhandi), is going to polls on November 3. The bypoll was necessitated here after Yeddyurappa resigned as its MP, when he contested and won the Shikaripura Assembly seat. As per the pact between the two parties, the Congress was supposed to contest the Shimoga, Bellary, and Jamkhandi seats, leaving Ramanagar and Mandya seats to the JD(S). Though the party was keen on fielding either Kimmane Ratnakar or Kagodu Thimmappa, the duo, however, refused to contest the byelections. When the JD(S) realised that there were no takers for the Congress ticket, it grabbed the opportunity and evinced interest in fielding its candidate from the constituency. Though the Congress dillydallied, it later agreed to let go of the seat to its ally. The decision was finalised during the meeting between Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, when the latter was in Bengaluru on Saturday. The JD(S), which had kept its decision pending over the candidate in Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, announced that former legislator L R Shivarame Gowda would be its candidate in the Vokkaliga heartland. The partys decision took many by surprise as speculations were rife that the party was seriously considering the candidature of former IRS officer Lakshmi Ashwin Gowda. Lakshmi told DH that she had quit the service after the party had assured her the ticket from Mandya. Shivarame Gowda will contest against BJPs Siddaramaiah - a retired additional commissioner of the Commercial Tax department. The bypoll to this constituency was necessitated after JD(S) leader and Minor Irrigation Minister C S Puttaraju vacated the seat. After much deliberation, the Congress is said to have finalised its candidate for the Bellary seat. Though there was no official announcement from the party, sources said Bellary MLA B Nagendras brother Venkatesh Prasad would be fielded against BJPs J Shantha. The Congress had struggled to pick a candidate in the faction-ridden mining district. The Congress has deputed Revenue Minister R V Deshpande to Shimoga, Industries Minister K J George to Mandya and MP D K Suresh to Ramanagara - to oversee the bypoll on behalf of the party. Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar will supervise elections in Bellary. JD(S) candidate from Ramanagara, Anitha Kumaraswamy will be filing her nominations on Monday. She will be accompanied by her husband Kumaraswamy. Anitha will be contesting against BJPs L Chandrashekar. Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, who will be overseeing electioneering in all five constituencies, will be joining his partys candidate Anand Nyamagouda when he files his nominations in Jamakhandi on October 16. ENGLISH EDITION New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Monday directed the states to appoint a nodal officer (Secretary of Women and Child Welfare Department) and ensure that steps are taken by the District Magistrates and the District Collectors for effective implementati... Karma Seelster topped the second and final day of the 2018 London Selected Yearling sale, auctioning for the second-highest price of the two-day session with a $127,000 tag. Going as Hip #182 in the catalogue, Karma Seelster (Sportswriter-Kiddie Cocktail) sold to Gregg McNair. She's a half sister to Kendall Seelster, who has earned over $500,000 so far in her career. Karma Seelster also was the only yearling to sell for over six-digits on the session. Roger Mayotte purchased the highest-priced trotter of the Sunday session. Princesspartypants (Muscle Mass-No Magic To It), Hip #206, sold for $70,000. She's a half sister to two earners of over $100,000 and is the third foal from her dam. Just over 200 yearlings went through the second session grossing $4,194,800 and bringing the total gross sales to $7,064,800, an average of $22,644 from the 312 yearlings that entered the ring. "Im very happy with our $7-million gross and the average $22,644, just slightly below last years record yearling sale," sale manager Ann Straatman said. "Id like to thank our auction crew and our sales administration along with the numerous support staff for their tireless effort today. Best wishes to all buyers with their purchases and thank you to all who attended and participated in the bidding action." A total of 118 trotting yearlings and 194 pacing yearlings sold over the two days. Bettors Delight led pacing sires with an average selling price of $48,033 from 15 yearlings while Muscle Mass topped the trotting sires with an average of $34,569 from 29 yearlings. "I would like to thank all the consignors who made this years London Selected Yearling Sale such a success," said Dan Gall, President and CEO of Standardbred Canada. "And we wouldnt have had the sale we had without the confidence of our buyers who continue to support and participate in our industry. "A huge salute to Forest City Sales and especially Ann and her team for the leadership and expertise that was brought once again to our sale that made this a first class event Important Links: To the Times: How many different ways are the Delco Dems going to dodge the question? They have a real live socialist running for state representative Kristin Seale and all of their establishment Democrats are jointly campaigning with her. Its fair not only to point out Seales positions on these issues, but also to question whether those supporting her campaign agree. Want sources? Go to Google and type in Medium and Kristin Seale to read her responses to the Democrat Socialists of America endorsement questionnaire. When asked about the Purely Public Charities Act, which deals with tax-exempt status of religious institutions, Kristin writes: Id personally like to see religion removed from exemption. In the same article she says she wants to provide full, comprehensive health coverage to people regardless of their immigration status i.e. illegal immigrants. More sources? Go to her twitter page @Servethe168th. Check out Kristin Seales post on July 10, 2018, about how she supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and ending Philadelphias cooperation with federal immigration officials. Or maybe her retweets on July 13, 2018, calling for police to be held accountable for the state-inflicted violence against people of color or Kristin Seales May 16, 2018, retweet of a message to her stating only direct action can bring the capitalist system to its knees and another one the same day about loving socialism and Marxism. Not enough? Then there is the fact the Seale is also a founding member of the Delco Branch of the Democrat Socialists of America, a group that on their Twitter account (@DelcoDSA) brags about building some socialism (Aug. 9, 2018) and how they are working to turn the suburbs the correct shade of red (Aug. 9, 2018). Then there is former Democratic Congressional candidate Molly Sheehans tweet on (July 29, 208) about showing the burbs that DemSocialists can take out corporate Dems. Sheehan also shared a tweet from the Delco DSA (which Seale was a founding charter member of) on July 19, 2018 about how they were going to work to spread Socialism where people said it could not go. And this is all just scratching the surface. Go through Seales own Twitter page to see all this and many more of her extreme views. So I ask the letter writer to please, explain where Delaware County Republican Party Chairman Andrew Reilly made any bad faith arguments or made any misinterpretations. Reilly, myself and many voters simply want to know: Why are the Delco Democrats and their candidates campaigning with this clear extremist who is anti-capitalism, pro Marxism, anti-police, anti ICE, for free health care for illegal immigrants, and so much more. SALT LAKE CITY When youre Markus Zusak, the best-selling and award-winning author whose previous megahit was translated into more than 30 languages and adapted into a major studio film, writing the next book is no easy task. The Book Thief is why it took me so long to write (Bridge of Clay), said Zusak, who visits Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City on Oct. 20, during a recent interview. With the success of a book, the door opens wide that lets a lot of opportunities in, but other things come in that make you question if you can do it again. While Zusak has authored six books, it was his 2005 historical novel, The Book Thief, that brought him international fame. In the 13 years between The Book Thief and his latest, Bridge of Clay, (Penguin Random House, 544 pages) the Australian author pushed through his insecurities and pushed himself as a writer. The one thing Ive wanted to do is not write the same book twice, Zusak said. I want to write books that Im not quite capable of writing, that are better than me, to try to do something thats just out of reach. So it took a lot of belief in myself to write this book. Even if he didnt feel quite ready to write it, Zusak thought his idea for Bridge of Clay was his best idea yet. It started with a boy and a bridge. From there, it grew into a book about five brothers who live in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, and how they cope with the secrets of their past and what those secrets mean for their future. The story centers on one of those brothers, Clay Dunbar, who's constructing a bridge that will hopefully survive when the river floods. I wanted to write a whole world of the character, both internal and the world that turns around him, something that felt big in that way but at the same time intimate, he said. So youre trying to do all these things and its an elusive thing to hold. While stewing over this latest book, Zusak spent his days thinking about Clay and his bridge, and accruing the little bits that become important to the story. You dont understand how important these details are until they sit on top of the previous detail and theres another on top of that and it all starts coming together, he said. And in this phase, which Zusak called meticulous planning, he realized what he needed to discover to write the book: He needed to fully understand Clay. Clays a character who wants to make one beautiful perfect thing, Zusak said, and in understanding his world you understand why he needs to do that. It felt right because Clay is building a bridge, and the writing is also a bridge between the writing of Clays story and the ending of it, he continued. The more Zusak dug into the Dunbar brothers' story, and especially Clay's, he realized one's past is always there in his characters and in him, as a writer and a man. Thats how we live. We take everything thats happened before us with us, Zusak said. We all exist because of a certain set of circumstances and small miracles. And Im loathe to use the word journey, but were all traveling somewhere and were taking a whole lot of stuff with us. Since its release 13 years ago, The Book Thief has topped many book clubs' and individuals' favorite book lists. It stayed on The New York Times' best-seller list for more than 500 weeks, and the film version, staring Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson, grossed over $76 million worldwide. If those fans and readers wonder whether Bridge of Clay could find their way into their hearts as its predecessor did, Zusak said this: What I do know is that The Book Thief meant everything to me, and Bridge of Clay means probably even more to me than that. If you go What: Markus Zusak Bridge of Clay reading and book signing When: Saturday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m. Where: Larimer Auditorium, Rowland Hall, 843 Lincoln St. How much: $27.90. General admission ticket includes one autographed copy of Bridge of Clay. Web: kingsenglish.com SOUTH JORDAN For several good reasons, when they were growing up, brothers John and Todd Mabey knew next to nothing about their grandfathers experiences as a soldier in World War I. For one thing, John was just a year old and Todd hadnt been born yet when Walter Amos Mabey died in 1957 at the relatively young age of 63 his early demise brought on by head injuries sustained in the war. For another thing, John and Todds father, also named John, never heard his dad say anything about the year he spent in France fighting the Germans, so he had no war stories to pass on. The only family war lore, contributed by Ethel, the boys grandmother and Walters wife, was that Walter knew by heart In Flanders Fields, the haunting WWI-inspired poem that pleads for survivors to remember the dead. Sometimes, late at night, shed hear him reciting the whole thing, ending with the last stanza: Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. As fate had it, in 2012 John Jr.s son Ben found himself on a business trip in the Flanders region of Belgium, near where the famous poem was penned in 1915. That sparked a phone call back home to Utah. Hey, he asked his father, Where did Grandpa serve? John had no idea. But he resolved to find out. Thus began a headfirst dive into history. Through tireless digging and research, John dug up Walter Mabeys military service cards and various diary accounts, eventually cobbling together a nearly day-by-day account of his time in uniform. He left the family farm in South Jordan and enlisted in the Army in Salt Lake City on Oct. 1, 1917. He was 23 years old. He didnt have to go. His mother was a widow and Walt was her main means of support. But he went. This is my country, too, he wrote. On his way to sign up, Walter stopped off at the patriarchs house. A patriarch gives blessings to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Walter was one. Walter figured he needed one. He put the blessing, promising him safety if he kept the faith, in his front shirt pocket and left it there. The Army put him on a train. He arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Dec. 13 and set sail for France, landing on Dec. 29, 1917. For eight months he went through training and built armaments, far from any bullets. But that changed in August when he was sent with the 18th Infantry to where the Meuse River flows beneath the Argonne Forest in northeastern France. There the farm boy from Utah became part of the Meuse-Argonne campaign, still the largest offensive in U.S. military history, involving 1.2 million American soldiers. Some 26,277 of them gave their lives, while tens of thousands more were wounded. One of those being Pvt. Mabey. He suffered a head wound, no doubt from shrapnel, and lay in a dugout for who knows how long before he was carried off to hospital. The day he was hit was Oct. 4, 1918. One month and one week later the war ended. Walter returned to South Jordan with a Purple Heart the next summer. At the homecoming party his mother threw for him, he met an elementary schoolteacher named Ethel, who became his wife. The rest, John Mabey knows more or less firsthand. This past spring, John and his brother Todd traveled to where the Meuse River flows beneath the Argonne Forest in northeastern France. They walked through the fields and towns where their grandfather once trod. The knelt at a spot where they deduced he was wounded to pay tribute. If he hadnt made it out of there alive, they wouldn't be around to talk about it. The Mabey brothers were at the front of a wave of World War I remembrance that will climax on Nov. 11, 2018, the 100th anniversary of the ending of the Great War. My grandfathers story is an all-American, Utah farm boy story representative of the millions who served, says John. The message our family wants to get out is for Utahns and Americans to remember the great sacrifices now forgotten; to take up the torch as the poet says in In Flanders Fields. China and India jointly undertook a ten-day training program for ten Afghanistan diplomats at Delhi-based Foreign Service Institute on Monday. Chinese ambassador in India Luo Zhaohui speaks at the opening ceremony of a ten-day training program for ten Afghanistan diplomats jointly undertaken by China and India at Delhi-based Foreign Service Institute on Monday, October 15, 2018. [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn] This is the first such joint initiative being undertaken by India and China for Afghanistan. Chinese ambassador in India Luo Zhaohui read out a message from Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the occasion. The message read: "The launch of this program today marks an important step forward. It reflects the closer coordination and cooperation between our two countries on regional affairs and represents a positive development in China-India relations." "Afghanistan is an important country in our region. China and India have been active supporters of Afghanistan's peace, and reconstruction process. This Joint Capacity Building Program is an essential part of the international efforts to assist Afghanistan, and marks the start of China-India-Afghanistan cooperation," it added. On this occasion, the Chinese ambassador said that: "China and India share a lot of common interests and similar stance on Afghanistan issue. Both of us support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace reconciliation process. Both of us uphold that Afghanistan should realize peace, stability and prosperity. Both of us are against terrorism." Luo also suggested that China-India cooperation could be extended from Afghanistan to other countries, such as Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's message, read out on the occasion, said that the seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the informal summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met in Wuhan in April 2018. "Today, we see it blooming with the initiation of this training program. This marks the beginning of what we visualize as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan," she added. The Afghan diplomats attending the training program felt elated and excited to undertake the first-of-its-kind training program which, they said, would help them in understanding the issues confronting their country from an international perspective. Jahan Zeb Salimankhil, a diplomat serving in Afghanistan's foreign ministry for the past six years, said that it was a good and unique experience for them. "It is a unique experience for all ten of us, of undertaking training at India's 'Foreign Service Institute'. It is all the more important as this is a joint training program of India and China, the two great countries in this part of the world." According to Salimankhil, after completing this training in New Delhi, they will go to China to undertake a similar ten-day long training program. After a difficult battle with cancer, Standardbred horseman Jim (James Brian) Foreman passed away on Wednesday, October 10 at the age of 66. Beloved husband of Ilse Margaret (Marg) for 45 years. Loving father of James and Daryl. Proud Mookie to Jaden, Justin and Jersey. Survived by his siblings Joyce, Frank (Liz) and Alma (Ivan) and predeceased by his parents James and Kathleen. In accordance with his wishes, cremation has taken place and a Celebration of Life service will take place at Kirkwall Presbyterian Church on Sunday, October 21 at 2 p.m. Donations to Kirkwall Church would be appreciated by the family. Jim was passionate about harness racing and was a fixture at Flamboro Downs for much of his training career. He and Marg bought their first racehorse, Fiddlestring, 5, 2:01.1h ($60,214) in 1988 and she became the foundation broodmare for the Foreman stable, producing local stars such as, Judge Mookie, 7, 1:54.2h ($224,757), Tante Helga, 7, 1:57h ($147, 948), and Ilse Mar, 4, 1:59.3h ($71,837). Shy Shelby, 6, 1:55.3h ($110,586) was also a stable favourite. Jim adored his horses and ensured that they live out their retirement on the family farm where Mookie, Helga and Ilse Mar can be found today. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Jim Foreman. (L to R) Nice Melody (30 years old), Tante Helga (23), Summers Nice (19), Judge Mookie (21), Isle Mar (26) SALT LAKE CITY Each year, online criminals scam and extort millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims each year by illegally accessing and stealing personal information from people in Utah and worldwide. Experts are warning Utahns to beware of cybercrooks targeting individuals and businesses in the Beehive State. October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the Utah Department of Public Safety is using the opportunity to warn the public and business owners to protect themselves from a potential hack or online crime. The agency is working with local, state and federal partners to ensure Utahns are protected from cybercriminals, explained Sgt. Jeff Plank, a cybercrime investigator with the department. He said the top cyberthreats in Utah include business email compromise, extortion, tech support and ransomware a type of malicious software that threatens to publish the victim's data or perpetually block access to it unless a ransom is paid. Millions of dollars are lost each year in Utah to such scams, Plank said. And while large corporations and institutions are major targets, he warned everyone needs to take the threat of cybercrime very seriously. "We all need to work together," he said. "It's not just the responsibility of the important CEO of a tech company or the government's role to worry about cybercrime. Everybody has a role and responsibility, including the person who just has a smartphone." He said there are some simple solutions that can prevent Utahns from becoming a victim of the ever-growing threat of cybercrime. "Making sure that you are running regular virus scans for malware and spyware," he said. "(Make) sure that your computer programs and software on your computer are all up to date." He warned to avoid "oversharing" online or on social media, protect your passwords, and beware of using public Wi-Fi networks. Plank said scams can originate from anywhere in the world, so users should be vigilant at all times and stay away from online messages that may pitch sweepstakes, as well as inquiries about work-related business transactions. Scammers often spoof familiar email addresses to trick unsuspecting victims into giving sensitive information or making wire transfers that seem legitimate but turn out to be fake. He said those who become victims of such fraud have a small window of time to report the crime to increase their chances of possibly catching the perpetrator. But even then, the chances of recovering their losses are slim, he added. For a domestic transfer, he said the chances for recouping any money are much more difficult "if we're not informed within a day or two." "A wire transfer that goes internationally is a lot easier to stop, surprisingly, than a domestic wire transfer," he said. "For an international wire transfer, we have three days to try to get that stopped and turned around." Nationally, approximately $800 million was lost last year to cybercrime, the agency warned. In Utah, just over $5 million was lost, according to the Department of Public Safety. Local law enforcement has developed strategies to track and deter cybercrime that has gained the attention of federal investigators who are battling daily attacks from around the globe. This week, FBI Director Christopher Wray called the Utah Department of Public Safety a model agency in the country for combating cybercrimes. "Our Salt Lake field office and the Utah Department of Public Safety created a program to address cybercrime together, by integrating public safety personnel into our Salt Lake Joint Cyber Task Force," Wray said. "The model has worked so well in Salt Lake that were mirroring it in several other field offices." OREM Police on Sunday identified the knife-wielding man officers shot and killed during a confrontation in an Orem home last week as a 17-year-old Orem High School student. Orem police say Jacob E. Albrethsen came at them with a knife after officers were called to a family problem involving a man and a woman at 81 N. Paradise Drive on Friday afternoon. An officer tried to use a Taser to subdue the teenager but it didn't work, Orem Police Lt. Craig Martinez said last week. Both officers then fired "several shots," striking the boy, he said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officers and their families as well as Jacobs' family," Orem police posted Sunday on Facebook. Police said Alpine School District would provide counselors for students who need them on Monday. "This is a tragedy any way you look at it. There is still a lot of work to do and we really appreciate your support and patience," according to the Facebook post. Police have not released more details about what brought them to the home nor about the relationship between those living there. One officer suffered a cut on the hand, but was not sure how he got it, Martinez said. Dennis Romboy SALT LAKE CITY Just over 4 in 10 Americans relying on court-ordered child support receive the full payment, while others get a portion if they get any money at all. But a new report suggests that some simple changes in communication can get more financial support to children who need it, and possibly even improve the relationship between the children and noncustodial parents. The changes are based on behavioral science, the study of factors that influence human behavior, and the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement is working with the research organization MDRC to devise new strategies based on research. So far, the strategies seem to be working. Georgia was able to get hundreds more parents to meet with child-support workers by making its communication to parents more friendly, by providing reminders in advance of a scheduled meeting and by treating the parents as customers instead of debtors. The staff reported the parents reacted positively to the materials and new training, with one parent saying that a staff member "talked to me like I was a human being." The culture is changing for the child-support industry, and we are trying to transition from an enforcement culture to a service culture, said Tanguler S. Gray, director of the Division of Child Support Services in Georgia. While to Liesa Stockdale, the director of Utah's Office of Recovery Services, there is "no one big magic solution that is going to solve the child support problem," other states can learn from Georgia and other states that working to better serve families. With child support ordered for 87 percent of custodial families impacting 15 million children nationwide millions of children stand to benefit from the innovations. Identifying the problem About three-fourths of the nation's child support payments are collected by deducting it from the parent's paycheck, according to federal recovery officials, but much of the remaining total goes unpaid because the collecting office cannot find where the noncustodial parents work in order to garnish their wages. As a result, the Census estimates 56.5 percent of custodial parents will either receive only partial or no payment. "There are shortfalls, and you dont always know where someone is working. We have a lot of really good location services, we just dont know where that person is," Stockdale said. Jessica Boles, a 34-year-old mother of two from Salt Lake City, doesnt know where her ex-husband is and he hasn't paid child support for three years. She said she doesn't even want the money anymore. "I make OK money, but its not like Im living the life. But because hes supposed to be paying, Im not eligible to get food stamps or financial assistance," she said. "I just want this to end I would like to buy (my son) new shoes." Outdated technology has been the biggest obstacle for government recovery agencies tasked with tracking down parents. "All of the child support systems are aging out at the same rate," Stockdale said. While the Utah office is going through an equipment and software update, they have been "working on equipment thats been in place since the early '90s." Still, Utah is in the top 10 for highest child support collections in 2016, according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement, with Pennsylvania at No. 1 and Louisiana in last place. Government recovery agencies can file liens against bank accounts, deny passports, report to the credit bureau, go to court for civil enforcement, and in limited cases, jail time is a possibility although that would practically guarantee a parent couldn't pay, according to Stockdale. She said the Utah office has also tried recreational license restrictions, in which the debtor's hunting or fishing license is suspended. "Were not holding back; were doing everything in our power," Stockdale said. "It is hard to find incentives that are meaningful to people to get them to pay their support." A day in court The obstacles to collecting child support don't start with government agencies, however. Family law attorneys agree the problems begin when couples file the divorce petition, setting in motion a process that often doesn't take into account real-life challenges to supporting the children left in the wake. Most states decide child-support amounts through the "income shares" model, which adds the parents' income together as if they were still sharing funds, and then calculates child support on what the noncustodial parent should contribute to the family based on their shared income. To Shawna Woods, an attorney at Kitchens New Cleghorn LLC in Atlanta, Georgia, this model can be a problem. "When you have a custodial parent that earns so much more, it's almost unrealistic for (the noncustodial parent) to pay," she said. Not only that, but "daycare costs are so ridiculous, and it's not taken into consideration in child support, which is just outrageous." Some states do consider daycare; the calculation varies by state, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. While Woods also thinks state child-support collections offices are overwhelmed with little resources, noncustodial parents are really at the disadvantage, she said. "Most noncustodial parents do not have attorneys and they do not understand what to bring, what to ask for," she said. "We should have child support enforcement also provide representation." Scott Trout, CEO of the fathers' rights-centered law group Cordell and Cordell, based in Saint Louis, Missouri, said preconceived deadbeat dad stereotypes and judges not understanding economic difficulties parents face contribute to unrealistically high custody orders. He added that the recent recession contributed to financial struggles for noncustodial dads in a system that doesn't accommodate for such outside economic forces. "There's a significant number who are trying," he said. "Its a broken system that expects 100 percent enforcement and ignores the efforts the guys are making." In addition to making the lives of children more comfortable, regular payment of child support also helps noncustodial parents stay involved in their childrens lives, says Samara Gunter, an associate professor of economics at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Gunter's research has found there is less contact between a father and child when the father does not pay child support, and she believes that small changes in how child support is withheld can benefit both parents and children. Paying child support in person changes how noncustodial parents experience those payments, Gunter said. But, There are tremendous benefits to our current system of withholding child support from wages. Its been responsible for a dramatic increase in collections relative to the late 1980s and early 1990s before these systems were in place. Instead of silently deducting child support like a tax, the system could be tweaked in small, positive ways, such as adding a message on a pay stub that says "Thank you for supporting your children" next to the withholding amounts. Gunter recognizes that child support may be contentious in adversarial parental relationships, and being aware of the payment might make the paying parent "more angry" at the former partner, but overall, being conscious of the payment is better for everyone. "There are unintended consequences of impersonal systems," Gunter said. "We want people to be aware of the payment they make and what its for. If we made people more aware of the payment, theyre more likely to be involved in their families' lives," she said. Other solutions The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has contracted with MDRC to introduce the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services Project to explore new ways to get people to pay child support. Dan Bloom, director of MDRC, formerly known as Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, has overseen studies in seven states and Washington, D.C., this past year. The first of these studies was the Georgia report, released in February. The Georgia team experimented with a few approaches to get people to come into the child-support office to discuss their case. First, they redesigned the letter of notice when a child-support order has been filed. It highlighted the chance for parents to have "a say in the child support process" ... and was written to be motivating and non-adversarial, the study said. The letter also included a calendar magnet for the initial appointment date, and a reminder was sent later. For the initial meeting with the noncustodial parent, the staff was trained to use a script to soothe the parent, to help reduce the amount of the ordered payment if appropriate and to use a checklist to sign parents up for online automatic payments and support. When parents received the materials the office previously used, 15 percent came to the office to meet with a staff member. But among parents who received the revised materials, 23.3 percent came to the meeting, the report said. The 8.2 point increase from the intervention group works out to a 54 percent improvement in effectiveness when compared to the control group, which received the agency's standard mailing, according to the report. Bloom said these changes are "a million little things that seem obvious but theyre not." Other ideas to improve engagement include scheduling meetings so parents don't have to miss work and reducing paperwork. "Are we asking people for a lot of information that will be hard to compile but you dont really need it all? If we can streamline that, they might be more likely to come to the meeting, and not get overwhelmed and shut down," he said. Other MDRC reports are pending from Ohio, California, Vermont, Colorado, Texas, Washington, and Washington, D.C. In addition to MDRC's findings, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement is pursuing other ways to boost child support compliance. They include the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration, which helps parents find jobs so they can afford child support, and the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt, which helps parents avoid contempt of court charges for delinquent child support payments. And the agency says the programs are working. Thousands of parents participated in this study and became employed. Many of the participants also understood their roles as parents and caregivers better and having better jobs and enhanced parenting skills increased the parents abilities and desires to pay their child support more consistently, wrote Monique Richards, the public affairs specialist with the federal Administration of Children and Families. The program was launched earlier this year and is showing positive early results, according to Richards. A full report on the program will be published later this year. At the Division of Child Support Services in Georgia, Gray oversees some 411,000 child-support cases, 18 percent of which are considered hard to serve. The improvements her office saw after making changes in how the staff communicates with parents represents about 240 families that may be better off now because of their efforts. The work requires a culture change, Gray said, since in the past, some child-support workers had a collection mentality. Today, the focus is on how the office can help noncustodial parents, who are overwhelmingly male. (Ninety-three percent of child-support orders in Georgia are paid by men.) By helping the men to pay, theyre also helping the mothers and children, as well, Gray said. Were trying to build stronger families for a stronger Georgia, she said. "This is a big deal. In my opinion, it's a win-win-win for the citizens of Georgia that we serve." Contributing: Jennifer Graham SALT LAKE CITY Heres a look at the news for Oct. 15. The election is coming. Read all you need to know about U.S. Senate opponents Jenny Wilson and Mitt Romney. And read more about Mia Love and Ben McAdams, who are competing in Utahs 4th Congressional District race. Law enforcement has warned Utah residents against being cybercrime victims. Read more. The Deseret News published a look back at Utahs ZCMI, which is known as Americas first department store. Read more. A missing Sandy womans boyfriend was arrested after her death. Read more. Heres why youll see the Utah Jazz on national TV a lot more this season. Our most popular: InDepth: National headlines: SALT LAKE CITY The story behind Poland's oldest human remains is a little hard to swallow. Scientists recently identified fossils found in Poland a few years ago as the remains of a human child who was apparently eaten by a giant bird. According to CNN, because the childs remains were found among animal bones, it wasnt until this year when researchers could do a lab analysis, which found some of the bones were identified as human. The bones were recognized as phalanges, which are digital bones of a human hand. Two anthropologists, Anita Szczepanek from Jagiellonian University in Krakow and Erik Trinkaus from Washington University in St. Louis, both confirmed that the bones belong to a neanderthal. The bones our team discovered in Cave Ciemna are the oldest human remains from the area of todays Poland, they are about 115,000 years old" professor Pawe Valde-Nowak, a researcher from the Institute of Archeology of the Jagiellonian University, reportedly told Science Poland. The porous surface of the bones came as a result of passing through the digestive system of a large bird. According to Science Poland, it's still unknown whether the bird attacked and partially consumed the young child, or fed on the child when it was already deceased. The bones, which are no more than a centimeter long, are poorly preserved, making it impossible to perform a full DNA analysis. But Valde-Nowak said that the lack of a DNA analysis does not prevent scientists from feeling confident about their discovery. [We] have no doubts that these are Neanderthal remains, because they come from a very deep layer of the cave, a few meters below the present surface. This layer also contains typical stone tools used by the Neanderthal," he said. The Smithsonian reported that prior to this, the oldest known human remains found in Poland were three Neanderthal molars dating to 42,000 to 52,000 years ago, making the 115,000-year-old fingers a significant discovery. The findings will be published this year in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology. OGDEN Voters can learn more about Utahs seven ballot measures during a forum hosted by Weber State Universitys Olene S. Walker Institute of Politics and Public Service at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Hurst Center Dumke Legacy Hall. The forum will feature brief presentations by advocates on both sides of each issue. The seven issues include three proposed Utah constitutional amendments, one opinion question and three propositions: Utah Constitutional Amendment A would make more flexible the property tax exemption already afforded military personnel serving under order of active duty. Utah Constitutional Amendment B would exempt from property taxes any real property leased from a private owner by the state of Utah or a local government. Utah Constitutional Amendment C would allow the Senate president and speaker of the House, with a two-thirds majority approval of legislators, to call a special legislative session. Currently only the governor may do so. Utah Nonbinding Opinion Question 1 asks voters if they support increasing the gasoline tax by 10 cents per gallon to fund critical needs in education and important transportation needs such as maintaining local roads and bridges. Utah Proposition 2 would legalize medical marijuana for individuals with qualifying conditions. Utah Proposition 3 would expand Medicaid, a medical insurance program that helps low-income people and those with disabilities. The states portion would increase the sales tax from 4.70 to 4.85 percent. Utah Proposition 4 would create an independent redistricting commission to draft new maps for congressional and state legislative districts. SALT LAKE CITY A man who was sent to prison three years ago after leading police on a high-speed chase, which included driving on the wrong side of the road, has been arrested for doing the same thing, according to police. On Friday, a Salt Lake City police officer attempted to stop Dustin Adam Gunther 25, who was spotted in a stolen car, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report. The officer did not chase Gunther when he fled, the report states, but the Department of Public Safety's helicopter was called to the area to track Gunther. Troopers in the helicopter watched Gunther drive "recklessly," noting that "at one point on the city streets, the suspect drove (the) wrong way into oncoming traffic. The motoring public had to make evasive actions to avoid the suspect," the jail report states. Gunther fled into the Sandy area where he "ran over construction barrels and a sign," the report states. A Sandy police officer attempted to stop him but Gunther again fled, according to the report. After getting back onto I-15, Gunther abandoned the car near 10100 South in the far right lane. He got out and ran off the freeway into some nearby trees, the report states. The police helicopter was still following Gunther and was eventually "able to flush the suspect out of the trees" and to a nearby road where a South Jordan officer took him into custody, according to the report. Troopers recovered a backpack that Gunther was carrying that contained drugs and stolen bank and ID cards, the report states. He was booked into jail for investigation of 27 charges, including identity fraud, possessing a stolen financial card, drug possession, reckless driving and not stopping for police. In 2015, Gunther was arrested in Emery County for a similar incident. In that case, he was stopped by police for driving the wrong way on I-70, then took off after an officer pulled him over, going in the correct direction. His speed reached 125 mph, according to police. Troopers later spotted Gunther again on U.S. 6 where he weaved in and out of traffic while trying to avoid arrest. After crashing, Gunther got out of his car and ran, sparking a manhunt. He was eventually captured, convicted of attempted theft and fleeing from police, and sentenced to up to five years at the Utah State Prison. SALT LAKE CITY A Logan man who allegedly mailed ricin to President Donald Trump and other government leaders will remain behind bars after a judge deemed him a danger to the community Monday. Noting William Clyde Allen III has previously sent threatening letters to the CIA and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, the judge cited concern for the 39-year-old man's "escalating nature" of his alleged actions. "This may be part of large pattern of concern on your part about the government," U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead told him during a detention hearing in federal court. Allen, 39, made a few indiscernible comments about the legality of mailing beans and government radiation attacks before his public defender and the judge advised him to not say anything. During an initial court appearance last week, Allen tearfully explained that he couldn't remain in custody because he was looking forward to watching general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and needs to care for his disabled wife. Allen's wife, who was in a wheelchair, and other family members were in the courtroom Monday. He mouthed "I love you" to her as marshals escorted him out after the hearing. Allen allegedly sent letters to Trump, Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis and U.S. Navy Adm. John M. Richardson containing "small pieces of what appeared to be castor beans and a note with the same message, 'Jack and the Missile Bean Stock Powder,'" according to court documents. Prosecutors say preliminary field tests of the letters came back positive for ricin, a deadly poison made from castor beans. Pead told Allen that his cooperation with investigators doesn't reflect the "sinister nature" of the contents of the letters, but those contents can't be ignored. The judge commended Allen for his honorable military service. He noted from the pretrial report that some servicemen severely assaulted Allen, leaving him with a head injury. Allen served in the Navy from 1998 to 2000. The investigation started last week after letters addressed to some of Washington's top leaders and containing possible ricin were discovered at a shipping office. The letters did not actually enter the White House or the Pentagon. FBI investigators were led to Allen's home in Logan because he put his return address on all the letters, court documents state. When interviewed by FBI agents earlier this week, Allen claimed to have also sent letters with castor beans to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Queen Elizabeth II and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the complaint. Allen further explained that he had purchased approximately 100 castor beans from eBay and that he had done research on ricin and castor beans, the complaint states. When asked why he purchased the beans, Allen said "he wanted to have them in case World War III broke out" and further elaborated that "he could make them useful, to bear arms and to defend our nation." A criminal complaint filed last Friday accuses Allen of knowingly threatening to use a biological weapon and four counts of mailing a threat. A federal grand jury will now consider the allegations Wednesday to decide whether a formal indictment should be filed. Allen is scheduled to appear in court again Thursday. SALT LAKE CITY Zion National Park has made a habit of landing on lists of must-see places. Most recently, the park received some love from Lonely Planet, a well-known travel guide publisher and website. In its new book Epic Hikes of the World, Lonely Planet highlights 50 incredible hiking routes in 30 countries, from New Zealand to Peru, plus a further 150 suggestions. And what hike should land a featured spot in the North America section? Utahs very own Angels Landing. Epic Hikes of the World gives a first-person account of each highlighted trail. The book features beautiful photographs and illustrated maps. Additionally, it contains trip planning advice and gives recommendations for similar hikes found in other places of the world. It can be purchased on Lonely Planets website. The Chicago Tribune reviewed the Epic Hikes of the World on their website and even gave Angels Landing a spot in their 10 epic hikes around the world gallery, which was inspired by the book. Angels Landing recently reopened after being closed for over two months following an intense thunderstorm that caused flooding, mudslides and rockfalls. According to the National Park Service, the trail will be closed again from Oct. 23 to 25 for work to be done on the bathrooms at Scout Lookout. As I reported for the Deseret News, ZNP and Angels Landing were also featured in a BuzzFeed video earlier this month entitled 5 National Parks That You Need To Visit. Arches National Park in Moab, Utah, was also listed among the five. SALT LAKE CITY The Utah State Board of Regents is not adequately controlling tuition increases at the state's eight public colleges and universities, according to a legislative audit made public on Monday. The performance audit conducted by the Office of the Utah Legislative Auditor General says tuition has increased by nearly $132 million over the past five years. "While those increases may have been justified the (higher education) commissioner's staff could not produce any independent validation of the institutions' tuition requests," the audit states. Moreover, the regents approved the increases with little documented discussion, describing it as a "superficial review" of proposed increases. "The process for developing tuition increases, as overseen by the commissioner's office, provides little opportunity for the board of regents to provide input," the audit states. Later in the day, auditors presented the audit to the Utah Legislature's Audit Subcommittee, which is made up of legislative leadership. House Majority Leader Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, expressed frustration over the audit's findings, remarking "I have seen a lot of audits in the time I've been here and this is one of the worst." Of particular concern was a lack of transparency on the part of Council of Presidents, made up of the regent-appointed presidents of the state's public colleges and universities, which meets to develop tuition recommendations ultimately approved by the board of regents. "Tuition increases over the past five years are almost three times what have been supported by only the legislative compensation match," the audit states. Legislative appropriations generally cover 75 percent of the compensation increases extended to employees at state colleges and universities, leaving the system of higher education to fund the remaining 25 percent, primarily through tuition increases. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, "the board of regents' first-tier tuition percentage increases were more than double what the appropriation match would have entailed," the audit states. "Where is that money going?" Wilson asked. Throughout the audit process, auditors were repeatedly told Utah has some of the lowest tuition nationwide, the audit states. "Comparatively low tuition does not absolve the board of regents of its oversight responsibilities," the audit states. A written response by Utah Commissioner of Higher Education David Buhler and Utah State Board of Regents Chairman Harris Simmons notes the board and the commissioner's office are concerned about rising costs of tuition and maintaining affordable access to higher education for Utah residents, which is part of the regents' strategic plan. "We recognize that although Utah tuition rates consistently rank among the lowest in the nation when compared with other states, we still have work to do to ensure that we keep tuition affordable for our students long into the future," the letter says. Appearing before the Audit Subcommittee, Simmons said the board will implement each of the auditors' recommendations, the vast majority within a matter of months. Legislative leaders said it is crucial that the auditor report directly to the board of regents. The audit explains the process about how proposed tuition increases develop, with the regents granting final approval of both Tier 1 and Tier II increases. Second-tier tuition rate increases are for specific institutional needs and also require regent approval, although the audit found "second-tier tuition increases are not analyzed by staff" and these increases have totaled more than $30 million over the past five years. As the process goes, the Utah Legislature appropriates funding to the higher education system. Next, the commissioner's office develops baseline recommendations, which are discussed by the Council of Presidents, the leaders of each of the colleges in the state system. The council and commissioner jointly develop the tuition recommendations that are forwarded to the regents. "Board of regents do not participate in, or even attend, (Council of Presidents) meetings. In our opinion, the board should consider whether it will permit the commissioners to negotiate tuition increases with institution presidents without regent involvement," the audit states. It also notes that no minutes of the council's meetings are kept. In their written response, Simmons and Buhler said regent policy will be changed to require minutes of the Council of Presidents meetings be kept. Moreover, commission staff will perform "periodic random testing of institutions' tuition request data," the letter states. Their letter also notes ongoing work by the Kem C. Gardner Institute, which the regents authorized in May to conduct an external review of tuition and student aid policies. "The board is actively engaged in re-evaluating its current tuition policies to ensure they reflect best practices in promoting student affordability and use of tuition revenues," the letter states. The auditors "found a pattern of trust between the board of regents, the commissioner, and the institutions that, while important, appears to have led to tuition increases receiving minimal independent scrutiny. We could find little evidence to support any rigorous analysis was happening at either the commissioner's or at the board of regents' level." Wilson also took issue with the system failing to establish institutional targets identified in SB238, passed in 2017. It calls on the regents to "establish measurable goals and metrics and delineate the expected contributions of individual institutions of higher education toward these goals." In the system's written response, Buhler and Simmons wrote there is ongoing work by the board of regents on developing system metrics with an expected January 2019 implementation date. "The challenge with this is, what we're hearing is 'Trust us on this. We're going to keep working on this.' We've been hearing this for a long time," said Wilson, who carried SB238 in the Utah House of Representatives. The committee voted to refer the audit to four legislative committees, including the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee and the Executive Appropriations Committee as appropriation requests are considered during the next legislative session. "We're going to be asked to fund, I'm sure, a significant amount of new money for higher ed this year, whether it's in salaries, or new programs or new buildings. Right now, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable recommending any of those additional appropriations," Wilson said. College Station, TX OCTOBER 15, 2018 Vidatronic, Inc. today announced that it has signed a representative agreement with Schoenduve Corporation of California. Schoenduve provides specialist sales representation for the leading companies in the technology sector such as those firms focusing on 7 nm Finfet process nodes, artificial intelligence using neuromorphic processors, 77 GHz radar for all weather autonomous driving, and advanced ECG signal extraction for heart rate variability measurement. Schoenduve has agreed to promote Vidatronics Intellectual Property (IP) and design capabilities to the Northern California and Nevada semiconductor market. Vidatronic has developed compelling analog and mixed-signal IP for advanced-process CMOS technologies with a focus on consumer and IoT applications. We are very excited to be working with Vidatronic to further develop Vidatronics presence in Northern California and Nevada as an IP provider, and will generate design wins and revenue growth for the company in the region, said Jim Schoenduve of Schoenduve Corporation. We are extremely pleased that Schoenduve has agreed to represent us in Northern California and Nevada, said Stephen Nolan, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Vidatronic. Schoenduve is a well-established business, enabling advanced technology companies to breakthrough into a challenging marketplace. Schoenduve will greatly strengthen our IP exposure in the area and work with us to help solve the increasing demands of SoC design and implementation for our potential customers. About Vidatronic, Inc. Vidatronic, founded in 2010, helps customers by licensing our latest power management circuit and CMOS RF intellectual property (IP) designs for integration into their application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and systems on a chip (SoCs). Our capabilities help customers achieve product feature and performance advantages. Our service gets them to market faster and our experience reduces overall risk. We have patented industry-leading technologies and features that allow our customers to reduce required board area and cost, while maintaining the desired low-noise and low quiescent-current performance in a variety of applications, from consumer electronics to servers. Our IP portfolio includes low dropout (LDO) voltage regulators, DC-DC converters, ultra-low-power and extremely accurate voltage references, CMOS RF power amplifiers and associated circuitry. For more information visit www.vidatronic.com. About Schoenduve Corporation. Schoenduve Corp is a consulting, marketing and sales representative for manufacturers of electronic components, sub-systems and systems including hardware, software and design/engineering solutions to customers in Northern California and Northern Nevada since 1986. For more information visit http://www.schoenduve.com/. On October 11, the rocket carrying Russias Soyuz spacecraft and two astronauts failed less than two minutes after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The failure forced NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin to abort what was supposed to be a routine trip to the International Space Station and initiate an emergency landing. The two men landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan, twenty kilometres east of the city of Dzhezkazgan. The very next day, NASAs chief Jim Bridenstine was seen praising the Russian space programme despite the launch failure, reports Agence France Presse. The chief also expects a new crew to go to the International Space Station in December as planned. I fully anticipate that we will fly again on a Soyuz rocket and I have no reason to believe at this point that it will not be on schedule, Bridenstine said to reporters. According to Agence France Presses report on the matter, this was the first such incident in Russias post-Soviet history. It is without doubt an unforeseen setback to the countrys space industry and a blow to the countrys pride. The Soviet-designed Soyuz is currently the only way to reach the International Space Station. The accident is bound to affect both NASA and the lab work happening on the space station. During an interview, Bridenstine appeared overwhelmed with emotion but said he was nevertheless confident that another manned mission to the International Space Station would take place as scheduled on December 20 this year if not sooner. The chief went on to praise the wonderful relationship shared by NASA and Roscosmos since 1975. Vladimir Solovyov, Flight Director of the Russian segment of the International Space Station reported that the crew aboard the space station currently has enough fuel, oxygen, water, and food to last at least six months. This news comes a month after a human-made hole of two millimetres was discovered in a Soyuz module aboard the International Space Station. The hole had caused an air leak and a drop in pressure but was quickly rectified by the crew. More recently, further investigation of the hole was aborted after the news of the aborted Soyuz launch came in. Video courtesy: VideoFromSpace US firms move Trump against RBI's financial data localisation rule US companies not wanting to comply with Indian regulations in India are planning to move US President Donald Trump to help them circumvent a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) requirement that all payment services must ensure storage of client data generated in the country within its borders. RBI, in a circular in April, had directed all system providers to ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India. The regulator had given the companies time till 15 October to comply with the mandate. But, American IT companies that provide financial services do not want to comply and want all Indian financial data in the United States. They also say that setting up servers for this would add to their operating costs in India, which would affect profitability. Data localisation is an act of storing data on any device that is physically present within the borders of a particular country where the data was generated. While this is in vogue in most countries, these companies want an exception in India. These companies claim the backing of US commerce department. In fact, a US representative to the World trade Organisation (WTO) is reported to have said that setting up of local servers would impede a free flow of financial information from India. "We want to have prohibitions on data localisation to ensure that there's free flow of information, free flow of data across borders, disciplines around countries requiring companies to give up their source code, permanent ban on taxation or duties on digital transmissions," Dennis Shea, deputy US trade representative and US Ambassador to the WTO, said in Washington on Friday. "And by the way, South Africa and India want to rethink the current moratorium on those duties," Mr Shea said in response to a question at US think-tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Shea did not specifically pointed out India on the data localisation issue, but made his views pretty clear where the Trump administration stands on this issue. India, however, rejected their request of mirroring. Republican Strategist Andy Surabian, who is also a political adviser to Donald Trump Jr, wrote in BreitBart News this week that the RBI move would put avoidable burden on US companies. He was also annoyed that Indian regulators are not catering to the demands of US companies despite all the financial support that US has been giving. "And they are planning to do all of this in spite of the unprecedented level of economic support the US has provided India over the course of decades. The Trump administration should stand up to these reckless actions, just like they have done in other situations when Americans were getting bullied and pushed around," Surabian demanded. The Americans are planning to include the regulatory requirement in their trade negotiations that may begin early next year. Mobile messaging platform WhatsApp, meanwhile, said it has built a system that stores payments-related data in India, in line with RBI's data localisation policy. Pakistan seeks IMF bailout from CPEC debts Pakistan, which is burdened by the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), reports quoting managing director Christine Lagarde as saying in a statement issued on in Bali on Thursday. The announcement followed a meeting between Pakistan finance minister Asad Umar with Lagarde at the IMF summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday. Lagarde, however, made it clear that the IMF would require absolute transparency on Pakistan's debts Lagarde issued a statement saying that during the meeting, they requested financial assistance from the IMF to help address Pakistans economic challenges. An IMF team will visit Islamabad in the coming weeks to initiate discussions for a possible IMF-supported economic programme, she added. Pakistan's current year debt repayments are about $9 billion but, he said, all of that is not due to the debt owed to China under the $50 billion CPEC. Asad Umar said Pakistan is ready to share details of the debt related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), even as he rejected the US view that China-funded projects were to blame for the cash-strapped country's current economic woes. Back in Islamabad from Indonesia where he requested IMF's managing director Christine Lagarde for a bailout package for Pakistan, Umar said the decision to approach the global lender was taken after consultations with friendly countries. The IMF team, Umar said, was scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on 7 November to negotiate the programme, likely to span over a three-year period. He said Pakistan's current year debt repayments were about $9 billion but obviously it would not entirely be available from the IMF. The IMF, Umar said, had asked for details of loans, including the ones secured in relation to the CPEC projects, for analysing the debt sustainability. Pakistan would share "normal debt-related information about CPEC with the IMF", The Express Tribune Sunday quoted the finance minister as saying. Umer also said the Pakistan government had decided to approach the Fund in consultation with friendly countries. He did not identify these countries but Islamabad was in contact with China and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. Lagarde, however, made it clear that the IMF would require absolute transparency on Pakistan's debts, including those owned by China under the $50 billion CPEC. The US, on Friday, 12 October, said that the huge Chinese debt was responsible for the economic challenges in Pakistan, adding that it will review Islamabads bailout plea to the IMF from all angles, including the countrys debt position. Umar, however, rejected the US State Department's statement, suggesting that the debt accrued on the CPEC projects was to blame for Pakistan's current economic crisis. The CPEC is a network of infrastructure projects that are currently under construction throughout Pakistan that will connect China's Xinjiang province with Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan province. It is the part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road initiative. "We understand that Pakistan has formally requested assistance from the IMF. In all cases, we examine that closely from all angles of it, including Pakistan's debt position, in evaluating any type of loan programme," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert had said, adding this is something the US has been tracking fairly closely. The worlds largest national maths festival returns for 2018 and is set to attract as many as 300,000 people. Schools across Donegal have so far registered 4,063 students to take part in Maths Week events with many more expected. Open to all, Maths Week 2018 will see a wide variety of fun and engaging maths themed events taking place all over the island of Ireland, north and south, featuring mathematicians and entertainers. Schools and clubs are encouraged to hold their own events to support budding mathematicians. Co-ordinated by Calmast, Waterford Institute of Technologys STEM Outreach Centre and funded through the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Programme, the Department of Education and Skills, Matrix - the Northern Ireland Science Industry Panel, ESB and Xilinx. It is run with more than 50 partner organisations including the universities, institutes of technology, libraries, schools, training colleges and employers. Full programme details are available on the Maths Week website www.mathsweek.ie with ongoing event and programme updates available in advance and during Maths Week via Facebook (@MathsWeek2018) and Twitter (@mathsweek). Eoin Gill, Maths Week Ireland Co-Ordinator said, Working with our many partners, the Maths Week vision is simple, Maths for All. Maths and numbers are all around us and this short statement encapsulates the relevance of maths across society, and what we want to achieve via the annual national programme of activity - people of all ages embracing maths and numerical ability to benefit their day-to-day lives. 2018 marks the 13th year of Maths Week and with participation set to be in the region of 300,000, our highest figure yet. We are excited to bring another action packed programme to people all over the island of Ireland, and the ever increasing number of participants is testament to the interest and appetite for maths in Ireland. This growth in popularity and continued success would not be possible without our partners such as the Department of Education, Science Foundation Ireland and MATRIX - the Northern Ireland Science Industry Panel, who make the programme of activity a reality and I would like to thank them for their continued support. Maths Week Ireland is the biggest festival of its kind in the world. It has now also been adopted as an initiative by Scotland, in recognition of the important contribution that maths promotion events make in helping young people to have a positive attitude towards maths. For those interested in hosting their own Maths Week event, large or small, log on to www.mathsweek.ie to find out how you can get involved. Preparations are fully underway for what's going to be the biggest social surfing event of the year. The 50th annual Intercounties surf contest is running from Friday, October 19 to Sunday 21 at Rossnowlagh. The organisers have lots planned, including a fun team surf contest open to all (young and old, experienced or not), a special dinner and group surf in the Sand House Hotel in honour of Brian Britton, followed by a rock n roll party in a specially erected marquee to celebrate this anniversary event. Rossnowlagh Surf Club are calling competitors from all counties of Ireland to compete for this unique trophy which was won last year by landlocked Laois. You need 3/4 members on a team (it doesnt matter what standard or age - its just about having fun). Registration is via the ISA website. The organisers would particularly love to welcome teams that have entered over the past 50 years like the Antrim and Down teams of the 70s, the Donegal teams of the 80s, the Deise teams of the 90s and 00s and the Sligo teams of the past ten years. Every year the event also attracts entries from Wicklow, Dublin, Laois and other landlocked counties and long may it continue. Entry is 20 per team. Paddle out in honour of Brian Britton Following the competition on the Saturday, there will be a paddle out in honour of Brian Britton, the godfather of Irish Surfing. He was a proud Rossnowlagh man who through his love of the ocean, organisational skills and yellow pad and pencil helped bring the love of surfing to so many people all around Ireland. There will be a special meal in the Sand House Hotel at 6.30pm in his honour and to help celebrate 50 years of the Inter-counties. All are welcome to the meal, especially the ex-Irish Surf Team members, golden oldies and Silver Surfari surfers. The meal will be followed by a few tales from Brian's surfing days and trips with green Irish boys to Brazil, Portugal and Puerto Rico amongst other places. Tickets for dinner are available online at 25 each and must be pre-booked. After the meal the party starts across the road from the hotel at a large marque from 8pm until late. Local band 'The Fabulous Franks' and ACDC tribute band 'Whole Lotta Lovin' will be rocking it out on the main stage. There'll be food available on the night from the 'Beardyman' and the craic will be mighty. All the groggy heads will be up the next day for the finals which will be taking place at the best location in the region either the Peak, Tullan or Rossnowlagh at a reasonable hour with prizegiving in the Surfers Bar at 4pm. The Donegal team, which included Brian and Conor Britton, which competed in the Intercounties event in 1968 All level of surfers invited to Donegal The organisers of next weekend's surfing event want to get as many surfers as possible to take part, young and old, from the teams of the 60s, 70s and 80s and teams of new surfers who've never entered. It's simple: grab three or four surfers from your county and log on to irishsurfing.ie. ISA membership is not essential but recommended for this one off event. Paddle The organisers also plan to organise a big paddle and group surf in Rossnowlagh at 4pm on the Saturday in memory of Brian Britton who gave so much to Irish surfing. Tickets are on sale for a special meal, and also live music on Saturday night. Any profits made from the night will go into Brian Britton Memorial Fund for Junior Surfers from Rossnowlagh Surf Club to continue his legacy and help as many junior surfers as possible in the Rossnowlagh area. Also keep an eye out for the Barry Britton deigned 50th Intercounties Surf Poster. Hope to see you all there. By 2030 all main Polish rivers need to be used for inland navigation, announced Polish Deputy Minister Anna Moskwa of Maritime Economy and Inland Waterways. She was delighted with the support of the Netherlands for this huge piece of work that was showed at the special seminar Transport Connects, Water Unites, in Warsaw on 10 October. The seminar was organised on the occasion of a Dutch water and maritime trade mission to Poland. Deputy minister Anna Moskwa explained the integration of flood protection and the inland water way navigation on Poland's main rivers. Transport corridors According to deputy minister Moskwa the seminar took place at a very special occasion as the Polish government has recently introduced a new water law and Poland is now reforming its water management. The renewed approach on water management focuses on combining Polish rivers closely to inland navigation and the integration of Polish water ways in the trans-European transport network (Ten-T) corridors. The restoration of the main Polish rivers started off as flood protection projects after severe floodings in 1997, 2001 and 2010. This has led to a new flood protection plan that is combined with making the river Odra and Wisla accesible for inland navigation. Following the recent water shortage we now also seek for a better balance of our river management and we consider floods and droughts as two closely related issues, said Moskwa. Representing the Dutch Topsector Water & Maritiem, Frank Goossensen told about the integrated flood protection the 'Room for the River' programme. Seeking trade offs On behalf of the Dutch delegation, Frank Goossensen of Top Sector Water & Maritime suggested deputy minister Moskwa to seek trade-offs by combining the multiple goals on project level. As an example he mentioned the Room for the River project near Nijmegen, the Netherlands. According to Goossensen, the Room for the River project brings Nijmegen multiple advantages, since flood protection and urban development go hand-in-hand the project. The river levee was laid back 350 m so the city is now less prone to flooding. And at the same time two new bridges have been constructed to connect new housing development on the other bank of the river. The housing development contributed to economic development of the city. Goossensen invited the Polish Deputy Minister to team up with Dutch partners who were involved in the Room for the River project. Involving less enthusiastic stakeholders Director Monika Niemiec-Butryn (top photo), responsible for the inland navigation at the ministry, explained at the seminar how Poland envisions new navigation corridors from north to south and east to west. Many feasibility and cost-benefit studies are underway and will be followed by Environmental impact studies next year. That will be our most challenging part, predicted Niemiec-Butryn, as there are several Natura 2000 sites along the rivers. Niemiec-Butryn invited her Dutch counterparts to share their experiences on getting less enthusiastic stakeholders on board. How can we show them that the river restoration and the navigability are a real good ecological option for moving goods?. She announced the development of a strategic plan to combine the goals on flood protection, inland navigation and waterfront development. With Dutch cooperation we may to be able to beat the success of the international renowned Room for the River programme, she concluded challenging. Read also on this website Van den Herik selected to dredge entrance to Port of Police, Poland, 12 October 2018 Waterways, cities and ports ranked high on agenda of Dutch trade mission to Poland, 11 October 2018 Van Oord and DEME awarded deepening Swinoujscie Szczecin fairway, Poland, 1 October 2018 Arcadis to assess flood risks in Poland, 4 August 2017 Sweco to improve flood protection along Poland's two biggest rivers Oder and Vistula, 12 November 2016 Country: Poland More information Netherlands Water Partnership The Hague, the Netherlands +31 70 304 3700 www.nwp.nl A WEB-BASED career portal has been recently launched to make job hunting and recruitment just a little bit better in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The platform was launched by the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA) as part of its commitment to improving the TCI labour force. The platform is intended to create a greater synergy between local businesses and those looking for employment opportunities by making the job search easier for all, both locally and internationally. Speaking on the recently refreshed career portal was CEO of the TCHTA, Stacy Cox. "We are excited to relaunch this effective and resourceful portal which will link interested persons with employers, while creating a good avenue to reach those that are unemployed, she said. Cox said the web portal creates a fresh approach in recruitment efforts as job seekers can easily see available positions throughout the TCI, and employers can browse through resumes uploaded to the portal to find suitable candidates for their openings. "We encourage all job seekers to take advantage of this platform, upload their resumes immediately, and to check the portal regularly for new openings as businesses will be constantly updating their listings. She further stated that the goal of the portal is to create avenues to employment within the hotel and tourism industry and in other areas of the private sector. By ensuring that a database of available positions is readily accessible to the unemployed residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands, tchtcareers.com is positioned to be the efficient and innovative tool to help us accomplish that goal, she added. Cox stated that a job fair is a one-day effort at one location, which can only accomplish so much, but the portal has modernised that idea, creating a central point where employers and employees will have access to job listings and resumes that are constantly being updated. "You can search for a job without leaving home and potential employers can find you even without you stepping into their doors, Cox said. According to the CEO, the TCHTA career portal lands in the top three results in a Google search for job opportunities in Turks and Caicos Islands. She said it is widely used by both local and international job seekers. The TCHTA is encouraging human resource professionals of any business in the TCI to use the tool to advertise positions. The platform is free to businesses that are members of the TCHTA, and there is a small yearly fee for all other businesses. As a registered user of the TCHTA career portal, job seekers can receive job alerts via email, they can apply for vacancies, manage applications and store resumes securely online. All of these services are free of charge. Job listings cover all areas of the private sector including hospitality, technology, administration and more. The portal can be found at www.tchtcareers.com North East-based TSG one of 11 worldwide businesses on prestigious Microsoft programme North East-headquartered innovative technology solutions company TSG Ltd has been announced as one of 11 worldwide businesses to become a charter member of Microsofts limited SharePoint Business Applications Partner Program, the only UK-based partner involved. The news comes shortly after the business announced it had increased the number of Microsoft Gold competencies it held to 9 accreditations. The Microsoft programme is designed to help businesses digitally transform through the use of innovative technology, in particular SharePoint and its supporting apps named intelligent business applications. Dave Rawes, Director of Microsoft Solutions at TSG, said: This is further evidence that were a standout Microsoft partner, in addition to our 9 Gold competencies and the seats weve held on Microsofts Global Advisory Council. Were one of the most comprehensive Microsoft business partners not only in the UK but in the world, with the ability to manage a customers entire IT estate using Microsoft solutions. Were delighted that weve been progressing at the same pace and in the same way as Microsoft. Our inclusion in this programme is largely thanks to what was once our SharePoint team, which is now the Office 365 Productivity team. The team has adapted from traditional SharePoint projects to embrace the whole Office 365 suite in order to create such innovative solutions. The selection process for the programme was rigorous as TSG evidenced work it had done with the suite of Microsoft applications. One case study included in the application was with H. Malone & Sons, an established, family-owned Gosforth-based mechanical services contractor. H. Malone & Sons had undertaken a project auditing over 2000 properties on the iconic Byker Wall to assess the heating and domestic water systems in the homes. The business had Office 365 in place and chose to leverage its investment in the application suite in the Byker Wall project. TSG implemented a solution that allowed H. Malone & Sons to manage the entire process using Office 365 including an app builder, workflow automation tool, SharePoint and a data visualisation dashboard to evaluate the project. Graham Reid, Project Director at H. Malone & Sons, said of the project: The Byker Wall project is the latest in a long line projects with the Byker Trust that we have been involved in over the last 5 years or more. This phase of the project presented some challenging issues in managing the collected data of the surveyed properties in terms of security and workflow to keep the project on task and in budget. The solution TSG has provided not only streamlines our daily data recording tasks but simplifies our back-office invoicing and payment workflows. It also has the added benefit that we can pass important asset data back to the Byker Trust team so that they can keep track of the project progress and more importantly, import data into their own asset management tools. We are so happy with the solution that TSG has provided that we are now envisaging using it, with minor amendments, on other similar style projects that we are currently looking at. Rawes further commented: This is a great North East success story. Newcastle is at the forefront of a digital revolution in the UK with the highest concentration of tech start-ups and a Digital and Smart Cities initiative through NE1. We want businesses to know that the North East is a great place to do business; especially for the digitally-literate generation of companies. Were evidence that the region has fantastic tech talent and together with North East stalwarts like H. Malone & Sons, were leading the way in innovation. Enterprise IT Lead Generation Services Fuel Your Pipeline. Close More Deals. Our full-service marketing programs deliver sales-ready leads. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee! Learn more. Building a community around a brand is an important and often-overlooked part of being successful in e-commerce. "Community solidifies the relationship between your brand and your customer," said e-commerce consultant Ian Rhodes. "It creates loyalty. Whilst the majority of retail brands are seeking people to buy from them, the community-minded brand invites people to buy into their brand," he told the E-Commerce Times. What are the best ways to build this community? What kinds of community are most effective? How can they be sustained? We talked with experts in the field to bring you some of the following tips to help you get started in the process of community-building. 1. Invite Customers on Your Journey The more customers get behind-the-scenes glimpses of your company and hear about stories that make you who you are, the more they'll want to join you. "Acknowledge that your brand is on a journey," said Rhodes. "Invite your customer to come along for the ride. This will provide purpose to the content you create and share. You'll share the inner workings of your brand -- your brand's perspective and purpose." 2. Make It More About Them Than You It's easy to forget that the world doesn't revolve around your company -- particularly when you're working to build brand identity and awareness. The fact is, though, if you come across as a pushy salesperson all the time, no one will want to hang out with you. "The biggest mistakes companies make with engagement are about vanity, narcissism, self-centeredness," said consultant Brian Carter. "We're talking about smart people who would never walk into a mixer and talk about themselves for 15 minutes straight," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Hopefully, they're smart enough to know that people like people who focus on them -- not on themselves. They ask others about their lives and family and hobbies, and they make a friend." Similarly, brands must engage customers around their interests and concerns and not always try to sell them something. "You have to just be with them without selling, sometimes, or you're not building a relationship -- you're just an annoying salesperson, and that's not a likable approach," explained Carter. "You have to go a level beyond your product into the customer's life and emotions, and live with them and talk about other things, and have faith that this creates a relationship that makes them love you so much that -- of course, they want to buy your products." 3. Create and Foster Online Spaces Digital spaces are key to creating a sense of community around your brand, allowing customers to meet, talk, share ideas, and interact with you and other customers. Whether they're social media groups or privately branded sites, such spaces can be integral in fostering and nurturing community. The most effective way to attract a loyal online audience is to "build a welcoming space for all members," said Maxim Schram, CEO of CMNTY. "A community platform allows customers to share stories, ideas and experiences," he told the E-Commerce Times. "It can be a forum, a chat room, idea contests. Any of these could come in handy." As customers engage with each other and with your business, they also can provide helpful information about ways to enhance and improve your business. "By utilizing branded communities, a business can genuinely communicate with their audience and receive useful feedback," said Schram. 4. Be Mobile-Friendly The best communities form where people already gather, and that increasingly means mobile spaces. As you begin to foster communities, therefore, consider ways to make them mobile-friendly. "If you want to go a step further, you can adapt your platform to be mobile-friendly," said Schram. "As mobile marketing is getting bigger, the on-the-go audience is increasing. You can use that as an additional gateway. All these channels serve to gather insights and feedback, which in turn can be implemented into broader business strategies." 5. Invite Customers to Share Their Own Content Communities revolve around sharing photos, videos and experiences, so you'll want to encourage that in the communities you create for your customers. "As people feel part of something, they will be naturally incentivized to share their own content and imagery that focuses upon your products and your brand," said Rhodes. "These strategies work because they offer openness and transparency. When you make great products, people take ownership and pride from that ownership." The best communities are ones where customers want to connect and interact. They're there because they want to be there, and your goal is, simply, to hold space for them -- encouraging engagement, communication and sharing. Vivian Wagner has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. Her main areas of focus are technology, business, CRM, e-commerce, privacy, security, arts, culture and diversity. She has extensive experience reporting on business and technology for a variety of outlets, including The Atlantic, The Establishment and O, The Oprah Magazine. She holds a PhD in English with a specialty in modern American literature and culture. She received a first-place feature reporting award from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. Email Vivian. Enterprise IT Lead Generation Services Fuel Your Pipeline. Close More Deals. Our full-service marketing programs deliver sales-ready leads. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee! Learn more. Leaders from Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic last week issued a dire warning that nations around the world haven't been doing enough to ban the development of autonomous weapons -- so-called "killer robots." The groups issued a joint report that calls for a complete ban on these systems before such weapons begin to make their way to military arsenals and it becomes too late to act. Other groups, including Amnesty International, joined in those urgent calls for a treaty to ban such weapons systems, in advance of this week's meeting of the United Nations' CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems in Geneva. This week's gathering is the second such event. Last year's meeting marked the first time delegates from around the world discussed the global ramifications of killer robot technologies. "Killer robots are no longer the stuff of science fiction," said Rasha Abdul Rahim, Amnesty International's advisor on artificial intelligence and human rights. "From artificially intelligent drones to automated guns that can choose their own targets, technological advances in weaponry are far outpacing international law." Last year's first meeting did result in many nations agreeing to ban the development of weapons that could identify and fire on targets without meaningful human intervention. To date, 26 nations have called for an outright killer robot ban, including Austria, Brazil and Egypt. China has called for a new CCW protocol that would prohibit the use of fully autonomous weapons systems. However, the United States, France, Great Britain, Israel, South Korea and Russia have registered opposition to creating any legally binding prohibitions of such weapons, or the technologies behind them. Public opinion is mixed, based on a Brookings Institution survey that was conducted last week. Thirty percent of adult Americans supported the development of artificial intelligence technologies for use in warfare, it found, with 39 percent opposed and 32 percent unsure. However, support for the use of AI capabilities in weapons increased significantly if American adversaries were known to be developing the technology, the poll also found. In that case, 45 percent of respondents in the survey said they would support U.S. efforts to develop AI weapons, versus 25 who were opposed and 30 percent who were unsure. The Latest Weapons of Mass Destruction The science of killing has been taken to a new technological level -- and many are concerned about loss of human control. "Autonomous weapons are another example of military technology outpacing the ability to regulate it," said Mike Blades, research director at Frost & Sullivan. In the mid-19th century Richard Gatling developed the first successful rapid fire weapon in his eponymous Gatling gun, a design that led to modern machine guns. When it was used on the battlefields of the First World War 100 years ago, military leaders were utterly unable to comprehend its killing potential. The result was horrific trench warfare. Tens of millions were killed over the course of the four-year conflict. One irony is that Gatling said that he created his weapon as a way to reduce the size of armies, and in turn reduce the number of deaths from combat. However, he also thought such a weapon could show the futility of warfare. Autonomous weapons have a similar potential to reduce the number of soldiers in harm's way -- but as with the Gatling gun or the World War I era machine gun, new devices could increase the killing potential of a handful of soldiers. Modern military arsenals already can take out vast numbers of people. "One thing to understand is that autonomy isn't actually increasing ability to destroy the enemy. We can already do that with plenty of weapons," Blades told TechNewsWorld. "This is actually a way to destroy the enemy without putting our people in harm's way -- but with that ability there are moral obligations," he added. "This is a place where we haven't really been, and have to tread carefully." Less Massive Destruction There have been other technological weapons advances, from the poison gas that was used in the trenches of World War I a century ago to the atomic bomb that was developed during the Second World War. Each in turn became an issue for debate. The potential horrors that autonomous weapons could unleash now are receiving the same level of concern and attention. "Autonomous weapons are the biggest threat since nuclear weapons, and perhaps even bigger," warned Stuart Russell, professor of computer science and Smith-Zadeh professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. "Because they do not require individual human supervision, autonomous weapons are potentially scalable weapons of mass destruction. Essentially unlimited numbers can be launched by a small number of people," he told TechNewsWorld. "This is an inescapable logical consequence of autonomy," Russell added, "and as a result, we expect that autonomous weapons will reduce human security at the individual, local, national and international levels." A notable concern with small autonomous weapons is that their use could result in far less physical destruction than nuclear weapons or other WMDs might cause, which could make them almost "practical" in comparison. Autonomous weapons "leave property intact and can be applied selectively to eliminate only those who might threaten an occupying force," Russell pointed out. Force Multiplier As with poison gas or technologically advanced weapons, autonomous weapons can be a force multiplier. The Gatling gun could outperform literally dozens of soldiers. In the case of autonomous weapons, one million potentially lethal units could be carried in a single container truck or cargo aircraft. Yet these weapons systems might require only two or three human operators rather than two or three million. "Such weapons would be able to hunt for and eliminate humans in towns and cities, even inside buildings," said Russell. "They would be cheap, effective, unattributable, and easily proliferated once the major powers initiate mass production and the weapons become available on the international arms market." This could give a small nation, rogue state or even a lone actor the ability to do considerable harm. Development of these weapons could even usher in a new arms race among powers of all sizes. For this reason the cries to ban them before they are even developed have been increasing in volume, especially as development of the core technologies -- AI and machine learning -- for civilian purposes advances. They easily could be militarized to create weapons. "Fully autonomous weapons should be discussed now, because due to the rapid development of autonomous technology, they could soon become a reality," said Bonnie Docherty, senior researcher in the arms division at Human Rights Watch, and one of the authors of the recent paper that called for a ban on killer robots. "Once they enter military arsenals, they will likely proliferate and be used," she told TechNewsWorld. "If countries wait, the weapons will no longer be a matter for the future," Docherty added. Many scientists and other experts already have been heeding the call to ban autonomous weapons, and thousands of AI experts this summer signed a pledge not to assist with the development of the systems for military purposes. The pledge is similar to the Manhattan Project scientists' calls not to use the first atomic bomb. Instead, many of the scientists who worked to develop the bomb suggested that the military merely provide a demonstration of its capability rather than use it on a civilian target. The strong opposition to autonomous weapons today "shows that fully autonomous weapons offend the public conscience, and that it is time to take action against them," observed Docherty. Practical Uses of Autonomy However, the calls by the various groups arguably could be a moot point. Although the United States has not agreed to limit the development of autonomous weapons, research efforts actually have been focused more on systems that utilize autonomy for purposes other than as combat weapons. "DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is currently investigating the role of autonomy in military systems such as UAVs, cyber systems, language processing units, flight control, and unmanned land vehicles, but not in combat or weapon systems," said spokesperson Jared B. Adams. "The Department of Defense issued directive 3000.09 in 2012, which was re-certified last year, and it notes that humans must retain judgment over the use of force even in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems," he told TechNewsWorld. "DARPA's autonomous research portfolio is defensive in nature, looking at ways to protect soldiers from adversarial unmanned systems, operate at machine speed, and/or limit exposure of our service men and women from potential harm," Adams explained. "The danger of autonomous weapons is overstated," suggested USN Captain (Ret.) Brad Martin, senior policy researcher for autonomous technology in maritime vehicles at the Rand Corporation. "The capability of weapons to engage targets without human intervention has existed for years," he told TechNewsWorld. Semi-autonomous systems, those that wouldn't give full capability to a machine, also could have positive benefits. For example, autonomous systems could react far more quickly than human operators. "Humans making decisions actually slows things down," noted Martin, "so in many weapons this is less a human rights issue and more a weapons technology issue." The Role of Semi-Autonomous Where the issue of killer robots becomes more complicated is in semi-autonomous systems -- those that do have that human element. Such systems could enhance existing weapons platforms and also could help operators determine if it is right to "take the shot." "Many R&D programs are developing automated systems that can make those decisions quickly," said Frost & Sullivan's Blades. "AI could be used to identify something where a human analyst might not be able to work with the information given as quickly, and this is where we see the technology pointing right," he told TechNewsWorld. "At present there aren't really efforts to get a fully automated decision making system," Blades added. These semi-autonomous systems also could allow weapons to be deployed at a distance closer than a human operator could go. They could reduce the number of "friendly fire" incidents as well as collateral damage. Rather than being a system that might increase causalities, the weapons could become more surgical in nature. "These could provide broader sensor coverage that can reduce the battlefield ambiguity, and improved situational awareness at a chaotic moment," Rand's Martin said. "Our campaign does not seek to ban either semi-autonomous weapons or fully autonomous non-weaponized robots," said Human Right Watch's Docherty. "We are concerned about fully autonomous weapons, not semi-autonomous ones; fully autonomous weapons are the step beyond existing, remote-controlled armed drones," she added. Too Little, Too Late It's uncertain whether the development of autonomous weapons -- even with UN support -- could be stopped. It's questionable whether it should be stopped entirely. As in the case of the atomic bomb, or the machine gun, or poison gas before it, if even one nation possesses the technology, then other nations will want to be sure they have the ability to respond in kind. The autonomous arms race therefore could be inevitable. A comparison can be made to chemical and biological weapons. The Biological Weapons Convention -- the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the development, production and notably stockpiling of this entire category of WMDs -- first was introduced in 1972. Yet many nations still maintain vast supplies of chemical weapons. They actually were used in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and more recently by ISIS fighters, and by the Syrian government in its ongoing civil war. Thus the development of autonomous weapons may not be stopped entirely, but their actual use could be mitigated. "The U.S. may want to be in the lead with at least the rules of engagement where armed robots might be used," suggested Blades. "We may not be signing on to this agreement, but we are already behind the limits of the spread of other advanced weapons," he noted. It is "naive to yield the use of something that is going to be developed whether we like it or not, especially as this will end up in the hands of those bad actors that may not have our ethical concerns," said Martin. During the Cold War, nuclear weapons meant mutually assured destruction, but as history has shown, other weapons -- including poison gas and other chemical weapons -- most certainly were used, even recently in Iraq and Syria. "If Hitler had the atomic bomb he would have found a way to deliver it on London," Martin remarked. "That is as good an analogy to autonomous weapons as we can get." Peter Suciu has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2012. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile phones, displays, streaming media, pay TV and autonomous vehicles. He has written and edited for numerous publications and websites, including Newsweek, Wired and FoxNews.com. Email Peter. B2B Lead Generation Service Reach key decision makers with sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Move the needle by delivering funnel qualified leads to your sales team. Learn more. The European Parliament on Wednesday approved a directive aimed at protecting the intellectual property of copyright holders on the Internet. It would require online platforms to scrutinize content their users post online and enter licensing agreements with rights holders. The Parliament approved the copyright directive with a vote of 438-226, with 39 abstentions. "I am very glad that despite the very strong lobbying campaign by the Internet giants, there is now a majority in the full house backing the need to protect the principle of fair pay for European creatives," said Parliament member Axel Voss. "There has been much heated debate around this directive and I believe that Parliament has listened carefully to the concerns raised. Thus, we have addressed concerns raised about innovation by excluding small and micro platforms or aggregators from the scope," he said. "I am convinced that once the dust has settled, the Internet will be as free as it is today, creators and journalists will be earning a fairer share of the revenues generated by their works, and we will be wondering what all the fuss was about," Voss added. Protecting Online Freedom The latest version of the measure contains provisions to protect the intellectual propery of rights holders while preserving freedom on the Internet, according to proponents. For example, sharing hyperlinks and descriptions won't be subject to copyright constraints. The directive also requires Internet platforms to design filtering systems that avoid catching "non-infringing" works. The systems must also have "rapid redress" processes for quick resolution of copyright disputes. Wikipedia and open source software platforms, like GitHub, are excluded from compliance with copyright rules. The directive will guarantee that artists (notably musicians, performers and script authors), news publishers and journalists are paid for their work when it is used by sharing platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, or news aggregators such as Google News, according to its supporters. Making Sharing Difficult Although the directive applies only to European nations, its impact is likely to be felt globally. "Because it will be easier for most tech companies to comply with European law for global operations, most Internet users will be affected the way European users are affected," said Gus Rossi, global policy director at Public Knowledge, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. "We're going to see very broad application in non-EU contexts, because the stakes for getting it wrong are too high," said Cory Doctorow, a special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online rights advocacy group based in San Francisco. "There are high statutory damages," he explained. "They vary from country to country, but they tend to be in the six-figure range per download." The directive will make it harder for users to share information, knowledge and political satire, as well as to create new forms of content, Rossi told the E-Commerce Times. Under the directive, Internet platforms are required to compensate rights holders for links to their content posted on the platforms. "If a platform doesn't agree to pay news sources, then users won't be able to share trustworthy information created by professional journalists," Rossi pointed out. That could feed the distribution of fake news on the Internet. "Users who wish to share information with their contacts will opt to share less-trustworthy information," Rossi explained. "Instead of sharing information from The New York Times, they'll share information from a random blog post they found online. That creates a problem for trustworthiness of information online." In the past, licensing schemes have been tried in Spain and Germany, he noted, but "in both countries, they failed dramatically." Feeding US Dominance The directive would lead to censorship, Rossi also maintained. The directive makes Internet platforms responsible for what their users post, which "will chill speech online," he said. "It creates incentives for Internet websites to censor content." Another provision in the directive requires platforms to filter all the content posted by their users to prevent copyright infringement. "That's going to make the U.S. Internet companies a lot more dominant," Doctorow said. "There's not really anyone outside a few companies in China and one or two in Russia that can afford this kind of compliance. All the small European companies will be put out of business at the stroke of a pen when this comes into effect," he predicted. "The filters that we're talking about are outrageously expensive," Doctorow observed. "The one that YouTube uses just tracks the audio tracks of videos, and it cost (US)$60 miliion to build," he noted. "To operate a platform where users share video and text and 3D models and audio and all the things we see frequently shared on a single platform will mean hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance costs." Scaremongering Tactics The new directive is aimed largely at harmonizing copyright law across the European Union, but only two provisions seem to be garnering any attention, remarked Roy S. Kaufman, managing director for business development at the Copyright Clearance Center, a copyright licensing services provider in Danvers, Massachusetts. "Why?" he asked. "Because these two provisions -- one creating a 'neighboring right' for publishers and one holding platforms at least somewhat responsible for the infringing content on which they profit -- led to a major counteroffensive by technology platforms," he told the E-Commerce Times. "To the platforms, their lobbyists and astroturf organizations, these provisions will 'break the Internet,'" Kaufman noted. However, "the EU has rejected this scaremongering," he said. "The EU sensibly looked at the concentration of power in the platforms, the harm to democracy and free expression that comes from continued economic takings from authors, musicians, artists -- and yes, publishers, newspapers, studios and recording labels -- and concluded, on balance, that culture was under threat." What's Next The copyright directive next goes to something called "trilogue negotiations," where representatives of the EU parliament, European Council and the European Commission will hammer out a final version of the law. Then the directive will go to the European Parliament for final action. Because European Parliament elections will be held in the second half of 2019, however, the directive needs to clear the body by the end of the spring or face an indefinite delay. Whether the Parliament approves the finalized directive or not will depend on how much of a third rail it becomes between now and then. "There isn't anyone who's going to go home and campaign on 'Vote for me, I did this copyright thing,'" Doctorow said, "but there are plenty of voters who might vote against someone for breaking the Internet." John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John. By Jake Johnson Appearing on ABC's This Week on Sunday just moments after President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser and noted Wall Street stooge Larry Kudlow dismissed a new United Nations climate report showing that the world must cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 to avert global catastrophe, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) denounced the White House for its "dangerous" rejection of climate science and slammed Trump for working hand-in-hand with Big Oil to make "a bad situation worse." "The comments a moment ago that Larry Kudlow made are so irresponsible, so dangerous that it's just hard to believe that a leading government official could make them," Sanders told host George Stephanopoulos after Kudlowa fervent climate denieraccused the U.N. of overestimating the severity of the climate crisis. "What the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said is that we have 12 years12 years to substantially cut the amount of carbon in our atmosphere or this planet, our country, the rest of the world, is going to suffer irreversible damage," the Vermont senator continued. "We are in crisis mode and you have an administration that virtually does not even recognize the reality of climate change and their policies, working with the fossil fuel industry, are making a bad situation worse." Watch: Far from taking even the smallest steps toward mitigating carbon emissions and developing a clean energy system that is necessary to avert planetary catastrophe, Trump has worked relentlessly during his first two years in office to free massive oil and gas companies to unleash dangerous pollutants at home while undermining international efforts to confront the climate crisis. Asked about the IPCC's dire assessment of the next several decades if immediate, ambitious, and systemic action is not taken to drastically reduce carbon emissions, Trump appeared to indicate that he has never heard of the IPCC. "It was given to me and I want to look at who drew it," Trump told reporters. "You know, which group drew it, because I can give you reports that are fabulous and I can give you reports that aren't so good." Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams. Teachers are keeping a close watch on a lawsuit filed by nine educators against Navient, one of the countrys largest federal student loan servicers. The lawsuit , backed by the American Federation of Teachers, alleges that the company misled borrowers and impeded them from participating in a federal loan-forgiveness program designed for public service workers. This program, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, is designed to ease the student loan burden for government and nonprofit employees, including teachers. After borrowers make 120 payments on their federal student loans, over the course of 10 or more years, the remaining balance on their loans can be forgiven. Qualification rules for the forgiveness program are complex, and require that borrowers have a certain type of federal loan and repayment plan. The teachers lawsuit, filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, came after the U.S. Department of Education released data in September on the first round of applicants to the program. Of 28,000 borrowers who applied between 2017 and June of this year, only 96 were approved. Not all of the applicants had necessarily been Navient clients. But misleading information from servicers, including the company, is hugely related to the fact that such a small proportion of applicants to the program were accepted, said Persis Yu, a staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center and the director of the organizations Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project. When you have this huge disparity between the number of people applying and claiming that they are entitled to a benefit, and the number of people actually receiving a benefit thats the system breaking down and failing, she said. As ongoing activism across the country has put teacher pay front and center in the national conversation, many teachers say that student debt is also a significant source of financial strain. Just like every other teacher, I struggle to make my mortgage payments, to pay for day care, to keep food on my tableI struggle every day, said Megan Nocerino, one of the teacher plaintiffs in the lawsuit. When you trust someone with a loan, or with your credit, or with anythingthey should have your back, said Nocerino, a middle school literacy teacher in Florida. Navient should have had my back, and they didnt. Student debt is an epidemic among educators and other public service workers, said AFT President Randi Weingarten, in a statement. No one goes into public service to strike it rich; they do it out of a deep commitment to students, patients, and the public good, she said. But we cannot attract the best and brightest to these careers if promises of debt relief are deliberately broken. No Mechanism for Accountability When Nocerinos youngest son was born with severe kidney problems, she called Navient to ask about repayment options. Navient told her, incorrectly, that she wasnt eligible for forgiveness because she had taken leave from her teaching job under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The company repeatedly recommended forbearancean option that allows borrowers to temporarily stop making loan payments, though interest on the loans continues to accrue. Nocerino followed the servicers recommendations, entering into forbearance multiple times over the course of five years. She would have been making payments toward the loan-forgiveness program that whole time, instead of entering into forbearance, she said, if she had known she was eligible. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim that Navient told them they were on track for forgiveness when in fact, they didnt have the right type of loan or repayment program. The suit also alleges that Navient told borrowers the company didnt offer the loan-forgiveness program, without telling them that another servicer, FedLoan, administers the program. The AFT-backed lawsuit claims that Navient misled teachers for the companys financial gain: If a borrower is accepted to the forgiveness program, the loan is transferred to FedLoan, and Navient loses out on servicing fees. Navient officials declined to comment for this story, citing pending litigation. The teachers lawsuit comes on the heels of other suits against Navient, the result of long-standing concerns about the borrowers practices. In 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused the company in a lawsuit of offering misleading information, processing payments incorrectly, and not responding to consumer complaints. Five states have also filed suits against the servicer. While the problems borrowers have had with Navient are well-documented, its not the only loan servicer engaging in bad practices, said Yu. Receiving incomplete or conflicting information from representatives is common throughout the industry, she said. The AFTs lawsuit argues that the Education Department, which contracts with Navient and other companies to service student loans, isnt doing enough to curb these issues. In March, the department issued a rule that states didnt have the authority to regulate federal loan servicers. Theres really no mechanism for accountability for borrowers who are having bad experiences with their servicers, said Julie Margetta Morgan, a fellow with the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think tank. Those people are really depending on the Department of Education to step up, and instead theyre turning a blind eye. The department did not provide a comment by time of publication. Lack of Information Jason Delisle, a resident fellow with the conservative American Enterprise Institute who studies student loan programs, said that not all of the blame for the vast number of rejected applications lies with loan servicers and the department. Providing incentives and benefits to teachers through loan forgiveness is inherently complicated and administratively fraught, said Delisle. The program is designed in such a way that it creates lots of opportunities for someone to be confused. And Yu said that while guidelines for the program are outlined on the Education Departments website , borrowers may not know who they can turn to help make sense of them. Loan servicers are required to tell borrowers about their repayment options, but how they provide that information can vary. Servicers dont have to give financial counseling, said Yu, explaining how the ins and outs of each program would best fit individuals needs. Beyond the teacher plaintiffs in the AFT-backed lawsuit, other K-12 educators have also said that the forgiveness programs rules are unclear and their servicers guidance insufficient. David Cummings, a high school teacher in Vancouver, Wash., who is not involved in the lawsuit, said he didnt know that he needed to be on an income-driven plan, which scales payments according to the borrowers income, to qualify for the loan-forgiveness program. By fall of 2017, he thought he had been making payments toward forgiveness for 10 years. But when he called his loan servicer, Mohela, with a technical question as he prepared his application, a representative told him it wouldnt be accepted because he wasnt on an income-driven repayment plan. He would have to switch plans and make payments for another 10 yearsat which point he would have paid off all of his loans, with no balance left to forgive. Hearing this was crushing, said Cummings. Now, he will continue his paymentsabout $150 a monthuntil his graduate school loans are paid off. He had planned to put the money toward family expenses, including hospital bills from his daughters birth. He feels lucky to have manageable payments, as he knows people with much more student debt than he has. But hes still frustrated by the loan forgiveness application process. I dont understand why, if youre a teacher, youre not automatically enrolled in this, he said. Raymond Bayer, the executive director of Mohela, said in an interview that all borrowers receive a welcome packet with information about available repayment options when their loan is transferred to the servicer. Repayment options are also listed on the back of every paper bill, he said. When borrowers start repayment, Mohela informs them that they will be enrolled in a standard plan unless they take action, said Bayer. If a borrower asks about Public Service Loan Forgiveness during a phone call with a representative, Mohela automatically sends them an application for the program, he said. Cummings said income-driven repayment plans werent ever discussed with him during any phone call prior to September 2017. He said he may have received paperwork that listed Public Service Loan Forgiveness as an optionhe also remembers seeing it listed on Mohelas websitebut he was never explicitly instructed that he would have to be on an income-driven repayment plan to qualify for loan forgiveness. He thinks servicers have a responsibility to do more to guide teachers through the process. Were not necessarily finance experts, and especially not student loan experts, he said. We take them on begrudgingly and reluctantly, so we can do something that we love to do. By Olivia Rose A 5.9 earthquake rattled neighbouring Haiti last weekend leaving at least 15 people dead and more than 300 injured when several buildings collapsed. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake hit at 8.11pm on Saturday night (October 6) and was centred 12 miles (19 kilometres) northwest of Port-de-Paix, which is about 136 miles from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The quake was said to be 7.3 miles (11.7 kilometres) below the surface and resulted in tremors being felt in the Turks and Caicos Islands which is 200 miles from Haiti. One Providenciales resident wrote on Facebook that she felt her house shake for about two minutes. It was reported that Bahamians in Inagua also felt tremors. Although no damage was reported in the TCI or the Bahamas, the strong aftershock triggered a warning for both countries. The Department of Meteorology in the Bahamas issued an alert for the TCI and the southeast Bahamas on Saturday night. "An earthquake warning is in effect for the southeast Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands and their adjacent waters, it read. "At 8.35pm an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Rictor Scale occurred in the Mona passage between Haiti and Cuba. "No tsunami warnings have been given at this time, this system is being closely monitored for future development at this time, the department noted. A significant aftershock occurred some 15.8 kilometres north-northwest of Port-de-Paix at about 3pm on Sunday, Paul Caruso a geophysicist with the USGS confirmed. He noted that at the time emergency teams were bringing relief to victims of Saturdays quake, which toppled cinder block homes and rickety buildings. The countrys civil protection agency issued a statement saying several people were injured and some houses were destroyed in Port-de-Paix, Gros Morne, Chansolme and Turtle Island. Among the structures damaged was the popular Saint-Michel church in Plaisance. Local newspaper Le Nouvellist also reported that detainees being held in a police cell in the Gros-Morne region escaped after the building was damaged. Haitian officials have urged calm following the earthquake and pledged to do everything possible to assist recovery efforts. Impoverished Haiti, where many live in tenuous circumstances, is especially vulnerable to earthquakes. A vastly larger magnitude 7.1 quake damaged much of the capital in 2010 and killed an estimated 300,000 people. Felix Walther (left) and Dr. Saneyuki Ohno working on the 3D analysis of a solid state battery at the Physical-Chemical Institute of the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. In the competence cluster FestBatt (SolidBatt) 14 scientific institutions are working on future e-mobility with long ranges: Large storage capacities, short charging times, and no flammable liquid electrolytes. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the research. The concept of the solid-state battery is becoming increasingly important. Solid-state batteries do not require flammable liquid electrolytes, have a higher energy density than the lithium-ion batteries commonly used today, and enable shorter charging times. To further develop both material and process technology, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has been funding the FestBatt competence cluster since September 2018 with a total of around 16 million euros over three years. The focus of the research is the determination of which materials can be used for solid-state batteries, the analysis of the materials properties, and finding viable manufacturing techniques. A total of 14 scientific institutions are involved: Universities, institutes of the Helmholtz Association and institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The competence cluster is coordinated by the Center for Materials Research (ZfM) of the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (JLU). The competence cluster FestBatt consists of five collaborative projects: three material platforms two method platforms The goals of the first project phase include the production of stable and high-quality solid electrolytes and their electrochemical characterization. The development of solid state batteries based on electrolytes is the focus of further work. Developing materials for energy conversion, storage, and conservation is one of the most important fields of work in materials research internationally - not least because of the enormous social challenges posed by anthropogenic climate change, says Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee, President of JLU. In addition to coordinating the cluster, the Giessen researchers are also leading the work on solid state batteries based on special solid electrolytes (lithium thiophosphates), which have especially favorable properties. Prof. Jurgen Janek's research group (JLU) will make further contributions to a method platform for the characterization of electrodes in solid state batteries. Here, too, the Giessen scientists have already contributed to the elucidation of electrode kinetics. Prof. Dr. Kerstin Volz's research group at the Scientific Centre for Material Sciences (WZMW) and the Physics Department of the University of Marburg are also involved in the methods platform. She characterizes the materials used in solid-state batteries using state-of-the-art electron microscopic methods. Relevante Anbieter Farmer's Union Wants Government Subsidy To Keep Food Affordable Brian Brumby - President of Manx NFU The President of the Manx National Farmers Union wants to see Government subsidies so farmers can help to keep food affordable to consumers. Brian Brumby has made his comments ahead of a Tynwald debate on extra drought aid for farmers who've been affected by this summer's hot and dry weather. Mr Brumby says Manx people spend 8% of their income on food now, compared to around 40% fifty years ago. By Gemma Handy ARCHAEOLOGISTS probing the subterranean secrets of an ancient Lucayan village in Providenciales will begin their much-anticipated dig on Monday (October 15). Nineteen volunteers have signed up to help unlock the mysteries of the very first people to call the TCI home at the site said to date back to at least the 14th century. The 10-day dig is being headed by eminent expert Dr Shaun Sullivan who has investigated the TCIs rich past for decades. The large amount of imported pottery found in the area where construction on the 90-unit South Bank residential development is due to begin next year has made it of particular interest. Dr Sullivan says the pieces offer valuable insight into who prehistoric indigenous people encountered and traded with around the region. Decorative images on the pottery, along with analysis of the mineral content, help determine their origin. The pre-Columbian ceramics will allow the team to "map maritime trade routes and "identify exchange partners among the Taino Indian groups from Hispaniola and Cuba, the archaeologist told attendees at a meeting at the site last month. Islanders were also treated to a lecture and discussion at the Grace Bay National Museum on September 13 which sought to shed light on Lucayan astronomical time-keeping, among other topics. Dr Sullivan first discovered the centuries-old village in 1976. Artefacts previously uncovered there also include remnants of the fish, turtles, crabs and molluscs the Lucayans ate. The upcoming dig came about after Dr Sullivan revisited the area last spring. Developers Windward Long Bay gave permission for it to be investigated and provided funding to do so. Further artefacts unearthed will be given to the National Museum, along with equipment purchased for the dig to assist with future research projects. Volunteers taking part include museum director Dr Michael Pateman, local residents and British West Indies Collegiate pupils. Students from other schools are also set to pay a visit to witness the works in progress. Dr Sullivan told the Weekly News he was keen to pass his archaeological techniques on to local youngsters in a bid to develop indigenous successors. A branch of the Tainos, the Lucayan people were the original inhabitants of the TCI and Bahamas and those encountered by Columbus in the late 15th century. By the early 16th century they had been entirely wiped out. Dr Sullivans team still needs an additional $1,000 to fund the $24,000 project. Generous benefactors from the public and private sectors have helped raise the remainder. Visit www.tcreef.org/archeologicaldig.html to donate via PayPal or call 246-3755?. BINGHAMTON, NY - The general public has trouble understanding differences between obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), according to new research from Binghamton University, State University at New York. "Our culture tends to value individuals who are highly organized and detail-oriented," said Binghamton University Ph.D. student Elyse Stewart, lead author on the paper. "It is common to hear someone joke, 'I am so OCD!' because of this cultural emphasis. But these statements fail to recognize that both OCD and OCPD are debilitating conditions." A research team including Elyse Stewart and Binghamton University psychology professor Meredith Coles analyzed data from hundreds of phone interviews to study how the public recognizes and understands OCD and OCPD. They asked questions regarding the differentiation between someone who is "obsessive-compulsive" and someone who has OCD or OCPD. Each individual was asked three questions. The questions were: (1) "Sometimes people are said to be 'obsessive-compulsive.' What do you think this means? There is no one perfect answer." (2) "Have you ever heard of obsessive compulsive disorder?" (3) "As far as you know, is a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder different from someone who you would describe as obsessive-compulsive? In what ways do they differ?" The individuals were also asked to describe their race, sex, income and level of education. The researchers found that the public was generally unsure of the difference between OCD and OCPD. Those with higher education and incomes were more likely to be able to recognize and define OCD than those with lower education and incomes, with emphasis on education level. Almost half of participants felt there was no difference between someone with OCD and someone who is obsessive-compulsive. "Individuals who have OCD experience extreme distress related to unwanted intrusive thoughts or feelings," Stewart said. "They engage in a compulsion (some behavior or mental act) to reduce this distress. Individuals with OCPD are characterized by a preoccupation with perfectionism and orderliness that can interfere with their ability to be flexible in different situations." The project confirmed what previous research had indicated, that more work is necessary to increase the public's knowledge and awareness of OCD. "It is critical for schools to discuss mental health care with young people," Stewart said. "The earlier that individuals learn about mental health conditions, symptoms, and treatment options, the sooner those individuals can seek appropriate and proactive care. Implementing mental health curriculum in early education would help destigmatize the topic and prioritize care and intervention." The team is planning to look into how OCD develops and how symptoms are maintained. They hypothesize sleep-related factors may influence the severity of OCD symptoms. ### The article, "Public Recognition and Perceptions of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," was published in Community Mental Health Journal. If cannabis use increases after legalization of recreational cannabis on October 17, the Government of Canada should commit to changing the act to prevent negative health effects, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.181287. "Given the known and unknown health hazards of cannabis, any increase in use of recreational cannabis after legalization, whether by adults or youth, should be viewed as a failure of this legislation," writes Dr. Diane Kelsall, Editor-in-Chief (Interim), CMAJ. Health Canada reports that cannabis, a drug that is currently illegal for recreational purposes, will create issues in about one in three adult users and addiction in almost one in 10, with youth being more susceptible to negative effects. "The decision by the federal government to legalize cannabis sends a clear message to Canadians that its use is acceptable," Dr. Kelsall writes. For Bill C-45 to fulfill its aim to ensure public health under legalization, the government must be vigilant in tracking cannabis usage, providing adequate funding to do this in all jurisdictions as well as to conduct research into harms. "Finally, if the use of cannabis increases, the federal government should have the courage to admit the legislation is flawed and amend the act. Canadians -- and the world -- will be watching," the editorial concludes. ### A related research article looking at the effects of smoked cannabis on driving in young people aged 18 to 24 years is published in CMAJ Open http://www.cmajopen.ca. on October 15. CMAJ Open: "Cannabis use and driving-related performance in young recreational users: a within-subject randomized clinical trial" CMAJ Cannabis collection: http://www.cmaj.ca/medical_marijuana ITHACA, N.Y. - With bee pollinators in decline and pesky crop pests lowering yields, sustainable and organic farmers need environmentally friendly solutions. One strategy is to border crops with wildflower plantings to attract pollinators and pest predators. But scientists have suggested that such plantings may only be effective when farms are surrounded by the right mix of natural habitat and agricultural land. For the first time, a Cornell University study of strawberry crops on New York farms tested this theory and found that wildflower strips on farms added pollinators when the farm lay within a "Goldilocks zone," where 25 to 55 percent of the surrounding area contained natural lands. Outside this zone, flower plantings also drew more strawberry pests, while having no effect on wasps that kill those pests. Still, more pollinators in this ideal landscape zone boosted strawberry yields overall. The analysis has implications for many types of state and federal programs in the United States and abroad that promote establishing pollinator habitats on farms. "We're investing huge amounts of money on these programs and right now it's not part of the policy to think about the landscape context of where these habitats are placed," said Heather Grab, Ph.D. '17, the paper's first author and a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Katja Poveda, associate professor of entomology and a co-author of the study. The paper, "Landscape Context Shifts the Balance of Costs and Benefits From Wildflower Border on Multiple Ecosystem Services," published Aug. 1 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests targeting wildflower borders to farms with the right conditions and modifying wildflower plant species could maximize success. The rationale behind the Goldilocks zone theory: wildflower strips surrounded by too much natural land would not add additional beneficial insects, because ample habitat would drown out a small strip of flowers. On the other hand, farms surrounded by other farms are already low on natural habitat and beneficial insects, making a wildflower strip too small to attract more insects. "It's in this zone in the middle, where there's enough natural habitat around, and there are beneficial insects there, and you can attract them [insects] from the natural habitat into the crop habitat to actually see a benefit in terms of crop production," Grab said. In the study, the researchers planted strawberry plots on 12 small New York state farms that represented a gradient of landscapes, from farms surrounded by natural habitat to farms next to agricultural lands. Each farm had two strawberry plantings, one plot bordered by a wildflower strip, and another control plot on the other side of the farm, edged with mowed grass. The researchers conducted surveys of pollinators, pests, wasps that parasitize pests, fruit yield and fruit damage over three years. The tiny parasitizing wasps lay their eggs inside tarnished plant bug nymphs - a pest that costs New York strawberry growers 30 percent of their annual yield. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the nymphs. The wildflower strips were increasingly effective at attracting pollinators as each year passed. The result that "between 25 and 55 percent [surrounding natural landscapes] was the best range in terms of promoting bees," closely matched what the Goldilocks theory predicted, Grab said. But when it came to pests, wildflowers outside the Goldilocks zone attracted the most pests and didn't add more wasps. "It suggests the parasitoids are not responding to wildflower strips at all," Grab said. More study is needed to understand why. Analyses revealed many wildflower species attracted both pests and bees, but some species like fleabane (Erigeron annuus) lured the most pests and were least effective at drawing bees. "If you wanted to optimize the wildflower patches, I would suggest we eliminate some of those from the list of recommended species in the plantings," Grab said. Future work will investigate how floral habitats influence pathogen transmission for bees, the leading driver of bee declines. Bryan Danforth and Greg Loeb, Cornell professors of entomology, co-authored the study, which was funded in part by a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant. Cornell University has dedicated television and audio studios available for media interviews supporting full HD, ISDN and web-based platforms. For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story. -30- ### Argonne awarded funding to partner with industry to advance the use of high performance computing in manufacturing. The use of supercomputers can advance innovation in U.S. manufacturing through simulations and modeling. These methods can enable predictive design that minimizes traditional trial and error prototyping, optimizes product properties and improves estimates of product lifetimes. The High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Program, operated by the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), leverages world-class technical expertise with high performance computing to tackle manufacturing challenges uniquely solved by computer modeling. DOEs Argonne National Laboratory and industry partners were recently awarded funding for four of the 13 projects under the program. The company researchers will work with scientists in Argonnes research divisions and at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), a DOE Office of Science User Facility that provides supercomputing resources and expertise to the scientific and engineering community. ALCF computing resources are 10 to 100 times more powerful than systems typically used for scientific research and are available to researchers from universities, industry and government agencies. Argonne has made it a core R&D thrust to align its computing expertise with Argonne researchers who develop advanced manufacturing technologies to help U.S. companies increase their competitiveness. Argonne plans to expand facilities for collaboration on early-stage innovation in manufacturing science and engineering. This is the fifth round of selectees for the HPC4Mfg Program. The program, established in 2015, unites DOEs supercomputing capabilities and expertise with U.S. manufacturers to optimize production processes, enhance product quality and speed up design and testing cycles while decreasing energy consumption. Participating DOE laboratories include Argonne, Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. We are pleased with the growing involvement by multiple national laboratories in this program, said Lawrence Livermore National Laboratorys Robin Miles, interim director of the HPC4Mfg Program. The world-class expertise in scientific and engineering computing available at our leading institutions can make a significant difference to enhancing the competitiveness and efficiencies of U.S. industry. Each project will receive up to $300,000. Some projects are also co-funded. Each participating private entity or consortium was required to contribute at least $60,000 of in-kind funds. The research planned at Argonne is as follows: VAST Power Systems will work to optimize gas turbine combustors through a partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Prithwish Kundu in Argonnes Energy Systems division. Project will be co-funded by the Office of Fossil Energy and the Advanced Manufacturing Office. The Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium and ArcelorMittal USA aims to optimize reheat furnace efficiency in steel manufacturing through work with May Wu in Argonnes Energy Systems division. Transient Plasma Systems Inc. will partner with Riccardo Scarcelli from the Argonnes Energy Systems division to optimize the characteristics of non-equilibrium plasmas for more efficient and cleaner internal combustion engines. This project will be co-funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office and the Advanced Manufacturing Office. 3M is seeking to optimize the fiber spinning manufacturing process used in filters, fabrics and insulation with the help of Ian Foster in Argonnes Data Science and Learning division. Since it began, the HPC4Mfg Program has funded a total of 60 industry projects, ranging from improving the reliability and lifetime of wind turbines to studying how to mitigate defects in the 3-D printing of metal parts to reducing emissions from semiconductor processing that could potentially harm the ozone layer. EEREs Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) supports early-stage research to advance innovation in U.S. manufacturing and promote American economic growth and energy security. The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) supports early-stage research and development of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies that make energy more affordable and strengthen the reliability, resilience, and security of the U.S. electric grid. Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nations first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance Americas scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energys Office of Science. The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website. ### Engineers and software developers around the world are seeking to create technology that lets users touch, grasp and manipulate virtual objects, while feeling like they are actually touching something in the real world. Scientists at EPFL and ETH Zurich have just made a major step toward this goal with their new haptic glove, which is not only lightweight - under 8 grams per finger - but also provides feedback that is extremely realistic. The glove is able to generate up to 40 Newtons of holding force on each finger with just 200 Volts and only a few milliWatts of power. It also has the potential to run on a very small battery. That, together with the glove's low form factor (only 2 mm thick), translates into an unprecedented level of precision and freedom of movement. "We wanted to develop a lightweight device that - unlike existing virtual-reality gloves - doesn't require a bulky exoskeleton, pumps or very thick cables," says Herbert Shea, head of EPFL's Soft Transducers Laboratory (LMTS). The scientists' glove, called DextrES, has been successfully tested on volunteers in Zurich and will be presented at the upcoming ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST). Fabric, metal strips and electricity DextrES is made of nylon with thin elastic metal strips running over the fingers. The strips are separated by a thin insulator. When the user's fingers come into contact with a virtual object, the controller applies a voltage difference between the metal strips causing them to stick together via electrostatic attraction - this produces a braking force that blocks the finger's or thumb's movement. Once the voltage is removed, the metal strips glide smoothly and the user can once again move his fingers freely. Tricking your brain For now the glove is powered by a very thin electrical cable, but thanks to the low voltage and power required, a very small battery could eventually be used instead. "The system's low power requirement is due to the fact that it doesn't create a movement, but blocks one", explains Shea. The researchers also need to conduct tests to see just how closely they have to simulate real conditions to give users a realistic experience. "The human sensory system is highly developed and highly complex. We have many different kinds of receptors at a very high density in the joints of our fingers and embedded in the skin. As a result, rendering realistic feedback when interacting with virtual objects is a very demanding problem and is currently unsolved. Our work goes one step in this direction, focusing particularly on kinesthetic feedback," says Otmar Hilliges, head of the Advanced Interactive Technologies Lab at ETH Zurich. In this joint research project, the hardware was developed by EPFL at its Microcity campus in Neuchatel, and the virtual reality system was created by ETH Zurich, which also carried out the user tests. "Our partnership with the EPFL lab is a very good match. It allows us to tackle some of the longstanding challenges in virtual reality at a pace and depth that would otherwise not be possible," adds Hilliges. The next step will be to scale up the device and apply it to other parts of the body using conductive fabric. "Gamers are currently the biggest market, but there are many other potential applications - especially in healthcare, such as for training surgeons. The technology could also be applied in augmented reality," says Shea. ### Press kit: http://bit.ly/2OnD0x9 The finding that both men and women prefer leadership traits considered as more masculine could help explain the lack of women in positions of prestige and authority Despite expectations that stereotypically feminine leadership traits like communality will define 21st century leaders, the higher up we look across different types of organizations, the fewer women we find. A new study exploring this apparent contradiction reveals these communal leader traits -- like being tolerant and cooperative -- are viewed as desirable but ultimately superfluous add-ons. Instead, both men and women believe successful leaders need stereotypically masculine traits such as assertiveness and competence. Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the study is the first to examine potential tradeoffs in masculine versus feminine leadership traits and provides insights into the continued concentration of men in top leadership roles. "When looking at the tradeoff that people make between communal and agency leadership traits, we found both men and women continue to see agentic traits as the hallmark of leadership. These are traits that are often associated more with men than with women," says Dr Andrea Vial of New York University, USA, who carried out the study along with Dr Jaime Napier of New York University Abu Dhabi. "The idea that one must be highly agentic in order to succeed as a leader could discourage women from pursuing a high-power role -- and also discourage men from appointing women in such roles." The researchers asked 273 men and women to design their ideal leader by "purchasing" traits from a list of stereotypically masculine (i.e., agency) and feminine (i.e., communality) leadership characteristics (see full list below). The results indicate that when the choice is not constrained, communality traits are valued. However, when the choice is limited then both men and women view competence and assertiveness as more of a necessity and communality as more of a luxury -- with the effect being stronger in men for competence. The participants were also asked how much they would pay to minimize negative leadership traits. Here both men and women prefer to curb traits typically thought of as masculine, such as arrogance and stubbornness, than those typically thought of as feminine, such as shyness and being emotional -- with the desire to curb negative male traits being stronger for women. The study further examined how a different sample of 249 men and women think of themselves in either a leadership role or an assistant role, and what kinds of attributes they would need to be effective. Here, both men and women equally think they should primarily be agentic in order to be a successful leader. In contrast, they view communal attributes as important to help them succeed in low-power assistant positions. "Our results underscore that women internalize a stereotypically masculine view of leadership," says Vial. "Although women seem to value communality more than men when thinking about other leaders, they may feel that acting in a stereotypically feminine way themselves could place them at a disadvantage compared to male leaders." Although it examined a selection of leader attributes without specific context, the study -- which is part of a research collection on gender roles in the future -- makes an important contribution to illuminating the continued scarcity of women at the very top of organizations. "Our results suggest that the concentration of men in top decision-making roles such as corporate boards and chief executive offices may be self-sustaining because men in particular tend to devalue more communal styles of leadership -- and men are typically the gatekeepers to top organizational positions of prestige and authority," explains Vial. On a positive note, the study indicates women might be more supportive than men of leaders with communal leadership styles. "While it may be too soon to tell whether more communal traits will indeed define the leaders of the 21st century, our research suggests women might be more willing to embrace this trend," says Vial. ### Please include a link to the original research in your reporting: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01866/full The agentic (stereotypically male) traits examined were: capable, competent, confident, common sense, intelligent, ambitious, assertive, competitive, decisive and self-reliant. The negative masculine stereotypes were: arrogant, controlling, rebellious, cynical and stubborn. The communal (stereotypically female) traits were: good-natured, sincere, tolerant, happy, trustworthy, cooperative, patient, polite, sensitive and cheerful. The negative feminine stereotypes were: emotional, naive, shy, weak and yielding. Frontiers is an award-winning Open Science platform and leading open-access scholarly publisher. Our mission is to make high-quality, peer-reviewed research articles rapidly and freely available to everybody in the world, thereby accelerating scientific and technological innovation, societal progress and economic growth. Frontiers received the 2014 ALPSP Gold Award for Innovation in Publishing. For more information, visit http://www.frontiersin.org and follow @Frontiersin on Twitter. Some 3,500 years ago, there was already a brisk trade in fish on the shores of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea. This conclusion follows from the analysis of 100 fish teeth that were found at various archeological sites in what is now Israel. The saltwater fish from which these teeth originated is the gilthead sea bream, which is also known as the dorade. It was caught in the Bardawil lagoon on the northern Sinai coast and then transported from Egypt to sites in the southern Levant. This fish transport persisted for about 2,000 years, beginning in the Late Bronze Age and continuing into the early Byzantine Period, roughly 300 to 600 AD. "Our examination of the teeth revealed that the sea bream must have come from a very saline waterbody, containing much more salt than the water in the Mediterranean Sea," said Professor Thomas Tutken of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). The geoscientist participated in the study together with colleagues from Israel and Gottingen. The Bardawil lagoon formed 4,000 years ago, when the sea level finally stabilized after the end of the last Ice Age. The lagoon was fished intensively and was the point of origin of an extensive fish trade. As demonstrated by archeological finds, fishing was an important economic factor for many ancient cultures. In the southern Levant, the gilthead sea bream with the scientific name of Sparus aurata was already being fished by local costal fishermen 50,000 years ago. More exotic fish, such as the Nile perch, were already being traded between Egypt and Canaan over 5,000 years ago. However, the current study shows the extent to which the trade between the neighbors increased in the Late Bronze Age and continued for 2,000 years into the Byzantine Period. "The Bardawil lagoon was apparently a major source of fish and the starting point for the fish deliveries to Canaan, today's Israel, even though the sea bream could have been caught there locally," stated co-author Professor Andreas Pack from the University of Gottingen. Fish teeth document over 2,000 years of trade Gilthead sea bream are a food fish that primarily feed on crabs and mussels. They have a durophagous dentition with button-shaped teeth that enable them to crush the shells to get at the flesh. For the purposes of the study, 100 large shell-cracking teeth of gilthead sea bream were examined. The teeth originate from 12 archeological sites in the southern Levant, some of which lie inland, some on the coast, and cover a time period from the Neolithic to the Byzantine Period. One approach of the researchers was to analyze the content of the oxygen isotopes ^18O and ^16O in the tooth enamel of the sea bream. The ratio of ^18O to ^16O provides information on the evaporation rate and thus on the salt content of the surrounding water in which the fish lived. In addition, the researchers were able to estimate the body size of the fish on the basis of the size of the shell-cracking teeth. The analyses showed that some of the gilthead sea bream originated from the southeastern Mediterranean but that roughly three out of every four must have lived in a very saline body of water. The only water that comes into question in the locality is that of the Bardawil lagoon, the hypersaline water of which has a salt content of 3.9 to 7.4 percent, providing the perfect environment for the growth of sea bream. The Bardawil lagoon on the Sinai coast is approximately 30 kilometers long, 14 kilometers wide, and has a maximum depth of 3 meters. It is separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow sand bar. "There was a mainland route from there to Canaan, but the fish were probably first dried and then transported by sea," added Tutken. Even back then, sea bream were probably a very popular food fish, although it is impossible to estimate actual quantities consumed. However, it became apparent that the fish traded from the period of the Late Bronze Age were significantly smaller than in the previous era. According to the researchers, this reduction in body size is a sign of an increase in the intensity of fishing that led to a depletion of stocks, which is to be witnessed also in modern times. "It would seem that fishing and the trade of fish expanded significantly, in fact to such a degree that the fish did not have the chance to grow as large," continued Tutken, pointing out that this was an early form of the systematic commercial exploitation of fish, a type of proto-aquaculture, which persisted for some 2,000 years. ### Geoscientist Professor Thomas Tutken of the Department of Applied and Analytical Paleontology at JGU received an ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council in 2016. The current research study was undertaken jointly with another ERC project of his colleagues in Israel. Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura, who currently works at the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR), stayed for a month in Mainz, where the researchers performed the major part of the oxygen isotope analyses. By Olivia Rose AS MAJOR road upgrades finally roll out in Grand Turk, residents are being urged to remove all derelict vehicles and other debris from the roadways that may obstruct the project. Several roads throughout Grand Turk will be graded, tarred and paved for the first time in the islands history. The Public Works Department has advised residents of the upcoming road works through Palm Grove, North and South Backsalina and upgrade works to the drainage channels along with scarifying of existing roadways. The department on Wednesday (October 10) called on owners of derelict vehicles and community members in general to be responsible and remove any obstacle from the road edge to limit the interruption of activities. "Residents are also asked to reduce the amount of times they travel these routes although right of way will be provided, a statement from the department read. "This is to reduce the number of interference by the contractor. "Residents are also asked to be cordial to surveyors who may have to enter their property to obtain the correct boundary and implement correct markers. Island Drilling has been awarded the contract for the roadworks and is working with the community to facilitate access through the course of the project. Contractors and agencies recently met to discuss issues relating to which electrical poles will have to be moved, location of water pipes and service lines, traffic flow and other technical issues. The department further pointed out that in the interest of safety, the Government and the relevant authorities will implement appropriate traffic management measures, such as a flag man and appropriate signage, to direct and assist vehicle users during this time. "Residents are asked to drive with due care and consideration during the course of this project as we facilitate the necessary infrastructural upgrades of our developing society. The scope of work which includes the construction and upgrading of many community roads that are littered with huge potholes was budgeted for and expected to begin since 2017. However, according to Member of Parliament for Grand Turk South, Hon. Edwin Astwood, the slothful tendering process stalled the project. Astwood recently expressed his frustration with the sluggish system and said his Government had been jumping through hoops for months to bring this project to fruition. Meanwhile Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson said that while there was no shortage of political will or funds, a lack of consensus at Cabinet level delayed many initiatives. A total of $4 million was budgeted for road repairs and improvements throughout the Islands in 2017. As well as obtaining rich information on wearers' sleep, the software, called SleepGuard, can estimate sleep quality and provide users with practical advice to help them get a better night's snooze New algorithms take advantage of multiple smart watch sensors to accurately monitor wearers' sleep patterns. As well as obtaining rich information on wearers' sleep, the software, called SleepGuard, can estimate sleep quality and provide users with practical advice to help them get a better night's snooze. SleepGuard tracks a combination of different non-biomedical factors - including body movements, sounds related to sleep disorders and ambient lighting. Developed by researchers from Lancaster University in the UK and Northwest University in China, SleepGuard has been tested on 15 study participants. Results show that SleepGuard can estimate sleep-quality at a similar accuracy to consumer-grade sleep monitors. Crucially, it is also able to capture key information about the factors behind sleep quality and can help wearers identify the root causes of their poor sleep. The research team hope the technology can help users to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of their sleep and enable them to take informed actions to improve the quality of their sleep and, as a result, their health. Simple recommendations for getting improved sleep could involve altering the lighting in the bedroom, addressing noise, changing postures and also hand positions. Dr Zheng Wang, Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University and co-author of the research, said: "Sleep quality has been shown to depend on a wide range of factors, such as ambient light, noisiness as well as breathing patterns, sleeping postures and bedtime routines. "Without details of the sleeping environment and the individual's postures and movements across sleeping stages, the root cause of poor sleep cannot be captured and therefore addressed. Dr. Petteri Nurmi, Lecturer from Lancaster University and co-author of the work, said: "Our project aims to unlock the full potential of off-the-shelf consumer smartwatches, taking advantage of their sophisticated suite of sensors to gain a fuller understanding of a wearer's sleep patterns." SleepGuard captures physical activities rather than biomedical signals. It cannot be compared to the accuracy of medical grade technology, though its advantages are that it would be inexpensive to use and easy to use at home. Researchers discovered that sleep quality is strongly linked to characteristics in body movements, health-related factors that can be detected through sounds and the sleeping environment itself. Sensors within a smartwatch, such as the accelerometer, gyroscope and orientation sensor, were used to identify body and hand movements during sleep. The watch's microphone captures ambient noise, as well as wearer's snoring and talking during sleep. In addition a light sensor captures illumination in the sleeping environment. SleepGuard is able to capture four basic sleep postures, such as sleeping on back, front and sides, as arm position is strongly linked to posture. The technology is also able to recognise three common hand positions that can help identify sleeping issues. For example, placing a hand on the abdomen can indicate discomfort. Placing a hand on the chest can cause nightmares due to pressure on the heart, and placing a hand on the head can put excess pressure on shoulder nerves and cause arm pain due to restricted blood flow. SleepGuard can also count the number of times the wearer rolls over during sleep - another indicator of sleep quality with excessive rollovers potentially indicating disturbed sleep. Dr Liqiong Chang, Assistant Professor at Northwest University and co-author of the research said: "When compared to existing sleep monitors on the market, SleepGuard is able to report a wider range of sleep events and provide wearers with a better understanding for the causes of their sleep problems." ### The research is published in the paper 'SleepGuard: Capturing Rich Sleep Information Using Smartwatch Sensing Data' and was presented at the Ubicomp 18 academic conference held in Singapore this October. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the ShaanXi Science and Technology Innovation Team Support Project, the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and by the Royal Society International Collaboration Grant. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. EPSRC is the main funding body for engineering and physical sciences research in the UK. By investing in research and postgraduate training, we are building the knowledge and skills base needed to address the scientific and technological challenges facing the nation. Our portfolio covers a vast range of fields from healthcare technologies to structural engineering, manufacturing to mathematics, advanced materials to chemistry. The research we fund has impact across all sectors. It provides a platform for future UK prosperity by contributing to a healthy, connected, resilient, productive nation. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The way that ordinary materials undergo a phase change, such as melting or freezing, has been studied in great detail. Now, a team of researchers has observed that when they trigger a phase change by using intense pulses of laser light, instead of by changing the temperature, the process occurs very differently. Scientists had long suspected that this may be the case, but the process has not been observed and confirmed until now. With this new understanding, researchers may be able to harness the mechanism for use in new kinds of optoelectronic devices. The unusual findings are reported today in the journal Nature Physics. The team was led by Nuh Gedik, a professor of physics at MIT, with graduate student Alfred Zong, postdoc Anshul Kogar, and 16 others at MIT, Stanford University, and Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) in Russia. For this study, instead of using an actual crystal such as ice, the team used an electronic analog called a charge density wave -- a frozen electron density modulation within a solid -- that closely mimics the characteristics of a crystalline solid. While typical melting behavior in a material like ice proceeds in a relatively uniform way through the material, when the melting is induced in the charge density wave by ultrafast laser pulses, the process worked quite differently. The researchers found that during the optically induced melting, the phase change proceeds by generating many singularities in the material, known as topological defects, and these in turn affect the ensuing dynamics of electrons and lattice atoms in the material. These topological defects, Gedik explains, are analogous to tiny vortices, or eddies, that arise in liquids such as water. The key to observing this unique melting process was the use of a set of extremely high-speed and accurate measurement techniques to catch the process in action. The fast laser pulse, less than a picosecond long (trillionths of a second), simulates the kind of rapid phase changes that occur. One example of a fast phase transition is quenching -- such as suddenly plunging a piece of semimolten red-hot iron into water to cool it off almost instantly. This process differs from the way materials change through gradual heating or cooling, where they have enough time to reach equilibrium -- that is, to reach a uniform temperature throughout -- at each stage of the temperature change. While these optically induced phase changes have been observed before, the exact mechanism through which they proceed was not known, Gedik says. The team used a combination of three techniques, known as ultrafast electron diffraction, transient reflectivity, and time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, to simultaneously observe the response to the laser pulse. For their study, they used a compound of lanthanum and tellurium, LaTe3, which is known to host charge density waves. Together, these instruments make it possible to track the motions of electrons and atoms within the material as they change and respond to the pulse. In the experiments, Gedik says, "we can watch, and make a movie of, the electrons and the atoms as the charge density wave is melting," and then continue watching as the orderly structure then resolidifies. The researchers were able to clearly observe and confirm the existence of these vortex-like topological defects. They also found that the time for resolidifying, which involves the dissolution of these defects, is not uniform, but takes place on multiple timescales. The intensity, or amplitude, of the charge density wave recovers much more rapidly than does the orderliness of the lattice. This observation was only possible with the suite of time-resolved techniques used in the study, with each providing a unique perspective. Zong says that a next step in the research will be to try to determine how they can "engineer these defects in a controlled way." Potentially, that could be used as a data-storage system, "using these light pulses to write defects into the system, and then another pulse to erase them." ### The work was carried out in collaboration between researchers at MIT, Stanford University, and Skoltech. It was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Army Research Office, and the Skoltech NGP Program. ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ARCHIVE: Exploring elusive high-energy particles in an unusual metal Fear of getting a shot most common reason parents say doctor's visits scare their young child; 1 in 25 parents had postponed a vaccine due to child's fear ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A trip to the pediatrician's office can be a nerve-wracking experience for both children and their parents, especially when efforts to calm young patients down dominate the visit. And half of parents of toddler and preschool-aged children can relate, saying their child is afraid of going to the doctor, according to a new report from C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at the University of Michigan. One in 25 parents had postponed a vaccine due to their child's fear of doctor visits and one in five parents said it was hard to concentrate on what the doctor or nurse was saying because their young child was so upset. The nationally representative report is based on responses from 726 parents who had at least one child aged 2-5. "Regular check-ups are vital during early childhood, not only because of important preventive services like vaccinations, but because they provide parents an opportunity to discuss health concerns with their pediatrician," says Mott Poll co-director Sarah Clark. "If a child fears the doctor's office, health visits can be a challenging experience for the whole family. We found that children's anxiety can negatively impact parents' interactions with providers during visits and even causes a small proportion of families to postpone or cancel appointments." Levels of fearfulness did not differ based on whether the child saw the same doctor every visit or saw multiple providers, or whether it was the oldest child versus a younger sibling. Among parents with a child afraid of doctor's visits, fear of getting a shot (66 percent) and stranger anxiety (43 percent) were main reasons children age 2-3 years were afraid. Being scared of a shot was also the most common reason children ages 4-5 feared doctor visits (89 percent), followed by stranger anxiety (14 percent) and bad memories of being sick (13 percent). Children's distress also interfered with parents' ability to ask questions and share information with their provider. Twenty-two percent of parents say that it was hard to concentrate on what the doctor or nurse was saying, and 9 percent said they would sometimes not ask questions or bring up concerns, because their child was scared or upset during the visit. Four percent of parents reported delaying their child's vaccination, and 3 percent cancelled a visit all together because of a child's fear. Parents used different strategies to help their children prepare for a doctor's visit. Some parents tried to placate their young child by promising to get a treat after the visit (31 percent) or telling the child there wouldn't be any shots (21 percent). About 1 in 5 parents (22 percent) said they didn't do anything special to prepare their child for health care visits. "Parents say the biggest source of fear is 'needle phobia,' which can be especially tricky for younger children who require vaccinations more frequently," Clark says. "Children's fear of shots can be exacerbated when they pick up on their parents' anxiety and it can often be difficult to calm children down during these services." Clark recommends parents ask child health providers for tips on how to decrease children's fear of shots. Having the child be held or hugged by the parent, for example, may be calming for many children. Distracting the child with songs, a video, or even coughing briefly before the shot, has also been shown to decrease anxiety. "Telling the child there will no shots at the visit when the child is due for a vaccination or saying 'it won't hurt' may backfire and only increase anxiety ahead of future visits," Clark says. Other parents tried educating their child about what would happen at the visit by talking about it (61 percent), playing with a toy medical kit (26 percent), or reading a book or watching a show about going to the doctor (23 percent). "Steps to educate children ahead of a visit can help them develop expectations about what will happen so the interactions will feel familiar and alleviate fears," Clark says. ### BOZEMAN -- Montanans have grown lentils for two decades, at times producing more lentils than any other state. But growers and scientists still have many questions about managing the crop that is said to be uniquely suited for the northern Great Plains and Pacific Northwest. Take root rot, for example. Caused by complex fungi that thrive under dry conditions, it's a major threat to the lentil industry in North America and worldwide. "We are just shooting in the dark on how to mitigate it," said Charlie Cahill of Scobey, a grower and owner-operator of a seed company with his wife, Tammy. Looking for answers, Montana State University has received a $3.2 million grant from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. It allows MSU Extension Plant Pathologist Mary Burrows, along with a team of scientists from Montana, North Dakota and Washington, to conduct a four-year project investigating root rot and effective ways to prevent or overcome it. The multidisciplinary team is composed of agronomists, food scientists, plant geneticists and plant pathologists as well as farmers, industry representatives and other stakeholders from Montana, North Dakota, Washington and Canada. "Mary did a remarkable job of pulling together this group of interested scientists around a common theme," said Perry Miller, a cropping systems professor in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences in MSU's College of Agriculture. "Lentil is a crop that kind of snuck up on us in Montana from trivial acreage in the 1990s to over 700,000 acres in 2017," Miller added. "There was never much focused research on lentil agronomy in the USA, and the Northern Plains in particular, because the acres didn't warrant it. Best management practices are not well researched." Understanding root rot is a complex endeavor, since agronomy and disease likely interact with genetics, Miller said. Noting that lentil genetics vary widely, Miller said plants range in height from short to very short. Seed size probably varies fourfold. Seed color ranges from light green to rose-orange to speckled or black. "Understanding the interplay of agronomy, genetics and disease is a big goal, and this grant will help us take an important step in that direction," Miller said. Burrows' team has four main goals for the "Building a Better Lentil from the Ground Up" project. They plan, for one, to characterize the major species of Fusarium, the predominant and most difficult to manage of the fungi that cause root rot. They will explore the interactions of those species and the role of seeds in establishing and spreading the disease. Secondly, the researchers want to develop plants resistant to root rot using rapid breeding methods. Thirdly, they plan to study the effect of farm practices on the severity of root rot and its impact on plant health, seed yield and nutrition. Farmers and scientists, for example, aren't sure how often to plant lentils in rotation with wheat. Some alternate the crops every other year. Others wait two years before planting lentils on the same plot. "Even something so obvious as the need to roll the land to smooth out the soil surface to enable harvesting has never been studied under no-till management," Miller added. "Because lentils are now grown so widely, and land rolling is a near-obligate practice, even a small improvement in yield with optimized roll timing could yield big returns for our region." The fourth goal involves sharing findings with stakeholders and educating the next generation of scientists. Two MSU graduate students have already been hired for the lentil project. Syd Atencio, a master's degree student, will assist Miller. Collins Bugingo, a doctoral student, will work with Burrows. Another part of this goal is supporting a graduate student exchange program between the United States and Canada. "Root rot has been a problem longer in Canada than here because they have been growing pulse crops for many more years than us," Burrows said, adding that Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba grow around 10 times more lentils than the United States. Miller said most of his experiments will take place at seven agricultural experiment stations. They are located at Bozeman, Havre, Moccasin and Sidney in Montana and Carrington, Hettinger and Minot in North Dakota. Collaborators in Washington state will conduct genetic studies, Burrows said. Washington State University has the only national lentil breeding program in the United States and has collaborators throughout the West and Midwestern United States and Canada. At MSU, Kevin McPhee, professor in MSU's Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, is the dedicated pulse crop breeder for the university's pulse crop breeding program. The lentil project was developed as a direct result of the 2017 Pest Management Strategic Plan for Pulse Crops sponsored by the USDA-NIFA funded Western Region IPM Center, and numerous discussions with growers, seed dealers, crop consultants and grower organizations, Burrows said. "This project is a stakeholder-identified and stakeholder-driven project, and we would not have developed this plan without their support, encouragement and investment," Burrows said. One of those stakeholders is Terry Angvick from Sheridan County, the top lentil-growing county in the state averaging 50,000 acres per year. "There's a definite need for it (the research project)," said Angvick, a lentil grower and retired MSU Extension agent. Angvick said he has been growing lentils off and on for about 10 years. The crop helps with disease and weed management since it's part of the crop rotation on his farm 20 miles south of Plentywood. Lentils reduce his need for fertilizer because they fix nitrogen in the soil. Yet he has noticed that Canadian growers have more issues with disease, Angvick said. He has seen diseases start to show up in the fields of Montanans who rotate crops on a shorter cycle. He looks forward to seeing what the lentil study will discover about crop rotations, the types of diseases affecting pulse crops and other matters, Angvick said. Cahill, the lentil grower from Scobey, wrote in a letter of support for the research project that he, his neighbors and customers have all benefited from the introduction of lentils. He estimated, for example, that a farmer with 1,000 acres of lentils in 2016 earned an extra $235,000 that year. The lack of research-based knowledge has been a problem, however. "As growing lentils has created a valuable opportunity for producers and their communities, it cannot be taken for granted," Cahill said, adding that the project gives him a sense of hope. "Continuous lentil production has produced root diseases that can seriously affect lentil production." ### NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite found newly developed Tropical Storm Tara affecting the western coast of Mexico. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Punta San Telmo to Cabo Corrientes on Oct. 15. Tara formed on Oct. 14 around 11 a.m. EDT. It was the twenty second tropical depression of the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season. Suomi NPP passed over Tara on Oct. 14 and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument provided a visible image of the storm. The VIIRS image showed the eastern quadrant of the storm over the coasts of Mexico's Michoacan and Jalisco states. At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the National Hurricane Center or NHC noted that the center of Tropical Storm Tara was located near latitude 17.6 degrees north and longitude 104.4 degrees west. That's just 95 miles (155 km) south of Manzanillo, Mexico. Tara is moving toward the west-northwest near 1 mph (2 kph) and this slow motion is expected to continue for the next day or so. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 45 mph (75 kph) with higher gusts. Slow strengthening is forecast during the next few days. NHC said "On the forecast track, the center of Tara is expected to remain near or just offshore of the southwestern coast of Mexico during the next couple of days." ### Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Male mountain gorillas who spend more time taking care of kids are more reproductively successful Research challenges assumptions scientists have made about paternal care in gorillas and other primates Researcher: "Our findings suggest an alternative pathway by which evolution might have eventually led to fathering behavior in humans." EVANSTON, Ill. --- Males have greater reproductive success if they spend more time taking care of kids -- and not necessarily only their own, according to new research published by anthropologists at Northwestern University. In a previous study, the researchers found that wild male mountain gorillas living in Rwanda do something that is quite unusual for a mammal -- they help take care of all of the kids that live in their social group, regardless of whether they are the father. The goal of the new study was to figure out why. "Mountain gorillas and humans are the only great apes in which males regularly develop strong social bonds with kids, so learning about what mountain gorillas do and why helps us understand how human males may have started down the path to our more involved form of fatherhood," said Stacy Rosenbaum, lead author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow in anthropology at Northwestern. Christopher Kuzawa, a co-author of the study, said the findings run counter to how we typically think of male mountain gorillas -- huge, competitive and with reproduction in the group dominated by a single alpha male. "Males are spending a lot of time with groups of kids -- and those who groom and rest more with them end up having more reproductive opportunities," said Kuzawa, professor of anthropology at Northwestern and a faculty fellow at the University's Institute for Policy Research. "One likely interpretation is that females are choosing to mate with males based upon these interactions." Added Rosenbaum: "We've known for a long time that male mountain gorillas compete with one another to gain access to females and mating opportunities, but these new data suggest that they may have a more diverse strategy. Even after multiple controls for dominance ranks, age and the number of reproductive chances they get, males who have these bonds with kids are much more successful." This research suggests an alternative route by which fathering behaviors might have evolved in our own species, Rosenbaum said. "We traditionally have believed that male caretaking is reliant on a specific social structure, monogamy, because it helps ensure that males are taking care of their own kids. Our data suggest that there is an alternative pathway by which evolution can generate this behavior, even when males may not know who their offspring are," Rosenbaum said. This raises the possibility that similar behaviors could have been important in the initial establishment of fathering behaviors in distant human ancestors. The researchers are currently investigating whether hormones might play a role in helping facilitate these male behaviors, as they do in humans. Seminal work on the hormonal changes that men experience as they become fathers and care for kids has been conducted in the anthropology department at Northwestern. "In human males, testosterone declines as men become fathers, and this is believed to help focus their attention on the needs of the newborn," said Kuzawa, who co-authored a study on this topic in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2011. "Might gorillas that are particularly engaged in infant interaction experience similar declines in testosterone? Because this would probably impede their ability to compete with other males, evidence that testosterone goes down would be a clear indication that they must be gaining some real benefit -- such as attracting mates. Alternatively, if it does not go down, this suggests that high testosterone and caretaking behavior don't have to be mutually exclusive in mountain gorillas." The researchers look forward to exploring these new questions. "We're working on characterizing these males' hormone profiles across time, to see if events such as the birth of new infants might be related to their testosterone levels," Rosenbaum said. "We're fortunate to have data that span many years of their lives." The study's senior author, Tara Stoinski of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, added that such work highlights the critical importance of long-term research studies. "Dian Fossey first went to study these mountain gorillas in the 1960s hoping to further our understanding of human evolution," Stoinski said. "More than 50 years later, the continued research on this population is still providing insights, not only on a critically endangered species, but also into what it means to be human." ### "Caring for infants is associated with increased reproductive success in male mountain gorillas" will be published Oct. 15 in Scientific Reports. In addition to Rosenbaum, Kuzawa and Stoinski, the paper was co-authored by Linda Vigilant of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. Japanese researchers have developed an automated method of tracking single fluorescently labeled molecules in living cells, enabling large numbers of molecules to be analyzed and characterized rapidly and cost-effectively Osaka, Japan - To understand the mechanisms by which molecules act in cells, or the effects of drugs on them, it would be ideal to be able to track individual molecules, including where in the cell they are located and what modifications they undergo when conditions in the cell change. However, this has proven difficult with existing technologies, particularly given the amount of time required to perform such monitoring. A research team centered at Osaka University, in collaboration with RIKEN, has developed a system that can overcome these difficulties by automatically searching for, focusing on, imaging, and tracking single molecules within living cells. The team showed that this approach could analyze hundreds of thousands of single molecules in hundreds of cells in a short period, providing reliable data on the status and dynamics of molecules of interest. For the development of this method, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the team used an artificial intelligence-based system, involving the training of neural networks to learn to focus correctly on a sample and to automatically search for cells, followed by the tracking of single fluorescently labeled molecules with a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope. The team tested this system on a receptor protein called EGFR, which is more or less free to move along the plasma membrane in which it is expressed depending on whether it has undergone a certain modification. Their findings showed that the system could differentiate between modifying and nonmodifying conditions by tracking the movements of single receptors in membranes. "We used the results obtained by our system to calculate pharmacological parameters, such as those reflecting the efficacy of drugs and the speed with which molecules diffuse away from their initial location," corresponding author Masashiro Ueda from Osaka University says. "The findings matched the values obtained in earlier studies using traditional labor-intensive methods, supporting the value of this system." "A major benefit of this approach is that the effects of ligands and inhibitors on a target can be quantified at the single-molecule level," adds Ueda. "The automation provided by this approach means that a large number of targets exposed to such molecules can be characterized at low cost, increasing the reliability of the results." As future work, the team hopes to apply this system to the monitoring of single molecules elsewhere in the cell, such as in the nucleus and organelles, using other optical microscopes. The system should also be applicable clinically for reliable genome-wide screening and for pharmacological testing. ### The article "Automated single-molecule imaging in living cells" was published in Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05524-7. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=xf2s5OTAhXI About Osaka University Osaka University was founded in 1931 as one of the seven imperial universities of Japan and now has expanded to one of Japan's leading comprehensive universities. The University has now embarked on open research revolution from a position as Japan's most innovative university and among the most innovative institutions in the world according to Reuters 2015 Top 100 Innovative Universities and the Nature Index Innovation 2017. The university's ability to innovate from the stage of fundamental research through the creation of useful technology with economic impact stems from its broad disciplinary spectrum. Website: http://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/top Doreen Edwards, dean of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, will be presented the Outstanding Educator Award from the American Ceramics Society at its annual conference and honors banquet on Oct. 15. The long-time ceramics and material science researcher will be recognized for outstanding work and creativity in teaching, for directing student-centered research and mentoring individuals in the field of ceramics and materials science. Throughout her career as an engineering professor and materials scientist, Edwards has developed advanced ceramics applications for thermo-chemical devices that can be used in the fields of alternative energy and the environment, and range from solar power devices to fuel cells. While administrative duties as dean have been at the forefront in the last several years, Edwards remains connected to students through guest lectures in classes, participation in community outreach and recruitment efforts, as well as providing on-going support to the numerous student clubs and organizations associated with the engineering college. "Much of student learning today needs to be hands-on and directed toward solving some of our most pressing societal problems. Advanced ceramics is an interesting and growing field. As dean, and as an educator, I want to be sure that students have opportunities to meet challenges in an atmosphere that is as enjoyable as it is important. I am very honored that I was selected to receive the award," said Edwards, who came to RIT in 2016. In that time she has seen the engineering college's academic rankings, enrollment, industry collaborations, research funding and diversity efforts increase. On Sept. 28, Edwards accepted the Changing Hearts and Minds Award on behalf of the college. It is given to signify a college's desire and ability to break through artificial barriers that prevent historically underrepresented faculty populations from gaining access and equity, and acknowledges its efforts to model inclusive behavior by providing a welcoming environment. This year, 18 percent of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering' faculty hires were from historically underrepresented populations. Prior to coming to RIT, Edwards was dean of the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred University. She has 20-plus years' experience in both academia and industry, publishing more than 60 academic papers and attaining two patents. Edwards holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University. She joined Alfred University in 1997 as an assistant professor of materials science and received numerous faculty awards there, as well as the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, one of the State University of New York's highest honors. In 2001, she received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and has served as the principal investigator on fundamental and applied research projects, focusing on oxide materials for fuel cells, batteries, thermoelectric devices, environmental remediation, and solar energy applications. Edwards is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and a member of the society's board of directors. ### TROY, N.Y. -- While temperatures in the tropical forests of northeastern Puerto Rico have climbed two degrees Celsius since the mid-1970s, the biomass of arthropods - invertebrate animals such as insects, millipedes, and sowbugs - has declined by as much as 60-fold, according to new findings published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The finding supports the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warnings of severe environmental threats given a 2.0 degree Celsius elevation in global temperature. Like some other tropical locations, the study area in the Luquillo rainforest has already reached or exceeded a 2.0 degree Celsius rise in average temperature, and the study finds that the consequences are potentially catastrophic. "Our results suggest that the effects of climate warming in tropical forests may be even greater than anticipated" said Brad Lister lead author of the study and a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "The insect populations in the Luquillo forest are crashing, and once that begins the animals that eat the insects have insufficient food, which results in decreased reproduction and survivorship and consequent declines in abundance." "Climate Driven Declines in Arthropod Abundance Restructure a Rainforest Food Web" is based on data collected between 1976 and 2013 by the authors and the Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research program at three mid-elevation habitats in Puerto Rico's protected Luquillo rainforest. During this time, mean maximum temperatures have risen by 2.0 degrees Celsius. Major findings include: Sticky traps used to sample arthropods on the ground and in the forest canopy were indicative of a collapse in forest arthropods, with biomass catch rates falling up to 60-fold between 1976 and 2013. The biomass of arthropods collected by ground-level sweep netting also declined as much as eight-fold from 1976 to 2013. As arthropods declined, simultaneous decreases occurred in Luquillo's insectivorous lizards, frogs, and birds. The authors also compared estimates of arthropod abundance they made in the 1980s in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve in western Mexico with estimates from 2014. Over this time period mean temperature increased 2.4 Celsius and arthropod biomass declined eightfold. Cold blooded animals living in tropical climates are particularly vulnerable to climate warming since that they are adapted to relatively stable year-round temperatures. Given their analyses of the data, which included new techniques to assess causality, the authors conclude that climate warming is the major driver of reductions in arthropod abundance in the Luquillo forest. These reductions have precipitated a major bottom-up trophic cascade and consequent collapse of the forest food web. Given that tropical forests harbor two thirds of the Earth's species, these results have profound implications for the future stability and biodiversity of rainforest ecosystems, as well as conservation efforts aimed at mitigating the effects of climate forcing. Andres Garcia, of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, was co-author on the study which was funded by the National Science Foundation. Research into the effects of climate change is an exciting aspect of The New Polytechnic, an emerging paradigm for teaching, learning, and research at Rensselaer. The foundation for this vision is the recognition that global challenges and opportunities are so great they cannot be adequately addressed by even the most talented person working alone. The New Polytechnic is transformative in the global impact of research, in its innovative pedagogy, and in the lives of students at Rensselaer. ### About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is America's first technological research university. For nearly 200 years, Rensselaer has been defining the scientific and technological advances of our world. Rensselaer faculty and alumni represent 86 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 18 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 26 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 8 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Inventors, and 5 members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, as well as 6 National Medal of Technology winners, 5 National Medal of Science winners, and a Nobel Prize winner in Physics. With 7,000 students and nearly 100,000 living alumni, Rensselaer is addressing the global challenges facing the 21st century--to change lives, to advance society, and to change the world. To learn more, go to http://www.rpi.edu. Tracing the north-south shifts of the northern-most edge of the tropics 800 years into the past shows that periods of tropical expansion coincided with severe droughts For the first time, scientists have traced the north-south shifts of the northern-most edge of the tropics back 800 years, reports a University of Arizona-led international team. The movement of the tropical boundary affects the locations of Northern Hemisphere deserts including the Sonoran, Mohave and Saharan. Those deserts sit just north of the tropical belt, which includes the subtropics. Before now, scientists had information about the location of the tropical belt going back to around 1930, when reliable instrumental record-keeping began. On a standard map, the tropical belt spans roughly 30 degrees north latitude to 30 degrees south latitude. However, the new research reveals that from the year 1203 to the year 2003, the northern edge of the tropics fluctuated up to 4 degrees north and south of the northern 30th parallel. "Movement of the limit of the tropics is associated with changes in precipitation regimes," said Raquel Alfaro Sanchez, who led the research team while a postdoctoral researcher at the UA Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. From 1568 to 1634, the tropics expanded to the north, the team found. That time period coincides with severe droughts and other disruptions of human societies, including the collapse of the Ottoman empire in Turkey, the end of the Ming Dynasty in China and near abandonment of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia, said Alfaro Sanchez, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre de Recerca Ecologica i Aplicacions Forestals in Barcelona, Spain Co-author Valerie Trouet said, "Our results suggest that climate change was one of the contributing factors to those societal disruptions." To track the northern boundary of the Earth's tropical belt from 1203 to 2003, the team used the annual rings of trees from five different locations throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Researchers can figure out annual precipitation years into the past because each annual growth ring of a tree reflects the climate that year. Having an 800-year history also allowed the researchers to connect rare events such as huge volcanic eruptions with subsequent changes in climate, said Trouet, a UA associate professor of dendrochronology. Massive volcanic eruptions cool the Earth because of all the fine particles and aerosols thrown into the atmosphere. The 1815 Tambora eruption in present-day Indonesia caused such cooling worldwide that 1816 was known in Europe as "the year without summer," the team writes. "We can see the contraction of the tropics after volcanic eruptions such as Tambora," Trouet said. Trouet said learning how aerosols affect climate is important because some researchers have proposed sending such particles into the atmosphere as a geoengineering solution to global warming. The team's research paper, "Climatic and volcanic forcing of tropical belt northern boundary over the past 800 years," is scheduled for online publication in Nature Geoscience on October 15. Names of the additional co-authors are at the bottom of this release. Other researchers have documented that the tropics have been expanding northward since the 1970s, Alfaro Sanchez said. Because computer models of current and future climate models also show expansion of the tropical belt, but not as much as is actually occurring, the researchers wanted to develop a longer history of the movement of the tropical zone, Trouet said. Researchers use tree rings to reconstruct past climate and climate changes for many locations around the globe. Those climate reconstructions extend hundreds of years into the past. To track past tropical belt movements, Alfaro Sanchez and her colleagues used existing tree-ring chronologies from five locations: Arkansas, the American West, the Tibetan Plateau, Turkey and northern Pakistan. To discern how the tree-ring records reflect changes in the tropical belt, the team looked at tree rings from 1930 to 2003 and compared the trees' natural archive of climate to instrumental records of changes in the tropical belt. The researchers focused on recorded changes in Hadley cells, the huge atmospheric convective cells that circumnavigate the globe in the tropics. Trouet said Hadley cells are an important driver of atmospheric circulation. Knowing how changes in Hadley cells correlated with changes in tree rings, the team then used multiple tree-ring chronologies to see how the tropics expanded and contracted as much as 800 years ago. "This is the first reconstruction that went back to pre-industrial times," Trouet said. "To know what the natural climate variability is, we need to go farther back in time than the last 150 years." Alfaro Sanchez and her colleagues found the tropical belt has expanded and contracted on its own long before industrial times. Internal variability in the Earth's climate system affects the movement of the tropics, Trouet said. The current recorded expansion of the tropical belt since the 1970s is in part due to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, other researchers report. The current expansion of the tropics may have important societal impacts, because the team found that past severe droughts were associated with persistent periods of tropical expansion, Alfaro Sanchez said. ### The U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the BNP-PARIBAS Foundation funded the research. Additional co-authors are Hanh Nguyen of the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne, Australia; Stefan Klesse, Amy Hudson, Soumaya Belmecheri, Henry Diaz, and Russell Monson of the University of Arizona; Nesibe Kose of Istanbul University in Turkey; and Ricardo Villalba of the Instituto Argentino de Nivologia, Glaciologia y Ciencias Ambientales, Mendoza, Argentina. Researcher contact: Valerie Trouet University of Arizona +1-520-626-8004 trouet@ltrr.arizona.edu Languages spoken: English, Dutch, German, French Raquel Alfaro Sanchez Centre de Recerca Ecologica i Aplicacions Forestals Barcelona, Spain r.alfarosanchez@gmail.com Languages spoken: Spanish, English Media contact: Mari N. Jensen University of Arizona 520-626-9635 mnjensen@email.arizona.edu Stacy Pigott University of Arizona 520-621-1877 spigott@email.arizona.edu By Delana Isles STARTLING figures released this week show that just eight months into 2018 the number of illegal migrants repatriated back to their native countries surpassed the total recorded in 2017. Director of Immigration Derek Been spoke with the Weekly News this week and confirmed that between January 1 and August 31, 1,476 people were sent home. Last year 1,335 people were repatriated in total. This years number, Been said, includes 888 from illegal vessel landings during this time. He added that Haiti received the majority of these repatriations. In addition to repatriations, 36 people have so far been charged with unlawfully entering the Turks and Caicos Islands via illegal sloops or through apprehension by officers. Back in April, Deputy Premier and Immigration Minister, Hon. Sean Astwood confirmed that for the whole of 2017, 1,335 people were repatriated to various countries. Haiti again receiving the highest number. Also at that time, he revealed that 432 people were sent back to their native countries in the first quarter of 2018. According to the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, over the past several months of 2018, sloop arrivals saw a marked uptick due in part to issues with now repaired radar system equipment and other societal factors. Due to this uptick, in August, Deputy Premier Astwood convened an illegal migration and security summit to pick the brains of former and current high ranking Government members who would have dealt with immigration issues in their government portfolios. Given the reported success of that August 9 meeting, the minister stated that he intended to host others to target all sections of society in order to gather their input for possible solutions to help stem or alleviate the worrying problem. Astwood confirmed to the Weekly News this week that his ministry will be hosting another illegal migration and security summit before the end of 2018, details of which will be released very soon. He previously stated that the trend of increasing numbers of sloops entering the Islands will continue to rise. "This trend, we believe, will continue to rise as the pull factors to our Islands such as a low-taxation, strong and growing economy, the rise of the construction sector and the promise of employment in imminent developments, the opportunities for new small and medium business and the easy access to social, health and educational services, all serve as beacons to many immigrants both legal and illegal. He noted that these issues are compounded by the political and other crises in Haiti. Human rights Meanwhile, Director Been responded to reports that detainees at the territorys detention centre are sometimes being held for long periods of time, possibly presenting a case of violation of the rights of detainees. "Section 88-91 of the immigration ordinance sets the rules and procedures related to repatriation and deportation which must be strictly adhered. There are defined triggers within the law for certain actions to be undertaken. "It is not financially prudent to hold detainees for long periods, hence efforts are made at all times to complete the process as soon as practically possible, the director told the Weekly News. He further explained that deportation and repatriation are treated as part of the Immigration Departments recruitment budget, and that adequate funding is available for deportation and repatriation. "Deportation is a legal meticulous process that involves senior ranking public officials. It is time sensitive and balanced to avoid infringement of rights of detainees. "Each deportation is aligned with specific person and each detainee has a right to appeal during the deportation process. "Repatriation is a quicker process than deportation and usually takes two to three days, subject to number of persons. "This process entails statement taking, medical triage, photo taking, fingerprinting, etc. of each person. Director Been noted that there are rare instances when the persons status has to be verified, which requires additional time and instances where detainees do not have the required documents to enable travel back to their homeland. He said in some instances, the relevant diplomatic clearance has to be negotiated to return nationals through third countries and this again can delay the process. The discovery, published in Nature Materials, is the first chemically programmed approach to producing an artificial tissue. The findings, which could have major health applications in the future, could see chemically programmed synthetic tissue being used to support failing living tissues and to cure specific diseases. The development of synthetic tissue which can mimic the ability of living cells to produce functions such as beating and chemical detoxification has, until now, remained a major synthetic biology challenge. A team, led by Professor Stephen Mann FRS and Dr Pierangelo Gobbo from Bristol's School of Chemistry, chemically programmed artificial synthetic cells known as protocells to communicate and interact with each other in a highly co-ordinated way. The researchers constructed two types of artificial cells each having a protein-polymer membrane but with complementary surface anchoring groups. The team then assembled a mixture of the sticky artificial cells into chemically-linked clusters to produce self-supporting artificial tissue spheroids. By using a polymer that could expand or contract as the temperature was changed below or above 37 ?C, it was possible to make the artificial tissues undergo sustained beat-like oscillations in size. The team was able to increase the functionality of the artificial tissues by capturing enzymes within their constituent artificial cells. Using various combinations of enzymes, the team was able to modulate the amplitude of the beating and control the movement of chemical signals in and out of the artificial tissues. Professor Stephen Mann FRS, Professor of Chemistry at Bristol and lead author, said: "Our approach to the rational design and fabrication of prototissues bridges an important gap in bottom-up synthetic biology and should also contribute to the development of new bioinspired materials that work at the interface between living tissues and their synthetic counterparts." Dr Pierangelo Gobbo, lead author, added: "Our methodology opens up a route from the synthetic construction of individual protocells to the co-assembly and spatial integration of multi-protocellular structures. In this way, we can combine the specialisation of individual protocell types with the collective properties of the ensemble." ### The study was funded by NSERC Canada and EU Horizon 2020 grants. Irvine, Calif. -- On top of rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes and worsening wildfires, scientists project that human-caused climate change will result in one of the most dire consequences imaginable: a disruption in the global beer supply. In a study published today in Nature Plants, researchers from the University of California, Irvine and other institutions report that concurrent droughts and heat waves, exacerbated by anthropogenic global warming, will lead to sharp declines in crop yields of barley, beer's main ingredient. The economic models used in the paper demonstrated strong potential for price surges in some beer-loving countries, and whether or not people get to enjoy a frosty mug of suds will likely depend on their willingness to pay. "The world is facing many life-threatening impacts of climate change, so people having to spend a bit more to drink beer may seem trivial by comparison," said co-author Steven Davis, UCI associate professor of Earth system science. "But there is definitely a cross-cultural appeal to beer, and not having a cool pint at the end of an increasingly common hot day just adds insult to injury." He said the research team modeled scenarios based on current and expected future levels of fossil fuel burning and carbon dioxide emissions. In the worst case, parts of the world where barley is grown - including the northern Great Plains, Canadian prairies, Europe, Australia and the Asian steppe - were projected to experience more frequent concurrent droughts and heat waves, causing declines in crop yields of 3 to 17 percent. "Current levels of fossil fuel consumption and CO2 pollution - business as usual - will result in this worst-case scenario, with more weather extremes negatively impacting the world's beer basket," said co-author Nathan Mueller, UCI assistant professor of Earth system science. "Our study showed that even modest warming will lead to increases in drought and excessive heat events in barley-growing areas." Only 17 percent of the globe's barley is used in brewing; in fact, most is harvested as feed for livestock. This sets up a conflict in the decades to come: Will producers prioritize hungry animals over thirsty humans? Inputting a decline in barley supply into their computable general equilibrium model, the researchers consistently found that the ratio of the grain going to beer brewing decreased even more. So, in a word: yes. The study further outlines how different regions of the world will be affected, determining that prices will go up the most in such wealthy, beer-loving countries as Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Poland. For example, Davis said, during drought years, residents of Ireland could need to bring the equivalent of an extra $20 to the store to buy a six-pack. But he noted that some people in these nations will be willing to absorb the higher cost. Beer consumption is predicted to go down in poorer countries, such as China, and Davis joked that even the United States might see a drop-off in keg stands and beer pong tournaments in the future. "Our results show that in the most severe climate events, the supply of beer could decline by about 16 percent in years when droughts and heat waves strike," he said. "That's comparable to all beer consumption in the U.S. Future climate and pricing conditions could put beer out of reach for hundreds of millions of people around the world." ### Scientists from China's Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Mexico's International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and the U.K.'s University of East Anglia also contributed to the study, which received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the U.S. National Science Foundation. About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www.uci.edu. Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists. The team will collaborate with the University of Pittsburgh to expand existing research to develop brain computer interfaces that can restore the sense of touch A team of researchers at the University of Chicago has received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The funding will help the team develop robotic arms patients can control with their minds that receive sensory feedback from attached prosthetic hands. The new grant is part of a combined $7 million awarded to UChicago, Pitt and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to continue their collaboration developing prosthetics with a brain computer interface (BCI) for paralyzed patients. In 2016, the team demonstrated how a clinical trial participant was able to control a robotic arm with his mind and regain the sense of touch through its hand. The new grant will expand the clinical trial to UChicago, where the project will be led by Sliman Bensmaia, PhD, who studies the sense of touch, and Nicho Hatsopoulos, PhD, who researches how the brain directs movement in the limbs. John Downey, PhD, a staff scientist in Bensmaia's lab who formerly worked with the Pitt team, will coordinate research activities. Neurosurgeon Peter Warnke, MD, will perform surgical procedures to implant the devices, and Raymond Lee, MD, a physical rehabilitation specialist from Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital in Chicago, will recruit subjects and provide guidance on the patient population involved. "Our goal is to create a prosthesis that has the same dexterity and functionality as the natural human hand," Bensmaia said. "UChicago has the benefit of years of experience with both motor neuroscience and somatosensory research, and we look forward to continuing that work with our partners at Pitt and UPMC." The research team at Pitt and UPMC is led by Michael Boninger, MD, and includes Jennifer Collinger, PhD, Robert Gaunt, PhD, and Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, MD, PhD. That team has worked with two Pittsburgh area clinical trial participants since 2012, both of whom had paralysis of their arms and hands. The new project will recruit two more such patients at each site. The robotic neuroprosthetic system works by implanting arrays of electrodes in areas of the brain that control movement and process the sense of touch from a natural limb. The electrodes pick up activity in neurons as the patient thinks about moving their own arm to direct the robotic arm to move accordingly. The prosthetic hand is fitted with sensors to detect sensations of touch, such as pressing on individual fingertips, which in turn generates electrical signals that stimulate the appropriate areas of the brain. The prosthetics will incorporate years of research by Bensmaia and Hatsopoulos on how the nervous system interprets sensory feedback, directs limbs to move and perceives them in space. Bensmaia's lab has developed software algorithms to recreate the sense of touch with the BCI using a "biomimetic" approach that mimics the way someone's natural nervous system would communicate signals from the hand to the brain. Hatsopoulos studies motor control and how brain cells work together to coordinate and learn complex movements of the arm and hand. "BCI control in the past has focused on moving the limb in free space. Our project will attempt to solve the difficult challenge of controlling the hand when it comes in contact with and manipulates objects," Hatsopoulos said. The research team at UChicago will continue to refine the previous work with their partners in Pittsburgh to incorporate greater dexterity and more precise movements into the prosthetics. "Having a human patient lets us do all kinds of things we couldn't do before," Bensmaia said. "You can probe the quality of sensations being invoked by asking them what they feel. You can sculpt movements to make more natural and precise. This opens a new world for us here at the University of Chicago." ### This research will be funded by NIH grant UH3NS107714. About the University of Chicago Medicine The University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences is one of the nation's leading academic medical institutions. It comprises the Pritzker School of Medicine, a top 10 medical school in the nation; the University of Chicago Biomedical Sciences Division; and the University of Chicago Medical Center, which recently opened the Center for Care and Discovery, a $700 million specialty medical facility. Twelve Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine have been affiliated with the University of Chicago Medicine. Learn more at uchicagomedicine.org. With modern optical imaging techniques, the position of objects can be measured with a precision that reaches a few nanometers. These techniques are used in the laboratory, for example, to determine the position of atoms in quantum experiments. "We want to know the position of our quantum bits very precisely so that we can manipulate and measure them with laser beams," explains Gabriel Araneda from the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck. A collaborative work between physicists at TU Wien, Vienna, led by Arno Rauschenbeutel (now an Alexander von Humboldt Professor at Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin), and researchers at the University of Innsbruck and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, led by Rainer Blatt, has now demonstrated that a systematic error can occur when determining the position of particles that emit elliptically polarized light. "The elliptical polarization causes the wavefronts of the light to have a spiral shape and to hit the imaging optics at a slight angle. This leads to the impression that the source of the light is somewhat off its actual position," explains Yves Colombe from Rainer Blatt's team. This could be relevant, for example, in biomedical research, where luminous proteins or nanoparticles are used as markers to determine biological structures. The effect that has now been proven would possibly lead to a distorted image of the actual structures. Any kind of waves could show this behavior More than 80 years ago, the physicist Charles G. Darwin, grandson of the British natural scientist Charles Darwin, predicted this effect. Since that time, several theoretical studies have substantiated his prediction. Now, it has been possible for the first time to clearly prove the wave effect in experiments, and this twice: At the University of Innsbruck, physicists determined, through single photon emission, the position of a single barium atom trapped in an ion trap. Physicists at Atominstitut of TU Wien (Vienna) determined the position of a small gold sphere, about 100 nanometers in size, by analyzing its scattered light. In both cases, there was a difference between the observed and the actual position of the particle. "The deviation is on the order of the wavelength of the light and it can add up to a considerable measurement error in many applications," says Stefan Walser from Arno Rauschenbeutel's team. "Super-resolution light microscopy, for example, has already penetrated far into the nanometer range, whereas this effect can lead to errors of several 100 nanometers." The scientists believe it is very likely that this fundamental systematic error will also play a role in these applications, but this has yet to be proven in separate studies. The researchers also assume that this effect will not only be observed with light sources, but that radar or sonar measurements, for example, could also be affected. The effect could even play a role in future applications for the position estimation of astronomical objects using their gravitational waves emission. ### The work has been published in Nature Physics and was financially supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the European Union and the Tyrolean Federation of Industry. Adopting a more local and flexible approach to sustainable development could be key to boosting the productivity of small-scale chicken farms in Africa, a new study reports. Research led by the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with UK and African partners, reveals village chicken populations in Ethiopia to be genetically diverse and highly adapted to their local physical, cultural and social environments. Published in Nature Sustainability, the study suggests that in order to be successful, development interventions, including breeding programmes, need to consider this diversity and be locally tailored and designed to allow for flexible implementation, depending on local needs. Professor Paul Wigley from the University's Institute of Infection and Global Health said: "That chickens are so locally adapted, despite often appearing similar, does present challenges to increasing productivity. "There is not a 'one size fits all' chicken for Ethiopia or any village system. It could be argued that improvements in management, the use of vaccination and improvements to disease control such as simple biosecurity measures are as important as the genetic potential of the bird. Such measures need improvements in access to information and training." Chicken production is an important agricultural activity in Africa and can play an important role in reduction of poverty, and improved nutrition and gender empowerment. Whilst many people are able to raise village chickens and they require few inputs, productivity is low and constrained by, among other things, disease, predation and scarcity of feed. There is much interest in trying to breed a chicken resilient to its environment, whilst providing the basis of an economically sustainable enterprise. Globally, however, a wide variety of interventions have so far proved unable to deliver sustainable improvements. To better understand the barriers to sustainable development, the researchers investigated disease challenges, the genetics of the local chickens and, crucially, the nature of the production system and the socioeconomic reasons why chickens are kept. The study was conducted in two districts of Ethiopia; Horro, around 300 km northwest of Addis Ababa and Jarso, around 400 km east of Addis Ababa. The genetics of the village chickens showed high levels of adaptation to their local ecosystems, resistance to disease and to the management and cultural variations of their environment. On top of adaptation, the data suggest that there have been multiple introductions of chickens in Ethiopia that may relate to trade routes, religion and culture. Professor Rob Christley, who led the project, said: "The importance of culture and location should not be underestimated. Conventionally, the transfer of technology has often taken a top-down approach - from researchers to farmers - ignoring the considerable knowledge of the farmers. This often leads to interventions that are inappropriate to the social, physical and economic settings in which farmers operate, leading to unsustainable interventions." ### The research was carried out by the University of Liverpool in collaboration with the Universities of Edinburgh and Nottingham, the International Livestock Research Institute, the Royal Veterinary College and Wageningen University. Funding support was provided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Scottish Government. The paper 'The role of local adaptation in sustainable village chicken production' is published in Nature Sustainability. Research from the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health and the World Well-Being Project marries social media data with medical-outcomes data for the first time In any given year, depression affects more than 6 percent of the adult population in the United States--some 16 million people--but fewer than half receive the treatment they need. What if an algorithm could scan social media and point to linguistic red flags of the disease before a formal medical diagnosis had been made? New research from the University of Pennsylvania and Stony Brook University published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows this is now more plausible than ever. Analyzing social media data shared by consenting users across the months leading up to a depression diagnosis, the researchers found their algorithm could accurately predict future depression. Indicators of the condition included mentions of hostility and loneliness, words like "tears" and "feelings," and use of more first-person pronouns like "I" and "me." "What people write in social media and online captures an aspect of life that's very hard in medicine and research to access otherwise," says H. Andrew Schwartz, senior paper author and a principal investigator of the World Well-Being Project (WWBP). "It's a dimension that's relatively untapped compared to biophysical markers of disease. Considering conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, for example, you find more signals in the way people express themselves digitally." For six years, the WWBP, based in Penn's Positive Psychology Center and Stony Brook's Human Language Analysis Lab, has been studying how the words people use reflect inner feelings and contentedness. In 2014, Johannes Eichstaedt, WWBP founding research scientist, started to wonder whether it was possible for social media to predict mental health outcomes, particularly for depression. "Social media data contain markers akin to the genome," Eichstaedt explains. "With surprisingly similar methods to those used in genomics, we can comb social media data to find these markers. Depression appears to be something quite detectable in this way; it really changes people's use of social media in a way that something like skin disease or diabetes doesn't." Eichstaedt and Schwartz teamed with colleagues Robert J. Smith, Raina Merchant, David Asch, and Lyle Ungar from the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health for this study. Rather than do what previous studies had done--recruit participants who self-reported depression--the researchers identified data from people consenting to share Facebook statuses and electronic medical-record information, and then analyzed the statuses using machine-learning techniques to distinguish those with a formal depression diagnosis. "This is early work from our Social Mediome Registry from the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health," Merchant says, "which joins social media with data from health records. For this project, all individuals are consented, no data is collected from their network, the data is anonymized, and the strictest levels of privacy and security are adhered to." Nearly 1,200 people consented to provide both digital archives. Of these, just 114 people had a diagnosis of depression in their medical records. The researchers then matched every person with a diagnosis of depression with five who did not have such a diagnosis, to act as a control, for a total sample of 683 people (excluding one for insufficient words within status updates). The idea was to create as realistic a scenario as possible to train and test the researchers' algorithm. "This is a really hard problem," Eichstaedt says. "If 683 people present to the hospital and 15 percent of them are depressed, would our algorithm be able to predict which ones? If the algorithm says no one was depressed, it would be 85 percent accurate." To build the algorithm, Eichstaedt, Smith, and colleagues looked back at 524,292 Facebook updates from the years leading to diagnosis for each individual with depression and for the same time span for the control. They determined the most frequently used words and phrases and then modeled 200 topics to suss out what they called "depression-associated language markers." Finally, they compared in what manner and how frequently depressed versus control participants used such phrasing. They learned that these markers comprised emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal processes such as hostility and loneliness, sadness and rumination, and that they could predict future depression as early as three months before first documentation of the illness in a medical record. "There's a perception that using social media is not good for one's mental health," Schwartz says, "but it may turn out to be an important tool for diagnosing, monitoring, and eventually treating it. Here, we've shown that it can be used with clinical records, a step toward improving mental health with social media." Eichstaedt sees long-term potential in using these data as a form of unobtrusive screening. "The hope is that one day, these screening systems can be integrated into systems of care," he says. "This tool raises yellow flags; eventually the hope is that you could directly funnel people it identifies into scalable treatment modalities." Despite some limitations to the study, including its strictly urban sample, and limitations in the field itself--not every depression diagnosis in a medical record meets the gold standard that structured clinical interviews provide, for example--the findings offer a potential new way to uncover and get help for those suffering from depression. ### Funding for the research came from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Templeton Religion Trust (Grant TRT0048). Johannes Eichstaedt is founding research scientist of the World Well-Being Project and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Robert J. Smith is a dermatology resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a former research fellow at the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health. Raina Merchant is the director of the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health and an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. H. Andrew Schwartz is a principal investigator of the World Well-Being Project, a collaborator of the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health, and an assistant professor of computer science at Stony Brook University. Other collaborators from Penn include Lyle Ungar, Patrick Crutchley, Daniel Preotiuc-Pietro, and David Asch. Researchers at the University of Sussex have become the first in the world to develop technology which can bend sound waves around an obstacle and levitate an object above it. SoundBender, developed by Professor Sriram Subramanian, Dr Gianluca Memoli and Dr Diego Martinez Plasencia at the University of Sussex, is an interface capable of producing dynamic self-bending beams that enable both levitation of small objects and tactile feedback around an obstacle. The technology, to be presented at the 31st ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium in Berlin this Monday [October 15], overcomes two key limitations of previous ultrasound levitation set-ups, which were unable to create sound fields of similar complexity and could not bypass obstacles that lay between the transducers and the levitating object. Dr Memoli, Lecturer in Novel Interfaces and Interactions at the University of Sussex, said: "This is a significant step forward for ultrasound levitation and overcomes a significant drawback that has been hampering development in this field. We have achieved incredibly dynamic and responsive control, so that real-time adjustments are just one step away." University of Sussex researchers overcame these challenges by developing a hybrid system that combines the versatility of phased arrays of transducers (PATs) with the precision of acoustic metamaterials while helping to eliminate the restrictions on sound field resolution and variability each of the previous approaches applied. The technology allows users to experience haptic feedback beyond an obstacle; to levitate around an obstacle and to manipulate non-solid objects such as changing the direction of a candle's flame. With SoundBender, the metamaterial provides a low modulator pitch to help create sound fields with high spatial resolution while the PAT adds dynamic amplitude and phase control of the field. Dr Martinez-Plasencia, Lecturer in Interactive Graphics at the University of Sussex, said: "We were attracted to this project due to its similarities between optical holography and acoustics. However, the project has been a great trip of discovery, helping us understand how crucial it is to have high spatial resolution (i.e. the metamaterial), or the techniques required to combine PATs and metamaterials. I am really happy that we can now share all this insight with the rest of the community." The development opens up new potential in ultrasound levitation, which has a distinct advantage over other levitation techniques because it requires no specific physical properties, such as magnetic or electric, in the object to be levitated and can therefore be applied to a far wider range of materials including liquids and food. The concept of self-bending beams was initially used in engineering applications, to obscure buildings from noise or protect areas from earthquakes, but this is the first time it has been adopted for use in acoustic levitation. The hybrid system allows for a number of fun applications including new educational experiences with museum displays, enhanced board games with new levels of interactivity, the potential to direct desired smells from a diffuser to where they are needed, the ability to control motion in non-solid items (such as dry ice or fire) and the potential to synchronize these movements to music. Prof Sriram Subramanian, Professor of Informatics at the University of Sussex and Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Emerging Technologies Chair specialising in developing novel acoustic interfaces, said: "Following our breakthrough, the potential now is for a device that can bend around larger objects, potentially even as the obstacle is moving. We are also pursuing how to make the device broadband so it can work for all frequencies of sound. This would allow, for instance, sending the music of a radio behind a corner or creating zones of silence in the middle of a dance floor." ### In the introduction, the editors wrote, 'By its very nature, an Oxford Handbook offers legitimacy to disability history, an indication of the field's growing import.' A pioneering professor of disability studies at The University of Toledo is an editor and contributor to "The Oxford Handbook of Disability History." Dr. Kim Nielsen, who helped launch the first undergraduate degree of its kind in disability studies in the country at UT, is one of three editors of the book published by Oxford University Press and one of 30 experts to write a chapter. "Disability has a generally unacknowledged or even enthusiastically denied universality," Nielsen said. "The book is the first volume to represent the global scale of this history, from ancient Greece to British West Africa and post-World War II Hungary and contemporary Japan." The cover of the book is designed by a group of artists who work together at Shared Lives Studio in downtown Toledo. "We wanted meaningful, quality art done by a person or persons with disabilities, and we found it," Nielsen said. "Their work is beautiful." Nielsen's co-editor Dr. Michael Rembis, associate professor in the Department of History and director of the Center for Disability Studies at the University at Buffalo, will host a public lecture at UT titled "A Fact was No Less a Fact Because it was Told by a Crazy Person" 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17 in Carlson Library Room 1005. "Dr. Rembis is a skilled historian and storyteller whose work can help us better understand today's mental health practices and helps us remember that people considered mentally ill also live lives with family, labor, community institutions and day-to-day interactions," Nielsen said. "This scholarship should be of interest to all interested in public health policies, disability, history, psychology and social change." In the introduction to the new book, the editors wrote, "By its very nature, an Oxford Handbook offers legitimacy to disability history, an indication of the field's growing import." Nielsen's book chapter is titled "The Perils and Promises of Disability Biography." "Telling the life story of someone whose life included disability, unpacking the relationship between that individual life and its larger historical context, and analyzing the questions and insights raised by that life have much to offer scholars and readers," Nielsen wrote. "A disability analysis does not simply mean discerning whether or not historical subjects have a disability, just as a gender or racial analysis does not simply mean discerning the race or sex of historical subjects. A disability approach analyzes the role of ableism - built structures and social systems that favor the nondisabled - in shaping relationships, systems of power, ideals, disparagements, and the multiple ways of being in the world." Nielsen fights back against the common narrative of disability in the Western world that an individual overcomes or "triumphs over the calamity of disability." She uses President Franklin Roosevelt as an example showing that his life reveals the embedded nature of disability. "From the time he was first affected by polio as a young adult to his death while in his fourth term as the U.S. president, the wealthy son of a prestigious New York family was aided by an extensive network of individuals willing to help him pass as nondisabled," Nielsen wrote. "The FDR that most of us know and admire today was made possible by an intimate network of support; an American public that variably denied, ignored or was ignorant of his disability; and historians who followed that path." Nielsen also discusses the use of primary sources, the opportunities to analyze previously unconsidered sources, and reconsidering the imbalanced power dynamics used to create and archive historical sources. "For example, many, if not all, of the photographs of Millie and Christine McKoy, conjoined twins born into slavery in 1851, made under the guise of science, were sexually exploitive, coerced and sensationalistic," Nielsen wrote. "Many people with disabilities live and have lived in times and spaces where they have no recognized right or access to privacy." As a historian who is not disabled, Nielsen opens up about the importance of visiting places central to individuals who were overlooked or hidden away from society, such as her visit to the grave of the subject of her current biographical project, Dr. Anna Ott, a white female physician who died in 1893 after being determined legally incompetent and institutionalized for 20 years in a state insane asylum as a patient of one of her former male colleagues. Of the 771 people buried at the "nearly unmarked cemetery" over a nearly 100-year period, Nielsen said, "Only eight of the dead had the privilege of grave markers. The rest lay unnamed and largely unclaimed. The disregard with which they had been treated in death revealed much about their lives." Nielsen also said that disability biography can be about nondisabled subjects, such as Frances Perkins, who "served as Secretary of Labor in the Franklin Roosevelt administration, while simultaneously mothering a daughter, providing exclusive financial support for her household, and caring for/managing her frequently institutionalized husband." "Perkins was not disabled, but disability permeated her life," Nielsen wrote. Nielson's most recent book, "A Disability History of the United States," was published by Beacon Press in 2012. ### Finnish pilot develops a new solution for sustainable forestry New unique mobile application puts forest Big Data to more efficient use The whole of Europe is feverishly looking for new ways to use farm, forest and fishery resources more responsibly and sustainably and to promote the production of the best possible raw materials in order to increase the availability of food, energy and biomaterials. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, the Finnish Forest Centre and MHG Systems Oy Ltd are among the organisations that have joined forces to accelerate European bioeconomy with the help of big data technologies based on aerial and satellite images and on open forest data provided by Finnish Forest Centre. The Finnish partners have developed, among other innovations, a unique mobile application that puts forest data to more efficient use. "Population growth and urbanisation are increasing the demand for natural resources, which is putting a strain on the Earth's carrying capacity. The European DataBio (Data-driven Bioeconomy) project aims to develop new sustainable ways to use forest, farm and fishery resources and to communicate real-time information to decision-makers and producers - land- and forest owners, farmers and fishermen", explains Research Professor Caj Sodergard from VTT, who acts as the project's Technology Manager. The project has now resulted in the launch of 26 bioeconomy pilots in 17 different countries. The Finnish consortium is responsible for forestry pilots that are aimed at, among other things, making the collection and sharing of data easier across the value chain. "One of the Finnish consortium's innovations is a globally unique concept based on forestry standards, which allows landowners and forestry operators to collect data on their forests using a smartphone and upload the data to the Finnish Forest Centre's forest resource database with the help of an application called Wuudis", explains Seppo Huurinainen from MHG Systems, who coordinates the DataBio project's forestry pilots. "This facilitates the payment of sustainable forestry subsidies and makes it easier to collect information and keep forest inventories up to date, as the application accurately calculates the volume and quality of the trees left in a stand after care works and harvesting", Huurinainen adds. Also scalable to other countries The Wuudis service and the associated mobile application as well as standardized forest resource data concept provided by the Finnish Forest Centre can be easily scaled to other countries. The mobile application can be also used to monitor the effects of storms, snow, pests, diseases and the like. The solution developers are currently in talks with potential users in Spain and Africa, for example. Another Finnish pilot has developed a service concept based on inventorying forests using drones. Thousands of hectares of forest have already been inventoried with the help of the service this summer. All the pilots included in the project involve developing common software tools for analysing and refining information flows. The results of the pilots and the new solutions are also expected to create new business opportunities and increase the use of big data technologies in the bioeconomy industry's primary production. "We are very excited, anticipating tangible success stories showing there is real value for all in using big data technologies in bioeconomy", says Dr Athanasios Poulakidas from Intrasoft International, who acts as the DataBio Project Coordinator. ### The Finnish partners involved in the project are VTT, MHG Systems Ltd, the Finnish Forest Centre and Senop Oy. The project consortium also includes partners from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Norway, Poland, Italy, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Estonia, France and Romania. The project, which is due to end in 2019, is co-financed by the EU's Horizon 2020 programme. More about the project: https://www.databio.eu/en/ For more information, please contact: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd Caj Sodergard, Research Professor Tel. +358 50 553 9356 caj.sodergard@vtt.fi MHG Systems Oy Ltd Seppo Huurinainen, CEO Tel. +358 44 581 4950 seppo.huurinainen@mhgsystems.com Further information on VTT: Paula Bergqvist Specialist, External Communications +358 20 722 5161 paula.bergqvist@vtt.fi http://www.vtt.fi VTT Ltd is one of Europe's leading research, development and innovation organisations. We help our customers and society to grow and renew through applied research. The business sector and society in general benefit most from VTT when we solve challenges requiring world-class know-how together, and convert them into business opportunities. VTT in social media: Twitter @VTTFinland, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. For photos and videos, please visit our Image Bank. Pound Sterling to Euro (GBP/EUR) Exchange Rate Edges Above 1.14 on EU Summit Day UPDATE: Having drifted lower last night, the pound sterling to euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate has once again edged above the 1.14 handle ahead of the EU summit today. The pound-to-dollar exchange rate is seen trading -0.09% lower at $1.31764. UPDATE: The Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate has returned to 1.14 territory on Tuesday after upbeat UK labour data boosted sterling against the majors. Analysts at Scotiabank noted "Sterling can forget about Brexit for a little while at least and bask in the support derived from this morning stronger than expected weekly earnings data (+3.1% Y/Y for basic wages in Augs data against expectations of a 2.9% gain). Jobs data were a little softer (employment fell 5k) but the strongest wage gains since 2009 suggest that were it not for Brexit risks which we feel remain significant markets might be talking about tighter BoE policy risks." GBP/EUR Exchange Rate Climbs on Upbeat UK Employment and Wages Data UPDATE: The Pound Sterling to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate is seen extending yesterday's bounce, trading +0.33% higher at 1.13944 after strong UK data boosted the British currency on Tuesday. The ONS data release showed: "There were 1.36 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 47,000 fewer than for March to May 2018 and 79,000 fewer than for a year earlier. The unemployment rate (the number of unemployed people as a proportion of all employed and unemployed people) was 4.0%; it has not been lower since December 1974 to February 1975." While the British currency appears to have shrugged off Sunday's negative Brexit headlines, the euro has also seen little movement versus the pound, US dollar after the Italian budget submission. When discussing the euro-to-pound exchange rate outlook, Lloyds said "[EUR/GBP] Prices have held pivotal resistance in the 0.8840/70 region, with momentum turning lower. As such, technically the bias is for a move back towards the recent lows in the 0.8725 region." PREVIOUSLY: Last week opened with the Pound to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate at a level of 1.1391 on Monday morning; the pairing later closed trading on Friday at a lower rate of 1.1355. The previous weeks best GBP/EUR exchange rate was 1.1461, although Sterling couldnt stick with this favourable level of trading for long. Pound to Euro (GBP/EUR) Exchange Rate Static after Brexit Optimism from Jeremy Hunt Brexit has been a dominant factor in Pound to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate movement over the past few days; the latest update from Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt has kept the pairing steady. Mr Hunt has spoken optimistically about securing a Brexit agreement despite the difficulties, saying: We firmly believe that we can find a deal on that basis that works for the European Union and our partners and friends in Europe. Another voice of support has been a Downing Street spokesman, who said: We remain confident of getting a deal because it is in the interests of both the UK and the European Union. Weve said that we want to continue to make progress in the coming days and weeks. Thats what we are focused on. In recent weeks, Brexit talks have mainly focused on the Irish border and whether it is possible to secure a workable trading arrangement between Ireland and Northern Ireland that satisfies all parties. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who are in a key support-providing agreement with the Conservative Party, recently threatened to block the Conservatives budget proposal later this month. The DUPs threat was aimed at keeping Northern Ireland out of the EU customs union at all costs, which only emphasises the continued divisions between the UK and the EU at this critical point in negotiations. Euro to Pound (EUR/GBP) Exchange Rate Steady as Italian Budget Battle Reaches Critical Moment The Euro (EUR) has remained steady against the Pound (GBP) today, with Italys ongoing budgetary issues limiting demand for the single currency. Italys government remains at loggerheads with the European Commission over its spending plans, with the question of a budget deficit provoking animosity on both sides. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has urged Italy to respect the rules to avoid endangering European solidarity. In a shorter retort, Italys Eurosceptic Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said shut up. The European Commission may still oppose Italys spending plans, which risks a full-blown crisis in the single currency bloc. Pound Sterling to Euro Forecast: Will PMs Brexit Update Trigger GBP/EUR Exchange Rate Rise? The Pound to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate might turn volatile this afternoon, depending on what Prime Minister Theresa May says in her planned speech. The PM is expected to speak at half past three this afternoon and might focus on current progress in Brexit negotiations. Analysts are noting that while pre-EU summit speeches are commonplace, holding this one two days before Wednesdays meeting is unusual. The weekend brought no real progress in Brexit negotiations, so GBP traders are still looking for signs that there could be a breakthrough in the near-future. The exact content of the PMs speech is unknown, but if Theresa May does point to an imminent breakthrough in Brexit talks then the Pound could rise sharply against the Euro. Beyond todays news, the GBP/EUR exchange rate could also be influenced by Tuesday mornings UK jobs market data. Covering the unemployment rate, the pace of wage growth and any changes to jobless claims, the data might cause Pound to Euro losses if it prints poorly. A rise in reported jobless claims alongside a slowdown in the pace of wage growth could drain GBP trader confidence, potentially causing a drop against the Euro. Tomorrows later Eurozone data will consist of ZEW surveys of economic sentiment in Germany and the Eurozone. Both readings are tipped to show lower levels of economic confidence, which could weaken the Euro and limit any EUR/GBP exchange rate gains. TOP STORY Electricity fee increase denied By Delana Isles THE GOVERNMENT finally revealed this week that FortisTCIs application for a rate increase was denied over a month ago. Governor John Freeman, on August 17, served notice on the power company refusing its application, a statement to the press said on Wednesday (October 3). It went on to say that FortisTCI has since requested that a commission of inquiry (COI) be conducted to examine the reasonableness of its application. On Wednesday, September 25, that request for a COI was formally granted by the governor. The press release stated that the details regarding the appointment of an independent expert to conduct the inquiry inclusive of the date, time and venue will be published in the Gazette and announced using the various media outlets. (more) Our biggest threat is a tsunami DDME stresses the importance of education and preparedness By Olivia Rose THIS weeks earthquake in Haiti has demonstrated how critical the need is for earthquake and tsunami preparedness in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This is according to Dr Virginia Clerveaux, Director of the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies (DDME), who said that hurricanes are not the territorys only potential threat. A tsunami is a series of waves generated in an ocean or other body of water by a disturbance such as an earthquake, landslide, volcanic eruption or meteorite impact. Dr Clerveaux, during a recent television interview, said: "Our risk is ranging from low to medium so its not absent. "In 2010 when Haiti experienced a major earthquake, persons in the Turks and Caicos Islands reported feeling the aftershock. "Some tremors were felt as far as here in the Turks and Caicos Islands in Grand Turk, Salt Cay and South Caicos in particular. "While we may not be sitting in top of a plate tectonic it is important for us to be prepared in the Turks and Caicos Islands because as you are aware, earthquakes do at times generate tsunamis and our biggest threat is a tsunami. Given the geographical location and topography of the TCI, there is a low to moderate risk for seismic activity. The primary source of high seismic activity and tsunami hazard in the area is the Septentrional fault system. According to the TCIs risk profile, this fault system marks the major North American-Caribbean plate boundary in Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic) which runs several hundred kilometres south of the territory. Therefore, any earthquake or tsunami generated along the North American-Caribbean plate margin represents a potentially significant threat to the TCI. The TCI is also vulnerable to seismic activity generated along the Puerto Rican trench. Dr Clerveaux said: "Reading our Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility report, it indicated that if we were to experience earthquake impact in the Turks and Caicos Islands that resulted in severe damages we can have a loss of $1.5 billion in infrastructure, in critical facilities being damaged. To me that is significant. She noted that even though the tsunami risk to the Caribbean is not very well defined, the threat is very real, and all residents of the region should know the warning signs and the basic precautions. Lack of resources The DDME director bemoaned the lack of financial resources for tsunami preparedness and other critical warning systems in the TCI. She said: "One of things that DDME is lobbying for is to be able to work with international and regional agencies to assist in mapping the bottom of the sea, just to determine its depth and other features. "Because when a tsunami is travelling, as it reaches closer to the shore thats when the waves really get high and so if we know the layout of the ocean floor around the Turks and Caicos Islands then we are in a better position to map how far inland different heights of water would reach. She said the department has also been lobbying for the implementation of more advanced and critical early warning systems that have been adopted by many countries in region. "In terms of early warning systems we have been lobbying for this for the past five to seven years we have approached the private sector, Government, NGOs, regional and international entities and so far, we have not been successful. She pointed out that these systems if implemented would improve hazard mitigation since it would be easier to warn the population of an impending tsunami while enhancing disaster response across the territory. Clervaux revealed that the department is looking to secure funding to implement a tsunami siren system which is used to detect tsunamis in advance and issue warnings to the entire country to prevent loss of life and damage to property. "What were asking for is nothing unique. It exists in the British Virgin Islands, it exists in Anguilla, Montserrat has it, Jamaica also has early warning system for different types of hazards whether its for flooding or otherwise, so it exists. "Nassau has siren systems which they recently implemented so were actually behind. According to scientists at the National Centres for Environmental Information, over the past 500 years the region has been exposed to approximately 100 tsunamis, of which 20 have been confirmed to have caused significant damage. This relatively high frequency - one every 25 years - is noteworthy because the Caribbean region is home to about 40 million people, with a growing coastal infrastructure, tourism industry and population. Of particular concern is how the enclosed nature of the Caribbean basin means that tsunami waves can reach the coastlines in as little as a few minutes to three hours, in contrast to the 15 to 20 hours it can take a tsunami to cross the Pacific basin. The DDME has recently been running drills to ensure the populace is prepared in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. Privacy Settings This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit. NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using. WASHINGTON For almost as long as there have been oil wells in Texas, drillers have pumped the vast quantities of brackish wastewater that surfaces with the oil into underground wells thousands of feet beneath the earths surface. But with concern growing that the underlying geology in the Permian Basin and other shale plays are reaching capacity for disposal wells, the Trump administration is examining whether to adjust decades-old federal clean water regulations to allow drillers to discharge wastewater directly into rivers and streams from which communities draw their water supplies. Technically speaking, drillers are allowed to do this in limited circumstances under federal law, but the process of cleaning salt-, heavy metal- and chemical-laden wastewater to the point it would meet state or federal water standards is so costly that its rarely done, experts say. Technology is changing. At some point, if your disposal options are limited or it becomes so expensive youre having to truck water to be disposed of several hundred miles away, companies will do it, said Jared Craighead, legal counsel to Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton. It might not make sense today but maybe in a year or two. NEW SERIES: How the ethane molecule changed the Gulf Coast and the world The Environmental Protection Agency is consulting with experts and conducting public meetings around the country toward making a decision next summer, said Lee Forsgren, deputy assistant administrator at EPAs Office of Water, Tuesday in Washington. Were very much in a listening mode now, he said. The primary question facing the EPA is whether water standards can be adjusted so oil and gas companies can economically treat wastewater to be pumped into the water supply without contaminating drinking water supplies or killing off local wildlife. In 2016, the EPA banned municipal sewage plants from accepting wastewater associated with hydraulic fracturing after it was discovered that in Pennsylvania, water was sent to plants not equipped to properly clean it. Amid that states fracking boom, residents along the Monongahela River in western Pennsylvania were advised to use bottled drinking water. It would be so difficult to (treat the wastewater) because theres so much we dont know, said Nichole Saunders, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund in Austin. Theres only a handful of research papers. We dont have approved testing methods. The complicating factor here is theres not really the science and data to inform EPA. In Washington, lobbyists for the oil and wastewater industries are pushing hard to loosen regulations they say go too far. Their primary case to the EPA is that the treated wastewater could provide a valuable resource for drought-ravaged water supplies in the western United States, with potential uses for agriculture and industry, and even drinking water supplies. Its an opportunity that could have some really good benefits, particularly in areas that need water, said Lee Fuller, executive vice president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. At this point all that water is just going back in the ground. A Texas-sized problem The Texas oil industry also faces a looming crisis. As the shale drilling boom has grown, so has the problem of what to do with the huge volumes of wastewater. A rule of thumb is that for every barrel of oil, four or five barrels of wastewater are produced. In earlier times, drillers would pump the water right back into the same field. But they have struggled to do so in shale fields, which have tighter geology than conventional oil fields, forcing operators to send their water to off-site disposal wells, Fuller said. NEW BUSINESS MODELS: Big Oil discovers the on-demand economy As drilling activity in the Permian Basin has intensified in recent years, officials at the Texas Railroad Commission which regulates the states oil and gas industry have begun to hear concerns in Upton and Reagan counties in West Texas about pressure in disposal wells building to high levels from overuse. At the same time, a series of small earthquakes in the area has raised concerns that West Texas could succumb to the same earthquake problems that have plagued oil fields in Oklahoma and North Texas, which scientists have linked to underground wastewater disposal. Because of over-pressurization and concerns about seismicity, we are limited where we can permit injection wells, in the Permian Basin, said Craighead, the Railroad Commission official. Treating wastewater and then pumping it into rivers or selling it to farmers to irrigate fields would provide a much needed alternative. For now, the technology still cant treat drilling wastewater economically but that could change soon. In El Paso, for example, the citys water utility is running a desalinization plant to treat brackish water with a salt content similar to oil wastewater to produce up to 27.5 million gallons of fresh water daily. What will really reduce the timeline is if (the EPA) actually comes up with discharge standards and gives people an incentive to develop these technologies, said Leonard Levine, technical director at Gulf Coast Authority, an agency that operates wastewater treatment plants around Houston and West Texas. Never underestimate the ability of the oil and gas industry to develop technology quickly. An eye on Horizon Over the next six months, oil companies will push to make their case to an EPA that under President Donald Trump has proved friendly to the oil and gas sector. Last month, the EPA proposed loosening Obama-era regulations around methane leaks from pipelines and drilling sites. The Department of Interior is also in the process of rewriting safety standards for offshore drilling put in place following the 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. If this study is not done correctly and they dont put the proper treatments in place, it would be a major step backward, said Andrew Grinberg, special projects manager with the environmental group Clean Water Action. The concern (is) that it is window dressing that will give them cover to weaken the rules. At the Railroad Commission, staff are looking into applying to the federal government for authority to administer wastewater discharge permits, something now done by the EPA. It would entail developing testing protocols and hiring more staff, something likely to catch the attention of budget hawks in Austin, but doing so would allow the state government to control the flow of water permits, taking the EPA out of the loop. Were still in the very early stages, but this could be a good alternative, Craighead said. Almost every Permian operator has gotten more interested in this. james.osborne@chron.com twitter.com/osborneja Gemalto released the latest findings of the Breach Level Index, a global database of public data breaches, revealing 945 data breaches led to 4.5 billion data records being compromised worldwide in the first half of 2018. Compared to the same period in 2017, the number of lost, stolen or compromised records increased by a staggering 133 percent, though the total number of breaches slightly decreased over the same period, signaling an increase in the severity of each incident. A total of six social media breaches, including the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook incident, accounted for over 56 percent of total records compromised. Of the 945 data breaches, 189 (20 percent of all breaches) had an unknown or unaccounted number of compromised data records. The Breach Level Index is a global database that tracks data breaches and measures their severity based on multiple dimensions, including the number of records compromised, the type of data, the source of the breach, how the data was used, and whether or not the data was encrypted. By assigning a severity score to each breach, the Breach Level Index provides a comparative list of breaches, distinguishing data breaches that are not serious versus those that are truly impactful. According to the Breach Level Index, almost 1 billion data records have been exposed in India since 2013, when the index began benchmarking publicly disclosed data breaches. During the first six months of 2018, almost 1 billion records were compromised in Aadhar breach incident, including name, address and other personally identified information. This is particularly concerning, since the stolen, lost or compromised data records of only one out of 12 breaches were protected by encryption to render the information useless, a zero percent compared to the first six months of 2017. Jason Hart, vice president and chief technology officer for data protection at Gemalto, said, Obviously, this year social media has been the top industry and threat vector for the compromise of personal data, a trend we can expect to continue with more and more sectors leveraging these platforms to reach key audiences, especially political teams gearing up for major elections. We also expect to see more data breaches reported by European Union countries bound by the new General Data Protection Regulation and in Australia with the new Notifiable Data Breaches law. We should be careful not to misconstrue this as an increase in overall incidents in these areas but rather as a more accurate reflection of what is actually going on. Primary Sources of Data Breaches Malicious outsiders caused the largest percentage of data breaches and accounted for almost 90 per cent above of all stolen, compromised or lost records in 2018 in India. The number of attacks in accidental loss fell by 100 percent compared to the same period in 2017. However, the number of attacks in malicious insider attacks increased by more than 100 percent this half compared to the same time period in 2017. Leading Types of Data Breaches Identity theft continues to be the leading type of data breach, as it has been since Gemalto first started tracking in 2013. While the number of identity theft breaches decreased by 28 percent over the second half of 2017, the number of records stolen through these incidents represent over 99 percent of all records stolen. Financial access incidents show a disturbing trend in the escalation of severity. Though overall incident numbers are on the decline H1 2017 vs. H1 2018 (4 for H1 2017, 2 for H2 2017 and 3 for H1 2018), the number of records breached increased H1 2017 vs. H1 2018 (1.5 million, 50 and 2.6 million) respectively. Industries Most Affected by Data Breaches Most sectors saw an increase in the number of incidents compared to the previous half the exceptions were government, professional services, retail and technology, though both government and retail saw a tremendous increase in the number of records breached through fewer events. Government continues to lead in number of records compromised during data breaches through identity theft which accounted for 98 per cent of the records stolen. Geographic Distribution of Data Breaches North America still makes up the majority of all breaches and the number of compromised records, 59 and 72 percent respectively. The United States is still by far and away the most popular target for attacks, representing more than 57 percent of global breaches and accounting for 72 percent of all records stolen, though overall incidents are down 17 percent over the prior half. India accounts for 37 per cent of the global breaches in terms of records compromised or stolen or revealed. With the implementation of the Notifiable Data Breaches law, the number of incidents in Australia increased dramatically from 18 to 308 as could be expected. Europe saw 36 percent fewer incidents but a 28 percent increase in the number of records breached indicating growing severity of attacks. The United Kingdom remains the most breached country in the region. With the General Data Protection Regulation in full effect for the second half of 2018, the number of reported incidents could begin to rise. Technuter.com News Service A former South San Antonio ISD superintendent was to take over the helm of the Houston Independent School Disitrict but that was before agreeing to withdraw after a weekend retreat with the board of trustees. Trustees are expected to announce Monday that interim superintendent Grenita Lathan will remain at the helm of the Houston Independent School District, an attempt to defuse fallout from a contentious 5-4 vote last Thursday that was mark by shouting matches and accusations of racism from board members. After a six-hour discussion during a weekend retreat Sunday, trustees and Abelardo Saavedra who led HISD from 2004 to 2009 and once served as a superintendent in San Antonio and was to return Monday as the district's new interim leader mutually agreed that he would withdraw, Saavedra said. "It became apparent to me that the dysfunction is not at the superintendent or leadership level, it's at the board level," Saavedra said, adding that he was unaware the move to hire him was going to catch some board members by surprise. EDITORIAL: HISD boards rash replacement of interim leader fuels case for state takeover Lathan is expected to return as the interim leader of the nation's seventh-largest school district while a search continues for a permanent superintendent. District officials said late Sunday that trustees would "discuss the recent vote to make changes to the interim superintendent's position" at a 5 p.m. Monday news conference, but they offered no further details. State Sen. Borris Miles, a Houston Democrat who spoke Sunday with a senior Texas Education Agency official who attended the HISD retreat, cheered the outcome. "After pressure from the board and him reading the climate and the temperature of the board members, he backed off," Miles said of Saavedra. "Cooler heads have prevailed. The most important thing is the schools are back in the hands of somebody who has proven to be good at what she does. It's all about the kids." Trustees reached for comment Sunday offered no details on Monday's announcement, though board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones said the group had "decided to go in a different direction." Some hinted at a move toward unity. "All of us are working together for the betterment of our kids," said trustee Wanda Adams, who had opposed replacing Lathan. Trustee Sergio Lira, who had supported the switch, echoed that, saying the board had been "hashing out a lot of things" during its weekend retreat. "Hopefully it's going to be for the best interest of all of our students," Lira said. Saavedra was to be HISD's third leader this year. Richard Carranza quit in March to lead the New York City public school system after less than two years in Houston. He was replaced on an interim basis by Lathan, previously HISD's chief academic officer. Observers of HISD said the contentious Thursday meeting trustees spoke openly of a "race war" and at least one citizen was removed by officers after cursing at trustees again cast doubt on board members' ability to manage Texas' largest district. It's a critical time as state authorities have already placed HISD under observation and could, if certain schools continue to fall short of performance standards, shutter those campuses or take over the board. Carranza told the state-appointed monitor observing HISD that he had grown increasingly frustrated with the board, saying trustees "didn't have the stomach" to make reforms. The then-departing Carranza, the monitor wrote, complained that some trustees were politically motivated, overstepped their governance role and failed to carry out meaningful conversations about issues. Bob Sanborn, CEO of the nonprofit Children at Risk, said he believes Lathan remaining in her role is good for students, but he said the damage that has been done cannot be reversed by the trustees simply standing together at a press conference. "Nothing has really been defused. You still have this divide on the board racial, political or otherwise, it's a clear divide and they're going to have to work through it if they want a good superintendent, whether it's an African-American or Latino or any other turnaround leader," Sanborn said. "They're going to have to put aside some of these differences and make it work, or our schoolchildren will be the ones to bear the brunt of their dysfunction." Still, some political leaders said they viewed the reversal as de-escalating a situation that had seemed poised to deteriorate. "This is a good outcome for today," said Mayor Sylvester Turner in a statement late Sunday. "But our children need a board with trustees working together, harmoniously, for the good of the children now and in the future. "People have become impatient with a dysfunctional board," he added. "There is no tolerance for bad behavior, regardless of who the bad actors are, when it comes at the expense of what's best for our children." After Turner on Friday called the interim swap "unacceptable," a crowd of local, state and federal leaders from the black community gathered Saturday to call for Lathan to be reinstated and vowed to take legal action to achieve that outcome. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the Houston Democrat who led the event, called the switch of leaders "unprovoked, arbitrary and, we believe, unlawful," repeating concerns that trustees who supported Saavedra's hiring may have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act. The motion that trustee Diana Davila made to hire Saavedra surprised some colleagues, in part because it was listed on the meeting agenda only in vague terms, without his name. Not only did the public meeting notice likely need to be more specific, said Joe Larsen, a Houston attorney with expertise in open meetings law, but if the supporters of the move agreed on their plan before the meeting, their conversations could constitute a violation of the act. In a text message Sunday, Davila said no laws were broken. "Just (because) the HISD school board has split votes doesn't mean laws were violated, (it) just means we didn't agree," she wrote. Miles who was among those who had called for legal action on Saturday expressed relief that Sunday's developments had made those concerns moot. "The last thing we wanted was a black-and-brown race war," he said. Staff writers Shelby Webb and Lauren Caruba contributed to this report. mike.morris@chron.com Since February, three Native American women here have been at work on a project to make an under-noticed group of San Antonians more visible and better served. Their report, released Friday on the last day of Indigenous Peoples Week, contends that American Indians are still largely invisible in San Antonio and that institutions from government to health care agencies need to be aware of them, to better address their needs. The women Karla Aguilar, Juanita Iyotte and Madelein Santibanez took turns presenting the findings of Making the Invisible Visible: Connecting Urban Indians in San Antonio. It was sponsored by the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, a nonprofit group established by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation, whose members are descended from Indians who built the citys 18th century missions. The project was two-pronged, merging data collection and survey results. Data was drawn from Census Bureau reports and the Texas Education Agency, among others. Responses to a one-page questionnaire were collected from Native Americans at various cultural events, including pow wows at Mission County Park and Woodlawn Lake. The survey was also available online. The data collection part of the project dovetailed with needs identified in survey responses gathered from April to August of this year. The 2018 Urban Indian Survey, which questioned more than 100 people, found Native Americans here feel disconnected to their tribal identities and from the healthy lifestyles such connections engender. When asked what issues most affected their families, they said drug and alcohol addiction (70 percent), violence (61 percent) and lack of positive role models (48 percent). They said they needed culturally inclusive medical and mental health care (70 percent); spiritual connections to such care (61 percent) and culturally relevant education (48 percent). The data wasnt new. It showed Native Americans are disproportionately affected by poverty, homelessness, addiction and violence. The Census American Community Survey from 2012 to 2016, for example, found 29 percent of Native Americans in San Antonio live below the poverty line, higher than any other group and higher than the citys overall rate of 17.2 percent. Urban Indians here make up only 1.5 percent of the population yet constitute 8 percent of the homeless. Native Americans are everywhere in San Antonio hiding in plain sight. TEA data, for example, show Native American students attend schools in the Alamo Heights, Judson, North East, Northside, San Antonio and Southwest independent school districts. The largest numbers are in NEISD. Their educational attainment levels are bleak: 73.8 percent graduate from high school and 15.7 percent earn a bachelors degree. Their unemployment rate is the second-highest in the county, at 9 percent, surpassing African Americans slightly. A big part of the American Indians in Texas exercise was to underscore the groups existence and grow that awareness. It was to show how their numbers have grown with each census and will continue to grow, and that they want a place to call their own beyond AITs small office on the citys West Side. Ultimately, what the population needs is a Native American Wellness Center the closest is in Dallas, AIT said. When asked what activities could promote wellness, the survey results pointed to healing ceremonies and prayer, sweat lodges, traditional foods and cooking demonstrations. Responses also listed programs of elders and youth; drumming, reading and storytelling circles; and arts and crafts such as beading, basket weaving, pottery and sewing, even a recording studio. AIT will use the research to develop policy recommendations for city and county government to get closer to that center. It hopes to mount a capital campaign, too. In the meantime, AIT keeps working on ongoing projects and new ones, such as the Warrior Roots Training Camp from Friday to Sunday, Oct 19-21, at the Por Vida Academy, 1135 Mission Road. It will teach community organizing and leadership skills. It will be followed Oct. 22 by a get-out-the-vote event at the Guadalupe Theater headlined by Bombasta and the Barrio Big Band. Also performing will be the 1491s, a sketch comedy group whose members hail from a variety of tribes and say they were at Custers last stand and mooned Chris Columbus when he landed. 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 Father Oscar L. Vasquez cant remember a time when church wasnt a part of his life. As a boy, the longtime educator and school administrator was setting up chairs for Mass at Santa Cruz Chapel on the West Side. As a teen, he was teaching catechism at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and leading the Button Band at Central Catholic High School. Today, Vasquez is the new provincial, or head, of the U.S. province of the Society of Mary, a Missouri-based religious order of 400 brothers and priests in the U.S. and India. The founders of both Central Catholic and St. Marys University, the Marianists date to the 1850s in San Antonio. Being a Marianist reminds him a lot of life on San Jacinto and San Carlos streets, where he worked in his mother Marcelita Lozano Vasquezs neighborhood grocery, which paid the Catholic school tuition for him and three sisters. Each took turns stocking shelves, running the register or pushing a broom, not so different from the expectations of his brethren. Marianists say, We thank God you are here. Now pitch in, Vasquez said. READ ALSO: San Antonio archbishop vows to name 'credibly accused' priests His father, also named Oscar, was a butcher for several grocers, including the Piggly Wiggly chain. Vasquez recalls having everything he needed growing up and never being disappointed at Christmas. He said his parents, both deceased, lived lives that revolved around us. They sent him to the now-defunct St. Martins Hall and then to Central Catholic, where he later was a teacher. Vasquez then went to Our Lady of the Lake University, the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Vasquez, 54, took the helm as a Marianist provincial as the U.S. Catholic Church was rocked by a Pennsylvania grand jury report that named more than 300 Catholic priests whod sexually abused more than 1,000 children over a 70-year period. The report found systematic coverups, forcing leaders of dioceses, archdioceses, religious orders and other Catholic institutions to respond. Several Marianists were named. Vasquez sent a two-page letter to his congregation. The issues of abuse and lack of appropriate response in past decades by some in our Church have once again reached the news, he began. He told them to pray for the victims but reminded them pointedly that such abuse wont be tolerated, that each of them will continue to receive training each year and that Marianists credibly accused wont be allowed to remain in ministry. The Marianists in 2002 were among the first religious orders to seek oversight and accreditation by a third-party firm named Praesidium, which assists youth-serving organizations and others who work with children, teens and vulnerable adults, Vasquez said. At home, news of his ascent came as no surprise. My parents would be proud of Oscar, said his sister Arlene Vasquez, a former nun whos now elementary coordinator for catechism at the Church of the Holy Spirit. By the same token, they would have understood that with the position comes much responsibility. Todd Guidry, a middle school principal who worked with Vasquez for 11 years, called him the ideal leader for the order, a great model of servant leadership. His humility, thoughtfulness, genuine care and compassion for others come through, Guidry said, and colleagues, students and others regularly sought his advice. Vasquez also taught at Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth and Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis, where he also served as principal. READ ALSO: Central Catholic fills in its footprint He would never tell anyone this, but in the world of Marianists, he is universally respected and admired, Guidry added. Youd have a hard time finding anyone in the Marianist world who didnt know he was going to be the guy. He committed to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in 1987, Vasquez explained, then made his final vow of stability when Marianists dedicate their lives to God and a devotion to Mary in 1990. At the beginning, what was difficult was the idea of living with a vow of chastity, he said, smiling only slightly. The older you get, the hardest vow is obedience. Vasquez was ordained a priest in 2005. In many ways, he says, the church is back at square one, where it must revitalize itself in the face of crisis and a rising population of nones, those who claim no religious affiliation. Like the Marianists founder, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, who worked in post-revolutionary France and faced a generation or more without religious education, Vasquez said, We need to re-Christianize the world poquito a poquito, little by little. Hes now based in St. Louis, but hes more often in an airline seat headed to Marianist communities. At each stop, he lets them tell their stories. Listening, he said, is part of my job. Last Saturday night, he was at Holy Rosary Catholic Church to celebrate Mass as two men professed their vows. In late December, he will travel to India for three weeks, where about 100 Marianists live. Vocations are on the rise there and in Africa, while they continue to fall in the U.S. and Europe. To regain trust, he said, the church must be more transparent and hold each other accountable. I hope the crisis sees us through a time of purification, he said. Our world has lost understanding of the church, he said. Some of it is because of the scandals. Some of it is because of our culture. Thats why hes grateful for the values he learned at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, for the family I was born into, who loved me, supported me and challenged me, and to his Marianist brothers for giving him so many opportunities. And like a true alumnus, he added, Im thankful for my Marianist education at Central Catholic. Dressed only in his birthday suit, a man jumped into a large aquarium full of sharks in downtown Toronto and began doing the breaststroke, according to CBC News. Fortunately for him, the tiger sharks in the Dangerous Lagoon, a 760,000-gallon exhibit at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, were not in the mood for a snack. Several reportedly passed within inches of his feet. The incident occurred Friday during the aquarium's bimonthly Friday Night Jazz event, which features a cash bar and live music until 11 p.m. Several people posted videos of the foolhardy swim on social media. Security staffers asked the trespassing skinny dipper to get out of the water, but he ignored them at first, police said. "The guy seemed totally relaxed and there were sharks like everywhere," visitor Erinn Acland told CBC Toronto. "He appeared to be totally nude and like laughing." MORE: California's super-rich are buying pet sharks. What could go wrong? Eventually the man climbed out of the water, jumped a gate and retrieved his clothes from a woman in the crowd who reportedly was holding them for him. He left before police arrived. Jenifferjit Sidhu, a spokesperson for Toronto police, told CBC News that the stunt was "extremely dangerous." "It put the man's safety in jeopardy, the safety of the marine animals and the safety of the staff who tried to get him out of the water," she said. Police have not located man yet, but they want to speak to him, Sidhu said. He could possibly face charges of trespassing, mischief and indecent exposure. --- Read Mike Moffitt's latest stories and send him news tips at mmoffitt@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for renewing the friendship between China and the Netherlands as he arrived in the country on Sunday for an official visit. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Amsterdam for an official visit to the Netherlands on October 14, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua] This is the first such visit to the country by a Chinese premier in 14 years. "I have come to the Netherlands to renew and enhance a long-running friendship. A bright future dawns only when we maintain," Li said in an article published Sunday on newspaper Nouvelles D'Europe. Noting that the world is now facing the headwinds of unilateralism and protectionism, Li said the solution to the challenges lies in "making a stronger commitment to uphold multilateralism, free trade, economic globalization and an open world economy, and striving to sustain the hard-won global recovery with concrete and concerted efforts." The premier also urged the two countries to further enhance cooperation. The development in China driven by a new round of reform and opening-up has created new space for cooperation between the two countries, Li said. "As a Dutch saying goes, happiness doubles when you share it. Likewise, opportunities will multiply when we share them," Li said in the article titled "A time to renew friendship and embrace a brighter future." Efforts to advance the Belt and Road Initiative will provide more opportunities to leverage the advantageous location of the Netherlands as the gateway to Europe and facilitate connectivity between China and Europe by making full use of the convenient land, sea and air transportation in this country, he said. The boom of new growth drivers and upgrading of the industrial structure in China will cultivate new areas of technological cooperation, and Chinese people's pursuit of a better life with higher household spending promises a new market for quality Dutch products, he said. Meanwhile, China's innovation-driven development strategy being implemented in full swing will offer new impetus for creative industries in the Netherlands to join in the development of the innovation economy in China, Li said. "With a host of measures in place to deepen reform and expand opening-up, especially to widen market access for foreign investment in services sectors, the financial sector included, China will generate more promising business opportunities for Dutch companies and investors," said Li. On China's business environment, Li said China will "make greater efforts and take faster steps to improve" it, as well as "expand market access for foreign investors, and protect intellectual property rights." "This is a commitment China has made not just to the world but more so to serve China's own development. We will stay committed to these goals," he added. Stating that the process of reform and opening-up will see China further align its domestic rules with international practices and seek development synergy with the rest of the world, Li said the Netherlands and other countries are welcome to share in China's development opportunities. "I trust that the Netherlands known for its pioneering spirit will be an early bird in China's new round of reform and opening-up. With joint efforts, China, the Netherlands and Europe as a whole will all embrace a brighter future," the premier said. NEWS FLASH VINCI's request for a 100 million euro loan from the European Bank For Reconstruction and Development, in order for it to close the financial construction of the 25-year concession of Belgrade Airport, has passed final review and is now pending Board approval. The Board will make its decision on October 31. The concession and construction company has already received loan approval from other financial institutions, including the International Finance Corporation, France's PROPARCO and the German Investment Corporation. The concession agreement between VINCI and the Serbian government is worth just over a billion euros. Assistant Professor of French The Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Western Washington University is inviting applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor beginning September 2019. We are seeking a teacher-scholar with expertise in one of the following fields to teach a broad spectrum of French language and content courses in the undergraduate curriculum: - Francophone Caribbean literatures and/or cultures - Francophone Sub-Saharan literatures and/or cultures - Medieval and/or Early Modern (including 17th-century) French literature and culture Additional responsibilities include: Standard quarter-system teaching assignment; exemplary teaching; active program of scholarly activity; service to the French section and to the Department through a range of activities. The position requires a strong commitment to teaching. The successful candidate will be expected to fulfill teaching and mentoring responsibilities in ways that provide equitable and inclusive learning environments for all students. Required qualifications: PhD in French/Francophone Studies by time of appointment, with a focus on one of the following areas: -Francophone Caribbean literatures and/or cultures -Francophone Sub-Saharan literatures and/or cultures -Medieval and/or Early Modern (including 17th-century) French literature and culture Native or near-native French and English fluency Demonstrated evidence of excellence in teaching Ability to teach French language at all levels of the curriculum as well as content courses in literature and culture Demonstrated commitment to excellence in scholarship and a dynamic research agenda Ability to work effectively with diverse students and colleagues, including a demonstrated ability and commitment to cultivating learning environments that are equitable and inclusive of students with diverse social identities and backgrounds Preferred qualification: PhD with a focus on French and/or Francophone Cultural Studies Western Washington University is a public four-year institution with a total enrollment of approximately 15,500. Western is located in Bellingham, a city of approximately 87,000. Situated between Seattle and Vancouver, BC, in an area of scenic beauty and extensive cultural opportunities, WWU offers easy access to major research libraries, both directly and through our librarys extensive interlibrary loan system. The Department of Modern and Classical Languages is home to 35 faculty members, from 13 different countries, 20 of whom are in tenure-line positions. We offer majors in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, as well as minors in Russian, Latin, Greek, and Classical Studies. Faculty teach at all levels of an undergraduate program, serving an increasingly diverse student body, and are expected to conduct research and participate in service opportunities. Several department faculty participate in such interdepartmental programs as Canadian-American Studies, East Asian Studies, the Honors Program, and Linguistics. The Department of Modern and Classical Languages and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences support Westerns mission, which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity. Application materials must be submitted via WWUs electronic application system (PageUp) at careers.wwu.edu/westernpageup.html. Candidates should upload (1) a letter of application describing teaching philosophy and research plans, as well as addressing the required and preferred qualifications, (2) a curriculum vitae, (3) a separate statement that addresses their ability to work effectively with diverse students and colleagues, and their commitment to fulfill teaching and mentoring responsibilities in ways that provide equitable and inclusive learning environments for all students (max. length one page), (4) graduate school transcripts, (5) a sampling of teaching evaluations, and (6) the names of three references, one of whom must address the candidates teaching effectiveness. Confidential letter of recommendation requests will be sent out from our online application system. Review of applications begins November 15, 2018; position is open until filled. Children explored their creative side during the Imagination Playground block party on Fall Family Day at the Bruce Museum on Sunday. Students used lightweight foam blocks to build their own imaginary objects and also completed specific challenges to build the blocks into a tower, flower, car and 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 The following companies are subsidiares of Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Gruppe Deutschland GmbH & Co. oHG, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Nova Scotia Company, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Poland S.A., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay, Giorgio Beverly Hills Inc., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, LLC "Procter & Gamble Novomoskovsk", LLL "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", Laboratorios Vicks, Liberty Street Music Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', Limited Liability Company with foreign investments Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, New Chapter, New Chapter Canada Inc., Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G Prestige Service GmbH, P&G South African Trading (Pty.) Ltd., PGT Health Care (Zhejiang) Limited, PGT Healthcare LLP, PPI ZAO, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Procter & Gamble (Chengdu) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (East Africa) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Egypt) Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble (Enterprise Fund) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Jiangsu) Ltd. China, Procter & Gamble (L&CP) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble (Shanghai) International Trade Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Acquisition GmbH, Procter & Gamble Administration GmbH, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chile , Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Commercial de Cuba S.A., Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent (Beijing) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deuttschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing (Philippines) Inc., Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distribution Company (Europe) BVBA, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana, Procter & Gamble Europe SA, Procter & Gamble Export Operations SARL, Procter & Gamble Exportadora e Importadora Ltda., Procter & Gamble Exports, Procter & Gamble Fabricacao e Comercio Ltda., Procter & Gamble Far East, Procter & Gamble Finance (U.K.) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Hellas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holdings (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership (KKT), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings, Procter & Gamble Indochina Limited Company, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama, Procter & Gamble International Operations Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Investment Company (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment GmbH, Procter & Gamble Italia, Procter & Gamble Japan K.K., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea, Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble Lanka Private Ltd. Sri Lanka, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Marketing and Services doo, Procter & Gamble Maroc SA, Procter & Gamble Mataro, Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Investments B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Nordic, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Procter & Gamble Partnership LLP, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France SAS, Procter & Gamble Philippines, Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo, Procter & Gamble Product Supply (U.K.) Limited U.K., Procter & Gamble Production GmbH, Procter & Gamble Productions, Procter & Gamble Productos de Consumo, Procter & Gamble RHD, Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services BVBA, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Satis ve Dagitim Ltd. Sti., Procter & Gamble Seine S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services (Switzerland) SA, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Share Incentive Plan Trustee Ltd., Procter & Gamble South America Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. (Ltd.), Procter & Gamble Sports and Social Club Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology (Beijing) Co., Procter & Gamble Trading (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Verwaltungs GmbH, Procter & Gamble Vietnam, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil S/A, Procter & Gamble do Brazil, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Redmond Products, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Richardson-Vicks do Brasil Quimica e Farmaceutica Ltda, Riverfront Music Publishing Co., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Scannon S.A.S., Series Acquisition B.V., Shulton, Surfac S.R.L., Sycamore Productions, TAOS - FL, TAOS Retail, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving - FL, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble GBS Company, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon (Shanghai) Academy, Vidal Sassoon Co., WEBA Betriebsrenten-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Walker & Company Brands, and iMFLUX Inc.. iShares MSCI South Korea ETF's stock was trading at $52.04 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWY shares have increased by 53.2% and is now trading at $79.70. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Navigant Consulting, Inc. provides professional services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Healthcare, Energy, and Financial Services Advisory and Compliance. The Healthcare segment offers consulting and business process management services to healthcare providers, payers, and life sciences companies. This segment helps clients respond to market legislative changes, such as the shift to an outcome and value-based reimbursements model, ongoing industry consolidation and reorganization, Medicaid expansion, the implementation of a electronic health records system, and product planning and commercialization expertise. The Energy segment provides life-cycle solutions that help clients businesses in changing energy environment, manage complexity, accelerate operational performance, and meet compliance requirements, as well as transform its organizations and systems; and various benchmarking, and data and market research services. This segment serves utility and energy companies, government and nongovernmental organizations, large corporations, product manufacturers, and investors. The Financial Services Advisory and Compliance segment provides strategic, operational, valuation, risk management, investigative, and compliance advisory services to financial services industry, including financial and insurance institutions. This segment also offers anti-corruption solutions and anti-money laundering consulting, litigation support, and tax compliance services. Navigant Consulting, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. 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 The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, 2nd Road Pty Ltd., ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Ltd, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Innovation Singapore Holdings Pte, ?What If! Limited, ?What If! Shanghai Co. Ltd, ?What If! USA LLC, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD Dialeto Agencia de Publicidade SA, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Beijing) Mobile Technology Co Ltd, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co Ltd, Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (South Africa) Pty Limited, Accenture (UK) Ltd, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Azerbaijan Ltd, Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BV, Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A, Accenture CAS GmbH, Accenture Canada Holdings Inc., Accenture Capital DAC, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd., Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SAS, Accenture Customer Services Limited, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Delivery Poland sp. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital France Holdings SA, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance (Gibraltar) III Ltd, Accenture Finance GmbH, Accenture Finance GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II GmbH, Accenture Finance II GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II Ltd, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services Srl, Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Ghana Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Ltd., Accenture Global Services Ltd, Accenture Global Solutions Ltd, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services Ltd, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc., Accenture Holding GmbH, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holding GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SAS, Accenture Holdings plc, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazylym Cozumleri Limited irketi), Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazlm Cozumleri Limited Sirketi), Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture Insurance Services SAS, Accenture Insurance Services SpA, Accenture International BV, Accenture International Capital SCA, Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture International Sarl, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea BV, Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Managed Services SpA, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Middle East B.V, Accenture Middle East BV, Accenture Minority I BV, Accenture Minority III Ltd, Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi (Pty) Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Newco LLC, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations Sp. z o.o., Accenture Outsourcing SRL, Accenture Outsourcing Services, Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations BV, Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru S.R.L, Accenture Peru S.R.L., Accenture Post Trade Processing SAS, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process Ltd, Accenture Product Lifecycle Services, Accenture Properties, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture S.A., Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture SAS, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sendirian Berhad, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Ltd, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.r.l., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services Sp. z o.o., Accenture Services Sp. z.o.o., Accenture Services and Technology Srl, Accenture Services fur Kreditinstitute GmbH, Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Servicos Administrativos Ltda, Accenture Servicos de Suporte de Negocios Ltda, Accenture Solutions Co Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Sp. z o.o., Accenture Sp. z.o.o., Accenture SpA, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc., Accenture Sub Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag KFT, Accenture Technologia, Accenture Technologia Consultoria e Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Technology Infrastructure Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas S.A., Accenture Technology Solutions GmbH, Accenture Technology Solutions Oy, Accenture Technology Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions S.A. de C.V., Accenture Technology Solutions SAS, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn. Bhd., Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures BV, Accenture Technology Ventures S.P.R.L., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co., Accenture Vietnam Co. LTD, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Limitada, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Customer Insight Limited, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Agave Consultants Limited, Agilex Technologies Inc., Allen International, Allen International Consulting Group Ltd, Alnova Technologies Corporation S.L., AlphaBeta Advisors, Altima, Altima Asia Ltd., Altima SAS, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Appaloosa Technology SAS, Arca, Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Avanade, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade (Thailand) Co Ltd, Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Denmark ApS, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Ltd, Avanade Europe Services Ltd, Avanade Federal Services LLC, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SAS, Avanade GZ Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd. (SH), Avanade Guangzhou, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy SRL, Avanade KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Netherlands BV, Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland Sp. z o.o., Avanade Poland Sp. z.o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain SL, Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Ltd, Avanade do Brasil Limitada, Avanade Osterreich GmbH, AvantBiz Consulting Limited, Avenai, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Benext, Bionic, Blue Horseshoe, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Boomerang Pharmaceuticals Communications Ireland Limited, Bow & Arrow, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brand Learning LLC, Brand Learning Ltd, Brand Learning Partners Limited, Brand Learning Pte Limited, Bridge Energy Group LLC, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CadenceQuest Inc., Capable Marketer Limited, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc., Certus Solutions Consulting Services Ltd, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cimation UK Limited, Cirruseo, Cirruseo SAS, Clarity Insights, Clearhead, Clearhead Group, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas (SN) (PTE.) Limited, Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Ltd., Cloud Talent Limited, Cloudsherpas, Cloudsherpas Inc., Cloudworks, Codagenic Pty. Ltd., Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda., Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda., Context Information Security, Coritel S.A., Corliant Inc., CreativeDrive, CustomerWorks Europe SL, Cutting Edge Solutions Ltd, D5 Global Holdings LLC, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., DMA Solutions Limited, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (Australia) PTY LTD, DayNine Consulting (Deutschland) GmbH, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting France SAS, DayNine Consulting Japan K.K., DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings, Declarative Holdings LLC, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digiplug SAS, Digital Consulting & Software Services LLC, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Ltd., Duck Creek Technologies, Duck Creek Technologies LLC, Deja Vu Security LLC, ESR Labs, Elcurator SAS, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting L.P., End-to-End Analytics, Energuia Web, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Ltd., Energy Quote Private Ltd., EnergyQuote JHA, EnergyQuote JHA Ltd., EnergyQuote Trading Ltd., Enimbos, Enkitec, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V. , Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enterprise System Partners PR LLC, Enterprise System Partners S.A.S., Entropia, Epylon, Ethica Consulting Group, Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Exton Consulting, Fairway Technologies Inc, Fairway Technologies LLC, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, First Annapolis International, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Focus Group Europe Limited, Formicary, Formicary Holdings Limited, Formicary Limited, FusionX, FutureMove Automotive, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, Genfour Limited, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gestion Altima Canada Inc., Gevity, Global Public Firm S.L., GlobalView SAS, GoodFilm GmbH Filmproduktion Stuttgart, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Hytracc Consulting UK Limited, Hytracc Holding AS, I-Faber S.p.A., IBB Consulting, IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INCAD, INSITUM, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Imagine Broadband (USA) Ltd, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Industrie&Co, Infoman AG, Infoman Schweiz AG, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Infusion Development Inc., Infusion Development UK Limited, InfusionDev LLC, Innoveer Solutions India Pvt Ltd, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria Brasil LTDA, Insitum Consultoria Colombia SAS, Insitum Consultoria Europa SL, Insitum Consultoria Peru SAC, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., Intrepid, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Advertisement (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inventor Technology Limited, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, Javelin Group (Bulgaria) EOOD, Javelin Group Limited (UK), Javelin Group SASU, K Comms Group Limited, KCS.net AG, KCS.net AG West, KCS.net Deutschland GmbH, KCS.net Holding AG, KCS.net Osterreich GmbH, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Ltd, Kogentix Singapore Pte. Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kunstmaan NV, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon UKI, Kurt Salmon UKI Ltd., Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LabAnswer, LabAnswer Government, LemonXL Limited, Logistics Market Place Limited (UK), Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Corporation, Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte. Ltd., Mackevision UK Ltd, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd., Maihiro, Matter, Matter Llc, Maud Corp Pty Limited, Maxamine International, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing Corporation, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mindtribe Product Engineering LLC, MobGen, MobGen Technology S.L, Moonrise NV, Mortgage Cadence, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, N3 LLC, NBS Marketing Inc., NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile, Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Chile SpA, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda., New Energy Aborda, New Energy Associates Ltd, New Energy Group, New Energy S.r.l., NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage China Ltd., NewsPage Pte Ltd, Nice Agency Limited, Northstream, Northstream AB, Northstream Holding AB, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology LTDA, Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Octo Technology SPRL, Octoman SAS, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Openmind, Openminded, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium Consulting Ltd, Orbium GmbH, Orbium Holding AG, Orbium Inc., Orbium International AG, Orbium International sp. z o.o., Orbium Licences AG, Orbium Limited, Orbium Pte. Ltd., Orbium Pty Ltd, Orbium Services sp. z o.o., Orbium Sarl, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PCO Innovation Canada Inc., PCO Innovation EURL, PIXO PUNCH Limited, PLM Systems S.r.l, POC Holdings, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, Pach Invest SARL, Pach Invest SAS, PacificLink Group, PacificLink iMedia Ltd., Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald Inc., Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Partners Technology Mexico Holdings BV, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production K/S, Perseroan Terbatas. Accenture, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Ltd, Pragsis Technologies S.L, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Ltd, Procurian Germany GmbH, Procurian Inc., Procurian International I LLC, Procurian International II LLC, Procurian LLC, Procurian Singapore Pte. Ltd., Procurian Switzerland GmbH, Procurian USA LLC, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co Ltd, Radiant Services, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Limited, Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (Asia) Pte Ltd, Redcore (India) Private Limited (India), Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Renacentis IT Services, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Rothco, Rothco Holdings Designated Activity Company, Rothco Unlimited Company, S.C. EnergyQuote S.r.l., S3 TV Technology Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SEC Servizi, SEC Servizi S.p.A., SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Sagacious Consultants LLC, Salt Solutions, Sanchez Capital Services Pvt Ltd, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Airline Planning Group, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace Asia (Hong Kong) Limited, Seabury Aviation Consulting LLC, Seabury Cargo Advisory B.V., Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Human Capital LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Seabury Structured Finance LLC, Search Technologies BPO, Search Technologies BPO Inc., Search Technologies GmbH, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LATAM, Search Technologies LATAM S.A., Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Sente Partners LLC, Sentelis, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Shackleton, Shackleton Barcelona S.L., Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton Madrid S.L., Shackleton S.A., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., Silveo, Simian Pty Limited, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Commerce GmbH, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., SinnerSchrader Swipe GmbH, Sistemes Consulting S.L., Solutions IQ, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Storm Digital, Storm Digital B.V., Structure Consulting Group, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Systor AG, TQuila Limited (UK), Tadata Creative Unlimited Company, Tara Insurance DAC, Tara Risk DAC, TargetST8, TargetST8 Consulting LLC, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica Ltd., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Limited, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Total Logistics Supply Chain Consultants Limited, Tquila, Trivadis AG, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Verax Solutions, Verax Solutions Corporation, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong, Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd., Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, Weblinc Pty Ltd, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wire Stone Sarl, Wolox, Workforce Insight, Yesler, Zag, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines, Zenta Global Philippines Inc., Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc., Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, and solid-serVision.com GmbH. iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF's stock was trading at $36.70 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWT stock has increased by 78.8% and is now trading at $65.61. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. William Lyon Homes, together with its subsidiaries, designs, constructs, markets, and sells single-family detached and attached homes in California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Texas. It sells its homes primarily to entry-level, first-time move-up, and second-time move-up homebuyers. The company offers its services through in-house commissioned sales personnel and outside brokers. As of December 31, 2018, it owned approximately 17,649 lots and had options to purchase an additional 11,892 lots. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California. Read More Farmers in Anglesey who are low on silage following this year's extreme weather can now receive bales thanks to a farming union and a local energy company. After a disastrous harvest earlier in the year, caused by the severe drought, the window of good weather in recent weeks has come as a lifeline for hundreds of farmers and their animals. It has allowed desperately needed additional crops of silage to be taken ahead of the autumn and winter, but farmers are not out of the woods yet. Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) and Horizon Nuclear Power have now teamed up to help Anglesey farmers short on winter fodder. The energy company is donating a limited number of bales of silage from their Wylfa Newydd site. To be eligible they will need to meet specified criteria and prove that their farm is below 250 acres. This is a great example of a successful company supporting farmers in their local community and I hope that those who are struggling will take up the offer, said FUW Anglesey CEO, Alaw Jones. Euros Jones, the FUWs second CEO on Anglesey added: Once the application window is closed, all bales will be shared on a pro-rata basis, based on acreage and bales will need to be collected from the site on a specified date and time. Those arrangements will be made by the FUW at the end of November. We are really grateful to have the support of Horizon. Applications need to be made directly through the FUW Anglesey office. Contact County Executive Officer Alaw Jones on 01248 750 250 or alaw.jones@fuw.org.uk, entries close at 5pm on Friday 19 October. A major new award opening this autumn to British farmers aims to help new entrants develop successful agricultural businesses. The innovation-focused award New Entrant Farm Business of the Year is opening to farmers, crofters and smallholders, as part of a suite of opportunities being offered across Europe to help new entrants. The award is offered by the European Commission-funded NEWBIE project, which stands for 'New Entrant netWork: Business models for Innovation, entrepreneurship and resilience in European agriculture'. It is being offered in eight European countries, and British winners will get a chance to compare their farming innovations with Europes best new farmers. Applicants will have to demonstrate how they have been able to overcome barriers such as access to land, labour, markets and profitability, and will be judged by a panel of agricultural industry experts. Winners get 500 (440) towards the cost of training or an international visit, as well as an award plaque, farm video, and opportunity to participate in a European new entrant conference with other award winners. They will also be profiled in the national press and at major farming industry events. 'Critical for the future' Dr Lee-Ann Sutherland, leader of NEWBIE for the agri-science organisation the James Hutton Institute, said: New entrants are critical to the future of UK farming. This award will help highlight and support creative new entrants as they develop their businesses. We hope that winners will be inspired by their interactions with other innovative new entrants across Europe and share what they have learned. UK steering group member Simon Gadd, Chair of the NFU New Entrant Forum, said this is an opportunity to highlight the work done by new entrants in an "exciting and innovative" industry. "This brings together the chance to share experiences and new concepts within farming to help make the industry fit for the future," he said. "I hope to see new plans created that can be implemented on how best to prepare the next generation of farmers to ensure they are ready for an exciting future in the industry. Applicants can be individuals or groups, and businesses should be established for between 2 and 10 years. To enter, prospective applicants need to register on the NEWBIE website. The deadline for applications is 15th November. Principles of a new productivity scheme to sit alongside the proposed environmental land management scheme have been released by a farm group. The Government's new environmental land management scheme will pay farmers to deliver a raft of public benefits. The post-Brexit scheme will promote payments to deliver environmental and animal welfare outcomes. However, the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) said this cannot operate in isolation from measures to improve farm productivity and to correct for market failures within food supply chains. Prior to the publication of the Agriculture Bill, Defra pushed out a briefing suggesting that the Governments policy was all about public payments for public goods. The TFA said "very little prominence" was given to measures required to assist the industry to improve productivity. However, the Bill itself does contain clauses which will provide Defra with powers to support productivity development. TFA Farm Policy Adviser, Lynette Steel said: Defra must now show that it will use the powers to introduce assistance to the farming industry to continue to deliver high quality food to UK and international consumers, produced to high standards of animal welfare and environmental management, at prices consumers can afford and at returns that reward the risk, investment and effort of the farming community. 'Poor profitability' The group's short paper sets out the principles of a new productivity scheme to sit alongside the proposed new environmental land management scheme. It calls for funding to be made available for investment to improve infrastructure, knowledge exchange, skills development, research and innovation. "Decades of poor profitability and changes in public policy have caused us to fall behind as an industry in all these areas and has limited our productivity growth. These areas must now be addressed to ensure the success of the industry in the post Brexit era, added Ms Steel. The Government must deliver a scheme that focuses on driving productivity, allowing all farmers to make a step change in their businesses. Beyond the Agriculture Bill, the Governments Industrial Strategy puts productivity at the top of its list of priorities. She added: "This must also be true for agriculture and we need to see the Government giving priority to developing a scheme for productivity alongside its plans for environmental land management. The proposals include providing farm businesses with access to grants, loans and loan guarantees to implement business plans which have productivity and sustainability at their core. During the Parliamentary debate at Second Reading of the Agriculture Bill, the Government made a commitment to assisting with progress towards maintaining and developing a sustainable and innovative farming industry centring on food production. The TFA has now called for the Government to come forward with "concrete proposals" along the lines of those contained in the paper published today. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category 'It's Sad Some People Have Started Misusing MeToo' Divya tweeted, "My husband has got TSeries where it is today purely on basis of extreme hard work. People even stood up against Lord Krishna who's praiseworthy. Though #MeToo movement is meant to clean up the society, it's sad that some people have started misusing it." 'It's Unfortunate That People Put Baseless Allegations' She further wrote, "I have been with my husband hand in hand as he's taken his father's dream forward. He's a man full of values and principles. It's unfortunate that people put baseless allegations without having their facts and proofs in place' Bhushan Lodged A Police Complaint Bhushan lodged a complaint at Mumbai's Amboli police station, stating that the person was posting offending remarks and statements against him on social media. His complaint stated, "My name has been falsely dragged in the MeToo movement, which is currently sweeping the country's landscape. The post makes serious allegations against me that three years back, I had offered an aspiring actress to sleep with me in lieu of a role being offered in my films and when she refused, I dropped her from the films." He also stated that the Twitter handle disappeared minutes after uploading the post. Earlier, The Producer Had Refuted All The Allegations In a statement to PTI, he said, "I am appalled and anguished to know that my name has been dragged in this #MeToo by some anonymous person(s). The allegations against me are bad on the face of it. I have enjoyed an impeccable reputation and have always maintained professionalism. The tweet has been used as a tool to defame me and malign my reputation." Kriti On The Misuse Of #MeToo Kriti, however, questioned the anonymity of some of the alleged victims, saying just one fake account can malign someone's name and career. "What happens when a #MeToo story of an 'anonymous' girl comes out against someone? Do we simply believe it without knowing who the girl is or if she even exists? How does one inspect such an incident in order to come to any conclusion? Is it fair to consider the accuse 'guilty' when the #MeToo story does not come with the victim's name?" 'There Has To Be Legal Repercussion' "Should the media carry such stories? It takes just one story to spoil someone's name and career. It is important that we handle the movement responsibly and find a lawful way. Ultimately there has to be a legal repercussion of #MeToo for it to be enduringly effective." Follow The Legal Route While Sharing Their Stories. "I urge all the women/men who want to share their #MeToo stories to either come out in the open with their names and faces or file an FIR or a legal case (while asking for your identity to not be given to media or public) so that the case can be at least inspected and the #MeToo movement does not get misused or diluted," she said. Kriti Will Be Next Seen In Housefull 4 Kriti's statement comes days after the director of her upcoming film Housefull 4, Sajid Khan, stepped down from his duties after he was accused of sexually harassing three female actors and a journalist. Filmmaker Farhad Samji has taken over the project as the director. Reports were doing the rounds that actor Dileep has resigned from AMMA, the organization of Malayalam movie artists. The unconfirmed reports that surfaced earlier had suggested that the actor had submitted his resignation on October 10 itself. Now, an official confirmation regarding the same has come out. According to a report by Manorama Online, actor Siddique, who is the Secretary of the organization, has confirmed that Dileep has handed over his resignation letter to Mohanlal, the president of the organization. He has also revealed that the organization had decided to expel Dileep but it was the General Body that freezed the decision. Earlier, WCC members had lashed out at the organization during a press meet that was held on Saturday (October 13, 2018). Going by this latest report, Siddique has also mentioned that AMMA is not an organization that is meant to restrain Dileep from working. He has also mentioned that the allegations of WCC stating that some of the members were addressed as actresses, were indeed immature. It has also been mentioned that AMMA is an organization for the actors/actresses and has also conveyed that actions will be taken against those who are coming with unwanted and baseless allegations. Vada Chennai's big release is just a couple of days away and the excitement surrounding the film is phenomenal. A good share of the credit for the same must go to the names Dhanush and Vetrimaaran, who are set to give yet another gem of a movie. Meanwhile, Vada Chennai has already taken over the social media. The much awaited movie has already made its international premiere at the Pingayao Film Festival In China on October 12, 2018. Well, it seems like Vada Chennai has indeed impressed one an all. The initial reports for Vada Chennai are highly positive. The critics who watched Vada Chennai during its premiere have lavished praises on this much awaited movie of the year and some of them took to their Twitter accounts to share their view Daniel Kasman, a US based critic, who watched the much awaited movie, took to his twitter account to shower praises on the movie. Take a look at the Tweet here.. Here at the Pingyao Intl Film Festival, itll be hard to top Vetri Maarans fiercely energetic, delightfully convoluted hoodlum melodrama, NORTH CHENNAI, starring the great Dhanush. A top-notch world premiere from Tamilnadu. The first part of a planned trilogykeep em coming! DCK (@danielkasman) October 13, 2018 Meanwhile, movie critic Namrat Joshi, who works with The Hindu, too watched the much awaited film of the year. She too has lavished praises on this Dhanush starrer, which is all set to hit the marquee day after tomorrow. Take a look at the Tweet here.. Vetrimaarans #VadaChennai had its world premiere last night at Pingyao film festival #PYIFF A frenzied, chaotic loop around the world of rowdies, its bloody good. What reached out to me most between its frantic frames is the political allegory... @the_hindu @TheHinduCinema Namrata Joshi (@Namrata_Joshi) October 13, 2018 Well, all these reports regarding Vada Chennai have definitely increased the excitement surrounding the movie. EUROCASTLE INVESTMENT LIMITED FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: International Administration Group (Guernsey) Limited Company Administrator Attn: Mark Woodall Tel: +44 1481 723450 Share Buyback Programme: Transactions in Week Ten Guernsey, 15 October 2018 - Eurocastle Investment Limited ("Eurocastle" or the "Company") today announces that between 8 October 2018 and 12 October 2018, as part of the previously announced buyback programme entered into with Liberum Capital Limited (acting as the Company's broker), it bought back 17,703 of its ordinary shares at an average price of 6.58 per ordinary share. These purchases were made pursuant to the authority granted at its Annual General Meeting on 20 June 2018. The purchased shares will all be held as treasury shares. The purpose of the share buyback programme is to reduce the share capital of the Company and the programme is executed in compliance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 of 8 March 2016, collectively referred to as the Safe Harbour rules. The following transactions have been made under the buyback programme: Accumulated, most recent announcement Platform code Volume Volume Weighted Average Price Gross Value () 08/10/2018 BATE 133 6.64 883 XLON 2,568 6.63 17,034 CHIX 314 6.63 2,082 TRQX 400 6.64 2,656 Total 3,415 6.63 22,654 09/10/2018 BATE 129 6.66 859 XLON 3,135 6.65 20,834 CHIX 299 6.64 1,985 TRQX 395 6.66 2,631 Total 3,958 6.65 26,309 10/10/2018 BATE 115 6.64 764 XLON 3,177 6.57 20,858 CHIX 273 6.64 1,813 TRQX 213 6.64 1,414 Total 3,778 6.58 24,849 11/10/2018 BATE 111 6.52 724 XLON 3,147 6.51 20,482 CHIX 272 6.52 1,773 TRQX 202 6.52 1,317 Total 3,732 6.51 24,297 12/10/2018 BATE 110 6.54 719 XLON 2,278 6.54 14,888 CHIX 249 6.55 1,630 TRQX 183 6.54 1,197 2,820 6.54 18,434 Following the above transactions: The total number of ordinary shares of the Company in issue is 66,121,054 The total number of ordinary shares held by Eurocastle in treasury is 18,550,546 (equal to 28.1% of the Company's share capital) The total number of voting rights exercisable by holders of ordinary shares of the Company is 47,570,508, as voting rights of shares held in treasury are suspended. ABOUT EUROCASTLE Eurocastle Investment Limited is a publicly traded closed-ended investment company that focuses on investing in performing and non-performing loans and other real estate related assets primarily in Italy. The Company is Euro denominated and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam under the symbol "ECT". Eurocastle is managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC, a leading global investment manager. For more information regarding Eurocastle Investment Limited and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit www.eurocastleinv.com. Set out below are all trades completed between 8 October 2018 and 12 October 2018: Platform code Volume Price Gross Value () 08/10/2018 CHIX 21 6.76 141.96 XLON 320 6.66 2,131.20 XLON 335 6.66 2,231.10 XLON 83 6.66 552.78 XLON 96 6.66 639.36 CHIX 7 6.64 46.48 TRQX 7 6.64 46.48 BATE 133 6.64 883.12 TRQX 393 6.64 2,609.52 XLON 170 6.62 1,125.40 CHIX 121 6.62 801.02 XLON 416 6.62 2,753.92 CHIX 165 6.62 1,092.30 XLON 45 6.62 297.90 XLON 147 6.62 973.14 XLON 105 6.62 695.10 XLON 122 6.62 807.64 XLON 120 6.62 794.40 XLON 491 6.62 3,250.42 XLON 118 6.62 781.16 Total 3,415 6.63 22,654.40 09/10/2018 XLON 260 6.66 1,731.60 TRQX 83 6.66 552.78 BATE 114 6.66 759.24 TRQX 11 6.66 73.26 XLON 160 6.66 1,065.60 TRQX 301 6.66 2,004.66 XLON 441 6.66 2,937.06 XLON 1,924 6.64 12,775.36 XLON 10 6.64 66.40 CHIX 299 6.64 1,985.36 BATE 15 6.64 99.60 XLON 340 6.64 2,257.60 Total 3,958 6.65 26,308.52 10/10/2018 XLON 486 6.64 3,227.04 CHIX 273 6.64 1,812.72 BATE 115 6.64 763.60 TRQX 213 6.64 1,414.32 XLON 136 6.62 900.32 XLON 1,446 6.58 9,514.68 XLON 57 6.58 375.06 XLON 52 6.56 341.12 XLON 1,000 6.50 6,500.00 Total 3,778 6.58 24,848.86 11/10/2018 XLON 147 6.52 958.44 XLON 200 6.52 1,304.00 TRQX 94 6.52 612.88 CHIX 141 6.52 919.32 CHIX 131 6.52 854.12 BATE 4 6.52 26.08 XLON 418 6.52 2,725.36 XLON 276 6.52 1,799.52 BATE 107 6.52 697.64 XLON 306 6.52 1,995.12 TRQX 108 6.52 704.16 XLON 1,457 6.50 9,470.50 XLON 343 6.50 2,229.50 Total 3,732 6.51 24,297 12/10/2018 CHIX 20 6.58 131.60 CHIX 40 6.56 262.40 XLON 279 6.54 1,824.66 XLON 455 6.54 2,975.70 XLON 368 6.54 2,406.72 CHIX 32 6.54 209.28 CHIX 10 6.54 65.40 CHIX 23 6.54 150.42 CHIX 21 6.54 137.34 BATE 109 6.54 712.86 XLON 322 6.54 2,105.88 XLON 332 6.54 2,171.28 BATE 1 6.54 6.54 TRQX 183 6.54 1,196.82 CHIX 103 6.54 673.62 XLON 300 6.52 1,956.00 XLON 114 6.52 743.28 XLON 108 6.52 704.16 Total 2,820 6.54 18,433.96 Trading Under the Symbol YOLO on the CSE on October 15, 2018, and New Private Placement Announced VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 / Weekend Unlimited Inc. ("Weekend" or the "Company") (CSE: YOLO) a lifestyle cannabis company, is pleased to advise that its shares will start trading on Monday, October 15, 2018 under the symbol YOLO. The Company is the result of a two for one consolidation and the previously announced amalgamation of Open Source Health Inc. (formerly OHS) and Weekend Unlimited Inc., a private arms-length company which holds interests in various cannabis-related companies. The resulting company continues under the name Weekend Unlimited Inc. All of the assets previously held by Open Source in the online health space have been sold. A detailed listing statement dated October 10, 2018 has been filed by the Company on www.sedar.com and on the CSE website. Weekend Unlimited Inc. has built significant momentum in the lead up to going public, with an existing portfolio in Washington State, Orchard Heights Growers, British Columbia, Northern Lights Organics and internationally, Jerome Baker Designs, in the effort to build a strong, versatile foundation for substantial growth. Additional potential acquisitions have been identified and are subject to letters of intent in Jamaica (an existing cultivation and productions facility), California (a beverage company) and California (a multi-state THC and CBD infused candy company). Weekend Unlimited's Brand Acquisition Model: Weekend Unlimited aggregates and scales its small to medium brands, primarily in the categories of flower, extracts, and edibles. Weekend Unlimited brands have best of class operations, distribution, and strong revenue trajectories, making them ideal candidates for the deployment of capital and expertise through access to technologies, infrastructure and centralized systems. With assets secured in British Columbia, Washington State and internationally through Jerome Baker Designs, Weekend Unlimited is establishing itself as an integrated cannabis company. Current Brands Include: JEROME BAKER DESIGNS Since 1991, Jerome Baker Designs has been at the forefront of design and creativity in the glass and canna industries. This 3 X High Times Cannabis Cup winner, with offices in Las Vegas, New York and Maui, Jerome Baker Designs creates custom glass artwork that its clientele are proud to display in their homes and offices. Pending launch of CBD line of products in fall of 2018 Pending launch of an infused water bottle in trademarked Jerome Baker bong design in fall of 2018 NORTHERN LIGHTS ORGANICS With the agricultural rich land and certified organic farming expertise, Northern Lights will become Canada's first high CBD focused hemp & cannabis farm, grown from certified organic soils with final products certified organic 300-Acres will be dedicated to outdoor organic hemp for CBD extraction Indoor cannabis cultivation will be housed in 68,000 sq. ft. of purpose-built grow rooms with rolling table automation The Northern Lights Organics Campus will include veg, clone and genetics rooms and an extraction facility for CBD Hemp oils and concentrates. ORCHARD HEIGHTS GROWERS Orchard Heights Growers in Washington State are focused on premium quality indoor cultivation and processing. The company provides a combination of mixed light greenhouses with a processing room for extraction. Orchard Heights Growers phase one development includes a state of the art, optimized efficiency Cannabis greenhouse with full climate controls. Capital Structure After the private placement detailed below, the Company currently has 248,982,255 issued and outstanding shares, and 189,775,724 shares reserved for issuance upon the exercise of warrants and options. 142,222,711 shares are subject to a hold period until February 16, 2019, and an additional 21,172,500 shares are subject to a 3-year escrow. Private Placement The Company has closed non-brokered private placement of $5,409,154 by the issuance of 27,045,770 units at $0.20. Each unit consists of one common share and one warrant entitling the holder to subscribe for one additional share for $0.25 for a period of 2 years, subject to the Company's right to accelerate the expiry date upon 30 days' notice if its shares trade at $0.50 or more for a period of 10 days. Proceeds will be used for working capital and for further acquisitions. For further information, please contact: Cody Corrubia, President & CEO Telephone: 1 (236) 317-2812 E-mail: IR@weekendunlimited.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures and strategic alliances and co-operation, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws. SOURCE: Weekend Unlimited Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/524250/Open-Source-Health-Announces-Roll-Back-and-Amalgamation-with-Weekend-Unlimited-Inc-New-Private-Placement Regulatory News: During the visit of Mr Moon Jae-In, President of South Korea, to the Air Liquide (Paris:AI) hydrogen station at Place de l'Alma, Benoit Potier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Liquide, reaffirmed the Group's commitment to support the deployment of hydrogen infrastructure for mobility. On this occasion, he announced the installation of 4 new hydrogen stations for mobility in Korea as well as the project to build 2 new stations in Paris region. Convinced that hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition, Air Liquide is a pioneer in the development of the entire value chain. As such, Air Liquide has already designed and installed 100 hydrogen stations for mobility around the world. Today, there are about 300 hydrogen electric vehicles in France, including 100 hype taxis in Paris (Hyundai ix35 and Toyota Mirai). France has now about twenty stations, nearly 50% of which are designed and installed by Air Liquide, whether for light vehicles or commercial vehicles such as forklifts for logistics platforms. Three hydrogen stations are operational in Paris and the Paris region: Place de l'Alma, Orly airport and Versailles. This will soon be completed by two new stations. In Korea, the Government recently announced its intention to accelerate the development of the hydrogen sector in mobility, and plans to invest around 2 billion euros. The plan aims to encourage the creation of public-private partnerships with a target of 310 stations and 16,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles across the country by 2022. Air Liquide will participate in this plan's operational implementation. Benoit Potier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Liquide, said: Hydrogen will play a major role in energy transition. President Moon Jae-In's visit to our station in Paris is a strong symbol that illustrates Korea's commitment to the development of the hydrogen sector. Interest and international commitment to this solution is becoming increasingly important, as reflected in the momentum of the Hydrogen Council, which we created in 2017 with 13 members and which now brings together 54 of the world's largest companies. Hydrogen is a solution to the challenge of clean transport and thus contributes to improving air quality. When used in a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen from the air to produce electricity by releasing only water. Air Liquide controls the entire hydrogen supply chain, from production to storage, distribution and application development for end users. Air Liquide in Korea Air Liquide has been present in Korea since 1996 and provides gases and services for several industrial sectors (petrochemicals, oil refining, steel, automotive, renewable energies, etc.). Air Liquide employs more than 350 people locally and is very involved in the energy transitionAir Liquide is also present in Korea trough its home healthcare business, Global Engineering Construction solutions and advanced materials. Hydrogen, a clean energy Hydrogen offers a number of benefits numerous advantages for clean transportation. Used in a fuel cell, it combines with the oxygen in the atmosphere to produce electricity, with water as the only byproduct. It does not generates any pollution at its point of use: zero greenhouse gases, zero particles, and zero noise. Hydrogen brings a concrete response to the challenges of sustainable mobility and local pollution in urban areas. It takes less than five minutes to recharge hydrogen-powered electric vehicles for a driving range of around 600 kilometers. Air Liquide's Blue Hydrogen commitment Blue Hydrogen is an Air Liquide program whose goal is to gradually decarbonize its production of hydrogen dedicated to energy applications. In practical terms, Air Liquide has made a commitment to produce at least 50% of the hydrogen necessary for these applications through carbon-free processes by 2020 by combining: The use of renewable energies, water electrolysis, and biogas reforming The use of technologies for the capture and upgrading of carbon emitted during the process of producing hydrogen from natural gas. Even when it is produced from natural gas, hydrogen is a virtuous energy: for equal distance traveled, hydrogen cars allow to reduce GHG emissions by 20% compared with internal combustion vehicles and do not produce any fine particles. The world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 80 countries with approximately 65,000 employees and serves more than 3.5 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide's scientific territory and have been at the core of the company's activities since its creation in 1902. Air Liquide's ambition is to lead its industry, deliver long term performance and contribute to sustainability. The company's customer-centric transformation strategy aims at profitable growth over the long term. It relies on operational excellence, selective investments, open innovation and a network organization implemented by the Group worldwide. Through the commitment and inventiveness of its people, Air Liquide leverages energy and environment transition, changes in healthcare and digitization, and delivers greater value to all its stakeholders. Air Liquide's revenue amounted to 20.3 billion euros in 2017 and its solutions that protect life and the environment represented more than 40% of sales. Air Liquide is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40, EURO STOXX 50 and FTSE4Good indexes. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181015005362/en/ Contacts: Air Liquide Corporate Communications Caroline Brugier, +33 (0)1 40 62 50 59 or Christel des Royeries, +33 (0)1 40 62 58 49 or Investor Relations Paris +33 (0)1 40 62 50 87 or Philadelphia +1 610 263 8277 or Air Liquide Hydrogen Energy Communications Dominique Lecocq, +33 (0)4 76 43 64 97 +33 (0)6 25 84 58 92 STOCKHOLM, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The company behind the career network Academic Positions and the academic storytelling platform Academic Stories, is now launching Academic Media Group to address the increasing demand for employer branding in academia. The tradition of relying on reputation and university rankings is creating a gap in academia's communication with future employees, and many organizations are still in early stages of presenting themselves as not only great academic institutions but also great employers. Still, the range of strategic employer branding partners for academia is limited, which was the catalyst for Academic Media Group. Leveraging nine years of experience of providing recruitment services to the academic institutions around the world, Academic Media Group is now creating a new segment in the employer branding industry by providing strategic employer branding solutions designed specifically for the academic sector. Erik Bjorkander, the CEO of Academic Media Group, explains why employer branding is crucial for the academic sector in his introductory blog post. Visit the link to read full article: https://bit.ly/2yyyXmB For further information, please contact: Erik Bjorkander CEOerik.bjorkander@academicmedia.group Arijana Duvnjak, Marketing Manager arijana.duvnjak@academicmedia.group About Academic Media Group Academic Media Group is a digital media company and strategic partner that aims to support the internationalization of research and encourage people to pursue an academic career. By combining strategic communication, ingenuity, and cutting-edge technology, Academic Media Group delivers highly competitive employer branding services to the academic sector. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Stockholm, we help universities and research organizations all over the world to not only be great academic institutions but also great employers. Academic Media Group International AB Phone: +46-840-835-000 Email: info@academicmedia.group Adress: Klarabergsviadukten 90D, 111 64 Stockholm, Sweden This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/academic-media-group-ab/r/academic-media-group-to-address-the-urgency-of-employer-branding-in-academia,c2643556 The following files are available for download: ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 / Findit, Inc. a Nevada Corporation that trades under the stock symbol OTC PINK: FDIT owner of Findit.com, a Social Networking Content Management Platform welcomes social newtorking influencers to utilile Findit.com to reach more people. Health activist Lindsay Valentine has begun using Findit to reach a wider and larger audience, spreading the word of living a positive and healthy life through nourishing, plant based recipes. A vegan for 5+ years and a practicer of mindfulness, Lindsay shares her grocery hauls, various recipes for smoothies and meals, as well as some of her yoga and exercise routines, all of which coincide with her passion for living a healthy lifestyle. Prior to joining Findit, The Wellness Valentine had about 800 followers on Instagram. The people following The Wellness Valentine may have seen her posts within the Instagram platform through relevant hashtags or may have been following her personal account prior to the creation of her separate, healthy living based profile. Posts created on Instagram stay within the instagram app and can only be shared to Facebook, which owns Instagram. The Wellness Valentine had 1814 followers at the time of publication of this press release. The Wellness Valentine began posting to Findit on May 8, 2018 and to date has 50 posts on Findit. A Right Now post is a post that displays on the Right Now feed within Findit that can include the following content: text, photos, a video, a link, audio and a news release. Members have the ability to post the Right Now status update instantly, back-date them to fill in their feed, or post-date the post to become live in the future. Clark St. Amant of Findit stated, "We are really glad to have influencers like Lindsay using the platform to reach a wider audience. Because posts on Findit can be shared by anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a member on Findit, Lindsay is reaching people that previously did not know who she was. Visitors to Findit and members of Findit that see Lindsay's content and want to share it have the ability to do so, helping her reach more and more people. Content on Findit is also crawled by outside search engines so people can also be drawn to Lindsay's content on Findit through organic search results in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. By using Findit in addition to Instagram, Lindsay is casting a wider net to engage more people, both those who know her or are familiar with her content and those who have never heard of her before." All content posted to Findit (FDIT) can be shared to other social sites by the creator of the content and visitors to the site as well as existing members on Findit. Posting to Findit gives you the benefit of reaching visitors and members on Findit, who may choose to share your content to their social sites as well as the benefit of your content getting indexed in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. That post or news release that you created on Findit can also be shared to your existing sites, so you can engage your existing audiences on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and more. Anyone looking to share their passion and reach more people can start posting to Findit for free. For those looking to really brand themselves on Findit, we offer Findit addresses under the navigation called Keyword URLs. A Findit Keyword URL is an address on Findit, that takes visitors directly to your page and can be any word or phrase that you want, but usually it has to do with the content you are posting about. Lindsay for example has the Keyword URL 'The-Wellness-Valentine' on Findit and can be visited by going to www.findit.com/the-wellness-valentine/RightNow. URLs on Findit exist only once and can not be duplicated, so once you own www.findit.com/vegan or www.findit.com/healthy-living, no one else can get that URL. Findit is not just for health activist influencers. Any person, individual, artist, corporation, school, church, or other entity that simply wants to gain more exposure on the web for the goods or services they provide or the story they wish to tell, can use Findit to accomplish that goal. People love to share inspiring posts that have a great message and great pictures. Posts like Lindsay's can gain a lot of momentum when posted to the right place and seen by the right people. Peter Tosto stated "Having influencers as members on Findit helps increase our traffic and in turn our Alexa ranking. As a result of this it tends to attract more members. The success of Findit and other social networking platforms is reliant on the members; the value comes from them. We are very small right now as far as members go when compared to Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) or Instagram. At one point they were small too, but as more and more people take notice of Findit like The Wellness Valentine and join and do posts, Findit can continue to grow. If the people that are on other platforms are tired of their restrictions and them selling their data all they need to do is join Findit. As that happens, Findit becomes the place to be seen. But it really is up to the people and businesses out there to come to Findit and use the tools we created to give them a place to really express themselves in so many ways in one post." Getting started on Findit is easy and takes just a second to complete registration. From there, members can set up their profile similar to other social networking sites with a profile image and a banner image. Right now posts take seconds to minutes to create depending on which content verticals you wish to include and how much text you chose to include in each right now post. Start reaching more people by utilizing Findit as the starting point for all your content or in addition to the content you publish on Instagram. Marketing professionals that handle celebrity accounts or the brand presence of companies should also be using Findit to further the reach the content they create on behalf of the celebrity or business. About Lindsay Valentine / The Wellness Valentine ??Health Activist + Educator ??Healing Through Food Plant Based Recipes | Tips, Tricks, + Lifestyle If we don't have our health, what do we have? About Findit, Inc. Findit, Inc., trades on the OTC Pinksheets under the stock symbol FDIT. Findit, Inc., owns Findit.com which is a Social Media Content Management Platform that provides an interactive search engine for all content posted in Findit to appear in Findit search. The site is an open platform that provides access to Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines access to its content posted to Findit so it can be indexed in these search engines as well. Findit provides Members the ability to post, share and manage their content. Once they have posted in Findit, we ensure the content gets indexed in Findit Search results. Findit provides an option for anyone to submit URLs that they want indexed in Findit search result, along with posting status updates through Findit Right Now. Status Updates posted in Findit can be crawled by outside search engines which can result in additional organic indexing. All posts on Findit can be shared to other social and bookmarking sites by members and non-members. Findit provides Real Estate Agents the ability to create their own Findit Site where they can pull in their listing and others through their IDX account. Findit offers News and Press Release Distribution. Findit, Inc., is focused on the development of monetized Internet-based web products that can provide an increased brand awareness of our members. Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), including statements regarding potential sales, the success of the company's business, as well as statements that include the word believe or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Findit, Inc. to differ materially from those implied or expressed by such forward-looking statements. This press release speaks as of the date first set forth above, and Findit, Inc. assumes no responsibility to update the information included herein for events occurring after the date hereof. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to factors such as the lack of capital, timely development of products, inability to deliver products when ordered, inability of potential customers to pay for ordered products, and political and economic risks inherent in international trade. Contact: Peter Tosto Phone 404 443 3224 SOURCE: Findit, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/525303/Health-and-Wellness-Influencer-The-Wellness-Valentine-Uses-Findit-to-Reach-More-People Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 15, 2018) - Golden Share Resources Corporation (TSXV: GSH) ("Golden Share" or the "Company") announces that it has entered into an arrangement agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement") with its wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated under Delaware law, Harmony Energy Technologies Corporation ("Spinco"), to transfer its energy storage business to Spinco under a plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement"). The assets to be transferred to Spinco under the Arrangement Agreement (the "Spin-off Assets") are the Company's license agreement and its agreement for commercializing technology. Both agreements are with the Battelle Memorial Institute, the operator of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. Please refer to the Company's press releases dated October 18, 2016 and January 30, 2018, respectively. Concurrently with the Arrangement, Spinco will complete a private placement (the "Spinco Financing") of a minimum of 100,000 common shares ("Spinco Shares") at a price of US$1.00 each, for minimum gross proceeds of US$100,000 (to be used for working capital). Under the Arrangement Agreement, on the date that the Arrangement is effected the following principal steps will occur and will be deemed to occur in the following order without any further act or formality: Golden Share will transfer the Spin-off Assets to Spinco, in consideration for 3,850,134 Spinco Shares; Golden Share's articles will be amended to create a new class of class A shares ("New GSH Shares"), which will provide their holders with the same rights and benefits as holders of Golden Share's current common shares ("GSH Shares"); Each 10 outstanding GSH Shares will be exchanged for 10 New GSH Shares and one Spinco Share (no fractions of Spinco Shares will be issued; any such fractions will be rounded down); Each Spinco Share still held by Golden Share will be redeemed and cancelled for a price equal to the price per Spinco Share of the Spinco Financing. Golden Share wishes to specify that Spinco will not apply to list its common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange at this time. Subject to receipt of an interim order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Golden Share will hold an annual and special meeting of its shareholders at 10:30am (Toronto time) on December 12, 2018 (the "Meeting"), at its offices located at 145 Riviera Drive, Unit 7, Markham, Ontario, for the purpose of submitting the Arrangement to its shareholders for approval. The Arrangement will require the affirmative vote of at least (a) 66 2/3% of the votes cast by the Golden Share shareholders who vote in person or by proxy at the Meeting and (b) a simple majority of the votes cast by Golden Share shareholders, excluding the GSH Shares held by any "related party" (as such term is defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101) of Golden Share. The Arrangement must also receive "majority of the minority" approval under the policies of the TSXV, meaning that the Arrangement must receive a simple majority of the votes cast by Golden Share shareholders excluding the GSH Shares held by each Non-Arm's Length Party to Golden Share. In connection with the Meeting, Golden Share will send to each registered holder of GSH Shares an information circular (the "Circular") providing additional details on the Arrangement and related matters. In the case of beneficial holders, the Company will provide access to the Circular and other meeting materials using the notice-and-access method under National Instrument 54-101. Copies of the meeting materials may be found on www.sedar.com or Golden Share's website at goldenshare.ca. Golden Share urges its shareholders to read the Circular in full. About Golden Share Golden Share Resources Corporation is a junior natural resource company focusing on mineral exploration in the province of Ontario, Canada, a mineral rich and politically stable jurisdiction. WARNING: Certain statements in this press release may be forward-looking, including those with respect to the Company's intention to spin out its energy storage business. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurances that its expectations will be achieved. Such assumptions, which may prove incorrect, include that the Company's shareholders will approve the Arrangement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include legal, tax or commercial issues that make such a transaction impractical, and PNNL's inability to develop the battery on time, within budget or at all due to technical, personnel or other obstacles. A description of other risks affecting the Company's business and activities appears on pages 16 to 18 of its 2017 annual management's discussion and analysis, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Additional risks relating to the Arrangement and to Spinco's business will be set forth in the management information circular that will be sent to holders of GSH Shares in connection with the Meeting. No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information in this press release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits the Company will derive therefrom. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in order to account for any new information or any other event, except as required under applicable law. The reader is warned against undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. This press release does not constitute an offer of securities by Golden Share, Spinco or any other party for sale in the United States, nor may any securities referred to herein be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration as provided in the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and the rules and regulations thereunder. The securities referred to herein have not been registered pursuant to the Securities Act and there is no intention to register any of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information, please visit www.goldenshare.ca or contact: Golden Share Resources Corporation Nick Zeng, President & CEO Tel: (905) 968-1199 E-mail: info@goldenshare.ca NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES EP Global Opportunities Trust plc (the "Company") Total Voting Rights As a result of the purchase of 100,000 Ordinary 1p shares placed into Treasury on 15 October 2018 and in conformity with Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1A, the issued share capital and voting rights of the Company are as follows: Class of share Total number of shares in circulation Number of voting rights attached to each share Total number of voting rights of shares in circulation Number of shares held in treasury (carrying no voting rights attached until issued) Total number of shares in issue Ordinary 1p Shares 43,012,725 1 43,012,725 21,496,917 64,509,642 The above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interest in EP Global Opportunities Trust plc under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. 15 October 2018 LEI: 2138005T5CT5ITZ7ZX58 Enquiries: Kenneth Greig Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited Tel: 0131 270 3800 The Company's registered office address is: 27-31 Melville Street Edinburgh EH3 7JF Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 15, 2018) -EVI Global Group Developments Corp. (CSE: EVI) ("EVI") is pleased to announce that in connection with the letter of intent with Borganic Consulting Inc. ("Borganic") previously announced on September 6, 2018, it has entered into a definitive share exchange agreement with Borganic under which the Company has agreed to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Borganic in exchange for an aggregate of 30,000,000 common shares of the Company being 43.57% of the Company's total issued and outstanding shares. The share exchange agreement remains subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE"), receipt of all other required regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The Company is also pleased to announce 1,050,000 stock options have been granted to certain consultants pursuant to the Company's stock option plan. The options are immediately exercisable for a period of five years at a price of $0.63 per share. The Company is also proposing a change of business from a mining issuer to a life sciences issuer. Completion of the change of business is subject to a number of conditions, including Canadian Securities Exchange and shareholder approval. "I believe 2019 will be known as the year of CBD," explained EVI's CEO Jason Dussault. "In all businesses, timing is everything. We are at the right place, at the right time, with the right team. I feel our agreements and technologies position us perfectly in this marketplace. I see a future that is salt, pepper, CBD!" About Borganic Consulting Inc. Borganic is focused on the commercial extraction of cannabidiol ("CBD") from industrial hemp and has engineered a proprietary commercial scale extraction process that is more cost efficient than other traditional extraction processes. Borganic's technology utilizes a food grade ethanol extraction method that is far cleaner than many of the other commercial operations which use harmful and potentially carcinogenetic products such as hexane and butane for extraction. Borganic has signed an exclusive three-year joint venture agreement to build an extraction refinery in Romania with DragonFly Biosciences, LLC ("DragonFly"), a United Kingdom based corporation. The refinery is projected to cost $1,800,000 to build and should be operational by November 2018. As per the agreement, Borganic and their joint venture partner, DragonFly, will process all the hemp produced under DragonFly's licenses in Bulgaria. Dragonfly has recently harvested 1,200 acres of CBD rich hemp and expects to refine a minimum of 4.5 million grams of CBD for the European Union market from its harvest. About EVI Developments Corp. EVI Global Group Developments Corp. (CSE: EVI) is a Vancouver, British Columbia based natural resource company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties, with its primary focus on its silica properties, located within British Columbia. For further information please contact: Joel Leonard, CFO, Director, EVI Global Group Developments Corp. E-mail: accounting@jclpartners.ca. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This release includes certain statements and information that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding the building of an extraction facility in Romania, the anticipated level of production at the planned CBD extraction facility in Romania, the successful completion of the acquisition of Borganic, the successful partnership with DragonFly and the expected cost and anticipated completion date of the CBD extraction facility in Romania. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should" or "would" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on certain material assumptions and analysis made by the Company and the opinions and estimates of management as of the date of this press release, including that the building of a CBD extraction facility in Romania will be successful, the anticipated level of production at the planned CBD extraction facility in Romania will be accurate upon completion of the facility, the completion of the acquisition of Borganic will be successful as anticipated, the partnership with DragonFly will be successful as anticipated and the expected cost and anticipated completion date of the CBD extraction facility in Romania will be as anticipated by management. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors may include, among others, that the CBD extraction facility in Romania will not be built, the anticipated level of production at the planned CBD extraction facility in Romania will not be achieved due to changing market conditions or changes in the laws and regulations in respect of CBD extraction, the completion of the acquisition of Borganic by the Company will not be successful, the partnership with DragonFly will not be successful and the expected cost and anticipated completion date of the CBD extraction facility in Romania will not be as anticipated by management. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE or CNSX Markets), nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the "United States", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available. LONDON, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryan, a leading global tax services and software provider, recently released Ryan MTD Bridge, an Excel-based software application for corporations seeking an immediate solution to meet the U.K.'s new Making Tax Digital for Business (MTDfB) requirements. MTDfB is a U.K. government initiative that sets out a vision for the "end of the tax return" and a "transformed tax system" by 2020. As a first step toward this transformation, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is requiring businesses to use the MTDfB system to meet their value added tax (VAT) obligations in 2019. Beginning 1st of April, companies whose taxable turnover exceeds the VAT registration threshold must begin keeping records digitally and submit VAT returns via HMRC's application programming interface (API). The portal most commonly used today will no longer be available. Ryan MTD Bridge is designed to quickly and affordably address this pending VAT compliance requirement while providing an extended timeframe for oganisations to strategically address the evolving regulations and remain compliant. Recognising the majority of U.K. VAT return preparation takes place in Excel, Ryan MTD Bridge was developed in Excel to be easily incorporated into existing processes and is recognised by HMRC. "Ryan MTD Bridge is designed to fit seamlessly into our clients' processes and implementation and meet the basic functionality that is required," said Grant Smith, Ryan principal and Tax Technology practice leader. "We created this product to be a bridge to a permanent solution, with a minimal investment, and be supported by Ryan's industry-recognised commitment to client service excellence." About Ryan Ryan, an award-winning global tax services and software provider, is the largest Firm in the world dedicated exclusively to business taxes. The Firm provides an integrated suite of international tax services on a multi-jurisdictional basis, including tax recovery, consulting, advocacy, compliance, and technology services. Ryan is a six-time recipient of the International Service Excellence Award from the Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) for its commitment to world-class client service. Empowered by the dynamic myRyan work environment, which is widely recognised as the most innovative in the tax services industry, Ryan's multi-disciplinary team of more than 2,200 professionals and associates serves over 14,000 clients in more than 50 countries, including many of the world's most prominent Global 5000 companies. More information about Ryan can be found at ryan.com/europe. "Ryan" and "Firm" refer to the global organisational network and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ryan International, each of which is a separate legal entity. MEDIA CONTACT Patty Sullivan Director, Communications Ryan 1.469.399.4721 patty.sullivan@ryan.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/240944/Ryan_Logo.jpg EDINBURGH, Scotland, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology company, has been awarded a 26.9 million, five-year contract to support the Scottish Government's national Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) Shared Service. Leidos will provide technology service and contract management support to the Scottish Government's Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) Shared Service. This digital service connects public sector procurement teams with suppliers, managing everything from the initial order through to final payment. It is available to any Scottish public sector authority and is in use across NHS Boards, central and local government, universities and colleges across Scotland. The P2P service processes approximately 230,000 supplier orders each month, over 5billion per annum. It helps to eliminate paperwork, cuts processing costs, provides a clear approval workflow, and gives both suppliers and the public sector purchaser better visibility into payments. Leidos will provide data hosting, integration, reporting and deployment services for the system. Wider responsibilities include services desk and contract management activities with public sector users of the P2P service. "P2P is about faster, simpler and more straightforward supplier relationships," said Matt Wiles, Chief Executive of Leidos UK. "It is the lynchpin driving efficiency in Scotland's public services' supplier relationships, and we are delighted to extend our work with our partners in the Scottish Government to deliver this vital shared service to the public sector." The P2P contract builds on Leidos' experience in digital transformation in Scotland. The business worked collaboratively with the Scottish Government's insolvency service, advancing Accountant in Bankruptcy towards an entirely paperless system, and providing technology support to Scottish clients including the Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland and the National Records of Scotland. The P2P contract will also benefit from Leidos' expertise in supplier relationships, including those developed through the ongoing multi-million pound Logistics Commodities & Services Transformation Programme for the MoD, designed to manage the UK's global defence supply chain. About Leidos Leidos is a global science and technology solutions leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defence, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 31,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.17 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017. Leidos UK has more than 1,200 employees servicing defence, public services, transportation, and logistics clients. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com Media Contact: Erin Tindell, 757-880-1254, Erin.M.Tindell@leidos.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/4662/leidos_logo_4817_21071_.jpg Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 15, 2018) - Fairmont Resources Inc. (TSXV: FMR) ("Fairmont" or the "Company") announces that it is actively assessing its options to restructure its debt. The Company has resumed talks with several major creditors, including to settle the judgment against the Company in the amount of 575,000, by issuing common shares in the capital of the Company ("Common Shares") at a substantial discount to the current trading price of the Common Shares (the "Proposed Debt Settlements"). While the Company has not entered into any formal agreements with its creditors at this time, certain creditors have indicated that they would be willing to settle their debt in exchange for Common Shares issued at a deemed price of between $0.02 and $0.04. If the Company is able to successfully negotiate the Proposed Debt Settlements, then the transactions would close after the Company is delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") on October 26, 2018. The policies of the TSXV prohibit the Company from issuing Common Shares at such a substantial discount to their trading price; however, the Company's management and board of directors considers the proposed share prices to be reasonable in view of the Company's current financial position and the Company's inability to restructure its debt via traditional refinancing methods. About Fairmont Resources Inc. Fairmont Resources Inc. is an industrial mineral company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "FMR". On behalf of the Board of Directors, Michael Lerner President, CEO and Director Fairmont Resources Inc. Tel: 416-710-4906 mlerner10@gmail.com www.fairmontresources.ca Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the completion of the Proposed Debt Settlements. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward- looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Company. Risk factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by forward-looking information include, among other things: successful negotiation of the terms and conditions of the Proposed Debt Settlements with the relevant creditors, approval of any definitive agreements by the Company's board of directors, changes in tax laws, general economic and business conditions; and changes in the regulatory regulation. The Company cautions the reader that the above list of risk factors is not exhaustive. The forward- looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward- looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. The G-Class is such a sturdy vehicle that 63 armies across the world have used it. The launch of the Mercedes-AMG G-Class always attracts a lot of media attention. Off-roaders love it, 63 armies across the world swear by its efficiency, regular people are confused by it and theres always a bunch of naysayers who dont appreciate it. BUT, and this is a big but, theres no denying this: This vehicle has a bunch of hardcore fans stretching back to 1979 who swear by it. Some people call it by its original name: Gelandewagen, thats German for cross-country vehicle. Others call it the G-Wagen. The G-Class has always held attracted a certain set of people. These are owners who want comfort inside a vehicle as it dismantles every terrain they unleash it on. The G-Wagen had a rather rocky start. The first order for 1,000 G-Wagens was placed by the Shah of Iran in 1972 for his military. However, by the time the vehicles came out, the Shah was no longer in power. These unexpected turn of events inspired Mercedes-Benz to make the G-Wagen publicly available. The G-Wagen became so well known for its tactical prowess that the Vatican ordered one for Pope John Paul II in 1980. The mystical white G-Wagen was outfitted with a transparent top that enabled the Pope to see and interact with his followers. The vehicle quickly became famous as the Popemobile and now has a place of honour at the Mercedes-Benz Museum at Stuttgart, Germany. Remember, until now the G-Wagen didnt have any air-conditioning or any creature comfort whatsoever (do you really think a military vehicle comes with such frills?). 1981 saw automatic transmission, air conditioning, and protective headlamp grilles come into the picture. The 230 GE that debuted in Turin in 1982 got a fuel injection along with better front seats and wider tyres. The 10th anniversary of the G-Wagen (in 1989) saw the 4-wheel drive become a permanent feature. The 463 G-Class in 1990 saw an updated chassis. 1994 was the year the vehicle was officially named the G-Class. In 1998, the G 500 with a 296 hp V 8 went into production. The 20th anniversary saw a limited run of V8 G 500 Classics come out. 1999 was also the year the G55 AMG came out, the most powerful G-Class with 354 hp. In 2001, the G-Class was officially launched in the United States. The G-Classs 25th birthday was marked with the launch of the Classic 25 model in 2004. This was an upgraded G500 with super cool wheels, brushed aluminium side mouldings and a bunch of commemorative badges. In 2006, the G-Class created history when a documentary film-maker took a G500 into the Siberian wilderness, the worlds coldest region. The SUV travelled for 12,000 km without a single breakdown in temperatures that went as low as -63 degrees Fahrenheit. In June 2012, the G-Class got LED running lights and new side mirrors with integrated turn signals, along with a new interior and modern features And now in 2018, 39 years after it first made an appearance, Mercedes-Benz has launched the Mercedes-AMG G 63. We wont tell you about the vehicle. Well let you watch it here. The G-Class is such a sturdy vehicle that 63 armies across the world have used it. Its seen more action than any soldier in the world. In fact, Mercedes-Benz has promised NATO that it will continue to produce the car until 2025. Australian firefighters, US Marines, African armies, the G-Class is a favourite across military borders. You also have actor Sylvester Stallone and boxer Floyd Mayweather who are big fans of the G-Class. Mercedes-Benz defied convention when they made G-Class publicly available. They defied convention when they made a vehicle that couldnt be stopped by any force, not even time. The G-Class is a living legend. Get ready to be part of its legacy. This is a partnered post. Several of the younger generation (mostly guys in teens and 20s) at our congregation routinely visit villages and small churches up in the mountains. The places they go are only accessible by motorcycle and on foot. For some of their routes they leave their motorcycles at the last village accessible by trail and then walk a few more hours. For some, they walk their motorcycles part way. Last week they took my husband with them, something theyve all be wanting to do for a while, but it isnt always safe. There are rebel soldiers in some areas, and frankly, out in the mountains you dont necessarily want to have a run-in with government soldiers, either. In fact, they had to change their plans 3/4 of the way there, because at the place where they left the motorcycles they were told rebel army and government soldiers had been spotted in the area they planned to go, so they should visit somewhere else. They did. They still had a small meeting with a couple government soldiers. One of the young preachers was filming some of their visit and the soldiers were concerned that he was filming them. They came to the home where the guys were staying and asked him questions about who they were, why they were there, and had him show them all the images on his camera so they could make sure he wasnt filming them. My husband, for a brief and foolish moment considered surreptitiously taking a picture of them because soldiers in uniform with their very large and obvious weapons questioning our preacher friend is the kind of picture the folks at home would just love to see. But then he remembered it wasnt only himself he was placing at risk, so he didnt. I punched him in the arm anyway when he told me about it, just for thinking about it. Pictures below: That bridge: One of the churches they visited: Drying cacao: Beautiful: House where they slept- six on the floor, two in a bed: Laundry room: Leaving motorcycles with a friend, they start walking. The road narrows to a mud path. My husband took off his shoes about here: Tramline: You can walk it- thats what people did to get from village to the other before the tramline went in. Its a steep walk and you have to cross a river. But its free. The tramline is about half a days wages. This is back in our neighbourhood, just a couple blocks from home: By Andrew Torchia and Arshad Mohammed DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned against threats to punish it over last week's disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as European and U.S. By Andrew Torchia and Arshad Mohammed DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned against threats to punish it over last week's disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as European and U.S. allies piled on pressure. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadh's policies, disappeared on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened "severe punishment" if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he said Washington would be "punishing" itself if it halted military sales to Riyadh. "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted an unnamed official as saying. "The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy," the official added, without elaborating. Europe's largest economies -- Britain, France and Germany -- said on Sunday they were treating the case with "the utmost seriousness". "There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and - if relevant - to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account," the countries said in a joint statement. "We encourage joint Saudi-Turkish efforts in that regard, and expect the Saudi Government to provide a complete and detailed response. We have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities." The statement, by Britain's Jeremy Hunt, France's Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany's Heiko Maas, made no mention of potential actions the countries might take. U.S. senators called for reactions ranging from boycotting an upcoming economic summit in Riyadh to ending support for Saudi military operations in Yemen. "If they lured this man into that consulate, they went medieval on him, and he was killed and he was chopped up and they sent a death crew down there to kill him and do all of this, that would be an outrage," Florida Senator Marco Rubio told CNNs State of the Union. "Just because they are an ally in an important mission, which is containing Iranian expansion in the region, cannot allow us to overlook or walk away from that." Fellow Republican, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, appearing on ABC's "This Week", called for severe action which he said would affect arms sales and involvement in Yemen. The Saudi stock market fell as much as 7 percent in early trade on Sunday, one of the first signs of economic pain Riyadh could suffer over the affair. By close, it had recovered some losses, ending down 3.5 percent and losing $16.5 billion of market value. OIL PRICE WARNING U.S. senators have triggered a provision of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requiring the president to determine whether a foreign person is responsible for a gross human rights violation. The act has in the past imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials. Anti-Saudi sentiment in the Congress could conceivably raise pressure to pass the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, which would end sovereign immunity shielding OPEC members from U.S. legal action. In a column published just after the SPA statement, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel's General Manager Turki Aldakhil warned that imposing sanctions on the world's largest oil exporter could spark global economic disaster. "It would lead to Saudi Arabia's failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," he wrote. Investor concern is growing that Khashoggi's disappearance could add to a sense that Saudi policy has become more unpredictable under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pushing social and economic reforms but has also presided over a rise in tensions between with several countries. A Gulf banker said the Khashoggi case, combined with other events, had become a significant factor for some potential investors. "Its cumulative the Yemen war, the dispute with Qatar, the tensions with Canada and Germany, the arrests of women activists. They add up to an impression of impulsive policy-making, and that worries investors," the banker said. Foreign capital is key to Saudi plans for economic diversification and job creation. But in response to Khashoggi's disappearance, media organisations and some technology executives pulled out of the Riyadh investment conference scheduled for next week. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin still plans to attend, but that could change, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, said on This Week. ACCESSING CONSULATE The crisis has polarised Saudis, with some blaming the nation's enemies and others concerned about the direction the country is heading under Prince Mohammed. Saudi Gulf Affairs Minister Thamer al-Sabhan said there had been a "frenzied campaign" to spread lies over the affair and that it was "known" who was behind that, wording used in the past to refer to Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. Abdulrahman bin Abdullah al-Sanad, head of the body overseeing the Saudi religious police, called for unity. "Defending the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and standing for it and its leaders is a religious duty and a national demand," he tweeted, without referring specifically to the Khashoggi case. Prince Khaled al-Faisal, a senior member of Saudi Arabia's ruling family and senior advisor to King Salman, has met Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan to discuss Khashoggi's disappearance, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters without providing details. A Turkish official told Reuters on Sunday that the Saudis had said they would allow the consulate to be searched, and that this would happen by the end of the weekend, though he conceded to "flexibility on this date." "But Turkey is determined on the subject of entering the consulate and carrying out a criminal inspection. There is no alternative to carrying out this inspection. Time is important in terms of evidence," the official said. (Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi and Asma Alsharif in Dubai, Michael Nienaber in Berlin, Elizabeth Piper in London, Christopher Bing and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; writing by Stephen Kalin; editing by Jason Neely/Robin Pomeroy) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Tulay Karadeniz and Roberta Rampton ANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday 'rogue killers' may have been behind the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and despatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet King Salman over the case. Khashoggi, a U.S By Tulay Karadeniz and Roberta Rampton ANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday "rogue killers" may have been behind the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and despatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet King Salman over the case. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, Washington Post columnist and leading critic of the powerful Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago to get marriage documents. Turkish officials say they believe he was murdered there and his body removed, in a case that has provoked an international outcry. Turkish authorities have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, a Turkish official and a security source told Reuters, and have shared evidence with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States. They provided no further details. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied killing Khashoggi and has denounced such assertions as "lies", saying he left the building shortly after entering. "The king firmly denied any knowledge of it," Trump told reporters after speaking with King Salman. "He didn't really know, maybe - I don't want to get into his mind but it sounded to me - maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Trump was sending Pompeo to Riyadh because "determining what happened to Jamal Khashoggi is something of great importance to the president". Turkish police investigators entered the Istanbul consulate late on Monday. A Turkish diplomatic source had earlier said a joint Turkish-Saudi team would search the building - the last place Khashoggi was seen before he vanished on Oct. 2. "It has been 13 days since the event, so surely proving some of the evidence might be difficult, but we believe we will obtain evidence," the Turkish official said. A Saudi official, not authorised to speak publicly, told Reuters that the king had ordered an internal investigation based on information from the joint team in Istanbul. Asked when the public prosecutor could make an announcement, the official said: "He was instructed to work quickly." King Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Sunday evening and stressed the importance of the two countries creating a joint group as part of the probe. ECONOMIC IMPACT Trump has threatened "severe punishment" if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, although he has ruled out cancelling arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars with Saudi Arabia. European allies have urged "a credible investigation" and accountability for those responsible. Britain expects Riyadh to provide "a complete and detailed response" to questions over Khashoggi's disappearance, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday. Saudi Arabia has responded to Western statements by saying it would retaliate against any pressure or economic sanctions "with greater action", and Arab allies rallied to support it, setting up a potential showdown between the world's top oil exporter and its main Western allies. The Saudi riyal fell to its lowest in two years and its international bond prices slipped over fears that foreign investment could shrink amid international pressure. The Saudi stock market had tumbled 7.2 percent over the previous two trading days but rebounded 2 percent on Monday. Foreign capital is key to Saudi plans for economic diversification and job creation. Concern over Khashoggi's disappearance has seen media organisations and a growing number of guests pull out of a "Davos in the Desert" investment conference set for Oct. 23-25, which has become the biggest show for investors to promote Prince Mohammed's reform vision. A source familiar with the matter said Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink were pulling out of the summit. Both companies declined comment. CNBC reported that Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga would not attend either. Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund (PIF), which hosts the conference, has tentatively committed $20 billion to an infrastructure investment planned with Blackstone Group. Prince Mohammed told Reuters last year that Blackstone and BlackRock Inc were planning to open offices in the kingdom. The organiser insisted the conference would go ahead, saying in an emailed statement on Monday that more than 150 speakers were confirmed from over 140 organisations. BACKLASH Saudi Arabia's Arab allies have rushed to its support. Bahrain called for a boycott of Uber, in which PIF has invested $3.5 billion, after its chief executive officer said he would not attend the conference. Similar campaigns trended on social media in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. UAE businessman Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor urged a boycott of Virgin, which has suspended discussions with PIF over a planned $1 billion investment. Khashoggi, a familiar face on Arab talk shows, moved to the United States last year fearing retribution for his criticism of Prince Mohammed, who has cracked down on dissent with arrests. The former newspaper editor once interviewed Osama bin Laden and later became a consummate insider, advising former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal when he served as ambassador in London and Washington. A pro-government Turkish daily published preliminary evidence last week from investigators who it said had identified a 15-member Saudi intelligence team that arrived in Istanbul on diplomatic passports hours before Khashoggi disappeared. The Saudi consulate referred Reuters to authorities in Riyadh, who did not respond to questions about the 15 Saudis. Asked if he had reviewed the purported recording of Khashoggi's killing, Trump told reporters on Saturday: "I have not ... We've all heard a lot about the audio. Nobody's seen it yet, so we do want to see it ... we're going to be seeing it very soon." (Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy, Trevor Hunnicutt, Lesley Wroughton, Doina Chiacu in Washington, Rob Cox of Breakingviews, William James in London, Dominic Evans in Istanbul; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by David Dolan, William Maclean and Kevin Liffey) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Law firm Karanjawala & Co, hired to defend Union minister MJ Akbar, called the mention of the 97 advocates in the Vakalatnama as the 'standard practice', Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani who recently levelled charges of sexual misconduct against him. To defend Akbar in this case, 97 lawyers of a law firm have been roped in, according to media reports. News18 reported that law firm Karanjawala & Co, hired to defend Akbar, called the mention of the 97 advocates in the Vakalatnama as the "standard practice", and said only six are meant to appear in the court for him. Our firm has 100 lawyers. We usually have all the names printed in one vakalatnama with only the ones who will appear in the case signing it. Our criminal team has six members and only those six will appear in this case. Only they have signed the vakalatnama, a spokesperson of the firm was quoted as saying by News18. However, the news about 97 lawyers working to defend Akbar drew sharp reactions on social media. Pointing that this showed the consequences "lone voices" have to face for speaking out, several journalists and other Twitter users sided with Ramani. 97 lawyers against one woman @priyaramani . Then they talk of due process #MeToo #MJAkbar. barkha dutt (@BDUTT) October 15, 2018 A team of 97 lawyers vs @priyaramani .....You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. You may shoot me with your words....You may cut me with your eyes,But still, like air, I'll rise. #Metoo Marya Shakil (@maryashakil) October 15, 2018 Meanwhile, 97 advocates from a top powerful law firm to defend MoS MEA MJ Akbar against sexual harassment allegations as he files criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani. Journalists in India need to fight back this intimidation. #MeToo pic.twitter.com/H0XYNgbpNp Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 15, 2018 Priya Ramani + The people of India vs. M.J.Akbar + 97 lawyers + the Government of India. https://t.co/7ZhdDUlmP5 Karthik (@beastoftraal) October 15, 2018 No surprises , when Swatantra Kumar filed for defamation in high court he had 21, numbers increase , team remains the same https://t.co/Wx0DTL7oea indira jaising (@IJaising) October 15, 2018 Just read the entire criminal defamation suit filed by MJ Akbar. He has NINETY SEVEN lawyers fighting for him! 97! Against one @priyaramani. Well well Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) October 15, 2018 Empire strikes back. Minister, backed by PM and full cabinet, to be represented by the biggest law firm, also defended by some senior columnists, as he takes on 14 women, 2 of whom were teenagers when they say he sexually harassed them with court cases.We are all on trial today. https://t.co/Y0gAaHVcXf Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) October 15, 2018 I say bring it on. @PriyaRamani and us women journalists too have the best women legal eagles on our side. @IJaising, Rebecca John, @VrindaGrover, as well as some of the coolest criminal defamation lawyers in the country. They might be 97; we are guts, brainpower & solidarity. https://t.co/h2TbDKNrg5 Angshukanta (@angshukanta) October 15, 2018 You want to know what might looks like against lone voices speaking out? These are the 97 advocated fighting MJ Akbar's case against one @priyaramani pic.twitter.com/j5yktnbbcK #MeTooIndia (@IndiaMeToo) October 15, 2018 It takes 97 lawyers to fight @priyaramani. Spoiler alert: Not enough. https://t.co/njbFajDsSG Shilpa Rathnam (@shilparathnam) October 15, 2018 Journalist Sucheta Dalal suggested Ramani and others who have accused Akbar of harassment should crowdfund their side in court. Hey @priyaramani and all 14 who have spoke up. Lets crowd fund your defence. I am sure may top lawyers will help you fight pro bono, but we at @MoneylifeIndia know there are lots of expenses involved! So think about it! Happy to support I am sure thousands of others will too! https://t.co/WmSnOfFKQy Sucheta Dalal (@suchetadalal) October 15, 2018 Several women journalists have accused Akbar of sexual harassment, leading to a growing demand for his ouster as the Minister of State for External Affairs. In a statement on Sunday, he denied the charges as "false, wild and baseless". In his complaint, Akbar said that it was apparent that the false narrative against him was being circulated in a motivated manner and for the fulfilment of an agenda. Following the filing of complaint, Ramani said in a statement that she was "deeply disappointed that a Union minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy". "By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," she said. With inputs from PTI According to doctors, Kanhaiya along with his dozens of supporters, visited the hospital in Patna on Sunday night to meet an AISF leader Sushil Kumar, undergoing treatment there. Patna: A case was lodged on Monday against former JNU Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar and his dozens of supporters over their alleged misbehaviour with a doctor, nurses and a security guard of AIIMS-Patna, police said. "An FIR was lodged following a directive from state Health Department after AIIMS-Patna doctors threatened to go on indefinite strike if action is not taken against them soon," said Phulwarisharif Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohd Qaiser Alam said. After an emergency meeting on Monday morning, the doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) issued an ultimatum to the government to take action against Kanhaiya and his supporters by 5 pm, failing which they would go on strike. Protesting doctors have communicated about the incident to the Union Health Minister and the Bihar government. According to doctors, Kanhaiya along with his dozens of supporters, visited the hospital in Patna on Sunday night to meet an All India Students Federation (AISF) leader Sushil Kumar, undergoing treatment there. During their stay at the AIIMS, some of them misbehaved and threatened the doctor on duty, nurses and the security guard. However, the AISF refuted the allegations made by the doctors. Kanhaiya Kumar, who is associated with the Communist Party of India's (CPI) student body, AISF, is likely to contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Begusarai seat in Bihar. Symbolism in denigrating a ruler like Akbar points towards a disturbing trend but that has been happening for quite sometime now. The BJP strategy is probably to belittle their (Muslim rulers and kings) importance and denounce them by 'suspecting their 'Indian-ness'. One of the core propositions of the Hindu nationalist doctrine, wrote professor Meghnad Desai in one of his essays, is that India got enslaved when Muslim invaders came from the North West from the eighth century onwards first Mohammad Bin Qaseem, then Mahmud Ghazni followed by the Delhi Sultanate and finally the Mughal Empire. One of the other conviction which Hindu nationalists abide by that India has always been a single nation since prehistoric times as Bharatavarsha or Aryabhoomi. Be it the name of a street, or a monument, sometimes a railway station or maybe a city BJP leaders, and some of its ministers, have never shied away from hailing decisions which seek to quickly alter names that have been intrinsic part of India's history. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is one such party leader who has been leading the pack of like-minded ministers/leaders. After successfully renaming the iconic Mughalsarai Junction Railway Station after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Adityanath intends to rename Allahabad. Called Prayag before the Mughals came in, Allahabad got its name from 16th Century Mughal emperor Akbar who renamed it after founding a fort near the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, known as Sangam. He named the fort and its neighbourhood Ilahabad. Later, Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan renamed the entire city as Allahabad. But the area near the Sangam, site of the Kumbh Mela, continues to be called Prayag. The governor and the Centre have both given their approval and the Uttar Pradesh government plans to roll out the changes ahead of 2019 Kumbh Mela. Seen as an attempt to rewrite history to give the narrative a right-wing slant, the BJP government at many instances has shown intent either by changing names of places and giving them a Hindu identity and sometimes even changing contents textbooks to suit a one-sided narrative. The narrative, which reportedly has been perpetrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is aimed at Hindu one-upmanship when re-telling the Indian history. Take Rajasthan education board for example. In March 2017, Hindustan Times reported that students in Rajasthan would be taught that Rajput warrior Maharana Pratap defeated Akbar in the Battle of Haldighati some 450 years ago. Historical evidence, however, shows that Pratap, the ruler of the erstwhile Mewar region, fled the battlefield, although in the later years he continued his guerilla war against the Mughals. The report quoted the state state education minister Vasudev Devnani who said students will not read "distorted history" from the next academic year. Until now, students of class 10 and 12 read Rajput warrior Maharana Pratap had lost the Battle of Haldighati. In fact, Adityanath in June this year insisted that Akbar was not great and that only Maharana Pratap was. He praised Pratap's persistence in winning back his forts after years of fight in the Aravalli hills and his refusal to accept Akbar as king. Adityanath said the Mewar ruler did not accept the Mughal emperor asking as he was a "Turk who could not be trusted". The chief minister, who was at the release of special edition of RSS magazine 'Avadh Prahri', quoted Pratap and said, "I cannot accept Akbar as the king he is a Turk and he will remain so he will hurt our self-respect in the garb of friendship we cannot accept a foreigner as a king." He said lessons from those times were still applicable. In October, 2017 BJP MLA Sangeet Som declared that the Taj Mahal was a "blot on Indian culture". The BJP MLA added that the monument was built by 'traitors.' The MLA from Sardhana in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, Som referred to the recent removal of Taj Mahal from the Uttar Pradesh tourism booklet and said, "Many people were disappointed that the Taj Mahal was removed from Uttar Pradesh tourism booklet. What history are we talking about? The creator of Taj Mahal (Shahjahan) imprisoned his father. He wanted to wipe out Hindus. If these people are part of our history, then it is very sad and we will change this history". Taj Mahal, reportedly, failed to find mention in the government's first budget in the special section 'Hamari Sanskritik Virasat' (Our Cultural Heritage) incorporated in the finance minister's 63-page budget speech. There are several other instances where BJP governments across the country have tried to reorient history by moulding facts as it suits them. This distaste that BJP leaders and ministers have for Muslim rulers, whose colossal historical contribution towards India can't be ignored, could spell trouble. The Akbar factor Opposed to Adityanath or Sangeeth Som's idea of how Muslim rulers ravaged India, history tells us that Akbar was one of the most secular and forgiving emperors that India witnessed. In fact, he was one of those Muslim rulers who ruled India and not ravage her. According to an article in The Diplomat, when Akbar ruled (1556 to 1605), "there did exist various areas of contestation between the two religions, but it was largely characterised by a syncretism that has few parallels in modern-day India. Akbars era represented the zenith of Islamic power in India and the zeitgeist was a reflection of the man himself curious, open-minded, and pragmatic. He is quite possibly one of the first regents in the world to lend his support to regular state-sponsored inter-faith public dialogue, which brought together learned men from across the religious spectrum Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Parsis, Jains, and even atheists from across the realm were invited to participate in what must surely have a unique event at the time." The symbolism in denigrating a ruler like Akbar, just because he was a Muslim or his lacking in Hindu-ness, points towards a disturbing trend but that has been happening for quite sometime now. The strategy is probably to belittle their (Muslim rulers and kings) importance and denounce them by "suspecting their 'Indian-ness'." Like this article in The Wire argues, "Hindutva forces have always followed the colonial school of history. British colonial historians very cleverly periodised Indian history into three segments: Hindu, Muslim and British (not Christian) period. So, a tendency gained ground to view the pre-British history of India through the lens of Hindu-Muslim antagonism. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Hindutva forces have always been fiercely anti-Muslim, but not anti-British." Akbar legitimised his court's links with Hinduism by "engaging, interrogating and occasionally" criticising Hindu beliefs. But at the same time, the emperor also strove to dismiss conservative Muslims who criticised the Hindus for not believing in the unity of God. Akbar's bid at "Hindu-Muslim syncretism" was not restricted to just theological and literary worlds. Politically, his entourage was a mix of hand-picked Muslim and Hindu "elites". "Among the legendary Navratnas (Nine Jewels) of his court were four Hindus the musician Tansen, the finance minister Raja Todar Mal, the army general Raja Man Singh, and the advisor Raja Birbal alongside five Muslims that included Abul Fazl. The presence of a select group of elite Hindus and Muslims alone cannot be offered as proof of a wider tolerance and understanding between the two communities, just as a Muslim prime minister would not suffice as evidence of Hindu-Muslim harmony in todays India. Nonetheless, it forms an important part of the multi-religious mosaic that emerges from that era." Rewriting history According to a Reuters investigation published in March this year, during the first week of January, 2017 a group of Indian scholars were focussed on how to rewrite the history of the nation. The report stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "quietly" appointed the committee of scholars about six months earlier, even though the prime minister did not order the committees creation it was instigated by Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma. The report said that the mission of the committee is in keeping with his outlook. Interviews with members of the 14-person committee and ministers in Modis government suggest the ambitions of Hindu nationalists extend beyond holding political power in this nation of 1.3 billion people a kaleidoscope of religions, the report said. They want ultimately to shape the national identity to match their religious views, that India is a nation of and for Hindus. In doing so, they are challenging a more multicultural narrative that has dominated since the time of British rule, that modern-day India is a tapestry born of migrations, invasions and conversions. That view is rooted in demographic fact. While the majority of Indians are Hindus, Muslims and people of other faiths account for some 240 million, or a fifth, of the populace. The committees chairman, KN Dikshit, told Reuters, "I have been asked to present a report that will help the government rewrite certain aspects of ancient history." The committees creator, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, confirmed in an interview that the groups work was part of larger plans to revise Indias history. For Indias Muslims, who have pointed to incidents of religious violence and discrimination since Modi took office in 2014, the development is ominous. Reuters report said that Modi did not respond to a request for comment on the article. Reuters report said that the RSS asserted that ancestors of all people of Indian origin including 172 million Muslims were Hindu and that they must accept their common ancestry as part of Bharat Mata, or Mother India. Modi has been a member of the RSS since childhood. An official biography of Culture Minister Sharma says he too has been a dedicated follower of the RSS for many years. Referring to the emblematic colour of the Hindu nationalist movement, RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya told Reuters that "the true colour of Indian history is saffron and to bring about cultural changes we have to rewrite history." Sharma said this Hindu first version of Indian history will be added to a school curriculum which has long taught that people from central Asia arrived in India much more recently, some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, and transformed the population. Hindu nationalists and seniors in BJP rejected the idea that India was forged from a mass migration. They believe that today's Hindu population is directly descended from the lands first inhabitants. Historian Romila Thapar told Reuters that the question of who first stood on the soil was important to nationalists because "if the Hindus are to have primacy as citizens in a Hindu rashtra (kingdom), their foundational religion cannot be an imported one. To assert that primacy, nationalists need to claim descent from ancestors and a religion that were indigenous, said Thapar. "Our government is the first government to have the courage to even question the existing version of history that is being taught in schools and colleges." The Times of India said that amid the #MeToo movement, 'anonymous and unverifiable' allegations posted on social media platforms raise serious ethical questions. The Times of India on Monday published its policy on covering the #MeToo movement, which continues to rage in India. The organisation said it respects and supports the spirit of the #MeToo movement and "is aggressively covering the horrific stories of sexual harassment allegations, both past and present, that are being revealed by a range of courageous women from across society". However, being the "media organisation with the largest reach among all", TOI said the onus on it is even greater. It has, therefore, made a conscious decision "not to report allegations of sexual harassment posted anonymously on social media sites". The statement said that "anonymous and unverifiable" allegations posted on social media platforms "raise serious ethical questions because these platforms can also easily be misused by those with malicious intent to defame". While the organisation said it understands that "many victims who have a real story to tell may choose to remain anonymous due to fear, safety or privacy concerns", TOI does not want its "platform to be misused for propagating what could potentially be false, malicious or defamatory content". It reiterated that it will not be reporting on "anonymous allegations on social media, until the person concerned or their organisation responds publicly in which case these allegations become a legitimate news story to be covered". This comes after resident editor for The Times of India in Hyderabad, KR Sreenivas was sent on an "administrative leave" after seven women petitioned the national daily to take action in light of the sexual misconduct allegations him. Sreenivas had told Firstpost that "TOI has said the charges would be investigated by its committee against sexual harassment". "A highly empowered and accessible committee under this policy and under the law is in place to investigate and address all allegations of sexual harassment. The group is headed by a senior woman executive. I will submit myself to the investigation," he had said. NC General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar sought strict action against those found involved in 'intimidating innocent students' hailing from Jammu and Kashmir. Srinagar: The National Conference (NC) on Monday expressed concern over the alleged harassment of Kashmiri students studying in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and other educational institutions outside the state and urged the Governor's administration to make safety and security of the students a top priority. NC General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar sought strict action against those found involved in "intimidating innocent students" hailing from Jammu and Kashmir. "Harassment and intimidation of Kashmiri students will not only affect their studies but will inevitably make them susceptible to violent attacks across the country," he said. Three Kashmiri students of the AMU were suspended and booked under sedition after they allegedly tried to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in north Kashmir on Thursday. Sagar said hundreds of students from the state are currently studying at various universities throughout the country to secure their future. "Such unfortunate incidents where students are being harassed on one pretext or the other are happening at a time when the incumbent Governor's administration is making tall claims about the propensity to engage with the youth of Kashmir," he said. The NC general secretary urged the Governor's administration to make safety and security of the students of Jammu and Kashmir studying in various universities across the country a top priority. He also implored upon the incumbent administration to take up the matter with the respective state governments "where the students are being targeted and harassed". Mehbooba Mufti said that it 'will be a travesty to punish the AMU students for remembering their former colleague who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir'. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said the Centre must intervene to have the cases against Kashmiri students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) withdrawn and also ensure that the varsity revokes their suspension. Her statement comes after three AMU students from Kashmir were suspended and booked for sedition for allegedly trying to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in North Kashmir on 11 October. Mufti also said that it "will be a travesty to punish them for remembering their former colleague, who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir". Pushing youth to the wall will be counter productive.Centre must intervene in withdrawing cases against students & AMU authorities must revoke their suspension .The respective State governments outside JK should be sensitive to the situation & prevent further alienation . 1/2 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 15, 2018 It will be a travesty to punish them for remembering their former colleague who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir. 2/2 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 15, 2018 Kashmiri students studying at AMU have threatened to leave for their homes on 17 October, if the sedition charges against the three students are not dropped. In a letter to AMU vice-chancellor, AMU students' union former vice-president Sajjad Rathar said, "If this vilification does not stop, more than 1,200 Kashmiri students will leave for their homes in the Kashmir Valley on 17 October as a last option." Calling the slapping of sedition charges "vendetta", Rathar said, "The option of holding a Namaaz-e-Janaza (prayer meeting) in absentia was dropped after the AMU authorities did not give the permission." Earlier on Monday, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, had also asked the Centre to intervene in the AMU crisis and resolve the matter. Zee News quoted him as saying, "It is very unfortunate that students are wanting to leave midway. AMU vice-chancellor, teachers, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs should solve this issue. I hope this will be taken seriously." With inputs from agencies The death comes at a time when 23 lions have died in the Gir forest in Gujarat, a majority of them due to viral and bacterial infections, since 12 September, putting the state government in a spot of bother. Ahmedabad: A sub-adult lion was found dead on Monday in a private farmland in a village under the Gir forest division in Junagadh district of Gujarat, an official said. The carcass is three to fours days old and was found near Hasnapur village in Visavadar range of the Gir (west) forest division, he said. "A sub-adult lion aged between 2 and 3 years was found dead in a private farmland. The body was three to four days old and putrefaction had started," said a Gujarat forest department official. He said nearby areas were scanned, and no signs of unnatural death was reported. The carcass was sent for postmortem examination, which will ascertain the exact cause of the lion's death, the official said. The death comes at a time when 23 lions have died in the Gir sanctuary, a majority of them due to viral and bacterial infections, since 12 September, putting the state government in a spot of bother. These deaths were reported from the Dalkhaniya range of the Gir (east) division in Amreli district. Following the deaths, 33 lions were shifted to a rescue centre in the sanctuary and are being treated for possible infections, forest officials have said. According to a 2015 census, Gir is home to 523 Asiatic lions. Gir is the only area in Asia, where the endangered animal species is found in its natural habitat. The Gir sanctuary, spread over an area of 1,153.42 square kilometres, is located across the Junagadh and Amreli districts of Gujarat's Saurashtra region. Journalist Herman Gomes was injured in the attack in Mumbai and later received six stitches near his eyes. Mumbai: Four persons have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a television journalist near his house in south Mumbai, police said on Monday. The accused, all city residents aged between 20 and 25 years, were nabbed late Sunday night from Tardeo area, a senior police official said. Herman Gomes, working with a private TV channel, was returning home along with a friend in a taxi on Sunday when he saw four to six men waiting near his house in Gamdevi area. The men started abusing Gomes and later allegedly assaulted him and also hit his friend, as per the victim. Gomes was injured in the attack and later received six stitches near his eyes. Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone-II) Dnyaneshwar Chavan, said prima facie it appears the incident might have taken place in the heat of the moment following some argument. "However, we are trying to go into the depth of the matter," he said, adding, the accused do not have any criminal background. Based on Gomes' complaint, the Gamdevi Police had registered a case under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 324 (voluntary causing hurt by dangerous weapons) and other relevant provisions. Journalists' associations in the city had Sunday condemned the attack and alleged that police did not file the victim's complaint promptly. The Mumbai Press Club termed the attack on Gomes a "dastardly act". An association of crime reporters in the city have urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action against police officers who allegedly delayed registration of the FIR in the matter. Minister of State for Home (urban), Ranjit Patil had later said an investigation was on into the incident and "correct steps will be taken in the direction". Richwood, TX (77531) Today A mix of clouds and sun. High near 80F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight A few passing clouds. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Union minister MJ Akbar terms allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as 'false, fabricated and deeply distressing', Zika virus toll reaches 60 in Rajasthan; and other top stories of the day MJ Akbar denies allegations against him; vows to take legal action: Union minister MJ Akbar on Sunday termed allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them. Hours after returning from a trip to Africa, the Minister of State for External Affairs issued a statement, virtually rejecting calls for his resignation from the post and seeking to link the allegations against him to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Zika virus outbreak - New cases emerge in Rajasthan: Five new cases of Zika virus were detected in Jaipur on Sunday, taking the toll of infected people to 60. In India, the first outbreak was reported in Ahmedabad in January 2017 and the second in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district in July 2017. Both these outbreaks were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management. The disease is presently under the surveillance of the Union Health Ministry. Travancore Devaswom Board holds meeting with stakeholders amid Sabarimala verdict protests: Amid continuing protests on the Sabarimala issue, The Travancore Devaswom Board, a temple body which manages the Lord Ayyappa shrine invited various stakeholders for a meeting to discuss 'various aspects', including preparations for the annual pilgrimage season, beginning November. The board has invited tantris (temple priests), Pandalam royals and devotee groups to the meeting. Various Hindu outfits and Lord Ayyappa devotees have been staging protests over the last few days all over Kerala against the implementation of the Supreme Court order, permitting women of all age groups into the shrine. Manohar Parrikar returnsto Goa: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar arrived home on Sunday afternoon from New Delhi, where he was undergoing treatment at the AIIMS for a pancreatic ailment. The state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital has made elaborate arrangements at his private residence with a team of doctors on standby to take care of his health. Kerala minister says AMMA must look into issues raised by WCC: State Minister for Law, Cinema and Culture AK Balan said on Sunday urged the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) to look into the grievances raised by WCC. The Women's Collective in Cinema (WCC) had raised concerns over how AMMA, led by superstar Mohanlal, has handled the case involving the kidnapping of an actress. "The Kerala government will step in if a need arises," Balan said. Fuel prices continue to rise: Petrol prices were up on Sunday across the four major metros, In Delhi, petrol was priced at Rs 82.72 per litre, up from Rs 82.66 on Saturday. Similarly, petrol prices rose to Rs 88.18 in Mumbai, Rs 84.54 in Kolkata and Rs 85.99 per litre in Chennai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet oil company chiefs on Monday to take stock of the global energy scenario. The overall air quality index (AQI) in Delhi recorded at 4 pm on Monday was 218 which falls in the poor category, according to SAFAR. Delhi: The air quality in Delhi remained poor for a third consecutive day on Monday with a drop in wind speed, and authorities apprehend further deterioration in coming days. The overall air quality index (AQI) recorded at 4 pm Monday was 218 which falls in the poor category, according to Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). On Sunday, the AQI of the national capital was 201. While at 4 pm Saturday, the overall air quality index (AQI) stood at 300 which falls in the poor category and was just one point from being 'very poor'. On Monday, Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 318, the Delhi Technical University registered 288, ITO recorded 253 and Jahangirpuri recorded an AQI of 311, according to the CPCB website. An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor', and 401-500 'severe'. Delhi's neighbouring regions of Faridabad and Gurugram both recorded poor air quality. The PM10 level (presence of particles with diameter less than 10 micrometres) in Delhi stood at 205 and the PM2.5 level was recorded at 106, according to the data. Authorities apprehend further deterioration of air quality in the coming days. A slew of measures are being taken by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to fight pollution during the winter season, when the air quality in Delhi is generally on the poorer side. Meanwhile, recent satellite images from NASA show that farmers in Punjab and Haryana started burning crop residue earlier this month. NASA, on its official website, stated that burning of crop residue in Punjab and Haryana has increased significantly over the past 10 days in and near Amritsar, Ambala, Karnal, Sirsa and Hisar. Burning of paddy straw every year during October and November, and wheat straw during April in Punjab and Haryana are the major contributors to air pollution in Delhi-NCR. In Delhi, it mixes with fog and creates a toxic smoggy winter every year. The CPCB said an emergency action plan kicked in Monday to combat air pollution. In a letter to Narendra Modi sent in September, Manmohan Singh had urged him to 'leave the Teen Murti Complex undisturbed as it is', reminding him that it is a memorial of our first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru. New Delhi: Amid intense criticism from Congress leaders, the foundation stone for the "Museum of Prime Ministers" was laid on Monday by Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri at the Teen Murti estate . The Congress leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been opposing the move, saying that the government was trying to "dilute" Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy by changing the character of the Nehru Memorial Museum Library. Sharma conducted the Bhoomi Poojan for the proposed museum at the Teen Murti Estate on Monday afternoon and said the museum will depict modern India through "the collections relating to each Prime Minister of India, their lives, works and significant contributions made towards nation building". He said the national capital at present has memorials dedicated to only three of India's Prime Ministers: Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. "The people of the country deserve to know the contribution of all prime ministers, including Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh, Chandra Shekhar, PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, HD Deve Gowda, IK Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi," Sharma added. He said that the state-of-the-art design of the upcoming museum "is symbolic of an emergent and rising India". The Central government's move to construct the Museum of Prime Ministers inside the premises of the Teen Murti Estate, which, apart from housing the Nehru Memorial Museum Library (NMML) was also Nehru's residence for 16 years until his death on 27 May, 1964, has courted much controversy over the past few months. In a letter to Modi sent in September, Manmohan Singh had urged him to "leave the Teen Murti Complex undisturbed as it is", reminding him that it is a memorial of our first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru. "This way we will be respecting both history and heritage." He had argued that "the museum itself must retain its primary focus on Jawaharlal Nehru and the freedom movement because of his unique role having spent almost ten years in jail between the early 1920s and mid-1940s. There is hardly any space in the premises of the Teen Murti complex for the construction of the "Museum of Prime Ministers" without altering the Nehru Memorial Museum Library. The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, chaired by Sonia Gandhi and housed in the Teen Murti Estate, had been asked by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to vacate the premises on the grounds of "unauthorised occupation", on September. Sources told IANS that the move was to procure space for the upcoming museum. The letter from the Ministry had said that NMML is in "dire need of space" and alleged that the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund is occupying the premises "without any authority of law". Responding to the notice, N Balakrishnan, Administrative Secretary of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, refuted its premise and asked that it be withdrawn. "I hereby refute in unequivocal terms your charge of unauthorised use or unauthorised occupation of the present office premises by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund in the Teen Murti Estate," Balakrishnan said in his response on 20 September. Balakrishnan told IANS on Monday that there has been no further communication from the government in this regard so far. Wahab wrote that there was only one sentence in Akbar's statement Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison which had truth to it. 'Indeed, lies do not have legs, which is why they cannot go far,' she said. Senior journalist Ghazala Wahab, one of the several women who have levelled charges of sexual misconduct against Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar, lashed out at the former editor over his latest statement over the allegations. In an article published by The Wire, Wahab wrote, "In attempting to refute my story of molestation and harassment, Akbar has tried to hide inside his supposedly 'very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass'. Either he is lying, or age has caught up with him. I would prefer believing the latter, so here is something to refresh his memory." Wahab wrote that there was only one sentence in Akbar's statement Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison which had truth to it. "Indeed, lies do not have legs, which is why they cannot go far," she said. Wahab further clarified that when she quit The Asian Age, she had handed over her resignation to Akbar's secretary Rachna Grover, who, Wahab claimed, "was a witness to not only what happened with me, but to those who came before and after me." In the article, Wahab also shared screenshots of WhatsApp conversations in which Grover is seen accepting that she was aware of the incident involving Wahab. Grover had earlier, in a statement to Free Press Journal, come to Akbar's defence. As the #MeToo movement gained momentum in India, Akbar's name cropped up on social media when he was on an official trip to African nations. Among the women who accused Akbar of sexual harassment are Priya Ramani, Ghazala Wahab, Shuma Raha, Anju Bharti and Shutapa Paul. On 6 October, Wahab had tweeted: I wonder when the floodgates will open about @mjakbar https://t.co/ENRbbfhEeu Ghazala Wahab (@ghazalawahab) October 6, 2018 In an article published by The Wire on 12 October, she then revealed in detail how she was molested and harassed by Akbar on several occasions when she was employed with The Asian Age. After multiple women came out with accounts of alleged sexual harassment by the 67-year-old when he was a journalist, there were mounting demands for his removal from the Union council of ministers. Hours after returning from a trip to Africa on Sunday, Akbar, in a statement, termed allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them. He also sought to link the allegations against him to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. "Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action," he said. Akbar said the "false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage" to his reputation, and wondered why "this storm has risen" a few months before the general election. "Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy. This is deeply distressing. As indicated above, I will be taking appropriate legal action," he said. Ghazala's reaction came as Akbar filed a criminal defamation complaint against Ramani on Monday. In his complaint, he has accused Ramani of "wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously" defaming him and has sought her prosecution under the penal provision on defamation. With inputs from PTI Depressed over their only daughter eloping with a man outside their community, an elderly couple allegedly committed suicide at their house in Pollachi, some 35 kilometres from here Sunday. Coimbatore: Depressed over their only daughter eloping with a man outside their community, an elderly couple allegedly committed suicide at their house in Pollachi, some 35 kilometres from here Sunday. The couple had advised their 24-year-old daughter, who had fallen in love with the man while in college, not to continue the affair, police said. However, the daughter left home last evening, telling her parents that she was going to live with him, they said. Upset over her decision, her mother called a woman relative last night and told her that both she and her husband were going to commit suicide by consuming insecticides. The woman who rushed to the house with some relatives found the couple lying unconscious on the floor and they were immediately rushed to the government hospital in the town. However, both husband and wife passed away en route to the hospital, police said. The relatives could not contact the daughter as her cell phone was switched off, they said. I believe in the power of words, of language, to change to world. #MeTooIndia will prove that the pen is mightier than the penis after all. There have been many wonderful fallouts of the #MeTooIndia movement. One of them has been languagethe way women are being able to articulate, publicly, what would have previously been "private things about private parts". In India, where flowers kissed instead of actors barely a generation ago, children arent even taught adult words for their su-sus and pee-pees, and families by and large serve as agents of society, silence and sabhyata, talking about sex with consent is hard enough. Without consent, even if youre aware that the blame/shame is not yours, it has an added layer of reliving trauma. Yet, #MeTooIndia has seen women display body comfort and talk explicitly about how their nipples, breasts and vaginas have been violated by hands, lips, semen and penises. This has not been easy. Although I have been talking and writing about sexuality and gender violence since college (my forthcoming book is even called Why Indian Men Rape), when Faye DSouza asked me to narrate, on camera, my #MeToo experiences I had written about that morning, I surprised myself by stuttering and stammering. But speak we will, and it will be worth it. When women femsplain body parts, both male and female, and their consensual and non-consensual encounters, it can change the mindsets of men. In the absence of comprehensive sexuality education in schools, the onus of teaching children about their bodies is on families. Girls receive advice around two topics: puberty, where their mothers usually explain to them what happens to their bodies and why, and safety. Without such points of intervention for boys, they tend to receive their knowledge from proverbial locker-room talk, from friends as clueless as they are, and from porn. When a 25-year-old male domestic help saw the pads I had bought for my cook, he thought they were nappies! Healthy knowledge about and the language for their own privates, the bodies of women and sex stay more inaccessible and taboo for men than for women. Through these open conversations, men can learn these absolute basics. When women talk about their consensual sexual escapades, it establishes that women have sex lives, get over it. They challenge patriarchal notions of honour and shame, and the angel-slut binary. This is good for women, of course, but also good for men. When I was undercover in rural Madhya Pradesh with a man who had gang raped, a subject for my book, he told me of another rape he was accused of. He described a consensual relationship with an older girl when they were teens; when she got pregnant, she and her family accused him of rape. But thats not rape, he said, "she agreed! I protested. Yes, but would she ever admit to it? he scoffed. It all made sense when a village elder told me he would behead his daughters if they had pre-marital sex or married for love. In this milieu, it is easy to understand why the girl would cry rape rather than admit to consensual sex. A criticism of #MeToo is its cultural and English elitismbut it could only be spearheaded by empowered, often English-speaking, women. Far from preventing less privileged women from telling their stories, we are paving the way, creating an environment of solidarity and support for them. Once the movement and the conversations it has engendered trickle down to other languages, from urban to rural, they have the power to change cultural norms. (Almost) ALL women I know have been sexually violated, often more than once. When I would tell male friends this, I was met with grudging belief. All women? Really? Then last year a friend sent me a message: This #MeToo thing is exactly what youve been talking about, eh? When women talk about their negative experiences, it could broaden mens understanding and empathy, making the Other less alien. It could make them understand our preoccupations with safety. Women you know, beyond your mother-sister, have everyday experiences that are different from and more complex than yours. Those that think that women get preference at job interviews because the bosses want to "use" them (read on Twitter) may understand that these "compromises" are not "dues" that working women want to pay. It may further educate men about the nuances of consent and courtship, so far informed by the stalk-her-until-she-catapults paradigm of our film industry. And, whether or not men have a collective epiphany about the humanity and human rights of women, they can certainly no longer count on the silence that has allowed gender violence to breed. Where once there were no consequences for their actions, particularly in the workplace, there can now be socioeconomic, if not legal ones. Even if MJ Akbar has escaped the axe, some serving journalists have had to go and many othersnot just journalistsare facing the heat. I believe in the power of words, of language, to change to world. #MeToo will prove that the pen is mightier than the penis after all. Network 18, of which Firstpost is a part, has received complaints of sexual harassment as well. The complaints which are within the purview of the workplace have been forwarded to our PoSH committee for appropriate action. Earlier in the day, a senior official in the CMO said that Manohar Parrikar has been following the line of treatment prescribed by doctors at AIIMS. Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's health has improved and doctors have advised him rest for a week, his office here said Monday. Parrikar, 62, returned Panaji Sunday by a special flight from New Delhi, where he underwent treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for pancreatic ailment. After landing in Goa, he was taken to his private residence at Dona Paula, where a team of doctors from the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) have put up a make-shift medical facility. "Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's condition has improved further. He had a chat with his family members this morning," Rupesh Kamat, personal secretary to the chief minister, said in a statement. "Doctors have advised him to take rest for a week," he added. Earlier in the day, a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said that the chief minister has been following the line of treatment prescribed by doctors at AIIMS. "Parrikar is at home and is being taken care by a team of doctors from the GMCH," he said. Parrikar, ailing since mid-February, has been treated at different hospitals, including those in Goa, Mumbai and the US. On Friday, Parrikar had met Goa BJP's core committee members and ministers from coalition partners at the AIIMS in Delhi to discuss ways to ensure that his government functions normally during his absence from office due to ill health. Leaders of the ruling BJP and its allies, who met Parrikar separately, had ruled out any change in leadership in the coastal state. The core committee is the BJP's key decision-making body in Goa, comprising senior leaders like Parrikar, Union minister Shripad Naik and party state chief Vinay Tendulkar, among others. Diesel generators are already banned as air pollution level has reached the Very Poor level as the presence of PM2.5 or PM10 concentration in air is between 121-250g/m3 or 351-430 g/m3 respectively. For the second year in a row, Graded Response Action Plan is being implemented in Delhi to battle the increasingly thickening envelope of polluted air in the capital city during the winters. Bhure Lal, the chairman of Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) which implements the plan told Firstpost that the plan which has been launched on Monday will be in force till March next year. We can see that sources of pollution have not decreased much. Be it stubble burning in the neighbouring states or vehicular and industrial pollution in Delhi, all the sources are intact. Hence the air quality has deteriorated as it did in the winters last year, he said explaining the rationale for implementing the plan again. Graded Action Response Plan (GRAP) is a set of rules approved by the Supreme Court of India on 2 December 2016. These rules were notified last year by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Apart from other pollution control measures mentioned in the plan, the odd-even scheme to rein in vehicular pollution snowballed into a major controversy. GRAP is implemented as response to degrading level of air pollution in Delhi during winters. The rules which come into force due to its implementation become more and more stringent with the rise in pollution levels in the capital city, says an EPCA source. Though it was expected that the EPCA would implement the measures listed in the first level of GRAP on the first day of it, but drastic deterioration of air quality has led it to implement measures far stringent than the first level. As per the notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the EPCA should indulge in information dissemination in social media, mobile apps should be used to inform people about the pollution levels, contact details of control room, enable them to report polluting activities to the concerned authorities, and actions that will be taken by government based on the level of pollution, as the first step to battle degrading air quality. But sources in the EPCA said that the air pollution level in the capital city at present is too high to implement such moderate measures. The first level of GRAP is implemented when the air quality of the capital city is PM2.5 or PM10 concentration value is between 61-120 g/m3 or 101-350 g/m3 respectively. As per recent readings of major air quality monitors, the presence of P.M. 2.5 exceeds 150 g/m3 in a number of locations including Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, United States Embassy and Shadipur. Sunita Narayan, member of Environmental Pollution Control Authority told the Hindustan Times, With GRAP being rolled out from Monday, there will be a ban on diesel generator (DG) sets in Delhi. DG sets will, however, be allowed to operate in NCR towns because it would be impractical to ban them outside the national capital, where there is still a problem of power supply. Diesel generators are already banned as air pollution level has reached the Very Poor level as the presence of PM2.5 or PM10 concentration in air is between 121-250g/m3 or 351-430 g/m3 respectively. The air quality level is likely to dip further, sources in the EPCA say. The other measures listed to be adopted when the air quality level dips to the Very Poor level are enhancement of parking fee by 3-4 times, increase of bus and metro services by augmenting contract buses and increasing frequency of service, stop use of coal or firewood in hotels and open eateries, resident welfare associations and individual house owners to provide electric heaters during winter to security staff to avoid open burning by them, alert in newspapers, television, radio to advise people with respiratory and cardiac patients to avoid polluted areas and restrict outdoor movement. Environment activist Polash Chatterjee said that this time implementation of GRAP would be easier as and more effective than it was in the last year. As we know that the import of polluting fuels such as pet coke this year is banned and the authorities have already ordered the industries in Delhi to use cleaner fuels, these efforts are likely to fructify this year, he said. The Centre banned import of pet coke as fuel to prevent further deterioration of the environment. On the other hand the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has already ordered industries in the capital city to switch to cleaner fuels which include BS-VI diesel and petrol, natural gas (CNG and PNG), LPG and biogas. The statement by a group of journalists' associations came the day MJ Akbar filed a criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani, who was the first to publicly accuse him of sexual misconduct. A group of journalists' associations has demanded that Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar step down from his post in the government, following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations against him as part of the #MeToo movement in India. The Indian Women's Press Corps, Press Club of India, Press Association and South Asian Women in the Media, on Monday, released a statement, saying, they were disappointed by Akbar's statement, "wherein he has threatened legal action against all those who have alleged they were harassed by him". This statement by the journalists' groups comes on a day when Akbar filed a criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani, one of the women who made the accusations of sexual misconduct against Akbar. "Mr. Akbar is a senior functionary of the government and his response should reflect the responsibility that is thus bestowed on him... In the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, it would only be appropriate that the minister step down from his post till such time as the inquiry is completed," the journalists association said. They also urged employers at media organisations to look into issues of harassment with the seriousness they deserve, "not treat the incidents as motivated complaints". Akbar's name cropped up in the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment when he was on a tour of African nations. At least 14 women have accused him of making unwanted advances towards them and making them feel uncomfortable in the workplace during his years in the newsroom. Hours after returning from the trip on Sunday, Akbar had termed the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing", saying he was taking "appropriate legal action" against the women. Among those who accused Akbar of sexual harassment include Ramani, Ghazala Wahab, Shuma Raha, Anju Bharti and Shutapa Paul. With inputs from PTI The MeToo discourse should recognise gradations of reliability; of first and third person accounts, anonymous testimonies etc. If the MeToo movement feels the need to call out and castigate women whom it considers enablers of patriarchy and rape culture, one would expect it to come from the women who are part of the movement. There is something incongruous, if not perhaps inappropriate, in a man writing an article that seeks to pronounce judgment on individual women as enablers of patriarchy. But since Shivam Vij has considered fit to do so anyway, one would have expected him to treat the subject with some caution and plenty of circumspection. Vij not only misrepresents what Mustafa wrote in her article Whoa#Metoo, Hold your Horses, he charges her with enabling a culture of sexual assault based on non-existent evidence. In the process, he manages to dismiss Mustafas critique of the Indian MeToo movement, without engaging with it or even understanding it. Vij claims that Mustafas article tries to delegitimise MeToo and attempts to defend MJ Akbar. That it does neither should be obvious to the most cursory reader. Mustafa is clear and unambiguous in her opinion of MeToo. She writes: I am convinced and impressed with the argument of the supporters of MeToo that it has succeeded in placing the onus on the man for acts of sexual harassment; two, it allows women to speak in the security of larger support on social media and three, creates an environment where the victim does not have to suffer from the insecurity of being a victim MeToo has allowed journalists the space to name and shame predators in their work environment, and ensure action. Vij dismisses this as mere tokenism, without giving us any reason why. Several of the women who have called out Akbar spoke about how he would interview them in his hotel room, making them uncomfortable. Vij writes: Whats the big deal about going into a hotel room, we all did in those days, writes Seema Mustafa in an article titled Whoa #MeToo, Hold Your Horses. Except that she does not write anything of that sort. In sketching the atmosphere at The Asian Age under Akbar, Mustafa merely mentions the fact that it was routine for editors to conduct interviews in their hotel rooms at that time and that in itself, no one reported that it made them uncomfortable. Vij is putting words into her mouth here. He also implies that Mustafas article ends up apologising for Akbars actions. It, in fact, does the exact opposite. It indicts Akbar by narrating the toxic culture of male entitlement and sexual exploitation he created at The Asian Age when Mustafa worked there as the bureau chief. Far from shielding Akbar from his alleged crimes, she condemns them in unequivocal terms and extends solidarity to the survivor. My full support and solidarity for Ghazala Wahab who had obviously gone through hell, and has come out of it with the courage to share her experience in a sober article out of the movement. In fact her article has given the proof of MJ Akbars behaviour for which he needs to lose his job. It is truly mystifying how any of this can be construed as an apology for Akbar's actions. Vij again misleads the reader by claiming that Ghazala Wahab accused Mustafa of refusing to help her. This is all Wahab wrote about her conversation with Mustafa. Seema was the bureau chief thenI went into her cubicle and narrated my story. She heard me. She was not surprised. She said that the call was entirely mine; that I should decide what I wanted to do. Notice that Wahab does not say a single word about either Mustafa refusing to help her; or about supporting her. Neither does she detail how much of her experience she shared with Mustafa. Mustafa does not recall having the conversation, though she believes Wahabs account that it occurred. In a statement released after the article was written, Mustafa revealed that at the time mentioned by Wahab (1997), she was not in fact the bureau chief, but held a part-time position in the paper. Neither did she have a cubicle of her own. She joined The Asian Age as the bureau chief at a later date. It would seem that passage of time has altered certain details of the conversation in Wahabs memory. From this briefest of snippets, of a conversation recalled imperfectly from over 20 years ago, Vij wants to build a case that Mustafa was an enabler of sexual harassment. Such determined defiance of common sense borders on the absurd. The pity of all this, of people like Vij playing the person rather than the argument, is that MeToo ends up shutting out and disengaging from outside critiques which are intended to strengthen the movement, not demonise it. While Mustafa rightly acknowledges the achievements of MeToo, she says that she has a problem with the tone and tenor of the movement. This is neither contradictory nor duplicitous. It is perfectly coherent to support a movement while problematising one or several of its aspects. Mustafa writes: The first problem that I encountered with this movement, and that remains, is its inability to differentiate between the man who is guilty of rape and sexual assault from the man who solicited a woman with a drink, or an unacceptable text message. The movement offers the same punishment for all. The same response, and the same reaction. This has remained a cardinal challenge for Indias MeToo, which it has not yet succeeded in overcoming. There have been too many cases where everything ranging from flirting, opening moves, clumsy passes, sleazy behavior, disrespecting boundaries, married men expressing sexual interest, all have been clumped together under sexual harassment. Take the case of Prashant Jha, political editor of Hindustan Times who has stepped down from managerial responsibilities after being accused by an ex-employee of hitting on her. She shared the screenshots of their conversation on Twitter. What we can make out of the conversation, is that Jha told the woman that he was attracted to her . She responds by talking about Jhas wife and telling him not to act on his attraction. She asks him not to hit on her, to which he responds with an Ok. She then says outright that the conversation is making her a bit uncomfortable tbh. She goes on to tell Jha that she is the child of a broken marriage and cant stand adultery. She proposes that they meet for lunch as friends, to which Jha texts cool. The conversation has made her uncomfortable, but contrary to what she claimed in her statement, the screenshots show Jha did not carry on propositioning after she said no. The complainant regards this as a case of sexual misconduct on Jhas part, but based purely on the messages she had made public, it is difficult to see how. Jha might have been trying to pursue a relationship outside his marriage, but that was his call to make, as long as he did not violate the consent of the person he was hitting on. The only stakeholder who has the moral right to object here is his wife. This is not in any way to denigrate the complainants experience of feeling uncomfortable in that situation based on her personal history, and the power equation she experienced. But the subjective discomfort that a woman feels in a sexual situation cannot be the sole norm by which feminism adjudicates misconduct by men. To do so would be to diminish womens sexual agency, and as the American feminist Daphne Merkin argued in The New York Times, to return to a paradigm where women are perceived to be and perceive themselves to be as frail as Victorian housewives. The question is not merely of a set of innocent men being swept under the dragnet of MeToo. The fact is that there is an entire spectrum of unacceptable sexual behavior by men, all of which cannot be brought under the rubric of sexual harassment. All this points to the urgent need for MeToo to develop a taxonomy of sexual conduct and the conditions under and the manner in which they violate consent. This requires conversations that are more nuanced and richer and have space for debate, disagreement and dissent. It requires deeper forms of engagement and a collective will to develop a self-critical discourse that can generate the kind of intellectual spade work which is required. Historically, feminism has evolved, precisely because it has shown the ability to be self-reflective. Another important problem with MeToo that Mustafa brings out in her article has to do with evidence and guilt. She writes: MeToo is a powerful voice. But I do have a concern, which I hope other women will help me address. My problem is that the movement is too subjective, it is arbitrary. It has no responsibility. All I require is the right gender, access to Twitter, and I can level any allegation against anyone for it to be believed hook, line and sinker and for the man to be pilloried beyond belief. I am not saying that the women are lying, most will not be. But there will be the one, or the two, who would name a man for reasons other than harassment. This is exactly what happened with a man named Shreyas. He was accused by a woman on Twitter of raping her on a date. The man received hate mail and threats, he lost his contract job and the tide of online opinion changed only when he posted convincing proof through WhatsApp screenshots, photographs and videos that demonstrated that the encounter was completely consensual. Once the material was made public, the woman deleted the post in which she had made the rape accusation and the man said that he will sue her for criminal defamation. It is important to understand here that when people like Mustafa are demanding greater accountability, they are not demanding that survivors stop naming and shaming harassers or that institutional or judicial due process should substitute for the anarchical nature of MeToo. What they are asking for is that accusation should not be automatically taken for clinching proof, that the calculus of probability should factor in the possibility of innocence. The MeToo discourse should recognise gradations of reliability; of first and third person accounts, anonymous testimonies etc. Allegations of sexual assault or harassment should be given the utmost seriousness, support provided to the putative victims and public pressure put on individuals or organisations named to respond to those allegations. Organisations which dismiss employees accused of sexual harassment should do soon the basis of inquiries where the accused is given a chance to present a defence. What is at stake is not merely justice for men who might be falsely accused, but the credibility and long term viability of MeToo itself. MeToo, just like any other movement, does not function in political isolation. Its moral power rests on a hard fought and recently won public consensus that as a country, we need to address sexual assault and harassment by men and not hide behind victim blaming. But in the long run, MeToo can leverage that consensus only if it ensures that its voice continues to be seen as believable and just. Network 18, of which Firstpost is a part, has received complaints of sexual harassment as well. The complaints which are within the purview of the workplace have been forwarded to our PoSH committee for appropriate action. It was presumed Akbar would be made to quit because the allegations against him have generated terrible headlines. These have subliminally undermined the governments own boast of the many measures it has taken to empower women, such as the Beti Padhao Beti Bachao programme. It is hard to believe that Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar did not consult Prime Minister Narendra Modi before issuing a statement in which he said his lawyers will look into the "wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action." The allegations Akbar referred to were charges of sexual harassment and molestation that 12 women journalists have levelled against him in the #MeToo campaign over the last one week. It was presumed Akbar would be made to quit because the allegations against him have generated terrible headlines. These have subliminally undermined the government's own boast of the many measures it has taken to empower women, such as the Beti Padhao Beti Bachao programme. Obviously, no one expected Akbar to accept his guilt. Such a step would have made him susceptible in any criminal proceedings, given the nature of allegations that have surfaced in the unfolding #MeToo movement. No one could have been surprised by Akbars declaration, The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice. I could not reply earlier as I was on an official tour abroad. When the shocking and scandalous disclosures were made in the #MeToo campaign, Akbar was away in Nigeria. In the world of instant communication, it did seem intriguing that the Modi government did not ask him to issue a statement from there. In hindsight, it seems the government waited because it wanted to construct a narrative that the charges against Akbar were a conspiracy hatched to weaken the ruling party. It appears the plan was for Akbar to provide ammunition, and for the government to fire them at its own convenience in the future. Akbar provided the ammunition in that part of the statement which read, "Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge?" It is relatively easy for Akbar and the BJP to spin the conspiracy theory because some of the allegations against him are indeed years old, dating to the time he was editor. They will, quite conveniently, ignore the indisputable fact that #MeToo spawned an ambience in which women felt encouraged to set aside their inhibitions and apprehensions to go public with stories of sexual harassment they encountered in the past. It wasnt only Akbar who #MeToo sought to name and shame. Over the last one week, actors, directors, journalists, and even those in the corporate sector have been called out for being sexual predators. There cannot possibly be a conspiracy involving all of them. But what he and the BJP will portray is that their rivals exploited #MeToo to tar the government. The 12 journalists who called out Akbars alleged criminal conduct belong to the category of people whom the BJP describes as westernised, deracinated, liberal-secular. In the BJPs view, their default mode is to mindlessly criticise Modi. It will say they have chosen to target Akbar because his Muslim identity is an argument against their charge that the BJP is anti-minority. In other words, it is their retribution against Akbar for daring to break away from the secular-liberal brigade. Perhaps the most damaging allegation against Akbar was of Ghazala Wahab, who worked under him in The Asian Age 21 years ago. She published her account in The Wire, which has featured several stories purportedly exposing the acts of omission and commission of the BJP government. Wahabs allegation amounts to charging Akbar of criminality, precisely why he paid special attention to rebut her in the statement he issued. It sets the stage for implicating Wahab and The Wire in the great secular-liberal conspiracy against the BJP government. More significantly, among The Wire's exposes against the BJP included one claiming that the company of BJP president Amit Shahs son, Jay Shah, increased its turnover 16,000 times in the year following Modis ascent to power. The BJP was dismissive of the story. Jay Shah even filed a legal suit against the website. It would have been consequently a case of double-standard on the BJPs part to deny Akbar the recourse to remedies that were granted to the Shahs. Akbars resignation could have also revived the memory of the Snoopgate, which was the name given to the story that two investigative websites broke in the months before the 2014 elections. It pertained to the surveillance of a young woman in Gujarat in August-September 2009. It was claimed that Shah had carried out the intrusive surveillance at the behest of a person referred to as Saheb in the audio recording the two websites had procured. The Sahebs identity was never proved, but many commentators insinuated it was none other than Modi, who was then Gujarats chief minister. In the bruising electoral battle ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition, including the Congress, had wanted the surveillance of the woman to be probed. However, the womans father claimed it was a consequence of his request to the state government to provide her security. In December 2013, the woman told the Supreme Court that she was thankful to the Gujarat police for tailing her and urged the judges to block investigations for determining whether it was Modi who had ordered it. But vital questions still remained: Was the surveillance of an adult justified and legitimate? Who was the person who authorized it? What kind of security threat she faced? Action against Akbar on allegations dating back to two decades could have set a benchmark to treat all past cases involving BJP leaders likewise. In the weeks following the Snoopgate expose, both Modi and Shah maintained a stoic silence on the issue. Once the controversy started to ebb, the BJP portrayed the Snoopgate as the Oppositions dirty tricks to sully its image and abort its rise. For instance, on Nov 17, 2013, Modi said at a rally in Karnataka, These days, attacks on the BJP have increased. Attacks on Narendra Modi have also increased. Dont they see the waves created in the ocean? Akbars statement, too, brands the allegations against him as a conspiracy. It gives the BJP and Modi the option to turn it into a signature tune of their campaign in the forthcoming Assembly elections. It will all depend on their assessment of the support #MeToo continues to generate. As of now, the BJP believes that #MeToo reflects the concerns of a thin crust of privileged elite living in metro cities. They do not constitute the BJPs support base. In fact, a substantial segment of them can be said to be ideologically opposed to the BJP, which is perhaps the reason why it is indifferent to their howls of protest in #MeToo. But #MeToo is no longer confined to social media, from where it has leapt into print and TV. The allegations against Akbar have been inserted into the popular consciousness. The #MeToo campaign will stoke the anxiety of the urban middle and the aspiring lower middle classes. This is because it is increasingly the norm for women among these groups to work rather than stay at home. The allegations against Akbar were part of the large narrative of exploitation that women encounter at workplaces. Over the last week, women reported harassment from just about every sector. Akbar, rightly or wrongly, now symbolises the boss who uses power to prey upon women working under him. His continuation in office is likely to enrage the broadest spectrum of the middle class, which will think the BJP has failed to adhere to the ethical standard expected of it. Modis self-definition of himself is not to acquiesce under pressure. In his view, the wielder of power does not bend. He or she takes decisions at the time of his or her choosing. Modi will not want the Opposition to derive satisfaction at having claimed the scalp of a minister. It is also setting a precedent, a risky proposition given that the controversy around the Rafale deal continues to simmer. Modi has also drawn lessons from the experience of the Manmohan Singh government, some of whose ministers were compelled to resign on the charges of corruption that were levelled against them. Let alone enable the Manmohan Singh government take the high moral ground, the resignations only made it appear weaker, its credibility irreparably tarnished Modi assumes people will believe if he were to spin the saga of Akbar as a conspiracy aimed at denying him a second shot at power in 2019. It is always perilous to second-guess the narrative India will buy. And though these are still early days, it is not wrong to say that #MeToo has become inserted in an ethical frame. In such a scenario, it becomes necessary for the government to adhere to the normative standard. It is not simple to polarise the category of women on the basis of class, caste and religion. It is one thing to oppose the Supreme Courts order against the Sabarimala Temple. It is quite another to be seen defending a man accused of sexually harassing and molesting women working under him. The BJP is on the wrong side of both ethics and #MeToo, perhaps out of its misplaced sense of confidence that it has the capacity to turn every crisis to its advantage. Union minister MJ Akbar on Sunday termed allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as 'false, fabricated and deeply distressing' and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them Union minister MJ Akbar on Sunday termed allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by several women as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them. The allegations against Akbar came as the Me Too movement swept through India's newsrooms and stand-up scene, and Bollywood. At least 10 women have accused Akbar of molestation and forced advances. The women who have spoken out have given detailed accounts of encounters with the 67-year-old, spread across the duration of his career as a journalist. Hours after returning from a trip to Africa, the Minister of State for External Affairs issued a statement, virtually rejecting calls for his resignation from the post and seeking to link the allegations against him to the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice. I could not reply earlier as I was on an official tour abroad," he said in the statement. "Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action," the BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh said. Before Akbar issued the statement, the Congress, at a press conference, questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the allegations against the junior minister and said as the head of the government he should speak on the issue. "Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy. This is deeply distressing. As indicated above, I will be taking appropriate legal action," he said. The women who accused Akbar of sexual harassment included Priya Ramani, Ghazala Wahab, Shuma Raha, Anju Bharti and Shutapa Paul. MeToo in India The Me Too movement holds men, especially those in the public eye, responsible for actions that amount to sexual harassment by calling them out and showing solidarity with other women who have faced similar situations. After several starts and stops, the campaign picked up pace in India over the past week, after actor Tanushree Dutta accused co-actor Nana Patekar of harassment and AIB co-founder Utsav Chakraborty got named by fellow comedian Mahima Kukreja for sending lewd messages on social media. Akbar was one of the most prominent people among the slew of men who got called out for harassment. Currently the Minister of State for External Affairs, Akbar has been the editor and co-founder of several national dailies like The Asian Age and The Telegraph. The Indian media has been studiously covering the movement, even as several other prominent journalists and former editors like DNA's Gautam Adhikari were named as sexual harassers. This is how Akbar's much-anticipated response to the accusations was covered by national newspapers. English national dailies All the newspapers carried the story front and centre on their front pages but largely the reports are to-the-point and factual. The Indian Express and Mumbai Mirror, however, broke from pattern. In a boldly titled report 'Lies do have legs', Mumbai Mirror reported the reactions of a few anonymous BJP leaders to Akbar's statement. The report says, "Akbars response and in particular, his questioning of the credibility of the Me Too movement surprised a section in the BJP. How can he discredit the veracity of the experiences of what the women have undergone? [So by his reasoning,] Only Akbar is speaking the truth and all the women are telling lies? asked a surprised BJP leader." The report also said that BJP leaders were "not comfortable" with the party or government being involved in the matter, especially since some feared that "Akbars continuation in office could affect the governments pro-women image." The report quoted another BJP leader anonymously who addressed a crucial question the Opposition is after When will Prime Minister Narendra Modi respond? Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, the leader said, We all know that PM Modi is not the kind of person who sticks his neck out or gets involved in matters of another person or leader. Has he ever commented on mob lynching or any crucial issue? He will speak only when it hits him or Amit Shah. Else, every minister has to fend for himself. Maybe Akbar has been given a chance to clear his name. The Indian Express carried two related stories on its front page, and also provided the context and background of the story. In the report titled, 'Akbar digs in heels, says allegations 'fabricated' threatens legal action', said, "Over the past week, as the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment has spread like wildfire on Indian social media, more than 10 senior women journalists many of them Akbars former colleagues have come out with specific allegations against him." In addition to giving adequately in-depth details about the issue, The Indian Express also made a note of the cases that were not addressed by Akbar in his statement. The report says, "Akbar did not address the allegations made by Suparna Sharma, Prerna Singh Bindra and Kanika Gahlaut, among others. Bindra had posted on Twitter, while Sharma and Gahlaut had said that they too had been asked by Akbar to come to his hotel rooms in separate instances." The paper also carried an accompaniment report on the front page titled, 'Five women journalists respond: Stand by accusations, will fight', which said, "Two of them (of the five women) said they were disappointed by Akbars reaction, but they were not surprised", followed by a quote by Suparna Sharma, resident editor, The Asian Age. The Indian Express quoted The Asian Age's resident editor as saying, "I stand by my testimony of the two incidents one in which he plucked my bra strap, and the other when he stared at my breasts. I also stand by the fact that he did the same with other women in the office. I am disappointed with Akbars response but I am not surprised. This is going to be a longish battle, and the next step in many cases is a legal step." Hindustan Times, in the report titled 'Political storm brews as Akbar refuses to resign', once again points out the conspicuous silence maintained by the BJP government and party, even in the face of the Opposition calling for a statement by Modi. Even though a few cabinet members like Union minister Smriti Irani have spoken about the allegations, there has been no concrete response from the government. Hindustan Times' report says, "The Union government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have largely been silent since the allegations surfaced, and have maintained that the allegations do not concern the government or Akbars tenure as minister, and that it is up to him to clarify and take a stand." However, the report, which carries a video explaining the case, mentions the RSS' support for the movement. The report also carries the Opposition's reaction to Akbar's statement, "The Congress responded soon after through spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi, who tweeted: I wonder how over a dozen women sharing their experiences can be claimed as political conspiracy? Bigger wonder is which constituency does his stepping down impact in elections?"" The Times of India, in an article titles 'Harassment charges false and fabricated, says Akbar', went into more detail in reporting Akbar's statement. The article quoted almost all of Akbar's statement in parts. DNA followed the same format in its article, 'Akbar stays put, mulls legal action'. The Hindu, in an article titled 'Me Too allegations fabricated: MJ Akbar' reported yet another account of a woman who has spoken out accusing Akbar of sexual harassment. The report said, "Meanwhile, another woman journalist has made allegations against Mr. Akbar. London-based senior journalist Ruth David has shared her experience as an intern with the Asian Age in 1999 in post on social media." In a report titled 'Akbar refuses to quit, will sue accusers', Deccan Chronicle mentioned the speculations that Akbar would 'quit' due to the furore around the allegations. The report said, "Sources said Mr Akbars decision to not resign was taken after consulting the top BJP leadership and after he explained his side of the story on the sexual misconduct allegations levelled against him. There was a growing feeling within the BJP that the #MeToo campaign was turning into an effort to malign the party and if Akbar were to resign, it would have give ammunition to the Opposition ahead of the crucial polls." None of the newspapers named carried an editorial specific to Akbar's statement. Hindi national dailies Dainik Jagran gave a detailed rundown of Akbar's statement, breaking it down part-by-part according to the allegations he has refuted. Navbharat Times specifically mentioned that the allegations against Akbar are from the time he was an editor and not since he took up a serious political career in 2014. With inputs from PTI #MeToo needs to be the hammer that shatters our biased and deeply flawed idea of due process, leaving room for something better to emerge. The response of many men, and some women, to the calling out of sexual harassers and assaulters on Twitter, is to hark back to sedate and comforting ideas of due process and a reliance on our justice system to resolve the trauma of victims, and protect the rights of the accused. This desire a very natural and human desire for simpler times is nevertheless wrong, both in its misplaced faith in the justice system, and in its failure to recognise that our old conception of due process is inadequate to the demands being placed on it by #MeToo. Indeed, #MeToo is, among other things, a devastating critique of our existing mechanisms for resolving these conflicts. How is our faith in the justice system misplaced? We have seen it fail women time and again, as in the case of Bhanwari Devi, a woman from Bhateri village in Rajasthan. Bhanwari Devi belongs to the kumhar caste, and in 1992 became a grassroots activist advocating against child marriage. When she tried to persuade a gujjar family to not marry off a girl child, they punished her by raping her. The usual horrors followed, with police behaving skeptically and mistreating the victim, and doctors refusing to examine her. In spite of these indignities, Bhanwari Devi pursued the case, only to have all five accused acquitted by the district and sessions court in 1995, receiving only nine months sentences for assault and not rape. A nationwide campaign launched in her support forced the Rajasthan Government to appeal the verdict, but only one hearing has been held between then and 2017. The features of this case gender, class and caste disqualifying someone from getting a fair hearing is so rampant that it cannot be called a glitch in due process. Indeed, it seems to be a feature of due process. Our justice system, to which we want to refer all of these cases, has been failing citizens for several decades, with special emphasis on failing vulnerable populations that dont have the privilege or the resources to navigate the system. Bhanwari Devis case had one positive outcome: it galvanised womens groups in India, and led to the famous Visakha Guidelines on sexual harassment, which were then modified and adopted into the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013. This mandated the setting up of special mechanisms like internal complaints committees in companies and institutions. But #MeToo has shown how insufficient even this is. Kripa Fernandes, an alumnus of St Xaviers College, Mumbai, where I also completed my undergraduation, wrote in a much-shared post about how the Xaviers Womens Development Cell, an empowered committee designed to give sexual harassment cases a fair hearing, failed spectacularly in its duty. Senior women professors of the humanities, those we would expect to be best equipped to conduct the process with sensitivity and empathy, ended up slut-shaming and ignoring the testimony of the victim, even refusing to call witnesses who were willing to speak on the victims behalf. Can one call it due process if it inaccurately and unfairly weighs testimonies differently? This is so rampant that philosopher Miranda Fricker has coined a term for it, called testimonial injustice. What it means is that the testimony of some groups has historically been, and continues to be, constantly discounted. This means that due process, which claims to give a fair hearing to both sides, is itself foundationally compromised, because its idea of a fair hearing is different for different groups. To correct for this, one needs what #MeToo is proposing being extra conscious of ones biases when a woman is giving testimony, as captured in the movements urging us to believe women. The second, and even more devastating challenge to our inadequate and outdated ideas of due process, rises from the nature of sexual assault. Not only is sexual assault often hidden from the eyes of anyone but the perpetrator and the victim, making standards of proof an absurd system to use, but we must also consider the extent to which due process is retraumatising for victims. Indeed, #MeToo is pointing to a bigger flaw in our punitive judicial system as a whole, for indeed even in other investigations, due process involves a lengthy traumatising of victims and their families, as the tragedy they have experienced is hashed and rehashed, with the burden of a long court case added to their already complicated lives. That due process does not take this form is not an accident. It is caused by another form of testimonial injustice the ignoring of expert women who have great ideas to solve this problem. Consider the team of senior women lawyers who came up with the Visakha Guidelines, only to see them diluted in the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act of 2013. As one of the architects of the guidelines, lawyer Monica Sakhrani wrote in the Economic and Political Weekly, the guidelines advocated for no limitations on the time in which the complaint can be filed, sensitive as they were to the time it takes for victims to process such an experience when it happens. The final law set a six-month deadline. They spent a lot of time and effort setting guidelines for conducting a gender-sensitive inquiry; the Act did not include any of these. The Visakha team recommended providing legal and pscyho-social assistance to the complainant, in lines with ideas of restorative justice. Instead, in spite of several recommendations against it, the final law included punishments for complainants if their claims are unproven and the committee decides against them. This in a law looking to provide victims with a safe space to pursue redressal. Due process urgently needs reimagining, because when it fails, the costs are even higher for victims than they were before. Added to the trauma of their experience is the conviction that they will not get a fair hearing, and the fear of people in power hurting them in the future. It also limits the support the person receives. When I asked Kripa about the support she had during this period, she said, The only people that helped me were my parents and friends, in a limited capacity. We were all too frightened to tackle the system when I was still a student and potentially subject to further trauma in the form of, for instance, bullying by professors. That this failure and its costs is not understood and accounted for shows in responses to Kripa. Then principal Frazer Mascarenhas, another usually woke voice, said to Mumbai Mirror that had Kripa reported the further abuse she faced at the hands of the victim after the WDC hearings, the offending student would have been dismissed from the college. How can someone who has been treated thus ever be asked to try again?th Why wouldnt someone hesitate before getting involved in this process? What is in it for victims except for a vague and almost inevitably disappointed hope for the punishment of the perpetrator? It is telling that most women speak of coming forward not to get justice for themselves, but so as to prevent the reoccurrence of this trauma on other women. Christine Blasey Ford explained this eloquently when she said, I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school. Punitive justice is all about the ascribing of blame, with an accuser attempting to pin the accused, and the accused trying to wriggle free. There is no talk of responsibility not our responsibility to the rehabilitation of victims, which is outsourced to underfunded social organisations, nor our responsibility to reform the perpetrator, so that this may not recur. Perhaps we must abandon grafting our inapplicable notions of punitive justice upon these cases, and listen to womens voices calling for restorative justice for victims. Perhaps #MeToo needs to be the hammer that shatters our biased and deeply flawed idea of due process, leaving room for something better to emerge. In the wake of the #MeToo campaign afoot in India, some individuals moved the Delhi High Court on 11 October to prevent a woman from detailing her sexual harassment ordeal on social media as it implicates the petitioners. In the wake of the #MeToo campaign afoot in India, some individuals moved the Delhi High Court on 11 October to prevent a woman from detailing her sexual harassment ordeal on social media as it implicates the petitioners. The petitioners argued that the high court, in an earlier order involving both parties, had ordered that the identity of all individuals involved in the case be kept confidential. While the matter is sub-judice, the court has restrained both parties from discussing the case or disclosing the identities of the parties on social media, or to any media organisation. This case brings to light the question of whether women who have faced sexual harassment can be legally restrained from disclosing the identities of the perpetrators on social media. Defamation cases filed by rape-accused in India Lawyers Collective, a prominent NGO, details several cases wherein a man accused of sexual assault has filed defamation suits against the complainants. For instance, in the high-profile sexual harassment case involving RK Pachauri the former executive vice chairman of The Energy and Resources Institute he filed a defamation case against lawyer Vrinda Grover and several media houses for publicly revealing the statements of the women who had accused him of sexual harassment. In February 2018, a Delhi trial court had refused to issue any gag order against media houses, besides issuing certain guidelines on reporting. Such restraints (the injunction) as sought for not only amounts to enforcing a gag order upon the media, but at the same time, prevents a right of the public to be kept updated about the developments their right to know is infracted or trampled upon, the court had observed. In July 2016, Delhi-based photographer Manik Katyal sued 36 women who had accused him of sexual harassment in an online blog. In other countries, too, there has been a rise in cases where men accused of sexual harassment have filed defamation suits to counter the complaints made against them. It is feared that the threat of such defamation suits could deter victims of such abuse from reporting their ordeal, or could prompt them to retract their complaints. BuzzFeed has highlighted a number of such instances In November 2017, American director and producer Brett Ratner sued a woman for defamation after she accused him of sexual assault on social media. In October 2018, it was reported that Ratner had dropped the libel suit after the accuser admitted that her memories of the alleged assault were cloudy and unclear as the events had occurred more than a decade ago. While the news report does not mention a settlement between Ratner and the complainant, it is believed that the womans memories were not hazy while she had posted her sexual assault claims on social media. Interestingly, even Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations against whom triggered the #MeToo campaign hinted at filing a defamation suit against The New York Times, which first investigated and reported the accusations against him. However, this was a defamation suit against the press, not the victim. Rights of the accused: what does the law on sexual harassment say? Under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code, it is an offence to print or publish the identity, or information that can lead to identifying a sexual assault victim. A similar law does not exist to protect the confidentiality of those accused of sexual harassment or assault. In the context of a Supreme Court judge, who had obtained an order from the Delhi High Court in 2015, restraining the media from writing about a sexual harassment case against him, prominent human rights lawyer and Majlis director Flavia Agnes points out that the law is unclear on whether a similar order could apply to social media. When music artiste William Bensussen popularly known as The Gaslamp Killer had sued a woman who, on Twitter, had accused him of drugging and raping her, he had asserted that he was not trying to silence the complainant. He had clarified that he wanted the case to be heard by a judge and jury, instead of being subjected to a trial by social media. Do such defamation suits silence sexual harassment survivors? The risk of defamation suits for sharing their sexual harassment ordeals on social media could deter women from posting about their experiences. This is undesirable as it could even potentially preclude a judicial intervention. There have been instances where social media posts have been treated as complaints in sexual harassment cases. For instance, when a law intern blogged about being sexually harassed by former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly, her post was treated with her consent as an official complaint. Accordingly, a three-judge panel was set up to look into the allegations, and Ganguly was eventually asked to step down as the chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission. One can also argue that victims who report sexual assault or harassment on social media do so in the hope of using the platforms as outlets to share their tragic experiences, as the online space makes them feel safe. Taking this into consideration, defamation laws should not apply in such cases to ensure that the women are not subjected to further victimisation as a result of the legal proceedings initiated by perpetrators. There is also the question of whether social media posts that name sexual offenders should be treated differently from naming and shaming offenders in mainstream media. I would also argue that some women, when they take to social media to share their experiences with sexual harassment, do so because they dont have a recourse to formally lodge a case in court, or take it up with an Internal Complaints Committee within a workplace. This could be for several reasons. For instance, lack of legal resources to pursue a sexual harassment case in court, or lack of faith in an organisations internal committee, which can often be far from a neutral forum to decide on sexual harassment complaints. Therefore, when one allows civil defamation action by the accused for allegations made on social media, it risks bringing the women into public limelight, which they may have wanted to avoid in the first place. While one could argue that Facebook or any other social media platform is as public as it gets, I believe that a social media user retains control over the visibility of their posts by making them viewable only to friends, or friends of friends, or adding exceptions to restrict who on their friends list can view the posts. In this sense, those who can view a Facebook users posts have the consent to read the post, unlike where the case is reported by the mainstream media without permission. Most importantly, defamation suits by rape-accused should be discouraged on the grounds that such suits can have a chilling effect on the women. In India, the court should consider such cases in the nature of a Strategic Litigation gainst Public Participation (SLAPP) suit. SLAPP is an established concept in the United States that refers to suits filed to curb free speech in issues of public interest. SLAPP suits are intended to drain the targets financial resources by compelling them to incur hefty fees in litigation expenses. Indian law does not expressly refer to SLAPP suits, but cases where rape-accused have filed defamation suits against the complainants can be considered good examples of SLAPP suits. Victims should not be discouraged from making statements on social media as sometimes, public censure of sexual harassment by mutual friends and acquaintances can be a more effective deterrent of misconduct than in-camera proceedings in court, or behind-closed-doors workings of an Internal Complaints Committee. Talking about ones experience with sexual harassment within a smaller group on social media can compel the accused to come forward and acknowledge the incident either through a public apology, or by presenting his side of the story. In this sense, social media is more effective in equalising the power balance between an accused and a sexual assault complainant than any court or organisational justice system. The author is a researcher at the National Law University in Delhi. The views expressed are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of the institute. Priya Ramani was the first to call out MJ Akbar publicly amid India's #MeToo movement, after which several women spoke up about their sexual harassment experiences with him. Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar, who is facing a slew of accusations of sexual misconduct during years as a journalist, on Monday filed a criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani. It was in response to Ramani's October 2017 article in the Vogue, which she replugged on Twitter on 8 October, that several women spoke up with their own stories of the Union minister and his allegedly relentless advances towards them. A criminal defamation case, as against a civil defamation case, is significant as an accused could be sent to jail if found guilty. Akbar filed the criminal defamation case against Ramani in Delhi's Patiala House Court through his advocates Karanjawala and Co. The case is expected to be heard in the post-lunch session on Tuesday, CNN-News18 reported. The complaint was filed under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, "for making false and defamatory statements in print/electronic media". Akbar has accused Ramani of "willfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously defaming" him on "wholly and completely false, frivolous, unjustifiable and scandalous grounds", thereby harming his "goodwill and reputation". This comes a day after he rubbished all the allegations at least 14 women made against him as "false, wild and baseless" and said he would be taking "appropriate legal action". In his statement, he had named Ramani, who was the first to call him out publicly for sexual harassment. In her article in Vogue, she had not named Akbar, but she revealed his identity in a tweet as the #MeToo movement gained ground in India. "I began this piece with my MJ Akbar story. Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything. Lots of women have worse stories about this predatormaybe theyll share," Ramani had tweeted. Here's a copy of Akbar's criminal defamation suit: Mj Akbar vs Priya Ramani by Firstpost on Scribd So far, at least 14 women have accused Akbar of sexual harassment when they worked with him during his years in the newsroom. Th women have recounted their ordeals with Akbar right from the 1980s till as recently as in in 2010-2011. Their accounts include details of his "predatory tactics" and incidents ranging from sexual harassment, sexism and abuse of power in his capacity as an editor. While mentioning Ramani in his statement on Sunday, Akbar said: "Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not, however, name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a tweet: 'Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything.'" In his complaint, too, Akbar mentioned that in her "defamatory statements", Ramani "admits that the complainant has not done anything to her". "...The said defamatory articles are only a figment of her imagination and are only intended to malign the reputation of the complainant," he stated in the complaint. Along with his complaint, Akbar attached copies of a number of articles that detail the women's statements. The mosque located at Uttawar village, was searched by the NIA on 3 October, days after its sleuths arrested three men, including the Imam (priest) of the mosque, , in New Delhi in a terror-funding case backed by LeT. Palwal (Haryana): A mosque in Haryana's Palwal district has come under the scanner of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after a probe by the central agency revealed that it was allegedly built with the help of funds received from Pakistan-based terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The LeT is a terror outfit of Mumbai attack mastermind and US-designate terrorist Hafiz Saeed. The Khulafala-e-Rashideen mosque, located at Uttawar village, was searched by the NIA officers on 3 October, days after its sleuths arrested three men, including the Imam (priest) of the mosque, Mohammad Salman, in New Delhi in a terror-funding case. A spokesperson for the NIA said that the Imam allegedly received a huge sum of money from a Dubai-based Pakistani citizen. "The Imam of the Masjid, Mohammed Salman received Rs 70 lakh from a Dubai-based Pakistani citizen named Kamran. Salman received the money through Hawala from Dubai. We believe that Kamran is working for LeT and also provide funds for terrorist activities in India," the spokesperson told ANI. However the residents of Palwal's Uttawar village maintain that Khulafa-e-Rashideen Masjid in the village is not funded by LeT as said by NIA "The land is legal and people from many villages have funded construction of this mosque," says Ramesh Prajapati, Village headman. The NIA is further questioning the office bearers of the mosque and scrutinising the account books, while, details of donations and documents have been seized. Never one to hold back on rhetoric, the Congress president ranked HAL among temples of modern India which he claimed are being attacked and destroyed. In a recent blog on Rafale controversy, Arun Jaitley had criticised Rahul Gandhi for being economical with the truth. The Union finance minister called his strategy simple, which is to concoct a lie and repeat it as many times. Jaitley pointed out that Rahul had not answered his questions on the issue and posited that in mature democracies those who rely on falsehood are considered unfit for public life. Rahul obviously hasnt paid any attention to Jaitleys criticism. The Congress president evidently believes that it is not his sacred duty to uphold the sanctity of political discourse. He perhaps detects in Jaitleys reaction a touch of panic in failing to counter his narrative. Congress in-house data scientists may have told him that Rafale fire is catching on. Rahul sees an opportunity here and has widened the ambit of his disruptive politics to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) the PSU at the centre of Rafale row to seal his advantage. Put in this context, Rahuls gaslighting on HAL and his Saturday afternoon tamasha at Minsk Square in Bengaluru near the HAL headquarters becomes easier to understand. However, a larger question needs to be asked here. At what point, exactly, do we stop ignoring or justifying his falsehoods as political ploy and demand some accountability from the dynast? This question assumes importance because Rahul has by and large escaped media scrutiny despite spreading relentless canards on Rafale. He enjoys a license denied to his peers. There is no dearth of media attempts to fact-check prime ministers speeches, as it should be in a democracy. (See here or here). Rahul is Congress president and the 'PM-designate'. He is angling for the post and hopes to succeed Modi in 2019. He and his words deserve to be taken in all seriousness. We, therefore, note with worry Rahuls callous disregard for facts during the interaction with a few current and retired HAL employees, his unstinting faith in a bloated socialist state and his mischievous attempts to sow seeds of discord within the PSU. What makes Rahuls position even more untenable is that he isnt heading an untested outfit but Indias oldest political party that has been in power for six decades since Independence and is chiefly responsible for the predicament of our public institutions. Rahul described HAL as a strategic asset in aerospace, claimed that work done by it for the country was tremendous, and added that the country owed debt to it for protecting us and creating a scientific vision (whatever that means). The Gandhi scion also promised HAL employees (a few had turned up defying an official memo along with some retired workers) that when we come to power, we will do it more aggressively. By it he meant making HAL more effective, perhaps because Congress had never got the chance earlier to do so. Among other things, Rahul said: A senior government official claimed that HAL does not have the capacity to build Rafale Jets. I want to ask, what about the person who got the contract? What sort of experience does Anil Ambani have? If somebody thinks that they will build their future on your (HAL) graveyard, I will not allow it. I will stand with you all. Never one to hold back on rhetoric, the Congress president ranked HAL among temples of modern India which he claimed are being attacked and destroyed and thundered that we cannot allow it to be done. Addressing the workers, he said: Rafale is your right." Soon after Rahuls interaction, HAL released a statement to the media denouncing the politicization of its employees. It pointed out that NDA government has extended full-fledged support (to HAL), having placed supply orders of over Rs 27,340 crore during the 2014-18 period by recognising its premier position. HALs statement added that towards improvement and upgradation of infrastructure, including ramping up of production facilities, funding to the tune of Rs 7,800 crore was sanctioned during the period Todays attempt at politicisation of the employees is a fad and regrettable development and will be detrimental to the interest of the organisation, its employees as well as national security. Before we delve into Rahuls other inaccuracies, distortions and practical jokes that he sprang on us on Saturday, let us be clear on one aspect. HAL was never in contention to produce Rafale. Not in UPAs time, not now. Amid all obfuscations scripted by the Congress, the fact remains that UPA never signed the deal with Dassault on Rafale. There was no deal on the table. UPA prevaricated, stalled, sat on negotiations and in February 2014, shortly before being voted out of office, then defence minister AK Antony had admitted that financial condition of the government was not good and there is no money for this (deal). As far as the deal scripted by NDA is concerned, the agreement is simple. Dassault and Dassault alone will produce the fighter jets and India will take shipment of two squadrons of 36 fighter aircraft in fly-away condition. Anil Ambanis Reliance ADAG has entered into a joint venture with Dassault and DRAL (the JV) will serve only 10 percent of the total offset liability of Dassault. The French manufacturer is on talks with hundred Indian companies to meet its offset obligations. So, as Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies fellow Abhijit Iyer-Mitra points out, The final negotiated contract is for offsets of industrial defence goods, not an agreement to co-produce planes, which is HALs only competence (sic). The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) reportedly gets Rs 9,000 crore worth of offset work from Dassault, while Reliance is simply the biggest, not only, beneficiary of the remaining Rs 21,000 crore. (See Sandeep Unnithans piece in India Today here for a complete break-up of the offset contract piece. This nails Rahuls falsehood about HAL being denied the chance to build Rafale by Reliance. As for why Reliance and not HAL, it has been repeatedly pointed out by the Indian government, French government and Dassault that the decision to choose Reliance as a JV partner for dealing a portion of offset contracts was Dassaults alone. The key question is, why did Dassault tie-up with Reliance ADAG instead of HAL to form a JV that will deal with offset obligations. We get a hint from Dassault CEO Eric Trappiers comments when AFP asked him the question. He replied: Dassault Aviation decided to establish a long-term presence in India through DRAL, a joint enterprise in which governance is provided by an Indian Chief Executive Officer and a French Chief Operating Officer. Dassault Aviation therefore exercises technical and industrial control over the operations, applying its standards and its flexibility. In other words, Dassault tied up with a private firm instead of HAL because it will be easier for it to exercise technical and industrial control over the operations, applying its standards and its flexibility which may not be possible in case of state-run HAL which is notorious for cost-overruns, poor quality control, slack work culture and lack of accountability in short, all symptoms of a government monopoly. This is as far as the French can go. But lets assume that Dassault chief is bluffing, and Rahul is speaking the truth about HAL being a strategic asset. It is worth taking a look at the track record of Indias premier state-run aerospace company. London-based Financial Times had reported in 2011 quoting a leaked cable from Timothy Roemer, US ambassador to Delhi, that the potential for HAL to successfully partner with US firms on a truly advanced aircraft remains untested and suspect, when Boeing and Lockheed Martin were in contention to supply New Delhi with 126 fighter jets. Leaked by Wikileaks, the cable quoted Roemer, who had just visited HALs Bangalore plant in February 2010, as saying, that Indias aviation industry is two to three decades behind the United States and other western nations. In 2015, US aviation major Boeing severed a contract with HAL for component supplies after giving the state-run company repeated reminders on its poor quality of production. As the Financial Express report points out, Boeing has over the last few years shifted its component sourcing requirements in India to private companies Tata Group, Dynamatic Technologies, Rossell Techsys and others. Strategic asset indeed. HAL, which still enjoys a monopoly which entities like BSNL or MTNL did before the telecom sector was opened up, has repeatedly failed to meet deadlines much to IAFs annoyance. It failed to produce the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas on time and delivered only six of these supersonic jets to the IAF, missing its target of supplying 20 aircraft by the end of the years first quarter, according to a report in Hindustan Times. The report quoted a source as saying We are not getting as many jets as we would like. By now the first Tejas squadron should have inducted 20 planes. Similar delays have been witnessed in HALs rolling out of Sukhoi which is running at least three years behind schedule, according to a report in Indian Express. It says HALs scheduled delivery of the last of a set of 140 Russian-origin fighters by March 2017 has now been pushed to March 2020. HAL was contracted to produce 140, is yet to produce 33 and apparently the PSU has directly procured some aircraft from Russia and delivered them to the IAF to bridge the gap. It is not known whether Rahul Gandhi is aware of, or cares for these facts. Even when HAL has produced what it is mandated to do, questions have been raised on its production quality. In 2015, for instance, a Hawk advanced jet trainer went down in Odisha and focus shifted to HALs manufacturing of the engine. As Times of India points out in a report, HAL is tasked with manufacturing 99 of the 123 Hawks ordered from BAE Systems, with transfer of technology, in the overall AJT project already worth well over Rs 16,000 crore till now. But the entire endeavor has been marred by politico-bureaucratic apathy, poor long-term planning, flawed multiple contracts and delayed delivery schedules. So why is HAL is in such a mess? As defence analyst Dinesh Kumar writes in Sunday Guardian, HALs record has been one of long delays, unkept promises and enormous costs. It has been a story of so much effort, so little delivery and hardly any accountability, and that too at the cost of compromising, if not altogether endangering, the airpower dimension of national security. Its delays in delivery, poor quality control and resultant flaws in products have hampered IAFs operational capability and forced it to continue operating antiquated equipment that should have been grounded. This inevitably results in frequent crashes. HAL has over the years faced some serious allegations such as alleged fitting of second-hand engines in Sukhois. A 2017 report in Deccan Chronicle points out that fitment of Cat 2 (category B) or secondhand engines into brand new Sukhoi 30 MKIs was done at HAL facility at Nashik without the knowledge and approval of the defence ministry. Was Rahul unaware of the truth about HAL? Writing in Firstpost, Yatish Yadav refers to the minutes of a meeting pertaining to the visit of then minister of state for defence Jitendra Singh to HALs Sukhoi engine division at Koraput in May 2013 when UPA was negotiating with France to purchase 126 Rafale fighter jets. According to the confidential UPA report, HALs Koraput unit could produce only four of 34 engines before 31 March, 2013, because of Insufficient number of production lines, inadequate floor space and lack of a skilled/trained workforce at HAL (Koraput) The report goes on to say there is also a shortage of adequate hangar space to keep engines and it was observed that the engines awaiting induction are kept in open space, which in the long run will have serious flight safety ramifications. In another report, Yatish also points out how the UPA ignored reforms in the PSU. In 2012, for instance, a joint quality audit revealed that the defence public sector undertaking was in dire need of government support. Why didnt Rahul take care of the temple? Responding to Rahuls allegations, government sources have pointed out that NDA has given orders worth Rs 22,000 crore every year to HAL. During UPA regime from 2004-14, HAL received Rs 10,000 crore per year worth of orders. If Rahul is so concerned about HAL, why did his government fail to come to its aid, sort out its chronic issues and flood it with orders? Why couldnt the Congress seal a deal with France to let HAL produce Rafale? These are legitimate questions. These have been asked before and might be asked of Rahul again. That doesnt mean the Gandhi scion will stop gaslighting on Rafale or HAL. While the Congress president is entitled to adopt a political strategy of his choice, the larger questions remain. Can a leader bluff his way to power? What price democracy? The Kerala High Court granted bail to Bishop Franco Mulakkal after hearing his second bail application filed on 10 October. The Kerala High Court on Monday granted bail to Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the case of a nun's rape. The high court granted him relief on some conditions, including that Mulakkal would have to surrender his passport. This was one of the concerns put forth by the prosecution. Additionally, Mulkkal is no longer allowed to enter Kerala and is required to report to the investigating officer in the rape case at least once in two weeks. #BREAKING Bishop Franco Mulakkals passport has to be surrendered. He is not allowed to enter Kerala, and once in a fortnight, he has to go to the investigating officer. These are the conditions of his bail. Inputs by @Neethuregu | #ArrestFrancoMulakkal pic.twitter.com/vGtuac0pvu News18 (@CNNnews18) October 15, 2018 The Jalandhar bishop applied for bail for the second time on 10 October. The plea stated that since he was not in a position of power any longer, he cannot intimidate witnesses anymore, as the prosecution had earlier claimed. Mulakkal had also sought bail on 3 October, but a magistrate court had rejected the plea, as Justice V Raja Vijayaraghavan had observed that there was enough evidence against him. According to reports, the Kerala Police had said that since more complaints were being submitted, giving bail to the accused would hamper the investigation. While applying for bail on Mulakkal's behalf the second time, his legal team had said that the reasons for him being denied relief the first time were no longer applicable. The plea also sought bail on the grounds that the witnesses in the case have been given full police protection, and that his visit to a hospital after his arrest were signs of deteriorating health. On 24 September, the Pala Judicial Magistrate Court in Kottayam had remanded Mulakkal to judicial custody. With inputs from agencies Sabarimala's Travancore Devaswom Board said it will offer no special facilities to women pilgrims at the temple, though earlier it had said in court that they would build a hundred toilets. By Nisha Susan It has been only since 1990 that there was a legal sanction that prevented women of menstruating age from going to Sabarimala. And previous to the 1960s, there were conventions (noted by the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court) that permitted women of all ages to enter the temple under different circumstances. And now, in September 2018, the Supreme Court said that women can go to Sabarimala. In the fortnight since the courts ruling, all manner of baadhas as (Malayali astrologers call cosmic obstacles) have sprung up to stop the re-entry of women. On one end is pure, lip-smacking, villain-like behaviour, like actor Kollam Thulasi. He said this week that women who come to Sabarimala must be torn in half. At an NDA rally in Kollam, Thulasi said one half of such women must be sent to the Kerala chief ministers office and the other half to Delhi. Its cool. As it is, the entire male half of the Malayalam film industry has covered itself in shame over the last year. What is one more filmi dude showing his true colours in our current #MeToo situation? Then there are all the folks like Keralas Shiv Sena threatening mass suicide if women enter the temple, and so on. But in the manner of religious bureaucracy everywhere, the Sabarimala temple authority has risen gloriously to the challenge and found a solid baadha to keep women out. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has said they will be offering no special facilities to women pilgrims. Earlier, they had said on paper in court that they would build a hundred loos (in pink!) and post women constables, and so on. But now, the board has had a big sulk and said no. To put it in less kindergarten terms, the TDB had a board meeting. Dont you wish you were at a board meeting when the organisational heads of a wealthy religious shrine contemplated hordes of women pilgrims and said like the Malayalee Antoinettes they are, Let them moothram anywhere. If the TDB was on Tinder, I bet they would swipe right on the Catholic Federation of India, which wants to evict nuns who protested against the alleged rapist, the former bishop of Jalandhar, from their convent. Now, men are always likely to make excuses about why there are no womens loos. Here is a scene from Paromita Vohras documentary film Q2P. Outside Dadar station, she finds a loo for men but not for women. When she enquires about why it is so, a man replies, Ladies logon ko jagah zyaada lagti hai (ladies need more space). Or take the famous Sheryl Sandberg story. She was once in a meeting in New York, when she needed to go to the loo. The prospective client whose office it was admitted to her that he didnt know where the womens loo was. And no, they were not new to the building. They had been there a year, he said. Sandberg asked him, Are you telling me that I am the only woman to have pitched a deal in this office for a year? Promptly came the bros reply, Yeah, or maybe youre the only one who had to go to the bathroom. A Buddhist friend of mine has often said to me that a person who is making you really angry is likely to be a reincarnation of your mother from your previous birth, here to teach you a lesson about yourself. Thanks Buddha and amma from my last birth, but I have never felt more likely to say Swami Saranam Ayyappa than in this moment. Finally, the truth about the lack of womens loos has become clear! It is not accident, or the lack of money, or about ladies needing more space anything, mild or material. This is war. When you deprive any group of people from loos, when you force them down sewers, when you force them to do manual scavenging, it is war. It is a war against the poor, against Dalits that causes hundreds of deaths of sanitation workers in India every year and thousands of lives of pure misery. Eleven sewer workers died in one week in Delhi in August 2018. In 2017, 39 workers across India died in a 100-day period. As if it is not possible for this country to produce within months and distribute within the year a means to permanently end the evil act of sending men down manholes. As if it is not possible for this country to provide everyone water and toilets if they really wanted to, rather than weaponise even access to loos to further marginalise and shame people. By depriving women of loos, the TDB wants to punish them. As violently as Kollam Thulasi who wants to turn women into one-by-two talumen soup. In 2015, a group of young Adivasis in Laatehar, Jharkhand, under the leadership of activist Abhay Xaxa, took to an unusual step to protest a stone-deaf, stone-hearted governments Land Acquisition Bill. Near a government office, they squatted in a row and pooped on copies of the bill. Now, South Indian types, if you are feeling like this, Jharkhand awesomeness is very far away. I can offer you my favourite, often repeated, (please excuse) example closer home. In the 1984 film Panchavadi Paalam, much of the drama is around the building of a bridge. At one point, a young child squats to take a poop on the bridge and an officious man comes to shoo him away. The childs mother takes umbrage beautifully and says to the child, No one can tell you where to poop. You sit back down and poop now! Back in that scene in Q2P, Vohra further enquires what would happen if women take to peeing outside? The man hehehes and replies, Abhi Maharashtra mein sanskriti hai (Maharashtra has culture). Not to be outdone, the man next to him assures her that poora India has sanskriti (the whole of India is cultured) and ladies log wouldnt do such a thing. In the spirit of our culture and reality and cinema, I urge women pilgrims to Sabarimala to take appropriate and urgent (miss, urgent, miss) action. The Ladies Finger is a leading digital womens magazine. Tension is mounting at Sabarimala with devotee bodies, Hindu organisations and various political outfits gearing up to oppose entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years. Tension is mounting at Sabarimala with devotee bodies, Hindu organisations and various political outfits gearing up for a show of strength against the Communist-led governments move to implement the Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all ages to enter the Lord Ayyappa temple when it opens for the five-day monthly pooja on 17 October. Activists from more than 30 organisations will converge at Nilackkal, the base camp of Sabarimala hill shrine, and Pampa, the base of the hill from where the devotees trek to the temple, to resist the entry of the women between the ages of 10 and 50. While most of the organisations will hold peaceful protests, the Shiv Sena and the Ayyappa Dharma Sena said they will prevent women of the menstruating age group from entering the hill shrine. The Sena will send a seven-member suicide squad to Sabarimala to resist those daring to enter the temple defying its customs and traditions. Thiruvananthapuram-based Sena leader Peringamala Aji said the members of the squad will commit suicide if women who are barred from entering the temple as per its customs attempt to enter the temple. He said the party will also deploy hundreds of its activists at Nilackkal and Pampa to block women from the menstruating age group. We will not allow them to cross Pampa. They would be able to trek on the hill only by stepping over the dead bodies of our workers. Be it Trupti Desai or anyone else, our workers won't let anybody break customs, the Sena leader said, adding that their protest was not against the Supreme Court verdict but the state government, which is trying to implement it without considering options to protect the customs and practices of the temple. The Ayyappa Dharma Sena, which is headed by Rahul Easwar, grandson of late high priest Kandararu Maheswararu, who died in May this year, will form a human shield to prevent women of the menstruating age group from entering the temple. Our activists will keep vigil at four entry points by lying down. We will not physically block the women. If they try to cross the entry point, they will have to walk over our bodies. Ours will be a Gandhian protest, Easwar said. Apart from the Dharma Sena, a tribal group has also come forward to set up vigil at various entry points. Mala Arayan, a community whose ancestors settled in the hills surrounding Sabarimala, will set up a vigil at 18 hills through which devotees enter the hill shrine. The community, which is considered as being a close aide of Lord Ayyappan, holds a few traditional rights in the rituals. Members of another tribal community who live in the forest tracts at Sabarimala, Malampandaram, are already on an indefinite satyagraha. The leader of the tribe, Parasuram Thannickkal, said they will persuade the women not to enter the temple. He said that their protest will continue until an amicable solution to the issue is found. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which took out a march from Pandalam believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ayyappa to the state secretariat, will also take its protest to Sabarimala. The Mahila Morcha, the womens wing of the party, will sit on a satyagraha at Nilackkal from 17 October. The party will organise a Viswasi Sangamam (believers convention) at Pathanamthitta on Tuesday. Party state president PS Sreedharan Pillai has given 24 hours time to the Left Front government to desist from its move to implement the apex court order. He said that the party will intensify its agitation if the government fails to take appropriate action. Thousands of people joined the march we organised. This shows that the genuine believers of Lord Ayyappa do not want change in the centuries-old customs and traditions of the temple. We will stand by the devotees, the BJP chief said. The party wants the government to either file a review petition in the Supreme Court or promulgate an ordinance to nullify the verdict. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has rejected both the pleas as they will be contrary to the stand it has taken in the court. The government had favoured entry to women in Sabarimala in the affidavit it filed in the court. However, the Travancore Devaswom Board, which governs the temple, has launched an effort to arrive at a consensus on the issue. Board president A Padma Kumar has convened a meeting of all the stakeholders at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Barring one organisation, the others have not responded to the invitation so far. The Tantri family and the Pandalam royal family, which is the custodian of the temple, have expressed apprehensions over the talks, as the TDB is toeing the government line. Both said that they will take a decision after consulting all concerned. The TDB has already made it clear that it will implement the Supreme Court verdict. If the proposed meeting is aimed at discussing how to implement the verdict, there is no point in attending it. We will consult the Tantris and take a decision," said Pandalam Palace Managing Committee president PG Sasikumar Varma. The All India Ayyappa Seva Sangham, an organisation of the devotees, said it will attend the meeting but demand postponement of the implementation of the verdict. Sangham president Parameswaran Pillai said the organisation will ask the TDB to approach the court and seek more time to implement the verdict in view of the protests. This time period will help stakeholders to find a way out to protect the interests of the devotees and the customs and traditions of the temple, he added. Tantri Kandarau Rajeevaru has, meanwhile, expressed concern over the tense situation prevailing at Sabarimala. The intelligence department has alerted the authorities that the massive build-up at Sabarimala could turn into a law and order problem. Curiously, the police have so far not revealed the measures it will take to face the situation. Pathanamthitta district superintendent of police T Narayanan does not rule out the chances of a showdown in view of the massive build-up of protesters. He said that he is awaiting an action plan from the police headquarters. Matters regarding the security at Sabarimala are decided by the top brass. They are watching the situation and will come out with a fool-proof security cover for the monthly pooja and the subsequent pilgrim season, he added. The police had earlier planned to post 500 women police at the entry points and the temple premises. However, they retracted from the move after protests. The TDB has also not made any special arrangements for women. It is planning to divide the facilities already available in the hill shrine for men and women. Devotees, who go for the pooja, are keeping their fingers crossed, with the authorities dilly-dallying on the issue and the protesters hardening their stand. B Unnnikrishnan, a regular visitor to Sabarimala, said he was reposing his faith in Lord Ayyappa for the smooth conduct of the pilgrim season. Amid continuing protests on the Sabarimala issue, The Travancore Devaswom Board, a temple body which manages the Lord Ayyappa shrine has invited various stakeholders for a meeting on 16 October Amid continuing protests on the Sabarimala issue, The Travancore Devaswom Board, a temple body which manages the Lord Ayyappa shrine has invited various stakeholders for a meeting on 16 October to discuss 'various aspects', including preparations for the annual pilgrimage season, beginning in November. As various Hindu outfits and Lord Ayyappa devotees have been staging protests over the last few days all over Kerala against the implementation of the Supreme Court order permitting women of all age groups into the shrine the call for talks is considered an attempt for a consensus. The board has invited tantries (temple priests), Pandalam royals and devotee groups to the meeting. TDB president A Padmakumar said the meeting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday at its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. Besides the Tazhamon tantri family and the Pandalam royals, various stakeholders of the Sabarimala shrine, including Ayyappa Seva Sangam, Ayyappa Seva Samajam, tantri mahamandalam and Yoga Kshema Sabah would be invited for the talks, he said. "TDB has no prejudice over any matter related to Sabarimala...Let them come and share their views. We will take a suitable decision on all aspects regarding the temple after that," Padmakumar told reporters. The members of the Padalam royal family and tazhamon tantries later said a collective decision would be taken soon on whether to attend the TDB meet or not. The three-month-long annual 'Mandalam-Makaravilakku' pilgrimage season of the Sabarimala Temple will begin on 17 November. #EXCLUSIVE Our demand is that we want to protect the interest of the believers and at the same time we want to protect Sabarimala: @BJP4India State President, PS Sreedharan Pillai tells @Neethureghu | #SabarimalaForAll #RightToPray pic.twitter.com/J5ArHlRj12 News18 (@CNNnews18) October 15, 2018 Meanwhile, various devotee groups and Hindu outfits took out protest marches in different places across the state, demanding that the sanctity of the temple rituals be protected. The BJP-led NDA's 'Long March', which started last week from Pandalam in protest against the CPM-led LDF government's decision to implement the top court order without going for a review, reached the capital city Sunday. Thousands of BJP activists also on Monday marched to the secretariat here to protest the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all age groups entry into the Sabarimala shrine. BJP activists, including a large number of women and children, marched to the administrative hub, Secretariat here, chanting mantras of Lord Ayyappa and holding the garlanded pictures of the deity. The mammoth foot march, which started last week from Pandalam, was in protest against the Left government's decision to implement the top court order without considering sentiments of believers and Lord Ayyappa devotees. The BJP has also alleged that the attempt to implement the judgement was a "conspiracy" to destroy the hillock shrine, where lakhs of people from the country and abroad visit during the three-month-long pilgrim season beginning mid-November. An array of senior leaders of NDA including actor-turned MP, Suresh Gopi, Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena chief Thushar Vellappally, were in the forefront of the march, led by BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai. Pillai said if the state government failed to resolve the issue at the earliest, the BJP-NDA's agitation would take a new turn. "We will meet each villager in Kerala and chalk out a massive agitation plan to protect the Sabarimala Temple, its centuries-old traditions and the sentiments of Lord Ayyappa devotees," he said. Claiming that their first phase of the Sabarimala stir was a major 'milestone,' the BJP said if the CPM-led LDF government does not find a solution in the next 24 hours, the party-led NDA would chalk out a 'massive' agitation plan to reach their goal. The CPM-LDF government, which has decided to implement the ruling, held a meeting to evaluate the preparations carried out for pilgrims at the temple which will open on 17 October. Meanwhile, actor-turned-MP Suresh Gopi flagged off the rally at Alamkode town. "Each BJP worker will fight till his final drop of blood is shed to protect the sanctity of the centuries-old tradition of Sabarimala," party state president PS Sreedharan Pillai said addressing the rally. The march, which crisscrossed the southern districts of the state, would conclude before the state Secretariat, the state's administrative hub on Monday. Hundreds of activists of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) also took out a rally, urging the state and Union governments to address the concerns of devotees of Lord Ayyappa. AHP president Pravin Togadia called for a hartal in the state on 18 October if the Left government implements the apex court order. "We demand that the state government file a review petition in the Supreme Court. Till that petition is pending, they should not implement the court order," he said addressing the rally. If the state fails to do so, the AHP would announce a hartal in Kerala from 10 pm on 17 October to 18 October, he said. Warning that AHP would expand the agitation to other parts of the country, Togadia demanded that the Centre come out with an ordinance to overcome the apex court order. A group of Yuva Morcha activists took out a march to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's residence at northern district of Kannur. Police blocked the agitators by putting up barricades a few kilometres away from the residence. On 28 September, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine. Since then, thousands of Lord Ayyappa devotees have been protesting continuously, taking to the streets of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to protest against the implementation of the apex court verdict. However, the Kerala government had refused to file a review petition in the case and said that it will take appropriate measures to implement the top court's order. With inputs from PTI Shashi Tharoor cautioned that people may have to face 'more unpleasantness' over religious subjects like the Ram temple controversy ahead of the elections. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said that "no good Hindu" would want a Ram temple at the dispute site of the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Speaking at the third edition of The Hindu Lit for Life festival and lecture series, Tharoor said that as a Hindu, he was also very conscious that a majority of people from the community want a Ram temple to be built at the site. "While a vast majority of Hindus believes that Ayodhya was the birthplace of Lord Ram, no good Hindu would want to see a Ram temple built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," he said, according to The Hindu. The Congress MP made the statement during a discussion on "India: Issues and Opportunities" with former Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi. Tharoor's remarks stirred a controversy. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said, "There is a charge-sheet against Tharoor. What can we say on the statement of such a person. Woh neech aadmi hai (He is a person of low character)". Swamy also called the statement "absurd", and said that the matter is already in court. #RamMandirPolitics | This is absurd. The question is that we have already got the matter in court; @BJP4India has said that we will fight it by legal means: @Swamy39 on @ShashiTharoors statement. pic.twitter.com/PT4AudeWjT News18 (@CNNnews18) October 15, 2018 Republic TV quoted BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao as saying, "They (Congress) are trying to delay the construction of Ram Temple. We will wait for the court verdict. This comment is yet another attempt to indulge in vote-bank politics." He further added, "Many members of the Congress party, again and again, give statements on Ram Mandir to play vote bank politics. Rahul Gandhi sometimes turns into a Shiv Bhakt and then goes to meet the intellectuals to say that they are a party for the Muslims." Tharoor had also said people may have to face "more unpleasantness" over religious subjects ahead of the upcoming elections. "I think we have to brace ourselves for some more unpleasantness in the months to come because there has been a correlation, in the not so distant past, between the advent of elections and the stoking of religious passions and communal rioting. That's indeed my worry." Tharoor also went on to condemn Hindu groups that had formed a committee to lead the construction of a Ram temple at the "Ram janmabhoomi" site. "I condemned the 1984 riots when it happened and the Babri Masjid demolition, as well. The Congress has demonstrated a capacity to own up for its mistakes," he said. On Monday, Tharoor clarified on his remarks on Twitter and said that his remarks were distorted by "some media in the service of political masters". He further said that his opinion at the event was personal, and not on behalf of the Congress. I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for @incindia. https://t.co/aKeJvdLoqG Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 15, 2018 On Saturday, Tharoor had attended Day 2 of the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival 2018 at the Kasauli Club in Himachal Pradesh. During a session titled "Tharoorisms on Hinduism", he spoke at length about Hinduism in contrast to Hindutva, reported The Indian Express. Answering a question on the Ram mandir controversy, Tharoor had said that the issue is contentious as it is sub-judice, so no one has the right to take a view on the Ayodhya matter at the moment. "But like most Hindus, it would be wonderful to have a temple where Ram was born, but no good Hindu would want that at the expense of the demolition of someone else's place of worship," he had said on Saturday, too. The Congress leader also critisised the BJP over mob lynchings in the name of cow protection in India. He added that the saffron party had served the nation poorly and called demonetisation a failure. Astrophysicist Karan Jani has alleged on Twitter that a temple in US' Atlanta, Shakti Mandir, denied him and his friends entry to play garba and celebrate the Hindu festival of Navratri as the temple officials couldn't identify them as Hindus. Astrophysicist Karan Jani has alleged on Twitter that a temple in USA' Atlanta, Shakti Mandir, denied him and his friends entry to play garba and celebrate the Hindu festival of Navratri as the temple officials couldn't identify them as Hindus. "You dont look Hindu and the last name in your IDs dont sound Hindu," the temple officials told Jani and his friends. Jani has further tweeted that his Konkani friend, who came to play garba for the first time due to the enthusiasm shown by her Gujarati peers, was pulled out of the queue and told, "We dont come to your events, you are not allowed to ours." And when she argued that her name was "Murdeshwar" and that she was a "Kannada-Marathi", one of the organisers told her, "What is Kannada? You are Ismaili." Jani has further claimed even though he and his friends spoke in Gujarati to the organisers and one of the group member even had a Gujarati surname, yet they were told by the organisers that they were Vohra, Sindhis. "They actually kept stating other religions.... Ganged up and told us to leave," Jani has alleged. Jani has also mentioned that how, while this was happening with his friends, other Indians were being allowed to enter. "Our IDs had the Indian Emblem. Yes, emblem with 'Satyamev Jayate' right? Apparently, it didnt have our religion. Our caste. It was embarrassing," Jani tweeted. He has recounted that how he was in tears as he told the organisers: "I come here to play garba for the last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of the last name?" Year 2018 & Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because: You dont look Hindu and last name in your IDs dont sound Hindu -THREAD- pic.twitter.com/lLVq4KhJtw Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018 However, Jani has mentioned in reply to another Twitter user's comments on his thread that he has been going to the temple for the past six years and that it was "equally shocking and embarrassing" for him to have faced this behaviour now. "I was told by that organiser, a senior person, things in Gujarati which are so crude and demeaning that it cant be shared on the public forum. Just to ensure we dont dare to enter the temple again. Such fuss just for garba in Navratri with friends to celebrate the Indian culture," Jani wrote. Tharoor has kicked up a row by saying that no 'good' Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else's place of worship. His remarks drew stinging criticism from the BJP which dubbed his party and its chief Rahul Gandhi 'anti-Hindu'. New Delhi: The Congress on Monday distanced itself from its leader Shashi Tharoor's remarks that no good Hindu would want the Ram temple in Ayodhya by destroying somebody else's place of worship, saying he made them in his "personal capacity". Congress spokesperson RPN Singh said the party believes that the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Ram temple issue will be binding on everyone and the government will have to implement it. Tharoor has kicked up a row by saying that no "good" Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else's place of worship. His remarks drew stinging criticism from the BJP which dubbed his party and its chief Rahul Gandhi "anti-Hindu". Asked about Tharoor's remarks, Singh told reporters, "I have not heard his statement. He has clarified that whatever he said has said that in his personal capacity. "As far as the issue is concerned, we have a clearly stated position. We have stated that this issue is in court and the court will be hearing this issue. Whatever is the verdict, everybody will have to follow the same." Singh said the Supreme Court verdict will be binding and acceptable to all and the government will have to implement it. Tharoor, who is Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, made the controversial comments at an event in Chennai on Sunday. "As a Hindu, obviously, I am conscious that a vast majority of my fellow Hindus believe that that was the specific birthplace of Ram. "For this reason, most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted that a temple be built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," he said. Tharoor later tweeted, "I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: 'most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Ram's birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying another's place of worship'". "I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival and gave it as such. I am not a spokesperson for my party and did not claim to be speaking for Congress," he said. Congress workers on Sunday tried to show black flags to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani to protest attacks on Hindi-speaking migrants in the state. Lucknow: Congress workers on Sunday tried to show black flags to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani to protest attacks on Hindi-speaking migrants in the state. Some party workers tried to show black flags to Rupani when his cavalcade was passing through the VIP guest house area here. They were, however, prevented by police. Congress media coordinator Rajiv Bakshi claimed that black flags were shown to Rupani by the party's youth wing workers, who also raised slogans against him. He said that 150 party workers were detained by police but were later released. Rupani reached the state capital this evening to invite Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for the launch ceremony of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's 'Statue of Unity' at Narmada bank in Gujarat on 31 October. Rupani and Adityanath will address a joint press conference on Monday. Non-Gujaratis, especially those hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, were reportedly targeted in several parts of the state following the arrest of a Bihar native for allegedly raping a 14-month-old girl earlier this month Parrikar, who has been suffering from a pancreatic aliment, returned to Goa on Sunday, post hospitalisation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Panaji: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will rest for two days and then meet party functionaries and government officials, Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said Monday. Speaking to reporters after attending a meeting of the BJP legislature party in Panaji on Monday afternoon, Tendulkar reiterated that the coastal state would not see a change in leadership. Parrikar, who has been suffering from a pancreatic aliment, returned to Goa on Sunday, post hospitalisation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. "The chief minister is recovering now. He will take rest for two days, before meeting party office-bearers and government officials," Tendulkar said. Tendulkar, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state general secretary Sadanand Tanavade, met Parrikar Monday at the latter's residence. Queried about a change of leadership in the state, Tendulkar shot back, asking, "Why do you need a leadership change? The chief minister is for five years." Speaking about the BJP legislature party meeting, he said a decision was taken that ministers would meet citizens at least once a week. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister's Office had issued a statement, claiming that Parrikar would rest for a week. "Parrikar's condition has improved further. He had a chat with his family members today (Monday) morning. Doctors have advised him to take rest for a week's time," read the statement issued by Rupesh Kamat, personal secretary to Parrikar. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani, one of the several women who have accused him of sexually harassing them in the capacity of Editor at different publications. New Delhi: The Congress on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify whether he supports the criminal defamation case filed by his minister MJ Akbar against a woman journalist who accused Akbar of sexually harassing her. The party dared Modi to come clear on which side he stands - with the victims in the MeToo campaign or with the accused. "We would like to ask the prime minister on which side does he stand. These are women with harrowing experiences who have come out. They are all women and not connected to each other," Congress spokesman RPN Singh said. "We would like to ask the prime minister: does he support the defamation case? He has to make his stand absolutely clear," he added. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani, one of the several women who have accused him of sexually harassing them in the capacity of an editor at different publications. The Congress leader said that the prime minister has not "uttered a word" in cases such as that of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA being accused of raping a woman in Uttar Pradesh or the Bihar shelter home case. "We ask the prime minister today, that he has to speak up. Where does he stand on these matters?" Singh said. Members of the Youth Congress protesting outside MK Akbar's house in Delhi have been detained by the police. A day after Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar dismissed all allegations of sexual misconduct as "false, wild and baseless", Congress workers staged a protest against the junior minister outside his home in Delhi. The police on Monday detained members of the Youth Congress who were protesting outside Akbar's house, demanding his resignation. They were also protesting against Akbar resuming office on this return from an official trip abroad. Delhi: Police detained members of Youth Congress who were protesting outside the residence of #MJAkbar demanding his resignation from the post of Minister of State of External Affairs. pic.twitter.com/8IzVEHvzjN ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 At least 14 female journalists, who had worked with Akbar at newspapers over 15 years ago, accused him of sexual misconduct as part of the #MeToo movement in India. In his statement on Sunday, Akbar questioned whether there was an agenda in the allegations as they had been made ahead of the 2019 general elections. He also called the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing", adding that he will be taking appropriate legal action against the women. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice. I could not reply earlier as I was on an official tour abroad," he said in the statement. The Congress has repeatedly attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence since the allegations surfaced against Akbar. "It is for the prime minister to speak on this issue. Let the country judge its prime minister by his actions. So far, his silence is conspicuous. This question is not only on the moral authority of the government, but that his own, as well, and the dignity of the office he holds," Congress leader Anand Sharma said on Sunday. Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha had said Akbar's statement "adds insult to injury and humiliation" to the women who have spoken up in the #MeToo movement. Party chief Rahul Gandhi had earlier come out in support of the #MeToo campaign, saying it was time for the truth to be told "loud and clear". With inputs from agencies Rahul Gandhi began his two-day tour of Madhya Pradesh by offering prayers at the famous Maa Peetambara Peeth temple complex in Datia in Gwalior division. Datia: Repeating his 'suit-boot' jibe at Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged there is no place for the poor in the prime minister's heart, adding, "If you are not in suit-boot you are not prime minister's bhai" Rahul also accused Modi of remaining silent when Dalits, women, minorities, tribals and the poor are attacked in the country and alleged that he and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath were trying to save a rape accused BJP MLA in the northern state. On a campaign trail in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the Congress president again took on Modi over the controversial Rafale jet deal and alleged he had close proximity with businessmen like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi. He also said that loans of farmers will be waived in 10 days if the Congress comes to power in the state. Rahul earlier began his two-day tour of the state by offering prayers at the famous Maa Peetambara Peeth temple complex in Datia in Gwalior division. Taking a swipe at BJP's assurance on women's safety, Rahul, without naming anyone, said there is a "need to save our daughters from BJP MLAs". Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, is accused of raping a minor girl in Unnao district. Noting that the Prime Minister had said before the 2014 polls he wanted to be a "chowkidar" (guard), Rahul alleged only 15-20 industrialists of the country benefitted under his government, instead of farmers. "Prime Minister addresses Mehul Choksi as Mehul bhai (brother), Nirav Modi as Nirav bhai and Anil Ambani as Anil bhai but he never addresses a labourer, a poor and a farmer as bhai or hugs them. There is no place for them in his heart.If you are not in suit-boot you are not prime minister's bhai," Rahul said addressing a public gathering in Datia. "The prime minister let jeweller Nirav Modi escape with Rs 35,000 crore, which is equal to the entire budget of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," Rahul further charged. He was referring to the PNB banking fraud allegedly involving Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others. Taking a dig at the ruling party over the issue of women's safety, Rahul said, "The BJP gave a good slogan 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' (save and educate daughters). But in Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were trying to save a rape accused BJP MLA. The Prime Minister didn't speak a word," he alleged. "There is a need now to save our daughters from BJP MLAs." "The Prime Minister could not look me in the eye (during debate in Parliament). The Prime Minister gives speeches but no answers...he doesn't have the courage to reply as to why the contract was snatched from HAL and given to Anil Ambani." The Modi government has denied allegations of irregularities in Rafale deal and Ambani, too, has dismissed the Congress's allegations that he got any undue benefit. Rahul accused Modi of "insulting every Indian by mocking the governance of other parties during 70 years, before the BJP-led NDA came to power. "From the Red Fort, Modi (during his Independence Day speech) said the country was sleeping before he took over as country's prime minister. This is not an insult to Congress leaders. This is insult to the country's people. This is an insult to farmers, labourers, youths, small traders and people who toiled hard to build this country. This is an insult to your mother and father," he added. tech2 News Staff Having launched the Zenfone Max Pro M1 earlier this year and managing to compete with OnePlus, Asus now appears to be going right after Xiaomi in the budget segment. The company is now launching two new smartphones for the Indian market on 17 October. Asus put out a tweet from its official handle revealing the date, but, as is generally the case, did not mention the names of the two phones. The image in the tweet also carries the Flipkart logo, which clearly signifies that the two phones in question will definitely be Flipkart exclusives. As per a report by GizmoChina, Asus has also reached out to media publications in India with invites for the launch event, which is taking place in New Delhi. The teaser image also states that this is a global launch so they haven't been unveiled anywhere else. At ASUS, we are constantly looking to innovate and make our products befitting to the Indian Market. Tune in to the live stream on 17th October and witness the launch of our two new smartphones in India! Including a Global First! Watch this space for more. pic.twitter.com/3EONkpkL2i ASUS India (@ASUSIndia) October 14, 2018 While Asus keeps us guessing, rumour has it that one of the two smartphones that the Taiwanese company is planning to launch is the successor to the Max Pro M1. Touted as the Zenfone Max Pro M2, the smartphone did recently get certified by a Russian regulatory body and fans suggest that there is a possibility of it being launched in India. As for the other smartphone, there are no clues as to what it could be, but we'll definitely find out soon enough. Asus has confirmed that they will be live-streaming the event, so do tune in on 17 October for more details on that. tech2 News Staff Google is reportedly in talks with some of the biggest e-commerce platforms in India to launch what it calls shopping tabs, which will allow users to initiate the purchasing process directly off the search engine. According to a report by the Economic Times, a Google shopping tab feature will pilot soon, followed by a full-fledged launch by the end of the year. Google also confirmed the feature saying, We are always exploring options to help consumers find the products they want to buy more quickly and efficiently from local merchants. Apparently, Google is already in negotiations with e-commerce companies such as Flipkart, Paytm Mall, and Snapdeal for the feature. Essentially, the shopping tab feature will let you search products on a platform, right from the search engine, eventually being directed to the platform for placing your order. Though it is likely that in future, Google might let you complete this entire process off its website. But for now, reportedly, Google will not fulfil online shopping through its payment product or otherwise. Other than big e-commerce platforms, Google will reportedly also be partnering with small and medium enterprises, including neighbourhood kiranas, handicraft stores or maybe popular grocery chains. They (Google) will partner with retailers of all sizes it can tell the user where the product is available, is it available online, etc., a person familiar with the matter told ET. Some also suggest that this shopping tab feature may be Googles way to enter the e-commerce platform business in India. Similar to how Amazons price-comparing website junglee.com was first launched, Googles shopping tab may be its way to analyse and understand the Indian market. tech2 News Staff Days ahead of the official launch, Lenovo S5 Pro has once again been teased by the company in two new posters that were posted on Weibo. First reported by GizmoChina, the posters tease the camera specifications of the smartphone, along with the colour variants of the device. The first teaser, which was posted by Lenovos CEO brags about a dual-camera setup on the front of the device, and that one of these sensors will be a 20 MP one. Both the lenses will apparently be AI-powered. The same poster also reveals a rose gold colour variant of the phone. Then, the second teaser by Lenovo shows off the rear dual-camera setup, with details of the lens aperture. Apparently, the Lenovo S5 Pro will sport a 12 MP f/1.9 sensor, along with a second 5 MP f/2.0 sensor. In addition to that, the second poster also reveals a blue colour variant of the phone. We can also tell from the poster, that the Lenovo S5 Pro will feature the fingerprint sensor at the back and a notch up front. Besides that, from what we know so far, the Lenovo S5 Pro will feature a 6.18-inch display with a resolution of 2246 x 1080 pixels. The smartphone is believed to be powered by a Snapdragon 660 processor with up to 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Reportedly, the smartphone will be fuelled by a 3,500 mAh battery, and it will likely run Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box. The Lenovo S5 Pro is scheduled to be launched in China on 18 October. Yatish Yadav A last-minute effort to dilute the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directive on data localisation by American global payment companies has triggered direct intervention by US lawmakers urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to soften tough stand taken by the countrys monetary authority. Firstpost had reported on 12 October that the US companies want Donald Trump administration to put pressure on Indian authorities in a bid to seek relaxation on the RBI order of ensuring implementation of data localisation by 15 October. Before the deadline ends, US Senators John Cornyn and Mark Warner have appealed that the Indian government must address the concerns of American payment firms. US companies have been lobbying with the Finance Ministry and the RBI over the issue. Firstpost has reviewed the notes on discussion revealing the reluctance of firms on storing all payment data on transactions inside the Indian territory. Financial services companies were ready to have data mirroring instead of data localisation, however, RBI had indicated that it was opposed to mirror data and was pushing for a clause on storage of all transaction data in India only. A US firm even blamed that RBI was intervening too much in businesses of financial technology companies and such action was spoiling the Digital India story. They were also of the view that the national security agencies were helping RBI and directing its action. Though RBI had made it clear, it will not relax the deadline for payment companies, informed government sources said. It is evident from the documents that US companies batted for pressure on Indian authorities to bring them to the negotiating table. A US firm suggested two-pronged approach first, the US government should apply pressure on India and second, Trump administration should have a dialogue with the US industry to understand concerns of companies to evolve a solution without hampering their global business model. The Indian authorities maintained that it was not enough to only have data in India, but the need for data processing in the country as well, like the Chinese were doing. During various rounds of meetings, the American firms argued that mainly US-headquartered firms would be affected and two firms from Japan and China had a free run since they were not issuing any cards in India. One such US company is learnt to have said, US payment companies have communicated to RBI that their Indian arms were ready to have data mirroring process and were awaiting a reply from the monetary authority. However, the impression is that no data mirroring was being allowed for financial services companies. According to sources, BP Kanungo, the deputy governor of RBI had told top brass of US firms operating in India that the RBI circular dated 6 April 2018 on data localisation stood in entirety and needed to be implemented by the companies. The RBI directive in April had said, All system providers shall ensure that the entire data related to payment systems operated by them is stored in a system only in India. This data should include the full end-to-end transaction details/information collected/carried/processed as part of the message/payment instruction. For the foreign leg of the transaction, if any, the data can also be stored in the foreign country, if required. A US-India business advocacy organisation had submitted three over-arching solution sets, sources told Firstpost. The organisation argued that RBI directive had apparently not taken into account the problems that might arise for the outbound Indians, who were part of a global travellers fraternity and had thus reportedly overlooked the interest of India, which as a global destination was drawing in foreign travellers. The advocacy body which organised a meeting with stakeholders in early September in Mumbai, was also concerned about reports that US companies were engaged in lobbying over data localisation and favoured to join hands with three UK companies and French authorities to dispel this perception. It observed, The issue could be only resolved through government-to-government intervention. A fortnight later, US-based Centre for Information Privacy Leadership (CIPL) submitted a response to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on draft data protection bill, which also included views on data localisation. CIPL said, The requirements around data localisation should be reconsidered as they do not serve to improve data protection and will severely disrupt the operations of data fiduciaries and processors and negatively impact Indias data economy. CIPL suggests that the Indian government encourage bilateral and multilateral instruments to make data sharing work in such instances without resorting to localisation. Press Trust of India The RBI will not relax the 15 October deadline for global financial technology (fintech) companies to comply with its data localisation norms in the public interest, according to sources. The central bank in April gave six months time to global payment companies to store transaction data of Indian customers within India. The RBI's data localisation norms will kick in from 15 October. However, the US wants to prohibit data localisation to ensure free flow of information across borders. "We want to have prohibitions on data localisation to ensure free flow of information, free flow of data across borders, disciplines around countries requiring companies to give up their source code, permanent ban on taxation or duties on digital transmissions, Dennis Shea, deputy US trade representative and US ambassador to the WTO, told a Washington audience on 12 October. According to the sources, global fintech companies reportedly sought an extension of the 15 October deadline but it seems that the RBI is not inclined to relax the norms. Data localisation requires data about residents be collected, processed, and stored inside the country, often before being transferred internationally, and usually transferred only after meeting local privacy or data protection laws. Although domestic companies have welcomed the guidelines, global companies fear increase in their expenses for creation of local servers. To avoid this rise in cost, global companies in recent meeting with the RBI proposed to provide mirror data instead of original data to which the central bank did not agree, the sources said. Last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met RBI Deputy Governor B P Kanungo to discuss RBI's data localisation norms. The meeting was also attended by Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar and IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney. The RBI in April said in order to ensure better monitoring of payment service operators it is important to have unfettered supervisory access to data stored with these system providers as also with their service providers/ intermediaries/third party vendors and other entities in the payment ecosystem. All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India, it had said. The RBI further said data should include the full end-to-end transaction details, information collected/carried/ processed as part of the message/payment instruction. tech2 News Staff The brutal murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, allegedly on orders from the Saudi Government, has shaken much of the world with the sheer brazenness of the attack. While governments are already struggling with finding an adequate response to the allegations, Silicon Valleys reticence on the matter has also been noted. As it turns out, Silicon Valley appears to be struggling with the exact same issue that world governments are struggling with: How do you bite the hand that feeds you? When it comes to world governments, even one as powerful as the US, only Saudi Arabia can feed their oil habits. The country has also made significant investments all over the world, to the tune of billions of dollars. As brazen and as brutal as the attack on Khashoggi was, dependant governments will shy away from taking too strong a stance against the Saudis. As pointed out by various reports, Saudi Arabia currently has its fingers deeply embedded in Silicon Valley. As The New York Times notes, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in particular is responsible for fuelling some of Silicon Valleys largest, most popular companies. Saudi-funded companies include Uber, Nvidia, WeWork, Tesla, Slack, among others. Much of this funding comes via Japans SoftBank, but SoftBank is, in turn, using funds from PIF. Remarkably, the country has avoided pariah status in the United States thanks to our thirst for oil, Riyadhs carefully cultivated ties with Washington, its big arms purchases, and the two countries shared interest in counterterrorism. But lately the Saudis have been growing their circle of American enablers, pouring billions into Silicon Valley technology companies, says NYT. While there have been reports of investors and companies getting cold feet and now attempting to distance themselves from the Saudi investment, the fact remains that billions of dollars in Saudi money is now invested in Silicon Valleys biggest companies. In the case of Uber, PIF managing director Yasir Al Rumayyan is on the board of directors, which is understandable, given PIFs $3.5 bn investment in the company. Beyond funding, there are other potential deals with big tech, reports Wired. They note that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been touring the US and has even been in talks with Amazon for setting up infrastructure in his country. At this time, Silicon Valleys only reaction, including Ubers, has been to back out of a Saudi Government investment conference in Riyadh. While it certainly would have been nice to see more of a reaction from Silicon Valley, it must be noted that these companies have rarely taken up a cause that didnt have enough public outrage behind it. Googles military contracts, Facebooks support for genocidal dictators and even Microsofts and Googles contracts within China are as much of an ethical conundrum as denouncing Saudi Arabia for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. To be clear, no actual evidence has yet been found linking Khashoggi's murder to the Saudi government. Chirag Dhara Editor's note: The following is the second in a three-part series about the significance of the recently published UN IPCC Special report, with a focus on impacts in and around the Indian subcontinent. Part One discussed why impacts rise disproportionately fast for the 0.5C rise detailed in the report. The IPCC report pulls together research about global changes as a result of temperature rise. The report also specifically points to India, highlighting that it will be one of the most severely hit countries worldwide from climate change. This begs the question: Why? Why is India expected to be hit so hard? A treacherous concoction of natural and human-made reasons specific to India make it extraordinarily vulnerable to climate change. A hot tropical climate, its geography, a heavy dependence of agriculture on stable monsoons and a coastline stretching 7000 km are some. Runaway pollution, unplanned development, deforestation, lack of disaster-preparedness and a large proportion of its population living in extreme poverty are other important factors adding to Indias unique vulnerability. Rapid rise in temperature and aerosol pollution Besides high baseline temperatures, warming in India is even higher than the global average at about 1.2C. What is very worrying is that this rise in temperature is despite a substantial degree of the warming from greenhouse gases being counteracted by whats called the brown cloud. Hanging over the Indian subcontinent, this cloud houses aerosols released from fossil fuel combustion and vehicular pollution, that have the opposite effect on temperature than greenhouse gasses. Aerosols in the atmosphere tend to have a net cooling effect given how highly reflective they are to sunlight. Aerosols are also bigger and heavier than greenhouse gas molecules, so do not easily disperse. They remain largely localized, and linger above their emission hotspots. In the North of India, the Himalayan ranges block the flow of wind, and thus, the dispersal of such aerosols. The cruel irony is that as India begins to put norms in place for pollution clean-ups, lower aerosol levels could cause temperatures to spike rapidly by as much as 0.5C. Greenhouse gases and aerosols both affect rainfall through different mechanisms. With its more direct interaction with sunlight, aerosols have a proportionally greater impact on rainfall. A clean-up of aerosol pollution will likely have substantial effects on Indias already destabilized rainfall patterns. The IPCC report makes this point, but does not spell out regional disturbances. India supports 17 percent of the worlds population on merely 4 percent of world fresh water resources. This, backed by a largely agrarian economy that heavily relies on predictable monsoons. Both, changes in rainfall patterns and extremes in precipitation, are intimately linked with not just our water resources but also food security. Heat waves and Indias huge vulnerable demographic India has seen several deadly heatwaves in recent years. High temperatures are exacerbated by humidity along Indias coastline and the river deltas. In a heat index called the wet-bulb temperature that takes into account temperature and humidity, a sustained temperature above 35C is considered lethal to humans. Even in the shade, with fans and circulation, it becomes impossible for the body to cope at this temperature with its natural coping mechanism for heat sweating. Not long ago at the peak of the 2015 and 2016 heat waves in India and Pakistan, sustained wet bulb temperatures well above 30C killed thousands of people on both sides of the border. Kolkata, going by IPCCs projections, will experience annual conditions equivalent to these heat waves at 2C warming. As with most such disasters, it is the poor, the homeless, outdoor labourers, children and the elderly that are most vulnerable segments that India houses in large numbers. Unplanned development Another point of grave import to emerging economies like India is that climate change interacts strongly with unplanned development with severe consequences. While the scientific jury is still out on whether the extreme rainfall event in Kerala in 2018 was a consequence of anthropogenic climate change, what is settled is that the consequent floods and loss of life were largely results of unplanned dam construction, mining and ineffective disaster management efforts. Overlapping risks The report also identifies hotspots of vulnerability where the combined effect of multiple hazards may overlap. Climate and impact models were applied to study a range of impact indicators: water, food and energy stress under climate change. This comprehensive analysis finds India and sub-Saharan Africa to be most vulnerable regions in the world. Another finding of the report is a drop in Indias GDP from investments made to tackle climate change impacts among the highest in the world. It is stark, clear and apparent that India is singular and unique in the threats it faces from climate change. Are we prepared in the slightest? The author is a physicist and climatologist. tech2 News Staff With an ambitious manned mission to space on the cards for ISRO in 2022, the agency expanded its agenda recently to include incubators for space technology across India. The new ISRO-Space Technology Incubation Center (S-TIC) in Agartala was inaugurated on the 18 September 2018 at the Spacetronics conclave. This first edition of the event brought industry leaders, policy makers, government officials and entrepreneurs in the space industry to discuss trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the industry. The new incubator will be a consortium of minds working on developing cutting-edge technology of use to the space industry, a report in the Business Standard said. The incubator will focus on building rockets, communication satellites and remote sensing applications of use to both ISRO as well as the global space industry given the opportunity to scale-up. It is aimed at getting students, particularly those in their final year, thinking about a start-up enterprise in space technology as an employment opportunity. The first S-TIC will be set up in the North-Eastern region, an ISRO release said. Chairman K Sivan said that he was excited by the "tremendous opportunity" the incubator in Agartala offers. It helps bring forth space-related innovation, accelerating the development of new technologies and contributions from talented young minds to the growing space technology industry in Indian and worldwide. This facility, with active support from the state government of Tripura and IESA, the Ecosystem Partner, will be a big boost for the process in every sense, Sivan told Indian Express. "We have put in place policies and framework to ensure that the ecosystem is favourable to more partnerships, access to funds, ease of business, networking in the domestic and international market," he added. ISRO plans to build five more such incubators establishing these centers six cities like Agartala that are likely accessible to ISRO centres around the country. With the Gaganyaan mission in the agency's not-too-distant future, and work on various aspects of the mission still to complete, Sivan also spoke of an opportunity to be part of the 2022 mission to space, Indian Express said. You never know, may be one of the innovations developed at the Agartala centre could be flying the Gaganyaan." Kavya Narayanan Earlier this month, a renowned scientist and academic at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) was accused by a doctoral student, under his guidance, of sexual harassment. The researcher, Giridhar Madras, has now been sent on "compulsory retirement" over the allegations by the institute's governing council, an Indian Express report says. The IISc profile of Madras, which was on the website until recently, has now been taken down. IISc Director, Professor Anurag Kumar, told Express, that Madras, who had worked at IISc for nearly 20 years, was told to leave by the institutes governing council, who recommended that disciplinary action is taken against him. This came after an investigation by IISc's internal complaints committee, which reviewed the complaint and charged made by the doctoral student that was under Madras's guidance. Giridhar Madras is a Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award winner, and awardee of multiple fellowships including those from the Indian National Science Academia, Indian Academia of Science, Indian National Academy of Engineering and others. He was also merited a JC Bose Fellow and conferred an Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research by IISc, and listed as the top 1% of scientists in his field, globally. The accusations against him The complaint against Madras alleged that he made "sexually-coloured remarks" directed at a female doctoral student and persisted with late night phone calls to her. This is one of the five different acts and behaviour recognised as sexual harassment under the Vishakha guidelines against Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. The IISc has its own Anti-Sexual Harassment (ASH) policy, with a broad list of acts that qualify as sexual harassment, including the promise of preferential treatment, threat to an employee's current or future work prospects, interference with an employee's work, persistent unwanted attention, sharing of sexist jokes, texts or messages that could offend a victim of past sexual violence, etc. Academia in the #MeToo radar About a year ago, a law student at the Jadavpur University, Raya Sarkar, circulated a list of 58 known sexual predators in academia from across 29 Indian institutions on Facebook. This was done in the hope of keeping women and newcomers at these universities in the know about sexual harassers in the academic circuit. For using the whisper' network to track these alleged harassers, the list was met with vehement opposition and support in equal measure. The opposition was led by senior Indian feminists and considered an act that undermined the feminism movement since the allegations were alleged and significant, yet unproven. One of the accused Professors even took the stage last year and claimed never to have made an inappropriate sexual advance. Sexual harassment in educational institutes "When harassment comes to light, it is an oppourtunity for the institution to reflect and put in place policies and training to ensure an equitable work place," said Dr Sandhya Koushika, Convenor of the Women's Cell and senior neuroscience researcher at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. "In several institutions, much more training is necessary." In Dr Koushika's view, more sensitisation training, communication with incoming researchers and students to build a consistent level of awareness particularly in environments with significant turnover of manpower is an important part of keeping organizations free of sexual harassment. Sandhya Menon, a writer and journalist who has triggered an uprising on Twitter and elsewhere with her story of harassment, isn't hopeful about current practices at institutions. "The immediate reaction of most institutions to (an incident) like this would be.. 'Okay, no women will work long hours', or 'No woman will come in alone (to work)'," When a superior is approached with a claim of sexual harassment in the workplace, there's only one acceptable approach: "Let me help you file a complaint." "Institutes are mandated to have letters and policies to address (sexual harassment), but there's a human element to it that doesn't come from having 'systems' in place," Menon says. "The process has been rendered ineffective by everyone involved. It isn't that they don't know what's happening... education is rife with harassment, only few of which are pursued till the point someone is held accountable." It's more important now than ever to follow through on calling someone out for being a harasser, Menon says. "If you've called someone out, that's great, you absolutely should. Now, you walk the talk. Go to the police... file an FIR... do what you have to. The (harasser) may do nothing for two years, but there's no telling that he won't go back to doing exactly the same thing once you're gone." Tech2 has reached out to the Institute's Director, Press Office and Giridhar Madras for a comment, and will update the report with their responses here if and when received. Press Trust of India Stephen Hawking, one of the world's best-known theoretical physicists who died seven months ago, had warned against a new race of "superhumans" created as a result of genetic engineering that could destroy humanity from beyond the grave. The British author of the definitive 'A Brief History of Time', who famously often threw up the prospect of time travel, made his last prediction about scary superhumans in a final collection of articles and essays to be published next week, following his death in March at the age of 76. "Once such superhumans appear, there will be significant political problems with unimproved humans, who won't be able to compete," Hawking wrote. "Presumably, they will die out, or become unimportant. Instead, there will be a race of self-designing beings who are improving at an ever-increasing rate," noted the scientist, who suffered from motor neurone disease that had left him almost completely paralysed for most of his life. The set of articles on what he called "the big questions" were in preparation for a book, which is set to be published on Tuesday. According to The Sunday Times, in 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions', Hawking suggests that wealthy people will soon be able to choose to edit their own and their children's DNA to create superhumans with enhanced memory, disease resistance, intelligence and longevity. "I am sure that during this century people will discover how to modify both intelligence and instincts such as aggression," he wrote. "Laws will probably be passed against genetic engineering with humans. via GIPHY But some people won't be able to resist the temptation to improve human characteristics, such as memory, resistance to disease and length of life," he adds. Hawking's theory refers to techniques such as Crispr, a DNA-editing system that allows scientists to modify harmful genes or add new ones. Invented just six years ago, it is already in use worldwide. Many scientists welcomed Hawking's predictions as a means of saving Earth from destruction. "Humans have arguably reached a critical moment," Chris Rapley, professor of climate science at University College London, told the newspaper. "We have moved beyond affecting the planet at the landscape scale to interfering with its very metabolism at the global scale. All the indications are that the limitations of our brains, both individually and collectively, leave us incapable of addressing the challenge. On this basis the future looks desperately gloomy," he said. The final set of research by Hawking will be presented by the Stephen Hawking Foundation and John Murray publishers in the form 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions' next week. Abdullah Yameen's government was decisively defeated by opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the elections held in the Maldives last month. If the Donald Trump administration had any hopes that the United States may work out a non-confrontational mechanism with China, they have been dashed. Such a realisation is reflected in recent American actions and decisions. The US has accused China of multiple transgressions: unfair trade, technology theft, interference in Americas domestic politics, militarisation of the South China Sea islands, debt diplomacy as well as anti-America propaganda. Highlighting the Trump administrations focus on renewed great power competition with China, the US vice president Mike Pence has asserted that America will employ decisive action to respond to China". He also argued that Chinas actions within the US surpass those of Russia in trying to shape American opinion. The US-China growing confrontation is going to have extensive consequences for South Asia, where the Trump administration seems to favour change that almost everyone else concerned with the survival of democracy in the region also favours. The basic point to remember is that the challenges to be confronted flow primarily from Chinas growing assertiveness and its debt trap diplomacy. The Maldives is small and peripheral to the issues that will most engage American policymakers. But it is also the next frontier of Chinas bid to spread its wings in South Asia and the Indian Ocean after Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka in a direct challenge to Indias strategic interests. During the last few years, democracy in the Maldives became a formal facade for rule by an authoritarian regime. Arbitrary arrests and disqualification of opposition figures vitiated the whole political atmosphere. Rule of law was consigned to the garbage. A standard that has come into vogue in the popular imagination is the treatment of the country in zero-sum terms, in which increasing or decreasing Chinese activity is equated with Indian retreats or advances. The recent presidential win can be termed as a main positive mark on an otherwise losing scorecard. With that background in mind, the American reaction is surely a welcome development for Indian policymakers who were forced to swallow insult after insult. In a stinging rebuke to Beijing-backed outgoing regime, the United States has said that it is concerned by troubling actions by outgoing President Yameen that threaten to undermine the will of the Maldivian people, and will consider appropriate measures against anyone who undermines a peaceful transfer of power in the Maldives. The statement comes after Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells met Maldives president-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and assured him of Americas willingness to extend all cooperation to his governments efforts aimed at returning the country to the democratic path. The incumbent Abdullah Yameen government was decisively defeated by the countrys opposition leader Solih in the elections held in the Maldives last month. It needs to be mentioned that Yameen had expected to contest the election virtually unopposed, with all of his potential opponents either in jail or forced into exile. However, Solih came forward to contest after his party leader, exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed, abandoned plans to run. While Yameen was strongly supported by China, Solih and Nasheed are considered to be democratically-minded and thus very close to India. However, Yameens party has filed a legal petition in the Supreme Court challenging his resounding electoral defeat. And the US has therefore expressed its displeasure over this action. The State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said that Washington and the international community would view with great concern any attempt that undermines the democratic process including any delay in the inauguration scheduled for November 17. Since the biggest challenge to the new administration in Maldives will be in dealing with China-supported entrenched political vested groups led by Yameen, it is Indias responsibility to support the Solih government in overcoming that challenge. China had not only turned a blind eye to Yameens authoritarian actions but also encouraged him to undermine the solid foundations of India-Maldives ties and confront New Delhi regularly. Yameens defeat is unmistakably a huge blow to China, which financed his administrations infrastructure projects with huge loans. Such a move was rightly seen as Beijings debt trap not only by New Delhi and Washington but also by the main opposition party. American objections and anti-China sentiments have already made Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a topic of heated public debate and discussion in the South Asian region. Pakistan is a classic case of a China-created mess with no good solution. The US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert has identified loans Islamabad has taken from China to fund the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the reason for its current financial troubles. She has said that Pakistans request for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package will be closely examined as part of the reason that Pakistan found itself in this situation is Chinese debt. Echoing Indian stand, a bipartisan group of 16 US senators recently claimed that BRI was a debt-trap, and the recipient countries often found themselves deeply in debt to China and were forced to make painful concessions. Due to Pakistans visceral hostility with India, Pakistan does not have much choice regarding its strategic partnership with China, and this choice automatically implies a strategic divergence with the US. However, the debt trap argument is gaining much traction there, with Pakistans seasoned economists developing serious concerns about the wisdom to build infrastructure with Chinese financing. It is important to recognise that not all problems in South Asia are solvable and that if they are, Washington is not always the best suited to solve them. Therefore, Indian policy should be framed and implemented with attention not just to addressing immediate problems but to what comes afterwardthe sort of attention that seems to be lacking right now. Policymakers in New Delhi need to consider carefully how their actions shape wider perceptions of India. Recent policy decisions have driven the perception that India is strategically indecisive a perception that has reverberations beyond South Asia itself. Although India shares Americas perceptions on several global and regional issues, however, New Delhis reluctance to play an active role in the Quadrilateral alliance coupled with its desire to avoid the cost of disagreement with China will be costly and counterproductive in the longer-run. The escalating confrontation between the US and China will sooner than later demand India to get off the fence and make a strategic choice. The US considers India an important ally in the Indo-Pacific region in order to counter Chinas growing assertiveness. It is thus risky to take a U-turn from alliance-building. Although Indian interests should always be distinguished from American interests, one useful way to deal with the domestic political resistance to a closer alignment with the US initiatives is to frame the need for them in terms of Indias own interest. But if India chooses to remain lukewarm to a US-led alliance in the Indo-Pacific, and moves closer to China-Russia nexus, it could radically alter strategic dynamics of South Asia. In other words, it would mean India lives in a subordinate relationship with China. Soap-and-Water Lessons Bring Health and Help to Some of Asia's Struggling Poor WILLS POINT, Texas, Oct. 15, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- A simple bar of soap is making a big difference in the lives of people in impoverished communities across Asia. Distributed by GFA-supported (Gospel for Asia, www.gfa.org ) workers, it is the centerpiece of a hygiene awareness drive that improves the health and welfare of many living on the margins. Photo: Clean hands go a long way toward ensuring good personal and public health. GFA-supported workers celebrate Global Handwashing Day by conducting hygiene-awareness and training workshops at its Bridge of Hope centers around Asia. High-resolution version available. While the cleanliness campaign goes on year-round through its varied ministry-supported programs, the organization brings an additional emphasis to it to mark Global Handwashing Day (Oct. 15). The annual event, whose 2018 theme is "Clean Hands--A Recipe for Health," aims to increase awareness about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way of preventing sickness. To mark the day, GFA-supported teams across Asia will be holding special handwashing presentations at some of the Bridge of Hope centers they run, and also in local schools and village meeting places. The events include a special video offering an explanation of how disease can be spread by handling food with dirty hands, and a demonstration of effective handwashing. Participants are given an opportunity to practice the proper technique, and also receive a free bar of soap to take home with them. Basic hygiene steps like these can reduce sickness, which means families have to spend less of their limited income on medicines, and also lose less work time. According to organizers of Global Handwashing Day, up to 70 percent of cases of diarrhea may be associated with poor food hygiene. The handwashing lessons are just part of GFA-supported broader healthcare work, which also includes free medical checkups, distribution of water filters, and drilling fresh water wells. These initiatives are in turn part of GFA's efforts to share God's love through practical care. "Frequent sickness only makes the lives of the poor that much harder," said Dr. Daniel Johnson, leader of the GFA-supported medical ministry. "Yet it is possible to make significant improvements in health by taking some basic hygiene precautions. By sharing these lessons, we want to show people that God loves them and cares for their well-being." One GFA-supported presenter told a handwashing class, "To protect from sickness, we need to wash our hands before and after doing any work. Our hands are our future." A 13-year-old girl who participated in one of the presentations said later that she intended to use the little money she had to buy more soap for all her family to use. The presentation even impacted a teacher at one of the schools visited by a GFA-supported team. "Many times, I ate food without washing my hands," she said. "But I have learned today that if I wash hands properly before and after food or work I will be healthy. Thank you so much for bringing this awareness among us." MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The number of people killed in twin suicide bomb attacks on two restaurants in Somalia's southern city of Baidoa has risen to 20 and another 40 people were injured, a local hospital official said on Sunday. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in restaurants in Baidoa in the early evening on Saturday MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The number of people killed in twin suicide bomb attacks on two restaurants in Somalia's southern city of Baidoa has risen to 20 and another 40 people were injured, a local hospital official said on Sunday. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in restaurants in Baidoa in the early evening on Saturday. Islamist militant group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the group said it had targeted the restaurants because they were frequented by government troops. The attacks followed a U.S. air strike on Friday against al Shabaab militants in Haradere, a district in Galmudug region. Al Shabaab wants to topple Somalia's Western-backed central government and impose its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. "We received 20 dead people and about 40 others injured from the twin blasts of yesterday," Abdifatah Hashi, the general manager of Baidoa city hospital told reporters on Sunday. On Sunday, a year to the day on which suspected al Shabaab bombings killed more than 500 people in Mogadishu, a Somali military court carried out the execution of a man convicted of being involved in the attacks. "The Somali military court executed today Hasan Aden Isak who was an al Shabaab member and accused of being behind the October bombing," the court's deputy prosecutor Mumin Hussein Abdullahi told state-run Radio Mogadishu. Al Shabaab never claimed responsibility for the attacks which were the deadliest since the group began its insurgency in 2007. Somalia has been engulfed by violence and lawlessness since the early 1990s after the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. (Reporting by Feisal Omar; writing by Omar Mohammed; editing by Jason Neely and Raissa Kasolowsky) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Donald Trump has threatened Saudi Arabia with 'severe punishment' if Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate. While Saudi Arabia has rejected allegations that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside its consulate in Turkey, international pressure has been mounting on the Kingdom. Countries are calling for a "credible investigation" into his disappearance with Turkey even accusing Riyadh of not cooperating with the probe. Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadhs policies, disappeared on 2 October after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied the same. Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman on Sunday discussed the disappearance of Khashoggi in their first telephone talks on the controversy, both sides said. Erdogan and Salman discussed "the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi" and also emphasised the "importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation", a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named, told AFP. Ankara had previously said a working group would be set up in line with a Saudi proposal. But few details have emerged over how this will function. The Saudi foreign ministry said Salman affirmed his country's "solid" relations with Turkey in the phone call with Erdogan. The king phoned Erdogan "to thank the president for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to form a joint working group to discuss the disappearance of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi". The outcry surrounding his disappearance threatens to not just harm brittle Turkey-Saudi relations but also alarm the kingdom's supporters in the West and tarnish the reform drive spearheaded by the crown prince. Donald Trump calls for 'severe punishment' US president Donald Trump has threatened Riyadh with "severe punishment" if the journalist was killed inside its Istanbul consulate. "We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment," Trump said. "As of this moment, they (Saudi) deny it and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes," Trump said. "Well, there's a lot at stake. And maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. There's something you'll be surprised to hear me say that. There's something really terrible and disgusting about that if that were the case. So we're gonna have to see. We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment," Trump told CBS News. Trump, however, opposed the idea of cancelling the mega $110 billion arms deal with Riyadh, saying this will hurt American companies and jobs. "There are other things we can do that are very, very powerful, very strong and well do them," he added, without saying what those measures might be. US senators called for reactions ranging from boycotting an upcoming economic summit in Riyadh to ending support for Saudi military operations in Yemen. Britain, France, Germany call for 'credible investigation' Britain, France and Germany called on the Saudi and Turkish authorities on Sunday to mount a "credible investigation" into the disappearance of Khashoggi, saying they were treating the incident with "the utmost seriousness". In a joint statement, Britain's foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany's Heiko Maas said whoever was responsible for the Saudi journalist's disappearance must be held to account. "Defending freedom of expression and a free press and ensuring the protection of journalists are key priorities for Germany, the United Kingdom and France," the ministers said in a statement issued by the Foreign Office in London. While expressing support for joint Saudi-Turkish efforts to look into his disappearance, they said the Saudi government must provide "a complete and detailed response", indicating that such a message had been conveyed "directly" to Riyadh. Riyadh vows 'retaliation' Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned against threats to punish it over Khashoggi's disappearance as European leaders piled on pressure and said it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed on the oil-rich Kingdom. "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted an unnamed official as saying. "The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action and that the Kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy," the official added, without elaborating. Saudi Arabia insists Khashoggi left the building safely and dismissed accusations that authorities had ordered his murder by a hit squad as "lies and baseless allegations". Oil prices will likely rise An escalation of tensions could send oil prices sharply higher, upend the West Asia peace process, and fracture international efforts to contain Iran, according to a CNBC report. "The market has again expressed concerns over geopolitical tensions in West Asia after US and Saudi traded comments over the disappearance of the Saudi journalist, leading to a jump in prices," Wang Xiao, head of crude research with Guotai Junan Futures, wrote in a research note. However, Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told CNBC that realpolitik would likely prevent the West especially the US from acting against the Saudis too aggressively. The Trump administration, which is all set to impose a new set of sanctions on Iran in November, is heavily relying on Saudi Arabia. With inputs from agencies US President Donald Trump has vowed 'severe punishment' if Saudi Arabia was behind the disappearance of its dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi who is feared killed at the kingdom's consulate in Turkey. Washington: US President Donald Trump has vowed "severe punishment" if Saudi Arabia was behind the disappearance of its dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi who is feared killed at the kingdom's consulate in Turkey. Trump, however, opposed the idea of cancelling the mega $110 billion arms deal with Riyadh, saying this will hurt American companies and jobs. His remarks came amidst mounting pressure as reports coming out of Turkey suggest that Khashoggi was brutally killed by Saudi officials inside their consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, 59, a Washington Post contributor, had gone there to collect some papers for his marriage. "Well, there's a lot at stake. And maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. There's something you'll be surprised to hear me say that. There's something really terrible and disgusting about that if that were the case. So we're gonna have to see. We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment," Trump told CBS News. The interview was aired on Sunday. In a statement issued through the official Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabia has said it would retaliate if there were any sanctions by the US. "It will respond with greater action" if there was any action from the United States, it said. "The Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy and that the Kingdom's economy is affected only by the impact of the global economy," it said. Trump resisted the move to take steps that would harm the United States itself. "What are your options? Let's say they did. What are your options? Would you consider imposing sanctions, as a bipartisan group of senators have proposed?" he was asked. "It depends on what the sanction is. I'll give an example. They are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order. Russia wanted it, China wanted it, we wanted it. We got it," he said. "I tell you what I don't wanna do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these companies, I don't wanna hurt jobs. I don't wanna lose an order like that. There are other ways of punishing, to use a word that's a pretty harsh word, but it's true," he said in response to the question. The matter is still being investigated and Saudi Arabia has been claiming that Khashoggi left its Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish investigative agencies, according to media reports, claim that they have audio and video evidence which indicated that the journalist was brutally killed inside the consulate. The US has sought information from Saudi Arabia. Trump has said that he intends to speak to the Saudi King soon. "Nobody knows yet, but we'll probably be able to find out. It's being investigated. It's being looked at very, very strongly. We would be very upset and angry if that were the case. As of this moment, they deny it. And deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes," Trump added. President Donald Trump has alleged China, in addition to Russia, meddled in the 2016 US presidential elections. Washington: President Donald Trump has alleged China, in addition to Russia, meddled in the 2016 US presidential elections. Last month, chairing a UN Security Council meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump had alleged that China was trying to interfere in the 2018 mid-term polls and that it did not want him to be the president. China has denied these allegations. However, for the first time, Trump came out in open to say that China also meddled in the 2016 presidential elections. "They (Russians) meddled. But I think China meddled too," Trump told CBS News's popular '60 Minutes' in an interview. Recorded on Thursday, the interview was broadcast Sunday night. "I think China meddled also. And I think, frankly, China...is a bigger problem," Trump said and denied that by saying so he is not trying to divert the entire Russia thing. "I'm saying Russia, but I'm also saying China," he said. But it's the investigation of Russia's intervention in the 2016 election that hangs over his presidency and caused a rift with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions because he recused himself from the inquiry. Trump expressed disappointment that his Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescued himself from the Russia investigation. "I was disappointed that he recused himself and many people think I was right on that. I was very disappointed. Why should he have recused himself? So I was very disappointed," he said. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is conducting investigations into the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Responding to a question, he said he has no intention of shutting down the Russian investigation. "Well, I don't pledge anything. But (I) will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it's a very unfair investigation because there was no collusion of any kind," he said. To date, 32 people have been charged or pleaded guilty in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. President Trump's campaign chairman, a top campaign aide, former national security advisor and longtime personal attorney are all cooperating in the inquiry, which the president calls a witch-hunt. Trump questioned the very proposition that he called Russia to help him in the elections. "Do you really think I would call Russia to help me with an election? Give me a break. They wouldn't be able to help me at all. Call Russia. It's so ridiculous," he said. US President Donald Trump said in an interview airing Sunday that Defence Secretary Jim Mattis 'could be' leaving, referring to him as 'sort of a Democrat.' Washington: US President Donald Trump said in an interview airing Sunday that Defence Secretary Jim Mattis "could be" leaving, referring to him as "sort of a Democrat." Mattis, seen as one of the steadiest but also more independent members of Trump's cabinet, has served as a low-profile counterweight to the president in his often abrasive treatment of US allies. In an interview to be aired Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes," Trump was asked whether he wanted Mattis to leave. "It could be that he is. I think he's sort of a Democrat if you want to know the truth," Trump said, according to an excerpt released by CBS. "But General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves." Trump said he had lunch with Mattis two days earlier and the retired Marine four-star general had not told him that he was leaving. Rumours that Mattis's days as defence chief are numbered have circulated since a book by journalist Bob Woodward about Trump's chaotic White House said the general had questioned Trump's judgment, likening his understanding to that of a 10- or 11-year-old child. "Of course, I don't think about leaving," Mattis told Pentagon reporters last month. "I love it here." Trump's comments come as he eyes another cabinet shakeup. Last week, his ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced her resignation, effective at the end of the year. She gave no reason for the surprise move, but observers have noted that the ascension of John Bolton as national security advisor and Mike Pompeo as secretary of state have shifted the power dynamics on Trump's national security team. The generals who once dominated security policy increasingly have appeared to be on the outs with Trump. Lieutenant-General HR McMaster was replaced by Bolton in April, while John Kelly, the White House chief of staff and also a retired four-star general, is reported to have lost influence with the mercurial president. Mattis has been careful to avoid public conflict with Trump, but has nonetheless performed in ways that contrast sharply with his boss, emphatically defending the US commitment to its NATO allies and calling out Russia. Earlier in October, as NATO announced its biggest military exercises since the Cold War, Mattis reassured allies of America's "iron-clad" commitment to the 69-year-old alliance. The US, he told reporters in Paris, is "keenly aware of the dangers close to your home." While Bolton and Pompeo also have taken a hard line on Russia, Trump has often expressed a desire for better relations with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. He used a NATO summit in July to berate allies as "delinquent" on defence spending. In the "60 Minutes" interview, Trump alluded to upcoming changes in his cabinet. "I'm changing things around. And I'm entitled to. I have people now on standby that will be phenomenal. They'll come into the administration, they'll be phenomenal," Trump said. "I think we have a great cabinet. There're some people that I'm not happy with. I have some people that I'm not thrilled with. And I have other people that I'm beyond thrilled with," he said. ROME (Reuters) - Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio on Sunday ruled out that the government could take the country out of the euro zone, saying such talk was no more than scaremongering by its political opponents. 'No-one need fear an exit from the euro or from the European Union, there is no danger and no intention because that isn't what the Italians asked of us at the election,' Di Maio said in an interview on private television station Canale 5. Di Maio, who leads the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement which governs with the right-wing League, told the station that the opposition Democratic Party said the government wanted to leave the euro 'because they want to scare people' ROME (Reuters) - Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio on Sunday ruled out that the government could take the country out of the euro zone, saying such talk was no more than scaremongering by its political opponents. "No-one need fear an exit from the euro or from the European Union, there is no danger and no intention because that isn't what the Italians asked of us at the election," Di Maio said in an interview on private television station Canale 5. Di Maio, who leads the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement which governs with the right-wing League, told the station that the opposition Democratic Party said the government wanted to leave the euro "because they want to scare people". Both the League and 5-Star once campaigned on an anti-euro platform, but the former rivals ditched any plans to leave the single currency when they joined forces to form a government in June, following an inconclusive national election. However, financial markets remain nervous despite repeated reiterations that ditching the euro is not in the government's programme, and occasional eurosceptic comments by coalition members have triggered sell-offs of Italian government bonds. An Ipsos opinion poll published on Saturday in daily Corriere della Sera showed 61 percent of Italians wanted to keep the euro, compared with just 27 percent who favoured a return to Italy's old lira currency. (Reporting By Gavin Jones; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Maldives judges on Sunday heard a petition by strongman president Abdulla Yameen to have his recent election defeat annulled, potentially triggering US sanctions and plunging the Indian Ocean archipelago into fresh turmoil. Colombo: Maldives judges on Sunday heard a petition by strongman president Abdulla Yameen to have his recent election defeat annulled, potentially triggering US sanctions and plunging the Indian Ocean archipelago into fresh turmoil. Yameen lost heavily in the 23 September election to a little-known united opposition candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, despite his main rivals being in jail or in exile and the media in his pocket. Under pressure from the US, Europe and India, which is seeking to counter growing Chinese influence in the strategically positioned 1,200-island honeymoon paradise, Yameen quickly conceded defeat and said he would leave office on 17 November. But even as Western countries breathed a sigh of relief, prisoners were released and opposition figures began returning from exile, Yameen last week filed a request for the Supreme Court to annul the result and call fresh elections. A statement on Saturday by his Progressive Party (PPM) said the vote was the "most farcical election in living memory" with the organisation "abysmal", vote-rigging "rampant" and many people unable to cast ballots. The Supreme Court in the capital Male adjourned on Sunday after proceedings that lasted several hours, and will resume on Monday. The United States which like the European Union threatened sanctions if the elections were not free and fair on Saturday warned it would react if Yameen, 59, does not go quietly. "The US is concerned by troubling actions by outgoing president Yameen that threaten to undermine the will of the Maldivian people," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said on Twitter. He added that Washington "will consider appropriate measures against anyone who undermines a peaceful transfer of power in #Maldives". The situation is not dissimilar to 2013 when Yameen, the estranged half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ruled the Maldives with an iron fist for 30 years until 2008, first became president. Mohamed Nasheed, Yameen's rival at the time and the country's first democratically elected president, beat him in the first round of elections but Yameen persuaded the Supreme Court to nullify the result. A subsequent vote was then twice delayed, allowing Yameen time to forge alliances that helped him narrowly win a contested run-off. Since then Yameen has borrowed heavily from China for infrastructure projects. Dozens of people queued up outside the Supreme Court on Sunday to get inside several hours before the hearing began. It started with the court allowing all opposition parties to have their say. A handful of people held placards, including "Arrest Yameen". Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, a Colombo-based spokesman for the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said the legal challenge was an attempt by Yameen to create turmoil. The country's Joint Opposition, which includes the MDP, has asked Yameen to withdraw the "blatantly unsubstantiated case, and to step aside and to facilitate a peaceful, and smooth transition." The opposition has also urged state institutions, including the courts and the security forces, to uphold the will of the people. "Maldivians used the ballot to defeat the dictatorial regime. Yameen must not be allowed to (pervert) the hard-won opportunity for all Maldivians to attain meaningful democracy and stability," the Joint Opposition said in a statement at the weekend. Apart from his political foes, in February Yameen jailed the chief justice and another Supreme Court judge after accusing them of trying to topple him. Yameen had initially suspended the court, parliament and the constitution and declared a state of emergency when legislators were about to impeach him in February. Three of the remaining Supreme Court justices have been restored, but the opposition has said they had no faith in the judiciary to deliver justice while Yameen remains in power. However, several high-profile political prisoners, including Gayoom, have been released on bail since the election results were officially announced. By Gabriela Baczynska, Alastair Macdonald and Elizabeth Piper BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit negotiators have yet to seal a deal on Britain's divorce terms, EU officials said on Sunday, after a flurry of meetings in Brussels to try to move the talks forward before Prime Minister Theresa May arrives for a summit this week. With less than six months until Britain leaves the European Union, Britain's Brexit minister Dominic Raab met EU negotiator Michel Barnier and the ambassadors of the 27 other member states were separately summoned to a meeting. By Gabriela Baczynska, Alastair Macdonald and Elizabeth Piper BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit negotiators have yet to seal a deal on Britain's divorce terms, EU officials said on Sunday, after a flurry of meetings in Brussels to try to move the talks forward before Prime Minister Theresa May arrives for a summit this week. With less than six months until Britain leaves the European Union, Britain's Brexit minister Dominic Raab met EU negotiator Michel Barnier and the ambassadors of the 27 other member states were separately summoned to a meeting. But senior EU sources said negotiations had yet to produce a final deal for leaders to approve this week, and some signalled that more meetings would be necessary to get agreement on the withdrawal terms. The ambassadors were also told there was as yet no agreement with Britain, two EU diplomatic sources said. Raab had raced to Brussels after the two sides "jointly agreed that face-to-face talks were necessary" on the "big issues still to resolve". One of those was a "backstop" to prevent a return to controls on the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. This arrangement has strengthened opposition to May's plans after her Northern Irish allies accused the bloc of trying to annex the province. Britain's biggest shift in foreign and trade policy for decades is also dividing the prime minister's Conservative Party, with critics, such as Raab's predecessor, pressing May to change her strategy. David Davis, who resigned as Brexit minister in July, accused the government on Sunday of accepting "the EU's language on dealing with the Northern Ireland border". "This is one of the most fundamental decisions that government has taken in modern times. It is time for cabinet members to exert their collective authority," wrote Davis, who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. "This week the authority of our constitution is on the line," he said in an article in the Sunday Times. Davis also pressed May to abandon her Brexit proposal, which involves staying in a free trade zone with the EU for manufactured and agricultural goods. The bloc "has rejected it. The public does not like it. Parliament will not vote for it," he wrote. LOBBYING So far, May has shown little appetite to change tack, trying to persuade Conservative lawmakers and those in the opposition Labour Party to vote for any deal based on her plan. Lobbying of May from all sides has increased in recent weeks as London and Brussels edge closer to an agreement on a draft withdrawal treaty to cover the divorce terms, a transition period and a solution for Northern Ireland. Preventing any return of a "hard" border in Ireland has become one of the major obstacles, with Brexit campaigners fearful that a backstop with expiry date will keep Britain inside a customs union with the EU indefinitely. May insists any customs arrangement as part of the backstop must be temporary, but the EU has refused to set an end date. Health minister Matt Hancock suggested the backstop could be temporary without such a date, an argument that may fall flat with some eurosceptic lawmakers who are calling for May to "chuck Chequers", her Brexit plan named after her country residence. "There are different ways to ensure that something is time limited," Hancock told the BBC. "For instance, you can set conditions at the point at which the arrangements come to an end." Even if May reaches a withdrawal agreement, she will struggle to get it through parliament and may find opposition from the small Northern Irish party which props up here minority government to other legislation such as the budget. "I fully appreciate the risks of a 'no deal' but the dangers of a bad deal are worse," Arlene Foster, head of the Democratic Unionist Party, wrote in the Belfast Telegraph newspaper. "This backstop arrangement would not be temporary. It would be the permanent annexation of Northern Ireland away from the rest of the United Kingdom and forever leave us subject to rules made in a place where we have no say." (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Keith Weir and David Stamp) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Pervez Musharraf who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007, Islamabad: A special court in Pakistan on Monday ordered the formation of a high-level judicial commission to record Pervez Musharraf's statement in Dubai in a treason case after the former military dictator declined to appear before the court through video conferencing. General (retired) Musharraf, 75, who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014. A conviction for high treason carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. The former army chief left for Dubai for medical treatment and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons. Musharraf's lawyer told a special court bench comprising Justice Yawar Ali, Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Nazar Akbar that his client was unable to record his statement via video link since he is "indisposed", Dawn news reported. Justice Ali asked the lawyer whether Musharraf had been diagnosed with cancer, to which he responded that the former president had been diagnosed with heart problems, the report said. "He says he is not a coward. He wishes to appear before the court himself and present the evidence in his defence," the lawyer said. "The accused is in a foreign country right now. According to his lawyer, he is very ill," Justice Ali noted. "Pervez Musharraf's previous record is before us. He is not ready to record a statement via video link," the prosecution lawyer said. "We are told that Pervez Musharraf cannot appear in court due to his illness. He wishes to record his statement in the treason case," the bench observed. The court decided to order the formation of the judicial commission that will go to the UAE to record Musharraf's statement in the case. The members of the commission and its scope will be decided later and if anyone had objections, they could challenge the formation of the commission before the high court, the bench said. The case was adjourned until 14 November. Last week, the Supreme Court chief told Musharraf that "there are good doctors in Pakistan" and directed him to appear before the apex court to record his statement. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and the Red Mosque cleric killing case. The disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkish officials fear has been killed, potentially has taken the practice to a new, macabre level. Dubai: As every country across the West Asia does with its leaders, its hard to escape posters and laudatory fawning over Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the kingdom. For activists, opponents and others willing to speak out against the 33-year-old heir apparent in the worlds largest oil exporter, it looks increasingly like its hard to escape his reach either at home or abroad. The kingdom long has been known to grab rambunctious princes or opponents abroad and spirit them back to Riyadh on private planes. But the disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkish officials fear has been killed, potentially has taken the practice to a new, macabre level by grabbing a writer who could both navigate Saudi Arabias byzantine royal court and explain it to the West. The disappearance also peels away a carefully cultivated reformist veneer promoted about Prince Mohammed amid the kingdom allowing women to drive, instead exposing its autocratic tendencies. Im not Gandhi or Mandela, the prince told CBS in March when describing his personal wealth. Saudi Arabia insists the allegations it faces over Khashoggis disappearance are baseless, but has not offered any evidence over the last week to support their claim that he simply walked away and vanished into Istanbul though his fiancee waited just outside. Nor has Turkey fully explained why officials fear Khashoggi has been killed. Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the US, sought to convey sympathy with carefully moderate criticism in a note to friends in English the embassy shared with reporters. I would normally prefer not to address such outrageous claims, especially when it concerns the wellbeing of a missing citizen who dedicated a great portion of his life to serve his country, Prince Khalid wrote. It goes without saying that his family in the kingdom remain gravely concerned about him, and so are we," he said. That sharply contrasts with the tone taken by Saudi local media, as well as Saudi-owned satellite channels and other broadcasters. There, newspapers have called Khashoggis disappearance a plot ginned up by Qatar, who the kingdom has been boycotting with three other nations since last year. Al-Jazeera, Qatars state-funded broadcaster, has focused extensively on the case in recent days. Online, the smears have been worse, describing Khashoggi as an al-Qaida supporter for the interviews he did with Osama bin Laden in the years before he turned firmly against the West and plotted the 11 September terror attacks. Khashoggi, apparently with royal court support, once even sought to have bin Laden return to the kingdom and renounce terrorism. That harshness corresponds with the growing concerns internationally about the direction Saudi Arabia is taking under Prince Mohammed and his father. The kingdom won international praise for allowing women to be able to drive in June. But just ahead of that, the kingdom rounded up and imprisoned womens rights activists, including reportedly grabbing one who was in the neighboring United Arab Emirates (UAE). Similarly, Prince Mohammed wowed the business world with promises of having an initial public offering of the state oil behemoth Saudi Arabian Oil Co, or Saudi Aramco, as it is known, suggesting it would have a $2 trillion valuation. He hosted a major business summit at Riyadhs Ritz Carlton, complete with a humanoid robot named Sophia getting Saudi citizenship. Only weeks later, the Ritz Carlton would turn into a luxury prison as part of a mass arrest of businessmen, royals and others orchestrated by Prince Mohammed in what was described as targeting corruption. Those released agreed to sign over some of their assets, giving the crackdown the feel of a shakedown. Meanwhile, the Saudi-led war in Yemen grinds on with its years-long stalemate, its toll on civilians in the Arab worlds poorest country unending. The freeze on journalism and free expression isnt limited to Saudi Arabia in the greater Persian Gulf. In the UAE on Monday, an influential Emirati official named Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi reportedly told youth gathered for a summit in Abu Dhabi that our enemies have partnered with media organizations who have reported that the UAE has a prison camp and is committing human rights abuses in Yemen. The Associated Press has reported on secret prisons in Yemen run by UAE-backed forces where detainees faced physical and sexual abuse, as well as how Emirati forces cut secret deals with al-Qaida militants to get them to abandon territory. If the worst-case scenario is realized, Saudi Arabia will have links to the murder of a vocal critic in a fashion engineered to create just enough doubt for the veneer of implausible-but-sufficient deniability, the New York-based Soufan Center said on Tuesday. It also sends and unequivocal signal to other journalists who dare to criticize the regime. But even before now, some like Khashoggi had put themselves in self-exile abroad. If the worst is confirmed about the journalists fate, that may push even more critics underground and leave fewer still willing to speak frankly about the kingdom. As Khashoggi wrote in his first column in the Post: That is how breathtakingly fast you can fall out of favour with Saudi Arabia. A Taliban delegation has met with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict, the militant group said Saturday, the first time either side has officially confirmed talks. Kabul: A Taliban delegation has met with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict, the militant group said Saturday, the first time either side has officially confirmed talks. The direct negotiations a longstanding Taliban demand were held as Khalilzad seeks to coordinate efforts with regional countries, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, to convince Afghanistan's largest militant group to engage in talks. The meeting with Khalilzad and other American officials took place in Doha on Friday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. Taliban and US negotiators discussed a "peaceful end to the invasion in Afghanistan", Mujahid said, referring to the US-led intervention in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime. But the gr oup made clear that the presence of foreign forces in the country was a "big obstacle" to peace. Both sides "agreed to continue such meetings", he added, without providing further details. In a statement, Khalilzad said all Afghans "must be a part of this reconciliation process", but he did not mention meeting with the Taliban. A spokesman for the US embassy in Kabul declined to comment. Win for the Taliban In July, the Taliban reportedly met with US officials, including Alice Wells, the senior official for the State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. Neither side would go on the record to confirm that meeting, but there has been speculation since then that more talks were planned. The reported July meeting followed an unprecedented ceasefire involving Afghan security forces and the Taliban in June, which fuelled hopes that fighting could be brought to an end after 17 years. But a wave of attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State group in recent months and a failed attempt at a second ceasefire have poured cold water on the nascent optimism for peace. The Taliban's decision to issue a statement on the meeting suggests it sees the talks with Khalilzad as a propaganda win, analysts said. The group has long called for bilateral talks with the United States, but Washington has repeatedly refused, insisting the process must be Afghan-led. But under pressure to break the impasse with the group, Washington appeared to change tack in June when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his country was prepared to "participate" in talks. "The meeting is a success for (the) Taliban. They were demanding to directly meet with the US for a long time and they finally got it," said Afghan political analyst Atta Noori. "Although they have not agreed on anything... they could bypass the Afghan government." A Western official in Kabul said the Taliban went public on the meeting because "it suits their propaganda". The Taliban statement was issued as Khalilzad returned to Kabul after a regional trip that began with his first visit to Afghanistan since his appointment last month as US envoy. On Monday, he met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other senior leaders in Kabul before travelling to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for further talks. On the same day Khalilzad met with Afghan officials, the Taliban issued a statement vowing to target government security forces in upcoming parliamentary elections, which the United States is helping to finance. Afghan-born Khalilzad, a high-profile former US ambassador to Kabul, Baghdad and the United Nations, is known as a blunt negotiator with hawkish foreign policy views. Fluent in Pashto and Dari, Khalilzad's experience as a foreign policy operative in the country dates back to the 1980s, when he served as an adviser to the Reagan administration. Having recently secured EU funding, Plenitude, a group of sustainable food partners led by Enough Food has set out to build a mycoprotein facility in Sas van Gent, in... Read More Robeks Franchisee Bringing Flavor And Passion To North Florida Proven Operator Excited to be Part of the Community October 15, 2018 // Franchising.com // LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Hoping to bring a healthy, tasty alternative to the North Florida market, one of the Robeks Fresh Juices and Smoothies top performing Southern California operators is looking forward to relocating to the Jacksonville area. Tariq Johnson and his wife Bridgette opened their first Robeks in Wildomar, CA at the beginning of 2017. Through a combination of solid operating practices and great product offerings, they achieved a level of success within their first year that allowed them to relocate to the east coast to be closer to Bridgettes flourishing art business. I think thats the beauty of being with an organization like Robeks, said Johnson when questioned about the transition from coast to coast. We knew when searching for the right franchise that we wanted something that was easy to operate. We wanted a model we wouldnt have to struggle to get up to speed with. We definitely found that with Robeks. Robeks is an industry leader in innovative smoothie, juice, and bowl recipes with an emphasis on making it easy for their franchisees to step right in and feel comfortable with the operation. Johnson remains heavily involved in the day-to-day aspects of the business, ensuring a high standard is met by his employees. Its something we pride ourselves in. We want to make sure that were giving our customers an experience they cant get anywhere else. We definitely created that in Wildomar and Im excited to bring that attitude to the Jacksonville area. Johnson will be assuming ownership of the current Robeks store in Neptune Beach, FL. just south of Jacksonville, after finalizing the purchase in August of 2018. He also plans to expand within the region and has begun scouting real estate for more Robeks locations in the greater Jacksonville area. Johnson is not the only one on track to open additional stores. Robeks executives confirmed there are currently 8 other franchisees with plans to open additional stores through 2019. Its an exciting time for us in terms of growth said David Rawnsley, President of Robeks Corporation. Weve worked hard over the past couple years to shift our focus more towards the franchisees and create a collaborative environment. Seeing our franchisees doubling down and looking to open new stores is really fulfilling. It shows our work is making a difference. Robeks currently has 85 stores across the country with 5 stores under construction and they anticipate having 100 stores by the end of 2019. We are thrilled for Tariq and Bridgette said Rawnsley. Weve seen the kind of passion they bring to the business and cant wait for them to become part of the community there in Jacksonville. About Robeks Fresh Juices & Smoothies For over 20 years, Robeks Fresh Juices & Smoothies has been serving delicious, good-for-you smoothies and juices using unique and innovative recipes that always result in great taste. Everything is made to order and never pre-packaged. With more than 80 locations nationwide, Robeks Fresh Juices & Smoothies continues to grow and expand its reach throughout the U.S. To learn more about the menu, or to find the closest location visit: www.robeks.com SOURCE Robeks Fresh Juices & Smoothies ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus What makes Japan so similar to Georgia? - GeorgianJournal Xiaomi Mi 6s According to Geekbench 4 listing, the company is expected to launch the Xiaomi Mi 6s, with last generation flagship specifications. According to the listing, the Xiaomi Mi 6s will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, which also powers the Xiaomi Mi 6 with 6 GB of RAM. The listing also reveals that the smartphone will run on the latest Android OS from Google, the Android 9 Pie with custom MIUI 10 skin on top. The Xiaomi Mi 6s is expected to offer a modern display with a notch cut out, higher screen to body ratio with a dual camera setup. If we look at the actual performance of the smartphone, the device scores 1830 points on the single core and 6944 points on multi-core performance. Do note that, these scores are in line with other smartphones running on the Snapdragon 835 processor. Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 Considering the leaks and speculations, the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 could be the first smartphone to launch with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, the next generation flagship processor from Qualcomm based on the 7nm manufacturing process. The Snapdragon 855 is expected to launch with a dedicated 5G modem to offer true 5G networking capabilities on a smartphone. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 is also expected to come with a complete bezel-less design with a retractable camera setup, similar to the one seen on the Oppo Find X to offer higher screen to body ratio. Conclusion The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 is expected to cost around $600 (Rs 40,000) for the base variant, whereas the Xiaomi Mi 6S will be priced around $350 (Rs 25,000). However, do note that the Xiaomi Mi 6 is already available in China for a similar price tag (around $350). Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite global release to debut on November 11; to be priced around Rs. 15,000 News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite is geared up for a global expedition. While the global release of its flagship Mi 8 series is yet to happen, Xiaomi announced two new smartphones in the lineup - Mi 8 Lite and Mi 8 Pro. These smartphones were launched in the company's home market China. Now, it looks like the global rollout of these models is nearing. As per recent reports, the Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite is all set to be released in Taiwan on the country's Single's Day, which is November 11. The Mi 8 Lute is known as the Mi 8 Youth Edition and carries the credits of being one among the first smartphones from the brand to sport a gradient color such as Dream Blue and Twilight Gold. The same device is also available in Deep Space Gray as well. This information has been revealed by the Chinese publication ITHome and it is yet to be confirmed officially by Xiaomi Taiwan. If the smartphone is all set to be launched in Taiwan in the next month, then we can expect the company to start teasing the same in the days to come. India launch is expected Xiaomi usually takes a considerable time to release its flagship devices in India but the entry-level and mid-range smartphones are launched quickly in the Indian market. Earlier, there were speculations that the Mi 8 SE could be launched in the country under Rs. 20,000. Given that the Mi 8 Lite is also expected to be priced similarly, we can expect it to be launched in India in the coming months. Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite price The Mi 8 Lite was launched in three storage variants - 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM priced at 1399 yuan (approx. Rs. 15,000), 6GB RAM + 64GB ROM priced at 1699 yuan (approx. Rs. 18,000) and 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM priced at 1999 yuan (approx. Rs. 21,000). The highlights of this smartphone are the glass panel at its rear, notch on top of the display, dual rear cameras, 24.8MP selfie camera and more. Though there are claims regarding the global rollout of the Mi 8 Lite, there is no word regarding that of the Mi 8 Pro. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Dubai now has its own self-driven taxi service News oi-Vishal Kawadkar Dubai citizens can now take advantage of self-driven taxi serivces. The age of flying taxis might not be upon us as of now, but self-driving taxis have started there run on the streets of Dubai. At the annual consumer electronics trade show Gitex, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, or RTA, showcased the new self-driven taxi service. The driverless car service will run for the coming three months in select parts of Dubai, according to transportation officials. The cars are intended to connect passengers during the "first and last mile" to get from existing transportation systems to like malls, movie theater or another venue. According to the RTA, cars can reach up to 20 mph and fit four passengers. In the front, the cars will also have a safety driver, who can take over the controls in case of an emergency. In promotional materials the cars are depicted without the safety driver for a truly driverless experience, pointing towards what the company could introduce later. These cars are modified Mercedes-Benz sedans with cameras, LiDAR system, and sensors installed in the car. Previously Dubai tested self-driving passenger drones for an air-based taxi service. That service is yet to take flight for the general public. A release about the taxi service hailed the program for its contribution in "transforming Dubai into the smartest city in the world." We have already heard about the Airbus and Audi collaboration, trying to build a city car/flying taxi concept. Uber is also said to be working on a flying taxi hub in Paris. Then we have Kitty Hawk, a secret company founded by Google co-founder Larry Page -- it's working on a project called Cora, which is another flying taxi. But there's a new player joining the race- Rolls-Royce. Don't be confused, we aren't talking about the luxury car company. We are talking about the engine company that parted ways with the car company decades ago. The company is planning to dip its hands in the flying vehicle waters and has drawn plans to build an electric vehicle that would be able to reach speeds up to 400 kilometers per hour (250 miles per hour). The company believes that the vehicle could see the light of day as early as the next decade, a timeline that its competition has been aiming. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications By Michelle Bigelbach The Courier Valley County Sheriff's Deputy Luke Strommen is being charged with Felony Sexual Abuse of a Child according to court documents filed in District Court in Glasgow on Oct. 11. According to court documents, Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) wa... US-led intelligence alliance builds coalition to counter China Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 05:42PM The Five Eyes US-led intelligence alliance has started to exchange classified information on China's foreign activities with other nations concerned about Beijing's growing power, according to a report. The increased cooperation by the Five Eyes alliance - grouping the United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia started at the start of the year, with countries such as Germany and Japan, Reuters reported, citing seven officials in four capitals. The exchange of classified information on China is a sign of a broadening international front against Chinese investments and operations aimed at gaining global influence, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. "Consultations with our allies, with like-minded partners, on how to respond to China's assertive international strategy have been frequent and are gathering momentum," a US official told Reuters. "What might have started as ad hoc discussions are now leading to more detailed consultations on best practices and further opportunities for cooperation." The officials said the talks have been taking place "below the radar" and mainly bilaterally. Two sources said France was also involved, but on a less regular and comprehensive basis. While China has been the main focus, discussions have also focused on Russia, several said. Beijing, faced with growing tensions from Washington, Canberra and other capitals, has rejected accusations that it is seeking to influence foreign governments and that its investments are politically driven. The enhanced coordination by the Five Eyes network suggests that members of US President Donald Trump's administration are working hard behind the scenes to put together an informal coalition to counter China. It also represents another blow to China's fading hopes of convincing European countries, unsettled by Trump's "America First" policies, to distance themselves from Washington and move closer to Beijing. Tensions have soared in recent months with the administration of President Donald Trump rolling out billions of dollars in tariffs against China in a bid to tackle its trade deficit and rein in what Washington views as unacceptable trade practices by the world's second largest economy. The officials who spoke with Reuters described a "flurry of consultations" in recent months, with Washington driving coordination. Talks have taken place between diplomats, intelligence officials and heads of government, they said. The Five Eyes network was set up among the five English-speaking group of countries after World War Two to counter influence by the former Soviet Union. "We are living in a new world," said a person from a Five Eyes country who has traveled extensively to other capitals over the past year to discuss China's foreign activities. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Three Saudi soldiers killed in clashes with Yemeni army in border areas Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 05:08PM At least three Saudi soldiers have been killed in clashes with Yemeni forces in border areas of the war-ravaged country, a report says. Saudi Arabia's pro-government Shohada al-Vajeb (Martyrs of the Military Service) group, which keeps track of Saudi military personnel killed since 2009, announced the news on its twitter account on Sunday. The group identified the troopers as Abdullah bin Mubarak, Ali Salem al-Ghamedi and Mohammad bin Faye al-Za'bi, who were all killed on the "southern borders." Saudi authorities rarely admit the kingdom's military casualties. The kingdom has a policy of withholding information on the casualties it has suffered during the war on Yemen. A report by Reuters published in April last year said that at least 400 Saudi soldiers had been killed in the cross-border fire since the start of the Saudi aggression against Yemen more than two years ago. In early April, Arabic-language Yemen Watch news agency reported that nearly 120 Saudi troopers had been killed in dozens of sniper operations carried out by Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees. Meanwhile, Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network, citing an unnamed military official, said that Yemeni forces, backed by fighters from the Houthi Ansarullah movement, launched an attack against Saudi-led mercenaries in Hays area in Yemen's western province of Hudaydah. It added that the attack inflicted heavy human and material losses on the invading troops. Other reports said that the Yemeni soldiers managed to destroy at least three Saudi-led military vehicles. Saudi Arabia and some of its allies, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan, launched a brutal war against Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the country's popular Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has played a significant role, alongside the Yemeni army, in defending the impoverished nation. The aggression initially consisted of a bombing campaign but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces to Yemen. Some 15,000 Yemenis have so far been killed and thousands more injured. More than 2,200 others have also died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian disaster. The imposed war has also taken a heavy toll on the country's infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. Some Western countries, the United States and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Air Force confirms major damage to F-22 stealth jets in Hurricane Michael Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 03:15PM The US Air Force has confirmed that a number of its advanced F-22 Raptor fighter jets sustained damage as Hurricane Michael ploughed through a military base in the state of Florida. Hurricane Michael, the strongest storm to make landfall in the continental US in almost half a century, hit the the Tyndall Air Force Base on its way Thursday. Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Defense News that all hangars housing the $475 million aircraft were damaged but it was not clear to what extent. "We anticipate the aircraft parked inside may be damaged as well, but we won't know the extent until our crews can safely enter those hangars and make an assessment," Stefanek said. The MSNBC stated that of the 55 Raptors stationed at Tyndall, 33 had been moved out of the base prior to the hurricane's arrival while 22 still remained there. The Air Force had yet to reveal the number of the damaged aircraft and their types. However, the Facebook community Air Force Forum page, wrote that at least eight F-22s, parked in the supposedly hurricane-proof hangars, had sustained significant damage in the hurricane. Photos shared on social media also showed a damaged QF-16 aerial target aircraft with its nose cone sheared off. One source told Defense News website that at least 10 aircraft, including some parked outside the shelters, were severely damaged. "We anticipate the aircraft parked inside may be damaged as well," Air Force spokeswoman Major Malinda Singleton said. "But we won't know the extent until our crews can safely enter those hangars and make an assessment." While the USAF takes great pride in its F-22 Raptor fleet, the stealth fighter has gained notoriety for being fragile and extremely difficult to maintain. Recent official assessments have found that only 49 percent of the 187-strong fleet was ready to fly at any given time, the lowest availability figure for all US combat aircraft. Lockheed Martin stopped producing F-22s in 2010 because of high costs and dropped the project entirely in favor of the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Ironically, the F-35 grew to become the world's most expensive weapons project and missed several deadlines due to complex issues. The US military grounded all of its flying F-35s last week after one of the jets crashed and went up in flames near a Marine Corps base in North Carolina. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At Least 17 Afghan Soldiers Killed In Taliban Attacks October 14, 2018 Taliban fighters have attacked two checkpoints in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, killing at least 17 Afghan soldiers and abducting 11 others, officials say. Ghausuddin Noorzai, the district chief in Posht Rod, said that another four soldiers were wounded in the attack, which began late on October 13 and continued into the morning of October 14. He said the attackers seized weapons and ammunition. Defense ministry spokesman Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed said reinforcements were sent to the area, adding that the Taliban has "also suffered huge losses." In southern Zabul Province, the police chief of the Mizan district was killed in clashes with Taliban militants overnight, said provincial Governor Rahmatullah Yarmal. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the two attacks, which came as the militants have vowed to step up their offensive ahead of Afghanistan's general elections set for October 20. On October 13, at least 22 people were killed including civilians and members of the Afghan security forces when a bomb exploded at an election campaign rally for a woman who is running for parliament in the northeastern province of Takhar. No one claimed responsibility, but the Taliban are active in the province and have claimed previous attacks there. And in the western province of Herat, gunmen attacked the campaign office of a candidate, killing a security guard and a child. The Taliban has ramped up attacks on Afghan security forces and government facilities throughout the country in recent months, pledging to do everything in its power to block the parliamentary vote, which the group called an "American conspiracy to further justify the foreign occupation." With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and TOLOnews Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/at-least-17 -afghan-soldiers- killed-in-taliban-attacks/29542925.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Macedonia Lawmakers To Debate Name Change On October 15 RFE/RL's Balkan Service October 14, 2018 The Macedonian parliament is set to debate on October 15 proposed constitutional amendments to change the country's name and settle a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece. In June, the Macedonian and Greek governments hammered out a deal under which Athens agreed to lift its objections to the former Yugoslav republic joining both NATO and the EU in exchange for the country changing its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. Macedonians on September 30 voted more than 90 percent to back the accord, but the vote attracted only 34 percent of eligible voters less than the required 50 percent turnout for the referendum to be declared valid. Despite that, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev vowed to keep pushing for a change to the Balkan nation's name and amend the constitution as required by the deal with Greece. It was still unclear whether the Social Democrat's ruling coalition, backed by parties representing ethnic Albanians, will have the two-third's majority in the 120-seat parliament to pass the proposed changes. Zaev will need to get the support of around a dozen deputies from the nationalist opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, which has campaigned against the change. VMRO-DPMNE has vowed to defeat the proposed constitutional amendments, maintaining that it was rejected by voters because of the poor turnout in the referendum. In an interview with the Macedonian Information Agency news agency, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on October 14 reiterated support for the agreement between Athens and Skopje, saying it was a "unique opportunity for reconciliation in the Western Balkans, which may never happen again." Zaev, who came to power following elections 22 months ago, has said he would call early elections if the amendments fail to pass in parliament. Greece, an EU and NATO member, has for years maintained that Macedonia's name implied the Balkan nation had territorial claims to its northern province of the same name. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-lawmakers-to-debate- name-change-on-october-15/29543034.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'US Agrees to Discuss Troop Pullout': Claim Afghan Taliban Officials Sputnik News 22:21 14.10.2018(updated 22:30 14.10.2018) Reports coming after a Friday meeting in Doha, Qatar, between US diplomats and top Afghan Taliban officials suggest that Washington has agreed to discuss bringing its troops home and end America's 17-year war in Afghanistan. During Friday's preliminary talks, US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad discussed with the Taliban conditions to bring about the end of the US's 17-year war in Afghanistan, according to two ranking Taliban officials speaking on condition of anonymity, as reported by Al Jazeera. "Six US delegates arrived in Doha to have a meeting with our [Taliban] leaders [and] agreed to discuss all issues, including the pullout of foreign troops," an unnamed Afghan Taliban official stated. "But it was a preliminary meeting and all issues were discussed in general, not in detail," the anonymous Taliban official asserted, adding that additional talks are expected in upcoming months, cited by Al Jazeera. Taliban demands for a peaceful resolution of almost two decades of conflict in Afghanistan at the hands of the US include the complete pullout of all American military personnel, including contract mercenaries, as well as the lifting of sanctions against its leaders, freedom for imprisoned Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, and the creation and recognition of its official political party. Following Friday's exploratory talks, Khalilzad and other US officials refused to comment on progress between the two belligerents, according to Al Jazeera. US officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells, previously met with Taliban officials in Qatar in July. Appointed in September as US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Khalilzad has in recent months met with representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Afghanistan in a bid to forge a path to peace. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as a reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the mission lasting until December 28, 2014. In 2015, NATO initiated a new mission, Resolute Support, aimed at training Afghan security forces. Nevertheless, seemingly endless US operations have shown limited effectiveness at establishing an enduring peace in Afghanistan. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Grounded No More: Inspected US F-35 Stealth Fighters Free to Fly Sputnik News 17:24 14.10.2018(updated 17:25 14.10.2018) Earlier this week, the United States temporarily suspended all F-35 operations worldwide after the first-ever crash of the advanced F-35 Lightning II fighter jet in September. On Sunday, most grounded F-35 fighter jets in the US and beyond were given the green light for flight, the aircraft's manufacturer Lockheed Martin said. The manufacturer added that the US-made stealth planes returned to the skies after their engines were meticulously inspected, with some of the warplanes assigned for a fuel pipe replacement. Earlier this week, Israel, Australia and Britain announced that they had decided to ground all of their fight-generation F-35 fighter jets. The move came after the Pentagon's F-35 Lightning II Program said in a statement that the US temporarily grounded all F-35 operations worldwide after the first-ever crash of the sophisticated fighter jet led investigators to suspect that a common problem exists with the jet's fuel tubes. The Defense Department, for its part, noted that any faulty fuel tubes installed on the F-35 jets will be removed and replaced, but if inspection reveals that good fuel tubes are already installed, then those aircraft will be returned to flight status. On September 28, a Marine F-35B crashed in South Carolina due to technical failure in a jet engine fuel pipe, according to investigators. In September 2016, the US Air Force (USAF) ordered the grounding of 15 F-35A jets after the discovery of "peeling and crumbling" coolant tube insulation installed in the wings of the jet. The F-35's operating coasts remain a major headache for the USAF and European customers. According to the latest Pentagon acquisition report, the cost per hour of operating the F-35 averages $30,000 compared to $25,500 per hour for the older F-16. While the initial cost of the F-35s was about $132 million, some estimates put the actual price tag at a whopping $198 million each. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN relief official in Yemen condemns 'horrific' attack on passenger buses 14 October 2018 - Condemning an attack on passenger buses in Yemen's Hudaydah governorate, the top United Nations humanitarian official in the country has called on warring parties "to do everything possible" to protect civilians. "This is a horrific incident," Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, said in a news release on Sunday. "The UN agencies working in Yemen unequivocally condemn the attack on civilians and extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims," she added Ms. Grande also reiterated that under international humanitarian law, parties to the conflict are obliged to respect the principles of precaution, proportionality and distinction. "Belligerents must do everything possible to protect civilians not hurt, maim, injure or kill them," added the UN official. At least 15 civilians have been reported killed and 20 others injured when the minibuses they were traveling in were struck in Jabal Ras district in war-ravaged Yemen's western Hudaydah governorate, on Saturday. A number of injured have been transported to the towns of Zabid and Bait al Faqiah where they are being treated at hospitals supported by the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners. Other UN agencies are standby to provide whatever other assistance may be needed, noted the news release. According to humanitarian organizations, some 170 people have been killed and over 1,700 injured in Hudaydah since fighting escalated in June 2018. Furthermore, more than 425,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. Across Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis more than 22 million people, or 75 per cent of the population, need some form of assistance and protection. However, response efforts remain constrained due to limited resources. A $3 billion Humanitarian Response Plan launched by UN and aid partners for 2018 lacks almost a third of the funds it needs. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Violence will not deter Somali people in their pursuit of peace, says UN chief, in wake of lethal attacks 14 October 2018 - Strongly condemning twin suicide attacks in Baidoa, southwestern Somalia, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated the Organization's support and solidarity with the country's people and Government. In a statement by his spokesperson, Mr. Guterres expressed his deep condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those injured. "He is convinced that indiscriminate violence and attacks will not deter the Somali people in their pursuit of peace and stability," added the statement. According to media reports, at least 16 people died and 50 wounded after two suicide bombers attacked a restaurant and a hotel in the town of Baidoa on Saturday. Baidoa is located about 220 kilometres (130 miles) west of capital Mogadishu. The blasts came on the eve of the one-year anniversary of a suicide bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 500 people. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Suggests Defense Chief Could Leave By Ken Bredemeier October 14, 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump is suggesting Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis could be one of his next key officials to leave the government. The Republican president, said in an interview Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes" news show, that he has no indication that Mattis is leaving, but added, "It could be that he is. I think he's sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth." The U.S. leader described the retired Marine Corps general as "a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves. Everybody. People leave. That's Washington." Trump, during his 21-month administration, has fired or pushed out dozens of key officials, or watched as others he liked have resigned, including United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, who last week said she would be leaving her post at the end of the year. Mattis, while leading the U.S. military, has occasionally been at odds with Trump and more hawkish Trump administration officials, including national security adviser John Bolton. Mattis, in mid-2017, pushed for more diplomatic overtures to North Korea in dealing with Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, a stance Trump eventually came around to, leading to his June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump said there are still "some people" in his administration that he is "not thrilled with." He has often assailed Attorney General Jeff Sessions but declined to fire him for removing himself from oversight of the lengthy investigation of whether Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia and whether Trump as president obstructed justice by trying to thwart the probe. But Trump rebuffed reports of chaos in the White House as "fake news," adding, "I'm changing things around. And I'm entitled to. I have people now on standby that will be phenomenal. They'll come into the administration, they'll be phenomenal." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese Envoy Says US Charge of Election Interference 'Groundless' By VOA News October 14, 2018 China's ambassador to the U.S. says many accusations the Trump administration has made against Beijing are "groundless", including election interference. "One of the fundamental principles in China's foreign policy is non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries," Ambassador Cui Tiankai told Fox television Sunday. "We have been consistent in this position. We have a very good track record." Without presenting any tangible evidence of Chinese election interference, the White House has accused China of trying to turn voters away from the Republicans in next month's election. It also calls the China Daily insert in many U.S. newspapers propaganda. Cui called the newspaper section a page out of the U.S. media playbook -- buying commercial pages in newspapers to make one's views known. He also denied the U.S. and China are involved in a trade war, despite the tit-for-tat exchanges of huge tariffs on each other exports. He said Americans have to look at the "whole picture," pointing out how much money U.S. companies have made in China over the years. The ambassador also denied China steals intellectual property from the U.S., days after a senior Chinese intelligence officer was extradited to the U.S. for allegedly trying to steal secrets from American aviation companies. Cui says such charges are "unfair" to the Chinese people. "China has 1.4 billion people. It would be hard to imagine that one-fifth of the global population could develop and not prosper, not by relying mainly on their own efforts, but by stealing or forcing some transfer of technology from others. That's impossible." The ambassador also accused the U.S. of stoking military tensions by sending its ships into the South China Sea near Chinese territory, saying there are no Chinese ships hovering around the Gulf of Mexico or off the California coast. But despite tensions and disagreements, Ambassador Cui said U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi have a "good mutual understanding and a good working relationship" that he is sure will continue. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Children in Ebola-Affected DRC Return to School By Lisa Schlein October 14, 2018 The U.N. children's fund reports the vast majority of children living in Ebola-affected areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have returned to school where they are taught ways to avoid infection. School began one month ago in Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.N. children's fund says efforts to get children to return to school in Ebola-affected areas in conflict-ridden eastern DRC have been hugely successful. It says 80 percent are attending schools in Beni and Mabalako health zones. They are the epicenters of the current Ebola outbreak, which was declared August 1 in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces. The latest World Health Organization report finds 207 cases of Ebola, including 130 deaths. UNICEF spokesman, Christophe Boulierac, said the return of so many children to the classroom is encouraging. He said school provides the children who are living in an area of epidemic and conflict with a sense of normalcy. He said school offers them a protective environment. Boulierac said children in school learn how to prevent getting Ebola and when they go home, they promote regular hand washing with their families. He says this helps avoid further spread of the disease in the community. UNICEF has identified more than 1,500 schools in the areas affected by the Ebola epidemic. Among them are 365 schools located in the high-risk epicenters of the outbreak. The agency has equipped these schools with hygiene and health equipment. Boulierac said more than 3,500 teachers and school principals have received training on preventive measures for Ebola. He said more than 69,300 school children have received these Ebola prevention messages. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Diplomat arrested in Germany enjoys full immunity: Iran Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 05:47PM Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman says an Iranian diplomat, who was arrested in Germany on the false charges of being linked to a bomb attack plot in the French capital, Paris, enjoys full diplomatic immunity. Bahram Qassemi made the remarks on Sunday in reaction to earlier reports in certain media outlets quoting him as saying that immunity of the Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, was limited to Vienna, Austria, where he worked at Iran's embassy, and did not extend to other countries, including Germany, where he was taken into custody. The spokesman added that some media reports had distorted his remarks on the immunity of the Iranian diplomat, emphasizing that distortion and selective coverage of legal and political matters could have undesirable consequences. "What I have said was that his [ambassador's] diplomatic immunity is related to a diplomatic position he had in Austria," Qassemi said. Based on Article 40 of Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, the Iranian diplomat had required immunity for his transit and return, the Iranian spokesperson added. Although the Iranian diplomat was not in his assigned country, he enjoyed full immunity as he was returning to the location of his mission, he noted. Germany extradited to Belgium the Iranian diplomat suspected of plotting a bomb attack in France, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Back in June, Belgian authorities said that the Iranian diplomat had been arrested along with a 38-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, suspected of plotting a bomb attack on a meeting of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) in Paris attended by US President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and several former European and Arab ministers. They added that Belgian police intercepted the two suspects in Belgium with 500 grams of the homemade explosive TATP and a detonation device found in their car. Assadi, 46, was arrested in Germany, suspected of having been in contact with the two arrested in Belgium. Iran on Wednesday summoned the German ambassador to protest Berlin's extradition of the Iranian diplomat to Brussels. The director general for Europe affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry met Michael Klor-Berchtold to convey the Islamic Republic's strong opposition to the arrest, detention and extradition of the Iranian diplomat and said the move was part of a manufactured plot by those opposing Iran-Europe relations and was planned by the MKO itself. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in July that the claims about the arrested Iranian diplomat constitute a "sinister false flag ploy." The top Iranian diplomat emphasized that the Islamic Republic "unequivocally condemns all violence and terror anywhere, and is ready to work with all concerned to uncover what is a sinister false flag ploy." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rohingya Refugees in India Rattled After First-Ever Deportations By Anjana Pasricha October 14, 2018 The Rohingya camps in India's Haryana state, adjoining the capital, New Delhi, lie far from the country's northeast from where Indian authorities deported seven Rohingya men to Myanmar earlier this month. But the first-ever deportations have caused deep worries here of more repatriations of the Muslim minority that fled persecution and violence in Myanmar. As it takes a tougher stand on illegal immigrants, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government has said it plans to send back the estimated 40,000 Rohingyas living in the country. They are scattered throughout India, living in dreary camps like the one lying off a dusty road in Haryana's most underdeveloped district, Mewat. No complaints in camp At one such camp, 45 families living in cramped shelters share one water pipe, the children study in a makeshift school and the men sustain their families by working as laborers on construction sites whenever they can find work. However, nobody complains. The residents say they are willing to cope with the squalor and lack of steady work in these camps that have provided a safe shelter for the last six years from the constant fear they faced in their homeland. "Nobody harasses us in India. If we do some work, we can fend for our food. There is no problem," said Fatima Hatu, who fled Myanmar with her husband in 2012. Can they stay? But the Rohingyas now worry about how long they can call this home. Ali Zohar, who is the informal head of the settlement, fears the deportation of the seven Rohingyas in India's northeast has cleared the way for more to be sent back. Zohar, who says he was once a relatively prosperous landowner, is alarmed. "My life has been ruined," he said. "But what do I do about the future of my children? Will they have to return back? My mind is tired thinking." Hopes pinned on UN card Residents in these camps are hoping that refugee cards given by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will protect them from a second displacement; about half the Rohingyas in India are registered with the U.N. The seven Rohingyas who were deported did not have U.N. cards and had been detained as illegal immigrants. That is why at an adjoining camp, Sultan Amin, keeps his U.N. card, his most prized possession, locked away. Like many of the Rohingyas living in India, he came from Bangladesh in search of better opportunities and so far the card has given him the freedom to move around and work. He says his two brothers and mother, who could not leave Myanmar, tell him that they still face harassment, and Amin believes that his life could be at risk if he is repatriated. "I escaped here to save myself," he said. "How can I go back to be killed?" Called security threat India has said, however, that it does not recognize the U.N. refugee cards. Officials say all those who have entered the country without valid permits are illegal immigrants and state authorities have been told to start collecting the biometrics of Rohingyas so that they can be sent back. New Delhi calls them a security threat and has told the Supreme Court, where the planned repatriations have been challenged, that some Rohingyas could be linked with "Pakistan-based terror organizations and similar organizations operating in other countries." So far no member of the Rohingya community has been charged with militant links, according to security experts although they say there are apprehensions that they could be targets for radicalization. Election plays a role Political observers say Prime Minister Modi's Hindu nationalist government's plan to deport the Rohingya Muslims represents a U-turn on India's traditionally tolerant policy towards refugees. For example, India is home to tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees. An independent political analyst in New Delhi, Neerja Chowdhury, links the tougher posture to general elections scheduled in 2019. There have been loud calls from Hindu groups linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party to send back the Rohingyas. "Certainly if the discourse can be polarized on Hindu-Muslim lines, it is advantage BJP," Chowdhury said. The refugees say all they want is a patch of land where they can have shelter and where they can eke out a living. "All my relatives and family there (in Myanmar) have been killed. When our country is safe like India and Bangladesh, we will go back," said 30-year-old Noor Begum at a camp in Mewat. Such voices are supported by the United Nations refugee agency, which has criticized the deportation of the Rohingyas and said refugees should not be sent back to countries where they fear persecution. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan Holds General, Provincial By-Elections In 35 Constituencies RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal October 14, 2018 Pakistani voters headed to the polls on October 14 to elect 11 members of the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, and fill 24 seats in provincial assemblies. For the first time, Pakistanis living abroad could cast their ballots online. By 1 p.m. local time, no major irregularities were reported and the voting process was going smoothly. Pakistan's main opposition parties have formed an electoral alliance against the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) in an effort to increase their representation in the national and provincial legislatures. The by-elections were held for seats that were vacated by the candidates who had won more than one seat in the July 25 general elections. PTI leader Imran Khan became prime minister after the party won the most parliamentary seats in that vote, which was marred by allegations of massive rigging. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-holds-general-provincial- by-elections-in-35-constituencies/29542956.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Official Source Welcomes Turkish Presidency Declaration, in Response to KSA Request, to Form Bilateral Experts' Joint Action Team, to Disclose Merits of Citizen J. Khashoggi's Disappearance Saudi Press Agency Friday 1440/2/3 - 2018/10/12 Riyadh, Safar 3, 1440, Oct 12, 2018, SPA -- A Saudi official source welcomed here tonight, a declaration made by the fraternal Turkish Republic President Office, in Response to a Saudi Request to form up a bilateral expert-level Joint Action Team, to disclose the merits of the Saudi national Jamal bin Ahmed Hamza Khashoggi's disappearance, in the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The official source expressed a highly appreciation of such a positive move, reaffirming full confidence of the joint action team, through close cooperation among its members to carry out with their set assignments, in the best of ways, God will, concluding with emphasizing of the Kingdom utmost and great keenness to sustain the security and safety of its citizenry, wherever, they might happen to be. -- SPA 19:12 LOCAL TIME 16:12 GMT NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Interior Minister Confirms KSA's Condemnation of Some Media's False Accusations Against Kingdom Against Background of Disappearance of Citizen Jamal Khashoggi Saudi Press Agency Saturday 1440/2/4 - 2018/10/13 Riyadh, Safar 3, 1440, Oct 12, 2018, SPA -- Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Minister of Interior affirmed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's condemnation and denunciation of the false accusations circulated in some media on the Saudi government and people against the background of the disappearance of the Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi. He also stressed that what has been circulating about orders to kill him are lies and baseless allegations against the government of the Kingdom, which is committed to its principles, rules and traditions and is in compliance with international laws and conventions.. He praised the cooperation with the brothers in Turkey through the Joint Investigation Commission and other official channels, stressing the importance of the role of the media in the transfer of facts and not to affect the paths of investigation and judicial proceedings. He also stressed the Kingdom's keenness on the interest of its citizens at home and abroad and its keenness in particular to clarify the whole truth about the disappearance of the citizen Jamal Khashoggi. --SPA 02:44 LOCAL TIME 23:44 GMT NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Cuba embarks on a 100-year plan to protect itself from climate change On its deadly run through the Caribbean last September, Hurricane Irma lashed northern Cuba, inundating coastal settlements and scouring away vegetation. The powerful storm dealt Havana only a glancing blow; even so, 10-meter waves pummeled El Malecon, the citys seaside promenade, and ravaged stately but decrepit buildings in the capitals historic district. There was great destruction, says Dalia Salabarria Fernandez, a marine biologist here at the National Center for Protected Areas (CNAP). As the flood waters receded, she says, Cuba learned a very important lesson. With thousands of kilometers of low-lying coast and a location right in the path of Caribbean hurricanes, which many believe are intensifying because of climate change, the island nation must act fast to gird against future disasters. Irma lent new urgency to a plan, called Tarea Vida, or Project Life, adopted last spring by Cubas Council of Ministers. A decade in the making, the program bans construction of new homes in threatened coastal areas, mandates relocating people from communities doomed by rising sea levels, calls for an overhaul of the countrys agricultural system to shift crop production away from saltwater-contaminated areas, and spells out the need to shore up coastal defenses, including by restoring degraded habitat. The overarching idea, says Salabarria Fernandez, is to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities. SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER Get more great content like this delivered right to you! 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Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*) But the cash-strapped government had made little headway. Now, Irma [has] indicated to everybody that we need to implement Tarea Vida in a much more rapid way, says Orlando Rey Santos, head of the environment division at Cubas Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment (CITMA) here, which is spearheading the project. The government aims to spend at least $40 million on Project Life this year, and it has approached overseas donors for help. Italy was the first to respond, pledging $3.4 million to the initiative in November 2017. A team of Cuban experts has just finished drafting a $100 million proposal that the government plans to submit early this year to the Global Climate Fund, an international financing mechanism set up under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Many countries with vulnerable coastlines are contemplating similar measures, and another island nationthe Seychelles has offered to collaborate on boosting coastal protection in Cuba. But Project Life stands out for taking a long view: It intends to prepare Cuba for climatological impacts over the next century. Its impressive, says marine scientist David Guggenheim, president of Ocean Doctor, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that has projects in Cuba. Cuba is an unusual country in that they actually respect their scientists, and their climate change policy is science driven. Rising sea levels pose the most daunting challenge for Cuba. Over the past half-century, CITMA says, average sea levels have risen some 7 centimeters, wiping out low-lying beaches and threatening marsh vegetation, especially along Cubas southern midsection. The coastal erosion is already much worse than anyone expected, Salabarria Fernandez says. Storms drive the rising seas farther inland, contaminating coastal aquifers and croplands. Still worse is in store, even in conservative scenarios of sea-level rise, which forecast an 85-centimeter increase by 2100. According to the latest CITMA forecast, seawater incursion will contaminate nearly 24,000 square kilometers of land this century. About 20% of that land could become submerged. That means several percent of Cuban land will be underwater, says Armando Rodriguez Batista, director of science, technology, and innovation at CITMA. To shore up the coastlines, Project Life aims to restore mangroves, which constitute about a quarter of Cubas forest cover. They are the first line of defense for coastal communities. But so many mangroves are dying now, Salabarria Fernandez says. Leaf loss from hurricane-force winds, erosion, spikes in salinity, and nutrient imbalances could all be driving the die-off, she says. Coral reefs can also buffer storms. A Cuban-U.S. expedition that circumnavigated the island last spring found that many reefs are in excellent health, says Juliett Gonzalez Mendez, a marine ecologist with CNAP. But at a handful of hot spots, reefs exposed to industrial effluents are ailing, she says. One Project Life target is to squelch runoff and restore those reefs. Another pressing need is coastal engineering. Topping Cubas wish list are jetties or other wave-disrupting structures for protecting not only the iconic Malecon, but also beaches and scores of tiny keys frequented by tourists whose spending is a lifeline for many Cubans. Cuba has appealed to the Netherlands to lend its expertise in coastal engineering. Perhaps the thorniest element of Project Life is a plan to relocate low-lying villages. As the sea invades, some communities will disappear, Salabarria Fernandez says. The first relocations under the initiative took place in October 2017, when some 40 families in Palmarito, a fishing village in central Cuba, were moved inland. Other communities may not need to pull up stakes for decades. But Cuban social scientists are already fanning out to those ill-fated villages to educate people on climate change and win them over on the eventual need to move. Thats an easier sell in the wake of a major hurricane, Rodriguez Batista says. Irma has helped us with public awareness, he says. People understand that climate change is happening now. Theres been increasing confusing over the legality of delta-8, a cannabis derivative that can be found in vape cartridges, tinctures and candy at smoke shops and CBD stores in Texas. While the Texas health department maintains that delta-8 is a controlled substance and is on the states list of unlawful drugs, the 2018 federal Farm Bill legalized the production of hemp, which naturally contains delta-8 and has less than 0.3% THC. In 2019, Texas also legalized hemp growing. Delta-8 retailers believed the substance was as legal to sell as hemp. Delta-8 is legal in Texas for now after a Travis County judge blocked the state from criminalizing it. Should delta-8 continue to be legal in Texas? You voted: S. Arabia vows response if Khashoggi case triggers sanctions IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, Oct 14, IRNA -- Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it would retaliate to possible economic sanctions taken by other states over the case of Jamal Khashoggi, state news agency SPA reported. Saudi Arabia has been under pressure since Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), and a US resident, disappeared on October 2 after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to Al-Jazeera. 'The kingdom confirms that if any action is taken against it, it will respond to it by a greater action,' SPA quoted an unnamed official as saying. 'The kingdom confirms its categorical rejection of any threats and attempts to harm it by threatening to impose economic sanctions or the exercise of political pressure,' the official continued, adding that the Saudi economy is 'vital and influential' in the global economy. On Saturday, US President Donald Trump vowed 'severe punishment' for the Saudis if evidence arises proving they had a role in Khashoggi's disappearance, though he said he would not stop billion-dollar arms sales to Riyadh. A growing number of business figures and companies have said they will boycott an important investor conference in Saudi Arabia later this month in reaction to Khashoggi's disappearance. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, English investor Richard Branson and Uber's Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi are among high-profile individuals who have cancelled their trips to Riyadh. US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin still plans to attend the so-called 'Davos in the Desert' conference in Riyadh, despite the controversy, according to White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. 'Mr Mnuchin will make up his mind as the week progresses and as new information surfaces,' Kudlow said on US network ABC's 'This Week' show on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, the BBC reported that Mnuchin, and the UK's International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, may not attend the upcoming 'Davos in the Desert' gathering, over concerns that Saudi Arabia is responsible for Khashoggi's reported death. The conference is part of MBS's ambitious '2030' program to make the kingdom less reliant on oil. 8072**1396 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi source: Reconciliation with Iran possible if sanctions imposed Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 06:26PM As global pressure mounts on Saudi Arabia to hold the kingdom responsible over the fate of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a new report indicates that Riyadh is preparing a list of countermeasures, including reconciliation with Iran, to push back against possible punishments. Saudi Arabia's al-Arabiya news network reported Sunday that the kingdom's officials had thought of "over 30 measures" as part of their preventive plan. The report, written by the network's General Manager Turki Aldakhil, stated: "Imposing any type of sanctions on Saudi Arabia by the West will cause the kingdom to resort to other options." Iran realignment, warmer Russia ties Aldakhil warned that his country would even consider giving a military base to Russia in Tabuk, northwest of Saudi Arabia, a strategic area near Syria, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. "At a time where Hamas and Hezbollah have turned from enemies into friends, getting this close to Russia will lead to a closeness to Iran and maybe even a reconciliation with it," he added. The report came shortly after US President Donald Trump said Riyadh would suffer "severe consequences" if it turned out that it was behind the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi is believed to have been murdered by the Riyadh regime's death squads after entering the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul on October 2. Driving up oil prices Besides realignment with Iran, Saudi Arabia would react by manipulating oil prices, doing away with major US weapons deals and reconsidering its intelligence ties with Washington, the report added. "It will not be strange that Riyadh would stop buying weapons from the US. Riyadh is the most important customer of US companies, as Saudi Arabia buys 10 percent of the total weapons that these US companies produce, and buys 85 percent from the US army, which means what's left for the rest of the world is only five percent; in addition to the end of Riyadh's investments in the US government, which reaches $800 billion." "If US sanctions are imposed on Saudi Arabia, we will be facing an economic disaster that would rock the entire world. Riyadh is the capital of its oil, and touching this would affect oil production before any other vital commodity. It would lead to Saudi Arabia's failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," Aldakhil warned Trump says while he would "punish" Riyadh if it is found guilty in Khashoggi's case, he still wouldn't throw away massive arms deals that he has signed with the regime, because that would push Riyadh towards Russia and China. Earlier on Sunday, the AFP quoted an unnamed Saudi source as saying that Riyadh would not hesitate to respond to any hostile measure taken against it over Khashoggi's case. "The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats or attempts to undermine it whether through threats to impose economic sanctions or the use of political pressure," the source told Saudi Arabia's official SPA news Agency, adding that Riyadh would "respond to any action with a bigger one." "The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy," the source continued. Economic blow Khashoggi's case has already taken a toll on Saudi stocks, which in the early trading of Sunday plunged 7.0 percent in what became the biggest drop since December 2014. Analysts warn that the controversy surrounding Khashoggi's fate could trigger a financial crisis, imperiling Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's ambitious economic reform drive. From tech tycoons to media giants, a host of Western companies are now distancing themselves from the kingdom. Business barons, including British billionaire Richard Branson and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, as well as media powerhouses like Bloomberg and CNN, have pulled out of next week's Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, dubbed "Davos in the Desert." US, international action inevitable: Analyst Meanwhile, Rodney Martin, a political analyst based in Los Angeles, told Press TV that the threats from Saudi Arabia were a "desperate" gesture to imply that Riyadh had the power to turn the table at will. "The Saudis have long been on thin ice from a geopolitical point of view and then internally," he said, arguing that even bin Salman's warm ties with Washington were not going to prevent the Riyadh regime's downfall. The former congressional staffer argued that faced with increasing pressure inside and outside of the US, Trump had no other option than taking punitive measure against the Saudis. "It's time for the US to discontinue this relationship and disband the regime in Riyadh" and re-engage with Iran, the analyst concluded. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK, France, Germany demand 'detailed' Saudi response, 'credible' probe on Khashoggi Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 04:40PM Britain, France and Germany have called on Saudi Arabia to provide a "detailed" response about the mysterious disappearance of anti-Riyadh journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who is believed to have been murdered at the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul. In a statement released Sunday, British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt as well as his French and German counterparts, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Heiko Maas, said they were following the issue with "utmost seriousness." "There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and - if relevant - to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account," the statement read. "We encourage joint Saudi-Turkish efforts in that regard, and expect the Saudi Government to provide a complete and detailed response. We have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities," the three diplomats said. On October 2, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain the necessary paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee. That was the last time he was seen in public. There is widespread speculation specially among Turkish officials that Khashoggi has been assassinated by as many as 15 Saudi operatives who followed him into the consulate in an operation directly ordered by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The journalist's dismembered body is also reported to have been flown back to Saudi Arabia in two flights. This is while the Riyadh regime has so far rejected all allegations of directing a hit job on the US-based journalist, who was also a Washington Post contributor. Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz said that his country was eager to uncover "the whole truth" and would cooperate with investigations. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Saudi officials have yet to step up to the job and let Turkish investigators into the consulate. "We still have not seen cooperation in order to ensure a smooth investigation and bring everything to light. We want to see this," Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency on Saturday. Rubio pledges strong US action Meanwhile, US Republican Senator Marco Rubio has joined a bevy of American lawmakers who have called on President Donald Trump to pressure Riyadh over Khashoggi's disappearance. "I believe the Trump administration will do something the President has said that. But if he doesn't, Congress will," Rubio told CNN on Sunday. He said Washington would take "a very strong" response in store for Riyadh if it becomes clear that "the Saudis lured him (Khashoggi) into that consulate, murdered him, cut up his body and disposed of it." Trump raised eyebrows this week when he said while his administration would work with Ankara and Riyadh to get to the bottom of the issue, Washington would not go as far as risking tens of billions of dollars in military deals with Saudi Arabia. "I would not be in favor of stopping a country from spending $110 billion which is an all-time record and letting Russia have that money and letting China have that money," Trump told reporters, referring to an arms deal he signed with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his maiden trip to Saudi Arabia last year. Faced with backlash, Trump said later on that while he would "punish" Riyadh if it is found guilty but he wouldn't throw away the arms deals because that would push Riyadh towards Russia and China. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria army makes new advance in al-Safa hills, Sweida IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, Oct 14, IRNA -- The military operations conducted by the Syrian Arab Army continued in the rocky cliffs adjacent to al-Safa hills in Sweida eastern Badyia (desert), tightening grip on Daesh (ISIS) remnants positioned in the area. SANA's reporter in Sweida said that army units engaged in fierce clashes with Daesh terrorists in the western part of al-Safa hills, achieving new advance in the area and killing scores of them amid a state of collapse in their ranks. Snipers were among the killed terrorists, according to the reporter. The reporter added that the army's artillery and warplanes carried out strikes against Daesh, killing scores of them and destroying their fortified points, hideouts, arms and munitions. 1396**1396 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria, Jordan agree to reopen vital border crossing Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 07:05PM Syria and Jordan say they have reached an agreement to reopen a key border crossing between the two Middle Eastern countries, three years after the vital commercial lifeline fell to foreign-backed militant groups from the Syrian side and the traffic was suspended. Syrian Interior Minister Mohammad al-Sha'ar announced the news on Sunday, adding that Nasib Border Crossing would be reopened on Monday, Syria's official SANA news agency reported. He added the decision came after technical teams from the two countries met on the Jordanian side earlier in the day and agreed to reopen the passage "from tomorrow, Monday." Separately, Jumana Ghunaimat, spokesperson for Jordan government, cited by the Jordanian Petra news agency, announced the news and confirmed that the border crossing, which is known as Jaber to Jordanians, would be reopened "on October 15." Both sides, however, said that the Nasib Border Crossing would not be open to normal traffic immediately. The Syrian government forces retook the area around the border crossing at Nasib village, in the country's southwestern province of Dara'a, in early July during a weeks-long offensive to drive militants from their stronghold in southwest Syria. The resumption of commercial trade through the vital crossing would bring considerable relief to Damascus by restoring a much-needed gateway for Syrian exports to Arab countries. Syria's only other normally operating border is with Lebanon, a neighbor to the west. Its frontier with Turkey, to the north, is only open into areas controlled by Ankara-backed armed groups, and its crossing with Iraq is only open for government or military uses. The Nasib Border Crossing, situated on the Damascus-Amman international highway, is an international border crossing, which is considered as one of the most important land crossings in the Middle East. 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Terrorists fire shells from Idlib buffer zone, kill 2: Report Iran Press TV Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:28AM Terrorists have reportedly fired mortar shells from a planned buffer zone in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, killing two Syrian soldiers. The attack saw several projectiles being fired "at an army position in nearby Hama province" late Saturday, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday. Shells were also fired from elsewhere inside the de-escalation zone, but did not result in any casualties, the London-based group added. The zone has been planned out by Russia and Turkey, which sides with anti-Damascus groups. Under the plan, all militant and terrorist groups must hand over their heavy weapons by October 10. "This is the first clear violation of the deal since the heavy weapons were withdrawn. This area is supposed to be clear of heavy weapons, including mortar shells," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. Syria's Al Watan paper reported similar violations. It said that western parts of the neighboring Aleppo Province were being hit by "rocket fire and shelling with heavy weapons, which were supposed to be pulled out from the area." Ankara's agreement with Moscow forestalled an imminent offensive to liberate Idlib where several Turkish-backed militant groups are based. The Turkey-Russia deal also calls for the removal of all members of Takfiri and other terrorist groups from the demilitarized zone but they have refused to submit to the requirement. Idlib Province contains the largest concentration of Takfiri terrorists who have been driven out of the rest of the country by the Syrian army and its allies. Damascus has clearly asserted that the Idlib agreement is only "temporary," and that the province should ultimately come under the government control. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday confirmed that the agreement is temporary and that the Syrian government should ultimately regain control over the entire territory. "Indeed, it is a temporary agreement. The end of the story will be only the Syrian people regaining control of the country and all those who are staying in Syria, especially those who were never invited there, leaving the country. It is clear for all," he told France's Le Figaro in an interview. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Azernews By Sara Israfilbayova The State Committee on Property Issues of Azerbaijan will hold next auction on privatization of state property on November 6, where 79 state objects will be put up for sale. The auction will offer 33 small state enterprises, 23 non-residential areas, 17 joint-stock companies and six vehicles. Twelve non-residential areas are located in the capital, four - in Sumgayit, and the rest in Ganja, Aghdash and Dashkasan. The portal for privatization privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country. The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as develop the business environment of Azerbaijan. Moreover, the State Committee on Property Issues held the first electronic auction on July 4, 2017. The electronic auction service, which is available on the website privatization.az, combines the privatization procedure of vehicles and equipment. In the future, it will be possible to privatize small state enterprises and facilities, joint-stock companies through electronic auction. Now, the corresponding work in programming is being implemented. The State Committee on Property Issues was established on May 19, 2009 on the basis of the relevant presidential decree. The main activities of the State Committee are the management of state property, attraction of investments, maintenance of a single cadastre of immovable property, maintenance of a land cadastre, organization of a land market, protection and improvement of land quality. Dutch circuit Zandvoort is rumoured to get a massive cash injection of 65 million euro's to renovate the track's facilities, with reports being that the former F1 track will try to appear on the calendar once again. The other famous Dutch circuit, the TT-circuit in Assen which hosts the MotoGP every year, would also have interest in hosting a Grand Prix in the near future, with the Dutch market for F1 exploding in recent years since the rise of Max Verstappen. F1 race director Charlie Whiting visited Zandvoort recently and stated that the track would only need minor renovations to get up to F1-standards in terms of facilities and security. Zandvoort has already cleared its schedule a bit for next season, with the DTM now being hosted at Assen instead, meaning there's a weekend free to host an international racing class at Zandvoort now. Could it be F1? Erik de Vlieger, a man who also leaked the Red Bull-Honda partnership before it was announced, knows that the investment is taking place. The city of Amsterdam will help with the investment so Zandvoort can host an F1 race in the future. J P Morgan Private Bank, a global financial leader providing advice and customized solutions, has announced the appointment of Adrian Jossa as executive director and senior banker to the Mena team. Jossa will lead on new client acquisitions across the Mena region, while providing wealth management advice and solutions that address the sophisticated financial needs of clients across the region. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Jossa will report to Tara Smyth, head of the Private Bank for the Mena market. We are delighted to welcome Adrian to J P Morgan. We are confident that his deep banking expertise will add significant value to our existing and potential clients wealth management, investment strategies and succession planning needs, Smyth said. Jossa joins J P Morgan from Goldman Sachs in Dubai where he was Executive Director responsible for family offices, corporate and private equity firms, and Sovereign coverage for the Mena region across all asset classes within the Securities Division. An 11-year Goldman Sachs employee, Mr. Jossa also held senior roles in legal and compliance and was a member of the Mena-region Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Directors for Goldman Sachs Saudi Arabia. It is an honour to join the J P Morgan Private Bank team, where the firm is known as the premier banking partner for ultra-high net worth individuals and families, and Im thrilled to be able to continue advising individuals and families across the Mena region, Jossa said. TradeArabia News Service Regional and international experts on sustainable built environments came together at the seventh Annual Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC) Congress to discuss best practices and immediate strategies to transition to net zero cities within the coming decade to curb the damaging effects of carbon emissions. Organised by EmiratesGBC, an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, the Congress was held under the theme Targeting Zero: A Vision for Future Citiesin Dubai recently. The congress hosted several regional and international experts who agreed that the world is currently at a point of no return, and that all stakeholders, including the public, have to take bold, immediate steps to avoid the disastrous effects of climate change. Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman of EmiratesGBC gave the welcome address followed by Ahmed Muhairbi, Secretary General, Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; and Engineer Hussain Hassan Khansaheb, Director of Partnerships & Special Projects, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. The opening session concluded with a video message by Terri Wills, CEO, World Green Building Council, urging industry stakeholders to formally endorse and sign the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, which is a significant step aimed at generating the next wave of high momentum to cut down global greenhouse gas emissions. In his welcome note, Al Abbar, referenced the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which states that the planet could pass the 1.5 deg C threshold as early as 2030, which would result in severe consequences to the plant, if there are no concrete efforts made to tackle the current state of carbon emissions worldwide. "The Congress, this year, is by far the most important one to date as we face the unprecedented challenge of securing a prosperous future for upcoming generations," he stated. "We have a small window of opportunity over the next 12 years, to make a significant change and confidently look to our children and future generations and tell them that we did our best and overcame this challenge. Change is achievable if we start today," noted Al Abbar. "We have come a long way in the past 10 years to get to the level of awareness and commitment we have today on sustainability. I believe that with the ingenuity of human spirit, the great minds we have in our industry and the leadership of the government sector that we can rise to the challenge and deliver on our global net zero emissions targets," he added. The 2018 Congress discussions focused on three sub-themes that were closely related to honouring and promoting the values associated with the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as the UAE marks the Year of Zayed this year to commemorate his 100th birth anniversary. These are: Inspired Cities reflecting the Wisdom of Sheikh Zayed; Collaborative Cities focusing on the value of Respect; and Holistic Cities mirroring the value of Sustainability which caters to the needs of future generations. The speakers presented and discussed strategies for promoting sustainable built environments for the cities of the future within the objectives of the Paris COP21 Climate Agreement. Through compelling presentations and case studies the Congress further highlighted the urgency to influence sustainable practices in the UAEs built environment and to help identify key industry challenges and solutions as well as catalyse innovation in green building practices to create new models that support the countrys efforts to be more sustainable in accordance with Vision 2021. EmiratesGBC said it aims to further develop the conversation and encourage the increased participation of the industry through its recently established Net Zero Centre of Excellence. The Centre is a think tank and accelerator, which provides an important platform for the government, academia and the private sector to learn and share knowledge on how to advance net zero carbon buildings and push toward net zero carbon cities within the next decade.-TradeArabia News Service Danfoss, a provider of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) solutions, recently organised a seminar in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to discuss harmonics, energy efficiency and the challenges and trends in variable frequency drives (VFDs). Held on October 9 and 10 in Riyadh and Dubai, respectively, the seminars shed light on key considerations for maximising VFD performance, achieving greater energy efficiency, minimising costs and achieving the highest return on investment. Gregers Geilager, the head of Next Generation Platform at Danfoss, led the session on harmonics mitigation, which centered on effective methods of reducing harmonic distortion to maximise potential energy savings. He also conducted the closing session, which zeroed in on key factors, standards and processes involved in specifying the appropriate VFDs for various applications and systems. Niko Honkonen, the product manager for Vacon 100, Danfoss, conducted the second session, which centered on the current trends in the business as regards efficient energy consumption and on global efficiency standards. Speaking on the sidelines of the successfully concluded seminars, John Conboy, the director of sales, marketing and services for drives, Danfoss Middle East and North Africa said: "We pride ourselves on providing the best technical support to our partners and customers, which we are able to offer through events such as the ones we just concluded. We have always been a trailblazer in the drives sector." "As such, the onus is upon us to recognise and address not only key technical issues but also larger concerns affecting our world today, such as energy efficiency and cost mitigation," he stated. Conboy said: "This year, we are celebrating Danfoss 50th year in the drives business. This milestone was made possible by the commitment and dedication of our professionals around the world, and by the trust, support and collaboration from our partners and customers." "The active participation and the warm acceptance for our products only show that our key stakeholders are as passionate as we are about the future of the technology and of our rapidly changing world," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Uninsured residents of the UAE could pay as much as Dh440,000 ($120,000) for breast cancer treatment out of their own pocket, should they not be covered, said an industry expert. Chemotherapy is extremely expensive and ranges between Dh25,000 and Dh40,000 per treatment in the UAE. Most women normally go through around 5 to 8 cycles of it, giving an indication of just how much the total bill can add up to, said Hamzah Shalchi, regional director of Guardian Wealth Management in the Middle East. Guardian Wealth Management is highlighting the importance of life and critical illness insurance this Breast Cancer Awareness month, by reiterating the potential costs that people may face if diagnosed with the disease. However, it can be much more. One example of a case Ive dealt with, was a woman who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and needed urgent treatments of chemotherapy, which ended up costing Dh55,000 per session. Ultimately, she needed eight sessions, resulting in a total bill of Dh440,000. Whats more, radiotherapy can be even more than chemotherapy with one session at the American Hospital in Dubai quoted at Dh120,000. Many UAE residents are unaware of the risk that they take every day by not being adequately insured, but when it comes to your health, its just not worth it, added Shalchi. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in 140 of 184 countries worldwide, representing one in four of all cancers in women. Since 2008, diagnosis has increased by more than 20 percent, whilst mortality has increased by 14 percent. With breast cancer cases on the rise, the importance of being adequately insured is as important as ever, so that patients can seek treatment whilst remaining financially secure. Many people think that because they have health insurance via their employment, they are covered when it comes to critical illnesses like cancer, which isnt always true. Many providers do not cover the most crucial additional costs. For example, companies normally only provide paid leave for 15 working days a year. The time one needs off work when undertaking chemotherapy is much more than that, therefore all expenses must be taken into consideration. Having adequate insurance can not only help with treatment costs but can alleviate stress in what is already a difficult time. We have had clients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and whilst they have been seeking treatment, we have helped them to pay off their mortgage by claiming on a critical illness policy, said Shalchi. Its not a nice thought but when it comes to needing help with bills, paying your mortgage or supporting your family, you must ask yourself are you protected, are they protected? Knowing you can cope when the worst happens will alleviate some of the stress allowing you to get on with your life. Before people start saving, it is crucial that they are protected. Advisors at Guardian Wealth Management advise that residents seek professional advice when choosing life and critical illness insurance for themselves and their families. Guardian Wealth Management work with the regions best providers who will find and offer the best bespoke policies.- TradeArabia News Service Digital health start-ups are said to have raised $11.5 billion in 2017, up 27 per cent from 2016, said a report issued by Arab Health, the largest exhibition for healthcare and trade professionals in the Mena region. The market is ripe for new healthcare start-ups and entrepreneurs looking to make their mark on the industry, said Ross Williams, exhibition director of Arab Health, commenting on the report titled Technology: Accelerating Innovation Across Healthcare. Over the years, we have seen growing interest in new products and innovations that will contribute to shaping the future of healthcare. Hospitals, medical device manufacturers and service providers across the globe are facing increasing pressure to innovate in order to become competitive, he added. The report outlines the positive impact of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), wearable technologies, 3D printing and drones as an agent for transformation in healthcare. According to Research & Markets, the global wearables medical devices market will reach $14.41 billion by 2022, up from $6.22 billion in 2017 at a CAGR of 18.3 per cent during the forecast period. With similar strong growth predictions in all markets, cost savings and quality improvements in healthcare are increasingly emerging from innovative solutions. The Innovation Hub will feature the Innovation Showcase allowing visitors to explore cutting-edge healthcare technology including AI, disease management and home care devices, mobile device accessories, telemedicine platforms, to name a few. Thom Soutter, director, Business Development, Synapse Medical Services, said in the report: Technology is at the forefront of any lean innovation that is required to disrupt outdated models that are costing healthcare spend, and innovation and telehealth advancements cannot come soon enough. A shift towards preventative methods is needed more than ever as an alternative to curative medicine where appropriate. Healthy lifestyle apps, telehealth and patient engagement through technology will be the key. Working alongside government entities such as UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai Health Authority, Department of Health Abu Dhabi and SEHA, Arab Health will host the new Innovation Hub - a dedicated area at the show for attendees to immerse themselves in the latest healthcare innovations. Dr Mohammad Al Redha, director, PMO, Informatics & Smart Health, Dubai Health Authority said: With the recently launched Innovation and Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the DHA is able to strengthen its medical and human capabilities to provide value-based and sustainable healthcare services to the people of Dubai by harnessing the latest technologies in the world of AI used in diagnosis and treatment. The Innovation Hub at Arab Health is a valuable platform to explore ways to transform ideas into reality. The Innovation Hub will also be the platform for the inaugural Innov8 Talks at Arab Health. As well as daily free-to-attend talks with discussions led by keynote speakers, the Innov8 Talks will also host a series of Pitch sessions for the regions most creative and forward-thinking healthcare start-ups and SMEs to sell their ideas to an esteemed panel of judges that are involved in driving innovation in the UAE. Organised by Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions, the 44th Arab Health Exhibition & Congress takes place from 28 31 January 2019 at the Dubai World Trade Centre and will welcome more than 4,150 exhibiting companies from 66 countries and an anticipated 84,500+ attendees from across the globe. As well as providing a platform for the worlds leading manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors to meet the medical and scientific community in the Middle East, delegates can benefit from 11 business and Continuing Medical Education (CME) conferences as part of the Arab Health Congress. TradeArabia News Service GREENWICH Cos Cob School students went back to school for the second time on Monday, concluding their unexpected week-long vacation due to flooding that occurred last weekend. Families of kindergarten, first- and second-graders rose an hour earlier to catch buses from Cos Cob to their new host schools, Parkway and Old Greenwich, where they will attend classes until the end of winter break. Third-graders joined fourth- and fifth-graders on the third floor Cos Cob School, which was spared from the flooding. This is an opportunity for us to model what we preach: Care for yourself and others, said Mary Grandville, principal of Parkway School, which accepted Cos Cob kindergartners Monday. I think everyone has exemplified that, from parents, to staff to our students. At Old Greenwich, Cos Cob students celebrated birthdays they could not observe while out of school and sang songs with their new school mates during a morning assembly, Old Greenwich School Principal Jennifer Bencivengo said in an email. For a six-seven-year-old, it was a reminder that their day is quite similar and we're going to make this transition as seamless as possible, she said. Cos Cob students and parents gathered at their ailing school building early in the morning. Children received lanyards and lined up by class to wait for the buses that left almost on schedule from the front of the school. Many parents watched their children board, high-fiving them as they left. Most parents relied on bus service, which was flawless, rather than driving their children, Grandville said. Parents of kindergarten and second-graders responded positively to the relocation plan, while first-grade parents expressed concern about classroom size. I thought it was great, they are very prepared for the kindergartners, said parent Teresa Gordon. Parkway converted its makers space, science lab, music room and advanced learning program room, none of which impacted current students, Grandville said. A group of fourth-graders made a bulletin board with messages for each child in the kindergarten class next door, she added. It seems like a very nice community, Gordon said. But some parents of first-graders have expressed worries over the size of two rooms at Old Greenwich School that will each house 32-33 students. Some parents are highly skeptical that in a town with our resources, and with school buildings in the double digits, that this is all the administration could come up with, parent Kori Clarke said in an email this weekend. A room this size packed with that many students is going to make it virtually impossible for six-year-olds to focus and learn anything in the coming months. Each first-grade room will have two teachers, a model called co-teaching, and could also have parents and special education providers, Cos Cob Principal Gene Schmidt said at an informational meeting for parents Thursday. Although the ratio might stay the same, the level and the distraction and the ability to provide the academic, social and emotional support to kids is really asking a lot, said parent Jane Anderson. A converted science room at Old Greenwich looked like a normal classroom, said parent Jessica Rickert of her second-grade daughters new room. She has explained the transition to her daughter as an adventure with her friends. I think she will be fine, she said. Greenwich Public School officials are requesting nearly $2 million to cover the costs of remediating and restoring Cos Cob School, as well as relocating displaced students. The next hurdle will be passing the funding requests through the Board of Education, the Board of Estimate and Taxation and the Representative Town Meeting. You know it will be an expensive rebuild, Rickert said. The faculty has worked so hard, and I would hate for town government to be an impediment to that. Her husband used to be on the RTM and has contacted current members, encouraging them to move the funding along quickly, she said. Parent Ryan Maloney was unsure why the school would move younger children and keep older students until he learned the state mandates young children stay on lower floors, he said. He stayed until his last child boarded the bus, a new experience for both his children. Theyll probably dig it, he said. Everyone will feel better after having done it once. jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com ALBANY, Ga. -- It's nickname is "The Good Life City," built on the pecan groves and cotton fields that gave rise to the Deep South's trade. It is far inland - more than 150 miles from Mexico Beach, Florida - and not exactly the archetype of a place that would face repeated natural disasters. Yet in the past two years, Albany has thrice been hit with devastation: First, a tornado ripped through here in January 2017 while on a 70-mile path that left parts of the city smashed and five people dead. Then, eight months later, Hurricane Irma scarred the region's crops after it meandered up Florida's Gulf Coast. And last week, Hurricane Michael shocked this community with terrifying power, downing live oaks and pines and damaging hundreds of homes; glass from the downtown convention center was blown into the streets, and again the pecans and cotton fields were left bleeding. More than half the city doesn't have electrical power. "Albany has become the Hard Luck City. Misery abounds," said Matthew Eisley, 50, a communication consultant in Raleigh, North Carolina, who grew up in this city of about 75,000. "Her proud people just keep coming back - and they will again. But right now they need help, and lots of it." Like numerous inland towns along Florida's Panhandle, this part of southwest Georgia took a beating after Michael obliterated Mexico Beach and caused massive destruction at Tyndall Air Force Base and in Panama City at the coast. The storm's powerful eyewall swept north-northeast - still as a Category 3 storm, with winds up to 115 mph - delivering another dose of hardship to one of the poorest swaths of Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Each storm has tested Albany's nickname, adding enormous stress to a city struggling with pockets of poverty and crime - about 30 percent of residents here live in poverty, according to census data. "We didn't have time to recover from the last storm," said Yolander Shazer, 40. A tree that fell during the 2017 tornado still lays in her backyard. The farms in and around Albany took a severe beating. They produce a good share of the country's supply of sweet pecans and of the state's cotton. Georgia is the second largest cotton producer in the nation after Texas, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. The damage is so widespread that the Georgia Agriculture Department estimates a $2 billion hit to the state's economy. To recover, state officials and farmers said federal assistance will be necessary. "This was going to probably go down as one of the greatest crops ever," said Justin Jones, who farms 2,600 acres of cotton and 500 acres of pecans in the Albany region. Good weather this summer, with the perfect amount of rain, had made for an outstanding growing season, he said. Hurricane Michael rendered much of Jones's crops unusable, with cotton that won't be worth picking. Many of the processing plants and buying points for peanuts and pecans were significantly damaged, state agriculture officials said. And farmers estimate about 80 percent of irrigation pivots in farms south of Albany were flipped over. "You can't get harder hit than this. There's nothing to sell to get our income back. It's all gone," Jones said. "I have been a farmer for 15 years on my own, and I may have just lost everything I got in a matter of six hours. . . . We are going to need some type of assistance or guidance." City officials fear the storm will stall progress made in recent years to revitalize Albany's downtown and the city's waterfront, an effort to lure in new businesses and more jobs. The city's plan for a trail system to connect to downtown - often a sign of progress in cities under distress - could once again be delayed. "We have been beat up again and again," said Dorothy Hubbard, a two-term mayor and the city's first African American woman to hold the job. "It feels like we are always in recovery mode." But the city has also shown resilience, residents and public officials say. If anything, it has gotten better at cleanup efforts. In the past two years, residents have organized "chain-saw crews" that are ready to respond after a storm to help remove fallen trees. Local restaurants prepare food for line crews and other recovery workers. And the city's huge civic center opens its doors to distribute food and water. "The one good thing about a southern town like Albany, everybody comes together to help each other," said Bo Henry, a local businessman. Tucked in Georgia's southwest agricultural farmland, the city has developed a diversified industrial economy, with the presence of major companies such as Proctor & Gamble, MillerCoors and Mars Chocolate North America, the makers of M&Ms and Snickers. In recent years, it has worked to redevelop blighted buildings downtown, making a more appealing waterfront around the Flint RiverQuarium. Herb Benford, 70, a Vietnam veteran has had his share of weather-related home crises in the 40 years since he settled back in Albany. Michael's powerful winds knocked down a 130-foot-tall pine tree in Benford's yard, splitting his home in half and leaving him and his wife homeless, again. The same house on 4 acres of land by the Muckalee Creek saw 6 feet of water during the flooding of 1994 that followed Tropical Storm Alberto. It flooded again four years later during another historic deluge. "I've gotten a nickname recently - they call me Split-House Herb," he said, maintaining a sense of humor while working outside his home Saturday. "I can't control it. I am going to rebuild. I am going to stay here." "Others not that far from me got devastated," Benford said. "People have it much worse than I do. . . . So how can I complain?" The confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court split the country. So, too, did it divide families, including one rather prominent household. John David Rice-Cameron - the son of Susan Rice, a former national security adviser to President Barack Obama - is proof, in many ways, that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He is a student at Stanford, as was his mother. He is invested in politics, as is his mother. Both caught the political bug early, serving on student council in high school. But the son stands apart from the mother in at least one major way. She is not just a Democrat but a veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations whose hopes of succeeding Hillary Clinton as secretary of state were wrecked by political shrapnel from the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Rice-Cameron is not just a conservative but the head of the Stanford College Republicans and a proud supporter of President Trump. His ambition is to "Make Stanford Great Again." The political chasm separating Rice and her son was made plain by Kavanaugh's ascent to the Supreme Court. In the days after the Senate voted 50 to 48 to confirm the embattled judge, the former national security adviser suggested that she might take on one of the lawmakers who helped smooth Kavanaugh's path to the high court. "Me," she wrote on Twitter in response to an appeal for someone to oppose Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, later saying that she would decide after the midterm elections next month whether to run against the four-term senator in 2020. Across the country, Rice-Cameron was holding court at an event on the Palo Alto campus celebrating Kavanaugh's confirmation. Signs displayed Tuesday at a so-called "Change my mind" event - regular events designed "to promote conservative viewpoints on a campus that frankly doesn't have a lot of them," as the group's treasurer told Fox's Laura Ingraham last week - proclaimed, "Kavanaugh is innocent until proven guilty," according to the Stanford Daily. More News Social media mocks White House painting of Trump drinking Diet Coke with Lincoln One student whose mind seems not have been changed was Melinda Hernandez. The sophomore became involved in a disagreement with the president of the campus GOP. The dispute ended at about 1 p.m. on Tuesday when Rice-Cameron called Stanford police to the central university plaza, alleging that Hernandez had assaulted him, according to William Larson, a spokesman for the Stanford University Department of Public Safety. Rice-Cameron claimed that Hernandez had shoved him in the chest with her hand, Larson said. Deputies interviewed both parties, as well as witnesses, and placed the suspect under a "private person arrest" - also known as a citizen's arrest - and issued her a citation for battery requiring that she appear in court. The case was written up and submitted to the Santa Clary County District Attorney's Office for review. Rice-Cameron, who wrote in a message to club members obtained by the Stanford Daily that he was pressing "full charges," had "no obvious physical injury," Larson said, and "declined to be evaluated by paramedics." Hernandez confirmed that she was given a citation but otherwise declined to comment. "In due time my side of the story will come out," she pledged. She told the campus newspaper that she had merely touched the organization's president on the chest when he refused to stop filming her without her consent. Rice-Cameron didn't return several emails and messages seeking comment on Sunday. But the Stanford College Republicans hardly shied away from promoting the encounter. On its Facebook page, the organization provided Hernandez's full name. A photo of her accompanied an indignant post. "Today, SCR experienced the violent and totalitarian behavior of the unhinged Stanford left," the organization declared, aping the president's description of Democrats. Trump, who in 2016 urged his supporters to "knock the crap out of" protesters, has taken to vilifying his opponents as violent and unhinged. Video posted by the Stanford College Republicans shows students grabbing some of the signs off the table and asking their classmates what the purpose of the event was. Expletives fly as someone off camera asks, of the alleged attempt to interfere with free speech, "How is it fascist?" Additional footage shows members of the Stanford College Republicans using an expletive to describe a classmate who had pulled signs off the table and run away. They can also be seen following her and demanding that she reveal her identity. The incident was written up on Jihad Watch, a blog run by Robert Spencer, the anti-Islam propagandist, and affiliated with the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Meanwhile, Fox got a hold of the group's treasurer, whom the network described as Rice-Cameron's best friend, and, in a Thursday segment, treated the former diplomat's son as a martyr for free speech on campus. Ingraham asked if Rice-Cameron faced "more pushback" as the son of a prominent former Obama administration official. "Perhaps," answered the friend, Ben Esposito. "But really I think the reason he faces the most pushback, I mean, anywhere is because he's a conservative on a college campus promoting individual liberty. I mean, every day, you know, it's very difficult for any student to promote conservatism. Students are expected to conform." Rice-Cameron has not conformed. In his high school bid for student body president, he pledged to defend the interests of students "even if it means questioning the agenda of the school." In a spring interview with Fox, he said it was because his parents had encouraged debate and discussion that he had developed different ideas. His father is Ian Cameron, a former ABC News executive producer. The pair met as students at Stanford. In a sense, their son is following in their footsteps, gaining the same academic pedigree that they did. But his worldview could scarcely be more different. He has called Mark Levin, the right-wing radio personality, an "inspiration." He fought last year to bring Spencer to campus, "glowing account" of the blogger who has said that there is no distinction between "peaceful Muslims and jihadists." He has called for the resignation of a comparative literature professor, David Palumbo-Liu, whom he claims has ties to Antifa, black-clad, anti-fascist anarchists. And he waged a successful campaign urging Stanford to allow the campus GOP to put American flags on the group's apparel. Under his leadership, the campus GOP has become an experiment in Trumpian provocation, relishing liberal outrage and acting as a victim of the intolerant left. Rice-Cameron's first major event as president was titled "Make Stanford Great Again." The Facebook page for the event described its message bluntly: "Trump is great. Build the wall. Deport criminal illegals. Guns save lives. There are only two genders. Abortion is murder. Defund sanctuary city San Francisco. Taxation is theft. Affirmative action is racist. White privilege is a lie." This approach is at odds with how Rice describes her son's politics. "I would characterize Jake as a conservative - and a more traditional conservative, not a populist conservative," she told a campus politics magazine earlier this year, using a nickname for her son. Rice grew up in an elite black family in Washington, D.C. Her mother, born Lois Rice, was a barrier-busting corporate executive who lobbied Congress to provide federal subsidies, known as Pell grants, to disadvantaged college students. She was born Lois Dickson in Portland, Maine, in 1933, and her daughter has maintained ties to the state, including receiving an honorary degree from Bowdoin College this year. The former Obama administration official said her son campaigned enthusiastically for the then-Illinois senator in 2008 - and again in 2012 - but grew enamored of conservative talk radio and tea party activists. Rice said the family television wasn't typically tuned to Fox but added, "we also never sought to constrain his ability to read or listen to what he wanted to." Rice-Cameron has said that he didn't embrace right-wing ideology as a way to rebel against his parents but rather because he found "principles of individual liberty" compelling. His mother, for her part, said she supports her right-wing son even if he espouses different political values. "I love him very much and I'm very proud of him," she told Stanford Politics. And Rice-Cameron told Fox that there were issues on which he and his mother could agree - "we agree that America is the greatest nation the world has ever seen, and thus, we believe that America has an important role to play as a force for liberty and justice on the world stage," he said. Rice-Cameron may not be as combative as his public persona suggests. "While the person known around campus as 'JRC' has a reputation as a vociferous right-wing agitator, the sophomore we sit down with is polite, amiable, and direct," observed a profile this year in the campus politics magazine. The writers described the young conservative as "dignified, if a bit old-fashioned, in a button-down shirt tucked into khakis." "Like many campus political types, he tends to talk in monologues," they added. Rice-Cameron told them that there were two types of people who entered politics - those interested only in power and those interested in principles. He counted himself in the latter category. Yet he said he had no intention of entering politics any time soon. The economics and history double major told the magazine he plans to work in finance after graduation. GAC Laser Specialised Logistics pulled out all the stops to ensure smooth handling of dangerous goods and other defence-related cargo for the recent Africa Aerospace & Defence Exhibition (AAD) 2018. GAC Laser Specialised Logistics is a division of GAC Laser International Logistics which covers all major ports and terminals from its head office in Cape Town and branches in Durban, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. It was the fourth consecutive time that the company was entrusted with the sensitive cargoes as the Official On-Site Freight Contractor and sole freight agent of the bi-annual exhibition, said a statement from the company. Held at the Waterkloof Airforce Base in Tshwane, Pretoria, in South Africa, the expo is Africas only aerospace and defence expo that combines a trade exhibition and an air show to demonstrate the latest defence technologies and solutions over land, sea and air. Getting everything to the site on time was a complex operation due to the sensitive and potentially dangerous nature of some of the cargo. Compliance with all international and local regulations was a must, including those of the South African Revenue Services (SARS), National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), Chief Inspectorate of Explosives (CIE), Defence Intelligence (DI), ICASA and Border Management Agency (BMA), it said. Shipments were brought to the site from around the world in more than 20 containers, including 30 tons of air freight. After completing customs clearance including special inspections and procedures where required the GAC team booked the containers into the base warehouse and set about unloading and safely transporting the defence materials to the stands, it added. Exhibitors were also given assistance with equipment and manpower, and collection of goods from stands. And when the exhibition was over, GAC handled the return of cargo to its country of origin or to other events elsewhere. Nico Troostheide, GAC Laser Specialised Logistics managing executive, said: Managing and overseeing such a large and complex project is our speciality. Our team of experts successfully handled over 70 permit applications for the import, clearance and delivery coming from varying countries throughout Africa and at least 60 countries globally, he said. GAC Laser Specialised Logistics also handled the delivery of a M345 Jet Trainer aircraft and a fully equipped AS550 FLASH helicopter to the venue for the Paramount Group. For this years AAD GAC Laser was a major contributor to the Youth Development Programme in partnership with Paramount Group. As such they were entrusted with the delivery of drones, mazes, a life-size robot and a university-built vehicle used to raise awareness among young people of the importance of Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for career development. Sharon Trengove, Paramounts events manager/head of incoming delegations, said: The patience and assistance of the logistics team during the busy period of this exhibition is testament to their experience and commitment to provide a service that exceeded all our expectations from start to finish. TradeArabia News Service For those who love history, few experiences are more stirring than taking in the Renaissance-era monuments, grand, Gothic cathedrals, and medieval walled villages on the antique streets of Europe. But we've got news for you, Old World obsessives: Despite being a relatively young country, America punches way above its weight when it comes to historic cities. In the United States, history is very much a living thing. As Shakespeare said, past is prologue: Many of those events, battles, and social movements that altered the trajectory of the nationand sometimes the worldalso shaped the homes, neighborhoods, and cities we live in today. Some of our top metros retain historic districts from their formative days, filled with beautiful, older homes that connect the present day to the past. And that makes these places extremely attractive destinations for buyers fascinated by times gone by. Where can you find them? The realtor.com data team set out to find America's most historic cities. We looked at the 500 largest urban areas, focusing on the per capita number of properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the number of National Historic Landmarks. (These are both federal destinations that deem historic sites to be preserved.) Finally, we looked at the property description of homes in these markets on realtor.com to calculate a share of historic homes. These places include the ones you'll remember from history class, where the Revolutionary and Civil Wars were fomentedas well as lesser known ones that nevertheless played a crucial role in this country's past. So what are the advantages of living in a historic place? "Historic districts tend to hold their value better during economic downturns, and they appreciate more during upswings," says Tom Mayes, vice president for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC. Historic homes "come with a built-in character. They have a uniqueness and distinctiveness. ... They give you a sense of perspective in our own lives and help us to understand where we are on that [historic] timeline," says Mayes. But buyers need to do their research before snagging an old home, adds Mayes, also the author of "Why Old Places Matter." Many of these antique abodes require costly maintenance and updating. (A century-old plumbing system? Shudder.) And there are often restrictions on what sorts of changes can be made on homes in historic districts, such as the type of doors or windows that can be put in in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. This can add up to big bucks for homeowners. OK? Let's take a tour of America's past. Best of all, you didn't have to ace history to appreciate these historic cities. America's most historic cities Claire Widman Median list price: $949,000 National Registerlisted properties: 209 National Historic Landmarks: 19 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House in Cambridge, MA Kirkikis/iStock In the days of Colonial America, a handful of wealthy British aristocrats, known as Tories, built large Colonial, Queen Anne, and Italianate homes in Cambridge with the inflow of money from their plantations in the West Indies. But they didnt keep them for long. Soon these aristocrats were driven out of the country once a band of patriots won the American Revolution. Cambridge and its massive estates wouldnt sit empty for long. The growing upper ranks of American society would come to occupy the city that was home to Harvard University, which was founded in 1636. There were sections of the city that became enclaves for the working class, who toiled in nearby factories making everything from soap to machine parts. They mostly lived in multifamily homes made out of clapboard. But once World War II ended, the city went through a transformation. Industrial smokestacks would be replaced by corporate firms and startups that were sapping up grads from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge. "We have strong historic preservation here," says Charles Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission. "We've had very little teardown culture. A lot of developers are focused on upgrading existing homes." The boxy, clapboard, three-story homes that the working class occupied have been rebuilt into upscale housing. These homes can easily exceed $1 million and attract wealthy financiers from nearby downtown Boston and affluent academics and techies from Harvard and MIT. Architecture enthusiasts may want to check out Tory Lane, near Harvard. Built by a handful of British aristocrats in the 18th century, it consists of about a half-dozen stately, three-story Colonial estates. Median list price: $305,000 National Registerlisted properties: 100 National Historic Landmarks: 33 Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC, is notable for two battles of the Civil War. ovidiuhrubaru/iStock Charleston, founded by English colonists in the 17th century, is known to history buffs for playing a starring role in the start of the Civil War. The conflict that would divide America was ignited when secessionists attacked Fort Sumter in 1861, shortly after President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated. Charleston had a vested interest in the outcome of the war: It's estimated that about 40% of slaves in North America landed in the city's port from their homelands. After losing the war, the city was deeply hobbled. It wasn't until the Charleston Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s that the area began seeing cultural and corporate growth again. The city's distinct eras each had an impact on its architectural landscape, ranging from Colonial and art deco homes to Georgian and Gothic Revival residences. Today that architecture, along with the town's beaches, seafood, and cobblestone streets, are big draws for its tourism industry. "The residents are invested in preserving their city, so we have many zoning laws and preservation initiatives in favor of saving that historical architecture," says Carl Borick, director of the Charleston Museum. "South of Broad Street in the historic district is our crown jewel. That was the heart of the original Charleston from all those years ago." But these older homes aren't cheapand neither is the upkeep. Median list price: $139,900 National Registerlisted properties: 251 National Historic Landmarks: 0 The grand clock tower in Davenport, IA DenisTangneyJr/iStock The most iconic building in Davenport, IA, on the Mississippi River, is its grand clock tower built in 1895 as part of City Hall. Local legend has it the roughly $90,000 price tag wasn't paid for by the city's most devout churchgoers, but by taxes on local brothels and saloons. Whether or not that's true, Iowa's third-largest city was indeed home to a plethora of rowdy speak-easies and dance halls in the Bucktown neighborhood, earning Davenport a rep as "Wickedest City in America." Bucktown, founded by German immigrants in the mid-1800s, has since been transformed with many of its older buildings and factories being turned into loft apartments. But Davenport's checkered past extends beyond speak-easies. Dredd Scott, a slave who sued for his freedom in 1846 and lost, lived for a time in a large, brick estate near downtown. The case, Dred Scott v. Sandford, led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1857 that slaves didn't have the legal rights of American citizenship. It substantially increased tensions between the North and South leading up to the Civil War. Those who want to own a bit of history here can purchase one of the area's older homes dating to Davenport's industrial roots. Among homes for sale on realtor.com, 25% in the Davenport region are at least 75 years old. Many are two-story homes with front porches and hardwood floors priced under $100,000. Median list price: $174,900 National Registerlisted properties: 435 National Historic Landmarks: 17 Gateway Arch, the world's tallest, in St. Louis, MO DenisTangneyJr/iStock Many Americans aren't aware of the rich history of St. Louis. In summer 1904, athletes from around the world ascended on St. Louis for the third-ever Olympic Games. It helped put this rising city, founded in 1764, on the world map. The city's growth was spurred in the early 20th century by industrial firms, including beer titan Anheuser-Busch. It brought a flood of immigrants, many of them German, who built up the city and the homes within it. Some of those older homes are hot commodities today. "Buyers like the fact that each historical house here has a story," says Mark Johnson, a real estate agent with Keller Williams. In neighborhoods such as Soulard, Lafayette Square, and Benton Park, buyers can find everything from brick bungalows built in the early 1930s to newer, three-story mansions. According to historians, the southeastern neighborhood of Carondelet has homes dating to the 1700s. Median list price: $496,500 National Registerlisted properties: 61 National Historic Landmarks: 7 Pueblo-style adobe architecture is unique to Santa Fe, NM. billnoll/iStock Most Western cities are younger than their East Coast counterparts. But not Santa Fe, NM. The area was occupied by Native American tribes as far back as the 1100s and incorporated in 1610 by the Spanish. The Palace of the Governors dates to the 1600s and is the oldest continually used government building in the nation. The unique pueblo-style and adobe architecture of Santa Fe is inspired by the climate and available materials. The Spanish used mud and clay brick to build sandy-colored, boxy homes with flat roofs and small windows, designed to stay cool during the day and warm in the night. Over the years they've become a prime tourist attraction, Historic neighborhoods such as the Plazahome to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and much of the city's art scenehave seen home costs soar. Unfortunately this has priced out some of the city's original descendants, with lineage to the Spaniards. "They're not able to live in the areas in the historic places where their grandparents and parents lived," says Andrew Lovato, historian for the city of Santa Fe. Median list price: $599,000 National Registerlisted properties: 596 National Historic Landmarks: 71 U.S. Capitol, 1861 Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images After the American Revolution, Washington, DC, was created in 1790 from land donated from Virginia and Maryland. But the city's position as the U.S. capital was far from secure. It was almost moved after British soldiers invaded the city in 1814 and burned the White House to the ground. But the War of 1812 would soon pass and the capital remained where it was. Over the next 200 years many of the country's most significant events would take place herefrom Abraham Lincoln's assassination, to the Watergate break-in, to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage. In fact, it's hard not to find history in this city. History buffs should check out Capitol Hill, lined with beautiful 100-year-old Colonial row homes. The upscale neighborhood Georgetown, which has been the home to scores of famous Americans like Jack Kennedy, is packed with two-story brick homes built 150 years ago. And Brightwood, where Lincoln became the first sitting president to receive enemy fire, has gorgeous Colonial-style brick homes. Median list price: $224,900 National Registerlisted properties: 144 National Historic Landmarks: 8 The home of Harriet Beecher Stowe in Hartford, CT Culture Club/Getty Images Favorite son Mark Twain, who lived in Hartford from 1874 to 1891, wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn here. The Mark Twain House, a National Historic Landmark, looks like a brick medieval fortress and is built in American high Gothic style. And next door is the three-story cottage where Harriet Beecher Stowe lived for the last two decades of her life, another landmark. But these are far from the only historic homes youll find here. Neighborhoods such as Asylum Hill are lined with huge 19th-century Victorian houses priced under $300,000. Founded in 1636 by Puritans seeking religious freedom, the city finally made a name for itself nearly 200 years later, as a manufacturing juggernaut and one of the wealthiest cities in America. As one of the nation's oldest cities to boot, Hartford has the oldest publicly funded park (Bushnell Park) and the oldest continuously operated public art museum (Wadsworth). Median list price: $239,900 National Registerlisted properties: 170 National Historic Landmarks: 12 A historic house in Providence, RI. The city was founded in 1636, and built without a central church. aimintang/iStock Roger Williams, a Puritan minister who was banished from the repressive Massachusetts Bay Colony, crossed the river and founded Providence, RI, in 1636. "Once he settled in, he built Providence without a central church, so residents could worship as they pleased," says Geralyn Ducady from the Rhode Island Historical Society. "So unlike most New England towns, there wasnt a church in the middle. All the homes were built along the river. The properties were built so that everything went straight back. Youd have your main house on the river, and behind that the carriage house, behind that the orchard, and behind that the family burial plot." After the Revolutionary War, Providence transitioned into an industrial city with factories popping up around town. Many of the spacious Victorian homes built during this period are still around, including the three-story William F. Sayles house, which was built in 1878 and now priced at $1.7 million. More than a few of these multibedroom homes have become popular options for cash-strapped students at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, sparking fears that they're driving up local housing prices. Local politicians have been looking at ways of limiting the number of undergraduates who can stay in the homes as a result. Median list price: $241,300 National Registerlisted properties: 263 National Historic Landmarks: 18 Row houses in Richmond, VA, which was the capital of the Confederate States of America traveler1116/iStock When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Richmond, VA, one of the country's largest slave trading hubs, became the capital of the Confederate States of America. Tredegar Iron Works, which produced military equipment and ship parts, was considered a backbone of the Southern war efforts. Long before the Civil War began, Richmond was already a historically significant city. The 1775 speech by Patrick Henry in which he declared Give me liberty or give me death was delivered at the still-standing St. Johns Church. Today Richmond has a number of historic neighborhoods oozing Southern charm. Jackson Ward is a historically black neighborhood that has become a pioneering mecca for jazz, ragtime, and swing music, and was once dubbed Harlem of the South. And buyers won't go broke buying a home in the area. This one-bedroom condo in a row house built in 1870 is priced at $229,000. Median list price: $199,900 National Registerlisted properties: 243 National Historic Landmarks: 5 National Guardsmen and a group of white students standing outside Little Rock Central High School to prevent African-American students from entering Hulton Archive/Getty Images The capital of Arkansas may be best known for one of the more shameful periods in American history. During the height of segregation, a group of nine black students enrolled at the all-white Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Gov. Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the students from entering the school. The students, who came to be known as the Little Rock Nine, were finally able to enroll after President Dwight Eisenhower stepped in. "Race remains a prominent theme of life in Little Rock. A number of the neighborhoods and schools are [still] virtually segregated," says Jess Porter, chair of the History Department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Things are improving, but progress is slower than most would like. Homes in the Little Rock Central High School District, where the famed school is located, tend to be bungalows, Victorians, Tudor Revivals, and Colonial Revivals, many of which are in need of some TLC. That's reflected in the neighborhood's median price of just under $90,000less than half of the median price tag in the city proper. Sources: realtor.com and the U.S. National Park Service Allison Underhill contributed to this report. The post National Treasures: Top 10 U.S. Cities Where You Can Live in a Piece of History appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. Kanoo Shipping, a business division of Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Group, recently concluded its annual regional meeting attended by prominent maritime leaders from its Middle East/Africa network. The event was held under the theme Onwards and Upwards onboard the iconic Queen Elizabeth 2 in Dubai, UAE. Executives from Kanoo Shipping including Jonathan Bygrave, executive general manager Kanoo Shipping; and Nikolai Norman, head of Commercial Kanoo Shipping; as well as members of the management team welcomed the regional participants with the presence of Fahad Kanoo, acting chief executive officer, The Kanoo Group (UAE and Oman) and Ali Abdullah Kanoo, member of the board, Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, it said. Kanoo Shipping Management together with representatives from key ship-owner and commodity trading customers held a lively Q&A panel session aimed at gathering a better understanding of customer requirements, expectations and issues aimed at enhancing their mutual relationship as well as taking the opportunity to discuss emerging opportunities and challenges currently faced by the regional maritime sector, it added. Generally, the meeting focused on enhancing customer value through efficiency and Industry IT leadership whilst underlining Kanoo Shippings core fundamentals of compliance, transparency and sustainable excellence. Kanoo Shipping, a member of The Kanoo Group, is the first Arab shipping agency in the region in 1911 and one of the founders of S5 Agency World. At present, Kanoo Shipping is the largest regional shipping agency in the Middle East which operates in 20 countries. Furthermore, Kanoo Shipping handles over 15,000 ship calls every year through its professional network which covers all ports in the Suez to Sri Lanka range and East/South Africa, it stated. TradeArabia News Service The last Nokia 7.1 Plus details have been revealed thanks to China Telecom. The phone will be unveiled tomorrow and will be available on October 23 (next week's Tuesday). Available under the name Nokia X7, of course. It will cost CNY 2,700 - $390/335. The Nokia 7.1 is not available in China, but the Nokia 7 Plus it replaces goes for CNY 2,300. In Europe the Nokia 7 Plus is more expensive also, 400, and the 7.1 Plus is 340 (with higher European taxes included). Nokia X7 (7.1 Plus) images User manual The Nokia X7 will have a dual SIM slot that can accept SIM + microSD instead, as can be seen from the manual. The rest of the specs we already know thanks to TENAA. Via Vodafone and EE make it a trio of major UK carriers to offer OnePlus 6T The 6T will be the OnePlus phone with widest availability inthe UK. The maker has struck a deal with carriers Vodafone and EE to join O2 in selling the OnePlus 6T, starting November 6. Local retailers John Lewis and Carphone Warehouse will also offer the 6T officially in their stores, as will OnePlus' own online store. Amazing news for OnePlus fans in the UK https://t.co/BHT82DnjK5 pic.twitter.com/4uCw4UGYwu Carl Pei (@getpeid) October 15, 2018 This move is significant for OnePlus as it moves past its online-only market presence and expands to brick and mortar stores. The OnePlus 6T will become official and go on pre-order on October 30 and will then launch in China on November 5. The 6T will pack a Snapdragon 845, up to 8GB of RAM, a 6.4-inch Optic AMOLED with a smaller, water drop notch, optical in-display fingerprint scanner and a "whole new UI". Source Haiti - Health : 14 children operated on the heart in Haiti successfully Thanks to the "Gift of Life" efforts of the Rotary Club of Port-au-Prince and the generous donors, 14 Haitian children from disadvantaged backgrounds suffering from cardiac malformation have been successfully operated on the heart from 7 to 12 October 2018. to the St. Damien's Hospital of the Little Brothers and Sisters (Tabarre) congregation, one of the few hospitals in Haiti that meets all standards, able to take care of children with heart disease. "To carry out such interventions, several specialists must act as surgeons, anesthesiologists, post-operative medical nurses. We do not have all these specialties in Haiti," said Dr. Jacqueline Gautie, Director of the Saint-Damien Hospital, adding "without this program, these children had no possibility of being operated in Haiti because of the lack of specialists, even though their family had the necessary financial resources." The surgical team composed of 10 Italian cardiologists worked in 24/24 rotation at Saint-Damien Hospital to give these children a new chance to live in good health. This team was assisted by another follow-up team and BIOMED of 14 doctors and nurses. All these health specialists were supported by the Rotary Club of Port-au-Prince. S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Tourism : The Minister of Tourism concerned Marie Christine Stephenson Minister of Tourism condemns the demonstration of students from several high schools in the capital, who after walking in several streets of Port-au-Prince demonstrated Friday afternoon in the parking lot of the Marriott hotel in Turgeau (Port-au-Prince), blocking by their presence, the access of the building to both visitors and customers of the hotel. With tree branches and signs in hand, the students, dressed in their uniforms, chanting slogans hostile to the Government, claimed, among other things, the rebuilding of their schools damaged during the passage of the January 2010 earthquake. The students, however, did not cause any harm, beyond an obvious nuisance to the tourism sector. In a note of reactions, Minister Stephenson expresses her frustration "We learned with dismay of the events that occurred at the Marriot Hotel on October 12, 2018 [...] that taint the image of the national tourism industry. We remind the public that the entire staff of the Ministry, supported by private sector partners, is working to provide the Nation with quality hotel facilities that contribute to our common economic growth [...] We call on everyone to support the effort to enhance our image by respecting the private properties that hotels represent, essential elements to guarantee any development of the tourism sector." An incident thay comes a few days after the announcement of tour operator Look Voyage, to give up its Club Lookea Magic Haiti 4 stars on the Cote des Arcadins, 3 years after its launch, because of "socio-political instability in Haiti" An incident comes a few days after the announcement of tour operator Look Travel, to give up its Club Lookea Magic Haiti 4 stars on the Cote des Arcadins, 3 years after its launch, because of "socio-political instability in France. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25826-haiti-flash-look-voyage-renounces-operating-its-lookea-club-in-haiti-due-to-instability.html See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25826-haiti-flash-look-voyage-renounces-operating-its-lookea-club-in-haiti-due-to-instability.html HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2018/10/14 | Source About six percent of babies born in 2017 were conceived thanks to fertility treatments subsidized by the government. Advertisement According to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 20,854 out of 357,700 newborn babies or 5.8 percent, were conceived through government-assisted fertility treatments. The figure has increased by 1.8 times from 3.3 percent in 2013. The number of such babies is expected to surpass 20,000 this year as well since it already reached 10,654 in the first half of this year. The government partially subsidizes the cost of in-vitro fertilization for households whose income is below 130 percent of the national median income. For a two-person household, the threshold would be W3.7 million per month (US$1=W1,138). The number of babies conceived through fertility treatment is much higher if those who do not qualify for assistance are included. "An increasing number of couples experience fertility issues due to various factors like late marriage and environmental hormones", said Prof. Kim Sung-hoon at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. The number of people who received fertility treatments rose from 195,719 in 2013 to 216,211 last year, an average annual increase of 5,000. Last year, 151,274 women and 64,937 men had fertility treatments. In October last year, the government extended national health insurance coverage to up to 10 fertility treatments per woman up to the age of 44, which includes up to three intrauterine inseminations and seven in-vitro treatments. Experts say additional assistance should be considered to couples who are desperate to have babies. UAE-based telecom group Etisalat has lifted restrictions imposed on voting rights of the company's foreign shareholders, in a bid to augment FDIs inflows into the company over the coming period, a media report said. In 2015, the Cabinet issued a resolution amending the Federal Law No 1 of 1991, thereby allowing foreigners to own up to 20 per cent of Etisalat's shares. However, the resolution did not give the company's foreign shareholders any voting rights, reported Emirates news agency Wam. The company's board authorised the management to take necessary steps to incorporate articles of association and obtain all required approvals to effect these changes so that foreign investors would have the same rights as national investors, the company said in a statement sent to Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. However, the company's board said the recommendation remains subject to the General Assembly's approval. Published on 2018/10/14 | Source Chinese tourists line up outside a duty-free shop in Seoul on Oct. 2. /Yonhap Tourism from China is rebounding, and the place where Chinese visitors spend the most money in Korea is the swish Myeong-dong shopping district in downtown Seoul. Advertisement The finding is based on payments made through Alipay during the Chinese National Day holidays from Oct. 1 to 7. Around 700 million Chinese people use Alipay, the electronic payment system of the Alibaba online marketplace. Alipay forged ties with around 250 banks outside China and can be used to pay for products and services in 27 currencies. Parent company Ant Financial said Wednesday that Alipay transactions rose 90 percent in Myeong-dong during the holidays, the highest increase in the world. Myeong-dong is home to the Lotte and Shinsegae department stores as well as cosmetics shops and trendy boutiques. A growing number of stores in Myeong-dong accept not only Alipay but also WeChat Pay, another popular Chinese payment platform. Each Chinese tourist spent an average of 1,979 yuan on Alipay during the holidays worldwide but 3,396 yuan in Myeong-dong, 72 percent more than the average. Chinese spending on Alipay in the whole of Korea stood at 3,320 yuan, No. 9 in the world. The biggest amount of per-capita spending was in Denmark at 8,764 yuan. European countries also saw Alipay transactions increase at the biggest rate because the number of stores accepting it is increasing rapidly. Hong Kong ranked first in terms of the number of Alipay transactions during that period since most stores there accept it. Next came Thailand, Taiwan and Japan, while Korea rose from fifth place in 2017 to fourth this year. Total shopping volume using Alipay rose 2.2 times compared to the same period of last year. Chinese women in their 20s and 30s were the biggest spenders, with twice as many women as men buying products and services abroad. Meanwhile, immigration authorities said 85,588 Chinese tourists visited Korea during the period, up 36 percent from a year ago, when China was boycotting Korea. The year before the number of Chinese visitors was 88,376, suggesting that things are getting back to normal even though package tours to Korea are still unavailable in many Chinese Provinces or online. Published on 2018/10/14 | Source On the latest episode of the SBS weekend drama, Han Tae-gyoo (Jung Woong-in) attempted to arrest Ms. Ma (Kim Yunjin) because he suspected her. Advertisement Seo Eun-ji (Ko Sung-hee) appeared and said, "Are you being suspected as the woman who killed her daughter?" and saved Ms. Ma. Han Tae-gyoo told Ms. Ma, "Beware. You may fool others, but you don't fool me". After he left, Ms. Ma asked Seo Eun-ji to identify herself. Seo Eun-ji said, "I'm looking for the same person as you; the man who killed your daughter". Ms. Ma and Seo Eun-ji found Heo Joo-yeong (Lee Myung-hoon) who apparently killed himself. There were threat letters strewn about him. Ms. Ma told the police that it wasn't suicide. But Jo Chang-gil (Sung Ji-ru) suspected her instead. Havre Police Department Sean Sidney Mosher of Box Elder, 29, was arrested on a charge of partner or family member assault after officers followed up on Saturday at 11:42 a.m. 911 call in which the caller hung up, but the call was plotted to a 9th Avenue location. -- A caller on Third Avenue reported Saturday at 7:20 p.m. a window broken out of a van. -- A caller at a First Street West business reported Sunday at 7:27 a.m. a woman assaulted by her boyfriend. -- A theft was reported at a First Street business Sunday at 10:01 a.m. -- Michelle Dawn Harris of Havre, 53, was arrested on a Justice or City court warrant Sunday at 5:48 p.m. at a Ninth Avenue business. -- Vickie Gaile Cochran of Box Elder, 50, was arrested on a Justice or City court warrant after an 11th Avenue caller asked at 6 p.m. Sunday to speak with an officer. -- A caller on McKinley Avenue asked Sunday at 11:35 p.m. to speak with an officer. Hill County Sheriff's Office Deputies arrested Leah Huntley of Havre, 40, on Justice or City court warrants at 9:42 a.m. Friday on he 3000 Block of 9th Street East. -- Deputies responding to a 11:12 a.m. Saturday call from a U.S. Highway 2 West business issued a summons to Cheryl Elizabeth Freide of Chinook, 49, on a charge of theft by shoplifting. -- Deputies responding to a 7:41 p.m. Saturday call from a U.S. Highway 2 West business issued a summons to Micheal Washburn of Reidsville, North Carolina, 26, on a charge of theft by shoplifting. -- Deputies at 7:38 a.m. Sunday arrested Devone James LaSarte of Harlem, 25, at a location on the 1200 Block of U.S. Highway 87 on charges of partner or family member assault, sexual intercourse without consent, unlawful restraint, tampering with a communication device and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Havre Fire Department Emergency medical personnel responded to four calls Friday and eight calls Saturday. -- Firefighters responded to a smoke alarm activation on the Montana State University-Northern campus at 11:47 p.m. Sunday, but it was just smoke from a barbecuer that blew into a building through an open window. Havre Animal Shelter The shelter this morning held one Himalayan, one long-hair and three medium-hair cats and a short-hair 26-week-old kitten all of unknown gender, a male and a female 9-month-old short-hair kittens, a male medium-hair 6-week-old kitten, a female medium-hair cat, a male 19-week-old medium-hair kitten and a 7-month-old male medium-hair kitten, as well as six 3-week-old kittens being fostered until ready for adoption. -- The shelter this morning also held a female Australian cattle dog-blue heeler-border collie dog, a male German shepherd dog, a female pit bull-terrier-German shepherd dog, a male shepherd 21-week-old puppy, a female mixed-breed 8-month-old puppy, a male border collie-Chihuahua 16-week-old puppy, a female mixed-breed 10-month-old puppy and a female Australian cattle dog-blue heeler-German shepherd dog, as well as three puppies: two male mixed-breed 8-week-old puppies and a male pit bull terrier cross 8-week-old puppy. Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, acts as master of ceremonies Sunday during the annual Pasma-Peck Dinner at the Student Union Building Ballroom at Montana State University-Northern. Several local candidates campaigned at the Hill County Democratic Party's Pasma-Peck fundraising dinner Sunday, following a speech by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. Tester is campaigning for re-election and is challenged by Republican Montana Auditor Matt Rosendale and Libertarian Rick Breckenridge. Hill County Democratic Party Chair Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, who is campaigning for reelection himself, was master of ceremonies at the event. Bachmeier, who is facing Libertarian Conor Burns of Havre and independent candidate Bob Sivertsen, also of Havre, in his campaign for re-election in House District 28, thanked his family, friends and significant other, Hannah Pate, for their support over the years. Democratic candidate Paul Tuss of Havre, who is facing off against Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, in this November's election for the seat in Senate District 14, said the seat he is campaigning for is Tester's former state Senate seat. Over the past few years, it has been red and, hopefully, after November the seat can be turned blue, Tuss said. He said he has been talking non-stop with people about the importance of this race, and when he talks to people he asks what are the priorities of the voters. The response, Tuss said, are the priorities of the Democratic party. They are public education, higher education, infrastructure, supporting small businesses and all the things that the party has been working to address. "What's crazy to me, and it's crazy to them ... is these are items that used to be bipartisan," Tuss said. "The hyperpartisanship that, unfortunately, Jon has to experience every single day in Washington, D.C.," Tuss said, "unfortunately has seeped down to Helena, to the Montana state Legislature, and we need to do something about that." Tuss said the 277 days he has been campaigning is in the rearview mirror and now everyone has to look forward to the last 22 days until the election. "I want to echo what Sen. Tester ended his conversation with us tonight about," Tuss said. "If you think you've done everything that you can for me, or for Sen. Tester, or for Jacob Bachmeier, or for Doug Kaercher or for anybody on the Democratic ticket, I want to ask you to one more time. "If you are exhausted because you did so many doors, do one more block," he said, "if you just can't phone anybody else, please make one more phone call. It really makes a difference." Doug Kaercher Kaercher, who is facing Sun River Republican Randy Pinocci in the race for Public Service Commission's District 1 seat, said he is thankful to everyone for their support and all the work that the volunteers have done. He said he understands that knocking on doors are not the most exciting, fun, thing to spend their time on but with his campaign some can be. "You go out to the door," Kaercher said, "and you say, 'Hi I'm Doug Kaercher running for Public Service Commission,' or you say, 'I'm here for Doug Kaercher who is running for Public Service Commission," and usually their first question is, 'Well who are you running against?' and I tell them that and their face goes, 'Oh my goodness how can I help you." This race is not really about him, Kaercher said, it is about the community, the consumers. He added the ability of the PSC is to supply people with fair and affordable rates which are safe and secure and sustainable services for the public. He said that with Colstrip 1 and 2 planning to close in 2022, Montana is missing an opportunity to supply good paying jobs for the communities. Building up renewable energy, renewable resources and building up the technology would provide those jobs, he said. "So we have that ability to replace that coal when that future comes, when it is no longer available to us," Kaercher said. He said he has been in public service for 30 years and that makes him a strong candidate for this position. He will consider consumers first and make Montana one of the best states out there if he is elected, he said. Kaercher added he also wanted to thank his wife, Darla, who has been with him every step of the way during his campaign. Jonathan Windy Boy Bachmeier said the next speaker was one of his favorite colleagues, state Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, who knows how to bring important bills to being passed. "Jonathan is kind of a master of the Legislature and it is really interesting to watch him work his magic," Bachmeier said. Windy Boy is facing challenger Republican G. Bruce Meyers in in his bid for re-election in state House District 32. Windy Boy said Bachmeier, in his time working in the Legislature, has really impressed him and he will nominate Bachmeier to be the next Democratic leader in the Legislature. Once you learn the tricks of the trade, Windy Boy said, sometimes it takes cutting the funding for a bill in order for it to be passed. "Especially when your a Democrat in a Republican-controlled House, a Republican-controlled Senate," he said, "you learn to find out who the allies are." He said when he ran for re-election in 2012 he went to a principal at a high school and asked what he could do, rather than saying what Windy Boy could do the principal said, "Let me show you what I'm against." The principle then pulled out a file of 23 students who been expelled, Windy Boy said, then pulled out another file of 33 students and told Windy Boy that those were the students who were on their way toward being expelled. Windy Boy said the state has a 75 percent graduation rating, with the a large percent of those who don't graduate in Native American schools. He said he understands charter schools is a dirty word to the party, but that a bill he proposed to change how charter schools are regulated in Montana was specific to Montana, to help students at risk. He added that it is important to take that message to Helena and get people to fix the problems rather than "trying to reinvent the wheel." Havre Daily News/Colin Thompson State Senate candidate Paul Tuss speaks Sunday during the Hill County Democratic Central Committee's annual Pasma-Peck Dinner at the Student Union Building Ballroom at Montana State University-Northern. Windy Boy said during his time in the Legislature he has learned to work with everybody. He added that in the past year the reservations have seen a large increase in voter registration, which is a good sign of people wanting to be involved. Barbara Bessette After Windy Boy spoke, Bachmeier introduced a special guest at the dinner, candidate for state House District 24 out of Great Falls, Barbara Bessette, 34, who is facing off against Republican Mike McNamara. She said Bachmeier was the first person who she talked to about her campaign and she was very happy to be at the event. Hannah Pate Hannah Pate with Forward Montana Foundation spoke at the event as well, discussing the importance of the Six Mill Levy. In an interview she said the Six Mill Levy is not a new tax. It has been passed every ten years since 948. This money goes to help with college tuition and is an important part of the higher education system, Pate added. "It's a Montana tradition," she added. Jay Pyette, from left, Ed Asner and Kate Hagen perform in a scene from "God Help Us" in Montana State University-Northern's Little Theatre. Montana Actors' Theatre players and audience members got a special treat this past weekend when Hollywood star Ed Asner took the stage to play God in "God Help Us" at the Little Theatre in Montana State University-Northern's Cowan Hall. The other two main stars that night were Jay Pyette and Kate Hagen. Pyette has a master's degree in theater arts from the University of Oregon and is the founder and artistic director for MAT and has an extensive history in education and performance of theater. Pyette has been involved with MAT for 26 years. Hagen said she participates in MAT for fun and was originally hesitant to do so because she was shy, but has now been a part of the local acting troupe for five years. Pyette and Hagen played the roles of political pundits who have opposite views, but were at one point romantically involved. God, played by Asner, then intervenes because he is displeased with the way the world is. Hagen and Pyette said they both enjoyed their time on the stage with Asner. "I don't want to say it was intimidating, but there was definitely a level of nervousness there that we don't usually get," Pyette said. "It was dispelled very quickly. "Ed was very easy to work with," Hagen added. "You can just tell his energy just bumps up when there's more audience energy." Pyette said that it was also a privilege to be under the direction of Mitch Levine. Levine has screenwriting and directing credits to his name as well. "It is important to note that Mitch Levine is an A-list director and we got to work with him for two full days," Pyette said. However, the pair did not receive any direction from Asner himself despite the time spent together. "Sarcastic comments. He's got a wicked sense of humor and he's very sharp," Pyette said. "The one thing we always have to keep in mind is that he's been acting for 60-some years. He knows everything about it." There was one thing that Pyette said he was able to take away from his time with Asner. "He's really enjoying what he's doing right now and that just gives me such heart because I love it and he can do it forever," Pyette said. He said being able to perform "God Help Us" with Asner has provided a boost to MAT. Every show was packed and tickets sold out within a week, he added. "Just the fact that these guys came here and felt like the show was important enough to bring it wherever they could is a great sign about the message," said Pyette. Hagen agreed the message of the play was important and was something she enjoyed about being able to perform "God Help Us". "Very timely," Hagen said. "I think it comes down to, everybody's got their opinion we just need to listen a little bit more." While the thrill of having a celebrity in Havre was short-lived, Pyette said it has helped MAT reaffirm its for what it hopes to achieve. "This was a really good process for us because the director was very meticulous," Pyette said. "That's something that we always need to keep in mind. We can't ever settle for, 'Oh, it's good enough.' We need to make sure our shows are professional and quality." The American political environment has been a boiling pot for the past half century which began as a gradual overthrow of the Founding Fathers historic system of government. George Soros has infused millions of dollars into our present political process in an aggressive push on behalf of internationally based socialism foundation of communism to overthrow this Christian-based nation. The current Democrat Partys operational plan is obvious to me as based on Saul Alinskys program as he outlined in Rules for Radicals. This appears to be the Battle Plan for a developing war on America. As I evaluate the Obama years, this radical philosopher appears to have been the play book for the Obama administration and was also the subject of Hillary Clintons senior college thesis. Current moderate Democrats have embraced socialism, but are now facing violent post-Marxism Alinskyism taking control of the party embracing open borders and welfare for everyone as their goal for destroying capitalism. Their fringe elements attempt to intimidate through violent street actions of property destruction and physical violence promoting their left-wing agendas. As a professional historian/political scientist, I have become concerned by recent unsubstantiated charges against successful people promoted and reportedly financed by radical political elements. It should be of serious concern to Montana voters when their U.S. Sen. Jon Tester irrationally repeated unsubstantiated charges against the doctor/naval officer selected by the President to clean up an obviously corrupt and incompetent Veterans Administration. Now Tester, as a true party loyalist, obediently repeats radical, left-wing, unsubstantiated charges against Judge Kavanaugh. I personally served in the Montana Senate with Jon Tester and see his performance during his 12 years in Washington D.C. simply as a continuation of his Montana pattern of dutifully supporting public employees bureaucrats radical environmentalists and the international socialist agenda now controlling the Montana Democrat Party currently lead by Nancy Keenan, former national leader of the gay and lesbian lobby. Having taught college courses on political parties and elections, it is fascinating to observe Montana voters being critical players in the historic 2018 National Congressional elections which can determine the future of America. Montana voters have serious responsibility to be involved in this election to determine Americas political future since there are sharp ideological differences between the Senate and Congressional candidates. Retired Montana Sen. Ed Butcher is a Winifred rancher and businessman was initially a professor of history and political science for 10 years and subsequently served 10 years in the Montana House and Senate on eight different committees and several sub-committees and was a committee chairman during every term he was in the Legislature. Judge Sylvia Emmett found that the underpayment was the result of Lycamobiles recklessness rather than mere accident and that it was egregious that the company had failed to take steps to ensure compliance after being penalised five years ago. I accept that a meaningful penalty is one that sends a message to employers and the public at large that repeat offending is serious and should be treated as such by the Court, said Judge Emmett. The worker was back paid in full before the FWO commenced legal action in 2017. Moreover, in 2013 the FWO secured a $59,400 penalty against the same company for underpaying 13 employees in Adelaide and Brisbane a total of $28,034. In August, HRD reported that at least 200 businesses will be audited by the FW0 throughout outer west Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Wollondilly in a proactive compliance and education campaign. In particular, the targeted areas in NSW include Penrith, Springwood, Picton and Katoomba. The FWO has honed in on regional hotspots of non-compliance, with the outer west Sydney and Blue Mountains region reporting high numbers of young workers in workplace disputes. In particular, Wollondilly accounts for the highest number per 1,000 businesses of anonymous reports received by the FWO in NSW and ranks second highest in terms of requests for assistance. Physical activity not only reduces the risk of stroke. Individuals who walk at least 30 minutes a day also have a lower risk of severe stroke, according to a new study in Neurology. It is remarkable that even light physical activity can have such a clear link to stroke outcomes, says Katharina Stibrant Sunnerhagen, professor of rehabilitation medicine at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. The study shows no causal relationship between exercise and protection against severe stroke, but the link is still clear. Walking four hours a week results in half the risk of a stroke becoming severe compared to those who are physically inactive. The percentage of severe strokes for the two groups is three and six percent, respectively. Its enough if you walk for a bit more than half an hour every day, or two 15-minute walks a day, to end up in the group with reduced risk of severe stroke, says Stibrant Sunnerhagen. Half report having exercised The study included 925 patients with first clinical stroke admitted to Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg 20142016. The average age was 73 years at the time of becoming ill. For the study, the researchers have combined data from two Swedish stroke registers, which indicate stroke severity based on eye, arm and facial movements, awareness level, and speech and communication abilities. Four out of five patients (79.8 percent) in the study had a mild form of stroke. After the stroke occurrence, the patients responded to how physically active they were prior to the stroke in a standardized way. In some cases, relatives helped provide this information. Fifty-two percent indicated they had been physically inactive. From a scientific perspective, it is a limitation of the study that subjects self-reported their physical activity. Their memory may have been affected by the stroke, especially in those who suffered severe strokes, said Stibrant Sunnerhagen. Light exercise as good as moderate The subjects who indicated that they were engaged in light physical activity (walking four hours or more a week) or moderate exercise (running, swimming or similar two to three hours a week) were more likely to have mild strokes rather than severe strokes. In the study, light and moderate physical activity were equally beneficial. Other factors such as age, gender, diabetes, and smoking also play a role. The study shows that when all known factors are considered, physical activity in combination with lower age accounts for approximately seven percent of the association withstroke severity. In 2016, approximately 26,500 people had a stroke in Sweden. Stroke is one of the most common causes of permanent bodily impairment. Individuals having a mild stroke may stay up to a week in a hospital and can then continue their rehabilitation at home, with good potential to return to their normal life and work. After a severe stroke, hospitalization is much longer and sometimes followed by care at a nursing home, says Stibrant Sunnerhagen. Title: Prestroke physical activity could influence acute stroke severity (part of PAPSIGOT) Contact: Katharina Stibrant Sunnerhagen BY: MARGARETA GUSTAFSSON KUBISTA University of Gothenburg, Sweden A WOMAN has called for fireworks organisers to use quiet displays to protect animals and vulnerable people. Jane Foddy says the loud bangs made by some fireworks are distressing to animals as well as young children and some war veterans. She wants organisers of displays to use quieter fireworks, which do not produce the loud bangs usually heard around Bonfire Night. Mrs Foddy, a PR consultant, lives in Loddon Drive, Wargrave, with her husband John, a property consultant, and their three-year-old Irish soft-coated wheaten terrier Teddy. The couple moved to the village from London in 2011 and Mrs Foddy says she began to realise the effect of fireworks on animals when they got Teddy. She said: I think fireworks are lovely to look at and I always liked them but never really liked the loud bangs. In London you are not as aware of animals. There arent so many pets and no farm animals of course. When we moved to Wargrave we got to know people who have farms or keep horses and a lot of people have dogs. We became more aware that they were being disturbed by fireworks. In the area where we live there is a lot of firework activity. These days you get fireworks going off all-year round because people are using them for weddings and birthdays. Its quite unpredictable. When we got a dog we saw how she reacted and it was really upsetting. If she was outside she would run away and hide, not necessarily in the house because she didnt know where the noise was coming from. The first time she did it she was a young puppy and we couldnt find her for two or three hours. We didnt know if she had gone for good. She reappeared outside the house. If shes inside she cowers and pants she doesnt make any noise but shes a quivering wreck. We have tried to draw the curtains and turn the TV volume up if we know its going to happen but if you dont know its too late. A dogs hearing is amazing so Teddy can still hear them and get stressed. Think how many other animals are reacting like that in this area. Farm animals and pets you can do something about but you cant help wildlife. After carrying out some research, Mrs Foddy discovered that most fireworks suppliers offer quiet displays, which avoid loud bangs, screeches or whistles and are more focused on the colours and effects. They are available from most suppliers and are already used by some local display organisers. These include Camp Mohawk, a day centre for children with special needs near Wargrave, which holds a quiet show the day after its traditional fireworks night display. Mrs Foddy said: I became aware of quiet fireworks when I read about an Italian town that had banned loud fireworks altogether. It would be great if we could also have a by-law to ban the noisy ones. Henley would be the first town in the UK to do it and it would be great for our reputation. Im trying to get the people who organise displays to choose quiet fireworks. It makes them look caring and compassionate. Its very positive and can be a feather in their cap. I did some research and spoke to local fireworks suppliers and they all seem to do quiet fireworks which are no more expensive and dont look any different. They are no less spectacular, so its a win-win. Ive seen displays with music to accompany the fireworks so you dont need to have loud bangs, you could have rock or classical music to add to the atmosphere. Its almost antisocial behaviour to cause these loud bangs, so maybe we can encourage people not to do it by making them aware that you can get quiet fireworks. If you look on some suppliers websites they dont necessarily promote them but when you call them and ask they say of course they have them. Mrs Foddy had a letter on the issue published in the Henley Standard in November last year and says she received many replies pointing out that loud fireworks can be distressing for people as well as animals. She said: I hadnt thought about the human aspect but I had people saying their children were woken up at night and scared by the loud bangs. Then there are the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder issues. I couldnt find anything in the British press but there was a lot in the US about it for July 4 [Independence Day], so then I realised this is a much bigger issue, adversely affecting people too. If people realised the trauma fireworks cause when you can get quiet ones it might do the trick. Sound travels and theres a lot of loud bangs around November time. Public displays are staggered so people can go to more than one. I can understand from a commercial standpoint why they would be but it does mean more noisy nights. Mrs Foddy says some of the current rules on buying and selling fireworks are not strong enough and she would like to see new legislation governing the types of fireworks available and when they are used. She said: Shops selling fireworks have various measures but they are a bit weak. Having a curfew on fireworks is ludicrous because I hear them going off after the curfew. You dont know where they are coming from so you cant report them and even if you do its likely to be the next day and you cant prove it. Shops are only allowed to sell fireworks at certain times of the year but that doesnt mean people cant buy them to use at other times. If retailers wanted to sell them outside of those times they would need a licence from the local authority so the authority has the power to say they should be quiet ones. It would be wonderful if we had new legislation that bans the noisy ones altogether. I do wonder if the people with the power to make these kinds of changes are aware of the alternatives. Mrs Foddy says she doesnt want fireworks to be banned altogether and enjoys going to displays herself but a small change to the way they are used could make a big difference. She said: Im not anti-fireworks I like them but having moved out of London to a rural community with animals, wildlife and my own dog it brings it home to me. Even if you know when its happening it doesnt help, you cant tell an animal when its going to be. If people are going to have fireworks maybe choose quiet ones or go to an organised display instead. It wouldnt be spoiling everyones fun if just the very noisy ones were banned. We might be surprised at how many people would go along with that. If you see an animal so distressed its horrible, so if you can still look at something beautiful without causing that distress why wouldnt you? What do you think? Write to: Letters, Henley Standard, Caxton House, 1 Station Road, Henley or email letters @henleystandard.co.uk THE Henley Standard is this week launching a new campaign to encourage the use of quiet fireworks. The Ban the Bangs initiative is in response to an appeal by Wargrave woman Jane Foddy, who says the loud noise made by some fireworks can be distressing to animals, children and even former military personnel. It is designed to encourage organisers of formal displays to use quiet fireworks and to discourage people from staging informal displays of their own at home. Mrs Foddy became aware of the effect noisy fireworks can have when her dog Teddy ran away from home for several hours after being frightened by a firework bang. She spoke to other pet owners who reported similar problems and is now urging everyone to be more responsible. Mrs Foddy, a PR consultant, said: Its almost antisocial behaviour to cause these loud bangs... if people realised the trauma fireworks cause when you can get quiet ones it might do the trick. In the build-up to Bonfire Night, we will be featuring pet owners, veterans and others who have been affected by loud fireworks talking about their experiences. We will also speak to display organisers, fireworks manufacturers, politicians, animals charities and organisations such as the Royal British Legion and National Farmers Union. ---------- Read related stories Fireworks are lovely to look at but I never really liked the bangs Frightened horses can run off and hurt themselves Luna whines, drools, shakes and looks for somewhere to hide ---------- There is a number of public displays in and around Henley each year, including at Phyllis Court Club, off Marlow Road, and the Sue Ryder hospice in Nettlebed, as well as in nearby towns and villages including Caversham, Sonning, Wargrave and Pangbourne. Henley also has a traditional summer fireworks event which dates back 125 years and is traditionally held on the eve of finals day at Henley Royal Regatta. Many of these displays use traditional fireworks, some of which can emit loud bangs as they detonate or screech and whistle when they are set off. As well as the emotional effect this can have on animals and vulnerable people, there are potential physical implications. The sale of fireworks in the UK is restricted to those measuring 120 decibels or less, which is also the pain threshold for sound listed by the World Health Organisation. In other countries, fireworks can reach 170 decibels or more, enough to cause hearing loss. Most suppliers now offer quiet displays, which use fireworks that emit less sound rather than the traditional big bang variety. No display is totally silent, as all fireworks emit some sort of sound, but quiet displays are usually well below the 120 decibel limit. Anyone who has experienced problems with loud fireworks should call Henley Standard reporter Jamie Presland on (01491) 419444 or email jpresland@henleystandard.co.uk Middle Eastern businesses are rapidly investing in cloud and mobile solutions at a rate far surpassing other EMEA markets, said Canon Middle East in its Office Insights 2018 report released at the ongoing Gitex Technology Week in Dubai, UAE. Canon, a leader in imaging solutions, will be demonstrating its innovative solutions and services, designed to drive digital transformation success, at the event running until October 18 at Dubai World Trade Center. Key findings of the study: 83 per cent of Middle Eastern respondents voted cloud-based document access as important or critical 67 per cent are already using cloud solutions on a daily basis 93 per cent of Middle Eastern respondents use an Enterprise Resource Planning system to efficiently manage information flow across different departments or sites Rapid innovation is changing the nature of offices beyond its conventional boundaries, as knowledge workers can be productive anywhere, thanks to mobile, cloud, faster network access, and a growing number of online collaboration tools. The digital workplace of tomorrow is certainly beginning to take shape in the Middle East where a third of people in senior management positions have shifted from seeing little to no value in cloud and mobile services two years ago, to embracing the technology today. With over 50 per cent of Middle Eastern businesses believing that the cloud gives them an edge over their competitors and over 50 per cent believing that it improves workforce productivity, it is no surprise that cloud technology is a key driver of technological advancement in the region. The opportunity for cloud-based technology is far from shrinking, as 83 per cent of Middle Eastern respondents consider cloud-based document access important or critical to business success, compared to 67 per cent in the larger EMEA region. Around 67 per cent are already using cloud-based solutions in the Middle East, double the EMEA region average of 34 per cent. The Middle Eastern region has also demonstrated a strong support for mobile working, with 60 per cent of respondents citing the positive impact it has had on their businesses and 51 per cent of IT departments in the region providing support to employees personal devices. Respondents also believe that social media makes the workplace more collaborative, that remote working makes people more productive, and that personal devices should be brought into work. This attitude has meant that the adoption of cloud and mobile services has been faster in the Middle East than in other regions across Africa and Eurasia, with strong and impressive results. On cloud-based document management and automation, 85 per cent of Middle East respondents consider it critical or important to convert paper documents to editable, digital ones, recognizing that an organization can only harness the full potential of digital by integrating it into every facet of the enterprise. While no enterprises in the Middle East have entirely stopped using transactional hard copies, 34 per cent are focused on halting their use in the next 12 months. A longer timeframe for phasing out hard copies is planned among 39 per cent of businesses in the region, who look to achieve this goal in the coming 2-3 years, and 16 per cent in the next 4-5 years. The vast majority of ME respondents agree that more automation is inevitable, clearly outlining that this is the direction that the majority of workplaces are headed. From the Middle East, 93 per cent of respondents already use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems or similar, designed to efficiently manage information flow across different departments or sites. Despite the fact that 57 per cent of respondents worry about losing data in the cloud, this does not seem to deter the uptake of cloud solutions. The Middle East region is the most likely to be enhancing document security in the next 1-2 years (46 per cent) whereas the average in EMEA is only 25 per cent. This concern is translating into real-world action, with 55 per cent in the Middle East consulting with external specialists to help them with document management solutions. Ayman Aly, senior marketing manager, Canon Middle East said: It is very encouraging to see how aware our region is of the benefits of cloud and how best to implement it, making the most of upfront investments. When done right, cloud technologies and mobile access can actually improve both security and productivity, allowing users to access lost data, help to wipe machines remotely, and enable flexible working on-the-move. Understandably, many businesses are still cautious about integrating mobile and cloud technology into the office landscape. Our aim is to continue providing support and education to our customers and business partners in the Middle East, to ensure that they are able to reach their full potential, no matter the size or nature of their industry. At Gitex Technology Week 2018, Canon is demonstrating the future workplace through three experience zones highlighting the customer benefits of digital transformation in security, automation, print, mobile and cloud. Recognizing that wider and better use of social networks, data analytics, and smart technologies are having monumental effects on productivity and expectations, Canon focuses on unlocking additional opportunities for businesses through the creation of secure spaces conducive to collaboration. The office of the future is marked by digitization, automation and optimization, propelling innovation across the entire organization. Canon is committed to work with our clients on their digital transformation journey to update key processes and seize opportunities for automated efficiency while maintaining and improving digital workflows, added Bakhour. TradeArabia News Service SCHOOLS clubs and community groups in the Henley area are set to receive more than 6,000 in funding from the town council. The councils finance strategy and management committee has recommended giving 4,566 from its community grants budget to eight applicants and 1,500 to a ninth from other funds. The committee approved applications for 1,000 to the Berkshire MS Therapy Centre in Reading, which runs a weekly outreach service at Brunner Hall in Greys Road for almost 50 people with multiple sclerosis. It pays no rent for use of the building but needs money to provide services such as physiotherapy, reflexology and chiropody. Another 1,000 was awarded to Bishopswood Special School in Sonning Common which has 12 pupils based in Henley. The money will go towards another accessible summer fun day at Reading Abbey Rugby Club. This years event raised more than 1,000 for equipment for the school as well as day trips and activities. Another 1,000 grant was approved for the Henley Air Cadets, who meet at the Henley drill hall in Friday Street. The money will go towards five sets of uniform, which the Ministry of Defence will not fund (375), T-shirts with the squadron logo (300), sleeping bag liners (250) and an A3 printer (105). The committee agreed to give 500 to the Henley Regatta for the Disabled, which takes place at Phyllis Court Club every September. The event, now in its eighth year, needs money for publicity and legal advice on data protection. Councillors agreed to allow free use of the town hall by the Friends of Trinity Primary School for a fund-raising dance on February 9 and by the Henley Rotary Club for a bingo night. The hire charges would have been 551 and 275 respectively. They also waived the 267 charge for use of Kings Arms Barn by the Jeux dEsprit arts group to stage a show in aid of the Chiltern Centre for disabled children in Henley from November 22 to 25. The committee awarded nothing to Henleys Aliquando choir towards a concert at St Marys Church to mark the centenary of the Armistice and raise money for the Poppy Appeal. The choir had requested 1,208.68 for the cost of hiring the church, the Chantry House next door, a piano and organ and staging and lighting. Councillors said they didnt want to spend a total of more than 5,000 from the 12,000 in this years grants budget and wanted to save money for a new round of applications next year. Councillor Ian Reissmann said: Im not convinced of the need to fund this because, as worthy as it is, its going to be successful regardless and Id rather save the money for something that really needs our support. Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak said: It is a fantastic, high-quality Henley choir and we should be supporting it because it costs a lot of money to put these things on. Councillor Julian Brookes said: I will certainly show my support by attending as it is a very worthwhile event but on this occasion perhaps we shouldnt be supporting it financially. A request for 2,350 by the Chiltern Arts Festival, which is held at various venues in the Chilterns in February, was turned down. The committee said organisers had failed to say exactly what the money would go towards or how it would benefit Henley specifically. Committee chairwoman Jane Smewing said: We do have a policy of funding new festivals to help them get off the ground but theres no way we should be giving the full amount. It isnt the best use of our money. The Christ Church Centre in Reading Road, Henley, will receive 1,500 towards the running of its weekly Memory Cafe for more than 100 dementia sufferers and their carers, which began in March. The money comes from a budget which the council previously allocated to Age UKs Bluebells dementia club, which folded earlier this year after Oxfordshire County Council pulled its funding. The recommendations will now be considered by the full council. THE former manager of Henleys parks has been given a posthumous award. Gareth Bartle, who died in May, won the Thames and Chilterns in Bloom judges discretionary award for outstanding contribution. Each year the judges choose a member of a community or the wider area for their exceptional contribution to bloom. Mr Bartle, who was diagnosed with terminal lung and brain cancer in October last year, was a member of the regional group for about a decade, serving as a judge and member of the committee. He was also manager of Henley Town Councils parks services team for 14 years and played a key role in supporting Henley in Bloom. During his time in the role the town won six consecutive gold awards in the town category of the regional competition and in 2015 scooped its first Britain in Bloom gold at the third attempt and silver in the Entente Florale European competition. Ted Smith, chairman of Thames and Chilterns in Bloom, said: Gareth contributed in two ways. In Henley he was instrumental in driving bloom and worked on the parks. Parks was my background and he certainly lifted and moved the parks forward whenever I visited there. He was part of our judging team for about 10 years. We appreciated all he did for us, for the community and for bloom. Town councillor Kellie Hinton, vice-chairwoman of Henley in Bloom, said: I cant think of anyone who deserves the award more. We know Henley in Bloom was a massive part of Gareths life. It was his passion but a lot of people dont know how much of his own time he spent on it. It wasnt just his work in Henley but his time supporting other groups outside Henley. Once he had trained as a judge it was something he put his heart and soul into. He was one of the most passionate advocates for the cause. A DEVELOPER has revived plans for up to 80 homes on a site in Woodcote not earmarked for housing. Custom Land has asked South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, whether a full assessment of the landscape impact is needed before a planning application can be submitted. The Birmingham company is proposing to build either up to 80 houses or up to 66 extra care units for elderly people on farmland off South Stoke Road. The 2.6-hectare site was not one of the seven earmarked for a total of 76 new dwellings in the neighbourhood plan, which passed a referendum in April 2014, nor is it likely to be included in a revised version of the document. The scheme would include affordable housing plus up to six plots for self-build homes, a play area, a community growing area and an open space with footpaths. Forty per cent of the units would be affordable, in line with the district councils target, and 20 per cent of these would go to people with a strong association with Woodcote. Most would have up to three bedrooms. The developer says new trees would be planted, particularly around the edges of the site, and there would be a pond to offset any flood risk. Pedestrian and cycle access would be from Wayside Green and Behoes Lane. Earlier this year, Custom Land submitted an application for 80 houses and a 60-bed care home on the same site. It said the schemes impact could be offset by planting. Woodcote Parish Council opposed the application and the district council refused it on the grounds that it would be a major development in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and would cause material harm. That was the fifth attempt to develop the site since the Sixties. The previous plan for 115 homes was refused in 2011. The land is owned by the Rumsey Trust. Meanwhile, Woodcote Properties wants to build 19 houses on land at the end of Wood Lane, off Beech Lane. The company is owned by Jeremy Fisher, from Reading, and Mrs D Butcher who were refused permission to develop the site last year following objections from the parish council and more than 50 neighbours who said it would attract unacceptable levels of traffic and harm the AONB. Part of the 1.56-hectare field is earmarked for up to nine houses in the neighbourhood plan but district councillors refused the application on their officers advice. Geoff Botting, deputy chairman of Woodcote Parish Council, said: Im surprised that either developer is proposing these as the district council was very clear about the impact on the countryside when it refused them. The South Stoke Road scheme, in particular, is a substantial development in a highly visible site not just from Woodcote but across the Thames Valley and from the North Wessex Downs. Theres a lot of money in this so I understand why the developers keep hammering away but I think the district council has been consistent with national policy in refusing the applications and I cant see these being any different. The parish council is still consulting landowners who want to put sites forward for the revised neighbourhood plan. An upgrade of Dublin Port to help combat the threat of Brexit is among proposed projects in line for hundreds of millions of euro in support from the EU's bank. While EU and UK negotiators are still locked in intensive talks on how to avoid a hard Border, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is set to ramp-up the financing of projects in Ireland. The bank's vice-president Andrew McDowell said it recognised Ireland's "unique exposure to the potential downsides of Brexit and that's why we've stepped up our activity". The EIB will be contributing around 300m in low-cost loans for investment by farmers and businesses seeking to diversify their markets. "On top of that we're also looking at a number of infrastructure projects and financing things like the expansion of Dublin Port," Mr McDowell added. This would be part of a plan to create new direct shipping lines into continental Europe to bypass the UK land-bridge. He also said the EIB is looking into how it can contribute to the Celtic Interconnector project, which would include a direct power line between Ireland and the continent. Last night, the future of the Border in Ireland remained the key sticking point in last-ditch talks to thrash out a Brexit deal ahead of this week's crunch European summit. EU ambassadors were summoned to a meeting with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier after he had an unexpected meeting with Dominic Raab, the UK Brexit Secretary. The move fuelled speculation that an agreement was in the offing amid reports that a divorce deal between the EU and British Prime Minister Theresa May's government would be announced as early as today. However, Mr Barnier last night dampened expectations, saying that no agreement has yet been reached. Intense He said that "despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open". These included the so-called backstop to avoid a hard Border, even in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Last night, Government sources here said that there was "no guarantee" a EU-UK withdrawal deal would happen this week and, while they hoped an agreement could be agreed, "there's still a lot of work to do". Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will travel to Brussels on Wednesday for the crucial European Council summit. Killer waitress Marta Herda has written a book blaming her victim Csaba Orsos for his own death. The Polish-born waitress (30) is serving a life sentence for the murder of Mr Orsos (31), who drowned when she drove her car into the sea at the South Quay in Arklow. Mr Orsos could not swim and drowned, while his killer made it to safety. Herda's trial heard that Mr Orsos was madly in love with her but she had grown tired of his attentions and made the decision to kill him. In her book, she refuses to accept the court's verdict and insists that she feels responsible - but not for murder. She claims that Mr Orsos was attacking her in the car when it went off the quay shortly before 6am on March 26, 2013. Torture The Sunday World yesterday published shocking extracts from the book, as well as images from CCTV of Herda emerging from the water after the crash, which have never been seen before. In one passage, she writes: "It's still hard for me to believe this, or accept it. "I often think about his family, about [the] torture they must be going through, especially on holiday or his birthday, or the day of the accident. "I'm afraid to imagine his mother's pain and others. "Although I'm sure that this accident wouldn't happen if he wasn't attacking me in the car, but I also made many mistakes. [Should I have] stopped my car, or should I [have] taken another route? "It's not important now. I was the driver, and I feel very responsible for his death, [in particular] that I couldn't save him and find him - that I could do something differently. "This will stay with me for the rest of my life. There is not a single day that I am not thinking about it. "I would like very much that he was here, and not leaving me with all of this. I feel responsible, but not for murder." In May, the Supreme Court refused to hear a further appeal by Herda against her conviction after the Court of Criminal Appeal had already upheld the original guilty verdict. The DPP's counsel, Brendan Grehan, SC, had told her trial that the case was "crystal clear". Herda deliberately drove into the sea, using her VW Passat as an instrument of murder. "Whether she achieved that with a gun or a sledgehammer doesn't matter," he said. Mr Orsos had a "mortal fear" of water, the trial heard. Herda "lured" him into her car and minutes later he was at the bottom of the estuary. CCTV obtained by the Sunday World shows Herda make it back to land before collapsing on her knees outside a neighbouring property. Her first statement to gardai gave the impression Mr Orsos was some kind of "stalker", while in her second statement, she said he was a "Hungarian gypsy" and that she knew "how they are with women". She was also "caught out on lies" over her contact with the victim beforehand. In her as-yet untitled book, Herda says it never even occurred to her that she would be convicted of murder. She writes: "Murder never crossed my mind. That word frightens me, and I don't know how to get my head around it and I don't hear it. I can't get over it, I can't understand this. "This reality seems [more like] fiction to my head. I would want to get over it, be strong and get through this, but this tires me, and I don't know how." Joked Writing of Mr Orsos, Herda continued: "I first met him when I started working in the same hotel. We have known each other for two years but it wasn't a close acquaintance. "We never went together anywhere and there was no romantic or sexual relation. For the first year everything was calm, and I had friendly relations with him and his brother. "Everyone was laughing when he joked that I will be his wife, but I let it out with my other ear, knowing that he's joking. "After some time it began to be awkward, because his jokes starts to be less and less funny." After Herda's conviction, gardai revealed she had taunted them with an anonymous postcard after returning to Poland following the crash. The card read: "Hope you have not much work." Gardai investigated and found Herda's DNA on the stamp. Dubai Internet City (DIC), a leading technology community in the region, recently welcomed Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)to its Innovation Hub, a 1.8-million-sq-ft space. Located at the heart of DIC, the Innovation Hub is shaping a vibrant community for tech and creative enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, business professionals as well as local and global players to develop and grow. The hub comprises commercial and collaborative spaces, and houses premium retailers and hotels and serves as a unique lifestyle and business destination. Testament to the growth and success of DIC as a key accelerator of innovation, digitalisation and growth, Innovation Hub is enabling DIC to further translate the Dubai Strategy for Innovation into action, helping the city achieve its vision to become one of the most future-ready places in the world. Ammar Al Malik, managing director of Dubai internet City and Dubai Outsource City, said: The Innovation Hub represents a natural next step for Dubai Internet City and builds on our successes over the past years in creating thriving business communities for local, regional and international organisations. Our strategic relationship with Hewlett Packard Enterprise has contributed significantly to the development of the industry in the region, and we look forward to further strengthening the sector through enhanced collaboration. The opening of new regional headquarters is both fitting and timely, helping us create an innovation landmark for the region. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is expanding in the UAE by opening a new state-of-the-art Middle East headquarters office in Dubai Internet City in the innovation Hub, said Fabio Fontana, vice president and managing director for Middle East at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The opening of the new office in Dubai is a tangible testament of HPEs commitment to the Middle East and UAE. As a moral founder of the Silicon Valley and innovator at heart, HPE recognises the tremendous value of cooperation with the local vibrant innovation community to realise solutions that advance how people live and work. TradeArabia News Service Abu Dhabi's Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities (DPM) has signed a strategic agreement with JCDecaux, one of the largest outdoor advertising corporations in the world, to enhance the urban landscape in the UAE capital through use of innovative technology. The collaboration between DPM and JCDecaux focuses on research and development for the delivery of urban services that contribute towards a sustainable urban environment in Abu Dhabi and enhance the quality of life of citizens and residents alike, said the statement from DPM. The MoU establishes a framework for DPM and JCDecaux to work closely together to enhance the urban landscape in Abu Dhabi applying innovative technology. The agreement involves designing of smart and sustainable street furniture that meets the needs of an ever-more connected and mobile population, while creating a strong visual identity for the city that reinforces its cultural value and heritage, remarked Falah Al Ahbabi, the chairman of DPM after signing the deal with Jean-Charles Decaux, the chairman of the executive board and co-CEO of JCDecaux in the presence of French Ambassador to the UAE, Ludovic Pouille. The signing of the MoU echoes the recent announcement by UN-Habitat of Abu Dhabi hosting the 10th edition of the World Urban Forum in February 2020, the first edition of the WUF to be held in the Arab region. WUF operates as an open-ended think tank for the future of cities, providing a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue, and public-private collaboration. Pouille pointed out that disruptive technologies were changing the way of life in cities and French companies in the UAE, such as JCDecaux, with their numerous innovative solutions were ready for the task. "JCDecaux has been leading this transformation over the years, and has the expertise and know-how required to participate in the evolution of Abu Dhabis urban landscape. This agreement strengthens the strategic partnerships between France and Abu Dhabi firmly focused on the future by supporting Abu Dhabis ambition to become the leader in sustainable and smart living," he stated. Decaux said the company was proud of its strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi DPM, whose values of excellence, innovation and creativity are shared with the French group. "We look forward to sharing our global expertise of city provider to imagine together with DPM the urban services of tomorrow that will answer the needs of city dwellers, and further strengthen the positioning of the city as a global innovation hub encouraging entrepreneurship and a vibrant metropolis, for the greatest benefit of the city and residents," he added. On the WUF 2020 show, Al Ahbabi said this event would reframe the global conversation around urban sustainability, by integrating urban development with the technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution. "Its all about agile urban governance that anticipates the future needs of the citizen and adapts to meet expectations and stay at their service. In that respect, our collaboration with a global leader in the provision of urban services like JCDecaux will provide Abu Dhabi with opportunities to develop pioneering solutions that meet the challenges ahead of its urban development," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Mercedes-Benz, a leading automotive manufacturer, has announced that it was once again recognised among the world's most valuable premium car brands. In the current Best Global Brands 2018 ranking by the renowned US brand consulting company Interbrand, Mercedes-Benz again climbed places in the top ten most valuable global brands, and is now ranked eighth. Mercedes-Benz is still the only European brand in the top ten, said a statement from the company. Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars marketing and sales, said: Once again we are the world's most valuable premium automobile brand. We are delighted that people reward our new products such as the fully-electric EQC, our bold marketing campaigns such as the Grow Up campaign, our focus on online and social media and new dialogue formats such as the 'me Convention', she added. The strengths of the Mercedes-Benz brand lie in its long tradition, great innovative strength, the will to constantly reinvent itself and the abiding principle of its founding fathers only to be satisfied with the best. From the invention of the automobile to the largest manufacturer of luxury vehicles and a provider of comprehensive mobility services - Mercedes-Benz always looks for the best answers to the mobility needs of people, it stated. TradeArabia News Service New COVID cases surge in Tri-State; 25 die last week from illness The number of new reported COVID cases surged last week in the Tri-State area, with some counties reporting a more than 95% increase. The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), a joint initiative by the UAE and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has announced Honeywell as its latest strategic partner. The summit will take place in July 2019, in the city of Yekaterinburg, in Russia, and will be themed on nature-inspired technologies, highlighting the ways in which manufacturing is inspired by our surrounding environment to innovate. Honeywell, the Fortune 100 software-industrial company, delivers industry-specific connected technologies that help everything from aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer and more sustainable. The move further cements the importance of having a global platform for the manufacturing community to shape a new future driven by sustainability and technology, said a statement. As a strategic partner to the summit, Honeywell will play a leading role in promoting the advancement and adoption of connected, Internet of Things (IoT) based technologies that are shaping the future of global industry. The summit is the worlds first cross-industry platform designed to contribute to global prosperity by harnessing Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies, uniting influential delegates from across the global manufacturing community, and placing the sector at the heart of global economic regeneration. Honeywell will join the GMIS Connect Global Roadshow program and become a lead sponsor, it said. Norm Gilsdorf, president of Honeywell, High Growth Regions, Middle East and Russia, said: The summit is an important platform for the advancement of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is harnessing data and connectivity to bring new levels of productivity, efficiency, safety and security to the world. As a connected technology company at the forefront of this revolution, we are well-placed to take a centre role at GMIS, bringing together governments and industrial leaders to identify opportunities to unlock true potential of Industry 4.0, and drive unparalleled economic growth as a result, he added. Badr Al Olama, head of the organising committee for the GMIS, said: From connected aircraft and smart cities to tackling climate change issues, Honeywell truly demonstrates the importance and significance of remaining at the forefront of our industrys paradigm shift. The challenges that the Fourth Industrial Revolution poses are also opportunities, ones that can only be realised through strong partnerships. We are proud of our alliance with Honeywell and, together, we will continue to drive forward a strategic path for the industry that facilitates sustainable development and greater economic contribution, he added. The summit will also focus on the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on global economies, and the role of manufacturing in advancing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Dubai-based Emirates airline has won the Aviation 100 Middle East & Africa Airline of the Year title, awarded by Airline Economics magazine. The Aviation 100 awards recognise aviations most outstanding performers, as well as the most innovative and successful finance and leasing deals closed in the last 12 months. The awards were held during the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Dubai conference gala dinner. Emirates and its financing partners also won Deal of the Year for Innovation, which resulted from a leasing transaction of five Airbus A380s. Nirmal Govindadas, senior vice president corporate treasury received both awards on behalf of Emirates earlier this week. Winners of the Aviation 100 awards are decided by an industry-wide survey, a rigorous vetting process and editorial consideration. The Emirates Aviation 100 Airline of the Year accolade was won based on the airlines financial and revenue per passenger kilometres (RPK) performance, aircraft orders, as well as network and fleet expansion activity. - TradeArabia News Service Oman's Ministry of Tourism (MoT) is hosting mobile promotional workshops during a five-city roadshow, which commenced on Sunday, beginning with Qatars capital Doha, said a report. The workshops, set to take place in Kuwait, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dubai as well, will see the participation of Omani tourism companies including Oman Air and SalamAir, a report in Muscat Daily said. The ministry has coordinated with its representative offices to invite about 100 tourist companies and institutions, in addition to the local media in the host countries. Introductory and promotional presentations will be made about tourism potential, services and products in the sultanate, besides conducting direct meetings between the invitees from the host countries and participants from Oman. In addition to promotional offers from the 16 participating companies, preparations are ongoing for the signing of contracts between Omani tourism companies and their Gulf counterparts, the report said. If I ever have to choose my favourite Himalayan hill town from the wide array India has, it will be Darjeeling in West Bengal (not for parochial reasons). This choice may surprise many because the toy town has lost its charm, thanks to ruinous politics, violent agitations (Gorkhaland), unsustainable tourism and bad resource planning. The saving grace remains the Kanchenjunga, which towers majestically over the Queen of Hill Stations, and Glenarys Bakery & Cafe. But then memories can be dangerous things. The destruction of Darjeeling is not Darjeelings story alone; many of Indias Himalayan towns are paying/have paid a heavy price for their natural beauty, salubrious climate and religious spots, all of which make them tourist magnets. This summer, Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) and Nainital (Uttarakhand) suffered severe water scarcity due to the increasing numbers of hotel rooms, higher consumption of water, environmental changes and land use change, which affects the capacity of the land to hold water. Add to this the lack of controls on illegal construction, very little demand management in terms of water use, no long term planning for water security, lack of investment in the ecological and physical infrastructure which means that the system only wakes up when there is a crisis. In Himachal Pradeshs Dharamshala, the waste management system is so poor that often piles of garbage flow into local streams, choking and polluting the natural drainage system. The Alpine meadows of Uttarakhand are under such stress that in August, the high court asked the state to restrict the number of tourists visiting these eco-sensitive places and banned night stay in the meadows. Tourism is indeed big business in the Himalayan states. Over the years, it has grown not just because of improved facilities and infrastructure but also because the other once-favoured destination, Kashmir, has almost fallen off the tourist map because of political problems. According to NITI Aayogs recently released Sustainable Tourism in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), every year an average of about 100 million tourists visit the ecologically sensitive Indian Himalayan region, which is home to about 50 million people. With an aim to generate funds to offset this environmental damage, the Aayog has recommended an introduction of a green cess in the form of payments from service consumers because it can increase tax revenue and help maintain and enhance critical services. While one understands that these tourist destinations need funds and the polluter to pay the price, only a green cess or tax on tourism is unlikely to have any impact if it is not accompanied by strict regulation and the implementation of existing laws. In many places, as we have found in our work in Nainital, the issue is the flagrant violation of existing laws, the building of structures in eco-fragile and eco-sensitive zones, and the neglect/apathy of the enforcement authorities who turn a blind eye to these processes, says director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute, Professor Bhaskar Vira. A green cess will do nothing to improve governance and enforcement mechanisms, and this is the problem at the moment, not the lack of funds. Many others believe that like toll gates or cess for education, the intent is right, but when funds start coming in, the focus area changes and a lot of it goes into administrative costs. Others talk about how tourism departments in states dont have the necessary heft and trained personnel to have a say in town planning processes. Instead of just focusing on revenue generation, it is important to devise strategies for the consolidation of urban settlements and ensure that they are provided all facilities before further growth is permitted. It is also important that buildings in these towns are based on the local ecosystem, taking into account seismic fragility and the need for aesthetics, says Centre for Science and Environment director general Sunita Narain. All this, of course, will require the creation of strong regulatory institutions in the towns. The municipal by-laws must provide for construction activity to be banned in areas, which fall in hazardous zones or areas close to rivers, springs, and watersheds. In many cases, these provisions exist in the by-laws but have not been strictly enforced. There needs to be a zero-tolerance policy on these matters first before imposing a new cess on tourists. One of the most awaited pregnancy announcements is finally confirmed; theres a royal baby on the way. The Kensington Palace announced that Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, are expecting their first child in the spring of 2019. While there were strong rumours already doing the rounds, the confirmation from the Royal Palace just adds to all the excitement for the latest member of the royal family. In the anticipation of the royal baby, here are some customs that you didn't know existed. Giving birth at home: Royal babies were always given birth at home in the royal residences. For instance, Queen Elizabeth II was born at a private family home in London and even gave birth to her sons Charles, Andrew and Edward in the Buckingham Palace. Princes Diana was the first to break this rule and gave birth to William and Harry at St Marys. Duchess Kate too gave birth to her children, George and Charlotte at St Marys. Official witness during birth: As recent as early 1900s, government officials were required to witness the birth of a royal baby to ensure legitimacy. However, after the birth of Queen Elizabeth this custom was scraped, much to the relief of mums-to-be. The birth announcement: Traditionally, the birth announcement used to be hand-written. Now, it is typed on royal letterhead, by the doctor immediately after the birth and is sent in a car to Buckingham Palace to be displayed on an easel in front of the palace. While the easel is still used, the news is also shared through social media, just like the most recent announcement of the arrival of the royal baby. Gender reveal: The gender of the royal baby is not announced to the public at any time during the pregnancy. In fact, even the parents-to-be are not aware of the gender. It is revealed to the public on the announcement easel and social media. First names: Every royal has three to four names, and they are often picked to honour previous monarchs or royal relatives. Prince Georges full name is George Alexander Lewis, and he will officially go by His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. Princess Charlottes full name is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana (after Williams mother) and she will go by Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. Any guesses for what the new royal baby will be named? Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter The Me Too revelations refuse to die down with many women coming forward to narrate harrowing tales of sexual harassment. After actor Kritika Sharma on Sunday accused Bollywood casting director Vicky Sidana of attempted rape almost six years ago, he has denied the charge. In response to a query from Hindustan Times, Vicky replied with a message, saying: Over the past 10 years while working as a casting director, I have routinely met and auditioned thousands of aspiring actors while scouting for new talent. My casting process is quite transparent and I take great efforts to make sure the actors who come to me, feel completely safe and respected. Meeting new people is a part of my job, but that does not mean that someone can come up with baseless allegations against me based on such meeting. They have to come to me with clean hands. I will not take such allegations lightly. I strongly and completely deny it. Earlier, speaking to Zoom TV, Kritika had narrated how it all began when she went for an audition to Delhis Mandi House area for an upcoming Bollywood film in 2013, where she first met Vicky. She was asked to enact a scene which had a lot of abusive words and she found it difficult to mouth the words. She was later called to Mumbai after being told that she was shortlisted for the film. Unable to find an accommodation, she called Vicky who promised to find some place with his female friends for her to stay. From the airport, I straightway went to his office. The first question he asks me: Lets talk business. Agar mein teri help karta hoon, toh mujhe kya milega? So I understood what he was trying to ask me and I was like if I become a known person then people will automatically know that you were the person who cast me. He was like tu uski chinta mat kar, mera naam bahot hai already, toh usko tu bhul jaa; tu mujhe yeh bata ke tu mere liye kya kar sakti hai. He didnt get a reply from me. Kritika claimed that he said that his friends had backtracked and he would host her at his residence instead. She said she agreed as he said he was married and his wife will be home. She claims he made personal comments about her breasts on the way. Later, at his home, he offered her vodka and when she refused, he reasoned that as an actor she would have to drink and smoke. All along his wife stood there, without saying a word. Next day, he took her to a building, insisting that they were to meet director Luv Ranjans assistant. On reaching the place, he asked her to wait while he met a person and then told her that the meeting was upstairs. As soon as they reached the room, he shut the door and pushed her onto the bed and pulled her pants and tried to force himself on her. The actor allegedly kept pleading with him to let her go but he refused to stop. She told that she wasnt willing to sleep with people to get work in the industry. He eventually stopped and asked her to go. Kritika ended her narration saying that people should stop protecting such people, that he did something bad to her and that they should at least stop saying hes a nice guy because hes not. Vicky Sidana is yet to respond to HTs request for a comment. Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Alia Bhatt has shared a picture of herself from New York City, where she arrived to support boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor and his family, as his father, actor Rishi Kapoor, undergoes treatment for an unspecified illness. Alias picture shows her amid tall skyscrapers, with a look of positivity on her face. She captioned the image, The Big Apple. During his stay in NYC, Rishi has had visitors such as Sonali Bendre, who is undergoing cancer treatment in the city, Anupam Kher, who is shooting for his show, and Priyanka Chopra, for whom the Big Apple is her stateside base. Photos and videos of Rishis outings with his industry friends have made it online, even as speculation as to the nature of his illness does the rounds. Neither Rishi nor his wife Neetu Kapoor and son Ranbir were able to attend the funeral of his mother, Krishna Raj Kapoor, earlier this month. Rishis brother, Randhir Kapoor, requested fans and the media not to speculate about his illness. We dont know yet what is the exact nature of his ailment, Randhir told the Times of India. Rishi himself doesnt know what he is suffering from. He hasnt even started undergoing tests there; how can people speculate that he has cancer and that too, one that has escalated to an advanced stage. Rishi himself made a return to Twitter to dispel rumours surrounding the sudden change of his hair colour. This is to dispel all notions and wrong speculations of my hair turning grey/white overnight. My hair was dyed by Awan Contractor for a film produced by Honey Trehan and Sony pictures directed by Hitesh Bhatia. Film is untitled. Trust this clears the air, he wrote alongside a picture of himself having his hair dyed. Before leaving, Rishi had tweeted to his fans on September 29, Hello all! I am taking a short leave of absence from work to go to America for some medical treatment. I urge my well wishers not to worry or unnecessarily speculate. Its been 45 years plusof wear and tear at the movies. With your love and good wishes,I will be back soon! Meanwhile, Ranbir and Alias relationship is followed just as closely online. The two have been quite open about their new relationship, especially in the frequency of their Instagram posts. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror about their relationship, Rishi had said, Its Ranbirs life. Who he wants to get married to is his prerogative. Neetu likes her, I like her, Ranbir likes her. Get it? I cant be judgmental. After all, my uncles Shammiji (Shammi Kapoor) and Shashiji (Shashi Kapoor) and I chose our life partners. Ranbir is entitled to choose his. Follow @htshowbiz for more Kangana Ranauts sister has sprung to her defence amid questions about her motivations during the Indian #MeToo movement. Kangana has been vocal in her takedowns of everyone from her Queen director Vikas Bahl to an industry she believes was complicit in his misbehaviour. Rangoli wrote on Twitter, People who say Kangana wants to promote her films by talking about issues should know she would have never left Khan and YRF films, fairness ads, if films were more imp to her now pls go and find some other excuse ...its too ghisa pitaa. people who say Kangana wants to promote her films by talking about issues should know she would have never left khan and yrf films fairness ads if films were more imp to her now pls go and find some other excuse ...its too ghisa pitaa.... Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) October 13, 2018 Kanganas fiery statements have attracted their fair share of criticism. Actor Gauahar Khan accused Kangana of being a feminist of convenience. In a Twitter post, Gauahar wrote, I am calling you out on your double standards on being a self-proclaimed voice for womens rights and feminism #kanganaranaut. Your voice is shrill and your views convenience. Kangana had previously corroborated multiple accusers accounts of having been harassed by Bahl. She said that she, too, had experienced his inappropriate behaviour in the past. Kangana had then slammed Hrithik Roshan, whom she had previously been involved in a public dispute with, for allegedly making hypocritical statements in favour of the movement, yet having a trophy wife and mistresses on the side. Kangana entered a feud of sorts with actor Sonam Kapoor, who said during an event that it is hard to take Kangana seriously because of the numerous controversies shes landed herself in. Kangana responded in an interview to Pinkvilla by saying, Its hard to believe Kangana? When I am sharing my Me Too story, who gives her a right to judge me? So, Sonam Kapoor has the license of trusting some women and some she wont. What makes her so unsure of my claims? I am known to be an articulate person and I have represented my country in many international summits. I am called as a thought and youth influencer to these summits, I am not known because of my dad I have earned my place and credibility after struggling for a decade. Kangana continued, She isnt known to be a great actress, neither she has the reputation of being a good speaker. What gives these filmy people right to take digs at me? I will demolish each one of them. Bahls ex-wife, Richa Dubey, accused Kangana of misusing the #MeToo movement in a Twitter post. This is going beyond boundaries and tolerance level now this is not a #MeToo but a meme. I want to ask all the women if a man makes you uncomfortable and touches you inappropriately would you have a good friendship with that man? she wrote. Kangana most recently set her sights on her old foe, Karan Johar, whom she accused of staying silent during the movement. She said that she had seen a promo video of his show, Koffee with Karan, and was disappointed by the same of frivolous questions. Kangana in an appearance on the same show in 2017 had unleashed an industry-wide controversy on nepotism. Karan Johar has views about gym looks and airport looks. He tweets ten times about it. What about this? This is their identity. This is their bread and butter. When the film industry is going through such an important shift, where are they? she told India Today in an interview. Follow @htshowbiz for more Somy Ali, actor Salman Khans former partner, has reiterated her personal story about having faced sexual abuse, amid the ongoing #MeToo movement in India. She has written an emotional Instagram post saluting all those that have spoken up. As a survivor of sexual abuse at the age of 5 and rape at 14, I would like to salute all those that have spoken up and plan on doing so. I know it is very difficult to do it because I have been there and it took me many years to be able to talk about it. It takes immense amount of courage to share this with the world. Its even harder when you tell those that are close to you and they are supposed to protect you, yet they do nothing. I have been there too and it hurts like hell. But I want these survivors to know it is truly liberating and completely worth it. Do not let the nonbelievers stop you. This is your truth. Do not ever be afraid to speak your truth. Do not let this opportunity pass you. This is a moment that has been long overdue for all of us. This is your chance to be heard and finally obtain justice. I believe you, she wrote. Hitlist in an earlier interview had quoted Somy as saying, I was sexually assaulted by a house-help when I was just five. When I am invited for a talk at high schools and universities in the US, I share this with the students. I believe sharing my personal experiences would encourage others to speak out and not be ashamed about being a victim. She further said that the social climate was such at the time that abuse in all forms was brushed under the rug. I grew up amidst an atmosphere of domestic violence in Pakistan and many of my moms friends were victims of physical abuse as well. When I would ask my mom about the bruises on their bodies, I was always told that X aunty or Y aunty fell down the stairs. This was the standard, universal euphemism for physical abuse, Somy, who hails from Pakistan, had first opened up about her past in 2015. She entered the film industry in the early 90s, but left a few years later for Florida, where she founded her NGO, No More Tears. Several prominent Bollywood personalities such as directors Subhash Ghai, Rajat Kapoor, Sajid Khan and actors such as Nana Patekar and Alok Nath have been named in Indias #MeToo movement. Action has already been initiated against some of the alleged. While investigations have been launched into some cases, Sajid Khan has quit his duties as director on Housefull 4, with star Akshay Kumar announcing that the production has been halted until the matter has been looked into. Follow @htshowbiz for more MGallery by Sofitel, AccorHotels' collection of unique boutique hotels, welcomes its second property in Dubai with the rebranding of the Melia Hotel in Bur Dubais Port Rashid area to The Canvas Hotel, MGallery. The franchise agreement was signed with Khamas Group of Investments, a multi-industry conglomerate. The name Canvas was chosen in tribute to the way the city of Dubai has developed, transforming from the blank canvas of the desert sands into a glittering metropolis. The upper upscale property features 164 rooms and suites, an all-day dining restaurant, three lounges, Signature, a renowned Indian restaurant from the internationally acclaimed celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, as well as an award-winning spa. As part of a phased refurbishment, The Canvas Hotel will redefine the guest arrival experience and the lobby in line with the MGallery ethos, from the intimate and private arrival to the welcoming atrium on the first level, where new lighting, furnishings and refined regional art will uplift and enhance the atmosphere. Signature, by Sanjeev Kapoor, will take over a prime location of the main lobby, while additional space is being used to upgrade the events and meeting space, with state-of-the-art audio-visual fit-out. Pawan Kachroo, managing director of Khamas Hospitality Group, said: AccorHotels proposed the MGallery brand to take an existing hotel and reposition it with fresh forward-thinking dimensions. Equally, the brands flexibility allows us to draw on the strengths of our beginnings, re-emphasising our historical location, and its new appeal. The physical and aesthetic rejuvenation of the hotel will be undertaken through a phased approach and paves way for new interest from previously untapped markets; positioning The Canvas Dubai MGallery as a hotel of choice, catering to the needs of todays individualistic travellers. After completion of the second phase of refurbishment, The Canvas Hotel, drawing on MGallerys flair for unique dining experiences, will have seven enticing concepts inspired by the heritage of its surroundings, as well as catering to business travellers, with two fully-equipped meeting spaces. Mirco Iada, general manager for The Canvas Hotel, MGallery, said: Were a focal point for the district; in the heart of Dubais historic trading centre, providing a five-star experience for those travellers that demand a superior level of service and comfort. The hotels strategic location will offer guests ease of accessibility to some of Dubais key landmark business and leisure destinations, entertaining dining and nightlife experiences, an award-winning spa, as well as MGallerys distinct service, all set on the bridge between traditional and new Dubai. The revitalisation of the property is part of the on-going evolution of the historically significant area of (Port Rashid) Bur Dubai, which is being carefully preserved to protect the citys heritage and history. The hotel is convenient for sites such as the Dubai Gold Souq and Al Fahidi Historical District or new developments such as La Mer and The Pearl Jumeirah, while being incredibly close to Banks street, the Dhow Wharfage, and the consular district. The launch of The Canvas Hotel, MGallery accelerates the expansion of MGallery in the Middle East, a collection of inimitably enchanting, unique boutique hotels. MGallery places story making at the heart of the services, amenities, decor and dining concepts across each hotel. Offering a mix of Heritage, Serenity and Signature hotels, MGallery hotels offer one-of-a-kind moments, spirited by local experiences, lively food and beverages and customised discovery tours. MGallery has more than 90 unique addresses including flagship properties such as Hotel Molitor Paris MGallery, Le Grand Hotel Cabourg MGallery, Santa Teresa Hotel Rio de Janeiro MGallery, Hotel des Arts Saigon MGallery and others in over 25 countries around the world. The Retreat Palm Dubai MGallery was the first in the Middle East in addition to becoming the first wellness-focused resort in the region when it opened its doors last year. AccorHotels operates 46 properties in the UAE, in addition to 27 under development. In the Middle East, AccorHotels currently operates over 100 hotels, encompassing close to 34,000 rooms, in addition to 95 hotels under development across the luxury to economy segments. The network is expected to double in size, bringing over 25,000 additional rooms to the region. - TradeArabia News Service A Mumbai BJP leader demanded on Sunday that the Maharashtra government revoke its decision to give land to filmmaker Subhash Ghai for his film school here in the wake of accusations of sexual misconduct against him. The veteran Bollywood filmmaker has been accused of rape and molestation in the last few days, as the #MeToo movement continues to sweep social media. In view of sexual harassment charges on Subhash Ghai and police complaint filed, 5.5 acre land leased by govt in Film City for Subhash Ghais film school, be reverted, tweeted Vivekanand Gupta, secretary of the BJPs Mumbai unit. Gupta tagged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and culture minister Vinod Tawde in his tweet. In view of sexual harrasment charges on Subhash Ghai and police complaint filed, 5.5 acre land leased by govt in Film City for Subhash Ghais film school, be reverted.@CMOMaharashtra @vinodtawde pic.twitter.com/1JzHo485uG Vivekanand Gupta (@vivekanandg) October 14, 2018 The BJP leader also pledged his support to the ongoing Me Too movement adding, We need to support those women. Its only dey who know d pain,suffering,trauma, they have gone thru all dis years.Those who r trying to target few individuals r doing injustice to #MeToo. I have offered legal help pro bono to #MeTooLet law take its own course. I support #MeToo We need to support those women. Its only dey who know d pain,suffering,trauma, they have gone thru all dis years.Those who r trying to target few individuals r doing injustice to #MeToo I have offered legal help pro bono to #MeToo Let law take it's own course. Vivekanand Gupta (@vivekanandg) October 14, 2018 All #MeToo Shud be provided legal assitance.Let law of the land prevail. Let justice be seen to be done. Our basic concept of Jurisprudence that the 100 culprits may let go free but no innocent should be punished.@aakuraj @news_houndz@365newsin Vivekanand Gupta (@vivekanandg) October 14, 2018 The BJP-led state government cleared a proposal to lease 5.5 acres of land to Ghai in Film City in Mumbai at a cabinet meeting two weeks ago. Guptas demand that the decision be scrapped came as an actor-model filed a complaint against the filmmaker on Saturday for allegedly molesting her. Before that, writer Mahima Kukreja had shared screen-shots of a private conversation with a woman on Twitter who levelled rape charges against Ghai. She had shared screenshots of her private conversation on Twitter with the alleged victim who was a credible media/lit personality. The alleged victim had told Mahima that the incident happened when she was working with Subhash Ghai on a film on the pretext of being a mentor to her. However, the filmmaker had denied all accusations against him. TW: drugging and raping. About Shubash Ghai. Told personally by the woman who faced the trauma. Shes also a very credible media/lit personality. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/QpmGfy1s0V Mahima Kukreja (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 11, 2018 (With inputs from PTI) Follow @htshowbiz for more The MeToo movement that has taken India by storm has a new casualty every second day. Most affected are popular film industries including Bollywood and the Indian media. The latest name to be called out is action director Sham Kaushal, father of popular actor Vicky Kaushal. Nameeta Prakash, who has worked as an assistant director on films like Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Ab Tak Chappan and Monorama Six Feet Under, has spoken about Shams sexual misconduct on Twitter. She said that during one of the outdoor shoots, Sham asked her to join him for a drink in his room. On her firm refusal, he showed her a pornographic MMS on his mobile phone. By Nameeta Parekh. About Shyam Kaushal, Bollywood stunt director. pic.twitter.com/b5bLeALFMF Mahima Kukreja (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 14, 2018 Sharing her story, she wrote: Back in 2006 on an outdoor shoot, Sham Kaushal, the famous and award winning Bollywood stunt director decided that I should be going to his room after wrap to drink vodka, the sound of that was just so wrong that I lied to him & told him I dont drink at all. He tried to insist, by saying that I didnt know what I am missing out on and when I stuck my ground he picked up his phone and suddenly plugged it in-front of me with a porn MMS video clip on it. Sham has worked in several high profile projects such as Padmaavat, Bajirao, Dangal among others. He is yet to respond to the allegations. Ever since actor Tanushree Dutta came out with her story of facing the brunt of sexual harassment at the hands of actor Nana Patekar, a number of women have come forward with their tales. Among the host of big names who have named are Sajid Khan, Rajat Kapoor, Alok Nath, Kailash Kher and Vikas Bahl among others. The women who have stepped forward to call out these men include Sandhya Mridul, Vinta Nanda, Deepika Amin, Sona Mohapatra, Saloni Chopra, Rachel White and many journalists. The movement has found support a fair number of young actors including Sonam Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha and Farhan Akhtar while many senior members have chosen to stay mum on the issue. Sajid stepped down as the director of Houseful 4 after actor Akshay Kumar declared that he would not work with a proven offender after three women--an actor, an AD and journalist--accused him of sexual misconduct. Follow @htshowbiz for more Sunny Leone and husband Daniel Weber are a happy family of five now after adding a daughter and twin boys to their brood within a period of one year. Sunny had adopted baby girl Nisha from Latur, Maharashtra in July 2017 and the little girl is already three. The actor shared a cute picture along with a message to wish the baby girl on Instagram, To the most beautiful angel in the world! Happy happy 3rd birthday my sweet girl! You are my sunshine...my only sunshine...you make me happy when skies are grey...youll never know dear how much I love you!...please dont take my sunshine away!! She added another lovely picture that went with the caption, This smile pretty much sums it all up! Happy Birthday baby girl! Im so proud of you! The proud father also took to Instagram to wish Nisha with a cute family picture and a birthday message that read, Happy 3rd Birthday to my baby girl Nisha Kaur !!!! I love you with all my heart and everyday with you is a true blessing. I thank God everyday for allowing him to bring you into our lives !!! You are the meaning of JOY !!!! Xoxoxo. Less than a year after adopting Nisha, the couple had welcomed twin boys Noah and Asher via surrogacy. While the Webers had celebrated her second birthday in Disneyland last year, Sunnys recent holiday pictures came from Cancun, Mexico. The actor will now be seen hosting the eleventh season of the reality show Splitsvilla. She had also shot the first season of her own biopic Karenjit Kaur: The Untold Story of Sunny Leone that traces her journey from childhood to Bollywood. Follow @htshowbiz for more Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways, which is facing a severe cash crunch, has failed to give any firm date for payment of September salary to its senior management, pilots and engineers, a source said. On September 6, after it defaulted on payment of August salary, the airline had informed that the salary of these three categories of staffers would be paid in two tranches - on 11th and 26th of the month - till November. Therefore, the August salary was to be paid on September 11 and September 26 while September salary on October 11 and October 26, and so on. Though it paid the first tranche of 50 per cent of August salary on September 11, it paid the remaining 50 per cent in two instalments - on September 26 and October 9. Now, the airline is yet to pay the first instalment of the September salary three days after the designated date, the source said. In a communication to these categories of staffers Sunday evening, the airline said it was working towards a solution (for payment) but did not give any specific date. First of all, we would like to apologise for the delayed payment of your salaries and appreciate your patience in this matter. We remain committed towards your dues and profusely thank you for doing what you do for Jet Airways every day, Jet Airways chief people officer Rahul Taneja said in the communication. ...we have met with the pilots representatives and are working towards a solution, which will be communicated in the coming week, he said in the email. The spokesperson of Jet Airways could not be contacted for comments. Meanwhile, a group of Jet Airways pilots has expressed unhappiness with some of their leaders in the union, National Aviators Guild (NAG), accusing them of not doing enough to force the management pay salary dues. Some of the NAG leaders are not doing enough, not taking enough steps to deal with the situation and force the management to pay our pending salary dues, said a pilot. A query sent to NAG vice president Asim Valiani on the issue remained unanswered. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a country that is used to fight elections every now and then, why are a few individuals getting nervous about the electoral contest about to take place in five states? The answer is obvious. Before the 2019 general elections, the voters in these five states will also deliver a verdict on the performance of the central government. In that sense, these assembly elections are a trailer of the general elections. In this scenario, the question that is bound be asked is: which party will the 13 crore voters in these five states go with? On what basis should almost 17% of the nations electorate choose its government? When they press the button on the electronic voting machine, will the statements and actions of the politicians influence their decision, or will they be guided by the ideological opium proffered during the election season? We need to debate this question because despite the flaws in our system, we still take pride in describing ourselves as citizens of the worlds largest democracy. Over the last 70 years, belying the rest of the worlds expectations, if India has kept this invaluable democratic process alive, then the credit for this should go to the citizens of the country and not to its political class. Now let us come to the people to whom we assign the responsibility of running this system. Let me begin with Madhya Pradesh. When the Congress promised to open a gaushala (cow shelter) in every block of the state, on the eve of elections, the chief minister promised a full-fledged ministry for cows in response. Without doubt, cow holds a special place in Hinduism, but shouldnt the people of Madhya Pradesh be assessing the states development and their own well-being while making up their minds? They should contemplate why the BJP, after a reign of 15 years and the Congress, which has been facing such a long exile, need to resort to playing politics in the garb of religion. Why do we allow our faith to be used as an opium for the masses? If you recall, during the Uttar Pradesh elections, the prime minister himself, while talking about electricity and development, gave the example of shamshan and kabristan (crematorium and graveyard). But believing that the BJPs majority came just because of these symbols is to do an injustice to the voters intelligence. Didnt Uttar Pradeshs unfulfilled wish for progress drive the idea of change? Wasnt the splintered Opposition trying to justify itself with a meaningless debate? There could be a number of reasons to put their case forward but our politicians assume that religion is the easiest formula. As a result, religious leaders and places of worship have flourished. Politicians, too, have a right to exercise their faith in the manner that they want, but why is this exercised only at the time of elections? Consider Rahul Gandhis recent Amethi trip. As soon as he reached, enthusiastic party workers began raising slogans about his personal faith. Naturally, the Congress president was perturbed. Three overzealous party workers have been suspended over this, but the incident is an indicator of the direction national politics is headed in. Politics has become an affair where warped logic has become a potent weapon. The latest example is the recent murder of an Apple executive in Lucknow. He was deliberately shot dead by the police in the heart of the city. It was a subject on which every political party should have put their differences aside and expressed solidarity with the victims family. But an attempt was made to lend a political colour to it. A tweet by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal reflects this. Even his admirers were puzzled by this: How does religion come into this repulsive act? Like religion, Pakistan is also frequently used as an electoral ploy. The two countries share a contentious relationship which resembles old family ties. Disputes about borders have led to attempts to break this bond, to no avail. Despite this, our politicians refuse to give up. People on both sides of the border may not want to sever these ties, but politicians have been fanning hatred every election season since 1947. Here I would like to make a request to Indias political parties: It will be good if they didnt sling so much mud on each other in these elections. The last 70 years are evidence that only those politicians who let their actions speak for them have proved to be successful. Why dont they approach voters with a balance sheet of their achievements? Identities on the basis of caste, language, region and religion are important, but striking a harmony among all these makes India the nation it is. It is rare to find such an example of unity in diversity anywhere else in the world. Why should we unsettle it just for the sake of political power? Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief Hindustan letters@hindustantimes.com A woman employee working at a multi-national company has alleged that she was gang-raped by her two colleagues on Saturday night. Police have arrested the two men. According to the police, the woman alleged in her complaint that she was offered a lift by the two men on Saturday evening as they left office for home. After she joined them, they served her drinks in the car which allegedly had sedatives in it and she fell unconscious, she said. The woman said that the two men then took her to a flat and took turns to rape her and later dropped her somewhere in Vasant Kunj. The woman said she managed to reach home in Dwarka and dialled the police control room to report the matter. A senior police officer said that based on the womans complaint, a case was registered and the two men were arrested after a medical examination was conducted. Deputy Commissioner of Police, South-west district, Devender Arya, did not comment on the incident when contacted. The row over the inauguration of citys first skywalk intensified on Sunday, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accusing the Centres Union housing and urban affairs ministry of trying to hijack the work of an elected government by not inviting any representative from Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government. AAP demands that Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Puri should tell the people of Delhi whether it is a norm of his ministry to hijack the work of elected governments in other states also or is he merely following the orders of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) for perpetuating injustice to Delhi? AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a statement on Sunday. The invite for the event which will be organised by the Centre at 3pm on Monday was sent out on Thursday by the Union ministry. The invite has the names of Delhis lieutenant governor, Anil Baijal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Meenakshi Lekhi, but does not have names of any minister or MLA from the party ruling Delhi. Puri will inaugurate the project. AAP congratulates the people of Delhi on the completion of the unique skywalk project at the centrally located ITO traffic intersection. It is a tribute to the professional competence of the Delhi PWD team, led by its minister Satyendar Jain, which conceptualised this idea, prepared a first of its kind design and after the necessary approvals, executed the construction at one of the busiest traffic intersections without causing any inconvenience to the public, Bharadwaj said in the statement The skywalk, funded by the Centre and designed and constructed by Delhi governments PWD department, will connect Sikandra Road, Mathura Road, Tilak Marg and Bahadurshah Zafar Marg with Pragati Maidan, ITO Metro stations and the Supreme Court. Union minister Hardeep Puri said he has expressed his position through his tweets. In one of the tweets, Puri while condemning the despair over its inauguration, said the project was conceptualised and funded by his ministry. Puri accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of non-cooperation in the project and delaying it deliberately. Skywalk has been conceptualised, planned & totally funded by my ministry, so I am surprised at the despair being expressed in certain quarters at not being invited for its inauguration, he wrote in one of his 12 tweets. When works were getting delayed after sanctions in April, 2016, because of non-cooperation by AAP government, it was decided in Oct, 2017, to fund all mobility projects fully by my ministry, DDA or ITPO, he said. He also requested the Kejriwal government not to hold inaugurations against citizens welfare. Earlier too, the Delhi government and Centre were involved in similar controversies over inaugurations of projects. In December last year, AAP leaders were miffed after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was not invited to the launch of Delhi Metros Magenta line. The SC/ST/OBC teachers forum in the national Capital has demanded the removal of the chairperson of the board that conducts recruitment exams for the Delhi government over a question involving a derogatory term referring to a particular community. The Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) had allegedly included the controversial question in an exam conducted on Saturday for hiring primary teachers. According to candidates who wrote the exam, the Hindi section of all the four sets of the question paper had a casteist question. I was aghast to see the question. Use of such language in an exam for recruiting teachers shows the deeply entrenched casteism among people sitting in the authority, a candidate, who wished to remain anonymous, said. Another candidate said that by asking such questions, the board has hurt the sentiments of their community. We are upset over the insensitivity of the board and we demand an apology from them. Its highly irresponsible of them to use such casteist language in a teachers recruitment exam, he said. The DSSSB, however, cited inadvertent error behind the incident. It has been brought to the notice of the DSSSB that in the recent recruitment exam for the post of MCD primary teachers, a question having casteist undertone appeared due to an inadvertent error. It is clarified that the procedure of paper setting is highly confidential and secretive in nature and the contents of the paper are not shared with the board officials. The contents of the paper are revealed for the very first time before the candidates only, the board said in a statement. The members of SC/ST/OBC teachers forum on Sunday wrote to the President, the Prime Minister, Union home minister, Delhi education minister and lieutenant governor demanding removal of DSSSB chairperson. We demand immediate action against the chairperson and also an assurance that such insensitivity will not be repeated in the future. Otherwise, we will launch a massive protest, said Hansraj Suman, a member of the forum. The forum has also called an emergency meeting on Tuesday. He accused the board of deliberately using the remark. The board could have used any question from the wide literature available in Hindi language. But they instead put a caste-based question in the paper. It only exposed their mentality, said Suman. The board holds teachers recruitment exam for government schools in Delhi. Delhi SC/ST welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam also condemned the incident and demanded an explanation from the board. I will meet the Delhi Chief Secretary on Monday to discuss this issue. The services department is still under the L-G of Delhi, which is the governing body of DSSSB. The department has to now come clean on what made them agree to induct such a shoddy question, he said. The board also said they are taking measures to sensitise the paper setters. The national capitals emergency action plan to fight very poor and severe air pollution level rolls out from today, starting with a ban on diesel generator (DG) sets in Delhi, at a time when the city has already encountered nine days of poor air quality in the first two weeks of October. This is the second year of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), which was implemented in 2017. Measures listed under Grap to fight very poor and severe categories of air pollution will be rolled out from October 15. This will continue till March 2019, said Sunita Narain, member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (Epca), which enforces Grap. With Grap being rolled out from Monday, there will be a ban on diesel generator (DG) sets in Delhi. DG sets will, however, be allowed to operate in NCR towns because it would be impractical to ban them outside the national capital, where there is still a problem of power supply, said Narain. Other stringent measures, such as a ban on construction activities, ban on stone crushers and hot mix plants, enhancing parking fees, and rolling out the odd-even road rationing scheme, will be implemented if the air quality deteriorates further and reaches the severe or emergency categories. In November 2017, schools were shut when air quality turned severe for more than a week. Now that monsoon has ended and winter is approaching, the citys air quality has started dipping, though the air quality index (AQI) hasnt touched very poor or severe levels yet. On Sunday, AQI was 204. The air quality usually breaches the severe zone when the AQI reading shoots up to five times above the safe limit in November. On November 9, 2017, AQI shot up to 486 on a scale of 0-500, underscoring conditions that prompted the Delhi government to declare a public health emergency and describe Delhi as a gas chamber. An AQI in the range of 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and 401-500 severe. The use of coal has been banned in Delhi by the state government since July this year. But if air quality deteriorates to severe levels in NCR towns, we might have to ban the use of such polluting fuels in NCR towns as well for some days, said a second Epca member who asked not to be named. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) directed NBCC on Sunday to immediately stop all construction and demolition activities in the Pragati Maidan redevelopment project. SDMC commissioner Puneet Goel said, The civic agency is committed to strictly enforcing the directions of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority. We have asked NBCC to immediately stop all construction or demolition activities at site or face the action under Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957. In May, Delhi was declared the worlds most polluted city, according to the air quality data compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for megacities with a population of 14 million or more. Greater Cairo in Egypt was the second most polluted city, followed by the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka. Mumbai was fourth and Beijing fifth. While measures listed under Grap to control moderate and poor levels of pollution are enforced in the summer and monsoon months, measures to control very poor and severe categories of pollution are enforced from October 15 to March 15 of the following year. Experts say that Delhi is better equipped this year to fight pollution because a series of steps have already been taken. One of the most important measures is installing the early warning system that can predict air quality levels two days in advance. Polluting fuels such as coal, kerosene, furnace oil and pet coke have already been banned in Delhi. While on one hand teams comprising officials from CPCB have fanned out across Delhi and NCR towns, environment marshals deployed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) are also flagging violations such as open garbage burning and open construction sites. A section of trucks are also being diverted through the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, said a senior official of Delhi governments environment department who asked not to be named Civic bodies have also increased their intensity of mechanical sweeping of roads and sprinkling of water to control road dust. Delhi has taken up a series of measures this time to control pollution levels. But unfavourable meteorological factors such as drop in wind speed and upper air winds bringing in dust from west Asia plays a major factor behind the occasional spikes in pollution levels, said D Saha, former head of the citys ait quality laboratory. With snowfall in the hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, there is already a nip in the air in Delhi, according to weather experts. On Sunday, the minimum temperature in Delhi was recorded as 17.3 degrees Celsius, which is two degrees below normal. As the city gears up for the festival of Durga puja as well as Ram Leela, devotees thronging the pandals and the grounds set to burn Ravana effigies across the capital will be greeted by themes of women empowerment inspired by the ongoing #MeToo movement that has taken the country by a storm. At the Lanka Dahan in Red Fort, a fourth effigy symbolic of the men accused of sexually harassing women in the online campaign will also go up in flames. Rahul Sharma, press secretary of the Nav Shri Dharmik Leela Committee, said, Every year, we burn the effigy of one social evil. This time, we are focussing on symbolically destroying the evil that has been exposed by the #MeToo movement. The organisers, however, have promised to use smoke-free crackers to curb pollution. In east Patel Nagar, Durga puja organisers, this year, have decided to hand over all responsibilities of the event to an all-women committee. All these years, men were in the leadership position at our pandal. This time, it was decided that women, who are equally capable of organising the event, will handle everything, said Shelly Bhowmick, a HR professional, the general secretary of the pandal being set up at the east Patel Nagar Puja Park. While puja committees at Chittaranjan (CR) Park that remains the hub of Durga puja celebrations in Delhi has decided on quintessentially Bengali themes such as folk dancers of Bengal and rural Bengal for the pandals, the materials used for their construction and decoration have been chosen in such a way that there is as little damage to the environment as possible. CR Park is expected to witness a daily footfall of over thousands of people on Monday onwards. The plates at the pandal at the Cooperative Ground in Chittaranjan Park will be made of barks of betel nut trees. The cost will rise nearly three times but we are going all out to ensure no plastic item is used, said Subir Dutta, an organiser of the puja. The pandal will be made of paper mache, Dutta said. We have been focusing on eco-friendly pujas over the last one decade. On earlier occasions, we used eco-friendly items such as jute, plywood and mud for the purpose, he maintained. At the Durga Puja Samiti in CR Parks Mela Ground, organisers have decided to use alloy to ensure a weather-proof pandal. We procured the material from Germany. It is the first time such a pandal is being made in Delhi, said Pranab Chaudhary, an organiser. According to Muktipada Chakraborty, senior priest at the Kali Bari temple, most pandals were thrown open on Sunday and will see a heavy rush from devotees until Friday. Debashish Bhowmick, one of the organisers of the Kali Bari temple puja, said all arrangements have been made at the temple complex to ensure visits of VIPs do not affect that of the others. Every devotee makes it a point to visit the Kali Bari temple at least once during the five-day celebrations, said Bhowmick. The traffic police, meanwhile, said they will soon issue traffic advisory and deploy its staff in full strength across Delhi-NCR. Since the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, Pakistan-based militant outfits have reportedly begun to see Indias coastline as the weak point in the countrys border defences. This renewed maritime interest may reflect a desire for Rawalpindi to inflict pain on India while avoiding the international interest that fighting along the Line of Control attracts. While Indias coastal defences are in much better shape than they were in 2011, it is true Indias 7,500 kilometre-long coast is hardly proofed against terrorist infiltration. The second line of defence, the state coastal police, is particularly wanting. After Mumbai 26/11, New Delhi rolled out a coastal security scheme, the second part of which will end in 2020. The scheme has accomplished a number of goals: beginning the process of tagging fishing boats; infusing training and equipment into Indias derelict coast guard; and setting up an extensive network of radars, cameras and other sensors along the coast. Many of these programmes are ongoing. Thus the coast guard still has less than half the aircraft it needs. Identifying and persuading fishermen to put location beacons on their boats is almost as much a social movement as a technological fix. However, the open seas that met the Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives in 2008 are a thing of the past. But there are several lacunae. There continues to be far too many government agencies involved in coastal and maritime security. At last count, 15 different bodies had some jurisdiction in the matter. Coordination will remain a challenge and will be sorely tested when the next attack comes. The response of state governments has been varied: Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have been exemplary; other states treat the matter lightly. Goa has seven coastal police stations for its roughly 100-kilometre long shore. Karnataka, with four times the coastline, has only eight. In any case, many of these coastal stations are unmanned or poorly maintained. The original requirement that only vessels over 20 metres long need tracking beacons should be reconsidered tens of thousands of vessels are outside the security net as a consequence. Terrorist techniques do not remain static. The trick is to be a step or two ahead of them. India carried out coastal defence reforms after the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. Fifteen years later, those were found wanting. India must look to new technologies like data analytics and networked drones to prevent the attacks of the future. As India begins the infrastructural transformation of its east coast, it will need to ensure the new security system it installs and this includes container inspection and underwater early warning are driven by the lessons of the past but also the expectations of the future. The Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board (RSMSSB) has released the admit cards for the Live Stock Assistant (LSA) examination 2018. The examination will be held on October 21 from 11am to 1pm. Candidates can download their admit card by visiting rsmssb.rajasthan.gov.in. The examination is being held to fill 2,077 vacancies. Candidates must carry the admit card to the examination centre and read the instructions very carefully. Admit cards will not be sent by post. Candidates should reach the venue one and a half hour before (9.30am) the examination starts. They must carry their original photo identity card like Aadhar, Pan Card, driving licence etc. Heres how to download Rajasthan RSMSSB LSA admit card 2018 1) Visit the official website of Rajasthan Staff Selection Board 2) Click on the link for admit card 3) Click on Download Admit Card of LSA exam 2018 4) Click on get admit card 5) Enter application number, date of birth and click on Get admit card 6) Admit card will be displayed on the screen 7) Take a print out and download it on your computer Thirty one suspected Bangladeshi nationals who were on their way from Bengaluru to the neighbouring country were nabbed at the Guwahati railway station on Monday, police said. The illegal immigrants had arrived in Guwahati on Sunday on board the Bangalore Express and were waiting to catch the Kanchenjunga Express for their onward journey to Agartala in Tripura when they were arrested. We found the movement of the group suspicious and brought them for questioning. Most of them didnt have any valid papers and admitted that they were from Bangladesh, said Hemanta Das, superintendent of railway police. They said they used to work as labourers and in construction sites in Bengaluru and wanted to go to their home country via Tripura. The group included 10 men, 8 women and 13 children, he added. The arrested persons were produced in court and sent to judicial custody. Officials informed that efforts would be undertaken through proper channels to deport them to Bangladesh. Richard Allan, vice president of policy solutions at Facebook, has the crucial task of finding policy fixes at the social media giant for important issues such as privacy, freedom of expression and online child safety. All these issues have gathered steam in India in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. India is a key market for Facebook with over 217 million people using the platform every month. In an interview, Allan spoke to Vidhi Choudhary about Facebooks relationship with the Indian government and steps the company is taking to prevent misuse of the platform in the upcoming elections. Edited excerpts: How would you describe Facebooks relationship with the Indian government? I think its very constructive. Again, we dont take sides politically. So, whoever is in government in India, they are very important to us. India is a very important country and we respect democratically elected governments like the government of India who have a mandate and responsibility to help people in India. We work with them constructively. Sometimes, they will criticise what we do and they are entitled to do that. We try and respond constructively to any criticism they have and find a solution to problems. In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, what steps will Facebook take to ensure the platform isnt misused by any third party to manipulate its users? So, we have acknowledged publicly the fact that in the US elections in 2016, we didnt identify a number of threats... we have learnt from that. So, we built a very strong team around election integrity. And that team is now developing a range of tools that we can use to protect elections and theyll be certainly doing that for India. Its one of the highest priority elections that we have on our calendar. We know it is happening and we have got a task force together inside the company, security, election, content and anti-hate speech specialists. Is this similar to the election war room set up in the US? We do this now for all major elections, we bring together the specialists. There is an equivalent of this in the US now. This one for India will be global because a lot of the people that we need are distributed in different locations. Its a virtual war room, in the sense we have a group of people, so the security specialists maybe based in one country, the content specialists maybe based in another country, they come together and they are looking for threats. Where we see a threat, they are getting us geared up to deal with that threat. They are also working with authorities here in India... Think of it as a virtual room of people, with as many specialists as we need, all monitoring the Indian elections. They will direct the work of the rest of the company to protect the elections here in India. What are the factors that define policy formation at Facebook? We have a number of objectives. The policy function is very much in support of the core mission of the company, which is to enable people to connect with each other and form meaningful communities to engage in all the activities we use Facebook for on a daily basis. Lessons you have learnt from elections around the world? The main lesson is where we have early dialogue with the different parties. Thats the political parties, the Election Commission, civil society, the kind of people who act as watchdogs in elections, academic experts, and the media who are very sharp about whats going on. Justice NV Ramana, a senior judge in the Supreme Court, has cancelled a scheduled four-day trip to Trinidad and Tobago this November following chief justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogois appeal to judges earlier this month to not take leave, even for conferences, during working days. Justice Ramana was scheduled to attend the biennial meeting of Commonwealth judicial educators in Port of Spain from November 15 to November 19 as a speaker. The schedule was fixed more than two months ago. However, on Monday, Justice Ramana decided to cancel his visit, according to two people familiar with the matter. The judge took the step to honour justice Gogois appeal made in a video conference on October 5, two days after he took over as CJI. The sixth senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, justice Ramana is in line to become CJI on April 24, 2021. In his video conference with chief justices of the high courts, justice Gogoi focused on reducing the case backlog and the need to combat corruption in judiciary. He discussed a 10-point plan, which included not taking leave of absence, adhering to duty hours, and not to hesitate in withdrawing judicial work from judges who are under a cloud. CJI Gogoi also said that advocates with good incomes should be elevated as judges to prevent them from being tempted by inducements. Last week, the Supreme Court collegium headed by justice Gogoi rejected the elevation of an advocate as judge of the Kerala high court on the ground that his average net professional annual income for the preceding five years is less than the prescribed income limit applicable in case of bar members. During the conversation, justice Gogoi also stressed the importance of filling vacancies in the lower judiciary so that pending cases do not clog the system. There are 4.3 million cases pending in 42 high courts, according to the National Judicial Data Grid. In wake of attacks on migrant labourers from north India in some parts of Gujarat, chief minister Vijay Rupani on Monday said people from various parts of the country had contributed to the states development and were welcome there. He also invited people from Uttar Pradesh to see the 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. I am here to invite all the people from Uttar Pradesh to come and watch the Statue of Unity, which would be unveiled by prime minister Narendra Modi on October 31, he said. Gujarat is a multi-cultural state where people from UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and Odisha have contributed a lot for its development, and we welcome all in Gujarat, he said in his speech at the UP-Gujarat unity dialogue at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan here on Monday. At the dialogue, delegations from UP and Gujarat are highlighting the unity and integrity of the country and role of both states in it. Speaking on the occasion, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath said people from his state were working hard in Gujarat and played an important role in the development of the state. Every village of UP has contributed for the Statue of Unity. The chief minister of Gujarat is here to invite us, I welcome and accept his invitation, he said. He also said that had Sardar Patel, the first home minister of independent India, not taken a harsh stance against the nawabs of Junagadh and Hyderabad, Indians would have required a visa to visit these places. Patel was the architect of modern India, so by making his statue, prime minister Modi had paid a perfect tribute to the national hero, he said. Adityanath said Gujarat had given so much to the country. Swami Narayan, Lord Krishnna went to Gujarat and they were the ones who showed the way to development of Gujarat. Rupani also said that all Indians were always been told to work for the unity and integrity of the country, but the earlier governments only propagated history of one family. They even ignored the history of Mahatma Gandhi. Even the picture of Sardar Patel inside Parliament was not installed by them for years. The contribution of freedom fighters like Veer Savarkar, Dr BR Ambedkar was never given any mention. But Prime Minister Modi got the statue constructed as a tribute to Patel, he said. A day after chief minister Manohar Parrikar returned to Goa, a minister from an alliance partner cautioned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against dissolving the state assembly even as the opposition Congress staked claim to form the next government. Parrikar, who is suffering from a pancreatic ailment, started interacting with his family members on Monday although doctors have advised him rest for a week. In a video statement, Goa Forward Party leader and minister Vijay Sardesai called on the ruling BJP to keep its word that the government would last its full term. The onus is on them (the BJP) and they will have to fulfil their commitment that this government will complete its full term and get the continued support of the Central government as was seen in the past, Sardesai said. BJP national president Amit Shah has assured me that the BJP national leadership is not interested in having a mid-term poll or to dissolve the assembly. As such, when our commitment is there and their commitment is also there, the onus of this government continuing for the full five-year term lies with the central BJP leadership, he added. The coalition partners Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and three independents had made Parrikars leadership conditional to them joining the alliance. The chief ministers office said Parrikars health was improving. He had a chat with his family members today morning, said Rupesh Kamat, press secretary to the chief minister. Meanwhile, the Congress in a letter to the President Ram Nath Kovind said it should be given an opportunity to form the government. We (had) petitioned the Goa governor that we are staking claim to form the government and that there should be no decision to dissolve the house without exploring the option of inviting our party to form the government. For this reason it is imperative that you issue instructions and guide the governor of Goa, so that there is no constitutional overreach to seek a dissolution by foul play, state Congress president Girish Chodankar said in his letter. Officials familiar with the matter said the current situation of flux was not ideal but there was no option in the absence of an alternative to Parrikar. Appointing a new chief minister will involve once again securing support from allies, which brings its own uncertainties, said a minister in the government who did not wish to be named. The BJP quelled fears that Parrikars leadership was being reconsidered. He is a CM of the coalition for five years. He will complete that tenure and he will attend to work soon, Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar told reporters. With fuel prices continuing to rise in India amid a global surge in crude oil rates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet the chiefs of national and international oil and gas companies and other stakeholders on Monday to discuss the emerging energy scenario. The meeting, coordinated by the Niti Aayog, is likely to focus on challenges posed by volatile oil prices and the US sanctions on Iran, set to come in force from November 4. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) secretary general Mohammed Barkindo, Indian petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Saudi oil minister Khalid A Al Falih, BP CEO Bob Dudley, Total head Patrick Fouyane, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal are expected to attend the meet which will also deliberate on ways to revive investment in oil and gas exploration and production, official sources said, reported PTI. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) chairman and managing director Shashi Shanker, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chairman Sanjiv Singh, Gas Authority of India Limited India head BC Tripathi, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) chairman Mukesh Kumar Suran, Oil India Limited (OIL) chairman Utpal Bora and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) chairman D Rajkumar will also be present, the sources added. This in the third such annual meeting called by the Indian government. The first meeting was held on January 5, 2016 where suggestions for reforming natural gas prices were made. In the second in October 2017, suggestions were made for giving out equity to foreign and private companies in producing oil and gas fields of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) . However, the ONGC had resisted this, leading to the proposal not going through. The meeting would also look at measures to attract investments and steps for making it easier to do business in India. The government is looking at private investment to raise domestic oil and gas production, which has stagnated for the last few years while fuel demand has been rising by 5-6 per cent annually. India is dependent on imports to meet 83 per cent of its demand and more than half of its natural gas requirements, as per PTI. Prime minister Modi in 2015 had set a target of reducing Indias oil dependence by 10 per cent to 67 per cent (based on import dependence of 77 per cent in 2014-15) by 2022. Import dependence has only increased since then and the government is now looking for ways to raise domestic output. The meeting comes as fuel prices continued to rise across the four major metros on Sunday. In the national capital, petrol was priced at Rs 82.72 per litre, up from Rs 82.66 on Saturday, data on the Indian Oil Corporation website showed, reported IANS. Similarly, petrol prices in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai also rose on Sunday -- to Rs 88.18, Rs 84.54, and Rs 85.99 per litre respectively. Diesel prices also rose across the four metros on Sunday, with the fuel selling for Rs 75.38 a litre in Delhi, Rs 79.02 in Mumbai,Rs 77.23 in Kolkata and Rs 79.71 in Chennai. Amid a non-stop rise in petrol and diesel prices Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked foreign oil companies to ease payment terms and channel their investible surplus into commercial exploitation in the developing countries. PM Modi made the request at an interaction with chief executives of top oil companies and ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Prime Minister underlined that oil consuming countries, due to rising crude oil prices, were facing many other economic challenges including serious resource crunch. India, which imports more than 80 percent of its oil imports, has been under pressure as crude oil prices have surged and the rupee weakened. The cooperation of the oil-producing countries would be very critical to bridge this gap, a statement by Prime Ministers Office said, outlining PM Modis four-point message to global leaders of the energy sector . Lastly and importantly, PM Modi requested for review of payment terms so as to provide temporary relief to the local currency, the statement said. The roundtable came on a day diesel price rose for the 10th consecutive day to wipe out all of the Rs 2.50 per litre cut in rates announced earlier this month through excise duty cut and oil company subsidy. A litre of diesel on Monday costs Rs 75.46 in Delhi, Rs 79.11 in Mumbai and Rs 79.80 in Chennai while petrol costs Rs 82.72 in Delhi, Rs 88.18 in Mumbai and Rs 85.99 in Chennai. At the meeting attended by heads of Indian and foreign oil companies apart from representatives of multi-lateral agencies, PM Modi also appealed for assistance in commercial exploitation of natural gas. Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Dharmendra Pradhan; Vice-Chairman NITI Aayog Dr Rajiv Kumar and senior officials from the Union Government and NITI Aayog were also present at the interaction. Franco Mullakkal, the former bishop of Jalandhar who was arrested for allegedly raping a nun four years ago, was granted bail by the Kerala High Court on Monday. The high court directed Mullakkal to surrender his passport and not to enter Kerala except to appear before the investigating officer in the case once in two weeks on Saturdays. The Catholic priest was also ordered by the court not to influence the witnesses in the case. Police, however, opposed his bail plea saying that the statements of 22 other witnesses need to be recorded and there are chances Mullakkal might influence or threaten them as he is a powerful personality. The 54-year-old priest was arrested by the Kerala police on September 21 after several rounds of questioning and lodged in Pala sub-jail in Kottayam. Mullakkals counsel opposed the polices argument and said the statements of main witnesses have already been recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). He also said Mullakkal was no longer in charge of the Jalandhar Diocese and was not in a position to influence witnesses. The five nuns, who sat on a two-week protest in Kochi seeking Mullakkals arrest, expressed apprehension over his release. We really fear for our lives. He is capable of intimidating witnesses and some of them have already retracted their statements. We have enough faith in the judiciary and we do hope we will get justice, Sister Anupama, one of the nuns, said. The nuns had alleged that the police had given him enough time to dodge law and influence victims. Their protest had attracted popular support. They cited the instance of the Kuravilangad priest who changed his statement later and tried to influence them. The case had taken many twists and turns after the 43-year-old nun, also a mother superior had filed a police complaint on June 28 in Kuravliangad of Kottayam that Mullakkal had raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016. Mullakkal was accused of wrongful confinement, rape and criminal intimidation. The lower court, as well as the high court, had turned down his bail applications earlier. Days before his arrest, Pope Francis had relieved the bishop of his duties and Mumbais auxiliary bishop was given the charge of Jalandhar Diocese, which runs more than a hundred institutions. 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. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Jugram Mehndi and his driver were shot dead by three unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants in Uttar Pradeshs Ambedkar Nagar district Monday morning, police said. As Mehndi was going from his home in Nasirabad village to district headquarters Akbarpur in Ambedkar Nagar, around 200 km east of Lucknow, the assailants fired indiscriminately on his vehicle, hitting him and his driver Subhnit Yadav. Two passersby, identified as Ram Niwas and Sanjay, were also injured in the firing. However, Mehndis security personnel and some supporters sitting behind escaped unhurt. Yadav tried to drive on but hit a wall. Police reached the spot and rushed Mehndi and Yadav to the district hospital where doctors declared them brought dead. A large police contingent was deployed in the hospital as BSP workers and supporters raised slogan against the administration and demanded action against the killers. Superintendent of police Vipin Kumar Mishra said police teams had been constituted to nab the assailants. Mehndi had a criminal history and was involved 21 criminal cases, including loot, murder, rioting and dacoity, he added. A police officer said that the attack could be due to an old rivalry between Mehndi and gangster Khan Mubarak, adding this aspect was also being probed. Two years back Mehndi was grievously injured in a shooting attack by the Mubarak gang. Mubarak was later arrested and sent to jail. A BSP leader said Mehndi had demanded security but the police ignored his request. The party will demand a high level inquiry into the murder and compensation to Mehndis family, he added. BS Yeddyurappa, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Partys Karnataka unit, is busy preparing for the November 3 byelections to three Lok Sabha seats Shimoga, Bellary and Mandya -- and the assembly seats of Ramanagara and Jamakhandi. In an interview to Vikram Gopal, the former chief minister says the BJP is open to dissidents from the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition contesting on its ticket in southern Karnataka. Edited excerpts: Q. How many of the five seats do you feel you can win? In two Lok Sabha seats, my son BY Raghavendra, a former MP, and J Shanta, B Sreeramulus sister and also a former MP, will contest. In Jamakhandi, we have decided to field a former MLA. So, we will win these three definitely. In Ramanagara, chief minister HD Kumaraswamys wife Anita will contest and they are yet to name a candidate for the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency. Many leaders from the coalition partners have expressed an interest in joining the party. So, we are confident that we can put up a strong fight in these two seats as well. Secondly, differences within the Congress and JD(S) are emerging already. Their local workers dont like the coalition and are openly opposing candidates. This will help us. Q. Many leaders have expressed dissatisfaction over holding Lok Sabha bypolls now. What is your opinion? I dont think they should be held. This is because those who win will not be MPs for even six months and can at best attend one session of Parliament. Under these circumstances, the Election Commission should have thought carefully. Even if they say that polls should be held within six months of a vacancy arising, there was an opportunity to not do so. Legal experts have said that these polls should not have been held. So, I feel it isnt right to hold elections. Q. Your son and Sreeramulus sister have been named as candidates. Isnt this also family politics, which you criticise the Congress and JD(S) of practising? This doesnt apply to us because Raghavendra has been an MP and MLA in the past. Shanta, too, has been an MP and we needed a strong candidate. I have never criticised parties for fielding family members of leaders as candidates. Q. Youve not named candidates for Mandya and Ramanagara. Are any coalition leaders in touch with you? Yes, some are in touch with us, which is why we have taken an additional three days to decide on candidates for these seats. We have some aspirants in our party as well, but if someone who has a very good chance of winning approaches us, we have no problem in fielding them. Q. Will this not spark dissent within your party? No. Everybody is agreed that we should field a strong candidate. Our problem is that people join and leave the party if they lose, they dont help build the party in Mandya. This time we will provide an opportunity to any candidate who is willing to build the party in that region. Q. There is national interest in the coalitions chances of dealing a blow to the BJP. Are you worried? I feel the coalition will not last long and you will see that as early as these bypolls. No matter how many times they say they will campaign together, you can see for yourself the dissent brewing already. Q. If you win in Jamakhandi, your tally in the assembly will be 105, just eight short of a majority. Does this mean you will try to form a government? We have never announced that we will form the government. We are only interested in increasing our numbers. We have to win this election to strengthen the party. Also, we have never done anything to destabilise this party. All reports suggesting as much are instances of rumour-mongering by the media. However, if the government falls by itself because of the differences among the parties, we will take a call on whether to stake claim. But there have not been any attempts to poach their MLAs. Q. But the Congress had released audio clips purportedly of you asking its MLA, BC Patil, to join you? Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy approached our MLA, Subhash Guttedar, to switch over to the JD(S), when he met him. If the chief minister, whose coalition is governing the state, invites a BJP MLA to defect, there is no meaning in accusing us of anything. Q. But have you not approached any MLAs? No, I have never spoken to anybody. Q. Coming to the Lok Sabha polls next year, there is speculation that Narendra Modi might contest from Karnataka. Have such discussions been held? We will welcome him if he does decide to contest from here. He can stand from anywhere and we will ensure his victory. But no such discussion has taken place yet. Q. The opposition is attacking the central government on the increase in fuel prices. Do you see this affecting your partys prospects? Prices have increased internationally and it is natural that it would affect us as well. For this reason, the Centre recently decreased prices and our state governments have followed suit everywhere. Q. You set a record of sorts by becoming the person who had the shortest stint as chief minister of Karnataka, when you resigned after three days I was given 15 days time by the governor. For the first time in our history, the Supreme Court heard such a case at midnight because of pressure from the Congress. It ordered us to prove our strength within a day. There were many Congress and JD(S) leaders who were willing to join us but we couldnt even contact them. If not for their assurance, I wouldnt have bothered to stake claim. The Congress will go to all 51,000 booths in Rajasthan on October 21 with the slogan Booth Jitao, Bhrastachar Mitao (win booth, remove corruption), state party president Sachin Pilot said on Sunday. AICC president Rahul Gandhi will be in Rajasthan in third week of October. Congress workers under the leadership of block presidents will go to all the booths through panchayat headquarters, Pilot said. Addressing newspersons after meetings of election committees, he said, Congress in Rajasthan will bring a peoples manifesto. It has been decided to constitute sub-committees under the manifesto committee. These sub-committees will go to districts and hold dialogues with people and take their suggestions. People have lots of hopes from the Congress and want to know what promises we will be making. He said centres will be to set up under the campaign committee at all seven divisions to decentralise work of the election committees. Leaders will visit the centres. We will expose the BJPs failures in last five years with facts and figures. This will be done by the campaign committee. Pilot said positive discussions were held in all meetings and inputs were received, which will be incorporated in the election strategy for the next 50 days. At all mediums -- social, print and electronic -- our narrative should be same and Congress thoughts will be taken to people with uniformity, he said. I have read that BJP is thinking of changing 100 sitting MLAs. This shows how insecure they are feeling. When they have no faith in sitting MLAs, how can people keep their faith on who they voted? he asked. BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said changing tickets is decided by the state and central leadership. It does not mean lack of trust; there are many workers who have worked for party organisation and government. It would be good for Pilot to be concerned about who will give tickets in Congress he or former CM Ashok Gehlot. Pilot alleged that the Vasundhara Raje government worked minimum in the last five years and did maximum corruption. Over action on corruption cases, he said, We have never worked with vendetta, but if someone has violated law, then accountability has to be fixed. There is no need to fear if nothing wrong has been done. State Congress in-charge and AICC general secretary Avinash Pande said the partys strategy was discussed at the meetings. Rahul Gandhi will be visiting the state in third week of this month and hold public dialogue. People are looking with lots of hope at Congress. He said the Congress will incorporate peoples demands in the partys manifesto that will be soon released. The manifesto will include issues and policies related women security, youth, education and health, among others. Suggestions for the same will be taken from the assembly and district levels. He said candidate selection process has started and the list will be announced soon. We will not make any promise that the party cannot fulfil. Even in 2008, when the party formed government, our manifesto was our bible. We have fulfilled our promises made during 200-13, he said. Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikars health has improved and doctors have advised him rest for a week, his office said Monday. Parrikar, 62, returned to Panaji on Sunday by a special flight from New Delhi, where he underwent treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for pancreatic ailment. After landing in Goa, he was taken to his private residence at Dona Paula near Panaji , where a team of doctors from the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) have put up a make-shift medical facility. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikars condition has improved further. He had a chat with his family members this morning, Rupesh Kamat, personal secretary to the chief minister, said in a statement. Doctors have advised him to take rest for a week, he added. Earlier in the day, a senior official in the CMO said that the chief minister has been following the line of treatment prescribed by doctors at AIIMS. Parrikar is at home and is being taken care by a team of doctors from the GMCH, he said. Parrikar, ailing since mid-February, has been treated at different hospitals, including those in Goa, Mumbai and the US. On Friday, Parrikar had met Goa BJPs core committee members and ministers from coalition partners at the AIIMS in Delhi to discuss ways to ensure that his government functions normally during his absence from office due to ill health. Leaders of the ruling BJP and its allies, who met Parrikar separately, had ruled out any change in leadership in the coastal state. The core committee is the BJPs key decision-making body in Goa, comprising senior leaders like Parrikar, Union minister Shripad Naik and party state chief Vinay Tendulkar, among others. The Union health ministry is creating a group of expert faculty from government colleges to provide technical assistance to the Board of Governors (BoG) that superseded the Medical Council of India (MCI), particularly in assessing colleges for registration or renewal of licences, a senior ministry official said. Creating a separate and independent corpus for college assessment aims at ensuring complete transparency, in the wake of controversies about a strong nexus between the MCI and private medical colleges over issue of licences. Amid corruption charges, the government dissolved the MCI last month. Apart from helping with college assessment, the expert faculty will also help the BoG with its routine functioning. Health ministry officials are making calls to deans of government medical colleges across the country to shortlist at least a couple of senior faculty members, who are well-versed with the functioning of the medical regulator. To maintain complete transparency, there will be a corpus of experienced faculty that will help not only in assessing the applications from colleges but also with day-to-day technical operations to replace the now defunct undergraduate and post graduate committees, said a senior health ministry official, requesting anonymity as the person is not authorized to speak to media. The ministry will provide technical assistance to the BoG, at least to begin with, as we have the required expertise. The cadre that we are trying to create will be senior faculty with good track record in terms of honesty and integrity. To ensure transparency, the ministry plans to have a roster system in place. The roster will be a secret till the last minute, so that no one is aware who will sit for which colleges assessment. This way, medical colleges will not be able to directly approach committee members, and chances of corrupt practices will go down sharply, the official said. The committee members will make recommendations to the BoG that is the ultimate deciding authority on anything related to medical education in the country. We are open to receiving suggestions from experts, and these committees can be chaired by members of the board. It is not a bad idea as there have been advisory committees earlier also. We will soon plan the structure and number of committees, said Dr VK Paul, member, Niti Aayog, who heads the BoG. The chairman of a private school in the city was hacked to death on Sunday by a six-member gang over a property dispute, police said. K K Ranganath, 60, chairman of the Havanur Public School in suburban Agrahara Dasarahalli area of Bengaluru, was scheduled to take a special class for class 10 students, when the gang entered his chamber around 10:30 am and hacked him to death, police said. The assailants fled after killing him. Based on a tip off, police traced one of the accused, Muniraj, near the citys Mahalaxmi Layout suburb. Police said he attacked two constables with a knife when they tried to arrest him. He was injured after the police opened fire to disable him and was then admitted to a hospital for treatment. Hemanth Kumar, the police inspector who nabbed Muniraj, said the matter pertained to a property dispute. Prasad, the prime accused, was involved in a property dispute with the deceased, who had alleged that he had encroached on land belonging to the school, Kumar said. A local court had subsequently directed that the illegal structures on the encroached land be demolished. Prasad was angered by this and felt that the demolition was done at the insistence of the deceased. For this reason, he decided to kill Ranganath, Kumar said. The police have registered a case of murder and have named Shrinivas and Mahesh, apart from Prasad and Muniraj, as the accused. Two other persons are yet to be identified, the police said. Investigation is currently underway and further details can be provided only after this, Kumar said. Jammu and Kashmir former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Monday that Centre must intervene in withdrawing the cases filed against Kashmiri students at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Pushing youth to the wall will be counterproductive. Centre must intervene in withdrawing cases against students and AMU authorities must revoke their suspension. The respective state governments outside JK should be sensitive to the situation & prevent further alienation, Mufti tweeted on Monday. Muftis statement comes days after three Kashmiri students of AMU were booked under sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans and trying to hold a funeral prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen militant Manan Bashir Wani on October 12. Wani, a former PhD student of the AMU who had left research to join militancy in Kashmir, was killed in an encounter with the security forces in north Kashmir on Thursday. Mufti said punishing the students for remembering a former colleague who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir will be a travesty. J-K governor Satya Pal Malik, too, on Sunday said his administration had taken up the issue of the well-being of Kashmiri students studying in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) with the Uttar Pradesh government. On Monday, students of the Kashmir University staged a silent march on Monday in solidarity with AMU students. Kashmiri students studying in AMU had on Sunday written a letter to AMU vice-chancellor denying the charges and threatened to leave the university en masse from October 17 if the sedition charges against the three of them are not dropped. In the letter, AMU students union former vice-president Sajjad Rathar wrote, If this vilification does not stop, more than 1,200 Kashmiri students will leave for their homes in the Kashmir Valley on October 17 as a last option. Terming the slapping of sedition charges as vendetta, Rathar has said, The option of holding Namaaz-e-Janaza (funeral prayer) in absentia was dropped after the AMU authorities did not give the permission. Union minister MJ Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani, the first woman to accuse him of sexual harassment, calling the allegations false and malicious amid widespread demands for his resignation. The lawsuit claimed Ramani intentionally put forward malicious, fabricated and salacious allegations to harm the former editors reputation. Ramani is one of at least 10 journalists to have separately accused Akbar of sexual harassment and misconduct. Reacting to Akbars lawsuit, Ramani said in a statement that she is ready to fight allegations of defamation laid against me, as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence. Those who have spoken up against Mr Akbar have done so at great risk to their personal and professional lives. At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon victims, Ramani said. This is why I wish to register my strong protest against Mr Akbars most recent statement, which pays no heed to the trauma and fear of survivors or the courage required to speak truth to power, she added. Akbars plea said: The accused (Ramani) has made false, derogatory and malicious imputations against the complainant (Akbar)... The plea, which is likely to come up for hearing during the week, says the accusations were made in order to defame him, with the sole ulterior motive of maligning the reputation and political standing of the complainant, in furtherance of her own vested interests and underlying agenda. The complaint seeks issuance of notice and prosecution of Ramani under Section 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Union government have not issued any official statement on the issue since the allegations against Akbar surfaced. The Opposition has made repeated calls for the junior foreign ministers resignation, with the Congress targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being silent on the issue. More than 200 protesters from the youth wing of the party waved placards and chanted slogans outside Akbars Delhi home on Monday. At a rally in Madhya Pradesh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that women were afraid of moving out of their houses across the country. He (Modi) has place only for industrialists in his heart, not for women, Dalits and farmers. He stays quiet if anything happens to them, the Congress chief said. Still, the attempt within the BJP seems to be to characterise Akbars action as his own, and also carefully timestamp allegations as dealing with a period when he was not with the party. A senior member of the BJP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Akbar was well within his rights to take legal action to defend himself. The allegations made against him are from the time when he was neither a party member not a member of Parliament If he chooses to take legal recourse, that is his right, the party functionary said. Another BJP functionary, who did not wish to be named, said Akbar has already described the charges as malafide. Our partys stance on womens safety and empowerment has been manifested over time, but these allegations are not against our MP or minister, but from a time when he was neither. They refused to comment on whether the partys top leadership had spoken to Akbar about the allegations. Another party member, however, said on condition of anonymity: There is some discomfort [over the issue] The Indian Womens Press Corps, Press Club of India, Press Association and the South Asian Women in the Media in a joint statement said on Monday they were deeply disappointed over the statement issued by Akbar on Sunday in which he sought to pass off the allegations against him, including one by a foreign national who was 18 at the time of the alleged incident, as part of a political conspiracy ahead of next years parliamentary elections. Demanding his resignation in the interests of a fair probe, moral and public propriety, the organisations said: Mr Akbar is a senior functionary of the government and his response should reflect the responsibility that is thus bestowed on him. There can be no dispute about the need for an impartial probe into all the complaints without fear of threat or intimidation to the complainants - and this acquires particular significance if one of the accused is an influential minister in the government. Akbar returned from a week-long tour to Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria on Sunday. Union minister of state Upendra Kushwaha on Sunday dismissed speculations that his Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) was on the verge of exiting the NDA ahead of next years general elections. We are strongly committed to ensure Narendra Modis re-election as Prime Minister for the next five years, he said as he seemed to soften his earlier tough and unrelenting stance for an honourable seat share in the ruling alliance. The RLSP has three MPs including Kushwaha in the Lok Sabha. The Union minister has been in the focus after he spurned the tentative 20-20 seat sharing formula and seemed to warm up to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which kicked off conjectures that the party was angling for a new political alignment. On Sunday, however, Kushwaha dispelled all such notions. The RLSP is standing firmly with the NDA as we believe that the continuation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the next five years is crucial in national interest, he told Hindustan Times on phone. He brushed aside talks of cracks in the NDA as baseless and insisted that the ruling alliance was strong and moving in the right direction. RLSP has been working to strengthen the ruling coalition and will continue to do so in order to achieve the goal (another term for the PM), Kushwaha said. In August, Kushwaha had set tongues wagging saying delicious kheer can be prepared with milk from the Yadavs (the RJDs base) and rice from the Kushwahas. But on Sunday, he dismissed the misunderstanding his kheer recipe had fuelled. People tried to give it a political connotation. I have clarified its social intent. It is aimed at creating awareness that social harmony could be achieved by ensuring proper stake for all sections in the development process. My kheer remark was intended to underline the importance of Sabka saath, sabka vikas (development of all) that acknowledges social amity as a key component in the development and well-being of the country, Kushwaha said. Asked about the recent statements of the opposition Grand Alliance leaders on his imminent crossover, the Union minister said, Those waiting for it will be disappointed. Kushwaha also brushed aside reports that he was put off by JD (U)s return to the NDA fold in 2017 and believed the 20-20 seat sharing formula was being floated to give a larger seat share to the new entrant. The formula suggested that the BJP would contest on 20 Lok Sabha seats and allocate 12 to JD(U), 6 to LJP and leave only 2 for the RLSP, and said, The talks are on. We will raise our point of view at the right forum. The RLSP chief, however, said that his party would continue pursuing issues aimed at all round development of society, including education and equal opportunity for all, and champion the cause for protecting the rights of SC/ST and OBCs. The party would also pursue the Halla bol, darwaza khol campaign for opening the doors of judiciary for all sections of society, he said. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being anti-Dalit and serving the interests of the rich, and promised the waiver of farm loans (within 10 days of his party coming to power in the state), jobs for the young, and bank credit for entrepreneurs. Gandhi was on his second tour of the state this month he visited Morena and Jabalpur on October 6 and, following a tour-stop plan he put into action in Gujarat last year, started the day with a visit to the Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia. Madhya Pradesh, ruled by a BJP government which has been in power since 2003, and by a chief minister who has been in office for 13 years, goes to the polls on November 28. The results will be announced on December 11. Apart from public meetings at Datia and Dabra, Gandhi, accompanied by state Congress chief Kamal Nath and state campaign committee head Jyotiraditya Scindia held an impressive road show in Gwalior followed by an election meet in evening. During the public meetings, the Congress chief kept up his attack on Modi over an offset contract won by Anil Ambanis defence company in the Rafale deal and the alleged bank frauds by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Gandhi also took on the Prime Minister on issues such as agrarian distress, womens safety, the price rise, corruption, the waiver of bank loans to industrialists, an increase in non-performing assets (NPAs), and unemployment, issues he has made his own in many of his recent speeches. The Congress president was on a two-day election tour of Gwalior-Chambal belt, which sends 34 legislators to the 231-member (230 elected and one nominated) Madhya Pradesh assembly. In the 2013 assembly elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 20 seats in the region, while the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 12 and 2 seats, respectively. The Congress was in talks with the BJP for a pre-poll alliance, but these fell through. In a region where the caste is a crucial factor with the BSP having some influence, Gandhi spoke about death of Dalit activist and PhD scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad in 2016. Rohit only wanted to study, but he was oppressed and forced to commit suicide by forces you all know. In Modis rule, Gandhi alleged, Dalits were being beaten up in Gujarat, minorities were being lynched, and tribals, suppressed. He also countered the BJPs oft-repeated charge that the Congress had done nothing in the past 70 years, saying that the BJP was insulting our forefathers, who toiled hard to make what the country is today. A united Congress this time is hoping to wrest power from the BJP, which has been ruling the state for 15 consecutive years since 2003. There is a visible undercurrent, not of 220 volts but 440 volts in favour of the Congress, Gandhi claimed. The Congress president hit out at the Prime Minister, alleging that the countrys watchman was only protecting the interests of 10-15 crony capitalist friends and ignoring the concerns of farmers, unemployed youth and women. He also attacked chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Vyapam, mining and e-tendering cases. Nath said the people of the state were feeling relieved with the model code of conduct coming into force that put a stop to the chief ministers spree of poll sops. The chief minister had in all made 21,000 announcements, which have no meaning. He has turned Madhya Pradesh into the number one state in terms of atrocities on women and farmers suicides, he added. Scindia took a dig at Chouhans Jan Aashirwad Yatra, saying he has failed on all fronts. There are around 10 million unemployed youth in Madhya Pradesh; the state has become the rape capital of India; and farmers are crying not only for adequate minimum support price but also for water and electricity, he said. At Dabra, Scindia recalled that his father Madhavrao Scindia organised a convention in the area in 1993 to unite the party, which later on went on to win the elections. The BJP rule has been one of corruption in every sphere and where the farmer has been oppressed, and shot at when he asked for his rights, said Scindia, referring to the killing of six protesting farmers in police firing in Mandsaur on June 6, 2017. Political analyst LS Hardenia said Congress will have to win the maximum number of seats from this region if it wants to form a government in Madhya Pradesh. Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Sunday asked party cadre to work for the lotus, Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) election symbol, not individuals, hinting to pre-empt any fight over ticket distribution for the December 7 assembly polls. Addressing a meeting of party workers from 31 assembly constituencies in Ranakpur of Pali district, she said after the ticket announcement, workers had to understand that the lotus was partys candidate. The BJP would retain power because of its unity, while the Congress was a divided house, said the CM. Raje along with core committee members and election management committee members took feedback from the workers on the probable names for the 31 seats. The workers were asked to put their recommendation in a sealed box. After the meeting, the rural development, panchayati raj and parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore said no parachute candidates would be given tickets, and the voice of party workers would be heard while deciding on tickets. Raje said the BJP has done more development work in the past five years in the state than the Congress in 50 years. She said the Congress had acknowledged that the BJP governments welfare schemes were good because former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said if the Congress came to power, it would continue with the current schemes. State in charge Avinash Rai Khanna, BJP joint general secretary (organisation) V Satish, general secretary (organisation) Chandrasekhar, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, state ministers Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajendra Rathore Arun Chaturvedi and Yunus Khan, and senior leaders Om Mathur, Satish Poonia and Ashok Parnami attended the meeting. The leaders will meet workers from different constituencies in Ranakpur till October 17. The next meeting is scheduled in Jaipur from October 20 to 23. It has been nearly five months since HD Kumaraswamy became the chief minister of Karnataka for the second time on May 23. The 58-year-old Janta Dal (Secular) leader and the government he leads are often held up by the Congress as examples of how the national party has been accommodative of its regional allies. In an in-depth conversation with Venkatesha Babu, Kumaraswamy spoke about the political situation in the country, the role of regional parties, and the challenges of running a coalition government. Edited excerpts: What is your assessment of how things stand ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? The race for 2019 is wide open. There are a few more months to go before elections. Our intention is to ensure the formation of a non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre under the leadership of Rahulji [Congress president Rahul Gandhi]. In Karnataka, I think that JD(S)-Congress alliance can easily win 23-25 of the 28 parliamentary seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was a pre-poll ally of the JD(S) in Karnataka even before you tied up with Congress, and is a part of your government. However, BSP chief Mayawati has nixed an alliance with Congress in some states, which is likely to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party. Is Opposition unity a mirage? What you say is correct, we had a pre-poll tie-up with the BSP. I have also seen the recent statement of Mayawatiji. I want to appeal to all regional parties to sink their differences and join hands with the Congress to ensure the BJP defeat. While [the BSP] may have had its reasons for the decisions it took, the need of the hour is to ensure Opposition unity so that [anti-BJP] votes are not divided. Regional parties have to recognise that the Congress has a crucial role in consolidating anti-BJP votes, and thus all of us must come together. So whether it is Mayawatiji, Mamatji [Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee] or other leaders, all of us need to present a united front against the BJP. It is being said that unlike the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has Narendra Modi as its face, the proposed Opposition Mahagatbandhan doesnt have anybody to counter it. How would you respond to this? This is not true. I would like to point out -- look in Karnataka itself, Rahulji went to the extent of offering the chief ministers post to a party which had half the seats as the Congress. It shows Rahuljis magnanimity, willingness and large-heartedness to go the extra mile to be accommodative towards allies. As the Congress is the largest party of the Mahagatbandhan, it is but natural that Rahulji is our candidate, which I have said in the past too. Is your government stable? Do you have to keep worrying about the dissidence in the Congress party related to ministerial berths and the role of former chief minister Siddaramaiah? I am fully confident that my government will complete its full five-year term, much to the disappointment of my Bharatiya Janata Party friends. Siddaramaiah has been a pillar of strength for my government. If there are internal issues [within the Congress], they will sort it out. If there is any threat to my government, I am sure that even my friends within the Bharatiya Janata Party will come to our aid and vote for our government (laughs). Has the massive loan waiver scheme meant that developmental activities on all other fronts have come to a standstill? This is another canard being spread by the Bharatiya Janata Party. They are unable to stomach the fact that we implemented the loan waiver for farmers. Karnataka has a buoyant economy where revenues are growing healthily. This has enabled us to actually enhance allocations to other sectors, too, including things like social welfare and infrastructure In the short span you have been in power, what have been the focus areas of your government? While we have been focusing on all areas, if one has to call it out, the focus has been on agriculture, education, employment and infrastructure. We have taken several measures, including farm loan waivers to reduce rural distress; the privatisation of education due to neglect by the previous governments had meant the middle-class and poor were suffering, and I have allotted money for rebuilding and construction of government schools; we are developing nine industrial clusters outside Bengaluru with each one having the potential to generate at least one lakh jobs in each district of the state. Apart from these, we are making massive investments in infrastructure, be it the outer peripheral ring road or the elevated roads and even rural networks. I can go on and on about all the initiatives that we have taken. Your wife Anitha Kumaraswamy is likely to contest elections from Ramnagara one of the two seats you won. Also your nephew Prajwal Revanna is likely to contest parliamentary elections. There are reports that your son Nikhil, who is a film actor, may enter politics too. Your opponents accuse you of being a father, sons and now grandsons party. How would you respond? Why do they always want to pick up on Deve Gowdas family alone? Isnt [Bharatiya Janata Party leader] Yeddyurappas son B Y Raghavendra in politics? I can name dozens of leaders from other parties whose children are also in politics. My wife had been an MLA earlier too. If party workers want, then she will contest. What is wrong in it? Ultimately it is the voters who will decide their fate. Can they win without popular support? Please dont drag my son into this. He is young and working in the movie industry. People and party workers will decide whether somebody should become a leader. Nobody can be foisted. In 2019, will your father and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda have a role at the Centre? We are not looking for any role. But, at the same time, my father has friends across the political spectrum and can help bring together people. While he might not be interested in fighting elections any more, we need him more than ever to guide us to ensure the installation of a non-BJP government at the Centre. With two days left for the Sabarimala temple to open its doors after the Supreme Court verdict, a functionary of the Travancore Devaswom Board that manages the hill-shrine shrine hinted that the temple body could ask the Supreme Court for time to implement its verdict allowing women to enter the hill-shrine. The top court had last month ended a centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstruating age into the temple, ruling that exclusion on the basis of biological and physiological features was unconstitutional and discriminatory. The board and Keralas ruling coalition led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which had argued in court to allow women entry, had refused to file a review petition against the top courts four-one majority verdict. But the pressure has been building up. On Monday, thousands of women and children carrying pictures and placards of Lord Ayyappa hit the streets to protest the verdict allowing women of all ages to worship at the temple. The protests coincided with the BJP-led NDAs six-day rally that concluded at the state secretariat. Watch: Last-minute talks, long march, protests ahead of Sabrimala temple opening BJPs state unit chief PS Sreedharan Pillai , while addressing a huge gathering of protestors at the state secretariat on Monday, threatened the Pinarayi Vijayan government to resolve the issue in 24 hours or face agitation. He further accused the communists and atheists of hatching a conspiracy to destroy the hilltop temple. Besides, many outfits, including the Shiv Sena, have threatened mass immolation and violent protests if women are allowed to trek beyond the base camp at Pambha. The 24-hour deadline set by the BJP coincides with the temple bodys crucial meeting on Tuesday with the tantri (supreme priest), Pandalams erstwhile royal family and other stakeholders to try and defuse the situation. Sources said the TDB is likely to propose a plan to seek more time to implement the verdict since the row appeared to be getting out of hand. We are ready to discuss all issues. We are confident the issue will be sorted out amicably. We will hear all stakeholders patiently and we will also convince them about our limitations, the temple board president A Padmakumar, also a former CPI (M) legislator, said. Pandalam royal family and three tantris have said they will attend the meet. We stick to our decision to maintain the status quo at the temple. It is for the TDB to find a solution, said Pandalam royal family member Sasikumar Verma. Earlier both, royal family and tantris, had turned down an invitation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for talks. Devotees take part in a protest against the Supreme Court verdict in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. (AFP Photo) Sources said the temple board is likely to cite poor infrastructure to seek more time to implement the top courts verdict. It is also expected to point to the recent floods that have damaged many facilities at the base camp Pambha and other areas. Already, a young teacher in north Keralas Kannur alleged that she was flooded with threats and abuses after she announced her decision to trek to the hilltop temple in November on social media and said she had started the 41-day fast as part of the custom. I consider menstruation like any other body discharge so I feel it is not impure. I am sure I can observe the penance with purity, said Reshma Nishanth (32). The VHP and other organizations have carried out protest rallies outside her home and the police said they will provide protection to her. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has demanded 50% of the 48 Lok Sabha (LS) seats in Maharashtra from the Congress Party for the 2019 elections. According to the NCP, the demand to be major player in a grand alliance was made during Pawars meeting with Congress President Rahul Gandhi last Thursday. Last month, the Congress and the NCP drew up a plan to form the grand alliance, including 8-10 smaller parties, against the ruling dispensation of BJP and Shiv Sen ahead of next years LS and state assembly elections. According to a source, Pawar seemed to have demanded 24 seats , citing that the NCP won four seats in Maharashtra compared to two by the Congress in 2014 LS polls.The Congress contested 26 compared to 21 by the NCP. Pawar has asked for 50% of the LS seats . Seat-sharing talks are in progress and would be finalised soon, said NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik. The meeting was also attended by top Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Ashok Gehlot and NCP leader Praful Patel. Pawar, despite his advanced age, is playing an active role to form a united opposition against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said the source. Pawar had recently called for a meeting with local NCP leaders to narrow down a list of probable candidates. The Pawar revelation comes after state NCP chief Jayant Patil said on Friday that there was no such demand by the party. Sources within the Congress said the party would not agree to such a demand. We lost the last elections owing to the Narendra Modi-wave but we are still a major force in Maharashtra, said a Congress leader. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, NCPs Supriya Sule, Vijaysigh Mohite Patil, Udayanraje Bhosale and Dhananjay Mahadik were elected from Western Maharashtra, while Ashok Chavan and Rajeev Satav of the Congress were elected from Marathwada. The Shiv Sena Monday attacked Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, over the law and order situation in Mumbai and other parts of the state, saying Nagpur leads the chart on incidents of crime including murder, kidnapping, extortion, rape etc and now this wave has come to the state capital. The criticism in an editorial in Senas mouthpiece Saamana came after unidentified assailants attacked Sena MLA Tukaram Kate in Mumbai last Friday. The legislator escaped unhurt but one of his supporters suffered injuries fending off the attack. The editorial also said that a 31-year old man was gunned down in Dadar on Friday. The daily incidents of crime have made the people of Mumbai anxious; the way criminals and goons are roaming freely is dangerous, it said. The Sena, which is a coalition partner in the state government, has been demanding a full-time home minister for the state. Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar is a minister of state for home. Claiming the BJP was more focussed on expanding the base of the party than governing the state, the editorial alleged the party was inducting criminals in its fold. Referring to BJP MLA Ram Kadams recent statements about kidnapping girls, it said, The legislators of the ruling party are talking about (helping) daughters elope, and the police give protection to such people... What else can you expect if criminals and goons are inducted in the party? Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanaths announcement of changing the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj has drawn protests from the Congress and the Samajwadi Party while receiving mixed reaction from intellectuals, teachers, literary persons, lawyers and politicians in the Sangam city. While the Congress has said that the change would diminish the importance that Allahabad had in the countrys freedom movement and does not make sense, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Monday alleged that Adityanath governments proposed move was another example of its trait for renaming. Todays rulers were trying to show that they are working by just changing the name of Allahabad, said Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet. ... They have even re-named Ardh Kumbh to Kumbh. This is toying with tradition and belief, he said. State Minister and government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma however alleged that the belief of people were hurt when the city was named Allahabad. Some persons are objecting to renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj. The objections are baseless. It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified, he said, reported PTI. While many in the city have welcomed the move, others are calling it a political gimmick just before the Lok Sabha elections. Saints and seers have however hailed the announcement, maintaining that the name has not been changed but the ancient place has been given its original name. The Akhada Parishad had raised the issue of changing the citys name last year at a meeting with Adiyanath and he had promised to fulfill their demand by the Kumbh Mela 2019. There had been attempts to change Allahabads name to Prayag during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party governments headed by Rajanath Singh and Kalyan Singh in the state. However, the proposal did not materialize following disapproval by the supporting parties. With the fresh declaration by the chief minister on Saturday, the proposal will now be presented before the cabinet for approval and will then be forwarded to the governor. However, governor Ram Naik had already given his nod to the proposal at the meeting of the Kumbh Margdarshak Mandal on Saturday. Welcoming the move, Allahabad Universitys medieval and modern history department head Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari said Mughal Emperor Akbar named the city Ilahabas in 1574 which later came to be known as Ilahabad and then Allahabad. However, the city has been mentioned as Prayag in ancient sacred texts such as puranas, Valmiki Ramayan, Mahabharat and manuscripts of Kalidas, he said, adding the change will help the new generation to understand the history of the city better. However, Prof Harsh Kumar of the ancient history department said that the name Prayag was established as a tirthraj or a place of pilgrimage but not as a city. The place was a center of ancient Rishis and sages who used to perform tapasya at the ashrams, he said, contending that the region was known for two cities Pratishthanpur (now Jhunsi) and Kaushambi. Allahabad came into existence during the period of Akbar. The emperor launched a new religion Deen-e-Ilahi on which the city was named Ilahabad. Changing the name of the city does not makes any sense as the name Allahabad represents a mixed culture of the city, he added. Akbars religion had sought to combine the features of various Indian religions. Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad president Narendra Giri said the Ramcharit Manas mentions the name Prayagraj, which was later, changed to Allahabad. However, changing the name of the place does not changes the history. The faith of crores of people is connected with Prayagraj. The people who are opposed to Prayagraj are unaware of the fact that the place was known as Prayagraj since ages, he said. Omkar Giri of Beni Madhav temple said Prayag is the king of all tirths. Prayagraj and Sangam are synonyms. Changing the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj is a welcome move, he added. Congress leader Baba Abhay Awasthi said the decision would not make any impact. Prayag was alive even the city was known as Allahabad. The name change by the chief minister does not make any sense, he added. Writer Mamta Kalia said Allahabad is in the heart of the people and cannot be erased. The government should focus on other problems instead of changing the name, she said. Advocates Association of India also condemned the decision. Its secretary Rupendra Nath Singh said instead of renaming the while city, only the Triveni and Sangam area should have been named as Prayagraj. The name Allahabad is not connected to a particular religion and instead it was named after Akbars new religion Deen-e-Ilahi, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Among the five states that will go to polls later this year, Madhya Pradesh will perhaps be the most keenly watched. It has more Lok Sabha seats (29) than Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh or Mizoram. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power in both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for three consecutive terms now. Reading too much into assembly election results to predict Lok Sabha performances has its own hazards. But it is difficult to deny that a win or loss for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh will significantly influence the larger anti-incumbency narrative for 2019. One factor that is likely to add to the BJPs advantage in this crucial state is the failure of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress to forge a pre-poll alliance. Many, including this author, had argued that an alliance between the Congress and the BSP could have been a game-changer in the forthcoming assembly elections. The combined vote share of the Congress and the BSP was bigger than that of the BJP in six out of nine elections held in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh since 2003. To be sure, headline numbers can sometimes be misleading while making such arguments. This is because they cannot capture the complex electoral dynamics on the ground. For example, if two alliance partners cannot ensure transfer of each others core-supporters votes in an election, then the effort can backfire. Similarly, a pre-poll alliance without ideological congruence could actually end up buttressing the incumbents claim that the opposition is only interested in capturing power by all means. An HT analysis of election statistics in Madhya Pradesh suggests that the assumed gains from a Congress-BSP alliance could not be as straightforward as what appears to be the case from simple addition of the vote share of two parties. Two sets of statistics are worth highlighting here: effective number of participants (ENOP) and seats where the BSP played spoiler in the 2003, 2008 and 2013 elections. ENOP is the reciprocal of sum of squares of vote share received by each candidate in a constituency. It measures actual degree of political competition in a given constituency. An example can make this clear. If there are four candidates in an election and all of them get 25% votes, ENOP will be four. However, if the distribution of votes was 55%, 40%, 2.5% and 2.5%, ENOP will come down to 2.2. Chart 1 gives the value of median ENOPs for all assembly constituencies (AC) in Madhya Pradesh and ACs where the Congress and the BJP emerged victorious. Using median rather than the mean ensures that the average is not influenced by extreme values. The statistics show a consistent pattern. Median ENOP for seats won by the Congress has always been larger than the value of entire states. This difference was more than 10% in the 2003 and 2013 elections. This suggests that a greater degree of multi-polarity might actually work to the advantage of the Congress in the state, while the reverse might hold for the BJP. The finding makes sense intuitively. A large part of the BJPs political narrative today is targeted against the prolonged rule of the Congress, best captured in the slogan of Congress-Mukt Bharat. An increase in number of effective contestants might force the BJP to dilute this attack and divert its energies in countering other parties, which might provide a breather to the Congress. The BSP has not won even 10 seats in the last three elections held in Madhya Pradesh. However, it is an important ally because it plays a spoiler in a large number of seats. The easiest way to measure this is to look at the number of seats where the BSPs vote share is greater than the victory margin. The number of such seats was 63, 98 and 74 in the 2003, 2008 and 2013 elections. The more interesting question is who pays the price when the BSP acts as a spoiler in an assembly constituency. A simple filter can be applied to check this. If the BSPs vote share was greater than the victory margin on a given seat, then the party which came second will see the BSP as a spoiler. Our analysis shows that the BSP has hurt both the Congress and the BJP in a significant number of seats in the last three elections. To be sure, the number of seats where the BSP played spoiler for the Congress has been higher than the BJP in each election. A Congress-BSP alliance in Madhya Pradesh would have been more formidable against the BJP in terms of sum of vote shares. But the two statistics discussed above also suggest that it could have added to the BJPs edge vis-a-vis the Congress by making the elections more bipolar and depriving the Congress of victories in seats where the BSP acts as a spoiler for the BJP. The latter would be more likely if the Congress and BSPs social support base has an antagonistic relation at the grassroots level. Elections results will tell us which of these two arguments mattered more in the ultimate analysis. A mob lynched two men after they allegedly shot at a 12-year-old boy in Saraiya village in Uttar Pradeshs Amethi district late on Saturday night. Superintendent of police (SP) Amethi Anurag Arya said the deceased were identified as Dilip Yadav, 29, and Rahul Singh, 32, while the injured boy was identified as Sumit Kumar. He said the two bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination while the boy, who suffered bullet wounds, is undergoing treatment at a local community health centre (CHC), and his condition is stated to be under control. He said the boys father had lodged an FIR of attempt to murder against the two deceased while a cross FIR of murder was registered against unidentified villagers on the complaint of the family members of the deceased. Arya added further probe in the matter is on and arrests would be made after identifying people involved in the incident. According to police, Rahul Singh who had a criminal background with multiple cases under attempt to murder, arms act and assault registered against him, along with Dilip Yadav was at his friends place which is in the same neighbourhood as the boy at Saraiya village of Musafirkhana area. They allegedly opened fire with an illegal firearm at around 8.30 pm on Saturday. In the firing, the boy suffered bullet wound in his leg and started bleeding profusely, said police. Following the gunshot, dozens of people who were present at a temple near the spot where Bhagwat Paath was going on, surrounded the two men and thrashed them brutally with rods and canes, causing fatal injuries. The police said the two injured men were rushed to a CHC in Musafirkhana where they died during treatment. Senior district police officials, including SP Anurag Arya and additional SP Balramchari Dubey, rushed to the spot and deployed a large number of police personnel at the village to avert any further trouble. This is the second such incident in the region when a mob lynched attackers or notorious elements to death. On August 18, a listed history-sheeter Sharda Pratap Singh alias Raja Babu and his aide Dhananjai Yadav were lynched by villagers when they allegedly barged into the house of one JP Nishad who is pradhan of Kabri Semraghat village under city kotwali, and demanded Rs 2 lakh as extortion money, in Amethis adjoining district Sultanpur. Another accomplice of a history-sheeter Mohit Mishra was also attacked by the villagers but survived despite suffering severe injuries. Taqwa Masjid in Byculla has joined the growing list of religious institutions in the city to switch to solar power for electricity generation. The seventh mosque in Mumbai to make the switch, the mosque recently installed a 25-kilowatt power (kWp) solar plant at a cost of Rs 14 lakh. The switch was made as a long-term solution to the hike in electricity bills owing to an increase in the number of electronic appliances used in the premises. Taqwa Masjids solar plant will generate 95.8 units daily and 35,000 units annually. Comprising of 72 panels, electricity is generated from a single inverter. Muhammad Sohail Shaikh, chief operating officer (COO) of MSS Greentech, which set up the plant at the mosque, said, Mosques that operate on a larger scale can afford to switch to solar power plants. For a small mosque like the Taqwa Masjid, the trustees have done a great job. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), a 25-kWp system mitigates carbon dioxide emissions by 769 tonnes over 10 years, which is equivalent to planting 1,230 full-grown teak trees. The mosque is running 90% on solar energy, which comprises 25 kWp out of 28 kWp every day and aims to reduce the electricity bill from Rs 33,000 to Rs 3,000 every month. We will receive free electricity for 20 years once we recover the cost by 2021-22, which will help us save money in the long run, said Imran Sahab Taqwa, trustee, Taqwa Masjid. Any amount of electricity produced by Taqwa Masjid in excess will be sent back to the local power gird and the units will be credited, since its a net-metred project set up by MSS Green Tech. Ajay Marathe, 61, environmentalist, said, Any other power generation, apart from solar energy, requires burning and releasing of gases such as carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, nuclear energy has safety concerns. Solar power plants doesnt require anything, as it is an independent source of energy. Minara Masjid at Mohammed Ali Road was the first mosque in Mumbai to go solar, followed by Zakaria Masjid in Masjid Bunder, Jama Masjid in Kalbadevi, Madarsa-e-Mohammadiya in Agripada, Hakim Dayam Masjid near JJ Hospital, and Jama Masjid in Bandra. After a lot of struggle and putting religious figures in the limelight, the concept of going solar has now been accepted by the entire Muslim community. Many other mosques are also installing solar plants, said Shaikh Fuel prices may have steadily spiked to all-time highs over the past three months, but that didnt seem to stop Mumbaiites from buying cars and bikes. Between July and September this year, the citys four RTOs saw a 22% jump in the number of vehicles registered. And, over six months between April and September, 26% more Mumbaiites bought vehicles compared to the same period in 2017, when fuel prices were much lower 1.47 lakh new vehicles hit the roads in the past six months of 2018, against 1.17 lakh last year. Six-month data from the transport department, collected from the citys four RTOs, showed the most number of vehicles, at 40,797, were registered at the Wadala RTO , which caters to areas in the south-central and eastern parts of the city. The Borivli RTO ranked second (38,290 vehicles), followed by Andheri (33,000) and Tardeo (35,721). The highest rise in vehicles registered, compared with last year, was in April 2018, and the lowest was in September. However, RTO officials said the slight drop in September was not because of fuel rates. The fortnight of Pitru Paksha, which many consider an inauspicious for buying new things, was responsible for the reduced vehicle registration, said one RTO official. In April this year, there was a 58.78% rise in registrations, which dropped by 1.81% percent in September. Officials attributed higher registrations despite the soaring fuel prices before the Central and state governments announced a tax cut on fuel, petrol cost 91 a litre, and diesel has touched the 80 a litre mark to the state government abolishing the Octroi tax in Mumbai after the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in July 2017. Until the Octroi tax was in place, people registered their vehicles at RTOs outside Mumbai to save the heavy 7% tax under it , but after the GST rollout, more people started registering in Mumbai, another senior RTO official said. Officials said poor means of public transport, increased fares of BEST buses and increased disposable income among Mumbaiites were also contributing to more people buying their own cars and bikes. But transport experts pointed out how the rise in vehicles is bad news for Mumbais already crowded roads. Currently, the citys vehicle population is more than 33 lakh. Poor public transport, aspiration of the people to own their own vehicles and easy availability of loans and improved standard of living is resulting in this, said transport expert AV Shenoy, and warned that the uncontrolled vehicle growth in the city needs to be regulated. The government needs to restrict the number of vehicles being registered by taking steps like Singapore, where the people are charged high taxes for a license plate, Shenoy said. Married woman in police station to file complaint alleges cop molested her; API arrested Assistant police inspector (API) Ramnath Palve of the Chikhali police station was arrested on Saturday after a woman in her 30s alleged that he touched her inappropriately when she was in the station to register a complaint. Representative picture.(Hindustan Times) Protesting against local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhus statement comparing Pakistan with South India, workers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by district president Anand Sharma burnt his effigy outside Hathi Gate in Amritsar on Monday. During the Kasauli Literary Festival, Sidhu had said,When I travel to South, I cant understand the language. Not that I dont like the food, but I cannot have it for a long time, the culture is totally different. When I go to Pakistan, the language is the same. While addressing the protestors, Sharma said, Despite being an Indian politician, Sidhu has been praising Pakistan. If he likes Pakistan so much why is he has not shifting there? By praising Pakistan, Sidhu has been humiliating the families of the martyrs who lost their lives while fighting with the Pakistan army. Sharma said, Sidhu should understand that South India is the heart of country and Tamil is one of the oldest languages in India. Once again, he has acted as an agent of Pakistan. If Sidhu does not apologies for his remark, he is free to go to Pakistan and enjoy its food and language. Amid the growing #MeToo movement, actor Kangana Ranaut had accused Queen director Vikas Bahl of misconduct and even launched a fresh attack on Hrithik Roshan. The Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi actor has now called out filmmaker Karan Johar for maintaining silence on the burning issue. Coming down on the Ae Dil Hai Mushkil director, Kangana told India Today in an interview, Where are people like Karan Johar and Shabana Azmi? These people should also come out. The fierce actor then went on to lambast the filmmaker and host over his upcoming chat show Koffee With Karan. She said, Karan Johar has views about gym looks and airport looks. He tweets ten times about it. What about this? This is their identity. This is their bread and butter. When the film industry is going through such an important shift, where are they? The Rangoon actor further criticised the concept of the show, saying, I was seeing some promo that they have launched for this talk show. Again those same frivolous talks are going on. This one sleeping with this one, that one with that one. Making girls look like Barbie dolls, that is not done. And why men who change women like clothes being glorified? Has there been a woman who has been glorified like that. She went on to add, We need to promote men who project to be a one-woman man. Somebody who pretends to be a Casanova, we dont have to glorify that. A culture where you date a woman for 10 years and just abandon her like changing clothes. I am not judging anyone; they are all my friends and they are lovely. Kangana is known for never mincing any words and ended by pointing out, If they are not going to participate in this major shift, why do they call themselves the messiahs of the industry? Follow @htshowbiz for more Sinicisation of religion must be upheld to promote ethnic solidarity, a top Communist Party of China (CPC) leader said during a visit to the countrys remote northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to millions of Muslim Uyghurs. Sinicisation could be broadly defined as increasing the influence of Chinese, or the culture of the majority Han community, on non-Chinese ideas and entities within China. President Xi Jinping has talked about sinicising religions in China since taking over the CPC leadership in 2012. The focus has largely been on Islam and fast-spreading Christianity within China. The leader You Quan said sinicisation on religion must be upheld to promote ethnic solidarity and religious harmony during a visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). You is a member of the CPC central committee secretariat, one of the top decision-making bodies of the party, and he is head of the partys powerful United Front Work Department. The Partys leadership over religious work must be upheld, You was quoted by official news agency, Xinhua, as saying, and adding that the infiltration of religious extremism must be guarded against. You visited mosques and scripture schools and talked with government officials, party cadres and people from religious circles You also expressed his hope that people in religious circles can inherit and carry forward the fine traditions to love the motherland and their faith, lead religious believers to follow the right faith and abide the law and contribute to the healthy development of Islam, the report said. Yous statement comes within days China legalising the controversial re-education camps in Xinjiang as vocational training institutes, where inmates influenced by religious extremism will be reeducated and transformed, amid mounting international pressure. Until last month, Beijing had denied the existence of the camps in the face of mounting criticism that said that the hundreds of thousands of Uyghur men and women had been interned without any legal recourse. Beijing has repeatedly blamed Islamic separatists for the sporadic unrest between the Uyghurs and the ethnic Han majority, which has led to the deaths of many in the past several years. Rights activists say the unrest is caused by the governments repression of religious freedoms and anti-minority policies. US president Donald Trump has said he believes Russian president Vladimir Putin is probably involved in assassinations and poisonings but sought to downplay his assessment, his harshest yet of his Russian counterpart, saying the killings were not in our country. Trumps remarks came in an interview with CBS Newss 60 Minutes programme in which he also said China meddles in US elections, that the trade war with China was actually a skirmish and that he doesnt think climate change is a hoax, but remains doubtful of who or what caused it. Probably he is, yeah. Probably. I mean, I dont , Trump said in response to a question if he agreed that Vladimir Putin is involved in assassinations? In poisonings. But I rely on them, its not in our country, he added. The United States joined its western allies last August to slap sanctions against Russia for allegedly poisoning a former spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter in Britain. Russia has denied it, as it has all previous instances and allegations of murders and assassinations of those critical of the government. Trump has rarely ever had harsh things to say about Putin and took a lot of criticism for his performance at a joint conference in Helsinki during which the American president had seemed to have granted equal weightage to US intelligences assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and to the Russian presidents denial of it. Asked if Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, which is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Trump said: They-- they meddled. But I think China meddled too. Trump tends to view any suggestion of Russian interference as casting doubt on his election, questioning the legitimacy of his presidency. He has thus been reluctant to get behind the combined assessment of the US intelligence. Trump has begun accusing China of meddling in US elections only recently and in connection with Beijings selective targeting of his voter-base for retaliatory measures against tariffs imposed by Trump on Chinese imports. After alluding to it in recent remarks, the president launched a full and frontal attack on China at a UN security council meet he chaired recently, eliciting a quick and sharp rejoinder. I think China meddled also, Trump insisted in the interview. And I think, frankly, China is a bigger problem. Trumps views on China have shifted markedly from the accommodation and warmth he had shown in the early months of his presidency. He has since slapped tariff on $250 billion worth of imports from China accusing it of employing unfair trade practices, theft of intellectual property rights and denying market access, and slapped sanctions on it for buying Russian defence equipment. The US president said he wants a trade deal with China but doesnt think Beijing is ready for it yet. And he disputed the interviewers characterization of the escalating trade tensions as war. I (have) called it a battle. But, actually, Im gonna lower that. I consider it a skirmish. He also revisited the issue of climate change in the interview in view of the super storms that have hit the United States in recent months Michael in Florida and Georgia past week, coming on the heels of Florence in the Carolinas, Maria in Puerto Rico, and Harvey in Texas. I think somethings happening, he said in reply to a question about his well-known views on the subject that its a hoax. Somethings changing and itll change back again. I dont think its a hoax, I think theres probably a difference. But I dont know that its man-made. Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate for any sanctions imposed against it after President Donald Trump said the oil-rich kingdom deserves severe punishment if it is responsible for the disappearance and suspected murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. The warning from the worlds top oil exporter came Sunday after a turbulent day on the Saudi stock exchange, which plunged as much as 7 percent at one point. The statement was issued as international concern grew over the writer who vanished on a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over a week ago. American lawmakers threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a credible investigation into Khashoggis disappearance. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations baseless but has not offered any evidence Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Already, international business leaders are pulling out of the kingdoms upcoming investment forum, a high-profile event known as Davos in the Desert, and the sell-off on Riyadhs Tadawul stock exchange showed that investors are uneasy. The exchange dropped by over 500 points, then clawed back some of the losses, ending the day down 264 points, or more than 4 percent. Of 188 stocks traded on the exchange, 179 ended the day with a loss. Something this big would definitely spook investors, and Saudi just opened up for foreign direct investment, so that was big, said Issam Kassabieh, a financial analyst at Dubai-based firm Menacorp Finance. Investors do not feel solid in Saudi yet, so its easy for them to take back their funds. In an interview scheduled to air Sunday, Trump told CBS 60 Minutes that Saudi Arabia would face strong consequences if involved in Khashoggis disappearance. Theres something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so were going to have to see, Trump said. Were going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment. But the president has also said we would be punishing ourselves by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The sales are a tremendous order for our companies, and if the Saudis dont buy their weaponry from the U.S., they will get it from others, he said. In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom warned that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations, the statement said. The statement did not elaborate. However, a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news network suggested Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around $80 a barrel, and Trump has criticized OPEC and Saudi Arabia over rising prices. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure, Turki Aldakhil wrote. Its unclear, however, whether Saudi Arabia would be willing to unilaterally cut production. Aldakhil added that Saudi arms purchases from the U.S. and other trade could be at risk as well. The truth is that if Washington imposes sanctions on Riyadh, it will stab its own economy to death, even though it thinks that it is stabbing only Riyadh! he wrote. Prince Mohammed has aggressively pitched the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. But Khashoggis disappearance has led several business leaders and media outlets to back out of the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh called the Future Investment Initiative. They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Counselor Ahmed Hafez, said Egypt is following with concern the repercussions of the case of Khashoggi, and stressed the importance of revealing the truth of the matter through a transparent investigation, while emphasizing the gravity of pre-empting investigations and directing groundless accusations. Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post about Saudi Arabia, criticizing its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of womens rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince. Its never too late to get one last bite of pumpkin pie. Cameron Palmer cheers on Sunday's pie-eating contest winner Franky Alioto as he finishes his last few morsels. Alex Orlando / Review On Saturday evening, the Khashuri District Court in Georgia sentenced two employees of the China Railway 23rd Bureau Group Co to two months' imprisonment on charges of "obstructing the activities of journalists." The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported only the initials of the suspects: citizens of China S.U. (1983) and I.T. (1976) are accused of beating up the journalists of the opposition TV channel Rustavi 2, who visited a railway infrastructure construction site in order to prepare a TV report about the problems arising during the construction work". The Chinese company employees did not like such attention. They took away cameraman Levan Calandia's video camera, and pulled a microphone from the TV channel's correspondent Eka Gagua's hands. The journalists were injured during a scuffle. The leadership of the China Railway 23rd Bureau Group Co initially referred to the fact that the film crew entered the construction site without permission, although there were no signs of prohibiting filming at the entrance to the unfenced area. The director of the company, Yu-bin Yang, eventually apologized to journalists and the television channel for his employees' actions, recognizing that it was wrong to use force and take away equipment from journalists. But it was too late. The incident has received attention in the media. The journalistic community expressed solidarity with the colleagues who were working on a a critical news story not about the Chinese company, but about the Georgian Railways, which hired it and which was recently headed by current Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze. The opposition claims that Bakhtadze bungled the job, bankrupted the Georgian Railways, and would destroy the whole country being prime minister. These accusations were part of a stormy election campaign on the eve of the October 28 presidential election. The Georgian authorities have faced a difficult choice. On the one hand, China has become one of its largest investors in recent years, an agreement on free trade has been signed, China imports Georgian wines and agricultural products, while Chinese companies are implementing several infrastructure projects in Georgia. The construction of the Khashuri-Zestafoni railway section and several tunnels is just one of them. Moreover, taking into account the specifics of the Chinese state, it is very risky to spoil relations with it, because if Beijing considers that the contempt took place, all projects can be suspended, including cargo transportation from the Pacific coast to Europe through Georgia. Several trains have already tested this route, which promises Georgia considerable benefits. On the other hand, the authorities are taking into account the influence of the most popular TV channel Rustavi 2 during the pre-election period, when the slightest pressure on the media may cause political accusations and lead to mass protests of hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters. Therefore, they waited with interest in Georgia what kind of restraint for the arrested Chinese citizens would be required by the prosecutor's office, which is actually subordinate to the country's executive branch. If the prosecutors had offered the court to choose a release on bail for the detainees, it would confirm that the authorities were inclined in favor of the proposals "not to anger a powerful partner," made in recent days. But considerations of domestic political prestige prevailed: no one has the right to beat the citizens of Georgia, especially journalists in Georgian territory, especially when them perform their official duties. A criminal case was brought against the citizens of China under paragraph 2 of Article 154 of the Criminal Code of Georgia "unlawful interference with the journalist's professional activities," which provides a penalty of two years' imprisonment; as well as paragraph 1 of article 126 "torture" (up to six years in prison). Nevertheless, economist Giorgi Khukhashvili, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, said that a two years' imprisonment is not a reason to rule out a compromise. We should wait for the sentence. Perhaps it will be a soft one, and the Chinese will be quietly sent home. Its just that the authorities could not but demonstrate that Georgia is a sovereign country with civilized laws," the expert stressed. The expert expressed confidence that a compromise will be reached, and China is unlikely to scale down its operations in Georgia, since "the Georgian-Chinese cooperation, including in the area of railway transit, is of great benefit to both parties." Crimeas delegation led by the republics head Sergey Aksyonov arrived on a visit to the Syrian capital of Damascus today. Syrian Economy Minister Mohammad Samir Khalil welcomed the delegation at the airport, voicing confidence that the upcoming talks would be successful. "We have truly friendly relations. Im sure that the visit will be fruitful and we will leave with good practical results," TASS cited Aksyonov as saying. Aksyonov said that Crimea plans to supply its goods to Syria, including flour and electronic equipment. He added that preliminary talks on delivering goods manufactured by Crimean enterprises to Syria were held during the Yalta International Economic Forum. The delegation consists of Chairman of Crimeas parliament, the State Council, Vladimir Konstantinov, Deputy Prime Minister Georgy Muradov and Vitaly Nakhlupin, a member of the upper house, the Federation Council, from Crimea Olga Kovitidi, Minister for Industrial Policy Andrei Vasyuta, Minister of Resorts and Tourism Vadim Volchenko, Culture Minister Arina Novoselskaya and other government members. The visit will last two days. The first days agenda includes Aksyonovs talks with Latakias Governor Ibrahim Al-Salem, a meeting of the Syrian-Crimean commission for bilateral cooperation and a visiting session of the fifth Yalta International Economic Forum, due to be attended by Secretary of the Union of Syrian Chambers of Commerce Muhammad Hamsho and Chairman of the Damascus Chamber of Industry Samir al-Dabbas. The participants will focus on fostering joint projects in construction, agriculture, industry and transportation. Supplier News 15 October 2018 It won't come as any great revelation that social media plays a crucial role in today's competitive hospitality market. You know this already. However, for many independent hotels, social media is at best a peripheral activity that is paid attention to on an ad hoc basis. Social media does not form a key pillar of the sales and marketing plan for these hotels, and they are more likely to voice concerns about how difficult it is to measure return on investment in social media marketing. We're sympathetic to this. It's natural that when you' re working with a limited budget and smaller resources than larger hotel chains that it would be difficult to justify the investment - both in terms of time and money - into social media. But there are a few insights we'd like to draw your attention to: Now seven years old, Instagram has more than 500 million active users sharing an average of 80 million photos a day. National Geographic reports that people engage with Instagram 10 times more than with Facebook, which is why an estimated 49% of brands in the United States are on Instagram, with that number rising to around 70% in 2017. The Social Times reports that 52% of people acknowledge that their friends' photos inspire their travel plans. When travelers plan and compare, social media again guides the conversation: travelers are 44% more likely to learn about a new travel brand on Twitter. When it comes to booking, 33% of those who use social media to research travel changed their original hotel selections. A study by Hotel Executive revealed that 93% of Americans expect the companies they do business with to have a social media presence, including hotels. For more data, we absolutely recommend spending some time digesting the numerous insights contained in MDG Advertising's Vacationing the Social Media Way infographic, which breaks down how travellers use social media and mobile technology before, during and after a holiday. If you're now convinced that you need to be on social media or need to boost your presence on social media, what should you do next? Determine what social media strategy is relevant and maintainable for your hotel, including what channels you should use: Time and time again, we see hotels become incredibly enthusiastic about joining social media, and they end up signing up for all the channels and posting with gusto. Predictably, after some time, there is little content being posted and the hotel has lost momentum. To avoid this, look at what channel is relevant to you. Maybe all you have time for is Instagram or maybe that plus Twitter. It's okay to not be on all platforms and to concentrate your time and attention to build a couple of key platforms. Watch this space for future posts on determining the right channels for your hotel. We also encourage hotels to ensure that number of staff are trained on using social media so that the responsibility of posting doesn't just land to one person, perhaps even using a rota system so that each team has a chance to share their perspective whilst ensuring a clear and consistent voice for the brand overall. Create and post diverse types of content: When you're looking at creating content, you have a few options. You can create content that engages (something interesting that will catch the reader's eye), informs (lets people know who you are and what makes your hotel to stay at) or compels (encourages people to book then and there). It is also absolutely okay if not all of the content you post is your own. In fact, we would highly suggest that you diversify. If you know there is a big conference or a festival happening in your city, share that on your channels to inform people about a golden opportunity to visit your city and to stay in your hotel. Share tips on where to eat, where is a good place to meet clients for drinks, what are the best souvenirs to take home to family and friends. The more you share, the more you create the impression that you care about the overall travel experience your customers. Press Release 15 October 2018 Planning on attending the Eye for Travel in Las Vegas on the 18th and 19th October 2018? Be sure to join the 18th October afternoon discussion: Catapult Your Profits Through Industry Partnerships. Advertisements Our CEO Thomas Magnuson will be looking at the power of consolidation and the benefits of having a wide partner platform via newest technology advances. Panel attendees will leave the session with a solid understanding of the strength of affiliations and global reach. Joining Magnuson will be hotel technology industry leaders: Julie Jackson; Partner Marketing Manager of Booking.com , a leading global travel website featuring nearly 30 Million listings in 230 countries. , a leading global travel website featuring nearly 30 Million listings in 230 countries. Zdenek Komenda; Chief Business Development Officer of Kiwi.com , an online flight aggregator of over 700 global airline companies. , an online flight aggregator of over 700 global airline companies. Blake O'Rafferty; Head of Partnerships - Americas of HotelsCombined.com, which operates in over 42 languages, handles 130 different currencies and aggregates more than 2 million deals from hundreds of travel sites and hotel chains. Thomas co-founded Magnuson Hotels, America's fastest growing hotel brand as a US based business with his wife Melissa in 2003. Today, Magnuson Hotels is a top 15 global hotel chain with 1000 hotels across 3 continents. Magnuson Hotels has also recently formed the world's largest hotel marketing alliance of nearly 9000 hotels, 900,000 rooms with Jin Jiang Hotels, China's largest hotel group and Louvre Hotel Group, one of Europe's largest hotel companies. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser The deployment of state-of-the-art Russian air defense missile systems in Syria will have a favorable effect on the situation in the Middle East, Syria's Foreign Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Walid Muallem told a news conference in Damascus. "Not only Syria will feel safer owing to supplies of S-300 air defense missile systems," he noted, "The deployment of this defense weapon will help make the situation more stable and safe across the Middle East," TASS cited Muallem as saying. Following the incident with the downing of a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft in Syria, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on September 24 that Russia would supply S-300 missile defense systems to the Syrian army. It has already supplied 49 units of hardware within the framework of S-300 supplies. Russian specialists will train Syrian military to use the missile systems. Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Sao Paulo at Nacoes Unidas Makes Its Mark in Brazils Largest City The 258-room Hotel is located amid the leafy green spaces along the Pinheiros river in southern Sao Paulo. Hotel guests, residents and locals can now enjoy a new restaurant and a lounge, an oasis-like spa, and a variety of event spaces that can accommodate anything from a private board meeting to multi-room conferences, social galas and weddings for up to 400 attendees. "Sao Paulo has held a special place in my heart for many years. Now, the opportunity to welcome our first guests from the community and around the world to a city that continues to evolve and excite is a dream come true," says General Manager Michael Schmid, who has returned to Brazil to lead a team of 220 carefully selected staff who are united in their desire to ensure that every guest's stay is memorable. Chef Concierge Luca Medeiros offers a wealth of reasons to be among the new Hotel's first guests. "We are particularly excited to welcome Formula 1 fans from around the globe during the Brazilian Grand Prix from November 9 to 11, which takes place at the Autodromo de Interlagos just minutes from Four Seasons, and of course here in Sao Paulo we host the world's largest comic con, CCXP, from December 6 to 9." Just past the welcoming smiles of the Hotel's team of doormen, bellhops and valets, guests entering the new Four Seasons Hotel Sao Paulo are immersed in a gallery-like domed space that showcases contemporary works by local artists including a trio of sculptures by Francisco Brennand, a bold and striking painting by Burle Marx, and additional furnishings and works by Tora Brasil and other local designers and artists. A truly stunning spiral staircase floats its way up to the ballroom against a shimmering wall that captures light from both the outdoors and the space's dramatic chandeliers. Advertisement The visual wonders continue as guests reach the Hotel's cleverly designed pool, which appears to extend out over the surrounding treetops, allowing guests to swim through to the outdoors, or stay within. The fitness centre also offers inspiring skyline views across the treetops just outside. Spa Director Betina Weber and her team of skilled therapists at the Spa offer the latest in modern treatments with a local twist, including bespoke treatments such as the Sacred Feminine ritual, and the Olfactive Journey inspired by ancient aromatic healing therapies. Spend any time in Sao Paulo and you're likely to notice the proliferation of Italian restaurants in the city. More than just a love of a cuisine, it's a testament to the city's strong immigrant community, no more so than at Neto, which literally means "grandson" in Portuguese, designed by renowned international firm EDG. Executive Chef Paolo Lavezzini, explains the restaurant's "Italian by heart, Brazilian by soil" concept: "I came to Brazil seven years ago, happy to find so many Italians, but also eager to get to the heart of Brazilian culture. At Neto we are presenting a new generation of culinary talent, chefs with roots here and all over the world, and a passion for innovative dishes that look forward as much as they are inspired by the past." Guests will want to return again and again to sample the full menu, but Chef Paolo suggests starting with spaghetti alla pomarola with local goat cheese or the grilled ribeye flavoured with Brazilian chestnut butter as primo examples of the restaurant's unique approach to Italian cuisine, and for dessert, the torta sbriciolona (Italian crumb cake) with ice cream flavoured with banana and cupuacu, a rain-forest cousin of the cacao tree. Visitors to the city may also be struck by the number of Japanese restaurants in Sao Paulo, representing another significant segment of its multi-cultural past and present. As it happens, there's a little of Japan behind the bar at Four Seasons as well, in the form of Head Mixologist Paulo Ravelli. After spending nine years in Japan and then returning to his home country of Brazil to work with a Japanese restaurant group, Paulo caught the eye of Chef Paolo, who was impressed by his talent and immediately saw that his international experience and dedication to his craft was the perfect complement to the Hotel's dining concepts. Look for evidence of the self-taught master bartender's current obsession with cachaca on the cocktail menus at both Neto and Caju SP, the Hotel's botequim-style lobby lounge. Best known as the anchor ingredient in Brazil's world famous Caipirinha, it's a cane-based spirit with a sweet versatility that lends itself to creative concoctions as well as local favourites. San Francisco-based BAMO has created guest rooms that welcome guests as though into a private home, with a gracious palette of sensuous lines and touchable textures, accented by pops of vibrant colour. Area rugs on polished wood floors create intimate spaces where business travellers can focus on work, and those at leisure can lean back, put their feet up and relax. Of special interest are the Hotel's One Bedroom Corner Suites with panoramic views, and the incredible Presidential Suite on the 14th floor, which is ideal for families or those who plan to entertain while staying at Four Seasons. In addition to the Hotel's 1,409 square metres (15,160 square feet) of meetings and events spaces that are available for booking now not to mention its team of expert event planners whose attention to detail is surpassed only by their creativity Four Seasons Hotel Sao Paulo will debut an exclusive Global Traveller Relaxation Lounge in 2019. Here, business travellers booking select room categories will find an array of privileges including dedicated concierge, access to a private boardroom, complimentary refreshments throughout the day, and more. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource The Connie (tail number: N8083H) will become a one-of-a-kind cocktail lounge and event space at the 512-room hotel opening in spring 2019 and located at the landmark 1962 former TWA terminal designed by Eero Saarinen. The TWA Hotel's 1958 Lockheed Constellation 'Connie' L-1649A Starliner airplane is completing her 300-mile journey from Auburn-Lewiston Airport in Maine, where she was fully restored, to her new home at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The Connie (tail number: N8083H) will become a one-of-a-kind cocktail lounge and event space at the 512-room hotel opening in spring 2019 and located at the landmark 1962 former TWA terminal designed by Eero Saarinen. Decorated in authentic TWA livery, the disassembled Connie was loaded on two separate trucks one for the fuselage, one for the tail. Escorted by a convoy of state police and civilians, she has trucked through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York on an epic journey that began on October 9, 2018. The plane's wings and engines will travel separately. Like every good road trip, along the way, Connie who sported a Queens or Bust! sign has parked at a few scenic rest stops and even got a flat tire! TWA Hotel's Connie one of only four remaining L-1649As in the world is a critical piece of Trans World Airlines' history. Commissioned by TWA's eccentric former owner, Howard Hughes, the Lockheed Constellation fleet served as Air Force One for President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s and broke the record for fastest nonstop trip from Burbank to New York with Hughes at the helm in 1946. Saarinen designed the former TWA terminal around the propliner, but when it opened in 1962, jets had come on the scene, making the terminal functionally obsolete. "Our Connie started her illustrious TWA career at Idlewild (now JFK) in 1958. She was replaced by jets in 1960 and survived working as an Alaskan bush plane in the 1970s, only to be abandoned by drug runners in Honduras in the 1980s," says Tyler Morse, CEO and Managing Partner of MCR and MORSE Development. "We're excited for her return to JFK as the Queen of Queens." MCR/MORSE Development partnered with Atlantic Models/Gogo Aviation to restore Connie N8083H to her original condition at Maine's Auburn-Lewiston Airport. Worldwide Aircraft Recovery, Ltd. disassembled, is transporting and will reassemble the plane, and Bay Crane will hoist Connie into her new home on the "tarmac" outside the hotel Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Airbnb has for the first time revealed that its landlords hosted 2.5 million overnight stays in Amsterdam in 2017. Excerpt from Dutch News.NL Airbnb has for the first time revealed that its landlords hosted 2.5 million overnight stays in Amsterdam in 2017. The landlords had 800,000 visitors, who stayed an average of 3.4 days almost twice as long as the typical stay in a hotel or guest house that year, the company claims. The numbers are revealed in a report written by consultancy Ecorys and commissioned by Airbnb, and which looks at the impact of three proposals by Amsterdam city government to control spiralling levels of tourism. Ban Yesterday, the city government announced its intention to ban Airbnb rentals entirely in three parts of the city, including the red light district, due to the perceived negative impacts on social cohesion, rising house prices and inequality. Next year, the maximum number of days that private house owners can rent to tourists will be limited to 30 days, from the current 60. Meanwhile, Dutch MPs have proposed treating home rental infringement as a fiscal crime and cracking down on tax evasion. The government aims to create a national registration scheme for private rentals within a year, following concerns about illegal rentals and overtourism. The new Ecorys report, however, points out that Airbnb accommodation not including other short term rental brokers such as Booking.com represents a modest 11.9% of all overnight stays in the Dutch capital. It also claims that its guests are responsible for more than a fifth of the 2.3 billion spent in Amsterdam. New rules limiting private rentals to 30 nights a year will, the report says, result in 310,000 fewer overnight stays while new hotels in the pipeline will add 3.7 million annual overnight stays by 2022. Click here to read complete article at Dutch News.NL. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Best Western Hotels & Resorts announced the arrival of its upscale soft brand to Upstate New York with the opening of The Parkview Hotel, BW Premier Collection by Best Western in Syracuse. Best Western Hotels & Resorts announced the arrival of its upscale soft brand to Upstate New York with the opening of The Parkview Hotel, BW Premier Collection by Best Western in Syracuse. "The Parkview Hotel is an extraordinary addition to our carefully curated portfolio of hotels that make up the BW Premier Collection by Best Western brand," said Ron Pohl, senior vice president and chief operations officer for Best Western Hotels & Resorts. "This boutique hotel, located in Syracuse's historic downtown, is newly renovated and offers the sophisticated style, local flare and upscale experience that the BW Premier Collection by Best Western is known for. We look forward to this hotel becoming a favorite destination among travelers visiting the beautiful city of Syracuse." With 63 classically-decorated guest rooms and 20 spacious and relaxing suites, guests will appreciate the art deco design that is a hallmark of this property that was formerly the Medical Arts building. Public spaces within the hotel have been fully updated with new flooring, rich wood tones, wall coverings and attractive lighting elements. In addition to its elegant and fresh design, The Parkview Hotel, BW Premier Collection by Best Western, offers a variety of amenities to provide guests with a superior stay. These amenities include an onsite cafe and full bar, serving local craft beer and specialty drinks, as well as a state-of-the-art 24-hour fitness center opening later this month. Additionally, the hotel will soon offer meeting space to host small-group business and events. Visitors to The Parkview Hotel, BW Premier Collection by Best Western, will appreciate the hotel's prime location in historic Downtown Syracuse. Just a short walk away is the Erie Canal Museum, Everson Museum of Art, OnCenter Complex and Museum of Science and Technology. Located within a short distance from the Syracuse Hancock International Airport, the hotel offers guests a shuttle to the airport for ultimate convenience. "We are excited for guests to see the impressive renovations we have made and to experience the local flavor and outstanding experience we take pride in offering," said Thomas Fernandez, chief operating officer of The Parkview Hotel BW Premier Collection. "Our upscale boutique hotel in the heart of Syracuse delivers the high-level product and service that guests expect at a BW Premier Collection by Best Western hotel." Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Nor1 is proud to announce and welcome Sandra Tye as Regional Director, Business Development, APAC. Ms. Tye, based in Nor1s Singapore office, will be responsible for expanding and strengthening Nor1s relationships with industry partners throughout APAC. Nor1, the leader in upgrade, upsell, and merchandising technology is proud to announce and welcome Sandra Tye as Regional Director, Business Development, APAC. Ms. Tye, based in Nor1s Singapore office, will be responsible for expanding and strengthening Nor1s relationships with industry partners throughout APAC. I am very excited to be working with Nor1 to provide hotels and resorts intelligent upsell solutions that optimize the amount of revenue they can realize from every single guest transaction, said Sandra Tye, Regional Director, Business Development, APAC. Tye added, I am eager to help hotels dramatically increase RevPAR, ADR, and guest satisfaction by utilizing Nor1s intelligent upgrade, upsell, and merchandising platform. One crucial, deciding factor for my joining Nor1 was the realization of how many upgrade and upsell opportunities are being overlooked by all of the other approaches Ive seen or experienced. Nor1s suite of products can maximize total revenue and enhance the guests journey at the same time. Nor1 is truly the leader in this space. We are very pleased and excited to welcome Sandra to the Nor1 Team, said Jason G. Bryant, Nor1s Founder and CEO. We are confident that her knowledge, reputation and experience in the APAC region will be a great asset to Nor1 in expanding adoption of our upgrade, upsell, and merchandising platform. About Nor1, Inc. Nor1 is the leader in hospitality upgrade, up-sell, and merchandising technology. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices across the world, Nor1 provides data-driven pricing and merchandising products that maximize incremental revenues for Hilton, IHG, Radisson Hotel Group, Accor, Wyndham, and other global hotels and resorts. Nor1s real-time pricing and merchandising intelligence engine, PRiME, powers eStandby Upgrade, eXpress Upgrade, CheckIn Merchandising, eReach, and eDirect to recommend the most relevant upgrade to the right guest at the right time for the most optimal price. Our investors include, Concur Technologies, Goldman Sachs, and Accel Partners. For more information, please visit www.nor1.com. Media Contact: David Hallman +1 408.850.9953 media@nor1.com Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Kim Kardashian West has spent been directing a considerable amount of effort in a cause that she has proven to be passionate about: prison reform. Earlier this year, the model and mother of three took to the task of advocating on behalf of Alice Marie Johnson, a woman who had served 21 years of a life sentence received after a conviction for a first-time nonviolent drug offense. Johnson was subsequently granted clemency and released from prison. Kim's recent efforts have however proven to be unpopular with San Bernardino County D.A., Mike Ramos. Ramos spoke to TMZ about a recent tweet by the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star which saw her advocating on behalf of a death row inmate named Kevin Cooper. Cooper was found guilty of 4 murders in 1983, crimes he maintains that he did not commit and faces the death penalty. The tweet urged California Governor Jerry Brown to request advanced DNA testing that could settle the case. Ramos revealed that he found Kim's efforts misguided, and inconsiderate telling TMZ, "Its time that we start talking and 'tweeting' about the victims who were brutally murdered in the sanctity of their home." Ramos added, "This latest attempt to free Kevin Cooper is nothing more than a red herring and another slap in the face of the victims and their family members who were forced to suffer a lifetime of pain." TMZ previously reported that Brown did not respond to Kim's request. https://twitter.com/_/status/1049059175345479680 For the better part of the last few months, we've been bracing ourselves for some news regarding Lil Uzi Vert's next project. There's a lot of secrecy surrounding Eternal Atake, which was rumored to release weeks ago, but we have yet to receive the album. The Philadelphia artist used imagery from the Heaven's Gate cult, leading to their representatives threatening to take legal action, so it's unclear whether the artwork will be altered. Uzi fans got a nice surprise when "New Patek" was released and now, they get to hear his new collaboration with two of Atlanta's budding young stars. Lil Keed and Lil Gotit have been making noise out of ATL, collaborating with some of the biggest names in the business. Keed got a head start by working closely with Young Thug but Gotit is quickly closing in on his big brother, dropping "Superstar" with Gunna last week. This time, the two siblings have joined forces with Lil Uzi Vert to embrace their heavy metal influences. It's unclear whether or not "Heavy Metal" is intended for Eternal Atake or if it's just a loosie but it randomly appeared on Gotit's SoundCloud a few hours ago. What do you think of the new song? Quotable Lyrics: You light like a feather Heavy like brick I'm a rock star, got slits on my wrist You ain't never hear heavy metal like this Kanye West made an extremely bizarre appearance at the White House last week when he met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office. T.I and Ice-T slammed 'Ye for meeting Trump, but not everyone looked at it as a negative experience. Mally Mall recently praised Kanye West for trying to make a positive change in America. TMZ caught Mally Mall outside of Drake's concert at the Staples Centre on Saturday night when he shared some positive words about Kanye West's political efforts. "Aw man, Kanye's a genius, man. I hope they get Larry Hoover out. That's a good move right there," he said. "You know, Kanye wants what's best for the country, man. You know what I mean? I don't get into the whole politics really like that, but as long as its positive, I'm all for it, man. I fuck with Kanye." When asked whether he thinks Kanye's moves will actually spark some sort of change, Mally Mall said, "He's trying. I respect him trying more than people not trying." Kanye West recently left to Africa with his wife Kim Kardashian, their kids and Big Sean. 'Ye is currently in Uganda where he's working on his upcoming album, Yandhi which was initially supposed to drop in late September before being pushed back nearly two months to November 23rd. Last month, Mariah Carey started to release new music again, dropping the "GTFO" single and a sultry video a few days later. She returned at the beginning of this month with a brand new single produced by Mustard, titled "With You." The legendary songstress has been making some noise with those two singular tracks, prompting many to believe that she was gearing up to release the next addition to her discography. As we would learn today, speculation was correct as Mimi has just announced that she is dropping her new album next month, helped out by her son in a cute video. Moroccan is getting the assist on this one as he announced the official release date but Mariah Carey came through with a major reveal today, telling everybody about her upcoming album. The star's fifteenth studio album will be titled Caution and it is expected to drop on November 16. Carey tweeted out the news as she made her way down the stairs with her son Moroccan, telling the world the name of her new album and leaving her child the honor of announcing the rest. Caution will act as the follow-up to 2014's Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse. If you haven't heard her two new singles yet, listen to "With You" here and "GTFO" here. https://twitter.com/_/status/1051830050008502277 As one would imagine, Mark Wahlberg is an incredibly active individual. In a recent question and answer session with fans, the actor and former rapper revealed that he follows a demanding daily fitness routine requiring incredible levels of discipline and dedication. He told fans that he begins an average day at around 2:30 AM, undergoing several workouts throughout, and will usually be in bed by 7:30 PM. This past weekend, however, he broke away from his routine to attend an Aubrey and the Three Migos show. Wahlberg and his wife Rhea were spotted at the Los Angeles Staples Center where the couple enjoyed backstage VIP access, with Whalberg reportedly even being invited to join Drake's prayer circle minutes before the show. Drizzy is said to have recited a prayer filled with good wishes for the night's performers and crew sharing, "Very positive way to start this whole run off on I asked last night that we set a standard and I asked that every night we try and raise that bar. So tonight I need you to bless the band and musical instruments, play music better than everybody else." He took a moment to send good wishes toWhalberg and his family as well adding, "Weve got a great incredible collection of individuals, all of whom I admire so I ask that you please bless them. Bless my brother Mark and his family, allow them to continue seeing health [and] wealth." If you need a refresher or some fitness inspiration, you can read about Mark's fitness routine here. [via] At least 22 people, including a number of children, were killed in Turkey's Izmir when a lorry carrying migrants plunged off a road. The lorry, which was travelling from Aydin to Izmir, crashed through a barrier and landed in an irrigation canal 20m below, the Anadolu agency said. It was reportedly taking the migrants to the coast, where they would have boarded inflatable dinghies heading to Greece's Samos island. In addition to the dead, 13 people were taken to hospital with injuries. The nationality of the victims was not immediately known, BBC reported. The DHA agency said the 35-year-old Turkish driver had survived the crash and told police he had swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle. Prosecutors have opened an investigation and said the driver could face arrest after receiving medical treatment. Joe Raedle, Staff / Getty Images Gasoline prices in Houston and across the country fell last week alongside crude oil prices but could rebound as the disappearance of a Washington Post contributor fuels tension between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. The average price of regular unleaded in the Houston area dropped by 1.6 cents to $2.59 a gallon, while the national average fell by 2.6 cents to $2.88 a gallon, according to GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices nationwide. Shell has completed a substantial step in the construction of its plastics production complex in Pennsylvania, a project expected to catalyze similar developments in the Northeast if the region continues to build the pipelines and storage needed to support a petrochemicals hub rivaling that along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The oil majors petrochemicals unit has installed the project's largest piece of equipment: a 285-foot cooling and condensation tower for gas and other hydrocarbons. It spent more than three weeks in transit up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and required the one of the worlds largest cranes to lift it into place. The company is building an ethane cracker, which processes the natural gas liquid ethane into ethylene, which will be the feedstock for on-site production of polyethylene, the worlds most common plastic. Three units will churn out 1.6 million metric tons of polyethylene a year to be sold as tiny plastic pellets for use in packaging, automobiles, furniture and consumer goods. The project is the largest of its kind in the Northeast, which has lagged the U.S. Gulf Coast in petrochemical developments despite ample supplies of natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations spanning Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. The region is home to numerous companies that produce bottles, packaging and other goods, but the plastic pellets needed to make them often come from elsewhere. The Shell project, however, will change that. A report last year by research firm IHS Markit noted that nearly 75 percent of U.S. demand for polyethylene is located within 700 miles of southwestern Pennsylvania, where the companys site is located. Graham vant Hoff, Shells executive vice president for global chemicals, said the company chose the sites location in large part for its proximity to customers, as well as an abundant supply of ethane. Unlike polyethylene producers along the Gulf Coast, he added, the company expects to export only a minor fraction of its Pennsylvania production. It has a natural advantage to serve the domestic market, he said. The IHS Markit report noted that Shells multibillion-dollar investment could be the first of several in the region as petrochemicals producers look to capitalize on rich, low-cost ethane from the Marcellus and the Utica, which are together expected to account for about 40 percent of the nations natural gas production by 2030. The firm expects that a corresponding rise in the production of ethane a byproduct of oil and gas drilling could be enough to supply an additional four crackers to generate ethylene for plastics manufacturing. IHS Markit, however, cautioned that those developments will only occur if companies, legislators and regulators in the region take steps to increase the number of large sites zoned for industrial activity and speed up a buildout of pipelines and storage for natural gas liquids. Bob Patel, CEO of Houston chemical maker LyondellBasell, said in a recent interview that his company hasnt yet considered building a project in the Northeast because of those constraints. He added that the vast network of pipelines along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where many of the companys plants are located, allows for an easy exchange of feedstocks and chemicals between different producers, reducing costs and boosting operational reliability throughout the region. LyondellBasell is investing heavily to expand its Gulf Coast operations. It began construction last year on a $725 million plant to produce polyethylene at its La Porte complex, and this year, it started work on its priciest project to date, a $2.4 billion plant in Channelview to produce chemicals used in either polyurethane foam or high-octane gasoline. Patel said he expects the Northeast will eventually have the sort of petrochemical density needed to attract similar investments after a series of relatively costly investments to form a foundation. One day, 10 or 20 years from now, we might consider (the Northeast), he said But today, theres enough opportunity for us on the Gulf Coast. Vant Hoff said that Shells execution of the Pennsylvania project is possible in part because of the widespread nature of the companys operations. It has experience building not only petrochemicals plants, but also pipelines and other aspects of production necessary to support an investment of that size. The opportunity to build the region out is there, he said. But its not without its challenge. katherine.blunt@chron.com twitter.com/katherineblunt Henri Gadbois, a founding member of Houstons early contemporary art scene, died Saturday. He was 87. The prolific Gadbois, who was primarily a painter and ceramicist, never tired of making art, sharing a large home studio until his final days with his wife of 62 years, the painter Leila McConnell. One of Houstons first and longest-surviving art power couples, Gadbois and McConnell both showed at DuBose, one of the citys first major contemporary art galleries, in the 1960s before the rise of younger generations in the 1970s. Both were rediscovered in the past decade or so through the work of the Houston Early Texas Art Group, a cadre of active collectors who want to preserve the citys art history and now regularly stage exhibitions of work produced during the mid-20th century or earlier. Gadbois paintings are included in a pair of related shows this fall, South and North of the Border, which are showing at the Heritage Society Museum and the Houston Public Librarys Julia Ideson Building. Randy Tibbits, a co-curator of those shows and a founding member of the group, called Gadbois a real renaissance Houstonian, without the stiffness the term sometimes suggests, but with all the grace and charm that make it high praise in any age. Gadbois began painting in the 1940s as a teenager in his parents Houston garage. In some ways, he was following footsteps: His father painted billboards, and one of his grandfathers painted religious scenes for churches. Gadbois veered toward modern art with the encouragement of a teacher at Lamar High School, then earned art degrees at the University of Houston and staged his first solo show in 1953, at James Bute Gallery. Although his paintings were selling well in the late 1960s, Gadbois turned his focus to teaching in that decade, inspiring multiple generations of students during his 30 years as an art teacher at Lee High School. He founded a highly successful Faux Foods enterprise in the 1980s almost by accident, after creating a painted clay trophy for the winner of the schools annual Key Club grapefruit sale. For many years, Gadbois provided realistic-looking food displays for Bayou Bend, becoming known as one of Americas leading craftsmen. (He made the pineapple ornament that topped the White House Christmas tree in 1999.) Most recently, he created agate wear plates and bowls that were sold at Bayou Bend's gift shop. Im an addict, he jokingly told the Chronicle in 2016. Gadbois' Facebook page filled with tributes Monday, as friends and former students heard the news of his passing. He was the most creative person I ever met, wrote his niece Gaynor Adbois Lubojasky. She also praised his kind nature: He loved people gently and well. Many friends recalled his graciousness as a cook and host. Not just a part of a scene, McConnell and Gadbois helped build a community with their frequent dinners and parties. She is grateful their life together lasted so long. "You just never want it to end," she said. Along with McConnell, Gadbois is survived by son David Gadbois, daughter Laura Gadbois, and three grandsons. Reaves|Foltz Fine Art, 2143 Westheimer, will host a reception honoring Gadbois from 3-5 p.m. Saturday. molly.glentzer@chron.com What do you do with the dead? I dont profess to have the answers, other than the logistical stuff defined by law that results in burial or cremation. But when the dead are artists, what becomes of their art? After a 2016 and 2017 that proved ghastly for prominent musicians punching out, I can say theres greenery in the graveyard. Or at least it appears that way to me, as a listener. Prince, David Bowie and Tom Petty represent some sort of trinity of holy rock n rollers who passed during those two years. And while there will always be lingering questions about the wishes of the deceased as pertaining to matters of legacy, this year has been a good one for fans of Prince and Petty. 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince arrives at the Smart Financial Centre next Thursday. The show, which is part of a tour approved by Princes estate, is the second touring Prince event to come to town since he died on April 21, 2016. Upon Princes death at age 57, that estate looked poised for years of idleness created by legal bickering because Prince left no will and, well, people like money. To the credit of the heirs, they defined the members of the estate quickly and clearly. They then turned his home studio into a museum, issued a deluxe version of his landmark Purple Rain album and just a few weeks ago put out Piano and a Microphone 1983, a spare but entrancing collection of the most unadorned music ever issued under Princes name. 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince When: 8 p.m. Thursday Where: Smart Financial Centre, 18111 Lexington, Sugar Land Details: $34.50-$94.50; 281-207-6278, smartfinancialcentre.com See More Collapse Such careful tending to legacy should be rewarded because the alternative is to fill these voids with material cobbled together by opportunists. Within days of Princes death, all manner of bootleg recordings found their way into record stores. I know, because I bought as many as I could. There was a love-symbol shaped hole in my heart and I was trying to plug it any way I could. Most of those concert recordings sounded bad, though audience or radio recordings that had undergone no mixing. Piano and a Microphone, on the other hand, approximates being blindfolded in a room during a sound check. Some insight is granted into an elusive artists process. Though the music doesnt feel incomplete just unadorned. The 4U concert will mix a live band with a full symphony orchestra, which has the potential to be top-heavy. But the event has been curated by Ahmir Questlove Thompson, drummer in the hip-hop band The Roots, who doubles as Jimmy Fallons Tonight Show band. His affinity for Princes music runs deep, as has been well documented. With the impending arrival of this show, Im reminded of the cathartic and joyful experience of watching Princes old band, The Revolution, who played his music in Houston in June 2017. Drummer Robert Rivkin (aka Bobby Z) told the Chronicle before the show, Its given us a second chance to share this music with fans who, right now, desperately need it. And we need to play it. At times it feels like a higher purpose in a way. It has that element to it. Were not dragging around to promote a record. Were promoting a legacy, and this music in the best way possible. Tom Pettys estate similarly has juggled the unenviable task of promoting a legacy in a manner both generous and cautious. An American Treasure came out earlier this month, comprising four discs worth of mostly unreleased music. I cant decide if death alters my critical parameters or not. Pettys isnt the first multidisc collection of odds and ends Ive owned, and more often than not, I dont return to such collections. But this one has enveloped me for more than a week, with several songs of his Id never heard before as well as live and alternate takes of familiar songs that felt renewed. The quantity of music is daunting, but the hunger for something that tiptoes the line between familiar (Pettys conversational voice) and unfamiliar (that voice singing songs Id never heard) has proven persistent. My one quibble with the set is hardly a quibble at all. My favorite Petty era runs from Wildflowers in 1994 through Echo in 1999. This period is not terribly well-represented on An American Treasure, though my suspicion is a subsequent collection of music will fill that void next year or soon after that. Questions will linger about the artists intentions. Prince undoubtedly would have had reservations about emptying the vaults. But hes gone, and the terms of the contract between artist and fan change at that point. Perhaps at some point, Ill reach a point of contentment. But it hasnt been that long since theyve stopped creating new songs. Ill take the moments of magic where I can find them. andrew.dansby@chron.com Two candidates are battling to be serve as the Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner a district that includes portions of Atascocita in addition to Huffman and Crosby. Republican Jack Morman, 40, has been the current Precinct 2 Commissioner for the past eight years and is seeking re-election to finish the improvements he has started. There is a great need to continue improvements in flood control, streets and parks. We have made progress, but there is still much work to do and I am dedicated to serving the residents of Precinct 2, Morman said. The challenger is Democrat Adrian Garcia, 57, who has 35 years of experience in public service. Im ready to serve our communities for better flood protection, renewing education programs from Pre-K to adult job training, and controlling pollution that impacts our health. Active community support is my top priority, Garcia said. Voters will decide between the two candidates on Nov. 6. Early voting begins on Oct. 22 and lasts until Nov. 2. Precinct Goals Garcias goals for Precinct 2 is ensure it has a greater share of flood protection projects and have the commissioners court make more transparent decisions for the public. He also plans to approve only necessary projects meeting stringent financial budgets, improve educational programs of all levels and stop polluters who hurt families health, he said. The Atascocita, Huffman, Lake Houston area with its unique combination of residential, recreation, transportation and commercial assets, has a bright future as long as the community leaders, elected officials and public work together to ensure a good balance in local investments, Garcia said. Mormans goal is to focus the implementation of the flood control plan that was approved by voters in August. Alongside flood control issues, our biggest goals include continuing to improve and maintain Precinct 2's over 1,300 miles of roads, 50 parks and 16 community centers, and fostering economic growth and job creation, Morman said. Regional Goals Knowing that the Lake Houston areas population is growing Garcia, a former Harris County Sheriff, knows theres a need for increased regional traffic and transit planning as well a new flood mapping of flood zones. We must take all the lessons from Harvey including transparency into the different types of industries like the Arkema site that can suddenly react to extreme weather, creating pollution threats in unexpected areas, Garcia said. I will be in the Atascocita and Huffman communities constantly to sense the pulse of the area, ready to take action to ensure our families are safe, secure and enjoying our quality of life. Morman plans on finishing the construction of the 20-acre Atascocita Park, finish existing projects and start new initiatives in the Atascocita/Huffman area. He especially plans on improving school safety in the area. I am also planning to develop a new community center in the northeast part of Harris County with easy access to Atascocita, Huffman, and surrounding communities, Morman said. Challenges Morman said flood protection may be the biggest challenge that the Lake Houston area faces. Flood control is going to be the challenge of our generation. There is much work to do, but thanks to the voters we have the financial resources to make significant progress. Additionally, we need to clean up the San Jacinto river, which from an environmental standpoint will take cooperation between many levels of government and hard work from the community. I look forward to accepting this challenge, Morman said. Some challenges Precinct 2 faces that Garcia has noticed is need for better community representation and better organizing community priorities. Some things Garcia would also like to work on is creating strong schools in strong neighborhoods with affordable housing and infrastructure, fighting polluters, equity in flood protection projects, public safety and criminal justice reform , job creation, protect immigrant communities and access to affordable health and mental care. I am always looking for new approaches to work with our communities and leaders to improve our quality of life. Better roads and optional transportation modes such as bike trails and better Metro service and Park and Rides will be needed more with continued population growth, Garcia said. There will be additional concentration and risk associated with flooding, more green space and flood detention areas are needed as well as resilience planning. The county can, and will provide growing assistance to growing communities needing educational and health program support. Flood Prevention Ideas Morman feels his first focus should be on the San Jacinto River on both the east and west forks and Lake Houston to remove bottle necks that restrict the flow of water along the San Jacinto River to the bay. We have identified many internal subdivision drainage issues that need to be dealt with overall. Additionally, we need to work with Montgomery County for detention upstream before the water hits the Atascocita/Huffman area. With my fellow county commissioners, we have set aside $367 million in bond and grant funds to address these issues. We will continue to work with the residents to review their priorities in the years ahead, Morman said. Garcia believes in addition to completing the dredging of the San Jacinto River, key stakeholders and the public need to work together for remediation and mitigation for current flood threats and plan for future major rain events. Some of Garcias ideas include to re-establish the assistant director of safety emergency preparedness position, partner with the Atascocita Volunteer Fire Department and ESD 46 to enhance community resilience and partner with the countys public health department and environment program for a health impact assessment for social and health resilience. I am very concerned about our regional flooding like that in the Atascocita and Huffman area and I want to provide needed educational resources for your youngsters, school age students and adults, Garcia said. I hope readers will take a few minutes to learn about my flood protection plan, Higher Ground, and education plan Foundation for the Future, at my website. Transportation Garcia said he will work with the Texas Department of Transportation on the FM 1960 expansion project to improve roads connecting to FM 1960 and the Grand Parkway. Garcia added traffic studies are needed to assess the congestion and possible improvements to the Atascocita Town Center interchange between Atascocita Road, FM 1960 and West Lake Houston Parkway. We need to accelerate work in Atascocita and Huffman area. Weve waited too long to improve roads and drainage in Atascocita. For instance, we need to provide support for road infrastructure (new and upgraded) to advance multi-modal transportation across the Lake Houston communities to key transportation centers. We need an advocate to Improve METRO park & ride service and explore eventual opportunities for commuter rail, Garcia said. Morman said he plans on continuing a major capital improvement program which calls for major road and thoroughfare improvements throughout the precinct as well the construction of a new ship channel and adding lanes east of Beltway 8. We will continue our program of adding "smart" traffic signals throughout Precinct 2: implementing major intersection improvements and specifically improvements which assist in traffic around our schools, Morman said. We are also adding to hike and bike trails throughout Precinct 2; we kicked off with major improvements to the Atascocita hike and bike trails and reviewing our options in the Huffman area. kaila.contreras@chron.com When President Trump chose Riyadh to make his debut on the world stage last year, he was placing a bet on Saudi Arabia, which serenaded him with military bands, dazzled him with a flyover of fighter jets and regaled him with a traditional sword dance. The mastermind behind that wager - the White House adviser who convinced Trump to visit Saudi Arabia for his maiden foreign trip and who choreographed a veritable lovefest between the new president and the desert kingdom's white-robed ruler, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz - was Jared Kushner. VEILED THREAT: Saudi Arabia breaks 45-year taboo with oil as a weapon The president's son-in-law has carefully cultivated a close partnership with the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom Kushner has championed as a reformer poised to usher the ultraconservative, oil-rich monarchy into modernity. But the U.S.-Saudi alliance - and the relationship between Kushner, 37, and Mohammed, 33 - is now imperiled by the unexplained disappearance and alleged gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who had been living in the United States and wrote columns for The Washington Post. The suspected killing has sparked international outcry and calls for tough punishment of Riyadh. Kushner, however, has already signaled that he has no intention of turning his back on the crown prince, known by the initials MBS. Trump himself has threatened "extreme punishment" even while repeatedly casting doubt on the Saudi regime's guilt and the effectiveness of tough measures. "It's placed President Trump and the administration now on a tightrope, and we will see how they perform," said James C. Oberwetter, a U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President George W. Bush. As Kushner and his father-in-law see it, the partnership has paid dividends in the form of Saudi pledges to purchase billions of dollars worth of U.S. weaponry as well as the kingdom's position as an Arab ally in countering Iran and in fighting extremism throughout the Middle East, according to administration officials. Trump and Salman together convened 54 Muslim leaders to jointly condemn terrorism at a Riyadh summit in May 2017. And the Saudis built a center to combat extremist ideology, which Trump inaugurated during his trip by placing his hands on a glowing orb. Kushner has celebrated Mohammed's moves to modernize the Saudi economy and long-repressed society, including allowing women to drive and encouraging women's entrepreneurship. Furthermore, he considers MBS an influential and wise sounding board on geopolitics in the Muslim world and holds out hope that the crown prince might eventually deliver the support of Saudi Arabia - home of the two holiest sites in Islam - for his foundering Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. But the Khashoggi crisis has become a reckoning for Kushner. "I have a sense that they put all of their chips on the hope that the Saudis would be able to help the United States, not only in dealing with the challenges of terrorism, but also in dealing with peace in the Middle East," said Leon Panetta, a defense secretary and CIA director under President Barack Obama. Khashoggi, who wrote columns critical of Prince Mohammed, is said by Turkish authorities to have been killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. In conversations intercepted by U.S. intelligence, officials in Saudi Arabia earlier discussed plans to lure Khashoggi back to his native Saudi Arabia and detain him. The plot, U.S. intelligence officials believe, was ordered by the crown prince. Kushner was not briefed about the plot before Khashoggi's disappearance, according to two people familiar with his knowledge of the matter. It would not be automatic for a senior White House adviser to be briefed on every new piece of intelligence in a region, unless officials decided it needed to be elevated to his or her attention, former national security officials say. Kushner personally asked Mohammed last week about Khashoggi's disappearance and the crown prince denied any involvement, Trump said. "They deny it every way you can imagine," the president said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes." Critics of the Trump administration say Kushner has been dangerously naive to trust Mohammed and has allowed himself to be manipulated by an ascendant royal who charms foreigners yet has been ruthless in consolidating power inside the kingdom. Kushner declined to comment on his relationship with Mohammed. His defenders say he has been realistic about Mohammed's power and unafraid to chide the prince privately when he disagrees with his tactics but still believes there are long-term benefits in maintaining a close relationship. "I don't think they were played by him," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Sunday on CNN, referring to the Trump administration and Mohammed. "I think that they wanted to put together a Middle Eastern strategy in which a less-than-perfect government was a key component of constraining Iranian ambition in the region." Trump has all but ruled out canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia, saying Saturday that it would be "very foolish for our country" to give up what he wrongly characterizes as a $110 billion deal. U.S. intelligence officials who have been warily watching Mohammed's rise since before he was appointed crown prince in June 2017 said they assessed him as a naive, inexperienced and ambitious upstart who was not prepared for a position of great power. They said they heard an echo of Mohammed in Kushner. Here, too, was a young, power-hungry "prince" with no track record in government. "Prince Mohammed is a very shrewd, very smart, very capable guy," said Joseph W. Westphal, a U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the Obama administration. "He's a very quick study. And I think he knows, or has certainly learned, much about our system and our politics." Mohammed and Kushner became close early on in the Trump administration. They struck up a friendship at a White House lunch in March 2017 and had private, one-on-one phone calls that took senior intelligence leaders by surprise and worried career national security officials because note-takers were not always present, according to multiple people familiar with the relationship. One Trump adviser said it was "insane" how much Kushner spoke with Mohammed. The contents of some of those conversations remain a mystery. Administration officials said that since those early months, Kushner has had key national security officials present for his conversations with Mohammed or has later briefed them. "Jared has always meticulously followed protocols and collaborated with colleagues regarding the relationship with MBS and all of the other foreign officials with whom he interacts," said a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Kushner's practices. Nevertheless, anxiety grew among some U.S. spies when they learned that foreign officials in at least four countries had privately discussed ways to manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business dealings, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence about those discussions. One of the countries was the United Arab Emirates, a key Saudi ally. One senior U.S. intelligence official said that Kushner has come under the influence of Mohammed's simplistic view of power dynamics in the Middle East. "MBS has an elevator pitch," this official said, that Kushner has bought into: Iran is the main enemy and the single obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East. The reality is far more complicated. But this official said Kushner has appeared uninterested in studying the nuances of security dilemmas in the region and has skipped some intelligence briefings before some high-stakes negotiations. Kushner sold Trump and administration colleagues on the idea that Mohammed, like Kushner, was a reformer looking to shake up old alliances and break up corrupt power blocs within his country. Kushner privately argued for months last year that Mohammed would be key to crafting a Middle East peace plan, arguing that, with the prince's blessing, much of the Arab world would follow, according to people with knowledge of the internal deliberations. Kushner persuaded Trump to make Saudi Arabia his first foreign visit as president against the initial objections of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who as ExxonMobil's chief executive had extensive experience negotiating with the Saudis and other Arab states. "It was their premier disagreement," said the Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid. Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others in the U.S. government were skeptical of Mohammed's follow-through and of Saudi promises to help the United States counter Iran's influence and destroy the Islamic State, according to the people familiar with the deliberations, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about them to reporters. Trump put Kushner in charge of drafting a peace proposal for Israel and the Palestinians both because of Kushner's long ties to Israel and because his authority as a Trump family member would be readily understood in Arab family dynasties, such as the one in Saudi Arabia. In July, however, the Saudis delivered a setback. After the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, King Salman publicly rejected Kushner's peace plan and reassured the Palestinians that Saudi Arabia would not make the concessions that the United States sought for Israel. The plan stalled, and Kushner was startled and angry at the Saudi response, according to diplomats familiar with his reaction. Trump is expected to soon present a reworked package, but it is not clear whether the Saudis will provide the diplomatic backing and financial support that Kushner has sought. "It all smacks of a massive naivete on his part that he could sit down with MBS and figure out Middle East peace and a broader framework" involving Arab states that want a durable solution, said Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution. The administration voiced little public criticism when Mohammed seemed to overstep with the detention last fall of leading Saudi business executives and a bizarre episode involving what may have been the brief kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, nor when the Saudi crown prince picked a diplomatic fight this year with Canada, a close U.S. ally. In general, Trump's critics have said, the president's admiration for strongmen and his reluctance to champion human rights and democracy make authoritarian leaders feel empowered because they do not fear U.S. retaliation. "The Jared-MBS relationship revolves around the Middle East peace process, and the hope that Jared had for the Israeli-Palestinian issue," said Gerald Feierstein, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen and former senior State Department official who is now policy director at the Middle East Institute, which has hosted Khashoggi. But, Feierstein said, "MBS for his own reasons has played along and given the administration reason to believe that the Saudis will do more than I believe they ever will." --- The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey and Shane Harris contributed to this report. After the devastation of Hurricane Michael and a recent United Nations report warning of a looming climate crisis, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday questioned the extent of human contribution to rising global temperatures. "I think they overestimate," Kudlow said of the U.N. report, which found that policy changes must proceed at an unprecedented pace in the next 12 years to stop temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above Earth's preindustrial temperature. "I'm not denying any climate change issues," Kudlow said on ABC's "This Week." "I'm just saying, do we know precisely ... things like how much of it is man-made, how much of it is solar, how much of it is oceanic, how much of it is rain forest and other issues?" Rubio, R-Fla., speaking on CNN about the effects of Hurricane Michael, said that sea levels and ocean temperatures have risen in a "measurable" way and that humans have played some role. But he questioned how big that role is. "I think many scientists would debate the percentage of what is attributable to man versus normal fluctuations," Rubio said on "State of the Union." The established scientific view is that the majority of warming is caused by humans, and the recent report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reinforced this conclusion. The study found that "human activities" are estimated to have caused 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming since the late 19th century, and it went on to note that "estimated (human-caused) global warming matches the level of observed warming to within 20 percent." On ABC, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called Kudlow's comments "so irresponsible, so dangerous." "We are in crisis mode, and you have an administration that virtually does not even recognize the reality of climate change, and their policies, working with the fossil fuel industry, are making a bad situation worse," Sanders said. The debate took place as Florida's state government leads the recovery effort following Michael, which hit the Panhandle last week as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane killed more than a dozen people and flattened areas such as Mexico Beach and Panama City, which Rubio said will have to be "totally rebuilt." While scientists hesitate to attribute any one event to climate change, Michael is the kind of event scientists say will take place more frequently unless countries sharply reduce their carbon emissions. The storm coursed over unusually warm ocean waters and rapidly intensified just before landfall, a phenomenon that some research suggests will occur more frequently in a warmer climate. The storm surge was higher and traveled farther inland than it would have had the same storm arrived a century ago. Rubio acknowledged that his state, with its nearly 8,500 miles of coastline, is already seeing the effects of rising sea levels and warmer temperatures. Beyond Michael, those effects have been extensive. The Florida coral reef, one of the largest in the world, was bleached in 2014 and 2015 amid warmer waters. Nuisance flooding appears to be baked into the Miami-Dade real estate market. Rubio was most blunt about sea level rise, describing it as an unavoidable effect of warming temperatures. Scientists agree, predicting that sea levels could rise for centuries as the planet adjusts to warmer temperatures. "No matter what we do, no matter what we do with laws, if tomorrow we stopped all carbon ... this trend would still continue," Rubio said of sea level rise. He added that while he has pushed for "mitigation strategies" to protect Florida's coastal communities, he would not support policies that would "destroy our economy." "There's a reality here, and there's a balance on that end of it that we need to be focused on," Rubio said. The IPCC, the scientific community's leading body on climate change, said that rapid changes to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would cost about half a trillion dollars per year more around the world than those required to hold warming to 2 degrees Celsius. Faster action, including changes to energy, transportation and other systems, will indeed cost more money, it said. But the impacts of climate change cost a lot, too. The study cited research suggesting the cost of allowing warming to reach 2 degrees Celsius, rather than holding it at 1.5 Celsius, could be between .35 and .6 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who is not running for re-election, called the IPCC report "pretty dire" and urged Republicans to take the lead in battling rising temperatures as a matter of political necessity. "I hope that we can move along with the rest of the world and address this," Flake said on ABC. "It's going to be challenging ... but there are things that we can do and should do, and I think Republicans need to be at the forefront if we want to keep our place and keep our seats," he said. U.S. President Donald Trump believes that he is "being very tough" in talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the U.S. leader said in an interview with CBS television channel. Asked why he never had a harsh word for Vladimir Putin publicly, Trump answered that "you don't know what I talked about with Putin in the meeting prior to the press conference." "I'm the one that gave Ukraine offensive weapons and tank killers. [Former US President Barack] Obama didn't. You know what he sent? He sent pillows and blankets. I'm the one and he's [Obama] the one that gave away a part of Ukraine where Russia now has this," the American president said. "I think I'm very tough with him [Putin] personally. I had a meeting with him. The two of us. It was a very tough meeting and it was a very good meeting," Trump stressed. The first full-fledged talks between Putin and Trump took place in Finlands capital of Helsinki on July 16. The one-on-one meeting between the leaders lasted for more than two hours. Nelly Quijano came to America in the early 1960s as a young Cuban teen, part of an exodus of 14,000 unaccompanied children sent into exile in the U.S. by their parents after Fidel Castros socialist revolution took control of the island. Quijano was 15 when she arrived on a flight with a suitcase carrying her scant possessions and no money. Today, shes a legend among restaurant franchise owners after operating more than 20 McDonalds in the Houston area with her late husband Dominic Quijano. The couple is credited with developing the breakfast burrito that is now served at McDonalds around the world. But her proudest accomplishment is helping establish McDonalds Hispanic American Commitment to Education Resources Foundation known by its initials, HACER which has awarded $4.5 million to disadvantaged Hispanic students since it was established in 1985. The Spanish word hacer means to make. This year, HACER awarded five scholarships of $100,000 each to socioeconomically disadvantaged Latino students, including two from Houston. HACER scholarships Application: The period begins October and continues until February. Amounts: Two of $100,000, two of $50,000 and 20 of 25,000. Qualifications: Be a high school senior. Be a legal U.S. resident. Be younger than 21 years old. Carry a minimum 2.7 GPA. Be eligible to attend a two- or four-year college or university with a full-time course of study. Disclose other scholarship programs for which he or she has applied. Enroll and attend an accredited institution in the academic year after being selection. Have at least one parent of Hispanic heritage. Where: http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/community/hacer.html See More Collapse To me, this is about making reality the dreams that we all have when we come to America through the power of education, said Quijano. I wanted to help other kids to get the education that I so much wanted when I came but with nothing to pay for it. Heights High School graduate attends Harvard One of those fortunate high school students to receive a HACER scholarship is Bridgette Ramirez, a graduate of Heights High School. Ramirez, a first-generation American born in a family of immigrants from Mexico, is using the money to attend Harvard University. The HACER scholarship is a very humbling experience and a very motivational one as well, said Ramirez, who is pursuing a degree in human developmental and regenerative biology while following the pre-med track. To have complete strangers support me in unimaginable ways is very inspiring. Ramirez was raised by a family with few resources who worked tirelessly, she says. My sister and I referred to my dad as the moon when we were young, she recalled. He would appear when we were sleeping, and hed be gone by the time we awoke. Ramirez keeps in touch with her extended family in Mexico and remembers that her maternal grandmother never learned to read or write. Attending Harvard at no cost is a beautiful way to avenge what was ripped from her grasp just because of societys norms for women, she said. Legacy of hard work Working tirelessly has also been the life story of Quijano, who built a business empire from scratch with her husband. Sitting recently at one of her restaurants, she remembered her early struggles after she boarded the quick flight from Cuba to America as part of a U.S.-coordinated program known as Pedro (Peter) Pan. The operation, run in conjunction of the Catholic church, lasted nearly two years from its inception in late 1960. Quijanos parents, like others who sent their children abroad, remained behind in the mistaken belief that Castro would be quickly overthrown. Quijanos recollection of an excruciating farewell on the island fill her eyes with tears. I was the only child; you can imagine the sacrifice (my parents) were making to be willing to separate from me to make sure I had freedom, she says, referring to a five-year separation. Quijano arrived in Miami with meager belongings: three sets of undergarments, a purse, the dress she wore, a spring coat and the most cherished of all a small ring engraved with her initials. Her mother ordered a seamstress to make the coat, which she recalled looked beautiful on her, especially for the trip. On that day in February 1961, she arrived in the U.S. to live with relatives in New Jersey and go to work in a packing facility. I wanted to study, she said. I dreamed of being a doctor, but they didnt put me in school. Quijano said it became clear the future was hers to make. I understood that (path) wasnt going to take me anywhere. Nothing is going to stop me from making something out of myself, she thought. She found her high school sweetheart from Cuba, and the two were married. When a New Jersey textile business they created burned to the ground, her husband wanted to rebuild it, but she didnt see their future in an industry already decaying amid growing imports. Quijano focused on the opportunity of owning a McDonalds restaurant, and they moved to Houston to open their first franchise in the heavily Hispanic East End on Harrisburg Boulevard. It was there that the couple began to experiment with ingredients to create the burrito. We Cubans dont have burritos in our cuisine, she said, but they realized that in Texas, the offering should be included on the breakfast menu. And so the McDonald Mexican plate was born in their first restaurant kitchen in 1985, after six months of attempts and local customers recommendations. The corporation expanded the offer nationally and later to the world in 1989. Today, Quijano is renowned in the annals of the McDonalds corporation and was honored last month in Chicago with the Legacy Award. She insists that to advance in a career, you must believe in the power of small steps. We began HACER in Texas with only $500, she said. It was a little disheartening if you think about the amount, but we thought that it could at least help five students with $100 to buy college books. You have to persist That is a long way to the $100,000 received by Miles Aceves-Lewis, the other national scholarship winner this year from Houston. Aceves-Lewis is an Afro-Latino from the Midtown area, where he was homeschooled due in part to financial constraints as well as being at his mothers side as she battled a chronic illness. Using the HACER scholarship, he plans to pursue a double major in government and justice and peace studies at Georgetown University. It fills me with joy to know that my hard work has been recognized and rewarded, said Aceves-Lewis, a high achiever who has won several recognitions, including the Memory Master Award for three consecutive years. Quijano, who is a member of the HACER board, said that she is impressed by both Ramirez and Aceves-Lewis. It makes me proud to be part of the people from my company making an impact in their life; its my way to give back, she said. In addition to the national McDonalds grants, the franchise owners in Texas combine their efforts to award 50 scholarships of $2,500 per year, she said. The owners donate one penny for every pound of wholesale French fries they buy, regardless of how many they end up selling at their restaurants. Beginning later this month, McDonalds is set to expand the program to include two scholarships of $100,000, two of $50,000 and 20 of $25,000. I urge our Texas (high school) seniors to apply. It can make a big difference in the life of kids that are good students but cannot afford college. I want them to go ahead nonstop as I did, she said. And honey, I havent finished yet. We have to keep growing, said the successful businesswoman 'No' is a word that isnt in my vocabulary. You have to persist. olivia.tallet@chron.com Blue wave or not, Texas Democrats may have already squandered their best chance to cut into the growing political power of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, arguably the most powerful Republican in the state government. Six months ago, Democrats needed to pick up just two very winnable seats in the Texas Senate to throw up roadblocks for Patrick, who has driven a conservative agenda over the last four years dominated by so-called bathroom bills, abortion restrictions, attacks on unions and jabs at local governments. But now just a month from the election, through a pair of self-inflicted wounds the Democrats have put themselves in a position such that they will need to win four Senate seats on Nov. 6 to slow Patrick down. And worse, if they fail to win more seats, the Democrats will go into the 2019 Legislative Session with just nine senators fewer than at any time in modern Texas history. Yet the top Democrat in the Texas Senate says hes not conceding defeat. Im still hopeful, State Sen. Jose Rodriguez, an El Paso Democrat, said. Rodriguez says Democrats still have the momentum to win enough seats to change the composition of the Texas Senate and force Republicans, and thus Patrick, to be more collaborative. For subscribers: The Houston Chronicle voter guide For subscribers: The San Antonio Express-News voter guide Unless the numbers change, Republicans will continue to steamroll the Democrats, who will have little ability to stop them or even slow them down. Republicans have outnumbered Democrats 20 to 11 the last two years. Under Senate rules, they need just 19 members a three-fifths majority to bring a bill to the Senate floor for a vote. Right now, they can pass anything they want, Rodriguez said. As much as Democrats have counted on a so-called blue wave to help them claim the 13 seats they need to stall or block legislation, theyve made major tactical blunders that could hurt them come January. First, disgraced Democrat Carlos Uresti resigned from the state Senate after being sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for securities fraud and money laundering. But even worse for Democrats, the party could not defend the seat that had been considered solidly Democratic for decades. Republican Pete Flores won in a special election and was sworn in on Friday. Republicans like Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott aggressively campaigned to help Flores, while Democrats were unable to generate much energy for their candidate Pete Gallego, a former Congressman. And instead of needing to gain two seats, the Democrats needed three. The night Flores won, a beaming Patrick proclaimed: "All this talk of a blue wave. Well, the tide is out. Democrats could be down yet another seat because of the timing of State Sen. Sylvia Garcias expected resignation. Garcia all but locked up a seat in the Democrat-dominated 29th Congressional District in Houston in March with a victory in the primary election. But instead of resigning ahead of the November general election, Garcia submitted an intent to resign letter that Gov. Greg Abbott has refused to recognize, rejecting her request for a special election for the Houston-based Senate seat. Now, the Senate is almost certain to be in session before a special election can be held to replace Garcia. Without Garcia, the Senates three-fifths majority would then be based on 30 members, meaning Republicans would need just 18 Senators to agree to bring a measure to the floor, and the Democrats need to flip four seats in November. Democrats best chance to slow Patrick might rest on accountant Mike Collier, who is running against Patrick in November for lieutenant governor. Patrick has dramatically outraised Collier in the race and the few polls released on the race show Patrick leading by a wide margin. After Flores helped secure a 21st seat for Republicans, Collier was blunt in his assessment. This now makes my race against Dan Patrick quite possibly the most important race of the 2018 cycle, Collier said. If hes re-elected, there will no stopping Patricks dictatorial rule in the Senate. Last week, Collier picked up support from a key Republican in Houston. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told the Houston Chronicle hed vote for Collier over Patrick, with whom hes clashed for years over public policy. Unlike most states, the lieutenant governor plays a formidable role in politics in Texas. Patrick presides over the Senate, a role that allows him to control committee assignments and the flow of legislation. Still, Democrats have eyes on five seats that could help them check Patricks power. Political experts say there is reason for the optimism of Rodriguez, though its a tough task regardless. This is a year where there is a rising tide that could help them down the ballot, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said that prospect seemed more likely a few months ago than it does today. He said over the past few weeks, Republican voters have become more energized and he expects a big GOP turnout to match the energy of Democrats who had an advantage earlier in the year. He said a big benefit for Republicans running for the Legislature is Gov. Greg Abbott. If there is a national wave that boosts Democrat Beto ORourke in the U.S. Senate race and in congressional races, Republicans still have conservative powerhouse Sen. Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott at the top of the ballot. Gov. Abbott is our firewall, Bettencourt said. Here are the five districts in which the Democrats think they have the best chance of winning in November, based on demographic changes and recent voting returns: SENATE DISTRICT 16 Sen. Don Huffines vs. Nathan Johnson Democrats see their best opportunity in a north Dallas district held by State Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas. Huffines, a real estate developer first elected in 2014, is in a district that Hillary Clinton won in 2016 over Donald Trump by almost 5 percentage points. Huffines has carved out a conservative voting record that has become a bone of contention in a district that many have argued is less conservative than Huffines. Coupled with the changing demographics of the districts, Democrats say challenger Nathan Johnson is just the right candidate to beat Huffines. Johnson is an attorney who has stressed his ability to work with both Republicans and Democrats and campaigned on Huffines being out of step with the changing district. Hes made funding of public education a top issue in the campaign. Since the start of 2018, Huffines has had a financial advantage, raising about $900,000 to defend his seat, while Johnson has raised just over $610,000. SENATE DISTRICT 10 Sen. Konni Burton vs. Beverly Powell In this Fort Worth seesaw district, Burton won the seat in 2014 that had been held by former Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat who did not seek re-election and instead ran for governor. Before Davis, it was in Republican hands. Burton, a former tea party activist, now represents voters who barely favored Trump over Hillary Clinton. Trump won, 47.9 percent to 47.3 percent. Powell, a former school district trustee, has also emphasized being able to work with Republicans and Democrats. On her website, Powell similarly talks about improving school funding as her top priority. Financially, the race is tight. As of Oct. 9, Burton had $489,000 in her campaign account for the stretch run. Powell had about $447,000. SENATE DISTRICT 17 Sen. Joan Huffman vs. Rita Lucido The fast-changing communities in Harris and Fort Bend counties have put this seat on the Democrats list. The heart of the district is Fort Bend County, which has seen a surge in new voter registrations over the last four years. In addition, Huffman is running in a district that Trump carried by less than 1 percent. With Democrats energized by Beto ORourkes U.S. Senate campaign, the hope is that his coattails can help Lucido. But this is Lucidos second time trying to beat Huffman, who crushed her by more than 30 percentage points. Has the district changed enough for Lucido to overcome that defeat? Huffman also had more than twice the amount of money to campaign down the stretch as Lucido. Huffman had $249,000 in her campaign account heading into October, versus about $93,000 for Lucido. SENATE DISTRICT 2 Sen. Bob Hall vs. Kendall Scudder At first glance, Hall seems to be in a strong position to win re-election in this north Texas district. But with half of the district in Dallas County, Democrats have seen the race as a potential pickup in a region with changing demographics. Democrat Kendall Scudder recently won the endorsement of key Republicans in the area who say Hall has gone too far right. Most recently Bob Deuell, the former Republican State Senator for that district, endorsed Scudder over Hall. But the numbers suggest Scudder, just 28, has a tough climb. Donald Trump won the district easily by 26 percentage points. SENATE DISTRICT 25 Sen. Donna Campbell vs. Steven Kling Campbell, a New Braunfels doctor, easily won her re-election in 2014, but Democrats are holding out hope that the districts changing demographics will give them a shot. But it would be a significant upset. Trump won 56 percent of the vote in the district in 2016. Kling, an Army veteran who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, has struggled to raise money for his campaign. The district includes northern sections of Bexar County, some parts of Travis County and fast-growing Comal and Hays counties. Kling had just $42,000 in his campaign account heading into October. Campbell had $438,000. The U.S. Senate race between incumbent Ted Cruz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke is heating up, if their latest public exchange is any indication. And this time it involves a jab at the Kennedy family. While campaigning in Houston over the weekend, Cruz made a joke about a Facebook Live video in which U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III is driving to McAllen with O'Rourke and their wives as passengers. "(O'Rourke) had Joe Kennedy down here campaigning with him. And Joe Kennedy was driving him around. I have to admit, it may be the first time in history anyone's ever asked a Kennedy to drive," Cruz said, according to the Dallas Morning News' Washington bureau chief, Todd Gillman. Cruz was referring to the tragic 1969 Chappaquiddick incident in which Kennedy's great-uncle, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, drove his car off a bridge with 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne in the passenger seat. Ted Kennedy swam to safety, but Kopechne drowned in the water near the small island off of Martha's Vineyard. Kennedy didn't serve any jail time after pleading guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, but the incident hurt his presidential aspirations, including during his failed Democratic primary campaign in 1980 against then-President Jimmy Carter. HOUSTON CAMPAIGN EFFORTS: Beto O'Rourke supporter teams up with Houston homeowner to confront sign thieves in a creative way O'Rourke responded to Cruz's comments during a campaign rally in McAllen: "That just says everything you need to know about Senator Cruz," O'Rourke said. "In this moment of pettiness and partisanship and smallness, this country needs us to be civil, confident, strong, respectful, decent. ... In that kind of comment you see the smallest of the smallness that's out there." Rep. Kennedy also offered a response to Cruz's remarks: "My uncle fought his entire life to try make sure that everybody got access to health care, because of the challenges that he saw with his own son almost losing his life to cancer as a boy. And you have a senator (Cruz) that shut down the federal government to try to deny millions of people access to health care. Texas obviously has a choice to make." Several national news organizations have taken to describing O'Rourke as "Kennedyesque" for his appearance and demeanor. John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, and Robert Kennedy drew large crowds during his fast-paced 1968 presidential bid before he was fatally shot after winning the California primary. The Oxford Dictionary defines the word as "of, belonging to, or characteristic of John F. Kennedy or, by extension, the Kennedy family; specifically (of a person, especially a politician) resembling Kennedy in being youthful, handsome, and charismatic." The European Union set up a new sanctions mechanism targeting those who use and develop chemical weapons. At the meeting in Luxembourg EU foreign ministers agreed to the new measures, which will freeze the assets held in the block by targeted individuals and organisations and ban them from travelling to any of the 28 member states. The framework gives the European Union the power to impose restrictive measures on anyone identified as being involved in the development or deployment of chemical weapons, regardless of their location or nationality. "The restrictive measures target persons and entities who are directly responsible for the development and use of chemical weapons as well as those who provide financial, technical or material support, and those who assist, encourage or are associated with them," the European Council said in a statement. "This decision contributes to the EU's efforts to counter the proliferation and use of chemical weapons which poses a serious threat to international security," AFP cited the statement as saying. After the EU summit in late June, a decision was made to introduce new restrictions to fight against the use of chemical weapons. The step was announced a day after an emergency session of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. The session was convened at the initiative of the UK and the US in connection with the Salisbury poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia and also the accusations that the Syrian government forces used chemical weapons. The OPCW members enabled the organization to punish alleged violators by a majority vote. Russias envoy to the OPCW Alexander Shulgin dismissed the decision as usurping the exclusive powers of the UN Security Council, TASS recalls. Head of the Department of Political Science of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Gevorg Mirzayan, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that by doing so the EU seeks to untie its hands to impose sanctions, bypassing the UN Security Council. "The initiators of this initiative want to use chemical reasons to toughen sanctions at the EU level. They do not want to gather the EU council every time due to sanctions issues, since all discussions of sanctions against Russia are met with discontent from a number of European countries. Very complex discussions took place on this topic there on a regular basis: what sanctions should be imposed and what should not be. Now a mechanism is being adopted, according to which, if the EU recognizes a particular organization or certain individuals guilty in using and distributing chemical weapons, the sanctions against them are entered automatically," he explained. It is not yet clear how quickly this mechanism will be turned against Russia. "There are two options here: either the UK uses some kind of evidence in the Skripale case to put pressure on Russia, or it will be an issue of waiting for new reasons in Syria. At the same time, this document includes sanctions against individuals. For Russia, it will be unpleasant in political terms rather than in economic, Gevorg Mirzayan noted. The head of the IMEMO of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexei Kuznetsov, stressed the political flaws of the adopted document. "It was a result of not only hysteria in the EU, but also misunderstood solidarity with the UK as a member of the European Union. I think that time will show later how anti-Russian hysteria really undermined confidence in the European Union as a center of power and culture. Unfortunately, a significant number of Europe's Russophobic politicians do not like our country, and therefore we should expect that "chemical sanctions" will be imposed against Russia very quickly," the expert expects. Latin America backslides in struggle to reach zero hunger goal by Orlando Milesi October 14,2018 | Source: reliefweb For the third consecutive year, South America slid backwards in the global struggle to achieve zero hunger by 2030, with 39 million people living with hunger and five million children suffering from malnutrition. Its very distressing because were not making progress. Were not doing well, were going in reverse. You can accept this in a year of great drought or a crisis somewhere, but when its happened three years in a row, thats a trend, reflected Julio Berdegue, FAOs highest authority in Latin America and the Caribbean. The regional representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations said it is cause for concern that it is not Central America, the poorest subregion, that is failing in its efforts, but the South American countries that have stagnated. More than five million children in Latin America are permanently malnourished. In a continent of abundant food, a continent of upper-middle- and high-income countries, five million children Its unacceptable, he said in an interview with IPS at the agencys regional headquarters in Santiago. They are children who already have scars in their lives. Children whose lives have already been marked, even though countries, governments, civil society, NGOs, churches, and communities are working against this. The development potential of a child whose first months and years of life are marked by malnutrition is already radically limited for his entire life, he said. What can the region do to move forward again? In line with this years theme of World Food Day, celebrated Oct. 16, Our actions are our future. A zero hunger world by 2030 is possible, Berdegue underlined the responsibility of governments and society as a whole. Governments, he said, must call us all together, facilitate, support, promote job creation and income generation, especially for people from the weakest socioeconomic strata. In addition, he stressed that policies for social protection, peace and the absence of conflict and addressing climate change are also required. According to the latest figures from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), poverty in the region grew between 2014 and 2017, when it affected 186 million people, 30.7 percent of the population. Extreme poverty affects 10 percent of the total: 61 million people. Moreover, in this region where 82 percent of the population is urban, 48.6 percent of the rural population is poor, compared to 26.8 percent of the urban population, and this inequality drives the rural exodus to the cities. FAO urges countries to rethink social protection policies, particularly for children. We cannot allow ourselves to slow down in eradicating malnutrition and hunger among children, Berdegue said. He also advocated for the need for peace and the cessation of conflicts because we have all the evidence in the world that when you lose peace, hunger soars. It is automatic. The great hunger hotspots and problems in the world today are in places where we are faced with conflict situations. We have countries in the region where there is upheaval and governments have to know that this social and political turmoil causes hunger, he concluded. Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. Moscow plans to aid Tehran to prevent economic damage with tacit support from Europe, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. According to the ministry, Russia and Iran have agreed on a mechanism to spare Iran the impact of what are intended by the US to be crippling sanctions on its oil industry from next month. The mechanism provides for Iran to export crude oil to Russia across the Caspian Sea. The oil will then be refined at Russian refineries, and from there it will be exported worldwide, the "secret" Israeli document states, according to a report on Hadashot TV news. In return, Moscow will provide Iran with unspecified trade and service benefits. The goal of the mechanism, the reported Israeli document makes clear, is to enable Iran to bypass the US sanctions on its oil industry that are set to come into force on November 4. The Russian-Iranian deal was reportedly reached last month in Tehran, where Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held summit talks. The Israeli document also reportedly warns that European states are ready to tacitly agree to let Iran continue to sell oil to various states in Asia, the Times of Israel reported. Hurricane Leslie rams into Portugal with 109mph winds: Lisbon devastated by storm by ALAHNA KINDRED October 14,2018 | Source: Express Hurricane Leslie has devastated Lisbon as it batters Portugal with 109mph winds leaving 27 people injured. Authorities urged people to stay indoors and to stay away from coastal areas as the storm brought heavy rain, strong winds and surging seas. At least 27 people have suffered minor injuries, according to civil defence officials. The storm was the most intense overnight bringing localised flooding and uprooting thousands of trees. Civil defence commander Luis Belo Costa said after Saturday night that the greatest danger has passed. Power authority EDP said more than 200 power lines were affected by the storm. Over 60 people were forced to leave their homes. Lisbon was the worst affected and Figueira da Foz, Averio, Viseu and Porto also suffered damage. Portugal's weather service had issued red warnings or dangerous coastal conditions for 13 of its 18 mainlnad districts. A resident of Figueira da Foz described the storm like a war zone. They told SIC television: I have never seen anything like it, The town seemed to be in a state of war, with cars smashed by fallen trees. People were very worried." The main motorway in Portugal was blocked by a fallen tree preventing services from traveling. Parts of southern France have also been put on alert for storms and flooding. The storm formed on September 23 and spent weeks in the Atlantic Ocean before coming to the Iberian peninsula. It was hovering over the Atlantic for so long because it didnt encounter a strong enough weather system to force it towards land, according to Accuweather. It is rare for an Atlantic hurricane to hit the Iberian peninsula as only five have been recorded. The last tropical system to follow in Leslies path was Vince in 2005. 2018 Express Newspapers Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. After Hurricane Michael: Shortages, mourning, darkness by John Bacon October 14,2018 | Source: USA TODAY Gas was in short supply, power outages were rampant and search teams continued their arduous tasks Sunday as Florida's recovery from Hurricane Michael remained painfully slow along the coast of the state's battered Panhandle. There were some victories. Classes will resume Monday at Florida State's sprawling, 40,000-student campus in Tallahassee and several other area universities. State offices also reopened. In the Bay County communities of Panama City and Mexico Beach, where the strongest hurricane to hit the Panhandle since record-keeping began slammed onto the coast four days earlier, search-and-rescue crews accompanied by dogs solemnly picked through the rubble of shattered neighborhoods. The storm killed at least 17 people, including one in Mexico Beach. Entire communities were wiped out by the Category 4 storm's roaring winds, and authorities feared the death toll would rise. "If we lose only one life, to me, that's going to be a miracle," Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey said. More than 170,000 power customers in Florida remained in the dark Sunday, including more than half the homes and businesses in Bay County. For some, power could be weeks away. The effort to get schools and hospitals fully operational will be herculean. Bill Husfelt, superintendent of county schools, assessed damage over the weekend and had not decided when they could reopen. "The superintendent wants everyone to know we are focusing on three things right now: faith, family and our future," the district said in a Facebook post. "We will open our schools as soon as is feasible, but right now the county is focused on a humanitarian mission." Gulf Coast Medical Center in Panama City remained closed because of storm damage. Bay Medical Sacred Heart Hospital had "significant" damage that required evacuation of patients, CEO Scott Campbell said. "Our hearts are heavy as we begin the process of rebuilding our community following the devastation of Hurricane Michael," Campbell said. A silver lining: Emergency rooms at both hospitals remained functioning. Prison and jails were also hit hard. The state Department of Corrections said 2,600 inmates were evacuated from the Gulf Correctional Institution and Annex. An additional 305 were removed from Calhoun Correctional Institution. No injuries were reported, and a website was provided for families to determine where their loved ones had been transferred. "All inmates were secure and had access to food and drinking water through the duration of the storm," the department said. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the area Monday. The destruction he'll encounters will be bleak. "Were all in this together," Tallahassee Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum tweeted Sunday. "Our office doors are open to collect supplies and donations for people in North Florida." Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. The Netherlands is in a state of "cyberwar" with Russia, Dutch Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld told Dutch broadcaster NPO. "What happened is really dangerous," the minister said in a nod to an April incident near the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which, she said, involved purported GRU officers. Asked if the current situation between the two countries could be described as a "cyberwar" Bijleveld replied: "Yes, that is the case." "People try to interfere in various ways in our life all the time, to influence our democracy. We have to shake off the naivety in this domain and take measures," Sputnik cited her as saying. Bijleveld added that the country's cybersecurity budget saw an increase after the alleged incident was made public. "We are investing more in intelligence services to be able to see what is going on and take measures if necessary," she said. In addition, the defence minister stressed that the Netherlands has offered NATO the opportunity to use its "cybersoldiers." Last week, the Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in light of the Dutch allegations that four Russians had attempted to carry out a cyberattack on the international chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague. On October 4, Ank Bijleveld claimed that the country's intelligence services had foiled a cyberattack by Moscow on the OPCW. She also said that four Russian nationals with diplomatic passports, who were suspected of attempting to carry out the operation, were expelled from the country in April. The purported incident took place on April 13, when the alleged suspects parked a car loaded with electronic equipment outside the OPCW's headquarters in The Hague. Moscow argued in response that the accusations lacked real proof and bashed them as "spy mania" and part of a "staged propaganda campaign against Russia." The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the Dutch statement came ahead of the OPCW opening session, which could set up the "'necessary' political background" to push through some initiative. Russia's oil export duty is expected to rise to $152 per tonne on November 1, data from the Russian finance ministry showed. Now the export duty is $137.5 per tonne. Thus, the export duty will rise by $14.5. Syrias foreign ministry has resolutely condemned the use of white phosphorous bombs by the air force of the US-led coalition, SANA news agency said. In its letter to the United Nations Secretary General, the ministry stressed that the coalitions airstrike caused numerous civilian casualties in the city of Hajin in the Deir ez-Zor governorate. "The use of internationally prohibited weapons against the Syrian people has become a systematic and intentional behavior of this coalition in a blatant violation of the rules of international law, international humanitarian law and human rights," the ministry said, adding that this crime is yet another one "in a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Syrian people." Syria calls on the UN Security Council "to conduct an international investigation into these crimes and to condemn them immediately, to stop their recurrence, to end the aggressive presence of US and other foreign forces illegally present on the Syrian territory," the ministry stressed. The border crossing between Jordan and Syria officially opened to civilians and trade today after being closed for three years. The Nassib crossing opened an 8 a.m., a border official at the Jaber checkpoint on the Jordanian side said. According to the Jordanian state news agency Petra, Jordan and Syria had agreed to open the border to all in a change from an earlier statement that normal traffic would not be allowed until a later date. "We are fully ready to receive passengers and transport of goods. We expect the traffic to be slow now at the start, but in coming days we expect passenger movement to pick up," Reuters cited head of the Jaber crossing Imad Riyalat as saying The Syrian government retook the area around the Nassib border crossing with Jordan in July during a Russian-backed offensive to drive rebels from their stronghold in southwest Syria. The closure of the Nassib crossing in 2015 cut a crucial transit route for hundreds of trucks a day transporting goods between Turkey and the Gulf, and Lebanon and the Gulf, in multi-billion dollar annual trade. Imperial Valley News Center Many U.S. adults confused about primary care, study shows West Lafayette, Indiana - Adults in the United States have a limited understanding of the basic duties that nurse practitioners and physician assistants can perform, a new study suggests. The study is available online and will be published in the November issue in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Odds are, if you are a new patient and have been to the doctors office recently for a primary care checkup, it might not have been a doctor you actually saw, said lead author Evan K. Perrault, assistant professor of health communication in the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University. As fewer medical students enter primary care as their specialties, other care providers like nurse practitioners and physician assistants are having to fill the void. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that by 2030 there will be a shortfall of up to 49,300 primary care physicians in the U.S. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are able to provide many of the same services to patients as primary care physicians, such as prescribing medications, Perrault said. About one-third of the nearly 4,000 participants surveyed, however, did not know nurse practioners could prescribe medications and diagnose illnesses, and half of participants had this same knowledge deficit regarding physician assistants. These findings are concerning because it is likely impacting peoples intentions to seek care, said Perrault, who in a previous study found similar knowledge deficits among college students. Many college students indicated they would delay, or not seek care at all, if they were unable to be seen by a physician right away and could only be seen by a nurse practioner or physician assistant, he added. Perrault currently is working with health care organizations to help them better educate prospective patients about the array of care providers they employ through improvements to their online biographies the most frequent place patients state they seek information when selecting a new provider, he said. Health care systems dont do that great of a job helping patients find providers with whom theyd be comfortable visiting, he said. Simple improvements to providers online biographies can make a big difference in changing not only these knowledge deficits, but also misperceptions people may have about the expertise levels of nurse practioners and physician assistants. ICE arrests former Colombian intelligence agent convicted of homicide in Colombia New York - A former agent of Colombias now disbanded intelligence agency, the Administrative Security Department or Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS), was arrested on immigration violations October 5 by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations New York office. Javier Alfredo Valle Anaya, a 50-year-old citizen of Colombia, obtained his status in the U.S. through fraudulent means, which made him subject to removal. He was convicted in his native country on criminal charges for the 2004 murder of Alfredo Rafael Correa de Andreis, a sociologist, and his bodyguard Edilberto Ochoa Martinez. As a result, he is wanted by Colombian law enforcement authorities. This case was investigated by HSI New Yorks Document and Benefit Task Force (DBFTF) and ICEs Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC). The HSI Attache in Bogota, Colombia, assisted in the investigation. This case will be litigated by ICEs New York Office of the Principal Legal Advisor. Established in 2009, the HRVWCC, furthers ICEs efforts to identify, locate and prosecute human rights abusers in the United States, including those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, female genital mutilation and the use or recruitment of child soldiers. The HRVWCC leverages the expertise of a select group of agents, lawyers, intelligence and research specialists, historians and analysts who direct the agencys broader enforcement efforts against these offenders. Since 2003, ICE has arrested more than 410 individuals for human rights-related violations of the law under various criminal and/or immigration statutes. During that same period, ICE obtained deportation orders against and physically removed 943 known or suspected human rights violators from the United States. Additionally, ICE has facilitated the departure of an additional 128 such individuals from the United States. Currently, HSI has more than 135 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,750 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. Since 2003, the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center has issued more than 75,000 lookouts for individuals from more than 110 countries and stopped over 260 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S. Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to call the ICE tip line at: 1-866-DHS-2423 (1-866-347-2423). Callers may remain anonymous. Deputy Secretary of State Sullivan's Discussion on Tolerance and Religious Freedom Washington, DC - On October 13, Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan met in Manama with representatives from various Bahraini civil and religious organizations for a discussion on tolerance and religious freedom. The Deputy Secretary emphasized the important role a dynamic civil society plays in establishing a platform for addressing challenges, and helping Bahrain build and sustain a model of coexistence. Deputy Secretary of State Sullivan's Meeting With Iraq's Prime Minister-Designate Adil Abd al-Mahdi Washington, DC - On October 14, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Doug Silliman and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs Andrew Peek, Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan met with Adil Abd al-Mahdi, Prime Minister-designate. The Deputy Secretary congratulated Prime Minister-Designate Mahdi on his election, and together they committed to continue to build a strong and multi-dimensional relationship. The Deputy Secretary encouraged Prime Minister-designate Mahdi to continue with government formation quickly and in a manner that is responsive to the needs of all Iraqis. The Deputy Secretary of State reaffirmed U.S. commitment to strengthen our ties with the people of this important country through our trade relationship, through cultural exchange, and through government-to-government relations. After last weeks triumphant crash-landing in Sheffield, its off to the more familiar territory of deepest space for the second outing by Jodie Whittakers 13th Doctor. But if the scenery has changed, the all-new Doctor Who remains a delight almost as effervescent as Whittakers rainbow-pattern knitwear. Indeed, diehard Doctor Who fans might well judge The Ghost Monument an improvement on Whittakers acclaimed debut seven days previously. There are killer robots, gothic spaceships and spectacular alien vistas all the intergalactic boxes ticked. This is a dystopian rhapsody with phasers set to stunning and again featuring Hollywood-grade production values. The Doctors quest to reclaim the Tardis the one shed fallen out of shortly after her transformation from Peter Capaldi at Christmas has taken her to Desolation, a formerly thriving world now reduced to a bone-bleached wasteland (insert your own Brexit joke, etc). Whittaker once again demonstrates why she may potentially go down as the defining Doctor Who of her generation. Her patter is wry and knockabout (I was a hologram for three weeks the gossip I picked up). Yet the larking is interwoven with a refreshing sincerity and a determination to be true to her friends. Behold the first Time Lord of the modern era to actually feel faintly like a real person rather than a job-lot of eccentricities and arched eyebrows (that said, points must be deducted for a new credit sequence that pairs the iconic Doctor Who title with what look like globules of milk dancing in zero gravity). Along for the ride are recurring reluctant sidekicks Yasmin (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) each understandably perturbed at being beamed from South Yorkshire to the ends of the cosmos. They are accompanied by feuding interstellar treasure hunters Angstrom (Susan Lynch) and Epzo (Shaun Dooley), who together pick up our space-hopping tag team after the Doctors attempt to zap herself aboard the Tardis goes awry. What follows is a gadabout mash-up of Mad Max: Fury Road and one of those episodes of The Apprentice where the contestants are given six hours to assemble a shopping list of wildly improbable household items. Across the desert the Doctor and her crew do roam, combatting hooded robots every bit as cool as you would reasonably expect hooded robots to be before being attacked by a race of mind-reading space handkerchiefs referred to as the Remnants. They also discover that Desolation was turned into one huge deathtrap by scientists forced to toil at the behest of the evil Stenza the very intergalactic neer-do-wells of whom Tzim-Sha had sought to become leader via his manhunt around Sheffield in season opener, The Woman Who Fell To Earth. And there is a teasing reference, by the Remnants, to the Doctor as the timeless child. Is this an over-arching storyline we see before us? Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Here, new showrunner Chris Chibnall demonstrates his empathetic understanding of the longest-running franchise in science fiction (Chibnall was a dedicated Whovian long before becoming a big name in small-screen drama). Other space-faring shows give us bug-eyed aliens and trigger-happy cyborgs. But only Doctor Who can induce shivers with sentient strips of cloth that beam inside the heads of their victims and gorge on the fear (the Remnants represent the ultimate weapon created by the kidnapped scientists). Dr Who? Gillan says goodbye to the Time Lord Show all 3 1 /3 Dr Who? Gillan says goodbye to the Time Lord Dr Who? Gillan says goodbye to the Time Lord 5459802.jpg Pal Hansen Dr Who? Gillan says goodbye to the Time Lord 5459803.jpg BBC Dr Who? Gillan says goodbye to the Time Lord 4952779.jpg BBC There is a happy ending, of course under all the fashionable grit and whizzy FX, this is still fundamentally a kids show. Upon reaching the end of the obstacle course, Epzo and Angstrom are named joint winners of the Rally of the Twelve Galaxies by Art Maliks mercurial gamesmaster Ilin and beam off to a life of unimaginable riches. And the ghost monument waiting at the finish line is revealed to be well, of course the Doctors mislaid Tardis, its cavernous interior treated to a swanky honey-hued refit. Best of all, the evil space hankies are defeated with the help of a self-igniting alien cigar a sentence sure to trigger tingles among Doctor Who fans. Crammed with shoot-outs, zinging delivery by Whittaker and haunting interstellar landscapes, The Ghost Monument arguably adds up to an even more impressive feat than the previous episode. First time out, all Whittaker really had to do was talk and simultaneously wield a sonic screwdriver and the audience would have been relieved she was at least vaguely up to the job. But now comes the harder task of showing shes here for the long haul. Any lingering doubts are assuaged in an adventure that tightly hugs Doctor Whos best-loved cliches and is all the richer for it. Government advisers have been tasked with setting out a strategy to virtually eliminate carbon emissions within 30 years, following a warning that unprecedented action is needed to tackle climate change. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) will establish whether the UK needs to completely overhaul its current emissions targets, and what needs to be done to achieve this transition. Environmental groups welcomed the move as a crucial step forward, but cautioned that any new goals must be sufficiently ambitious to avoid the worst effects of climate change. A major UN report released last week concluded that emissions must be slashed to net zero the point at which emissions are effectively cut by 100 per cent by 2050 to stop warming beyond 1.5C. This will require massive and rapid changes to power generation, industry, transport, buildings and lifestyles, as well as investment in measures to suck any remaining CO2 from the atmosphere. The letter to CCC chairman Lord Deben invites them to consider what emissions reductions would be needed to meet the Paris climate agreement target of a well below 2C rise, as well as the 1.5C limit urged in the new report. Not only do experts agree that this more ambitious target is vital to avoid catastrophic effects such as coral reef extinction and Arctic ice loss, but they say that to get there emissions must reach net zero very soon. IPCC: limiting global warming would require 'unprecedented changes', says Professor Jim Skea Theresa May said: On the global stage, the UK is driving forward action on climate change through our work at the UN and with our Commonwealth partners. To ensure that we continue to lead from the front, we are asking the experts to advise on targets for net zero emissions. The previous Conservative government already said it would set a net-zero target in law, but the exact deadline for this target has been up for debate. Labour has already committed to a net-zero target by 2050, and more than 130 MPs have signed a cross-party letter calling for the government to set a date for net zero before the middle of the century. Responding to the news, Ed Matthew from The Climate Coalition said: It is not just the target that matters, its how fast we get there. The CCC must now ensure that this net-zero pathway is compliant with no more than 1.5C of warming. The UK must set a net-zero emissions target before 2050. Britains current target is to cut emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050 relative to 1990 levels, and the CCC will advise on whether this will be sufficient to meet the Paris targets. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke filled with the carbon that is driving climate change drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan The government request comes at the start of the Green GB Week initiative, and the government claimed that jobs in green industries could reach 2 million by 2030, generating up to 170bn in exports. Ministers will also set out proposals for new laws for smart energy appliances such as washing machines and electric heating, with the ambition of making all new buildings smart by 2030. The government has been criticised for its continued support for fracking, and lack of support for crucial renewable energy sources both of which environmental campaigners say are at odds with its supposed tough stance on climate change. Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron claimed the Tories had lurched drastically away from supporting green technologies. Kate Blagojevic, head of energy at Greenpeace UK, said that in light of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, what our ministers need to do now is roll up their sleeves and turn climate science into climate action. There are many things that can be done straight away with existing technologies like restarting onshore wind, keeping a fair deal for solar, building zero-carbon homes and speeding up the switch to electric vehicles. Climate-proofing Britain wont just help avert one of the biggest threats we face, it will also have many other benefits like cleaning up air pollution, creating jobs and giving us better homes. Emma Pinchbeck, executive director at renewable energy trade association RenewableUK said: The government has done the right thing by taking the first step towards setting a new target of net zero carbon emissions, but this needs to be followed swiftly with robust action. Conservative ministers took the bold decision in 2015 to phase out coal; they need to be bold again. Additional reporting by PA Endangered water voles are among the creatures thriving on a stretch of wetlands dubbed Wales Amazon rainforest, which is under threat of destruction. Conservation groups are up in arms to protest the planned construction of a motorway that will cut across vast swathes of the Gwent Levels, north of Newport. Home to otters, rare bees and wildflowers, they say this crucial site for Welsh wildlife will be ruined for the sake of saving 10 minutes journey time. Six years ago Gwent Wildlife Trust reintroduced water voles to a site on the edge of the Levels, and a new study has revealed that since then the rodents bred successfully and have spread six miles from the launch site. The success was particularly welcome as these rodents are some of the UKs most vulnerable mammals and have been lost from 94 per cent of their former rage. Critics of the planned construction hope this good news will bolster their case to preserve the precious wetlands. Local conservationists fought the new 14-mile-long, six-lane M4 corridor during a public inquiry that concluded in March, and a decision on the final fate of the Levels is expected soon. British mammals fight for survival Show all 11 1 /11 British mammals fight for survival British mammals fight for survival The Mammal Societys assessment of Britains mammal populations is the first such review in over 20 years. The results reveal winners and losers, and highlight some of the key threats facing the countrys wildlife such as habitat loss, invasive species and the spread of diseases. British mammals fight for survival Hedgehogs Populations of the much-loved insectivore may have declined by as much as 73% Richard Bowler British mammals fight for survival Greater mouse-eared bats Only one of these flying mammals has been recorded in the whole country, in a railway tunnel in West Sussex Andrew Harrington British mammals fight for survival Rabbits Despite being a common sight across the countryside, rabbits have decreased in number by nearly 10% Danni Thompson British mammals fight for survival Black Rats Though not generally considered threatened animals, black rats number have collapsed in recent years due largely to pest control measures. However their far more common cousins, the brown rats, are thriving. Tim Melling British mammals fight for survival Red Squirrels Though it is difficult to measure changes in squirrel numbers, their range has shrunk considerably due largely to the spread of squirrel pox virus by invasive grey squirrel Alistair Marsh British mammals fight for survival Wildcats There has been a marked decline in wildcat populations, with only around 200 left in Scotland Rachel Profit British mammals fight for survival Badgers Due to legal protections badgers have recovered from past persecution and the density of their setts (holes) has increased by over 100% in recent decades Phil Mumby British mammals fight for survival Otters The banning of persistent organic pesticides has had a positive population effect on otters Allan Chard British mammals fight for survival Fallow Deer The 2018 review estimates a population size of fallow deer almost three times the size of that estimated in the 1995 review a positive trend that is seen in other deer species. James Shooter British mammals fight for survival Eurasian Beavers These aquatic mammals were nearly extinct in Europe at the start of the 20th century, but their reintroduction to the UK have been largely successful Paul Scott The Welsh government has argued that the M4 is a route of strategic importance for the region, and is not capable of dealing with the current volume of traffic that uses it. Opponents of the scheme have generally been reluctant to acknowledge the environmental benefits which it would bring, the government concluded in its closing statement at the inquiry. Notably in terms of improved air quality and noise conditions for the thousands of people who live close to the current, overloaded M4. The new project has been estimated to cost between 1bn and 2bn, and the environmentalists have backed future generations commissioner for Wales Sophie Howe in a call for this money to be spent on an improved public transport system instead. Recommended At least fifth of British mammal species could be gone in a decade Fearing the worst from the governments final decision, Ian Rappel, chief executive of Gwent Wildlife Trust, said the success of the water vole reintroduction programme was bittersweet. If the new road gets the go-ahead billions will be spent destroying a very special place for the sake of saving 10 minutes of commuting time, he said. Besides water voles, common cranes have recently begun breeding on the proposed M4 route after dying out in the UK 400 years ago. In total, 125 hectares of specially protected wildlife zones will be lost or damaged by the project. Threats from the motorway will include collisions with traffic, toxic fumes from vehicles and disruption of water flow. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The Wildlife Trusts have launched a campaign to save the Levels in order to preserve the habitat for future generations and to protect rare Welsh wildlife. When future generations realise the extent of the damage this generation has wreaked on our finite, beautiful, natural world they will ask why? Why, for the sake of a few minutes knocked off journey times, did we destroy the unique and irreplaceable Gwent Levels, said Wildlife Trusts chief executive Stephanie Hilborne. We do not have the right to destroy this treasure or deprive future generations of its joy. In response to the group's water vole findings, the Welsh government spokesman said: Replacement water vole habitat is integrated into the M4 Project, as well as new habitat to ensure their numbers are maintained and increased for the long-term." "The inspectors report on this, and all matter considered by the year-long public inquiry, is being considered and will shortly inform decision making on the future of the scheme." As National Chocolate Week commences, what better time to bring you a roundup of our favourite organic chocolate brands that bear the official seal of approval. So why make the switch, we hear you ask? Organic produce (including these chocolate bars) will be free of harmful pesticides, which is better for both you, and the planet. Theres often not much, if any, price difference, and many of these brands also adhere to fairer trading practises as well. So it really is a win, win situation for all. If youre looking for the healthiest bars, seek out the ones with the highest concentration of cacao for optimum antioxidants. So whether you prefer white, milk or dark chocolate, flavoured, raw or handmade there really is an organic bar for every chocoholic out there. Put the kettle on, and enjoy. You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. Fjak Bejofo Estate 70% Madagascar 53g: 6.95, Cocoa Runners This award-winning bar made us do a double take upon tasting. Fruity notes of black cherry and citrus shone through from the cocoa beans, and although 70 per cent dark Madagascar chocolate, the result was oh-so-smooth, without the slightest bitterness. Were clearly not the only ones to think highly of this stylish Norwegian chocolate, it picked up three stars at the Great Taste Awards 2018 (which only three percent of products manage) and won Gold at the Academy of Chocolate Awards 2018. Taking responsibility for the whole chocolate process, Fjak roast, crack, winnow, grind, conch and temper the finest beans at their little factory by the fjord, before packaging them up beautifully. A truly outstanding bean to bar experience. Buy now Booja Booja Truffle Selection No. 2 138g: 15.99, Selfridges Crafted from cocoa beans sourced in the Dominican Republic, this stunning purple box of truffles are an ethical choice thats suitable for vegetarians and vegans alike. Each box contains four uniquely dessert-inspired flavoured truffles, lightly dusted and sealed inside a gold packet for optimum freshness. We tucked into the likes of rhubarb & vanilla fool, hazelnut, stem ginger and almond & salted caramel but please dont make us choose a favourite! Buy now Pana Chocolate Hazelnut 45g: 3.90, Pana Chocolate Well loved by the health conscious, this handmade organic bar is made with 36% cacao, coconut milk, maple syrup and roasted hazelnuts making it completely vegan. With a consistency wed liken to fudge brownie, the new creamy hazelnut flavour is sure to be popular. We know its whats inside that counts, but the beautifully designed wrap made each bar feel like a little present. Buy now Rococo Cardamom Organic White Chocolate Artisan Bar 70g: 5.50, Rococo The most grown-up white chocolate weve ever had the pleasure of eating, Rococo have collaborated with the Grenada Chocolate company to bring us this ethical bar. Aromatic cardamom cuts through the creamy white chocolate for an utterly delicious organic treat that we couldnt put down. Buy now Zoque 88% Spirited Dark Chocolate 70g: 5.45, Original Beans Seriously dark and moody, this brand new bar boasts a whopping 88 per cent cocoa, with beans sourced from Select Tribal Tabasqueno beans from Mexico. Certified organic, vegan and gluten free, the Selva Zoque rainforest is the only place in the world that can claim 4,000 years of uninterrupted cacao farming and consumption which explains the unique lychee and coconut flavour profile. Used in many of the worlds best restaurants, not only does this taste great but for every bar sold Original Beans plants or preserves one tree. Buy now Doisy & Dam Organic 74% Maple, Toasted Rice & Pink Salt 80g: 2.50, Ocado It was nigh on impossible to choose a favourite flavour from the delicious Doisy & Dam range, but this bar just pipped the others to the post. Smooth dark chocolate has been blended with a touch of maple syrup for natural sweetness, toasted rice provides a crunch and Himalayan pink salt turns this into a healthy rift on your favourite salted caramel dessert. If dark bars are more your thing, the maca and vanilla bar with its pleasingly bitter cacao nibs wont disappoint. Buy now Seed and Bean Aromatic Fennel Dark Chocolate Bar 85g: 2.69, Seed and Bean Boasting 100 per cent ethical accreditation, this British brand arent afraid of pushing the boundaries when it comes to creating new chocolate flavours. The whole range is handmade in the UK, organic and Fairtrade, with fully recyclable packaging, ticking all of our boxes. And whilst we were extremely dubious of the new aromatic fennel to begin with, were happy to report we were completely won over with the first bite. This larger size is great for sharing (oh ok, if we must!), but they also offer 75g and mini 25g portions too. Buy now Daylesford Organic Organic Earl Grey Dark Chocolate 75g: 2.49, Daylesford There are some things which are simply a match made in heaven case in point chocolate and tea. Thankfully organic pioneers Daylesford have managed to combine both things in one smooth bar. Whilst not overpowering, there is a definite earl grey flavour which tastes and smells delicious coupled with the 63 per cent dark chocolate. If youre after an unflavoured version, theres also pure dark and milk varieties in the range. Buy now Green & Black's Organic Connoisseur Collection 580g: 17.99, Green & Blacks Well-loved and widely accessible, Green & Blacks is a great brand to turn to when seeking out an organic chocolate treat. However, this supersized collection takes in all of the best flavours in the range white, milk and dark in both mini and sharing size bars. The box also includes a clever tasting wheel which will guide you through pairing the bars with other food and drink alongside more in depth tasting notes for the true chocolate nerds among us. Buy now Harvey Nichols Organic Dark Chocolate Bar 90g: 4.95, Harvey Nichols Rich and naughty, this square slab of dark chocolate is best saved for a grown up after dinner treat. It utilises beans from a single estate in the Dominican Republic but the super thick bar is lovingly made in bonny Scotland. Completely free from soya (which is quite rare for chocolate) this bar doesnt contain any palm oil either. Buy now Sainsbury's Santo Domingo Organic Fairtrade Dark Chocolate 100g: 1.45, Sainsburys This Sainsburys dark chocolate was one of the cheapest we put to the test, but by no means could you tell. With hints of red wine and tart red berries, we found this single origin bar from the Dominican Republics Cibao Valley region to be perfectly balanced with a complexity we didnt expect to find. Velvety smooth and an absolute steal. Buy now Love Cocoa Avocado 70% Organic Dark Chocolate Bar 80g: 4.25, Love Cocoa Are you even a millennial unless youve tried this avocado infused chocolate bar? Created by James Cadbury (great grandchild of that Mr Cadbury) all bars in the Love Cocoa range are certified organic, Fairtrade and made in Great Britain. You cant particularly taste the avocado, but it adds to the creamy texture you wont find any bitterness in this bar! Buy now The verdict: Organic chocolates Fjak blew us aware with their stylish Norwegian chocolate. Everything from the minimalist packaging, to the complexity in each bite, this is organic chocolate at its best. Stacey Smith is the founder of food & drink website Crummbs IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing. The Stanislavski Russian Theatre of Yerevan can be closed, because Armenia's new Minister of Culture Lilit Makunts chose Suren Shahverdyan as a candidate to head the theater, who has repeatedly advocated for its closure. Since the death of Alexander Grigoryan, the theater has no artistic director. On October 1, the Armenian Ministry of Culture should have decided on the head of the Russian Drama Theater. In this regard, five candidates were invited for an interview. According to a statement released by the ministry, the results will be summarized within a week. After the hearings held on October 1, it was decided that two out of five candidates - Suren Shahverdyan and Karen Nersisyan living in Russia, whose candidacy a majority of actors nominated a few months ago - will stage one play, and it will be decided who will take the chair of art director on the basis of the reaction of the actors and the audience. At the same time, the actors do not support Shakhverdyans candidacy. They are outraged by Shakhverdyan's words that the Russian theater is a misunderstanding for independent Armenia and should be closed. The Iravunk newspaper previously published an article, which listed the standards set by the minister for cultural workers and which artists surround her. In addition, it is planned to create a council under the ministry, which will involve such odious pseudo-cultural figures as Canadian actress of Armenian origin Arsinee Khanjian, writer Violet Grigoryan and artist from Los Angeles Samvel Sagatelyanov, who recently moved to Armenia. Asccording to the article, Makunts was not accidentally appointed head of the Ministry of Culture, she came to this position to destroy culture in the same way as their leader Nikol Pashinyan destroys the country and national values," the Yerkramas newspaper reports. As Remembrance Day approaches, many people choose to wear a red poppy to commemorate the soldiers who have died in war. It is worn as a symbol of memory and hope, for those who gave their lives in battle. A poppy is worn is because, despite years of fighting and destruction of the countryside landscape in western Europe during World War One, poppies continued to grow. But today, some people choose to wear white, purple and black poppies instead. Why do some people feel uncomfortable wearing a red poppy? Some people believe that the red poppy has become politicised over the years. When it was first adopted, it represented mourning and served as a pledge that war must never happen again. However, in recent years it has increasingly become utilised by political organisations, including Britain First, to promote their cause. Others choose to eschew wearing poppies because of poppy policing or poppy fascism in which people are lambasted for not wearing the flower. In Northern Ireland, for example, it became regarded as a Protestant Loyalist symbol because of its connection with British patriotism, Peace Pledge Union (PPU), a pacifist organisation, says on its website. A growing number of people have been concerned about the poppys association with military power and the justification of war. The Royal British Legion has a neutral attitude towards the alternative symbol. The organisations website says: We have no objection to white poppies, or any group expressing their views. We see no conflict in wearing the red poppy alongside the white poppy. We do ask that the items are not offered alongside each other however as this would confuse the public. What are white poppies and why do people wear them? The White Poppy symbolises the belief that there are better ways to resolve conflicts and embodies values that reject killing fellow human beings for whatever reason (Nankai/Wikimedia Commons) While the red poppy is worn specifically in honour of the armed forces and is distributed by the Royal British Legion, the white poppy, given out by the PPU. According to the PPU, it is intended to remember all victims of all wars, rather than just those in which British service people were involved. It also demonstrates a commitment to peace and to challenging any attempt to glamourise or celebrate war. The white poppies were first conceived by the Co-operative Women's Guild - a national organisation set up to provide women working in co-operatives a voice - in 1933, and they became used by non-violence and faith organisations. They were also frequently worn by the widows and children of dead soldiers. While it is common to see red poppies worn in the UK during the Remembrance period, with millions sold each year, only around 100,000 white poppies are sold annually and they are more difficult to get hold of. You can buy white poppies from the PPU website here and red poppies from the Poppy Shop here. What do purple poppies mean? A field of purple poppies (Getty Images/iStockphoto) The purple poppy is worn in remembrance of animals that served and lost their lives during war. Horses and dogs were used during wartime to haul weapons and supply carts, while carrier pigeons transported messages between home regiments and those on the front line. Animal Aid, a charity that campaigns to end animal abuse, has created a purple paw badge. The organisation aims to rewrite the narrative of animals as valiant servant of people, and that the badge is a symbol of how they were exploited by humans during wartime. You can buy a purple paw badge here. What do black poppies mean? A Black poppy remembers African/Black/Caribbean/Pacific Islands communities that served in wars (BlackPoppyRose.org) The black poppy, launched in 2010 by Selena Carty, acknowledges the contributions that African, Black, Caribbean and Pacific Islands communities have made to various wars since the 16th century. The Black Poppy Rose organisation said the poppy signifies pride, honour and glory. Black Poppy pins and wreaths can be bought from the organisations website, with proceeds going towards the collection, documenting and preserving of untold narratives of the different communities. You can shop the collection here. The price of bitcoin has experienced dramatic gains on a major cryptocurrency exchange, rising by more than $1,500 on Bitfinex in the space of just a few hours. The sudden surge from $6,294 to $7,788 represented a 24 per cent rise in value, though it was not reflected across other popular bitcoin exchanges. Such a large price rise is instead being attributed to the exchange's use of tether a cryptocurrency whose creators claim is pegged to the price of the US dollar on a 1:1 ratio. On Bitfinex, traders are required to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum using tether, but over the weekend the so-called 'stablecoin' dropped in value to $0.97. This drop in the price of tether therefore resulted in the premium price of other cryptocurrencies on the Hong Kong-based platform. Bitcoin's price has since fallen back down to around $6,880 still $200 above the price listed on the CoinMarketCap price index. Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Screenshot Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures What goes up... Bitcoin price crashes spectacularly, losing half of its value in a matter of days Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin plunges The cryptocurrency eventually bottoms out below $4,000 in 2019 before slowly rebuilding momentum to outperform more traditional assets Getty Images The gains come less than a week after a shock collapse in prices across cryptocurrency markets, which was triggered by a major stock market sell-off. Bitcoin, ethereum and ripple all saw significant losses, falling by between 7 and 12 percent on 11 October. It was the latest in a series of losses since early 2018, during which time around $600 billion has been wiped from the value of cryptocurrencies. Recommended Bitcoin miner sent to prison for stealing electricity from trains "The last seven days was full of the usual volatility that we have become used to with bitcoin, however last week's plummeting price was interesting as it appeared to correlate with a worldwide drop in equity markets," David Thomas, director of Mayfair-based cryptocurrency broker GlobalBlock, said in a comment shared with The Independent. Bitcoin's price crash preceded a market-wide meltdown for cryptocurrencies (Getty) "The important thing though, is that fast forward five days from the move lower and bitcoin has already rebounded up and away from its low whereas equity markets continue to languish in the turmoil brought on from last week." Despite the generally disappointing downward trend of the cryptocurrency markets in 2018, many experts remain optimistic that bitcoin and others can finish the year strongly. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Mr Thomas said in his analysis that "there is a chance that the end to the year is strong and the bull market resumes." In 2014, a group of developers launched a cryptocurrency with the ambitious aim of solving the problem of price volatility. Tether was the first so-called 'stablecoin', with the idea being that each token issued would be backed by one US dollar. For a while it seemed to work. Major cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitfinex adopted tether as a medium of exchange for traders to buy bitcoin, ethereum and other digital currencies, while banks in Taiwan used it to process international transactions. But last year, questions began to emerge about whether tether really was pegged to the US dollar, resulting in dramatic price swings for bitcoin. A paper published by researchers at the University of Texas in June suggested "incomplete tether backing" that helped contribute to the manipulation of cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Screenshot Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures What goes up... Bitcoin price crashes spectacularly, losing half of its value in a matter of days Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin plunges The cryptocurrency eventually bottoms out below $4,000 in 2019 before slowly rebuilding momentum to outperform more traditional assets Getty Images The creators of tether have consistently denied these accusations and published their own report in June in an effort to prove that US dollar reserves fully backed all tethers in circulation. The report, carried out by US law firm Free Sporkin and Sullivan (FSS), found that the balances of the eponymous company behind the cryptocurrency totalled $2,545,067, 236 on 1 June, 2018. On that date, the number of tethers in circulation were 2,538.090.824 "Despite speculation, we have consistently stated that tether is backed by USD reserves at or exceeding te tethers in circulation at a given moment, and we're glad to have independent verification of this so answer some of the questions posed by the public," Tether CEO Jan Ludovicus van der Velde said in a statement shared with The Independent at the time. "We are by no means done with our efforts to promote increased transparency at Tether. We are planning to build on this report moving forward and, despite the challenges of applying current accounting and assurance standards to cryptocurrency clients, we continue to discuss these issues with potential audit partners." Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events More questions were raised after a report published by FSS stated: "FSS is not an accounting firm and did not perform the above review and confirmations using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles... The above confirmation of bank and tether balances should not be construed as the results of an audit and were not conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards." Recent price swings have further added to tether's problems, with its value briefly dropping below $0.93 on Monday, 15 October completely undermining its function as a stablecoin. At the same time, bitcoin's value shot up above $7,700 on the Bitfinex exchange, as well as price spikes among other major cryptocurrencies. Some analysts suggested this was a result of a major tether sell-off, whereby large amounts of tether had been used to purchase bitcoin. Since its inception, other stablecoins have emerged to challenge tether, such as the gemini dollar and paxos standard. Should any of these succeed in replacing tether's dominance, this could cause even further disruption of cryptocurrency markets. Thousands of female council workers in Glasgow are set to take part in a strike this month over pay discrimination. Its believed that the strike will be the largest equal pay strike ever to take place in the UK, with more than 8,000 council workers expected to attend. The strike has been organised by two trade unions, GMB and Unison, who represent council workers across several fields of work. Its been prepared in response to the pay discrimination thats affected women working in the cleaning, catering, homecare and education industries for more than a decade. In 2006, a job evaluation scheme was introduced by the Labour-run council with the goal of tackling gender pay equality in the city. However, the scheme supposedly favoured men, as it included a three-year payment protection programme for men who had missed out on financial bonuses at work. Furthermore, the scheme resulted in people working in female-dominated jobs such as catering and cleaning receiving a lower salary than those who worked in professions typically associated with men, as salaries were determined after taking irregular working hours into consideration. Negotiations have been taking place over the past 12 years in order to rectify the situation. Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Show all 20 1 /20 Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos EPA Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair airline workers shout slogans during a small protest during the first of two days of a cabin crew strike at Adolfo Suarez-Barajas international airport in Madrid in July AP Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Empty Ryanair check-in counter at El Prat airport in Barcelona AFP/Getty Images Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair employees hold up signs in English and Spanish on the first day of a cabin crew strike in Palma de Mallorca REUTERS Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair airplanes stand idle on the tarmac EPA Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Irish Ryanair pilots outside the company headquarters at Swords in Dublin, as they stage their fourth one-day strike with their union, Forsa PA Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos A woman sits at a Ryanair airline check-in desk after her flight to Pisa, Italy, was cancelled AP Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair employees protest at the entrance of the airport in Malaga REUTERS Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Stranded Ryanair passengers line up for information at the airport in Valencia REUTERS Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Employees of Ryanair's customer service department wear T-shirts with a slogan 'Ryanair Must Change' during the first day of strike of the company's cabin crew members at Brussels South airport in Charleroi, Belgium, in 25 EPA Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Cabin crew workers for low-cost airline Ryanair went on strike in four European countries over working conditions in July, forcing thousands of passengers to make last-minute travel adjustments at the peak of the summer holiday season REUTERS Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary addresses a news conference in Schwechat, Austria Reuters Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair employees hold up signs at the airport in Palma de Mallorca REUTERS Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos REUTERS Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos People queue at the Ryanair airline customer service desk during the first of two days cabin crew strike AP Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair personnel stand at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, during a strike of cabin personnel AFP/Getty Images Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair's customer service department gather behind a banner reading: 'Ryanair On Strike - Respect Us! Ryanair must change' at Brussels South airport, in Charleroi, Belgium EPA Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Passengers wait in line in front of Ryanair's desks EPA Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos Ryanair planes at Valencia airport, during a protest on the first day of a cabin crew strike held in several European countries REUTERS Ryanair: strikes and cancellations cause travel chaos A passenger tries to get informations on Ryanair flights EPA According to Stefan Cross, the lawyer whos representing 8,000 claimants whove taken the city council to court, the strike is a necessary course of action following the failed negotiations. Its just not good enough, he told The Guardian. An offer should be the product of negotiations, not the start. The women themselves demanded a ballot for strike action after that because their employer was refusing to negotiate. Glasgow City Council has been informed by the GMB and Unison Trades Unions that the strike will be carried out on Tuesday October 23 and Wednesday October 24. The council states that it expects to make on offer to the claimants in December this year, as agreed during the negotiations. However, the strike may affect when the offer is formally given. Were making every effort to negotiation with trade unions to avoid a strike or, if that is not possible, minimise its impact on vulnerable people, the council states. Kudos to California, where the state governor, Jerry Brown, recently signed into law new requirements for companies headquartered in the state to include more women on their boards. The law will force heavyweights such as Apple, Facebook, Tesla, and Google (Alphabet) to revamp their boards to comply. Supporters believe increasing board diversity is important for both social and economic reasons; that a more diverse pool of directors creates a better board, with different and more innovative perspectives. Opponents of the law question its efficacy, saying its like treating a symptom rather than the disease. But because its human behaviour that were trying to change in this case, treating the symptom can be a big first step towards treating the disease. Specifically, all companies in California will be required to have at least one woman on their board by 2019. Boards with five or fewer directors will need two female directors by 2021 and larger boards will need three. Non-compliant firms would be subject to (relatively small) fines. To assess the scope of the change, lets review the statistics on diversity in the upper ranks of corporations. In 2017, for the 1,500 largest US companies (all board statistics are my own, using data from advisory firm ISS): 5 per cent of firms have a female CEO 4 per cent of firms have a female board chair 16 per cent of directors are women 15 per cent of audit and compensation committees have a female chair Female directors own 75 per cent the amount of stock that male directors own; this is independent of their tenure on the board 7 per cent of boards have at least three women and 2 per cent have at least four women; all 1,500 boards have at least three men Women account for 57 per cent of all college degrees and 47 per cent of all business degrees in the US Exercising influence With such gender imbalances, most experts agree that board diversity needs to change. But enforcing quotas doesnt convince everyone. One concern comes from an efficient markets perspective. This argument suggests that if having more women on boards were best for business, greedy value-maximising companies would already be doing it. This is precisely the business case for boardrooms being 84 per cent male. This business case assumes that the market for corporate directors is efficient but it is anything but. Its a cartel controlled by middle-aged white men who are loathe to give up their privileges. Stanford law professor Joseph Grundfest makes a different market-based argument that has more relevance. He suggests that the most effective way to bring change to the boardroom is for large, institutional investors like the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) to exercise their capital markets influence and refuse to invest in companies that do not meet certain diversity, equity or other standards. Non-compliant firms will see their stock prices fall and executives and directors will earn less money. This can work; hurting executives and directors in their bank accounts certainly should make them listen. And it can be done in addition to regulators enforcing certain standards. This approach, however, may have limited impact. Even the largest institutional investors arent always able to effect corporate behaviour. In June 2018, BlackRock Inc, one of the worlds largest institutional investors, supported a proposal to formally separate the roles of CEO and board chair at Tesla, to make shareholders less dependent on one single individual. The company opposed the idea, and, despite BlackRocks 6 per cent ownership stake, the proposal was defeated, 84 per cent to 16 per cent. Three months later, after a pattern of unpredictable and irresponsible behaviour by CEO and chair Elon Musk, the Securities & Exchange Commission intervened, requiring the company to separate the positions. Left to their own devices, companies dont always know best. Admittedly, Californias new law is imperfect. It will likely have some short-term negative consequences including legal battles, firm relocations, and female directors being seen as token hires. Another issue concerns how companies define diversity. Recent research suggested that when companies do expand their definition of diversity beyond gender or ethnicity, they end up appointing directors with different experiences and perspectives but at the expense of women and minorities. That is, boards do not increase the number of diverse directors on the board, but rather increase the types of diversity on the board. A board may go from having one female and two non-white directors, for example, to having two female and one non-white director. So firms may appoint more women but at the expense of having fewer other underrepresented minorities or vice versa. Narrowing the opportunity gap To best appreciate the benefits associated with governments enforcing gender boardroom diversity, we must focus on the long term. Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin is arguably the worlds foremost authority on the gender income gap. Her research highlights two important points. Yes, women earn 78 cents for every dollar that men earn. However, this is because women are not doing the same work and working the same hours as men. Some of the difference is due to the jobs people choose; most of the difference is due to how jobs are compensated. She concludes that the income disparity is not due to wage discrimination but because the labour markets incentivise men and women differently. That is, the income gap exists because theres an opportunity gap. If wage discrimination is not the problem, then we need to stop focusing on the 78 cents ratio. This gap is too easy for companies to address: they can hire a woman and a man, with similar credentials, for similar jobs, and pay them the same when they start. Problem solved. But doing so does little to address who is more likely to get promoted, who is more likely to end up in the C-suite or who is more likely to end up in the boardroom. When companies, the media, and politicians focus on the 78 cents number, they are focused on the symptom rather than the cause and it is easy for companies to address while they continue to ignore the cause. Oxford finance professor Renee Adams has also written, on this site and elsewhere, that in order to reach the boardroom, women need to stay in the workforce. She is not a fan of quotas, in general, but would rather see regulators focus on other structural initiatives that encourage women to stay in the workforce. Californias new law is just such a structural initiative. The same is true about national quotas for gender diversity in Norway, France, Italy and many other countries. Changing histories of economic, cultural and social traditions is a long-term investment. And men and women have always responded to how markets incentivise them. Enforcing quotas for gender diversity changes the labour market incentives for both men and women. When women see that they have greater opportunity to join a board, they are more likely to pursue executive positions. When women see that they are more likely to be successful in executive positions, they are more likely to stay in the workforce longer or to return to the workforce after having children. And when women see that their career potential is unlimited, they are more likely to pursue college majors and initial jobs that will tap into that unlimited potential. Californias new law requiring boardroom diversity wont solve all gender equity issues in the short term, but it can go a long way to narrowing the opportunity gap over the long term. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a middle-aged white male. I have never questioned my opportunities. Business and society would be better off if nobody else had to question their opportunities, either. Brian Bolton is an associate director at IMD Business Schools Global Board Centre. This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com) Nissan has delayed pay talks with its UK workers until the government makes the terms of Brexit clearer. The announcement comes after the latest delay in Brexit negotiations, as the EU demanded a second backstop arrangement to avoid a hard Irish border. Nissan built nearly a third of Britains 1.67 million new cars last year at its Sunderland plant, and has issued warnings about the impact of a no-deal Brexit on its operations. The Japanese vehicle maker was due to start negotiating a new two-year deal with employees this autumn but the talks have now been pushed back. In agreement with our employee representatives, the 2019/2020 pay negotiations in our UK plant and technical centre will commence in 2019 when we have better clarity on the future business outlook, a spokesperson said. The UK car industry is particularly vulnerable to potential trade barriers after Brexit because firms rely on hundreds of parts crossing from mainland Europe, meaning delays caused by additional checks or paperwork could be costly. If the government doesnt reach agreement with the EU before Brexit day, on 29 March, production in the UK risks being severely affected. This month Nissan warned a hard Brexit would have serious implications for its Sunderland factory. The company employs around 8,000 people in the UK, and announced in April it would shed hundreds of staff because of plummeting demand for diesel cars. Sales of diesels are down almost 40 per cent in 12 months, thanks to confusion about their environmental impact. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Nissan said in 2016, it would build two new models at its Sunderland site after securing assurances of extra support from the government if Brexit damaged the plants competitiveness. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said in July, no carmaker is ready for Brexit. Members are increasingly concerned about the prospects for the UK leaving the EU on World Trade Organisation terms, Mr Hawes said. Patisserie Valeries board has discovered 10m of secret overdrafts, in the latest revelation at the scandal-hit cafe chain. Around 9.7m had been run up in total on the two facilities opened with Barclays and HSBC, the company confirmed. It came after Patisserie Valerie chairman Luke Johnson saved the chain from collapse with a 20m loan following the discovery of significant, and potentially fraudulent, accounting irregularities. I believe in the business as an economic entity, so I dont think it was a wholly emotional decision, but I think there was a moral obligation, Mr Johnson told the Sunday Times, which first reported details of the overdrafts. There were 2,800 jobs at stake, there was 12 years of effort that I and colleagues had put into the business and the board were determined not to allow the business to go into administration. Mr Johnson told the newspaper that he knew nothing about the overdraft facilities. And the banks were as shocked by things as we, the board, were, as Im sure are the auditors, he said. Last week the firms finance chief, Chris Marsh, was suspended from the group then arrested on suspicion of fraud. He is now facing a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. The company said on Friday that its cash position had been misstated and subject to fraudulent activity which likely affected historical financial statements. In a stock exchange announcement on Friday afternoon, Patisserie Valerie confirmed that without a cash injection of no less than 20m, the company would have no option but to cease trading. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The company has since announced a share placing to raise 15m, while the interest-free loan from Mr Johnson will provide immediate liquidity. While it has been saved, the cash injection values the company at just 68m, a precipitous decline for a business with a price tag of 446m just two weeks ago. The UK property market has recorded its slowest September growth for eight years, new data has revealed. House prices traditionally rise at this time of year as the number of properties on the market falls, but new figures show an increase of just 1 per cent for the month the lowest since 2010. Homes with two bedrooms or fewer dragged the average down with a 0.1 per cent fall for the month, partly due to a reduced number of sales to buy-to-let investors. Tax changes have made property investing less lucrative, causing some investors to shift their money elsewhere and giving first-time buyers an opportunity to find favourable deals, according to Rightmove, who compiled the data. Smaller properties, which have been favoured by investors, now take 58 days to sell on average, up from 55 days in September last year. The data suggests higher taxes on landlords are having the desired effect, with new buy-to-let mortgage approvals falling 14 per cent from last year and by more than half over the last three years. Landlords were hit with a 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on property purchases back in April 2016, and income tax relief on mortgage interest payments has been drastically reduced. With the government using the tax system to try and help first-time buyers while deterring out of favour landlords, prices in this sector have been subdued as intended, said Rightmove director Miles Shipside. That gives aspiring first-time buyers an autumn opportunity to negotiate a favourable deal. Prices rose just 0.9 per cent over the year, the lowest annual rate since February 2012. The slowdown will come as welcome news for those trying to buy their first home average asking prices have jumped more than a third in seven years, while wage increases have remained subdued. Robert Lazarus, managing director of sales at Paramount Properties in northwest London, said there was now a better opportunity for first-time buyers coming into the market compared to a couple of years ago, especially if they are looking for a one bedroom flat. Before the additional stamp duty on second homes came in we were selling 20 per cent of these flats to landlords, which was driving prices up, he said. Now were selling less than 5 per cent of them to landlords, giving first-time buyers the first pick of new stock that comes on. An artificial intelligence (AI) programme trained to scour Facebook posts for linguistic red flags which could be a sign of depression identified the condition up to three months earlier than health services, a US study has found. In early tests the machine learning algorithm performed as well as existing screening questionnaires which are used to identify depression but it has the advantage of being able to run unobtrusively in the background, the authors note. Recently a backlash against platforms like Facebook, from ministers and parents concerned about the damaging impact on children wellbeing, has led to calls for stricter age and usage limits. But US researchers behind the new tool tool say the wealth of information in social media pages could one day be used to help unobtrusively screen for mental health conditions. These early warning signs include mentions of loneliness or isolation, such as alone, ugh or tears as well as the timing and length of posts. Other tell-tale clues, include an increase in the use of first person pronouns like I and me which suggest a preoccupation with the self in public posts, the authors write. Social media data contain markers akin to the genome, said Dr Johannes Eichstaedt, one of the senior authors of the study and a co-founder of the World Well-Being Project at the University of Pennsylvania. With surprisingly similar methods to those used in genomics, we can comb social media data to find these markers. Depression appears to be something quite detectable in this way; it really changes peoples use of social media in a way that something like skin disease or diabetes doesnt. This method of screening could increase the likelihood of conditions being diagnosed, and treated, early, minimising the impact of depression on education, work and relationships. In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, Dr Eichstaedt and fellow authors from the Penn Medicine Centre for Digital Health used data from the Facebook profiles of 683 people who had consented to share their digital archives. This group included 114 people who had been diagnosed with depression, and each one was matched with five people without a depression diagnosis to test the programmes accuracy. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary By analysing 524,292 posts made by the participants on Facebook in the years prior the diagnosis of depression and compared them with the control subjects the team identified depression-associated language markers. When primed with these markers the programme was able to identify warning signs of depression in individuals from posts up to three months prior to this being recorded in their medical records. The study found their programme was most accurate using social media cues in the six months prior to a depression diagnosis, and could help flag the onset of depression in people at risk particularly when working with other forms of digital screening. Theres a perception that using social media is not good for ones mental health, H. Andrew Schwartz, an associate professor of computer science and principle investigator of this study. But it may turn out to be an important tool for diagnosing, monitoring, and eventually treating it. While this was a small proof of principle study, it could be refined in several ways by incorporating phone usage data, or facial recognition software to analyse pictures posted on Facebook, the authors add. Doctors in overstretched hospitals feel forced into giving patients needless appointments so that they dont lose funding, an NHS trust boss has said. The health services financial system means that hospitals are given more money for generating work for themselves and penalised for helping patients avoid coming in for treatment. With hospitals facing record demand and a 50 per cent rise in patients having to wait six months or more, Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said these payment rules were hampering efforts to modernise the health service. Despite these concerns and the potential disruption for patients missing work or school for appointments, NHS plans published this week show the so-called payments by results (PbR) system will be around until at least 2020. Speaking at the NHS Providers annual conference in Manchester, Ms Whitfield said: I had this bizarre conversation with one of our paediatricians, who said to me, Ive got children coming back to see me who I dont think need to, but if they dont we wont get the income will we? Weve been telling them for ages that theres one pound and we need to spend it for patients as best we can, and getting people to come and have needless attendances in an acute hospital is really not the best use of our very limited money. I hadnt realised that people in the depths of our organisation still havent got that message. NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Show all 18 1 /18 NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, addresses demonstrators following the march AFP/Getty NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Reuters NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images These habits have been ingrained at all levels of the NHS by years of funding squeezes and emphasis on financial performance in trusts. Another example, which sparked a major internal argument, saw parts of the trusts board object to funding a private ambulance service for people discharged after patient transport ends for the evening. Were actually paying for something that reduces our income, Ms Whitfield said. We could have admitted them and got something, but its completely the wrong thing for the patient, the system, the professionals. Theresa May announces 20bn funding for NHS In subsequent comments to The Independent, Ms Whitfield clarified that she did not think the payment tariff system was driving clinically inappropriate behaviour, but that in marginal cases it could be the deciding factor and this shouldnt be the case. Hours after she spoke NHS England published plans for a major overhaul of the NHS Tariff which will shake up the way trusts are paid in 2019-20. Among the proposals is a standardised rate for outpatient appointments, which would mean trusts are paid the same if a patient is seen by an NHS consultant, a nurse, or over the phone or via Skype. However the same changes will bolster payment by results in A&E departments, removing a cap on attendance payments to ensure hospitals are not penalised in the face of rapidly increasing demand which they can do little to control. Ms Whitfield told The Independent that telephone appointments could address some of the pressures they face, but funding needed to be part of wider reforms that joined up hospitals with other parts of the NHS. Announcing the changes on Tuesday NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said the 20bn increase to the NHS budget pledged by Theresa May was the perfect time to pivot to a different financial regime. Funding alternatives Simon Stevens plans to reform NHS funding will require unpicking damaging NHS reforms introduced by Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley in 2012. Mr Stevens singled out competitive contracting rules, which were intended to drive down prices but have made it harder for organisations to work together and have resulted in private groups like Virgin Care suing NHS bodies who breach them. Removing these deadlocks is a key part of NHS Englands plans for developing accountable care organisations super-organisations combining all the health and social care providers in a region. This could allow trusts to be paid for any investment that improves health (and keeps patients away from hospital). But campaigners, including the late Stephen Hawking, have resisted their implementation over privatisation fears. [The changes] will be part of a five-year transition to a fairer, more transparent, and simpler reimbursement mechanism across the sector. But going cold turkey in a 12-month period is not actually possible, he added. Dr Robert Harwood, chair of the British Medical Associations consultants committee, told The Independent doctors want reforms to incentivise closer working between parts of the NHS. Ultimately we dont believe that the PbR system is the way to pay acute providers in England, he said. Patients should be assessed and treated based on clinical need, [under PbR] providers can be given the wrong funding and incentives are, unfortunately, inherent in this kind of system which can fragment services and care. Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meeting that Russia may refuse to enter the external borrowings market, noting that it's an option. The deputy finance minister explained that the market situation will be taken into account. Storchak pointed out that the recent experience of the emerging-market countries indicates that making Russia's domestic ruble market the main source of credit was the right decision. In April 2018, the Russian Finance Ministry placed new 11-year sovereign eurobonds in the amount of $1.5 billion with a yield of 4.625% as well as eurobonds of the additional issue Russia-2047 for $2.5 billion with a yield of 5.25%. Russia plans to place up to $3 billion in new bonds before the end of this year. Head of the State Dumas Committee for Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the Ministry of Finance's position can be explained by Russia's budget surplus for the next year. "Since there are no problems with financing budget expenditures, then the question arises as to why we need external borrowing. The budget says that the loans will be used to form a development fund - but internal borrowing will be enough for this purpose. Moreover, with current oil prices, the budget rule allows us to increase government reserves at a fast pace, since we sell our URALS brand 1.52 times more expensive than the level envisaged for the budget. All this makes any foreign loans simply unnecessary," he stressed. The advisor on macroeconomics to the CEO of the 'Opening-Broker' brokerage house, economist Sergey Hestanov, also noted the surplus of the federal budget, which removes the need to borrow abroad. "We have a budget surplus since April 2018, respectively, there is no urgent need to borrow. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance's decision will most likely depend on the situation. If the rates are low, the agency may borrow, if too high, the ministry has the possibility not to borrow," he said. Mankind has taken the world to the brink of a mass extinction that could wipe out vast swathes life on Earth for millions of years, scientists have warned in a new study. Humans are killing off animal and plant species so rapidly that evolution is unable to keep up to fill the gaps left behind, the work suggests. Unless conservation efforts are stepped up, nature will require between three and five million years to recover the levels of biodiversity expected to be lost over the next 50 years, predicted researchers. There have been five previous mass extinctions in the past 450 million years, and scientists have warned climate change, poaching, pollution and habitat destruction are bringing about a sixth. More than 300 mammal species have been eradicated by human activity, according to researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Gothenburg. More are likely to follow them into extinction in the next few decades. The team studied mankinds impact on nature using an extensive database that included living species as well as those which died out in the relatively recent past as humans spread across the globe. Using advanced simulations, researchers estimated how long it would take for evolution to fill gaps in biodiversity following extinctions. Instead of simply counting lost or threatened species, the study considered the amount of time each had spent evolving to reflect. The extinction of species with distinct lineages and few close relatives meant the loss of unique ecological functions and the millions of years of evolutionary history they represented, researchers said. Large mammals, or megafauna, such as giant sloths and sabre-toothed tigers, which became extinct about 10,000 years ago, were highly evolutionarily distinct, said Aarhus University palaeontologist Matt Davis, who led the study. Since they had few close relatives, their extinctions meant that entire branches of Earths evolutionary tree were chopped off. Researchers suggested threatened mammals with long evolutionary histories should be prioritised for conversation. They highlighted Asian elephants, one of only two existing species of a once mighty mammalian order that included mammoths and mastodon, and which are said to have just a 33-per-cent chance of surviving the century. There are hundreds of species of shrew, so they can weather a few extinctions, said Mr Davis. There were only four species of sabre-toothed tiger; they all went extinct. Professor Jens-Christian Svenning, also of Aarhus University added: Although we once lived in a world of giants - giant beavers, giant armadillos, giant deer, etc we now live in a world that is becoming increasingly impoverished of large wild mammalian species. The few remaining giants, such as rhinos and elephants, are in danger of being wiped out very rapidly. The world has lost 2.5 billion years of unique evolutionary history in the past 130,000 years, according to the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Even if humans completely stopped damaging behaviours and extinction rates returned to normal, it would be between five and seven million years before biodiversity returned to the level it was at before modern-day humans evolved. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke filled with the carbon that is driving climate change drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan Tony Juniper, executive director of advocacy and campaigns at WWF-UK, said the study was "another warning sign that our world is in crisis". He told The Independent: "The more information we gather, the more we are able to confidently confirm that we are on the brink of a mass extinction event the like of which we have not seen on earth for tens of millions of years. As we tear apart the web of life, unique animals and plants that have evolved in different ecosystems are disappearing forever." Fundamental changes to natural world could have dire consequences for humanity, warned Mr Juniper. We need to urgently halt this loss of natural diversity, not only because of the importance of wildlife for its own sake but because human societies are as embedded in that web of life as tigers, bumblebees and primroses," he said. The more we damage natures fabric, the more we imperil our own future. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been criticised for announcing the news of Meghan Markles pregnancy on International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Kensington Palace announced Prince Harry and Meghan were very pleased to be expecting a baby in the spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019, the palace said in a statement on Monday morning. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public. But some accused the royal couple who married in May - of insensitivity over the decision to reveal the news on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. The day which falls on 15 October - is described as a time for remembering pregnancy loss and infant death which includes but is not limited to miscarriage, stillbirth, sudden infant death syndrome, and the death of a newborn. It follows Baby Loss Awareness Week which is held annually from 9 to 15 October. "Aww, Meghan and Harry are pregnant. Did no one think to inform them at @KensingtonRoyal that today is Wave of Light / Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day? Announcing tomorrow wouldn't have hurt. After all they tweeted it about six weeks ago and deleted it after 30 seconds," Twitter user, Adele Haywood, said. "As much as I love Harry and Meghan, and am delighted for their royal baby, would it have been too much trouble for the palace to do a little research? Today is #WaveOfLight day, when those like myself are remembering baby loss. A little sensitivity wouldn't go amiss," tweeted Rosanne Priest. Ruth Bender Atik, national director of the Miscarriage Association in the UK, said it was unfortunate timing but she doubted Kensington Palace were aware of the day. I think it is unfortunate timing but I do not think it is insensitive timing because I imagine that they simply did not know, she told The Independent. I can absolutely understand that people are upset because this is a time to remember a babys loss rather than welcome a baby that is coming. Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Show all 11 1 /11 Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Losing a baby is something that people have to cope with day in day out and having someone close to you announce their pregnancy can be deeply distressing and difficult to deal with. "People get in touch with us and say they feel jealous and angry and upset, because they want it to be them, but they often feel bad about feeling this because they are genuinely happy for them too. People are feeling raw today. News of the royal pregnancy emerged after the duchess and Prince Harry arrived at Sydney's airport for a rest day before they officially start a 16-day tour of Australia and the South Pacific. The trip is their only international tour since they got married - apart from a two-day visit to Ireland. Kensington Palace declined to comment on the criticism the couple have received over the timing of the announcement. The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle is pregnant with her first child, Kensington Palace has announced. Kensington Palace said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased Meghan is expecting a baby in the spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019, the palace said in a statement. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public. Doria Ragland, the duchesss mother, said she was very happy about this lovely news and looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild. The news emerged after the duchess and Prince Harry arrived at Sydney airport for a rest day before they officially start a 16-day tour of Australia and the South Pacific. Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Show all 90 1 /90 Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Duke and Duchess of Sussex kiss on the steps of St Georges Chapel after their wedding WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Top gear: William and Kate had an Aston Martin with balloons and a JUST WED number plate. Harry and Meghan score extra points: this 1968 E-type Jag, which took them to the evening party at Frogmore House, has been converted to electric power. And the number plate, E190518? Its their anniversary AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and Prince Harry leave St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle after their wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in Windsor Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand at the altar Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Kingdom Choir outside St Georges Chapel in Windsor, Berkshire, after performing at the wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The pageboy whose smile went viral Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests toast as they attend a viewing party for the royal wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle reaches the altar in St Georges Chapel Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures John Major and his wife Norma Major attend the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives for the wedding ceremony to marry Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Fans attend a Royal Wedding watching party at Lillies Victorian Establishment in New York AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex emerge from the West Door of St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers lining the streets wave and cheer as Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex pass riding in the Ascot Landau Carriage during their carriage procession AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures James Blunt and Sofia Wellesley attend the royal wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy arrive for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex begin their carriage procession in the Ascot Landau Carriage after their wedding ceremony AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures James Corden and Julia Carey attend the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Harry and Meghan emerge from the West Door of St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Left to right, Lady Louise Windsor, Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne, Princess Royal arrive for the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry looks at his bride, Meghan Markle, as she arrives accompanied by the Prince of Wales in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for their wedding in Windsor, Britain REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian arrive at St Georges Chapel Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry places the wedding ring on the finger of Meghan Markle during their wedding service, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The royal wedding cake has been revealed AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public view a live screening of the marriage ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Winchester Cathedral Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Rex Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Duke of Cambridge (left), the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of York during the wedding service for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle during their wedding service PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures US actor Abigail Spencer (left) and Indian actor Priyanka Chopra (second from left) arrive with other guests for the royal wedding EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland drive along the Long Walk for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Sir Elton John leaves St Georges Chapel PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland drive along the Long Walk for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Oprah Winfrey arrives at St Georges Chapel REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry's niece and bridesmaid Princess Charlotte arrives for the wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and US actress Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for their wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Bishop Michael Curry delivered a passionate sermon during the royal wedding ceremony PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures In this frame from video, Meghan Markle walks down the aisle with Prince Charles for her wedding ceremony at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall attend the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle is driven by the Long Walk to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for her royal wedding ceremony to Britain's Prince Harry, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle is driven down the Long Walk to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for her royal wedding ceremony to Britain's Prince Harry, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives for the wedding ceremony to marry Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, at St George's Chapel, Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle before the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for her wedding to Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Bridesmaids and pageboys arrive for the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle (R) with her mother Doria Ragland arrive at Windsor Castle ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales marries Ms. Meghan Markle in a service at St George's Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. Among the guests were 2200 members of the public, the royal family and Ms. Markle's Mother Doria Ragland Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Princess Charlotte (right) arrives for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle, right, and her mother Doria Ragland leave Cliveden House Hotel in Taplow, near London, England AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for her wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Doria Ragland arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry (right) sits with his best man the Duke of Cambridge in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle ahead of his wedding to Meghan markle wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests are pictured as they take their seats inside the Chapel ahead of the wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and US actress Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his brother and best man, Prince William (C), Duke of Cambridge arrive at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for his royal wedding ceremony to Meghan Markle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry (left) and the Duke of Cambridge arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle leaves Cliveden House Hotel in Taplow, near London, England, Saturday, May 19, 2018 before her wedding ceremony with Prince Harry at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castl AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Britain's Prince Harry (L), Duke of Sussex, arrives with his best man Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R), at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018 for his wedding ceremony to marry US actress Meghan Markle AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures British Ministry of Defence shows around members of the Band of the Irish Guards entertaining the public ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor, Britain, EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Princess Eugenie, The Duke of York and Princess Beatrice, from left, arrive for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Key Newss Kay Burley enjoys the moment Rex/Shutterstock Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Sarah Ferguson leaves after the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A general view of guests arriving in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor, Britain REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Amal and George Clooney arrive for the wedding ceremony AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests arrive at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures US tennis player Serena Williams (L) and her husband American Internet entrepreneur and investor Alexis Ohanian (R) arrive for the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Irish Guards marching band parades through Windsor for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public gather ahead at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Alison Tinsley on the Long Walk ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Police patrol the streets ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans wearing wedding dresses hold a sign reading When Harry met Meghan he hadnt met us first ahead of the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers gather to watch the Royal Wedding of Britains Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and US actress Meghan Markle at the Pear Tree in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public gather near Windsor Castle prior to the wedding of HRH Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guardsman play for the crowd ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans wear wedding dresses near the castle before the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales marries Ms. Meghan Markle in a service at St George's Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. Among the guests were 2200 members of the public, the royal family and Ms. Markle's Mother Doria Ragland Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures War Veteran Phyllis Walker smiles during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle at Cambridge Gate Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures David and Victoria Beckham arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Band of the Irish Guards perform outside the castle prior to the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A member of staff holds goodie bags ahead of of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A Royal fan waits for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England, Saturday, May 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans within the grounds of Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans gather behind the barriers on the Long Walk, in Windsor, ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans soak up the atmopshere during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on The Long Walk Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A man sweeps the path outside St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Two men wearing wedding dresses buy train tickets to Windsor to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Waterloo train station Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Crowds gather during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on The Long Walk Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers draped in a Union flag with an image of Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk along the Long Walk leading to Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans line the Long Walk in Windsor ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA The trip is their only international tour since they were married in May, apart from a two-day visit to Ireland. Holding hands and casually dressed, the prince and the former American actress walked out an airport rear entrance and into a car. Meghan was smiling and clutching folders, while Harry gave a thumbs up to bystanders. The announcement comes after days of speculation about whether Meghan was pregnant after the pair celebrated five months of marriage. The news surfaced after Markles tour schedule indicated she would not be doing a climb over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Meghan is understood to be past the 12-week mark. The duchess once described motherhood as being on her bucket list and her husband has frequently discussed his wish to have children. Theresa May congratulated the couple on their happy news and wished them all the best. My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy news they are expecting a baby in the spring. Wishing them all the best. she said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Sydney to embark on an official visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. The couple follow in the footsteps of Prince Harrys parents Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales who went to Australia and NZ on their first overseas tour together. The trip coincides with the fourth Invictus Games, which starts in Sydney on Saturday, and includes dozens of official events. Prince Harry will launch the fourth Invictus Games in Sydney on Friday attending both the opening and closing ceremonies. Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Show all 11 1 /11 Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors PA Wire/PA Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images Meghan Markle launches cookbook in aid of Grenfell Tower survivors Getty Images He founded the Paralympic-style international competition for injured servicemen, servicewomen and veterans in 2014 with the first games event held at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London in March that year. Last month, the duchess launched a charity cookbook to raise money for victims of the Grenfell Tower fire which claimed the lives of 72 in June of last year. Together: Our Community Cookbook features recipes from women who are part of the Hubb Community Kitchen a communal space which was created to provide for the hundreds of residents who were left homeless in the wake of the devastating inferno. Her low-profile visits to the kitchen where women affected by the deadly blaze have been cooking food for their community have helped to ensure the schemes financial survival. The women were initially only able to keep the doors to the kitchen open to the community for two days a week due to a dearth of funding. But the duchesss continued involvement in recent months has allowed them to keep the kitchen open seven days a week. The 50 recipes are inspired by dishes from across Europe, the Middle East, north Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. What just happened? All weekend, news trickling out of Brexit talks became more and more positive. By Sunday lunchtime EU diplomats were certain a deal had been agreed. Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, headed out to Brussels to confirm it all or so we thought. Then the Brexit roller coaster hit yet another big dipper: after a shorter-than expected meeting between Raab and Michel Barnier, it was all off again, and we were, in the words of one official back to square one. Anyone following these talks will have become accustomed to twists and turns, but with this weeks European Council summit looming the moment of truth the stakes are higher than ever. The Irish border, and the so-called backstop is the sticking point. A deal of sorts appears to have been agreed: The Independent understands that an agreement at a technical level between officials was struck. But agreement at a political level is a different question entirely. Talks are shrouded in secrecy, and leaks from them are prone to spin. But as far as we can tell EU appears to have agreed to the UK plan that would, with some caveats, keep the whole UK inside the customs union to prevent any borders around Northern Ireland either between it and Great Britain, or it and Northern Ireland. What does a no-deal Brexit mean? This had been proposed by the UK to placate the DUP who want no difference in treatment between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and who say they would sink any deal that did. Most people believe theyre single-minded enough to carry through on their threat. But sources say Brussels is sceptical that this plan would work and so are insisting on what has been dubbed the backstop to the backstop. The thinking here goes that if the UKs political instability means that if trade talks collapse and the UK has second thoughts about being tied to the EU customs union, the original EU plan to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland would step up. The prime minister is probably cursing herself for calling last years election But this was unacceptable to the British government, who dont think they could get even this past the DUP. There is a fundamental tension for the UK government which restricts their freedom to compromise in talks: lean towards a customs union for the whole UK to placate the DUP, and Tory Eurosceptics get angry because they want to be outside the customs union. But lean too hard the other way, and make the backstop more specific to Northern Ireland, and the DUP withdraw their votes. With a razor-thin majority in the Commons the government cant really afford to lose either. Ultimately it is now parliament, and what the government can get through, that is the biggest obstacle to signing a deal. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events So what happens next? There are no more talks between officials until the European Council summit later this week, where leaders will discuss their response. The negotiations teams who both speak very highly of each other clearly believe they have gone as far as they can within the instructions they have been given by their respectively political leaderships. Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced Welcome to Northern Ireland sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. Ive been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again, Johnson said laughing. We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that its gone, we wouldn't like it back again Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crocketts Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day, said Crockett. If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village, said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. I live in the south but the business is in the North, said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if theres duty, Ill have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. Ill have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. Id be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, youd have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful, said Mullen. All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters As far as they are concerned, a deal is on the table, and movement to prevent a no deal now has to be at a political level. Some speculate that Theresa May could simply wait: let the threat of a no deal loom ever larger and increase pressure on MPs to back the technical accord. Others fear that this is wishful thinking and that a no deal may now be more likely than not. Either way, with the composition of the House of Commons the main obstacle to a deal, the prime minister is probably cursing herself for calling last years election, blowing her majority, and putting the DUP in the driving seat. The UK's departure from the European Union without a deal is "probably inevitable", the Democratic Unionist Party's Brexit spokesman has said. "Given the way in which the EU has behaved and the corner they've put Theresa May into, there's no deal which I can see at present which will command a majority in the House of Commons," the DUP's Sammy Wilson told the Belfast News Letter. Hitting out at the "intransigence" of the EU's negotiating stance, he added: "It is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no deal scenario." The remarks from Mr Wilson follow a last-minute visit to Brussels by the Brexit secretary Dominic Raab - prompting a flurry of excitement that a deal was close. But Raab has returned home within hours and Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, said that "despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open", in particular how the proposed "backstop" can guarantee no new hard border in Ireland. Mr Wilson added: "I think that anybody looking at it objectively would say that what is on offer from the EU is a far worse deal than a no deal, and therefore shed be mad to be railroaded into accepting it. On Sunday, it also emerged that Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP, whose party is responsible for propping up the prime minister's fragile government through a supply and confidence agreement, made similar remarks in private emails. According to the Observer, Ms Foster told a Conservative MEP that a no-deal Brexit was the "likeliest" outcome in the negotiations and that her party was "ready" for the UK to crash out of the bloc without a deal. Ms Foster has said that she would not accept any border checks and warned Ms May not to accept a dodgy deal. The DUPs actions this week are not as some have suggested about flexing muscle, she said. 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 This is no game. Anyone engaging in this in a light-hearted way foolishly fails to grasp the gravity of the decisions we will make in the coming weeks. The DUP has also warned its MPs could vote against the Budget later this month, which could in turn trigger a vote of no-confidence if the government is defeated. That may lead to a different leader. But thats not a question for us, were not members of the Conservative Party, Mr Wilson added last week. An Idaho wildlife official is facing calls to resign over a photo he posed for with a family of baboons he killed on a hunting trip last month in Namibia. Blake Fischer, an Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner, has come under fire for a picture of him smiling and posing with what looks to be three adults and baby baboon on a recent hunting trip. The image was included in an email obtained by The Idaho Statesman newspaper through a public documents request with the governors office. In the photo, Mr Fischer is holding up the baboons while he kneels in the dirt, a quiver of arrows can be seen in the foreground. The email also detailed at least 14 other animals Mr Fischer and his wife had killed on his trip, including a leopard and giraffe. Other animals they killed include impala, sable antelope, waterbuck, kudu, warthog, gemsbok, and eland per the email sent to more than 100 people. Mr Fischer said that he believes he didnt do anything illegal". "I didnt do anything unethical. I didnt do anything immoral, he said. Promotional video for big game hunting company run by hunter 'gored to death by buffalo' He is one of seven volunteer commissioners appointed by the governor and approved by the state Senate to represent different parts of the state. According to the Fish and Game Commission, these seven officials must adhere to the statute that All wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish, within the state of Idaho...shall be preserved, protected, perpetuated, and managed. It shall be only captured or taken at such times or places, under such conditions, or by such means, or in such manner, as will preserve, protect, and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state and, as by law permitted to others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing and trapping. On the email were also several former Fish and Game Commissioners. I have a difficult time understanding how a person privileged to be an Idaho Fish and Game commissioner can view such an action as sportsmanlike and an example to others, Fred Trevey, who was a Fish and Game commissioner from 2007 to 2015, said. He wrote to Mr Fischer asking him to resign. The women hunting big-game poachers Show all 8 1 /8 The women hunting big-game poachers The women hunting big-game poachers The Black Mambas are a specially trained team of rangers who police the park night and day to protect the animals from illegal hunting Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Lukie, 26, says, 'The next generation must know rhinos in life. If poaching is allowed they will only see them in a picture' Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Proud finds and disables a snare laid by poachers Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers During a scouting trip, the Mambas examine an impala horn Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Qolile, 21, learned about wildlife and conservation at Timbavati Bush School. She would like go further both with her studies and with the Black Mambas Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Mambas on the march. The unit has so far removed more than 1,000 poachers snares, and been awarded the UNs Champions of the Earth award Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Yenzekile reports the location of a young, slain kudu to the control room Julia Gunther The women hunting big-game poachers Black Mambas Mirren, 26, Winnie, 22, Belinda, 27, and Dedeya, 26 Julia Gunther Tony McDermott, another former commissioner also on the email, wrote to Governor Butch Otters office to say he and six of commissioner colleagues agreed that to resolve the potentially explosive issue Mr Fischer must resign from his post. Mr Fischer interpreted the statue as saying: Were supposed to manage all animals for Idaho, and any surplus of animals we have we manage through hunting, fishing and trapping. Africa does the same thing. When asked why he shot the baboons, Mr Fischer explained to the newspaper he was required to pay trophy fees for other animals he killed in Namibia. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Support free-thinking journalism and subscribe to Independent Minds Baboons are free... I get it theyre a weird animal. Its a primate, not a deer, he said. In every picture, we try to pose the animals in a natural position, wipe the blood off the mouth, place the rifle or bow over the bullet hole. ... These are normal hunting photos. You shoot an animal, you take a picture of it, Mr Fischer said. He does not have plans to resign but the governors office has been made aware of the viral picture and the controversy it has caused. Steve Alder of Idaho for Wildlife, a pro-hunting group in the state, told the newspaper about the baboon photo: You just dont do that. I hate wolves as much as anyone, but Im not going to take a wolf family and put it on display and show the baby wolf. Winds notorious for fuelling some of South California's most dangerous wildfires are expected to kick-up for the first time this year - putting the region on alert, The Santa Ana winds may reach gusts of up to 75mph up in the mountains, setting the conditions for possible new fires. The fire warnings cover parts of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Ventura, , San Luis Obispo, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can combine to fuel potentially deadly fires. Recommended Why California was right to enforce gender diversity in boardrooms In Los Angeles and Ventura counties especially, gusts of 45 to 65 mph will dry out fuel made wet by recent rainfall, according to an advisory from the National Weather Service. Minimum humidities between 4 and 12 percent Monday and Tuesday and temperatures reaching 81 to 91 degrees will also create dry, hot air that could rapidly spread any wildfires. Last year, the winds help drive the Thomas Fire which ended up burning more than 280,000 acres across the state and sat as the number one largest wildfire in the state's history until being surpassed by the Mendocino Complex fire in Northern California. It is expected that such conditions will become more commonplace as the effects of climate change become more apparent - such larges fires are likely to become part of the norm rather than the exception. California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Show all 45 1 /45 California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Firefighters try to limit the spread of the Carr Fire by backburning, a process by which areas in the path of a fire are burned up in advance to rob the fire of its fuel Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A street is devastated by the Carr Fire in the town of Redding AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A truck burned by the Delta Fire is abandoned along interstate 5 AFP/Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 This image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration highlights the major fire AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Ranch Fire spots out ahead of the main fire in Spring Valley, burning two homes AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A picture taken by German astronaut and geophysicist Alexander Gerst, showing wildfires in the state of California as seen from the International Space Station AFP/Getty/ESA/Alexander Gerst California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Evacuees from Lucerne, from left, Ken Bennett with Ember Reynolds, 8, and Lisa Reynolds watch the sunset as smoke from the Ranch Fire rises into the sky at Austin Park Beach in California's Clearlake with Mount Konocti in the background The Press Democrat via AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The memorial for Redding firefighter Jeremy Stoke AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 REUTERS California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Holy Jim volunteer firefighter Luke Senger stands next to a home destroyed the Holy Fire in Trabuco Canyon AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Firefighters try to stop the spread of a massive fire in Lake County AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A woman walks out of the water after taking a dip as smoke rises in the distance from the Holy Fire in Cleveland National Forest Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A pyrocumulus cloud (or cloud of fire) explodes in the Carr fire near the town of Redding Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Delta Fire burns in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Trees set alight near Whiskeytown Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 An firefighting aircraft drops fire retardant to slow the spread of the River Fire near Lakeport Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A firefighter lights backfires in an attempt to limit the spread of the Ranch Fire Reuters California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Firefighters light backfires to defend houses in the town Upper Lake from the Ranch Fire Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Flames consume a home in Lakeport AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Ranch Fire spread towards the town of Upper Lake AFP/Getty Images California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A firefighter lights a backfire in the city of Redding Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Carr Fire burns near Whiskeytown AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Firefighters try to limit the spread of the Carr Fire by backburning Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Flames flare in the Cajon Pass near San Bernardino AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 An firefighting aircraft drops fire retardant to slow the spread of the River Fire near Lakeport Reuters California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A schoolhouse burns in the Carr Fire in Shasta County AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Carr Fire burns along Highway 299 by the city of Redding AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A car is seen amongst the devastation left by the Cranston Fire EPA California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A firefighter waters down a backfire on Cloverdale Road in Igo AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Firefighters convene while battling the Carr Fire in Shasta County AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Firefighters assess the damage in San Bernardino County AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Carr Fire burns along Highway 299 by the city of Redding AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Carr Fire burns along Highway 299 in Shasta County AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The land around Mountain Centre has been left devastated by the Cranston Fire EPA California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Firefighters battle the Carr Fire in the town of Redding AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A home burns in Redding Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Cranston Fire burns south of Idyllwild AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Carr Fire burns through the town of Shasta AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A home burns in Redding Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A collection of antique cars has been destroyed by the fire in the town of Redding Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A home on Sunflower Road in Redding burns in the Carr Fire Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A helicopter aids utility workers as they work to repair burned power lines EPA California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 A home burns in Redding Getty California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 The Carr Fire burns along Highway 299 by the city of Redding AP California in flames: wildfires rage across the US state in 2018 Sunflower Road in Redding burns in the Carr Fire Getty As well as fire crews being place on alert, residents are being asked to be careful around ignition sources. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Much of Southern California has faced severe to extreme drought since the middle of October, according to the US Drought Monitor Report, The Los Angeles office of the weather service says residents should be careful of the high winds bring down power lines onto roads - and possible power outages. The strongest winds will occur on Tuesday, with speeds beginning to drop later in the week. A federal court in New Jersey has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the widow of car-maker John DeLorean over royalties stemming from the Back to the Future movies. Sally DeLorean claimed a Texas company using the DeLorean name had illegally accepted royalties from Universal for the promotional use of images of the company's iconic DMC-12 car. A judge ruled on Friday that a 2015 settlement agreement in a separate lawsuit over trademarks prohibited her from suing for the royalties. Owner of DeLorean car gets speeding ticket for recreating Back to the Future scene Lawyers for the two sides did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. The sleek, angular car with gull-wing doors featured in the movie franchise starring Michael J Fox about a teenager who travels back in time to engineer his parents' first encounter. Associated Press Donald Trump arrived in Florida just days after it was devastated by Hurricane Michael and said Republican governor Rick Scott was doing fan incredible job in overseeing relief efforts. Michael was a Category 4 storm with winds reaching speeds up to 155 mph. The president and first lady Melania Trump, are touring the state, as well as parts of Georgia. You wouldnt even know they had homes, Mr Trump said about residents as they landed at Elgin Air Force Base, approximately 100 miles west of Mexico Beach, Florida, where Michael made landfall on 10 October. The president said the main goal for relief operations was just making sure everyone is safe, that theyre fed. Some of them have no trace of a home... so our big thing is feeding, water and safety, he said. Man dies after hurricane Michael slams into Florida Mr Scott noted said of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema): Everything we ask for, they have delivered. The job theyve done in Florida has been incredible, and likewise Im hearing in Georgia pretty good things, Mr Trump said about the agency. Michael has resulted in at least 18 deaths across four states in the Gulf region, while dozens remain missing. Mr Scott had warned residents before landfall Michael would cause unimaginable devastation and could affect areas as far away as North and South Carolina. He noted at the time it would be most destructive storm the state has seen in a century and that he was scared to death over the safety of residents who had not evacuated to safety in the Panhandle before it became too dangerous to do so. Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US Show all 16 1 /16 Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A damaged store in Panama City, Florida Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US Waves crash into houses on the shore at Alligator Point in Franklin County, Florida Reuters Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US Haley Nelson of Panama City stands by her father's destroyed trailer home Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A damaged store in downtown Panama City, Florida Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A woman and her children wait in Panama City, Florida AFP/Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A stores windows are shattered by Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Florida Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A damaged apartment building in Panama City, Florida Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A damaged liquor store in Panama City Beach, Florida Reuters Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A helicopter hovers over a damaged neighbourhood EPA Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A man wades through a flooded street in Panama City, Florida EPA Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A boathouse is damaged in the storm EPA Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US Charles Swaney of Panama City sits in the office of a damaged motel in Panama City, Florida AFP/Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A market is flooded in St. Marks, Florida Getty Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US A high-rise apartment building is damaged in Panama City Beach, Florida Reuters Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US Lenora Adams of Panacea, Florida evacuates a motel with her dog Reuters Hurricane Michael: record breaking storm hits the US Haley Nelson of Panama City stands by her father's destroyed trailer home Getty Rescuers have said they expect the death toll to rise and they were using cadaver dogs and heavy equipment to search collapsed homes in the several small towns which dot the Panhandles Gulf coast. In Mexico Beach alone, up to 46 people are missing. Mayor Al Cathey told journalists in the ravaged town of just 1,200 people: If we lose only one life, to me thats going to be a miracle. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Efforts are slow going as roads have been blocked from downed trees and power lines, destroyed homes, and flooding. Steve Moss, vice chairman of Bay District School Board told CNN every single school in the district had been damaged by Michael. The majority of the districts 26,000 students have been displaced and it could take weeks or months to get [some schools back] online. Some it will take years, Mr Moss noted. Mr Trump said electricians were out in full force attempting to restore power, but officials estimated it could take weeks to fully do so. The president had previously visited North and South Carolina in the wake of Florence, a Category 4 storm which then made landfall as a tropical storm just a few weeks ago. Kensington Palace announced the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will have their first child sometime in Spring 2019 and royal fever across the pond appears to have reignited with names like "Diana" and "Edward" being suggested for the couple's first child. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019, the palace said in a statement. The Independent spoke with New Yorkers about the news with many "excited about the new announcement".. One gentleman at the Union Square outdoor market said: I love royalty. Its exciting. Babies are exciting, his friend said, who noted her family is in the UK and welcomed the news as well. I hope they name it Di! after the late Princess Diana the gentleman noted, adding that would be sweet. All you need to know about the new royal baby If it is a boy, both agreed any name would be lovely but not Charles. One woman said Americans fascination has to do with the American and the British coming together and now theyre having a baby, its a big deal. She said she thinks it will be a girl, but her friend said she hoped it would be a little boy. A classic name, something like Catherine, is what she wanted for a girl, but the other woman thought a baby boy will be named Harry Jr after his father. Several others out and about on a rainy morning were a bit ambivalent about the news, but one woman carting around her own toddler said she thinks interest will peak when the duchess begins to debut her pregnancy fashion choices. The announcement was made public as the couple touched down in Australia on their second international tour, including Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand, after being married in April. A couple from Australia in New York on holiday were split in their reaction. The woman wished the royal couple congratulations and said she did not think it would happen "so soon" after the wedding, but her husband said he did not "really care" about the news, but did weigh in with a gender guess. In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins Show all 29 1 /29 In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-1.jpg AP In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-34-.jpg AP In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-29.jpg EPA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-23.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-30.jpg AP In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-25.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-24.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-22.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-9.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-26.jpg EPA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-27.jpg AP In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-28.jpg PA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-8.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-21.jpg EPA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-2.jpg AP In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-3.jpg PA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-4.jpg PA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-12.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-10.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-11.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-5.jpg AP In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-6.jpg AP In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-7.jpg PA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-13.jpg PA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-17.jpg Reuters In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-19.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-20.jpg Getty Images In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-18.jpg PA In pictures: The wait for the royal baby begins royal-baby-31.jpg EPA Several others wished them a hearty "congratulations" and also suggested "Diana" and a "fancy name...like Edward" for the new baby. Others agreed on "Harry Jr". Prince Harry is there to participate in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Invictus Games, an international Paralympics type of event for injured military veterans which began in 2014 in London. Celebrities in the US have also weighed in on the royal news. Television show host Ellen DeGeneres tweeted: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are gonna have a baby! Thats wonderful." She added: "I cant wait to find out whats in the suitcase," a reference to the former actress-turned-duchess' brief role on the US game show "Deal or No Deal" in which she carried a suitcase with a mystery item alongside several other models. Doria Ragland, the royal familys first American and African-American grandmother, said she was very happy about this lovely news. It is thought the duchess is approximately 12 weeks along and due in spring 2019. The new baby will join cousins Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte, the children of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. A corner of Mong Cai border market in Quang Ninh province__Photo: Internet , , , , From mid-October, traders and residents in Vietnam-China border areas may use Chinese yuan in certain transactions, according to a regulation issued by the State Bank of Vietnam last month.The central bank, in its press release about the issuance of Circular 19, underlines that the new regulation is aimed at creating a legal basis for Vietnamese and Chinese traders to use their respective national currencies in the exchange of goods and services, thus boosting border trade between the two countries.According to the state bank, this is not the first time a payment mechanism for border trade activities between Vietnam and a bordering country has been established. Until now, the country and its neighbors, including Laos, Cambodia and China, have inked a series of border trade agreements and payment agreements, allowing parties to border trade transactions to make payment in their national currencies.The first border trade agreement between Vietnam and China, titled the Agreement on Sale and Purchase of Goods in Border Areas, was signed in October 1998. Accordingly, payment for goods sold and purchased in Vietnam-China border areas may be made in freely convertible foreign currencies, Vietnam dong or Chinese yuan. To guide the implementation of the Agreement, in 2004, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Decision 689 specifying payment in the trading and exchange of goods and services in Vietnam-China border areas and border-gate economic zones. Over more than a decade of implementation, Decision 689, on the one hand, has helped boost trade between the two countries but, on the other hand, also revealed several shortcomings that need to be remedied.Against the backdrop of increasing economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and China, the two countries entered into a new border trade agreement in 2016. On January 23, 2018, the Government issued Decree 14 on border trade activities, stipulating in detail different forms of border trade, including trading and exchange of goods by traders; trading and exchange of goods by border residents; and trading and exchange of goods at border markets.Designed to guide the implementation of Decree 14, Circular 19 specifies the foreign exchange management in border trade between Vietnam and China, entrusted payment in Chinese yuan, and use of Chinese-yuan payment accounts at bank branches opened in border areas, among others.The Circular makes clear that besides Vietnam dong, traders and border residents may also use Chinese yuan and freely convertible foreign currencies such as the US dollar, Euro or Japanese yen, to pay for goods and services sold or exchanged across the border. Payments can be made in cash, via banks or by other non-cash payment methods.The scope of application of the Circular covers seven Vietnamese provinces bordering China, including Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Ha Giang and Quang Ninh.However, the provisions of the Circular on the use of Chinese yuan in Vietnams border areas immediately stirred up anxiety among the public. In an interview with the local newswire Vietnamnet, senior economist Pham Chi Lan admitted that at first, she was startled when hearing about the new regulation, but felt secure later after reading the Circular carefully.So what is the matter of concern and why it is actually not worthy of anxiety?It is worth mentioning that the new regulation is issued in furtherance of the 2016 Vietnam-China Border Trade Agreement. It is, therefore, designed to facilitate Vietnam-China border trade activities by allowing the use of both Vietnam dong and Chinese yuan. Hence, the question here is whether the grant of permission for official use of foreign currencies within Vietnams territory is in breach of the Constitutions provision that the national monetary unit is Vietnam dong?The answer, according to lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, president of Basico law firm, is no.Both the Law on Credit Institutions and the Ordinance on Foreign Exchange Management affirm that Vietnam dong is the only currency allowed for circulation in Vietnams territory. This is also the spirit of the Constitution. Foreign currencies may be used as means of payment in civil transactions but must be made via credit institutions licensed to conduct foreign exchange transactions and subject to supervision and control of competent state agencies, Duc told the Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper.Under Circular 19, the use of Chinese yuan and other foreign currencies in border markets and border areas are permitted but subject to strict conditions regarding the type of transaction and mode of payment.The regulation clearly stipulates that cash payments for goods and services sold or provided at Vietnams border markets and border areas must be made in Vietnam dong. Vietnamese traders are allowed to receive cash payments in Chinese yuan for goods and services sold or provided across the border under export contracts but they have to remit the Chinese-yuan cash amount into a commercial bank within seven working days after receiving such amount from their partners. So, the use of Chinese yuan, even in case of cash payment, will be closely controlled.Circular 19 is by no means unconstitutional, Duc affirmed.Economist Pham Chi Lan agreed with the lawyers opinion. Circular 19 adheres to fundamental principles of the Law on Credit Institutions and the Ordinance on Foreign Exchange Management, she said.According to Lan, the 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management and Decree 14 on border trade activities have adopted clear and precise definitions of border trade activities, traders and residents engaged in border trade activities, and places regarded as border markets and border areas. These two documents, together with relevant regulations such as the Law on National Border and the Law on Civil Status, will restrict the application of Circular 19 while providing state agencies with legal tools for closely supervising its implementation.So, the number of monetary transactions under as well as scope of influence of Circular 19 will not be as large as many might concern, Lan said.However, Lan remained anxious about the enforcement of the new regulation in reality.Im worried that if responsible persons fail to fully and seriously perform their tasks, the new regulation might be abused by evildoers in both sides of the border to cause harms to the national economy, she said.The State should create more channels for people in border provinces as well as other localities to supervise and timely report any adverse circumstances, Lan suggested.Lawyer Duc, for his part, seemed less nervous than Lan about this issue.The use of Chinese yuan as well as other foreign currencies outside border areas is illegal and violators will face a huge fine and at the same time have the whole money amounts involved in the violation confiscated, Duc said.Specifically, the fine for use of Chinese-yuan cash to pay for goods and services in contravention of regulations will mount to VND 200-250 million, for individual violators, and VND 400-500 million, for institutional violators. Those who illegally transport across the border a cash amount of VND 5 million or a Chinese-yuan amount of equivalent value may be fined up to VND 100 million, for individual violators, and VND 200 million, for institutional violators. In case the cash amount is valued at VND 100 million or higher, violators may be examined for criminal liability under Article 189 of the 2015 Penal Code with the highest penalty of up to 10 years of imprisonment.- Actor Alec Baldwin has urged voters to "overthrow" the US government led by Donald Trump at the ballot box. He was speaking at a fundraising dinner for the New Hampshire Democratic Party ahead of the November midterm elections and after returning to Saturday Night Live to portray the US president. "The way we implement change in America is through elections. We change governments here at home in an orderly and formal way," he said. "In that orderly and formal way and lawful way, we need to overthrow the government of the United States under Donald Trump." Mr Baldwin said on issue after issue that Republicans are destroyers, not builders. He said: "There is a small cadre of people currently in power who are hell-bent on continuing a malicious immigration policy that has set this country up for human rights violations charges by the global community. This cadre has looted money from the federal treasury and deposited it directly into the bank accounts of their most ardent political supporters." Mr Baldwin said Republicans "shrug" when it comes to gun violence, "spit in the face" of the rest of the world at the notion of changing outdated energy policies and offer neither hope nor solutions to people of colour "who seek a decent seat at the American economic table but instead are issued a prison term, or worse, a bullet". Donald Trump admits Vladimir Putin 'probably' involved in poisonings 'but it's not in our country' The recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh showed that Republicans view women as undeserving of the same constitutional protections as men, Mr Baldwin said. "They themselves are sons, husbands, fathers, and yet when the time arrived in the thick of the MeToo movement to set politics aside and establish that women's rights were more important than political expediency, they failed and it was ugly," he said. Mr Baldwin's appearance in the state that holds the first presidential primary came hours before the premiere of his new talk show. The Alec Baldwin Show will feature one-on-one conversations with celebrities and cultural icons. But Mr Baldwin said the show will not be overtly political. Asked if he would consider running for office himself, he did not rule it out but joked that his wife would be likely to divorce him. Associated Press Pulling out of her driveway, a year ago on Tuesday, Maltese blogger and investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb, a shocking event for the rural hamlet of Bidnija. Described as a one-woman WikiLeaks, Caruana Galizia was undoubtedly the most famous investigative journalist in Malta for her insistence on unearthing and denouncing the transgressions of corrupt Maltese politicians and those politically exposed, despite facing decades of intimidation, threats and lawsuits against her and being arrested twice by the Maltese police. The 53-year-olds popular blog Running Commentary relentlessly investigated Maltese kleptocracy, clientelism, nepotism, tax evasion, and other criminal activity such as use of the island by Russian oligarchs for money laundering and Libyan syndicates as a base for smuggling oil to southern Europe. Caruana Galizias work, the sheer brazenness of her assassination and the lawlessness that it implies, have helped lay bare the cesspit of illicit organised and financial crime in Malta, which is a full European Union member. Caruana Galizia left her home in Bidnija just before 3pm on the afternoon of her murder with the intention of reopening her bank account. It had been frozen because Maltese economy minister Christian Cardona filed a libel charge one of 47 pending lawsuits against her. Recommended Family of murdered Malta journalist claims killer is being protected The charge stemmed from an article she had published about Mr Cardona allegedly visiting a brothel while travelling to Germany on official business. She suspected her phone was bugged, so had arranged a meeting to discuss her frozen account in person at the bank. But she never made it. A remote-controlled bomb had been planted under the drivers seat of her car, and it detonated a short distance from her home. Her car was thrown off the road in a deadly explosion. Her murder attracted widespread local and international reaction. Thousands of Maltese took to the streets of the small Mediterranean island, marching against the so-called mafia state. Caruana Galizias family made it known that they did not want either Maltas prime minister or president, both of whom had been subjects of Caruana Galizias criticism, to attend her funeral. A year later, her family deplore the lack of progress that seems to have been made in the investigation. It appears that absolutely nothing is happening. When we asked for updates, the response from the prosecutor was to mock us publicly Matthew Caruana Galizia, her son It appears that absolutely nothing is happening. When we asked for updates, the response from the prosecutor [who is also the attorney general] was to mock us publicly, saying that they cannot provide a running commentary that was the name of my mothers blog, Caruana Galizias son, journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia, tells The Independent. It appears that there is a complete cover up and a complete lack of will to investigate the motive for the assassination and the people who ordered it. The Maltese government offered a 1m (880,000) reward to anyone who could provide concrete information about her murder swiftly after it occurred, but months later in July 2018, home affairs minister Michael Farrugia announced that this had resulted in no real and tangible leads. Caruana Galizias family had earlier accused this minister of disclosing confidential information, which risked sabotaging the investigation into her death, allegations that he denies. A European parliament delegation was sent to Malta on a fact-finding mission in November 2017. It expressed doubts over the independence of the judiciary and the police, and the ability of the authorities to carry out investigations into Maltas most influential people. Flowers and tributes at a shrine for Caruana Galizia (AFP/Getty) Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat condemned the delegation, alleging it chose to meet with a disproportionate number of government critics and that its conclusions were misguided. A few days after the delegations departure from Malta, in the early hours of 4 December 2017, police and army units raided warehouses in the port area of Marsa near Maltas capital, Valletta. Three men brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio, and their associate Vincent Muscat were charged with murder, the criminal use of explosives, criminal conspiracy and involvement in organised crime. According to police, Alfred Degiorgio spent the night before Caruana Galizias murder in Bidnija where he had been observing her movements from a white car on a ridge with a clear line of sight to her house they found a cigarette butt near the parking spot with traces of his DNA. Police allege that Alfred notified his brother when Caruana Galizia left her house that afternoon, and George sent a text message to detonate the car bomb. George and Alfred Degiorgio, and Muscat deny all charges against them and the case is ongoing the three accused assassins were in court on 12 October for the compilation of evidence. The two brothers are also accused of money laundering offences in a separate, concurrent case brought against them when police began to look into their lavish lifestyles. Both men claim to be unemployed, yet own luxury cars and boats, make questionable overseas payments and move huge sums of cash through casinos. Police believe the person who commissioned Caruana Galizias murder is still at large, and the investigation represents a major test for Malta, its judiciary and police. On 5 October 2018, Maltas highest court ruled that the investigation had breached the requirement of independence imposed by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This was due to the fact that the deputy commissioner leading the investigation, as well as his government minister wife, had been subjects of criticism in Caruana Galizias journalism. The magisterial investigation into those who commissioned the bombing is entirely dependent on police evidence. Caruana Galizias family lawyer Tony Murphy tells The Independent that this meant that the magistrate is being asked to use the fruit of a poisoned tree in his investigation. In August, Caruana Galizias family presented a 24-page legal opinion to the Maltese High Commission in London which called for a public inquiry and accused Malta of failing to institute any inquiry into whether the state bears responsibility for her death. Reporter who covered Malta 'Panama Papers' link killed Mr Muscat then ruled out a public inquiry. He said: Investigators need to be given the space to investigate and Im not too sure that a second public inquiry whatever that means can lead to a better result or not. But yesterday he said that that the government will not rule out opening other inquiries once the magisterial inquiry is over. A second public inquiry would differ from the current inquiry, which has a narrower remit in determining who ordered and committed the murder. The family want a judicial inquiry to ask whether Daphnes assassination could have been avoided and if there was any state complicity in it. The international community, and especially the European Union, must not allow it [the Maltese government] to use stalling tactics Matthew Caruana Galizia There is no legal reason why a public inquiry cannot open now, Caruana Galizias son says. The international community, and especially the European Union, must not allow it [the Maltese government] to use stalling tactics. Lamenting the lack of coverage of the fallout from Caruana Galizias murder in state media and the climate for journalists in an opinion piece for the Times of Malta this week, fellow Maltese blogger Manuel Delia recounted receiving threats and accusations of treachery for talking about Caruana Galizias assassination to foreign media. All this would be metaphorical if we did not now live in a country that is different from the country we lived in a year ago. A year ago we lived in a country where a journalist was unbearably harassed. Now we live in a country where a journalist has been killed, he wrote. Voters in Bavaria have delivered a "painful" blow to Angela Merkel's coalition allies in a regional election observers say threatens to further destabilise her crisis-hit government. The Christian Social Union (CSU), partners in Ms Merkel's ruling coalition, lost their majority as they mustered just 37.2% of the vote down more than ten percentage points from 47.7% five years ago, and their worst performance in the state for nearly 70 years. In addition, her junior coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), saw their support in the state halved. "It's going to be turbulent," the Die Welt newspaper said in a banner headline. "The result in Bavaria is a vote against the grand coalition in Berlin." Liberal-minded voters flocked to the German Green party, which finished second with 17.5% of the vote double their total in 2013. The Greens offered voters a more liberal approach to migration in contrast to the CSU, and the party linked environmental conservation to traditional German culture during campaigning. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) also prospered, entering the state legislature with 10.2% of the vote. Recommended Angela Merkel should become the president of the European Commission The CSU has governed Bavaria, a prosperous economic powerhouse home to 13 million people, and has previously held an absolute majority in the state parliament for all but five of the past 56 years. Power struggles in the national government have weighed on the party, which is traditionally more conservative than Ms Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. The two parties have clashed on migration, after the CSU took a hard line on the issue. Recommended Merkel keeps government together after emergency talks on migration "Of course this isn't an easy day for the CSU," Bavaria's governor, Markus Soeder, told supporters in Munich, adding that the party accepted the "painful" result "with humility". "It's not so easy to uncouple yourself from the national trend completely," he added, implying that the situation in Berlin had helped to erode the party's support. Horst Seehofer, the CSU leader who is also Germany's interior minister, has often been involved in internal coalition squabbling in the capital. Mr Seehofer has clashed repeatedly with Ms Merkel about migration since 2015, when he attacked her decision to leave Germany's borders open as refugees crossed the Balkans. In June the two leaders argued over whether to turn back small numbers of asylum-seekers at the German-Austrian border, briefly threatening to bring down the national government. The CSU will now need to form a coalition to govern Bavaria and Mr Soeder said his preference was for a centre-right alliance. Recommended German youths stab journalist then perform Hitler salute That would see the CSU partner with the Free Voters, a local conservative rival that made modest gains to win 11.6%. The Greens are traditionally bitter opponents of the CSU, though they too remain a possible coalition partner. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Polls indicate the CSU and CDU are set for further setbacks in two weeks in an election in the western state of Hesse, where AfD and the Greens are set for further gains. The state is ruled by Merkel's CDU in coalition with the Greens, and a slump in support for the conservatives there would almost certainly further weaken her authority. Additional reporting by agencies For some time now, the narrative of German politics has been the rise of the far-right AfD: from nowhere to a minor but significant party. While the AfD havent gone away, Sundays Bavarian elections show that the story is more complicated. The main way conservatives across Europe have reacted to the rise of right-wing populism has been to steal its clothes. If this is what voters want, then they can have it, the centre right has said. And they can get it from us. Britain is the best successful example of this strategy, where Theresa Mays Tories have eaten Ukip by embracing Brexit, lambasting citizens of nowhere and swelling their poll share to one they have not enjoyed for decades. German police stormed a pharmacy in Colognes main train station to free a woman who had been held hostage by a man for two hours. The suspect, believed to be a 55-year-old Syrian, suffered life-threatening injuries during an operation to rescue the captive, who was slightly hurt and treated at the scene. Moments before taking the woman hostage on Monday, the man lit a Molotov cocktail inside a station restaurant, injuring a 14-year-old girl. The teenager was taken to hospital with burns and another woman was treated for smoke inhalation. Police evacuated the station, one of the biggest in the country, before raiding the pharmacy. Detectives said the hostage-taker's motives were unclear and a terror attack could not be ruled out. "Witnesses told us that the attacker said he belonged to the Islamic State group as he was entering the restaurant, but we cannot confirm this," said Cologne police marshal Klaus Rueschenschmidt. The suspect underwent surgery on critical injuries, including gunshot wounds, on Monday night. The culprit was seriously injured during the access operation and is currently being resuscitated, a police spokesman said. A female hostage is lightly wounded and being treated. Police officers at Cologne railway station in Germany during a hostage situation on 15 October (AFP/Getty Images) The railway station is a busy hub for trains across Germany and Europe and is located next to Cologne's cathedral, a popular tourist attraction. Investigators said they found gas cartridges inside the pharmacy's store room and an ID card for a man known to police for theft, fraud and drug offences. Police said the card likely belonged to the suspect, but they did not name him. The background to the hostage-taking is currently unclear. We are pursuing all avenues of investigation," a police statement said. During negotiations over the hostage, the suspect asked for the release of a Tunisian woman and demanded to be allowed to leave the train station unimpeded, Mr Rueschenschmidt told reporters. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Police appealed for people to wait for official information rather than spreading rumours and speculation. Photos showed armed police officers at the scene, as thousands of passengers and employees were moved out of the station. All trains was stopped, leading to delays and cancellations across western Germany. The station was reopened on Monday night. Germany has deported a Moroccan man who acted as a "book-keeper" for the 9/11 terrorists, 17 years after the deadly attacks. Mounir el Motassadeq, a member of a terrorist organisation known as the called "Hamburg cell", was imprisoned in 2006 after he was convicted of aiding lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and two other al-Qaeda extremists by paying their tuition and rent to keep the pretence that they were students. Almost 3,000 people were killed when two hijacked planes were flown into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001. Two more jets were taken over by terrorists, one crashing into the Pentagon and the other into a field in Pennsylvania. El Motassadeq, who had protested his innocence during the 2006 trial, is now expected to be put on a flight to Marrakesh, Morocco, after being collected from his Hamburg jail cell, where he had served almost 15 years. The 44-year-old was flown by helicopter to the airport on Monday, and then escorted by two heavily armed police officers into a waiting area pending the afternoon flight, news agency dpa International reported. Frank Reschreiter, the Hamburg Interior Ministry spokesman, said el Motassadeq would "leave the country soon" but would not specify exactly when he would be returned to Morocco over fears it could jeopardise the transfer. Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq at a court in Hamburg (AP) "All the necessary procedural steps for this have been ticked off according to plan," Mr Reschreiter said. El Motassadeq, who was raised in a middle-class family, came to Germany in 1993 to study engineering. It was here that he met Atta. He became a suspect after German police realised he held power of attorney over a bank account belonging to Marwan al-Shehhi, the terrorist who flew United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767-200, into the south tower of the World Trade Center. El Motassadeq received credit for time served after his November 2001 arrest. A previous request for early release had been rejected by German courts on the basis that the al-Qaeda man was too dangerous to return to society. A constitutional amendment which bans people from living in public areas has come into force in Hungary, despite criticism from campaigners. The revision hands police the power to issue warnings to anyone seen living on the streets. Penalties for homeless people who receive four warnings within 90 days include jail time or up to six months in a public works programme. The seventh amendment to the Basic Law, as Hungarys constitution is now called, was passed by legislators in June. As well as the crackdown on homeless people, the amendment includes articles which greatly limit the chances of refugees receiving asylum. The amendment is also meant to protect Hungarys Christian culture Courts had declared an earlier attempt by prime minister Viktor Orbans far-right government to outlaw homelessness to be unconstitutional. Writing the ban into the Basic Law makes it harder to challenge legally. Advocates for the homeless say the ban and the threat of jail time for violators are unlikely to solve the issue of rough sleeping, especially when many of those on the streets need medical and psychological care most shelters cant provide. Recommended Soros Foundation sues Hungary over laws targeting NGOs There already have been several unsuccessful attempts for the current homeless care system to absorb those living in the streets, Zoltan Aknai, director of Shelter Foundation, said. Now, authorities are trying to achieve this with tougher measures. The Hungarian government says 9,800 places are available nationwide in shelters for overnight stays and 19,000 in total. It has recently allocated 9.1bn forints (25m) to help the homeless. Unofficial estimates say Budapests homeless population is as high as 30,000 people. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events We are preparing to provide extra assistance to all those living in the streets, Bence Retvari, Ministry of Human Resources state secretary, said about government efforts before winter arrives. Jutka Lakatos, who shares a hut in an industrial area with her husband, told the Associated Press that she hoped the amendment would not be enforced strictly. We trust that after an initial enthusiasm, they will acknowledge that it is totally pointless and nothing will come of it, she said. Additional reporting by agencies Donald Trump has suggested that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi could have been murdered by rogue killers after speaking to the kingdoms ruler, who denied having any involvement in the incident. In comments that drew immediate criticism for his apparent unquestioning acceptance of the Saudi denial, Mr Trump said he was dispatching Mike Pompeo to meet King Salman in Saudi Arabia, a major purchaser of US arms. It sounded to me that maybe this could have been rogue killers, Mr Trump said about his call to the king. Recommended Turkish authorities to search Saudi consulate Mr Trump said he had been told Turkey and Saudi Arabia were working hand in hand to get to the bottom of what happened. Mike Pompeo is leaving literally within an hour or so heading to Saudi Arabia. We are going to leave nothing uncovered, he said. With that being said the king firmly denies any knowledge of it. He didnt really know, maybe, I dont want to get into his mind but it sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers, who knows? Were going to try get to the bottom of it very soon but his was a flat denial. Mr Trumps comments came as Turkey and Saudi Arabia were expected to conduct a joint inspection on Monday of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, nearly two weeks after the disappearance of the 60-year-old Washington Post columnist and writer. The US president had previously said there would be severe punishment for whoever was found to be behind the disappearance of the Saudi writer, who in recent months had left kingdom for the US and who had become increasingly critical of Mohammad Bin Salman, the youthful Crown Prince who has styled himself as a moderniser and assiduously courted US leaders in the worlds of technology, business and the media. How far Mr Trump is prepared to go in punishing a nation the US sees a crucial regional ally and which is the worlds largest producer of crude oil, is unclear. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Asked last week whether he was prepared to back a series of sanctions proposed by a bipartisan group of senators, he responded: It depends on what the sanctions are. Let me give you an example. They are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order. Russia wanted it, China wanted it, we wanted it. We got it and we got all of it, every bit of it. He added: I tell you what I dont want to do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these companies. I dont want to hurt jobs. I dont want to lose an order like that. And you know there are other ways of punishing, to use a word thats a pretty harsh word, but its true. Mr Trumps remarks, made as he left for Florida to see recovery efforts after Hurricane Michael, came as speculation intensified about the fate of the missing journalist. Turkish media has reported that the journalist, once considered close to the Saudi establishment, had been killed by a 15-strong hit squad inside the consulate. Some reports suggested his body was then dismembered and carried away in bags. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The journalists fiancee has said she waited outside the consulate for Mr Khashoggi, while he collected documents for their upcoming wedding. When he did not emerge, she asked what had happened and was told he had left by a rear entrance. CCTV footage shows him entering the building only. The Associated Press said any joint inspection of the Saudi facility in Turkey would be an extraordinary, and perhaps unprecedented move, as embassies and consulates under the Vienna Convention are technically foreign soil and must be protected by host nations. It suggested Saudi Arabia may have agreed to the search in order to appease its Western allies and the international community. How much evidence would remain to be examined two weeks after Mr Khashoggi disappearance is a matter for speculation. Critics of the unelected Saudi regime say the West has frequently overlooked human rights and other abuses in the kingdom to suit its own strategic aims. This include the Saudi-led coalitions bombing of Yemen which the US and UK are actively helping that has led to a humanitarian disaster, its blockade of Qatar and the seizing and shakedown of dozens of Saudi Arabias richest and most influential people earlier this year who were detained at the Ritz Carlton in the capital, Riyadh. Such behaviour, has been going on years, say critics. In 2005, British prime minister Tony Blair shut down an investigation into alleged corruption surrounding a major arms deal involving British firm BAE Systems and the Saudi government. The probe by the Serious Fraud Office was called off after intensive lobbying by the British arms manufacturer and Saudi officials. Mr Blair, who is said to be currently advising the Saudi government in a 9m deal involving the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said to allowing the corruption investigation to continue would endanger Britains security. The British government is in deep denial over its contribution to the high civilian death toll in the campaign to oust Isis from its self-declared capital of Raqqa, Amnesty International said on Monday. The UK was a key partner in the US-led coalitions offensive to liberate the Syrian city from Isis this time last year, following a brutal four-month battle spearheaded by Kurdish forces on the ground and devastating air power from above. But that victory came at a devastating cost for Raqqas inhabitants. More than 1,500 civilians were killed in coalition air and artillery attacks between June and October 2017, according to Airwars, a UK-based independent investigative group that tracks civilian casualties in the fight against Isis. The US, which accounted for around 90 per cent of the air strikes on Raqqa, has so far admitted responsibility for the deaths of around 100 civilians in the city. Hundreds of casualties were also caused by mines and IEDs left by Isis. The RAF carried out some 216 airstrikes in and around the city during the offensive, but the Ministry of Defence has denied that any civilians were harmed as a result. It is now under renewed pressure to reevaluate that claim, and carry out further investigations into its contribution to the civilian death toll. It stretches credibility to breaking point to believe that the MoDs part in the massive aerial bombardment of Raqqa didnt cause even one civilian death, Oliver Sprague, Amnesty International UKs military expert, told The Independent. Rather than focusing on the devastating impacts of this joint bombing operation, the MoD has sought to undermine the credibility of Amnesty when weve published evidence detailing coalition airstrikes that killed civilians, he added. Most of Raqqa still lies in ruins today. Around 80 percent of the city was destroyed in the fighting, according to the UN, and little progress has been made in rebuilding vital infrastructure. It stretches credibility to breaking point to believe that the MoDs part in the massive aerial bombardment of Raqqa didnt cause even one civilian death Oliver Sprague, Amnestys UK military expert The UK has been largely shielded from criticism over its part in the Raqqa campaign due its junior role in comparison to the US. But Amnesty International is not alone in casting doubt on the MoDs claim that it caused no civilian casualties in the city. In written evidence submitted to a Defence Select Committee hearing on UK military operations in Raqqa and Mosul in May, Airwars said regular use by the RAF of the Paveway IV, a 500lb bomb, would likely have caused civilian deaths in the densely populated city. Given the intensity of the strikes and the nature of the city and the number of population in Raqqa, it is a statistical impossibility that no civilians were harmed in these airstrikes, Abdulwahab Tahhan, Syria researcher at Airwars, told The Independent. The use of human shields by Isis documented by several rights groups also contributed to the high civilian toll. "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Show all 20 1 /20 "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria A child injured by an IED explosion in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Children riding a bicycle among destroyed buildings in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Entire neighbourhoods in Raqqa are damaged beyond repair Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the house where seven members of the Badran family were killed in a Coalition strike on 18 July 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the house where seven members of the Badran family were killed in a Coalition strike on 18 July 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Members of the Badran family killed in three separate Coalition air strike on 18 July and 20 August 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria The city of Raqqa in northern Syria has become hardly recognizable to those who try to return after months battle between US-backed forces and the Islamic State terrorist group for control of it. The city has no running water or electricity and homes, business and public squares are mere rubble and debris Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Fayad Mohammed and his daughters Wafa, Fadda and Tamam; Ammar al-Faris; Reem al-Maddad, Yusra Abd-al-Aziz, and baby Razqiya Habib; Jasim Hamal and Salem Hamad. They were among the 16 civilians killed in Coalition air strikes on 12 October 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Men wait by the side of the road for casual labour in Raqqa. Many end up clearing partially destroyed or damaged buildings, a very risky endeavour as many building were mined by IS and civilians are frequently killed and injured by mines Amnesty "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite images showing the Aswad familys building before it was destroyed in a Coalition air strike which killed eight civilians, five of them children, on 28 June 2017 CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the Aswad familys building after it was destroyed in a Coalition air strike which killed eight civilians, five of them children, on 28 June 2017 CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Amal Othman, 13, and her brothers Ammar, 8 and Mahmoud, 17; and Jamal Aswad, 41 four of the eight victims killed in a Coalition air strike on 28 June 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Low-income district west of the Jezra intersection on the western outskirts of Raqqa city destroyed by the Coalition shelling started in June 2017 Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Ali Hassan Nafa; Mahdia Hashish and her husband Hussein Ali; Hussein Hashish, Mohammed Hashish and Hussein Ibrahim Hashish, and Mohammed Ali Hashish Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Harat al Badu, a built up area in central Raqqa, next to the stadium. It was the scene of the final battle in the city between SDF/Coalition forces and IS Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Map showing where the Badran, Hashish, Aswad and Fayab families were living before the coalition air strikes Unosat /Amnesty International Airwars said that a possible reason behind the UKs refusal to acknowledge civilian harm was due to a reliance on observable evidence as proof such as imagery captured by aircraft that showed civilians near the target area while dismissing reliable reports from the ground. In the entire air campaign against Isis in both Syria and Iraq, the UK has conceded responsibility for just one civilian casualty, from a Reaper drone strike in Syria earlier this year despite more than 1,700 RAF air strikes. Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour MP and member of the Committee on Arms Export Controls, said: The governments assertion that no civilians have been killed in 1,700 British strikes, mostly in densely populated urban areas in Mosul and Raqqa, is part of a wider strategy of denial around the consequences of Britains military campaign in Syria and Iraq. Failure to account for the deaths of civilians today imperils civilians tomorrow, he added. An MoD spokesperson said: This has been the most transparent air campaign in history. All RAF missions comply fully with international humanitarian law, are meticulously planned and every care is taken to minimise the effect of our military action on civilians and civilian objects. Amnestys criticism of the UKs role was preceded by a scathing assessment of the coalitions Raqqa campaign as a whole, one year after it declared victory in the city. The rights group said Monday that the coalitions failure to properly investigate claims of civilian casualties was a slap in the face for survivors trying to rebuild their lives. It is completely reprehensible that the coalition refuses to acknowledge its role in most of the civilian casualties it caused, and abhorrent that even where it has admitted responsibility, it accepts no obligation towards its victims, said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty Internationals new secretary general, who recently visited Raqqa. Raqqa's fall: A journey into the heart of Isis failed caliphate In a report released in June, Amnesty International said its own investigation into the coalitions campaign in Raqqa had revealed prima facie evidence that several coalition attacks which killed and injured civilians violated international humanitarian law. A spokesperson for the coalition conceded Monday that the cost of liberating Raqqa came at a very high cost, but insisted there was no alternative. The fighting to liberate the citizens of Raqqa was often house to house against an enemy with no regard for human life that used IEDs and booby traps every step of the way, and Raqqa citizens as human shields, said US army Colonel Sean Ryan. Liberating the citizens of Raqqa was the goal and the other choice would be to let Isis continue to murder, torture, rape and pillage the citizens of Raqqa, and that is simply unacceptable, he added. Mazen Hassoun, a resident of Raqqa who fled in 2014 after Isis killed his brother and now lives in Germany, watched the campaign to liberate his city from afar. The coalition didnt show any respect to the civilian lives, he told The Independent. We all wanted Raqqa to be liberated, but not that way, not by killing thousands of people. As many as 13 million people in Yemen are facing starvation in what could be the worst famine seen anywhere in the world for 100 years, according to the UN. The Middle Eastern nation has been embroiled in violent conflict for more than three years, its people suffering desperate privation and living under the constant threat of air strikes. Heres how the forgotten war started. Who are the two sides? The battle is being fought between Houthi rebels, members of the Zaidi Shia Muslim minority said to be backed by Iran, and Yemeni government forces supported by a 10-nation coalition of mostly Sunni Muslim majority nations led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The foreign powers involved have been accused of exploiting the crisis to expand their respective spheres of interest within the region. The Houthis disillusioned with the reign of President Abbrabbuh Mansur Hadi since he replaced Ali Abdullah Saleh following the Arab Spring uprising of 2011 marched on the capital city of Sanaa from the north in September 2014 and forced him out office. President Hadi fled to Riyadh via the Port of Aden and appealed for help. Saudi Arabia duly retaliated against the rebels in March 2015, raining down brutal air strikes as part of operation Decisive Storm at the instigation of Mohammed bin Salman, the countrys defence minister prior to his accession to position of crown prince. While the Saudi-led coalition began by targeting Houthi military strongholds, its bombing campaign quickly shifted to civilian targets, according to Professor Martha Mundy of the World Peace Foundation (WPF). These included water and transport infrastructure, food production and distribution, roads and transport, schools, cultural monuments, clinics and hospitals, and houses, fields and flocks, the academic states in her recent report on the crisis, The Strategies of the Coalition in the Yemen War: Aerial Bombardment and Food War. The countryside has meanwhile been littered with landmines and other explosive devices as a result of the fighting, posing a further threat to human life on terra firma and making the ploughing of fields impossible. The Saudis allege a million have been laid by the Houthis as a trap for them over the course of the last three years, with an estimated 500,000 left over by al-Qaeda in addition a terror group with whom the state is still battling in the east of Yemen, further complicating the picture. Air strikes hit Sanaa (Reuters) This is one of Yemens toughest problems now. It will take a lifetime to sort, officer Ali Salah told The Independent. Planned peace talks collapsed last month after the Houthi delegation failed to attend, prompting accusations from the Yemeni foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani they were trying to sabotage the negotiations. But Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi insisted his side had been deliberately prevented from being able to attend by strategic road blocks. Why are the US and UK supporting Saudi Arabia? While the UK, the US and France have called on the two sides to negotiate a peace settlement, all three have been roundly criticised for failing to stand up to Saudi Arabia to protect their commercial interests. The UK has sold more than 4.6bn worth of arms to the Saudis since the beginning of the Yemeni conflict in March 2015, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, including aircraft, drones, grenades, missiles and tanks. A poll published in September by YouGov for Save the Children and Avaaz meanwhile found that 63 per cent of the British public oppose the British government allowing sales to continue, with just 13 per cent supporting the trade. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, previously CIA director, recently elected to continue US support for the Saudi air strikes rather than risk $2bn (1.5bn) of weapon sales to the Gulf. According to The Wall Street Journal, reporting on a leaked memo, Mr Pompeo overruled concerns from most of the state department specialists involved in the debate who were worried about the rising civilian death toll in Yemen. While the UK and US do not participate in the Saudi-led bombings, the US provides aerial refuelling and logistical support while UK military personnel are stationed in command and control centres. For its part, Spain cancelled its arms deal with Riyadh over concerns about the war, paying back the 7.8m it had already received in payment for laser-guided bombs. How many people have died or been forced to flee as refugees? At least 7,641 people have been killed in the conflict and millions displaced, although the total is thought to be closer to 10,000. In August 2018, the bloodiest month of fighting so far this year, 981 civilians were killed, 300 of whom were children, according to the UNs Human Rights Office. Prior to that, 6,660 civilians were killed and 10,563 injured between March 2015 and August this year, according to conservative estimates from the UN. Why is Yemen on the brink of a famine? Strict Saudi blockades and travel restrictions have prevented food and aid reaching Yemen, causing the price of food within the country to skyrocket and leaving desperate families unable to afford basic supplies from markets. The WPF report, accusing the Saudi coalition of using starvation as a weapon of war to create untenable conditions for the Houthis, states that no fewer than 220 fishing boats have been destroyed by bombs along the countrys Red Sea coast. This has meant the local fish catch is down by 50 per cent. 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 Air strikes on the Port of Hodeida in June likewise appear a deliberate attempt to disable a facility from which 70 per cent of imports enter Yemen. Coalition forces cut a crucial supply route between Sanaa and Hodeida in September. The prevailing hardships as a result of bomb-damage have hit supplies of electricity and fuel, making basic arable farming difficult, while ranchers have been forced to sell their cattle to make ends meet. As a result of all this, almost three-quarters of Yemens 27.58 million population are currently reliant on aid. Of that total of approximately 22.2 million, 8.4 million are starving, 1.8 million of those being children, according to Unicef. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events When The Independent visited a hospital in Mukalla in the countrys south in August, medical staff reported they were struggling to cope with the influx of malnourished people. The problem is not funding but space we have only six beds and can treat a maximum of 35 people a month. We are forced to turn people away, Dr Abha Abdalla said. It is bleak. We are losing the fight against famine, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock recently told the Security Council. Yemen could face the worst famine in the world in 100 years if fighting continues, the United Nations has warned, as The Independent learned an official declaration of famine would likely be announced in just a few weeks. Lise Grande, the UNs coordinator for Yemen, said that as many as 13 million civilians could die from starvation if a Saudi Arabia-led coalition does not halt its bombardment of the impoverished country. More than 10,000 people have already been killed in the fighting and 3 million internally displaced since the Gulf alliance began bombing the country in 2015 to oust the Shia Houthi rebels. I think many of us felt as we went into the 21st century that it was unthinkable that we could see a famine like we saw in Ethiopia ... Yet the reality is that in Yemen that is precisely what we are looking at, Ms Grande told the BBC. We should be ashamed and we should, every day that we wake up, renew our commitment to do everything possible to help the people that are suffering and to end the conflict, she added. Ms Grandes comments came as The Independent learned that in the coming weeks international bodies, including the UN, were likely to raise the integrated food security phase classification (IPC) to five, which means an official declaration of famine. The IPC is a global scale, initially developed by the UN, to classify levels of hunger in order to trigger an international response. At the moment Yemen is at level four, which means it is on the brink of famine. The last country to be declared a level 5 was South Sudan last year. Yemen has been ripped apart by war since the spring of 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition began bombing the country to reinstate its Sunni ally president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Months previously Mr Hadi had been chased out of the country by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels that have repeatedly launched long-range missiles at Saudi Arabia. The Gulf coalition has meanwhile enforced a land, sea and air blockade on the country, impacting food and fuel supplies. Both sides of the conflict have been accused of contributing to the devastating humanitarian crisis which is currently the worlds largest. The UN estimate a staggering 22 million people, or three-quarters of the population, rely on aid to survive. Aid workers on the ground said that conditions have deteriorated since the currency collapsed, seeing food prices double over the month. In total, the charity Save the Children now estimates that 50,000 children under the age of five could die from malnutrition this year alone, which is an average of 130 a day. 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 Sylvia Ghaly, from Save the Children, said she saw women in Hodeidah too hungry to breastfeed and so were forced to resort to feeding their newborns water and sugar. Parents were regularly skipping meals. Children are half the size they should be for their age: a seven-year-old might look four. You can see their rib cages, Ms Ghaly told The Independent from Sanaa. If it wasnt for humanitarian aid, Yemen would have already collapsed into famine. But no amount of aid can support the growing number of people in need. This is a catastrophic, manmade humanitarian crisis, we need to put all our efforts to put a peaceful end to this conflict. Jan Egeland, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, agreed. Malnutrition centre in Mukalla, Yemen provides care for children suffering hunger and famine Civilians in Yemen are not starving, they are being starved, he said on Monday. Let it be known that the worst famine on our watch is wholly manmade by Yemens local conflict parties and their international sponsors, he said. Amid fears of an impending famine are concerns there could be a renewed outbreak of related diseases, such as cholera, which is spreading almost unchecked as the battles rage on. Civilians in Yemen are not starving, they are being starved Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the NRC According to Save The Children, there has been a 170 per cent increase in suspected cholera cases since June, when the new Hodeidah offensive was launched. They said malnutrition, displacement and air strikes on water supplies could spark a new wave of the disease nationwide. Resist the temptation to go into hibernation this winter and sign up for an adrenaline-boosting Arctic adventure instead. Here are eight of the best. Sign up for a survival course in the Finnish wilderness Build your own snow shelter in Finnish Lapland The Arctic Circle conjures up images of rosy-nosed reindeers and gift-laden elves, but its also got a dark side and were not talking about the potential over exploitation of Santas workforce, either, but bone-chilling temperatures, wild animals and, during the winter, endless hours of darkness. To learn how to conquer this challenging wilderness, sign up for a survival course in Finnish Laplands Pyha-Luosto national park youll learn about the psychology of survival, how to cook Rudolph sorry, reindeer over an open fire and how to build a snow shelter, which youll then sleep in. From 266pp for a day/night workshop Kiss a wolf in Norway Its time to pucker up (Wolf Lodge) Spend the night at the Wolf Lodge, part of northern Norways Polar Park. This cosy chalet is inside a huge enclosure which is home to a pack of semi-wild wolves, so dont be surprised to find them peering through the floor-to-ceiling windows at night. Come morning, youll be able to experience a more intimate encounter with these fearsome predators. Your guide will lead you outside into the snowy enclosure where hell summon the wolves with a howl or two, giving you the opportunity to experience a wolf kiss. Breath mints not included. Wolf visits from 281pp Join a northern lights photography workshop Learn how to snap the northern lights provided you actually manage to see them Photographing the northern lights is a complicated business and if you dont know your ISO from your aperture, increase your chances of snapping natures most spectacular light show with a photography-themed exploration of Finlands Riisitunturi national park. Its a great way to discover one of the countrys most beautiful areas, too to get the perfect shot, youll have to hike up rugged fells and battle through snowdrifts before restoring energy levels with delicious, traditional Finnish fare, cooked over a camp fire. From 641pp Say hello to Santa in Rovaniemi, Finland Meet Santa or somebody resembling him in Finland (Santa Claus Village) Every year more than 500,000 people visit Father Christmas at his home on the outskirts of Rovaniemi, Finland; and since 1985, hes received more than 15 million letters at Santa Claus Village. The bearded one seems to be a bit of an entrepreneur, offering visitors the chance to sign up for lessons at elf school or for husky and reindeer rides, before bedding down in an igloo hotel. If you visit, dont forget to walk across the official line marking the beginning of the Arctic Circle. The village straddles the border and youll be able to request a certificate confirming your entry. There are three-night packages that include airport transfers and a host of activities, such as an Arctic Circle crossing ceremony; 3km reindeer or 5km husky safaris; an Arctic animal wildlife park day trip; a private meting with Santa; and a northern lights safari. From 864 per adult and 608 per child (aged 2-14 years), full board Admire the aurora borealis in the Yukon, Canada Forget Scandinavia head to Canadas remote Yukon for the best chance of seeing the northern lights (Yukon) Most people head to Norway, Sweden or Finland for the northern lights, but in the remote Yukon, in north-west Canada, the chances of a stray selfie stick ruining your carefully planned photo are slim to none. On Arctic Ranges day-long aurora borealis viewing tours youll admire the dancing lights from a dedicated viewing platform while learning about the chemical light reactions which create them, and the First Nation legends theyve inspired. From 75pp Sleep in the original ice hotel, in Sweden This years Ice Hotel opens on 14 December (Ice Hotel) The original ice hotel can be found near Kiruna, Sweden, and this year will fling open its doors on 14 December. The themes are yet to be revealed, although its been confirmed guests will be able to sleep with the frozen fishes in an ice suite inspired by an aquarium, with another ice suite to resemble a sweet shop. Some 33 artists from 13 countries will help design this years hotel and guests will be able to sign up for a chefs table experience, during which theyll enjoy delicious cuisine presented on plates made from ice. From 1,117pp for a three-night package, B&B, including flights Sail across the Arctic Circle Twelve days around the Arctic on a Hurtigruten cruise (Hurtigruten) Dont make the mistake of confusing Hurtigruten with your typical cruise line. Those who set sail on its 12-day Classic Round Voyage along Norways coastline and into the Arctic Circle, opt for Berghaus over ball gowns. Theres no standing on ceremony either, especially during northern lights season October to March proof of which is the in-room alarm system which announces the lights appearance dont be surprised to find a stampede of pyjama-clad, camera-wielding passengers making a dash for the top deck. You can add a wide range of excursions too, including snowmobile tours, husky rides and mountain hikes. From 986pp, excluding flights Surf inside the Arctic Circle in Norway Youll have the freezing cold waves of the Arctic Circle to yourself Surf the Arctic Circle and youll have the waves to yourself with the chances of sand migrating to your nether regions pretty slim, too mainly because the freezing temperatures make dry suits compulsory. In the 1960s, Thor Frantzen and Hans Egil Krane surfed Norways waves for the first time on homemade boards, built using the shape of the ones theyd seen on a Beach Boys album as a guide. They set up a camping and surfboard rental business which was later taken over by Frantzens daughter and turned into a surf school. Today, lessons take place 365 days a year at Unstad Arctic Surf the worlds northernmost surf school although the most spectacular time of year is undoubtedly winter, when adrenaline junkies can hang ten beneath the northern lights. One-hour lessons from 149pp Ryanairs closure of bases and fleet reductions are being seen as punishment for the recent strikes across Europe, according to pilot and cabin crew unions. The low cost airline has announced it is closing two bases from 5 November one in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and the other in Bremen, Germany and reducing its fleet at Niederrhein, Germany, from five to three aircraft. The move was dubbed a declaration of war by Arthur van de Hudding, president of Dutch pilots union VNV. Recommended Ryanair profits warning wipes 10 per cent off airline value If the Ryanair management thinks closing bases is a quick and cheap solution to labour unrest and the court in the Netherlands sees it differently they are naive at best and antagonistic at worst, he said. It will never be tolerated by Ryanair employees to de facto curtail their right to strike. We urge Ryanair to keep its station in the Netherlands, to face up to its responsibility and come back to the negotiating table rather than run away and punish anyone who stays behind. It could well jeopardise Ryanairs aim that agreements be reached with unions by Christmas, says Martin Locher, president of German pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit: Forcing pilots and cabin crew to change locations or lose their jobs and incomes is certainly not what we need to build trust and a solid basis for negotiation. If Ryanair is serious about reaching an agreement by Christmas, then such behaviour is not helpful at all. ECA President Dirk Polloczek, speaking on behalf of trade union leaders from across Europe, added: Its hard to imagine how Ryanair can seriously expect to come to an agreement with the unions when such threats are hanging in the air. The pilot unions demand the immediate withdrawal of station closures in Eindhoven and Bremen as well as the reduction of the station on the Lower Rhine. We call on Ryanair management to abandon its confrontational and counterproductive policies. Simon Calder explains Ryanair profit warning Ryanair staff in Germany joined the Unteilbar demonstration on 13 October, which saw more than 240,000 people take to the streets in Berlin to protest the far right. Participants who work for the low cost airline wore T-shirts and carried banners reading Rights at Ryanair!. Ryanair has disputed the claims that it is punishing staff for industrial action by closing bases and moving jobs. It has cited deteriorating market conditions characterised by higher oil prices and declining air fares as the reasons behind the decision. Ryanairs Kenny Jacobs said: The closure of two Ryanair bases in Eindhoven and Bremen, and a reduction from five to three aircraft in Niederrhein is a small but necessary response to these adverse circumstances. Ryanair has already warned that if oil prices continue to rise, or if air fares continue to fall, we cannot rule out further base closures or capacity cuts in Germany or other EU countries. These regrettable closures are due to adverse market conditions, and we dismiss these false claims made by Lufthansa pilots under the banner of the ECA. Europe's largest airline recently suffered a 10 per cent dip in its share price after cutting the latest profits forecast by 150m (133m). UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that her government has been clear and "cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of the United Kingdom". Speaking to parliament on Monday afternoon following the failure of the weekend Brexit talks, Mrs May said that she needs to be able to look British people in the eye and say this backstop is temporary. "I am clear..we are not going to be trapped permanently in a single customs territory," she said. Brexit negotiations are on a knife-edge after a hastily-arranged meeting on Sunday between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab broke up without a breakthrough. Expand Close Planning ahead for Brexit: Tanaiste Simon Coveney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Planning ahead for Brexit: Tanaiste Simon Coveney Discussions were said to have broken down after EU negotiators demanded a "backstop to the backstop" to prevent a return of a "hard border" between Northern Ireland and the Republic. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed the backstop - which would effectively keep Northern Ireland in the single market while a permanent solution is found - should apply to the whole of the UK. However it is understood the EU is insisting it should be backed up by the original Northern Ireland-only backstop as it first proposed. That could lead to customs checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK - effectively imposing a "border in the Irish Sea" - something Mrs May has said is unacceptable. On Monday, Mrs May said that Britain and the European Union should not allow their disagreements over the Irish border leave the two sides facing a no-deal Brexit. "We cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with a no deal outcome that no-one wants," May told parliament. She said that a future economic partnership should provide solutions for Northern Ireland and that the backstop is intended to be an insurance policy for the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "We will be working to ensure the point when we no longer need a backstop comes as soon as possible," she said. Earlier Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that a no deal Brexit will be "really bad for Ireland, relatively bad for the European Union but quite a disaster for the United Kingdom". Mr Varadkar said there is still time to secure a withdrawal agreement despite the latest round of negotiations hitting a stalemate over the border question. However, he admitted it could now be December before we see the vital breakthrough. "Nobody knows for sure. The date on which the UK leaves the European Union is the end of March next year. Any withdrawal agreement requires parliamentary approval. "In order to meet that timeline wed have to have a deal before the end of this year. The initial target was October, thats now slipped to November," he said, adding that if it cant be done next month there is a regular meeting of EU leaders scheduled for December. Asked whether there is still room for the EU to compromise on the so-called Irish backstop, Mr Varadkar replied: "Were always open to compromise. As the European Union, of course we are. "But there are some fundamentals that we cant compromise on and that is the need for the United Kingdom to honour the commitments it made last December which is that we will have a withdrawal agreement and as part of that there must be a legally operable and legally binding assurance that no matter what happens, that no hard border will emerge on the island of Ireland." He said this country is preparing for a 'no deal' scenario "even though we dont believe its the likely outcome". "Were hiring the necessary customs, veterinary and other officials who are making the necessary adaptions to the ports and airports that would be needed in an no deal scenario and also needed in a deal scenario. "The difference in a no-deal is that the changes will be greater and they won't be quicker. Mr Varadkar added: "We are at a sensitive stage at the moment. I know some people were optimistic about an agreement on the withdrawal and on protocol this week. I always thought that was unlikely. I figure November or December is probably the best opportunity for a deal. Its a dynamic situation." Read More Arriving in Brussels for an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Tanaiste Simon Coveney said Dublin and the EU simply wanted Theresa May to follow through with backstop agreements already made in March and December. He told reporters "a backstop can't be time-limited", adding: "The backstop will be there unless and until something else is agreed, but unless you have something to replace it well then the backstop needs to be there as an insurance mechanism. "That is all we are asking for, that's all the Michel Barnier taskforce is also looking for now in terms of legal text. I think we are frustrated but were still pretty calm about that. I think everybody would have liked to see clarity this week on the withdrawal agreement. Time is moving on. Ratification mechanisms are going to take time. He said a real effort had been made over the past 10 days by the two negotiating teams so that a set of recommendations would be ready for this Wednesday. We want to see an outcome here that settles nerves and brings a sensible Brexit. For us its about following through on the commitments that have already been made. Were not looking for anything new here, he said. Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster is meeting Leo Varadkar for a private dinner in Dublin this evening. It is understood she will stress a desire for a strong relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to continue post-Brexit. She will tell Mr Varadkar that she wants to see a deal that works for both jurisdictions. It is understood Mrs Foster will seek to strike a conciliatory tone with Mr Varadkar after a year that has seen relations between the pair fray over Brexit. On her visit to Dublin, Mrs Foster will also meet Micheal Martin, the leader of main opposition party Fianna Fail. She also will meet a leading cardiologist to discuss a cross-border heart service that treats children from both sides of the border and visit St Patrick's Church of Ireland cathedral. Upgrades to ports, an electricity line to the continent, and loans for farmers and businesses are among hundreds of millions of euro in planned financing by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help combat the threat of Brexit. The bank's vice-president Andrew McDowell said it recognises Ireland's "unique exposure to the potential downsides of Brexit and that's why we've stepped up our activity". The EIB will be contributing to around 300m in low-cost loans for investment by farmers and businesses seeking to diversify their markets. The EIB is also offering a considerable proportion of the financing of a 200m expansion of Cork Port and is also looking at supporting a similar project in Dublin to help "create new direct shipping lines into continental Europe". There are also proposals for it to back the Celtic Inter-connector Project for a direct power line to the continent. PROPERTY sales to UK-based buyers have increased by 10pc over the past year, putting pressure on the already stretched housing market. New data has found that almost half of estate agents nationwide have seen an increase in enquiries from the UK for properties here over the past year with Brexit on the horizon. The data from estate agents all over Ireland show that Brexit is proving to be double-edged sword which is helping to drive sales of property but also putting further pressure on the stretched market. Buyers are a mix of Irish emigrants who want to return home, British workers who want to relocate to Ireland or those who wish to retire here. Expand Close Theresa May Photo: Matt Dunham/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Theresa May Photo: Matt Dunham/PA Wire Sales to UK-based buyers have now increased by 10pc on average over the past year. And the majority of homebuyers are looking at middle market properties. Read More While the average house price in the State is 234,824, 20pc of sales to UK buyers are ranked higher in price, standing generally at between 250,000-300,000 with 22pc between 300,000-500,000. The survey also showed that almost one in five property transactions from the UK was directly caused as a result of Brexit. Overall, this translated into more than one in 20 sales coming from the UK. Although the buyers include Irish emigrants returning home, there is a significant number who have never lived here but want to relocate. UK buyers make up 11pc of overall enquiries and 6pc of sales in the Irish market, with our agents reporting an average of five sales each last year, up 10pc on the previous 12 months, said REA spokesperson Barry McDonald. While 52pc of enquiries are coming from returned emigrants, 28pc have no previous connection with the country, which we would note as a significant shift. Jobs Overall, 12pc of UK enquiries were caused by jobs moving directly from the UK to Ireland. We see 17pc of enquiries to REA agents citing Brexit as a direct reason for moving to Ireland, said Mr McDonald. Read More We find that 23pc are coming to live and work in Ireland, which is up from 16pc in our comparable 2016 survey. While the majority will be working in Ireland full-time, a sizeable number will be working from home and one in five of these intends to commute. The typical UK buyer is looking for a rural property (55pc). Expand Close Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA The survey also shows that 27pc are buying for retirement, 16pc are investors, 11pc are looking for a change in lifestyle, and 8pc are buying holiday homes. Almost 40pc were from London or the south east of England. Brexit negotiations Meanwhile, speculation is mounting that a deal on Brexit could be in the offing ahead of this weeks crunch European summit. However, the future of the Irish Border was the key sticking point in talks yesterday. Last night EU ambassadors were summoned to a meeting with Europes chief negotiator Michel Barnier after he had an unexpected meeting with UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab. The move raised expectations that there was an agreement on the horizon and there were reports that a divorce deal between the EU and the UK could be announced as early as today. But Mr Barnier last night dampened any such expectations, saying no agreement had yet been reached. He said that, despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open. Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responds to Prime Minister Theresa May update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations in the House of Commons, London. PA Wire Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire Prime Minister Theresa May urged the European Union on Monday not to allow a stand-off over the so-called Irish backstop to derail Brexit talks, saying she believed a deal was still achievable in the coming weeks. Addressing a rowdy session of parliament before she headed to Brussels for a summit on Wednesday, May was upbeat about the chances of a deal, but repeated she would not agree to anything that could split the United Kingdom. With less than six months before Britain leaves the bloc, talks stalled at the weekend over how to ensure there is no return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. The stalemate has increased the possibility of Britain leaving the bloc without an agreement, a "no deal Brexit" which could potentially disrupt trade, delay movement of goods, and starve the world's fifth largest economy of investment. Expand Close Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire "It is frustrating that almost all the remaining points of disagreement are focused on how we manage a scenario which both sides hope should never come to pass and which, if it does, would only be temporary," May said. "We cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with a 'no-deal' outcome that no-one wants," she told parliament. Underlining the economic importance of Brexit, the head of British-headquartered pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca said it would keep its freeze on manufacturing investments in the country unless a deal provides clarity about future ties. The 2016 referendum on membership of the EU deeply divided Britain, and those rifts were on show in parliament, where May received more demands for reassurance than words of support from lawmakers, even those in her own Conservative Party. Expand Close Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the House of Commons, London, with an update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations. PA Wire May tried to explain the obstacles, which she described as largely technical, that had scuppered any hope of agreement in the talks in Brussels on Sunday. She said the EU had stuck to a proposal of keeping Northern Ireland in its customs union if a UK-wide plan was not ready to be put in place when a transitional arrangement runs out at the end of 2020. Expand Close Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responds to Prime Minister Theresa May update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations in the House of Commons, London. PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responds to Prime Minister Theresa May update on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations in the House of Commons, London. PA Wire May insists any customs arrangement as part of the backstop must be temporary, ending at the latest in December 2021, but the EU has refused to set an end date. May described that as asking for "a backstop to a backstop" and said again Northern Ireland could not be treated differently from the rest of Britain. "As I have said many times, I could never accept that, no matter how unlikely such a scenario may be," she said. But May still faces a struggle to ease the concerns of not only the EU, but of her Conservative Party and her partners in parliament, Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The DUP's Nigel Dodds pressed May for new reassurance that she will stand by her words about Britain leaving as one country, rolling his eyes when she answered by repeating familiar phrases. May also needs to try to keep eurosceptics in her party on board. Her former foreign minister turned loudest critic, Boris Johnson, pressed her to put a firm time limit on any backstop, fearful it could keep Britain in the EU's sphere indefinitely. EU leaders expressed disappointment that the backstop row had sunk the possibility of a deal at the weekend, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying "at the moment it actually looks a bit more difficult". Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said any deal would now "take a bit more time than many people had hoped". But a spokesman for May expressed hope, saying there were "a number of means of achieving what we want to achieve" on the backstop, but declined to give details. And, in a change of tone, Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP, said she also hoped for a "sensible" Brexit. "I very much hope that we do get a deal," she told reporters. "We want to see a sensible Brexit, one that works for Northern Ireland, but also one that works for our colleagues and friends in the Republic of Ireland." Irish firms are being warned that their ability to cope with Brexit could be undermined because of their UK-based suppliers and customers' lack of preparations. New research shows six out of 10 UK businesses have not undertaken any risk assessment ahead of the UK exit from the European Union. Irish exporters in particular have been targeted with initiatives from agencies including Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, including a voucher scheme for professional advice, a loan scheme and funds to support market diversification. However, Mark O'Rourke, managing director of SME-focused lender Bibby Financial Services Ireland, says research commissioned by his firm's UK-based parent highlights a major area of concern, in the lack of preparation among UK business that Irish firms rely on for cross-border trade. "This research highlights a lack of preparedness amongst UK SMEs. This means that regardless of how organised Irish SMEs are, if their UK counterparts haven't taken the necessary steps to prepare for Brexit, there will be challenges ahead," he said. "Irish SMEs need to take steps to insulate themselves from the potential ill-effects of the UK's departure from the EU and ensure they are equipped, because despite the transition period, Brexit is going to happen and businesses need to prepare. Irish SMEs will need to be flexible enough to manage whatever scenario arises," he said. Bibby Financial Services, in partnership with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), conducted one of the biggest surveys of UK business opinion since the referendum, based on a survey of more than 2,500 firms from across the UK. It found that 62pc of UK SMEs have yet to do a Brexit risk assessment, with under six months to go. The UK government last week issued a new batch of papers on its preparations for a possible no-deal Brexit. The stark conclusions included warning companies to close cross-border mergers ahead of the February Brexit deadline, and a further call to drugs firms to stockpile supplies. At home, drinks industry group the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI), said a no-deal Brexit would be disastrous for the industry, delaying and disrupting 23,000 cross-border truck movements, applying unnecessary tariffs on supply chains and putting 364m worth of trade between the UK and Ireland at risk. Director of ABFI Patricia Callan said the Irish drinks industry is a highly integrated all-island business. "Brexit could be highly disruptive, particularly if there was to be a disastrous no-deal." Under fire: Arlene Fosters appearance at the Donegal v Fermanagh GAA match in June is still proving contentious among DUP members. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile EU hopes of a break in the Brexit impasse were dashed last night after British Prime Minister Theresa May refused to endorse a draft deal struck with the EU by her own negotatiors. British officials agreed a detailed proposal which would effectively mean Britain remaining a part of the European customs union for the forseeable future. It was the first time a Brexit blueprint had been agreed by both sets of negotiators. The EU had expected Mrs May to be prepared to announce the outline of a deal as soon as today and the UK's Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab travelled to Brussels yesterday for an unscheduled meeting with EU negotiator Michel Barnier. EU ambassadors were also called for an unprecedented Sunday meeting to endorse the final blueprint. However, at the 11th hour, Mr Raab set out a series of British concerns over the plan, and all further talks were suspended until Wednesday, when Mrs May will travel to Brussels for a Brexit summit with other EU leaders. Sources said the main source of conflict centred around Britain's refusal to agree to a backstop unless it had a finite end date to ensure both the DUP and Brexit-backing ministers could support it. Crucially, it is understood that the EU was ready to compromise on the backstop plan and agree to a new form of words to ensure Mrs May could get the support of her own party and push forward with a deal by the end of this month. Last night, it was unclear whether Downing Street had effectively put the talks on hold to allow Mrs May more time to win over Brexiteers in the cabinet. Mrs May now faces the growing prospect of cabinet resignations over the impasse. Downing Street is today launching a frantic round of meetings with backbenchers in an attempt to get them on side by explaining the detail behind the compromise. However, there is also growing concern in both Westminster and Brussels that the prime minister may have been warned that the deal is "unsellable" and that she may not have the political backing to sign up to the blueprint at this week's summit. This would leave the talks in crisis. Michel Barnier last night dampened expectations of any deal, saying that no agreement had yet been reached. He said that "despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open", including the backstop. Senior Government sources here were also cautious on the prospect of a deal this week and raised concerns over the "tumultuous" situation in the UK's internal politics. Read more: UK Brexit Secretary Raab heads to Brussels as Theresa May faces potential mutiny Mrs May faces revolt in the Conservative Party and a crucial cabinet meeting tomorrow where she must win ministers over to her Brexit plan. The DUP - whose support Mrs May needs to stay in power - is vehemently opposed to any backstop that would see Northern Ireland treated any differently to the rest of the United Kingdom. "I fully appreciate the risks of a 'no deal' but the dangers of a bad deal are worse," DUP leader Arlene Foster said yesterday. She is to travel to Dublin today for discussions with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Over the weekend, reports in German media said Theresa May was due to strike a deal today where the UK stays in a customs union to avoid a hard border. In a memo obtained by German newspaper 'Suddeutsche Zeitung', senior EU negotiators predicted yesterday would be the day when "a deal is done, and nothing is made public (in theory)." According to the timetable, the agreement would then be formally announced today in London, followed by a joint statement in Brussels from Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier. The reports were quickly denied by British government officials. Last night, Government sources here said there was "no guarantee" a deal would happen this week and, while they hope a withdrawal agreement can be agreed, "there's still a lot of work to do". Another senior source said that while progress was being made in the talks, internal UK politics were making a deal "more difficult". The EU is said to be "holding firm" on the position that there has to be a legally operable backstop in any withdrawal agreement. Another source said the British cabinet meeting tomorrow could have a "huge" impact on the prospect of a deal. Sources here insisted there is no concern that political instability in Mr Varadkar's Fine Gael-led minority Government will have an impact on the talks going on in Brussels. The Taoiseach is to attend the European Council summit this week. However, he is to meet Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin as early as today to discuss how to avoid an election here during the crucial Brexit talks. In the current climate of companies having to work hard to attract - and retain - talent, they'd do well to keep them happy when they're on the road. And a new poll of corporate travellers has again highlighted the trend for travellers to demand convenience and comfort over frills. The poll by business travel group Egencia found that 90pc of respondents enjoy travelling for work - but direct flights, convenient travel times and good hotel locations are more important than flying business class or earning card loyalty points. The one business class perk they do want, however, is fast-track security at airports - again revealing how this part of the trip is the one giving the most grief. On a list of priorities, around one in three want to be able to travel direct while another 22pc want their travel management team to select convenient travel times and 30pc want to be able to select travel times that suit them as individuals. Hotel-wise, business travellers want convenience and safety in terms of locations - and it's one area where they (one in three surveyed) complain about penny-pinching by their companies' travel managers. And, in a continuing trend, travellers - who are used to booking and amending their own holiday travel plans on apps - want the same power when it comes to heading away for work, with almost half wanting some control over the planning process, or alterations to their trips. "While travel managers are still expected to deliver savings, the stakes are now much higher," argues Wendy White, Egencia's VP of marketing. "The modern travel manager knows that and will set the travel programme to play a determining role in shaping the company culture." The latest research follows another study, by the Global Business Travel Association, which also shows how millennial travellers don't see luxury as a key factor when out of the country. It found that they're more likely to avoid ordering extras such as room service (66pc) or coffee and snacks (70pc) compared to their Generation X or Baby Boomer colleagues - even when their travel policy allows it. And far from being fussy, they're more likely to dine on the cheap, using restaurant delivery services to their hotel, than older colleagues, who prefer to push the boat out, in highly-rated restaurants in their destination. n The tech giants believe that augmented reality - which can overlay virtual objects in the real world in real time - could be a game-changer in the travel sector. Already Google Maps is preparing an option for logged-in users that will spotlight recommendations for restaurants and hotels based on the user's past likes and reviews. And Apple believes that with its latest chips it can make augmented reality more mainstream, and is looking to developers to come up with uses. In the travel sector, for instance, it highlights a prototype being developed by American Airlines which will overlay flight information and directions to your gate through airports as you look through your phone. Other uses would be a virtual walkaround of your hotel room and surroundings, to see if its fits the bill, and TripAdvisor, for one, has been looking at such uses. And Dutch airline KLM - which tends to pioneer phone-based tech and robotics - has found a use for augmented reality. Back in September, it introduced the technology to its phone app, pictured, and you can check if your hand baggage is the right size for the overhead compartment on your flight by using its digital sizer (a transparent, virtual suitcase) and placing it on top of your real-life luggage through your phone camera's lens. Now, the airline has gone one step further, and the process has been added to Apple's iMessenger service, for Apple users with iPhone 6 models and above. Messenger has proved successful with passengers, who sign up to it via the airline's main website, and are already using it to receive boarding passes and flight boarding updates. An artists impression of the proposed scheme in London Ballymore Group founder Sean Mulryan's faith in London's capacity to withstand the challenges of Brexit looks to be as strong as ever judging by his latest deal. According to a report in UK property bible, Estates Gazette, the Roscommon-born developer has entered into a joint venture with the hugely-wealthy Kwok family with a view to delivering a 1bn skyscraper scheme in the Isle of Dogs in the city's docklands. Land Registry records show the partnership paid 50.8m (58m) to developer Galliard to acquire two sites from with planning permission for six residential towers rising to 44 storeys. The Millharbour Quarter will comprise a total of 1,513 homes at Millwall Dock. The transaction was conducted through Great Eastern Nominee 1 and 2, which list Sean Mulryan, his son and Ballymore's UK's managing director, John Mulryan, and board members of the Kwok family's Sung Hung Kai Properties, as directors. The Millharbour Quarter deal is one of the largest residential deals in the central London market this year, Estates Gazette reports. Earlier this year, Ballymore and another of its Asian partners, Oxley Holdings, headquartered in Singapore, signalled its intention to enter the expanding build-to-rent (BTR) sector in London's docklands. They are seeking 150m in funding from an investor to deliver 272 new rental homes at Deanston Wharf. Commenting on the move at the time, Ballymore's UK managing director, John Mulryan said: "By entering the build-to-rent market with Deanston Wharf - the first of many build-to-rent properties we are planning - we will provide the same high-quality homes that Ballymore is renowned for." Ballymore's move into the UK's BTR sector is hardly surprising when one considers the sheer weight of capital targeting the market. A recent report by CBRE estimated that international investors intend to deploy around 30bn across London and other major UK cities. Major British investors, including Legal & General and M&G, have entered the BTR market, while Quintain, which is backed by US private equity giant, Lone Star, is in the process of delivering thousands of new rental homes. Quintain's development of Wembley Park is set to be the UK's single largest build-to-rent site. Rickey Barrett from Togher, Co Cork with Laurelelm Fever Brilliant, the best three-year-old heifer at the National Dairy Show 2017, with show judge Brian Carscadden from Canada and former IFA Dairy Chairman Sean O'Leary John Kirby, Director, National Dairy Show, judge Brian Carscadden from Canada, John Dowling from Balldonnell, Co Dublin with Clonpaddin Fame ET, the Overall Champion of the Show 2017, and Tadgh Burke, Laura Fitzgerald and Mervyn Eager. The cream of Irish herds will go head to head at the 2018 National Dairy Show in the Green Glens Arena, Millstreet. The largest indoor dairy event of the year is expected to attract 4,000 competitors and visitors to the Cork venue on October 20. "There will be over 140 stands in the exhibition area which has been increasing every year, and demonstrations on health and safety, hoof care as well as the innovations awards which are always a big attraction," said show director John Kirby. The line out of dairy cows for the coveted overall award for 2018 has become a 'champions of champions' battle featuring the top Holstein-Friesian cows from the show rings throughout the year. Defending her title is seven-year-old pedigree Holstein-Friesian cow, Clonpaddin Fame ET, exhibited by Cyril and John Dowling from Baldonnel, Co Dublin. The champion, who has yielded in excess of 12 gallons of milk per day, defeated very strong competition in 2017 and faces stiff competition this year. Travelling south, from her base in Co Monaghan, is the 2018 Supreme National Baileys Show Champion, Drumlina Atwood Megan. She is jointly owned by a syndicate of five; David Boyd, Sandy Moore, Denis O'Neill, Brendan Greenan and Rory Timlin. The Champion of Balmoral Show and Reserve Champion Tullamore National Livestock Show, she was a very impressive winner at Virginia. Also in contention will be Laurelelm Fever Brilliant, the reigning National Livestock Show (Tullamore) overall dairy champion 2018. From the well known Laurelelm herd of Rickey and John Barrett, Lehenaghmore, Togher, Co Cork, she also received the award for the Best Udder at Tullamore. Also in the running is the Kilwarden herd of Brochan and J Cocoman from Kill, Co Kildare, while another contender whose entry is certain to catch the eye of the judge will be that of well-known West of Ireland dairy breeders Seamus and Aiden Foody, Crossmolina, Co Mayo. However, the competition at dairy shows has now become so keen that a surprise result can never be ruled out. The judge for this year's contenders is Edward Griffiths, who runs a Coachgate herd based at Gunthwaite Hall Farm, South Yorkshire. He is already an experienced judge at major shows including national Holstein Shows in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Slovenia. He judged the Baileys Cow Championship at Virginia a couple of years ago. Edward farms with his wife Jenny and three daughters, milking around 150 pedigree Holsteins plus a small number of Jerseys and Ayrshires which all share the Coachgate prefix. A Co. Limerick farmer had 16 bales of silage slashed to pieces in what he describes as a despicable crime. Half of 32 bales made on land in Ardroe, Pallasgreen, owned by Patsy OKeeffe, were cut. It is believed the perpetrator, armed with a knife or sharp implement, damaged the precious fodder under the cover of darkness. It is a chilling thing to see a field full of bales and have of them cut to shreds, said Mr OKeeffe. We consider ourselves a decent, hard-working family and we cant understand why somebody would do this, he continued. Mr OKeeffe, aged 60, lives in Kilteely but farms 10 acres in Pallasgreen that were left to him by his late mother. He sold the silage crop from a five acre field to a neighbour. He got a contractor in to bale it last week. It was a fine crop - it was top quality silage. They cut it on Monday, baled it on Thursday and left them in the field. On Friday, my neighbour sent down a lad to bring them back to his farm. The lad rang my neighbour straight away when he saw there was 16 - exactly half of the bales cut and damaged. It was right through the plastic and netting. My neighbour rang me. I was up the country at the time. It was shocking in the extreme, despicable carry on. It was pure blackguarding, said Mr OKeeffe, who works as a van sales rep. He immediately contacted Bruff gardai who are investigating the crime. Each silage bale is valued at around 40 so Mr OKeeffe is at a significant financial loss. My neighbour brought away the 16 bales that were left alone. He wrapped some of the damaged ones again but there were ones that couldnt be salvaged. He took them away loose in a trailer, said Mr OKeeffe. He said the money was ear-marked for his three sons college fees and accommodation, Thats where it was going. Every euro I can I spend on them to give them a good education. I feel sorry for my neighbour as well because silage bales are so scare with the fodder crisis, he said. Limerick IFA chairman, Shay Galvin said he never heard of anything like this happening before and called it wanton vandalism. And especially after a year like this when there is a fodder crisis, said Mr Galvin. Anybody with any information is asked to contact Bruff Garda Station. France will start putting up fencing along part of its border with Belgium this weekend to prevent wild boars spreading African swine fever, a virulent livestock disease that could disrupt Europes large pig industry. France has been on alert for African swine fever since Belgium detected the virus last month among wild boars a few kilometers from the French border. Belgium decided to slaughter several thousand pigs in its contaminated zone to prevent the virus reaching farm herds, but it is already facing embargos on its pork exports from countries like South Korea and China, which is also grappling with an outbreak of the disease. French authorities have banned hunting and other activities in a border zone and the prefecture in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region will start installing fencing on Saturday, a prefecture official and a hunting association said late last week. The fencing would cover part of the border and be supported by repellent products on roads and other locations that could not be fenced off, Patrick Massenet, head of the hunting federation of Meurthe-et-Moselle, said. It was expected to take about a week to install the fencing, he added. Meurthe-et-Moselle is one of several regions covered by the surveillance zone established by the French authorities near the border. Frances agriculture ministry, however, said the details of the fencing were yet to finalised. The ministry was awaiting the conclusions of a feasibility study due in the coming days and also wanted to coordinate its action with Belgian and European Union officials, Loic Evain, deputy head of food at the ministry, said. Western European countries have been trying to avert the spread of the disease, which is highly contagious among pigs but harmless to humans, after a growing number of cases in Eastern Europe. In Belgium, dozens of wild boars have now been killed by the disease in the past month in the zone near France. Experts say the virus, for which there is no vaccine or treatment, can also be spread through food products and by movement of people. China, the worlds largest pigmeat producer, confirmed a new outbreak of African swine fever on Friday. Tim Moynihan and his daughter Doreen travelled to Rwanda to see the transformational impact the last cow in his former dairy herd is making having gifted her to a Rwandan family. Picture Sean Curtin True Media. An East Kerry farmer has spoken of his joy at seeing first-hand how his very last dairy cow, which he gifted to a family in Rwanda, has transformed lives. Tim Moynihan, from Gneeveguilla, Co. Kerry and his daughter Doreen travelled to the heart of Rwanda in Africa to see themselves the remarkable impact that the last dairy cow from his farm has had on the Rwandan family. Tim gave up dairy farming six years ago and rather than sell his last cow he donated it through Bothar to a family near Rwamagana in east Rwanda. The single cow is just one of an ever growing Bothar herd that is transforming the lives of families across Rwanda a nation that was savaged by the fastest killing spree in the history of the world almost 25 years ago when up to one million people were slaughtered in its 90-day genocide. The aid agency has been sending Irish dairy cows and other food-and-income producing animals such as goats, pigs and sheep to Rwanda it also has projects elsewhere in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia - since the late 90s, thanks to the generosity of the Irish farmers and the wider public. Its current programme in Rwanda is in support of the Rwandan governments One Cow Per Family project which aims to reduce extreme poverty in rural areas of the country by providing each poor family with a cow. The cow donated by Tim Moynihan has not alone given the parents and children of the recipient family a daily source of nutrition they otherwise would not get but proceeds from excess milk and sale of calves born to her have enabled them to educate their children and buy land. The Co Kerry farmer said he was overjoyed at seeing the difference the cow had made and also at being reunited with her one last time. "I never dreamt in my life I'd ever again see that cow. I think she recognised me. We took a photograph of that cow before she left the farm and I have that photograph at home. The calf is the spit of her mother, star on the forehead and the stripe on the shoulder. Looking back on the donation and the reasons for it, he said: My farm is situated in East Kerry. And we milked cows there all my life. And when we decided to give up the cows, we went into suckling. Expand Close Tim Moynihan and his daughter Doreen travelled to Rwanda to see the transformational impact the last cow in his former dairy herd is making having gifted her to a Rwandan family. Picture Sean Curtin True Media. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tim Moynihan and his daughter Doreen travelled to Rwanda to see the transformational impact the last cow in his former dairy herd is making having gifted her to a Rwandan family. Picture Sean Curtin True Media. "We said we'd donate this heifer to a country that would need it more, and this was the last heifer to come from my farm." He was also delighted with her condition. The farming practice is very good here, he said. I'm delighted. Couldn't be happier that I made this donation. I would over and over again. "I've heard that she has been very successful with the farmer. She's a champion cow. They had little hope of him ever being a good farmer. Well, he's beaten all the odds; that cow is the best milker in that part of Rwanda." Tim's daughter Doreen travelled with him and spoke of the impact the trip had on her father. "This trip means a huge amount to my father to see how his donation has changed the lives of this family and what legacy this cow has given from its offspring being passed on and the help it's given to other families, not just one, she said. "The experience we just had, seeing my fathers cow now on this farm was just amazing; quite emotional actually to see how well she's done and how much she's done for the family. The donation of Irish cows, which have a yield six times that of the best local cows, have had a transformational effect on the lives of an estimated 1,000 plus families. Bothar heifers arrive in calf, with each recipient family agreeing to pass on the first-born female calf to her to another family. Bothar returns each year to re-impregnate the cows, so the cycle continues. Prior to being given a heifer, each family undergoes a six-month programme of training in animal husbandry, water-harvesting and basic horticulture practices. IT disposal company AMI has become the only firm in Ireland to achieve an ADISA membership, an accreditation that reflects the security of the group. Only the most secure of companies who provide IT asset disposal services achieve ADISA certification. Furthermore, AMI - which has sites in Belfast and Dublin - is one of only four companies globally to get a Distinction with Honours, the highest award. Being an ADISA member means AMI undergoes undergoes unannounced spot-check audits at least once a year, and a scheduled full audit at least once every three years. Members must pass all 112 essential criteria before the ADISA audit teams award companies with a pass mark. Philip McMichael, managing director, AMI, said that "security is the bedrock of our business". Read More "We work with the most security conscious companies, including data centres, banks and four out of the big five accounting and consulting firms, all of whom identify data security as critical," he said. Organisations are more aware than ever of their obligations to protect their customers data in the wake of GDPR, he said. "By investing in the achievement of this certification, along with the many other accreditations AMI holds, we can differentiate ourselves from competitors as the most secure IT disposal and data destruction company in Ireland," he said. AMI, which has destroyed the data on over 300,000 items, expects to grow market share by 20pc with the awarding of this certification. The IT disposal market in Ireland and the UK is worth around 275m, and AMI are expected to expand its services in the UK in the coming months. Most people thinking about a top-end phone will go for either an iPhone, Samsung or Huawei. But Google wants you to consider its latest offering, the Pixel 3 XL. Google Pixel phones have been available in the US for a couple of years, but have only now become available in Ireland. The handsets come fairly highly-rated from most experts who have tested them since their launch. But does the latest model stack up to the best on offer from the existing phone giants? Is the Pixels much-vaunted camera a match for the leaps taken by Apple and, in particular, Huawei? Ive had a few days to use and assess the Pixel 3 XL and the following is what Ive found so far. (Bear in mind that these are initial thoughts: a more thorough review will follow a little later.) If you want to skip to the conclusion, scroll down to the end. But heres a basic primer: this phone is clearly a flagship contender with some excellent features and a very good camera. But it may not have a killer distinct feature to make it stand out from its immediate rivals. And the fact that it is stuck with a single rear camera lens will count against it for those who depend on their phones camera for lots of photos and video. 1. FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND DESIGN Your first impression of the phone is probably going to be good, if not overwhelming. At first, the Pixel doesnt appear to quite match a Samsung S9 or an iPhone in exterior aesthetic. But it grows steadily on you. Probably the design highlight is its black frosted glass rear casing, which feels a bit like a matte metallic finish. Its very, very nice. It also ensures that the phone doesnt slip off surfaces that have tiny inclines, as some handsets do. (Although the sides of the phone are fairly slippy) Over time, one begins to appreciate other elements of the design. For example, its high gloss screen does a remarkable job at avoiding being a fingerprint magnet. In hand, the phone is fairly comfortable, too, with no angular edges. The handset features an almost all front side display, but keeps a small chin bezel. The one design feature on the Pixel 3 XL that is questionable is its notch. Ive gone into this in some detail below. But suffice to say that it may not have been needed (its not there for facial recognition, like the iPhones notch) and some will regard it as a flaw. It also doesnt have a 3.5mm headphone port, but thats becoming the norm these days for high-end smartphones. (The phones box includes USB-C wired earphones and a connector-dongle for regular 3.5mm headphones.) The fingerprint sensor is on the rear of the handset and is a good distance from the camera lens, meaning I never confuse the two when reaching around to unlock the phone. 2. THE SCREEN As you might expect from a high-end phone of this ilk, the 6.3-inch Oled display is quite excellent. There appears to be almost no latency or lag when scrolling and colours are really vivid. As mentioned, it does an incredible job of being relatively fingerprint proof. It also now has an IP68 water resistance rating. That means that it can stay up to 1.5m under water for up to 30 minutes and still work fine. (The recently-released iPhone Xs has a similar rating.) 3. THE CAMERA The camera on Google Pixel phones are always characterised as a main, if not the main, premium feature. Ive done some testing of the Pixel 3 XLs main camera and early results appear to justify its reputation: the camera does a very, very good job in processing images so that theres attractive colour and a good balance between light and dark. A lot of this is down to HDR, which all the phones are now leaning on heavily to bring the quality and usability of phone shots on. In particular, I like that it has kept its main camera to 12 megapixels, which is easily enough resolution to illuminate 99pc of photos satisfactorily while allowing the sensor to breathe in low light. (High megapixel sensors find it harder to produce smooth, clean shots in low light.) There are also a number of features fueled by artificial intelligence that are being brought to bear, such as night sight, which controls the camera to maximise any available light and, hence, show you things that a conventional phone camera wouldnt manage. (Samsung and Huawei are also very good at this, however: I havent so far noticed the Pixel 3 XL being any better than the Galaxy S9 or the P20 Pro in this regard.) And theres a decent portrait mode, though its not quite as clean as the iPhone Xss portrait mode. There are some other interesting features for photographers. You can now shoot in a raw-plus-jpeg mode, meaning youll get more flexibility when you go to edit the files with software like Photoshop or Lightroom. (Watch out for the large files sizes when doing this, though - youll fill up your cameras storage much quicker.) Rounding off the camera positives, it has two cameras on the front-facing camera and these are used to great effect, with a wide-angle selfie feature letting you get way more into a selfie-shot than the usual 28mm field of view on most smartphones. This wide angle option also makes for an excellent video selfie camera. But theres one big camera feature missing: a second rear lens. Most other flagship models, from the top iPhones to Huawei to Samsung, have at least two rear lenses. That second lens can be critical: its an optical telephoto lens that means you dont get pixelation or blurriness when you zoom in on a shot. On those phones, youre getting the full photo resolution when you zoom, not a cheap digital version of it. For me, this is important: I regularly take photos at from the zoom lens. Not to have it feels like a step back to me, something asking to reintroducing bezels on all-screen phones. Google itself understands the utility of a second lens - it put an extra one on the front for a variety of selfie shots. I know that this may not bother most people. But it counts as a drawback to me. For this reason, I cant recommend the Pixel 3 XL as the ultimate cameraphone, unless you only want wide shots. As an aside, I cant imagine that Googles next top phone wont have a second rear camera: its now a fairly standard flagship feature. 4. USING THE PHONE AND ITS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Googles pure Android has now matured into a really decent smartphone interface that is choc full of features. It makes a compelling case as to why you dont need the operating system overlays that the likes of Samsung, Huawei or Sony provide. One of the reasons for this is that Google is arguably starting to pull away with some of its AI-based features. A good example of this is its Google Assistant. It can already do some fairly useful things. For example, if you say tell me about my day, the default response will be to tell you the time, weather and give you calendar information followed by a few short news clips from local stations. (In my case, the phone jumped right into the latest news bulletins from RTE and Newstalk.) With the Pixel 3 XL, Googles Assistant gives you a real glimpse of how far thingsare going. For example, the Assistant can now effectively answer your calls and show you a transcript as its happening live. Ive always been a little underwhelmed by phones AI performances, but its genuinely starting to warm up now. And this is one area where the Pixel is a better bet than Samsung or Huawei, neither of which have proprietary AI systems that are in any way as good as Googles. Apples Siri is evolving in a slightly different way, but also isnt as fully developed as Googles. The reason I include this in the review is that I do believe its now one of the reasons that people might consider a Pixel over a more established smartphone brand. 5. THE NOTCH: WHY, GOOGLE? One immediate question I had about the Pixel 3XL phone is: why does it have a notch? The smaller Pixel 3 doesnt have it and theres no question that it disrupts the flow of some elements of the phones use, such as certain apps and video playback. Sure, other phones have them. But Apple, which was first to introduce a notch, put it there in the iPhone X because of the large array of sensors and cameras which combine to accurately identify your face as a means of operating (and unlocking) the device. But no such function exists here. Instead, its just two selfie-cameras and an enhanced audio speaker. Granted, the speaker improves the audio a lot, which those who want to use this without headphones will definitely appreciate. And the second camera on the front is an impressive wide-angle lens, which lets you get way more into a selfie photo or video than is normally possible. But are these worth disrupting the entire look of the phone? In the case of the iPhone X range, the answer is probably yes: Face ID works really well. Here, Im not so sure. However, the reality is that were now used to notches in high end phones, meaning its not quite as annoying as it otherwise might be. 5. DOES IT HAVE ENOUGH POWER AND STORAGE? My model came with 64GB of storage. These days, thats the minimum you would accept in a flagship phone. Given that this handset is marketed partly on the strength of its camera, Id be more comfortable with 128GB, especially as theres no expandable storage. Unusually for an Android flagship device of this calibre, the Pixel 3XL only comes with 4GB of Ram. To be clear, organised properly, thats absolutely plenty to make a phone perform very quickly and efficiently (the top iPhones, for example, dont have any more than this). But over time, its not so clear: we know that applications and features develop substantially, even over 12 months. So its going to be interesting to see whether the Pixel 3XL will keep up. The processor is the Snapdragon 845 which, again, is easily fast enough for todays applications. 6. BATTERY LIFE From my usage so far, Id describe the Pixel 3 XLs battery life as decent, but not outstanding. It will match the iPhone Xs Max (which has a smaller battery) and Samsungs Note 9, but doesnt compare to Huaweis P20 Pro, which has a battery thats 20pc larger. The actual size of the batter is 3,415mAh. 7. EARLY CONCLUSION Maybe Ive simply been spoiled with access to too many high end phones in recent months, but I cant find a reason why the Pixel 3 XL is a must-buy over immediate rivals such as Huaweis P20 Pro, Samsungs S9 Plus or Apples iPhone XS Max (or Xr, which goes on sale later this month). True, its cheaper than the Samsung S9 Plus and considerably cheaper than the iPhone Xs Max, so thats an important factor. However, it comes in at a little more expensive than the P20 Pro. However, I am possibly more strongly influuenced by the absence of a second rear camera lens than many readers will be. To be clear, there was no significant flaw in this phone its an excellent device in almost every way. Im just not sure what its killer calling card is. Over the next few weeks, I might get a better idea, presuming there is one. 8. PRICING AND COLOURS The Pixel 3 (5.5 screen) will be 899 (64GB) and 959 (128GB) while the Pixel 3 XL (6.3 screen) is priced at 999 (64 GB) and 1099 (128GB). Theyre available for pre-order now and on sale and in store on 1st November from the Google Store and Vodafone Ireland. Both sizes come in Just Black and Clearly White, and an additional Not Pink colour is available from the Google Store exclusively. Pixel USB-C earbuds come included with all models. More than half of so-called cyber attacks on Irish businesses may go undetected, according to cyber security expert James Canty of Magnet Networks. That's based on the mismatch between a survey that found almost three-quarters of Irish businesses say they have not been subject to an attack, and industry analysis of the frequency of attempted hacks. Just 20pc of businesses surveyed say they have suffered from a cyber attack in the past two years, according to the Irish Independent Magnet Networks Cyber Security Survey of 258 companies. Sixteen percent of businesses were unsure whether they'd been subject of an attack and 64pc said that they had been unaffected, according to the survey carried out by Magnet Networks. That contrasts with Magnet Networks' estimate that the true industry figure for attacks is 43pc, and that many Irish businesses are unaware that they have suffered a sophisticated cyber breach. "A new generation of cyber threats has meant that Irish businesses are constantly under attack and they may not realise it," said Mr Canty yesterday. Even when an attack is discovered, the average time it takes a business to identify a cyber breach is 191 days, he said. The Irish Independent Magnet Networks Cyber Security Survey was commissioned ahead of Dublin Information Sec 2018 today at Dublin's RDS, an INM event. Patisserie Holdings spent a previously undisclosed 10m (11.4m) overdraft before an accounting scandal erupted last week, and then passed-up on a rescue deal that would have protected small shareholders, UK newspapers reported yesterday. PATISSERIE Holdings spent a previously undisclosed 10m (11.4m) overdraft before an accounting scandal erupted last week, and then passed-up on a rescue deal that would have protected small shareholders, UK newspapers reported yesterday. The company behind the Patisserie Valerie chain of high-end bakeries had used previously unreported overdrafts of 9.7m with Barclays and HSBC before it announced accounting errors that threatened to put it out of business, the 'Sunday Times' said, without identifying where it got the information. Once the problems emerged, investment fund Crystal Amber offered a 30m rescue package that would not have diluted any shareholder, the 'Sunday Telegraph' reported, citing fund head Richard Bernstein. The offer was ignored, the newspaper cited him as saying. Instead, Patisserie chairman Luke Johnson said he'd lend 20m to the bakery chain and that it will also raise 15.7m by issuing new shares at 50 pence each, an 88pc discount from Tuesday's closing share price. The UK Serious Fraud Office has now opened a criminal probe. Patisserie Holdings chief financial officer Chris Marsh was arrested on Thursday night and released on bail. He has been suspended from his position. The case, which stunned investors, comes a month after Luke Johnson, the Patisserie Holdings chairman, published an advice column on spotting fraud. The British entrepreneur (56) may regret writing a fraud playbook in the 'Sunday Times' weeks before UK prosecutors started investigating one of his companies. His only hope now is that offering a multimillion-pound personal loan will pull the company out of a tailspin and restore shareholders' trust. "We have rescued the business," Mr Johnson said on Friday in an interview. "We have a good business with loyal staff, and I think of it now as back on stable footing." The scandal emerged on Wednesday, when Patisserie Holdings, based in Birmingham, England, said it had suspended CFO Chris Marsh after accounting irregularities suggested there was a potential "material misstatement" of its finances. Trading of the company's shares was suspended on AIM. Mr Marsh and Mr Johnson couldn't be reached for comment. After a 24-hour investigation, the company said it would go out of business unless it secured an "immediate injection of capital". Mr Marsh (44) was arrested on Thursday night and released on bail. The Financial Reporting Council, the UK's accounting regulator, said it was looking into the situation. Patisserie also said on Wednesday that it has been hit with a demand for more than a million pounds in back taxes. The country's tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, said it doesn't comment on identifiable taxpayers. Patisserie Valerie first opened in London in 1926, in a bid by its Belgian owner to introduce continental pastries to the English. Eighty years later, Mr Johnson's private equity firm Risk Capital Partners backed the acquisition of the chain, in which he has a 37pc stake. The serial entrepreneur, who first made his fortune by investing in the successful Italian restaurant chain Pizza Express - Milanos here - also holds shares in the iconic Brighton Pier on England's south coast and swimming brand Zoggs International. Mr Marsh and Patisserie chief executive officer Paul May made millions of pounds earlier this year when they executed stock options, according to public filings. Mr Marsh netted a total of nearly 2m, while Mr May received about 2.6m. The CEO maintains a 4.3pc stake in the company and Mr Marsh owns about half a percent of the company. Mr Johnson may be more prophetic than he'd hoped. In another column, published in July, he said he'd recently dealt with an employee who had falsified invoices in what turned out to be "a minor affair". Scandals that make their way into the news, he said, are "much grander and more dramatic". It's every interviewer's worst nightmare. Not the walk out - those can be fabulous colour after all - but its evil cousin, the 'walk along'. As in 'walk along beside me and we'll do the interview on the street'. It's an approach that works best for embattled politicians on the brink of resignation, TV news gotchas and other interviews where it's generally understood that the subject is being flayed on the move. But Deirdre O'Kane is almost certainly too lovely to flay, and it isn't technically her fault that she has to hurry from hair and makeup and our photoshoot straight away to another appointment, without any actual interview. Her schedule seems to be more packed than Madonna's: corporate work, editing and recording crowd the hours and days ahead and no time was set aside for our sit down: Our only other foreseeable option is talking to her on the phone as she takes a train tomorrow, she tells me, shrugging, so I dutifully comply, decide to pretend in my head that she is Madonna and hover beside her as she makes her way to Merrion Square, throwing quotes over her shoulder. It's been a momentous year she tells me over the ambient noise of the traffic; a mixture of professional triumph, niggling controversy and personal pain. Aside from Dancing With The Stars, which we'll come to, she turned 50 ("I told the whole world, finally") and dealt with the loss of her father, John. It was this last event which defined the year for her. "I had just landed in Sri Lanka in August when I got the news," she tells me. "I turned right back around and came back. It was so sudden, but as these things go, it was as good as it could be. I was prepared, but it doesn't take away the strangeness of the finality. He had been sick for a while and my heart was in my boots all summer. We had time to talk and he was very lucid. I was incredibly calm when it happened because he was ready. We're a close family, I know he was proud of me." And there was much to be proud of. In the last few years her star has seemed to hover at times on the precipice of an international breakthrough - particularly after her star turn in Noble, a biopic about the life of children's rights campaigner Christina Noble. On TV she has been quietly ubiquitous, whether as the narrator on Gogglebox and Inside James's - a documentary series about St James's Hospital, as one of the best contributors to QI, or as the real star of Dancing With The Stars. The latter show, more than any other, caused her a summer of people coming up to her in public. They complimented her legs, her moves, her winning affability and one Irish outlet summed up the general feeling when it proclaimed her the 'People's champion of the show'. The minor controversy that erupted after RTE sharply refuted her allegations of sexism on DWTS fizzled out quickly, and it's a subject she is leery of even now. She was also part of a group of Irish comics who came together in the spring for Comic Relief, a Paddy's Night show in aid of homeless people, which was a huge success - she called on "my oldest and dearest friend" in comedy, Dara O Briain, to get involved. It's all made for a relentless autumn schedule, where time is ever more scarce, and she runs from pillar to post. Expand Close Deirdre O'Kane as Christina Noble in the film 'Noble' / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Deirdre O'Kane as Christina Noble in the film 'Noble' Later I treat her to lunch, which seems a bargain for a merciful 30 minutes of stationary chat. She grew up in Louth where she wasn't, she says, an especially funny child - "but that might be because the rest of family were funny and I didn't feel anything special by comparison". Comedy never entered her head during the long years in boarding school but she yearned to be an actress. After her Leaving Cert, she never lived at home again but moved to Dublin where she began to make her way in the world. Filmmaker Steve Bradley, her then-boyfriend and now-husband, was asked to attend Cat Laughs in 1996 and make a documentary about the burgeoning Kilkenny Comedy Festival. O'Kane tagged along. She was supposed to be helping out, but ended up watching a lot of the acts. "I had no awareness of stand-up comedy. None. I'd really never seen any in my life. I was the only one - me and The Nualas. And Tara Flynn. We were it really. I knew straight away that I had a talent for it. I had done a lot of comic acting. I think we all know what we can do and what are our limitations. For instance, I wouldn't work in an office or check emails." Despite emerging as the brightest female star in a bunch of new comics in the mid 90s (Dara O Briain and Des Bishop were contemporaries, who made their breakouts around the same time) and getting to the finals of the BBC New Comedy Awards, her career, almost from the start, has been a judicious mix of stand-up, presenting and acting. "I'm a comic, an actor, a presenter, a voiceover artist," she tells me. "I've made peace with the fact that I'm all of those things," she says, modestly. "I've broken the mould. Talent doesn't get ignored here. There's no insanely talented undiscovered people. Talent shines. Unless you're a difficult personality, there's nothing to get in the way." She progressed from the festival circuit to headlining and selling out venues on her own. But once she reached this level, she returned to acting, winning roles in 2003's Intermission and Chris O'Dowd's comic tour de force, Moone Boy. She tells me that she was too cynical about the business to ever have expectations of making it overseas, but Noble brought her closest. "If you want to work full time you have to make it internationally. It's less than 1pc of working actors. I know the business too well to expect Noble to have done that, I've learned you just put your back into it and hope for the best. After that, honestly you have no control. Noble did help me though; I was on lists I wasn't on before." She's been notably outspoken about sexism - she recently posited female stars wearing black to highlight it - so I wonder how she feels about the slew of #MeToo situations we've seen recently in comedy and whether those who have come back, including Louis CK, have done so too soon? "There's a scale of what they did," she begins. "So I'd be careful about putting them all in the same category. They can come back if the audience is happy to have them back. It's the public's decision whether they want to be back in the same room as the person or not. I think we can trust the Irish public on this." What about comedians taking on social causes? Recently we've seen Amy Schumer speak out on gun control and Brett Kavanaugh and closer to home the likes of The Rubberbandits talking about the housing crisis. Does she sense there's any part of the public that would prefer if they stuck to comedy? "Comedians are social commentators, we're not politicians though, there needs to be a comic twist," she explains. "What's different is that with social media everything you say is analysed and judged and comedians have to be so careful. I used to be so open and now I have to be guarded. To be fair, the press have been mostly kind to me. My approach is when someone takes something you said out of context and it blows up into something, then starve it and say nothing more." Video of the Day Despite the apparently ferocious schedule, she says she takes nothing for granted. "The hardest moment is always: where is the next job? For any freelancer that is the question. I don't know what my salary is from one year to the next. There is no money in this unless you're in the top 0.1pc. I'm not on American telly money, or even on English telly money. I'm on Irish telly money. I was never, ever money motivated but children make you more money motivated - they need it more than I do - that smartens you up." She has two kids, Holly (13) and Daniel (10), and she says that these are the prime years of parenting. "I like the ages they're at now because they're rap people and the chats are great. I'm definitely better with kids at this age than at the toddler age," she explains. "They think I'm unbearable, no child thinks their parent is cool." She sometimes rues the time apart that touring inflicts on them. "It can be lonely back in my hotel room if it's Sunday morning when I'm not with my kids. But listen, I couldn't do 9-5 either. Hotel rooms are overrated though, no matter how nice they are, I'm over them." She has never been to therapy but says she suffers from extreme emotional highs and lows, a consequence of the pressure to perform. "I've had grey clouds hanging around but I've never been one of the severe cases. But I would say my highs are very high and my lows are very low. The highs are not like other people's: making people laugh for an hour and a half, you're very pumped after it and it takes a couple of hours to come down. And then when I'm not onstage and I've been dying for a month off, three weeks into that month I'm dying for an adrenaline rush. When I was younger, I'd stay up all night, I was wild, but these days I'll just have one drink." She says that Steve soaks up a lot of these mood swings. The secret to their long marriage is friendship, love and the shared passion of their kids, she says. "I've been married for far too long - don't make that your headline," she adds, winkingly. "And, to be honest with you, that is down to luck. I met a good man, and it's been the best piece of luck in my life. I've had a nice career but I've been very lucky in love. We're a good fit, we're in the same industry, which helps. I bounce nearly everything off him, much to his horror. Having a mutual vested interest like children adds a lot. I know there are times when I'm horrendous to live with, when I'm manic about shows, off the charts like. "I'm sure that's not an easy energy to live with but I try to be very mindful of what each person is going through. It's so easy to take the person you're living with for granted. But I'm very glad he's still there with me." Her tour, which is ongoing, she calls her "baby", and between her TV work and her stage work, she hopes there will be "a nice surprise". "You never know what's coming up, the last year has been an adventure, and I'm sure next year won't be much different. It all comes down to you and continuing to work hard and remaining a die-hard optimist and not getting hardened. Expand Close Deirdre O'Kane and her husband Stephen Bradley / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Deirdre O'Kane and her husband Stephen Bradley "And that," she says, finishing her soup, "is actually a very tough balance to strike." Deirdre O'Kane plays Wexford's Spiegeltent this Thursday - tickets from ticketmaster and more tour dates from www.deirdreokane.net/tour Hair and makeup by Brown Sugar - Dublin's hairdresser and expert salon, phone (01) 616 9967 or see www.brownsugar.ie Lady Lolz Three of the best female Irish comics * Emma Doran Expand Close Emma Doran / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emma Doran Doran's deadpan drollness and bulletins, from the front line of teenage motherhood, have made her one of the hottest young stars of Irish comedy, picking up ad and TV work all over the shop and supporting Deirdre O'Kane (who also named her one of Ireland's best young comics) on the latter's new tour. She's been performing stand-up for several years now, has made a few chat show appearances and she brilliantly and wickedly subverts the weary martyr aspects of the Irish mammy persona. * Joanne McNally Expand Close Joanne McNally / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Joanne McNally The categorisation of McNally, another Republic of Telly alumnus, into anything female is perhaps unnecessarily condescending as she's just plain funny, regardless of gender. Who else but she could conceive of Louis Walsh as the personification of her eating disorder and weave depression and disillusionment into consistent comedy gold? Also serves up bite-sized dollops of hilarity on Twitter. * Eleanor Tiernan Expand Close Eleanor Tiernan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eleanor Tiernan Tiernan, a cousin of Tommy, describes her style of comedy as 'Free range, organic, no added preservatives. Deadpan. I'm aiming for opium but it's probably low-grade heroin'. A sometime columnist for the London Times, she's been in everything from Irish Pictorial Weekly to the (sadly departed Savage Eye). Her current show features some jaw-dropping strategies for Irish people to ingratiate themselves to horrific English public school types after Brexit ruins everything. Fatal fire: Firefighters at the house where a mans body was found at Shanagh, north east of Dunmanway, Co Cork. Photo: Provision An investigation is under way into the death of a man following a house fire in west Cork yesterday. Gardai and the fire service were called to the scene in Shanagh near Dunmanway at around 10.30am after a blaze was reported coming from the remote farmhouse. It is believed firefighters recovered the body of a man in his 40s from an upstairs bedroom while they were tackling the fire. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A full technical examination was carried out as gardai attempted to establish how the fire started, however preliminary examinations suggest that no foul play was involved. The body of the man was removed to Cork University Hospital where a post-mortem was scheduled to take place later today. This will establish the cause of death, along with formally identifying the man. A local representative, who did not want to be named, told the Irish Independent that the remote west Cork community was in a state of grief. "It's just such a terrible tragedy and although I did not know this man personally, my heart goes out to his family and loved ones," the local person said. "I could certainly smell the smoke and I knew something was wrong when I heard all the sirens of the fire trucks and Garda cars. "It came to everyone's shock that a local member of our community has died in such a horrific way. God knows how this fire started, but I'm sure gardai will make good progress in their investigation. "We're all very upset." Clonakilty gardai have appealed for anyone who witnessed the fire to contact them. "Investigations into this fire are ongoing, but at this stage we're not treating it as suspicious," a Garda spokesperson said. "Gardai remain at the scene where a full technical examination is under way. "Any witnesses are asked to contact Clonakilty garda station on 023-8821570." It is the second case of a fatal house fire in west Cork in recent months. In July, a 59-year-old man was killed when a fire broke out at his house on High Street, Drimoleague, in the early hours of the morning. A Garda Sergeant, who was for several years harassed and intimidated by false claims posted about him on the internet, was awarded 8,000 damages at a Garda Compensation hearing in the High Court on Monday. Mr Justice Michael Twomey said the damages related to personal injuries suffered by Sergeant Conor Gilmartin as a result of the internet posts and were not in relation to damages for injury to character. When Judge Twomey asked Sergeant Gilmartin if he had considered suing 57-year-old architect Sean Carraher for defamation of character, Sergeant Gilmartin said he could not afford to and his representative body, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, had refused to fund such a claim. Sgt Gilmartin, who was transferred from Shankill in Co Dublin to a station in Co Cork as a result of phone calls and on-line harassment by Carraher, told his counsel, Francis McGagh, that he had been accused of being evil and corrupt. He said Carraher, of Stradbrook Hill, Blackrock, Co Dublin, who he believed to be now living on social welfare payments, had been jailed for five years for harassment of him between the years of 2009 and 2011. Judge Patrick McCartan, sentencing Carraher in 2016, said he had all the attributes of a bully and had made allegations against Sgt Gilmartin without one whit of evidence to support them. Sgt Gilmartin, now living in Cloyne, Co Cork, told Mr McGagh, who appeared with Kiera OReilly of Keans Solicitors, that allegations by Carraher to the Garda Ombudsman Commission about him had been rejected. He said allegations to the HSE about him having been involved in child abuse had been found to be false and baseless. Gilmartin told Judge Twomey that he had been harassed, bullied and defamed by Carraher and although, through his own efforts, he had more than 50 posts taken down off Google and Facebook some still remained to be read by his children and others in years to come. He told the court that the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors had invited him to address its annual convention this year on the basis that the problem of cyber bullying of members of the garda siochana was on the increase. He said he had taken numerous sessions of counselling and had been told by a psychiatrist that he suffered from adjustment disorder consisting of a mixed anxiety and depressive reaction to the false and vexatious allegations put up on the internet about him. Judge Twomey said that in May 2010 Sgt Gilmartin had been made aware of false statements about him to the effect that he was evil and corrupt and unfaithful to his wife. He had attended a psychiatrist in June 2011 who had found he suffered with Adjustment Disorder which had not required clinical intervention. He said the court was awarding damages solely in relation to personal injuries and not in relation to defamation of character. A man who helped a criminal organisation murder a Dublin bar manager has been sentenced to three years and nine months by the Special Criminal Court in what is believed to be one of the first convictions of its kind. Michael Barr (35), the manager of the Sunset House in Dublins north inner city, was shot seven times by a masked gunman at the pub over two years ago. Expand Close Michael Barr / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michael Barr Martin Aylmer (31), of Casino Park, Marino, Dublin 3 pleaded guilty in July to participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence, namely the murder of Mr Barr at the Sunset House, Summerhill Parade, Dublin 1 on April 25th 2016. This is believed to be the first time a person has been prosecuted for this offence under the organised crime legislation brought in in 2006. The court heard that gardai recovered a mobile phone beside the partially burned out getaway car following the murder and CCTV footage later showed Aylmer buying the phone in Dublins Ilac Shopping Centre two days before Mr Barr was shot dead. The offences occurred between April 23rd and April 25th, 2016. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Tony Hunt presiding at the three-judge court, said that it appeared the actionable assistance rendered by Aylmer was not at the higher end of the scale. The judge said that while the provision of any assistance to a criminal organisation is a grave matter, Aylmer did not approach this in a covert or disguised manner. His unsophisticated approach left him open to identification and demonstrated an absence of calculation or guile, he added. He said it could not be established that Aylmer knew he was making a contribution to the crime of murder and there was no evidence on his part of moving firearms. However, the judge said it must have been apparent to him that he was assisting in some serious criminal activity. The judge said the maximum sentence was 15 years in prison but the headline sentence in this case was five years imprisonment. The judge said the most significant mitigating factor in Aylmers sentence was his early guilty plea and for this he was entitled to "a straight discount of 25pc" which reduced the five year sentence to three years and nine months. Another factor in mitigation, the judge said was the fact he was a relatively young man without a serious criminal record and future rehabilitation remained a live issue in this case. Aylmer has two previous convictions for minor public order issues which Mr Justice Hunt said were not relevant. Sentencing the defendant today, Mr Justice Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain and Judge Cormac Dunne, sentenced Aylmer to three years and nine months imprisonment with one year suspended. It is appropriate he should serve the last portion of his sentence in the community, he said. The judge said that the result of this sentence was that anyone who assists a criminal organisation of this kind even with the benefit of a guilty plea can expect a sentence. He is fortunate in the mitigation he had available to him and his guilty plea, otherwise he would be getting the full five years, added Mr Justice Hunt. The judge also said that there was no evidence that Aylmer knew the murder was going to be committed so this also placed it at the lower end of the scale. The judge said the court had already expressed their condolences to the deceaseds family at the conclusion of a previous trial. Eamonn Cumberton (30), of Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7, was jailed for life by the Special Criminal Court in January of this year after being found guilty of the murder of Mr Barr. Speaking outside the Criminal Courts of Justice today, Chief Superintendent Sean Ward said he was "precluded to some extent" from commenting as there is still a live investigation into the murder of Mr Barr and gardai "still have two individuals to speak to". "This is a significant case in conviction for the community in Dublin's north-east inner city which has suffered considerably over the last number of years as a result of this criminal activity. It also demonstrates that individuals who participate in activities that facilitate the commission of a serious crime by a criminal organisation will be fully investigated and every effort will be made by An Garda Siochana to get the evidence we require to bring before the courts as happened in today's case," he said. "There is no doubt that individuals that engage in serious crime do look for individuals to support them logistically and that would include accessing mobile phones as was today's case and it is therefore important that people considering engaging in that activity should think twice as we will pursue those individuals and bring them before the courts," he said. Chief Supt Ward added that he thought this was the second time this offence has been brought before the courts and he hoped this message would "get out" to people who are thinking of engaging in this activity. Chinh phu Ecuador vua thong bao khoi phuc mot phan quyen lien lac cua Julian Assange voi the gioi ben ngoai tu ai su quan Ecuador tai London, noi Assange a luu tru trong 6 nam qua. Sang lap vien WikiLeaks Julian Assange. Anh: PA Cac quyen nay cua Assange a bi cat tu thang 3/2018 voi ly do vi pham thoa thuan van ban voi chinh phu hoi cuoi nam 2017 rang se khong ua ra nhung thong iep co noi dung can thiep vao noi tinh cac quoc gia khac. To PA cua Anh hom Chu Nhat 14/10 a ua thong tin nay, theo o Ecuador khoi phuc mot phan cac quyen lien lac cua ong chu WikiLeaks nhu truy cap internet, su dung ien thoai di ong hay uoc phep tiep nhan nguoi en tham, la quyen ma cac thanh vien trong nhom phap ly cua Assange bi han che cho en nay. Sang lap vien Wikileaks song tai ai su quan Ecuador o London ke tu thang 6/2016 nham tranh bi dan o sang Thuy ien voi cac cao buoc pham toi tinh duc ma ong lien tuc phu nhan va a uoc cap ti nan chinh tri. Thuy ien nam ngoai a xoa bo vu kien Assange nhung ong van ang oi mat voi lenh bat giu cua Anh vi vi pham cac ieu khoan bao lanh tai ngoai. Ong lo ngai se bi dan o sang My e tra loi cho cac van e ve hoat ong cua WikiLeaks neu ong roi khoi ay. WikiLeaks cho biet hanh ong nay cua Ecuador la ket qua cua cuoc gap giu hai quan chuc cap cao cua Lien Hiep Quoc va Tong thong Ecuador. Julian Assange to regain internet access at embassy base reports (The Guardian) Wikileaks has said Ecuador has agreed to end isolation regime imposed on its founder Ecuador has partly restored Julian Assanges communications with the outside world from its London embassy where the WikiLeaks founder has been living for over six years, according to reports. The Ecuadorian government suspended access in March because it said Assange had breached a written commitment made to the government at the end of 2017 not to issue messages that might interfere with other states. On Sunday, the Press Association reported that Ecuador had partly restored Assanges access to the internet, mobile phones and visits at the embassy, which had been restricted to members of his legal team. The WikiLeaks founder has lived in the Ecuadorian embassy since June 2012 when he took refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of sex crimes, which he denies, and was granted political asylum. Sweden dropped the case against Assange last year but he remains subject to arrest in the UK for jumping bail. He has said he fears he could be extradited to the US for questioning about the activities of WikiLeaks if he leaves the building. WikiLeaks said in a statement: Ecuador has told WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange that it will remove the isolation regime imposed on him following meetings between two senior UN officials and Ecuadors president, Lenin Moreno, on Friday. Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, added: It is positive that through UN intervention Ecuador has partly ended the isolation of Mr Assange although it is of grave concern that his freedom to express his opinions is still limited. The UN has already declared Mr Assange a victim of arbitrary detention. This unacceptable situation must end. The UK government must abide by the UNs ruling and guarantee that he can leave the Ecuadorian embassy without the threat of extradition to the United States. ONE of murder accused Paul Wells sons has said his father told him not to come home the night before Kenneth OBrien went missing and his torso was found in a suitcase in the Grand Canal. Mr Wells was out power-washing the ground in his back yard the following morning and later gave Gary Wells a bag with a chainsaw in it to pass on to another brother, the Central Criminal Court heard. After Mr OBriens body was found and identified, the "finger of suspicion" was pointing at the accused even in his own family, the jury heard. The accused, of Barnamore Park, Finglas, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kenneth OBrien at that address between January 15 and 16, 2016. Mr Wells (50) admitted to gardai that he shot him dead but said it happened when they struggled during a row after Mr OBrien turned up at his home with a gun. The accused claimed Mr OBrien (33) had wanted to have his own partner Eimear Dunne murdered and Mr Wells refused to kill her. He said after he shot Mr OBrien, he panicked and dismembered the remains, which were later found in a suitcase and shopping bags in the canal in Co Kildare. Ms Dunne began giving evidence last Friday. Concluding her cross-examination today, she agreed with Michael OHiggins SC, defending, that the accused would call around to her home from time to time for a chat and a cup of tea while Mr OBrien was still working in Australia. He used to say, Eimear, you know Kens not coming home she said. In one conversation, she asked Mr Wells if Mr OBrien had said anything about whether he was staying home, and Mr Wells replied: Kenneth is Kenneth, I just wish he would be honest or straight with you. Asked if there were arguments between Ms Dunne and Mr OBrien about the issue, she said not really and if he did not want to come home she would accept it and was not going to force his hand. Mr OHiggins read out a November 2014 text exchange between Ms Dunne and Mr OBrien in which she accused him of lying about coming home and always making me look like a dope. Ms Dunne said she did not want to look like a dope because when Mr Wells was in her house, he was saying you know Ken isnt coming home, Eimear. Mr OHiggins said when she met the accused outside McDonalds in Liffey Valley the Sunday after Mr OBrien went missing, she told him she would check her house CCTV and Mr Wells told her it was not working. Mr OHiggins said the CCTV seemed to have been working up until Thursday, January 14, when it was switched on at 10.50 and off at 10.51. It appeared that Mr Wells must have learned that information from Mr OBrien, Mr OHiggins said. Ms Dunne said Mr OBrien had not said anything about the CCTV being off. In re-examination, Ms Dunne told prosecutor Sean Gillane SC she would be in text contact with Mr OBrien a few times a day when he was in Australia. In December 2015, she was under the impression he was definitely staying when he returned. Mr Gillane asked her was their son involved in this. Yes, he was after telling Charlie that he was home for good, she said. Mr OBrien had told their son: Daddy is coming home for Christmas. She agreed that Mr OBrien as devoted to his son. Mr OBriens mother, Susan OBrien said she knew the accused was a friend of Mr OBrien but did not know how he knew him. When he returned from working in Australia in December 2015, she and her husband Gerry were among family members at the airport to meet him. Mr OBrien was in good form and his son was delighted to see his Daddy. On January 16, 2016 after Mr OBrien did not return home (from a job he said he was going to in Limerick), she spoke to Ms Dunne who was obviously distraught. Ms OBrien said when the suitcase with the torso in it was found in the canal in Ardclough, near where her son had a lockup, she thought: I thought it doesnt mean anything." However, gardai called and she provided a DNA sample and the remains were identified. In cross-examination, she did not recall Mr OBrien being distracted and looking at his phone a lot when he returned from Australia. Gary Wells, one of the accuseds sons said he was living at Barnamore Park, Finglas with his parents in 2016. On January 15, his father brought him to work because his own car was broken. That morning when I was leaving, he told me not to come home that night, he said. When they arrived at work, he said his father told him again not to come home and said he had a friend coming over. While he was at work, he said, his father rang me to make sure I wasnt coming home. He could not remember what was said, just not to come home, to go straight to my partners His father did not say why. He stayed with his partner Melissa that night and the following night. His mother and another brother who was living at home were both visiting a sister in Cork. The next morning, he walked home from his partners house and his father was out in the back yard. He was standing just outside the decking, power hosing the ground, he said. There were two square bottles of bleach sitting on the decking. His father came in and told him 1,200 he was lending him to buy a car was in a biscuit tin in the press. His father left in the Audi A3. The next morning, his father called to say he was outside Melissas house. The accused told him he needed to talk to him, and asked if there was room in Melissas shed for put some stuff into. He said there was not. They went back to their house and the accused gave him a bag and asked him to bring it to his brother Paul Wells Jnrs house. The accused got the black bag from the shed and it had cable tie around the top. He agreed with Mr Gillane that he formed the view from the shape that there was a chainsaw in it. Before his father brought it out to his car, he noticed a layer of carpet missing in the shed and the concrete floor was visible. Gary Wells said he drove the bag to his brother Paul Wells Jnrs house in Beatty Park, Celbridge and put the bag into the boot of his brothers car. His father gave him bags of rubbish he wanted to get rid of from the shed and he agreed to take them. They were shopping bags and he saw inside one which had a piece of cardboard with a red stain on it. Gary Wells said he put the bags in the bin at his work. His father asked if he could get plastic for the shed walls because of a leak and he did so, from work. Gardai had shown him plastic which was similar to the type he had brought home. That week, his father met him in Blanchardstown and asked him to drop some money to Paul Wells Jnr. They went home and his father handed him an envelope to give his brother, telling him there was 11,000 in it. Gary Wells said he had met Mr OBrien a few times. After it came out that it was Mr OBrien whose body was found, the accused said he thought it was terrible what had happened and that the gardai would probably come to speak to him as a precaution. In cross-examination, Gary Wells agreed that after Mr OBriens body was found, there was tension and even in his own family the finger of suspicion was pointing at him. He said his father had been very edgy. He agreed Paul Wells Jnr had pre-empted matters by self-reporting to the gardai and that hastened the inevitable that the gardai were going to come knocking. Gary Wells said although it was his normal routine to stay in his partners house at weekends, he would usually go home to get changed first. Mr OHiggins questioned him about whether his father was telling him not to come home that night or double checking. Gary Wells said it was the tone of voice his father used. Mr OHiggins said he was not challenging him on his impression. Mr OHiggins said the accused would say he did not tell Gary Wells he had a friend coming over. The witness said it was said to me although he could not put an exact time on it. In his statement, he had described his father as being out of breath but he accepted that this was frequently the case as his father was not fit. The trial continues before a jury and Mr Justice Paul McDermott. An 18-year-old man was remanded in custody today charged with aiding and abetting a suspected rape in Belfast city centre. The accused, who cannot be identified, faces a further count of administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower the alleged victim so another teenager could have sex with her. The charges relate to an incident in areas surrounding Victoria Square in the early hours of September 28. A 17-year-old youth has already been charged with sexual assault as part of the same case. Belfast Magistrates' Court heard the complainant has no recollection of events after she was in a nightclub earlier that night. Police said CCTV footage shows her encountering the two accused on nearby streets. A detective claimed the 18-year-old defendant can be seen producing a substance or package and leaning over towards her face. "You can see that her head moves left or right and her eyes are fixed; it's very, very obvious there's been some reaction," he said. It was claimed that the man did not offer or seek any help during the incident. But a defence solicitor argued they could be the actions of someone who had snorted a substance voluntarily. He stressed the younger accused told police any sexual contact was consensual. The youth and alleged victim can be seen on CCTV footage kissing, according to the lawyer. He argued that the complainant then performs a sex act on the 17-year-old. However, the detective responded: "I don't believe the complainant could have consented to anything, given the level of reaction to the substance." Refusing bail to the 18-year-old man, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said: "At this stage I consider there's a danger to the public." She remanded him in custody to appear again by video-link in four weeks time. As the accused was being led back to the cells relatives and friends packed into the public gallery expressed their support, shouting: "Keep your head up." Imposing a ban on his name being reported, Mrs Bagnall cited the risk it could lead to the "jigsaw identification" of his 17-year-old co-accused, who appeared in court on Saturday. A YOUNG Dublin woman gouged a garda's eyes when she interfered in the arrest of a friend who became violent outside a B&B, a court has heard. Kelsey Walsh (22) assaulted the officer as he was trying to restrain the man during a drunken late-night disturbance. The case against her was adjourned for the production of a probation report. Ms Walsh, of Landen Road, Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Garda Peter Smyth, as well as public intoxication and threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour. Dublin District Court heard the incident happened at Palmerstown Lodge B&B, Kennelsfort Road, on December 28, 2016. Garda Sergeant Dara Kenny said officers went to deal with a man who was acting aggressively and trying to gain access. When they arrived, Walsh was at the scene with the man and they were both told to leave but returned an hour later. The man was arrested when he became violent. As they struggled, Walsh intervened, striking Gda Smyth with a open hand, hitting his right eye. She then attempted to gouge his eyes with her fingers, Sgt Kenny said. When she was arrested, she gave a different name and continued to be verbally abusive and to resist gardai. Gda Smyth suffered bruising around his eyes and discomfort for a few days but made a full recovery. Walsh had no previous convictions. The man involved was "friendly with" Walsh but they were not in a relationship, defence solicitor Tony Collier said. He had been "the more serious aggressor" and Walsh got involved to "extricate him" from the officers. At the time, she was mixing with a very negative peer group and "a lot of alcohol and substances were used that night". Since then, she was a "totally different person" and was about to start a clerical skills course. She had never developed any addiction and now did not use drugs or drink alcohol. Judge Ann Ryan said the case was serious but Walsh had made "great strides" and had not come to garda attention since. The judge adjourned the case to December for a probation report. Ireland's seven universities are turning to the public to put pressure on politicians to provide more State funding. The Irish Universities Association (IUA) has launched a campaign warning of the risk of a "serious drop in quality or a shortfall in places for students in the future" if the funding crisis was not tackled urgently. The Save Our Spark campaign aims to raise awareness and encourage members of the public to sign a petition urging their local TD or senator to act. The IUA developed the campaign because of "two years of inaction" since the publication of the Cassells Report, which put forward a number of funding options. The Department of Education is conducting an assessment of the options set out in the report. A Department of Public Expenditure review in July challenged some of the assumptions in the report. IUA director general Jim Miley said state funding of 5,000 per third level student was about half of what it had been a decade ago and a fraction of similar-sized European countries' expenditure. A team from the Garda's elite Emergency Response Unit (ERU) has taken part in the most comprehensive counter-terror exercise in decades. The four-day exercise involved seven scenarios across three time zones to test the operational readiness of the special intervention units. The commander of the ERU, Det Supt Alan McGovern, told the Irish Independent: "The Garda is committed to European co-operation in the fight against terrorism and the ERU has a role to play in that and can contribute to and learn from these exercises." The ERU team was assigned to a land-sea scenario, starting in Iceland and ending in Northern Ireland. The role of the ERU was to be landed by ropes from helicopters onto a ship, which had been 'hijacked by terrorists' off the Icelandic coast and hostages taken. The ERU had to tackle the terrorists and rescue the hostages while members of other intervention units arrived in boats. The exercise was put together under the Atlas network, a co-operation platform of 38 special intervention units of EU states and Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. Organisers are also planning joint training activities and pooling resources and, in some cases, jointly buying equipment. Victim Jamie Tighe Ennis (24) who was shot on a footpath on Moatview Avenue, Coolock Gardai have arrested four men in connection with the murder of Jamie Tighe Ennis. Jamie Tighe Ennis (24) was gunned down in front of his friends on Moatview Avenue in Coolock in the early hours of Saturday October 28, 2017. He was a close associate of the chief suspect in the double killing of mother-of-six Antoinette Corbally (48) and innocent locksmith Clinton Shannon (30) in Ballymun north Dublin in August. Gardai are investigating if he was murdered as retaliation for those murders but other motives are also possible because Tighe had links to a number of different criminals. He had previous convictions for assaulting gardai and for firearms offences, and was before the courts in 2016 in relation to a firearms charge. All four men were arrested in the Dublin area. They are aged in their twenties, thirties, fifties, and one of those arrested is a juvenile. They are currently detained in Coolock, Clontarf, Ballymun and Swords Garda Stations. Gardai say investigations are continuing. Campaign: Vicky Phelan speaks at the launch of the The 221Plus CervicalCheck Patient Support Group. Photo: Caroline Quinn A new support group set up, by and for the women hit by the CervicalCheck scandal and their families will campaign for laws enshrining management-level accountability in the public service. Vicky Phelan, Lorraine Walsh and Stephen Teap were among those who helped to launch 221Plus yesterday at Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. The group will provide an opportunity for those affected by the scandal to meet, share information in confidence, support each other and advocate for change in the health service. "We're living in a country where people can get away with things at a management level and not be held accountable," said Ms Phelan, whose case brought light to the scandal. "I'm going to use my position for as long as I can to advocate for change across the board - and this is not just for cervical cancer victims." Ms Phelan said she didn't think a commission of investigation into the scandal was the way to go because it would "drag on for years" - and no one would be held accountable in the end. Expand Close In the pink: Lucy ONeill and Elaise Wan from Wexford were at the Great Pink Run in Kilkenny Castle Park yesterday. The event attracted 2,000 in Kilkenny and a further 6,000 in the Phoenix Park on Saturday, raising over 425,000 to support Breast Cancer Irelands research and awareness programmes. Photo: Pat Moore / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp In the pink: Lucy ONeill and Elaise Wan from Wexford were at the Great Pink Run in Kilkenny Castle Park yesterday. The event attracted 2,000 in Kilkenny and a further 6,000 in the Phoenix Park on Saturday, raising over 425,000 to support Breast Cancer Irelands research and awareness programmes. Photo: Pat Moore "One of the things I certainly will be looking at going down the road and working with, Stephen, and other bodies including the Irish Cancer Society, is for legislation for accountability. And it's not just in the health sector, it's across the public sector and the civil service because we just don't have it in this country," she said. "Until we start fighting and jumping up and down to try to get it, we're not going to get accountability. We can't sack people in this country." She said another advocacy function of the group would be to lobby for treatments for the victims. A website has been set up for the organisation which includes a private forum for those affected by the scandal and their families. Stephen McMahon, chairman of the Irish Patients Association, said it would be a "powerful partner at places of reform". He urged women to continue to go for screening and to get vaccinated. Carrie Smith, who has been appointed co-ordinator of the organisation, said its functions would grow and evolve based on the feedback from its members. It was named in honour of the 221 women believed to have been victims of the scandal, though it is likely that figure will rise. So far, the group has been in contact with around half of those affected. Mr Teap, whose wife Irene died of cervical cancer last year, pointed out that 221Plus was completely independent of the HSE. Related video: A Fine Gael senator pleaded with the Health Minister to open a second cardiac lab in his constituency, saying it would give him "political cover" until after a general election. Waterford Senator Paudie Coffey wrote to Simon Harris saying approving the modular cath lab as a temporary measure would help him politically. In an email, he wrote: "If we can deliver this, it would give me political cover until review is complete or until after an election, whichever comes first." The senator defended the use of the term "political cover", saying the message had been sent to Mr Harris's special adviser. "The last general election, I lost my seat by a few hundred votes and there is no doubt it was down to issues around the cath lab - others [local politicians] made very public demonstrations they would deliver it. I never promised it but this was always a very hot political issue in Waterford for the last five or six years. "I was writing to the special adviser and I want to distinguish that. I was making a political point to a political adviser about the political impact. I was using the avenues available to me to try and get movement on the issue. I make no apologies for making the political point. I feel justified. Simon Harris listened to us and overruled the officials." According to records released under FOI, in his email to the department in March, Mr Coffey forwarded a brief that had been prepared by local campaigners looking for improved cardiac services in the region. (CNN) Hurricane Michael's death toll climbed to 18 Saturday, after another victim was discovered in Virginia. Fears were mounting for those who did not heed evacuation orders before Hurricane Michael bulldozed large swaths of Florida's Panhandle, and residents in the hardest-hit areas grew increasingly desperate for provisions. Three days after the monster storm, with rescue workers cutting through hulking debris piles in search of survivors, residents formed long lines outside fire stations, schools and Salvation Army food trucks to collect bottled water and ready-to-eat meals (MREs). "It's about to get stupid if people don't get food and water," Panama City Assistant Fire Chief Gary Swearingen said Saturday. Some have already resorted to looting, according to CNN affiliate WEAR-TV, because of the lack of resources such as water, electricity and food. "This (storm) hit so hard and so fast that the different aspects of human nature is going to come out, and people are going to do anything to survive," Panama City resident Christopher Donahue told WEAR. There were also reports of a fatal shooting in Panama City, which authorities said is under investigation. Gov. Rick Scott said in his 6 p.m. update Saturday more than 1,800 law enforcement officers have been sent to impacted areas in the Panhandle and Big Bend along with more than 400 ambulances with over 700 staff. The Florida National Guard has activated 4,000 soldiers and airmen to help with search and rescue, clearing roads and delivering supplies. Two food and water distribution centers have opened, and others are expected, officials said. Scott tweeted Saturday evening that 142,000 gallons of water and nearly 174,000 ready-to-eat meals were delivered to affected communities, with food and water being airdropped to the hardest hit counties. Scott said Saturday evening there are 15 shelters open across the state and that 11 counties across Florida are eligible for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He also said 243,513 people are without power in Florida. With the death toll from the storm rising to at least 18, the number of those still unaccounted for remains unclear. "Unfortunately, we're probably still going to find people in the coming weeks," Panama City Fire Department Battalion Chief David Collier told CNN. The number of fatalities could rise into the double digits in Panama City and surrounding communities alone, Collier said. "We're not able to gain access to all areas at this point in time," he said. "The quick response teams ... from around the state and nation have done a quick, rapid search of the area, have tried to clear homes the best they can." In Panama City, the fire department has received more than 200 calls for checks on residents, but there are no resources to perform them, Fire Chief Alex Baird said. Completing the checks could take days or weeks. With no power and with spotty cellphone service, residents still unaccounted for could be trapped in isolated areas, according to Baird. Scott said more than 2,000 of his personnel are working to restore cell service and communication in the impacted areas. In Lynn Haven, a city north of Panama City, Mayor Margo Anderson told CNN affiliate News 13 Orlando through tears that she and the city manager almost died in the city hall building during the storm. "I want the people here to know they are loved. We are going to build this city back. It's going to be beautiful, and now we have about two months before our power grid's going to be back up. Probably a few days before we have water, and when we have water it's not going to be drinkable water," Anderson said. Majority of school district's students displaced Bay District School Board Vice Chairman Steve Moss assessed the damage at Jinks Middle School in Panama City on Saturday, saying the hurricane will displace students from 25 of the district's 38 schools -- some for months, others for years. That accounts for the majority of the district's 26,000 students. A statement from Gov. Scott said the district, along with six others across the state, would close until further notice. More than 757,000 customers are still without power in seven states following the storm, which touched down on the Panhandle as one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States, leaving a trail of destruction that stretched as far as Virginia. In the virtually leveled oceanside town of Mexico Beach, search-and-rescue crews made two passes through the rubble and continued searching Saturday. About 280 of the town's 1,200 residents had indicated they would ride out the storm, but several of those likely fled at the last minute when the approaching storm's devastating strength became clear, Mayor Al Cathey said. At least one person an elderly man has been found dead there, and it's unclear how many are missing. Cathey said he's been told it could take two months to restore power. "Seventy-five percent of our city is not here (destroyed)," he said. "There's not one local business that's operational." Wife watched her husband die Sitting in a red pickup just steps away from her damaged home, Gayle Sweet recalled the last moments she shared with her husband. "I told him, 'Hold on, just hold on, I'm calling for help now,' " she told CNN affiliate WFTS on Thursday, sobbing. Her husband, Steven, was killed when an oak tree smashed their home in Gretna, Florida, and landed on top of him. The 44-year-old was among at least 18 who have died since Hurricane Michael made landfall Wednesday. Hours after the storm left her home in ruins, Gayle Sweet refused to leave. Her husband's body was still trapped in the rubble. "Hopefully they (emergency crews) will be here soon. I'm not going anywhere until they bring him out," she said. At least eight people, including Sweet, have died in Florida. An 11-year-old girl died in Georgia when a carport came crashing through the roof. Two of the three people who were killed in North Carolina died when their vehicle struck a tree that had fallen because of high winds, said Adrienne Jones, deputy director for the McDowell County Emergency Medical Services. Six people died in Virginia. Four drowned and a firefighter was killed when a tractor-trailer lost control and hit his truck on a wet highway in Hanover County. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management said Saturday a sixth person died in Charlotte County. In Georgia, officials are receiving reports that 84 chicken houses estimated to hold more than 2 million chickens -- were destroyed in the storm, which also caused severe damage to pecan, cotton, vegetable and peanut crops. "For me, the cotton crop is as bad as it gets. I was picking three bale cotton (this week); today it is gone," cotton farmer and state Rep. Clay Pirkle said. "Can't tell the difference between what I've picked and what I haven't." Hospitals evacuated but operating After evacuating hundreds of patients, hospitals heavily damaged during Michael are still finding ways to help those in need. The front door of Bay Medical Sacred Heart in Panama City was boarded up Friday, and water service hadn't been restored, but a handmade sign directed patients to the emergency room, which remains operational. The hurricane-force winds were so powerful that they lifted the roof on the hospital's tower, where most of the patients were, and water poured into the facility. About 1,500 people, including doctors, nurses and patients, rode out the storm. "It was a very scary few hours of howling winds, windows blowing in, crashing roofs, ceilings collapsing, but patients being cared for throughout all of it," said Amir Haghighat, a cardiologist with the Cardiovascular Institute of Northwest Florida who works at Bay Medical. Hundreds of patients were taken Friday to hospitals across Florida and as far away as Mobile, Alabama, in a parade of ambulances and medical helicopters. The Panama City hospital is staying open receiving patients in an emergency room running on generator power. Scott said The Walt Disney Company had donated $1 million to the Florida Disaster Fund. Newsrooms still running In the wake of Hurricane Michael, local journalists in the Florida Panhandle are working in incredibly difficult conditions. Panama City's two biggest TV stations, ABC affiliate WMBB and NBC affiliate WJHG, have been off the air for days. During Wednesday's broadcast, one of the last things viewers heard was a reporter saying, "It sounds like a train is coming over the roof of the TV station. The whole building is shaking." WMBB general manager Terry Cole said his staff worked and slept at a next-door church Wednesday into Thursday. They've set up chairs and cameras in the parking lot and produced their newscasts from there. The daily paper, the Panama City News Herald, still has no power. Cleanup crews were present when a CNN crew stopped by Friday. But the office was pretty much empty the journalists were all out reporting stories. The impact of climate change on storms Michael's strength may reflect the effect of climate change on storms. The planet has warmed significantly over the past several decades, causing changes in the environment. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, human-caused greenhouse gases in the atmosphere create an energy imbalance, with more than 90% of remaining heat trapped by the gases going into the oceans. While there might not be more storms in a warmer climate, most studies show storms will get stronger and produce more rain. Storm surge is worse now than it was 100 years ago, thanks to the rise in sea levels. The scientific research group Climate Central says unless the rate of greenhouse gas emissions changes, hurricanes are expected to intensify more rapidly in the coming decades. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Hurricane Michael death toll climbs to 18 with new victim reported in Virginia." Gardai close off the new Nangor Road leading to An Post sorting centre. PicL Damien Eagers / INM A MASSIVE security alert was sparked at a Dublin mail centre after a suspect package alleging to be sent by jihadist extremists and addressed to the Taoiseach was discovered. A major operation began shortly after 4pm in west Dublin after the suspect package was discovered in the An Post mail centre near the Nangor Road, Clondalkin. Independent.ie has learned that serious concerns were raised about the package as it was signed off as being sent from 'The Soldiers of Allah'. The package, roughly the shape of a shoebox, was addressed to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar although it is understood that no exact address was written on the package. This evening, after several hours of examinations the package was declared a hoax. Gardai were alerted and sealed-off the scene before a decision was made to request the Army Bomb disposal unit, also known as the bomb squad, to the scene. Officers from Clondalkin garda station were involved in the security alert and traffic was diverted away from the scene while the Defence Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit arrived after 5pm. Members of the specially trained unit examined the device for some time and a remote-controlled robot was also used to carry out an examination. However, shortly before 9pm tonight, the device was declared a hoax and the scene was declared safe. A senior source last night told Independent.ie that gardai will carry out investigations in an effort to establish who was responsible for causing the significant security alert. "This is a very serious incident where you have a package deliberately put together to create panic aimed at the Taoiseach. "An investigation is underway which will attempt to establish who was behind this, and if it is somebody playing a joke or if there are more sinister elements responsible," the source added. The package, which is described as being the size of a shoebox, did not have an exact address of the Taoiseach on it but did have Leo Varadkar's name marked as the recipient. A garda spokesman confirmed that the Nangor Road and Parkwest business park were closed as a result of the operation and diversions were put in place. Killer waitress Marta Herda has written a book blaming her victim Csaba Orsos for his own death. The Polish-born waitress (30) is serving a life sentence for the murder of Mr Orsos (31), who drowned when she drove her car into the sea at the South Quay in Arklow. Expand Close Marta Herda was convicted of murdering Csaba Orsos, who drowned after she drove her car into Arklow harbour in 2013 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Marta Herda was convicted of murdering Csaba Orsos, who drowned after she drove her car into Arklow harbour in 2013 Mr Orsos could not swim and drowned, while his killer made it to safety. Herda's trial heard that Mr Orsos was madly in love with her but she had grown tired of his attentions and made the decision to kill him. In her book, she refuses to accept the court's verdict and insists that she feels responsible - but not for murder. She claims that Mr Orsos was attacking her in the car when it went off the quay shortly before 6am on March 26, 2013. Torture The Sunday World yesterday published shocking extracts from the book, as well as images from CCTV of Herda emerging from the water after the crash, which have never been seen before. In one passage, she writes: "It's still hard for me to believe this, or accept it. "I often think about his family, about [the] torture they must be going through, especially on holiday or his birthday, or the day of the accident. "I'm afraid to imagine his mother's pain and others. "Although I'm sure that this accident wouldn't happen if he wasn't attacking me in the car, but I also made many mistakes. [Should I have] stopped my car, or should I [have] taken another route? "It's not important now. I was the driver, and I feel very responsible for his death, [in particular] that I couldn't save him and find him - that I could do something differently. "This will stay with me for the rest of my life. There is not a single day that I am not thinking about it. "I would like very much that he was here, and not leaving me with all of this. I feel responsible, but not for murder." In May, the Supreme Court refused to hear a further appeal by Herda against her conviction after the Court of Criminal Appeal had already upheld the original guilty verdict. The DPP's counsel, Brendan Grehan, SC, had told her trial that the case was "crystal clear". Herda deliberately drove into the sea, using her VW Passat as an instrument of murder. "Whether she achieved that with a gun or a sledgehammer doesn't matter," he said. Mr Orsos had a "mortal fear" of water, the trial heard. Herda "lured" him into her car and minutes later he was at the bottom of the estuary. CCTV obtained by the Sunday World shows Herda make it back to land before collapsing on her knees outside a neighbouring property. Her first statement to gardai gave the impression Mr Orsos was some kind of "stalker", while in her second statement, she said he was a "Hungarian gypsy" and that she knew "how they are with women". She was also "caught out on lies" over her contact with the victim beforehand. In her as-yet untitled book, Herda says it never even occurred to her that she would be convicted of murder. She writes: "Murder never crossed my mind. That word frightens me, and I don't know how to get my head around it and I don't hear it. I can't get over it, I can't understand this. "This reality seems [more like] fiction to my head. I would want to get over it, be strong and get through this, but this tires me, and I don't know how." Joked Writing of Mr Orsos, Herda continued: "I first met him when I started working in the same hotel. We have known each other for two years but it wasn't a close acquaintance. "We never went together anywhere and there was no romantic or sexual relation. For the first year everything was calm, and I had friendly relations with him and his brother. "Everyone was laughing when he joked that I will be his wife, but I let it out with my other ear, knowing that he's joking. "After some time it began to be awkward, because his jokes starts to be less and less funny." After Herda's conviction, gardai revealed she had taunted them with an anonymous postcard after returning to Poland following the crash. The card read: "Hope you have not much work." Gardai investigated and found Herda's DNA on the stamp. Former Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh has said she is interested in running in next year's European Parliament elections under the Fine Gael banner. If the 31-year-old Mayo Rose makes an official declaration, she will run in the Midlands North West constituency. It is believed that Fine Gael will be running two candidates with a view to winning both seats in the election, which will take place in May 2019. Ms Walsh, who is a member of Fine Gael, did not reply when contacted by the Irish Independent, but it is understood that talks are under way to get her in the race. MEP Mairead McGuinness, who will also contest the election, said she would be happy to see the Mayo Rose as a potential contender. "I'm running in the next European election and I'm delighted that Maria Walsh is a possible candidate. The election will be important for Ireland post-Brexit and for the European Union," she said. Rural Affairs Minister Michael Ring told the Irish Independent that if Ms Walsh was chosen in the Fine Gael selection convention, she would get his full support. "It's great to see so many interested in standing for Fine Gael and I'll support any member, including Maria, if they get selected at the convention," he said. The Mayo contestant made history in 2014 when becoming the first gay woman to win the Rose of Tralee crown. The following year, Ireland became the first country in the world to bring in same-sex marriage by a popular vote. Since then, Ms Walsh has become a regular face on our TV screens and is also an advocate for LGBT rights. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Ms Walsh moved to Shrule in Co Mayo with her family more than 20 years ago but, following her graduation in journalism and visual media at Griffith College, moved to New York and later to Philadelphia. Sean Gallagher has said that he didn't improve his Irish to a point where he could describe himself as fluent over the past seven years because he was "time poor". But he said he plans to do so if elected - despite the hectic schedule of the president. The 'Dragons' Den' businessman and father of two said that he has had a lot on his plate since he ran in the presidential election. "I think it's important but it's like everything else, we're all time poor and the last seven years have been about establishing business, about helping others, having two children, one of whom is two and doesn't sleep well yet or hasn't mastered the art of sleeping throughout the night yet," he said. "All of that creates its own pressure - like everybody else." Now that Mr Gallagher (56) is back in contention for the presidency, he has committed to running a 'learn with the president' initiative to promote the language and improve his own skills. "I'm like a lot of people in Ireland, I got an honour in honours in my Leaving Cert in school and I haven't had an opportunity to use it," he said. "Much of the Irish is latent in me so when I'm hearing conversations I can pick up much of it but probably wouldn't have the confidence to engage with somebody who is fluent." When asked to respond to comments that his style of answering questions is similar to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mr Gallagher replied: "I have no idea what that means. I never compare myself. "There's an old prayer up in my bedroom called the 'Desiderata' that says 'do not compare yourself with others, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself'." The businessman, who now lives in Co Wicklow, also responded to suggestions that he has a penchant for relying on business-speak which does not land with voters and it comes off as 'politicking', Mr Gallagher said that it was "the opposite". "I'm just saying I'm not a politician so I don't compare myself with others and I believe I answer all the questions," he said. "And if I'm talking in a way which is motivational or inspiring or drawing on my life experience, if I'm speaking in communities, it's about bringing everybody with me." Mr Gallagher has made a declaration to Standards in Public Office (Sipo) which listed the directorships of four different companies as his main occupation. He was not required to submit such a declaration since he is not a public office holder, but Mr Gallagher said he wanted to show he is transparent. However, Mr Gallagher said he will not publish details of the salary he has earned over the past seven years. "The most important thing of all is to ensure transparency in terms of Sipo requirements and they're clearly laid out for a reason. And while that isn't even required legally, I've made those declarations in the interest of transparency." Asked to clarify if he would reveal his salary over the past seven years, he said: "Sure that's hardly relevant, now is it? I think the important thing is all of my tax affairs are fully compliant," he said. All six candidates have been invited to attend the first televised debate on RTE's 'Claire Byrne Live' tonight. Just four of the candidates, Sinn Fein's Liadh Ni Riada, Senator Joan Freeman and businessmen Peter Casey and Gavin Duffy, are expected to attend. President Michael D Higgins has State duties and Mr Gallagher has said he won't take part unless all candidates are present. RTE's invitation to all candidates remains open right up until the broadcast. All four candidates criticised President Michael D Higgins and Sean Gallagher for not showing up for the campaign's first live television debate JIBES at the missing Sean Gallagher and Michael D Higgins, a notable contribution for Liadh Ni Riada on wearing the Poppy and an interruption from a satirical objector marked the first TV debate of the presidential election campaign. RTE host Claire Byrne chaired the first debate but only four of the candidates were present: Gavin Duffy, Joan Freeman, Liadh Ni Riada and Peter Casey. Questions about their presidential priorities, the timing of the examination of Aras spending by the Dails Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the heads of state they would refuse to meet were among those put to the candidates by the audience. All four candidates hit out at two missing candidates for not attending the debate. Ms Ni Riada said it showed contempt for the Irish people and Ms Freeman suggesting it showed an air of entitlement. Mr Duffy said that the public hasnt heard much from Mr Gallagher in seven years and said he should be there to speak to the electorate. Mr Casey meanwhile claimed that Mr Higgins could not defend the indefensible and alleged that the incumbent failed to defend questions over spending put to him in during Saturdays Radio One Live debate, forcing a spokesperson to get in touch with the show to say that claims about the costs associated with the presidents dogs were untrue. The intervention lead to another flurry of calls from the candidates to say that the president should have attended the debate. Among the more notable interventions on the night was Ms Ni Riada confirming that she would wear a Poppy on Armistice day to show how Ireland has matured. The commemoration falls on the same day as the inauguration in November. She admitted that some members of her party may not be happy with her decision to do so but said she would do it for the greater good. Mr Duffy however said that, while the comment from Ms Ni Riada was welcomed with a round of applause, he did not agree that the president should wear any symbol but said a president could mark the occasion by laying a wreath in an appropriate way. The debate did not pass without incident as a woman who hit headlines for presenting a satirical presidential bid for the Aras race before Dublin City Council also made her voice heard as she heckled Peter Casey. The candidate attempted to talk through the interruption of Norma Burke, otherwise known as Bunty Twuntingdon McFuff, but the programme was forced to an ad break. During her intervention Ms Burke said: Ive had enough, Bunty was robbed. A spokeswoman for RTE said: Audience selection was founded on open applications from members of the public. The audience was selected by an external company to be representative both geographically, politically and demographically of the electorate. Ms Burke was removed from the studio and the incident was not referred to in the second half of the programme. All four candidates criticised President Michael D Higgins and Sean Gallagher for not showing up for the campaign's first live television debate Sinn Fein presidential candidate Liadh Ni Riada said she would be open to wearing a poppy on Armistice Day. The MEP received a round of applause as she said she would wear the symbol to show how mature Ireland as a society has become. She acknowledged some of her party's supporters would not be happy. Gavin Duffy, meanwhile, was the only candidate who said he would not wear the poppy, as he believes the president should not wear any symbol. Journalist and broadcaster Claire Byrne posed the questions during the first TV debate of the campaign, which featured four of the candidates. A woman who hit headlines for presenting a a satirical presidential bid for the Aras race before Dublin City Council also made her voice heard as she heckled Peter Casey. The candidate attempted to talk through the interruption of Norma Burke, otherwise known as Bunty Twuntingdon McFuff, but the programme was forced to an ad break. Gavin Duffy, Liadh Ni Riada, Joan Freeman and Peter Casey all attended the debate, with all four criticising Mr Higgins and Mr Gallagher at the beginning of the programme. Liadh Ni Riada said she believes the two candidates "think they're above the Irish people." "It is a sign of contempt," she added. Joan Freeman said; "Sean Gallagher should be here. It was not the right thing to do for Sean to jump on this. We're all candidates and we're all trying to do our best. Michael D Higgins decided not to be here, but Sean Gallagher should be here." Gavin Duffy said; "We haven't heard much from Sean for the last seven years, but he had an opportunity tonight. "They should be here, we're putting ourselves forward for the people," he added. Meanwhile, Peter Casey quipped; "I was disappointed the Fianna Fail candidate didn't show up." Last night Mr Gallagher who has said he will not partake in TV debates unless all candidates are participating penned a letter to the president asking him to reconsider his decision. He said: "In light of your unwillingness to participate in all debates and given their importance to our democratic process, I write to ask you to reconsider your decision and how it reflects on the Office of President." Mr Gallagher said that he had previously defended Mr Higgins missing the News at One radio debate due to the commitments of the office but said that there are no public engagements listed in the presidents public diary for today. He went onto claim that the decision by Mr Higgins not to take part in the first televised debate of the campaign is "insulting to the people of Ireland and shows contempt for the integrity of our electoral process". All of the candidates were invited to take part in a debate on the Claire Byrne Show tonight by RTE. Slightly more than half of voters polled said they would like to have the option of casting their ballot via electronic means. (stock photo) Ireland's last attempt at e-voting was a costly disaster, but a new survey claims more than half of the Irish electorate want to give it another go. Slightly more than half of voters polled said they would like to have the option of casting their ballot via electronic means. The survey found 40pc of eligible voters who didn't vote in the last general election in 2016 would "definitely" vote if remote e-voting was an option. However, 59pc said the traditional polling station was still their preferred method. Market research company Censuswide carried out an online survey of 994 Irish adults on behalf of Pure Telecom in June. Read more: Michael D still on course for victory after fractious radio debate Some 27pc of respondents said they regarded voting at polling stations as "outdated". The most popular method of e-voting chosen by respondents was online voting, with 42pc saying this should be an option. Almost a fifth said they would like to vote using a mobile while 12pc thought voting should be done via texting. Some 17pc of respondents said the current method of voting does not cater for the needs of those who are unable to travel to polling stations, such as the elderly and housebound. Paul Connell, CEO of Pure Telecom, said: "With the presidential election and a referendum approaching, it is perhaps a good time to consider alternatives to traditional polling methods." If breast cancer is not diagnosed in the early stages, it could spread to the bones, lungs, brain or other parts of the body. Therefore, it makes absolute sense to be vigilant. If abnormalities are detected and treated as soon as possible, the chances are good that the patient will recover and be able to lead a fully productive life. Someone who understands this only too well is former teacher Ger Collins (46) from Donabate, Co Dublin. She is so grateful for the help she received, following a diagnosis of breast cancer, she is now sharing her experiences with teachers and transition-year students. Her ordeal began one summer's day in 2015. "During a routine check of my breasts, I found a lump that wasn't there before," she recounts. "We were heading for Italy the next day. So I consulted my GP, who said I should go on holiday anyway because I'd have to wait a week or so for a mammogram." The following day, Ger, her husband Denis, and their boys, Sean, Darragh and Brian, who are now 15, 13 and 11 respectively, jetted off to Altomincio, near Lake Garda. "I decided to make the most of it, because this holiday was all about the kids' enjoyment," says Ger. "We didn't know what was around the corner. I thought, 'This could be our last family holiday'. I also knew when I got back, my life was going to change. Denis was understandably worried, but we had to put a brave face on it for the kids." And despite her bravery, Ger did have moments when she feared for her life. "I decided that if this turned out to be a worst-case scenario, I would write cards for the boys for every one of their birthdays, until they were 21," she says. "One of the worst things about cancer is not knowing. Once I got the text message giving me a date for the mammogram, I felt relieved that the next step was about to happen." Shortly after their return from Italy, Ger went to Beaumont Hospital for a triple assessment: a mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy. She soon knew from the expression on the doctor's face that things were serious; this was confirmed when she heard the words, "It's not a cyst". "I was always grateful they were honest from day one," says Ger, "because that meant I was prepared when I went to get the results of the biopsy. That's when breast surgeon Professor Arnold Hill confirmed that the lump was indeed a tumour. I asked straight out if I was going to die. He said, 'No, it's treatable and fixable, but it does mean a year out of your life'. And I thought, 'OK, I can deal with that'." The next stage was a CT scan to see if the cancer had spread to other parts of Ger's body. The test revealed suspicious 'dots' on Ger's liver, so she had to have an MRI scan. "That was the hardest part of this whole ordeal," she says. "Once you develop secondaries and it spreads, it's a much more serious diagnosis. You want them to do the full set of tests, but at the same time you're terrified." A week later, Ger was told that the cancer hadn't spread. "That was the moment I thought, 'Thank god, I've only got breast cancer', whereas some weeks before, breast cancer was the biggest fear," she says. The next step was to devise a treatment plan. Once that was in place, Ger could tell the boys about her diagnosis. "We were open and honest with them from the beginning," she says. "We were able to reassure them that this was treatable, and that I'd be having chemotherapy." In September 2015, Ger had a mastectomy and lymph nodes removed at the Hermitage Clinic. "Following surgery, my chest was covered by a dressing and I had tubes for drainage. It was difficult dealing with restricted arm movement, but by exercising daily, my normal range of arm and shoulder movement was restored after a few weeks," she says. "I didn't mind losing my breast, as, in my eyes, it was hosting cancer; I just wanted to be cancer-free." About two months later, Ger began having chemotherapy, because following her surgery, cancer had been found in lymph nodes near the site of the tumour. Touchingly, Darragh decided to shave his head in solidarity with his mum, who was likely to lose her hair during treatment. Brian did the actual shaving with Denis's help, while Sean took photos. "When it was all over, we went downstairs and had dinner," Ger says. "That's the thing with cancer, life goes on regardless. I bought a wig, but never wore it; it saw more school plays than anything else. I wore hats instead. "What I hated more than losing my hair was losing my eyebrows and eyelashes, because that just screams cancer." Ger had 16 sessions of chemotherapy, followed by radiotherapy. She says she was shocked to discover that, at 43, she was one of the oldest patients having treatment for breast cancer at that particular centre. "The others were younger than me. So, we need to educate our young women to be self-checking," she says. According to Aisling Hurley, CEO of Breast Cancer Ireland (BCI), of the almost 3,000 women in Ireland diagnosed with breast cancer annually, 30pc will be between the ages of 20 and 50 years. "There has been an increase in the survival rate from 75pc to 85pc," she says. "More importantly, mortality rates are decreasing, year on year, by 2pc. And thanks to new, sophisticated medical treatments, 50pc fewer patients require chemotherapy." Ger believes that if there was more awareness among younger women, lives would be saved. That is why she has volunteered to talk to teachers and pupils about her own experience of having breast cancer. "I'm so grateful to be well, I want to give something back," she says. Ger goes to schools with Adrienne McCleery, an outreach nurse with BCI, who explains about breast cancer and teaches the girls how to self-check. "Then I tell them about my own experience when I had no obvious symptoms, apart from the lump," says Ger. "That illustrates the importance of self-checking. BCI has an app that will send you a reminder every month to check your breasts. I always say to any woman diagnosed with breast cancer: 'Look at me - this will be you, this time next year'." Aisling adds, "Outreach programmes such as this are important in helping young woman identify abnormalities when they arise. Early detection and treatment are vital in ensuring outcomes will be more positive." Ger Collins is an ambassador for Breast Cancer Ireland. She supports its Breast Health Education and Awareness Programme for teachers and transition-year students, which is sponsored by Cornmarket Group Financial Services. See breastcancerireland.com/education-awareness Britain's Prince Harry, centre right, and his wife Meghan, centre left, approach a car at an airport in Sydney, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. (Australian Pool via AP) Though the Zika virus has been detected in Fiji and Tonga, pregnant Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will proceed with their plans to visit the countries on their current tour. Zika is mainly spread by mosquitoes, and it can be more serious for pregnant women, as there's evidence it causes birth defects in particular, abnormally small heads (microcephaly). The royal couple reportedly sought medical advice about the virus ahead of their travels. Professor James G Logan, Head of the Department of Disease Control at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told People magazine: The advice would be to wear a repellent which contains an active ingredient and wear that repellent all day and all evening. You have to put the repellent on like a hand cream. You have to really rub it in. If you squirt it on like a perfume, that wont do anything because the mosquito will find a bit thats not covered." "A spray or a lotion is fine but really rub it in and reapply it often. There are four active ingredients, one of the main ones is DEET and its safe to use that during pregnancy. Wearing long sleeves and baggy clothes will also help, Prof Logan explained. Mosquitos can even bite through jeans so if the clothing is loose its much harder for the mosquito to bite. Wearing light-colored clothing can help as these mosquitos are often attracted to dark clothing. It also helps you spot them, if you see a dark mosquito on a light piece of clothing. Generally the risk is low but, there is still a risk and you need to weigh up how to protect yourself and make sure you are fully informed. 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. 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14 Sep (22) 31 Aug - 7 Sep (15) 24 Aug - 31 Aug (14) 17 Aug - 24 Aug (9) 10 Aug - 17 Aug (5) Out of step: Seann Walsh and Katya Jones getting floury on Strictly last night. Many online fans felt they got sympathy votes from the judges. Photo: PA As far as celebrity cheating scandals go, it was hardly what you'd call high stakes. A Strictly Come Dancing couple, he a middling comedian, she a professional dancer. A few grainy photos of them snogging outside a pub. Two grovelling Twitter apologies. Yet, the scandal that erupted last week after comedian Seann Walsh and his married dancing partner, Katya Jones, indulged in a supposedly one-off kiss, was one befitting of an A-list affair. Last week, tabloids published images of the pair indulging in a passionate kiss outside a London pub. That evening, both issued apologies via their Twitter accounts. While Jones stated that she loves her husband and that "this is not a reflection on our relationship", Walsh made no mention of his girlfriend of five years, actress Rebecca Humphries. A tabloid story that should have been met with a raised eyebrow and a muttered "well, that's the Strictly curse", as the page is turned and the story all but forgotten, has instead been caught up in a maelstrom of fiery TV debates, concerned statements from women's charities, heated opinion columns and demands for the couple to be removed from the show, forcing the BBC to shift into crisis-control. Expand Close Well-timed response: Actor Rebecca Humphries / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Well-timed response: Actor Rebecca Humphries It was widely reported that the pair were initially billed to dance a salsa or rumba on last night's show, typically sensual Latin American dances, but were instead given a jaunty Charleston, a routine with far less physical contact and sexual tension. In the wake of the scandal, re-watching their performance of the paso doble from the previous week makes for uncomfortable viewing. The traditional Spanish routine sees the male dancer portray a bull fighter while the woman is either the cape or the bull - in both instances, he passionately pursues her. Walsh and Jones's dance was Matrix-themed, with both clad in black leather. Ooph. What prevented this from being just another quickly forgotten piece of gossip was the eloquent and ever-so-slightly caustic response from Humphries the following day. In an open letter posted to her Twitter account, Humphries addressed the scandal that had engulfed her private life, while at the same time deploying an extraordinarily damning character assassination of her now ex-boyfriend. Video of the Day Each sentence drops a new detail that, when read in full, creates a narrative far darker than the drunken snog it was initially framed as. "It's incredibly good of Sean(n) and Katya to apologise in the media. I have received nothing other than the support of my family, friends, and a host of strangers on the internet who all wanted to make sure I was OK. "Those pictures were taken on October 3. It was my birthday. I was alone at home when Sean(n) texted at 10pm saying the two of them were going for one innocent drink. "We spoke and I told him, not for the first time, that his actions over the past three weeks had led me to believe something inappropriate was going on. He aggressively, and repeatedly, called me a psycho/nuts/mental. As he has done countless times throughout our relationship when I've questioned his inappropriate, hurtful behaviour." Humphries goes on to encourage other women who feel "worthless and trapped" by their partner to seek help and leave, as she had just done, taking the couple's cat with them. It is these few lines that have given rise to a wider discussion about emotionally abusive partners and the gaslighting of women. Whether or not we believe Walsh to be one of these men, it is irrefutable that women are so often told to ignore their instincts. Whether they are cast as a 'hysterical harpy' or nagging wife, women's fears that they are being treated either unfairly or immorally are so often laughed off. While this has been a devastating time for Humphries, it is clear that the vindication that has arisen from this is something of a salve for her heartbreak and humiliation. That nagging sense that Walsh was manipulating and untrustworthy have been proven not just to Humphries, but the world at large. In a week that saw Brett Kavanaugh elevated to the US Supreme court because the testimony of Christine Ford was not sufficient evidence to prove he sexually assaulted her, perhaps we find it heartening that at least one woman who was wronged has been publicly vindicated. When a woman's distressing story of an alleged sexual assault is not enough, a few grainy photos of another's cheating boyfriend are suddenly deeply satisfying. It is iron-clad proof that Humphries is not a 'psycho' and Walsh is absolutely a liar. Perhaps this is why we have been transfixed on the unfolding scenario, why we won't allow it to become yet another piece of tabloid fodder, why Walsh is being cast as so much more than a lousy boyfriend. Debate rages as to whether Walsh has become a scapegoat or whether his behaviour is indicative of a far more pervasive attitude towards women. Walsh, of course, is entirely aware of this. Last Wednesday, he appeared alongside Katya on It Takes Two, the behind-the-scenes spin off that accompanies Strictly each week. It was the first time the pair had addressed the situation on camera. Again, Katya's priority was to shield her husband from the scandal, while Walsh seemed to want to do the same thing for himself. "I'm not perfect, far from it. Our relationship wasn't perfect, that doesn't mean I wanted it to end the way it finally did," he said. "It's also important for me to say that the people that know me the most, that love me, they know I am not the person I'm being portrayed as. I'm still sorry for what I did, but it's very important for me to get that out there." Fans have been divided, with some outraged the couple are still allowed on the show while others feel the pair have been painted as villains for what was a genuine moral transgression. The lure of Strictly for mid-level personalities like Walsh is this audience - it is hoped that after a stint on the show their star will rise. Despite having to don some regrettable costumes, the trade-off is worth the garish sequins. Unfortunately for Walsh, Strictly has drawn him the wrong type of attention and it is possible that his behaviour could result in an earlier exit from the show. Humphries's career, on the other hand, may well benefit from the whole sorry scenario. She has been thrust into the spotlight for a horrific reason, but as a wronged woman she has masses of viewers on side already. She's a talented performer, as well as wry and funny. In fact, she has all the makings of a crowd favourite. Who knows, perhaps next season she could be tempted to take to the dance floor? Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Princess Anne, Princess Royal attend the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Mr. Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel on October 12, 2018 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Owen Humphreys - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Britain's Prince Harry, centre right, and his wife Meghan, centre left, approach a car at an airport in Sydney, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. (Australian Pool via AP) The Duchess of Sussex and the Duke of Sussex after the wedding of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday October 12, 2018 Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (L) Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (2L), Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex react during the wedding ceremony of Britain's Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on October 12, 2018. (Photo by Owen Humphreys / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read OWEN HUMPHREYS/AFP/Getty Images) The Duchess of Sussex arrives ahead of the wedding of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex take their seats ahead of the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Mr. Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel on October 12, 2018 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Good news travels fast as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have learned since sharing that they're expecting their first child together. Britain's Duke and Duchess of Sussex publicly announced this morning their baby news, but senior members of the royal family were told in person on Saturday at Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie's wedding. The newlyweds, who exchanged vows at the same spot as Eugenie back in May, told select guests at the ceremony, including Kate Middleton and Prince William. While there are no hard and fast rules about making grand gestures and announcements during someone else's wedding, it's generally considered an etiquette no-no. However, the couple were under time constraints as Meghan has reportedly began to show and their secret would be out this week at the beginning of their hectic tour in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. On landing in Sydney yesterday, Meghan carefully covered her stomach with a binder and at Saturday's wedding, her loose Givenchy coat sent the rumour mill into overdrive that she was in fact covering a baby bump and eager royal watchers were right. Expand Close Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex take their seats ahead of the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Mr. Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel on October 12, 2018 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex take their seats ahead of the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Mr. Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel on October 12, 2018 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images) As for the baby's title, they won't be given the prince or princess moniker due to sticky rules about titles and the lines of succession within the royal family. The child would be seventh in line to the British throne, after Harry, and they would be given the title 'Earl of Dumbarton' if a boy and Lady Mountbatten-Windsor if a girl, according to the Daily Mail. Meghan's mother Doria, who now divides her time between Los Angeles and London, released a statement via the palace expressing her delight at becoming a first-time grandmother. "Ms. Ragland is very happy about this lovely news, and she looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild." Looking at any image of Sharon Tate, the viewer is struck not only by the symmetrical proportions of her exquisite face and her tranquil expression, but also by a latent vulnerability in her immense brown eyes and wide, warm smile. The appalling and arbitrary nature of her death has defined Sharon's memory in popular culture since 1969, but now her murder - which shocked Hollywood and halted the frenzied momentum of the Swinging Sixties - is the least important narrative in a new exhibition that aims to restore her to her rightful place as a pop culture icon and muse for designers, artists and film-makers who are still inspired by her magnetism today. The Sharon Tate show at the Newbridge Museum of Style Icons is one of the most intriguing exhibits in its history, spanning a collection of personal possessions, fashion and photographs that belonged to the actress and model, which were retrieved from her home by her father after her death. The items are a selection from over 100 to be auctioned by Julien's of Hollywood on November 17, from the estate of Tate, which has been guarded by her sister Debra since 2000. The auction has been the source of acute interest from collectors, museums and the general public due to the tragic circumstances of Tate's death on August 9, 1969, when the actress and four others were brutally murdered by the Manson Family at her home on 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, LA. Martin Nolan, the executive Director of Julien's, has managed many auctions in his career but has rarely seen the levels of interest generated by the Sharon Tate auction. He explains: "People are fascinated by Sharon Tate. She represented the Swinging Sixties. There was that terrible, terrible, tragic day when she was robbed from her family, from the world, but we're not focusing on that at all. We're focusing on 26 years of a fun life, an amazing life, that she enjoyed and we're looking at her legacy. I think Newbridge are brave to be the first to put their hands up and say they would do it. It is a museum of 'style icons' and Sharon Tate was a style icon and continues to be one." He adds: "Debra, her younger sister, is finally letting go because she realises she can't continue to take care of these items forever and she also wants people to be re-introduced to Sharon, to see who she was, learn more about her, see all the amazing life and fashion statements." Debra has stated previously: "I wanted to give a flavour of the person behind the scenes - that is why I put in almost everything." Expand Close Past perfect:US Actress Sharon Tate and film director Roman Polanski after their wedding in Chelsea register Office in 1968 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Past perfect:US Actress Sharon Tate and film director Roman Polanski after their wedding in Chelsea register Office in 1968 Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of Sharon Tate's death and already revived interest in her is building, prompted by the three films slated for release in 2019, about or featuring the actress. These are Michael Polish's Tate with Kate Bosworth, Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starring Margot Robbie, and Daniel Farrand's The Haunting of Sharon Tate, featuring Hilary Duff. Sharon Tate was eight-and-a-half months pregnant and married to the film director Roman Polanski at the time of her death. Together they had been the epitome of cool - a cosmopolitan 1960s couple with homes in LA and London, a social circle that encompassed Hollywood, music, aristocracy and the art world, and a bohemian lifestyle that reflected a blend of Swinging London, West Coast liberalism and the hippy revolution of the era. Peter Evans the photojournalist said of them: "Cool, nomadic, talented and nicely shocking they became part of the anti-Establishment establishment. They became rich but never regal." Sharon Tate was the oldest child of a military family and had the typical transitory lifestyle of a "military brat". She was quiet and reserved as a child and teen, despite winning numerous beauty pageants. Described by her family as shy and lacking in self-confidence, she nevertheless had presence and an aura of poise and elegance. As she matured, her striking beauty drew attention and while living in Verona, Italy, she appeared as an extra in a number of American films. Subsequently she moved to LA in 1962 to pursue a career in film and was put under contract to producer Martin Ransohoff, who planned to groom Sharon to become a major star in the mould of Marilyn Monroe. Despite Ransohoff's ambitious plans and Sharon's willowy, brown-eyed, blonde beauty, her career stalled initially, but she eventually won her first significant film role in Eye of the Devil with David Niven and Deborah Kerr. After shooting, she remained in London, enjoying its buzzing atmosphere and nascent fashion scene. It was there that she met Roman Polanski, an upcoming Polish film director, whom she married in 1968. Although each was reported to be unimpressed with the other on their initial meeting, Polanski cast Tate in his film The Fearless Vampire Killers. A romance blossomed during filming in Italy and on return to London, they became a glittering couple on the Sixties social scene. Video of the Day Tate, as a young woman who loved fashion, fell in love with the vibrancy and colour of the city. The free-spirited, irreverent and uninhibited fashions of Carnaby Street were to be a major influence on her own look and she quickly absorbed London street style as epitomised by leather jackets, mini-skirts and go-go boots. Sharon's make-up to complete her look comprised thick false eyelashes, darkly outlined lips and straight, ash-blonde hair. London's youth fashion revolution was reflected in Tate and Polanski's wedding at Chelsea Registry Office in January 1968, a snapshot of their glamorous world. The bride's dress, which features in the Julien's exhibition at Newbridge (estimate $25,000 to $50,000), was an ivory silk moire, puff sleeved, high-necked style with a fitted bodice, dainty rows of small buttons at the cuffs, blue ribbon trim and an extremely abbreviated mini skirt. Tate said of the dress, which later became one of the defining images of the Sixties: "It's Renaissance until you get below the knee." Other notable garments from Sharon's wardrobe, which will be on display at Newbridge, include a black floral lace Christian Dior mini-dress worn by Tate to the London premiere of Polanski's film Cul-de-Sac in 1966 (estimate $15,000 to $30,000); Tate's chocolate sheer silk Alba gown worn to the Golden Globe Awards in 1968 (estimate $4,000 to $6,000, pictured left) and Tate's chocolate mink swing coat by Fuhrman's Beverly Hills (estimate $20,000 to $40,000). The most tragic element of her story is that her murder catapulted her onto front pages across the world and conferred on her a degree of fame she never achieved through her work. While her family very understandably want to retrieve the sister and daughter they cherished from the grotesque circumstance of her murder and the media frenzy around the trial of Charles Manson and his murderous disciples, for most her name will always be associated with one of the era-defining crimes of modern America. Joan Didion wrote after her murder that Tate's death ushered the end of the 1960s with a stark finality: "Many people I know in Los Angeles believe that the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969; ended at the exact moment when word of the murders on Cielo Drive travelled like bushfire though the community, and in a sense this is true. The tension broke that day. The paranoia was fulfilled." Polanski later stated: "It reinforced my faith in the absurd." While this exhibit offers a fascinating glimpse into the celebrity culture of the Sixties, Hollywood, Swinging London and the fashion of the era, it also cannot but prompt reflections about the tragedy of Sharon's murder. But superseding this, the exhibit of her intimate possessions restores not only her human face but also her status as a free spirit and a woman who loved life, not merely a victim of an infamous crime. The Sharon Tate exhibition runs at the Newbridge Museum of Style Icons until October 25. Book at newbridgesilverware.com If Una Healy doesnt write the book How to break up fabulously: 10 steps to making your no-good ex wish he was never born, Ill be forced to pen the unofficial version, using only her Instagram and my imagination. A headline last week described her admitting to being another year wiser as she celebrated her birthday and oh, what wisdom she has to impart. Because Una Healy is the pope of scorned women. My heart has never been fuller, nor my belly so afire, as when I saw her wash-that-man-right-out-of-my-hair blonde transformation in August. It was poetry. And last week when photos emerged of her hand in hand with the worlds most unreasonably huge and good-looking man, well... I could have wept. Una was photographed with male model Kenneth KP Guidroz in Malibu hairography on point and the unmistakable whisper of a smirk playing on her lips. Expand Close Una Healy with model Kenneth KP Guidrozl in Los Angeles. Picture: Instagram / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Una Healy with model Kenneth KP Guidrozl in Los Angeles. Picture: Instagram Not since Sandy stamped out her cigarette in Danny Zukos face has head-to-toe black leather more artfully expressed F**k you. Una separated from Ben Foden in July, amid allegations of infidelity on his side. Since then, she has provided a masterclass in how to handle public break-ups. She has been restrained in her comments, presumably for the sake of their two children. She has not called Me Too. But her hair, her leather, her enormous new beau who looks like he could crush Foden with a single thumb, her relentlessly hot and happy Instagram feed and refocusing on her career it speaks volumes. Every woman should be sticking her Malibu photos on their vision board as a timely reminder to be more Una. Bens the only victim here. Tell me about it, stud. ******* Expand Close Una Healy and Ben Foden posed happily together last week at Ladies Day at the Killarney July Race Festival. Photo: Domnick Walsh / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Una Healy and Ben Foden posed happily together last week at Ladies Day at the Killarney July Race Festival. Photo: Domnick Walsh Video of the Day Indeed, we should be concentrating on the real victims of 2018: the mothers and aunties of Irish millennials. On behalf of all of us, Id like to apologise to them for the news that Coast has collapsed into administration. We didnt want this, but we know its ultimately our fault. With our vintage nonsense and ASOS and Pretty Little Thing discount codes from Love Island contestants, we let Coast keep its 300 so-nearly-fashionable-but-just-not-quite dresses. Sure, we popped in when we were desperate, trying on a few bits a couple of days before a wedding before ultimately deciding that the risk of matching the bridesmaids was too great. We took Coast for granted. As if annihilating Orla Kiely wasnt enough, we thought wed really screw over our aunties altogether and leave their go-to spot for a sensible guna that was also a bit of fun to die. Were sorry. But if its any consolation, our plastic-free, vegan weddings will all have a whatever youre comfortable in dress-code, so you wont be needing it. ******* It was a conflicting week for millennials, with World Mental Health Day following hot on the heels of our favourite affordable skincare companys CEO having a very public breakdown. Mental Health Day saw us all updating our Facebooks and Insta stories urging our friends and followers to reach out and talk to someone if theyre not feeling great, but when Brandon Truaxe reached out to Deciems 373,000 Instagram followers with an incoherent monologue announcing the immediate closure of the company a cry for help if ever I saw one we all wished hed shut up and keep it to himself. You see, if theres one thing we millennials are more precious about than our mental health, its our skin. Skincare has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years that no one could have seen coming, were all on highly tailored 10-step Korean regimes to ensure our constant emotional turmoil never shows on our t-zone. Deciem is the parent company of The Ordinary, a brand which is closer to the hearts of millennials than Alpro. And last week, due to the erratic behaviour of CEO Truaxe, The Ordinary shops around the world have been forced to close their doors prompting legal action from minority shareholder Estee Lauder. The Ordinary captured our imagination with their calculatedly low-key branding, its products that look reassuringly scientific in glass bottles with pipettes and its impenetrably named serums and acids: Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion, Marine Hyaluronics, Buffet + Copper peptides 1%. What does it all mean? Why does it feel so gritty and horrible? Is it supposed to burn? Who knows! But its got to be good, right? I was one of thousands of panicked, smooth-faced, 28-year-old would-be chemists who went on a blind spending spree when faced with the deeply worrying public melt-down of Truaxe. Our late-capitalism animal instincts kicked in, and instead of reaching out and letting him know we were there for him like good little millennials, we stocked up on his cheap products in case he made good on his threat to close the whole operation. Ill be meditating on my shame during the 10 minutes it takes for my AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution mask to work. ******* Model Thalia Heffernan has spoken about how her veganism has earned her more abuse than her choice of career. Presumably Thalia had been braced for hatred on the basis of her exquisite bone structure, what with her having the luck to be born in a country where we kind of mistrust that kind of beauty. But Thalia we can forgive you. Just like we forgive Jennifer Lawrence for her hotness, because she frequently talks about all the cheeseburgers she eats. What we cant forgive is the fact that you publicly admit to living on avocado and quinoa and other tiresomely virtuous fare. It reminds us that we could look a bit more like you, if only we could leave off the cheddar for a while. Effortless health and beauty is fine, but when you talk about your veganism with your beautiful, vegan-clear skin (do you even use Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate Solution 20% in Vitamin F?) on your beautiful, vegan-honed body yes, it makes us hate you and your self-control. But dont worry, Thalia, we hate ourselves much, much more. Indian government minister MJ Akbar has described multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him as wild and baseless. (stock picture) Indian government minister MJ Akbar has described multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him as "wild and baseless" and added he plans to take legal action against the women who have made the accusations. The comments by Mr Akbar (67) follow widespread calls on social media for his resignation from his post as the minister of state for external affairs after at least 10 women came forward to accuse him of harassment in recent days. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice," said Mr Akbar in a statement. Founder of several publications, the veteran editor has been accused of a range of inappropriate behaviour by women journalists who previously worked as his subordinates. Many journalists have called for Mr Akbar to be sacked and have threatened to boycott events he is attending until he resigns. The government has remained silent while Mr Akbar was attending a conference in Nigeria. He returned to New Delhi yesterday, stating he plans to fight the claims and questioned if they were politically motivated. "Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge," he said. Harinder Baweja, one of his accusers who is a senior journalist with the daily 'Hindustan Times', tweeted: "All the women who tried to deal with the trauma for two to three decades and were now encouraged to share their pain, had the general election in mind. How absurd." President Donald Trump stops to talk to members of the media before travelling to Florida (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) President Donald Trump has suggested rogue killers may be responsible for whatever happened to missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Mr Trump told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Florida that he spoke by phone with Saudi Arabias King and that The King firmly denied any knowledge of the disappearance. Mr Trump said he did not want to get into King Salmans mind, but said: It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. He added: Were going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial. Mr Trumps language was strikingly similar to the language he has used to describe Russian President Vladimir Putins denials of election meddling. Turkish officials say they fear a Saudi hit team killed Mr Khashoggi, who has been missing for nearly two weeks. Expand Close The Saudi consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Saudi consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) Mr Trump had earlier tweeted to say that he had spoken with Salman and that he was sending US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to Riyadh. Mr Khashoggi has not been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul amid speculation he may have been killed. The US and Saudis are close allies. Meanwhile, Turkeys foreign ministry has said the consulate at the centre of the mystery was due to be examined by Saudi and Turkish officials. Undated family handout photo of Helen Loveday, 52, who died after she was struck by a police van in Wymondham Road in Hethel, Norfolk. Family handout/PA Wire A mother-of-three who was flown to hospital by UK's Prince William on his final shift as an air ambulance pilot died of a traumatic brain injury after she was struck by a police van that was looking for her, an inquest has heard. Helen Loveday, 52, was struck while walking in Wymondham Road, Hethel, Norfolk, at around 10.20pm on July 27 last year. She died two days later at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, an inquest in Norwich heard. Norfolk's senior coroner Jacqueline Lake said Ms Loveday, of Market Harborough in Leicestershire, had gone to stay with her sister Rachel Hurn in Wreningham, Norfolk, on July 24. "During the evening of July 27 Helen became upset and left the property," Ms Lake said. "Her sister telephoned the police and told them Helen had run off and there were concerns for her welfare." She said police sent units to search the area, and one of the vans struck Ms Loveday. "I would ask you to bear in mind that the incident occurred in the evening when it was dark," she said. A statement from Ms Hurn, read by the coroner's officer, said that on the evening of July 27 she shared "about a bottle and a quarter of rose wine" with her sister. Ms Loveday, who had been married and divorced twice, had health problems affecting her mobility, suffered anxiety and said she had a "split personality disorder", Ms Hurn said. Ms Loveday, who lived with her boyfriend Glen Galway and his daughter, told her sister she had been "bickering about money" with him, the inquest heard. Ms Hurn added that her sister was "angry" about a separate phone call with Mr Galway before she left. "She told me she confronted him about (him) saying I should have made the effort to visit in Market Harborough," Ms Hurn said. Ms Loveday said "something about killing herself, I can't remember the exact words" and then left the house, Ms Hurn said. Ms Hurn then dialled 999. Several motorists described seeing a person walking in the unlit road, and driver Michael Broad said he saw a police van ahead of him come "shuddering to a halt" before the driver got out and put both hands to his head. Mr Broad said he estimated the van was driving at 55mph shortly before and was "obviously hurrying somewhere but I didn't consider the driving inappropriate". In a statement read by the coroner's officer, Mr Galway said: "Helen and I loved each other. "We never had any rows. If we disagreed about something we would talk it through. "I think it was the alcohol that led... to her being killed." Ms Loveday's son Elliott Morris said he was aware his mother suffered depression and was on medication but that she was in "control of her life". The Duke of Cambridge's East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) crew, based at Cambridge Airport, took Ms Loveday to hospital. William announced in January 2017 that he would be ending his career with the EAAA. He had clocked up more than two years of flying medical crews to emergencies. The inquest, listed for five days, continues. A lifeguard watches at Carcavelos beach before hurricane Leslie arrives in Portugal. Photo: Reuters A weakened Hurricane Leslie has slammed into the coast of Portugal, leaving 27 people injured. It also uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed store windows with gusting winds and heavy rain. More than 60 people were forced to leave their homes by the storm and 300,000 people suffered power cuts on Saturday night. None of the injuries was reported to be life- threatening. Leslie had been downgraded from a category one hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 110kmh by the time it landed on Portugal's Atlantic coast late on Saturday. State broadcaster RTP said Leslie's wind speeds reached 170kmh in the coastal town of Figueira da Foz, 200km north of Lisbon. Warnings Portugal's weather service had issued red warnings for high winds or dangerous coastal conditions for 13 of its 18 mainland districts, including Lisbon. Winds sent trees crashing on to cars and pavements in the Portuguese capital and in the northern city of Porto. More than 200 power lines were affected by the storm, according to reports from power authority EDP. Some flights were also cancelled or delayed. Leslie moved east yesterday across the Iberian Peninsula to Spain, where authorities issued warnings for heavy rains and storm conditions for the northern part of the country, advising Spaniards to avoid driving in the storm. Winds of up to 100kmh uprooted trees in the centre of the country early yesterday morning. Earlier this week, 12 people were killed in flash floods on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. French President Emmanuel Macron faces a testing week as reports that even his wife Brigitte finds him arrogant add to damaging revelations in a new biography of her confidante as he struggles to keep his government on track. Mr Macron is struggling to reshuffle his government after the resignations of two high-profile ministers, one of whom complained on television that his presidency "lacked humility". He suffered further damage to his reputation with reports yesterday that his wife is also fed up with his "high-handed" manner. Brigitte Macron has urged his entourage to speak truth to power, complaining that she is one of a very few people who dare to tell him when he is being overbearing, according to 'Le Parisien'. He is "too arrogant, too snappy", she has reportedly told members of her circle. Ms Macron has also vowed revenge on the person who spread rumours that her husband was in a gay relationship, according to a new book. Her remarks appear in an unauthorised biography of Michele 'Mimi' Marchand, a PR adviser to the Macrons and the owner of a celebrity photo agency, Bestimage. The book has also depicted the Macrons as excessively reliant on Ms Marchand, a PR legend who ran lesbian nightclubs in the 1990s and whose former partner was jailed for armed robbery. An image of Archbishop Oscar Romero seen at the Vatican. Photo: Reuters Pope Francis yesterday praised two towering figures of the 20th-century Catholic Church as prophets who shunned wealth and looked out for the poor, as he made saints of Pope Paul VI and martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero. Francis canonised two men at a Mass in St Peter's Square before some 70,000 faithful, a handful of presidents and 5,000 Salvadoran pilgrims who travelled to Rome to honour a man considered a hero to many Latin Americans. Tens of thousands more Salvadorans stayed up all night at home to watch the Mass on giant TV screens outside the San Salvador cathedral where Romero's remains are entombed. In a sign of the strong influence that Paul and Romero had on the first Latin American pope, Francis wore the blood-stained rope belt that Romero wore when he was gunned down by right-wing death squads in 1980, and also used Paul's staff, chalice and pallium vestment. Paul, who was pope from 1963-1978, presided over the modernising yet polarising Church reforms of the 1960s. He was the pope of Francis's formative years as a young priest in Argentina and was instrumental in giving rise to the Latin American Church's "preferential option for the poor" that Francis has made his own. Francis also has a close personal connection to Romero, and like him lived through the terror of right-wing military dictatorships when Francis was in Argentina. Francis was responsible for eventually declaring Romero a martyr for his fearless denunciations of the military oppression at the start of El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war. 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(1) Members of the inspection team enter Saudi Arabias Consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) A team of investigators has entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for what Turkish officials called a joint inspection of the building where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared nearly two weeks ago. The team arrived in unmarked police cars at the consulate and said nothing to journalists waiting outside as they entered the building. Police then pushed back journalists from the front of the consulate, where they have been stationed for days, setting up a new cordon to keep them away. Expand Close Members of the media on the blocked road leading to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Members of the media on the blocked road leading to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP) International concern continues to grow over the writers October 2 disappearance. American politicians have threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain have jointly called for a credible investigation into Mr Khashoggis disappearance. A Foreign Ministry official had earlier said the team would visit the diplomatic post on Monday. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team that flew into and out of Turkey on October 2 killed and dismembered Mr Khashoggi, who had written Washington Post columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations baseless but has not offered any evidence Mr Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Such a search would be an extraordinary development, as embassies and consulates under the Vienna Convention are technically foreign soil. Expand Close Security guards enter Saudi Arabias consulate (Petros Giannakouris/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Security guards enter Saudi Arabias consulate (Petros Giannakouris/AP) Saudi Arabia may have agreed to the search in order to appease its Western allies and the international community. However, it remained unclear what evidence, if any, would remain nearly two weeks after Mr Khashoggis disappearance. A cleaning crew with mops and rubbish bags walked in past journalists waiting outside the consulate. US President Donald Trump has said Saudi Arabia could face severe punishment if it was proven it was involved in Mr Khashoggis disappearance. Mr Trump tweeted on Monday that he had spoken with Saudi King Salman, who denies any knowledge of what happened to Mr Khashoggi. He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer, Mr Trump wrote. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State (Mike Pompeo) to meet with King! On Sunday, Saudi Arabia warned that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy. The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations, said the statement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The statement did not elaborate but a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news network suggested Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around 80 dollars a barrel and Mr Trump has criticised Opec and Saudi Arabia over rising prices. Already, international business leaders are pulling out of the kingdoms upcoming investment forum, a high-profile event known as Davos in the Desert, though it has no association with the World Economic Forum. They include the chief executive of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Sir Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co executive chairman Bill Ford. News that the chief executive of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, would pull out of the conference drew angry responses across the region. The foreign minister of the neighbouring island kingdom of Bahrain, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, tweeted that there should be a boycott of the ride-hailing app both there and in Saudi Arabia. Late on Sunday, Saudi King Salman spoke by telephone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about Mr Khashoggi. Expand Close Turkish police officers arrive at the consulate (Emrah Gurel/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Turkish police officers arrive at the consulate (Emrah Gurel/AP) Turkey said Mr Erdogan stressed the forming of a joint working group to probe the case. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said King Salman thanked Mr Erdogan for welcoming the kingdoms proposal for forming the working group. The king said Turkey and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and that no-one will get to undermine the strength of this relationship, according to a statement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency. While Turkey and the kingdom differ on political issues, Saudi investments are a crucial lifeline for Ankara amid trouble with its national currency, the Turkish lira. Mr Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post about Saudi Arabia, criticising its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of womens rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince. Kensington Palace has announced that Meghan Markle is expecting her first child with husband Prince Harry. The newly-wed couple arrived in Sydney on Monday ahead of a 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Expand Close The Duchess of Sussex arrives ahead of the wedding of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Duchess of Sussex arrives ahead of the wedding of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle In a statement, Kensington Palace said: "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public." Harry and Meghan were wed at Windsor Castle in May and the news was announced on the eve of their first tour outside the UK and Ireland. Doria Ragland, the mother of Meghan Markle, is "very happy about this lovely news" and "looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild". Fatal: The traffickers lorry was overturned in the accident. Photo: AP Twenty-two people, including children, were killed when a lorry carrying migrants crashed in the western Turkish province of Izmir yesterday. The mangled wreckage of the open-topped truck lay toppled over in a canal, 20 metres below a major road from which it apparently fell after crashing through a barrier. Thirteen people were injured and taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals. A state prosecutor has launched an investigation into the crash and the truck driver was facing arrest after hospital treatment. According to the private Demiroren news agency (DHA), the truck's passengers were foreign migrants who had reached a deal with traffickers to be transported by boat to the Greek island of Samos south of Izmir. Nine of those injured were children, DHA said. It was not clear where the migrants were from. Turkey became one of the main launch points for more than a million migrants taking the sea route to European Union countries in 2015, many of whom were fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. The influx of migrants was drastically curtailed by a 2016 accord between Ankara and the EU after hundreds died crossing to Greek islands a few miles off Turkey. The truck driver is believed to have lost control of the vehicle and it crashed at around 8am in the Gaziemir district, near the airport south of Izmir city. A CNN Turk correspondent at the scene said emergency workers had worked to retrieve the dead and wounded trapped beneath the truck. Under guard: Syrian soldiers stand at the Nasib border crossing with Jordan in Deraa, Syria. Photo: Reuters Jordan and Syria agreed yesterday to reopen a vital border crossing between the two countries, three years after the commercial lifeline fell to rebel groups and traffic was halted. Jordan government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat said the Nasib crossing would be opened today after operational details are agreed upon, according to the Jordanian Petra news agency. Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar also confirmed the crossing's reopening, according to Syria's state news agency. The two governments had earlier issued conflicting reports of when the crossing would open. The crossing's reopening would bring major relief to President Bashar Assad's government by restoring a much-needed gateway for Syrian exports to Arab countries. The resumption of commercial trade through the crossing would also be a diplomatic victory for Mr Assad, whose government has been isolated from its Arab neighbours since the war began in 2011. Arab countries have boycotted the Syrian government since the early days of the war, freezing its membership in the 22-member state Arab League. "The Nasib crossing is a vital lifeline for trade between the two brotherly countries Jordan and Syria through them to other Arab countries," Ms Ghunaimat said, according to Petra. Rebels seized the crossing in 2015, disrupting a major trade route between Syria and Jordan, Lebanon and oil-rich Gulf countries. Syrian troops recaptured it in July this year after rebels reached an agreement with Russian mediators to end the violence in the southern province of Daraa and surrender the crossing. The crossing is also vital for Syria's neighbouring Lebanon, providing its agricultural products a route to foreign markets. It is the only land route that links Syria's neighbouring Lebanon with foreign markets to export agricultural products. The Syrian government would also collect transit fees from convoys coming from Jordan. Separately, the Syrian state terrestrial TV station resumed broadcasting to the eastern city of Deir el-Zour and surrounding areas for the first time in seven years, pro-state TV reported yesterday, the latest in government efforts to restore normal life to areas it has recaptured from armed groups. Al-Ikhbariya said technicians have installed two transmitters to broadcast state television station and Voice of Youth radio, covering the city of Deir el-Zour and surrounding areas. Government forces, aided by Russian aircraft and allied militia, chased Isil fighters out of the city and most of the western banks of the Euphrates river last year. In a separate offensive that occasionally raised tensions, rival US-backed Syrian Defence Forces fought the militants on the eastern banks of the river and along the border with Iraq. The Kurdish-led forces, backed by US-led coalition air power, continue to battle Isil militants in Hajin, a small pocket east of the river. On Saturday, Isil militants stormed a settlement for displaced people in Hajin and abducted scores of civilians. The US-led coalition said it couldn't confirm news of the kidnapping. It said that it has been dropping leaflets requesting that civilians leave the area for months "to avoid the brutal tactics" of the extremist group. This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet purportedly shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate (Hurriyet/AP) Saudi Arabia is preparing a report that would admit Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed as the result of an interrogation that went wrong, CNN reported on Monday, citing two unnamed sources. One source cautioned that the report was still being prepared and could change, CNN said. The other source said the report would likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and that those involved will be held responsible, the cable news outlet said. Expand Close Turkish police officers arrive at the consulate (Emrah Gurel/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Turkish police officers arrive at the consulate (Emrah Gurel/AP) Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had seen a media report that Saudi officials might say missing prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed during unauthorized interrogation, but "nobody knows" if this was an official report. Trump made the remark in answer to questions from reporters during a visit to Georgia to inspect the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael. Earlier on Monday in Washington, Trump raised the possibility that "rogue killers" could have been responsible. Missing: Friends of journalist Jamal Khashoggi hold his pictures during a protest outside the Saudi Consulate in London. Photo: Reuters Saudi Arabia yesterday warned against threats to punish it over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last week, saying it would retaliate against any sanctions with tougher measures, as international criticism increased. Mr Khashoggi, a US resident and 'Washington Post' columnist critical of Saudi Arabia, disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey's government believes he was murdered inside the building and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that. US President Donald Trump has threatened "severe punishment" if it turned out Mr Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he said Washington would be "punishing" itself if it halted military sales to Riyadh, a key ally. "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted an unnamed government source as saying. "The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy," the source added, without elaborating. The Saudi Embassy in Washington later tweeted what it called a clarification, thanking countries including the US "for refraining from jumping to conclusions" over the case. In a sign Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud may seek a diplomatic solution to the incident, he stressed the strength of Saudi-Turkish ties in a telephone call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, the Saudi press agency said last night. The king thanked Mr Erdogan for welcoming a Saudi proposal to form a joint working group to discuss Mr Khashoggi's disappearance and said no one could undermine their relationship. Europe's largest economies - Britain, France and Germany - said yesterday they were treating the case with "the utmost seriousness". "There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and - if relevant - to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account," the foreign ministers from the three countries said in a joint statement. "We encourage joint Saudi-Turkish efforts in that regard, and expect the Saudi government to provide a complete and detailed response. We have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities." The statement, by British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, France's Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany's Heiko Maas, made no mention of potential actions the countries might take. The Saudi stock market lost $33bn (28bn) of its value yesterday amid investor worries about deteriorating international relations, one of the first signs of the economic pain that Riyadh could suffer over the affair. In a column published just after the SPA statement, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel's general manager Turki Aldakhil warned that imposing sanctions on the world's largest oil exporter could spark global economic disaster. "It would lead to Saudi Arabia's failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels [per day]. "If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure." US senators have triggered a provision of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requiring the president to determine whether a foreign person is responsible for a gross human rights violation. The act has in the past imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials. Anti-Saudi sentiment in the US Congress could conceivably raise pressure to pass the so-called No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, which would end sovereign immunity shielding Opec members from US legal action. A Turkish official told Reuters yesterday that the Saudis had said they would allow the consulate to be searched, and that this would happen by the end of the weekend, though he had conceded to "flexibility on this date". Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared almost two weeks ago while on a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. His disappearance has sparked an international uproar involving the kingdom, Turkey and the United States that remains unresolved. Mr Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, had written columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdoms war in Yemen and its crackdown on activists and businessmen. Turkish officials say they fear a team of Saudi agents killed and dismembered Mr Khashoggi, and they have released surveillance footage of the alleged perpetrators and mysterious movements outside the consulate on October 2, the day he entered. The kingdom says the allegations are baseless but has offered no evidence Mr Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Here is a look at what we know about the disappearance. Who is Jamal Khashoggi? Expand Close Jamal Khashoggi writes for the Washington Post (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jamal Khashoggi writes for the Washington Post (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) Mr Khashoggi is a long-time Saudi journalist, foreign correspondent, editor and columnist whose work has been controversial in the past in the ultraconservative Sunni kingdom. He went into self-imposed exile in the United States following the ascension of Prince Mohammed, now next in line to succeed his father, the 82-year-old King Salman. Mr Khashoggi was known for his interviews and travels with Osama bin Laden between 1987 and 1995, including in Afghanistan, where he wrote about the battle against the Soviet occupation. In the early 1990s, he tried to persuade bin Laden to reconcile with the Saudi royal family and return home from his base in Sudan, but the al-Qaida leader refused. Mr Khashoggi maintained ties with Saudi elites and was viewed as a link between the West and the often opaque royal court. As a contributor to the Post, Mr Khashoggi has written extensively about Saudi Arabia, including criticising its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of womens rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. What happened to him? Mr Khashoggi, whose 60th birthday was on Saturday, went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbuls 4th Levent neighbourhood on September 28 seeking documents so he could be married to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He was told to return to the consulate on October 2 to pick up those documents, Ms Cengiz says. Surveillance footage later aired on Turkish state television shows Mr Khashoggi walking into the consulate at 1.14pm on October 2. A little less than two hours later, surveillance footage shows several vehicles with diplomatic licence plates move from the consulate to the consuls home some 1.2 miles away. Ms Cengiz, who spent hours waiting for Mr Khashoggi outside while holding his mobile phones, says her fiance never walked out of the consulate to meet her. Surveillance footage shows her pacing around outside at 5.33pm, speaking on her phone. No footage made public so far has shown Mr Khashoggi walking out of the consulate. What is Turkey saying? Expand Close Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Saudi Arabias King Salman embrace each other in 2016 (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Saudi Arabias King Salman embrace each other in 2016 (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File) Turkish officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, say they fear Saudi Arabia killed Mr Khashoggi. They claim they have audio and video recordings of Mr Khashoggi being interrogated, killed and dismembered. However, no such recordings have been released publicly so far. Turkish security officials, rather than holding news conferences, have leaked information through pro-government media. Newspapers published the names and photographs of 15 Saudi men in the countrys military and security services who are said to have formed an assassination squad sent to target Mr Khashoggi. Turkish officials told The Associated Press (AP) one of those men was a post-mortem expert. Turkish media have also released a series of videos, apparently taken from surveillance cameras, showing the alleged Saudi agents arriving on private jets the day Mr Khashoggi disappeared, checking into and out of hotels near the consulate, and then flying out that night. A Turkish newspaper also claimed that Mr Khashoggis Apple Watch recorded audio of his slaying and transmitted it to his iPhone outside the consulate and to his iCloud account. However, the newspaper did not explain how the alleged recording was transmitted and included a claim that Mr Khashoggis assailants used his finger to unlock it when such watches do not have fingerprint ID scanners. Turkish officials have not responded to questions from the AP about Mr Khashoggis Apple Watch. Analysts have suggested Turkey may be trying to protect its intelligence-gathering methods by leaking information this way. What is Saudi Arabia saying? It is amazing how the #Saudi narrative has changed. They are not even trying to prove that they are innocent! This is not a priority for them as it seems! Instead, they resorted to threats to face any possible actions/ measures against them in #Khashoggis case. pic.twitter.com/ZVZusy9Mbd Dr. Ali BAKIR ( ) (@AliBakeer) October 15, 2018 Saudi Arabia has offered no explanation for how the writer could have left the consulate and disappeared into Istanbul as his fiancee stood outside waiting for him. Early on Saturday, Saudi interior minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud said: What has been circulating in terms of supposed orders to kill him are outright lies and baseless allegations against the kingdoms government. Meanwhile, Saudi media has tried to blame the crisis on Qatar, which the kingdom and three other Arab nations now boycott as part of a bitter political dispute, without offering proof of that countrys involvement. The Qatar-funded satellite network Al-Jazeera has extensively focused on Mr Khashoggis disappearance over the last week. A Saudi-owned satellite news channel, meanwhile, has begun referring to the alleged 15-man team as tourists, without providing evidence to support the claim. What is the US saying? Expand Close Donald Trump has threatened Saudi Arabia with severe punishment (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Donald Trump has threatened Saudi Arabia with severe punishment (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump has threatened severe punishment if authorities determine Saudi Arabia was behind Mr Khashoggis disappearance. However, he has also said he wants to maintain the arms deals he struck with the kingdom on a trip to Riyadh. Meanwhile, American politicians are threatening to sanction individual Saudi officials if evidence links them to the writers disappearance. What happens next? A Saudi team has arrived in Turkey to investigate Mr Khashoggis disappearance. Meanwhile, Turkey has said it will search the Saudi Consulate for evidence, but that has yet to happen. Turkeys foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia had not yet co-operated with Turkey on the search for Mr Khashoggi. That could force Turkeys hand in leaking more information about the case to pressure the kingdom to co-operate. An UN vehicle enters the Quneitra border crossing between Syria and Israel, in the Golan Heights (AP) President Bashar Assads government has received a major boost as Syrias commercial gateway with Jordan and a crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights manned by UN peacekeepers were reopened years after the war disrupted their operations. The simultaneous reopening of the crossings was celebrated on state media with back-to-back coverage, reinforcing the governments narrative that it is slowly emerging victorious from the seven-year war. We are now witnessing the early fruits of victory, Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem said at a press conference in Damascus. Sitting next to his Iraqi counterpart, who was visiting on Monday, Mr al-Moallem said the two countries are discussing reopening a border crossing. Expand Close The border opening is a victory for Syrias President Bashar Assad, right (Sana/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The border opening is a victory for Syrias President Bashar Assad, right (Sana/AP) No one should isolate Syria, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraqs foreign minister, said, adding that he was advocating for Syrias return to the Arab League. Mr Assads government has been largely isolated by its Arab neighbours since the civil war broke out in 2011. The 22-member Arab League froze Syrias membership shortly after the war began, imposing sanctions the cutting diplomatic ties. Commercial delegations converged on the Naseeb crossing with Jordan on Monday, and members of the Syrian chamber of commerce went into Jordan to meet with their counterparts. Expand Close UN vehicles, soldiers and officials gather at the Quneitra border crossing (AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp UN vehicles, soldiers and officials gather at the Quneitra border crossing (AP) The first lorry carrying citrus fruits entered Jordan, and dozens of private cars drove into Syria. We are brothers. Our economy is connected to the Syrian economy, said Abdel-Salam Theyabat, the head of a Jordanian chamber of commerce. At the Quneitra border crossing, leaders of the Druze community, which straddles the frontier, were first on the scene to attend the flag-raising ceremony. A plaque announcing the re-activation of the crossing was signed off with Mercy To The Martyrs and To Syria Victory And Peace. Humanitarian and community leaders said they hoped the crossing would soon be open to trade and movement of students. Expand Close A national flag is seen on the Syrian side of Quneitra crossing (Ariel Schalit/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A national flag is seen on the Syrian side of Quneitra crossing (Ariel Schalit/AP) The Druze community was divided when Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967. UN observers had monitored the frontier since the 1974 ceasefire deal, but left their posts in 2014 as fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces approached. Syrian forces recaptured the Quneitra area in July. Russian military police deployed in the area, including on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, setting up checkpoints in the area. Superdry is known for winter jackets and coats (PA) Clothing brand Superdry has warned its full year performance will be impacted by a spate of warm weather and additional foreign exchange costs. The company said on Monday that it expected profits to be 10 million lower due to unseasonably hot conditions across the UK, continental Europe and the east coast of the USA. Superdry, which is known chiefly for its coats and jackets, makes around 45% of its annual sales from autumn/winter products. Superdry is a strong brand with significant growth opportunities, backed by robust operational capabilities, but we are not immune to the challenges presented by this extraordinary period of unseasonably hot weather, chief executive Euan Sutherland said. We are well prepared for peak trading, but the second half of financial year 2019 presents both risks and opportunities. The company anticipates investing 5 million in accelerating growth, particularly in digital, during the second half. It is also five months into an 18-month product diversification programme, which it says will balance out its reliance on winter sales with a bigger range of clothing items. The group also pointed to the turbulent retail environment, noting well-publicised challenges faced by some of its trading partners. The collapse of House of Fraser in August left Superdry out of pocket by an estimated 236,000. Other suppliers to the chain, such as Ted Baker and Mulberry, have already flagged the negative impact on profits which resulted from the administration. Superdry also said it expected foreign exchange costs to be 8 million higher, after its hedging mechanisms failed to provide the expected level of protection. President Donald Trump said he was not denying climate change, but it could very well go back (Andrew Harnik/AP) US president Donald Trump has backed off his claim that climate change is a hoax but said he does not know if it is manmade. In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes, Mr Trump said he does not want to put the US at a disadvantage in responding to climate change. I think somethings happening. Somethings changing and itll change back again, he said. I dont think its a hoax. I think theres probably a difference. But I dont know that its manmade. I will say this: I dont want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I dont want to lose millions and millions of jobs. Mr Trump called climate change a hoax in November 2012 when he sent a tweet stating, The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive. You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agendaDonald Trump He later said he was joking about the Chinese connection, but in years since has continued to call global warming a hoax. Im not denying climate change, he said in the interview. But it could very well go back. You know, were talking about over a millions of years. Temperature records kept by Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that the world has not had a cooler-than-average year since 1976 or a cooler-than-normal month since the end of 1985. I dont think its a hoax, President Trump says of climate change. But it--I dont know that its manmade. 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 14, 2018 Mr Trump, who is scheduled on Monday to visit areas of Georgia and Florida damaged by Hurricane Michael, also expressed doubt over scientists findings linking the changing climate to more powerful hurricanes. They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael, said Mr Trump, who identified they as people after being pressed by 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl. She asked, What about the scientists who say its worse than ever? The president replied, Youd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda. Mr Trumps comments came just days after a Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a warning that global warming would increase climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth. The report detailed how Earths weather, health and ecosystems would be in better shape if the worlds leaders could somehow limit future human-caused warming. Citing concerns about the pacts economic impact, Mr Trump said in 2017 that the US will leave the Paris climate accord. The agreement set voluntary greenhouse gas emission targets in an effort to lessen the impact of fossil fuels. The entrance of the Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) Turkey has said an inspection of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul is expected to take place late on Monday afternoon, nearly two weeks after Jamal Khashoggi disappeared there. A foreign ministry official said the inspection would be a joint one carried out by Turkish and Saudi officials. The inspection comes after the disappearance of the Saudi writer, who vanished on October 2 on a visit to the consulate. Expand Close A bird sits by a Saudi Arabian flag on the roof of the consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A bird sits by a Saudi Arabian flag on the roof of the consulate in Istanbul (Petros Giannakouris/AP) Turkish officials fear Saudi authorities killed and dismembered Mr Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia calls the allegation baseless, but has yet to explain how the writer simply vanished while visiting the consulate as his fiancee stood outside waiting for him. A joint Saudi-Turkish team has entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to search it, nearly two weeks after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The team arrived on Monday afternoon to the consulate in Istanbuls fourth Levent neighbourhood as journalists filmed and took photographs of their arrival. It was unclear what kind of search the officials will conduct and if it will involve forensics, especially since Mr Khashoggi disappeared on October 2. Expand Close This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet purportedly shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate (Hurriyet/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet purportedly shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate (Hurriyet/AP) A cleaning crew walked into the consulate hours ahead of the investigative teams arrival. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Mr Khashoggi, who wrote columns in the Washington Post that were critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations baseless but has not offered any evidence Mr Khashoggi ever left the consulate. A US senator mocked by Donald Trump over her ancestral claims has released the results of a DNA analysis that she said indicated she has some Native American heritage. The move by Elizabeth Warren was a direct rebuttal to the president, who has long mocked her claims and repeatedly referred to her as Pocahontas. The Democrat and potential 2020 presidential contender challenged Mr Trump to make good on his pledge to donate one million dollars to charity if she provided proof of Native American heritage, a moment that was caught on video. Mr Trump falsely denied ever making the offer. I took this test and released the results for anyone who cares to see because Ive got nothing to hide. What are YOU hiding, @realDonaldTrump? Release your tax returns or the Democratic-led House will do it for you soon enough. Tick-tock, Mr President. Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018 The analysis was done by Stanford University professor Carlos D Bustamante, a prominent expert in the field. He concluded that the great majority of Ms Warrens ancestry is European but added that the results strongly support the existence of a Native American ancestor. In his report, Prof Bustamante said he analysed Ms Warrens sample without knowing the identity of the donor. He concluded that Ms Warren has a pure Native American ancestor who probably lived six to 10 generations ago, and that it was impossible to determine the individuals tribal connection. Ms Warren, who has said her Native American roots were part of family lore, also released a video produced by her Senate re-election campaign in Massachusetts. In it, she said: The president likes to call my mom a liar. What do the facts say? Prof Bustamante replied: The facts suggest that you absolutely have Native American ancestry in your pedigree. The analysis is not the first evidence of Ms Warrens heritage. An 1894 document previously unearthed by the New England Genealogical Society suggested Ms Warrens great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, was at least partially Native American, making the senator 1/32nd Native American. The genealogy group has said it has no conclusive evidence of her ancestry, and a spokesman said it would not comment on the genetic findings. However, if Ms Warrens ancestor had been as much as 10 generations removed, it would make that individual a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparent, making her only 1/1,024th Native American, according to Blaine Bettinger, a genealogist and author who specialises in DNA evidence. Such a finding could potentially further excite her critics instead of placating them. Ms Warrens effort to address questions about her ancestry and the release of the video are her latest moves telegraphing a likely presidential run in 2020. She is most clearly doing the things you do if you're running for presidentSteve Elmendorf, Democratic strategist During the summer she also released a decade worth of tax returns, drawing a contrast with Mr Trumps unwillingness to release his own tax documents. The moves seem to anticipate the type of criticism she might face against opponents in a Democratic primary or in a possible general election match-up against Mr Trump. She is most clearly doing the things you do if youre running for president, said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist and veteran of presidential campaigns. During a recent town hall-style meeting in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Ms Warren said she planned to take a hard look at running for president, after next months election. Earlier this year, the senator released personnel files seeking to dispute critics who have alleged that the former Harvard Law School professor advanced her law career with a narrative she is a descendant of Cherokee and Delaware tribes. Ms Warren has denied using her Native American heritage to gain any advantage. In an email on Monday to supporters, Ms Warren said she never expected the president of the United States to use my familys story as a racist political joke against Native American history, culture, and people over, and over, and over. In a tweet directed at Mr Trump, Ms Warren said: Remember saying on (July 5) that youd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? She went on to request that the president send a cheque to the National Indigenous Womens Resource Centre. At a summer rally in Montana, the president declared that he would give a million dollars to charity, paid for by Trump, if Ms Warren takes the test and it shows youre an Indian. But when asked by reporters on Monday, Mr Trump said: I didnt say that. Ms Warren, who grew up in Norman, Oklahoma, said her mother and father were forced to elope because of her mothers heritage. She faces Republican Geoff Diehl, who co-chaired Mr Trumps Massachusetts presidential campaign, in the November 6 election. The DNA analysis was first reported by The Boston Globe. Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff are currently busy shooting for their upcoming action film which is being directed by Siddharth Anand . The film will be an action flick with some deadly stunts. Hrithik and Tiger are currently shooting in Italy for the film where the weather is quite cold. Hrithik recently posted few pictures on Instagram where he is seen trying hard to take a selfie but the weather is photobombing it. Featured Video A few days back Tiger also posted snaps of his workout schedule. The team began to shoot from 5th September. The Yash Raj project has a team of international stunt directors working on it. "Everything in this film is about scale. We have Hrithik and Tiger so you can imagine they will push their limits do the biggest action sequences that people have seen and we intend to make this film a visual and action spectacle for audiences," said Siddharth. The film will also be shot in countries like Spain, Georgia, Italy, Portugal and Sweden and of course India. So stay tuned for more updates on the film. The Conversation Must governments in Canada consult with Indigenous communities prior to adopting legislation that could affect their rights? The Supreme Court of Canadas decision in the Mikisew Cree case is a perfect example of a situation where the headlines and the trend lines differ in important ways. The headlines suggest the Mikisew Cree lost and that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that there is no obligation by governments to carry out the formal legal duty to consult with Indigenous communities before passing a law. The duty to consult has been in the news a lot in recent years. While there are some complexities, the rules basically require governments to consult with Indigenous communities proactively before making administrative decisions that could affect their rights. In one sense, the recent Supreme Court ruling indicates that the court will not extend rules on the duty to consult to the development of legislation itself. The court ruled against the Mikisew Cree claim that Stephen Harpers Conservative government should have consulted on its 2012 omnibus bills C-38 and C-45 that altered federal environmental legislation. Those omnibus bills were the political trigger for Idle No More, a nationwide Indigenous protest movement. But they were also the trigger for a course of litigation that has now been brought to a thudding halt. After initial success in the Federal Court, the Mikisew Cree were unsuccessful in the Federal Court of Appeal, and have now lost in the Supreme Court of Canada. Edmonton Journal on YouTube: Mikisew Chief responds to Supreme Court ruling on consultation Judges differed dramatically But we need to get into the legal weeds. When we do that, we see some trend lines that are quite different from the headlines. The Supreme Court of Canadas decision is actually immensely complex, as the court split into four groups of judges who wrote separate reasons. While they are all unanimous in the result, their reasons for getting there differ dramatically. All are in agreement on a technical jurisdictional point about which cases should go to the federal court system, and that leads to agreement on the result even when there are major differences in reasoning. Seven of the nine judges agree that the technical rules known as the duty to consult doctrine do not apply to this context, with only Justices Rosalie Abella and Sheilah Martin suggesting that it should. But three of the seven who ruled against this main claim have signed on to a judgment in which they effectively invite new litigation in future cases. The judgment of Justice Andromache Karakatsanis, supported by Chief Justice Richard Wagner and Justice Clement Gascon, includes suggestions that different arguments about how a particular principle underlying the duty to consult a principle called honour of the Crown might still affect the legislation-making process in some other ways. So a majority of five judges has actually indicated that they are still open to future arguments on these issues. Justin Trudeau, seen here at a 2013 meeting of the Assembly of First Nations, serves as the Prime Minister of Canada. Photo: Justin Trudeau Crafting future arguments? The other four judges object in strong terms. In a solo judgment also supported by three other judges in yet another opinion, Justice Russell Brown says: By raising this quixotic argument about the honour of the Crown which neither the appellant nor any of the intervenors even thought to raise my colleague (Justice) Karakatsanis would cast the law into considerable uncertainty. In this comment, Justice Brown points out that the majority judges are not only inviting new litigation, but actually crafting potential arguments for litigants to use. Whats it all mean? It signifies that the trend lines of the Supreme Court decision diverge from the headlines. While its accurate for the media to report that the Mikisew Cree lost on their claim, the underlying developments in the case suggest that these issues are far from resolved. Complex questions remain regarding whether the traditional parliamentary legislative process needs to change in order to honour Canadas commitments to Indigenous rights. Some of those commitments the ones the Court ruled on are the Constitutional requirements found in Section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982. The Justin Trudeau government has also made additional policy commitments and is in the process of adhering to provisions in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Article 19 of UNDRIP sets out an expectation of consultation with Indigenous peoples in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them. But even with its purported commitments to UNDRIP, the Trudeau government has not been carrying out the consultation that Article 19 would require before passing legislation. There may yet be further developments ahead. The adaptation of governance structures to achieve better respect for Indigenous rights is a complex process, and the Mikisew Cree decision has answered some questions while raising many more. Dwight Newman is a Professor of Law and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Rights in Constitutional and International Law at University of Saskatchewan. He receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, a government research funding agency, and the Canada Research Chairs program. He is a Munk Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and has also written for a variety of other think tanks and is on the advisory council of some other non-profit groups. He is also on the Board of Directors of Advocates for the Rule of Law, which filed an intervention in the case.. Supreme Court of Canada Decision This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Join the Conversation What does it take to be the President of India? Your answers could vary from an illustrious political career to fancy educational degrees. However, youre going to change your answers after reading the story of Indias 11th President, Doctor APJ Abdul Kalam. His is a story of hard work, perseverance, never giving up and always following your dreams. flickr Born on 15th October 1931 in Rameswaram, which is in present-day Tamil Nadu, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam came from a humble, Tamil Muslim family. His father owned a ferry and most of his business came from pilgrims traveling from the now uninhabited Dhanushkodi to Rameswaram. In spite of this, they did struggle with finances. A young Abdul Kalam, in order to pitch in financially, started selling newspapers in the morning before diligently reporting to his school. He must have been under ten years of age but even at that age, he believed in solving problems instead of letting them hinder his growth. unsplash They may not have been well off financially, but his family always encouraged him to study. By the time it was time to go to college, he enrolled himself to study physics at Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli. It was in 1955 that a scholarship to study aerospace engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology changed his life, in turn also preparing him to change the way India looked at its defense. A poignant example of how motivated Doctor Kalam was is clear from an incident that occurred while he was working on a senior project at Madras Institute of Technology. The Dean at the time didnt like the way his work was progressing and eventually told him that his scholarship would be revoked if the project wasnt completed within the next three days. Losing his scholarship wasnt something he could afford and even though the deadline was so tight, he managed to not only present his project but also impress the Dean. The Dean told him, "I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline". onlymyhealth He went on to join the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Doctor APJ Abdul Kalams talent and hard work eventually led him to even work under the guidance of Vikram Sarabhai. After DRDO, he was transferred to ISRO where he was the project manager for India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle and it managed to deploy the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit! After his achievements, he became the head of the high-end missile program of India. His natural problem solving ability, in-depth scientific understanding and a knack for innovation made him take the project responsibility head on. Thanks to his efforts, India developed missiles like AGNI, a ballistic missile and PRITHVI, surface-to-surface missile, to name a few. wikimedia commons People associated with the program, however, fondly remember him as a simple man who made for an extremely great boss. Listening to all the project details carefully before giving his final inputs, understanding in-depth issues being faced and getting sweets for his colleagues from his official tours made him not just a great scientist but also a great human being to work with. It was the Pokhran-II nuclear tests that held not just a technological but also political importance that gave Doctor Kalam acclaim in the media as well. He had served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with Rajagopala Chidambaram and this was the crucial moment in Indias nuclear weapons development that brought Doctor APJ Abdul Kalam the much-deserved applause. wikimedia commons By 2002, Doctor APJ Abdul Kalam became the President of India. He managed to do this not because of fancy degrees or an illustrious political career but hard work and a desire to be something. It wasnt just his scientific achievements but also his simplicity and warm smile that often made the media refer to him as the Peoples President. His love for knowledge made him take up visiting professor roles at various renowned universities after his tenure was over. On 27 July 2015, Doctor APJ Abdul Kalam traveled to Shillong to give a lecture but only five minutes into it, he collapsed and by the time he reached the hospital, he had already passed away due to a cardiac arrest. A 14-year-old boy, who was working as a cleaner on a truck, stole the vehicle in Palwal, Haryana. The barely five-foot tall boy then drove 138km over two days before the vehicle ran out of fuel and he was caught in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh. On Saturday night, highway police noticed that a truck with Haryana licence plate had been stopping at several places. Near Mehrara crossing on Jalesar road, a team from Sahpau police station intercepted the truck. The little, innocent-looking boy who stepped out out of the truck was too young to have driven the truck. At least so thought the policemen. What he told them later was unbelievable. afp/representational image Just 14 years old and originally from Etah, the boy said he was working as a cleaner on the truck in Palwal. He was paid a paltry Rs 5000 per month, which was not enough to meet the needs of his family. His father had expired and his mother works as a labourer in Etah. The boy then made a plan to steal the truck and drive it to Malawan, a village in Etah, notorious for being a place where stolen heavy vehicles are given new documents and re-sold. The teenager planned to sell the truck and its goods at Malawan, and make off with the money. On the morning of October 11, the truck was loaded with refrigerators worth Rs 14 lakh from Greater Noida. At 4 pm, when it reached Palwal and the driver Munna Singh went to make payments to the transport company, the boy took the wheel and drove away. He had only Rs 100 in his pocket. By the time he reached Hathras, he had run out of diesel. When police caught him, he had been trying to sell a spare tyre to buy diesel for the vehicle. Hathras police got to know from their Palwal counterparts about the stolen truck, which was being tracked in Haryana through a GPS device installed on it, according to Sahpau police station in-charge Jagdish (who goes by his first name). afp/representational image Police at first found it difficult to believe that the boy, who is short besides being underaged, could have driven the truck. With a driver sitting next to him, the boy was made to drive the truck to the police station. Despite his age and height, he drove as well as an experienced driver, and brought the truck to the police station, said an officer. According to the boy, he had been working as a helper with various truck drivers for the past three years and had met the driver Munna Singh, from Faridabad, only a few days ago, said Hathras superintendent of police Jai Prakash Yadav. The boy has been booked under section 379 (theft) of IPC at Hodal police station in Palwal and section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 414 (assisting in concealment of stolen property) of IPC at Sahpau police station in Hathras. He has been sent to a juvenile home on Sunday, said police. When renowned physicist Stephen Hawking recently passed away in March, it wasnt before penning a new book, detailing his fears about the future of humanity. In it, he talked about how we would soon be a race of superhumans ruled by the wealthy. Author of A Brief History of Time, Hawkings last book is set to release tomorrow. In anticipation of that, a few essays from Brief Answers To The Big Questions were published in the UK, talking about the possible dangers of AI, and how gene editing could be abused. Crispr, or Crispr-Cas9 as its scientifically known, is an existing process that allows scientists to precisely target and edit pieces of the genome. It works like a scalpel on the molecular level, allowing us to slice out and splice in parts of the genetic code as we see fit. Right now, scientists are using it to do everything from creating bountiful new strains of rice, to reversing the signs of aging, to making our astronauts better able to traverse the depths of space, and even allowing same sex couples to conceive. The poor are doomed to go extinct Gene editing can be incredibly useful, particularly when you consider it can be used to eliminate inherited diseases and birth defects in embryos. None of this is an available service yet because were still in the experimental stages, but scientists believe thats only a matter of time. But once thats the case, the question theyre worried about is where do we stop? After all, is fixing a mild visual defect in a baby acceptable? What about tailoring the embryo to make the child grow up naturally smarter? That isnt hurting anyone directly after all is it? I am sure that during this century, people will discover how to modify both intelligence and instincts such as aggression, Hawking wrote in his essay. But the problem, as Hawking explains, is that the technology is incredibly expensive, and will probably remain so for decades. Because of that, only the very wealthy will be able to afford it, offering them another unfair advantage over the poorer sections of society. And the cherry on the cake is this is still controversial because no country in the world has put regulations into place regarding how much editing of a human being is morally okay. Laws will probably be passed against genetic engineering with humans, Hawking adds, But some people wont be able to resist the temptation to improve human characteristics, such as memory, resistance to disease and length of life. So when the rich strata are all editing their genomes, it wont just be about wealth anymore. Then, wed have one section of society, that already has money and power, which will now also be healthier, live longer, be born smarter, and more. Well be divided, to use theological terms into gods and mortals on Earth. And you can probably guess which section is more likely to die off. Once such superhumans appear, there will be significant political problems with unimproved humans, who wont be able to compete, Hawking wrote. Presumably, they will die out, or become unimportant. Instead, there will be a race of self-designing beings who are improving at an ever-increasing rate. Superhumans aren't the only worry In years past, Hawking has also expressed his alarm over the potential threat posed by artificial intelligence, something hes put into the essay as well. The advent of super-intelligent AI would be either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity, he wrote. The real risk with AI isnt malice, but competence. A super-intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals arent aligned with ours were in trouble. Hawking isnt worried about an AI going rogue, and rightly so. Instead, he fears its unrestricted development by humans that inherently make mistakes, and that too without any sort of oversight. AI could be the worst invention of the history of our civilisation, that brings dangers like powerful autonomous weapons or new ways for the few to oppress the many, hes said in the past. Thats why he insisted that developers need to focus on the benefits their AI brings to society, and not just how powerful they can make it. "This venture enables me to contribute to the millions of hearts beating around the world, said cardiologist and entrepreneur Dr. Kiran Patel of Tampa, Florida. (screen grab of YouTube video) A man walks with his children as a municipal worker fumigates a residential area during an anti-zika drive in Mumbai, Feb. 25, 2016. In Jaipur, 72 people have been infected with the Zika virus, officials from the health department said Oct. 15. (Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images) Infosys Completes Acquisition of Fluido, the Largest Salesforce Consulting Partner in Nordics Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Fluido, the leading Salesforce advisor and consulting partner in Nordics and a recognized leader in cloud consulting, implementation and training services. This follows the announcement the company made on September 14, 2018. Fluido, is one of the largest and longest tenured independent Salesforce Platinum Consulting Partners in Europe and an Authorized Salesforce Training Delivery partner in the Nordics. Fluido brings to Infosys globally recognized Salesforce expertise, alongside a world-class agile delivery process that simultaneously simplifies and scales digital efforts across channels and touchpoints. The acquisition is in accordance with the terms set out in the agreement announced by the company on September 14, 2018. Through this acquisition Infosys strengthens its position as a leading Salesforce enterprise cloud services provider, and enhances its ability to provide clients an unparalleled cloud-first transformation. With offices in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Slovakia, Fluido elevates Infosys presence across the Nordics region with developed assets and deep client relationships, a great team and an effective local culture. Fluido customers are represented across industries, such as manufacturing, energy, retail and telecommunications sector. Infosys has concluded the acquisition for a consideration up to EUR 65 million including earn-out, management incentives and bonuses. About Infosys Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 45 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. Visit http://www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next. Safe Harbor Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our future business opportunities and growth prospects. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. Twitter rolls out redesigned misinformation warning labels AP - 6 minutes ago Twitter users will soon see new warning labels on false and misleading tweets, redesigned to make them more effective and less confusing. $SPX : 4,700.90 (+0.39%) $DOWI : 36,142.22 (+0.15%) $IUXX : 16,309.77 (+0.75%) Tech Talk: Corn, Soybeans, and Lean Hogs (Video) Blue Line Futures - 10 minutes ago Oliver Sloup shares what he's looking at in the corn, soybean, and lean hog market! Natural Gas to resume Upside Move? Cannon Trading - 24 minutes ago Natural gas bounced hard off support levels and is trading against immediate resistance - what's next? Shootin' the Bull Swift Trading Company - 1 hour ago A mixed bag of ideas on the next most probable move in live cattle futures. The front end ever so soft and the back end just barely firm at best. Coffee Prices Fall as Dollar Strength Sparks Long Liquidation Barchart - 1 hour ago Dec arabica coffee (KCZ21) on Tuesday closed down -0.70 (-0.31%), and Jan ICE Robusta coffee (RMF22) closed down -27 (-1.19%). Coffee prices on Tuesday retreated from their decade-long highs as a rally... Chart of the Day: ADP - String of All-Time Highs Barchart - 1 hour ago The Barchart Chart of the Day belongs to the outsourcing company Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP ). I found the company by sorting Barchart's All Time High list first by the highest number... ADP : 235.25 (+0.94%) $LBS: Lumber Prices Start a New Large Cycle Higher ElliottWave-Forecast - Tue Nov 16, 12:05PM CST Lumber, also known as timber, is a type of wood that has been processed into beams and planks. One can trade it in form of Random Length Lumber futures and options at Chicago Mercantile Exchange within... Hogs Up by Triple Digits Barchart - Tue Nov 16, 11:40AM CST Front month lean hog futures are up by triple digits through June 22, with $1.72 gains in the Feb contract. USDAs National Average Base hog price was $57.37 this morning, another 44 cents weaker.... HEZ21 : 77.725s (+2.54%) HEJ22 : 87.375s (+1.95%) KMZ21 : 95.025 (+1.41%) A group of Perth brokers have committed to completing a gruelling obstacle course to raise funds for Soldier On, Australia's only national fully integrated and holistic support-services provider for national-service personnel and their families. Eighteen of Gallagher Perths team members will take part in the 5km True Grit military-inspired assault course, this Oct. 27, to raise $2,500 for Soldier On. Expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, the deal will make things simpler for Munich Re. Cincinnati Financial is perfectly suited for enhancing MSP Underwritings business and we are looking forward to seeing the company prosper within Cincinnati Financial, said Peter Roder, member of Munich Res management board. After the sale, Munich Re will have a focused and less complex set-up in order to drive profitable growth within the Lloyds market, instead of running two platforms in parallel. We remain committed to the Lloyds market, and will continue to grow the business within Munich Re Syndicate Ltd. Meanwhile, as a wholly owned Cincinnati Financial subsidiary, MSP Underwriting will continue to operate not only under its own brand but also with its current leadership team. Adding MSP Underwriting to the Cincinnati family brings experienced underwriters who we believe will open opportunities for us to support our agents in new geographies and lines of business, commented Steven J. Johnston, the buyers president and chief executive who described Munich Re as a long-time and valuable reinsurance partner. Johnston said MSP Underwriting, which earned an underwriting profit in 20 out of the last 24 years, complements Cincinnati Financials existing large commercial account, excess and surplus lines, high net worth personal lines, and reinsurance assumed growth initiatives. RiskCover, the WA governments workers compensation scheme, logged $28.1 million in claims in 2017-18, up from $24 million the previous year and $20 million the year before that, The West Australian reported. The difference between the private and public sector is noteworthy and it would appear that public sector agencies and their staff across Australia still have more work to do to prevent incidents that give rise to mental-stress claims, ICWA said in the report. The majority of compensation claims were from women, with 278 claims, worth $18.5 million in total thats double the volume of claims lodged by men. Most claims were due to exposure to trauma, at 31%, or $8.8 million; while harassment accounted for 17%, or $4.7 million, of claims 6% higher compared to 2016-17. Rick Howe, ICWA deputy chief executive, said the high cost of claims was driven in part by the nature of government agencies, which included frontline services, such as police and emergency workers. Because we have either all or the majority of workers in that space, thats one of the factors which drives this exposure, Howe told The West Australian. Its an area we want to understand a bit better to see if we can find a way to drive a greater sense of resilience. We are excited to welcome Ann to AXIS, Arora said. Her 25 years of insurance experience spans underwriting, operations, strategy and P&L management. This breadth and versatility of experience is a great addition to our organization. Ann also demonstrates the strong cultural values of execution and empathy that we are building at AXIS Re. AXIS Re has also appointed Rob Smart, currently interim president of global markets, to the newly created role of head of specialty re. He will report to Haugh. The specialty re unit, which is within AXIS Res global markets division, was established in May 2018 when AXIS announced a new organizational design for its reinsurance segment as part of a commitment to strengthen market leadership. I am confident that Rob will be successful in leading this very important business for AXIS Re and delivering global product strategies, Arora said. We are appreciative of his energy and commitment in establishing the global markets division during the interim period. Notwithstanding the limitations of Snyders anti-fraud unit (and its seemingly rushed creation near the end of his term), the unit has renewed interest in the creation of a proper state agency that would investigate fraud. The Legislature still needs to act in order to give (the anti-fraud unit) the teeth and the direction it needs to be effective, said state Rep. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, who also chairs the House Insurance Committee. The candidates set to replace Snyder already have some ideas for a state fraud authority, and they involve the establishment of entirely new regulatory bodies. We have to have a real department that is funded with actual employees to have any success on that - not just announce something with a department that already exists without any extra resources dedicated to it, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer told Crains in an interview. Michigan Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette, on the other hand, has called for the passage of Senate Bill 1014. Under SB1014, a Michigan Automobile Insurance Fraud Authority will be established within the attorney generals office. The bill had been voted out of the Senate earlier this year in June. SB1014 was sponsored by Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Joe Hune, R-Hamburg Township. According to Hune, the bill would make the anti-fraud unit a bureau within the Attorney Generals office that would have authority to investigate insurance fraud perpetrated by medical providers, motorists, insurance companies and agents It takes that argument off the table that its only a one-way investigative body, Hune explained. And Im sure the opposition is still not happy with that. If you cant admit a failure, youre not an entrepreneur. You are not a good business person. Theres nothing brilliant about what you are doing. Mark Cuban Insurtechs are great for the industry because it needs to change to be competitive, but insurtechs are only going to be able to help change the industry if they themselves make money. At the end of the day this is about capitalism. Theyre starting a new venture; this is not a hobby, according to one insurtech cheerleader. That advocate, Brian Hemesath, managing director of the Global Insurance Accelerator in Des Moines, Iowa, a platform for financing, support and mentoring of insurtechs, moderated a panel of insurtech entrepreneurs at the Super Regional Conference, sponsored by Wells Media Group and Demotech Inc. The financial success of many insurtechs obviously hinges in part on getting insurers to sign up for pilots so startups can test how their technologies work and demonstrate the benefits they offer end customers, agents and carriers. There are internal issues within some carriers that impede working with insurtechs, according to Joe Schneider, managing director of KPMG Corporate Finance. What I have found is sometimes carriers underestimate the relevance of the startup in the sense of its maybe earlier stage and doesnt have a balance sheet, but the reality is you could have a substantial ROI working on this niche of claims, he told Super Regional conference attendees. Sometimes early impressions can leave a bad taste in the mouth for one or both parties. Success stories are helping insiders look like heroes for recommending that a company bring in outsiders. Insurers cant be great at everything, Schneider said. In many ways, youre saying, We werent really great here. Do we look bad now because of that, because someone else is doing it way better than we ever could have?' Lessons have been learned. I am seeing more carriers being open to the flow of traffic as well as the partnership in a much more serious, earnest approach than, for example, two or three years ago, which is great, he said. An outside perspective is particularly helpful when it comes to customer experience. Having the insurtechs come and challenge us and our mindset, and how we approach that, really makes a big difference, said Bobbie Collies, leader for sales and marketing at Integrity Insurance, a division of Grange Mutual. A different mindset is helpful even when it carries consumer expectations that seem unfair. Consumers are often interacting with their insurer because something bad happened to them, yet this consumer experience is being compared to Google, Amazon and other online services. Those are totally, totally different businesses being compared to you, but consumers dont know the difference. Thats tough; thats not an easy spot today, Schneider said. The level of acceptance can vary within individual carriers, where there may be big pockets that are closed to innovation, according Dan Reed, managing director of American Family Ventures, the early-stage venture capital arm of American Family Insurance. Reed recalls resistance to one proposal out of fear it would mean laying off adjusters, even though that was not a likely effect. Over time, those pockets have become fewer and fewer. I think people see some of the successes that are happening with other people within the company or maybe even within the industry, he said. Theyre more receptive. Now, it just becomes a matter of how you get faster. The speed of insurance is an issue whenever startups and insurance carriers meet. Theres something to be said for moving with urgency and moving like youre trying to get results out of something, Reed said. He said that some insurtech pilots do not cost a lot and can be cancelled if they dont work out. Thats the type of decision that you should be able to make pretty quickly, and you should be able to do something lightweight, something that maybe doesnt touch the core systems, just to see if theres something here, he told the insurer executives. Collies said that there are opportunities for carriers with legacy systems to experiment, citing her own companys work with insurtech Ask Kodiak, which Integrity was able to pilot completely outside of its legacy systems, with the ability to integrate later. It was very easy to play with that and show the value to the management team and senior leaders as well as all associates within the company, she said. KPMGs Schneider believes insurtech pilots can also inject flexibility. The future is to-be-determined, he said. The more flexibility you have in your legacy systems as well as the fact that you can pull out cost, that means youve got extra capital to pull in other ways. I think thats huge. When and How to Pilot Ideally, pilots should be undertaken as a way to solve a known problem, according to Chris Cheatham, CEO of RiskGenius, which uses artificial intelligence to review and organize policy language. A lot of times we see companies or innovation people get excited about our technology or other technologies and they want to figure out how to pilot it, he said. The problem is if you approach a pilot to figure out if you have a problem to solve within your organization, youre probably going to fail; whereas, if you know you have a problem and youre seeing if the technology can solve that problem, thats the better recipe for success. Ben Clarke is co-founder and chief technology officer of Bold Penguin, which offers real time commercial risk analysis and rating on behalf of brokers and carriers. Clarke takes a high-level approach to pilots, utilizing a concept in chemistry called activation energy, which he defines as the minimum amount of energy that it takes for a reaction to occur. Clarke elaborates: You put two chemicals together and you think somethings going to happen and when it doesnt, you misinterpret why those chemicals cant react. But really whats happened is you havent added enough energy yet. Activation energy specifically is tricky because nothing happens often until you get to that activation potential. So you think, Well dip our toe into this I hear this all the time Well dip our toe in, and as we start to see results, well grow it. Well, activation energy would suggest thats not actually how its going to work. Until you reach a critical mass from everyone of your resources, time, energy, you should not expect anything to happen. Clarke advised insurers and insurtechs to proceed with pilots with this concept in mind. How much energy do we think this is going to take? How much time do we think this is going to take to see any appreciable outcome whatsoever? And would we be willing to accept the reality, the possibility, that nothing will happen in the interim? This approach can test the commitment of all parties to a pilot. So, it wont be that we sort of dip our toe in and then we start to see some linear results and we can say, Oh OK, its starting to work and lets do more of it. But what if it took a year, what if it took two years, what if it took $5 million or 50 people? Do you know that at the beginning, and are you willing to make those investments and put those resources in place in order to get the reaction? Or should you consider a different path altogether? The back-and-forth with carriers that comes with working on pilots is valuable for both sides, believes Jim Gardner, founder and CEO of ViewSpection, which digitizes loss control with self-service property inspections. Eventually the engagement builds trust. Technically, we can deliver an inspection, but the most important part is it becomes a connection, said Gardner, who has 33 years of experience as a loss control specialist and still runs a traditional claims service in addition to ViewSpection. By the time we get through, were able to start looking into that customer journey and do some of the uncomfortable things. That is, for them to let us talk to a policyholder and ask, What stopped you from completing this app? At the beginning, theres a reluctance. No, you cant touch the policyholder; we dont want to upset them. What they learn is that they are currently upsetting their customers, but they dont know why. Brad Weisberg has a lot of piloting experience as the founder and CEO of Snapsheet, a tech-enabled outsourced claims service. Snapsheet has raised more than $50 million in funding and today has 70 carrier partners and more than 500 employees. Some [pilots have been] more successful than others. I think one of the key learnings that weve gone through is just early on finding someone internally who is innovative, who thinks more like an insurtech, who has the autonomy to go through the organization and make introductions and bring people together, he said. Its also important to set expectations early on. Get those KPIs [key performance indicators], even put them in a contract, so that way we all know what were marching towards because inevitably something will go wrong, Weisberg said. ViewSpections Gardner said no pilot is ever perfect and often the parties will run into what he calls the concrete layer where a carrier is protecting its kingdoms and doesnt want to change. This is why it is important to find the person internally that understands that if there is a hiccup along the way, its okay. Hemesath urged carrier executives to seize the opportunity themselves or find someone in their company to be the champion for insurtech partnerships. Hemesath kidded that a surefire way for a carrier to get rid of insurtechs is to introduce them to the procurement office, or the companys lawyers. He was only half-kidding. Please dont do that. These are small companies with limited budgets. Some of them are not profitable yet, the incubator leader said. But in all seriousness, if you see something you like in the industry whether its these folks or someone else dont take them through procurement; they will not survive. A lot of these will die on the vine waiting for that process to get approval. Pivoting to Profit Some startups do die on the vine. While most start out to solve a specific problem, some soon hit a roadblock, find out that the problem doesnt exist or learn there is no market for what they are doing. What youll see is the startup shuts down, or theyll go through a pivot, Hemesath explains. Pivot is the term in the insurtech world for changing direction after a wrong turn or failure. Snapsheet has been built on the lessons of Weisbergs first launch, which was called Body Shop Bids. I started the company in 2012 when I got in a car wreck and just went through a really painful claims experience, and I thought to myself theres got to be a better way to go through this process and to actually inject technology throughout the process, he said. After his car wreck, he took his car to three body shops and got three different estimates for the same dent. It made absolutely no sense to me, he recalls. Body Shop Bids was a business-to-consumer (B2C) product that allowed people to take photos of their damaged cars and submit them to body shops for quotes. Weisberg walked the streets of Chicago to get body shops to sign up, and he put flyers on cars with dents. The idea made some sense, and he raised a few million dollars in venture capital. But he came to realize the cost to acquire a customer was more than the lifetime value. Customers get into a car wreck once every seven to 10 years. Theres no repeat business, he said. From going to insurance and body shop conferences, he learned carriers with legacy systems were struggling to create a better claims experience. I was looking in the mirror, and Im like, I can keep going down this path of Body Shop Bids and go on and essentially spend all my money and go out of business, or I could take this platform that Id built for consumers and turn it into something for insurers to use.' In 2012, he transformed his company from a B2C to a business-to-business (B2B) entity and changed the name to Snapsheet. Theres a lot more to it, but you have to be nimble in an early stage business and you have to, what we say, fail fast. Its okay to not always be right as long as you learn from it and make that pivot. Fail fast its not something the industry typically embraces, Hemesath said. Its not something any enterprise level businesses embraces. But it is something insurtechs have to embrace and carriers might want to as well. Its about learning, its about adjusting, pivoting, Hemesath said, crediting Weisberg for not shutting down but embracing failure and learning from it. RiskGenius CEO Cheatham started out on a different path also. He used to be a surety claim attorney determined to clean up messy claim documents. He started a business scanning documents at construction sites and copying and uploading electronic data. Horrible business model, he admits. I realized that when I had contractors about to go bankrupt and ripping laptops out of our hands as were sitting there scanning their document because theyre mad at the surety. While he was working the Panama Canal $800 million performance bond claim, underwriters started paying attention and soon began asking if they could use his software for policy review. I said, Sure, whats policy review? Its kind of a reflex of mine as to say, Yeah we can do that and then try to figure it out. He said he came to realize thousands of people in India, China and Manila are manually checking insurance policies. As we were exploring the industry, we figured out that not a lot of people knew what is in their insurance policies, Cheatham said. Thats just not the buyers of insurance; thats actually the underwriters and the brokers as well. A carrier called seeking help in reviewing 100,000 commercial general liability forms to see how many times they contained the word environment. His company helped another carrier go through hundreds of thousands of policies to find silent cyber exposures. It is currently working with a large broker to automatically check 35,000 policies, comparing limits, deductibles and premiums. Like Weisberg, Cheatham had to sway his investors to switch gears. I had convinced a bunch of people to pay for a scanning company. Then I came back around a few years later, and I was like, Hey, were going to do artificial intelligence on insurance policies. Hows that sound? It was painful. Its part of the journey. You just do it, and you hope your gut is right. Topics Carriers InsurTech Tech Startups Human Resources Health coverage offered by the Iowa Farm Bureau through a new option approved by the Iowa Legislature will allow people to be turned away if they have pre-existing conditions. The farm bureau has unveiled details of its health coverage, about seven months after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law that promises to lower costs by skirting requirements of the federal Affordable Care Act. The farm bureaus plan isnt considered insurance, meaning it wont be regulated by the Iowa Insurance Division or be bound by federal regulations. Applicants will be asked if they have been diagnosed or treated for a variety of ailments, including diabetes, heart problems or mental issues, according to The Des Moines Register. Farm Bureau Vice President Steve Kammeyer said the organization will be free to reject applicants or charge them more money, unlike standard health insurance offered through an Affordable Care Act exchange. The farm bureau promised premiums would be much lower than comparable insurance plans that comply with the ACA but didnt provide specific figures. The organization said its plans would cover maternity services, mental health care and prescription drugs. To enroll in the plan, people will need to join the organization and show they dont qualify for insurance through their employers and a government plan, such as Medicare and Medicaid. The farm bureau plans will be sold through insurance agents, and they will be administered by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Former Iowa Insurance Commissioner Susan Voss said shes concerned about the plans lack of oversight and was skeptical about how it will compare to traditional insurance. Wellmark is overseen by regulators. I just think there are a lot of holes in it, Voss said. Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said he supports the farm bureau plans. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Agribusiness Iowa The Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California in early October issued a summary of legislation signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. The Legislature recessed for the year on Aug. 31, and Brown had until Sept. 30 to sign or veto any bill passed by the Legislature. Following is a summary of workers comp-related bills signed by Brown: Assembly Bill 1749 This bill provides that a California employer may accept liability for an injury sustained by a peace officer not acting under the immediate direction of his or her employer while apprehending suspected law violators, protecting life or property, or preserving the peace outside of California. This bill specifically includes any claims for injuries sustained by peace officers during the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nev., if the employer determines providing compensation serves public purposes. Assembly Bill 2046 This bill authorizes, instead of requires, Fraud Assessment Commission funds appropriated but not expended in the fiscal year that have not been allocated to the district attorneys, to be applied to satisfy the immediately following fiscal year minimum total amount required or to augment funding in the immediately following fiscal year. The bill also requires an authorized government agency that is provided with workers comp insurance fraud-related information to release or provide that information to an authorized government agency, upon request, unless it would violate federal law or otherwise compromise an investigation. The bill also requires an authorized government agency that seeks to disclose information obtained from the Employment Development Department to any other governmental agency that is not authorized to receive that information to obtain EDD approval prior to disclosure. Assembly Bill 2705 Licensed contractors are required to have a current and valid Certificate of Workers Compensation Insurance or Certification of Self-Insurance on file with the Contractors State License Board, and violation of this law is a misdemeanor that must be prosecuted within two years. This bill makes it a misdemeanor violation for an unlicensed contractor to fail to comply with workers compensation insurance requirements and makes that violation subject to the two-year statute of limitations. Senate Bill 880 This bill authorizes an employer, with the written consent of the employee, to deposit disability indemnity payments for the employee in a prepaid card account until Jan. 1, 2023. The bill imposes certain conditions, such as allowing the employee reasonable access to in-network ATMs and allowing for withdrawal and purchases without incurring fees. The bill also requires employers to provide aggregated data on their prepaid account programs to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers Compensation upon request and requires CHSWC to issue a report to the Legislature on or before Dec. 1, 2022, regarding payments made to those prepaid card accounts. Senate Bill 1086 With respect to peace officers and active firefighting members, existing law extends the time period for commencing workers comp proceedings to collect death benefits from 240 weeks from the date of injury to no later than 420 weeks from the date of injury, not to exceed one year after the date of death. Pursuant to existing law, this extension of time pertains to injuries, including but not limited to cancer, tuberculosis or blood-borne infectious diseases and is only operative until Jan. 1, 2019. This bill removes the Jan. 1, 2019 date of repeal. Topics California Workers' Compensation The family of a Fort Worth man who died after they say officers needlessly choked, kicked and shot him with a stun gun during a 2013 drug raid can proceed with a wrongful death lawsuit against two officers and the city, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. The courts ruling will allow a jury to weigh in on the death of Jermaine Darden, 34, who had a heart attack and died during the raid. Dardens family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2014 and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued two rulings that said there were issues in Dardens case that should be decided by a jury, including evidence suggesting that Darden wouldnt have died if officers hadnt used a stun gun on him and forced him onto his stomach. The Supreme Court agreed with the appeals court that the case should proceed to trial, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The Tarrant County medical examiners office determined that Darden, who weighed 340 pounds, died of natural causes, with sudden cardiac death associated with high blood pressure and the use of restraints. But a medical expert testified that Dardens death shouldnt have been ruled natural, according to the appeal courts ruling. Fort Worth officers executing a no-knock search warrant on May 16, 2013, burst into the home without warning, court documents show. Witnesses said that officers choked, kicked, punched and shocked Darden, who was inside the home at the time. Several officers applied their weight to Dardens back, which made it difficult for him to breathe, court filings said. Lawyers for the city contended that Darden tried to resist arrest, but witnesses said he made no attempt to flee, attack or resist. The appeals court ruled that a video of the raid shows Darden with his hands raised when the officers entered the home and complying with the officers instructions. Based on evidence in the record, a jury could conclude that no reasonable officer on the scene would have thought that Darden was resisting arrest, the appeals court found. The case will return to the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Texas USA Its not the largest of agencies and its certainly not located in the largest of cities, but Bryan Insurance Agency (BIA) in Graham, Texas, (population around 9,000) is a very big deal to the people who work there. Responding to Insurance Journals 2018 Best Agencies to Work For survey, BIA employees were generous in their praise of the companys management and their fellow employees. IJs Best Agencies awards are employee-driven and BIAs ranking as the Silver 2018 Best Agency to Work For in the South Central region is a product of its employees clearly communicated respect and admiration for their firm. Bryan Insurance Agency is best because you are appreciated as an employee, have great benefits, a really nice place to work, great people to work with plus you are able to help others through your work. The agency has always had the attitude of doing what is right for the customer, wrote one employee. Another wrote: Management acknowledges your accomplishments and shows their appreciation, to me this is HUGE. Sure, everyone is busy with their own tasks, but when you are recognized/thanked for your hard work, it is encouraging. This is the best company I have ever worked for, and by far the best company to work for. To agency principal, Tommy Dies, that his employees nominated the agency for this award, is both exciting and humbling. Their efforts make me feel really good about this place, and I am humbled because it isnt me that makes this such a great place to work it is the employees that make us who we are! Im just glad they let me keep coming to work here! He said management and staff care for and help each other out, share information and strive to make sure their customers have the best coverage and service possible. For our clients this is transparent, but it really benefits them to have so many knowledgeable people in the background looking out for them and helping ensure that they have the proper coverage, Dies said. BIA specializes in the oil and gas industry, and as one employee put it: We are deeply passionate about our customers. We will decline to offer underrate coverage to our clients if it does not cover all of their exposures. A prime example is the program we have for our oilfield consultants. We developed a special program for these guy[s] to limit their exposure in the event of a claim. For BIA, its definitely not all work and no play, however. We also like to have fun, one employee said. In addition to a yearly party for employees and their families at a nearby lake, and an annual Christmas party, the oil and gas specialist agency also sponsors a price of oil contest. Every year, employees guess what we think the price of oil will be the following year. Around Christmas time, we get together at the office to determine who came the closest. That person will win $1000! one person wrote. Several staff members expressed pride in the great reputation the agency maintains in their community, pointing out that BIA this year won Readers Choice Awards from the local newspaper, The Graham Leader, in not one, but six categories: Best Receptionist, Best Insurance Agent, Best Salesperson, Best Boss, Best Secretary, and Best Insurance Company. Others wrote that they appreciate the agencys emphasis on education and the scholarship program that was set to honor a deceased agency owner and acknowledges his contributions to our agency and the community as a whole. Dies summed up his approach to maintaining an thriving workplace, saying: Love your employees. Treat them with respect. Let them know what your expectations are and get out of the way! Let them amaze you! Topics Energy Oil Gas Utility crews will be working throughout the weekend to restore power to Virginia customers affected by Tropical Storm Michael. Dominion Energy said in an outage update Saturday morning that more than 6,000 personnel were working to get power back up for 160,000 customers who remained without service. More than 600,000 Dominion customers were impacted in what the company says was the sixth-largest outage in its history. Dominion said it expects to have the vast majority of customers power restored by the end of the day Monday. Appalachian Power reported around 9,000 customer outages as of late Saturday morning. Michael brought high winds and flash flooding to Virginia after making landfall in Florida. State officials have blamed at least five deaths on the storm. The Wakefield office of the National Weather Service said it confirmed seven tornadoes from Thursday associated with Michael. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Virginia State officials say an Albany-area contractor has pleaded guilty to scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars out of minority-owned businesses and failing to pay dozens of his employees. Attorney General Barbara Underwood said Friday that 47-year-old Michael Martin, of Latham, Mass., pleaded guilty in county courts in Schenectady and Albany to grand larceny and scheme to defraud. Authorities say Martin ran an elaborate scheme that fraudulently obtained construction contracts for public projects while failing to pay more than $400,000 in wages to employees of Eastern Building and Restoration, his now-defunct Albany-based contracting business. Officials say part of the scheme involved stealing the identity of two minority-owned businesses. Martin faces up to 12 years in state prison and must pay $800,000 to the victims. Charges against Martins alleged partner in the scheme are pending. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud New York Contractors The Philippines finance ministry said on Sunday it was exploring a plan to sponsor a catastrophe bond issue, similar to the one launched by the World Bank early this year covering Latin American earthquakes. The so-called cat bonds would help cover disaster-related risks in the country, the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement. The Southeast Asian country is often hit by earthquakes and strong typhoons. The DOF said it was also looking at offering peso-denominated securities to offshore investors, such as Global Depositary Notes (GDN). Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez discussed the proposals with executives of Citigroup on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings in Indonesia, the DOF said. Under the cat bond proposal, the Philippine government would serve as sponsor, with the World Bank issuing the bond to qualified investors, the DOF said, without mentioning any issue size. Depending on the insurance coverage and its trigger, the Philippines as sponsor of the cat bonds will get paid the principal contributed by investors if a catastrophe occurs, it said. Cat bonds are attractive to investors looking to diversify their portfolios such as hedge fund investors and asset managers, it said. The World Bank launched a $1.4 billion cat bond early this year covering Latin American earthquakes, the largest earthquake cat bond on record. Dominguez also said the Philippines was open to Citis proposal on launching GDNs, which would help diversify the countrys investor profile and boost the liquidity available in the domestic economy. (Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; editing by Mark Potter) Topics Catastrophe Earthquake While it is weighing providing benefits and insurance to its independent contractor drivers, ridesharing giant Uber is not interested in getting into the insurance business itself. Rather, the global transportation firm is content to focus on being an intelligent purchaser of insurance, continuing to work with insurance carriers and brokers on any insurance for its independent contractor drivers. No, to be honest, were trying to get out of the insurance business, Curtis Scott, global head of insurance for Uber, said at the Insuretech Connect Conference (ITC) last week in Las Vegas. Citing reports of other tech firms including Amazon showing an interest in insurance, he said Uber is not among those eying the business. I can tell you that Uber doesnt have a desire to. We are good at being a tech company thats in logistics and we want to do that. Thats what were strong at, he said. Insurance companies are good at being insurance companies and thats hard to do, he added. Scotts comments came a week after Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told the Salesforce conference in San Francisco that Uber is considering providing benefits and insurance to its drivers in the U.S. and elsewhere, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. CEO Khosrowshahi cautiously broached the topic of insurance at the San Francisco conference. Id like to come up with a system where we can provide benefits with our driver partners if its something that can work in the ecosystem. Right now, its delicate going, he told the Salesforce audience. Also, in July, curiosity about Uber getting into insurance picked up after Insurance Journal asked the senior risk manager for Uber, Brad Nail, whether Uber was interested in getting into insurance. At that time, Nail did not reject the idea. Instead, he replied, Ask me in a few months. That exchange occurred during a panel on autonomous vehicles at the Super Regional P/C Insurance Conference. As a panelist addressing the gig economy at the ITC, Scott said Uber wants to work with insurers, not be an insurer. My goal is to be the most intelligent purchaser of insurance and advocate in the creation of good insurance products. I think thats really my teams goal, he said, adding that this includes providing a feedback loop so Uber can improve safety and learn when something goes wrong. He said Uber is happy to share data and knowledge with insurers to help them better underwrite for its drivers. Uber has partnered with insurers including Allstate, Farmers, James River Insurance and Progressive to develop coverage for its drivers that supplements their personal auto policies that do not cover commercial use. Under these commercial insurance policies, Uber drivers are covered from the moment they turn on the rideshare app until the trip ends. There is also protection for riders during an Uber trip. Drivers pay the premium. Various insurers including Geico, Slice, State Farm, American Family, Liberty Mutual, Mapfre, Mercury, Erie, Travelers and MetLife have come out with their own insurance policies for drivers. Scott had some advice for insurers that might be looking to do business with his firm. He is interested in insurers that really want to solve a problem and that have people who really understand it from every angle. He is not interested in working with firms he calls vampires that just want to come onboard because Uber is cool and they think that they want to be cool too. These are firms that walk in the door with no solutions and then say, Give me all your data. And Im like, Dude were a tech company. We know the value of this; its not going to happen. We didnt just get here yesterday.' He advised insurers to offer products that do the things they are supposed to do well and avoid the bells and whistles. Uber has been careful to maintain an independent contractor relationship with its drivers, as opposed to an employee relationship where it would provide benefits and pay for insurance or other expenses. The company has been successful thus far in fighting off legal attempts to have it treat its drivers in the U.S. as employees. However, in May, Uber announced a benefits package with AXA for drivers in Europe. The insurance coverage includes sickness, injury and maternity and paternity payments for drivers when they are on and off the Uber app. The benefit is funded by Uber at no cost to drivers and delivery partners. Speakers on the ITC panel called for changes in benefits and tax laws to encourage more portability of insurance and benefits for people who are moving in and out of the gig economy as employers, employees and independent contractors. People covet the flexibility but it wont work unless we replace the benefits. It wont work unless we create a system that makes it possible and I think what youre going to see happen, said Noah Lang, the CEO and co-founder of Stride Health, a benefits platform used by gig workers including some Uber drivers. We have to adapt and create benefits that are for the new world where people are going and thats important because theyre not trends, they are actually human desires, Ubers Scott said. in January, Uber expressed support for efforts in the state of Washington to make benefits and insurance more accessible and portable to independent contractors. In an open letter to the states business, labor and government leaders, Uber CEO Khosrowshahi wrote that the American social safety system, which was designed in the 20th century for a very different economy, has not kept pace with todays workforce and called for a new social contract. We firmly believe that renewing the social contract is both urgent and important, he wrote. We acknowledge that developing a first-of-its-kind scheme will involve business impacts, implications for worker and consumer protection, complexity in market design and regulatory framework and the need for prudential standards. Related: Topics New Markets Sharing Economy Ridesharing Valerie Butt has been named Head of Casualty for Zurich North America Commercial Insurance. Butt will lead the casualty business with responsibility for new and renewal business. Butt takes on the role that was vacated when Brandon Fick was named chief underwriting officer for Zurich North America. Butt will be based in Chicago and report to Paul Horgan, head of Zurich North America Commercial Insurance. Since joining Zurich in 1997, Butt has held a number of leadership positions in underwriting, customer relationship and distribution teams in Commercial Insurance and Global Corporate. Most recently, Butt served as global head of Customer, Distribution and Market Management for Commercial Insurance. Under her leadership, Zurich won the 2016 Strategic Account Management Associations Excellence Award for Outstanding SAM Program Leadership for Mature Programs. Topics Commercial Lines Business Insurance Casualty The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Justice Department have concluded their competitive review of the proposed acquisition of London-based re/insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) by New York-headquartered Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) and granted permission for the transaction to proceed. On Oct. 10, the FTC granted an early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino anti-trust act for the deal. The acquisition remains subject to additional antitrust and regulatory approvals as well as the approval of JLT shareholders. There will be a meeting of JLT shareholders on Nov. 7 in London for the purpose of obtaining shareholder approval. On Sept. 18, MMC agreed to buy JLT for about 4.3 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) to expand its global offering of reinsurance and consulting services. MMC agreed to give JLT shareholders, including Jaardine Matheson Holdings that owns 40 percent, 19.15 pounds-a-share ($25.11M), which is a 34 percent premium to JLTs closing price on Sept.17 and 25 times JLTs estimated 2019 earnings. The $5.6 billion deal, which was hammered out in about 11 days between MMC CEO Dan Glaser and JLT Group CEO Dominic Burke, looks to b one of the largest ever involving insurance brokers. Last year, KKR & Co. and Canadas Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec acquired USI Insurance Services for $4.3 billion. MMC said it aims to become the worlds leading company offering advice on risk, strategy and personnel. The purchase of JLT will strengthen MMCs specialty risk broking, expand its global reinsurance network and enhance its position in Asia and Latin America, the firm said. MMCs revenues will be an estimated $17 billion as a result of the acquisition. Related: Topics Mergers USA Losses to the insurance industry from Hurricane Michael, a Category 4 storm that hit the Florida Panhandle before continuing a path of destruction through several other Southeast states, will be substantial but not enough to cause problems for insurers or a pullback in capacity, experts say. Ohio-based ratings firm Demotech, which rates 52 Florida-based insurers as well as others in surrounding states affected by Michael, said these companies are well positioned to handle losses. Demotech believes that each of the carriers that we review and rate that are exposed to loss and LAE from Hurricane Michael have in place a rigorous and vigorous catastrophe reinsurance program, Demotech President Joseph L. Petrelli told Insurance Journal. Others agree that Floridas heavily-reinsured domestic insurers and an overall well-capitalized insurance industry should be able to handle Michaels losses without major disruption. A report by A.M. Best said depending on the severity of losses, primary insurers will likely share the loss burden with traditional reinsurers and alternative capital providers. Reinsurers with an outsize concentration in Florida will be more vulnerable than those with globally diversified catastrophe exposures, Moodys said. Insurers most exposed to the storm will be Florida-only insurers, which we define as insurance companies with at least 75 percent of their homeowners and commercial property premiums written in Florida, said Bruce Ballentine, a Moodys analyst. Howard Mills, Global Insurance Regulatory leader of Deloitte, said that while Michael was the most powerful storm to ever hit the Florida Panhandle, its not going to be a market moving storm. He said the insurance industry and the global reinsurance industry are very well capitalized there are hundreds of billions of dollars in capital and surplus and they are well positioned to handle this storm. Mills noted Florida is a unique market with it mostly dominated by smaller, regional carriers that carry a lot of the risk in Florida, but they are heavily backed by reinsurance. The good news from an economic perspective is that these claims will be paid by the global reinsurance market the London market and reinsurers based in Bermuda, Europe and Japan, Mills said. The presence of smaller Florida-based insurers has grown since many national carriers exited the market after the active 2004/2005 hurricane season. As of 2016, Florida domestic insurers wrote most of the coverage in the Florida property insurance market, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Demotechs Petrelli noted that Florida -focused property insurers rated by Demotech are reviewed six times per year and are heavily reinsured by global reinsurers, as well as the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. Catastrophe bonds and other insurance linked securities supplement their catastrophe programs, Petrelli noted. Each of the companies rated by Demotech will provide periodic reports on their claims activity to the ratings firm, Petrelli said. A.M. Best does not anticipate a larger number of ratings actions related to Hurricane Michael as catastrophic events like it are considered in insurance companies current ratings and outlooks. Insurers with the largest market shares in U.S. states to be hit by Hurricane Michael have considerable exposures, but these are manageable given each companys overall policyholder surplus, Best said. Furthermore, while nearly all A.M. Best-rated Florida property companies have substantial property catastrophe premium, some have strategically limited their exposures in the Panhandle, and therefore are not significantly exposed to this hurricane. However, the question of how the states relatively new, Florida-specific insurers might withstand the impact of substantial insurable losses caused by Hurricane Michael remains, Best noted. The potential for insurable losses could put some pressure on reinsurers, Best said, but the actual impact of the hurricane will depend on a number of yet undetermined factors, though A.M. Best believes that most of the affected rated carriers have sufficient capital and appropriate reinsurance programs to withstand this event effectively. Best added that the vertical and horizontal reinsurance purchases for the 2018 season represent the highest dollar limit in the history of the state of Florida. Fitch Ratings said Hurricane Michael will push 2018 closer to a more normal catastrophe loss year, following a relatively benign first half of 2018. Fitch also noted that Michaels private insurers will bear a greater burden from Michael than Florence because of wind-related losses from Michael compared to Florences significant flooding losses. But, Fitch agrees that insurers should be well positioned to absorb losses of this magnitude, referring to a recent estimate from Karen Clark & Co. saying private insured losses from Michael could approach $8 billion. Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that industry insured losses resulting from Hurricane Michaels winds and storm surge will range from $6 billion to $10 billion. CoreLogic estimated losses could reach $4.5 billion. Fitch said Floridas domestic insurers will have considerable gross losses but that they will not exceed their reinsurance coverage limits. Deloittes Mills said Hurricane Michael will not be enough to lead to a pricing shift for reinsurance. There may be some small impact on quarterly returns, but the global reinsurance industry is so well capitalized I do not expect this storm to impact rate and price, he said. Fitchs assessment echoed Mills, saying it does not expect the storm to serve as a catalyst for reinsurance rate increases given how muted pricing increases were following the much larger 2017 second half catastrophe loss events. Meyer Shields, an analyst with financial services firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, (KBW) said that even if CoreLogics $2.0-$4.5 billion insured Hurricane Michael loss estimate proves somewhat low, he is confident that most primary insurers can readily absorb their net losses. As for reinsurers, Shields strongly doubts that year-to-date industry-wide catastrophe losses will disrupt orderly and modestly soft January reinsurance renewals. Related: Topics Carriers Catastrophe Natural Disasters Florida Profit Loss Reinsurance Hurricane Property Market AM Best A college degree has become a necessity for most working Americans aiming for a comfortable lifestyle. In fact, a bachelor's degree is worth close to $3 million in wages over a lifetime, according to a study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The question is how to get one without being crushed under a mountain of student debt. Here are some ways to find grants, scholarships, and other tuition benefits that will pay you, or at least repay you, for earning a degree. Key Takeaways Money for college is available from many sources, particularly the federal government's student financial aid programs. You may also be eligible for financial assistance from your employer or as a military veteran. Scholarships and grants represent "free" money, while loans eventually have to be paid back. Corporate Tuition Reimbursement If your employer offers tuition reimbursement as part of its benefits package, taking advantage of this perk can be a straightforward way to get paid to go to school. Tuition reimbursement policies vary. Some employers pay for any degree, while others pay only for education related to their lines of business. Many place annual limits on how much tuition they will reimburse or require employees to maintain a certain grade point average to qualify. If you are looking for a job but hope to go to school in the near future, check out prospective employers' education benefits as part of your job search. As an added benefit, if your employer has an educational assistance program that qualifies under IRS rules, the first $5,250 you receive is not counted as taxable income. Anything beyond that, however, is taxable. Military Tuition Benefits Higher education benefits and on-the-job training are among the appeals of service in the U.S. military. These are some of the benefits available as of 2020: Military Tuition Assistance. This program pays up $4,500 per year for eligible recipients. That can include tuition, required fees, books, and course materials. Each branch of the military has its own application form and rules. This program pays up $4,500 per year for eligible recipients. That can include tuition, required fees, books, and course materials. Each branch of the military has its own application form and rules. The GI Bill. Since its implementation at the end of World War II, the GI Bill has undergone several revisions. Depending on when they served, service members and veterans may have their choice of either the Montgomery GI Bill, which comes in different forms for active-duty military members (MGIB-AD) and reservists (MGIB-SR), or the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Both provide up to 36 months of educational assistance, but they differ in other respects, including how much they pay. The MGIB-AD, for example, will pay full-time students up to $2,122 a month for the 2020 academic year, while the Post-9/11 GI Bill will cover full tuition and fees for in-state students at public colleges and universities and up to $25,162.14 a year at private ones. These payment rates are set by Congress and can change from year to year. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers a useful comparison chart and payment rates on its website. Since its implementation at the end of World War II, the GI Bill has undergone several revisions. Depending on when they served, service members and veterans may have their choice of either the Montgomery GI Bill, which comes in different forms for active-duty military members (MGIB-AD) and reservists (MGIB-SR), or the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Both provide up to 36 months of educational assistance, but they differ in other respects, including how much they pay. The MGIB-AD, for example, will pay full-time students up to $2,122 a month for the 2020 academic year, while the Post-9/11 GI Bill will cover full tuition and fees for in-state students at public colleges and universities and up to $25,162.14 a year at private ones. These payment rates are set by Congress and can change from year to year. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers a useful comparison chart and payment rates on its website. Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance. This program, which is administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides college funding and other aid to the dependents of some veterans. Those are not the only benefits you might be eligible for. The U.S. government website USA.gov has this list of "Education Benefits for Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families." College Financial Assistance Most colleges and universities have financial aid programs, and in some instances they may cover up to 100% of your costs. Although public universities have lower tuition rates, some private and liberal arts schools with hefty endowments offer more generous financial aid packages. Princeton University, for example, is one of a very few schools that pays with grants (not loans) the full need of all admitted undergraduate students who require financial aid. It's worth checking any school you're interested in to see what its policies are. To qualify for need-based grants and scholarships for college, you'll need to fill out the federal government's Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Based on your income, assets, and other factors, it will compute how much you should be able to pay for college using your own resources. Colleges will then determine how much aid you'll be eligible for, in the form of grants, scholarships, loans, and paid work-study jobs. Grants and scholarships are money that you will never have to pay back, in most instances. Loans will eventually have to be repaid. State, local, and private scholarship programs may also use the information on your FAFSA in determining your eligibility, although some require that you fill out a separate application. Community College Education If you're considering going for a two-year associate degree at a community college, you may be able to get a grant to cover all or much of your tuition simply by submitting a FAFSA form each year. The most commonly awarded grant is the federal Pell Grant, which provides up to $6,345 to full-time students as of the 2020-2021 school year. While Pell Grants aren't limited to community colleges, they can cover the cost of full-time enrollment in most community college degree programs (while barely making a dent in many four-year programs). Qualifying students who work and attend community college part-time may be eligible to receive Pell Grant money on a prorated basis. In recent years, some cities and states have made tuition free for local residents at their community colleges, and some politicians have called for extending that nationally. In the meantime, it's worth a call to your nearest community college to find out what, if anything, it currently charges. Merit and Minority Scholarships and Grants Many colleges offer merit scholarships to attract desirable students. They may also have scholarships or grants for athletes or other students with special talents. Scholarships and grants may also be awarded to students who are members of minority groups that are underrepresented in college. Full ride scholarships are very rare, but this kind of aid can help defray a good portion of college costs. The best place to find out about grants and scholarships is through a high school or college counselor or other resources provided by your school. You can also conduct your own research using websites such as CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. That site has a wealth of information about professional apprenticeships, certifications, and internships, as well as college aid programs. Your state's higher education agency website could also be useful. The federal government and many states offer tax credits or deductions to cover a portion of your college costs. Tax Breaks for College If you end up having to pay to attend college, you may get at least some of that money back through tax breaks. On the federal level, there is the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), worth up to $2,500, and the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC), worth up to $2,000. Student loan interest of up to $2,500 is deductible as an adjustment to income, regardless of whether you itemize your deductions. Your state may also offer some form of tax deduction or credit. Where should a person start a search if they're looking to be paid to go to school? The first place to look is with your employer. If your employer offers tuition reimbursement as part of its benefits package, taking advantage of this perk can be a straightforward way to get paid to go to school. Is the U.S. military an option for being paid while attending school? Higher education benefits and on-the-job training are among the appeals of service in the U.S. military. Programs like Military Tuition Assistance, the GI Bill and Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance may help defray the costs of college. What are some things to keep in mind regarding corporate tuition reimbursement? Policies vary from one company to the next. Some employers pay for any degree, while others pay only for education related to their lines of business. Many place annual limits on how much tuition they will reimburse or require employees to maintain a certain grade point average to qualify. If you are looking for a job but hope to go to school in the near future, check out prospective employers' education benefits as part of your job search. Bottom Line With the cost of a college education soaring as the value of an education continues to grow, finding ways to pay without being buried under debt is critical. And a warning: be skeptical of companies or websites that promise to help you find scholarship money in return for a fee. Many are outright scams, and few can do anything for you that you couldn't do yourselffor free. Even in the era of falling oil prices, Saudi Arabia's stock exchange dominates investment in the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council. But international investors looking for new horizons must take note: This is a marketplace only for those with very deep pockets. Key Takeaways Regulations limit foreign investment in Saudi stocks to financial institutions and billionaires. Further restrictions limit the number of shares any foreigner can buy. Investors without the deepest pockets can get exposure to Saudi stocks through a number of ETFs. The Saudi Stock Exchange, or Tadawul, permits only established institutional foreign investors, not individual investors, to trade. A qualified foreign investor, for the purposes of the Saudi exchange, has at least $5 billion in assets under management and has been in business for at least five years. Investors who aren't billionaires can invest more modest amounts in Saudi Arabia and the surrounding region through any of a handful of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on Middle Eastern companies. Examples include the SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East and Africa ETF (GAF) and the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (GULF). Limits to Direct Investment in Saudi Stocks There are a number of other limits to direct investment in Saudi companies: A foreign investor may own no more than 5% of the shares issued in any one company. All foreign investors (resident or non-resident) may collectively own no more than 49% percent of any company's shares. All qualified foreign investors collectively are limited to 20% of a single company's shares and 10% of all of the shares of all of the companies listed on the exchange. Foreigners who want to invest in Saudi Arabian stocks generally work through one of the global institutions that do business there. Limits on foreign ownership prevent foreigners from gaining majority control of Saudi companies. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group are among the global banks that have offices in Riyadh. These branches act as hubs for brokers and qualified foreign investors that invest in any of the GCC nations. About the Tadawuhl Despite its prominent role in the Arab world, only about 150 companies are listed on the Tadawuhl. The main index that tracks its movements is the Tadawuhl All Share Index (TASI). Not surprisingly, the state oil company Saudi Aramco, said to be the world's biggest company, is among them. Others run the gamut from the Arab National Bank to fast-food chain Al Tazaj and publisher Jarir Bookstore. According to the Heritage Foundation, the Saudi economy has grown only modestly over the past few years due to the reduced prices and production levels of its main export product, oil. It remains one of the top 20 economies in the world and the largest economy in the Middle East. The long slide in oil demand has forced the Saudis to work towards diversifying its economy and encouraging private enterprises not related to oil. It is even dabbling in solar energy. The United States has a very large mutual fund market. There are literally hundreds of different fund families and thousands of individual funds available, and all of them are vying for your investment dollars. There are almost as many mutual funds as there are stocks traded on the NYSE Arca and NASDAQ combined. In fact, as of February 2021, there are approximately 8,000 mutual funds in the United States, managing approximately $21 trillion dollars. Faced by this daunting array of options, investors need to find a way to separate the wheat from the chaff. One simple way to accomplish this is to focus on the biggest mutual fund companies. After all, mutual funds that serve their shareholders the best tend to attract more assets, so size seems like a reasonable proxy for success, or at least a reasonable starting point. The process is easy: List all of the mutual funds for any given family, add up their combined total assets under management, or AUM, and see which companies investors have collectively poured in the most money. Since the relatively free market in the U.S. is supposed to reward success and punish failure, the biggest fund families ought to be the ones that have served investors the best over time. A subtle yet important distinction must be determined before the list can be made, and that is the difference between mutual fund providers and mutual fund families. Fund Families vs. Fund Providers A subtle yet important distinction must be determined before the list can be made, and that is the difference between mutual fund providers and mutual fund families. A mutual fund family is like a brand name umbrella. Most investors encounter mutual funds through their family names, such as the first words in titles including Vanguard International Growth Fund or Templeton Global Bond Fund. If you organize the list by fund families, you are going to get the initial title to match for every mutual fund in a group. The mutual fund provider is the larger financial institution that owns the fund family. For example, Wells Fargo, or the fund provider, owns the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, or the fund family. The tricky issue with fund providers is they often handle more than just mutual funds, and they may have more than one fund family brand out in the market. As such, it is advantageous to focus on fund families instead of fund providers. BlackRock Funds top the list in terms of assets held by a single fund family, followed by other familiar names such as Vanguard, Charles Schwab, State Street Global Advisors, and Fidelity Investments. Fast Fact BlackRock has approximately $9 trillion in assets under management as of December 2020; the Vanguard Group manages approximately $7.2 trillion as of January 2021, while Charles Schwab manages $6.7 trillion, which includes TD Ameritrade assets, as of December 2020. 1. BlackRock Funds (iShares) The New York City-based BlackRock, Inc., which carries the title iShares instead of BlackRock, released its first mutual funds in 1998 in conjunction with PNC Financial Services Group. The period between 1999 and 2009 saw enormous growth for BlackRock funds, in part because the company uses an elaborate risk-management theory of fund management. This laser-like focus on risk serves shareholders particularly well during economic downturns. BlackRock was a leader in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) investments during the boom years of the housing bubble. Its iShares MBS Fund was released in 2007 with plenty of fanfare just months before the financial crisis started to unfold. Yet the iShares series was able to escape the crisis relatively unscathed. Not only was BlackRock not bailed out by the U.S. government during the crisis, but the White House actually consulted it on how to keep the financial system functioning during the mid-crisis panic. As of December 2020, BlackRock has approximately $9 trillion in assets under management. 2. Vanguard If a random sampling of the population was polled about the name of the largest mutual fund company, the Vanguard Group would probably win in a landslide. Vanguard is the most serious challenger to the iShares series by BlackRock. Its popularity is due to its wide selection of fund offerings, over 190 in the U.S., low costs and a strong track record of positive returns. The Vanguard Group manages approximately $7.2 trillion as of January 2021. 3. Charles Schwab Charles Schwab has been a trusted name in the financial services industry for almost five decades, with its primary fund offerings focusing on index funds. Its funds have gained popularity due to their low costs and no minimum investment amount. As of December 2020, Charles Schwab manages $6.7 trillion in assets, which includes TD Ameritrade assets. While its important to know where you stand financially at any point in time, keeping track of your retirement moneybrokerage accounts, IRAs, 401(k)s, and the likecan get complicated. Fortunately, there are a number of free or inexpensive online and mobile appsor software applicationsdesigned to help you monitor your retirement savings. Here are four of todays best. Key Takeaways There are numerous apps available today help you plan for retirement. Many are either free or modestly priced. Four of the best are Fidelity Retirement Score, Maximize My Social Security, Mint, and the retirement planner tool available with Personal Capitals personal finance app. Fidelity Retirement Score Platform: Online Cost: Free You dont have to have an account with online brokerage Fidelity Investments to use its Fidelity Retirement Score app. After answering six simple questions, including how much retirement savings you currently have, how much you save each month, and how you would characterize your investment style, you'll get an estimate of how much income youre likely to have in retirement, compared with how much you may actually need. The app then allows you to see how changing some of the variables, such as the age at which you plan to retire, or how aggressively you invest, would alter those numbers. The app doesnt require you to input any personal information, such as your name, birth date, etc., so online security is not an issue. Maximize My Social Security Platform: Online Cost: $40 annual household license Social Security represents a major source of retirement income for many Americans. According to the Social Security Administration, nine out of 10 people age 65 and older receive Social Security benefits, and that money represents about 33% of their income in 2020. Maximize My Social Security can help you decide when and how to collect your Social Security benefits, to achieve the highest lifetime benefit possible, taking into consideration a long list of potential strategies. Maximize My Social Security says it encrypts your data, and you do not have to enter your real name or Social Security number to use it. When using apps, particularly those designed for finances, check what security features they have to protect your personal data. Mint Platform: iOS, Android, Online Cost: Free Mints well-known budgeting app also allows you to track your retirement savings. After downloading the app and completing a simple sign-up process, you can link all of your financial accounts, including IRAs, pension plans, and 401(k)s. To help stay on top of retirement planning, Mint users can set up retirement goals and a budget to reach them. If you are deciding between opening a traditional and Roth IRA, Mint will also help you determine which one makes the most sense. Mints interface is easy to use and features detailed, eye-pleasing graphics and charts. It uses multi-factor authentication and VeriSign security scanning to keep accounts safe. Personal Capital Platform: iOS, Android, Online Cost: Free Robo-advisor Personal Capital offers a personal finance app with a robust retirement planner tool that uses Monte Carlo simulation to predict your future retirement savings under various scenarios. Youll need to sign up for a free Personal Capital account to use it, but you aren't obligated to hold your investments there. Easy to set up, the app syncs with your financial accounts so you can see all of your investments in one place. It supports more than 14,000 financial institutions and factors in Social Security retirement benefits. The app, which has a sophisticated dashboard, also allows you to model how major financial events, such as receiving an inheritance or buying a home, could affect your retirement planning. Personal Capital employs multiple layers of security, including two-factor authentication, and says it encrypts user data. The Bottom Line A variety of apps can make staying on top of your retirement savings possible from almost anywhere at any time. The ones we've highlighted offer useful features and indicate that they take precautions to keep your financial data secure. If youve retired from the armed forces, you may be thinking about living in military housing. Fortunately, that option is open to you. However, finding a place thats suitable for both you and your family may be a bit more challenging than visiting the bases housing office and signing up. For one thing, some military bases dont offer housing to retirees. In those that do, youll have to go through proper channels to be considered for tenancy. Heres an overview of military housing requirementsalong with several alternative options if you are a retiree, just in case your plans for living on base dont pan out. Key Takeaways Veterans looking to retire to military housing have some affordable options at their disposal, not available to ordinary citizens. Military-only retirement communities or other senior living centers that cater to military families are options, in addition to on-base housing if available. Depending on your rank at retirement, better or worse options may be available in terms of location, size, and overall quality of housing. An Overview of Military Housing The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) prefers to utilize private sector housing. Service members who exercise this option receive a housing allowance to cover the cost. To be eligible for military family housing, you must meet the following criteria: You must have at least one military family member living in your household. If single, you must live in barracks with a roommate. But what about retirees who don't have a currently serving military family member living with them? Military Housing Options for Retirees Although some arent technically military housing units, there are several options that will allow retirees to reside among their comrades. Military Base Corvias Military Living, a property-management firm that works alongside the Army to provide an improved housing experience, allows retired members of the military to apply for housing on Army and Air Force bases. Applications can be completed online, but youll need to select the desired property from a comprehensive list to move forward. Among the bases listed are Fort Bragg (Calif.), McConnell Air Force Base (Kan.) and Reece Crossings at Fort Meade (Md.). Military-Only Retirement Community If youre unable to find a property on base, a military-only retirement community may be a viable option. There are a number of properties around the nation to choose from, including: Indian River Colony Club (Melbourne, FL): open to former commissioned officers and warrant officers of the uniformed services Knollwood Military Retirement Community (Washington, D.C.): open to retired officers on military or government payroll, children, siblings, parents, parents-in-law (There is no minimum age requirement for family members.) The Army Residence Community (San Antonio, TX): open to retired career military officers (whove served at least 20 years in the military and 10 or more as a commissioned or warrant officer) and their spouses (Widows and widowers are also welcome.) Vinson Hall Retirement Community (McLean, VA): open to seniors who are commissioned military officers and their immediate family members Falcons Landing (Potomac Falls, VA): open to retired and honorably charged officers, spouses, and surviving spouses Senior-Living Community There are also several senior-living communities that are open to the public but house significant numbers of military retirees because of their location. These include: Blue Skies of Texas (two locations in San Antonio, TX): caters to officers of the armed forces, spouses, and widows, but non-military retirees are welcome The Fairfax at Belvoir Woods (Fort Belvoir, VA): located within close proximity of Fort Belvoir Patriots Landing (DuPont, WA): located close to McChord Air Force Base The Bottom Line If youre a retiree looking to remain in touch with your military roots, there may be on-base housing options available to you. But if youd rather make your next home an apartment or single-family home in a senior living community, there are a number of appealing optionsespecially if you were an officer. There is also the Armed Forces Retirement Home (if you meet the qualifications). No luck with your search? Contact the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for additional assistance. All securities offered to investors in the United States are required to comply with the anti-fraud provisions of federal securities law. These regulatory standards require issuers of securities to provide investors with detailed information relating to the nature, character and risk of the offering through a written disclosure document. Investors use the information in disclosure documents, such as a summary prospectus or an offering memorandum, to make informed investment decisions. Securities exempt from registration provisions under federal law, such as a private placement, provide disclosure through the offering memorandum. Investment offerings that require full registration with securities regulators, such as mutual funds, provide written disclosure to investors through a summary prospectus. Summary Prospectus A summary prospectus is the disclosure document provided to investors by mutual fund companies prior to or at the time of sale. The written document is a truncated version of the final prospectus that allows investors to see pertinent information regarding the fund's investment objectives and goals, sales charges and expense ratio, focused investment strategy, and data on the fund's management team. Relevant tax information and broker compensation are also included in the disclosure document. A summary prospectus provides investors the information they need from the final prospectus quickly and in plain English. Offering Memorandum Securities, such as private placement transactions that are exempt from full registration under federal securities law, provide investors disclosure information through an offering memorandum. This disclosure document, often referred to as a private placement memorandum, includes a summary of the offering terms, risks associated with the investment and a full description of the issuing company. An offering memorandum also details how the funds raised will be used, information on the company's management team and previous financial performance as available. The disclosure document for private placement transactions is substantially longer than a summary prospectus and must be given to prospective investors prior to completing a sale. October 15, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Founder and CEO of Tokenize-IT Pablo Gonzalez spoke in front of the audience at the San Francisco BLOCKCHAIN WEEK. Gonzalez claims that it is possible to navigate the "Regulatory Maze" and set up a Fully Operational and Compliant Blockchain-Based Business. Better yet, that his company has already achieved it. His speech relied on regulations, how some people dread it and others just don't know or care about it. In the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, the regulatory landscape could seem like a maze. Companies are following the hype and setting shop where they see an opportunity to profit from the market, but are there any means to regulate ICOs and blockchain services companies? How necessary is it? He mentioned how the Winklevoss brothers, founders of crypto exchange Gemini, lost their second attempt to list the first-ever cryptocurrency ETF on a regulated exchange. This is the second time the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejects their request. Most governments are alerted by banks and financial institutions claiming issues with security, regulation, market manipulation and investor protection . Gonzalez's point is that the cryptocurrency industry cannot strive without a clear regulatory landscape where stable financial services will also support these companies by providing them the resources to operate legitimately. He commented on how these companies should be customer service centric, how the interaction between user and product has to be an efficient and satisfactory experience, focusing on their well-being, and not by the amount of assets they hold. So, what are the options of establishing operations in a stable, democratic jurisdiction with clear policies to better regulate the activity? And should there be a reason to regulate this industry at all? Certainly history has proven that sharing responsibilities by playing in a regulated field empowers both the companies and the regulators involved overall. Here is where Tokenize-IT comes in, and how will they disrupt the market by creating a niche for the cryptocurrencies industry to grow. Costa Rica is a small country located in Central America. The company set shop there because of the countries policies towards cryptocurrency. The equivalent of the Securities Exchange Commission, called SUGEVAL, issued a regulation two years ago which stated that cryptocurrencies are seen as commodities, not as securities. By successfully establishing in Costa Rica, they have been granted broker/dealer license from the commodities exchange and acquired a currency exchange license for al G10 currencies which allows the company to separate crypto from fiat; solving the conflict of missing the asset classes. Where does the money come from, crypto or fiat, where does it go, who owned it? Tokenize-IT is now able to track all transactions from wallet to wallet, origin to delivery. If you settle down in Costa Rica, as a foreign technology company you might qualify for an International Free Zone space. Inside a Free Zone', your cryptocurrencies initiative/business is tax exempt for ten years. Yes, ten years. This small country is recognized worldwide for it's Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) services, companies such as Amazon, Intel, IBM, HP, Procter & Gamble and more have been there for at least ten years. All the needed resources seem to be in place. Tokenize-IT and Pablo Gonzalez will help you set shop in Costa Rica and become a Fully Regulated, Fully Operational and Compliant Blockchain-Based Business. They've already done it, it's worth checking out. http://www.tokenizeit.cr Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Contact each company directly regarding content and press release questions. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ disclosure Pablo is CEO of Genesis Blockchain ,a sponsor of the daily Crypto Corner Additional info regarding BC Residents and global Investors: Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: https://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp VANCOUVER - October 15, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Weekend Unlimited Inc. ("Weekend" or the "Company") (CSE: YOLO) a lifestyle cannabis company, is pleased to advise that its shares will start trading on Monday, October 15, 2018 under the symbol YOLO. The Company is the result of a two for one consolidation and the previously announced amalgamation of Open Source Health Inc. (formerly OHS) and Weekend Unlimited Inc., a private arms-length company which holds interests in various cannabis-related companies. The resulting company continues under the name Weekend Unlimited Inc. All of the assets previously held by Open Source in the online health space have been sold. A detailed listing statement dated October 10, 2018 has been filed by the Company on www.sedar.com and on the CSE website. Weekend Unlimited Inc. has built significant momentum in the lead up to going public, with an existing portfolio in Washington State, Orchard Heights Growers, British Columbia, Northern Lights Organics and internationally, Jerome Baker Designs, in the effort to build a strong, versatile foundation for substantial growth. Additional potential acquisitions have been identified and are subject to letters of intent in Jamaica (an existing cultivation and productions facility), California (a beverage company) and California (a multi-state THC and CBD infused candy company). Weekend Unlimited's Brand Acquisition Model: Weekend Unlimited aggregates and scales its small to medium brands, primarily in the categories of flower, extracts, and edibles. Weekend Unlimited brands have best of class operations, distribution, and strong revenue trajectories, making them ideal candidates for the deployment of capital and expertise through access to technologies, infrastructure and centralized systems. With assets secured in British Columbia, Washington State and internationally through Jerome Baker Designs, Weekend Unlimited is establishing itself as an integrated cannabis company. Current Brands Include: JEROME BAKER DESIGNS Since 1991, Jerome Baker Designs has been at the forefront of design and creativity in the glass and canna industries. This 3 X High Times Cannabis Cup winner, with offices in Las Vegas, New York and Maui, Jerome Baker Designs creates custom glass artwork that its clientele is proud to display in their homes and offices. Pending launch of CBD line of products in fall of 2018 Pending launch of an infused water bottle in trademarked Jerome Baker bong design in fall of 2018 NORTHERN LIGHTS ORGANICS With the agricultural rich land and certified organic farming expertise, Northern Lights will become Canada's first high CBD focused hemp & cannabis farm, grown from certified organic soils with final products certified organic 300-Acres will be dedicated to outdoor organic hemp for CBD extraction Indoor cannabis cultivation will be housed in 68,000 sq. ft. of purpose-built grow rooms with rolling table automation The Northern Lights Organics Campus will include veg, clone and genetics rooms and an extraction facility for CBD Hemp oils and concentrates. ORCHARD HEIGHTS GROWERS Orchard Heights Growers in Washington State are focused on premium quality indoor cultivation and processing. The company provides a combination of mixed light greenhouses with a processing room for extraction. Orchard Heights Growers phase one development includes a state of the art, optimized efficiency Cannabis greenhouse with full climate controls. Capital Structure After the private placement detailed below, the Company currently has 248,982,255 issued and outstanding shares, and 189,775,724 shares reserved for issuance upon the exercise of warrants and options. 142,222,711 shares are subject to a hold period until February 16, 2019, and an additional 21,172,500 shares are subject to a 3-year escrow. Private Placement The Company has closed non-brokered private placement of $5,409,154 by the issuance of 27,045,770 units at $0.20. Each unit consists of one common share and one warrant entitling the holder to subscribe for one additional share for $0.25 for a period of 2 years, subject to the Company's right to accelerate the expiry date upon 30 days' notice if its shares trade at $0.50 or more for a period of 10 days. Proceeds will be used for working capital and for further acquisitions. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures and strategic alliances and co-operation, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws. Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp October 15, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) A Fundamental Research Corp. report relayed this company's investment highlights. In an Oct. 9 research note, Fundamental Research Corp. analyst Siddarth Rajeev indicated that Golden Arrow Resources Corp.'s (GRG:TSX.V; GAC:FSE; GARWF:OTCQB) recent share price drop represents a current buying opportunity. Fundamental has a CA$0.98 per share fair value estimate on Golden Arrow; the company's stock price is now around CA$0.29 per share. The average enterprise value:resource ratio of the other junior silver companies in Fundamental's coverage universe has decreased to CA$1.63 per silver equivalent ounce from CA$2.29 since May, when the research firm initiated coverage on Golden Arrow, due to the decrease in silver prices. Golden Arrow's shares are trading at CA$0.54 per ounce, much lower than the average. Aside from its current valuation, Golden Arrow is an attractive investment, in part, Rajeev pointed out, due to its joint venture partnership, with SSR Mining, in Puna Operations Inc., which is composed of the Chinchillas and Pirquitas projects. Golden Arrow owns 25% of Puna; SSR owns 75%. This year, 3 to 4.4 million ounces of silver are to be produced at Chinchillas, according to SSR Mining estimates. "GRG will receive a 25% share of the net profit," Rajeev emphasized. Ore from Chinchillas will be processed at Pirquitas, and that should begin soon. Also, Golden Arrow owns the Antofalla project in Argentina, which recently yielded "encouraging" drill results, indicated Rajeev. They included 3 meters of 191 grams per ton silver, 1 meter of 283 grams per ton silver and 2.1% zinc. Rajeev reiterated that Golden Arrow is rated Buy. Disclosure: 1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. Disclosures from Fundamental Research Corp., Golden Arrow Research Corp., October 9, 2018 The opinions expressed in this report are the true opinions of the analyst about this company and industry. Any forward looking statements are our best estimates and opinions based upon information that is publicly available and that we believe to be correct, but we have not independently verified with respect to truth or correctness. There is no guarantee that our forecasts will materialize. Actual results will likely vary. FRC and the Analyst do not own shares of the subject company. Fees were paid by GRG to FRC. The purpose of the fee is to subsidize the high costs of research and monitoring. FRC takes steps to ensure independence including setting fees in advance and utilizing analysts who must abide by CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct. Additionally, analysts may not trade in any security under coverage. Our full editorial control of all research, timing of release of the reports, and release of liability for negative reports are protected contractually. To further ensure independence, GRG has agreed to a minimum coverage term including an initial report and three updates. Coverage cannot be unilaterally terminated. More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp By Michael Nienaber Italy should abide by European budget rules and must settle its differences with Brussels over higher state spending in talks with the EUs executive, a senior IMF official has said. The comments by the IMFs first deputy managing director David Lipton came after ECB president Mario Draghi urged Italian officials to stop questioning the euro. Italy must, today, deliver its draft budget to the European Commission but has upset Brussels with its widened deficit targets. In our view, the Italian government should abide by the European rules and agreements, said Lipton. The discussions on the draft budget must now be conducted between Italy and the European Commission, he said. The Italian coalition has set a deficit target of 2.4% of economic output for 2019, tripling the previous goal for the heavily indebted nation, unnerving investors and prompting sharp criticism from the commission. Mr Lipton warned that the budget dispute could delay planned reforms to make the eurozone more resilient to external shocks. We hope that the further deepening of the monetary union will not be hindered. We consider the completion of the Capital and Banking Union to be very important, he said. A eurozone summit in December should bring progress, he said. Draghi said on Saturday that Italian officials need to calm down in their budget debate as they have already caused damage to firms and households. A senior member of the coalition retorted that it was Draghi who should calm down. Deeper eurozone integration has been backed by French president Emmanuel Macron since his election last year, but has run into opposition from Germany and its allies, wary of sharing more responsibility with less prudent governments. EU leaders agreed in June that the ESM bailout fund should play a bigger role in a more integrated eurozone, but left the details to December and difficult issues such as a eurozone budget until a future date. Many officials are privately concerned about the possibility of Italy sparking another sovereign debt crisis like the one triggered by Greece in 2010 that nearly destroyed the eurozone. - Reuters A friend who travelled to Las Vegas last week, for the Conor McGregor MMA fight, brought back a tale almost as interesting as the pugilistic drama that unfolded. Staying at the Vdara Hotel, he discovered many of his needs were accommodated by a pair of delivery robots Jett and Fetch who operate as lobby ambassadors, guiding guests to their rooms, operating the lifts, and delivering room service. Opting to settle his nerves after the fight, with a soothing cocktail, my pal then pitched up at a bar on the Strip, called The Tipsy Robot, where he was expertly served his libation by a bartending automation called, simply, Robot One. Victor Reza Valanejad, owner of the premises, claims it is the first robot bar in the world. The robots cannot function without humans, he says. Robots still need people behind the scenes, operating the controls. Also, one supposes these mechanical creations are not yet programmed to tell their customers a decent joke. That said, however, a recent study, by the Institute for Spatial Economic Analysis, predicts that, by the year 2035, over 65% of Las Vegas employees could lose their jobs to robots. According to research by the World Economic Forum, artificially intelligent robots could trigger a fourth industrial revolution and displace more than half of the human workforce by 2025. Robots could assume 52% of the current workload in less than a decade, forcing 75m people out of jobs. By 2025, more than half of all current workplace tasks will be performed by machines, as opposed to 29% today, it predicts. However, this shift in workplace dynamics could be offset by robots creating even more jobs than they take over. One set of estimates indicates that 75m jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 133m new roles may emerge, that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines, and algorithms, the report suggests. At the recent Learnovation EdTech summit in Dublin, future-of-work experts warned that the current obsession with consumer technology primarily smartphones may hamper our creative ability to cope with the coming revolution. An unsettling prospect, but one we must face up to, according to Peter Cosgrove, founder of Irelands Future Work Institute. If you look at non-tech or non-manufacturing industries, you can see how technology is changing them already. Look how Airbnb and Uber have come into the market, out of nowhere, and changed the hospitality and transport industries, he said. While artificial intelligence and robots are already commonplace in manufacturing, they are now moving onto more cognitive jobs, such as accounting functions and the filing of tax returns. Asking a farmer, 50 years ago, what jobs his children or grandchildren would be doing, he couldnt have envisaged the world of bloggers or the internet, Mr Cosgrove suggests. My biggest concern is how invasive technology is becoming in all places. If we cant put our phones or tablets down, how can we be creative and look at what we need for the future of work. Everything we want is now in our hands, but too much of what we want can sometimes not be good. "There are only two industries that call their customers users: thats the tech industry and the drug industry; both, you could argue, are equally addictive. To continue to innovate and come up with new solutions, we need to take time away from technology and give our brains a chance to be creative. Learnovate Centre director, Owen White, echoed those sentiments, predicting the future worlds of education and work would be very different to those of today. In the workplace, artificial intelligence is primed to change the balance of jobs carried out by humans and machines. This re-balancing will precipitate a shift in the skills required by organisations, he said. By Geoff Percival More than 360m worth of trade between Ireland and the UK is at immediate risk from a no-deal Brexit, one of the countrys drinks industry umbrella bodies has warned. Ahead of Wednesdays Brexit meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland said the prospect of the UK leaving the EU with no trade deal and no Irish border solution in place would be disastrous for the drinks industry. The Ibec-affiliated group said a no-deal scenario would disrupt 23,000 cross-border truck movements and apply unnecessary tariffs on cross-border supply chains. The Irish drinks industry is a highly integrated all-island sector, thats important for both the Irish and Northern Irish economies. For us, Brexit could be highly disruptive, particularly if there was to be a disastrous no deal scenario, said the federations director Patricia Callan. However, this need not be the case and we would urge all parties to seek to ensure that a withdrawal agreement is concluded and that a no-deal Brexit is avoided. We want to see clear, robust provisions to safeguard the all-island economy and to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, she said. Global drinks exports from all of Ireland were valued at 1.6bn in 2017. The aggregate value of trade in drinks products between Ireland and the UK was 364m, one third of which was the aggregate value of north-south trade. The economic interests of both the EU and the UK would be best served by the UK remaining in a customs union with the EU. If this cannot be achieved, then a comprehensive alternative approach must be put in place. A fallback to EU external tariffs or WTO rates must be avoided, said Ms Callan. Tariffs would add significant costs to Northern Irish whiskey distilleries and breweries buying barley and malt from Ireland, to Irish craft distilleries and breweries buying specialist malts from the UK and to Irish cider producers buying apples from Co Armagh. Similarly, tariffs on finished cider products would damage the cost competitiveness of Irish and Northern Irish cider producers, threatening sales and jobs, she said. The option of contracting commercial scanning clinics to provide an ultrasound service to women seeking an abortion, under proposed new legislation, is being considered. However, doctors have queried how they will source the required expertise, given that there is a shortage of sonographers. Dr Mike Thompson, a GP member of Start (Southern Taskgroup on Abortion and Reproductive Topics), said the clinics had not previously provided routine pregnancy scans, so it was unclear how they can now offer a very specialised scanning service. He said while family planning clinics were likely to provide a termination-of-pregnancy (ToP) service in Dublin, elsewhere, use of private clinics was likely. These commercial scanning companies dont have a background of doing early medical ultrasounds he said. He said the HSE was already struggling to recruit sonographers (specialists in ultrasound) to existing maternity services, and that it was difficult to see how clinics could install the same expertise by 2019. Dr Thompson said they anticipated up to a quarter of women would need to be referred for dating scans in the early days of the service, although this was likely to drop-off, as the service bedded in. Under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill, 2018, GPs can provide an abortion service up to day 63 of pregnancy. Dr Thompson said the vast majority of women know their dates, but where doubt existed, they would have to be referred for an ultrasound. He said there was concern hospitals would not be ready to provide the service in January, while others may be reluctant to take part. We dont know if all hospitals in the South/Southwest hospital group will take part, Dr Thompson said. He said hospitals had not been asked what they needed or how they would provide the services. Neither had advice been given on how to manage or measure conscientious objection among staff. Representatives of the 90-member Start group, comprised of doctors drawn from general practice, obstetrics, and gynaecology and psychiatry, met with Dr Peter Boylan, at Cork University Maternity Hospital, last Wednesday night. Dr Boylan, former master of the National Maternity Hospital, was appointed at the start of October to assist the HSE in preparing to implement abortion services. Dr Thompson said it was the first meeting they had in relation to how they are expected to operate an abortion service, even though there are only 53 working days to go, until the service is due to be introduced. He said assurances were provided around a number of issues, including a commitment to set up a 24-hour helpline staffed by trained personnel, to co-ordinate care, arrange appointments with abortion service-providers, and give reassurance or referral. Doctors were also satisfied with assurances around indemnity and around sourcing of abortion medication. The medicine is sourced and ready-to-go and it will be dispensed by GPs, he said. However, doctors remained concerned that free contraception would not be available to women who undergo an abortion. Opposition calls that forced the resignations of former Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald and ex-Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan were bang out of order, says Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Varadkar has weighed in behind Health Minister Simon Harris calls for apologies from the leaders of Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein to Ms Fitzgerald, after her partial vindication in the third interim report of the Disclosures Tribunal. Some of the stuff was bang out of order and should be withdrawn, he said. Those who forced the resignation of Frances Fitzgerald and precipitated the early retirement of Noirin OSullivan should reflect on their judgement, he added. He was speaking as it emerged that Superintendent David Taylor, the former Garda press officer heavily criticised in Judge Peter Charletons report, retired last night after being suspended from duties on Saturday. Supt Taylor has submitted his retirement papers having accrued the necessary 30 years service. A Garda spokesman confirmed to this newspaper that a Garda officer has been suspended from duty, without naming Supt Taylor. As this is an employment matter we will not be commenting further, the spokesman said. Confirmation of the suspension was not surprising following the publication of the tribunal report which found Supt Taylor worked cheek by jowl with ex-Garda commissioner Martin Callinan in a campaign of calumny against Sgt Maurice McCabe. Despite Mr Varadkars calls, both Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald refused to apologise to Ms Fitzgerald. We didnt hound anybody out of office, said Mr Martin. Its very regrettable on a personal level what happened to Frances Fitzgerald, of course. And I never wanted to be in that position last November. He said, however, it was clear a majority of the Dail had lost confidence in Ms Fitzgerald due to withheld information, as well as the record of the house having to be corrected several times. Ms McDonald said it was not a personal attack on Ms Fitzgerald. She said the Government is and must be held to account. The political system has to be answerable. She said last year the record of the Dail had to be corrected on five separate occasions because of partial, incorrect, or incomplete information emanating from the Department of Justice. Charleton wasnt asked to make political assessments. And the political assessment was that Frances Fitzgerald had lost the confidence of the Dail, said Ms McDonald. In the context of confidence and supply, Mr Martin criticised Mr Varadkar for single-handedly creating an aura of instability in recent months. He said: It is not coming from me. Given what happened last Thursday, the clear aura of instability around Leinster House, there was a need to stabilise things and calm things down, that both parties would agree not to collapse while Brexit talks are going on. I am proposing an orderly, sensible approach, he said. Mr Martin also said the National Broadband Plan had been hopelessly compromised. On RTE radio, Mr Martin said the plan was compromised because the minister who is the ultimate decision-maker met the businessman leading the bid, David McCourt, at a number of private meetings. Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar moved to shore up support for the Government by confirming the backing of independent TDs Noel Grealish and Michael Lowry. After a meeting with An Tanaiste, Simon Coveney, and a lengthy conversation with An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar regarding Brexit, I have decided to give the necessary support to the Government during this crucial stage of Brexit negotiations, said Mr Grealish. By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent The seven universities are taking their campaign for increased funding beyond Leinster House by seeking public support for a petition to back increased funding for higher education. In a significant departure from traditional lobbying in the higher education sector, a 250,000-plus budget is being invested by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) in a multi-media campaign to promote awareness of the issues facing them. Ads are being placed on national and regional radio stations, on public transport in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Galway, and on campuses of all seven IUA member universities. A parallel social media campaign will involve a short video highlighting the issues promoted across YouTube and on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. A spokesperson said the budget of over 250,000 being allocated to the Save Our Spark campaign will come from a communications and advocacy budget at IUA. The association is funded by subscriptions from the universities and it acts as a voice for the sector on policy, funding, and other matters affecting the sector. Were kicking this campaign off now in the aftermath of a disappointing budget, and in the hope that the issue may be better addressed in future budgets, said IUA director general Jim Miley. Our universities are where the Irish spark burns brightest and the key to protecting that spark is securing better State funding. The Government simply cant continue to ignore this crisis. IUA wants students, parents, and anyone with an interest in the countrys future to visit the saveourspark.ie campaign website. It includes links to a petition calling on the Education Minister to address the under-funding of higher education, and contact links for public representatives, including identified TDs and senators who are their party education spokespersons or members of the Oireachtas Education Committee. Despite an extra 57m of non-capital spending by Government in the third-level sector next year, the IUA said last week that Budget 2019 would barely allow them tread water as they deal with rising numbers of students on funding still below pre-recession levels. A further 60m a year from 2020 to 2024 was also promised by Higher Education Minister Mary Mitchell OConnor last week from surplus money in the National Training Fund. The Cassells report published by Education Minister Richard Bruton in 2016 said an extra 600m a year is needed by the higher education sector by 2021, rising to 1bn extra annually by 2030. The Oireachtas Education Committee asked last January for an economic evaluation of the options the report put forward to bridge that gap but it could be next summer before the Department of Education can provide the required analysis. Last month, the IUA launched a six-point charter highlighting the need for greater flexibility around staffing and more public money to deliver the changes needed to meet the Governments ambitions for the education system. The charter commits the seven colleges to delivering on Government aspirations to have Europes best education system by 2026. However, in return, the universities want more flexibility to replace many of the restrictions in place since the recession began. Joins Border Security Technology Consortium Sydney, Oct 15, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd ( ASX:DRO ) ( OTCMKTS:DRSHF ) ("DroneShield" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been accepted as a member of the Border Security Technology Consortium ("BSTC" or the "Consortium"), a consortium focused on supporting the United States Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") and other potential customers within the United States Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") in providing collaborative R&D and rapid prototyping/piloting capabilities germane to the border security domain.- DroneShield becomes a member of the Border Security Technology Consortium ("BSTC").- A faster path to contracting with the U.S. Government in the border security area.DroneShield was approved to join BSTC as it meets key core capability requirements for the Consortium's key competence areas including surveillance and monitoring, identification and assessment, targeting and intelligence, communications and information management, apprehension/detention/seizure/removal and other border security-related capabilities.As a member of BSTC, DroneShield will gain access to the consortium's innovative contracting methodologies that leverage both governmental and consortia technological, financial, and human resources to meet the United States border security requirements and close capability gaps.Oleg Vornik, Chief Executive Officer of DroneShied commented, "DroneShield is honoured to be accepted into the BSTC. Drones are increasingly used for nefarious activities across the borders, and we look forward to working with the relevant authorities to assist with this growing problem."Recentlly reported border related incidents involving nefarious use of drones included:- October 2018: Drones swamp US-Mexico border but federal agents powerless to stop them.- May 2018: Drones used along the Gaza border to drop explosives on Israeli communities.- June 2018: Drones used to scout the US border for vulnerabilities by smugglers.- June 2018: Pakistan drug smugglers cross Indian border with drones believed to be carrying heroin.- July 2018: Yemen rebels attack Abu Dhabi airport with a drone. Rebels warn there will be more attacks.- August 2018: Man arrested on US-Mexico border accused of picking up a package of methamphetamine that was smuggled over the border via drone.- September 2018: Crashed drone found my Ukrainian border patrol used to smuggle black market tobacco.About DroneShield Ltd DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is an Australian publicly listed company with its head office in Sydney and teams in the US and UK. We specialise in RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing. Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world. Through our team of primarily Australian based engineers - we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms. DroneShield is proudly exporting Australian capability to customers throughout the world and supporting Australia's defence, national security and other organisations protect people, critical infrastructure and vital assets. . By Sean ORiordan Cork County Council looks set to establish a special Rural Affairs Committee amid rising fears that many communities in North and West Cork are dying. Councillors want the committee to have teeth and to access to finance in order to prop them up, plus theyre calling for a relaxation in planning regulations in rural areas. The initial call for the setting up of such a committee came from Fine Gael councillor John OSullivan. He said that with the city boundary extension on the way the county council would become a more rural-focused local authority. We have communities out there that are struggling to put out GAA teams because young people are leaving in droves, said Mr OSullivan. We need to adapt to help them, otherwise they will go below critical mass. Independent councillor Danny Collins urged council officials to set up the committee as soon as possible. He said many rural businesses were struggling, with several closing during the winter months. We have to come up with ideas to improve our areas, especially for tourism, said Mr Collins. There are no young people joining voluntary groups in rural areas because theyre not there anymore. Fianna Fail councillor Joe Carroll said West Cork needs Bantry to be declared as a hub town to sustain the Beara area. We need strong attention directed into West and North Cork, he said. Fine Gael councillor Mary Hegarty Fine Gael councillor Mary Hegarty said it was important that the committee focused on employment creation in rural areas. Fianna Fail councillor Bernard Moynihan said that, in his area of north-west Cork, there was no tourism to rely on. He spoke about a special Irish Examiner feature on rural decline in the village of Knocknagree as an example of how some areas were decimated. The village has no post office, no shop, no petrol station and has seen its school population halved since the 1970s. There are a whole rake of villages where there are no shop, no post office, no creamery or pub, said Mr Moynihan said. The Fine Gael leader on the county council, Kevin Murphy, said the committee would have to have finance and power otherwise it will be only a talking shop. Fianna Fail councillor Bob Ryan said the affairs of rural Ireland have been cast aside for many years by successive governments. The people who control central government have very little interest in rural areas, he said. They want to centralise everything. His party colleague, Frank OFlynn, said villages were dying before their eyes and young people could not build in their own areas because planning permissions were too restrictive. We might get the message up to floor three [planning department in County Hall], said Independent councillor Alan Coleman. Social Democrat councillor Joe Harris suggested the council could mount a campaign to get people to move to rural areas. Council chief executive Tim Lucey said he had agreed to facilitate discussions within the councils Strategic Policy Committee to work on a special community strategy which would have a strong emphasis on rural affairs. A culture of sexism and misogyny in Irish politics in decades past is laid bare in a book about the role of female politicians. Madame Politician the Women at the Top Table of Irish Political Power details accounts of shocking treatment of some of the most prominent female politician by male counterparts and leaders. In the book, written by RTEs political correspondent Martina Fitzgerald, former president Mary McAleese blasts Pope John Paul II for highly offensive misogyny, saying she was highly offended by the Polish pope who said to her husband, Martin: Would you not prefer to be the President of Ireland instead of your wife? President Mary McAleese with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in November 2003. Picture: Osservatore Romano/AP Ms McAleese says nobody else thought it was funny and her husband was mortified by the popes comment. Former president Mary Robinson says she was branded by a priest as a Marxist lesbian bitch while on the campaign trail for the presidency in 1990. The book also reveals how former taoiseach Charlie Haughey pulled the bra strap of ex-Fine Gael minister Gemma Hussey in the Dail chamber. Mr Haughey walked up behind Ms Hussey, then a senator, as she sat at the edge of the Dail. He pulled at her bra strap and gestured her to sit down. I was sitting there observing a debate when I felt a chuck on my bra strap at the back, says Ms Hussey. I got a shock and leapt to my feet. Mr Haughey told Ms Hussey he would look after her bill and said he had an excellent minister working on the legislation. I was dumbfounded. I was just amazed. I was kind of rendered speechless really, Ms Hussey recalls. The daughter of an American tourist who was killed at a dangerous junction on the N20 has pleaded with the chief executive of Cork County Council to consider options other than full closure. Diana Baker, whose father, James, was killed in a crash alongside Peggy Adams at the Waterloo junction north of Cork city last year, wrote to Tim Lucey yesterday saying the full closure of the junction, which has been in place since June, has upended the lives of local residents. Despite political and public opposition to the permanent closure, and just days after legal action was threatened over the original temporary closure process, the Council has taken new legal steps to extend the temporary closure of the junction until the end of the year. On foot of new legal advice, the Council published a public notice on Friday seeking the urgent temporary closure of the road until December 31, citing public safety as the reason. Ms Baker, who has been following the process closely since she led calls in the Irish Examiner last May for safety upgrades at the junction, said there are other options: As head of the Council, Im struggling to understand how you can continue to support this option (full closure) when there is no proven safety benefit to drivers and creates nothing but hardship for residents. I implore you to please consider other options that will actually make the N20 and local roads safer and wont require severing the deep connections between the residents of these local communities. She said she favours the closure of the southbound right-turn off the N20 which was a factor in her fathers death, and which has been a factor of several more serious accidents at that location. The junction has been closed to public traffic since June 18 when work started on the resurfacing of a stretch of the N20. Members of the councils Macroom Blarney Municipal District Council are due to meet again on October 26 during which the closure will be raised again. All six councillors have said they are opposed to permanent closure. Members of Cork County Council voted unanimously at a full Council meeting last week in favour of a motion calling for the junction to be reopened. By Fiachra O Cionnaith and Daniel McConnell European Council president Donald Tusk has warned the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit is more likely than ever before amid growing fears there may be no solution to the Irish border standoff. Mr Tusk drastically raised the stakes last night after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar warned of the catastrophic situation and admitted the previously rock-solid October deal deadline may now be stretched out until December, which would further block a snap Irish election. In a letter to European Council members before this weeks crucial EU summit in Brussels, Mr Tusk said it is important to remain hopeful and determined a last- minute deal can be struck. However, accepting the reality is we must prepare the EU for a no-deal, he said that the worst-case scenario is now more likely than ever before. The prediction was echoed by Mr Varadkar, who publicly confirmed for the first time yesterday that Ireland has always been preparing for a no-deal situation which he said would be catastrophic for those involved. While saying a breakthrough can potentially still be made, Mr Varadkar acknowledged the dire nature of the Brexit negotiations, saying he never expected a deal to be struck at the October EU summit this week. And hinting at a last ditch attempt to strike a deal, he said it is not unlikely that the previously rock-solid October deadline may need to be stretched out further until at least December just weeks away from the UKs March 29, 2019, EU divorce date. Weve been making preparations for a no-deal scenario all along, even though we dont believe thats the likely outcome, said Mr Varadkar. I have to say I always thought that was unlikely, I figured November-December was always the best opportunity for a deal. I dont want to create the wrong impression by suggesting thats now slipped to December, but if we dont have one [a special EU summit] in November, well then well have the regular summit in December. For all of us but particularly for the UK the consequences of a no-deal cliff edge Brexit at the end of March next year is potentially catastrophic, really bad for Ireland, relatively bad for the EU, but quite a disaster for the UK. The concerns over a failure to make any significant progress on the Irish border standoff were further underlined yesterday by DUP leader Arlene Foster who told Mr Varadkar at a private meeting in Dublin she will not compromise or allow Belfast to be treated differently to London. In a tense Westminster speech, Ms May also said she will never agree to a backstop she agreed last December that would treat the North differently to the rest of the UK, and said any backstop must be temporary. However, the position was heavily criticised by Tanaiste Simon Coveney, who was speaking at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin in Dublin, and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in London, the latter of whom said after meeting Ms May: These are times of history. These are times of big decision. We are now at crunch time. The deepening Brexit crisis came as Mr Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin met in Government Buildings in Dublin last night for their first talks on renewing the confidence and supply agreement. It is understood both parties have agreed to appoint teams of negotiators with four TDs who will begin formal talks next week. Sources said while no pre-conditions have been put down, Mr Varadkar reiterated his desire for a deal lasting until 2020. Mr Martin is believed to have said any deal should be limited to one year, with a source saying he stands by his view that no election should be called until Brexit is resolved. Gardai in Dublin are dealing with an incident at a post office in Park West. The area has been cordoned off. By Alison ORiordan A man who helped a criminal organisation murder a Dublin bar manager has been sentenced to three years and nine months by the Special Criminal Court in what is believed to be one of the first convictions of its kind. Michael Barr (35), the manager of the Sunset House in Dublins north inner city, was shot seven times by a masked gunman at the pub over two years ago. Martin Aylmer (31), of Casino Park, Marino, Dublin 3 pleaded guilty in July to participating in or contributing to activity intending to facilitate the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence, namely the murder of Mr Barr at the Sunset House, Summerhill Parade, Dublin 1 on April 2, 2016. This is believed to be the first time a person has been prosecuted for this offence under the organised crime legislation brought in in 2006. The court heard that gardai recovered a mobile phone beside the partially burned out getaway car following the murder and CCTV footage later showed Aylmer buying the phone in Dublins Ilac Shopping Centre two days before Mr Barr was shot dead. The offences occurred between April 23 and April 25, 2016. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Tony Hunt presiding at the three-judge court, said that it appeared the actionable assistance rendered by Aylmer was not at the higher end of the scale. The judge said that while the provision of any assistance to a criminal organisation is a grave matter, Aylmer did not approach this in a covert or disguised manner. His unsophisticated approach left him open to identification and demonstrated an absence of calculation or guile, he added. He said it could not be established that Aylmer knew he was making a contribution to the crime of murder and there was no evidence on his part of moving firearms. However, the judge said it must have been apparent to him that he was assisting in some serious criminal activity. The judge said the maximum sentence was 15 years in prison but the headline sentence in this case was five years imprisonment. The judge said the most significant mitigating factor in Aylmers sentence was his early guilty plea and for this he was entitled to "a straight discount of 25%" which reduced the five-year sentence to three years and nine months. Another factor in mitigation, the judge said was the fact he was a relatively young man without a serious criminal record and future rehabilitation remained a live issue in this case. Aylmer has two previous convictions for minor public order issues which Mr Justice Hunt said were not relevant. Sentencing the defendant today, Mr Justice Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain and Judge Cormac Dunne, sentenced Aylmer to three years and nine months imprisonment with one year suspended. It is appropriate he should serve the last portion of his sentence in the community, he said. The judge said that the result of this sentence was that anyone who assists a criminal organisation of this kind even with the benefit of a guilty plea can expect a sentence. He is fortunate in the mitigation he had available to him and his guilty plea, otherwise he would be getting the full five years, added Mr Justice Hunt. The judge also said that there was no evidence that Aylmer knew the murder was going to be committed so this also placed it at the lower end of the scale. The judge said the court had already expressed their condolences to the deceaseds family at the conclusion of a previous trial. Eamonn Cumberton (30), of Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7, was jailed for life by the Special Criminal Court in January of this year after being found guilty of the murder of Mr Barr. "A significant case" Speaking outside the Criminal Courts of Justice today, Chief Superintendent Sean Ward said he was "precluded to some extent" from commenting as there is still a live investigation into the murder of Mr Barr and gardai "still have two individuals to speak to". "This is a significant case in conviction for the community in Dublin's north-east inner city which has suffered considerably over the last number of years as a result of this criminal activity. It also demonstrates that individuals who participate in activities that facilitate the commission of a serious crime by a criminal organisation will be fully investigated and every effort will be made by An Garda Siochana to get the evidence we require to bring before the courts as happened in today's case," he said. "There is no doubt that individuals that engage in serious crime do look for individuals to support them logistically and that would include accessing mobile phones as was today's case and it is therefore important that people considering engaging in that activity should think twice as we will pursue those individuals and bring them before the courts," he said. Chief Supt Ward added that he thought this was the second time this offence has been brought before the courts and he hoped this message would "get out" to people who are thinking of engaging in this activity. At the sentence hearing on October 1, Detective Garda David Chapman of Bridewell Garda Station, summarised the facts of the case. Det Gda Chapman told prosecuting counsel, Dominic McGinn SC, that the garda investigation began with the fatal shooting of Mr Barr on April 25. Mr Barr was the manager of the Sunset House pub and was present at the premises on the night. Two men wearing masks entered the pub armed with firearms around 9.30pm that night. One of the gunmen came into the premises to fire the shots and the other gunman stayed at the door. Mr Barr was standing at the bar and he was shot seven times. Two gunmen fled the scene in an Audi A6, which was driven by another man. CCTV footage tracked this car to Walsh Road in Drumcondra, Dublin 9 where an attempt was made to set fire to it. Gardai arrived very soon afterwards and extinguished the fire before it had taken hold of the car and a lot of evidence was gleaned from it. Rubber masks, boiler suits, coats and scarfs were found in the car which were consistent with the two gunmen going into the pub. A number of firearms were found in the car including a round which had been discharged from one of the firearms which had been used to kill Mr Barr. It also became apparent to gardai arriving on the scene that a mobile phone had been dropped by one of the gunmen beside the getaway car and a number of calls had been made to it. According to Det Gda Chapman, investigations were made into this mobile phone and it was discovered that it had been purchased two days previously by Aylmer in an outlet in the Ilac Shopping Centre. CCTV was obtained from these premises and it became clear that Aylmer had purchased this mobile phone as well as two other phones at the same time. The three phones were prepaid and unregistered phones. On that date, the court heard, CCTV footage showed Aylmer, who was wearing a shiny, "bubble-type" dark jacket and a baseball cap embossed with the letters NY, entering another mobile phone shop on Moore Street in Dublin, where a further three mobile phones were bought. CCTV footage also established that Aylmer arrived at the Ilac Shopping Centre in a Toyota Corolla at 11.17am on April 23 to purchase the first set of mobile phones. He was not wearing a base ball cap when he exited the car but put one on afterwards. Following this, gardai established that this car was registered to Aylmer and Gda Stephen Faulkner identified Aylmer. It was also established through CCTV footage that the Audi A6 had started its journey to the Sunset House pub on the evening of April 25 from a lock-up premises on the North Circular Road. This premises was searched on May 20, a month after the event, and a number of firearms as well as cleaning products were found there. A bottle of bleach was also found with Aylmers fingerprint on it. CCTV footage was obtained of the lock-up premises, which Aylmer was identified visiting on three occasions on April 24. As a result, Aylmer was arrested at his home on June 17. He was interviewed by gardai on a number of occasions but chose to exercise his right to silence. When asked about his presence at the lock-up Aylmer told gardai he had been there but he thought it was related to drug-type offences. Det Gda Chapman said there was no evidence whatsoever of drug trafficking at the lock-up. Victim impact statements Mr McGinn read two short victim impact statements from Mr Barrs relatives to the court. Jade OShea, Mr Barrs partner, said she had been with him for over four years, they were engaged to be married and had one child together. Ms OShea said her life has been turned upside down since his murder and when their child asks abut her father, it hurts her to tell her. Noelle Barr, the older sister of the victim, said they were more like twins as they were very close in age. Ms Barr said her brother relied on her a lot and his death has torn their lives apart. He was a brilliant father to all his children and his death has destroyed us all, she said. Defence counsel Caroline Biggs SC, for Aylmer, said he was granted bail in April and he had honoured the stringent conditions set upon him. Ms Biggs said that mitigating factors included her clients early plea , his cooperation and his lack of previous convictions. In her submissions, Ms Biggs said that Aylmers father passed away from cancer in 2013 and he had been very close to him. Aylmer resides with his mother and brother who is in a wheelchair following an accident a number of years ago. Ms Biggs said her client was seen on CCTV purchasing the mobile phones and could be identified by gardai through facial recognition, his car and his clothing. This clothing was found when he was arrested at his flat, she added. She agreed with Mr Justice Hunt that Aylmer, who used to work for an electrical company, was "not in the premiership" in relation to organised crime. The judge told the court that the offence could not avoid a custodial sentence because of the public attitude to such crimes. A man was arrested during a large garda operation on the northern outskirts of Cork city today mounted as part of a wider investigation into stolen property. Several gardai supported by members of the armed regional support unit carried out a detailed search at a property in the Whitecross area just north of Blackpool at around 3pm. The Alcohol Beverage Federation is warning a 'no deal' Brexit would be disastrous for the drinks industry across the island of Ireland. It says a no deal Brexit would disrupt 23,000 cross-border truck movements and would apply unnecessary tariffs on supply chains. By Pet OConnell Draft plans have been drawn up for a 1m Irish language childcare centre, whose development was scuppered 10 years ago by the economic downturn. The centre, including a creche, pre-school, and after-school facilities, is planned for Baile Mhic Ire in the Cork Gaeltacht. A public meeting in the village was told that developer Michael Murnane had offered to donate a site within the unfinished Cluain Reidh housing estate, where planning permission was granted for 20 homes. The proposed development, Cluain Reidh, in Ballymakeera, Co Cork, where it is planned to build a 1m Irish language childcare centre. The village is set to become increasingly attractive to Cork City commuters, with the scheduled completion, by 2023, of the N22 Macroom-Baile Mhuirne bypass. The provision of a childcare facility is likely to further enhance the villages appeal. Auctioneer Michael Creedon said 16 out of 19 houses have been sold. The three- and four-bedroomed, semi-detached and detached houses, for which turnkey development was granted permission in September, will, he said, satisfy housing demand in the village. However, there is a possibility of applications being made for 15 more homes at Cluain Reidh, subject to future demand. Mr Creedon said: I think it will definitely be looked at as a kind of a commuter town for Cork City, because you have a lot of people who want to live in the country, in a Gaeltacht, and want their kids to grow up through the medium of Irish, so, with a childcare facility through the medium of Irish, primary school in Irish, secondary school in Irish, its going to be very attractive once the bypass is built. Land is also set to be made available for an astroturf pitch, opposite the proposed childcare facility, on the existing N22, which runs through the villages of Baile Mhic Ire and Baile Mhuirne. The astroturf site borders the housing estate and Colaiste Ghobnatan secondary school. The latter will have use of the pitch by day, with the community using it after school. The plans were welcomed at a packed public meeting in the Abbey Hotel, where members of the community formed a committee to steer the development of the childcare facility. Grett OConnor, manager of local development co-operative, Comharchumann Forbartha Mhuscrai, said the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht offered funding of up to 95% for the building of childcare centres run through Irish in Gaeltacht areas. A draft plan for a 4,480ft sq ft, single-storey building was shown at the meeting. Ms OConnor said: Its up to our local committee to decide what we want in that childcare centre. What were hoping is that all our childcare needs will be under one roof. Well have a creche, a toddlers section, a preschool, and were hoping well have after-school, as well. We have the possibility of creating something really special for the community. Launch of Private Owner Income Guarantee Sydney, Oct 15, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Collaborate Corporation Limited ( ASX:CL8 ) (Collaborate or the Company) is pleased to announce that its DriveMyCar business unit has launched a guaranteed rental income offer for private vehicle owners.DriveMyCar has years of insights gained from working with top earning owners to understand how they have maximised their earnings from renting out their under-utillised vehicles. DriveMyCar has identified the key elements of availability, price, location, promotion and responsiveness that ensure higher income potential for the vehicles in its fleet. DriveMyCar has also received feedback from commercial vehicle owners that the DriveMyCar platform has delivered higher income returns on their vehicles when compared to other alternatives.Private vehicle owners who list their car on DriveMyCar and meet the eligibility criteria will receive guaranteed income of $2,500 per annum. DriveMyCar believes that the rental income guarantee will provide greater confidence for private vehicle owners to list their vehicles for rent in the DriveMyCar fleet. The income guarantee terms will also incentivise vehicle owners to make their vehicles available and accept bookings in order to qualify for the guarantee - thereby increasing the overall availability of vehicles in the DriveMyCar fleet.Chris Noone, Collaborate CEO, commented "We know what makes a vehicle attractive to renters and our guaranteed rental income offer demonstrates the confidence we have in delivering a great financial return for private vehicle owners. We are so confident of our platform that we have created the most generous offer in the market."DriveMyCar is also pleased to confirm that further to the ASX release of 8 October 2018 announcing the Cricks Tweed launch, the first batch of vehicles are now available for rental in the Tweed Heads/Coolangatta and Gold Coast regions.About Collaborate Corporation Ltd Collaborate Corporation Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:CL8). It is Australia's leading listed company focused on 'collaborative consumption', 'peer-to-peer' or 'sharing economy' businesses. Collaborate currently has three core business segments: www.DriveMyCar.com.au Australia's leading peer-to-peer car rental business; www.MyCaravan.com.au Australia's leading peer-to-peer caravan rental business; and www.Mobilise.com an online hire marketplace to unlock the enormous potential of under-utilised assets. Through our proprietary trust and reputation platform, www.peerpass.com.au we create 'trust' between individuals and make it possible for people to safely transact with each other in the sharing economy. Supporters of a Cork aid volunteer, held in a Greek jail over allegations of helping illegal migrants enter Greece, are to hold demonstrations in five cities next Saturday to call for his release. Sean Binder, a Trinity College graduate, who volunteered with Emergency Response Centre International, helping refugees on Lesbos island, went to meet police voluntarily in August, after learning that he was being sought for questioning about the charitys activities. He denies any wrongdoing. He was immediately taken into custody and faces up to 18 months in pre-trial detention. His mother, Fanny Binder, who is originally from Germany, but moved to Kerry with Sean when he was five and later to Togher, Cork, has spent most of her time since in Lesbos. For weeks, Sean, 24, was held in a police station there, before being moved to prison on Chios island. Conditions are better there, but it is harder for Fanny to see him. I just know everything will be OK, in the end, but the end could be 18 months away, she said. Sean is doing everything to keep in good spirits. He is teaching English and German. But he has good days and bad. The pre-trial investigation centres on claims that the charity helped illegal migrants get into Greece effectively trafficking people and that it laundered money. Two of Seans colleagues have been similarly detained, including Sarah Mardini, a 23-year-old Syrian refugee, who, along with her Olympian sister, saved the lives of 18 people after their vessel sank in 2015. Sarah hates the people traffickers so much, and Sean is so careful to do everything right, because humanitarian work is what he wants to make his career. This is why this is so crazy, said Fanny. A demonstration will take place at the Greek Embassy in Dublin, at 1pm this coming Saturday, while Seans college friends and supporters are staging protests in Boston, Berlin, Stockholm, and Lesbos. - freehumanitarians.com Update - 7.10am, October 16, 2018: Gardai have found 77-year-old Michael Browne safe and well. Earlier: 'Serious concerns' for Westmeath man, 77, last seen in Dublin Gardai are seeking the publics help to find 77-year-old Michael Browne who was last seen at Busaras in Dublin today. Micheal boarded a bus from his home in Castletown, Delvin, Co Westmeath at 9am this morning to travel to Dublin. He is 57, of slim build and has a beard. When last seen he was wearing a navy check shirt, dark grey tracksuit bottoms, navy and white runners. Gardai and Michael's family have serious concerns for his wellbeing. Anyone who has seen him, or who can assist in locating him, are asked to contact Mullingar Garda Station on 044-9384000, The Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station. Digital Desk By Daniel McConnell and Elaine Loughlin The Taoiseach is creating instability at a critical time for Brexit, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said. Mr Martin said Leo Varadkar is the one person who is allowing doubt escalate about the future of the Government at a critical time. Its all coming from Fine Gael. Its not coming from me, he said. Speaking on RTEs This Week programme, Mr Martin said it would be reckless and irresponsible to collapse the Government, in light of the Brexit challenge. Mr Martin said he had asked Mr Varadkar to join him and agree that neither party would collapse the Government, while the Brexit talks were ongoing. Mr Martin said the review of the three-year confidence-and-supply agreement had begun, but he also said it was important that the Government remain stable, to deal with Brexit. Brexit is more serious than the interests of any individual or party, said Mr Martin. Mr Martin, a Cork South Central TD, said any deal would have to be ratified by the British parliament, in January, and, if it was rejected, the Republic might find it had to support Article 50. Mr Martin said both he and the Taoiseach had agreed that there should be no preconditions to the review of the confidence-and-supply agreement between the two parties. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald described the confidence-and-supply arrangement as a political con job, which has led to uncertainty, instability, and a deepening crisis. We are at a defining point in our history, as we face into the challenge of Brexit, attacks on the Good Friday Agreement, and the housing and healthcare crises, she said. The country needs clarity, workable solutions, and stability. The confidence-and-supply agreement, between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, has led to uncertainty, instability, and a deepening crisis. DUP leader Arlene Foster has indicated that her party was ready for a no-deal scenario, which she now believed was the likeliest one. Meanwhile, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is stepping up investment into Irish projects to help protect the country from the impact of Brexit. Loans for businesses and farmers, upgrades to our ports, and a power connector between Ireland and continental Europe are a few of the projects the EIB are hoping will help Brexit-proof this country. EIB vice-president Andrew McDowell said: The European Investment Bank, as the EU bank, an EU institution, recognises Irelands unique exposure to the potential downsides of Brexit and thats why it has stepped up its activity in Ireland. Referring to low-cost loans being rolled out for SMEs, he said: Its about supporting enterprise and making sure that available to enterprise is long-term investment loans to create new products, new markets that will help diversity away from the UK and try and manage that risk. On top of that, we are also looking at a number of infrastructure projects, the financing of things like the expansion of Dublin port, the expansion of the port of Cork to create new direct shipping lines into continental Europe. The transfer of the port of Cork out to Ringaskiddy is a contract that we have already signed. Its around a 200m project and we are supporting a considerable portion of that. We ultimately are also looking at raising the Celtic interconnector project, in terms of direct power connection between Ireland and continental Europe. By Majella Flynn Global and national challenges are set to be explored at the local level at an inaugural autumn school in West Cork. Climate change and agriculture, gender equality, and rural tourism are among the topics up for discussion at the Maire Ni Sithigh Autumn School in Courtmacsherry over the October bank holiday weekend. We have a fantastic line-up of speakers, with some of the most recognisable names in politics, journalism, broadcasting, filmmaking, agriculture, climate studies, and tourism, making their way to Courtmacsherry at the end of this month, said Barry Holland, chairman of Seven Heads Peninsula Tourism and autumn school organising committee. Moderated by broadcaster and journalist Suzanne Campbell, the climate change discussion will focus on how Irish agriculture can remain resilient and can prosper in the context of climate change. Speakers on the panel will be Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, Met Eireanns Seamus Walsh, the IFAs Harold Kingston, and UCCs Paul Deane. The tourism discussion, chaired by Cork Airports Kevin Cullinane, will look at how rural areas can capitalise on the influx of visitors, as a result of initiatives such as the Wild Atlantic Way, and ensuring sustainability. Speakers will be Visit Corks Seamus Heaney, Siobhan Burke of Sheeps Head Peninsula and West Cork Experiences, and Celtic Ross Hotels general manager, Neil Grant. The autumn school is the product of local efforts to extend the tourist season in Courtmacsherry and the Seven Heads peninsula. Following our discussions with Failte Ireland, last year, we delivered on our commitments to lengthen the tourist season, said Mr Holland. This was always a two-month season, with the bulk of tourists visiting in July and August. We have now broadened that to a six-month season, and this summer started out on a particularly good note, with the success of the Courtmacsherry Seafood Feast on the May bank holiday weekend. The event is being hosted in the Anchor Bar, Courtmacsherry Hotel, Pier House Bar, and Courtmacsherry Community Centre. Attendance is free. The autumn school is being held in honour of local woman Maire Ni Sithigh. Born in 1867, she was a writer, playwright, translator, and member of Conradh na Gaeilge. A lecture on this unsung heroine will be delivered by composer Maire Ni Dhuibhir, NUI Galways Gearoid De Barra, and local historian Traolach O Donnabhain. To mark the centenary of the vote for women, a seminar in Courtmacsherry Community Centre will consider whether the vote was just a small step on a long journey towards gender equality. The discussion will be chaired by Mary OLeary, of Barryroe and Courtmacsherry History Group, and the speakers will be former minister Mary ORourke, Irish Examiner columnist Victoria White, lecturer Gearoid De Barra, and Sunday Times political correspondent Justine McCarthy, Housework is the latest trend sweeping up followers on the internet, writes Denise ODonoghue If youve opened your phone in recent weeks to find videos of housework, you already know about the latest unusual trend to sweep the internet: Cleaning. From your neighbour down the street to your cousin up the country, it seems everyone has suddenly become a domestic god or goddess. The trend came to life on Instagram, thanks to Sophie Hinchcliffe, who rose to fame in mid-September where, as Mrs Hinch. She shared how she keeps her stunning home spick and span while remaining fun. The newlywed 27-year-old from Essex, who is approaching one million followers, appeared on ITVs This Morning after just a few weeks of fame, where she said she never expected her videos to reach such a large audience. One day, I thought, lets clean on my Stories (on Instagram), but make it a little bit fun, a little bit quirky. From there, its just rocketed. I cant quite believe it but its amazing, she said. One aspect of cleaning that has raised concerns is its relationship with mental health, but being house proud is rarely an indicator of an underlying issue. We can understand how some people can enjoy the distraction of having a functional task, like cleaning, to do as a form of temporary distraction from worries, said Martin Rogan, CEO of Mental Health Ireland. Generally, this will not be harmful. However, it can become unhealthy and should be addressed then. Obsessive cleaning can often be associated with poor self-esteem and may actually be a feature of depression, so it would be important to seek the advice of a GP to confirm that this is not a symptom of another condition. Sophie told This Morning that she is planning to visit Northern Ireland to talk to people who clean to deal with their anxiety. Its a mental health charity that wants me to attend and talk to all the people there and just comfort them a bit and talk through why I make cleaning fun, really, she said. Like Sophie, Waterford mother-of-three Ellen OKeeffe finds cleaning and mental health can go hand-in-hand. I got into cleaning during my first pregnancy, where I developed OCD, and I spent hours cleaning andre-cleaning my house, Ellen said. Thankfully, I have found a balance now and I find little and often helps me to keep on top of it. Ellen has been inspiring Irish people to give the house a quick clean after her use of affordable products gained her thousands of followers on Instagram, including those with health difficulties who struggled with tidying their home. I have gotten lots of messages from people who, due to physical or mental health issues, had put housework to the bottom of their list and over time it had built up. Now, due to the cleaning movement on Instagram, they have found the motivation and the realisation that they can do it. They can tackle the jobs they once thought were unachievable. To think I could play any small part in it is truly priceless. She is quick to warn that social media can be a one-sided medium. It can be a daunting place to go if youre having a bad day, so I try to always show the reality. Yes, I may have a shiny sink, but chances are I have Cheerios on the floor and a footprint on my TV in the time it took. The 26-year-old says her three boys, who are all under five, are 90% of the reason I have cleaning to do. She says her followers skyrocketed after she began sharing insights into her housework. I began to share more cleaning tips gradually over time. Suddenly it has become this whole thing. I still dont know how or why it has happened to be honest. It seemed to happen almost overnight. Ellen regularly features products from discount shops and said she has heard of products selling out after she mentions them. Im not sure on sales figures, but I do know that there are several products which had sold out almost nationwide, like Scrub Daddy or Elbow Grease, so I would guess sales are up. A number of retailers confirmed to us that sales are indeed up, and they say Ellen is to thank. Put it this way, we have been cleaning up, with our cleaning dept selling out fast, said Mr Pricemarketing manager Laura Blighe. Its similar to the fidget spinner demand of last year. Now cleaning products are the it item and in demand. Who knew cleaning could be on trend, she added. Dealz, too, have been seeing cleaning products selling fast. The cleaning craze on social media has resulted in an uplift of sales across the cleaning range in Dealz, a spokesperson said. Zoflora has become one of our biggest sellers in the last few weeks, having almost doubled in sales, and the Elbow Grease is another product which has gone crazy. In fact, were selling five times as many since Ellen started using it! While she enjoys using a broad range of supplies, Ellen says her products last her a long time. I very rarely go through a product in a week unless I have been deep-cleaning something like my oven that might take a lot of elbow grease the spray, not the energy level. Ellen says she hasnt encountered negative feedback on social media, but she is critical of some remarks she has seen towards others. [Those] who criticise the fact that people find enjoyment in watching someone else clean I find very belittling and totally unnecessary. The world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same things. With 25,000 followers and climbing, it seems most people agree with Ellen on that. Louis de Paor and Greg Delanty will be among the readers at an event tonight in memory of the Corkman who passed away in May, writes Marjorie Brennan When Liam O Muirthile died in May this year at the age of 68, the Irish language lost one of its great literary talents. One of O Muirthiles last published works was Oilithreach Pinn (A Literary Pilgrimage), a journal of his travels on the Camino Francaise. Speaking of that work in an interview with this paper, he said: I am a believer in pilgrimage in a medieval sense. It functions to ground us in some way. We have unsettled souls; we are human beings, bound for mortality, wondering about eternity. There is a consolation in doing something that is a ritual there have been many before us, many will come after us, and we are part of something greater than ourselves, if only for a moment. There is no doubt that in terms of creative output, O Muirthile made his moment count. His work spanned a multitude of genres, including poetry, novels, drama, translations and childrens literature. He was also an accomplished broadcaster and journalist, working with RTE for many years. Tonight in Dublin, family, friends and peers will gather for a celebration of O Muirthiles life and work, as part of IMRAM, the festival of Irish language literature. O Muirthiles son Ronan has been involved in organising the event, along with poets Liam Carson and Louis de Paor. It is an occasion of mixed emotions for Ronan, who has taken much solace from the obvious high esteem in which his father was held. I am delighted to be helping but it is still very raw. I have been very taken with how much people miss my father and how much they treasured him. I think it was Louis de Paor who said to me that one of the things we have lost is his mind he was just so bright, that level of critical thinking, it was multi-layered, the range of things he did. The IMRAM event will feature readings of O Muirthiles work by poets including de Paor, Greg Delanty, Ailbhe Ni Ghearbhuigh and Gabriel Rosenstock. Diarmuid de Faoite and others will perform excerpts from his plays; and musicians Peadar O Riada and Philip King will perform new music inspired by O Muirthiles poetry. Helping to organise the event has given Ronan an opportunity to explore his fathers work. It has been a challenging but somewhat rewarding journey for me in terms of engaging with his work. I have tried to read Oilithreach Pinn a few times, but you are inside his head, it is very revealing of him. Im bowled over by how powerful his work is. Liam O Muirthile grew up on Douglas Street on Cork, where his mother ran The Gables pub, and he attended school in South Presentation and Colaiste Chriost Ri. While Ronan and his three brothers grew up in Dublin, their Cork roots were well-cultivated throughout their childhood. My dad had a house in Drimoleague and we would go down there. I have 30-odd cousins in Cork with whom I am very close, and all the aunts. I would have been brought to Cork matches in Croke Park. People in Dublin often think Im from Cork, but people in Cork obviously know Im not; Id never get away with that, he laughs. Ronan, an award-winning documentary maker, collaborated with his father on a TG4 programme about Frank OConnor, Idir Dha Sruth, in 2016, an experience which has now taken on added poignancy. It was almost autobiographical because my father was born on Douglas Street, across from Frank OConnors house. "The documentary had lots of elements about my father so for the night, we have been able to put together some bits of him talking about himself. It is very moving. I thought he was great presenting the OConnor documentary, I would certainly have gone on to do more with him. For Ronan, one of the most important aims of the IMRAM celebration is to reflect the passion and pride his father had in his work. What drives me is that sense of my fathers standards. I want it to as good as I can possibly make it, that it stands to him. My fathers wish would be or the focus to be on the work, to let it speak for itself. - Ceardai Focal (Craftsman of Words), a special gala performance of Liam O Muirthiles work, produced by IMRAM in association with Poetry Ireland, 8pm-9.30pm tonight, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin; imram.ie INTIMACY, a new show at Trinitys Science Gallery, explores human connection, says Jonathan deBurca Butler BEING intimate takes bravery. A revelation of the flesh, the soul, or the mind can leave us open to ridicule, and in a world where everything can be captured in an instant, but for ever more, being intimate can be fraught. Intimacy, said the self-declared philosopher Alain de Botton, is the capacity to be rather weird with someone, and finding that thats ok with them. He might have added that its ok at the time, but maybe not forever. From October 19, INTIMACY, the latest exhibition at Trinity College Dublins Science Gallery, will examine the science of human connection. It is the usual, brilliant exhibition mix of technology, neuroscience, art and research that the Science Gallery has made its own, since it opened ten years ago. The thing with intimacy is that people might have preconceived ideas of what it is, primarily romantic, says Aisling Murray, exhibitions manager at Science Gallery Dublin. Its really about so much more. Ultimately, its about connection, but just because youre connected, doesnt mean its intimate, and just because youre being intimate, doesnt mean youre connected. Were exploring both sides of that. If you look at our target age group, of 15- to 25-year-olds, they are hyper-connected, says Aisling. They are more connected than any other generation, through technology, and yet youre seeing higher rates of loneliness and anxiety. British prime minister, Theresa May, has just announced the establishment of a minister for loneliness. British people are lonely. 200,000 elderly people had not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month, at the time research was conducted. To alleviate this scourge, lonely people are being encouraged to join Facebook groups and to organise meet-ups. While many see technology as a hindrance to real intimacy, could technology bring us together? I think technology, in one sense, can get a bad rap, says Aisling. Theres a lot of bad press around it disrupting relationships, but theres a lot of positives there, too, and we are trying to call that out in the exhibition. The exhibition includes commercial products developed by scientists and researchers to aid us in our battle with the human condition. One of those is entitled Pillow Talk, a type of wristband that measures your heartbeat and replicates it underneath your pillow. As well as its obvious use in aiding long-distance relationships, the wristband is being trialled in hospitals, particularly where patients might be kept away from their loved-ones for a long time. So, thats an example of how technology around intimacy could be incredibly useful, says Aisling. We know how important touch and intimacy is for premature babies, for example, and this is the kind of thing that could be developed in that sphere. There are other, fascinating developments, like AI pets for people with dementia. There was a piece of research out earlier this year that showed that people who lived alone without a pet died younger having something to care for, even if its a machine, brings us a sense of connection. INTIMACY will examine the more controversial aspects of human connection. It feels quite timely, in terms of global conversations around consent, says Aisling. And I think we are well-placed to have a discussion around that. On show will be what the gallery are terming a speculative app, created by artists Lauren McCarthy and Kyle McDonald, which algorithmically determines how people make you feel, so you dont have to. Using a smartwatch, it tracks and monitors your physical and emotional response to people around you, and takes action on your behalf, to optimise your social life. Knowing how far you want that optimisation to go, and communicating that, is explored in another exhibit, entitled Please Touch. This piece replicates the visual language of DO NOT TOUCH stickers, says Aisling. But when the visitor comes into the space, we ask Do you want to be touched? If the answer is yes, then we ask: Where do you want to be touched? How do you want to be touched? and so its opening up, in a very playful way, a discussion about what your boundaries actually are and how open you are to having these discussions. Exhibits and artworks will fill both the upstairs and downstairs areas of the gallery, but another space will be opened up to what Aisling refers to as a for play gallery (not foreplay), filled with ongoing workshops. This will allow us to create small, intimate moments and moments of connection with our visitors, says Aisling. We want to encourage people to connect in the gallery space, maybe disconnect from technology, lock away your phones, and come and play a bit. Take the guard down, be a bit vulnerable, be present, and be open to connection. - INTIMACY opens at the Science Gallery, Dublin, on Friday, October 19; dublin.sciencegallery.com Beauty blogger Megan Kessie, from Dublin, started blogging at makeitupmegan.ie in 2015, while she was working in healthcare, and she now finds herself working in PR, as a result. Things have completely changed since I started blogging and I now work in PR, along with working as a social media consultant for brands and managing their various online accounts, Megan says. When I started my blog, I was working in healthcare. It was tough and writing my blog became an escape. After a few months, I realised my passion was based in the online world and I actually quit my job to do a PR and marketing internship. My entire career has changed drastically from what it was three years ago and I owe that, in part, to social media. She shares beauty and fashion tips on her website and social media accounts. I post mainly about beauty and fashion. I love makeup and am really into skincare. Im always trying new products and not a lot end up making it to the blog. The 24-year-old finds Facebook is best for sharing her posts. Facebook would definitely be my bigger platform. For instance, a video I put up early this year, with one of the new, Anastasia Beverly Hills palettes, was huge for me reaching over five million people and its great to see the comments underneath and people tagging each other. Megan is keen to show reality in her posts. Ive started recently to share a lot more of what Im wearing. For so long, I think weve been inundated with beautiful girls in our feeds that create an image that is unattainable for most. Ive become more comfortable with my body and am happy showing what Im wearing and how I style clothes to suit my curves. Meeting and befriending other bloggers has been a highlight for Megan, despite the industry receiving some criticism recently. There has been a lot of negative comments about Irish bloggers recently, which I hate. The actions of a few have tarred the names of many. I have met so many supportive and lovely people through blogging. Two of my closest friends are bloggers and we wouldnt have met if we werent blogging. Ive had so much support from my friends within the community and will gladly help anyone out. There are always a few bad eggs, the ones only in it to gain more followers and make more money, but, on the most part, it is a big support group. By David Brooks, Technical Director Broadstone It is in this fertile ground that pension scammers have been able to proliferate and grow. Some scams facilitate illegal payments that contravene HMRCs rules so when the member is later defrauded out of any remaining funds theyll also be stung with tax charges of up to 55% of the payments theyve received. And what constitutes a scam? In some cases pension transfers made to a legitimate scheme have unregulated underlying investments and so members risk losing some or all of their money raising questions around the legitimacy of such schemes. Pension scams, trust busting, pension or investment fraud and theft are not new to the world of pensions. Scammers have preyed on peoples pensions savings for many many years, however, the methods used are becoming more sophisticated and the tools needed to combat them must also change. The Regulatory Responses The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) have run various campaigns over the years to ensure people are Scam Smart (FCA) and tried to increase awareness of the risks of transferring to a scam scheme through the Scorpion campaign (TPR). In August 2018 these campaigns were combined with a revamp to the checklists and warning notices that should be issued to members. There were also television adverts to warn people of the risks of scammers. (All accessible here .) The Government responses Pension Cold Call ban The Government and industry have long called for a ban on pension cold calling. This has had a number of false starts as the Government looked to ensure they did not restrict legitimate business through a cold calling ban. Legislation is (at the time of writing) out for consultation and is due to be made into law in late 2018/early 2019 depending on Parliamentary time. It is worth noting the cynics point that the cold call ban wont stop the practice. That is almost certainly true. Those that defraud people of their life savings are not likely to pay much heed to this. However, the key point is that it needs to be understood that any unsolicited approach to review your pension or otherwise should be rejected as it is almost certainly unlikely to be in your best interest. It should be held in the same regard you hold the unprompted offer at your front door to re-pave your drive. HMRC rules on registration One of the reasons dodgy schemes have been able to grow is because the rules concerning the registration of schemes was relaxed and so many schemes that perhaps shouldnt be registered are given the veneer of respectability by having a Pension Schemes Tax Reference number. The Government is consulting on rules to make registration harder and to make it easier for HMRC to de-register schemes with suspect legitimacy. Potential changes to the definition of statutory transfer The Government is also tightening up the rules on when a legal right to transfer arises. This will involve the redefinition of when a member is deemed to be in employment linked with an occupational scheme. This would address the issues raised by The Government is also tightening up the rules on when a legal right to transfer arises. This will involve the redefinition of when a member is deemed to be in employment linked with an occupational scheme. This would address the issues raised by Hughes vs Royal London and so allow Trustees to block a transfer where there is no clear employment link. These regulations remain out for consultation. What should Trustees and employers do? Trustees and employers are in a difficult position as they have a duty to comply with members wishes and rights under the law, and also under the rules of the pension scheme. The key role that the Trustees and employer can play is to inform members of the risks posed by scammers to their pension savings. The regulators have resources that can be used and regular member and staff communications are the ideal place to include reference to some of the key red flags and sources of support for members should they have concern or wish to source financial advice. A recent pensions ombudsman case (where the member was scammed and since been reinstated in the scheme as they didnt effectively warn him of the risks of transferring) has highlighted the importance of engaging with members in the lead up to retirement. Trustees and employers should also familiarise themselves with the voluntary scam prevention Code of Practice drafted by the industry. Can the Government go further? Yes it can and it should. The statistics given by the Regulators highlight the financial loss experienced by many people and this is likely to be the tip of the iceberg. We havent yet addressed the blight of overseas transfers and the scaremongering tactics of those who wish to sell risky investments that will result in high charges and financial loss. Ive got a short hit list of things which will help reduce the scams: 1. Reintroduce the requirement to have a pensioner trustee on all SSASs. This person should pass the fit and proper test of all Trustees. 2. Tighten up the rules to all transferring schemes to refuse the transfer if they believe the receiving scheme is a scam. 3. The Regulators should, in conjunction with HMRC, undertake a review of all pension schemes to ensure they are bona fide schemes. 4. Larger fines and sentences for perpetrators with naming and shaming. 5. A public black list sent to trustees and pensions managers warning of schemes & advisers to avoid. 6. Greater international co-operation to clamp down on overseas advisers, cold callers and scammers. 7. Unregulated investments (if not banned) then should require greater regulation at the advice stage via the FCA. Criminals will break the law but the Government and regulators need to create a toxic space for them to inhabit not a fertile one. China and Saudi Arabia are among modern authoritarians orchestrating increasingly brazen vanishings of opponents, says Nina L. Khrushcheva. From the military juntas that ruled Argentina and Chile in the 1970s and 1980s to Joseph Stalins iron-fisted regime in the Soviet Union, dictatorships have a long history of making their detractors disappear. Today, this sinister practice seems to be making a comeback. Under the military regimes in Chile or Argentina, a person might be tossed into the sea from a helicopter, never to be found. They might be killed and then burned beyond recognition or coated in lime, to accelerate decomposition, and buried in an unmarked grave. In Stalins Soviet Union, someone could be picked up and taken to the Lubyanka (the KGB headquarters) or some other nightmarish facility at any moment. During the purges of the 1930s and later, members of the Communist Party were particularly vulnerable, and millions of Soviet citizens disappeared forever in prisons or gulags. Today, modern authoritarians are reviving such behaviour, suddenly and covertly snatching people, including well-known figures and high-ranking officials, to be detained or worse. In many cases, the vanished do eventually resurface, but with an apparently transformed perspective on their past work or the government that detained them. Here, China and Saudi Arabia stand out though they are by no means alone for orchestrating a series of increasingly brazen abductions or vanishings of their detractors. China was behind last months disappearance of Interpol president Meng Hongwei on a trip from France, where Interpol is based, to Beijing, where he also served as vice minister of public security. Mengs abduction was particularly shocking, because many Chinese trumpeted his 2016 appointment to Interpols highest post which made him the first Chinese citizen to lead a major global institution as a sign that the country had finally arrived at the top tier of the international order. Yet Chinese president Xi Jinping was willing simply to throw away that public relations victory. Eventually, it was announced that Meng had been detained and was being investigated for bribery. The decision, justified as part of Chinas ongoing anti-corruption campaign an endeavour that critics say is a cover for eliminating political figures disloyal to Xi revealed an utter lack of regard, or even contempt, for world opinion. In fact, Xi is something of a serial kidnapper. Since he came to power in 2012, all sorts of people from small-scale book publishers in Hong Kong (including some holders of non-Chinese citizenship) to Chinese business leaders have been covertly kidnapped and returned to China. After a long period of silence and seclusion, they emerged to renounce their past work. That is what happened to Fan Bing-bing, Chinas biggest movie star, who made her Hollywood breakthrough in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. Fan disappeared last July, when her previously very active account on the Sina Weibo social media platform (Chinas answer to Twitter) suddenly went silent. No one knew what happened, but it was assumed that the government had something to do with it, and businesses with which she had spokesperson deals cut ties with her. Finally, Fan resurfaced earlier this month, issuing a grovelling apology for having evaded taxes, for which she will now face massive fines. Tellingly, her statement included plenty of praise for the Communist Party of China, which she credited for her success as an actress. It was all depressingly familiar, recalling as it did the pathetic confessions of Nikolai Bukharin, the editor of the Communist Party newspaper Pravda, and others during Stalins purges. Saudi Arabia has also executed a series of high-profile, politically motivated kidnappings. Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri Last year, Saudi Arabias crown prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the detention of Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, who was on an official visit to Riyadh. Hariri was isolated even from his bodyguards and forced to resign. Weeks later, and evidently enlightened to his captors satisfaction, he was permitted to return to Lebanon and resume his role as its elected leader. Then, last week, Jamal Khashoggi, an exiled Saudi journalist, vanished after entering Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document confirming his divorce, so that he could marry a Turkish woman the next day. His fiancee waited at the consulates entrance; he never reemerged. Khashoggis disappearance is further evidence of how little regard todays authoritarians have for national borders when it comes to silencing their detractors. Precisely what happened to Khashoggi is still unknown, but Turkeys government, led by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has insisted that he was killed while in the consulate. According to the Turkish authorities, two teams, totalling 15 people, flew from Riyadh to Istanbul on the day of Khashoggis appointment and left within hours. This, too, is grimly familiar to Russians: Stalin also had special assassination teams, one of which carried out the murder in Mexico of his archenemy, Leon Trotsky. Unsurprisingly, the Saudis have denied any wrongdoing. Khashoggi, they claim, left the consulate. Russias own experience with government-orchestrated disappearances is not limited to the past. President Vladimir Putins regime has also been known to target detractors for elimination on foreign soil, as allegedly happened with the nerve agent attack on the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK in March. The question is whether autocrats contempt for borders or sovereignty in silencing opponents is worth the cost. In the majority of the Western world, Putin is regarded as an outcast, Xi is flirting with a similar loss of credibility, and prince Mohammeds reputation as a reformer has been severely damaged, perhaps beyond repair. All of them may soon face a realisation like that of Joseph Fouche, Napoleons police chief, after the abduction and sham trial of the duke of Enghien: It was worse than a crime; it was a mistake. Nina L. Khrushcheva is professor of International Affairs at The New School and a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018. We criticise Donald Trumps separation of migrant children from their parents at the Mexico-US border, yet 4,300 asylum-seekers languish in inhumane direct provision here, and with families split by deportation, says Caroline Forde Family and children have long been valued aspects of Irish life. The sanctity of the family is enshrined in our Constitution. Though problematic in its conceptualisation of this unit as nuclear and heteronormative, the importance of being part of a loving family, whatever form it takes, cannot be denied. As such, the recent US governmental immigration policy that legalised the separation of migrant children from their families at the US-Mexico border was widely condemned. More than 700 children subjected to this unconscionable policy have still not been reunited with their families by the court-ordered deadline, mostly because their parents have been deported. The US acceptance of asylum-seekers and refugees is appalling low. However, we need look no further than our own country to witness such cruel treatment. Sixty-nine million people, who have fled war, violence and persecution, are displaced worldwide. Vulnerable and traumatised, they left their homes in search of sanctuary, only to find that hope is a dangerous thing in a neoliberal world that recasts refugees as a problem. While Trumps failed immigration policy rightly deserves criticism, Ireland has accepted a mere 859 Syrian people under the Refugee Protection Programme. In addition, 4,300 asylum-seekers are currently living in direct provision (DP) centres throughout the country, while they await a decision on their refugee status. These are places of exclusion, stigma, and institutional abuse, and adult residents are often separated from their children, whom they had to leave behind. The children living in these centres endure inhumane conditions. And then theres deportation. Ireland has a complex history in this regard, a history not many people are aware of. The Abbey theatres magnificent adaptation of the film, Jimmys Hall, relates the story of Jimmy Gralton. A staunch socialist, who emigrated to New York in 1909, Jimmy returned home to Leitrim in 1921, to take care of his mother. As a man who cared deeply about the future of this country and the people who were suffering under postcolonial-rule housing policies, he rebuilt a dancehall on his fathers land. This hall not only provided the critically engaged locals with a place to socialise, it was also a safe space to organise political meetings to advance the rights of tenant farmers. Viewed as a threat to the newly founded Church/State nexus that had a stranglehold over the Irish people, he was deported on the basis of his American passport, never to return to his family or home again. It seems incredible that such a thing could happen. However, the truly terrible truth is that deportations are still happening, albeit in a different guise. Asylum Seekers protesting Direct Provision in Cork, August 2016 The covertness of such deportations speaks to their inhumane nature. Not unlike rendition, individuals are often whisked away in the dead of night, or, in the recent case of Vahram, an Armenian asylum-seeker who lived in Galway for 12 years, detained and forced to board a flight without notice. The stage adaptation of Jimmys Hall places a strong focus on deportations as a human rights violation. It also highlights the connection between Jimmys story and those of asylum-seekers seeking refuge in Ireland today. Following the September 13 showing in the Galway Town Hall Theatre, Donna, from the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI), spoke powerfully about our deeply problematic DP system, within which asylum-seekers live daily with the threat of deportation. Joe Loughnane, from the Galway Anti Racism Network (GARN), then talked about Vahrams case. Seeking asylum in Ireland, Vahram entered the DP system in 2006. Four months later, he left the system to live and work in the community, as a barber. In 2010, he met his now wife, Viktoria. Four years later, they had a daughter, Alina. For the sake of his family, Vahram explained his situation to the authorities, who ordered him to sign in at an emigration office in Dublin every month. Though he received a deportation order in June of this year, he was advised by his lawyer to continue signing in, as agreed. This arrangement continued until 14 days after Alinas third birthday, when, suddenly, Vahram was detained in the Dublin emigration office and deported, without having the chance to see his family and bid farewell. As Joe spoke, photographs of a smiling Vahram, with his wife and daughter, appeared on a screen behind. These images are of a happy and loving family, the kind of blessing many people hope for. Viktoria has not been able to tell Alina what has happened to her father, because she knows the truth would break the little girls heart. One of the rights enshrined in the 1992 UN convention is that children be protected from abuse and harm. Separating a child from a loving father who is seeking asylum is an abusive act. How could the Government sign a deportation order, knowing that it was tearing a family apart, thus causing untold trauma that will reverberate in this familys life for years to come. It seems that only certain types of families are cherished by our government. In 2015, 3,790 people were deported or removed from the State, an increase of 60% on 2014. One of these, Mohamed Sleyum Ali, was beaten to death within hours of arriving back in Tanzania. Is this really the history we want to write for our country? Vahram was a valued member of his community, who is effectively being punished for creating a happy life and family in the country that was supposed to provide him sanctuary. It is vital that we continue to shine a light on these human rights abuses and to stand with Vahram, by participating in the campaign to bring him back to his home and family. - Caroline Forde, Galway Anti Racism Network The former justice minister had to resign for many reasons just not because she failed to stop a challenge to Maurice McCabes motivation in 2015, writes Michael Clifford. Wherefore the vindication of Frances Fitzgerald? Since the publication of the Disclosures Tribunal report last Thursday the V-word has been used unsparingly. Ms Fitzgerald, we are told, has been vindicated. She was forced to resign as minister last November over matters surrounding her knowledge of various issues at the OHiggins commission in May 2015. Mr Justice Peter Charleton concludes that everyone got the wrong end of the stick. By the time the tribunal came to hear these matters, the Minister for Justice and Equality had selflessly decided to resign in the national interest in November 2017. In recent days, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Health Minister Simon Harris, and the Blueshirt tribe in general, have all been crying that poor Frances was done a grave disservice by the troublemakers in Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein, not to mention Labours Alan Kelly. Fitzgerald did not, as per the narrative of recent days, resign because she did anything wrong in 2015. She resigned as a result of her handling of the fallout from those days. That is an entirely political, rather than legal, matter. It reflects not on her integrity but on her political judgment. As such, her vindication in political terms is highly qualified. Here is what we now know. The OHiggins commission, investigating complaints of malpractice made by Sergeant Maurice McCabe, began hearings in May 2015. Early on, a legal strategy was deployed by An Garda Siochana to attack the motivation of Sgt McCabe. This was, as the forces solicitor noted, political dynamite. Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan told the Disclosures Tribunal it placed her in an almost impossible dilemma, as she had been publicly supportive of Sgt McCabe. The department was informed that there would be a challenge to Sgt McCabe. An email was sent to Ms Fitzgerald to that effect. She told the Disclosures Tribunal she would have read it. The way I would have responded to the email was that, first of all, it was about something happening at the OHiggins commission, she said. Now I would have regarded the OHiggins commission as quasi-judicial it was private, it was independent. I would not have seen any role for myself in relation to the OHiggins commission. Mr Justice Charleton found this approach from the minister to be entirely correct, hence the cries of vindication. Fast-forward 12 months. In May 2016, on publication of the OHiggins report, the Irish Examiner reported about the attack on Sgt McCabes motivation. It set off a political storm. Mr Justice Charleton has reported that the leaking of partial transcripts to the media was deception that led to a rush to judgement. Initially, it appeared that a tape-recording of an eight-year-old meeting had been central to Sgt McCabes defence of the attack on his motivation. In the course of that storm, Ms Fitzgerald came under pressure as the Minister for Justice. On RTEs Prime Time on May 16, 2016, she certainly gave the impression that the whole matter was new to her. Yet while she didnt know the details of what had occurred 12 months previously, she had been told about the legal strategy. The following day in the Dail, she responded to a question from then Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on the matter. Neither I nor my department had any involvement in the approach taken by the Garda at the commission of investigation, she said. "There is no question of that. The duties of confidentiality on the commissioner imposed by the commission of investigation are not over-ridden by any duty of the commissioner to account to me in relation to the commission." All of which are accurate statements. But the answer does give the impression that she knew absolutely nothing about what had occurred in May 2015 at the time. Fast-forward now to November 2017. Mr Kelly submitted parliamentary questions around what was known in the Department of Justice about what was going on at OHiggins back in 2015. The answers he received were vague. He kept digging. His efforts gained some traction in the media. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin jumped on board. The opposition caught the scent of political blood. The subtext to the issue was that if Ms Fitzgerald knew about attempts to attack Sgt McCabe, why didnt she do anything to stop it? That, as Mr Justice Charleton agreed, would have been wrong. But a different question was now arising. Have the department and the minister anything to hide? No, was Mr Varadkars answer. When the matter was brought up in the Dail, the Taoiseach responded that Ms Fitzgerald told him that she had no hand, act, or part informing the commissioners legal strategy, nor did she have prior knowledge of the legal strategy she found out about it after the fact, but around the time it was in the public domain when everybody else knew about it as well. We now know that was not the case. She knew about it in May 2015, not May 2016, as the Taoiseach had told the Dail. To be sure, he ordered a trawl of emails in the department. That threw up the email which showed that she had been informed about the legal strategy at the time. RTEs Katie Hannon broke the story about the new email on November 27. Crucially, that email and others had not been sent to the Disclosures Tribunal which had been sitting for 10 months by then. The minister resigned the following day. In a speech marking her resignation, Mr Varadkar noted that she had no knowledge of it [the legal strategy] until the commissions hearings were already under way and that her knowledge of the detail was limited. The last sentence was at great variance to what the Taoiseach had told the Dail previous week, inadvertently misleading the House. Ms Fitzgerald did not have to resign because she failed to stop a challenge to Sgt McCabes motivation in 2015. She was correct in how she handled that matter. She had to resign because she misrepresented the extent of her knowledge about what went on in 2015, she was slow in answering legitimate questions, her briefing to the Taoiseach saw him mislead the Dail, and her department failed to discover important documents to the Disclosures Tribunal. Now Fine Gael wants to brush over that reality and claim the political high ground. Well, there was nothing to stop Mr Varadkar restoring Ms Fitzgerald to an empty Cabinet post at the weekend. Why shouldnt there be second acts in Cabinet lives? Perhaps the selective interpretation of recent history is being undertaken to deflect from the fact that there is now no room at the top table for the former minister, irrespective of her vindication. The weekend protest in Dublin, when an Airbnb office was occupied, was just another symptom of what is a defining moment for this society. How we resolve the crisis, one unacceptable in a society as rich as this, will shape our legacy. One of the arguments advanced by those who, in old Marxist texts, might be described as controllers of capital, is that we are too wedded to the idea of owning our home, that we should be far more European in outlook. Our biggest challenge in tackling climate change is that we have weak democracies Government not doing enough on climate change, (Irish Examiner, October 9). The deregulatory, monetarist policies first implemented by Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s have led to Big Money getting too big, to the point where its transnational power now eclipses that of democratically-elected politicians. News Anti-Corruption Commission Asked to Probe Kachin State Highway Project A road in Kachin State / The Irrawaddy MANDALAYA lawyer from Myitkyina, Kachin State, filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Saturday asking it to investigate the regional governments implementation of a highway improvement project. U Tin Tun Thein told The Irrawaddy that the regional government failed to seek approval from the regional Parliament for the 11-billion-kyat project, claiming there is no record of it having called for bids to be tendered. I filed a complaint asking the ACC to investigate whether the 11 billion kyats were used in accordance with the law, and whether the government followed the proper tender procedure, U Tin Tun Thein said. When the regional government creates a budget for a project like this, it must consult Parliament and abide by its decision. Under the law, it needs to initiate a call for bids. In this case, the regional government did not follow the above procedures and local residents are unsure where the money came from and how the construction will be handled, he added. The project was reportedly initiated by the regional government to upgrade a 23-mile-long section of the highway connecting Bhamo and Myitkyina in Moemauk Township. The project was awarded to the Power Five Star construction company. If the regional government has no respect for Parliament, it will be very difficult to establish rule of law in the region. Additionally, the budget for the project lacks transparency, which is why I filed a complaint to the ACC to investigate the regional government team [responsible], he added. The lawyer said the complaint was filed with the ACC online on Saturday. He said the committee acknowledged receipt of the complaint, adding that he will submit a hard copy of the complaint through the mail this week. The commission replied online that they received the complaint. But I dont know how or when they will begin the investigation. I will send hard copies of the complaint and required evidence and supporting documents through the post, he said. Regional Planning and Finance Minister U Wai Lin told The Irrawaddy that the budget for the project was obtained during the September-October 2017 session of Parliament, in accordance with the law and parliamentary procedures. The budget and the project for the upgrade to that sector of road received parliamentary approval. The budget was transferred from other road improvement and expansion projects under the Road Transportation Department that could not be completed due to regional security issues and other reasons, he said. U Wai Lin said the ministry is using the budget in accordance with the law and that there had been no misuse or unauthorized use of funds. Since there are many rumors in the region concerning that project and the budget, the inspection team from Naypyitaw is here to check the quality of the road-improvement process. We have all the necessary documentation regarding the budget; anyone can check it at any time, he said. Burma Analysis: Yangon Public Losing Patience With Mercurial Chief Minister Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, pictured in 2016 / The Irrawaddy YANGONOf Myanmars 14 state and regional chief ministers, few have seen such highs and lows in terms of their public approval as Yangons U Phyo Min Thein. In 2016, the countrys biggest nationalist group, Ma Ba Tha, threatened to target him with a nationwide protest after he vowed to wipe the group out. In response, Myanmar people at home and abroad turned out to show solidarity with him. In January last year he experienced the kind of surge in popularity his counterparts elsewhere in Myanmar could only dream of when he hastily introduced a new public bus system. Thousands of volunteers manned some 2,000 bus stops across the city for five days to help commuters negotiate the transition to the new system, distributing flyers with new bus route information and helping them install the YBS (Yangon Bus Service) mobile application. Recently, however, his reluctance to cooperate with Parliament and his penchant for expensive, poorly planned development projectssome of them worth billions of kyatshave earned him mounting criticism not only from the public but also from lawmakers in his own party. The latest blow to his popularity came last week, when his administrations lawsuit against three local journalists for publishing incorrect information about the Yangon government drew a sharp public backlash. Many viewed the action as a threat to freedom of expression and inappropriately harsh for a democratic government, while others simply saw it as a distortion of democracy, as lawmaker Daw Kyi Pya of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) put it. U Phyo Min Thein became the chief minister of Yangon in 2016 after the NLDs victory in the previous years general election. After nearly three years in office, his initial popularity is waning. Most people in Yangon would be hard-pressed to name any genuine landmark accomplishments that have emerged from the many initiatives he has introduced, be they difficult tasks like launching the Yangon Bus Service and his resettlement plan for squatters, or seemingly less challenging issues such as opening a night market. He dreams a lot, but [the dreams] rarely come true, said U Kyaw Zay Ya, an NLD lawmaker in the Yangon regional parliament. The lawmaker said it would be different if the chief minister consulted with the parliamentary committees established to handle regional development in various sectors. U Kyaw Zay Ya said the committees have submitted their findings and suggestions to the chief minister but have yet to receive any feedback from him. I doubt if he reads them. We have never been invited for discussions [about the reports], said U Kyaw Zay Ya, who is the secretary of the parliamentary Finance, Planning and Economic Committee. The Yangon government was recently the subject of a public outcry after the auditor general submitted an explosive report to the regional parliament on the governments fiscal 2016-17 budget. Lawmakers found irregularities including the governments arranging of a 13.5-million-kyat loan from two private banks to its own companies without parliaments approval. More than two dozen lawmakers painstakingly went through the reports findings in parliament, raising questions such as whether the companies had received presidential permissiona requirement under the Special Company Act for any enterprise receiving capital investment from the government. Not a single government minister agreed to debate the findings in parliament. NLD lawmakers U Nay Phone Latt and Daw Kyi Pya both said U Phyo Min Theins government had made little effort to collaborate with parliament over the course of more than two years. They rarely take our questions seriously. They have dragged their feet on implementing proposals approved by parliament. And they have carried out some development projects without letting parliament know in advance, U Nay Phone Latt said. Daw Kyi Pya said Yangon has many problems to tackleincluding economic issues and the handing over of public land to private companies under secretive deals made by the previous government. The lawmaker said she understood that solving such problems isnt easy. But she suggested that consulting or collaboration with parliament on the issues could make it easier for the chief minister. But there has been very, very little collaboration, she said. On the business front, Yangons chief minister has not fared well. In 2016, he drew the ire of the citys construction sector when he halted construction of more than 200 buildings to check if they had followed construction regulations. The move had serious consequences: labor issues, complaints from buyers of unfinished apartments, delays on repaying bank loans, cash flow problems and a lack of business for construction suppliers. U Kyaw Kyaw Hlaing of the Smart Group of Companies said he had attended several meetings with U Phyo Min Thein. He rarely pays attention to what other people say, said the chairman of Smart, a business group specializing in technical services and electronic trading. U Phyo Min Theins relationship with the media has deteriorated steadily as well. In late 2016, he sued Eleven Medias CEO, accusing him of corruption over his Patek Philippe watch. At a press conference in 2017, rather than answering questions, the chief minister lectured reporters and took credit for the (increasingly questionable) freedom of the press that exists today, saying, We are the ones who went to prison so that you can enjoy a strong press today, referring to his 14 years as a political prisoner. The latest episode involves his governments controversial lawsuit against three journalists from Eleven Media for committing offenses against the State. The lawsuit attracted serious criticism as an inappropriately harsh reaction for a democratic government, as the Eleven Media story was based on lawmakers budget discussions in the Yangon parliament. Even the countrys deputy information minister said the move had harmed not only the government, but also the state. The NLD parliamentarian U Nay Phone Latt said the lawsuit was a threat to anyone who pointed out irregularities in the governments activities, and to freedom of expression in general. If the story is wrong, the government can respond with a press conference. If the criticism is true, all they have to do is fix the problem. I totally disagree with the lawsuit, he said. Daw Aye Aye Win, a former Myanmar correspondent for The Associated Press, said the government had acted in an extreme way, opting to suppress the media rather than open a discussion. The way they responded is negative and disappointing. As a democratic government, they can file a complaint if the story is wrong, she said. Yangon resident Ko Moe Thway described the chief minister as someone who comes up with good ideas but rarely follows through, citing the Yangon Bus Service, the night market plan and traffic congestion as examples. He rarely follows through and maintains momentum, he said. Asked to score the chief ministers performance on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best), Ko Moe Thway said, I would give him a 1 or 2. He added that the latest issue involving the lawsuit against journalists over their coverage of the governments budget could damage the chief ministers popularity, as even NLD members had criticized him and questioned the lawsuit. I would like to see him show respect for democracy and human rights while dedicating himself to improving the lives of Yangon residents, Ko Moe Thway said. Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein was not available for comment on Monday. Burma Anti-Corruption Commission to Review Complaint Calling for Investigation of Losses of Public Funds Peoples Park near the Shwedagon Pagoda where land leasing to a private company has been making a massive loss. / The Irrawaddy YANGONThe Anti-Corruption Commission said it will act on a request for an investigation into state losses of billions of kyats of public funds which was revealed in a recent report by Yangon Regions auditor general. The findings of the auditor generals report on the Yangon governments budget for the 2016-17 fiscal yearsubmitted to the parliament in Septemberhas not only stoked heated discussions among lawmakers in the parliament, but also attracted much public attention to the huge loss of public funds, including through the leasing of state land and buildings to private companies at rates well below standard commercial rents. Former Yangon regional lawmaker Daw Nyo Nyo Thinn, who is also a founder of Yangon Watch, an independent governance-monitoring group, filed the complaint to the Anti-Corruption Commission calling for an investigation into the losses of public funds stated in the report. In the complaint filed to the commission, she listed five cases including a loss of 41.97 billion kyats ($26.3 million) of public funds through the granting of one thousand acres of land to some private businessmen; a loss of 9.2 billion kyats ($5.8 million) in a project on 45th Street in Botahtaung Township; a loss of one billion kyats ($626,000) per month in leasing land in Peoples Park to a private company at a very low rate and losses of two billion kyats ($1.3 million) per year in leasing land in Kandawgyi, Kandawmin and Myainghaywun parks in Yangon. Daw Nyo Nyo Thin said she picked these five as solid cases for investigation among many other controversies in the report. The former lawmaker said the auditor generals reports of losses of public funds, during both the current government and the previous government, have been discussed in parliament but no actions were ever taken nor investigations instigated. For a long time, the state has been losing huge public funds which could be used in projects including providing health services as well as building affordable housing, she said. The five cases listed in the complaint included those which were initiated by the previous government and renewed under the current government. I want the commission to investigate those who are responsible for [the mismanagement of public funds] and take action against them, she said. U Kyaw Soe, spokesperson of the commission, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that they will scrutinize whether the complaint complies with anti-corruption laws first and then decide whether to carry out an investigation into the complaint. However, the spokesperson said he couldnt give the exact timeframe for when they intend to make a decision on whether to conduct the investigation. We are receiving at least 70 complaints per day. We need to scrutinize all of those, so it could take more than one week, he said. The survey of companies employing between 50 and 300 staff which make up around 34,000 businesses in the UK with an annual turnover of 541 billion and employing 3.3 million people - found 76% are optimistic about their business prospects for the next five years. More than a quarter (28%) say they are very optimistic. Companies in the agricultural and legal services sector are the most confident about expansion with the IT and computing sectors, construction and transport sectors not far behind. The lowest levels of optimism were among professional services firms with 56% and healthcare firms on 58%. Larger SMEs those employing between 200 and 300 staff are the most optimistic with 80% saying they are confident about the next five years. There is little sign of pessimism just seven per cent of firms are gloomy about the future and only two per cent are very pessimistic. However, the research for MetLife, found firms are concerned about Brexit as well as about recruiting staff. More than two out of five (42%) say uncertainty about the UKs withdrawal from the European Union is a worry with 18% saying its a major concern. 41% are concerned about their ability to recruit staff and retaining staff is a concern for 39% of firms. Adrian Matthews, Employee Benefits Director, MetLife UK said: It is very good news that optimism among SMEs is so high despite the uncertainty they face. Given the important role SMEs play in the economy, this is encouraging. However, these firms are telling us that they are concerned about their ability to attract and retain a skilled, motivated workforce, especially where they may not be able to compete on pay or business profile. Group risk benefits, as part of an overall employee benefits strategy, can make a significant difference to SME staff retention if positioned as part of a compelling employee value proposition. This in turn enables firms to concentrate resources on other priorities without worrying about their people risk or staff turnover. The research found that increasing profits is the biggest short and medium-term priority for SMEs rated by 36% of firms compared with 30% who rank staff retention as a major short-term priority ahead of 26% who rate organic growth as a priority. MetLife is focused on expanding its business among SMEs as well as large corporates including multi-national clients and enhancing strategic partnerships with leading brokers and employee benefits consultants. It is established as the UKs third largest Group Life provider by number of schemes it insures3 and the sixth largest Group Income Protection provider by in-force premium. Burma Military Chief Says National Peace Deal Must Guarantee 'Non-Separation' Military, government and ethnic armed group leaders attend a "peace summit" in Naypyitaw on Monday. / State Counselor's Office NAYPYITAW/YANGON Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Monday insisted that the non-separation of ethnic minority states and regions had to be part of any future peace deal with the countrys ethnic armed groups as the Constitution demanded it. Myanmars military chief made the remarks on the first of a three-day peace summit in Naypyitaw that has brought him together with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the leaders of 10 ethnic armed groups to break the deadlock in the countrys stalled peace process. Among the main points of contention is the militarys demand that the armed groups promise ahead of any peace deal never to secede from the union, a proposal the armed groups have balked at. It is not that we dont believe our ethnic brothers, as some groups have said. Adding non-separation is for a long-term guarantee. We need to join hands together on the peace path with trust and without doubt, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said. He noted that Article 10 of the military-drafted Constitution states that: No part of the territory constituted in the union such as regions, states, union territories and self-administered areas shall ever secede from the union. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said the government has repeatedly vowed to adhere to the democratic and federal principles the countrys ethnic minorities have long demanded. I want to say that its very important to collaborate for a union where stakeholders neither wish nor need to secede, she said. Last year the military said that if ethnic armed groups do not promise to not secede, there would be no further discussion of self-determination, autonomy or minority rights. As a result, peace negotiations have largely ground to a halt since the second session of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in May 2017. The so-called package deal was left off the agenda of the third session of the conference in July. There are contradicting perspectives among the government, Tatmadaw [military] and us on self-determination and non-separation, which are the key hurdles to moving forward in every stage of the political negotiations, Saw Mutu Say Poe, chairman of the Karen National Union, said in his speech at Mondays summit. He said the ultimate goal of establishing a federal system of government should not be boiled down to the issue of secession alone. Our demand for self-determination must apply to the respective states and regions of the union, he said. Our demand to draft state constitutions has to align with the union Constitution, and at the same time it will have a mechanism to solve any constitutional disputes. The armed groups feel that the militarys insistence on non-separation is dictatorial because the integrity of the union is already mentioned in the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement they have singed, said U Ye Tun, a former Lower House lawmaker in the union Parliament and an ethnic Shan. One side should not push for adding non-separation, and the other side should no longer demand the right to secede if it wants to, he said. This matter will not be overcome as long as the union government is seen as the government of the [majority] ethnic Bamar. The government plans to hold three more sessions of the Union Peace Conference by the end of next year to finalize the basic principles of a peace deal, or Union Accord. To date, 51 basic principles have been agreed covering politics, economics, social issues, land, the environment and security. Burma Military Returns Land It Seized in Rakhine State The Myanmar military returns confiscated lands to the original owners in Ann Township, Rakhine State on October 11, 2018. / Myanmar Presidents Office website NAYPYITAWThe Myanmar Army, also known as the Tatmadaw, has returned over 300 acres of land it previously confiscated on the grounds of the food security of Tatmadaw troops in Rakhine States Ann Township. The Tatmadaw has left 300.18 acres of land and handed it over to the government. The government gave temporary permits [for farming] to its original owners. So far, the Tatmadaw has returned over 500 acres of lands for which temporary permits were issued, Ann Township lawmaker of Rakhine State Parliament U Khin Maung Htay told The Irrawaddy. According to Myanmars farmland laws, when confiscated lands are returned, the original owners do not immediately get Form 7, which is the ownership certificate. Instead, they get Form 3, which is a temporary permit for farming. They get Form 7 only if they can present documents in support of their ownership. The Tatmadaws handing back of land was marked by a ceremony held in Ann Township on Thursday which was attended by Vice-President Henry Van Thio, who is also the chairman of the Central Committee for Rescrutinizing Confiscated Farmlands and Other Lands, alongside permanent secretary of the defense ministry Brig-Gen Aung Kyaw Hoe. Temporary farming permits for 300.18 acres of land were handed to 41 original owners. The lands had been confiscated by No. 373 Light Infantry Battalion of the Western Command. The land cannot be used for farming immediatelyembankments need to be repaired and farmland reestablished as the battalion used the land for breeding fish and prawns, said lawmaker U Khin Maung Htay. The confiscated lands are not close to the battalion. They are at the border of Ann and Kyaukphyu townships. It seems a lot has to be done to reestablish those lands for farming, he said. He declined to comment when asked if he thought the Tatmadaw returned those lands because they could no longer be used for farming. Thursdays event marks the first time the Tatmadaw has returned confiscated lands in a ceremony. However, there are many land-grab cases involving the Tatmadaw which have yet to be resolved, said Upper House lawmaker Daw Htoot May. The number of acres abandoned is very small [compared to the amount that has not yet been returned]. Lands were grabbed either by individuals or groups. I think the amount of land confiscated by the Tamadaw in Rakhine State is highest in Ann Township, she said. Since 2016, the Lower House Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development Committee of Myanmars Parliament has received over 301 complaints regarding land grab issues in Rakhine State, said committee member Daw Ni Ni May Myint, who is also a Lower House lawmaker representing Rakhine States Taungup Township. President U Win Myint has instructed state and regional chief ministers to wrap up land grab probes by the end of the year, according to Ayeyawady Region Chief Minister U Hla Moe Aung. Committees at different levels will only investigate cases that arose after 1988, and will not handle cases already under investigation by farmland management committees, or disputes over land seized from farmers by lenders for failure to repay debts. Burma Ta'ang Armed Group Says Shan Woman it Detained in August Freed Nang Mo Hom. / Facebook YANGON The Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) says it has released an ethnic Shan woman it detained nearly two months ago for allegedly informing on two of its fighters who were extorting money from business owners in Shan State. TNLA spokesman Mai Aik Kyaw told The Irrawaddy that Nang Mo Hom was released on Monday. Nang Mo Hom, a mother of three, was abducted at gunpoint by TNLA fighters from her home in Namhkam Township in northern Shan on Aug. 17. The ethnic armed group accused her of obstructing its fighters from collecting customs duties and claimed that information she provided the Myanmar military resulted in the death of one of the fighters in July 2017. It put her on trial in its own court and sentenced her to three years in prison on Oct. 5. Nang Mo Homs relatives denied that she was an informant. In a statement on Monday signed by the TNLA chairman, the group said it agreed to release Nang Mo Hom at the request of the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) for the sake of maintaining good relations between the Shan and Taang communities. It said negotiations were mediated by the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee, an alliance of seven ethnic armed groups that both are members of. Her family members came when she was released. We have handed her over to her family, Mai Aik Kyaw said. On its official Facebook page, the TNLA said it handed Nang Mo Hom over to a SSPP/SSA liaison officer at 12 p.m. and that her brother-in-law, uncle and aunt were there. Sai Thein Shwe, a member of the Namkham Youth Network, which had been lobbying for Nang Mo Homs release, said he had yet to confirm the handover. [The TNLA] said it would hand her over to the SSPP so it could hand her over to her family, but I still cant get in contact with the SSPP. I heard that a press conference will be held when she arrives at the SSPP headquarters tomorrow, but I dont know the details, he said. Several groups had been calling for Nang Mo Homs release since she was abducted, including the governments National Reconciliation and Peace Center, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, and the Namkham Youth Network. On Sept. 17, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Namkham to demand her freedom. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. News Myanmar Nationalist Monk Condemns Foreign Intervention, Says He Will Take Up Arms U Wirathu talks to the public at a pro-military campaign in Yangon on Sunday. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy YANGON Myanmars ultranationalist firebrand Buddhist monk U Wirathu said he would take up arms if Myanmars military leadership is charged at the International Criminal Court (ICC), showing his solidarity with the countrys armed forces, which have been internationally blamed for their alleged atrocities against the Rohingya. Human rights groups abroad and the international community have been lobbying to refer military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and his subordinates to the ICC for their troops actions against Muslims in northern Rakhine State. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh last year after security clearance operations in the area following the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Armys attacks on police outposts. The Myanmar government denounced ARSA as a terrorist organization. The majority of those who fled the area recounted extrajudicial killing, rape and arson carried out by the security forces. The military has rejected all accusations. In response to international pressure, nationalists staged a pro-military demonstration called The Obloquy to Condemn Foreign Countries and Organizations Which Abuse and Interfere the State and Tatmadaw (military) in downtown Yangon. On Sunday, waving miniature flags of the armed forces, at least 1,000 supportersex-servicemen and their family members, Buddhist monks holding portraits of the military chief, some members of the opposition Union Solidarity and Development party and their allies and nationalistsmarched through the downtown before ending at the event venue opposite City Hall for a public talk. The center of the show was U Wirathu, the monk who is internationally infamous for his fiery sermons against Muslims that encouraged Buddhist women to marry opium addicts, drunks, monks, and even dogs rather than Muslim men. Early this year, Facebook wiped his account, as he used the social media site as a hate-mongering platform. Since then, the 50-year-old monk virtually vanished from public sight. The Sunday pro-military rally was his first reappearance. During the talk, he said he was against the international pressure, not protecting Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing but Myanmars sovereignty, while also stating that there would be a recognized Rohingya ethnicity in Myanmar only when rabbits get horns and tortoises get hair, implying when hell freezes over. Regarding the international pressure put on Rakhine issue, the monk said Myanmar did not need to worry so long as China and Russia were at the United Nations, referring to the two countries stance and veto power thanks to being permanent members of the UN Security Council. If there is an ICC charge (against the military leadership) or (decision for) R2P (responsibility to protest), that is the day I will pick up a gun, he said. But he did not state whom he would be taking up arms against. Come here and meet me ICC! he said to the cheering crowd. Another speaker was U Win Ko Ko Latt, a hardline nationalist recently released from prison for being found guilty of committing offenses against the State for a protest outside the US Embassy in Rangoon in 2016 against the embassys use of the word Rohingya. He said it was Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing who had denied the existence of Rohingya in the country and that the army protected the races and religion of the indigenous ethnic people of Rakhine State. Thats the same cause that the nationalists are fighting for. Thats why we have to support the Tatmadaw, he said. On Monday, the military-run Myawady Daily reported that the rally was joined by more than 5,000 supporters. The paper added that pro-military campaigns have been underway across the country since 2016. As of yesterday, 80 rallies have been carried out and joined by more than 600,000 people. There will be more in the pipeline. A number of Microsoft employees have urged their employer not to put in a bid for a massive cloud contract with the US Department of Defence, saying they had joined the software giant in the expectation that technologies they built would not cause harm or human suffering. In a letter, the workers referred to a blog post by Microsoft Azure corporate vice-president Julia White a few days prior to their post, saying it was a public declaration of the company's intention to bid for the Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure contract, which is worth US$10 billion over a decade. Their appeal comes a few days after Google announced that it would not be bidding for the contract, because it was something that did not sit well with the company. As iTWire has reported, the DoD contract, known by its acronym JEDI, is meant to unite all Defence services under one cloud vendor, as the CIA did in 2013 with Amazon at a cost of US$600 million. Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle Corporation had been in the running for the contract which was expected to be awarded by the end of September and now seems to have been delayed. Microsoft cut a deal to supply cloud services to 17 intelligence agencies in May and its chances of winning the JEDI deal were said to have improved because of this. The Microsoft employees pointed out that at an industry day for JEDI, the DoD chief management officer John Gibson had said, "We need to be very clear. This program is truly about increasing the lethality of our department. "Many Microsoft employees dont believe that what we build should be used for waging war," the employees said. "When we decided to work at Microsoft, we were doing so in the hopes of 'empowering every person on the planet to achieve more', not with the intent of ending lives and enhancing lethality. "For those who say that another company will simply pick up JEDI where Microsoft leaves it, we would ask workers at that company to do the same. A race to the bottom is not an ethical position. Like those who took action at Google, Salesforce, and Amazon, we ask all employees of tech companies to ask how your work will be used, where it will be applied, and act according to your principles." In June, Microsoft employees protested against the company's deal with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the wake of the agency's separation of migrant children from their parents at the Mexico-US border. The same month, Amazon employees wrote to their boss, Jeff Bezos, telling him not to sell the company's Rekognition facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies and to cancel a contract for hosting data-mining company Palantir on its cloud. In May, a dozen Google employees quit the company to protest against its involvement in a Pentagon initiative named Project Maven where Google's AI technology was being used to improve targeting by drones. Google later said that it would not renew the Maven contract, but gave no assurance that it would keep out of future similar projects. The Microsoft employees urged the company not to enter into contracts in violation of their own published guidance on AI. "Earlier this year Microsoft published 'The Future Computed', examining the applications and potential dangers of AI. It argues that strong ethical principles are necessary for the development of AI that will benefit people, and defines six core principles: fair, reliable and safe, private and secure, inclusive, transparent, and accountable," they said. "With JEDI, Microsoft executives are on track to betray these principles in exchange for short-term profits." They pointed out that despite the protests about the contract with ICE, Microsoft was continuing to provide services to the Immigration authorities. "Microsofts decision to pursue JEDI reiterates the need for clear ethical guidelines, accountability, transparency, and oversight," they added. The US is pushing India to water down its laws on localisation of data storage, with two senators claiming they would constitute key barriers to trade between the two countries. Reuters reported that senators John Cornyn and Mark Warner, who jointly chair the so-called India caucus, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to adopt a "light touch" that would allow the data to flow freely across borders. In August, it was reported that global payments firms MasterCard, Visa and American Express were lobbying the Indian Government to avoid having to store customer data locally by 15 October. The same month, it was reported that the panel working on India's cloud computing policy wanted data to be stored locally, meaning that costs for companies like Amazon and Microsoft would go up. The senators' letter appears to be the last attempt to try and water down the data storage laws, with India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, telling top payments firms that data localisation would go ahead, with no data mirroring allowed. In their letter, Cornyn and Warner said: "We see this (data localisation) as a fundamental issue to the further development of digital trade and one that is crucial to our economic partnership." India is formulating an overall data protection law that wants all critical personal data stored within the country. New Delhi is also developing policies on ecommerce and cloud computing. The letter also raised concerns around these proposed ecommerce and cloud computing laws. American lobby groups have also taken up cudgels on behalf of Google, Facebook and Amazon, which are also concerned about the data localisation laws, as it would mean higher operating costs. The NEM.io Foundation a Singapore-founded non-profit dedicated to the development of NEM blockchain technology has launched a new blockchain hub in Melbourne as part of its plans, which it says are aimed at expanding Australias thriving blockchain ecosystem. Announcing the move on Monday, NEM Foundation Australia said the new hub in Melbourne would serve as a central location for blockchain innovation where dedicated NEM representatives will be present to engage with both the public and members of the community to help them better understand the basics of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. NEM also says launch of the new hub will also be a way to continue to grow the companys ecosystem of partners and help support start-ups who are interested in adopting the technology for their business through regular activities, blockchain workshops and forums held throughout the year. The launch of the NEM Blockchain Hub in Melbourne is a strong sign of our commitment towards supporting innovation in Australia and the world, NEM Foundations Australia and New Zealand lead Jian Chan said. Having first launched our Australian operations at the FinTech Australia intersekt festival last year, NEM is now present in over 40 countries. Chan said the NEM.io Foundation creators of the peer-to-peer NEM blockchain platform and the XEM cryptocurrency plans to launch further hubs across the Asia Pacific region as part of its global expansion strategy. The announcement of the new Melbourne hub follows the launch of similar NEM.io blockchain hubs in Brisbane and Westport, New Zealand over the last year. We are excited by the opportunity for blockchain in Australia and are thrilled to be moving to the Victorian Innovation Hub as part of this initiative, Chan said. According to Chan, NEMs presence and recognition within Asia Pacific had grown considerably over the last 12 months and the launch of the blockchain hub was a logical next step. Chan also manages the hubs and will be the point of contact for growth in the Australian-New Zealand region. Mobile virtual network operator Boost Mobile claims telecommunications carriers in Australia are holding back on supporting eSIMs as they may well end up losing customers. The company's founder, Peter Adderton, was quoted by News Limited as saying carriers did not support eSIMs because it gave users the power to switch at will. Boost resells Telstra's mobile service. Not a single major Australian carrier has yet announced support for eSIMs which came into prominence after the recent Apple launch of its XS and XR models. As iTWire editor Stan Beer pointed out in an op-ed last month, the eSIM capability would be a significant advantage to Australians who travel overseas frequently. "An eSIM is an embedded chip in the phone that is software writable, so in future users could switch mobile operators without changing a physical SIM," Beer wrote. The News Limited report quoted an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission spokesman as saying it was watching the movement of telcos to support the new technology. Adderton told News Limited: "The carriers do not support eSIM because that puts the power into consumers hands and the consumers can leave without having do to a SIM swap. Subscribers should be able to move, if you do the best job and offer the best plan and the best network and give good customer service you should keep that customer. Carriers will have lost the ability to be able to lock you in to their network, because you will be able to take your same phone and switch to another network seamlessly. Telstra has 43% of mobile subscribers in Australia, Optus 28% and Vodafone 18%, with smaller companies catering to the remaining 11%. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by subscribing or making a contribution. Subscribe or contribute Amir Jina to Speak on Economic Policy and the Environment BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Environmental public policy expert Amir Jina will visit Illinois Wesleyan University to deliver his lecture Climate and Society: Our Past, Present, and Future on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. in Hansen Student Center (300 E Beecher St, Bloomington). This event is free and open to the public. Jinas talk will address the economic toll of climate change in both developed and developing nations, and how the negative shifts in climate have already shaped the quality of life here and around the world. He will also look ahead at which groups will bear the largest costs and how society can take action to reduce them. Jina has observed the effects of climate change on societies and economies firsthand through his fieldwork in India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Uganda. As an assistant professor at the University of Chicagos Harris School of Public Policy, he has conducted extensive research into how environmental changes have shaped development in impoverished and affluent countries. During his time as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley prior to the University of Chicago, he contributed to Risky Business, an initiative to assess and publicize the economic risks associated with climate change in America. Jina is also a founding member of the Climate Impact Lab, an interdisciplinary collaboration among economists, climate scientists, data engineers and risk analysts to empirically estimate the social cost of increased carbon emission. By compiling the worlds most comprehensive body of quantifiable research on the impacts of climate change across sectors and regions worldwide, the Climate Impact Lab allows the general public and policymakers to better understand the risks that climate change poses to society. Jina earned a Ph.D. in Sustainable Development, a masters degree in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a bachelors in mathematics and theoretical physics from Trinity College, Dublin. This lecture complements the Universitys annual intellectual theme, Changing Climates. By Rachel McCarthy 21 A lawsuit settlement against a DC rabbi who was convicted of voyeurism has been approved by a judge, in a decision taken only after nearly two years of negotiations with the settling defendants. The former Towson University professor, Rabbi Bernard Freundel was convicted of secretly recording about fifty-two women naked. The Orthodox rabbi in Georgetown carried out the act between 2004 and 2014, secretly videotaping women as they undressed to immerse in the Jewish ritual bath, mikvah. The women victimized by Freundel, filed a class action lawsuit against him and Georgetown Synagogue-Kesher Israel Congregation, the National Capital Mikvah, Inc., The Rabbinical Council of America, Inc., and the Beth Din of the United States of America the four religious institutions that he was affiliated with. The victims will now get $25,000 eachas a settlement has been reached between the parties involved, while a number of others who had stripped but were not confirmed to have been videotaped may equally receive $2,500 each. According to the modern Orthodox synagogue, Kesher Israelwhere Fruendel, who was convicted of the same crime in 2015, served as rabbithe total amount of in settlement is $14.25 million. Already, Freundel was sentenced and is currently serving six and a half years in prison, after pleading guilty. Apart from Freundel and Kesher Israel, the National Capital Mikvah, the Rabbinical Council of America and the Beth Din of America, a court of Jewish law, were also named in the settlement. A class-action lawsuit, which included more than 150 women who were confirmed to have been capture naked on camera, had sought a $100 million settlement. Being a repeat offender, it could be said that Fruendel had a fetish for voyeurism. However, it is completely inappropriate and unnecessary to record non-consenting adults secretly when you can easily visit Voyeurhouse.com and explore your healthy sexual fantasies with fellow consenting adults. The Voyeur House is an adult project that offers unique services, giving users the opportunity to legally observe other people's private life 24/7 with cameras that stream live 24/7, unscripted, and uncut. A press notice released on Sept. 3, indicated that the Jewish organizations sought to exonerate themselves from the cases, arguing that they were not at fault because they had no prior knowledge of Freundels illegal actions. Soon afterwards, the victims then entered into settlement discussions Although Kesher is confident that it would have been found without fault if the case were litigated to final judgment, Kesher believes that resolving the case at this time is in its best interests, as well as the best interests of the community and the victims, said Kesher Israel President, Andrew Cooper in a report. The settlement would enable the parties to avoid the further burdens of litigation and would allow Kesher to continue its focus on serving the needs of the Jewish community in Washington, D.C., without the distraction of the lawsuits. According to Alexandra Harwin, a partner at Sanford Heisler Sharpa public interest class-action litigation law firm that oversaw the class actionthe victims were very happy with the settlement. One of the things that is very appealing to the class members is that payments are easy to access and dont require an intrusive inquiry, she said. What this settlement does is provide substantial andprompt recovery for class members instead of the delays and risks of protracted litigation. For several of the settling defendants, the $14.25 million payment will be made by the liability insurer. "This settlement will help the many women traumatized by Freundel avoid the ordeal of protracted litigation including its burdens, risks, costs, and uncertainties," said David Sanford, founder of Sanford Heisler Sharp and Lead Interim Class Counsel for the proposed class in a press release. "This settlement provides an excellent recovery for class members in a complex and highly sensitive matter." TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teranga Gold Corporation ("Teranga" or the "Company") (TSX:TGZ; OTCQX:TGCDF) will release its third quarter 2018 financial and operating results on Thursday, November 1, 2018 at approximately 6:00 a.m. ET. A conference call and webcast hosted by management will follow at 8:30 a.m. ET to review the Companys results and discuss the quarters highlights. Those wishing to listen can access the conference call and webcast as follows: Date & Time: Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. ET Telephone: Toll-free +1-877-291-4570 Local of International +1-647-788-4919 Please allow 10 minutes to be connected to the conference call. Webcast: Available on Terangas website at www.terangagold.com/q32018. Replay: The conference call replay will be accessible for two weeks after the call by dialing +1-416-621-4642 or toll-free at +1-800-585-8367 and entering the conference ID 4389617. Note: The slide presentation will be available for download at www.terangagold.com for simultaneous viewing during the call. About Teranga Teranga is a multi-jurisdictional West African gold company focused on production and development as well as the exploration of more than 6,400 km2 of land located on prospective gold belts. Since its initial public offering in 2010, Teranga has produced more than 1.5 million ounces of gold from its operations in Senegal, which as of June 30, 2018 had a reserve base of 2.5 million ounces of gold. Focused on diversification and growth, the Company is advancing its Wahgnion Gold Project in Burkina Faso towards delivering its second producing gold mine, as well as carrying out exploration programs in three West African countries: Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire and Senegal. The Company has 4.1 million ounces of gold reserves from its combined Sabodala Gold operations and Wahgnion Gold Project as of June 30, 2018. Teranga applies a rigorous capital allocation framework for its investment decisions to execute on its growth strategy relying on a combination of cash on the balance sheet, free cash flow from operations and debt. Steadfast in its commitment to set the benchmark for responsible mining, Teranga operates in accordance with the highest international standards and aims to act as a catalyst for sustainable economic, environmental, and community development as it strives to create value for all of its stakeholders. Teranga is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and a leading member of the multi-stakeholder group responsible for the submission of the first Senegalese Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revenue report. Contact Information Richard Young Trish Moran President & CEO Head of Investor Relations T: +1 416-594-0000 | E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. T: +1 416-607-4507 | E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE: EXK) (TSX: EDR) announces, effective today, the appointment of Nicholas (Nick) Shakesby as the new Vice President, Operations to oversee the Companys underground mining operations in Mexico. Mr. Shakesby will report to Endeavour President and Chief Operating Officer, Godfrey Walton. Nick Shakesby is a senior mining executive who brings to Endeavour over 30 years hands-on experience in mining operations, mine planning and project development as well as related executive, technical and administrative expertise. Nicholas is fluent in both English and Spanish. Bradford Cooke, Endeavour CEO, commented, I am pleased to welcome Nick Shakesby to the Endeavour management team. His experience, knowledge and leadership skills should enhance our ability to improve the performance of our existing mines and extract full value from our new mines. Over the span of his career, Nick has worked with different commodities such as precious metals, base metals, iron and coal, in a variety of locations including the United States, Latin America, Central America, Philippines and South Africa. His work experience encompasses mining and construction with both large companies and small, including Newcrest Mining, Gold Fields South Africa, Ausdrill Pty and others. Nicholas graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York, USA. Most recently, Nicholas was the Director of Operations for Compania Minera Cerro Negro in Peru where he oversaw the development and operation of an underground coal mine. Prior to that, he was the Operations Manager at MMEX Mining Corp, where he oversaw five mines at different stages of operations including start up. Mr. Shakesbys responsibilities will include oversight over all Endeavours mining operations in Mexico, particularly with regard to the safety, production and costs of each operation, including mine, plant, tailings, warehouse, purchasing, construction, engineering, capital and operating budgets, community and government relations, and environmental functions. About Endeavour Silver Endeavour Silver Corp. is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that operates three high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. Endeavour is commissioning its fourth mine at El Compas, advancing the Terronera mine project and exploring its portfolio of exploration and development projects in Mexico and Chile to facilitate its goal to become a premier senior silver producer. Our philosophy of corporate social integrity creates value for all stakeholders. SOURCE Endeavour Silver Corp. Contact Information Galina Meleger, Director, Investor Relations Toll free: (877) 685-9775 Tel: (604) 640-4804 Fax: (604) 685-9744 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website: www.edrsilver.com Follow Endeavour Silver on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forwardlooking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding Endeavours anticipated performance in 2018 including changes in mining and operations and the timing and results of various activities. The Company does not intend to, and does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law. Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Endeavour and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and Mexico; financial risks due to precious metals prices, operating or technical difficulties in mineral exploration, development and mining activities; risks and hazards of mineral exploration, development and mining; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Companys title to properties; as well as those factors described in the section risk factors contained in the Companys most recent form 40F/Annual Information Form filed with the S.E.C. and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to: the continued operation of the Companys mining operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, mining operations will operate and the mining products will be completed in accordance with managements expectations and achieve their stated production outcomes, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. VANCOUVER, B.C., Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Majestic Silver Corp. ("First Majestic" or the "Company") announces total production in the third quarter of 2018 reached a new Company record of 6.7 million silver equivalent ounces. Total production consisted of 3.5 million ounces of silver, 35,260 ounces of gold, 4.4 million pounds of lead and 1.2 million pounds of zinc. Silver production for the first three quarters of 2018 totaled 8.4 million ounces, or 15.8 million silver equivalent ounces, remaining in-line with the 2018 production guidance of between 12.0 to 13.2 million silver ounces or 20.5 to 22.6 million silver equivalent ounces. We had a very strong quarter with total production achieving a new record of 6.7 million silver equivalent ounces representing a 31% increase compared to the prior quarter, said Keith Neumeyer, President and CEO. The record quarter was primarily due to the Company receiving a full quarter of production from the San Dimas operation, along with increases in consolidated silver and gold grades of 19% and 35%, respectively. In fact, five of our six mines recorded higher production levels as a result of these significant grade improvements. However, due to the prolonged weakness in the silver price we have implemented a 20% cost reduction program across all areas of the business which is expected to be fully realized by the first quarter of 2019. PRODUCTION TABLE Q3 Q3 Y/Y Q2 Q/Q 2018 2017 Change 2018 Change Ore processed/tonnes milled 864,056 730,652 18% 851,349 1% Total production - ounces of silver equivalent 6,740,315 3,986,274 69% 5,137,318 31% Silver ounces produced 3,505,344 2,415,962 45% 2,756,263 27% Gold ounces produced 35,260 15,414 129% 25,449 39% Pounds of lead produced 4,443,290 5,171,533 -14% 3,949,410 13% Pounds of zinc produced 1,234,385 922,666 34% 1,382,760 -11% QUARTERLY REVIEW Total ore processed during the quarter at the Company's silver mines amounted to 864,056 tonnes, representing a 1% increase compared to the previous quarter. The increase in tonnes compared to the prior quarter was primarily due to a 106% increase in tonnes processed at San Dimas, offset by an 18% decrease in throughput processed at La Encantada and a 58% decrease at La Guitarra. The decrease at La Guitarra was due to the operation being placed in care and maintenance on August 3, 2018. Consolidated silver grades in the quarter averaged 152 g/t compared to 127 g/t in the previous quarter. This 19% increase was primarily the result of a full quarter of production at San Dimas as well as higher grades at La Encantada, Santa Elena, Del Toro and San Martin. Consolidated gold grades increased 35% in the quarter averaging 1.33 g/t compared to 0.99 g/t in the prior quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher production at San Dimas as well as higher gold grades at San Martin. Quarterly consolidated silver and gold recoveries averaged 83% and 95%, representing a 5% and 1% increase, respectfully, compared to the previous quarter. The Company continues to expect further improvements in recoveries associated with higher grades and with the installation of the microbubble flotation columns at La Parrilla and Del Toro. The column cells at La Parrilla are expected to be delivered and installed in the first quarter of 2019 followed by Del Toro in the second quarter of 2019. In addition, installation of the High Intensity Grinding (HIG) mills at Santa Elena and San Dimas have been postponed until the second quarter and third quarter of 2019, respectively, due to additional detailed engineering and process planning. The benefits of this new technology, most notably higher recoveries and lower operating costs, are expected to be realized after completing ramp up to commercial production in the second half of 2019. MINE BY MINE PRODUCTION TABLE Mine Ore Processed Tonnes per Day Silver Oz Produced Gold Oz Produced Pounds of Lead Pounds of Zinc Equivalent Silver Ounces San Dimas 176,884 1,923 1,445,918 21,910 - - 3,225,352 Santa Elena 225,873 2,455 598,693 10,848 - - 1,475,635 La Encantada 196,030 2,131 378,983 10 - - 379,773 La Parrilla 117,130 1,273 330,047 243 1,474,222 1,234,385 537,986 Del Toro 65,323 710 231,350 87 2,969,068 - 427,218 San Martin 67,926 738 438,061 1,475 - - 557,746 La Guitarra 14,891 451 82,292 688 - - 136,605 Total 864,056 9,392 3,505,344 35,260 4,443,290 1,234,385 6,740,315 *The La Guitarra operation was placed in care and maintenance on August 3, 2018 and reflects only 33 operating days during the quarter. *Certain amounts shown may not add exactly to the total amount due to rounding differences. *The following prices were used in the calculation of silver equivalent ounces: Silver: $15.02 per ounce; Gold: $1,213 per ounce; Lead: $0.95 per pound; Zinc: $1.15 per pound. At the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine: During the quarter, San Dimas produced 1,445,918 ounces of silver and 21,910 ounces of gold for a total production of 3,225,352 silver equivalent ounces, reflecting a 90% increase compared to the prior quarter. The mill processed a total of 176,884 tonnes with average silver and gold grades of 269 g/t and 4.0 g/t, respectively. The higher volume is attributable to the unit processing some of the lower grade stopes left behind as they were deemed uneconomical under the old streaming agreement and have now become economical under the new streaming agreement. An additional agitator tank was installed in September to increase retention times resulting in a 2% improvement in silver recoveries. At the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine: During the quarter, Santa Elena produced 598,693 ounces of silver and 10,848 ounces of gold for a total production of 1,475,635 silver equivalent ounces, reflecting a 5% increase compared to the prior quarter. The mill processed a total of 225,873 tonnes, consisting of 135,511 tonnes of underground ore and 90,362 tonnes from the above ground heap leach pad. Silver and gold grades from underground ore averaged 128 g/t and 2.2 g/t, respectively. Silver and gold grades from the above ground heap leach pad averaged 37 g/t and 0.6 g/t, respectively. During the quarter, the Company signed a 25-year agreement with a local Banamichi Ejido for all surface and access rights to the Ermitano West project. In addition, as previously announced on September 10th, the Company exercised the Ermitano and Cumobabi option agreements with Evrim Resources Corp. for a 100% earn-in on the mining concessions on both projects. Following these two significant events, the Company began a 4,400 metre infill exploration program on the Ermitano West project in mid-September with the objective of upgrading a portion of the Inferred Resources to Indicated Resources. At the La Encantada Silver Mine: For the quarter, silver production reached 378,983 ounces representing a 16% increase from the previous quarter. The increase in silver production was primarily due to a 29% increase in silver grades offset by an 18% decrease in tonnes milled as the operation was impacted by torrential rains in the month of September. Silver grades and recoveries during the quarter averaged 107 g/t and 56%, respectively. The increase in silver grades were the result of higher tonnage from the San Javier breccia which produced 64,117 tonnes with an average silver grade of 130 g/t. Additional production from the La Prieta breccia, a new sub-level caving area known to contain higher silver grades of between 150 g/t to 200 g/t, is expected to begin preparation by the end of October. Initial dry commissioning activities commenced on the roaster on August 21, 2018 with the preheating of the rotary furnace to cure the refractory brick lining. The burner was successfully tested using natural gas, however, due to heavy rains throughout most of September the Company postponed initial production and conversion to sustainable coal injection. The roaster is now in its final commissioning stages and the Company anticipates production of tailings to begin by the end of October. At the La Parrilla Silver Mine: During the quarter, the flotation circuit processed 70,271 tonnes (764 tpd) with an average silver grade of 102 g/t and a 74% recovery while the cyanidation circuit processed 46,859 tonnes (509 tpd) with an average silver grade of 140 g/t and a 76% recovery for total production of 537,986 silver equivalent ounces. The lead circuit processed an average lead grade of 1.3% with recoveries of 71% for total lead production of 1.5 million pounds, representing an 11% decrease compared to the previous quarter. The zinc circuit processed an average zinc grade of 1.6% with recoveries of 51% for total zinc production of 1.2 million pounds, representing an 11% decrease compared to the previous quarter. At the Del Toro Silver Mine: During the quarter, Del Toro produced a total of 427,218 silver equivalent ounces reflecting a 32% increase compared to the prior quarter primarily due to a 26% increase in silver grades, a 22% increase in lead grades and a 10% increase silver recoveries. Silver grades and recoveries during the quarter averaged 147 g/t and 75%, respectively. Lead grades and recoveries averaged 3.3% and 62%, respectively, producing a total of 3.0 million pounds of lead representing a 29% increase compared to the previous quarter. At the San Martin Silver Mine: During the quarter, San Martin produced 438,061 ounces of silver and 1,475 ounces of gold for a total production of 557,746 silver equivalent ounces, reflecting a 6% increase compared to the prior quarter. The increase in production was primarily attributed to an increase in silver and gold grades of 10% and 19%, respectively. Silver grades and recoveries averaged 224 g/t and 90%, respectively, during the quarter. In addition, gold grades and recoveries averaged 0.8 g/t and 89%, respectively. At the La Guitarra Silver Mine: During the quarter, La Guitarra produced 82,292 ounces of silver and 688 ounces of gold for a total production of 136,605 silver equivalent ounces. As previously announced, the Company placed the La Guitarra milling and mining operations under care and maintenance on August 3rd and is currently reviewing strategic options including the potential sale of the operation. The Company will continue with current permitting activities and remediation programs to prepare the operation for a potential reopening in the future, subject to a sufficient improvement in the economic situation to justify a restart of the operation. Q3 EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENT The Company is planning to release its third quarter 2018 unaudited financial results on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. ABOUT THE COMPANY First Majestic is a mining company focused on silver production in Mexico and is aggressively pursuing the development of its existing mineral property assets. The Company presently owns and operates the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine, the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine, the La Encantada Silver Mine, the La Parrilla Silver Mine, the San Martin Silver Mine and the Del Toro Silver Mine. Production from these mines are projected to be between 12.0 to 13.2 million silver ounces or 20.5 to 22.6 million silver equivalent ounces in 2018. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , visit our website at www.firstmajestic.com or call our toll-free number 1.866.529.2807. FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP. "signed" Keith Neumeyer, President & CEO Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements", within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of First Majestic Silver Corp. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the future price of silver and other metals, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, permitting time lines, hedging practices, currency exchange rate fluctuations, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, title disputes or claims and limitations on insurance coverage. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of First Majestic Silver Corp. to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the integration of acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks related to joint venture operations; actual results of current exploration activities; actual results of current reclamation activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of metals; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Description of the Business - Risk Factors" in First Majestic Silver Corp.'s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2017, available on www.sedar.com, and Form 40-F on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Although First Majestic Silver Corp. has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. First Majestic Silver Corp. does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TMAC Resources Inc. (TSX: TMR) (TMAC or the Company) announces that the Honourable Caroline Bennett, Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations and the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade have accepted the positive recommendation of the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) allowing the NIRB to finalize and issue a Project Certificate for TMACs proposed Madrid-Boston Project. TMAC now looks forward to attending the Nunavut Water Board (NWB) Final Hearing later this month in Cambridge Bay. This hearing will focus on the water use, infrastructure and tailings deposition requirements to be included in the amended Doris Type A Water Licence and a new Type A Water Licence for construction and operations at the Madrid and Boston mines. TMAC expects that the NIRB will issue a new Project Certificate before the end of the year and that the amended and new Type A Water Licences will be received from the NWB in the spring of 2019. The Madrid-Boston Project, as defined for permitting, includes the construction of all required surface infrastructure for the three additional currently identified gold deposits at Hope Bay: Madrid North, Madrid South and Boston. The capacity of the currently permitted tailings impoundment area at the Doris site will increase from 2.5 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes. At Boston, a new tailings management area will be permitted with a capacity of 5.1 million tonnes. Mr. Jason Neal, President and Chief Executive Officer of TMAC said, TMAC thanks the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, the communities of the Kitikmeot region, community Elders and all government agencies for their significant contributions to the review and their continued trust and support of TMAC in responsibly developing Hope Bay. This acceptance from the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations and the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade reflects the many years of extensive Inuit and government consultation and community support for the project. Mr. Neal went on to say, The significant value that TMAC can generate for its broad base of stakeholders is driven by consistent investment in development and exploration across the 80 kilometre by 20 kilometre Hope Bay gold belt. With the well-advanced permitting process, and with both continued demonstrated improvement in the established Doris operations and a recently concluded C$90 million equity issue to strengthen our balance sheet, we are now planning our next steps, including increased strategically-focused exploration activity, which is already fully-permitted, and the strategy for development of mines and related infrastructure at Madrid and Boston. We believe that we are in the very early years of a multi-generational operation at Hope Bay and appreciate the support we have received in establishing a strong foundation. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This release contains "forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws. Forward-looking information includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as may, will, expect, anticipate, believe, continue, potential or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking information includes, without limitation, bringing the Hope Bay Project into production, Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made, Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. See Risk Factors in the Companys AIF dated February 22, 2018 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these risks. The Company cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / TheNewswire / October 15, 2018 (TSXV: NRG, US: NRGOF, Frankfurt: X6C) - Newrange Gold Corp. ("Newrange" or the "Company") announces it has entered into a Joint Venture Option Agreement for its El Dovio project in Colombia with Andean Mining Corporation Pty. Ltd. (AMC), a private Australian exploration and development company. Under the terms of the agreement AMC may earn a 65% interest in El Dovio by spending $3,000,000 (USD) on the project within three years. Upon signing the Option Agreement, AMC has paid Newrange $300,000 (USD), will pay the Company $100,000 within 6 months and make additional annual payments of $250,000 during the "earn in" period. AMC is committed to list on a recognized exchange within three (3) years of signing by way of an RTO, IPO or other means. Newrange will receive 15% of AMC's issued and outstanding shares during the option period and after its initial listing. If AMC lists through a Reverse Take Over (RTO) or receives shares in an existing listed company or sells the asset for cash Newrange will receive 15% of the value attributed to AMC. Upon AMC's listing, Newrange may elect to sell its 35% interest in El Dovio to AMC for cash, shares or any combination thereof. AMC will be manager of the El Dovio project during the Option period. About El Dovio El Dovio, located in the western Colombia Department of Valle de Cauca, is a high-grade gold rich polymetallic vein system interpreted to be a stringer or feeder zone stratigraphically below an exhalative horizon which also occurs on the property. Details of surface sampling and drill results are available on the Company's website at www.newrangegold.com. About Newrange Gold Corp. Newrange is an aggressive exploration and development company focused on near to intermediate term production opportunities in favorable jurisdictions including Nevada, Colorado and Colombia. With numerous drill intercepts of high-grade, near surface, oxide gold mineralization the Company's Pamlico Project is poised to become a significant new Nevada discovery. Focused on developing shareholder value through exploration and development of key projects, the Company is committed to building sustainable value for all stakeholders. Further information can be found on our website at www.newrangegold.com. Mr. Robert G. Carrington, P. Geo, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, the President and CEO of the Company, has reviewed, verified and approved for disclosure the technical information contained in this news release. Signed: "Robert G. Carrington" President & CEO For further information contact: Sharon Hebgin Dave Cross Corporate Communications Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary Phone: 760-898-9129 Phone: 604-669-0868 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website: www.newrangegold.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statement: Some of the statements in this news release contain forward-looking information that involves inherent risk and uncertainty affecting the business of Newrange Gold Corp. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. KELOWNA, British Columbia, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GOLDEN RIDGE RESOURCES LTD. (TSX-V: GLDN) ("Golden Ridge" or the "Company") is pleased to report the initial batch of assay results from the Boiling Zone (BZ) and Kaip Zone (KZ), located at the Companys Hank Project in BCs Golden Triangle District. HNK-18-010, drilled in the Boiling Zone, intersected 20.00 metres at 11.63 g/t Au and 13.8 g/t Ag including 2.85m at 67.27 g/t Au and 74.1 g/t Ag. HNK-18-004, drilled in the Kaip Zone, returned 168.60 metres at 0.27 g/t Au and 1.99 g/t Ag associated with altered and brecciated Stuhini volcanics (Figure 1). Assay results from HNK-18-010 represent the first of three holes drilled in the Boiling Zone. Assays from the other two BZ holes are pending and will be released immediately following receipt, review and QA/QC checks. The mineralization intersected in the Boiling Zone is unlike other zones on the Property. Gold and silver grades in HNK-18-010 are associated with a quartz-carbonate-pyrite vein stockwork which cuts altered Stuhini volcanic rocks. The Au-Ag grades in hole 10 are not associated with high Pb-Zn values as is typical of the Lower Alteration Zone (LAZ) on the Property. This new mineralization style has not been encountered before on the Hank property and signifies a new high grade gold discovery. Overlimit (>25 g/t Au) sample results from HNK-18-010 were re-run with a metallic screen analysis which confirmed the presence of coarse free gold in the samples, resulting in an increase to the overall grade. HNK-18-004 was collared upslope from the Kaip Zone and drilled at a steep angle, with the deeper section of the hole intersecting a broad zone of gold mineralization in the KZ (Figure 2). HNK-18-006 was collared on the same location as HNK-18-004 at a steeper dip, but failed to intersect any significant mineralization due to steep nature of the mineralization of the Kaip Zone. Highlights: New high grade discovery drilled in the Boiling Zone with a high precious:base metal ratio, indicating a close proximity to a hydrothermal fluid source. Assay results from two additional holes drilled in the Boiling Zone are pending. Mineralization intersected at relatively shallow depth, with potential for expansion along strike and at depth. Drilling Results Update: Due to extended turnaround times at analytical laboratories in Northern BC, assay results are pending for 9 remaining drill holes which have yet to be released. The Company anticipates receipt of the results in the coming weeks and they will be released immediately following review and QA/QC checks by the Company. Table 1 Significant Intercepts Length (m) Dip (deg) Zone Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m)1 Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Zn (ppm) 458.72 -70o KAIP HNK-18-004 220 224 4.00 0.72 1.57 24 and 274.4 443 168.60 0.27 1.99 448 including 328 336 8.00 1.04 7.88 2487 Including 389 399 10.00 0.56 2.48 95 452.93, -80 o KAIP HNK-18-006 No Significant Values 178.92 -90o BOILING HNK-18-010 90.5 92.5 2.00 1.32 4.93 - and 98.5 102.5 4.00 1.12 1.09 - and 116.0 136.0 20.00 11.63 13.84 - including 116.0 118.85 2.85 67.27 74.12 - 1The intervals reported in these tables represent drill intercepts and insufficient data are available at this time to state the true thickness of the mineralized intervals. All gold values are uncut. Comment: Chris Paul, Vice President of Exploration for Golden Ridge, commented: We are very pleased with the first batch of assay results received from the Boiling Zone. This new style of mineralization and high ratio of precious to base metals indicate a higher temperature zone within the overall epithermal system, which may be vectoring towards the core and potentially higher grades. We are excited at the contemplated step-out drilling program on the Boiling Zone in 2019 and the testing of extensions along strike and at depth. Data Release: Core photos and assay tables from drill holes presented in this release will be available for download on the Companys website shortly. Table 2 Collar Information For Holes Drilled in the BZ, Kaip and LAZ Hole ID Assays Received UTM_83E UTM_83N Elevation (m) Azimuth Dip Length (m) HNK-18-003 Received 409844.8 6343100 1157.7 318 -60 17.98 HNK-18-004 Received 409844.8 6343100 1157.7 318 -70 458.72 HNK-18-006 Received 409844.8 6343100 1157.7 318 -80 452.93 HNK-18-008 Pending 409807 6342271 1361 130 -60 449.88 HNK-18-010 Received 409807 6342271 1361 130 -90 175.87 HNK-18-011 Pending 409518 6342343 1213 300 -60 515.42 HNK-18-014 Pending 409243 6342097 1192 315 -60 392.28 HNK-18-016 Pending 409807 6342271 1361 310 -61 383.13 Quality assurance/quality control procedures: All drill core was logged, photographed, cut and sampled by Golden Ridge personnel. Prior to shipment to MS Analyticals sample preparation facility in Terrace, B.C., certified reference material standards, blanks and field duplicates were inserted at a ratio of approximately one in every 20 drill core samples. Samples were prepared in Terrace by crushing the entire sample to 70 per cent passing minus two millimetres, riffle splitting off one kilogram and pulverizing the split to better than 85 per cent passing 75 microns. After preparation in Terrace, the prepared pulps were shipped to MS Analyticals analytical laboratory in Langley, B.C. The gold assays are determined by FAS-111 fire assay method which reports results in parts per million (equivalent to grams per tonne). Any samples with a fire assay that report gold concentrations equal to or higher than 10.0 g/t Au are analyzed by metallic screen method (Au-SCR24). Base metal and silver assays are determined by IMS-139 2-acid digestion with ICP-AES/MS finish method, which reports results as parts per million (ppm). All analyses that reach the overlimit of IMS-139 are reanalyzed with an ore-grade method. The analytical results are verified with the application of industry-standard quality control and quality assurance procedures. Qualified Person Wade Barnes, P.Geo., the Companys Project Geologist, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who supervised the work program and preparation of the technical data in this news release. About Golden Ridge Golden Ridge is a TSX-V listed exploration company engaged in acquiring and advancing mineral properties located in British Columbia. Golden Ridge currently has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the 1,700-hectare Hank copper-gold-silver-lead-zinc property located in the Golden Triangle district, approximately 140 kilometres north of Stewart, British Columbia. Golden Ridge may earn the 100% interest in the Hank property by performing $1.7M of exploration work by the end of 2018. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF GOLDEN RIDGE RESOURCES LTD. Mike Blady Mike Blady President and Chief Executive Officer For more information regarding this news release, please contact: Mike Blady, CEO and Director T: 250-717.3151 F: 250-717.1845 W: www.goldenridgeresources.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release, constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including: that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events, that the Company obtains required regulatory approvals, that the Company continues to maintain a good relationship with the local project communities. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid or reliable, which could result in delays, or cessation in planned work, that the Company's financial condition and development plans change, delays in regulatory approval, risks associated with the interpretation of data, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and development activities and to the Company as set forth in the Company's Managements Discussion and Analysis reports filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information or statements, other than as required by applicable law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Figure 1. Plan Map On October 4, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission finally got a chairman, former UN official Lamin Sise. He will have the difficult task of heading a commission that must, it seems, now race against time to meet the rising expectations of the population to the point that the first public hearings could take place very early. The first hearings will no doubt take place before the end of October, because our investigation team has already identified witnesses and took their statements three or four weeks ago, declared the commissions executive secretary Baba Galleh Jallow. With the commissioners still getting to know each other, this would be unprecedentedly soon. Joanna Rice, who represents the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) in the Gambia, thinks the Commission is in a delicate situation. It will be difficult to find a balance between time to reflect on priorities, how to use the two year mandate, how to protect witnesses, and the pressure to go fast, to show concrete action, she says. Format still unclear Even the format of these first hearings is not clear. There are few indications in the Commissions mandate, which was approved by parliament in December 2017. The commissioners therefore have a wide margin for interpretation and will have to make choices. A post of lead counsel to the Commission has been created, following a decision by the justice ministry. It appointed Essa Faal, who has worked at the International Criminal Court in the office of the Prosecutor and then as a defence lawyer. Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou wanted to reassure people about the appointment. The Commission is not a tribunal, and the lead counsel is there to support and guide the hearings, he said. It will not be an interrogation. Victims will have room to express themselves, and he can help reframe their testimonies. Executive secretary Baba Galleh Jallow says the Commission will not copy the model of another commission investigating Jammehs financial dealings whose hearings, similar to those of a court, would not suit victims. We want the people testifying to feel comfortable, to want to tell the truth, he explains. Its more a sharing of experiences to help heal the country of its wounds, so everyone knows what happened and there cannot be a return to dictatorship. For while the Commission aims to establish the truth about serious human rights abuses, it also hopes to go further with the launch of a national dialogue campaign targeting transformation of Gambian society. Reparations Finding the right balance between truth, justice and reconciliation has been a challenge for other commissions of this kind. John Charles Njie, vice-president of the transitional justice technical committee set up by the justice ministry, is calling on behalf of civil society for a model that fits the country. Traditionally here people dont tell their personal stories in public, they do it rather within a closed environment, he says. We are a small society where everyone knows each other, so someone who talks could easily be stigmatized. The Commission must take this culture into account. The Gambian Commission wants to innovate especially in one area: reparations are to be attributed directly by the institution. But this provision also raises questions. Attribution of reparations is not clearly defined in the Commissions mandate, says Sheriff Kijera, head of the Victims Centre, an NGO set up after Jammehs departure. We hope they will be granted on the basis of the victims needs, for example health care or school fees. So while the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission may have been inaugurated, there are still many questions about its form and strategy. Posted on: October 15, 2018 4:53 PM The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, have taken part in a pre-election interfaith peace conference in Nigeria. Giving the keynote address at the Religious Harmony in Nigeria: Towards the 2019 General Elections conference in Abuja, Archbishop Justin told the audience that Peace requires justice. He said: Attacks cannot be treated with impunity. Truth needs telling and arriving at the truth that is to be told is a complex process. While in Abuja, Archbishop Justin held separate meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari and opposition Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. A series of primaries will be held between now at the election date of 16 February 2019. The new President will be inaugurated on 29 May 2019. Archbishop Justin said that he had learnt from his visits to Nigeria that the desire for peace is universal but not unconditional. He added: In conflict, every persons so-called truth is their own. And it is only in a place of security and hope that they can adjust their perception of truth, see their own faults and sins as well as those of the other, and learn to seek peace. To accept diversity, or disagreement in other words, reconciliation. I learned that reconciliation is a matter of generations. It is not completed by declarations but by practical action. It faces opposition by those who seek advantage from disorder and disruption. And there are advantages for those with evil intentions. That is one of the challenges of political leadership. Speaking of Nigeria, he said: Anything that touches Nigeria touches me deeply. Nigeria has been my teacher, my friend and my passion. When I hear of Nigerias difficulties and problems, whether it be terrorism, or economic hardship or the deaths of farmers too often Christian farmers I am deeply distressed. I mourn as for a member of my family. When I hear of gloom and pessimism, such an un-Nigerian emotion, I pray and long for a change of heart and the birth of a greater hope. For this is a very great country indeed. As a foreigner to my fingertips, with no right to speak to you, I feel an immense sense of privilege and responsibility to be here today. It is also a duty. As a Christian, I am called to the ministry of reconciliation. God reconciled us to Himself through the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross and assigned us the task of reconciling people to one another and to God. That call to reconciliation requires leadership, and there is a great need of leadership in Africa. Nigeria is the giant of the continent and is becoming a giant of the world. By 2050 she may have as many as 500 million citizens. There is an energy in this country which can transform not only this nation but the whole continent, and far beyond. There is an economic talent, an entrepreneurial spirit, a courage and willingness to take risks which is in desperately short supply in our world. He called on the candidates to set a standard for themselves that is even much higher than what happened here in the 2015 elections when the candidates agreed to call on their followers to conduct the elections without violence, to accept the results of the elections, and to treat each other honourably, no matter the outcome of the elections, he said. Religious leaders should encourage their congregations to discharge their civic duties according to each persons conscience; politicians should give this nation a chance to achieve its potential by resolving to make every effort to serve with integrity. Where politicians fail the people in the performance of their elected duties, religious leaders should advise the politicians privately. If their advice is not heeded, they must exercise their public prophetic role and speak truth to power. We must not condone the wrong deeds of public officials just because they belong to our Churches or Mosques. Neither can we just sound off. A former senior politician of many years ago used to say about Bishops in the House of Lords (the upper house of the UK Parliament), The trouble is Bishops blow in, blow off and blow out. Religious leaders should be united in applauding the good, suggesting improvements, and calling out wrong doings. All Nigerians have in your hands a golden future. You are the ones who take steps towards it, as did your predecessors. Posted on: October 15, 2018 3:26 PM The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams led an Anglican delegation to the Vatican this weekend for the canonisation of Oscar Romero. The current Archbishop, Justin Welby, sent a letter to Pope Francis in which he described the former Archbishop of San Salvador, who was assassinated as he celebrated Mass in March 1980, as a true example to all Christians, and particularly to our fellow bishops. The weekends service at St Peters Basilica in the Vatican, also saw the canonisation of Pope Paul VI and five other saints: Francesco Spinelli, Vincenzo Romano, Maria Katharina Kasper, Nazaria Ignazia of Saint Teresa of Jesus, and Nuncio Sulprizio. In his letter to Pope Francis, Archbishop Justin said of Oscar Romero: as a champion of peace and justice he stood up against oppression and was consistently on the side of the poor, the underprivileged and the marginalised. In this he emphasised and demonstrated the love of Christ himself. Your Holiness, Blessed Oscar is held in great esteem in the Church of England. He is commemorated in our liturgical calendar and his statue appears as one of the martyrs of the twentieth century on the West Front of Westminster Abbey. May his example of courage and commitment be a model for us all. Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams with some of the Anglican delegation at the Vatican yesterday (Sunday) for the canonisation of Oscar Romero. Photo: Centro Televisivo Vaticano / Vatican Radio Bishop Rowan led a delegation of 10 Anglican bishops at the service, which included the suffragan Bishop in Europe, David Hamid. In my time as Mission Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Anglican Church of Canada during the years of the civil wars in El Salvador and other Central American countries, I made many visits to the region, most often in support of those seeking to defend the human rights of the poor and exploited, including many priests and pastors in El Salvador, Bishop David said in a blog post after the service. I recall meeting so many who were inspired by Oscar Romero to continue the struggle for justice for the poor of the region, he said. In the hearts of the people of Latin America Romero was already considered a saint; San Oscar de las Americas they acclaimed him, almost right after he was assassinated. On the occasion of his canonisation, for the poor of the Americas this is a moment of great joy to have his martydom officially recognised by the Church. I never imagined I would be present to witness this event. Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams with the Anglican and Methodist delegations to the Vatican yesterday (Sunday) for the canonisation of Oscar Romero, with Bishop Brian Farrell, the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Photo: Anglican Centre in Rome Pope Paul VI was the first Pope to receive an official visit by an Archbishop of Canterbury since the Reformation, when, in 1966, he welcomed Archbishop Michael Ramsey to the Vatican, famously giving him his episcopal ring. During the service, Pope Francis used three symbolic and historic elements, including the Pope Paul VIs favourite chalice and pastoral cross. He also wore the blood-stained cincture that Romero was wearing when he was murdered. Following the service, Pope Francis delivered his weekly Angelus address to some 70,000 pilgrims in St Peters Square. During this, he gave a special welcome to Bishop Rowan and the Anglican delegation, expressing his deep gratitude that they were there representing Archbishop Justin Welby. Romero was assassinated on the eve of Archbishop Robert Runcies installation in Canterbury Cathedral on 25 March 1980. In response, Archbishop Robert made a point of going to the spot in the Cathedral at which Archbishop Thomas Becket was martyred eight centuries earlier to offer prayers during the installation liturgy in an act of solidarity following the killing. In a statement, the Anglican Bishop of El Salvador, Juan David Alvarado Melgar, said that the diocese in our prayers thank God for giving us the gift of Saint Romero, our brother. He said: We take on the commitment to follow his legacies, how to recognise the presence of Christ in human beings, in the poor and vulnerable; to fight for their human and divine dignity, with very concrete actions; to work for the Kingdom of Love of the Gospel. He began his statement by saying: Saint Romero was assassinated coldly and with planning, because he had a passion for defending women and men who were exploited, mistreated, victims of human rights violations. He pointed out those who were responsible and he asked for their conversion to Christ. He had the clarity that God was revealed, incarnated in those malnourished, sick people, who had difficulty living with miserable, inhuman and starving income. It was a scandal for the saint, that the Son of God, present in the poor, would continue to be crucified for the greed and sin of the false Christian worshipers of idols, usurpers of the earth and its fruits. He added: Saint Romero leaves us as a legacy the commitment to work together in the construction of peace and to follow the path to the kingdom of God. Peace has a radical ingredient, and it is justice. Watch Bishop Juan deliver his statement: 2K Shares Share Non-clinicians skip over some of the most necessary underpinnings of doctoring and speak too much about housekeeping issues: blood pressure targets, aspirin use, mass screenings, immunization rates and so on. People without medical degrees could do those things. But there are steps that must be taken before we worry about the measurables. These are the essence of being a physician, what people ask for when they come to see us. Most people dont come in and say, I need you to regulate my blood pressure, or Help me lower my cholesterol. They come in saying, I dont feel good, or Help me stay healthy. Diagnosis More than anything, people come to us to find out whats wrong with them. They come with rashes, aches, fevers, coughs, bunches (the Maine word for lumps and bumps on their bodies) and concerns like fatigue, which could be a symptom of almost anything. In that scenario, not to be melodramatic, making a correct diagnosis could be a matter of life or death, or at least wasteful spending of thousands of dollars and valuable time. We dont get enough credit by outside observers, like health care administrators, insurers and consumers for the value of our diagnostic acumen. It is the first fundamental of health care. Different diseases have different treatments and the success of medical care hinges on treating the right diagnosis. A trivial example is a patient I heard of just recently with sudden agitation and high blood pressure presenting to the emergency room. Many hours and many tests after arrival blood tests, EKG, CT scans and so on, he turned out to have urinary obstruction. A Foley catheter relieved the obstruction and cured his high blood pressure as well as his agitation. A young woman came to see me a few days before graduation for a mild rash on her legs. Not only was she about to graduate; she was also planning a long trip afterward. The bloodwork I ordered STAT on our first encounter showed that she had acute leukemia. She was allowed a temporary leave from the cancer clinic to attend the ceremonies and then went back to continue her treatment. Today, she is the proud mother of a soon-to-graduate teenager. What if I, as she later said, had glanced casually at her skin and sent her off on a faraway trip with a prescription for a cream? Guidance Treatment, the second part of the traditional dyad, is too simplistic a notion, only useful for lancing boils and prescribing penicillin for strep throat. Most diseases are multifaceted, and most patients have several health and disease considerations. Most diseases are also chronic, even ones we thought of as rapidly terminal earlier in our own lifetime, like HIV and an increasing number of cancers. The physicians role is not a knee-jerk intervention; it is informing and educating the patient and helping each patient choose a plan of action that is right for them. Primary care does what Google cant; it applies knowledge of the patient and the relative importance of medical facts and factoids and offers guidance in the sense of ranking options. Even when the treatment requires specialized care we have a role as guides. We help patients choose specialists depending on each patients particular medical problems and personal preferences referral to a particular subspecialty and to a take-charge doctor or a collaborative one, for example. As guides, we follow patients along on their journey, sometimes actively by showing what to do, sometimes only watching from a distance, ready to intervene if they stumble. We dont just prescribe, we anticipate we warn patients and their families of things that may come up at the next turn. It takes experience, and expertise do that well, not just handing out mass-produced information to meet meaningful use mandates. Sometimes our guide role requires us to talk about a different journey not one back to health and function, but one of decline and death. We must be comfortable with that role as well as that of a cheerleader. The almost pastoral duty we have is to instill and preserve hope. Although this is often for a cure involving certain obstacles or challenges, sometimes the hope we can offer is only the hope of feeling better and sometimes it is just of relief from suffering. We live in an era of tweets, sound bites, and intellectual shortcuts. Medicine doesnt fit into that kind of mindset very often. Contrary to what some outsiders think, ours is a deeply cognitive profession of careful consideration and deeply personal counsel. Treatment is simply a misnomer for what we do. Even when there is no cure, there is care. A Country Doctor is a family physician who blogs at A Country Doctor Writes:. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 7 Shares Share Recently, a generally healthy friend of mine had two small, unrelated surgeries over the course of a few months. For the first, a small operation on his hand, he received a prescription for 30 oxycodone pills. He used one the night after surgery, to make sure pain wouldnt wake him. Over the next few days he used a few over the counter acetaminophen tablets for his modest discomfort, and then was all done. Two months later, a small suspicious lesion had to be removed from his leg by a different doctor. Again, he got 30 tablets of oxycodone. He used one the first night and continued with acetaminophen. Problem solved. But not really. The issue is that now this friend has 58 unnecessary oxycodone pills. Studies show that patients like him take many fewer pills than prescribed; one study of 250 patients counted 4,639 leftover pills from single prescriptions. Like many homes, my friends is frequently visited by friends and family members, including children, some of whom have struggled with addiction and may find those drugs tempting. Its an invitation to misuse. One patients pain-control question The reasons for the prescription opioid crisis are many, and include false education and promotion from drug companies, reckless practices by many doctors and shockingly low availability and affordability of treatment programs for substance abuse. Aware of the epidemic, my friend quizzed his second doctor during a follow-up appointment. Why such an oversupply of a potentially dangerous medication, since its use for acute pain increases the risk of abuse and overdose? The mildly embarrassed physician explained that since it is such a nuisance to prescribe pain medication its easier to give the patient extra pills to forestall requests for more. While this overprescribing might prevent a handful of patients from running out of a needed painkiller at an inopportune time, it seems like a risky practice. Although the number of prescriptions for opioids is trending down, it is still substantially higher than it was at the start of the century. Thats why this tactic of giving more medication than is needed is so far removed from the intention of massive recent efforts to regulate and reduce the amount of prescription opioids in circulation. New York State, for instance, has its I Stop program, which requires most physicians to check whether a patient is receiving controlled substances from other physicians before prescribing additional meds. There have also been efforts to educate doctors about opioid prescribing, both from state health departments and from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). One bit of good news in the battle against prescription opioid abuse is that when a doctor does prescribe controlled substances, that prescription may now receive more scrutiny. California, for example, decided to track overdose deaths and then send letters to some of the doctors who had prescribed opioids to those deceased patients within the previous year. They didnt tell them to change their practices or that they were in trouble; they just told them their patient had died of an overdose from a drug they prescribed. Researchers studied this group, as well as a similar one of physicians who did not get letters after their patients had died from overdoses. The notified physicians showed a significant decrease in the amount of opioids prescribed. This intervention came too late to save some patients, but may help others in the future, and it demonstrates the positive return on a policy that works to decrease opioid prescribing. Other approaches to pain management Now, some may quibble that 30 pills (as my friend received) is not so many. After all, for an opioid-naive person, this amounts to being fully dosed, around the clock, for a bit more than a week. Is that the best or only approach to pain control? My friend certainly didnt feel that way. And the CDC recommends exploring nonopioid methods to control acute pain, including over-the-counter drugs such as acetaminophen, or nonmedication methods such as ice, heat and massage. It adds that when opioids are used for acute pain, treatment should last for a maximum of three days. One thing that neither of my friends doctors did was talk to him about his views on and need for pain control. In each case, they sent in the prescription to his pharmacy without discussion. A brief conversation about his individual needs could have led to a better plan: liberal use of nonpharmacologic pain control, a maximum of three days of opioids, backup use of safer over-the-counter meds and an agreement that a little pain can be a useful way to monitor recovery. Doctors played a role in creating the opioid crisis were in now. We cant stop it all by ourselves, but we can do something positive to help prevent the abuse. Tia Powell is director, Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics. This article originally appeared in the Doctors Tablet. Image credit: Shutterstock.com LAKESIDE, Ore. -- A man is in the hospital after being shot in the head in Lakeside Sunday evening. Philip Clayton Wells, 35, of Coos Bay is reportedly in stable condition. The Coos County Sheriffs Office received a report of shots fired at the Osprey Point Pub just before 9 p.m. Law enforcement officers found Wells, who was transported to Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay and flown to the Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland. The other man involved is cooperating with law enforcement. The sheriffs office has not released his name. Deputies, Oregon State Police, Coquille Tribal Police and the North Bend Police responded to the call. The investigation is ongoing. Green Party Councillor and Local Government Spokesperson has welcomed a reversal in policy by Irish Water to prioritise the elimination of the problem of Trihalomethanes (THMs) in water supplies in Kilkenny City and in the Inistoge supply. Cllr Noonan said that he had raised the matter of THMs as a matter of urgency with Irish Water on a number of occasions but was met with the same response by Irish Water. Following a number of meetings and correspondence with Irish Water, I was disappointed that the body had placed addressing THMs as secondary priority in their strategic plan. I am delighted that Irish Water have now decided to revise that policy and address this very serious public health issue said Cllr Noonan. Trihalomethanes pose a serious risk to public health and are caused by interaction of organic material in the raw water supply and the disinfection process in our water treatment plants. Inistioge will be addressed by diverting to the Thomastown supply in early 2019 but unfortunately in Kilkenny we will have to wait till 2021 until our supply will be directed wholly to the Troyswood scheme. It is too long to wait in my view and given that there was in 2017 an issue with pesticide residues in that supply, I think that its imperative that the safety of the city supply is secured in a much shorter timeframe he said. Irish Waters Services Policy Statement 2018-25 outlines plans to deal with THMs in the water supplies, working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify vulnerable supplies and how the utility aims to communicate with affected households and business. While this is a welcome development, in general I am concerned that such a serious public health issue has taken this long to address. I cant help thinking that if our water services provision were still in Local Authority control, it would have been prioritised a lot faster. I would be interested to know how Irish Water is dealing with exceedences in pesticide residue in the Troyswood water supply. This is due to agricultural runoff and it is imperative that this be dealt with said Cllr Noonan. Nonetheless it is encouraging that Irish Water now see THMs as a serious health risk and that the two affected supplies in County Kilkenny will be dealt with. In my view there are no safe levels of exposure and people must have confidence in our public water supplies concluded Cllr Noonan. This Christmas, embark on an enchanting adventure to visit Santa Claus at Castlecomer Discovery Park. Just a 90-minute drive south of Dublin, the Kilkenny based Discovery Park is renowned for their dedication to creating a world festooned with seaso nal cheer, with decorative lighting and effortless style to create a truly memorablefestive encounter. This season is no exception and offers a complete Christmas experience at great value. Start your adventure at the North Pole Station and take a rambling train ride through the incredibly enchanted woodlands on board the Santa Express, where the twinkling light displays amongst the trees is a sight for sore eyes. This year the Discovery Park have hundreds of new light installations to really crank up the festive factor. Once you reach the Christmas Village, youll have time to explore, make a Christmas tree decoration in the arts and crafts area or sit back and wrap your mittens around a steaming mug of hot chocolate from the Canopy Cafe. Children can also play at leisure in the elf and fairy village, where imaginative playgrounds feature bouncing nets and a Junior Woodland Adventure Course. The igloos are cosy and warm and full of festive spirit and its here that children will meet Mrs Claus to hear tales of mischievous elves and life in the North Pole. Last but not least, its time to visit the great man himself, where each child will have the opportunity to spend time alone with Santa Claus, to whisper their wish list into his ear, and to receive a memorable gift. The duration of the Christmas experience is approximately 90 minutes, at a relaxed and enjoyable pace, making sure you can take time to soak up every ounce of magic from beginning right through to the end. Families are welcome to return to the elf village to spend more time at play. This is a largely outdoor event, so appropriate dress and footwear is recommended. Ticket prices are 20.00 per child and 14.00 per adult. Babies 0 -12 months can go FREE, without a present. Tickets are on sale now and sell out fast, so dont be disappointed and book online . Social Security is a foundational piece in every retirees income plan, and yet many people have no idea how it works. The choices you make regarding when and how you claim your benefit can have a major impact on your future financial security. Hundreds of claiming strategies exist that factor in your age, your marital status and spouses age, and which spouse is or was the higher earner. Youll also have to consider how your Social Security income will affect your income taxes. Here are some scenarios Ive run into over the years with clients and prospective clients. Perhaps some will sound familiar; you may have friends or family who are in a similar situation. See if you can determine if these soon-to-be retirees are headed for success or failure. How Does Remarrying Affect Widows Benefits? Question: The future is looking brighter for Mary. Although her husband died when she was just 55, shell be able to retire in six months when she turns 60 thanks to her Social Security widows benefit. Her plan is to claim her widows benefit soon after her birthday, then marry a longtime friend a couple of months later. Can she do this? Answer: Yes. The widows benefit may begin as early as age 60, and shell get 71.5% of her deceased husbands full benefit. (The amount would increase if she waited.) Mary is able to keep the benefit even after she remarries only because she is remarrying after age 60. She then can switch over to her own benefit as early as age 62 if she chooses. She can also allow her own benefit to continue to grow. What About Taxes on Your Benefits? Question: John is excited to retire and start receiving his Social Security benefit. As he looks at his current pay stub, he sighs happily and says, Finally, Ill have income coming in, and the government wont take anything out. Is his relief warranted? Answer: No. There are several expenses that could be withheld from Johns Social Security payment, including Medicare premiums if hes 65 or older, and even alimony or child support. If his income exceeds a designated threshold, he may have to pay taxes on a portion of his Social Security, and if he chooses, he can ask the Social Security Administration to withhold a percentage of his choosing each month to cover that amount. Oops, I Made a Mistake. Now What? Question: Although Joan planned to work full time until she was 67, she was laid off from her job when she was only 64. She didnt expect to get another job and needed the income, so it made sense to her to file for her Social Security benefit early. To Joans surprise, within three months she was offered a position with a friends employer. Can she turn back the clock? Answer: Yes. Joan was relieved to learn she can withdraw her application for Social Security. This option is available only once in a lifetime, and it must be done within 12 months after applying. Joan will have to repay the money she already received. What Is File and Restrict? Question: Susan, a schoolteacher, decided to retire and claim her Social Security benefit this year when she turned 65. Her husband, John, who is 66, decided to wait until he turns 70 to claim his benefit so he can get the highest amount possible. Their plan is for John, who was the higher earner, to claim the spousal benefit now so his benefit can keep growing. Will this idea work? Answer: Yes. For people born before Jan. 2, 1954, there is an option called file and restrict (although to avoid possible confusion, you should know that the folks at the Social Security office would refer to it as restricting an application to spousal benefits only) that has been eliminated for those born on or after that date. John is at his full retirement age, so he is allowed to file on Susans full retirement benefit even though she started her benefit before reaching her full retirement age. He receives 50% of her full retirement age amount. His own benefit will then grow by 8% per year until he reaches age 70, when he plans to switch to his higher payment. How Can Husbands and Wives Maximize? Question: Mark was self-employed for most of his adult working years. His wife, Barb, who is three years younger and the higher earner, has worked for a corporation since she finished college. Mark has decided to claim his full Social Security benefit when he is eligible in two years. Then, when Barb becomes eligible for her full benefit, he plans to change over to the 50% spousal benefit, which is more than twice his. Will that be possible? Answer: Yes. When Mark applies for his benefit, Barb wont have claimed hers yet, so his will be the highest benefit he is eligible for at that time. He will have waited until his full retirement age to apply for his benefit, so when Barb starts hers, Mark can receive the higher 50% spousal amount. What About Benefits for Ex-Spouses? Question: Patti and Joe were married for 25 years, then divorced. Patti thought she would be able to receive full spousal Social Security benefits based on Joes record if she waited to file until she was 66. Then Joe remarried. Now shes worried she wont be able to file for that benefit, which is higher than her own. Is she right? Answer: No, Patti doesnt need to worry. Since she and Joe were married for more than 10 years, she is eligible to file for the 50% spousal benefit regardless of how many times Joe might marry. Because they have been divorced for more than two years, her eligibility isnt dependent on whether Joe has filed for his benefit yet. The only way she could become ineligible to collect on his record is if she remarried. As long as she is single at the time she applies, and remains single, she will continue to receive the 50% spousal benefit. (Note: Should she apply early, she would be eligible for a reduced spousal benefit.) The decisions you make when claiming Social Security will have consequences for the rest of your life. The workers at your local Social Security Administration office are not allowed to offer advice, so its important to understand how the program pertains to you. If youre working with a financial professional, make sure he or she is up to date on the various claiming strategies. If youre mulling over this decision, do your homework, which may include getting a second opinion. Kim Franke-Folstad contributed to this article. Mine photos courtesy of Agnico Eagle Mines, (Kitco News) - It's only a matter of time before investors come back to the mining sector, but they need to see viable business and growth potential, according to Sean Boyd, CEO of Agnico Eagle (NYSE: AEM, TSX: AEM). It's with that focus that Agnico Eagle prepares to launch its two new mines in Nunavut, Canada's eastern Arctic. The company's Meliadine property just outside of Rankin Inlet is expected to start production in the second quarter of 2019 and its Amaruq property near Baker Lake is scheduled to begin in the third quarter. Neils Christensen of Kitco News with Sean Boyd, president and CEO of Agnico Eagle In an exclusive interview during a tour of Meliadine property, Boyd said that his company's latest investment in Nunavut could be just the start in what he sees as a jurisdiction with unlimited potential. According to the company, the two new Canadian mines are expected to drive Agnico's gold production to 2 million ounces next year, an increase from its annual output of around 1.5 million ounces expected this year. Amaruq is expected to produce up to 190,000 ounces of gold next year and Meliadine is forecasted to produce up to 175,000 ounces. "Nunavut is a big part of Agnico's Future," said Boyd. "We think this is the start of a multi-decade opportunity. From a project perspective, Meliadine is our largest single construction effort in the company's 60-year history. But more importantly, it allows us to continue to grow our output." Boyd added that the Amaruq and Meliadine will help the company generate new cash flows, which in turn will allow the company to continue to grow on a sustainable basis. Not only is Meliadine expected to add 400,000 ounces of gold to Agnico's production pipeline when it is fully operational, but Boyd said that it is a testament to what a company can accomplish in a challenging environment. Everything that was needed to build the mine had to be brought in by a barge between June and October. Boyd described the mine construction as an incredible feat of management and engineering. "With Meladine, we have created a template that we can use and build on for what we expect will be other projects in Nunavut," he said. "We see this as a core asset to what is an emerging platform for us in Nunavut." Looking at the potential in Canada's northeastern territory, Boyd said that the area represents a source of untapped potential and Agnico now has the tool and experience to operate in what can be a challenging location. "We see tremendous mineral potential in Nunavut," he said. "In Nunavut, we have a solid partnership in the people, who see the importance of developing their natural resources." Adding to what Boyd sees as his company's success, he said that it is vital to treat gold mining like any other type of business with a focus on growth and cash flow. He said that once the price of gold picks up, investors will come back to the mining sector. "We need to be patient, be steady and continue to invest in future growth. We see the potential in our investment over the long term," he said. "At the end of the day we think we have a good strong business, it just happens to be a gold company." While the company continues to expand its presence in Nunavut, Boyd said ultimately, the market needs to see higher gold prices to attract long-term investors. "At $1,200 the industry can't sustain itself long-term. We think higher gold prices will come," he said. "You also need companies that have a track record of generating value through the cycles. We have been fortunate to be able to invest through the cycles and continue to grow." The gold market is starting to see renewed interest after the yellow metal saw its best day in two years last week, rallying nearly $30 to hit a nine-week high. The precious metal has been able to hold on to most of last week's gains. December gold futures last traded at $1,232 an ounce, up 0.82% on the day. (Kitco News) - Gold prices edged up, trading near ten-week highs, as retail sales fell short of expectations in September. U.S. retail sales rose 0.1% in September following a downwardly revised advance of 0.1% in August, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Economists were expecting to see an increase of 0.7% in last months headline number. In an immediate reaction to the retail sales figures, December Comex gold futures extended their gains to $1,235.0, up 1.06% on the day. Earlier in the session, gold prices already hit a ten-week high of $1,236.90 an ounce, supported by safe-haven demand and technical buying, according to Kitcos senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff. The Commerce Department said that the impact of Hurricane Florence on Septembers data was impossible to calculate. But, the weakest part of the report was spending at restaurants and bars, which dropped 1.8% - the most in nearly two years. Auto sales increased 0.8%, gas station sales dropped 0.8%, clothing store sales were up 0.5%, furniture store sales rose 1.1%, and building material store sales edged up 0.1%. Retail sales, excluding autos and gasoline, fell 0.1% last month versus the expected rise of 0.4%. But, the reports control group, which strips out autos, gas, building materials, and food services, was up 0.5% versus the expected 0.3%. Economists highlighted this part of the report, pointing to some broad-based strength. It wasn't all bad news as the control group (ex auto, gasoline, building materials and restaurants) saw a 0.5% gain, with increases pretty broad-based. As such there's no obvious sign that Hurricane Florence impacted today's figures - often the impact of such weather events on retail sales isn't as obvious as it is for other series due to people's propensity to stock up on essentials ahead of the storm hitting, said CIBC Capital Markets senior economist Andrew Grantham. Gold is getting a lift from geopolitical tensions at the start of a new trading week, says Phil Flynn, senior market analyst with at Price Futures Group. Just after 8 a.m. EDT, Comex December gold was $10.50 higher to $1,232.50 an ounce. The U.S. has threatened to punish Saudi Arabia if it turns out that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, and Saudi Arabia responded by warning against any threats. Geopolitical risk factors are going through the roof today, helping gold, Flynn says. On top of this, he also cites talks over the U.K.s exit from the European Union that are stalemated over rules relating to the countrys only land border with the EU along Ireland. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com MKS: Gold Looking Positive On Technical Charts Gold still looks constructive on the technical charts at the start of a new trading week, says MKS (Switzerland) S.A. Spot metal was up $11.50 to $1,229 an ounce shortly before 8 a.m. EDT. Gold rallied last week in response to a softer tone in the U.S. dollar and heavy selling in equities on Wednesday and Thursday, before stocks bounced on Friday. Technically the market is still looking fairly positive, [with] gold still trading above a sequence of highs dating back two months ($1,210-1,216), MKS says. Going into the week, the next key upside target was the 100-day moving average, which MKS says was around $1,228.20. Chart support sits around $1214-16. By Allen Sykora For Kitco News Follow @AllenSykora Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned against threats to punish it over last weeks disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as European leaders piled on pressure and two more U.S. executives scrapped plans to attend a Saudi investor conference. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadhs policies, disappeared on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened severe punishment if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he said Washington would be punishing itself if it halted military sales to Riyadh. The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted an unnamed official as saying. The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy, the official added, without elaborating. The Saudi Embassy in Washington later tweeted what it called a clarification, thanking countries including the United States for refraining from jumping to conclusions over the case. In a sign Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud may seek a diplomatic solution to the incident, he stressed the strength of Saudi-Turkish ties in a telephone call with President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, the Saudi press agency said late on Sunday. The king thanked Erdogan for welcoming a Saudi proposal to form a joint working group to discuss Khashoggis disappearance and said no one could undermine their relationship. EUROPE SEEKS CREDIBLE INVESTIGATION Europes largest economies Britain, France and Germany said on Sunday they were treating the case with the utmost seriousness. There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and - if relevant - to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account, the countries said in a joint statement. We encourage joint Saudi-Turkish efforts in that regard, and expect the Saudi Government to provide a complete and detailed response. We have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities. The statement, by Britains Jeremy Hunt, Frances Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germanys Heiko Maas, made no mention of potential actions the countries might take. Hunt later said that if Saudi Arabia were proven to be guilty, we would have to think about the appropriate way to react in that situation. OIL PRICE WARNING In a column published just after the SPA statement, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channels General Manager Turki Aldakhil warned that imposing sanctions on the worlds largest oil exporter could spark global economic disaster. It would lead to Saudi Arabias failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure, he wrote. Investor concern is growing that Khashoggis disappearance could add to a sense that Saudi policy has become more unpredictable under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pushing social and economic reforms but has also presided over a rise in tensions between with several countries. A Gulf banker said the Khashoggi case, combined with other events, had become a significant factor for some potential investors. Its cumulative the Yemen war, the dispute with Qatar, the tensions with Canada and Germany, the arrests of women activists. They add up to an impression of impulsive policy-making, and that worries investors, the banker said. Foreign capital is key to Saudi plans for economic diversification and job creation. But in response to Khashoggis disappearance, media organizations and a growing number of executives have pulled out of a Riyadh investment conference scheduled for next week, dubbed Davos in the Desert. On Sunday, JP Morgan Chase & Co said Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has canceled plans to attend the Saudi Arabian investor conference later this month. Ford Motor Co said Chairman Bill Ford has canceled his trip to the Middle East, which included an appearance at the Saudi investment conference. JP Morgan Chase and Ford did not comment on whether the decision was related to concerns about the disappearance of Khashoggi. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin still plans to attend the conference, but that could change, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, said on ABCs This Week. WASHINGTON REACTS U.S. senators called for reactions ranging from boycotting an upcoming economic summit in Riyadh to ending support for Saudi military operations in Yemen. If they lured this man into that consulate, they went medieval on him, and he was killed and he was chopped up and they sent a death crew down there to kill him and do all of this, that would be an outrage, Florida Senator Marco Rubio told CNNs State of the Union. Just because they are an ally in an important mission, which is containing Iranian expansion in the region, cannot allow us to overlook or walk away from that. Fellow Republican, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, appearing on This Week, called for severe action which he said would affect arms sales and involvement in Yemen. The Saudi stock market fell as much as 7 percent in early trade on Sunday, one of the first signs of economic pain Riyadh could suffer over the affair. By close, it had recovered some losses, ending down 3.5 percent and losing $16.5 billion of market value. Senators have triggered a provision of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requiring the president to determine whether a foreign person is responsible for a gross human rights violation. The act has in the past imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials. Anti-Saudi sentiment in the U.S. Congress could conceivably raise pressure to pass the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, which would end sovereign immunity shielding OPEC members from U.S. legal action. ACCESSING CONSULATE The crisis has polarized Saudis, with some blaming the nations enemies and others concerned about the direction the country is heading under Prince Mohammed. Prince Khaled al-Faisal, a senior member of Saudi Arabias ruling family and senior advisor to King Salman, has met Erdogan to discuss Khashoggis disappearance, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters without providing details. A Turkish official told Reuters on Sunday that the Saudis had said they would allow the consulate to be searched, and that this would happen by the end of the weekend, though he conceded to flexibility on this date. But Turkey is determined on the subject of entering the consulate and carrying out a criminal inspection. There is no alternative to carrying out this inspection. Time is important in terms of evidence, the official said. ANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabias King Salman on Monday ordered an internal probe into the unexplained disappearance of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a joint Turkish-Saudi team was set to search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he was last seen on Oct. 2. A Turkish diplomatic source said investigators would inspect the consulate on Monday afternoon, following delays last week when the two countries agreed to work together to find out what happened to Khashoggi, a critic of the Kingdoms policies. The King has ordered the Public Prosecutor to open an internal investigation into the Khashoggi matter based on the info from the joint team in Istanbul, a Saudi official, not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters. Asked when the public prosecutor could make an announcement about the investigation, the official said: He was instructed to work quickly. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, disappeared after entering the consulate to get marriage documents. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed, while Saudi Arabia has denied the allegations. The case has provoked an international outcry, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening severe punishment if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate and European allies calling for a credible investigation and accountability for those responsible. Saudi Arabia has responded by saying it would retaliate against any pressure or economic sanctions with greater action, and Arab allies rallied to support it, setting up a potential showdown between the global oil superpower and its main Western allies. INVESTOR CONCERN Turkey accepted a Saudi proposal last week to form a joint working group to investigate Khashoggis disappearance. King Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Sunday evening and stressed the importance of the two countries creating the joint group as part of the probe. Concern over the disappearance has seen a growing number of attendees pull out of a Davos in the Desert investment conference set for Oct. 23-25 , which has become the biggest show for investors to promote Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans reform vision. A pro-government Turkish daily published preliminary evidence last week from investigators it said identified a 15-member Saudi intelligence team which arrived in Istanbul on diplomatic passports hours before Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2. One of them is a forensic expert who has worked at the Saudi Interior Ministry for 20 years, according to a LinkedIn profile. Other names and photos match officers in the Saudi Army and Air Force, as identified by previous Saudi media reports and in one case a Facebook profile. The Saudi consulate referred Reuters to authorities in Riyadh who did not respond to questions about the 15 Saudis. The Washington Post, citing unidentified U.S. and Turkish officials, reported that Turkey had told U.S. officials it has audio and video recordings that prove Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. It was not clear that U.S. officials had seen the footage or heard the audio, the Post reported, but Turkish officials have described the recordings to them. Encouraging young people to soar to new heights, girls gathered at the University of Alaska Anchorage Aviation Complex at Merrill Field for International Girls in Aviation Day. Jennifer Lemmon, a member of professional women controllers, says there is a lot of opportunity in the aviation industry. From pilots, air traffic controllers to flight attendance, Lemmon said the industry is in need of new recruits. "Getting girls involved in aviation letting them know you don't have to just be a boy to get involved in aviation, girls can do it too," Lemmon said. Girls in middle school and high school had the opportunity to get hands on experience Saturday while operating ab air traffic control simulator and aircraft simulators. Crystal Frost, Women in Aviation Alaska (WAI) Last Frontier Chapter President, says the day is about taking girl's dreams to new heights. "You are learning more you are realizing," said Frost, "You develop a lot more responsibility and realize that you are powerful and you can do a lot." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 15) Former President Benigno Aquino III and several other officials are facing 272 counts of malversation for their alleged involvement in the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). Truth and Justice Commission President Greco Belgica filed the complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman Monday. Belgica is also a commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Committee. Apart from Aquino, named in the complaint were former Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas, former budget officials Florencio "Butch" Abad, Mario Relampagos and Yolanda Doblon, former congressman and transport chief Jun Abaya, as well as Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Franklin Drilon. All were accused of influencing the impeachment of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012 through the controversial fund disbursement mechanism, which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2014. "The DAP was a premeditated scheme for respondents to divert and malverse the funds of the Government for the impeachment of CJ Corona," the complaint read. Among the evidence Belgica cited are privilege speeches given by former Senators Ramon "Bong" Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada, claiming they were being paid off through the DAP to convict Corona. Belgica said some 40 senators and 234 congressmen received funds through the DAP. However, he did not identify all the lawmakers, mentioning only "John Does" in the complaint. The number of lawmakers equates to the counts of malversation in his complaint. He also said the filing was not prompted by any political motive. "Hindi political persecution yun [It was not persecution], this is bringing them to justice," Belgica said after filing the complaint. Aquino and Abad had been investigated by the Ombudsman over their liability in relation to DAP. In June, the Ombudsman found probable cause to indict them for usurpation of powers. Aquino is appealing the decision. Mumbai, October 15: In a series of a tweet, writer Chetan Bhagat whose name is being dragged in the #MeToo case, has shared his side of the story. Writer Ira Trivedi in an Outlook article on Sunday wrote how she met Chetan Bhagat nearly a decade ago at the Jaipur Literature Festival during a panel discussion they were both a part of; over the years to follow, she writes of a series of passes Bhagat allegedly made. Trivedi writes that she shrugged off the behaviour as just Chetan being Chetan, but harmless as it was, it still made (her) deeply uncomfortable. Chetan Bhagat Defends Himself After #MeToo Allegations Against Him by 'Porn Writer'; Read Facebook Post. In the recent tweets, Bhagat charged Trivedi and was quoted as saying, "A persons reputation is their most prized asset and takes a lifetime of work to earn. To have these motivated, fake attacks on me is abhorrent and the sickest thing a person can do. Please dont support this kind of smear campaign." He shared screenshots of emails which Ira sent to him, which ended with 'Miss You, Kiss You', he asked people to decide 'Who wanted to kiss whom?' So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedis self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please dont harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed pic.twitter.com/SWeaSCfHLd Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018 He further mentioned in his tweet, "To those who abused me last few days, hope you will do right by me now. Ultimately, is this movement about the truth or blindly supporting a particular gender? Please dont let your biases make you believe things that are not true." He asked people to not misuse the hashtag and to keep his family and friends away from the harassment. A persons reputation is their most prized asset and takes a lifetime of work to earn. To have these motivated, fake attacks on me is abhorrent and the sickest thing a person can do. Please dont support this kind of smear campaign. Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018 Writer Chetan Bhagat, who had earlier apologised to an anonymous woman who had accused her of sexual harassment in context to the #MeToo movement, has written a Facebook post defending himself and said that "I am not a harasser, never was, never will be". The best selling author also said that "unfortunately in India no matter what or how noble the cause, it always ends up being corrupted." Bhagat said that people have "now finally realized what is real #MeToo and what is #FakeMeToo", and added that the said screenshots in question where actually a draft he had received from an "erotica" or "porn" writer. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 10:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Ahmedabad, October 15: An ex-husband caught staring at his previous wife proved him costly, as he was thrashed by the woman's current husband. According to a Times of India report, more than four people suffered injuries in the brawl. Haresh Lalwani, an autorickshaw driver has filed a complaint with the city police stating that he was beaten by the husband of his ex-wife. MNS Workers Thrash Migrant Worker From Bihar Accused of Sexual Abuse at Press Conference in Thane, Watch Video. Lalwani, as quoted in the report, said, "On Saturday night, I was doing the garba at an event in front of my house where Manisha was also doing the garba. As I stared at her, her husband Ashok Durgesh Tejwani became furious and started abusing me without any reason.: Tejwani hit Lalwani with a stick on his head and started to bleed profusely. Three other members of Lalwani suffered injuries. Vadaj Police have booked Tejwani and his father under charges of assault, abetment and for uttering abuses and criminal intimidation. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 11:29 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Guwahati, October 15: Police apprehended 31 Bangladeshi nationals in Guwahati on Monday while they were planning to go back to Bangladesh via Agartala. According to reports, they were held from Guwahati railway station platform No. 1. These people had been working in Bengaluru for the past three years. Last month, while addressing a rally in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called Bangladeshi immigrants termites. Shah further said that each of them would be struck off the electoral roll. Referring to the draft National Register of Citizens recently published in Assam, he said that the BJP government had prima facie identified nearly 40 lakh illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Gowher Rizvi, Special Advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on October 5 claimed that India had never raised the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants staying on its soil with his government. Rizvi further asked the Indian government to prove that the illegal immigrants of Northeast India are indeed Bangladeshis. However, he also said that if there were Bangladeshis illegally staying in India, Bangladesh would obviously want to take its citizens back. Delhi: Gang of Bangladeshi Robbers Involved in Over 100 Heists This Year Busted, Seven Arrested Assam: 31 Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended in Guwahati while they were planning to go back to Bangladesh via Agartala.They were held from Guwahati railway station platform No. 1.They had been working in Bengaluru for last 3 years. pic.twitter.com/6HpAmqh4Nr ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 Meanwhile, on October 13, three illegal immigrants of Bangladesh were arrested from Agra. A joint operation was carried out by local intelligence unit and Sikandara police of Agra district. The three immigrants were identified as Saeedullah Ghazi (42), a native of Baigasa village of Khulna, his 40-year-old wife Ratna and his 22-year-old son Samim. These people were living in India from the last 15 years. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 04:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Panji, October 15: The official website of Bharatiya Janata Party's Goa unit was hacked on Monday as it displayed pro-Pakistan slogan. The hackers, who gained acceess into http://www.goabjp.org, posted 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogan. It was not clear whether the website was hacked by some Pakistani. The hacked BJP Goa website displayed an email ID namely catch.if.you.can@Hotmail.com and a name - Muhammed Bilal. The BJP is yet to respond on the hacking. In April, the website of BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit was hacked for a brief period. The hackers, who called themselves "Team Kerala Cyber Warriors", had posted a message accusing the state unit of protecting a "gang of pedophiles" who had aligned with some of the ruling BJP's office-bearers in context of the rape of an eight-year-old girl at Kathua in January. The hackers, who used the colours of the Indian flag in the message, said there should be nothing beyond humanity and "discrimination cannot be tolerated". (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 01:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). New Delhi, October 15: An FIR has been registered against former JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and his supporters for manhandling with doctors and causing obstruction to hospital work. The case was filed by All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna administration against Kanhaiya Kumar, Sushil Kumar and nearly 100 of his supporters at Phulwari Sharif police station. According to the sources, the incident occurred on Sunday at 7 pm, when Kanhaiya went to meet All India Students Federation (AISF) chief Sushil Kumar, who was admitted there at orthopaedics department. It is alleged that Kanhaiya with his members and AISF supporters misbehaved with AIIMS doctors and security personnel deployed at the orthopaedics department. After the incident, senior doctors of AIIMS Patna staged a protest against Kanhaiya and his supporters for misbehaving with doctor and security guard. Meanwhile, Mangal Pandey, the health minister, has asked AIIMS Patna to submit a report of the incident and assured that strict action will be taken again the person who misbehaved with doctors. Kanhaiya Kumar to Contest 2019 Lok Sabha Election From Begusarai Seat as CPI Candidate, Congress, RJD to Support. On the Political front, It is reported that JNUSU's former president will contest 2019 Lok Sabha election from Begusarai constituency of Bihar under the Mahagathbandhan. According to the sources, RJD and Congress have agreed to leave Begusarai for Kanhaiya. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 06:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Jammu, October 15: Terrorists hurled a rifle grenade on a camp of 183 battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Monday. According to a tweet by ANI, the incident took place in Pulwama's Newa area where one CRPF personnel has been injured in the attack. Reports inform that a cordon and search operation has been launched in the area. On Saturday, a Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant was gunned down by security forces in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The slain militant was identified as Sabir Ahmad Dar who belonged to HM outfit. Police informed that the security forces had launched a cordon and search operation. Jammu and Kashmir: Indian, Pakistan Armies Trade Fire on LoC. Pulwama: Terrorists hurl a rifle grenade on camp of 183 battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Newa. One CRPF personnel injured, cordon & search operation launched in the area. #JammuAndKashmir ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 Reports by PTI inform that the search operation was launched in south Kashmir district during the night after inputs of the presence of militants in the area. Details by Police inform that search operation turned into an encounter after the militant fired upon the forces who then retaliated. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 11:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). (ANSA) - Genoa, October 15 - Fifteen migrants travelled in a horse box from Slovenia to the French border at Ventimiglia where they were stopped by border police, sources said Monday. One of them felt ill and was taken to hospital after they were stopped, sources said. French police arrested a Tunisian for aiding and abetting illegal immigration. The other 14 were Syrians. They were all said to be suffering after their arduous and claustrophobic journey across northern Italy. One of them was an 11-year-old boy. New Delhi, October 15: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month, China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said Monday. Luo was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats here. He said the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration will deepen in future. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November, the Chinese envoy said. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year -- at the Shanaghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. Luo also said China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. PM Narendra Modi, President Xi Jinping Could Meet 3 More Times This Year: Chinese Envoy. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. The Santacruz police in Mumbai's suburban area registered an FIR (first information report) against a female worker working at the SNDT Women's University Hostel located in Juhu. The report states that the woman worker, a female warden of the university, allegedly forced a student to strip to prove that the girl is suffering from a skin infection. As news of the incident spread after the student narrated her ordeal, students staged a protest on the Juhu campus of the university. The 19-year-old student, who is studying in BTech third-year, is from Jammu and Kashmir. Talking to the English daily The Times of India, the complainant student was quoted by the paper and said that due to a skin infection, doctor has advised her to wear sleeveless top and also suggested a shawl to protect her skin. Girl Students Forced to Strip at Arunachal Pradesh School in 2017, NHRC Asks State to Pay Rs 5,000 Compensation to Each. However, a few days back when the student was returning from her lunch to the hostel room, warden Rachna Jhaveri called the student and inquired as to why was she wearing sleeveless top. When the student informed the warden about the decision, the female warden refused to believe her and said that students make such excuses to wear clothes of their choice. The student claims that she was then taken to another room and made to strip to prove that she was suffering from a skin infection. Greater Noida: Class 10 Boy Forced to Strip, Perform Ramp Walk, Teacher Shoots Video. Following the incident, SNDT students took to social media to vent out their anger and protest against hostel warden Jhaveri. A student even tagged HRD minister Prakash Javadekar and demanded that action be taken against the warden. Ragging in Kolkata: Students, Alumni Arrested for Making Junior Strip & Shooting Nude Video at St Pauls Cathedral Mission College. SNDT authorities have said that they have received a written complaint against the warden and that a committee will be formed to look into the matter. The police, meanwhile, has registered a case under IPC 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) against warden Rachana Jhaveri. The police has also asked the warden to produce herself at the Santacruz police station on Monday morning. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 10:52 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Lucknow, October 15: Uttar Pradesh Minister OP Rajbhar has trained guns at his own government for allotting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawatis bungalow to former Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav. Speaking to news agency ANI, Rajbhar said, Allotting bungalow and giving Z+ security to Shivpal Yadav clearly gives the message that he is being given protection by BJP and has started working for BJP. On October 12, The Yogi Adityanath government allotted the government bungalow to Yadav. The bungalow was allotted to the Samajwadi Secular Morcha founder after a Supreme Court directive. Yadav while speaking to PTI said that he had been allotted the bungalow as there were intelligence reports of threats to him. Yadav said that he had applied for a government bungalow, and the one at 6, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg was allotted to him. Is Shivpal Yadav BJP's Weapon Against Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawati Combine? Allotting bungalow and giving Z+ security to Shivpal Yadav clearly gives the message that he is being given protection by BJP and has started working for BJP: OP Rajbhar, UP Minister pic.twitter.com/5rxu3hbiM2 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 15, 2018 Meanwhile, the Congress also attacked the Yogi government of favouring Yadav. Mayawati vacated the bungalow after the Supreme Court struck down on May 7 an amendment to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act that allowed former chief ministers to retain their government accommodation when their term ended. After this, former CM's including Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Narain Dutt Tiwari, and Rajnath Singh vacates their bungalows in the state capital. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 06:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Archaeologists have discovered the skeletal remains of a 10-year-old that affirms the use of 'vampire burial' technique. News reports state that the grave of a 10-year-old, possibly afflicted with malaria, has been uncovered by scientists from the University of Arizona and Stanford University. What confirms the possibility of the child being buried by the 'vampire burial' ritual is the presence of a rock intentionally inserted into the mouth of the child. This unusual method of burial was carried out by the natives of the Italian region, Umbria. Vampire Facial Suspected of Carrying HIV Risk! Heres What You Need To Know About This Controversial Beauty Treatment The use of vampire burial became a wide-spread phenomenon when a deadly malaria breakout occurred back in the mid-fifth century and wiped out a big chunk of the population. The inhabitants of the area believed that the diseased can from the dead and spread the disease. The stone placed in the mouth was part of a ritual to contain the disease and the body itself, as believed by researchers. On the same, archaeologist David Soren, who has overseen the excavation on the site since 1987, stated, "I've never seen anything like it. It's extremely eerie and weird." The discovery was first procured from the La Necropoli dei Bambini (which translates to Cemetary of the Babies) and dates back to the mid-fifth century when the malaria outbreak killed vulnerable babies and young children. The bodies of the young victims were buried at an abandoned Roman villa that was initially constructed at the end of 1 BC. Vampire Killer Slits Throat of Woman; Drinks Blood, Gets Caught in Zimbabwe Initially, the oldest skeletal remains extracted from the site were that of a three-year-old girl, which led the scientists to believe that the site was designed for infants and babies only. However, by uncovering the 10-year-old's skull (sex of which is yet to be deciphered), archaeologists believe that the site was further used for older children as well. "There are still sections of the cemetery that we haven't excavated yet, so we don't know if we'll find other older kids," stated Jordan Wilson, a doctoral student at the University of Arizona. Polyamorous Vampire Couple Reveal How They Use Sexual Energy and Blood to Feed Themselves Another doctoral student at Stanford, David Pickel explained the uniqueness of the 10-year-old's skull adding, "Given the age of this child and its unique deposition, with the stone placed within his or her mouth, it represents, at the moment, an anomaly within an already abnormal cemetery." On the same, Soren stated how the Romans went to the extent of witchcraft to evade the disease that has taken the lives of the innocent children. He added, "We know that the Romans were very much concerned with this and would even go to the extent of employing witchcraft to keep the evil -- whatever is contaminating the body -- from coming out." (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 11:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, said on Sunday that its very confusing trying to discern who has U.S. President Donald Trumps ear on trade policy, as China-U.S. relations continue to come under strain over the issue. In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Cui was asked for his take on the Trump administrations approach to trade. Are you clear who President Trump listens to on trade issues, whether its moderates like Kudlow and Mnuchin or hard-liners like Navarro? host Chris Wallace asked, referring to White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and trade adviser Peter Navarro. Cui replied: You tell me. Honestly, Ive been talking to ambassadors of other countries in Washington, D.C., and this is also part of their problem, Cui continued. They dont know who is the final decision-maker. Of course, presumably the president will take the final decision. But who is playing what role? Sometimes, it could be very confusing. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will "probably" meet at a G20 summit next month. On the agenda, presumably will be the deteriorating trade ties which has led both countries to slapping massive tariffs on each other's imports. But, Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said trade talks with China with each side imposing a mounting series of tariffs on the other, raising fears of a shock to the global economy had so far been "unsatisfactory." "The relationship has not been positive lately," Kudlow said. The China-U.S. bilateral has seen a downswing of ties not just in trade but also in security matters. Earlier this month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence issued a long litany of complaints against China. He accused Beijing of "predatory" trade practices, of military "aggression," of massive attacks on personal freedoms and religious minorities, and even of electoral interference aimed at unseating Trump by running ads in American newspapers. Cui replied on Fox that Chinese media were "just learning from American media to use all these means to buy commercial pages from newspapers," adding, "This is a normal practice for all the media." But the Chinese ambassador also held out hope for the G20 Buenos Aires meeting. Two earlier meetings between the presidents, he said, had made it "clear that such top-level communication played a key role, irreplaceable role in guiding the relationship forward. And there is good mutual understanding and good working relationship between the two. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 09:25 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Islamabad, October 15: A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed on Monday as the troops of the two countries exchanged fire after tensions over Pakistani officials fencing the border. The Friendship Gate near Chaman in Balochistan province in the south-west was closed on Sunday after troops of the two sides exchanged fire about 60 km north of the border town of Chaman, with the clash lasting several hours, according to Dawn. However, it was briefly opened on Sunday evening to let stranded people cross over. Pakistani officials said Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani personnel who were erecting a fence along the border in the Tandah Dara Sarochahan area. There were no reports of casualties in the clash. After the incident, Pakistani border authorities closed the Friendship Gate near Chaman, leaving thousands of people stranded on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistan Ready to Share Details of CPEC Debts with IMF for Bailout Package: FM Asad Umar. The exchange of fire ended in the evening, the officials said. The firing stopped late in the evening but the situation is still tense, they said, adding that Pakistani officials deployed more troops to the area. Pakistan has been erecting a fence along its western border to stop "illegal influx of terrorists and smugglers from Afghanistan who often use infrequent routes to enter Pakistan." Pakistan has already informed the Afghan government of its decision to build a border fence. However, Afghan officials in the Spin Buldak area raised objections to Islamabad's decision. Kabul, October 15: At least 18 Afghan army soldiers were killed and 10 others kidnapped in attacks carried out by the Taliban militant group against several military checkpoints in the western province of Farah, officials told Efe on Sunday. The attacks come amid increased violence ahead of the Afghan legislative elections scheduled for October 20, in which four attacks have been carried out against campaign events, killing dozens, while the Taliban continues to control several districts in the country. The head of the Farah provincial council, Farid Bakhtawar, provided efe with the number of soldiers killed and captured in the attacks, which began Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning in the district of Poshtrod. Taliban Attacks Afghan Police and Military Bases, Kill 10 Members of Security Forces. Bakhtawar asserted that Afghan government forces maintained control of the positions. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed via Twitter that two Afghan army positions in Poshtrod were overrun in an attack Saturday night, and said that 25 Afghan army soldiers were killed and 12 were taken prisoner while no Taliban fighters were killed. The Taliban spokesperson also posted photos allegedly showing seized weapons and captured Afghan soldiers in camouflage uniforms seated in a room with their hands behind their backs. The confrontation between the Afghan army and the Taliban was confirmed by defense ministry spokesperson Sayed Ghafoor Javed in a press conference, although he did not provide details on the number of casualties. Javed added that the Taliban were forced to retreat and that Afghan authorities had begun an investigation into the incident. Farah police spokesperson Mohibullah Mohib told EFE that no official report on the total number of victims had been released. This attack comes a day after the Taliban's political chief confirmed for the first time that the group had met in Qatar with the United States' special envoy to negotiate an end to the 17-year-long conflict. The Taliban had issued warnings demanding a boycott of next week's parliamentary elections, calling them a "false" process that aimed to legitimize the presence of foreign troops in the country. According to media reports, attacks by the Taliban on Afghan army forces occur nearly every day. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 08:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Ahmedabad, October 15: An expat scientist from Gujarat has tweeted that he and his friends were denied entry into a "garba" dance event in Atlanta in the US after organisers allegedly said that their last names and look weren't "Hindu". Karan Jani (29), hailing from Vadodara, is an astrophysicist in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), a large-scale physics experiment and observatory operated by Caltech and MIT to detect cosmic gravitational waves. Man Stares at Ex-Wife During Garba, Husband Thrashes Him in Ahmedabad. "Year 2018 and Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because: 'You dont look Hindu and last name in your IDs dont sound Hindu,'" Jani alleged in a tweet on October 12 after the incident. He and his friends were denied entry on the ground that they were "Ismaili, Vohra and Sindhis", Jani said. Meanwhile, his father Pankaj Jani, who lives in Vadodara, told media persons that Karan spoke to him after the incident and sounded nervous. "Volunteers stopped him and told him he does not look like a Hindu and even his surname does not appear to be that of a Hindu. They checked his ID which had the national emblem on it. Despite that, he was asked to leave. Later he talked to me over phone and sounded nervous," Jani said. "He has been going there since years for the event," the victim's father further said. In his tweet, Karan Jani narrated a conversation between one of the organisers and his friend. He said:"My Konkani friend who came to Garba for 1st time due to enthusiasm of us Gujaratis was pulled out of line and was told: 'We dont come to your events, you are not allowed to ours' She: 'My last name is Murdeshwar. Im Kannada-Marathi!' Him: 'What is Kannada? You are Ismaili'." "My other friends last name had 'Dangarwala'. We spoke in Gujarati to them. They still said we were 'Vohra, Sindhis'. They actually kept stating other religions!! They ganged up and told us to leave. While we saw other non-Indians being entered (which they of course should!)," he further tweeted. "Our IDs had Indian Emblem. Yes emblem with 'Satyamev Jayate' right? Apparently, it didnt have our religion. Our caste. It was embarrassing. I had tears in my eyes saying them: I come here to play Garba for last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of last name'," Jani mentioned on the microblogging site. Jani said that he had been attending the event at the venue for the last six years "to celebrate Indian culture" and the incident had left him "shocked and embarrassed". (ANSA) - Milan, October 15 - EU sanctions on Russia are absurd, Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Monday. "On Wednesday I'm going back to Russia for the umpteenth time because a debate is ongoing at the European level whether to indefinitely renew the economic sanctions against Russia which I believed, and believe, are a social, cultural and economic absurdity," said the leader of the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League party. Speaking about the effects of the sanctions on Italian exports to Russia, he added: "they are precluding a market to us". he said "I'm not going there because they pay me in rubles, as someone has written, but because I'm absolutely convinced (the sanctions are wrong)". First drive: 2019 Hyundai NEXO Oct 15, 2018, 11:30am ET Hyundai's new dedicated fuel cell EV is here. Why does that matter? The automotive world is electrifying rapidly. Diesel is dead. Batteries are evolving by leaps and bounds. Charging stations are everywhere. Gasoline may still be king, but the tide is turning. There's a catch, though. Hybrids--even ultra-efficient plug-in models--seem to have reached a saturation point. Outside of established nameplates (read: Toyota Prius), there's just not much demand. The real expansion of electrified powertrains is happening at the full-blown BEV (battery-electric vehicle) end of the spectrum. So, what about hydrogen? Hyundai has been in the fuel-cell game for two decades now. The 2019 Hyundai NEXO is the company's first shot at a dedicated FCV (previously, it had hydrogen-powered Tucson). Like the Honda Clarity FCV, the NEXO has been built on an all-new, dedicated green-car platform. Unlike the Honda, however, NEXO is not being offered with multiple powertrains. This is a hydrogen-powered vehicle, full-stop. Oh, and it's a crossover instead of an oddly proportioned sedan. In many ways, it represents the worst of both worlds. FCVs are fundamentally electric cars, but unlike BEVs, they don't boast high-capacity battery packs capable of storing enough energy for dedicated electric driving. Yet, like a hybrid, they carry the burden of bulky powertrains dedicated to producing, storing and utilizing electricity. Oh, and as an added bonus, FCVs run on hydrogen, which is expensive to produce, store and transport. Plus, the hydrogen filling station infrastructure is practically non-existent. Even in California, where the large metro areas have multiple filling stations, hydrogen is not at all convenient. And then there's the process... Hydrogen can be obtained via solar-powered electrolysis. The science behind that isn't really important. What matters is that we're talking about using expensive solar panels to produce electricity, then using that electricity to produce hydrogen, then using that hydrogen to produce electricity again (the fuel cell in action) and using that electricity to drive electric motors to produce propulsion. If it sounds inefficient, that's because it is. Even Hyundai's fuel cell stack itself is only a little better than 60% efficient, and that's after we've already produced the hydrogen. So, why bother? Hydrogen isn't cheap, and it probably never truly will be. At some point, however, we're going to need renewable, zero-emission fuel sources. And until we reach a point where batteries can hold up to rapid charging (and the infrastructure is built to support it), we're going to need ways to address range. Think of a fuel cell as the ultimate range extender. The experience The beauty of a FCV is that while its powertrain may be complex, the experience of driving it is actually very straightforward. The NEXO comes in two trims: Blue and Limited. Blue models come with smaller wheels and offer 380 miles of range on a single fill-up. Limited models, which have bigger wheels, more weight and higher-rolling-resistance tires, offer 354. This is where hyrdogen goes from being a worst-of-both-worlds to best-of-both-worlds experience. Driving the NEXO is just like driving any other EV. Maintaining it is simple too. There are a couple of filters which qualify as maintenance items, but the powertrain has very few moving parts. The battery is even warrantied to 100,000 miles for peace of mind. What do we mean when we say it's like driving any other EV? Well, there's tons of torque, for starters. The NEXO's motor produces just 120kW (~160 horsepower) but nearly 300 lb-ft of torque, and that's available instantly. Then, after you've abused that torque repeatedly, the NEXO only requires a five-minute stop at a filling station to be back at full range. Simple. Well, assuming you can find the filling station. Like most electrified cars, it has selectable drive modes with adjustable regenerative braking. The wheel-mounted paddles will adjust the regen level. There's no true one-pedal-driving mode, however, which is a noteworthy omission. Holding the left paddle will maximize regenerative response (which makes lifting off the throttle the same as hitting the brakes), but unlike other EVs and some hybrids, you can't simply leave it in that mode indefinitely. It's quick. It's quiet. It's roomy. Hyundai was wise to make the NEXO a crossover. For a company that has lagged the competition in developing a modern lineup of people-movers, this is a refreshing change. While the NEXO's crossover configuration may be refreshingly forward-thinking, its cabin layout is somewhat anachronistic. Hyundai says the center console was inspired by an airline cockpit, and we believe it. It's a huge panel of grey-painted plastic switches (including the "gear" selector), and looks like it would have been right at home in a luxury car circa 1990. It's kind of cool in its own right, though. 1990s nostalgia is in, and baking it into a vehicle style modern buyers will appreciate seems like kind of a win-win. Perspective The 2019 Hyundai NEXO is a good car, but in the context of the current economy, it doesn't make a ton of sense. Pricing has not been announced yet, but NEXO will be expensive (as the Clarity is), and while both are eligible for subsidies that will bring prices down, those likely will not last forever. So, don't think of NEXO as a car in the traditional sense. Think of it as a tech showcase--a testbed or proof of (a currently still somewhat lofty) concept. Hydrogen will play a role in the future of energy on earth. That's pretty much inescapable. How that will impact mobility will come down to where it's most efficient to produce that fuel--on the ground or in the vehicle. For now, the jury's still out. Leftlane's bottom line The 2019 Hyundai NEXO is very impressive in a vacuum. It's the future wrapped in a contemporary package, and we think that's promising. 2019 Hyundai NEXO FCEV Blue base price, $TBD Photos courtesy of Hyundai. Oct 15, 2018, 9:58am ET Porsche Taycans ride on autonomous robots during assembly Porsche says it is the first automaker to use driverless transportation systems in a continuous vehicle assembly line. Porsche has shed more light on its modern manufacturing process for the Taycan EV. The company describes the Taycan production and assembly facilities as a "factory within a factory" at its main plant in Zuffenhausen. The cars will be moved through the building on autonomous robot platforms, creating a so-called flexible assembly line. "By applying flexi-line production, Porsche will become the first vehicle manufacturer to use driverless transport systems in a continuous series production process," says Porsche production head Albrecht Reimold. The company has also outlined its plans to build 400 high-powered charging stations with a capacity of 350kW per charging point across Europe by the end of 2019. Parent Volkswagen Group is also planning to place 300 charging stations in the US as part of the diesel emissions settlement, though not all will support the full 350kW power. The Taycan's 800-volt battery can be charged quickly enough to add 62 miles of NEDC-estimated range in just four minutes. Oct 15, 2018, 3:56pm ET Tesla Autopilot V9 analysis: 'Mind boggling expansion' of neural network capabilities An in-depth look at the latest Autopilot software suggests Tesla is making significant progress in its transition to neural network architecture. A neural network researcher has described 'shocking' findings in an in-depth analysis of Tesla's latest Autopilot V9 software. CEO Elon Musk has dismissed the industry's obsession with lidar mapping, arguing that passive optical image recognition is better suited to our human-optimized road system. The company has consequently embraced artificial neural networks to process images, enabling Autopilot to benefit from the latest machine learning algorithms. Engineers and programmers have apparently been making progress in re-coding many of Autopilot's features to run on a neural net framework instead of relying on classical programming. The V9 software brings many user-oriented changes, such as a dash cam, but also reportedly deploys significant under-the-hood changes to Autopilot. In a preliminary analysis of the latest V9 software, Tesla Motors Club user jimmy_d has conjectured the implementation of new camera-processing capabilities. Autopilot V8 is believed to have only used a few camera inputs, but V9 is apparently using all available cameras to effectively analyze a 360-degree view. The analysis also suggests V9 is processing camera frames in pairs that may enable the computer to see motion. "Motion can give you depth, separate objects from the background, help identify objects, predict object trajectories, and provide information about the vehicle's own motion," jimmy_d notes. "It's a pretty fundamental improvement to the basic perceptions of the system." The researcher also found evidence that Tesla has switched to a camera-agnostic neural network. Previously, the system would have essentially required a unique set of algorithms to interpret the view from individual cameras that may have different lens distortions, orientations or fields of view. The agnostic system is said to utilize a single core system capable of interpreting data from any of the cameras, improving performance and efficiency but greatly increasing training requirements. "I didn't expect to see a camera agnostic network for a long time," says jimmy_d. "It's kind of shocking." The analysis further indicates that Tesla may have maxed out the processing capabilities of the current Autopilot HW2 hardware. To achieve full self-driving capability, Tesla has developed its own chips optimized for neural-network processing. The new components will bring an order of magnitude improvement in HW3 processing speed for the type of neural network architecture used in software v9. Tesla is expected to roll out HW3 sometime next year. It will be installed on new vehicles and available as a drop-in upgrade for those that shipped with HW2. Migrants: over 7,000 apprehended in 7 days at Turkey borders Ankara, '557 intercepted at sea, 339 traffickers arrested' (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, OCTOBER 15 - Turkish authorities have apprehended over the past week 7,276 people accused of trying to cross the borders with the European Union or of entering the country without regular documents, the Turkish interior ministry said. They include 557 people who were intercepted at sea, according to the same source. The ministry added that over the same period a reported 339 suspected human traffickers were arrested. Ever since the controversial accord with Brussels in March 2016, the number of migrants and refugees who reached the EU each day from Turkey, especially Greece, has decreased significantly. This year, however, a growing number of people attempted the crossing and remained blocked while trying to reach Europe. (ANSAmed). Oct 15, 2018, 3:22am ET Volvo won't offer T6 PHEV drivetrain in America The company wants to avoid selling too many variants. Volvo's T6 Twin Engine drivetrain won't reach American shores anytime soon, the company has confirmed. It prefers to satisfy demand for a plug-in hybrid powertrain with the more powerful -- and more expensive -- T8 Twin Engine setup. "One thing the customers don't want -- and I would say our partners, retailers, they don't want either -- they don't want too many versions," said Anders Gustafsson, the CEO of Volvo's American division, in an interview with Roadshow. The T6 and the T8 are related. The T8 is built around a 2.0-liter four-cylinder that's both turbocharged and supercharged. Add an electric motor into the mix and the system's total output checks in at 400 horsepower and 472 pound-feet of torque. The T6 uses the same electric motor but its 2.0-liter makes less power. T6-equipped cars sold in Europe boast 340 horsepower and 435 pound-feet of torque. Offering the T6 in the United States would be fairly straight-forward, and Gustafsson hasn't completely ruled it out, but he indicated his team is currently focused on simplifying the Volvo line-up. This is less important in Europe, where cars are more often than not built to order rather than chosen from the selection on a dealer's lot. "If you have too many versions, [customers] always want the car that is parked somewhere else," he said. "Why go for the cheap one when you can sell the big one?" A Monroe County man told police he was watching TV when he heard a knock on his door about 11 p.m. Saturday. He did not answer, and a few minutes later, his door was kicked in, according to Pocono Mountain Regional police. Four perpetrators fled upon seeing the victim, police said in a news release. Investigators labeled the incident an attempted home invasion robbery. Investigators watched surveillance video at the home in the 8900 block of Deerfield Drive in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, and observed the home invasion attempt by four individuals wearing masks and carrying burglary tools and a shotgun case, the release states. Police asked anyone with information on who was responsible to call the department at 570-895-2400 and ask for Detective Ryan Venneman. "Police are also warning residents to be attentive, lock doors and call in any suspicious behavior," police Chief Chris Wagner says in the release. Editor's note: If reading this story on the mobile app, click here to watch the video. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. This is in response to Democrat Mark Singel's Oct. 11 op-ed column, "In November, we have to stand up for truth." Where was the Democrats' stance for the truth on Nov. 9, 2016, when Donald Trump was declared winner of the presidency? The Democratic party still refuses to accept this truth to uphold their sworn oath to the Constitution and Congress! Singel argues against outright truth regarding Dr. Christine Ford's accusation of sexual assault and the denial of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Constitution clearly states that a person remains innocent until proven guilty of crime. The onus is on the accuser to prove guilt. Seven FBI investigations of Kavanaugh found no evidence, proving Kavanugh was not involved with Ford! The "Keep Families Together Act" was introduced by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein a month after the Trump administration started instituting a "zero tolerance" immigration policy, under which anyone crossing border illegally will be prosecuted. ICE was ordered by Homeland Security, under an existing bill, to separate children. Then House Democrats initiated a new bill to banish ICE, but it didn't pass. Trump said if Democrats get majority seats, they will allow open borders, as a negative talking point against both the Feinstein bill and the failed ICE bill. He did not lie. Advice for both parties: Jesus says, "If you abide in my Word you shall know the truth and that truth will set you free." Philip H. Beach Sr. Bethlehem Township, Pa. A driver wanted for allegedly fleeing from a traffic stop and then crashing into a motorcyclist has been apprehended. Jaquan Simmons (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Jaquan Simmons, 22, of the 400 block of South Main Street in Phillipsburg, has been held at Northampton County Prison since Sunday afternoon. Bethlehem Township police Sgt. Shaun Powell said township officers around 1:15 p.m. Sunday were involved in a foot chase with Simmons. Simmons ran from his place of employment -- Steak 'n Shake in the Madison Farms shopping center -- and into the Wagner Farms housing development, Powell said. Several residents in that neighborhood notified police that Simmons was headed south of Freemansburg Avenue and he eventually was tackled by an off-duty officer in a cornfield, Powell said. Simmons was identified as a fugitive from justice by Warren County following an Oct. 9 traffic stop near Mercer and Stockton streets in Phillipsburg. Phillipsburg police said as an officer got out of his patrol car, Simmons sped off -- going through a red light and striking a motorcyclist who was riding north on South Main Street. Simmons then lost control and struck a vehicle parked on Stockton Street, before climbing out of his own vehicle and running away, police said. The motorcyclist, whom police did not identify, was taken for treatment at St. Luke's University Hospital, Fountain Hill, according to a news release. In the Oct. 9 incident, Simmons faces charges of eluding, aggravated assault and knowingly leaving the scene of a crash resulting in serious bodily injury. Simmons was charged in Sunday's incident with being a fugitive from justice. He is awaiting extradition back to New Jersey, Powell said. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A jury verdict which found a driver guilty of manslaughter, after doctors agreed that he met the criteria to be found legally insane, has been causing the Director of Public Prosecutions some difficulty, the Court of Appeal has been told. Polish national Dariusz Alchimionek (44), with an address at Barrow Way, Spa Street, Portarlington, Co Laois, had denied the manslaughter of John Gorman (19) and assault causing harm to his brother, Adam, on December 29, 2015. The brothers had been returning home from Tullamore when a vehicle, driven by Alchimionek, suddenly crossed the road into the path of their oncoming car at Ballycrystal, Geashill, Co Offaly. Tullamore Circuit Criminal Court heard how Alchimionek had become convinced the Islamic State group, or Isis, were about to invade Europe and a third World War was about to begin. Consultant psychiatrists for both the prosecution and the defence agreed that Alchimionek met the criteria to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury had the option of returning of three verdicts: guilty, not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity. After two hours and 50 minutes of deliberations, the jury returned majority guilty verdicts of 11-1 on both counts, which were met with applause in the courtroom. The accused was then sentenced nine years imprisonment with the final three suspended by Judge Keenan Johnson in October 2017. Alchimionek has lodged an appeal against his conviction on the sole ground that the jurys verdict was perverse and against the evidence. His appeal was due to be heard in the Court of Appeal Tuesday, October 16. However, lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions successfully sought an adjournment of the case on Monday. Counsel for the DPP, Michael Delaney SC, said it was a case "on which the Director has been reflecting for some time" and it has caused "some difficulty". Mr Delaney said the prosecutions consultant psychiatrist effectively agreed with the consultant psychiatrist hired by the defence that Alchimionek met the criteria for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. The prosecutions consultant psychiatrist had not been called to give evidence. However, the jury was told that the prosecutions doctor effectively agreed with the doctor for the defence. Mr Delaney said the DPP wished to carry out "further enquiries" some of which had a bearing on questions asked by the jury". He said the DPP would be seeking a further opinion from their consultant psychiatrist which would take some weeks. Counsel for Alchimionek, Kenneth Fogarty SC, said the atmosphere in the Circuit Court had been "highly charged". There was an "outpouring of emotion" that was "humanly understandable" but not desirable in terms of how the law was to be applied". Mr Fogarty said the prosecution had made a decision at one point to "change what the accused man was facing". What started out as a dangerous driving causing death charge later became a manslaughter charge. He said it was explained to Alchimionek that the foregone conclusion of a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity, was a referral to the Central Mental Hospital (CMH). Mr Fogarty said Alchimionek was currently on a landing in Wheatfield Prison and his only instructions were that hed be more suitably detained in the CMH. He said the medication in Wheatfield was the same as in the CMH but the resources were not. President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Ms Justice Maire Whelan and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, put the matter back for case management to November 30, next. Mr Justice Birmingham said the court would try to get the parties an early date for hearing if necessary but it may not be. A fundamental plan is required for a number of sewage systems in South Kildare members of the Athy Area District were told at this months meeting. The member heard earlier today that a plan is required to upgrade the systems serving Narraghmore, Kilmeade, Kilberry, Moone, Timolin, Levittstown and Maganey, Nurney. According to a motion tabled by Cllr Martin Miley the capacity for future developement in these villages will be affected if the deficits in these systems are not upgraded. While the Town Manager was in agreement the meeting heard that Irish Water is now responsible for water and wastewater services. A Councillor Clinic with Irish Water will take place next Monday, October 22 at Kildare County Council from 10am to 12 noon. Cllr Miley said that capacity is hindering future development at these villages. We are letting people down, he said. There are no houses left for young married couples some of them are being forced to live seperately with their parents. Could we have a special meeting with Irish Water? It is not going to be solved overnight a lot of investigation is required and this is going to have to be done by Irish Water. We need to look after our own and make sure there is enough development for them in the future. All members agreed to request a special meeting with Irish Water on this issue. SEE ALSO: Only one rebuilding Ireland loan approved for Athy The following deaths have taken place in Leitrim and surrounding areas: Barbara Ellis, Midsummers Cottage, Main Road, Dromahair, Leitrim / Sligo Suddenly at Sligo University Hospital. Beloved mother of Sandie. Sadly missed by her heartbroken daughter, sister Sandy, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, relatives and friends. Celebration of life and service will take place today Monday evening at Cannis Major Church, Clayton Hotel grounds, Clarion Road, Sligo at 6.30pm. Cremation will follow in Mount Jerome Crematorium, Harold's Cross, Dublin on Tuesday. House and Cremation Strictly Private Please. Family flowers only please, donations in lieu if desired to Shout Out. Sean Nealon, Dunboyne, Meath / Ballinamore, Leitrim Died October 11th., 2018 (peacefully) surrounded by his family and in the loving care of the staff at the Mater Private Hospital. Beloved husband of Shirley and dear father of Sean and a devoted and cherished grandfather of Sean; sadly missed by his loving wife, son, grandson, daughter-in-law Liz, brother Jim, sister Nelly, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives, Bradys staff past and present, customers and friends. Reposing at Cunninghams Funeral Home, Main St., Dunboyne on Tuesday evening (October 16th.) between 5 -8pm. Removal on Wednesday morning (October 17th.) to The S.S. Peter and Pauls Church, Dunboyne arriving for Requiem Mass at 11 am followed by burial in Rooske Cemetery, Dunboyne. Family flowers only, please. Donations, if desired, to Temple St. Hospital, donation boxes will be located in the Funeral Home. Kathleen King (nee Murtagh) Hillstreet, Carrick-on-Shannon, Roscommon / Curry, Sligo Late of Curry, Co. Sligo. Peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family. Predeceased by her husband Paddy, grandchildren Brian and Shane, son-in-law Jim Summers, brothers Pake, John, Jim and Mike and her sister Mary. Beloved Mother of Pat, Michael, Jim, Gerry, Mary, John and Anne. Kathleen will be sadly missed by her loving family, her sister Teresa (Murtagh), daughters-in-law, son-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends. Removal on Monday morning to Aughrim Church arriving for Mass of Christian Burial at 12 noon. Interment afterwards in Aughrim Cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu of flowers, if desired, to Mayo/Roscommon Hospice, Palliative Care Team c/o Brady's Funeral Directors, Elphin. May they all Rest In Peace. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The biggest celebration of books and reading for children in Ireland is underway in libraries across the country with free, fun events planned for all the family. The Childrens Book Festival is taking place throughout the month of October in all library services throughout the country. The festival will give children of all ages the chance to meet their favourite Irish writers and talk to them about their books and the characters in the stories. The annual festival encourages the enjoyment of books and reading among children and families, and provides a programme of free, fun events and activities with hundreds of Irish childrens authors, poets and illustrators involved this year. Mary Stuart, Head of Libraries Development, LGMA, noted, With the school term well underway, the Childrens Book Festival provides an ideal opportunity for children and families to engage in reading as a fun activity. Reading for leisure not only enhances educational outcomes, but also strongly supports the development of childrens confidence, self-esteem and wellbeing. This year, the public libraries are collaborating with Childrens Books Ireland for the national Childrens Book Festival. Elaina Ryan, Director of Childrens Books Ireland said, Childrens Books Ireland is delighted to support Childrens Book Festival, which coincides with our own #ShareAStory campaign, encouraging grandparents and grandchildren to share stories together. The eye-catching illustrations for both campaigns, created by Lauren ONeill, show this intergenerational relationship with stories beautifully. The festival provides the whole family with an opportunity to explore the full range of childrens library services, including story time sessions, book clubs, childrens events, access to talking books and games, workshops, computers and internet access, and of course childrens books for all ages. Details of events in your area are available from your local library. ROME - At least 106 chemical attacks have been carried out against civilians in Syria from 2014 until today, according to an investigation carried out by the BBC. The BBC reported on its website that, after a seven-year-long devastating civil war that killed over 350,000 people, President Bashar al-Assad ''appears close to victory against the forces trying to overthrow him''. The BBC's website published a detailed map of attacks that occurred after Assad signed the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and agreed to destroy the country's chemical weapons stockpile. ''Syria ratified the CWC a month after a chemical weapons attack on several suburbs of the capital, Damascus, that involved the nerve agent Sarin and left hundreds of people dead'', the BBC said. ''The horrific pictures of victims convulsing in agony shocked the world. Western powers said the attack could only have been carried out by the government, but Mr Assad blamed the opposition'', the broadcaster recalled. ''The US threatened military action in retaliation but relented when Mr Assad's key ally, Russia, persuaded him to agree to the elimination of Syria's chemical arsenal. Despite the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations destroying all 1,300 tonnes of chemicals that the Syrian government declared, chemical weapons in the country have continued''. Assad has denied at the start of this year having chemical weapons at his disposal but, according to the OPCW, at least 37 military operations between September 2013 and April 2018 involved the use of chemical toxic agents. The independent commission of inquiry of the UN Human Rights Council on Syria, together with other international organizations, has reported an additional 18 episodes. The BBC investigation examined 164 reports of suspected chemical attacks that occurred in Syria since the Convention was signed. The reports, the BBC said, ''were from a variety of sources considered broadly impartial and not involved in the fighting. They included international bodies, human rights groups, medical organizations and think tanks. In line with investigations carried out by the UN and OPCW, BBC researchers, with the help of several independent analysts, reviewed the open source data available for each of the reported attacks, including victim and witness testimonies, photographs and videos. The BBc discounted all incidents where there was only one source or where they concluded there was not sufficient evidence. In all, they determined there was enough credible evidence to be confident a chemical weapon was used in 106 incidents''. The majority of them occurred in the province of Idlib. Numerous chemical attacks were reported near Hama and Aleppo, as well as in the region of Ghouta, close to Damascus. The worst was in April 4,2017 in Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, where, according to opposition medical sources, over 80 people were killed. A SUPERBUG patient who was included in a list of names of deceased University Hospital Limerick inpatients that was sent to the local coroner in 2017, was in fact still alive. In July 2017, a whistleblower issued coroner John McNamara with a list of 36 names of superbug patients, whom he or she believed died as a result of the CPE superbug since 2009. Following internal and external investigations launched by the UL Hospitals Group, it was confirmed that CPE was an associative factor in seven of the 36 named cases. In total, CPE was an associative factor in eight patients deaths, out of 73 reviewed cases. But it emerged this week, at a press conference at UHL, that one of the superbug patients was still alive and another named patient did not have the CPE superbug. On June 11 this year, the UL Hospitals Group wrote to GPs of patients involved in the review, as part of efforts to make contact with the next-of-kin, as part of its open disclosure process. However, only seven of the eight families or next-of-kin have been contacted to date. UL Hospitals Groups chief clinical director, Prof Paul Burke said the eighth person was a foreign national and despite a number of registered letters going to that person, in both English and their native language, we havent managed to contact the eighth family. Prof Burke said that, of the seven contacted, five of the families met with management at UHL, while two other families chose not to meet us. A spokesperson said that the UL Hospitals Group wrote to the next-of-kin of the other 65 patients in whom the CPE superbug was determined not to have played a role. The spokesperson added that they have been informed of the review findings in respect of their loved ones, and have been provided with a contact phone number and link to the report, which was published on October 9. The first CPE case in Ireland was detected at University Hospital Limerick in February 2009. The first outbreak of CPE in Ireland was declared at UHL in 2011. A SITTING Limerick councillor has confirmed he is to contest public order charges relating to an incident which happened earlier this year. Cllr John Loftus, aged 62, who has an address at St Johns Avenue, Mulgrave Street in the city is accused of being intoxicated in a public place; using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place and with failure to comply with the direction of gardai, under the provisions of Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act. Previously, Limerick District Court was told the independent councillor was arrested on Saturday, May 26 in relation to an incident which occurred at Lord Edward Street on the same date. The matter first came before the court in June and last month gardai were ordered to disclose any outstanding materials to Cllr Loftus and his lawyers so the case could be progressed and a plea entered. During a procedural hearing at Limerick District Court, Judge Marian OLeary was told that all documents and materials relating to the case have now been disclosed by the State. Solicitor Sabina Hegerty confirmed this and said her client will be contesting the charges. I am seeking a hearing date in the matter, she said which means Cllr Loftus is to enter a not guilty plea. Ms Hegerty told Judge OLeary there will be CCTV evidence in the case and that she expects the hearing could last up to two hours. While Judge OLeary expressed her surprise that the case will last so long given the nature of the charges, she adjourned the matter to January for hearing before a special court. Cllr Loftus, a former Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor, sat in the public gallery of Courtroom 6 throughout the morning before his case was called. Following a brief discussion with Ms Hegerty, he left the courtroom without making any comment after the case was dealt with. If convicted of the charges before the court, the Limerick city west councillor faces a maximum fine of 569 and/or a six month prison sentence. LIMERICK City and County Council is seeking more than 20m in Government funding in order to regenerate the heart of the city centre for 2019. Members of the economic special policy committee convened a meeting at City Hall to discuss the councils pitch for the annual Urban Regeneration Development Fund, which is granted by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. The Government will approve 100m for projects nationally for 2019, and 500m in total by 2022. The council has submitted 12 applications worth a total of 20,124,706, while two of the applications are non-council projectsthe Limerick Docklands project on behalf of the Shannon Foynes Port Company, and the International Rugby Experience on OConnell Street. The council is seeking 1.8m for the Opera Project; 904,688 for the OConnell Street revitalisation project; 187,500 for the development of OConnell Street, Henry Street and Catherine Street; 1,201,402 for rejuvenating the Georgian Quarter; 350,000 for a world class waterfront; 2,271,780 for 834 houses in Mungret; 120,000 for a link road in Castletroy; 1m for a virtual reality centre; 6,423,571 for the Docklands project; and 5,217,000 for the rugby museum. Mayor of Limerick City and County, Cllr James Collins asked the council if one project secured funding for 2019, would funding be ringfenced for the following three years. The answer was no. Even if you get phase one of the money, you have to reapply every year, so its very hard to project manage a big project like that, if youre only committed money in year one. So whats actually needed there is multi-annual budget, said Mayor Collins. He added: If youre looking at all of those projects that are going in, realistically, we will probably get one or two funded. So what happens all the other ones? Do they wait until next year? Its a very difficult system to run, just on a year-by-year basis. If the application is successful, the council has to provide 10% of allocated funding. A TRAVELLER was jailed just a matter of hours after he admitted driving while disqualified in Limerick. Patrick ODonoghue, aged 30, who has an address at Rhebogue Halting site, Rhebogue pleaded guilty to a number of road traffic charges just over four hours after he was stopped and arrested by gardai. Garda Christopher OMara told Limerick District Court he stopped a Volkswagen Passat which was being driven by Mr ODonoghue at Glenbrook, Old Singland Road at 9.54am on October 11, last. During court proceedings shortly after 2pm, he said while the defendant informed him he did not have his drivers licence on him it was quickly established that he was, in fact, disqualified from driving. Judge John King was told when this was put to the defendant, he confirmed he was aware of the disqualification but thought it had not come into effect. Solicitor Sabina Hegerty said her client, who has 49 previous convictions, including seven for dangerous driving, mistakenly believed the matter for which he was disqualified earlier this year was under appeal. He is extremely sorry for the incident, she said. Ms Hegerty told Judge King her client had come under pressure that morning to repay a debt he owed and that he was going to pay the bill when he was stopped by Garda OMara. She said the unemployed father-of-four has abused substances in the past and is hoping to enter a rehabilitation programme in the near future in an effort to address his addiction issues. While noting Mr ODonoghues guilty plea, Judge King commented he has an atrocious record and has been disqualified on a number of occasions in the past including as recently as this summer. The judge also noted he has a history of non-attendance in court and that 18 bench warrants have been issued for his arrest in the past. ODonoghue was jailed for three months for driving without a drivers licence while a five month prison sentence imposed for driving without insurance was suspended for two years. A four-year disqualifcation was also imposed. THE team at Limericks Absolute Hotel was celebrating this Monday after winning in its category at the National Hospitality Awards in Dublin. The city establishment won Best Value Hotel at the industry awards which were held in Dublins Shelbourne Hotel. The Absolutes general manager Donnacha Hurley told the Limerick Leader, Were really proud of winning this award, because value for money is all about exceeding expectations. This award endorses the focus we have on providing an amazing experience for our guests with a really friendly team delivering great service at a great price. The Absolutes marketing manager Michelle Normoyle was on hand at the renowned Dublin venue to accept the award. Other Limerick successes at the awards included distributors Pallas Foods for Best Catering Supplier (general) and Masterchefs Hospitality at Thomond Park for Best Catering Job. The Limerick Strand Hotel (Best Conference Venue), 1826 Adare (Best Dining Experience), and Jerry Flannerys (Best Sporting Bar) all showed up well in their respective categories at the awards. Limerick native Charlie Chawke was also among the winners with his Chawke Pub Group winning the award for Best Bar Group. A MAN who punched a Limerick bus driver in the face after he was asked to stop smoking while on board a bus has been sentenced to two months imprisonment. Keith Hogan, aged 45, who has an address at Rose Court, Keyes Park, Southill had pleaded guilty to assaulting the driver during an incident on October 25, 2017. Limerick District Court was told the assault happened near Southill Medical Centre, OMalley Park as Mr Hogan was getting off the 303 bus having travelled there from the city centre. The service is one of the routes operated by Bus Eireann. Judge Marian OLeary was told the defendant had been smoking during the journey and was repeatedly asked by the driver to stop as it is illegal to smoke on buses. A garda who was on patrol in the area was flagged down shortly after the incident and the culprit identified and apprehended. Sergeant John Moloney said the bus driver, who sustained minor facial injuries including bruising and a cut lip, had declined to make a victim impact statement after the defendant entered his plea. In mitigation, solicitor Sabina Hegerty said her client had been drinking heavily on the day of the incident and that he is extremely sorry for his actions. She said Mr Hogan, who has a number of previous convictions including two for assault, has anger management issues and had reacted badly when asked to stop smoking by the driver He is extremely sorry, he accepts it was an appalling incident, she said, adding that her client, who is not working, is trying his best to address his issues. Imposing sentence, Judge OLeary said the defendants smoking on board the bus was not an issue which needed to be addressed, describing such a suggestion as nonsense. He just cant do it, she said, adding that she regards the assault as a very serious offence. After formally convicting the defendant of assault, Judge OLeary said she was of the view a custodial sentence was warranted. Noting that he has a number of previous convictions for assault, she imposed a two month prison sentence. Hogan was released on bail pending the outcome of the appeal which has been lodged against the severity of the sentence. Oct 15, 2018, 9 AM Coming in second place in the popularity poll for the best music stamp of 2017 was Hungarys commemorative stamp celebrating the 450th birth anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi. The 2017 third place winner. Designed by Marion Favreau, this 1.46 stamp was issued March 11, 2017, in a souvenir sheet of one (France Scott 5199). A United States forever stamp honoring the 200th anniversary of Mississippi Statehood received the Yehudi Menuhin trophy after being voted the most popular music stamp of 2017. The poll is conducted by Motivgruppe Musik, the International Philatelic Music Group. By Linn's Staff The United States Postal Services forever stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of Mississippis statehood took the top prize in a poll for the most popular music stamp of 2017. The award, the Yehudi Menuhin trophy, went to Greg Breeding, the designer of the stamp. Breedings design was based on a 2009 photograph by Lou Bopp showing the hands and guitar of blues musician Jimmy Duck Holmes, according to the press release from Motivgruppe Musik (International Philatelic Music Study Group) announcing the winners of the poll. The stamp (United States Scott 5190) was issued March 31, 2017. Coming in a close second place was a Hungarian stamp marking the 450th birth anniversary of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, who was one of the pioneers of opera. Istvan Orosz designed this 210-forint stamp, which was issued March 6, 2017, in a pane of four (Hungary Scott 4416). Additional string instruments are shown in the selvage. Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Coming in third place was a French stamp featuring Edgar Degas painting LEtoile (The Star) of a ballerina on stage. Designed by Marion Favreau, this 1.46 stamp was issued March 11, 2017, in a souvenir sheet of one (France Scott 5199). The souvenir sheet is part of a multiyear series with a dance theme celebrating Frances annual stamp festival, Fete du Timbre. Motivgruppe Musik has conducted an annual poll to determine the most popular music stamp of the year since 1980. The trophy is awarded in memory of violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin (1916-99), who was the patron of the Philatelic Music Circle from 1969 until his death. Motivgruppe Musik was founded in 1959. Affiliated with the American Topical Association and the German Philatelic Society, it has approximately 250 members in 35 countries. For information, visit its website. Travel between Jordan and Syria resumed on Monday when Naseeb border was officially opened, after several years of closure as the first group of passengers crossed to Syrian territories including passengers and business people, officials said. The first cargo of vegitable products is expected to cross from Jordan to Syria later in the day, as transport community leaders say they have prepared up to 5000 trucks for trade. Mohammad al Dawood, president of the transport association said Jordanian trucks will be unloading their shipments on the Syrian side of the border due to security concerns. He expected the resumption of movement would help reduce prices of certain products and help revive an ailing transport sector. "The borders between the two countries are considered a vital lifeline for trade between Jordan and Syria and to other countries," said Government spokeswomen Juman Ghuneimat. Meanwhile, a Syrian delegation of 40 businessmen arrived in Jordan border on Monday to start talks with Jordanian counterparts over trade exchange, officials said. The meeting includes representatives of chamber of commerce from both countries, businessmen, media officials who will convene in the northern city of Irbid later in the day, according to officials from the chamber of trade in Amman. In the meantime, Lebanese official are penning high hopes on the opening of the borders to open the gulf markets for Lebanese products after years of closure. Lebanon has endured a massive 10 billion dollars in losses as a result of the closure of the borders, according to Lebanese ambassador in Jordan Tracy Shamoun. The Syrian authorities regained control over the border after Russian mediated talks lead to departure of rebel groups and handing over the borders of Naseeb to Syrian authorities. Ben Birchall - WPA Pool / Getty Images(LONDON) -- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced their pregnancy this morning as they kicked off a 16-day tour that includes stops in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. But the trip is raising some concerns as doctors advise that women like Meghan, who is 12 weeks pregnant, should not travel to areas that pose risks of Zika infection. "In Obstetrics, my advice is always to err on the side of caution," Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News' chief health and medical correspondent, said in a statement to "Good Morning America." "But many decisions that arise during pregnancy are for the pregnant woman, her partner and her OB or midwife to make." The Zika virus primarily spreads through infected mosquitoes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Zika can also be transmitted through sex without a condom with someone who was infected by the virus, even if that person does not show symptoms of Zika. There is currently no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika, and it can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection during pregnancy can cause a birth defect called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects, according to the CDC. Along with other precautions, the CDC recommends against pregnant women traveling to places with documented or likely Zika virus transmission. Here's more CDC recommendations for protecting yourself against Zika during pregnancy. What to do if you're travelling or living in an area with risk of Zika Take steps to prevent mosquito bites. Take steps to prevent getting Zika through sex (oral, vaginal, or anal) by using condoms from start to finish every time you have sex or by not having sex during your entire pregnancy. What to do after you travel Talk to a doctor or other healthcare provider after travel to an area with risk of Zika. If you develop a fever with a rash, headache, joint pain, red eyes, or muscle pain talk, the CDC says to talk to your doctor immediately and tell him or her about your travel. Take steps to prevent mosquito bites for three weeks after returning. Continue taking steps to prevent passing Zika through sex by using condoms, or abstaining from sex. When to get tested for Zika The CDC recommends getting tested for Zika if you've traveled to an area with risk of Zika or had sex with a partner who lived in or traveled to one of those areas. You can search for the CDC's travel recommendations for Zika through their interactive map, which lets you search for location-specific Zika info. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Jordan and Syria to open borders on Monday Trade to resume amid restrictions on Syrian travelers (ANSAmed) - AMMAN, OCTOBER 15 - Jordan and Syria will open the border crossing linking the two countries on Monday after successful conclusion of talks and security arrangements between the two countries, Jordanian officials announced on Sunday. "The technical committees from Jordan and Syria agreed on the final details required to reopen the borders during a meeting held on Sunday at Jaber crossing," said Government spokeswomen Juman Ghuneimat. "The borders between the two countries is considered a vital lifeline for trade between Jordan and Syria and to other countries," she was quoted by Petra news agency. Syrian sources told ANSA that Jordan will be continue to impose travel restriction on Syrians coming to Jordan, whereby entry is only allowed for transit passengers. "Syrians wishing to enter Jordan need to show a visa to a third destination in order to be allowed into the kingdom, while an exception has been discussed relating to businessmen," said the source from Deraa. The border crossing links south Syrian territories with northern Jordanian borders will help revive struggling trade in Jordan and open the markets of Lebanon and Europe to Jordanian products. Up to 700 trucks are expected to cross between the two countries in the near future as both sides bring the crossing back to life after four years of closure. (ANSAmed). TUNIS - According to forecasts published in the World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tunisia's GDP will grow 2.4% in 2018 but unemployment, estimated at 15.2%, will continue to weigh negatively on the development of the North African country. The IMF has forecast a growth for Tunisia of 2.9% in 2019 from the 2% registered in 2017, although still below the average of countries importing oil (4.5% in 2018 and 4% in 2019). Consumer price indexes were estimated to rise 8.1% on an annual level in 2018 from last year (5.3%), with a slight downturn expected in 2019 (7.5%). The current account balance for this year was estimated at -9.6% of GDP and -8.5% in 2019 but it was unemployment that rose most concern for Tunisia with a 15.5% rate in 2017, 15.2% in 2018 and 15% forecast in 2019 by the IMF. This factor, along with slowing growth, could also cause problems at a social level, according to the analysis. Strep throat (also known as pharyngitis or streptococcal pharyngitis) is an infection caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, or Group A Streptococcus (GAS). Streptococcal pharyngitis is highly contagious and can spread by nasal secretions and saliva. Strep throat most often afflicts children younger than 16, and is most common in the United States in the winter and spring, according to the Mayo Clinic and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Causes and complications You can catch strep throat when exposed to infected droplets of spit i.e. from the coughs and sneezes of those infected. Strep throat itself is not particularly dangerous, but the infection can worsen, especially if it goes untreated. If strep throat does not improve within two days of beginning treatment, it could indicate the presence of another infection, the spread of the strep bacteria to other areas outside the throat or an inflammatory reaction. GAS may infect the tonsils and sinuses if left untreated. Also, the middle ear, skin and blood can become infected. Symptoms Symptoms of strep throat typically appear several days after exposure to the bacteria. The most common symptom is a sore throat. Individuals may also have trouble swallowing, and the tonsils and lymph nodes may feel swollen. Some individuals may experience fever, stomach ache or vomiting, fatigue or headache. A white rash may develop on the tonsils, or the throat may have stringy puss, according to the Mayo Clinic. Diagnosis & tests To diagnose strep throat, a physician will perform a physical exam and a throat swab. During the physical, a doctor examines the throat and mouth for signs of infection including redness and swelling. Also, the doctor will check for a fever and feel the lymph nodes, which will be enlarged in the presence of infection. Many types of bacteria and, more frequently, viruses can cause a sore throat, so to determine the culprit, doctors will perform a throat swab, rubbing a swab over the back of the throat and tonsils. The sample can then be run through what's called the rapid antigen test, which takes just minutes and can reveal whether molecules called antigens related to the GAS bacteria show up; doctors can also culture the bacteria in the lab to see if the bacteria pop up a test that can take up to two days, according to the Mayo Clinic. Although physicians often suspect that strep bacteria are the cause of a sore throat, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that another bacterium, Fusobacterium necrophorum, should also be on doctors' short lists. In a study published in the December 2009 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers noted that the bacteria might be the culprit of up to 10 percent of sore throat cases in adolescents and early 20-somethings. Treatment & medication It is possible for strep throat to clear up without treatment; however, the risk of complications could increase in some individuals. Moreover, the infection is contagious until treated. Doctors typically prescribe penicillin or amoxicillin to treat strep throat. For individuals with a penicillin allergy, newer generations of antibiotics may be used. These include cephalexin, erythromycin and azithromycin. All of these antibiotics kill strep bacteria, alleviate symptoms and decrease the amount of time an individual is sick. Physicians may also recommend an over-the-counter pain and fever reducer, the Mayo Clinic noted. Within 24 hours of beginning treatment, an individual is usually no longer contagious and he or she will begin to feel better, according to the Mayo Clinic. Still, all medication should be taken for the duration prescribed to prevent complications. In addition to medication, individuals should rest from work and school, drink plenty of water and avoid chemicals and environments that may further irritate the throat. Also, gargling warm salt water, using a humidifier and eating soft and cold foods can soothe the throat. Some people are more susceptible to getting strep throat repeatedly. Often, doctors will prescribe tonsil removal to prevent further infections. Other types of strep infections GAS can also cause an infection called scarlet fever. The infection is most common in children between the ages of 5 and 15 and generally begins with a fever and sore throat, according to the CDC. Scarlet fever is typically a mild illness that may resolve on its own but treatment with antibiotics can help symptoms disappear sooner. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is another type of strep bacteria which can cause blood infections, pneumonia and meningitis in newborns, according to the NIH. Some women carry this type of bacteria in their intestines and vagina, but it is not passed through sexual contact. However, mothers can pass the bacteria to a newborn during birth, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Most babies who come in contact will not become sick, but the few babies who do become sick can have severe problems, including infections in the blood (sepsis), the lungs (pneumonia) or the brain (meningitis). As such, doctors screen all expecting mothers for the bacteria; those who test positive for the bacteria should receive antibiotics during labor. According to the CDC, a pregnant woman who tests positive for GBS bacteria and received antibiotics during pregnancy has a 1 in 4,000 change that her baby will develop GBS disease, versus a 1 in 200 chance if she didn't receive antibiotics. In adults, Group B strep can cause urinary tract infections, blood infections, skin infections, pneumonia and, rarely, meningitis, according to the CDC. Strep bacteria can also cause inflammation of the kidneys, called post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the condition can occur one to two weeks after a strep throat infection. Additional resources: This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice. This article was updated on Oct. 15, 2018 by Live Science Managing Editor, Jeanna Bryner. Photosynthesis takes in the carbon dioxide produced by all breathing organisms and reintroduces oxygen into the atmosphere. Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. Here, we describe the general principles of photosynthesis and highlight how scientists are studying this natural process to help develop clean fuels and sources of renewable energy. Types of photosynthesis There are two types of photosynthetic processes: oxygenic photosynthesis and anoxygenic photosynthesis. The general principles of anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis are very similar, but oxygenic photosynthesis is the most common and is seen in plants, algae and cyanobacteria. During oxygenic photosynthesis, light energy transfers electrons from water (H 2 O) to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), to produce carbohydrates. In this transfer, the CO 2 is "reduced," or receives electrons, and the water becomes "oxidized," or loses electrons. Ultimately, oxygen is produced along with carbohydrates. Oxygenic photosynthesis functions as a counterbalance to respiration by taking in the carbon dioxide produced by all breathing organisms and reintroducing oxygen to the atmosphere. On the other hand, anoxygenic photosynthesis uses electron donors other than water. The process typically occurs in bacteria such as purple bacteria and green sulfur bacteria, which are primarily found in various aquatic habitats. "Anoxygenic photosynthesis does not produce oxygen hence the name," said David Baum, professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "What is produced depends on the electron donor. For example, many bacteria use the bad-eggs-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide, producing solid sulfur as a byproduct." Though both types of photosynthesis are complex, multistep affairs, the overall process can be neatly summarized as a chemical equation. Oxygenic photosynthesis is written as follows: 6CO 2 + 12H 2 O + Light Energy C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6O 2 + 6H 2 O Here, six molecules of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) combine with 12 molecules of water (H 2 O) using light energy. The end result is the formation of a single carbohydrate molecule (C 6 H 12 O 6 , or glucose) along with six molecules each of breathable oxygen and water. Similarly, the various anoxygenic photosynthesis reactions can be represented as a single generalized formula: CO 2 + 2H 2 A + Light Energy [CH 2 O] + 2A + H 2 O The letter A in the equation is a variable and H 2 A represents the potential electron donor. For example, A may represent sulfur in the electron donor hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), explained Govindjee and John Whitmarsh, plant biologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the book "Concepts in Photobiology: Photosynthesis and Photomorphogenesis" (Narosa Publishers and Kluwer Academic, 1999). Plants need energy from sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. (Image credit: Shutterstock) The photosynthetic apparatus The following are cellular components essential to photosynthesis. Pigments Pigments are molecules that bestow color on plants, algae and bacteria, but they are also responsible for effectively trapping sunlight. Pigments of different colors absorb different wavelengths of light. Below are the three main groups. Chlorophylls: These green-colored pigments are capable of trapping blue and red light. Chlorophylls have three subtypes, dubbed chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and chlorophyll c. According to Eugene Rabinowitch and Govindjee in their book "Photosynthesis"(Wiley, 1969), chlorophyll a is found in all photosynthesizing plants. There is also a bacterial variant aptly named bacteriochlorophyll, which absorbs infrared light. This pigment is mainly seen in purple and green bacteria, which perform anoxygenic photosynthesis. Carotenoids: These red, orange or yellow-colored pigments absorb bluish-green light. Examples of carotenoids are xanthophyll (yellow) and carotene (orange) from which carrots get their color. Phycobilins: These red or blue pigments absorb wavelengths of light that are not as well absorbed by chlorophylls and carotenoids. They are seen in cyanobacteria and red algae. Plastids Photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms contain organelles called plastids in their cytoplasm. The double-membraned plastids in plants and algae are referred to as primary plastids, while the multiple-membraned variety found in plankton are called secondary plastids, according to an articlein the journal Nature Education by Cheong Xin Chan and Debashish Bhattacharya, researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Plastids generally contain pigments or can store nutrients. Colorless and nonpigmented leucoplasts store fats and starch, while chromoplasts contain carotenoids and chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, as explained in Geoffrey Cooper's book, "The Cell: A Molecular Approach" (Sinauer Associates, 2000). Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts; specifically, in the grana and stroma regions. The grana is the innermost portion of the organelle; a collection of disc-shaped membranes, stacked into columns like plates. The individual discs are called thylakoids. It is here that the transfer of electrons takes place. The empty spaces between columns of grana constitute the stroma. Chloroplasts are similar to mitochondria, the energy centers of cells, in that they have their own genome, or collection of genes, contained within circular DNA. These genes encode proteins essential to the organelle and to photosynthesis. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts are also thought to have originated from primitive bacterial cells through the process of endosymbiosis. "Plastids originated from engulfed photosynthetic bacteria that were acquired by a single-celled eukaryotic cell more than a billion years ago," Baum told Live Science. Baum explained that the analysis of chloroplast genes shows that it was once a member of the group cyanobacteria, "the one group of bacteria that can accomplish oxygenic photosynthesis." In their 2010 article, Chan and Bhattacharya make the point that the formation of secondary plastids cannot be well explained by endosymbiosis of cyanobacteria, and that the origins of this class of plastids are still a matter of debate. Antennae Pigment molecules are associated with proteins, which allow them the flexibility to move toward light and toward one another. A large collection of 100 to 5,000 pigment molecules constitutes "antennae," according to an article by Wim Vermaas, a professor at Arizona State University. These structures effectively capture light energy from the sun, in the form of photons. Ultimately, light energy must be transferred to a pigment-protein complex that can convert it to chemical energy, in the form of electrons. In plants, for example, light energy is transferred to chlorophyll pigments. The conversion to chemical energy is accomplished when a chlorophyll pigment expels an electron, which can then move on to an appropriate recipient. Reaction centers The pigments and proteins, which convert light energy to chemical energy and begin the process of electron transfer, are known as reaction centers. The photosynthetic process The reactions of plant photosynthesis are divided into those that require the presence of sunlight and those that do not. Both types of reactions take place in chloroplasts: light-dependent reactions in the thylakoid and light-independent reactions in the stroma. Light-dependent reactions (also called light reactions): When a photon of light hits the reaction center, a pigment molecule such as chlorophyll releases an electron. "The trick to do useful work, is to prevent that electron from finding its way back to its original home," Baum told Live Science. "This is not easily avoided, because the chlorophyll now has an 'electron hole' that tends to pull on nearby electrons." The released electron manages to escape by traveling through an electron transport chain, which generates the energy needed to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate, a source of chemical energy for cells) and NADPH. The "electron hole" in the original chlorophyll pigment is filled by taking an electron from water. As a result, oxygen is released into the atmosphere. Light-independent reactions (also called dark reactions and known as the Calvin cycle): Light reactions produce ATP and NADPH, which are the rich energy sources that drive dark reactions. Three chemical reaction steps make up the Calvin cycle: carbon fixation, reduction and regeneration. These reactions use water and catalysts. The carbon atoms from carbon dioxide are fixed, when they are built into organic molecules that ultimately form three-carbon sugars. These sugars are then used to make glucose or are recycled to initiate the Calvin cycle again. This June 2010 satellite photo shows ponds growing algae in southern California. (Image credit: PNNL, QuickBird satellite) Photosynthesis in the future Photosynthetic organisms are a possible means to generate clean-burning fuels such as hydrogen or even methane. Recently, a research group at the University of Turku in Finland, tapped into the ability of green algae to produce hydrogen. Green algae can produce hydrogen for a few seconds if they are first exposed to dark, anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions and then exposed to light The team devised a way to extend green algae's hydrogen production for up to three days, as reported in their 2018 study published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science. Scientists have also made advances in the field of artificial photosynthesis. For instance, a group of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, developed an artificial system to capture carbon dioxide using nanowires, or wires that are a few billionths of a meter in diameter. The wires feed into a system of microbes that reduce carbon dioxide into fuels or polymers by using energy from sunlight. The team published its design in 2015 in the journal Nano Letters. In 2016, members of this same group published a study in the journal Science that described another artificial photosynthetic system in which specially engineered bacteria were used to create liquid fuels using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. In general, plants are only able to harness about one percent of solar energy and use it to produce organic compounds during photosynthesis. In contrast, the researchers' artificial system was able to harness 10 percent of solar energy to produce organic compounds. Continued research of natural processes, such as photosynthesis, aids scientists in developing new ways to utilize various sources of renewable energy. Seeing as sunlight, plants and bacteria are all ubiquitous, tapping into the power of photosynthesis is a logical step for creating clean-burning and carbon-neutral fuels. Additional resources: Turkey: 18th Italian Language Week starts Seminars, meetings organized in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, OCTOBER 15 - The 18th edition of the ''Italian Language Week'' is opening Monday in Turkey with several cultural events scheduled in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. The happening, organized by the Italian embassy in Ankara, takes place under the patronage of the Italian presidency and is dedicated this year to the theme ''Italian and the web, social networks for the Italian language''. The program in Ankara will open Monday at the Italian department of the University of Ankara with a conference on the evolution of the Italian language on the theme ''at first there was dialogue: towards a style based on dialogue-promotion in the web'', curated by Professor Giuliana Fiorentino, who teaches linguistics at the University of Molise. Then an exhibit on ''Networks of words'' has been organized by the students of the European Institute of Design. Seminars, congresses and events dedicated to the Italian language have been planned for the entire week. In Istanbul, the Italian cultural Institute will present on Wednesday a conference on ''The Italian press and digital Italian'' by Professor Giuliana Fiorentino. Many appointments have been organized by the Italian Consulate in Izmir, starting with a meeting in cooperation with Comites with students from Italian nursery and primary schools and their relatives, during which the app 'ItaliAmo' will be presented as a tool to learn the language. (ANSAmed). Will the universe expand forever or eventually collapse into a tiny speck? A paper published in June suggested infinite expansion was impossible according to a major physics theory a conjecture that made huge waves in the physics community. "People get very, kind of, emotional about it because if it's true and [is] discovered, it would be spectacular," said Timm Wrase, a physicist at the Vienna University of Technology. Now, Wrase and his colleagues have published a separate study that pokes a huge hole in that argument, which means an ever-expanding universe can't be ruled out just yet. Dark energy and cosmic expansion Our universe is permeated with a vast, unseen force that seems to oppose gravity. Physicists call this force dark energy, and it is thought to be constantly pushing our universe outward. But in June, a group of physicists published a paper in the preprint journal arXiv implying that dark energy changes over time. This means that the universe will not expand forever but might eventually collapse into the size it was before the Big Bang. Almost immediately, however, physicists found problems with the theory: Several independent groups subsequently published papers that suggested revisions to the conjecture. Now, a paper published on Oct. 2 in the journal Physical Review D suggests that, as it stands, the original conjecture can't be true because it can't explain the existence of the Higgs boson which we know exists, thanks to the Large Hadron Collider, the massive particle collider on the border between France and Switzerland. [Beyond Higgs: 5 Elusive Particles That May Lurk in the Universe] Still, with a bit of theoretical tweaking, the collapsing-universe conjecture could still be viable, Wrase, a co-author on the new Physical Review D paper, told Live Science. How do we explain everything that ever existed? String theory, sometimes called the theory of everything, is a mathematically elegant but experimentally unproven framework for uniting Einstein's theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics. String theory suggests that all the particles that make up the universe are not really dots but one-dimensional strings that vibrate and the differences in those vibrations allow us to see one particle as a photon and another as an electron. In order for string theory to be a viable explanation for the universe, however, it must incorporate dark energy. Imagine this dark energy as a ball in a landscape of mountains and valleys that represent the amount of potential energy it has, Wrase said. If a ball stands on top of the mountain, it may be still, but it can roll down with the slightest perturbation, thus it is unstable. If the ball is sitting in a valley, it's not changing or moving, has low energy and resides in a stable universe, because even a strong push would have it roll back down into the valley. String theorists long assumed that dark energy is constant and unchanging in the universe. In other words, it's snuggled up in the valleys between mountains, not rolling from the mountaintops and thus not changing through time, Wrase said. But the conjecture put forth in June suggests that, for string theory to work, the landscape doesn't have any mountains or valleys above sea level. (In this conception, our universe stands above sea level which metaphorically marks the point in which dark energy begins to either pull the universe together or push the universe apart.) Rather, the landscape is a slight slope and the ball of dark energy is rolling ever downward. "While it is rolling downwards the dark energy becomes smaller and smaller," Wrase said. "The height of the ball corresponds to the amount of dark energy in our universe." In this theory, dark energy might eventually make its way below sea level and start to pull the universe back together to its pre-Big-Bang form. But there's just one problem, Wrase said. "We have showed that such unstable mountain tops have to exist," he said. That is because we know the Higgs particle exists. And we have experimentally proved that the Higgs particles can exist upon these mountaintops or "unstable universes," and can be disturbed with the slightest touch, he said. Difficulty with stability of universes Cumrun Vafa, a string theorist at Harvard and senior author of the conjecture paper from June, told Live Science in an email that, indeed, the original conjecture has "difficulty with unstable universes." This new paper and a few others show this problem, he added. But there are several papers that proposed slight revisions to the conjecture that would still adhere to the limitations Wrase and his team proposed, he said. Even in the revised conjecture, "we would not be in a stable universe but rather things would change," Wrase said. The revision says mountaintops can exist, but stable valleys cannot, he said. (Imagine the shape of a horse's saddle). The ball has to eventually start rolling and dark energy has to change in time, he added. But "if the conjecture is [totally] wrong, then the dark energy could be constant, we would sit in a valley between two mountains," and the universe would keep expanding. Within 10 to 15 years, he hopes that satellites that more precisely measure the expansion of the universe can help us understand whether or not dark energy is constant or changing. Vafa agreed. "These are exciting times in cosmology and hopefully in the next few years we will see experimental evidence for the change of the dark energy in our universe," he said. Originally published on Live Science. Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men is an oddly fascinating lure for big cats. Now officials in India are using the 1990s-era cologne to lure a "man-eating" tiger. Officials in India are considering using Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men to lure a "man-eating" tiger to its doom. The cologne has been purchased but not yet deployed in the hunt for the tiger, which is suspected to have killed five people in the past year and another eight since 2016, according to AFP. A hunt for the tiger launched last month, the news agency reported, but the animal has not yet been spotted. So, where does a notorious 1990s-era perfume come in? Well, Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men has been used to intrigue big cats since at least the early 2000s. It all started with the Bronx Zoo, which, like many zoos, uses scents in its big-cat exhibits to enrich the habitat for the animals. In 2010, Patrick Thomas, the curator of mammals at the zoo, said in an interview that of the many scents used and tested by the zoo, Obsession for Men was the "hands-down favorite" of the tigers and cheetahs. [Iconic Cats: All 9 Subspecies of Tigers] The musky scent kept cheetahs intrigued for 11.1 minutes, longer than Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps (10.4 minutes) and Estee Lauder's Beautiful (2 seconds), The Guardian reported at the time. A perfume creator told The Wall Street Journal that the secret to the cats' obsession with Obsession might be that the cologne contains synthetic compounds based on the excretions of the civet cat, which help provide the cologne's musky notes. Field researchers also use Obsession for Men to mark their camera traps, luring animals such as jaguars close enough to trip the shutter, according to Scientific American. Scent markings often prompt big cats to rub their cheeks against the smelly spot, leaving behind bits of stray fur. Biologists can then swoop in to sample that fur for DNA and other testing, according to Thomas. Tigers and humans compete for resources in rural India, but tigers rarely deliberately hunt humans. According to the BBC, tiger attacks kill or injure about 85 people per year in India, and most of those attacks occur when a person accidentally startles one of the big cats. In a few cases, tigers lose their fear of humans and see them as prey. Officials in the state of Maharashtra believe that is what has happened with the "man eater" they are now hunting. In September, India's Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to forest patrols to shoot the female tiger, known as T1, on sight. Conservation groups have protested the ruling, especially because T1 has two cubs. India is home to about 2,200 wild tigers, according to the country's National Tiger Conservation Authority. In recent years, a rising number of tiger deaths been reported in the country, the BBC said in 2017. The year before, 120 tigers were found dead, up from 80 in 2015. Poaching and the killing of tigers in retaliation for livestock deaths are two major threats to the endangered cats. Originally published on Live Science. The Sears store at Ingram Park Mall will close as the legacy retailer enters bankruptcy after years of falling sales and waves of store closures, the company said Monday. The embattled department store chain, once the worlds largest, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in New York as it faced a $134 million debt payment Monday. The Hoffman, Ill.-based company, which has $11.3 billion of debt, plans to shutter 142 stores through bankruptcy proceedings, but aims to keep its remaining stores open. Eddie Lampert will step down as CEO but remain as chairman. Sears has failed to turn a profit for seven straight years and has lost more than $24 billion in market value since 2007. Over the last several years, we have worked hard to transform our business and unlock the value of our assets, Lampert said in a news release. While we have made progress, the plan has yet to deliver the results we have desired, and addressing the Companys immediate liquidity needs has impacted our efforts to become a profitable and more competitive retailer. The company listed the Ingram Park Mall store at 6301 NW Loop 410 on a list of store closures filed in U.S. bankruptcy court, although it said the store was in Ingram, Texas not San Antonio. Mondays bankruptcy filing leaves Sears with at least one store in San Antonio after a 90-year run in the Alamo City. Sears, Roebuck & Co. first opened a small store at 806 Broadway in 1928, then moved the next year to the Transit Tower, now the Tower Life Building. Sears relocated again in 1938 to 600 Soledad St. and expanded its store there in 1947, according to Express-News archives. Sears opened a store on the South Side in 1954, a North Side site two years later, an anchor store at Central Park Mall in 1968 and the Ingram Park Mall store in 1978. But the retail giants San Antonio footprint, like that of many retailers, has shrunk over the years. The downtown store was razed in the 1990s to make way for Central Library. Sears store at Park North Shopping Center, the former Central Park Mall site across from North Star Mall, closed in July when the stores landlord Seritage Growth Properties, a New York-based real estate investment trust, recaptured the store as part of a 2015 agreement between Seritage and Sears Holdings. As of June, Sears was trying to keep its Rolling Oaks Mall location open after the store was auctioned off earlier this year. A Sears spokesman did not immediately respond to an email asking about the Rolling Oaks Mall stores fate. Sears shuttering of its Ingram Park Mall location marks the latest in a wave of prominent retail closures to hit the San Antonio area within the last year. Walmart Stores Inc. closed three of its Neighborhood Market format stores this month after it shuttered another Neighborhood Market store in December on the citys Northeast Side and a Sams Club store at 12919 San Pedro Ave. in January the latter part of a wave of 63 Sams Club stores that were closed that month. Toys R Us Inc. closed three Toys R Us stores and one Babies R Us store in San Antonio as part of a 700-store liquidation in the U.S. And Target closed its store at 7014 FM 78 on the citys Far East Side in February, among a dozen U.S. stores it closed. Despite a wave of recent closures, some analysts remain bullish on the San Antonio retail market. A recent report published by commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. noted that retail rents in San Antonio are rising, retail occupancy stands at around 96 percent and that more than 1.6 million square feet of retail is currently under construction in the area. Staff Writer Paul Takahashi contributed to this report. Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering retail and tourism. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts By Therese Anne Fowler St. Martin's. 400 pp. $27.99 --- Does a novel about a historical figure who specialized in arranging advantageous marriages, including her own, strike you as plutocrat porn? Not to worry: Therese Anne Fowler's "A Well-Behaved Woman" eschews the "Dynasty" approach in favor of a gimlet-eyed look at the vacuity and hypocrisy of life among the 400. The 400, you may recall, were the cream of American Gilded Age society; the number having been arrived at by estimating how many revelers could fit into the Manhattan ballroom of that society's doyenne, Mrs. Williams Backhouse Astor Jr. - (BEGIN ITAL)the(END ITAL) Mrs. Astor. Her gatekeeper was Ward McAllister, who like Fowler's well-behaved protagonist, Alva Smith (1853-1933), came from the South and married well. Alva's catch is William Vanderbilt, a grandson of the Commodore, upon whose death William becomes one of the world's richest men. His wealth is a godsend not just for Alva, but for her whole blue-blooded family, who were in such dire straits as to be getting by on two skimpy meals a day. In return, Alva will put her connections and intelligence to use in raising the nouveau-riche Vanderbilts' social standing. How Alva and Ward devise a plan and bring it off makes for one of the novel's most entertaining episodes. The first step is to get the newlyweds invited to an Astor ball. This comes to pass, but the grande dame refuses to notice the couple when they arrive. Nonetheless, Ward assures his co-conspirator that they've made progress - "this is an incursion." The clever scheming by which Alva eventually triumphs as "the supreme hostess of New York, the lady who brought Mrs. Astor to heel," should be left for the reader to discover. The supreme hostess, however, is less than supremely happy. William turns out to be a generous, decorative, sporty, empty-headed, furtively unfaithful playboy. Alva manages to overlook his faults until her dearest friend, Consuelo Yznaga (after whom Alva and William have named their only daughter), writes her a remorseful letter: Consuelo and William have been carrying on behind Alva's back for years. This hurts all the more because Alva has long harbored, but never acted upon, a crush on another rich man, Oliver Belmont (of the Belmont Stakes clan), who has just about everything William lacks, notably brains, charm and ambition. Regarding Oliver, Alva is a bit dense, denser, in fact, than Fowler has generally made her out to be. How could such a close reader of social cues not sense that Oliver, whom she runs into frequently, has a crush of his own - on her? At any rate, Alva makes up her mind to seek a divorce, something that women of her class - or any class, for that matter - rarely do at the time. William urges her to behave as a wife should: forgive him and pretend that all is well. She refuses. The couple's protracted debate over whether she can cause such a scandal without inflicting severe damage on herself and their children makes for high drama. Alva not only sticks to her guns; to protect her old friend Consuelo, she forces William to supply grounds for the divorce by faking an affair with a different woman, who is well-paid for her trouble. After some initial setbacks, Alva rallies to hang on to her high place. Not so fortunate is her old friend Ward McAllister. Like Truman Capote in the 1960s, Ward commits the egregious error of writing an insider's book about the upper crust. His "Society as I Have Found It" is a memoir, and Capote's unfinished "Answered Prayers" is fiction, but each writer suffers the same punishment: ostracism by the crowd he betrayed. Fowler closes out her narrative just as Alva's life is entering its final phase, when she has lent her prestige and given a big chunk of her money to the cause of women's suffrage. By then - the first two decades of the 20th century - Alva was in her 60s and 70s, and the actual campaigning fell to younger women, especially the American Gandhi, Alice Paul. But Alva's support was both vital and controversial, suffragettes, as they were called, being no more reputable than divorcees. (To learn more about Alice and Alva's teamwork, visit the old headquarters of the National Woman's Party, now the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument, on Capitol Hill.) Fowler, who lives in North Carolina, has now written two novels with Tar Heel ties. Her first, "Z," was about Zelda Fitzgerald, who spent her last years in an Asheville mental institution. And making a few walk-ons in "A Well-Behaved Woman" is William Vanderbilt's brother George, who poured most of his share of the family fortune into Biltmore, the ultimate Gilded Age pile, also located in Asheville. In writing both books, Fowler has noted, she started out not liking the main "character." And each time, she discovered, "the evidence didn't match the reputation." Fowler's Alva is tough, cagey and unwilling to settle for the role of high-society ornament - what's not to like? --- Drabelle, a former contributing editor of The Washington Post Book World, lives in Asheville, N.C. A man is in custody after he allegedly stole a police cruiser early Monday and attempted to carjack a KPRC-TV news van. The man has been identified as Alex Allen Jenkins, 29. He's been charged with aggravated robbery, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and two counts of assault of a police officer, according to jail records. A KPRC reporter and photographer say they were stopped at a red light downtown about 4:40 a.m. when a car sideswiped the news van. The driver then got out of his car and tried to carjack the news van at the intersection of Texas and Chartres, on the eastern edge of downtown. Two officers came across the scene as they were transporting a juvenile offender in a patrol car, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department. "They thought they were rolling up on an accident" and got out to assist, he said. They discovered the driver assaulting the news crew inside the KPRC van, Crowson said. When the officers intervened, he started assaulting the police. In the struggle, the man got into the police cruiser and drove away, Crowson said, dragging one of the officers for a short distance. He traveled north for two blocks, then stopped to let out the 16-year-old detainee who was still in the back of the police car. An officer found the juvenile detainee moments later, Crowson said. Police found the police vehicle about an hour later, abandoned near Old Spanish Trail and Produce Row in southeast Houston. The KPRC journalists and one of the officers had minor injuries, Crowson said. They were taken to a nearby hospital to be examined. Jenkins was detained around 11 a.m. Monday, police said. ANSAmed - Today's events in the Mediterranean (ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 15 - These are the main events scheduled in the Euro-Mediterranean area for today: TUNIS/AMMAN - Italian Language in the World Week kicks off (until 21/10). ROME - Headquarters of the Italian Society for International Organisation (SIOI), 5pm. Seminar titled "Israel, the state of the Jewish". LUXEMBOURG - EU, Foreign Ministers meeting. CARTHAGE (TUNISIA) - Acropolium hosts the 24th edition of Musical October (until 31/10). MADRID - Exhbit titled 'El jardin secreto' in which contemporary women lend their voices to vintage photographic plates of women (to December 20). ROME - The exhibition 'The poetics between abstraction and figuration', contemporary art in Madrid in the post-war years, continues at the Cervantes Institute (until January 12). (ANSAmed). The College of Saint Rose keeps getting to be a better place for students who are veterans. The college will dedicate a new residence hall specifically for student veterans at 971 Madison Ave., Albany at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The generosity of the Massry Family, which includes Saint Rose Board of Trustees Vice Chairman I. Norman Massry and Trustee Julie Massry Knox, as well as the support of Tri-City Rentals, made the renovation of the Veteran Residence possible, said Jennifer Gish, assistant vice president for marketing and communications. Recently, the Massry Family also gave Saint Rose a $100,000 gift to support scholarships for veterans whose education at Saint Rose was not fully funded by their military benefits. Additional donors later matched their gift. The Veteran Residence, a Victorian-style house, has six large bedrooms and two and half bathrooms, as well as a shared kitchen, living room, and laundry facilities. "It is important to my family to support those who have proudly served our country as they transition from military life to student life," said Massry. "We felt the Veteran Residence at Saint Rose was a great way to help aid that transition and encourage student veterans in their pursuit of higher education." The house is for both men and women. Veteran students also are able to live in the house all 12 months of the year, rather than having to leave for the summer. The Veteran Residence is not far from the college's Veteran Center at 967 Madison Ave. "When we dedicated the Veteran Center in November 2015, it became a hub where our student veterans and students who are military family members gather, study, and feel part of a special community within the larger Saint Rose campus," said Saint Rose President Carolyn J. Stefanco. "We want to continue to build upon our efforts to value the unique experiences military-influenced students bring to Saint Rose by providing additional spaces that meet their needs." Martin Dinan, director of veteran enrollment for Saint Rose, a retired Army colonel and veteran of three wars, said the residential option helps to ease the transition from military to civilian life. "A lot of our veterans are coming right off of active service," Dinan said. "It's hard to transition. Something that's veteran-specific helps them because they're already used to working and living among each other." Among the house's first residents is Jevon Schmitz, a 26-year-old, a first-year student in the Huether School of Business, who served eight years in the Army as an airborne infantryman. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and 2014. Schmitz is currently in a Reserve Officer Training Corps program and plans to return to the military after graduating from Saint Rose. "(Choosing to live in the house) came down to my age and the new mentality I picked up when I was in the military," Schmitz said. "I wasn't fully adjusted even though the Army gives you two weeks of adjustment training. I didn't want to risk going into an environment with 17- and 18-year-olds and losing myself, if that makes sense." For the ninth consecutive year, Saint Rose has been named a Military Friendly School by Victory Media, publisher of "GI Jobs" and other publications for military personnel. The college also has been ranked No. 1 among "Gold Standard" private colleges with fewer than 10,000 students for the third year in a row. Volunteer award Michael Marko of Malta, a tour guide and maintenance volunteer with USS Slater, a Navy destroyer escort museum berthed on the Hudson River in downtown Albany, received the Capital Area Chief Petty Officers Association Volunteer of the Year Award. Marko, a former destroyer escort sailor himself, was honored during a ceremony aboard the USS Slater during a 243rd birthday celebration of the Navy on Oct. 13. The Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established on Oct. 13, 1775, by authorizing the procurement, fitting out, manning, and dispatch of two armed vessels to cruise in search of munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. Marko's Navy ties go back to a week after graduating high school. He enlisted upon graduation. He served four years on USS Brough DE-148 and USS Peterson DE-152. At the time he was involved with Operation Deep Freeze, spending much of his time in Antarctic waters. He then spent the next 14 years below the waves on submarines, eventually becoming a senior chief fire controlman. He served aboard Triton SSRN-586, a twin-reactor nuclear sub and the first vessel to circumnavigate the globe while fully submerged. USS Slater museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday through Nov. 25 and will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. For information, call 518-431-1943 for more information or visit http://www.ussslater.org. News of your troops and units can be sent to Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 or brownt@timesunion.com. More than 200 people attended the 7th annual Purple Ribbon Luncheon on Friday at the Walden Country Club to help the Family Time Crisis & Counseling Center raise funds to build a new shelter that can serve 1500 domestic violence victims. The nonprofit provides victims and their children a place to sleep, three meals a day, clothing and resources to start a new life. In 2017 Family Time was able to provide shelter to 643 domestic violence victims. Unfortunately, the crisis center had to turn away 823 victims because they did not have enough room or resources to help them. Family Times current location on 1203 S. Houston Ave. is only 1 acre, 10,000 square feet and holds only 33 beds. The new shelter Family Time is looking to create will sit on 3.5 acres of land, be at least 30,000 square feet and will hold 75 beds. The new facility will have a backyard for children to play, a playroom, larger kitchen facilities, more storage for food and donations, space for volunteers, a private area for male victims and more parking space. In order to make this new shelter a reality, Family Time needs to raise $5 million through grants and corporate and private donations. The shelter has remained full for most of this year. It is always often challenging to provide all the services our clients need with a small staff and aging building, but everyday we do it, Family Time Executive Director Judy Cox said. Cox said the Texas Council on Family Violence reported 74 percent of people have either experienced or have a family member or friend that has experienced domestic violence. Each year 23,000 people in Texas seek shelter, Cox said. Our shelter continues to house 600-700 clients each year. Cox also said 29 women in Harris County have been killed by their partner. The youngest of these was 18 years old who was killed by her boyfriend and the oldest was 68 who was killed by her husband. Family Time continues to raise awareness at schools, churches and the community. We appreciate the support we receive but our needs seem to multiply, Cox said. Last year Family Time was able to provide shelter for 643 victims, provided 3,970 free counseling sessions, answered 17,285 calls on their 24-hour crisis helpline and provided 2,940 low cost counseling sessions to non-victims. Special Guest Speaker Judge Lincoln Goodwin, Harris County Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4, serves as a prosecutor for domestic violence cases. The family violence division it is not a division that prosecutors go to to further their prosecutorial career. It is a challenging, challenging place to be but its absolutely (worth it), Goodwin said. You look at the evidence and you see those things and you see the absolute brutality that exists. But you have the opportunity as you open up a file and see whats been filed by our law enforcement and immediately theyll know exactly what Im talking about or recognize some of these things when you see maybe a woman who has bruised eyes that are swollen shut and it will take weeks for them to open; strangle marks around the neck. Goodwin then shared a personal story of his mother Jan who also experienced domestic violence and how she escaped to seek a new and better life for her and her son. Jans story is my story. She is my mother and everyday she inspires me, Goodwin said. Twila Carter, Astros Foundation executive director donated $10,000 to Family Time for their new shelter. Visit the Family Time website to make a donation or call 281-446-2615. kaila.contreras@chron.com BOSTON - Lee Cheng, son of a librarian and a bookkeeper from China, graduated a quarter century ago from Harvard University with a life story that represents an immigrant version of the American Dream. But on Sunday Cheng blasted his alma mater for an admissions policy he believes is unjust because it takes race into account. He and a few hundred others denounced bias against Asian Americans in a rally at Copley Square on the eve of a trial in federal court that will examine whether Harvard discriminates against that group. "Let me ask all of you: Does Harvard get to discriminate against our kids?" Cheng asked. "No!" the crowd replied. "Does anyone get to tell us we're not 100 percent American?" "No!" Cheng, 47, of Orange County, California, who graduated from Harvard in 1993, is co-founder of the Asian American Legal Foundation. The nonprofit organization advocates for civil rights of Asian Americans and supports the lawsuit against Harvard filed by a group called Students for Fair Admissions. Cheng denied the suggestion that Asian Americans who oppose affirmative action are "being used" for a white supremacist agenda. "Offensive, false and racist," he said. The suit alleges that the university's race-conscious review of undergraduate applications is biased against Asian Americans and that Harvard limits the number of students it admits from that group, giving preferences to others in an attempt to racially balance the class. Harvard denies the allegations and said it is follows Supreme Court guidance as it seeks to assemble a diverse class. "I want all of you to know that each Harvard College student is admitted affirmatively," university President Lawrence Bacow said in a statement to the community. "Each student brings something special to our community and contributes to our rich learning environment in a way that is unique. Harvard would be a dull place - and not likely achieve the educational aspirations we have for our students - if we shared the same backgrounds, interests, experiences, and expectations for ourselves." The coming trial is stoking passions here, on the Harvard campus in nearby Cambridge and elsewhere as the latest chapter in the nation's long debate over affirmative action. Many Asian Americans say that the suit does not represent their views, and the trial is expected to feature testimony from Harvard students and alumni of Asian descent who back the admissions policy. Some also demonstrated Sunday in Cambridge in support of the policy. But the rally in Copley Square on Sunday afternoon showed there are significant divisions within a community that spans many ethnic groups. Jimmy Wong, 57, who works for Massachusetts state government, said he came to protest bias against Asian Americans. For too long, he said, Asian Americans have been taken for granted as what he termed a "silent minority." "They think we're going to roll over and play dead," said Wong, an immigrant from Hong Kong. "We're here to say no. We're now the loud majority. We've gotten where we are because we work hard." He said college admissions, like justice, should be race-blind. Karl Zhang, 58, a college professor from Fairfax County, Virginia, who is Chinese American, said the admission policies of elite schools "is not good for us and not good for the United States.' He drew a comparison to discrimination against Jewish students generations ago. "Why give us a much, much higher bar" for admissions? he asked. Joseph Vijay Ingam, 41, of Los Angeles, is a college admissions consultant of Indian American background. He came here, too, to denounce Harvard's policy, charging that its admissions leadership is biased against a group of students "whose only crime is the color of their skin and the shape of their eyes." Others who turned out for the rally traced their roots to Laos, Bangladesh and elsewhere in Asia. Harvard is one of many selective colleges and universities that consider race and ethnicity in admissions. Admissions chiefs from these schools, several of which have filed briefs supporting Harvard, deny that the process is tainted with racial bias. They say that race is just one factor among many in what is known as a "holistic review" of applications. The trial starting Monday here represents a significant challenge to that long-established practice. BLOUNTSTOWN, Fla. - Electricity, communications and essential services are slowly being restored to the Florida Panhandle communities that were hobbled by Hurricane Michael on Wednesday, as hundreds of thousands of residents continue to feel isolated and lack electrical power. About 200,000 Floridians are still sleeping in the dark and unable to operate their well water pumps. Many are running out of fuel in their vehicles. While this number has dropped from its peak of about 400,000, much of the power restoration has happened in places like Tallahassee, where the storm was not as severe and where restaurants and stores began reopening this weekend. The hardest-hit counties in the Panhandle remain in a primitive state. Since Thursday, 17,000 utility workers have arrived to rebuild and repair the disrupted and destroyed infrastructure, and 2,000 cellular telephone company workers and 18,000 search-and-rescue personnel have arrived in the region, joining 4,000 Florida National Guard troops and multitudes of police and firefighters. Gov. Rick Scott, R, touring the area for the third day in a row with FEMA Administrator William "Brock" Long, said he is urging cellphone companies to speed up their repairs, including deploying state police to escort utility trucks and workers through the increasingly clogged traffic on roads that have been blocked by downed trees, utility poles and other debris. "One of the most frustrating problems is telecommunications," Scott said outside the heavily damaged Blountstown High School, which was built in 2011. He and Long stood amid insulation while workers continued repairing the roof. Scott said the region's communication systems, which at times have been in a near total blackout since the storm hit, have "got to get up because many people don't know where food and water" distribution sites are. The first 72 hours after a disaster is a period during which public officials find the most patience and cooperation from the public, but that time has expired. Long said FEMA and its partners have set up 23 food and water distribution points in the Florida Panhandle. FEMA workers are going to shelters - and, in one instance, outside a Piggly Wiggly supermarket in Bristol - to register people who need emergency assistance. About 20,000 people seeking aid have already registered with FEMA. Long warned that recovery will take time, especially given the amount of devastation. "A lot of times people don't realize the National Guard, the power trucks, the charitable groups, this is all a coordinated effort," Long said. "We are seeing the private sector come back up pretty quickly. We've got a long way to go, but expectations that things will be put back together instantly is mistaken." The destruction is immense. A Florida National Guard helicopter pilot said Friday that when he flew into obliterated Mexico Beach, he was shocked to see that the huge reinforced concrete electrical transmission standards had collapsed amid Michael's storm surge, wind and rain. The timbered byways are now half as shady as they had been, with much of the surrounding forests lying across roads. It took crews two full days to clear most of the major and secondary roads near the tiny beach town. Scott said he has received everything he has asked for from the federal government, and he talks to President Donald Trump nearly daily about the situation. "I'd like it to happen more rapidly," Scott said. "Now, after clearing the roads, communications are the first priority, and power. We have an unbelievable problem in Bay County - Verizon is down and AT&T is up, but the county services are on Verizon. In other places, Verizon is up and AT&T is down." On the ground away from the area's major roadways, it's difficult to see progress. Power outages in some areas are predicted to last weeks or months, there are boil-water orders in several communities, and curfews remain in effect during night hours. And there are fears about potential fires given all the downed timber and a desire to burn off debris - a small fire could quickly become a conflagration. In Calhoun County, just inland from Mexico Beach, Sheriff Glen Kimbrel said the primary commercial operation here is the timber industry, meaning the 14,500 residents are in for a long, slow recovery. "We are used to bad days, but right now we're facing three bad months," he said. "We'll be 25 years recovering from this in our timber community." A huge drive-through distribution center for Liberty County residents in Bristol was busy Sunday morning, with state and local authorities handing out food, water and ice. A block away, in a church parking lot, the Loaves and Fishes charity from Ohio provided 1,400 plates of hot food Saturday and was expecting to surpass that Sunday. Women in Amish and Mennonite garb sang as they filled plates with potloaf - a mixture of meatloaf and potatoes - corn and tapioca. They also handed out cold bottles of water. "We provide a hot meal twice a day. People are taking plates home to others who can't get out," said Freeman Miller, the organization's secretary. "We are glad to help. We do this because we love the Lord." Normally the Bristol Church of God has a worship service that draws about 70, but just about two dozen congregants were able to gather in the parking lot outside the hurricane damaged church this Sunday. "We had an impromptu service to give people an opportunity to praise God and testify - to be emotional if they want to," said minister Terry Blackburn. "We've already seen several miracles." He said people spoke of escaping injury despite catastrophic property losses. The church roof was ruined by wind and its contents soaked by rain, but Blackburn pointed to fallen trees that just missed the church, largely sparing it. His parsonage across the street is now uninhabitable but his camper in the driveway was undamaged, so that's where he and his wife are living. "A group helped us put a tarp on the roof, and although we don't have an abundance of supplies to give out, the Church of God donations are coming," he said. An internal investigation by Harvard Medical School has determined that 31 scientific publications from the laboratory of a high-profile cardiologist contain fraudulent data. Piero Anversa and his colleagues were credited with finding a population of cells in the heart that suggested the organ has the ability to regenerate. His work, underwritten by millions of dollars in federal funding, helped lay the groundwork for major clinical trials, and cardiologists continue to study ways to repair the heart with stem cells. But the cells Anversa described, so-called "c-kit" stem cells, don't appear to work in the way he suggested, and subsequent research has found no evidence that they can regenerate heart tissue. He and other members of his laboratory left the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in 2015 under the shadow of the ongoing internal investigation over the integrity of the work performed in his lab. "Following a review of research conducted in the former lab of Piero Anversa, we determined that 31 publications included falsified and/or fabricated data, and we have notified all relevant journals," Harvard and Brigham said in a joint statement, without specifying the work affected. Anversa has published more than 100 scientific papers, and his collaborators have included leaders in the field. He also has been honored as a distinguished scientist by the American Heart Association. Efforts to reach Anversa through his lawyer were unsuccessful. "There's been grave damage done to the field, and potentially a generation of young researchers who've come into the field of cardiac regeneration at a time that ideas that largely derived from what appear to be fraudulent papers have held a lot of sway," said Jonathan Epstein, a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. "Any clinical trials involving patients, based in whole or in part on work that is widely questioned should be seriously rethought and not go forward without due process or consideration." Several journals said they had recently received communications from Harvard detailing findings of false or fabricated data from Anversa's lab and were considering their policies before deciding whether to retract the articles. The New England Journal of Medicine has published several papers co-authored by Anversa, including a dogma-challenging 2001 paper that found the heart can regenerate, and a controversial 2011 paper that reported evidence that there were stem cells in the lung similar to those Anversa had found in the heart. Spokeswoman Jennifer Zeis said the journal had received Harvard's confidential report about problems with two papers published in 2001 and 2011 and was separately launching its own investigation into a 2002 study. "Our goal is to obtain as complete information as is possible in order to make an informed decision about possible retraction," Zeis said. The Lancet also placed an "expression of concern" on a clinical trial in which researchers infused cardiac stem cells into patients' hearts in 2014, due to concerns over the integrity of the data. Spokeswoman Emily Head said there was no update on the status of that paper, but that the journal had "received communication from Harvard and are investigating further." Suzanne Grant, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, said that "we have only just received and are evaluating the findings of the multiyear Harvard University investigation." She noted that one paper co-authored by Anversa already had been retracted and that a dozen others had been corrected to include the disclosure that Anversa was part of the company Autologous, LLC. A letter seen by The Washington Post that was sent to a co-author of a paper published in Circulation Research notes that the integrity of data presented in images of cardiac tissue provided by Anversa's lab was "compromised." The letter from Harvard says the questions raised "require" that the study should be retracted. Roberto Bolli, a cardiologist at the University of Louisville School of Medicine who is a co-author of the Lancet paper and the editor in chief of Circulation Research, in which Anversa frequently published, said he and his colleagues are "victims of this scientific misconduct in Anversa's lab." "It would be unfair to us in Louisville if our reputation was tainted by what happened in Boston," said Bolli, who said his lab administered the cells that were created and characterized by Anversa's lab into patients. "We don't know yet the extent to which it [the fabrication] impacted the characterization of the cell product that was used." Brigham, part of Partners HealthCare System, disclosed to the Justice Department last year allegations that Anversa's laboratory had fraudulently obtained federal grant funding. The hospital paid $10 million to settle allegations that Anversa, along with lab members Annarosa Leri and Jan Kajstura, knew or should have known that their laboratory had created and used manipulated or falsified microscope images and other data in grant applications. The government alleged that the Anversa lab had a scope of problems, including "improper protocols, invalid and inaccurately characterized cardiac stem cells, reckless or deliberately misleading record-keeping, and discrepancies and/or fabrication of data and images included in applications and publications." "This body of work has, for better or worse, been hugely influential," said Eduardo Marban, director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "Despite the fact that several prominent laboratories failed to confirm key findings, c-kit positive heart cells were rapidly translated to clinical testing in heart failure patients. . . . One can only hope that no patients have been placed at risk in clinical trials based upon fraudulent data." ROME - Turkish authorities on Monday will begin an inspection of the Saudi consolate in Istanbul in relation to the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to pro-Turkish government daily Sabah, citing Turkish Foreign Ministry sources. Khashoggi went missing 13 days ago and was last seen entering the consolate. The inspection will take place in the presence of both Turkish and Saudi investigators. The Saudi team arrived in Istanbul last week as part of the formation of a "joint working group" between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The Turkish government said the two countries will, however, conduct separate investigations. Nearly a week ago, Saudi authorities promised they would allow the consolate to be searched. Saudi Arabia's King Salman has ordered an internal investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance, Bloomberg reported, citing senior kingdom officials. Meanwhile, more details on the case are emerging in the Turkish media. According to Turkish daily Haberturk, Turkish police are "seriously investigating" the possibility that Khashoggi's body may have been dissolved in acid. Citing sources close to the investigation, which is also being worked by Turkey's secret service, the MIT, it said one of Khashoggi's friends, Turan Kislakci, first put forth the hypothesis. Kislakci, who is the head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association, maintained in the initial hours following Khashoggi's disappearance that the assassins had immediately disposed of the body. More individuals and companies are also pulling out of the October 23 "Future Investment Initiative Conference", dubbed "Davos in the desert", which is sponsored and hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On Monday, the Ford Motor Company announced it would no longer participate, following the lead of several other American companies who have dropped out of the conference in recent days. The company's president, Bill Ford, cancelled a series of visits in the Middle East, including an appearance at the conference. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also withdrew. These latest cancellations could spur action by other companies that have yet to pull out of the conference, such as Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, and Bank of America. Almost a year after Maine voters overwhelmingly decided to expand Medicaid to tens of thousands of people, the measure has not yet gone into effect. But supporters of the effort have another shot at tipping the scales in their favor in the open gubernatorial race in November. Nearly 60 percent of voters said yes to the ballot initiative last November to approve expansion, but Republican Gov. Paul R. LePage - who is term limited - has done everything he can to block its implementation, citing concerns over funding. Before it appeared on the ballot, he had vetoed bills to expand Medicaid five times, and now it's tied up in an ongoing legal battle. Candidates who could follow LePage appear to be more open to implementing the ballot initiative. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Mills has been a vocal supporter of Medicaid expansion. Independent candidates Terry Hayes and Alan Caron have also said they would implement it. The Republican candidate Shawn Moody previously seemed to follow LePage's lead in opposing expansion, but now says he would implement the law as long as there is funding. Voters in Maine and across the country have turned their focus to health care as a top priority influencing their vote in November. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found 82 percent of respondents said health care was either the single most important or a very important issue in their vote for Congress this year. In Maine, a poll from Suffolk University in Boston in August found health care was the chief concern for respondents in deciding who to vote for as governor, with 28 percent saying that was their top concern. The same poll found 56 percent of those surveyed said they disagree with LePage's position against expanding Medicaid. The outcome could also make the state a leader nationally in health-care policy. Maine's initiative last year buoyed similar movements in red states across the country. Ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid will appear in Utah and Idaho next month. And Utah activists learned from the experience of those in Maine. As The Post's Paige Winfield Cunningham reported in June, when voters in that state head to the polls they will not only be asked to vote on whether the program should be expanded, but on a proposal to pay for it. Mills has said she would implement Medicaid expansion on her first day in office. In an interview with The Post, Mills criticized the governor for "essentially trying to veto what the people did at the ballot box." She said beyond providing access to 70,000 additional low-income people who would become eligible for health care, expansion would create thousands of jobs and support the state's rural hospitals. During a gubernatorial debate last week, Mills called Medicaid expansion "vital." Of the four candidates on the stage, Moody was one of two candidates who did not also mention Medicaid. In an emailed statement, Moody's campaign manager, Lauren LePage, said the candidate "will implement and enforce the law with sustainable and responsible funding from the Legislature." Lauren LePage, who is Gov. LePage's daughter, added: "Shawn does not believe that a sustainable and responsible funding plan requires raising taxes, raiding the state's rainy day fund, or using other one-time budget gimmicks . . . As Governor, Shawn would get the stakeholders around the table to negotiate a funding mechanism including hospital providers, legislators, and other impacted entities." But Moody hasn't been entirely consistent about his stance. During the primary, he told the Portsmouth Herald that "welfare expansion will not strengthen Maine's economy," adding "I will not support funding Medicaid expansion by raising taxes on hard-working Mainers or job creators." In a June primary debate, Moody said he "did not support Medicaid expansion" and would "fight to repeal it." Local station WMTW News's Paul Merrill reported the campaign told him his previous remarks were while "the Legislature was still in session and there was an opportunity to address Medicaid expansion." Paul Merrill tweeted ".@Moody4Gov during our @WMTWTV primary debate: 'I did not support the Medicaid expansion, and like Mary, I would fight to repeal it, but in the meantime, you have to follow the court order.' #mepolitics #megov" Paul Merrill tweeted "Now, his campaign manager says: 'During the primary campaign the Legislature was still in session and there was an opportunity to address medicaid expansion. Since then, the Legislature has adjourned and sent a clear signal that medicaid expansion remains the law of the land.'" Patricia Boozang, a senior managing director at consulting firm Manatt Health, zeroed in on Moody's "caveat on responsible funding." "I think that's consistently been Gov. LePage's position that 'we can't support it because we can't fund it.' The question will be whether voters view that as a distinction in his statement compared to where the governor's view is on that." Boozang suggested the election could have an impact on health care nationwide. "Overall, you'll likely see just a more aggressive and bolder health reform agenda, sort of like what you're seeing in New Jersey and Virginia, if there's a Democratic governor and of course a Democratic legislature," she said. Meanwhile, the LePage administration last month finally submitted court-ordered documents needed to expand Medicaid. But along with that plan, LePage sent a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma urging the federal government to reject it. Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, the advocacy group leading the legal fight against the LePage administration, pointed to the governor's veto of a $60 million Medicaid expansion funding bill that the state legislature approved in June. "In our Maine constitution it says the governor cannot veto a citizen's initiative," she added. "But he's doing that in effect by vetoing the implementing legislation, the appropriations bill. It's disingenuous at best." Merrill lamented the "confusion and worry for people who have significant health-care needs" as a result of the delay but said expansion will ultimately be implemented regardless of the outcome of the election. "It's just taken longer than we hoped, but it is going to happen, regardless of who is elected, because it is the law of the land." ROME - The Italian foreign ministry on Monday demanded clarification from the French ambassador in Italy after a French gendarmery police van was allegedly seen dropping off two men in woods on Friday near the border at Claviere, in the province of Turin, the ministry said. The Italian police saw the incident and took down the vehicle's registration number, interior ministry sources said. The men are suspected of being migrants of African origin. The foreign ministry said it had also instructed the Italian ambassador in Paris to take a similar formal step with French authorities, "in order to clear up the precise terms of the incident". Earlier Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini also asked France to clear up the case. "I am waiting for developments," Salvini said. "I don't want to believe (President Emmanuel) Macron's France uses its police to dump migrants in Italy in secret. "But if someone really thinks that they can use us as Europe's refugee camp, breaching laws, borders and agreements, they are making a big mistake. "We demand clarification, above all, from those who preach every day, and we don't care who it is. "I invite my colleague (Foreign Minister Enzo) Moavero (Milanesi) to ask for clarification from the ambassador". Salvini says in an interview with the Politique International magazine that will be published on October 18: "Macron should stop giving me lectures". He says: "Macron is entitled to protect his borders, but don't let him come and give me lectures or preach to me. Salvini points out that "already 48,000 migrants have been pushed back at Ventimiglia". Meanwhile the Turin prosecutor's office opened a probe into the incident. More rain is on the way in South Central Texas, potentially exacerbating flood conditions in an area where surging waters killed at least four people last week. The National Weather Service warned that thunderstorms would sweep across the region overnight Sunday with continuing rain at least through Tuesday, issuing a flash flood watch for 15 counties that remains in effect through Monday evening. The region remains near saturated from heavy rainfall over the past month, the agency wrote in the advisory. Additional heavy rainfall (Monday night) and (Tuesday) could result in quicker than normal runoff leading to flash flooding. The affected area spans from western border counties north to Llano and Blanco counties, including the outskirts of Bexar. The region is expected to receive between 1 and 3 inches of rain, with some areas getting as much as 6 inches. The continued wet weather comes as search crews in Junction found a third body Saturday night from the Llano River flood that engulfed an RV park there last week. On Friday, crews found a man in his 20s dead after he was swept away by Sabinal River floodwaters earlier in the week. Sunday nights storms could carry the potential for damaging wind gusts and hail in isolated areas, the agency said. The strongest risk for those conditions is near Del Rio and Uvalde counties, according to weather service meteorologist Cory Van Pelt. Showers and thunderstorms will be capable of producing pockets of locally heavy rainfall along with strong gusty winds and hail, forecasters wrote. Van Pelt said the storms will come from the west and move east toward the Interstate 35 corridor ahead of a cold front Monday that will bring temperatures in the 40s and 50s this week. The rain is expected to continue throughout the week. Van Pelt said the highest chances for rain are Monday and Tuesday. Agency meteorologist Melissa Huffman said Bexar County will likely miss the worst of the rain, but that doesnt mean San Antonians wont notice a change. Its going to get dramatically colder and its going to get windy, Huffman said. So thats going to be the big impact that most people see. 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 San Antonio Water System customers will start paying about 4.4 percent more for services starting Jan. 1 The average residential SAWS bill will go from $65.69 per month to $68.60 with the new year. SAWS projects the average bill will be $86.67 nearly 32 percent higher than today by 2023. The increases are mainly due to major sewer reconstruction projects and additions to the citys water supply. The SAWS board is expected to vote on the proposed 2019 budget on Nov. 6. READ ALSO: CPS Energy leaves door open for rate increase next year Next years rate increase has already been approved by the City Council. According to SAWS, average water bills in 2019 are projected to be higher than in Dallas ($60.30), but lower than Fort Worth ($71.51), Houston ($91.81) and Austin ($108.51). Read more about how high rates are expected to go in the coming years at our subscriber site ExpressNews.com or in Mondays San Antonio Express-News. shuddleston@express-news.net Twitter: @shuddlestonSA 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 Turkey: Council of Europe denounces violence against women Forced marriages exceed 30%, unreported rape (ANSAmed) - STRASBOURG, OCTOBER 15 - Forced marriages are still being reported in Turkey, along with the phenomenon of underage brides with 25% of Turkish women who wed when they were minors, a percentage that rose to 32% in rural areas, according to the first report on Turkey drafted by Grevio, a group of anti-violence experts of the Council of Europe, which was set up when the Istanbul Convention came into force. In the document, which takes into account the situation until last May, experts stressed that progress made in the country, including legislation to fight violence against women, were ''obscured'' by the reality experienced by women in their everyday lives. Grevio stressed that few rapes are reported to authorities, mainly due, according to experts, to social stigma. Victims are considered 'guilty' and reporting rape brings 'dishonor' to the family. Moreover, ''there is a stereotyped vision of the role of women, restrictive and extremely embedded'' in society even at ''the highest political levels'' that ''fosters violence''. Grevio denounced with alarm ''growing restrictions'' imposed on women's rights organizations. (ANSAmed). Kowhai Festival Great Debate sponsor Andrew Steens, of Mike Pero Warkworth, was given the honour of tossing a coin to determine which position teams would take in the Kowhai Festival Great Debate. Two debates will take place on November 2 at the Warkworth Town Hall. Doors open from 6.30pm when a cash bar and finger-food will be available. The first debate Men become distinguished; women become invisible starts at 7pm and will see Warkworth Toastmasters pitted against a combined Rotary and Lions team. Rotary and Lions will take the affirmative and they will take on a Toastmasters team comprising presentation skills trainer David Nottage, retired realtor Sandy Gordon and hospice fundraiser Lesley Ingham. David Nottage was the 1996 Toastmasters World Champion for public speaking. The second debate Is Australia worth invading? will see Warkworth Toastmasters take on Warkworth Police. Toastmasters will take the affirmative and comprise One Warkworth manager Murray Chapman, novelist Jacquie McRae and winemaker Ben Dugdale. The police team will be Sergeant Mark Stallworthy, Senior Constable John Williams and Senior Constable Hamish Buick. MC for the night will be Ascension Wine Estate founder Darryl Soljan. Murray Chapman says Toastmasters is well advanced in developing a strategy to win both debates and is anticipating every criminal in town will come along to cheer the Toastmasters to victory against the police. Money raised will support Harbour Hospice services in the Warkworth Wellsford community. Tickets cost $35 and are available from Hospice House, Mahurangi Matters and Harts Pharmacy. Limited door sales are available. Kawau Volunteer Coastguard will bring along its rescue boat during the Kowhai Festivals Huge Day Out as part of an effort drum up more support. The boat will be moored at Warkworth Wharf and the Coastguard will also have a stand on Queen Street. Kawau Volunteer Coastguard president Luke McCarthy is seeking to recruit five to 10 more volunteers to crew its rescue boat. We will have several volunteers around for people to talk to, he says. Luke says those who volunteer for the Coastguard reap enormous rewards including the joy of returning people safely back to their families. In addition, volunteers gain confidence and learn life skills such as working together as a team. Another perk for volunteers is gaining extensive training for free, including in advanced navigation and VHF radio. Volunteers can also undertake advanced study for their NZ Boatmaster certificate and to skipper a rescue vessel. Info: coastguard.nz/regions/northern-region/units/kawau Hibiscus Coast barrister and founder of the Stop Demand Foundation, Denise Ritchie, will return to Nigeria later this month to oversee the delivery of 2000 menstrual cups, donated by Kiwis through a Givealittle campaign. Each cup costs $10 and the campaign has just passed the halfway mark. The recipients will be women in two refugee camps one on the outskirts of the capital Abuja and the other in Maiduguri, in the remote north-east. Many of the women in these camps were once self-sufficient, but now face abject poverty, Denise says Resources are scarce and money for sanitary items non-existent. Many resort to desperate, unhygienic means for their monthly menstruation, including making pads from sand. Denise says the areas she will travel to are essentially wastelands and she is acutely aware that there is an element of risk involved. You have to be careful. I dont travel without proper support, but you cant let fear hold you back. Denise says the Boko Haram conflict in north-east Nigeria has displaced an estimated one million innocent women and girls. Each cup can last up to 10 years and will deliver a life-changing difference in health, dignity and hope. Denise says she is enormously grateful for the support of Kiwi supplier My Cup NZ and Qatar Airways, as well as all the people who have made a donation. The Stop Demand Foundation is a non-governmental organisation that works on global issues of sexual violence and sexual slavery. The donations from New Zealanders dont go unnoticed. Give a little, mean a lot A $10 donation will buy a cup that will make a profound and practical contribution to the women and girls who are the innocent victims of the conflict in Nigeria. Donations can be made at: givealittle.co.nz/cause/menstrual-cups-for-victims-of-boko-haram Mahurangi College students have surged ahead in the race to develop great electric vehicles, after dominating at the EVolocity Auckland Regional Finals last month. The school had four teams compete at Mount Wellington Kartsport Track on September 30, with two in the 350 Watt division and two in the one kilowatt division. The students will now travel to Christchurch on November 24 to compete at the EVolocity National Finals, where the top schools will race their electric vehicles and be judged on criteria such as stopping distance, speed and economy. Teacher Paul Lenihan, who has been working with the students on their projects, says Team Horsepower had an outstanding entry. They competed with an excellent one kilowatt bike that was well tuned and raced superbly, Paul says. The bike, developed by Callum Harnish, Jerome Cunningham and Laurens Bubbert, won all four racing events, which were open drag, open street, open gymkhana and open economy run. Also in the one kilowatt class was team Passing Gas made up of Jordan Heron, Jackson Crawford, Daniel Foote and Scott Monteith. They were the overall show winner and won the innovation prize. Their design raised the benchmark in this competition. The vehicle was not running at full throttle for the regionals, which is an extremely exciting prospect for the nationals. Team Rewop had a strong showing in the 350 Watt division, winning the carts gymkhana and coming second in the carts drag race and carts street circuit. The team of Theo Neumann, Marty Johnston and Matthew Georgetti based their bike on a trike design and constructed it out of carbon fibre. Red Team, made up of Solomon Waterhouse and Jack Marshall-Young, finished a close second in the bike drag race, just 2km/h shy of the speed of the first place-getter. Students began designing their vehicles in February and found sponsorship from more than 25 local businesses. Vehicles were constructed from May to September. Community leaders and Auckland Council staff welcomed new Warkworth Town Hall facility coordinators Adrian and Alex Hayward with morning tea at the hall on October 1. The newly created co-ordinators job is to promote public use of the facility. Adrian told the gathering that as the world became more digitally orientated, it was important that the Town Hall be seen more on digital media. To help achieve this, the Haywards have created a new website (warkworthtownhall.nz) and are promising to spice up the town halls Facebook page, which will be used to publicise events. Future plans include a photographic competition on the theme of Changing Warkworth, where entrants will be invited to upload images to the website and Facebook page. Another competition will see primary schools invited to submit photo collages on the same theme. Sometime in mid-December, the Haywards are planning a Christmas gift market at the hall, encouraging shoppers to buy gifts from local stallholders rather than travel to Albany. Adrian said builders had done a great job renovating the hall, but now they had left, it was important people started to come in and make use of it. Contact Adrian on 027 527 8859 or Alex 027 527 8869 Living Way Christian School, based in Wellsford, will close its doors for the final time at the end of this year. Principal Peter Thomas says the board has decided to close the school in response to a falling roll and difficulty in recruiting teachers. The school opened 26 years ago and, at its peak, had a roll of 45. However, enrolments declined steeply following an economic downturn about 15 years ago and never fully recovered. Last year, the school had 20 students, but this year has only 14. The school took students of all ages from Year 1 through to Year 13. Mr Thomas says school fees at Living Way are cheap by private school standards, but are still a struggle for families on medium to low incomes. He adds that Christian families currently dont have the same enthusiasm for Christian schooling that they had about 20 years ago and many others were choosing to home school their children instead. Still others tended to pull secondary students out of Living Way to attend state schools so that they could complete NZCEA qualifications. As far as I know, we had a good reputation in the community so I dont think we were doing anything particularly wrong. But as a small school there are things we cant offer, Mr Thomas says. Mr Thomas says he still feels there is an important role for Christian schools, saying the neglect of Christian values has had dire consequences for society. There are a lot of issues in our world today that I think you can attribute to people reinventing the moral fabric of our society and abandoning the more traditional values that Christianity brought into our culture, he says. The school is located in a commercial building in Station Road owned by a Christian charitable trust. Mr Thomas says it will be up to the trust as to what happens to the building next year. Waste Management could face some difficulty in obtaining permission to develop a landfill in the Dome Valley, which is zoned as rural production land in the Auckland Unitary Plan, according to Auckland Council. Landfill is a non-complying activity in rural areas so the onus will fall on the company to prove that it would not adversely compromise the purpose of rural production land that is, to provide for the use and development of land for rural production activities and rural industries and services, while maintaining rural character and amenity values. However, a new landfill would not necessarily require a zoning change for the 1000ha of farm and forestry land being purchased by Waste Management, a Council spokesman said. For instance, the Redvale landfill operates in the mixed rural zone with an approved resource consent, he said. However, as a non-complying activity there will be some difficulty in obtaining approval, as the application will need to demonstrate that either the effects are not adverse or that it is not contrary to the objectives and policies of the Rural Production Zone. Those objectives include maintaining the productive capability of land and protecting it from inappropriate use and development. Waste Management has said that it will maintain ongoing pasture grazing on the Springhill block and plant replacement pine forest there. Meanwhile, the commercial forestry land will continue to operate, managed by Rayonier Matariki Forests, which is selling the 657ha block of Mahurangi Forest to the waste company. Concerns over potential discharge and pollution of waterways leading into the Hoteo River, which flows into Kaipara Harbour, from the landfill have been voiced by several organisations. Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group (IKHMG) programme manager Willie Wright said he was still trying to find out more about the plans and how they might impact on the harbour catchment. Of course, the IKHMG position is about the health of the Harbour, its tributaries, watercourses and, of course, the whenua, he said. Seepage and leaching is of interest as well, including waste, toxins, plastics, and so on. Forest & Birds Auckland and Northland manager, Nick Beveridge, voiced similar concerns. Ive had a look at the Unitary Plan maps and the main issue that I can see is the potential for leaching of heavy metals and toxins into a nearby stream catchment, he said. Waste Management managing director Tom Nickels said leachate from the waste would be collected and managed appropriately, and the company was working to design treatment facilities that would not adversely affect water quality. At this stage we have engaged experts who will complete the analysis and modelling required to design appropriate water treatment facilities and stormwater treatment processes for the proposed landfill, he said. This work includes engineering solutions to ensure any stormwater that is discharged into the Hoteo River or its tributaries does not impact water quality. The draft design directly separates stormwater from the waste with the stormwater flowing into a series of ponds to ensure water quality before passing downstream. But Nick Beveridge was also concerned about the impact of the proposal on the land itself. Looking at the aerial photo on the Auckland Council maps, there does seem to be a good cover of vegetation. Some of this is forestry, but it could have a good native under-storey, and the rest looks as if it might be scrub/regenerating bush, he said. I would like to know if an environmental impact assessment was carried out before the Overseas Investment Office gave approval for Waste Management to buy the land and, if not, why not? If there was one produced, then we need to get a copy in order to see what the biodiversity and ecological values are. Waste Management had not responded to a question about whether there had been an environmental impact assessment carried out as Mahurangi Matters went to press. Residents rally to fight the dump Local residents are vowing to fight Waste Management for years if necessary to prevent the proposed landfill from being sited in the Dome Valley. A Facebook group with more than 660 members, Fight the Tip, Save the Dome, is rallying opponents to band together and block Waste Management, starting with a public meeting at Wellsford Community Centre tonight (Wednesday, October 17). Group founder and Wilson Road resident Dave Sawyer says the community will fight 100 per cent. There are many people who do not want this for many reasons, he says. We want people to get on board with the fight against Waste Management. This is a meeting to stop the landfill. Waste Management is destroying our forest. We will go through what we have found up till now and will be welcoming comments and ideas. We also want more people to come on board to make sure this doesnt happen. The meeting is timed to start at 7pm the same time that Waste Managements first open day at Springhill is scheduled to finish. Theyve done their open day when people are picking up kids from school, getting home from work and so on, when people are busy, he says. Weve done ours afterwards, so well see who comes out. People who dont have much time will make a choice. At the end of the day what were doing is not a debate about whether a landfill is a good idea or a bad idea, its only to fight them. Read the title Fight the tip, Save the Dome. Landfill proposal open days and public meetings Wednesday, October 17, 3-7pm Waste Management Open Day, Springhill Estate, 1232 State Highway 1, Dome Valley Wednesday, October 17, 7pm Fight the Tip, Save the Dome, Public Meeting, Wellsford Community Centre, 1 Matheson Road, Wellsford Saturday, October 27, 9am-1pm Waste Management Open Day, Springhill Estate, 1232 State Highway 1, Dome Valley Auckland University scientists are calling for an expansion of the Cape Rodney-Okakari Point (Goat Island) Marine Reserve to stop crayfish numbers dwindling to an all-time low. The university operates the Leigh Marine Laboratory, and the reserve was originally set up for scientific research purposes in 1975. It is administered by the Department of Conservation. Laboratory senior lecturer Dr Nick Shears says the first research into crayfish numbers, when the reserve opened, showed there were 10 per 500 square metres. As the 518ha reserve became more effective that figure grew to around 40, but due to more intensive fishing on the reserve border, numbers have dropped back to just 10 wiping out more than 40 years of conservation efforts. The reserve boundary extends 800 metres offshore, but the sand flats where the crayfish feed are beyond this, Dr Shears says. The reserve needs to constantly protect its marine life, which isnt happening, and this means we could soon have less crayfish than when the reserve first opened. Relevant agencies are aware of the issue and a Sea Change Plan, designed to enhance the Hauraki Gulf, proposes to extend the boundary a further 2.2km to 3km. However, no time frames have been set for when the proposal might come into effect. In August, the university approached the Auckland Conservation Board with its concerns. Board chair Lyn Mayes shares the universitys concern. The board supports the call by researchers to extend the boundary of the reserve to a minimum of 3km offshore. But she says the board cant comment on any action it may have taken to try and get the boundary extended. Rodney MP Mark Mitchell says he will be right behind any proposal to expand the reserve. Im a huge fan of marine reserves and I cant see any downsides to expanding the one at Goat Island, Mr Mitchell says. It serves our researchers, is a good learning facility and a great tourist attraction. Leigh resident and honorary Department of Conservation ranger Tony Enderby says he supports a boundary expansion, but has concerns about opposition. Its a great idea, but I have doubts it will happen because a lot of fishermen are opposed to the idea, he says. Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage says she cant comment on the specific proposal to expand the reserve, but says government agencies are working out the best way to progress the Sea Change Plan proposals. Meanwhile, marine life in local reserves is having to face the additional challenge of sea pollution. Earlier this month, Goat Island Dive and Snorkel owners Stone and Tine Meharry-Roland found a set net drifting near the Tawharanui reserve full of dead fish. People set these nets and then dont monitor them closely. They drift off and catch all sorts of marine life that gets in their way, Mr Meharry-Roland says. The nets are often made of nylon so can easily last 30 years in the water. The pair regularly do clean-ups around the coastline and find a lot of rubbish. We pick up everything from tyres to fridges, bikes, crayfish pots and, most commonly, plastic waste. Goat Island sees around 350,000 visitors each summer and Stone says beachgoers and anglers all need to be mindful of rubbish and the damage it does. A man who appeared at this weeks sitting of Longford Circuit Court after missing a number of appointments with the Probation Service avoided prison because he told the judge he was trying to secure residential treatment for his heroin addiction. Charles Reilly (26), 37 Farnagh, Longford appeared before Judge Keenan Johnson where defence counsel Mr Niall Flynn said his client was trying to address his addiction issues. Mr Flynn also pointed out to the court that the defendant was the father of two children aged eight and seven and Mr Reilly had already missed five Christmases with them due to his difficulties. He knows what he has to do and is endeavouring to gain entry onto a treatment programme, continued Mr Flynn. He missed probation appointments and is very apologetic for that; he knows that he shouldnt have done that. I accept that he has been already given every opportunity by the court but if he was given a bed in a residential unit, he would take it. Mr Flynn went on to say that if his client was sent to prison he would not be able to access the services he needed. Mr Reilly has told me that he first became addicted to heroin when he was in St Patricks Institution, he added. Meanwhile, Judge Johnson said he would allow the defendant one further opportunity to avail of residential treatment for his addiction. This man is on a suspended sentence and has entered a bond, Mr Flynn, the Judge fumed. If you were so concerned about your children Mr Reilly you wouldnt be doing drugs in the first instance. The Judge subsequently adjourned proceedings until Friday week and said he wanted a firm roadmap of the defendants treatment plan on that date. Judge Johnson also indicated that he wanted clean urine results as well. Local News, Crime, Business & Finance, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: October 15 2018 Tenants Must File a Claim by November 4, 2018 to Participate. New York, NY - October 15, 2018 - New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood reminded New Yorkers today that tenants who live or formerly lived in buildings owned by New York City landlord Steven Croman may be eligible to apply for restitution, as part of the unprecedented settlement reached by the Attorney Generals office in December 2017. In order to participate, tenants must file a claim by November 4, 2018. Claim forms and eligibility requirements are available at New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood reminded New Yorkers today that tenants who live or formerly lived in buildings owned by New York City landlord Steven Croman may be eligible to apply for restitution, as part of the unprecedented settlement reached by the Attorney Generals office in December 2017. In order to participate, tenants must file a claim by November 4, 2018. Claim forms and eligibility requirements are available at www.cromanrestitutionfund.com Again and again, Steve Croman acted as though he was above the law. My office secured an unprecedented $8 million settlement for Cromans illegal tenant harassment, coercion, and fraud the largest-ever settlement with an individual landlord, said Attorney General Underwood. I encourage eligible tenants to submit a claim by November 4th so they can receive the restitution they deserve. We will continue to aggressively pursue predatory landlords to the fullest extent of the law. The settlement arose out of an investigation and lawsuit filed by the Attorney Generals office against Croman for engaging in illegal conduct including harassment, coercion, and fraud in order to force rent-regulated tenants out of their apartments and convert their apartments into highly profitable market-rate units. The consent decree requires Croman to pay $8 million into a Tenant Restitution Fund the largest-ever monetary settlement with an individual landlord. Tenants are eligible for restitution if they are or were a tenant in a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartment owned by Croman between July 1, 2011 and December 20, 2017; they received a buyout of less than $20,000, not including any amount that purported to cover rent or arrears; and no other tenant in their apartment received money from the restitution fund. Several hundred current and former tenants are potentially eligible to apply for these restitution funds. In August 2018, the claims administrator JND Legal Administration mailed claim notices and forms to current and former rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants in Cromans buildings. Those forms and additional information are also available at www.cromanrestitutionfund.com . The $8 million will be divided equally among eligible claimants and distributed to tenants in installments over a period of 38 to 42 months, with the first installment coming as soon as the claims administrator processes all of the first-round claim forms. In addition to the $8 million Tenant Restitution Fund, the settlement also requires over 100 Croman residential properties to be run by a new, independent management company with no ties to Croman, for five years the longest-ever term for independent management in OAG history. Moreover, the settlement requires seven years of independent monitorship to oversee compliance with the terms of the consent decree and provide regular reporting to the Attorney General the longest-ever monitorship required in any tenant harassment case. Earlier this year, OAG approved New York City Management as the independent management company; the management company took over operations of the buildings on July 1, 2018. Pursuant to the settlement, New York City Management is instituting new policies at the Croman properties to ensure full compliance with the law and correction of all past violations. It will also post a comprehensive set of Tenants Rights in every building it manages. The settlement was the result of a May 2016 civil lawsuit brought by the Attorney Generals office against Croman and his agent Anthony Falconite for allegedly engaging in illegal, fraudulent, and deceptive conduct in connection with Cromans real-estate business. The lawsuit alleged that Croman directed an illegal operation that wielded harassment, coercion, and fraud to force rent-regulated tenants out of their apartments and convert their apartments into highly profitable market-rate units. The lawsuit further alleged that Croman deployed Falconite, a former New York City police officer, to frighten and intimidate rent-regulated tenants into surrendering their apartments. 7 th Delhi International Film Festival 2018, an initiative by the Social Circle, is all set to offer Delhiites with a visual treat of avant garde films, art, and literature, during the 5 day festival, to be held from 14th to 18th October, at NDMC Convention Centre and Central Park, Connaught Place, New Delhi, in association with NDMC and Information & Broadcasting Ministry. Tourism and Culture ministries are Associate Partners. The 7th Delhi International Film Festival will be formally inaugurated by a host of Celebrities, Diplomats, Political Personalities, amidst packed audiences on the 14th of October at NDMC Convention Central, Connaught Place, where Opening film WHISPERING SANDS, Directed by Nacer Khemir from Tunisia will be screened outdoors, on a giant screen installed in the park - a unique feature of DIFF. On the Closing and Award Ceremony on 18th October, the film SUSAH SINYAL, Directed by Ernest Prakasa from Indonesia is the Closing film, also screened at NDMC Convention Centre, Sansad Marg, and Connaught Place, New Delhi. The opening ceremony was quite a global event in terms of the guests, ambassadors and high commissioners from the special partner countries. The dignitaries from Tunisia, Indonesia, Australia, Jordan, Vietnam, Spain, Morocco, Mexico, and Syria were honored with mementos of gratitude and love. The dignitaries lit the ceremonial lamp to inaugurate the festival and unveiled the catalog as well. It was the first time that a representative from Pakistan attended the festival. This was followed by the national anthems of India and Tunisia. Then speeches from ambassadors and high commissioners, H.E M Neijmeddine Lakhal (Ambassador of Tunisia), H.E Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro (Ambassador of Indonesia), Ms. Harinder Sidhu (High Commissioner of Australia), Santiago Ruy Sanchez (Cultural Counselor of Mexico). The deputy high commissioner of Syria to India, H.E Al Basheer. Mr. Jyoti Kalash, the Principal Commissioner of Nagaland was specially honored by the festival organizers. The official promos and teaser were launched, depicting the diverse journey through which the festival would take its participants through. The event was attended by the Jury members and representatives from various news channels as well. The ceremony ended with the screening of the Tunisian film, The Sand Whispers-Whispering Sands. This year, Indonesia and Tunisia are Special Country Partners, Australia, Mexico and Syria are Country Partners, Uttar Pradesh - Film Bandhu and Jharkhand as State Partners. Delhi International Film Festival also has collaborations with film festivals in Morocco, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Ukraine, and the USA. More than 75 Countries have sent their best films to be showcased at Delhi International Film Festival. Out of hundreds of entries received, a sum total of 194 films from 57 countries have been chosen to be screened during the 5-day festival. This year's festival has been dedicated to Children, Women and the Transgender community of the world. Films have been carefully chosen to not only entertain but also to bring to focus the importance of Children's, Women's and Transgenders issues, rights, struggles, strengths, and weaknesses. A special attraction this year is the Syrian Day on 15th, Mexican Films Day on 16th and Australian Films Day on 17th, which will showcase films from these countries on the respective days, in presence of the Ambassadors and other Diplomats and guests from both countries. Delhi International Film Festival has received many films from the North Eastern States of India and Arab Countries, this year being the third and final year of focus. Look out for a wide variety of films of all genres and for all age groups. The 7th DIFF ART SHOW, to be inaugurated on the 16th of October, will showcase close to 100 artworks created by well-known artists from across India and other countries. Art camps, press meets, book launches are going to be a part of this glorious event. Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your valuable thoughts are highly appreciated! Local News, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: October 15 2018 Increase in Funding Will Expand Services for Deaf-Blind Individuals. Huntington, NY - October 15, 2018 - Congressman Tom Suozzi (D Long Island, Queens), since arriving in Congress, has secured a total of 3.5 million dollar increase in annual appropriations for the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults (HKNC). When combined with 2018, this increases the Centers funding by a dramatic 31 percent, and will result in expanded services to individuals who are deaf-blind. HKNC does work that represents miracles in peoples lives. It is an honor to have this national institution, headquartered in Sands Point, in the congressional district that I serve. I am proud that I could negotiate this increase in funding that will go a long way in helping these truly exceptional people continue to do remarkable work, said Suozzi. From day one, Tom Suozzi has been our biggest supporter, said HKNC Executive Director Susan Ruzenski. He has always worked and advocated on our behalf. We were the first place he visited after his election to Congress and he has delivered on every promise, before or since. Congressman Suozzi is the best champion we have, and we are eternally grateful to him for his consistent, considerable support of HKNC. Congressman Suozzis extraordinary role in championing the need for expanded HKNC services benefits deaf-blind individuals, their families, and service providers here on Long Island and across the United States. Everyone at Helen Keller Services joins me in thanking him for his steadfast commitment to our mission, said Joseph Bruno, Helen Keller Services (HKS) President and CEO. We are confident that without Congressman Suozzis remarkable effort to obtain bi-partisan support, HKNC would not have realized such incredible success in obtaining this funding, concluded Ruzenski. Local News, Crime, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: October 15 2018 Police: Kyle Milken of Patchogue, 27, was charged with Driving While Intoxicated. Brookhaven, NY - October 15, 2018 - Suffolk County Police arrested on Monday, October 15 for driving while intoxicated after he crashed his vehicle into a utility pole in Suffolk County Police arrested on Monday, October 15 for driving while intoxicated after he crashed his vehicle into a utility pole in Brookhaven A Fifth Precinct police officer observed a 2000 Chevrolet Blazer travelling southbound on South Country Road at a high rate of speed at approximately 11:55 p.m. on Sunday, October 14. When the officer attempted to pull over the Blazer, it crashed into a utility pole near the intersection of South Country Road and Trout Ponds Court. The driver of the Blazer, Kyle Milken, then exited the vehicle and attempted to flee the scene on foot. Officers apprehended Milken moments later. Milken was not injured in the crash. Milken, 27, of Patchogue was arrested and charged with Driving While Intoxicated. He was also issued citations for Unsafe Speed, Leaving the Scene of an Accident and Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle. Milken is being held overnight at the Fifth Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on October 15. Aotearoa Hip Hop Podcast Hosted by DJ Sir-Vere, this podcast series is a deep dive into Aotearoas Hip Hop history. The former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, once again resides in Belgium. He first fled to the country in order to escape conviction for sedition and rebellion by the Spanish state after he (formally) declared the independence of Catalonia on 27 October 2017. Ever since, the Spanish government and judiciary have tried to convince other European states to arrest him and send him back to Spain for trial. So far, they have been unsuccessful. Following a short period during which he was under arrest in Germany, Puigdemont is now back in Belgium. Candidate for the European elections? There were rumours that Puigdemont will be a candidate on Flemish nationalist party, New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) list for the European elections, to be held on 26 May 2019. The rumours appeared in the Belgian press and were initially neither denied nor confirmed by both Puigdemont nor the N-VA. But two weeks later, Puigdemont clarified the situation in an interview with the Belgian press: No I will certainly not figure on that list. I fight for Catalonia. I am only temporarily here. If possible I would return tomorrow. Every day I say this is my last day in exile. I want to work for the freedom of my country, my struggle has to be there. Nevertheless, Puigdemont undeniably has close connections with the N-VA. Significantly, he made the above comments while he was visiting the local Lommel branch of the N-VA, to lend them his support for the coming elections. What kind of party is the N-VA? Belgium is a federal country where the north is Dutch speaking and the south speaks French. There is also a very small part of the country that is German speaking, while the capital, Brussels, is formally bilingual (French and Dutch) and in practice multilingual. The Dutch-speaking part of Belgium is called Flanders and its people are called Flemish. Flemish nationalism has a long history and has been dominated for at least the last hundred years by the bourgeois and petty bourgeois. Many N-VA leaders, including chairman, Bart De Wever, have family ties with Flemish nationalists who collaborated with the Nazis / Image: Miel Pieters In the 1930s, Flemish nationalism went over to fascism, and during the Second World War it collaborated with the Nazis. Many leaders of the N-VA, including the current chairman, Bart De Wever, have direct family ties with these collaborators. Today, the N-VA can be described as a very right-wing, nationalist party. They are the worst enemy of the workers movement in Belgium. There is not a grain of progressivism in the NV-As nationalism. They oppose, for instance, sending Belgian social security money to the French-speaking, Wallonia region in the south. They describe this as the indefensible transfer of wealth from the hard-working Flemish people to the other part of Belgium. They once engaged in a provocative stunt where they went to the Walloon region on a bus to distribute pamphlets, with fake money printed on the flip side: implying that the Flemish Belgians were subsidising the south. The N-VA originated in 2001 as a split from the former Flemish nationalist party. In the 2003 elections, they gained only one seat in Parliament and none in the Senate and appeared on the verge of extinction. Now they are the largest political party in Belgium, having more than double the number of parliamentary seats of any other party in Flanders (where one can only vote for Flemish parties.) The party achieved this remarkable breakthrough on the basis of right-wing and often openly racist rhetoric. For instance, they speak about cleaning neighbourhoods with significant migrant populations. Additionally, the N-VA Minister of the Interior sent the police into these communities to combat terrorism. You could describe them as somewhere between the Tories in Britain and the League in Italy. But there is another aspect of their behaviour that plays an important part in their success: they often say they are against the system. Of course, by this they do not mean the capitalist system: they mean the socialists. Indeed, prior to the current, right-wing government, the socialist parties have been in coalition governments for nearly 30 years. In the previous government, they had the prime minister. There have been also several cases of corruption, implicating socialist politicians in the last 20 years. They lost a lot of support by doing the dirty work for capitalism in its crisis-ridden state. Of course, it is not these policies of the social democrats that the N-VA attack. They attack all conquests of the workers, such as unemployment benefits and pensions; and they advocate severe cuts to the social security system in order to save it from bankruptcy. Why is Puigdemont useful for the N-VA? For the past 70 years, Belgium has seen a number of political disputes around the national question and numerous state reforms, resulting every time in more power and money for the regions (Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia) and less for the federal state (Belgium). In the first paragraph of their constitution, the N-VA say that they aim for an independent Flemish state. After the Belgian elections of 2014, in which they became the largest party, the N-VA entered a right-wing government. Strangely enough, they promised to refrain from making any demands on national lines for the governments five-year term, and promised to faithfully implement the state reforms decreed by the previous government. A government without the socialists is already a reform of the state in itself, they stated at the time. This is typical for petty-bourgeois nationalists who, at the moment of truth, shy away from fighting for independence. Instead they try to get more influence in the state they are supposed to combating. Rather than fighting for Flemish independence, the NV-A is trying to become the main bourgeois party in Belgium, replacing the Liberals and Catholics / Image: public domain In practice, the NV-A is trying to become the main bourgeois party in Belgium, displacing the Liberal and the Catholic parties that fulfilled the role previously. They are prepared to do anything to please the capitalists and not only the Flemish capitalists. For instance, Belgium planned to close its existing nuclear plants by 2025. The N-VA is the only party in government that wants to postpone this closure for 10 years, which suits very well the French capitalist owners of the plants. The N-VA is also the most ardent proponent of the replacement of the current, F-16 Fighting Falcon in the Belgium air force with the American F35, thereby serving US capitalism. Inevitably, these policies have led to consternation amongst the hardcore of their membership, who take the demand for independence seriously. Already, two of their members of parliament have split over this issue and kept their seats as an independents. And here Puigdemont comes in very handy. The N-VA can say: For the moment, the conditions are not ripe for Flemish independence. But see, we have not abandoned our principles! We support the move for independence by our Catalan brothers with all our forces! Puigdemont has been received as a hero in several local branches of the N-VA, but the party does not support the insurrectionary content of the Catalan independence movement, and on social and economic questions is far closer to the (now ousted) PP government of Rajoy / Flickr, Salvador Garcia Bardon Puigdemont has been received as a guest in several local branches of the N-VA, where he is welcomed as a hero. Of course, this does not mean that the party supports the social content of the Catalan independence movement, nor its defiant mobilisations, such as the 3 October strike in 2017. On social and economic questions, they were much closer to the (now ousted) PP government of Rajoy. The position of the Marxists Since the beginning of the revolt in Catalonia, the Belgian Marxists of the IMT have strongly defended the right of the Catalan people to self-determination and a Catalan republic. They participated in solidarity demonstrations. Discussions in Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp were organised, and a pamphlet was published. We explained that independence could only be achieved by revolutionary means, and that the movement could be the spark, not only for a socialist Catalan republic, but for revolution in the entire Iberian peninsula. Puigdemont's association with the N-VA has destroyed any credibility he might have had in the eyes of the Belgian working class, and has certainly not helped the cause of Catalan self-determination / Image: Marius Monton We have condemned the oppressive actions of the post-Francoist Spanish state and the incarceration of Catalan politicians. In doing this, we often had to go against the stream of working-class opinion because, in Belgium, nationalism has historically been associated exclusively with right-wing and extreme right-wing politics, which sow division in the working class. This is especially the case in Flanders. The close collaboration of Puigdemont with the N-VA totally destroyed any credibility he might have had in the eyes of the Belgian working class, and has certainly not helped the cause of Catalan self-determination. The Sears store at 125 Worcester Road in Natick and its Lands End branded store will close as a result of parent Sears Holdings Corp.'s bankruptcy, according to court papers filed Monday. The bankruptcy might also clear the way for the redevelopment of the Eastfield Mall in Springfield. The list doesn't include any other of the remaining Sears locations in Massachusetts, including stores in Auburn, Braintree, Brockton, Hanover, Leominster, Marlborough, North Attleborough, North Dartmouth and Saugus and appliance outlets in Fall River, Holyoke and Shrewsbury. The Sears in Springfield's Eastfield Mall closed last month, and the Holyoke Mall location is already in the process of closing. Kmart stores in Acton, Billerica, Brockton, Holyoke, Hyannis, Palmer, Somerville and Webster apparently were spared. The Chapter 11 filing allows Sears Holdings time and protection from creditors as it works to reorganize. Sears and Kmart have 687 stores remaining. According to published reports, Sears plans to use bankruptcy protection to sell off $1.5 billion in real estate and $1.75 billion in other assets including the Kenmore brand, as well as to restructure $1 billion in debt. Eastfield Mall's owners are waiting for Sears to come forward with a more detailed reorganization plan. That could take weeks, said Chuck Breidenbach, managing director for MDC Retail Properties Group, a unit of Eastfield Mall owner Mountain Development Corp., of New Jersey. Sears owns the 254,446-square-foot store it closed and 24 acres of land at the Eastfield Mall site. The property is assessed at $5,737,500. "There is a good possibility we may eventually be dealing with a neighboring property owned by a lender instead of a retailer," he wrote in an email Monday. Mountain Development owns the rest of the Eastfield Mall property, 68 acres. Breidenbach is the executive in charge of Mountain Development's plans to turn Eastfield Mall into Eastfield Commons. Plans are not yet final, but Breidenbach is talking about a $200 million, open-air, mixed-use development including retail with local, regional and national brands, housing, offices and amenities like daycare and medical offices. At one time, all the Eastfield anchor retailers owned their buildings. Mountain Development bought the closed JCPenney and Macy's buildings to facilitate the redevelopment. Sears sold Craftsman tools to Stanley Black & Decker in January 2017 for $775 million. Connecticut-based Stanley Black & Decker now makes saw blades and other tools for Craftsman, as well as those under other brand names, at its factory in East Longmeadow. The Sears store at the Holyoke Mall -- a location where the mall owns the real estate -- will close in November and is already having its clearance sale. The Sears at Silver City Galleria in Taunton is set to close in November as well. AMHERST -- Thirty companies are in the pipeline, waiting to use a $3.9 million water technology demonstration center that could be built at the University of Massachusetts in as soon as two years. About 250 people attended the "Innovations and Opportunities in Water Technologies" conference Monday at the Amherst campus. Now the job is to get the money, already called for in a 2014 state bonding bill, and include it in a state spending budget, said Richard K. Sullivan Jr., president and CEO of the Economic Development of Western Massachusetts. The plan is to build a test bed for new technologies on campus and attached to the existing Amherst wastewater treatment system, said Michael Murphy, director of water innovation for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. It would be a relatively modest facility that would have a building with test bays, Murphy said. Companies with water treatment technology would slide their equipment into those bays, hook it up to wastewater in whatever stage of treatment the company is studying and then make their technology work. "Startups coming out can use the facility test out and get their technology and get it verified," Murphy said. "What we are trying to do is accelerate technologies getting out into the marketplace." Companies cannot do it alone, he added. "It takes partnerships. You need the university, the state and the utilities to get up to scale," Murphy said. No one will buy or invest in a researcher's data set, said Guy Marchesseault, vice president of Clean Membranes which is a Woburn-based company currently doing research at UMass Amherst's drinking water labs. "You need to get over that hump," Marchesseault said. "The hump that separates a technology from a product." Stephen Pike, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center said wastewater treatment companies are reluctant to buy new technology. To buy in, they need to see it work in a real-world scenario. "This has to go beyond a lab bench test or a small-scale experiment," Pike said. "The water treatment industry says we do the same things we've done for 100 years because it works." But that century-old technology is inefficient, consuming too much energy and might not be up to dealing with contaminates folks are worried about today. The Clean Energy Center commissioned a study looking at three locations: Amherst, Deer Island where Boston has its sewage plant and there is a little-used lab and the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center in Barnstable. For each site, consultants Woodard & Curren came up with three levels of investment and recommend the middle of the three. UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said the other need the industry has is trained talent. UMass Amherst with its large science and engineering programs is uniquely positioned to fill that need. Sullivan said its is not yet know how many jobs a demonstration center at UMass Amherst would create. But Murphy said each company researching at the center would have two or three employees. But the companies that research here could end up establishing headquarters in the Pioneer Valley. Trevor Noah is coming to Amherst. The host of "The Daily Show" has announced plans for the "Loud and Clear" tour which includes a stop at the Mullins Center. Noah will stop at the University of Massachusetts campus venue on April 12. The 28-city tour kicks off in Toronto on Jan. 11 and will visit cities including Tampa, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and more. "The Daily Show" host and celebrated comedian is known for his commentary on politics and current events. Tickets will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. at MullinsCenter.com. Noah will return to Massachusetts for a Nov. 15, 2019 show at the Chevalier Theatre in Medford. Thirty years ago, this week, Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe announced that he would refuse any more inmates to the York Street jail in Springfield. While state law prohibited him from refusing to accept prisoners, he said that he'd be willing to go before a judge and describe overcrowding in the facility. At that time, the jail housed 724 inmates while it was rated to hold 315. From the October 19, 1988 edition of the Union-News Twenty years earlier, Apollo 7 was smoothly sailing into the half way point in its mission. NASA officials said that the successful Apollo 7 mission set up a flight around the moon before the end of the year. An expected Apollo 8 launch on December 21, would put three astronauts orbiting around the moon on Christmas day. From the October 16, 1968 edition of The Springfield Union And back from 1978, a story about 16-year-old Paul Delp, of Granby, who expanded his fish bait business into the vending machine market. Using machines that usually dispense sandwiches, he started selling worms, bugs and crayfish in gas stations and convenience stores in the area. From the October 18, 1978 edition of The Morning Union These are some of the headlines you'll see from Page 1 of The Republican and its predecessors over the past fifty years for the week of October 14 - October 20. Each week I'll put together a slideshow of Page 1 images from selected years over the course of that week. We're starting with a look back at one, five, thirty, forty and fifty years ago, with Page 1s from each day of the week for those years. The slideshow for October 14 - October 20 is embedded at the top of this article. We'll also find some humor printed out on page one over the years. In 1968 'Dennis The Menace' could be found on the bottom of page one six days a week. From the October 18, 1968 edition of The Springfield Union From a year ago, a story about artist Kim Carlino and her downtown art project in Springfield. Using images from various board games, she painted 'Milton Bradley Deconstructed' on a brick wall at 11 Lyman Street. From the October 16, 2017 edition of The Republican And from 1968, former President Dwight Eisenhower celebrated his 78th birthday at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. An Army band serenaded him from below his 4th floor window while several hundred well-wishers cheered them on. Eisenhower was in the hospital recovering from a series of heart attacks that he had over the summer. From the October 15, 1968 edition of The Springfield Union As you'll find with looking through the slideshow, that while many stories come and go, many of the issues and topics that affected lives in the past, continue to have an impact on our lives today. Copies of these and other stories can be found in the online archives. The Historic Archive includes stories from 1824 to 1989, and the Newsbank Archive covers 1988 through the present day. Could you spend a night in a coffin in near freezing temperatures? Six people did this weekend as participants in Six Flags New England's inaugural 30-Hour Fright Fest Coffin Challenge. The event entailed spending 30 straight hours in the coffin, with breaks for meals and using the restroom. They were kept company by Madagascar hissing cockroaches - each contestant held one and had one in their coffin. During the challenge, which began on Saturday and ended Sunday evening, temperatures dropped into the 30s overnight. Several hundred people entered to participate, said Jennifer McGrath, communications manager at Six Flags New England. Of the six chosen, all completed the challenge. The winners include: George Reczek, of Fitchburg, Mass.; Carlos Mateo, of Meriden, Conn.; Stacy Wirzulis, of Windsor, Conn.; Victoria Sarlo, Southbridge, Mass.; Scott Cameron, of Dedham, Mass.; and Kaitlyn Arel from Southbridge, Mass. Each received $300 cash, two 2019 Six Flags Gold Season Passes, two 2019 Dining Season Passes, two Fright Fest passes for the haunted houses and the coffin they each spent more than a day within. Six Flags New England is one of several locations nationwide to host the coffin challenge, which McGrath says will be held again next year. PALMER -- Four people were taken to the hospital Sunday night following a multi-vehicle crash on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Western Mass News, citing state police, reported three of the victims were taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and the fourth was taken to Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer. All four suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to Western Mass News, television partner to The Republican and MassLive.com. The crash occurred on the eastbound side. Emergency personnel were summoned from Wilbraham, Brimfield and Palmer. BELCHERTOWN - A crash on Route 202 claimed the life of the driver and seriously injured a lone passenger, according to the Northwestern District Attorney's office. The crash occurred late Monday morning and prompted Belchertown police to close Route 202, also known as State Street, from Turkey Hill Road to the entrance of Chestnut Hill School. The cause of the crash is currently under investigation by the Belchertown Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit attached to the Northwestern District Attorney's Office and MSP Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section (CARS). This is a developing story. Additional information will be posted as soon as it is available. SPRINGFIELD - The man fatally shot inside a vehicle at Cambridge and Burr streets Friday night has been identified as 26-year-old Springfield resident Xavier Jourdan. The Hampden District Attorney's office released the victim's identity early Monday afternoon. Police, summoned by a ShotSpotter notification shortly after 9 p.m., found the victim inside a motor vehicle which came to a stop between a fence and a utility pole. The victim, who appears to have been the driver, was pronounced dead at the scene from an apparent gunshot wound. James Leydon, spokesman for the Hampden District Attorney's office, said the investigation is ongoing. It is being conducted by the Springfield Police Department's Homicide Unit and the Hampden District Attorney's Office's Murder Unit. This is a developing story. Additional information will be posted as soon as it is available. BOSTON (AP) -- One side says Harvard University's admissions process unfairly excludes academically talented Asian-Americans in favor of students from other races. Harvard denies any discrimination and says it considers race as only one of many factors as they select from thousands of applicants a year. Now, the case is going to trial . Opening statements are scheduled Monday in federal court in Boston in the lawsuit brought by Virginia-based Students for Fair Admissions. The case carries implications for many other colleges that also say they consider race to admit a diverse mix of students. SPRINGFIELD -- A Palmer man who fatally shot an alleged home invader and was then charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute is asking that evidence in the drug case against him be thrown out. Dimitri Bryant, 22, of 1180 Calkins Road, faces no charges for the shooting of 48-year-old Benny Flores of Springfield. Bryant is out on bail awaiting trial on the drug case in Hampden Superior Court. Freddy Rosario, alleged to have participated in a home invasion with Flores, faces charges for that and other crimes in connection with the Feb. 11 incident at Bryant's home. The motion to suppress evidence, filed by Bryant's lawyer Thomas J. Rooke, said as a result of the police search "vegetation and 'dabs' alleged to be marijuana was seized from the residence, as well as atomizers alleged to contain THC (hash) oil. All of the above items were seized from the second floor master bedroom or attic and not in plain view on the first floor." The application and affidavit submitted by the police officer for the warrant fails to establish probable cause for issuance of the warrant, the motion says. It says Palmer police officers entered the house in response to a 911 call for a reported shooting. The affidavit for the search warrant said "officers could smell a strong odor of fresh marijuana inside the residence." The motion said no other allegation as to illegal drugs or of drug paraphernalia relative to the home were made. "The only other mention of marijuana was made in (section) 7 of the affidavit that some 'green vegetable matter that appeared to be marijuana' was found in a canvas bag outside the residence next to the person who was shot," the motion said. Bryant, in the motion, also said nothing in the application for the warrant or affidavit offers any evidence to give rise to probable cause Bryant violated current Massachusetts law in regard to marijuana. At the time of the home invasion, police said they found around $32,875 in cash, 20 pounds of marijuana, THC products and packaging supplies inside Bryant's residence. When police went to question neighbor Samuel Comstock, 39, they found a gun in his home, so he faces illegal weapons charges. Comstock, who is wanted on a default warrant in his case after not showing up as required, is not charged in connection with the alleged home invasion. BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut - A 43-year-old Springfield man was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in federal prison following his conviction as part of a New Haven cocaine trafficking scheme. Laprese Gollman was arrested on May 30 in New Haven where he had driven to purchase 4 kilograms of cocaine. At the time of his arrest, he had $100,000 in his possession. He pleaded guilty in July to single counts of conspiracy to possess more than 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute. He had been held in custody with out the right to bail since his arrest. Judge Victor A. Bolden sentenced him to serve 120 months, or 10 years, in federal prison, to be followed by eight years of supervised release. Gollman in 2008 was convicted in U.S. District Court in Springfield on a charge of drug trafficking, and sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison. He was arrested in 2006 as part of a trafficking ring that was distributing drugs from a Boston Road car lot that he owned. The ring was called at that time one of the biggest drug operations in the city. He served six years of that sentence and was granted supervised release in December 2014. His arrest in May violated the terms of his supervised release. In addition to the 10 year sentence, Judge Bolden sentenced him to a concurrent 2 1/2 years for violating his supervised release. The Ware and Athol police K9 units are among 30 finalists across the country that are in the running to win a $50,000 Chevy Tahoe SUV with Police Pursuit Package for their department. A nonprofit organization based in Taunton, Vested Interest in K9s, will give away the vehicle to the K9 team that garners the most votes in an online voting contest throughout October. Information about voting is at the Vested Interest website, vik9s.org/suvgiveaway, and requires a voter to submit an email address to participate in the voting. One vote is allowed per day. Once on the voting page, photos of all the K9 contestant finalists appear -- including Ware Police Officer Diana Gliniecki with K9 Sampson and Athol Police Officer Craig Deveneau with K9 Gronk. Both Athol and Ware have one dog in their K9 unit. As part of its effort to win votes, the Ware Police Department created a video in which Sampson, held by Gliniecki next to a bicycle, "tells" viewers that patrolling on a bike is not ideal and to please vote for his entry. The Ware department currently deploys a Ford sedan that it purchased used from the University of Massachusetts Amherst police department to transport Sampson. Athol police use a 2014 Ford Explorer for Gronk. In addition to the two Massachusetts finalists, there are five from Connecticut, and one each in New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. California, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas each have two departments among the finalists. Other police department finalists across the country include Florida, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Washington state. Worcester's high-end butcher shop Kummerspeck has closed its doors in the city's Canal District. Matt Mahoney, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Rachel Coit, said Kummerspeck will reopen for a final weekend beginning Oct. 26. "We're going to prep an awesome menu, we're going to blow it out with one last weekend," he said. "(Customers) can expect everything they love about Kummerspeck." The restaurant opened at 118 Water St. last spring as a butcher shop and delicatessen that transformed into a bar and restaurant at night. The Mahoneys came from the Boston food scene, having worked as cooks for the influential South End restaurateur, Barbara Lynch. With the Worcester dining scene breaking out on Water Street, the Mahoneys told MassLive last year that they saw the perfect opportunity to open up their dream concept. "We really just want to thank people that did become loyal guests and friends with us. Looking back at the past year and few months here, Rachel and I are very proud of what we have accomplished but at the same time, we're just ready to kind of focus on each other and our next steps," he said. "It was a great response, initially overwhelming, even, but at the end of the day, Worcester just likes to go back to TGI Fridays." When asked if the operation became financially unsustainable, Mahoney said there were many things that contributed to their decision to close. Paperwork filed in Worcester Housing Court shows that Mahoney and Coit were ordered to pay $3,552.63 in overdue rent and court fees to the landlord at their personal apartment in Sky Mark Tower. Mahoney said he has "no idea" whether he and Rachel will stay in Worcester or what their next steps will be. Kris Foster, one of the former assistant attorneys general accused of withholding evidence in the case involving Amherst drug lab chemist Sonja Farak, remains employed by the state, at the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. The commission is overseen by the state treasurer's office. State Rep. Keiko Orrall, a Republican running against Democratic state treasurer Deb Goldberg, is raising questions about Foster's employment. "Does Treasurer Goldberg have confidence in Ms. Foster knowing the scandal swirling around this attorney?" Orrall said in a statement. "Why was this disregarded with an important agency like the ABCC?" In June 2017, a Hampden County judge accused Foster and assistant attorney general Anne Kaczmarek of withholding important evidence from drug case defendants relating to the time frame in which Farak, who stoles samples and evidence from the state drug lab, was addicted to drugs. The Republican reported at the time that Kaczmarek was an assistant clerk magistrate in Suffolk Superior Court, while Foster was general counsel at the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. The Supreme Judicial Court last week ordered the dismissal of thousands more drug cases due to both Farak's misconduct and the misconduct by Foster and Kaczmarek. The Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers is investigating the actions of the former assistant attorneys general. The latest ruling led Orrall to question Goldberg's judgment in employing Foster. Emma Sands, a spokesman for Goldberg, said Foster was hired by Goldberg's predecessor, Steve Grossman. Foster was interviewed in December 2014 and accepted a job on Jan. 12, 2015, days before Goldberg was sworn in on Jan. 21. Foster started working at the commission Feb. 9, 2015. In 2017, Foster earned a $93,473 salary, according to the state salary database. "Ms. Foster has not been charged or found guilty of anything," Sands said. "Superior Court Justice Richard J. Carey in his memorandum decision dated June 26, 2017, made certain findings that the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers is currently reviewing. In the meantime, Ms. Foster remains an employee of the ABCC." Sen. Elizabeth Warren took a DNA test that showed she most likely has Native American ancestry. "In the senator's genome, we did find five segments of Native American ancestry with very high confidence, where we believe the error rate is less than 1,000," Carlos Bustamante, a Stanford University professor who studies genome analysis and human migration, said in a video shared by Warren. "The facts suggest you absolutely have a Native American ancestor in your pedigree," Bustamante added in the video after Warren noted President Donald Trump had called her mother a liar. The test results, shared first by the Boston Globe, found Warren had a Native American ancestor in her family 6-10 generations ago. It also found that Warren's DNA sample showed "primarily European descent." My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrumps attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. pic.twitter.com/r3SNzP22f8 Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018 Trump and supporters have often mocked Warren, who has roots in Oklahoma. A promotional and informational video Warren shared Monday included a clip of Trump promising Warren $1 million to the charity of her choice if she took a DNA test. He has also publicly referred to her as "Pochahontas." The controversy first came to light in a 2012 report from the Boston Herald, during Warren's campaign for senator, which found that Harvard Law School officials had touted its diverse staff which included one Native American -- Elizabeth Warren. In another instance, the university named Warren as the first minority woman to receive tenure. It has since been reported that at the time, Harvard was battling criticism about white men dominating the faculty. Reviews have found that Warren changed her listed ethnicity from white to Native American while teaching at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in the early 90s, and then while teaching at Harvard University Law School. Warren told the Globe that she changed her status from white to Native American at a time when matriarchs were shifting in her family. She has affirmed that her knowledge of Native ancestry was passed down from her grandmother, who detailed ties to Cherokee and Delaware tribes. The controversy has caused rifts on all sides of politics. During her 2012 campaign, a group of Cherokees called her claims "harmful and offensive." In the video clip shared Monday confronting the controversy Warren recognized people have questioned her background, and said she was proud of her family and heritage. Warren claims her parents had to elope because her father's family did not like that her mother was part Native American. The video also includes various law school officials confirming that ethnicity was never a factor in hiring Warren, and that she is hailed as a top law professor. Warren also directly addressed Trump's insults in the video clip. "Trump can say whatever he wants about me, but mocking Native Americans or any group in order to try to get at me? That's not what America stands for." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 15) The President said people should not immediately blame the Chinese for the country's drug problem even before thorough investigations are conducted. In a speech Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte said that some importers were being manipulated by international drug cartels, which means people should not jump to the conclusion that whoever owns the ships that allegedly brought drugs to the country were to blame. "Kaya kawawa naman, yung mga tao [I sympathize with the people] especially the legit importers and their containers are taken advantage of by criminal gangs. So there has to be a thorough investigation before we start to blame mostly Chinese," Duterte said. He explained that the root of Southeast Asia's drug problem stems from the Triad of Asia in cahoots with the Sinaloa and Medellin Cartels of Mexico City. "I think this dope situation in Southeast Asia is being run by the Triad of Asia. And [Sinaloa] it's doing its thing, the Medellin Cartel, using the network of containers. That is why do not conclude right away that the owner of the container is the smuggler of the drugs," he said. In August 2017, 604 kilograms or ?6.4B-worth of shabu from China slipped past security and entered Philippine territory. This was one of the biggest hauls of shabu smuggled into the Philippines. Probes on how the drugs escaped scrutiny are still ongoing. The President said there should be a presumption of innocence for the owners of the ships before people conclude their involvement in the smuggling of illegal drugs. "So what's more important really is not to drag along innocent people into a criminal case which we are not sure of," he added. Philippine National Police Chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde agreed with Duterte's statement saying they have to validate reports before determining the suspects behind the drug shipment. "Totoo 'yung sinabi ng Presidente na it has to be validated kasi what we have is intelligence reports. When you get intelligence reports it has to be validated," Albayalde said Monday. In previous speeches Duterte, repeatedly pointed at Taiwan for being the culprit behind the country's drug problem. "Itong drugs ngayon [These drugs], it's being operated by the 14K, Bamboo Triad. They have taken over," he said previously. "It's actually from Taiwan at lahat na [it's everything]," he said in August, this year. When President Donald Trump was rallying in Great Falls, Montana in July, he said he would give Sen. Elizabeth Warren $1 million to put toward the charity of her choice. The one condition for Trump's offer being that Warren take a DNA test to prove her heritage, as the senator recently announced she has. Now Warren is asking Trump to keep good on his word and donate $1 million to the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that addresses domestic violence against women and children within Native tribes. On Monday, Trump denied ever saying he would give Warren $1 million, telling reporters, "I didn't say that. You'd better read it again." By the way, @realDonaldTrump: Remember saying on 7/5 that youd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? I remember and here's the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Womens Resource Center: https://t.co/I6YQ9hf7Tv pic.twitter.com/J4gBamaeeo Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018 This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren shared the results of a DNA test she took in August which found that 6-10 generations ago, Warren had a Native American ancestor. The DNA test, conducted by genome expert and Stanford University Professor Carlos Bustamante, revealed Warren's DNA showed "primarily European descent" with traces of Native American ancestry. At the July 5 rally in Great Falls, Trump mused that if he sparred against Warren in a presidential debate, he would toss her a heritage kit. "I promise you I'll do this, you know those little kits they sell on television for $2? Learn your heritage," Trump said in Montana. "We will take that little kit, we have to do it gently because we're in the 'Me Too' generation, we have to be very gentle," Trump said. "And we will say, 'I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian," Trump said. "And we'll see what she does. I have a feeling she will say no but we will hold it for the debates," Trump added. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, called on President Donald Trump Monday to release his tax returns or to have a Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will do it for him. Shortly after releasing the results of a DNA test that support her claims of Native American ancestry, Warren urged Trump -- who has repeatedly referred to her as "Pocahontas" -- to step up and finally make his tax returns public. "I took this test and released the results for anyone who cares to see because I've got nothing to hide," she tweeted. "What are you hiding (Donald Trump?)" The senator added that if the president fails to release his tax returns and Democrats win control of the U.S. House next month, lawmakers "will do it for (him) soon enough." "Tick-tock, Mr. President," she said. I took this test and released the results for anyone who cares to see because Ive got nothing to hide. What are YOU hiding, @realDonaldTrump? Release your tax returns or the Democratic-led House will do it for you soon enough. Tick-tock, Mr President. Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018 Warren is the latest member of Massachusetts' congressional delegation to suggest that Democrats may force the White House to turn over the president's tax returns if they win control in the 2018 midterm elections. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, told CNN last week that he plans to ask for the president's tax returns if his party wins control of the chamber and he's named the panel's next chairman. The Springfield Democrat said he hopes the president would voluntarily hand over his tax returns upon the committee's request, adding that he could "see a long and grinding court case" if the White House resists. The Massachusetts Democrats' remarks came just weeks after the New York Times published a special investigation piece, which suggested that Trump "received at least $413 million in today's dollars from his father's real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s." The White House called the New York Times' piece a "misleading attack," offering that the Internal Revenue Service reviewed and signed off on the reported transactions. BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Legislature on Monday passed a $540.3 billion final budget bill to close out fiscal 2018, which ended June 30. For the first time in several years, the state ended the fiscal year with a surplus of nearly $1 billion. Gov. Charlie Baker in July made his own proposal for how to spend the money, with a focus on spending on education and particularly school safety. But lawmakers wanted to take time to develop their own proposals. However, as lawmakers delayed for months, state comptroller Thomas Shack warned that the late budget closeout could hurt the state's financial position. The State House News Service reported last week that Shack said best practice in the industry was to pass a final supplementary budget by Aug. 31, in order to get the state's annual financial report properly finished and independently audited by Oct. 31. The House Ways and Means Committee released the bill from committee on Monday, and both the House and the Senate passed it immediately. "This supplemental budget seeks to strike a careful balance between our immediate needs and our long-term stabilization, all within the context of increased revenues which may not be forthcoming in subsequent years," said Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, who led the Senate Ways and Means Committee before becoming Senate president in July. House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said, "This budget invests in key House priorities including gun safety, infrastructure and responding to emergency incidents, while helping to fortify the state's future fiscal health." The budget bill includes $10 million for a relief fund to help cover the costs of assisting victims of the Merrimack Valley gas explosions on Sept. 13. The money will cover costs that the state incurred helping people in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover whose homes were damaged or who lost gas service as a result of the explosions. It includes the cost of paying state personnel overtime, assistance to victims to pay medical bills and living expenses and costs incurred by the individual municipalities. A small part of Baker's school safety proposal was included -- $7.5 million for grants to public schools to improve their safety infrastructure and $7.5 million for schools to hire mental health providers. The money is far less than what Baker had hoped for when he proposed earmarking $72 million to improve school safety. Baker, asked about the bill on Monday, said people in the education field told him that they wanted more help from the state, particularly around hiring mental health counselors and social workers. "Our proposal was built around this notion of enhancing and improving access to social workers, and counselors, and mental health workers in schools, because that's what we heard over and over again from the superintendents and from others that they were primarily focused on," Baker said. "My hope would be that whatever comes out of this process here will make it possible for us to help local communities make those kinds of investments, because it was very clear to us that that's where they thought the greatest opportunity was." Baker said he also proposed grants to make school buildings safer and money for school resource training, and he continues to believe all of those proposals should be funded. Numerous state agencies would get additional appropriations if the bill is signed into law. The Office of Health and Human Services would receive an additional $135 million to cover MassHealth fee-for-service payments. The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, which helps individuals with disabilities, would get $10 million to spend on employment assistance. There is $15.6 million in education funding earmarked to help low-income families access child care. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would get $5 million to provide targeted assistance for failing schools. The Department of Correction would get $9.3 million to hire new officers, and $3.6 million to implement a criminal justice reform bill that passed last year, particularly new requirements related to mental health treatment. The state police would receive $5.8 million for a new state police class, $5.9 million for National Guard fee and tuition waivers and $3.1 million for its crime lab. The Cannabis Control Commission would get an additional $2.5 million. The final budget bill includes $20 million for the Department of Revenue for underground storage tank reimbursements, which go to clean up oil spills. The bill would put $240 million into the state's rainy day fund, bringing the total fund up over $2 billion. It deposits $63.5 million into various reserve funds, including a sheriffs' reserve fund, a fund for collective bargaining agreements, a clean water trust and $5 million to help residents who fled Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after the hurricanes. Another $81.4 million would be set aside to cover the cost of new collective bargaining agreements. The bill would put $36 million into a transportation trust fund, and $40 million toward Chapter 90 road repair funding. It sets aside $1.5 million to create a new family and medical leave program, under legislation signed last year, and sets up some of the regulations required for that program. It includes $2 million for the operations of the state Senate, and $2.5 million for the Secretary of the Commonwealth to implement early voting in November. The budget bills often include new policy provisions as well. This one creates a $10 million pilot program to prevent gun and violent crime in neighborhoods with high crime rates by providing money to nonprofits that work with young adults ages 17 to 24. Massachusetts nurses are split on a ballot question that would mandate nurse staffing ratios, according to a poll released Monday by WBUR. The poll, conducted by MassINC Polling Group, is the first independent survey specifically of nurses. It interviewed 500 registered nurses and found that 48 percent plan to vote for the ballot question and 45 percent will vote against it. The ballot question would set specific nurse to patient staffing ratios that vary based on the unit. The poll identified some problems with understaffing. It found that 41 percent of nurses today say they are very or somewhat frequently assigned more patients than they can safely care for. One quarter of the nurses say they have seen harm to a patient over the past year due to understaffing. On the other hand, 52 percent say they are assigned more patients than they can safely care for not very frequently or not at all frequently. Nearly half the nurses (49 percent) thought patient safety would improve if the ballot question passed, while 19 percent thought patient safety would get worse and 20 percent predicted no change. Nurses generally did not support the use of a ballot question to make staffing decisions. It found that 41 percent think rules made at individual hospitals should govern staffing, while only 15 percent picked a ballot question as the best way. Nurses were split on whether they thought the staffing ratios would have a positive or negative impact on hospitals. Regarding their own place of employment, 39 percent thought it would have a positive impact, 32 percent thought the impact would be negative and 25 percent thought it would have no impact. Asked about various other potential effects, the largest number of nurses - 71 percent - predicted higher insurance rates. Exactly half said hospitals were very or somewhat likely to close units or cut staff, while 59 percent thought hospitals were very or somewhat likely to shift nurses to more profitable units. Just under half (49 percent) predicted that rural or community hospitals would be very or somewhat likely to close entirely. More than half (56 percent) thought there would not be enough trained nurses to meet the new required staffing levels, if the ballot question passes. One-third of the nurses were members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which is spearheading the ballot question. The survey was conducted Sept. 5-10 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. Read the full WBUR story and see the poll results here. Elizabeth Warren DNA test results by Carlos Bustamante by Kristin LaFratta on Scribd Sen. Elizabeth Warren took a DNA test which found she has small traces of Native American ancestry that go back 6-10 generations. Warren, who is running for re-election as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts, shared the results Monday morning in a report authored by geneticist and Stanford University Prof. Carlos D. Bustamante. The findings attempt to put to rest a controversy that has mired Warren since she first ran for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in 2012. "We find strong evidence that a DNA sample of primarily European descent also contains Native American ancestry from an ancestor in the sample's pedigree 6-10 generations ago." Five genetic segments were identified as having Native American ancestry, according to Bustamante. He wrote that the largest segment of proof was located on Warren's tenth chromosome: "This segment is clearly distinct from segments of European ancestry...and is strongly associated with Native American ancestry." Bustamante notes that Native American references are drawn from the "1000 Genomes Project Consortium" through samples from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The DNA results, and the genome project, does not use Native American reference sequences because the Native population has rejected participation in genetic studies. The controversy surrounding Warren's heritage arose during her senator campaign in 2012, when the Boston Herald first reported she had changed her ethnicity status from white to Native American while teaching in law schools. Past and present opponents of Warren, including President Donald Trump, have blasted Warren over this issue, alleging she faked her heritage to promote her career in law. Trump often refers to the senator as "Pocahontas." The DNA test results come just as Warren said she will weigh running for president after the midterm elections. The Oklahoma native said she learned her family had ties to Native Americans, specifically the Cherokee and Delaware tribes, through accounts passed down by relatives. In 2012, Massachusetts changed its laws so that one way a family could become eligible for emergency shelter was by spending a night in a place that was "not meant for human habitation." The result, according to a new study, was that more children ended up going to the emergency room -- citing homelessness -- in order to meet that criteria. Emergency rooms then had to spend time taking care of children who did not have serious medical needs. "That's really when we started seeing this large increase in children coming to the emergency department for homelessness," said Dr. Amanda Stewart, an emergency room physician in Boston Children's Hospital who is the study's lead author. Stewart added, "There's a significant cost in this, in addition to the burden it places on families." The study was published Monday in Pediatrics, a journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study looked at emergency room visits to Boston Children's Hospital between 2010 and 2016 and identified 312 visits where the chief complaint was that the child was homeless and had nowhere else to go. (Some also came with a medical complaint but were identified as being homeless.) Of those, 297 visits happened after the policy shift. Massachusetts is the only state to guarantee shelter to homeless families with children. There have always been multiple ways for families to become eligible for shelter in Massachusetts -- if they were a victim of domestic violence, were evicted or suffered a natural disaster and do not have another feasible housing option. Under the 2012 change, they can also be eligible if there is a substantial health and safety risk, including when children are living in a place unfit for human habitation. Although state officials say they routinely place people "presumptively," before confirming their eligibility, advocates for poor families say they often hear of housing applicants getting turned away without proof that they have stayed somewhere unfit for human habitation -- such as in a car or an emergency room. "They are told come back after they spend a night in a place not fit for human habitation," said Kelly Turley, associate director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. Turley said the emergency room is often the safest place to stay, and it provides documentation that is easily accepted by the state housing office. The study found that after the 2012 policy change, emergency room visits for homelessness increased by 4.5 times. Children were more likely to show up with no medical complaint, with 65 percent of children who came after 2012 saying they had no medical problem. Most of the medical problems that did exist did not require emergency room treatment. Between 2010 and 2012, 19 children showed up at the Boston Children's Hospital emergency room because they were homeless. In 2013 alone, there were 43 children, and that number jumped to 65 in 2014 and 141 in 2015. The policy change occurred Sept. 17, 2012. The children stayed in the emergency room for longer after the policy change. Nearly half these children had been to a state housing office before their emergency department visit, and some had spent time living in a car or on the street - which should have made them eligible for emergency housing but may also have been harder to document, according to the study. Although the number of homeless children in Massachusetts also rose during this time, the additional emergency room visits were far out of proportion with the numbers of additional homeless children. A separate but similar study published earlier this year in the American Journal of Public Health looked at Boston Medical Center data from 2011 to 2016 and came up with similar results. It found that the median number of emergency room visits for homelessness for children and young adults under age 21 jumped from three a month before the policy change to 17 a month afterwards, with almost all the visits covered by Medicaid. Stewart said when a child comes into the emergency room, if there are rooms available, the patient is given a room, screened by a doctor, and assigned a nurse. The family will meet with a social worker, and extra beds will be brought in for family members. Generally, they will be sent to the housing office the next day. If a family comes on a weekend, they may remain in the hospital until Monday. If the emergency room is full with medical patients, a homeless family will remain in the waiting room until a bed opens up. "It's a problem for the families; it's also a problem that it takes up rooms in the emergency department when there might be other medical patients who need to be seen," Stewart said. The goal of the 2012 policy change, under former Gov. Deval Patrick, was to lower the costs of Massachusetts' emergency shelter program by tightening eligibility. But the emergency room visits come with a cost. An emergency room visit costs $557 a night, according to the study, compared to around $117 for a shelter -- and the study found that nearly all (89 percent) of payments were made by state-based insurance plans. "One of the things this study emphasizes is the state is already paying to provide overnight accommodation to families, but they're paying much more money than if they kept the family in a shelter," Turley said. Lawmakers have introduced legislation that would eliminate this requirement and instead let a family become eligible for shelter if the family is in "imminent risk" of becoming homeless. Proponents say this would decrease the number of families staying in unsafe places. But critics worry it would overwhelm the shelter system. So far, attempts to change the law have been unsuccessful. Baker officials have said they will review any legislation that reaches the governor's desk. The administration has focused on reducing the number of homeless families in hotels and investing in programs to stabilize at-risk families through things like rental vouchers. Republican Geoff Diehl called on U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren Monday to "do right by Massachusetts" by ending her 2018 re-election campaign. The Whitman state representative, who is running to unseat Warren in the November midterm election, continued to take issue with reports suggesting that the incumbent Democrat will pursue a 2020 White House run. Diehl, who repeatedly accused Warren of focusing more on the White House than Massachusetts voters, took specific issue with a Washington Post article looking at Warren's campaign activities in other states. That, he argued, along with a video Warren's campaign released Monday to highlight her "family story" and Native American heritage, show she has no intention of serving her full Senate term if re-elected next month. "Warren's video shows that she is more focused on her presidential ambitions than being the senator for Massachusetts. Furthermore, the Washington Post article exposed how untruthful she has been with Massachusetts voters: She has put staff in early primary states, created a war room and taken over as the Democratic Party," he said in a statement. "Massachusetts deserves a Senator who puts our state first rather than last." The Post article contended that Warren has positioned herself "for an all-but-certain 2020 presidential bid" by working to help elect Democrats across the country in the 2018 midterms, including "overtaking some of the traditional duties of Democratic Party campaign committees." Warren told the newspaper that she is pursuing such efforts outside of Massachusetts because she feels "the urgency of the moment nationally." "It's two parts: It's holding Donald Trump accountable for what he does. It's also trying to push this country toward working better for hard-working families," she reportedly said. Warren, who told a Holyoke town hall last month that she would "take a hard look" at a 2020 presidential run after the midterm elections, continued to stoke speculation of a White House bid Monday, as her campaign released the results of a DNA test supporting her claims of Native American ancestry. In addition to the DNA test results, the Democrat released a video, in which Warren and her family members reflect on their Native American heritage, as well as questions President Donald Trump and other Republicans have raised about it. The video also stresses that Warren's heritage did not influence her career -- an issue which came to a head in the 2012 U.S. Senate election. Warren will face off against Diehl and independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai in the Nov. 6 election. A University of Massachusetts Lowell-Boston Globe survey released last week found that more than half of registered Massachusetts voters, or 56 percent, would support Warren if the election were held today. By contrast, about a third, or 31 percent, said they would cast a ballot for Diehl and j ust 8 percent said they would vote for Ayyadurai, according to the poll. BOSTON -- Red Sox lefty Chris Sale was admitted to the hospital with a stomach illness Sunday, according to a statement from the team: "Red Sox LHP Chris Sale reported a stomach illness today and was admitted to MGH for observation this afternoon. He will be kept overnight for evaluation and any further updates will be released when available." Sale started Game 1 for Boston, allowing two earned runs on one hit in four innings in a Game 1 loss. Manager Alex Cora said Sale started feeling sick after his Game 1 start and that he didn't believe the ailment was a serious one. "From what I know, it's nothing serious, but obviously whenever you have to go to the hospital you gotta be, quote/unquote, worried," Cora said. "But he should be fine. Hopefully we get news in the upcoming hours and he'll join us in Houston." It's unclear when Sale will meet the Red Sox in Houston. He's tentatively scheduled to be Boston's Game 5 starter on Thursday. BOSTON -- The Red Sox tied their best-of-seven ALCS 1-1 with a 7-5 victory over the Astros here Sunday at Fenway Park. The series shifts to Houston's Minute Maid Park for Games 3, 4 and 5. Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced postgame Nathan Eovaldi will start Game 3 on Tuesday. Eovaldi hurled 7 strong innings in a 16-1 victory over the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS last Monday. He allowed just one run, five hits and no walks while striking out five. Eovaldi took a loss at Houston on June 20, before the Red Sox traded for him. Pitching for the Rays then, he tossed 6 innings and allowed four runs, all earned, seven hits (four homers) and no walks while striking out five. He gave up just one run through the first five innings. But George Springer, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve hit back-to-back-to-back homers against him in the sixth. Eovaldi has had difficulty the third time through batting orders (.273/.286/.581) this year. So the Cora likely will go to the bullpen after Eovaldi faces Houston's lineup twice through. Expert in genomics of human immune disorders recruited as new Director of NCMM The University of Oslo has recruited Dr Janna Saarela, Research Director of Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), the Finnish node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership, as the new Director of Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway (NCMM). Dr Janna Saarela. Photo: Kirsi Tuura NCMM is delighted to announce that Dr Janna Saarela, currently Research Director and Deputy Director of FIMM, has been appointed as the Centres new Director. Dr Saarela is currently head of the FIMM Technology Centre and an adjunct Professor in Medical Molecular Genetics at the University of Helsinki. Her research group at FIMM concentrates on the genomics of immune disorders, especially autoimmunity and immune dysregulation. She also has an MD from the University of Oulu, Finland. The appointment follows the departure of Professor Kjetil Tasken, who left to take up a new role as Director of the Institute for Cancer Research at Oslo University Hospital in June 2018. The Selection Committee was led by Professor Giske Ursin, Director of the Cancer Registry of Norway, with the final and formal decision to appoint Dr Saarela made by the University of Oslo Hiring Board on 24 September 2018. Professor Hartmut Luecke, Assistant Director of NCMM and head of the Structural Biology and Drug Discovery Group, has held the role of Acting Director since July 2018. Plans to promote NCMM as a major, global player for molecular medicine and translational research Dr Saarelas research interests and clinical expertise, and focus on understanding the biological pathways and mechanisms behind immune disorders, fit extremely well with NCMMs emphasis on translational research. Her work further complements that of several of NCMMs existing research groups. Commenting on her new appointment, Dr Janna Saarela said: - Im excited to start as the new Director of NCMM and, with the talented group leaders of the institute, strengthen the collaborative connections to University of Oslo and to Norways national hospitals and universities. Dr Saarela continues: My overall vision is to continue developing and promoting NCMM to be a major player on the world-wide map of molecular medicine, with a translational mindset and team-oriented working culture. Im proud to have the opportunity to continue evolving NCMM from the foundation of its current strengths, built under the directorship of Professor Kjetil Tasken. Appointment enhances NCMMs standing as a powerhouse for female scientists Furthermore, Dr Saarela will become the first female director within the Nordic EMBL Partnership. Her appointment strengthens NCMMs standing as a powerhouse for talented female scientists, with eight of the Centres 10 research groups now led by women. Jens Petter Berg, Chair of the Board of NCMM comments: - I am delighted to hear that Dr Janna Saarela has accepted the position as Director of NCMM. Her scientific capacity, strong leadership and vision for the future development of the Centres research in biotechnology and translational medicine make her the perfect choice for such a role. I am also very proud that NCMM has recruited the first female Director in the Nordic EMBL Partnership. On behalf of the Board of NCMM I am very happy to welcome Dr Janna Saarela as the Centres new Director. Professor Iain Mattaj, Director General of the EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) adds: - I have known Janna for many years as one of the driving forces behind the remarkable performance of FIMM in human genetics and genomics. I am sure that bringing her expertise to NCMM will open new and exciting possibilities to everyone there, and help bring their research to another level. Existing partnerships will benefit NCMM The appointment will also be of benefit to the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. Dr Saarelas recruitment from the Partnerships Finnish node will help to further strengthen links across the Partnership, and lead the way for more research collaborations between Finland and Norway. Furthermore, Dr Saarela is involved in a number of active collaborations, such as the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortiums and the international consortia for Primary Immunodeficiencies, alongside involvement with EU projects, like MultipleMS. These links will help NCMM to increase involvement with other research environments in both Europe and further afield. Alongside her appointment as Director, Dr Saarela will become a group leader at NCMM, and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Oslo. She will also have an adjunct researcher position at Oslo University Hospital. Professor Kjetil Tasken, Director of the Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, and former Director of NCMM, adds: - I congratulate NCMM on the appointment of their new Director. Janna Saarela is, in my opinion, an excellent scientist and leader. With her medical background and strong research programme she is optimally positioned to lead NCMM into the future and pursue new strategies in precision medicine and other areas. I also take this opportunity to welcome Janna and congratulate her on her decision to join forces with the many excellent scientists at NCMM and the wider Norwegian research environment, in what I think will be a very interesting endeavour. I look forward to following NCMM and Jannas progress in the future. Dr Saarela will officially join NCMM in January 2019. Read more on FIMM's website: FIMM Research Director Janna Saarela appointed as Director of the NCMM in Oslo. Further Information For more details, please contact Annabel Darby, joint communications officer for NCMM and the Nordic EMBL Partnership About Dr Janna Saarela Janna Saarela received her M.D. in 1996, her Ph.D. in 1998 and has been a resident at the University Hospital of Oulu and the Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Helsinki University Central Hospital. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Public Health Institute, Finland (1998) and at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Dept. Human Genetics (1998-2000). Dr Saarela served as Senior Researcher, Head of the Biotechnology Unit, National Public Health Institute, 2000-2008. She set up the Biomedicum Biochip Centre core unit in 2001 and co-coordinated the unit, 2001- 2008. Alongside her roles at FIMM, Dr Saarela is Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki in Medical Molecular Genetics (2008). She serves as scientific expert in several international groups, such as EU-LIFE, European network on rare primary immunodeficiency, autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases (ERN RITA), and International MS Genetics consortium (IMSGC) and is involved in European expert groups for clinical NGS sequencing and personalized medicine. About the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine is a unique network of excellent national research centers with complementary research expertise. The centers combine the longstanding tradition of basic and translational molecular medicine in the Nordic countries, with the research infrastructure, core principles and governance and operational models of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). The EMBL is Europes flagship laboratory for the life sciences, and is one of the worlds leading research institutions. Visit www.nordicemblpartnership.org to find out more. Anti-Asthma Drugs Market Segmentation The global anti-asthma drugs market has been segmented on the basis of drug class, route of administration, therapy, trigger, type, and lastly, region. On the basis of drug class, this market has been segmented into bronchodilators, corticosteroids, leukotriene antagonists, mast cell stabilizers, monoclonal antibody, and others. Bronchodilators have been further segmented into anticholinergics, beta agonists, and Xanthines. Based on the route of administration, the market has been segmented into inhaled, intravenous, oral, and subcutaneous. The therapy-based segmentation of market comprises of curative therapy and preventive therapy. Request Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2353 The trigger-based segmentation of the market covers adult-onset asthma, child-onset asthma, cough-induced asthma, exercise-induced asthma, nocturnal asthma, occupational asthma, steroid-resistant asthma. By type, the market has been segmented into allergic (extrinsic) asthma and non-allergic (intrinsic) asthma. Anti-Asthma Drugs Market Overview With the air pollution rising around the world, the number of asthma patients is also increasing. Therefore the market for the drugs necessary for its treatment is rising. Market Research Future (MRFR) has published a research report that envisions surge in the global anti-asthma drugs market with 5.94% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) between 2015 and 2022. In terms of cash, the market is expected to rise with the US $ 28.3 bn by the end of the forecast period. Observing the market structure, this report evaluates the future growth potential of the market and analyzes the strategies of the key players in the market. It also follows the competitive developments such as joint ventures, new product developments, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments (R & D) in the market. According to this report, the key factors that drive this growth of this market include growing awareness of the benefits of modern drug therapy, the great potential of biologics, growth in patients due to increasing pollution, and problems arising from consumerism & unhealthy lifestyles. Constraints that can make the market growth hit a roadblock are the fear among leading drug brands regarding the loss of patents of leading brands, and increasing fragmentation of markets and generic penetration. Anti-Asthma Drugs Market Regional Analysis The regional segmentation of the global anti-asthma drugs market segments the market into regional markets namely The Americas (North America & South America), Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa (MEA). Due to the availability of advanced medical facilities, North America is not only a bigger market than South America, but it is also the biggest market for anti-asthma drugs. In this region, the biggest country-wide market is the United States of America (USA). Many key players in the market are based here. Europe is the second largest market as it is also equipped with advanced medical facilities. The cream of the market in this region covers, like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK) followed by the rest of Europe. The Asia Pacific is witnessing major newer cases due to greater screening and better health care facilities distribution. During the forecast period, this region is expected to emerge as the fastest growing market. The most important markets in this region are China, India, Japan, and South Korea, followed by the rest of Asia Pacific. The MEA region is a small market due to lack of awareness about anti-asthma, lack of education, lack of technological development, poor healthcare, and healthcare not considered a priority by most governments. Anti-Asthma Drugs Market Latest Industry News According to research conducted in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, a drug called Pranlukast that is useful for treating asthma, has been found to be effective against tuberculosis. 23 June 2018 Morepen Laboratories Ltd. has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for both its bulk drugs manufacturing facilities situated in Himachal Pradesh, India. While the Baddi facility has got approval for the manufacture of the bulk drug Atorvastatin Calcium, a Cholesterol reducing drug, the Masulkhana facility has got approval for manufacturing an anti-asthma bulk drug Montelukast Sodium for export to the US market. 30 Jul 2018 Major Point by Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Market Dynamics 4 Market Factor Analysis 5 Global Anti-Asthma Drugs Market, By Type 6 Global Anti-Asthma Drugs Market, By Trigger 7 Global Anti-Asthma Drugs Market, By Drug Class 8 Global Anti-Asthma Drugs Market, By Therapy 9 Global Anti-Asthma Drugs Market, By Route of Administration 10 Global Anti-Asthma Drugs Market, By Regions 11 Company Landscape 12 Company Profile 13 Others 14 Appendix Get Exclusive Discount @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/2353 About US: Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Market Research Future (MRFR) has published and released a research report about the global coronary artery bypass grafting market that vaticinates surge for this market with 6% CAGR during the forecast period between 2016 and 2022. In terms of cash, the market is expected to rise to the US $ 116 mn. Observing the market structure, this report estimates the future growth potential of the market. It observes the strategies of the key players in the market and follows the competitive developments like joint ventures, new product developments, mergers and acquisitions, research and developments (R & D) in the market. The primary reasons because of which people are prone to cardiovascular ailments that require CABG in order to be cured include anxiety, deskbound lifestyle, high consumption of junk food, and stress. Due to the rise in cardiovascular ailments, the market for coronary artery bypass grafting is also rising. Other factors responsible for the growth of this market include changing lifestyle, increase in patients awareness of this ailment, and surgeries & therapies related to CABG. Dont miss out on Business Opportunities in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Market. Request Free Sample Pages and Gain Crucial Industry Insights that Will Help your Business Grow at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2285 The global coronary artery bypass graft market has been segmented on the basis of end users, procedures, types, and lastly, region. Based on end-users, this market has been segmented into cardiology clinics, hospitals, research institutes, and others. The procedure-based segmentation segments the market into CABG surgery, double CABG surgery, triple CABG surgery, quadruple CABG surgery, and others. By types, the market has been segmented into endoscopic vein harvesting, minimally invasive direct CABG, off-pump, on-pump and others. The regional segmentation of the global coronary artery bypass graft market covers continent-based regional markets namely The Americas (North America & South America), Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). The Americas segment is the largest regional market. North America as a market is bigger than South America due to the availability of more advanced technology. Therefore, even without South America, North America alone holds the potential of emerging as the largest regional market. The strongest economy of this world is the United States of America (USA), which is located in North America. Many key players in this market are based in North America, especially in the USA. Worldwide Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Market Key Players Dextera Surgical Inc. (USA), Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (USA), Genesee BioMedical (USA), Hancock Jaffe Laboratories, Inc. (USA), MAQUET Holding B.V. & Co. KG. (UK), Neograft Inc. (USA), NOVADAQ Technologies Inc. (Canada), Sorin Group (Italy), Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corporation (USA) and VasoPrep Surgical (USA). In North America, the market is growing due to the availability of specialty care services in hospitals & tertiary care centers increasing demand for cardiovascular devices for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, increasing demand for treatment options for cardiovascular diseases, and increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the market. In South America, the market is experiencing steady but positive growth due to growing emphasis on coronary artery bypass procedure, increasing demand for the better cardiovascular devices, increasing geriatric population with chronic diseases such as diabetes & obesity which increase the risk for heart disease, and increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Latest Industry News Hancock Jaffe Laboratories, Inc., a company specializing in medical devices that restore cardiac and vascular health, has signed a Sponsored Research Agreement with Texas Heart Institute for the development of HJLIs CoreoGraft, an off the shelf conduit intended to be used for coronary artery bypass surgery. 9 OCT 2018 Medical technology company Biotronik has successfully obtained the approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of its PK Papyrus Covered Stent in emergency acute coronary perforations treatment. PK Papyrus can be used for the treatment of native coronary arteries and coronary bypass grafts. 18 SEP 2018 Europe is the second largest regional market. Some factors that enhance the market growth in this region are same as North America. In Europe, many governments also fund the R & D related to medical science. The most important country-based markets in this region are France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom (UK), followed by the rest of Europe. According to the report, Asia Pacific has been estimated to emerge as the fastest growing market during the forecast period. The significant country-specific markets in this region include China, India, Japan, and South Korea, followed by the rest of Asia Pacific. In the MEA region, the market is limited. Reasons for the limited market growth in this region are lack of awareness, lack of education, lack of technological development, political instability, and healthcare not considered a priority by majority governments in this region. Ask to Experts For in-depth TOC on Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Market 80 Pages with Reactive Tables and Figures At https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2285 About US: Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR) and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Blood Glucose Test Strips are small disposable strips which are used in conjugation with blood glucose meters for monitoring and controlling diabetes. These strips have glucose oxidase impregnated on them, which when reacts with glucose present in the blood gluconic acid. The Blood Glucose Test Strips Market is expected to grow at steady CAGR by the end of the forecasted period. Get Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/892 Blood Glucose Test Strip Market Key Players Some of the key players for Blood Glucose Test Strip Market are: Abbott Laboratories Acon Laboratories, Inc Allmedicus Apex Biotechnology Corporation Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings Ag Braun Melsungen Ag HMD Biomedical I-Sens, Inc. Lifescan, Inc. Roche Diagnostics Taidoc Technology Corporation Blood Glucose Test Strip Global Market Competitive Analysis The market of Blood Glucose Test Strip is fiercely competitive as well as fragmented due to the presence of numerous matured & small key players in the market. These market players try to gain competitive advantage through strategic partnership, acquisition, expansion, collaboration, product & technology launch. Heavy investments are transpired in the R&D to develop a completely different technology compared to their competition. Blood Glucose Test Strip Industry, Innovation & Related News April 13, 2018 Livongo Health (US) a start-up developing connected devices and software for diabetics and other chronic conditions. The company completely devoted to providing cost-competitive aid for diabetes, has already developed its own glucometer & apps providing accurate readings. Livongo, also ships test strips to patients at no additional cost. The company announced that it has bagged the investment for USD 105 million to support the further development of its technology and a partnership from Cambia Health Solution. Blood Glucose Test Strip Market Segments The Blood Glucose Test Strip Market can be segmented in to 2 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding; By Technologies: Comprises Thick Film Electrochemical, Thin Film Electrochemical, & Optical among others By Regions: North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World. Blood Glucose Test Strip Market Regional Analysis North America market leads the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market with the significant market share. The market is further expected to reach astronomical amounts growing at a substantial CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017-2027). Well-developed healthcare sector, increasing prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. & Canada coupled with the high per capita healthcare expenditures of these economies, together drive the regional market growth. Moreover, presence of some of the matured market players fuels the market growth. Europe & Asia Pacific is the second & third largest market respectively in the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market. Expected to be a fastest growing market Asia pacific region is estimated to grow rapidly over the projected period. Increasing healthcare expenditures along with favorable government policies of developing economies like India and China foster the market growth in APAC. While the worlds second largest market of Blood Glucose Test Strip, Europe is predominantly driven by the availability of funds for research, well-developed healthcare infrastructure, huge patient population, & government support for research & development. Besides, economies having high healthcare expenditures such as the UK & Germany propel the growth of the Europe market. To Know More Enquire @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/892 Major Table of Content Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope of the Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation Chapter 4. Market Dynamics Continued. About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com Market Research Future has deeply examined the Global Healthcare Cloud Computing Market to understand the various factors that influence growth in its upcoming report on the subject. Document processing is an ongoing task in healthcare facilities and the speed and efficiency that cloud computing offers has increased the adoption of the same. Cloud computing reduces overall costs as it is used without the need for physical infrastructure. The internet is used to store and manage data which also cuts down on maintenance costs. This is a significant driver of the global healthcare cloud computing market. The IT revolution and widespread growth of and demand for cloud computing has affected the healthcare sector in a highly positive manner. The large amounts of data generated in healthcare has encouraged the adoption of cloud computing. The generation of large volumes of data has increased further with high adoption of Scalability and flexibility are some of the growth driving factors in the global healthcare cloud computing market. Key Players GE Healthcare, Athena Health Inc., IBM Corporation, Sectra AB, CareCloud Corporation, Carestream Corporation, Agfa-Gevaert N.V., NextGen Healthcare, ClearData Networks Inc., Nuance Communications, Oracle Corporation, Siemens Healthineers, Microsoft Corporation, Cerner Corporation, Merge Healthcare Inc and Dell Inc. Dont miss out on Business Opportunities in Healthcare Cloud Computing Market. Request Free Sample Pages and Gain Crucial Industry Insights that Will Help your Business Grow at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6519 Major healthcare cloud computing players are actively involved in the development of new and improved services which will continue to optimize operations in large and complex industries such as healthcare. Security risks and the concern regarding sensitive data being made available on the cloud is expected to restrain market growth. Cloud breaches with regards to data and inefficient backup activities undertaken by healthcare organizations are likely to pose challenges to market growth, which may be addressed to some extent in the coming years. Market Segmentation The global healthcare cloud computing market is segmented in MRFRs report on the basis of applications, deployment, service, end-user, and region. Healthcare cloud computing has two key applications, namely Non -Clinical Information System (NCIS), and Clinical Information System (CIS). The CIS segment is further sub-segmented to include electronic health records (EHR), pharmacy information system (PIS), computerized physician order entry system (CPOE), and others. Deployment of healthcare cloud computing segmented into private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud. Healthcare cloud computing makes its possible to offer services in various innovative forms which include Software-As-A-Service, Infrastructure-As-A-Service, and Platform-As-A-Service. Healthcare providers and healthcare players make up the end-users of healthcare cloud computing. The Global Healthcare Cloud Computing Market is segmented by region into Europe, Latin America, North America, the Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa. Regional Analysis North America due to its inclusion of the U.S where there is a high concentration of Healthcare Cloud Computing Market players and the presence of a significant healthcare sector is expected to be a significant market in the global healthcare cloud computing market. North America has a well-established healthcare sector due to the concentration of developed economies in the region. The region also displays an affinity for the adoption of advanced technology. The Asia Pacific is a rapidly growing market due to the presence of a rapidly developing healthcare sector in the region. Countries such as India and China are among the most populous countries in the world which have a massive patient population. The need to have efficient operations in treating these masses is expected to encourage the adoption of advanced healthcare cloud computing solutions during the forecast period. Request in-depth TOC on Healthcare Cloud Computing Market 76 Tables 25 Figures 128 Pages At https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/request-toc/6519 About US: Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR) and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Acknowledging the kind of growth the LASIK Eye Surgery market is witnessing currently and the growth prospects the market is demonstrating globally; Market Research Future (MRFR) recently published a brilliant study report giving out the complete market insights up till 2022. In its report MRFR asserts that the global LASIK Eye Surgery market is projected to grow exponentially by 2022, registering 6.5% CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017 2022). In addition, other factors that predominantly drive the market growth include growing population and urbanization that has introduced many devices like mobile phone and unhealthy lifestyle. Which resultantly has increased prevalence of myopia, hyperopia astigmatism and several other vision problems. To rectify these issues people are increasingly resolving to LASIK Surgery for its advantages. Moreover, some LASIK companies work with insurance providers and certain large employers to provide LASIK discounts to their employees and CareCredit (a healthcare credit card) that covers all medical expenses, including LASIK eye surgery. These easy payment plans offered by LASIK companies fosters the market growth making LASIK as the most preferred surgery. However, this revolutionary technique has a minor downside that is, its technical complexity. Which sometimes presents challenges to the doctors performing this surgery, while creating the flap. This can result in to damaging the vision permanently. But the good news is LASIK can rarely cause loss of best vision. Key Players for Global LASIK Eye Surgery Market Nidek, Inc., AMO Manufacturing USA LLC, Abbott Inc., Carl Zeiss, Inc., Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Lasersight Technologies. Inc. and Bausch & Lomb Surgical, Inc. are some of the leaders driving the Global LASIK Eye Surgery Market. Profiling those in its analysis MRFR finds out their strategies placing them at the forefront of completion. Get Sample PDF Illustration @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1774 Worldwide LASIK Eye Surgery Market Competitive Landscape The market of LASIK Eye Surgery appears to be fiercely competitive & fragmented owing to the presence of numerous matured & small key players accounting for a substantial market share. These market players try to gain competitive advantage through strategic partnership, acquisition, expansion, collaboration, product & technology launch. They invest heavily in the R&D to develop a technology that is completely on a different level compared to their competition. Industry, Innovation & Related News February 27, 2018 The LASIK Vision Institute (US), a leading provider of LASIK surgery, announced opening of a new center in Duluth, Georgia. The new facility will be featuring topography-guided LASIK technology, the latest in FDA-approved technology for this procedure. February 14, 2018 The Omaha Eye & Laser Institute (US) a Pioneer in LASIK & other Laser surgeries & of Eye Care announced that now the institute is also specialized in iLASIK (Customized Bladeless) considered as one of the most advanced forms of fully-customized , Lasik Laser Vision Correction February 20, 2018 Lehigh Valley Center (US) one of the leading eye care centre & LASIK Specialists announced the availability of IntraLase/Bladeless LASIK Eye Surgery. Regional Analysis for Global LASIK Eye Surgery Market North America market dominates the global LASIK eye surgery market with the significant market share. The market is further expected to reach astronomical amounts growing at a substantial CAGR throughout the forecast period (2016-2022). Europe & Asia Pacific is the second & third largest market respectively in the global LASIK eye surgery market. Expected to be a fastest growing market Asia pacific region is estimated to grow rapidly over the projected period. Some Brief Table of Contents of Report Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope Of The Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation Chapter 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers TOC Continued Do You Have Specific Requirement? Ask To Our Experts@ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1774 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 The medical robotics industry has undergone significant changes. Due to which, the global robotic prosthetics market is anticipated to reach USD xx bn by the end of 2025. Earlier, robots performed basic activities by assisting endoscopy and surgical procedures, but at present robot applications has rolled out to radiology, emergency response, neurosurgeries, microsurgeries and prosthetics. Request PDF Sample Copy of Robotic Prosthetics Market Report at: https://www.adroitmarketresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/96 Escalating cases of accidents, diabetes, vascular disease, and frostbite, mass of amputee population has up scaled, leading to the growth of robotic prosthetic industry. Amputee Coalition has published data about the leading factors of amputee that include mostly vascular diseases and other than that trauma and congenital disabilities have one-third of contribution. Proliferating technological advancements such as RHEO KNEE, PROPRIO FOOT, SYMBIONIC LEG 3 and POWER KNEE is predicted to raise product awareness in Europe and North America, hence rising the demand of these devices. According to a survey, one in five men and one in three women aged above 50 encounters fragility fracture. In UK, most of the people face fragility factor, especially hip fractures. Ossur developed a mind-controlled prosthetic leg in 2015 which is under testing and trial process. R&D and growing investment by public and private sectors to upgrade prosthetic products are among the few significant factors to propel robotic prosthetics market. Initiatives from nonprofit organizations and government like Limbless Association, Douglas Bader Foundation, CDC and Amputee Coalition, to provide support to amputees is encouraging private players to invest in the market. International Institution has announced April as Limb Loss Awareness Month. This creates awareness about limb loss community and asks support for limb loss individuals. Read more details of robotic prosthetics market report at: https://www.adroitmarketresearch.com/industry-reports/robotic-prosthetics-market Assistance from Robotic Prosthetics Robotics prosthetic means substituting a body part with artificial device or limb, which enhance the lifestyle and function of an individuals missing body part. It restores the functioning of the missing limbs. Today, monitoring of artificial limbs is possible with brain, computer and sensation by incorporation of advanced technology. In healthcare industry, robots are fulfilling various purposes, particularly surgery. Last December 2017, researchers from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab made Johnny Matheny the first person to live with an advanced mind-controlled robotic arm. Johns Hopkins was granted with an amount of $120 million from the US Defense Department to develop that arm. In 2005, Matheny lost his arm to cancer and now became first person to have a Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) in the U.S Advancements in Smart Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics The main focus is to improve human-machine interactions for which developments have been done in rehabilitative devices and smart prosthetics. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has examined that, during a standard amputation, nerves are transected without the reintroduction of proper neural targets and physiological agonist-antagonist muscle relationships are severed, precluding the generation of musculotendinous proprioception. While exercising on this problem, MIT researchers have created a unique paradigm that creates an agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI) in the amputee. AMIs are considered for both human as well as a robot. Reviewing human-prosthesis interactions, Houston University researchers have adopted mobile brain-body imaging systems to comprehend the cortical dynamics of walking. They are focusing on the development of a brain-machine interface for prosthetic legs to facilitate amputees walk on uneven terrain. Enquire more details of robotic prosthetics market report at: https://www.adroitmarketresearch.com/contacts/enquiry-before-buying/96 Global Scenario of Robotic Prosthetic Market The robotic prosthetics market size is expected to show exceptional growth in Asia Pacific regions, particularly in China and India. International Diabetes Federation found that these countries in particular have high diabetic population which is growing vigorously year by year. Prevalence of diabetes has got doubled for men and higher percentage among Chinese and Indian women. Furthermore, escalating demand for quality devices in healthcare will lead the use of advanced equipment, which, in turn, will scale up the market growth of the robotics prosthetics market. The robotics prosthetics market share is dominated by Americans, due to the growing prevalence of orthopedic diseases and developing technology. According to a study in the U.S., prevalence of low bone mass and osteoporosis at the femur neck is found in adults above age of 50 years. Moreover, it was highest among Mexican-American adults, followed by non-Hispanic white adults. Europe holds second-largest position in robotic prosthetics market size owing to the German and French governments support for research & development and increasing investment in the healthcare domain. This is expected to drive the robotic prosthetics market globally. About Us: Adroit Market Research is an India-based business analytics and consulting company incorporated in 2018. Our target audience is a wide range of corporations, manufacturing companies, product/technology development institutions and industry associations that require understanding of a markets size, key trends, participants and future outlook of an industry. We intend to become our clients knowledge partner and provide them with valuable market insights to help create opportunities that increase their revenues. We follow a code Explore, Learn and Transform. At our core, we are curious people who love to identify and understand industry patterns, create an insightful study around our findings and churn out money-making roadmaps. Contact Info: Ryan Johnson Adroit Market Research 3131 McKinney Ave Ste 600, Dallas, Texas 75204, U.S.A Phone No: +1 (214) 884-6068 Email: sales@adroitmarketresearch.com Cambridge Consultants, a UK firm, and OmniVision, based in California, have developed an impressive intravascular camera. It produces native images at 400 x 400 pixel resolution, considerably better than existing fiber-optic angioscopes, but engineers at Cambridge Consultants believe this can be boosted to 1,600 x 1,600 with its own software technique that harnesses deep learning to enhance low resolution images without the blurring associated with traditional upscaling, as the company describes it. Unlike fiber-optic devices, in which the actual imaging component is positioned proximal to the operator, the new device has the sensor right at its tip. The part that would navigate through the vasculature is only 1.3 mm in diameter and its flexible enough to move through curvy anatomy. The device can be combined with other intravascular imaging techniques, such as intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography, giving cath lab surgeons an unprecedented view of what theyre working on. The new device has not been tested on humans yet, but the underlying technology will certainly find its way into an actual product, as currently available options intravascular endoscopes are extremely limited. Via: Cambridge Consultants by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, October 15, 2018 The number of marketers with in-house agencies has grown sharply over the past five years, according to a new study from the National Association of Advertisers, based on a poll of its members. The study shows that more than three-quarters (78%) of ANA members reported having some form of an in-house agency in 2018, compared to 58% in 2013 and 42% in 2008. And 90% of those polled in the most recent study indicated that the workload of their in-house agency has increased in the past year, including 65% who said the workload has increased a lot. The survey revealed that in-house agencies provide a range of services, including strategy, creative for both traditional and digital media, and media planning and buying. Services that have grown significantly over the past five years include creative strategy, media strategy, social media (both creative and media), and programmatic media buying. advertisement advertisement "This report makes clear that the work being done by in-house agencies is no longer confined to 'low-hanging fruit' such as collateral/promotional materials and internal videos," said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. Traditional agencies are becoming increasingly challenged as marketers move more work in-house while encouraging their external agencies to provide differentiated services and increased value. We expect the current trends to continue, with accelerated client movement to in-house agencies." The report comes amid a period of strained relations and declining trust between advertisers and agencies. Last week the ANA confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorneys Office For The Southern District Of New York had launched a criminal probe into media-buying practices. The Bureau came to the organization for help in identifying potential victims of fraudulent media-buying practices and the ANAs CEO Bob Liodice issued a letter to members suggesting steps they might take if they believe that they are victims. That investigation follows a scathing report from K2 Intelligence commissioned by the ANA in 2016 that highlighted sketchy media-buying practices such as accepting rebates from media companies for spending client ad dollars with them without informing clients. Commenting on the ANA study, Pivotal Research senior analyst Brian Wieser wrote in a client note that the growth of in-house agencies may be a factor in decelerating external agency revenue growth, but likely not the biggest factor. From our vantage point," Wieser noted, "we have observed that reduced spending on creative services in general paired with enhanced contract scrutiny on media agencies are probably the biggest factors impacting the business. Of course, both those trends overlap with aspects of in-housing. Respondents to the new ANA study said that cost efficiencies were the primary benefit of moving agency services in-house, followed by better knowledge of brands, speed and nimbleness, and institutional knowledge. Nearly 80% of respondents expressed high levels of satisfaction with the work of in-house resources, with 37% indicating they were completely satisfied with the work being done by these teams. That said, the survey also showed that 90% of respondents still work with external agencies. The study also found that: Over the past three years, 70% of respondents have moved work formerly handled by their external agency(ies) to their in-house operation, including content marketing, social media, and influencer marketing. 79% have in-house video production capabilities, and almost half established those capabilities within the past five years. Top KPIs used to assess the effectiveness of in-house agencies are cost savings, speed to market, and business performance. The biggest challenges for in-house agencies are related to managing growth. Specifically, the two top challenges are managing workflow (increased projects) and efficiently managing resources. The study also indicated that there has been a marked increase in the amount of specialty services offered by in-house agencies in the past five years. Case in point: Content marketing is handled in-house by 75% of respondents compared to 34% in the 2013 survey, while data/marketing analytics are handled in-house by 59% of respondents versus 42% in 2013. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, October 15, 2018 Sears Holdings announcement early this morning is about as surprising as an observation that retailers will be slashing their prices on Dec. 26 -- but there are still lessons to be drawn from the saga of the aged-out department store chain. Many of them are along the lines of what not to do, alas. Lets start with the obfuscating headline on the companys press release this morning: Sears Holdings Initiates Processes To Accelerate Strategic Transformation And Facilitate Financial Restructuring. What actually happened is more clearly stated at the end of the first paragraph: the Company and certain of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York early today. advertisement advertisement It will also close 142 stores by the end of the year, in addition to the 46 that are in the process of shutting down by next month. In addition, hedge-fund honcho Edward S. Lampert is stepping down as CEO, although he will remain chairman. A three-person committee -- Robert A. Riecker, the chief financial office; Leena Munjal, the chief digital officer, customer experience and integrated retail; and Gregory Ladley, president of apparel and footwear -- will form an office of the CEO. The Chapter 11 process will give Holdings the flexibility to strengthen its balance sheet, enabling the Company to accelerate its strategic transformation, continue right sizing its operating model, and return to profitability, Lampert states in the release. As part of the reorganization plan, Sears has negotiated a $300 million loan from Wall Street lenders to help keep its shelves stocked and employees paid. The company said it was still negotiating with Mr. Lamperts hedge fund, ESL Investments, for an additional $300 million loan, Michael Corkery reports for the New York Times. Its a sad day for American retail, Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail research and consulting firm, tells Corkery. There are generations of people who grew up on Sears and now its not relevant. When you are in the retail business, its all about newness. But Sears stopped innovating. As hard as it may be to fathom now, innovation had, in fact, been the company's lifeblood. Sears was founded in 1887 and first incorporated in 1892. It evolved into an American one-stop shop for everything related to the home. Its annual Christmas catalog was immensely popular -- at its height, it spanned over 500 pages. In the first half the 20th century, the company even sold about 70,000 pre-cut kit houses -- a small part of its then-booming sales. Its strategy of offering all the home merchandise one could dream of in accessible catalogs was path-making, writes NPRs Emily Sullivan. Sears taught America about the modern world through this catalog, Jerry Hancock, a self-proclaimed Sears scholar, tells NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro. It completely changed American life. That catalog was sort of a window into this new consumer world, and it really made a connection with people. In addition, it launched brands like Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools. It created its own credit card to spur sales. After World War II, it followed people to the suburbs, helping build the malls that moved retailing away from Main Street. It was the first major chain to build parking lots and open its doors on Sundays, Suzanne Kapner writes for the Wall Street Journal. But for years, Sears has contended with the threat that it would become the latest big-name retailer to fall to online competition and crushing debt. The icon once known for its pristine catalogs, and more recently known for decrepit showrooms and a controversial chief executive, saw its stock price plunge last week after reports that it had hired an advisory firm to prepare a bankruptcy filing ahead of the Oct. 15 payment, writes Rachel Siegel for the Washington Post. That debt payment due today was for $134 million. The Chapter 11 filing comes 14 years after Sears optimistically announced a merger with rival Kmart and follows seven years of struggling through losses and hundreds of store closures under Lampert. Its unraveling has erased $30 billion in shareholder wealth from an April 2007 peak and more than 200,000 jobs, WaPo's Siegel reports. The intention is to bring the company out on the other side, a person familiar with negotiations with creditors to to secure a debtor-in-possession loan of several hundreds of million told the WSJs Siegel late last week. But consumers, investors, analysts and pundits alike are left to wonder what it has left to offer. Group Nine Media -- parent company of digital brands like Thrillist and The Dodo -- just named Jeff Siegel its new senior vice president, distribution. In his new position, Siegel will be responsible for driving sales and strategy around Group Nines content network. Based out of the companys New York City headquarters, Siegel will report to Mickey Meyer, Group Nines Chief Network-IP Management Officer. Siegel has experience with national and international media distribution, along with sourcing and negotiating TV and digital content sales and licensing deals, according to Meyer. As we continue to expand Group Nines IP library and evolve onto new platforms and into new formats, Siegels experience will be invaluable, Meyer stated. Group Nine designs its content to thrive on platforms that are popular with young and engaged consumers. Its network boasts more than 5 billion monthly video views on Facebook Watch and over 120 million social engagements per month. advertisement advertisement Additional properties include Seeker for science enthusiasts and video news publisher NowThis. Adding to its content library, Group Nine recently bought Emmy-nominated production studio JASH. Most recently, Siegel served as head of sicensing and syndication for Verizons Go90, where he oversaw off-platform content licensing and syndication for original programming. In this role, Siegel secured Go90s first international content licensing deal Prior to Go90, Siegel served as vice president, international distribution, DEFY Media, where he oversaw content monetization for the digital studio outside of the U.S. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, October 15, 2018 Seven Twitter users who were blocked by President Donald Trump are asking a federal appellate court to rule that the blocks violate the First Amendment. As public officials increasingly use social media as a means of speaking to and hearing from their constituents, it is imperative that the First Amendment be understood to safeguard the right of citizens to participate freely in these new virtual forums, including by expressing criticism and dissent, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University says in papers filed late Friday with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The Knight Institute is representing seven critics of Trump who were blocked by him on Twitter. Last year, the institute sued Trump, arguing that he violated the critics' free speech rights. U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in New York ruled against Trump in May. She held that it is unconstitutional for government officials like Trump to block Twitter users based on their political views. advertisement advertisement The Department of Justice had argued to Buchwald that the blocked users could continue to read tweets from the president's @realDonaldTrump account, and could still interact with other users. But Buchwald said the blocks impermissibly limited people's ability to use Twitter. "As long as they remain blocked, 'the Individual Plaintiffs cannot view the Presidents tweets; directly reply to these tweets; or use the @realDonaldTrump webpage to view the comment threads associated with the Presidents tweets while they are logged in to their verified accounts,'" she wrote, quoting from a court document. She added that it is difficult for people to "understand the reply tweets without the context of the original @realDonaldTrump tweets." The White House recently appealed that ruling to the 2nd Circuit. Among other arguments, the administration argues that @realDonaldTrump is a personal account, and that the blocks are "merely an exercise of his personal, not governmental, authority to exclude individuals." The Knight Institute counters in its new papers that Trump and his staff use @realDonaldTrump as an extension of the presidency. The account is akin to a digital town hall, with the President speaking from the podium at the front of the room and assembled citizens responding to him and engaging with one another about the Presidents statements, the institute writes. In an effort to suppress dissent, the President ejected from this forum -- 'blocked' -- the individual plaintiffs and other Twitter users who criticized him or his policies, the organization adds. The same principles that would have rendered this conduct unconstitutional in a conventional town hall render it unconstitutional here. The lawsuit over Trump's Twitter account is not the only case dealing with public officials' ability to exclude people on social media. Governors of Maryland, Kentucky and Maine were also sued recently for allegedly blocking critics. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan recently resolved the lawsuit by agreeing to refrain from deleting critical comments on Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms. Hogan's office also agreed to adopt a new social media policy that prohibits discrimination based on viewpoint, but allows for the removal of some comments, including ones that contain profanity, are "disruptively repetitive," or "clearly unrelated to governmental concerns." Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and Maine Governor Paul LePage are contesting the cases. People with a diagnosis of dementia can also face depression. For this reason, they may end up taking antidepressant drugs. Now, a study has found that these drugs may be able to treat not just depression, but dementia itself. Share on Pinterest A new study tests out the potential of antidepressants to tackle dementia mechanisms in the brain. According to data cited by the Alzheimers Association, 1 in 10 people aged 65 and over has Alzheimers disease, a form of dementia, characterized chiefly by memory loss, disorientation, and having trouble with normal daily activities. Moreover, people with Alzheimers can often also develop mental health issues, especially depression . For this reason, healthcare professionals may prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) a class of antidepressants to individuals with dementia. Recently, researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, have found a surprising mechanism at play, namely that SSRIs appear to inhibit the growth of dementia-specific aggregates in the brain. These are promising findings for people with Alzheimers who are on SSRIs, notes Prof. Praveen Nekkar Rao, one of the current studys authors. These finding may not only highlight benefits for people with depression and Alzheimers but can also provide insights to serve as a guide to future drug development to treat the disease, he suggests. The research team reports the studys results in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience. MIDDLETOWN Recent strides in treatment show annual breast cancer screenings have a better chance than ever of detecting the disease early in women, according to Dr. Andrea M. Malon, medical director of the Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center. During October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, health officials are driving that message home by encouraging females to visit their physician on an annual basis for a routine breast exam. One in eight American women will develop the disease over a lifetime. With early detection, the five-year survival rate is nearly 100 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. By comparison, in the 1970s, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed was 1 in 11, according to the National Cancer Institute. Our goal is to identify it as early as possible in everybody, because thats our best chance at curing it. The smaller it is, the earlier stage, theres less need for certain treatments, Malon said. With 250,000 new breast cancer cases diagnosed each year, the disease is the most common cancer in women in the United States, according to Middlesex Hospital, which, this month, opened a comprehensive breast center at 540 Saybrook Road. It is designed to help women with an established high risk for breast cancer, as well as those who may be at high risk due to family history or benign breast disease. The estimated number of new cases of breast cancer in Connecticut women is 89.4 percent, according to the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative. The five-year survival rate for Stage 4 breast cancer is 25.9 percent. When breast cancer is diagnosed early and confined to the breast, that rate increases to 98.6 percent, the CBHI reports. The average woman may not be able to detect an abnormality in the breast, because these cancers are sometimes so small only a physician can identify them. Self-exams, in combination with routine physician visits, offer the best chance of pinpointing anomalies, Malon said. Eight of every nine women diagnosed with the disease have no family history. Most everybody has lumpy breasts, so when people are doing their self-exams, they will tend to find a lot of lumps, and that will provoke concern, appropriately so, and (prompt women to) have them evaluated, Malon said. The reality is, if a woman is going to her providers and getting her screening, which is a mammo(gram), with the ultrasound if dense, and a breast exam, the odds are the mammogram is going to find it before you ever felt it, Malon said. In wealthier states such as Connecticut, more people have access to health care and undergo routine mammograms. The more you look, the more youll find. We want that, because we want to find these small cancers and cure them then, rather than find them three, four, five years down the road when we cant do anything about it, Malon said. Since 2015, Middlesex has been the only hospital in New England to offer dual-headed molecular breast imaging, which uses a radioactive tracer to better detect breast cancer cells. The hospital also offers Genius 3D Mammography exams, which allows doctors to examine breast tissue layer by layer and detect the disease with greater accuracy regardless of a womans age or breast density, according to Middlesex. Cure rates for patients diagnosed with Stage 1 and 2 breast cancer are 85 to 90 percent, Malon said. We have more people living now who were diagnosed and treated than ever, because we can find them and we can cure them. Women over 40 are encouraged to get annual mammographies, and, if they have dense breasts (which occurs in about half of American women), an ultrasound. There are different published guidelines across the planet, but for the majority of people in the U.S., they still recommend and start screening at 40, Malon said. Risk is determined by how many relatives have what cancers, so a patient with an increased chance of developing the disease might have relatives with breast cancer or ovarian cancer. Just having one relative who had breast cancer when she was 90 years old youre still going to have average risk. But depending on who had what cancers at what age, you would have increased risk, she said. About 1 percent of all breast cancer cases in the nation occur in men, which translates to over 2,000 new cases expected each year. About 400 men in America are expected to die from breast cancer each year, according to the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. For men, the highest incidence is cancer of the prostate. Male breast cancer develops in a different location than females. When a human baby is born, theres a bud of breast tissue right behind the nipple, and, during puberty for the average female with normal development, the hormones make that develop into what we see as the female breast, said Malon. During puberty, the XY male, those same hormones are there, but it doesnt develop, said Malon, who added the average age she has diagnosed women is in their mid to late 60s. Ive seen patients as old as 100 and as young as 21. Its across the spectrum. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, women on average live to 81, while life expectancy for males is 76. Cancer in general has to do with cells and mutations within cells. It has to do with the cells in our body that are changing every day. The longer that humans live, and dont die of routine things they used to die of, the more chance there is for cancerous mutations to occur in our bodies, Malon said. The hospital is sponsoring a number of goPINK activities, including salons offering dyed pink streaks or hair extensions for $20. For details, visit https://bit.ly/2ynAIUx. For information on the breast center, call 860-358-2850 or visit bit.ly/2OYdD4d. Hamilton College CLINTON, New York Elise Wilson of Deep River recently matriculated as a first-year student at Hamilton College. Wilson, a graduate of Valley Regional High School, was selected from a pool of 6,240 applicants to the college and joins a class of 482. University of Vermont BURLINGTON, Vermont Ryan Lau of Middletown joined the University of Vermont honors college. Lau is one of 212 student to join the the class of 2022. Eastern Connecticut State University WILLIMANTIC A number of civic-minded students from Eastern Connecticut State University are serving thousands of hours in the community this fall semester as student leaders with Easterns Center for Community Engagement. A student leader is an experienced student volunteer hired and trained by the CCE to recruit, train and manage volunteers, serve as a liaison with community partners, and plan and run service programs. Among the student leaders is Jack Irvine 21 of Cromwell, who majors in elementary education and liberal studies. Irvine volunteers with United Way Readers at Natchaug Elementary and Natchaug Elementary After School Program. Student leaders attend weekly community programs with their volunteers, as well as assist with volunteer recruitment and management for one-time special events. CCE Director Kim Silcox notes that student leaders are an integral part of the CCE staff. The Army's replacement for the Cold-War era Bradley fighting vehicle will likely field a main armament that's far more potent than the Bradley's 25 millimeter cannon. Current combat vehicles owned by peer competitors include the Russian BMP3, which features a 100 mm main gun. And "104 countries have the 30 mm," said Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team. "If we want next-generation, I personally do not want to modernize to parity; it makes no sense," Coffman told an audience last week at the 2018 Association of the United States Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition. "We must modernize to establish standoff; our soldiers deserve standoff." The Army has prioritized replacing its Bradley Fighting Vehicle and hopes to field the first unit with the Optionally Manned Combat Vehicle beginning in 2025, Coffman said, adding that the replacement for the M1 Abrams will come in "distant years." "The M1 tank still has a lot of upgrades that it is capable of putting on board, but the Bradley is at [the end of] its life," Coffman said. "The bottom line is, anything is on the table. We want industry feedback for decisive lethality; if that is run by a flux capacitor, hovers and has a ray gun, and we can make that work at a reasonable cost, absolutely." The Army continues to plan industry days to learn from defense firms "what is in the realm of the possible, so we can make a decision on firm requirements moving forward," Coffman said. "The technology may not be there, but we must maintain the ability to upgrade our equipment in a dynamic fashion to always have standoff against our enemy." Coffman added that experimenting and prototyping, once started, will not end. "It's a continuous line because, as we field the new vehicles, we want to continue to roll in those technologies that we can afford," he said. "Because, as I said, we cannot modernize to parity, and our potential enemies are going to try to catch up." Army leaders plan to make a decision in 2023 on whether the service wants to develop a future tank, Coffman said. "I did not say replace the M1 tank," Coffman said. "What is going to be our decisive lethality platform? That is what is very, very important to us is to have that capability; it doesn't have to be a tank. It just has to be decisive and lethal." -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. China's Sub Force Is Growing More Powerful. This Is What the US Navy Needs to Do to Stay Ahead A Purple Heart has been awarded posthumously to a World War I hero wounded on a battlefield in France 100 years ago. Sgt. Perry Loyd, a member of the Army's all-black 371st Infantry Regiment, was honored at an emotional ceremony Saturday at the U.S. Army's Fort Jackson in South Carolina. Perry James accepted the Purple Heart on behalf of his grandfather who returned to his life as a sharecropper in South Carolina's Sumter County after he was wounded. Loyd died in 1946 at age 61, according to reports. "It's proof that my grandfather was a patriot, a war hero, and a leader of men," James, 62, told WLTX-TV. "It gives me pride." James was researching his grandfather's life when he learned he had been wounded on Sept. 29, 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive at the war's end, WIS-TV reported. Loyd died without knowing he had been recommended for the Wound Chevron, which had been awarded before the Purple Heart was created, according to the station. "Years later, that's when the grandson picks up the mantle and says, we got to set this right because he earned it," Fort Jackson commander Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle told the station. Family and friends from across the country attended the Fort Jackson ceremony. "I find great joy looking at his picture because I believe I'm looking at his soul and he was here today," James told WIS. President Donald Trump described Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as "sort of a Democrat" in an interview broadcast Sunday, renewing speculation that the retired Marine four-star general would quit his Cabinet post after the elections in November. "It could be that he is" leaving, Trump said of Mattis on the CBS "60 Minutes" program. "I think he's sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth," Trump said. "But General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves. Everybody. People leave. That's Washington." In his remarks on Mattis, Trump did not close the door to him remaining in the post as the Pentagon's top civilian, where he has been a stable influence in an administration marked by high turnover. Last week, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has worked closely with Mattis, announced that she was leaving on what appeared to be friendly terms with Trump. When asked by CBS' Leslie Stahl whether Mattis might leave, Trump said "Well, I don't know. He hasn't told me that." Trump also labeled as "fake news" reports that the turnover rate of officials in high posts had left the administration in turmoil. "I have people now on standby that will be phenomenal. They'll come into the administration," Trump said. Trump said the turnover was likely to continue. "Yeah, other people will go, sure," Trump said, adding that his current Cabinet was "great." "There are some people I'm not happy with. I have some people that I'm not thrilled with," Trump said, without mentioning names. "And I have other people that I'm beyond thrilled with." The speculation on the possibility of Mattis leaving rose with the recent publication of "Fear," a narrative of backbiting within Trump's administration by celebrated journalist Bob Woodward. In the book, Mattis was quoted as telling aides that Trump had the understanding of a "fifth- or sixth-grader" on world and military affairs. In addition, the Woodward book said that Mattis ignored Trump's demand to plan an assassination attempt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in April 2017, after Syria launched chemical attacks in the Damascus suburbs. "We're not going to do any of that. We're going to be much more measured," Mattis told an aide, according to the book. Mattis denied ever making the remarks. In a statement after the book's publication, Mattis said that "the contemptuous words about the president attributed to me in Woodward's book were never uttered by me or in my presence." In response to Trump's latest remarks, Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, issued a statement Sunday, reported by multiple media outlets: "Secretary Mattis is laser-focused on doing his job -- ensuring the US military remains the most lethal force on the planet," Manning said in the statement. The speculation that Trump and Mattis would eventually be at odds began shortly after the Defense Secretary took the oath of office. When Mattis was nominated, Trump took to referring to him by a nickname he detests: "Mad Dog." Mattis told defense reporters that he'd like to be called "just Jim." As Defense Secretary, Mattis has avoided the expressions of loyalty to Trump sometimes voiced by other Cabinet members. He has also, at times, openly expressed disagreement with the direction of Trump's policies. When Trump moved to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran, Mattis, a hardliner on Iran's "malign influence" in the region, said that elements of the deal restricting Iran's nuclear and missile programs should be preserved. Mattis has also worked behind the scenes to assure allies of the U.S. commitment to NATO following Trump's frequent charges that member states were not paying their fair share on defense. Last month, Mattis appeared to be caught off-guard by statements from National Security Advisor John Bolton that the estimated 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria would not be withdrawn until Iranian forces and Iranian-allied militias also left the country. In an informal session with defense reporters, Mattis repeated the Pentagon's stance that U.S. withdrawals would solely be based on the defeat of ISIS, but insisted that there was "no daylight" between him and Bolton. Also last month, Mattis again dismissed reports that he was considering resigning as bad rumors. "It'll die down," Mattis told reporters on the steps of the Pentagon, while greeting a visiting dignitary. "How many times have we been through this now, just since I've been here? It'll die down soon and the people who started the rumor will be allowed to write the next rumor, too." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com. New VA Channel in Arizona The Northern Arizona VA Health Care System recently launched their new Access 65 VA Channel, which will include veteran support services, veteran-to-veteran communication through success stories, information about PTSD, women veterans, suicide prevention and employment. For now, the channel will broadcast Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., throughout Yavapai County. For more on veteran benefits, visit the Military.com Benefits section. After registering a staggering 5.43 kills per set over the weekend the Mid-American Conference announced on Monday that Western Michigan volleyball sophomore Rachel Bontrager has been named MAC West Offensive Player of the Week. Editor's note: Police on Friday, Oct. 12 released a surveillance image of a man initially considered a suspect in the case. The pictured man contacted police and was no longer being sought as a suspect. His photo has been removed from this page. DEXTER TWP., MI - Animal welfare advocates are offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of a man seen throwing a cat from a moving vehicle Tuesday near Dexter. A witness told police she saw a man in a blue Subaru SUV, riding with several other occupants, toss a cat through a window while traveling southbound on Dexter-Pinckney Road between N. Territorial Road and the Huron Creek Party Store, some time after 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, Oct.9. The woman stopped her car to check on the animal and call authorities, finding that the cat, believed to be a 7-month-old black kitten, was dead with a collapsed skull, according to the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. It was unclear if the cat was killed prior to it being tossed from the vehicle. Humane Society of Huron Valley officials said the kitten had a severely fractured skull and several other fractures and injuries, including to the jaw, neck, spine, ribs, and legs. The kitten was sent to Michigan State University for a full necropsy. The Humane Society of Huron Valley is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest. Police initially released a photo of a possible suspect seen with a cat carrier entering a bathroom at Hudson Mills Metropark and later leaving in a blue Subaru SUV shortly afterward. The sheriff's office later said the man in the image was no longer being sought. The man contacted authorities shortly after the photo was released and was no longer considered a suspect, Humane Society of Huron Valley officials said. The person initially thought to be the suspect contacted the Ann Arbor News and said his cat defecated in the carrier while traveling and he was cleaning it out in the bathroom. "Obviously, it is extremely disturbing," said Humane Society of Huron Valley CEO Tanya Hilgendorf about the death of the kitten. "There is no justification for intentionally hurting and killing such a harmless creature." Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office's confidential tip line at 734- 973-7711, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAKUP or the Humane Society of Huron Valley at 734-661-3560. ANN ARBOR, MI - It is officially rivalry week. Police took a report of the UM Diag being vandalized early Sunday, Oct. 14. The Diag - one of the most central locations on UM's campus - had its Block M covered with green spray paint, with the letters "SU" added. The damaged was shared on social media Sunday afternoon. rivalry week has officially started pic.twitter.com/2fkAJb0z4R The Black Sheep MSU (@blacksheep_msu) October 14, 2018 UM Police Department Deputy Chief Melissa Overton said officers took the report about 3 a.m., noting that there were no suspects or arrests related to the incident. It had been a few years since the last time the Diag had been vandalized in the week leading up to the gridiron showdown between Michigan and Michigan State, with fans of either team taking turns in recent years spray painting their school colors on notable campus landmarks. MSU fans struck in 2014, and UM supporters pained MSU's "Sparty" statue maize and blue in both 2015 and 2013. Members of UM's Theta Xi fraternity were out protecting the Diag Sunday evening in what has become an annual tradition, but it appears they arrived a bit late. The fraternity has defended the Diag since 1999, turning the center of campus into a fortress blocked off by couches in an effort to prevent the potential defacement of a university landmark. Detroit City Councilman Gabriel Leland appeared in federal court Monday, Oct. 15 to be arraigned on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Stafford released Leland on a personal recognizance bond, ordering him to surrender his passport and banning the politician from possessing a gun. Leland is accused of conspiring to solicit $15,000 in bribes from a local business and accepting free car repairs in exchange for help with a land deal. A federal grand jury indicted Leland, 35, on Thursday, Oct. 4. "According to the Indictment, beginning in May 2017, and continuing through August 2017, Councilman Leland conspired with Elisa Grubbs, a campaign worker, to solicit and accept bribes consisting of $15,000 in cash and free auto body work from a local business owner," U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider's office announced. "The indictment further alleges that Leland agreed to help delay or prevent the city's sale of property that the business owner believed he owned in exchange for the bribes. "Leland is charged with taking a $7,500 cash bribe on August 4, 2017, just four days before the primary election for Detroit City Council." Robert Carmack, a Detroit businessman, in March told WJBK-Fox 2 News reporter M.L. Elrick that Leland asked for $15,000 to help his campaign in exchange for assisting Carmack with the purchasse of two properties, including land along the Detroit River that Carmack has been trying to purchase since 2015. Carmack told Fox 2 he went to the FBI, agreed to wear a wire to record conversations with the councilman and delivered $7,500 to Leland's office in City Hall. The indictment says Leland, who chaired the economic development committee overseeing the land sale, agreed to delay the sale of the property. "On May 12, 2017, Leland had a telephone conversation with the business owner, during which Leland assured the business owner he was holding up the sale of the property," the indictment says. "Leland stated, 'I held it up again. Yeah. Yeah, it stayed right, right in the committee, brother.' "Later in the conversation, Leland chided the business owner, stating, 'You didn't show up to my fundraiser'" The indictment says Leland met with the business owner and arranged for him to pay a $15,000 bribe. "I should ask for $30,000, but I'm nice to you," the indictment claims Leland said. "A sitting member of the Detroit City Council engaging in bribery is an extreme breach of the trust of the people of Detroit that badly undermines their faith in local government," U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement. "As was starkly demonstrated by the prosecution of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and several corrupt members of his administration, federal law enforcement is dedicated to rooting out and severely punishing corruption at every level of city governance." Leland's name was previously included along with other Detroit-area politicians in an accidentally unsealed federal court document identifying possible participants in a bribery scheme surrounding Detroit towing contractor Gasper Fiore, who was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 21 months in prison on Aug. 2. A conviction of bribery carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine, per count. Conspiracy to commit bribery is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Full indictment: A federal judge on Monday, Oct. 15 ruled the government may cremate more than 117 specimens of human remains, including severed heads, torsos and fetuses, seized from a Detroit body broker's warehouse by the FBI in December 2013. Once cremated, the remains are expected to be returned to relatives of the original body donors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Wyse indicated in Detroit's federal court during a post-conviction hearing for Arthur Rathburn. Rathburn, the 64-year-old Grosse Pointe Park man who owned and operated International Biological Inc. -- a company the FBI says kept a "cutting room" inside the Detroit warehouse for dividing bodies into parts for shipment -- was convicted on federal charges of fraud and illegal transport of hazardous biological materials in May. The U.S. Attorney's Office accused Rathburn of knowingly renting diseased body parts to unwitting customers for use in nearly 140 medical training courses between 2000 and 2013. According to the government, Rathburn's business model involved purchasing cadavers from larger private tissue donor companies. In some cases, he obtained bodies of donors who died of infectious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis, at a discount. Rathburn received a nine-year prison sentence and is appealing his conviction. With a handlebar mustache, thinning hair, glasses and white ear plugs, Rathburn arrived in federal court Monday wearing a brown Wayne County Jail uniform. Rathburn, who was fighting the cremation of the seized body parts and fetuses, said he's cross-referenced logs and other records created by the government and discovered numerous errors, including 76 specimens that he says weren't tagged properly. He also attempted to discuss research focused on "false positive" tests, which he said may have played a role in his case, but Borman said the information wasn't relevant and cut Rathburn off. Should Rathburn successfully appeal his sentence, he said the government shouldn't be able to present evidence related to any of the specimens they eventually cremate. Wyse said prosecutors have "reliable records that can be authenticated," and he's confident those would be adequate should the case eventually be retried. Attorney James Howarth said there are three specimens that his client would like to re-test for diseases in case of another trial, and Borman ordered the U.S. Attorney's Office to maintain those pieces of possible evidence until the appeal process has concluded, which the judge estimated could take up to 10 months. The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office have been curiously quiet about photos leaked to Reuters depicting four fetuses collected during the search of Rathburn's warehouse. While assistant prosecutors and witnesses presented graphic details about the evidence during Rathburn's trial, fetuses were never mentioned. The fetuses, according to statements made in court by Howarth, came from the American Museum of Natural History in New York via a man named Gary Sawyer, who was previously listed as a visiting scientist on the museum website. The American Museum of Natural History denies any connection to the fetuses, and spokesman Roberto Lebron issued this statement via email on June 30: In response to your inquiry, the material you asked about did not come from the Museum. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, Mr. Sawyer, who is not a Museum staff member, does not have any knowledge of this material. Given the seriousness and sensitivities surrounding your inquiry we would very much appreciate in the future being given more time to respond prior to your posting a story of this nature ... The museum has since refused to make any further comment on the matter. Rathburn's wife, Elizabeth Rathburn, who is believed to have assisted her husband with his business, pleaded guilty to wire fraud as part of a plea deal and received probation. A $761,344 monetary judgement was issued against Arthur Rathburn and it's possible he could be ordered to pay restitution to victims at a later date. FLINT, MI -- A $2 million donation to Kettering University will help to pay for a new building and scholarships for students in the greater Chicago area hoping to attend the Flint institute. The money from Lisle, Illinois-based Navistar International Corporation will be used for the construction of a commons space in the new Learning Commons building on campus, supporting research initiatives, and scholarship support for students. Robert K. McMahan, Kettering University president, thanked Navistar for the donation, and noted: "This gift will profoundly impact our students and campus." "This gift touches on all aspects of our mission," he said. "It helps us to add another world-class facility to our campus and the Flint community." Troy Clarke, the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Navistar, said at an Oct. 11 press conference that the relationship between Kettering and the company "will have a ripple effect that goes far beyond" those gathered for the announcement. A 1978 Kettering graduate, Clarke noted the donation was made to Kettering to have a big impact and "a real partner" at a school where the company could work "hand in hand to provide the best education and work experience to students." Navistar focuses on design and manufacturing commercial trucks, diesel engines, school buses, but Clarke said the company has also moved into connected vehicles, electric powertrains, and self-driving vehicles. The research initiatives -- being funded by $750,000 of the donation -- to be undertaken at Kettering on behalf of the company includes artificial intelligence for advanced driver assistance systems and machine learning applications for powertrains. "When business and academics intersect, in my opinion, that's where the real magic happens," commented Clarke. "The history of this great institution and the impact its graduates have had on the world demonstrates this." Edward Houlihan, a sophomore mechanical engineering student at Kettering, joined the ranks of Navistar after choosing the university for his post-secondary education. "When you ask me why I chose Kettering. I chose Kettering because Navistar chose me," he said. "Co-oping has since been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life." Navistar currently employs 16 Kettering students and has been a corporate partner with the university for more than a decade. Kettering has more than 500 co-op partner organizations, according to the university's website. Houlihan, a Wheaton, Illinois native, said the $250,000 in scholarship support for Chicago-area graduates to attend Kettering "will, in turn, bring local and incredible talent" to engineering teams at the company. Approximately $1 million of the donation will go towards the Navistar International Innovation Commons space in the new Learning Commons building on campus and serves a space for an interaction of ideas. The Learning Commons building, part of the university's master plan, will also house food service, new library, and several open spaces for students. Walter Borst, Navistar's chief financial officer, member of the Kettering University board of trustees, said the commons space would "foster collaboration between students, faculty and corporate professionals all driven by commons goals and a shared motivation to achieve tomorrow's innovations today." "You're building a clear path to a better future," added Borst, a 1985 Kettering graduate. "We're proud to be your partner in that." GRAND HAVEN, MI - Jurors cannot consider manslaughter as a potential verdict in Wendell Popejoy's killing of his despised neighbor, Sheila Bonge, a judge ruled Monday, Oct. 15. Ottawa County Circuit Judge Karen Miedema said testimony did not show there was "adequate provocation" to justify a voluntary manslaughter conviction rather than first-or second-degree murder. Popejoy, 64, is on trial for shooting and killing Bonge, 59, on Dec. 26, 2017, while she snowblowed her driveway. Jurors began deliberations around noon Monday. Testimony showed that Bonge was a difficult woman who would shout at neighbors, call them names and fill their driveways with snow while she cleared hers. She once shot snow and ice at Popejoy's girlfriend, Rhonda Clark, testimony showed. "We know she was a horrible, terrible neighbor," defense attorney Jeff Kortes told jurors in his closing argument. He acknowledged that her behavior did not justify killing but said it explained why his client snapped. He said Popejoy was on "auto pilot" when he sneaked behind Bonge while she used a snowblower and put a bullet into the back of her head. "This was not a planned-out, premeditated (act). He was at his breaking point. He snapped. ... That was the straw that broke the camel's back. He did it without planning, without time to stop and think, without premeditation. His first thought afterward was, 'What the hell did I just do.'" Ottawa County Prosecutor Ronald Frantz acknowledged that testimony did not paint Bonge as a sympathic figure but said that should not figure into the verdict. He said that Popejoy had a chance to think about what he was doing when he looked outside of his window, saw Bonge snowblowing, got dressed and went outside with his .22-caliber revolver. He hid behind pine trees before he shot her in the back of her head. "Sheila Bonge was a mother, a grandmother, a sister, a friend and a fiance. She was a human being who did not deserve to be killed under these circumstances," Frantz told jurors. "Don't forget what happened. This was an ambush, execution-like killing." After the shooting, Popejoy returned Bonge's snowblower to her home. He put her body on a sled and pushed it down a hill in his backyard. He removed her clothes and burned them. Two days after the slaying, her family found her body mostly hidden by snowfall. Popejoy initially denied any role in the killing but later confessed during 10 hours of police interviews. Conflicts erupted over use of an easement that three families used to reach their driveways on 104th Avenue in rural Crockery Township. Another couple had filed a lawsuit against Bonge's boyfriend over rights to use the easement, with a hearing set about two weeks after the killing. MACKINAW CITY, MI -- Federal authorities will soon enact a no-anchor zone in the Straits of Mackinac in hopes of preventing further anchor strikes on lake-bottom utility lines. The restriction zone barring anchoring and loitering by certain boats in the Straits spans about 40 miles wide, from just west of Sturgeon Bay to just east of Bois Blanc Island. North to south, it extends from about St. Ignace to Cheboygan. The U.S. Coast Guard's navigation restriction goes into effect Oct. 31, a little less than a month before the no-anchor zone established by Gov. Rick Snyder under emergency rule expires. The zone is about 20 times wider than the one set by Snyder, which begins at the Mackinac Bridge and extends about two miles west. The U.S. Coast Guard did not return calls for comment on the expansion of the no-anchor zone. The no-anchor zone is an attempt to prevent further anchor strikes on lake-bottom utility lines, like the one which occurred April 1. In that incident, a tug and barge dragged its anchor across the Straits floor, denting underwater petroleum lines and rupturing transmission cables. The ruptured cables owned by American Transmission Company spilled an estimated 550 gallons of toxic coolant oil into the Straits. The dented Line 5 oil and gas twin pipelines didn't spill. "This is one of many critical measures to provide robust short-term protections as we move forward with our long-term plan of putting Line 5 in a utility tunnel and decommissioning the existing pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac," Snyder said in a statement about the Coast Guard's no-anchor zone. Earlier this month, state officials announced Enbridge Energy will pay for and build a utility tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac to house a new Line 5 oil and gas pipeline and other utility connections. Enbridge officials in a statement said the agreement is a "commitment to explore" housing Line 5 in a tunnel. If all goes to plan, the tunnel will be operational sometime between 2025 and 2028. It's estimated to cost Enbridge between $350 million and $500 million. At the time of the April 1 anchor strike, there were no restrictions to dropping or dragging anchor in the Straits, only an advisory. The anchor strike renewed calls to shut down the controversial Line 5. Enbridge Energy, the Canadian company which owns Line 5, floated the idea of piling rocks onto the 65-year-old pipeline to protect it from another anchor blow. The Coast Guard anchor ban applies only to the following vessels: Ships 131 feet or longer while navigating Vessels 65 feet or longer engaged in towing Ships engaged in trade which are certified to carry 50 or more workers Any dredge or floating plant These vessels can anchor or loiter in the Straits only with advance permission from Coast Guard leadership. Sightseeing, tourism and ferrying vessels can request a waiver. In an emergency, boats can break the rules "to the extent necessary to avoid endangering the safety of persons, the environment, and/or property," the rule states. The Coast Guard's proposal does not state what punitive measures a company dragging its anchor in the ban zone would face. Bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month seek to codify Snyder's no-anchor zone, which begins at the Mackinac Bridge and extends about two miles west. The bills additionally seek to make anchoring in that zone a felony, with a first offense punishable by up to two years in prison and/or of up to $10,000. A second offense would be punishable by up to five years and/or a fine of up to $15,000. The proposed tunnel to house Line 5 and other utility lines would be drilled through bedrock at depths of about 100 feet beneath the Straits of Mackinac. It would house a new 30-inch Line 5 pipeline and possibly other utility connections. Snyder wants the Mackinac Bridge Authority, the independent state agency which operates the Mackinac Bridge, to own the tunnel and lease space to Enbridge for the company's new pipeline. Enbridge and the bridge authority must still agree to numerous details, including those about construction, maintenance and who pays for minor and major malfunctions of the tunnel infrastructure. The Line 5 pipeline, built in 1953, runs 645 miles from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Canada, and transports up to 540,000 barrels of light crude oil and natural gas liquids per day. A 'worst-case' spill study by Michigan Technological University researchers concluded that Line 5 would gush 2,436,000 gallons of oil, slick 437 miles of Great Lakes shoreline and cost the Canadian company $1.86 billion in damages under a worst-case scenario spill. The new agreement, state officials touted, puts Enbridge on the hook for more than $1.8 billion in spill cleanup costs. Under the agreement, Line 5 will be required to shut down whenever waves hit 6.5 feet for more than an hour in the Straits. The previous agreement required a shutdown during 8-foot waves. High waves add difficulty to any oil spill response. HOLLAND, MI - A Hope College student told police that several men tried to pull her into their vehicle late Saturday, Oct. 13, on East 14th Street. The woman, 19, escaped and ran to her home. The student said she was walking west on East 14th Street at Lincoln Avenue around 11:30 p.m. when a black sport-utility vehicle pulled up next to her. Three or four men were in the SUV. They started yelling at her and told her to get in the vehicle. When she refused, and kept walking, three of them got out. Two of them told her to get in the car, threatened her and tried to grab hold of her arm. She struck them and ran to her home. Police searched the area but were unable to find the vehicle. A Holland police detective and community-policing officer assigned to the college area are working with Hope College Campus Safety on the investigation. One of the suspects was described as a 6-foot-1 white male with a slight "gut" and a large nose. He had short brown hair, a blue T-shirt with white graffiti on it and black Adidas pants with white strips on the legs. Police asked anyone with information to call Holland Department of Public Safety at 355-1150 or email investigators at policetips@cityofholland.com. Anonymous tips can be sent to Silent Observer at 877-887-4536, texting OCMTIP and your message to 274637 or online at www.mosotips.com Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 15) President Rodrigo Duterte tells the country's uniformed personnel to stay neutral during the upcoming elections. Speaking before members of the Philippine Army at an event Monday, Duterte said soldiers and policemen should avoid partisan politics. "Let's make a deal here, promise to make a commitment to the Filipino people. This election, strictly neutral tayong lahat. The armed forces, police and the uniformed personnel of government, I am asking you not to indulge in partisan politics. Wala tayong susuportahan," he said. [Translation: Let's make a deal here, promise to make a commitment to the Filipino people. This election, we must all be strictly neutral. The armed forces, police and the uniformed personnel of the government, I am asking you not to indulge in partisan politics. We will not support anyone.] However, the President did say he would be backing his candidates because "this is a political position." Duterte said the elections were going to be clean. "There will be an election and it will be an honest one. Walang [There's]... nobody, but nobody can use government resources. Not even Bong [Go], I will not allow it," he said. Earlier, Duterte joined Special Assistant Bong Go at the Commission on Elections, as his long-time aide filed his certificate of candidacy for senator. Go was at the ceremony even as the President said he was no longer a government employee. "Bong is not my aide anymore. The moment that he filed certificate of candidacy, he ceased to be a government employee," he said. CNN Philippines senior correspondent Ina Andolong contributed to this report. GRAND HAVEN, MI - Wendell Popejoy, the man accused of killing his neighbor while she was snowblowing, was convicted Monday, Oct. 15, of first-degree murder. Popejoy, 64, will be sentenced Nov. 5 to a mandatory life prison term without the possibility of parole. He killed Sheila Bonge on Dec. 26, 2017, near both of their homes on 104th Avenue in Ottawa County's Crockery Township. The victim's family was grateful for the jury's verdict but said Bonge was unfairly portrayed at trial as a problem neighbor. They said that there were problems between three families. The Ottawa County Circuit Court jury deliberated about two hours, 45 minutes before reaching its verdict. The victim's family said that Bonge was unfairly portrayed as a nuisance in the neighborhood. "They only told one side of the story," her brother, Dennis Luke, said after the verdict. "It was three participants that were aggravating each other." He was aware of troubles but he "didn't think (Popejoy) would go to that extent." The trial brought back a lot of emotion, he said. The verdict helped but "nothing can bring her back." Jane Luke, daughter of the victim, said her mother was a strong-minded woman who wouldn't let others push her around. She was also a loving, doting grandma to Luke's five children. "My mom was a big part of their lives. She was like a second mom." She said it has been difficult explaining to her children that someone had killed her mother. She said her mother believed that others were using her boyfriend's property to gain access to their driveways. Pam Crumley, one of the victim's sisters, said she was in contact with family every day, so they knew something was wrong when she disappeared. "We were out right away looking for her." Two days after she disappeared, her family found her body under snowfall down a hill behind Popejoy's house. He shot her in the back of the head then pushed her body down the hill on a sled. He burned her clothes in a burn barrel. He initially denied any role in her killing but eventually confessed. His attorney, Jeff Kortes, contended Popejoy was at his wit's end dealing with Borge, who was shooting snow into his driveway before he shot her. Ottawa County Prosecutor Ronald Frantz described the killing as an execution. Daniel King KENT COUNTY, MI -- A West Michigan man wanted on three felony warrants has been arrested after the U.S. Marshals Service put out a request for tips on his whereabouts. Daniel Lee King, 30, was arrested Sunday evening, Oct. 14, according to a report by Michigan State Police. "His arrest came as a direct result of one of the tips that came through Facebook," reads a post by the sheriff's office. "The reality is, a safe neighborhood is not one that is saturated with cops, it is a neighborhood that is alive with residents, willing to engage in the safety of their community. "Thank you all for your shares and willingness to help!" King was sought on two warrants for failing to appear at a sentencing for a larceny complaint, and one felony warrant for "dangerous drugs," deputies said. He is a Michigan Department of Corrections parole absconder, and the possible suspect in a recent Kent County home invasion. Police said King was believed to be in possession of a stolen handgun. He has been known to spend time between Kent and Ionia counties and Greenville. Three other individuals were also arrested on a variety of different warrants, police said. A disease that hasn't been found in Michigan for 15 years is being blamed for the death of fish in a Michigan lake. Largemouth bass virus, which previously affected Michigan largemouth bass in different lakes in the early 2000s, has been confirmed as a factor in a fish kill in Cedar Lake in Alcona and Iosco counties. This is the first time the disease has been found in Cedar Lake and additional lakes in the area are being examined, according to the Department of Natural Resources. Largemouth bass virus is one of more than 100 naturally occurring viruses that affect fish and is closely related to viruses found in frogs and other amphibians. Its origin and how it is spread are unknown, but anglers are considered a likely path for transmitting the virus through the movement of live, infected fish from one water to another, or by using contaminated and uncleaned gear or boats in uninfected waters. LMBV is not known to infect humans, and infected fish are safe to eat if the fish is thoroughly cooked. LMBV cannot be eradicated from lakes, nor can infected fish be treated. "Largemouth bass virus appears to infect other related fish species, including smallmouth bass, bluegill and black crappies, but to date is only known to kill largemouth bass," said Gary Whelan, the DNR's fisheries research manager in a statement. "The disease typically kills large adult fish and die-offs affect approximately 10 to 20 percent of these fish in a given lake." LMBV usually causes fish kills during periods when fish are most stressed, possibly due to very hot weather, intensive recreational fishing and aquatic weed or other treatments made during hot weather. Affected fish usually appear normal, although they may be lethargic, swim slowly and be less responsive to activity around them. Dying fish often are seen near the surface and have difficulty remaining upright. Infected fish usually have bloated and yellowish swim bladders. This time of year, the DNR conservation officers stationed across Michigan are having lots of conversations with hunters, fishermen and ORV riders about what's legal - and what is not. But in between all that education, some officers are coming upon scenarios that just leave them shaking their heads. Here are a few of the strangers ones. All happened late last month, and all are listed in the most recent batch of Michigan Department of Natural Resources enforcement reports: Northern Michigan (DNR District 5) When is a baby bobcat not a bobcat at all? When it's actually a regular kitten. Conservation Officer Mark Papineau had a tough time getting this message across when he responded to a caller's report that a baby bobcat had been abandoned days earlier on the caller's property by its bobcat mother. "Immediately upon arrival, CO Papineau determined that the baby bobcat was in fact a domestic cat. After a half-hour of the subjects using "Google" and "YouTube" to try and prove their claim, animal control was contacted and also identified the feline as domestic." "The subject still refused to accept the determination and advised they were taking their claim to a 'higher power.' " OK then. Western Upper Peninsula (DNR District 1) Clowns on bikes? Sure. But a parade of costumed clowns whizzing by you on an ORV trail? Now that's something you don't see every day. Conservation Officer Brian Lasanen was out patrolling in an ORV area on opening day of small game hunting season when he saw the circus go by. "Activity was high for ORV riders enjoying a nice fall day. CO Lasanen contacted a large group of riders dressed in clown costumes. One of the riders advised they are from a snowmobile club out of Baraga and every year they have a themed ride. CO Lasanen advised the riders that it was the first contact he had with subjects dressed up in clown costumes out riding." Western Upper Peninsula (DNR District 1) What's in your car trunk? Three DNR officers got a surprising answer when they were responding a fishing complaint in Gogebic County. Conservation Officer Jennifer Hanson went out to check on reports of several people using large treble hooks to snag salmon in a local river. It was a group that earlier had been reported for harassing other fishermen there. Conservation Officers Zach Painter and Ethen Mapes arrived to lend a hand, and discovered three people at the river snagging steelhead after dark. The violation list already included snagging/attempting to snag, possession of snagging equipment, possession of two foul hooked steelhead and failure to display fishing license. Then the officers determined the group also had an illegally-gotten deer in their car. "The suspects claimed the deer as roadkill, but failed to notify authorities before placing it in the trunk of their car. One of the individuals also had numerous misdemeanor and felony warrants. Enforcement action was taken regarding the fishing violations, the illegally possessed deer and outstanding warrants." As Sears Holdings officially filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Monday, Oct. 15, here is a list of the 142 Sears and Kmart locations it expects to close by around the end of the year. This figure includes the already 46 planned closures for November, which includes one Michigan location in the Jackson-based store. Business Insider first published the complete list of the 142 planned closures, which includes four Michigan locations. See below for affected Michigan Sears and Kmart stores: Sears at 2100 Southfield Road in Lincoln Park Sears at 900 Briarwood Circle in Ann Arbor Kmart at 1025 M-24 in Lake Orion Kmart at 06600 M-66 in North Charlevoix This news comes on the heels of Sears Holdings filing for bankruptcy protection while maintaining it intends to stay operational as it keeps its most profitable Sears and Kmart locations open. With this announcement, the company also says its CEO, Edward S. Lampert, will step down from his role effective immediately. Sears Holdings will also close an additional 142 unprofitable stores around the end of this year, and that liquidation sales at affected locations should "begin shortly." Sears Holdings says these moves "position the company to establish a sustainable capital structure, continue streamlining its operating model and grow profitably for the long term." "The Company expects to move through the restructuring process as expeditiously as possible and is committed to pursuing a plan of reorganization in the very near term as it continues negotiations with major stakeholders started prior to today's announcement," the parent company writes in the release "The Company's Sears and Kmart stores, and its online and mobile platforms, are open and continue to offer a full range of products and services to members and customers. Holdings' services and brand businesses will also continue to operate as usual." KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII - A former Hawaiian police officer has been convicted in the 2015 death of a bicyclist from Michigan. The Associated Press reports that Jody Buddemeyer was found guilty last week of misdemeanor negligent homicide for hitting 63-year-old Jeffrey Surnow of West Bloomfield Hills from behind with his car. Prosecutors claimed Buddemeyer falsely reported the crash, telling police dispatch it was a hit-and-run, the AP reported. Deputy Prosecutor Kauanoe Jackson said the former officer had "methodically and thoughtfully" concealed broken car parts in his vehicle and misled police by telling them he had hit a pig. The jury found Buddemeyer not guilty of evidence tampering and false reporting to law enforcement. Buddemeyer is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 30. He could be imprisoned up to a year, according to the AP. Legalizing recreational marijuana in Michigan could draw in far more tax revenue than what proponents have been advertising, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency. Should Michigan voters agree to legalize recreational marijuana -- on the Nov. 6 ballot as Proposal 1 -- the state could bring in up to $287.9 million in new tax revenue in 2023, according to the new analysis released Monday. That's more than double the estimate that the pro-marijuana campaign in Michigan released two weeks ago. A study commissioned by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol found Proposal 1 could bring in $134.5 million in 2023, when the recreational marijuana market is expected to peak in Michigan. "Whether you take our conservative estimate or the state's more bullish estimate, the key thing is that Proposal 1 will help the state collect significant and much-needed tax revenue to help fund roads, schools and local communities," said Josh Hovey, spokesman for the pro-marijuana campaign. Scott Greenlee, leader of the opposition campaign Healthy and Productive Michigan, said the new estimate changes nothing. "We're talking about a tiny half a drop in the bucket for the state budget," Greenlee said. "I know a lot of people are looking at this. It shows further ambiguity of what is actually going to happen." Proposal 1 legalize marijuana for recreational use for adults 21 and over. The proposal would require the state to set up a licensing system for businesses, and would set a 10 percent excise tax on the product and apply the state's six percent sales tax. Those taxes would be among the lowest recreational marijuana taxes in the country. The Senate Fiscal Agency found that by 2023, the state would draw in $262 million between the $287.9 million in recreational marijuana tax revenue and a loss of $25.9 million in tax revenue from the elimination of the excise tax on medical marijuana. Local municipalities could also lose out on excise tax revenue tied to medical businesses within their jurisdiction should Proposal 1 pass. By 2023, recreational marijuana could generate $105.6 million from sales tax and $182.3 million from excise tax, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency analysis. The state also estimates it could collect $22.3 million in revenue from license fees. Here is where the money would go in 2023, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency analysis: - School Aid Fund: $140.2 million - Michigan Transportation Fund: $62.8 million - Counties: $26.8 million - Cities: $26.9 million - Administration: $2.9 million - Constitutional revenue sharing: $10.6 million - General Fund: $17.6 million Should recreational marijuana be legalized, it would be regulated by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs -- the same agency that oversees liquor licenses and the medical marijuana program. The state says it would need the equivalent of 27 full-time regulatory and licensing staffers to manage a recreational marijuana program, which would cost $2.5 million. The program would likely cost the state more than that, due to increased facility space needs and information technology purchases, according to the agency. The state's analysis did not assume any additional spending on law enforcement. Read the Senate Fiscal Agency report To start up the tax processing, the state would have to spend $1.9 million at first, and then $1.2 million in ongoing costs to support four staffers in the state's Department of Treasury. An additional $1.75 million to $3.1 million would be needed to process the tax revenue, depending on how large the market becomes. -- Amy Biolchini is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact her with questions, tips or comments at abiolch1@mlive.com. Read more from MLive about recreational marijuana. Michigan's gas prices have dropped by 12 cents in the past week, which is a big enough decrease to make the state's average cost less than the national average for the first time in recent memory. AAA reports that as of Monday morning, Oct. 15 the average cost for a gallon of self-serve unleaded gasoline was going for $2.87 in Michigan and $2.89 across the United States. While definitely a substantial drop across the state, prices in the Upper Peninsula remain high and above the $3 per gallon mark in most places. For comparison's sake, prices across Michigan were in the $2.50 per gallon range at this time last year. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, believes this recent decrease is just the start for Michiganders as prices should continue to decline across the Midwest. National average down 3c/gal vs. last week to $2.88/gal as oil prices plunge. Biggest average declines: Michigan -14c/gal Ohio -12c/gal Indiana -10c/gal Illinois -8c/gal Kentucky -6c/gal More declines coming in the above states. Patrick DeHaan (@GasBuddyGuy) October 15, 2018 MSAs with the biggest drop in *average(!!)* #gasprices versus a week ago: Muncie, IN -28c/gal Springfield, OH -25c/gal Bay City, MI -20c/gal Canton, OH -19c/gal Saginaw, MI -19c/gal Kokomo, IN -19c/gal Lima, OH -18c/gal Mansfield, OH -17c/gal Elgin, IL -17c/gal Patrick DeHaan (@GasBuddyGuy) October 12, 2018 -- The cheapest gas in the state can currently (about 10 a.m. Monday) be found in Woodhaven at three stations and at one Brownstown location for $2.48 per gallon. The Dearborn-based auto club surveys 2,800 gas stations in Michigan each week. See below for a full rundown and statewide map of average gas prices across the state: Ann Arbor: $2.91 Benton Harbor: $2.87 Metro Detroit: $2.89 Flint: $2.83 Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland: $2.80 Jackson: $2.83 Lansing-East Lansing: $2.78 Marquette: $3.02 Saginaw-Bay City-Midland: $2.81 Traverse City: $2.89 -- COMSTOCK TOWNSHIP, MI -- Two candidates are challenging four incumbents for their seats on the Comstock Public Schools Board of Education. Current board members Shirley Amos, Richard Hathaway and Matt Schreiner are running for re-election to the board. Current board Vice President Jeff Van Goeye is registered as a write-in candidate. Incumbents will face candidates Saralyn Heckema-Brown and Dorinda Scholly in the Nov. 6 election. In questionnaire responses submitted via email to MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette, the six candidates explained why they are running and outlined top-priority issues they would address if elected. Amos, 64, is a decorating consultant at Douglas & Son Inc., she said in her questionnaire response. She has served on the Comstock Public Schools board for six years and in 2017 led as the group's vice president, she said. She is a graduate of Loy Norrix High School and attended Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Hathaway, 71, is the owner of H & S Prototype and Design, LLC and a former professor at Western Michigan University, he said in his response. He has served over nine years on the school's board of education but was attending meetings for over a decade prior, he said. He holds a doctorate degree in philosophy, a master's degree in mechanical engineering and a bachelor's degree in automotive engineering technology from Western Michigan University. He taught in higher education for 34 years, has extensive knowledge of STEM education and is educated in best practices for education, STEM testing and experiential learning both hands-on and project based, he said. Schreiner, 44, is a stay-at-home parent, president of Eastwood Little League and a former RN with a bachelor's degree from Central Michigan University in therapeutic recreation, he said in his response. A school board member for two years, he was involved in the district's search and selection of the new superintendent. He is also a certified school board member by the Michigan Association of School Boards. Van Goeye, 55, is the current board's vice president. He has served on the board for six years, he said in his response. He is currently the superintendent for Brussee/Brady Inc. in Three Rivers and holds an associate's degree in architecture from ITT Technical Institution, he said. He is a Michigan Association of School Board certified member. Heckema-Brown, 45, is an executive assistant with a bachelor's degree in human resources, she said in her questionnaire response. A life-long resident of Comstock Township and a graduate of Comstock Public Schools, she is also involved in the school's parent organization. She said her experience working for a credit union exposed her to board meeting dynamics, strategic planning, budgeting, project completion goals and organization company events with a high attention to detail. Scholly, 56, is a retired teacher from Comstock Public Schools. She is currently working as a substitute teacher in the district, she said in her response. She holds a bachelor's degree and worked 23 years as a teacher, she said. She has first-hand experience to the issues facing teachers, parents and students. She serves on the Comstock Community Center Executive Board and is a retired member of the Comstock Education Association and a former vice chair of the Kalamazoo County Education Association, she said. Please explain why you're running for this office. AMOS I have six years of experience as a Trustee on the board. I believe I have made good decisions to move Comstock forward. This year the Board of Education hired a new Superintendent for Comstock Public Schools. I would like to continue as a board member to support him in the challenges that we face. Having the best education for students is my main concern. We have an excellent teaching staff and having the best resources possible for them and for the students is of utmost importance. Our facilities are currently being upgraded. I am very thankful to the Comstock community for their generous support. The number one focus for the upgrades was for safe schools. I am happy to say that being on the school board gave me the opportunity to approve those upgrades and other improvements that are currently under way. HATHAWAY Today education is more important than ever and will remain so well into the future. I would like to use my background and education to foster change which will lead to academic growth and opportunity for all our children. As a university Professor I know how important quality K-12 education is to future success. Whether it is the completion of a college degree or skills training, both can lead to greater life-time opportunities. Education today is highly competitive. This past summer the Board of Education hired a new Superintendent for Comstock Public Schools. I would enjoy working with the new superintendent toward a vision to make Comstock Public Schools one of the first choices for public education in the region. One of our challenges is to increase enrollment through strong academic offerings. We have a strong teaching staff which needs to be supported with the resources to provide the best education possible for students while making their jobs more meaningful and rewarding. Our facilities are being upgraded through the generosity of our community and those upgrades need to be focused to assure they address the needs of this community's children while providing facilities which meet high classroom learning demands into the future. At Green Meadow Elementary, with the help of many volunteers, I started an after-school Science Exploration and Discovery Club. Through this activity I have seen firsthand how effective experiential learning can be in developing the interest in and the joys of learning. This past year I extended the program to the Comstock Middle School. I want to assure Comstock Public Schools are a major player in K-12 education in this region. SCHREINER We have made some great strides as a school district over the past 2 years and I have enjoyed being a part of that process. There is still much to do related to student and district growth. I would like to continue to be an active part of that process. VAN GOEYE Running for re-election as a write in candidate. I wish to continue service to promote and move this excellent District forward for the advancement of the community. HECKEMA-BROWN Being a graduate of Comstock High School, I feel passionate about giving back to the school district and making a difference. My child attends elementary school in Comstock and is our fourth family generation to go to Comstock. I want to volunteer my time to research and collaborate issues and opportunities to make the best-informed choices. All decisions need to be made with integrity, transparency, and always keeping the children at the core. Being a proud student at Comstock Schools does not start and stop within the walls of the schools; the pride should overflow into the community. SCHOLLY I am dedicated to the Comstock district. I told former superintendent Bob Hamet when I was hired that I would support the district with my presence and my presents. I have worked on several committees and programs for the district. I bleed Comstock Blue. My Jeep is even Comstock Blue! If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities? AMOS If elected I will continue to use my experience and common sense to move in a direction that best serves students and their families. I have been very supportive of the Leader In Me program. It has been very successful and I would like it fully implemented in our entire school district. I am also very supportive of the School Model. The School Model is based on customer service standards. I believe good customer service is the basis for everything in our schools. The families and their children are our customers and giving good customer service is an important part of a thriving school district. As a school board trustee I am also charged with fudiciary responsibilities and oversight of and proper allocation of resources. I want to get the most "bang for the buck.". If elected I will continue to use my experience and common sense to move in a direction that best supports students and their families. That resources for academic as well as vocational offerings are available to all students in Comstock Public Schools. My vision for Comstock Public Schools is to be the "go to district" for education. HATHAWAY As a trustee I want to 1) assure the proper application of resources to provide Comstock students with the breadth and depth of opportunities necessary to achieve academic and lifetime success. This must be done for all areas including the academics, the arts and sports. 2) strengthen and broaden our academic offerings to assure all Comstock graduates can successfully achieve and complete further/ higher education whether it be in skills training or Bachelor's and advanced college degrees. The research is clear that success in those educational pursuits is highly dependent on a quality K-12 educational experience 3) use my background, experience and vision to help develop and implement facilities concepts that provide for the best possible learning experiences for our children while being fiscally responsible with this community's bond money. All three of my priorities will directly address the need to be a school system of first choice which is needed to stabilize and increase our current enrollment and assure we have an independent school system serving our students well into the future. SCHREINER 1) To ensure that our administrators and teachers have all the needed resources to continue to challenge and educate our students. 2) To continue to assist in planning for our ongoing bond initiatives that are improving the look and function of our school building 3) to continue to play a small part in constructing and building the new culture we are trying to build within our school district and community VAN GOEYE I see the the top three priorities of district being the following; 1) Right sizing the the district and facilities to best serve our students without sacrificing programs and the quality of them. 2) Continue to advance The College and Career Academy by promoting a heavier advancement of careers and placement into the trades industry. 3) Facilitation of a study with the district, parents and community members to investigate the condition of our buildings and potentially arrive and a plan and procedure, to bring our facilities ready for all future students needs. HECKEMA-BROWN If I am elected, my top three priorities are; 1. to continue to make facilities updates to preserve and enhance school buildings while maintaining the integrity of the budget 2. to oversee and support decisions to make curriculum improvements and additions brought forth by Dr. Thoenes at a pace that keeps the school's financial soundness 3. create a better communication program to help students and parents understand the curriculum opportunities to set the children up for success throughout their Comstock School education as well as after graduation SCHOLLY 1. Support the new superintendent. I have met Dr. Thoenes several times and I am impressed with him and changes he has already made in the district. 2. Continue to be a spokesperson for teachers and staff in the district. 3. Be available to promote and enhance our schools to others in the community. We are a great district with many positive programs going on. PORTAGE, MI -- A data scientist and college professor will face off with a former county commissioner and current state representative to represent the 61st District in the Michigan House of Representatives. Democrat Alberta Griffin of Texas Township and Republican Brandt Iden of Portage are the candidates seeking the 61st District House seat, a position Iden has held for the past four years. "I think that most people in community just want the best for their families. And I'm that same person," Griffin said during an October interview about her candidacy. Griffin, a former epidemiologist for Calhoun county, is a mother of three school-aged children, and founder and president of AGS Data Analytics Consulting of Portage. The company works to help non-profits like the United Way and the Fair Food Network make the most of the resources they have, she said. If elected, Griffin said she would likely spend most of her time on infrastructure, education and maintaining a livable wage in the community. "My goal is to ensure that our constituents are heard and those are the things that are most important to them right now," she said. Iden is a graduate of Kalamazoo College with degrees in political science and economics. He runs a real estate business, Identity Management & Consulting Inc., Real Estate Management Company, that does most commercial business, he said. He served two terms on the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners before being elected to the House of Representatives. This election comes down to the economy, he said, and ensuring people are better off than they were eight years ago. "Every election is important, but I feel that this one even more so," he said. "Michigan has been headed in the right direction for past 8 years." The state needs to continue in the same direction now, he said. Iden said he prides himself on being accessible to people in the community to hear their concerns. "Being able to have that personal connection to represent them in Lansing, and if I can understand where they're coming from, it really helps me do my job better," he said. This year, MLive Media Group partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan Education Fund to provide candidate information and other voting resources to our readers. Each candidate was asked to answer a series of questions about their policy stances. All responses in the voter guide were submitted directly by the candidate and have not been edited by the League of Women Voters, except for necessary cuts if a reply exceeded character limitations. Spelling and grammar were not corrected. Publication of candidate statements and opinions is solely in the interest of public service and should NOT be considered as an endorsement. The League never supports or opposes any candidates or political parties. Information on all state and federal races and many of Michigan's county and local races will be available at Vote411.org. What are your top three state legislative priorities and how would you address them? GRIFFIN Education: Making sure we are not only investing in our children, but also making long-term investments in our schools and staff. Equality: We are facing a trying time in our nation's history. The current administration is leading attack after attack on our American values. We need to be prepared to have open and honest discussions at all levels of government. Choice: The potential new make-up of the courts can create a pre-Roe v. Wade set of circumstances. In that scenario the number of abortions, deaths and infections goes up dramatically. As a data scientist, I want to study these issues. IDEN My top three legislative priorities have been to enhance community safety, to continue to grow jobs and the economy, and to ensure government responsibility. I have strengthened community safety through my efforts against sexual abuse and assault. I have promoted a growing economy and increased jobs through passing meaningful reforms that expand career paths for our students, especially those in skilled trades and vocational careers. I have ensured government responsibility by eliminating oppressive and unnecessary government fees and I continue to work towards increased transparency in our state government. Education: What measures do you support/propose to achieve improved educational outcomes and accessibility for Michigan students from early childhood through post-secondary education? GRIFFIN I believe reliance on input from the educators as professionals is the first step. Next is funding, Prop A changed the make up of general funds education dollars in the 90's, since then the funding formula has been off balance, and created a separation of resources to the districts who need it most. This then spirals into so many other places of our society, and then costs us as taxpayers more. The last step is utilizing metric based performance reviews to generate quality assessments of process, protocols, and professionals over time to determine what is working and what is not. IDEN I have continually sponsored and voted for policies that expand educational options for our students, especially those related to skilled trades and vocational careers. Specifically, I passed P.A. 185 of 2018 which allows high school students to obtain real life experience, earn school credit, and explore future careers. I also voted in support of the 21st Century Skills package, which gives students a greater variety of high school credit options. Further, I voted for the largest education funding increase in state history, and I will continue to work to ensure all of our public schools have the resources they need. Economy: What policies do you support to increase jobs and help Michigan residents improve their economic positions? GRIFFIN The fair wage and the time to care ballot initiatives are great examples of ways we can fight wage disparity without crippling business. People at those income levels are spenders, they spend to zero almost monthly. I know, I've been there. That will generate economic growth in our small businesses and retail communities. Then if we couple that with real tax reform to allow our large employers to find incentives to create jobs and take risks for growth. IDEN I have continuously voted for incentives that attract businesses and entrepreneurs to our region. I have helped our community employers to establish thousands of new, stable, and high paying jobs and have sponsored various methods of connecting students to meaningful and successful careers. I support the historic preservation tax credit and have voted in support of incentives for urban redevelopment projects around the state. Our community has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Michigan and we need to continue policies like this so that Michigan can stay on the right track. Elections: What state policies do you support regarding campaign funding and voting rights? GRIFFIN The security of our democracy is key to all we hold dear. We need to audit our security, build programs that will promise its security in future elections. Election hacking is the number one threat to our democracy. Campaign funding has been a very tough issue to address, we need to provide a space for open forum and debate while not limiting the freedom of speech that the Supreme Court has determined the law of the land regarding Super PAC funds. I believe that if there is to be free speech attached to money and politics, all contributions should be disclosed and made public. IDEN Out of all 50 states, Michigan recently ranked very last in transparency. This is unacceptable. We need increased transparency in government, and that includes transparency of campaigns and campaign finance. Further, I voted in support of no reason absentee voting and continue to support that policy to make sure every person has an adequate opportunity to voice their opinion. Environment and energy: What actions or policies do you support to protect Michigan's water, air and land for current and future generations, while meeting the state's energy needs? Explain how those actions or policies would affect the future of Enbridge Pipeline 5. GRIFFIN We deserve responsible leadership in Lansing that understands that Michigan's access to clean, fresh water is one of its greatest assets. It has made us unique throughout history. We seem to be the only state in the Midwest that has no comprehensive plan for wind and solar energy. The pipeline needs maintenance, waiting any longer could be dire. The long term environmental implications need to be reviewed. As a member of the House, I will review those items and work to build plans where everyone can benefit and our assets are protected. IDEN Ensuring clean water is paramount in Michigan. I helped create a unit at the Michigan DEQ that is now equipped to detect and treat PFAS. I obtained state funding for PFAS testing and clean up because Michigan residents deserve clean water. I voted for reduced energy waste, encouraged use of renewable resources and environmental cleanup, and continue to support measures that protect our outdoors. Enbridge Line 5 is not a long-term solution to Michigan's energy needs. The state should pursue one of the many other studied methods of energy delivery to continue to ensure affordable and reliable energy to northern Michigan. Justice: What policies will you pursue to promote social and racial justice in our state? GRIFFIN As the mother of three African-American children, I am scared. When my kids leave the house I have to remind them how to respond and act when approached by any person of authority. This is something I learned as a child. I had hoped we would live in a world by the time I was a parent where those conversations were obsolete. Sadly, they are not. As for specific policies, I can tell you that I believe that fairness and justice should be a key part of our governing policies. Police should be allowed to protect themselves, citizens should not live in fear of police, we cannot govern from fear and expect just outcomes. IDEN In order to pursue social and racial justice, I have to listen. A top social injustice I continuously hear about is the challenge of workforce re-entry for those with a criminal record. A great force of change is gainful and meaningful employment and I have been working hard on encouraging workforce access. We need to be better at rehabilitating those in our criminal justice system instead of handing out oppressive, lifetime barriers. I have sponsored a variety of measures that make it easier to enter the workforce to be able to provide for oneself and a family and I will continue to promote these policies. KALAMAZOO, MI -- Candidates in Michigan's 6th U.S. House District race discussed their policy differences during a Monday debate at the radio studio of WKZO in Kalamazoo. On Nov. 6, voters will choose whether to re-elect Republican incumbent Fred Upton or Democratic nominee Matt Longjohn. The candidates answered a range of questions related to healthcare, education, pollution, infrastructure and President Donald Trump. Upton, R-St. Joseph, has represented Southwest Michigan in Congress since 1986. He said he is seeking a 17th term to support economic growth in the region and push for bipartisan solutions during a politically divided time in America. Longjohn, a Portage public health official, said he entered the race to stop corporate lobbyists and self-interested party leaders from setting the agenda. Longjohn said Upton's long career has left him out of touch, leading to his support of highly partisan bills like the American Health Care Act and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The first question was an attempt to clear the air about Longjohn's medical credentials, the subject of a complaint filed with the state. The subject led to a conversation about the erosion of civility in the national discourse and, inevitably, Trump. Upton said Longjohn may have violated a state law by trying to convince voters he has a license to see patients. Longjohn said he is allowed to call himself a doctor. Longjohn earned his medical degree from Tulane University in 1999, then participated in Northwestern University's Internal Medicine residency program. He was issued a temporary license to practice medicine in Illinois during that residency, which ended in 2001. Longjohn never held another license. The former YMCA national health director said he's never worn a white coat on the campaign trail or claimed he can treat patients. "I'm fully entitled to use that M.D. degree," Longjohn said. Campaign gets ugly The controversy has since been used by Longjohn's campaign for fundraising. Meanwhile, Upton's campaign and Republican PAC Defending Main Street accused Longjohn of lying in attack ads. Both candidates acknowledged the campaign is getting ugly. Upton said Longjohn's supporters "accosted" him at restaurants and parades. Longjohn, who has family in the armed services, said he was offended by ads paid for by Upton's campaign that said he doesn't support the military. Both pushed back against statements made in negative campaign ads, some funded by independent organizations. General election ads for both candidates started appearing in mid-September, becoming noticeably negative a month before the election. Early Upton ads focused on healthcare and the environment, but it didn't take long for Longjohn to enter the crosshairs. Upton's campaign accused Longjohn of lying about his medical credentials in a series of Tweets using the hashtag "Fake Doctor." #LiberalLongjohn @MattLongjohn has been LYING for months and now hes extremely rattled someone finally called him out. Stop lying about your professional record and fess up to voters here in #MI06 that youve NEVER been a licensed physician in Michigan Team Upton (@UptonTeam) October 6, 2018 Ads paid for by Upton's campaign also accused Longjohn of being "handpicked" by Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the star of GOP attack ads across the country. Republican incumbents in crucial swing districts have made the House minority leader a central element of their campaign messaging. However, Longjohn distanced himself from the California congresswoman weeks ago. Longjohn's first television ad called for a "new generation of leaders" in Washington, saying he won't support Pelosi for leader of House Democrats. Upton was the subject of negative ads paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee before the August primary. A lengthy memo available on its website lists him as a "swamp creature." Change Now, a new Democratic super PAC, has so far spent $597,560 on ads opposing Upton. Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity also released ads this spring against Upton. Trump's presence looms over the midterm elections. Political analysts believe dissatisfaction with the president will lead to a surge in Democratic voter turnout, especially among college-educated white women. Longjohn said the president has treated women with disrespect. He expects a "pink wave" of female voters to come to the polls. Upton says he and Longjohn are on the ballot, not Trump, but the president needs to work with Congress even if it is controlled by Democrats. "He is who he is," Upton said about Trump. "He won our district, he won our state. I did not endorse him ... He is our president; we want him to succeed as we want every president to succeed." Healthcare Longjohn has attempted to make healthcare the primary issue in the race. Upton defended his support of the American Health Care Act. He initially opposed the bill for not guaranteeing protections for people with pre-existing illnesses but changed his mind after negotiating an amendment that added $8 billion to fund high-risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions. Upton has been a critic of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The congressman said premiums have gone up and people lost their chosen health care plan. People need more choice, he said, including allowing people to shop for health insurance across state lines. Longjohn said the money secured by Upton was a drop in the bucket. He said Upton should have negotiated for more. "There is no question that what Mr. Upton's amendment was going to do is insignificant," Longjohn said. Upton said protections for people with pre-existing conditions is a vital component of future legislation. Longjohn supported a proposed plan called "Medicare X," a way to expand healthcare to more Americans without going as far as the Medicare-For-All bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and others. The Democratic nominee said he does not support the Medicare-For-All proposal. Pollution and the environment Michigan's 6th District made national news when the city of Parchment's municipal water supply was found to be contaminated by toxic compounds known as PFAS. Residents in Parchment and nearby Cooper Township were put on bottled water for a month. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality determined it is likely that a shuttered landfill associated with paper-making companies is a source of contamination. Upton was quick to respond to the emergency in Parchment. He said harmful compounds need to be found and dealt with. Longjohn said the contamination was caused by corporate polluters who benefited from deregulation. Now the cost to clean up PFAS is being put on the public, he said. Upton introduced a bill to compel the EPA to determine whether PFAS should be considered hazardous and urged them to revise their maximum recommended standards to match levels in a Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry draft study. Upton was among Michigan representatives who introduced legislation to federal agencies to cooperate with states as PFAS contamination is detected in communities near federal installations. He also supported a bill that would secure $14 million to clean up PFAS contamination at military bases. Infrastructure Both candidates said the federal government needs to take a larger role in funding road repairs in Michigan. Infrastructure is key to economic growth in Southwest Michigan, Upton said. He intends to support an increases in transportation funding through a bipartisan process. Interstate 94 in Kalamazoo should be widened from four to six lanes, he said. Longjohn pledged to support a $1 trillion bill for crumbling U.S. roads, bridges and airports. The Trump administration released a legislative outline for $1.5 trillion in February, but Longjohn did not say whether he supported the president's plan. Longjohn said the bill could be paid for through taxes on Wall Street financial transactions. Legalization of marijuana Upton dodged a question about legalizing marijuana, while Longjohn said he will vote for the ballot proposal in November. Upton said he doesn't take a stance on state ballot issues. He will support whatever the people decide, and does acknowledge the value of medical marijuana. Longjohn said people will benefit from ending the prosecution of nonviolent marijuana offenses. He said marijuana should be a schedule III controlled substance. As a schedule I controlled substance, marijuana is considered to be in the same category as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Upcoming debate schedule Longjohn and Upton both declared victory in the debate on Twitter Monday afternoon. Like and share to spread the word about Freds big win in the first debate! pic.twitter.com/8oQzvLEPAR Fred Upton (@UptonForAllOfUs) October 15, 2018 The voters have spoken and Matt Longjohn is the clear winner. Retweet this to let everyone know. pic.twitter.com/xEH4ZHqjFM Matt Longjohn (@MattLongjohn) October 15, 2018 The candidates will meet again later this week. WWMT Newschannel 3 will hold an in-studio debate at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, with Longjohn and Upton The debate will be broadcast live on the CW7 and streamed live on wwmt.com. Upton, Longjohn and U.S. Taxpayers Candidate Steven Young will attend a forum hosted by the American Association of University Women of Michigan at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 at South Haven High School. Longjohn and Young are scheduled to attend an Oct. 24 Kalamazoo event hosted by the League of Women Voters. The forum will be held at 7 p.m. at The Fountains at Bronson Place. ROSS TOWNSHIP -- Three township residents are seeking two partial-term seats on the Ross Township Board of Trustees. Republican nominees Lynn Harmon and David Senkewitz will face candidate Alexander Harris, who is running without party affiliation. The two candidates elected on Nov. 6 will each serve a two-year term. Harris is the current Ross Township deputy clerk. Harmon and Senkewitz campaigned together in the lead-up to August's Republican primary. Harmon appeared on the ballot, and Senkewitz ran as a write-in candidate. They both won nominations to appear on the November general election ballot, ousting incumbent Trustees Robb Blain and Jeff Price. Blain and Price were both appointed to the board early last year. Blain replaced former trustee John Scott and Price replaced former trustee Rick King. Scott and King had resigned in 2017, less than two years into their four-year terms, triggering the 2018 race for their remaining partial terms. Blain's appointment expires at the end of the year. Price resigned from the township board in June. After his resignation, Price's seat was filled when the Board of Trustees appointed Michael Bekes. In November's election, Bekes is running for reelection to the board in a recall that challenges sitting Trustee Diana Langshaw. Harmon and Senkewitz have been campaigning together following a controversial township decision on medical marijuana businesses earlier this year. Both are part of a movement formed by residents who opposed ordinances passed by the township government that established certain districts as opt-in areas for medical marijuana growing, processing, transportation and testing facilities. Many residents found out about the ordinances months after the township government passed them. David Senkewitz (left) and Lynn Harmon are running for two spots on the Ross Township Board of Trustees. A group of residents, "Ross Township for Sustainable Development," called for improved transparency from local officials, particularly in regard to decisions over opting in or out of allowing large-scale medical marijuana operations in the area. After hearing the outrage from residents, the board later reversed its decision, opting to not allow any medical marijuana businesses in Ross Township. The current board is also drafting an additional opt-out ordinance in preparation for the possible statewide legalization of recreational marijuana by voters in November. Under the current medical marijuana legislation in Michigan, to allow medical marijuana businesses, communities must opt into the state program. If the recreational marijuana ballot question passes, communities must opt out to ban the new businesses. In questionnaire responses submitted via email to MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette, the three candidates explained why they are running and outlined top-priority issues they would address if elected. Harris currently serves as Ross Township's deputy clerk, he said in his questionnaire response. He holds a bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University and graduated from Gull Lake High School. Harris said he is a fourth-generation resident of Ross Township. Senkewitz has worked as an electrical engineer, designing factory automation and control systems, for 30 years and currently works as an electrical controls engineer for Parker Hannifin, he said in his questionnaire response. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. Senkewitz said he has led global, cross-functional teams and managed budgets as large at $6 million. Harmon has held various positions in manufacturing, supply chain quality, process improvement and general management, she said in her questionnaire response. She is currently a senior packaging consultant at WestRock Company. Harmon said she holds a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University, and is a fourth-generation Ross Township resident. In the MLive questionnaire sent to each candidate, the three candidates shared why they are running for office and offered their top priorities they would address, if elected: Why are you running for this office? ALEXANDER HARRIS The privilege to actively participate in my home town of Ross, as a community member, to make a difference for generations to come. To keep the quality up, and help maintain this healthy landscape for our friendly neighbors to call home. DAVID SENKEWITZ I feel fortunate to have had the benefit of many years of good leadership in Ross Township. Looking back, I'm appreciative of the work that was put into being good representatives of our community and good stewards of our resources. I now feel that it's time for me to take my turn. I have the experience and willingness to help, and I would be honored to be able to give back to my community by serving as Trustee on the Board. LYNN HARMON I am running for office to return our Township back to the residents who live here and pay the taxes that make the Township run. I am committed to creating transparency with the, not just with the "What", but with the "Why." What are your top three priorities if elected and how would you address them? ALEXANDER HARRIS PFAS - As the DEQ tests wells in our Township for safe drinking water, the options for our residents could be, home water filtration systems or a Special Assessed District for City Water. You tell me - What would you like to see done? Being accessible and willing to listen to our public about any questions and/or concerns. To create a collaborative atmosphere where our community continues to be the hidden gem. Examples may be better communication via social media or email; S.A.D. for Gull Lake, Parks and Recreation, Voting locations, and our police. MMF - Acknowledge the hurt feelings of our residents, township officials and investors. To move away from this controversy, and work together as civilized neighbors to all get along. DAVID SENKEWITZ a) Improved communication between township officials and residents, and increased involvement of residents in township decisions b) Preservation of Ross Township's rural character and natural resources. I feel that growth should be cautious, well-planned and agreed on by the community. c) Identify opportunities for savings in the budget, and exercise fiscal responsibility. LYNN HARMON 1) Pass a comprehensive Opt Out ordinance in the event the State of Michigan votes to legalize marijuana. 2) When new topics come before the board, ensure the residents understand why the topic has come up and to actively seek input and allow adequate time for questions. Always compare new topics to the Master Plan and the Mission Statements to ensure alignment. 3) Conduct professional meetings where the residents are treated with respect, have the information necessary to understand what is being discussed, and can actually hear the board discussions. FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP, MI - The Sears store inside The Lakes Mall isn't on the chopping block as Sears Holdings announces the upcoming closure of 142 stores. In Michigan, two Kmarts and two Sears stores are slated for closure. That list does not include the location at The Lakes Mall in Fruitport Township. Sears Holding, reports in a news release that it intends to stay operational and keeps its most profitable Sears and Kmart locations open. These Michigan Sears and Kmart stores will close: Sears at 2100 Southfield Road in Lincoln Park Sears at 900 Briarwood Circle in Ann Arbor Kmart at 1025 M-24 in Lake Orion Kmart at 06600 M-66 in North Charlevoix Sears Holdings says these moves "position the company to establish a sustainable capital structure, continue streamlining its operating model and grow profitably for the long term." This bankruptcy comes as the company was unable to afford a $134 million debt payment that was due Monday, CNN reports. As it stands, Sears Holdings has 700 open stores and about 68,000 employees. CNN Money reports that Sears has closed about 400 stores in the last 12 months. When Kmart and Sears merged back in 2005, they had a total of 3,500 stateside stores combined. The company has closed hundreds of stores, including Kmart locations in recent years in an attempt to become profitable, but it doesn't appear to have worked. These Michigan stores were announced for closure earlier this year: Sears at 3191 S. Linden Road in Flint Sears at 18900 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn Sears at 14100 Lakeside Circle in Sterling Heights Sears at 1212 S. Airport Road in Traverse City Sears occupies one of four anchor spots in The Lakes Mall, 5600 Harvey St. in Fruitport Township. One 106,000-square-foot store is empty after the closure of Younkers earlier this year. The other anchors are JCPenney and Dick's Sporting Goods. The mall opened in 2001 and serves as a major shopping center for much of the West Michigan lakeshore area. MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI - Voters throughout Muskegon County will decide on Nov. 6 whether they will pay a $2.75 monthly phone charge for enhanced 911 communications. The 911 surcharge ballot proposal would raise an estimated $3.95 million per year. The money would be used for new first responder radios, mobile in-vehicle computers, improvements to the central dispatch building, a fiber optic backup network and an equipment replacement fund. The current 911 surcharge is 42 cents per month, making the proposal a 555 percent increase. The surcharge is levied on all billable landlines, mobile phones and other devices capable of placing a 911 call and that are subscribed to a Muskegon County address. The increase in funding is necessary because of higher 911 call volumes and the "operational demands" of new technology, according to local law enforcement officials. In addition, current radios are old and failing and can't "talk" with newer radios in use in adjacent counties, officials say. First-responder radios and in-vehicle computers in Muskegon County are nearing the end of their life cycles and can't be repaired, Central Dispatch officials say. If the ballot proposal passes, Muskegon County would begin assessing the charge on July 1, 2019, with full collections beginning in October 2019. Muskegon Central Dispatch answers 911 emergency calls and dispatches first responders from 26 agencies in the county. The surcharge would allow the county to switch from analog communications to an 800 MHz digital system, a transition that 74 out of 83 counties in Michigan have already made, according to Muskegon Central Dispatch officials. That transition would require five new microwave communication towers to replace two fiber-optic towers. It also would require Central Dispatch to renovate additional space at Muskegon's Central Fire Station, where the dispatch center is located, sufficient to house 800 MHz and other equipment, according to dispatch officials. They estimate the cost of replacing aging equipment and upgrading the infrastructure at $25 million over the next 10 years. The surcharge would be in effect indefinitely, though Central Dispatch can choose to assess a lower charge. Disposable cell phones would not be assessed the charge. Each phone included in a "family plan" would be assessed the surcharge. Businesses and homes with landlines that have multiple phones connected to one phone number would only pay one surcharge. Companies with multiple lines -- or cell phones -- would pay the surcharge on their first 10 individual lines and then 10 percent of the remaining lines or phones. Muskegon Central Dispatch uses the example of a company with 100 phones that would pay the surcharge on 10 phones and on 10 percent of the remaining 90, or 9, for a total of 19 phones. Similarly, an organization with 50 phone lines would pay the surcharge on 14 of them and one with 20 phones would pay the surcharge on 11. Individual municipalities currently pay for their own first-responder radios. Muskegon Central Dispatch paid for 180 in-vehicle computers that would be replaced if the new surcharge is approved, said Shawn Grabinski, executive director of Muskegon Central Dispatch. Each fire station and fire chief has a computer as do nearly all patrol cars and police chiefs, she said. Some additional mobile computers purchased by fire departments are among all that would be replaced, Grabinski said. In addition to the phone surcharge, Muskegon County residents currently pay a 0.3-mill tax to fund 911 operations that generates about $1.25 million per year. Last year, Muskegon County Central Dispatch handled 166,509 emergency calls. SAGINAW, MI -- Some people currently behind bars in the Saginaw County Jail can still vote in the Nov. 6 election. Michigan law allows anyone to vote as long as they are not currently serving a court sentence. That means people in jail who are awaiting arraignment, trial or for any other reason without a conviction can still cast ballots. However, it doesn't mean they can leave jail and go to a precinct to vote. Instead, they can vote by absentee ballot. Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel said he was not aware of any instances where an inmate has requested an absentee ballot. But, if they did so, he would do what he could to accommodate. "The law says they can, so they can," Federspiel said. According to Saginaw County Clerk Michael Hanley, inmates awaiting trial and not serving a sentence can vote. The inmate could contact the city or township where they are registered to vote and get an absentee ballot. One way is to mail a letter to the clerk and find out how to get a ballot. Another way is to have a family member contact the clerk on their behalf. Federspiel said he is open to having clerks from different jurisdictions come into the jail and assist eligible inmates who want to vote. "If they wanted to do that, that's absolutely an option," he said. Voters in many states throughout the country lose their right to cast a ballot after a felony conviction. The period of time that they are excluded from voting can vary and include losing the right for life. According to the Michigan Secretary of State website, a registered voter may obtain an absent voter ballot if they are: age 60 years old or older unable to vote without assistance at the polls expecting to be out of town on Election Day in jail awaiting arraignment or trial unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence Absentee ballots can be returned up until Nov. 3, which is the Saturday before the 2018 general election. Nanda alleged that Alok Nath harassed her sexually, following which Nath was taken off the show and things continued. Vinta Nanda has credited Tanushree Dutta for courage in opening up against Alok Nath. Mumbai: Actor Alok Nath filed a defamation case on Saturday against Vinta Nanda, the writer and TV producer who recently alleged that Nath sexually harassed and raped her in the '90s.This comes less than a week after Nanda narrated her ordeal on Facebook amidst the ongoing #MeToo movement. According to a Times of India report, they will purportedly file a Re 1 defamation suit. In the complaint filed before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate, Nath and his wife sought a direction to the suburban Amboli police station to take cognisance of the letter sent by them in which they sought defamation proceedings against Nanda. Also Read | Alok Nath responds to CINTAA, his wife moves court against Vinta Nanda Nanda was the writer and producer of teleserial 'Tara' in the 90s. Nath played a lead role in the soap. In her post, Nanda alleged that Alok Nath harassed her sexually, following which Nath was taken off the show and things continued. Also Read | Renuka Shahane comes out in support of victims accusing Alok Nath Bollywood actors Sandhya Mridul and Deepika Amin also accused Alok Nath of sexual misconduct and shared their ordeals on social media. Veteran actress Himani Shivpuri mentioned that Alok Naths behaviour is an open secret in the industry and added that he was even asked to leave from an aeroplane for the same reason. The #MeToo movement gained momentum in India after Tanushree Dutta accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of harassment. Following the revelation, similar cases have tumbled out, rattling the media industry. Somy Ali, remembered for her relationship with Salman Khan in the 90s, is now running an NGO called No More Tears. Somy Ali, mostly remembered for her relationship with Salman Khan, a hot topic of the 90s, has now spoken up during the ongoing #MeToo movement in India. Coming from Pakistan, the actress, who is now running an NGO called No More Tears, opened up about her sexual assault when she was just a five-year-old kid. Speaking to Mid-Day, Somy Ali said, "I grew up amidst an atmosphere of domestic violence in Pakistan and many of my mom's friends were victims of physical abuse as well. When I would ask my mom about the bruises on their bodies, I was always told that X aunty or Y aunty fell down the stairs. This was the standard, universal euphemism for physical abuse. She further shared her horrific encounter of sexual abuse saying, "I was sexually assaulted by a house-help when I was just five. When I am invited for a talk at high schools and universities in the US, I share this with the students. I believe sharing my personal experiences would encourage others to speak out and not be ashamed about being a victim." Somy also added, There is not much one can do to escape it. My goal is to eradicate the stigma attached to being a victim of sexual and physical abuse and by sharing my personal story and stories of those NMT has rescued, I hope many others will speak out against their oppressors." Alis NGO No More Tears works towards issues like human trafficking, domestic violence, LGBT and more. Post a recent three-city India tour, this Welsh techno-music producer gets chatty about an album and much more. DJ Benjamin Damage, a Welsh producer and popular musician, believes in serendipity and going with the flow. Through the years, he spent honing his craft without thinking too much (as he puts it). And earned him the reputation of a master of deep electronics. Introduced to most in modern electronic music, Benjamin is the first artist to be signed to Modeselektors 50Weapons imprint. Early this month, Benjamin performed for his Indian fans, as part of his three city tour (Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru) in India. Post a massive turnout at the tours, Benjamin is gearing up to release an album on R&S in 2019. In a candid chat, Benjamin tells us more. I like to live in the moment, music can be a very uneven journey so its not even wise to make very long term plans. Im writing a new album for R&S which is maybe a little overdue but Im happy with how it sounds and I hope others can enjoy it too. I will not be divulging much but its going to be soon, shares Benjamin, whos still basking in the good experiences from successful gigs in India. The producer was back in India after a gap of four years. The last time I was in India I played in Pune, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad, so these are all new cities for me. I had a great time in the last tour, I got to experience a small bit of so many different cultures, he shares, adding Ive always loved the U.K version of Indian food so it was amazing to experience the real thing, which of course is a lot better and far more diverse. Speaking of his experience in Bengaluru on Sunday, Benjamin adds, Performing in Bengaluru has got to be one of the best experiences from the tour. I played a live set, played a BRB with the opening act, FILM and it was all so surreal. It is a city thats dynamic and that is a huge turn on. I liked playing for the well informed audience here, but India as a whole has changed since I last performed in 2014. While having retained traces of his UK roots in his music; Benjamin believes in being versatile and creative with his offerings. Hence, it is safe to say that the music has been created by balancing melodic anthems against dark, industrial-tinged efforts, mixing ferociousness with melody. Benjamin also believes that the music scene has undergone a mammoth change and its all good. Speaking of which, he stated, I was so excited to be heading to India, this time with my full hardware live show, says Damage, who adds, The scene was quite small on my first visit in 2014 but the people were very passionate and so much fun. The techno scene has grown a lot bigger now with a lot of new Indian talent coming through and Im looking forward to seeing how its developed. In 2017, he signed to Belgian label R&S, and has become one of the labels core artists with releases like Montreal (EP) and Malfunction/Binary (EP). Benjamin has gigs across Europe and a festival appearance at Sonar Bogota. This will be his second time, as Benjamin has previously performed at Sonar Barcelona this year. HC has laid down conditions that Bishop Mulakkal should not enter Kerala and should surrender his passport before court. Kochi: Bishop Franco Mulakkal accused of raping Kerala nun has been granted conditional bail by the Kerala High Court on Monday. Granting the bail, the high court directed accused Roman Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal to surrender his passport and not to enter Kerala state except for appearing before the probe officer once in two weeks on Saturdays. This condition would be applicable till a charge sheet is filed in the case. The bail comes after three weeks of his arrest. The 54-year-old bishop had approached the high court last month after a magistrates court in Pala rejected his bail application, in which he stated that he had been implicated for taking action against the nun. Earlier on October 3, the Kerala High Court had dismissed the bail plea of the bishop while accepting the prosecution argument that the accused, holding a high position in society will try to influence witnesses in the case, if granted bail. Bishop Mulakkal is currently under judicial remand in a sub-jail in Pala in Kottayam district. The police had earlier opposed bail on grounds that the case was still progressing after the arrest of Bishop Malakkal on September 21. Bishop Mulakkal was arrested after three days of questioning by the Kerala police team over the sexual assault allegations. The Kerala government had assured the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was proceeding in the "right direction" and that justice will be done. In her complaint in June, a Kerala nun had alleged that she was sexually abused by Franco Mulakkal 13 times between 2014 and 2016 during his visits to a convent in Kottayam. The nun who wrote to the Vatican earlier had said she was forced to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the bishop. However, Bishop Mulakkal has denied the charges as "baseless and concocted," insisting she levelled those as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours. He had last month stepped aside as the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese. The state will go to the polls on November 28 and the counting of votes will be held on December 11. New Delhi: Unfazed by the Bahujan Samaj Partys decision to not align with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said Sunday that the party was still in the drivers seat and was in touch with all possible partners in the poll-bound state. Mr Scindia, who is spearheading the Congress campaign in Madhya Pradesh, also said the entire state leadership and party cadre was working cohesively to chart out the partys plan to dislodge the BJP government after 14 years of misrule. Asked if the BSP could cut into the Congress voteshare, he told PTI in an interview: I dont think so. Obviously, the alliance would have had its own benefits, but as things stand today, support for the Congress is running deep in Madhya Pradesh. The workers are motivated and the people are looking to us for change. So, we are definitely still in the drivers seat. Replying to a query about a possible tieup with the Samajwadi Party and the Gondwana Gantantra Party after the BSPs decision to not align with the Congress in the state, Mr Scindia said: We are in touch with all possible partners our ultimate goal is to beat the BJP. We are not currently ruling out the possibility of an alliance. His remarks come days after BSP chief Mayawati said her party will not forge an alliance with the Congress at any cost for the coming Assembly polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. However, he said the general election next year will be a different ball game altogether and if state alliances dont work out, the possibilities still exist for a coalition in 2019. Mr Scindia said the partys driving mantra is waqt hai badlaav ka (it is time for a change), and added that this is not a slogan, this is a reality, a commitment to change. We are not fighting this election on the Modi or Shivraj factor but the people factor. The people of Madhya Pradesh have suffered from BJP rule for 14 years. Everywhere we look, the people are exasperated and angry, the MP from Guna said. Talking about the issues that the Congress will raise during the campaign, Mr Scindia said the party will take the fight to the streets. We are focusing on some key issues farmer distress across the state, the complete breakdown of law and order, especially rising cases of crimes against women, unemployment, and massive corruption, be it Vyapam, e-tender or sand-mining. The state will go to the polls on November 28 and the counting of votes will be held on December 11. The Congress has launched an aggressive campaign in Madhya Pradesh with party chief Rahul Gandhi visiting the state frequently. Mr Gandhi will be in the state on Monday and will address several public meetings, and take part in a roadshow in Gwalior. Asked what was different internally in the Congress organisation as compared to the past three elections and whether differences between senior leaders had been sorted out, Mr Scindia said the party was united and there were regular meetings on key matters, including on overhauling the organisation, reviving and rejuvenating party cadres and strengthening the system at the district and block level. We understand that to fight the BJP, we will have to go down to the booth level and fight. Under Congress president Rahul Gandhis uniting leadership, we are working as a single INC unit, coming together under the umbrella of a common vision and mission for the development of Madhya Pradesh, the 47-year-old leader said. On opinion polls putting the Congress marginally ahead of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Scindia said he believes his party is in the lead. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Biocon and its partner Mylan who are in the race to sell insulin glargine in the US market will have one less competitor with Merck deciding to exit the product. Mercks partner Samsung Bioepis told stock exchanges earlier that the former had terminated the development and commercialisation agreement for a follow-on insulin glargine product. Merck said it had to pull the plug after assessing the current and future market for the product, including pricing pressure and the products cost. The exit is only for the US market, the company didnt specify its plan for Europe, where it markets the product. Insulin glargine is a biosimilar version of French drug maker Sanofi's top selling Lantus that had sales of around $5.3 billion in 2017, of which the US constitutes around 55 percent. Insulin glargine is a long acting insulin that removes diabetic patients from administering multiple injections a day. Merck had got tentative approval from the US FDA in July last year. A tentative approval means Merck either has to wait till the expiration of Lantus patents or has to legally invalidate the patents. But Merck chose the latter option triggering patent infringement litigation brought by Sanofi, leading to an automatic 30-month stay on launch. Insulin glargine is a two player market in the US with innovator Sanofi and Eli Lilly-Boehringer Ingelheims biosimilar Basaglar competing with each other. Basaglar was launched in December, 2016 under a settlement with Sanofi. While Lantus is the market leader, Basaglar has emerged as serious contender undercutting Sanofi domination with steep price cuts and replacing Lantus in formularies of major distributors like CVS and UnitedHealthcare. Biocon-Mylans Lantus biosimilar Semeglee was approved in the EU and Australia in March and were getting rolled out in those markets. Biocon has already launched the product in Japan through partner FUJIFILM Pharma and made the insulin glargine available in several emerging markets. However, in the US the company has still some way to go. Sanofi responded to Biocons partner Mylans New Drug Application (NDA) with the FDA by filing patent infringement lawsuit. Mylan has challenged the petition. The lawsuit isnt the only challenge, Mylan-Biocon have received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the US FDA in June about a change in the manufacturing site for Glargine from Bengaluru to a new facility in Malaysia. Analysts expect the pullout of Merck to be positive for Biocon, as the competition will be limited to three players in the US market. Unlike Merck-Samsung Bioepis, Biocon-Mylan with approvals in Europe, Australia, Japan, and emerging markets are better placed to withstand pricing pressure, said an analyst who didnt want to be named. But the analyst says, Mylan-Biocon success in the US depends on how aggressive they play on pricing and getting the product on drug formulary to be covered by the insurance payers, the analyst said. Shares of Biocon rose 2.67 percent to close at Rs 624.15 on BSE, the benchmark Sensex gained 0.38 percent to end 34,865.10 points. The #MeToo wave against sexual harassment is in full swing. Corporate India has also been impacted by it, with companies like Tata Motors conducting an investigation into an alleged incident. However, these are not isolated instances. A deep dive by Moneycontrol showed that 616 cases of sexual harassment were filed across Nifty companies in FY18. Among companies, the information technology (IT) sector accounted for 272 of the total complaints filed. Wipro, for instance, reported 101 cases. The high number is reflective of the gender ratios as well, since IT companies have a higher percentage of women employees than the others. Similarly, traditional engineering and oil & gas companies had a low incidence of sexual harassment complaints being filed. These sectors employ 30 percent or less women as a portion of their total workforce. One good news, however, is that only 2-4 percent of these complaints were pending at the end of FY18. So, while women are filing complaints, companies have been prompt in responding to the grievances. According to Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, a series of unwelcome remarks and actions would constitute sexual harassment. These include physical advances, demand for sexual favours, making sexually-coloured remarks as well as any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature. As per law, companies are required to have an internal complaints committee (ICC) in place, and required to disclose data related to such cases annually. Not just employees, even temporary staff members and external partners can file complaints against the employees of a company. While it is a positive development that employees came forward and filed complaints, stricter enforcement of rules is the need of the hour. Saundarya Rajesh, Founder-President, AVTAR Group, said companies should ensure that women are treated on par with their male counterparts to ensure that they feel safe at the workplace. Considering that women also spend long hours at the workplace, companies need to ensure that policies are in place to make the office a second home for working females, she added. All the Nifty constituents said in their annual reports that regular workshops on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act are being conducted in their offices. Further, sensitisation sessions for male employees is also being undertaken. After the ICC report on the complaint is finalised, companies take a call on what action is to be taken against an erring employee. At Axis Bank, for instance, the ICC issues a warning letter and in some cases terminates employment depending upon the gravity of the violation. If an employee is found guilty, most companies take serious action. At Bharti Airtel, for example, nine cases regarding sexual harassment at the workplace were reported and investigated. In six of these cases, the allegations were substantiated and the accused personnel were released from their services. Rather than waiting till a complaint is filed, some companies are taking proactive measures to prevent such incidents. For instance, at Hindustan Unilever , women employees in offices are discouraged from working beyond 8.30 pm. Any instances of late working are detected by the attendance card reader and sent to the employee's line manager automatically. For instance, at HUL, even if women are required to work till late, they are offered a drop home and escorted by a male colleague. They are also required to inform their line managers upon reaching home that they have reached safely. Similarly, ICICI Bank has a quick response team (QRT) to respond to women employees if they are in distress while commuting. Each QRT is a specially equipped vehicle. It is GPS-enabled and carries a stretcher and fire extinguishers along with a team trained to deal with medical and personal safety-related emergencies. While boycott and discriminatory practices against women who complain are some of the factors dissuading them from filing complaints. Companies like Infosys have policies to guarantee non-retaliation to complainants. Infosys also follows a gender-neutral approach when dealing with sexual harassment cases. As more women enter the workforce, it is inevitable that POSH-related complaints will also increase. Human resource officials said it will be imperative to sensitise male employees and reinforce confidence among women to come forward and file complaints. The urbanisation and movement of individuals to towns and metros will lead to increased job creation among women. As a senior lawyer in the field of employee relations said, Both set of employees (male and female) will need to agree on what is acceptable behaviour. A friendly hug could be the norm at the workplace. But if a woman is not comfortable with this, it is inappropriate as per law. This story has been updated to reflect some changes. Tech Mahindra has clarified that while there were no legal cases filed under the POSH Act, there were 28 complaints investigated by the POSH committee and closed. India may look at amending existing laws that could make holding of crypto assets, other than those not approved by the government, a punishable offence. A committee headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary, department of economic affairs, is likely to submit its report by December, defining the broad contours of a regulatory framework for crypto assets and virtual currencies. In December last year, the government had set up panel headed by Garg to examine a framework for regulating crypto currencies. Other members of the panel include Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman Ajay Tyagi and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor BP Kanungo. The panel is in the last stages of deliberation and will come out with the governments approach covering the entire spectrum. The government is of the view that unregulated crypto assets should not be allowed to move into the financial system. The Garg-panel is likely to recommend appropriate amendments in existing laws, defining the punitive measures for those found holding illegal crypto assets. In his budget speech for 2018-19, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that cryptocurrency was not legal tender in India, but hinted that the government was open to adopting the underlying technology, called blockchain, to bring in more efficiencies in Indias digital payment systems. Distributed ledger system or the block chain technology allows keeping a record of a chain of transactions, eliminating the need of intermediaries. The government and the RBIs biggest worry is to ensure unregulated crypto assets are not used as a means of transaction to evade taxes and strike deals outside the regulatory boundaries, including multi-level marketing (MLM) and Ponzi schemes. The government is also awaiting the report of an RBI study on digital currencies. The central bank had set up an inter-departmental group in April to provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency. RBI had said that rapid changes in the landscape of the payments industry along with factors such as emergence of private digital tokens and the rising costs of managing fiat paper/metallic money have led central banks around the world to explore the option of introducing fiat digital currencies. It, however, barred banks and financial companies dealing with virtual currencies. They were given three months time (ending June 2018) to exit from any such services if they were offering. Officials of the capital markets watchdog, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have also organised tours to Japan's Financial Services Agency; the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, and Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, The study tours help engage with the international regulators and gain deeper understanding of the systems and mechanisms, SEBI said in its in annual report for 2017-18. Saudi Arabia, the second largest producer of crude oil to world, faced an attack on its oil infrastructure facilities on September 14, which caused a sharp increase in fuel prices. Do you know where petrol prices were the highest? Here's a list of the countries where petrol is the cheapest and most expensive. (Note: All price comparisons are on rupee terms only. Global rates as of September, 16 2019 - Image: Reuters) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Indian oil companies like IOC have optional volumes built in their annual crude oil purchase contracts with suppliers like Saudi Arabia and Iraq that will be more than enough to make up for any shortfall in supplies from sanctions-hit Iran, senior officials said Monday. India had contracted to import about 25 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran in the fiscal year 2018-19 (April 2018 to March 2019), up from 22.6 million tonnes imported in 2017-18. "We have optional volumes built in with all our term suppliers. These optional volumes can be taken at any time of the year and would be more than sufficient to make up for any shortfall that may arise because of US sanctions against Iran," a top official at a state-run refiner said. India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, meets more than 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports. Iran is its third-largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia and meets about 10 per cent of total needs. US sanctions against Iran oil sector kick in from November 4 that will block all payment routes to the Persian Gulf nation. Officials said supplies from Iran will not be a problem till month end, leaving only five months of contracted supplies at risk. Those volumes can be easily covered by exercising optional volumes available in contracts with Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other suppliers. "Every year when we sign term contracts with suppliers, there is an optional volume built in. This volume is to take care of any exigencies. Such optional volume is more than enough to make up for five months of Iranian oil supplies," an official said. "We have all plans in place for supplement any lost Iranian volume." Officials said Indian refineries will not be impacted even if Iranian oil imports were to completely stop, but New Delhi is keen to continue buying oil from its traditional ally. Last week, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had stated that two state refiners have placed orders for importing crude oil from Iran in November, the month when US sanctions on Iranian oil purchases take effect. Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) have together placed orders for 1.25 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran. After US sanctions against Iran, paying in rupee is an option. Iran can use the rupee to settle its imports of pharmaceuticals and other goods from India. While India wants to continue importing Iranian oil, albeit a reduced volume, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month stated that Washington would consider waivers on the embargo but made it clear that these would be time-limited, if granted. IOC had planned to import 9 million tonnes of Iranian oil in the 2018-19 financial year or 0.75 million tonnes a month. For November, it has contracted its usual volume. For rupee payments, oil companies could use UCO Bank or IDBI Bank to route oil payments to Iran, sources said. India's actual import from Iran may be far less than the contracted volumes as companies like Reliance Industries have totally stopped buying oil from Iran and others too are scaling it down in hope of winning a sanction waiver from the US. Nayara Energy, formerly Essar Oil, too is stopping import from the Persian Gulf nation. US President Donald Trump in May withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, re-imposing economic sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation. Some sanctions took effect from August 6, while those affecting the oil and banking sectors will start from November 4. Sources said Iran is open to accepting rupee payment for oil and may use the money to pay for equipment and food items it buys from India. UCO Bank and IDBI Bank have been identified to route the payment as the two have no exposure to the US financial system. UCO Bank had in the previous round of sanctions handled rupee payments. Currently, India pays its third largest oil supplier in euros using European banking channels. These channels would get blocked from November. During the first round of sanctions when EU joined the US in imposing financial restrictions, India initially used a Turkish bank to pay Iran for the oil it bought, but beginning February 2013 paid nearly half of the oil import bill in rupees while keeping the remainder pending till the opening of payment routes. It began clearing the dues in 2015 when the restrictions were eased. Besides, New Delhi sought to get around the restrictions by supplying goods, including wheat, soybean meal and consumer products, to Iran in exchange for oil. Sources said this time around the entire 100 per cent of Iranian oil import bill can be paid in rupees. Iran was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11 but Western sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in the subsequent years. In the 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 million tonnes and 10.95 million tonnes respectively from it. Sourcing from Iran increased to 12.7 million tonnes in 2015-16, giving it the sixth spot. In the following year, the Iranian supplies jumped to 27.2 million tonnes to catapult it to the third spot. Iranian oil is a lucrative buy for refiners as the Persian Gulf nation provides 60 days of credit for purchases, terms not available from suppliers of substitute crudes -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Nigeria, and the US. Besides blocking of banking channels from November, the absence of payment mechanism may pose a challenge to the transportation of the oil as Iranian crude is bought on a CIF basis and shipped on Iranian tankers. Under Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) mode of shipping, the seller assumes the responsibility of transportation and insurance. The liability and costs associated with successful transit are paid by the seller until the goods are received by the buyer. Also, insurance companies may not be willing to provide cover to refineries processing Iranian oil. In some reports, Congress MP's comment became this: 'No good Hindu would want temple at the Babri mosque site'. Congress leader clarified that he expressed as a personal opinion and had not spoken on the behalf of the party. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor on Monday said that he condemned the malicious distortion of his words on Ram temple at the site of razed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Tharoor, at a literature festival in Chennai, kicked up a row with remarks that no "good" Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else's place of worship, drawing stinging criticism from the BJP which dubbed his party and its chief Rahul Gandhi "anti- Hindu". Tharoor said that as a Hindu he was very conscious that a vast majority of Hindus believed that Ayodhya site was the specific birthplace of Lord Ram, reported NDTV. "And for that reason most good Hindus would want to see a Ram temple at the site where Ram was supposed to be born. But I also believe that no good Hindu would have wanted to see that temple built by demolishing somebody else's place of worship," Tharoor said, referring to the demolition of Babri mosque by thousands of kar sevaks in December 1992. BJPs Nalin Kohli attacked Tharoor on his statement and said, Who are the Congress or Tharoor to decide? Who are they to certify who is a good Hindu and who is bad Hindu? How can they play with the faith of crores of people?" Tharoors statement provoked sharp reactions and he decided to set the record straight in his tweets. Tharoor tweeted: I condemn the malicious distortion of my words by some media in the service of political masters. I said: most Hindus would want a temple at what they believe to be Rams birthplace. But no good Hindu would want it to be built by destroying anothers place of worship. Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 15, 2018 Congress leader clarified that he expressed as a personal opinion and had not spoken on the behalf of the party. I was asked for my personal opinion at a literary festival & gave it as such. I am not a Spokesperson for my party & did not claim to be speaking for @incindia. https://t.co/aKeJvdLoqG Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 15, 2018 Read: Rahul, Tharoor may not want but nation wants Ram temple in Ayodhya: BJP In some reports, Congress MP's comment became this: "No good Hindu would want temple at the Babri mosque site". BJP hit back at Tharoor over his remarks and spokesman Sambit Patra said they exposed the real face of Rahul Gandhi. Previously, Tharoor had sparked off a controversy in July with comments that if BJP comes to power again, it will rewrite the Constitution that would eventually create a Hindu Pakistan. (With PTI inputs) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Bulls must have heaved a sigh of relief last week, having ended with gains of 1-1.5 percent on the Sensex and Nifty. Mid- and small-cap indices too rose up to 3 percent on BSE and NSE as intense buying dominated cues. Investors tried to shrug off all the negativity that it has been undergoing for the past few weeks. There was some resilience to the global selloff observed during the last week. The rout in international equities weighed on crude prices as well, as they cooled off to USD 80 per barrel levels as well. A steady rupee also aided sentiment. After the drubbing seen on Thursday, where indices lost over 2 percent in a single session, equity benchmarks reversed almost all of those losses and saw a strong end to the week on Friday. The Sensex ended over 700 points higher, while the Nifty ended above 10,450-mark. Investor wealth soared by Rs 2.98 lakh crore. In fact, the Sensex posted its biggest single-day gain in 19 months. For the week ended on October 12, 2018, both Sensex and the Nifty gained 1-1.5 percent. Meanwhile, BSE 500, mid- and small-cap indices rose 1-3 percent. We advise focusing on earnings, global markets and currency movement for further cues. Traders should prefer hedged trades in such scenario and maintain extra caution in stock selection, Jayant Manglik, President, Religare Broking had said in a statement last week. Big News: Today, the key earnings to watch out are Indiabulls Housing Finance, Delta Corp, IndusInd Bank, and South Indian Bank, among others. Around 21 BSE companies will be declaring their earnings. A Reuters poll estimates 23 percent YoY jump in its net profit for the September quarter. Along with it, investors may bet on earnings-related reactions from the past week; Hindustan Unilever posted its September quarter numbers after the market hours on Friday. Its profit jumped 20 percent for the second quarter of this fiscal to Rs 1,525 crore and volume growth beat expectations. For the rest of the week too earnings remain the key. Big names such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Infosys and Hero MotoCorp will be announcing their September quarter figures. Their trends remain the key for the markets course. Technical View: Technically, the Nifty formed a strong bullish candle on the daily charts on Friday and a hammer kind of formation on weekly candlestick charts. It is important to hold above multiple hurdle of 10,450-10,480 to witness an upmove towards 10,600-10,650 zones. Supports are placed at 10,350 Three levels: 6,825, 7,893 and 10,200 Max Call OI: 11000, 10800 Max Put OI: 10000, 10200 Technical Recommendations: We spoke to 5nance.com and heres what they have to recommend: Zee Entertainment | Rating: Buy | Target: Rs 495| Stop-loss: Rs 430 | Upside: 6% Bajaj Finance | Rating: Buy | Target: Rs 2,392 | Stop-loss: Rs 2,260 | Upside: 5% HCL Tech | Rating: Sell | Target: Rs 956 | Stop-loss: Rs 1,010 | Downside: 3% The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Share price of Dr Reddys Laboratories rose nearly 4 percent intraday Monday as company announced the sale of its API manufacturing business unit. The company has entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its API manufacturing business unit located in Jeedimetla, Hyderabad, to Therapiva. This divestiture is being done by way of slump sale (as a going concern) and includes all related fixed assets (land and building), current assets, current liabilities, and its employees, company said in release. "The divestiture of our API manufacturing business unit is a step towards streamlining our manufacturing operations and optimizing our cost structures," said Sanjay Sharma, Executive Vice President & Head, Global Manufacturing Operations. The share price increased by 22 percent in the last 6 months. At 09:52 hrs Dr Reddys Laboratories was quoting at Rs 2,526, up Rs 75.65, or 3.09 percent on the BSE. BSE_Sensex_markets Rahul Jain Even seasoned investors have panicked following the recent beating in the stock market. For long-term investors, the downturn in stocks, especially mid-caps has led to a massive erosion of wealth and confidence. Fears of a liquidity crisis after the IL&FS default, escalating trade war tensions between China and the US, and other macroeconomic factors have led to the benchmark Sensex and Nifty tanking around 10 percent in the past month. Given the increased volatility in market movements, most investors, including long-term investors tend to make a few mistakes in their investment behaviours. Even though this correction was long anticipated after a buoyant 2017, there are ways investors can come out of it stronger. Here is a list of dos and donts in a falling market for long-term investors: DOs: Continue investing in Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) Mutual funds have also tanked in the past month. Panic selling by foreign investors has sucked liquidity especially from liquid and debt funds. However, from a long-term perspective, these dips are temporary. The market historically has bounced back from such corrections. It is best to avoid knee-jerk reactions and stop all investments. One of the benefits of investing through SIPs is the principle of rupee-cost averaging. Buying more units at a lower price averages the cost per unit of the fund leading to greater gains when the market is in a bull phase. This is why long-term investors should continue to invest in SIPs especially in a falling market. However, that being said, it doesnt mean that you should not reevaluate their portfolio. If the mutual fund isnt performing as well as its peers, you can switch to better performing funds. Mid-cap and small-cap mutual funds are seeing sharp corrections as reflected in the stocks these funds invest in. If the fund is invested in quality stocks with good business potential, it makes sense to stay invested. If the risk and volatility in the market are more than your threshold, you can switch to a large-cap fund that is relatively more stable in its growth. There is no need to redeem the mutual fund till it shows growth. In a falling market, it is better to stick to SIPs even if it may not be in the same funds you invested in. Purchase quality stocks at attractive valuations Most of the top 100 stocks on the Sensex are down 10 percent to 40 percent in the last one month. This presents an excellent opportunity to pick stocks that are fundamentally sound at attractive valuations. Several large-cap stocks and good quality mid-cap stocks have seen a correction. However, investing in these fundamentally sound companies can pay off in the long run. Use the opportunity presented by a falling market to expand and diversify your portfolio in quality stocks. One important point to consider is to invest in stocks after thoroughly studying them. A well-researched decision of buying a stock can pay off handsomely in the long run when the stock recovers. DON'Ts: Panic sell based on news Most stocks have bled heavily in the past month in tune with the benchmark indices. News about many stocks reaching their 52-week lows has flooded the markets. As a long-term investor, this is not the time to sell off stocks in a panic. If the stock is of a fundamentally sound company with good medium-term business prospects, then the stock will show a recovery in the next bull cycle. If the company has strong earnings growth potential, then the stock will show an upside in the next earnings cycle itself. Resorting to panic selling will only lead to mounting losses unnecessarily. Long-term perspective iron out high and a low, which is why you should retain quality stocks for a 3-5 year horizon. That being said, if a stock has no potential of recovering its value, it is best to sell and exit the stock. It is necessary to evaluate each stock and exit stocks which do not have a good earning potential or are facing repayment defaults. Invest in stocks based on non-verified stock information A falling market presents an opportunity for many people on the sidelines to enter the market. As such, several technical players speculate about the growth of a particular stock, especially stocks priced cheap. Investing in stocks without studying them thoroughly is a risky gamble, even in a falling market. There are many people who look to capitalize on stocks that are trading at their 52-week lows, however, this is an extremely risky strategy because these stocks could be at their lows because of weak fundamentals. Make a decision to invest only once a stock shows good fundamentals and growth prospects for the medium to long-term. To conclude, a falling market presents an excellent time for investors to invest in quality picks. By avoiding non-verified stock information and taking decisions after thorough research, a falling market can turn out to be profitable even for a long-term investor. The author is Head, Personal Wealth Advisory, at Edelweiss. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Photo: Reuters live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Balrampur Chini, Dhampur Sugar and Praj Industries are likely to benefit most from the governments recently-announced ethanol policy, analysts at Stewart & Mackertich have written in a research note. They see an upside potential of 53-92 percent for these names. In case of Balrampur Chini, analysts highlighted that the company has third-largest distillery capacity in the country with 360 KLPD (kilolitres per day), producing aggregate 13 crore litre of ethanol every year. On August 8, 2018, the company also approved setting up of another distillery of 160 KLPD in Gularia unit which is likely to be in operation within 2 years. This, they said, will help in producing extra 6 crore litres every year. Out of 159 sugar mills, around 25 percent of them have distillery capacities and few of them have environmental and pollution control norms. All its plant emissions are well below the pollution control limits, which will help in gaining an upper hand as it creates an entry barrier for others, the report further stated. It has set a target price of Rs 152, implying an upside of 79 percent. Meanwhile, in the case of Dhampur Sugar, the brokerage house pointed to the firm getting clearance to produce ethanol from B-Grade molasses. The company invested in environment-respecting equipment and practices, empowering it to run distillery operations longer. At present, everybody uses C-Grade molasses and most of them dont have the capacity to produce from B-Grade molasses, they further wrote in the research note. With all the norms in place, Stewart & MackerTich expects the firm to capitalise by expanding its distillery to 100 KLPD with a capital expenditure of Rs 40 crore. This is scheduled to be completed by the end of October 2018. The firm has a target price of Rs 274 on the stock and sees an upside potential of a whopping 92 percent. Its third big bet is on Praj Industries. Stewart has set a target price of Rs 156 on the stock expecting an upside of 53 percent. Analysts believe that a company like Praj Industries could expand its order book based on oil marketing companies need to set up second generation bioethanol plants. Praj is also in the process of setting up two 2G demo plants in Europe and has been chosen as a technology partner by Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs). In addition, it has set aside Rs 4,500-5,000 crore for sugar mills to buildup 2G ethanol plant, the report further added. Presently, India makes ethanol only through sugarcane, which has a limited crushing season of around 4-5 months. Hence, the operating capacity in the country stands at around 60 percent. Transforming to 2G, the operating capacity for ethanol manufacturers can also be improved and thereby the blending limit for the country can also be enhanced. Also Read: Opinion | Why Modi govt's push for ethanol as cheaper fuel is not good for India Case file The government on September 12, approved an over 25 percent hike in the price of ethanol produced directly from sugarcane juice for blending in petrol in a bid to cut surplus sugar production and reduce oil imports. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs raised the procurement price of ethanol derived from 100 percent sugarcane juice to Rs 59.1 per litre from the current rate of Rs 47.1, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told a news conference. The price for ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses (also called as intermediary molasses) was hiked to Rs 52.4 a litre from the current Rs 47.1 but that for ethanol produced from C-heavy molasses was reduced marginally to Rs 43.4 from Rs 43.7. Diverting sugarcane juice for directly making ethanol, which can be doped in petrol, is common across the major sugar producing nations. Brazil tops the list where all the ethanol produced is directly made from sugarcane juice. The move would help sugar mills quickly release arrears of cane farmers, which stands at over Rs 13,000 crore. As much as 40 percent of these dues are in Uttar Pradesh alone. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Here are the stocks that are in news today: Results Today: Delta Corp, IndusInd Bank, MT Educare, Network18 Media, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, South Indian Bank, Trident, TV18 Broadcast, Zee Learn and Zee Media Corporation AU Small Finance Bank Q2: Profit rises 34 percent to Rs 91 crore; net interest income increases 46 percent to Rs 321 crore (YoY); gross NPA falls to 2 percent against 2.2 percent and net NPA declined to 1.3 percent versus 1.4 percent (QoQ) Avenue Supermarts Q2: Profit rises to Rs 225.74 crore versus Rs 191.04 crore; revenue jumps to Rs 4,872.5 crore versus Rs 3,506.92 crore (YoY). HUL Q2: Profit jumps 19.5 percent to Rs 1,525 crore; revenue rises 11.1 percent to Rs 9,234 crore (YoY). IL&FS Engineering and Construction: Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), the promoter of the company nominated CS Rajan, Director, IL&FS, as a director of the company. Natco Pharma: US Court affirms Teva's Copaxone patent as invalid Nitesh Estates: Company entered into an agreement to sell 100 percent stake in step down tier II subsidiary - Nitesh Pune Mall Pvt. Ltd. It has signed agreement with ABIL group of Pune (Ela Realty, a SPV of ABIL). PVR: Company opened 10 screens multiplex at PVR ICON, VR Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Dr Reddy's Laboratories announces the sale of its API manufacturing business unit in Jeedimetla, Hyderabad Mcleod Russel: Company handed over its specified assets namely, estates and bearer plants and other assets of Beesakopie Tea Estate, Raidang Tea Estate, Daimukhia Tea Estate, Samdang Tea Estate, Baghjan Tea Estate, Bordubi Tea Estate, Koomsong Tea Estate and Phillobari Tea Estate in Assam. BGR Energy Systems: Company intimated about fraud by an employee. Info Edge: Zomato has signed a definitive agreement to undertake a primary fund raise of approximately $210 million from Alipay Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd. (which is an existing shareholder of Zomato) and/or any of its affiliates. Upon the closing of this fund raise, company's shareholding in Zomato stands reduced to about 27.68 percent on fully converted & diluted basis. Dhanuka Commercial: Company's Chairman, MD, CFO, directors resigned from their positions. United Breweries: Company forayed into new line business viz., non-alcoholic beverages segment with the launch of "Kingfisher Radler" a non-alcoholic beverage which will enable UBL to enter into a large retail universe. Mcleod Russel: ICRA reaffirmed AA- rating for the long term credit of the company and also reaffirmed A1+ as the short term credit rating. Nalco: Board approved proposal to buyback not exceeding 6,73,11,386 equity shares (representing 3.48 percent of the total paid-up equity) at a price of Rs 75 per share payable in cash for an aggregate consideration not exceeding Rs 504.83 crore. V2 Retail opens one operational retail store at Davanagere, Karnataka Aditya Birla Capital: Aditya Birla Capital Investments Private Limited incorporated as a new wholly owned subsidiary of the company. 8K Miles Software Services: Company has taken legal action against Quantum Global Securities and Kumar Share Brokers for wrongfully and illegally transfering promoter Suresh Venkatachari's 25.7 lakh shares through off market transactions on various dates to various parties without his knowledge/consent. Cupid allots 22,23,000 equity shares as bonus shares Sadbhav Infrastructure Project: CARE reaffirmed its ratings on several non-convertible debentures of the company. Saregama India: Company has invested in 100 percent capital of Saregama FZE, as a result whereof Saregama FZE has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Saregama India. Infosys: Company completed acquisition of Fluido, the largest salesforce consulting partner in Nordics. Dilip Buildcon: Project 'Rehabilitation & Upgradation of Stretch of SH 317-Kalamb-Ralegaon-Wadki to two lane paved shoulders in Maharashtra on engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) Mode (Package -21) has been completed. Company is entitled to maximum bonus of Rs 14,62,50,000 in lieu of earlier completion (210 days before the schedule completion date) of the said project. Mirza International incorporates wholly owned subsidiary in Bangladesh Cyient: Company launched, its Geospatial Data Exploitation Solutions at Intergeo 2018. GSS Infotech: Subsidiary GSS Infotech Inc signed the share purchase agreement for acquiring 100 percent shares of Nexii Labs Inc, USA. Bulk Deals NSE 8K Miles Soft Services: Kirit Nanji Gogri sold 1,59,400 shares of the company at Rs 120.8 per share. Bombay Dyeing: Minesh Jormalbhai Mehta sold 16,83,581 shares of the company at Rs 105.95 per share. Just Dial: New York State Common Retirement Fund bought 4,16,753 shares of the company at Rs 471.39 per share. Kwality: Sanjay Dhingra sold 15,00,000 shares of the company at Rs 11.41 per share. Kshitij Polyline: Vikas B Agarwal bought 72,000 shares of the company at Rs 34.26 per share. Marine Electrical: Subhrashi Properties Private Limited bought 1,44,000 shares of the company at Rs 66.75 per share. Suumaya Lifestyle: ARC Agrobasket LLP bought 1,44,000 shares of the company at Rs 25.5 per share. Vinny Overseas: Harishkumar Jitmal HUF bought 1,20,000 shares of the company at Rs 42.62 per share, Mahendrakumar Jitmal HUF 1,41,000 shares at Rs 42.51 per share and Mohinidevi Mahendrakumar Bhansali purchased 90,000 shares at Rs 43.45 per share. BSE Shubham Polyspin: Chandan Garg bought 3,96,000 shares of the company at Rs 43.55 per share. (For more bulk deals, click here) Analyst or Board Meet/Briefings Den Networks: Board meeting is scheduled on October 17 to consider a proposal for raising of funds by issuance of equity shares through one or more methods including further public issue/ADR/GDR/qualified institutions placement/ preferential issue. ARSS Infrastructure: Board meeting will be held on October 26 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. Liberty Shoes: Board meeting will be held on October 25 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. Genus Power: Board meeting will be held on October 22 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. Hindustan Zinc: Board meeting will be held on October 22 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. Dhampur Sugar: Board meeting will be held on October 31 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. Snowman Logistics: Board meeting will be held on October 29 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. IFB Industries: Board meeting will be held on October 30 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers: Board meeting will be held on November 1 to consider quarterly un-audited financial results for the quarter ended September 2018. Ahluwalia Contracts: Company's officials will be attending Edelweiss Infra Day on October 16 in Mumbai. HOEC: Board meeting to be held on October 22 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Tamilnadu Petroproducts: Board meeting to be held on October 24 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Tinplate Company: Board meeting to be held on October 31 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. ITC: Board meeting to be held on October 26 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Manali Petrochemical: Board meeting to be held on October 22 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. RBL Bank: Bank will host an Investor/Analyst conference call to present the financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018 on October 23. M&M: Company's officials will be meeting analysts/investors on October 16 and 17. Bharti Infratel: Board meeting to be held on October 24 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. HEG: Board meeting to be held on October 31 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Bharat Gears: Board meeting to be held on October 30 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. United Spirits: Board meeting to be held on October 31 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. CCL Products: Board meeting to be held on October 22 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Canara Bank: Board meeting to be held on October 31 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Kirloskar Oil Engines: Board meeting to be held on October 26 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Southern Petrochemicals: Board meeting to be held on October 23 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. HCL Technologies: Board meeting to be held on October 23 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Bata India: Board meeting to be held on November 2 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. National Fertilizers: Board meeting to be held on October 30 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Unichem Labs: Board meeting to be held on October 30 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Pricol: Board meeting to be held on November 8 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. : Board meeting to be held on October 30 to consider unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended September 2018. Investors' Conference Call post announcement of the financial results is scheduled on October 31. Dilip Buildcon: Company's officials will be attending Edelweiss Infra Day Conference, 2018 on October 16. Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) has the potential to achieve its target of 162.5 million tonne coal for this fiscal, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said while stressing on long-term mining planning to raise output and ensure supply to power plants. The minister visited Odisha's coal belt to inspect mining operations in both the Ib Valley and Talcher coalfields of MCL. Goyal first inspected Samleshwari Open Cast Project in Ib Valley Coalfields where officers briefed him on coal mining and supply operations, MCL said in a release. Emphasising the need for preparing long-term project planning, the minister favoured mines-wise detailed plan to be prepared for at least 20 years of operations to overcome bottlenecks and ensure adequate supplies to consumers. "We need to conduct mine-wise review regarding their coal dispatch capability," he said while stressing on ensuring adequate coal supply to power plants. Taking note of mines low performance following delay in shifting of a siding, the minister directed both MCL and railways officials to take up this project on fast track basis so that production from mines is not hampered. The minister, after his visit to Bhubneswari OCP and Ananta OCP under Jagannath Area in Talcher Coalfields, was hopeful of MCL achieving its ambitious coal production target of 162.5 million tonnes during this fiscal. "I can see you have a potential to achieve, rather exceed, your target of 100 million tonne coal from Talcher coalfields alone," Goyal said. The minister, who was warmly welcomed by villagers and their representatives, including local MLA, assured them that increase in coal production from mines would directly benefit the district and also help the state to execute more developmental projects. The minister was accompanied by Inderjit Singh, Coal secretary, A K Jha, chairman of Coal India, R R Mishra, CMD of MCL and other senior officers. MCL, which had produced over 143 million tonne coal during 2017-18, plans to produce a record 100 million tonne from Talcher coalfields in Angul district and 62.5 million tonne from Ib Valley Coalfields in Jharsuguda and Sundergarh districts, a company official said. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The Supreme Court recently lifted the ban on petcoke, allowing it as feedstock for the calcined petroleum coke (CPC) value chain. Though it offers a major relief to the industry, the approval comes with a rider on emission control and quantitative upper limit for imports. The import quota does not take expansion plans into consideration and hence brings in growth uncertainty to that extent. The ruling states that the domestic calcining industry can import up to 1.4 million tonne of green petroleum coke (GPC) annually. The apex court also permitted the domestic aluminium industry to use up to 0.5 MT of imported CPC per year.The CPC industry in India consists of 28 companies with an installed capacity of 2.06 MT. Of these, six companies (see table below), with a capacity of 1.17 MT, entirely depend on GPC imports to manufacture CPC. The balance operate on relatively low grade domestic GPC. At 85 percent utilisation for the six calciners, GPC requirement is around 1.35 MT. Among these, the prominent ones are Goa Carbon and Rain Industries As per its FY18 annual report, Goa Carbon has a CPC manufacturing capacity of 0.24 MT (an Environment Pollution Control Authority report pegs it at 0.27 MT) from its three plants (Paradeep, Goa and Bilaspur) and operates at about 85 percent utilisation. Rain Industries has a CPC manufacturing capacity of 2.1 MT (US, China and Visakhapatnam). Of this, it produces 0.5 MT in India. Source: EPCA The apex court judgement is based on EPCA estimate of GPC requirement and doesnt include future needs as and when capacity expansion is executed. Rain Industries plans to expand CPC capacity by 0.37 MT in Vishakhapatnam. The same is expected to turn operational by Q3 CY19. Given the courts judgment there is now an uncertainty regarding the same and further clarification from the management is warranted. The court has allowed Rain Industries to avail contracts signed before the last hearing (July 26) and where consignments had already arrived last quarter. This is, however, subject to overall limit, which is 1.4 MT. In the long term, Rain Industries appears well positioned in terms of environment norms. As per a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report, the court order suggests that emissions during the calcination process needs to be processed through a flue-gas desulphurisation system having efficiency of sulphur removal of over 90 percent. Rain Industries has made suitable investments in the past for flue-gas desulphurisation system both in the US and India. The Supreme Courts earlier ruling, which led to a two-and-a-half month import ban on pet coke, is expected to have its bearing on the financial performance of both companies. The recent quarterly result of Goa Carbon has been testimony to that. In the case of Rain Industries, though the company had sufficient GPC inventory, its raw material blending cost had increased due to lack of access to low cost pet coke. Therefore, both Q3 and Q4 CY18 profitability is expected to be impacted. Further, its US CPC operations were also impacted. Resumption of imports are expected to resume with a lag of few weeks in both cases. The courts verdict allowing the domestic aluminium industry to import 0.5 MT of CPC per year is based on EPCA findings. Source: EPCA EPCA estimates that the CPC requirement for the aluminium industry is in the 1.4-1.6 MT range. Of this requirement, about 1 MT is supplied by domestic calciner industry, with the balance imported. Here, as well, capacity utilisation has been assumed around 90 percent. The court verdict removes a major hurdle for the petcoke value chain catering to the aluminium industry. Given the strict estimations on the requirements of GPC and CPC, volume growth is expected to moderate. Companies dont have a leeway in moving beyond a certain capacity utilisation. Raw material requirement and respective legal and government permissions needs to be obtained for expansion plans. To that extent, uncertainty exists and hence we wait for Rain Industries post- quarterly result conference call to tweak our estimates. Nimesh Shah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, has been elected as Chairman of trade body, Association of Mutual Funds in India, officials from AMFI told Moneycontrol. Shah was elected as Chairman on October 12 and replaces A Balasubramanian, CEO of Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, who took over as AMFI Chairman in October 2016. Kailash Kulkarni, CEO, L&T Mutual Fund, will continue to remain Vice-Chairman of AMFI. Shah joined the mutual fund industry in July 2007, when he took over as MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential MF. The fund house currently manages assets worth Rs 3.1 lakh crore as on September-end, according to the recent AMFI data. Assets under management (AUM) of the MF industry, which comprise 41 active players, stood at Rs 22.06 lakh crore at the end of September as compared to a record Rs 25.20 lakh crore at August-end. Shah has been appointed as Chairman at a time when volatile equity markets and fears of liquidity at IL&FS are keeping investors jittery. AMFI and the fund industry have applauded the matured behaviour of investors who have used the fall in the market as an opportunity to invest. Despite the steep fall in equity markets, equity and equity-linked saving scheme (ELSS) saw an infusion of Rs 11,250 crore. Besides, balanced funds witnessed an inflow of Rs 731 crore. The Sensex has lost more than 2,400 points, or 6.2 percent in September the worst monthly fall since 2008. The Sensex had fallen by about 10 percent in September 2008. However, a massive outflow from liquid funds left the industry short of Rs 2.3 lakh crore in September. As Chairman of AMFI, Shahs challenge will be to focus on investor-centric initiatives through which industry will be able to attract inflows and grow its AUM. Pope Francis greets the faithful as he attends a special audience for pilgrims from El Salvador at Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. (Image source: Reuters) A farmer burns the stubble in a rice field in Karnal in the northern state of Haryana. (Image source: Reuters) Students wait in line to enter the University of California, Berkeley's electrical engineering and computer sciences career fair. (Image source: Reuters) A woman stands next to an inflatable tank with US President Donald Trump outside an art exhibition 'MonuMental' by the pseudonymous artist, Saint Hoax. (Image source: Reuters) German Chancellor, Angela Merkel reacts as she attends a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leadership meeting in Berlin. (Image source: Reuters) Supporters of India's main opposition, Congress party scuffle with police during a protest demanding the resignation of India's Minister of State for External Affairs Mobashar Jawed Akbar in New Delhi. (Image source: Reuters) Jordanian men show their passports during their travel to Syria at Jordan's Jaber border crossing checkpoint, near Syria's Nasib checkpoint. (Image source: Reuters) Minister of State for Culture, Mahesh Sharma and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of a museum for all Prime Ministers of the country. (Image source: PTI) President of the Tibetan government in exile, Lobsang Sangay with Himachal Pradesh Governor, Acharya Devrat during 'Thank You Himachal' program on the completion of Tibetans' 60 years in Himachal. (Image source: PTI) Representative image The government is formulating a policy for the integrated development of multimodal logistics parks with a view to promoting movement of goods for domestic as well as global trade, an official said. Currently, there is no specific definition, specification and standardisation of multimodal logistics parks. Due to this, different ministries including railways, shipping and the department of industrial policy and promotion are developing these parks. "There are cases where two different departments are developing these parks at the same location. So duplication is happening on account of lack of a comprehensive policy. So, there is a need to have a common policy on this subject," the official said. As many as 35 such parks have been proposed by different ministries including railways. A 50-acre park requires Rs 200-300 crore for development. The policy would help set up one authority for the approval of these parks, setting up common standards, fixing time frames, and areas where they can be constructed. "The commerce ministry has circulated a note in this regard to take views of different stakeholders. States and union territories are also being consulted on the proposal for the multimodal logistics park policy," the official added. The move is part of several measures being considered by the commerce ministry to cut the logistic cost of both domestic and global traders. The ministry is also in the process of seeking Cabinet approval for its national logistics policy, which is aimed at promoting seamless movement of goods across the country and reducing high transaction cost of traders. The proposed policy will also focus on increasing the warehousing capacity and identify gaps that could be bridged to bring down the cost of logistics for traders. High logistics cost impacts the competitiveness of domestic goods in the international markets. It is also working on the development of a national logistics portal as a single window marketplace to link all stakeholders. Since 2011-12, India's exports have been hovering at around USD 300 billion. During 2017-18, the shipments grew by about 10 per cent to USD 303 billion. Promoting exports helps a country create jobs, boost manufacturing and earn more foreign exchange. The cost of logistics for India is about 14 per cent of its GDP and it is higher than in other countries. Scribe Priya Ramani's allegations found the first mention; she was the first one to publicly accuse Akbar of misconduct. The sexual harassment charges against MJ Akbar began with a tweet by journalist Priya Ramani on October 8, in which she said that an article she wrote for Vogue India a year ago on her experience was actually about MJ Akbar. (Photo: File PTI) Mumbai: Union minister of state for external affairs MJ Akbar, accused of sexual harassment by a dozen women in India's #MeToo movement, on Monday has filed a criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani in Delhi's Patiala House Court. Ramani had alleged sexual harassment against him. Journalist Priya Ramani was the first to level allegations of misconduct against Akbar via tweet on October 8 in which she said that an article she wrote for Vogue India a year ago on her experience was actually about MJ Akbar. Akbar has filed the case through his advocates Karanjawala & Co. Akbar has accused Ramani of "wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and malaciously" defaming him. The Union minister has sought Ramani's prosecution under the penal provision on defamation. Akbar had on Sunday called the allegations "false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice." Also read: False and fabricated, will take legal action: MJ Akbar on #MeToo charges After Ramani named the Union minister of sexual misconduct, Prerna Singh Bindra, Ghazala Wahab, Shutapa Paul, Anju Bharti, Suparna Sharma, Shuma Raha, Malini Bhupta, Kanika Gahlout, Kadambari M Wade, Majlie de Puy Kamp and Ruth David also accused the minister in the #MeToo allegations. Akbar has been an editor of newspapers like The Telegraph and The Asian Age. Yes Bank's board of directors has recommended taking back the bonuses paid to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Rana Kapoor for FY15 and FY16, according to a report by Mint. The mid-sized private bank's decision comes after negative observations made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the news daily reported. The board has also recommended that Kapoor not be paid any bonuses for FY17 and FY18 either, and didn't propose any bonus for him for FY19, according to documents reviewed by the publication. Moneycontrol is yet to review the documents by itself. The recommendations made by the bank's board have been sent to the RBI for its go ahead, the newspaper reported. In September, the banking regulator had asked Yes Bank to end Kapoor's term as MD and CEO on January 31, 2019, despite the lender having requested for an extension of his term by three years. The tenure was cut short after RBI pointed out divergences worth Rs 10,531 crore in the bank's books for two consecutive fiscal years, along with likely corporate governance issues in its lending process. New CEO likely by December 15 According to a Business Standard report, Yes Bank has picked December 15 as a cut-off date to find a new MD and CEO to replace the outgoing Kapoor. The lender has hired US-based advisory firm Korn Ferry to assist in the selection process. A committee with three internal and two external members has been set up to search for suitable candidates. Many candidates from outside the organisation are being considered for the post. One of the likely contenders on the inside is Rajat Monga, Senior Group President at Yes Bank. Also, it is not yet clear if Kapoor will be allowed to remain on the bank's board after his exit. The board is yet to decide on it, and in order to do so, the legal battle between Kapoor and other promoter Madhu Kapur would need to be sorted out. Kapoor had started Yes Bank along with late brother-in-law Ashok Kapur and Rabo Bank in 2004. After the death of Ashok Kapur in 2008, his wife Madhu Kapur became the second largest promoter of the bank and currently holds 9.27 percent stake. Rana Kapoor owns 10.66 percent. Akhilesh Yadav Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav attacked the Yogi Adityanath government's proposed move to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj, stating that the present dispensation wanted to show their work only by "renaming". Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit to Allahabad on October 13 had announced that there was a proposal to rename the city as Prayagraj ahead of the 2019 Kumbh Mela. In a Twitter post, Yadav said today's rulers were trying to show that they are working by just changing the name of Allahabad. "... They have even re-named Ardh Kumbh to Kumbh. This is toying with tradition and belief," the former UP CM tweeted. However, reacting to Yadav, Energy Minister and government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma claimed that the belief of people was hurt when the city was named Allahabad. "Some persons are objecting to renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj. The objections are baseless. It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified," he said. UP Governor Ram Naik had already supported the demands of the saints and the people of the Sangam city, he had said. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launches 'Aap Ka Daan Rastra Ka Nirman' for AAP's nationwide fundraising campaign, in New Delhi, Monday, Oct 15, 2018 (AAP Twitter via PTI Photo) (PTI10_15_2018_000168B) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenged the BJP-ruled Centre to show him the file of the Rafale deal, in return of his government's 400 files checked by a central committee. "I just need to be shown four files, including the one on the Rafale deal, for four days. I will send (them) to jail for life," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said at the launch of his party's donation campaign here. He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged corruption, while claiming that the AAP's rule in the national capital was "the most honest" in the country in the last 70 years. Asking his "honest" party workers and people to face both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress supporters with confidence, Kejriwal took a jibe at Modi, saying the chests of the people of Delhi puffed up to 60 inches, and not merely 56 inches, as they were filled with pride. He also said had the AAP attempted dishonest means to get money, it could have amassed Rs 2,000 crore by demanding just a one-percent cut for works worth Rs 2 lakh crore awarded by his government in the last three-and-a-half years. Launching his party's donation campaign -- "Aap Ka Daan, Rashtra Ka Nirman" -- in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kejriwal said the campaign will become a model all over the world on how to do honest politics through public contributions. Asserting that the AAP government in Delhi was "the most honest" in the country in the last 70 years, Kejriwal took a dig at the Prime Minister, saying, "We have received clean chits from Narendra Modi and the committee that was formed to check our files." Attacking Modi, the AAP national convener alleged that attempts were made to stop the Delhi government from functioning -- first by forming a committee that went through 400 of its files and later through raids conducted against him, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, ministers Satyendar Jain and Kailash Gahlot. "Nothing was found by the committee and the raids. So, when I say ours is the most honest government, it is because we have received clean chits from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his committee," he said. The chief minister, however, challenged the Centre to show him the Rafale deal file in return of his government's files checked by its committee. He said anyone giving donations to the AAP would not do any "favour" to the party, but would do so for a better future of their children and nation building on the basis of honest politics. "We have been able to work for the people honestly because our party was sustained by their small donations," Kejriwal said. Under the monthly donation scheme, people will need to give a missed call to a mobile phone number that was launched by the AAP supremo. They will be contacted by the staff of the service providers hired by the party for collecting donations. The minimum amount of donation is Rs 100. Kejriwal said the campaign will become a model all over the world on how to do honest politics through public contributions just as the Mohalla Clinic and doorstep delivery of services schemes of his government. The chief minister claimed that had his party attempted dishonest means, it could have collected at least Rs 2,000 crore through the contracts awarded by the Delhi government. "We awarded works worth Rs 2 lakh crore in the last three-and-a-half years of the AAP government in Delhi. Even if we asked for a one-percent cut, we would have amassed Rs 2,000 crore. But then, we would not provide Mohalla clinics, schools, roads, flyovers to the people," he said. Kejriwal said his government did not allow any hike in the power tariff. "If we rise it by 50 paise, the power companies will give Rs 100 crore to our party fund," he claimed. Kejriwal said he would give Rs 10,000 per month to the party fund. His wife and daughter pledged donations of Rs 5,000 each while his father Rs 500 per month. All the top leaders of the party, including Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, MPs and MLAs among others also pledged to donate sums. Rajya Sabha MP Singh said he would donate Rs 21,000 per month to the party. Highlighting the Delhi government's achievements, Kejriwal asked the AAP workers to face the BJP and Congress supporters with confidence, because their party's government was honest. "The people of Delhi are filled with pride and their chests puff up to 60 inch. Not 56 inch, someone else's measures that," he said, taking a jibe at Modi for his "56-inch chest" quote. Kejriwal appealed to all the Delhi people who had benefitted from mohalla clinics, schools, improved power and water supplies and other welfare schemes of his government to donate to the AAP. Those who had not received any benefit from the AAP government should also donate to the party for its honest politics and nation-building, he said. Kejriwal added that the Delhi government was rich but the AAP was "bankrupt", which he said was not the case when the Congress or the BJP ruled the national capital. "Then, the governments would be bankrupt and the parties would be malamaal (rich)," he charged. Secretary General of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the party's agenda in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was to maximise the anti-BJP votes in the country and it will work to defeat the saffron party in states where it will be in a direct fight with the Congress. The Left party would, however, have no alliance with the Congress, he added. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will field a minimum number of candidates in states where there will be a direct contest between the Congress and the saffron party to maximise the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) votes, Yechury told reporters here during his one-day visit to Odisha. It will support regional parties which were not in the government and were opposed to the BJP, he said. "Our agenda is to maximise the polling of anti-BJP votes in the coming elections. They (BJP) formed government at the Centre by securing only 31 percent votes the last time, while 69 percent of the electorate had opposed them. This time, we want to ensure that the secular parties come together to oppose the BJP," Yechury said. Referring to Odisha, where the Assembly polls are also due next year, he said the Left party will not have a formal alliance with the Congress in the state and will also oppose the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), though it was not an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). "We will have no alliance with the Congress and at the same time, the party will oppose both the BJP and the BJD in Odisha," Yechury said. To questions on why the Left party was opposed to Naveen Patnaik's BJD, he said, "We have decided to oppose the BJP and its allies. Though the BJD is not an ally of the BJP, the regional party has unfortunately, all along the last four-and-a-half years, supported the NDA government on different issues." The BJD's attitude towards the BJP had not been acceptable to secular parties, Yechury said. The regional party had supported the BJP on demonetisation, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the presidential and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman elections among other issues. "We will also not go with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and the TRS in Telangana, which were till in the recent past with the NDA. Since they were in the government, we had opposed their plans and policies. Now, during election time, we cannot support them," Yechury said. In West Bengal, the parties that are constituents of the Left Front will oppose both the ruling Trinamool Congress, which had ended its 34-year-long hold over the state, and the BJP, he said, adding, "Our slogan for West Bengal is 'Modi Hatao Desh Bachao, Mamata Hatao Bengal Bachao'." Yechury said in line with its agenda of defeating the BJP, the CPI(M) will support regional parties which were not in government and were opposed to the saffron party. Citing examples, he said the Left party will support the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and other secular forces in Bihar, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu and other like-minded parties in different states. An acute water crisis has affected various parts of the country, right from the parched fields of Maharashtra to the dry taps of Chennai. Here are what policymakers are suggesting to turn replenish vessels, water tanks and reservoirs across the country. (Image: Reuters) The Nationalist Congress Party will hold rallies in Maharashtra from Monday to protest against water scarcity, rising fuel prices and load-shedding, state unit chief Jayant Patil said. The party plans to stop vehicles of ministers on official visits as the state government is not addressing the issues of the common man, Patil said on Sunday. The rallies would start from public places and would end with party functionaries submitting memorandums of grievances to revenue officials at tehsil and district levels, the NCP leader said. "The rallies will be held in several parts of the state to mobilise the people against the ruling government. We will also stop the vehicles of ministers on official visits because this government is not addressing the issues of the common man," Patil said. "There is no limit to fuel prices, which have continued to escalate. The power supply in rural parts of the state is not regular and highly insufficient," Patil said. He alleged that the government's faulty policies had led to water scarcity in Maharashtra which had annoyed people. "The people are annoyed with the government but no one is listening to their grievances," he claimed. Congress President Rahul Gandhi (3) Citing a global survey on hunger that ranked India 103 among 119 nations, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying while he gave speeches and "enjoyed life", he forgot to give food to the people. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Welthungerhilfe, ranked India 103, clubbing its position with Nigeria in the index, according to media reports. "The chowkidaar (watchman) gave a lot of speeches, but forgot about people's stomach. Did a lot of Yoga and enjoyed life, but forgot to give food to people," Congress president Gandhi said in Hindi on Twitter. Terming the matter "very serious", Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said it was a matter of shame that India was ranked 103rd among 119 countries in the global hunger index. The NDA government should set its priorities right, he said. Gehlot targeted the prime minister on India's ranking in the index, claiming Modi and his team never talked about hunger. If they do not even acknowledge it how will they make policies to feed the people, he said. "India stands at a lowly 103rd position among 119 countries, in GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX report, which is a matter of shame. This is a very serious concern and one which needs urgent attention. But for NDA govt, the grave issue of hunger doesn't exist. "Modi ji or his Ministers never talk about poor, hungry people. If they do not even acknowledge problem then can we expect them to make policies to feed hungry mouths. NDA needs to set its priorities right. 1st priority should be to eradicate hunger and provide food to all," Gehlot tweeted. In 2017, India stood at the 100th rank among 119 countries, while it was 97th in 2016. India was behind its neighbours Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, which stood at 67th, 72nd and 86th ranks in the index for 2018, as per a report. Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month, China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said Monday. Luo was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats here. He said the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration will deepen in future. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November, the Chinese envoy said. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year -- at the Shanaghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. Luo also said China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. BJP president Amit Shah Monday accused Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of raising a "hue and cry" over the arrest of "urban naxals", who allegedly plotted to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said the government would not tolerate those who speak about dividing the country. He alleged that the Congress, when in power, undermined the country's security. "The Maharashtra government arrested urban naxals and found through their email exchange that they wanted mortar guns and machine guns. They were plotting to kill Modi," Shah said, speaking at a BJP workers' gathering at Rewa in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. "But when they ('urban naxals') were arrested, Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) and company raised hue and cry," he said. "The slogan 'Bharat tere tukde honge, Inshallah ek hazar, ek hazar' was raised at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) but Rahul baba says there is freedom of speech. Naxals were arrested, but he saw (it as an issue of) freedom of speech," he added. Asserting that nobody would be allowed to harm the country's security, Shah said, "Rahul Baba, you can say whatever you want to, but there is a rule of Narendra Modi government....The voices which talk of dividing the country would be sent behind the bars." The Maharashtra police had arrested five rights activists on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- 'Elgaar Parishad' -- held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village. The BJP president alleged that opposition parties such as the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Trinamool Congress sympathised with the infiltrators. "The BJP government identified 40 lakh infiltrators by creating NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Assam. But opposition raised a hue and cry," Shah said, adding that the Congress, whenever in power, "weakened the country's security". "Nobody remembers human rights when infiltrators plant bombs to kill country's mothers and sisters. The country's youth remain unemployed as these infiltrators snatch away jobs. They are a vote bank for the Congress, but for us, they are a national security issue. They (infiltrators) are eating up the country like termites," he said. The BJP government would drive "each and every infiltrator" out of the country after winning elections in 2018 and 2019, Shah said. India's economy rose to sixth place globally from the ninth spot in the last four years, he claimed. Later, Shah spoke at a tribal convention at Dindori. The Modi government increased the budget for the welfare schemes for the scheduled tribes by 30 percent, while the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state increased the funds for tribal areas by over Rs 25,000 crore, he said. The Modi government also set up 'mineral funds' (district mineral funds to which local miners contribute) for the development of tribal areas, he noted. The Congress ruled the country with the support of the tribal communities, but now they are with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shah claimed. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti described Hizbul Mujahideen militant Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gun-battle with security forces, as a "victim of relentless violence in Kashmir". The PDP president said this while demanding the withdrawal of cases against three Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students from the Valley who were booked after they allegedly tried to hold a prayer meeting for Wani. "It will be a travesty to punish them (students) for remembering their former colleague (Wani) who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir," Mehbooba said in a tweet. Twenty-seven-year-old Wani, who was pursuing a PhD course in allied geology at the AMU, had quit the university and joined militant ranks in January. The three Kashmiri students were booked for sedition for allegedly raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for the Hizbul 'commander', a day after he was killed in a gun battle with security forces in north Kashmir's Handwara area. Mehbooba also asked the Centre to intervene in the matter. "Pushing youth to the wall will be counterproductive. Centre must intervene in withdrawing cases against students & AMU authorities must revoke their suspension, she said in another post on Twitter. The former chief minister said state governments outside Jammu and Kashmir should be sensitive to the situation and prevent further alienation. In the wake of the suspension of the three Kashmiri students, more than 1,200 students from Jammu and Kashmir studying at the varsity have threatened to leave for their homes on October 17, if the sedition charges against the three were not dropped. In a letter to Proctor, AMU, students of Jammu and Kashmir, studying at the university said no prayers or any relevant activity was observed and the directions of the AMU Proctor were duly followed. The tense situation as reported in the media caused a serious concern among the students at Aligarh Muslim University. The students at the University in panic were discussing the situation emerging in the valley at the Kennedy Hall Lawn, and were peacefully talking among each other. "No prayers or any relevant activity was observed, and the directions of the AMU Proctor were duly followed, the students said in the letter. They said some non-Kashmiri people armed with lathis attacked the sitting students and caused massive disturbance and noisy scenes. However, the Kashmiri students dispersed immediately and no protest or law and order violation took place. Later, a vilification campaign against the students from Jammu and Kashmir was started by media that Kashmiri students violated the law and disturbed the peace in the campus. Though nothing of that sort had happened and the same was later confirmed by PRO AMU to the media, the letter read. The students said they strongly condemn the fabricated allegations and a systematic vilification campaign against the students and the university. We take strong objection to fabricating cases against Kashmiri students and thereby attempting to jeopardize our career. We, the students from Kashmir are law-abiding and did not breach the guaranteed freedom of speech, or act, they s adding peace at AMU campus has always been the first priority of all Kashmiri students. Referring to the suspension of students by the university and subsequent sedition charges, the Jammu and Kashmir students refuted the allegations of violation of law and order and demanded an end to defamation of highly educated Kashmiri scholars. We demand an immediate revocation of suspension orders/show cause notices and an urgent withdrawal of the sedition charges and relevant legal sections against AMU scholars. Imposing such sections is to threaten the Kashmiri students at the university and is a cause of serious concern. We cannot stay at the campus with the burden of these politically motivated and fabricated charges, they said. The students threatened to surrender their degrees and leave for their homes if the suspension is not revoked and case withdrawn by October 17. In case, the suspension/show cause notices are not revoked immediately and sedition charges and relevant charges are not withdrawn, we the students from the state of Jammu and Kashmir at AMU will be forced to leave the campus en-masse on Sir Syed Day (17 October). We, the 1200 students will surrender our degrees and leave for our homes for reasons of safety and security. All the responsibility in that case will fall on the University, and local administration. We are feeling threatened and challenged and our career development is under stake, under such fearful circumstances, the letter reads. The BJP core committee in Goa will meet Monday to discuss the political situation in the state, a senior party leader said. The discussions have been planned a day after Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar returned to Goa from New Delhi where he was undergoing treatment for pancreatic ailment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). "The state core committee will meet today and discuss the current political situation in Goa," the leader said. The core committee is the BJP's key decision-making body in Goa, comprising senior leaders Parrikar, Union minister Shripad Naik, Lok Sabha MP Narendra Sawaikar and party state chief Vinay Tendulkar, among others. Meanwhile, Parrikar, 62, was undergoing treatment at his private residence at Dona Paula near here, where a team of doctors from the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) have set up make-shift medical facility. "Parrikar is at home and is being taken care by a team of doctors from the GCMH," a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) told PTI. The chief minister is following the line of treatment prescribed by the doctors at AIIMS, he said. BJP legislator and power minister Nilesh Cabral Sunday said, "We hope that he recovers fast. I think it must be his personal decision to come back to Goa. When I met him last time, he spoke well." State civil supplies minister and Independent MLA Govind Gawade, who is supporting the Parrikar-led coalition, said the chief minister should have stayed back at AIIMS for some more time and fully recovered before returning to Goa. "But we welcome him back. Goa was missing its leader," he added. Parrikar was Sunday morning discharged from the AIIMS, where he was admitted on September 15, and was flown in a special flight to Goa. He was later taken to his private residence in an ambulance. Parrikar had Friday met Goa BJP's core committee members and ministers from coalition partners at AIIMS to discuss ways to ensure his government functions normally during his absence from office due to ill health. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 15) Defeated presidential candidate Manuel "Mar" Roxas II on Monday announced that he is gunning for a Senate seat in the 2019 midterm elections. Roxas, a former Interior Secretary and Senator, confirmed the development to CNN Philippines in a text message on Monday. The former Cabinet secretary, who was defeated by then Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 presidential race, fueled speculations of his planned return to politics when he posted a video on his official Facebook page. In the four-minute clip, Roxas said that his "love for the country" and a desire to help his countrymen helped formalize his decision. "I'm not perfect, I made mistakes. May mga pagkukulang. Pero masasabi ko, buong buo kong binigay ang sarili ko sa bansa at sa kapwa." Roxas said in the video. [Translation: I'm not perfect, I made mistakes. I have shortcomings, but I can say I can wholeheartedly give myself to the country and to my countrymen.] "Mahal ko ba ang bansa natin? Oo. May maitutulong ba ako? Oo. Apart from disappointment, may dahilan ba na ipagkait ko ang tulong ko sa mga nangangailangan? Apart from pride, may dahilan ba na hindi ako mag-extend ng helping hand? Wala. And so here we are." [Translation: Do I love our country? Yes. Can I help? Yes. Apart from disappointment, do I have a reason not to help those in need? Apart from pride, do I have a reason not to extend a helping hand? None. And so here we are.] "I don't have any quit in me, and I won't quit on our country," he added. Roxas, however, did not specify which post he was aiming for in the video. Mr Patra said this is the conspiracy of the Congress government to divide the nation of the lines of the northern & southern parts of the country. New Delhi: Taking a dig at the Congress over its leader and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu over his latest remarks where he had praised Pakistan and comparing it with South India, the BJP on Sunday asked the Opposition partys president Rahul Gandhi to sack Mr Sidhu and let him join Pakistan PM Imran Khans Cabinet. The ruling party also said that there seems to be a conspiracy hatched by the Congress to somehow create a regional divide in the country and cited the allegations against Congress leader Alpesh Thakore in trying to incite hatred against North Indians in Gujarat. The BJP national spokesperson, Sambit Patra, said the Punjab minister should get himself inducted into Pakistans Cabinet as he repeatedly exudes his love for the country. Quoting reports according to which Mr Sidhu at a festival in a literature festival had said that he could relate to Pakistan more than South India, Mr Patra said this is the conspiracy of the Congress government to divide the nation of the lines of the northern and southern parts of the country. The kind of love he (Sidhu) exudes for Pakistan, the only advice which we can give is Sidhu please proceed to become a part of Imran Khans Cabinet, Mr Patra said. Voting Election Assembly Polls Chhattisgarh Political parties may soon be asked to limit their expenses during election campaigns, as the Election Commission of India (EC) is planning to write to the law ministry seeking directions over the issue, Hindustan Times has reported. The matter was raised by multiple parties during an all-party meeting held in August. Representatives of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left parties urged the poll panel to relook at existing provisions that place no limit on a political party's spend during a poll campaign, the report suggests. Political parties have complained that lack of a expenditure limit per party disturbs the level playing field, the report adds. The suggestion was, however, opposed by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Tamil Nadu's ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). EC is considering the suggestion and will first discuss it at its meeting in the coming week, the report adds. BSP Spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria told the newspaper that his party had proposed the limit to ensure that "bigger parties" do not use "money and muscle to influence elections". Currently, there is only a limit on the campaign expenditure per candidate. According to the poll panel's rules, a candidate can spend between Rs 50 lakh to 70 lakh while contesting for the Lok Sabha elections and between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 28 lakh for assembly elections, depending on the size of state. Jabin T Jacob United States Vice President Mike Pence delivered a key speech on his country's China policy on October 4. His speech drove home the message of the burgeoning challenge to American interests from China. Using specific examples, he pointed out how the Chinese sought to influence American domestic politics, stole American technology, and undermined other countries through debt-trap infrastructure projects under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Implications for India Pence's speech on China has also been read as being politically motivated, given the November mid-term elections to the US Congress. While this may be so, it also offers Indians an opportunity to think why India's foreign policy challenges from China do not form more of an issue, at least during parliamentary elections. While the alleged corruption over the Rafale jet fighters deal with France threatens to become a major electoral plank for Opposition parties in much the same way as the Bofors scandal played out in an earlier era, it remains an issue essentially about the perceived crimes and foibles of Indian politicians and of their rivalries rather than about genuinely addressing national security implications or foreign policy. Pence's speech, as well as US President Donald Trump's many actions since taking office, has put China at the centre of a national conversation on US foreign policy strategy and objectives. As Pence was at pains to point out during his speech, there is now growing bipartisan consensus and understanding that China has cheated and manipulated its way to the global high table taking advantage of a more open global economic and political order while itself remaining closed to outside economic competition or political influence. By contrast, the attempt in India seems to move foreign policy issues away from the national conversation or to refer to them in broad-brush, black-and-white terms of one party being stronger or weaker, experienced or less experienced, than others in defending sovereignty and other national interests. Foreign policy or security actions 'surgical strikes', for instance are sold as signs of the government's determination rather than explained for their strategic rationale. On Doklam, meanwhile, the national conversation has gone cold despite evidence and analysis suggesting that the Chinese have solidified their presence in territory claimed by Bhutan and undermining in the process, India's commitment to Bhutan's defence. Start the conversation Compared to debates on Pakistan, those on China, both within and outside the government, are relatively sober. But there still is not confidence to bring it into electoral discourse, the way the Americans have done. This is despite the fact that the Chinese challenge to India's political values, economy and regional and global strategic interests is real and visible. While the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson termed as "very ridiculous" Pence's charges of Chinese intervention in US' internal affairs, Xi Jinpings speech at the 19th Communist Party Congress in October 2017 offers plenty of evidence that China seeks to export its model of economic development as well as its brand of politics to the wider world. The general elections due next year in India are an opportunity for political parties to turn greater attention towards foreign policy issues and elevate the level of discussion on China in the popular domain. For example, the fact that Indian telecom and electronics manufacturers are so heavily dependent on Chinese hardware with the attendant security risks, should be a spur to restart conversations in Indian politics on the nature of economic incentives, the quality of our technical universities, labour relations and so on. In Indian states bordering Tibet and Xinjiang, infrastructure development can be sold more plausibly as a matter of both national and local interests and not limited to a trade-off between development and the environment, if there was more informed discussion and debate about Chinese security and economic policies. Similarly, with China's BRI gradually extending into Nepal, this will have implications for not just the Indian central government but also for the economies and polities of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that have the closest links to the Himalayan nation. Therefore, the earlier China is addressed openly and rationally as an issue of concern in Indian elections, the better prepared Indias politicians and people will be. British car brand MG Motor has announced that its second product for the Indian market will be a fully electric vehicle and will be launched commercially in the first half of 2020. "MG will launch a pure-electric SUV in India. The pure electric SUV will be a breakthrough chapter in the EV space in India, being one of its kind in the market," said Michael Yang, Executive Director of International Business, SAIC Motor & President of SAIC Motor International Company. SAIC owns MG Motor. MG Motors electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) is possibly the second of its kind after Indias second largest passenger vehicle maker Hyundai gets ready to retail the Kona electric SUV in second half of 2019. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki will also launch its first electric vehicle in 2020. MG Motors first for India vehicle will roll out from its Halol plant in Gujarat in the second quarter of next year. The new SUV will be larger than the Hyundai Creta with a price point that is expected to be competitive considering the 80 percent localization on the model promised by the company. The company has gone for a top-down approach for India wherein the more expensive models will be rolled out first followed by the cheaper models at later stages. Internet and artificial intelligence could play a critical role in helping the auto maker's products differentiate from the rest. "With cars getting transformed with internet, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing etc. MG can take advantage of this transformation and will use it as its key differentiator, enabling it to stand out from the crowd," Yang added. MG Motor India is in the process of finalizing around 45 dealer partners to begin its sales next year, with around 100 touch points across India in the first phase. The car maker will hire close to 1,500 employees by the end of 2019, compared to the strength of 300 employees at present. "As part of our commitment to this market, we are fast ramping up all our pre-launch activities, beginning with product roadshows for consumers in India next month. This will be followed by various brand-awareness initiatives to get closer to our prospective customers,"said Rajeev Chaba, President & Managing Director, MG Motor India. "All our products will be designed and engineered in UK and China with the support of Indian engineers," Chaba added. The current capacity at the Halol manufacturing facility stands at 80,000 units per annum. This will be expanded to 2 lakh units going forward, depending on the requirement. Donald Trump President Donald Trump has warned that there will be consequences for illegally coming into the US, asserting that he wants all the immigration laws, which have become a "laughing stock" globally, to be changed. In an interview with CBS News' '60 Minutes', Trump said that America's immigration laws have become a laughing stock globally. "Really what we want to do is change the immigration laws, because they were a laughing stock all over the world," he said, a day after he pushed for merit-based immigration. Trump on Saturday said that he wants people with merit to enter the US, a move that can help technology professionals from countries such as India. Asked whether the Trump administration would consider reintroducing some form of its family separation policy, which forcibly separated migrant children from their parents for months, he said he wanted "all the laws changed." "There have to be consequences for coming into our country illegally. And part of the reason, I have to blame myself, the economy is so strong that everybody wants to come into the United States," he said in the interview. The Washington Post reported on Friday that the White House was reconsidering a policy known as "zero tolerance" that caused nearly 3,000 children to be taken from their caregivers and placed in federal custody after they were apprehended crossing the border earlier this year. A day early at a rally in Kentucky, Trump accused the Democrats of supporting a policy that lets illegal immigrants come in. "The only immigration policy Democrats support is catch and release. How about that one? You catch a criminal thug, you take their name, and then you release them, say please show up in five years to court. Now, number one, it's ridiculous. Number two, they never show up. What a mess," he said. "We have the dumbest immigration laws in the world. The world laughs at us, but we're getting them changed," he told his cheering supporters. The new platform of the Democrat Party, he alleged, is radical socialism and it's open borders. "Democrats want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and they want to turn America into a giant sanctuary for criminal aliens and MS-13 thugs," he said. "Republicans believe our country should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens," he said. "One by one, we are finding the illegal alien criminals, predators, drug dealers, MS-13 killers, and we are sending them back home. We are liberating America's cities and towns. That's what we're doing," Trump said. "I want people to come into our country on a merit-based system. And I want them to help all of the great companies that are moving back into the United States. They're moving to Michigan, they're moving to Ohio, they're moving to Pennsylvania, they're moving to North and South Carolina. They're coming in. They're moving to Florida. And, yes, they're moving into Kentucky," Trump said. US President Donald Trump on October 15 dispatched US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Saudi Arabia's King Salman over the unexplained disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and raised the possibility that "rogue killers" could have been responsible. Trump said he spoke to the Saudi king for about 20 minutes about Khashoggi, who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, and that it sounded like neither the king nor Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had knowledge about the incident. Turkish sources have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the building and his body removed, allegations that Riyadh dismisses as baseless. "I sounded to me like maybe there could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" Trump told reporters at the White House. He offered no evidence for why he thought rogue killers might be involved. Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, the US State Department said, "The president has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi," department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. "We are going to leave nothing uncovered," Trump told reporters. Salman's denial, however, "could not have been stronger," he added. At the weekend, Trump threatened "severe punishment" for Riyadh if it turned out Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi authorities and a legal resident of the United States, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia, in turn, threatened to retaliate. But Trump has said he is wary of halting US military sales to Saudi Arabia over the incident. Earlier on October 15, Salman ordered an internal probe into Khashoggi's disappearance while a joint Turkish-Saudi team was set to search the consulate. Trump said the king told him that the two countries were working very closely on the case. Pakistan's President-elect Arif Alvi Pakistan President Arif Alvi said that the strategic stability in South Asia is being threatened by the offensive posture and induction of lethal weapons by India. Alvi said that nobody should doubt Pakistan's capability to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty, Radio Pakistan reported. "Discriminatory exemptions by certain countries for the supply of nuclear technology and supply of advanced military hardware to our neighbour has further complicated the regional security and undermined the credibility of non-proliferation regime," the report said. The comments of the President, who is one of the founding members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, came while addressing an international conference on 'Global Non Proliferation Regime: Challenges and Response' by the Strategic Studies Institute. Pakistan is committed to maintaining strategic stability in the region and will continue to demonstrate restraint and responsibility, he said. Alvi urged the international community to take notice of talk of "surgical strikes" and "limited war", saying such a posture just tends to only up the ante. Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba was severely hit in the cross-LoC surgical strikes on terror launch pads carried out by the Indian Army with assessment reports of radio intercepts indicating that around 20 of its militants were killed. Alvi, without naming India, said that the proponents of such (surgical strikes and limited war) fantasies will bear the responsibility of any consequences. He hoped that good sense will prevail and that both Pakistan and India agree on the framework for strategic stability. The President, however regretted that "our postures for peace have been reciprocated with belligerence". He said Pakistan has relentlessly pursued the objective of keeping South Asia free of nuclear weapons despite the fact that in 1974, detonation had taken place in the region. "Our proposals for nuclear nonproliferation are well documented," Alvi claimed. He said the nuclear tests by India in 1998 ended any prospects for nuclear free zone in South Asia. "We were forced to respond to the nuclear tests to maintain the strategic balance in the region," he said. Alvi said that Pakistan has not given up the pursuit of meaningful engagement with India for confidence building measures, avoidance of arms race and risk reduction. He said both the countries need to save on arms and spend on the welfare of the poor people. Pakistan's proposal for a strategic restraint regime encompassing conflict resolution and maintaining conventional balance can provide a good basis for regional peace and security, the President said. He pointed out that the orientation of Pakistan's nuclear programme is civilian. "We have a complete programme to hardness peaceful uses of nuclear energy," he claimed. Alvi said Pakistan which has applied for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has a strong case keeping in view its efforts and contributions to non-proliferation. He also called for the resolution of lingering disputes including that of Jammu and Kashmir for the world peace at large, the report said. An investor monitors a screen displaying stock information at the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia January 18, 2016. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser - D1BESHWAQVAA Saudi Arabia on Sunday threatened to retaliate for any sanctions imposed against it after President Donald Trump said the oil-rich kingdom deserves "severe punishment" if it is responsible for the disappearance and suspected murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. The warning from the world's top oil exporter came after a turbulent day on the Saudi stock exchange, which plunged as much as 7 percent at one point. The statement was issued as international concern grew over the writer who vanished on a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over a week ago. American lawmakers threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a "credible investigation" into Khashoggi's disappearance. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations "baseless" but has not offered any evidence Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Already, international business leaders are pulling out of the kingdom's upcoming investment forum, a high-profile event known as "Davos in the Desert," and the sell-off on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange showed that investors are uneasy. The exchange dropped by over 500 points, then clawed back some of the losses, ending the day down 264 points, or more than 4 percent. Of 188 stocks traded on the exchange, 179 ended the day with a loss. "Something this big would definitely spook investors, and Saudi just opened up for foreign direct investment, so that was big," said Issam Kassabieh, a financial analyst at Dubai-based firm Menacorp Finance. "Investors do not feel solid in Saudi yet, so it's easy for them to take back their funds." In an interview scheduled to air Sunday, Trump told CBS' "60 Minutes" that Saudi Arabia would face strong consequences if involved in Khashoggi's disappearance. "There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we're going to have to see," Trump said. "We're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment." But the president has also said "we would be punishing ourselves" by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The sales are a "tremendous order for our companies," and if the Saudis don't buy their weaponry from the US, they will get it from others, he said. In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom warned that if it "receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy." "The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations," the statement said. The statement did not elaborate. However, a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news network suggested Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around $80 a barrel, and Trump has criticized OPEC and Saudi Arabia over rising prices. "If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," Turki Aldakhil wrote. It's unclear, however, whether Saudi Arabia would be willing to unilaterally cut production. Aldakhil added that Saudi arms purchases from the US and other trade could be at risk as well. "The truth is that if Washington imposes sanctions on Riyadh, it will stab its own economy to death, even though it thinks that it is stabbing only Riyadh!" he wrote. Prince Mohammed has aggressively pitched the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. But Khashoggi's disappearance has led several business leaders and media outlets to back out of the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh called the Future Investment Initiative. They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Counselor Ahmed Hafez, said Egypt is following with concern the repercussions of the case of Khashoggi, and stressed the importance of revealing the truth of the matter through a transparent investigation, while emphasizing the gravity of pre-empting investigations and directing groundless accusations. Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post about Saudi Arabia, criticizing its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of women's rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince. A senior woman crew member fell off an Air India plane at the airport here as it was preparing for a flight to New Delhi, official sources said on Monday. The incident occurred at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) when the Mumbai-Delhi flight AI-864 was preparing for departure shortly before 7 a.m. The 53-year-old air-hostess, identified as Harsha Lobo, who was closing the door for the pushback prior to taxing, suddenly fell from the aircraft onto the hard tarmac several metres below. Some ground crew members immediately rushed Lobo to the Nanavati Hospital. The national carrier later said that she had suffered injuries to her legs and termed the incident as "unfortunate". "In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (members) Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing 777 aircraft door while closing it," the airline statement said. The flight departed for Delhi after over an hour's delay. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article. Considering there are 50 lakh public information officers and 60 lakh citizens asking for information, the Right to Information (RTI) Act in India can be considered as successful, said Prof Sridhar Acharyulu, Central Information Commissioner. Speaking at a jointly held function of Moneylife Foundations RTI Centre and Pune Shramik Patrakar Sangh, to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the RTI Act, Prof Acharyulu also stated that an RTI application is the most affordable public interest litigation (PIL) which can be filed for just Rs10! Prof Acharyulu empowered the audience by providing tips on how and why more and more citizens should use RTI, which in turn will effectively pressurise public authorities to give out information. A vibrant citizenry will empower RTI leading to transparency, he pointed out. He, however, urged the citizens, to do a lot of research and make such a strong RTI application that it will be difficult for the public authority to deny information. Acknowledging the tireless work of many RTI activists across the country, Prof Acharyulu said that they study the issue so deeply that they have more knowledge about it than does a government officer of that public authority who should be the most equipped with all the information. Giving an example he said, I know of an RTI activist in Delhi who is so thorough in the knowledge of the transport department that relevant government officers bank on him for any information that they may not have. He urged RTI activists to become experts in the particular area that they are seeking information in, and be in command of the information that may be given or denied. Prof Acharyulu also dwelt on the amendments proposed to the RTI Act, which he said are disastrous as they pertain to reduction of the status of the Information Commissions, and worse, kill the independence of the State Information Commissions. The `Right to Privacy Bill he said, is the most undemocratic as it will strangulate our freedom of speech, in more ways than one. Prof Acharyulu also warned that if this Bill becomes an Act, RTI will be destroyed as some of the clauses therein clash with the dissemination of information under the RTI Act and information commissioners will be left battling with their duty to give information at one end and the pressure to subvert information at the other end by referring to the Right to Privacy Act. The Right to Privacy, if it is implemented, he said, would mean a continuous state of emergency for the citizens. Prof Acharyulu also dwelt upon the killings of RTI activists across the country which he said have considerably reduced after CICs collective decision that ``even after an appellants death; the appeal doesnt die. All information sought by the late RTI applicant should be suo motu put up by the relevant public authority. He urged activists to move in groups and be in groups while seeking information so that there is lesser danger and threat by the untoward elements who do not want information to come out in the open. Several journalists and eminent RTI activists of Pune attended the function. They included Vijay Kumbhar, Vivek Velankar, Jugal Rathi, Qaneez Sukhrani, Suresh Karve, Vinod Jain and VR Kamlapurkar, amongst others. Moneylife Foundations RTI Centre will continue to have regular RTI events in Pune city. We will keep you posted. Midas Touch Investors' Association (Midas Touch), a well-known investor organisation, has requested Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, for detailed investigation in the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) mess by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). According to Virendra Jain, President of Midas Touch, the investigation ordered by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) may not be able to cover the entire sweep of scam as IL&FS is a large systemically important non-deposit accepting core investment company of the country, and is regulated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other regulators. In such scenario, "the remit of SFIO, in our view, is limited and would not encompass inquiry and investigation, which may be required under other areas of administration under the present scenario. In view of the present circumstances, it may be appropriate that an inquiry and investigation to be undertaken by CBI be ordered. The SFIO investigation already ordered may supplement CBI probe," Mr Jain says in a letter. Midas Touch says there is a need to carry out forensic audit of accounts of entire 348 group companies of IL&FS and fix accountability for dereliction of duty by the board of directors, the auditors, credit rating agencies, subscribers to its debt paper and all the respective regulators as well as to retrieve money and assets by recovering ill-gotten wealth from its (erstwhile) chief executive officers, managers, personnel and all those who benefited. Here are the demands made by Midas Touch in its letter to the finance minister... 1) To order an inquiry and investigation by CBI in the entire gamut of issues relating to IL&FS and its 348 subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures; 2) To fix accountability for dereliction of duty by the chief executives, board of directors, the auditors, the credit rating agencies, the subscribers to its debt paper and all the respective regulators; 3) A time-bound cash-in-cash-out statement of all the 348 entities in the IL&FS fold. This can be done by independent auditors. This will clearly identify the holes. 4) A forensic audit to follow the money trail from IL&FS and its 348 direct or indirect subsidiaries and associates, to establish the quantum and destination of siphoned funds and assets illegally transferred through any device. 5) A forensic audit to follow the money trail from IL&FS and its 348 direct and indirect subsidiaries and associates, to their chief executive officers, managing directors, directors, managers, key employees and their families, relatives and other entities to establish the quantum and destination of siphoned funds, ill-gotten gains and assets illegally transferred through any device. 6) Confiscation, recovery and restoration to IL&FS and its subsidiaries of all ill-gotten gains, funds siphoned off and assets diverted through any device. 7) An immediate impounding of passports of key management personnel (this number now should may be anywhere between 50 and 75 in the group) and get them to submit a list of their assets vide a sworn affidavit (which can then be prevented from alienation without the express permission of the court). Constituents of employee wellbeing comprise: physical, mental, emotional and financial. Occupational health has long been a point of debate in corporate circles that are focused on mental and physical health. Making wellness a priority at the workplace creates a good culture, considering that employees spend up to 60 per cent of their waking hours at work. For employers, a wellness program can reap a bouquet of benefits, including reduced healthcare costs, lower insurance premium, lesser absenteeism and better employee productivity. There is evidence to conclude that employees in companies that have focus on wellness are likely to foster a productive workforce. Constituents of employee wellbeing comprise: physical, mental, emotional, financial. All these issues get accentuated at workplace. YouGov conducted a survey of 3000 working people in the UK. The single most important factor that 60 per cent respondents said impacted their mental health was work related stress. While 53 per cent were open to speaking about the issues, a significant percentage of those interviewed were afraid of serious repercussions. Surprisingly, in the sample about 15 per cent believed they will be targeted with dismissal, demotion or disciplinary action if they revealed any mental health issues. Probably one of the most ignored aspects of wellness is financial which affects mental health. Those corporations that integrate wellness programs into their employee benefit repertoire, conduct programs for short-term and long-term results, some of which include financial education, lifestyle changes, stress reduction and mental wellness will have a better retention rate. Mental wellness equals employee wellbeing While physical health has formed the foundation for employee welfare for decades, employees mental wellness is now being recognized as an equally important parameter at the workplace. It is a total of raising awareness combined with special initiatives that help promote mental wellbeing for employees and consequently their families. Such initiatives include a whole spectrum of activities, like health education classes, counselling sessions, and financial advisory programs that promote mental wellness too. All this leads to a holistic approach in ensuring an employees wellbeing. Merits of wellness programs While wellness programs have proven to augment employee satisfaction and morale, their success essentially pivots on engagement levels. Higher the engagement, increased likelihood that the program will result in change. Many companies incentivise employees for partaking in wellness programs or achieving health milestones. For example, first time parents- to- be are put through a program on Steps to welcome your baby and nurture the new family member. Similarly, financial wellness as an important component in an individuals mental wellbeing can be addressed through Tips to balance cash flow while investing and so on. Some of the merit of wellness programs can be enumerated as: Enhanced productivity Good health can result in more active waking hours, better mental agility and an enhanced ability to work smart. It can also lead to fewer illnesses, and in turn, less medical leave. Historically, healthier employees have demonstrated higher productivity, equating to better company performance and saved costs. Reduced healthcare costs Healthcare costs in a company can be minimized with reduced absenteeism. Those employees who are prone to risk factors like excess weight, smoking and alcohol consumption tend towards hypertension and diabetes, among other medical conditions. These employees then become expensive to insure, so curbing such conditions at the outset can lead to a reduced outlay in the long run. Lower absenteeism Better health can translate to lower absenteeism, because healthy employees are less likely to opt for medical leave to care for themselves or family members. The more productive days a company can get, the more likely they are to outperform previous years records. Better employee morale A workplace that is committed to employee wellbeing not only cultivates high morale amongst its employees, it is more likely to be perceived more likely to be perceived as a desirable employer, boosting brand equity and attracting the best talent. A commitment to employee health can also strengthen morale and reduce attrition. Maintaining wellness at workplace Apart from increased awareness among employers, employee wellness has been given fresh impetus by health tech startups which have helmed a brand-new segment of digital healthcare services for organizations, serving as a single touchpoint for employee health benefits activities. There are a few health tech startups such as ours that provide a digital platform access to HR departments in corporates that can track the welfare of their employees. Anonymised, aggregated data on health aspects can throw up insights on how people are progressing. Focus on employee health can do wonders for employers and employees. With new-age healthcare touchpoints aiding businesses in caring for employees overall wellbeing, a digital platform providing business intelligence, care planning standards, and quality execution are imminent and the only way ahead! Mis-selling of insurance policies by banks (bancassurance channel) is on the rise, thanks to high commissions and business links. Several banks have invested in life insurance companies and, hence, there is a push for selling policies to bank customers. However, bank officers are now demanding that top management be restricted from setting targets for bank employees to cross-sell insurance products to customers. "With utter dismay, we have found that no action has been initiated from any of the authorities till date to try to curb this menace of cross-selling in banks, although we sent a letter with all the details way back in August 2017. Even today, the situation is the same, if not worsened," says a letter from All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC). The Confederation had sent a letter to Indian Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) chairman on 3 August 2017. In this letter, DT Franco, the then general secretary of AIBOC had stated, "Instead of setting unrealistic 'cross selling' targets for its employees and officers, the bank management would do well to focus on its core banking areas such that customer trust is reinstalled. Also, just in case any 'cross selling' activity is tried upon, the welfare of the bank and its customers should be kept in mind instead of just incentive mongering on the part of some self-centred officials." The letter provides clear proof of how Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continues to ignore consumers and non-government organisations (NGOs) which have protested against the mis-selling of insurance policies by banks without regard to customer harassment. The travails of bank officers forced to meet targets and the cost of selling insurance are also issues brought out in the letter. Furthermore, the bank staff are specifically trained and recruited to discharge only banking services. They have neither the training nor the technical knowledge to even understand the business of insurance and all its nitty-gritties, let alone explain that to customers, the AIBOC letter says referring to observations made by RBI after making incognito visits to some of the branches of public and private sector banks. (i) In some branches, there are no qualified / trained staff to market the insurance products; (ii) No record of business sourced because of third parties is maintained by the branches / offices; (iii) No specific due diligence on the needs and capabilities of the customer is being undertaken and recorded in most branches, no record of due diligence reports were available at most of the branches; (iv) Suitability and appropriateness of the product to the requirements / profile of the customer was not examined by some of the branches, the objective of sales appeared to be mostly to achieve the targets; (v) It could not be verified whether detailed terms and conditions of the policy and charges were explained to the customers; (vi) In a few branches, premium for the policy was debited to the customer's account without written mandate of the customer; (vii) Majority of the branches did not inform the customers about the availability of similar products from other service-providers; (viii) Cross-selling of the Third party product was made mandatory in a few banks as part of terms and conditions of their own product; (ix) Many bank branches did not give the customers the option to avail products from other service-providers and insisted for insurance cover only from Companies with whom the Banks have a tie up; (x) A few bank branches received complaints from customers regarding forced selling / mis-selling of third-party products, but most bank branches do not have appropriate mechanism to capture such complaints; and (xi) There was no separate system for recording complaints on the sale of third-party products by the bank branches. It is not surprising, then, that mis-selling of insurance is so rampant in our country. How can somebody, who is himself largely ignorant of the nuances of insurance be expected to provide sound advice to all customers? Read: Moneylife Foundation memorandum to RBI on mis-selling by banks ) Moneylife has been reporting such rampant mis-selling for the last several years. After receiving numerous such complaints about banks cross-selling risky investment products, many of which are from senior citizens, in April 2013, Moneylife Foundation took up this issue with the RBI (RBI). The Memorandum, asked RBI to free the system of mis-selling of financial products by bankers, misusing the savers trust. ( Over the past few years, we have heard numerous such cases where banks have used the financial information of their clients and have exploited this to sell products that more often than not, are not suited to the clients needs. Such hard-selling bankers are aptly described as banksters these days, operating with a licence to cheat from top management. Banks and insurance companies have unrealistic monthly targets which often leads to mis-selling of policies to those who are easy targets. Insurance policies are sold by banks when the customers may think they are investing in a fixed deposit (FD) or ELSS (equity linked saving scheme). Regular premium policies are still being sold when bank customers think they are buying single-premium policy with no further obligation to pay every year. Single-premium policies usually have cover less than 10 times the premium. It means that the maturity amount is taxable, but customers may not even realise it until the policy deducts tax at source on the maturity amount. Insurance policies are sold in the name of son or daughter or sometimes even in the name of grandchildren when senior citizen customers do not qualify due to age limit. Senior citizens with comfortable savings are being systematically targeted and defrauded by insurance companies. What is worse, this organised loot is done by relationship managers of the best banks and their insurance associates, with the top management turning a blind eye to the fraud. The mis-selling is almost like a template. Read: How Insurance Mis-selling Defrauds Senior Citizens ) The bank relationship manager convinces the senior citizen to buy a bunch of policiesoften as a gift for children and grandchildren. These policies are portrayed as fixed deposits with insurance benefits but are, in fact, policies requiring payment of hefty annual premiums. Consequently, the annual premiums range from Rs1 lakh to Rs5 lakh, which the seniors are unable to pay and the policies lapse. ( A few years ago, a dubious relationship manager of ICICI Banks Pune branch systematically ripped off a number of senior citizens by conning them into buying multiple, single-premium insurance policies as a succession planning exercise where the beneficiaries were the children and grandchildren. In one case, 12 policies sold to an 80-year-old totalled over Rs62 lakh. His brother, 84, was sold several policies adding to over Rs1 crore. An 86-year-old had his signature forged in policy documents. A 77-year-old doctor was sold a single-premium policy of Rs70 lakh and learnt that she was conned; she needed to make another five instalments of Rs70 lakh or lose everything. The Bank conducted an inquiry and has paid back two of the victims after Moneylifes intervention. Banks sell more of traditional insurance products for commissions. Traditional insurance products are frontloaded with 35% to 40% first-year commission. It is high time IRDAI revamps traditional products by reducing the first-year commission. Traditional insurance products also have pathetic surrender value. Customers lose out with traditional products whether they continue paying premium or not. The RBI and IRDAI are fully aware of problems as well as solutions. Here are demands put forth by AIBOC... To deposit all the commissions / incentives earned, in the Commission Account of the Bank rather than shelling out the money to individuals and thus to encourage them engage in more and more mis-selling. Cross-selling should not carry weightage in the appraisal of top executives to staff to avoid force selling. A separate vertical should be created for cross-selling so that the public sector banks (PSBs) do not shift its focus from core activities and thereby contribute to the growth of the nation and remain viable. The earning on account of commission on cross-selling should also find a place in public domain for all public servants as per the Lok Pal bill in order to maintain total transparency and comply with the govt. guidelines. A detailed investigation is carried out by investigating agencies such as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), IRDA, and RBI to keep the banking system transparent, risk free and confidence of the customers on the PSBs remain intact. To stop all such lavish functions at the banks cost, which includes cocktail dinners, foreign / inland tours. You may also want to read In view of the space crunch and probable disturbances arising out of defiling by miscreants, the Maharashtra government has banned installation of statutes of leaders, national or local icon in government offices and the guest houses run by the state public works department (PWD) with immediate effect. A notification issued by the PWD on 11 October 2018 stated that the need for more space for expansion and public utility projects could occur anytime and if the available space is already occupied by statues, the government would be forced to hire land on rent from private parties for public projects. Besides, the statues are also required to be guarded to prevent their being defiled by the miscreants. Such unpredictable agitations also vitiate the atmosphere and put a burden on the administrative machinery. As such, henceforth no statues will be allowed on the premises, compounds of the government guest houses and other offices. There are nearly 400 guest houses in Maharashtra and a sizable number of government and semi-government offices maintained by the PWD throughout the state. On a fair estimate about one lakh statues are located in 534 towns and 40,000 villages in 35 districts in the state. They include the statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr BR Ambedkar, Mahatama Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Lokmanya Tilak, Veer Savarkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule etc. In Mumbai alone there are over 40 statues of national and international icons including Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Swami Vivekanand, Jamsetji Tata and King Edward VII of UK. The state government has already made it mandatory for those planning to erect a statue of national or local icons and leaders, to submit a clearance from the police, stating clearly that any minority community living in the locality or the local residents are not opposed to the move. This pre-condition, was recently introduced by the general administration department headed by the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, after an incident involving pulling down of a statue of Marathi poet and playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari at Punes Shambhaji Udyan. On 3rd January this year, supporters of the Sambhaji Brigade had pulled down the statue, claiming that Gadkaris books painted Sambhaji Maharaj in poor light. There are 21 guiding principles for installation of statues. As per these principles, the local police are required to ascertain that installation of any statue will not lead to escalation of local or communal tension. The guidelines also prohibit installation of the statue of a particular icon or a leader within 2 km of an existing statue of the same person. Besides the no-objection certificate (NOC) from police, those erecting the statue would also require a separate NOC from the urban or the rural local body stating that the project will not impact traffic movement and local aesthetics. The powers to approve installation of statues have been decentralised at the collector level. As per the above guidelines, a person cannot install a statue in his/her home or a private organisation cannot install a statue in its premises if some minority community in the locality is opposed to it. The then Cong-NCP government had formulated similar policy in 2005. However, it did not require an explicit no objection from minorities, rather it said that the wishes of minorities should be mentioned in the NOC. Which means that as per the old policy, an NOC could be given for a statue even if a minority community was opposed to it. Also, unlike the latest policy, private land was left out of the scope of the 2005 policy. Interestingly Maharashtra government is in the process of installing a 210 meter tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea at an estimated cost of Rs3,600 crore. This particular project seems to be safe since the latest GR may not be applied retrospectively to it. With a massive volume of trading happening around it, Eden Innovations [ASX:EDE] share price has soared 13.1% today. As we have covered recently, Eden Innovations share price has been flying up despite the ASX looking at it with some suspicion. Source: marketindex.com.au Recently, the ASX wrote a please explain letter to the company over the companys share price appearing to go up with no relevant announcements to its name. Eden Innovations isnt the only graphene stock that could rise; have a look at our free report covering other graphene plays here. Eden Innovations stock rises on potential growth in US orders The company has responded to the queries by pointing to its announcement of an increase in US orders. These orders could be set to grow from US infrastructure spending. Even if the Democrats come to power in the US mid-terms, Trump may strike an infrastructure deal with them. Eden Innovations flagship product is a graphene enhance concrete admixture called EdenCrete, which makes concrete significantly more durable and weather-resistant. Graphene is a potentially ground-breaking material that could come to play a dominant role in our lives in the years to come. Eden Innovations isnt the only graphene stock that could rise; have a look at our free report covering other graphene plays here. Eden Innovations stock rises on potential growth in US orders The company has responded to the queries by pointing to its announcement of an increase in US orders. These orders could be set to grow from US infrastructure spending. Even if the Democrats come to power in the US mid-terms, Trump may strike an infrastructure deal with them. Eden Innovations flagship product is a graphene enhance concrete admixture called EdenCrete, which makes concrete significantly more durable and weather-resistant. Graphene is a potentially ground-breaking material that could come to play a dominant role in our lives in the years to come. Graphenes unique properties One scientist compared graphene with other materials to describe its properties: To put this in perspective, graphene by weight is hundreds of times stronger than steel. Ive seen one calculation that one sheet of graphene, which is one atom-layer thick, you could put an elephant on it and it wouldnt break. Another described government involvement in graphene research: Just about all of the economic superpowers across the globe have some sort of focus on graphene. I mean, China, Britain, Russia, India, US, Ireland, and Germany all have some sort of focus on the national level that are supporting university and entrepreneurial efforts to get graphene off the ground because whoever cracks that code first is really going to have a major economic leg up across the global market. Comments such as these support the growing excitement surrounding graphene and graphene stocks. Eden Innovation could be uniquely positioned to benefit from any further growth in this excitement. Regards, Ryan Dinse, For Money Morning PS: If you think graphene excitement could take off in the coming years you should check out this free report by Money Mornings Harje Ronngard on the state of play for graphene stocks. Download it here for free. The kereru has taken out this year's Bird of the Year competition. Collecting a total of 5833 votes, the kereru cooed its way to the top of the voting early, and managed to cling to the lead against strong competition from the kakapo and the kaki. The kereru campaign was led by a strong team this year, including Green MP Chloe Swarbrick, who helped to create memes to gather support for the native wood pigeon. Team kereru co-campaigner Tim Onnes thanked New Zealanders for voting "overwhelmingly for change." "It has been a long and arduous campaign," he said, "and we couldn't have done it without their support". Even Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern broke her month-long Twitter silence to congratulate the newly crowned kereru. While there is no clarity over the motive, the Gamdevi police has registered a case. Mumbai: A gang of around six persons attacked the journalist of a news channel over unknown reasons near his Gamdevi residence soon after he alighted from a taxi in the early hours of Sunday. The pre-planned attack targeted Herman Gomes after he returned from Bandra, and the accused assaulted him on his face with knuckle-dusters. While there is no clarity over the motive, the Gamdevi police has registered a case. The incident took place around 1.30 am on August Kranti Marg, when Gomes was walking towards his home. The accused persons were waiting and after spotting Gomes and his friend, they launched an attack on him and fled from the spot. Soon after the attack, when I reached the police station in blood-soaked clothes and limbs to report the incident, one of the officers asked me for evidence instead of acting swiftly and taking cognisance of it. It was shocking to witness this, said Gomes. He said he was clueless as to the motive behind the attack. Me and my friend sustained injuries and they even took away my friends phone. Ive got six stitches under my eye. Four of the assailants were behind me and all of them were youngsters. They wanted to damage my eye and hence, continued to assault me there, Gomes. The police meanwhile has stated that it is looking for the accused based on the description given by the journalist. We are scanning the CCTV camera footage and are also using other means to identify the attackers. The motive is unclear as of now, said Dnyneshwar Chavan, deputy commissioner of police. The state government has also intervened after criticism about the polices lackadaisical attitude. The chief ministers office said, Senior police officers have been asked to look into both cases. Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. by Vladimir Rozanskij The President of the Constitutional Court Valerij Zorkin pushes for a reform creating a non-elective charge of "leader of the nation", a synthesis of all the aspirations of the Russian people. The figure head would defend Russian sovereignty against sanctions, individual liberalism and international courts such as the Hague Human Rights Tribunal. Putin gets ready. Moscow (AsiaNews) The President of the Constitutional Court Valerij Zorkin, from the outset the greatest guardian of Putinism, has proposed a constitutional reform that contemplates the non-elective position of "leader of the nation", in practice an investiture of a sovereign nature. Already at the head of the Constitutional Court of Russia under Yetsyn in 1991-1993, Zorkin (pictured together with his president) distinguished himself as the only barrier to the complete dissolution of the Soviet system: he broke several legal obstacles to the privatizations of the early post-communist years; he tried to limit the sale of natural resources abroad; with a sensational sentence of 1992 he managed to save the base of the Communist Party from Yeltsins liquidation allowing it to remain in the political arena, even if in a reduced form. In an article entitled "Letter and Spirit of the Constitution" published in the Rossiskaja Gazeta of 9 October, but re-published and commented on by all the Russian media in recent days, the top Russian jurist proposes to "respond to the concerns and expectations of the population" and to requests for changes with a series of "punctual reforms" of the constitutional charter, which guarantee "greater social justice", the effectiveness of the political system passing to a two-party scheme, and above all to curb "the expansion of the extra-national regulation of conflicts", as for example with the judgments of the Court of Human Rights in The Hague. Essentially, it is a further "sovereign" interpretation of the legal and institutional structure of the State, on which Zorkin has always insisted. Already in 2016, faced with the "invasive" measures of international courts and the resurgence of sanctions against Russia, he affirmed that "the global legal system is heading for catastrophe, as the Apostle Paul had already announced". In particular, Zorkin's condemnation is directed to the excesses of the "defense of human rights, which leads to the degradation of the moral solidity of society and destroys its religious identity". In Zorkin's opinion, the defense of "every kind of minority" causes considerable damage to all the other social components. At a conference in Serbia in 2014, he stated that "the old democrats, inspired by the ideals of liberalism, continue to propose new forms of defense of all types of minority, and they often ignore the objections of their own citizens, who are concerned about the consequences of these decisions ". In his public speeches and in university lectures, the jurist has always openly supported the priority of Russian law over the international one, a thesis that provided the theoretical justification of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and of various other Russian interventions on the international scene. Even agreements with foreign countries, in fact, cannot in his opinion constitute a delegation to others of Russian sovereignty. In internal politics Zorkin proposes an institutional form that "synthesizes the idea of individual freedom with social solidarity" that corresponds as much as possible to the "mentality of the Russian people". Recalling the injustices of the privatizations of the 1990s, which caused social imbalances and resentments, in his opinion "we need a correction of the individualistic-liberal approach, in favor of the solidarity collectivism inherent in the Russian soul". This is also because "the model of representative liberal democracy, characteristic for the majority of developed countries, as recognized by the major politicians of Europe and America, today is no longer able to face the challenges of contemporary society". According to Zorkin, "Russian natural collectivism" is tempered "by the severe climate of nature, by innumerable defensive wars, by the need to unite a multitude of peoples and nationalities in the common destiny of our land". Combining democracy and differences, collectivism and competition, according to the president of the Russian constitutional court, is possible only if the role of the "national leader for life" is clearly identified, the supreme synthesis of all the aspirations of the Russian people. Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, has denied that the reform is inspired by the presidential administration itself: "We believe - he said - that Zorkin's article is only an expert analysis of an on the subject". A total of nearly $2.39 million has been invested by the federal and Saskatchewan governments for the construction and maintenance of affordable housing units in five communities across the province. The allocation is part of the 10-year, $40-billion National Housing Strategy (NHS), which aims to create 100,000 new housing units, repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units, and help 530,000 families escape housing need, thus reducing chronic homelessness by an estimated 50%. Of the Saskatchewan investment, $570,000 will go to the non-profit group Gabriel Housing Corporation in Regina. Meanwhile, $470,000 is set aside for Oxford House, also in Regina. In conjunction with the Canadian Mortgage Broker Association Atlantic Canada conference and trade show, the inaugural Women in the Mortgage Industry Awards recognized key industry players committed to shattering glass ceilings. A crucial component of WIMI was the Mentors that Matter panel, moderated by Doreen Walsh, regional sales manager for Ontario and Atlantic Canada for First National Financial, during which panellists discussed war stories from the trenches and leadership qualities. The honesty of the panel struck me, said Walsh. The men shared how they much embrace and encourage their daughters, as well as the millennials surrounding them, to go forward and pursue their careers. When I looked around, every audience member was engaged. They absorbed everything they heard, and hopefully they can implement some of these insights into their personal or business lives. With US Census Bureau data showing the highest share of immigrants since 1910, a new analysis shows where foreign-born homeowners are most prolific and why. Overall, 2017 data shows that 13.7% of the US population was foreign born and LendingTrees report reveals that cities with the largest share have higher home prices. Prices in the top 10 cities for foreign-born owners average $491,750 compared to $167,560 for the bottom 10. 3 1 of 3 Nine Energy Service Inc., Chron100IPOs / Nine Energy Service Inc. Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael Ciaglo/Staff Show More Show Less 3 of 3 The Houston oilfield services company Nine Energy Service said Monday it is buying Magnum Oil Tools for nearly $500 million in a continuation of its recent growth spurt. Nine, which went public earlier this year, said it's acquiring Magnum of Corpus Christi for the high-quality equipment it manufactures for oil and gas wells. The equipment and technology advantages will help Nine compete in tight labor markets like in West Texas' booming Permian Basin, the company said. Utilizing an entrepreneurial spirit, the compassion of a Baptist preacher and a background as a high school chemistry teacher, John Cavitt has turned his young company into the largest privately held well-flow management company in the nation. "I wanted a company that would monetize the human element. That's a good business model," said the former Midlander, who is founder and chief executive officer of Covenant Testing Technologies. Founded in late 2013 in Sugar Land, Covenant now employs about 1,100 in most of the nation's producing basins. The company's focus is on helping clients boost recovery from shales in the Permian Basin and Colorado, but with offices also in Laredo and Wyoming. "My ultimate focus, from the very beginning of my career, was to be able to offer empowering liberating, life-changing opportunities, whether it was for my students or as pastor at Alamo Heights," Cavitt said during a recent visit to Midland. "I've tried to create an empathetic, yet high-performance culture that's empowering but also with accountability," he said. It's that goal of empowering human capital at the well site and Covenant is working at 500 well sites right now that has helped the company grow, he said. "Empowering the right talent at the well site promotes service and excellence," he said. "It improves well performance and decreases the risk of incidents. Ultimately, that's the formula for success." One of the single best decisions he made was hiring a corporate chaplain, he said. "I've never seen the impact an individual has had as this man," he said, stressing that the chaplain does not proselytize but strives to help staff with problems that have nothing to do with their work, such as marriage issues or family tragedies. During the industry downturn, he said the company grew sequentially with revenues and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) each month. "I leveraged to grab as much talent and distressed assets as I could. That made us more attractive to talent," he said. He said his company acquired assets, not companies, "so we grew organically." While the company has grown into the largest privately held well-flow management company in the nation, Cavitt continues to seek opportunities. "You have to seize opportunities even though they take you out of your comfort zone," he said. That's why Covenant is looking to offer its clients services related to reservoir technology. "(We want) to help the client better understand their results," Cavitt said. The company offers terabytes of data to help clients better understand and unlock the resources held in reservoirs. Sand and water management may be big concerns for Permian Basin operators, but understanding reservoirs is important, "especially as operators drill tier one and move into more marginal locations," he said. "Understanding that complexity is important." The company is shifting efforts to building reservoir management but also production management, he said. "As companies in the Permian Basin have grown and deployed human assets, you have smart people outside the completions department coming up with good ideas. It's not just completions but geology and production," Cavitt said. "As operators get better at manufacturing wells, less attention is being paid to reservoirs, which are now more important, especially as Wall Street becomes more critical" of operators' focus on production volume growth over revenue growth and capital discipline, he said. Cavitt's path to the oil services industry began in his childhood. Even then, he said, he had an entrepreneurial spirit, starting businesses ranging from mowing lawns to snow cone stands. He found his way to the services industry via the father of one of his high school chemistry students, who was in the business and mentored him until he ultimately founded Covenant. Covenant, he said, is his "fantasy come true." by Mathias Hariyadi "The positive impact will result in 6.54 per cent economic growth in Bali province alone", said Minister Pandjaitan. Indonesian companies sign 19 important deals with foreign partners worth a US$ 13.1 billion. Private sector representatives held 2,000 meetings during summit. Jakarta (AsiaNews) The Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) in Indonesia have highlighted the countrys place on the international scene and given a significant boost to its economy. Delegations from 189 countries and 36,000 participants (finance ministers, governors of central banks, lawmakers, officials and experts) attended the gatherings (8-14 October) in Nusa Dua. In all, Indonesian companies signed 19 important deals with foreign partners, worth a total US$ 13.1 billion. For Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the excellent results will raise expectations vis-a-vis Morocco, the next host, and Saudi Arabia, where the G20 will soon meet. "Both countries have come to examine our organisation," the minister said. Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs General (Ret) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who organised the meetings, stresses that "the whole world recognises the success of the summit". The former commander of Indonesias counter-terrorism forces noted that it "will allow the country to attract more foreign investment", which the government will have to protect. "The positive impact will result in + 6.54 per cent economic growth in Bali province alone", added Pandjaitan. According to the minister, private sectors representatives held about 2,000 meetings. "The agreements signed during the Meetings cover various fields, including finance, infrastructure, prevention of natural disasters, e-commerce and tourism. Based on the World Banks 'Ease of doing business, Indonesias ranking went from the 102nd to the 72nd position. President Widodo has ordered us to rise above the 50th position, and we are working hard to reach that goal," Pandjaitan explained. The September 2018 report prepared by the World Bank states that over the past year the Indonesian GDP grew by 5.3 per cent, thanks to government policies and domestic demand. "We have to admit that the Bali event was strategic to promote our nation and its various assets", said Sri Adiningsih, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (Wantimpres), speaking to AsiaNews. For the expert, a professor of economics at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, the agreements signed by national companies is very significant. "The most important thing, she said, is the follow-up to the trade agreements in the near future. Today Indonesia has successfully regained international trust and is ready for new business with foreign partners." ALTON The Illinois Department of Transportation continued Monday to monitor state roadways affected by flooding. The department says flooding has or will require closure of state highways and ferries along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, as well as several creeks and streams. Over the next several days, we will provide updates, as warranted, when developments occur. Road closures announced Monday as flood waters continue to rise included Route 100 west of Route3 to Ski Lift Road in Grafton and Route 3 truck bypass (Water St.) in Chester. Route 96 in Calhoun County near Mozier and Brussels Ferry remains closed. In Alton, river levels are expected to crest at 26.7 feet Wednesday, safely below 29 feet, which is considerate a moderate flood level. River levels in Grafton are expected to hover in the moderate flood range most of the week, around 25 feet, before a rapid drop is expected to begin Thursday. Hardin flooding is expected to remain minor through the end of the week. More information is available at IDOTS website: http://www.idot.illinois.gov/home/Comm/emergency-road-closures for the latest information on roadway closures throughout Illinois. Detailed information on the Metro East is also available at http://apps.dot.illinois.gov/stl-traffic/. For IDOT District 8 updates on Twitter, please follow us at https://twitter.com/IDOTDistrict8. In Missouri, The National Weather Service says the Mississippi River is expected to crest early Tuesday in Hannibal at more than 8 feet (2.5 meters) above flood stage, inundating railroad tracks and several businesses in the southwest part of the city. Floodwalls also are expected to close as the river crests Tuesday in St. Louis and Friday in Cape Girardeau, although no serious flooding is expected in either city. The Missouri Department of Transportation says more than 50 roads are closed, mostly in the northeast part of the state. Along the Missouri River, water levels are falling quickly, easing pressure on levees that protect farmland. PITTSFIELD An early morning fight Sunday in the parking lot of a Pittsfield convenience store has resulted in two arrests. Pittsfield Police Chief Kenneth Yelliott said police were called about 12:30 a.m. Sunday to Caseys General Store on East Washington Street. London, Paris and Berlin hope for an in-depth investigation that will clarify the fate of the Saudi intellectual. World companies boycott the trade fair wanted by Mbs. The Saudis reject the accusations and threaten economic and commercial responses, above all on oil. Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The international community - led by the United Kingdom, Germany and France - hopes for an in-depth investigation and certain answers on the fate of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, critical voice of Riyadh and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Mbs). These requests and pressures infuriate the Wahhabi kingdom, which is threatening retaliation and very harsh responses against those who advance criticisms or suspicions of the monarchys involvement in the complex affair. There has been no news of Khashoggi since October 2, when he entered the Saudi diplomatic representation in Istanbul to obtain documents necessary for a divorce. According to Turkish sources, through his smartwatch [which he kept on his wrist, unlike the phone seized at the entrance] he recorded (and sent) some audio files confirming the violence suffered by a commando from Riyadh sent to execute him. The Saudi government strongly rejects all charges and threatens [diplomatic and economic] retaliations against countries that launch unfounded accusations (according to Riyadh). Every action, says a source of the executive, "will trigger an even greater response". In a second moment the kingdom seemed to use a more conciliatory tone and, through its embassy in Washington, thanks the states that "so far have not drawn hasty conclusions". Meanwhile, the leaders of London, Berlin and Paris are calling for a "credible investigation" on the disappearance of the Saudi dissident journalist, one of Riyadh's most critical voices who was forced to flee abroad a year ago. The foreign ministers of the three countries have emphasized that in case of ascertainment of responsibility, the authors must be punished with the utmost severity. The request for a "clarification" from Riyadh also comes from Europe, to understand if the Saudi government has played a role (and which, if any) in the affair. "None of us know what happened, - underlines the British minister Jeremy Hunt - but we are all extremely concerned about the stories that have emerged, and the country that can help us get to the bottom of this is Saudi Arabia If, as they say, this terrible murder didn't happen, then where is Jamal Khashoggi? That's what the world wants to know". The note from the European countries follows the announcement made a few hours earlier by US President Donald Trump, who promised "harsh punishments" for Saudi Arabia should they emerge responsible in the Khashoggi affair. Diplomatic sources say US Treasury Minister Steve Mnuchin and British international trade colleague Liam Fox may not attend the upcoming international conference on investment and trade in Riyadh, an appointment strongly supported by Crown Prince Mbs, in the context of the development plan and reforms (often only for show) Vision 2030. Several international companies and leading brands have already canceled their presence in protest. These include the international magnate Richard Branson of Virgin, and Uber. In response media and personalities close to the government of Riyadh threaten very hard answers in the event of an economic boycott. Turki Aldakhil, director general of Saudi satellite channel Al Arabiya, says that imposing sanctions on the main oil exporting countries in the world will have disastrous effects. President Trump, he adds, already critical for oil at $ 80 a barrel will certainly not be happy - using a euphemism - for prices touching 100 or $ 200. I did not get the real ... Receiving a group of faithful from El Salvador, Francis said that the memory of the slain bishop is "an exceptional opportunity to send a message of peace and reconciliation to all the peoples of Latin America". Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The message of Msgr. Oscar Romero, canonized yesterday, is addressed to all "without exception" and is that, as he would often repeat strongly that "every Catholic must be a martyr, because being a martyr means being a witness" of Gods message for mankind. This was underlined by Pope Francis who this morning received about 5 thousand pilgrims from El Salvador in audience. The memory of Msgr. Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, defender of the poor, killed in odium fidei, [in hatred of the faith] on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass, is also "an exceptional opportunity to send a message of peace and reconciliation to all the peoples of Latin America". God "calls us to announce His message of freedom to all of humanity. Indeed, He alone can free us from sin, from hatred in our hearts - and Msgr. Romero was "the victim of hatred" - totally free to love. It is a real freedom "already on earth", which "passes through our concrete concern for mankind, to awaken in every heart "the hope of salvation". Francis noted that St. Oscar Romero embodied the image of the Good Shepherd who offers his life for his sheep. Therefore he is not only an example but also an incentive" for the bishops of El Salvador: "an example of predilection for the most needy of God's mercy", and a stimulus to witness the love of Christ and concern for the Church, knowing and coordinating the action of each of its members and collaborating with other particular Churches with zealous collegial affection. The Pope then exhorted priests and religious to be "servants of the priestly people" and to work tirelessly "to channel God's infinite desire to forgive those who repent of their misery and to open the hearts of your brothers and sisters to the tenderness of the love of God, also through the prophetic denunciation of the evils of the world ". In fact, St. Oscar Romero saw the priest placed in the midst of two great chasms: that of God's infinite mercy and that of the infinite misery of men. And, he concluded, the people loved Msgr. Romero because the "people of God" knows the "scent" of holiness. by Kamran Chaudhry The Good Shepherd Christian Hospital will be inaugurated early next year. The nearest public hospital is Lahore, 95 km away. The Christian cross is visible on the facade. Qila Natha Singh (AsiaNews) - A Christian hospital, in a village named after a Sikh, populated by a majority of Muslim faithful. They are the "ingredients" of religious coexistence in which Good Shepherd Christian Hospital is located, the first hospital by a Pakistani Christian in the province of Punjab. The inauguration in the village of Qila Natha Singh is scheduled for early next year. Meanwhile, on 13 October the local community organized a prayer of thanksgiving, attended by more than 500 people, mostly children and pupils of the catechism. The hospital was founded in 2017 on the private initiative of Pastor Saleem Massey. Funding for the two-story building comes mostly from the fundraising carried out by his two sons, who currently live in the United States. The Reverend is a psychologist and has worked for 16 years at United Christian Hospital in Lahore. He explains that it would be much more "profitable" to build the hospital in Lahore, the second most populous city in the country, but the choice fell on Qila Natha Singh "because we want to serve the most oppressed". Muhammad Akram owns a gas pump in front of the hospital and welcomes the project with enthusiasm. He hopes he can attract new customers. He also reports: "In an emergency we are forced to bring the sick to the General Hospital of Lahore, 95 km away. The nearby Kasur hospital can only accommodate patients with general disorders. The hospital will be a blessing also for the population of neighboring villages ". Triq Gill, member of the Punjab Assembly, supports the initiative of Christians and states: "A similar project increases trust in the silent minority. The cross of 10 feet [about three meters, ed], positioned on the facade of the new hospital, will give a sense of pride and will be the testimony of Christianity on the main road". Muhammad Akram points out that in large cities religious extremist groups usually oppose the crosses placed in plain sight on the city's arteries. "In the city of Karachi many oppose the 140-foot cross [over 42 meters], the highest cross in all of Asia. In any case, our faith is not complete if we do not believe in the prophet Isa (Jesus)". by Fady Noun In the digital era, Lebanon has gone from being a crossroads to an antenna. Its cultural and religious mix make it a conductor par excellence, sensitive to cultural and social trends. The Synod is a school to elaborate a universal language capable of overcoming geographical and generational boundaries. The poor and needy are an inexhaustible treasure of the Church. Beirut (AsiaNews) A large delegation representing the Lebanese Church is taking part in the Synod of Bishops dedicated to young people, which is currently underway from 3 to 28 October in the Vatican. The group includes the Maronite Patriarch, Bechara al-Rahi; two Maronite bishops, Fouad Naffah (Lebanon) and Elias Zeidane (Los Angeles); and two priests from Lebanon, Toufic Abu Hadir, coordinator of the Patriarchal Youth Ministry in Bkerke, and Jules Boutros, of the university pastoral outreach of the Syriac-Catholic Church. The Synod of bishops is an advisory body created by Pope Paul VI in the wake of the Second Vatican Council to help the Pontiff to govern the Church. Some 257 bishops from all over the world, including all the patriarchs of the Eastern Churches, are present in this assembly, which was prepared by two years of consultations with hundreds of young people. Through questionnaires and meetings, the consultation led to a working document (Instrumentum laboris) to steer Synod meetings, marked by alternating general assemblies (congregations) and small working groups (minor circles). The latter must lead, according to a proven methodology from synthesis to synthesis, to the elaboration of a series of recommendations, the final message and, eventually, an apostolic exhortation on the theme of young people and the discernment of vocations. What can an assembly of older bishops say to young people? The question sums up in itself the paradox of an eternally young Church. Like the truth, she is perpetually invited to transmit to new generations the sacred bond she received, the person of Christ and the treasures that accompany him. Beyond the broad variety of life conditions, young Christians from all continents are involved in the Synod, especially the young people of the Middle East, because of the privileged place occupied by Lebanon in the Arab world and the tragic developments of the last decade. From Lebanon as a message to Lebanon as an antenna It is customary to say that Lebanon is a crossroads. However, in the digital age, Lebanon is more of an antenna that captures all the frequencies. Indeed, Lebanons head is part of the West, but its body is in the third world, with typical problems of the third world like failed politics, a heavy-handed oligarchy, corruption, poor public services, etc. Despite this split personality, the countrys cultural and religious mix and its multilingualism mean that the Lebanese are a cultural link par excellence, a conductor that is sensitive to all sorts of cultural and social trends. The Synod compared young people to a seismograph. This goes well with our young people. Can we ask ourselves if the Synod is for us? Of course. Even if it deals with issues that are totally foreign to us. Our problems are not those of the West, nor of Asia, where the Middle East is usually catalogued. With us, for example, the number of vocations is not a problem; aggressive secularism is limited to a few Westernized elites; bishops are not shot in their cathedrals. But for us and for all, the Synod is a great language school where the Church is learning, right now, according to the wishes of Francis, to talk about the peripheries, a language that goes everywhere, crosses every border, involves every generation, transcends money and skin colour. The peripheries that Francis speaks about are not a place but situation of alert and heeding, a disposition to follow Christ on the path of the 21st century, which are quite different from those of Palestine, two thousand years ago. What is more, to follow him one must know him. Conversely, some truths are timeless. Everyone knows the proverb: "The habit does not make the monk. But few know it in its entirety: "The habit does not make the monk; the heart does. We owe this sentence to Saint Bridget of Sweden, which speaks to something fundamental in the Church: authenticity, the opposite of hypocrisy. This is what young people aspire to in every age and place. This is the language that the Church, by speaking and listening to young people, can learn and relearn. What they and the less young reject is a hypocritical church, a clerical Church, a Church that says one thing and does something else. Such a Church is reduced to a soulless institution, and there are many examples of this. Inspired by one of the Popes favourite issues, this is one of the lines of meditation of the Synodal reflection. Distorted images of the Church The distorted image that some media have of the Church is that of a great repressive machine; a great trap where predators take young seminarians into their beds. In our country, the propagated cliche is that of a big machine that possesses the most beautiful land, the most beautiful heights and the sweetest plains of Lebanon, and bleeds poor families trying to get their children into her schools, universities or hospitals. Of course, things are much more nuanced than this, but there is also a grain of truth in this picture. One of the most beautiful books of history, the Acts of the Apostles, says that after hearing about Paul and discovering that the Gospel he preached was no different from his, Peter, that steadfast rock on which Jesus built his Church, gave him the embrace of communion and reminded him to "remember the poor". This is the Churchs inexhaustible treasure: the poor, empty bellies, but also those who are hungry for justice, those who are hungry for love; the dying attacked by rodents who needed Mother Teresa to pick them up in the streets; those who, before our eyes (and those of the Pope), are dying on the peripheries of the truth. The Synod can be an unforgettable moment, a true outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Muslim observers, invited to the Synod on Lebanon in 1997, can bear witness to this without hesitation. The experience of Jesus is in community, notes the Synod; and it is one of the bases of vocation. It flourishes, whether at the level of the family or in the Church, within the community, a "place of forgiveness and celebration," according to the beautiful expression of Jean Vanier. President Donald Trump View Photos President Trump declared this week to be National School Lunch Week. Trump was KVMLs Monday Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words: School meals help ensure that our children receive the nourishment they need to grow, develop, and learn. During National School Lunch Week, we acknowledge the benefits of school lunch programs, which provide millions of children the opportunity to enjoy nutritious meals, providing them with the fuel they need to achieve their full physical and mental potential. The National School Lunch Program provides nearly 4.9 billion low-cost or free meals to approximately 30 million students each year. These meals are a dependable and consistent source of nutrition for many children in schools and childcare centers throughout our country. My Administration understands that we have a responsibility to children and taxpayers alike to ensure that school meals are nutritious and enjoyable. The best way to do that is to return control back to the people on the ground who make these programs work. That is why we have lowered regulatory hurdles and restored flexibility to schools and communities with respect to the menus in their cafeterias. School nutrition specialists and food service professionals work tirelessly each day to provide students with the nourishment they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond. We are committed to supporting them, listening to their feedback, and equipping them with the tools and flexibility they need to serve our children well. This week, we recognize the hard work of all the food service professionals, school administrators, community members, and parents across our Nation who help plan, prepare, and serve the meals that sustain millions of children. To emphasize the importance of the National School Lunch Program to our youths nutrition, the Congress, by joint resolution of October 9, 1962 (Public Law 87780), has designated the week beginning on the second Sunday in October each year as National School Lunch Week, and has requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week. NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 14 through October 20, 2018, as National School Lunch Week. I call upon all Americans to join the countless individuals who administer the National School Lunch Program in activities that support and promote awareness of the health and well-being of our Nations children. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML Voluntary compliance fail: Pregnancy warning labels soon to be mandatory PREGNANCY warning labels will be mandatory on alcohol products under a deal agreed by Australian and New Zealand ministers last week. The alcohol industry has applied pregnancy warning labels on a voluntary basis since late 2011. But ministers responsible for food regulation who met in Adelaide say it needs to go further, amid evidence that babies exposed to alcohol in the womb can face intellectual, behavioural and developmental disabilities. The label, which is to be developed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand in consultation with industry, will include a pictogram and warning statement. Brewers Association chief Brett Heffernan said key players in the industry recognised the current 75 per cent compliance rate under the voluntary system was not good enough. Our members Carlton & United Breweries, Lion Beer Australia and Coopers Brewery have been 100 per cent compliant with the voluntarily labelling regime since 2014, applying the warning pictogram across every product they produce, he said. We are perplexed as to why others in the industry failed to heed the writing on the wall since 2012. The Brewers Association will seek to have the DrinkWise Australia warning be made the standard. Research has shown 74 per cent of women aged 18-40 are aware of the warnings on drink labels. A deadline for the introduction of mandatory compliance will now be worked on, involving a consultation period about transition timelines. Also in Australian Food News Fremont Street returned to the normal course of business Monday beneath the still-closed Transbay Transit Center, as vehicles progressed through South of Market as might be expected during the morning commute. Transbay officials announced Sunday afternoon that the street, which had been closed between Howard and Mission streets where it passes beneath two cracked beams in the sprawling transit center, would reopen for the first time since Sept. 25. Houston-based MetroNational has sold three suburban office buildings on the west side to three separate buyers, with S&B Engineers and Constructors purchasing the largest one, commercial real estate firm HFF announced. The properties, totaling 230,506 square feet, are 15150 Memorial Drive, 2930 W. Sam Houston Parkway and 10401 Centrepark Drive. HFF's Dan Miller and Trent Agnew represented MetroNational in the sales. With the flu season upon us and last season's deadly one still fresh in memories, a new mobile medical team can now be dispatched to your home should you fall sick. Like house calls of old, DispatchHealth began operating in Houston in August. In addition to treating the flu-stricken, the service, not unlike a rolling urgent care clinic, also administers a host of other treatments for such things as sprains, back pain, respiratory infections or migraines. Tom Reel, Staff / San Antonio Express-News San Antonio gas prices ticked down last week as oil prices fell, though a diplomatic spat between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia could threaten to raise prices in the near future. The price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in San Antonio fell 1.4 cents to $2.57, while the national average fell 2.6 cents to $2.88 a gallon, according to GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices nationwide. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 15) Residents of war-inflicted Marawi City will have to wait longer before they can go home, as the rebuilding of its ground zero has been moved to October 28. The groundbreaking ceremony for the rehabilitation of the battle-ruined area was previously set on October 17, the first anniversary of President Rodrigo Duterte's declaration of the city's liberation from terrorist forces. However, the reconstruction will be delayed again as Duterte will not be able to attend the ceremonies. "If the President could not make it on October 17, we are open to have it one week later," Task Force Bangon Marawi Chairperson Eduardo Del Rosario said Monday. "But we are doubling our efforts for the preparation of the ground breaking activity. And the President's presence is very important," he said. The government, however, said authorities are working to provide better services for the affected residents amid the rehabilitation waiting game. The scheduled rehabilitation of the war-torn city has been postponed several times because of failure in negations with the supposed developer. READ: Rebuilding Marawi's ground zero delayed by failure of China-led consortium Despite the continued delays in the groundbreaking schedule, officials are confident the rebuilding process will be finished by the end of 2021. The government has chosen FINMAT International and Beijing-based Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) to undertake the P17-billion rehabilitation project in Marawi's ground zero, which is composed of 24 barangays or 250 hectares of land. Some 300,000 residents were displaced, while houses and buildings were turned to rubble. More than 900 terrorists, 47 civilians and 165 government troops were killed during the siege. CNN Philippines Correspondent Gerg Cahiles contributed to this report. Contributed / Connecticuts Beardsley Zoo Connecticuts Beardsley Zoo Director Gregg Dancho will join the Zoos Education Curator Jim Knox and other local wildlife conservation experts in a Conservation in Connecticut discussion at the Fairfield Public Library from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 25. Sponsored by Connecticuts Beardsley Zoo and covering everything from birds to bats to bees and beyond, the talk will be led by Dancho and Knox, who will be joined by Tim Walsh, Bruce Museum collection manager; Patrick Comins, executive director of The Connecticut Audubon Society; Stacey Marcell, arborist and owner of Northeast Horticultural Services; and Jenny Dickson, supervising wildlife biologist at CT DEEP/Wildlife Diversity and Outreach Program. Contributed / Griffin Hospital DERBY The 9th Annual Valley Goes Pink initiative has scheduled another week of events to bolster awareness about breast cancer and raise funds for Griffin Hospitals Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness. The Valley Goes Pink will host a Rock the Valley Pink concert on Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. at Porkys Cafe, 50 Center St., Shelton, featuring Social Convention. A $20 donation includes admission and a free drink. TRUMBULL Despite a reported attempt at some parking garage parkour, Trumbull Police arrested a New York man who allegedly fled on foot Saturday after being stopped and questioned for counterfeiting. Police arrested 25-year-old Namon Donnel Johnson, age 25 of Bivona Street in the Bronx, N.Y., Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Johnson reportedly used a fake $100 bill to make a video game purchase at a store in the mall. Police said the store clerk called police and Johnson was located and detained by a sergeant as he exited the mall. Johnson reportedly briefly spoke with the sergeant and denied being the suspect, but then took off running. As the sergeant pursued him, police said, Johnson jumped off the upper level of a parking garage, landing on the hood of a car below, damaging it. Johnson then allegedly resumed running and ran onto a raised parking lot where he again tried to leap off. Police said that, this time, as he went over the wall, another officer was able to grab onto Johnson, and with help was able to pull Johnson back up and over the wall, taking him into custody. Two police officers were slightly injured in the pursuit, and Johnson himself complained of pain afterward and was treated at a local hospital. Police said an additional counterfeit bill was found in Johnsons pocket. He was charged with first degree forgery, larceny, interfering and resisting arrest and criminal mischief. Johnson was held on a $50,000 bond for a court date on Oct. 24. Police said there have been other similar incidents involving counterfeit bills linked to organized groups operating in the region and police are reviewing surveillance footage and investigating to determine if Johnson had accomplices. DANBURY Two additional bodies were found Sunday afternoon after a fatal plane crash in New York that killed a Waterbury man. The plane that crashed off the Long Island Coast Saturday morning had stopped in Danbury earlier that day after taking off from Waterbury-Oxford Airport. One passenger, 41-year-old Munidat Raj Persaud of Waterbury, was found dead in the water. The remains of two other passengers were found Sunday afternoon, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier, as was the fuselage of the plane. New York State Police said the two bodies were was an adult female and the second was an adult male, but the identity of both victims have not been confirmed. That represents all three passengers on the plane, the Coast Guard said. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of the people who were aboard the plane, said Capt. Kevin Reed, commander Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound. We are grateful to the emergency responders who assisted in the search efforts. Strohmaier said the Coast Guard has closed the case. The National Transportation Safety Bureau will be investigating the matter, he said. Mike Safranek, Danburys assistant airport administrator, said the airport is cooperating with the investigation. We are working with federal authorities to help in any way we can, he said. Safranek declined to comment further, citing the seriousness of the crash. New York State Police identified Persaud on Sunday as one the passengers killed in the crash. Persaud is the founder of Oxford Flight Training, a company that aims to teach students how to fly, as well as provides maintenance for aircrafts. He started the company in 2004. He was a former airline flight engineer and worked for several airlines, including Pan American World Airways, as a technical representative and avionics tech, according to the companys website. He was also a commercial pilot and FAA certified maintenance inspector and technician. A woman who answered the phone at Oxford Flight Training did not wish to comment. The plane had been headed to Charleston Executive Airport in South Carolina when it went down about three miles southeast of Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., the Federal Aviation Administration said. The Coast Guard and several agencies searched Sunday for the fuselage and the other passengers. Several pieces of debris were found. Marine and police aviation units from Suffolk county, Southampton Bay Constables and Quogue Village Police were among the groups involved in the search. The Federal Aviation Administration did not have any updated information on Sunday. A Katy veterans group is again participating in a national program Wreaths Across America Day to recognize the men and women who served their country in the military. Philip Malsbary is chairing the Wreaths Across America committee for American Legion Jonathan D. Rozier Post 164 Katy. During his Oct. 8 appearance before Katy City Council, he said fundraising efforts are starting this month for the program which will be observed Dec. 15 at Magnolia Cemetery in Katy. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and will include comments by officials before the wreaths are distributed. The goal is to place a wreath on each and every veterans grave at the cemetery, said Malsbary. The wreaths cost $15 each and the goal is to fund 450 wreaths. He explained that officials counted 441 veterans graves at Magnolia Cemetery, which is at the corner of Bartlett and Franz Road. Visit https://tinyurl.com/yd56nlda for more information. We just want to make sure our veterans graves have a wreath for Christmas, Malsbary said. Returning from last year to join the American Legion is Sharon Wu Nitsche and her daughter, Katelyn, who belongs to Way Out West Community Girl Scouts and is working on the project for her Gold Award, the highest achievement in the scouting program. At age 15, Katelyn organized last year's Wreaths Across America observance at Magnolia Cemetery, drawing more than 100 people. On Thursday, Sharon Wu Nitsche said, We will be promoting wreath sponsorship this Saturday at the Katy Rice Festival at the American Legion and the Auxiliary booths. However, Katy Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9182 will bypass the event this year, said Don Byrne, post commander. There are a number of other things were doing or have done. We decided not to participate this year in Wreaths Across America. A number of our people go to the national cemetery and do wreath placing there, Byrne said. Individually, they go out on their own. Volunteers first organized a wreath placement program in 1992 at Arlington National Cemetery. The nonprofit Wreaths Across American formed in 2007. karen.zurawski@chron.com NORWALK Democratic incumbent Jim Himes and Republican challenger Harry Arora will square off on issues facing the business community during a Fourth District Congressional Debate at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center on Oct. 25. The debate is being hosted by the Greater Norwalk Inn & Conference Center, the Business Council of Fairfield County and Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Fairfield County. This forum will give area business owners and residents an opportunity to hear where the candidates stand on a number of issues affecting business and the local communities, said Brian Griffin, Chamber of Commerce president and CEO. The debate will be one hour in length, with questions being generated by the three hosting organizations and posed by area business people, representing those organizations. The debate itself will be moderated and timed. The debate is scheduled from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Norwalk Inn, 99 East Ave. The cost, which includes breakfast, is $30 for members of the respective hosting organizations. Himes, a Greenwich resident and former Goldman Sachs banker, is seeking a sixth two-year term representing the 4th Congressional District. Arora, a fellow Greenwich resident, is a partner with Northlander Commodity Advisors, a London-based firm that specializes in energy trading. Himes and Arora also will face one another from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, at Wilton High Schools Clune Auditorium, 385 Danbury Road, as part of the candidates forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. The 4th Congressional District includes 16 Fairfield County towns and cities, from Greenwich to Bridgeport, as well as the town of Oxford in New Haven County. Himes has represented the district since defeating long-term Republican Congressman Chris Shays in November 2008. The cannabis industry has evolved since legalization, but old habits die hard. The industrys anti-corporate mentality, which stems from years spent operating in an illegal market, is still pervasive -- and its easy to see why. After all, before legalization, profits were high, and cannabis companies could afford to make some mistakes as they operated, without the business structures and discipline required to succeed in other industries. For several years after legalization, cannabis operations could still function with this attitude and without business fundamentals in place. Over the last few years, however, a reckoning in the form of overproduction has plagued the legal cannabis markets in Oregon, Washington and California. With so many cannabis products available today, prices are dropping to all-time lows. Competition to remain profitable has grown fierce. In this environment, those who neglect to build their brand beyond a logo and website will not carve out a niche that resonates with loyal customers. Just as you cannot build a house without a foundation, you cannot build a successful cannabis company in todays market without first laying the groundwork for the brand. A strong brand can guide your decisions about what products or services to offer, your packaging and marketing, and your interactions with business partners and customers. It helps you avoid costly mistakes by streamlining the decision-making process in every area of your business. Heres how to start: Related: MedMen's CEO Talks Acquisition: 'I See It As A Leapfrog' Establish Your Mission Why are you in the business, aside from making a profit? Your brands mission is its purpose. It should be lofty and speak to a higher calling. At my own company, Shadowbox Farms, we uncovered this by discussing what we valued as a collective team. After many hard discussions, we established that our company exists to offer sustainable, high-quality cannabis and act as stewards of Oregons growing cannabis industry. Our mission gives purpose to our day-to-day activities and unites our staff and customers behind a common cause that is uniquely our own. Related: Walmart Just Said It's Exploring Selling Cannabis Products Add weight with values. Give muscle to your mission by defining company values to reflect your business philosophy and the culture you work to create. Dig deep with your leadership and staff to found your values in the ways of doing business that set your company apart from competitors. For example, one of the core values that our team identified is our desire to fight the stigma around cannabis use. With this value in place, we can realize our mission of acting as stewards of the cannabis industry through education and awareness about the positive aspects of cannabis use. It can be incorporated into the companys DNA, and enacted consistently in every marketing effort and customer interaction. We incorporated ours into physical totems that fit out brand --- in our case, wooden wall hangings -- that remind employees every day of the values we strive to accomplish as a company. Related: Here's Why the DEA Re-Scheduling Just One Cannabis-Based Drug Is a Very Big Deal Lay out the future with a vision statement. Think about where you want your company to be in 10 or 15 years. What will persuade customers to be a part of that journey? This is your ultimate goal, and it should tell your customers a story that will keep them coming back again and again. Tie everything together with a brand promise. Draw from your mission, values and vision to position your cannabis product or service in a way that makes it truly desirable. Your brand promise should encompass the benefits of choosing your company and the experience that your customers can expect every time they choose you. A strong brand promise rolled out company-wide will spur new product development and guide your companys operating and marketing decisions. At Shadowbox Farms, once we had our brand promise established, we could more easily make decisions about the new products we pursued. We were able to launch five new SKUs in just three months because we could make more meaningful decisions about the products we launched. Easy enough? Not really -- that's why many companies fail to establish a strong brand foundation, if they even take the time to consider doing the work required to build one. The payoff, however, can be significant. The process itself will help your company evolve and hold you accountable to your customers and business goals. Youll gain a true north to guide you as you build strong customer relationships that sustain your business in good times and bad. Related: Why Weight Watchers' Name Change Will Fail, But Dunkin's Won't Building a Solid Foundation for Your Cannabis Brand Is Step One to Success Implement These 4 Tactics to Grow Your Revenue Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Elizabeth Warren is all but certain to run for president in 2020, and if she winds up becoming the Democratic nominee, this day could be one of the key early moments of that campaign. Today brings two interesting developments regarding Warren's probable campaign. The first a Washington Post article detailing the impressive operation Warren has already built to lay the groundwork for a 2020 run by distributing money, advice, and moral support to Democratic candidates all over the country. Warren plainly wants discussion of her potential presidential campaign to increase in volume, especially if she can position herself as the chief anti-Trump spokesperson of the Democratic Party. Which brings us to the other major Warren development of the day. Warren has long said that the story her family told about itself was in part about its Native American ancestry on her mother's side; such stories are hardly uncommon for people from Oklahoma. Because of that, President Donald Trump refers to her as "Pocahontas," something he persists in doing no matter how many people tell him it's racist and offensive to Native Americans. At a rally in July, Trump imagined facing Warren in a debate, then said he would bring a DNA test and toss it to her. "I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian," he said. Just as Barack Obama ultimately produced his birth certificate to debunk Trump's "birther" lie, Warren did indeed take a DNA test to prove that she has some Native heritage. She released a video not only explaining the DNA results, but including interviews with her brothers (Republicans, by the way) and other relatives talking about their family and condemning Trump. Warren tweeted early Monday: "My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump's attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry." Warren also informed Trump that he can fulfill his promise by donating $1 million to the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. You don't have to guess whether he'll follow through, because this morning he was asked about his promise. "I didn't say that," he lied. "Nah, you'd better read it again." What he will do, however, is keep calling Warren "Pocahontas." He doesn't do it because it's based in some set of facts. He does it because he's a racist, and he wants to activate racism in others. It was racist when all we knew was her family lore, it's racist when we have DNA evidence, and it would have been racist whether she had Indian ancestry or not. To understand this in full, we have to look one layer deeper to a lie that has been told about Warren, that she used her Native ancestry to gain some kind of undeserved advantage in her career through affirmative action programs. For instance, last year at a White House event honoring Native American "code talkers," Trump went on a cringe-inducing riff about Warren ("You were here long before any of us were here, although we have a representative in Congress who, they say, was here a long time ago. They call her 'Pocahontas'"). It was as though he was asked to honor the Tuskegee Airmen and said, "You know, looking at you I'm reminded of a little guy named Sambo." When Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked afterward about Trump's appalling performance, she said, "I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career." Here are the facts. Warren grew up being told that her family on her mother's side was part Native American. Though at various times in her career as a law professor she was listed in faculty directories as a minority, she never lied about it and she never used it to get any job. The Boston Globe conducted a comprehensive investigation and found that Warren's ancestry played no part in her professional advancement (she was an academic star who could have been hired at pretty much any law school she wanted). But this false idea is one of the key reasons, perhaps the key reason, why Trump uses the racist attack against her. There isn't enough free-floating animus against Native people to be politically potent; it has to be brought together with other strains of racial resentment in order to really have an impact. What is much more widespread among Trump supporters is the idea that racial minorities are given special advantages that allow them to vault past more deserving white people, making every aspect of their lives a cushy ride in a government-provided limousine while virtuous whites struggle to make it on nothing but their own merit. This funhouse-mirror picture of America is built on a broad denial of reality propped up by a whole series of more specific lies; to take just one example, large numbers of white people apparently believe that black people get to go to any college they want without paying tuition. But the fact that it's untrue doesn't mean it isn't extremely powerful. The white working class voters who are such an important part of Trump's base are extremely receptive to the idea that not only does their race confer no privilege upon them, but their struggles are happening precisely because racial minorities (and immigrants, and women) are being given unfair advantages at their expense. This idea is drummed constantly into the heads of regular viewers of Fox News or listeners to conservative talk radio. That racial grievance is what Trump is trying to activate with the "Pocahontas" insult. He's trying to take that poisonous resentment that has been so assiduously cultivated on the right for so long and just slap it on to Warren. The details aren't important and the truth isn't important; what matters is that when a Trump voter sees Warren, all that bile comes bubbling up to the surface. You don't need to construct a logical argument around it, all you need is to make the association. We have no idea whether it's going to work, or how effective Warren's strategy to deal with it will be. But what we do know, with a 100 percent certainty, is that no matter who the Democratic nominee is in 2020, Donald Trump will run a campaign based on fear and hatred. That's who he is and how he works. Warren may have the intelligence and charisma to overcome that kind of attack, just as Barack Obama did. One thing's for sure: She obviously knows it's coming. Professor H. Howell Williams posed a provocative question for his political science students at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury last week. Whats the matter with Connecticut? he asked them. Their final papers at the end of the semester will relate to this question that could be answered in a myriad of ways. I was there in Room 023 in White Hall Tuesday morning to talk about the medias role in state and local politics. Given that were in the midst of Editorial Board interviews with candidates, the timing was perfect. There was a lot to talk about. I like explaining the purpose of the editorial pages, also called opinion, and how they work. The publication in The New York Times of the anonymous op-ed by a senior Trump administration official last month (I am part of the resistance inside the Trump Administration) had the unintended consequence of helping the public understand the distinct difference between opinion and news. One does not influence the other. Key editorial page editors at the Times knew who authored the op-ed, but could not and would not reveal the name to news reporters. In the Western political science class we had a robust discussion on how commentary gets published and whether they would have run the anonymous piece. We talked about how editorial boards go about endorsing candidates. And how they get their news mostly through social media. With decades in journalism, I could go on and on. But Professor Williams question intrigued me and I really wanted to know what these students thought was the matter with our state. So I made sure to leave time in the 90-minute class to get back to that question. Their answers surprised me. First, may I say, this class of about 20 is engaged. For example, I mentioned that I was heading next to Hearst headquarters in Norwalk for an editorial board interview with the Democratic candidate for attorney general. Anyone know who that is? I asked, expecting no one would. But at least one student raised his hand: State Representative William Tong, he said. Right! Their perspectives are informed, not clueless. And most said they like Connecticut and want to stay here. One young man said his family is leaving for North Carolina once he and his sister graduate college, but he wants to keep Connecticut as his home. A young woman said her major is music education and the states proximity to New York City and Boston translates to increased job opportunity. Another young man wants to raise a family here someday, a place where they can have a yard. I wish I had been taking notes so that I could use their names and quote them direct. I didnt go into the class with plans to write a column, but decided to later when their comments kept peppering my mind. We hear laments from longtime residents that taxes are too high and highways too congested both true and everyone is either moving out of state or wants to. But not so for these Millennials. We talked of values upheld in our state, such as accepting Syrian refugees when states like Indiana would not, and extending fairness to Dreamers who now are eligible for in-state tuition and financial aid to which they contribute, and taking the lead on gun violence prevention. Nothing is absolute, of course; one student did say he wants to move to Tennessee. For me, after hours of quizzing candidates about closing the states looming $2.3 billion deficit next year and the other seemingly intractable problems, it is refreshing to hear young people focusing on not the matter with Connecticut but rather the promise. Jacqueline Smith is Editorial Page Editor of The News-Times and The Norwalk Hour. Email her at jsmith@hearstmediact.com. NORWALK Detectives are looking for a man who targeted money couriers that cater to the Hispanic community in two separate robberies last week. Police said the suspect enters the locations and claims to have a firearm, though he never displays it. For 45 years, it's been considered out of bounds for Saudi Arabia. But all of a sudden, Riyadh made what many read as a veiled threat to use the kingdom's oil wealth as a political weapon -- something unheard of since the 1973 Arab embargo that triggered the first oil crisis. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, said on Sunday it would retaliate against any punitive measures linked to the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi with even "stronger ones." In an implicit reference to the kingdom's petroleum wealth, the statement noted the Saudi economy "has an influential and vital role in the global economy." Roger Diwan, a longstanding OPEC watcher at consultant IHS Markit Ltd., said the Saudi comments broke "an essential oil market taboo." While few think that Saudi Arabia is prepared to follow through, even the suggestion of using oil as a weapon undermines Riyadh's long-standing effort to project itself as a force for economic stability. Jeffrey Currie, the head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said Middle East tensions impacting the oil market have now "broadened to include Saudi Arabia." The anxieties were exacerbated by an opinion piece penned by Turki Al Dakhil, who heads the state-owned Arabiya news network and is close to the Royal Court, in which he openly talked about using oil as a weapon. "If President Trump was angered by $80 oil, nobody should rule out the price jumping to $100 and $200 a barrel or maybe double that figure," he wrote. The Saudi Embassy in Washington later said Al Dakhil didn't represent the official position of the kingdom and Saudi officials, speaking privately, said there wasn't a change in the long-held policy that oil and politics don't mix. On Monday, Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, used a speech in India to soothe concerns, pledging his country will continue to be a responsible actor and keep oil markets stable. "I want to assure markets and petroleum consumers around the world that we want to continue support the growth of the global economy, the prosperity of consumers around the world," Al-Falih said. Yet the fact that the Arabiya article was published only minutes after Saudi Arabia's press release was issued led many to conclude it was either a message conveyed outside diplomatic channels or a trial balloon that quickly went flat. Oil rose in early trading, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, rising as much 2 percent to $81.92 a barrel. Whatever the Saudi leadership intended on Sunday, it broke with the kingdom's diplomatic orthodoxy: oil and politics are separate. For example, during a recent diplomatic spat with Canada, Al-Falih reiterated the kingdom had a "firm and long-standing policy" that petroleum exporters are not mixed with political considerations. Saudi state-owned company Aramco continued to supply a refinery in Canada despite Riyadh severing most other economic links. While the mere hint of Saudi Arabia using oil as an economic weapon still brings back memories of queues at the pump and stagflation in the Western world, there are good reasons why Saudi Arabia hasn't wanted to brandish oil-market power as a political tool. Essentially, it has lots in common with another relic of the 1970s: the Cold War doctrine of mutually assured destruction. True, Riyadh can bring the global economy to its knees in the short-term by cutting output and sending prices sharply up. The kingdom pumps one-in-ten oil barrels produced worldwide, and holds nearly all the spare capacity available to respond to any supply outage. Even just hinting that it won't replace the barrels lost from Iran due to U.S. sanctions could be enough to push prices toward $100 a barrel. But if the Saudis retaliate using oil, it would lead to "calamity," said Stephen Innes, Singapore-based head of Asia Pacific trading at Oanda Corp. "This would be so destabilizing for global markets that it would make the current trade tensions between the U.S. and China look like a game of Axis & Allies." Over the medium-term it would lead to massive oil demand destruction and an accelerated race into renewable energy and electric cars. The 1973-74 embargo, and the second oil crisis in 1979, destroyed oil demand for ever as industrialized countries taxed gasoline and diesel and embarked on conservation policies. Oil consumption is lower today than in 1974 in Germany, Japan, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. --Bloomberg's Heesu Lee contributed. BERLIN - By the time the German coalition government was formed this spring, the country had become one of Saudi Arabia's most outspoken critics. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel had just taken on the Saudis, prompting the withdrawal of the Saudi ambassador to Berlin and of Saudi investments in the country. The Germans also agreed they wouldn't sell any more arms to Riyadh. Yet six months later, the Saudi ambassador is back in Berlin and Germany is once again pushing to sell defense equipment to the kingdom that has come under criticism for its involvement in the devastating war in Yemen. Germany's top diplomat now calls the previous diplomatic spat a "misunderstanding." The silent reversal of Germany's confrontational approach toward Riyadh couldn't have come at a more awkward time. Since the Oct. 2 disappearance of Saudi Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, companies and governments worldwide have come under pressure to abandon their ties to the Saudi Arabian leadership. Saudi Arabia has denied allegations that it is behind the columnist's disappearance, but Turkish authorities say they have audio and video recording that prove Khashoggi died inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. In the United States, President Donald Trump has found himself under growing pressure to act after a bipartisan group of senators triggered Global Magnitsky sanctions procedures last week. The Magnitsky legislation forces Trump to determine whether any country or individual responsible for the writer's disappearance should be held accountable. Trump himself said there would be "severe punishment" if an investigation found Saudi Arabia to be responsible. There has been far less pressure on other countries with deep Saudi ties to act, however. While Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement over the weekend in which they called for a "credible investigation," none of the three countries have gone beyond the remarks so far voiced by the White House. If anything, they've been even less vocal. While U.S. pressure on Trump has been bipartisan, in Europe, calls to punish Saudi Arabia have mostly come from opposition parties. Britain's opposition Labour Party pressed the conservative government over the weekend to stop arms sales to the country "until they changed their ways," said Labour foreign policy expert Emily Thornberry. And while German observers have lashed out at Trump for refusing to punish the Saudis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesperson said that the Khashoggi case and German exports to Riyadh were "two unrelated things." The European joint statement over the weekend made no reference to possible sanctions and British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt later only said that the country would consider an "appropriate way to react" if the Saudis were found to be behind the writer's disappearance. In a country that's already facing economic uncertainty over Brexit, the dismantling of Saudi ties could have severe repercussions. In the first six months of 2017 alone, Britain sold Riyadh military equipment worth about a $1.4 billion, with thousands of British jobs dependent on the sales. "Britain's economic ties to the Saudis are quite important, given its exports surplus with the region," said David Wearing, author of a recently published book on Britain's financial ties to the Gulf countries. "But militarily, the Saudis are completely dependent on the British and the Americans. We sell them whole weapons systems, which can't be simply replaced by China or Russia." Saudi Arabia has said that it won't bend to "threats" and would respond with "greater action" to any sanctions imposed amid mounting U.S. and international pressure. The Saudi response over the weekend largely matched prior reactions to bilateral disputes. When Canada voiced alarm at the arrest of a Saudi women's rights activist, Riyadh immediately expelled the Canadian ambassador in August and suspended investments and flights. The move was widely seen as an indication of the kingdom's new foreign policy assertiveness, which has consisted of aggressive policies that have triggered little outrage among its Western allies. As of last year, more than a dozen other EU member states were selling military equipment to the Saudis, with France being the second biggest exporter after Britain, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Sweden offered a rare rebuke in 2015 when it risked a diplomatic spat by voicing concern over the arrest and trial of Saudi writer Raif Badawi. But Sweden and Canada aren't Britain, which exports as much to Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf region as to India and China combined. Still, foreign policy researcher Wearing believes that sentiments in Britain - and perhaps elsewhere - could be changing. Some of that pressure is coming from the Labour Party, that pushed for arms deals with Saudi Arabia in the past but is now opposed. "But as long as the Americans export weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Brits can always say: It wouldn't even matter if we stopped," said Wearing. "Had Obama done something about it, the Brits would likely have been shamed into following suit." That raises the stakes for the decision Trump will eventually have to make. --- Video Embed Code Video: Senators and other officials on Oct. 14 called for action following the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.(Patrick Martin/The Washington Post) Embed code: NORWALK Pine Street Extension will remain limited to one-way traffic through Jan. 31 to accommodate construction of a Bloomingdales store as part of The SoNo Collection. On Monday afternoon, the Norwalk Traffic Authority approved extending the temporary traffic diversion plan on Pine Street Extension, from Nov. 16, 2018, until Jan. 31, 2019. You had granted us two months ago to do the one-way, and now Bloomingdales is starting their construction, James Adams, consultant to SoNo Collection builder Brookfield Properties, told the Traffic Authority. For them to set up, to put their skin on, were looking at just trying to keep it (traffic to) that lane. During the extended diversion, motorists will be limited to driving one way on Pine Street Extension, entering from West Avenue at Macedonia Church and returning near ONeills Pub & Restaurant. While not a cut-through, the roadway stretch is home to several homes on Putnam Avenue as well as Pine Street Studio apartments. Chicago-based mall developer General Growth Properties now Brookfield Properties broke ground on The SoNo Collection in summer 2017 on the dozen-acre 95/7 site off West Avenue and Interstate 95. Slated to open in October 2019, the upscale regional shopping center will house 750,000 square feet of retail, including anchor tenants Nordstrom and Bloomingdales as well as 80 to 100 smaller retailers. VCC-USA, a national firm, and Connecticut-based KBE Building Corp., have led the construction as general contractors for the project. The two anchor tenants, Bloomingdales and Nordstrom, will complete their respective spaces within the mall. Bloomingdales has requested additional time to allow for construction of their facade located directly adjacent to the Pine Street Extension. To safely erect the facade requires the closure of the lane closest to the building, said Douglas T. Adams, senior director of development for Brookfield Properties and no relation to the consultant. Both Nordstrom and Bloomingdales construction teams are on site and building their buildings. Representatives of the Bloomingdales construction team explained the work to Hearst Connecticut Media after the Traffic Authority meeting at the Norwalk Police Department headquarters on Monroe Street. Michael H. Hill, director of SPACE Construction for Macys Inc., the parent company of Bloomingdales, said Pavarini Construction is working as the general contractor for the store. They (Brookfield Properties) did the structure, being the steel and the parking lot, because we actually sit on top of their parking deck, Hill said. And then they turn it over to us. Well skin (enclose) it. Well put the roof on and well build the tenant improvements the finish on the inside. Hill said work will start within weeks. A makeshift memorial to Hispanic Civil War Union soldiers in an isolated part northern New Mexico is a typical representation of sites linked to U.S. Latino history: Its shabby, largely unknown and at risk of disappearing. Across the U.S, many sites historically connected to key moments in Latino civil rights lie forgotten, decaying or endanger of quietly dissolving into the past without acknowledgment. Scholars and advocates say a lack of preservation, resistance to recognition and even natural disasters make it hard for sites to gain traction among the general public, which affects how Americans see Latinos in U.S. history. The birthplace of farmworker union leader Cesar Chavez sits abandoned in Yuma, Arizona. The Corpus Christi office of Dr. Hector P. Garcia, where the Mexican-American civil rights movement was sparked, is gone. And no markers exist where pioneering educator George I. Sanchez captured images of New Mexico poverty for his 1940 groundbreaking book Forgotten People. People need to see history, they need to touch it, they need to feel it, they need to experience it, said Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, a journalism professor at the University of Texas who has worked to preserve Latino historical sites. When something is preserved, its a daily reminder of our history. Many states have historical markers and sites dedicated to Latino history but they usually center around the Spanish exploration era, colonial times and Old West settlement periods, scholars and advocates say. Those are safe sites because they downplay the racism and segregation Latinos had to overcome, said Luis Sandoval, a nonprofit consultant in Yuma who is pushing for the region to honor Chavez legacy. As the nations Latino population grows, local tourism groups and the National Park Service in recent years have responded. In 2012, the National Park Foundations American Latino Heritage Fund launched a campaign to improve the representation of Hispanics in national parks. The National Park Service also convened an American Latino Scholars Expert Panel made of members like Rivas-Rodriguez and Yale history professor Stephen J. Pitti. Before leaving office, former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced that four Latino national landmarks were among the 24 new National Historic Landmarks. Chicano Park a collection of murals under a San Diego highway that became a gathering place for activists during the 1970s Chicano Movement was among them. But Albuquerque-based activist Ralph Arellanes Sr., says much more needs to be done nationwide to save Latino sites. The makeshift memorial in northern New Mexico dedicated to Hispanic Union soldiers during the Battle of Glorieta Pass is a good example. The memorial off Interstate 25 is 20 miles southeast of Santa Fe and was built by retired District Attorney Alfonso Sanchez. It has wooden saints and crude signs explaining a battle that has been called the Gettysburg of the West. Im glad its there. But it looks like just a taco stand, without any tacos said Arellanes, whose great-great-grandparents served as trail guides for the Union The site marks where Union soldiers beat back the advancing Confederate Army, ending the battle for the West during the Civil War. Hispanic soldiers played a key role in that fight. Arellanes wants state lawmakers to dedicate around $5 million to revamp the site. The Pecos National Historical Park officials give tours of the battlefield but reservations often have to be made years in advance. Arellanes also thinks New Mexico should preserve the birthplace of United Farm Worker co-founder Dolores Huerta, who was born in the northern mining town of Dawson. The ghost town is surrounded by a gated fence and is not open to the public. Besides money, advocates sometimes have to fight local historical commissions that decide whether markers are erected, according to John Moran Gonzalez, director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas. Thats why advocates in recent months have struggled to erect a monument commemorating the 1918 Porvenir Massacre the killing of 15 unarmed Mexican-Americans in a border village by Texas Rangers. A lot of these historical county commissions are all white with older members, Gonzalez said. Remembering these important moments can be embarrassing to them. Still, some advocates say progress is coming. In Austin, for example, a group of volunteers operates the Austin Tejano Trail aimed at giving visitors guided tours of important churches, homes and plazas linked to the citys Mexican-American history. Earlier this year, a Houston building where Mexican-American civil rights leaders planned President John Kennedys historic visit the night before his assassination has been designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation after years of pressure. The LULAC Council 60 clubhouse historical site also received a piece of a $450,000 grant to help with damage caused by Hurricane Harvey last year. Sandoval said these are encouraging developments as activists try to work on commemorating Chavez in his birthplace of Yuma, along the U.S.-Mexico border. He said Yumas powerful agricultural business interests resist most efforts to honor the late farm worker union leader. But the Latino population is growing down here, Sandoval said. They are going to be a powerful voice soon, too. A San Antonio man was arrested after he posted a video to social media showing himself beating a man who was bound with zipties, police said. Isaiah Cerna, 19, was arrested by San Antonio police Monday on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping. According to police, a Good Samaritan contacted police after seeing the video. The tipster identified both Cerna and the 21-year-old victim, said San Antonio Police Officer Carlos Ortiz said. "That actually was the link on how we were able to locate the address," Ortiz said. Cerna surrendered peacefully after officers arrived at the home in the 400 block of Whitman. RELATED: SAPD: Stabbing victim called 911, identified killer moments before he died He called the man he tied up and assaulted a "friend" as he was being taken to the magistrate's office, and told reporters the victim had been stealing from him. Cerna said he struck the man in the back of the head with a rock. "I let him apologize to me and I took his apology," he said. Cerna said he then allowed the man inside his home and went to sleep, but woke up to the man digging in his pockets. "I said what the f**k are you doing. He said 'I'm trying to look for the time, Cerna.' My phone wasn't even in my pocket. He was trying to steal my money," Cerna said. Though he spoke at length about his arrest to the media, Ortiz said Cerna didn't cooperate with police. "I believe he talked to you a lot more than he did us," Ortiz said. The victim was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition, Ortiz said. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA The Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office has secured indictments in the unrelated killings of two women that have remained unsolved for years. Both suspects, Matthew Engelbrecht and Willie Ray Wanzo, are currently incarcerated on separate charges. RELATED: Guadalupe Sheriff identifies skeletal remains On Oct. 6, a grand jury indicted Engelbrecht, 38, on a charge of capital murder in the death of Roxanne McGreehan. McGreehan's death has been unsolved since 2002, when she went missing. Investigators believe Engelbrecht killed her around Oct. 22 of that year along the Cibolo Creek. Sheriff Arnold Zwicke said the investigation involved "hundreds of man hours of tracking down evidence, witnesses and corroborating information." Engelbrecht is currently serving a 25-year sentence for a previous murder conviction in 2006. Wanzo, 26, was indicted on two charges of evidence tampering related to the death of Sarah Gaitan, Wanzo's then-girlfriend, who went missing in October 2015. RELATED: SAPD: Graphic assault posted to social media results in aggravated kidnapping arrest According to the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office, Wanzo was the last person to see Gaitan alive. Texas Rangers and forensic anthropologists from Texas State University discovered her bones in March 2016 in a farmer's hay field in rural Guadalupe County. Wanzo is currently being held in the Clarence N. Stevenson Unit prison facility in Cuero, Texas, on an unrelated drug charge. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns Autumn quickly descended upon Texas Sunday and Monday, bringing drastic temperature drops, record lows, heavy rain and even snow to the Lone Star State. The cold front's path through the state was rapid, but it didn't hit the whole state at once. Cities in the panhandle and North Texas were showing 30-degree temperatures Sunday while San Antonio, Houston, and other southern cities maintained their summery 70-90 degree temperatures, the National Weather Service said. Amid hurricanes, a vanished journalist, the recent Supreme Court hearings, midterms and mobs, it is little wonder that Americans are drinking more than ever. Factually, this is so. More than 70 percent of Americans imbibe each year, and about 40 percent drink excessively, according to two separate studies last year. A comparison to 2014 data showed a 10 percent increase in the number of heavy drinkers. I mention these sotted stats for context. Lately, at least from my perch on the porch, the evening cocktail has become less an aperitif than a medicinal slug made necessary by the alternative of ripping off my face. To bear witness to These Times In Which We Live is to go insane, join a cult or pour your favorite poison. Please, if youre one of the roughly 30 percent who havent strayed from the wagon, do not feel compelled to share. Weve had enough scolding from Democrats lately, which is another point of cognitive dissonance. In our topsy-turvy world, the Democratic Party, once a haven for working-class Americans, has become a green room of shaggy intellectuals who lecture the nation about the decline in morality and civility. The Republican Party, the erstwhile home to the Moral Majority, is now wedded to a porn-star-linked president, who last week was made to look like a somber adult seated across from a stentorian Kanye West, who seemed to have (a) lost his mind or (b) emptied a bottle of Adderall into his coffee before arriving at the White House for lunch with the president. Ostensibly, the purpose of his visit was to discuss prison reform and plead for clemency for Larry Hoover, a convicted murderer and gang kingpin. Instead, the rapper embarked on a wildly disjointed, stream-of-consciousness lecture with such rapid-fire madness that one half expected he might suddenly start crawling up the wall and across the ceiling or, forgetting that his Make America Great Again cap wasnt really the Superman cape he thought it was, plunge through the window fully expecting to fly. Heres a taste of his soliloquy about Hoover: So theres theories that theres infinite amounts of universe and theres alternate universe so its very important for me to get (Larry) Hoover out, because in an alternate universe, I am him. And I have to go and get him free. Among other topical points, West mentioned that Hillary Clinton and her Im With Her slogan didnt do it for him in 2016 because he was a child of separated parents and didnt get enough father time. (This is perhaps the most interesting and true thing he said.) Thus, West went with Big Daddy Trump and is proud to be an African-American supporter of the president. He said he loves Trump and threw down some choice expletives for emphasis. His performance was, shall we say, head-swiveling and definitely alternative universe-ish. This writer can do no better than the expression on ABC News Jonathan Karls face during the screed. It was the look of a man who has just realized that hes the last rational being on the planet. Throughout the 10-minute speech, Trump remained nearly mute and interchangeably bemused and, just possibly, terrified. Toward the end, his arms folded tightly across his chest, he nodded and said, Really very interesting. Meanwhile, serious news of enormous import loitered in the vestibule awaiting the presidents attention. Hurricane Michael had recently finished decimating the Florida Panhandle and, on the very day of this epic confab, was drenching the Carolinas, which were still foundering from Hurricane Florence. Reports were also coming in that a Washington Post columnist who had disappeared into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul may have been tortured, murdered and dismembered on orders from Saudi Crown Prince and Jared Kushner buddy Mohammed bin Salman. Speaking of the incident Thursday evening, Trump said dismissively: Its in Turkey, and its not a citizen. When the world has gone barking mad, when high-school yearbook jottings can nearly take a good man down, when a hip-hop artist and the president convene a surreality show in the Oval Office, when millions are suffering the aftermath of a killer storm and Trump seems chillingly unmoved by a reporters alleged murder well, youd best make mine a triple. Cheers. kathleenparker@washpost.com Voters in District 120 should re-elect state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins. A Democrat, Gervin-Hawkins faces Republican Ronald Payne, who served almost 30 years in the U.S. military and has a decidedly libertarian view. Quite simply, Gervin-Hawkins reflects the views of voters in District 120, which covers San Antonios East Side and includes the suburban communities of Converse, Kirby and Windcrest. Gervin-Hawkins supported legislation last session to fully address the garbage issue that had long plagued a portion of the Camelot II neighborhood (an issue this Editorial Board championed). That legislation requires trash collection service in areas that are in unincorporated Bexar County and the city of San Antonios 5-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction. That said, we werent always in agreement with Gervin-Hawkins last session. She chose not to champion a potential annexation agreement between San Antonio and the city of Converse that would have included the Camelot II area. And she proposed legislation, thankfully stalled, that would have lowered the bar for attorneys representing people on death row. The idea was to make more attorneys eligible for these cases, but it spoke volumes that Texas Defender Service vehemently opposed the legislation. We also dont share her enthusiasm for charter schools, although we appreciate her passion for education. But Gervin-Hawkins has excellent people skills. She can build relationships with all lawmakers in a way that will serve her district and Bexar County going forward. She deserves another term. Folks tell me I often quote Edmund Burke and John Donne a bit much, but three things they said seem to apply as we prepare for the voting process and bear reflection. Burke said wisely, The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing and elsewhere, Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only little. John Donne is best remembered in my mind for the poem For Whom the Bell Tolls. It has a lot of meaning in its totality, but paraphrased: No man is an island, no man stands alone is the thought best grasped. The right to vote is the one thing in the arsenal of democracy that should be considered more valuable than the right to bear arms. However, some who havent registered to do so have forfeited that right and are the delight of any tyrants who muster their troops to the polling site and who endeavor to gerrymander districts in their favor, and through other methods attempt to curtail the voting right of others. Even more disappointing are those who are registered but who dont vote; its like having a loaded weapon you dont fire at an approaching enemy. Voting is a big thing, however. Its a little thing that some feel wont make a difference its the nothing and only little of which Burke spoke. Its something of a big responsibility to which Donne alludes to in his poem. There is a lot locally, nationally and worldwide at your very fingertips as you mark your ballot. Your vote helps determines the here and now. More important, with all we see, hear and evaluate, your vote or lack thereof may well determine our prosperity and the well-being of other human beings. Dont let your vote be silent or silenced; make it speak in unison with others; make it shout! James L. Larabee Clean politics I recently saw a political cartoon by Mike Smith in which a husband says, Im not voting for anyone who runs negative campaign ads. His wife replies, So youre not voting? I am very grateful that in my precinct and across the state of Texas we have several candidates who have vowed to not run negative ads or spend time tarnishing their opponents. I volunteer for one such candidate, and I am constantly impressed by the emphasis that we are to be respectful and nonconfrontational toward those who are not supporters. There are many of us who are energized by this focus on what will bring citizens together rather than continue to divide us. I reject the idea that winning requires vilifying an opponent or his/her supporters. I am not naive, and I have strong views, but I am going to love and respect my neighbor. Will you join me? Jeanne Clark Not just yet Re: Haley to resign as Trumps ambassador to United Nations, National & World, Wednesday: Donald Trump appointed her, but Ms. Haley is the United States ambassador, not Trumps. We arent a dictatorship quite yet. Wayne Haymes, Leon Valley Legal, or stay home As a retired special education teacher, Ive had the opportunity to work with many American kids who were brought into this world under very difficult circumstances. In fact, I once wrote a paper titled Poverty Begets Poverty to highlight the fact that most kids born into poverty (or other sad situations) very seldom escape to lead fruitful lives. Yes, on occasion some escape, but the odds are not very good. Nonetheless, I tried to motivate all my students to give it their very best, and Ive had some do well not nearly as many as I wanted. Americas illegal immigration problem is long overdue for resolution and is in the news daily. Lets not even discuss the adult aspect of illegal immigration and the fact that its a crime and they should be punished. The children may not know better, and many were born into situations similar to my students and deserve the same support I provided them in their country of origin. Period! I hate to be mean, but if you and your kids (if they are truly your kids) are so desperate to escape your country and try to enter the United States illegally, you must pay the consequences. After all, many people who emigrate to America follow the rules and after due process are welcomed with open arms. And that is the way it should be. Im a news junkie and I see little kids on the news. Id highly recommend men and women refrain from having kids to lessen my poverty begets poverty theory! John Gretz, Windcrest Havoc on streets I was almost killed Oct. 9, driving north on I-10 at the Crossroads exit about 6:40 p.m. I am a very careful driver. I was signaling to move into the next lane, but before I moved over came a large, red truck, traveling at what seemed to be 90 to 100 miles per hour. I was so lucky that I did not move all the way into the lane, where charging ahead was this crazed driver. Otherwise, I would have been slammed, crushed and shoved into fast-moving traffic. I have never been so close to death in my life. Something must be done about the numerous dangerous drivers allowed to wreak havoc on San Antonio highways. This town has far too many people with a criminal ego who use public highways as their personal racetrack. As upsetting is the lack of alarm shown by city leaders and local law enforcement at these reckless, dangerous drivers who are allowed to endanger so many lives in San Antonio. This is such a common, everyday problem, but not a peep about it. No reporting, no campaigns, nothing. Just another day in a still backward town that, no matter how big, never grows up. Berit Mason Please tip driver A recently article posed the question of whether you should tip your Uber driver. And, if so, how much? The answer is a definite yes. Before moving to San Antonio, we lived in Las Vegas and learned how hard people in the service industry work. If the ride-hailing driver provides reasonably good service, give that person a five-star rating and a few bucks extra. I alway give $5 cash as a minimum. William OBrien TISTA Science and Technology Corporation (TISTA), a company founded and led by a Service-Disabled Veteran, is expanding operations in Austin. The company provides Information Technology services focused on healthcare, specifically on projects that support program management at the Department of Veterans Affairs, research at the National Institutes of Health, and data analytics at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The tools and the technology to make healthcare work for our Veterans and for everyone in the United States exist now, said TISTA founder, Ahmed Ali in a recent announcement on why his firm is growing in Austin. The technology is out there. What we need are the people who understand how to use this technology and are dedicated to making peoples lives better. TISTA is hiring for information technology positions, including project managers, business analysts, configuration managers, and test engineers. TISTA is particularly focused on providing opportunities for Veterans. The company provides a career path designed for Veterans that includes paid training and research programs. The company also organizes social outreach events that help Veterans in local communities. We want Veterans to reach out to us. Our experience is the best people to understand how to support healthcare for Veterans are other Veterans. What TISTA provides is a platform and organizational network that can get Veterans trained in highly valued job skills, and then use those skills to do good. TISTAs training programs are designed to get their employees involved in advanced and ever-evolving technology, focused on health IT. This includes programs that introduce even beginners to data analytics and visualization, and projects that support technology infrastructure, such as taking advantage of Cloud based systems. TISTAs employees are also involved in research around technology. For example, they do research on how to best harness national patient profiles by identifying particular patterns that could benefit healthcare at a national level. We want our employees to grow their careers with us, but the reality is the tools and technology that we use on a daily basis mean that our team has skill sets that are highly sought after from companies across the country. What we have learned is that the best employees demand exposure to the latest technology, and the way we keep people excited about our team is by showing how to use that technology to make the world a better place. Starting with healthcare. Please help TISTA reach veterans. Interested parties can learn more about TISTA and its goal to help Veterans grow their careers in IT, by going to tistatech.com/careers or by emailing recruiting@tistetech.com. Editors Note: This content is made possible by TISTA. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com. VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga has reportedly been airlifted to South Africa for treatment after his condition took a turn for the worst mid-last week, NewsDay has learnt. Sources privy to the goings-on said Chiwenga, the power behind the removal of former President Robert Mugabe last year and the rise to power of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, was taken ill after being forced to abandon a Cabinet meeting on October 2. The Vice-President and his wife, Marry, have been showing signs of illness with, visibly swollen hands. Chiwenga is in South Africa now for treatment. He was airlifted there mid-last week, an insider said. There were also unconfirmed reports that Marry, whose hands have also shown signs of swelling, forcing her at some point to wear gloves, was in the neighbouring country to seek medical attention. Information deputy minister Energy Mutodi, who last month announced that Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo was unwell, refused to comment on the Chiwenga issue yesterday. All issues to do with the President or the Vice-Presidents affairs are disclosed by the Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet for presidential communications, Cde George Charamba. I urge you to talk to him for comment on VP Chiwengas condition. He [Charamba] works very closely with the Presidium and he will be better suited to give you the state of affairs, Mutodi said. On Moyo, Mutodi said: Minister Moyo is back in the country and recovering from home. He will, however, continue to see his doctors in South Africa and might visit them again this week. Moyo, an army general who took part in the November putsch against Mugabe, was hospitalised at an unmaned SA hospital on Thursday afternoon. Charamba confirmed Chiwenga was in South Africa, but said the Vice-President was undergoing a routine check-up for historical health issues. I am not sure its an admission or a check-up. You will remember he and his wife were affected by the White City Stadium incident, Charamba said. Although Charamba could not divulge where Chiwenga was being treated, reports in South Africa indicated he was being admitted at Netcare Hospital in Woodhill, Pretoria. Chiwenga, Vice-President Kembo Mohadi, Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri and Marry were some of the high-profile political figures affected by an attempted assassination on Mnangagwa in June at a Zanu PF campaign rally in Bulawayo. The grenade blast almost wiped out the entire Zanu PF presidium, while two aide de camps lost their lives. Charamba said Chiwenga also has health issues connected to the liberation struggle. You also may want to know that historically, he had a bullet lodged in his lungs from the war period. He was shot in combat at Chiduku [West of Rusape]. The other thing is he has told me he had not taken leave in the past five years and the gruelling election weve just gone through. He needed to fend off fatigue. We are expecting them back sometime this week, Charamba said. As reports of his illness and changing skin colour swirled early this year, Chiwenga publicly revealed that he had picked up an illness during Operation Restore Legacy that forced Mugabe to resign last November. Today, we want to set the record straight on one issue, now that journalists are here. When we did our operation to normalise things in the country, I was with General [Phillip Valerio] Sibanda and many others. They are brave men, indeed. We also informed vaMatanga [Godwin, then Deputy Commissioner General of police, but now Commissioner General] about the plan, it was during that time that I fell ill. I had this skin disease [nhuta] that affected my whole body from beneath my feet to my back and the journalists started saying I was using skin lightening creams, but that was not the case. I was sick, the Vice-President, a career soldier who commanded Zimbabwes military for almost a decade and half, said. Chiwenga suggested he was paying the price for removing Mugabe, triggering speculation he might have been poisoned. I have decided to talk about it because that is what you see, but you should know that everything that happens, comes with a price, he said. NewsDay Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Chief Justice Luke Malaba has challenged lawyers to come up with robust criticism of court decisions as this can have a beneficial impact in the improvement of the countrys legal system. He said the judiciary was open to robust criticism and would not approve anything that seeks to curry favour with it. Chief Justice Malabas remarks at the launch of the University of Zimbabwe Law Journal held at the University of Zimbabwe on Friday was clear testimony that justice is not a cloistered virtue and it must be subjected to scrutiny and candid comments from the lawyers and the ordinary men. We expect robust criticism, he said. We expect tearing apart of these decisions. If you cannot, please dont attempt. Chief Justice Malaba said he expected the law journal, which replaced the Zimbabwe Law Review, to set high standards of legal scholarship. We dont expect articles which are published because the writer expects to be quoted in a judgment, he said. We are not there for that purpose. If the standard of the article is so high and that it ceases to be just an opinion, certainly it is our duty as a court to cite that article with pride. Chief Justice Malaba debunked the misconception that the courts were the centre of universal law. He said the law stood on its own away from the courts. It is in the Constitution, statutes, common law and so on, he said. Yes, that is where it is reposed. It is there that we look upon the contributors to this journal to exercise the mind and show us the way this law as it stands, existing law should be interpreted, where the courts decision had gone wrong, if it has gone wrong. Justice Malaba pointed out that judges might be the authoritative interpreters of the law, particularly as a Constitutional court, but they did not claim monopoly of the understanding of the law. The law is for everybody, he said. It is for the common man, the lawyer, the legal academic is an expert in his or her own right. The legal academic must be proud to maintain his or her independence. Chief Justice Malaba urged lawyers to desist from subjecting themselves to a mentality of always doing things to please the court. He said he expected the legal academia to maintain their independence. Dean of Law Dr Innocent Maja welcomed the challenge thrown to the legal academia by Chief Justice Malaba, saying the legal fraternity and the academia will rise to the challenge. It is a very good development, he has thrown to us a challenge, he said. We will exercise our independence as the academia and academics to give him that particular robust criticism to the judgments that are coming. Dr Maja said the robust, but constructive criticism of court judgments would help in the development of the law and also assist judges reflecting on the judgments already there. It is also one of the ways the Chief Justice has indicated in which the bench can also obtain knowledge from the academia in that regard, he said. Chronicle Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo are admitted at top South African hospitals where they are said to be in bad shape, the Daily News is reliably informed. The two highly-trained former military men were the face of the November 2017 army operation that led to the dramatic ouster of Robert Mugabe after 37 years of iron-fisted rule. Code-named Operation Restore Legacy, the soft coup saw Mugabes long time confidante-turned-foe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, emerge from the political Siberia to take up the high-pressure job at Munhumutapa Building. Mnangagwa, aged 75, went on to appoint Chiwenga who was the commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) at the time of the military intervention as one of his two vice presidents (VPs). Moyo who had acted as the armys spokesperson during the month-long military operation was catapulted from the barracks to land the top post in the ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Daily News is reliably informed that while the officialdom is keeping Chiwenga and Moyos ill-health a closely-guarded secret, the top government officials were airlifted to the neighbouring country for further treatment after their conditions deteriorated. Deputy Information minister Energy Mutodi could neither deny nor confirm that the former military chefs were receiving medical attention in South Africa saying the matter was under the purview of the Office of the President and Cabinet. That is not an issue for this ministry because everything to do with the presidium, that is including the two VPs is communicated by George Charamba. He is the right person to talk about that, Mutodi said. Zanu PFs information tsar Simon Khaya Moyo was also non-committal, referring questions to Charamba as well. I know nothing about that because I havent been informed. That information can only be obtained from the Presidents Office, so talk to George, Khaya Moyo said. Charamba was not immediately available for comment as his phone went unanswered. He also did not respond to a text message sent to his phone. While not much is known about Moyos illness, Chiwenga and his wife, Mary, have been battling a rare skin disease that manifests in swollen hands and feet. They have also lost their skin pigmentation. In May, the former ZDF commander revealed that the condition started when he led a military coup against Mugabe, and that they had been to doctors who told them they could not diagnose what was afflicting them. In the end, Chiwenga said they had turned to traditional herbs recommended by a Catholic nun. Chiwengas wife was also unfortunate after she got injured in June this year in a bomb blast at a rally held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo, described by government as an attempt on the life of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was the star attraction at the event. On October 2, the Daily News revealed that Chiwenga abruptly left a Cabinet meeting after falling seriously under the weather with an undisclosed ailment and was rushed to a local in the capital Harare later that night. Highly-placed government sources had confided in the paper that although Mnangagwas second-in-command managed to attend the Zanu PF politburo meeting a day later, his health together with that of his wife continued to deteriorate at a rate relatives felt needed attention in South Africa. This comes at a time Zimbabweans have expressed anger at top government officials who shun local health facilities preferring top-notch foreign hospitals. Vice President Kembo Mohadi and minister of Defence Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri sought treatment in neighbouring South Africa in June this year after they also sustained injuries following the White City Stadium bomb explosion. Even Mugabe prefers to be treated in Singapore where he has been making frequent visits even during his reign and on taxpayers money. The decline of the health delivery system can be traced back to more than two decades ago. The countrys health delivery system is on the verge of total collapse with locals still dying of mediaeval diseases such as cholera following decades of underfunding and mismanagement by government. Only recently, over 50 people lost their lives due to a cholera outbreak in Harare and some other parts of the country owing to a critical shortage of requisite medical equipment and drugs in hospitals and pharmacies around the country. The economic meltdown that has also characterised the country in recent years has seen thousands of medical practitioners leave the country in search of greener pastures in the region and abroad. DailyNews Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News - Femi Falana, a senior lawyer and human rights activist, says the executive order imposing a travel ban on some Nigerians is a violation of the law - Falana says only the courts and anti-corruption agencies can impose restrictions on persons in the country - The senior lawyer calls on the federal government to withdraw the travel ban without any delay Femi Falana, a senior lawyer and human rights activist has said the travel ban placed on 50 high-profile Nigerians by President Muhammadu Buhari would expose the current administration to ridicule. The Cable reports that Falana in a statement on Sunday, October 14, said the directive which is backed by an executive order signed by the president was a violation of the law. The senior lawyer stated that only the courts and anti-corruption agencies could impose restrictions on persons in the country. He called on the federal government to withdraw the ban without any delay, noting that the ban was a reminder of how the military imposed restrictions on political opponents by seizure of their passports and restricting their movement. "Sadly, the travel ban is a sad reminder of the reckless placement of political opponents on security watch list and seizure of their passports by the defunct military junta, Falana said. READ ALSO: Corruption travel ban: 13 former governors, 7 ex-ministers, others allegedly affected (full list) Notwithstanding such judicial indictment of politically exposed persons seeking medical treatment during trial the law has not authorised the Executive to restrict the movement of criminal suspects. The power of the anti-graft agencies and the courts to place criminal suspects on watch list or subject their passports to temporary seizure has never been in doubt. To that extent, the directive to place the 50 high profile suspected persons on watch list and restrict their movement is highly superfluous, completely unwarranted and totally uncalled for. In fact, it is an ingenious design to expose the Buhari administration to ridicule. If the federal government had done some background check it would have discovered that the names of the 50 VIPs have long been placed on security watch list while their passports have been impounded by the anti graft agencies or the courts as one of the conditions for admitting them to bail. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app For the umpteenth time, I am compelled to caution the Buhari administration to wage the war against the menace of corruption within the ambit of the rule of law. Since the 50 high profile criminal suspects covered by EO6 have been placed on watch list while their passports have been seized by either the anti graft agencies or the courts the travel ban slammed on them by President Buhari ought to be withdrawn without any delay. Similarly, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has raised alarm over the travel ban imposed by the federal government on 50 Nigerians. Abubakar, on Sunday afternoon, October 14, warned that the travel ban was capable of devastating the Nigerian economy, and could at worse plunge the most-populous black nation into anarchy, Premium Times reports. The presidential candidate in a statement from his campaign office said the action by the president in imposing the ban was undemocratic and contravenes the sworn oath to abide by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Top 5 the Richest People of Nigeria: The Luxury of Corruption on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit Editor's note: Public commentator, Chidiebere Nwobodo, writes on the choice of former governor of Anambra state, Mr Peter Obi, as the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming 2019 general elections. Read below DISCLAIMER: I want to state categorically and emphatically that the essence of this piece is not to promote, defend or antagonise any of the groups and camps in southeast PDP caught in this thickening web of conspiracies, intrigues and shenanigans trailing the nomination of H.E Peter Obi as vice presidential candidate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I will make the following assertions as proud Igbo activist; who has invested a lot in the court of public opinion to defend collective interests of Igbos in the turbulent political ocean called Nigeria. I am apologizing in advance for those my blurt narrative may offend their sensibilities. I am Igbo before any political, state or clannish affiliation. When the leaders of thought in the zone have decided to condescend too low and bury their heads in the sand of parochialism - like a typical ostrich, someone must rise to the occasion, raise the moral olympian torch and lighten up the pathway of statesmanship. History recycles itself, but out of acute amnesia, shortsightedness and selfish proclivities, men have failed to learn from it. Igbo nation is at crossroad again. We have embarked on political voyage of self-destruct and pull-him-down dirty game of thrones. Unfortunately, we have taken our stinking and dirty-ridden linens to the market square; in full public glare to wash - throwing decorum and dignity to the dogs. Who bewitched Igbos? Are we under a spell as a people? What is actually wrong with our type of politics? There is an Igbo adage that an elder does not sit in the house and watch a goat being strangulated by a rope. What happens when an elder - supposed custodian of morals, values, ethics and honour becomes the one desecrating the sacred altar of brotherhood and spirit of onye agha na nwanneya (be your brothers keepers)?? I received the appointment of Peter Obi as Atiku's running mate with mixed feelings, not because of his personality but ethno-religious considerations I highlighted in my previous article. I wanted the vice presidential slot to go to southwest for strategic political reasons. Atiku Abubakar has chosen his running mate from southeast for political reasons as well. All of us are bound to respect that decision. It is worthy of note to state that Peter Obi's nomination went down well with the masses beyond southeast. From reactions on social media, he is a popular choice; the right man for the job - square peg for a square hole; going by his curriculum vitae vis-a-vis his sterling track record. Business community across the country celebrated his pick. He is the economic maverick the nation needs now as vice presidential candidate. READ ALSO: Jonathan reacts as south-east elders accuse Atiku of choosing Peter Obi without consultation Southeast leaders of the PDP have strongly expressed reservations and utter disgust in reaction to the process that led to Peter Obi's emergence as Atiku's running mate. Their main grouse was that they were not consulted - by extension carried along in the decision that threw up former Anambra State governor as vice presidential candidate. They were ABSOLUTELY right to be angry and aggrieved. If I were in their shoes, I would have expressed disappointment for the fact that they heard the announcement on the social media like every other Nigerian. They should have been given firsthand information as stakeholders before it went public. From the grapevines, they're not happy with the choice of Peter Obi as Atiku's running mate. Peter Obi's style of politics and leadership are not in agreement with theirs. They said Obi is not a "team player." Its left for them to define the phrase "team player" to Igbo nation who are eagerly waiting for the explanation. They wouldn't have raised this type of faze in the polity, if it was not Peter Obi; even if they were not consulted as well. Like I wrote above, they have the democratic right to express their anguish at the decision but the manner it was done and the extent they went in exercising that right, is what I am TOTALLY against, because of the far-reaching effects it will have on the political future of Igbo nation, especially when juxtaposed with aged-long, flawed perception that Igbos cannot speak with one voice. Firstly, the Ebonyi state governor, David Umahi goofed big time and betrayed the leadership entrusted on him by rushing to the media to vent his frustrations at the nomination, even before the southeast PDP stakeholders meeting held in Enugu. Any leader who cannot activate emotional intelligence at an auspicious period like this, has no business being in a position of leadership. This is not meant to denigrate his personality but stating the obvious truth not minding whose ox is gored. The mind-boggling and thought-provoking questions and answers are: who is Peter Obi? Google his curriculum vitae. Is he unblemished - infallible? Like every other human, no. Is he an Igbo from southeast? Yes. Is he eminently qualified for the position? Yes. Will his candidacy brighten the PDP chances of winning the presidency? Yes. Is he the choice of Igbo masses? Yes. Does the views of the PDP stakeholders reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Igbo masses? No. Can his personality appeal to other non-Igbo Nigerians? Yes. Does he have any corruption baggage? No. Is vice presidential slot the only available position for others to take? No. Is he also going to defend the interests of southeast in particular and all Nigerians in general? Yes. If he becomes vice president by God's grace, will he assist Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to revive our recessed economy; cut down the cost of governance; create jobs for millions of unemployed and underemployed youths; pull millions out of extreme poverty; rebuild our dilapidated critical infrastructure; revamp ailing businesses and ultimately "Get Nigeria Working Again?" Absolutely yes. Then, what is the fuss all about? I think that the major reason that influenced Atiku's choice to pick someone from southeast, against some political permutations, is to reward loyalty of Ndigbo in standing with the PDP during its trying times vis-a-vis the urgency to give southeast a sense of belonging, by allocating number two position to the zone, of which Igbos held last 30 years ago. Another factor I believe Waziri of Adamawa considered, is to pick someone who is on the same intellectual wavelength and ideological spectrum with him as co-pilot. It won't make sense to have someone who does not share your leadership visions as running mate, simply for political correctness and exigencies. Imagine having someone as co-peddler on the same boat whose destination is in opposite direction with yours. While you will be peddling forward; he will peddle in a different direction. That is what stagnates a government and make it look clueless. Atiku Abubakar also rewarded Peter Obi's loyalty and sacrifices. It's on record that Atiku and Obi have been working on this presidential project for the last two years; even when some political pundits never gave him a chance of picking the PDP presidential ticket. When a potential running mate is competent and loyal, what else do you need. This narrative punctures the arguments of those who are alluding that the slot should have gone to a different camp in the party. Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi should reach out to other stakeholders in southeast in quest to get everyone on board. Southeast PDP stakeholders, it is time to accept our son, bury the hatchet and collectively work for the victory of the party. We should not be seen as antagonising our illustrious son when he is being celebrated by others. It is an abnormality. All the grievances and misgivings can be handled in-house as "family affair" without playing into the hands of our enemies. Southeast PDP should also remember that they did not "consult" Igbo masses as well before expressing displeasure at the modus operandi that brought Peter Obi's vice presidential candidacy. What is at stake now if the PDP fails to stop the emerging tyrant in the villa, is too grievous for all to bear and better imagined than experienced. Igbos will be the highest victims of Buhari's third coming, if we allow parochialism to overwhelm the big picture. Once beaten twice shy. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng. Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.legit.ng drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Legit.ngs step-by-step guide for guest contributors. Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App. Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter. Nigeria Latest News: PDP Convention - Atiku Elected as Presidential Candidate | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has given reasons for Nigerians to support the Atiku Abubakar/ Peter Obi ticket - He said Obi is the finest choice for PDP's presidential candidate ahead of the 2019 election - According to Abaribe, Obi as an embodiment of discipline and positive attributes The senator representing Abia South senatorial district, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has described the emergence of former governor Peter Obi as the running mate to Atiku Abubakar as the finest choice. Abaribe said the choice of Obi to run with the former vice president as the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2019 presidency had boosted the chances of the PDP winning the 2019 presidential election. Punch reports that Abaribe in a statement released on Sunday, October 14, said Obi is an embodiment of discipline and positive attributes. READ ALSO: Presidency distances itself from alleged travel ban list, issues clarification Ababribe said: "Mr Obis widely acknowledged good track record in infrastructural development and economic reforms as governor of Anambra State remains an eloquent testimony of what service delivery and good governance is all about. The ticket of the duo of former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Mr Obi represents the finest choice available and one that reflects the high-pitch push by Nigerians for total economic and political reforms. READ ALSO: Corruption travel ban: Dasuki, Gbenga Daniel, Amosu, Fani-Kayode, others top alleged travel ban list The present hopeless situation of fear, despondency and hunger in the land, which is occasioned by a seemingly rudderless and clueless government, requires experienced and steady hands in the saddle. Of course, the Atiku/Obi ticket presents that radical choice capable of pulling the country out of her present horrendous predicament." Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, called on leaders in the southeast zone to support the choice of Obi as the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Ekweremadus call to the southeast leaders followed a complaint by the group that they were not properly consulted before Obi, a former governor of Anambra state, was chosen for the position. The deputy Senate president at a meeting with southeast political leaders, comprising the zones PDP governors, national assembly caucus, board of trustee members and other party leaders convinced the group not to reject Obis nomination. Is Atiku the Right Man to Defeat President Buhari? 2019 Election - Nigeria Street Gist | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - Bishop David Oyedepo said contrary to rumour, he has not endorsed anyone for 2019 presidency election - Oyedepo said he visited former president Olusegun Obasanjo's house because he was invited to broker peace between him and Abubakar Atiku - The cleric also lamented the spate of killings in Nigeria The founder and presiding bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedpo, has debunked rumour that he endorsed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for 2019 presidential election. Oyedepo who spoke at a Sunday church service in Canaan Land Ota, Ogun state, said he does not belong to any political party. READ ALSO: Buhari's minister drags APC, INEC to court over primaries The bishop, while speaking on why he and other religious leaders visited former president Olusegun Obasanjo recently, said he was invited to make peace between the former president and Atiku Abubakar. Atiku, obasanjo and Oyedepo during the bishop's visit to Obasanjo's house Source: Facebook He said: I am aware Winners are in every political party in Nigeria but I dont belong to any party. I was only invited to make peace. I dont force myself on people because I am too busy. While lamenting on the killings in the country, Oyedepo said: The recent killings in Plateau state yis a moral assault on our nation. Nobody is qualified to be morally right, if he does not have feelings for loss of lives. I know how many times I cried over the killings in Nigeria. Some people claimed responsibility and nothing happened to them. The effect of the 30 months civil war is still with us. We wont see war again in Nigeria. Those who want to see it, will be cut down. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Legit.ng earlier reported that ahead of the 2019 general election, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday, October 13, advised religious leaders in the country to abstain from partisan politics. The president at the Interfaith Initiative For Peace Conference tagged Religious harmony in Nigeria: Towards the 2019 general election in Abuja, said religious leaders engaging in partisan politics or political controversies risked losing public respect. President Buhari said his advice became necessary having witnessed the roles religious leaders have been playing so far ahead of the elections. Buhari to Contest for Presidency in 2019! Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - A Nigerian woman has cried out after her mother got pregnant for her husband - The woman claimed that her husband chased her out of the house because of her mother - She revealed that her mother had come to assist her with taking care of her newborn Legit.ng has come across a very sad story of a Nigerian woman who was chased out of her house with her children. A Nigerian woman identified simply as Chinasa from Abia state has cried out on social media after her mother got pregnant for her husband. The woman revealed that she suspected something when they were spending time together. The 27-year-old woman claimed that her husband got her mother pregnant when she came to assist her with taking care of her newborn baby. Nigerian woman cries out, claims her mother is pregnant for her husband Photo: Facebook Source: Real Zinab Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Nigerian couple joyfully welcome birth of son after 9 years of waiting (photos) Chinasa, who is mother of three, two boys and a girl, claimed that her husband chased her out of the house after he professed love for her mother. The woman, who shared her story on a Facebook group for mothers, asked Nigerian mothers to advice her on what to do. She revealed that a family meeting has been arranged. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on Legit.ng News "My sis please help so it will get to admin and she will help me post, l don't need to hide my identity. My name is Chinasa, am from item in bende, L.G.A, Abia state. Please l don't know what to do again, l am 27-years-old, Am married with 3 kids 2 boys and a girl. l had my daughter early this year, My mom came for normal child visit, After few months, l started noticing some changes from hubby to mum. He takes her out, always gisting wit my mum,l thought it was normal in-law's love, until two days ago, my mum tested positive, My own mother is pregnant for my husband and he sent me and my kids out of the house, claiming he is in love with my mother, we have called for family meeting, I want mothers to advice on to do what because am losing my mind, the shame is too much help a dying sister..I will b reading ur advice.." PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group Nigeria News Today: Woman Delivers Quintuplets in Anambra, Asks Nigerians for Help | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit Nigeria - INEC has said 6,609,115 residents are eligible to vote in Lagos during the 2019 general elections in the state - This was disclosed by the resident electoral commissioner in the state, Sam Olumekun - Lagos state has 245 registration areas (wards), 8,462 polling units and 3669 voting points The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos said 6,609,115 residents were eligible to vote in the 2019 general elections in the state. Sam Olumekun, the resident electoral commissioner disclosed this at a workshop on Lagos state election security strategic plan for 2019 elections. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by Nigeria Policing Programme (NPP) in collaboration with INEC in Lagos state. Prince Adelani Asade, the administrative secretary of the commission delivered Olumekuns speech at the workshop. READ ALSO: Buhari's minister drags APC, INEC to court over primaries Lagos state has 245 registration areas (wards), 8,462 polling units, and 3669 voting points across the 20 local governments of the state and Olumekun agreed that security is key to holding a successful election. 6,609, 115 eligible Nigerians registered to vote during the 2019 general elections in the state. I am profoundly grateful to NPP for organising this very important and timely workshop on elections security considering the role of good security structure in the conducting a peaceful and successful general elections in 2019. It is crucial to say that with 91 political parties and about 74 million voters geared to take informed decision and action at the general elections in 2019, the security of election officials, materials, and the electorate is of utmost importance to the commission. Indeed, security is key to the conduct of credible elections. INEC in Lagos is truly proud of partnering with NPP at this most auspicious time in the electoral cycle," Olumekun said. The INEC commissioner commended the NPP and hoped that the workshop would give the commission the opportunity to review, reflect, brainstorm, and re-engineer its security structure and strategy. He added that the commissions pro-activeness on security, had informed regular meeting of the inter-agency consultative committee on election security where matters concerning security before, during and after elections were discussed. Olumekun also promised that INEC would improve on the conduct of elections in 2019. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, election observer group, YIAGA Africa Watching The Vote (WTV) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make public its report on the monitoring of political parties primaries held recently in preparations for the 2019 general elections. The group made the demand on Thursday, October 11, in Abuja, during a press briefing on the conduct of political party primaries for the 2019 general elections. Speaking at the briefing, Ezenwa Nwagwu, co-chair, WTV working group, and Cynthia Mbamalu, project director, YIAGA Africa WTV, raised issues around exclusion of youth and women, high cost of nomination forms, vote buying and selling, access and transparency. open flouting of party guidelines, INEC guidelines as well as the Electoral Act. Nigeria Latest News: Not Too Young to Run Pay a Visit to APC and PDP | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Some Niger Delta youths have come out to defend the minister of state for petroleum, Kachikwu - The minister has been under fire for allegedly claiming to have graduated with a first class degree - The youths said Kachikwu remains a shining example of the calibre of brilliant minds, adding that he never claimed to be a first class graduate Youths from the Niger Delta region on Sunday, October 14, expressed solidarity with Dr Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum and dismissed reports that he lied about his degree class. Pastor Tiedor Olayinka, the spokesman for Coalition of Niger Delta Youth Leaders, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that reports that Kachikwu claimed to have obtained a first class degree was false and mischievous. The group noted that records of Kachikwus academic background were in the public domain, even as the minister clarified in a statement at the weekend that he never claimed to hold a first class degree in law. READ ALSO: Buharis executive order is constitutional - Presidency Kachikwus profile has always been in the public domain, and he is a man of impeccable character; we are therefore wondering the reason behind this mischievous report on him, which he has denied. It is worrisome that in spite of ongoing efforts by the federal government to contain the issue of fake news, some people circulate falsehood to the public as investigative news. We condemn this malicious campaign of calumny orchestrated by those who feel threatened by Kachikwus career and reforms in the oil and gas sector as minister of state for Niger Delta. He remains a shining example of the calibre of brilliant minds from the Niger Delta and we stand by him, those who are envious of his position should look at his track records at ExxonMobil where he was Vice President before he was appointed a minister, Olayinka said. The youth urged the federal government to be wary of the antics of those whose pastime is to blackmail top government functionaries. They further advised the federal government to intensify its war against fake news and take decisive action against those behind it. They noted that the coming of Dr Ibe Kachikwu as the petroleum minister of state had sanitised the oil sector with a renewed focus by the introduction of reforms and sound policy direction that brought about efficiency in the sector. They noted that efforts by Kachikwu in crisis crossing the regions creeks in search of peace had restored peace to the once restive Niger Delta and paved the way for increased oil production. Oil facilities and gas pipelines were attacked and production levels were disrupted while our output targets dropped sharply then. The concerted efforts Kachikwu put up during those dark days, meeting key relevant stakeholders at the creeks of the Niger Delta, eventually paved the way for the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to tour the Niger Delta, Olayinka said. He said that Kachikwus performance and pedigree were inspiration to the younger generation and deserved commendation from Nigerians. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Kachikwu had denied misrepresenting facts by claiming he graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). Kachikwu in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, October 10, through the director of press in the ministry of petroleum resources, Idang Alibi, said he has at no time claimed that he graduated with a first class from the UNN. The minister clarified that he graduated from UNN with a second class honours (upper division) degree from the faculty of law of in 1978, and also emerged the best student. What Should President Buhari do to Adeosun Over Alleged Certificate Forgery? | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - A suspected motorcycle thief, Sharif Audu, has confessed that he stole a motorcycle to take care of his girlfriend - The suspect said he can do anything to make his girlfriend happy, and will go the extra mile to fulfill her needs - The matter would be taken to court upon conclusion of the investigation One Sharif Audu, 18, a suspected motorcycle thief, has admitted to stealing a Bajaj motorcycle in order to raise money for his girlfriends upkeep. According to Punch, quoting Northern City News, a team of police detectives from the Niger state Police Command apprehended the suspect after he dispossessed one Yakubu Ndanusa of his motorcycle. READ ALSO: Secure release of abducted health workers - ICRS begs FG as deadline approaches Legit.ng gathers that Audu, who is said to be jobless, was always seen loitering around Honey Bell Hotel in Minna. While confessing to the crime, the suspect said he stole the motorcycle to raise money to maintain his girlfriend. He said: The desire to satisfy the needs of my girlfriend made me steal the motorcycle. I dont want to say no to her and that is why I can do anything to make her happy, no matter what. I dont want to share her with anybody and that is why I will go the extra mile to fulfill her needs. I dont care what it may result to, my duty is to provide what she needs before any other thing, I love her so much." The police public relations officer, Muhammad Abubakar, confirmed that the stolen motorcycle was recovered from the suspect. He said the matter would be taken to court upon conclusion of the investigation. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app In a similar development, Legit.ng previously reported that two Imo state Polytechnic students, 26-year-old Johnson Ashiegbu and 34-year-old, Chinonso Ewurum, were arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad for allegedly stealing two vehicles. The suspects were reported to have sold the vehicle to one Nnamdi Ejinkeonye for N300,000 in Onitsha. One of the suspects disclosed that he used the money to sort out some school results and the rest to take care of his girlfriend. See the faces of newly arrested criminals in Lagos state - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit - A pro-Buhari support group insisted that nothing can stop the presidents re-election in 2019 - The group said that no amount of unnecessary distraction from the opposition can stop the president - President Buhari, according to the group, a the divine choice sent to rescue Nigeria A political group, Buhari/Osinbajo Mandate Group (BOMG) vowed on Sunday, October 14, that no amount of unnecessary distraction from the opposition can stop President Muhammadu Buhari from winning his re-election bid in the 2019 presidential election. The national coordinator of BOMG, Ali Baba Mohammed, said in a statement issued in Abuja, that, the current gang up against President Buhari will fail. He said the president is the divine choice of God to rescue Nigeria from the hands of those who have held her prosperity and greatness to ransom, Vanguard reports. READ ALSO: Presidency distances itself from alleged travel ban list, issues clarification Mohammed, who noted the country, has suffered in bondage over the years, said the corrupt elites are not happy with Buharis giant strides towards ensuring the complete liberating of the nation from their iron grip. He said: Today, Mr President is their enemy and the rest of the masses movement of the people of Nigeria are his friends and he is their hero. As far as Nigeria of today is concerned, there is hardly any political leader, past and present in Nigeria whose records of present and antecedents, could stand, match or displace that of President Muhammadu Buhari. Hence, our insistence that he is still the best man for the job; the best that has happened to Nigeria and he is still what is right to continue to happen in political leadership and civil governance in Nigeria for the next four years. The national coordinator said the core mission of Buhari, which is total restoration of the country, must be accomplished and therefore called on Nigerians to continue to support him. We, therefore, make bold to say that Nigerians are wiser now and are more politically informed and enlightened, and so will not vote for the enemies of their country to come back to power again. They will not vote to collect their country from the hands of the hand of the current responsible leaders and give it back to those irresponsible ones they already know. Nigerians are unanimously set to prove it to the world that they know a responsible and visionary leader when they see one. And so, will not make the mistake of proving it to the world that it is a crime to be irresponsible leader in Nigeria, he said. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the chairman of the Northern Elders Council, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, said that the programmes put forward by President Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would determine which of them the group would support in 2019. The NEC chairman said it was premature to endorse any presidential candidate without knowing his or her manifesto. Yakasai said: In my opinion, this is not the appropriate time to start making decisions about where the votes will go. Neither of the two candidates has published a clear-cut manifesto or programmes. I am advising that people wait for the programmes put forward by the candidates before we make our final choice." Is Atiku the Right Man to Defeat President Buhari? 2019 Election - Nigeria Street Gist On Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - Abiy was angry the soldiers protesting over pay rise had entered his courts with weapons - He ordered them to do ten press-ups and joined in the push-ups session -The protesting soldiers smiled as they did the press ups with their Commander in Chief - They had began protesting on Wednesday, October 10, igniting tension among citizens - The soldiers were later allowed in the prime minister's residence ground but Abiy was precise the country had shortage of resources and could not pay everyone as they desired Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed surprised the world when he ordered protesting soldiers who had marched to the field outside his office to do press-ups on Thursday, October 11. Ahmed who came to power in April 2018 following three years of protest in the country surprised the soldiers demanding for a pay hike after joining them in doing the 10 push-ups 'punishment'. READ ALSO: Presidency distances itself from alleged travel ban list, issues clarification Abiy Ahmed doing press-ups with a group of protesting soldiers who had milled outside his office igniting tension. Photo: BBC Source: UGC A report by the BBC seen by Legit.ng on Thursday, October 11, stats that Abiy was dismayed by the soldiers go slow tendencies and protest to his office in Addis Ababa. He wondered why they had carried weapons in their protests and ordered them to do 10 press-ups before they could engage in any discussion. The incident had sent shock waves among Ethiopian nationals as it was followed with the closure of roads in the area around the prime minister's office alongside internet shutdown. Sources privy to the happenings said things cooled off unusually fast as Abiy and the soldiers did the press-ups with beaming faces insinuating the tension had been diffused. Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who ascended to power in April, 2018 told the soldiers it was 'bad manners' to enter his premises with weapons. Photo: Ethiopia Online Source: UGC A former senior military officer said the soldiers' demand was genuine but the protest's approach breached forces' discipline. "It would be difficult to assume the protest was spontaneous. There could be a group behind it. The action exposed weakness of the military intelligence or unwillingness to serve new commander in chief," he said. Abiy later addressed the soldiers saying he would try his best to address the pay rise demand but was firm the country had limited resources and even civil servants had to survive with low salaries. "We have to use the money for development purposes. We can pay everyone higher salaries but we will end up [with] no development," Abiy said according to a statement. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the (former) prime minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, tendered his resignation letter after series of anti-government protests in the country. The former prime minister said he tried his utmost effort to solve the crisis in his country and he was resigning to be part of a solution to it. Ethiopia had been rocked by months of protests demanding wider freedoms that left hundreds dead and tens of thousands detained. Who is Nigeria's greatest president ever? - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit Brutality in the hands of unprofessional policemen is an ill faced by some countries in the world, including Nigeria. Tales of police brutality has been getting more popular in recent times as citizens clamour for a reform. It is not new to hear stories of policemen killing innocent citizens without proper investigation, and that should not be the case. A Nigerian lady, identified as Anita Akapson, was reportedly killed by policemen in Abuja on October 13, 2018. According to reports from a friend of the deceased, identified on Twitter as Ms. Carla (@ihekauche), Anita was killed by the policemen after a verbal altercation ensued between them. See her tweets below: PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria READ ALSO: Harvard University honours Nigerian-American artist Kehinde Wiley who painted Obama's official portrait (photos) READ ALSO: Throwback photos of Fela Anikulapo Kuti on his 80th posthumous birthday In reaction to the reports, the Nigerian police has responded via their Twitter page. According to their tweet, the Inspector General of Police has ordered the arrest of the policemen involved as well as investigation of the case. Jimoh Moshood, the police spokesperson in a statement on Monday, October 15, 2018, said the IGP had directed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) commissioner of police, Bala Ciroma, to detain and personally investigate the policemen accused of killing the lady who was reportedly shot dead on Saturday night, October 13, at Katampe Extension, Abuja. The statement disclosed that Idris also commiserated with the family of the deceased and assured them that justice will be done in the matter. Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a 27-year-old woman fell off the 27th floor of a building while trying to take a selfie. According to a report, taking selfies has led to more than 250 deaths since 2011, and that does not seem ready to stop anytime soon. Legit.ng gathered that a 27-year-old woman in Panama, identified as Sandra Manuela Da Costa Macedo, fell to her death from the 27th floor of a building while trying to take a selfie. The mother of two had been sitting on the railing of the balcony when she tumbled backwards and fell. It has been said that perhaps strong winds pushed her back leading to her fall. Lagos CP Tells Lagosians What to Do to Erring SARS Officers | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit The SERAP has condemned the federal government's order banning 50 alleged high-profile corrupt Nigerians from travelling abroad - The body made this known in a statement signed by its deputy director, Timothy Adewale - Adewale said the order breached constitutional rights and the countrys international obligations The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said the order banning 50 alleged high-profile corrupt Nigerians from travelling abroad without any legal basis and a judicial authorization is clearly arbitrary, repressive and illegal. Premium Times reports that the SERAP that disclosed this in a statement signed by its deputy director, Timothy Adewale, said the order breached constitutional rights and the countrys international obligations, which protect the rights to freedom of movement, to leave ones country, to privacy, and to due process of law. The statement read: The order banning 50 alleged high-profile corrupt Nigerians from travelling abroad without any legal basis and a judicial authorization is clearly arbitrary, repressive and illegal, as it breaches constitutional rights and the countrys international obligations, which protect the rights to freedom of movement, to leave ones country, to privacy, and to due process of law. READ ALSO: Buharis executive order is constitutional - Presidency A travel ban by its nature is an interference with the right to leave ones country. It is neither necessary nor proportionate to prevent dissipation of stolen assets or stop politically exposed persons (PEPs) from tampering with any such assets. The ban should be immediately lifted and the order rescinded. Rather than performing its declared objective of preventing dissipation of stolen assets, the travel ban would seriously undermine the governments expressed commitment to combat grand corruption and violate the countrys international human rights obligations. The travel ban will play right into the hands of high-profile corrupt officials by feeding into the narrative that the fight against corruption is targeted only at political opponents. The travel ban and mass surveillance will distract the authorities from taking legitimate action to recover stolen assets, effectively punish high-ranking corrupt officials and portray the government as unwilling to embrace the rule of law in its fight against corruption, thereby making it difficult to obtain the necessary support and cooperation of countries keeping stolen assets. The travel ban will also strain the governments relationships with partner countries, on whom it will inevitably rely for vital asset recovery cooperation, undermining the effort to bring them closer. By alienating these partners, the government could lose access to important information and mutual legal assistance necessary to effectively recover stolen assets and bring corrupt officials to justice. Judicial affirmation of the legality of the Executive Order 6 doesnt grant the government arbitrary powers to impose travel ban on anyone without following due process of law. Rather than imposing a travel ban, the authorities should take advantage of the provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption to seek mutual legal assistance with countries where investigations and litigation are ongoing by requesting them to apply preventive measures regarding assets covered by the travel ban. The authorities should also widely publish the names of the 50 Nigerians suspected to be involved, and submit those names to the countries/embassies of countries where the stolen assets are stashed. The authorities should issue a risk alert on alleged corrupt assets that are likely to be dissipated or tampered with by the high-profile Nigerians, seeking the cooperation of countries keeping the assets, and reminding them of their international obligations to prevent these Nigerians from tampering with stolen assets that are subject of ongoing investigations and litigation. We are concerned with the threats grand corruption and money laundering posed to the effective enjoyment of human rights of Nigerians, and agree with the authorities that grand corruption and impunity of perpetrators must be vigorously combated. But we believe that the fight against corruption will only succeed if it is based on due process of law and respect for human rights. If the objective the government seeks to achieve is to ensure stolen assets are not dissipated or that politically exposed persons do not interfere with ongoing investigation and prosecution of corruption cases, the appropriate legal response is for the authorities to pursue orders of temporary forfeiture and mutual legal assistance, and not a travel ban that would achieve nothing but violate citizens human rights. Nigeria is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which in article 12 guarantees the right of everyone to leave any country, including their own. The government cannot impose restrictions on this right unless any such restrictions are provided by law, are necessary to protect public order, or the rights of others. The travel restrictions on the alleged 50 corrupt Nigerians clearly do not meet these conditions. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app All restrictions on the right to leave must be narrowly interpreted. In General Comment No. 27, the Human Rights Committee stated that any restrictions must not impair the essence of the right and that the relationship of the norm to the exception must not be reversed. The travel ban cannot achieve the objective of depriving the 50 Nigerians suspected of corruption of their ill-gotten gains. It is absolutely important that the government is guided by the provisions of Article 31 of the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party, and which authorises states parties to take preliminary measures to seize, freeze or otherwise immobilise property for the purposes of confiscation/pending investigation and litigation. It is always important that the definition and interpretation of the law should be as certain as possible, and this is of particular importance in cases of corruption where citizens human rights may be at stake. We do not consider that such reasonable certainty can exist where the executive assumes patently judicial functions. The right to leave ones country includes a positive duty on states such as Nigeria to issue documents as well as a passive one to refrain from placing obstacles in the way of an individual seeking to leave. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the presidency declared that those who felt that the federal government made a big mistake to place the travel ban on 50 Nigerians being investigated for corruption are at liberty to approach the court. The senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, who made this known on Sunday, October 14, assured Nigerians that the present administration would not abandon the anti-corruption fight. How should convicted looters be punished? - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit - Hillary Clinton says her husbands affair with Monica Lewinsky wasnt an abuse of power - The former US first lady said Lewinsky was an adult; so her husband could not be said to have abused his power - She further denied any role in criticizing the character of the women who accused the former president of sexual misconduct Former US first lady and secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, says her husband, former president Bill Clintons affair with Monica Lewinsky was not an abuse of power. According to CNN, in response to a question during a CBS interview about whether her husband should have resigned after his affair with Lewinski came to light more than 20 years ago, the former first lady stated, absolutely not. READ ALSO: EO6: Yoruba youths flay Buhari over exclusion of Omisore, Obanikoro from list Legit.ng gathers that Clinton said Lewinsky was an adult; so her husband could not be said to have abused his power. She continued: But let me ask you this, where's the investigation of the current incumbent, against whom numerous allegations have been made, and which he dismisses, denies, and ridicules?" Her comment was in reference to the multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment leveled against President Donald Trump; which he has denied. Speaking further about the subsequent investigation into her husband, Clinton said she believes they came out in the right place." The former first lady was also asked what role, if any, she played in criticizing the character of the women who accused her husband of sexual misconduct. She replied: "None. No role. I take responsibility for my life and my actions." PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that former US president Bill Clinton blamed former FBI Director James Comey for his wife's election loss. He said: "He (US President Donald Trump) doesn't know much, (but) one thing he does know is how to get angry. White men to vote for him." Clinton also said he believed Russians hacking the election cost Hillary the White House. Extra-marital affairs: Christian group defends Apostle Suleiman - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng News - Ex-Niger Delta militants have vowed not to vote for President Buhari in 2019 - Buhari is the APC's presidential candidate for 2019 general elections - The ex-militants alleged that the president disappointed the youth in the Niger Delta region National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, (NCNDE-A), under the leadership of Eshanekpe Israel, has said it would not support President Muhammadu Buhari's re-election bid in 2019. The Sun reports that the group said the president has disappointed them and the entire Niger Delta. READ ALSO: EFCC operatives place Fayose under surveillance 72hrs to his exit as Ekiti governor Legit.ng gathered that the group said President Buhari has shown enough disdain for the youths and ex-militants under the aegis of the NCNDE-A, noting that the group worked tirelessly to install Buhari with the promise to better the lots of members of the group in patronage and develop the Niger Delta for growth and empowerment of the youths from the region. Rather than reward hard work and loyalty to him by members and leaders of the NCNDE-A, president Buhari, engaged in selective patronage, along tribal lines, he said. He added that the coalition is discussing with a better and more reliable candidate for the 2019 presidential election, reiterating that it is fed up with a government that lacks vision and purposeful leadership. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said it is not in a hurry to endorse either President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)s candidate, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, ahead of the 2019 presidential election. The secretary -general of the ACF, Anthony Sani, in an interview with The Punch, stated that the northern body was of the view that there were other presidential candidates of northern extraction from other political parties who might need endorsement too. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! According to Sani, the forum cannot afford to ignore the other candidates at the expense of Buhari or Atiku. He noted that the emergence of both candidates from the northern region was heartening, adding that it would make irrelevant the age-old politics of identity. The ACF secretary said this would pave the way for real issues of genuine concern to ordinary Nigerians. Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit - The outgoing Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, has disclosed what recently transpired between him and the former DSS boss, Lawal Daura - He said Daura wanted him to support President Buhari's administration so that PDP can remain in power in Ekiti state - Fayose made this known in Abuja noted that he turned down the request on two occasions The outgoing Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose has disclosed how the former director general of the Department of State Service, Lawal Daura, recently approached him twice to support President Buhari's administration. Nigerian Tribune reports that Fayose who spoke in Abuja on Sunday night, October 14, at a send-off party organised for him by his colleagues in the PDP Governors Forum, said he turned down the request on both occasions. In a statement by his chief press secretary, Idowu Adelusi, on Monday, October 15, he quoted Fayose as saying that it was for that reason that Daura coordinated the security onslaught against him and his supporters during the July 14 governorship election in the state. READ ALSO: WWE legend Don Leo Jonathan dies at the age of 87 The statement read: If I had agreed to the proposal and operated like a bat, who has the features of an animal and a bird, they would not have attempted to muzzle me. I am not one of those that would be silenced or who will go and take over under his wifes bed because some people want to play God. I cannot deceive you, I can fight but rather than fight the PDP, I will deploy my energy to fight those holding our country hostage and retarding its growth by their incapability. The time is up for them and they know this. Fayose expressed confidence that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi would be elected president and vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria next year. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! He gave the assurance that the south west people would vote the PDP in the coming general elections. The Akwa Ibom state governor, Emmanuel Udom, described Fayose as a courageous and dependable man and said Fayose could defend a cause even at the cost of his life. The chairman of the occasion, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara said nobody who served his people the way Fayose did would be put to shame. He noted that Fayoses supporters shedding tears while he was departing Ekiti were actually praying for him. Peter Obi, in his remarks, said the country needed people like Fayose who would speak the truth to power. Other speakers such as the Bayelsa State Governor, Rt Hon. Seriake Dickson, former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode poured encomiums on Fayose and prayed that God blesses his future endeavours. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the outgoing Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, who left the state promised to continually be by the side of the people of the state. The Punch reports that Fayose made this known during a thanksgiving service held in his honour at the Government House chapel after which he traveled out of the state. The outgoing governor embarked on a Thank you walk around major streets of Ado Ekiti where he received accolades from traders, artisans and other residents of the state. Governor Fayose Warns Nigerian Youths Ahead of 2019, Tells Them What to Do | Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit - President Muhammadu Buhari has met with Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina state - The president met with Masari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja - Both leaders met in the president's office on Monday, October 15 As the 2019 general elections draw nearer, President Muhammadu Buhari and Katsina state governor, Aminu Masari, have met at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Punch reports that President Buhari, who is from Katsina state, met with his state governor on Monday, October 15. Legit.ng gathers that the meeting between the two leaders, who are both members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was held at the president's office. READ ALSO: BREAKING: British high commissioner Arkwright meets with Tinubu on 2019 general elections Report has it that the lawmaker representing Katsina South in the Senate, Senator Abu Ibrahim, arrived the president's office before the arrival of the governor. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Wednesday, October 10, declared that President Muhammadu Buhari and the party were not jittery over the emergence of former vice president Atiku Abubakar as the main opposition presidential candidate in 2019 elections. Atiku was elected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its presidential flag-bearer during the partys national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, on Sunday, October 7. While speaking with State House correspondents after leading four governors of the party to a closed-door meeting with President Buhari over the just concluded partys primaries, the chairman of the APC Governors' Forum and Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, was optimistic that Buhari would be re-elected in 2019. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app In an earlier report by Legit.ng, Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello of Niger state assured Nigerians that they would not regret re-electing President Muhammadu Buhari into power in 2019. He said President Buhari's re-election into the presidency in 2019 would help stabilise Nigeria's economy. He said if the president was not re-elected in 2019, Nigeria's economy would face challenges and may fall back into recession. Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - The PDP claimed the EFCC has been ordered to arrest Fayose - The opposition party said the ploy is to detain the outgoing governor indefinitely - The party said this is due to Fayoses criticism against the government The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the presidency has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and detain the outgoing governor of Ekiti state Governor Ayodele Fayose indefinitely. This is contained in a statement released by the spokesperson of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Monday, October 15. He claimed the plot against the outgoing governor was due to his criticism against the Muhammadu Buhari government. He said information at the partys disposal and all over the social media indicate that the presidency has put the commission on alert to arrest the governor at midnight and detain him indefinitely. READ ALSO: Breaking: Boko Haram allegedly kill Red Cross worker, give message on Leah Sharibu "The alleged directive by the presidency is not unconnected with the plot to use the EFCC and other security agencies to incarcerate the governor owing to his persistent criticism of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government. "This uncompromising stands of the outgoing governor against the present administration was the reason Ekiti State was invaded and taken by force during the last governorship election. "By 12 midnight, the governors residence is expected to be surrounded by armed men of the EFCC under the pretense that they had information of his plot to escape. This is to achieve their plan to humiliate the governor and portray him in bad light to the public by dramatising his arrest. "Nigerians can recall that it was the governor who offered to submit himself to the EFCC despite the commissions clear display of bias and partisanship as demonstrated in its various actions, especially its tweets and putting the governor on security watch-list. "The EFCC even unprofessionally showed its bias in deriding the governor, making light of a very serious matter by mocking him and asking him to come before his tenure elapsed, which the governor declined in line with the constitutional immunity. "It is now beyond dispute that Governor Fayose is not a scoundrel running away from justice. Whatever the EFCC, APC, and the Presidencys spin-doctors may say, it is also clear to everyone that Fayose is not a coward; neither is he afraid of the EFCC. "Fayose is prepared and ready to defend himself in the court of law. Neither the Presidency nor EFCC is a court of law. Since the EFCC said it had dusted up Fayoses files, it should be ready to take him to court once he presents him at the agencys office on Tuesday. "Governor Fayose has offered to walk to the EFCC office by himself and nothing must happen to him tonight. The PDP condemns this resort to fascism by the APC government, saying the whole world should be at alert to see another demonstration of crude disrespect for the rule of law and rights of Nigerians," the statement read. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the outgoing Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, who left the state promised to continually be by the side of the people of the state. The Punch reports that Fayose made this known during a thanksgiving service held in his honour at the Government House chapel after which he traveled out of the state. The outgoing governor embarked on a Thank you walk around major streets of Ado Ekiti where he received accolades from traders, artisans and other residents of the state. Governor Fayose Warns Nigerian Youths Ahead of 2019, Tells Them What to Do | Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 692 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser and what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, funding comments section support. A flurry of deal-making, with all sorts of rumors about an agreement being close, or even having already been sealed in secret, dominated UK reporting last week. It was all for naught. As the Financial Times reported in considerable detail, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab met for only an hour with Michel Barnier to reject the current draft of the Withdrawal Agreement. No further sessions are scheduled. This is fatal to the negotiations. Recall the EU had set down a firm timetable at Salzburg: May had to come back with something to be presented at the EU summit set to start this Wednesday, or else a special November session to complete the agreement would be off. The order of battle was that the text had to be presented to the sherpas by Tuesday at the latest so they could review it and brief their bosses. So there is no way for their to be panicked 11th hour regrets and a revival of the negotiations before the October meetings. That time has passed. Given how disruptive a UK crash out would be to the EU, the Guardian and others speculate the EU will hold an emergency summit in November for planning purposes. That would also give the UK one last chance, were it to try, to make a last-ditch effort at cinching an exit agreement. As the Guardian put it: The plan is likely to pile further pressure on the British prime minister by illustrating the EUs seriousness about allowing the UK to crash out if the alternative were a deal that would undermine the integrity of the single market or prove unacceptable to the Republic of Ireland. But between Salzburg and now this breakdown, the human dynamics are also a big impediment. Despite Barnier being the personification of a calm and professional negotiator, EU leaders have had it with the UKs arrogance and attempts to bully the EU despite having no leverage. That was what the outbursts at May in Salzburg were about. The disconcerting thing about the collapse of the talks was that the EU was blindsided. The EU thought the Raab meeting was to sign off on an agreement, not to nix it. This means at best the UK team got way ahead of its principals and was unable to bring them along. At worst, it means bad faith dealing, where the UK team had agreed to things that it had run by No. 10, only to renege. Did the threat by the DUPs Arlene Foster to blow up the Government carry the day? From Politico: Indications that a tentative deal at negotiator level was close, began to emerge mid-afternoon Sunday, when the U.K.s Department for Exiting the EU released a statement that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab would make an unscheduled trip to Brussels Subsequently, EU diplomats said a meeting of EU ambassadors had been scheduled for 6.30 p.m. Sunday evening. Three EU diplomats said the meeting was intended to allow ambassadors early sight of the divorce deal, but after the meeting between Barnier and Raab, an EU official said the EU negotiator would update them on the U.K.s remaining objections. Banier tweeted later: We met today @DominicRaab and UK negotiating team. Despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open, including the backstop for IE/NI to avoid a hard border. I will debrief the EU27 and @Europarl_EN on the #Brexit negotiations. Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) October 14, 2018 From the Financial Times: Brexit talks reached a dramatic stand-off in Brussels on Sunday night, after Theresa May warned that a draft treaty to take Britain out of the EU was a non-starter and risked tearing her government apart. Mrs May despatched Dominic Raab, her Brexit secretary, to Brussels to make clear that she could not sign up to the current terms for Britains exit at a European Council meeting on Wednesday The biggest sticking point remains the so-called Irish backstop, the guarantee by both sides that there will be no hard border in Ireland pending the agreement and ratification of a lasting frictionless UK-EU trade deal. Some Eurosceptic Tory cabinet ministers have threatened to resign unless Brussels agrees to put a firm end date on the temporary customs union between the EU and UK which forms part of the backstop. Separately Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist party, which props up Mrs Mays government, has threatened to bring down the prime minister unless she drops a linked proposal to keep the region in the EUs single market during the backstop period, putting a regulatory border in the Irish Sea EU ambassadors were told that Mr Raabs meeting with Mr Barnier went badly, throwing into doubt several elements of the deal that was expected to take shape. Aside from Ireland continuing to be the circle that cannot be squared, it is dismaying to see the UK still trying to have its precious cake, um, frictionless trade deal. What about leaving the Single Market dont you understand? The Times reports that the UK is (finally) about to get serious about crash-out preparation: The Times has learnt that senior civil servants have warned ministers that whatever happens this week, the governments contingency plans for Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal agreed must start being put into effect by the end of the month. Rather than wait for the conclusion of talks in Brussels, or the ratification of any deal by MPs, the work of stockpiling medicines and telling businesses to begin registering for new customs processes must begin shortly, ministers have concluded.Those involved in the discussions said that if the government delayed taking action to prepare for a no-deal Brexit beyond this month, it faced being under-prepared by March 29 next year, when Britain officially leaves the EU. Underprepared is the understatement of the month. Finally, from Richard North: This looks terminal, not least because a meeting of Sherpas scheduled for today has been cancelled. This means that there is to be no further negotiator interface before Tuesdays general affairs council an essential prerequisite to a deal being presented to the European Council. On that basis, it does not look as if there can be a successful outcome to the October Council if by success we mean a negotiated deal. For others, this brings us to an outcome which has been the target all along. Given the behaviour of the Ultras this weekend, this comes as no surprise. But we will not be able to judge the full impact of this latest development until we know what the European leaders plan to do. If, as surmised by Spiegel Online, they decide to allocate the special November meeting to agreeing contingency plans, then we can assume the negotiations are as good as over. But if further face-to-face meetings are planned, we may still be in with a chance Officials, however, have moved to dampen speculation that the break-up in negotiations was in fact choreographed. Theres trouble, one of those anonymous sources told The Times. This was not the plan. A senior EU diplomat added: This is not good and the backstop remains the problem. North also warned: A no deal presents serious challenges for EU Member States, and for the EU institutions. A considerable amount of physical preparation will be needed, together with a substantial number of legislative adaptations before even a minimal cross-border operation can be resumed with the UK. The same applies to the UK, and Ministers have been warned to step up contingency plans here even if there are severe limitations as to what can be achieved. Despite the enormous costs that a disorderly Brexit would wreck on the UK and the EU, it is hard to see how it can be stopped. The EU put a huge amount of pressure on May and her coalition to get real. Despite the week-plus of intense talks, it appears the two sides are no closer together on the two main points of contention, the Irish border and what the future relationship should be (and how specifically that should be set forth in the Withdrawal Agreement. It appears to still be true that there is not a deal that May could get through Parliament, with the DUP and the Ultras set to vote anything that smacks of compromise down. I would really rather be wrong about this situation. A crash out will precipitate a new financial crisis, not overnight, but it will send boulders downhill that will create an avalanche. The world is already so binged-out on private debt that, as the IMF and the World Bank and the BIS have recently warned, the risk of a meltdown is already high. A no deal Brexit will produce the scenario that former UK central banker Willem Buiter warned about in 2008 in his post, Reykjavik on the Thames. He explained how the UK had the same profile that Iceland had, a small open economy with an outsized banking sector. He saw the UK as vulnerable to a triple crisis: a currency crisis which would then kick off a banking and a sovereign debt crisis. The EU is also vulnerable to a banking crisis, both via contagion from a UK financial train wreck and on its own. It is already having a slow-motion Italian banking crisis. A disorderly Brexit is sure to damage the EU economy. How will its wobbly banks make out in the year after Brexit if the EU economy shrinks by 2% or 3%? And remember, the EU has mechanisms in place that look designed to create bank runs, like nation-state deposit guarantees than in many cases are very much underfunded, to bail-in schemes that would make any sane depositor move their money to another bank if things got ugly. When Margarite Yourcenar wrote her classic Memoirs of Hadrian, the one sentence she kept from a discarded first draft was I begin to discern the profile of my death. Brexit will be a death, not just of an ordered way of living in the UK, but of entire geopolitical structures. We cant yet know how far the breakage will extend, but this had the potential to be the beginning of the end of much larger systems, just the way the Great War was the closing chapter of the era of monarchies and rule by landed aristocrats and the beginning of the end of the gold standard. Perhaps the key actors will steer away from the abyss. Maybe the October shock will force a referendum, and maybe the EU will relent and extend the Brexit deadline. But that would require a lot of parties to make radical departures from their current stances. Happy endings are a lot more prevalent in movies than in real life. This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 694 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser and what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, supporting the commments section. 9 things you might not know about South Australias corpse flower Government of South Australia (EM). With time-lapse video, although visuals are hardly the point. Sears Goes Bankrupt, Mired in Debt and Deserted by Shoppers Yahoo News. The Bangor Mall Sears was absolutely the most depressing store Ive ever been in, with a visibly demoralized staff. So much for the anchor tenant. U.S. Households Are Overly Invested In Equities Econintersect. Big if true. UN Says Climate Genocide Is Coming. Its Actually Worse Than That. New York Magazine Five graphics from Google show how carbon-intensive its data centers really are Ars Technica Bitcoin must die Slugger OToole Pension risk assessment standards on deck Pensions & Investments The U.S. Needs to Crack Down on White-Collar Crime Bloomberg. Film at 11. Angry management: The dark side of Santanders new boss Financial News Brexit A false-alarm terrorist attack in London shows how emotion is conquering reality Quartz [musical interlude]. The New Face of the Eurozone Bailout Fund Der Spiegel. But there was a snag. Italys defiant budget challenges EUs rule book FT In Bavaria, Green Could Be King Foreign Policy Merkels Bavarian ally suffers historic loss in state vote Handelsblatt Julian Assanges communications partly restored by Ecuadorian government ITV Syraqistan China Chasing bees from Bengal to Chhattisgarh Peoples Archive of Rural India Trump Transition Little Rocks dangerous and illegal drug war WaPo. As opposed to the safe and legal drug war. Health Care Death or Debt? National Estimates of Financial Toxicity in Persons with Newly-Diagnosed Cancer The American Journal of Medicine. At year+4, financial insolvency extended to 38.2%, with several consistent socioeconomic, cancer-related, and clinical characteristics remaining significant predictors of complete asset depletion. Once the organism is sucked dry, the parasite retracts its mandibles, discards the husk, moves on to the next warm body, and the cycle renews. Cuba has a lung cancer vaccine. Many U.S. patients cant get it without breaking the law USA Today. From January, still germane. Imperial Collapse Watch How saving the liberal world order became harder Wolfgang Munchau, FT. Once, it was unusual to see an FT columnist with their hair on fire, at least since the last crisis. Unprotected Pro Publica Marylands poor plan for public-prive [sic] partnership toll roads WaPo. Maybe WaPo could rescue some of the copy editors the Times heaved over the side. Class Warfare Stitches in time: The history of the world through the eye of a needle The Specator Antidote du jour (via): Leveling up my cat game: This Photo Of A Cat Wearing Cookie Monster Pyjamas Was Accidentally Emailed Out By The US State Department: See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 703 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser and what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, supporting the commments section. By Lambert Strether of Corrente While the Kavanaugh hearings were going on, there was a second #MeToo-inflected development: A strike against sexual harassment at McDonalds, on September 18. This strike did in fact get decent coverage, but did not receive the overwhelming interest and attention that the Kavanaugh hearings did, from the press and the political class generally. In this post, Ill do a brief review of the McDonalds coverage, and close with some personal commentary on both series of events. (This post is not about #MeToo per se, which has quite a history starting with Tarana Burke; it didnt just start with Alyssa Milano and Harvey Weinstein, rather in the same way the #BlackLivesMatter didnt start with @Deray.) Let me note in passing that an earlier public relations effort in March just didnt work out: Nope, don't adjust your screens. McDonald's is flipping its iconic arches upside down in an unprecedented statementhttps://t.co/qe7yYxPhgX pic.twitter.com/Z8XUNTY9qn Business Insider (@businessinsider) March 7, 2018 With that, to the coverage. Fair warning: This is an enormous topic, so Im just going to meander! CNBC: Hundreds of McDonalds employees, emboldened by the #MeToo movement, demonstrated outside company headquarters in Chicago on Tuesday to draw attention to alleged sexual harassment at work. Workers staged the one-day strike across 10 cities in what organizers said would be the first multistate walkout protesting sexual harassment, according to Fight for $15, a workers rights group organized to help raise the minimum wage. Carrying signs that read #MeToo McDonalds, hundreds of cooks and cashiers walked out on their jobs to gather and speak out, organizers said. (That word emboldened is a Beltway word and, to me, a tell; I very much doubt that Fight for $15 needs endogenous sources working as a sort of trickle-down effect to become emboldened about anything, given their history; it looks to me more like theyre using a tool that came to hand.) The majority of restaurant managerial positions are held by men, while women make up the bulk of lower-status, lower-paying positions, according to the Culinary Institute of America. This difference in power can create an environment where sexual harassment is tolerated, ignored or even normalized. Employees can often feel uncomfortable bringing up the harassment or may be fearful about losing their job by filing complaints[1], restaurant industry leaders and human resource managers said during a panel discussion hosted by the institute earlier this year. Some 40 percent of women in the fast-food industry reported facing sexual harassment on the job, according to a 2016 survey conducted by Hart Research Associates. The most common forms of harassment included sexual teasing, jokes, remarks or questions, unwanted hugging or touching and questions about sexual interests or being told unwanted information about others sexual interests. According to Hart Research, 45 percent of women in fast food cited health problems such as anxiety, depression and issues sleeping due to the harassment they faced while on the job. (The coverage I can find uses gender-neutral language: workers,strikers. A quick sample of images shows the strikers were predominantly, although not entirely, women[2]. Cmon, guys!) Speaking of power differentials, Vox had an explainer: Low-wage workers need more power on the job, and thats what strikers are demanding of McDonalds. They want procedures for receiving and responding to harassment complaints, mandatory anti-harassment training for managers and employees, and the formation of a national committee to address sexual harassment, composed of workers, representatives from corporate and franchise stores, and leaders of national womens groups. In addition to these demands, raising wages is a necessity to fighting sexual harassment. A stronger social safety net[3] would reduce the costs of retaliation for women who come forward; a democratic workers organization in short, a union would offer a collective vehicle to overcome the high costs of fighting this problem individually. These workers are up against the companys war chest. McDonalds is armed with battalions of PR firms and lawyers and political allies and money, while workers have their numbers and the companys reliance on them to produce profit. Mcdonalds responded to todays action with an announcement that it would be partnering with Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, RAINN, and the legal-compliance firm Seyfarth Shaw at Work. (Hilariously, Seyfarth Shaw is also defending the Weinstein Co.) What are their demands? The New York Times: The protests on Tuesday were organized by Fight for $15, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. The group tries to organize fast food workers and advocates improving their pay and working conditions. In May, with the groups support, 10 McDonalds employees filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that male supervisors had made unwelcome advances against them and had retaliated against those who complained. The goal of the protests was to pressure McDonalds to institute stronger policies to protect workers from sexual harassment at its more than 14,000 stores in the United States. The demands included better training programs for all workers, a more effective way to report complaints and a committee dedicated to addressing sexual harassment issues . (These are similar to the demands outlined by Tarana Burke.) Note also that the power differential is not only between workers and managers, but between workers and customers: Holding employers accountable for sexual harassment in the workplace can be difficult, although they can be held liable if workers can show they were forced to work in a hostile environment where their complaints were ignored or dismissed. The problem is especially acute in restaurants, where policing bad customer behavior can be hard for workers who depend on tips. The challenges are compounded in the fast food sector because major companies may not consider themselves liable for bad behavior at individual stores. (One obvious way to fix that would be to raise wages and eliminate tips, as some restaurants have successfully done.) From the Intercept: This sort of endemic work-based abuse affecting a largely low-wage and precarious workforce cannot be fought with the tactics with which #MeToo found early success. Celebrated and professionally established women calling out powerful perpetrators gave important voice to the struggle against patriarchal violence and slayed some formidable giants. But it was never scalable as a tactic for workers without an audience and with little leverage over their employers. The decision to strike, therefore, is a crucial deployment of the one leverage workers do have : a collective and visible withdrawal of labor. From USA Today, a really good round-up: Kim Lawson had been working the register, taking orders, and bagging burgers at McDonalds for two years when she says the sexual harassment began. It was 2017. There were two men a shift manager who uttered lewd comments and a co-worker who made sexual overtures and touched Lawson inappropriately. In May, Lawson became one of 10 McDonalds employees to file a harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. And while she says the #MeToo movement affected me greatly, that was not the spark that turned the 25-year-old mother based in Kansas City, Missouri, into an activist. The fact that I was angry, thats what made me file, says Lawson, who helped organize a national one-day strike by McDonalds workers last month to call out workplace sexual harassment. It happens to more than just wealthy people, and its going to continue to happen as long as no one does anything about it. While organizations like like the Times Up Legal Defense Fund, which is handling the EEOC case, do good work, Id argue that they, too, face issues of scale. To their great credit, they understand this: [F]rom the beginning, [[Times Up] said, its mission was to assist all women. In a posted letter of solidarity, the group voiced support for its sisters in industries ranging from housekeeping to factory work. So much of the power of the #MeToo movement comes from the public outing of some high-profile harassers and equally well-known accusers, [California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez] says. But theres less interest when you have workers that, quite frankly, people dont care as much about. And you have employers that nobodys heard of, or supervisors and companies that nobodys heard of. It just doesnt have the same appeal for the broader media. Finally, closing with Jacobin: Its been a long time since a strike in the US directly targeted sexual harassment. One hundred and six years ago, young women garment workers in Kalamazoo, Michigan walked off their jobs, joining a wave of strikes in the centurys second decade that spread from New York City to Chicago, Boston to Cleveland, Philadelphia to Kalamazoo, and back to Brooklyn. These strikes were historic because many male labor leaders believed that young women could not organize, and that they would not hold solidarity long enough to wage a successful strike. But the Kalamazoo strike was also groundbreaking because the strikers spoke out about sexual harassment, demanding that foremen be fired for extorting sex from young women workers. So, a great story, covered reasonably (see also The Nation, the Guardian, The New Republic, the San Francisco Examiner, and Eater, among others). And also absolutely drowned out by the Kavanaugh circus! * * * Speaking for myself only: Skipping over ideological or polemical issues (Believe women!, a special place in hell), this was my reaction at seeing the images of protesters on Capitol Hill and in Washington, DC, during the Kavanaugh hearings: I felt These are my people. Posture, gestures, facial expressions, clothing, accessories, hair-styles. A summation of class and cultural markers told me the protesters were the sort of people I would meet in the coffee shop of my university town. Good people, despite their NPR tote bags and trust in the New York Times. Angry people, with a lot to be angry about. Also, the people Thomas Frank anatomizes in Listen, Liberal!. The class of people, in short, from whom I spring and to whom it is my difficult ambition to be a class traitor. When I look at images of the McDonalds strikers, I do not see my people. However, in the strikers I also see the class of people who, if #MeToo is to achieve more than reformist goals, must and should be, as we say, centered[4], even as the 10%-ers on The Hill and elsewhere must and should be decentered. In its coverage, the press themselves good and angry people, my people, 10%-ers centered Kavanaugh protesters on The Hill, and decentered McDonalds strikers at the workplace. I think those priorities should be inverted. I dont think Ive succeeded at doing that here, because the topic is enormously complicated, but Id like do my bit and keep at it. My $0.02. NOTES [1] This shows why a Jobs Guarantee plus checking accounts at a Post Office bank are universal concrete material benefits that would greatly empower working class women. [2] Which is odd. From The Intercept: A 2014 survey from the worker advocacy group Restaurant Opportunities Centers United found that nearly 80 percent of women in the industry had experienced some form of sexual harassment from co-workers, as had 70 percent of men . Eighty percent of women and s55 percent of men reported sexual harassment from customers. LGBTQ workers were particularly affected, the survey found. Power is gender fluid. [3] See note [1]. And readers know I hate the phrase safety net. I dont see why life should be like a tightrope walk. [4] For one thing, there are more of them. For another, their suffering, on the whole and on the average, is greater. See life expectancy figures, or home ownership figures, or health figures, or whatever. APPENDIX There have also been a rolling series of strikes and industrial actions against McDonalds in the UK, winning pay-raises, along with strikes against other precariat-style companies like Uber/UberEats, Deliveroo, Wetherspoons, and TGI Fridays; interestingly, #FightFor15 tactics seem to have crossed the Pond. Best headline: Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin accuses pub staff of gunboat diplomacy as they join McStrike over pay (Mirror). Thats the stuff to give the troops! This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 690 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser and what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, funding comments section support. By Dan McQuillan, a Lecturer in Creative & Social Computing, who has a PhD in Experimental Particle Physics. Prior to academia he worked as Amnesty Internationals Director of E-communications. Recent publications include Algorithmic States of Exception, Data Science as Machinic Neoplatonism and Algorithmic Paranoia and the Convivial Alternative. You can reach him at d.mcquillan@gold.ac.uk or follow him on Twitter at @danmcquillan. Originally published at openDemocracy Theres a definite resonance between the agitprop of 68 and social media. Participants in the UCU strike earlier this year, for example, experienced Twitter as a platform for both affective solidarity and practical self-organisation[1]. However, there is a different genealogy that speaks directly to our current condition; that of systems theory and cybernetics. What happens when the struggle in the streets takes place in the smart city of sensors and data? Perhaps the revolution will not be televised, but it will certainly be subject to algorithmic analysis. Lets not forget that 1968 also saw the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, featuring the AI supercomputer HAL. While opposition to the Vietnam war was a rallying point for the movements of 68, the war itself was also notable for the application of systems analysis by US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who attempted to make it, in modern parlance, a data-driven war. During the Vietnam war the hamlet pacification programme alone produced 90,000 pages of data and reports a month[2], and the body count metric was published in the daily newspapers. The milieu that helped breed our current algorithmic dilemmas was the contemporaneous swirl of systems theory and cybernetics, ideas about emergent behaviour and experiments with computational reasoning, and the intermingling of military funding with the hippy visions of the Whole Earth Catalogue. The double helix of DARPA and Silicon Valley can be traced through the evolution of the web to the present day, where AI and machine learning are making inroads everywhere carrying their own narratives of revolutionary disruption; a Ho Chi Minh trail of predictive analytics. They are playing Go better than grand masters and preparing to drive everyones car, while the media panics about AI taking our jobs. But this AI is nothing like HAL. Its a form of pattern-finding based on mathematical minimisation; like a complex version of fitting a straight line to a set of points. These algorithms find the optimal solution when the input data is both plentiful and messy. Algorithms like backpropagation[3] can find patterns in data that were intractable to analytical description, such as recognising human faces seen at different angles, in shadows and with occlusions. The algorithms of AI crunch the correlations and the results often work uncannily well. But its still computers doing what computers have been good at since the days of vacuum tubes; performing mathematical calculations more quickly than us. Thanks to algorithms like neural networks, this calculative power can learn to emulate us in ways we would never have guessed at. This learning can be applied to any context that is boiled down to a set of numbers, such that the features of each example are reduced to a row of digits between zero and one and are labelled by a target outcome. The datasets end up looking pretty much the same whether its cancer scans or Netflix-viewing figures. Theres nothing going on inside except maths; no self-awareness and no assimilation of embodied experience. These machines can develop their own unprogrammed behaviours but utterly lack an understanding of whether what theyve learned makes sense. And yet, machine learning and AI are becoming the mechanisms of modern reasoning, bringing with them the kind of dualism that the philosophy of 68 was set against, a belief in a hidden layer of reality which is ontologically superior and expressed mathematically[4]. The delphic accuracy of AI comes with built-in opacity because massively parallel calculations cant always be reversed to human reasoning, while at the same time it will happily regurgitate societys prejudices when trained on raw social data. Its also mathematically impossible to design an algorithmto be fair to all groups at the same time[5]. For example, if the reoffending base rates vary by ethnicity, a recidivism algorithm like COMPAS will predict different numbers of false positives and more black people will be unfairly refused bail[6]. The wider impact comes from the way the algorithms proliferate social categorisations such as troubled family or student likely to underachieve, fractalising social binaries wherever they divide into is and is not. This isnt only a matter of data dividuals misrepresenting our authentic selves but of technologies of the self that, through repetition, produce subjects and act on them. And, as AI analysis starts overcode MRI scans to force psychosocial symptoms back into the brain, we will even see algorithms play a part in the becoming of our bodies[7]. Political Technology What we call AI, that is, machine learning acting in the world, is actually a political technology in the broadest sense. Yet under the cover of algorithmic claims to objectivity, neutrality and universality, theres an infrastructual switch of allegiance to algorithmic governance. The dialectic that drives AI into the heart of the system is the contradiction of societies that are data rich but subject to austerity. One need only look at the recent announcementsabout a brave new NHS to see the fervour welcoming this salvation[8]. While the global financial crisis is manufactured, the restructuring is real; algorithms are being enrolled in the refiguring of work and social relations such that precarious employment depends on satisfying algorithmic demands[9]and the public sphere exists inside a targeted attention economy. Algorithms and machine learning are coming to act in the way pithily described by Pierre Bourdieu, as structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures[10], such that they become absorbed by us as habits, attitudes, and pre-reflexive behaviours. In fact, like global warming, AI has become a hyperobject[11]so massive that its totality is not realised in any local manifestation, a higher dimensional entity that adheres to anything it touches, whatever the resistance, and which is perceived by us through its informational imprints. A key imprint of machine learning is its predictive power. Having learned both the gross and subtle elements of a pattern it can be applied to new data to predict which outcome is most likely, whether that is a purchasing decision or a terrorist attack. This leads ineluctably to the logic of preemption in any social field where data exists, which is every social field, so algorithms are predicting which prisoners should be given parole and which parentsare likely to abusetheir children[12][13]. We should bear in mind that the logic of these analytics is correlation. Its purely pattern matching, not the revelation of a causal mechanism, so enforcing the foreclosure of alternative futures becomes effect without cause. The computational boundaries that classify the input data map outwards as cybernetic exclusions, implementing continuous forms of what Agamben calls states of exception. The internal imperative of all machine learning, which is to optimise the fit of the generated function, is entrained within a process of social and economic optimisation, fusing marketing and military strategies through the unitary activity of targeting. A society whose synapses have been replaced by neural networks will generally tend to a heightened version of the status quo. Machine learning by itself cannot learn a new system of social patterns, only pump up the existing ones as computationally eternal. Moreover, the weight of those amplified effects will fall on the most data visible i.e. the poor and marginalised. The net effect being, as the book title says, the automation of inequality[14]. But at the very moment when the tech has emerged to fully automate neoliberalism, the wider system has lost its best-of-all-possible-worlds authority, and racist authoritarianism mestastasizes across the veneer of democracy. Contamination and Resistance The opacity of algorithmic classifications already have the tendency to evade due process, never mind when the levers of mass correlation are at the disposal of ideologies based on paranoid conspiracy theories. A common core to all forms of fascism is a rebirth of the nation from its present decadence, and a mobilisation to deal with those parts of the population that are the contamination[15]. The automated identification of anomalies is exactly what machine learning is good at, at the same time as promoting the kind of thoughtlessness that Arendt identified in Eichmann. So much for the intensification of authoritarian tendencies by AI. What of resistance? Dissident Google staff forced them to partly drop project Maven[16], which develops drone targeting, and Amazon workers are campaigning against the sale of facial recognition systems to the government. But these workers are the privileged guilds of modern tech; this isnt a return of working class power. In the UK and USA theres a general institutional push for ethical AI in fact you cant move for initiatives aiming to add ethics to algorithms[17], but i suspect this is mainly preemptive PR to head off peoples growing unease about their coming AI overlords. All the initiatives that want to make AI ethical seem to think its about adding something i.e. ethics, instead of about revealing the value-laden-ness at every level of computation, right down to the mathematics. Models of radical democratic practice offer a more political response through structures such as peoples councils composed of those directly affected, mobilising what Donna Haraway calls situated knowledgesthrough horizontalism and direct democracy[18]. While these are valid modes of resistance, theres also the 68 notion from groups like the Situationists that the Spectacle generates the potential for its own supersession[19]. Id suggest that the self-subverting quality in AI is its latent surrealism. For example, experiments to figure out how image recognition actually works probed the contents of intermediary layers in the neural networks, and by recursively applying filters to these outputs produced hallucinatory imagesthat are straight out of an acid trip, such as snail-dogs and trees made entirely of eyes[20]. When people deliberately feed AI the wrong kind of data it makes surreal classifications. Its a lot of fun, and can even make art that gets shownin galleries[21]but, like the Situationist drive through the Harz region of Germany while blindly following a map of London, it can also be a poetic disorientation that coaxes us out of our habitual categories. Playfully Serious While businesses and bureaucracies apply AI to the most serious contexts to make or save money or, through some miracle of machinic objectivity, solve societys toughest problems, its liberatory potential is actually ludic. It should be used playfully instead of abused as a form of prophecy. But playfully serious, like the tactics of the Situationists themselves, a disordering of the senses to reveal the possibilities hidden by the dead weight of commodification. Reactivating the demands of the social movements of 68 that work becomes play, the useful becomes the good, and life itself becomes art. At this point in time, where our futures are becoming cut off by algorithmic preemption we need to pursue a political philosophy that was embraced in 68, of living the new society through authentic action in the here and now. A counterculture of AI must be based on immediacy. The struggle in the streets must go hand in hand with a detournement of machine learning; one that seeks authentic decentralization, not Uber-ised serfdom, and federated horizontalism not the invisible nudges of algorithmic governance. We want a fun yet anti-fascist AI, so we can say beneath the backpropagation, the beach!. References [1] Kobie, Nicole. #NoCapitulation: How One Hashtag Saved the UK University Strike. Wired UK 18 Mar. 2018.. [2] Thayer, Thomas C. A Systems Analysis View of the Vietnam War: 1965-1972. Volume 2. Forces and Manpower. 1975. www.dtic.mil.. [3] 3Blue1Brown. What Is Backpropagation Really Doing? | Deep Learning, Chapter 3. N.p. Film. [4] McQuillan, Dan. Data Science as Machinic Neoplatonism. Philosophy & Technology (2017): 120. The NATO Deputy Secretary General, the Honourable Rose Gottemoeller, will travel to Paris on Tuesday, 16 October 2018. Ms. Gottemoeller will attend a conference at lEcole Militaire entitled Resourcing a Coherent and Credible Alliance alongside the Minister of the Armed Forces of the French Republic, Mrs. Florence Parly and the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (DSACT), Admiral Manfred Nielsen. The conference will include a Q&A session. In the margins of the conference, the Deputy Secretary General will also have meetings with high level officials. Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @Gottemoeller) (Natural News) A study published in the African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines revealed that taking neem oil may help mitigate the risk of suffering from sleeping sickness. A team of researchers at the Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, conducted a series of in vitro and in vivo assays to determine the beneficial effects of neem oil on sleeping sickness models. Data from the in vitro trial revealed that neem stem bark extracts showed utmost efficacy in mitigating three strains of the parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma. During the in vivo trials, the researchers examined 35 mice models that were randomly divided into seven groups. Three of the groups received varying amounts of neem oil extracts, while two others received either suramin or melarsoprol. One group served as the control population, the researchers stated. The results revealed that the treatment groups exhibited a delay in the commencement of parasite appearance. More specifically, animal models that received up to 400 milligrams of neem extract per kilogram of weight were able to maintain significantly low levels of parasitemia throughout the trial. No animal mortality was observed during the 14 days of experimentation. There were no visible signs of acute toxicity among the animals treated with the extract at the doses used in the study, the researchers reported. The current study established that the methanol extract of A. indica stem bark possess both in vitro and in vivo antitrypanosomal activity against T. brucei rhodesiense. Isolation and characterization of constituents of the extract, which is currently on-going research, could yield a potential antitrypanosomal lead compound, the researchers concluded. Common sleeping sickness drugs produce unwanted side effects Health experts at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine confirmed that there are no currently available medications that may help keep the condition at bay. Likewise, an article published on the World Health Organizations (WHO) media center revealed that some of the most commonly-used drugs to manage sleeping sickness often spur adverse effects. Among these drugs include: Pentamidine Pentamidine is a first line remedy for sleeping sickness. However, the WHO confirmed that the medication may spur non-negligible effects. Suramin According to the WHO article, taking suramin may result in serious side effects such as severe allergic reactions and urinary tract conditions. Melarsoprol The WHO revealed that the drug was derived from arsenic. Likewise, the health agency noted that the medication may induce adverse effects such as reactive encephalopathy or encephalopathic syndrome, which was found to have a fatality rate of up to 10 percent. Eflornithine The entry cautioned that while eflornithine might be less toxic than melarsoprol, the treatment was highly complex and difficult to apply. Nifurtimox The health organization warned that the drug was neither studied nor tested for other forms of sleeping sickness. Fast facts about sleeping sickness Health experts explained that sleeping sickness is a disease transmitted by the parasitic tsetse fly. The disease was found to be mostly prominent in tropical African countries including Angola, Central African Republic and Chad. Scientists added that the disease is also widespread in Congo, Malawi and Tanzania as well as Sudan, Uganda and Zambia. (Related: Kazakhstan town plagued by mysterious illness that causes residents to fall unconscious for days.) People infected with the sleeping sickness may exhibit certain symptoms including: Insomnia Irritability Sleeping for long periods of the day Slurred speech Severe headache Personality change Seizures Weight loss Difficulty walking and talking Loss of concentration Progressive confusion Death usually occurs within several weeks to months if the disease was left untreated. People who experience symptoms of sleeping sickness were advised to consult a health care provider for proper diagnosis. Visit Outbreak.news and be on the lookout for the latest in infectious diseases and epidemics. Sources include: Journals.SFU.ca HopkinsMedicine.org WHO.int Several murals were found defaced with right-wing, Republican slogans along an iconic artists' alley in San Francisco over the weekend. The right-wing graffiti was reported along Clarion Alley, defacing murals that touted immigrants' rights and honored people slain by police, according to a report in the San Francisco Examiner. People who visited the alley told the newspaper at least seven of the murals were vandalized. Clarion Alley runs one block, from Valencia Street to Mission Street, between 17th and 18th streets in the city's Upper Mission district. According to the Examiner, one mural depicting immigrants rights was defaced with a pro-Trump "Make America Great Again" hat, and a mural honoring those killed by police was covered by the phrase "Fake News." The Clarion Alley Mural Project was established in 1992 by a volunteer collective of six residents-artists who were inspired by the murals of Balmy Alley that began in the early 1970s as an expression of artists outrage over human rights and political abuses in Central America and focused on Central American social struggles, according to the organization's website. To this day, the alley is maintained by artists who volunteer their time and often pay for their own materials. It was not clear whether or not the incident had been reported to police. No further details were available. Powered scooters returned to San Francisco streets Monday after months of hiatus as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reviewed and selected two companies to operate in the city. "Today powered scooter companies, Scoot and Skip, will roll out their scooters as part of our one-year pilot program. Scoot and Skip were chose out of 12 applications because they prioritized the city's concerns around safety, disabled access, equity and accountability," SFMTA officials said. Under the new pilot program, powered scooters will not be allowed on sidewalks, including the Embarcadero Promenade. The SFMTA is also asking riders to park the scooters upright and near bike racks or by the curbside. Scooters should not be parked on sidewalks or near building entrances and away from ramps or blue, yellow or white curbs, to avoid blocking the path of a person who is disabled. Additionally, riders should always wear helmets and only ride scooters in the bike or travel lane and obey traffic signals and signs, according to the SFMTA. The permit system for the scooters was developed after the city's Board of Supervisors unanimously passed legislation in April requiring all companies operating powered scooters in the city to seek permits. The legislation was in response to a handful of scooter companies that had deployed hundreds of dockless scooters throughout San Francisco in late March, drawing the ire of many residents because they were often left on sidewalks, obstructing walkways. San Francisco-based LimeBike, which was denied a permit to operate its scooters in the city, has alleged the SFMTA's permit selection process is flawed. LimeBike sought a restraining order to block the pilot program, but San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn denied it on Friday. LimeBike, however, called the ruling a victory since Kahn has asked officials to testify at a hearing next week. According to LikeBike officials, during Friday's hearing, Kahn "voiced serious concerns" about the permit process. "We look forward to having our preliminary injunction request heard in the coming days - to ensure that the people of San Francisco receive a transparent, fair and equitable process that best serves the entire City and County," LimeBike officials said in a statement. "Our decision to file this lawsuit was not about preventing other operators from going forward; it was about exposing the biased and flawed process of the SFMTA, standing up for the rule of law, and serving Lime's hometown," the company said. The SFMTA has maintained that its permit process was a fair one and has made available information about the process and its applicants at www.sfmta.com/sharedscooters. LimeBike already operates in at least nine other Bay Area cities, including Oakland and San Mateo. What to Know The death toll from Michael's destructive march from Florida to Virginia stood at 19 Monday as recovery work continued Hundreds of thousands of homes remained without power in Florida and Georgia, where the president is visiting Some people in Bay County stranded by the storm managed to summon relief by using logs to spell out "HELP" on the ground, officials said Upon touring the damage in several towns along Florida's Panhandle, Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long called the destruction left by Hurricane Michael some of the worst he's ever seen. President Donald Trump marveled at the roofless homes and uprooted trees he saw Monday while touring Florida Panhandle communities ravaged by the force of Hurricane Michael. Trump toured devastated coastal communities by air, land and foot before he and the first lady helped hand out bottled water at a Federal Emergency Management Agency aid distribution center, where the needy signed up for temporary housing and picked up clothing, diapers, water and other supplies. The president said someone described Hurricane Michael to him as being "like a very wide, extremely wide, tornado." "Look behind you. I mean, those massive trees are just ripped out of the earth. This is really incredible," Trump said. Trump narrowly won Florida over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, boosted by strong voter turnout in the Panhandle. The state is important to Trump not only for his hopes of being re-elected in 2020 but also as he campaigns aggressively to help Republicans expand their slim 51-49 majority in the U.S. Senate. Fellow Republican and Florida Gov. Rick Scott is running for the Senate, partly at Trump's urging, and is in a close contest against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson just weeks before Election Day. Scott shadowed Trump throughout Monday's visit. Trump and his wife, Melania, initially saw uprooted trees and houses topped with blue tarps after his helicopter lifted off from Eglin Air Force Base near Valparaiso, his first stop after leaving Washington. But the severity of the damage worsened significantly as Trump approached Mexico Beach, which was nearly wiped off the map after taking a direct hit from the hurricane and its 155 mph (250 kph) winds last week. Many of the houses in the town of about 1,000 people had no roofs. In some cases, only the foundations were left standing. A water tower lay on its side, and 18-wheelers were scattered in a parking lot like children's toys. In Panama City, where Trump landed, power poles bowed toward the ground, pieces of metal roofing were scattered about and pine trees had been uprooted or snapped in half. The view on the drive toward Panama City included houses smashed by trees, bent billboards and a demolished trailer park. In nearby Lynn Haven, where the mayor said there was no loss of life, Trump walked up to a house where a massive pine tree lay on the front yard next to a palm tree that stood tall. Repairs were being made to the home, owned by Michael Rollins, who told Trump he rode out the storm there. "I knew I had made my commitment to stay with my animals. I have two dogs and a parrot," Rollins told Trump. More than 190,000 homes and businesses in Florida were without electricity as of Sunday, days after the hurricane hit. That's in addition to about 120,000 in Georgia, where Trump arrived later Monday afternoon and planned to survey hurricane damage. Residents also grappled with widespread cellphone outages. Throughout the day, the president profusely praised Scott's hurricane response. "The job they've done in Florida has been incredible," Trump told reporters. He told Scott: "You're a great governor." Scott said FEMA had granted all his requests and that he'd spoken with Trump "almost every day." "Every time I've called, he's come through," Scott said. The mood at the aid distribution center seemed lighthearted despite the surrounding devastation, as Trump bantered with a crowd that seemed more interested in selfies with him than in the bottled water he was offering in the heat and humidity. A woman carrying a toddler posed for a photo and then told Trump he should come back for barbecue. Another woman thanked the first lady for her anti-bullying campaign. Some in the affected area were lukewarm about the president's visit. About 5 miles from a neighborhood Trump visited, 57-year-old Sheila Vann sat on a cooler in her garage, taking a break from cleaning up. The hurricane tore off much of her roof in Panama City, and most of her ceiling collapsed after soaking up the storm's rain. Plus there were four freezers filled with fish and meat that were starting to spoil and smell. "You want to see the president?" Vann asked her husband, Joseph, with a dismissive tone. "I ain't got time, unless he wants to help clean up." Nanya Thompson, 68, of Lynn Haven, said of the president: "He's doing this, I believe, to project a different image of himself because of all the bad publicity he's had. He's not going in to get into the sewage water with other people and start digging." "If this is just going to be another reality show, I don't think he should come," she added. The death toll from Michael's destructive march from Florida to Virginia stood at 19 Sunday as crews worked to clear building debris along with the rubble from a collapsed section of the beachfront highway. In hurricane-flattened Mexico Beach, crews with backhoes and other heavy equipment scooped up splintered boards, broken glass, chunks of asphalt and other debris Sunday as Mayor Al Cathey held out hope for the 250 or so residents who may have tried to ride out the storm. "If we lose only one life, to me that's going to be a miracle," Cathey said. He said enough food and water had been brought in for the residents who remain. Even some cellphone service had returned to the devastated community. Mexico Beach City Clerk Adrian Welle told local media Sunday that 46 people were unaccounted for. That number had previously been 285, but officials think many left right before the storm hit. Other city officials told reporters that the number of unaccounted for was three. A Houston-based organization called CrowdSource Rescue that takes calls from worried family members and sends the details to rescue crews on the ground said it has helped find nearly 1,500 people across the region since Michael struck. But co-founder Matthew Marchetti said it was still looking for more than 1,350. A framed portrait of Jesus was propped Sunday facing out of the window of Diana Hughes' home in Mexico Beach. She rode out the hurricane on the couch huddled with her dog and her ex-husband. The storm peeled off a small section of the roof and a few inches of water got in the single-story house. But the pickup truck wouldn't start after getting swamped with water. Hughes still had her home, but no way to leave it. "We need a generator, but we just lack transportation," Hughes said on her front porch. "We've got food and we've got water. But we've got to keep ice in the refrigerator so the food won't spoil. You can only eat so many crackers." Four days after the storm struck, a large swath of the Panhandle was suffering, from little beach towns to the larger Panama City to rural communities miles from where the hurricane came ashore. "We are talking about poor people, many of them are older, miles from each other, isolated in many cases from roads, including some dirt roads that are cut off right now," Sen. Marco Rubio said on NBC's "Meet The Press." ''We haven't been able to reach those people in a number of days." In downtown Marianna, Florida, the facades of historic buildings lay in pieces on the ground across from the courthouse. Jill Braxton stopped with a pickup truck loaded with hay, saying many people in rural areas nearby had trapped animals and needed supplies for their livestock. "We're just trying to help some other people who may not be able to get out of their driveways for a couple of days," Braxton said. "There was a girl that had trapped horses, horses that were down, and horses that really needed vet care that could not get there. There's been animals killed. People lost their cows." Some victims stranded by the storm managed to summon relief by using logs to spell out "HELP" on the ground, officials in Bay County, which includes Mexico Beach, said in a Facebook post. Officials said someone from another county was using an aerial mapping app, noticed the distress message and contacted authorities. No details were released on who was stranded and what sort of help was needed. Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Nelson said Tyndall Air Force Base on the Panhandle was heavily damaged, but he promised it would be rebuilt. The Florida Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee said older buildings on the base were demolished, while newer ones will need substantial repairs. The base is home to some of the nation's most advanced fighter jets, and Nelson said some hangars were damaged severely. But he gave no information on how many planes were on the base during the storm or how many were damaged. In a statement Sunday night, the Air Force said that, "Not one Airman or family member was injured during Hurricane Michael." Of its aircraft, the statement said that visually they all looked intact but that maintenance professionals will do a detailed assessment of the F-22 Raptors and other aircraft before they say with certainty that damaged aircraft can be repaired and sent back into the skies For the few residents remaining in Mexico Beach, conditions were treacherous. Steve Lonigan was outside his home, talking with neighbor Jim Ostman, when a loud cracking sound made both men jump. It was just a small wooden block shifting in the sand beneath the weight of the front end of Lonigan's camper trailer. "All this stuff is just dangerous," Ostman said, glancing at the destruction all around. "It's so unstable." Lonigan and his wife returned Sunday after evacuating to Georgia. Seawater surged into his home, leaving a soggy mess of mud and leaves, even though the house stands 12 feet (3.7 meters) above ground on concrete blocks. The single-story house had broken windows, and part of its roof and front steps were missing. Lonigan used a ladder to climb inside. "We've got a lot more left than other people," he said. "We were able to sleep in the bedroom last night." One way to help people affected by Hurricane Michael is by donating to the Red Cross. Find more information on how to donate here. Authorities are investigating the "untimely" death of an adult male in Greenland, New Hampshire. The state attorney general's office, state police and local police were all at the scene of the death in Greenland on Monday morning. They reportedly responded to the scene overnight. A state police crime scene van is on scene, along with several Greenland police vehicles. Investigators in body suits could be seen going in and out of the home. The home being investigated is located on Route 33, right next to the Country View Restaurant, a popular local breakfast spot. The attorney general's office said the investigation into whether a crime has occurred is ongoing. They said there is no evidence to suggest that there is a threat to the general public. No other details about the death or the ongoing investigation were immediately available. At least 10 people have been shot and wounded across the city of Chicago on Sunday. A 24-year-old man is in critical condition after he was shot multiple times on Sunday afternoon, according to police. The man was walking in the 3300 block of West Madison when a person approached him and opened fire, striking him in the chest, thigh, and torso, police said. The man was taken to Stroger Hospital, and is listed in critical condition. No one is in custody. Later in the evening, a man was shot in the head in the 1700 block of West 85th Street, according to police. Circumstances of the shooting are unknown as no witnesses have come forward, and the man is in critical condition at Christ Hospital. Here are the rest of Sundays shootings: Never underestimate Kevin Smiths love for Veggie Grill. The filmmaker and comedian, perhaps best known for his role as Silent Bob in the film Clerks and related spin-offs, asked his Twitter followers Monday for help in getting Veggie Grill, a fast-casual vegan restaurant, during a layover at Chicagos OHare Airport. This is how it all went down: Flying back to Vancouver from St Louis in the a.m. I have 95 minute layover in Chicago - where there is a @VeggieGrill by The Loop. Do I risk missing my flight and try to make it from @fly2ohare to #VeggieGrill before my next flight or is that nuts? Thoughts from any Chicagoans? he wrote. Flying back to Vancouver from St Louis in the a.m. I have 95 minute layover in Chicago - where there is a @VeggieGrill by The Loop. Do I risk missing my flight and try to make it from @fly2ohare to #VeggieGrill before my next flight or is that nuts? Thoughts from any Chicagoans? KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) October 15, 2018 When Twitter users said no, he put out a call. CHICAGO! Im told my @VeggieGrill Run wont work. The only way to make it happen is to have someone deliver the food to me at @fly2ohare! So - the VG at 204 North Wells opens at 10:30. My flight lands at 11. Any Chicagoans up for this? Ill pay $200 and a photo (if you want one), he wrote. 95 mins to loop and back would need a police escort but .. but is it a mission from God? pic.twitter.com/eSC3Us16G2 MonocledMoose (@MonocledMoose) October 15, 2018 CHICAGO! Im told my @VeggieGrill Run wont work. The only way to make it happen is to have someone deliver the food to me at @fly2ohare! So - the VG at 204 North Wells opens at 10:30. My flight lands at 11. Any Chicagoans up for this? Ill pay $200 and a photo (if you want one). https://t.co/mp8hwOhX6d KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) October 15, 2018 While it remains unclear if Kevin Smith truly just wanted some delicious vegan cuisine or if this was all a secret marketing strategy, the hilarious saga all played out in real time on social media. Enter: @Im_Alex_Smith. Hey i'm not doing anything right now, i live by a different one and could use the money, he replied. And thats how the epic Veggie Grill Run began. Alex Smith put on pants and headed to the Veggie Grill on Wells Street in Chicagos Loop. But the journey quickly hit a bump in the road when Kevin Smiths plane took off from St. Louis and he couldnt send Alex Smith his order. Sorry, @Im_Alex_Smith! We took off and there was no WiFi in the air! Order emailed! Taxiing to gate now! We have an hour and change! The @VeggieGrill Run is the modern-day Smokey & The Bandit! https://t.co/0j9GHFaMVX KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) October 15, 2018 Im about to just order one of everything, unless someone knows his order, Alex Smith tweeted. Thankfully, the general manager at Veggie Grill knew some of Kevin Smiths favorites. I saw a video a couple weeks ago of him kind of talking about how much he loves Veggie Grill, said the general manager of the Wells Street Veggie Grill, Alexandra Neal. I know a little bit about what he likes. I know he likes the buffalo wings. After some research and with Neals help, Alex Smith ordered buffalo wings, a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, crispy cauliflower, tempura green beans and a Beyond Burger. The total? $48.05. But wait, then there were the nachos. Finishing up the order and i'll be on the way. I guessed mostly and got it right, just needing to get the nachos, Alex Smith wrote just before 11 a.m. The suspense had many fans on social media on the edge of their seats. This is the most excited I've ever been about food I'm not going to eat. Richard (@citanix) October 15, 2018 This is the most excited Ive ever been about food Im not going to eat, one user wrote. This is potentially the most exciting and spiritually uplifting thing that could happen to me all day, another user tweeted. Just after noon, Kevin Smith shared a video of their success. WE DID IT! @Im_Alex_Smith made the @VeggieGrill Run from The Loop to @fly2ohare in time for me to enjoy a little piece of home right here in Chicagos airport! he wrote. Many thanks for being The Bandit, sir! It was an adventurous, delicious layover! WE DID IT! @Im_Alex_Smith made the @VeggieGrill Run from The Loop to @fly2ohare in time for me to enjoy a little piece of home right here in Chicagos airport! Many thanks for being The Bandit, sir! It was an adventurous, delicious layover! pic.twitter.com/JgjjbdQvmz KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) October 15, 2018 Delicious and expensive. Alex Smith confirmed to NBC 5 that Kevin Smith did pay the $200 for the food "even though I was hesitant to accept it." This is all very silly. And very wild, he wrote. Chance the Rapper goes undercover as a Lyft driver in Chicago to promote the rideshare companys new round up feature, allowing riders to round up their fares and donate the difference to a cause of their choice, including SocialWorks New Chance campaign to benefit Chicago Public Schools. (Courtesy: Lyft) Sen. Marco Rubio warned Sunday that America's "moral credibility" is at risk if it fails in its response to suspected Saudi involvement in the disappearance and possible killing of a Washington Post columnist in Turkey. Appearing on "Meet the Press" Sunday, the Florida Republican, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that if Saudi involvement is proven, the response must be strong and swift to ensure America's moral standing. "Our ability to call Putin a murderer because he is; our ability to call Assad a murderer because he is; our ability to confront Maduro in Venezuela or any of these other human rights atrocities like what we see in China, all of that is undermined and compromised if we somehow decide that because an ally who was important did that, we are not going to call it out," Rubio said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. And John Brennan, the former CIA director who previously served as a CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia, said Sunday that it would be "inconceivable that such an operation would be run by the Saudis without the knowledge of the day-to-day decision-maker of Saudi Arabia, that's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 15) The controversial Ozamiz City police chief linked to the deaths of mayors involved in illegal drugs has been transferred once again, this time to Catanduanes in Bicol. C/Insp. Jovie Espenido, who was police chief when Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and 14 others were killed in raids conducted on July 2017, said he received a call from Camp Crame on Friday regarding his transfer. READ: Ozamiz City Mayor, 14 others killed in police raids "Nagpapasalamat ako sa inyo sa mga prayers at sa lahat ng mga tulong niyo sa akin at sa mga kapulisan ko sa Ozamiz Police Station," Espenido said in his spost. [Translation: I thank you all for the prayers and for all the help I got from the Ozamiz City Police Station.] Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde confirmed Espenido's transfer, adding that an order has already been issued. "He is reassigned to Region V in Catanduanes. That is part of his career kasi meron siyang [since he has a] pending promotion," Albayalde said. Espenido was also Albuera, Leyte's chief of police when its mayor, Rolando Espinosa, Sr., was killed in a November 2016 shootout as police were attempting to serve a search warrant in the city's jail. About 30 New London area firefighters battled a house fire on Squire Street on Sunday night. An emergency call came in at about 7:30 p.m. to report flames and smoke overtaking a two-family home. "The flames were pretty big. It was an eye-opener for everyone," said Dylon Talaba, who ran out of his home to find his neighbor's house burning up fast. "It was starting to simmer down a little bit but then it picked back up again." Firefighters said they arrived to find large flames on the front porch of 89 and 91 Squire St. quickly climbing up into the attic. The six people who live at the home - including at least two children kids - got out safely, according to fire officials. Fire crews attacked the flames from inside, but they could not stay long. We're met with heavy heat and fire conditions up there, so they had to back out for a while," said Chief Thomas Curcio, of the New London Fire Department. The firefighters did eventually gain the upper hand and extinguished the flames by about 9 p.m. The Red Cross is assisting the two families that live in the home. The fire marshal and the fire inspector were also at the scene, but the cause of the fire was still unknown, according to Chief Curcio. For one hour inside Infinity Hall in Hartford, three gubernatorial candidates made their pitch on some of the state's most pressing issues. "You know how we're going to get out of this budget deficit? It's growth," said Republican Bob Stefanowski. Throughout the debate, Stefanowski touted his experience as a businessman, saying that the state needs to be run like a business. He says he'd zero out the budget for all departments and start from scratch. "No tolls, lower taxes, skilled workforce. A business person running the state, that's what we need to do to keep companies like GE in Connecticut," said Stefanowski. "The idea that you can run government like a business is preposterous. That's not what government is for. It's there to help create the environment for job growth for certain, but it's there to invest in transportation. It's there to invest in education," said unaffiliated candidate Oz Griebel. "Bob's plan will stop our economic growth dead in its tracks. It will put us through every two years of fiscal hell," said Democrat New Lamont. Lamont spoke about fixing the transportation system and working with employers on a daily basis to keep them in the state. "I'm going to do everything I can to give you confidence that I'm going to bring down the high-cost of government without raising the income tax, without raising sales taxes, and get it done in that first year," said Lamont. When it came to the budget, Lamont criticized raiding the rainy day fund, something Griebel took issue with. "If you're not going to use the rainy day fund in a deluge, when are you going to use it? That's what it's there for. We've got to look over this budget over the next three, four budget cycles, and in this first one do as little harm as possible. That's why I would use the rainy day fund," said Griebel. To keep businesses in the state, Griebel said the governor has to be the chief marketing officer for the state. Make sure you take the time to listen to them. Make sure you take the time to tell them that they're loved, the taxes they pay are appreciated, the taxes their employees pay are appreciated, that the investment they make in their plant and equipment is appreciated. We've taken the private sector for granted for far too long, said Griebel. When it came to tolls, both Lamont and Griebel spoke about installing tolls in a limited form, something Stefanowski pounced on. "We need someone who is going to put taxpayers first, who is going to reduce regulation, and who is going to drive this economy so it can invest in healthcare, education, and all the things we need to do. But it's not putting up tolls, it's not yet another tax, it's fundamental change. I'm going to bring that change. These two are more of the same," said Stefanowski. The third and final debate takes place in about two weeks. A Bulkeley High School student went to the hospital after consuming what police called an edible narcotic at school Monday morning. Officers responded to the high school just before 10 a.m. and school security told them a boy had brought the narcotic to school and shared it with a girl who started feeling sick after ingesting it. District officials believe the girl did not know what it was at the time. The girls mother brought her to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center to be evaluated and medical staff determined she had a minor reaction and said she was in stable condition, according to police. Police said none of the edible narcotic was left and the boy said only that he got it at a corner store somewhere and shared it only with the girl. They said the school suspended the boy. UConn will be offering a class in the spring on the science of growing marijuana. Gerald Berkowitz, a professor of plant science, will teach Horticulture of Cannabis: From Seed to Harvest, which UConn Today reports is one of the first classes of its kind in the country. Berkowitz told UConn Today there are career opportunities in the cannabis industry and the course is in response to a tremendous student demand for academic training. His course will be an introductory class with no required prerequisites. UConn Today reports that Berkowitz is able to work with "low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) hemp cannabis plants" that don't have the same effect as full-potency plants if ingested. Medicinal marijuana is legal in Connecticut and there are 28,109 registered patients as of Oct. 14. The state has nine medical marijuana dispensary facilities the four producers. The state also has released a database that includes all of the medical marijuana brands registered in the state of Connecticut. Berkowitz will be bringing experts into class to give guest lectures on a variety of topics on cultivating cannabis plants. The class, SPSS 3995, will be held on Tuesday and Thursday, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Learn more about the course here. Four people, including two three-year-olds, were shot in an east Fort Worth drive-by shooting Sunday evening, Fort Worth police say. MedStar said one of the children, a boy, was shot in the thigh, while the other was a girl, whose upper arm was grazed. The other two shooting victims were 19- and 20-year-olds who were both shot in the leg. All four were transported to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, police said. The shooting happened in the 5300 block of Rosedale Street at Smokey's Paradise Food Mart around 5:30 p.m. Police said the suspect is a black male, wearing a grey shirt, who fled the scene in a gray Nissan Altima. An argument escalated into a backyard shooting at a toddler's birthday party in South Texas, leaving four men dead and a fifth man wounded, authorities said Sunday. The shooting happened at a child's first birthday party Saturday afternoon in Taft, 12 miles north of Corpus Christi, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. Sgt. Nathan Brandley said those involved were distant relatives. Authorities did not say what the men were arguing about, but said the shooting occurred in the backyard of a residence. A 20-year-old man was in custody Sunday, Brandley said. The man's 37-year-old father was also a suspect, but he had not yet been arrested, Brandley said. Brandley identified those killed as 62-year-old Juan Espinoza Sr., 20-year-old Juan Sandoval III, 22-year-old Jeremy Sandoval, and 25-year-old Nicky Sandoval. He said the three younger men were Juan Espinoza Sr.'s grandsons. The wounded man, 43-year-old Juan Espinoza Jr., was airlifted to a Corpus Christi hospital. Brandley said he was expected to survive. The Prosper Town Council voted Monday night to adopt a resolution against a possible U.S. Highway 380 option, going as far as to direct city staff not to cooperate with the Texas Department of Transportation as long as the option is on the table. TxDOT has studied how to ease traffic on U.S. 380, but adding more lanes would affect businesses along the highway. So, bypass options are also on the table -- one of which could direct traffic through a section of Prosper. "I have no intent to deal with TxDOT if they're going to have this Option B in," town councilmember Michael Korbuly said. TxDOT said it was still in the early stages of considering its options and that maps of potential bypass routes are conceptual -- not precise. Even so, the latest option came as a surprise to many homeowners. Jonah Hughes said he attended a public meeting with TxDOT just a few months ago and there was no discussion of a Prosper option for a bypass. "This option wasn't even on the table," Hughes said. He's lived in his home in the Whitley Place subdivision in Prosper since 2012 and is against TxDOT building a high-speed freeway near the neighborhood. "You talk about putting a road, a six to eight lane road, less than a half mile from where we are. There are going to have to be exits and on ramps and the quietness we are experiencing now, we're certainly not going to be able to see that anymore," Hughes said. The concern is shared by Janet Anders, who lives near the proposed route in McKinney's extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ. "We have trees and there are homes a little bit further to the north, but if it transforms into a commercial corridor, then it totally changes the whole reason we bought this house," Anders said. She and her husband bought their home in 2005, long before serious discussions about expanding U.S. 380. "I don't know if we would stay," if a bypass were to be built along the alignment in Prosper, Anders said. "It really changes what I thought would be our forever home into an island. It becomes an island in between the highways." Anders said she hoped TxDOT would expand the highway where it currently is located to help relieve traffic congestion on U.S. 380 through fast-growing Collin and Denton County communities. But there are no current options that don't disturb someone's land. Businesses would be displaced if TxDOT expanded the highway at U.S. 380. TxDOT is currently gathering feedback from the public on the proposed alignment options. It is currently scheduled to approve a plan in the spring. It's too soon to say when construction would begin once a plan is approved. In a comment that could give Saudi officials a route to climb down from outright denials, President Donald Trump suggested Monday that "rogue killers" could be responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who hasn't been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. Trump's comment came after a 20-minute phone call with Saudi Arabia's King Salman in which Trump said the king adamantly denied any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi. Trump announced he'd dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the kingdom and anywhere else necessary to get to the bottom of the apparent demise of Khashoggi, a Saudi who had been living and working in the United States. "The king firmly denied any knowledge of it," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to survey hurricane damage in Florida and in Georgia. Trump said he didn't "want to get into (Salman's) mind," but told reporters: "it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. I mean, who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial." Meanwhile, CNN reported Saudi Arabia is preparing a report that will acknowledge that Khashoggi's death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong. NBC News had not confirmed CNN's reporting, which was based on anonymous sources. Trump's comments marked a break from the Trump administration's strenuous refusal to speculate over what happened to Khashoggi and came as the U.S. president is under growing pressure to take action on the case of the Saudi writer, who was a contributor to The Washington Post and wrote columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turkish officials say they believe Saudi agents killed and dismembered Khashoggi and say Turkey has audio and video recordings of it. The kingdom has called the allegations of foul play "baseless" but has offered no evidence the writer left the consulate. The State Department has urged a thorough investigation and called on Saudi Arabia to be transparent about the results advice broadly tracking messages from allies in Europe. Germany, Britain and France issued a joint statement over the weekend expressing "grave concern" and calling for a credible investigation to ensure those responsible for the disappearance "are held to account." Trump quoted the King on Monday as saying that neither he nor his son, the crown prince, had any information about what had happened to Khashoggi. The crown prince, ambitious, aggressive and just 33 in a kingdom long ruled by aging monarchs, has considerable weight in Saudi government actions. He and Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, have forged close ties. In Istanbul, meanwhile, investigators entered the consulate for their own investigation. The members arrived by unmarked police cars but said nothing to journalists waiting outside as they entered the building. Trump tweeted early Monday that Salman denied any knowledge of "whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.'" He made that point again and again as he left the White House, telling reporters, "All I can do is report what he told me." "His denial to me could not have been stronger," Trump said, echoing language he has used to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials of meddling in the 2016 election that sent Trump to the White House. U.S. intelligence officials have reported they are certain the interference took place in an effort to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign. Trump last week vowed to uncover the truth about what happened to Khashoggi and promised "severe punishment" for those responsible. But he has said repeatedly that he does not want to halt a proposed $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia as some in Congress have said he should because it would harm the U.S. economically.. Saudi Arabia has pledged to retaliate economically for any U.S. punitive action. Trump said he'd made clear the stakes. "The world is watching, the world is talking. This is very important to get to the bottom of it," Trump said. "I think he understands that very well." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin still plans to attend a previously scheduled Saudi conference this week to address terrorist financing, but those plans could change as the investigation progresses, said White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Sens. Marco Rubio and Jeff Flake, members of the Foreign Relations Committee, have said Congress is prepared to move quickly and firmly if Trump fails to adequately respond to Khashoggi's disappearance. Rubio said Sunday that U.S.-Saudi relations may need to be "completely revised." "There's not enough money in the world for us to buy back our credibility on human rights if we do not move forward and take swift action," Rubio said on CBS' "Face the Nation." More than 20 Republican and Democratic senators instructed Trump last week to order an investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance under legislation that authorizes sanctions for perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, torture or other gross human rights violations. Khashoggi had been living in self-exile in Virginia for the past year. TV and internet service for thousands of AT&T customers across North Texas was restored late Monday night, an AT&T spokesperson says. Service, which had been disrupted since around 9:45 a.m. due to an electrical fire at an AT&T Richardson switching station in Richardson, returned just before 10:30 pm. Monday. A lightning strike caused widespread internet U-verse outages in the area, the company said. In a statement released to NBC 5 earlier Monday, AT&T said: "Damage caused by a fire at one of our facilities may be affecting internet services for some of our customers in the Dallas area. We are working to restore service as quickly as possible." Richardson officials confirmed the fire department was called at about 9:45 a.m. about an electrical fire at an AT&T switching station on the 1600 block of Firman Drive. The fire, which started at a power switch and burned primary and backup electrical systems, was contained to an electrical room. The city said the damaged systems controlled AT&T U-verse service for customers throughout the North Texas area. While city officials said a cause for the fire had not been determined, @ATTCares told a customer on Twitter the fire was likely caused by a lightning strike. "Due to a direct lightning strike on one of our facilities in the area, we are experiencing internet issues. We are currently working to restore service as quickly as possible." An map on downdetector.com shows a heavy concentration of outages in North Texas. Click here to see the outage map. Check back and refresh this page for the latest update. As this story is developing, elements may change. The teenage boy that was bitten by a great white shark two weeks ago made his first public appearance Saturday at the Wags and Waves event to support the California Wildlife Officers Foundation. Keane Webre-Hayes was at the event with his parents and little sister where he received a lifetime fishing license and lifetime fishing privileges. Webre-Hayes was bitten by the shark on Sept. 30 while lobster diving off the coast of Encinitas. For them to give me one for life means I go catch as many lobsters as I want, he said. After Webre-Hayes was attacked, he was airlifted to Rady Childrens Hospital where he stayed for nearly a week. Webre-Hayes said he grew up in Vermont but he loved the beach and cant wait to get back in the water when he can to go fishing. The event was to raise awareness for wildlife officers and stressed the need to train and obtain for more dogs. Most officers work alone and the dogs provide much-needed protection. Each dog costs more than $10,000. Webre-Hayes was seen playing with the dogs before the event. He and his parents are great supporters of the organization. A 34-year-old man is being sought in connection with the discovery of remains of three people found at the burned out shell of the home last week in the high desert north of Los Angeles. Sheriff's detectives are searching for Jesus "Chuy" Guzman, referred to by investigators as a "person of interest" in relation to the remains found in Littlerock. Detectives were continuing to investigate the circumstances related to the suspicious disappearance of two men and a woman in the area in January. Investigators have searched the property, which includes a burned out building and car, for at least three days. The causes of death were unknown, but detectives were investigating the fatalities as suspicious. Guzman, described as armed and dangerous, previously lived at the location. He owns a black 2009 Toyota Corolla, California License Plate 6SCD663. Homicide detectives were sent about 3:55 p.m. Thursday to the 30900 block of 106th Street in an area known as Juniper Hills, according to sheriff's Deputy Morgan Arteaga. The sheriff's department did not disclose how the remains came to light and did not say whether the grisly find was related to the disappearance of two men and a woman in the same area in January. A $20,000 reward was offered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in April for information in the case of the three, who went missing in January and were presumed dead after they disappeared. Jose Lara, 65; Cuauhtemoc Lara, 39; and 49-year-old Julieta Arvizu left behind what seemed to be all their possessions, according to authorities. The elder Lara's vehicle was found abandoned on Feb. 5 in Littlerock, an unincorporated area of the Antelope Valley where all three lived. Their cell phones were turned off and had not been used since the date they vanished. Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who recommended the reward, said the families of those missing were in contact with investigators and devastated by the turn of events. Sheriff's homicide detectives asked anyone with any information about the case to call them at 323-890-5500. Southern California Edison officials said electric circuits in some high fire risk areas might be shut off Monday, as the first big Santa Ana windstorm of the fall will bring wind gusts of up to 75 miles per hour to the area. A spokesman for SCE said neighborhoods in foothill communities from Santa Clarita to Pasadena could get their electricity shut off, under a new state policy that allows protective blackouts. Santiago Canyon and nearby foothill areas in Orange County might also see pre-emptive blackouts, but not Malibu or the Santa Monica Mountains, where winds were not expected to exceed SCE's danger thresholds. At midafternoon Sunday, spokesman Paul Netter told City News Service that certain mountain-adjacent neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and San Bernardino counties have been notified there is a "possibility of a shutdown of power" in some limited areas because of high winds. "I want to emphasize that no decision has been made regarding power shutdowns," Netter said. SCE is acting under new authority from the California Public Utilities Commission, which okayed shutdowns before fires break out. Such unprecedented blackouts are allowed because of the years of drought and changing weather patterns, CPUC safety experts have said. Neighborhoods that might see intentional blackouts Sunday night or Monday: Ventura County Parts of: Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula, Crosson, Somis, Santa Rosa Valley and Ojai. Los Angeles County Parts of: Mount Wilson, Newhall, Stevenson Ranch, Castaic, Azusa, Covina, Glendora, Santa Clarita, Valencia, Mamba Canyon Country, La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, San Fernando, Sylmar and Pasadena. Orange County Parts of: Orange, Irvine, Silverado, Trabuco Canyon, Rancho Santa Margarita and Trabuco Canyon. San Bernardino Parts of: Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Alta Loma, San Bernardino, Mt. Baldy, Lytle Creek, Upland, Rialto and Alta Loma. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power services much of that area, and is not part of the intentional blackout warnings. Red Flag warnings were posted to go up at 10 p.m. Sunday in western Los Angeles and Ventura counties Sunday night, and forecasters said the approaching weather pattern was predicted to be a bit more severe than earlier thought. Utility officials in northern California said they might switch off some power circuits due to high winds. San Diego Gas and Electric Co. officials said they were not planning blackouts. Gusty and potentially damaging Santa Ana winds were predicted to arise Sunday night and early Monday morning, NBC4's David Biggar said. Gusts between 50 and 75 mph were held possible through Monday. A significant warming and drying trend will develop as a high pressure system over inland deserts pushes air through canyons and over mountain slopes, the forecast said. High temperatures in 80s to lower 90s will be prevalent along the Los Angeles coast and valley areas. But overnight lows will be quite chilly in some wind-sheltered areas and the interior valleys. A Freeze Watch may be issued for the Antelope Valley on Monday night and into Tuesday morning. There is a chance that Red Flag conditions will persist through Wednesday in the mountains and some valleys, the NWS said. A week ago, firefighters in Conway went to a neighborhood and told surprised residents their houses would flood from Hurricane Florence even though they had never had water in them before. On Monday and Tuesday, those same firefighters checked on those same South Carolina neighborhoods with maps that detailed each of the nearly 1,000 homes that could expect to be inundated. "It's kind of playing out exactly like we forecast," Conway Fire Chief Le Hendrick said. Twelve days after the once-fierce hurricane arrived on the coast, and more than a week after it blew north and dissipated, rivers swollen by its relentless rains are still flooding homes and businesses in their paths as they make their way to the sea. The slow-moving disaster has allowed forecasters to pinpoint exactly who will flood. There have been few rescues or surprises in South Carolina just black, reeking water slowly seeping in and even more slowly receding. "You find yourself sitting around a lot and thinking, 'What if,' or, 'I wonder what things are like right now,'" said Vivian Chestnut, who left her home in Conway a week ago and might not get back until well into October. "And wondering what you are going to find when you finally get back." The Waccamaw River, which flows through the city of 23,000, was expected to crest on Wednesday at 21.7 feet (6.6 meters). It surpassed the previous record high of 17.9 feet (5.5 meters) set in 2016 by Hurricane Matthew on Friday. The waterway was not expected to drop below 18 feet (5.5 meters) or so until sometime next week. The river floods at 11 feet (3.4 meters). All that water is making its way to Georgetown, where five different rivers reach the sea. Officials there said the worst of the flooding would start Wednesday and last until Thursday, likely leaving only one highway into the city. And if that weren't bad enough, more weather was forming off the coast in a hurricane season that still has two months to go. National Hurricane Center forecasters watching a low pressure area about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, said it could become a tropical depression as it approaches the coast before moving quickly to the north. While it will likely dump some additional rain on the Florence-battered city of Wilmington, it wasn't expected to be significant enough to worsen the flooding. "It shouldn't put much of a dent in the rivers," said Reid Hawkins, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wilmington. Officials at South Carolina's state-owned utility were still warily monitoring two coal-ash ponds near Conway. Santee Cooper officials said floodwater from the Waccamaw River had already made it into one pond, but most of the ash had already been removed from it during an earlier cleanup project. The river is likely to flood the second pond soon, but the utility promised it has taken steps to lessen the environmental impact, such as installing silt fencing and a floating environmental containment boom. Not far from the ash ponds, engineers are keeping an eye on U.S. Highway 501, the main link to Myrtle Beach. Water is now touching a temporary barrier of sand and plastic that has been erected to keep water off the bridge. Called the Lifeline, the temporary wall will remain effective if the water doesn't rise more than an additional 5 feet (1.5 meters) from its current level, according to the state Department of Transportation. In North Carolina the rivers have stopped rising, but the recovery process is really just beginning. In rural Jones County, between Kinston and New Bern, two of the county's six schools will have to be demolished after floodwaters left mold and mildew in their wake, School Superintendent Michael Bracy said.. Associated Press writers Jonathan Drew, Gary D. Robertson, Alex Derosier, Meg Kinnard and AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report. By the time Sen. Dianne Feinstein huddled with the other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee in a room just off the Senate floor, the rumors were flying. The senators already had heard talk of the mysterious letter from a woman. They knew something about a startling allegation about the Supreme Court nominee. They came into that room almost two weeks ago with one clear dilemma. "The question is, what should we do about this?" recalled Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who was at the meeting. Even surrounded by her fellow Democrats, the veteran California senator kept a close hold on the details in that late-night session. She was in possession of a letter that accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of a sexual assault back when he was in high school. She began to tell them about it. The woman did not want her name made public. Feinstein read excerpts, giving her colleagues only the information they needed to tackle the next step. Democrats had few options. In the six weeks since Feinstein had received the letter, details had leaked. A report was breaking that night in The Intercept, an online publication. In a matter of hours, with confirmation to the court tantalizingly close, Kavanaugh's nomination would be in jeopardy. Republicans' uphill fight to hold control of Congress would face a new hurdle just six weeks from Election Day. And 3,000 miles away, California college professor Christine Blasey Ford's life would be upended as the nation debated what did or didn't happen to her 36 years ago. Democrats, and Feinstein in particular, have faced fierce criticism from Republicans for keeping their secret until what they say was the eleventh hour. The timing suggests a coordinated ploy to sabotage a conservative jurist they oppose. Democrats argue they were pulled between the politics and the need to respect Ford's privacy. This account of how that long-private, deeply personal allegation which preceded a second accusation against Kavanaugh, this about alleged sexual misconduct in college exploded into public is based on a dozen interviews with senators, aides and others. Some asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal details about the private discussions. Though many of those interviewed disagreed fiercely on motives involved, all aligned on one clear truth: The letter and the story it told was a powder keg. That night Durbin said they realized, "This has a life of its own." ___ It didn't start as a letter. It started with a phone call. In late July, Ford, a psychology professor who grew up in the same tony Maryland suburbs as Kavanaugh, called her congresswoman's office to discuss what she described as private matter. Days later, on a Friday afternoon in her California office, Rep. Anna Eshoo sat with Ford and listened to the story, in wrenching and difficult detail. Ford said she'd been at a party with Kavanaugh and one of his friends. The two drunken teenage boys pulled her into a room, Ford says, where Kavanaugh pinned her on to a bed, groped her and tried to remove her swimsuit. When she resisted, he put his hand over her mouth, she says. She escaped into a bathroom only after Kavanaugh's friend jumped on the bed. She was soft-spoken, Eshoo recalled of that first meeting with Ford, but with "an inner strength." She said, "She's not a pushover." And she had a request. "What she was seeking was that the story be in the right hands of responsible officials but that her anonymity be protected," the congresswoman recalled. That weekend, Eshoo contacted Feinstein, a longtime colleague in California's Bay Area politics and the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. She told the senator she believed Ford. At Feinstein's recommendation, Eshoo asked Ford to outline the accusation in a letter. A week later, on July 30, Eshoo had Ford's letter hand-delivered to Feinstein's office in Washington. "My sense was, I had a passed it over into very capable hands," Eshoo recalled. ___ Feinstein knows better than most the power of such an allegation. She won her seat in 1992, shortly after the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearing aired an allegation of sexual harassment against a Supreme Court nominee. For many women, the hearing televised the biases of the white, male senators. It spurred women across the country to run for office and to vote for women, Feinstein among them. At Kavanaugh's public confirmation hearing earlier this month, she grilled the appellate court judge about his views on of Roe v. Wade, noting that unlike her, he did not endure a time when abortion was illegal. Now 85, Feinstein is a centrist facing a re-election fight against a liberal Los Angeles state legislator. The allegation against Kavanaugh presented a clear problem for Feinstein. If she told others on the committee or even Democratic leader Chuck Schumer about Ford's story without her permission, it risked "outing" Ford, violating a firm belief among advocacy groups that victims of sexual assault should not be compelled to relive the trauma in the pursuit of justice for the accused. But withholding the information would shield Kavanaugh from having to answer to potentially devastating allegations and deny Democrats a most potent weapon against a judge that could help solidify a conservative majority on the court. Feinstein's team stayed in contact with Ford, assessing whether she would decide to come forward. They even considered hiring their own investigator to probe the allegations, but such a move would have run afoul of Senate rules requiring Democrats and Republicans on a committee to consult with each other. Eshoo never talked to Ford again, although she had her chief of staff send regular messages checking in, she said. And Eshoo says she never told other lawmakers, not California's other senator, Kamala Harris, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, not her close friend, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. Yet Ford was not far from her mind. "Every waking moment I had I was thinking about her," Eshoo said. Ford appeared to be preparing to come forward. She hired attorney Debra Katz, a well-connected Democrat with close ties to the #MeToo movement and the Hill. She took a polygraph test and passed, she would later tell The Washington Post. She collected notes from a counseling session where she mentioned the assault and Kavanaugh's name, she said. By late August, even before Kavanaugh's public confirmation hearings, Ford says she decided not to go public. She decided her story probably wouldn't affect Kavanaugh's confirmation and would certainly be personally painful, she told the Post. "Why suffer through the annihilation if it's not going to matter?" she said. ___ Feinstein, experienced as a member of the Senate's intelligence committee with keeping secrets, says she kept mum. Someone else did not. Rumors of a sexual allegation trickled out. Kavanaugh allies at the White House started hearing rumors early in September, during the tail end of his confirmation hearing. They did not know details. Frustrated Democrats and outside groups were agitating to know what was happening and how the situation was being handled. It would soon be too late to affect Kavanaugh's confirmation, they knew. Republicans planned a committee vote on Sept. 20, then a full Senate vote. They hoped to have him seated on the court by Oct. 1, the day the court began its new session. The story about to break, the powder keg about to explode, the Judiciary Committee Democrats who gathered off the Senate floor that night decided Feinstein should take some action. She should send Ford's letter her name would be redacted to the FBI. The action would, perhaps inevitably, fuel the story. Feinstein would soon announce the move. Republicans would soon accuse her of sitting on an allegation, hiding it from Republicans and revealing it at the last minute to ensure, at the least, a delay in the process. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who had known none of it, would be particularly upset that Feinstein, a longtime peer, had not shared the information. Back in California, Feinstein's opponent in her re-election bid would accuse her of a "failure of leadership." She could have withheld the name and still made the allegation public, said Kevin de Leon, a Democrat in the California state Senate, and she should have confronted Kavanaugh with it at his hearing. But Feinstein would claim she had no other choice. The next day, the FBI acknowledged it had received some new information. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jonathan Lemire, Catherine Lucey and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report. Neighbors and investigators are still searching for answers following the deaths of two young girls in Pompano Beach over the weekend after a fire swept through their home. Broward Sheriff's Office officials say 5-month-old Abigail Espinoza and 5-year-old Sofia Melendez were killed in Saturday's fire at the Banyan Club Apartments at 1830 Northeast 48th Street. Loved ones gathered Monday night to pray and say their last goodbyes in a vigil at the apartment complex. "They were adorable," said neighbor Steven Fortuna. "As everybody else I cried. You cant do anything but cry. I cant explain it. Its a future loss. Its a doctor, a teacher. We lost the future." Neighbors also held a vigil Sunday night for the girls, whose bodies were found in their apartment after firefighters extinguished the early morning fire. "Too hard, too sad," neighbor Leticia Lopez told NBC 6. BSO officials said the girls' mother, 23-year-old Jocelyn Melendez, left her daughters and 2-year-old son in the care of her 15-year-old sister while she went to work. The teen left the girls alone, but had the 2-year-old with her. Numerous residents who were at home when the fire broke out Saturday morning say the smoke alarms didnt go off until it was too late. Neighbors also said another woman lived in the apartment with her child but they were not home. Detectives have not released a cause of the fire but said it remains under investigation. The property management company, CMC Management said they are in charge of the fire alarms and electrical connections. They say they passed a fire inspection in June, but that has not been verified by NBC 6. The company says they are releasing a statement later Monday. The mother of the girls will see a judge Tuesday about custody of her 2-year-old son. What to Know A new work week has started, South Florida and NBC 6 has the top stories you need to know for the day. A new work week has started, South Florida and NBC 6 has the top stories you need to know for the day. Weather wise, the pleasant conditions stick around with a small chance of afternoon storms and highs in the upper 80s. No. 1 Student in custody after posting alleged threats to two Davie schools Davie Police said the threats were made toward Nova High School and Nova Middle School this weekend, announcing the person involved had been caught in an early Monday morning tweet. Investigators discovered a 15-year-old female student at Nova Middle School was behind the threats, with the teen at first denying being the person who made them before telling investigators she meant it as a prank and was "put up" to posting the messages. No. 2 President Trump making visit to Florida areas devastated by Hurricane Michael Millions continue to pick up the pieces after Michael as nearly half a million people are still without power and it could be weeks before their power is restored. Do you want to help? Aventura Mall is collecting donations from food to baby items, batteries and more. Our partners at iHeart Media will drive the donations up to the panhandle. NBC 6 reporter Jamie Guirola will be reporting live from there starting Monday afternoon. No. 3 Another royal baby as Prince Harry, Meghan Markle are expecting The duke and duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby this spring. The new royal baby will be seventh in the line to the throne. The baby won't automatically receive the title of prince or princess unless the queen says so. Queen Elizabeth issued new letters of patent in 2012 declaring that all of Prince William and Kate Middletons children will have the title. No. 4 - #MeToo Movement marks one year anniversary One tweet led to a nationwide movement and sparked a conversation about workplace sexual harassment. Actress Alyssa Milanos tweet encouraged others to come forward if they've been sexually harassed. Pew Research Center says the hashtag has been tweeted more than 19 million times since Milanos original tweet. No. 5 Miami Dolphins come back for epic overtime win and open up quarterback debate With Brock Osweiler under center filling in for the injured Ryan Tannehill, the Miami Dolphins moved to 4-2 on the season with a 31-28 victory over the Chicago Bears. The victory keeps the Fins on pace with the New England Patriots in the AFC East and now has some wondering if Osweiler should get the starting job when Miami hosts the Detroit Lions next week. No. 6 'SNL' opens with Kanye West White House visit Rapper Kanye West's bizarre White House meeting with President Donald Trump and former NFL player Jim Brown was the subject of many parts of this week's episode of "Saturday Night Live," including the cold open. "Thank you all for joining us today for this important discussion," Alec Baldwin's Trump said at the start. "It's in no way a publicity stunt. This is a serious, private conversation between three friends plus 50 reporters with pens." He then welcomed West, played by Chris Redd, with a series of nicknames: "Yeezus" and "Yandhi," among others. Click here to watch. No. 7 Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson break up and call off engagement It's over between Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson. The 25-year-old singer and 24-year-old SNL star began a whirlwind romance this summer and quickly became a fan-favorite celebrity couple. In June, it was revealed that Grande and Davidson were engaged and she soon showcased a diamond ring. News of their breakup comes a month after her ex Mac Miller was found dead at age 26. The singer mourned the rapper's death publicly on Twitter and stepped away from the spotlight. What to Know Florence continued to crawl westward, dumping more than 30 inches of rain in spots since Friday, and fears of historic flooding grew The death toll climbed to at least 16 on Sunday Florence buckled buildings, deluged entire communities and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses Catastrophic flooding from Florence spread across the Carolinas on Sunday, with roads to Wilmington cut off by the epic deluge and muddy river water swamping entire neighborhoods miles inland. "The risk to life is rising with the angry waters," Gov. Roy Cooper declared as the storm's death toll climbed to 16 and included a mother and her infant. The storm continued to crawl westward, dumping more than 30 inches of rain in spots since Friday, and fears of historic flooding grew. Tens of thousands were ordered evacuated from communities along the state's steadily rising rivers with the Cape Fear, Little River, Lumber, Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers all projected to burst their banks. In Wilmington, with roads leading in and out of the city underwater and streams still swelling upward, residents waited for hours outside stores and restaurants for basic necessities like water. Police guarded the door of one store, and only 10 people were allowed inside at a time. Woody White, chairman of the board of commissioners of New Hanover County, said officials were planning for food and water to be flown into the coastal city of nearly 120,000 people. "Our roads are flooded," he said. "There is no access to Wilmington." About 70 miles away from the coast, residents near the Lumber River stepped from their homes directly into boats floating in their front yards; river forecasts showed the scene could be repeated in towns as far as 250 miles inland as waters rise for days. Downgraded to a tropical depression overnight after blowing ashore as a hurricane with 90 mph winds on Friday, Florence was still massive. Radar showed parts of the sprawling storm over six states, with North and South Carolina in the bull's-eye. "This storm has never been more dangerous than it is right now," Cooper said Sunday. Tens of thousands were ordered to evacuate from what officials said could be the worst flooding in North Carolina history, but it wasn't clear how many had fled or even could. The head of Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, said officials were focused on finding people and rescuing them. "We'll get through this. It'll be ugly, but we'll get through it," Long told NBC's "Meet The Press." President Donald Trump said federal emergency workers, first responders and law enforcement officials are "working really hard" on Florence. He tweeted that as the storm "begins to finally recede, they will kick into an even higher gear. Very Professional!" Trump is expected to visit the areas affected by the storm next week, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Friday. The storm's death toll climbed to 16. In North Carolina, it included a mother and baby killed when a tree fell on a house in Wilmington, a man in his late 60s who was electrocuted plugging in a generator, a man in his late 70s who was hurt while outside, a woman who couldn't be treated for a medical condition due to blocked roads and an 81-year-old man who died after falling while packing to evacuate. Three people died in Duplin County, North Carolina, "due to flash flooding and swift water on roadways," sheriff's officials said Saturday in a Facebook post. A husband and wife also died in a storm-linked house fire, officials said. In South Carolina, a 61-year-old woman died after driving into a tree in Union County, and a man and woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Horry County. And in Georgetown County, a man died after driving his truck down a road with rushing water. The vehicle overturned into a flooded ditch. A driver also died in Kershaw County after veering off the road and striking an overpass support beam. Two deaths in Carteret County initially said to be storm-related were not; authorities there later said they were a murder-suicide. "Our hearts go out to the families of those who died in this storm, Cooper said. "Hurricane Florence is going to continue its violent grind across our state for days. Be extremely careful and stay alert. Power outages in the Carolinas and Virginia were down to about 650,000 homes and businesses after reaching a high of about 910,000 as the hurricane plowed into the coast. Utilities said some outages could last for weeks. As rivers swelled toward record levels, state regulators and environmental groups were monitoring the threat from gigantic hog and poultry farms located in low-lying, flood-prone areas. The industrial-scale farms typically feature vast pits of animal feces and urine that can pose a significant pollution threat if they are breached or inundated by floodwaters. In past hurricanes, flooding at dozens of farms also left hundreds of thousands of dead hogs, chickens and other decomposing livestock bobbing in floodwaters. Stream gauges across the region showed water levels rising steadily, with forecasts calling for rivers to crest Sunday and Monday at or near record levels. The Defense Department said about 13,500 military personnel had been assigned to help relief efforts. Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of up to 7,500 people living within a mile (1.6 kilometers) of a stretch of the Cape Fear River and the Little River, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the North Carolina coast. The evacuation zone included part of the city of Fayetteville, population 200,000. John Rose owns a furniture business with stores less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the river. Rain-soaked furniture workers helped him quickly empty more than 1,000 mattresses from a warehouse in a low-lying strip mall. "It's the first time we've ever had to move anything like this," Rose said. "If the river rises to the level they say it's going to, then this warehouse is going to be under water." Fayetteville city officials, meanwhile, got help from the Nebraska Task Force One search and rescue team to evacuate 140 residents of an assisted-living facility to a safer location at a church. One potential road out was blocked as flooding forced the shutdown of a 16-mile stretch of Interstate 95, the main highway along the Eastern Seaboard. It also poses a problem for moving resources to storm-damaged areas and allowing evacuees to return home. The North Carolina Department of Transportation advised drivers to bypass North Carolina entirely. The agency is directing motorists to detour through Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. "This is an extremely long detour, but it is the detour that offers the lowest risk of flooding at this time," NCDOT noted in an advisory on its website. Rainfall totals were stunning. In Swansboro, North Carolina, nearly 34 inches of rain had fallen by Sunday afternoon and 20 other places in North Carolina had at least 20 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Another 30 sites in North and Carolina had at least 10 inches. "This is such a slow-moving storm that it will continue to create torrential amounts of catastrophic flooding," NBC Los Angeles meteorologist Shanna Mendiola said, adding that the danger may last for weeks due to hazards in the water like downed power lines or chemicals. Meanwhile, a tornado was reported by the National Weather Service Wilmington at early Sunday, and the National Hurricane Center said more remain possible across North Carolina and eastern South Carolina. "Floodwaters are rising, and if you aren't watching for them, you are risking your life," Cooper said. Officials were warning residents not only to stay off the roads but also to avoid using GPS systems. "As conditions change, GPS navigation systems are not keeping up with the road closures and are directing people onto roads that are confirmed closed and/or flooded," the state Transportation Department said on Twitter. Florence weakened to a tropical depression early Sunday and was crawling west at 8 mph. At 5 a.m., the storm was centered about 20 miles southwest of Columbia, South Carolina. Its winds were down to 35 mph. For some engaged couples, Florence washed away their wedding plans scheduled for the weekend. But family and friends stepped in to help their betrothed loved ones, with two couples marrying instead in Florida and Texas. In Goldsboro, North Carolina, home of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, roads that frequently flood were already closed Saturday by rushing water. Dozens of electric repair trucks massed to respond to damage expected to hit central North Carolina as rainwater collected into rivers headed to the coast. On Saturday evening, Duke Energy said heavy rains caused a slope to collapse at a coal ash landfill at a closed power station outside Wilmington, North Carolina. Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said about 2,000 cubic yards of ash were displaced at the Sutton Plant and that contaminated storm water likely flowed into the plant's cooling pond. In New Bern, along the coast, homes were completely surrounded by water, and rescuers used inflatable boats to reach people Saturday. Kevin Knox and his family were rescued by boat from their flooded brick home with the help of Army Sgt. Johan Mackie, whose team used a phone app to locate people in distress. "Amazing. They did awesome," said Knox, who was stranded with seven others. New Bern spokeswoman Colleen Roberts said 455 people were safely rescued in the town of 30,000 residents. Over in Pender County, officials said Sunday afternoon that there had been 300 water rescues in the last 12 hours. The Marines rescued about 20 civilians from floodwaters near Camp Lejeune, using Humvees and amphibious assault vehicles, the base reported. New Bern's Planet Fitness said Sunday that is had opened ints locker room to the public for "anyone wishing to shower or freshen up." People did not need a membership to use the gym's bathrooms. Spirits were high at the Trent Park Elementary School in New Bern, where 44-year-old Cathy Yolanda Wright took shelter after being rescued from her flooded home Saturday. Wright, who sings in the choir at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist, led residents at the shelter in an energetic singalong. People clapped and shouted, "Amen!" and "Thank you, Lord." ___ AP writers Alex Derosier in Fayetteville, Jonathan Drew in Wilmington; Emery P. Dalesio in New Bern, North Carolina; Denise Lavoie and Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; Seth Borenstein and Michael Biesecker in Washington; Lolita C. Baldor at the Pentagon; Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jennifer Kay in Miami; Russ Bynum in Columbia, South Carolina; Pete Iacobelli in Clemson, South Carolina, and Jay Reeves in Atlanta contributed to this report. A quick stop by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Saturday in the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House is sparking more speculation about a possible White House bid by the billionaire media company founder and gun safety advocate. Bloomberg was the main attraction at the get-out-the-vote rally for six candidates running for New Hampshire's state House of Representatives. The event was organized by Moms Demand Action, an arm of Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety organization set up after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Bloomberg's trip came just days after he re-registered as a Democrat after years as a Republican and an independent. Asked by The Associated Press if he has any timetable for deciding on a presidential bid, he said "right now I'm focused on November 6, plain and simple." But he added that after the midterm elections, "we'll see what happens down the road." Speaking in front of dozens of Moms Demand Action activists, many of them wearing the group's red T-shirts, Bloomberg told the crowd "together, Moms Demand and Everytown have landed some big punches against the NRA. We haven't knocked them out yet, not by a longshot, but we've got them on the ropes. And while we're getting stronger and stronger every day, they're getting weaker." He also thanked gun safety activists in New Hampshire for helping to defeat earlier this year in the Statehouse "two bad bills that would have forced colleges to allow guns on campus and punish cities and towns for enacting strong guns laws. You did that. You did stop them." Bloomberg, who's spent millions of his own money this year to help elect Democrats in the midterms, said "we've got to send a message to elected officials. Vote for commonsense gun laws or we will throw you out." Prior to the event at Nashua City Hall, Bloomberg met with the city's longtime major, Jim Donchess, who's a member of Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns group. He also met with Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, a supporter of tighter gun restrictions, and the six state legislative candidates who were endorsed by Moms Demand Action. While November's election and the issue of guns were the focus of Bloomberg's visit to the Granite State, the trip fueled speculation that the 76-year-old former three-term New York City mayor is serious about a 2020 presidential run. Bloomberg mulled, but decided against White House runs in 2008 and 2016. Asked if the party he left nearly two decades ago has become increasingly liberal, he said "I don't know that it's moved further left. I think that's conventional wisdom by some people." Instead, Bloomberg argued that "there are an awful lot of other people who say if you talk to Democrats, they're much more centrist than people understand." Donchess told The Associated Press that if Bloomberg ultimately decides on running for the Democratic presidential nomination, he may fare well in New Hampshire thanks to his advocacy on gun safety. Ugandan officials say Kanye West and his wife, the reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, have arrived in Uganda on a private visit. Information Minister Frank Tumwebaze told The Associated Press late Saturday that West's visit is "an endorsement of our tourism resources." Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said on Twitter that the American rapper was traveling with his wife. The president of Ugana Yoweri Museveni wrote on Twitter that the rapper had gifted him with a pair of West's custom brand Yeezy sneakers. I welcome American entertainment stars Kanye West and @KimKardashian to Uganda. I held fruitful discussions with the duo on how to promote Uganda's tourism and the arts. I thank Kanye for the gift of white sneakers. Enjoy your time in Uganda. It is the true Pearl of Africa. pic.twitter.com/BO0iD0sFCP Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) October 15, 2018 They are reportedly vacationing in a luxury safari lodge with a view of the River Nile in the northern part of the East African nation. Their presence in Uganda is seen as a coup for official tourism promoters, who recently were criticized by the president for allegedly not doing enough to promote Uganda's natural attractions. What to Know A firefighter was seriously injured while putting out a blaze inside a Bronx apartment where officials say there was a marijuana grow house A man was charged with assault as a hate crime in a beating of a Jewish man in the middle of a Brooklyn street, officials say No more late nights at the Coffee Shop on Union Square Monday, Oct. 15, 2018 Happy Monday! Grab that umbrella. There will be showers around for much of the day, especially during both commutes. Highs will reach the upper 60s. As always, get the latest forecast at nbcnewyork.com/weather. 1. FDNYer Hurt in Fall Battling Fire at Marijuana Grow House A firefighter was seriously injured Sunday while putting out a blaze inside a Bronx apartment where officials say there was a marijuana grow house, the FDNY says. The injured firefighter fell off an extension ladder after the fire broke out on the top floor of a three-story building on Mayflower Avenue in the Pelham Bay neighborhood, the FDNY said. It was under control by 9 p.m. The firefighter, who hasn't been identified, suffered back and leg injuries and has 12 years on the job. He fell 30 feet to the ground after falling from the ladder. He was taken to Jacobi Hospital to be treated and is in serious, but stable condition. Read more here. 2. Man Charged With Hate Crime in Brooklyn Beating: Police A man was charged with assault as a hate crime in a beating of a Jewish man in the middle of a Brooklyn street on Sunday morning, officials said. Farrukh Afzal, 37, of Staten Island, was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime, criminal mischief and harassment, the NYPD said. Police said they found him beating a 62-year-old man at 46th Street and 13th Avenue in Boro Park. Read more here. 3. Go-to NYC Coffee Shop Closes Doors for Good No more late nights at the Coffee Shop on Union Square. The restaurant closed its doors for good at two a.m. Monday. The Brazilian-American restaurant was the go-to place at 16th and Union Square West for nearly 30 years. The owner tells Forbes the restaurant was done in by rising costs of rent and wages. Read more here. For the latest entertainment news and things to do, tune in to New York Live, Monday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. on NBC 4 New York. What to Know A man has been charged with a hate crime in a beating on a Brooklyn street Video captured the beating in broad daylight in Boro Park The victim was an Orthodox Jew, state Assemblyman Dov Hikind says A man was charged with assault as a hate crime in a beating of a Jewish man in the middle of a Brooklyn street on Sunday morning, officials said. Farrukh Afzal, 37, of Staten Island, was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime, criminal mischief and harassment, the NYPD said. Police said they found him beating a 62-year-old man at 46th Street and 13th Avenue in Boro Park. The victim, Lipa Schwartz, is an Orthodox Jew who was walking to a synagogue for prayers when he was attacked, said state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat who represents the neighborhood. Schwartz told Hikind that the attacker spoke another language and the only words he understood were "Allah" and "Israel," Hikind said. Schwartz and Hikind appeared at a news conference together, but Schwartz was more comfortable speaking Yiddish. Schwartz was taken to Maimonides Hospital in stable condition with cuts, pain and bruises to his head, police said. Hikind said a second man was attacked when he approached to help. Watching the video of the incident or just hearing about it is traumatizingespecially to children and the elderly here, many of which survived the Holocaust," Hikind said in a statement. "This isnt the wild westthis is Borough Park," he added. "We wont allow violent, hateful behavior taking place on our streets. It wasn't immediately clear whether Afzal had an attorney. The Anti-Defamation League said there have been 11 anti-Semitic assaults in New York State this year and eight of them were in Brooklyn. A runaway hearse carrying an Ebola victim has become the latest example of sometimes violent community resistance complicating efforts to contain a Congo outbreak and causing a worrying new rise in cases. The deadly virus' appearance for the first time in the far northeast has sparked fear. Suspected contacts of infected people have tried to slip away. Residents have assaulted health teams. The rate of new Ebola cases has more than doubled since the start of this month, experts say. Safe burials are particularly sensitive as some outraged family members reject the intervention of health workers in the deeply personal moment, even as they put their own lives at risk. On Wednesday, a wary peace was negotiated over the body of an Ebola victim, one of 95 deaths among 172 confirmed cases so far, Congo's health ministry said. Her family demanded that an acquaintance drive the hearse, while they agreed to wear protective gear to carry the casket. A police vehicle would follow. On the way to the cemetery, however, the hearse peeled away "at full speed," the ministry said. A violent confrontation followed with local youth once the hearse was found at the family's own burial plot elsewhere. The procession eventually reached the cemetery by day's end. The next day, with a better understanding of what was at stake, several family members appeared voluntarily at a hospital for Ebola vaccinations, the ministry said. "They swore no one had manipulated the corpse," it added. Ebola spreads via bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead. The Beni community where the confrontation occurred is at the center of Ebola containment efforts. To the alarm of the World Health Organization and others, it is also where community resistance has been the most persistent and where many of the new cases are found. Chronic mistrust after years of rebel attacks is part of the "toxic mix" in Beni, WHO's emergencies chief, Peter Salama, said in a Twitter post. So far, the Ebola work in Beni has been suspended twice since the outbreak was declared on Aug. 1. A "dead city" of mourning in response to a rebel attack caused the first. Wednesday's violence caused the second. With each pause, crucial efforts to track thousands of possible Ebola contacts can slide, risking further infections. Defending themselves, Beni residents have pointed out the shock of having one of the world's most notorious diseases appear along with strangers in biohazard suits who tell them how to say goodbye to loved ones killed by the virus. "Until now we didn't know enough about Ebola and we felt marginalized when Red Cross agents came in and took the corpse and buried it without family members playing a role," Beni resident Patrick Kyana, who said a friend lost his father to the virus, told The Associated Press. "It's very difficult. Imagine that your son dies and someone refuses to let you assist in his burial. In Africa we respect death greatly." Until recently many people in Beni didn't believe that Ebola existed, thinking it was a government plot to further delay presidential elections, Kizito Hangi, president of Beni's civil society, told the AP. Now the population has started to catch on and cooperate, Hangi said. "The problem was that the health workers all came from outside, but local specialists have been included to persuade and inform people in local languages." The head of emergency Ebola operations with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Jamie LeSueur, acknowledged the problem. In early October two Red Cross volunteers were severely injured in an attack during safe burials in the community of Butemo. Another volunteer was injured in September by people throwing stones. "It raised a lot of questions for all of us. Where is the violence coming from?" he said. They have stepped up efforts to collaborate with communities and be clearer about messaging while working within cultural norms as best as possible. "Of course there are limitations," LeSueur said. "Some people like to view the corpse as it is buried but with Ebola, it is difficult to open up the body bag." In the emotionally charged environment where families have lost loved ones, a misstep could quickly raise tensions. While Congo's government is acting to give more protection to its own safe burial teams in Beni, LeSueur noted that the "militarization" of similar efforts in the far deadlier Ebola outbreak in West Africa a few years ago led some residents to hide or not report deaths from the virus. "I don't think that will be the case in this event" but everyone remembers that lesson, he said. With its position of neutrality the Red Cross doesn't use armed guards in any case, LeSueur added. "Community acceptance, that's our security." A Massachusetts house where a victim of the Salem witch trials once lived is on the market for $600,000 just in time for Halloween. The 3,910-square-foot home built in 1638 was once the home of John Proctor, who was convicted of witchcraft and hanged in 1692. The six-bedroom, two-bathroom home is in Peabody, which at the time was part of Salem. Realtor Joe Cipoletta, of J. Barrett and Co., said some parts of the original structure, including wooden beams, are still visible. It has been modernized and includes an in-ground pool. "When the walls open, you can see a lot of the original structure of what the home would have looked like," said Cipoletta. Made famous in modern day literature and film through the Crucible, Proctor was infamous in 1692 when he became one of 20 people hanged as part of the Salem Witch Trials. "Everybody asks me if the house is haunted," said Cipoletta. Whether the ghost of Proctor roams through the Colonial that was once home to the Proctor Tavern is apparently in the eye of the beholder. "They can feel an energy, some people have said they feel a presence," said Cipoletta. Since going up for sale earlier this month, people of all ages and interests have flocked to the former Salem Village property to get a guided tour inside. "I absolutely love first-period homes and Colonial American history in the Boston area," said Maeve Lien of Arlington. "I've driven by this home many times and wondered what it was like inside." Cipoletta says the current owners are hopeful the future owners will continue to care for the home as they have for the past 50 years. "It has the possibilities to be one of the oldest homes in the United States of America," Cipoletta said. Michael Bonfanti, vice president of the Peabody Historical Society, tells The Salem News the organization is looking into whether it is feasible to purchase the home and make it a public resource. Pope Francis on Saturday defrocked two more Chilean bishops accused of sexually abusing minors, and to show greater transparency about how he's responding to the church's global sex abuse crisis, he publicly explained why they were removed. The Vatican's unusually detailed statement announcing the laicization of retired Archbishop Francisco Jose Cox Huneeus and retired Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez signaled a new degree of transparency following past missteps by Francis that showed he had grossly underestimated the gravity of the abuse scandal. The statement said the two were defrocked for abusing minors with evidence so overwhelming that a canonical trial was unnecessary. The Vatican said the decision cannot be appealed. Cox, 87 and suffering from dementia, is a member of the Schoenstatt religious order and had served as a bishop in Chillan, Chile before becoming the No. 2 official at the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, a high-profile position during St. John Paul II's papacy. He returned to Chile and became bishop in La Serena until he left in 1997 under unclear circumstances, but took on administrative jobs in Rome and at the Latin American bishops' conference in Colombia. In 2002, the Vatican office for bishops asked the Schoenstatt Fathers to take him in one of its houses, apparently because of abuse allegations. He has been living in Germany since then but last year a new, formal accusation was received by the Vatican about an alleged case of abuse that happened in Germany in 2004. The Schoenstatt Fathers said Saturday the Vatican had asked that Cox remain in their custody. The order said it would cooperate with the justice system, given that victims in Chile have made criminal complaints against him. "We receive this news with much shame for the damage caused to the victims," the community said. "We show solidarity with them and their profound suffering. Today more than ever, we deplore every act of abuse that offends the dignity of people." Given the favor that Cox enjoyed by John Paul's inner circle, his fall is yet another stain on John Paul's legacy. It also calls into question the senior Schoenstatt cardinal in Chile, Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, an adviser to Francis who has long been accused of covering up for abusers. Ordenes Fernandez, 53, for his part, was made bishop of Iquique, in northern Chile, in 2006 at the young age of 42. He retired six years later allegedly for health reasons. But subsequently allegations of abuse were leveled against him. Previously, the Vatican has rarely, if ever, announced laicizations of individual priests and only issued a single-line statement if a bishop had resigned, without further explanation. Before Francis' papacy began in 2013, it was Vatican practice to reveal if resignations were retirements due to age, or for some other 'grave' reason that made them unfit for office. But Francis early on removed even that minimum amount of information. Advocates for abuse survivors have long complained about the Vatican's secrecy in handling such abuse cases, and the lack of transparency when it arrived at judgments. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Saturday's more detailed statement suggested a new trend in the way the Vatican will announce the results of investigations of bishops accused of abuse. A similarly detailed statement was issued when Francis defrocked Chile's most notorious abuser, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, several weeks ago. Francis has been under fire for his handling of abuse cases for years, but the issue now is threatening his credibility and his legacy. The church's abuse scandal has exploded anew in the U.S., Chile, Germany and elsewhere, and decisions made early in Francis' papacy made it appear that he did not grasp the gravity of the trauma done to abuse victims. In May, all active bishops in Chile offered to resign over their collective mishandling of the abuse scandal. So far, Francis has accepted the resignations of seven. Francis discussed the issue during his Vatican audience Saturday with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Echenique, who also met with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Vatican said both meetings discussed "the painful scourge of abuse of minors, reiterating the effort of all in collaboration to combat and prevent the perpetration of such crimes and their concealment." Chilean survivors of abuse applauded the defrockings, saying the two bishops had used their power to abuse children and gotten away with it. A group of lay Catholics from Cox's old diocese in La Serena said they hoped he would be extradited to face justice in Chile, saying he had abused children as young as five. "We want to let it be known that the Schoenstatt order has in its hands a criminal, a predator," who should be "judged and punished like any other delinquent," said Juan Rojas, a spokesman for the John XXIII lay group of La Serena. Chilean abuse victim Juan Carlos Cruz, who has long denounced the abuse cover-up orchestrated by the highest echelons of the Chilean church, said the "circle was getting tighter" around Errazuriz, the retired archbishop of Santiago who is a member of Cox's order. Francis is under pressure to distance himself from Errazuriz, who remains a member of his kitchen cabinet of nine cardinal advisers. AP journalist Patricia Luna contributed to this report. The Brandywine Valley SPCA will receive 100 cats and kittens from Jacksonville Humane Society in an effort to rescue pets from the effects of Hurricane Michael. The airlift mission was conducted by Wings of Rescue as part of the national disaster relief work coordinated by Best Friends Animal Society. Hurricane Michael has displaced countless pets and has placed enormous pressures on animal shelters in the Florida panhandle to keep up. For this reason, the BVSPCA will receive a large number of relocated cats and kittens which were already in panhandle shelters prior to the storm. The cats will initially arrive at Delaware's Wilmington Airport, where they will then be transported to the BVSPCA Rescue & Rehab Center in Georgetown. Here the Brandywine Valley team will begin to evaluate and assess the cats. Within the week, the cats will find homes with the BVSPCA and other partner shelters in the northeast. This isnt the first time the BVSPCA has taken in animals impacted by natural disaster. Earlier this month, the organization opened their Rescue & Rehab Center to save 239 shelter animals impacted by Hurricane Florence. So if youre looking for a cat, there are now a 100 new ones, safe from Hurricane Michael, and ready to be adopted. What to Know Rep. Mike OBrien represented the 175th Legislative District since 2007. He died Monday morning in his Fishtown home. The Democrat chaired the House Urban Affairs Committee and served on the House Appropriations Committee. Dealing with health issues, OBrien announced over the summer that he wouldn't be seeking another term. Longtime Pennsylvania state legislator Rep. Mike OBrien has died from a suspected heart attack. The Philadelphia Democrat, who represented the 175th Legislative District covering neighborhoods along the Delaware River as well as Chinatown and Northern Liberties since 2007, died Monday, his Harrisburg office confirmed to NBC10. He was 64. The six-term representative's daughter, Bridget O'Brien, told the AP that her father died in the early hours on Monday in the home where he had lived as a child in the city's Fishtown neighborhood. The 64-year-old had been battling a host of medical issues, his daughter said. OBriens office hoped to release an official statement about his death in the future. OBrien chaired the House Urban Affairs Committee and served on the House Appropriations Committee, which deals with the state budget. "Rep. OBrien was a strong voice for the citizens of Philadelphia during his 12 years in the House and a man of common sense and integrity," Speaker of the House Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said. Dealing with health issues, he announced over the summer that he wouldnt seek another term as his chief of staff, Mary Isaacson, took his place on Novembers ballot. OBrien attended Northeast Catholic High School for Boys and La Salle University before his career in politics. He spent years in public service, leaving an impact on other city leaders. "Mike and I go back to the days when we were staffers, navigating bureaucracies and doing our best to help people in need," Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke, D-5th District, said. "That experience makes some future politicians cynical but not Mike. Mike never lost his impatience for progress and change, and in recent years, I have appreciated watching him fight with passion for Philadelphians on the Pennsylvania House floor. Rest easy, Mike you really deserve it." O'Brien had been a legislative aide to his predecessor, and before that had worked in a meatpacking plant. Besides his daughter, O'Brien left behind his wife Rita and adult son Michael. Hundreds of dirt bike and ATV riders took to the streets of Philadelphia Sunday as a planned memorial for a popular dirt bike rider who was shot and killed four years ago. Large groups of young riders drove all over the city, weaving through traffic, popping wheelies and causing a scene as police followed behind, monitoring the ride. Riders participating in the event told NBC10 it was meant as a way to remember Kyrell Tyler, known as 'Dirt Bike Rell,' a stunt rider who gained popularity on social media. Tyler was found inside a car shot several times in the head four years ago Sunday in Southwest Philadelphia. He later died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 23. It is illegal to ride dirt bikes and ATVs on Philadelphia streets and police routinely target illegal rides, confiscating and impounding the vehicles. Twenty people involved in Sunday's ride were arrested and thirty bikes were confiscated, police said. Two guns were recovered. What to Know Once a dominant figure in the American retail landscape, Sears on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Dozens of Kmart and Sears stores around the country, including several in the Philadelphia region, are set to close. Sears, a retail icon on the American landscape for generations, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses. With the financial restructuring comes a new list of 142 store closings nationwide, including stores in the Philadelphia region. Store locations at the Deptford, Neshaminy and Oxford Valley malls are among those slated to close, according to CNBC. Sears closings in our area: 1750 Deptford Center Rd., Deptford, NJ 1500 Highway 35, Middletown, NJ 100 Neshaminy Mall, Cornwells Heights, PA 2300 E. Lincoln Hwy., Langhorne, PA Kmart closings in our area: 779 Delsea Dr., Glassboro, NJ 1502 South Fourth St., Allentown, PA 1170 Mae St., Hummelstown, PA 1000 Nutt Rd., Phoenixville, PA 3205 Lincoln Hwy., Thorndale, PA CNBC has a full list of the new round of store closings. Sears once dominated the American retail landscape. But the big question is whether the shrunken version of itself can be viable or will it be forced to go out of business, closing the final chapter for an iconic name that originated more than a century ago. The company, which started out as a mail order catalog in the 1880s, has been on a slow march toward extinction as it lagged far behind its peers and has incurred massive losses over the years. Sears Holdings employs roughly 68,000 employees. About 400 stores continue to have positive cash flow, the company said. President Donald Trump is backing off his claim that climate change is a hoax but says he doesn't know if it's manmade and suggests that the climate will "change back again." In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday night, Trump said he doesn't want to put the U.S. at a disadvantage in responding to climate change. "I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again," he said. "I don't think it's a hoax. I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's manmade. I will say this: I don't want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don't want to lose millions and millions of jobs." Trump called climate change a hoax in November 2012 when he sent a tweet stating, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." He later said he was joking about the Chinese connection, but in years since has continued to call global warming a hoax. "I'm not denying climate change," he said in the interview. "But it could very well go back. You know, we're talking about over a ... millions of years." As far as the climate "changing back," temperature records kept by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that the world hasn't had a cooler-than-average year since 1976 or a cooler-than-normal month since the end of 1985. Trump, who is scheduled on Monday to visit areas of Georgia and Florida damaged by Hurricane Michael, also expressed doubt over scientists' findings linking the changing climate to more powerful hurricanes. "They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael," said Trump, who identified "they" as "people" after being pressed by "60 Minutes" correspondent Leslie Stahl. She asked, "What about the scientists who say it's worse than ever?" the president replied, "You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda." Trump's comments came just days after a Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a warning that global warming would increase climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth. The report detailed how Earth's weather, health and ecosystems would be in better shape if the world's leaders could somehow limit future human-caused warming. Citing concerns about the pact's economic impact, Trump said in 2017 that the U.S. will leave the Paris climate accord. The agreement set voluntary greenhouse gas emission targets in an effort to lessen the impact of fossil fuels. On a different topic, Trump told "60 Minutes" that he's been surprised by Washington being a tough, deceptive and divisive place, though some accuse the real estate mogul elected president of those same tactics. "So I always used to say the toughest people are Manhattan real estate guys and blah, blah," he said. "Now I say they're babies." He said the political people in Washington have changed his thinking. "This is the most deceptive, vicious world. It is vicious, it's full of lies, deceit and deception," he said. "You make a deal with somebody and it's like making a deal with that table." Police are investigating after a suspicious letter was sent to the Maine home of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. Bangor police said officers responded to Collins' West Broadway home just before 2 p.m. Monday for a report of a suspicious envelope that had been delivered to the home. Firefighters and a local hazardous materials crew also responded to the scene, according to police. Although no other details about the nature of the suspicious letter were immediately released, authorities in Bangor reassured residents that there was no information to indicate a public danger. WCSH reports that Collins' husband was home at the time when the letter was received and that Collins is heading to Bangor from Washington, DC. "We are very grateful for the immediate and professional assistance that we received from the Bangor Police Department, the Maine Crime Lab, the Maine State Police Department, the Capitol Police, the FBI, the Orono Hazmat Unit, the Bangor Fire Department, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service," Collins and her husband, Tom Daffron, said in a written statement. "We are also truly appreciative of the many well wishes that we have received today. Our friends and neighbors have been incredibly kind and have even offered to open their homes to us. We feel blessed to live in such a supportive community." The investigation is ongoing. Collins became the target of partisan ire after the moderate Republican voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month following sexual misconduct allegations. What to Know The circumstances of the death were under investigation. Some of the strongest Santa Ana winds in years were expected to sweep through Southern California Monday. The red flag warning in Orange County will last from 3 a.m. today until 8 p.m. Tuesday. A family was struggling to comprehend what happened after a 40-foot-tall eucalyptus tree knocked over by Santa Ana winds landed on a woman's car in Orange County, killing her Monday. "I saw her leave her house and say 'good morning, have a nice day,'" Danny McCabe, her neighbor, said. "I didn't even get to my house and heard the tree snap, and I turned around saw it fall." Dennet Bermas, 34, was leaving for work in the 14000 block of Red Hill Avenue in Tustin at 9:15 a.m. when the tree "split in half" and landed on her car. She was unable to get out, and died at the scene, the Orange County Fire Authority confirmed. Norma Milo said it didn't make sense. Her nephew called and said his wife had been killed by a falling tree. "I don't understand what happened. When he told me his wife passed away I felt...shocked," she said. Neighbors said Bermas had just pulled out of the carport and was turning her car to go to work. She was a nurse at an assisted living facility. "And somebody else said, 'there's somebody in there,' and started yelling, 'lady, are you all right? Ma'am ma'am?' He reached for her pulse and didn't feel anything," McCabe said. Firefighters had to cut away branches to remove her from the car. In spite of its massive size, no other cars were damaged, and no others were hurt. "Everybody says you always do what you want to do because you never know when your last day is. I know people take that for granted. I know I have," witness Ashley Chavez said. Residents at the Waterstone Garden Apartments say this is the second eucalyptus to topple in three years. They say a tree fell over and onto the same carport, damaging the roof. This time the carport and a laundry room were red-tagged. City officials decided the mangled mess will have to be cleaned up later when the harsh Santa Ana winds subside. Residents said Bermas was nice and friendly, and how even Monday morning she waved and said hello to others before she got into her car. The accident was reported as meteorologists advised some of the strongest Santa Ana winds in years were expected to sweep through Southern California Monday with gusts topping out at about 70 mph in mountain areas. The winds were to combine with dry air to raise the threat of wildfires, prompting a red flag warning for most of Los Angeles County. In Orange County -- including mountain areas below 6,000 feet, the Cleveland National Forest and in valley areas -- winds of 20-40 mph with 60 mph gusts are expected, gusting to 80 mph in some areas amid 5-10 percent humidity. The red flag warning in Orange County will last from 3 a.m. Monday until 8 p.m. Tuesday. Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting their first child in the spring, Kensington Palace said Monday. The announcement came hours after Harry and the former Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney at the start of a 16-day visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Hundreds of people gathered to catch a glimpse of the couple after they landed. "Their royal highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public," the palace said in a statement. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public. Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 15, 2018 After their arrival in Sydney, the prince and the former American actress held hands and walked out an airport rear entrance and into a car. Meghan, wearing skinny black pants and a black, burgundy trimmed coat, was smiling and clutching folders, while Harry gave a thumbs up to bystanders. [NATL] Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Royal Brides and Their Wedding Day Tiaras The announcement of the pregnancy confirms weeks of speculation from royal watchers about why Meghan was not joining Harry on his Sydney Harbour Bridge climb set for Friday. Harry and Meghan along with Prince William and his wife, Kate, the duchess of Cambridge have stepped to the fore in the last year as Queen Elizabeth II, 92, slightly reduces her public schedule. Monday's announcement is welcome news in Britain, where Meghan has won many hearts since her engagement to Harry was announced last December. British Prime Minister Theresa May offered her "warmest congratulations" on the news, which provided a bit of relief from concerns about the stalled Brexit negotiations. "Wishing them all the best," May tweeted. My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy news they are expecting a baby in the Spring. Wishing them all the best. https://t.co/nnneVi8rBO Theresa May (@theresa_may) October 15, 2018 The royal couple started dating in July 2016 after they were introduced by friends, and Harry courted Meghan on a trip to Africa shortly afterward. They kept their relationship secret for several months but word eventually leaked to the British press. They were married in May in a spectacular ceremony on the grounds of Windsor Castle that drew tens of thousands of people to Windsor and was watched by a global TV audience. [NATL-ARCHIVED] Royal Family Photos Harry has become immensely popular in Britain, in part because of his military service and tireless work on behalf of wounded soldiers, and he has spoken often in recent years of his desire to settle down and start a family. When the couple got engaged, Harry was asked about plans for children. "You know, I think one step at a time, and hopefully we'll start a family in the near future," he said. He said in 2015, before he met Meghan, that he would "love to have kids right now." Royal entrances, the exchanging of vows and an emotional tear. These are the best moments from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding. Meghan has also talked about wanting to have children. She said in a 2016 interview that becoming a mother was on her "bucket list." She was still acting in "Suits" at the time. "I can't wait to start a family, but in due time," she said. Meghan, with her American roots and successful acting career, has been seen as a modernizing influence on the sometimes stodgy royal family, and she is credited by many for bringing happiness to Harry, who has long struggled to cope with the early death of his mother, Princess Diana. Harry has broken new ground by talking openly about his mental health issues related to the death of his mother when he was only 12, and that candidness, which is part of a royal campaign to raise awareness about mental illness and end the stigma surrounding it, has brought the royals increased public backing. [NATL] From Hollywood to Kensington: Meghan Markle's Life in Photos The royal couple's trip Down Under is their only international tour since they were married, apart from a two-day visit to Ireland. Days after watching Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie tie the knot in a lavish ceremony in Windsor, the couple touched down in Sydney on an overcast morning after a regular Qantas Airways flight from London with a brief stopover in Singapore. Sydney's weather is expected to be drizzly and cool on Tuesday, with showers forecast for most of the week. It won't be the first time Harry has had to brave the rain in Sydney. Last year, he made a whirlwind visit to cast his eye over the Invictus Games preparations, where he charmed his fans during torrential rain. The couple's current tour coincides with the games, which start in Sydney on Saturday. The sporting event, founded by Harry in 2014, gives sick and injured military personnel and veterans the opportunity to compete in sports such as wheelchair basketball. Harry and Meghan will attend the games' opening and closing ceremonies. In all, they have 76 engagements scheduled over 16 days in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. In Australia, they will pet a koala in a Sydney zoo, visit the drought-stricken Outback town of Dubbo and meet indigenous leaders on Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island, in northeastern Queensland state. The royal couple was driven from the airport to Admiralty House, the official Sydney residence of Governor General Peter Cosgrove, who represents Australia's head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, Harry's grandmother. The couple had no official functions on Monday following the 17,140-kilometer (10,650-mile) flight that Qantas says takes 22 hours and 20 minutes. Hundreds of well-wishers gathered with umbrellas outside the airport and Admiralty House in the hope of catching a glimpse of Harry and Meghan. The crowd cheered as the waving couple was driven through the gates of the harbor-side mansion. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who plans to climb with Harry to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, told Parliament on Monday that he commended the prince for coming to Sydney for the Invictus Games and welcomed the couple. "I want to ... commend Prince Harry for his tremendous initiative in lifting the spirits of every single serviceman and woman all around the globe," Morrison said. After the announcement that Harry and Meghan are expecting a baby, Morrison tweeted: "What fantastic news! Australia is thrilled for you both. Looking forward to sharing in the joy during your stay down under." U.S. President Donald Trump's representative in Britain, Ambassador Woody Johnson, tweeted: "Happy news to wake up to on a Monday morning - congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!!" The royal couple's visit comes six months after Harry's father, Prince Charles, made his 16th official visit to Australia, primarily to open the 21st Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast city in Queensland. What to Know A grand jury report said Cardinal Donald Wuerl allowed Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children to be reassigned or reinstated. The Catholic archdiocese said it assembled the list on Wuerl's orders. Wuerl is set to resign next month. Wuerl said in a statement there had not been a credible allegation of abuse of a minor by a priest of the archdiocese in almost 20 years. The Archdiocese of Washington has released the names of 28 former members of clergy who they say were "credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors" dating back as far as 1948. The Catholic archdiocese said it assembled the list on the orders of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who is set to resign next month after a Pennsylvania grand jury report said he allowed priests accused of sexually abusing children to be reassigned or reinstated when he was the bishop of Pittsburgh. Wuerl said in a statement that there had not been a credible allegation of abuse of a minor by a priest of the archdiocese in almost 20 years, and that no priest in active ministry had ever been accused. "This list is a painful reminder of the grave sins committed by clergy, the pain inflicted on innocent young people and the harm done to the Church's faithful, for which we continue to seek forgiveness," Wuerl's statement said. The names of the priests can be found on the archdiocese's website. A number of the members of clergy were convicted of crimes, and many have died. SNAP, a national network of sexual abuse victims, said they suspect the list is incomplete. "It's hard to believe that we only had 28," David Lorenz of the organization told News4. The Pennsylvania grand jury report found that some 300 priests abused more than 1,000 children since the 1940s, and Wuerl is one of a string of bishops in six dioceses the report says covered up for them. Most of the victims were boys. Some were teens, while others were prepubescent. Several alleged victims were lured with alcohol or pornography. Afterward, they turned to substance abuse and even suicide to escape the lingering trauma. Wuerl has asked for prayers and forgiveness for what he calls his lapse of judgment in dealing with reports of abuse by priests. The archbishop recently called for a "Season of Healing," inviting parishes and parishioners to observe six weeks of Friday prayers in recognition of the pain of the victims and the need for healing. Last month, a man stood in a Mass Wuerl was celebrating in D.C. and yelled "Shame on you" after Wuerl asked parishioners to keep Pope Francis in their prayers. The Washington Archdiocese urges anyone aware of suspected sexual misconduct to report it to authorities or call the Office of Child Protection and Safe Environment for the Archdiocese of Washington at 301-853-5302. Five puppies that were among 200 rescued from a meat farm in South Korea are looking for new homes in Virginia. The Daily Progress reports the pups arrived in Charlottesville on Monday. They have been quarantined since at the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA, receiving medical treatment and being spayed and neutered. The Humane Society International rescued the dogs from a meat farm in Namyangju, South Korea, and then distributed them to various affiliated organizations. The shelter says the five dogs are available for adoption. They are mixed breeds resembling native Korean Jindos. Angie Gunter, the local group's director, says they had been living in horrendous conditions but "you wouldn't know that now." She says they're extremely playful and happy. As political campaigns enter the last stretch of the midterm season, Uber and Lyft are serious about getting voters to the ballot box on Nov. 6. Ride-hailing company Uber announced it's offering free rides for Uber users who need transportation to their polling places on Election Day. The company will display a Get to the Polls button on the Uber app to help users find their designated polling place and allow users to book a free ride. The company has also partnered with the nonprofit civic engagement group When We All Vote to distribute voter registration information via the Uber app and help drivers and riders register to vote. Using our technology and resources, we can help make it easier for every Uber rider in the U.S. to get to their polling place at the push of a button, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a company statement on Oct. 4. Lyft announced in August that it would provide 50 percent discount codes across the country through partners like Vote.org, TurboVote and Nonprofit Vote to encourage Lyft users to get to their polling places. The company has also partnered with Voto Latino, Urban League affiliates and the National Federation of the Blind to provide free rides for underserved communities. Your voice is important! Were excited to help make it heard in this years elections, Lyft said in a statement Aug. 23. Lyft cited a Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement report that found that more than 15 million people who were registered to vote in 2016 did not vote because of transportation issues. Uber also referred to transportation barriers as a reason for their decision. As of March 2017, 185,000 people registered their cars as ride-hailing vehicles through the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Washington, D.C. has seen an explosion in ride-hailing services over the past three years, which may be a sign that companies like Uber and Lyft could be averaging about 123,000 rides per day, The Washington Post reported. Decisions get made by those who show up. This Election Day, Uber will be doing what we can to make it easier for people to do just that, Khosrowshahi said. On November 6, I hope everyone does one thing: vote! Boston police officers say they recovered a loaded firearm and subsequently arrested a suspect during an investigation in the city's Roxbury neighborhood. According to police, officers arrested Nahki Silcott, 21, of Dorchester during an investigation in the area of Quincy and Dacia Streets in Roxbury on Saturday afternoon. Officers put Silcott in custody after a brief pursuit. The officers then safely recovered a .22 caliber Rohm RG10 revolver with a defaced serial number. The firearm had been discarded as Silcott fled, police said. Silcott will appear in Roxbury District Court. He is facing numerous charges including unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and carrying a loaded firearm. It is unclear if he has an attorney. A car crashed into the Bourne, Massachusetts post office for the second time in about six months, police told WJAR-TV. In the most recent incident, an elderly man is facing charges after police say he crashed his convertible into the post office on Monday afternoon. Police responded to the post office on Main Street at 12:40 p.m. after receiving a 911 call. When officers arrived, a red Toyota Camry convertible was halfway inside the building in the lobby area. Authorities determined that the 79-year-old driver had accelerated out of control while pulling into a parking space and jumped a curb crashing into the building. No injuries were reported and no customers were inside the lobby at the time. Police said the driver, who has not been identified, will be charged with operating to endanger. Authorities also submitted an "immediate threat" to the Massachusets RMV. Three people have been arrested as police in Manchester, New Hampshire, investigate a string of shootings over the weekend. Manchester police officers responded to four shootings, with the first one reported on Laurel Street just after 5 a.m. on Saturday and the last one taking place on Orange Street just after 5 p.m. on Sunday, according to authorities. Out of all four shootings, only one person was treated for a gunshot-related injury, while another victim was injured after being hit with a gun, Manchester police said. No one was injured in the Laurel Street shooting, which was reported by neighbors, and police are still searching for a suspect. The next shooting took place just before midnight on Saturday near Hayward Street and Batchelder Avenue. No one was injured in the shooting, but officers identified several persons of interest believed to have been involved in the shooting. A vehicle was seized in connection with the ongoing investigation. Manchester police responded to another shooting nearly four hours later on Sunday near South Willow Street and Claremont Avenue for a fight involving guns. When officers arrived, they found a 21-year-old man who had been shot in the arm. Nineteen-year-old Eddy Assani was charged with unlawful possession of alcoholic beverages by police at the scene of the Claremont Avenue shooting, and two others 28-year-old Manchester resident Shane Velez and 25-year-old Jovanna Deloach of Bradford, Massachusetts were arrested several hours later at the scene while investigators were still there after Deloach allegedly took a spent shell casing. Assani was released on a summons with a later court date, while Deloach was charged with falsifying physical evidence and Velez was charged with conspiracy to commit falsifying physical evidence. Both are due back in court on Oct. 25. It's unclear if either three have attorneys. The final shooting of the weekend, which took place Sunday evening on Orange Street, was reported by the 34-year-old victim, according to Manchester police, who contacted officers after he was assaulted by a stranger. The Manchester man said he was repeatedly hit in the face with a firearm during the altercation with the suspect, and that the firearm went off once during the attack, but wasn't hit by the stray bullet. The suspect was was described as about 6' tall with a thin build, blue eyes, brown hair and a chin strap-style beard, and was last seen wearing a black coat with jeans. Manchester police say the suspect left the scene in a 90's style black, four door sedan. Anyone with any information pertaining to these four shootings is encouraged to call Manchester police detectives at 603-792-5500. Massachusetts residents who want to cast ballots in this year's election have until Wednesday to register to vote, if they haven't already done so. Residents can register at their local city and town clerk's offices or online at the secretary of state's website. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 6. There are a number of big races on the ballot. In the contest for governor, Democratic challenger Jay Gonzalez is taking on Republican incumbent Charlie Baker. In the race for U.S. Senate, Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Warren is hoping to hold off Republican challenger Geoff Diehl and independent Shiva Ayyadurai. There are also a handful of ballot questions, including proposals that would require strict nurse-to-patient ratios in Massachusetts hospitals and repeal anti-discrimination protections for transgender people. Police in Providence are investigating a weekend shooting that landed a 19-year-old man in the hospital. The victim, Christopher Otero, was shot multiple times outside an apartment building on Atlantic Avenue at about 1:40 p.m. Sunday. He was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries. Police say the victim was involved in an argument with another man before the shooting. No arrests had been announced as of Monday morning. What to Know Sen. Elizabeth Warren released DNA test results on Monday that back up her claims of having Native American ancestors. Stanford Universtiy professor, Carlos D. Bustamante, performed the analysis and said the results showed "strong evidence" to support Warren. The senator's claims have been subject to ridicule by President Donald Trump, who had previously referred to her as "Pocahontas." Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday released the results of a DNA analysis that she said indicated she has some Native American heritage, a rebuttal to President Donald Trump, who has long mocked her ancestral claims and repeatedly referred to her as "Pocahontas." My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrumps attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. pic.twitter.com/r3SNzP22f8 Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018 The Massachusetts Democrat and potential 2020 presidential contender challenged Trump to make good on his pledge to donate $1 million to charity if she provided proof of Native American heritage, a moment that was caught on video. Trump falsely denied ever making the offer and later said he would donate the money only if he can personally administer the genetic test. The analysis was done by Stanford University professor Carlos D. Bustamante, a prominent expert in the field. He concluded that the great majority of Warren's ancestry is European but added that the results "strongly support" the existence of a Native American ancestor. In his report, Bustamante said he analyzed Warren's sample without knowing the identity of the donor. He concluded that Warren has a pure Native American ancestor who probably lived six to 10 generations ago and that it was impossible to determine the individual's tribal connection. Warren, who has said her Native American roots were part of "family lore," also released a video produced by her Senate re-election campaign. In it, she said: "The president likes to call my mom a liar. What do the facts say?" Bustamante replied: "The facts suggest that you absolutely have Native American ancestry in your pedigree." The analysis is not the first evidence of Warren's heritage. An 1894 document previously unearthed by the New England Genealogical Society suggested Warren's great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, was at least partially Native American, making the senator as much as 1/32nd Native American. The genealogy group has said it has no conclusive evidence of her ancestry, and a spokesman said Monday it would not comment on the genetic findings. If Warren's ancestor were six generations removed, she would be 1/64th Native American. But if her ancestor had been as much as 10 generations removed, that would make the individual a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparent and render Warren only 1/1,024th Native American, according to Blaine Bettinger, a genealogist and author who specializes in DNA evidence. Such a finding could potentially further excite Warren's critics instead of placating them. Warren's effort to address questions about her ancestry and the release of the video are her latest moves telegraphing a likely presidential run in 2020. During the summer, she also released a decade's worth of tax returns, drawing a contrast with Trump's unwillingness to release his own tax documents. The moves seem to anticipate the type of criticism she might face against opponents in a Democratic primary or in a possible general election matchup against Trump. "She is most clearly doing the things you do if you're running for president," said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist and veteran of presidential campaigns. Some Democrats were critical of the timing of Warren's announcement. Jim Messina, who served as President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager and as a White House deputy chief of staff, said on Twitter: "Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win House and Senate to save America, why did (at)SenWarren have to do her announcement now? Why can't Dems ever stay focused?" During a recent town hall-style meeting in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Warren said she planned to "take a hard look at running for president," after next month's election. Earlier this year, the senator released personnel files seeking to dispute critics who have alleged that the former Harvard Law School professor advanced her law career with a narrative that she is a descendant of Cherokee and Delaware tribes. Warren has denied using her Native American heritage to gain any advantage. In an email Monday to supporters, Warren said she "never expected the president of the United States to use my family's story as a racist political joke against Native American history, culture, and people over, and over, and over." In a tweet directed at Trump, Warren said: "Remember saying on (July 5) that you'd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry?" She went on to request that the president send a check to National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. By the way, @realDonaldTrump: Remember saying on 7/5 that youd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? I remember and here's the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Womens Resource Center: https://t.co/I6YQ9hf7Tv pic.twitter.com/J4gBamaeeo Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018 At a summer rally in Montana, the president declared that he would give a million dollars to charity, "paid for by Trump," if Warren takes the test "and it shows you're an Indian." But when asked by reporters Monday, Trump said, "I didn't say that." Hours later, when asked about the donation during an appearance in Georgia, Trump said he would "only do it if I can test her personally." He added, "That will not be something I enjoy doing, either." Warren, who grew up in Norman, Oklahoma, said her mother and father were forced to elope because of her mother's heritage. She faces Republican Geoff Diehl, who co-chaired Trump's Massachusetts presidential campaign, in November. Diehl said it's up to voters to decide what they think of Warren's DNA analysis. "We've never made it an issue with this campaign. I think the fact is it's an issue that's been attached to her since 2012," he said. Diehl said three weeks before Election Day, the release of the test only confirms what he's been saying for months. "This just shows Senator Warren is focused on herself, on her obsession with running for the White House," Deihl told NBC10 Boston on Monday. "I dont think anybody out there would want to hire somebody who says, 'on day one of my new job, Im going to start looking for another job." University of Massachusetts Boston political science professor Erin OBrien said Warren's timing against Diehl is well thought out. "It just said to me, this woman is running in 2020. I think shes going to win and win pretty big and she can then go to the United States, go to the Democratic Party and say voters are willing to look past this," O'Brien said. The DNA analysis was first reported by The Boston Globe. President Donald Trump has tapped a Maine official who battled Medicaid expansion for a position that puts her in charge of the national Medicaid program. Mary Mayhew's role of deputy administrator and director of the U.S. Center for Medicaid and the CHIP Services will place her in charge of the federal health care program for low-income people. The agency confirmed the hire Monday. She served as commissioner of Maine's Department of Health and Human Services for seven years, and during that time pressed for welfare reform under Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Mayhew and LePage are both strong opponents of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Mayhew was once a Democrat and lobbyist but ran for governor as a Republican. She came in third in the June primary. If Quentin Tarantino had directed Cirque Du Soleil then you would be only half way there Having covered the companys past shows in various foreign parts, N2 is pleased to report the ultimate rock and roll horror circus is finally pitching up in Newbury. After taking to the road some 22 years ago and touring all over the world, the Circus of Horrors phenomenon brings its latest incarnation Psycho Asylum to the Corn Exchange on Thursday, October 24. The spectacular features an amazing amalgamation of bizarre and fantastic circus acts woven into a sensational shock-horror story and the darkest of magic taking the show to a whole new level, with a mainly original soundscape and performed with forked-tongue firmly in each cheek. Circus of Horrors - the only circus ever to reach the finals of Britains Got Talent and the first to perform in the West End for more than 100 years - plays more than 100 UK theatres each year and this tour has taken in festivals throughout the world including The Fuji Rock Festival in Japan (twice), the Wacken Festival in Germany plus shows in Chile, Uruguay, Holland, Belgium, Argentina, France, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong and Moscow, where it became the first UK circus to perform in Russia. The show also played an astounding 10 nights at Londons O2. The companys TV appearances including a Royal Command Performance - have turned what started as a cult show into a household name taking the extreme to the mainstream. The Circus of Horrors gruesome beginnings sprang from the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, where they became an instant hit, touring all over the world from Chile to Chatham, Argentina to Aberdeen and Japan to Jersey including festival appearances with Alice Cooper, Ermine, Motley Crue, Oasis, Iron Maiden, Manic Street Preachers, Foo Fighters, Guns & Roses, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne and many more. For video footage visit the Circus of Horrors' website. Please note there is an age advisory of 16 years+ for this show as it contains some nudity and language of an adult nature. The New Milford Historical Society is working with local author and Ron J. Suresha, town historical properties commission chairman, to research and locate numerous items. Local historical sources in or from Gaylordsville and South Kent with personal or family memories of a lady who lived here in the 1920s and 1930s, known initially as the mysterious "Mrs Florence Chandler" and later as the anonymous, reclusive "Cat Woman of Kent [or Gaylordsville] are sought. Photographs of Chandler and her house during her Connecticut years (provide photographer credit) and missing artifacts from Chandler's home, including these items specifically mentioned in newspapers, magazines, and books of the time are sought: a scrapbook with clippings about trial, a small picture of her beloved Father Mayo, a white lace nightgown, a picture of young girl with curls, stacks of newspapers, a number of yellowed clippings, a photograph album, some scrapbooks, two rosaries, a Bible with a paper prescription insert and an address book. A few neighbors discovered Chandler but kept her secret until she died. In 1889 Liverpool, a Mobile, Ala., belle, Chandler Maybrick became one of the most famous women in the world, when she was unjustly accused, wrongfully convicted, and sentenced to death for the crime of poisoning her British husband, James Maybrick, a wealthy cotton merchant 30 years her senior. The uproar by the public at the injustice on both sides of the Atlantic forced the Victorian court to commute her sentence to life imprisonment, and she served 15 years hard labor before her release in 1904. She returned to the U.S., wrote a book, and lectured on prison reform, always declaring her innocence. Poor health prevented her from keeping up with the lecture circuit. After her resources and public interest in her case dwindled, she arrived in Connecticut around 1917 for a possible job as housekeeper, identifying herself only by her maiden name, Florence Chandler. She managed to have built a 20 x 10 cottage with a 6-foot porch on Old Stone Road, just south of the New Milford/Kent town line for nearly 24 years. She befriended the nurse, staff, and students at South Kent School and regularly visited its campus. As her health declined, she became dependent on neighbors and various other benefactors for financial support. The boys at South Kent School often brought her food, firewood, milk, and cat food for her many children of the mountain. When she died in her bed in 1941, she was buried beside her friends at the small graveyard adjoining the South Kent School chapel A wooden cross stood at her grave for a time was eventually replaced by a small stone marker, inscribed simply: F E C M / 1917 - 1941. Suresha may be reached through the historical society by calling 860-354-3069. New evidence unearthed by archaeologists from The Australian National University (ANU) shows that modern humans colonised the island of Madagascar thousands of years later than previously thought. Lead archaeologist Dr Atholl Anderson of the School of Culture, History & Language, said the findings could spur a rethink of the historical timeline for exploration and colonisation for islands in the Asia Pacific and Oceanic regions. Our findings show that the first human occupation in Madagascar occurred about 1,500 years ago, not four or five thousand years ago as some people claim, Dr Anderson said. The study re-examined evidence used to claim humans lived on the island as early as 5,000 to 10,000 years ago based on extinct animal bones said to be damaged by human activity. The team also analysed more than 3,000 animal bones from new excavations using a scanning electron microscope with powerful magnification to look more closely at possible cut-marks resulting from butchery. The bones were broken down into two groups, bones of animals that still live on the island, and bones from extinct species such as giant lemurs, giant tortoise and elephant birds. There were very clear cut marks made by stone or metal blades on the bones of species that are still living on the island, but we could hardly find any on the bones of the extinct species, he said. The few that were identified were all on bones younger than 1500 years old. Most of the bone damage in both groups consisted of grooves and scratches characteristic of trampling and scavenging. Dr Anderson said the findings cast doubt on recent theories around when people first began maritime voyages across the Indian Ocean. If the settlement of Madagascar is quite late, some of the arguments made recently about trans-oceanic voyaging going back 4,000 years ago are unlikely to be valid, he said. We think the voyaging involved in the colonisation of Madagascar came around the Oceanic perimeter from Southeast Asia rather than directly across the ocean. The research has been published in a paper appearing in the journal PLOS ONE and is available here: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal. pone.0204368 The young man held the medication in his hand and considered using it to end his life. But then he "put it down and said, No. I need help,'" before heading to a Laredo, Texas, emergency room, said Kimberly Gallegos, who at the time earlier this year was a mobile crisis worker for a local mental health center. Gallegos was helping evaluate whether the patient, a Latino in his early 30s, should be immediately hospitalized or could go home safely until seeing an outpatient doctor. He returned to the home he shares with his mother and a sibling. The family agreed to lock up the medication which belonged to a family member and watch out for any problematic behaviors and other warning signs of suicide, Gallegos recalled. The man's experience illustrates a "suicide paradox," experts say. Even though Latinos face economic disadvantages and other stress in their lives, their suicide rate is about one-third that of non-Hispanic whites, both in Texas and nationally. Experts attribute the relatively low suicide rate among Latinos to the culture's strong family and community support systems, which appear to provide some degree of protection. "It definitely did make me feel a lot more comfortable knowing that now that the family was aware of what he was going through and experiencing, that they would be a lot more vigilant with him," Gallegos said. In Texas, the suicide rate among non-Hispanic whites has been steadily increasing during the past 16 years, from 13.4 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2000 to 19.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2016. Meanwhile, the rate has remained largely unchanged among Hispanics, with 6.7 suicides per 100,000 residents in 2016 the same as the national rate. Nationwide, suicides have increased nearly 30 percent since the turn of the century. As a group, Latinos face obstacles that can affect their health and well-being: They earn less than non-Hispanic whites, and are more likely to lack health insurance coverage. In 2017, 16.1 percent of Hispanics were uninsured compared with 6.3 percent of non-Hispanic whites, hampering access to mental health care and other treatment. In addition, Latino immigrants contend with the challenges of moving to a new country, sometimes after leaving violence and other traumatic conditions at home. But the practice of "colectivismo," the building of a latticework of relationships through extended family, work colleagues and friends, is prevalent in the Latino community and can help provide an emotional safety net, said Luis Garcia, who has developed suicide prevention programs for Latino youth in California. Even activities such as regular church picnics or salsa dancing can help, said Garcia, vice president of cultural diversity at Arcadia, Calif.-based Pacific Clinics. "Latinos or Hispanics have a preference to work in groups," Garcia said. "It's something that, believe me, we practice on a daily basis." Ties That Bind And Fray To be sure, Latinos are a multifaceted population from numerous countries who shouldn't be viewed through a single lens or set of assumptions, Garcia and other researchers stressed. And not all family or community relationships are necessarily healthy. Still, when immigrant families assimilate and ties to the Latino culture fray, so do the protective effects, according to a study published in 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Researchers, who analyzed suicidal thoughts and attempts, found that those inclinations increased as Latinos spent more years in the U.S. and started losing their fluency in Spanish and connections to Latino social networks and identity. In addition, Latino youth appear more vulnerable to suicide attempts than white teens. In 2017, 8.2 percent of Hispanic high school students attempted suicide in the prior year compared with 6.1 percent of whites and 9.8 percent of blacks, according to federal data. Still, the higher rate of teen suicide attempts has not resulted in a corresponding increase in suicide deaths among Latinos, for reasons that are unclear, said Luis Zayas, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the book "Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families and Daughters Collide." One possibility, Pacific Clinics' Garcia said, is that the attempt is a teen's cry for help and attention, and there may be an extended cultural support system to fall back on. Sometimes, though, vulnerable individuals must be encouraged to lean on that support. Sarai, a 15-year-old Latina in Southern California who requested that her full name not be used, credits a mental health counselor at Pacific Clinics with helping her reach out to friends and family, rather than bottle up her feelings. Sarai's problems manifested when she began cutting herself. Her family did not notice because she wore long sleeves to cover the marks on her forearms. "I thought every time I did it, that it would let out some of the frustration and anger and sadness that I had," Sarai said. One day, she found herself sitting on the kitchen floor, looking at the bleach in the sink cabinet and contemplating suicide. "I was just looking at the bottle of bleach and thinking, This is it. I'm just going to do it.' But then I heard my mom's footsteps, and it totally snapped me out." Still, the experience scared Sarai enough that she told her family that she needed to talk to someone about her anxiety, and they sought professional help. Sarai's counselor persuaded her to share her feelings rather than to inflict pain on herself, the Latina teen said. Over time, Sarai opened up to her older sister about her history of cutting, calling her up late one night when she was tempted to start again. "We talked 'til probably 3 in the morning," Sarai recalled. The inclination to hurt herself "completely went away," she said. Cynthia Rodriguez, who has counseled Sarai for about a year and a half, said she encouraged the teen to not hide her emotional struggles and "to take advantage" of the support of close friends. Sarai eventually told a few friends that she used to cut herself. "They became like my little second family," she said. Missing Data? While family and community support might partially explain the suicide paradox, it's likely not the only factor. It may also be that some Latino suicides are misclassified, in part due to the stigma associated with it, said Ian Rockett, a professor emeritus of epidemiology at West Virginia University School of Public Health, and a longtime researcher on suicide. Federal suicide data, which is based on death records, relies on information compiled by local medical examiners or coroners, family and others, Rockett said. It can be more difficult to sort out what happened with an opioid overdose or when a car careens into a tree, he said. One clue is a note. One of Rockett's studies, published earlier this year, found that nearly 33 percent of non-Hispanic whites committing suicide left a note compared with 26.5 percent of Hispanics and 19.6 percent of non-Hispanic blacks. Back in Laredo, Gallegos learned that the young man who had contemplated suicide believed suicide was against his family's religion and that he had brought shame upon his family even by harboring suicidal thoughts. Once he realized his mother didn't hold such beliefs, his tense posture began to ease, said Gallegos, who now works as a quality management adviser for the Laredo-based mental health center. "He was a lot calmer," Gallegos said. "He was grateful that his mom was there." Want To Talk? The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) is open 24 hours a day, with an option for Spanish speakers (1-888-628-9454). Prefer to chat online? Go to the Lifeline's homepage https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ and click on the "chat" button in the top right corner. After screening 15 000 women over a period of five years, a major clinical study in Sweden has shown that 3D mammography, or breast tomosynthesis, detects over 30% more cancers compared to traditional mammography with a majority of the detected tumours proving to be invasive cancers. The extensive screening study was conducted by Lund University and Skane University Hospital in Sweden, and the results are now published in the reputable journal Lancet Oncology. "With breast tomosynthesis, 34 per cent more cancer tumors were detected compared to the current standard mammography screening. At the same time, we were able to reduce the compression of the breast during examination, something that may encourage more women to participate in screening", explains Sophia Zackrisson, associate professor at Lund University and radiologist at Skane University Hospital (SUS), continuing: We did, however, need to call back a few more women for additional examinations compared to traditional mammography. We needed to confirm that these women did not have cancer, as this method finds more structures in the breast in general. So, there was an increased call-back rate." In traditional mammography screening, all breast tissue is captured in a single image. Breast tomosynthesis, on the other hand, is three-dimensional and works according to the same principle as what is known as tomography. This means that several low-dose x-ray images are taken of the breast from different angles, which are reconstructed by a computer to show thin layers of the breast. With more and improved image information and less overlapping tissue structures, the chance of detecting tumors increases. Further, the radiation dose may be lowered in certain circumstances. "There is a need to improve screening for many women, and breast tomosynthesis is clearly the most appropriate method to transition to in breast cancer screening. Breast tomosynthesis will be introduced, it's just a question of when and to what extent", says Sophia Zackrisson. Breast tomosynthesis is already used at Skane University Hospital, among other places, to investigate suspected breast cancer. Prior to a possible large-scale introduction in the general breast cancer screening programme, the research team is now conducting a cost-benefit study. All types of screening involve a risk of overdiagnosis, which in turn may lead to unjustified treatments. Therefore, the research team, in collaboration with their European colleagues, will conduct a metastudy in which they will aggregate and analyze their collective research results. The lack of radiologists who can review the increased image material generated by 3D methods presents a further challenge before large-scale introduction. However, the method used at Skane University Hospital may be more efficient than those previously examined in international studies. In Skane, only the 3D method has been used whereas other studies have combined 3D with traditional mammography screening. This leads to more image material and a higher radiation dose. "We have shown that we can achieve the same result with a simpler and perhaps even better method", says Sophia Zackrisson. In the future, parts of the image review in connection with breast tomosynthesis may be automated with the help of computers, but it will take time. There is currently a lack of appropriate ready-to-use and tested software. Studies are underway, including in Sophia Zackrisson's research team. Physical exercise can reduce the risk factors of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease even in children, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. In a two-year follow-up of primary school children, sedentary behavior increased the accumulation of risk factors, whereas increasing the amount of vigorous exercise reduced it. This is one of the first follow-up studies to reliably demonstrate these associations in children. The results are based on follow-up data from the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study, ongoing at the University of Eastern Finland. Conducted in collaboration with scientists from the University of Cambridge, the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and the University of Copenhagen, the findings of the study were published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. The two-year follow-up study analyzed associations of changes in the amount of vigorous, moderate and light exercise, as well as sedentary behavior, with risk factors of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, such as body fat content, waist circumference, blood insulin and glucose levels, blood lipids and blood pressure. The amounts of vigorous, moderate and light exercise, as well as sedentary behavior, were objectively measured using the Actiheart device, which records heart rate and body movement. Children wore the Actiheart device continuously for a minimum of four days, and the measurement period included weekdays and days of the weekend. During the two-year follow-up, the overall risk and individual risk factors of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular reduced in children who increased their amount of vigorous exercise. In children whose sedentary behavior increased, the risk increased as well. These changes were independent of gender, biological maturity and lean body mass, as well as of the levels of risk factors and physical activity measured at the beginning of the study. The study is highly significant, as it is one of the first follow-up studies in the world to reliably show that increasing the amount of vigorous exercise is independently associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in ordinary primary school children. "A physically passive lifestyle is gradually becoming alarmingly widespread among children and young people almost all over the world. Our findings provide support for the role of physical activity in preventing common chronic diseases already in childhood," says Researcher Juuso Vaisto, the first author of the article, from the University of Eastern Finland. He points out that children and young people should engage in more physical exercise than what it takes to go about their daily activities. "Our findings show that increasing the amount of vigorous exercise and reducing sedentary behavior are equally important in preventing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. According to latest recommendations, children need diverse physical activity every day, and at least 60 minutes should be vigorous exercise. In practice, vigorous exercise refers to exercise or games that cause shortness of breath and perspiration." Prevention of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are best begun already in childhood The PANIC Study has earlier shown that the accumulation of risk factors of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which typically exists in people who are overweight, often begins already in childhood. This is a cause for concern, as the accumulation of risk factors in childhood significantly increases the risk of these diseases in adulthood. According to this newly published study, regular exercise and avoiding a physically passive lifestyle constitute efficient means of mitigating the risk factors type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. PANIC Study - a source of scientifically valuable data on children's health The Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study is an on-going lifestyle intervention study. A total of 512 children aged 6 to 8 years participated in the onset measurements in 2007-2009. The study applies scientifically sound methods to extensively study the lifestyles, health and well-being of children. The study provides novel information on children's physical activity, sedentary behavior, nutrition, physical fitness, body composition, metabolism, cardiovascular system function, brain function, oral health, life quality, effects of exercise and nutrition on children's health and well-being, and on the effects of these factors on health care costs. Affecting around 2 % of the population, autoimmune rheumatic diseases can have severe symptoms, including painful and swollen joints, fever, rashes, fatigue and sensitivity to the sun, with patients needing regular check-ups. Diagnosis can take a number of years from the onset of symptoms too long to prevent negative outcomes. Moreover, wide variations exist between patients in terms of severity, prognosis and response to treatment, which renders therapy a trial-and-error process. Most patients are given steroids, but these are associated with numerous side effects such as increased susceptibility to infections, osteoporosis, rapid weight gain and cardiovascular disease. Although promising treatments are being developed, separate disease classification means that treatments for one disease cannot be used to treat others which may have a similar molecular basis. Researchers in the EU and industry-funded PRECISESADS project are gathering data on the molecular causes of various autoimmune rheumatic diseases and different patients' clinical symptoms in order to facilitate the delivery of precision medicine based on earlier and more accurate diagnosis. Prescribing effective treatment soon after diagnosis and avoiding costly, ineffective and even counterproductive methods has huge benefits first and foremost for patients. Autoimmune rheumatic diseases, if allowed to progress, typically cause irreversible damage to joints or major organs. 'Blood samples from over 3 000 patients from across Europe with different autoimmune diseases have undergone in-depth analyses, unprecedented in the field of rheumatology research,' explains project coordinator John Ioannou of UCB Biopharma in Belgium. 'Data on genome, transcriptome, proteome, methylome and other biological parameters have been analysed with the identification of novel clusters of molecular signatures, which could form the basis for a brand new classification of these diseases and pave the way towards more tailored therapy.' Personalized treatment By analysing patients' data using cutting-edge technologies, PRECISESADS researchers are defining groups of people in whom similar molecular interactions are taking place. The project will then identify characteristics of specific groups of diseases to support clinical trials and work out which patients will respond to which drugs. The datasets generated by PRECISESADS will enable Europe's pharmaceutical industry to share findings related to autoimmune rheumatic diseases on an unprecedented scale. They will thus provide a basis for both commercial and academic institutions to examine and validate numerous hypotheses on disease classification and biomarkers. This will make it possible to overcome the problem of inappropriate classification and identify targets such as molecules or molecular interactions most likely to be amenable to treatment. 'These diseases tend to clinically overlap and this makes it difficult for the pharmaceutical industry to find drugs that really benefit patients,' says Marta Alarcon-Riquelme head of medical genomics at the University of Granada Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research, the project's managing entity lead. 'We will reclassify patients into new groups that might respond much better to certain pharmaceutical drugs available on the market.' A huge step 'PRECISESADS highlights the enormous potential that can be unlocked through a functional collaboration between big pharma, SMEs and academia,' says John Ioannou. 'It's so important to get in early with the best treatment for all patients. We remain some way off but this study provides a huge step towards achieving this ambitious aim.' Two conferences featuring international translational genomic research experts have also contributed by providing training opportunities for consortium members and trainees and so nurturing the next generation of researchers. The NHS has taken measures to stop patients from wrongfully claiming prescriptions for free. Prescription frauds, according to sources, cost the NHS 256 million annually. These measures would help reduce these costs by half. Health Secretary Matt Hancock in a warning to such individuals who commit prescription fraud said, The message is clear: the NHS is no longer an easy target and if you try to steal from it you will face the consequences. At present patients are exempted from paying a fee of 8.80 if they state their inability. Whether they are actually eligible for the exemption is checked at random later after the prescriptions have been filled by the NHS Business Authority. Under the new strictures, pharmacists would have to check a digital database if the patient is exempted before filling the prescription. Some of the experts including those from Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the British Medical Association, who are opposing this plan are of the opinion that these measures would adversely affect people with low incomes. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society also added that some individuals who fail to pay for the prescriptions are actually doing so as a genuine mistake. The false claims for exemptions are fined with 100. Many indivudals who have been fined have actually either filed their forms incorrectly or forgotten to renew their exemptions the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society also add that low income groups and those with long term illnesses would be affected by this. Sandra Gidley, chair of the societys English Pharmacy Board in a statement to the BBC said, 8.60 might not be a lot to you but if youre on a very low incomefinding 17 is well nigh impossible for some people. It is hoped stricter rules could wipe out more than 100 million in losses to fraud. The whole system is unjust and unfair. She said, Sometimes somebody has free prescriptions legitimately, they've got a medical exception - they're something like a diabetic - and they might forget to renew it and the computer says no. You're not going to stop a diabetic from getting their insulin, for example. So I think this is potentially fraught with problems. Mr Hancock said in a statement, Those who abuse the NHS and choose to line their own pockets with money that should be spent on patients and frontline care will no longer have anywhere to hide. The new technology and analysis, combined with intel and experience of counter-fraud specialists will form the starting point of this new fight against NHS fraudsters. This new digitalized system of checking and dispensing would be started as a pilot project next year and costs related to prescription fraud are expected to be halved by April 2020. In 2016 the number of people fined with 100 for false claims almost doubled to around 900,000. England is the only part of United Kingdom that charges for prescriptions at present. This new effort to curb fraud would be headed by Health Minister Steve Barclay. Research from the School of Population Health and Environmental Sciences has shown that the number of people having strokes has fallen 43% between 2000 and 2015. Stroke is a serious condition that occurs when blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. Strokes are thought to affect 100,000 people per year in the UK around one person every five minutes. The team analyzed data on over 3,000 incidences of ischaemic stroke one caused by a blood clot, between 2000 and 2015 The team behind the research attribute the 43% drop in stroke rate to a range of factors, including improved prevention measures, such as medication like statins. The reduction in the rates of smoking and drinking is also an important factor. The research, published in PLOS Medicine, showed that although the rate in the population overall had decreased, there had only been a small relative decrease in stroke rates in the black population in south London. This may be due to higher levels of high blood pressure and diabetes seen in black patients, as these conditions can increase people's risk of stroke. The study also found that across the population, people who had strokes tended to have them younger, with a decrease in the average age at first stroke from 72.3 in 2000-2003, to 69.3 in 2012-15. The study used data from the South London Stroke Register, which has been collecting data on stroke in south London since 1995. The register is a collaboration between King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' and covers a population of over 350,000 people. Professor Charles Wolfe OBE, Head of School, School of Population Health & Environmental Sciences, set up the register to provide reliable information about the numbers of strokes occurring and the immediate and long term consequences of the disease, to assess the quality of stroke care, and to test new ways of providing care. Sorry! This content is not available in your region New Delhi: Gold prices bounced back by Rs 200 to Rs 32,250 per 10 grams at the bullion market on the back of positive global trend and fresh buying by local jewellers. Silver followed suit and recovered by Rs 350 to Rs 39,750 per kg due to increased offtake from industrial units and coin makers. Also Read | #MeToo: Vicky Kaushals father Sham Kaushal accused of Sexual harassment; Issues apology Traders attributed the rise in gold prices to a firm trend overseas as Asian stocks eased due to concerns about a potential decline in China's economic growth amid an ongoing trade war and signs of tighter monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve. Globally, gold rose 0.53 per cent to USD 1,225 an ounce and silver by 0.48 per cent to USD 14.75 an ounce in Singapore . Besides, increased buying by local jewellers at domestic spot market to meet festive season demand, also fuelled the uptrend. In the national capital, gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5 per cent purity rebounded by Rs 200 each to Rs 32,250 and Rs 32,100 per 10 grams, respectively. It had shed Rs 70 . Also Read | Saif Ali Khan joins the #MeToo debate; Says I was harassed 25 years ago Sovereign gold too showed some strength and traded Rs 100 higher at Rs 24,700 per piece of eight grams. Silver ready also moved up by Rs 350 to Rs 39,750 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 345 to Rs 39,260 per kg. Silver coins, however, continued to be traded at previous level of Rs 75,000 for buying and Rs 76,000 for selling of 100 pieces. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Jet Airways on Sunday apologised to its staff for failing to pay salaries on time and said that is working towards a solution which will be communicated in the coming week. In an email to its staff as quoted by news agency ANI, Jet Jet Airways delays employees' salary, seeks time for payment, Rahul Taneja, the Chief People Officer (CPO) of the airline, said, "First of all, we would like to apologise for the delayed payment of your salaries and appreciate your patience in this matter. We remain committed towards your dues and profusely thank you for doing what you do for Jet Airways every day." "We would like to inform that we have met with the pilots' representatives and are working towards a solution, which will be communicated in the coming week," the email further read. Read More | Delhi Air Pollution: Graded Response Action Plan kicks in today; Know more HERE The Naresh Goyal-promoted airline has been grappling under a financial crisis for the past few months and has failed to give any firm date for payment of September salary to its senior management, pilots and engineers. On September 6, after it defaulted on payment of August salary, the airline had informed that the salary of these three categories of staffers would be paid in two tranches on 11th and 26th of the month till November. Therefore, the August salary was to be paid on September 11 and September 26 while September salary on October 11 and October 26, and so on, PTI quoted a source as saying. Also Read | Mars Opportunity Rover remains silent since the global dust storm A DNA report also quoted sources as saying that the airline has grounded three planes to stay afloat. "Three A330s have been grounded: one in Chennai, one in Abu Dhabi and one in an undisclosed location in Europe. Hence six routes have been reduced. The aircraft could have been grounded for reducing capacity, and not routes, the report quoted a source as saying. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: As per the latest directive by Reserve bank of India (RBI), the deadline to comply with storing of data relating to payment systems within India to expire on October 15. More than 15 payment firms including Visa and Mastercard will also fall in line if these norms are not followed. But, these directives are still not followed and if RBI do not make any changes in these rules then buyers may face difficulties during this festive season. RuPay Card A recent launched initiative by the Indian government, RuPay credit or debit card will not be affected at all after October 15. However, only Mastercard and Visa card holders will be affected after the expiry of the deadline. Several global payments firms including Mastercard, Visa and American Express raised the issue with the finance ministry on October 5 requesting the government to increase the deadline or provide ease with the guidelines. Also read | Fuel price to be slashed soon? PM Modi to meet oil company heads today A source close to government said, The RBI is unlikely to extend the deadline or ease the guidelines. Payment companies have been given sufficient time of six months. Theres no question of going back on the data localisation plan. But, the fact of the matter remains the same, there are more Mastercard and Visa card holders in India as compared to RuPay which may will create huge problem for the online buyers after the expiry of the deadline. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: While Prime Minister Narendra Modias ambitious bullet train project is facing farmersa resistance in Maharashtra, it has already started running in his political rival Mamata Banerjeeas state West Bengal. Yes! You read that right. A bullet train is running in the streets of Kolkata. The only difference is that itas not an actual one but a replica of the high-speed train. A video shared by news agency ANI shows a replica of bullet train running at a Durga Puja pandal on Kolkata's College Street. #WATCH A Bullet train replica seen at a #Durgapuja pandal on Kolkata's College Street pic.twitter.com/mFmw42WF4M a ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2018 The nine-day Durga Puja festival is celebrated with much fervour all across the country. However, Durga Puja holds a great significance for the people in West Bengal and the state holds one of the best pujas in the country. Not just that, you will see the most unique and creative Durga Puja pandals in West Bengal. In the posh Salt Lake area, the organisers have set up a Yunnan-themed pandal, replete with dragon motifs, lanterns and a replica of Hulu (Chinese bottle gourd). New Delhi: Bollywood actor Alok Nath, who was accused of sexual harassment in the #MeToo movement, on Monday filed a civil defamation case against writer Vinta Nanda and demanded a written apology and Re 1 as compensation for defaming him. Nanda had accused Alok Nath of raping her 19 years ago. After Nandas shocking accusations, several other women also came out with similar allegations and accused the actor of harassment and inappropriate behaviour. Also Read | MJ Akbar episode exposed BJPs 'anti-women face', says BSP Alok Nath, who is known for playing Sanskari (of traditional values) roles on TV, rebutted the allegations of sexual harassment and rape. Meanwhile, Alok Naths wife Ashu Nath, who filed the case jointly with him, recorded her statement before a magisterial court and sought the initiation of defamation proceedings against Nanda. The complaint filed by Alok Nath and his wife Ashu said, The complainants (Nath and Ashu) have on October 12 addressed a letter to the Amboli police seeking action under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Nanda. The police, however, said that the nature of offenses was "non-cognisable" and it would be appropriate if an order is passed by the concerned court. "We are, hence, seeking the court to pass necessary direction to the Amboli police station in-charge to take cognisance of our complaint and hold an inquiry," the couple said in the complaint. Also Read | Watch: Bullet train running through Kolkata streets will leave you amazed Because of the "baseless allegations", Ashu and Alok Nath were "terrorised" to even step out of their house as people are looking at them with a "different attitude", the complaint added. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The past few weeks have been an eye-opener for many. Many women have spoken about the atrocities they have faced in the hands of powerful men and many such stories have been shared over social media where women have garnered up the courage to talk about how they have been harassed by such men. Names such as Rajat Kapoor, Aloknath, Subhash Ghai, Bhushan Kumar have cropped up.A Now, veteran action director and actor Vicky Kaushal's father, Sham Kaushal, has been accused of propositioning a crew member during an outdoor shoot in 2006. Nameeta Prakash, who has worked as an assistant director on films like Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Ab Tak Chappan and Monorama Six Feet Under, has spoken about Shyamas sexual misconduct on Twitter. She said that during one of the outdoor shoots, Shyam asked her to join him for a drink in his room. On her firm refusal, he showed her a pornographic MMS on his mobile phone.A "Back in 2006 on an outdoor shoot, Sham Kaushal, the famous and award-winning Bollywood stunt director decided that I should be going to his room after wrap to drink vodka. The sound of that was just so wrong that I lied to him and told him I don't drink at all," she wrote."He tried to insist, by saying that I didn't know what I am missing out on and when I stuck my ground, he picked up his phone and suddenly plugged it in front of me with a porn MMS video clip on it. He said he bought this from the streets of Bangkok for 10 bath. All I did was pretended that someone paged me on the walkie and walked away," Nameeta added. She informed her line producer immediately, who ensured that she was never alone with the stunt team for the rest of the schedule. She also said that the executive producer apologized to her a few months later, at the wrap party, but "by that time, it was already a laughing matter/gossip within the other crew members who found out about it". By Nameeta Parekh. About Shyam Kaushal, Bollywood stunt director. pic.twitter.com/b5bLeALFMF a Mahima Kukreja YYaSY (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 14, 2018 Responding to the allegations, Sham Kaushal issued an apology on his Twitter account. "Ever since I have been working in this industry, I have tried my best to be a good human being, professionally and personally, never wishing to hurt or disrespect anyone," he wrote. Vicky Kaushal has earlier supported the cause by saying that #MeToo movement is bringing an important and much needed cultural shift. The Manmarziyaan actor said it is necessary to believe women and pay attention to their stories. aIt is an important cultural shift. It is a beautiful shift happening. It is so amazing to see so many women coming out with their stories of what happened with them. It doesnat matter whether it is one day or one year or ten years or 100 years. It is still very difficult for women to come out with a story like this and place it front of the entire world in itas most naked form.aThe least we can do is we can hear them and give them a platform and dignity to say what happened with them and assure them that it will be taken seriously. It is high time something like this happened,a The MeToo movement in India gained steam after actor Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her during the shooting of 2008 film Horn Ok Pleassss. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: As many as 31 suspected illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, including eight women and 13 children were detailed at Guwahati Railway Station on Monday, the police said on Monday. The suspected illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were apprehended when they were on their way to Bangladesh via Agartala, Railway Police Deputy Superintendent Iftekar Ali said. They could not produce any valid document to prove their Indian citizenship. ... They then confessed that they hail from Bagerhat district in Khulna division of Bangladesh, PTI quoted Ali as saying. Also Read | CBI fails to find missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, files closure report According to police officials, the detainees told interrogators that they had entered India two-three years ago and moved to Bangalore where they did trivial jobs. The group had reached Guwahati on Sunday by the Bangalore Express and spent the night on the station platform. They were held at the station while preparing to board Kanchanjunga Express. They were on their way to Bangladesh via Agartala to visit their homes ... Investigation is on, Ali added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: An Air India cabin crew fell off an aircraft and was injured when she opened the aircraft door on Monday morning. The Boeing 777 aircraft was parked in the apron area of the Mumbai airport and she was preparing the Mumbai-New Delhi flight for boarding. The aircraft door is about 30 feet above the ground. The 53-year-old flight attendant Harsha Lobo was taken to the Nanawati hospital. The Air India flight AI864 was scheduled to depart for Delhi at 7 am. Read More | Bengaluru school principal hacked to death in front of his students The Times of India quoted a source as saying, "During pre-boarding, she went to open the L5 door of the Boeing 777 to allow the step ladder to align with the door. There was a gap and in the process of opening the door, she slipped and fell onto the tarmac. She was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance," the source added. She suffered a right leg compound fracture, fracture in both heels and soft tissue injury in chest, abdomen and lower spine. She also suffered a sprain in the neck, the Nanawati hospital authorities said. Also Read | Delhi Air Pollution: Graded Response Action Plan kicks in today A statement from Air India is awaited. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: As the mud of accusations stains the filmmaker Subhash Ghais personality, a Mumbai BJP leader demanded on Sunday that the Maharashtra government revoke its decision to give land to him for his Whistling Woods International school in Mumbai owing to the alleged sexual harassment. Many celebrated artists from the Bollywood fraternity have been named under the heat of #MeToo movement. Subhash Ghai has been accused of rape and molestation a few days ago. Also Read | #MeToo: Vicky Kaushals father Sham Kaushal accused of Sexual harassment; Issues apology In view of sexual harassment charges on Subhash Ghai and police complaint filed, 5.5-acre land leased by govt in Film City for Subhash Ghais film school, be reverted, tweeted Vivekanand Gupta, secretary of the BJPs Mumbai unit. Gupta tagged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and culture minister Vinod Tawde in his tweet. Vivekanand also pledged his support to #MeToo movement and to the women who have gone through the pain, suffering and trauma over the years. The politician further asserted that he has offered legal help pro bono to the movement. He wrote, All #MeToo Shud be provided legal assistance. Let law of the land prevail. Let justice be seen to be done. Our basic concept of Jurisprudence that the 100 culprits may let go free but no innocent should be punished. Also Read | Saif Ali Khan joins the #MeToo debate; Says I was harassed 25 years ago Earlier on October 11, taking to Twitter, Mahima Kukreja reshared an account originally narrated to her by an anonymous woman, who revealed that Subhash Ghai promised to be her mentor in the film industry. She recalled the time when the director allegedly took her to the hotel suite after spiking her drink, and later he raped her. However, Subhash Ghai denied any such misconduct in an interview with PTI. He asserted that it has now turned a fashion to malign anyone known and to defame them by bringing some stories from the past without acknowledging any truth in it. I deny strictly and firmly all false allegations like these," added the director. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Union minister MJ Akbar, who was accused of sexual harassment amid the raging #MeToo campaign against male predators, on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani in the Patiala House Court in Delhi. Ramani recently accused the minister of state for external affairs of sexual misconduct as the #MeToo campaign took India by storm. Read | BJP breaks silence, says Akbar has given his version on sexual harassment allegations Reacting to the accusations and allegations against him, Akbar had issued a statement on Sunday and said that he would take legal action against the accusers. Taking Ramani to court, the former editor of a newspaper accused her of "wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and malaciously" defaming him and has sought her prosecution under the penal provision on defamation. Also Read | Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Tu Meri Main Tera, a euphonious heartbreak "Ms Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not however name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything." "If I didn't do anything, where and what is the story? There is no story. This was admitted at the very inception. But a sea of innuendo, speculation and abusive diatribe has been built around something that never happened. Some are total, unsubstantiated hearsay; others confirm, on the record, that I didnt do anything...," Akbar had said in the statement he issued on Sunday. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Weare pretty excited to find out that Suits star-turned-literal-Duchess Meghan Markle is expecting her first child with her extremely doting husband Prince Harry. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have announced they are expecting their first child together on the first day of their Royal Tour.A The news ends weeks of speculation that Meghan is expecting. The Duke of Duchess of Sussex are "very pleased" to reveal their "happy" news, Kensington Palace said in a statement this morning. The couple's baby is expected to be born next Spring. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Harry and Meghan are expecting their first child together Read @ANI story | https://t.co/ajjUPFJ6ei pic.twitter.com/5sFomlmSVy a ANI Digital (@ani_digital) October 15, 2018 The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to all be "delighted" for them. Meghan, 37, had earlier sparked speculation she was pregnant when she arrived at Princess Eugenie's wedding on Friday via a side door. Just minutes after touching down in Australia, Meghan Markle further fuelledA rumoursA she was pregnant. Dressed in a navy blue Givenchy dress, her coat was unbuttoned at her stomach and some TV viewers claimed they could see a bump. TheA whispers were further fuelled when Meghan touched down in Australia earlier today, carrying two purple folders over her stomach. Kensington Palace said there would be ano changesa to the royal tour to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand as a result of the news. Kamako: Life fell apart last week for mother of four Dorcas who was among 200,000 Congolese attacked and then forcibly thrown out of neighbouring Angola despite having lived there for a decade. Speaking in Kamako, a frontier town in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, the woman in her forties said she and her husband had made their lives in the Angolan border town of Lupaca until the nightmare began. ALSO READ | Watch: Five-foot python falls through ceiling at Chinese bank "There were rumours circulating that the Angolan authorities would be expelling foreigners," from Lunda Norte province which borders on DRC, she said. "Suddenly on Monday (last week) we saw youths from the Tchiokwe community with Angolan policemen starting to burn the homes of those perceived to be foreigners. When they came to our house, they attacked my husband with a machete and we were forced to flee taking whatever little we could carry," she said. "All our children were born in Angola and only speak Portuguese," she said. Angola was a former Portuguese colony while DR Congo was ruled by the Belgians and is a francophone country. Oil-rich Angola attracts hordes of Congolese as it is relatively more stable and offers better employment prospects. DR Congo has an abundance of mineral wealth but large swathes are rocked by unrest and violence unleashed by rebel groups and militias from within and neighbouring nations such as Uganda and Rwanda. The operations last week against migrants triggered clashes between Congolese, security forces and local Angolans. Local media and an NGO reported that several migrants have been killed, though Angolan authorities deny any deaths or forcible repatriations. Lunda Norte's governor, Ernesto Muangala, on Saturday said that that "more than 200,000 Congolese living illegally in Angola have been repatriated on a voluntary basis." ALSO READ | Donald Trump thinks the world is very 'deceptive' and 'vicious' Trucks were seen plying incessantly over the weekend taking Congolese nationals to the border from Dundo, the capital of Lunda Norte. Several Congolese patiently waited outside the Angolan consulate in Kamako, brandishing their Angolan residence permits. The doors of the mission were closed. "What are we going to do in DRC? We have all lived in Lucapa for 10 or 20 years," said Daniel Mukenge, a man in his forties. "Our papers are all in order. We have invested and built homes," he said. "Now the authorities are refusing to recognise the documents that they themselves delivered. We are now asking our authorities to intervene so that the Angolan authorities buy our houses otherwise we are condemned to death here," he said. An Angolan official at the consulate meanwhile told the group: "The solution does not lie here." And an Angolan immigration official at the Kamako border outpost feigned incredulity. "How can these people refuse to go back to their country? It makes me laugh," he said. The Congolese authorities say they are struggling to cope with the returnees, with up to 1,000 arrivals every hour. "At this rate we cannot register them," said Mahieu Boma, a local official from the national commission of refugees. In Kamako, the new arrivals take shelter wherever they can -- under mango trees, in schools and churches. Sunday mass in many churches began late as a result of the influx. "For the present, there are 750 families of between three and four people each who are sheltering in our facilities," said Father Crispin Mfamba from the local Saint Gabriel parish. ALSO READ | PM Modi, Xi Jinping to meet on G20 sidelines in Argentina on November Dorcas meanwhile has lost track of one of her four children during the move. "We are here in Kamako without money," she said. "We are selling what little we have so that we can eat. "My four-year-old child has disappeared and I sold my dress for USD 1.20 to pay for a radio announcement to help find my child," she said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. After incurring a $100,000 fine from state regulators last month, a Milford man was arrested Monday and charged with stealing $60,000 that had been placed with him for investment by an elderly victim. Christopher J. Sakelarakis 34, entered a plea of not guilty on fraud and money laundering charges brought by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, with the Wilton and Greenwich police departments having assisted in the investigation. He was released on $60,000 bond. Blue Sky Studios is taking an extra 20,000 square feet of space at One American Lane in Greenwich, as reported by the commercial real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield, a year after the animation studio renewed an existing lease for nearly 150,000 square feet. Blue Sky Studios is readying for the September 2019 release of Spies in Disguise reportedly chronicling the adventures of a spy and gadget inventor, and featuring the voices of Will Smith and Tom Holland. The fantasy genre Nimona is scheduled to debut in February 2020. DANBURY Officials have yet to say what prompted a flight instructor to stop Saturday at Danbury Muncipal Airport before a fatal crash off Long Island that killed both the instructor and two passengers. Authorities have identified 41-year-old Munidat Raj Persaud, of Waterbury, as the owner and pilot of the Piper twin turbo prop airplane that crashed into the water about three miles southeast of Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., Saturday afternoon. The two others killed in the crash were Richard P Terbrusch, 53 of Ridgefield and Jennifer Landrum, 45, of Augusta, Georgia. WRDW.com reports that Landrum went to New York on school break. Traveling with her boyfriend, she was on her way back home to Georgia planning for a Sunday dinner with her two children. "She was beautiful. She was just a wonderful person and a wonderful mother. She has two children, Carol Landrum, Jennifer's mother, told the TV station. Landrums death was announced by McDuffie County School District Superintendent Mychele Rhodes. She had been previously employed with the system in 2001 as the 21th Century Program Coordinator before leaving and returning on July 31, 2017, according to The Augusta Chronicle. Dr. Landrum will certainly be missed. Please keep her family in your thoughts as they go through this most difficult and trying time, Rhodes said. Federal investigators have yet to say what caused the crash. Michael Safranek, the assistant administrator at Danbury Airport, declined to comment on whether Persaud picked up any passengers or fueled up his plane before departing the air strip Saturday for a flight to South Carolina. Authorities with the U.S. Coast Guard did confirm over the weekend that video footage from the airport is being reviewed in order to help determine the identity of the two passengers. Persaud had purchased the Piper involved in the crash in June, according to the pilots Facebook page. Just took delivery of our new Piper Seneca to add to the fleet, he posted on June 15. This aircraft is awesome has full de-ice capabilities and they did away with all the analog engine gauges. Persaud owned Oxford Flight Training, which he operated out of the Waterbury-Oxford Airport, and had considered expanding the business into Danbury earlier this year. Safranek said Persaud sent the citys Aviation Commission a letter stating his intentions to provide flight instruction services at the airport. He was looking to secure office space at one of the (businesses) at the airport, Safranek said. Persaud even developed a web presence for Danbury Flight Training, a company that never materialized, and posted photos of the companys business card on Facebook. Persaud is a former airline flight engineer who worked for several airlines, including Pan American World Airways, as a technical representative and avionics technician, according to the company web site. He was also an experienced bush pilot, having flown thousands of hours in the jungles of South America. Safranek said he talked to Persaud about the expansion two weeks ago. We hadnt heard anything from him in a while and I wanted to check in, Safranek said. Persaud said he wasnt going to be doing anything in Danbury anymore. Persaud owned about a dozen planes, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, including another Piper that was involved in a fatal plane crash earlier this year. Samson Kalani Ah Nee, 31, of Manchester, was killed when he crashed near Bald Mountain in Vermont on May 20. Investigators determined that Ah Nee had received his certificate to fly the multi-engine aircraft the day before and had been advised by his instructor not to fly due to weather conditions. Persaud, according to reports, was a native of Guyana and also offered flight instruction services from that country under the name Oxford Aviation. Newspaper reports from the Guyana Chronicle in June 2016 showed that authorities were investigating Persaud for flying a Cessna out of the country without permission. The newspaper stated that Persaud had a murky history of operating in the region, a claim the pilot rejected on his Facebook page. This was third world propaganda. he said on the social media web site. The whole story was BS. This is state controlled newspaper... dperrefort@newstimes.com WASHINGTON - Not long after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis took over at the Pentagon, he set out to transform the U.S. military into a better-equipped, deadlier force that would waste less money, deepen alliances around the world, and evolve to counter Russia and China. But President Donald Trump soon began throwing curveballs his way. The president has demanded a space force, a ban on transgender troops, a military parade, a National Guard deployment at the border and other politically tinged initiatives far from Mattis' list of priorities. Trump has launched impromptu broadsides against U.S. allies, threatened war with North Korea and pressed unconventional ideas regarding military operations, leaving Mattis scrambling to comfort U.S. partners or stop hasty decisions in their infancy. Though he hasn't sought it out, the Pentagon chief has earned a reputation as the "reassurer-in-chief." The result is less time for the retired Marine Corps general to focus on the agenda he set for himself. Mattis' ability to execute his vision will largely determine whether he leaves a lasting mark on the armed forces or becomes known as the defense chief who spent the bulk of his tenure protecting the military and its alliances and stanching the impulses of an erratic president. How far Mattis can go with his plans will also depend on how long he manages to stay in his job in an administration beset by upheaval and firings. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley's resignation last week reignited speculation about whether Mattis would also exit soon. In an interview with CBS News's "60 Minutes" aired Sunday, Trump said he has a "very good relationship" with Mattis but that "it could be that he is" leaving, feeding speculation that the defense secretary could be out after the midterm elections. "He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves," said the president, who called Mattis "sort of a Democrat." In his 21 months running the department, Mattis, 68, has laid the groundwork for substantive changes but largely has yet to cement any hallmark, legacy-defining reforms to the way the armed forces train, fight and are equipped. One former official who worked for him said he gets an "A" for the first semester. The rest, the official said, is so far an "incomplete." "I think it's clear that he has set out a vision. There's generally no doubt about what that vision is, which is actually pretty meaningful in and of itself," said Mara Karlin, a Pentagon strategist under President Barack Obama who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University. "The next question is: To what extent is this vision being implemented?" she said. "Here I think the story is a little bit more mixed." This account of Mattis' work was compiled after speaking to more than a dozen current and former officials in the Defense Department and elsewhere in the government. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the discussions and their need to continue dealing with the Pentagon. What emerges is a portrait of a secretary trying to reshape the military as he faces threats from enemies abroad, surprises from a mercurial president and concerns from allies about America's future. Questions about Mattis's future arose most pointedly following the publication of a book by Bob Woodward that said Mattis compared Trump to a "fifth- or sixth-grader." Mattis has described Woodward's reporting as "fiction" and dismissed speculation that he would leave the Pentagon. The Pentagon declined to address questions about Mattis' future directly on Sunday. "Secretary Mattis is laser-focused on doing his job - ensuring the U.S. military remains the most lethal force on the planet," Col. Rob Manning, a spokesman for the Defense Department, said in a statement. The rumors have drawn attention away from what Mattis would prefer to discuss: his vision for the U.S. military. Mattis articulated his concept early this year in a new national defense strategy that defined great-power competition with Russia and China as the military's top priority - and minimized the focus on counterterrorism and threats from rogue nations. He played a critical role in securing a two-year budget deal from Congress that lifted caps on military spending and plunged $716 billion into defense in the coming fiscal year, a salve for a force worn down by uncertain funding and 17 years of war. All the while, he has largely insulated the Pentagon from the type of politicization that Trump has inflicted on the CIA and the FBI. Mattis has convinced allies that they can still count on the U.S. military to defend them, despite Trump's whipsaw comments, while persuading them to contribute more to their own defense. But Mattis so far has enacted few large-scale changes certain to outlast his tenure. He hasn't initiated the cancellation or introduction of any marquee weapons programs or systems. His plan to build a more lethal force remains in the early stages. With a few exceptions, his effort to drive efficiency across the Pentagon has stalled, by many accounts. Most critically, the difficult, in-the-trenches work of rewiring a giant bureaucracy to focus on countering Moscow and Beijing is largely still on paper. Key policy documents on that front, such as a long-delayed missile defense review, haven't been released. Some analysts argue that to devote sufficient resources to that goal, Mattis would ultimately need to draw down in Afghanistan; so far he has done the opposite, with no end to the expenditures in sight. The war is among Trump's greatest frustrations with Mattis, officials say. "He now needs to apply his vision and strategy across the joint force deliberately and with the same ruthlessness he has always applied to his past operational campaigns," said Frank Hoffman, a defense analyst who served under Mattis in the Marines and at the Pentagon. Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said that change takes time and that the entire department is in the process of implementing Mattis's defense strategy. She credited Mattis with securing the "largest increase in defense spending in decades in record time with overwhelming bipartisan support in a very politically divisive environment." Mattis' more than 40 years in uniform prepared him to prosecute military campaigns and craft high-level strategy for national security threats, but he spent relatively little time at the Pentagon. He is coupled with Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, a former executive at Boeing, leaving the top two offices in the building without a leader schooled in slashing through Washington's bureaucratic thicket. Analysts say that for the Pentagon to better counter Russia and China, it must use fewer vulnerable ships and fixed bases that can be easily attacked and fly fewer short-range aircraft. The military also must fully embrace cyber and electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, hypersonic missiles, and defenses in space - areas that have received limited attention in recent years. Already, Mattis' advisers affirmed a modernization of the nuclear force trained primarily on Russia, elevated Cyber Command to the department's 10th unified combatant command and crafted a cyber strategy. Elbridge Colby, a former Pentagon official under Mattis, praised the secretary for pushing through a new and refocused vision but emphasized the enormousness of the task at hand. "Implementing it will require significant, and in many respects dramatic, changes to the defense budget, how the armed forces fight and almost everything else the department does," Colby said. Shanahan said recently that Mattis's skills extend well beyond being a leader and motivator and that he has learned a lot from him. "He understands how to govern," Shanahan said at the annual Air Force Association conference. "He understands how government should work. He understands policy. He understands the law. He understands the value of relationships." Whether the defense secretary has the skills and opportunity to reinvent the U.S. military is another question. One former official said Mattis' mind is either "a guy in the mud, a commander in the field, or he's operating on a George Shultz level," a reference to the former secretary of state and well-known foreign affairs strategist. It is difficult for Shanahan to fill the gap because, according to a different former official, "he's not learning the culture of the building" and has struggled with high turnover on his immediate staff and tensions with the military services. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, said Mattis chose Shanahan for a reason. "He brings new thinking to complex challenges," she said. "He infuses common sense and holds people accountable to think and act differently." Top Pentagon officials promise that their budget request for the next fiscal year - slated for public release in early 2019 - will offer proof that the department is seeing through hard choices to reorient and restructure the military. Shanahan has called the budget document "the masterpiece." That masterpiece could run into significant challenges if Democrats take control of the House or the Senate in the November midterm elections or if a follow-on budget deal fails to materialize on Capitol Hill. A departure by Mattis could also set back the effort to reshape the military. At least half a dozen current and former officials familiar with the situation noted that reports of Trump's occasional displeasure with Mattis began surfacing this spring, when national security adviser John Bolton named as his deputy Mira Ricardel, an undersecretary of commerce who, the officials said, clashed with Mattis while leading Trump's transition. Her reemergence at the White House has fueled suspicion at the Pentagon that she is undermining Mattis, they said. Ricardel, in a statement released by the National Security Council, said, "The NSC is coordinating across government agencies to implement the President's agenda, including with the Defense Department under the leadership of General Mattis, for whom I have great respect." Officials familiar with Mattis's thinking said he has made no plans to leave the job, considers it his duty to stay and isn't by nature a quitter. "He is not going anywhere," White said. If Trump wants Mattis out, officials said, the president will probably have to fire him. Such a dismissal could provoke a backlash in Trump's political base, considering Mattis' distinguished military career and popularity with many conservatives and rank-and-file troops. "The troops memorialize his quotes as gospel," said Jeff Davis, a retired Navy captain who served as director of press operations at the Pentagon. "He is revered and respected orders of magnitude more than any secretaries we have had." Still, few officials would rule out the possibility that the president might dismiss Mattis at some point after the midterm elections, particularly amid possible looming policy disagreements with the White House over how the administration should approach Iran and Syria. At times, Mattis has been out of step with many of the president's foreign policy impulses. Trump remains deeply suspicious of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, even after signing off on a strategy Mattis backed 13 months ago that modestly increased the number of U.S. troops there to nearly 15,000 while stepping up airstrikes against the Taliban. U.S. officials have sought to show that the war in Afghanistan is going smoothly, with few U.S. fatalities and no major cities falling into Taliban hands permanently. It remains to be seen whether Trump will show patience with a stalemated conflict in which Mattis's plan is to pressure the Taliban to negotiate a peace deal despite a lack of clarity over whether the militant group is willing to do so. Mattis has received plaudits from the president for his handling of the campaign against the Islamic State, largely a continuation of the Obama administration's effort. The defense secretary has also helped temper Trump's onetime desire to remove U.S. troops from Syria immediately. A hasty U.S. departure from the country would risk a resurgence of the extremist group in Syria, Mattis has argued. Now the administration is arguing that U.S. troops should stay until Iran leaves. Mattis advocated against putting military exercises on the table in talks with North Korea, implementing national security tariffs, slashing refugee acceptance numbers and pulling out of the Iran nuclear accord, former officials said. He lost each time. Christopher Preble, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Trump came into office promising to reduce military interventions abroad and guarantees to wealthy allies, but largely hasn't done so - and Mattis is the symbol of that. "He is a source of continuity in an administration that was elected in part on the basis of change," Preble said. At the Pentagon, Mattis has also set a goal of instilling budget discipline and cutting waste. In internal discussions, the Pentagon aimed to save $100 billion over five years in cuts to overhead and other programs. But officials soon decided that was too ambitious and scaled back the target to $46 billion over five years, according to a former senior Pentagon official. One of the top officials in charge of engineering the savings, Chief Management Officer John "Jay" Gibson, is on his way out, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon declined to comment on Gibson's future. The top civilian official in the Army recently announced that the service had freed up about $25 billion in expenditures that can be applied to other priorities. He said the changes would be evident in the service's coming budget request. Meanwhile, Mattis has been touting the first agencywide audit of the Pentagon's books. Pentagon officials defended the audit's nearly billion-dollar price tag as small, compared with the size and complexity of the Defense Department's budget. Budget hawks question whether Mattis can substantively reduce Pentagon waste at a time when so much new money is being pumped into the system. Above all, Mattis has emphasized "lethality," which has become a new Pentagon watchword for the secretary's effort to make the force deadlier. This year, he formed the Close Combat Lethality Task Force, which is examining how to improve weapons, training and resiliency for infantrymen and others who fight alongside them. The task force has made few announcements, but retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, an adviser for the group, said it is weighing ideas that Mattis has considered for at least a decade, such as fielding new rifles that shoot larger ammunition. The effort has had other consequences, with lower-down officials at the Pentagon applying the term "lethality" to existing initiatives as an effort to satisfy the boss. Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the word risked losing significance. "You can't just apply the word 'lethal' to everything the military does," he said. "It just does not make sense." - - - The Washington Post's Greg Jaffe contributed to this report. BERLIN - Voters in the southern German heartland of Bavaria dealt a stinging blow Sunday to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative allies, humbling a party that has governed for decades while boosting either political flank in an election defined by polarized opinions about immigration. The dramatic loss of support for the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), scrambled politics in a region that has been one of the most politically stable in Europe. Votes for the Bavarian state parliament have rarely been competitive in modern lifetimes, with the CSU crafting a "laptops to lederhosen" approach that coupled its support for high-tech industry with its embrace of traditional culture. For decades, the CSU came as close as Western Europe gets to a state party. That changed Sunday, with voters in the affluent region defecting en masse and redistributing their support to both ends of the political spectrum. The result won't end the CSU's 61-year streak in power, but it forces the party to bargain for partners. And it will almost certainly add to the strain on an already beleaguered Merkel, whose other coalition partner, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), was also punished Sunday. The combined share of the vote won by the SPD and CSU was down more than 20 percent since the last election, in 2013. "It's an earthquake," said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, who leads the German Marshall Fund's office in Berlin. "People are dissatisfied with this so-called grand coalition. This is not the way they want things." The results showed the CSU falling from nearly half the vote five years ago to 37.2 percent. The Green Party surged to second place, with 17.5 percent, and the far-right Alternative for Germany is set to enter the Bavarian parliament for the first time, with 10.2 percent. The results sent a stream of green confetti raining down on jubilant Greens activists at the party's election-night headquarters. There was a similarly exuberant celebration among dirndl- and lederhosen-clad AfD supporters. It was a different story for the CSU, with stern-faced Bavarian state Premier Markus Soder telling a quiet gathering of the party faithful that the result "isn't easy." "We will accept it with humility. We will need to learn from it. We will need to analyze it precisely," he said. Soder tried to put a brave face on the outcome, insisting that the CSU will continue to lead the state's government, despite a result that is the second-worst in the party's history. The CSU, he said, "isn't only the strongest party, but it received a clear mandate to govern." The CSU has ruled out a coalition with the AfD, but could strike a deal to govern with one or more smaller conservative parties - or perhaps with the Greens. The election was closely watched in Germany, and the results appear to fit a pattern seen both within the country and across the continent. Traditional centrist parties that once flirted with absolute majorities of the vote are withering. Niche and politically extreme parties are gaining as the electorate fragments into ever finer shards. At the national level, that has meant a record seven parties in the parliament since elections last year, and a deeply dysfunctional governing coalition of three. The Bavarian result, said Kleine-Brockhoff, confirms long-known struggles for Europe's center-left. But it also points to the difficulties ahead for the continent's center-right. "We're looking at the slow fragmentation of Christian conservatism," he said. Sunday's result is likely to reverberate loudly in Berlin, where it will be seen as yet another blow to Merkel's once-mighty fusion of her CDU with its Bavarian sister. Since the CDU/CSU faction disappointed in last year's vote, Merkel has seen her authority diminish at home and abroad as she struggled to cling to a job she has held for 13 years. Yet the CSU's Sunday humiliation could also make Merkel's life easier in one respect: Her primary rival within the government, Interior Minister and CSU leader Horst Seehofer, is likely to face calls to resign. Seehofer has provoked repeated clashes with his boss this year over immigration, and he nearly toppled the government this summer. His defiance of Merkel was widely seen as a deliberate CSU strategy to prove to Bavarian voters that the party could be just as tough on borders and security as its insurgent rivals in the AfD. But if that was the aim, the effort fell flat. The CSU failed to pry right-wing voters back from the AfD, while more centrist and liberal supporters defected to the progressive-minded Greens. "People who voted for them for 60 years aren't voting for them anymore. And it's because of their polarizing and inhumane politics," said Paul Knoblach, a 12th-generation Bavarian farmer. Knoblach was among the CSU's longtime supporters and had volunteered for its campaigns. But on Sunday, at age 64, he ran for the state parliament for the first time. And he did it as a Green, a party that more than doubled its share of the vote Sunday by focusing on drawing a clear contrast with right-wing parties on the issue of refugees. "If you follow the media, you get the impression that everyone's turning to the right, to racism. But it's not like this. Normal people just haven't been loud enough," said Eva Peteler, a Bavarian pro-refugee activist. "Now we're getting louder." The AfD, known for its incendiary anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric, will also be getting louder in Bavaria. The last time Bavarians voted, in 2013, the party had just launched. Now the AfD will be in the parliament, putting it in 15 out of 16 German state legislatures. It is on course to join that last one later this month, with elections in the state of Hesse. "The results show that trying to trick voters doesn't pay," said AfD leader Alice Weidel, referring to the CSU's rightward Bavarian shift. The other big loser Sunday, the SPD, saw its vote halved since the last election, according to projected results, with about 10 percent. Party leader Andrea Nahles blamed "the poor performance of the grand coalition in Berlin." The national government has been paralyzed this year by infighting between Seehofer and Merkel. The CSU was also split, with Seehofer and Soder often feuding. In an interview with national broadcaster ZDF on Sunday night, the interior minister deflected when asked whether he would step down. But he said he would take his share of the blame for Sunday's outcome as long as others do, as well - a clear reference to Soder. "As a party leader, I bear responsibility for this result," Seehofer said. "But it's a joint responsibility." Close Merkel ally and CDU General Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, meanwhile, seemed to chide her CSU friends for emphasizing the problems with immigration when they could have been touting their successes. The CSU, she said, had been "unable" to shift attention to "the very good situation of the state's security, the excellent position of its economy and job market." The result, she said, was "a warning." --- The Washington Post's Luisa Beck contributed to this report. TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2018 /CNW/ - Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) (TSX: CRON) ("Cronos Group" or the "Company"), announced today that it has entered into a sponsored research agreement with the Technion Research and Development Foundation of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology ("Technion") to explore the use of cannabinoids and their role in regulating skin health and skin disorders. The preclinical studies will be conducted by Technion over a three-year period and will focus on three skin conditions: acne, psoriasis and skin repair. Research will be led by Technion faculty members Dr. David "Dedi" Meiri, Head, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research and Dr. Yaron Fuchs, Head, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research, two of the world's leading researchers in cannabis and skin stem cell research, respectively. Dr. Meiri heads the Laboratory of Cannabis and Cancer Research with vast experience in cannabis and endocannabinoid research. Dr. Fuchs heads the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine with years of experience in the biology of the skin and its pathologies. Development and implementation of the research will be conducted at Technion's Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabis Research and the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center of Life Sciences and Engineering in Haifa, Israel. "We believe that the potential applications of cannabinoids to regulate skin health and treat skin disorders are vast, and we are excited to begin exploring these applications through our partnership with Technion," said Mike Gorenstein, CEO of Cronos Group. "Using rigorous data to develop efficacious topical and transdermal formulations will be key to creating differentiated products that provide quality treatments to our consumers and strengthen our brand portfolio." The endocannabinoid system and the cannabinoids that modulate its activity are believed to have an important role in regulating skin health and skin disorders. The research will utilize Dr. Meiri's cannabis strain database of over 80 cultivars and Cronos Group's strain specific cannabis oils to isolate and investigate the effects of individual and combinations of cannabinoids, potentially including rare cannabinoids, for treating acne, psoriasis and wounds using stem cell-derived organoid cultures developed by Dr. Fuchs' laboratory and mouse models. Cronos Group expects to be able to adapt the individual and combinations of cannabinoids to develop products for each of these three applications and expects to receive an exclusive, worldwide license to market and manufacture such products. "We are pleased to partner with Cronos Group on this groundbreaking cannabinoid research," said Dr. Fuchs. "Using our state of the art technology, we hope to unlock the vast therapeutic potential of cannabinoid formulations for treating skin disorders." "We are thrilled to begin this joint research with Dr. Meiri and Dr. Fuchs, who are among the most respected researchers in their fields," said David Hsu, COO of Cronos Group. "Dr. Meiri's extensive cannabis strain database and capabilities in analytical testing provide a strong foundation for researching Dr. Fuch's world renowned stem cell organoids. Dr. Meiri and Dr. Fuchs' expertise coupled with Cronos Group's competencies in the cannabis industry make us optimistic about the future opportunities from this collaboration." Dedi Meiri, Ph.D., Head, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research, Technion David Meiri, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Biology at Technion and a member of the Technion Integrated Cancer Center (TICC). Dr. Meiri holds a M.Sc. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in plant biotechnology from Tel Aviv University. He conducted his post-doctoral fellowship at the Ontario Cancer Institute where he focused on tumor invasion and metastasis. During his post-doctoral studies, he expanded his knowledge in human biology and cancer pathogenesis and gained worldwide recognition as an expert in the fields of G-protein coupled receptors, small GTPases and cytoskeleton. Upon completion of his post-doctoral fellowship, Dr Meiri took a position at Technion, where he heads the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research. Presently, his laboratory investigates the therapeutic potential of phytocannabinoids, with focuses on the antitumor effects of cannabinoids. In addition to the cannabis research performed on-site at his laboratory, Dr. Meiri collaborates with cannabis growers, clinicians, major manufacturers and distributors of medical cannabis for the purpose of revolutionizing cannabis treatment. He is operating the Cannabis Database Project and his laboratory is currently involved in eight clinical trials covering diverse aspects of cannabis treatment such as colon disease, pain prevention, cancer treatment and epilepsy. Yaron Fuchs, Ph.D., Head, Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Technion Yaron Fuchs, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences & Engineering and the Faculty of Biology and the TICC. Dr. Fuchs is also a Deloro Career Advancement Chair and an Alon Fellow. He began his academic career at Haifa University where he received a B.Sc., followed by a direct Ph.D. track for outstanding students, which was conducted at Technion. Upon completion of his doctorate degree, he performed his post-doctoral research at The Rockefeller University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Recently, he returned to Technion where he heads the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Fuchs has had a long-term interest in different modes of cell death and how they regulate diverse aspects of stem cell biology and stem cell-dependent processes. His research has taken advantage of state of the art mouse models where he manipulates and traces different stem cell populations. Throughout his career, Dr. Fuchs has received more than 20 awards for his scientific excellence and his unique teaching style. He has published in leading scientific journals and has spoken nationally and internationally about his research focusing on adult stem cells in regeneration and cancer. About Cronos Group Cronos Group is a globally diversified and vertically integrated cannabis company with a presence across five continents. Cronos Group operates two wholly-owned Canadian licensed producers regulated under Health Canada's Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations: Peace Naturals Project Inc., which was the first non-incumbent medical cannabis license granted by Health Canada, and Original BC Ltd., which is based in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. Cronos Group has multiple international production and distribution platforms across five continents. Cronos Group intends to continue to rapidly expand its global footprint as it focuses on building an international iconic brand portfolio and developing disruptive intellectual property. Cronos Group is committed to building industry leading companies that transform the perception of cannabis and responsibly elevate the consumer experience. About Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Founded in 1912, Technion is Israel's first university. Technion is acclaimed as the source of ingenuity behind Israel's status as the world's "Start-Up Nation". Technion's innovation has a high global impact in areas including life-saving medicine, sustainable energy, water conservation, computer science, and nanotechnology. Technion, with 18 faculties and more than 50 research centers, offers degrees in science and engineering, architecture, medicine, industrial management, and education. To date, it has awarded over 100,000 degrees. Its faculty numbers some 550 members, including three Nobel laureates, and it has an international reach that includes the Jacobs TechnionCornell Institute in New York City, and the Guangdong TechnionIsrael Institute of Technology in China. Forward-looking statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. All information contained herein that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release include Cronos Group's expectations regarding the potential success of, and the costs and benefits associated with the research collaboration with Technion, the definitive license terms to be agreed between the two parties, the potential therapeutic or beneficial effects of cannabis and cannabinoids on skin health and skin disorders including acne, psoriasis and skin repair, the ability of Cronos Group to develop products based on cannabinoids found to have an effect on acne, psoriasis and skin repair, the ability of Cronos Group to use or commercialize any intellectual property developed from this research collaboration, as well as the Cronos Group's intention to continue to rapidly expand its global footprint, build an international iconic brand portfolio and develop disruptive intellectual property. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual financial results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. A discussion of some of the material risks applicable to Cronos Group can be found in its current MD&A and Annual Information Form, both of which have been filed on SEDAR and can be accessed at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information included in this news release is made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by law, Cronos Group disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. SOURCE Cronos Group Inc. For further information: please contact: Anna Shlimak, Investor Relations, Tel: (416) 504-0004, [email protected] Related Links thecronosgroup.com Climate change is the byproduct of the industrial economy. Production of CO2 and black carbon (soot and particulates) are not the goal of industry and transportation. However, CO2 and black carbon have been produced in huge quantities. Indoor and outdoor air pollution (mainly particulates but also sulfur dioxide) kills about 7 million people per year and causes many more to be sick. Increases in air pollution in any day causes a corresponding increase in visits to hospitals. Some people claim that we should not interfere with the earths atmosphere with geoengineering to mitigate climate change. However, we have already been experimenting with the Earths atmosphere and oceans with the climate changes that we have already been making for over 200 years. Even before the industrial age that there have been large-scale environmental changes with the destruction of forest or expansion of deserts. China and 23 other countries already engage in significant weather modification. China is setting up or has already set up a level of rain control across Tibet and other parts of China. Tens of thousands of fuel-burning chambers will be installed across the Tibetan mountains, with a view to boosting rainfall in the region by up to 10 billion tons of rain annually. In 2013, China was already producing 55 billion tons per year of artificially induced rain. China is expanding this to over 250 billion tons per year. 23 other countries also engage in cloud seeding and weather modification. Australia will be engaging in localized geoengineering to preserve the great barrier reef coral. Climate scientists debate whether we should spend a billion dollars to ten billion dollars per year to effectively bring the Earths temperature down by a degree. The climate scientists then push for $2-4 trillion per year to be spent on upending the world economy to stop using fossil fuels by 2050. People already know that simulating a large volcano will reduce the Earths temperature. The methods will work and will be super cheap relative to the money China already spends on weather modification and transferring water from the South to the North with super-canals and for fighting air pollution. The cost of geoengineering is also trivial relative to the 100-year plan for over $100 trillion to convert world energy and transportation in the right way. Will any one country or a few countries cheat and use a few billion dollars per year to fix the climate temperature and take many more decades and save trillions of dollars to slowly getting around to converting off fossil fuels. Let us review the massive amounts of artillery and missile launchers that China has been using to seed clouds. We can also review the effort in Chinas war on air pollution. Then we can review if we think China would stoop to using geoengineering. China has a four-year-old war on air pollution. China has spent over $150 billion to reduce coal usage and reduce particulates and soot. China is launching the worlds largest weather-control machine, with the ability to modify the weather in an area similar to the size of Alaska. Chinas state-owned Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is implementing a plan to send thousands of rain-inducing machines across the Tibetan Plateau to increase rainfall along the region. The Tibetan Plateau is the source of much of Chinas water, running down from the mountainous highlands via the massive Yangtze, Mekong, and Yellow rivers. These rivers, which originate on the Tibetan Plateau, are fed by glacial and snow meltwater and drain down into the fertile Chinese farmlands. In order for water vapor (humidity) in the air to form clouds and eventually rain, it requires a nucleating particle. Typically, this is a tiny particle of dust which en masse produces the clouds we see in the sky. By artificially seeding the Tibetan Plateau with silver iodide particles the Chinese government is inducing the formation of clouds where there werent any before. Once the clouds become unstable, this leads to artificially induced rainfall. Each rain machine (chamber) is expected to create a 3-mile long strip of billowing clouds. When multiplied by the thousands of chambers China is installing along the Tibetan Plateau, it is estimated that China will be artificially controlling the weather over an area similar to the size of Alaska. China plans to monitor the system through weather satellites and supplement with silver iodide particles deployed from planes and shot out of ground artillery. In total, the Chinese government expects the system, which will span 620,000 square miles, to produce up to 10 billion cubic meters of rainfall each year. If the system works as expected, it would equal roughly 7 percent of Chinas annual water consumption. The ground-based network also comes at a relatively low price each burning unit costs about 50,000 yuan (US$8,000) to build and install. Costs are likely to drop further due to mass production. In comparison, a cloud-seeding plane costs several million yuan and covers a smaller area. One downside of the burning chambers, however, is that they will not work in the absence of wind or when the wind is blowing the wrong direction. Pollution reducing towers 500 meters tall China has built a 100 meter tall (40 story) tower to help purify the air. It sucks in air into a large greenhouse at the bottom. The system works and helps clean the air. China will build hundreds of full-sized towers that will reach 500 meters (1,640 feet) high with a diameter of 200 meters (656 feet). The size of the greenhouses could cover nearly 30 square kilometers (11.6 square miles) and the plant would be powerful enough to purify the air for a small-sized city. Yes, it is a tough prediction. Will some country or group of countries geoengineer and stop global warming in its tracks for 100 years for a few billion dollars per year and have a gradual and cheap transition to solar and nuclear energy over the next 100 years. Or would they listen to the climate alarmists and deal with climate the moral way and shutdown every coal plant within ten years and scrap all of the 2 billion combustion engine cars within 20 years. Those would be the down-payment steps to get to half of the CO2 emissions of 2010 by 2030 and then to zero emissions by the 2040s. Is China scared of tampering with the environment? A country that will make 250 billion tons per year of artificial rain? A country that has a tens of thousands of soldiers firing massive amount of iodine and cloud seeding material into clouds. A country that will make tens of thousands of burners to generate clouds across all of Tibet? Will China be worried about what other countries will think about them affecting global climate? China just happens to take the tens of billions of tons of rain from Vietnam, India and other countries. Geoengineering is only 1000 times cheaper and 100 times faster. It is only guaranteed to drop the temperature because it is simulating volcano effects where the temperature did drop. Take it to the bank. Geoengineering will happen. Global temperatures will not go to 1.5 degrees celsius over the industrial age. Temperatures will not be stopped because the world decided to scrap capitalism. Temperatures will not be stopped because we chose to get rid of all fossil fuel usage by 2040 by spending $50 trillion. The initiation of geoengineering will not involve a global public debate or vote. Do not bother having debates about if or will we use geoengineering. The best thing is to work out the best combination of approaches to make it work the best way possible and minimize side effects. We will probably end up learning a fair bit after we start implementing. China controls weather and will not blink before starting geoengineering when they think it is needed. I, for one, will welcome our weather control geoengineering overlords. Background on how easy it would be to geoengineer The cost to construct a Stratospheric Shield with a pumping capacity of 100,000 tons a year of sulfur dioxide would be roughly $24 million, including transportation and assembly. Annual operating costs would run approximately $10 million. The system would use only technologies and materials that already existalthough some improvements may be needed to existing atomizer technology in order to achieve wide sprays of nanometer-scale sulfur dioxide particles and to prevent the particles from coalescing into larger droplets. Even if these cost estimates are off by a factor of 10 (and we think that is unlikely), this work appears to remove cost as an obstacle to cooling an overheated planet by technological means. The Stratospheric Shield was designed by Intellectual Ventures Lab. Nathan Paul Myhrvold , formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, is co-founder of Intellectual Ventures. Founded in 2000, Intellectual Ventures is a privately-held invention capital company. They are building a market for invention by making invention a profitable activity. With more than $6 billion committed capital and more than 40,000 IP assets in active monetization programs, they own one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing intellectual property portfolios, which they license to the worlds most innovative companies. Investors include a mix of Fortune 500 companies, individuals, and institutions. HIGH-FLYING BLIMPS, based on existing protoypes, could support a hose no thicker than a fire hose (above) to carry sulfur dioxide as a clear liquid up to the stratosphere, where one or more nozzles (below) would atomize it into a fine mist of nanometer-scale aerosol particles. The stratosphere is the weather-free portion of the atmosphere at altitudes between about 10 kilometers and 50 kilometers, or 33,000 to 165,000 feet.) The attractiveness of this approach stems largely from the fact that it happens naturally during large volcanic eruptions, such as the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. Intensive scientific study of the Pinatubo eruption showed that sulfur dioxide aerosols injected high in the atmosphere cooled the planet by reflecting more incoming sunlight back into space. An even larger eruption in 1815 of Mount Tambora in Indonesia led to the second-coldest year in the northern hemisphere in four centuries, the year without a summer. Preliminary modeling studies suggest that two million to five million metric tons of sulfur dioxide aerosols (carrying one million to 2.5 million tons of sulfur), injected into the stratosphere each year, would reverse global warming due to a doubling of CO, if the aerosol particles are sufficiently small and well dispersed. Two million tons may sound like a lot, but it equates to roughly 2% of the SO that now rises into the atmosphere each year, about half of it from manmade sources, and far less than the 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide released over the course of a few days by the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Scientific studies published so far conclude that any increase in the acidity of rain and snow as several million additional tons a year of SO precipitate out of the atmosphere would be minuscule and would not disrupt ecosystems. A rough first-order estimate is that injection of as little as 200,000 metric tons a year of sulfur dioxide aerosol into the stratosphere above this region could offset warming within the Arctic. Details Although 100,000 tons a year sounds like a lot of liquid, when pumped continuously through a hose, that amounts to just 3.2 kilograms per second and, at a liquid SO density of 1.46 grams per cubic centimeter, a mere 34 gallons (150 liters) per minute. A garden hose with a -inch inner diameter can deliver liquid that fast. It takes quite a bit of energy to lift material into the stratosphere: about 30 trillion Joules of potential energy, in fact, to lift 100,000 tons to a height of 30 kilometers. If the work is spread out over the course of a year, however, that energy translates to a required power of just 1,000 kilowatts. Inefficiencies and other practical considerations will increase this amount, possibly by several times; nonetheless, the power levels are not daunting by industrial standards. To pump 34 gallons a minute up a 30-kilometer-long hose, the system must overcome both the gravitational head and the flow resistance. The gravitational head, which is simply another way of talking about the potential energy considered previously, would amount to a pressure of 4,300 bar (62,000 p.s.i.) if the liquid has a constant density of 1.46 g/cmnot taking into account the small attenuation in the strength of gravity with increasing altitude. WEST HAVEN The U.S. government is prepared to spend millions to create and restore dunes and berms to help protect the shoreline from the Savin Rock Conference Center to Beach Street, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced Monday. The dunes and berms of West Haven are a perfect example of how both the beauty and protective value of our shoreline needs to be rebuilt and preserved... Blumenthal, D-Conn., said at a rainy day press conference overlooking Long Island Sound on the gazebo behind the conference center. Resiliency is the common theme here... Resiliency is as important in Georgia and the Carolinas as it is in Connecticut, and we are leading the way showing by example and leading by examples, said Blumenthal, who was flanked by Mayor Nancy Rossi and state Reps. Dorinda Borer, D-West Haven, and Charles Ferraro, R-West Haven. As climate change continues, hurricanes and other severe storms are becoming the new normal, Blumenthal said. We need to be prepared. Dunes are not only beautiful ... but they offer protection, he said. Protecting the West Haven shore which was authorized in the recently passed, bipartisan Water Resources Development Act would safeguard properties of thousands of people, many of whom are at risk for flooding as sea level rises, officials have said. Members of the states Congressional delegation also are looking to do projects along Congress Street in Bridgeport, as well as in the Hartford area and eastern Connecticut, Blumenthal said. The exact cost of the work is as yet undetermined, Blumenthal said. There are various estimates from $3 million to $7 million. But whatever is needed, this project will begin, he said. Whatever the amount of money, the commitment has been made at the federal level that this project should be prioritized and, trust me, we are going to be pounding the United States Army Corps of Engineers to get it done. Blumenthal said he hopes to see the work done next year. Rossi called the announcement good news for West Haven. Long Island Sound restoration and stewardship is important to West Haven because we are one of many shoreline municipalities that directly impact the water quality of Long Island Sound, she said. According to a letter earlier this year from city grant writer Eileen Krugel to Blumenthal and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the project the city aims to do would create and/or restore dunes from the West Haven Conference Center at Rock Street to Beach Street near Morse Avenue, a distance of about one mile. There are some duned areas, but this request would provide uniformed dunes that would include protective grasses, fencing and dune crossovers preventing degradation by pedestrians, Krugel wrote. These dunes would provide a protective measure in West Havens resiliency efforts. Among properties most at-risk from some future storm surge or the effects of rising sea level are the West Walk Condominiums, which are built at ground level, located just north of the shorefront walkway between Altschuler Plaza and where Beach Street curves around into Washington Avenue, officials said. Ferraro said it was very special for him to have Blumenthal talk about resiliency along the beaches east of Savin Rock because I grew up on that beach, right there, he said, pointing to the area just east of where officials were standing. Borer said it was nice to see a project happen so quickly. She said at West Walk, we are just one superstorm away from a potential disaster. She also talked about the planned raising of Beach Street, which was previously approved but has stalled because of soil issues that greatly raised the price of it. She said she hopes to have good news on that project soon. Ruby Melton, president of the West Walk Condominium Association, thanked Blumenthal and other officials for keeping protection of the area on their radar. She said that during Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy, West Walk experienced flooding that was worse than it ever had seen before, and the association has been pushing for great protection through beefed-up dunes or a berm for a long time. mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com CULINARY CALENDAR Union League Cafe celebrates 25 years: 1032 Chapel St., New Haven. Throughout October serving classics from the original 1993 menu in a three course, pre-fixe with wine pairings for $79 per person, plus tax and gratuity ($55 per person plus tax and gratuity without wine pairings). Partnering with New Haven Farms and will donate 25 percent of proceeds from iconic Confit de Canard appetizer for the month of October. Consider trying new Honey Balm Refresher Course cocktail, it also benefits New Haven Farms. Menu and reservations at http://unionleaguecafe.com/menu/. Chefs Of Our Kitchen celebrates Oktoberfest with BAR: Oct. 17, 6:15 reception; 7 p.m. dinner. Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., New Haven, 203-285-2617. Watch the famous BAR salad being made and learn about the beer they brew at BAR. Then enjoy the salad, beer and a variety of pizza. $65 benefits Gateway Community College Foundation. Parking in Temple Street garage. Bring ticket for validation. Tickets at https://bit.ly/2zTfUWf. Consiglios Cooking Demonstration and Dinner: Oct. 18, 6:30 p.m., Consiglios Restaurant, 165 Wooster St., New Haven, 203-865-4489 (reservations required), $75 (beverages, tax and gratuity not included). https://bit.ly/2Nd0xAg Menu: Sausage stuffed mushrooms with mozzarella, spinach and roasted red peppers, Tuscan escarole and bean soup, Bolognese sauce over rigatoni, Oreo chocolate mousse cake. Kids Spooktacular Treats: Oct. 28, 2 to 4:30 p.m., Chefs Emporium, 449 Boston Post Road, Orange, $29.99 for first child, $14.99 each additional child. Reservations at 203-799-2665. Learn how to make monster cookies and caramel apples from scratch. Come in costume and do a little early trick or treating. Reservations also at https://bit.ly/2CD5mgp Alforno Wine Dinner: Oct. 30, 6:30 pm, Alforno, 1654 Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook, reservations at 860-399-4166, $75, plus tax and gratuity. Features Italian wines from Piedmont to the Veneto. Complete menu at http://alforno.net/events/. NEW HAVEN As schools become better at detecting signs of communication disorders, diagnoses and referrals are on the rise while the licensed speech-language pathologists who serve them are in demand across the country. We actually diagnose and treat communicative disorders and thats any person that might have difficulty in the areas of articulation, fluency, voice or language, said Glynis King-Harrell, supervisor of speech and language services in the New Haven public schools. Speech is a basic entitlement that we take for granted because it comes easily for most of us. Officials in New Haven Public Schools said during a budget review that contractor costs have increased as the district looks to fill vacancies in shortage areas such as speech-language pathologists. New Haven Public Schools has been proactive in its recruitment efforts and partnerships as it seeks to recruit, retain and hire talent. The District has also leveraged support through contractors, consultants, university and community based partners to fulfill staffing needs in shortage areas, said Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks in a statement. With respect to meeting the individualized educational plans of our students who have been identified as in need of Speech and Language Services, New Haven Public Schools has supplemented staff with contractors and other support services. Filling positions King-Harrell said building and caseload assignments are made logistically. Theres not a lot of time to travel from Point A to Point B, and we also keep data on what the identified numbers are per building and try to come up with a reasonable caseload for each person, she said. Speech-language pathologists in the citys schools say that, of approximately 25 full- and part-time speech-language pathologists, about a third are contractors, and the number of students in the city who receive referrals fluctuates between about 1,500 to 2,000 students annually. The level of dedication required, especially in urban districts, is monumental, said Derlene Ortiz, a speech-language pathologist who works with students at five schools, most with a heavy English learner population. King-Harrell said the challenges are exacerbated in urban districts such as New Haven, which is perpetually plagued by money woes because of funding austerity and a large number of high-needs students. In Middletown schools, a smaller nearby urban district, an administrator said open speech-language pathologist jobs receive fewer applications than classroom teacher positions, but the applicants all come with many qualifications. Were lucky enough to be fully staffed with fully-qualified speech paths, said Sara Alberti, supervisor of pupil services and special education in Middletown schools. She said the district, which has student enrollment approximately one-fifth the size of New Haven according to state data, employs 10 speech-language pathologists. Although Alberti said Middletown is currently fully staffed with speech-language pathologists, as a trained speech-language pathologist herself she knows there is a growing need for workers in a selective field. Stefania Larry, early childhood coordinator in West Haven Public Schools, said filling positions within the last three years has been challenging. Currently, there are 12.5 speech-language pathologists in the district, she said, and they are all assigned to one school each. Weve hired former interns in the past once theyve graduated, weve advertised at local universities but not every university has a program, she said. Larry said that in West Haven many of the speech-language pathologists come to the district without much history in school-based settings. Certification According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Connecticut employed 1,730 speech-language pathologists in May 2017, although not all of them necessarily worked in schools or with a student population. The annual mean wage for speech-language pathologists in the state was $93,340 according to the bureaus data, making it the highest paying state in the nation for the occupation on average. Despite the competitive pay and the need for qualified workers, King-Harrell said there are several required certifications from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the state Department of Public Health and the state Department of Education that might be prohibitive. Ortiz said the path to earning these certifications amounts to a lot of tests and paperwork for aspiring speech-language pathologists. After receiving these certifications, King-Harrell said many speech-language pathologists certified to work in schools may let the 061 certification with the Department of Education lapse. Some people may get into a setting thats only clinical, like a hospital or a clinic, and say, Why am I maintaining my school certification? she said. Three speech-language pathologists in New Haven schools said there can be some role ambiguity when students are referred for their services, and it is their job to figure out how to best serve children who might have communication disorders. I dont think anybody has ever had a year where they think their workload is a vacation, said NHPS speech-language pathologist Sondi Jackson. We have to leave time for evaluations, observations, consultations with teachers and parents, planning and placement team meetings, (student and staff support team meetings and scientific research based interventions. Caseloads are only one part of the workload, said speech-language pathologist Cayla White. Ortiz, Jackson and White all graduated from Southern Connecticut State Universitys communication disorders graduate program, although the way they describe how they became speech-language pathologists differs. Ortiz said, as a bilingual speaker of Spanish and English, she was attracted to the program as a junior at SCSU, although her intention was to work in a medical context before doing a placement in West Haven schools. White said her initial intention was to go into broadcast journalism until two cousins who work as speech therapists persuaded her to consider the field. I love working with kids. I knew eventually I would want to work in a school system, she said. Jackson, who had a career in banking and insurance, said education was what was in my heart. A speech pathologist who attended her church convinced her to go back to school at age 30, so she started taking classes during her lunch break at work. Jackson, who has now worked in the field for 26 years, said there has always been a shortage of fellow speech-language pathologists. Ortiz said pathologists tend to be cautious about assigning labels to students, because they may be going through a silent period. Jackson said she is also cautious about the difference between language disorders and language differences. White said that, especially in the last year after a number of evacuees from Hispanic-speaking countries and territories enrolled in the citys schools, she works collaboratively with bilingual educators such as Ortiz. For a period of time Jackson was an adjunct in SCSUs communication disorders masters program. One of the challenges from transitioning from the preparatory programs to a real-life scenario, she said, is that speech-language pathologists must be reactive in real time. I felt like I was the person giving students some real-world experience. Im working as a pathologist and sharing with them what its like day-to-day, she said. They dont have all week to prepare for one case. The preparatory programs in the state are also limited to three colleges: SCSU, the University of Connecticut and, recently, Sacred Heart University. All three programs are selective. Deborah Weiss, chairwoman of the Communication Disorders Department at SCSU, said the program accepts about 45 students annually, with about 100 in the program at any given time. The majority of those students are two-year students, but some can also be for three years, she said. About 200 to 250 students apply annually for those 45 spots. Rhea Paul, chairwoman of Sacred Hearts Speech Language Pathology department, said there are about 40 seats per class with about 80 students in the program. She said there are between 200 and 300 applicants to the program annually. Paul said she believes the global shortage of speech-language pathologists is somewhat related to a growing need under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. There has been more obligation on the part of schools to provide for kids with special needs, she said. That is tied to increasing rates of autism spectrum disorder diagnoses; according to the Centers for Disease Control, there is a reported diagnosis of autism in one in 59 children born in 2006, whereas one in 150 children born in 1992 has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Because the core of their problems have to do with communication, virtually every child who is diagnosed with autism needs the services of an SLP, Paul said. Thats a population that speech-language pathologists are very, very involved with children with autism and that population has been growing, Weiss said. Growing field According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is a projected to be a 10.4 percent increase in speech-language pathologist jobs by 2026. The number of speech-language pathologists that are needed has grown incrementally and continues to grow, Weiss said. Its not like the need has remained static and we havent fulfilled the need; the need keeps growing. Both department heads said the required clinical hours needed for a degree present a challenge for students and the programs that need to place students alike. Students need 400 clinical hours to graduate with a degree in speech-language pathology, and they work at different professional areas. Although UConn and SCSU both have on-site clinics, Sacred Heart does not. Were limited by how many places we can put students so they can acquire these clinical hours, Paul said. We dont have an on-campus clinic like Southern and UConn, but we do have nursing homes, where students do therapy under the auspices of an in-house therapist, and it doesnt take away from their in-house therapists because we send our own supervisors. Weiss said Medicare requirements make student speech-language therapists less attractive for hospitals to train because of compliance issues, as they often need to be supervised 100 percent of the time. She said expanding the class sizes within SCSUs program doesnt seem possible for a mix of issues besides finding placements for students, including fiscal restraints and a shortage of qualified faculty, as an industry with a global shortage perpetuates itself. For our field when we have a position open maybe were going to get five or 10 people applying because of the shortage in the field, she said. One of the reasons for the shortages of the field is theres such a good market for students in the field. The speech-language pathologists working in the district say that, despite the burden of certifications, loans and the time commitment, they wouldnt rather be doing anything else. Giving students the ability to communicate is extremely empowering, White said. brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com Saginaw Valley State University is hosting a lecture by a renowned psychiatrist and researcher who specializes in depression and bipolar illness. Nassir Ghaemi will present "Psychiatric Profiles in Leadership" for SVSU's annual James E. O'Neill Memorial Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Curtiss Hall Banquet Rooms. Originally born in Tehran, Iran, Ghaemi immigrated to the United States when he was 5. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from George Mason University, a master's degree in philosophy from Tufts University, a master's degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health and a medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University. Who do we blame for the public financial mess we currently face in New Haven? Our tax rate recently rose by 11 percent. We are facing multimillion-dollar deficits in the cityand the Board of Education. The citys credit rating has been lowered for the first time in recent memory. If we are looking for where to place the blame, there are many culprits we can identify. But where I would start and end is with the Board of Alders. They make the final decisions on most budgetary issues in this city, and they have been content to sit back and allow the budget to spiral out of control. Mayor Toni Harp submitted a proposed budget to the BOA which increased taxes by 11 percent, but also to her credit, she added additional funds to assist the BOE in meeting its mission to serve the students of this district. The BOA had options once they received that proposed budget. They could have made cuts to every department, like some alders proposed. They could have forced the police and fire departments to stop playing the annual game of padding paychecks with runaway overtime. They could have supported public education by adding at least enough funding to cover rising costs like teacher salaries, food and utility costs. They did none of these things. Instead, the BOAs budget raised taxes by 11 percent, added an average of $600 to homeowners tax bills. What was the most consequential action the union backed BOA did to the mayors proposal? They took a $5 million increase the mayor had proposed for the BOE and put that money instead toward the citys health care account. They moved money away from an education system with a majority black and brown population to make sure their mostly suburban union friends continue to have top shelf health care. And to throw salt on the wounds, just to make sure you didnt miss the pain, a few weeks later, the BOA voted to reduce the funding it had previously approved for 16 city departments in the current budget, which went into effect July 1, by a total of $483,172. This reduction lowered the average homeowners tax bill by a whopping $10. How many trips have the BOA taken on the public dime. They claim to be interested in investigating public spending, will they provide the public with the records related to their spending? Just last week the BOA spent countless hours in meetings to discuss minority teacher recruitment and debating whether they should try to go around the charter and make their own appointments to the BOE, all outside their charter responsibilities, while children continue to be poisoned by lead paint. No problem though, at least their health care is fully funded. Perhaps the alders should stop focusing on trying to shift the blame for higher taxes and instead do their jobs and get their budget under control. The Rev. Boise Kimber is pastor of the First Calvary Churches of New Haven and Hartford. ANSONIA A Valley tradition for more than three decades, aimed at helping area senior citizens make the most of their golden years, will return to Warsaw Park this week. State Sen. George Logan will act as host for the annual Senior Health and Wellness Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 17 at Warsaw Park, 119 Pulaski Highway. The fair annually draws hundreds of seniors who can take advantage of numerous free services geared toward their health and well-being. Logan, a Republican whose 17 District includes Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden, Naugatuck and Woodbridge, said hes honored to carry on the longtime Valley tradition. This free event is now an established tradition for Valley seniors, Logan said. It started more than 30 years ago by former state Senator Gary Hale. My predecessor, former state Senator Joe Crisco, continued the tradition to make this event better and better. I then picked up the baton because its a great way to help Valley seniors get their flu shots, get free health screenings and get key information about health services in our region. So tell a friend. Tell a neighbor. Join us at Warsaw Park on Wednesday. This years senior fair, according to Logan, will feature more than 50 vendors to arm seniors with information and screenings to help them live their best lives. Vendors on hand will include the Naugatuck Valley Health District, administering flu shots; Griffin Hospital, offering colon screenings; the state Office of Healthcare Advocate, who will discuss identify theft and how to protect oneself from it; Connecticut Society for Respiratory Care, offering lung function tests; My Eye Doc, offering vision screenings; TEAM Inc., providing information on volunteer care-giving services and its popular Meals on Wheels program; and Yale-New Haven Hospital. A popular highlight of the senior fair will be a free lunch for all who attend. Seniors in Ansonia and Derby needing a ride to the fair can call Valley Transit District at 203-735-6408 for a lift. For more information about the fair, contact Peggy Tibbals, director of public affairs for the Senate Republicans, at 860-240-8884 or by email peggy.tibbals@cga.ct.gov. jean.sos@snet.net A construction worker cleaning garbage on the roof of a Fair Lawn car dealership suffered a head injury when he crashed through a skylight and fell 25 feet into the building, police said. The man, who is from New York, was working for Eagle Construction of Haledon when the accident occurred about noon Sunday, according to Fair Lawn police Sgt. Brian Metzler. Metzler said the worker was on the roof of Glen Toyota on Maple Avenue when he "tripped and fell onto a skylight, then fell into the building (about) 25 feet, causing a head injury." Police officers who responded had to break into the building to get to the victim, Metzler said. The man was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson. Police on Monday did not release the man's name or his condition. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A New Jersey community college has been warned that its accreditation is in jeopardy, potentially putting financial aid for thousands of students at risk. Brookdale Community College has shown "insufficient evidence" that its meets accreditation standards for ethics and integrity and educational effectiveness, according to a letter sent in June by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The agency, which did not specify what problems led to Brookdale's warning, gave the college until March 1 to prove it meets those standards. In a statement, Brookdale said it is confident it will satisfy the commission's concerns before then. "Our emphasis is on moving forward and ensuring that Brookdale continues its mission as a gateway for thousands to obtain a degree, acquire training for career advancement and lifelong learning opportunities," the college said. All colleges must be accredited in order for students to receive federal financial aid. Colleges are sometimes warned of problems when their accreditation is up for renewal, but it is rare for a public college to actually lose its accreditation. Essex County College recently sweated out fears that it could lose its accreditation, only to eventually win approval. Kean University previously faced a year-long battle to save its accreditation, culminating with a 10-year approval in 2012. A warning is the first of a multi-step process that would occur before accreditation is revoked. Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Walter Anderson found inspiration for his second play in an unlikely place: The drownings of six U.S. Marine Corps recruits under the neglectful eye of their staff sergeant during training in a South Carolina swamp in 1956. The tragedy at Ribbon Creek "was one of the most sensational cases in our country's history," Anderson said. "The coverage was breathtaking, like O.J. Simpson before O.J. Simpson." Flor De Liz Perez plays Donna Caine in the "The Trial of Donna Caine," at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick. The show runs through Nov. 11. (Courtesy of George Street Playhouse) But "The Trial of Donna Caine," which will have its world premiere Oct. 16, at George Street Playhouse is not a documentary-style work. While an incident similar to the one at Ribbon Creek is central to the story, the setting is modern day and one of the biggest conflicts is between Donna Caine, the Marine Staff Sergeant accused of negligence, and her lawyer, Emily Zola Ginsberg. "These are two people who couldn't be more different. It's almost red state versus blue state ... Donna is part of the establishment and she reveres it. Emily is ready to tear it down," Anderson said. "In order to prevail, they have to come together. Will they do that? You'll have to watch the play to see what happens." Anderson retired from"Parade" magazine in 2009, where he'd held various positions, including editor and CEO. His departure allowed him to more fully focus on playwriting, a long time dream. His first play, "Almost Home," debuted off-Broadway in 2014. That story centered on a Marine newly returned from the Vietnam War who can't decide what to do next: Should he go to college? Should he take the job on offer from local police? A review in The New York Times said the show was "most effective as an account of war's severe psychological cost." Anderson, too, was a U.S. Marine and is a Vietnam veteran. "It's really autobiographical," Anderson said of "Almost Home." "I was the young Marine in the play coming back from Vietnam. All of the characters were (based on) someone I knew, everyone of them. I did that so I didn't have to create something." "The Trial of Donna Caine" is the exact opposite: None of the characters are drawn from Anderson's life. Each is original, complete with a detailed back story. "I could have written a play about any one of them," Anderson said. "They are distinct, with ambitions and goals and secrets. All contribute to the movement and conflict in the play." Before committing to the production, director/George Street Artistic Director David Saint asked Anderson what he thought the play was about. Then Saint answered his own question:Reconciliation. "In that instant, I wanted him to do the play because that's exactly the play I wrote," Anderson said. "He captured in a single word precisely what the characters were seeking and what I was trying to accomplish." The drama has a surprise ending, Anderson said, one that audiences won't see coming. "What you think about the characters in the beginning of the play is probably not what you're going to think about the characters by the end of the play," he said. "I don't think (the audience is going) to be disappointed. THE TRIAL OF DONNA CAINE George Street Playhouse 103 College Farm Road, New Brunswick. Tickets: $44-68, available online at https://georgestreetplayhouse.org/. Oct. 16 - Nov. 11. Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- Police arrested a 16-year-old boy on Sunday who was wanted for a Jersey City Heights armed robbery a few days earlier, an official said. When officers located the boy at about 5:30 p.m. he took off running, but was quickly taken into custody. The boy was charged with armed robbery, possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, making terroristic threats and obstructing a government function, an official said. The arrest stems from an Oct. 8 robbery at about 9 p.m. on Central Avenue, an official said. Amy DeGise, chair of Hudson County's Democratic Party, issued a statement Monday saying the system "failed" Katie Brennan, the woman who has accused a now-ex state official of raping her last year. Brennan went public with the accusation in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Sunday. She alleges Albert J. Alvarez raped her after a campaign gathering in Jersey City in July 2017 and that she told Murphy's camp about it before Alvarez was hired as chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Alvarez quit on Oct. 2 and has not responded to requests for comment. In her statement, DeGise, who in June became the first woman elected as chair of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, called Brennan "an amazing community organizer" and friend. "What she endured is horrible, and it's clear that the system failed her. Katie followed all the proper steps that are demanded of victims and was still unable to receive the justice she sought," DeGise said. "We need to take a hard look at how this system is set up and work to improve it. All administrations must comprehensively review their policies regarding sexual harassment and hiring to identify systemic failures." On Monday Murphy announced he has launched an investigation into how his administration handled Brennan's accusations. Murphy said he first learned of them on Oct. 1. JERSEY CITY After city officials appealed Jersey City Medical Center's tax-exempt status, the Downtown hospital has agreed to kick in $550,000 annually to the city's coffers for the next six years. The agreement, which is part of a legal settlement between the hospital and the city, comes three years after a tax court judge ruled that Morristown Medical Center should pay Morristown property taxes because it fails to meet the legal test that it operates as a nonprofit. That ruling led dozens of towns statewide to sue hospitals seeking tax revenue. JCMC, now part of the RWJBarnabas Health system, owns four properties in Jersey City, tax records show. Its main campus, located on Grand Street in an upscale area of the city, is assessed at $126 million. If the hospital were not tax-exempt, it would pay $800,000 in property taxes this year, city attorney Nick Strasser told the City Council on Oct. 9. The settlement, approved by council members on Oct. 10, comes in two parts. The first includes JCMC's agreement to pay $300,000 in "voluntary" property taxes annually until 2023, retroactive to 2016. In exchange, the city will end its challenge of the hospital's tax-exempt status and the hospital will drop its counterclaim. A second agreement has JCMC agreeing on annual "health care collaboration" payments to the city, also retroactive. The payments for 2016 and 2017 will be $1 million total and from 2018 through 2023 they will amount to $250,000 annually. The tax agreement does not preclude the city from challenging the hospital's tax-exempt status after 2023. A bill under review by state lawmakers would require nonprofit hospitals in New Jersey pay a "community service contribution" equal to at least $2.50 per bed daily. If that becomes law, the agreement between the city and JCMC would allow JCMC to reduce that contribution by the amount JCMC will pay under the settlement. JCMC has about 320 beds. At the council's Oct. 9 caucus, Councilwoman Joyce Watterman asked if the settlement was the best the city could do. "It's perhaps not the best we could do but it's definitely not the worst we could do," Business Administrator Brian Platt told her. "The worst is actually zero, is what we get now." The council approved the JCMC agreements 8-0-1. Council President Rolando Lavarro abstained from voting. His wife, Veronica, works at Barnabas in media relations. "Jersey City Medical Center is pleased that the City of Jersey City has accepted this agreement," Veronica Lavarro said in a statement. "We look forward to our collaborative work to reduce health disparities and improving health equity in Jersey City." An earlier version of this story should have said JCMC's property on Grand Street is assessed at 126 million. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- A 50-year-old Jersey City man was charged with 16 drug counts after he was found with more than 80 bags of heroin and nearly 100 vials of cocaine Saturday morning, an official said. Officers dispatched to Fairmount and Fairview avenues at about 4:20 a.m. arrested Torrance Servance, who was also wanted on two warrants for bail jumping out of Newark, an official said. Police said Servance had 84 bags of heroin, 50 vials of suspected cocaine, 48 vials of crack cocaine and "other amounts of suspected narcotics," an official said. Among the drug charge filed against Servance are four counts each of drug possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of school property and within 500 feet of public property. He was also charged with possessing prescription drugs, an official said. JERSEY CITY -- The retrial of a 23-year-old Jersey City man accused of murdering a man in an illegal gambling joint in 2015 is scheduled to begin jury selection tomorrow. DeAndre Thomas is charged with shooting Davonte Carswell, 23, on a staircase leading to the basement of Los Yoleros Mini Market Deli on Ocean Avenue on Nov. 15, 2015, and then shooting him in the face after he had fallen. Thomas' first trial ended on April 21 after the jurors told Hudson County Superior Court John Young they were hopelessly deadlocked. Thomas flashed a big smile after the mistrial was declared. The victim's mother moaned before falling into a family member's arms crying. The state's case in the first trial relied heavily on security video footage from inside the bodega and in the basement. In the basement, people were seen congregating at a plexiglass-covered window. The prosecution said they were placing bets. Telephone records were also introduced as evidence. During the trial, Thomas' 26-year-old brother, Devon Thomas, was fatally shot inside a parked car at the Curries Woods housing complex in Jersey City declared. Devon Thomas was charged in a 2012 homicide, but was acquitted of murder at his trial in 2015. The Deandre Thomas retrial is before Young in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City. President Donald Trump threatened "severe punishment" over the disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and never came out. Turkish officials say they fear Saudi agents killed and dismembered Khashoggi over his criticisms of the crown prince after the journalist entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, saying they have audio and video recordings of it that they have not released. The kingdom has called the allegations "baseless," but has offered no evidence the writer ever left the consulate. There is videotape of him entering the consulate and his fiancee, who was waiting outside, said he never came out. Trump told CBS' "60 Minutes" that the consequences of Saudi Arabia being involved would be "severe." However, Trump also said "we would be punishing ourselves" by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which his administration touted on his first overseas trip. The sale is a "tremendous order for our companies," and if the kingdom doesn't buy its weaponry from the United States, they will buy it from others, he said. American lawmakers in both parties have been more critical of Saudi Arabia, with several suggesting officials in the kingdom could be sanctioned if they were found to be involved in Khashoggi's disappearance and alleged killing. Should the U.S. impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia if it's determined it killed Khashoggi? Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments section. Two more people have been charged for their involvement in the Trenton slaying of two Philadelphia men in January, bringing the number of defendants in the case to eight. Earlier this year, authorities charged six people for the shooting deaths of Jerard Perdomo Santana, 25, and Ivan Rodriguez, 19. Four are facing accomplice to murder charges, while two others are charged with hindering an investigation. Last week authorities charged two others -- Bobby Hood, 26, and Kimberly Whitaker, 23, -- for their roles in covering up the murder. Detectives monitoring calls from Mercer County Jail allege that the pair was talking on the phone with Shaquille McNeil, one of the men charged for shooting Santana and Rodriguez, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said. Authorities allege Hood and Whitaker spoke with McNeil about killing an unnamed witness in the case. The pair is now facing conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering charges, prosecutors say. Authorities charged the original six defendants in May, after using security footage to piece together how the Jan. 22 murders took place. Here's what the cameras revealed, as alleged in the affidavit: While waiting to sell a pill to a Trenton resident that January afternoon, Santana and Rodrigues sat in a black Ford Taurus on the 300 block of Ashmore Avenue. Three men approached the vehicle, and one climbed into the back seat. First responders found the bodies of Santana and Rodriguez minutes later. They'd been shot in the back of their heads and necks, and $40 was left in the back seat. The first suspected arrested and charged were Tashawn Santiago, 25, Cecil Blake, 31, and McNeil, 24. Lakeisha Hill, 29, of Philadelphia, was arrested shortly after on additional accomplice to murder charges. Felicita Gee, 44, and her daughter, Fantasia Gee, 23, were later charged with hindering the investigation. Hood and Whitaker are the seventh and eighth people charged in the investigation. Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. A tractor-trailer driver is facing charges following a crash in Pennsylvania that killed three people, including a college student from New Jersey, and injured seven others, state police said Police in Dauphin County said vehicles on Interstate 83 in Lower Paxton Township had slowed or stopped, but the tractor-trailer failed to stop and struck other vehicles in the left/center lane at about 8:30 p.m. Friday. Police say a total of 11 vehicles were involved. Ethan Van Bochoven, 22, of Pompton Plains, New Jersey, was a senior student at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. A memorial service was held Sunday at the college for Van Bochoven. Updated Sunday, Oct. 14 - due to the overwhelming response to this evenings time of remembrance, the service will now... Posted by Messiah College on Saturday, October 13, 2018 Also killed in the crash were Zachary Lybrand, 24, and an 18-month-old girl, both of Middletown, Pennsylvania. Jack Edward Satterfield III, 29, of McComb, Mississippi, faces charges including vehicular homicide while driving under the influence and accidents involving death or personal injury. He was denied bail. Court documents don't list an attorney and a listed number for him couldn't be found Saturday. PennLive.com reports that the section of road is approaching a construction zone, part of an ongoing Pennsylvania Department of Transportation project to widen Interstate 83 to three lanes in both directions from Interstate 81. WHTM-TV reported that one driver said he was stopped in construction traffic when he heard screeching behind him and his vehicle was hit by the truck, and he and his girlfriend had to climb out a window. An "epidemic" of canine distemper, a disease that usually affects dogs, is killing raccoons by the dozen in three Ocean County towns, officials said. Point Pleasant Police Animal Control Officer "Muskrat" Jack Neary issued the warning to residents of the borough, as well as Bay Head and Point Pleasant Beach, on Monday. "I don't know how many exactly, but I'd say we've had to put down between 35 and 40 in the three towns," Neary said. "I've put down three, four of five a day over the last few days." He said the disease is popping up "predominantly" in Point Pleasant Beach and Point Pleasant, and that most of the raccoons are adolescents. "It's running rampant through their colonies," he said. "I've seen it before many years ago, but not to this degree. This is really pretty intense." A dog that is not vaccinated for canine distemper can also become infected. "All the raccoon would have to be doing is hanging around an outside food or water bowl," he said. "All the dog needs to do to get it is to inhale it." Attention Point Pleasant Beach Residents: We received a call from Muskrat Jack this morning reporting a k-9 distemper... Posted by Borough of Point Pleasant Beach on Monday, October 15, 2018 "We don't know exactly how it started, but a dog probably had the virus and infected a raccoon," Neary said."Raccoons have no immunity to it, so if they get it, they have to be put down or they will die a slow, agonizing death." The symptoms of canine distemper mimic the ones animals with rabies show including the fact that the raccoons act "strange" during daylight hours, a post on the Point Pleasant Police Department Facebook page said. An infected raccoon's eyes will look like they are "gummed up with green discharge," and the animal will "smell like it's decomposing." Neary said the main concern with the virus is that, unlike rabies which is spread through saliva, it is spread through the air, allowing it to pass more easily to other raccoons. Humans cannot catch the disease. Neary asked anyone who sees a raccoon exhibiting the behavior of canine distemper to call the police immediately so the animal can be removed. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. A New Jersey couiple who used their home improvement companies to prey on more than 20 Hurricane Sandy victims have been sentenced for the $1.4 million scam. Jeffrey Colmyer and Tiffany Cimino admitted stealing more than $1.4 million from Hurricane Sandy victims through two contracting firms. Jeffrey Colmyer, 43, and his wife Tiffany Cimino, 35, of Little Egg Harbor, used money intended for Sandy relief to gamble and buy luxury items while the homes they were hired to fix remained in disrepair, authorities said. The case was one of the largest prosecutions of Hurricane Sandy scams involving a contractor, authorities said. Colmyer was sentenced to seven years in state prison during a hearing on Friday in Ocean County. Cimino received five years of probation. "Colmyer and Cimino callously stole from Sandy victims whose homes were destroyed, compounding the hardships and distress their victims faced as they strived to rebuild after this historic storm," state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. Colmyer used hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen money to gamble at seven Atlantic City casinos. The couple also purchased a $17,000 diamond ring, authorities said. The home repair and elevation jobs they were hired to complete were left abandoned or never started, authorities said. The couple pleaded guilty in May to theft charges and money laundering through their companies, Rayne Construction Management Services and Colmyer & Sons. Colmyer and Cimino must pay more than $1.4 million in restitution including $695,000 to the Hurricane Sandy victims and $655,000 to the state of New Jersey. The couple also owes a combined $112,000 in back taxes. "We have prosecuted many cases of fraud and theft related to Superstorm Sandy, but this is perhaps the most egregious, given the amount stolen by this couple and the fact that they enriched themselves at the expense of victims who were hit hardest by this natural disaster," Division of Criminal Justice Director Veronica Allende, said in a statement. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips UPDATE: Phil Murphy launches investigation into why alleged rapist was hired for top state job New Jersey's attorney general has taken a sexual assault case involving a former senior official in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration out of the hands of the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office amid questions over how it was handled. The case is now being overseen by prosecutors in Middlesex County "out of an abundance of caution," said Sharon Lauchaire, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Gurbir Grewal. The move could lead to a reopening of the case as county and state officials scramble to explain how they responded to accusations against Albert J. Alvarez, who worked on Murphy's campaign and later joined the administration. Multiple media outlets -- including NJ Advance Media -- published reports last week citing anonymous sources saying that Alvarez was investigated after a woman accused him of raping her. Alvarez resigned from his post as chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority earlier this month as the accusations began to surface. Katie Brennan, the chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, came forward publicly over the weekend in a story published by the Wall Street Journal. "I have pursued every form of justice available," Brennan said in a statement Sunday. "But it has become clear that this system is not built for survivors." In a statement, Lauchaire said the case was being moved in accordance with "well-established procedures for addressing conflict-of-interest issues." Lauchaire said that the case was opened and closed in 2017 by career employees in the Hudson County prosecutor's office and that Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez had no involvement. However, after receiving a media inquiry about why the office had not pursued charges, Suarez "realized that she personally knew both the complainant and the subject of the investigation. "Although these personal relationships in no way affected the investigation that was conducted in 2017, Prosecutor Suarez decided -- out of an abundance of caution -- to request that (state officials) supersede the case." The state Division of Criminal Justice referred the case to prosecutors in Middlesex County, where detectives "are reviewing the case file and will take any additional investigative steps they deem appropriate." NJ Advance Media staff writers Brent Johnson and Susan K. Livio contributed to this report. S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom MacArthur's key role in helping House Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act has hurt his re-election chances, according to a Stockton University poll that gave him a statistically insignificant lead over Democratic challenger Andy Kim. MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., was ahead of Kim, a former national security aide, 47 percent to 45 percent among likely voters, well within the margin of error of 4.2 percentage points in the survey released Monday. "In a race this close, whoever does a better job of turning out their voters will have a big advantage," said Michael W. Klein, interim executive director of Stockton University's William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy. The Stockton survey mirrors the findings of an August Monmouth University Poll that gave MacArthur a 41 percent to 40 percent lead among potential voters, defined as those who have voted at least once since 2010 or have newly registered. A New York Times/Siena College poll last month though, gave Kim a 49 percent to 39 percent lead over MacArthur. The Cook Political Report called the race a toss-up while Inside Elections gave Kim a slight edge. Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight gave Kim a 62 percent change of winning. Even as the Stockton poll put MacArthur ahead, it highlighted his biggest weaknesses. Voters said health care was their No. 1 issue, with 52 percent wanting the Affordable Care Act strengthened or left alone and 44 percent supporting repeal or weakening the law. In addition, more than three-quarters, 76 percent, said the federal government should continue to protect those with pre-existing conditions. MacArthur's amendment to the House Republican bill allowed it to pass, even as it would leave 23 million more Americans without coverage and end New Jersey's Medicaid expansion. While MacArthur has claimed that the House GOP bill with his amendment protected those with pre-existing conditions, the Congressional Budget Office, health care experts and medical groups disagreed. More than twice as many likely voters, 32 percent, said they were less likely to vote for MacArthur because of his stand on health care than the 16 percent who said they were more likely to support him. Almost half, 49 percent, said it made no difference or didn't know enough to offer an opinion. While MacArthur has supported Donald Trump more often than any other member of the state's congressional delegation, 55 percent of voters said the president's performance in office was either fair or poor, compared with 44 percent who rated him as good or excellent. In the Senate race, Republican challenger Bob Hugin led U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., among 3rd District voters, 49 percent to 40 percent, with 4 percent supporting Libertarian Murray Sabrin. In 2012, Menendez carried Burlington and Ocean counties, parts of which comprise the 3rd District, by less than 6,000 votes over state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Monmouth. The poll of 546 likely voters was conducted Oct. 3-10. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Phil Murphy's campaign for governor paid more than $2 million to a political consultant previously under investigation for his work in Bermuda. Two news outlets report that Derrick Green, owner of Green Consultants, became embroiled in a Bermudian political scandal years before he was hired by Murphy for campaign outreach. Green was then hired this year for a $140,000 job as a government representative in the Secretary of State's office. Politico New Jersey reported that the consulting firm also employed Marcellus Jackson, who stepped down in September from his $70,000-a-year job as a special assistant in the state Department of Education's Office of Civic and Social Engagement. He was determined to be disqualified from serving in any public office in New Jersey due to a felony conviction for accepting a bribe. Records from the Election Law Enforcement Commission indicate Green Consultants was paid more than $2 million by the Murphy campaign between June 2016 and November 2017. Green then served as senior adviser for outreach during the transition after Murphy, a Democrat, was elected. A campaign official told Politico the firm was hired during the campaign for canvassing and faith-based outreach focusing on African-American communities. NorthJersey.com spoke to two people in the state Secretary of State's office who said they had never heard of Green, even though he's listed in that office's employ. That report quoted an anonymous source saying, however, that Green's job is in "elevating the voices and participation of urban and faith based communities in the administration"." Northjersey.com reported Green was hired for similar get-out-the-vote work in Bermuda by the One Bermuda Alliance party, which was working to oust to sitting government. Green and another consultant set up a checking account that became embroiled in a political scandal. The account received $350,000 from American developer Nathan Landow and his associates who were reportedly interested in building casinos there. Party leaders were not aware of the checking account or payments, according to Bermuda news reports. Findings of an internal party investigation into "Jetgate" note that Green said the money was spent on campaign-related activities but that the party could not verify the expenditures independently. Green has denied allegations that he introduced the former head of One Bermuda Alliance, who later resigned amid scandal, to the American developer. The scandal gets its name from the private jet belonging to Landow the former leader took to a private meeting with him in Washington D.C., according to news reports. Green has not been charged with a crime. Northjersey.com reported that while the scandal is still under investigation, Green is not. Green did not respond to the news outlets for comment. A Murphy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- A million-dollar ad campaign launched Monday by Republican Senate candidate nominee Bob Hugin resurrected the most salacious charges against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez: unproven allegations that he was involved with prostitutes during trips to the Dominican Republic with friend and campaign donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen. The explosive charges were mentioned by the FBI in its investigation of Menendez, D-N.J., but were not part of the 14-count indictment. The Justice Department later dropped the case against Menendez after its first effort ended in a mistrial and a federal judge acquitted the senator of some counts. "The people of New Jersey have the right to know all the facts regarding the FBI investigation into Senator Menendez and this ad gives them that opportunity," Hugin said. But the person who first brought the prostitution allegations to the attention of the Justice Department said Monday they had been thoroughly debunked. "All of these allegations were discredited," said Melanie Sloan, former executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told NJ Advance Media. "It is pretty despicable of Menendez's opponent to bring up stuff that is completely untrue. There's stuff about Menendez that's problematic but this isn't it." The Hugin campaign launched the ad in response to Menendez's Senate floor speech opposing the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault. The ad called Menendez a "hypocrite" because he said he believed Kavanaugh's accuser, research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford, and other women who said they were the victims of sexual assault, but not the women who reportedly said they slept with him. The campaign said these accusations were different than those leveled by three women and published by a right-wing website. Those women later were found to have been paid to make the charges. The affidavit cited by the Hugin campaign said the FBI was able to confirm some of the information provided and a Justice Department filing cited "specific, corroborated allegations that defendants Menendez and Melgen had sex with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic." Neither Menendez nor Melgen were indicted on those charges. Sloan, a former federal prosecutor, said corroboration could simply mean that Menendez and Melgen were in the Dominican Republic as alleged, not that allegations of prostitution were proven. "There was corroboration of things that were around the allegations, which is the reason we wrote the letter in the first place," Sloan said. "There was nothing ever confirmed or even corroborated in terms of prostitution." Menendez campaign spokesman Steve Sandberg lashed out at Hugin. "It is clear that Bob Hugin will say, do and spend whatever he wants to try to deceive New Jersey voters and buy a Senate seat," Sandberg said. "This is a disgraceful act by a desperate man. They are lies and he knows it." Several Republicans echoed the Hugin campaign's argument of hypocrisy leveled against Menendez, even though the FBI never proved that the charges were true. "Just days ago, in a speech on the Senate floor, Bob Menendez said that we should believe women who make allegations of sexual assault," said former State Sen. Diane Allen, R-Burlington, a Hugin campaign co-chair. "Why, then, should we not believe the allegations by these women who claimed to have had sex with Senator Menendez when they were underage?" Allen said. The allegations spilled over to New Jersey's competitive House races. Jim Hilk, campaign manager for Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., said the charges were "found to be credible" and were "backed by corroborating evidence." He asked whether Democratic challenger Tom Malinowski believed Menendez "or does he believe federal law enforcement?" Responded Malinowski campaign manager Colston Reid: "Lance lost all credibility on this issue when he publicly disparaged Dr. Blasey Ford's allegations before she even testified. He proved himself to be grossly out of touch, and has no record of actual accomplishment to run on, so now he's distracting you with Bob Menendez. Ronica Cleary, a spokeswoman for state Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris, said the allegations meant that his Democratic challenger in the 11th District, former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor Mikie Sherrill, "can't vote for Bob Menendez and claim to be a champion for women." Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. UPDATE: Phil Murphy launches investigation into why alleged rapist was hired for top state job Calling rape accusations against a former senior staffer in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration "more abhorrent than imaginable," top state Assembly Democratic lawmakers on Monday demanded a thorough review of the case and "legislative action." Leaders of the Democrat-controlled Assembly said they're concerned with how a Murphy administration official's allegations that she was raped during the Democratic governor's campaign by a campaign official were handled. "The allegations published in the media thus far are more abhorrent than imaginable. Ms. Brennan was remarkably brave to provide such details, on the record, of such a harrowing experience," Assembly leaders said in a joint statement. "Her experience and story speak to a systemic failure within the current system. "The current system is unacceptable and intolerable. It requires legislative action," they said. Katie Brennan, chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, detailed her allegations against Albert J. Alvarez in a story published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. Until earlier this month, Alvarez, 44, of Wood-Ridge, was chief of staff to the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. He resigned Oct. 2, the day the Journal contacted him seeking comment. He has not been charged with a crime. Brennan told the Journal that Alvarez forced himself on her after driving her home from a gathering of campaign staffers in Jersey City in April 2017. She told him to stop, saying this is "not consensual." She managed to kick him off her and locked herself in the bathroom,. Alvarez left, according to her account in the Journal. Brennan provided records showing she reported the attack to police the following day and went to an emergency room for an examination. The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office has confirmed it looked into the matter, the Journal reported. No charges were filed. Brennan said she brought her allegations to Murphy's inner circle multiple times. Finally, Brennan emailed Murphy and his wife on June 1, saying she wanted to discuss a "sensitive matter," without mentioning sexual assault. A meeting with the governor never happened, but Brennan said a campaign attorney told her Alvarez would no longer have a state government job. Alvarez didn't resign for about four months after that. Brennan said in a statement Sunday that "several senior level members of the Murphy administration were aware of my assault and failed to take meaningful action. Murphy's office said Alvarez cleared a background check and that the accusations were "immediately and properly referred" to the chief ethics officer, "in accordance with the state policies and procedures." Assembly Democratic leaders say Brennan's allegations must be "thoroughly reviewed." "So should the system which has ignored her voice," they said. "We are committed to both." It's unclear what legislative path or inquiry the leaders of the General Assembly are calling for. Members who signed onto the statement include Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex; Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Camden; Assembly members Eliana Pintor Marin, D-Essex; Gordon Johnson, D-Bergen; Shavonda Sumter, D-Passaic; and John Burzichelli, D-Gloucester. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. New Jersey's highest-ranking woman state lawmaker is seeking a special joint legislative committee to hold hearings into the state's laws and policies regarding sexual misconduct in the wake of allegations that a senior staffer in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration raped a woman while he worked for the governor's campaign last year. State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, said in a statement that "system failed" Katie Brennan, a state official who publicly said Sunday that Albert J. Alvarez sexually assaulted her in the spring of last year. Brennan, chief of staff of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, said she alerted Murphy's team of the accusations three times over the last year. Alvarez remained in his job as chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority until Oct. 2, the same day the Wall Street Journal contacted him for comment on the accusations. "After surviving a terrifying sexual assault, it took incredible courage and determination for her to fight to have her voice heard in the pursuit of justice," Weinberg said in a statement. "It is painfully obvious that her complaints fell on deaf ears both in the criminal justice system and at the highest levels of government," the lawmaker added. "Clearly, reforms are needed so that no more survivors are forced to endure what Ms. Brennan has experienced." Weinberg cannot order a probe herself. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, would need to approve it. Sweeney did not immediately return a message seeking comment Monday. He said Friday that legislative leaders are considering an investigation into the matter but want to see "hard documents" first. Weinberg's comment came just hours after Murphy, a fellow Democrat, announced he ordered an independent investigation into Alvarez's hiring. It will be headed by Peter Verniero, a former state attorney general and state Supreme Court justice. Murphy insisted that investigation will be "real" and won't be a "whitewash." He also said his administration will look into how to strengthen New Jersey's laws and policies protecting sexual assault victims. "It is critical we learn from her experience," the Democratic governor said of Brennan. "For her and all women across New Jersey, we must ensure system works. Republican state lawmakers have spent days demanding the Democrat-controlled state Legislature launch a separate probe into Murphy's "hiring practices." Weinberg is not seeking an investigation just into Murphy's handling of the Alvarez allegations. Instead, she said she wants a committee to examine the practices and procedures of police officers, prosecutors, the courts and defense attorneys, as well as hear from survivors and advocates. The goal would be to recommend "stronger laws with more clarity, special training for police officers and court officials, and additional safeguards that ensure the proper treatment of the survivors." "The system must work in ways that treat survivors with respect and dignity." Weinberg said. "We need a top-to-bottom examination of the system to identify the flaws and failures that need reform," she added. "I am pleased that the governor has now asked for an investigation, but the Legislature has a responsibility to act and an important independent role to play." Republican state lawmakers have spent days calling for a legislative investigation into how Murphy's team handled the matter. On Monday, all five Republican women serving in the state Assembly introduced legislation calling for a legislative investigation into the Murphy administration's hiring practices. "If the victim had the courage to speak up as often as she did, the Legislature should have the courage to find justice in the matter," said Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen, a sponsor of the resolution. Added Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union: "The public needs to know the facts and testimony needs to begin immediately." Democratic leaders in the Assembly said in a joint statement Monday that "as the situation continues to unfold and new facts are presented, we will swiftly determine the appropriate next steps with every option on the table." Democratic leaders in the Senate said in another joint statement Monday that they demand a "full and straightforward accounting" of how the allegations agains Alvarez were handled. But no Democrats besides Weinberg officially called for hearings or said they would be forthcoming. Murphy wouldn't say Monday whether he supported hearings on top of the independent investigation. "I think these are very meaningful steps we are taking right now," he said. "This is a moment where folks can either grandstand or calls balls and strikes to make New Jersey better for victims of sexual assault." Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Expressing sympathy for the alleged victim and frustration with how her case was handled, Gov. Phil Murphy ordered an investigation Monday into how his team responded to allegations a senior staffer raped a woman while he worked for the governor's campaign last year. An independent investigation will look into why former campaign staffer Albert J. Alvarez was hired to a top state job despite the sexual assault allegation, the governor said. "I wish we hadn't made the hire in transition, period," Murphy said during a 33-minute press conference in Newark. "I'm sick to my stomach once I heard what happened." The investigation will be led by Peter Verniero, a former state attorney general and state Supreme Court justice. Murphy, a Democrat, said it will be an in-depth probe, unlike the investigation of sexual assault allegations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Republican, made during his U.S. Senate confirmation hearings. "We will not follow the lead of Washington," Murphy said. "This will be a real investigation." Gov. Phil Murphy speaks at a press conference in Newark on Monday about rape allegations made against a former staffer. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Verniero said in a statement Monday that he would oversee a "systemic review of the hiring and vetting practices of the governor-elect's transition office, including the hiring and vetting of" Alvarez. He said he spoke with the governor Monday and has been "assured" he will have "complete independence independence to request interviews with whomever I deem appropriate as fact witnesses as well as access to relevant documents." Verniero said he expects the review to be completed by the end of the year. Murphy addressed the brewing controversy as he prepared to depart for a nine-day trade mission to Germany and Israel. Katie Brennan, chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, said Alvarez sexually assaulted her after a campaign gathering in Jersey City in April 2017 while he served as director of Latino and Muslim community outreach for Murphy's campaign. Brennan, 31, of Jersey City, said she went to the hospital and reported the alleged assault to law enforcement officials the next day, but the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office declined to prosecute. She also said she told Murphy's transition team about the allegations, but Alvarez was still given a state job. Alvarez, 44, of Wood-Ridge, and his attorney, John Hogan, have not returned messages from NJ Advance Media seeking comment. But Hogan told the Wall Street Journal his client "absolutely, positively denies these allegations of sexual assault" and declined further comment. Murphy said he and his wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy, planned to speak to Brennan at 3 p.m. Monday by phone and will meet with her in person at a later date. "I feel awful for Katie," the governor said. "Nobody deserves this. She's been screaming out for help, and she didn't get it. We have to get to a better place." Shortly before Murphy's remarks Monday, the state Attorney General's Office announced the case, which was originally investigated and closed by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office last year, might be re-opened. Because it was discovered during a review that Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez personally knew both Alvarez and the alleged victim, the case was sent last week to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, state officials said. Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office "detectives are reviewing the case file and will take any additional investigative steps they deem appropriate," said Sharon Lauchaire, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office. Neither Suarez nor members of her executive leadership team were involved in the case when it was investigated in Hudson County, Lauchaire said. But Suarez asked state officials to take over "out of an abundance of caution" after she learned the case involved people she knew. Katie Brennan spent more than a year trying to get authorities to take action against the man she accuses of sexually assaulting her. Finally, she emailed New Jersey @GovMurphy. @KCarliniKing reports: https://t.co/aHZHuz8CcJ Matt Arco (@MatthewArco) October 14, 2018 Brennan -- who was a supporter of Murphy's at the time of the alleged attack and later volunteered for his campaign -- detailed her account for the first time in a story published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. Brennan said she alerted Murphy's camp three times of the accusations over the last year. Alvarez, who was never charged with a crime, remained in his $140,000-a-year job as chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority until Oct. 2, the same day the Journal reached out to him for comment on Brennan's allegations. Murphy claims he did not know of the accusations until that day. Brennan said in a statement Sunday that she "pursued every form of justice available," but "it has become clear that this system is not built for survivors." "I decided to come forward because I know that Al Alvarez, and all perpetrators, must be held accountable, must never rape again, and the justice system needs a complete change with regard to sexual violence," Brennan said. We must stand with the Katies of the world and that did not happen," @GovMurphy says at presser in response to woman who came forward after rape investigation involving an administration official went nowhere. https://t.co/ClZ4RC89d7 S.P. Sullivan (@spsullivan) October 15, 2018 Murphy stressed Monday that while he's confident his administration handled the allegations properly, his transition team never should have hired him for a state job. "Let me be absolutely and unequivocally clear: This never should have happened," the governor said. "In this instance, the hiring process of the transition did not reflect our values or the seriousness with which we believe allegations of assault should be taken, period." "Sexual misconduct in any form is and will be continued to be treated by this administration with the utmost gravity," Murphy added. "Now we must lead and prove that commitment. Words are not enough." Brennan said she first alerted Murphy's camp to the allegations after Murphy, a Democrat, won the election in November. Mahen Gunaratna, a spokesman for Murphy, said Sunday that transition officials learned law enforcement "actively investigated" the allegations and closed the case. He also said Alvarez passed a background check and was cleared for his job at the schools authority. Brennan said she then contacted Murphy's office about the matter after the governor took office in January. That time, Matt Platkin, the governor's chief counsel, recused himself and referred the matter to an ethics official in the governor's office, and that official referred it to the state Attorney General's Office that day, according to Gunaratna. Then, on June 1, Brennan emailed Murphy and his wife saying she wanted to discuss a "sensitive matter," though she did not mention sexual assault. "Hang in," Murphy wrote back, according to the Journal. "We are on it." A meeting with Murphy never happened, but Brennan said a campaign attorney told her Alvarez would no longer have a state government job. Alvarez didn't resign until four months later. Asked why he didn't personally follow up on the "sensitive matter" that Brennan mentioned in the email, Murphy said he gets similar emails "literally all the time" from people who ask to meet with him. "Tammy and I have been reminded time and again that to do one-off meetings with folks, good, bad or otherwise creates an unevenness in the organization,'' Murphy said. "And we have been reminded many times that we have professionals to do this for a living. You have processes that are in place. Stick to them." Murphy said his administration will also look into updating state laws and policies related to how allegations of sexual assault are handled. "We want this state to be the gold standard when someone is the victim of a crime that they know what to do, that they are encouraged, that they are supported," he said. "The voices must be heard," the governor added. "We must stand with the Katies of the world. And that did not happen." Republican state lawmakers have spent days calling for a legislative investigation into how Murphy's team handled the matter. On Monday, all five Republican women serving in the state Assembly introduced legislation calling for a joint state Senate and Assembly investigation into the Murphy administration's hiring practices. "If the victim had the courage to speak up as often as she did, the Legislature should have the courage to find justice in the matter," said Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen, a sponsor of the resolution. State Sen. Kristin Corrado, D-Passaic, said the investigation Murphy has ordered appears to be "limited to the hiring practices of his transition team." "It seems unlikely that an investigation of such limited scope will be sufficient to answer the serious questions that have been raised about the employment practices of this administration, both before and since Governor Murphy assumed office," Corrado said. One Democratic leader, state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, said she is seeking a joint legislative committee to investigate the state's laws and policies for how law enforcement and officials respond to allegations of sexual misconduct. "Clearly, reforms are needed so that no more survivors are forced to endure what Ms. Brennan has experienced," said Weinberg, D-Bergen, New Jersey's highest ranking woman state lawmaker. Senate Democratic leadership said in a statement Monday they demand a "full and straightforward accounting" of how the allegations were handled. Democratic leaders in the Assembly said in another statement that "as the situation continues to unfold and new facts are presented, we will swiftly determine the appropriate next steps with every option on the table." Murphy wouldn't say Monday whether he supported legislative hearings on top of the investigation he ordered. "I think these are very meaningful steps we are taking right now," the governor said. "This is a moment where folks can either grandstand or calls balls and strikes to make New Jersey better for victims of sexual assault." Murphy would also not say whether he will discipline -- or fire -- any staff members over the matter, though he said he was open to that. "I absolutely have to be open," he said. NJ Advance Media staff writers Kelly Heyboer, Samantha Marcus, and S.P. Sullivan contributed to this report. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- Assemblyman Jay Webber, trying to keep an open House seat in Republican hands, has already gotten an endorsement from President Donald Trump and fundraising help from Vice President Mike Pence. He'll get more even assistance from the Trump administration Monday as Pence hosts another fundraiser for both Webber, as well as for U.S. House GOP candidate in Pennsylvania. Webber, R-Morris, is facing Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor for the 11th District seat being vacated by retiring Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen. Sherrill led Webber, 48 percent to 44 percent, among likely voters in a recent Monmouth University Poll, within the survey's 5-point margin of error. The Cook Political Report gives Sherrill an edge. The fundraiser will be held behind closed doors at an undisclosed Washington location, according to the vice president's official schedule. "We are proud to receive the continued support of Vice President Pence," Webber said. "We share a vision for America that entails more good paying American jobs and a country united behind a booming economy." Through June 30, Webber had just $171,720 in the bank entering June while Sherrill had $2.9 million. The candidates are scheduled to release new campaign finance figures Monday. The Pence-hosted event more closely connects Webber to Trump in a district where the president's approval rating is at 49 percent, with a 48 percent disapproval rating, in a recent Monmouth University poll. More than one-quarter of likely voters, 28 percent, said Trump's backing made them less likely to support Webber, compared with 15 percent who said they would be more likely to vote for the Republican candidate. More than half, 56 percent, said Trump's endorsement via Twitter made no difference. Webber also has embraced the Trump tax plan that disproportionately affected New Jersey by curbing the federal deduction for state and local taxes. Were seeing the benefits of the tax package play out in this economy. Wages are rising, small business confidence is rising. The human impact of this tax cut is felt across NJ and across this country. #NJTVDebateNight Jay Webber (@JayWebberNJ) October 11, 2018 The legislation is unpopular in the district, with 46 percent disapproving of the law and 43 percent supporting it, according to the Monmouth poll. The fundraiser will also be held for John Chrin, a banker challenging Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. The woman who accused a senior staffer in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration of sexually assaulting her while he worked for Murphy's campaign last year is a state official who says she is now telling her story because she has "received no justice." Katie Brennan, who later volunteered for the campaign and is now the chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, detailed her allegations against Albert J. Alvarez publicly for the first time in a story published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday afternoon. After the report was published Sunday afternoon, Brennan said in a statement: "On April 8th, 2017, Al Alvarez raped me. On April 9th, 2017 I learned that the system is broken." "I have pursued every form of justice available," Brennan, 31, of Jersey City, continued. "But it has become clear that this system is not built for survivors." Brennan said she "decided to come forward because I know that Al Alvarez, and all perpetrators, must be held accountable, must never rape again, and the justice system needs a complete change with regard to sexual violence." "It is clear that leadership from the Murphy administration is needed to create meaningful policy change on several levels to make sure future victims do not have to endure what I have," she said. Multiple media outlets -- including NJ Advance Media -- published reports this week citing anonymous sources saying Alvarez faced allegations of sexual assault while he worked as director of Latin and Muslim outreach for Murphy's campaign in April 2017. Alvarez, 44, of Wood-Ridge, was never charged with a crime. Albert J. Alvarez Alvarez, a fellow Democrat, later worked as deputy of personnel for Murphy's transition team and then as chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority under Murphy's administration. He resigned Oct. 2, the same day the Journal contacted him seeking comment. Murphy and his wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy, released their first statement on the matter after the Journal's story appeared, which both defended how the administration handled Brennan's allegations, and expressed regret that Alvarez was given a job by the transition team in January. The Murphys said they are "confident" the governor's administration handled the allegations "appropriately." But, the couple added, the way Murphy's transition team handled the matter before he took office "was inconsistent with our values," and that Alvarez should not have been hired for a state position. In a separate statement, Mahen Gunaratna, a Murphy spokesman, said Murphy and his wife were not informed of the allegations until Oct. 2 of this year, when Alvarez resigned from his $140,000-a-year job. Meanwhile, Gunaratna confirmed that Murphy's office on Oct. 11 received a separate accusation against Alvarez that was "promptly referred" to the state attorney general. That alleged incident occurred in either 1999 or 2000, Gunaratna said. Alvarez's attorney, John Hogan, told the Journal that his client "absolutely, positively denies these allegations of sexual assault" and declined further comment. Alvarez and Hogan did not return messages from NJ Advance Media on Sunday. The alleged incident occurred in April of last year after a gathering of campaign staffers in Jersey City, according to the Journal report. Brennan was a supporter of Murphy's at the time. She told the newspaper than Alvarez offered to drive her home and asked to use her bathroom and have a drink of water before heading to his home. Once inside, Brennan told the newspaper, Alvarez forced himself on her. She told him to stop, saying this is "not consensual." She managed to kick him off her and locked herself in the bathroom. Alvarez left, according to Brennan's account to the Journal. Brennan shared records with the Journal demonstrating she had reported the attack to local police the next day and went to the Jersey City Medical Center emergency room for an examination. Brennan's husband, Travis Miles, and her close friend, also confirmed Brennan told them about the sexual assault right after it happened. The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office has declined to comment on the investigation, as is its standing policy with all investigations. Gunaratna, a Murphy spokesman, said the prosecutor's office had investigated and declined to pursue charges. Brennan said she waited for months and was shocked no charges were filed. The hospital examination found DNA and saliva, Brennan told the Journal. Assistant Prosecutor Jane Weiner told her Alvarez claimed the encounter was consensual sex, according to the report. Brennan began volunteering for the campaign as a policy advisor last summer. She told the Journal she didn't want the allegation to affect her chances at a job working in Murphy's administration. Brennan brought her allegations to the Murphy camp three times. The first time was when she alerted the transition team after Murphy won the election in November. Brennan was working for the transition team at the time. In March, Brennan said, she also told Matt Platkin, chief counsel to the governor, that Alvarez sexually assaulted her. Platkin, who was policy director during the campaign and a senior staffer during the transition, recused himself because he knew both the accused and the accuser. Platkin referred the matter to an ethics official in the governor's office and the official referred it to the state Attorney General's Office that day, according to Gunaratna, Murphy's spokesman. Brennan eventually emailed Murphy and his wife on June 1, saying she wanted to discuss a "sensitive matter." The email did not mention a sexual assault. "Hang in," Murphy wrote back, according to the Journal. "We are on it." A meeting with the governor never happened, but Brennan said a campaign attorney told her Alvarez would no longer have a state government job. Alvarez didn't resign for about four months after that. Brennan also told the Journal she turned down Alvarez's offer of a $15,000 settlement offer if she signed a nondisclosure agreement. She said in her statement Sunday that "sexual predators like Al Alvarez are only able to stay in power when those around them do nothing." "Several senior level members of the Murphy administration were aware of my assault and failed to take meaningful action," she said. "Al Alvarez remained employed at a senior level in the Murphy administration until just a few weeks ago, when he knew the Wall Street Journal article was coming out and opted to resign. The failure of members of Gov. Murphy's staff to respond in an aggressive, proactive fashion is unacceptable." Gunaratna, Murphy's spokesman, confirmed in a statement Sunday that transition officials learned law enforcement "actively investigated" the allegations against Alvarez and that they "closed the case" and decided not to pursue charges. "Following a clear background check, Mr. Alvarez received an offer of employment in state government," Gunaratna said. He added that when Brennan contacted the governor's office in March, "the matter was immediately and properly referred" to the office's chief ethics officer, "in accordance with state policies and procedures." Then, when Brennan emailed the Murphys, the governor was "unaware of the substance" of the "sensitive matter" Brennan wanted to discuss and "properly referred the matter to his campaign counsel" because "of the time period" referenced in the email, Gunaratna said. The counsel then spoke with Brennan and her attorney multiple times, Gunaratna said. The Murphys said in their statement that "any allegation of sexual harassment, misconduct, or assault must be treated with the utmost seriousness to ensure that survivors come forward and justice is served." "Society must no longer allow a culture of silence to flourish, and we are committed to ensuring a culture where everyone feels comfortable reporting any instance of sexual misconduct," the couple continued. The Murphys also said the governor has asked state officials to review New Jersey's policies on how sexual misconduct allegations are handled to see if they are "ways to improve our system." "We must now ask: how can we hold ourselves to a higher standard moving forward?" the couple said. Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, told NJ Advance Media on Sunday that Brennan's story "highlights some serious harmful norms and systemic barriers that can make it incredibly hard, if not nearly impossible, for survivors to come forward." Republican state lawmakers have called for a legislative investigation into how Murphy's team handled the matter, and Democrats who control the state Legislature say they are concerned by the accusations and are considering the next step. State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, R-Union, and state Sen. Kristin Corrado, R-Passaic, renewed calls for hearings after Sunday's story. "If Ms. Brennan cannot achieve justice after bravely coming forward, repeatedly, then what message does that send to other women, especially those with fewer resources?" Corrado asked. At least one prominent Democrat, congressional candidate Tom Malinowski, released a statement Sunday. Malinowski, the Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance in New Jersey's 7th congressional district, said he "found Ms. Brennan's allegations to be credible." "And I echo her calls for meaningful policy reforms so that future survivors will not endure the year long ordeal that has brought her to this point," Malinowski said. Correction: The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office has not commented on the case. An earlier version of the story said it had. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. An off-duty Hillside police officer was killed and another person seriously injured early Monday when an SUV collided with a truck on Routes 1&9 in Linden, authorities said. Hillside officer Giovanni Esposito Officer Giovanni Esposito was hired by the Hillside Police Department in November 2017 after graduating at the top of his class from the Essex County Police Academy, according to Chief Vincent Ricciardi. "Officer Esposito loved his job and was a warm and friendly person who was well-liked by all who knew him," Ricciardi said in a statement. "His death is a profound loss to our department and we will miss him terribly. We wish his family solace and comfort during this extremely difficult time." The crash occurred about 2:15 a.m. when the SUV, which was traveling north on Route 1, collided with the tractor-trailer cab also headed north at Pleasant Street, according to Linden police Lt. Christopher Guenther. Esposito, 30, and the second person in the SUV were taken to University Hospital in Newark, where Esposito was pronounced dead. The other person, who was identified as a 29-year-old Colonia resident, was hospitalized in serious condition, Guenther said. It was not clear if Esposito was driving or a passenger at the time of the crash. The truck driver was not injured. Police released limited details about the crash. "It is still very early in the investigation and that is all of the information I can share at this point," Guenther said in an email. During the investigation, Routes 1&9 were closed in both directions between Avenue C and West Grand Avenue for several hours. The fatal accident occurred when a vehicle collided with a truck on Routes 1&9 early Monday, according to Linden police. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. It's no secret the Yankees need to upgrade their starting rotation for 2019. General manager Brian Cashman needs to do more than just unload Sonny Gray (which would be addition by subtraction). He needs to find at least one, if not two, front-line starters. The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo has an idea who might be on Cashman's wish list: (J.A.) Happ, 36, could re-sign with the Yankees, who could also delve into free agency and sign someone such as Arizona free agent left-hander Patrick Corbin, who is only 29. It would appear the Yankees are moving on from Sabathia, who says he wants to play for at least another season and not necessarily in New York. The Yankees could also reacquaint themselves with Nathan Eovaldi, who will be a free agent. Obviously, the Red Sox would like to re-sign him, but it appears Eovaldi has won himself a nice four-year deal at about $15 million per year, at least. Happ and Corbin doesn't qualify as new information. The Yankees' interest in those pitchers is well known. However Eovaldi would be an interesting target. He shut down the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Division Series for the Red Sox. Eovaldi is a former Yankees pitcher who never reached his full potential in the Bronx because of Tommy John surgery. Cafardo also dropped this news nuggets: Connecticut native Charlie Morton will also be a free agent. At age 35, the Astros righthander could be a short-term solution to the middle of the Yankee rotation. Morton would also fit the Red Sox rotation after they shed free agent Drew Pomeranz's almost $10 million salary. Pomeranz has been a disaster for the Red Sox this season, going from a 17-game winner in 2017 to a bullpen mop-up guy in 2018. So Boston, like New York, will be hunting for starting pitching. Not hard to imagine the two teams getting into a bidding war over the same player. And then there's the great unknown, per Cafardo: There's also the trade market, and one attractive lefthander would be Madison Bumgarner, who was on the block a bit at the trading deadline. The Yankees had some interest at the time. Of course, with the Giants not yet hiring a new general manager, it's hard to tell where there'll go with this. Bumgarner is a proven playoff winner who would be an instant upgrade for any playoff contender. If Cashman can swing a deal for Bumgarner, he might finally have the ace he's been looking for the last couple of years. Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A south Alabama man sentenced to death after throwing his four children off a bridge in 2008 had the sentence reduced Monday (Oct. 15) to life in prison without parole after psychologists said his IQ did not meet the state minimum to be executed, AL.com reported. Lam Luong, 38, of Bayou La Batre, threw the children off of the Dauphin Island Bridge on the morning of Jan. 7, 2008. The bodies of Ryan Phan, 3; Hannah Luong, 2; Lindsey Luong, 1; and Danny Luong, 4 months, were found one by one during a two-week search along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich, who was visibly shaken while reading a press release Monday, said that "no one deserves the death penalty more" than Lam Luong, AL.com reported. "Our hands are tied," she said, citing state and federal laws that prohibit executing a person with an IQ of lower than 70 points. Attorneys for Luong hired a psychologist and developmental neuropsychologist to determine Luong's IQ, which had never been done at his initial trial. His IQ was measured at 57, Rich said. An independent licensed psychologist hired by the Alabama Attorney General's Office, which sought to appeal the test's findings, measured Luong's IQ even lower, at 51, the website reported. A man charged with burglarizing nine businesses in New Orleans' Uptown and Carrollton neighborhoods, and a home in the Milan area in 2016 pleaded guilty Monday (Oct. 15) to 22 charges related to the crime spree. Kenneth N. Barnes, 49, was sentenced to 25 years in prison following his plea, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizaro's office. Barnes pleaded guilty ahead of his scheduled trial Monday, admitting to five counts of armed robbery, three counts of armed robbery with a firearm, nine counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and counts of attempted armed robbery, simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, simple burglary, illegal possession of stolen things and unauthorized use of a movable. Barnes told NOPD detectives at the time of his arrest he was addicted to crack cocaine and committed the robberies to feed his addiction, according to arrest documents. Barnes pleaded guilty to burglarizing a home in the 1700 block of Amelia Street on Oct. 7, 2016. He pleaded guilty to robbing the following businesses between February and October of 2016: Jimmy John's at 7621 Maple St.; Criminal District Judge Karen Herman sentenced Barnes. Assistant District Attorney Hilary Khoury prosecuted the case. He was represented by Zack Orjuela of the Orleans Public Defenders. Mexico accepted a fraction of the settlement BP paid in the U.S. for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. A two-year Buzzfeed investigation found that the Mexican government accepted just $25.5 million from the oil company in a settlement reached this year. In the U.S., BP agreed to pay $60 billion - more than 2,000 times as much money as it paid to Mexico. A large share of the U.S. settlement went to fishers and other Gulf Coast residents affected by the disaster, but Buzzfeed found no Mexicans are likely to benefit from BP's $25.5 million payment. Contrary to its own scientists and several studies, Mexico asserted there was no evidence the disaster caused pollution in Mexican waters, according to Buzzfeed. The Mexican government and BP negotiated several lucrative oil-drilling and pipeline contracts while working to reach the settlement. A second-line parade will ramble through the French Quarter and Marigny on Oct. 21 in honor of Henry Butler, the imposing, sometimes percussive New Orleans pianist. Butler died of cancer on July 2 at age 68. Led by the New Orleans Nightcrawlers, the parade will make brief stops at three venues where Butler played. The second-line starts at 6 p.m. at the former site of the fabled Funky Butt Club, 714 N. Rampart St. A concert dedicated to the memory of Butler begins at Snug Harbor at 8 p.m., featuring Davell Crawford, Tom McDermott, Josh Paxton, Larry Sieberth and others. Admission is $15 and tickets are available at 504-949-0696. Butler grew up in the Calliope housing development. He was sightless since infancy and during childhood taught himself to play piano. By age 12 he was performing professionally. At the Louisiana State School for the Blind, he learned to memorize classical scores written in Braille, before translating them to the keyboard. He continued his musical studies at Southern University, where he honed the use of his resonant singing voice. Butler was fluent in the jazz and r&b piano styles that define much of New Orleans music. His performances were marked both by his virtuosity and volcanic energy. Proving his utter indomitability, Butler was also a photographer who homed in on voices and sounds to capture images of New Orleans culture. Doug MacCash has the best job in the world, covering art, music and culture in New Orleans. Contact him via email at dmaccash@nola.com. Follow him on Twitter at Doug MacCash and on Facebook at Douglas James MacCash. As always, please add your point of view to the comment stream. This months bills for Louisianas two million or so electricity customers are $11.67 higher, on average, than they were in October 2020, according to the reports compiled by the Public Service Commission, which regulates the privately owned for-p Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, backed out of a planned investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week, the most prominent financier to cancel in the wake of the disappearance and suspected killing of a well-known Saudi journalist. On Sunday evening, a spokesman for Mr. Dimon said the chief executive, who was scheduled to be one of the headline speakers at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, would no longer attend. He did not explain Mr. Dimons reasoning. Mr. Dimons withdrawal from the conference comes as world leaders grapple with allegations, made by Turkish authorities, that the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was killed and dismembered by Saudi officials in Istanbul this month. A number of corporate executives previously withdrew from the conference, including Ubers chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, and the Ford Motor chairman Bill Ford. But Wall Street officials have been more reluctant. As recently as Friday, when journalists asked Mr. Dimon if he still planned to attend, his spokesman interrupted the questioning and said that Mr. Dimon would not be commenting on his plans. JPMorgan has a longstanding business relationship with Saudi Arabia. The pilot of a small plane who was killed when the aircraft crashed off Long Island on Saturday had also owned two other planes involved in crashes in recent years, one of them fatal, according to government records and accident reports. The body of the pilot, Munidat Raj Persaud, was identified on Sunday by the New York State Police. Later Sunday, the Coast Guard recovered the bodies of two other people who were on board when the plane went down in the Atlantic Ocean near the village of Quogue. The two passengers on the aircraft, a twin-engine Piper PA-34 flying from Connecticut to Charleston, S.C., were not immediately identified. Part of the wreckage was found on Saturday, and the fuselage was located Sunday afternoon. A Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier, said efforts were being made to bring it to the surface. Concerns in Hong Kongs journalism community as a Western journalist, Victor Mallet with the Financial Times, is expelled from the semiautonomous Chinese city. Hes the first to lose his visa since the British returned the city to China in 1997. Authorities in Hong Kong havent explained the decision, but its believed to be linked to a talk Mr. Mallet hosted in August featuring the leader of a pro-independence political party. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter. TH: Can you talk a little more about the gender component? AG: It may just be because women are socialized to be more comfortable with tears, who knows. But I hear far more women talk about having teared up at work than men, and then theres also pressure on women not to seem too emotional in a professional context, so then they feel especially mortified. And the gender differences around this add an additional element of stress to it for example, if youre a woman who cries in front of a male boss, is your male boss going to be more freaked out by it than a female boss would be? Maybe, and thats definitely something women worry about. TH: O.K., so lets talk about what to do. If I tear up at work in front of some co-workers, how do I handle it? Excuse myself and pretend it never happened? Acknowledge it and move on? Disappear forever? AG: Dont disappear forever! Youre usually better off acknowledging it rather than trying to pretend it never happened. In the moment, you can say something like, As you can see, Im feeling pretty invested in this, or Im sorry, this is hitting me pretty hard. Would you mind if I stepped out for a moment to get some water? But if you didnt address it in the moment, you can always go back later and say something. Thats especially important if the tears happened while you were getting feedback from your boss, because you dont want her to worry that you didnt fully process the feedback or that you cant handle feedback in general. In that context, you can just say something like, Im embarrassed that I had such a strong reaction while we were talking, and I wanted you to know that I really appreciated the feedback you shared with me and Im working on implementing it. And then try to reset the dynamic back to normal by having a non-teary, normal interaction as soon as possible afterward. People may worry that youre feeling fragile, and its helpful to demonstrate that nope, youre fine and we can continue as normal. TH: A friend of mine once told me the story of breaking down in tears while receiving some particularly negative feedback during a review, but just trying to power through. I feel like thats a pretty common situation what should we do if we find ourselves there? AG: The most important thing is to stress that you really do want to hear the feedback and are processing it. So you could say something like, My eyes tear up easily, but I really do want to hear this feedback. Or, Im sorry, Im having an emotional reaction for some reason, but I really do appreciate hearing this! The idea is to ensure that your boss doesnt come away thinking you cant handle feedback. My goal is to be a great Justice for all Americans. With a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, abortion is once again at the forefront of American politics. Life yes, abortion no. My own daughters face more restrictions in most states than I faced over 30 years ago. Drawing attention to a little known chapter of American history: an underground organization that operated outside the law. Our code name was Jane. In the 1960s, abortion was largely illegal in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of pregnant women, unmindful of what may happen to them, secretly and fearfully seek abortions. For them, there is a wide gulf between what the law commands and what they feel they must do. That was the situation for Sunny Chapman, who was 19 years old when she realized she was pregnant. I didnt want to have a baby at all. So I started looking for a way to not be pregnant. The options were: get married; leave the country for an abortion, which the rich girls did; go to an unwed mothers home and put your baby up for adoption, which is what working class girls like myself did; or have what we called back-alley abortions, which was a terrifying idea. There were stories of women using coat hangers, taking lye. Stories of women jumping off of buildings to try and damage themselves. Dangers like these motivated a group of women in Chicago to form the Abortion Counseling Service a feminist group, whose mission was to arrange illegal but safe abortions. They became known as Jane. Nobody in the group was named Jane. So, it was an everywoman name. But we wanted to have a name because, that way, when we called somebody back, we could leave a message for them that Jane called without giving anything away. Most of the women in Jane were housewives. They were college students. And they were running an illegal abortion underground service and they were risking being arrested and prosecuted and going to prison for several years or more. Did I know it was illegal and did I consider that? Yes, I did, and I thought that this was an act of civil disobedience. We put up signs in phone booths, in student centers, in any number of places. Well, its kind of interesting when youre running a clandestine service that you have to have, make sure your that the people who want to use it can find. So, we actually had an ad in the alternate paper. The ad said something like, Pregnant? Need Help? Call Jane, and then there was a phone number. I called Jane. Then someone called me back. They gave me an appointment to meet with a woman who lived in my neighborhood. The person would go to her counselors house and have everything explained, not just what an abortion was but exactly what they would experience that day. That was really important to us, because we knew that people got scared from the unknown. Our practice was that we had one apartment that we called the Front we were not very creative with names which was a front. And it was the address we gave out. And then the driver would drive just the women who were having abortions to the Place. And that was where the abortion took place. It was all part of a system designed to keep their operation, and the identity of the abortion provider, a secret. I was blindfolded and helped onto the bed. He didnt want to do my procedure because I was a little further along than he liked. I was in the second trimester by this time, and he didnt want to do it. The counselors talked him into doing it. They held my hand and we got through it. One provider did most of the procedures. And then they learned more about him. It was revealed to the group that our doctor was not, in fact, a doctor. People flipped out. Women in the group, some of them, I heard, were crying and saying, Were no better than the back-alleys. Weve got to stop doing this. Lots of people left the group at that point. They just couldnt cope with that. But the women who remained made a decision. And one woman said, Well, if he can do it and hes not a doctor, then we can do it too. None of us had any medical experience. None. Not one person in this group. And so he said he would train the women on how to provide the abortions. As things were changing for the Janes, they were changing in the rest of the country, as well. Set bill has passed third reading. Hawaiis State Senate passed the most permissive abortion law in this country. Medical history is being made this week in New York State. When New York legalized abortion in 1970, women with money, middle-class women started going to New York. They could drive or fly there and get legal, safe abortions by physicians. Thousands of women went to New York from Illinois. And Jane started to have many more low-income women, many, many, many more African-American women whom they were serving. Because we had a poorer clientele, it was very important that for it to be accessible, it had to be cheap. Once we were doing it ourselves, we charged $100. We figured it cost us about $50 and we took anything, including nothing. By 1972, the women say they were performing as many as a hundred abortions a week, when one day, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door. I saw two of the tallest men I had ever seen in my life. I simply turned around, walked back down the hall and announced, These are the police. You do not have to tell them anything. So, we locked the door of the room we were in, which wasnt really going to stop them for very long. And I think we took all the instruments and everything and threw them out the window. This was a high rise, luckily nobody was beneath. And we were all, kind of, sitting quietly on the bed when the police kicked in the door. All seven of us were charged with counts of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion. Each count was worth 10 years. I think that was the moment in my life that I realized that actions have consequences. As they awaited trial, a landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, made abortion legal across the country. The Supreme Court today ruled that abortion is completely a private matter to be decided by mother and doctor in the first three months of pregnancy. When I heard Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court, I knew that eventually this case would go away. States attorneys made a deal with our lawyer that if we didnt ask for our medical instruments back, they wouldnt charge us with practicing medicine without a license. And that was it. Done. It was over. JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. Sharon Hurd didnt know that President Trump had used the phrase dumb Southerner to describe his attorney general, but hearing it didnt bother her. Were ready for somebody to be that outspoken, because he seems to be getting the job done, said Ms. Hurd, 73, a retiree who once owned a restaurant and a gift shop, standing on a street corner about an hour after Mr. Trumps rally ended here this month. He doesnt try to take his words and make them please everybody, and I think that Southern people are noticing that. Few things have appeared to test the bond between Mr. Trump and the South, a political coupling of a thrice-married New Yorker and voters in the Bible Belt that seemed unlikely from the start. The presidents swing this month through deep-red Tennessee and Mississippi, where he basked in the warmth of supporters at political rallies, confirmed that despite the scandals and chaos that have churned out of the White House, their relationship endures. It is ironic that the warrior that they have found is a billionaire from New York, but he really speaks their language fluidly, said Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committee member and party strategist based in Mississippi. Mohammed bin Salman had been paying millions of dollars to create a certain image of himself, and Jamal Khashoggi was destroying all of it with just a few words, said Mr. Tamimi, the friend. The crown prince must have been furious. But Mr. Khashoggi didnt stop. He was planning to start a website to publish translated reports about the economies of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, where he felt many people did not understand the scale of corruption or the limited future of the oil wealth. He was also founding an organization called Democracy in the Arab World Now, or DAWN, an advocacy group. Mr. Khashoggi was trying to secure funding and set up a board when he disappeared, friends said. Receiving an award in April from the Islamist-leaning Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Mr. Khashoggi said democracy was under attack across the Arab world by radical Islamists, authoritarians and elites who feared that popular participation would bring chaos. Power sharing, he said, was the only way to stop civil wars and ensure better governance. Crown Prince Mohammed is investing hundreds of billions of dollars into future projects and hes doing that depending on his own ability to judge and the ability of a small circle of advisers, Mr. Khashoggi said. Is that enough? No, it is not enough. Since his move to Washington, representatives of Crown Prince Mohammed had contacted him repeatedly, asking him to tone down his criticisms and inviting him to come home, he told friends. But he was building a new life. He and a Turkish researcher, Hatice Cengiz, had decided to marry and set up a new home in Istanbul. The show can go on again at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Five days after going on strike, the musicians in its orchestra on Sunday ratified a new labor agreement that would reduce their guaranteed weeks of work and the size of the orchestra but increase their weekly salary. A world-class opera company needs a world-class orchestra, the musicians said in a statement. The musicians will never stop fighting for that ideal; but at this time, the music needs to return to the Civic Opera House. In two major respects fewer weeks of work and a smaller permanent orchestra the agreement was in line with what management had been seeking. But the musicians noted that they had worked to mitigate the concessions where they could; that further cancellations would be destructive for everyone involved; and that a long strike would hurt their colleagues in the companys other unions, which had already agreed to new labor deals when the orchestra walked out. We needed to settle this contract not only for us, but for them, the musicians said. The ratified agreement reduces the number of guaranteed weeks of work for the players in the orchestra to 22, from 24, and reduces the number of full-time orchestra members through attrition to 70, from 74. (Management had wanted to cut it to 69.) If you want a piece of property to go downhill, Madeleine Blais wrote in a memoir titled To the New Owners (2017), just leave it in the care of a bunch of word people. Barbara Kingsolvers plump new novel, Unsheltered, is about writers and academics, past and present, who cant hammer a nail. They live in old New Jersey houses that are crumbling. Life pinches them in other ways. This books central character, a laid-off journalist named Willa Knox, asks this question: How could two hardworking people do everything right in life and arrive in their 50s essentially destitute? We meet Willas family, four generations living under one sagging roof in Vineland, N.J. Their story is threaded with that of an intellectually daring science teacher who lived on the same property with his extended family, in a different collapsing house, a century earlier. He was 18 when he experienced his first grand mal seizure (as it was then called) as a senior in high school, noting that nothing in his fortunate childhood growing up in Dallas as the youngest of three siblings prepared him for it or the struggles that would follow. Eichenwalds father was a world-renowned specialist in pediatric infectious disease and his mother was a nurse: The irony of their professional affiliations will not be lost on us as their son looks for help only to enter a madhouse of bad and sometimes tragically ignorant medical care. Not one to cast blame without also indicting his own complicity, Eichenwald observes early on: To this day I believe that had I not been so deep in denial, much of my traumatic experiences in the years that followed never would have occurred. Image He starts Swarthmore in the fall of 1979 and suffers from a concussion while goofing around with one of his roommates, after which his friends notice that he periodically zoned out and had staring spells. When Eichenwald wakes up one day shortly before Thanksgiving to find himself in pain and a disconnected state, having fallen off his bed during the night, his father arranges for him to see a neurologist back in Dallas. Thus begins his first encounter with uncommunicative and maladroit doctors. Dr. Nicholson, who exhibited the bedside manner of a termite inspector, sends Eichenwald for a series of diagnostic tests, including a CT scan and an EEG, which result in a diagnosis of epilepsy (although he wrongly characterizes the seizures as petit mal). He prescribes Tegretol, an anticonvulsant, and when his young patient starts to question him about how the medication works, he quickly becomes impatient: Now, dont start feeling sorry for yourself. There are children dying from cancer, and theyre a lot worse off than you. Youre not going to die from seizures. Those kids could only wish they had epilepsy. At the same time Nicholson warns him that he wont be able to keep up at a college as tough as Swarthmore and counsels him to keep his condition a secret: If you ever have to say anything about this, call it a seizure disorder. Never say epilepsy. The word scares people. In the months that follow, Eichenwald continues to fall down the dark well of his incompletely understood disease and to experience the terrifying loss of control that accompanies convulsions which, in turn, leads to a paralyzing, desperate dependence on his neurologist, even if he happens to be someone who fails to return calls. Nicholson eventually adds another anticonvulsant called Depakene, never bothering to explain the possible side effects, which include impairment of blood cells. Amid his anxiety about his academic performance and the need to hide his illness from everyone but his roommates, Eichenwald discovers a curious upside: After a convulsion his college English papers go from being disastrous (Your writing is grotesque is the comment his first paper receives) to being A-worthy work, composed with top-notch vocabulary and perfect sentence structure. Although he isnt clear what the connection to his seizures is, he wonders whether the convulsions trigger a smarter, clearer part of his brain. This was the first of many times, he notes, I would marvel at the brains power, elasticity and secrets. I found it fascinating to read someone elses paper, written by me. Perhaps the most painful of Eichenwalds difficulties in dealing with his condition is the fact that his own father, despite his medical training, is in denial about the severity of his sons condition, refusing to call it by its name and insisting instead on calling it a seizure disorder. It falls to Eichenwald himself, in league with his alarmed mother, to keep desperately looking for better and more informed care; the need for this is heightened when, after two years of taking huge, unmonitored dosages of medication, he ends up hospitalized in a dire, near-fatal state. Both of your medications are at very toxic levels, he is told by a doctor on staff he refers to only as Dr. Eyebrows. Theyre not medicines anymore. Theyre poison. What your neurologist did is unforgivable. Im sorry to be this blunt, but you have to know the truth. If we dont move quickly, you could die. Needless to say, Eichenwald, being the trouper he is, survives being put through an excruciating bone biopsy and goes on to survive intermittent suicidal thoughts as well as more indignities: One doctor insists, on the basis of misinterpreting his EEG tests, that he is suffering from a conversion disorder, a form of hysteria rather than epilepsy, another that there is a structural underpinning to his seizures that renders them idiopathic (no known cause). Swarthmore, meanwhile, moves to expel him on the basis of a school psychologists report that he is suffering from an overlooked brain tumor and that he is not well enough to attend classes. Having finally found a neurologist, Dr. Naarden, who knows what hes doing, and working with a small group of people who believe in him, including his psychiatrist and an advocate for the disabled, Eichenwald successfully fights the colleges decision and manages to graduate with his class, as hes always dreamed of doing. Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement demanding a credible investigation, and President Trump warned of severe punishment if the Saudi royal court was found to be responsible for Mr. Khashoggis disappearance. But he has resisted pressure to postpone or cancel arms sales to Saudi Arabia, arguing that it would cost Americans money and jobs. Saudi Arabia, which denies any role in the disappearance, warned that any punitive American response would be met with greater action, backed by the kingdoms economic might. With the Saudi crown princes image as a reformer falling apart, so is his glittering investor conference in Riyadh this month. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, is the latest participant to back out. Mr. Khashoggi had both an affinity for Islamist political movements and close ties to the Saudi royal family until the crown prince cut those ties. In Opinion: Mr. Khashoggis fiancee describes the journalist as a fierce patriot, passionate about democracy, human rights and freedom of expression. _____ 2. President Trump offered a new take on what happened to the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi: Rogue killers might be behind his disappearance. The president spoke to reporters after a call with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who Mr. Trump said offered a flat denial. Turkish officials have said Mr. Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, above. But the presidents words opened a window for Saudi Arabia to stand by its denials. (Neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia has shared evidence so far. Heres more that we dont know. And here is a portrait of Mr. Khashoggis career.) Behind the cancellations are allegations, made by Turkish authorities, that Mr. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi operatives. The Saudi government has denied any wrongdoing, and says Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate shortly after his arrival. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Mr. Schwarzman, Mr. Fink and Mr. Dimon had consulted one another by telephone over the weekend, according to people familiar with the conversations. The men pressed Saudi officials to postpone the conference, while they and their staffs urged the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, to push for a delay of the event or to publicly make his attendance conditional on more disclosures from the Saudis about Mr. Khashoggis disappearance. On Monday, conference organizers trumpeted a wide-ranging program of events and a roster of 150 confirmed speakers, indicating that they were undeterred by the cancellations. Huarong helped Chinas biggest companies make big splashy acquisitions overseas. Several of its clients have come under scrutiny by officials for big deals, including the HNA Group and CEFC China Energy, the oil giant whose founder has been missing since February. Mr. Lai was accused of violating political rules including squandering waste of state property, illegally organizing public banquets and accepting bribes, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the partys graft watchdog. He was required to hand over what the watchdog said was illegal income. The announcement is part of a broader effort that has empowered Beijing to crack down on graft as President Xi Jinping consolidates his power and moves to impose strict discipline within the party. Mr. Lai was charged by the National Supervisory Commission, an anti-corruption body within the partys graft watchdog, created in March with expansive powers to sidestep the courts and detain anyone on a government payroll for long periods of time without access to a lawyer. The newly emboldened anti-corruption agency announced last week that the president of Interpol, the Chinese citizen Meng Hongwei, was under investigation for similar violations and had been detained. Soon after the announcement, Interpol said it received a resignation letter from Mr. Meng, putting an end to several days of mystery after Mr. Mengs wife reported him missing. Mr. Lai, 56, was arrested in April on allegations of violating the law. Several days later the company, which is publicly listed in Hong Kong, said he had resigned. On Monday the government elaborated, adding that Mr. Lai used his position and authority to amass money and huge amounts of property. WASHINGTON The disappearance of a Saudi dissident journalist has put Steven Mnuchin, the United States Treasury secretary, in an increasingly tenuous position as he prepares to attend an investment conference in Riyadh next week. Several top Wall Street executives have pulled out of the meeting, but as of Monday, Mr. Mnuchin still planned to attend. President Trump, speaking at an event in Georgia, said Mr. Mnuchin would make a final decision on whether to participate by Friday. The Treasury secretarys attendance at the investment conference is part of a weeklong, six-country swing through the Middle East that is focused on combating terrorist financing. The trip is crucial to retaining good relations with Saudi Arabia as both countries try to work together to stem illicit financial activities in the Middle East. But Mr. Mnuchin is now wrestling with the ramifications of remaining in the Saudi governments good stead amid questions about the fate of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Mr. Khashoggi has not been seen since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The Turkish authorities have alleged that Mr. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi operatives. There are not strong reasons to be optimistic, said Alan Treadgold, a retail expert at PA Consulting. You exit the stores that are not viable. You manage the debt. But it still leaves the fundamental question: What is the purpose of Sears? In recent years, bankruptcy has not been kind to old-school retailers seeking a second life. Toys R Us had hoped to cut its debts and reorganize as a smaller, more nimble company when it filed a Chapter 11 case last September. But rather than keeping the company going, its lenders decided they could recoup more by putting up its toys in a fire sale and shutting down all its stores. The clothing chain Bon-Ton also liquidated earlier this year and closed all its stores. Sears could follow a similar path, particularly after Christmas when its stores have finished selling out their holiday inventory and will be less productive. The one wild card is Mr. Lampert, who has continued to sink money into the company despite long odds. In bankruptcy documents, Sears said Mr. Lamperts hedge fund was willing to make the opening bid to essentially buy the companys 400 most viable stores and keep them going. In one filing, the companys chief financial officer, Robert A. Riecker, said the hedge funds support has ensured that the companys doors remain open, and over 68,000 individuals remain employed. But Mr. Lampert may have other reasons to make sure Sears keeps the lights on. He is the chairman of and a large investor in Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate company that owns 230 former Sears properties. Sears pays rent to Seritage and a liquidation could imperil that revenue. Once upon a time because it feels as if it has been around forever Sears was a central player in American life. These days, the company seems relevant largely as a retail cautionary tale. The chain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early Monday, relies heavily on the sales of refrigerators, lawn mowers and other appliances to drive foot traffic. In cultural references, its often portrayed as a backwater or a wasteland. But there was a time when the retailers products, publications and people influenced commerce, culture and politics. Lauren Bacall modeled for the catalog, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, who later wrote the Tarzan adventure novels, was a copywriter. American spies used it as an icebreaker in foreign countries. The book of products even included houses, which formed the backbone of entire communities and are now tourist curiosities. Sears was also a prominent platform for executives with widely diverging political and social views. It had a hand in introducing Americans to artistic masters. And it began or elevated scores of popular brands, including Lands End, Allstate and Craftsman many of which will probably long outlive their former parent. ASBURY, N.J. Ironbound Hard Cider may seem an odd name for the business Charles Rosen has built here on 108 acres in central New Jersey. The farm, where a new taproom offers pastoral views of the still-ripening fruit, doesnt appear to share much with the Ironbound, an industrial neighborhood 50 miles to the east in Newark. Yet they do have common roots, thanks to four very old apple varieties now growing on Mr. Rosens land. Mr. Rosen, the former chief executive of a Manhattan advertising agency that promoted Svedka vodka and Mikes Hard Lemonade, wants to reintroduce Newark cider, an 18th- and 19th-century alcoholic drink once famously compared to Champagne. Newark cider was both a point of pride and big business for the region requested by name, reportedly lauded by George Washington and produced by dozens of Newark-area cideries with acres of orchards. The secret wasnt a recipe, but the blending of a quartet of superior apples born in the region: Campfield, Poveshon, Granniwinkle and Harrison, the most celebrated of the four. The kernels are as dark as brass, with hard shells and glossy vellum skins. Theyre still warm from the pan, when the moisture inside the shells turned to steam and made the corn swell and pop. But theres no outward sign of the tumult, no spilling of guts. Its popcorn, minus the explosion into fluff a worthwhile trade-off, sacrificing lightness for meatiness and crunch. In Ecuador, this snack of roasted dried corn is called tostado. A generous handful of kernels, dusted with salt, is offered at the start of a meal at Rincon Melania, which opened in January in a onetime dry cleaners on the border of Long Island City and Sunnyside, Queens. The menu roams Ecuador, from coast to highlands. A mellow ceviche of shrimp might share the table with Andean-style llapingachos, potatoes smashed, turned yolk-yellow by achiote and pan-fried into sunny cakes, with crisp exteriors and a gift of melted mozzarella hidden in the middle. How often do you hear people talking about their faith, their religious traditions and culture or their spirituality? How likely are you to start such conversations or engage in them? In the Opinion essay Its Getting Harder to Talk About God, Jonathan Merritt, who identifies himself as a student of American Christianity and the son of a prominent megachurch pastor, writes about enlisting a social research firm to conduct a survey of 1,000 adults to investigate how often, or whether, American adults have spiritual or religious conversations. He writes: More than one-fifth of respondents admit they have not had a spiritual conversation at all in the past year. Six in 10 say they had a spiritual conversation only on rare occasions either once or twice (29 percent) or several times (29 percent) in the past year. A paltry 7 percent of Americans say they talk about spiritual matters regularly. But heres the real shocker: Practicing Christians who attend church regularly arent faring much better. A mere 13 percent had a spiritual conversation around once a week. .... And yet even someone like me who has spent his entire life using God-talk knows how hard it has become. Five years ago, I moved from the Bible Belt to New York City and ran headfirst into an unexpected language barrier. Sure, I could still speak English as well as I always had. But I could no longer speak God. By this I mean that spiritual conversations, once a natural part of each day for me, suddenly became a struggle. Whether I spoke to a stranger or a friend, the exchange flowed freely so long as I stuck to small talk. But conversations stalled out the moment the subject turned spiritual. Students, read the entire essay, then tell us: What, if anything, do you identify with in the experiences and statistics Mr. Merritt shares? Explain. What do you think of the reasons he gives to explain why conversations in the United States among adults about religious or spiritual matters are in decline? Do you think such conversations among teenagers are also in decline? What about in other countries? What evidence can you give to support your ideas? Have you ever experienced or witnessed a conversation that stalled when the subject turned spiritual? If so, why do you think that happened? What do you think of Mr. Merritts statement that when people stop speaking God because they dont like what these words have come to mean and the way theyve been used, those who are causing the problem get to hog the microphone? To what extent, if at all, do you agree with him? Do you think of the words shown above as particularly religious or spiritual in nature? Do you and your family or friends ever talk about those terms in light of what you believe people should and shouldnt do? Do you think it matters if such conversations are categorized as having to do with faith or spirituality? If so, under what circumstances do you think that should happen? Explain. The dark sky casts an ominous haze over a demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. Protesters congregate in front of a firehouse. In the foreground a man stands guard, his back to the camera, a metal baton in one hand, multiple handcuffs dangling from the other. The tense image by Sheila Pree Bright evokes civil rights photographs of the past. But the clothes and hairstyles mark it as contemporary, taken at a 2015 demonstration against police brutality and the killing a year earlier of Michael Brown, a black teenager. The past often resonates in Ms. Brights photographs, which are collected in a new book, #1960Now: Photographs of Civil Rights Activists and Black Lives Matter Protests (Chronicle Books). Committed to documenting recent activism through the lens of history, she reminds us that the struggle for racial equality and justice in the United States has been longstanding and ongoing. The book includes portraits of past and present activists, photographs of Black Lives Matter demonstrations and meetings, and texts by Ms. Bright, Alicia Garza, Deborah Willis, Kiche Griffin, Aaron Bryant and Keith Miller. Ali Kourani was picking up coffee in a Starbucks in Queens one day two and a half years ago, when an F.B.I. agent flashed his badge and said he wanted to talk. He escorted Mr. Kourani to a nearby McDonalds, where two other agents waited. The agents said they knew Mr. Kourani had an affiliation with Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based terrorism group, and during repeated meetings in 2016, they said they wanted to recruit him as an informant, Mr. Kourani later testified. Nobody will suspect that you are working for the F.B.I., he said one agent told him, and they handed him a burner phone so they could reach him securely. Mr. Kourani told the agents they had the wrong guy. What happened next provides a glimpse into the often fraught and sometimes duplicitous negotiations between would-be informants and federal law enforcement, a dangerous and delicate dance full of pitfalls for people like Mr. Kourani, who seek to trade information for leniency or other favors. Last year, Ms. Dunn said she got a call from a mother who was injured in a nearby homeless shelter and needed surgery. But when the mother was forced to find another shelter, her four children, all of whom attended P.S. 446, had to figure out a way to travel to the Bronx to apply for a new placement at the citys sole intake center for homeless families, Ms. Dunn said. Ms. Dunn sent one of her social workers to the shelter to help arrange a paid taxi ride to bring the injured mother and her children across the city, but the four students still missed several days of school. That was one of many emergency situations that Ms. Dunn said she dealt with that week. In one Bronx school district, 10,804 students are homeless School districts that have long served low-income students are absorbing more homeless students each year. District 10 in the Bronx served the most homeless children of any of the citys 32 school districts last year. The district includes Kingsbridge International High School, where about 44 percent of students who attended the school over the last four years were homeless at one point. More homeless students typically means more tardiness or absentees because of the challenges to get to school. Last year, students living in shelter missed an average of about 30 days in the school year. Some students have to travel through two or more boroughs to reach school from their shelters; only about half of the citys homeless families lived in a shelter in the same borough where their youngest child attended school last year. This fall, the city started a program to move more families into shelters no farther than five miles from their youngest childs school. Mr. Murphy said Peter G. Verniero, a former justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court who now works for a law firm, will oversee the investigation. The governor said he planned to speak with Ms. Brennan later on Monday. Reports of Ms. Brennans allegation of sexual assault surfaced last week, but Ms. Brennan made her accusations public in an article in The Wall Street Journal published online on Sunday. After the articles publication, Ms. Brennan released a statement in which she criticized Mr. Murphys administration. Several senior level members of the Murphy administration were aware of my assault and failed to take meaningful action, said Ms. Brennan, the chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. She called the actions of several members of Mr. Murphys staff unacceptable. In response, Mr. Murphy and his wife, Tammy, issued their own lengthy statement, saying that they believed the administration had handled the accusations appropriately. But they also said that his transition team had made a mistake in hiring Mr. Alvarez, who recently abruptly resigned as the chief of staff at the Schools Development Authority, which deals with school construction. I wish we hadnt made the hire in transition, period, Mr. Murphy told reporters. Im sick to my stomach once I heard what happened. The governor maintained that he had not been aware of Ms. Brennans allegation until Oct. 2, when The Wall Street Journal provided information about its findings to his office. But Mr. Murphy said that he believed his administration had handled the allegation appropriately once it was brought to the attention of his chief counsel, Matt Platkin, in March. These processes, within government at least, are confidential and treated confidentially, Mr. Murphy said. And thats for a reason, to make sure that theres a fairness associated with it. That youre not, even inadvertently, putting your hand on the scale. I believe in this case it obviously was followed because we did not hear about it until October 2nd. Irving Like, an environmental lawyer whose unflinching crusade over a quarter century permanently shuttered the Shoreham nuclear power plant on Long Island, died on Oct. 3 at a hospital in West Islip, N.Y. He was 93. His daughter, Sharon Like, said the cause was cardiac arrest. Mr. Like, who was still practicing full time when he died, also helped preserve the Fire Island seashore; headed a lawyers group that won a $180 million settlement from chemical companies for Vietnam War veterans injured by the defoliant Agent Orange; and handled Suffolk Countys legal challenges to offshore oil drilling along the Long Island coast. For 25 years, Mr. Like besieged the Long Island Lighting Company with legal challenges to its 820-megawatt Shoreham plant, 60 miles east of New York City, which ultimately cost some $6 billion, even though it never fully opened. Appealing to federal and state regulators, he raised issues of safety, construction techniques, electric rates, alternative power sources and the hurdles involved in evacuation from an island that dead-ends in eastern Suffolk. To other adversaries, this might have seemed like a quixotic quest intended to delay the inevitable, but Mr. Like took it on as a professional and personal mission. As a result of local resistance, Shoreham was never permitted to operate at full power. And in 1992, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo pressed a button that triggered an underwater torch that severed a cooling system, permanently disabling the plant as the first step in a two-year decommissioning. Mary Midgley, a leading British moral philosopher who became an accessible, persistent and sometimes witty critic of the view that modern science should be the sole arbiter of reality, died on Oct. 10 in Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne, less than three weeks after her last book was published. She was 99. Her death was announced on Twitter by her son, Tom Midgley. Dr. Midgley, who taught at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne for many years, wrote more than a dozen books for a general audience, beginning when she was in her late 50s and continuing well into her 90s. Her last book, What Is Philosophy For?, was published by Bloomsbury Academic on Sept. 20. Not many authors can be known to publish a book in their 100th year, the publisher said in a statement, adding, Its quality and remarkable insights do not fall short of the brilliant mind that penned it. The biologist Stephen Rose, writing in The Times Literary Supplement in 1992, called Dr. Midgley a philosopher with what many have come to admire, and some to fear, as one of the sharpest critical pens in the West. The next day, the offer came, with one change no group insurance. Instead, I would receive $500 to buy my own policy. When I told him that could not work, he pressed me to explain. Reluctantly, I revealed my epilepsy. The next morning, on my first day of work, he told me that I was off salary and I was no longer allowed in the office. Less than 24 hours after I disclosed my epilepsy, the advocacy group decided I had to work as a freelancer from home. My chance for insurance evaporated. Job after job followed, none with coverage. Months before my dreaded 25th birthday, I took a low-level editors post compiling career announcements for a Washington magazine; I hated the work, but I needed the health coverage. Weeks into the job, the insurer rejected a bill for my anticonvulsants; unknown to me until that moment, the magazines insurance policy included a pre-existing condition clause. Desperate, I pleaded with colleagues for help. One journalist offered to assist me in gaining work as a copy boy at The New York Times a job many rungs lower on the career ladder, but one that offered insurance. In my interview, a perplexed editor stared at my resume. Why, he asked, would I trade an editors job for one fetching coffee? I lied. I revealed nothing about my health issues or my fears of financial wreckage. Instead, I rhapsodized about The Times. I got the job. I turned 25 before my Times policy went into effect, leaving me uninsured for a few weeks. During that gap, I found myself post-seizure in an emergency room. Realizing I was responsible for all the costs, I demanded to be released and staggered outside. I woke up hours later on the sidewalk. My parents paid the multi-thousand-dollar hospital bill out of pocket. I worked seven days a week as a copy boy and then news clerk, terrified that easing up would cost me my job and my insurance. Thankfully, in 1988, The Times promoted me to reporter. By 2005, I was married and considered going on my wifes employers insurance plan so that I could become a full-time book writer . But my wife is four years older than me, and she hoped to retire at 65, when she aged into Medicare. If I was solely an author, at the age of 61 I would be both uninsured and uninsurable. I abandoned the idea. ORAN, Algeria I was born eight years after the 1962 Algerian declaration of independence. I didnt experience the war, but it was present in my imagination, through my parents, their friends and their discussions, and through the state: in school, on television, on national holidays and in official speeches. As for many people my age, everything I heard brought on saturation and then rejection. When I was a child, one way to get people to laugh was to make fun of war veterans and their tendency to exaggerate or invent acts of bravery in the past in order to gain privileges in the present. As young as school-age, we could sense the lying. This intuition was reinforced by our parents, who told us about fake mujahideens supposed former combatants more and more of whom were claiming rights, and also by the spectacle of the injustices brought about by those rights: privileged access to housing and employment, tax exemptions, special social protections, among other things. I was made to feel guilty for not having been born earlier and not having participated in the war. Indebted to those who fought France, I was ordered to revere my elders. So Im part of the generation for whom the memory of the war in Algeria and, according to our schoolbooks, its 1.5 million martyrs is shrouded in suspicion. We grew up convinced that this story was no longer an epic, but about profits. Today, the France of Emmanuel Macron a president who, like me, has no experience of the war has decided to recognize an important event: the torture and execution of Maurice Audin, a young French Communist, by the French Army during the Battle of Algiers in 1957. To the Editor: Re Dont Censor College Applicants (Op-Ed, Oct. 11): Like Elise C. Boddie, I support the use of race in college admissions. And Im skeptical of the lawsuit against Harvard, which was brought by Asian-Americans who believe that affirmative action discriminates against them. But Professor Boddie condescends to the plaintiffs in the suit by depicting them as pawns of the conservative activist Edward Blum, who has spearheaded several other challenges to affirmative action and voting rights. If you believe in human equality, you have to assume that your opponents have their own honest reasons for thinking and acting the way that they do. Anything less demeans the Asian-Americans in the Harvard case, all in the guise of defending equality across race. Jonathan Zimmerman Philadelphia The writer is a professor of education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. To the Editor: I echo Roger Cohens sentiment (Body Parts on the Bosporus, column, nytimes.com, Oct. 12) that Saudi Arabias extensive record of autocratic repression and human rights violations renders our ongoing alliance with it unjustifiable. One of our foremost Middle Eastern allies has supported extremist Sunni groups such as Al Qaeda and has its fingerprints all over the Yemeni humanitarian crisis. Nevertheless, because of its petroleum resources and an infatuation with the Saudi crown prince, President Trump has fortified American relations with Saudi Arabia during his presidency and has refrained from criticizing the Saudis for the apparent assassination of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Blame for our decades-long alliance with Saudi Arabia obviously cannot be placed on Mr. Trump, but this recent atrocity should at least alert our government that morality cannot remain on the back burner. American interests in 2018 should no longer be connected to an absolutist regime with no regard for human rights. Shruti Sridhar Sunnyvale, Calif. To the Editor: I disagree with those who call for President Trump to take punitive action against the government of Saudi Arabia if it is proved that the Saudi government ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. If that murder is a fact, it is certainly a heinous act, but what about the ongoing actions, including the jailing, torture and killing of dissidents, of the Egyptian government? And lets not forget Chinas government taking violent and repressive actions against Chinese Muslims. This inequity is the subject of my column today. By now, you probably know that Im a fan of charts, and this column includes a big chart that I think tells the story especially clearly. (Thanks to my colleague Sahil Chinoy, who edited the charts and the column.) As I argue, the Senates current white preferences are a strong argument for making Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., the 51st and 52nd states. Theyre both home to American citizens who now have no voting power in Congress. Both are also mostly non-white. Granting them statehood wouldnt eliminate the Senates racial imbalance, but it would reduce it. For more on Puerto Rico and Washington in particular: The Washington Monthly has run several articles making the case for statehood for both places, including one by Ben Paviour and a broader piece on democratic reform by Paul Glastris. Since 1898, the United States has ruled the island as a colonial power, Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter-Poza has written in Washington Monthly. Puerto Ricans all 3.3 million of them are nominally American citizens, but have no representation in the federal government nor full constitutional protections. The disastrous response by the federal government to the hurricane in Puerto Rico is really example No. 1, Glastris told Hill.TVs Krystal Ball. If Puerto Rico were a state and had two senators, I can guarantee the federal government would not have been able to get away with the slow-walking of the response, and thousands of people might not have died. Hurricane survivors who live on the island agree that the federal government would have responded differently to the disaster if Puerto Rico were a US state, Alexia Fernandez Campbell of Vox writes, citing survey data. And although some Puerto Ricans continue to oppose statehood, all pre-Maria indications were that a majority of Puerto Ricans favored statehood, as Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter-Poza has also written. Multiple former Republican presidents, like Ronald Reagan, also favored statehood for Puerto Rico if the islands residents favored it. President Trump, however, is an absolute no. The president handed conservatives an issue to paint him as a sort of American dictator. The whole New Deal really went up in smoke as a result of the Supreme Court fight, said Secretary of Agriculture and future Vice President Henry Wallace. The plan became a key talking point to foment a fierce political backlash against the F.D.R. and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. One constituent sent a senator a bullet wrapped in a paper that warned, If you support Roosevelts court bill, we will get you you dirty rubber stamp. The court battle was a huge reversal of fortune for Roosevelt. Starting with the 1938 midterm elections, a coalition of Southern Democratic committee chairmen and Republicans came to power. They broke with the president by forming a powerful congressional voting bloc that had the muscle to stifle major initiatives at the high point of the liberal era. Health care and civil rights legislation, for instance, were two issues that the coalition held hostage. Southern committee chairmen worked with ranking Republicans to prevent legislation from ever reaching the floor. Senator James Eastland of Mississippi joked about special pockets that he had put into his pants to carry around the civil rights bills that he never allowed to come up for a vote. When bills did reach the Senate, the coalition joined forces to filibuster. The columnist William White called the Senate the Souths unending revenge upon the North for Gettysburg. The only real break for liberals finally came in 1964 and 1965, when an enormous grass-roots civil rights movement and huge Democratic majorities put into office during the 1964 election gave President Lyndon Johnson a brief window to pass Great Society legislation a window that largely closed with the midterms in 1966. Ultimately, the conservative coalition that was born out of Roosevelts court-packing battles came apart only when congressional reforms in the mid-1970s brought the committee era to an end. If Democrats place their bets on court-packing once again, the political backlash would probably be even more severe. The right now possesses huge institutional weapons national news media outlets, well-established interest groups and think tanks, and vast sources of campaign money that could quickly be deployed. They have invested heavily in reshaping the courts over the past few decades. Given that the Republicans have tended to care about the courts more than liberals, it is likely that court packing could be more effective at energizing Republicans than Democrats. Even if there is a Democratic Congress before 2020, proponents will never find the two-thirds support needed to overturn a presidential veto. If liberals want to change the direction of the courts, they should do more to replicate the kind of long-term projects their opponents have undertaken since the 1980s to nurture judicial talent and create a deep pool for future appointments. Liberals need to do better at using congressional procedure and handling open hearings to diminish political support for conservative nominees and obviously they need to win elections, starting in November. In the wake of journalist Jamal Khashoggis disappearance, a group of bipartisan senators demanded answers about why the United States is still backing the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said the U.S. should get out of the war entirely if the kingdom is involved with the journalists disappearance. President Trump said the U.S. gets massive amounts of money selling arms to Riyadh. Thats fake news. Crown Heights has evolved since racial tensions put a glaring spotlight on the Brooklyn neighborhood nearly three decades ago. The deadly race riots of 1991 that divided African-American and Jewish residents now seem mostly forgotten, particularly in the trendy western section by Prospect Park, where new apartments and mom-and-pop shops are attracting a wave of residents focused on the future. Its a very neighborhoody place and has a good vibe, said Danielle Leahy, 36, who lives in Crown Heights and, as saleswoman with the Brooklyn-based brokerage EXR, also frequently works there. In 2012, Ms. Leahy traded an apartment in Park Slope for a one-bedroom duplex in a prewar walk-up in Crown Heights, after falling for the areas burgeoning night life. If horrific hurricanes and a new, scarier-than-ever United Nations report dont change attitudes on climate change, perhaps a new report on barley will. A small international team of scientists considered what the effect of climate change would be for this crop in the next 80 years, and they are raising an alarm they hope will pierce the din of political posturing. They are predicting a beer shortage. In a report in Nature Plants, researchers in China, Britain and the United States say that by the end of the century, drought and heat could hurt barley crops enough to cause intense pain to beer drinkers. Imagine a worst case of a 20 percent drop in supply in the United States, or a doubling of prices per bottle in Ireland. Thats no abstract end of civilization talk; thats an empty display case at the Stop N Go. Of course it may seem odd, almost irreverent, to concentrate on a cold, foamy recreational beverage, given the damage, real and potential, of climate-influenced natural disasters. Christopher Field, faculty director of the Stanford Woods Institute, who was not involved in the study, said that the report was based on a solid analysis. But he wrote in an email, given what is going on in terms of climate change, It feels a tad trivial to talk about beer. WATAMU, Kenya The young hawksbill turtle was accidentally caught in a net in the Indian Ocean off Kenyas coast . The fisherman called Local Ocean Conservation , a nonprofit based in the town of Watamu that is the only turtle rescue and rehabilitation center on the East African seaboard. The hawksbill, critically endangered in this region, was a mere seven pounds; adults can weigh up to 160 pounds. X-rays showed that the reptiles intestinal tract was clogged with plastic. Hogaar, as Local Ocean named her, floated and couldnt dive. Gas had built up in her innards after she had eaten small pieces of plastic mistaken for food such as jellyfish. Local Ocean staff members placed Hogaar in a rehab pool and gave her laxatives. She passed feces laced with shreds of packaging and had little appetite. After more than four months at Local Ocean, Hogaar died. A necropsy revealed her gut was also full of sharp shards of white, blue and pink plastic and tangles of blue and gray string. Turtles are reptiles that have existed for at least 110 million years and survived the mass extinction that killed off dinosaurs. But today, sea turtles worldwide are threatened with extinction. And its estimated that only one of 1,000 turtle eggs laid survive to adulthood. As she laid out the story, Mr. Small commented in disbelief of the guys actions Its kind of rapey, he said in addition to the stupidity of the woman (a.k.a. Ms. Fowles). Who is this dumb friend? Mr. Small asked. Since then, Ms. Fowles has reached out to Ron one more time, in June. I was drunk and I left a message asking for my money that was spent on the hotel room, she said. The Times contacted Ron, who requested not to be quoted by name. I remember meeting some women, he said, referring to the rendezvous at the Aloft hotel. I dont remember the details. I dont remember a promise of payment. He said that he looked for women on SeekingArrangement and advertised himself on Tinder as a sugar daddy his profile urged women to swipe right if looking to be spoiled solely because he thought it was a good way to meet women for non-transactional hookups. He confirmed that he told women that he was an investment banker at Bain and that he had said he had a previous sugar arrangement with a young woman who had moved to Michigan for graduate school. But, he said, none of thats true. He admitted: All thats a story he made up. Ms. Fowles hopes to warn sugar babies of their vulnerability in finding sugar parents on websites like SeekingArrangement; if they are taken advantage of or abused in such relationships, they have little recourse . Certainly not with Mr. Wade, the companys founder, who said, If she is on the site and engaging in sex for money, she is violating the terms of the site. All the steps Infosys is now taking would be a huge change, said Rod Bourgeois, an expert on the industry and the head of research at Deep Dive Equity Research. Its not in their DNA. Other big offshore outsourcing companies are also responding to the market and political threats, including Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Cognizant. But Infosys made the biggest, most public commitment to building up its work force in the United States, when the company declared last year that it would hire 10,000 workers in America by sometime in 2019. Then, Infosys began to announce the creation of tech centers in America. Indianapolis was the first, followed by offices in Raleigh, N.C.; Providence, R.I.; and Hartford. Last month, the company said its next hub would be in Arizona. Infosys says it has hired more than 5,800 American workers. We will be looking for talent that is closer to our client clusters, said Mr. Kumar, who is the point man in the companys initiative to hire American workers. And our operating model will evolve. For now, though, an estimated 80 percent of the 200,000 Infosys workers are in India, a market that accounts for 3 percent of its worldwide revenue of $11 billion last year. The company garners 60 percent of its revenue in North America, mainly in the United States, where Infosys employs more than 20,000 workers, analysts estimate. About two-thirds of the Infosys workers in America, they say, have been Indians with skilled-worker visas. The main such visa program, H-1B, was intended to bring in talented foreigners with special skills who would complement the domestic work force and strengthen the United States economy. The goal of the college, said L. Rafael Reif, the president of M.I.T., is to educate the bilinguals of the future. He defines bilinguals as people in fields like biology, chemistry, politics, history and linguistics who are also skilled in the techniques of modern computing that can be applied to them. But, he said, to educate bilinguals, we have to create a new structure. Academic departments still tend to be silos, Mr. Reif explained, despite interdisciplinary programs that cross the departmental boundaries. Half the 50 faculty positions will focus on advancing computer science, and the other half will be jointly appointed by the college and by other departments across M.I.T. Traditionally, departments hold sway in hiring and tenure decisions at universities. So, for example, a researcher who applied A.I.-based text analysis tools in a field like history might be regarded as too much a computer scientist by the humanities department and not sufficiently technical by the computer science department. M.I.T.s leaders hope the new college will alter traditional academic thinking and practice. We need to rewire how we hire and promote faculty, said Martin Schmidt, the provost of M.I.T. Today, most dual-major programs involve taking courses in a computer science department in machine learning or data science in addition to a students major. The M.I.T. college is an effort to have computing baked into the curriculum rather than stapled on. It will grant degrees, though what they will be or their names have not been determined. NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar They posed as fans of pop stars and national heroes as they flooded Facebook with their hatred. One said Islam was a global threat to Buddhism. Another shared a false story about the rape of a Buddhist woman by a Muslim man. The Facebook posts were not from everyday internet users. Instead, they were from Myanmar military personnel who turned the social network into a tool for ethnic cleansing, according to former military officials, researchers and civilian officials in the country. Members of the Myanmar military were the prime operatives behind a systematic campaign on Facebook that stretched back half a decade and that targeted the countrys mostly Muslim Rohingya minority group, the people said. The military exploited Facebooks wide reach in Myanmar, where it is so broadly used that many of the countrys 18 million internet users confuse the Silicon Valley social media platform with the internet. Human rights groups blame the anti-Rohingya propaganda for inciting murders, rapes and the largest forced human migration in recent history. While Facebook took down the official accounts of senior Myanmar military leaders in August, the breadth and details of the propaganda campaign which was hidden behind fake names and sham accounts went undetected. The campaign, described by five people who asked for anonymity because they feared for their safety, included hundreds of military personnel who created troll accounts and news and celebrity pages on Facebook and then flooded them with incendiary comments and posts timed for peak viewership. Apple and Samsung typically show off glitzy hardware innovations dual-lens cameras; bigger screens to mesmerize millions into buying their new smartphones. Google has taken a different approach: It wants to sell people on better software. That was abundantly clear with the Pixel 3, the search giants latest smartphone, with software features powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. When you take a blurry photo, for example, the Pixels camera software can capture a series of alternate images and look for a clearer shot. When you get a call from an unknown number, you can use a screening tool to determine if it is a robocall. (I recommend using this feature with caution more on that later.) The phone is powered by A.I. so that we let Pixel do really useful, delightful things, said Mario Queiroz, Googles vice president of Pixel hardware. The phone doesnt get in the way. Things just happen for you. The Pixel 3, which will be available on Thursday, is a modest piece of hardware otherwise. It comes in two screen sizes 5.5 inches and 6.3 inches that are slightly smaller than phones from Apple and Samsung. The smaller Pixel costs $799; the larger one is $899. The R.B.I., an agency akin to the Federal Reserve in the United States, has said little about why it decided that Indian financial data must be stored only in India. In its April order, it said, In order to ensure better monitoring, it is important to have unfettered supervisory access to data stored with these system providers. Its policy changed as other arms of the Indian government spurred by both a privacy ruling from the Supreme Court and India-first nationalists in the governing Bharatiya Janata Party had begun deliberating over much bigger changes to the countrys data, e-commerce and privacy laws. Those broader proposals, which are unlikely to be passed until after Indias national elections in May, are intended to curb the ability of American tech titans to collect, analyze and make money from data they collect inside the country, which is the worlds fastest-growing market for new internet users. The rules would also give a leg up to domestic firms like Reliance Jio, a leading telecom provider, and Paytm, a payments company, which are seeking government help as they try to compete with the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Mastercard. Indias prime minister, Narendra Modi, has portrayed himself abroad as a pro-business leader who welcomes foreign investment. At the same time, the right wing of his party has pushed him to adopt more protectionist, India-first policies to appeal to voters, and law enforcement officials have urged him to make sure they can easily get data on residents when they need it. The Trump administration and the bipartisan India caucus of the United States Senate have both urged India to reconsider its data localization campaign, in part because Indias own outsourcing companies depend on moving data across borders to offer their services. On Friday, the co-chairmen of the India caucus, Senators John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, and Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, wrote to Mr. Modi warning that data localization will have negative impacts on the ability of companies to do business in India, may undermine your own economic goals and will likely not improve the security of Indian citizens data. Medicares private drug benefit plans incur administrative costs that are about 11 percent of their spending. All of this additional, private administrative cost is paid for by taxpayers and, through their premiums, people who use Medicare. Medicares direct administrative costs are not only low, but they also have been falling over the years, as a percent of total program spending. Yet the programs total administrative costs including those of the private plans have been rising. This reflects a shift toward more enrollment in private plans, Mr. Sullivan said. The growth of those plans has raised, not lowered, overall Medicare administrative costs. The high costs of private insurer plans Making an accurate estimate of the administrative costs of Medicare for All would depend, in part, on whether it would be more like an expansion of traditional Medicare (with its 1.1 percent administrative cost rate) or of all of Medicare, including its private plans (with a combined 7 percent administrative cost rate). Yet both figures are well below private insurers administrative costs, which run about 13 percent of spending (this also includes profit), according to Americas Health Insurance Plans, an advocacy organization for the industry. Some critics have argued that Medicares administrative cost rate appears artificially low because Medicare enrollees health spending is so high. Average Medicare spending per beneficiary is just over $12,000 per year; for an average worker in a private plan, its about $6,000. If you simply divide administrative costs by total spending, you will get a lower number for Medicare for this reason alone. This is true, but the governments administrative costs for Medicare are still below those of private plans. The governments administrative costs are about $132 per person compared with over $700 for private plans. One reason Medicares are so much lower is that it reaps economies of scale. It also benefits from not needing to do much marketing, and it doesnt earn profits. Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Heres the sign-up.) The 2018 elections officially begin this week when Californians start receiving their vote-by-mail ballots. California being California, the ballots will be full of confusing ballot initiatives, one of the more contentious of which is a statewide rent control measure called Proposition 10. Proposition 10 would repeal a decades-old state law called the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Costa-Hawkins is much reviled among tenant advocates because it limits how and how widely cities can impose rent control. Specifically, it prevents cities from applying rent control to single-family homes and apartments built after 1995. It also ensures that landlords can raise rents as much as they like after a rent-controlled tenant leaves. Economists right and left are almost universally opposed to rent control as a policy tool because various studies show price caps can make affordable housing problems worse in the long run. There are a lot of nuances to that debate, and they are explained here. BOSTON Harvard Universitys admissions practices are on trial in Federal District Court in Boston, in a lawsuit that could have a broad impact on the way colleges choose their incoming classes. The plaintiffs accuse Harvard of effectively setting a restrictive quota for the number of Asian-American students it accepts, a claim the university denies. The case is a departure from past challenges to race-conscious admissions, because it argues that a minority group has been unfairly penalized in favor both of whites and of other minority groups. Asian-Americans are divided on the case, with some saying they are being unfairly used as a wedge in a bid to abolish affirmative action. The court may rule broadly and make new law on the issue, or it may hand down a narrow decision that affects only Harvard. Court documents and testimony in the trial, which is expected to last three weeks, has exposed the some of the arcane admissions practices and terms of one of the most selective institutions in the world. Here are the basic facts of the case and a look at whats at stake. Whats this case about? The lawsuit accuses Harvard of discriminating against Asian-American applicants. A black man arrived at the entrance to the building where he lives in St. Louis late Friday night only to find himself blocked by a white neighbor who demanded proof he lived there. Please move, maam, the man, DArreion Toles, says in a video he recorded of the encounter, which shows the woman with her dog on a leash standing in the doorway at the condominium complex, the Elder Shirt Lofts. I can, she responds. Do you live here? Ive already answered that question, Mr. Toles, 24, replies as he continues to try to get in. Excuse me. But the woman, Hilary Brooke Mueller, refused to move as she continued to ask Mr. Toles what unit he lived in and to see his key fob. When he declined to tell her, she remained in his path. But Mr. Ellisons campaign has been consumed with Ms. Monahans allegations. Mr. Ellison said the final stages of the relationship had been marked by frequent arguments but said he was stunned by Ms. Monahans abuse allegations and her recent emergence as a cause celebre of the Republican Party. I think the question to be asked is, What is her ultimate goal? he said. If her goal is to frustrate my political future, maybe shell ally with anyone who can help her achieve that. Ms. Monahan has said on Twitter, I didnt #WalkAwayFromDemocrats, they #WalkedAway from me. Mr. Ellisons inner circle has been divided over how to respond to allegations, which Ms. Monahan has been alluding to on Twitter and Facebook without naming him since the couples tumultuous breakup. Some advocated a vigorous defense, while others saw nothing to be gained by talking about her claims. Friends of the couple have described the relationship as rocky, with Ms. Monahan often accusing Mr. Ellison of infidelity. Even after they separated and she moved out of his house, Ms. Monahan continued trying to prove that he had been unfaithful to her, he said. Ms. Monahan visited him in January 2017 and searched his phone without his permission, obtaining screenshots of text messages that he had sent to two other women. She also left a handwritten journal at his house that insulted one of the women he had started dating, calling her old. Ms. Monahan later wrote the woman a letter accusing the woman of stealing Mr. Ellisons affections. Mr. Ellison said he had tried to strike a conciliatory tone with Ms. Monahan. She sent him videos, articles and texts about narcissist abuse, a nonmedical term that has gained popularity online to describe the pain experienced by partners of pathologically self-centered people. And she asked him to discuss the articles with her, saying that she wanted to help him and that she also wanted restorative justice. Several of the wildfires that left stunning damage while ripping across California wine country last fall were caused by power lines, poles and other equipment owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. So as weather conditions ripened for another blaze on Sunday, the utility which has already been blamed for billions in fire damage took an unprecedented step. Pacific Gas and Electric said it would pre-emptively turn off the power altogether in some parts of the state. We know how much our customers rely on electric service, and we have made the decision to turn off power as a last resort given the extreme fire danger conditions these communities are experiencing, Pat Hogan, a senior vice president for the utility, said in a statement. The shut-off was initially scheduled to begin around 5 p.m. local time for about 70,000 customers who live in the Sierra Foothills, an inland slice of Northern California east of Sacramento. The utility called the nine counties affected by the outage extreme fire-risk areas. The proposed rule would apply to any drug if the list price, also known as the wholesale acquisition cost, was greater than $35 for a months supply or for the usual course of therapy. The 10 most commonly advertised drugs have list prices ranging from $535 to $11,000 for a month or for a course of therapy, the administration said. Asked about enforcement, federal officials said they would maintain a public list of drug products found to be in violation of the price disclosure requirement. But, the proposal says, the primary enforcement mechanism would be the threat of lawsuits under a 1946 law known as the Lanham Act, for unfair competition in the form of false or misleading advertising. The proposed requirement would not apply to drug advertising in magazines and newspapers or on websites or social media. The public will have two months to comment on the proposal. The government will consider the comments before issuing any final rule with the force of law. The list price is generally understood to be the sticker price set by a drug manufacturer, before discounts and rebates to middlemen and financial assistance to patients. Drug company executives and some consumer advocates say that the disclosure of list prices in ads, without more information, could perversely discourage patients from considering helpful medicines, especially those with high price tags. Moreover, the price that patients pay depends on many factors: Do they have insurance? Have they met the deductible? Is the drug on the insurers list of preferred medicines? WASHINGTON It is a racial taunt made by the president of the United States, not unlike his discredited claim that Barack Obama was not born in America. And just as President Trumps embrace of birtherism led to the remarkable spectacle of President Obamas birth certificate being distributed in the White House, Mr. Trumps unrelenting mockery of Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas questioning her claims about having Native American heritage has prompted Ms. Warren to release the results of a DNA test that she says provide proof of her ancestry. There is strong evidence that Ms. Warren has Native American pedigree 6-10 generations ago, according to a document she released Monday from Dr. Carlos Bustamante, a renowned geneticist. The error rate is less than one-in-a-thousand, he said. Ms. Warrens elaborate attempt to neutralize Mr. Trumps attacks represented the surest sign yet that she intends to run for president in 2020. Not only did the Massachusetts senator release the DNA results, but she created a fact-check website that details her Native American ancestry and her Oklahoma roots. The site also includes documents that Ms. Warren says make clear her heritage had no role whatsoever in her advancement during her academic rise as a Harvard law professor as some Republicans have asserted. what was said The European Union was formed in order to take advantage of us on trade, and thats what theyve done. President Trump, in an interview with 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday the facts False. European countries did not band together to scheme against the United States economically, and the United States has historically encouraged European integration. The European Union was created in 1993 to expand cooperation between member states, establish European citizenship and introduce a single monetary policy with the euro. But as early as the 1950s, predecessor organizations were formed among European nations with the aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbors, which culminated in the Second World War, according to the European Unions website. Wolfram Kaiser, a professor of European studies at the University of Portsmouth, said the United States and European capitals were bound closely by the Cold War, as well as political and economic interests. LAKESIDE, Calif. In this congressional district just east of San Diego, a Christian Democrat, Ammar Campa-Najjar, has been portrayed by his Republican opponent as an Islamic terrorist sympathizer. The same allegation has been tossed at Democratic candidates in Ohio and New Jersey, and a challenger to an embattled Republican incumbent in the suburbs of Richmond, Va., has been attacked for her part-time teaching gig at a Muslim high school. It has been 17 years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But in an era when President Trump has made fear of immigrants central to his political reign, Republican ad makers have seized on terrorism as a new weapon to wield against Democrats in the midterm races. The ads largely produced by the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC associated with Speaker Paul D. Ryan have frequently been criticized by fact checkers and national security groups as truth-stretching digital irruptions designed to rattle residents in districts where normally safe Republicans feel the hooves of disenchanted voters stomping toward them. LYNN HAVEN, Fla. In what has become a recurring ritual of the fall, President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, traveled here on Monday to survey the destruction of another hurricane, this one named Michael, which last week laid waste to the Florida Panhandle. This was beyond any winds weve seen for I guess 50 years, Mr. Trump said, before he and Mrs. Trump handed out plastic water bottles to storm victims at an aid distribution center in this hard-hit town. They say that 50 years ago, there was one that had this kind of power. Fifty years, he added. Its a long time. Even for a president who has now seen five hurricanes including Harvey, which swamped Houston; Maria, which destroyed Puerto Rico; and Florence, which inundated the Carolinas Michael left a particularly spectacular trail of wreckage along the Florida Gulf Coast. Pine trees were uprooted and splintered one lying across a Chevrolet sedan, others bisecting houses. Roofs had been torn off row after row of houses, blue tarps strung across the yawning holes. Windows were shattered, and even the wood siding was peeled off. Good Monday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. President Trump, who once called Defense Secretary Jim Mattis one of the most effective generals that weve had in many, many decades, gave him a more inauspicious label in a 60 Minutes interview broadcast Sunday: Democrat. Read the story. As the world recoils at reports that the Saudis sent agents to Turkey to kill Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, Mr. Trump has rebuffed pressure to punish the Saudis by canceling arms sales that he secured during a visit last year. Heres why that approach could put the president on a collision course with Congress. The media was happy to sing Mohammed bin Salmans praises in the spring, when the Saudi crown prince met with Hollywood stars and Silicon Valley titans. Then came the story about Mr. Khashoggi. Read our media columnists take. Confidential documents reviewed by The Times indicate that Jared Kushner, Mr. Trumps son-in-law and adviser, probably paid little or no income tax from 2009 to 2016. Heres how he did it. WASHINGTON Saudi Arabia was preparing an alternative explanation of the fate of a dissident journalist on Monday, saying he died at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago in an interrogation gone wrong, according to a person familiar with the kingdoms plans. In Washington, President Trump echoed the possibility that Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of rogue killers. The shifting story line defied earlier details that have emerged in the case, including signs that he was murdered and dismembered. Among other things, Turkish officials have said, an autopsy specialist carrying a bone saw was among 15 Saudi operatives who flew in and out of Istanbul the day Mr. Khashoggi disappeared. The new explanation, whatever its truth, seemed intended to ease the political crisis that Mr. Khashoggis disappearance has created for Saudi Arabia. The new story could also defuse some criticism of the Trump administration, which has refused to back down from billions of dollars in weapons sales to the kingdom and as of Monday was still planning to attend a glittering Saudi investment forum next week. [UPDATE: Jamal Khashoggi is dead. Here is everything we know so far.] And it could help Turkey, where a shaky economy would benefit from a financial infusion that low-interest loans from Riyadh could provide. Dr. Matsusaka said much of the dissatisfaction that has led to more citizens initiatives during the past two years may have been caused by an increase in the number of states where the legislatures and governors offices are controlled by the same political party. Some of the most heated battles have occurred in Democratic-controlled California, and Republican-dominated states including South Dakota, which has not elected a Democratic governor since 1974. When one party dominates, our elected representatives think they can do a lot of things with impunity, as long as they cater to their base, Dr. Matsusaka said. People feel like, I know this issue. Why cant I make these decisions? Lawmakers point out, though, that many ballot initiatives are driven not by ordinary residents but by special interest groups, often from somewhere else. In many cases, the organizations have a stake in the outcome, and are willing to bankroll the costs of paying petition drive companies to collect signatures and then advertising statewide to build support. Some initiatives in California have cost more than $100 million. With Republicans gaining dominance in more state capitals in recent years, many of the nations recent ballot initiatives have originated with left-leaning organizations that are frustrated with the lack of legislative action on matters like recreational marijuana and conditions for farm animals. Over the decades, though, conservative groups have also been successful in pressing their agendas with referendums including Proposition 13 in 1978, which capped California property taxes and helped spark a nationwide movement of public resistance to tax increases; and what are known as Three Strikes laws, beginning in Washington State in 1993, which mandated long prison terms for repeat offenders. In South Dakota, which began allowing ordinary citizens to propose ballot initiatives in 1889, voters will get another chance in November to pass an ethics measure. The initial referendum which limited lobbyists gifts to politicians, required more frequent reporting of campaign contributions, and established public financing for campaigns was approved by 52 percent of voters in 2016, before lawmakers repealed it. It will be years before Ms. Markle completes the lengthy process of becoming a British citizen. Even then, she may or may not renounce her connection to the United States. So will the baby automatically be considered a dual citizen? Not necessarily. Will he or she have to pay taxes in the United States, and subject the royal familys notoriously private finances to examination in a foreign country? Maybe. Heres a refresher on the rules. Eligibility for American citizenship through parents hinges on a few factors: Where the baby is born, whether one or both parents are U.S. citizens, and whether the parents are married. According to the State Department, children like the expected royal baby, who are born abroad, in wedlock, to one American citizen and one alien, automatically acquire citizenship at birth, as long as the American parent has lived in the United States for a requisite period of time. For babies born after 1986, when the rules were last updated, that period is five years, at least two of which must have been after the parent turned 14. So the young royal will be born an American citizen, but in order to function, like any of us, it will need documents and proof, and for that you need to have it validated, said Doris Meissner, who was commissioner of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Bill Clinton. Ms. Markle and Prince Harry will have to report the birth to an American consulate, Ms. Meissner explained. Theres a form that they fill out, which is called the U.S. consular report of birth abroad, and that then serves as the childs proof of U.S. citizenship, she said. With that, they are also eligible to apply for a passport. Growing up gender-diverse means children and adolescents are much more likely to be bullied and excluded, and they are at high risk for depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide. The statistics are pretty stark, Dr. Breuner said: triple the rate of suicide attempts, five times the risk of suicidal ideation, bullying, teasing, abuse. Its just horrific. The biggest reason for doing a lot of this work is to try and prevent some of the traditional horrible outcomes that transgender or gender-nonconforming youth have ended up with, Dr. Steever said. We know that many of these people, if unsupported, have grown up and dealt with depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, substance use and abuse, S.T.D.s, including high rates of H.I.V. in transgender women, domestic violence, physical abuse and discrimination the work were trying to do here is to prevent some of those outcomes. But the research shows, he said, that if the children are accepted, they do much better. Dr. Breuner agreed: Its the environment that endangers the child, she said, not the gender issues; if the childs family and school and health care system are supportive, she said, the child should not be at higher risk than the general population. Some worry that gender-affirming care may push children toward thinking they have gender issues, Dr. Breuner said, but in a much broader sense, we just have to be as parents really open to whatever conversation our kids want to have with us. Dr. Rafferty noted: Part of the affirmation process is parents understanding their kids, and kids understanding the perspective of parents. If parents are looking for health care for a child who is gender-diverse, Dr. Breuner said, look for a clinic that pays attention to the details of affirming the childs identity: The providers ask what pronouns the child uses, the bathrooms are all-gender, and when you check in, they ask what the child wants to be called. The clinic should have the capacity for a child to be able to change the name in the system, she said. Some families will decide to use drugs that block puberty, preventing the body from developing the secondary sexual characteristics of the gender that the child wants to abandon, Such drugs block characteristics like breast development in biological females, and voice deepening and facial hair in biological males. Dr. Steever called it a pause button, which gives families time for counseling and a chance to be sure of the childs wishes. Some adolescents will decide to pursue further interventions, medical or surgical, sometimes called transitioning. BRISBANE, Australia Activists in the Australian state of Queensland have tried for decades to scrap a criminal code from 1899 that makes having an abortion an offense punishable with prison time, and for decades their efforts have failed. But as the state Parliament again considers whether to decriminalize abortion, advocates say this time may be different: Women will be leading the debate. In a state known for its history of conservatism, the Queensland Parliament has achieved a striking level of representation for women: The premier, the head of the government, is a woman, the first in Australia to be elected to two terms. Her deputy is a woman, and so is half of her cabinet. And, in another first, the opposition is also led by a woman. This bill is closer than weve ever been, said Daile Kelleher, the manager of Children by Choice, a nonprofit that helps women navigate unplanned pregnancies. This is certainly the first time weve seen female leaders on both sides of the policy. Dear Canada: Youre in for a wild ride. Its been 10 months since recreational marijuana became legal in California, and my email inbox here in San Francisco fills up every week with companies offering new products. Theres cannabis roll-on pain reliever, sparkling water infused with marijuana, cannabis for pets. I get invited to cannabis lounges and a marijuana history tour of San Francisco. Cannabis is infused that seems to be industrys word of choice into a huge variety of foods and candies. Chefs are concocting gourmet dinners that pair marijuana with another drug, the liquid one that California is famous for. How about some marijuana-leaf pesto with a glass of Napa chardonnay? Yet despite all of the innovation and energy in the legalized market, the black market is still dominant. Only around 3 percent of marijuana farmers in the state have obtained licenses, said Hezekiah Allen, the executive director of the California Growers Association, a marijuana advocacy group. Its hard to persuade pot farmers who have been producing in the shadows for decades to fill out voluminous paperwork, pay taxes and comply with reams of environmental regulations, Mr. Allen said. And he believes there are parallels between Canada and California, especially in British Columbia, where growers have operated in the wilds for decades just as they have in Humboldt County in California. LONDON After a significant setback in talks over Britains withdrawal from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday insisted that an agreement was still achievable as she tried to prevent a crucial meeting with her European counterparts this week from turning a diplomatic deadlock into a crisis. Mrs. May is scheduled to meet the other leaders in Brussels on Wednesday, but a summit once seen as an opportunity to agree on most of the outlines of a withdrawal deal is fast becoming a political salvage operation. Beset by political difficulties at home where hard-line Brexit supporters in her cabinet are said to be contemplating resignation Mrs. May acknowledged that there were a few critical issues that still needed to be agreed on with the European Union. Pre-summit talks took a bad turn in Brussels on Sunday. I do not believe the U.K. and the E.U. are far apart, Mrs. May told lawmakers on Monday. The two sides, she said, cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with the no deal outcome that no one wants. PARIS Muddy rivers and streams swollen by torrential rains tore through southwestern France on Monday, swamping towns, cutting off roads and killing at least 11 people, according to French officials. Most of the flooding occurred in the Aude region, named after the river that runs through it, after several months worth of rain fell within hours overnight nearly 14 inches in some places, according to the Interior Ministry. In Trebes, near the city of Carcassonne, the official agency that tracks flooding nationwide described the rise in the water level over 20 feet as exceptional, and said it had nearly reached the record set in 1891. At least six people were killed there, the Interior Ministry said. It looks like an ultimatum to put the biggest possible pressure on Constantinople, said Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. It might work or it might backfire, he noted, pushing Constantinople to assert its authority by implementing the decision. Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who as the ecumenical patriarch is considered the first among equals in church affairs, took several steps last week toward creating an autonomous church in Ukraine. He has yet, however, to issue a Tomos of Autocephaly, the formal ordinance that would create an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Those steps included revoking a decision from 1686 that effectively put the Ukraine church under Moscow. Constantinople maintains it merely granted Moscow the right to approve the patriarch in Kiev and since it granted the right initially, it is within church law to take it back. Moscow argues that it needs consent from the Russian church, calling the steps unlawful. Various churches within the Orthodox faith have broken communion with each other over its lengthy, nearly 2,000-year history, especially over creating autonomous churches. The Russian church itself broke with Constantinople in 1996 for several months over the issue of controlling the church in Estonia before a compromise was reached. LONDON A scathing new report on Britains House of Commons released on Monday describes a culture of bullying, abuse and sexual harassment as embedded as it is shocking, where complaints of mistreatment are typically muffled by deference, subservience, acquiescence and silence. The inquiry, led by a former high court judge, Dame Laura Cox, was commissioned in March, after a BBC report found that harassment complaints were often batted away by employees trained to protect the interests of senior staff members. Among the legislators named in the March BBC report was Speaker John Bercow, the chair of the House of Commons commission, which oversees the administration of the House. Mr. Bercow, a flamboyant, foghorn-voiced Conservative who has occupied the post since 2009, has denied the allegations. Though Ms. Cox did not specifically address Mr. Bercow in her report, she wrote that the core, cultural context must be changed, and that doing so would most likely require a generational turnover. The disappearance of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi has set off a diplomatic feud between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, a bipartisan uproar in the United States Congress, tremors of uncertainty in Wall Street and Silicon Valley about how to deal with Saudi Arabia, and a noisy spat between the White House and its closest Arab ally. On Monday morning, President Trump said on Twitter that he had just discussed the case with King Salman, who denied any knowledge of what had happened to Mr. Khashoggi, and that he was immediately sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with the king. Later, in brief remarks to reporters, he said that from his conversation with the king, it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers who knows. [UPDATE: Jamal Khashoggi is dead. Here is everything we know so far.] American officials have speculated that if Saudi Arabia confirms suspicions that Mr. Khashoggi was killed, it would propose that rogue elements acted on their own, not under orders from the highest levels of power in the kingdom. Turkish officials have described a grisly assassination and cover-up, with Saudi agents dismembering the body for disposal. Turkish news organizations reported on Monday that Saudi Arabia would open its consulate to a search by investigators from both countries something the kingdom has promised before but not yet allowed. And King Salman of Saudi Arabia reportedly ordered Saudi prosecutors to open their own investigation. AMMAN, Jordan The Syrian government celebrated the reopening on Monday of a vital border crossing with Jordan as a new sign of President Bashar al-Assads reestablished control over much of the country and of progress in his efforts to normalize relations with other Arab states. The civil war that has torn apart Syria since 2011 has ravaged the countrys economy and severed many of its regional relationships, and Mr. Assad, along with his Russian and Iranian allies, is now hoping that he can undo the damage. The Nasib border crossing, along Syrias southern border with Jordan, was closed for three years because the territory on the Syrian side was controlled by mix of armed rebels and jihadist fighters. The Syrian government seized the area this summer with the help of Russian airstrikes, allowing the crossing to reopen. The Nasib crossing is a vital economic artery for the two countries, and its opening allows Syria to export produce and other goods to Jordan and send it on to other Arab countries. From Father to Kidnapper Lisa Jensen was abandoned by her abusive father in 1986, when she was five years old. He left behind a fake name and a fingerprint. A newspaper clipping from 1986, soon after Lisa Jensen was abandoned. The San Bernardino Sun, via Newspapers.com Sixteen years later, the man who abandoned Lisa was arrested on charges of killing his girlfriend. When investigators looked into his history, they began to wonder if he was Lisas father after all. A DNA test showed he was not related, and it seemed likely hed kidnapped her as a baby. Who is Lisa Jensen? Lisas kidnapper died in prison in 2010, without revealing any clues to Lisas past. By then she was in her early 30s, married with kids of her own. She still often wondered: who was she really? One night, Lisa saw a TV program about how DNA testing was helping people learn about their roots. She contacted Peter Headley, a detective who had tried unsuccessfully to find her real identity years before. Maybe this approach would help them? The detective emailed DNAadoption.com, a nonprofit that helps teach adoptees how to find their biological parents. Barbara Rae-Venter, a retired patent lawyer and volunteer with the organization, offered to help search for Lisas identity. But how do you identify someone with no name, no place of birth and no birthdate? Step 1 Extract Lisas Genetic Profile For years, adoptees and the search angels who volunteer to help them have used genealogy websites and public records to try to find unknown parents. An adopted child will typically have at least one piece of biographical data, such as a birthdate. But in this case, all Lisa had was her DNA. (Lisa declined to be interviewed but consented to having Dr. Rae-Venter and Mr. Headley recount the story of the investigation.) To maximize her chance of finding relatives, Lisa joined four genealogical databases: 23andMe, which required her to spit in a tube; Ancestry.com, which required her to swab her cheek; and FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch, which accepted the genetic profiles created by those other sites. At that time, those sites together held roughly three million potential matches. Step 2 Find People Who Share Her DNA Family relationships can be estimated by the amount of DNA shared by two people: Great-Great-Grandparents Great-Great- Aunt or Uncle 313% Great-Grandparents 722% Great-Aunt or Uncle 431% First Cousin twice removed 18% Grandmother or Grandfather 1734% Aunt or Uncle 2032% First Cousin once removed 213% Second Cousin once removed 05% Mother or Father Amount of shared DNA: 4955% SELF (100%) Sibling 3350% First Cousin 818% Second Cousin 18% Third Cousin 03% Niece or Nephew 2032% First Cousin once removed 213% Second Cousin once removed 05% Third Cousin once removed 03% Child 4955% Great-Niece or Nephew 431% First Cousin twice removed 18% Second Cousin twice removed 04% Third Cousin twice removed 02% Grandchild 1734% Great-Grandparents 722% Great-Aunt or Uncle 431% Grandparents Shared DNA: 1734% Aunt or Uncle 2032% 1st Cousin once removed 213% Parent 4955% 1st Cousin 818% 2nd Cousin 18% SELF (100%) 1st Cousin once removed 213% 2nd Cousin once removed 05% Child 4955% 1st Cousin twice removed 18% 2nd Cousin twice removed 04% Grandchild 1734% Source: Blaine T. Bettinger Had Lisa been very lucky and matched with someone who shared 25 percent of her DNA, that person could have been a grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew. Instead, Ancestry.com identified a possible second cousin: Paul, an 81-year-old man. And 23andMe found two other relatively close cousins, including Adam, 40. Step 3 Convince Lisas Cousins Its Not a Hoax To understand how Lisa was related to her three newfound cousins, Dr. Rae-Venter had to convince them to upload their DNA profiles to GEDmatch, which has advanced tools for comparing genetic and family tree data. But the cousins were suspicious of the claim that their DNA could help a kidnapped woman find her real identity. Eventually, Dr. Rae-Venter and detectives convinced Paul and Adam that it was not a scam, and they agreed to help. (With the exception of Adam, who asked to be identified, family members names are pseudonyms used by researchers to protect the familys privacy.) Step 4 Look for Common Ancestors When Dr. Rae-Venter compared Lisas DNA sequence with Pauls DNA, she found they had a surprisingly large match on the X chromosome. A GEDmatch tool showing matching DNA segments (in blue) on Lisa and Pauls X chromosomes. The X chromosome was a hint that they must be related through Paul's maternal line. (A son typically inherits a single X chromosome from his mother and a Y chromosome from his father, while a daughter inherits an X from each parent.) Green areas show where Lisa and Paul have matching DNA. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 X Green areas show where Lisa and Paul have matching DNA. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Green areas show where Lisa and Paul have matching DNA. 21 22 X Paul had already assembled an extensive family tree of his own, and Dr. Rae-Venter began to narrow it down. Based on their relative ages Lisa was around 35, less than half Pauls age and from the percentage of matching DNA, Dr. Rae-Venter estimated that Lisa was likely Pauls first cousin twice removed, on his mothers side. Pauls Grandfather Pauls Grandmother Pauls Father Pauls Mother Pauls Maternal Aunt Pauls First Cousin Paul Lisas Parent? Lisa? Pauls Grandfather Pauls Grandmother Pauls Father Pauls Mother Pauls Maternal Aunt Pauls First Cousin Paul Lisas Parent? Lisa? Step 5 Reunite an Adopted Cousin with His Mother Lisas cousin Adam had been adopted, and had joined 23andMe to try to find his birth parents. A volunteer working with Dr. Rae-Venter found Adams mothers maiden name in California birth records. It was an unusual name and family members were everywhere on Facebook, so within a few hours Adams maternal line was mapped out and hed found photos of his mother and half-brother. I just immediately started crying, Adam said in an interview. To go in just a few days time from feeling I'll never find anything else out about my family, to getting an email about a kidnapped girl and then getting all that. It was a whirlwind. Adam reunited with his birth mother. Adams birth mother agreed to a DNA test, which revealed that she was not related to Lisa. That meant that Adam must match Lisa through his fathers family. Eventually, by researching Pauls large family tree, Dr. Rae-Venter identified a single branch in Southern California, where Adam was born, that seemed most likely to contain Adams father. One cousin from that branch Jean agreed to take a DNA test, which showed he was Adams uncle. But all of his brothers declined to test. Adam was left unsure who his father was, but Dr. Rae-Venter now had enough information to connect Adam and Paul. Adams Great-Great- Grandfather Marie is Pauls maternal grandmother and the most recent common ancestor of Paul, Adam and Lisa. Marie (died 1962) Adams Great- Grandfather Adams Great- Grandmother Adams Grandfather Adams Grandmother Adams Father Adams Mother Adams Uncle Jean Adam Marie is the most recent common ancestor of Paul, Adam and Lisa. Marie (died 1962) Great-Great- Grandfather Great- Grandfather Great- Grandmother Adams Grandfather Adams Grandmother Adams Father Adams Uncle Jean Adam By gradually filling in the branches sprouting from their most recent common ancestor, a French-Canadian woman named Marie, the team should be able to find Lisas family. Step 6 Recruit Cousins and Catch a Lucky Break Complicating the search, however, were ancestors with 10 or more children who sometimes married their cousins, creating dozens of branches that intersected in confusing ways. In December of 2015 the group had a lucky break. A new match appeared on Ancestry.com: Peter, a retired intelligence officer in his 80s who was likely Lisas first or second cousin. Peter become nearly as invested in the search as Dr. Rae-Venter was, scouring records and recruiting his cousins to take DNA tests and submit their own family trees. Eventually 120 family members joined a closed group where they could divvy up research tasks and share their findings. They spent thousands of hours sifting through birth, death and marriage records, handwritten church documents, social media profiles and newspaper clippings. Step 7 Find Lisas Grandfather Many of Lisas closest genetic matches were from New Hampshire, and Dr. Rae-Venter developed a hunch that Lisa might be from there. One particular branch contained a woman, named in two relatives obituaries, who seemed to be about the age that Lisas mother should be. With the help of detectives, Dr. Rae-Venter reached out to Adrian, a man who appeared to be the womans father. Adrian was skeptical and declined to help, but detectives eventually learned that his daughter had not been heard from since 1981, when she left with her boyfriend and daughter in what her family thought was an attempt to avoid debt collectors. Adrian eventually agreed to a DNA test, which confirmed he was Lisas grandfather. Lisas Great-Great- Grandfather Marie is the most recent common ancestor of Lisa, Paul and Adam, and the source of the matching DNA on Lisa and Pauls X chromosomes. Marie (died 1962) Lisas Great- Grandfather Lisas Great- Grandmother Lisas Grandmother Adrian Lisas Father Lisas Mother Lisa Lisas Great-Great- Grandfather Marie is the most recent common ancestor of Lisa, Paul and Adam. Marie (died 1962) Lisas Great- Grandfather Lisas Great- Grandmother Lisas Grandmother Adrian Lisas Father Lisas Mother Lisa Additional investigative work suggested that the boyfriend of Lisas mother had told her relatives they would be leaving town. Soon after that he likely killed Lisas mother and kidnapped Lisa. Lisas mother. N.H. State Police Step 8 Find Lisas Father As new matches emerged on 23andMe and Ancestry.com, Lisas paternal side began to take shape. Dr. Rae-Venter eventually narrowed Lisas father down to one of five brothers who also lived in New Hampshire. All the brothers were married when Lisa was conceived and those who were located refused to be tested. Step 9 Find Dawn This was far from a traditional happy ending: Lisas fathers family would not acknowledge her and her mother likely had been murdered. (Her body still has not been found.) But Dr. Rae-Venter explained that by then Lisa already had a sense that her mother might be dead, and she was grateful to finally have answers to questions that had long plagued her. And after an estimated 20,000 hours of work from more than 100 volunteers, Lisa now had a family tree containing over 20,000 people. She had found her birth name: Dawn. And at a small family reunion, she met her grandfather and several cousins. Step 10 Inspire the Hunt for the Golden State Killer The investigation helped detectives better understand the history of the con man who kidnapped Lisa and murdered her mother, and helped link him to other murders. In total, hes believed to have killed at least seven women and young girls. A detective trying to identify the Golden State Killer, who terrorized California in 70s and 80s, heard about the investigation and asked Dr. Rae-Venter to help him. They used similar genetic techniques to identify Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, as a suspect. He was arrested in April. Joseph James DeAngelo, the suspected Golden State Killer, appears in court in California in April 2018. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In recent months, dozens of other law enforcement agencies have experimented with this approach. But identifying a bit of blood from a crime scene has one major difference: only one genealogical database GEDmatch permits law enforcement uploads without a court order. But once a genetic profile is extracted from that blood and uploaded to GEDMatch, the steps are essentially the same: Find a highly skilled genetic genealogist to help you. Look for the closest relatives you can find. Search for common ancestors. Build a family tree using genetic clues and public records until youve found someone in the right location and the right age to be a suspect. Then have law enforcement collect their DNA and see if it matches the crime scene evidence. That process has lead to more than 10 arrests in the last five months, but has also sparked a public debate about privacy. Speeding Up the Search Process In 2015, there were about one million people on Ancestry.com. Now there are around nine million. Other sites like GEDmatch and 23andMe have grown at similar rates, which makes it much easier to use DNA to find an unknown relative or to identify a suspect. The Walmart in Lynn Haven, Fla., had lines out the door on Sunday. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times PANAMA CITY, Fla. With much of the area struck by Hurricane Michael without power or running water, residents here are adjusting to a new feature of daily life: the line. People wait for hours to buy essentials or to receive aid. In the Florida heat, food is spoiling quickly, so residents clamor for ice. Bottled water is a must. And gasoline, which people need to track down these supplies, is becoming increasingly scarce. In the days since the storm hit on Oct. 10, The New York Times talked to some of the people waiting in the many lines now scattered throughout the region. In Lynn Haven, just north of Panama City, Sonnys BBQ gave out free food on Friday. Bedel Saget/The New York Times Before the storm, I ordered twice as much food as I normally do. Ive been cooking since daylight. Comfort is the most important thing right now. Cassidy Nelson, Lynn Haven, Fla. On Saturday, Harold Sherman and his brother Clayton delivered two trailers carrying 75,000 pounds of bagged and unbagged ice from Baldwin County, Ala., to Southport, Fla. Joe Ward/The New York Times I live in an RV park that almost sustained a total loss. We have no power or water and I have to stock up at least every other day. I am helping a couple of other households because I have a van and I am able to get out. We need to keep food preserved. Shawn Perry, Southport, Fla. At a Salvation Army distribution center in Panama City Beach, Fla., on Sunday, hot meals, water, snacks and pet food were among the essentials available to hurricane victims. Joe Ward/The New York Times Its the only warm meal that my kids get right now. I have three dogs that are stuck on my back porch. I dont have the means to buy food right now for them, so knowing that they have it here takes a little stress off me. Anita Boykin, Lynn Haven, Fla. Traffic on Sunday was backed up for miles on Route 98 heading out of Panama City. Many drivers, if not most, were searching for gasoline. Bedel Saget/The New York Times Were heading to Panama City Beach to get gas. We came over to check on my granddaughter and I didnt know there were no stations open in this area. Murline Kirkland, Panama City Beach, Fla. Gary Jones, the owner of this gas station on Route 77 in Southport, said that the terminals where stations get their gas are without power and unable to pump, contributing to the shortage. Bedel Saget/The New York Times Most of the time, storms pass us in this region. Many people didnt heed the warnings and didnt buy gas before the storm. Gary Jones, Freeport, Fla. Sams Club was one of the few places in Panama City that was selling gas on Sunday. Bedel Saget/The New York Times Yesterday, I had to drive 60 miles to I-10. I had a hundred and six dollars in my pocket and I got a hundred dollars worth of gas. Pat Mallory, Bayou George, Fla. People waited in line to buy supplies on Sunday at the Walmart in Lynn Haven. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Were here today to get a few supplies. The Cajun Navy actually brought us some food and stuff. So were trying to look for supplies to use that little portable grill that they brought. Kerry Cole, Southport, Fla. Despite considerable damage to St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Panama City, its members were dispersing food, water and hygiene supplies on Sunday. Joe Ward/The New York Times We had so many generous people from all over stop in and they asked the preacher where the distribution center is. He got out a few tables and said, Right here. Sharon Hudson, Panama City, Fla. Assumptions about who is going to vote may be particularly important in this race. To estimate the likely electorate, we combine what people say about how likely they are to vote with information about how often they have voted in the past. In previous races, this approach has been more accurate than simply taking people at their word. But there are many other ways to do it. Theres a big question on top of the standard margin of error in a poll: Who is going to vote? Its a particularly challenging question this year, since special elections have shown Democrats voting in large numbers. The types of people we reached Even if we got turnout exactly right, the margin of error wouldnt capture all of the error in a poll. The simplest version assumes we have a perfect random sample of the voting population. We do not. People who respond to surveys are almost always too old, too white, too educated and too politically engaged to accurately represent everyone. How successful we were in reaching different kinds of voters Called Inter- viewed Success rate Our responses Goal 18 to 29 4 2 5 3 3 5 1 in 122 6% 8% 30 to 64 2 0 4 2 3 2 9 7 1 in 69 49% 53% 65 and older 1 0 2 4 0 2 7 3 1 in 38 45% 39% Male 1 5 8 5 1 2 7 3 1 in 58 45% 47% Female 1 9 2 6 3 3 3 3 1 in 58 55% 53% White 2 4 2 7 3 4 5 8 1 in 53 76% 71% Nonwhite 7 3 3 6 8 9 1 in 82 15% 19% Cell 2 2 2 9 2 3 6 2 1 in 62 60% Landline 1 2 8 2 2 2 4 4 1 in 53 40% Pollsters compensate by giving more weight to respondents from under-represented groups. Here, were weighting by age, party registration, gender, likelihood of voting, race, education and region, mainly using data from voting records files compiled by L2, a nonpartisan voter file vendor. But weighting works only if you weight by the right categories and you know what the composition of the electorate will be. In 2016, many pollsters didnt weight by education and overestimated Hillary Clintons standing as a result. Here are other common ways to weight a poll: Our poll under different weighting schemes Our poll result Dont weight by party registration, like most public polls Even Dont weight by education, like many polls in 2016 McSally +1 Weight using census data instead of voting records, like most public polls McSally +1 Our estimate McSally +2 Just because one candidate leads in all of these different weighting scenarios doesnt mean much by itself. They dont represent the full range of possible weighting scenarios, let alone the full range of possible election results. But remember: Its just one poll, and we talked to only 542 people. Each candidates total could easily be five points different if we polled everyone in the district. And having a small sample is only one possible source of error. Will Democrats blow a seat that seemed to fall in their laps? We made 33769 calls, and 542 people spoke to us. This survey was conducted by The New York Times Upshot and Siena College. Hey, Im Alex Burns, a politics correspondent for The Times. Ill give you the latest reporting and intel on the midterms and take your questions from the campaign trail. Its generally best to look at a single poll in the context of other polls: Ms. Shalala, 77, doesnt speak Spanish, and her long track record brings an equally long list of potential vulnerabilities for Republicans to attack. About six in 10 percent of registered voters here are Latino, most of them Cuban-American, as is Ms. Salazar. Shes a familiar and trusted face for many in the area; she worked for Telemundo and other stations for three decades. The retirement of the Republican incumbent, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American, in a district Hillary Clinton won by 20 percentage points seemed to suggest an easy victory for Democrats. But it hasnt worked out that way, with polls showing a tight race .It shouldnt even be this close, a former chairman of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party told The New York Times. I know from my Republican friends that theyre kind of bullish. It has me nervous because it would be a devastating loss. This traditionally Republican district, which includes wealthy communities like Miami Beach, Key Biscayne and Coral Gables as well as Little Havana in Miami, has been trending Democratic in recent years. was the health and human services secretary under President Bill Clinton, a president of the University of Miami for 14 years, and a president of the Clinton Foundation. 48% favorable rating; 28% unfavorable; 24% dont know But sampling error is not the only type of error in a poll. One reason were doing these surveys live is so you can see the uncertainty for yourself. As we reach more people, our poll will become more stable and the margin of sampling error will shrink. The changes in the timeline below reflect that sampling error, not real changes in the race. Our turnout model Theres a big question on top of the standard margin of error in a poll: Who is going to vote? Its a particularly challenging question this year, since special elections have shown Democrats voting in large numbers. To estimate the likely electorate, we combine what people say about how likely they are to vote with information about how often they have voted in the past. In previous races, this approach has been more accurate than simply taking people at their word. But there are many other ways to do it. Assumptions about who is going to vote may be particularly important in this race. Our poll under different turnout scenarios Who will vote? Est. turnout Our poll result The types of people who voted in 2014 168k Shalala +4 People whose voting history suggests they will vote, regardless of what they say 205k Shalala +7 Our estimate 205k Shalala +7 People who say they will vote, adjusted for past levels of truthfulness 224k Shalala +8 People who say they are almost certain to vote, and no one else 238k Shalala +7 The types of people who voted in 2016 273k Salazar +2 Every active registered voter 387k Shalala +7 The types of people we reached Even if we got turnout exactly right, the margin of error wouldnt capture all of the error in a poll. The simplest version assumes we have a perfect random sample of the voting population. We do not. People who respond to surveys are almost always too old, too white, too educated and too politically engaged to accurately represent everyone. How successful we were in reaching different kinds of voters Called Inter- viewed Success rate Our responses Goal 18 to 29 2 4 7 5 4 0 1 in 62 7% 10% 30 to 64 1 4 9 3 2 3 4 3 1 in 44 63% 55% 65 and older 6 0 9 7 1 5 9 1 in 38 29% 35% Male 1 0 1 2 4 2 7 4 1 in 37 51% 46% Female 1 3 3 9 8 2 6 8 1 in 50 49% 54% White 4 8 6 9 1 4 8 1 in 33 27% 24% Nonwhite 1 7 6 9 3 3 5 9 1 in 49 66% 71% Cell 1 6 5 1 6 4 2 2 1 in 39 78% Landline 7 0 0 6 1 2 0 1 in 58 22% Pollsters compensate by giving more weight to respondents from under-represented groups. Here, were weighting by age, party registration, gender, likelihood of voting, race, education and region, mainly using data from voting records files compiled by L2, a nonpartisan voter file vendor. But weighting works only if you weight by the right categories and you know what the composition of the electorate will be. In 2016, many pollsters didnt weight by education and overestimated Hillary Clintons standing as a result. Here are other common ways to weight a poll: Our poll under different weighting schemes Our poll result Dont weight by education, like many polls in 2016 Shalala +10 Our estimate Shalala +7 Weight using census data instead of voting records, like most public polls Shalala +7 Dont weight by party registration, like most public polls Shalala +6 Just because one candidate leads in all of these different weighting scenarios doesnt mean much by itself. They dont represent the full range of possible weighting scenarios, let alone the full range of possible election results. Japan has some of the worlds longest working hours, but some companies are starting to realize that their workers also need to sleep in order to be productive. One such company is actually encouraging employees to sleep more by rewarding them with points that can be spent at cafes and cafeterias. CRAZY, a Tokyo-based wedding planning company, recently announced the implementation of a sleep remuneration system to encourage its workforce to get more sleep. It has teamed up with Airweave, a startup specializing in sleep analysis technology and will be monitoring its employees sleep patterns. Workers who install the Sleep Analysis app on their smartphones and share their data with the company are eligible to receive points according to how many hours of sleep they get ever night. CRAZY hopes that the new reward system will improve the lifestyle habits and overall health of its employees, as well as boost their productivity. Photo: Wokandapix/Pixabay All employees have to do is place their smartphones by their beds and start the Airweave Sleep Analysis app, and it will take care of the rest. The software can track body movements during sleep, measure sleep depth and sleep time, among other things. If they decide to share this data with their company, and manage to a minimum of 6 hours of sleep per night, for at lest five days a week, they stand to earn hundreds of points that can be converted into yen (100 points = 100 yen) at the cafeterias and cafes in the CRAZY office building. For example, if the app shows that an employee has slept the minimum of 6 hours per night, for five nights a week, they will receive 500 points ($4.50). If they manage to do that 6 times a week, they get 600 points ($5.40), and reaching the 6-hour threshold for a full week yields 1,000 points ($9). Employees also get a bonus of 1,000 points if they share their sleep data with the company for a full month, even if their dont meet the set sleep goals. CRAZY had introduced the sleep remuneration system on a trial basis, but decided to implement it officially on October 10th, because the results of the test exceeded expectations. Employees taking part in the trial improved their sleep time and overall health, increased their productivity at work and displayed increased creativity, a treasured quality in the wedding planning business. The rewards may not be that attractive, but the sleep remuneration system itself is definitely very intriguing, especially in a country like Japan where overwork and burnout are major issues. CRAZY via IT Media Steve Lipin Gladstone Place Partners has axed the $200K Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia account in the aftermath of the alleged murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to CEO Steve Lipin. Turkish officials say Saudi agents tortured, murdered and dismembered Khashoggi in Saudi Arabias Istanbul consulate after he visited to obtain documents needed for his wedding. Saudi Arabia denies any involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance. ODwyers reported Sept. 14 that Public Investment Fund hired Gladstone to promote the construction of Neom, a $500B mega-city designed to help the Kingdom diversify its economic base and reduce its dependence on energy revenues. Gladstone's work began Jan. 1 and was supposed to run through July 2019 for strategic communications, thought leadership and relationship-building with top-tier media, influential commentators and key business/financial executives. Lipin, who did a 10-year stint as Wall Street Journal finance editor and a 15-year run as Brunswick Group senior partner, launched New York-based Gladstone in 2017. Ronn Torossian Gasps filled Sothebys auction house in London last week, and onlookers stared frozen in shock as a painting sold moments before for $1.4 million appeared to self-destruct before their eyes, shredding through its own ornate frame like office paper. The work of art, Girl with Balloon, was a favorite of the anonymous street artist and prankster known as Banksy; its self-destruct mode just the latest in Banksys long history of eye-catching public relations stunts. The work depicted a small child reaching up toward a heart-shaped red balloon, originally stenciled on a wall in east London before being reproduced for the masses. It has since become one of Banksys best-known images. The urge to destroy is also a creative urge, Banksy wrote on Instagram on the day of his works demise, a nod to Picasso. Hitting back at his critics, Banksys former gallerist Steve Lazarides shut down speculation that the stunt was performed in collaboration with the auction house. I worked for him for 12 years, he said, the idea of him colluding with an institution to pull off a stunt is the complete antithesis to his philosophy. The buyer of the now-shredded work is similarly on side with Banksy. Described only as a European collector and long-standing client of Sothebys, the buyer will be going ahead with the purchase for the same price for which it was originally auctioned. According to the globally renowned auction house, the buyer is pleased with the outcome. When the hammer came down last week and the work was shredded, I was at first shocked, but gradually I began to realize that I would end up with my own piece of art history. Provocateur Banksy has never disclosed his real identity. He began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has since risen to fame as one of the worlds most well-known artists. Indeed, his work is recognized the world over, with his tongue-in-cheek and mischievous tone offering up subjects like armed riot police with yellow smiley faces, policemen kissing and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words Laugh now, but one day Ill be in charge. Sothebys said the painting has now been retitled Love is in the Bin, and it has been authenticated by Banksys Pest Control agency. Alex Branczik, head of contemporary art for Europe at Sothebys, said the new piece is the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction. Banksy may have created a piece of history for the PR world, also. Yet again Banksy continues to surprise and delight with his latest and arguably his finest stunt in a long history of anti-establishment statements, said Andrew Bloch, founder of London agency Frank, In a world where everyone is trying to be famous, Banksys anonymity has once again created its own invaluable buzz. *** 5WPR CEO Ronn Torossian is also an art collector. Susan Isenberg Seemingly calm on the surface from a global perspective, trust in healthcare and its sub-sectors tells quite a different story when a deeper dive is made into local market data, according to Edelmans 2018 Trust Barometer. Now in its 18th year, the firms annual trust and credibility survey found major fluctuations across the 28 markets we study. Globally, trust in healthcare lost only two points from the previous year, remaining well within the trusted range, with a score of 63. On a local level, however, trust in healthcare declined in 17 of the 28 markets. And, healthcare was the least trusted industry sector of 15 studied in the Trust Barometer in key markets such as the U.S., Brazil and Japan, among others. Drilling down even further, trust in the five sub-sectors of healthcare Edelman studies Pharmaceuticals, Biotech/Life Sciences, Consumer Health, Hospital/Providers and Insurance made minimal progress globally, if any, compared to the previous year. Pharma and Consumer Health maintained neutral scores of 55 and 56, respectively, from the previous year; Biotech / Life Sciences dropped one point to a score of 62, although remained trusted; Insurance gained one point to 58; and Hospitals / Clinics gained three points, moving to a score of 72. However, when viewed market by market, trust scores varied much more dramatically. For example, trust in Pharma plummeted in the United States, dropping 13 points from the previous year to 38, its lowest score ever in the Trust Barometer. This sub-sector saw declines across 13 markets in total, as well as the largest gap between the most trusting country (Indonesia, with a score of 85) and the least (Germany, with a score of 30). Another alarm for pharmaceutical companies: the least-trusting countries, Germany, France and the U.S., also saw the biggest drops in trust this year, a red flag given their market size and that these are home countries for the headquarters of several global pharmaceutical companies. Whats causing these local swings in trust? Around the world, healthcare companies and pharmaceutical companies particularly have been thrown into a war of words about whos to blame for the high cost of healthcare. While the blame game may seem to be the most heated in the U.S., its spreading on a worldwide scale. Edelman believes that rather than clearing any one healthcare group from perceived wrongdoing, this ongoing public argument has had the unintended consequence of lowering trust across the entire healthcare industry. No sub-sector of healthcare is coming out ahead, and instead, it has served to amplify that health costs are rising with no solution yet in sight. To regain footing from this years global and local drops in trust, the health industry must pivot from the blame game around cost and show how theyre part of the solution. The Trust Barometer also shows companies must address the demands of an increasingly global yet polarized world. There are a number of ways to build trust: Be the lab, not the sales force. Edelmans Trust data show that while people tend to trust the sub-sectors of healthcare they associate with promising innovation, like Biotech, goodwill may evaporate at the prescription counter. Health companies must double down on messaging around their benefits to society or run the risk of promising advances being overpowered by the pricing outrage cycle. This includes focusing messages around R&D, innovation and hard science, versus profits, sales and marketing. Sell more than the product. Patients are looking to health companies to build and create solutions beyond the pill. Edelman data also show the general population generally has positive sentiment toward the future of health technology and its implications for health and healthcare. While developing new treatments is expected of the industry, providing holistic solutions will further build trust. Health companies must show how they are treating the whole person. Humanize the approach. Healthcare companies should look to those trusted within the industry like hospitals and clinics and determine how they could establish a more personal connection with patients. For example, humanizing what happens in the laboratory by showcasing the real scientists behind a breakthrough, or creating a campaign where patients are heard and can contribute rather than just feeling theyre simply the target of promotions for a new drug. Localization leads. Despite the global footprint of many companies across the industry, healthcare is always a local experience; availability of care, treatments, insurance and more varies considerably by market. Communications marketing activities must be tailored locally, by country and by audience, meeting local standards and local expectations. One size doesnt fit all in global communications. To regain trust, healthcare companies must address both unmet patient needs and the costs of care, as well as provide solutions beyond products to improve patient outcomes. Healthcare companies have ample room to share how theyre doing this through their own content and platforms; this year we have global data that shows the content provided by health companies is viewed as credible, while only 53 percent trust health news reported by the media. This is a clear opportunity for health companies to use their own media channels and share their stories through interactive, creative content. *** Susan Isenberg is Edelman global health sector chair. Tropicasa Realty: Puerto Vallarta Home Security Tips Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - By now, Puerto Vallarta's reputation as a safe destination is well-established, with visitors, local and foreign residents, tourism companies and the governments of Canada and the United States all recognizing Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit as secure places to visit or live. But, like any city, Puerto Vallarta isn't immune to crime, and making sure your property is secure is important for any homeowner because some simple security measures are the best way to deter potential thieves, who look to target unprotected homes. Tropicasa Realty offers a few home security tips: Many gated communities and condo buildings in the Banderas Bay area come with 24 hour patrolled security and cameras. If you are buying a condo in Puerto Vallarta, talk with your real estate agent about building security. If you own a condo, be actively involved with your Home Owners Association to ensure that security measures are being properly budgeted and maintained. Almost all homes in Vallarta-Nayarit have decorative bars on windows and front gates. If you are building a home or buying a home pre-construction, be sure to contract a metal worker to build bars for your property. Security bars can be very artfully done and are usually an attractive architectural addition to your home. Invest in high-quality locks for all entrances to your home and be sure that sliding glass doors aren't left open as an invitation to thieves. Even a second or third story open balcony door can be an access point for intruders. Consider adding a security system in your home. Companies like SEPEPSA offer a full range of home security systems including alarms, video surveillance, electric fences, automatic doors and home monitoring service. Puerto Vallarta is a safe place to live, but it is important to remember that, like anywhere, crime can sometimes happen, especially if you have not taken some simple precautions. Just like insurance, home security is a good thing to have, even though you hope it will never be needed. By using the same level of care and caution to protect your home in Mexico as you would your home in the U.S. or Canada, you can sleep easy, knowing that your family and your property are safe and secure. Click HERE for more Puerto Vallarta real estate and lifestyle tips from Tropicasa Realty. Tributes have been paid following the tragic death of an Offaly man during Storm Callum in the UK. Having hit Ireland on Friday morning, Storm Callum continued to track across the UK, bringing high winds and heavy rain to many areas. The weather is understood to have been a factor in the death of Offaly man David Dooley in Brighton. Sussex Police received a report of a man in the sea near West Street, Brighton, at 1.21am on Saturday morning. Coastguards, police and the South East Coast Ambulance Service attended the scene. 38-year-old David was retrieved from the water but was pronounced dead at the scene, Sussex Police confirmed. Next of kin have been informed and the matter has been passed to the Coroners Officer. It has emerged that the victim of the tragedy in Tullamore native David Dooley. Tributes have been paid to the popular Offaly man. Richard A Pleasants, said, "your passing was so far from my thoughts, this terrible news has hit very hard. I'm sure there are many more who feel this way. Cheers mate. See you on the moon." A London pub, The Windmill also paid tribute, saying, "Our friend David Dooley passed away yesterday in a tragic accident in Brighton. Lord have mercy on him. RIP David." RENUA Ireland has expressed 'grave concern' about the appointment of Richard Bruton as the new Minister for Communications. His appointment followed the resignation of Denis Naughten last week. RENUA party Leader and Offaly County Councillor, John Leahy said, "We have little faith in the capacity of Minister Bruton to rescue the collapsing Broadband policy." "He is a very nice man and very good at composing lists, but it is hard to see how a Dublin TD can understand the nuances of rural Ireland." "We need a minister who will treat the issue of rural broadband as a crusade rather than a nuisance. The current debacle is another example of how, be it broadband, post offices or turf, this government has a tin ear when it comes to rural Ireland," Leahy fumed. "A rural TD should have been appointed to deal with what is essentially a rural crisis and to even the current urban-rural split within the cabinet." "We do not trust the bona fides of Mr Bruton for no reason. He is a key member of that wing of the cabinet which appears to want to shut rural Ireland down," Cllr Leahy claimed. "This is a government which has caused more harm to rural Ireland than Cromwell. Their record is one of closed Garda stations, closed post offices and now a collapsed rural broadband scheme." "Rural Ireland needs an enforcer to drive broadband through. Instead, we appear to have secured an accidental tourist on his last political lap," Leahy concluded. Oneida, N.Y. The city of Oneida Fire Department is challenging schools across the district to step up and sound the alarm. This is a challenge that the Oneida Fire Department is issuing to any elementary school in the school district, Firefighter Jeremy Carnahan said. Carnahan said the Sounding the Alarm challenge is asking teachers, principals and students to go home and make a video of themselves testing their smoke detector and emailing the video to Fire Administrator Kathy Erdo at kerdo@oneidacity.com Carnahan said in the United States, 3 out 5 fire facilities have no or non-working smoke detectors. Our goal, since its Fire Prevention Month, is to get everyone to test their smoke detector and make sure it works, Carnahan said. Any student who submits a video gets entered into a contest for a free pizza party for their class. The Oneida City Fire Department is providing a pizza party to one class per school of the five elementary schools in the district. Just because were challenging the elementary school, it doesnt mean the general public shouldnt do the same, Carnahan said. They should go home, test their smoke detectors and change out the batteries if needed. This is a safety issue that were trying to promote and were trying to promote that everyone gets out of a fire alive. A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds, Carnahan said, and having an early warning is crucial. Children grades pre-K-5 have until Nov. 4 at midnight to submit their videos. The winners of the contest will be announced on the City of Oneida Fire Departments Facebook page on Nov. 8. Check out videos of different elementary schools stepping up to Sound the Alarm at www.facebook.com/OneidaCityFireDept No Bitcoin scam, says ruling BJP; No foul play in investigation: Bengaluru police Karnataka: School principal hacked to death in Bengaluru Bengaluru oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Bengaluru, Oct 15: At least four people barged into Havanur Public School, located in Bengaluru's Agrahara Sasarahalli area, and killed the school principal on Sunday. Victim Ranganath (60) was conducting a special class on a Sunday for 10th Standard students at Havanur Public School when a gang of six members came barging into the classroom and murdered him. Also Read | Elephant Death: Karnataka mulls shifting jumbo camps from forests One of the gang members was nabbed later from Mahalaxmi Layout area here, based on a tip off. The man suffered a leg injury when police fired at him after he attacked them. He was later taken to a hospital and treated. A case has been registered. Also Read | Sudha Murthy inaugurates Mysuru Dasara, announces Rs 25 crore for flood-hit Kodagu Police suspect a land dispute relating to the school building to be the reason behind the killing. (With PTI inputs) For More Bengaluru News, Click here Sabarimala temple in Kerala to open for monthly rituals from July 16; Conditions apply for devotees How to Book Sabarimala Virtual Q Tickets Online 2021? Know Date, Price and Other Details 48 hours ahead of Sabarimala's opening, temple body may seek more time from SC to implement order India oi-Madhuri Adnal Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 15: While the Sabarimala Hindu temple is set to open its doors for monthly puja on Wednesday, Travancore Devaswom Board has said that the infrastructure at the temple is not yet ready to allow women. The Temple body that manages the hill-shrine shrine hinted that the temple body could ask the Supreme Court for time to implement its verdict allowing women to enter the hill-shrine. Thousands protest Sabarimala order, devotees threaten suicide in Kerala The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the temple custodian, has invited the representatives of Pandalam Royal Family, Sabarimala priests, priests' organisation and Hindu organisations for a meeting even as Kerala BJP president PS Sreedharan Pillai warned the Left government to resolve the issue of women visitors or face "severe consequences". The BJP, RSS, Congress and Hindu groups have been protesting against the September 28 Supreme Court ruling lifting the ban on entry of women in the 10-50 age group into the temple, saying it will breach age-old traditions. Thousands of Lord Ayyappa devotees, including women and children, today protested in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram against the Supreme Court order allowing entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple. In another development, the Travancore Devaswom Board has called a meeting of various stakeholders of the shrine, including the Tantri (head priest) family, Pandalam royals and Ayyappa Seva Sangam, on Tuesday. 'No special arrangements or toilets for women pilgrims in Sabarimala' The shrine will reopen on Wednesday for monthly rituals. It would be closed on October 22 after the five-day monthly pooja of Malayalam month of 'Thulam'. The Supreme Court had last month lifted the ban on women in the 10-50 age group from entering the temple, leading to widespread protests in Kerala. The protests have been building up to a crescendo. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 0:00 [IST] Positive about building private wealth A survey was conducted among 22,318 expats from 163 countries, including in India, and territories through an online questionnaire in March and April by YouGov, and was commissioned by HSBC Expat. It found that two thirds of expats in India enjoy the local culture, and the financial gain allow more expats in the country than elsewhere to support causes, participate in local community events and donate to charity. Meanwhile, the survey revealed that the average person globally taking a job overseas usually adds USD 21,000 to their annual salary when they move, which is enough to buy a new car, pay off the average household's debt twice over or cover rent for two years. Rise in disposable income HSBC India head-retail banking and wealth management S Ramakrishnan said while a move overseas can often mean a rise in disposable income, it also brings complexity along with it. "A taste of life in a new location can be the key to unlocking your creative potential, finding the work life balance, or taking career in a new direction. However, too many expats spend their first months abroad stressed because they didn't get their finances in order before moving, he also said. Cheated in Tripura The opposition in Tripura has accused the government of cheating its employees over the issue relating to the 7th Pay Commission. "The recent pay revision by the new government is nothing but cheating the employees in the name 7th Pay Commission. It is only a concocted story. It was not on par with central pay scale," former Finance Minister Bhanulal Saha of the CPI(M) told reporters. Demand for pay hike The Block Grant Teachers in Odisha have been demanding a pay hike on par with the regular state government teachers. They are seeking the benefits under the 7th Pay Commission, service condition and job regularisation. They believe if these demands are met then it would pay the way for the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. Curfew in Ahmedabad extended till 6am on May 21; Night curfew to continue in 36 cities for another 3 days Into the deep: Ahmedabads Science City gets a boost! Nature Park, Aquatic, Robotic Galleries and more! Air India flight with 130 onboard suffers technical snag after landing at Ahmedabad airport India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Oct 15: A Mumbai-Ahmedabad-London-Newark bound Air India flight landed at Ahmedabad airport and developed a technical snag after landing. Mumbai: Air India air hostess falls off while boarding plane, fractures her leg The flight carrying 130 passengers on board, 2 infants & 10 wheelchair passengers landed at around 4:50 am and developed a technical snag soon after landing. Air India authorities made arrangements for London bound passengers and Newark bound passengers which will be connected through Delhi & Mumbai respectively, on Monday. Around 110 passengers were accommodated in local hotels in Ahmedabad while 20 others were preferred to go back to their residences. The aircraft will leave for London at 6.35 am tomorrow. Air India flight hits compound wall at Trichy Airport, all passengers safe A similar incident occurred on Sunday evening when an Air India Express bound for Singapore developed a technical snag, resulting in 115 passengers being stranded at Trichy for more than 24 hours. The Air India Express flight AXB 682 which reached Trichy from Singapore at 3 pm was preparing to depart at 4.10 pm when the pilot detected a mistake in the air-conditioning system, stated airport officials. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 19:32 [IST] Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam served as the 11th President of India between 2002 and 2007. Before becoming the president, he made major contribution to India missile development and space program as a scientist and science administrator. Kalam memorial: A fitting tribute to the Peoples' President Contribution to ISRO Dr Kalam made significant contribution as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration. Contribution to India's missile program After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr Kalam took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles at Defence Research and Development Organisation as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of AGNI and PRITHVI Missiles and for building indigenous capability in critical technologies through networking of multiple institutions. He was the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. During this period he led to the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy, which made India a nuclear weapon State. He also gave thrust to self-reliance in defence systems by progressing multiple development tasks and mission projects such as Light Combat Aircraft. English textbooks may have passages from APJ Abdul Kalam's memoir Dr Kalam the author Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai from November 2001 and was involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country. In his literary pursuit four of Dr. Kalam's books - "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium", "My journey" and "Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India" have become household names in India and among the Indian nationals abroad. These books have been translated in many Indian languages. Assembly polls in five states 2018: Important dates India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Oct 15: All eyes are on the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram which are being seen as the semi-finals before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission of India on October 6 announced single phase assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram and two-phase polls for Chhattisgarh. Here are the important dates for the upcoming assembly elections in five states: Poll Dates for 5 States Nomination Scrutiny Withdrawal Voting Result MIZORAM & MADHYA PRADESH 9th NOV 12th NOV 14th NOV 28th NOV 11th DEC TELANGANA &RAJASTHAN 19th NOV 20th NOV 22nd NOV 7th Dec CHHATTISGARH PHASE 1: 23rd OCT,&PHASE 2: 2nd NOV PHASE 1: 24rd OCT,&PHASE 2: 3nd NOV PHASE 1: 26th OCT,&PHASE 2: 20th NOV PHASE 1: 12th NOV,&PHASE 2: 20th NOV Dates when the term of current government ends: Chhattisgarh: 05.01.2019 Madhya Pradesh: 07.01.2019 Mizoram: 15.12.2018 Rajasthan: 20.01.2019 Telangana: 08.06.2019 The BJP is in power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for three consecutive terms while in Rajasthan power alternates between the two parties every election. In Mizoram (40) Congress is the ruling party. In the 2013 Rajasthan Assembly elections, the BJP had registered a landslide win by bagging 163 out of total 200 seats in the state assembly. In Chhattisgarh assembly elections 2013, the BJP won 49 seats while the Congress won 39 seats. In the 2013 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP had registered a landslide win by bagging 166 out of the 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh while Congress won 57. [Chhattisgarh elections: A new grand alliance and the Ajit Jogi factor] The upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram are being seen as the semi-finals before the 2019 elections 2019. It, however, remains to be seen if the pattern that emerges in state elections would have a bearing on General Elections or not. In the assembly elections, the voters cast their ballot based on the local issues while for General Elections national issues are expected to matter more. Norovirus outbreak in Kerala: How contagious is it? Symptoms, treatment, all you need to know RSS worker stabbed to death in front of wife in Kerala Bishop Franco Mulakkal gets bail in nun rape case India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Trivandrum, Oct 15: Kerala High Court Monday granted bail to Bishop Franco Mulakkal accused of raping a Kerala nun. He is currently under judicial remand in a sub-jail in Pala in Kottayam district. Kerala High Court has laid down the conditions that Bishop Franco Mulakkal should not enter Kerala & should surrender his passport before the court. In September, a court in Pala had rejected a bail application filed by Bishop Franco Mulakkal, arrested over allegations of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a nun, and sent him to two-day police custody. Thousands protest Sabarimala order, devotees threaten suicide in Kerala His lawyers had moved the application, submitting that the clergyman was arrested after a three-day-long interrogation by the probe team. 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. 'No special arrangements or toilets for women pilgrims in Sabarimala' The nun said that she had to approach the police as the church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman. However, the bishop has denied the charges. (With PTI inputs) BrahMos spy case: Why India must not ignore the US role in it as well India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Oct 15: As the investigations into the BrahMos spy cases continues, the police are ascertaining if the main accused, Nishant Agrawal had leaked sensitive data relating to the supersonic missile. Under the scanner is his computer which is suspected to have sensitive data relating to the missile. Investigators suspect that he may have downloaded the data from a senior's computer when he was training at the organisation. Agrawal, an engineer was arrested on charges of spying for ISI. He is believed to have been in touch with two persons Neha Sharma and Pooja Aggarwal through Facebook. The police say that these were two profiles created by the ISI, through which the trap was set. Also Read | How Pakistan uses Chinese women to set honey-traps in India A police officer associated with the probed told OneIndia that they are also finding out if information was leaked to the US spy agency. It may not have been just the ISI that the information was shared with. The US is also keen on data relating to the BrahMos considering it is an Indo-Russia joint venture, the officer also said. While seeking his remand the Anti Terrorism Squad had said that it was his casual attitude on the internet that made him an easy target. The ATS also said that it had found some sensitive information on his system, which should not have been with him in the first place. His acts violate the provisions of the Official Secrets Act, the police also said. The interest around BrahMos: The BrahMos supersonic missile, which is a joint venture between India and Russia has generated a lot of interest in military circles worldwide. BrahMos gives the Indian Airforce a crucial edge. It was tested in May and July 2018 for indigenously developed major sub-systems, including fuel management system, non metallic airframe components and a highly critical component which is the seeker. Investigations have shown that it was the seeker technology that had generated a lot of interest among the spies of both Pakistan and the US. It is also suspected that Agrawal was in touch with unknown persons from the US. Brahmos spy case: Lured with a job, how Agrawal set a trap for himself With such crucial technology being developed, it is only obvious that several spy agencies would have an interest around BrahMos, an Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia. We suspect that an espionage ring may have been created only to get information about BrahMos and Agrawal may have been one among the many who is part of this ring, the officer also said. Apart from ascertaining the extent of sensitive data that may have been leaked, the probe would also focus on the espionage ring. Recently a jawan too was arrested after being honey trapped. It was during his questioning that the name of Agrawal cropped up as they were in touch with the same persons on Facebook. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 10:11 [IST] Chennai rains to continue until noon today: Water logging in many parts Chennai Rains: Depression over north coastal region weakens, light rain very likely across TN Chennai: Ex-DMK chief M Karunanidhi's statue to be erected at DMK headquarters India oi-Madhuri Adnal Chennai, Oct 15: Statue of former DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi will be erected at DMK headquarters by next month, final date not yet confirmed. Karunanidhi memorial meet: Opposition sets tone for 2019 polls, slams Modi govt Invitations have been sent to Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi. MK Alagiri, the expelled DMK leader and brother of DMK chief MK Stalin, were planning to erect a bronze statue of later party founder M Karunanidhi in the Madurai city. The move is seen as yet another attempt by Alagiri to stake claim to his late iconic father's political legacy. Though the national executive of the party had recently elected Alagiri's younger brother MK Stalin as the new party chief, the succession war in the southern party is far from over. The Karunanidhi family projected a united picture when the DMK chief was fighting a battle for life in a Chennai hospital for 11 days before his death on August 7. However, days after his death the bitter succession war erupted again with Alagiri claiming "all true and loyal supporters of Kalaignar" were with him. Alagiri, who was leading a life of political exile in Madurai away from media glare, had even warned that the DMK will dig its own "grave" if it did not take him back. However, Stalin's election as DMK president on August 28 apparently made Alagiri rethink his plans and end political grandstanding. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 22:04 [IST] Chhattisgarh elections: A new grand alliance and the Ajit Jogi factor India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Raipur, Oct 15: The CPI said that it has entered into an alliance with Ajit Jogi's Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) for the Assembly polls in the state. The Chhattisgarh Assembly polls will be held in two phases -- on November 12 and 20. Counting of votes will take place on December 11. How BSP has done in Chhattisgarh polls: 2003-2013 Earlier, the Bahujan Samaj Party had forged an alliance with Jogi's outfit. According to the poll alliance agreement, the BSP will contest 35 seats, while the JCCJ will fight the remaining 55 seats in the 90-member Assembly. CPI state secretary RDCP Rao and Mr Jogi announced the alliance between the two parties at a press conference in state capital Raipur on Sunday. Jogi said the addition of CPI to the JCC (J)-BSP alliance had made it a "mahagatbandhan" (grand alliance), boosting its poll prospects in the Bastar region and in places with a high number of labourers. The aim of the alliance is to form a government which will work in the interest of Dalits, adivasis, the poor, villagers, farmers, labourers and minorities, and take decisions for the welfare of the people of Chhattisgarh, Mr Rao said. He alleged that over 50 per cent of the state's population continued to live below the poverty line despite 15 years of BJP rule. Under the agreement, the JCC(J)-BSP will support CPI candidates in Konta and Dantewada, while the Left party and affiliated labour unions will campaign for the former's candidates in Chitrakot and Bijapur in Bastar division and in industrial areas like Korba and Bhilai Nagar, Mr Rao said. In the 2013 assembly polls, the CPI had garnered just 0.66 per cent of the votes cast and had lost in all the 13 seats it had contested. Chhattisgarh Assembly polls: Mayawati trains gun at BJP over Ram temple issue Rao, however, said his party had a significant presence in the Bastar region, particularly in Dantewada and Konta seats, from where it has fielded its popular leaders Nandaram Sodhi and Manish Kunjam respectively for the upcoming polls. While Kunjam has been a two-time lawmaker from Sukma, Sodhi has won the Dantewada seat once in the past. Jogi will be campaigning for the candidates of the grand alliance in Bastar region between October 20 and 24 during. He will address rallies in Konta and Dantewada on October 23. The development is being seen as a blow to the opposition Congress which was planning to forge a grand alliance in Chhattisgarh to unseat the ruling BJP. Data localisation:Govt, RBI not in favour of extending Oct 15 deadline India pti-PTI New Delhi, Oct 15: The government and the Reserve Bank are not in favour of extending the Monday's deadline for local data storage by foreign payment companies, an official said. The government would not relent under pressure from the global payment firms and the RBI is unlikely to extend the October 15 deadline for data localisation, the official said. "We are not in favour of extension. Also, data mirroring is not an option," the official told reporters. Data localisation is an act of storing data on any device that is physically present within the borders of a particular country where the data was generated. Two top American Senators John Cornyn and Mark Warner have asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt a soft stance on data localisation, warning that India's policy on the issue will adversely affect American businesses in the country. "Data localisation requirements, such as those contained in the draft data protection bill and draft national e-commerce policy framework, will have negative impacts on the ability of companies to do business in India, may undermine your own economic goals and will likely not improve the security of Indian citizens' data," they said. The Reserve Bank, in April, gave six months time to global payment companies to store transaction data of Indian customers within India. The deadline ends Monday. Global financial technology companies have reportedly sought an extension to the October 15 timeline. Foreign payment companies had reportedly also asked the RBI to allow data mirroring which would mean they can store a copy of the data overseas as well. The RBI in April had said that in order to ensure better monitoring of payment service operators it is important to have "unfettered supervisory access to data stored with these system providers as also with their service providers/ intermediaries/third party vendors and other entities in the payment ecosystem". "All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India," it had said. The RBI has further said that data should include the full end-to-end transaction details, information collected/carried/ processed as part of the message/payment instruction. PTI From Babur to Ghaznavi: About names of Pakistani missiles India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Oct 15: Pakistan is expanding its missile arsenal and trying its best to match up with India's Agni missiles which can hit targets as far as 5,000 kms. Last week, Pakistan test-fired medium-range ballistic missile Ghauri or Hatf-V which said to be capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads up to a distance of 1,300 kilometres. The Ghauri is a Pakistani modification of North Korea's Nodong ballistic missile. Pakistan is thought to possess around two dozen Ghauri missiles. Other than Ghauri, Pakistan has several other missiles like Shaheen, Ghaznavi, cruise missile Babur and Nasr. There are talks doing rounds about this Pakistani missile called Ababeel. There is some amount of mystery surrounding this missile. The exact range of this missile is not known and Pakistan is said to have carried out different kinds of test on Ababeel in recent times. Ababeel is also said to equipped with MIRV technology which means that a single missile can carry multiple warheads which can be programmed to hit different targets. [Pakistan way behind India in cruise missile technology: Babur vs Nirbhay] What is interesting is the names of these Pakistani missiles. Abdali, Ghaznavi and Ghauri are names of some of these Pakistani missiles. Who are these Abdalis and Ghaznavis? These were ruthless, bloodthirsty invaders from the middle east who left a trail of blood in India. Pakistan must not forget that it was once part of India and these invaders plundered the very region which is now called Pakistan. Invaders whom Pakistan is trying to glorify: Ghaznavi, Ghauri, and Taimur left a trail of blood wherever they went and looted the locals. They destroyed temples, forced conversions and tormented the local people. Mahmud Ghaznavi, an 11th-century Persian invader of Turkic origin, invaded India 17 times and attained notoriety for destroying and looting the Somnath Temple. Ahmed Shah Abdali, an 18th-century Afghan king is known for the holocaust his army carried out on Sikhs. Between 1748 and 1765, Abdali invaded India 7 times and is also known for the humiliation he brought to the then Mughal dynasty. Taimur invaded Delhi in 1398 and his invasion was followed by one of the brutal massacres which Delhi saw in the medieval ages. Babur was different from the above mentioned middle-eastern kings in the sense that he settled in India and founded the Mughal Dynasty. Even he is said to have destroyed Hindu temples. The rationale behind Pakistan naming missiles by these tyrants: Pakistan just does not want to come out of the mindset that Muslims are rightful rulers of the subcontinent. Even the history taught at schools in Pakistan emphasises more on Islamic rule during the Mughal period than of the freedom struggle and Vedic times. There is little mention of Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters in their textbooks. [Pakistan successfully test-fires 1,300 kms range Ghauri missile] They try to imbibe this idea among their people that Muslims are the rightful rulers of India and that Hindus usurped power from them. After the 1947 partition, Pakistan was formed and their entire identity hinges on Islam. By naming missiles on Muslim invaders, they are trying to send a message that "We will plunder you in the same way that these tyrants did." It also highlights that Pakistan would ardently cling on to anything which is opposed to the Indian identity and these missile names are the most visible proof of this fact. Google Doodle celebrates Tabla maestro Pandit Lachhu Maharaj 's 74th birthday India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Oct 16: Google Doodle, the search giant on Tuesday celebrated the 74th birth anniversary of Lachhu Maharaj, one of the famous tabla player of India. He was born in the famous city of Uttar Pradesh on October 16, 1944, in Banaras and he grew up there. His father's name was Vasudev Maharaj. Lachhu Maharaj was the fourth in twelve siblings. He carried forward the tradition of playing the tabla in the whole of Banaras. Many of his disciples are playing the tabla in the country and abroad. Lachhu Maharaj was a very simple choice person, this was the reason that he had never voluntarily received any respect. He was awarded the 1957 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest award for performing artists, conferred by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama. Lakhu Maharaj gained fame through his acute practice in both the independent tabla player and the accompaniment. He died on July 27, 2016. His funeral was done on Manikarnika Ghat of Benaras. Today's Google doodle has been made by guest artist Sajid Shaikh. The doodle has Lachhu Maharaj drawn with the Google logo's primary colours in blue, red, yellow and green. In the doodle, he is seen playing a tabla with a grin on his face and a look of contentment on his eyes as he performs for his audience. AP EAPCET Round 1 seat allotment delayed again: New date to be announced soon Gurugram Judge's wife dies, son shot in the head declared 'brain dead' India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P New Delhi, Oct 15: The Additional sessions judge's wife shot by the security guard succumbed injuries on Saunday and the son declared 'brain dead'. The wife and son of a Gurugram Judge were fired upon by the gunman near Arcadia market in Sector-49, Gurugram, on Saturday. The victims 38-year-old Ritu Sharma and 18-year-old Dhruv Sharma had sustained injuries in the chest and head, respectively. Both were admitted to a private hospital. Also Read | Gurugram: Security guard who shot Judge's wife, son sent to 4 days police remand "The reason of her death was excessive bleeding due to the bullet wound," Medanta-The Medicity Hospital said on the death of the wife of additional sessions judge. Also Read | Delhi: Fire engulfs SBI branch in Keshav Puram The guard, Mahipal Singh, was sent to four-days police remand on Sunday. The Gurgaon Police had sought a week's custody for extensive interrogation of Mahipal to establish the reason why he shot Ritu and Dhruv. It has set up a Special Investigation Team to investigate the case from all angles. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 11:51 [IST] AP EAPCET Round 1 seat allotment delayed again: New date to be announced soon How stubble burning has become the biggest culprit for poor air quality in Delhi India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Oct 15: As winter sets in, farmers in Punjab have begun harvesting the kharif paddy crop and preparing the fields for the winter crop. Burning of paddy straw every year during October and November and wheat straw during April in Punjab and Haryana are the major contributors of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, as the smoke travels towards the national capital. In Delhi, it mixes with the fog and creates a toxic smoggy winter every year. This yearly affair, not only makes it difficult for Delhiites to breathe but also turn the city into a gas chamber. While road dust and pollution from heavy vehicles are primarily responsible for the noxious pall that sets on Delhi and other urban centres, the burning of paddy stubble by farmers to clear their fields for the next crop is considered to be responsible for 20% of the smog. Delhi air quality deteriorates as stubble burning begins The latest satellite images released by Nasa show an increasing trend in stubble burning cases across Punjab and Haryana over the past 15 days. The images show that with the change in season, farmers in the two states are preparing their fields for the next crop. This means they are burning stubble in their fields. Stubble burning in fields is banned. But farmers cite lack of alternative to continue with the traditional and unscientific practice. The governments of Haryana and Punjab have so far not come up with any concrete actionable plan to deal with the challenge. Why stubble burning? Stubble burning is a common practice followed by farmers to prepare the field for sowing of wheat in November as there is little time left between the harvesting of paddy and sowing of wheat. Burning of Rice straw and wheat residue is not necessary for the farmers because of the availability of technology and its higher economic value as dry fodder. 2015-like heatwave could hit India again, warns Climate change report Scores of paddy growers in Punjab and Haryana continue to defy the ban on stubble burning, claiming they are "compelled" to do so in the absence of any financial support from the government for farm waste management. Lack of awareness This is due to lack of spreading awareness among farmers, who are in a hurry to dispose of the paddy stubble in order to start fresh sowing from Rabi season. In some instances, in Punjab and Haryana, local village panchayats have allowed farmers to burn stubble, and in some other cases, they have threatened to cut the stubble and dump them in front of the Collector's office. No impact on India after US withdraws from Paris agreement: Official Immediate action is needed to prevent farmers from burning stubble, otherwise it will be a repeat of previous years, when smog will set in with the early onset of winter in Delhi. Farmers say they are unable to bear costs for cutting off and transporting stubble for disposal, and burning them is the only way out. Punjab to post officers to curb stubble burning: Paddy is grown on 65 lakh acres in Punjab. After harvesting, about 20 million tonnes of straw is left on the fields. It is estimated that 15 million tonnes of straw is burnt by farmers for to clear the fields and make them ready for the next crop. With paddy ready for harvest, the Punjab government has directed the procurement agencies to ensure prompt lifting of the crop from markets. Also, to curb the menace of stubble burning, the State has decided to appoint nodal officers in 8,000 paddy growing villages. Is stubble burning the only solution? Not really, but it is one of the easiest and cheapest method available to farmersas of now. There are other options we can look at: The available paddy straw can be effectively used for power generation, which will go a long way towards overcoming the problem of disposal of crop residues and power deficit in the region. Suitable machinery for collection, chopping and in situ incorporation of straw is required. There is great potential for making investments in paddy straw-based power plants which can help avoid stubble burning to a large extent and also create employment opportunities. Incorporation of crop residues in the soil can improve soil moisture and help activate the growth of soil microorganisms for better plant growth. Convert the removed residues into enriched organic manure through composting. The government can offer to buy stubble from farmers at a fixed rate, so that farmers can recover the cost of cutting off and transporting stubble. These can be used for rope making, and already some farmers have started doing this. New opportunities for industrial use such as extraction of yeast protein can be explored through scientific research. Emergency plan in place from today An emergency action plan will be implemented from Monday to combat air pollution that has begun to show a trend towards very poor category, the Central Pollution Control Board said. Under the emergency plan called Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), stringent actions are implemented based on the air quality of the city. If the air quality lies in moderate to poor category- measures like stopping garbage burning in landfills and other places, and enforcing all pollution control regulations in brick kilns and industries would be implemented, an official official said. If the air quality falls in the very poor category, additional measures of stopping use of diesel generator sets, enhancing parking fees 3-4 times and increasing frequency of metro and buses would be implemented, he added. If the air quality falls in the severe category, additional measures would be implemented of increasing frequency of mechanised cleaning of roads, sprinkling of water on roads and identifying road stretches with high dust generation. If the air quality falls to severe plus emergency category, then measures like stopping entry of trucks into Delhi (except essential commodities), stopping construction activities and appointment of task force to take decision on any additional steps, including shutting of schools, are implemented. The measures depending upon the air quality will be implemented from Monday. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 5:08 [IST] Here is what you should do if your name is not on the voters list How to vote in India India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa With so many elections coming up, you must exercise your franchise. Before you go to the polling station, there are some pre-requisites which have to be abided by. Here we provide you a step by step guide on how to vote in India. How to transfer Voter ID from one state to another How to vote in India: You need to be 18 years old or above You need to be a citizen of India Check if your name is in the electoral rolls and for that visit your State Electoral Officer's website The list is also available at the local Electoral Registration Office. Keep handy your Voter ID or other valid photo IDs and voters slip The voters slip is handed over at your doorstep. If you are not given the voters slip, don't worry, it can be obtained at the polling booth counters set up by major political parties. Also Read | How to get a duplicate Voter ID card At the booth keep your voter slip and ID ready with you A polling official will check your name on the list and your identity proof. Another official will ink your finger, take your signature and give you a chit A third official will check your chit You are ready to vote Press the button next to the candidate of your choice on the EVM After you vote, a slip to authenticate your vote gets generated at Voter Verifiable Audit Trail (VVPAT) next to the EVM. It is visible in the glass case for a few seconds before it goes into a sealed box. Aryan's drugs case: Seizure not conducted by authorized officer, court says while giving bail to woman accused Hardik Pandya clarifies watch was worth Rs 1.5 cr, not Rs 5 cr, voluntarily declared items brought by me Journalist attacked in Mumbai, 4 arrested India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Mumbai, Oct 15: Police have arrested all four accused who attacked a journalist and his friend in Mumbai near Gamdevi police station on Sunday. A private TV channel reporter Herman Gomes was attacked while returning home along with a friend in a taxi late Saturday night. NIA seizes fake currency from the heart of Mumbai When he got out of the cab around 1.30 am on Sunday, he saw four to six persons waiting near his house in Gamdevi area, Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone-II) Dnyaneshwar Chavan told PTI. The motive behind the attack was not yet known, he said, adding an investigation was underway into the case. Court orders attachment of Zakir Naik's Mumbai properties Journalists' associations in the city condemned the attack and alleged that police did not file the victim's complaint promptly. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 9:12 [IST] Karnataka bypolls 2018: JDS to contest from Mandya, Shimoga, Cong gets Bellary India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Bengaluru, Oct 15: Out of three Lok Sabha constituencies going for bypolls, Janata Dal (Secular) will contest from Shimoga and Mandya and Congress will contest from Bellary seat. Asked about seat sharing, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, said, " After meetings we (Congress and JDS) have come to conclusion regarding the seat sharing of upcoming by-elections in 3 Lok Sabha seats. Two seats- Shimoga and Mandya- Lok Sabha will be contested by JDS and Congress candidate is going to file nomination from Bellary seat." Karnataka: BSP MLA quits Congress-JDS alliance, resigns as minister The ruling Congress and Janata Dal Secular coalition in Karnataka to put up a united fight against the BJP in the November 3 bypolls to three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats. However, the in the seat-sharing process the JDS ended up with two seats. Last week, the Congress was reportedly wanted to contest in Bellary and Shimoga Lok Sabha constituencies and the JDS only in Mandya, its traditional stronghold in the Vokkaliga belt in old Mysuru region. KC Venugopal, who is in charge of party affairs in Karnataka, told reporters, "We will fight the election together and make sure that all the five seats will go in favour of the Congress-JDS alliance." Rahul Gandhi may face the ire for skipping Laxmi Bai's memorial in Gwalior during his road show "Secular parties should come together for defeating the BJP is the message," he said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 13:38 [IST] Businessman in Kolkata shot at after his car was stopped by 18 men Kolkata: Massive fire breaks out at a chemical factory in Tangra area; no casualty reported so far India oi-Madhuri Adnal Kolkata, Oct 15: A massive fire broke out at a chemical factory in Kolkata's Tangra area on Monday evening, ANI reported. Fire tenders have reached spot and efforts are on to douse the fire. Ban on motorcycle sale to those without driving licence: HC orders partial stay According to initial reports, the fire broke out at 5.10 pm and ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Till now, there have no reports of any casualty in the incident. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 19:12 [IST] Lion deaths: Let experts decide on vaccination, says Guj HC India pti-PTI Ahmedabad, Oct 15: The Gujarat High Court on Monday said that experts should decide whether all lions in the state's Gir forest need to be vaccinated to prevent the outbreak of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV). The state government had told HC during the last hearing that out of the 23 lions which were found dead in Gir forest in September, 17 had succumbed to CDV and bacterial infection. These lions had died in the Dalkhaniya range of Gir (east) division of Amreli district. Gir Lion deaths: Is it time to find a second home for Asiatic lions? A bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi is hearing two PILs, one filed by wildlife activist Biren Pandya and a suo motu PIL on the unnatural deaths of lions due to electrocution and falling into open wells. The issue of deaths of lions in September due to infections was added at a later stage. The HC on Monday also asked the Union government as to why it has allocated an upkeep fund of Rs 95,000 for a lion when the same is Rs 15 lakh in the case of a tiger. The issue was raised by Hemang Shah, the lawyer appointed by court to argue the PIL. During the course of hearing Monday, the Gujarat government told court that lions in the affected areas of the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary were vaccinated along with cattle and dogs following the outbreak in September. Shah submitted that all lions residing in the forest, which the government says now number over 600, should be vaccinated. Lion Death: What ails the pride of Gujarat's Gir? According to the May 2015 census, there are 523 lions in Gujarat. The court observed that the matter should be best kept for the experts to decide, while reserving its order for Wednesday. On the matter of erecting parapet walls around open wells, the government Monday said that three districts have been asked to submit reports. The government told the HC that work of covering wells was underway but did not give a deadline for its completion. The government has to inform the court every two months about the progress in this connection. On the matter of death of lions due to electrocution, advocate Shah suggested that power supply of farmers having electric fences around their farm land be suspended for three to six months. He said that criminal cases must be registered in the matter and day-to-day hearing of such cases should be held. PTI Mizoram elections: Can Congress retain the only NE state it is in power? India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Aizwal, Oct 15: For the Congress it is a do or die battle in Mizoram. Last month started with a setback for the party with the resignation of home minister R Lalzirliana. Home Minister R Lalzirliana, who was vice-president of the state Congress, resigned on September 14. Three days before, he was served a show-cause notice by the MPCC disciplinary committee accusing him of confusing party workers. He was expelled later. Assembly elections: How Mizoram voted in 2013 The Congress fears that many more would follow him in the run up to the elections. For the Congress retaining Mizoram is important since it is the only North Eastern state that it is in power. To take on the Congress, the People's Represent for Identity and Status Of Mizoram, Mizoram Chhantu Pawl and Save Mizoram Front and Operation Mizoram have forged an alliance. The NPP which is an ally of the BJP in the state and also Meghalaya has set up a local unit to take on the Congress. The NPP which is supporting the BJP led government in Manipur and Meghalaya announced that it would fight the battle at Mizoram. For the Congress, one of the biggest challenges would be to beat anti-incumbency. This coupled with charges of corruption is hurting the grand old party in the state. The party has been in power since the past 20 years now. The BJP on the other hand is yet to open its account in the state and the first time that the party took part in the elections here was in 1993. The other issue would be the framing community who are 11 lakh in number. They constitute 70 per cent of the electorate in the state and had recent hit the streets in large numbers demanding land reforms. The other issue plaguing the Congress is the defection of its leaders. There is speculation that the defections are being engineered by Chief Minister, Lal Thanhawla, a charge that the party has rubbished. Amidst speculation that the BJP is trying to engineer a big split in the party, the Congress is keeping a close watch on its leaders, who are likely to quit as the elections come closer. Elections in four states may get delayed as preparation still underway The Congress on the other hand has decided to field young candidates to beat the anti-incumbency factor. The Congress however says it is confident of retaining power in the state. "With 32 MLAs, I am confident that we will win with comfortable majority to form the government for a third consecutive term. People of Mizoram have not lost faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla," AICC general secretary in-charge of Northeast Luizinho Faleiro was quoted as saying by PTI. He also said that two MLAs may have quit the party, but 1000s have joined the Congress as well. He said that the party would field at least 40 per cent of the candidates who would be below the age of 40. The party leadership wants to rid some The election to the 40 member Mizoram Assembly will held on November 28 and the votes would be counted on December 11. UP BJP chief to workers: Have tea with Dalits, make them understand votes are cast on nationalism, not caste Mizoram Elections: Can the BJP make a splash in this state? India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Aizwal, Oct 15: For the Congress it would be an important election in Manipur. After losing ground steadily, it would be hoping that it manages to retain Manipur, the only Northeastern state it is in power. The fight in Manipur would be a straight one and the Congress is hopping that it would be able to beat the anti-incumbency factor. To beat this factor the party has decided to field a large set of young candidates. AICC general secretary in-charge of Northeast Luizinho Faleiro said that the party would field at least 40 per cent of the candidates who would be below the age of 40. Also Read | Assembly elections: How Mizoram voted in 2013 Dr. Sandeep Shastri, leading psephologist tells OneIndia that in Mizoram, he sees a straight fight between the Mizoram National Party and the Congress. The biggest challenge for the Congress would be the anti-incumbency factor, he also adds. We need to see if the MNF can once again become dominant in the state. The BJP on then other hand would be hoping to make a splash as they have done in the rest of the Northeastern states, Dr. Shastri adds. He also says that the BJP would look to fish in troubled waters and create a problem for the Congress. It needs to be seen how this would play out, he further adds. Also Read | Mizoram elections: Congress announces list of candidates, Thanhawla to contest from 2 seats The battle at Mizoram would be closely watched as the People's Represent for Identity and Status Of Mizoram, Mizoram Chhantu Pawl and Save Mizoram Front and Operation Mizoram have forged an alliance to take on the Congress. The NPP which is an ally of the BJP in the state and also Meghalaya has set up a local unit to take on the Congress. The NPP which is supporting the BJP led government in Manipur and Meghalaya announced that it would fight the battle at Mizoram. For the Congress, one of the biggest challenges would be to beat anti-incumbency. This coupled with charges of corruption is hurting the grand old party in the state. The party has been in power since the past 20 years now. The BJP on the other hand is yet to open its account in the state and the first time that the party took part in the elections here was in 1993. The other issue would be the framing community who are 11 lakh in number. They constitute 70 per cent of the electorate in the state and had recent hit the streets in large numbers demanding land reforms. Also Read | Security situation in north-east has improved "drastically": Rajnath Singh The other issue plaguing the Congress is the defection of its leaders. There is speculation that the defections are being engineered by Chief Minister, Lal Thanhawla, a charge that the party has rubbished. Amidst speculation that the BJP is trying to engineer a big split in the party, the Congress is keeping a close watch on its leaders, who are likely to quit as the elections come closer. The Congress on the other hand has decided to field young candidates to beat the anti-incumbency factor. The Congress however says it is confident of retaining power in the state. Mizoram votes on November 28 and counting will be held on December 11. The magic number in the 40 member assembly is 21. AP EAPCET Round 1 seat allotment delayed again: New date to be announced soon MJ Akbar files defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P New Delhi, Oct 15: Union Minister MJ Akbar Monday filed a criminal defamation case in Delhi's Patiala House Court against journalist Priya Ramani, through his advocates Karanjawala & Co. He had issued a statement denying allegations of sexual harassment against him and said had that he would take legal action. MJ Akbar, who arrived from Nigeria, dodged calls for his resignation and said allegations of sexual harassment against him were "false, fabricated and deeply distressing". Minister MJ Akbar denies #MeToo allegations, warns of legal action MJ Akbar said, "Pertinent to remember Priya Ramani and Ghazala Wahab kept working with me even after these alleged incidents. It clearly establishes they had no apprehension and discomfort. The reason, why they remained silent for decades, is very apparent, as Ms Ramani has herself stated, I never did anything." This is a big victory for the #metoo movement but it cannot and should not end here. Am glad #MJAkbar wont be in the workplace any more but Akbar represents countless men who believe they can say and do whatever they want to women without any consequences. Priya Ramani (@priyaramani) October 14, 2018 MJ Akbar grabbed me and shoved his 55-yr-old tongue down my 18-yr-old throat: CNN journalist Hinting a political vendetta, he said "Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge. These false, baseless and wild allegations have caused irreparable damage to my reputation and goodwill." M J Akbar at his residence Union minister M J Akbar (L), who is facing allegations of sexual harassment by a number of women journalists, at his residence in New Delhi, Sunday, Oct 14, 2018. (PTI Photo Police detain Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress members Police detain Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress members during a protest against MoS for External Affairs, M J Akbar for his sexual misconduct and harassment of journalist, in New Delhi, Monday, Oct 15, 2018. (PTI Photo Youth Congress members protest Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress members protest against MoS for External Affairs, M J Akbar for his sexual misconduct and harassment of journalist, in New Delhi, Monday, Oct 15, 2018. (PTI Photo Protest against NJ Akbar Police detain members of Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress during a protest against MoS for External Affairs, M J Akbar for his sexual misconduct and harassment of journalist, in New Delhi, Monday, Oct 15, 2018. PTI Photo Growing women's economic empowerment in Africa is what drives Irene Ochem, founder and chief executive officer of the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF), which holds their annual networking conference, awards and expo in Cape Town next month. Irene Ochem, founder and chief executive officer of the Africa Women Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF). Empowerment Africa rising I didnt want to do something small. My goal was to give prominence to women in Africa, to give them a platform. AWIEF annual conference The 4AWIEF conference and expo takes place in Cape Town, South Africa, this year at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), 8-9 November 2018, bringing 1200 women entrepreneurs, thought leaders, industry experts, academics, development organisations and investors, to accelerate the growth of women-owned businesses for Africas inclusive economic growth.The theme this year is, Unleashing ideas: Innovation, sustainability and enterprise growth. Ochem launched AWIEF in Nigeria, her homeland, in 2015, opening an office in South Africa a year later. She is highly qualified, holding bachelors and postgraduate degrees, as well as an MBA in International Management acquired at the University of London; as well as postgraduate qualifications in project management, gender and trade-related issues. She speaks four languages and is a sought-after speaker and participant in international meetings on entrepreneurship, women and gender.The inspiration for AWIEF came from her personal experiences in her own career, as well as in Europe when she experienced first-hand how women were being marginalised in the sciences field, for example.AWIEF is about supporting women entrepreneurship and also about showcasing success stories. I saw a lack of that on the continent. I wanted to put up a platform where these women can come and be celebrated.Women make up about 50% of Africas burgeoning and increasingly youthful population on the continent. Economically empowering women is very important to her, as is encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation among women on the continent.When I was also doing my MBA, I came to realise the importance of innovation as a driver to entrepreneurship. When I decided that I would do something in Africa, I travelled across Africa to speak with high level women in business and to discuss my idea and if this was something that was really needed.After the first AWIEF event in Nigeria, Ochem realised that more than an annual conference and networking events were required.I realised I needed to establish a Pan-African organisation to carry out projects and address the different challenges that women entrepreneurs and leaders in Africa faced: accessing the market; accessing capital; creating networks; and getting the right information. The conference brought in the ecosystem and identified those challenges.But once we had identified those challenges, how did we address them? How did we encourage entrepreneurs going forward?The solution, Ochem realised, was to establish a non-profit organisation that could bring all the stakeholders together, with women entrepreneurs, to address policy and gender issues. This included the business community and also, inspirational women leaders to mentor the next generation of women leaders on the continent.And so AWIEF was launched as a Pan-African non-profit organisation with offices in both Nigeria and South Africa, including the annual conference, awards and expo; as well as events all year round and programmes to mentor, fund and grow women entrepreneurs on the continent.AWIEF runs several programmes for women across the continent, such as the flagship AWIEF Growth Accelerator Programme for getting businesses investment ready; the FemBioBiz II Accelerator Programme in partnership with NEPAD/SANBio and funded by the BioFISA II Programme, which builds and supports the growth of women-owned and led businesses in the health and agricultural biotech and other technologies with impact on health, nutrition and food security.The #VALUE4HER programme in partnership with the Technical Centre for Rural and Agricultural cooperation (CTA), an European Union funded institution headquartered in The Netherlands, which strengthens womens agribusiness enterprises in Africa.AWIEF, with sponsorship from Nedbank, has also hosted #AWIEFBusinessNetworking dialogues to share insight on the role women play in innovation and transformation.The Africa Rising narrative is clear: Africa has the fastest growing aspirant middle class in the world and will have the biggest youth population by 2030. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agenda 2030, updated from the Millennium Goals and released in 2015, prioritises gender equality, good jobs and economic growth, as well as innovation, to reduce inequality in the world.They dovetail with the African Unions Agenda 2063, which also highlights the empowerment of women and girls and gender equality; as well as youth empowerment and job creation, as major goals.Ochem believes launching AWIEF three years ago was at exactly the right time to create a purpose-driven organisation to contribute to the upliftment of women on the continent, particularly young women who need encouragement and support to become the entrepreneurs they aspire to be; and to also celebrate the women leaders on the continent who have achieved great things despite the odds.Telling their inspiring stories is also a very important part of AWIEFs work, hence the annual AWIEF Awards to recognise, honour and celebrate women entrepreneurs and business owners in Africa across various industry sectors, for their economic performance and contribution to Africas growth and social development.Ochem explains further: Im a Pan-Africanist, maybe because Ive spent most of my working years outside of Africa. I didnt know at the time to what extent AWIEF would make an impact personally I aim big and see where I get to. I didnt want to do something small. My goal was to give prominence to women in Africa, to give them a platform.We bring highly successful business women professionals and young, emerging entrepreneurs under one roof. All our speakers are the best you can get across the continent.The AWIEF conference is also a mentoring platform, where Ochem and her all-women team make sure they also facilitate attendance for young women entrepreneurs so they get to meet and connect and network with women leadership on the continent and be inspired by those who have achieved success.The multi-stakeholder AWIEF conference , taking place in Cape Town this year, includes representation from: government as it makes policies that should streamline gender economic empowerment programmes for women; the investment community; the media which should talk about the issue; women entrepreneurs; business service providers; and enterprise development agencies.It is a testament to how globally connected Ochem is and the prominence to which she has elevated AWIEF in only three years, that she has received endorsements and support from global organisations such as UN Women, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Union-funded Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).Partners and sponsors include: Invest Cape Town, City of Cape Town, Embassy of Sweden, Shell, Nedbank, ARC, Tsogo Sun, Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A), Cardova and Channel Africa, which will be live streaming the conference on 8-9 November from Cape Town.As Ochem reiterated: It is exciting. The entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa is thriving with women playing significant roles. It is time their contribution is taken seriously, supported and amplified. PM Modi seeks cooperation of oil producing countries to arrest steep rise in fuel prices India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Oct 15: In the wake of sharp rise of fuel prices in recent times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a meeting with the chiefs of national and international oil and gas companies. During the meeting, the Prime Minister emphasised on the economic challenges associated with the rising crude oil prices and sought cooperation of oil producing countries to deal with it. Prime Minister noted that the oil market is producer driven; and both the quantity and prices are determined by the oil producing countries. Though there is enough production, the unique features of marketing in the oil sector have pushed up the oil prices, reported news agency ANI. Also Read | Today's fuel price: Diesel price hiked, Petrol same as yesterday Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) chairman and managing director Shashi Shanker, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chairman Sanjiv Singh, Gas Authority of India Limited India head BC Tripathi and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) chairman Mukesh Kumar Sura were also present at the meeting along with several other prominent businessmen and dignitaries. This in the third such annual meeting called by the Central government. The first meeting was held on January 5, 2016 where suggestions for reforming natural gas prices were made. In the second in October 2017, suggestions were made for giving out equity to foreign and private companies in producing oil and gas fields of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) . However, the ONGC had resisted this, leading to the proposal not going through. Also Read | Govt cuts excise duty on aviation fuel from 14% to 11% The Prime Minister in 2015 had set a target of reducing India's oil dependence by 10 per cent to 67 per cent (based on import dependence of 77 per cent in 2014-15) by 2022. Import dependence has only increased since then and the government is now looking for ways to raise domestic output. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 16:01 [IST] Rahul Gandhi may face the ire for skipping Laxmi Bais memorial in Gwalior during his road show India oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla New Delhi, Oct 15: Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to be once again in controversy for not paying his respect to the real freedom fighters of the country as he is not going to visit memorial of Rani Laxmi Bai in Gwalior while his election rally is just 300 metres away from her memorial. Rahul Gandhi's rally is planned on October 15, 2018. The controversy is likely to be racked up as Rahul Gandhi will be visiting memorial of Madhavrao Scindia to pay his homage. Due to Rahul Gandhi visiting memorial of Madhavrao Scindia, he has been asked to take a bath to visit famous Lord Shiv temple at Achler and after offering prayer in this temple Rahul gandhi will be doing a roadshow in Gwalior. Rahul is starting his election campaign from Madhya Pradesh by offering prayer at tantric Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia district from October 15. Also Read | Regret politicisation of our employees says HAL after Rahul Gandhi's visit Besides that Rahul will be visiting Hajarat Meer Badshah and a Gurudwara in Gwalior to offer his prayers. Gurudwara is at the Gwalior fort so he will be visiting there by helicopter by October 16. Rani Laxmi Bai martyred fighting British Army on June 18, 1858 in Gwalior. So her mausoleum has been built in Gwalior. Rahul Gandhi might also be criticized more as when recently Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah visited Gwalior he had paid his respect to Laxmi Bai. The programme made for Rahul does not have any plan of his visiting her mausoleum. No Congress leader has the answer for this that why such thing is happening. Meanwhile, block committees have been asked to go to localities around the area with yellow rice which too is being opposed calling it the practice adopted by the Congress. This is an attempt to bring crowd to Rahul's roadshow. Moreover, all the rallies of the Congress president in Datia, Dabra, Gwalior, Sheopur and Jaura are being organised in small grounds which have the maximum capacity of seating 15000 people. Earlier meeting of the state Congress presidents or Rahul Gandhi were organised in bigger grounds having capacity of at least seating 30000 people. Also Read | Madhya Pradesh elections: Unfazed by BSP ditch, Congress still in driver's seat The Madhya Pradesh administration is tough on rallies of Rahul Gandhi as either it did not allow to erect or removed hoardings of Rahul's rally that were erected without permission. In another development former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh has been kept away from Narmada Aarti of Rahul Gandhi and this time round also Singh is kept away from Datia and Gwalior visits of Gandhi. He will also not be in the road show in Gwalior while Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath, Congress Legislative Party leader Ajay Singh and tribal leader Kantilal Bhuria will be present in this road show. The reason is being sighted the old anger against him. Rajasthan assembly polls: The not so easy battle and why BJP could struggle India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Jaipur, Oct 15: For the BJP the election in Rajasthan would be the mother of all battles. It is sure going to be the toughest and strongest contest for the BJP in this state, where it is in power. There was a big question mark over the prospects of the Congress due to the alleged infighting between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot. The Congress however managed to put up a united front by bringing the two leaders together. However the party is bitten by the ticket bug. Congress to adopt same methodology for ticket distribution as done in Gujarat and Karnataka At a rally in Jaipur in August, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said no outsider would get a ticket to the assembly election. "I can guarantee you this time that not a single parachute candidate will be able to get the ticket. If any such candidate comes, I will cut the rope," Gandhi told party workers. While it would be interesting to see how the Gehlot-Pilot equation shapes as the polling dates closer, the BJP too cannot take it easy in the state. Leading psephologist and political scientist, Dr. Sandeep Shastri tells OneIndia that for the BJP, there is no taking it easy in Rajasthan. It is the toughest fight and the strongest contest, he says. For some years now, Rajasthan has had a revolving door policy. Every recent election in the last four rounds has seen an alternate party coming to power. The Congress according to me would hope that this trend continues this year as well. If one looks at the other four states going to polls (Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh), the strongest chance for the Congress is in Rajasthan. The second factor that may work for the Congress is that there has never been a BJP state leadership that has been so unpopular. Vasundhara Raje is unpopular within the party as well, Dr. Shastri says and this is not seen in the other units of the party. This factor would be a huge setback for the party in Rajasthan. In the run up to the elections, they would have to iron out their differences. The party has been trying to project a united face. Raje on the other hand has been going all out to change her image, but one would wonder it is too little too late. However one must not forget that the Congress has this wonderful knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The rivalry between Gehlot and Pilot is something we cannot ignore. Gehlot has said that he cannot be ignored, but the leadership feels he should not interfere in Rajasthan and instead focus on national politics. Rahul Gandhi has more than once indicated that Pilot is the man in the state. He has not been declared the CM candidate, but continues to be the party's top choice in the state. BJP seeks report from the ground in Rajasthan before taking a call on Assembly tickets Coming to the BJP, I would believe that Prime Minister Narendra will invest most of his time in Rajasthan. He would give emphasis to this state over the rest as the BJP really does have a concern here. If at all the BJP is able to turn the tables in Rajasthan, then it would only be because of the Modi factor. A lot would depend on how much support the PM can garner in this state. As of today, in Rajasthan, the odds appear to be favouring the Congress, Dr Shastri also says. Rajasthan votes on December 7 and counting will be held on December 11. There are 200 assembly seats and the magic number is 101. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 15:53 [IST] Rich industrialists are 'bhai' for PM Modi, but not poor: Rahul Gandhi India oi-Vikas SV Bhopal, Oct 15: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Prime Minister of being pro-indutrialists yet again and said that Narendra Modi has no room in his heart for oppressed and women. Gandhi also said that he went to the PMO once to talk about issues of farmers, but the Prime Minister "didn't utter a word". "The Prime Minister has no room in his heart for the oppressed and women. He has room only for industrialists. Mehul Bhai, Nirav Bhai, Anil Bhai, Lalit Bhai, he never calls farmers and labourers 'Bhai'. Have you ever heard Modi ji calling poor 'Bhai'? Never. If he isn't in suit-boot, he isn't 'Bhai'," Gandhi said at a rally in Datia, Madhya Pradesh. Also Read | Rahul Gandhi says Congress stands with marginalised, targets Mallya, Anil Ambani He also trained gun at the Modi government at the alleged rising incidents of crime against women in the country and raked up the Unnao rape case in which BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is an accused. "Modi ji gave the slogan 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao'. We liked the slogan but then a BJP MLA raped someone. The CM tried to shield him, PM did not expel him from the party. He never spoke about it. Actual slogan is 'Beti Padhao aur Beti ko BJP ke MLA se bachao," the Congress president said. Speaking on the issue of farmers, he said, "Rahul Gandhi went to PMO only once. Because he wants to talk about farmers.I told PM, farmers are requesting him to waive off their farm loan.I told him I know he wants to waive off loans of the rich but he should do it for farmers too.He didn't utter a word." Also Read | BJP to make electoral battle in Rajasthan Modi vs Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi has been campaigning aggressively in Madhya Pradesh where the BJP is power for three sucessive terms. RSS too divided on the issue of M J Akbar but majority wants him to go! India oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla New Delhi, Oct 15: Though minister of state for external affairs M J Akbar has got reprieve from the government and the party despite the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is vertically divided on the issue of MeToo allegations against the junior minister in the external affairs ministry. MJ Akbar files defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani The minister has gone to the extent of filing defamation case against a journalist accusing him. But Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) too is divided on the issue but majority of them are in favor of the argument that the minister must go. Sources said that people in the public life must live by example. There have been several cases where people from the same political party relinquished important posts on moral ground. The RSS is of the view that so what if his questionable acts were of the time when he was not a minister but editor. Former BJP president L K Advani refused to contest Lok Sabha elections when his name figured in Hawala case just on the issue on simple allegation and he had come out clean in the matter later. There have been many other such cases. It is not that people in the RSS divided but there is anger among a section of RSS leadership and it is being talked about that it will be expressed at the right forum. The RSS leadership is now keeping silent but it is not ready to buy arguments given by Akbar on the issue. MeToo: Alok Nath seeks written apology and Re 1 compensation from Vinta Nand Opinion was already given by RSS joint general secretary (sahsarkaryawah) Dattatreya Hosabale who had shared a post by Facebook executive Ankhi Das saying, "You needn't have a #MeToo moment to support the women journalists who have narrated their victimisation. You needn't even be a woman. You just need to have a sensibility of what is right and what is wrong." But another RSS leader and national executive member Indresh Kumar questioned survivors silent for 15 years and complaining about it now. But a big section is of the opinion that the minister must go on moral grounds. The BJP is looking at the matter in terms of political loss and gain and their assessment in that terms is absolutely correct as the issue is not traveling beyond metros but for RSS it something more. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 20:37 [IST] Terminated twice by UP government, Supreme Court comes to rescue of SC man India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Oct 15: In a rare instance, the Supreme Court has come to the rescue of a man belonging to the Scheduled Caste category whose services were terminated twice by the Uttar Pradesh government owing to a dispute over his caste certificate. The top court, held that the subsequent change in law does not have the effect of reversing all the decisions made prior to the fresh view taken by a court of law. UP: 3 dead, 14 rescued as roof of under-construction building collapses in Shahjahanpur The Supreme Court in 2013 had upheld an Allahabad High Court order by which Vijay Shankar was reinstated to service with all consequential benefits, holding him as a member of SC category after state government had withdrawn its appeal following a lengthy hearing. The Uttar Pradesh government, however, in 2015 again dismissed him from service, saying a larger bench of the high court has taken a different view and his caste does not fall under the Schedule Caste category. Shankar, who belongs to the 'Kasera' community, a sub-caste of 'Shilpkars' which is a SC category notified under the Constitution, challenged the decision once again before the Allahabad High Court, but it dismissed his plea saying that the law has now been changed by a larger bench of the top court. A bench of justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao said the high court in its judgment, dated August 12,2015, has completely "misappreciated and misapplied the law". "The difference between a superior court reversing a decision, which is in appeal before itself, and overruling the view is well known," it said. The court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to immediately release the withheld pension and other retirement benefits of Shankar, who superannuated from the post of assistant prosecution officer during his second termination period. UP CM Yogi Adityanath says Allahabad should be renamed as Prayag Raj The court, while allowing the appeal of Shankar, set aside the high court order of August 2015, rejecting his plea and his dismissal order of June 15, 2015. "If a point is settled inter-parties and there is a subsequent change in the law because the court takes a different view, the change in a law does not have the effect of unsettling the rights settled earlier. "The subsequent change in a law does not have the effect of reversing all the decisions made prior to the fresh view," the bench said. It said in the present case, Shankar's rights were settled by the earlier high court judgment of December 23, 2011, which was upheld when the appeal of the state government was dismissed as withdrawn by the court. The court said it was not permissible for the principal secretary, home department, to rely upon the subsequent contrary decision and dismiss the appellant (Shankar) from service again. The ordeal of Shankar, who joined the service in 1991 as assistant prosection officer, started when he was terminated on May 21, 2007, by the state government on the ground that he has obtained the job by submitting a forged Scheduled Caste certificate. It was found that Shankar's caste was recorded as 'Kasera' in his school certificate, which according to the state government was not a SC category. Shankar, first challenged his dismissal order before the Uttar Pradesh State Public Services Tribunal, which granted him relief by setting aside the punishment order and reinstated him with all consequential service benefits and continuity in service. The tribunal also observed that 'Kasera' is a sub-caste of 'Shilpkar' as per a government order dated December 12,1950. It said there are 26 sub castes of 'Shilpkar' and that 'Kasera' was one of them. Thus, 'Kasera' being a sub-caste of 'Shilpkar' comes under the category of Scheduled Caste, the tribunal said. Aggrieved by the tribunal's order, the Uttar Pradesh government moved the Allahabad High Court that on December 23, 2011, upheld the tribunal's order, saying the caste of his parents as per the National Citizen Register, was found to be 'Shilpkar', which is a Scheduled Caste. Benevolent BJP towards Shivpal and Mulayam joining him at dais to cause confusion among ranks The state government, then moved the apex court where after a lengthy hearing, the appeal was withdrawn and the order of the high court reinstating Shankar was upheld. The problem started thereafter as in a separate case, a full bench of the high court on May 29, 2014, held that the 'Kasera' caste did not fall under the Schedule Caste category and the order given in Shankar's case was wrong in law. Relying on the full bench order of the high court, the government again dismissed Shankar's case, saying the law has now changed and his caste does not fall under schedule caste category. Shankar, then filed the appeal before the SC against the order of the high court dismissing his petition against the second dismissal order. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 6:24 [IST] Terror groups funding Mosques: How Kashmir-Kerala paved the way towards radicalisation India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Oct 15: The investigations being conducted by the National Investigating Agency has found that a Mosque in Palwal, Haryana was built with the funds of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. This came to light when the NIA was probing a module of the Falah-e-Insaniyat, the financial wing of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, that was busted in New Delhi recently. A report in the Indian Express stated that three men including the Imam of the Mosque were arrested for allegedly receiving funds from the FeF. Terror funding: Kashmir businessman Watali's bail stayed by SC The report stated that the Imam of the Mosque Mohammad Salman was given Rs 70 lakh to build the Mosque. Further it was stated that Salman had come in contact with members of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba during a trip to Dubai. When it all began in Kerala: Back in the year 2014, the Intelligence Bureau had sounded an alert that the Wahhabis in a bid to impose their rigid ideology had begun funding some Mosques in Kerala. Back that year, the Wahhabis had generated over Rs 1,000 crore through funds from Saudi Arabia. The huge inflow of funds was being used in Kerala to nurture the Wahhabi sect. The IB had said that an approximate of Rs 800 crore had been earmarked to set up four Wahhabi universities, 40 Mosques at the cost of Rs 400 crore, Rs 300 crore to set up Madrasas and Rs 100 crore to take over administration of Mosques. A similar incident was also reported in Maharashtra, where the agencies believe that Wahhabis have control of nearly 40 Mosques. In Kerala the number stands at 75. Terror funding: HC grants bail to Kashmiri businessman Why take over the Mosques: Radical elements, be it in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra or Kashmir first try to gain control over the Mosques. They feel that once they gain control over the administration over the Mosques, they can easily impose the radical school of thought. Mosques can be a huge influence on many, officers say. Take the case of Kashmir, where the Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith began taking over the Mosques. The first state to see the rise of Wahhabism was Kashmir and in the run up, the Wahhabis managed to take control over at least 400 Mosques in the state. Till date the loud speakers in several Mosques are used to preach sermons and in recent times instigate stone pelters. The Mosques in the state have also been accused of raising pro-Pakistan slogans and this had reached an all time high following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani. Intelligence Bureau officials say that some Mosques have been earmarked only to flare up tensions. Most important component of the naxal movement lies in the urban areas; Former R&AW chief In this context one must also recall the incident at Trikkakara in Kerala. An Imam at this Mosque had offered prayers for Ajmal Kasab two days after he had been hanged at the Yerawada jail in Pune. The Mosque committee immediately ordered the removal of the Imam. The IB had also reported that in some Mosques in Kerala, there is a different sermon for a select few after most of the people leave. This has led to a large scale radicalisation in Kerala and in the past one has seen several youth joining groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and more lately the Islamic State. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 16:35 [IST] Today's fuel price: Diesel price hiked, Petrol same as yesterday India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Oct 15: Fuel prices continued to rise on Monday (October 14), but the price of petrol was not hiked today while diesel price went up by 8 paise per litre in Delhi. The price of petrol in Delhi was Rs 82.72 per litre today while that of diesel was Rs 75.46 per litre. In Mumbai, price of petrol was Rs 88.18 per litre today, the diesel price went up by 9 paise and stood at Rs 79.11 per litre. The fuel prices vary from region to region due to local taxes, as the product is excluded from the Goods and Services Tax regime. Delhi has the lowest tax rate among the four metro cities. Amid constant rise in fuel prices which driving a hole in the pockets of the consumers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet the chiefs of oil companies today to discuss the situation. [As fuel prices rise, PM Modi to meet major oil company heads today] On Sunday, petrol was selling for Rs. 88.18 per litre at Mumbai, while diesel was being sold at Rs. 79.02 per litre. While the NDA government has maintained that the sustained rise in fuel prices are resultant of conditions in international markets, the Opposition, particularly the Congress, has trained its guns on the NDA government, accusing it of not doing enough to control the spiralling fuel prices. When SC said singing national anthem interferes with religious beliefs of a Jehovah India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Oct 15: The Sabarimala issue, post the verdict of the Supreme Court is quickly turning into a national movement. One has got to witness in recent days scores of people taking to the streets protesting the verdict of the court that permitted the entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala Temple. Several questions have been asked on whether the court has the jurisdiction to interfere in religious matters. Sabarimala verdict: Akhil Hindu Parishad stage protest in Trivandrum Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone dissenting judge on the Bench of five said that issues raised have serious implications for all religions. She said that issues which have deep religious connotation should not be tinkered with to maintain a secular atmosphere in the country. India has diverse religious practises and constitutional morality would allow anyone to profess and practise a religion she or he believes in and it is not for the court to interfere in such religious practises, even it may appear discriminatory. The present judgment will not be limited to Sabarimala alone and it will have wide ramifications. Issues of deep religious sentiments should not interfered into she said. She further said that what is essential practise in a religion is for the religion to decide. It is a matter of personal faith and India is a land of diverse faiths. Constitutional morality in A pluralistic society gives freedom to practise even irrational customs. She also added that judges cannot intervene and decide on whether a practice is violative of fundamental rights or not. Personal views of judges do not matter. A religious denomination has freedom to believe and even practice even if their beliefs are illogical or irrational, she added. It is mindset not the religion that stops women not being allowed in religious shrines Courts need to circumspect: Advocate K N Phanindra, tells OneIndia that courts need to circumspect while dealing with religious matters. Earlier judgments in so far as religious matters have been clear that the court cannot interfere in such matters. He further added that issues of deep religious sentiments should not be ordinarily interfered by the court. Phanindra cites the Bejoe Emmaneul case of 1986, where the court had upheld freedom to practise religion. Three children belonging to the Jehovah sect were expelled from school after they refused to sing the national anthem. They said that they desisted from actual singing only because of their honest belief and conviction that their religion does not permit them to join any rituals except it be in their prayers to Jehovah their God. The court had held in this case the fundamental rights under Article 19 (1) (a) and 25 (1) had been infringed and they are entitled to be protected. The court said that it was satisfied that in the present case the expulsion of the three children from the school for the reason that because of their conscientiously held religious faith, they do not join the singing of the national anthem in the morning assembly though they do stand up respectfully when the anthem is sung, is a violation of their fundamental right to freedom of conscience and freely to profess, practice and propagate religion. In the plea seeking a review of the Sabarimala verdict, it has been stated that 'without holding that the questions raised related to matters of religion which are not within judicially manageable standards, the majority decision in substance effectively has the effect of holding that the character of the deity can be altered based on individual faith and belief, in violation of the tenets of a particular religion and or religious sect. Sabarimala: SC imposed a post Victorian thought on us, which is opposed to Indian ethos The petitioners also argued that besides "patent legal errors" in the verdict, the assumption that the temple practice is based on notions of menstrual impurity is "factually erroneous". Pointing to massive protests against the verdict by women worshippers, the petitioners said: "The subsequent events that transpired after the judgment clearly demonstrate that overwhelmingly large section of women worshippers are supporting the custom of prohibiting entry of women in the menstruating age group to the temple." For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 16:20 [IST] Why is the government unable to stop the grand terrorist funerals in Kashmir India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Srinagar, Oct 15: The bug relating to funerals of terrorists in the Kashmir Valley has come back to bite us once again. Some 20,000 persons took part in the funeral of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Manan Wani at his native in Tekipora village of north Kashmir's Kupwara district. Wani was enrolled as a PhD scholar with the Aligarh Muslim University before joining the Hizbul in January this year. Before going any further, it would not be wrong to say that the administration has completely failed to control the funeral menace. PhD scholar turned terrorist killed: A thrill that drives the educated youth of Kashmir It began with Burhan Wani and since then has been a trend in the Valley. There have been scores of reports by security agencies, the Intelligence Bureau which had said that romanticising terrorist funerals in Kashmir has led to youth taking up arms. On deaf ears: In the month of June, the security forces had requested the government to take a decision on not to hand over bodies of terrorists to their kin. The Union Home Ministry had sad that it would leave it up to the Jammu and Kashmir police to take a call on the issue. It has been four months now, but no concrete action has been taken in this regard. The police had contemplated treating this issue on a case to case basis. The police were also contemplating telling the families that the bodies would be handed over provided the funeral is a private affair. If the parents did not agree, then the police would bury the body at the encounter site. Officials say that both the ideas mooted by the police are wrong. There needs to be a blanket ban on public funerals for terrorists. Once the body is handed over to the kin, then there is no way that such a large crowd can be stopped from taking part in the funeral. The proposal was made in June and since then the Valley has witnessed funerals of terrorists with large crowds turning up. Why propaganda must die before the terrorist In some cases it has been so brazen, that terrorists on the watchlist have turned up given a gun salute and left, while the police watched on helplessly. Security forces who have a nightmare everyday in the Valley say that this lack of action in this regard has caused more problems. Terrorists end up becoming martyrs when such funerals are accorded and this only lures more youth to take up the weapon. The funerals of terror: With the proposals being made by the security forces, the police were asked to look into it. Clearly there has been no action and the police have completely failed to control the crowds. Controlling the crowd made up of civilians is a difficult task as such action in the past has led to violent scenes amidst heavy stone pelting. An IB report says that several youth have taken to terror due to such funerals. It has been noticed that the youth had joined the terror groups after attending the funerals of terrorists. What has also been worrisome is that not just the locals, but even the foreign terrorists have been getting similar funerals. The problem does not end with just the funeral. Multiple funeral prayers are held and such instances have found an increase especially in south Kashmir. The most number of funeral prayers offered in recent times was to Abu Qasim, the Pakistani terrorist who was killed in an encounter. Following this, all foreign terrorists killed in encounters were buried in north Kashmir where the traction is lesser when compared to the southern part of the state. A host of measures have been suggested. First and foremost the local intelligence needs to be spruced up. It has been noticed that even terrorists on the wanted list have attended these funerals in full public glare. Secondly, those maulanas must be taken to task for allowing the public address systems in Mosques to chant praises of the terrorists. Father's heart breaking plea falls on deaf ears of terrorist son Such things only influence the youth further. They find it heroic to be terrorist and when the Mosques blare praises of the terrorists, the youth tend to get swayed, officials also point out. In the case of Wani's funeral, there was some action by the administration. While the crowds were clearly not stopped, there was a ban on the media from covering the event. The Kashmir Journalists Association was however quick to condemn this decision and termed it as a criminal act. It reflects that the set of constitutional and democratic values are not respected in the state, the association also said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 12:36 [IST] Brand South Africa encourages South African expats to embrace homeland opportunities Brand South Africa encourages South Africans living in Sydney to embrace their homeland's opportunities. Brand South Africa, is the organisation responsible for managing the countrys reputation and image domestically and internationally. This is done through the development of marketing and communication strategies. The organisation along with South African Tourism will this week be descending to Australia and New Zealand to engage with some of the South Africans expats living there. We are going there to continue conversations and engagement with Global South Africans to not only update them of the performance of the country but to also to promote a spirit of pride and patriotism, says Brand South Africas General Manager for Stakeholder Relations, Mpumi Mabuza. The Australian visit will culminate with a dinner in Sydney today, 12 October, with more than 120 expats. The South African High Commissioner in Australia, Ms Beryl Sisulu will also be in attendance at the Sydney event. Promoting South Africa as a dynamic and investor-friendly destination is key for Mabuza as she meets to update expats on the range of reforms and developments under new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who took over the countrys presidency in February. Were reaching out to South Africans living and working abroad to work with us as we promote South Africas unique combination of highly developed first-world infrastructure with the opportunities that come with a vibrant emerging market economy, says Mabuza. Since Ramaphosa took over the presidency in February earlier this year, government has embarked on a drive to mobilise US$100bn in new investments in the country over the next five years and implemented a raft of political and economic reforms to spur economic growth. These include overhauling governance at state-owned entities; instituting a state capture enquiry to deal with alleged corruption; and implementing a visa review to attract skilled workers and tourists to the country. In addition, a responsible land reform programme is being developed through a process of consultation that seeks to drive growth in the agricultural sector, strengthen property rights, ensure food security and provide certainty for investors and land owners alike. "President Ramaphosa recently announced that a central priority for government this year is to encourage significant new investment in our economy and the government has already implemented a number of policy changes to make it easier to do business in South Africa, Mabuza said. The engagement will also focus on how South Africans can Play their Part as brand ambassadors for the country. The Global South Africans initiative is a flagship programme of the organisation, that is aimed at building nation brand advocacy amongst South Africans living abroad. As one of the most sophisticated and promising emerging markets, South Africa has proven that it is resilient, our institutions of governance remain robust and we are committed to legal and regulatory frameworks which provide certainty and support for investors. We look forward to meeting Global South Africans in Sydney as we partner together to take South Africa forward, she said. Zika outbreak in Rajasthan: All you need to know about this deadly virus Zika virus in Rajasthan: 60 out of 72 positive cases cured India oi-Madhuri Adnal Jaipur, Oct 15: A Rajasthan health department official said that out of 72 positive cases 60 have been cured. Measures to control the outbreak of the virus were discussed at the meeting. "Forty-five out of the total 60 patients are healthy after treatment," the unidentified health department official said, after the meeting. Most of the cases have been reported from the Shastri Nagar area in Jaipur. All you need to know about Zika Virus; Transmission and symptoms Over 280 teams of medical and health department conducting surveys in affected areas. Till now, 96,000 houses have been surveyed. Fogging is done regularly. Total fine of Rs 44,000 imposed on 68 houses where larva was found. On Saturday, reports said the number of Zika monitoring teams in Jaipur has been increased from 50 to 170, and an isolation ward created at the Hira Bagh Training Centre to treat patients. The Centre has also provided the Rajasthan government with information, education and communication material to create awareness about the virus among the public. Rajasthan declares alert over Zika virus outbreak What is Zika virus? The Zika virus is mainly transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti that carries dengue. Most people infected with Zika will show no symptoms or will have only mild symptoms of fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis and, possibly, muscle pain and headaches that may last for several days to a week. In September, Rajasthan had recorded its first case of Zika virus infection after a woman tested positive in Jaipur. How do they get infected? Zika virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected female mosquito, primarily the Aedes aegypti. This mosquito also spreads yellow fever, dengue and chikungunya. Aedes mosquitoes usually bite during the day, peaking during early morning and late afternoon/evening. Can Zika be transmitted through sexual contact? Yes. Although Zika virus is primarily transmitted through mosquitoes, it can also be sexually transmitted. Zika virus can be transmitted by vaginal and anal sex, and possibly by oral sex. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 22:26 [IST] Pakistan hit my mysterious viral fever: All you need to know Commission formed to record Musharrafs statement in treason case International oi-PTI Islamabad, Oct 15: Commission appointed by a special court in Pakistan has been ordered to record Pervez Musharraf's statement in Dubai in connection with treason case after he refused to appear before the court through video conferencing. General (retd) Musharraf, 75, who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014. A conviction for high treason carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. The former army chief left for Dubai for medical treatment and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons. Musharraf's lawyer told a special court bench comprising Justice Yawar Ali, Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Nazar Akbar that his client was unable to record his statement via video link since he is "indisposed", Dawn news reported. Also Read | High treason trial against Pervez Musharraf to resume next week Justice Ali asked the lawyer whether Musharraf had been diagnosed with cancer, to which he responded that the former president had been diagnosed with heart problems, the report said. "He says he is not a coward. He wishes to appear before the court himself and present the evidence in his defence," the lawyer said. "The accused is in a foreign country right now. According to his lawyer, he is very ill," Justice Ali noted. Also Read | Pak SC seeks asset details of Musharraf, Zardari "Pervez Musharraf's previous record is before us. He is not ready to record a statement via video link," the prosecution lawyer said. "We are told that Pervez Musharraf cannot appear in court due to his illness. He wishes to record his statement in the treason case," the bench observed. The court decided to order the formation of the judicial commission that will go to the UAE to record Musharraf's statement in the case. The members of the commission and its scope will be decided later and if anyone had objections, they could challenge the formation of the commission before the high court, the bench said. Also Read | Case against Musharraf 'political', says interpol; Refuses to arrest him The case was adjourned until November 14. Last week, the Supreme Court Chief told Musharraf that "there are good doctors in Pakistan" and directed him to appear before the apex court to record his statement. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and the Red Mosque cleric killing case. Also Read | Pervez Musharraf seeks security from Pak govt upon return from Dubai In 2007, Musharraf declared Emergency rule across Pakistan, as he suspended constitution and imposed the State of Emergency which led to the huge arrest of judges. Public protested against Musharraf for his actions which forced him to step down from his position of president and since then leading a secluded life in Dubai. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, October 15, 2018, 18:12 [IST] Ahead of Xi-Biden summit, China asks the US to stop supporting 'Taiwan independence' As new envoy to China, Pradeep Rawat has his hands full China overtakes US as the richest country in the world China has never taken one inch of land from other countries: Xi tells Biden Modi, Xi Jinping to meet in Argentina International oi-Chennabasaveshwar P Beijing, Oct 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of China Xi Jinping will meet in Argentina this November, said Chinese ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, at the inauguration of 1st Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan Diplomats. The two world leaders will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui said at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats. Booth related work of the BJP still remains incomplete despite extension given to it Chinese ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, said, "China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister will visit India in December to launch first India-China high-level people to people exchanges mechanism." Argentina is hosting the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires. It will be the fourth meeting between the two leaders this year. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year -- at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. (With PTI inputs) South Korean president Moon Jae-in South Korea said Monday's talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. North Korean president Kim Jong Un The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as Washington has expressed unease over the fast pace in inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with U.S.-led efforts to denuclearize the North. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the discussions will include setting up a joint survey of a North Korean railroad section the Koreas plan to connect with the South. The North's chief delegate to the talks is Ri Son Gwon, who chairs the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. Also Read |In yet another historic summit, South & North Korean leaders sign agreement There could also be discussions over the specifics of a joint military committee agreed between their leaders to evaluate tension-reduction steps and maintain communication to prevent crises and accidental clashes. North & South Korea "The infinite waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic start out as a gathering of smaller repositories of water," Ri told South Korean reporters as he arrived at the border village of Panmunjom for the meeting. "Likewise, the high-level meeting today will contribute to peace, prosperity and unification (between the countries) that are desired by the entire nation," he said, referring to the people of both Koreas. Also Read |Kim, Pompeo agree to 2nd US-North Korea summit 'at earliest date' In their third summit this year, Moon and Kim committed to reviving economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such activity, and holding a ground breaking ceremony by the end of the year on an ambitious project to connect their roads and railways. Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un The North and South also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border, removing 11 front-line guard posts by December, and demining sections of the Demilitarized Zone. The Koreas also said they will make a push to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Moon has described inter-Korean engagement as crucial to resolving the nuclear standoff and is eager to restart joint economic projects held back by sanctions if the larger nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea begin yielding results. Also Read |US and North Korea back on track towards denuclearisation: Pompeo However, South Korea's enthusiasm for engagement with its rival appears to have created discomfort with ally United States amid growing concerns that the North is lagging behind its supposed promise to denuclearize. Moon's government last week walked back on a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea following President Donald Trump's blunt retort that Seoul could "do nothing" without Washington's approval. South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed displeasure about the Koreas' military agreement. Also Read |Peace declaration can't be used as a bargaining chip in denuclearization talks: North Korea Kang was not specific but her comments fuelled speculation Washington wasn't fully on board before Seoul signed the agreement. Trump has encouraged US allies to maintain sanctions on North Korea until it denuclearizes to maintain a campaign of pressure against Kim's government. PTI US president Donald Trump China has denied these allegations. However, for the first time Trump came out in open to say that China also meddled in the 2016 presidential elections. "They (Russians) meddled. But I think China meddled too," Trump told CBS News's popular '60 Minutes' in an interview. Recorded on Thursday, the interview was broadcast Sunday (Oct 14) night. Russia intervened in US elections to help Trump win: CIA China "I think China meddled also. And I think, frankly, China...is a bigger problem," Trump said and denied that by saying so he is not trying to divert the entire Russia thing. "I'm saying Russia, but I'm also saying China," he said. But it's the investigation of Russia's intervention in the 2016 election that hangs over his presidency and caused a rift with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions, because he recused himself from the inquiry. Russian 'meddling' in US poll: Trump still not criminal target'; Dutch attorney gets jail Attorney General Jeff Sessions Trump expressed disappointment that his Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. "I was disappointed that he recused himself and many people think I was right on that. I was very disappointed. Why should he have recused himself? So I was very disappointed," he said. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is conducting investigations into the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Responding to a question, he said he has no intention of shutting down the Russian investigation. "Well, I don't pledge anything. But (I) will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it's a very unfair investigation because there was no collusion of any kind," he said. Russia interference' in 2016 polls: Democrats file lawsuit Federal Bureau of Investigation To date, 32 people have been charged or pleaded guilty in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. President Trump's campaign chairman, top campaign aide, former national security advisor and long-time personal attorney are all cooperating in the inquiry, which the president calls a witch-hunt. Trump questioned the very proposition that he called Russia to help him in the elections. "Do you really think I'd call Russia to help me with an election? Give me a break. They wouldn't be able to help me at all. Call Russia. It's so ridiculous," he said. PTI Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan Erdogan and Salman discussed "the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi" and also emphasised the "importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation," said a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named. Also Read |Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi dead: Report Saudi king Salman bin Abdul Aziz Ankara had previously said a working group would be set up in line with a Saudi proposal. But few details have emerged over how this will function. The Saudi foreign ministry said Salman affirmed his country's "solid" relations with Turkey in the phone call with Erdogan. Also Read |Trump urges Saudi to enquire about Khashoggi's disappearance The king phoned Erdogan "to thank the president for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to form a joint working group to discuss the disappearance of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi". Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi Salman emphasised the importance of the Turkey-Saudi relationship and said no-one should be able to "undermine the strength of this relationship", it added. Khashoggi has been missing since he stepped inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Turkish officials say they believe he was killed inside the consulate and macabre claims have been published in Turkish media. Also Read |Turkey, US want Saudi to explain whereabouts of missing journalist But Saudi Arabia strongly rejects he was killed inside the mission. Erdogan, meanwhile, has behaved cautiously in the controversy, expressing concern but stopping short of directly accusing Riyadh. US President Donald Trump Trump said Saudi Arabia has denied of anything to do with disappearance of Khashoggi and that they would be "severely punished" if he was found to be killed by them. PTI This company article has been removed. ICE Gaming Conference Making Its Debut in Africa in October Published October 15, 2018 by Ivan P Attracting representatives from 91 countries from around the globe, including 25 African countries, the inaugural ICE Africa event will seek to shape the future of the African market. On October 24 and 25, Clarion will host the inaugural ICE Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre located in South Africa. The vision to bring the top-tier industry event to the continent has been supported by many important stakeholders in the industry, demonstrated by the fact the event is already at around 90% of its entire capacity twelve days before the start. Responding to Industry Demands According to Dan Stone, Clarion's Senior Marketing Manager, the idea to bring ICE to Africa has come about as a result of the industry demand. Big players in the gaming industry wanted to have a show that the continent could be really proud of and Clarion hopes to deliver with ICE. Since the inception of the idea, they have received great support from all sides, as journalists, game and content suppliers, regulators, and others involved in the industry have encouraged it. The event will see a great number of leading brands in the attendance, including the likes of Aruze Gaming, Playtech BGT Sports, Neosurf, Merkur Gaming, Quanta, and many others. A total of 91 countries will be represented at ICE Africa, including 25 countries from the continent, such as Cameroon, Botswana, Chad, Nigeria, Liberia, Tanzania, Morocco, Gambia, Egypt, Lesotho, Sudan, and, of course, South Africa. Covering a Variety of Topics The inaugural ICE Africa event is set to cover a wide spectrum of topics from the gaming industry. Focusing on learning and development, the event will create room for brainstorming ideas about shaping the future of the African market and there will be numerous workshops looking at different facets of the industry. Through the networkAFRICA segment, ICE Africa will also provide ample opportunities for everyone in attendance to forge new connections and create new strategic partnerships with colleagues from all over the world. As for the program of the conference itself, it will cover topics like lottery, mobile gaming, regulation, and much more. Patent Medicine Market 2018-2025 Global Analysis By Key Players- Pfizer Inc., Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., GSK Patent Medicine Market 2018-2025 Global Analysis By Key Players- Pfizer Inc., Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi-Avent www.upmarketresearch.com UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Patent Medicine Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2023 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 92 pages which highly exhibits on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Patent Medicine global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018 - 2023.Get Free Sample Report @ https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/8846Patent Medicine market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Patent Medicine global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018 - 2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.For more information @ https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/8846The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Patent Medicine market industry analysis & forecast 2018-2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region-wise Analysis Global Patent Medicine Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The key players covered in this study Pfizer Inc. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Merck Novartis Sanofi-Aventis Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. GSKMarket segment by Type, the product can be split into Product Patents Process PatentsAsk For Discount @ https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/8846Market segment by Application, split into Adult ChildrenThe Report covers in-depth analysis as follows: Chapter 1 Report Overview Chapter 2 Global Growth Trend Chapter 3 Market Share by Key Player Chapter 4 Breakdown Data by Type and Application Chapter 5 United States Chapter 6 Europe Chapter 7 Chin Chapter 8 Japan Chapter 9 Southeast Asia Chapter 10 India Chapter 11 Central & South Americ Chapter 12 International Players Profiles Chapter 13 Market Forecast 2018-2025 Chapter 14 Analyst's Viewpoints/Conclusions Chapter 15 AppendixBuy this report @ https://www.upmarketresearch.com/buy/patent-medicine-marketGlobal Patent Medicine Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market-driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real-time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real-time scenario.Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Patent Medicine Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 and its commercial landscape Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations To understand the future outlook and prospects for Patent Medicine market industry analysis and forecast 2018-2025.Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch:UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market 2023 Top Key Players are IBM Corporation, BambooHR, Oracle Corporation, McKesson Corporation and More Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/586 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/586 The report for North America Healthcare Human Resources Software of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance.Key Players for Human Resources Software Market:IBM Corporation (U.S.), Infor, Inc. (U.S.), BambooHR (US), Oracle Corporation (U.S.), Kronos, Inc. (U.S.), McKesson Corporation (U.S.), Gusto (US), Halogen Software Inc(Canada), SumTotal Systems Inc. (US), Zenefits Z2 (US), and Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (U.S.).Get Premium Sample Copy @Market Scenario:Healthcare is one of the biggest sector to collect revenue in America. Human resource software plays an important role in healthcare sector. Human resource department operates various functions like recruitment, salary hikes, vacation leaves, bonus, training, management and payment benefits management. HR software offer various benefits like document control and security. North America has the highest share of revenue in Healthcare Human Resources (HR) Software Market. Human resource professionals face many problems in their attempt to deliver the superior-quality health care to citizen. These is because of lack of budget, high rates of turnover and low morale of health personnel.In North America, Canada and USA are the most important countries to contribute the Healthcare HR software market. Because of lot of funding these country are leading in the HR software market. Canadian Healthcare system is publicly funded and divided into several groups like provincial and territorial governments, the federal government, physicians, nurses and allied health care professionals. The need to reduce the labour costs in hospital, increase in operational efficiency are the major factors for the growth of this market in America. North America share the total 65% of the global healthcare software market.Segmentation:HR software market has been segmented on the basis of administration software which are payroll, time and attendance, benefits management and others. On the basis of type of software like Recruiting, software-as-a-service (SaaS), core HR and others. By Organizations Type, Medium Businesses, Large Enterprises, Small Business. By user end, they are Pharmaceuticals, hospital and laboratories and other. By countries it is segmented as Canada, USA and Rest of America.American Healthcare Human Resources Software Market, by Countries:North America is the largest market for the healthcare human resource software market. This is because of development in healthcare sector. Among this Canada and USA are the two most important countries for healthcare human resource software market. USA has the highest share in North America followed by Canada.Table of Contents:1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations1.2.2.1 Assumptions1.2.2.2 Limitations1.3 Market Structure:2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Process:2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research:3 Market Dynamics3.1 Drivers3.2 Restraints3.3 Opportunities3.4 Macroeconomic Indicators4 Market Factor Analysis4.1 Porters Five Forces Model4.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers4.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers4.4 Threat of New Entrants4.5 Threat of Substitutes4.6 Intensity of RivalryList of TablesTable 1 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market, By Application, 2017-2023 (Usd Million)Table 2 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market, By Administration SoftwareTable 3 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market, By Organizations TypeTable 4 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software By End UserTable 5 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market By Countries 2017-2023 (Usd Million)List of FiguresFigure 1 Research ProcessFigure 2 Porters Five Forces ModelFigure 3 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market, By ApplicationFigure 4 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Softwar Market, By Administration SoftwareFigure 5 Americas Healthcare Human Resources Software Market, By Organizations TypeContinuedAsk Query to Expertise @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Electrooptic Crystal Global Industry Report - History, Present and Future 2018 https://www.research2reports.com/sample-report-chemical/electrooptic-crystal-market-2/70623 https://www.research2reports.com/report-chemical/electrooptic-crystal-market-2/70623 https://www.research2reports.com/enquiry-before-buy-chemical/electrooptic-crystal-market-2/70623 GET SAMPLE REPORT @The global market size of Electrooptic Crystal is $XX million in 2017 with XX CAGR from 2013 to 2017, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2023 with a CAGR of XX% from 2018 to 2023.There are 3 key segments covered in this report: geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment.For geography segment, regional supply, application-wise and type-wise demand, major players, price is presented from 2013 to 2023. This report coverss following regions:*North America*South America*Asia & Pacific*Europe*MEA (Middle East and Africa)The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil etc.For end use/application segment, this report focuses on the status and outlook for key applications. End users also can be listed.For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Electrooptic Crystal as well as some small players. The compnaies include:Raicol Crystals, Precision Micro-Optics Inc, Rainbow Photonics AG, Gooch& Housego et al.The information for each competitor includes:*Company Profile*Main Business Information*SWOT Analysis*Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin*Market ShareACCESS REPORTTable of ContentsChapter 1 Executive SummaryChapter 2 Abbreviation and AcronymsChapter 3 Preface3.1 Research Scope3.2 Research Methodology3.2.1 Data Collection3.2.2 Data Analysis3.2.3 Data Validation3.3 Research Sources3.3.1 Primary Sources3.3.2 Secondary Sources3.3.3 AssumptionsChapter 4 Market Landscape4.1 Market Overview4.2 Classification/Types4.3 Application/End UsersChapter 5 Market Trend Analysis5.1 Introduction5.2 Drivers5.3 Restraints5.4 Opportunities5.5 Threats. CONTINUEDList of Tables and FiguresTable Abbreviation and Acronyms ListTable Research Scope of Electrooptic Crystal ReportTable Primary Sources of Electrooptic Crystal ReportTable Secondary Sources of Electrooptic Crystal ReportTable Major Assumptions of Electrooptic Crystal ReportFigure Electrooptic Crystal PictureTable Electrooptic Crystal ClassificationTable Electrooptic Crystal Applications ListTable Drivers of Electrooptic Crystal MarketTable Restraints of Electrooptic Crystal MarketTable Opportunities of Electrooptic Crystal MarketTable Threats of Electrooptic Crystal MarketTable Key Raw Material of Electrooptic Crystal and Its SuppliersTable Key Technologies of Electrooptic CrystalTable Cost Structure of Electrooptic CrystalTable Market Channel of Electrooptic CrystalTable Electrooptic Crystal Application and Key End Users ListTable Latest News of Electrooptic Crystal IndustryTable Recently Merger and Acquisition List of Electrooptic Crystal IndustryTable Recently Planned/Future Project List of Electrooptic Crystal IndustryTable Policy Dynamics Update of Electrooptic Crystal IndustryTable 2013-2023 Export of Electrooptic Crystal by Region. CONTINUEDFOR ANY QUERY, REACHContact Us:Office No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune 411001Phone Number: 020 - 2612 6969Email: info@research2reports.comResearch 2 Reports offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune 411001 Global Telecom Order Management Market 2025 | Industry Top Vendors (Comarch SA, Fujitsu Ltd., Neustar Inc., Pegasystems Inc., Oracle Corp, Ericsson AB, Amdocs Corp., Cerillion Plc, IBM Corp., ChikPea Inc.) MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4548 https://www.mrrse.com/telecom-order-management-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/4548 https://www.mrrse.com/ Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE) recently announced the addition of a new research study to its comprehensive collection of research reports. The research report, titled Telecom Order Management Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017 2025 offers a detailed analysis of the market providing insights into the market dynamics that are expected to influence the overall market positively in the next few years. Furthermore, the product segmentation, drivers, barriers, key geographical segments, and the competitive scenario of the global Telecom Order Management Market have been elaborated upon in the research report.FREE | Request Sample Copy is Available @In 2016, the global telecom order management market was worth US$1.91 bn. Expanding at a healthy CAGR of 8.80% between 2017 and 2025, the opportunity in this market is likely to reach US$4.05 bn by the end of 2025. The constant advancements in next-generation telecom order management solutions will support the market considerably in the near future.Thanks to the increasing trend of digitization, the global market for telecom order management is witnessing a remarkably high growth. The rising number of connected devices across the world, coupled with a surge in order management complexities, is fueling the demand for effective telecom order management solutions, reflecting greatly on the markets growth. However, the hesitation among enterprises in taking up new technologies may limit the demand for these solutions in the years to come.On-premise Segment to Continue LeadingMajorly, the global market for telecom order management is analyzed on the basis of the type of the deployment, component, and the geography. Based on the deployment type, the market is segmented into on-premise deployment and cloud-based deployment. Among the two, the on premise segment is holding the leading position at present. However, various telecom service providers, especially the small and medium enterprises, are looking for cloud-based deployment, owing to the rising number of connected devices.Based on the component, the market is divided into solution and services. Currently, the solution segment is dominating and analysts expect it remain on the top with a share of nearly 68% by the end of 2025. However, the service segment is likely to register the growth at a higher pace than the solution segment in the near future.Browse Complete Report details with TOC Click Here @Increasing Demand for Customer Retention to Aid North America in Retaining DominanceIn terms of the geography, the global market for telecom order management is segmented into North America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, South America, and Europe. Among these, North America has been leading the global market since the last couple of years, thanks to the increasing demand for customer retention, shrinking revenues and extremely competitive space. Researchers expect this regional market to continue its leading streak, acquiring a share of nearly 38% in the global market by the end of 2025.The growth of the North America market for telecom order management is attributed to increasing awareness regarding the benefits that telecom order management solutions offer, such as the aid in timely order fulfillment required for early revenue realization and the improvement in end user satisfaction. Among other regional markets, Asia Pacific is expected to report a significantly high-paced growth at a CAGR of 9.40% between 2017 and 2025. The rapid digitization and the increasing cloud penetration across the region are expected to be the main factors behind the growth of Asia Pacific telecom order management market.Some of the leading players in the global market for telecom order management are Ericsson AB, Amdocs Corp., Cerillion Plc, IBM Corp., ChikPea Inc., Comarch SA, Fujitsu Ltd., Neustar Inc., Pegasystems Inc., and Oracle Corp. The market demonstrates a competitive business landscape and the scenario is expected to remain so over the next few years.Enquire More about This Report @About (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207(United States) Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: Microencapsulation Market Demands with Major Eminent Vendors: Lipo Technologies, Balchem Corporation, Taste Tech Ltd, Ronald T. Dodge Co., Aveka, Inc, Dow Corning Corporation Microencapsulation Market https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/report-sample/HC11351 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/checkout/HC11351 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/check-discount/HC11351 Crystal Market Research offers an widespread Research Study on the Global Microencapsulation Market, And Its Entire Ecosystem, Describes the Market Trends, best market price, Growth, Forecast, Drivers, Restraints And Opportunities Of The Microencapsulation Market.Industry Highlights:The Microencapsulation Market was worth USD 3.88 billion in the year of 2012 and is expected to reach approximately USD 11.74 billion by 2022, while registering itself at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.72% during the forecast period.Competitive Insights 2018:In August 2015, Appvion, Inc., sold its Encapsys microencapsulation section to an offshoot of Sherman Capital Holdings LLC for USD 208 million. With this understanding, Encapsys will proceed to make and offer microcapsules to Appvion for its carbonless paper creating business. The major players in the market are Lipo Technologies, Balchem Corporation, Taste Tech Ltd, Ronald T. Dodge Co., Aveka, Inc, Dow Corning Corporation, Microtek Laboratories,Capsulae, GAT Microencapsulation GmbH and InnoBio.Access Sample Report @Industry Outlook 2018 and Trend Analysis:The Global microencapsulation market is anticipated to encounter substantial development in detergents and pharmaceutical, food & beverage industry by virtue of its interest for dynamic fixing insurance and controlled discharge in such applications. The business comprises of many manufacturers, and these participants are required to build up vital associations with the purchasers over the prime application portions. High investments in Research and Development combined with new product advancement are anticipated to be the key methodologies for the business players to tap the rising interest for end-use ventures. The United States represented a noteworthy share in the microencapsulation market attributable to the booming production base of dominating pharmaceutical organizations including Merck & Co, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.Additionally, developing demand for additives because of including nutritious substance and conferring flavor and shading highlights in nourishment and refreshment industry is probably going to boost the development. Reduced labor price combined with the high development of pharmaceutical, food processing and detergent & cleaners industry in Asia Pacific when contrasted with North America and Europe is relied upon to open new openings in the market in the area. High cost of manufacturing related with the technology combined with a solid a dependable balance of the current organizations including Encapsys LLC, BASF SE, and Bayer AG is relied upon to represent a challenge for the new players. The expanding prominence of oral drug deliveries and functional foods are other crucial elements, which are relied upon to increase microencapsulation development. Nonetheless, the prominence of nanotechnology in the pharmaceutical business is required to negatively affect industry.The Microencapsulation Market is segmented as follows-Microencapsulation Market, By Application, Estimates and Forecast, 2012-2022 ($Million) Pharmaceuticals Household Products Agrochemicals Food additives Phase Change Materials (PCM) Other ApplicationsRegional Outlook:On a global front, the Microencapsulation Market covers North America (United States, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, India, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Rest of South America) and Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Rest of MEA).Reasons to Buy a Exclusive report?Our consultants offer comprehensive coverage of the market from varied aspects right from internationalmarket situation to future trends and opportunities.Our analysis methodologies area unit designed in such the simplest way that our purchasers area unit able to realize the answers theyre searching for, within the manner they need.We offer 24/5 analysis support to resolve all of your queries through a team of our business consultantshaving holistic data of native also as international markets. Our analysis services facilitate remodel clients structure knowledge into intelligence to support reality primarily based business selections.We offer best in business consultation services by a gaggle of consultants to recommendation our purchasers on growing their business portfolio.We perceive distinctive needs of our purchasers therefore on offer tailored - created analysis services.We centered on maintaining long lasting relationship with our purchasers by line to their analysis needs and providing them with consulting services.We extremely respect our clients confidentiality by adherence to advanced ways for knowledge security and privacy.Purchase Full Report with latest Industry Insights @Main TOC of Microencapsulation Market:Chapter1. IntroductionChapter2. Executive SummaryChapter3. Market OverviewChapter4. Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter5. Microencapsulation Market, By RegionChapter6. Company Profiles6.1. Capsulae6.1.1. Business Overview6.1.2. Product Portfolio6.1.3. Key Financials6.1.4. Strategic Developments6.2. LycoRed Group6.2.1. Business Overview6.2.2. Product Portfolio6.2.3. Key Financials6.2.4. Strategic Developments6.3. BASF SE6.3.1. Business Overview6.3.2. Product Portfolio6.3.3. Key Financials6.3.4. Strategic Developments6.4. Balchem6.4.1. Business Overview6.4.2. Product Portfolio6.4.3. Key Financials6.4.4. Strategic Developments6.5. Lipo Technologies6.5.1. Business Overview6.5.2. Product Portfolio6.5.3. Strategic Developments6.6. Encapsys6.6.1. Business Overview6.6.2. Product Portfolio6.6.3. Strategic DevelopmentsCONTINUED FOR TOCCheck Discounts here@About Crystal Market Research:Crystal Market Research is a U.S. based market research and business intelligence company. Crystal offers one stop solution for market research, business intelligence, and consulting services to help clients make more informed decisions. It provides both syndicated as well as customized research studies for its customers spread across the globe. The company offers market intelligence reports across a broad range of industries including healthcare, chemicals & materials, technology, automotive, and energy.Contacts UsJudy | 304 South Jones Blvd, Suite 1896,Las Vegas NV 89107,United StatesE-mail: sales@crystalmarketresearch.com | Ph: +1-888-213-4282 Air Insulated Switchgear Market 2018 Exclusive Analysis by Renowned Players | Schneider Electric, Eaton Corporation, Siemens, General Electric Company, Lucy Electric Limited, Etc. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2847 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/switchgear-market-2847 Market Overview:The growth of the global air insulated switchgear market will be healthy at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5% and is expected to attain a valuation of USD 8.73 Billion by the end of the forecast period of 2017-2023, reveals Market Research Future (MRFR) in a recently published research report. The global air insulated switchgear market has been expanding in view of increasing energy prices and towering demand for electrical power worldwide. Provision of power has become a challenging task for system operators. Moreover, the augmenting need for robust and highly reliable electric networks in various industry verticals has fuelled the growth of the market. Lower initial level capital investment acts a plus for the market growth. The market has been growing in rural areas, and developing countries where there is availability of land as air insulated switchgear requires considerable space. Stringent regulations by government and other administrative bodies aimed at safeguarding the environment is also a market driver. Due to environmental concerns, various rules have been imposed to reduce the use of hydrocarbons in electricity generation. Furthermore, the global trend of a shift towards renewable energy sources has also been a boon for the global air insulated switchgear market. Substantial investment by developing countries towards electrifying rural areas and the expansion of existing networks has boosted the growth of the market. However, the threat from alternatives is likely to restrain the growth of the global air insulated switchgear market over the forecast period.Get a Sample Report @Key Players:The key players of global air insulated switchgear market are ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), Schneider Electric SE (France), Eaton Corporation, PLC (Ireland), Siemens AG (Germany), General Electric Company (U.S.), Lucy Electric Limited (U.K.), TBEA Energy (India) Private Limited (India), Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan), SwitchGear Company (Belgium) and EPE Switchgear (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia).Segmentation:The global air insulated switchgear market has been segmented based on power range, installation, and application. By power range, the market has been segmented into 3 24 kV, and Above 24 kV. By installation, the market has been segmented into Indoor and Outdoor. By application, the market has been segmented into Distribution Utilities, Oil & Gas, Infrastructure & Transportation, and Other.Industry Updates:In May 2018, Siemens Pakistan launched a new production line for the company's latest technology in air-insulated switchgear. The launch of the new production line will provide an impetus to local manufacturing which will be located at Karachi.Regional Analysis:The global air insulated switchgear market spans across the regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). Asia Pacific is at the forefront of the global air insulated switchgear market followed by Europe. Rapid industrialization and growth of the renewable sector in Asia Pacific regions result in increased demand for air insulated switchgear market. The Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at the fastest rate over the forecast period. Europe is another strong market for air insulated switchgear and is expected to exhibit positive growth due to up gradation of existing infrastructure.Access Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Surface Mount Technology Equipment Market 2018 Growth Rate And Revenue Analysis By CyberOptics, Fuji Machine Manufacturing, Mycronic AB, Assembly Systems, Nordson, Orbotech https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2248 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/surface-mount-technology-equipment-market-2248 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/press-release/surface-mount-technology-equipment-industry Surface Mount Technology Equipment Market, By Equipment (Pick and Place, Coating Equipment, Solder Equipment, Cleaning Agents, Rework and Repair Equipment), By End-User Industries (Telecommunication, Consumer electronics, Automotive, Medical), By Components (Transistor & Diodes, Integrated Circuits) - Forecast 2022Market Highlights:Global Surface Mount Technology Equipment Market has been valued at US $ ~4 Billion by the end of forecast period with ~8% of CAGR during forecast period 2018 to 2022.Get Sample copy of Report @The global surface mount technology equipment market is on an upward growth trajectory and is expected to reach USD 4 Bn by the end of the forecast period of 2016-2022, reveals Market Research Future (MRFR) in a minutely analyzed research report. The market has been observing persistent growth on account of the ever-increasing demand for smart gadgets and need for miniaturization of products and higher accuracy. Rapid replacement of the traditional through-hole method by surface mount technology is a growing trend in various countries which is propelling the market growth. Surface mount technology equipment finds its application over different industry verticals which include automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, aerospace, and others which boosts the market growth primarily. The automotive industry is one of the most significant end users of the surface mount technology equipment. Electric cars generally have a high number of electric components as compared to traditional vehicles and surface mount technology equipment are very efficient in handling the complex electronics components without any malfunction. Thus, the growing automotive industry and rising production of electric vehicles augment the growth of the market. High usage of surface mount technology in consumer electronics owing to need for miniaturization and growth in the electronics industry fosters the market growth. Escalating need for printed circuit boards in smartphones and the smart card industry reflects positively on the growth of the market. On the downside, the high cost of surface mount technology equipment is restraining the market growth. Moreover, surface mount technology equipment is not suitable for high power or high voltage parts such as power circuit which too acts as a limiting factor.SegmentationThe global surface mount technology market has been segmented based on equipment, end user industries, and components. By equipment, the market has been segmented into Pick and place, Coating equipment, Solder equipment, Cleaning agents, and Rework and repair equipment. By end use industries, the market has been segmented into telecommunication, consumer electronics, automotive and medical. By components, the market has been segmented into passive surface mount devices, transistor & diodes, and integrated circuits.Competitive Landscape:The notable players in the global surface mount technology market include CyberOptics Corporation (U.S.), Mycronic AB (Sweden), Nordson Corporation (U.S.), Orbotech Ltd. (Israel), Fuji Machine Manufacturing Co., Ltd.(Japan), Assembly Systems (Germany), and Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Japan).Regional Analysis:The global surface mount technology equipment market spans across the regions of Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific is at the forefront of the global market. Countries such as China, India, and Japan are leading the market owing to the abundance of skilled labor in the region and the growing penetration of high tech devices which require miniaturization. Also, high demand for consumer electronics from the populous countries of India and China also boost the market growth.Industry Updates:In July 2018, Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., introduced two new series of surface mount automotive Grade power LEDs. The LEDs are ideal for automotive interior and exterior lighting, traffic signals and signs, LCD switches and for general use.In July 2018, Calgary-based Blackline Safety Corp. announced an investment of USD 1 Million in surface mount technology equipment. The investment will allow the company to reduce their overall costs for which they have expanded their premises.Access Report Details @Table of Contents1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope Of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market StructureContinuedLIST OF TABLESTable 1 Surface Mount Tecnology Equipment Market, By EquipmentTable 2 Surface Mount Tecnology Equipment Market, By ComponentsTable 3 Surface Mount Tecnology Equipment Market, By End-UserContinuedAccess Report PR @LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1 Research Network SolutionFigure 2 Surface Mount Tecnology Equipment Market: By Equipment (%)Figure 3 Surface Mount Tecnology Equipment Market: By Components (%)About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Organic Skim Milk Market Insights, Forecast to 2025: Horizon Organic, Arla, Organic Valley, Emmi, Aurora Organic Dairy Organic Skim Milk Market https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/request-sample/1087837 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/check-discount/1087837 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/checkout/1087837 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com The Global Organic Skim Milk Market 2018 to 2025 renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the Organic Skim Milk Industry on a global level that primarily aims the core regions which comprises of continents like Europe, North America, and Asia and the key countries such as United States, Germany, China and Japan.The report on Global Organic Skim Milk Market is a professional report which provides thorough knowledge along with complete information pertaining to the Organic Skim Milk industry a propos classifications, definitions, applications, industry chain summary, industry policies in addition to plans, product specifications, manufacturing processes, cost structures, etc.The major manufacturers covered in this report Horizon Organic Arla Organic Valley Emmi Aurora Organic Dairy Yeo Valley Andechser Molkerei Scheitz Thise Dairy Avalon Bruton Dairy Yili Mengniu Shengmu Organic MilkGet Sample Copy of This Report @On the basis of product, primarily split into 200-250mL 300-330mL 450-500mL 900-1000mL OtherOn the basis of the end users/applications Children Adult The AgedThe potential of this industry segment has been rigorously investigated in conjunction with primary market challenges. The present market condition and future prospects of the segment has also been examined. Moreover, key strategies in the market that includes product developments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, etc., are discussed. Besides, upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also conducted.Get The Best Offer of This Report @Report Includes:-The report cloaks the market analysis and projection of Organic Skim Milk Market on a regional as well as global level. The report constitutes qualitative and quantitative valuation by industry analysts, first-hand data, assistance from industry experts along with their most recent verbatim and each industry manufacturers via the market value chain.The research experts have additionally assessed the in general sales and revenue generation of this particular market. In addition, this report also delivers widespread analysis of root market trends, several governing elements and macro-economic indicators, coupled with market improvements as per every segment.The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Organic Skim Milk capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Organic Skim Milk manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.BUY NOW @About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb- Global AAA Market, Size, Industry Player (Fresenius, Baxter, Asahi, Toray, Weigao, B. Braun, Nipro, Langshen Key County Analysis (United States, Europe, China, Japan, India), Segmentation, Analysis and Forecast till 2018-2025 Market Research Hub https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1917975 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/global-aaa-market-insights-forecast-to-2025-report.html https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=enquiry&repid=1917975 www.marketresearchhub.com/ The global market status for AAA is precisely examined through a smart research report added to the broad database managed by Market Research Hub (MRH). This study is titled Global AAA Market Insights, Forecast to 2025, which tends to deliver in-depth knowledge associated to the AAA market for the present and forecasted period until 2025. Furthermore, the report examines the target market based on market size, revenue and geography; making it quite useful for the readers.Request for free Sample @The global AAA market is valued at million US$ in 2017 and will reach million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of during 2018-2025. The objectives of this study are to define, segment, and project the size of the AAA market based on company, product type, end user and key regions.This report studies the global market size of AAA in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa, focuses on the consumption of AAA in these regions.This research report categorizes the global AAA market by top players/brands, region, type and end user. This report also studies the global AAA market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels and distributors.The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company:FreseniusBaxterAsahiTorayWeigaoB. BraunNiproLangshenChengdu OCI MedicalMarket size by ProductHigh Throughput DialyzersLow Throughput DialyzersMarket size by End UserPublic HospitalPrivate ClinicNursing HomePersonal CareOthersMarket size by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaCentral & South AmericaBrazilRest of Central & South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyEgyptSouth AfricaThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global AAA market size (value & volume) by company, key regions, products and end user, breakdown data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of AAA market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global AAA companies, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape and recent development.To project the value and sales volume of AAA submarkets, with respect to key regions.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of AAA are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million US$) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of AAA market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.Browse Full Report with TOC@Table of Contents1 Study Coverage1.1 AAA Product1.2 Market Segments1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global AAA Market Size Growth Rate by Product1.4.2 High Throughput Dialyzers1.4.3 Low Throughput Dialyzers1.5 Market by End User1.5.1 Global AAA Market Size Growth Rate by End User1.5.2 Public Hospital1.5.3 Private Clinic1.5.4 Nursing Home1.5.5 Personal Care1.5.6 Others1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global AAA Market Size2.1.1 Global AAA Revenue 2013-20252.1.2 Global AAA Sales 2013-20252.2 AAA Growth Rate by Regions2.2.1 Global AAA Sales by Regions2.2.2 Global AAA Revenue by Regions3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers3.1 AAA Sales by Manufacturers3.1.1 AAA Sales by Manufacturers3.1.2 AAA Sales Market Share by Manufacturers3.1.3 Global AAA Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)3.2 AAA Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 AAA Revenue by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.2.2 AAA Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.3 AAA Price by Manufacturers3.4 AAA Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Types3.4.1 AAA Manufacturers Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters3.4.2 Manufacturers AAA Product Type3.4.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into AAA Market3.5 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion PlansContinue...@@Enquire about this Report -About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free : 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email : press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite : Thabit Ndilahomba, Letshego Bank Tanzanias recently appointed CEO, is committed to extending Letshegos reach and enhancing value proposition for customers, staff and other valued stakeholders in Tanzania. In line with Letshego Groups regional strategy, Letshego Tanzania offers simple and accessible financial solutions that focus on the needs of individuals, as well as micro and small entrepreneurs. Formerly the Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Thabit brings to his new role a valuable understanding and appreciation for the financial dynamics and performance of the business as a whole. Letshegos Group CEO, Smit Crouse, commented on the recent appointment, affirming, Thabits local experience gained from multiple growth sectors in Tanzania, as well as his financial skills and background, position him well in delivering Letshegos strategic ambition for Tanzania. Letshego remains committed to Tanzania while progressing in its ambition towards providing solutions that create opportunity and flexibility for both individuals and small businesses, across Tanzania.Prior to joining Letshego, Thabit worked for FINCA Microfinance Bank where he held various senior positions including Chief Finance Officer and Chief Accountant. Thabits career also includes a tenure with the RENCO Group, where he was Chief Accountant and Chief Financial Analyst. Thabit commenced his career as a Tax Assessor at the Tanzania Revenue Authority. Since taking up his role at the helm, Thabit Ndilahomba announced Letshegos recent strategic partnership with Airtel Tanzania and Jumo, a savings option entitled Timiza Akiba. This innovative savings solution aims to promote a local savings culture by enabling customers to save money in their mobile wallets, incentivising committed customers with rewards and interest, even on low account balances. I am excited about the opportunities that my new role presents in delivering a strategy that not only enhances Letshegos brand and reputation in Tanzania, but also stands to bring further value and benefits to one of our most important stakeholders, our customers, said Ndilahomba. Letshego in Tanzania has more than 240 employees, offering credit, savings and transactional solutions to individuals as well as small and micro entrepreneurs, with a special focus on affordable housing, education and health sectors. JSE-listed Sanlam has been given permission to buy a majority stake in Catalyst Fund Managers, a Cape Town-based company that manages listed property investments for institutional and retail clients. Sanlam said in September the deal would help its investments unit to diversify and strengthen its asset management capabilities. It did not disclose the value of the acquisition.It provides Sanlam Investments with the opportunity to partner with a credible and well-respected business which has a compelling product offering, Sanlam said at the time. The Competition Commission said on Tuesday it had approved the deal without conditions, meaning that Sanlam Investment Holdings can go ahead with its acquisition of a 69 percent stake in Catalyst. The commission said the deal was unlikely to reduce competition or the number of jobs in the industry. Founded in 2001, Catalyst originally focused on managing SA-listed property portfolios. In 2007, it started managing global portfolios. Catalyst Fund Managers executive management and staff support the change in shareholding, said Michael Arbuthnot, CEO of Catalyst.Sanlam Investments CEO Nersan Naidoo said Catalyst would provide our clients with a compelling asset class as we search for alternative sources of performance. The local listed real estate market has struggled so far in 2018, with the SA listed property index falling more than a quarter so far in 2018. Sanlam Investment Management said it would also acquire a 100 percent stake in an Irish business, CIG Fund Management Company, to complement the Sanlam groups international investment management platform, Sanlam Asset Management Ireland, Sanlam said. Sanlam Asset Management Ireland manages funds domiciled in Ireland. That transaction is subject to certain conditions, including Irish regulatory approvals. [Business Day] Excellent growth by E-Pharma Market Research Report 2018-2025: growth beyond the expectation, detail overview, rescend status, demand by Aurobindo Pharma, Pfizer Centre Source, Walmart, Walgreen. https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=225058 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=225058 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=225058 www.researchnreports.com E-Pharma Market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of +21.7%. The base year considered for the study is 2018 and the forecast period considered is 2018 To 2025.The E-Pharma Market Research Report is a proven source of information on current market trends, circumstances, opportunities and status. The following e-Pharma market reports contain all information, including market penetration, classification, applications and contracts, and describe what key publishers are doing with product launches, joint ventures, development, mergers and allegations, In detail. Market for the market in terms of import, export, sales and CAGR. This report includes SWOT analysis and Porter 's Five Forces Analysis to define market drivers and constraints and provide knowledge of e - pharmaceutical market competition.E-pharma Market Research Report With the spread of chronic diseases and diseases worldwide, there is a continuing increase in demand for a variety of drugs and healthcare products. High treatment costs indicate a need to lower medical costs. Online pharmacies are gaining popularity with lucrative offers such as price reductions such as cost savings. In addition, increased adoption of prescriptions in hospitals and other healthcare facilities is expected to drive growth.For Sample Copy of this report:Major Key Players In This ReportCompanies ProfiledBoehringer IngelheimAbbVie Contract ManufacturingAurobindo PharmaPfizer CentreSourceWalmart Stores, Inc.Walgreen Co.Express Scripts Holding CompanyThe Kroger Co.Rowlands PharmacyDoc MorrisGiant Eagle, Inc.Avail discount on this report:Segmentation by product type: Pharmacy benefit manager Legitimate Internet pharmacy Illegal or unethical internet pharmacySegmentation by application: Hospitals Personal use Government researchFor more enquiry:Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsTable of Contents:Global E-Pharma Market Research Report 2018-2025Chapter 1: E-Pharma Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3: E-Pharma Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4: Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7: Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8: Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11: E-Pharma Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12: Global E-Pharma Market ForecastAbout Research N ReportResearch N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com Ovulation Test Market Business Opportunities by 2023 Geratherm Medical AG, Accuquik, NecLife, Piramal Healthcare, etc Ovulation Test Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1341 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/1341 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/ovulation-test-market-1341 The Global Ovulation Test Market is growing with the steady pace. The Global Ovulation Test Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~4.5% during the forecast period 2017-2023. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global ovulation test market is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period growing rapidly due to rising technology driven ovulation monitors. The market is forecasted to demonstrate a spectacular growth by 2023, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period (2017 2023).The market is expected grow with the same trends during the forecast period. The major drivers will be technological advancement for reliable and accurate results from ovulation test kits has spurred the growth the market. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in eight women has trouble conceiving or sustaining a pregnancy, due to age, health issues or other factors. For that, companies are introducing advanced kits which will help them to monitor their pregnancy and ovulations. For instance, apps like Glow and Apple's own Reproductive Health kit in iOS make it easier to record, visualize and aggregate large amounts of data related to the reproductive health of the patients. Moreover, pregnancy management and women and child health gaining importance throughout the world favor the growth of this market. Increase in first pregnancy, complications during pregnancy and demand of reliable technology for pregnancy test kits.Get Sample PDF Illustration @Key Players for Global Ovulation Test MarketSome of the key players in this market are: Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH (Switzerland), Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (U.S.), Prestige Brands Holdings Inc. (U.S.), HiLin Life Products Inc. (U.S.) and Fairhaven Health LLC (U.S.)Other players in this market are: Fertility Focus Limited (U.K.), Geratherm Medical AG (Germany), Accuquik (California), NecLife (India) and Piramal Healthcare (India)Global Ovulation Test Market - Competitive AnalysisThe market for Ovulation Test is characterised by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global market of ovulation test appears to be getting competitive in this region due to increasing first time pregnancy age and gynaecological disorders. Global players are increasingly expanding their footprint in the emerging nations, especially in terms of features such as type, product portfolios, and pricing. The market is witnessing intensified competition which is expected to increase with time during the forecast period. Well established players are entering into new product launches in order to gain competitive edge in this market and to maintain their market position.Companies like in April 2016, Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has launched a First Response Pregnancy PRO Digital Pregnancy Test + App Access. It is the first and only Bluetooth enabled pregnancy test stick which will be available nationwide. This will help the company add-on a product to their portfolio and help to increase the customer base.Moreover, Prestige Brands Holdings Inc., in December 2016, has announced to acquire C.B Fleet Company which manufactures products for feminine care to reach in global market. Furthermore, Swiss Precision Diagnostics a market leader across the globe with wide range of women health brands out of which Accu clear provides a range of products for pregnancy and ovulation test. It has been granted three patents by the U.S. in advanced clear blue ovulation test helping it to maintain its leading position in the market.This particular market is focussing on product launches and acquisitions as a key strategy, thereby presenting a potential opportunities for the growth of the market.Regional Analysis of Ovulation Test Market:Globally, Ovulation Test market consists of four regions Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East and Africa. North America is the largest market. The North American market for Ovulation Test is expected to grow at a CAGR 2.20% which is expected to reach at US$ 900 million from US$ 550 million in 2016 by the end of the forecasted period. Awareness regarding planned pregnancy favor the growth of this market. Europe is the second-largest market for Ovulation Test which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.24%. Whereas Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for Ovulation Test market. India is expected to be the emerging and fastest growing market. India is expected to be the largest market due to increase population of the country. The market shows steady growth in Middle East and Africa.Get Prime Discount on Report @Some Brief Table of Contents of ReportChapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 ChallengesTOC ContinuedBrowse Complete Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureHadapsar, Pune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Medicated Personal Care Products Market Rising with 20.30% CAGR rill 2027 by TWASA, KPH Cosmos Pvt. Ltd, Edana, Johnson & Johnson, LOreal, DCC Health and Beauty Solutions, etc Medicated Personal Care Products Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1008 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/1008 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/medicated-personal-care-products-market-1008 Market Research Future published a research report on Global Medicated Personal Care Products Market and provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 6 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Medicated personal care products Market and provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia, and RoW.Global Medicated Personal Care Products Market - OverviewVarious medical companies are working hard to mollify the rising demand for ingredients and medicines that go into personal care products for the skin, hair, oral care, and various other applications. As a large, rapidly growing and increasingly diversified market, product components denote special challenges for medical manufacturing companies. Growing consumer incomes and changing lifestyles influence the global Medicated personal care products industry. Furthermore, the market is driven by an increasing middle class in the East, and growing elderly population in the West, and new opportunities such as halal beauty, mens grooming, and bio-based skin care.The market is forecasted to demonstrate a double growth by 2017. The Global Medicated personal care products market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.30% during assessment period of 2017-2027.Moreover, adding to the growth of the market, better standard of living along with growing disposable income of the working middle-class population in developing countries of Asia-Pacific including China, India, and Malaysia is expected to influence the growth of this market. Rising on-going R&D with technological breakthroughs in the area of processing and cost-effective products were major factors responsible for expanding industry growth over the past decade and the upcoming trend will continue further in the coming years.Get Sample PDF Illustration @Key Players for Global Medicated Personal Care Products MarketMarket Research Future (MRFR) recognizes the following companies as the key players in Medicated Personal Care Products Market: There are plenty of large and small market players which operate in this market all over the globe.Personal Care (US) , TWASA (India), KPH Cosmos Pvt. Ltd (India), Edana, Johnson & Johnson (US), LOreal (Paris), DCC Health and Beauty Solutions LTD (UK). are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Medicated personal care products Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.Global Medicated personal care products Market - Competitive AnalysisCharacterized by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global market of Medicated personal care products appears to be highly competitive and fragmented. With well-established market in the Americas region major companies have their home in the region and generate maximum market share. These companies have expanded their operating unit in various other emerging regions as well. Moreover the other small and medium scale players are generating revenue from local market.Regional Analysis for Global Medicated Personal Care Products MarketGlobal Medicated personal care products market is segmented on the basis of geographies or regions which mainly includes Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Americas is dominating the global market for Medicated personal care products with more than 40% share of the total market in 2016. The major factors influencing the growth of the market include due to increasing use of medical personal care products, increasing spending over cosmetic products, growing aging population, and various others.Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market in coming future. The nations in the Asia represent to a portion of the biggest and high potential markets for export growth for the U.S. Individual Care and Cosmetics businesses. Containing more than 20% of U.S. worldwide exports in the sector, the Asian nations offer the business more than 3 billion potential consumers in the fastest growing global markets. This base incorporates customers in developed markets for U.S. products, for example, Japan, Australia and South Korea, which together represented more than $1 billion in U.S. individual care and cosmetics export trades in 2015 to China, which at an estimated USD 500 to USD 600 million in U.S. exports that same year, is anticipated to become the largest global market for cosmetics in the next two to three years agents.What's more, the nations incorporated into the Asia Personal Care and Cosmetics Guide give access to some of the most highest potential future marketsincluding the developing white collar class in nations crossing from Indonesia to Vietnam to Malaysia. These purchasers seek to the quality and refinement for which U.S. products are known. As of now these business sectors source the vast majority of their fundamental individual care products from mass market U.S. organizations including Procter and Bet, Johnson and Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive. Progressively these consumers are moving past the basics to premium skin and hair care and also color cosmetics opening opening the way to a wide variety of U.S. based beauty care products exporters.The Middle East & Africa holds the least share of the global market due to limited availability of biotechnology facilities. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are expected to drive the Middle East & African market. Whereas, the African region is expected to witness a moderate growth.Get Prime Discount on ReportSome Brief Table of Contents of ReportChapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4.6 Technology Trends & AssessmentChapter 5. Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of SuppliersTOC ContinuedBrowse Complete Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureHadapsar, Pune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Automotive Switches Market Outlook to 2025 - Omron Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Aptiv Plc, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Continental AG, TOKAIRIKA, Co, E-Switch, Alps Electric http://bit.ly/2yE0nHQ http://bit.ly/2PuM4MR Automotive Switches is a kind of electromechanical device which is used to control and run an electrical circuit. These switches are primarily used in vehicles for different applications including HVAC system, infotainment system, and electronic component systems. Rise in the production, sales, and penetration of light and heavy commercial vehicles throughout the globe is the driving factor of automotive switches market.The "Global Automotive Switches Market Analysis to 2025" is a specialized and in-depth study of the Automotive Switches industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global Automotive Switches market with detailed market segmentation on the basis of switch type, vehicle type, application, and geography.Sample Copy of this ReportHowever, volatile prices of raw material used to manufacture automotive switches is responsible to hamper the growth of automotive switches market. Nonetheless, with the increasing disposable income of individuals due to improving GDP in emerging economies, individuals are willing to purchase luxury vehicles and electric vehicles which is anticipated to provide ample of opportunities to automotive switches market in the forthcoming period.The global automotive switches market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.The report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global Automotive Switches market based on switch type, vehicle type, and application. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall Automotive Switches market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM).The market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers analysis and forecast of 16 countries globally along with current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.Besides this, the report analyzes factors affecting market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors effecting the market in these regions.Also, key Automotive Switches market players influencing the market are profiled in the study along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years.Purchase this Report atSome of the key players influencing the market are the list of companies for Automotive Switches market are Omron Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Aptiv Plc, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Continental AG, TOKAIRIKA, Co, Ltd., E-Switch, Inc., Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Eaton Corporation, and HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaAamong others.About Us:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Automotive and Defense.Contact Us:The Insight Partners533, 5th Floor, Amanora Chambers,Amanora Township, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Tobacco Company Profile Market to witness astonishing growth with Key Players PMI, GPI, Promoter & Promoter Group, KK Modi https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/947538-tobacco-company-profile-10 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/947538-tobacco-company-profile-10 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/947538-tobacco-company-profile-10 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=947538 https://www.linkedin.com/company/13388569/ https://www.facebook.com/htfmarketintelligence/ https://twitter.com/htfmarketreport https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NidhiBhawsar-SEO_Expert?rel=author HTF Market Report released a new research document of 35 pages on industry titled as 'Tobacco Company Profile - Godfrey Phillips India' with detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions and important players/vendors such as PMI, GPI, Promoter & Promoter Group, KK Modi etc. The report will help you gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period ofRequest a sample report @SummaryTobacco Company Profile - Godfrey Phillips India""Tobacco Company Profile - Godfrey Phillips India"", is an analytical company report by HTF MI that provides extensive and highly detailed current and future market trends in the cigarette market. It covers market size and structure along with per capita and overall consumption. Additionally, it focuses on brand data, retail pricing, prospects, and forecasts for sales and consumption.Godfrey Phillips India Ltd (GPI) is the second largest cigarette manufacturing company in India and an associate and licensee of Philip Morris International (PMI). In recent years, it has extended its tobacco activity into the chewing tobacco sector and is also the leading cigar supplier in India, importing and distributing for several leading cigar companies. Moreover, GPI is active in the unmanufactured tobacco sector and the company also has a tea division and a small convenience store operation.View Detailed Table of Content @Scope- Godfrey Phillips is largely a domestic company, although one with ambitions to become a major regional player, and exports several of its brands.- Godfrey Phillips India operates in several business areas. These include the manufacture and marketing of cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and cigar products; the importation and distribution of cigars for other cigar companies; unmanufactured tobacco and tea.- GPI has three cigarette factories and held a 14.7% share of the domestic cigarette market in 2016/17, including the licensed Marlboro, which it manufactures and distributes on behalf of its minority shareholder Philip Morris International.Reasons to buy- Get a detailed understanding of consumption to align your sales and marketing efforts with the latest trends in the market.- Identify the areas of growth and opportunities, which will aid effective marketing planning. The differing growth rates in regional product sales drive fundamental shifts in the market.- This report provides detailed, authoritative data on these changes - prime intelligence for marketers.- Understand the market dynamics and essential data to benchmark your position and to identify where to compete in the future.Companies Mentioned in the Report: PMI, GPI, Promoter & Promoter Group, KK Modi Group, BATGet Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @Table of Contents1. Introduction 52. Key Company Facts 63. Corporate Structure 83.1. Ownership 83.2. Organization 94. Financial Highlights 125. Cigarettes Business Review 175.1. Overview 175.2. India 195.3. International Markets 246. Company Strengths, Strategies & Performance 27....ContinuedBuy this report @It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization accordingly.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.comConnect with us at Foodservice Global Market 2018: Key Players McDonald's, Restaurant Brands International, Sodexo, Starbucks, Yum!Brands https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3322853-global-foodservice-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/3322853-global-foodservice-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=3322853 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Foodservice IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Foodservice -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2023 To Its Research DatabaseThis report studies the global Foodservice market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Foodservice market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Foodservice is also known as catering service. It includes all companies that engage in serving meals prepared outside homes. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, and catering outlets. Foodservice restaurants are classified into two sectors: commercial and non-commercial foodservice.The commercial segment accounted for the major shares of the foodservice market. Factors such as the introduction of new food items on the menus and evolving consumer tastes and preferances will contribute to the growth of this industry segment in the coming years.The conventional foodservice system is mainly driven by the high quality of offered food due to its instant preparation. The conventional foodservice system offers flexibility in the menu that largely attracts consumers. Another major benefit of this system is the option of inspecting food items to confirm their quality and safety.In 2017, the global Foodservice market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredMcDonald'sRestaurant Brands InternationalSodexoStarbucksYum!BrandsAramarkCompass Group North AmericaDomino'sDicosIn-N-Out BurgerThe Little CaesarsJollibee FoodsMr. Lee'sWhite Castle ManagementCarl's Junior RestaurantAmerican Dairy QueenMOS Food ServicesServices Group of AmericaRequest for Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoConventional Foodservice SystemCentralized Food Service SystemReady-Prepared Foodservice SystemAssembly Serve Foodservice SystemMarket segment by Application, split intoCommercialNon-commercialThe study objectives of this report are:To study and forecast the market size of Foodservice in global market.To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use and region.To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World.To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Foodservice are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Leave a Query @Table of ContentsGlobal Foodservice Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Foodservice1.1 Foodservice Market Overview1.1.1 Foodservice Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Foodservice Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 Europe1.2.3 China1.2.4 Japan1.2.5 Southeast Asia1.2.6 India1.3 Foodservice Market by Type1.3.1 Conventional Foodservice System1.3.2 Centralized Food Service System1.3.3 Ready-Prepared Foodservice System1.3.4 Assembly Serve Foodservice System1.4 Foodservice Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Commercial1.4.2 Non-commercial2 Global Foodservice Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Foodservice Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 McDonald's3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2 Restaurant Brands International3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3 Sodexo3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4 Starbucks3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.5 Yum!Brands3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.6 Aramark3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.7 Compass Group North America3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.8 Domino's3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.9 Dicos3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.10 In-N-Out Burger3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Foodservice Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.11 The Little Caesars3.12 Jollibee Foods3.13 Mr. Lee's3.14 White Castle Management3.15 Carl's Junior Restaurant3.16 American Dairy Queen3.17 MOS Food Services3.18 Services Group of America4 Global Foodservice Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Foodservice Market Size by Type (2013-2018)4.2 Global Foodservice Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Potential Application of Foodservice in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of FoodserviceBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)About Us: Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd Pune 411028 Maharashtra, Global Ph: +91 841 198 5042 Global PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market 2018 Analysis By Key Players BioMerieux, Bio-Rad Laboratories, BIOTECON Diagnostics, QIAGEN, Thermo Fisher Scientific PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3461357-global-pcr-system-for-food-diagnostics-market-size-status-and-forecast-2018-2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/3461357-global-pcr-system-for-food-diagnostics-market-size-status-and-forecast-2018-2025 SummaryWiseGuyReports.com adds PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2023 reports to its database.This report provides in depth study of PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.PCR system for food diagnostics includes instruments and consumables used to maintain quality and safety standards in food. Some applications of this technology include the detection of pathogenic microorganisms, allergen identification, the detection of genetically modified organisms, and the identification of animal species.A key factor driving the growth of the market is the rising foodborne illness. The huge number of foodborne illness and illnesses caused by food contamination during processing indicate that F&B manufacturing companies cannot afford to compromise on food safety standards. Thus, it becomes important for these companies to have strong food testing products such as PCR diagnostic systems. PCR diagnostic systems are used to check for the presence of microorganisms or human pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria.This report focuses on the global PCR System for Food Diagnostics status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the PCR System for Food Diagnostics development in United States, Europe and China.The key players covered in this studyBioMerieuxBio-Rad LaboratoriesBIOTECON DiagnosticsQIAGENThermo Fisher Scientific...Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoConsumablesInstrumentsMarket segment by Application, split intoHouseholdCommercialMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South AmericaRequest a Sample Report @Major Key Points in Table of Content1 Report Overview1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Players Covered1.4 Market Analysis by Type1.4.1 Global PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market Size Growth Rate by Type (2013-2025)1.4.2 Consumables1.4.3 Instruments1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market Share by Application (2013-2025)1.5.2 Household1.5.3 Commercial1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Global Growth Trends2.1 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market Size2.2 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Growth Trends by Regions2.2.1 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market Size by Regions (2013-2025)2.2.2 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)2.3 Industry Trends2.3.1 Market Top Trends2.3.2 Market Drivers2.3.3 Market Opportunities..12 International Players Profiles12.1 BioMerieux12.1.1 BioMerieux Company Details12.1.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.1.3 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Introduction12.1.4 BioMerieux Revenue in PCR System for Food Diagnostics Business (2013-2018)12.1.5 BioMerieux Recent Development12.2 Bio-Rad Laboratories12.2.1 Bio-Rad Laboratories Company Details12.2.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.2.3 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Introduction12.2.4 Bio-Rad Laboratories Revenue in PCR System for Food Diagnostics Business (2013-2018)12.2.5 Bio-Rad Laboratories Recent Development12.3 BIOTECON Diagnostics12.3.1 BIOTECON Diagnostics Company Details12.3.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.3.3 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Introduction12.3.4 BIOTECON Diagnostics Revenue in PCR System for Food Diagnostics Business (2013-2018)12.3.5 BIOTECON Diagnostics Recent Development12.4 QIAGEN12.4.1 QIAGEN Company Details12.4.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.4.3 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Introduction12.4.4 QIAGEN Revenue in PCR System for Food Diagnostics Business (2013-2018)12.4.5 QIAGEN Recent Development12.5 Thermo Fisher Scientific12.5.1 Thermo Fisher Scientific Company Details12.5.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.5.3 PCR System for Food Diagnostics Introduction12.5.4 Thermo Fisher Scientific Revenue in PCR System for Food Diagnostics Business (2013-2018)12.5.5 Thermo Fisher Scientific Recent DevelopmentAt any Query @Continued....Contact Us: sales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Address:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune 411028Maharashtra,+91 841 198 5042 Worldwide Interceptor Missiles Market By Technology 2024 - Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Co., Aerojet Rocketdyne, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Interceptor Missiles Market, Global Interceptor Missiles Market Size, Interceptor Missiles Industry, Interceptor Missiles Market T https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/859973/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/859973/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/interceptor-missiles-market/?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-defense-armored-vehicle-mro-market-2018-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023?utm_source=RR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog/ MarketStudyReport.com Adds New Interceptor Missiles Market 2017 2024 research report providing information and data By Surface, By Range, By Technology, Industry Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast spreading across 250 Pages with table and figures in it.Global interceptor missiles market is expected to cross 3,000 units till 2024. Continuously increasing threat of attacks from rival countries has resulted in proliferating demand for interceptor missiles over the forecast timeframe. Multiple countries across the globe including Netherlands, U.S, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, etc., have purchased patriot interceptor missiles to strengthen their defense inventory, impacting the industry positively. Interceptor Missiles Market is estimated to surpass USD 14 billion by 2024; according to a new research report.PAC-3 is expected to account for highest interceptor missile market share crossing USD 6 billion over the coming years. Proliferating demand of these missiles, especially in developed countries will primarily support the revenue generation. For instance, in January 2013, the U.S. army entered into several contracts worth USD 755 million for purchasing 168 PAC-3 missiles and associated services and equipment. HQ-19 will exhibit over 40% CAGR till 2024 owing to its continuously rising usage as an upgradation of HQ-9. Its enhanced features as compared to its counterparts will further support the industry growth till 2024.Request a sample of this premium report at:Countries across the globe have witnessed a considerable increase in their defense budget. For instance, in 2015, the defense budget of China was USD 131 billion, which was increased by 11% and crossed USD 145 billion in 2016 and was further increased by 7% in 2017. This will accelerate the revenue generation owing to their enhanced purchasing power for defense systems. However, high initial investment and high manufacturing costs may restrain new entrants from entering the interceptor missile market.Surface to air missiles are expected to capture maximum interceptor missiles market revenue share of more than 80% by 2024. Some of the benefits offered includes light-weight and portability which in turn will drive the industry demand. Water to air missiles will exhibit approximately 7% CAGR owing to rising adoption of these missiles in various countries across the globe for naval border protection.Interceptor missiles of up to 125 kms range are anticipated to dominate the interceptor missiles market, generating a demand of over 2,000 units till 2024. Continuously increasing penetration of missiles conforming to this range such as PAC-3, Iron Dome, and SM-3, from MEA including UAE, Israel, and Saudi Arabia will primarily support the industry dominance. Interceptor missiles of range above 200 kms will exhibit over 18% CAGR in terms of revenue owing to rising deployment of advanced missiles such as HQ-19. Regular innovations in these missiles in countries such as China will further strengthen the industry penetration over the forecast timeframe.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:MEA interceptor missiles market will showcase dominance over the next eight years owing to rising threat of enemy attacks across the region. Collaborations of various countries with industry players for purchasing of these missiles will further contribute towards the high revenue generation. For instance, UAE and Qatar are anticipated to enter an agreement with Lockheed Martin for supplying patriot missiles. Europe will witness over 7% CAGR till 2024 owing to rising sales of interceptor missiles from countries including Sweden and Poland.Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Raytheon Co., Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems are among the major industry players. Regular product innovations is among prominent strategies implemented by these participants. For instance, in January 2018, Lockheed Martin made enhancements in Aegis missile that is anticipated to result in rapid detection of threats and reduction in reaction time.Table of Content:Chapter 1 Interceptor Missiles Market Methodology & ScopeChapter 2 Interceptor Missiles Market Executive SummaryChapter 3. Interceptor Missiles Industry InsightsChapter 4. Interceptor Missiles Market, By SurfaceChapter 5. Interceptor Missiles Market, By RangeChapter 6. Interceptor Missiles Market, By TechnologyChapter 7. Interceptor missiles Market, By RegionChapter 8. Interceptor Missiles Market Company ProfilesFor more information on this report, Please visit at:Related Report:Global Defense Armored Vehicle MRO Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023Armored vehicles are used by combatants in war zones or hostile environments to deter enemy attacks and to engage in direct attacks on enemy troops. Such vehicles are shielded with armors, as well as feature operational mobilities and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog: New Research Focusing on K-12 English Market Growth by Service Type, Deployment Type, Education Level and Top Key Players Like McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and many more https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=225153 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=225153 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=225153 www.researchnreports.com K-12 English is a noticeable, socially responsible business that has been acknowledged as a critical part of education. K-12 English is an online tool or software which catalyzes the transformation of K-12 English training policy and provides learner-centered experiences by online learning. Advances in K-12 English systems and platforms with their powerful feedback loops are used in blending learning environments for greater personalization.Get Sample Copy of this Report@:New research report takes a close and analytical look at the various companies that strive for a higher share of the global K-12 English market. Data on the leading and fastest-growing segments along with what drives them has been given. This report implements a balanced mix of primary and secondary research methodologies for its analysis. The market is segmented on the basis of key criteria. For this purpose, a section dedicated to company profiles has been included in the report.Top Companies Profiled in this Report includes, McGraw-Hill Education (U.S), Pearson (U.K), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (U.S), And, Many moreThe K-12 English Market is segmented into deployment types such as cloud-based and on-premise. The enhancement of training programs due to the increasing need for better techniques in education will lead to the deployment of the K-12 English Market.Various factors are responsible behind the markets growth trail, which are studied at length in the report. In addition, the report lists down the restraints that are posing threat to the global K-12 English market. It also gauges the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat to the new entrants and product substitute, and the degree of competition prevailing in the market. The influence of the latest government guidelines is also analyzed in detail in the report. It studies the markets trajectory between forecast periods.Get Reasonable Discount on this Premium Report @:As the global K-12 English market is segmented based on various parameters, an in-depth classification of the market is also mentioned; elements impacting the markets growth are studied in detail to understand the report precisely. Moreover this, profiles of some of the leading players operating in the global market are included in the report. Using SWOT analysis, their weaknesses and strengths are analyzed. It helps the study deliver visions into the opportunities and threats that companies may face during the forecast period.Table of ContentsGlobal K-12 English Market Research ReportChapter 1 K-12 English Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global K-12 English Market ForecastFor More Information:If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Europe competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact:Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin 77064,sales@researchnreports.com, Broth Market Forecast 2017-2024 Ultimate Analysis by Chief Players Campbell Soup Company, Pacific Foods, Progresso, Knorr, The Manischewitz Company, Bonafide Provisions, Bare Bones, Broth Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2412 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/broth-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2412 https://www.gminsights.com http://algosonline.com/news Broth Market is estimated to exceed USD 2.8 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Leading Players of Broth Market are Campbell Soup Company Pacific Foods of Oregon College Inn Progresso Knorr Manischewitz Paleo Broth Company Bonafide Provisions Bare Bones Broth Kettle & Fire Bone & Co. The Stock Merchant Belcampo ETCChanging consumer preference towards animal-based stock as a protein source will drive broth market growth. Rising health consciousness and high disposable income will support the product penetration. Factors such as rapid urbanization and ageing population are anticipated to propel ready to drink broth market size.Growing awareness regarding personal fitness among young and adults will fuel stock market size. Improved metabolism, bone strength and enhanced immunity are the key health benefits offered by the product. Increasing popularity of rich nutrient beverages to avoid dependency on medicines and health supplements will provide lucrative opportunities for the industry growth.Request Sample Copy of This Report @Global processed & packaged food industry expansion owing to increasing demand for healthy and convenient food will drive stock market growth. Improved taste, high vitamin & mineral content, anti-inflammation and easy to digest will remain key properties fueling product penetration.Refrigerated broth market is anticipated to witness growth over 4% up to 2024. Increasing demand for chilled and frozen packaged food products that can be stored for longer duration supporting segment growth. Factors such as high preservation, enhanced shelf life and food safety concern during transportation are expected to influence refrigerated products demand.Browse key industry insights spread across 300 pages with 270 market data tables & 9 figures & charts from the report, Broth Market Size By Type (Shelf Stable [By Product {Beef, Poultry, Vegetable}, By Distribution Channel {Multi Outlet, Specialty Gourmet Channel}], Refrigerated [By Product {Beef, Poultry, Vegetable}, By Distribution Channel {Multi Outlet, Specialty Gourmet Channel}]), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, Italy, France, Russia, Poland, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 in detail along with the table of contents:Multi outlets are expected to hold over 80% of the broth market share in 2016. Factors such as wider product selection, captivating shopping environment, and ease of availability will drive product sales from this segment. Manufacturers are expected to invest in new outlets to boost product sales and expand their customer base.Specialty gourmet channel is anticipated to witness over 3% growth over the forecast period. Increasing popularity of gourmet products and consumer loyalty towards high quality food with a strong focus on natural and organic ingredients driving demand in this segment.North America broth market will witness growth over 4% up to 2024. High disposable income and trend of ready to eat food due to changing lifestyle will propel regional industry size. Increasing consumer consciousness regarding health benefits associated with stock consumption over traditional soups will fuel product penetration.Asia Pacific broth market size accounted for over 15% of the industry share in 2016. The regional industry growth is attributed to large consumer base and increasing spending on packaged food. Increasing working women population in the region is also likely to influence product demand. Development of multi outlet food channels will drive convenient buying of products thus, propelling regional industry growth.Global broth industry share is fragmented in nature owing to presence of independent & specialized small-and-medium-sized companies. Major players include College Inn, Knorr, Campbell Soup Company, Manischewitz and Pacific Foods of Oregon. Other prominent companies are Progresso, Bare Bones, Paleo, Bonafide Provisions, and The Stock Merchant. Meat processing companies are expected to forward integrate their business operation to enhance profitability. Easy availability of raw material and procurement likely to create new avenues for overall stock market expansion.Inquiry before buying @ContinueAbout Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Explore Our Blog @ The state-owned investment arm, Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) this week made it known they are more than ready to expand beyond the borders of the country, taking advantage of the current bullish investment opportunities in the continent. The companys Managing Director, Bashi Gaetsaloe made the revelation this Tuesday after BDC facilitated a deal which will ensure Transport Holdings (TH) is 100 percent citizen owned. TH, one of the biggest logistics companies in the country was previously partly owned by a South African logistic firm, Imperial Group. Some five years ago, government, which is the sole shareholder of BDC gave the company (BDC) the go ahead to start investing outside the country. The Johnny-come-late, BDC will find other state owned enterprises such as the South African Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), already taking advantage of Africas economic growth. IDC, which was formed in 1940 has invested in projects all over Africa. A hyped-up Gaetsaloe, who has been at the helm of the company for more than three years is confident the time is now to spread wings and rip the benefits as long as they last. Africa is an exciting place to be right now and analysts, investors, and economists have all remarked, Ignore Africa at your peril. We believe that Africa is our back-yard and have taken a deliberate strategy to invest across Africa, said the BDC top executive. Gaetsaloe is perhaps inspired to expand in the region and Africa by the fact that, some countries in Africa are currently recording Gross Domestic Product(GDP) rates ranging between 5 percent and 8 percent. Serious business people looking for growth and new markets must look at the region and the continent, said Gaetsaloe, whose area of specialisation include investment strategy, development finance, business strategy, organisational transformation, among others. BDC has not stated which countries they will expand to in the short to medium term, or which sectors in the African continent they will fund. Transport Holdings, which they have just helped through P160 million deal has ambitious plansof expanding further into Southern African Development Community (SADC). Gaetsaloe, who has now roped in a corporate deal maker-Moatlhodi Lekaukau as Chief Investment Officer market, said the countrys narrow also makes them eager to taste unchartered waters outside. With its credit ratings status done by reputed Moodys,BDC will release as much as P700 million from their war chest into new projects at home and abroad. Last year, the Corporation injected P600 million into new businesses and managed to make a Profit beforeTax (PBT) of P150 million. BDC has announced itwill be using different funding models if the needs to raise more for projects arise.As an A-Rated government and with BDCs own investment grade rating of Baa2 we can export highly competitive financial services and products and do so profitably and sustainably. This is one of our competitive advantages as a country and as BDC, said Gaetsaloe in a prepared speech. Writing in the companys 2017 annual report, the Chairman of BDC, Blackie Marole noted that the Corporation is seeking opportunities to mobilise resources together with African partners that can be deployed strategically to advance the development of Botswana, the region and the continent. Financial sustainability is imperative for the Corporation to continue delivering on its mandate in the long run, said Marole. Meanwhile, Minister for Investment, Trade and Industry, Bogolo Kenewendo, under whom BDC falls, told attendants during the BDC/Transport Holdings transaction on Tuesday that BDC remains an important cog of government. BDC remains mandated to developing the commercial and industrial sector through funding of commercially viable ventures and partnerships with local and foreign investors. Apple Accessories Market: Increasing Sales of iPhones Across the Globe Expected to Boost Demand for Apple Accessories https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3374 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-3374 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ The global Apple accessories market is expected to grow at 4.6% CAGR over the forecast period, 2016-2020. Demand is expected to remain strong in China, where rapid adoption of smartphones, combined with an increasing preference towards the Apple brand is pushing sales. The market in China is expected to grow at 8.5% CAGR through the forecast period. Globally, the demand for Apple accessories is expected to be positively influenced by the growing BYOD trend.Weak distribution channels in emerging markets have remained a longstanding challenge for manufacturers. However, popularity of e-commerce and focus on creating alternative distribution channels have positively impacted Apple accessories sales in emerging markets. The steady growth in these markets is expected to offset weak demand in developed markets of the U.S. and Europe.Request for sample copy of report @:Apple accessories sales in Asia will be driven by rising popularity of e-commerce websites and apps. As is the case in Asia, steady e-commerce sales are driving Apple accessories sales in Brazil and Russia. These factors will contribute to the overall growth of the global market.Future Market Insights identifies that undefined standards in terms of components and technology have led to price and product differentiation. Moreover, widespread availability of counterfeit and pirated products offered at a fraction of the original price in various developing countries can significantly inhibit demand for Apple accessories.The Future Market Insights report reveals that iPhone screen guards will continue to be the most-sought after accessory among consumers. iPad cases and iPad screen guards are expected to remain the other lucrative product types. Collectively, these three product segments accounted for over 50% revenue share of the global market in 2016, and the status quo will remain unchanged throughout the forecast period. Among these product types, iPad cases segment will only witness an increase in its revenue share by 2020.North America will continue to be the most lucrative market, with the US leading total sales. The North America Apple accessories market was valued at US$ 1.93 Bn in 2016, with the US accounting for US$ 1.38 Bn in revenues. Future Market Insights projects the North America market revenues to increase at a CAGR of 4% CAGR through 2020. The report further reveals that the Apple accessories market in Europe is predicted to register a CAGR of 4.0% in the span of next four years. However, the Apple accessories market in South East Asia is expected to witness relatively sluggish growth by the end of 2020.Request to view Table of Content @:3M, Bose Corporation, Western Digital Corporation (SanDisk), Logitech, Otter Products, LLC., Decoded, Adobe, Bang & Olufsen, Incase and ACCO (Kensington Computer Products Group) are the key manufacturers operating in the Apple accessories market globally.About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: Mobile Enterprise Application Market Projected to Surpass 11320 Million $ by the end of 2022 | Global Key Vendors - At&T, TCS, Infosys, IBM, Blackberry, SAP SE, Salesforce.Com, Capgemini, Oracle, Accenture Mobile Enterprise Application Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/112049 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/112049/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/112049 Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Report 2018 report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Overview:The report spread across 125 pages is an overview of the Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Report 2018. The Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market is projected to grow at a healthy growth rate from 2018 to 2022 according to new research. The study focuses on market trends, leading players, supply chain trends, technological innovations, key developments, and future strategies.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @With the slowdown in world economic growth, the Mobile Enterprise Application industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Mobile Enterprise Application market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 14.44% from 3710 Million $ in 2014 to 5560 Million $ in 2017, market research analysts believe that in the next few years, Mobile Enterprise Application market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the Mobile Enterprise Application will reach 11320 Million $.The Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market is segmented on the basis of Software, Type of App, Operating System, Organization Size, Industry Vertical and Region. Based on Software, the Enterprise Resource Planning Software has the largest market share in the mobile enterprise application software market during the forecast period (2018 - 2022). Its market share is expected to grow because it helps enterprises increase their operational efficiencies, improves communication & collaboration, anytime access to information, instant access to work center, and improves workforce productivity.As per the geographic analysis, the Asia-Pacific is expected to hold the largest market share in the Mobile Enterprise Application Market during the forecast period (2018 - 2022). This is because of large scale acceptance of mobile enterprise application solutions and services by enterprises. There are several factors driving the impressive growth in the Asia-Pacific region, such as rapid economic developments, globalization & foreign direct investments, increasing penetration of smartphones, and internet adoptions in workforce.Purchase this report online with 125 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Report 2018 @Major Key Players:1 At&T, Inc.2 Tata Consultancy Services Limited3 Infosys Limited4 IBM Corporation5 Blackberry Limited6 SAP SE7 Salesforce.Com, Inc.8 Capgemini9 Oracle Corporation10 Accenture and More...............Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @This study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What are the challenges to market growth?4 Who are the key players in this market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Mobile Enterprise Application Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Report 20181 Mobile Enterprise Application Product Definition2 Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview3 Manufacturer Mobile Enterprise Application Business Introduction4 Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)6 Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Mobile Enterprise Application Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Mobile Enterprise Application Market Forecast 2018-20229 Mobile Enterprise Application Segmentation Product Type10 Mobile Enterprise Application Segmentation Industry11 Mobile Enterprise Application Cost of Production Analysis12 ConclusionAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Influenza Vaccines (U.S) Market Growth Gaining Key Players (Sanofi Pasteur, Seqirus Vaccines Ltd., Glaxosmithkline Plc., And Medimmune) Analysis & Forecast Report 2018- 2026 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/213799 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/quiry/213799 https://www.coherentwire.com Influenza Vaccines Market (U.S) Report 2026 is recently added by Worldwide Market Reports database with aim of providing prospects of quantitative furthermore as qualitative review to research the regional furthermore as worldwide Influenza Vaccines (U.S) business relatively. The transition from trivalent to quadrivalent vaccine formulations due to extensive research and development, to offer better protection against flu strains is a major factor to augment growth of the U.S. influenza vaccine market over the forecast periodnare thought-about within the Influenza Vaccines (U.S) report.Innovative technologies to augment the influenza vaccine production and reduce shortage is expected to propel the market growthGet Detail Report Sample at:Key players operating in Influenza Vaccines Market (U.S)Sanofi PasteurSeqirus Vaccines Ltd.GlaxoSmithKline Plc.MedimmuneAnd MoreMarket BreakdownThe Influenza Vaccines Market (U.S), by Vaccine Type (Trivalent Vaccines and Quadrivalent Vaccines), by Virus Type (Influenza Virus Type A and Influenza Virus Type B) and by Age Group (Pediatrics and Adults)Influenza Vaccines Market (U.S), was valued at US$ 1.6 billion in 2016 and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 15.9% over the forecast period (2017-2025)The Influenza Vaccines Market (U.S) is expected to gain significant traction owing to easy availability of different vaccines, which include adjuvanted inactivated vaccines, live-attenuated vaccines, seasonal influenza vaccines, and pandemic influenza vaccines.For More Details visit:Important Research Facts & Figures of Influenza vaccines market (U.S):Increasing production capacity helps to address major problems such as vaccine shortage and inequitable access, thus minimizing the cost of vaccines.For instance, in 2015, bioCSL Limited and Novartis AG developed Seqirus Company, focused on robust vaccine production for pandemic preparedness and to contribute to the prevention and control of influenza, globally.Investments in R&D is increasing significantly in order to develop new innovative technologies for launching efficacious products to increase product diversification.For instance, GlaxoSmithKline Plc is focused on research and development for the production of innovative influenza vaccines.The company has two pipeline products for the treatment of influenza virus infections via intravenous administrationRelenza, which is currently in Phase III, and Danirixin, which is in Phase II.Moreover, constant improvements on formulation and production levels, by the key players for the development of influenza vaccines is expected to boost growth of the influenza vaccines market.According to the Health Industry Distribution Association, 2016, vaccine manufacturers produced around 174.5 million doses for the 2015-16 influenza season, representing 11.1% increase from the total number of vaccines manufactured for the 2014-15 flu season in the U.S.About Us:Worldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.Contact Us:Mr. ShahWorldwide Market ReportsTel: +1 415 871 0703Email: sales@worldwidemarketreports.comVisit our new Website: Steam Autoclaves Market Analysis 2018-2024| Key Players: STERISHRED, Astell Scientific, Belimed Deutschland GmbH, BMM Weston Ltd Steam Autoclaves Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/500 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/500 Global Steam Autoclaves Market size will exceed USD 3 billion by 2024; as per a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Key Players are:Few notable industry players include, Priorclave, Nuve, Astell Scientific, Steris, Dental X, LTE Scientific, Medisafe International, Panasonic Healthcare, Zhermack, and Melag. The industry participants are consolidating their market position by focusing on development of low-cost, high capacity steam autoclave to satisfy consumer demand.Request for a sample of this research report @Market Overview:Rising incidences of nosocomial infections coupled with soaring number of surgical procedures will drive steam autoclaves market growth over the forecast timeframe. Enhanced efficiency of steam sterilization owing to improved penetration power, and higher temperature, leading to elimination of microorganisms will increase adoption rate.Growing Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) floor framework adoption by hospitals and other healthcare establishments for scrutinizing the increasing rate of hospital acquired infections will propel growth. The adoption of CSSD framework also ensures sterilization of all medical supplies and equipment used in hospitals, fueling steam autoclaves market growth.Growing requirement for managing the increasing medical and bio-hazardous waste generated by pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceutical companies along with healthcare setting such as hospitals, life science facilities will accelerate market growth.However, high costs associated with large capacity and specialized autoclaves might hinder market growth. Dearth of appropriate implementation of sterilization guidelines established by regulatory authorities such as U.S. FDA, CE will restrain growth. Furthermore, scarcity of standard disinfection and sterilization guidelines in developing countries of Latin America and Asia Pacific such as China should obstruct industry expansion.Table top steam autoclaves market is prophesied to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. Less space requirement and higher convenience in operation will drive table top steam autoclaves market over the coming years.High pressure steam autoclaves market will witness significant growth owing to its ability of handling all type of bulk sterilization requirements coupled with robust construction. Increasing demand for bulk sterilization in medicine, agriculture, and pharmaceutical sectors will favor business growth.Increasing demand for portable autoclaves will stimulate growth of floor standing autoclaves market over the coming years. Big interior chamber allowing disinfection of high sterilization requiring goods along with low charging height will augment adoption rate.Laboratory steam autoclaves market is foreseen to witness lucrative growth over the forecast timeframe. The increasing amount of waste emitted from pharmaceutical companies and healthcare facilities such as clinics resulting in rising demand for optimal waste management of biohazardous and medical waste will drive laboratory steam autoclave market over the coming years.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Germany steam autoclaves market will witness significant growth over the coming years due to rapid technological advancements and rising funding in biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industry in the country. Well established healthcare infrastructure, rising healthcare spending will positively impact industry growth.Mexico steam autoclaves market will manifest robust growth attributed to the growing incidence of nosocomial infections. Healthcare infrastructure development along with geographical proximity to U.S. will propel industry growth.Global Market Insights Inc. is a global market research and management consulting company catering to leading corporations, non-profit organizations, universities and government institutions. Our main goal is to assist and partner organizations to make lasting strategic improvements and realize growth targets. Our industry research reports are designed to provide granular quantitative information, combined with key industry insights, aimed at assisting sustainable organizational development.Global Market Insights, Inc.4 North Main StreetSelbyville, Delaware 19975 USAPhone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email:sales@gminsights.com High Performance Ceramics Market 2018 Size, Shares | Global Industry Revenue by Top Key Companies Kyocera Corporation, Murata Manufacturing, Taiyo Yuden, SEMCO, TDK Corp High Performance Ceramics Market size http://supplydemandmarketresearch.com/home/contact/37701?ref=Sample-and-Brouchure&toccode=SDMREL37701 http://supplydemandmarketresearch.com/home/toc_publisher/37701?code=SDMREL37701#1 Global High Performance Ceramics Market Report provides an entire decision-making summary together with definition, product specifications, market gains, geographic regions High Performance Ceramics Market business peers for 2018-2025.High Performance Ceramics Market 2018 peaks the detailed analysis of industry share, growth factors, development trends, size, majors manufacturers and 2025 forecast. The report also analyze innovative business strategies, value added factors and business opportunities. The High Performance Ceramics Market report introduces market competition situation among the vendors and company profile, revenue, product & services, latest developments and business strategies.Request for Sample Copy of this Report @This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million US$) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of High Performance Ceramics market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.Top Key Players reported in the market include: Kyocera Corporation Murata Manufacturing Taiyo Yuden SEMCO TDK Corp and MoreHigh Performance Ceramics Breakdown Data by Type Electronics Ceramics Electrical CeramicsHigh Performance Ceramics Breakdown Data by Application Consumer Electronics Home Appliances Medical Devices Power Grids and Energy OtherClick Here For More Details @Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a Five-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsObjectives of this Report are: To analyze and research the global High Performance Ceramics status and future forecastinvolving, production, revenue, consumption, historical and forecast. To present the key High Performance Ceramics manufacturers, production, revenue, market share, and recent development. To split the breakdown data by regions, type, manufacturers and applications. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. and MoreTable of Content:1 Study Coverage1.1 High Performance Ceramics Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global High Performance Ceramics Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Electronics Ceramics1.4.3 Electrical Ceramics1.5 Market by Application2 Executive Summary2.1 Global High Performance Ceramics Market Size2.1.1 Global High Performance Ceramics Revenue 2013-20252.1.2 Global High Performance Ceramics Production 2013-20252.2 High Performance Ceramics Growth Rate (CAGR) 2018-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key High Performance Ceramics Manufacturers3 Market Size by Manufacturers3.1 High Performance Ceramics Production by Manufacturers3.1.1 High Performance Ceramics Production by Manufacturers3.1.2 High Performance Ceramics Production Market Share by Manufacturers3.2 High Performance Ceramics Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 High Performance Ceramics Revenue by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.2.2 High Performance Ceramics Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.3 High Performance Ceramics Price by Manufacturers3.4 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans4 High Performance Ceramics Production by Regions4.1 Global High Performance Ceramics Production by Regions4.1.1 Global High Performance Ceramics Production Market Share by Regions4.1.2 Global High Performance Ceramics Revenue Market Share by Regions4.2 United States4.2.1 United States High Performance Ceramics Production4.2.2 United States High Performance Ceramics RevenueTOC Continued!Tables and Figures: Figure High Performance Ceramics Product Picture Table High Performance Ceramics Key Market Segments in This Study Table Key Manufacturers High Performance Ceramics Covered in This Study Table Global High Performance Ceramics Market Size Growth Rate by Type 2018-2025 (K Units) & (Million US$) Figure Global High Performance Ceramics Production Market Share 2013-2025 Figure Electronics Ceramics Product Picture Table Major Manufacturers of Electronics Ceramics Figure Electrical Ceramics Product Picture Table Major Manufacturers of Electrical Ceramics Table Global High Performance Ceramics Market Size Growth Rate by Application 2018-2025 (K Units) and MoreAbout Us:We have a strong network of high powered and experienced global consultants who have about 10+ years of experience in the specific industry to deliver quality research and analysis. Having such an experienced network, our services not only cater to the client who wants the basic reference of market numbers and related high growth areas in the demand side, but also we provide detailed and granular information using which the client can definitely plan the strategies with respect to both supply and demand side.302-20 Misssisauga Valley, Missisauga, L5A 3S1, TorontoContact Us:Email- sales@supplydemandmarketresearch.comGlobal- +1-778-686-7521 Aerospace & Defense Fluid Conveyance Systems Market Share, Revenue (Zodiac Aerospace, Triumph Group, Stelia Aerospace, Parker Hannifin, Meggitt, Eaton) 2018-2024 Aerospace & Defense Fluid Conveyance Systems Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2518 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2518 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/aerospace-defense-fluid-conveyance-systems-market www.gminsights.com/ Aerospace & Defense Fluid Conveyance Systems Market size is estimated to surpass USD 22 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Commercial aircrafts will dominate the aerospace & defense fluid conveyance systems market with more than 80% share over the forecast timeframe. This can be attributed to their continuously rising production. In addition, substantial production rates of popular aircrafts such as B787, B737, A320 family, A350XWB, etc. will further support the industry dominance. Regional jets will exhibit over 5.5% CAGR till 2024 owing to rising investments in aviation industry coupled with provision of optimized capacity by these jets.Get Sample Copy of This Report @Hydraulic fluid system market is expected to contribute over 40% industry share during forecast time owing to the wide application in aircraft components supporting aerospace & defense fluid conveyance systems demand. Large hydraulics application including in brakes, landing gears, flight controls surfaces, and flaps are mainly operated through hydraulics which continuously needs a fluid mechanism to attain the highest reliability supporting demand.Aerospace & Defense Fluid Conveyance Systems Market, By Aircraft Commercial aircraft Regional jet Business jet Helicopter Military aircraftAerospace & Defense Fluid Conveyance Systems Market, By Component Hoses Couplings Ducts Seals OthersCompany profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis:1. AIM Aerospace2. Arrowhead Products Corporation3. Eaton Corporation4. Encore Group5. Exotic Metals Forming LLC6. Flexfab Horizons International7. GKN plc8. ITT Corporation9. Meggitt PLC10. Parker Hannifin Corporation11. PFW Aerospace AG12. Senior plc13. Stelia Aerospace14. Triumph Group Inc.15. Unison Industries16. United Flexible17. Zodiac AerospaceMake an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @Airframe application segment is likely to contribute more than 60% of market share by 2024. Increasing aircraft production during forecast time frame will fuel aerospace & defense fluid conveyance systems demand owing to large application in the airframe to provide flawless pneumatic performance.Ducts will account for more than USD 7 billion in aerospace & defense fluid conveyance systems market by 2024. Their high usage for transmitting the fluids from the engine to aircraft wings edges will essentially contribute towards the revenue generation. They are also used in applications such as starter systems, engine bleed air, and thermal anti-ice systems, accelerating their demand. Hoses will witness around 4% CAGR from 2018 to 2024 owing to their high flexibility and strength.OEMs are likely to dominate the aerospace & defense fluid conveyance systems market, surpassing USD 14 billion over the forecast timeframe. Their large-scale installation in aircrafts for fluid transmission will primarily support the industry dominance. Substantial aircraft production globally along with continuous efforts of OEMs to install advanced components in aircrafts will further strengthen the industry penetration. Aftermarket will witness substantial growth at over 3.5% from 2018 to 2024. This can be credited to high replacement needs, particularly in ageing aircrafts. The aftermarket players ensure the quality maintenance of these systems, further supporting the industry growth.Browse Report Summery @Europe driven by Germany, UK, France and Italy holds the major volume share and is estimated to continue its dominance over the study timeframe. This can be attributed to strict emission norms together with presence of major manufacturers. Asia Pacific automotive turbocharger market will pose over 8% CAGR between 2017 and 2024 owing to increasing demand from nations such as Japan, China, South Korea, and India.Prominent automotive turbocharger market participants are Weifang Fuyuan, Federal-Mogul, Linamar, IHI Corporation, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Montupet, Cummins Turbo Technologies, and BorgWarner. Other notable players are Magnum Performance Turbos, Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems, TEL, Turbo Engineering, Banks Power and Precision Turbo and Engine.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen died Monday from complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, his family said Monday. Microsoft's co-founder, Allen battled cancer three times -- most recently disclosing October 1 that his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma had returned. He also owned the Seattle Seahawks and actively promoted brain research and his company, Vulcan, is a major Seattle real estate firm. Forbes values his fortune at $20.3 billion, making him the world's 21st richest person. The magazine tallies his total philanthropic contributions at $2 billion, including $500 million to the Allen Institute for Brain Science and contributions to address ocean health and homelessness. He was also an avid supporter of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. "My brother was a remarkable individual on every level. While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, for us he was a much loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend," Allen's sister, Jody Allen, said in a written statement. "Paul's family and friends were blessed to experience his wit, warmth, his generosity and deep concern," she wrote. "For all the demands on his schedule, there was always time for family and friends. At this time of loss and grief for us and so many others we are profoundly grateful for the care and concern he demonstrated every day." A Seattle native, he befriended his Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in school and they both became computer programmers. Allen attended Washington State University but, like Gates, he dropped out of college to work in computing. The pair started Microsoft in 1975, while working in New Mexico. IBM subsequently chose Microsoft to provide the operating system for its first personal computers, an enormous break that opened the door for Microsoft to become one of the world's biggest companies. He left the company seven years later, shortly after being diagnosed with lymphoma -- his first cancer diagnosis. Allen wrote later that he experienced the first symptoms while attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. "Paul and his family have been coming to OSF for decades, and Paul's love of and support for the Festival has been essential to the art and community we create here," the Oregon Shakespeare Festival said in a written statement Monday. "He had a particular, inspiring passion for making art and the classics relevant to young audiences. Just last night we performed in the space that bears his family name the Allen Elizabethan Theatre for the final time this season. Our hearts go out to the Allen family." -- Mike Rogoway A former Woodburn police officer has filed an $800,000 lawsuit against his former lawyer, claiming his lawyer told him to record his superiors within the police department, a move that he says ultimately got him fired. Fired cop Peter Lichte says in the suit that he hired lawyer Jeffrey Boiler to represent him after he'd complained about problems within the police department and that hed faced retaliation for speaking up. Boiler then gave him tape recorders and told him to record conversations and meetings with others in the police department and said that was legal as long as Lichte informed others they were being recorded, the suit states. Boiler's advice turned out to be disastrously flawed because the recordings violated city and department policy, the lawsuit states. In 2016, the city fired Lichte for the recordings, and he hasn't been able to find another job as a police officer since, according to the lawsuit. Boiler declined comment Monday, saying attorney-client privilege and other rules prohibit him from talking. The lawsuit is just part of a complicated swirl of litigation surrounding Lichte, Boiler and the city. In 2014, Lichte hired Boiler and sued the city along with two other officers -- Daniel Kelly and Jarrod Bowers -- for $3 million. They claimed the department had an "uncontrolled renegade'' command staff who covered up reports of wrongdoing by officers. Those who questioned them were disciplined, the trio claimed. Lichte said after he spoke up, a methamphetamine pipe and bag of meth mysteriously showed up on the seat of his locked patrol car. Boiler said it had possibly been planted there to get Lichte in trouble. Lichte was fired less than two years into that lawsuit against the city -- he claims because of Boilers bad legal advice leading him to record his superiors. Court papers also state that Kelly was fired for recording his supervisors. Using a different attorney, the three officers settled with the city of Woodburn in December 2017 for a total of $735,000. The city started to pay out the settlement and did fully pay Bowers, according to documents filed by the city. But before the city fully paid Lichte and Kelly, Boiler informed the city that he was due more than $400,000 in legal fees and put a freeze on the payments. In another lawsuit filed earlier this year, Lichte and Kelly are fighting with Boiler over how much, if anything, hes due. Meanwhile, Lichte filed this latest lawsuit last week about the recording in Marion County Circuit Court. Read the lawsuit here. -- Aimee Green Three Oregon medical organizations said Monday they want Republican gubernatorial nominee Knute Buehler to retract a statement he made last week calling for parents to have more latitude to exempt their children from medical vaccines. "As a physician I certainly believe in the benefits of vaccination, but I certainly believe that parents should have the right to opt out," the Bend legislator said in response to a prerecorded question from a voter during a televised debate. Buehler, an orthopedic surgeon, did not elaborate on why he believes that. On Monday, leaders of the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians, the Oregon Pediatric Society, and the Oregon Chapter of the American College of Physicians called on Buehler to reverse his position. They noted the American Medical Association, like many other national medical organizations, accept the scientific consensus recommending a full slate of childhood vaccines. "Studies show that 95 percent of the community needs to be vaccinated in order to achieve community immunity," said Carla McKelvey, a medical doctor and president of the Oregon Pediatric Society. "We urge Dr. Buehler to reconsider his position so that it is evidence-based and aligns with the medical and public health experts who develop vaccine-related recommendations and legislation." On Monday, Buehler's campaign said he stands by his statement. At Tuesday's debate, incumbent Gov. Kate Brown took the opposite position from Buehler, stating that "We probably give some parents a little too much leeway" to exempt their children from vaccine requirements. Under Oregon law, parents can exempt their children from any or all vaccines as long as they first talk to a medical provider or watch an online video to learn how vaccination benefits individuals and communities. The vaccine issue isn't a strictly partisan one. While most parents vaccinate their children, there are parents on both the right and the left of the political spectrum who are deeply skeptical that vaccines are safe and appropriate. Scientific studies show vaccines are safe, with rare exceptions, and are generally highly effective. A 2017 federal study found Oregon had some of the lowest childhood vaccine rates in the country, although state officials called the findings misleading because of a small sample size surveyed for the report. Update: This article has been updated with comment from the Buehler campaign. -- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699 Two former Oregon governors on Monday called on Republican nominee Knute Buehler to release his full tax returns. Buehler and his wife released the first several pages of their federal tax returns from 2015 to 2017 earlier this year, while Democratic Gov. Kate Brown and her husband released their full returns for the same time period. In a news conference in Southeast Portland, former Govs. Ted Kulongoski and Barbara Roberts said Buehler should release his full tax returns so that voters know whether the Bend legislator and orthopedic surgeon is "paying his fair share" of taxes and has a personal interest in public policies he would pursue if elected governor. Both Kulongoski and Roberts are Democrats who support Brown's re-election bid. "It's fair for the citizens to ask: 'If you want to spend my tax money, I want to know if you're paying your fair share,'" Kulongoski said. "That's the issue. Tell the public what you're doing." As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported in July, the Buehlers' effective federal tax rate is around 25 percent on income that reached $1 million one year, while Brown's household income was approximately $190,000 and her effective tax rate was roughly 15 percent. "I know people in that tax category who are paying higher rates than that," Roberts said of the Buehler's effective tax rate. Monica Wroblewski, a Buehler spokeswoman, said the couple voluntarily released three years of tax returns and already has disclosed financial investments, businesses, property and sources of income during the three years, 2015 to 2018, Buehler has been in elected office. They have "gone beyond what is required by law to be transparent about their personal finances," she said in a news release. "Releasing additional financial details of their businesses (Schedule E) is an unreasonable expectation that invades the privacy of citizens, who are business partners ... and have no role in public life." Brown's campaign has highlighted the Buehlers' purchase a decade ago of $100,000 worth of business energy tax credits, which the East Oregonian reported on Friday. Christian Gaston, a spokesman for Brown's re-election campaign, suggested it was hypocritical of Buehler to repeatedly criticize the scandal-ridden program, including in an editorial and in a speech opposing a different state program the low-carbon fuel mandate on the House floor without disclosing that he benefitted from it. Oregon ended the business energy tax credit, which allowed thousands of businesses and wealthy individuals to reduce their tax bills and could have cost the state as much as $1 billion in tax revenue, in 2014. Buehler took legislative office in 2015. The legislator called out Brown for failing to "investigate or fix the tax credit program while it was wasting millions under her nose" as secretary of state. "The fact that I legally purchased tax credits as a private citizen years before the program was revealed to be a wasteful mess by investigative journalists and not Kate Brown, does not disqualify me from being critical of the program as a lawmaker," Buehler said in a prepared statement. The business energy tax credit was a longstanding program, and the problems that led to its demise including a gross underestimate of how much tax revenue Oregon was giving up occurred while Kulongoski and former Gov. John Kitzhaber were in office. For example, an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that Kulongoski's administration pressured Energy Department employees to lowball the potential cost in order to gain support in the Legislature. "There's nothing wrong with tax avoidance," Kulongoski said on Monday. "So you shouldn't be ashamed if you're taking advantage of it." Former Gov. Ted Kulongoski spoke at a press conference Monday calling for Rep. Knute Buehler to release the rest of his tax returns. The business energy tax credit was back in the news last week, when the state took the rare step of clawing back $13 million worth of tax credits that were issued based on inflated costs. The Oregon Department of Justice and FBI originally launched investigations of the university solar projects in 2015, after The Oregonian/OregonLive reported on inflated costs for university solar projects that were a priority for Kitzhaber. A 2016 audit by a Portland financial crimes consultant uncovered sufficient "circumstantial evidence of suspicious behavior" in 79 business energy tax credits to warrant referral to the Oregon Department of Justice. It was the first time the state, with its audits division under Brown's direction as secretary of state from 2009 through early 2015, had commissioned an audit of the credits. The DOJ has yet to announce it is investigating any of those tax credits. -- Hillary Borrud 503-294-4034; @hborrud The bubble for President Mokgweetsi Masisis circle of friends at Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) could burst anytime soon, Botswana Guardian has learnt.It has since emerged that the once mighty Masisi camp is at war with itself as there is no longer trust between men and women who walked side by side when they ensured that Masisi retains his seat as party chairman in Tonota last year. Masisi who at the time was Vice President defending his seat against Minister Nonofo Molefhi. This is the camp, which was said to be united, and would do anything to protect the then chairman who would later this year become party leader and president of the country.Fresh information has emerged that it is no longer all merry within the Presidents circle as fellow democrats are no longer in good books with some going in pairs while others are lone rangers. The tension is said to have been caused by the need for close association to the president to secure future influential positions in the party. At some point the team was accused of orchestrating a plan to ensure that parliamentary and council candidates who did not support Masisi ahead of the Tonota congress should be punished during the two batches of the partys Bulelwa-Ditswe held in January and August this year. Information gathered shows that the fight to be close to the president started just a few months after Masisi ascended to the presidency. The key figure in the blame game is alleged to be party Secretary General Mpho Balopi who is said to be pushing away his colleagues far away from the President with the aim of allegedly positioning himself to be the only close associate. This development according to information gathered has not sat well with Balopi who is also BDPs parliamentary candidate for Gaborone North Constituency. A motion of no confidence against Balopi was allegedly recently planned on grounds that as head of the secretariat, he is failing the party. The BDP meeting in Palapye on the 11th August 2018 where Bulela-Ditswe candidates for the final batch were being addressed is said to have been one of the platforms where Balopis failure was shared with fellow democrats who were also equally disappointed with the postponement of the primaries on the 25th of August 2018. This was one of the platforms where his downfall was to take effect. In one of an intercepted conversation Balopi expresses disappointment about people who go around badmouthing him that he is de-campaigning some of the BDP candidates. He is also worried that some of his trusted rank and file members have changed allegiance to people who will never assist them in their lives while he had taken care and appreciated such people. Botswana Guardian is in possession of a conversation between Balopi and a certain D4D whom Balopi is not happy that he has distanced himself from the secretary general and is participating in meetings that are meant to discredit him (Balopi) where D4D has allegedly claimed that the SG was giving him sinister assignments. He is also not happy that D4D did not alert him about an alleged motion of no confidence that was being planned against him. I have never betrayed anyone even all the three presidents I served under- Festus Mogae, Ian Khama and Masisi I have remained loyal to them. They are my elders I respect them. You think I am a fool and I am not. People come to me with recording of what you said others just come and make representations of what you said in conversations you had with them. You will be speaking to people you think you are in the same journey together. You have moved away from me and are promoting whatever you are promoting. And the problem is that you know too much. I have never assigned you anything sinister to undertake within the party. You also knew about a motion of no confidence on me but you did not say anything to me, said Balopi in the audio conversation. In the conversation D4D denied being part of the plan but indicated that he heard about it during the Palapye meeting. He also denied sharing with Vice President and party Chairman Slumber Tsogwane about being made to undertake sinister assignments by Balopi. According to reports Balopi is expected to defend his seat next year during a BDP Congress against former party chairman and MP for Tati East Samson Moyo Guma. Guma is reported in local media to have revealed that fellow democrats have lobbied him to contest. Guma was also part of Masisis campaign team for chairmanship last year. Balopi said he could not comment as he was out of the country. He said he would be back in the country on Thursday. The secretary general also said he would not be able to respond via WhatsApp when requested if the questions could be channeled through such form of communication. A Forest Grove man who says he was tackled and wrongfully detained when cops mistook him for a vandalism suspect at an anti-Donald Trump demonstration filed a $76,000 lawsuit against the Portland Police Bureau and Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, records show. Daniel Martinez says he was among a throng of protesters marching against the newly minted president-elect on November 13, 2016, when officers threw him to the sidewalk on Southwest Yamhill Street, held him down with their knees and zip-tied his wrists. The reason? Police believed he was a man suspected of vandalizing a car several days earlier, according to the suit filed Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Court and first reported by Willamette Week. The problem? That suspect later arrested was a black man who "bore no resemblance to Mr. Martinez," a Latino. In fact, Martinez was walking with a United Farm Workers flag an emblem associated with Hispanic heritage when he was tackled, the lawsuit alleges. Martinez says he suffered injuries to his knees, chest and left shoulder. He also suffered lasting nerve damage to both wrists, according to the lawsuit, which also lists the city of Portland and Multnomah County as defendants. None of the listed defendants comment on pending litigation against them, per policy. Martinez's legal claims are the latest to raise questions about the use of force by police in Portland. In March, six protesters alleged in lawsuits filed by the ACLU of Oregon that Portland police, who have become "increasingly militarized in their tactics," assaulted them during a series of turbulent protests between October 2016 and June 2017. Last month, two demonstrators filed separate notices of their plans to sue Portland police for injuries they claim they suffered while protesting a Patriot Prayer rally on Aug. 4. -- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh skavanaugh@oregonian.com 503-294-7632 || @shanedkavanaugh UPDATE: The cyclist involved in this crash has died. A cyclist was badly hurt Monday morning in a Southeast Portland crash with a SUV, police say. Portland police said the cyclist, a woman who hasn't been publicly identified, was rushed to a hospital for treatment of what were thought to be serious, life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Honda Pilot involved in the crash stayed at the scene and is cooperating, according to police. Police hadn't issued any citations or made any arrests as of early Monday afternoon. The crash happened about 11:10 a.m. in the 7300 block of Southeast 82nd Avenue. The cyclist and driver collided at the intersection of 82nd Avenue and Henderson Street, police said. Officers think the cyclist was heading east on Henderson and that the driver was going south on 82nd Avenue. They didn't detail the circumstances of the crash in a news release Monday afternoon. Southeast 82nd Avenue will be closed between Henderson and Flavel Street while authorities investigate the crash, according to police. Jim Ryan The No. 12 Oregon Ducks spent Saturday celebrating a big 30-27 overtime win over the No. 7 Washington Huskies. Before the dust had settled, Mario Cristobal and his program learned ESPN's College Gameday would be heading to Pullman next week to feature Oregon's game against No. 25 Washington State. Suddenly, just two years after an embarrassing 70-21 loss to Washington, Oregon feels like it's back in the Pac-12 Conference's driver's seat. On hand to witness that changing of the guard Saturday were several of Oregon's top recruiting targets in the classes of 2019, 2020 and 2021, including Seth Figgins, the nation's No. 7 tight end. On Monday, the 6-foot-6, 235-pound pass-catcher announced he is ready to make his college decision, and will end his recruiting process at 8 p.m.: I will be committing TONIGHT at 8:00 PM! Seth Figgins (@Sethfiggins21) October 15, 2018 Figgins, the No. 2 tight end in the West region for the class of 2020, holds early offers from Arizona State, Oregon, Texas, USC and Utah. So, who will it be? Prediction: Oregon Ducks I've made predictions in the past that made me a little nervous - offensive tackle Penei Sewell immediately comes to mind because of his radio silence for the final few weeks. This isn't one of those. Fresh off an Oregon visit that had recruits buzzing about the future in Eugene, Figgins feels like an Oregon lock. Yes, offers from USC and Texas are attractive. But the Ducks are riding high, and Figgins hasn't been shy about how much he loved this weekend's stay in Eugene. For example, how odd would it be to post this tweet on the same day you committed to another program? Thank you Oregon, 2nd time was better than the first! Eugene is Awesome! Can't wait to visit Autzen again! #ScoDucks #CaliFlock Seth Figgins (@Sethfiggins21) October 15, 2018 A commitment from Figgins would give Oregon its first pledge in the class of 2020. Stay tuned! -- Andrew Nemec anemec@oregonian.com @AndrewNemec At a July 5 rally in Montana, President Donald Trump went on a lengthy rant about one of his favorite targets: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and her claim to Native American ancestry. Even then, Warren was rumored to be a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. Trump, with glee, told the rally crowd he looked forward to making Warren "prove" her Native American heritage on the debate stage if the two were to square off. "I'm going to get one of those little [DNA testing] kits and in the middle of the debate, when she proclaims she's of Indian heritage...," Trump said. "And we will say, 'I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian.' " The crowd cheered. "And let's see what she does," Trump continued. "I have a feeling she will say no, but we'll hold that for the debates. Do me a favor. Keep it within this room?" After that Montana debate, Warren brushed off Trump's taunts as she had multiple times before, whenever he deployed his derisive "Pocahontas" nickname for her. Early Monday morning, however, Warren called Trump's months-long bluff by releasing a DNA test that suggested she did have a distant Native American ancestor. Warren also indicated she hadn't forgotten about Trump's promise in July. "Remember saying on 7/5 that you'd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry?" she tweeted Monday. "I remember - and here's the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center." The charity she chose is a nonprofit that seeks to protect Native American women from violence. "Send them your $1M check, @realDonaldTrump," Warren added. Warren said she took the test because she had "nothing to hide" - then dared Trump to release his tax returns. Standing on a soggy White House lawn Monday, Trump denied he had ever made the promise. "Who cares?" he told reporters, when asked if he had heard about Warren releasing the results of her DNA test. Another reporter brought up his promise of a $1 million charity donation. "I didn't say that," Trump said. "Nah, you'd better read it again." Soon after, the Hill posted a fact-checked headline: "Trump denies offering $1 million for Warren DNA test, even though he did." Earlier Monday, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, dismissed Warren's DNA test as "junk science," an early indication that Trump is not likely to follow through on the donation promise he now denies having made. "I haven't looked at the test. I know that everybody likes to pick their junk science or sound science depending on the conclusion, it seems some days," Conway told reporters. "But I haven't looked at the DNA test and it really doesn't interest me... " Trump has had a long history of making bold pledges to donate large sums of money to charity without actually delivering on those promises, as The Washington Post's David A. Fahrenthold uncovered in a series of articles that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Fahrenthold said he was first intrigued by the question after Trump claimed during his presidential campaign he had raised $6 million for veterans, including $1 million of his own money. Over the course of his reporting, Fahrenthold recounted Trump often did not follow through on his promised donations until pressured by the media, as evidenced by exchange in May 2016: "On the phone, I asked Trump: Would you really have given this money away if I hadn't been asking about it? " 'You know, you're a nasty guy,' he said. 'You're really a nasty guy. "A few days later, Trump held a news conference in Trump Tower, where he answered my other question. Where was the remainder of the money Trump had raised from other donors, four months earlier? Turns out, it had been sitting in the Trump Foundation, unspent. In this news conference, Trump announced that he had given the last of it away - and he lashed out at the media for asking him to account for the money. " 'Instead of being like, "Thank you very much, Mr. Trump," or "Trump did a good job," everyone said : "Who got it? Who got it? Who got it?" And you make me look very bad,' Trump said. 'I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job.' " Immediately after denying he had promised to donate to a charity of Warren's choice, Trump seemed to welcome her as an opponent in 2020. "I hope she's running for president because I think she'd be very easy," Trump told reporters. "I hope that she is running. I do not think she'd be difficult at all, she'd destroy our country. She'd make our country into Venezuela. With that being said I don't want to say bad things about her because I hope she'd be one of the people that would get through the process." Oregon's largest wildfire has flared up, prompting new evacuations and a declaration from the governor. Gov. Kate Brown on Monday declared the Klondike fire, which started three months ago in southern Oregon, a conflagration. That clears the way for the state fire marshal's office to send firefighters and equipment to help with the blaze, which covers over 167,000 acres. About 40 homes are under level three ("go") evacuations as of Monday morning, according to fire spokesman Kale Casey. There haven't been any injuries, he said. Casey said the flare-up occurred Sunday amid 20- to 30-mph sustained winds and extremely dry conditions. Winds picked up embers from within the Klondike fire perimeter and carried them up to 6 miles away, Casey said. Once established on the ground, wind whipped the embers into an estimated 2,000-acre flare-up, which is a collection of smaller blazes trying to grow together, Casey said. The blaze, which is south of the Curry County community of Agness, remains active. Fire marshal's office personnel are rolling in Monday to protect homes and other buildings, Casey said. Authorities will for the next couple days focus on structure protection, establishing new fire lines and making sure the fire doesn't spread anywhere else. A local forecast shows highs in the 70s through Saturday, and there's no sign of rain. The Klondike fire, which started July 15 from a lightning strike, was listed Sunday morning as 167,423 acres. It was, at that point, 72 percent contained. Updates can be found on a pair of Facebook pages, as well as InciWeb. -- Jim Ryan jryan@oregonian.com 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Many Gladwin City officials are surprised they have received 27 applicants for the city manager position. "We kind of anticipated 15 or so," said Gladwin Mayor Dee Jungman. "We didn't expect 27. It shocked us all." Jungman hopes that some of the qualified applicants are from the city or the county. She said it would be nice to have someone who knows the city. "Ultimately, we are looking for someone who will guide the city into the future," Jungman said. Resumes for the position were due Oct. 5, but city officials won't open them until Oct. 29. The council will meet in closed session to discuss the applicants. The city was assisted by the Michigan Municipal League in vetting a new administrator, despite the lengthy discussions and residents voicing concerns for and against it. Residents against the MML mainly cited the $15,500 price tag for the assistance. But, on July 16, the council voted 5-2 to hire the MML. Council members Sarah Kile and Roger Gardner voted against it, saying the council should do its own search. Jack Abernathy, the interim city manager, encouraged the MML hiring mainly because time was of the essence and there were many other pressing projects he had to tend to. Abernathy took over after former city manager Bob Moffit retired on July 5. Abernathy agreed to stay until the end of the year at a salary of $25 an hour. Councilmember Mike Smith said Abernathy's reduced salary would help the city afford the MML. While the MML assists in finding candidates, Abernathy said the council still has the final decision on who they hire. The Gladwin City Council agreed on paying the new city manager between $65,000 and $75,000 depending on qualifications. The amount is close to what Beaverton City Manager Heath Kaplan earns, having recently received a $10,000 raise. Kaplan hired in as city manager in January at $55,000. The Beaverton City Council unanimously approved his raise Sept. 17, taking him to $65,000. "He is doing a great job," said Beaverton Mayor Ray Nau of Kaplan. Beaverton City Attorney Tara Hovey said she is impressed with Kaplan and what he has done in the city. Credit: Clay Patrick McBride Pop Evil will embark on a U.S. headlining tour early next year in support of their new self-titled album. The outing begins January 16 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and will come to a close February 16 in Madison, Wisconsin. Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 19. Visit PopEvil.com for more info. Pop Evil is running a contest for a local band to open the show at each tour stop. To win, your band needs to submit a cover of Pop Evil's song, "Be Legendary." More details about the contest will be announced when it launches in November. The tour will also feature an opening set from comedian Don Jamieson, who was a host on VH1's That Metal Show. "We are excited to blend rock and comedy for this unique touring experience," says Pop Evil frontman Leigh Kakaty. "We are big fans of Don, he will bring a lot of energy to the stage each night." Here are Pop Evil's 2019 tour dates: 1/16 -- Lincoln, NE, Bourbon Theater 1/17 -- Denver, CO, Summit 1/18 -- Wichita, KS, Cotillion Ballroom 1/19 -- Oklahoma City, OK, Diamond Ballroom 1/20 -- Dallas, TX, House of Blues 1/23 -- Houston, TX, House of Blues 1/25 -- Atlanta, GA, The Loft 1/26 -- Charlotte, NC, The Underground 1/27 -- Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Soundstage 1/29 -- Syracuse, NY, The Westcott Theater 1/30 -- Boston, MA, The Paradise Rock Club 1/31 -- Portland, ME, Aura 2/1 -- Long Island, NY, The Space at Westbury 2/2 -- Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom 2/5 -- Lancaster, PA, Chameleon Club 2/7 -- Chicago, IL, House of Blues 2/8 -- Ft Wayne, IN, Clyde Theatre 2/9 -- Peoria, IL, Monarch Music Hall 2/10 -- Louisville, KY, Mercury Ballroom 2/12 -- Nashville, TN, The Cowan 2/13 -- Fort Smith, AR, TempleLive 2/14 -- Springfield, MO, The Complex 2/15 -- Kansas City, MO, The Truman 2/16 -- Madison, WI, Majestic Theater Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Trouble could be brewing once again at Mowana Copper Mine as the mining company is struggling to pay salaries for employees for the month of September 2018, Botswana Guardian has learnt.The mine, now owned by Leboam Holdings, a subsidiary of Cradle Arc has been closed before and there are fears that failure by the mine to pay salaries could herald the start of problems at the mine where Cradle Arc is expected to produce at least 5 700 tonnes of contained copper during the second half of this year. A memo dated October 5, 2018 from General Manager Dominic Doherty says salaries would be paid in tranches with the final one being done at the end of this month. He explains that due to unforeseen breakdowns during the month of September, production from the Mowana Copper Mine was severely reduced, and expenditure on repairing broken equipment was at unexpectedly high levels. The result of the reduction in income from copper production and the additional expenses has impacted on the companys cash flows and consequently we regret that payment of September salaries was delayed. We understand the serious impact that delays in receiving salaries has on individuals and the difficulties that you and your families face as a results, the general manager said. Doherty said management team is committed to ensuring that the salaries are paid in full and promised that the welbeing of all staff is their priority. This includes planning to ensure that we all have a future here at Mowana Copper and that you can continue to derive benefit from the mine for years, he said, adding that continued production is key to this effort. He explained that payment of September payroll has begun with first tranches, equating to 30 percent of your total September earnings, having been made yesterday, Thursday October 4, and funds should be reflecting in your accounts from today (October 5). The company will be making a further payment at the beginning of next week with the intention of making whole outstanding payment by the end of October. Doherty promised that they will work hard to get through these short-term challenges. He promised to meet the employees on a one by one basis to hear their queries. Interestingly in another memo sent on October 3, 2018 and copied to Heads of Departments (Leboam Holdings and Penmin), Doherty explains that the salaries, which were due on September 30, 2018 have been delayed due to the recent extended public holiday which has affected the clearance of our funds into our Botswana account. The general manager explained in the memo that they are doing all they can to ensure that salaries are paid within the shortest possible time. Efforts also continue to be made to minimise postponements and frequent delays in payment of your salaries, he said.Doherty could not be reached for comment at press time. Production was first halted at the mine in 2015, when copper prices fell. Fresh market data however shows that copper has risen by at least more than 50 percent.Following the suspension of its operations at Mowana Mine mid October 2015, the mining contractor, Diesel Power Limited then approached the High Court to have Messina Copper (Botswana), a subsidiary of African Copper liquidated. The previous owner, Messina Copper (Botswana) then suspended operations at the Mine, where close to 400 workers lost their jobs. In March 2017, new owners, Leboam Holdings resumed operations ramping up to an initial 12,000 tonnes a year of copper concentrate. Then Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Advocate Sadique Kebonang told Parliament in April this year that the liquidator has entered a Liquidator Term Loan Agreement, the terms of which the liquidation sale proceeds will be paid by the purchaser over a period of 24 months from January 2018. He explained that full repayment of this loan is expected to be completed in January 2020 unless early settlement is effected. In the interim parent company Cradle Arc has commissioned Tamesis Partners in London to initiate a refinance enquiry whereby the full liquidation and development capital is being raised. The minister stated that there are six major funds and other capital providers who are currently performing their due diligence processes. The Advocate said if successfully refinanced, it will settle the liquidation balances and finalisation of all outstanding balances should be expected by end of July 2018. In response to Rick Goodwin's letter to the editor on Aug. 30, Virginia Florey has published a couple excellent books on Midland history. Pictures are worth a thousand words, they say, and her wonderful books are chock full of them. Regarding her Midland Remembers articles in the paper, I've personally saved many of them through the years. They are treasures, for sure. She also has written three captivating books of her precious personal Pocket Mirror memories, which I highly recommend as good stories of life in Midland years ago. And I can relate directly to many of Ron Sears' "left field" columns because my father moved his new heating and roofing business from a two-car garage behind our home on the corner of Hines and Jerome streets to a former storage garage on the corner of Haley and Larkin streets back in the late 1930s, about where Dow Diamond home plate is now. I spent a lot of time at Dad's business as a kid. I would ride my bike there after school, and swept floors on Saturday. I almost lived (and worked) there in the summer -- when I wasn't swimming and getting sunburned at Central Pool. I taught myself how to drive Dad's Plymouth business coupe in the after hours empty Dow parking lots across the street from his business that are now stadium seats along the first base line. Floor shift. I had to peek under the steering wheel to see where I was going. Also had to sit on the edge of the seat to reach the clutch and brake pedals and pull myself forward with the steering wheel for foot leverage. While we didn't hop onto any Pere Marquette box cars like Ron did, we waved at many an engineer and fireman as those humongous steam engines rumbled by Dad's shop. We could actually feel the floor shake when standing inside his showroom. Those heavy behemoths flattened many a penny on those tracks for us. And Dad's business location was just about where they blew the standard locomotive steam whistle warning (two longs, one short, one long) for a crossing as they approached Main Street. And speaking of steam whistles, we lived with the Dow shift change 400-pound steam whistle for several years. It could be heard all over Midland, even at midnight. On the other side of the train tracks was the popular Dow cafeteria, which was open to the public at the time. Anyone using it would recall the "tunnel" between 47 and 49 Buildings. It could also be reached from the parking lots at Haley and Larkin crossing the tracks on the pedestrian walkway. Many people who worked at stores in the area had lunch there. That, and the Tastee Grill was just down the road a piece. The stores at the corner of Haley and Ellsworth are a whole other story. I'm sure Ron remembers them. I recall Dorr's Market (later became the Flamingo Restaurant) and the Pure Oil station and Campbell's Hardware and Nathan's Fruit Market, and making many trips to Paul's Donut Shop on Haley for coffee for the office employees. I transported the special orders in one pint glass milk bottles -- not styrofoam cups. The hot roast beef sandwiches at the Flamingo were the best. Another great lunch spot in that area. The recent pictures and stories in the Daily News concerning the Knights of Columbus Hall on Ashman Street have conjured a lot of memories, too, since I attended junior high on Grove Street just around the corner. I set pins at the KofC bowling alley once. Once was enough. There was another railroad track that crossed Ashman Street next to the KofC. It delivered coal to a coal yard there on that same corner. C&O also delivered lumber to Nehil Lumber and Bailey's Lumber yards and serviced Cohoon's Elevator, too. The depot for that C&O railroad still exists (as does Cohoon's) and a new business just moved into it. Also across Ashman from the KofC was Thompson Elementary right next to the junior high school (formerly 2nd Ward Elementary, renamed after a popular teacher). It had a second story fire escape tube that we loved to climb up inside and slide down. In later years, they put doors on it so you couldn't climb in it anymore. And right near there was the little gray band building where I took summer band lessons from Ted Nicholson. The bandshell near central pool was later named after Ted. Of course those schools on Grove Street are gone now (as is the pool) and they've also torn the wings off my wonderful Midland High School too. I still can't believe they left the beautiful auditorium! A short distance from the C&O Depot (and junior high) was the Smith Dairy where we got the best and thickest malted milk shakes in the world. Smith Dairy also delivered milk to our home using horse drawn milk wagons. Imagine that, a horse barn in the middle of Midland. But then Grandpa Turk used his team of horses to dig basements for homes. His barn was on Collins Street. And I kept a pet goat for a spell in a lot on Elizabeth Street behind our home. We were at the end of the milkman's run so he would jump out to deliver the milk and the horse would turn the wagon around by himself. He fed the horse lunch by hanging a bag of oats over his muzzle. The milkman didn't have to encourage the horse to trot back to the barn at the end of the day. He did that on his own volition. It's getting so that more and more of my Midland only exists in the minds of people that lived or worked here. For example, In my day there were five lumber yards here in the city of Midland: Nehil's, Eyre's, Brown's, Bailey's and Haddix's -- all gone now. I did business with them all. And there were at least two shoe stores (Stein's and Merritts) and three drug stores (Glovers, Cunningham's and Community Drugs) on Main Street, and Heisman's and Barringer's men's stores and Knepp's and Beckwith's and Thompson Mercantile. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days the dreamers, planners and architects will solicit and obtain enough foundation money to re-route the mighty Tittabawassee to make more playground and a swimming beach to entice and accommodate more "office professionals." Hopefully, I'll be gone by then. My Midland left me a long time ago. Oh, and lest I forget, Rick, ever-popular Midland Judge Henry Hart wrote a great book about Midland. It's called, "At Least Partly True." I see a copy on ebay for $1.99. Elmer Schartow is a resident of Midland. To the editor: As I ponder the significance of the upcoming election, I try and consider the long term consequences of my vote. I personally believe that on a local level we may actually be ready to look beyond partisan politics and embrace candidates with good ideas and differing viewpoints. One of the new candidates that I find very credible, enthusiastic and approachable is Joe Weir. Mr. Weir is running for the State Senate. His enthusiasm is obvious as he talks about his long view of what a representative should be doing to meet Michigans challenges. Mr. Weir has lived, worked and raised a family in Midland for decades. He is very aware of the issues that affect us locally but just as importantly whats of importance to all citizens of our state priorities like roads, the environment, schools, health care, auto insurance rates and clean water. As a candidate for the Senate, he has made it clear that being connected and accessible to your constituents is an important fundamental of governance. If were to tackle the hard challenges and promote growth in Pure Michigan, I highly recommend a vote for Joe Weir for the Michigan State Senate on Nov. 6. LINDA BARTH Midland If you had to choose, which is more disgusting: baby mouse wine, a wine from hairless, days-old baby mice and made in China and Korea, or root beer, a soft drink made from the root or bark of the sassafras tree in America? Your response might seem obvious to you, but what some may see as an innocuous beverage in their homeland, could seem like a downright unpalatable experience in another country. (Root beer, it turns out, is not a celebrated flavor outside of the United States.) That's the idea behind the Disgusting Food Museum opening in Malmo, Sweden, at the end of October. Curated by Samuel West, the mind behind the Museum of Failure, this new exhibit features 80 foods from around the world, showcasing the smelliest, visually unappealing and flavor-challenging items the team could find ... all for the sake of challenging people to reconsider what one might call "disgusting." "I want people to question what they find disgusting and realize that disgust is always in the eye of the beholder," West told the Washington Post. "We usually find things we're not familiar with disgusting, versus things that we grow up with and are familiar with are not disgusting regardless of what it is." The list of "disgusting" food items range from a fruit bat soup made in Guam and cuy, guinea pigs eaten in Peru, to hakarl, fermented shark from Iceland, and casu marzu, a cheese containing maggots made in Sardinia. Others items are more about the process of making that food, such as foie gras, which is made by force-feeding a duck or goose, or even the farming practices in the United States. In order to select which food items to display, the team behind the Disgusting Food Museum picked dishes that are either eaten in modern days or were historically significant; considered disgusting by a group of people; are "interesting or fun." The "exhibits" are mostly real food, while others are replicas or shown as a video. Certain items are available for tasting some can even be touched while others can be smelled ... thanks to medical-grade research jars. For those with an affection for blue cheese, a special area is dedicated to a smelly array of dairy dubbed, "The Altar of Stinky Cheese." The food is replaced on a practically daily basis, which West called "a pain in the ass" and not cost-effective at all, but as he admitted, "... which is more fun to look at, a plastic replica of some food or the real food in front of you? It's just more fun to have a real durian fruit from Thailand." The museum opens Oct. 31 and runs until the end of January 2019. Photos of some of the exhibits from the Disgusting Food Museum are included in the slideshow above. Read Dianne de Guzman's latest stories and send her news tips at ddeguzman@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. President Andrzej Duda said that during his meeting with Pope Francis, both parties discussed the need for the EU to return to mutual respect in relations between states, as well as respect for the cultural diversity that exists in the individual countries. President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda were received by Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday morning. The presidential couple was accompanied by presidential ministers Krzysztof Szczerski, Pawe Mucha, Andrzej Dera and Adam Kwiatkowski, as well as Minister of Agriculture Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski. The Polish president also had a face-to-face meeting with the pope, which lasted nearly a half-hour. After the papal audience, President Duda also met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Andrzej Duda noted that one of the topics of his talks with the Pope was the European Union and "if there is a chance for the EU to emerge from the crises in which it is immersed." According to the Polish president, there such a chance exists "provided that there is a change in the way of thinking." "We need to return to the values from which the European Union grew, which guided the EU fathers when they established the community," Duda stated. "Pope Francis mentioned the German chancellor Konrad Adenauer and I also talked about (Robert) Schuman, about (Alcide) De Gasperi, about the ideas that guided them," President Duda continued. "These ideas grew out of Judaeo-Christian roots and these are the values that shaped the EU - the will to cooperate among nations, to create a community," he added. The head of the Polish state stressed that he meant the community in terms of "an alliance in which there is a mutual understanding of needs, interests and concerns." As he added, we need to seek solutions that make every country feel respected. Duda said that this was the topic of his conversation with both the Pope and Cardinal Parolin. The presidential couple's visit to Vatican is connected with the 40th anniversary of the election of Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtya as Pope John Paul II, falling on October 16. On that day the presidential couple will take part in a Mass at the tomb of Saint John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica. (PAP) mr/jch/ Goose Island will be releasing eight variants of its iconic Bourbon County Stout this year: Original Bourbon County Brand Stout, Reserve Bourbon County Brand Stout, Proprietors Bourbon County Brand Stout, Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine, Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Stout, Bourbon County Brand Bramble Rye Stout, Bourbon County Brand Coffee Barleywine and Bourbon County Brand Midnight Orange Stoutthe first of these releases to include citrus fruit. Coming, as usual, on Black Friday, this years variants include some that Bourbon County fans will find familiar, as well as a few extra surprises. These beers remain of interest to many collectors despite the brands AB InBev ownership. In our own sensory testing theyve remained as good as everthe last time we blind-tasted 144 barrel-aged imperial stouts, the original BCBS finished at #5. Heres the official rundown from Goose Island as well as some details about each: Original Bourbon County Brand Stout Aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels more than four years old, the original bourbon barrel-aged stout is as good as when we first made it more than 20 years ago. Flavors of cocoa, vanilla, caramel, almond, cherry, leather and tobacco permeate this complex beer that deepens with each sip. Reserve Bourbon County Brand Stout Its the same recipe as Original Bourbon County Brand Stout but aged in 12-year old Elijah Craig Barrel Proof bourbon barrels. This bourbon was awarded 2017 Whisky of the Year by Whisky Advocate, the top honor in the world of international whiskey. Reserve is intended to showcase the nuances of a premium single source and highly sought after bourbon. Proprietors Bourbon County Brand Stout This years Proprietors explores the broad spectrum of chocolate. Using dark chocolate and two types of cocoa nibs, this rich and decadent beer highlights the whole range of chocolate from smooth and silky milk chocolate flavors to deep and earthy dark chocolate. Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine Made from two-row and malted wheat, Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine is making its debut this year. Wheatwine is a deep amber color, full of caramel, vanilla, butterscotch and toffee flavors. It is lighter than its Bourbon County Brand Stout counterparts and a true medium to convey the characteristics of more than 4-year-old Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels. Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Stout This longtime favorite is making a long-awaited return to the Bourbon County Brand Stout roster. Using whole, grade A vanilla beans from Madagascar, this years Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Stout delivers all the quintessential things fans love about this variant: aromatic vanilla, marshmallow, toffee, oak and floral notes that highlight the creamy mouthfeel and enhance the ingrained chocolate flavors. Bourbon County Brand Bramble Rye Stout For this variant, Bourbon County Brand Stout was aged in rye whiskey barrels, and then raspberry and blackberry juice and puree from Michigan and Washington were added. The result is complex jammy fruit notes that are prominent but well integrated with the caramel and chocolate flavors of the beer and spicy rye character from the barrels. Bourbon County Brand Coffee Barleywine Goose Island flew down to Guatemala to source some of the worlds best coffee to use in its first coffee barleywine. The beer is an English-style barleywine, meaning its malt forward. It was aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels more than four years old, and La Soledad coffee beans were added before packaging to retain a bold coffee aroma and flavor. Bourbon County Brand Midnight Orange Stout Goose Island combined orange and chocolate, taking Bourbon County into a new and exciting direction. While the chocolate compliments the Bourbon County base, the orange zest offers a point of contrast for a bold new flavor profile. Botswana Congress Party (BCP) President Dumelang Saleshando has rubbished reports that his party is the main instigator of problems within Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).BCP, a contracting partner in the UDC, has been accused by colleagues - Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) - for being the root cause of the problems that the current UDC find itself faced with. BMD was last month suspended from the UDC to give it an opportunity to introspect as its leader Advocate Sidney Pilane is being resented by the public as well as UDC rank and file. BMD Secretary General Gilbert Mangole revealed during a political rally in Mochudi that troubles started when BCP came into the picture. According to Mangole before the arrival of BCP there was peace and respect among contracting partners being BMD, Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Peoples Party. He said they decided to welcome BCP into the UDC fold after the former felt the wrath of electorates during the 2014 general elections. In the build up to the 2014 general elections all the three parties that made up UDC were like a family. We negotiated peacefully and with understanding. We respected each other and there was no big brother mentality. But since the coming of the BCP things changed and that is why we find ourselves where we are today. It is because of people who just came yesterday and have not contributed or invested in the UDC, Mangole said. However, according to Saleshando the BCP should not take the blame for the UDC mess. He is of the view that BMD is the problem. He pointed out during an interview with this publication that the highest level political turmoil can only be traced to the time when the BMD went for its congress in Bobonong in July last year. There was bloodbath during the clash of the partys two factions - one led by Ndaba Gaolathe and the other by Advocate Pilane. Two parallel congresses were held and produced two National Executive Committees. According to Saleshando this is what should be a clear example of political turmoil, which occurred in the absence of the BCP. But Mangole differs. He maintains that the BCP played a part in the split of the BMD, which saw the formation of Alliance for Progressives (AP) when Gaolathe and team dumped the BMD to form AP late last year. Mangole who is also Member of Parliament for Mochudi West explained that Advocate Pilane was at the forefront of recruiting the BCP into the UDC. He posited that BCP encouraged them to go to Bobonong and ensure that Gaolathe and team do not take the leadership of the BMD. They pleaded with us to ensure that we take the BMD leadership. They supported us because they knew that Gaolathe and team do not need them in the UDC. They used us to fight their battles. Because we wanted them in the UDC which is a project of Batswana we ensured that we fight with our colleagues. It is not nice that we have lost the likes of Gaolathe because of the BCP especially its leadership, Mangole hit out. Saleshando dismissed as unfounded and shallow these claims by the BMD. We have heard of such claims from them. I mean the funding which they say we extended to them to fight their colleagues clearly shows that they are not fit to be in politics, Saleshando told this publication. The UDC has for a long time not found peace especially within its leadership. The tension has now pitted the BMD against the BCP. Speculation is rife that come next week or before end of the month BMD - which is to make representation before UDC NEC - might be expelled from the coalition movement. BMD has however indicated that it would fight to the bitter end because it has invested a lot into the UDC project. Good Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers. With three weeks to go until Election Day, Pennsylvania's United States Senate race has taken a turn for the very personal. Republican Lou Barletta has charged Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of "[releasing] an insensitive and personal attack ad," against his family, where Casey accuses the Hazleton congressman of "wanting to rip away health insurance from twin children with cancer." The ad comes, Barletta claims in a statement released Sunday, after he'd revealed to Casey that his 18-month-old twin grandson, Jordan, is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. At issue is an ad featuring a woman named Stacie Ritter, of Manheim Township, Lancaster County, that discusses the plight of her twin daughters, who were stricken with cancer, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday. "This is everything that is wrong with politics," Barletta said. "I personally told told Senator Casey about the miracle birth of my twin grandchildren and the fact that at 18-months-old, one is currently being treated for cancer." Lou Barletta campaign photo "For Senator Casey to use twins with cancer in an attack ad and say that I would deny my grandson health care is disgraceful. This is the lowest thing I've ever seen. Senator Casey should take down this disgraceful ad," Barletta concluded. The statement includes a photograph of Barletta's grandson. That's him at left. In an addendum to the statement, Barletta says he's voted for "for protections for Pennsylvanians with pre-existing conditions and for policies so that nobody can be denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition." The Republican also took to Twitter, where he released an emotionally charged statement, castigating Casey and reiterating his demand that the ad come down: Bob Casey just released an insensitive and personal attack ad accusing Lou Barletta of wanting to rip away health care from twin children with cancer, after Lou personally told Casey of his 18-month-old twin grandson currently undergoing chemo for cancer. Here is Lous response: pic.twitter.com/CXgMq1f4YA Lou Barletta (@louforsenate) October 14, 2018 Speaking to The Inquirer, Casey's campaign said "Barletta's votes have real consequences for Pennsylvania families like Stacie's. On Election Day, he will be held accountable for his record of voting to end protections for preexisting conditions for 5.3 million Pennsylvanians." In an email to PennLive, Casey's spokesman, Max Steele said that "it's also worth noting that Senator Casey has been telling Stacie's story for nearly a decade. He told it during the original debate on the ACA, during Tom Price's confirmation hearing. And he had her at a roundtable just a few months ago." Now the analysis: First, here's the ad in question: The commercial is one of three that takes Barletta to task for his votes on healthcare-issues. Another focuses on a woman contending with diabetes. To back up his claim about pre-existing conditions, Barletta cites a May 4, 2017 House roll call vote on The American Healthcare Act of 2017, which was the House GOP's ultimately doomed Obamacare replacement. In the ad, Casey cites the same House roll call - and another from 2011 - as proof that Barletta did support "end[ing]" protections for pre-existing conditions. So who's right? They both are - kind of. A May 4, 2017 analysis by PolitiFact rules the GOP's claim that its Obamacare replacement "absolutely does not eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions," to be "Mostly False." Barletta was among 217 Republicans to vote along party lines to approve the bill, which did keep the Affordable Care Act's requirement that people with pre-existing conditions must be offered health insurance. But, as PolitiFact notes, the GOP alternative dropped the Affordable Care Act's rules "capping how much extra those people can be charged," for such coverage. In fact, the Republican alternative would have allowed people with pre-existing conditions to be charged "thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars more per year, some studies have found," PolitiFact concluded. "Insurers would be able to charge people significantly more if they had a pre-existing condition like heart disease, cancer, diabetes or arthritis - possibly requiring people to pay thousands of dollars extra every year to remain insured," PolitiFact concluded. Now about that second roll call vote. Barletta was among the Republicans who voted in favor of a Republican-backed Obamacare repeal called "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" in January 2011. That bill, one of several GOP attempts to repeal Obamacare, would have ended coverage for pre-existing conditions. So while Barletta may be right to accuse the Casey camp of a cheap shot by dragging kids with cancer into its attack ad, Barletta is equally guilty of playing politics by mentioning his grandson in the first place. And the record supports a conclusion that Barletta has moved, at least twice, to erode protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The rest of the day's news starts now. The U.S. Attorney for Philadelphia says he'll move to shut down any effort to open a safe-injection site in the city, The Inquirer reports. The Dept. of Community & Economic Development is heading to court to keep the state's bid for Amazon's HQ2 under wraps, WESA-FM reports. The Incline takes a look at Pittsburgh's food deserts, where it's nigh impossible to find milk or fresh vegetables. Philadelphia city officials have shut down an important recovery facility over code violations, BillyPenn reports. Democrat Susan Wild raised $1.3 million last quarter for her congressional bid in the Lehigh Valley's 7th District, The Morning Call reports. WolfWatch. Gov. Tom Wolf has no public schedule today. What Goes On. The House comes in at 11 a.m., the Senate at 1 p.m. as another session week gets rolling. What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition). 8 a.m.: Breakfast for Rep. Scott Conklin 8 a.m.: Breakfast for Sen. Mario Scavello 8 a.m.: Breakfast for Rep. Austin Davis 11 a.m.: Luncheon for Rep. Kate Harper 11:30 a.m.: Luncheon for Auditor General Eugene DePasquale 5:30 p.m.: Reception for Sen. Pat Stefano 5:30 p.m.: Reception for Rep. Marty Flynn 5:30 p.m.: Reception for Rep. Jeanne McNeill 5:30 p.m: Reception for Rep. Margo Davidson 6 p.m.: House Republican Campaign Committee Oktoberfest reception Heavy Rotation Here's an old favorite from Chris Isaak to get the morning rolling. And now you're up to date. Pagans motorcycle club members clashed with undercover police at a bar in Pittsburgh early Friday, resulting in injuries and multiple arrests, police say. As TribLive.com reports, the clash took place at Kopy's Bar on Pittsburgh's South Side, where undercover officers were investigating drug complaints. Police say six members of the motorcycle club surrounded the detectives and a fight broke out. Details from TribLive.com: At first, four Pagans approached the officers and the conversation was cordial, according to arrest papers. But then one Pagan, identified as Frank Deluca, 36, of Greenfield, "became angry and began screaming obscenities at one of the detectives," the complaint says, adding: Another detective stood between the two in an unsuccessful attempt to deescalate the confrontation. Deluca is then described as pushing a detective, which started a fistfight. Police said they used a Taser and pepper spray to arrest the four suspects. Those arrested were: Deluca, Michael Zokaites, 38, of Shaler, Erik Hertzrater, 28, of Hampton and Bruce Thomas, 61, of Pittsburgh's Allentown neighborhood. All were jailed and face charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy and riot. Police said Deluca and Hertzrater both carried handguns lawfully. Detectives said they also confiscated three "large" knives from the bar floor after the fight. Deluca, who faces five counts of aggravated assault, is shown in a mugshot with two black eyes, a cut above his right eye and bruises on his head. Indian companies have collectively invested several billion pulas into the Botswana economy and employ up to 10,000 citizens, says Manhar Mooney, the executive chairman of Trans Africa Group. The majority of these companies belong to the Gujaratis, such as the motor magnate, Satar Dada; Trans Africas Manhar Mooney; Motovacs Harshad Patel and many others. Speaking Monday this week during the celebration of Gujarat Day at the Maharaj Conference Centre, Mooney said the advent of Gujeratis into Botswana is almost a century old. Mooney arrived in Botswana around 1979/80 from Zimbabwe, where he was involved in the freedom struggle against Ian Smiths white-minority rule with my political leader, Joshua Nkomo of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU). His father came to Beira Port (Mozambique) in 1917 (exactly 101 years ago), after a two-month journey on a small vessel from Bombay (now Mombai). He was 22 years old -just like Mahatma Ghandi who arrived in South Africa at the age of 23 as a qualified barrister to represent a Pretoria-based Gujerati Memon trader, in a court case. The first few Gujerati families arrived into Botswana, due to oppressive apartheid laws in South Africa. They crossed into border villages like Ramotswa, Sikwane, Lobatse and others and moved on into other villages and towns as opportunities arose. They assimilated into local communities and spoke the local languages fluently, providing services to these communities, said Mooney. Mooney said that some Indian Gujerati businessmen then saw opportunities from neighbouring countries, as did some professionals from the accounting and medical fields from India, who descended upon Botswana. Many were recruited into government service and senior positions. Today, the largest Indian population outside of India, Mooney said, is in the USA, then UK and then South Africa with Gujeratis featuring prominently, mainly as traders. He said that in the USA, Gujeratis carry the label Hotel Motel Patel and that this is not by accident but because they own 60 percent or more of the hospitality industry. They started buying up cheap low quality motels all over America. Their offspring have by now acquired some of the largest franchise hotels in the USA, he said. Speaking at the same occasion on Monday, Indias High Commissioner to Botswana Dr. Rajesh Ranjan (incidentally also a Gujarati) called on Batswana businesspeople and Gujaratis resident in the country to participate in the VIBRANT GUJARAT GLOBAL SUMMIT 2019, which will be held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat in India from 18 to 20 January 2019. Currently there are 19 operational Diamond Manufacturing Companies, out of which eight are of Indian origin, and together these companies employ 1000 young Batswana who have been trained in diamond cutting and polishing. Four of these companies Dharmanandan, Mohit, Yaelstar and Karp Impex were licensed in 2018. Indeed, acceded minister Eric Molale, Botswanas diamond sector is largely dominated by the Gujarati community whose 500 families resident in the country and have invested largely in the diamond and hospitality industries, infrastructure development, trading and various Small and Medium Enterprises. Among the worlds renowned Gujaratis are Mahatma Ghandi and the current Indian Prime Minister, Nahendra Modi. In his keynote address, minister of mineral resources, green technology and energy security Molale, observed that Gujaratis are renowned for their mercantile ethos and business acumen, a trait accentuated by the executive chairman of Trans Africa Gorup, Manhar Mooney in his presentation on the Journey from Gujarat to Botswana as innate to this enterprising group of people that originate in Gujarat, a state located on the west coast of India. Dr. Ranjan extolled the significance of Vibrant Gujarat citing the 2017 event, which he said had more than 100 countries with more than 2700 international delegates participating including two Presidents from Africa Kenyas Uhuru Kenyatta and Rwandas Paul Kagame as well as Prime Ministers from Portugal and Serbia. The 2017 Summit was also attended by nine Nobel Laureates and also organised 355 business-to-business meetings and 260 business to government meetings. I would like to invite you all to participate in Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019 to enhance the relationship between India and Botswana, Dr. Ranjan appealed. Also in attendance on Monday at the Gujarat Day were Chairman of Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), Victor Senye. He told Botswana Guardian that he would take up the High Commissioners invitation with his management, in light of the fact that Gujarat is classified as one of the leading industrialised states in India. Buttressing Gujarats commercial attributes, Dr. Ranjan emphasised that the state is one of the best places in India for the manufacturing of textiles, pharmaceuticals, and agro-based and petrochemical products. He cited among the major investors in the state, Adani, Clarins Paris, Ford, Honda, IBM and Kelloggs. In terms of economic performance he said that Gujarat recorded $66.8 bn worth of exports in 2017-18, contributing over 22 percent to Indias net exports and recorded $18, 7bn worth of foreign direct investment inflow from 2000 to 2018. Dr. Ranjan mentioned other attributes of Gujarat as the host to the worlds largest petroleum refining hub at Jamnagar and the worlds third largest producer of denim as well as a global leader in processed diamonds. All these make for fine selling points to induce BITC. Other speakers at Mondays Gujarat Day included Arjav Mehta of Arjav Diamonds who shared his experience of diamond trading with Botswana; Shailendra Singh, the new Managing Director of Bank of Baroda (which originates in Gujarat) as well as the chairman of the India Botswana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shyam Sreekaram. The auspicious occasion was graced by hundreds of Gujarat families, minister Molales wife and minister Dikgang Makgalemele as well as captains of industries. It was spiced up by cultural dance performance. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting their first child in the spring, Kensington Palace said Monday. The announcement came hours after Harry and the former Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney at the start of a 16-day visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Hundreds of people gathered to catch a glimpse of the couple after they landed. "Their royal highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public," the palace said in a statement. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. pic.twitter.com/Ut9C0RagLk Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 15, 2018 After their arrival in Sydney, the prince and the former American actress held hands and walked out an airport rear entrance and into a car. Meghan, wearing skinny black pants and a black, burgundy trimmed coat, was smiling and clutching folders, while Harry gave a thumbs up to bystanders. The announcement of the pregnancy confirms weeks of speculation from royal watchers about why Meghan was not joining Harry on his Sydney Harbour Bridge climb set for Friday. Harry, 34, and Meghan, 37 -- along with Prince William and his wife, Kate, the duchess of Cambridge -- have stepped to the fore in the last year as Queen Elizabeth II, 92, slightly reduces her public schedule. In this image made from video, Britain's Prince Harry, center right, and his wife Meghan Markle, left, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, approach a car at an airport in Sydney, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. Monday's announcement is welcome news in Britain, where Meghan has won many hearts since her engagement to Harry was announced last December. The baby would be seventh in line for the British throne. The royal couple started dating in July 2016 after they were introduced by friends, and Harry courted Meghan on a trip to Africa shortly afterward. They kept their relationship secret for several months but word eventually leaked to the British press. They were married in May. Markle's father is a Perry County, Pa., native. Harry has become immensely popular in Britain, in part because of his military service and tireless work on behalf of wounded soldiers, and he has spoken often in recent years of his desire to settle down and start a family. Within hours of the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked the Philippines. While Gen. Douglas MacArthur assured Washington he could repel the attack, it was not true. American and Filipino soldiers had been forced to leave food and supplies behind. They were ill-equipped to fight the attack. They held on for 99 days but then surrendered. The Japanese army in April 1942 forced 76,000 prisoners of war - 66,000 Filipinos and 10,000 Americans to march north to Camp O'Donnell where they were imprisoned. During the march the prisoners were beaten, shot and bayoneted. Some died of starvation and disease while thousands more died at the prison. At the end of World War II, the Japanese commander responsible for the march and atrocities at Camp O'Donnell, Lt. Gen. Homma Masaharu, was tried and convicted by the U.S. military commission. He was executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946. Two more horse trainers at Penn National Race Course have been charged with rigging races based on information provided by a local veterinarian who was indicted by the feds. The criminal counts filed against John D. Conner, 50, of Hershey and Bruce Kravets, 63, of Harrisburg, stem directly from the tips provided to investigators by Lancaster veterinarian Fernando Motta, court filings show. Conner and Kravitz are accused of illegally administering drugs to horses within 24 hours of races at the East Hanover Township track, then having the dosing dates backdated to escape scrutiny by the Pennsylvania State Racing Commission. All the charges stem from incidents that are supposed to have occurred in late 2013, according to arrest papers Dauphin County Detective William Jackson filed with District Judge Lowell Witmer. Attempts to contact both trainers concerning the charges were not immediately successful Monday. Kravets is accused of dosing eight different horses with estrogen adrenal cortex, a hormone substance, right before races in October and November 2013. Horses named in Kravets' arrest affidavit as having been dosed are Galavant, Quiet Title, Spanish Wells, Dorothy Diamond Golden Express, Dontdringmywine, Stolen Pennies and Empredado. Some of the steeds posted second- and third-place finishes, with winnings totaling just under $10,000, Jackson wrote. Conner is accused of illegally dosing six different horses with mental gold paste - a pain reliver - or Robaxin, a treatment for inflammation and muscle spasms, between October and December 2013. Jackson said the horses Conner illegally treated were Dancing Sparks, My Appeal, Ictalurus, No Plan B, Revive Me and American Placed. My Appeal won a race after being dosed, the detective said. Two other horses logged second-place finishes and one finished third. The drugged horses posted nearly $21,000 in winnings, court documents state. Both trainers are scheduled for preliminary hearings on the charges before Witmer next month. The Kravets and Conner cases show Motta is complying with a cooperation agreement he reached in 2015 when he pleaded guilty to federal charges of illegally drugging horses within 24 hours of races. Motta was among several vets who pleaded guilty to such offenses in U.S. Middle District Court. He has not yet been sentenced. The counts to which Motta pleaded carry a maximum possible penalty of 2 years in prison. Jackson wrote in the Kravets and Conner affidavits that the ongoing investigation into horse drugging at Penn National has "implicated hundreds of horse owners and trainers." He described the two newly-charged trainers as "egregious offenders." The list of charges stemming from that federal/local probe at Penn National keeps growing. In recent years multiple trainers, veterinarians and a course timer have been prosecuted either federally or in county court on race rigging counts. HARRISBURG - All eyes turned to the cute German Shepherd touring the halls of the State Capitol on Monday in her wagon. Victoria greeted animal lovers with the wag of her tail and a gentle smile, but many people wouldn't know what she has been through. The 11-year-old dog spent the first 10 years of her life confined to a cage on a Lancaster County puppy mill. Victoria spent the first 10 years of her life in a cage on a Lancaster County puppy mill. Victoria is blind, paralyzed, and suffers from canine degenerative myelopathy, similar to Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS) in humans. She most likely passed the genetic disorder onto the 150 to 200 puppies she bred. Victoria is the poster dog for one of two bills that animal advocates hope to see the Legislature pass this week. Senate Bill 1154 Puppy Mill Retail Sales Bill would require pet stores to get dogs, cats, and rabbits from shelters and rescues instead of puppy mills. It would also require license numbers to be posted with all puppies for sale in hopes of making their history more transparent. "This will do two things. One, it will find homes for all those animals and, two, it will kill all those puppy mills," said Sen. Guy Reschenthaler (R-37), who's one of the bill's sponsors. Pennsylvania has nine puppy mills listed on the Humane Society of the United States' Horrible 100 List. Seven of the operations are listed as repeat offenders. Ninety-nine percent of dogs in pet stores come from puppy mills, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Animal advocates and lawmakers gather Monday for a press conference inside the Capitol. "Unfortunately, there's a lot of people involved in puppy mill activity in Pennsylvania, so we want to kill that market here in Pennsylvania to really put a dent in horrific trade in puppy mills," Reschenthaler said. "This bill would protect consumers as well as animals. A lot of times the animals are inbred or have genetic conditions they pass onto their offspring, and consumers often aren't aware of this. Reputable breeders aren't going to sell to pet stores," said Kristen Tullo, Pennsylvania director of the Humane Society of the United States. Advocates are also pushing for the passage of HB 1216 Motor Vehicle Extreme Protection Act. It would allow public safety officials to rescue cats and dogs from hot vehicles without being liable for damages. "In those hot summer days where a dog is in distress and has been left in its vehicle, police, fire [and] EMS [would] be able to break the window and do whatever they need to do to get that animal out to be taken to a vet and be properly treated," said Rep. Frank Farry (R-142), who's one of the bill's sponsors. Victoria the German Shepherd lobbied legislators Monday at the Capitol. HB 1216 has already passed in the House and is scheduled for a vote Monday, although some legislators believe it might not be heard. Advocates pushed for both of the bills to pass with the session scheduled to end on Wednesday. They held a press conference, had lunch with legislators and handed out informational materials in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday. "Governor Wolf signed Libre's Law last year. Advocates have become engaged and feel empowered in the state over the past two years," K.C. Wenger, with the Justice for Libre Animal Advocacy Action Group, said. "We are becoming more aware of the importance of advocacy in getting bills passed. We are the constituents, and our lawmakers want to hear from us." Gov.Tom Wolf has also called for passage of these two bills and says he will sign them into law if they're passed. Victoria the puppy mill survivor is not expected to live much longer and has a bucket list. You can learn more about her story by clicking here. A Middletown-area man and his toddler daughter were among the three people who died in the horrific 11-vehicle pileup on Interstate 83 outside Harrisburg Friday. Zachary Lybrand, 24, and Elliana Lybrand, 16 months, died after a trucker who police say had been drinking heavily drove into a line of vehicles which had slowed for construction. The other person who died as a result of the crash was Ethan VanBochoven, 22, of Pompton Plains, N.J. He was a student at Messiah College, where he was a lacrosse player and musician. Six others were injured. A memorial Facebook page contains an entry Zachary Lybrand wrote in May on the occasion of his daughter's birthday. "I can't believe that you are a whole year old already like man where did that year go. I love nothing more than to watch you play and laugh and watching you grow and learning new things every day but mostly just watching you be the happy baby you are," he wrote. A relative of Zachary Lybrand on Monday said his wife, Jessica, and his family were grieving and declined to talk about him. Zach Lybrand was employed in the collection department of Penn Credit Corp. in Harrisburg and had worked there three years, according to Richard Templin, the president. "He was a model employee and very respectful of other employees," Templin said. "I never saw him in a bad mood." Fatal crash on I-83 near Union Deposit Road: photos 5 Gallery: Fatal crash on I-83 near Union Deposit Road: photos According to his Facebook page, Lybrand had attended Carlisle Area High School and Harrisburg Area Community College. State police charged the driver of the truck, Jack Satterfield, III, of McComb, Miss. with homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence of alcohol. The crash happened at 8:30 p.m. on I-83 north near Union Deposit Road in Lower Paxton Township. State police said Satterfield told them he had consumed five double-shot margaritas and two to three beers at a restaurant in New Jersey early Friday. According to arrest documents, Satterfield, 29, told police he saw the slowed traffic at the last minute and was unable to slow down in time. He told police that, following the crash, he left his truck, crossed the highway, hopped a fence and ran to a hotel parking lot, where he watched the crash scene, the documents state. Police said he later voluntarily submitted to a breath test which showed him to be over the legal limit for alcohol. The issue of race and justice reared its head Monday as a Harrisburg man was sentenced to 9 to 22 years in prison for a fatal shooting in the city. It arose when defense attorney Justin McShane argued for "dispassionate justice" for 28-year-old Razawn "RaRa" Moore, who in August was convicted of third-degree murder for the November 2015 killing of 24-year-old Twame Evans. Chief Deputy District Attorney Johnny Baer had just stressed to Dauphin County Judge Scott A. Evans that Moore fled to Florida after the shooting outside a city bar. His client, who is black, had good reason to flee, McShane countered. "He went down to Florida because guys like him don't get plea deals," McShane said. "If you're from Allison Hill, if you're of color, you don't get a plea deal." Baer argued that Moore should have known he didn't have to run if he was justified in killing Twame Evans, who also was black. In 2012, the prosecutor noted, Moore was cleared of wrongdoing after his involvement in a fatal shootout in the city. Moore was shot four times during that incident. Judge Evans agreed that Moore, therefore, had reason to believe he would be cleared of Twame Evans' slaying if he was in the right. "The commonwealth weighed all the circumstances (in the 2012 case) and was fair to a man of color from the city," the judge said. Moore was offered an undisclosed plea deal right before jury selection began for his trial. That offer was removed from the table when Twame Evan's family refused to endorse it, however. After the hearing, Baer called McShane's claims of race-based justice inequality "disgusting, vile and, most important, factually inaccurate." When given a chance to speak, Moore presented a written statement to Judge Evans that wasn't read aloud. He didn't make any other comments. During his trial in August, Moore testified that he shot Twame Evans in self-defense when Evans attacked him following a dispute involving Twame Evans' sister, Shafai, in the 1500 block of Market Street. Baer had sought a first-degree murder conviction and life prison sentence. The prosecutor contended Twame Evans wasn't armed and that Moore wasn't justified in shooting him in the face. Twame Evans' sister, mother and aunt, voiced their anger and loss as they stood before Judge Evans during Monday's hearing. The loss of her son "has been terrible, traumatic," said Lavette Jackson, Evan's mom. "It's a big part of me gone." "I just want to know what gave you the right to take someone's life," she said, turning on Moore. "You don't get to make that choice." Lavinia Jackson, Twame Evans' aunt, told Judge Evans the defense inaccurately portrayed her nephew as a violent thug during the trial. McShane did cite Twame Evans' criminal record during the sentencing hearing. It included charges of domestic violence and witness intimidation, he said. "This is not a case where (Moore) laid in wait and killed Mother Teresa," McShane said. Shafai Evans complained that she, too, was unjustly portrayed by the defense as the instigator of the fatal encounter. "People say it was my fault, like I pulled the trigger, which I didn't," she said. "I just want you to take responsibility for what you did," she told Moore. "I just wish you had the balls to be a man." Baer didn't ask for a specific sentence, although he argued there isn't a scintilla of truth to Moore's claim that he was protecting himself when he pulled the trigger of his legally-owned, but illegally concealed pistol. "This whole notion that this was some good faith act of self-defense is just a fantasy," Baer said. Moore, he said, "turned what would have been a fist fight into a body on the street." The prosecutor also said someone supporting Moore tried to fabricate evidence. That, he said, came in the form of a bogus stream of Facebook messages which portrayed Shafai Evans as admitting to giving her brother a knife during the confrontation."Facebook determined those conversations didn't occur on her account," Baer said. McShane said there is no proof Moore or any of Moore's family members tried to plant faked evidence. The reality of losing a friend started to set in for many Messiah students Sunday night, as they said goodbye to their friend and classmate Ethan Van Bochoven. Van Bochoven one of three people killed in an 11-vehicle crash caused when a tractor trailer driver failed to stop for traffic Friday night, police said. An 18-month old girl and 24-year-old Zachary Lybrand were also killed, while six others were injured, police said. The driver of the tractor trailer was driving under the influence and charged with vehicular homicide, police say. Three friends and Von Bochoven's faculty adviser spoke with media before a student memorial service Sunday night, and expressed the denial and sorrow they felt upon being confronted by the news. "To try to come to terms with the fact that a friend would have to go through something like this and the fact that their family now has to deal with this situation is extremely difficult," friend Deanna Preziosi said. Preziosi described Von Bochoven as "somebody that was always super excited to see you," a genuine and happy person who was caring and positive with everyone. But their faith helped bring them understanding. "Honestly I think he would want the love and the light of Christ to be shown through this somehow," recent Messiah alum and friend Esteban Nieves said. "I don't know how that's going to happen yet, but just thinking about the way he lived and the kindness he had in his heart, that's how he would want us to handle the situation." Aaron Gray, a friend and downstairs neighbor to Von Bochoven, reminisced on hearing and seeing Von Bochoven hanging out with his friends, playing music in the building. "He was always there to give a smile to people," Gray said. Gray said he'll miss "probably just his big smile and his big hug," the most. "I think we can all say Ethan's upstairs, playing with us. We just can't hear him as much," Gray said. Tim Dixon, the co-chairman of Messiah's music department and Von Bochoven's advisor described Von Bochoven as having so much personality and so much life. From his larger stature to his big booming voice, Dixon reflected on the daily hellos he'd get from Von Bochoven in the halls. "He was- just a lot of verve to him," Dixon said. He called Van Bochoven talented and giving, saying how much he wanted to be involved with sharing his music around campus. This semester was supposed to be Von Bochoven's last semester at Messiah, before he went to participate in a music program in Nashville. His absence will be felt at what would have been his last orchestra concert next week, Dixon said, and they plan to leave a chair open for him. Moving forward, he hopes his orchestra and other music students will continue to play with Von Bochoven in their hearts. "I'm just gonna tell them to make music, make it big, make it beautiful, make it generous," Dixon said. HARRISBURG - To the solemn sound of bagpipes, a long line of police cars, fire trucks and motorcycles made their way up State Street. They were there this morning, greeted by a crowd of more than 100 mourners, to say goodbye to Mark Gaspich. Gaspich, 44, of Harrisburg, is the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections officer who died of natural causes in the line of duty Wednesday while working at the state prison at Camp Hill. His funeral was held this morning at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Harrisburg, his casket arriving aboard Linglestown Fire Company's Fire Engine 41 with a police escort. You can see the full procession here: Live: Funeral procession for Corrections Officer Mark Gaspich in Harrisburg. Posted by PennLive.com on Monday, October 15, 2018 In addition to working for the department of corrections, Gaspich was a volunteer firefighter with Linglestown, had previously served with the Dauphin County Sheriff's Office, was an EMT and was a community service officer with the Lower Paxton Police Department. He also responded to New York City in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as a trained critical incident stress debriefer. Update One woman was killed in a Sunday-night bus crash in Lackawanna County. The crash occurred around 9 p.m. on Interstate 380 in Covington Township near the Daleville Exit, WNEP reports. According to reports, the bus was filled with Cornell University students going from Ithaca to New York City, and the woman who was killed may have been a student. Police are investigating how the bus went off the southbound lanes and wound up leaning on its side off of the highway. About a dozen people were injured in the crash that closed the highway for several hours, according to reports. PennLive's new in-house video production studio has won an Emmy for its work in covering the state's opioid epidemic. Penn Studios director Salim Michel Makhlouf accepted the honors during Saturday's Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy Awards in Philadelphia. It is the first Emmy for PennLive/The Patriot-News and a first for the studio, which launched last fall. The work was part of an ongoing special newsroom project focusing on Pennsylvania's skyrocketing opioid overdose rate and potential solutions to the public health crisis. It included video editorials, interviews with survivors and their families across the state, and a harrowing 911 recording of first-responders handling an emergency call. "I am proud of the collaboration between Penn Studios and the newsroom, helping bring impact to the important issues journalists are reporting." Makhlouf said. "It is an honor to have accepted this award as it recognizes the fruit of that collaboration and was possible because of the hard work of all the amazing photographers and reporters involved." PA Media Group has received several honors this year for the newsroom's opioid coverage, including being named Gaudenzia's 2018 community champion. Video has been an integral part of the effort. "The powerful work of Penn Studios has done a lot to help elevate the public's awareness of this devastating issue," Cate Barron, PA Media Group's vice president of content, said. "It's gratifying to be recognized for the strides we've made in adding a strong video component to our journalism." PennLive reporter Ivey DeJesus also received an Emmy nomination in the investigative reporting category for videos accompanying her investigation into evangelism at the Milton Hershey School. Makhlouf was the producer on both nominations. The Emmys are presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' local Mid-Atlantic chapter. The chapter represents over 700 members in the Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland area. Traditionally an awards ceremony for television, PennLive is one of the few non-television stations to be recognized. Penn Studios, a part of PA Media Group, produces videos for PennLive as well as for commercial clients of the media company. State College police are looking for a teen girl they say ran away from school on Friday. Janet Evans, 17, was last seen at State College High School on Oct. 12, but was not there for her ride home after school. Evan's contacted her grandmother and sister on Oct. 14 and said she was still in Pennsylvania. Police believe she is either in Altoona or Lockhaven. Evans is described as being 5 foot 2 inches, 120 pounds, brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a pink hoodie, black leggings and a white backpack. Anyone with information on Evans is asked to contact the State College Police Department at (814) 234-7150, by email or submit an anonymous tip through our website. The state Senate's most powerful man on Monday signaled little change to the fate of a bill demanded by victims of child sex abuse. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati gave little indication that a bill providing a retroactive window for adult victims was any closer to passage. A Jefferson County Republican, Scarnati spoke after emerging from the Senate chamber on what is likely to be one of the last sessions of the legislative term. With the voices of scores of victims of child sex abuse camped out along the hallway of the Senate Caucus filling the Capitol, Scarnati reiterated that Senate Bill 261 is marred by lingering problems. The bill would provide a period for adult victims to file lawsuits, even if they are beyond the statutes of limitation. Scarnati said the bill as amended creates two tiers of victims, requiring victims of sexual abuse in public schools and other public institutions to prove gross negligence. "That isn't justice," Scarnati said. "We need to look at how we are going to fix this bill...I think lot of people would be disappointed if that bill went to the governor." Scarnati crafted the bill last year long before the release of the grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, which found widespread clergy sex abuse of minors across Catholic churches statewide. With a few exceptions, none of the cases of abuse can be prosecuted due to expired statute of limitations. Under current state law, victims must pursue criminal cases by the age of 50 and file civil suits by the age of 30. The bill would eliminate criminal statute of limitations on child sex crimes going forward. The House by an overwhelming vote last month amended the bill to include a retroactive window to allow such victims an opportunity to sue predators in civil court. With just days remaining in the legislative calendar, Scarnati and the GOP majority in that chamber largely hold the fate of the bill in their hands. Scarnati noted that he is working with Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Rep. Mark Rozzi (D-Berks) and "those who have an interest" in the issue to come to a compromise. Scarnati supports the establishment of a victims compensation fund and the creation of a sexual predator registry that would mirror the Megan's Law registry for certain sex crime convicts. Scarnati on Monday signaled again that the the bill - and its lack of two recommendations outlined by the grand jury report - remains in peril. He said he wants to push through a bill that has all four recommendations. "I have all the same goals in mind and we are going to work through it these next couple of days," Scarnati said. "But I can't negotiate by myself. I need people to negotiate with me." He said he has reached out to Shapiro and Rozzi. "I'm not hiding," Scarnati said. "I'm working on it." SB 261 lacks provisions that would strengthen mandatory reporting requirements and outlaw nondisclosure agreements that bar victims from talking to law enforcement. The grand jury report, which was released in August, noted four concrete recommendations aimed at ensuring the scale of abuse uncovered by investigators never happened again: The elimination of criminal statutes for child sex abuse Creation of a two-year window for civil suits The enactment of new laws that specify that confidentiality agreements do not cover conversations with law enforcement The clarification of penalties for continuing failure to report child sex abuse Rozzi argues that while all the recommendations outlined by the grand jury are important, the window remains the most important to past victims of childhood sexual abuse. Last week, Rozzi said he would be willing to compromise and accept Scarnati's main proposal - to establish a victims compensation fund - and even allow the window to kick in after the fund, but that the window remains non-negotiable. On Monday, victims, survivors and their advocates yet again staged emotional appeals along Senate hallways. They read aloud parts of the grand jury report and camped outside the doors of Senate members and that of the caucus. "It does come down to voting their conscience," said Mike McDonnell, who was abused by two priests when he was between the ages of 11 and 12. "I don't think there is a senator in his or her right mind that could vote against it. This is priority. It's justice and it restores lives and exposes predators and institutions covering them up." Shaun Dougherty, a victim who has emerged a vocal spokesman for the community of survivors, in a somber note reflected that he came out as a victim two years ago. Since then, he has fought to have a retroactive window passed in the Legislature. "The speeches are over. The articles are written. The house has voted," he said. "Now we are here to just take up space and let the Senate know that the tax paying citizens of Pennsylvania expect to see this Senate do its job and enact the recommendations." Dougherty added that if the Senate failed to enact the retroactive window, "we will work our level best to show some of them the door in November." Sen. Rich Alloway, R-Franklin County, bristled at the notion that lawmakers were been dissuaded from being allowed to "vote their conscious". "It's an unfair question," he said. "Everyone over here cares very deeply about this issue. We are trying to find a resolution that works for everybody and believe it or not there are lot of disagreements from a lot of different people." Shapiro, who spent a large part of the day talking with the victims camped along the hallways of the Capitol, said he would be willing to provide guidance to produce a bill that featured all four recommendations. "I am happy to work with Senator Scarnati and Senator (Jake) Corman," Shapiro said. Gov. Tom Wolf has pledged his support for a bill that contains all four recommendations. Shapiro said the actions of the victims on Monday continued to make an impact. "They are having an awesome effect on this discussion," he said. "I have confidence that at the end of the day (lawmakers) will do the right thing. "I don't know how you could look at survivors in the eye and vote against them." If the Senate fails to reach a resolution with SB261, the bill will have to be reintroduced next year to start another legislative process. The Pennsylvania Department of Education is launching an audit of the Harrisburg School District to examine the district's accounting practices and internal controls. The department on Friday sent out letters to school board members letting them know about the audit. A spokeswoman confirmed the audit Monday to PennLive. The department is currently seeking a firm to carry out the audit so the timing of when the audit will start is unknown. The audit comes after a series of scandals and mistakes by the district, including a transportation supervisor accused of embezzling $180,000, the over-hiring of 37 teachers for unbudgeted positions and the continuation of health care coverage for 54 employees who had resigned from the district in recent years. The audit also comes as school board members are negotiating the terms of a new three-year contract with Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney. The school board will determine whether to give Knight-Burney a raise beyond her current annual salary of about $185,000. She also gets a $500 per month car allowance and reportedly was set to get a $5,000 bonus this year under the terms of her existing contract. She has received the top bonus available ($5,000) for four out of the five previous years. In the 2015/16 school year she received a $2,500 bonus. The audit coincides with the naming of a new chief recovery officer to oversee the district. The state department recently named a retired superintendent, Janet Samuels, as the new CRO succeeding Audrey Utley, also a retired superintendent who stepped down at the end of September. Among the tasks covered in the audit will be: examining the district's accounting practices, budget projections and internal controls and reviewing any corrective actions the district has taken in response to prior audits. A 2015 audit by the Auditor General revealed that uncertified employees were working as health room aides and that poor internal controls lead to the loss of $1.6 million from cafeteria operations. The district also incorrectly reported student attendance data prior to 2015. As a result, auditors could not verify whether the district received appropriate state subsidies. State Rep. Mike O'Brien is being mourned as a passionate advocate for the city of Philadelphia. State Rep. Mike O'Brien, a Philadelphia Democrat, died Monday morning. He was nearing the end of his sixth term in the House. (Courtesy: Pa. House Democratic office) O'Brien, 64, died Monday morning in Philadelphia, his office said. The Philadelphia Democrat was nearing the end of his sixth term in the state House. "Mike was a dear friend to many of us and he was a passionate and vocal advocate for the people and the city he represented," House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody said in a statement. O'Brien initially planned to seek a seventh term in the House but withdrew from the campaign due to his long struggles with a chronic illness, Dermody's office said. O'Brien planned to deliver his farewell address in the state House this week. "We are going to miss his warmth, his wit and his wisdom," said Dermody of Allegheny County. House Majority Leader Dave Reed also used the word "passionate" in paying tribute to O'Brien. "Pennsylvania and Philadelphia lost a passionate leader today with the passing of State Representative Mike O'Brien," said Reed, an Indiana County Republican. "He was an ardent advocate for Philadelphia, and he never left any of us ANY question of where he stood on things." Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the commonwealth flag to fly at half staff at the Capitol Complex and on all public buildings and grounds to honor O'Brien's passing. The governor said on Twitter that O'Brien's "caliber of character was unmatched." "Mike cared deeply for his community and demonstrated his commitment each day he went to work," Wolf said on Twitter. "He always poured his heart and energy into making Philadelphia and PA better places." Rep. OBriens caliber of character was unmatched. Mike cared deeply for his community and demonstrated his commitment each day he went to work. He always poured his heart and energy into making Philadelphia and PA better places. His service will be remembered and deeply missed. https://t.co/hvhMK4RhqU Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) October 15, 2018 House Speaker Mike Turzai called O'Brien a "strong voice for the citizens of Philadelphia." They also shared a similar passion for Notre Dame, Turzai said. "Despite facing health issues, Rep. O'Brien never stopped working hard for his constituents and the people of Pennsylvania," Turzai said in a statement. O'Brien is survived by his wife, Rita, and two children, Bridget and Michael. Funeral arrangements are incomplete, according to Dermody's office. MOSCOW, Pa. (AP) -- A California woman has been identified as the victim of a bus crash in Pennsylvania. State police say 33-year-old Rebecca Blanco of Vacaville was killed when the private charter bus she was riding on veered off Interstate 380 near Scranton and crashed into trees about 9 p.m. Sunday. State police say multiple passengers were injured and taken to hospitals. One passenger was airlifted. According to reports, the bus was filled with Cornell University students going from Ithaca to New York City. Blanco was pronounced dead at the scene. Cornell University said in a statement Monday that she received her MBA in 2017. The name of the bus company wasn't immediately released. The crash remains under investigation. *This story has been updated to reflect Senate committee action and discussion. The state House of Representatives has passed legislation that helps Pennsylvania's capital city pay its bills and avoid high property tax hikes as it exits Act 47, a state program for financially distressed municipalities. By a vote of 185-5 with no debate on Monday, the chamber approved a bill that grants Harrisburg enhanced taxing authority for the next five years. Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Cumberland County, the bill's sponsor, said this measure allows the city of Harrisburg to get out of distressed status. "The city is the heart of this region. A strong heart is critical to a strong regional body," Rothman said. "This bill is the beginning of the next revitalization of Harrisburg." If it becomes law, it would allow the city to continue charging residents a 2 percent earned income tax and retain its tripled local services tax, which amounts to a $156, on people who work in the city. Without the added taxing authority which brings in $12 million annually to the city's coffers, the earned income tax rate would drop back to 1 percent and the local services tax would decline to $52. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration in the final days of this legislative session, which is expected to wrap up its business this week. The Senate Local Government Committee considered the bill just hours after it passed the House and approved it by a 10-2 vote. The bill drew negative votes from Sens. John Eichelberger, R-Blair County, and Judy Schwank, D-Berks County. The bipartisan-backed compromise legislation bars the city from levying a commuter tax and establishes a new "watchdog" agency, or Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, to provide oversight over the city's finances over the next five years. In opposing the bill, Eichelberger voiced concern about it setting a "dangerous" precedent that other communities in Act 47 might follow. Schwank, who represents Reading regarded as the poorest city of its size in the nation, said it's a fairness issue and would like to see all of the state's third-class cities be given the same latitude as this gives to Harrisburg. Other senators had reservations as well, preferring to wait until work on the latest iteration of Act 47 is completed but said the inclusion of an oversight body gave them enough comfort to support the bill. Harrisburg officials had wanted to be able to keep its enhanced taxing authority for 20 years or longer to address its longstanding structural budget deficit. But when that legislation went nowhere drew no support from House Republican leaders, lawmakers advocating the change went to work on plan that drew leadership's favor. Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin County, offered the amendment to Rothman's bill, which has his support, to limit the higher taxing authority to a shorter time period. She said that will allow the city to make its major bond payments in the next five years and the city could refinance other debt once it is out of Act 47 that could save money. The legislation as amended, would allow the city enough time to complete a home rule charter, Kim said, which would allow the city to eventually keep the 2-percent EIT in perpetuity. But the city would have to revert to a $52 annual local services tax, starting in 2024. At a September hearing about a legislative hand-up for Harrisburg, the city's Mayor Eric Papenfuse said "The [local services tax] today simply allows the city's revenues to equal its necessary expenditures, without resorting to risky get-rich schemes, illegal fund transfers or irresponsible accounting tricks. It is a far better and less painful solution for the Capital region that massive, crippling property tax increases which would have diminishing returns." Remember Pennsylvania's "Bucket Bear," with its head stuck in what appeared to be a large plastic bucket back in 2014? Maryland just saw its own version, dubbed "Buckethead," freed from its confinement on Saturday. Here's his story: After a 3-day pursuit, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service, with assistance from the Maryland Natural Resources Police, tranquilized the 100-pound, male, black bear cub to remove a plastic jar that was stuck around its head. The rescued cub was freed near the Wisp Resort in McHenry, Maryland, during the annual Autumn Glory Festival. "The crowd was very happy to see the cub safely handled and reunited with the sow and another cub," Wildlife and Heritage Service Director Paul Peditto said. "Our response staff did an outstanding job dealing with this very public situation, and handled it in a most professional and responsible manner." After the plastic prison was removed, the healthy cub returned to the woods to reunite with its mother. Pennsylvania's "Bucket Bear" was freed from his "bucket" in 2014. And, here's the story of Pennsylvania's "Bucket Bear" from 2014: At about 1 p.m. Monday, September 1, 2014, just off Route 368, an ad hoc group of volunteers managed to cut through and remove what appeared to be a large plastic bucket from the young black bear's head. The bear immediately bolted out from under Shawn Balcita, who was laying atop the animal to pin it to the ground, "jumped up and ran right away," said Dean Hornberger, of Sligo, another of the rescue volunteers. According to Krissy Elder, a Seneca, Pa., woman who helped to draw attention to the bear's plight through a "Save the Bucket Bear" Facebook page, the bear was observed with the bucket on its head repeatedly over the preceding month, although other reports say it was first seen in that condition as early as July 4, 2014. "I watched the bear bounce its head off the fence," noted Elder, who volunteers as an animal rescue worker. "It just couldn't see. That poor bear couldn't see where it was walking." She and some friends created the Facebook page and posted a photo of the bear, which attracted the attention of Hornberger, who planned a rescue attempt with his girlfriend, Samantha Eigenbrod. "I said right away, 'We're going to have to go out there tomorrow morning and see if we can help this thing.'" Hornberger and Eigenbrod, who also volunteer in animal rescue programs, spent about 2 hours tramping through the woods and wetlands in the area where Elder took her photo of the bear, but failed to find the animal and were returning to the truck when the bear appeared near Route 368. With Eigenbrod filming the event on her cell phone, Hornberger attempted to pull off the offending item, which turned out to be a "maxi," one of the black air bags that provide cushioning between a tractor and its trailer. The metal rim of the maxi was around the bear's neck and prevented Hornberger from just tugging it free. By that time, Balcita, Eric Kribbel and Kaitlyn Lakin had parked their vehicles and joined the effort, which became a 20-minute chase through a creek and into "the biggest mud hole in the area," according to Hornberger. The crew, including Eigenbrod, eventually tackled the bear in that wetland area. "We all sort of dog-piled on top of the bear to get it down," recalled Hornberger. Tugging by several of the group would not dislodge the maxi. Kribbel attempted to cut through the metal ring with his Leatherman utility tool, but that also failed, sending Hornberger running back to the toolbox in his truck. He returned with a hacksaw that 20 minutes later had enabled the rescuers to cut through the metal ring and enough of the plastic of the maxi to pry it open wide enough to pull it from the bear's head. Hornberger said Balcita received a few minor scratches from the bear's claws, but otherwise the entire rescue party suffered nothing more than a heavy dousing in the mud of the wetland area. He estimated the bear's weight at 180-200, noting that "he was way behind what he should be for his weight" at this time of year, when bears normally pack on stores of fat for the coming winter hibernation. It also appeared "physically exhausted" after the chase into the wetland. A small opening in the maxi had allowed the bear to get some food and water during its confinement, according to Hornberger. After emerging from the wetland, he said, "I shook those guys' hands a half-dozen times" for their help. "I thought I would be able to just pull it off," but that was no ordinary "bucket" on the head of the "Bucket Bear" and it required group action to be removed. More about bears in Pennsylvania: Guest commentary: How to be an advocate for your public library Must-Read Travel Guides EAST ASIA SOUTHEAST ASIA Featured Articles Contact Copyright Disclosure If you wish to contact me for questions, advertising, collaboration inquiries, comments, suggestions, reviews or just about anything, please send an email to. I will try my best to reply quickly! Unless, of course, I'm on a trip! :D All rights reserved. All photos and content in this blog are owned by(unless otherwise stated). Parts of the articles may be excerpted (a link to this site should be provided), but not reproduced as a whole. Photos may not be used without permission. Thank you very much!Unless otherwise stated, I personally write my blog posts and it expresses my own thoughts and opinions. I pay for all the expenses of my trips (unless otherwise stated). I welcome collaborations, advertorials and reviews as long as they are beneficial to my readers. All reviews on collaborations contain my own views and opinion and were not influenced by anyone. For inquiries, you may contact me here . Thank you very much! 200 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Bernie Woodall (Reuters) Four men were shot and killed following a fight between two families at a birthday party for a 1-year-old in Texas, state officials said. A 37-year-old man is suspected of shooting five men with a handgun early Saturday evening in the backyard of a home in the small town of Taft, north of Corpus Christi, said Sgt. Nathan Brandley of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Police were searching on Sunday for the suspected gunman, Ronnie Rodriguez Sr., and have also arrested his son, Ronnie Rodriguez Jr., 20, in connection with the shooting, Brandley said. It was not clear whether any children were in the backyard at the time, Brandley said, but preliminary information was that most of them were inside the home. He did not say how many children attended the party. The fifth man who was shot was taken by helicopter to a Corpus Christi hospital where he was listed on Sunday in critical but stable condition, Brandley said. Brandley gave no motive for the shootings other than to say there was an altercation between members of two families. The Texas Rangers, a unit of the Texas Department of Public Safety, was leading the investigation. Taft is 12 miles north of Corpus Christi, Texas. On June 30 in Idaho, nine people were wounded at a 3-year-olds birthday party by a man who went on a stabbing spree. Media reported that the child later died. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Editing by Rosalba OBrien and Andrea Ricci) 624 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Jarrett Renshaw NEW YORK (Reuters) JP Morgan & Chase Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Ford Motor Co Chairman Bill Ford canceled plans to attend a Saudi investor conference, the companies said on Sunday, the latest such high-profile announcements after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The cancellations could add pressure on other U.S. firms like Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Mastercard Inc and Bank of America Corp to reconsider their plans to attend the investor event. Neither JP Morgan nor Ford would elaborate on the reasons for the decision not to attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh later this month, and did not comment on whether concerns about the disappearance of Khashoggi were a factor. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadhs policies, disappeared on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that. The investment summit in Riyadh typically attracts executives from some of the worlds largest companies and media organizations. But it has rapidly become a vehicle for those firms to express their concerns over Khashoggis disappearance. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened severe punishment if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, although he said Washington would be punishing itself if it halted military sales to Riyadh. Major news organizations such as CNN, the Financial Times, the New York Times, CNBC and Bloomberg have pulled out of the conference. The Fox Business Network, the lone Western news outlet still heading to the conference, told Reuters on Sunday it was reviewing that decision. Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi, Viacom Inc CEO Bob Bakish and billionaire Steve Case, one of the founders of AOL, said they were no longer going . Goldman Sachs, Mastercard and Bank of America did not respond to requests on Sunday on whether they were still attending the event. Citigroup Inc and Credit Suisse Group AG declined to comment on Sunday on their plans. Bill Winters, CEO of Asia, Africa and Middle East-focused bank Standard Chartered Plc was still planning to go, the company said on Sunday. The absence of media and technology executives is likely to case a shadow over the three-day event, dubbed Davos in the Desert. It has become the biggest show for investors to promote Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans reform vision. Whilst it is disappointing that some speakers and partners have pulled out, we are looking forward to welcoming thousands of speakers, moderators and guests from all over the world to Riyadh, a Future Investment Initiative representative said last week. (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in New York; Additional reporting by Joseph White in Detroit and David Henry in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney) 425 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Trump tantrumed that he is not a baby when he was challenged on his claim that he loves brutal North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Video: Trump crumbles when confronted with his love for Kim Jong-Un. pic.twitter.com/HEDFBfzDRM Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) October 15, 2018 Trump melted down into a tantrum: Stahl: I want to read you his resume, okay? He presides over a cruel kingdom of repression, gulags, starvation, reports that he had his half-brother assassinated, slave labor, public executions. This is a guy you love? Trump: Sure. I know all these things. I mean Im not a baby. I know these things. Stahl: I know, but why do you love that guy? Trump: Look, look. I I I like I get along with him, okay? Stahl: But you love him. Trump: Okay. Thats just a figure of speech. Stahl: Just like no, its like an embrace. Trump: It well, let it be an embrace. Let it be whatever it is to get the job done. Stahl: Yeah, but hes a bad guy. Trump: Look. Let it be whatever it is. I get along with him really well. I have a good energy with him. I have a good chemistry with him. Look at the horrible threats that were made. No more threats. No more threats. Trump hates being called a baby Trump cant stand being called a baby, but he immediately began tantruming like a small child when he was hit between the eyes with the facts about his best friend, Kim Jong-un. Remember, Trump isnt a baby. He just doesnt care about the evil and brutality of the North Korean regime. Human rights have no place in the Trump administration and anyone who challenges this president best be prepared for a poor little rich boy fit of epic proportions. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook. Georgia Senator David Perdue has created a new controversy in Georgia politics after he attempted to avoid a college students question by ripping the students cellphone out of his hand in the midst of a video recording. The incident was reported in The Huffington Post where an amateur cellphone video of the incident was also posted. The conservative Republican senator was at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta on Saturday campaigning for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp. While walking on campus he was approached by a member of the schools Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter. The student asked the senator about tens of thousands of voter registrations that Kemp is refusing to process based on technicalities. Kemp is the current Georgia Secretary of State and his actions have been considered racist and highly inappropriate. In the video the Georgia Tech student is heard asking Perdue a question, but hes cut off before being allowed to finish. How can you endorse a candidate the student said, at which time Perdue grabbed the cellphone from his hand and refused to answer his question. You stole my property, you stole my property, he says. Perdue responds, You wanted a picture? Give me my phone back, senator, the student says. Perdue immediately gave the phone back and kept walking. In a statement to the Washington Post Perdue spokeswoman Casey Black said, The senator clearly thought he was being asked to take a picture, and he went to take a selfie as he often does. When he realized they didnt actually want to take a picture, he gave the phone back. However, the Young Democratic Socialists of America at Georgia Tech were not so easily mollified. They issued their own statement, lashing out at the Georgia senator. Senator Perdue will quickly endorse racists for the governorship, but ask him why and hell steal your phone, the group said in a statement posted on Facebook. Hes a coward whos afraid to answer questions from students, citizens, and constituents. Kemp and Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams who is African American are locked in a close battle for the states governorship. Last week Abrams accused Kemp of refusing to certify 53,000 voter registration applications to suppress the vote for political gain and silence the voices of thousands of eligible voters the majority of them people of color. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has filed a lawsuit against Kemp seeking to overturn Kemps position on the uncertified applications. 1.7k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard A company owned by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthys family was given over $7 million in federal contracts based on bogus claims of Native American ancestry, according to a Los Angeles Times report published on Sunday. According to the Times, the Small Business Administration accepted a claim from McCarthys brother in law that he is a Cherokee Indian, allowing the company to receive the minority contracts. William Wages, the brother of McCarthys wife, claims he is one-eighth Cherokee, but that claim is questionable. The Times and others have done an examination of government and tribal records and found no support for the claim of Native American heritage. One of the experts disputing the claim from McCarthys brother in law is a highly regarded Cherokee genealogist. The Times reported that McCarthys in-laws were awarded the contracts through a federal program that is intended to help minorities. Kevin McCarthys family is not composed of struggling minorities, and needs no help. A company called Vortex Construction, which is partially owned by Wages, was awarded $7.6 million in federal contracts beginning in the year 2000, according to the Times. The lucrative contracts were for construction projects at two Naval stations: the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the Naval Air Station Lemoore. The Vortex Construction Company is co-owned by McCarthys mother-in-law. McCarthys wife, Judy, was a partner at the company during the 1990s. In addition, McCarthys father-in-law and sister-in-law are employed there. None of these people could be properly classified as minorities in need of help. When the Small Business Administration accepted a claim from Wages that he is a Cherokee Indian it eliminated other minority companies from receiving the millions of dollars that they may have been entitled to receive. Thus McCarthys familys fraudulent misrepresentation of their ancestry caused real financial harm to others, who were the intended beneficiaries of the government program. William Wages is a member of, the Northern Cherokee Nation, which is not recognized as a legitimate tribe by California or by the federal government. It is considered fraudulent by leaders of recognized tribes, who say the organization is used by people who put forth bogus claims of Native American ancestry in order to improperly receive government benefits and access to special programs. McCarthy has been majority leader of the House since 2014. He released a written statement saying that he didnt help Wages qualify for the SBA program or earn federal contracts. Im not aware of the programs qualification process but have no reason to doubt that Bill and the SBA executed the process fairly and in accordance to program standards, McCarthy said in his statement. McCarthy is a very ambitious politician and this new revelation wont help his career. He has often said he wants to replace Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. As of right now it does not look like Kevin McCarthy is destined for greater things. Because of this latest GOP scandal, and because of the Blue Wave, he will be lucky to hold onto the position that he currently has. Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway tried to claim that Senator Elizabeth Warrens DNA test, suggesting that she does indeed have Native American ancestry, didnt interest her Monday morning. Conway said on Monday she finds it odd that the Democrats are talking about 2020 and said shes not interested in the test results for Elizabeth Warren, a possible contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. Conway said this even though the results show strong evidence of Native American ancestry. Conway said shes not interested because her boss, the President of the United States, is talking about 2018. Conway referred to the test she said she isnt interested in and hasnt seen as junk science, saying everyone just picks what they like from junk science or sound science depending on the conclusion (a projection if ever there were one, from the woman defending the man who denies climate change). Trump has often mocked Warren on the campaign trail, calling her Pocahontas. Conway is right about one thing, her boss is very busy campaigning, even during Hurricane Michael, but he is not just campaigning for 2018. He has been holding his own rallies and fundraisers for 2020, which he started in February of 2017. He took office on January 20, 2017. So basically Trump, who doesnt like to work and whose Presidential schedule is so bare it starts at 11:30 when a briefing is read to him and ends after he lunches with the VP, started campaigning right after he took office. This is pretty much all he does, when he is not fighting on Twitter and starting trade wars. Additionally, trying to blame Warren for taking the very DNA test Trump demanded she take is the height of gaslighting. It is hardly Warrens fault that she had to chase down yet another Trump conspiracy theory. The original birther likes to toss bombs out and then when people provide their birth certificate or DNA, he pretends it doesnt interest him. He is the one who brings it up constantly. Trump in fact just escalated his attacks on Warren in early July of this year and according to NBC News, Trump revived his nickname for her the fake Pocahontas and told the crowd at a Montana campaign rally that should the two find themselves on a debate stage, he would challenge her to submit to genetic testing to prove that she has Native American ancestors. Trump cared so much that he offered to pay 1 million dollars to Warrens charity of choice if she provided a DNA test that proved her ancestry. At a rally on July 5, I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity, if you take the test and it shows youre an Indian. Trump denied this morning that he promised that money and he claims Who cares in response to Warrens DNA test. Who cares? Who cares? Trump responded to reporters Monday morning, and then denied that he had ever promised to pay any money. Q: Will you pay $1 million to charity of Sen Warrens choice? A: I didnt say that. I didntYou better read it again. Who cares? No one cared until Trump used it as his one and only attack line over and over again on Elizabeth Warren a stupid, ignorant and personal attack befitting the man who cant debate actual issues. So, Trump was all about this DNA until it was provided and proved him wrong. Now hes not interested. Just like he was with Obamas birth certificate, which he and his wife Melania still deny is the actual and proper birth certificate. Donald Trump needs to pay that 1 million dollars he offered to pay to charity of Warrens choice If he can scrounge up the money. Follow Sarah on Facebook and Twitter. 531 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has released a DNA test that provides strong evidence she has Native American ancestry. The story was first reported by The Boston Globe. After receiving the results of the test Senator Warren tweeted: My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrumps attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrumps attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. pic.twitter.com/r3SNzP22f8 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) October 15, 2018 The tests show that the senator had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations. Warrens unprecedented move was made in her effort to defuse questions about her claimed Native American ancestry that have persisted since she entered public life years ago. Her claims to Native American blood have been mocked by President Trump and other Republicans. This is why she got the test done and provided the test results to the media on Sunday. According to the senators office she is planning a more publicized announcement and rollout this week. Her goal is to receive more publicity and attention for the test results which prove her claims to Native American identity are valid. Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor and expert in the field performed the analysis of Warrens DNA. Bustamante won a 2010 MacArthur fellowship for his work on tracking population migration via DNA analysis. He concluded that the vast majority of Warrens ancestry is European, but he added that the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor. Senator Warren has often said that her great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, was partially Native American. That would make Warren 1/32nd Native American. President Trump has repeatedly mocked Warren a potential 2020 presidential candidate as Pocahontas. In addition, he offered $1 million to a charity of her choice if she took a DNA test that proved her claims, which she has now done. Trump offered $1 million to the charity of Warrens choice if she took a DNA test. Now she has. Trump offered $1 million to the charity of Warren's choice if she took a DNA test. Now she has https://t.co/4EhXStbRpR Liz Goodwin (@lizcgoodwin) October 15, 2018 It remains to be seen whether Trump will follow through on his promise. 307 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Recently Republicans and the mainstream media have been promoting the narrative that Republicans are tightening the race for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. But a new Washington Post/ABC News poll contradicts this narrative, showing Democrats with a very strong 11 percentage point lead in the generic congressional ballot. And independent women voters favor Democrats by an astounding 33 percentage points. Poll: Dems up double digits on generic congressional ballot https://t.co/voXqzCKKZG pic.twitter.com/TfeDcUF8tJ The Hill (@thehill) October 15, 2018 The generic ballot (along with the presidential approval rate) is one of the primary statistics used by political forecasters who are trying to predict in advance the results of Novembers midterm elections. So this new poll is bound to get the attention of the entire political world as GOP members of the House realize that their days of being in charge are numbered. The new poll asked the following question: If the election for the U.S. House of Representatives were being held today, would you vote for (the Democratic candidate) or (the Republican candidate) in your congressional district? Would you lean toward the (Democratic candidate) or toward the (Republican candidate)? The poll results show that 53% of registered voters said they would choose a Democrat, while 42% said they would choose a Republican. Self-identified Democrats and Republicans who were part of the survey pretty much went with their own parties. Ninety-five percent of Democrats would choose their partys candidate, compared to 93 percent of Republicans who would select the GOP candidate on the ballot. The real news is which party is favored by the so-called independent voters who do not identify with either major party. And this poll shows that the independents heavily favor Democratic candidates, which is really bad news for the Republicans chances to retain control of the House. Fully 52% of independent voters said they will vote for a Democrat, while just 38% said they will vote for a Republican on November 6th. Another significant difference uncovered in the new poll is the gender gap showing large differences between independent men and women. Independent men voters slightly favor Republican candidates by a margin of just three percentage points (46% to 43%). On the other hand independent women voters favor Democratic candidates by a 33 percent margin (62% to 29%). Historically, this may be one of the largest independent voter gender gaps ever seen in American politics. If Democrats do in fact take back control of the House in 2018 it will clearly be the result of women voters. Donald Trump and the Republican Party have gone out of their way to alienate women voters, and they will now be bearing the fruit of their bad seeds. The Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation fight certainly did not help the GOP close the gender gap, and if you listen to Donald Trump you get the feeling that he doesnt even care. He seems to thrive on conflict and discontent, and he thinks that the more sexist he is, the more his base of core supporters will support him. Reports have recently shown that millions of women have left the Republican Party because of Donald Trump, possibly forever. On November 6th women voters will finally have their chance to send a message telling Donald Trump exactly what they think of him. And in doing that, they will be helping the Democratic Party take back control of at least one branch of Congress. 858 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Tulay Karadeniz and Roberta Rampton ANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday rogue killers may have been behind the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Saudi Arabias King Salman ordered an internal investigation into the case. Trump said he had spoken with King Salman about Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi policies, and that he was sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately to meet the king and travel to other places as needed. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago to get marriage documents. Turkish officials have said authorities believe he was murdered there and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied killing Khashoggi and denounced such assertions as lies, saying he left the building shortly after entering. The king firmly denied any knowledge of it, Trump told reporters. He didnt really know, maybe I dont want to get into his mind but it sounded to me maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows? A Turkish official and a security source told Reuters on Monday that the authorities have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, without providing further details. [L8N1WV4NO] The official said evidence was being shared with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States. The case has provoked an international outcry, with Trump threatening severe punishment if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate and European allies urging a credible investigation and accountability for those responsible. WESTERN PRESSURE A joint Turkish-Saudi team was set to search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was last seen on Oct. 2. A Turkish diplomatic source said investigators would inspect the consulate on Monday afternoon, after delays last week when Turkey accepted a Saudi proposal to work together to find out what happened to Khashoggi. It has been 13 days since the event, so surely proving some of the evidence might be difficult, but we believe we will obtain evidence, the Turkish official said. A Saudi official, not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters that the king had ordered an internal investigation based on information from the joint team in Istanbul. Asked when the public prosecutor could make an announcement, the official said: He was instructed to work quickly. Britain expects Riyadh to provide a complete and detailed response to questions over Khashoggis disappearance, Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman said on Monday. Saudi Arabia has responded to Western statements by saying it would retaliate against any pressure or economic sanctions with greater action, and Arab allies rallied to support it, setting up a potential showdown between the worlds top oil exporter and its main Western allies. King Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Sunday evening and stressed the importance of the two countries creating a joint group as part of the probe. Broadcaster CNN Turk reported on Monday that the Saudi team had arrived at Istanbul police headquarters. ECONOMIC IMPACT The Saudi riyal fell to its lowest in two years and its international bond prices slipped over fears that foreign investment inflows could shrink amid international pressure. The Saudi stock market had tumbled 7.2 percent over the previous two trading days but rebounded 2 percent on Monday. Foreign capital is key to Saudi plans for economic diversification and job creation. But concern over the disappearance has seen media organizations and a growing number of attendees pull out of a Davos in the Desert investment conference set for Oct. 23-25, which has become the biggest show for investors to promote Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans reform vision. On Monday, a source familiar with the matter said Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink were pulling out of the summit. Both companies declined comment. CNBC reported that Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga would not attend either. Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund (PIF), which hosts the conference, has tentatively committed $20 billion to an infrastructure investment planned with Blackstone Group. Prince Mohammed told Reuters last year that Blackstone and BlackRock Inc were planning to open offices in the kingdom. Bahrain called for a boycott of Uber, in which PIF has invested $3.5 billion, after its chief executive officer said he would not attend the conference. Similar campaigns trended on social media in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. UAE businessman Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor urged a boycott of Virgin, which has suspended discussions with PIF over a planned $1 billion investment. Khashoggi, a familiar face on Arab talk shows, moved to the United States last year fearing retribution for his criticism of Prince Mohammed, who has cracked down on dissent with arrests. The former newspaper editor once interviewed Osama bin Laden and later became a consummate insider, advising former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal when he served as ambassador in London and Washington. A pro-government Turkish daily published preliminary evidence last week from investigators it said identified a 15-member Saudi intelligence team which arrived in Istanbul on diplomatic passports hours before Khashoggi disappeared. The Saudi consulate referred Reuters to authorities in Riyadh who did not respond to questions about the 15 Saudis. Asked if he had reviewed the purported recording of Khashoggis killing, Trump told reporters on Saturday: I have not Weve all heard a lot about the audio. Nobodys seen it yet, so we do want to see it were going to be seeing it very soon. (Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy, Trevor Hunnicutt, Lesley Wroughton, Doina Chiacu in Washington, Rob Cox of Breakingviews, William James in London, Dominic Evans in Istanbul; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by David Dolan, William Maclean) Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. A projected labor crunch within South Carolina's health care industry could be approaching critical status. An online trade publication is projecting that the Palmetto State could lack enough registered nurses by 2030 that it would have one the most severe shortages in the entire country. The website RegisteredNursing.org put South Carolina at No. 4 of all states in its expected shortfall, based on how many RNs it will need compared to the number it will have. Analysts who wrote the report used data from the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, which shows South Carolina will need about 10,000 additional nurses over the next 12 years. The caveat is that the government's forecast assumes that states will adopt Medicaid, which South Carolina has not done. That means the 10,000 figure could be inflated. By comparison, the state agency that tracks nurses in South Carolina estimated that there will be 6,400 too few registered nurses statewide by 2028. The estimates may vary, but it's agreed that a shortage will worsen. Analysts at RegisteredNursing.org pointed out that the number of registered nurses needed in the United States is set to soar by more than 28 percent to 3.6 million by 2030. The shortfall is already a concern in South Carolina, where policymakers seem to focus on convincing nurses who are educated within the state to stick around after they get their degrees. Pay is likely one of reasons that some leave. South Carolina is in the lower tier of salaries for registered nurses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. RNs in the state earn $63,630 on average, about $10,000 less than the national average. Some states such as Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New York will have more registered nurses than they need. The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis gave South Carolina the unfortunate distinction of being among the four states that will have a deficit of 10,000 or more by 2030. California, Texas and New Jersey are the others. Linda Lacey, director of the S.C. Office for Healthcare Workforce, said the state's nurse workforce is aging and many are retiring. More than a third of registered nurses were older than 50 in 2016, according to a recent report from Lacey's office. That report, which is updated about every other year, is a profile of registered nurses in South Carolina. It reveals that just 11 percent of nurses in South Carolina are African-American, even though they represent 27 percent of the population. One way to improve the nursing shortage would be to attract more minorities to the profession, Lacey said. "Ideally we would like to have a workforce that would represent the demographics of our state," she said. Still, nursing is becoming a more attractive field to consider as more opportunities open up for nurses, Lacey said. South Carolina recently expanded nurses' rights to practice. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill in August that gave nurse practitioners greater authority in prescribing medications and changed the way they are supervised by physicians. Though only implemented this year, those changes could attract more people to the nursing field. Jeannette Andrews, dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina, said nursing schools have been losing teaching faculty to retirement, and it's been tough to replace them. Andrews said her program has lost 15 faculty members in the last several years. Across the state, nursing programs have had to turn away about 2,000 potential students per year. At USC, Andrews said she has had to get creative, working with hospital systems to coordinate more clinical placements for her students, accelerating training and pushing for higher faculty pay. "We've been more strategic than we have in the past," Andrews said. Pay for nurses is a big component, said Andrea Louise Coyle, magnet program director at the Medical University of South Carolina. She said many of the problems and solutions at USC are also true for MUSC. The organization as a whole has tried to keep nurses it trains at its college in the organization by giving them a job after they graduate. "That's the pipeline that we really aspire to create," Coyle said. The enrollment rate is growing, both at the major state universities and other nursing programs, Andrews said. Just not fast enough. Jerrel Floyd is an Alabama raised reporter who covers Summerville and Dorchester County for The Post and Courier. The number of children under the protection of the S.C. Department of Social Services has climbed substantially in the past six years, jumping from roughly 3,100 children in 2012 to nearly 4,600 today, according to data published Monday by the Chronicle of Social Change. The increase has posed a particular challenge for the state's social services agency, forcing officials to continue leaning on congregate care and group homes for children, the report shows. The number of South Carolina foster children sent into an institution or group home nearly doubled between 2012 and 2016, the Chronicle of Social Change found. DSS spokeswoman Pam Bryant said the agency's own data does not indicate a "increasing reliance on group homes." She said the "analysis by the Chronicle of Social Change is nearly three years old." She provided numbers that show 22.5 percent of children in state custody were placed in congregate care during the 2012 fiscal year. Six years later, the percentage dropped slightly to 21.4 percent. "Our agencys immediate focus (during this time frame) ... was ending the use of congregate care for children 6 and younger," Bryant said. In November 2015, 142 foster children who were 6 years old or younger had been placed in a congregate care facility by DSS, she said. Earlier this year, the number had dropped to 11. Data provided by the agency also shows congregate care placements for children 12 years old and younger have dropped, although less dramatically. Bryant did not provide data for children older than 12 and said no one from the agency was available to be interviewed for this article. Experts agree these congregate settings aren't well suited for children, particularly young ones. A 2015 Post and Courier investigation found that children in South Carolina have been exposed to neglect, sexual abuse and violence inside group homes. In most circumstances, advocates agree that children are better served when they are placed in foster homes or with relatives. But the S.C. Department of Social Services has so far been unsuccessful in recruiting new foster families to meet the growing need. In fact, the number of licensed "non-relative" foster homes in South Carolina dropped slightly from 2017 to 2018, the Chronicle of Social Change found. "Weve got an absolutely long, long way to go," said Sue Berkowitz, director of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center in Columbia. Her group filed a federal lawsuit against DSS in 2015 on behalf of 11 child plaintiffs who were allegedly subjected to a range of abuse and neglect inside foster homes and institutions across the state. The settlement of that lawsuit, reached one year later, has forced DSS to reduce the number of young children in congregate care and to undergo routine court-appointed monitoring by outside experts. The latest monitoring report, published in late September, identified both improvements the agency has recently made and its ongoing shortcomings. While DSS had created and filled several staff positions to "strengthen the infrastructure and leadership" of the agency, the department's Out-of-Home Abuse and Neglect unit (OHAN) remains ill-equipped to investigate cases involving children who may have been harmed, the monitors wrote. A review of 32 investigations found that in all but one case, OHAN investigators failed to contact all necessary core witnesses. "The quality of OHAN practice remains an area of significant concern," the monitors wrote. The Chronicle of Social Change report found the number of children in foster care across the country appears to be stabilizing. Even so, the need for more foster families will continue to grow. The 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act, signed into law in February, will limit the amount of federal money that may be used to place children in congregate care facilities. "In the short term, in at least some states, it will be a struggle early on," said John Kelly, editor-in-chief of the Chronicle of Social Change. "They will need more foster homes." In South Carolina, 2,672 homes are licensed to accept foster children, according to the new report. Bryant, the DSS spokeswoman, said the agency wants to license one foster home for every child in state custody. For now, that leaves DSS about 2,000 homes short. In the past, foster home payments have been cited as one reason South Carolina can't find an adequate number of families to participate. The rates in this state for traditional foster homes range from $13.47 to $17.84 per child per day. That amount is meant to cover food, clothing and other personal expenses. The rates paid in this state are among the lowest in the country. There may be a silver lining in the data, said Berkowitz, of Appleseed Legal Justice. The fact that the number of foster children in state custody has substantially increased in recent years shows that DSS is doing a better job screening children as they enter system, she said. Berkowitz said former DSS Director Lillian Koller, who was appointed by former Gov. Nikki Haley to lead the agency, encouraged county-level DSS employees to artificially "lower the number of kids in foster care." Koller resigned under pressure in 2014. "Kids were falling through the cracks and not getting the help and being left in really, really terrible situations," Berkowitz said. "The numbers show thats not happening anymore." Earlier this year, Gov. Henry McMaster appointed a search committee find a new DSS director after Susan Alford, who had served as the agency's director since 2014, announced her retirement in July. Charleston deputies have arrested two 17-year-olds in connection with a shooting late last week on James Island that left two people injured, authorities said. Rome Javon Richardson, of Seaside Lane on James Island, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm during commission of a violent crime. Authorities also arrested another man wanted in connection with Friday's shooting. Rayshad Kenneth Prioleau, of Amberlake Drive in North Charleston, faces the same charges. Just before 6 p.m. Friday, deputies responded to Greenhill Road, a single-street stretch on James Island that has been the site of a rash of shootings this year. The incidents have resulted in at least two deaths, authorities said. Law enforcement officials had been called to the area as recently as Monday morning for reports of gunfire, though authorities noted the scene was clear by the time they arrived. After deputies responded Friday for a report of a shooting, two individuals were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said Capt. Roger Antonio, spokesman for the Charleston County Sheriff's Office. South Carolina public schools have required students to take at least 10 different standardized tests since the turn of the century, making it difficult for parents and policymakers to tell if their schools are improving over time. In the 2017-18 school year, the state swapped out its mandatory 11th-grade workforce preparedness test, ACT WorkKeys, for a new test called Ready to Work. State education officials released results from the new test early this month but cautioned that they are not statistically comparable to WorkKeys, which had been in place for the previous three years. South Carolina isn't alone among the states in churning through a large number of tests in a short period of time. Changes in state standards, including many states' controversial adoption of Common Core, have prompted some shifts in testing, as has the change from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind program to the Obama-era Every Student Succeeds Act. Still, educators and parents have talked less about their lack of ability to make apples-to-apples comparisons among students in different years than they have about too much standardized testing in general. Similar, maybe too similar? In the case of South Carolina's shifting from WorkKeys to Ready to Work, it's not immediately clear what prompted the change. The tests are remarkably similar so similar, in fact, that ACT Inc. is currently suing the makers of Ready to Work in federal court claiming copyright infringement. Both tests have three sections (Applied Mathematics, Locating Information and Reading for Information), and both tests allow students to earn one of four certification levels for career readiness (Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum). But there is no apples-to-apples comparison between results on the two tests. "Gold" on WorkKeys is not equivalent to "Gold" on Ready to Work, according to state education officials. "Our statisticians tell me that we cannot definitively claim that WorkKeys and Ready to Work are absolutely equivalent or even have uniformly roughly equivalent cuts," said S.C. Department of Education spokesman Ryan Brown, referring to the "cut scores" that are used to define bronze, silver, gold and platinum certificates on the two tests. South Carolina changed career-testing vendors after a competitive bid process, awarding a five-year, $9 million contract to Tennessee-based Worldwide Interactive Network Inc., the maker of Ready to Work, starting in February 2018. What parents need to know So many tests South Carolina public schools have administered the following standardized tests since the turn of the millennium: Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT): 1999-2008 (3rd-8th grade English Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies) End of Course Examination Program (EOCEP): 2003-Present (Algebra I, English I, Biology, U.S. History and the Constitution) High School Assessment Program (HSAP): 2009-2014 (10th grade) SCPASS: 2009-Present (4th-8th grade Science and Social Studies) Readiness Assessment Program: 2014-Present (pre-K-Kindergarten) ACT Aspire: 2015 (3rd-8th grade) ACT WorkKeys: 2015-17 (11th grade career readiness) ACT: 2015-17 (11th grade college readiness) SC READY: 2016-Present (3rd-8th grade ELA and Mathematics) Ready to Work: 2018-Present (11th grade career readiness) The first few years of a new standardized test are often confusing for educators and parents alike, said Kevin Eakes, director of the College of Charleston's Office of Student Services and Credentialing. "Any time you shift an assessment like that, there is always a time where youve got to learn the new assessment, learn how to administer it and interpret the scores," Eakes said. Eakes, who previously worked in accountability and curriculum at the Charleston County School District, said teachers often find "formative assessments," such as school-administered MAP or STAR tests, to be more useful for pinpointing an individual student's needs. Often administered to younger students two or three times in the course of a school year, these tests can show a student's exact reading level and identify specific skills they need to work on. Still, when parents are researching a school online, it is much easier for them to get their hands on state standardized test data, like grade-level pass rates on the SC READY or SCPASS assessments or, starting this year, the Ready to Work test for high schools. One of the only standardized tests that has stayed largely the same since the 1990s is the National Assessment of Educational Progress, sometimes referred to as the "Nation's Report Card." On fourth-grade reading, an important benchmark for lifelong literacy, South Carolina slipped from 39th to 47th in the nation between 2015 and 2017. While NAEP results are useful for comparing students in different states, the test has its own limitations: Because it is only administered to a small random sample of students in two grades every two years, it can't be used to track the progress of individual districts or schools. Even tests that have remained in place for years are sometimes disrupted by technological change, as happened when the state began switching many of its tests from paper to computer-based versions. Technological hiccups and errors have rendered entire years' worth of data unreliable, according to some statisticians. How SC students did All 51,013 of South Carolina's 11th-graders took the Ready to Work test last spring, and 63.3 percent scored Silver or higher, a sign they have the skills needed for 65 percent of certain jobs. Most of those, 54 percent of all 11th-graders who took the test, scored Silver. Fewer than 7 percent scored Gold, a sign they have skills for 90 percent of certain jobs. Only 2.5 percent reached the Platinum level, indicating they are ready for most any job. In Charleston County, the percentages of students scoring Silver, Gold or Platinum were both above and below the state averages, at 52.1, 8.5 and 4.2, respectively. In Berkeley County, the percentages of students scoring Silver, Gold or Platinum were 54.3, 6.8 and 1.6, respectively. In Dorchester District 2, the percentage of students scoring Silver, Gold or Platinum were above the state average: 58.3, 7.7 and 3.8, respectively. In Dorchester District 4, those percentages were 48.3, 5.5 and 0. Statewide, 16.6 percent of the students did not qualify for Bronze status, indicating they still cannot perform complex tasks that would qualify them for a broad range of jobs. You are the owner of this article. Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations. Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations. There have been no more confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, in the past week since the Minnesota Department of Health announced several cases of the rare disorder. Six Minnesota children were diagnosed with the disease in late September, according to the Associated Press. The disease attacks the nervous system and can lead to arm and leg weakness, or loss of muscle reflex. In some cases, patients can experience partial paralysis. Usually, Minnesota sees one case, at most, of AFM per year, according to the MDH website. No one knows exactly what causes AFM, but its thought to be virus-related. The MDH recommended frequent handwashing and good hygiene practices. The Minnesota Department of Health asked doctors to be on the lookout for the disease. All of the Minnesota children affected were ages 10 and younger, located in the Twin Cities, and central and northeastern Minnesota. SOUTH COVENTRY It was a big moment for a group of Owen J. Roberts High School students who had just finished building a tiny house. They watched as community members toured the 200-square-foot structure, admiring its cozy pine walls, compact kitchen, bathroom area and sleeping loft. And then, before bidding farewell to the house theyd spent two years designing and constructing, the students witnessed a bidding war as their project sat on the auction block. At the conclusion of the auction outside the Owen J. Roberts High School on Friday evening, the tiny house fetched the sizable sum of $13,100. The buyer was Karel Minor, an OJR school board member and CEO of Humane Pennsylvania, a non-profit animal welfare organization headquartered in Reading. The tiny house will serve as a mobile veterinary clinic that will provide both preventative and emergency services to neighborhoods that might not otherwise have access to veterinary care. The house will also be available at various Humane Pennsylvania events that focus on adoptions, rescues and other animal welfare issues. This was really perfect for our needs, said Minor, who noted that Humane Pennsylvania had recently been awarded a grant to add a mobile component to its services. There are people in Reading who cant get to a veterinary hospital so we bring the hospital to them, Minor said. When he learned that the tiny house was to be auctioned off, he realized it perfectly suited the needs of his organization. He particularly liked the fact that the facility had a homey feel. Its not industrial, he said. Its welcoming. The house is, in fact, more than welcoming. Its downright adorable, inside and out. Measuring a mere 14-feet-long by 8-feet-wide, it consists of only 112 square feet of living space on the first floor, plus two loft areas accessible by ladder, that add another 64 square feet of storage and sleeping space. It also includes a bathroom with a shower and space designated for a composting toilet. The entire structure was designed and constructed by students who decked out that teensy-weensy space with pretty tongue-in-groove pine walls and trim, decorative window boxes, built-in seating and a surprising amount of windows. The house was built over a two-year period by the high school STEAM club. STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math, and club members said they learned a great deal about all those subjects by building the house. What was the hardest part? Plumbing, said club member Nico Mancuso. The plumbing was giving us problems from the beginning to the very end, Mancuso said. But club president Capri Norris noted that problem solving was part of what made the experience of building the house so engaging. There was a lot of trial and error, and it was exciting to see how it changed over time, Norris said. During the open house, Norris, Mancuso and fellow club member Cameron Cooper said together in the loft area of the tiny house, greeting visitors and answering questions. It was a bittersweet moment for the three high school juniors who had embarked upon the project during their freshman year. Were beyond happy with the finished product, Norris said. In addition to learning such skills as using power tools, installing plumbing, and hanging windows, club members also developed strong bonds with one another. We all got so close. We really got to know each other, Norris noted. The project was originally expected to take one year, according to high school engineering teacher Bill Crowl who, along with former teacher Bill Richardson, led the club and served as an advisor. Crowl said the club was inspired to create a tiny house after watching a television show that highlighted tiny houses. Working with former high school Principal Richard Marchini, the advisors devised a plan to build the entire house using donated and second-hand materials. The first item to be donated was an old equipment trailer no longer used by the district maintenance department. The trailer serves as the base for the structure, and its oak plank floor was repurposed as exterior trim. The roof was salvaged from a section of high school roofing that was replaced after being damaged in a storm. Because all items were donated, the project took much longer than originally anticipated because the design had to be altered repeatedly to accommodate various elements, such as windows or cabinets of an unforeseen size. Ultimately, the club members left the auction ecstatic over the price paid for their labor of love. Bidding started at $10,000, with Meredith Jacks making the opening bid. Jacks is a real estate agent at Styer Real Estate, which provided marketing assistance to the STEAM club. She and Minor were the only two bidders, but they quickly got into a bidding war that ended with Minors $13,100 price point. Crowl said the club hopes to donate a portion of the money to the Owen J. Roberts Education Foundation, which provided some grant funding for the tiny house. The rest of the auction earnings will go into their next project. That could be another tiny house, or possibly a mobile STEAM lab crafted from an old bus. But before launching a new project, club members took some time to savor their most recent accomplishment. After the bidding, club member Marlena Langdon gazed appreciatively at the tiny house. Never in a million years did I think I could do something like that, she said. We last checked in on incumbent Texas Senator Ted Cruzs race against Bobby ORourke in Query the Kavanaugh effect (2). The most recent poll at that time showed Cruz with a 9-point lead (54-45). Since that post a New York Times/Siena poll of likely voters surveyed the electorate during the period October 8-11, entirely in the aftermath of the Kavanaugh confirmation. It shows Cruz with an 8-point lead (51-43), within the previous polls margin of error. It wasnt easy for the Times/Siena poll locate its sample of 800 likely voters. The poll made 51,983 calls in search of those 800 likely voters. Bobby ORourke has ignited a mania among Democrats and their media adjunct. He is the greatest thing sincewell, since Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis. Politicos Playbook reported over the weekend on the financial reflection of Bobby mania (sources are linked): THIS. IS. BONKERS. DALLAS MORNING NEWS TODD GILLMAN and TOM BENNING: Beto ORourke raised $38.1 million in last three months, smashing all records in bid to oust Ted Cruz: Rep. Beto ORourke raised an astonishing $38.1 million in three months, as Democrats in Texas and nationwide showered him with donations for his bid to oust Sen. Ted Cruz. The haul smashed previous records for a U.S. Senate contest, and assures that the hard fought race, already the nations costliest, remains on top of the 2018 list. ORourkes haul is more than triple the $12 million that Cruz said he raised from July through September. Combined, the rivals have raised roughly $86 million but the challengers tally of $61.2 million vastly eclipses the incumbents $24.9 million. DMN. IMPORTANT NUGGET: ActBlue, the online Democratic fund-raising platform, makes it easier than ever for candidates to collect small sums from many people, and to prompt supporters for recurring donations. ORourke has brought in at least $25 million that way this year, and based on the latest tally, likely far more. REPUBLICANS have nothing like ActBlue, and its bludgeoning candidates across the country. BUT, THE REALITY FiveThirtyEight rates the Texas Senate race Likely Republican and gives ORourke a 23 percent chance of winning. The forecast[.] Reality bites, but reality includes the Democrats big bucks and comprehensive mania. Elizabeth Warren claims that a study of her DNA she had performed by a Stanford professor backs her claim that shes an Indian. Sen. Warren is calling on President Trump to donate $1 million to her favorite charity, based on Trumps statement that he would do so if you take the test and it shows youre an Indian. As I read the results, however, they show that Warren is not an Indian. The Stanford prof concluded the vast majority of Warrens ancestry is European, but the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor. So far, so good for Warren. But how for back does one have to go to find that Native American ancestor? The professor calculated that Warrens pure Native American ancestor appears in her family tree in the range of 6-10 generations ago. To make matters worse for Warrens claim, the study was based not on Native American DNA from within the U.S., but rather on Mexican, Peruvian, and Colombian DNA. Warren claimed shes part Cherokee (with some Delaware Indian mixed in, as I recall). Yet these results are good enough for the mainstream media to tout Warren as vindicated. I enjoyed Ben Shapiros take: So the same media who say that two X chromosomes dont make you a woman now say that a Native American ancestor 10 generations ago makes you Native American. Got it. If Warren has a Native American ancestor eight generations back (not including herself), the scenario the Stanford prof deems most likely, then she is 1/256th Indian. A Native American ancestor 10 generations back would make her 1/1,024th Indian. If a percentage as infinitesimal as the one the prof considers most likely is sufficient to make Warren an Indian, then surely the vast majority of Americans are Black, Latino, or Indian. I suspect that Black, Latino, and Native American activists would not be pleased if slots set aside for them at colleges and universities (to take just one example of affirmative action) started going to folks who can produce DNA tests strongly supporting the existence of a Black, Latino, or Indian ancestor six to ten generations back. In fact, such a policy would effectively nullify racial and ethnicity-based preferences. Speaking of which, Warren, when she was a law professor, listed herself as a minority on a legal directory reviewed by deans and hiring committees. The University of Pennsylvania listed her as a minority faculty member, and she was billed after her hire at Harvard Law School as the schools first woman of color. This, as David French has shown, was no small thing: At the time, elite universities were under immense pressure to diversify their faculties (as they still are). More women was one command. More women of color was the ideal. At Harvard the pressure was so intense that students occupied the administration building, and the open spaces of the school were often filled with screaming, chanting students. They would have chanted even more vociferously had they known that Harvard was claiming to meet their demand with a White hire who may (or may not) have had a Native American ancestor hundreds of years ago. They would have considered this not tokenism, but fraud. They would have been right. Does Trump owe money to Warrens favorite charity? I think not. But maybe, as Shapiro suggests, he should donate 1/1024th of $1 million a little less than $1,000 and call it a day. You know that, of course. This story is just a drop of water in the ocean of officially-sanctioned campus leftism. At the University of Minnesota, there is a bridge over the Mississippi River on Washington Avenue. (BTW, it wont be long before Minnesota Democrats demand that Washington Avenue be given a new name.) University organizations of all types are given space on the bridge to post signs. The college Republicans consistently do so, with this result: For the third year in a row, the University of Minnesota chapter of College Republicans had its Washington Avenue Bridge panel vandalized. The phrase Queer Power was spray painted in black over the three-panel painting sometime Friday evening or Saturday morning. The groups panel features words such as Make the U Great Again, Trump 2020 and The proposed pronoun policy mocks real social issues a reference to a gender expression policy that is currently being considered by University administrators. A Saturday afternoon tweet from the College Republicans account stated the vandalization is a blatant attack on the groups First Amendment rights. Three years in a row! Needless to say, the perpetrators have never been caught, nor has any serious effort been made to identify them. The Republicans signs were not controversial, and were notably inclusive: This is what the signs looked like post-vandalism: Other student groups signs are not vandalized, only the Republicans. Three years in a row, and counting. But the universitys administration doesnt mind the suppression of conservative speech. On the contrary: in 2016, when the Republicans sign Build the Wall was vandalized, the universitys president, Eric Kaler, said that college Republicans should have been more inclusive about recognizing the pain it caused. So a slogan voiced by the winning candidate for the Presidency of the United States isnt entitled to First Amendment protection at the University of Minnesota. Coincidentally, the Chairwoman of the Minnesota College Republicans, my daughter Kathryn, is home for the weekend, so I asked her to comment. Her response: We are extremely disappointed that our College Republicans at the University of Minnesota were targeted once again for expressing their beliefs. The University of Minnesota has proven year after year that their campus is unsafe and unwelcoming for conservative students. We hope they act quickly in disciplining the students involved, and we plan to hold them accountable until they do. When she says unsafe, she isnt kidding. Last years University of Minnesota college Republican president had to be escorted around campus because of threats of violence, and I attended a speech at the University of Minnesota by Charlie Kirk, who needed numerous armed guards because he was so bold as to say that free enterprise is better than Communism. Our universities are sick, and I am afraid the disease will prove fatal. Rowan Scarborough has a good summary of developments in the collusion scandal explored by House committees in the aftermath of the 2016 election. It is the scandal of the Clinton presidential campaign and its supporters within the Obama administrations. We werent supposed to know anything about it. Glenn Simpson is a protagonist in the scandal. Under subpoena to testify to the House Judiciary Committee this week, he has asserted his fictitious First Amendment right not to testify and his real Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. That should attract more interest than it has to date. Scarboroughs summary is geared to Simpsons refusal to testify. Last week I took a look at the letter from Simpsons attorney to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte in Glenn Simpson would prefer not to. The letter asserts Simpsons refusal to testify in the face of the subpoena. Yesterday morning Maria Bartiromo spoke with Rep. Peter Ratcliffe about the latest on Simpson (video below). She also spoke with Rep. Jim Jordan (transcript and video here). The murder of Jamal Khashoggi has replaced Brett Kavanaughs high school days as the mainstream medias obsession. The media attributes the murder to the Saudi Arabian government. I dont know whether the evidence conclusively supports this view, but for purposes of this post lets assume that responsibility lies with the Saudis. The American media calls Khashoggi a journalist, and its true that he contributed articles to the Washington Post. However, I think its more accurate and informative to call Khashoggi an operative or perhaps, as David Goldman does, a top level spook who played a high-stakes game in Saudi spookdom. In addition, according to Goldman, Khashoggi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist outfit. He was bitterly opposed to the new Saudi governments rapprochement with the state of Israel. None of this provides justification for butchering him. But assuming the Saudis did butcher him, should this action cause the U.S. radically to rethink its relations with the Saudi government? The Washington Post thinks so. However, its position lacks consistency. The Russian government kills journalists, among others. I do not recall the Washington Post protesting on this basis the Obama administrations reset of relations with Putins government or Obamas promise to be more flexible with Russia after his reelection. Nor, as far as I remember, did the Post cite Russias murderous ways as a reason not to farm out to Putin enforcement of the red line against the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Cubas treatment of journalists and others has been atrocious. Yet, the mainstream media supported the Obama administration when it radically reset U.S. relations with Cuba without insisting on any change in the regimes treatment of dissidents. What are the differences between Russia/Cuba and Saudi Arabia? I see two. First, Russia and Cuba are adversaries of America. Saudi Arabia is an ally. For the sane, this difference would, if anything, cut in favor of the Saudis. For the left, it cuts against them. Second, the Trump administration has very visibly allied itself with Saudi Arabia as a means of countering Iran and achieving other American objectives in the Middle East. Thus, the Khashoggi slaying provides the mainstream media with the opportunity to do what it does best hammer President Trump. In my view, the Khashoggi slaying should not cause America substantially to alter its foreign policy. Our relatively close relationship with Saudi Arabia is predicated, as it should be, on mutual interests and mutual adversaries. Either the geo-political predicate justifies the relationship or it doesnt. If it does, we would be foolish to alter the relationship in a major way. Nor would the mainstream media be advocating that we do so if the president were a Democrat and the offending regime hostile to America. PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-16 00:01:09 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 349 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 /U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and other members of Congress presented American TradingInternational, Inc. (ATI) with the President's "E" Star Award for Exports on behalf of President Trump in a very special ceremony at the U.S. Department of Commerce, on May 21. The President's "E" Star Award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports. "ATI has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion. The 'E' Awards Committee was very impressed with ATI's tremendous growth since receiving the Presidents 'E' Award in 2012 with exports to more than 80 traditional and emerging markets. The company's development of a private label protocol to support exports was also particularly notable. ATI's achievements have undoubtedly contributed to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs," said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in his congratulatory letter to the company announcing its selection.Established in 1995, American Trading International, Inc. is a California-based exporter, with 100% focus on international exports of U.S.-manufactured processed foods and beverages."Exporting plays a vital role in strengthening the U.S. economy," said Mr. Seth Merrick Wilen, President and CEO of American Trading International, Inc. "Consumers in overseas markets desire quality American products at affordable prices and it is an honor to receive the President's 'E' Star Award for our continued export success around the world."Exports are crucial for economic growth and opportunity across the nation, but unfortunately less than 3% of American companies will ever export their products. The 'E' award was established to promote global outreach by American entrepreneurs and businesses. In 2017, U.S. exports totaled $2.33 trillion, accounting for only 12% of U.S. gross domestic product. American Trading International, Inc. remains committed to the balance of trade through the expansion of U.S. exports internationally.American Trading International, Inc.: http://american-trading.comContact Information:Cesar Padilla, Marketing ManagerAmerican Trading International, Inc.310-445-2000ati@american-trading.comhttp://www.american-trading.comSOURCE: PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 15:31:01 Atos Hosts Minister of State for Digital and Creative Industries at launch of open AI hub in boost to UK technology sector London, Paris, 15 October 2018 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, together with Google Cloud, today welcomed Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, Rt Hon Margot James MP to launch Atos' first artificial intelligence (AI) lab under the Atos and Google Cloud's global partnership. The Atos AI lab in London will bring together expertise in AI alongside private and public sector organizational capabilities to collaborate and unlock cross-enterprise opportunities. The new lab will be available to businesses and public-sector organizations across Europe to utilize AI technologies and to define and design use cases relevant to their needs, such as for example, using connected sensors in the supply chain of an energy company to create safer and more efficient operations to using data analytics and machine learning algorithms to reduce fraud in financial services. The Atos AI Lab will enable Atos to enrich its data analytics suite Codex Industry Solutions with Google AI and data technologies to provide customers with industry-specific solutions. It will also help build an ecosystem of highly-skilled AI workers in London and across Europe. The Minister said: "The UK is leading the way when it comes to expertise in Artificial Intelligence, and the new Atos labs will help to develop this exciting area of technology further. Through our modern Industrial Strategy and near 1 billion Sector Deal, we're putting AI at the forefront of our plans to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business." Adrian Gregory, CEO, Atos UK & Ireland said: "The opening of this first AI Lab marks a new era in enterprise transformation and opportunity. In combining the advanced capabilities of Atos and Google Cloud AI technology, organizations will have access to compelling solutions acting as a springboard to growth in an evolving, digitally focused marketplace." Paul Emsley-Martin, Head of SI Partnerships at Google Cloud, said: "The new AI labs from Atos will be a valuable resource for European businesses wanting to take advantage of Google Cloud AI capabilities. This is a great next step in our partnership with Atos, and we are delighted to continue working with Atos to bring Google Cloud AI, infrastructure, machine learning and collaboration tools to enterprises worldwide." In April of 2018, Atos and Google Cloud formed a global partnership to deliver secure hybrid cloud, machine learning, and collaboration solutions to organizations. Atos named Google Cloud its preferred public cloud provider. The Atos AI lab is opening as a component of this partnership with Google Cloud to address the digital transformation needs of enterprise customers. Additionally, Atos plans to open two additional AI labs located in Paris, France and Dallas, Texas, USA. These initiatives are discussed in detail in the newly released Atos Digital Vision for AI opinion paper which explores how enterprises are using AI and what's ahead for organisations and society. ### About Atos Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 120,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of 13 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions through its Digital Transformation Factory, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across all business sectors. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Syntel, Unify and Worldline. Atos is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index. Press contacts: UK: Adam Fisher | Adam.Fisher@atos.net | +44 (0)7989 145 665 Global: Laura Fau | laura.fau@atos.net | +33 6 73 64 04 18 | @laurajanefau 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: ATOS via Globenewswire PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 16:08:07 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 471 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 David Weinstein's Company Helps People to be the Best Versions of Themselves at Any Age BOCA RATON, FL / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 / CEOCFO Magazine, an independent investment publication that highlights important technologies and companies, spoke with David Weinstein the co-founder of a groundbreaking new Boca Raton, Florida company, LifeForceIQ about his recent trip to Japan where he brought back new insights into improving health and increasing lifespans. Japan now has the highest average life expectancy in the world, at 83.7 years, much higher than America's 78.5 years, according to World Health Organization statistics. Japan also includes one of the world's so-called "Blue Zones," which contain the highest percentage of people living healthy, vital lives past the age of 100.A successful investment banker, entrepreneur, and business executive, Weinstein founded LifeForceIQ to bring the health secrets of the Blue Zones to America, starting with his first Oasis Retreat (which he plans to open in Costa Rica by 2020.) "There are extraordinary technologies and concepts that most people don't know about that don't just keep you healthy and out of the hospital, but that can also actually reverse aging," Weinstein explains.One of those groundbreaking concepts was developed by Dr. Yoshiaki Sato, whom Weinstein visited on his trip to Japan. Dr. Sato pioneered an approach called Kaatsu, which uses computer-controlled pressurized bands around the arms and the legs to moderate blood flow. "Dr. Sato has proven that the bands cause the human body to produce an abundance of youth hormones, which actually help undo the hardening of the arteries," Weinstein says. "His studies show that simply walking for 20 minutes a day with the Kaatsu bands on the upper legs increases muscle growth by 41% in less than a month." Athletes have embracedKaatsu, and the approach could be especially important for increasing muscle strength in elderly people to prevent falls and broken hips, Weinstein suggests. LifeForceIQ sells various forms of the Kaatsu system, as well as other innovative technologies to generate bone growth, improve oxygen uptake, and boost health and vitality, such as Juvent and LiveO2. The company also provides advice on special organic foods and supplements thatcan be integrated into meals to help control blood sugar, blood pressure, and calcium uptake into the arteries, Weinstein says. Weinstein and his wife Leidy, a competitive body sculptor, founded LifeForceIQ to make these ideas and technologies available to more people. "We can improve your physique and vitality, increase your mental clarity, help you achieve better sleep and recovery, and reduce your stress while boosting your tranquility," he says. Discovering the science and principles of LifeForceIQ "has made an enormous difference in my own life," he adds. "Now I want to help others lead better, happier, healthier lives themselves." Bud WayneEditorial ExecutiveCEOCFO Magazine570-851-1745budwayne@ ceocfomagazine.comSOURCE: CEOCFO Magazine PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 10:03:02 Speakers from Mastercard, Lenovo, VMware, Jabra, and more will discuss top trends facing the ecommerce industry Digital River Brings Together Commerce Leaders for Commerce Connect 2018 London Digital River, Inc. Natalie Wires, +1 952-225-3985 Senior Manager, Corporate Communications publicrelations@digitalriver.com Digital River, Inc., a leading global provider of Commerce-as-a-Service solutions, announced today it will host Commerce Connect 2018 London on October 18, 2018. Commerce Connect 2018 London is an exclusive one-day conference that will connect global business leaders with a community of ecommerce industry experts. Attendees will spend the day discussing top commerce trends, including the importance of a localized approach to global expansion, balancing a multi-channel ecommerce strategy, and making payments a strategic business priority. Keynote presentations will address significant challenges facing ecommerce businesses today, including: Developing a cohesive online channel strategy where your direct-to-consumer and Amazon channels deliver a consistent shopper experience. Optimizing payments to improve the consumer experience, while increasing revenue. Delivering a business-to-consumer shopper experience to a business-to-business buyer. Expanding into fast growing markets and accessing a larger ecommerce opportunity. Visit the website for full speaker details. The commerce industry is changing at a rapid pace, and for brands to thrive, they need to stay ahead of how advances in technology can help meet evolving customer expectations, said Jason Nyhus, Digital Rivers vice president of global revenue growth and marketing services. Our Commerce Connect events bring together top experts from leading brands working in commerce for a day dedicated to discussing how to not just meet customer expectations today, but how to prepare for the customer of tomorrow. About Digital River, Inc. With nearly 25 years of industry experience, Digital River has mastered the ins and outs of global ecommerce. The company specializes in taking high-tech brands direct to their customers, whether they live around the corner or around the world. Leading software and services, consumer electronics and digital game brands rely on Digital Rivers advanced commerce cloud, monetization tools and global ecommerce solutions to market and sell their products online. From start to finish, Digital River makes it easy to manage storefronts, take orders, process payments, automate subscriptions and drive delivery. At the same time, the company works behind the scenes to handle fraud, billing, taxes and compliance, so businesses and consumers can shop with confidence and peace of mind. Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. For more details about Digital River, visit https://digitalriver.com. Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners. Twitter Tags: @DigitalRiverInc, #CommerceConnect2018 #ecommerce Tweet: @DigitalRiverInc brings together commerce leaders, including @We_are_Jabra, @Lenovo, @VMware, @Kaspersky, and more to discuss top #ecommerce trends at #CommerceConnect2018 http://driv.ws/jb View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181015005 @DigitalRiverInc brings together commerce leaders, including @We_are_Jabra, @Lenovo, @VMware, @Kaspersky, and more to discuss top #ecommerce trends at #CommerceConnect2018 http://driv.ws/jb PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 16:11:13 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 418 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FRISCO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 /EarthWater Ltd., www.EarthWater.com a U.S.-based health and wellness company and manufacturer of high-alkaline mineral-infused beverages and health supplements, announced it will be presenting the EarthWater products at Xcelerate 2018, an event hosted by their new global distribution partner, PURE: People United Reaching Everyone. www.LivePure.com PURE: People United Reaching Everyone is a Frisco, TX-based direct marketing, nutritional wellness company celebrating over 10 years in business. The company provides wellness products and a business opportunity in the United States, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea. Xcelerate 2018 is their 10-year anniversary celebration which starts on Friday, October 19, at 9 a.m. and concludes Saturday, October 20, at 10 p.m. The sold-out event will bring 1400 PURE Independent Business Owners (IBOs) and leaders from around the world to sample new products, place orders, listen to guest speakers and hear success stories. EarthWater will be showcased Friday afternoon as part of the product updates. Founder/CEO CJ Comu will share features of the EarthWater products from stage and samples will be offered throughout the weekend. "This is a historic day for EarthWater and our stakeholders," said CJ Comu. "We are sharing the power of EarthWater Products with the PURE community at Xcelerate. EarthWater is excited about this new relationship with PURE. Our goal is to have people try and share our products." About EarthWaterEarthWater Limited is a health and wellness company and manufacturer of mineral-infused high-alkaline beverages and liquid concentrate with the proprietary Hydration Molecular Complex (HMC), using 100% natural, proprietary blends of organic fulvic and humic complexes mined from deep within the earth's surface. Fulvic and humic minerals have rehydrating and detoxifying qualities that can inhibit free radicals and improve absorption of key nutrients. EarthWater products are distributed through PURE and the Amazon Exclusives Program. To engage with EarthWater online, you are encouraged to "like," "follow" and "share" the brand's social media pages. EarthWater inquiries can be emailed to info@ earthwater.com or you can learn more at www.EarthWater.com.About PUREPURE: People United Reaching Everyone is a leading innovator in health and wellness products. PURE is dedicated to delivering Whole Health with high-quality products for physical health, opportunity for financial health, relationships for personal health, and social impact for philanthropic health. PURE is a global company with offices in the U.S., Taiwan, Thailand and Korea with headquarters in Frisco, Texas. For more information on the products or business opportunity, visit www.livepure.com.SOURCE: EarthWater Ltd. PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 08:01:18 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 526 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 LONDON / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 / Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Plc (LSE: HEMO), the biopharmaceutical group developing new therapies and treatments designed to transform bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of blood diseases, announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Immugenyx, LLC ("Immugenyx"), has entered into a collaboration agreement with Janssen Research & Development, LLC ("Janssen"), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC.Immugenyx will collaborate with Janssen on the development of a model of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most common form of Lupus, using its advanced hematopoietic chimeras (AHC). AHC, a new type of humanised mouse with a functional human immune system, is being developed by Immugenyx as an in vivo platform for disease modelling and drug development.Dr Vladislav Sandler, CEO & Co-Founder of Hemogenyx, commented: "As a company committed to the development of novel therapeutic products for patients suffering from blood and severe autoimmune diseases, we are pleased to partner with Janssen, a world leader in the discovery and development of therapeutics for autoimmune diseases."According to the terms of the agreement, Immugenyx will collaborate with Janssen on research activities that are determined by a mutually approved research plan. Immugenyx shall own the humanised mouse model of Lupus to be developed in collaboration with Janssen. Immugenyx shall grant to Janssen and its Affiliates a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, fully-paid-up, transferable, worldwide, license to use the Lupus model solely for their own internal research and product development purposes. Financial terms of the collaboration are not disclosed.Enquiries: Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Limited www.hemogenyx.com Dr Vladislav Sandler, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder Via Walbrook PR Sir Marc Feldmann, Executive Chairman Northland Capital Partners Limited Tel: +44 (0)20 3861 6625 Matthew Johnson, Vadim Alexandre, Dugald J Carlean Peterhouse Corporate Finance Limited Tel: +44 (0)20 7469 0930 Lucy Williams, Duncan Vasey Walbrook PR (UK Media & Investor Relations) Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 or hemogenyx@ walbrookpr.com Paul McManus Mob: +44 (0)7980 541 893 US Media enquiries Lowell Goodman Tel: +1 (323) 646-3249 or lowell@ corbomitecomms.com About Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PlcHemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC. is a publicly traded company (LSE: HEMO) headquartered in London, with its wholly owned US operating subsidiary, Hemogenyx LLC, located in Brooklyn, New York at its state- of- the- art research facility ("Hemogenyx").For more than 50 years, bone marrow transplantation has been used to save the lives of patients suffering from blood diseases. The risk of toxicity and death that are associated with bone marrow transplantation, however, have meant that the procedure is used only as a last resort and its use is restricted. Hemogenyx's technology has the potential to enable many more patients suffering from devastating blood diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma, as well as severe autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, aplastic anemia and systemic lupus erythematosus (Lupus), to benefit from bone marrow transplantation.Hemogenyx is a pre-clinical stage biopharmaceutical group developing new medicines and treatments to bring the curative power of bone marrow transplantation to a greater number of patients suffering from otherwise incurable life-threatening diseases. Hemogenyx is developing two distinct and complementary products, as well as a platform technology that it uses as an engine for novel product development.SOURCE: Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals Plc PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 12:03:01 AtlanticPacific Capital served as global placement agent InfraRed Exceeds Target for Fourth European Real Estate Vehicle Raed Elkhatib President & CEO Atlantic-Pacific Capital, Inc. 212.981.0639 relkhatib@apcap.com AtlanticPacific Capital, one of the largest privatelyowned global placement agents and advisory firms, is pleased to announce the final closing of InfraRed Active Real Estate Fund IV, (the Fund) with total equity commitments of 522 million ($685 million), exceeding the Funds 500 million target. The Fund received tremendous support from the existing investors and welcomed a number of new limited partners from across Europe, North America and Asia. The offering appealed to a mix of pension funds, foundations, family offices and fund-of-funds. Atlantic-Pacific Capital served as the global placement agent for the Fund as well as for InfraReds prior European real estate fund. InfraRed Capital Partners, a leading global investment manager focused on infrastructure and real estate, established the Fund to continue its successful value-add strategy focusing on Germany, France and the UK. The teams value-added approach applies specialist private equity investment disciplines to the sourcing of investment opportunities, largely proprietary, and the creation and execution of business plans that create asset value. This value is achieved by generating an attractive combination of income and capital returns by growing and improving the quality of an assets operating income and re-positioning the asset in the investment markets to achieve an improved investment yield. A diversified seed portfolio of five assets was acquired during the course of the fundraise. Andreas Katsaros, InfraReds Head of Strategy & Origination for European Real Estate, commented, We had a very exciting start with our Active Fund IV having already made five high quality acquisitions in Paris, Munich and Frankfurt. We are delighted with the support we had from our existing investor base and the new investor relationships we were able to build as part of this fundraise. Atlantic-Pacific Capital, for the second time around, were a fantastic partner in this project. Richard Awbery, Partner at Atlantic-Pacific Capital, said, We were very pleased to partner with InfraRed for a second time and further diversify their investor base. Atlantic-Pacific congratulates everyone at InfraRed on a successful fundraise. Alex Hurst, Partner at Atlantic-Pacific Capital, added, We are delighted that the market demonstrated deserved support for a proven strategy that is differentiated from much of the peer group in terms of its focus, integration and deal origination. About Atlantic-Pacific Capital, Inc. (www.apcap.com), Member FINRA and SIPC Atlantic-Pacific Capital is one of the largest privately-owned global placement agents and advisory firms dedicated to raising capital for alternative investments. Since its founding in 1995, the firm has executed more than 100 capital raising assignments aggregating over $70 billion for an extraordinary group of alternative asset managers. Typical mandates include private equity, real estate, real assets, natural resources and infrastructure fund placements. Atlantic-Pacific provides global marketing distribution and project management execution using a focused and customized approach. With experienced professionals located in seven offices throughout the United States, London and Hong Kong, Atlantic-Pacific maintains a global network of trusted relationships with influential institutional investors. About InfraRed Capital Partners (www.ircp.com) InfraRed is a leading global investment manager focused on infrastructure and real estate. It operates worldwide from offices in London, Hong Kong, New York, Seoul and Sydney. With around 130 professionals it manages in excess of USD 10bn of equity capital in multiple private and listed funds, primarily for institutional investors across the globe. Since its inception over 25 years ago, InfraRed has launched 17 funds, including two companies listed on the London Stock Exchange: HICL Infrastructure Company Limited and The Renewables Infrastructure Group. To date, six of these funds have been realised. InfraRed has been an active real estate investor and manager for 25 years and focuses on assets which suit its intensive management style, targeting well-located, mostly multi-let properties in the key urban growth centres of Europe. InfraRed has also been an investor and manager in Asian real estate for over 10 years and is one of the leading international investors in the Greater China real estate market. InfraRed implements best-in-class practices to underpin asset management and investment decisions, promotes ethical behavior and has established community engagement initiatives to support good causes in the wider community. InfraRed is a signatory of the Principles of Responsible Investment. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181015005 PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 16:10:35 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 373 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 EL SEGUNDO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 / Kellstrom Defense Aerospace, Inc. ("KDA") has signed a long-term licensing agreement with Lockheed Martin to manufacture, market, and sell KDA C-130 ECS E2H Flight Station Upgrade Kits ("ECS E2H") in support of C-130 B-H model aircraft sustainment around the world.The ECS E2H solution is now Lockheed Martin Hologram Certified utilizing KDA's proprietary design and intellectual property. The ECS E2H offers C-130 operators an alternative to the legacy C-130 30 PPM ECS System.This upgrade is provided as a complete kit and is installed on-site by either customer or depot level airframe maintenance personnel, without the need for any major aircraft structural modifications. This solution combines KDA's OEM partnerships, with our in-house engineering, manufacturing, MRO, and supply chain capabilities to ensure a long-term sustainment solution for this mission-critical aircraft platform.About Kellstrom Defense Aerospace, Inc.:Kellstrom Defense Aerospace, Inc. ("KDA") is a global provider for the sustainment of legacy defense aircraft through OEM strategic distribution, component repair services, and engineered products for military transporters, fighter, and rotary wing platforms. The repair services business segment is a Honeywell and AMETEK Authorized Repair Station specializing in the repair and overhaul of Auxiliary Power Units, Engine Driven Compressors, and a full range of mechanical, electro-mechanical, instrument, pneumatic, and fuel system components. The segment also specializes in the repair and overhaul of Accessory Class III components, Instrument Class I, II, III, and IV avionics, and landing gear systems. The Repair Management team leverages in-house repair capabilities and an FAA authorized facility to provide value-added repair solutions for OEMs and customers. With operations in Camarillo, CA; Miramar, FL; Macon, GA; Cambridge, UK; Windsor, AU; Singapore; United Arab Emirates; and Indonesia, the KDA team provides support to the United States military and over 60 partnering nations. KDA is committed to compliance, with hundreds of active export licenses and dedicated contract, export, and security personnel. The Kellstrom Defense Advantage is being a respected global leader for defense aircraft sustainment, deploying an experienced team and complete capabilities to solve customer challenges. Further information is available at www.kellstromdefense.com and www.c130.com.Media Contact:Kellstrom Defense Aerospace, Inc.Ruth GarciaDirector, Marketing & CommunicationsPR@ kellstromdefense.comSOURCE: Kellstrom Defense PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 16:10:03 KARLSRUHE, Germany and BUDAPEST, Hungary and GRAZ, Austria, Oct. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 2018 IUPAC-ThalesNano prize has been awarded to Professor C. Oliver Kappe. The prize will be presented at the 15th International Conference on Microreaction Technology (IMRET15) in Karlsruhe on October 21, 2018. The award address will be delivered at the Flow Chemistry Europe Conference in Cambridge, UK on February 26th, 2019. The prize consists of an award of $10,000 US Dollars. Professor Kappe is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Graz (Austria) and Scientific Director for Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CC Flow) at the Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE). Professor Kappe has over 400 publications in the areas of continuous flow chemistry, application of microreactors, process intensification, and microwave-assisted reactions. He and his team have published syntheses with challenging systems and chemistry. He has served as an Ambassador for Flow Chemistry through his teaching, interdisciplinary work, and collaborations. Professor Kappe holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Graz in 1992. He completed postdoctoral research at the University of Queensland (Australia) and Emory University (United States). He has served as visiting scientist/professor at the Scripps Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Flow Chemistry and the founding editor. For more information please contact Mr. Gergely Papp, CEO: gergely.papp@thalesnano.com PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 21:01:21 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 845 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SUNNYVALE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 / Skygold Financial Group, located in the high-tech San Francisco Bay Area, California, has announced that it will now be utilizing an innovative new technology called Structured Optimized Life Insurance, better known as the SoLI Solution. The firm will now be using this proprietary technology and ground-breaking design along with their other available financial services and products. It has been reported that the SoLI Solution can result in savings of up to 70% on permanent life insurance premiums. This revolutionary technology is described to be "disrupting the life insurance industry.""Traditional life insurance product designs are out of date and it can be too costly to maintain the amount of coverage that one needs for a premium they can afford. The SoLi Solution is designed to replace those out of date plans and offer more options to our clients, and will allow us to achieve more at a lower cost, says Andrej Kandus, founder and principal of Skygold Financial Group. "We specialize in innovative strategies that help home and business owners gain financial freedom. Utilizing the SoLI Solution will help us to offer our clients the proper amount of coverage and income and, at the same time, provide the maximum savings.""Our firm prides itself in its knowledge on a broad spectrum of concepts and products, and I am extremely excited about this breakthrough technology," Kandus says, noting that this new design technology is a fitting addition to the products and services already offered by the firm. "Our goal is to be the place a client can turn to in order to get answers." For more information about any of the services offered by Skygold Financial Group, people can visit skygoldfinancial.com.While the SoLI Solution is a new technological advancement, Kandus states that it is only offered in conjunction with insurance companies that maintain an A.M. Best rating of "A" or higher. The A.M. Best Company, founded in 1899, is the oldest and most widely recognized rating agency in the insurance industry. A.M. Best is considered as a main measure of financial strength for insurance companies.Kandus suggests that the SoLI Solution will likely be a popular option for many business owners that might be currently struggling to balance and manage various expenses including employee benefits, assorted insurance premiums, and a multitude of other regular operating costs. "Business owners that may have been juggling expenses before, will now be provided with more options, while saving on costs. They will be able to decide how to best use the savings generated by the SoLI Solution to benefit their business. They will have the opportunity to select from many options based on their personal and business needs. They may decide to increase wages and benefits provided to their loyal employees, re-invest or expand their business, update aging office equipment, or boost their own retirement, just listing a few. The point is, they will have options that were not previously available to them."Because this innovative design has generated such an overwhelming response, Kandus says that in order to provide the best opportunity and experience for clients, he and his team will initially schedule a 15-minute telephone interview. They will ask a series of questions to determine if the individual is a good prospect for the SOLI Solution. If they are, Kandus and the Skygold Financial Group team will work together with the individual to obtain information about their current polices and coverage to accurately compare the plans side by side. After assessment, if it is determined that there is potential for savings, only then will Kandus meet face to face with the prospective client to present opportunities and options. "We understand and respect that our clients' time is valuable," remarked Kandus, "The last thing we want to do is waste their time until we know that we can save them money."Skygold Financial Group offers many other services related to financial health and success. Kandus states that the firm offers virtual family office services and specializes in proven and safer strategies to protect and grow wealth, to protect income and assets and finally preserve family estates. Some other factors to consider when evaluating financial health include asset protection, tax planning, as well as financial and estate planning. Skygold Financial provides guidance in each of those areas, and more.Founded by Andrej Kandus in 1989, Skygold Financial Group is located at 1150 Brickyard Cove Road, Suite B11, Point Richmond, CA 94801. According to its profile, Skygold Financial Group is considered the premier business and financial consultancy firm for the successful members of the Silicon Valley small business community as well as successful professionals.Anyone interested in learning more about Skygold Financial Group and their services and products, or about their collaboration with the ground-breaking new technology of the SoLI Solution can visit the website skygoldfinancial.com for information.Contact Skygold Financial Group:Andrej Kandus650-308-9399skygold.services@gmail.com710 Lakeway Drive Suite 275Sunnyvale, CA 94085SOURCE: Skygold Financial Group PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 09:03:03 The worlds largest global private equity conference focused on LP/GP relations returns to Amsterdam for four days of premier education and networking SuperInvestor Comes Back to Amsterdam November 13-16 BackBay Communications Stephen Fishleigh, +44 203 475 7552 Stephen.fishleigh@backbaycommunications.com SuperReturn, the worlds leading private equity and venture capital conference series, will host its annual SuperInvestor conference at Hotel Okura in Amsterdam November 13-16, 2018. The four-day event will see over 1,100 private equity professionals from across the globe convene for premier networking, thought provoking presentations and discussion, and professional development opportunities. The event will feature over 200 industry thought leaders addressing the most important topics and issues facing the private equity industry. In addition, exclusive closed-door sessions will provide opportunities for candid conversations on pressing topics. Conference attendees will listen and discuss a wide variety of topics including the transformation of private equity, benchmarking, emerging markets, diversity, long hold funds, the next wave in venture capital, and many others. Among the special guest speakers are: Linda Yueh, leading economist, broadcaster and commentator on global economic issues, who will provide her perspective on the macro-economic landscape heading into 2019; Tim Harford, the world renowned behavioural economist and author of The Undercover Economist; and Pieter van der Does, CEO of Adyen, the global payment company behind 2018s largest tech IPO. Other speakers include: Kurt Bjorklund, Co-Managing Partner, Permira Co-Managing Partner, Permira Jonathan Rotolo, Head of Private Equity/Real Assets, Barings Head of Private Equity/Real Assets, Barings David Rubenstein, Co-Founder & Co-Executive Chairman, The Carlyle Group Co-Founder & Co-Executive Chairman, The Carlyle Group Stephen Smith, Chairman, Concord Music Group Chairman, Concord Music Group Maarten Vervoort, Managing Director, AlpInvest Partners Managing Director, AlpInvest Partners Glenn Youngkin, Co-Chief Executive Officer, The Carlyle Group Co-Chief Executive Officer, The Carlyle Group Niklas Zennstrom, CEO & Founding Partner, Atomico We are honoured and excited to host SuperInvestor again this year, said Dorothy Kelso, Global Private Equity Strategy Director of SuperReturn. This event gives GPs and LPs an unrivalled opportunity to intensively network and learn from some of the worlds top private equity and venture capital investors. In addition to the main agenda and conference tracks, SuperInvestor will also host three one-day specialist summits on November 13th for conference-goers focused on private credit, secondaries and fundraising. To view the full schedule of speakers and events, and to register to attend, please visit: https://finance.knect365.com/superinvestor/ Sponsors of this years event include AlpInvest, Ares, Barings, OMelveny, IAG, Linklaters, McDermott Will & Emery, MVision, Jersey Finance and Greenhill Cogent. About SuperInvestor SuperInvestor is the largest global private equity conference focused on LP/GP relations and part of the SuperReturn series of leading private equity events which take place across the world. The four-day conference will bring together the industrys leading professionals from across the world, including over 500 GPs and 400 LPs, to network and discuss current trends and opportunities in the global private equity sphere. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181015005 #SuperInvestor, the worlds largest global #PrivateEquity conference focused on LP/GP relations, education & networking returns to Amsterdam PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 11:36:02 Today, with reference to stock exchange announcement of 5 October 2018 (Approval of Telias acquisition of TDCs Norwegian business) and stock exchange announcement of 17 July 2018 (TDC Group divests its Norwegian business to Telia Company), TDC A/S announces that divestment of Get AS to Telia Company has been completed. As a consequence of the divestment Gunnar Evensen, SEVP, Get & TDC Norway will step down from his position in TDCs Corporate Management Team. For inquiries regarding the above please contact TDC Group Investor Relations, on +45 6663 7680 or investorrelations@tdc.dk. Attachment PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 20:36:05 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 659 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / October 15, 2018 / Patyl A. Oflazian has joined Talenfeld Law, Florida's only law firm dedicated exclusively to protecting abused, disabled and injured children. Oflazian joins the firm as a senior associate and will focus her practice on sexual abuse, wrongful death, foster care and disabled person's damages, civil rights, personal injury, and child welfare litigation. "Patyl is a true advocate for children who brings great courtroom knowledge and experience to our legal team," said Howard Talenfeld, firm managing partner. "She was a powerhouse in the office of the Broward County State Attorney and will use her extensive trial experience in prosecuting sex crimes and murders to obtain justice for abused and disabled children, and help us in our continued efforts to improve our state's child welfare system."Prior to joining Talenfeld Law, Oflazian was an Assistant State Attorney in the 17th Judicial Circuit, serving in the Sexual Battery and Child Abuse Unit as well as in the Homicide Trial Unit where she tried approximately 100 jury trials. Additionally, she served in the Juvenile Unit and in the Felony Trial Unit where she handled offenses ranging from third degree felonies to first degree felonies punishable by life in prison. "She is a great addition to our team who are devoted to protecting children," said Stacie Schmerling, partner at Talenfeld Law. "Patyl has earned a reputation as a tough trial lawyer and that's just the kind of advocate we need on our side as we fight to protect society's most vulnerable populations."Oflazian earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science from Temple University. She attended Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law graduating in 2010 with pro bono honors and Certification in Health Law. While serving as a prosecutor, she continued her graduate education at Temple University Beasley School of Law earning her LL.M. in Trial Advocacy. She graduated with honors and was awarded the Edward D. Ohlbaum Award for Commitment to the Art of Trial Advocacy. As a leader in the legal realm, Oflazian is a member of The Florida Bar's Criminal Law Section and Government Lawyers Section Executive Council. Since earning her LL.M., she has joined the Temple University Beasley School of Law LL.M. in Trial Advocacy Program faculty. She also often returns to Nova Southeastern University to participate in teaching programs and workshops with law students.Outside the courtroom, Oflazian is committed to serving her community by dedicating her time and efforts to numerous South Florida organizations and philanthropic causes. This work has been acknowledged by some of the area's top charity organizations, including recognition from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as a Fort Lauderdale's Finest Young Professional Honoree in 2015 and as a 40 Under 40 Outstanding Lawyer of South Florida in 2017. Additionally, she is past Co-Chairperson of the Broward Sexual Assault Intervention Network (BSAIN). "My true passion has always been trial law. I'm proud to join the team at Talenfeld Law to further their work in Florida as we advocate for the rights and protection of children," Oflazian said.Oflazian is admitted to practice law in Florida, New Jersey and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She is fluent in Armenian.###About Talenfeld LawTalenfeld Law is Florida's only law firm exclusively dedicated to protecting the rights of abused, disabled and injured children. The firm was founded by Howard Talenfeld, a preeminent children's rights lawyer, who has earned numerous significant, multimillion dollar awards for foster children, the developmentally disabled and others harmed while under the care of state agencies and contracted care providers. The firm, including its prior incarnation, has been involved in precedent-setting actions and systemic reform and has established a reputation as champions of the rights of the abused in personal injury claims for damages. Learn more at www.JusticeForKids.us Media Contact: Michelle Griffith of BoardroomPR at 407-973-8555 or mgriffith@ boardroompr.comSOURCE: Talenfeld Law PR-Inside.com: 2018-10-15 07:31:05 As a result of difference of opinion in the project, TenneT has terminated The Wintrack II contract and the realisation of this project has been stopped. The contract involves the construction of new high-voltage pylons for two tracks: Eemshaven-Vierverlaten and Borssele-Rilland. The Heijmans-Europoles consortium is currently in talks with the client, TenneT, about the settlement. TenneT granted the consortium the contract in January 2017 under the header Realisatie Wintrack II, Noordwest 380kV en Zuidwest 380kV. In the consortium, Heijmans is responsible for the construction of the foundations for the high-voltage pylons, while Europoles is responsible for the pylons themselves. A difference of opinion has risen between the consortium and the client. As a result of this, TenneT has decided to terminate the contract. At the moment, consultations are ongoing with TenneT to discuss the financial settlement. In addition, Heijmans German partner Europoles applied for an insolvency procedure in Germany due to financial problems, intended to realise a sustainable restructuring of the company. About Heijmans Heijmans is a listed company that combines activities related to property development, building & technology, roads and civil engineering in the areas living, working and connecting. Our constant focus on quality improvements, innovation and integrated solutions enables us to generate added value for our clients. Heijmans realises projects for private consumers, companies and public sector bodies, and together we are building the spatial contours of tomorrow. You will find additional information at our website: www.heijmans.nl. For more information / not for publication: Media Marieke Swinkels-Verstappen Communications +31 73 543 52 17 mswinkels-verstappen@heijmans.nl Analysts Guido Peters Investor Relations + 31 73 543 52 17 gpeters@heijmans.nl Attachment Justice J. Adepoju of the FCT High Court sitting in Wuse, Abuja, on Friday, October 12 convicted and sentenced one Godfrey Ango, a support staff from Integrated Corporate Services attached to Access Bank Wuse 2, to six years in prison on a 12-count charge bordering on diversion and misappropriation of depositors money. Arraigned in December 2015, Mr Ango sometime in 2011, while being a bulk teller in Access Bank allegedly diverted over N5,224,500 of depositors money to personal use. It was reported that the victims Hillside Schools and one other company, petitioned the bank. The case was investigated internally by the bank and later referred to the EFCC for further investigation and prosecution. In his statement to the EFCC, Mr Ango confessed to committing the crime and outlined how he spent part of the money to settle personal problems such as house rent, school fees, clothes, shoes and to obtain Ukrainian Students Visa. Counsel to EFCC, D.M Nkwa, urged the court to convict the defendant so that it can serve as deterrent to him and others. In his judgment, Justice Adepoju found Mr Ango guilty of all the 12 counts and sentenced him to 6months imprisonment with option of N200,000 fine on each of the counts. The court also ordered the convict to make a restitution of the diverted sum to the victims. I have considered the arguments of both parties, since the purpose of punishment is to prevent further offences and the convict has shown remorse for his actions, monetary conviction and payment of fine is necessary. It will also allow decongestion of prison, the judge said. Unites States President, Donald Trump, and First Lady, Melania, will visit Floridas storm-ravaged Panhandle on Monday, the White House announced. This is the presidents first tour of the destruction left by the deadly Hurricane Michael. It was previously announced that Mr Trump would also inspect South Georgia, also battered by the storm that came ashore on Floridas Gulf Coast last week before it struck U.S. East Coast. With 155 mph (250 kph) winds, Michael hit land on October 10 as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. It is one of the most powerful storms to make landfall in the continental United States since records have been kept. The presidents exact itinerary was not released late on Sunday but he and the first lady are scheduled to arrive at Elgin Air Force Base in the Panhandle about 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday. They are not scheduled to return to the White House until 8.30 p.m., the White House said. At least 18 people in four states have died because of the storm. Dozens of people remained missing on Sunday in Florida Panhandle communities reduced to ruins. Rescuers said they expected the death toll to rise and they were using cadaver dogs and heavy equipment to search through collapsed homes in Mexico Beach and Panama City for more victims. Rescue efforts have been hampered by blocked roads and huge piles of rubble in many communities such as Mexico Beach, which took a direct hit from the massive storm that killed at least one person there. If we lose only one life, to me thats going to be a miracle, Mexico Beach Mayor, Al Cathey told Florida media. Mr Cathey told Media that 46 people out of the town of some 1,000 residents remained missing or unaccounted for on Sunday. Survivors grappled with power outages and shortages of food and water amid the mazes of uprooted trees and debris. Electricity and telephone service were being slowly restored but it could be weeks before power returns to the states most damaged areas. More than 1,700 search and rescue workers were deployed, Florida Governor Rick Scotts office said, including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300 ambulances. In Panama City, hardest-hit communities, Fire Chief Alex Baird said search and rescue teams were now in recovery mode after largely giving up hope of finding any more survivors. Mr Trump is fully committed to helping state and local agencies with the recovery, the White House said. It was announced late on Sunday that he declared a state of emergency in Georgia, freeing up federal resources for the state. A similar declaration had already been made for Florida. (Reuters/NAN) Over 22 million methamphetamine pills and 100 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine were seized in two separate raids over the weekend in Northern Thailand, police said on Monday. Following tip-offs, police on Saturday arrested three Thai men transporting more than 12 million methamphetamine pills and 100 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine out of the northern province Chiang Rai, deputy national police chief, Chalermkiat Srivorakan, told reporters. On Sunday, another 10 million methamphetamine pills were seized in Chiang Rai after smugglers left them behind while fleeing police, Mr Chalermkiat said. The busts were among Thailands biggest drug confiscations this year. In April 29, million dollars worth of drugs including 1.7 million methamphetamine pills were seized in a week-long series of raids across the country. Methamphetamine pills are popular in Thailand and across South-East Asia. Most methamphetamine smuggled into Thailand comes from Myanmar through the Golden Triangle, a shared border area between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, which is notorious for drug smuggling. (dpa/NAN) The Macedonian parliament is due to begin debate on constitutional amendments to change the countrys name, to end long-running diplomatic feud with Greece, local media reported on Monday. According to the report, lawmakers are considering whether to begin the process, for which the Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, needs two-thirds majority, or 80 out of the 120 votes, to effect the change. It is unclear whether his governing coalition can rake in the extra 10 votes needed from the nationalist opposition in order to launch the changes. If parliament does agree to the procedure, it would still have to seal the changes with another vote requiring the two-thirds majority, it noted. Mr Zaev and his Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, in June agreed that the former Yugoslav republic will change its name to the Republic of Northern Macedonia. In return, Athens, which claims the name Macedonia and its historic legacy for its northern province, has vowed to stop blocking Skopjes membership to NATO and, in the long term, the European Union. Mr Zaev urged all legislators to back the agreement, but promised to call early elections if he fails to push it through. Opponents of the name change have scheduled a protest in front of the parliament an hour before the parliamentary session. (dpa/NAN) Egypts top appeals court on Monday upheld a three-year prison sentence and hefty damages on deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on charges of insulting the judiciary, state media reported. The Court of Cassation also confirmed the same sentence for 19 other defendants in the same case. The initial sentence was issued in 2017 by the Cairo Criminal Court that convicted Mr Morsi of defaming the judiciary in a televised speech he made in 2013 when he was in power. In his speech, Mr Morsi accused a judge of overseeing fraud in previous elections. The criminal court had also ordered Mr Morsi to pay one million Egyptian pounds (56,270 dollars) in damages to that judge. Five other defendants were ordered to pay a fine of 30,000 Egyptian pounds each in the case. They include Alaa Abdel-Fatah, a leading pro-democracy campaigner, who rose to prominence during the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time dictator Hosny Mubarak. Mr Morsi, Egypts first democratically elected president was toppled by the army in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. He has been tried in several different cases since his ouster. Mr Morsi is serving a final sentence of 20 years in prison in a separate case related to inciting deadly attacks on anti-Islamist protesters in 2012. In 2017, the Court of Cassation upheld a separate 25-year jail sentence for Morsi on charges of harming national security by leaking secret state documents to his ally Qatar while he was in office. (dpa/NAN) Korean Air Lines Co Ltds chairman, Cho Yang-ho, on Monday was indicted on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust, South Korean prosecutors said. South Korean prosecutors said Mr Cho added to a string of woes at the countrys biggest airline group. Mr Cho is the latest head of a big business group, or chaebol, to face legal challenges in South Korea since President Moon Jae-in took office in 2017 with a pledge to curb the excessive power of family-owned conglomerates and improve their governance. Earlier this month, an appeals court found the chairman of retail-to-chemicals conglomerate Lotte Group, Shin Dong-bin, guilty of charges including bribery and breach of trust. The court said he was charged for his role in an influence-peddling scandal that led to the ouster of the countrys former president, Park Geun-hye. Samsung Groups de facto leader Jay Y. Lee was also convicted of corruption in the same bribery scandal. Both Messrs Lee and Shin are currently awaiting rulings from the countrys top court after their jail terms were suspended by a lower court. A Seoul prosecutors office said Cho took 19.6 billion won (17 million dollars) commission from 2003 through 2018 by setting up a trading company to broker aircraft equipment and in-flight duty-free goods purchase deals for Korean Air. The office said Mr Cho, however, caused the same amount of loss to the airline. Korean Air declined to comment and did not make Cho available for comment. Also, Emily Cho, the chairmans youngest daughter, was cleared of all charges related to her allegedly throwing a drink at two business meeting attendees in April. Although the attendees did not want to press charges, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors office said. (Reuters/NAN) France is ready to help in North Koreas denuclearisation efforts, but Pyongyang must first show some detailed commitments and real desire to dismantle its nuclear and ballistic arsenal, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. France, a nuclear power and permanent member of the UN Security Council, is not directly involved in talks between North Korea, South Korea and the U.S. to work toward the regions denuclearisation. However, diplomats have said that given Paris nuclear know-how it could play a role in the dismantling of nuclear warheads or receiving nuclear materials. We are waiting for precise commitments from Pyongyang to demonstrate its real desire to engage in a dismantlement of its nuclear and ballistic programmes, Mr Macron told a news conference alongside his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in. We are ready to put forward our expertise and play an active role if a negotiation process is started. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and U.S. President Donald Trump pledged at a landmark summit in Singapore in June to work toward denuclearisation. But the agreement was short on specifics and talks have made little headway since, with the North refusing to declare its nuclear weapons and facilities or agree to a concrete timeline. We have scientific, technical, operational, nuclear expertise which, in the context of a denuclearisation, is very useful and which we want to make available if it appears to be relevant, Mr Macron said. Mr Moon said on Sunday that Mr Kim was sincere in abandoning nuclear weapons. Speaking alongside Macron, he said it was crucial countries on the Security Council give North Korea confidence that it had made the right decision to give up its weapons programme. Mr Macron said Security Council resolutions needed to remain in place and should only evolve with a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation process. While Pyongyang has stopped nuclear and missile tests this year, it failed to keep its promise to allow international inspections of its dismantling of the Punggye-ri site in May, stirring criticism that the move could be reversed. The reclusive communist state has no official diplomatic relations with France, one of only two EU countries along with Estonia to cut ties with North Korea until it abandons its nuclear weapons programme and improves its human rights record. Depending on how this evolves we will envisage on the one hand changes in terms of our bilateral diplomatic relations and on the other hand changes to sanctions policy, Macron said. I think its good to keep seep some pressure levers to make sure there are changes, he said. (Reuters/NAN) A landmark has been reached in health care delivery in Nigeria as a private hospital in Abuja announced the acquisition of the latest laser surgical machine in the world. The 120 watts Holmium Moses Technology laser machine, bought by Kelina Hospital, Abuja has a surgery time 25 per cent faster than the conventional 120 watts laser machine. Briefing newsmen on the acquisition in Abuja on Monday, a urological surgeon in the hospital, Celsus Undie, said the equipment is the most powerful laser machine ever invented for human surgery. The development is significant, as Nigerians are amongst the worlds most prolific medical tourists, with a large number going abroad for treatments ranging from cardiac surgeries, neuro-surgeries, cosmetic surgeries, orthopedic surgeries, and renal transplant surgeries. The rapid growth of foreign medical tourism by Nigerians is traceable to poor service delivery, lengthy waiting times and the absence of specialist services, among other flaws in their countrys health care sector. Mr Undie, who spoke for the management of the facility, said urology is the strongest aspect of the works of the hospital, among other surgical operations it carries. He said though the machine came at a double cost, it has a greater advantage than the conventional 120 watts laser machine because operation time with the new machine is better, faster and reduces blood loss during operation. He noted that patients who undergo surgery with the machine will be discharged same day, unlike with the conventional machine, which could keep the patients in hospital up to three days or longer. Mr Undie also noted that the cost of surgical operation is the same, irrespective of the machine used. He said in a bid to make surgeries accessible for average Nigerians, the hospital management was partnering with Surgical Aid Foundation, a non governmental organisation, to sponsor patients who cannot afford the bill. He said the NGO provides at least 50 per cent of some bills and in cases of widows and orphans, it pays the full bill. Mr Undie said Nigerians no longer have to travel abroad for treatment as they can now receive adequate treatments in the country. The programme manager of the Surgical AIDS Foundation, Abidemi Babatunde, said over 70 applications had been received from patients this year. She said the organisation will be sponsoring surgeries for enlarged prostate, kidney stones, gynecological problems and other forms of surgeries. The current Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah, on Sunday sent the statement below to PREMIUM TIMES explaining his role in the October 11 meeting in Abeokuta that culminated in the historic reconciliation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar. In the detailed and lengthy statement, Mr. Kukah said he only facilitated reconciliation between the two men, and that he was not part of the subsequent event which saw Mr. Obasanjo endorsing Mr. Abubakar for the 2019 presidential election. The bishop also explained how he initiated the reconciliation moves and how he worked hard to be a neutral, non-partisan facilitator in the entire process. Another cleric at the event, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, had also explained his role at the meeting. David Oyedepo, the general overseer of the Living Faith Church Worldwide was the third cleric at the meeting. He is yet to speak on his role. READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW. PRESIDENT OBASANJO & ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR: A RECONCILIATION NOT AN ENDORSEMENT. Bishop Matthew Hassan KUKAH I have deliberately made this explanatory note long because I think it is necessary that people make up their minds based on the facts, given my central role in the event. I note that Sheikh Gumi has already told his own side of the story. I feel obliged to state my own side so that Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement. Sadly, I personally did not read President Obasanjos statement until two days later on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall. Although trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up. My focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation. Understandably, the pictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar, Shaikh Gumi and I) literally lit up the social media and elicited divergent reactions from the general public. Although over 99% of the reactions that have come to me have been largely those of commendation, with people focusing, rightly, on the reconciliation, there have been others whose focus has been on an isolated development that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all these years, namely, the endorsement. I must say that I am eternally grateful to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focus of attention has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by President Obasanjo, a development that I can call the third leg of the process which I initiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjos other interlocutors after we agreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and so, I will only clear the air on what I can take full responsibility for. Let me state first that I am a priest of the Catholic Church and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I have more than a passing knowledge of our discipline and doctrine in matters relating to the role of a Catholic priest in political engagement. My doctoral thesis was on Religion and Politics in Nigeria. So, this is an area that I have written and spoken extensively about for over thirty years. I am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. So let me explain what really happened. On Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 I had the honor of being the Guest Speaker for the annual Conference of the Four Square Gospel Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, a member of this Church had first invited me some years back but I could not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the Chairman of the occasion. At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to leave because he had a scheduled meeting. I told him I needed to see him briefly and he obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he thought of his reconciliation with Alhaji Atiku. My last discussion with him this year was either January or February. His response was still negative and he told me what he later told the media. I reminded him that I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle. After all, I said to him, as a Christian, this is an important thing for you to do. He was quiet and then said he would speak with me later that evening on his final decision. We parted, he to his car and I returned to the Church to end the event. At about 9pm the same Tuesday, he called to say that he had thought over the issues I had raised and finally decided to accept my suggestion and that yes, he would be happy to reconcile with Alhaji Abubakar. When did he think we could meet then, I asked him? He said he would look at his diary and get back to me later. Then, just before 11pm the same Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diary was full, that the earliest date for him was October 21st. I accepted happily and told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Abubakar either directly, or through his aides to convey the news. My initial intention had been to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at the Four Square Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next morning, Wednesday October 10th, after I had finished celebrating the Holy Mass, I received a call from President Obasanjo: Bishop, listen, I have changed my mind. My heart nearly sank, but before I could ask why, he said: Let us do it tomorrow if you can reach Atiku. I am going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be back home before 1pm. So, tell him to come at 1pm. I started frantic efforts to reach Alhaji Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, and asked him to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about 1pm, I received a call from him. I told him what had happened with President Obasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on Thursday. I got back to my hosts, the Four Square Gospel Church to tell them about the change in my travelling plans especially as I had no car to take me to Abeokuta. I didnt want to ask President Obasanjos people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed a leeway of independence and trust. My hosts were exceedingly gracious in making a vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me to Abeokuta. Earlier that morning, President Obasanjo had called me a second time and told me that he wanted Alhaji Abubakar to come with the Chairman of the PDP, and two or three others. He also told me he had also invited both Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo. This was welcome news- Rev. Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence of Shaikh Gumi made sense. I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting larger for something I thought was between three of us. I arrived Abeokuta about 12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji Abubakar and his team. Alhaji Abubakar and his team arrived, and then I saw more and more people coming in. I saw familiar faces of different people who turned out to be the leaders of Afenifere. All these years, whenever I brought up this matter of reconciliation, my idea has always been for the three of us to sit down together. I still believed that the meeting would be between the two of them and the three religious leaders. When President Obasanjo appeared, I walked up to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for the meeting. He suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a few words about how we got here. I declined because it seemed again that at this point, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be caught in it. I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been achieved, namely, getting these two men to put the past behind them. My personal preoccupation was a pastoral one, and not a political one. I was uncomfortable with this and I decided to make my position clear. I offered a different proposal to help us sift the moral grain from the chaff of politics via a three-step process so as to insulate the three of us from the political fallout. I proposed that the first step would be for he and Alhaji Abubakar to sit down behind closed doors, sort out their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh Gumi and I to go in and listen to the two of them as Rev. Oyedepo had not arrived. After that, I said, they could continue with the third phase which from what I could see was high wire politics and I had no wish to be caught in the web. After they both finished their brief meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat down with the two of them. We had some small briefing and then both of us spoke briefly on what they had done, encouraging them to ensure that this reconciliation holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and our marriage vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what has now become the famous photograph behind closed doors. At this point, I felt that my spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to maintain my independence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I was hungry and food was being laid out, I skipped lunch. I quietly let myself out by the side door, got into the Four Square Gospel car and we drove off to Lagos. Despite the dread of Lagos traffic and the disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, I had declined the offer of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them to Abeokuta. Although flying with them was the best (and most convenient) assurance I had of getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at an event with the Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it was necessary to ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties. I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. I perfectly understand the feelings of many of my friends and members of the opposition who believe that I travelled with Alhaji Abubakar and his team to attend his endorsement by President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was not the case. All the bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospel hosts for the earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, booked accommodation for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight to Abuja and Sokoto. I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served my entire adult life as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliation and peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa Panel. When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of Oputa Panel, I personally undertook to visit both General Babangida and Buhari (he was not at home) at a time that todays latter day Buharists were asking the Panel to compel them to come or risk being blacked out of national life. Objective-minded people will remember that back in 2001, when the Christian community and many of President Buharis opponents claimed that General Buhari had said that Muslims should vote only for Muslims, many people in the Christian community were disappointed that I wrote a long article to explain the context of what he had said after speaking with the General. His party, the ANPP later used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith and experience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard both sides of a story, no matter what. I hope that this clarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all of these in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter the reasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one can not please everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please only ones own conscience, and here, mine is very clear. I have been involved in a few behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years, largely on my own initiative, taking advantage of my knowledge of those engaged in the conflict or at the invitation of third parties. Some have succeeded and some have not. As priest, it is not in my place to publicise what we have achieved. I am the Convener of the National Peace Committee. This alone is enough to place a moral boundary which I am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of trust and that is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear that both President Obasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making peace, I alerted the Chairman of the NPC, General Abdusalam. Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to the Ikoyi home of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan, the Archbishop of Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyone believed this was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imagined the third phase of this meeting. Both theoretically and practically, I have come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about his on two different occasions. Anyone involved in peace making from domestic quarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good, the bad and the ugly. In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long distance runner, believing and trusting that the truth never ever sinks to the bottom of the sea. The truth will always have a stubborn way of defying the hostile elements and popping up at the right time, no matter how long it takes. I perfectly understand that with Alhaji Abubakar having just picked up the Presidential ticket of his Party, without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why many people will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to question my neutrality. However, I have far too many friends across party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or party against the other. It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political space. The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference has signed a statement to the effect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever be open to any politician, something we have all taken seriously. I therefore hope that this clarification helps those whose minds are open. I am thankful to God and quite pleased that this reconciliation took place and that I was a small instrument in making it happen. However, I am sorry that it has been given a different colouration and doubts to many people. Its timing was purely fortuitous and purely circumstantial not a contrivance. Personally, I will never relent in the very urgent task of making peace and reconciliation across the spectrum of our country. Months before the 2019 election, a pro-peace group; members of the National Working Group on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, shared their views about Nigerias democracy, security crisis and consequences of hate speech in this interview with Evelyn Okakwu. The interview was conducted with the following members of the group: Nguyan Feese, Martin Luther Agwai, Jibrin Ibrahim, and Chris Kwaja. Excerpts: PT: Tell us about the concerns that resulted in the creation of your group? NWG: The issue is that northern Nigeria has a number of key challenges; one of which is the level of poverty which is very high. The other is the spread of violence because of the conflict in this region. The third is the challenge of governance which is much more in this part of the country and it is within that context that we thought it would be good to have a working group that looks at some of these issues. Part of what motivated us in the first place is the fact that you tend to have regional groups that emerge to sow seeds of division; to explain why they should have another logic outside the national space, as we understand it. And we thought we should do the opposite. To focus on those things that unite us. Why dont we address the issues that provoke dissatisfaction with the country as it is? Solve these problems and on that basis begin to build a country that is peaceful. The working group was established primarily to help support governors in northern Nigeria in addressing some of the key drivers of conflict. In 2016, when the idea was muted and the group was formed, Northern Nigeria was the focus. That does not mean that any of these issues dont exist in other parts of the country. But within that period, northern Nigeria was battling with huge problems: the Boko Haram issue; the farmer/pastoralists conflicts, kidnapping and banditry. Zamfara, Benue Adamawa among others. PT: 2016, which is when your group was formed, witnessed a lot of issues that tested the unity of Nigeria. Have you checked the possible causes of these conflicts? NWG: We as a group have realised that sometimes people feel that the only way they can be heard is when they express themselves in a violent manner and we have also found that sometimes, it is as a result of prolonged agitation. When people keep agitating for something and nothing happens, then one day you will see that they will become violent. The major thing we have observed that results in these challenges is that people believe they are not involved in the decision making process. A lot of things are happening and they are not involved; they do not know what is happening. PT: But with the many challenges and conflicts in the country, would you not say that Nigerian leaders have failed, especially given the fact that your group is made up of some people who have played notable roles in the leadership of the country? NWG: Well leadership as a word is quite a big topic. We have tried to emphasis the fact that leadership does not only involve the people at the top, say may be the president, governor or their likes. Leadership reaches the lowest levels of the society. Virtually, what we have today is the accusing fingers pointed at someone for doing something wrong. The governor has done this or that, this person has marginalised us; we have been excluded, among other things. But how do we change the narrative to say, what can we, at our level do to help bring unity. To help bring prosperity. I will place two assumptions on the table that we are working with: the first is that it takes governance to resolve conflict in the context of what we are dealing with. Secondly, is that the logic of our work is also built on the notion that the calibre of people we are working with can help in amplifying the voices of Nigerians. With the calibre of people we have in the working group, we can bridge the gap between the leaders and the led. PT: Have you engaged Nigerians in interactions? What has been your experience? NWG: This group has met with northern governors. We have had extensive discussions with them. We constantly try to participate in most of the regional things (meetings) that are happening. We will continue to do that until we are heard. But I think the issue is fundamental, because from the beginning; if you look at the establishment, we have governance only through membership of parties and elective positions. And in these parties there is limited participation. If you check the processes that results in the election of these members, there is a constraint on the part of the elected people on the basis of the way that they have been elected. So we think that as a country; we are not really set up for governance yet. We are more set up to; shall I say-organise the parties. The party agenda is over and above that of governance. When you talk to people, you hear slogans like its politics. So I am not really sure where politics ends and governance starts. Because you are elected into a party, so that you will govern. For example, with the development that is going on now, with these politicians going from one place to the other; because they are looking for a place that will suit them. Not necessarily where they will render a service. We constantly feel like nobody is listening to us, because the people for example dont get to fill much. Although you will hear a lot of activities going on. Institutions are not yet feeling the weight of the leadership, the way we would like them to feel it. So for us, one of the things we would like to tell our leaders is: how do we get to the point of good governance; where each one of us will feel our voices heard? We have spoken to young people and asked them why some of them are not joining politics and you hear them saying its because they believe that the godfathers will still nominate and nobody will listen to them. So they believe its a waste of time. So when you already have a predisposed setting of who gets what, the whole issue of governance doesnt really matter. The only thing that matters is; how do we run our party? PT: What has been the efforts from your group to encourage political participation of Nigerians for a better country? NWG: The group has engaged the governors at different levels. We have engaged the federal government and civil society groups here in Abuja. One other tool we have also used is the writing of memos on specific issues that borders on conflict, governance and how many of these issues can be resolved. And one example I will give you is in the context of the farmers/herders crisis. We recognise the fact that it is not only a Nigerian problem. It is a transnational problem both in terms of how it is happening and its consequences. And the working group had a memo that was submitted to the federal government. The chief of staff got it, the minister of interior got it. We sent a copy to ECOWAS. On the basis of that, the minister of interior invited us to participate at the regional meeting that was convened on the farmer herder conflict that was conveyed at the western region which Nigeria is part of. After that, many of the recommendations that were pushed by the group were accepted in that regional meeting. And we got a call from ECOWAS that the heads of states have approved the recommendations of that summit and that they want to partner with the working group towards the implementation. For us that is a milestone we have achieved. We have also supported or have been supporting state governments in their efforts towards institutionalising mechanisms for conflict management. We played active roles in supporting the Plateau State government peace building agency both in terms of its design, its take off, the strategic plan it had that was launched, among other things. The same with the Kaduna peace commission; they are our critical partners. We have also been in talks with the Adamawa State. They have established theirs and appointed a director-general. For us it is important. It departs from this conventional approach of always being reactive; deploying security without really looking at the underlying causes of the conflict. You just set up commissions of enquiry. In Adamawa State for example, they have more than 20 of that. In all the states you have mentioned in northern Nigeria that have had one form of conflict or the other; they have more than 10 commissions, or sub-committees and the likes that have been established to look at these things. And our focus is to use the senior working group to work with these groups to ensure that they are able to respond proactively to the problems. PT: Is your group also considering ways to help manage possible conflicts in this election season? Yes, the last effort is the election violence risk assessment; which was conducted in various states across the country. Ekiti, Rivers, Adamawa, Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja among others. The whole idea was to run away from this attitude of saying; Ekiti is red- there will be violence. Lagos is green, there will be peace. We look more broadly at what the issues are. What is going to happen in 2019 in the context of key happenings in the state? Is it intra, or inter party conflicts? Or is it absence of internal party democracy. Is it about the youth restiveness in the state? Is it about the inability of leaders to address some of the core issues around governance based on the promises they made? How will that play out in 2019? What might be the likelihood of violence? What might be the mitigating factors of violence if at all it occurs? Those are the things we have been able to do. PT: What is the content of the recommendations you said you sent to the government? NWG: I think the first issue we raised with regards to the farmers herders crisis is the importance of understanding what is truly happening. Unfortunately there has been so many conspiracy theories and allegations that have completely diverted from the logic of why that conflict is occurring which in a sense is much more straight-forward. It has to do with climate change, rising population, the expansion of farming in the country, all of which were leading to restrictions in terms of water and pasture for pastoralists. So if you put the problem within that context, you can then begin to look at what are the possible solutions. And one of the key issues we raised in terms of the way forward is to first improve objective reporting of what is going on. There have been a lot of fake news that has spread regarding the matter which has instigated more conflict. The second specific recommendation is to look for alternatives, where you will continue grazing and reduce contacts between farmers and herders. There we took up the issue of the over 400 grazing reserves that have already been demarcated in this country: the grazing and forest reserves. And there are very little farming communities in those reserves. If therefore you orientate the farmers towards those parts where there are limited farmers, then you reduce the possibility of conflict. There are grazing reserves that have not been used because the water structure and infrastructure there have not been developed. So while a lot of them have dams, the infrastructure to access the water has not been created. And using that infrastructure to create more pasture has not happened. So we think an investment like that will be beneficial to both communities. There are specific issues too, about the grazing roots which have been gazetted for over a hundred years. Many of them have also been found. When you block all routes for cattle to pass; then you are creating a propensity for conflicts to increase because the destruction of crops is bound to increase. So these are some of the recommendations we made. The final recommendation is recognising the conflict as a regional dynamics; not just a national dynamic. And of course taking up the issue of the ECOWAS protocol that already exists on pastoralism, by educating both the herders and the farming communities on the conditions for the operations of those ECOWAS protocols on grazing. PT: What are those instances that could result in conflicting situations that you foresee in 2019? What we have witnessed in terms of trends and patterns, in 2015, the focus in the context of how political parties operated was basically where you had PDP vs APC. But in 2019, we are witnessing more of intra parties squabbles and you would see the defections that have occurred as part of those problems. That alone has implications, for the way and manner politicians even run their campaigns, for instance and how the party relates with its members within. There are instances where some political party members join other parties and on getting there; they would want to be leaders, whereas those that were there before them would not agree, but would say; join the queue. This too has its potentials of creating tension within the party. But our research did not only focus on the problem but also looked at mitigation strategies. For example, in the run-up to 2015 in Plateau for instance, the JNI had the issue of Ishaat committee, this is a committee on ethics. You cannot go to preach on Friday or any other day without submitting your sermon papers to that committee; they vet. If there is any content that is capable of creating tension or has what is called hate speech, they edit those things and then monitor it. If you are found guilty then they would sanction you, from stopping you from preaching or giving you some days off not to mount any podium and this really worked for them (JNI). And in the research, our focus is how can other states model this kind of approach. For CAN, they also had the same approach, but its not structured as that of the JNI. When we went to other states, we did not find that but they had their own form of risk mitigation. For instance, in Anambra State, the role of the Church is very important. Traditional institutions are quite active. But part of the challenge we have, when you look at the wider conflicts in Nigeria today, is that that breakdown of traditional authorities where even government is not really working with the traditional institutions. Lastly, within several states, the focus now is more towards local government elections, and that where you find most of the conflicts occurring. Elections are conducted by the states and when they conduct elections, the party in power must win, and the stakes for violence are higher. The unfortunate situation for us is when people reject the election, or when you experience apathy, because people dont trust the process. President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday ordered a travel ban on 50 high-profile Nigerians to stop them from selling off assets acquired with stolen funds, the presidency has said. The individuals, whose identities were not disclosed were banned from travelling abroad. Those banned include those whose assets, valued at N50million and above, are subject of corruption investigation and litigation. His spokesperson, Garba Shehu, in an email response to questions by state house correspondents on Sunday said the very essence of the order is to make for speedy trials and conclusion of graft cases. Mr Shehu said the order, known as Executive Order 6, is the first of its kind in Nigeria in the fight against corruption. Nigerias major opposition party, the PDP and its presidential candidate for the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar have both described the order as a return to fascism and a repeat of evil Decree 2. Mr Buhari as Head of State in 1984 promulgated Decree 2, which allows for indefinite, incommunicado detention of Nigerian citizens. However, Mr Shehu said the government simply drew up the list of 50 Nigerians from ongoing corruption cases. He said the order is not political and that there is no political gain behind its activation. These high profile cases we are talking about have been ongoing for between 7 to 10 years with no end in sight. These case were mostly originated by administrations other than this one. What is clear is that the access to these resources by the suspects has enabled them to be in a position to sometime compromise investigation, prosecution and trial. In most of the cases, the courts are held in a helpless position by legal acrobatics paid for from corrupt enrichment by the suspects, he said. Mr Shehu said the new measures put in place would now compel everyone involved to make for a speedy conclusion of these cases. If it is your money, you have it back. If it belongs to the public, it goes back to the treasury, he said. The presidential aide also said the question of the constitutionality of the restriction order is already answered by a court of the land which has given the government a clean sheet. The Executive Order is legal and constitutional and therefore implementable. One of the cardinal objectives of the government under our constitution is to fight corruption. Fighting corruption is a responsibility and obligation upon the government, he said. Mr Shehu also denied reports of the release of the list. I want to confirm to you that we have not issued any list and we are not doing so. These cases are well known and to say this or that name is on it, will open the door to further accusations, including trial by media. The Immigration Service and other security agencies have the mandate of the President to carry out enforcement and they will do so, giving due respects to individual rights, in line with the constitution, Mr Shehu said. The ruling All Progressives Congress has said it cannot take any action on a video of Governor Umar Ganduje in circulation which appeared to show him taking bribes from contractors, because the matter had been taken to court. The party said Mr Ganduje had sued Daily Nigerian, the platform responsible for the two clips of the scandalous footage released between Sunday and Monday. The matter is in court, the governor has taken the medium to court, party spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu, told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Monday afternoon. We cannot comment on a matter that is already before a law court. Mr Issa-Onilus comments come a day after Daily Nigerian released the initial video to the Nigerian public on Sunday hours after a second batch was released. The first video seemed to show the governor receiving up to $230,000 from Kano State public works contractors for the construction and allocation of stalls in a new market. The governor has denied the allegations contained in the video, first saying it was cloned and later threatening a lawsuit against the publisher of Daily Nigerian. Calls have mounted for Mr Ganduje, 68, to step, but he appears defiant so far. Critics argue that the governor has, at best, violated money laundering laws by handling at least $230,000 (over N82 million) in cash. Both the police and the anti-graft EFCC separately told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday they could not immediately commence investigation into the videos. The Kano State House of Assembly had earlier on Monday raised a seven-man committee to probe the video, Daily Nigerian reported A former Vice-President (Africa) of World Bank, Oby Ezekwesili, has advised the Federal Government of Nigeria to suspend its plan to raise $2.8 billion in Eurobond to fund the 2018 budget. Mrs Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, gave the advice while speaking with reporters in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that she was reacting to the statement made by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, on Sunday that the government would soon float the bond. Speaking at the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Bali, Indonesia, Mrs Ahmed said the country was exploring the bond option to strictly fund capital projects in the budget. The upcoming bonds that we are trying to raise will be within the 2018 budget framework and with approved targets. So, we are not going beyond what was approved in the budget. The budget has approved for us to borrow both locally and internationally and we have a bond issuance with the range of 2.8 billion dollars that we need to raise before the year closes out. The bond will be used to fund capital projects in the 2018 budgets, she said. The minister added that the country had more legroom for borrowings despite high debt profile, saying the total debt profile of the country was just three per cent of the GDP. Reacting , Mrs Ezekwesili said the plan to borrow more was not good for the health of the economy. She argued that the country currently spent 69 per cent of its revenue on servicing both local and international debts. The former World Bank chief added that borrowing more was not a sustainable step as the country was not generating much revenue to cater for its critical development needs. What, in my view, the plan to float the bond portends for the economy is that the federal government is digging in instead of digging out. Already, the debt service to revenue is so high. Today it is 69 per cent; 69 per cent of revenue is used to service our debts. That is not a sustainable situation. I see the government quote all the time `Debt to GDP ratio, but that is like a blunt instrument in an environment where your GDP is not reflective of your productivity. We measure your productivity by the revenue the GDP generates in the form of revenue of government that comes as a result of the GDP. Your debt to GDP is three per cent and you think that gives you the legroom to borrow and borrow. No, that is not your instrument. Your instrument is your debt service tool, which is the revenue, she said. Mrs Ezekwesili urged the government to avoid plunging the country to insolvency someday with borrowings, by exploring innovative ways to increase revenue. She particularly urged the government to diversify revenue sources and pursue deep sector and structural reforms to reposition the economy. The former World Bank official urged the country to prioritise its needs and deploy limited resources only in those areas with massive impact on development. Mrs Ezekwesili, a presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), said the economy was in need of workable policies for revival, and promised to cause an economic turnaround if elected. (NAN) The Boko Haram has killed another worker of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the ICRC on Sunday raised alarm that the Boko Haram threatened to kill Hauwa Liman within the next 24 hours. Ms Liman was kidnapped alongside others in March in Rann, Borno State, when the insurgents attacked a camp for displaced persons. One of the kidnapped aid workers, Saifura Khorsa, had been killed in September. Reacting to the murder of Ms Liman, the Nigerian government said it is shocked and saddened at the Monday killing. The government said the aid worker was killed despite the actions taken by the government and the widespread appeal to save the young woman. After the September murder of Ms Khorsa, the Boko Haram released a video threatening to kill Ms Liman and Leah Sharibu, one of the schoolgirls abducted at Government Secondary School, Dapchi in Yobe State last year. In a statement issued in London on Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, described Mondays killing as dastardly, inhuman and ungodly, saying nothing can justify the shedding of the blood of innocent people. He commiserated with the family of the aid worker, and said the federal government did all within its powers to save her life. It is very unfortunate that it has come to this. Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the federal government did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker. Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed [Photo: Daily Trust] As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole. We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of the first aid worker. However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors, the minister said. Mr Mohammed thanked all the friendly governments that have continued to work with Nigeria for the safe release of the abducted women, and the clerics across religious lines who have been pleading for their release. In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES Monday evening, ICRC representative in Abuja, Matijevic Mosimann, said the Red Cross would issue a statement on Tuesday. We have seen media reports about the possible murder of another worker. But right now, I cannot deny or confirm the report. We will issue a statement on the matter tomorrow. If it is true, this will be quite unfortunate,not only for ICRC but for all humanitarian workers all over the world, Ms Mosimann said. The Boko Haram insurgency has caused about 100,000 deaths since 2009, according to the Borno State Government. Despite the efforts of security forces, the insurgents still carry out attacks on civilian and military targets in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. The Nigerian Police have confirmed that their officers were involved in the killing of Anita Akapson, a resident of the Federal Capital Territory, on October 13. Following reports of Ms Akapsons murder at her residence in the Katampe area of Abuja, Nigerians on social media condemned the trigger-happy police officers suspected to be involved in the murder. In a statement on Monday signed by the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, directed the immediate detention of the officers involved in the murder and complete investigation into the matter. The Inspector General of Police has directed the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to immediately detain and personally carry out a thorough investigation of policemen involved in the incident that resulted in the death of Miss Anita Akapson at Katampe Extension, Abuja on the night of Saturday, 13th October, 2018; and bring the perpetrators to justice. The IGP deeply commiserate with the family of the deceased and hereby assure them that justice will be done in the matter. The Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command is already in touch with the family as directed by the Inspector General of Police. The public will be informed of the outcome of investigations into the incident, the statement added. Another Nigerian, Nkechi Igwetu, a member of the National Youth Service Corps, was allegedly killed by police officers in July. The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies to follow the rules of law and the constitution in trying the outgoing governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, after leaving office. Mr Secondus stated this at the send-off ceremony organised by the PDP Governors Forum for Mr Fayose, on Sunday night in Abuja Mr Fayose leaves office on Tuesday at the expiration of his tenure. The EFCC operatives have reportedly been on the trail of the outgoing governor. Let me say here there are threat of intimidation and frame-up waiting for our brother who has performed very well in Ekiti state, Mr Secondus said. The world is watching, international community is also watching what will happen to this gentleman that has performed well in Ekiti. So when you invite him and he honours it, he is not a coward. If you tamper with his Human Rights and you detain him the whole world will cry out. He urged Mr Fayose to join the cadre of Nigerian citizens who were advocating peace and security as well as free and fair elections for our country. Mr Secondus said the party was proud of its governors and the achievements recorded in their various states. he said Mr Fayose and every other PDP governors had performed credibly in transforming their states. Ekiti State is not the same anymore. If you go to Ekiti now you can see the best of the roads, one of the longest bridges, buildings infrastructure and development in all facets We are proud of you as PDP governor. We are also proud of other governors of PDP. In fact, for this country, the PDP governors have set the pace for development all over our states. I am proud to say that all over our states around the country, you can see great achievements of our government. Mr Secondus added that the party was also proud of the choice of the former Governor of Anambra, Peter Obi as the running mate to the PDP presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar. We are also proud of one of our leaders that had been chosen as our presidential candidates running mate, every other thing will be discussed. I believe that my responsibility as the national chairman is to ensure that the house is coming together and by the grace of God we will be on one page for the Nigerian project. Mr Obi on his part, also commended PDP governors for performing well in their states, adding that they were owing less and performing better. I could see they need the encouragement, he said. The presidential candidates running mate, also commended PDP governors for hosting one of theirs, saying this was the first thing I have witnessed in this country, where a governor was leaving and other governors celebrate him. Usually it is oh you are going you are on your own. It is something worth celebrating. He, also advised Mr Fayose not to be far away from the party. (NAN) The police in Lagos on Monday said they have arrested an auto spare parts dealer who took to his heels after the officers flagged down his car for a routine stop-and-search operation in Mushin. Chike Oti, the Lagos State police spokesperson, said in a statement that the businessman identified as Pius Ebere was driving a Honda Accord with registration number FST 616 DV when he was stopped. The police team stopped the Honda Accord saloon car owned and driven by Pius Kingsley Ebere, for a routine check, but instead of allowing the police do their job, the suspect hurried out of his car and escaped into the darkness of the night, the police said. The police said the officers towed the vehicle to their station and when the car was searched, the following items, engraved with registration number AAA 472 CP believed to be that of the vehicle from which it was stolen, were recovered: two headlamps, car stereo, four side door automatic control panels, brain box, side mirrors, and four rear seats. The suspect who was eventually arrested was however identified by the police as Pius Kingsley Ebere, a millionaire businessman and a big time auto parts dealer based in Ladipo market, Lagos state. Investigation revealed that the items were stolen from a Lexus GX 472 SUV aka Jeep, belonging to one Suleiman Waheed Adebola. He has been contacted and he affirmed that the recovered items were parts of his car vandalised in Ekoro area of Lagos state. The police said they also recovered other items from Mr Ebere including five brain boxes of Toyota and Lexus vehicles; four car stereo sets; a pair of Toyota Corolla 2011 rear lights; a pair of Toyota Corolla 2011 headlamps; three pairs of side mirrors; and one front grill cover of Infinity Jeep. All the items, the police said, were engraved with the licensed registration numbers by their various owners who had been contacted by the police to report with proof of ownership. The police explained that Mr Ebere was not working alone, that he had an accomplice. Further revelation by the suspect, led to the arrest of his accomplice, Peter Attah, aka Dangote, also an auto parts dealer at Ladipo Auto spare parts market where a search warrant was executed and various types of suspected stolen car parts were recovered, the statement added. The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Imohimi Edgal, advised vehicle owners to engrave their registration numbers on their vehicle parts to discourage theft. The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has commended the performance of the Nigerian delegation that attended the just-concluded eighth conference of parties to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) in Geneva, Switzerland. The group, in a statement issued in Lagos, said with the strong stance of the delegation throughout the talks on issues bordering on protecting the treaty from tobacco industry interference, Nigeria has taken its pride of place in the tobacco control community. The delegation, led by Minister of State for Health, Osagie Ehanire, also had Director, Department of Public Health of the Federal Ministry of Health, Evelyn Ngige; National Coordinator of Non-Communicable Diseases, Department of Public Health, Nnenna Ezeigwe; and the Director-General of the Consumer Protection Council, Babatunde Irukera. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) were also on the delegation. According to ERA/FoEN, the Nigerian delegation was not only united in advocating that the tobacco industry be held accountable for tobacco harms but also became one of the standard bearers in ensuring that the treaty talks remained focused on stamping out loopholes that might be exploited by the tobacco industry to infiltrate country delegations. Akinbode Oluwafemi, ERA/FoEN Deputy Executive Director, said the performance of the Nigerian delegation at the talks was exemplary. We anticipate that post-COP8 the federal government will move speedily to remove all the bottlenecks to effective tobacco control in the country, particularly the draft regulations for the enforcement of the National Tobacco Control Act. Mr Oluwafemi said Nigeria stood solidly behind the review of the public badges policy which had hitherto been exploited by the tobacco industry to pressure delegates to take a soft stance on implementing the treaty. To demonstrate that heightened transparency and that no member of the Nigerian delegation had any conflict of interest that might influence their position on the treaty talks, Health Minister, Dr. Ehanire compelled them to sign a mandatory declaration of interest form and insisted this would be the practice henceforth. This is unprecedented. According to him, this decision drew applause from other parties and informed the decision of non-governmental organisations under the Framework Convention Alliance to award Nigeria the orchid reserved for parties that take courageous decisions on fully implementing the WHO-FCTC. The ERA/FoEN boss noted that with the strong statement in support of tobacco control that the minister made during his intervention at the treaty talks, Nigerians should expect expedited action in the processing of Nigerias ratification of the Illicit trade protocol so that the instrument of the ratification can be deposited at the WHO. A judicial advocacy group, Access to Justice, has criticised President Muhammadu Buharis recent executive order barring 50 high profile Nigerians from travelling outside the country. In a statement Sunday, the group said the president, by his action, is setting a dangerous precedent. While Access to Justice supports efforts to fight corruption in the most vigorous way possible, the PEO (Presidential Executive Order) is an unconstitutional overreach of the executive powers of government, said Joseph Otteh, Director, Access to Justice. It usurps legislative and judicial powers, and particularly emasculates the powers of courts to determine cases against those named in the PEO and exercise its inherent jurisdiction to control conditions related to how under-trial (accused) persons exercise their rights to liberty and movement. Mr Buhari on Saturday announced that the 50 individuals, whose identities were not disclosed and whose assets are valued at N50 million and above, are subject of corruption investigation and litigation. The announcement elicited heated reactions across the country, with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party accusing the president of attempting to foist full-blown fascism on the country. The PDPs presidential candidate at the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, described Mr Buharis action as a throwback to his infamous Decree 2 when he was a military ruler. On Sunday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, called for an immediate reversal of the travel ban. In its statement, Access to Justice also urged the president to immediately rescind the obnoxious executive order. The PEO is also a gratuitous piece of dangerous precedent that opens the door to an uncontrollable dictatorship; it can be used arbitrarily and vindictively to fight and muzzle political opposition, and promote wholly politically partisan objectives. It is unquestionably anti-democratic and a veiled snare for citizens rights, the group said. The group further declared as untrue the governments claim that the executive order was backed by the ruling of a high court judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu. It is also legally warrantless; the government claims the judgment of Hon. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu on the case involving PEO 6, gives it authority to bar the named persons, the statement continued. This is so very untrue: the judgment clearly required the government to implement PEO 6 in a way that is consistent with the rule of law; the court ruled that the government (Attorney General) could not block, freeze or confiscate any funds or assets without an order of court. If the government cannot take property without an order of court, how could it legitimately bar persons (presumed innocent by the law), from exercising their rights to liberty and movement without an order of court? Access to Justice requests the federal government to immediately rescind this obnoxious Executive Order. In its stead, we ask for Presidential Executive Orders that mandate all persons and authorities, in line with the Constitution, to obey all orders and judgments of courts immediately, release all persons ordered by courts to be set free, as well as pay reasonable living (minimum) wages to all workers. The general overseer of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, also known as Winners Chapel, David Oyedepo, has said he does not belong to any party. Mr Oyedepo, while giving his Sunday sermon titled: Covenant day of open doors said his goal is to secure a glorious destiny for Nigeria. The bishop had earlier been criticised by some Nigerians for his presence at the reconciliation meeting that held between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in Abeokuta last Thursday. Two other prominent clerics, Hassan Kukah and Ahmad Gumi, who had also been criticised for attending the reconciliatory meeting have also explained why they were in Abeokuta. However on Sunday Mr Oyedepo, while he did not directly explain why he was at the parley like his colleagues, said he is an apolitical and peace-seeking leader. I have never belonged to any political party and will never belong to one. Wherever parties you are in, that is where I am in. There is no party without winners in it, if you get to any party and you dont see any winner in it, you better check out of there, even the one that have not being formed winners are there. Our goal is to secure the glorious destiny of our nation by paying whatever price it require. I have never taken any dime from any political candidate in my life, I am a mediator. The price of peace is far cheaper than the cost of war so what we are saying is let us talk this over dont let us exchange blows. Let us be mature and be sincere, lets give chance to reason and let the wicked turn from their wicked ways. We have to do it by appealing to peoples reasoning. Does anybody here want to see war? The 30 months war we fought, the effect keeps lingering, you wont see war again in the name of Jesus. Mr Oyedepo was pictured on Thursday with other religious leaders who accompanied Mr Abubakar to the residence of Mr Obasanjo who had earlier vowed not to support Mr Abubakar. After the meeting, the Ogun born politician forgave Mr Abubakar and endorsed him for president. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while reacting however said the endorsement will not stop President Muhammadu Buhari from winning the 2019 presidential election. The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has said he will support the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, to ensure he defeats the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019. Mr Wike, who acknowledged supporting the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, during the just concluded PDP presidential primary in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said he has no regret supporting Mr Tambuwal. I supported the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal fully. I have no regrets for my support for Tambuwal. But the party has made a choice and as a loyal party man, I stand by the choice of the party. I will support His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar to victory in 2019, a statement from the Government House, Port Harcourt, quoted Mr Wike as saying on Sunday in Port Harcourt during a thanksgiving service for the successful hosting of the PDP national convention in the city. The statement was issued by the governors media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu. That is what is called party loyalty, Mr Wike added. The governor made a case for all the party leaders, members, and supporters to come together and work for the victory of the partys candidate, Mr Abubakar, in the 2019 election. We must put our heads together to ensure that this bad government is sacked. We must ensure that this bad government goes in 2019. If this same government returns in 2019, then Nigerians are digging their graves. The suffering now will be a childs play. That is why we must work for the good of our people, he said. The PDP, he said, would surely win in Rivers in 2019. Mr Wike said he insisted that the convention be held in Port Harcourt because of the benefits it was going to bring to the local economy and the fact that Rivers has been the home of PDP since 1999. Rivers State has made PDP proud and we shall continue to make PDP proud. God lives in Rivers State, he said. The PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, called on Nigerians to support the PDP. Let us take back our country from destruction, Mr Secondus said. Everything about this country has collapsed. He said Mr Abubakar is the best candidate to drive the country to growth and prosperity. APC will be finally buried in February 2019, he said. The PDP presidential candidate, Mr Abubakar, scored 1,532 votes at the convention held on the October 6 and 7 to defeat 11 other aspirants. His closest rival, Mr Tambuwal, scored 693, while the senate president, Bukola Saraki, came third with 317 votes. Immediately it became clear that the former vice president had won the primary, Mr Wike walked over to where he was sitting to congratulate him, and then exited the convention venue with his supporters. During his victory speech at the convention, Mr Abubakar said he looked forward to working with Mr Wike, apparently underscoring the governors influence in PDP and in Nigerias South-south region. Some importers and agents operating in Clarion Bonded Terminal have taken to some streets of Lagos to protest an allegation of extortion by customs officers. The protesters obstructed activities in the terminal on Monday and sent staff members and customers out of their offices shouting, No work today. They took to the street of Old Ojo road, Alakija, Lagos, amidst fireworks and obstruction of traffic, calling for the removal of the Customs Officer in Charge (OC), Peter Olaniyan, for allegedly collecting illegal fees from them. They said he introduced a controllers watch list, a list where containers are placed on blacklist, which they said was to extort money from them. Ifeanyi Paul, one of the protesters, said they are insisting on the removal of Mr Olaniyan. Our demand is that OC Gate be removed from such a small terminal like this. Do you know that this officer, many times, will place our containers on what he called controllers watch list? Then demand we pay the sum of N100,000 for each container to remove our container from the list. That is extortion. There is nothing like this in other terminals. Okechukwu Ogbonna, another protester, said he has lost over N10 million to the customs demand. They also accused Mr Olaniyan of subjecting their containers to double examinations which had resulted to loss of time and money. Shipping companies and terminal operators will charge you each container without government doing anything to the bad road, said Mr Ogbonna. Instead of fixing the roads, they rather sent their watchdog to extort us. We are protesting against the double examinations by OC gate, an action since abolished by customs management. OC gate must go. Clarion bonded terminal is one of the best but the only problem is the customs officer. Another protester, Ejike Metuselah, an importer, described the customs officers act as political. What we are seeing here is someone using government officials against competitors. We are saying this victimisation must stop. We will not take it. Our questions is, why do they want to send Clarion bonded terminal out of business? Nobody should be used against it, The protesters further revealed that no bonded terminal in Nigeria has customs officer in charge of the gate except as seen in Clarion. When Mr Olaniyan was contacted, he waved off the protesters claims. There is nothing going on than personal issue between me and Madam (owner of Clarion). Uche Ejesieme, the spokesperson of Tincan Island Customs Command in charge of Clarion Bonded Terminal, said the controller had dispatched a team led by a Deputy Controller to investigate the situation. Im sure, within two hours, we will be able to come up with what is wrong there, Mr Uche said. The police in Lagos have arrested a 31-year-old Togolese for allegedly raping underage girls in Ejigbo. The police said they arrested Dominic Samson on October 8 after the father of one of his victims, named as Mr Okufowobi, made a report at the Ejigbo police station accusing the suspect of raping his 15-year-old daughter. In a statement by Chike Oti, the Lagos State police spokesperson, on Monday, the police said Mr Samson also raped at least five other teenagers. The DPO in charge of Ejigbo Police Station, Olabisi, who had an extensive training in children and women rights, interrogated the victim and she confirmed that Mr Okufowobis report was valid. The DPO, Mrs Olabisi, confirmed that the suspect did not only defile her but sodomised her by having anal sexual intercourse with her. The police said further investigations showed that the other five victims were aged between 13 and 15 years. All the victims except the sixth had been identified, interrogated and their statements recorded. The girls explained to the police that the suspect sometimes brings all of them in one room for an orgy and thereafter gives them N50 each. The Commissioner of Police, Lagos, Imohimi Edgal, admonishes parents to be mindful of their children as that is the only panacea to the rising cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of children, the police statement said. The police also ascertain that the suspect would not go unpunished. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is working to make permanent voters card (PVC) available in November to all voters who registered this year. The Chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, stated this while addressing journalists after the opening of a validation workshop on the study cost of elections in the ECOWAS region. The update is that we have printed the PVCs for those who registered in the first quarter of 2018 and we are simultaneously printing for those who registered in the second and third quarters. So we looking at the end of November for all the PVCs to be printed. Mr Yakubu assured everyone who registered and applied for transfer or replacement of their cards of getting their PVCs ahead of the 2019 general elections. Asked if there was still room for those who want to request for transfer, he said the request of transfer was suspended alongside voter registration on August 31. No, we have closed simultaneously as we suspended the registration until after the general election. But what we are doing is processing the applications we received before the August 31st deadline for the suspension of voter registration. The workshop was based on a study carried out on Benin Republic, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau. Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal, to review and validate findings on the increasing cost of conducting elections. Mr Yakubu, who is also the president of ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), said the study which is part of ECONECs two-year Work Plan (2016-2018) is borne out of the serious concern by all electoral commissions in the sub-region about the spiraling cost of conducting elections. The task of meeting such extensive expenditure has increasingly challenged the national resources of many countries in our region. It is against this background that Governing Board of ECONEC inaugurated this study to explore what we can do as election managers, working together with national stakeholders and development partners, to find ways to reduce the cost of elections without jettisoning new innovations or compromising the quality, transparency and credibility of elections. He said ECONEC had undertaken needs assessment, solidarity and mid-term review missions to several member states for Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in the sub-region to share experience, expertise and even pool resources. This, he said, was not only with a view to ensuring best practice through peer review, but also in order to reduce the cost of conducting elections among our member states. He noted that it was in this light that member countries began to support each other to conduct their elections. Burkina Faso assisted neighbouring Niger Republic with ballot boxes and the printing of the voters register for the February 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. Similarly, Ghana provided support to the Republic of Liberia with the printing of the voters register for the October 2017 presidential and parliamentary elections. Indeed, INEC Nigeria assisted the Republic of Liberia with the deployment of ICT experts to clean up the disputed voters register in order to break the logjam to the conduct of the December 2017 presidential run-off. At a bilateral level, countries within the region have also provided material and technical assistance to one another to support the conduct of credible elections. The latest example is Nigerias support for the ongoing voter registration exercise in Guinea-Bissau. He said election is a sovereign national responsibility, but in the past multi-lateral agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU), working together with other development partners, had, in some cases, provided support through the donor basket to fund certain electoral expenditure. INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu and participants at the workshop. Mr Yakubu said although this was commendable, electoral commissions in the ECOWAS region need to rethink the way elections are funded in such a manner as to make the electoral process more cost-effective yet free, fair and credible. This is because of the contending expenditure of government on other aspects of national development. An expensive election that ushers in a Government that lacks the resources to fulfill its campaign promises to citizens may, in the long run, erode public confidence in elections in particular and the democratic process in general. The obvious first step is to conduct a study on why elections cost so much. From such a study, we can then determine what can be done to reduce the cost. Mindful of the different jurisdictions within the ECOWAS region, we selected six countries for the study, consisting of two countries from each of the three official linguistic blocs: Nigeria and Liberia (Anglophone), Benin Republic and Senegal (Francophone) and Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau (Lusophone). The three experts that anchored the study were drawn from Nigeria (Prof. Adele Jinadu), Benin Republic (Francis Laleye) and Cape Verde (Jose Cabral Sanches). On behalf of ECONEC, I would like to thank them for deploying their experience and expertise in undertaking the study in spite of the short period of time available and limited resources. The INEC chairman said the idea of pooling resources (ballot boxes, vehicles for electoral logistics etc.) together to be deployed in support of elections in countries within the region on the basis of need is now more urgent than ever before and assured of ECONECs full support. ECONEC is in full support of the establishment of an election materials depot in Lungi, Sierra Leone, where some facilities such as trucks for electoral logistics already exist. We support this initiative and would cooperate with ECOWAS for its actualisation in line with the organisations mandate on electoral assistance to member states. He appreciated ECOWAS and ECONEC for championing the idea of pooling electoral resources together in support of the electoral process in the region. He also expressed gratitude to the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) for helping to equip and sustain the permanent secretariat in Abuja as well as the grant to undertake this study, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) for sponsoring this validation workshop, in addition to the mid-term review of elections in the region, and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Development in Africa (EISA). The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday said the country was looking beyond the Niger Delta in its effort to find alternative source for gas supply. Mr Kachikwu disclosed this at a breakout session at the ongoing Nigerian Gas Association 11th International Conference and Exhibition in Abuja. The minister was represented by his technical adviser, upstream and gas, Gbite Adeniji. He said that the federal government was serious about taking gas to the Northern region of the country, through the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano( AKK) gas pipeline project, so as to address the huge economic challenges witnessed in the region. The minister stated that the country could no longer tolerate a situation where 11 power plants across the country would be forced to shut down, once there was disruption in gas supply through the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS). As a government, you want to ensure that you have robustness in supply sources and robustness on delivery system. The position we have taken is that we have to look at as many options as possible in terms of supply sources. Today, we are very dependent on gas supply from the Niger Delta. The policy position is that we have to look at other terrains to see what is possible. We have discovered huge amount of gas resources in the offshore. Hence, the statement made earlier on that we must ensure that by the end of this quarter, we settle the issues of the contractual framework that would help us unlock those gas resources, so that we have optionality. It just does not do well that once the ELPS goes down, 11 power plants and many industrial enterprises also go down with it. That is not the system. A huge part of investment in there, but the reality of our life in Nigeria is that it goes down with them. The planning is that we have to create options to the ELPS for Lagos. Mr Kachikwu listed the strategic importance of the AKK pipeline project. He noted that the key was to ensure that the project was delivered in a manner that gives confidence to the upstream that there was viable anchor project to keep it going. According to him, until the AKK pipeline comes on stream, the country must look at the possibility of alternative gas supplies into the Northern region and into other stranded gas markets in the country. Let us focus a bit on Northern Nigeria, which is facing quadruple whammy, which is what I would call it today. It is significantly de-industrialised; there is deforestation going on; there is desertification going on; then the population is booming. Cheap access to energy sources is a big solution to these problems on Northern Nigeria, which is the key essence of the AKK project, he said. (NAN) The Plateau State government says the ban on public processions in the state is still in force. Yakubu Dati, commissioner for information and communication, on Monday, reminded the citizens of the ban and warned against flouting it. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that protests have continued in some parts of the state as a fallout of the local government elections held on October 10. Following the announcement of the results, irate youth burnt down the house of the caretaker chairman of Bassa Local Government Area, Sarah Bali, alleging election rigging. There was also protest in Mangu LGA over alleged manipulation of election results. The elections were conducted in 13 of the 17 LGAs of the state. The Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASEIC) on Thursday declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of 11 chairmanship seats. Elections in Langtang North and Mangu councils were declared inconclusive. The Peoples Democratic Party rejected the outcome of the polls describing it as fraudulent. Last Thursday, irate youth protested the alleged refusal of the electoral body to release the election results. Government wishes to remind citizens that the ban on public procession in all parts of the state is still in force, Mr Dati said in his statement. Consequently, no persons should engage in any form of protest until further notice. By this notice, members of the public are therefore advised to adhere strictly to the ban. This is to prevent miscreants and unpatriotic elements from hijacking any protest to further inflict pain and hardship on innocent citizens, he said. Mr Dati stated that an election petitions tribunal and an appeal committee for the local government elections had been set up by the chief judge of the state, justice Yakubu Dakwak. He said that the tribunal and the appeal committee were to deal with any petition that might arise from the recently concluded peaceful polls in the 13 local government areas of the state. The commissioner advised all aggrieved candidates to approach the tribunal rather than seeking self-help through protest. He, however, expressed the governments appreciation of the democratic right of citizens to protest but said the administration also had a duty to protect lives and property. Mr Dati solicited the cooperation and support of citizens to ensure that politicians do not use them to destabilize the state for their selfish ends. (NAN) The 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, on Sunday said its troops neutralised armed bandit in Kidandan and arrested an informant at Doka-Rijana road both in Birnin Gwari and Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The 1 Division, Deputy Director Army Public Relations, Muhammad Dole, disclosed this in a press statement issue in Kaduna on Sunday. Mr Dole said the troops of 1 Division Nigerian Army under Operation Whirl Punch continue to clear bandits, kidnappers, recover arms and destroy their camps. He also disclosed that in another successful operation, a combined effort between the troops and local vigilante group raided an identified camp in Kidandan general area. As a result, one bandit was neutralised, others escaped with gun shots injuries and one AK 47 rifle with 25 rounds of 7.62mm Special was recovered. Mr Dole said acting on reliable information on activities of kidnappers at Unguwar Maigwari, troops swung into action, raided an identified kidnappers camps along Doka Rijana Road. The Camps were discovered to have been littered with emptied alcoholic bottles, used syringes and some narcotic substances. During the raid, one informant was arrested and three Dane guns were recovered. he said The spokeman said on October 9, troops launched raid operation in Kamuku Forest where bandits used to harbour and plan their nefarious activities. Severals were neutralised and the camps destroyed. He, however, said the troops under Operation Whirl Punch will continue to raid all suspected camps and maintain aggressive patrols in order to ensure safety of lives and properties of the innocent citizens. The level of cooperation and support from the locals is highly appreciated and they are urged to sustain it so as to be able to eliminate the criminals in our midst, Mr Dole said. (NAN) Abdullahi Ganduje, Governor of Kano State, has inaugurated a 12-member reconciliation committee to reconcile all aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. This is contained in a statement signed by the chief press secretary to the governor, Abba Anwar, and made available to journalists on Sunday in Kano. Mr Ganduje, who inaugurated the committee at the Government House, Kano, said the committee would bring unity among party members and also take care of some misunderstandings that cropped up after the recently concluded primary elections in the state. The committee will reconcile our party members as a result of the emergence of some few issues after the conduct of the primary elections, excluding presidential and gubernatorial primaries of which we had single candidate for each of the two positions. Normal misunderstanding as seen after the primaries in the state are normally unavoidable in democracy. Particularly in the practice of party politics, Mr Ganduje was quoted as saying. He said that the committee would look into the matter with a view to ensuring amicable reconciliation ahead of the general elections. The committee will come up with a strategy that will bring in amicable reconciliation of the party members as we are approaching general elections. It will also come up with a strategic approach in building strong party cohesion, he said. Mr Ganduje said that it was only in the presidential and gubernatorial primaries that the process was conducted without any contenders. Kano being the largest democracy in Nigeria with the highest population coupled with higher elective constituencies in the federation, the state is bound to experience such political complexities. We also chose to conduct direct primaries, fundamentally for the simple reason that we want to get optimum participation. The committee is chaired by Bashir Magashi and has Kabiru Rurum, Yusuf Ata, Jafaru Isah, Kabiru Rabiu and Maikano Rabiu as members. Others are Ibrahim Khalil, Umar Danlasan, Garba Abubakar and Amadu Zago as members, while Musa Riruwai would serve as the secretary of the committee. The committee was given two weeks to submit its report to government for further action. Meanwhile, the governor also said it was not true that the presidency was not happy with the way Kano conducted its primaries. Presidency has no quarrel with us over the conduct of our primary elections conducted recently in the state. Ours is much more cleaner, healthier and peaceful than many other states across the country, the statement said. (NAN) The deep search and rescue vehicle (DSRV). Photo: UK's James Fisher Defence (JFD) NEW DELHI (PTI): Enhancing its operational capabilities, the Navy has inducted its first deep submergence rescue vehicle which is deployed to rescue downed or disaster-struck submarines at high sea. Navy Spokesperson Capt D K Sharma said that with induction of the deep submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV), India has joined a select group of countries that have the capability to locate and rescue "distressed submarines". At present, the US, China, Russia and a few other countries have the capabilities to deploy DSRVs. "Indian Navy joins select league of nations with capability to search, locate and provide rescue to distressed submarines by induction of first Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel(DSRV) and associated kit in fly away configuration," he said. Though DSRVs are used for rescue of personnel in downed submarines, they are also deployed for various other missions including to lay cables on the sea bed. Some DSRV vessels are air transportable in very large military cargo. Capt Sharma said the DSRV which was inducted can be mobilised from the naval base in Mumbai to nearest mounting port by air, land and sea. The second DSRV is expected to be inducted at Visakhapatnam in 2019. "The DSRV can be mobilised from Naval base at Mumbai to nearest mounting port by air/ land or sea for providing rapid rescue to the submarine in distress," the Navy spokesperson said. Indian Navy sources said induction of the DSRV was part of the Navy's efforts to enhance operational capabilities when China has been ramping up its maritime presence in critical sea lanes which are of strategic importance to India. Last year, the Indian Navy operationalised a new concept of deployment of warships in the Indian Ocean region to effectively counter China's growing presence in the strategically key waters The "new mission-based deployment" involves deploying mission-ready ships and aircraft along critical sea lanes of communications. The Operation Delta Safe of the Nigerian Army has confirmed the killing of a soldier by yet to be identified persons at Ajakurama community, Ovia South West Local Government Area, in Edo. Ibrahim Abdullahi, spokesperson of the troop, confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Benin on Sunday. Mr Abdullahi, who said the name and rank of the soldier cannot be disclosed yet, said the soldier was killed last Friday. He also confirmed that the troop had deployed men to the community to carry out surgical operations with a view to arresting the culprits and handing them over to relevant security agencies for prosecution. Yes we have deployed some officers to Ajakurama community where one of our soldiers was killed by yet to be identified persons. The aim is for the soldiers to carry out a surgical operation to isolate the culprits so that they can be arrested and handed over to relevant security agencies and be prosecuted, he said He, however, urged the villagers not to be afraid of the presence of military men in their midst but to go about their normal duties. NAN reports that the news of the killing of the soldier and his subsequent burial in a shallow grave broke out on Saturday, but the Army could not be reached for confirmation. (NAN) The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State Council, has condemned the recent arrest of a newspaper publisher, Emmanuel Sam, by the police in the state. Mr Sam, publisher of the Guide, a local newspaper in the state, was invited to the police headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, on Thursday, where he was reportedly detained for several hours. He was later released on bail in the evening of that day. Mr Sam told PREMIUM TIMES that the police said they arrested him based on a petition that his paper published a story dismissing as false, an alleged attempt on the life of Nsima Ekere, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. They said I should have waited for the police to conclude their investigation before we publish our story, Mr Sam said. Nsima Ekere said the governor and the state government sent assassins after him. I asked the government if that was true, and they said it wasnt true, and from there we did a report to say that Nsima Ekere was lying. For me, the police should also invite those who published the story that the governor sent assassins after Nsima Ekere, he said. The police asked the newspaper publisher to come back to its headquarters on Monday. It is unclear if the police intend to charge him to court or want to interrogate him further. I am not aware of any case between the police and Emmanuel Sam, the police spokesperson in the state, Odiko McDon, told PREMIUM TIMES, Friday. The NUJ issued a statement over the weekend describing the arrest and detention of the newspaper publisher as an ugly trend in the state. That journalists and newspaper publishers are today hounded by security agencies, at the least promptings in Akwa Ibom State, is a very unhealthy development which is completely antithetical to democratic tenets, said the statement which was signed by the chairman and the secretary of the NUJ, Patrick Albert and Amos Etuk, respectively. The NUJ said Mr Sam was arrested by the Anti-kidnapping Squad of the Police over a petition by a certain politician. The union, however, didnt mention the politician they said petitioned the publisher to the police. Though, Comrade Sam has been granted bail by the Police and asked to report whenever needed, we believe that the circumstance of his travails is lacking in merit and he should be released unconditionally, the union said. Meanwhile, the APC governorship candidate, Mr Ekere, has denied having a hand in the arrest and detention of Mr Sam. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Utibe Ukim, Mr Ekere said, For the avoidance of doubt, let me state clearly that Mr. Ekere is not and cannot be behind the travails of Prince Sam or any journalist, publisher, blogger or anyone with opinion that differs from his. Mr Ekere is not synonymous with the Nigerian Police Force and we will therefore refuse every attempt to link him to the activities of the Police anywhere and in any manner. Mr Ekere is a staunch believer in press freedom and in the rights of media practitioners to hold governments and leaders accountable for the trust reposed on them by the people. He believes in the right to free speech. As he has said very often, a free press is a critical building block for the future he envisions for Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria and cannot take or support any action that curtails that freedom. Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has cautioned Igbos and other Nigerians not to be deceived by the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his choice of former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, as his running mate. Mr Abubakar announced Mr Obi on Friday as his running mate. Mr Okechukwu, a senatorial who lost on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday said all that glitters is not gold. He said the issue of restructuring and quick fix measures being offered by Mr Abubakar glitters but is not gold, urging Nigerians to be careful before they jump into a one chance bus. He said it is better to re-elect President Muhammadu Buhari who he said has silently commenced restructuring of Nigeria through his road, rail, agricultural and power (RRAP) Projects, which will enhance economic prosperity and are anchored on prudent management of public funds. Mr Okechukwu advised the Igbo to take Mr Abubakars promise to vacate office in 2023 after a tenure of four years with a pinch of salt, bearing in mind that political promises are hardly kept. I have tremendous respect for His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakars trajectory in politics and for His Excellency, Mr Peter Obi I have similar tremendous respect; however one respectfully must advise Ndigbo and indeed Nigerians that the restructuring and some quick fix offers Atiku has so far made, truly glitters, but not gold. On why he is not buying into Mr Abubakars restructuring agenda, Mr Okechukwu said, I personally would want Nigeria to be restructured like most Nigerians, except that pragmatism has to be our watchword. One, we were taught in Political Science class, indeed in elementary government class that there are two types of Constitution, one flexible and one rigid in amendment. The 1999 Constitution to the best of my knowledge is a rigid constitution. Accordingly, can Atiku amend it without the support of over 15 Houses of Assembly which are hesitant if not frowning at restructuring? Secondly, how do you convince Ebonyi, Enugu, Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna and host of other states indigenes to buy into regional structure? Please dont forget that the Wawa (Enugu and Ebonyi) people rejected region in the both 1995 Abacha and 2014 Jonathan Conferences. On whether a presidential order can be used, Mr Okechukwu said there are fundamentals, which no matter how crafty or ingenious a president is he cannot order without the amendment of this rigid constitution. According to him, the fastest route to restructuring Nigeria is through the Buharis projects, which will provide safety net for vulnerable groups who feel that they cant survive without oil. The truism is that by the time Buhari completes eight years in office, the 5,000 kilometres of federal roads, 5,000 kilometres of standard gauge rail lines, 5,000 additional megawatts of electricity and self sufficiency in food production must have picked at 80 percent completion. Majority will key into restructuring when their prosperity is magnificently enhanced. Today farmers in Kebbi State will not mind restructuring, so Buhari should be allowed to extend his agricultural revolution to other states. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and the National President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Bobboi Kaigama, have commended Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State for his performance in office and commitment to the welfare of the states workers. The duo made the commendations in their separate speeches during the ground breaking of 100 housing units for Nigerian workers by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in collaboration with Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress Nigeria (TUC), and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), held at Ede-Oballa, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. Speaking at the epoch making event, the TUC National President stated that his leadership was proud of Mr Ugwuanyi for not only paying workers salaries regularly but also for ensuring that they have decent working environment. Mr Kaigama, who disclosed that Mr Ugwuanyi is second to none in the provision of workers welfare in the South-east geo-political zone, added that the governor has set the pace for other states to emulate. Describing Mr Ugwuanyi as a performer, the labour leader told the governor that Enugu State is working under your leadership and that is not only because you are a performer, but you exhibit the sense of performance with humility. He maintained that the governor is very humble and caring and listens when it comes to challenges confronting the workers and the entire people of Enugu, saying: If there is any governor that Nigerian workers can come up and work for his success particularly for his second term, we are proud to say that our members will work for you. According to him, We would say it anywhere because you have done it and you are doing it. We assure that the working class not only in Enugu State but also in the entire nation is supporting you on your efforts to deliver the dividends of democracy. Appreciating Mr Ugwuanyi for his efforts to give succour to the state workforce through provision of affordable accommodation, the TUC President urged Enugu workers to reciprocate this gesture by ensuring that we continue to have a harmonious working relationship with your good government. In his remark, the labour and employment minister, who described Mr Ugwuanyi as a governor who is paying workers salaries as at when due, expressed delight at the massive infrastructural development in Enugu State, saying: Thanks to the Gburugburu magic. Mr Ngige lauded the initiative of the FMBN in partnership with the state government and other concerned bodies to provide affordable housings for the workers as a welcome development, pointing out that the project is in line with tripartite policy of the federal government. Other speakers at the event such as the Managing Director of FMBN, Ahmed Dangiwa, the Director General of NECA, Olusegun Oshinowo, and the Managing Director of Multidev Nigeria Ltd, Ugochukwu Chime, also applauded Mr Ugwuanyi for promptly facilitating the provision of land for the project and ensuring its cost reduction, which they said make the houses more affordable for the states civil servants. In his address, Mr Ugwuanyi, who welcomed the dignitaries to the state, stated that the project was in line with his administrations promise to transform the socio-economic fortunes of the state and to deploy government resources and services to create fair and equal opportunity for every willing citizen to make a living, create wealth and enjoy life in a peaceful and secure environment. The governor added that it also underscores our commitment to improving the welfare of the workers of Enugu State and to the provision of affordable housing for all citizens of the state. He emphasised that the programme is a further testimony to the usefulness of synergy and cooperation between government, public institutions and the organized labour in the quest to improve the living standard of the people through rapid development of all sectors of the states economy. While thanking the FMBN for choosing Enugu State particularly Nsukka as one of the locations for the project, Mr Ugwuanyi noted that the initiative was a welcome complement to the other efforts of his administration in developing the University town of Nsukka the second largest urban area in Enugu State and a University town founded over half a century ago. Three fire outbreaks have been recorded in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, between January and October 2018, which were worsened by the failure of the university authorities to provide functional fire extinguishers in the hostels. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that one of the butteries in Adekunle Fajuyi hall, a male hostel, and a room in Moremi hall, a female hostel, were affected by fire outbreaks in the last six months. On Tuesday evening, an inferno, caused by a cooking gas explosion, destroyed the properties of four occupants of a room in Alumni female hostel, which rendered the victims homeless. A student, Olarotimi Olajumoke, who stays close to the affected room, said four of the occupants of the room were actually around when the incident happened but they could not help the situation. Narrating how the accident started, she said; when I got to the burning room while the fire was still a bit controllable, I saw the fire coming out from the gas cooker while the pot the lady was using to cook was still on it. She (one of the occupants) was stirring Amala (yam flour) on it and unknowingly to her, the burner got loosened and the fire engulfed from there. So, I think that caused the fire, she said. Ms Olajumoke further added that the unavailability of water at that particular moment worsened the sad occurrence while another occupant, who refused to disclose her name to our correspondent, identified two of the victims as Elizabeth and Faith. She said; Elizabeth, Faith and other two members of the room present tried to put out the fire but their fear of fire rendered them powerless. All efforts to contact the victims were unsuccessful as all them, displaced, had gone to stay with friends outside the school premises. It was also rumoured that the victims will pay a fine of N200,000 to the school for the damages which may have made the students abandon the hostel. Some of the students who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES lamented the lack of fire functional extinguishers in their halls of abode. Uthman Samad, a 300 level student, told PREMIUM TIMES about the outdated fire extinguishers which the school used to have on each floors of the hostels. There was a day, when I got to the ones seen last two semesters ago, I discovered that the fire extinguisher had gone rusty and no longer functioning. Now we dont even have any, he said. If there are necessary equipment, we would not have recorded much loss in this case. It would be minimal, another student, Folorunsho Habibat said. Ms Folorunsho added that if no pro-active step is taken by the university authorities, students will wake up one day to see their hostels ravaged with fire overnight. During a visit to the halls on Friday, our correspondent discovered that most hostels are without fire extinguishers and the few ones sighted are either broken, old, or expired. Architectural Challenge One of the challenges that may be faced by fire service men in the case of fire outbreaks in university is that the structures of most of the halls do not make provisions for access to combat infernos. Visits to most of the hostels, particularly Adekunle Fajuyi hall, Awolowo hall, Alumni hall and Angola hall revealed that there is no way a fire service truck can gain entry into the blocks of these buildings to combat fire. According to a final year student of the faculty Environmental Design and Management, Akeem Lasisi, the Israelis architects that designed the schools building plans didnt take the case of fire accidents into cognizance. They failed to add that to their plan. Its a costly mistake and will cost the university a whole lot if they want to alter the existing structures, he said. A segment of the burnt dormitory A segment of the burnt dormitory A segment of the burnt dormitory Also, one of the porters in Fajuyi hall, who spoke with our correspondent under anonymity, admitted the structural error. He said the only way to save victims during inferno, is to break through one of the iron barricades leading to the hostel as there are no gates for vehicles to gain access. Students Appeal Some student representatives, when contacted, said the union had once approached the management of the university to provide fire extinguishers. It was gathered that the chairman of hall executive council, Akindipe Israel, in the company of other members, after the fire incident in Moremi hall two months ago, approached the management to make provisions for fire extinguishers in the halls but their demand has not been met. Also in a public release sent by the Great Ife students action committee on Wednesday, the committee admonished students to demand for fire safety equipment in order to prevent future occurrences. While we sympathise, we believe that it is high time students began demanding for necessary fire safety equipment to curb subsequent occurrences. It is rather unheard of and condemnable that despite issues of several fire outbreaks that have occurred in various halls in recent times, the university administration has not deemed it necessary to put fire safety equipment in any of the halls of residence, the statement noted. Speaking on the compensation for the victims, the committee headed by Gbenga Oloniniran said, the victims of the fire accidents who have lost their property to the incident should be compensated and not indicted. Officials React In a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday, the Dean of the Division of Students Affairs, Isiaka Aransi, assured that a renovation exercise will commence in the affected room very soon. Any moment from now, everything will be sorted out and the students will be back in their rooms. It was only one room but it was burnt beyond repairs. We will start the renovation from the roof of the affected room and it will come very soon. However, Mr Aransi, a professor in local government studies, debunked the rumour of a fine levied on the students. We have not told any student that they will pay any money. Under normal circumstances, it is students, who are supposed to that ( the renovation) but considering the circumstances, it is expedient to do something to assist our students, he said. Also, the spokesperson of the university, Abiodun Olanrewaju, when contacted, told PREMIUM TIMES the university is doing its best to make the students comfortable. Mr Olanrewaju blamed the students carelessness for some of the fire accidents. If not that we overlook a lot, the students ought to be sanctioned, he said. He promised that the school authorities will do the needful by providing fire extinguishers in the halls of residence. The Lagos State Alliance for Democracy governorship candidate, Owolabi Salis, on Monday said if elected, his administration would retrieve the states commonwealth from private pockets. Mr Salis, who is the consensus candidate of Star Alliance, said to be a coalition of over 24 political parties in Lagos, made the pledge in Lagos while addressing journalists on Monday. The resources and commonwealth of Lagos State is in the hands of an individual in this state, Mr Salis, a chartered accountant, noted. He did not mention the name of the person. This individual has been using the resources of the state to advance his own interests and those of his cohorts and not the interest of the people. Im also propelled by the fact that the indigenes and residents of Lagos are not happy. In fact, 99% of us are not happy, he said. The AD candidate also said his policies would be targeted at the grassroots and geared towards stopping imposition and systemic slavery in the state. A successful government is that which is able to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in basic needs of education, housing, transportation, health, food and others. It is not a government that pillages the common wealth and neglects the needy for the interests of a few. It is vital to let true democracy thrive in Lagos for an actual mega city to emerge, as Lagos holds the key to Nigerias growth, to propel Africa and the black race into reckoning worldwide. Mr Salis, who aspired for governorship on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2007, added that his government will an inclusive taking into consideration the youths. The youth now, a lot of people on power use our youth for violence and miscreants, meanwhile their own children are subjects to comfort. We were once youth, we were limited to direction, it is not fair for them to be used for violence. The candidate, however, urged his party members to brace up for the challenges ahead by mobilising members and residents to secure victory in 2019. The gubernatorial hopeful, who is also a jurist doctor of New York, said his legal background would come in handy when he gets the top job. One thing my government would do is to support the justice system so that the jurists can make decisions in the interest of the state. This is vital and I know what to do and how to do it. As a practicing lawyer, I can tell you there is so much to be done by lawyers in Nigeria. Ours is a huge population, so, you can use law to expand the economy and empower the masses. Research News Clinical trial funding at UB increases significantly as thousands enroll Since 2015, the number of Western New Yorkers enrolled in clinical trials at UB has increased by 65 percent. Graphic: Robert Wilder By ELLEN GOLDBAUM Treatments available through clinical trials are better than anything else thats already out there. You cant get these treatments unless you are in a clinical trial. Peter Winkelstein, executive director Institute for Healthcare Informatics A comprehensive, university-wide effort to boost clinical research at UB is paying off. Since 2015, the university has increased by more than 30 percent the funding it receives to conduct clinical trials supported by both the federal government and private industry. More importantly, the number of Western New Yorkers now participating in UB clinical research exceeds 2,000, and more people in the region who have been affected by health disparities are now participating. Clinical trials are how patients get access to the best science there is, explains Peter Winkelstein, executive director of UBs Institute for Healthcare Informatics, professor of pediatrics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and chief medical informatics officer for UBMD Physicians Group. Treatments available through clinical trials are better than anything else thats already out there, he says. You cant get these treatments unless you are in a clinical trial. So its a tremendous opportunity to bring the best therapies to Western New York. Its good for the patients, good for the university and good for the companies we partner with to improve health care. Its a win-win-win. According to UBs Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, in the past two years, the number of patients enrolled in UB clinical trials has increased by 65 percent, from 1,334 in 2015 to 2,210 in 2017. And in fiscal year 2017, UBs clinical research expenditures were $14.4 million, up from $11.4 million in 2016 and $10.9 million in 2015. This information pertains only to clinical trials being run by UB, not those being run by its partners. Current clinical trials at UB range from testing new treatments for diabetes, Crohns disease, psoriasis, hepatitis C and dementia to how to prevent obesity in preschoolers and helping pregnant women to stop smoking and much more. Information on how to participate is available online. This significant increase in the funding UBs academic health center receives from clinical trials and research translates to a real advance in boosting Western New Yorkers access to the newest, best diagnostic tests and treatments available anywhere, says Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School. Concerted, strategic efforts What triggered the boost? University officials say it was the concerted and strategic effort undertaken by UB when it applied for, but didnt receive, a planning grant for a prestigious Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health in 2006. Those awards are focused on speeding the delivery of new drugs, diagnostics and medical devices to patients. The proposal got important, good reviews saying that UB had many pillars and islands of excellence, Cain recalls, but it wasnt funded because we hadnt yet demonstrated that we were working as a truly collaborative group. Significant change was already underway: President Satish K. Tripathi, serving as university provost in 2007, worked with the deans and faculty to develop the institutional infrastructure so that multidisciplinary research collaborations could flourish. UB joined with Kaleida Health to design and build UBs Clinical and Translational Research Center on the floors above Kaleida Healths Gates Vascular Institute. The expanded, new home of the Jacobs School, which would help in recruiting new faculty, was in the planning stages downtown. The Conventus medical office building, a new, downtown home for UBMD, the medical group associated with the Jacobs School, was in the planning stages. A group of more than 100 faculty and researchers was convened to work on developing a strategic approach to clinical and translational research. Timothy F. Murphy, SUNY Distinguished Professor, was named senior associate dean for clinical and translational research. New infrastructure was developed to streamline and more efficiently support clinical research, especially the Clinical Research Office, which launched in 2013, creating a single entity to handle all aspects of clinical research at UB. Ultimately, UB was successful with its 2015 application for the CTSA. UB then established its Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) to better enable the university and its partners in the Buffalo academic health center to conduct large, high-impact, multi-center clinical trials. Integral to the improved climate for clinical research are UBs stronger connections with partners on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, such as Kaleida Health, the regions largest health care system. Kaleida Health is beginning to share health information with UB, creating a regional database of more than 1 million de-identified patients when combined with records from UBMD. UB has also strengthened collaborations with Erie County Medical Center, the Western New York Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and beyond. At the same time, the UB Department of Emergency Medicine, whose physicians staff the regions highest-volume emergency departments through UBMD Emergency Medicine, has enhanced its role in recruitment. Where appropriate, emergency medicine research associates educate patients who come to the Emergency Department about relevant clinical trials, facilitating enrollment when there is interest. More Western New Yorkers benefit This substantial increase in research activity at UB is a result of all the changes this institution has made in a variety of areas to foster better health care in our community, says Murphy, who also serves as director of the CTSI. Those efforts signaled UBs strong institutional commitment to growing clinical research with a multimillion-dollar investment that allows us to fully support and perform world-class clinical research. Now they are paying off. Adds Venu Govindaraju, UBs vice president for research and economic development: From the establishment of a centralized office that administers all clinical research at UB to the investment of resources to much more closely engage with the community, we have embarked on a new era in research and health care in Western New York. Sanjay Sethi, professor and chief of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, director of CRO and a physician with UBMD Internal Medicine, agrees. The Clinical Research Office and the CTSI provide the infrastructure that top-notch clinical trials require, he notes, as well as the resources necessary to conduct meaningful community engagement, support our researchers with CTSA pilot grants and provide the training opportunities that allow UB investigators to thrive. And while increased clinical trial activity is key to the mission of academic health centers, the most important advantage is the fact that more Western New Yorkers are now personally benefiting. Traditionally excluded 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. Premier Forest Group has acquired Haverfordwest-based timber importer Merlwood Timber. Established in Newport in 1993 as Premier Forest Products by founding directors Dilwyn Howells, Nigel Williams and Terry Edgell, the Premier Forest Group claims to be one of the UK's leading independent importers, manufacturers and distributors of timber and panel products. This latest acquisition is the Groups eighth in the last seven years. Since 2011, the vertically-integrated timber groups turnover has grown from 53 million to a projected 136 million in the current financial year, and Merlwood will contribute to the growth. Merlwood Timber was formed in 1997 and operates from a three-acre site in Haverfordwest, with other strategic dockside locations within the UK. All staff will be joining Premier after a direct approach from the existing directors, who were were keen to safeguard the right ownership, the business reputation and to secure future investment. Its West Wales site operates a full in-house machining and treatment facility and supplies imported and domestically produced solid timber, with timber and builders merchants being key clients. Terry Edgell, CEO and co-founder of Premier Forest Group, said: The acquisition of Merlwood Timber gives Premier the opportunity to strengthen its distribution capacity in Wales and to expand its group sales revenue and geographic reach. The Merlwood team bring with them additional customer and supplier relationships and their capacity to machine timber in-house, which adds to the value and service we can now offer to our own groups customer base. Particularly exciting is the fact that the full management team and staff are firmly committed to joining the Premier Forest Group. They are embracing the opportunities the acquisition brings with it and we hope to see a period of job creation, capital investment and sales expansion within Wales for both Merlwood and our other three Welsh sites as a result of this acquisition. Mike James, co-founder and Managing Director at Merlwood Timber, said: We are extremely excited about joining the Premier Forest team. Merlwood Timber will now have the considerable resources of the Premier Group behind it to enable us to not only fulfil our growth ambitions regionally, but also further enhance Premiers business across the UK too. We are an extremely good fit for one another and its going to be an exciting period ahead with significant opportunities for not only the business but for our loyal and committed staff. Premier Forest Group says the acquisition supports its strategy of geographic expansion, development of value-added markets and further diversification of both product range and services. It creates additional customer and supply relationships as well as the capacity to produce more added-value product in-house. During the last year, Premier has outsourced the supply of 500,000 of specials, which can now be brought in-house with Merlwoods facilities and expertise. Premier Forest Group currently operates across 15 sites in the UK and Ireland and comprises sawmilling, processing, importation and timber distribution businesses. Other brands within the Premier Forest Group based in Wales include timber importer Premier Forest Products in Newport Docks, which also became the home to Premier Processing & Fabrication and hardwood and softwood specialist Clarks Wood. The groups Welsh sawmill operation Premier Sawmilling and its outlet store Mill Timber Direct are based In Croespenmaen, South Wales. Outside of Wales other brands within the group include Duchy Timber in Cornwall, Premier Forest Doncaster, Premier Goldberg near Heathrow and the Irish brands of the multi-site Brooks Timber and Builders Supplies Ltd and Dublin Plywood and Veneers. More than 40% of middle market firms operating within the construction sector believe that exiting the European Union without a Brexit deal will have an advantageous or favourable effect on their revenues, according to a new survey by RSM. Of the 43%, 4% feel it would be advantageous and 39% feel it would be favourable. A further 25% of the construction firms that took part in the survey view exiting the EU, having failed to negotiate a deal, will have no effect on their future turnover. Just 21% feel it will harm revenues. Seven per cent believe it would have a catastrophic effect. This compared to 45% of leaders in financial services and 40% in TMT seeing the most potential to benefit from a no deal scenario. Conversely the consumer sector (35%) see it as the most harmful. Kelly Boorman, partner and national head of construction at audit, tax and consulting firm RSM, said: "Mid-market construction firms continue to show optimism about their future prospects, despite continuing market uncertainty. It is perhaps surprising how bullish they are when it comes to the effects of a no deal Brexit. One of the reasons for this could be down to the fact that there continues to be investment in the sector, demand for housing and focus on new innovation to generate both efficiencies and growth. This coupled with the weak pound continuing to attract overseas investment provides opportunity for growth." The quarterly Brexit Monitor, conducted by YouGov prior to the EU leaders meeting in Salzburg on 19/20 September 2018, surveyed 325 mid-market business leaders, 55 of which operate in the construction sector. The survey also found that the sectors confidence in the government's ability to achieve a 'good deal' has dropped by a sizeable 22 percentage points. At 46%, confidence was down from 68% the previous quarter (Q2), now on a level-pegging with manufacturing. Optimism for a good deal within the sector now sits at the lowest level since the survey began in the second quarter of 2017. Despite the drop, both the construction and manufacturing sectors still maintain the most confidence in a good deal out of all the industries surveyed. Boorman added: "All eyes will now be on this weeks EU summit, described by Donald Tusk as 'the moment of truth'. Many businesses will be hoping for some much-needed progress from both the EU and the UK." WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on several top active duty military commanders to withdraw from an event later this week in Virginia co-sponsored by the Center for Security Policy (CSP), an anti-Muslim hate group headed by notorious Islamophobe and conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney. CSP is co-hosting an October 17 symposium on "asymmetric threats" in McLean, Va., which includes four speakers who are lieutenant generals from several branches of the military. Lt. Gen. VeraLinn "Dash" Jamieson, USAF Lt. Gen. Daniel J. O'Donohue , USMC , USMC Lt. Gen. David D. Thompson , USAF , USAF Lt. Gen. Michael K. Nagata , U.S. Army SEE: https://www.asymmetricthreat.net/ According to the Army's equal opportunity manual, "participation in extremist organizations and activities by Army personnel is inconsistent with the responsibilities of military service." The Air Force's manual states that participating in groups "espousing supremacist causes or advocating unlawful discrimination" is a violation of policy. Other branches of the military have similar policies. SEE: Military Officials Aren't Supposed to Associate with Hate Groups. So Why Are These Generals Speaking at Frank Gaffney's Confab? https://theintercept.com/2018/10/15/frank-gaffney-military-generals-anti-muslim-islamophobia/ Last year, an event at a Maryland country club featuring Gaffney was canceled after several advocacy organizations including CAIR raised concerns about his Islamophobic rhetoric. SEE: Event at Kenwood Country Club with Right-Wing Speaker Canceled After Protest Threat https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/politics/event-at-kenwood-country-club-with-right-wing-speaker-canceled-after-protest-threat/ Gaffney, whose conspiracy theories have reportedly been used as the ideological basis for President Trump's recent "Muslim ban." SEE: How the Anti-Muslim Fringe Conquered the White House http://www.vox.com/world/2017/2/13/14559822/trump-islam-muslims-islamophobia-sharia Meet Frank Gaffney, the Anti-Muslim Gadfly Reportedly Advising Donald Trump's Transition Team https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/08/meet-frank-gaffney-the-anti-muslim-gadfly-who-produced-donald-trumps-anti-muslim-poll/ The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has identified Gaffney as an anti-Muslim extremist and his Center for Security Policy (CSP) as a hate group. According to the SPLC, CSP is "a conspiracy-oriented mouthpiece for the growing anti-Muslim movement in the United States." Of Gaffney himself, the SPLC says he is "gripped by paranoid fantasies about Muslims destroying the West from within, suspicious that Barack Obama was actually born in Kenya, and a proponent of a new version of the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee to root out suspected Muslim subversives." SEE: SPLC Designated Hate Groups: Center for Security Policy https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/anti-muslim SPLC: Frank Gaffney https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/frank-gaffney-jr Backgrounder on Frank Gaffney: Gaffney is a notorious anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist who has claimed that "most of the Muslim-American groups of any prominence in America are now known to be, as a matter of fact, hostile to the United States and its Constitution." He is a key promoter of the bizarre conspiracy theory that Muslims in public service are infiltrating the government on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. Gaffney has questioned "whether Mr. Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States," claimed the Missile Defense Agency logo is part of a "worrying pattern of official U.S. submission to Islam," claimed an aide to Hillary Clinton was a secret Muslim Brotherhood operative, was a key witness for the plaintiffs in a controversial lawsuit seeking to block construction of a Tennessee mosque, promoted the debunked claim that Dearborn, Mich., is a "ghetto enclave in which it's Muslim-only," and hosted "white supremacist" Jared Taylor on his "Secure Freedom" radio program. He has in the past: Suggested that Saddam Hussein was behind the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. was behind the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Claimed Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan , was submitting to Islamic law when he condemned the burning of a Quran by a Florida pastor. , was submitting to Islamic law when he condemned the burning of a Quran by a pastor. Objected to Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) serving on the House Intelligence Committee because they are Muslim. (D-Minn.) and (D-Ind.) serving on the House Intelligence Committee because they are Muslim. Accused Pope Francis of having "rabidly anti-American" views after the pope said it is "not Christian" to urge the deportation of undocumented immigrants and to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico . Gaffney was banned from the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in 2011 after accusing fellow Republicans of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer, cited Gaffney in his anti-Muslim manifesto. Gaffney's staff attorney, David Yerushalmi, has advocated outlawing the practice of Islam in America and is the key promoter of anti-Islam bills in state legislatures nationwide. White supremacist and White House senior adviser Steve Bannon hosted Gaffney on his Sirius XM radio show "Breitbart News Daily" 29 times. SEE: The Anti-Muslim Extremists Steve Bannon Thinks Are Experts on Islam http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/anti-muslim-hate-groups-steve-bannon_us_582b1cf0e4b0c4b63b0e70c3 Muslim community members who believe their rights have been violated are being asked to contact local police and CAIR's Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420. CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. La mision de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprension del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos. Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational Subscribe to CAIR's Email List http://tinyurl.com/cairsubscribe Subscribe to CAIR's Twitter Feed http://twitter.com/cairnational Subscribe to CAIR's YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/cairtv CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected] SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Related Links http://www.cair.com ST. LOUIS, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today that New Mexico's Bernalillo County Commission has voted to award Centurion Detention Health Services, LLC (Centurion) a contract to provide comprehensive healthcare services to detainees of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque. The contract is expected to commence January 2019 with a base term of four years, and will employ approximately 90 full-time employees. Centurion will provide wide-ranging care including medical, dental, psychiatric, and optometric services. "This award furthers Centurion's expansion in the county detention market and continues Centene's commitment to the state of New Mexico," said Steven H. Wheeler, CEO of Centurion. "We look forward to a strong partnership with Bernalillo County and the MDC to provide detainees quality healthcare services." Centurion is a leading national provider of healthcare and behavioral health services to justice-involved populations. About Centene Corporation Centene Corporation, a Fortune 100 company, is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that provides a portfolio of services to government sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Many receive benefits provided under Medicaid, including the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as Aged, Blind or Disabled (ABD), Foster Care and Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS), in addition to other state-sponsored programs, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly known as "Part D"), dual eligible programs and programs with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Centene also provides healthcare services to groups and individuals delivered through commercial health plans. Centene operates local health plans and offers a range of health insurance solutions. It also contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide specialty services including behavioral health management, care management software, correctional healthcare services, dental benefits management, commercial programs, home-based primary care services, life and health management, vision benefits management, pharmacy benefits management, specialty pharmacy and telehealth services. Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important information about the Company, including information that may be deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor relations website, http://www.centene.com/investors. Forward-Looking Statements The company and its representatives may from time to time make written and oral forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act ("PSLRA") of 1995, including statements in this and other press releases, in presentations, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), reports to stockholders and in meetings with investors and analysts. In particular, the information provided in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Centene and certain plans and objectives of Centene with respect thereto, including but not limited to the expected benefits of the acquisition of Health Net, Inc. (Health Net) (Health Net Acquisition) and the acquisition of New York State Catholic Health Plan, Inc., d/b/a Fidelis Care New York (Fidelis Care) (Fidelis Care Acquisition). These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current facts. Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe", "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "seek", "target", "goal", "may", "will", "would", "could", "should", "can", "continue" and other similar words and expressions (and the negative thereof). We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in PSLRA. A number of factors, variables or events could cause actual plans and results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, Centene's ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves; competition; membership and revenue declines or unexpected trends; changes in healthcare practices, new technologies and advances in medicine; increased healthcare costs; changes in economic, political or market conditions; changes in federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act and any regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing political conditions; rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting Centene's government businesses; Centene's ability to adequately price products on federally facilitated and state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces; tax matters; disasters or major epidemics; the outcome of legal and regulatory proceedings; changes in expected contract start dates; provider, state, federal and other contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; the expiration, suspension or termination of Centene's contracts with federal or state governments (including but not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of pending or future litigation or government investigations; challenges to Centene's contract awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from acquired businesses, including, without limitation, the Health Net Acquisition and the Fidelis Care Acquisition, will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period; the exertion of management's time and Centene's resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes required in connection with complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party consents or approvals for the Health Net Acquisition or the Fidelis Care Acquisition; disruption caused by significant completed and pending acquisitions, including the Health Net Acquisition and the Fidelis Care Acquisition, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of acquisition transactions, including among others, the Health Net Acquisition and the Fidelis Care Acquisition; changes in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion for acquisitions; the risk that acquired businesses, including Health Net and Fidelis Care, will not be integrated successfully; the risk that, following the Fidelis Care Acquisition, Centene may not be able to effectively manage its expanded operations; restrictions and limitations in connection with Centene's indebtedness; Centene's ability to achieve improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth; availability of debt and equity financing, on terms that are favorable to Centene; inflation; foreign currency fluctuations; and risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports that Centene has filed with the SEC. These forward-looking statements reflect Centene's current views with respect to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by Centene in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, business strategies, operating environments, future developments and other factors it believes appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are subject to change because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. The factors described in the context of such forward-looking statements in this press release could cause Centene's plans with respect to the Health Net Acquisition, the Fidelis Care Acquisition, actual results, performance or achievements, industry results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although it is currently believed that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct and persons reading this press release are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this press release. Centene does not assume any obligation to update the information contained in this press release (whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise), except as required by applicable law. This list of important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other risk factors that may affect Centene's business operations, financial condition and results of operations, in Centene's filings with the SEC, including the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. SOURCE Centene Corporation Related Links http://www.centene.com "We are delighted to help the City of Jacksonville embark on the next phase of its recovery after residents here faced record flooding and storm damage caused by Hurricane Irma," Ambassador Al Otaiba said. "This community showed great resilience in the storm's immediate aftermath. Everyone in the UAE watched with great concern, and we wanted to help the state recover with projects to help the people of Florida get back on their feet." The City of Jacksonville will distribute the gift to fund Irma relief projects, including computer labs to two local schools, William M. Raines and Jean Ribault High Schools, and innovative programs to facilitate student access to technical education. The gift will also be used to restore Charles Reese Park, repair damaged houses, and develop other public infrastructure efforts. In addition, the gift will support the City's efforts to minimize the number of people experiencing homelessness and fund the creation of two multi-service mobile medical clinics that will provide primary care, hygiene, and mental health services to homeless individuals. "We know the impacts hurricanes can have on a community all too well, having experienced back-to-back storms within a year of each other," said Mayor Lenny Curry. "When Irma impacted our area last year, she brought unprecedented storm surges and historic levels of flooding to our city. Many people in our community are still recovering from the aftermath. But Jacksonville is full of strong, hard-working, dedicated people, and our history shows that. Thanks to the grant funding from the United Arab Emirates announced today, we are able to restore and rebuild one of our city's most impacted neighborhoods, and make it stronger than before." Duval County Public Schools Duval County Public Schools will receive $425,000 of the UAE grant to fund programs at the Construction and Architecture Career Academy and for computer labs at two local schools, William M. Raines and Jean Ribault High Schools. "Transferring knowledge and skills from the classroom to real-world application is an objective of quality education, especially in the skilled trades," said Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene. "This grant gives our students a tremendous opportunity to do that. With partners like Builders Care and HabiJax, our skilled trade students will apply what they learn in our schools and labs on an active construction site. That significantly improves their readiness for careers when they graduate. This grant benefits our community in two ways. First, it will help revitalize the Ken Knight Drive area. Second, it will better prepare Duval graduates for high wage employment when they graduate from our high schools." The projects funded by the UAE grant will help accelerate student access to technical education. In partnership with Builders Care, Habijax and A. Philip Randolph Career Academies, students will jointly complete proposed neighborhood rehabilitation projects as part of the Construction and Architecture Career Academy. Students will be able to participate in the full process of building a home and other renovation projects. Ken Knight Drive Neighborhood One of the hardest hit communities by Hurricane Irma was the Ken Knight Drive neighborhood, on the Northside of Jacksonville. In response to the debilitating effects of the storm, Builder's Care and Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville will receive approximately $650,000 combined to fund the Ken Knight Drive Neighborhood Home Repair and Restoration Project. "Builders Care is immeasurably appreciative of the UAE's commitment to help Jacksonville's most vulnerable citizens affected by Hurricane Irma," said Executive Director Justin Brown. "We are also grateful to the Mayor's office for putting together this collaboration of local nonprofits; addressing the immediate needs of flood victims in a community persistently distressed by generational poverty." "We are so grateful for the UAE's financial support of the revitalization and restoration of the Jacksonville community," said HabiJax President & CEO Mary Kay O'Rourke. "Because of their generosity, additional families in the Urban Core of Jacksonville have access to a safe and healthy home and access to affordable homeownership." In addition, the City of Jacksonville will receive $800,000 to restore the Ken Knight Drive neighborhood park, Charles Reese Park, and to fund other public infrastructure projects in the area. I.M. Sulzbacher Center for Mobile Medical Clinics Jacksonville has more than 5,000 people experiencing homelessness throughout the city. Local providers have facilitated 100,000 medical and dental visits in the last three years. However, realizing the increasing number of people who rely on these services, Mayor Curry called on providers to recommend ways to increase access to medical and dental services for homeless persons. The I.M. Sulzbacher Center will receive approximately $900,000 from the UAE grant to design and build two multi-service mobile medical clinics to provide primary care, hygiene, and mental health services to homeless individuals otherwise disconnected from existing community services. "Sulzbacher is so incredibly grateful to our friends from the United Arab Emirates for the amazing gift of two mobile units to increase both health and social service access to our most vulnerable homeless neighbors living on the streets of Jacksonville," said Sulzbacher President & CEO Cindy Funkhouser. "The mobile units will allow the homeless providers to reach people where they are to connect them to the help they need to end their homelessness." Other Florida Recovery Initiatives In addition to this grant, the UAE announced in August a $2.7 million grant to Naples, Florida, which will be managed by the United Way of Collier County and distributed to key neighborhoods for rehabilitation, as well as to the Collier County Public Schools (CCPS) and Grace Place for Children and Families. The UAE has an extensive record of helping US communities recover from natural disasters from New Orleans to New Jersey after Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012), to Joplin, Missouri (2011), which was devastated by one of the largest tornadoes ever recorded in the U.S. Most recently, the UAE announced a $10 million grant to the state of Texas following the impact of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Media Contact: Embassy of the United Arab Emirates (202) 243-2448 About the City of Jacksonville The City of Jacksonville is the largest city by land mass in the continental United States, serving approximately 850,000 residents. Located in Duval County, City of Jacksonville leadership includes the mayor and a 19-member City Council. To learn more about the City of Jacksonville, visit COJ.net. About the United Arab Emirates The UAE is a source of stability, acceptance, innovation and growth in the Arabian Gulf and around the world. The United States and the UAE are close friends and strong allies, working together to promote regional security, create economic prosperity and address pressing global challenges. In fact, the UAE is the largest export market for US goods in the Middle East and more US naval vessels visit UAE ports than any other port outside the United States. Cultural, educational and medical partnerships between the UAE and US are spurring innovation, inspiring creativity and increasing understanding in both countries. For more information: www.uae-embassy.org and @UAEEmbassyUS. SOURCE Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Related Links http://www.uae-embassy.org SARASOTA, Fla., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Masons Software, LLC., the leading provider of Microsoft Certified EDI and XML solutions for Microsoft Dynamics, announced the availability of an advanced EDI eCommerce solution for Dynamics 365 Business Central. Data Masons' platform, called Vantage Point EDI, is Certified for Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition. The solution promises to be fast and enables companies to connect their entire value chain into the Business Central platform affordably and without invasive customizations. Data Masons' Director of Application Development, Steve Massey states, "We are excited about the release of the Vantage Point solution for Business Central. Integration to Business Central was relatively simple to implement as its new integration framework is well suited to Vantage Point's Cloud ERP adaptor. Business Central is the evolution of the Microsoft NAV product architected for the Microsoft Cloud and our intimate knowledge of Dynamics NAV made our job much easier. We've had great success in our initial implementations and are looking forward to enabling Business Central users to quickly integrate their business operations with their partners." Data Masons will be presenting the solution at the Dynamic Communities Summit at the Phoenix Convention Center October 15 18, 2018. Conference attendees can visit Booth 909 to learn more about the Vantage Point EDI solution. Two live presentations of the solution will be held at the Phoenix Convention Center on Tuesday October 16th at 3pm and Wednesday October 17th at 10am. About Data Masons Data Masons specializes in EDI Made Simple for Microsoft Dynamics customers by offering advanced, turnkey EDI & XML solutions. Certified for Microsoft Dynamics, Vantage Point EDI provides an end-to-end EDI processing platform with seamless integration and predictable ownership costs for cloud or on-premise environments - all without expensive and disruptive ERP platform customization. Data Masons' compliance services, product flexibility, extensive EDI and ERP integration knowledge, and partner-driven experience have made Vantage Point EDI the winning choice for high-performance business document integration at more than 1,500 organizations. Learn more at www.datamasons.com. Media Contact: Linda Athans Data Masons Software Phone: 866-575-1631 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Data Masons Software Related Links http://www.datamasons.com BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 27, Jack's Regional Director Taylor Kitchens will get on his bike in the small town of Cuba, on the MS / AL line. From there, he'll head directly across the state to cross the AL / GA line in Phenix City. The trip is in support of the Jack's Family Fund, the nonprofit arm of Jack's Restaurants that exists to support the communities Jack's calls home. Taylor Kitchens has a history of using his bike to give back. In 2012, he participated in "Bo Bikes Bama," raising $25,000 to support Alabama communities ravaged by the previous year's tornadoes. In 2016, it was Camp Smile-a-Mile's "Ride of Love," where Kitchens generated nearly $20,000 for childhood cancer patients. Kitchens sees his efforts as part of Jack's larger corporate obligation to do good: "The Jack's Family Fund is a great charity that helps individuals, families, and communities in their time of need. This year we have already given out over $50,000 in grants to people in need, and this month we will support Alabama foster children with a grant of $217,818 to Kids to Love." About Jack's Family Restaurants : The first Jack's opened in Homewood, AL in 1960. Since 1960, that location has grown into 157 restaurants in 4 states providing customers with fresh food, always cooked with Southern flavor and always served with Southern hospitality. To learn more about Jack's, visit eatatjacks.com. About the Jack's Family Fund : The Jack's Family Fund is a non-profit corporation devoted to creating a safety net for our employees, guests, and the communities they inhabit. Whether it's supporting someone through a personal tragedy or offering local disaster relief, we plan to be there to offer hope and help in the places we call home. To donate to the Jack's Family Fund, visit jacksfamilyfund.org/donate . SOURCE Jacks Family Restaurants Related Links http://eatatjacks.com "Participating in the International Congress of Neuroscience allows us to connect with medical professionals throughout Brazil and offer important education on the benefits of CBD," said Medical Marijuana, Inc. CEO Dr. Stuart Titus. "Supporting CBD research and education throughout the world is one of our top priorities and we're honored to be a trusted resource for the Brazilian community." The event venue, the Albert Einstein Hospital, is one of the most modern private hospitals in Latin America, boasting more than six thousand registered doctors. It was the first health institution outside the United States to be certified by the Joint Commission International. HempMeds Brasil Director of Medical Affairs Junior S. Gibelli spoke during the event and educated doctors about CBD as a supplement for both children and adults. Some of the most highly regarded Brazilian doctors and healthcare professionals attended and received new information about breakthroughs in cannabis research during this presentation. "We are thrilled to receive the opportunity to speak at one of the best private medical institutions in Latin America and speak directly with top doctors who are looking to prescribe CBD to their patients," said HempMeds Brasil Vice President Caroline Heinz. "We trust that the doctors who attended the event were able to take home valuable information and relay it to their hospital administrators and patients." HempMeds Brasil was the first company to receive an import permit for CBD in Brazil and, after a series of historic rulings, Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency ANVISA removed CBD from Brazil's prohibited substance use list , removed the substance's import tax and is now actively subsidizing the cost of CBD for those who need financial assistance. To learn more about the event, please visit https://hempmeds.com.br/ . About Medical Marijuana, Inc. We are a company of firsts. Our mission is to be the premier cannabis and hemp industry innovators, leveraging our team of professionals to source, evaluate and purchase value-added companies and products, while allowing them to keep their integrity and entrepreneurial spirit. We strive to create awareness within our industry, develop environmentally-friendly, economically sustainable businesses, while increasing shareholder value. For details on Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s portfolio and investment companies, visit www.medicalmarijuanainc.com . To see Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s corporate video, click here . Shareholders and consumers are also encouraged to buy CBD oil and other products at Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s shop . About HempMeds Brasil HempMeds Brasil was the first company to receive approval from the National Sanitary Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to import a product based on cannabidiol, a substance derived from hemp, a plant of the genus Cannabis. Currently, it is authorized to supply its products, which help in the control of diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, chronic pain and multiple sclerosis, under medical prescription. For these indications, the products can be subsidized by the Brazilian government. HempMeds Brasil works on additional approvals for other indications. www.hempmeds.com.br . FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Medical Marijuana, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) DISCLOSURE These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. LEGAL DISCLOSURE Medical Marijuana, Inc. does not sell or distribute any products that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act (US.CSA). These companies do grow, sell, and distribute hemp-based products and are involved with the federally legal distribution of medical marijuana-based products within certain international markets. Cannabidiol is a natural constituent of hemp oil. CONTACT: Public Relations Contact: Andrew Hard Chief Executive Officer CMW Media P. 858-264-6600 [email protected] www.cmwmedia.com SOURCE Medical Marijuana, Inc. Related Links https://www.medicalmarijuanainc.com DUBLIN, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Oman Warehousing Market Outlook to 2022 - By Number of Warehouses; By End User and By Business Model; By Regional Landscape and By International and Domestic Companies" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report also covers the overall comparative landscape in Oman warehousing market with company profiles for major players. The report concludes with market projection for future of warehousing services for Oman warehousing market. Oman Warehousing Market Overview and Size Warehousing is a fairly old concept in Oman with having highest number of warehouse in the city of Muscat alone. A key driver behind Oman's significant warehousing market and its regularly increasing growth is the location, considering that it is an intermediary trade corridor leading to it being an ideal pit stop for goods being transported between the western and Asian regions. Over the past few years, rapid retail market developments have been evident in Oman with a continuous increase in organized retail or modern shopping across the country. Warehousing is gaining prominence due to economic diversification, air port and sea port upgrades, expansion of industrial parks and free zones such as Salalah Free Zone (SFZ), Al Duqm Free Zone, Sohar Free Zone and Al Mazyounah Free Zone. In parallel to the growing volume of cargo throughput at Omani ports, warehousing is a market segment poised for growth in the country, meeting the needs of transporters seeking a strategic location to store goods en route. Just-in-Time and Just-in-Case manufacturing processes are trending across global warehousing industry including Oman with a purpose of eliminating waste and inconsistencies which are hampering with overall productivity. Oman Warehousing Market Segmentation By Number of Warehouses Most of warehouse space is located in Muscat. Muscat has the most area under a single city, further divided into 12 sub cities, Muscat has the highest prominence for trade in Oman with it being the capital, largest port and the most advanced air trade option Oman can have, Muscat is also one of the oldest cities in Oman and has the reputation for trade as it was and still is a primary route for spice and silk trade from and between Oman. Muscat is also the central intersecting point of the various lines of the world shipping lanes. Rest of the warehouse area in Oman is distributed among the remaining area of Oman between the regions of Seeb, Sohar, Sur, Nizwa and others. Groups like Al Medina, Jan Muhammed and ILS Logistics are some of the major players in the warehousing market of Oman and they control most of the warehousing space in Oman. By End User Food and beverage products are usually distributed in large quantities and require care when handling to ensure the product is not damaged or destroyed during transport. This need for specialized care with an increase in standard of living of the urban population has made the Food and Beverage sector the highest end user in the warehousing industry. The second major sector contributing to the warehousing sector is Chemicals. The Oil and Gas sector being one of the key economic areas for Oman takes the next highest share of the Oman logistics market in 2017. Remaining sectors varied from Electronics to pharmaceuticals cumulatively to the Warehousing industry in Oman. By Business Model The industrial/retail freight segment dominated overall Oman warehousing market in the year 2017. The rising industrial / retail sector in Oman has elevated the requirement of warehouses in the country majorly due to increasing demand for storage of processed packaged foods and beverages, as modern food retailing businesses expanded their operations in order to meet the consumer requirements. Moreover, rising internet and smartphone penetration in Oman has strengthened the online shopping market in the country. The e-tail companies require warehouses for storing goods and hence are one of the leading growth factors for the warehousing market in Oman. Container freight followed industrial / retail in the year 2017. The use of containers in export shipments makes the transport and goods handling easier and faster. Additionally, the containers are designed to facilitate the carriage of goods without intermediate reloading. The remaining revenue share was collectively captured by cold storage, agriculture and others in Oman warehousing market in 2017. Comparative Landscape in Oman Warehousing Market The warehousing industry in Oman encompasses a mix of unorganized and organized players. The companies were observed to compete with each other on the basis of the size and location of the warehouse. The location of the warehouse has to be appropriate to the needs of the customer which reduces extra cost of transportation and increases time efficiency. Other important factors which influence the choice of warehouse are technologies/automation used in the warehouses; value added services, GDP-certified temperature and humidity-controlled environment and others. Oman Warehousing Market Future Outlook and Projections Over the forecast period, Oman warehousing market is expected to drive demand for more warehouses in near future on account of rising production in the country. The key drivers behind the boost in growth rate are to be the increase in the standard of living of the Omani population causing more businesses to enter into Omani markets increasing the demand for warehousing facilities and increasing the price of warehousing in prime locations significantly. Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary Oman Warehousing Market Size Segmentation by Number of Warehouses Segmentation by End Users Segmentation by International and Domestic Companies Segmentation by Business Model Competitive Landscape of Major Players Operating in Oman Warehousing Market Warehousing Market Future Outlook and Projections 2. Research Methodology 2.1. Market Definitions 2.2. Abbreviations 2.3. Market Size and Modeling 3. Oman Warehousing Market 3.1. Market Evolution, Emerging Trend And Timeline 3.2. Value Chain Of Oman Warehousing Market 4. Oman Warehousing Market Size, 2012-2017 5. Oman Warehousing Market Segmentation, 2017 5.1. By Number of Warehouses (Muscat and Others), 2017 5.2. By End User (Food And Beverage, Chemicals, Oil and Gas, Electronics, Agriculture and Others), 2017 5.3. By International and Domestic Companies, 2017 5.4. By Business Model (Industrial / Retail Freight, Container Freight, Cold Storage, Agriculture and Others) 6. Competition Scenario in Oman Warehousing Market 7. Company Profile for Major Players in Oman Warehousing Market 7.1. GGL Logistics 7.2. Oryx Logistics 7.3. GAC Logistics 7.4. AVVashya CCI Logistics 7.5. Logwin Logistics 7.6. Enhance Oman 8. Oman Warehousing Market Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 8.1. By Revenues, 2018-2022 8.2. By Business Model (Industrial Freight / Retail Freight, Container Freight, Cold Storage, Agriculture And Others), 2022 8.3. Future Technological Development in Oman Warehousing Market 9. Analyst Recommendations For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5rfsdq/oman_warehousing?w=5 Did you know that we also offer Custom Research? Visit our Custom Research page to learn more and schedule a meeting with our Custom Research Manager. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The SKF Group will publish its results for the third quarter on 25 October 2018 and welcomes investors, analysts and members of the media to take part in a conference call, which will be held in English, at 14:00 Central European Time. To join the conference call, please dial-in using the following details at least 10 minutes before the start of the call: SE: +46 (0)8-5065-3942 UK: +44 (0)330-336-9411 US: +1-929-477-0402 Please inform the operator that you wish to take part in the SKF conference call. The Group's results for the third quarter of 2018 will be published around 13:00 Central European Time. All information regarding the results will be made available on the Group's website: http://investors.skf.com/en/result-centre. Media: To pre-book interviews with Alrik Danielson and Christian Johansson after the conference call, please contact Theo Kjellberg on [email protected]. Aktiebolaget SKF (publ) For further information, please contact: PRESS: Theo Kjellberg, Director, Press Relations tel: +46-31-337-6576, mobile: +46-725-776576, e-mail: [email protected] INVESTOR RELATIONS: Patrik Stenberg, Head of Investor Relations Patrik Stenberg, +46-31-337-2104; +46-705-472-104; [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/skf/r/skf-s-third-quarter-results-to-be-published-on-25-october-2018,c2644572 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/637/2644572/926663.pdf full release as pdf SOURCE SKF VANCOUVER, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Tinka Resources Limited ("Tinka" or the "Company") (TSXV & BVL: TK) (OTCPK: TKRFF) is pleased to provide an update of exploration results at the Ayawilca project in central Peru, including results for ten recent drill holes. Key highlights: Four resource step-out holes were drilled at South, Central and West Ayawilca. Hole A18-152 is a 60 metre step-out from known mineralization at South Ayawilca. Hole A18-158 is a 100 metre step-out from known mineralization at Central Ayawilca. A18-125 is a new intersection at Zone 3. Highlights include: A18-152: 1.2 metres at 13.8% zinc, 0.8% lead, 817g/t silver and 64g/t indium from 156.3 metres depth. A18-158: 1.5 metres at 9.6% zinc, 1.2% lead and 32g/t indium from 458.4 metres depth. A18-125: 1.4 metres at 22.7% zinc & 99 g/t indium from 531.4 metres depth. Note: Intercepts above are down-hole intercepts of 'mantos' hosted by limestone or sandstone. True thicknesses of the mantos are estimated to be at least 90% of the down-hole intercepts. Three holes were drilled to test outcropping silver-lead-zinc carbonate veins at the "Vetas" area, a target drilled for the first time in 2018. High-grade silver intercepts occur with visible 'ruby silver' minerals and associated base metal sulphides in multiple vein structures. The grade - thickness of intercepts improve with depth due to a more favourable host rock (sandstone). The epithermal silver-lead-zinc carbonate vein system remains open and untested along strike and at depth. Highlights include: Hole A18-131: 2.5 metres (true width) at 665 g/t silver, 1.4% zinc & 1.9% lead from 264.0 m depth, including 1.5 metres (true width) at 925 g/t silver, 1.5% zinc & 2.8% lead from 266.0 m depth. Tinka has drilled 20,200 metres at Ayawilca in 56 holes during the 2018 drill campaign, mostly as resource step-out holes. New zinc discoveries at West Ayawilca and the Camp areas, in particular, have significantly extended the mineralization beyond the existing resources (current estimated inferred mineral resources contain 5.6 billion pounds of zinc, 3,300 tonnes of indium, and 23 million ounces of silver with an additional 66,000 tonnes of tin; Nov. 2017 news release). The 2018 drill campaign has now ended, as planned, allowing our technical team to compile all geological data and finalize interpretations. New zinc discoveries at West Ayawilca and the Camp areas, in particular, have significantly extended the mineralization beyond the existing resources (current estimated inferred mineral resources contain 5.6 billion pounds of zinc, 3,300 tonnes of indium, and 23 million ounces of silver with an additional 66,000 tonnes of tin; news release). The 2018 drill campaign has now ended, as planned, allowing our technical team to compile all geological data and finalize interpretations. Roscoe Postle Associates Inc (RPA) of Toronto has been appointed as independent consultant to undertake a mineral resource update, which is expected to be finalized by November 2018 . A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) is scheduled for the first half of 2019. Dr. Graham Carman, Tinkas President and CEO, stated: "Tinka has been drilling continuously at Ayawilca for 20 months since February 2017, having drilled more than 40,000 metres during that time. The Company is now focusing on compiling and analyzing the large quantity of drill hole information, completing a mineral resource update, expanding metallurgical test work, and advancing the project to a PEA in 2019. Tinka is well positioned financially with C$13 million in cash reserves at the end of September 2018 and no debt." "The Ayawilca zinc mineral resource is expected to increase meaningfully as a result of this year's drill program. Ayawilca is already one of only a handful of independently owned, large zinc resources, located in a mining-friendly jurisdiction with good infrastructure. The property has already attracted interest from a number of large mining companies, and the Company has signed multiple confidentiality agreements and conducted several site visits. We are encouraged by the level of potential strategic interest and look forward to completing the resource update and a PEA. (Note that there can be no assurance the Company will pursue a transaction or that a transaction, if pursued, will be completed.)" "The discovery of epithermal silver-bearing veins at the "Vetas" area is a further encouraging development. Although we do not yet have sufficient holes to add to our resource base, the vein system offers additional exploration upside given the high silver grades, while grades and vein thicknesses appear to increase at depth when hosted in the lower sandstone (a quartz-rich unit). We believe further exploration of the veins is warranted. Further drill testing of the veins, along with other targets, is planned for 2019." Summary of Ayawilca Inferred Zinc Zone Mineral Resources (November, 2017) South Ayawilca: 13.3 million tonnes at 9.5 % ZnEq (7.6 % zinc, 0.2 % lead, 25 g/t silver & 118 g/t indium); West Ayawilca: 9.0 million tonnes at 7.2 % ZnEq (6.1 % zinc, 0.2 % lead, 14 g/t silver & 64 g/t indium); Central Ayawilca: 13.0 million tonnes at 5.7 % ZnEq (4.7 % zinc, 0.3 % lead, 13 g/t silver & 54 g/t indium); East Ayawilca: 7.5 million tonnes at 6.2 % ZnEq (5.1 % zinc, 0.2 % lead, 13 g/t silver & 69 g/t indium); TOTAL: 42.7 million tonnes at 7.3 % ZnEq (6.0 % zinc, 0.2 % lead, 17 g/t silver & 79 g/t indium). Notes: 1 US$55/t NSR cut off was used. Metal price assumptions were US$1.15/lb Zn, US$300/kg In, US$18/oz Ag, US$1.10/lb Pb. Metal recovery assumptions were 90% Zn, 75% In, 60% Ag, and 75% Pb for the ZnEq calculation. 2 The NSR value was calculated using the formula: NSR = Zn(%)*US$15.34+Pb(%)*US$6.15+In(g/t)*US$0.18+Ag(g/t)*US$0.27 3 The ZnEq value was calculated using the formula: ZnEq = NSR/US$15.34 4 Numbers may not add due to rounding Significant new drill intercepts are summarized in Table 1 with the strongest intercepts in bold text. Table 2 summarizes the drill collar information for the recent holes. Table 1. Recent drill intercepts at Ayawilca Drill hole From m To m Down- hole int m True width m Zn % Pb % Ag g/t Indium g/t Area Comment A18-125 518.90 520.00 1.10 10.7 0.0 3 11 Zone 3 Manto and 531.40 532.80 1.40 22.7 0.0 7 99 Zone 3 Manto and 545.90 547.70 *1.8 5.1 2.3 82 19 Zone 3 Vein A18-131 243.60 246.80 *3.2 1.3 1.1 338 0 Vetas Vein and 264.00 274.00 10.00 2.5 1.4 1.9 665 0 Vetas Vein including 266.00 272.00 6.00 1.5 1.5 2.8 925 0 Vetas Vein A18-144 68.20 69.10 *0.9 4.9 2.2 222 0 West Vein 196.00 198.00 *2 0.2 0.5 166 0 West Vein 214.40 217.00 *2.6 4.7 1.9 97 0 West Vein 254.20 255.90 *1.7 1.8 0.3 547 0 West Vein A18-144 lost at 365.1 metres depth in limestone A18-147 111.50 112.40 *0.9 0.3 0.4 115 0 Vetas Vein A18-149 12.30 14.50 *2.2 0.1 0.5 129 0 Vetas Vein and 211.60 214.70 3.10 1.5 0.8 1.4 221 0 Vetas Vein A18-152 156.30 157.50 1.20 13.8 0.8 817 64 South Manto and 224.00 224.70 0.70 10.9 1.2 255 1 South Manto A18-153 No significant results to 93 m depth South A18-155 No significant results West A18-156 70.90 71.90 *1.0 12.2 0.1 36 2 Camp Vein and 79.80 83.30 *3.5 4.8 0.0 1 1 Camp Vein A18-158 458.40 459.90 1.50 9.6 1.2 20 32 Central Manto N ote: All intercepts shown above are down-hole intercepts. True thicknesses of the 'manto' zinc intersections are estimated to be at least 90% of the downhole thicknesses. Estimated true thicknesses of vein intercepts are marked (in brackets, where known). For vein intercepts marked * true thicknesses are undetermined. Table 2. Summary of Drill Collar Information (coordinates are in UTM WGS84 Zone 18S datum) Drill Hole Easting Northing Total depth (m) Elevation (m) Azimuth Dip A18-125 334045 8846541 611.3 4206 215 -68 A18-131 332450 8845958 413.8 4318 190 -85 A18-144 332554 8845711 365.1 4292 060 -72 A18-147 332451 8845957 225.5 4338 190 -60 A18-149 332535 8845782 357.7 4284 335 -45 A18-152 333004 8844938 508.9 4152 000 -90 A18-153 332880 8845301 93.3 4225 000 -90 A18-155 332992 8846122 420.1 4258 000 -90 A18-156 332675 8846615 322.3 4249 070 -80 A18-157 332400 8846930 276.5 4183 180 -75 A18-158 333889 8845416 516.5 4142 000 -85 Qualified Person Mineral Resources: The Mineral Resources disclosed in this press release have been estimated by Mr. David Ross, P.Geo., an employee of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA), and is independent of Tinka. By virtue of his education and relevant experience, Mr. Ross is a "Qualified Person" for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101. The Mineral Resources have been classified in accordance with CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (May, 2014). An independent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (the "NI 43-101 Technical Report") on the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Ayawilca Property, Department of Pasco, Peru has been filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is available on the Company's website at www.tinkaresources.com The Qualified Person, Dr. Graham Carman, Tinka's President and CEO, and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has reviewed and verified the technical contents of this release. On behalf of the Board, "Graham Carman" Dr. Graham Carman, President & CEO Notes on sampling and assaying Drill holes are diamond HQ or NQ size core holes with recoveries generally above 80% and often close to 100%. The drill core is marked up, logged, and photographed on site. The cores are cut in half at the Company's core storage facility, with half-cores stored as a future reference. Half-core is bagged on average over 1 to 2 metre composite intervals and sent to SGS laboratories in Lima for assay in batches. Standards and blanks are inserted into each batch prior to departure from Tinka's core storage facilities. At the laboratory samples are dried, crushed to 100% passing 2mm, then 500 grams pulverized for multi-element analysis by ICP using multi-acid digestion. Samples assaying over 1% zinc, lead, or copper and over 100 g/t silver are re-assayed using precise ore-grade AAS techniques. Drill core is orientated and marked as core is removed from the core barrel. In this way geological features in the core such as stratigraphic layering, fault structures, fractures and veins can typically be measured and interpreted in 3D space. About Tinka Resources Limited Tinka is an exploration and development company with its flagship property being the 100%-owned Ayawilca carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) in the zinc-lead-silver belt of central Peru, 200 kilometres northeast of Lima. The Ayawilca Zinc Zone Inferred Mineral Resource estimate now consists of 42.7 Mt at 6.0 % zinc, 0.2 % lead, 17 g/t silver & 79 g/t indium, and a Tin Zone Inferred Mineral Resource of 10.5 Mt at 0.63 % tin, 0.23 % copper & 12 g/t silver (Nov. 8, 2017, release). Drilling for resource extensions and the testing of new targets is ongoing. Forward Looking Statements: Certain information in this news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of Tinka as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Tinka's management. Such statements reflect the current risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitations, drilling results, the Company's expectations regarding the ongoing drill program, the Company's expectations regarding mineral resource calculations, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, production rates varying from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, imprecision in resource estimates or metal recoveries, success of future development initiatives, competition, operating performance, environmental and safety risks, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain necessary permits and approvals from local authorities, community agreements and relations, and other development and operating risks. Should any one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. Although Tinka believes that assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Tinka disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release SOURCE Tinka Resources Limited Related Links www.tinkaresources.com Partnership highlights value of collaboration and customization CALGARY, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - TransAlta Renewables Inc. ("TransAlta Renewables" or the "Company") (TSX: RNW) announced today that Microsoft Corp. is its customer pursuant to a 15-year power purchase arrangement signed earlier this year for the 90-megawatt (MW) Big Level wind facility now under construction in Hector Township, Pennsylvania. "This project advances our North American growth and investment strategy," said TransAlta Renewables President John Kousinioris. "Microsoft is a leader in procurement of renewable energy and a catalyst for change in how corporate customers can control their energy procurement. We're pleased to collaborate with them on a project that suits their needs and helps them to achieve their sustainability and carbon reduction objectives." The Big Level wind facility is the third power purchase arrangement Microsoft has signed in the PJM Interconnection. With this Big Level project, Microsoft's total renewable energy portfolio will rise to more than 1.2 gigawatts, covering six states and three continents. "Working with companies like TransAlta to bring new projects online, especially wind projects in states outside the Wind Belt, is good for our business, the community and the clean energy economy," said Brian Janous, General Manager of Energy and Sustainability at Microsoft. "We're pleased to enter a new state in the PJM region and take another step toward our goal of enabling a clean energy future for everyone." "We are thrilled that TransAlta Renewables and Microsoft have decided to invest in Pennsylvania," said Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin. "This project will further Pennsylvania's role as a leader in renewable energy, while supporting the development of a cleaner and more diverse energy economy." The Big Level wind facility will bring direct investment, jobs, landowner lease payments, tax benefits, and clean energy to Hector Township, Pennsylvania. At the peak of construction, there will be approximately 100 full-time equivalent jobs, and over the life of the project, the communities will receive more than $8 million in tax benefits and community payments. Construction at Big Level is underway. Geographic and asset diversification, backstopped by long-term contracted cash flows, are cornerstones of TransAlta Renewables' growth strategy. TransAlta Renewables' facilities include wind and solar in Wyoming, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. TransAlta Corporation, which owns 61 percent of TransAlta Renewables, is also one of Canada's largest wind generators and Alberta's largest hydro operator, with a total of 8000MW of owned generation capacity including 48 renewable generation facilities in 10 operating regions in North America. TransAlta Renewables has consulted extensively with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to minimize the impact the Big Level wind facility could have on birds and bats. Extensive on-site studies were performed with agency input, and wildlife impacts are expected to be minimal. The project is fully permitted through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Potter County Conservation District. Commercial operation for the Big Level wind facility is expected to begin in the second half of 2019. All regulatory approvals have been completed. About TransAlta Renewables Inc. TransAlta Renewables is among the largest of any publicly traded renewable independent power producers ("IPP") in Canada. Our asset platform and economic interests are diversified in terms of geography, generation and counterparties and consist of interests in 20 wind facilities, 13 hydroelectric facilities, seven natural gas generation facilities, one solar facility and one natural gas pipeline, representing an ownership interest of 2,407 MW of owned generating capacity, located in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, the States of Wyoming, Massachusetts, Minnesota and the State of Western Australia. Our objectives are to (i) provide stable, consistent returns for investors through the ownership of, and investment in, highly contracted renewable and natural gas power generation and other infrastructure assets that provide stable cash flow primarily through long-term contracts with strong counterparties; (ii) pursue and capitalize on strategic growth opportunities in the renewable and natural gas power generation and other infrastructure sectors; (iii) maintain diversity in terms of geography, generation and counterparties; and (iv) pay out 80 to 85 per cent of cash available for distribution to the shareholders of the Company on an annual basis. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements about TransAlta Renewables' objectives, plans, goals, intentions, strategies, prospects and opportunities. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements relating to the construction of the Big Level wind facility and the timing thereof; the capacity of the Big Level wind facility; the commercial operation for the Big Level wind facility; the benefits expected to be derived from the Big Level wind facility, including as it pertains to direct investment, jobs, landowner lease payments, tax benefits, and clean energy; the amount of any tax benefits and community payments associated with the Big Level wind facility; and the extent of any wildlife impacts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual plans, actions and results to differ materially from current expectations including, but not limited to, the Company's ability to secure tax equity or other financing for the Big Level wind facility; changes in tax, regulatory, environmental, and other laws and regulations; competitive factors in the renewable power industry; operational breakdowns, failures, or other disruption relating to construction or otherwise; changes in economic and market conditions, and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect TransAlta Renewables' expectations only as of the date of this news release. TransAlta Renewables disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE TransAlta Renewables Inc It was the end of an era in Brean at the weekend when a well-known local resident who has provided horse and pony rides on the villages beach for 59 years hung up his saddle for the final time. John Vowles, 73, first began looking after horses at the age of 14 when he left school early to work with his father. He has provided rides on Brean beach for over five decades, which have been a much-loved activity for thousands of visitors. John retired at the end of this years summer holiday season and, to mark the milestone, scores of horse riders, friends and family gathered in Brean on Saturday night (October 13th) to wish him well in his retirement. Kim, his wife, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: Its been an emotional evening when we have seen so many friends from over the decades. John has brought lots of joy to thousands of people over the years. Denise Shepherd was among those who John taught to ride and recalls: I learnt to ride on Brean beach with his help over 40 years ago and loved every minute of it. He changed many peoples lives through riding, boosting their self confidence and their love for these animals. Denise, pictured holding a photo learning to ride, said: John was always on the beach, whatever the weather. Its been very moving to see so many people come out to wish him well in his retirement. Another person who he helped to ride was TV stuntman Robert Cope, who has worked on hit show Game Of Thrones among other programmes. Robert told Burnham-On-Sea.com: A lot of what I have done in my job originates from John he taught me to ride at age seven, gave me confidence, and I carried on the riding that I have used in my work. I remember those beach rides with a lot of affection. Jill Whittemore, another of Johns frequent beach riders, added: I have known John since I was aged eight. I used to come to Brean Beach when his dad Jack ran the horses. Hes taught thousands of kids to ride and the service he provided stood the test of time and brought huge enjoyment to so many people. David Scott, owner of Breans Northam Farm, added: John will be missed on the beach after his 59 year run. Hes such a well-known person to thousands of visitors and we wish him well in his retirement. David added that the horses had been stabled at Northam Farm after a freak accident five decades ago. There was a crash between Brean and Weston, where their horsebox came off the road next to a railway bridge, and all the horses had to be led away to a farm overnight. Well, that began a five decades stay here at Northam Farm! John and his family have always been very welcome. John said the night had been a very humbling evening with so many friends. Latest metastatic breast cancer treatment options to be explained in webinar for patients and loved ones, corresponding with updated patient guidelines, on October 22 and 29 New NCCN Framework outlines recommendations for breast cancer screening and diagnosis for low- and middle-income countries and new NCCN Harmonized Guidelines include treatment recommendations for optimal management of breast cancer in the Caribbean Global Summit on International Breast Health and Cancer Control, hosted by NCCN and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, begins today PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a nonprofit alliance of 27 top academic cancer centers across the United States, offers new and updated resources to help inform people with breast cancer, caregivers, and clinicians worldwide about the latest advances in care. "New and important research is being conducted every day to explore how we can improve the lives of people with breast cancer," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. In addition to helming NCCN, Dr. Carlson is also a leading breast cancer oncologist, currently practicing at Fox Chase Cancer Center after many years with the Stanford Cancer Institute. "Our expert panels study and debate any new findings and drug approvals before updating the NCCN Guidelines. Those updates are then put into non-medical terms in our NCCN Guidelines for Patients, to make sure people with cancer can know what their doctors know." The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Breast Cancer was most recently updated on October 5, 2018, as was the NCCN Guidelines for Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Breast Cancer has also been updated, and split into three separate volumes for 2018: Noninvasive, Invasive (soon-to-be published), and Metastatic. Free Webinars for Patients + Continuing Medical Education For patients and caregivers looking to learn more about the treatment options, goals, and decisions for metastatic breast cancer, NCCN is offering two free webinars, with a chance to ask questions directly to the experts. These webinars are supported through the NCCN Foundation. Topics include: How to let your doctor know about your personal history, priorities, and concerns How to classify different variations of metastatic breast cancer Which treatment options apply to various types of metastatic breast cancer What new research is being conducted now How to manage assorted side effects from treatment Tips for dealing with the potential financial difficulties that can arise from cancer care When: Presenters: Karen Lisa Smith , MD, MPH , Assistant Professor of Oncology, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins , Assistant Professor of Oncology, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Lillie D. Shockney, RN , BS, MAS, ONN-CG, University Distinguished Service Professor of Breast Cancer, Professor of Surgery and Oncology, JHU School of Medicine, Adm Director, Johns Hopkins Breast Center Visit NCCN.org/patientwebinars to learn more. NCCN also currently has several free continuing education webinars on breast cancer available for clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other providers. Topics include: Participants are eligible for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, ABIM MOC points, ANCC contact hours, ACPE contact hours, and CCM clock hours. Visit education.nccn.org to view the full course catalog. Global Resources Locally Tailored NCCN recognizes that treatment approaches can vary in different settings, depending on available resources. To make the NCCN Guidelines as accessible as possible, the organization has published more than 160 Adaptations and Translations of the NCCN Guidelines in 11 different languages. There are NCCN Framework for Resource Stratification of NCCN Guidelines (NCCN Framework) for 19 different areas of care, including a new one for breast cancer screening and diagnosis added this year. The goal of the NCCN Framework is to define appropriate treatment pathways based on available resourcesBasic, Core, Enhanced, and NCCN Guidelinesand deliver a tool for health care providers to identify treatment options that will provide the best possible outcomes given specific resource constraints. NCCN is also working with the Caribbean Association for Oncology & Hematology (CAOH) to create NCCN Harmonized Guidelines for the Caribbean. The newly published NCCN Harmonized Guidelines for the Caribbean: Breast Cancer adapts the recommendations from NCCN Guidelines and NCCN Framework for both the optimal care that these regions aspire to provide and pragmatic approaches that provide effective treatment options for resource-constrained settings. NCCN previously teamed up with the African Cancer Coalition to create the NCCN Harmonized Guidelines for Sub-Saharan Africa, which include breast cancer among other top-occurring cancers. Additional NCCN Harmonized GuidelinesTM for Sub-Saharan Africa will be published later this year. All of the NCCN Guidelines, NCCN Framework, NCCN Harmonized Guidelines, Adaptations, and Translations are available free-of-charge for non-commercial use online at NCCN.org or via the Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines App. To learn more about NCCN's work across the world, visit NCCN.org/global, and join the conversation online with the hashtag #NCCNGlobal. Live Meetings and Events The Global Summit on International Breast Health and Cancer Control: Improving Breast Health Care through Resource-Stratified Phased Implementation kicks off today in Seattle, Washington. The three-day summit, is hosted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The event is part of a collaboration between NCCN and The Breast Health Global Initiation to develop systematic, evidence-based implementation frameworks for translating resource-stratified guidelines into practice. Later this week, NCCN will participate in the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress, and host an NCCN Global Academy for Excellence & Leadership in Oncology. Registration is also open for the NCCN 2019 Congress: Breast Cancer, which will take place on February 8, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois. "We're glad to be able to offer so many different options for information about breast cancer, not just during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but year round," said Dr. Carlson. "Better-informed patients and doctors leads to better outcomes for everybody." About the NCCN Foundation The NCCN Foundation was founded by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) to empower people with cancer and advance oncology innovation. The NCCN Foundation empowers people with cancer and their caregivers by delivering unbiased expert guidance from the world's leading cancer experts through the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients and other patient education resources. The NCCN Foundation is also committed to advancing cancer treatment by funding the nation's promising young investigators at the forefront of cancer research. For more information about the NCCN Foundation, visit NCCN.org/patients. About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers. The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT. Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients. Media, visit NCCN.org/news. Follow NCCN on Twitter @NCCNnews and Facebook @National.Comprehensive.Cancer.Network. Media Contact: Rachel Darwin 267-622-6624 [email protected] SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network Related Links http://www.nccn.org HOUSTON, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing to bring industry leaders face-to-face with the latest oil and gas production strategies, Hart Energy announced half-day technical programs commencing one day before next month's Executive Oil Conference and DUG Midcontinent conference and exhibition. Executive Oil Conference's Water Forum, November 5 at the Midland Horseshoe Arena and Pavilion, will feature strategies for handling water over the full life of Permian wells. Water experts and leading producers will discuss sourcing and supply; reuse and recycle; and gathering and disposal. University Lands' CEO Mark Houser will start the forum with his presentation on smart water infrastructure benefitting West Texas' operators, the environment and the Permanent University Fund. Following the opening keynote, Sourcewater's CEO Josh Adler and Hydrozonix's President Mark Patton will lead a panel discussion on new sourcing and supply strategies. They will focus on managing water quality, working with different water types, and the role of digital technologies in monitoring. "Water management accounts for roughly 40% of lease operating expenses in the Permian," said Jennifer Presley, Executive Editor E&P Magazine. "This forum explores tactics for producers to use technology to control costs in these areas." DUG Midcontinent's Midstream Technical Forum, November 13 in Oklahoma City's Renaissance Hotel, will bring together midstream experts, leading operators and service companies to look at effective strategies and new developments in the midstream sector. An opening keynote from the president and CEO of the GPA Midstream Association focuses on technical skills and training challenges while the closing roundtable looks at human factors in operational safety. In between, a major midstream operator assesses monetary advantages from the Internet of Things (IoT), and expert panels review profitable opportunities in gas processing and effective strategies for asset protection. "Innovations promise to deliver improved efficiency in midstream operations," said Paul Hart, Midstream Editor-at-Large, Oil and Gas Investor. "This forum is designed for producers and midstream operators to exchange views on the best paths forward." For more information about the Water Forum, visit ExecutiveOilConference.com. For more information about the Midstream Technical Forum visit DUGMidcontinent.com. About Hart Energy For more than 40 years, Hart Energy editors and experts have delivered market-leading insights to investors and energy industry professionals. The Houston-based company produces award-winning magazines (such as Oil and Gas Investor, E&P and Midstream Business); online news and data services; in-depth industry conferences (like the DUG series); GIS data sets and mapping solutions; and a range of research and consulting services. For information, visit hartenergy.com. Contact: Kate Clark 713.260.4657 SOURCE Hart Energy Related Links http://www.hartenergy.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- An army of more than 10,000 repair workers today continued to restore power to Duke Energy's customers in the Carolinas following Tropical Storm Michael. About 50,000 customers almost all in North Carolina remained without power as of 6:30 p.m. Duke Energy expects to restore power to most of the remaining customers, whose properties can receive power, by 11:45 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 16. Crews have repaired more than 1 million power outages since the destructive storm raced through the Carolinas on Thursday. Utility teams from Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas have joined Duke Energy's Carolinas workers to assist with repairs. "We greatly appreciate our customers' continued patience during this challenging and stressful time for them and their families," said Duke Energy incident commander Rufus Jackson. "Our crews are working as quickly as possible to safely restore power to all of our customers across the Carolinas. "The storm's severity caused significant, widespread damage to the region's electric system damage that requires repairing and replacing large numbers of utility poles, power lines and other infrastructure components. That critical work takes time, but we continue to make significant progress," Jackson said. Duke Energy is asking customers without power to turn switches to the "off" position on as many appliances and electronics as possible. That step facilitates power restoration by reducing the immediate demand on power lines when power is restored. Once power is restored, the company asks customers to wait a few minutes before turning on those appliances and electronics. Power restoration information, by geographical zone, is available at: https://www.dukeenergyupdates.com/michael/carolinas/hurricane-michael-restoration-in-the-carolinas Latest outage numbers can be found here. Information about how to report a power outage also can be found at that link. For the latest storm and power restoration updates, visit https://www.dukeenergyupdates.com/michael/carolinas or follow Duke Energy on Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy). Duke Energy urges all customers to check on neighbors who have special needs and might require extra assistance due to a power outage. Power line safety Stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging. Consider all power lines as well as trees, limbs and anything else in contact with power lines energized and dangerous. If a power line falls across a car that you're in, stay in the car. If you MUST get out of the car due to a fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump clear of the car and land on both feet. Be sure that no part of your body is touching the car when your feet touch the ground. Click here for a video about power line safety. (NYSE: DUK) 24-Hour: 800.559.3853 SOURCE Duke Energy MIAMI, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A bill on the November 6, 2018 General Election ballot is causing quite a commotion among a strong and connected group of Miami business owners and supporters of animal rights, who vehemently oppose dog racing. The group is working to get the word out and gain support for Florida Amendment 13, which if passed, will ban commercial greyhound racing in the state by 2020. One of eight measures going before Florida voters on November 6, the bill was placed on the ballot by the state's Constitution Revision Commission (CRC), which meets every 20 years to propose changes to the state's constitution. The amendment received a 27-10 vote and was sponsored by CRC member, Senator Tom Lee of Thonotosassa. With the General Election right around the corner and 11 of the 18 dog-racing tracks in the U.S. being located right here in Florida, the group of Miami business owners feels that there's still very little knowledge among state voters on the issue. "We need to educate the community about this important bill on the ballot in November's election as the practice of dog-racing is cruel, abusive and archaic; it is out of sync with society's values toward animals," said Sonya Hadrigan, chairwoman of Dog Lovers of Florida, www.dogloversofflorida.org, who is heading the group. "As a Florida native, dog lover and supporter of animal rights, I am shocked and saddened that this "sport" continues in such a progressive state." Almost a century ago, in 1931, the Florida State Legislature passed a law to allow wagering on horse racing and dog racing. This was a time before civilization concerned itself with the welfare of animals; however, the legislation remains in effect today, to the detriment, maltreatment and negligence of the dogs. Common injuries suffered by race dogs include broken necks and backs, dislocations, torn muscles and paralysis. Electrocutions have also occurred while greyhounds race, and make contact with a track's high voltage lure. Some dogs die on the racetrack while others are put down due to the severity of their injuries, or often simply because of their diminished value as racers. "Greyhounds don't have a chance" says Hadrigan. "From the time they are born, these friendly and loving dogs are forced to spend most of their time alone, locked up in warehouse-style kennels," she added, in reference to the kennels with rows of doublestacked cages, where greyhounds are kept for 20-23 hours daily. Although in 2013 the State of Florida began to require the racing industry to report deaths at the tracks or racing kennel, it does not require them to report injuries. Thousands of greyhounds are bred annuallymany more than are needed to racein an attempt to create the fastest dogs. Of the 12 dog-racing tracks in the state of Florida, there is one in Miami-Dade, one in Broward, one in West Palm Beach, two in the Orlando area, and two in the Naples, Ft. Myers area. In Florida, approximately 8,000 dogs are being used for the sport. Dog Lovers of Florida, as well as other organizations and businesses in support of the measure, have committed to finding homes for these animals. A "YES" vote for Amendment 13 would mean that the voter is supporting the prohibition of wagering on live dog races, including greyhound races, and the ban of dog races, in the state of Florida. The group is urging the community that cares about dogs and greyhounds, to help them get the word out, by using the hashtag: #voteYESon13 on Social Media, with the link to the explanation on the Amendment: https://ballotpedia.org/ Florida_Amendment_13,_Ban_on_ Wagering_on_Dog_Races_ Amendment_(2018) Contact: Peyton Sadler, 305-631-2283 SOURCE Dog Lovers of Florida Related Links http://www.dogloversofflorida.org DUBLIN, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "IoT in Agriculture, Africa, 2017" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This study focuses on an understanding of smart farming practices and the ways in which farmers can make data-driven decisions regarding crop rotation, planting and harvesting times, soil management, and weather prediction. The study will provide an analysis of the Sub-Saharan African region, with information on the Middle East and North Africa added as necessary. The forecasting will include both the regions. The technology scope will cover the following categories: mobile application, sensors, robots, satellite imaging, and drones. The categories for start-ups are finance and insurance, logistics and equipment sharing, communication tools, integrated platforms, precision agriculture, and IoT network. The study provides detailed information on key emerging technology convergence leading to the development of smart farming along with the key start-ups across the agriculture value chain, which requires automated processes and systems to sustainably increase output and influence economic growth. The study also describes the factors influencing technology convergence in the farming sector such as autonomous systems, data management and analytics, robots, wireless communication, and regulations, whilst highlighting the technologies that will play a significant part in improving agricultural processes by increasing control over resources and enhancing productivity globally and regionally. In terms of Africa's digital agriculture journey, it has been ascertained that mobile connectivity and applications are enabling farmers to have access to market-related information, digital financial services, and innovative services such as tractor sharing. Furthermore, the combination of ICT solutions such as precision equipment, Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, geo-positioning systems, data analytics, and drones is changing the way in which traditional farming is conducted in Africa. Key Issues Addressed What are the main components in the agriculture value chain and who are the key stakeholders? What are the key global trends shaping the agricultural sector? What are the key drivers and restraints affecting the development of the smart agriculture market? What is the size of the MEA market? Who are the key startups in Africa driving the development and adoption of smart farming? driving the development and adoption of smart farming? How are emerging African start-ups advancing in the smart farming market? What are the potential growth opportunities that smart farming companies can capitalise on to grow their businesses and stay competitive? Key Conclusion Identify Economies of Scale: Global suppliers of agricultural products and equipment are the more attractive market for IoT than fragmented farming production. Nonetheless, some mega-farms can offer the scale to make IoT service provision profitable. Gather Agriculture Data: African start-ups are gathering predictive intelligence that they believe will create an unassailable competitive advantage in key areas of agriculture and related industries. Predictions for the impact of weather, soil conditions, and livestock health will become increasingly accurate for Africa . . Monetise Data to Multiple Customer Types: Across all stages of the agriculture value chain, agricultural data is valuable for government departments, insurers, commodity traders, and developers of machine learning systems, among others. Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary Key Findings 2. Smart Farming - Research Perspective Research Scope Research Scope - Agriculture Value Chain Key Questions this Study will Answer Information Technology in the Agricultural Sector Digital Trends - Shaping Global Agricultural Sector 3. Smart Farming - Global Perspective Increasing Global Demands Significance of Agriculture - A Major Employment Generator in Developing Countries Factors Influencing Technology Convergence Technology Architecture of Precision Agriculture USA Farming Success 4. Smart Farming - Current and Emerging Trends in Africa Africa's Digital Agriculture Journey - Emerging Trends Current Trend - Mobile Application Emerging Trends - Cloud Platforms, IoT, and Data Analytics Technologies Influencing Future Precision Agriculture - A Road Map New Business Models - Value Chain of Data Start-ups in Africa Start-ups in Africa - Examples Current Trends - Digital Data Aggregation and Dissemination Current Trends - Digital Financial Services Current Trends - Logistics and Equipment Sharing Platforms Current Trends - Integrated Platforms Emerging Trends - Precision Agriculture Opportunities for Smart Agriculture Agricultural Sector - Requirements for Digital Transformation 5. Drivers and Restraints Drivers Drivers Explained Restraints Restraints Explained 6. IoT Connected Devices - Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East Agriculture IoT Connected Devices Forecast - Qualifiers and Determining Factors: Africa Africa - A Global Perspective Agriculture IoT Connected Devices - Africa Forecast 7. Growth Opportunities and Companies to Action Growth Opportunity 1 - Increased Crop Output Growth Opportunity 2 - Digital Insurance and Financial Services Growth Opportunity 3 - Digital Agricultural Practices Strategic Imperatives for Smart Agriculture 8. The Last Word The Last Word - 3 Big Predictions Legal Disclaimer 9. Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bxrqzt/africa_iot?w=5 Did you know that we also offer Custom Research? Visit our Custom Research page to learn more and schedule a meeting with our Custom Research Manager. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com TRONDHEIM, Norway, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aker BP has entered into an agreement with Equinor Energy to acquire its 77.8 percent interest in the King Lear gas/condensate discovery in the Norwegian North Sea for a cash consideration of USD 250 million. Karl Johnny Hersvik, CEO of Aker BP comments: "The King Lear discovery is one of the largest undeveloped discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and represents an excellent opportunity for Aker BP. Our goal is to develop King Lear as a satellite to Ula. This will improve the capacity utilization at the Ula facilities and provide significant additional volumes of injection gas to support increased oil recovery from the Ula field." Net recoverable resources in the King Lear discovery are estimated to 77 million barrels oil equivalents ("mmboe") according to data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. When including the increased oil recovery potential from Ula, Aker BP estimates a total resource addition of more than 100 mmboe net to the company. King Lear is located approximately 50 km south of the Ula field centre, in production licences 146 and 333. The transaction covers Equinor Energy's 77.8 percent interest in the two licences. The remaining 22.2 percent interest is held by Total E&P Norge. The transaction is subject to approval by Norwegian authorities. Investor contact: Kjetil Bakken, VP Investor Relations, tel.: +47-91-889-889 Media contact: Tore Langballe, VP Communications, tel.: +47-907-77-841 Ole-Johan Faret, Press Spokesman, tel.: +47-402-24-217 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/aker-bp-asa/r/aker-bp-acquires-king-lear-discovery,c2635102 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Aker BP ASA NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alleghany Corporation (NYSE: Y) today announced that it will host an Investor Day in New York City on Thursday, November 8, 2018 beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET and concluding by approximately 12:30 p.m. ET. President and chief executive officer Weston M. Hicks will be joined by senior leaders from Alleghany as well as from TransRe, RSUI, CapSpecialty and Alleghany Capital. Presentations by management and question and answer sessions will be followed by lunch for those who attend in person with Alleghany and subsidiary executives. Attendance in person is by invitation only. A live audio webcast and accompanying presentation materials will be available at www.alleghany.com in the Events and Presentations section of the website. An audio replay will be available for 180 days after the event. About Alleghany Corporation Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y) creates value through owning and managing operating subsidiaries and investments, anchored by a core position in property and casualty reinsurance and insurance. Alleghany's property and casualty subsidiaries include: Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. ("TransRe"), a leading global reinsurer; RSUI Group, Inc. ("RSUI"), a national underwriter of property and liability specialty insurance coverages; and CapSpecialty, Inc. ("CapSpecialty"), an underwriter of commercial property, casualty and surety insurance coverages. Alleghany's subsidiary Alleghany Capital Corporation ("Alleghany Capital") engages in and oversees strategic investments and acquisitions. SOURCE Alleghany Corporation Related Links http://www.alleghany.com SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, Always Best Care of San Antonio, in partnership with San Antonio Humane Society, will host a free pet adoption event for local seniors from 10 a.m.to 3 p.m. on Oct. 27, 2018, at the San Antonio Humane Society located at 4804 Fredericksburg Rd. San Antonio, TX 78229. The senior care agency plans to cover all qualifying adoption fees for up to 15 adoptions for dogs ages 6+ adopted by seniors 60 and older during this time. "In our local community there are so many shelter dogs and cats in need of loving homes, and we've found that the seniors we care for experience immeasurable benefits from pet ownership," said Pat O'Kane, Always Best Care of San Antonio franchisee. "Studies continue to prove that pet ownership helps lower stress levels, blood pressure and depression. By teaming up with San Antonio Humane Society, we plan to cover pet adoption fees in an effort to combat the ongoing issue of depression in Americans over the age of 60. We're excited to help connect seniors and their loved ones with pets in need of a home." By working with case managers, social workers, discharge planners, doctors, and families, Always Best Care franchise owners provide affordable, comprehensive solutions that can be specifically matched to meet a client's particular physical or social needs. The hallmark services of Always Best Care include non-medical in-home care and assisted living finder and referral services, with skilled home health care now being phased in throughout the country. For more information about the pet adoption event, or to learn more about services available through Always Best Care of San Antonio, please call (210) 772-2277 or visit www.alwaysbestcare.com/tx/san-antonio/. About Always Best Care Founded in 1996, Always Best Care Senior Services is based on the belief that having the right people for the right level of care means peace of mind for the client and family. Always Best Care assists seniors with a wide range of illnesses and personal needs, and currently provides more than 4 million hours of care every year. Franchise opportunities are available to individuals interested in leveraging the company's clear strategy and proven track record for delivering affordable, dependable service to seniors in their local areas. Always Best Care also offers an exclusive program called Always in Touch, a telephone reassurance program that provides a daily phone call to seniors and disabled adults who are living alone and have limited contact with the outside world. Always in Touch is the only absolutely free national telephone reassurance program of its kind anywhere in the USA and Canada. For more information on Always in Touch, or to request an application, visit www.Always-In-Touch.com . SOURCE Always Best Care Related Links http://www.alwaysbestcare.com "After identifying that human milk has up to 20 times more osteopontin than conventional infant formula, AFI worked diligently to bring the osteopontin content in its offerings on par with human milk concentrations. Consequently, it pioneered the commercial use of osteopontin in infant formula with its product Lacprodan OPN-10," said Arun Ramesh, Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. AFI's strong emphasis on research and development and its global footprint allow the company to anticipate and meet customer needs through value-added products. Arla AMBA, the mother company of AFI, has more than 10,000 farmers and some of the largest dairies in the world, which gives AFI a complete control over the value chain. Its farmers follow an intensive quality control program that includes numerous audits and compliance with rules regarding the treatment of cows, filtering of contaminants, and extraction and delivery of high-quality milk. AFI's focus on sustainability, operational excellence, and dedication to meeting and exceeding regulatory requirements has positioned it for continued and accelerated growth in the infant formula market. Furthermore, AFI's powerful partnerships with leading universities, non-governmental organizations, and other thought leaders endow it with a comprehensive knowledge base that serves as a foundation for innovation. "AFI's ambitious quality strategy elevates the company to a leader status in the market," noted Ramesh. "Its commitment to technology innovation and strategic collaborations have given it a significant competitive advantage, and the company expects to make the most of it by expanding to numerous new markets in the future." Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that develops a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid market acceptance. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry. About Arla Foods Ingredients Arla Foods Ingredients is a global leader in value-added whey solutions. We discover and deliver ingredients derived from whey, supporting the food industry with the development and efficient processing of more natural, functional and nutritious foods. We serve global markets within early life nutrition, medical nutrition, sport nutrition, health foods and other foods and beverage products. Five reasons to choose us: We have R&D in our DNA We offer superior quality We are your trusted business partner We support sustainability We ensure security of supply Arla Foods Ingredients is a 100% owned subsidiary of Arla Foods. Our head office is in Denmark. RSS Feed Visit our website at http://www.mynewsdesk.com/arla-foods-ingredients and sign up to our News RSS feed for all the latest developments updated regularly. Twitter Follow us on twitter for all the latest updates @ArlaIngredients LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/arla-foods-ingredients Facebook https://www.facebook.com/arlaingredients About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector, and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion . Contact: Claudia Toscano P: 210.477.8417 F: 210.348.1003 E: [email protected] SOURCE Frost & Sullivan Related Links https://ww2.frost.com HANGZHOU, China and SHAOXING, China, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascletis Pharma Inc. (1672.HK) announced today Ganovo (Danoprevir) is the only direct-acting anti-viral agent (DAA) eligible for Shaoxing government funding subsidy, according to Shaoxing's Action Plan to Accelerate Prevention and Treatment of Hepatitis C ("Plan") issued recently. The Plan defines that 70% of the DAA expenses will be reimbursed by local government for the HCV patients who are Shaoxing residents and treated at the designated hospitals. This is another important milestone for patient access to Ganovo after its recent enrollment in Tianjin Basic Medical Insurance Program under capped-reimbursement per patient pilot program. Ganovo is the first DAA developed and commercialized by domestic company in China. Ganovo inhibits HCV NS3/4A protease that is critical to HCV replication. In the phase III clinical trial conducted in Mainland China, Ganovo regimen (Ganovo in combination with PEGylated interferon and ribavirin) demonstrated a cure rate of 97% (SVR12) in genotype 1 non-cirrhotic patients, with a 12-week treatment duration. "Thanks to the Shaoxing government for their support to the domestic innovative drug. The Plan clearly states treatment target, policy intervention and funding principle. This approach can be applicable to other regions on a nationwide basis for HCV patients access to domestic innovative drugs", said Jinzi J. Wu, Ph.D., Ascletis' founder, Chairman and CEO. "We are optimistic that more HCV patients will be treated timely and HCV prevention and treatment work in China will move up quickly to the new level due to government efforts to treat HCV patients." SOURCE Ascletis Pharma Inc. MOSCOW, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA], Air Lease Corp. [NYSE: AL; "ALC"], and S7 Airlines celebrated the delivery of the airline's first 737 MAX, via lease from ALC. S7, operated by Globus Airlines, becomes the first Russian airline to fly the new and improved 737 airplane. S7 plans to take 10 more 737 MAX jets over the next few years as part of its strategic plan to strengthen its airplane fleet. "We always stay up-to-date with the latest developments of manufacturers and actively implement them to improve our service. The airline's fleet already includes 19 Boeing 737Next Generation aircraft. The new Boeing 737MAX that we received today from our partners at Air Lease Corporation offers even more passenger comfort, reduced noise level and lower environmental impact. We are delighted that our passengers will be the first in Russia to appreciate the benefits onboard these new generation airplanes," said Vadim Klebanov, general director of Globus Airlines. The 737 MAX 8 is part of a family of airplanes that offer from about 130 to 230 seats and the ability to fly up to 3,850 nautical miles (7,130 kilometers). The MAX 8, in particular, can seat up to 178 passengers in a standard configuration and features the popular Boeing Sky Interior. The airplane helps reduce fuel use and emissions by 14 percent compared to previous airplanes, outperforming the competition by 8 percent when it comes to operating costs per seat. "ALC is delighted to be a part of introducing the first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Russia with this delivery to our longtime customer, S7 Airlines," said Alex Khatibi, Executive Vice President of Air Lease Corporation. "With this new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the airline continues to establish its position as a highly competitive Russian airline operating the most modern and fuel-efficient fleet." "With S7 Group's innovative approach to its business and ambitious long-term goals, the 737 MAX will be a great addition to its fleet and will be seamlessly integrated in the group's strategy of delivering exceptional performance and value," said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president of Commercial Sales & Marketing for The Boeing Company. The 737 MAX is the fastest-selling airplane in Boeing history with more than 4,700 orders from 104 customers worldwide. About Globus/S7 Airlines S7 Group is the largest private aviation and space holding company in Russia comprised of air transportation, maintenance and space operations. Globus Airlines operates flights under the S7 Airlines brand. The airline's route network covers cities across Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Europe. Contact: Elena Alexandrova Communications Boeing Commercial Airplanes [email protected] +7 495 797 3415 SOURCE Boeing Related Links http://www.boeing.com PETALUMA, Calif., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Doing the best by a business and using strategic business planning means taking advantage of things when the opportunity presents itself. Everything a business uses doesn't have to be made in-house, which can save a lot of time, effort and finances. Brandon Frere, successful entrepreneur and CEO of several companies, suggests that other intrepid business leaders take full advantage of tools around them to better their business that much more efficiently. "In business, there are inventors and innovators. The inventors start something brand new and innovators either make it better or use it in ways that the original inventor probably would have never thought of," said Frere. What tools can be used to make a business more efficient? There are hundreds out there and more being made every day. The trickier part is narrowing down choices to get the most efficient ones that also mesh the best with a business. Some tools will come in the form of utilizing the services of another business, which may have some fees attached to it. But those fees to gain access to a useful tool means not having to expend finances to cover development costs. It may take time to utilize the tools at maximum capacity, but a cost/benefit analysis will show that in the long run, it's often worth having the groundwork already laid out and making tweaks to the tool rather than developing it from scratch. Tactical use of tools, like stock photos, email campaign templates and website creators, may also mean taking the time to learn what is liked about a tool before creating a personal one down the road. Everything doesn't have to be completed all at once in a business. "To me, it's the innovators that make the best entrepreneurs, not the inventors," said Frere. About Brandon Frere Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His website, www.BrandonFrere.com, is used as a means of communicating many of the lessons, fundamentals and information that he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide. As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the often confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs. BrandonFrere.com Related Images image1.png smiling-boss.jpg Smiling Boss fizkes/Bigstock.com Related Links Brandon Frere website SOURCE Brandon Frere Related Links http://www.BrandonFrere.com NATCHEZ, Miss., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE: CPE) plans to host a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2018 financial and operating results. Webcast and Conference Call: Date: Wednesday, November 7, 2018 Time: 8:00 a.m. Central Time (9:00 a.m. Eastern Time) Webcast: www.callon.com Select "IR Calendar" under the "Investors" section of the website. Conference Call: Domestic: 1-888-317-6003 Canada: 1-866-284-3684 International: 1-412-317-6061 Access code: 5488988 An archive of the conference call webcast will be available at www.callon.com under the "Investors" section of the website. The Company plans to release third quarter 2018 results after market close on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. About Callon Petroleum Company Callon Petroleum Company is an independent energy company focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and operation of oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin in West Texas. Contact Information Mark Brewer Director of Investor Relations Callon Petroleum Company [email protected] 1-281-589-5200 SOURCE Callon Petroleum Company Related Links http://www.callon.com NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Captain D's, the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant, announced today the opening of its newest franchised location in Grenada, Mississippi, marking the brand's 29th location in the state. The new restaurant is owned and operated by franchisees Chris and Keith McBrayer and marks their second Captain D's location, reflecting how the company's ongoing growth is driven by existing operators continuing to develop new restaurants. Located at 1208 Sunset Drive, the Grenada restaurant reinforces Captain D's strong Southeast presence, with additional locations slated to open in Florida, Tennessee and Louisiana before the end of the year. "One of the most vital elements of the compounding growth and success Captain D's has achieved over the past few years has been the continued investment of our existing franchisees," said Brad Reed, chief development officer at Captain D's. "These franchisees continuously push the brand to new heights and their loyalty makes us equally invested in their success. From designing new prototypes that ease operations to offering royalty incentives that drive profitability, we make sure our franchisees have every opportunity to thrive." In 2014, the McBrayers signed a development agreement to open three Captain D's restaurants as a testament to their late father's love for the brand. They opened their first location in their hometown of West Point, which was one of the most successful grand openings in Captain D's history. This initial success, coupled with the extensive corporate support system in place for franchisees, fueled the pair's growth and helped them become multi-unit operators. "Captain D's is more than just a restaurant," said Keith McBrayer. "It's a place where friends and family can connect over a great meal and make memories, just like Chris and I did with our dad when we were growing up. We're proud to honor his legacy by introducing more Mississippi communities to the signature Captain D's experience and showing our guests each and everyday why it was dad's favorite restaurant." Captain D's ongoing development throughout Mississippi further signifies the outstanding success the brand has achieved over the past several years, which has fueled a surge in franchise and corporate development. Throughout the past year, the company has opened more than 15 new locations and inked numerous development agreements to open new restaurants in key markets, including Michigan, Indiana, Texas and Georgia. Coupled with its ongoing menu innovation, Captain D's credits its new restaurant beach design with contributing to the brand's ongoing strong performance. To date, nearly 80 percent of all restaurants have been reimaged to the brand's new vibrant, coastal design. With these efforts, Captain D's has remained true to what it does best serving high-quality seafood with warm hospitality at an affordable price in a welcoming atmosphere. With more than 530 restaurants in 22 states, Captain D's is the fast-casual seafood leader and number one seafood franchise in America ranked by average unit volume. The company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join in the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, visit http://www.captaindsfranchising.com or call 800-314-4819. ABOUT CAPTAIN D'S Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Captain D's has more than 530 restaurants in 22 states. Captain D's is the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant and was named the #1 seafood chain in the QSR 50, ranked by AUV. Founded in 1969, Captain D's has been offering its customers high-quality seafood at reasonable prices in a welcoming atmosphere for more than 48 years. Captain D's serves a wide variety of seafood that includes freshly prepared entrees and the company's signature hand-battered fish. The restaurants also offer premium-quality, grilled items such as shrimp, and surf and turf, as well as hushpuppies, desserts and freshly brewed, Southern-style sweet tea, a Captain D's favorite. For more information, please visit www.captainds.com. Contact: Nikki Rode Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] SOURCE Captain D's Related Links http://www.captainds.com SEATTLE, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ConcertoHealth, the leading full-risk provider of specialized primary care and supporting clinical services for vulnerable, frail and elderly patients, announced today that it has achieved a 29 percent reduction in hospital admissions and a 12 percent drop in readmissionsi in the state of Washington. The health services organization has also reduced overall emergency department (ED) readmission rates by 6 percentii, year-over-year, for Washington's most fragile patient population. ConcertoHealth provides field-based care teams and "wraparound" support services to Washington state Medicare Advantage health plans. Rather than replace or compete with the health plans' primary care providers (PCPs), ConcertoHealth supports their performance with an array of clinical resources, including social workers, care managers, pharmacists, clinicians and nurses, to care for patients when they are most in need, in any care setting. "Knowing that patients with complex medical needs can easily slip through the health care system is exactly why we developed our Primary Care Support Platform," said ConcertoHealth Chief Care Transformation Officer Christopher Dodd, M.D., M.S. "Our care model enables ConcertoHealth to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with primary care providers as partners in caring for Washington's most complex patients, many of whom are dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid." In addition to improved health outcomes for patients, the ConcertoHealth Primary Care Support Platform has also achieved 19 percent savings in medical costs nationally for its health plan partners.iii Improving the Health of Washington's Most Vulnerable Residents One Patient at a Time More than 52 percent of patients under ConcertoHealth care are diagnosed with three or more chronic medical conditions. The company reports the following disease prevalence rates among patients in Washington: 83 percent have a behavioral health diagnosis, 71 percent are diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, 51 percent have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF), and 41 percent are diabetic. As patients' health care needs become more complex, ConcertoHealth relies on field-based interdisciplinary care teams to help health plans' PCPs manage their patients' myriad needs, identifying avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions. To facilitate effective collaboration with PCPs, ConcertoHealth utilizes a proprietary population health analytics platform, Patient3D, which provides PCPs with a 360-degree view of each patient's status and care needs. ConcertoHealth deploys an ED intervention program, in which its medical directors closely monitor potentially avoidable hospital admissions. For each potential hospital admission intervention, ConcertoHealth medical directors partner with ED clinicians to determine the most appropriate care plan and setting. The program has proven effective in reducing the percentage of would-be hospital admissions, by diverting patients to more appropriate care settings such as a skilled nursing facility. One example is a 48-year-old patient from Kent, Washington, who visited the ED more than 91 times in 2016. At the time of ConcertoHealth's first encounter with him, the patient's primary medical issue was a set of nonhealing wounds from a 2015 surgery. In addition, he has an extensive history of issues with pain medication. The patient has developmental disabilities, anemia and lives with his father, who was struggling with his own health issues. Since the patient engaged with ConcertoHealth in April 2017, the field-based care team established: regular home-based wound care and biweekly visits with key members of the care team, including a PCP, a pharmacist, and a registered primary care nurse, a pain-management plan, including a medication adherence agreement, communication and collaboration with the patient's family caregivers, case coordination with Department of Social and Health Services caseworkers to ensure patient care and safety, and a behavioral health services treatment plan to initiate a substance abuse assessment, as well as counseling for opioid dependency. Since engaging with the ConcertoHealth care team, the patient's health has improved, with decreased ED utilization in 2017 and no ED visits or inpatient admissions in 2018. About ConcertoHealth ConcertoHealth Inc. is the leading provider of specialized primary care and supporting clinical services for vulnerable, frail and elderly patients. ConcertoHealth provides high-touch, individualized care for patients and also deploys wraparound clinical resources to extend the reach of primary care providers. Operating exclusively in value-based agreements, the ConcertoHealth care model, elevated by Patient3D, improves overall health quality and outcomes for high-need patient populations. The ConcertoHealth care model is proven to reduce admissions by 30.3 percent and readmissions by 17.1 percent, benefiting patients, payers and their provider networks alike. The company is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California. www.concertohealth.com i Hospital admissions and readmissions percentages are based on a three-month rolling average for July 2017 over July 2018. ConcertoHealth, data on file. ii ED admissions use percentage is based on a three-month rolling average for March 2017 over March 2018. ConcertoHealth, data on file. iii Cost during the first 24 months of medical management across all patient populations and health plans. ConcertoHealth, data on file. SOURCE ConcertoHealth Related Links https://www.concertohealthcare.com WOONSOCKET, R.I., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is encouraging consumers to clean out their medicine cabinets and safely dispose of unused prescription medication on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, this October 27. CVS Health has installed safe medication disposal units in more than 750 CVS Pharmacy locations nationwide and has donated more than 900 additional units to community locations such as police departments. Together, these units have collected more than 217 metric tons, or 480,000 pounds, of unwanted medication. Additionally, on October 27, nearly 100 CVS Pharmacy locations will join other community sites around the country to host law enforcement take-back events, allowing the public to safely dispose of unwanted medication. National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is hosted biannually by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to provide an opportunity for Americans to help prevent drug addiction and overdose deaths. "CVS Health is dedicated to helping address and prevent prescription drug abuse and misuse, which is why we have worked to increase access to and awareness of safe medication disposal options in the communities we serve," said Tom Davis, R.Ph., Vice President of Professional Services for CVS Pharmacy. "Unused medications, especially opioids, should not be left in medicine cabinets where they could be at risk of misuse or diversion. We are proud to have supported the collection of more than 480,000 pounds of unwanted medication to date, getting it out of homes and disposed of safely, and we are looking forward to adding to that achievement." According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.2 million Americans misused controlled prescriptions and often obtained them from family and friends. In-home medicine cabinets are often the source of diverted prescriptions, making it critical for patients to properly dispose of unused prescriptions in a timely manner to prevent prescription misuse and diversion. In addition to promoting safe medication disposal, the company is also working to combat the opioid epidemic by increasing access to the opioid overdose drug naloxone. CVS Pharmacy locations in 48 states have standing orders, or similar protocol, which allow patients to obtain this medication without an individual prescription. CVS Health has also focused on opioid abuse prevention through the company's Pharmacists Teach program. This program connects CVS pharmacists to local schools to talk with students and parents about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, using a curriculum CVS Health developed with the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. More than 400,000 students and parents nationwide have participated in the program. Additionally, as a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) and a retail pharmacy, CVS Health has implemented programs to help its clients reduce opioid utilization for members when clinically appropriate and strengthened retail pharmacist-led patient counseling on safe opioid use. These programs align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. About CVS Health CVS Health is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Through its more than 9,800 retail locations, more than 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 94 million plan members, a dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more than one million patients per year, expanding specialty pharmacy services, and a leading stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, the company enables people, businesses and communities to manage health in more affordable and effective ways. This unique integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at https://www.cvshealth.com. Media Contact: Erin Shields Britt (401) 770-9237 [email protected] Amy Lanctot (401) 770-2931 [email protected] SOURCE CVS Health Related Links http://www.cvshealth.com MAUMEE, Ohio, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) will release its 2018 third-quarter financial results on Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. A press release will be issued at approximately 7 a.m. EDT, followed by a conference call and webcast at 9 a.m. EDT. Members of the company's senior management team will be available at that time to discuss the results and answer related questions. Participants may listen to the audio portion of the conference call either through audio streaming online or by telephone. Slide viewing is available online via a link provided on the Dana investor website: www.dana.com/investors. U.S. and Canadian locations should dial 1-888-311-4590 and international locations should call 1-706-758-0054. Please enter conference I.D. 4569318 and ask for the "Dana Incorporated's Financial Webcast and Conference Call." Phone registration will be available starting at 8:30 a.m. EDT. An audio recording of the webcast will be available after 5 p.m. EDT on Oct. 29 by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (U.S. or Canada) or 1-404-537-3406 (international) and entering conference I.D. 4569318. A webcast replay will also be available after 5 p.m. EDT and may be accessed via Dana's investor website. About Dana Incorporated Dana is a world leader in highly engineered solutions for improving the efficiency, performance, and sustainability of powered vehicles and machinery. Dana supports the passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway markets, as well as industrial and stationary equipment applications. Founded in 1904, Dana employs approximately 30,000 people in 33 countries on six continents who are committed to delivering long-term value to customers. The company reported sales of more than $7.2 billion in 2017. Based in Maumee, Ohio, the company is ranked among the Drucker Institute's listing of the 250 most effectively managed companies. For more information, please visit www.dana.com. SOURCE Dana Incorporated Related Links http://www.dana.com "We are honored and thank Wine Spectator for this prestigious award recognizing our continuous efforts to elevate Oregon wines on the global stage." said Grace Evenstad, owner and co-founder of Domaine Serene. Grace and Ken Evenstad will accept the award as the guests of honor at the Grand Award Banquet on the final night of Wine Spectator's 38th Annual New York Wine Experience - October 20th, 2018. Fifteen hundred people will attend the black-tie event, one of the most sought-after tickets in the industry, where the top wineries converge for a night of celebrating after three days of tasting through the finest wines in the world. Three Domaine Serene wines will be paired with the multi-course culinary event. The honor crowns a thirty-year career spent leading the quality efforts in Oregon by continually pushing the boundaries and the norms of business and winemaking in the region. True pioneers, the Evenstads pushed the envelope, planting Pinot Noir vineyards at high elevations including west-facing slopes and would go on to establish their highly successful and world-renowned Chardonnay program by planting early ripening Dijon clones at high elevations in deep Jory soils atop the Dundee Hills. Their Cote Sud vineyard was one of the first Dijon clone Chardonnay plantings in the U.S. in 1992. In 2001, the Evenstads completed construction of their current state-of-the art, five-level, gravity flow Pinot Noir winery. In 2004, Domaine Serene was the first winery in the country to make barrel fermented white wine from Pinot Noir grapes, their Coeur Blanc "White Heart" Pinot Noir. In 2017 Domaine Serene opened a new best-in-class hospitality center, the Clubhouse at Domaine Serene, that is changing the landscape of fine wine hospitality in the Pacific Northwest. In 2018, they completed a new white winery dedicated to the production of Chardonnay and Sparkling wine, the first of its kind in Oregon. The wineries are located on the beautiful Winery Hill Estate in the Dundee Hills AVA. In addition to their numerous pioneering efforts, they are the only vintners in the world to have both a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay rank in the top 3 of the Wine Spectator's Top 100. Wine Spectator went on to acknowledge the Evenstad's tireless advocacy for Oregon wine through their generous support of wine education and other philanthropic causes. Charitable giving is an essential part of the fabric that makes up the culture at Domaine Serene, Chateau de la Cree and the legacy of Grace and Ken Evenstad. In September, the Evenstads pledged $500,000, in hopes of raising a total of $1,000,000 through matching industry donations, to launch an initiative taking aim at eradicating the Grapevine Red Blotch Virus - a clear and significant threat to vineyard properties and winemaking in the Willamette Valley and beyond. This sizeable donation and initiative comes on the heels of the largest gift in support of wine studies in Oregon history, $6 million dollars in total, to endow the Evenstad Center for Wine Education and the Evenstad Chair in Wine Studies at Linfield College creating the first institution in the country to offer an interdisciplinary liberal arts degree and master's degree in wine studies. The Evenstads have now donated or raised more than $25 million for philanthropic causes over their careers. With this award, Grace and Ken Evenstad join the distinguished ranks of the wine and culinary industry's most recognized leaders; Personalities like Ernest and Julio Gallo, Robert Mondavi, Eric de Rothschild, Julia Child and longtime friends, Piero Antinori and Emeril Lagasse. About Domaine Serene The Evenstads settled in the Northern Willamette Valley in 1989. Their spirit and passion to produce wines that rival the great wines of Burgundy, led them to purchase and plant a hilltop estate that had just been logged in the now famous Dundee Hills. Today, Domaine Serene produces wines from six individual vineyard estates, planted exclusively to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In Oregon, the Evenstads own nearly 1,000 total acres of land in the hills of Yamhill County, with 275 acres planted to vine. Working every job in the winery for many years, Grace and Ken Evenstad built Domaine Serene from the ground up with a focus on producing high quality wines through innovation and a focus on excellence. The Evenstads have gained a true appreciation for the attention to detail required to make exceptional wines. In 2015, Ken and Grace Evenstad fulfilled a lifelong dream of producing wine in Burgundy, France, by acquiring Chateau de la Cree, the respected wine estate located in the birthplace of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: the renowned Cote d'Or. They own 25 acres of prime vineyards in Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, Santenay and Maranges. This made them the first Oregon-based vintners to own land and produce wines in Burgundy. In just under three decades, the Evenstads have propelled Domaine Serene onto the global stage as one of the world's most acclaimed and respected wineries. Domaine Serene's wines represent the achievement that is possible in Oregon, one of the finest regions in the world for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. CONTACT: Matthew Thompson | Domaine Serene Winery (503) 864-4600 [email protected] www.DomaineSerene.com SOURCE Domaine Serene Related Links http://www.domaineserene.com ATLANTA, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX), a global information solutions company, today announced that it is working with Yodlee, a financial data aggregation and data analytics platform, to help simplify the mortgage loan process by making it easier for lenders to derive insights from borrowers' financial data. This collaboration provides Equifax with access to real-time asset and income information on prospective customers who have granted permission and helps streamline loan production, reduce fraud exposure in the application process, and give banks, loan originators and lenders additional tools to assess risks in underwriting and portfolio management. "Changing buyer behaviors, as well as advanced data and insights, are transforming the lending industry," said Craig Crabtree, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Equifax Mortgage Services. "Complementing the robust suite of data and analytics that Equifax offers, this collaboration with Yodlee advances the mortgage process to ensure that prospecting, qualifying and verifying processes keep pace with evolving customer needs and become more inclusive for credit-worthy borrowers." Equifax manages the nation's largest centralized repository of income and employment verifications, powered by The Work Number, a proprietary data asset containing more than 350 million payroll records. Through the collaboration with Yodlee, Equifax is enhancing its already robust verification offering. The addition of asset data will help Equifax provide the industry with a fully rounded solution for verifying borrower income, assets and employment, all delivered in a seamless electronic document and API flow. "By utilizing our data intelligence, based on comprehensive consumer and small-business financial data available across banking, credit and wealth management, this collaboration can quickly move the mortgage lending industry to the next level of actionable, paperless processes," said Brandon Rembe, SVP, Products, Yodlee. "While this collaboration begins in mortgage, we believe it will eventually benefit the entire lending ecosystem." Follow our product news on Twitter at @EquifaxInsights and on LinkedIn at Equifax Business Insights. About Equifax Equifax is a global information solutions company that uses trusted unique data, innovative analytics, technology and industry expertise to power organizations and individuals around the world by transforming knowledge into insights that help make more informed business and personal decisions. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 10,800 employees worldwide. FOR MORE INFORMATION Wyatt Jefferies Media Relations 404-885-8907 [email protected] SOURCE Equifax Inc. Related Links http://www.equifax.com TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Glilot Capital Partners a Venture capital fund which invests in early-stage startups, has announced the closing of its third investment fund, Glilot III, at $110 million. Like the earlier funds (Glilot I and Glilot II), Glilot III will specialize in investing in Israeli early-stage startups in artificial intelligence, big data and cyber security. Glilot focuses on startups in the seed and A stages. Apart from capital investment, the fund offers entrepreneurs support, guidance and direct access to international players, drawing on the fund leaders' extensive experience and the expertise of a dedicated team to add value to the funded startups. Glilot believes that entrepreneurs should receive backing and support, especially in moments of crisis, and it strives for success with each and every company. Glilot Capital was founded in 2011 by managing partners Kobi Samboursky and Arik Kleinstein, former officers in the R&D unit of the IDF Intelligence Corps, with the aim of investing in cyber security and organizational software. The fund's team of experts is headed by David Johnson, a partner in the Blackstone Group and formerly vice president of corporate development at IBM and senior vice president of strategy at Dell. The fund's performance has been impressive; thus, in 2016 it was ranked by international research firm Preqin as the third best performing VC fund in the world, while in 2017 it garnered the number one spot as the world's top performing VC fund. To date, Glilot has invested in 20 companies, with six of its first eight portfolio companies acquired by global corporations: Aorato by Microsoft, Insightera by Marketo (newly acquired by Adobe), LightCyber by Palo Alto Networks, Porticor by Intuit, BlazeMeter by CA Technologies and Solebit just recently by Mimecast. Other portfolio companies include Protego, Exceed.ai, Intsights, YouAppi, CyberX, Genoox, Mintigo, Inflowz, BrandTotal and Upstream. "We strongly believe in the Israeli entrepreneur. Israeli entrepreneurs have come a long way in recent years, proving that they lead not only in technology but also in marketing and sales. We are pleased and proud that all 23 of the first entrepreneurs in whom we invested have built successful companies and been able to generate significant returns also at the personal level. We remain committed to the success of all the entrepreneurs who have chosen to work with us," Samboursky said. "We built Glilot as an entrepreneur-friendly fund providing entrepreneurs with real and tangible assistance. Having ourselves experienced the unique challenges faced by Israeli entrepreneurs seeking to build global companies, we are able to offer budding entrepreneurs help in coping with these challenges," Kleinstein add. For further information please contact: Ilanit Tseyrefman Director of Marketing Glilot Capital Partners [email protected] SOURCE Glilot Capital Partners Related Links http://glilotcapital.com BROOKLYN, N.Y., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Using cutting-edge machine learning and data scraping tools, computer scientists at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering today released the first database and analysis of political advertising based on more than 884,000 ads identified by Google, Twitter, and Facebook. The team launched their user-friendly Online Political Ads Transparency Project in July with data from Facebook, which was the first company to provide it. But the researchers were forced to switch techniques when Facebook blocked their data collection two weeks later. Today's report is the first to include not only Facebook (including Instagram), but data newly shared by Twitter and Google. Although they found numerous roadblocks to meaningful transparency ranging from faulty archives constructed in haste by the social media giants to varying definitions of "political advertising" and throttling of data collection by Facebook NYU Tandon Computer Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Damon McCoy and his team nonetheless reported meaningful insights: President Donald Trump and his PAC registered the largest number of ads of any candidate, due in large part to the preponderance of small, micro-targeted advertising. Virtually all were aimed at raising funds during the study period, September 9-22, 2018 . The researchers found similar dominance by President Trump in their initial, Facebook-only, analysis. and his PAC registered the largest number of ads of any candidate, due in large part to the preponderance of small, micro-targeted advertising. Virtually all were aimed at raising funds during the study period, . The researchers found similar dominance by President Trump in their initial, Facebook-only, analysis. The Democratic candidate for Senate from Texas , Beto O'Rourke , continued to be the apparent largest spender, mostly seeking small donations from outside his state via Facebook and Twitter. Although O'Rourke was the rare federal candidate unaffiliated with a PAC, he was like other candidates in using social media to raise funds outside their districts, McCoy noted. , , continued to be the apparent largest spender, mostly seeking small donations from outside his state via Facebook and Twitter. Although O'Rourke was the rare federal candidate unaffiliated with a PAC, he was like other candidates in using social media to raise funds outside their districts, McCoy noted. The Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican Super PAC, was the largest spender on Google and across all three platforms combined. Priorities USA , a left-leaning PAC, was among the big spenders, but exact figures are not available because it collaborated on ad placements with other PACs. , a left-leaning PAC, was among the big spenders, but exact figures are not available because it collaborated on ad placements with other PACs. Left-leaning organizations are the big spenders on Facebook and Twitter; on Google, the trend is reversed. Facebook apparently carries the most political ads, but Google apparently ranks higher in impressions and spending. This is due, in part, to the large number of small, micro-targeted ads on Facebook (60 percent) and because the majority of spending on Google (61 percent) is by PACs, which are more like to have large budgets. But analysis is muddied by the fact that both Google and Facebook disclose only ranges; only Twitter discloses exact spending and impressions. Each of the giants also defines "political advertising" differently. For example, Facebook alone includes non-media for-profit companies promoting slanted political content, companies selling merchandise with political messages, and solar panel firms with environmental messages. Google and Twitter, meanwhile, limited their reporting to only federal candidates, at least initially. PACs accounted for 23 percent of the spending on Facebook during the study period. The very top spenders during the study period on Facebook, though, were Facebook itself and its own Instagram Facebook to publicize its responses to Russian election hacking and Instagram to spread a get-out-the-vote message. But the researchers pointed out that the company seemed to overcharge itself, based upon impressions. Collaborators on the Online Political Ads Transparency Project are NYU Tandon doctoral student Laura Edelson, NYU Shanghai visiting undergraduate student Shikhar Sakhuja, and Ratan Dey, a former NYU doctoral student studying under Professor Keith Ross and now an assistant professor of practice in computer science at NYU Shanghai. McCoy conceived the project to build easy-to-use tools to collect, archive, and analyze political advertising data. Although Facebook became the first major social media company to launch a searchable archive of political advertising, for both Facebook and Instagram, in May 2018, McCoy found the archive difficult to use, requiring time-consuming manual searches. He decided to apply versions of the data scraping techniques he had previously used against criminals, including human traffickers who advertised and used Bitcoin. Despite the difficulty the team subsequently encountered accessing Facebook data, they report it has by far the most comprehensive political archive among the three social media companies. The report outlines problems with the API an interface with other platforms introduced in beta form by Facebook to allow researchers access to its archives. Google's data is the easiest for the public to access, as a BigQuery dataset, available in its entirety via the Google Cloud service. But it is updated in real time, with no archiving, so the NYU researchers are capturing the data daily, to share and archive. Twitter has no easily accessible political ad archive, so the NYU research team is scraping all political advertising data identified by Twitter and sharing and archiving for the public, as well. Although the researchers used the September period for comparison purposes, they have now compiled data from late May through October 3, with a gap of about six weeks while Facebook blocked its data scraping. They praised the social media companies for implementing fixes they recommended and continue to work toward transparency. The work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation under a grant to McCoy for research that explores bias and the manipulation of online data. Visit the project and download data at: https://online-pol-ads.github.io. About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, one of the country's foremost private research universities, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. Graph available to download at http://dam.engineering.nyu.edu/?c=2119&k=6b8d27e947 SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering Related Links http://engineering.nyu.edu NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) Security today announced the industry's first mobile Security Operations Center, capable of traveling onsite for cybersecurity training, preparedness, and response. The IBM X-Force Command Cyber Tactical Operations Center (C-TOC) will travel around the U.S. and Europe, running incident response drills with clients, providing on-demand cybersecurity support, and building cybersecurity awareness and skills with professionals, students and consumers. IBM announced the industry's first fully functional Security Operation Center on wheels. The IBM X-Force Command Cyber Tactical Operations Center (C-TOC) will travel onsite for cybersecurity training, education and response, including immersive cyberattack simulations to help organizations improve their incident response efforts. The IBM X-Force Cyber Tactical Operations Center is a fully operational Security Operations Center on wheels, modeled after Tactical Operations Centers used by the military and incident command posts used by first responders. The IBM X-Force C-TOC is a fully operational Security Operations Center on wheels, modeled after Tactical Operations Centers used by the military and incident command posts used by first responders. Housed in a tractor trailer, the mobile facility provides a gesture-controlled cybersecurity "watch floor," data center and conference facilities that can accommodate two dozen operators, analysts and incident command center staff. The facility can be deployed in a variety of environments, with self-sustaining power, satellite and cellular communications, providing a sterile and resilient network for investigation and response as well as a state-of-the-art platform for cybersecurity training. Historically, cybersecurity teams have been focused on detection and protection against cybersecurity incidents. However, as the threat landscape has evolved, organizations are now recognizing the need to plan and rehearse their response to security incidents as well. The 2018 Cost of a Data Breach Study1 found that companies that are able to respond to incidents effectively and remediate the event within 30 days can save over $1 million on the total cost of a data breach yet less than 25% of professionals surveyed say their company has a coordinated incident response plan applied across the organization. The IBM C-TOC will begin its journey travelling around the U.S. and Europe, with multiple purposes: Response Training and Preparedness : With an increasing focus on improving incident response in the aftermath of major cybersecurity attacks, the C-TOC can help companies train their teams on techniques (both technical and crisis leadership) to respond to attacks while simulating real-world conditions of how hackers operate and key strategies to protect business brand and resources. : With an increasing focus on improving incident response in the aftermath of major cybersecurity attacks, the C-TOC can help companies train their teams on techniques (both technical and crisis leadership) to respond to attacks while simulating real-world conditions of how hackers operate and key strategies to protect business brand and resources. Onsite Cybersecurity Support : IBM designed the C-TOC with the capabilities to deploy the mobile facility as a client-specific, on-demand Security Operation Center. One potential use-case being explored is supporting sporting events or other large gatherings where supplemental cybersecurity resources may be needed. : IBM designed the C-TOC with the capabilities to deploy the mobile facility as a client-specific, on-demand Security Operation Center. One potential use-case being explored is supporting sporting events or other large gatherings where supplemental cybersecurity resources may be needed. Education and Awareness: When the C-TOC is in between IBM client engagements, it will travel to immerse people in one of the most realistic cybersecurity experience in the industry visiting local universities and industry events, and even reaching primary school children with awareness efforts to build interest in cybersecurity careers and help address the growing workforce shortage. "Experiencing a major cyberattack is one of the worst crisis a company can face, and the leadership, skills and coordination required is not something you want to test out for the first time when you're facing a real attack," said Caleb Barlow, Vice President of Threat Intelligence, IBM Security. "Having a mobile facility that allows us to bring realistic cyberattack preparation and rehearsal to a larger, global audience will be a game changer in our mission to improve incident response efforts for organizations around the world." Demand for Cybersecurity Preparation and Response Grows IBM Security has identified incident response and preparedness as an underserved segment of the $114 billion cybersecurity market.2 In 2016, IBM invested $200 million in new incident response facilities, services and software, including the industry's first Cyber Range for the commercial sector. Since then, IBM has taken more than 2,000 people through its immersive cybersecurity preparedness training in its facility in Cambridge, MA. With the launch of the X-Force C-TOC, this training is being taken directly to clients as well as an expanded mission to provide onsite preparedness and the potential for supplemental cybersecurity services. To create this Cyber Range experience and the C-TOC, IBM consulted with dozens of experts from different industries, from emergency medical responders to active duty military officers. Along with IBM's own cybersecurity expertise, the C-TOC experiences train teams on the essentials of leadership in crisis from moving out of the organizations day to day structure and into an incident command hierarchy to thinking a step ahead to anticipate the next moves of an attacker. The C-TOC training includes a "Cyber Best Practices Laboratory" with real world examples based on experiences with customers in the Cambridge Cyber Range. It will also enable companies to participate in an immersive, gamified cyberattack which allows teams to test incident response plans under a realistic, high pressure simulation. Some examples of these attack scenarios include: Ox Response Challenge : This challenge is designed for the executive team to immerse a wide variety of stakeholders in a realistic "fusion team" environment in which players must figure out how to respond to a cyberattack as a team, across dimensions such as technical, legal, public relations and communications. : This challenge is designed for the executive team to immerse a wide variety of stakeholders in a realistic "fusion team" environment in which players must figure out how to respond to a cyberattack as a team, across dimensions such as technical, legal, public relations and communications. OpRed Escape : Get into the mind of a cybercriminal and learn to think like a hacker; this exercise puts participants into the "seat" of a real-world attacker, learning the ways bad guys break into networks by watching an expert and getting hands-on experience with a malicious toolset. : Get into the mind of a cybercriminal and learn to think like a hacker; this exercise puts participants into the "seat" of a real-world attacker, learning the ways bad guys break into networks by watching an expert and getting hands-on experience with a malicious toolset. Cyber War Game: In this hands-on scenario, participants will uncover a cyber-attack lead by a cybercrime gang targeting a fictitious corporation. Operating on the C-TOC's simulated corporate network, participants will use technical tools to identify the threats and shut them down, while also building a response plan and developing leadership and crisis management skills. Supplemental Cybersecurity Operations IBM also designed the C-TOC to have the potential to supplement onsite support for clients at times when their cybersecurity needs may surge. Cybercriminals are constantly on the lookout for major events and moments in time to help launch their attacks, taking advantage of increased interest, cashflow and internet activities to get higher returns on their malicious activities. Cybersecurity at large-scale events is increasingly being considered alongside emergency services response and public safety. For these events, IBM can bring the C-TOC onsite to help not only with preparation, but to provide an isolated network, cybersecurity watch floor and incident command infrastructure. Skills and Awareness The cybersecurity workforce shortage is a major hurdle plaguing the industry, with an anticipated shortfall of nearly 2 million cybersecurity professionals by 2022.3 Building awareness about security careers among younger generations, as well as helping upskill current professionals in cybersecurity, are two ways IBM Security hopes to help address the skills shortage . When not working with clients, the C-TOC will travel to academic institutions, industry and community events for training and awareness activities. For instance, the C-TOC will travel to the National Collegiate Pentesting Competition hosted at Rochester Institute of Technology November 2 - 4, and it will also be available for events that IBM hosts to drive interest in cybersecurity and STEM careers, such as IBM Cyber Day for Girls. The C-TOC can also help improve and expand skillsets within the current cybersecurity workforce, through onsite training and hands on skills development with cybersecurity teams on critical skillsets to help them keep up with the latest cyberthreats. C-TOC to Tour U.S. and Europe The C-TOC will begin its tour in the U.S., travelling to client sites, schools and government facilities. On October 18, the C-TOC will be based at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. providing cybersecurity awareness training to congressional staff and other public officials. The C-TOC will travel to Europe in January, visiting clients and events in multiple countries throughout 2019. IBM will evaluate opportunities for additional mobile security operation centers and use-cases based on feedback and demand. To learn more about IBM's C-TOC and Cyber Range, go to http://ibm.com/xforcectoc. To view and download multimedia assets, visit the following links: About IBM Security IBM Security offers one of the most advanced and integrated portfolios of enterprise security products and services. The portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM X-Force research, enables organizations to effectively manage risk and defend against emerging treats. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security research, development and delivery organizations, monitors 60 billion security events per day in more than 130 countries, and has been granted more than 8,000 security patents worldwide. For more information, please check www.ibm.com/security, follow IBMSecurity on Twitter or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog. Media Contacts: Cassy Lalan External Relations, IBM Security [email protected] 319-230-2232 Kelly Kane External Relations, IBM Security [email protected] 413-297-2668 1 2018 Cost of as Data Breach Study, sponsored by IBM and conducted by Ponemon Institute 2 Source: Gartner, "Forecast: Information Security, Worldwide, 2016-2022, 2Q18 Update," Aug 2018 3 Global Information Security Workforce Study 2017, ISC2 / Frost & Sullivan SOURCE IBM Related Links http://www.ibm.com SUZHOU, China, Oct. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovent Biologics, Inc. (Innovent), a world-class China-based biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes high quality drugs, today announced that its IND application for a combination therapy of IBI308 (Sintilimab, an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody) and IBI305 (a biosimilar to the recombinant humanized anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody bevacizumab), has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA, formerly known as CFDA) for clinical development. Innovent will initiate clinical trials based on this combination to assess its safety and efficacy in patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). "China has the highest burden of cancer patients of all countries in the world. Lung cancer and liver cancer account for about one third of all incident cases of cancers in China. At Innovent, an innovative biopharmaceutical company in China, we are dedicated to take advantage of the latest technological advances in science to develop and commercialize new medicines for cancer patients," said Michael Yu, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Innovent, "Sintilimab's New Drug Application (NDA) is currently under priority regulatory review and IBI305 has completed its phase 3 program. We believe the combination of IBI308 and IBI305 will provide more effective treatment for both lung cancer and liver cancer patients. We intend to capitalize on our company's rich pipeline to explore new directions in combination therapy and to create even more innovative breakthroughs." "Recent studies have shown there is a strong relationship between tumor induced angiogenesis driven by VEGFA and ANGPT2 and tumor induced immunosuppression driven by PD-1/PD-L1. Abnormal tumor-induced angiogenesis appears to limit the therapeutic effect of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies and other immunotherapy drugs. We believe the combination of sintilimab and bevacizumab biosimilar will be better able to control tumor growth through a two-pronged approach involving stimulation of the immune system with an anti-PD-1 antibody and blocking angiogenesis with an anti-VEGF antibody," said Dr. Kerry Blanchard, Chief Scientific Officer of Innovent. About Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor in China with the highest morbidity (781,000 new cases annually) and mortality (626,000 deaths annually). Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 80% to 85% of all lung cancer cases. Seventy percent of NSCLC patients have non-squamous NSCLC and 40% of these patients harbor EGFR mutations. Treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI: gefitinib, erlotinib or icotinib) is recommended for patients with advanced NSCLC who have EGFR mutations. After progression on TKI treatment, some patients acquire a T790M mutation and can be treated with osimertinib. In the absence of the T790M mutation or after treatment progression on osimertinib, the choice of systemic treatment is platinum-containing dual-agent chemotherapy. For such patients, new and more effective treatment options are urgently needed. About Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in China according to National Central Cancer Registry of China (NCCRC), with about 365,000 new cases and 319,000 deaths annually. Liver cancer with about 841,000 new cases and 782,000 deaths annually is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide in 2018. Most primary liver cancers (70%-90%) are hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and most patients have locally advanced or metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis and are not eligible for radical treatment. With current therapy the global median survival time is only 7.9 months. However, for HCC patients in the Asia-Pacific region the median survival time is only 4.2 months. Hence, there is an urgent need for effective treatments for patients with advanced HCC in China and around the world. About Sintilimab Sintilimab is a fully human anti-PD-1 antibody. It binds to the PD-1 receptor on T cells, blocking the PD-L1 ligand from interacting with PD-1 to help restore T-cell response and immune response, thus destroying the tumor cells. Sintilimab is an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody jointly developed by Innovent and Eli Lilly and Company in China. National Medical Products Administration (NMPA, formerly known as CFDA) accepted the New Drug Application (NDA) submitted by Innovent for sintilimab on April 16, 2018, and granted it priority review status on April 23, 2018. The indication for the first new drug application is relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma. About IBI305 IBI305, a biosimilar of bevacizumab, one of worldwide best-selling drugs, is currently in Phase III clinical trials. IBI305 specifically binds to vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF), blocks the binding of VEGF to VEGF receptors and inhibits VEGF-induced angiogenesis and vascular permeability, thus limiting the growth of malignant tumors. Innovent has completed bioequivalence studies in healthy subjects and a randomized, double-blind, multicenter, phase III study in non-small cell lung cancer comparing IBI305 with Avastin. About Combination Therapy Combination strategies have become a key area of clinical research and may unlock the potential of immuno-oncology therapies by combining two anti-cancer agents that could have a synergistic mechanism of action. In IMpower150, a Phase III study, patients with non-squamous NSCLC and EGFR mutation who failed EGFR TKI treatment benefited from treatment with an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody in combination with bevacizumab and chemotherapy . A Phase Ib trial (NCT02715531) of Atezolizumab combined with bevacizumab in the first-line treatment of advanced liver cancer showed that the combination was safe and effective with an objective response rate as high as 65%. Sintilimab is a foundational agent for cancer therapies and Innovent will combine sintilimab with its rich development pipeline of innovative antibodies to form a diversity of tumor immunotherapies in our quest to provide affordable high quality biopharmaceuticals for even more patients. About Innovent Inspired by the spirit of "Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action", Innovent's mission is to develop and commercialize high quality biopharmaceutical products that are affordable to ordinary people. Since its establishment from 2011, Innovent has developed a fully-integrated platform which includes R&D, CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls), clinical development and commercialization capabilities, and a pipeline of innovative and commercially promising monoclonal antibodies and other biologics in the fields of oncology, ophthalmology, autoimmune and metabolic diseases. Innovent has built up a pipeline of 17 antibody drug candidates, with four core products in late-stage clinical development in China and one that has a New Drug Application (NDA) accepted by the NMPA with priority review status. Innovent has a highly talented international team, including many expert returnees with experience in innovative biopharmaceutical drug discovery, development, production and commercialization. The company has also entered into various key strategic alliances with Eli Lilly and Company, Adimab, and other biopharmaceutical companies. Innovent wishes to work with all relevant parties helping the advancement of China's biopharmaceutical industry, so as to improve drug availability to people and address their aspiration for a healthy, happy life. About the partnership between Innovent Biologics and Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) and Innovent Biologics (Innovent) in March 2015 announced one of the largest biotech drug development collaborations in China to date between a multi-national and domestic company. Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly and Innovent shall collaborate to provide support to the development and potential commercialization of at least three cancer treatments over the next decade. In October 2015, they announced an expansion of their drug development collaboration. These collaborations represent that Innovent has struck one of the most comprehensive strategic partnerships of any Chinese company with a multinational partner in terms of the scope and breadth ranging from discovery to commercialization and involving up to six therapeutic antibodies for cancers. For inquiries, please contact: Email: [email protected] Tel: 86 512 6956 6088 SOURCE Innovent Biologics, Inc. FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Jos. A. Bank is pleased to announce the expansion of its custom suiting and dress shirt programs to include the Traveler and TravelTech brands. With the launch of these new custom programs, Jos. A. Bank customers can consider adding the benefit of performance fabrics as they personalize their tailored suits, sport coats, and dress shirts with custom details. "We are very excited to expand upon our custom experience at Jos. A Bank," said Mary Beth Blake, brand president, Jos. A. Bank. "Adding performance features to our custom offerings not only allows our customer to feel comfortable in a perfectly tailored suit, but also continues to show our innovation in the tailored clothing business." Perfect for the man on the go, the Traveler line is the most popular collection among customers due to the stretch, wrinkle free and stain resistant qualities of the performance fabrics. With over 40 fabric choices to choose from, Traveler custom garments are available in extreme slim, slim, tailored, traditional and regal fits. Also included in the collection are Traveler custom dress shirts, which offer over 45 natural stretch cotton fabrics that are also water and stain resistant. The TravelTech label is a collection designed for the modern traveler featuring breakthrough 37.5 technology developed by Dr. Gregory Haggquist, Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Cocona, Inc. The yarn used in TravelTech Custom garments works from the lining to the exterior fabric, which helps maintain the body's ideal temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius by warming you when you are cold and cooling you when you are hot. The technology weaved into the fabric never washes out and removes moisture vapor before liquid sweat forms and traps odors and releases them in laundering. Available in 11 fabric choices, TravelTech custom garments come in a number of fits ranging from extreme slim to regal. TravelTech custom shirting comes in 18 fabric swatches giving the wearer many options to look cool while remaining cool. The Traveler and TravelTech custom suits and tuxedos start at $898, sport coats start at $658, dress pants start at $240, and dress shirts start at $125. The delivery time for custom garments is 3 to 4 weeks. Additional custom suiting options available include 1905 custom suits starting at $698, and Reserve custom suits starting at $1298. Both Traveler and TravelTech custom programs are now available at Jos. A. Bank stores nationwide. Visit josbank.com/custom-suits-dress-shirts for more information. About Jos. A. Bank Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc., established in 1905, is one of the nation's leading designers, manufacturers and retailers of men's classically-styled tailored and casual clothing, sportswear, footwear and accessories. The Company sells its full product line through nearly 500 stores in 44 states and the District of Columbia, a nationwide catalog and an e-commerce website that can be accessed at http://www.josabank.com/. For additional information on Jos. A. Bank, please visit www.josabank.com Follow us on social media: Instagram @josabank Twitter @josabank Facebook Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Jos. A. Bank Press Contacts: Director of Public Relations, Tailored Brands, Inc. Diego Louro, [email protected] Public Relations Marketing Manager, Tailored Brands, Inc. Julie Weber, [email protected] SOURCE Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. Related Links http://www.josabank.com/ MOSCOW, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Trade Union Conference on Chrysotile Asbestos and Safety held in Kazakhstan. It was organised by the Industry Council of the Trade Union of Workers of the Construction Sector and Housing and Utilities Sector of Kazakhstan together with International Trade Union Alliance for Chrysotile. The conference held to discuss the implementation of new ways of protecting occupational health and creating more efficient safety systems in all areas of industry, including the chrysotile industry. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/678828/International_Alliance_of_Trade_Union_Organizations_Chrysotile_Logo.jpg ) "Protecting the occupational health of workers in the chrysotile industry is a key objective of the trade union movement. By implementing the controlled use of chrysotile asbestos, new technologies and organisational solutions, we can dramatically improve the living standards of workers and, as a result, the efficiency of the industry as a whole. We strongly disagree with the opinion that chrysotile asbestos can pose a threat to health and should be banned. With our work, our decades of experience, we believe that chrysotile asbestos can and should be widely used in many industries. By participating in such events, we seek to convince our partners and colleagues that controlled use of this mineral is absolutely safe," said Andrey Kholzakov, the Chairman of the International Trade Union Alliance for Chrysotile. The conference was attended by representatives of the chrysotile industry in Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, and other countries. Speakers presented reports on the activities of their companies, new methods of organising production, the introduction of new technologies, and the principles of controlled use of chrysotile. The conference also included presentations by scientists, trade union leaders, and health care professionals who discussed existing and future methods to protect the occupational health of workers in the chrysotile industry. SOURCE International Alliance of Trade Union Organizations Chrysotile "In Julie, we found a dynamic executive who brings a strategic and consultative mindset to this new position. Her deep brand, communications and public affairs experience across a wide range of industries makes her a great fit for Lockton," said Clune. "She brings fresh ideas and new approaches that will help us grow our brand and Lockton Associates and Producers grow the business." This announcement comes on the heels of Lockton's recent addition of Said Taiym, chief digital officer. Together, they join the Lockton Inc. senior leadership team in Kansas City and are critical hires to help Lockton achieve the growth goal of $3 billion globally. "As we continue our growth trajectory, Julie's role will be to ensure the Lockton culture and client focus is felt all over the world," said Ron Lockton, CEO. "She will be critical in activating and communicating the Lockton brand globally to propel our growth. We are excited to welcome her to our team." Gibson has built a distinguished career as a communications consultant and entrepreneur, spending the previous seven years as client partnership director at Global Prairie, a global marketing firm, headquartered in Kansas City. At Global Prairie, her client teams focused on corporate communications, public affairs and brand strategy. Her client partners include some of the most respected brands in their industries, included Bayer Crop Science, the City of Kansas City, Missouri, Google Fiber, KCP&L, Populous, the University of Kansas Health System and Sprint Center. Gibson also brings a strong commitment to the community with her service as president of the Missouri Court Appointed Advocates Association Board of Directors and to the Shawnee Mission School District Committee for Excellence. Along with her husband, she is a volunteer and co-chair for the 2018 and 2019 Child Protection Center's Cook for Courage event. She is a graduate of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Centurion's Leadership Program and the Civic Council's Kansas City Tomorrow program. Julie holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri in political science with an emphasis in Journalism. About Lockton Lockton is a global professional services firm with 7,000 Associates who advise clients on protecting their people, property and reputations. Lockton has grown rapidly by helping clients achieve their objectives. For ten consecutive years, Business Insurance magazine has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." SOURCE Lockton Related Links https://www.lockton.com STAINES-UPON-THAMES, United Kingdom, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK), a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that Stratatech, a Mallinckrodt company, was awarded approximately $26 million in additional Project BioShield funding by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The latest award will provide support for pediatric studies related to the company's StrataGraft viable, engineered skin tissue. The additional funding was effective Sept. 29, 2018. Mallinckrodt is committed to developing new therapies for the pediatric population worldwide. BARDA is supporting the development of StrataGraft as a potential medical countermeasure for large-scale burn incidents. BARDA has previously allocated funding to Stratatech to support its Phase 3 trial in adults to assess StrataGraft's efficacy and safety in the promotion of autologous skin regeneration of complex skin defects due to thermal burns that contain intact dermal elements (also known as deep partial-thickness burns). With this additional award, funding under this program is approximately $86 million with potential future funding of $160 million. The company's investigational therapy was among the first products designated as a Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act[1]. "We are very pleased that BARDA has continued to see the potential benefit StrataGraft can bring as a much-needed therapeutic option for patients both adults and children with high unmet medical need," said Steven Romano, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President, Mallinckrodt. "This is particularly important in the event of tragic mass burn incidents. The expanded partnership with BARDA to assess StrataGraft's efficacy and safety in the vulnerable pediatric population is aligned with Mallinckrodt's focus on improving outcomes for patients with severe and critical conditions in particularly vulnerable populations." In the case of a mass casualty thermal burn event, the Government Accountability Office estimates that more than 10,000 patients might require thermal burn care[2]. The limited number of specialized burn centers and related medical infrastructure in the U.S. creates a public health need for therapies that could be deployed quickly for use in these and other care sites. Successful approval by the FDA would position StrataGraft for deployment as a medical countermeasure. Find more information about the ongoing StrataGraft Phase 3 clinical trial here on the ClinicalTrials.gov website. The program's funding is being provided under BARDA Project BioShield Contract HHSO100201500027C. About Serious Thermal Burns Containing Intact Dermal Elements Deep partial-thickness burns are complex skin injuries where the entire epidermis and more than two thirds of the dermis is destroyed. The treatment for severe complex skin wounds with substantial loss of the dermis such as deep partial-thickness burns is the surgical harvesting of a sheet of healthy skin from an uninjured site on the patient and transplantation of this autologous skin graft to the injury once the wound is ready to receive an autograft. While this process can be effective in providing closure of the original wound, it has significant limitations related to the donor site wounds created during surgical removal of autologous skin tissue for grafting. These donor site wounds are extremely painful, prone to infection and scarring, and can themselves convert to full-thickness wounds that must then be managed to promote healing. In addition, the amount of healthy skin available for harvesting is frequently limited in large burns, necessitating sequential re-harvesting of available donor sites. As a result, there is an urgent need for alternatives to donor site harvesting for treatment of severe burns and other complex skin defects. About StrataGraft Regenerative Skin Tissue StrataGraft is a viable, engineered, bilayer human skin substitute being developed for severe burns and other complex skin defects that is not yet approved by the FDA. It was designed to mimic natural human skin, with both an inner dermis-like and outer epidermis-like layers. StrataGraft skin tissue is designed to be sutured, stapled or secured with an adhesive and to initially provide a barrier function during the wound healing process. StrataGraft skin tissue is produced using NIKS cells grown in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice. Because the continuous NIKS skin cell line has been thoroughly characterized, StrataGraft tissue is virus-free, non-tumorigenic, and offers batch-to-batch genetic consistency. ABOUT MALLINCKRODT Mallinckrodt is a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. Areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology and ophthalmology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics and gastrointestinal products. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com . Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website. CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELATED TO FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This release includes forward-looking statements concerning StrataGraft including expectations with regard to future research plans, regulatory actions and potential impact on patients. The statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including the following, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: satisfaction of regulatory and other requirements; actions of regulatory bodies and other governmental authorities; changes in laws and regulations; issues with product quality, manufacturing or supply, or patient safety issues; future commercialization efforts; and other risks identified and described in more detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC, all of which are available on its website. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law. CONTACTS Investor Relations Daniel J. Speciale, CPA Investor Relations and Strategy Officer 314-654-3638 [email protected] Media Rhonda Sciarra Senior Communications Manager 908-238-6765 [email protected] Meredith Fischer Chief Public Affairs Officer 908-997-9294 [email protected] Mallinckrodt, the "M" brandmark and the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals logo are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company. Other brands are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company or their respective owners. 2018 Document #US-1800444 1 Passed in 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act allows the FDA to grant accelerated review approval to products that meet certain criteria. A product may receive an RMAT designation if the drug is defined as a cell therapy, therapeutic tissue engineering product, human cell and tissue product, or any combination product using such therapies or products; intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition; and preliminary clinical evidence indicates the drug has the potential to address unmet medical needs for such disease or condition. https://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/CellularGeneTherapyProducts/ucm537670.htm, accessed Sept. 23, 2018. 2 https://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588738.pdf SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc Related Links http://www.mallinckrodt.com SEWANEE, Tenn., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In a speech today to students at University of the South , McClatchy President and CEO Craig Forman criticized the term "fake news" and championed the importance of local news. He also described a free press as one that shines light in dark corners and sometimes makes people uncomfortable. He also urged students to vote, "The job of holding the powerful to account is hardly the media's responsibility alone. It's yours, too." "What these reporters do matters," said Forman, a leading advocate for local journalism as well as a former newspaper reporter and technology entrepreneur. "And it matters to our way of life and our democracy. Not everyone seems to agree. They hear something that makes them uncomfortable and suggest it must be fake." Forman urged students not to ignore a climate where the American public would suspect that a fiercely independent press is political instead of patriotic. He criticized the use of the term "fake news," and suggested that its proponents really meant to call it "political news." "My hope is that (fake news) is little more than the pet rock or the chia pet something that takes the nation by storm until consumers quickly see it for what it is: a gimmick," Forman said. He added, "When someone says the words 'fake news' what they mean is political news that they just don't like." Offering specific examples of ground-breaking journalism from McClatchy brands, Forman also spoke of the importance of local media. He cited a series of stories from the San Luis Obispo Tribune about a schizophrenic man who died after being strapped naked to a chair for two days. The articles led to the county changing how it treats the mentally ill. Forman also pointed to another series of articles from McClatchy's The State which uncovered corruption at a local utility company in South Carolina. "These stories are indicative of the very best of local news," said Forman. "Vigorously investigating on the best knowable version of the truth and dealing with the consequences is an American tradition. It's a patriotic pursuit." The full text of Craig Forman's speech is available here . About University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee, comprises a nationally recognized College of Arts and Sciences and a distinguished School of Theology. Located on 13,000 acres in Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau, Sewanee enrolls 1,700 undergraduates and approximately 100 seminarians. For more information about the University of the South, visit www.sewanee.edu . About McClatchy McClatchy operates 30 media companies in 14 states, providing each of its communities with strong independent local journalism in the public interest and advertising services in a wide array of digital and print formats. McClatchy publishes iconic local brands including the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The (Raleigh) News & Observer, and the (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram. McClatchy is headquartered in Sacramento, Calif., and listed on the New York Stock Exchange American under the symbol MNI. #ReadLocal SOURCE McClatchy Related Links https://www.mcclatchy.com HOUSTON, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE: MDR) announced today a sizeable* contract award for CB&I Storage Tanks for the engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction of three external floating-roof tanks in Taft, Texas. "McDermott is the industry leader for superior storage tank solutions in the energy industry," said Richard Heo, McDermott's Senior Vice President for North, Central and South America. "This is our fourth largest storage tank project we have completed for this particular customer in recent years. The safe delivery of our CB&I Storage Tank solutions will provide support for their terminal project in South Texas which is connected to their existing Permian pipeline." The contract award will be reflected in McDermott's third quarter 2018 backlog. * McDermott defines a sizeable contract between USD $1 million and USD $50 million. About McDermott McDermott is a premier, fully integrated provider of technology, engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. For more than a century, customers have trusted McDermott to design and build end-to-end infrastructure and technology solutionsfrom the wellhead to the storage tankto transport and transform oil and gas into the products the world needs today. Our proprietary technologies, integrated expertise and comprehensive solutions deliver certainty, innovation and added value to energy projects around the world. Customers rely on McDermott to deliver certainty to the most complex projects, from concept to commissioning. It is called the "One McDermott Way." Operating in over 54 countries, McDermott's locally focused and globally-integrated resources include approximately 40,000 employees and engineers, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels and fabrication facilities around the world. As used in this press release, McDermott includes McDermott International, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. To learn more, visit www.mcdermott.com. Forward-Looking Statements In accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, McDermott cautions that statements in this press release which are forward-looking, and provide other than historical information, involve risks, contingencies and uncertainties that may impact McDermott's actual results of operations. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the expected scope and value of the project discussed in this press release. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Those statements are made by using various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous risks, contingencies and uncertainties, including, among others: adverse changes in the markets in which we operate or credit markets, our inability to successfully execute on contracts in backlog, changes in project design or schedules, the availability of qualified personnel, changes in the terms, scope or timing of contracts, contract cancellations, change orders and other modifications and actions by our customers and other business counterparties, changes in industry norms and adverse outcomes in legal or other dispute resolution proceedings. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. For a more complete discussion of these and other risk factors, please see McDermott's annual and quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. This press release reflects management's views as of the date hereof. Except to the extent required by applicable law, McDermott undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Contacts: Investor Relations Scott Lamb Vice President, Investor Relations +1 832 513 1068 [email protected] Global Media Relations Gentry Brann Global Vice President, Communications +1 281 870 5269 [email protected] SOURCE McDermott International, Inc. Related Links http://www.mcdermott.com NORTHFIELD, Ill., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Medline has awarded $150,000 in its inaugural Medline Breast Cancer Awareness grants to six organizations fighting to eradicate breast cancer and providing counseling. The recently launched Medline Community Impact Grant Program for Breast Cancer Awareness drives awareness around prevention and early detection by providing support to organizations on the front lines of patient care. Communities Big and Small While the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 90 percent when detected early, the reality is breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women in the United States. The six organizations represent the various types of communities Medline serves, from rural towns to big cities, and they work with diverse groups of patients in all stages from prevention, detection and even grief counseling for families and loved ones. "These six organizations presented ideas to address big challenges. The work they do isn't easy, and listening to their stories brought tears to our panel's eyes. The extra support can help them continue to make a major impact on the lives of patients and their families," says Karen Frey, philanthropy manager at Medline. The six recipients are: New Ideas in Breast Cancer Awareness Whether it's driving awareness through Bright Pink's digital risk assessments, or providing art therapy for children whose parents died from breast cancer such as Leslie's Week's Club4Kids program, the six non-profits have plans to utilize their grant dollars in innovative ways. Susan G. Komen New England, which has been helping patients for over 20 years, is using their grant money to develop a Shared Decision Making Tool. The mission is to empower patients to make an educated, informed decision to reduce patient confusion in a complicated healthcare landscape. Medline and the non-profits will work together to track the progress of these programs and measure impact on the local communities. Since 2005, Medline has been uniting healthcare professionals, breast cancer patients and survivors. The company launched an awareness campaign in support of prevention and early detection and has donated more than $2 million to breast cancer charities nationwide. Read more about the six organizations at https://newsroom.medline.com/social-responsibility/new-funding-for-breast-cancer-awareness-and-care. To learn more about Medline's social responsibility efforts visit https://www.medline.com/pages/about-us/social-responsibility/. About Medline Medline is a global manufacturer and distributor serving the healthcare industry with medical supplies and clinical solutions that help customers achieve both clinical and financial success. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., the company offers 550,000+ medical devices and support services through more than 1,600 direct sales representatives who are dedicated points of contact for customers across the continuum of care. For more information on Medline, go to www.medline.com or http://www.medline.com/social-media to connect with Medline on its social media channels. SOURCE Medline Related Links https://www.medline.com | BY Ricki Green | To announce the launch of the Mona Foma festival in Launceston in January 2019, Mona and 72andSunny Sydney have launched a campaign in one of the most well-known Amish communities in the U.S., Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, inviting Amish youth to this once in a lifetime party. Mona Foma is a summer coming-of-age story about new experiences in a virgin environment. In an effort to invite everyone to experience it, 72andSunny Sydney went to the USA to invite those people who will have their minds blown the most The Amish. To dramatise the experimental nature of the festival, all Amish who will be entering their Rumspringa (the infamous Amish gap year where 18-21-year-olds are allowed to roam the world free of restrictions to gain life experience) are given the opportunity to attend the event for free and accelerate their gap year into three crazy days. The campaign includes a video invitation from the director of the Festival and Violent Femmes guitarist, Brian Ritchie, an outdoor and county wide ticketing campaign, and a website where they can redeem their free passes. Says Robbie Brammall, director of marketing and communication at Mona: We think the Amish will really get into this years line-up. Its literally full of stuff theyve never heard before like space junk drone house. And guitars. Not sure how many will take up our free ticket offer, but our co-conspirators at 72andSunny said the locals seemed super into the idea when they chatted at the hardware store. MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Merchology announced on Friday that it was ranked No. 1 by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal at its Fast 50 Awards reception. First-time honoree Merchology is a B2B ecommerce retailer of custom logo apparel and gifts. The company reported 2017 revenue of 23.4 million dollars, a growth rate of nearly 422 percent since 2015. Revenue isn't the only thing growing at the company. It's also scaling up its workforce. In 2015, it had just 11 employees. Now, there are over 100, plus 40 full-time subcontractors to apply custom logos using a variety of techniques . When asked to comment on the award, CEO Richard (Dick) Ward said, "We are grateful to MSPBJ for this award. Every company experiencing significant growth has its challenges, and we have certainly had ours. But we have a group of ambitious and talented employees that have worked incredibly hard and really delivered when we needed it. Our success is due to our entire team at Merchology." Dick and his co-founders (Nolan Goodman, Ally Delgado, and Andrew Ward) provided additional insight into what fuels their company's growth. What are your tips for managing and motivating your people as your company grows? Live your company values daily. Our core values are hung in every room of our office and drive our annual performance reviews. Employees can cite them by memory! Show each employee how their role contributes to company goals. Make your workplace fun! "Celebrate and share our successes" is one of our core values. Our employees work very hard, so we make sure to celebrate frequently through events like our Lake Minnetonka boat cruise, Halloween open house, holiday parties, monthly volunteer events and barbecues, and weekly Beer O'Clock in the office. Our social committee rocks! What was the most exciting thing to happen at your company in 2017? We moved offices to bring our two locations under one roof! After acquiring a local embroidery company in 2016, we continued operating in two buildings. In April 2017 we moved in together into a new space in the Carlson Business Park. This dramatically improved our collaboration as a company. What is your top priority for the year ahead? We want to ensure that as we grow, we continue to evolve and improve our customer experience. SOURCE Merchology Related Links https://www.merchology.com/ MIAMI, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mi9 Retail, a leading provider of end-to-end software solutions for retailers, wholesalers, and brands, announced today that it has signed a contract to acquire MyWebGrocer (MWG), a leading software and digital media company to the grocery and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industries. The addition of MWG enhances the Mi9 Retail suite, giving the company an entree into the grocery vertical and positioning Mi9 even more aggressively within fast moving consumer goods (FMCG). The MWG solution bolsters the existing Mi9 offering with new e-commerce, order management (OMS), and click-and-collect functionality. Additionally, MWG customers will benefit from the broader Mi9 suite of demand management, price and promotions management, and retail analytics solutions. "Combining MWG with Mi9 will increase our ability to serve our customers with innovative technology, professional services, and industry expertise," said Barry Clogan, President of Retail Solutions at MWG. "Our technology and media businesses complement the Mi9 platform and will operate more efficiently with the scale and business process expertise that Mi9 has put in place. This is a real win-win for our customers and employees." "With its recent acquisitions, Mi9 Retail has grown a very impressive portfolio of applications that scale effectively in several retail verticals," said Paula Rosenblum, co-founder and Managing Partner at RSR Research. "It's definitely a tech company to watch, and I look forward to seeing what they do with their suite of solutions in the coming year." MWG's existing sponsor, HGGC, will join Mi9 investors General Atlantic and Respida as investors in Mi9. "Mi9 has a proven track record of successfully integrating best-of-breed retail technology companies, so adding MWG is a natural step for the company," said Rich Lawson, HGGC CEO and Co-Founder. "We look forward to partnering with the Mi9 Retail management team to help execute their vision for continuing to revolutionize the retail industry through the application of innovative technology." "Consumers expect all retailers to offer a unified experience across their online and in-store channels, and retailers need to invest in omni-channel technology to keep up," said Neil Moses, CEO of Mi9 Retail. "This investment from HGGC and the combination with MWG enables Mi9 to accelerate deployment of our technology to new markets in retail." Earlier this year, Mi9 announced the acquisition of JustEnough, a leader in demand management solutions for retail, wholesale and direct-to-consumer businesses worldwide. The acquisition of JustEnough added best-of-breed planning, allocations, and replenishment solutions to the Mi9 Retail platform of integrated, analytics-driven merchandising, store, and digital commerce solutions. About MyWebGrocer MyWebGrocer (MWG) is a leading software and digital media company connecting Retailers, Manufacturers and Consumers through its suite of modular products and services. The company's offerings span the entire digital shopper journey, from inspiration, through intent and purchase. MWG solutions are powered by data science to drive personalization, measurement and sales. For more information, visit: http://www.mywebgrocer.com About HGGC HGGC is a leading middle-market private equity firm with $4.3 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., HGGC is distinguished by its "Advantaged Investing" approach that enables the firm to source and acquire scalable businesses at attractive multiples through partnerships with management teams, founders and sponsors who reinvest alongside HGGC, creating a strong alignment of interests. Over its history, HGGC has completed more than 100 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of more than $17 billion. More information is available at www.hggc.com. About Mi9 Retail Mi9 Retail is the fastest growing provider of enterprise software for retailers, wholesalers, and brands. Mi9 enables the world's leading retailers to automate and optimize their entire Plan-to-Sell process, from planning to executing, influencing, and selling merchandise in-store, online, and on any device. Mi9 corporate retail systems facilitate better planning, master data management, allocation, and replenishment, and Mi9 customer engagement and point-of-purchase systems boost revenue across digital and brick-and-mortar channels. Our solutions are connected via a common analytics framework that serves as the foundation of the system and speeds time to insight with role-based dashboards, KPIs, and governed self-service data discovery. Mi9 Retail is committed to helping retailers on their path to success, so they can maximize revenue and customer engagement while minimizing costs. Visit www.mi9retail.com to learn more. SOURCE Mi9 Retail Related Links http://www.mi9retail.com AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicare beneficiaries considering 2019 Medicare Advantage plans now have a new reason to take a closer look: an innovative, Central-Texas based population health model that features trusted local medical groups providing services designed to improve the quality, value, efficiency, patient experience and outcomes of Medicare Advantage patients. Two Central Texas medical groups Austin Regional Clinic (ARC) and Premier Physicians are teaming up to offer a new Medicare Advantage population health model, Connected Senior Care Advantage (CSCA). CSCA will be offered to beneficiaries enrolling in the Humana and WellCare Medicare Advantage plans listed below. Medicare beneficiaries can explore the benefits offered by these plans during the Medicare Annual Election Period from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. Additional CSCA health plan partnerships are still being evaluated for 2019 and 2020. ARC and Premier Physicians are significantly expanding the number of physicians who will focus on care for Medicare beneficiaries as a result of the CSCA model. Humana and WellCare Medicare Advantage members will have access to more than 145 primary care physicians at 32 locations. The CSCA population health model and provider network is currently being offered via two major Medicare Advantage organizations with a like-minded approach toward improving Medicare patient outcomes: Humana: Humana Gold Plus HMO and HumanaChoice PPO Medicare Advantage plans Humana Gold Plus HMO and HumanaChoice PPO Medicare Advantage plans WellCare: WellCare TexanPlus Classic The four-county area is populated by 248,936 Medicare beneficiaries, according to 2017 demographic figures. About 31 percent were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. The goal is to offer high quality care by providing the right care at the right times in the right locations, with a focus on preventing illnesses from occurring or worsening, explained Kevin Spencer, MD, Medical Director of CSCA. "If patients stay healthier, they are less likely to require costly emergency care or hospitalizations. Better coordination will be safer for patients and lead to less duplication of testing, such as unnecessary MRIs, X-rays, or overprescribing medications that can conflict with each other." Better Access Means 'Real-Time' Data By entering into this partnership, ARC and Premier Physicians' providers will have at their fingertips considerably more patient health information that wasn't available before. In essence, the CSCA population health model will improve doctor-patient and doctor-doctor communications and offer patient and family counseling and support, thus eliminating the 'blind spots' that exist in the healthcare system. "Today, if a patient goes to a hospital or gets care from a doctor outside of our group it often takes weeks or months before we see the detailed account of that visit, similar to the days when we were mailed monthly or quarterly records of our finances," described Anas Daghestani, MD, CEO of Austin Regional Clinic. "What if, like our online bank accounts, doctors could access real-time information about their patient. Imagine the difference we could make with our patients' care." A 2017 J.D. Power study found that Medicare Advantage patients believe "coordination of care among doctors is extremely important" and many are seeking "assistance navigating the myriad healthcare providers and managing associated costs that matter most." ARC and Premier have proven experience in care navigation and coordination. For example, for more than a decade, ARC has developed and enhanced a proven 'medical home' model, providing seamless, coordinated care to optimally serve patients with chronic conditions. "By combining ARC and Premier's expertise, CSCA is uniquely poised to provide Medicare Advantage patients with locally managed, high quality and more affordable care," said Spencer. As part of a patient's annual wellness visit, CSCA will provide a comprehensive, individualized assessment, guided by new technology, to maintain patients' best level of health and enjoyment of life. This may include: Comprehensive review of medications; Scheduled preventive care visits; Patient outreach about upcoming appointments; Chronic care and disease management programs; Cancer screenings and other preventive health measures; Coordinated care and collaboration with other health professionals and services; and Personalized service for patients who are hospitalized or admitted to skilled nursing facilities and need guidance and planning for a safe, smooth transition back home. 'Opting-in' to Improve Access Every year, thousands of physicians "opt out" of Medicare, leaving patients across the U.S. in a lurch because federal payments have not kept up with doctors' actual costs. In Central Texas, an overall doctor shortage contributes further to the problem. "We have learned from our medical home model how to make this new partnership succeed. This type of coordination makes sense and is what Medicare patients deserve. So, we're 'opting in' it's a necessary step to improve access to care," said Daghestani. For more information about CSCA, visit www.connectedseniorcareadvantage.com. About Austin Regional Clinic Austin Regional Clinic is a multispecialty medical group committed to providing comprehensive healthcare services throughout Central Texas. Founded by three physicians in 1980, it now provides health care to over 475,000 area residents in 25 locations in 10 cities, including both primary and specialty care. For more information, visit www.austinregionalclinic.com. About Premier Physicians Premier Physicians is an independent, physician-owned practice that has been serving primary care need of Austin, Texas' families for more than 25 years. For more information visit www.pfpdocs.com. Additional Information Humana is a Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal. Other providers are available in our network. Call 1-877-877-0714 (TTY: 711) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time seven days a week. SOURCE Austin Regional Clinic Related Links http://www.pfpdocs.com LEHI, Utah, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Podium, the leading customer communication platform for local businesses, has been named to Forbes' Next Billion-Dollar Startups list for 2018. An elite group of 25 companies, the list highlights those that members from Forbes' editorial team and TrueBridge Capital Partners believe have a strong shot at reaching a valuation of $1 billion or more in the near future. "The startup environment is incredibly demanding and competitive, and we've been proud of the passionate team and loyal customers we've accumulated in these first few years," said Eric Rea, CEO and co-founder of Podium. "As we have gone from working in a spare bedroom in an apartment to having local businesses connect with one in eight U.S. cell phone owners using Podium's platform, we have had a long list of humbling moments. Earning a spot on this ranking is definitely one of those moments and we look forward to continued growth in years to come." Founded in 2014 and now working with more than 25,000 businesses to create over 4 million customer interactions a month, Podium has quickly become one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the U.S. Recently hitting $50M in annual recurring revenue (ARR), the company is changing the way that local, offline businesses interact with their customers across a variety of markets including automotive, medical/dental, retail and home services. Making this Forbes list adds to the widespread recognition Podium has received in 2018 so far, including being: To compile the annual list of the Next Billion-Dollar Startups, Forbes teamed up with TrueBridge Capital Partners to ask nearly 200 venture capital firms to nominate the companies they thought were most likely to become unicorns. Forbes narrowed down the field from over 100 businesses to 25 by looking at revenue, funding and their most recent valuation. To see the full list of Forbes' Next Billion-Dollar Startups for 2018, visit: https://www.forbes.com/next-billion-dollar-startups/#17618fb04441 About Podium Podium modernizes the way business happens locally with products designed to help businesses be found, chosen, and gain insight into their customers' experience. By conveniently facilitating millions of customer interactions, such as driving customer-generated online reviews and providing improved customer communication tools, Podium serves 150,000+ users across more than 25,000 local businesses. Headquartered in Lehi, Utah, and founded in 2014, Podium is currently backed by IVP, Accel, Summit Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and Y Combinator. To learn more, visit www.podium.com or contact us at [email protected]. Media Contact Brian Spittler Communications Director, Podium [email protected] SOURCE Podium Related Links http://www.podium.com ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- About 4,000 repair workers today continued to restore power to Duke Energy customers on the Florida Panhandle following Hurricane Michael. About 14,800 customers remained without power as of 4:30 p.m. The company has repaired more than 62,000 outages. About 77,700 Duke Energy customers lost power during the storm. The hurricane damaged a significant portion of the region's electric system, including transmission towers, substations, utility poles, power lines and other major infrastructure components all of which will need to be repaired or replaced before power can be restored to many of Duke Energy's customers. Customers can view an online map that provides the most current estimated power restoration times: https://www.dukeenergyupdates.com/michael/florida/florida-restoration-timeline Below is the latest power restoration information, by geographical zone. Zone 1 Taylor , Madison , Hamilton , Suwannee , Lafayette , Dixie and Gilchrist counties: Power has been restored to all customers whose properties can receive power. Power has been restored to all customers whose properties can receive power. Zone 2 Jefferson and Leon counties: Power has been restored to all customers whose properties can receive power. Power has been restored to all customers whose properties can receive power. Zone 3A Wakulla County : Power has been restored to all customers whose properties can receive power. Power has been restored to all customers whose properties can receive power. Zone 3B Franklin County communities of Carrabelle , Lanark Village , Panacea and Alligator Point : The majority of customers whose properties can receive power will have service restored no later than 11:59 p.m. , Monday, Oct. 15 . Individual power restoration times will be updated as they become available. Visit https://www.duke-energy.com/outages for details. The majority of customers whose properties can receive power will have service restored no later than , . Individual power restoration times will be updated as they become available. Visit https://www.duke-energy.com/outages for details. Zone 3C Franklin County communities of St. George Island , Eastpoint and Apalachicola : The majority of customers whose properties can receive power will have service restored no later than 11:59 p.m. , Wednesday, Oct. 17 . Visit https://www.duke-energy.com/outages for details. The majority of customers whose properties can receive power will have service restored no later than , . Visit https://www.duke-energy.com/outages for details. Zone 4 Communities in this zone are located where the center of the hurricane made landfall, causing massive destruction. The majority of Gulf County customers whose properties can receive power, except for those in St. Joe Beach , can expect to have service restored by 11:59 p.m. , Thursday, Oct. 18. Duke Energy currently is unable to provide an estimated power restoration time for Bay County and Dog Island . The company is working hard to determine that information as soon as possible. Many parts of this area are difficult to access or totally inaccessible. Some areas will require extensive reconstruction of the electric system. Visit https://www.duke-energy.com/outages for details. More information In all counties, estimated times indicate when power will be restored to the majority of customers whose properties did not experience damage or flooding that would prevent electric service restoration. Many customers' power will be restored sooner. Power restoration times in isolated areas might be extended, depending on damage severity. Damaged or flooded properties first might require repairs by a licensed electrician and/or an electrical inspection by local officials before electric service can be restored. This includes properties whose electric meter boxes were damaged. Though Duke Energy owns the actual meter at each customer's home or business, the customer owns the meter box in which the meter is mounted. For safety reasons, the company cannot restore power to a property whose meter box is damaged. For storm or power restoration updates, visit https://www.dukeenergyupdates.com/michael/florida or follow Duke Energy on Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy). Latest damage photos https://news.duke-energy.com/multimedia-gallery/photos/hurricane-michael-florida Power line safety Stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging. Consider all power lines as well as trees, limbs and anything else in contact with power lines energized and dangerous. Report power line hazards by calling 800.228.8485. If a power line falls across a car that you're in, stay in the car. If you MUST get out of the car due to a fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump clear of the car and land on both feet. Be sure that no part of your body is touching the car when your feet touch the ground. Click here for a video about power line safety High-water safety People who live along lakes and rivers, and in other low-lying areas or areas prone to flooding, should pay close attention to local emergency management officials, the National Weather Service and local media for information about changing weather conditions and rising lake and river levels. High water conditions can create navigational hazards. The public should use caution and adhere to the advice of local emergency management officials before going on area lakes or rivers. Members of the public who have electrical service to facilities (piers, outside lighting on seawalls, etc.) on or near water, should have this service de-energized to avoid injuries and equipment damage. (NYSE: DUK) 24-Hour: 800.559.3853 SOURCE Duke Energy The company has more than 5,800 personnel working around the clock to restore power for the approximately 15,000 customers located in the hardest hit areas of Southwest Georgia that received the most destructive damage from Hurricane Michael. All of Georgia Power's resources are dedicated to storm restoration efforts in the state, along with additional resources from assisting utilities. Georgia Power has posted the estimated restoration times (ERTs) for customers who are able to receive electric service in the following areas with these projected times: Bainbridge area - Tuesday, Oct. 16 by 8 PM - by Albany area - Monday, Oct. 15 by 8 PM - by Americus area RESTORATION COMPLETED RESTORATION COMPLETED Macon and Central Georgia area RESTORATION COMPLETED RESTORATION COMPLETED Columbus and West Georgia area RESTORATION COMPLETED RESTORATION COMPLETED Augusta area - RESTORATION COMPLETED - RESTORATION COMPLETED Savannah and Coastal area - RESTORATION COMPLETED Updated: See attached map for the path of the storm, the wind fields and resulting outages. Georgia Power estimates that damage from Hurricane Michael includes: More than 3,500 spans of wire down (or over 130 miles) Approximately 1,000 broken or damaged power poles More than 900 fallen trees More than 200 transformers damaged As restoration efforts continue, the company encourages customers to keep safety first following Hurricane Michael: Watch for downed wires. Downed power lines may be hidden by debris or fallen trees. Downed power lines may be hidden by debris or fallen trees. Never touch any downed wire or attempt to remove tree branches from power lines it can kill. Don't step in standing water or saturated ground where downed lines may be present. They could be electrified. They could be electrified. Avoid chain link fences. They may be electrified by a downed line out of sight and conduct electricity over great distances. They may be electrified by a downed line out of sight and conduct electricity over great distances. Watch for Georgia Power crews working across the state. If driving, move over one lane for utility vehicles stopped on the side of the road it's the law in Georgia . Teams in the Field When severe weather strikes, Georgia Power has access to additional resources available as part of the Southern Company system, which includes multiple electric and gas companies serving approximately 9 million customers nationwide. Additionally, Georgia Power is part of a national mutual assistance network consisting of dozens of utilities from around the country, and the company is able to tap into reinforcements when needed to restore power to Georgia customers following a storm. Tools You Can Use Outage Alerts Subscribe to the free Georgia Power Outage Alert service to receive personalized notifications and updates via text message. Subscribe to the free Georgia Power Outage Alert service to receive personalized notifications and updates via text message. Outage & Storm Center Available at www.georgiapower.com/storm, customers can visit this site to sign up for Outage Alerts, report and check the status of outages, and access useful safety tips and information. Customers can report and check the status of an outage 24 hours a day by contacting Georgia Power at 888-891-0938. Available at www.georgiapower.com/storm, customers can visit this site to sign up for Outage Alerts, report and check the status of outages, and access useful safety tips and information. Customers can report and check the status of an outage 24 hours a day by contacting Georgia Power at 888-891-0938. Outage Map Housed within the Outage & Storm Center, Georgia Power's interactive Outage Map provides near real-time information, allowing users to see where outages are occurring across the state and track estimated restoration times. Housed within the Outage & Storm Center, Georgia Power's interactive Outage Map provides near real-time information, allowing users to see where outages are occurring across the state and track estimated restoration times. Georgia Power Mobile App Download the Georgia Power mobile app for Apple and Android devices to access storm and outage information on the go. Download the Georgia Power mobile app for Apple and Android devices to access storm and outage information on the go. @GeorgiaPower on Twitter Follow @GeorgiaPower on Twitter for storm tips, outage updates, customer service and more. Georgia Power Family Services To help its employees focus on safely restoring power for customers and relieve concerns about their own families, Georgia Power has also activated its Family Services volunteers, who are preparing to deploy to areas impacted by Hurricane Michael in anticipation of employee assistance requests. Family Services is supported by employee volunteers who are not involved with storm restoration. About Georgia Power Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.5 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power). SOURCE Georgia Power Related Links http://www.georgiapower.com MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PowerObjects, An HCL Technologies Company is using their time as a Premier Sponsor at this week's Microsoft Dynamics User Group Summit (UG Summit) to announce a new marketing initiative: Journey Beyond the Cloud. The campaign message is aligned with the company's recently refreshed tagline: PowerObjects is 100% focused on Microsoft Business Applications. The change is reflective of a shift in Microsoft's focus from the cloud towards business applications. As cloud adoption has grown, so too have the possibilities, and it's time to go beyond. "While other companies are focused on getting their customers to the cloud, PowerObjects is doing more," said Associate Vice President of Global Marketing, Jeff Wedren. "We continue to embrace the power a switch to the cloud can bring to an organization's CRM and ERP implementation, but we're also doubling down on our commitment to reach beyond that by connecting our customers' other business applications under one unified, cloud-based platform - Dynamics 365." To support their customers' journeys toward a connected suite of Microsoft Business Applications, PowerObjects' team will be on-hand to answer questions, provide product demonstrations, and share knowledge with conference goers at UG Summit at the Phoenix Convention Center this October 15-18th. They will be available at Booth #827 during all exhibitor floor hours. To learn about PowerObjects' speaking sessions and UG Summit conference sponsorship, as well as to get information about services for Microsoft Business Applications, visit their website. PowerObjects, An HCL Technologies Company is a leader in delivering Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions through unparalleled offerings of service, support, education, and add-ons. PowerObjects has built an unmatched team of Dynamics 365 experts that help organizations increase productivity, streamline business processes, and build better relationships. SOURCE PowerObjects, An HCL Technologies Company Related Links http://www.powerobjects.com SEATTLE, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tom Schaaf, MD, MHA was elected president of the Washington State Medical Association at the association's annual meeting in Spokane, Sunday, Oct. 14. The WSMA represents physicians, physician assistants, resident physicians and medical students throughout Washington state. Dr. Schaaf, who lives in Spokane, specializes in geriatrics and hospice care. He serves as the chief medical officer of Providence Home and Community Care in Tukwila and provides patient care at Providence Sound Hospice in Olympia. Dr. Schaaf received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine (now the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA). He completed his family medicine internship and residency at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles before joining his father's geriatric and family medicine private practice in California. Dr. Schaaf moved to Washington state in 1992 after being recruited to join Group Health Physicians in Spokane. Dr. Schaaf served in various leadership roles in the Spokane area before joining Providence, including as regional primary care medical director for Group Health Cooperative; hospitalist team leader for Group Health at Sacred Heart Medical Center; and medical executive committee member for Sacred Heart Medical Center. Dr. Schaaf is a member of both the WSMA and the Spokane County Medical Society. He joined WSMA's executive committee in 2015 after serving several years on the association's board. The following physicians were also elected as officers at the meeting: Bill Hirota, MD, Tacoma gastroenterologist, president-elect; Nathan Schlicher, MD, JD, Tacoma emergency physician, 1st vice president; Mika Sinanan, MD, PhD, Seattle surgeon, 2nd vice president; Katina Rue, DO, Yakima osteopathic physician, secretary-treasurer; Nariman Heshmati, MD, Mukilteo OB/GYN, assistant secretary-treasurer. The seventh officer of WSMA's executive committee is past-president Donna Smith, MD, Seattle pediatrician, who will serve as committee chair. About the WSMA The Washington State Medical Association represents more than 11,000 physicians, physician assistants, resident physicians and medical students in Washington state. The WSMA has advocated on behalf of the house of medicine more than 125 years. Our vision is to make Washington state the best place to practice medicine and receive care. SOURCE Washington State Medical Association Related Links http://www.wsma.org AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- KEY POINTS Loan syndication is for $12 million Funding to help with down payment, closing costs Building on the first public-private partnerships in single-family housing finance Syndication loan unlocks additional funds for qualified homebuyers Prospective, lower-income first time homebuyers in Texas now have even more resources to help with down payments and closing costs. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs ("TDHCA") recently entered into a $12 million syndicated loan agreement with Woodforest National Bank, Tolleson Private Bank and Hancock Whitney. These funds are in addition to the 2016 $10 million loan agreement with Woodforest National Bank that helped create over 1,500 new homeowners throughout Texas. Based on the success of the initial loan, which was the first public-private partnership in single-family housing finance, Woodforest invited other financial institutions to join them in addressing the ongoing and urgent need for down payment and closing cost assistance funds statewide. "TDHCA, together with Woodforest, Tolleson and Hancock Whitney, has taken an innovative concept to help potential homebuyers to another level. Building on last year's loan agreement, this partnership will be a key factor in introducing the benefits of homeownership to more Texans who may think that because of financial challenges the dream of homeownership is out of reach for them," said TDHCA Executive Director Tim Irvine. "It's this continued opportunity that allows TDHCA to fulfill its mission of providing low income families and individuals the resources to become financially stronger and help our Texas communities thrive." TDHCA's My First Texas Home is structured to address the most significant obstacles to homeownership faced by low-and moderate-income homebuyers: lack of funds for down payment and closing cost assistance and overall mortgage affordability. "TDHCA's venture is overwhelmingly impactful. The full $10 million of our first-of-its-kind direct loan to TDHCA last year was deployed faster than anticipated and generated significant demand given the need. Through this syndicated loan, TDHCA will be able to make homeownership possible for over 2,000 new first-time homebuyers, including more than 10,000 families and individuals," said Woodforest National Bank EVP, CRA Executive Director, Doug Schaeffer. Schaeffer continued, "The lower interest rate on the $12 million loan to TDHCA will enable over $350 million of lower income first mortgages to be originated. These more affordable mortgages alleviate a portion of homeownership cost burden and create substantial economic impact in communities. We appreciate the collaboration between TDHCA, Woodforest, Tolleson and Hancock Whitney to work together to get funds to first time homeowners who need them most." Derrick Ragland, EVP, President of Commercial Banking, Woodforest National Bank added: "Leading and implementing this revolutionary $12 million syndicated credit facility has allowed Woodforest to work with banks in the community to provide critical funding to TDHCA's program, which in turn grows the possibility of low- and moderate-income home ownership in the communities we all care about and serve." Tolleson Private Bank and Hancock Whitney, two banks who also have a dedicated presence in Texas, were pleased to join TDHCA and Woodforest to help make homeownership a reality for lower-income first time homebuyers across the state. "Tolleson Private Bank is very pleased and proud to support TDHCA in its efforts to make the dream of homeownership a reality to so many deserving families in Texas through the My First Texas Home program. Texas is a wonderful place to call home and a true land of opportunity for the many hard-working families looking to set roots here," said Steve Westerheide, EVP, Managing Director, Bank Operations/Compliance. "Hancock Whitney was founded to help people achieve their financial goals and dreams. We've embraced that mission since the day we opened our doors in the 1800s," said Hancock Whitney Texas Regional President Scott Brewer. "This highly innovative Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs lending program creates a multi-million-dollar partnership that truly empowers first-time homebuyers. We're honored to be part of this initiative that helps make the dream of homeownership real for so many people and the loved ones who depend on them." About The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is committed to expanding fair housing choice and opportunities for Texans through the administration and funding of affordable housing and homeownership opportunities, weatherization, and community-based services with the help of for-profits, nonprofits, and local governments. For more information about fair housing, funding opportunities, or services in your area, please visit www.tdhca.state.tx.us or the Learn about Fair Housing in Texas page. About Woodforest National Bank Celebrating 37 years of community banking service, Woodforest National Bank has successfully stood among the strongest community banks in the nation, proudly offering outstanding customer service since 1980. Woodforest currently operates over 700 branches in 17 states across the United States. For more information about Woodforest National Bank please visit www.woodforest.com. To learn more about the 2019 loan syndication program contact Doug Schaeffer, EVP, CRA Executive Director at [email protected] or Daniel Galindo, VP, CRA and Strategy Director at [email protected]. About Tolleson Private Bank Tolleson Private Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tolleson Wealth Management, a family office serving ultra-high net worth clients navigating the complexities that accompany wealth. With one location in Dallas, Texas, Tolleson Private Bank provides traditional banking services within a customized and personalized environment. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. For more information, please visit tollesonwealth.com. About Hancock Whitney Since the late 1800s, Hancock Whitney has embodied core values of Honor & Integrity, Strength & Stability, Commitment to Service, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility. Part of Hancock Whitney Corporation's Gulf South financial services family, bank offices and financial centers in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida offer comprehensive financial products and services, including traditional and online banking; commercial and small business banking; private banking; trust and investment services; healthcare banking; certain insurance services; and mortgage services. The company also operates a loan production office in Nashville, Tennessee. BauerFinancial, Inc., the nation's leading independent bank rating and analysis firm, consistently recommends Hancock Whitney as one of America's most financially sound banks. More information is available at www.hancockwhitney.com. Learn about our Commitment to Service: hancockwhitney.com/commitment-to-service. Media contact: Kristina Tirloni (512) 475-4743 SOURCE Woodforest National Bank Related Links http://www.woodforest.com LISHUI, China, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tantech Holdings Ltd. (TANH) ("Tantech" or the "Company"), a leading clean energy company in China, today announced that it plans to hold its 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on December 7, 2018, at 10:00 A.M., local time, at the Company's office at No. 10 Cen Shan Road, Shuige Industrial Zone, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, PRC. Shareholders as of the record date, close of business on November 5, 2018, will be entitled to vote at the meeting. Although the Company does not provide its shareholders with any right to put any proposals before annual general meetings, any shareholder may submit a proposal to the Company for consideration of inclusion in a proxy statement. The Company has determined that October 22, 2018 should be the deadline for receipt of proposals. Such proposals by mails should be delivered to: Tantech Holdings Ltd, c/o Zhejiang Forest Bamboo Technology Co., Ltd., No. 10 Cen Shan Road, Shuige Industrial Zone, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, PRC 323000, Attention: Corporate Secretary. Proposals by email should be sent to [email protected]. About Tantech Holdings Ltd. Established in 2001 and headquartered in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, China, Tantech Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures bamboo-based charcoal products, including a variety of branded consumer products and electric double-layer capacitor ("EDLC") carbon products for industrial energy applications. The Company aims to transform itself from a bamboo-based charcoal products producer to a vertically integrated company along the EDLC Carbon - power battery - specialty new energy vehicle value chain. For more information please visit: http://www.tantechholdings.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, product and service demand and acceptance, changes in technology, economic conditions, the impact of competition and pricing, government regulations, and other risks contained in reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All such forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, and whether made by or on behalf of the Company, are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and any other cautionary statements which may accompany the forward-looking statements. In addition, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. For more information please contact: Tantech Holdings Ltd. Ms. Ye Ren IR Manager +86-578-261-2869 [email protected] SOURCE Tantech Holdings Ltd. Related Links http://www.tantechholdings.com | BY Ricki Green | Iconic Australian accessories brand, Oroton, has appointed Host/Havas to partner with them on the transformation of its business. Oroton is an authentic Australian brand with an 80-year history. With rapidly changing consumer trends, the business is transforming its vision, brand and approach to market. Says David Kesby, CEO, Oroton: A major part of the transformation will be in digital, both in developing a world class user experience, capitalising on data to drive smart CRM, and, later expanding our omni-channel experience internationally. Were thrilled to have Host/Havas on board to help us transform our business and make it a reality. Host/Havas will support key development areas within Orotons business strategy including the development of a business vision, customer segmentation and a technology roadmap. Says Laura Aldington, CEO, Host/Havas: Oroton is an iconic brand in Australia and were delighted to partner them on the next phase of their transformation. We will be working with multiple stakeholders across the business with the aim of reshaping how consumers see them today and into the future an exciting challenge which we hope will have a significant impact on the Australian retail landscape. Ford, 59, is currently Principal Partner for the CIO Strategy Exchange (CIOSE) where he leads a cross-industry consortium of 50 of the most important chief information officers from some of the world's largest companies. He has thirty-five years of experience leading information technology organizations, previously serving as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aptean, Inc. (Aptean), a producer of enterprise software, where he was responsible for all aspects of the company's business. Prior to Aptean, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of American Airlines, with responsibility for its information technology services (ITS) group, operations research and the airline's award-winning website, AA.com. Ford has also held executive management positions with The Associates First Capital Corporation, Bank of Boston and Digital Equipment Corporation. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Ford currently sits on the boards of The Michaels Companies Inc. and Akamai Technologies, Inc. Widely regarded as a leader in the field of information technology, Ford has been recognized as one of the '50 Smartest People in Technology' by Fortune magazine for his transformative leadership and progressive thinking as a CIO. Iron Mountain Board Chairman Alfred J. Verrecchia said, "We are pleased to welcome Monte Ford to our board. Monte's deep expertise and proven track record leading information technology businesses will be a tremendous asset to Iron Mountain, especially as we continue to diversify into new digital services and solutions offerings." President and CEO William L. Meaney added, "Monte's 35 years of broad technology experience will add a valuable perspective to our board and further strengthen our board's breadth of talent. We appreciate his willingness to serve as a director and look forward to benefitting from his guidance and direction." About Iron Mountain Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), founded in 1951, is the global leader for storage and information management services. Trusted by more than 225,000 organizations around the world, and with a real estate network of more than 85 million square feet across more than 1,400 facilities in over 50 countries, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of valued assets, including critical business information, highly sensitive data, and cultural and historical artifacts. Providing solutions that include information management , digital transformation , secure storage , secure destruction , as well as data centers , cloud services and art storage and logistics , Iron Mountain helps customers lower cost and risk, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and enable a more digital way of working. Visit www.ironmountain.com for more information. Investor Relations Contacts: Melissa Marsden Anjaneya Singh, CFA Senior Vice President, Investor Relations Director, Investor Relations [email protected] [email protected] (617) 535-8595 (617) 535-8577 SOURCE Iron Mountain Incorporated Related Links http://www.ironmountain.com SAN ANTONIO, Oct 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- John Eagle spoke with gratitude and appreciation for the massive effort it took to open their first San Antonio dealership in Alamo Ranch Wednesday evening. Customers, members of the business community and employees of the John Eagle Auto Group gathered to celebrate the largest Honda dealership in the city with live jazz playing from the balcony. Photography Credit: Vincent Quaranto "We're really proud of this facility and the level of service we're able to bring to San Antonio," says General Manager Matt Cole. "Tonight's event is a culmination of the hard work of our entire team and it's been such a warm welcome from the San Antonio community thus far." The event featured a ribbon cutting, with members of the John Eagle Auto Group's Dallas team in attendance, in addition to approximately 300 guests. President and COO of the John Eagle Auto Group Rene Isip says the evening marks a significant milestone for the company. "With our recent acquisition in Austin, we now have a dealership in every major city in Texas," says Isip. "That's been a major goal for us and San Antonio is a huge key to our future success. The city is growing so quickly we knew we needed to be a part of that." The Honda dealership has the capacity to house 800 cars on its lot, making it now far and away the largest in San Antonio. Their service area is also the largest in the city, with state-of-the-art technology and GPS monitoring on every vehicle. The facility also employs approximately 100 staff members, from sales professionals to service technicians. With multiple community service projects already under the dealership's belt in just a few short months in business, Hill Country Honda is here to do business with heart and hustle. About John Eagle Group John Eagle Auto Group started in Dallas, Texas, in 1962 as a new and used vehicle dealer. The company has grown to Houston, Austin and now opening its first San Antonio location with Hill Country Honda. They have a strong and committed sales staff with many years of experience satisfying their customers' needs. For more information, visit www.johneagle.com. NOTE: For interviews or media access to Hill Country Honda, please contact Aquila Mendez-Valdez at 210.606.5251 or [email protected]. Related Images team.jpg Team Photography Credit: Vincent Quaranto john-eagle-ceo-of-john-eagle-auto.jpg John Eagle, CEO of John Eagle Auto Group, speaks to a crowd gathered for the grand opening of Hill Country Honda Photography Credit: Vincent Quaranto Related Links Hill Country Honda Website SOURCE Hill Country Honda Related Links http://www.johneagle.com AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- For the fifth consecutive year, the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute, is the title sponsor of the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) Texas Truck Rodeo. The event takes place Oct. 14 -16 at the Longhorn River Ranch in Dripping Springs, Texas. "We are once again proud to be working with SMDI as the title sponsor of the Texas Auto Writers Association's Texas Truck Rodeo," said Michael Marrs, president, TAWA. "Thanks to support from organizations like SMDI, we are able to enhance our drive events and provide our members with additional resources to educate them on the relevance of the steel industry in the automotive world." The Truck Rodeo is an annual event bringing journalists from Texas and the U.S. to evaluate the nation's top trucks and SUVs. Writers recognize excellence in several categories, including selecting the year's coveted "Truck of Texas." "Trucks, SUVs and CUVs have always performed well in Texas, so this event is the perfect place to demonstrate the benefits of high-strength steel vehicles," said Jody N. Hall, vice president, automotive market, SMDI. "We can't think of a better venue than the Truck Rodeo to showcase the enhanced strength and performance of steel-intensive vehicles. As third-generation advanced high-strength steels are introduced commercially, the industry will see even more capability from these vehicles." Follow along with the activities going on at the TAWA Truck Rodeo by checking out SMDI's social media channels @DriveUsingSteel on Twitter and Instagram and Steel Market Development Institute on Facebook. For more than three decades, TAWA has promoted professionalism and quality in automotive journalism. TAWA produces two annual events that have gained national traction: the Texas Truck Rodeo and the Texas Auto Roundup. Both events give TAWA's journalists the opportunity to evaluate vehicles back-to-back on the street, track or off-road. Manufacturers and dealerships promote the award winners and the "Truck of Texas" is touted in national television commercials, including appearing in previous Super Bowl commercials. TAWA awards scholarships to Texas college and university students with a journalism major each year. The nonprofit's annual Excellence in Craft Competition also recognizes exceptional coverage of the automotive industry by its members annually. AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace. AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology. AISI is comprised of 21 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and approximately 120 associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. The Steel Market Development Institute, a business unit of AISI, increases and defends the use of steel by developing innovative materials, applications and value-added solutions for customers in the automotive, construction and packaging markets. SMDI automotive investors include: AK Steel Corporation, Algoma, ArcelorMittal and Nucor Corporation. For more information on SMDI auto, visit www.autosteel.org or follow @SMDISteel on Twitter. SOURCE Steel Market Development Institute Related Links http://www.autosteel.org PORTLAND, Oregon, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Increase in prevalence of chronic diseases, rise in geriatric population, and improved risk management during complex surgeries would drive the growth of the the U.S. intraoperative neuromonitoring market. Allied Market Research published a report, titled, U.S. Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Market by Source Type (Insourced Monitoring and Outsourced Monitoring), Product & Service (System, Accessory, and Service), Application (Spinal Surgery, Neurosurgery, Vascular Surgery, ENT Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, and Other Surgeries), Modality (Motor Evoked Potential [MEP], Somatosensory Evoked Potential [SSEP], Electroencephalography [EEG], Electromyography [EMG], Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential [BAEP], and Visual Evoked Potential [VEP]), and End User (Hospital and Ambulatory Surgical Center) - Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014-2022. The report offers extensive analyses of the top investment pockets, drivers & opportunities, key strategic developments, competitive landscape, and market player positioning. As per the report, the U.S. intraoperative neuromonitoring market generated $1.41 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $1.93 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 6.5% from 2018 to 2022. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg ) High incidence of chronic diseases, surge in geriatric population, and increased focus on risk management during complex surgeries drive the growth of the market. However, rise in expenses related to insourced monitoring would hinder the market growth. On the other hand, increasing applicability of IONM in various types of surgeries would create new opportunities for the market in future. Request Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/5034 Insourced monitoring segment to dominate, outsourced monitoring segment to grow the fastest by 2022 The insourced monitoring segment contributed more than half of the total market share in 2017, due to lower dependency on third-party service providers for carrying out IONM. The segment would maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period. The outsourced monitoring segment would register the highest CAGR of 10.3% from 2018 to 2022, owing to associated benefits including lower cost, ease of availability, and improved convenience. IONM system segment to lead throughout the forecast period The IONM system segment garnered the highest share in 2017, accounting for nearly half of the total market revenue. This is due to the high cost of IONM devices and instruments used in surgical procedures. However, the IONM service segment would register the fastest CAGR of 9.3% from 2018 to 2022, owing to their high adoption during complex surgeries, increase in charges of service providers, and rise in demand for technologically advanced products. The accessory segment is expected to grow at a steady rate during the forecast period. EMG segment to dominate in terms of revenue The electromyography (EMG) segment garnered lion's share in 2017, accounting for more than one-fourth of the total market revenue. It is due to the ability of EMG to accurately determine the potential damage of neurological conditions as compared to other modalities. The brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) segment would grow at the highest CAGR of 7.9% from 2018 to 2022, owing to rise in adoption for monitoring auditory structures. The report also analyzes motor evoked potentials (MEPs), somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs), and visual evoked potentials (VEPs) segments. For Purchase Enquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/5034 Spinal surgery: The highest revenue generating segment Rise in prevalence of spinal conditions and increase in adoption of IONM have enabled the spinal surgery application segment to contribute for more than one-fourth of the total market share in 2017. However, orthopedic surgery segment would register the highest CAGR of 8.8% during the forecast period, owing to rise in adoption of IONM during orthopedic surgeries. The report also analyzes neurosurgery, vascular surgery, ENT surgery, and other applications. Hospitals segment to hold major share by 2022 Hospitals segment held a major share in 2017, contributing more than half of the total market, owing to rise in the number of surgeries and increase in outsourced monitoring. This segment is expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. However, the ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) segment would register the highest CAGR of 7.0% from 2018 to 2022, owing to rise in the number of ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) across the country. Country-wise analysis: California to contribute the largest revenue by 2022 The IONM market in California accounted for the highest share in 2017, contributing nearly one-tenth of the total market revenue. This is due to the upsurge in the number of neurosurgery & orthopedic surgeries, high population base, easy availability of trained professionals, and well-developed healthcare infrastructure. However, Washington IONM market would register the highest CAGR of 9.8% from 2018 to 2022, owing to significant rise in healthcare spending, developing healthcare infrastructure, and rise in the number of complex surgeries. Leading industry players The report analyzes several major industry players including Accurate Monitoring, LLC., Intranerve, LLC., Computational Diagnostics, Inc., Medtronic Plc, Inomed Medizintechnik GmbH, Natus Medical Incorporated, Moberg Research, Inc. (DAYONE MEDICAL, LLC.), Nuvasive, Inc., Nihon Kohden Corporation, and Specialtycare. These players have adopted different strategies such as new product launches, joint ventures, expansions, collaborations, mergers & acquisitions, and others to achieve gain a strong foothold in the industry. Access KNOWLEDGE TREE (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/knowledgetree Knowledge tree is a cloud-based intelligence platform that offers more than 2,000 selective, off-the-shelf reports on niche markets to enable our clients gain deep insights on the latest trends, dynamic technologies, and emerging application areas. Similar Reports: Medical Electrodes Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2016 - 2022 Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2016 - 2022 About Us Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1(855)550-5975 [email protected] Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com SOURCE Allied Market Research NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- United Spinal Association gathered key affiliated chapter representatives in Orlando, Florida, October 11-13 for its 6th annual Chapter Leadership Meeting to strengthen programs, services and outreach to people living with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) nationwide. "This meeting offers chapter representatives, who are truly exceptional leaders, the opportunity to share their success and learn new ways to reach the diverse population we serve within their respective communities," said James Weisman, United Spinal's President and CEO. United Spinal chapters are self-dependent regional organizations that serve individuals with SCI/D by promoting health and well-being, inclusion and independence, community integration, accessibility, and advocacy. Many of the chapters are led by individuals who have overcome the challenges of living with SCI/D and are dedicated to helping their peers achieve the same. During the meeting, chapter leaders and key United Spinal staff covered a multitude of topics, from enhancing outreach and enriching chapter operations to fundraising and collaboration on future initiatives. "Although our chapters have different programs and initiatives, we all share United Spinal's mission to ensure people with SCI/D can regain their independence and quality of life. It's great to come together face to face with other leaders to contribute ideas and resources," said Jose Hernandez, president of United Spinal's New York City Chapter. United Spinal hosted its inaugural chapter leadership meeting in 2012 with 17 chapters operating nationwide. Since then, the organization has expanded to 54 chapters in 34 states that serve wheelchair users and others with SCI/D, disabled veterans, the aging, homebound, caregivers and individuals in rural areas. "The commitment of our chapters to provide critical resources and support to our members on the local level drives our mission," added Nick LiBassi, VP of Partnership Expansion and Chapter Leadership Meeting coordinator. Bert Burns, a paralympian, entrepreneur, and clinician delivered the meeting's keynote address, discussing the significant role peer support played in his recovery from spinal cord injury. "Being injured 36 years, I know how important peer involvement is in overcoming SCI/D. United Spinal's chapter leaders are great role models for the newly injured. It was an honor to be able to tell my story and show how I was helped along the way," said Burns, who was spinal cord injured at the age of 20 when his vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. United Spinal also honored two of its chapters for their commitment to make a difference in the lives of individuals affected by SCI/D. Chris Salas and the San Antonio Chapter received the '2018 Creativity Award' for their efforts to find creative ways to connect with chapter members. Debbie Meyers and the North Carolina Chapter received the '2018 Connection to the Community Award' for their ongoing work to improve community engagement. United Spinal gratefully acknowledges our 2018 Chapter Leadership Meeting sponsors for their support of our chapter leaders in making a positive difference in the lives of thousands of individuals living with disabilities. About United Spinal Association United Spinal is a national 501(c) (3) nonprofit membership organization formed in 1946 by paralyzed veterans and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), including multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, ALS and post-polio. United Spinal has played a significant role in writing the Americans with Disabilities Act and made important contributions to the Fair Housing Amendments Act and the Air Carrier Access Act. Membership is free and is open to all individuals with SCI/D. United Spinal was instrumental in getting New York City to create sidewalk curb ramps and accessible public transportation that has been used as a model for many United States cities. Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. James Weisman ProfNet - https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=84382 SOURCE United Spinal Association Related Links http://www.unitedspinal.org CLEVELAND, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- US demand for processed food is forecast to grow 1.8% annually in nominal terms through 2022, according to Processed Food: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports. Increasing levels of disposable personal income will support consumer spending on value-added products that offer high-quality food in a convenient format. Rising demand from foodservice establishments will also support growth. However, low commodity prices for key ingredients in processed food (e.g., beef, chicken, grain) will restrain faster demand gains. More information about the report is available at: https://www.freedoniafocusreports.com/Processed-Food-United-States-FF10024/ Demand in the leading meat, poultry, and seafood product segment is forecast to stagnate through 2022. Flat commodity prices and the increasing availability of vegetable-based meat-like alternatives will stall advances. These and other key insights are featured in Processed Food: United States. This report forecasts to 2022 US processed food demand and shipments in nominal US dollars at the manufacturer level. Total demand and shipments are segmented by product in terms of: meat, poultry, and seafood grains and oilseeds dairy products bakery and related products animal food processed fruits and vegetables sugar and confectionary products other processed food such as condiments and sauces, egg substitutes, frozen specialty foods, peanut butter, roasted nuts, and spices To illustrate historical trends, total demand, total shipments, the various segments, personal consumption expenditures on food and meals by type, and trade are provided in annual series from 2007 to 2017. Excluded from the scope of this report are ready-to-drink beverages such as bottled water, carbonated soft drinks, and fluid milk; beverage syrups; and unprocessed foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, and eggs. Inedible byproducts of animal slaughtering, such as bones and hides, are not included in demand or shipment totals for meat, poultry, and seafood products. Re-exports of processed food are excluded from trade and demand figures. About Freedonia Focus Reports Each month, The Freedonia Group a division of MarketResearch.com publishes over 20 new or updated Freedonia Focus Reports, providing fresh, unbiased analysis on a wide variety of markets and industries. Published in 20-30 pages, Focus Report coverage ranges from raw materials to finished manufactured goods and related services such as freight and construction. Additional Consumer Goods reports can be purchased at Freedonia Focus Reports or MarketResearch.com. Analysis is intended to guide the busy reader through pertinent topics in rapid succession, including: total historical market size and industry output segmentation by products and markets identification of market drivers, constraints, and key indicators segment-by-segment outlook in five-year forecasts a survey of the supply base suggested resources for further study Press Contact: Corinne Gangloff +1 440.684.9600 [email protected] SOURCE The Freedonia Group Related Links https://www.freedoniafocusreports.com TOKYO, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Since the commencement of 2018, cryptocurrencies have begun to enter the mainstream of the finance world, with such major announcements as the commencement of trading in Bitcoin futures on the CBOE, Nomura Holdings announcing a foray into cryptocurrency storage and security solutions, ICE (owner of the New York Stock Exchange) announcing the formation of a new subsidiary in cooperation with Microsoft and Starbucks to provide federally-regulated trading of Bitcoin and other digital assets, and Japan's largest bank MUFG revealing plans to develop its own cryptocurrency pegged to the yen. Riding this wave, Epoch Partners Limited (Headquartered in the Cayman Islands) has announced the world's first retail public offering of a cryptocurrency and digital assets related fund. The Securities Registration Statement for the fund was filed on EDINET -- the disclosure system of the Japanese Financial Services Agency -- on September 28, 2018, with subscriptions being opened on October 15th. According to the Securities Registration Statement, subscriptions are to be capped at 100 Billion Yen, or about US$900 million. Epoch Digital Assets will make use of hedge fund management know-how to invest into funds and other investment vehicles with exposure to a variety of cryptocurrency, initial coin offering (ICO), and other digital assets, seeking aggressive returns while reducing volatility. The ability to get a diversified exposure to the cryptocurrency and digital asset space with a relatively small investment should be one element of appeal to retail investors. While the digital asset space has significant upside growth potential, it still represents a very volatile market with large price swings, so investors will be investing at their own risk. In either case, with Epoch Digital Assets being the first public offering of its kind, it is sure to garner a significant amount of attention. Epoch Partners partner James Skinner says, "Japan has been a leader in the cryptocurrency and digital asset space. They were the first market to create a proper regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, and as such can be seen as the world pioneer in this area. We were very keen to undertake the world's first public offering of a cryptocurrency fund in Japan and look forward to great things ahead. The asset class is still young, but the movement to more institutional players like Goldman Sachs and Nomura entering the space shows the great potential of this area. In the future, digital assets are likely to become an integrated part of investment portfolios, similar to equities and fixed income products today, albeit on a smaller scale." The fund will be marketed by Teneo Partners (Headquartered in Tokyo), which will sell the fund in conjunction with other securities firms in Japan. Stanley Howard, CEO of Teneo Partners adds, "As a fully licensed Japanese securities company that specializes in offering offshore alternative funds to Japanese investors, we are delighted to be working with Epoch Partners. The ability to offer a truly unique diversified digital asset fund to our distribution and investor networks allows us to more fully address the increasingly diverse investment needs of our clientele and to differentiate ourselves from our competitors within the Japanese securities industry." Inquiries regarding handling of or subscriptions to Epoch Digital Assets: Teneo Partners Limited Authorized Type 1 and Type 2 Financial Instruments Business Dealer Kanto Finance Bureau Registration Number 2315 E-mail: [email protected] Other information at: www.fundplaza.jp Inquiries regarding Epoch Partners: Epoch Partners Limited E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Epoch Partners Limited GURGAON, India and NEW YORK, October 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- First of its kind Hotel product offering with anytime check-in/check-out and usage-based pricing Yatra.com, one of India's leading online travel companies, has launched 'Flexi Stay', a unique feature, aimed at disrupting the travel industry in India. Yatra Flexi Stay, allows customers to book budget and premium (4/5 star) hotels with ANYTIME CHECK-IN / CHECK-OUT, while only paying for the time-based usage of the room. Launched in September, 2018, it is currently being offered in two of India's largest metros - New Delhi & Bangalore, and two key religious towns - Shirdi and Tirupati. The feature combines proprietary cutting-edge technology with flexible booking and pay-per-use pricing strategies, to make for a platform that is simultaneously beneficial to end consumers as well as hoteliers. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/538225/Yatra_Logo.jpg ) With Flexi Stay, Yatra is rethinking the traditional way of hotel booking by breaking down room inventory and pricing by hours (24 hour/day) to a newer 'pay for the time you stay' model rather than the traditional fixed time check-in/check-out model. Now a hotel guest can not only choose their own check in/check out dates, but also the preferred check in/check out times, while making a hotel booking. "While there is a minimum stay requirement of just 4 hours, Flexi Stay booking data shows that 35% users book it for a 4-8 hour time period, while 65% guests book it for more than 16 hours. We are also seeing long tail users booking for 36 hours, 40, 60 hours and so on. So this is clearly much larger than just a day use market and these are users who otherwise would not have booked the hotel, but now have chosen to do so given the flexibility to customise their time and pay per use," says Dhruv Shringi, C o-Founder & CEO Yatra Flexi Stay's unique Usage Based Pricing Algorithm offers pricing from INR 49/hour to INR 199/hour depending on the hotel and enables users to save 30% or more than traditional room night based booking. The pricing algorithm also takes into account more than 20 parameters such as full night room rate, time of booking, star category of hotel, day of booking, demand patterns for that hotel, location, city, etc. and suggests the final price to pay. The table below illustrates how Yatra Flexi Stay compares with regular room night based booking, where the user pays for 15 hours vs. the traditional room night rate and saves 30%. Regular booking Yatra Flexi Stay (11 AM Standard Booking Details booking Check-in) Check in / Check out Date 22nd Oct / 23rd Oct 22nd Oct / 23rd Oct Starts at 11 AM Check in Time 7:00 PM (standard) Check out Time 10:00 AM 10:00 AM Hours for which you STAY 15 Hours 15 Hours Hours for which you PAY 15 Hours Full Night Rate Rs. 2,100 Rs.3,000 (Price for 1 (Price for 1 You Pay night:Rs.3,000 ) night:Rs.3,000) None, Pays for full Savings 30% night Yatra will soon be offering this Flexi Stay pricing advantage to its large corporate customer base and enable meaningful savings in their travel spends. "Most corporate employees who travel for one night, today pay for full room charges, while only utilizing the room for 12-14 hours. With Flexi Stay, they can simply book a hotel from 8PM in the night till 11am the following morning and pay just 70% of the full night price. That's a direct saving of 30%," -says Dhruv Shringi, Co - Founder & CEO Currently in India, Hotel occupancy levels are hovering around the 60% range. Yatra's flexi-stay product not only benefits customers with lower pricing but also helps increase Hotel occupancy levels in India. "We will soon launch Yatra Flexi Stay in 100 cities with select hotel partners and will revolutionise the hotel booking process and industry in India. We are also looking to launch this product in select test markets outside India especially for our corporate customers who tend to be frequent outbound traveller," - says Dhruv Shringi, Co - Founder & CEO in his closing comments. About Yatra Online, Inc. and Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd. Yatra Online, Inc. is the parent company of Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd. which is based in Gurugram, India and is India's leading Corporate Travel services provider with over 700 Corporate customers and one of India's leading online travel companies and operates the website Yatra.com. The company provides information, pricing, availability, and booking facility for domestic and international air travel, domestic and international hotel bookings, holiday packages, buses, trains, in city activities, inter-city and point-to-point cabs, homestays and cruises. As a leading platform of accommodation options, Yatra provides real-time bookings for more than 96,000 hotels in India and over 1,000,000 hotels around the world. Customers can access Yatra in multiple ways: through a user-friendly website, mobile optimized WAP site and applications, a multi-lingual call center, a countrywide network of Holiday Lounges and Yatra Travel Express stores. Launched in August 2006, Yatra was ranked the Most Trusted E-commerce Travel Brand in India in the Economic Times Brand Equity Survey 2016 for the second successive year, and has won the National Tourism Award for 'Best Domestic Tour Operator (Rest of India)' at the India Tourism Awards held in September 2017 for the third time in a row. For further information, please contact: Manish Hemrajani Yatra Online, Inc. VP, Head Investor Relations [email protected] SOURCE Yatra Online, Inc. Wasserkuppe, Germany, Oct 15 : At least three people were killed and another eight injured on Sunday when a small propeller plane crashed into a group of people at an airfield in the central German state of Hesse, police officials reported. Citing the police, local media reported that the pilot was attempting to gain altitude after an aborted landing, but was unable to climb and crashed into the group at the Wasserkuppe hill mear the town of Fulda. In a brief statement, Hesse police reported that several people were killed by the accident, without providing further details. Kabul, Oct 15 : At least 18 Afghan army soldiers were killed and 10 others kidnapped in attacks carried out by the Taliban militant group against several military checkpoints in the western province of Farah, officials told Efe on Sunday. The attacks come amid increased violence ahead of the Afghan legislative elections scheduled for October 20, in which four attacks have been carried out against campaign events, killing dozens, while the Taliban continues to control several districts in the country. The head of the Farah provincial council, Farid Bakhtawar, provided efe with the number of soldiers killed and captured in the attacks, which began Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning in the district of Poshtrod. Bakhtawar asserted that Afghan government forces maintained control of the positions. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed via Twitter that two Afghan army positions in Poshtrod were overrun in an attack Saturday night, and said that 25 Afghan army soldiers were killed and 12 were taken prisoner while no Taliban fighters were killed. The Taliban spokesperson also posted photos allegedly showing seized weapons and captured Afghan soldiers in camouflage uniforms seated in a room with their hands behind their backs. The confrontation between the Afghan army and the Taliban was confirmed by defense ministry spokesperson Sayed Ghafoor Javed in a press conference, although he did not provide details on the number of casualties. Javed added that the Taliban were forced to retreat and that Afghan authorities had begun an investigation into the incident. Farah police spokesperson Mohibullah Mohib told EFE that no official report on the total number of victims had been released. This attack comes a day after the Taliban's political chief confirmed for the first time that the group had met in Qatar with the United States' special envoy to negotiate an end to the 17-year-long conflict. The Taliban had issued warnings demanding a boycott of next week's parliamentary elections, calling them a "false" process that aimed to legitimize the presence of foreign troops in the country. According to media reports, attacks by the Taliban on Afghan army forces occur nearly every day. | BY Ricki Green | Pizza Hut is breaking new ground in marketing its brand in Australia, committing to a range of creative digital campaigns, developed by The Monkeys, that mark a departure from advertising strategies used previously. This coincides with Pizza Huts launch today of the Personal Pan Pizza, a quality pizza-for-one offering geared to the lucrative lunchtime market. Says Phil Reed, new CEO, Pizza Hut: Its an exciting time for Pizza Hut in Australia were just scratching the surface of the many creative ways we can position such a trusted brand in the digital media landscape. The Personal Pan Pizza launch is being supported with contextual messaging across digital media in transit and other environments, social media platforms and publisher-created content. In one digital campaign launched this week a first for Pizza Hut globally the brand has partnered with file-transfer platform WeTransfer to place Pizza Hut messaging across the platform. In a new twist to the convention of sharing pizza with others, and to capture peoples attention, Pizza Hut has developed a media strategy focussed on the insight that people often share both media experiences and pizza, they might enjoy both more if they dont have to share. The campaign uses messaging within transit environments reading You might have to share this seat, but you dont have to share this pizza. Says Reed: The Personal Pan Pizza hints at the way forward for our brand the coming together of great product innovation with digital marketing smarts. Sharing will always be the preferred option for pizza but with Personal Pan we have flipped convention. The media plan brings a new spin to pizza consumption and were looking forward to seeing its impact in the market. Within months of appointing new CEO Phil Reed, recent Pizza Hut Australia financial indicators are reflecting a significant uplift in comparative growth in same store sales and transactions. In a food and restaurant industry career spanning more than 20 years, Reed has worked as a turnaround specialist across Europe and Asia with quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands including McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Moving to Australia after transforming Pizza Hut in the Philippines to the best-performing network in the Asia Pacific, Reed joins CFO George van Wyk, CMO Chet Patel, general counsel and chief corporate affairs officer Joanne Moss, and chief franchise partnership officer Glenn Jarrett in a rejuvenated Pizza Hut Australia executive team. Pizza Hut Australias momentum stems partly from a dedicated effort across the business to improve customer experience, a sharpened focus on innovation in product development and a fresh, novel marketing strategy. Says Reed: Initiatives such as making dough freshly throughout the day and better targeting of bundles and coupon offers have seen significant increases in new customers, word-of-mouth advocacy from existing customers and returning customers, according to Pizza Huts own data. Our aim is to stay relevant Says Moss on the franchise network: In a year that marks Pizza Huts 60th year of operations, a priority for the new executive team has been strengthening relations with franchisees, to both ensure alignment around Pizza Huts commercial, brand and product strategy and drive a more entrepreneurial mindset across the franchise network. Key initiatives for enhanced franchisee engagement include setting up an improved franchisee advisory council to serve as a forum for collaboration and discussion, introducing new recognition and reward structures for franchisee performance, and boosting training in workplace safety, operational management and employment standards. Pizza Huts 60th anniversary celebrations this year have marked a change in the engagement culture between franchisees and staff from the Restaurant Support Centre (head office). The executive, leadership team and the majority of office staff were assigned to stores within the network to support franchisees in their activation of the 18,000 free pizzas campaign to celebrate the milestone anniversary. Says Moss: The commitment shown towards franchisees has contributed directly to the improved performance seen across the Pizza Hut business in recent months. The link between engaged, supported and empowered franchisees and a positive brand and customer experience is very clear to us and we will continue to strengthen our relationship with the network. As we drive the business forward, improving dialogue with franchisees and elevating training and development across the franchisee network are key priorities. Were now starting to see the results of that in financial performance and vastly improved customer satisfaction metrics. Acquired by private equity group Allegro Funds in 2016, Pizza Hut Australia operates 292 stores in Australia. Creative: The Monkeys Riyadh, Oct 15 : Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, according to media reports. The Saudi Press Agency and the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported on Sunday that the countries were considering establishing a "working group" to discuss the Khashoggi case, reports CNN. The group, which does not yet have an official date, comes amid intense international pressure on Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain paperwork that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancAe. His disappearance has drawn international condemnation and sparked warnings from US President Donald Trump on Saturday of "severe punishment" if the Saudis were found to be behind his death. Britain, France and Germany also said on Sunday they were demanding a "credible investigation". However, in what appeared to be a coordinated response, a number of Arab countries gave their support to Saudi Arabia. Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt all put out government statements on Sunday saying they express solidarity with Saudi Arabia. Turkish authorities believe 15 Saudi men who arrived in Istanbul on October 2 were connected to Khashoggi's disappearance and possible killing. At least some of them appear to have high-level connections in the Saudi government. On Friday, an informed source told CNN that Turkish authorities have audio and visual evidence that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia firmly denies any involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance and says he left the consulate that afternoon. New Delhi : Title: India and EU: An Insider's View; Author: Bhaswati Mukherjee; Publisher: ICWA/Vij Books; Pages: 358; Price: Rs 746 About a decade ago, the European Commission, troubled perhaps by the not-so-positive perception it has in India, decided to set up what it called a "Indo-EU news agency" to produce and disseminate real-time, accurate and informative news from the EU to India and perhaps vice versa. After a lot of endless discussions within the notorious EU bureaucracy, they chose an Indian journalistic trade union body with little experience of dealing in international news, over the claims of some professional news agencies, for its partnership. The enterprise, predictably, did not last too long and the perceptions remained, according to Bhaswati Mukherjee -- resulting in a "continuing challenge" with general "lack of visibility in the Indian media regarding the EU" and a general "negative tone" which some experts have said bordered on "disapproval and general indifference". Mukherjee, who retired as Indian Ambassador to the Netherlands and also served in Paris as Ambassador to the Unesco, has spent the best part of her career trying to bring content and meaning to India-EU ties, which she thinks works much below its potential. In fact, she calls it "a faltering strategic partnership" in her seminal offering, "India and EU: An Insider's View". Although Mukherjee says that the book is about "Europe meeting India", it is actually an expansive and insightful tour d'horizon of India's long engagement with Europe, such that has not been attempted to date, at least from the Indian perspective. She gives the history, the different dimensions of the relationship, Europe's intra-state dynamics, the trade block, the perception factor and, finally, the way to go. As Hardeep Puri, former Indian diplomat and now minister in the Modi government, said, it was a must-read for anyone dealing with India-EU dynamics. Speaking at the book launch, Puri said, tongue in cheek, that EU's perception about India -- and the way it dealt with it -- would perhaps change if India becomes a $5 trillion economy. Despite common values of democracy, language, liberal institutions, etc., EU never resisted the urge to be "prescriptive" towards India, especially on human rights issues, particularly regarding Kashmir and India's penal system. One of the other strategic areas of difference, as Mukherjee points out, is the way the two sides viewed their partnership. India was slow to respond to EU overtures of a strategic partnership, mainly because New Delhi was reluctant "to become a pole in a new multipolar world". But slowly Indian thinking has evolved, especially under a nationalist administration, and Prime Minister "Modi has taken important measures to reinvent, redirect and reinvigorate India's foreign policy imperatives". The relationship has appeared to have gathered new momentum and will continue to blossom post-Brexit, especially with coincidental positions on climate change and global warming and founding of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) by Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. Mukherjee says ISA will "consolidate the India-EU strategic partnership". The only irritant remains the proposed free trade agreement, or the Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) as it is officially known. Despite 16 rounds of negotiations, the deal is stuck because, in India's view, EU -- being India's largest investor and trading partner -- is not ready for any "give and take" in the negotiation and refuses to relent on access to services, of which UK till now was the biggest blocker. Whether Brexit in 2019 will remove this "impediment" -- the British prism -- finally remains to be seen. There are clearly two ways of looking at the India-EU partnership, of which no one denies there is huge untapped potential: While the EU remains optimistic largely, despite being tough negotiators in the board room, the Indian side remains sceptical and even cynical, with one former Indian ambassador to France publicly averring that the ties "had run its course" and it was high time "new ideas" were injected into the discourse to catch the imagination of the youth in both countries and bridge the "perceptional gap" that is obviating what should be a win-win relationship by all accounts. But, as Mukherjee asks in her profound assessment, can the structural asymmetries and gaps be bridged by visionary leadership on both sides? (Tarun Basu can be contacted at tarun.basu@spsindia.in ) Chicago, Oct 15 : Over four decades after he began his scientific engagement with gravitational science, Professor Abhay Ashtekar is set to receive the prestigious Einstein Prize conferred by the American Physical Society (APS). The prize for 2018, which carries an award of $10,000, is scheduled to be announced on October 23. Its citation reads: "For numerous and seminal contributions to general relativity, including the theory of black holes, canonical quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology." Ashtekar is professor of physics, Evan Pugh Professor, Holder, Eberly Chair, and director of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos at the Pennsylvania State University. "The prize is special because is it the highest honour bestowed by APS in the broad area of gravitational science. The first Einstein prize was awarded jointly to Peter Bergmann and John Wheeler, who introduced general relativity to American universities by creating research groups. Perhaps because the first award often sets the tone, subsequent prizes have come to recognise 'lifetime achievements'. So the news was deeply satisfying," Ashtekar told IANS in an email interview. Ashtekar's passion for physical sciences started while he was in high school in India. "At first I knew only Marathi literature --that is my mother tongue, and was the medium of instruction until I was 11. Then was exposed Hindi and English literature and realised how deeply literature is tied to specific cultures. What is considered great in one language or context could well be mediocre in another. At the same time, I learned Newton's laws and universality of gravity -- what makes the apple fall on earth also makes the planets go around the sun. This was stunning by itself," he said. What he found most remarkable was that, unlike art and literature, which are "so tied to human conditions", Newton's laws transcend both. "It was striking to me that the same Newton's laws are taught and admired in India as in China, Japan and the West." "Later, in college, fundamental physics seemed to me to be the deepest and purest way to pursue understanding of Nature (the external world). In graduate school, I chose to work in general relativity, cosmology and quantum physics because that is where the most fundamental questions about space, time and the nature of the physical universe are discussed," he said. Somewhere along the line, he also recognised that although one of the main four forces of nature, gravity is the weakest, yet it is so crucial to the way the universe formed and exists. "Gravity has two key features that other forces do not share. Unlike the weak and strong force, it is long-range and therefore key to the large-scale structures and phenomena. Electromagnetic force is also long-range. But because electric charge comes with both signs, the force can be both attractive and repulsive. "Large bodies like the sun and planets are all electrically neutral and so they don't exert any electromagnetic force on one another. The dominant force between such bodies is therefore gravitational," he explained. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of Chicago, Ashtekar went on to hold influential positions in France, Canada and India. His biography on the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected a member in 2016, describes him as someone "best known for initiating the Loop Quantum Gravity programme by introducing new variables to simplify Einstein's equations, for analysing the very early universe using Loop Quantum Cosmology, and for his contributions to the study of the asymptotic structure of space-time and gravitational waves in full non-linear general relativity". After such a long career in a diversity of physics disciplines, he said science is currently in the "truly golden age for gravity". "Until about the mid-1960s, general relativity had remained isolated from mainstream science -- a pristine and beautiful theory, to be admired from a distance. "The paradigm has shifted completely and relativistic gravity has moved to centre stage of physics and astronomy. Through the big bang, black holes and gravitational waves, we realised that the universe is not a calm, peaceful place that the astronomers believed it to be in much of the 20th century," he pointed out. "There are highly energetic explosions sourced by strong gravity that have shaped the history of our universe. Thus, relativistic gravity has completely overhauled our understanding of the cosmos," he said. "The deepest puzzles in fundamental physics today are at the interface of general relativity and quantum physics. What really happened at the big bang? What is the end point of the quantum evaporation of black holes? How do we incorporate gravity into the unified theories of all fundamental forces? It is clear therefore that gravity will continue to dominate research in physics and astronomy in the coming decades as well," he said. Asked whether physicists in India are producing world-class research, Ashtekar said: "There are extremely talented physicists in India who are making first-rate contributions to pure physics in areas I have first-hand acquaintance with. I am particularly pleased by the 'LIGO-India' project that is now placing India firmly in the front ranks of international efforts. The Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, in particular, will play an important role in the major discoveries that will be made with the international network of gravitational wave observatories between 5 and 10 years from now. In this area India is ahead of China, for example." "My colleagues in other areas of physics, on the other hand, tell me that this is not the case in their field; that there is a lot of good research but not enough 'great' research that gets published in the most visible journals," he said. Mumbai, Oct 15 : A senior woman crew member fell off an Air India plane at the Mumbai airport as it was preparing for a flight to New Delhi, official sources said on Monday. Harsha Lobo, 53, an airhostess, has suffered serious injuries, multiple fractures including a compound fracture in the right leg, both heels, soft tissue injury in chest, abdomen and lower spine and a cervical sprain. The incident occurred at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) when the Mumbai-Delhi flight AI-864 was preparing for departure shortly before 7 a.m. Lobo, who was closing the door for the pushback prior to taxing, suddenly fell from the aircraft onto the hard tarmac several metres below. Some ground crew members rushed Lobo to the Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital in Vile Parle west. The national carrier later said that she had suffered injuries to her legs. "In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (members) Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing 777 aircraft door while closing it," the airline statement said. Nanavati Hospital COO Rajendra Patankar told IANS that she was being treated by a team of orthopaedics. The flight departed for Delhi after over an hour's delay. New Delhi, Oct 15 : Enterprises and digital service providers in India urgently need an agile and flexible network to support the countrys new digital economy which is gravitating towards Cloud- and Internet of Things (IoT)-based technologies, says a top executive of San Francisco-headquartered IT company Riverbed Technology. "India's digitisation drive may hit a roadblock if organisations choose to stay in a traditional static network," Bjorn Engelhardt, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, Riverbed Technology, told IANS in an interview. "Many of the digital projects fail because of the inadequacy of the network. Even many legacy businesses now say that it is time to transform the network," Engelhardt stressed, adding that Riverbed, which has been in India for more than a decade now, has complete Cloud-to-Edge solutions to help organisations transform their network. A 2018 study by the digital networking solution provider showed that while almost all business decision-makers in India agree that optimising digital performance is essential for the growth of their businesses, about two-thirds of them face critical digital services and applications failures at least a few times a month. Digital services failure can adversely affect end-user experience and, in turn, harm businesses. "We are all focused on the big goal, but we are not focused on how to deliver on that big goal," Engelhardt said, referring to the findings of the study. "It is now more critical than ever to invest in modernising networks and in tools to measure and manage the digital experience for customers and employees," the executive added. Organisations that face application performance issues often tend to blame the network operators for the delay in opening of their applications and the subsequent delay in delivering digital services without actually investigating the actual cause. Riverbed, Engelhardt said, has the "visibility tools" to monitor end-user experience and diagnose the application performance issues. One of such platforms that the company acquired a couple of years ago is called "Aternity" and has the technology to help enterprises see the entire user experience for any application running on any device. "Aternity" complements Riberbed's "SteelCentral" (which is part of the company's Digital Experience Management portfolio) solutions that provide clear insights into how customers are consuming apps, what their digital experience is like, and how that experience directly impacts revenue, productivity and costs, etc. "We measure everything -- from how long it takes to refresh a screen to how long it takes to move from one screen to another. Then we determine whether it is a network issue, Wi-Fi issue or a device issue," Engelhardt informed. Riverbed said its networking optimisations tools have helped may organisations in India, including in the public sector, to achieve faster transactions for their customers. One such organisation is the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) that handles online ticketing operations of the Indian Railways. "We started doing network optimisation for IRCTC when people were finding it difficult to even log-in to their system. Today, you see how smooth the transactions are at IRCTC," said Sundar Iyer, Riverbed's Country Sales Director for India. Riverbed counts Bajaj Electricals, Cox & Kings, SBI Cards and Timken India among its many customers in India, Iyer informed, adding that the company's visibility tools are driving its stellar growth in the country. "We achieved over 70 per growth in India revenues last year," Engelhardt added. The company registered more than 74 per cent growth in product sales bookings in India in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period last year. This was in part due to increased demand for the Digital Experience Management (DEM) solutions, which grew 39 per cent during that same period. "In the first half of 2018, Riverbed experienced approximately 176 per cent growth in subscription sales in India, versus the same period last year. Nearly all Riverbed solutions will be available as a subscription by end of the year," the company said in a recent statement. Riverbed claims that its software-defined local area network (SD-LAN) and software defined wide area network technologies (SD-WAN) can identify over 2,000 applications and enforce policies that determine priority, line speed, and path selection from a centralised, Cloud-based console. After monitoring the health of wide area network links, SD-WAN can automatically guide traffic onto an alternate link when it finds that the primary link is congested, thereby optimising application performance. "We have really good partnership with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS), both from commercial and technology perspectives. In fact, customers can buy our products from their e-stores," Engelhardt said, adding that increased Cloud adoption in India would further boost the company's business prospects. Riverbed counts Cisco and AppDynamics, among others, as competitors for some of the services that it provides. (Gokul Bhagabati can be contacted at gokul.b@ians.in) Beijing, Oct 15 : China on Monday announced it will impose anti-dumping tariffs of 123.4 per cent and 41.1 per cent on the import of hydroiodic acid from the US and Japan for the next five years. China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the tariffs will come into effect on Tuesday and have been imposed as a result of substantial losses incurred by the national industry in the sector, reports Efe news. An initial probe - that began last October and concluded earlier this year in June - by China had found that American and Japanese companies were selling the chemical at a price lower than its costs, called dumping in trade lingo. The decision to impose the tariff came after an additional probe, that began on June 16, had confirmed that the practice was harming China's domestic sector. Canberra, Oct 15 : Therapies to make lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people heterosexual continue to be carried out in several religious communities in Australia, according to a report published on Monday. The study, "Preventing Harm, Promoting Justice: Responding to LGBT conversion therapy in Australia", is a joint initiative of La Trobe University, the Human Rights Law Centre and Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria, reports Efe news. "The report reveals the immense trauma and grief participants felt at the prospect of having to choose between their faith or their gender and sexuality, both intimate and important parts of themselves," said Tim Jones, of La Trobe University, who co-authored the study. The report is based on the experiences of 15 people who were subjected to these therapies and struggled to reconcile their sexual identities with the practices and beliefs of their religious communities. The study reveals that participants experienced psychological and spiritual trauma at their loss of faith and their struggle to be accepted by their religious communities, according to a statement by La Trobe University. "My quest to change my sexual orientation saw me praying, being prayed over, and introspecting, self-censoring and even participating in exorcisms. I tried for many years, with great passion and desire for change - and nothing worked," said Anthony Hind, one of those impacted by conversion therapy. The study also provides a legal analysis and makes recommendations for reform to governments and religious communities. One of the recommendations it proposes is the introduction of specific legislation to prevent adults and children from being subjected to conversion therapies, while another proposes support for survivors and education about the harm caused by ideas prevalent in religious communities. "We hope that these communities will receive the report, reflect on the damage it exposes and work towards ending those harms for their LGBT members," Tim added. According to Anna Brown, director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, the conversion practices are "ineffective and harmful" as "telling someone they are broken or sick because of who they are is profoundly psychologically damaging". The publication of the report coincides with the controversy over powers being given to religious schools to exclude LGBT students and teachers, and takes place less than a year after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia. New Delhi, Oct 15 : The famous dandiya nights during Navratri call for decking up in traditional outfits, so make sure you are avoiding some last minute mess up with the right style. Nidhi Jagtiani, Image Consultant and Stylist at Momspresso, and Jimmy Kaul, Managing Director at Shopotox.com, share last-minute styling hacks for dandiya nights. Colours: Going for loud colours such as bright red and oranges are not very trendy this season. One can play it down with maroon and gold, rose gold, lavender grey or ivory. Using gold is the key to look trendy and beautiful. Jewellery: Try heavy jewellery on light colours. Big earrings or statement necklace. Trending outfits: Regular saris are getting replaced by comfortable shararas/palazzos and full-length dress-like suits with lightweight dupattas. Harem pants and dhoti style pants have also been gaining popularity this season. One can also follow few fashion tips as per body type:Women with a heavy upper body can try layering with embroidered jackets on suits to give a slimming appearance. They can also try contrasting colours like blue and orange, red and green or yellow and purple. Ponchos and capes are another popular trends, particularly in fabrics such as net, organza or fine silks. This also creates a slimming effect. If lower body is heavy then please avoid churidars and replace them with straight pants or palazzos and do add heels. If the upper body is toned then crop top is a great idea along with full length flared skirt/dhoti style pants. Taipei, Oct 15 : After working on its Blockchain-powered smartphone Exodus for months, HTC has finally announced it will introduce the device as early as October. The company indicated the launch on its Instagram page. According to HTC Vive Founder, Phil Chen, Exodus previously asserted that a smartphone like Exodus with a crypto-currency wallet will provide the most secure wallet on the market, tech website Smarthouse reported on Monday. However, he added that the device will initially target a "niche" audience and will be priced similarly to the world's first Blockchain powered smartphone, Sirin Labs' Finney, at around $1,000, the report added. The HTC Exodus is the brainchild of Chen, who was also the driving force behind the Vive virtual reality (VR) headset and forms the start of a major blockchain push as the company looks to return to the smartphone industry. The company had also said that the HTC Exodus will launch "definitely everywhere" outside of China. However, there are no specific details. New Delhi, Oct 15 : India and China on Monday launched a joint programme to train Afghan diplomats in pursuance of an understanding between the two countries to undertake joint projects in the war-torn nation. "I am very happy that today (Monday) we are chartering a new course with the beginning of a training programme for 10 diplomats from Afghanistan in partnership with China," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in a message at the launch of the programme at the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) here. At their informal summit in Wuhan, China, in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to jointly implement projects in Afghanistan as part of a rebuilding process in what was seen as a fresh impetus to ties between New Delhi and Beijing. The summit was held held after Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day face-off at Doklam on the India-Bhutan-China international trijunction last year. "The seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the meeting between the Prime Minister of India and the President of China when they met in Wuhan in April 2018," Sushma Swaraj said in her message that was read out by FSI Director J.S. Mukul. "This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long-term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan." The Minister reiterated India's commitment to partner with Afghanistan in its efforts to emerge as a united, peaceful, stable, inclusive and economically vibrant nation. "Development partnership, based on the priorities of the government and the people of Afghanistan, has been the cornerstone of our multifaceted bilateral cooperation." Stating that India had embarked on an ambitious development partnership programme with Afghanistan with a commitment of over $3 billion, she said this had four broad pillars: building infrastructure; developing human resource; enhancing connectivity; and promoting trade and investment links. "India-Afghanistan Friendship dam in Herat, Parliament Building in Kabul, operationalization of Chabahar port (in Iran) are prominent symbols of this partnership." The Minister said that high priority was being accorded to enable Afghanistan tap the true potential of its talented youth. "An ambitious capacity-building programme was being implemented through scholarships and training programmes for over 3,500 Afghan nationals every year in India," she stated. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a message read out by the country's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui, said Xi and Modi had identified Afghanistan as a priority partner. "China and India are active supporters of the Afghan peace process," Wang said. Luo said that both India and China supported an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process. He also announced that Modi and Xi will again meet in Argentina in November on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. This will be the fourth meeting between the two leaders this year. Apart from Wuhan, they met during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China, in June and the BRICS Summit in South Africa in July. | BY Ricki Green | Theres really never a good time to talk about organ donation. Thats the insight that inspired Revolver/Will ORourke writer/director Richard Bullock to go all in and cast Jesus Christ as the lead for his latest short film. No doubt this will create some heated discussion. And thats exactly the point of it all. To get people to talk about organ donation. Despite having very successful outcomes for Organ transplant, Australia has relatively low levels of donor registration compared to other countries. This phenomenon has nothing to do with a willingness to donate and more to do with a unique set of issues found in Australia. In fact 80% of Australians say they will donate but only 34% are on the registry. The complexity of this needed to be explained as well as a need for people to talk about the issue with their loved ones. One of the key requirements for becoming a donor is in fact talking to your family about becoming a donor. If people do not know the wishes of their loved ones 50% of families will say no. Says Bullock: I wanted to deliberately provoke a conversation in homes around the subject. This is really difficult as nobody wants to bring up issues around death and organ donation over the dinner table. The film has been cut into a variety of lengths for use online. Its hoped it stimulates discussion and gets people to register to become donors. The short film is also strategically designed to promote a feature length documentary about organ donation called Dying to Live. Its an innovative way to both advertise the film and push the cause simultaneously. Directed by Richard Todd (the filmmaker behind the award winning Frackman) the feature documentary and the trailer are supported by Goodpitch. Goodpitch brings together filmmakers with philanthropists to tackle important social issues. Says Bullock: The feature film and short film while completely separate in their approach are both targeting the exact same issue. They work together, one coming from a very sensitive and emotional place and the other one using a comedic style. More than 40 volunteers from the Sydney film industry collaborated to produce the short. Says Bullock: I thought it would be amusing and relevant to find that the nicest and kindest man who ever lived-Jesus, wasnt aware that his organ donor status was no longer on his license. Once I started writing I realised that the complexity of the Australian Organ donation could be explained. In the end Jesus donating his organs is exactly what I think Jesus WOULD do. If you want to watch the documentary click here. If you want to sign up click here. Client: dyingtolive.com.au Writer/Director: Richard Bullock DOP: Peter Eastgate Producer: Phoebe Marks Editor: Philip Horn Production Company: Revolver/Will ORourke Managing Director/Executive Producer: Michael Ritchie Post production Company: The Editors Sound Design: Rumble Studios New Delhi, Oct 15 : Hundreds of Congress workers staged a noisy protest here on Monday demanding the resignation of Union Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar who is facing allegations of sexual harassment. The slogan-shouting Congress activists, waving flags and placards, marched to Akbar's house in the heart of the city but were halted ahead of the residence by Delhi Police. Akbar has been accused of sexual harassment by women journalists who had worked with him. He has denied the charges as "false, wild and baseless". Naypyidaw, Oct 15 : Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday called for joint efforts to overcome difficulties and challenges in implementing the nationwide ceasefire accord (NCA) between the government and the NCA-signatory ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) through discussion and negotiation. Suu Kyi, also chairperson of the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre, made the call at the opening ceremony of the trilateral peace talks between the Myanmar government, the Army and the 10 NCA-signatory EAOs which kicked off here to continue resolving matters in existence through negotiation. She described the meeting as witnessing a no-return but marching forward in the national reconciliation and peace efforts, registering an important milestone in the path of peace, Xinhua news agency reported. Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and Chairman of the Kayin National Union Saw Mutu Sae Poe also delivered speeches. The four-day talks, marking the third anniversary of the signing of NCA, were aimed at overcoming the bottlenecks occurring at various levels of political discussions. The event also came three months after the third session of Myanmar's 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in July. San Francisco, Oct 15 : Following Google's exit from a controversial US military Cloud project, an open letter claiming to be from an unspecified number of Microsoft employees has urged the tech giant to also back out of the military project. Potentially worth up to $10 billion, "Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI)" is a Cloud computing contract aimed to bring the entire military under the envelope of a single Cloud provider. "The contract is massive in scope and shrouded in secrecy, which makes it nearly impossible to know what we as workers would be building," an open letter titled "Microsoft, don't bid on JEDI" said on the Medium portal written by "Employees of Microsoft". "Many Microsoft employees don't believe that what we build should be used for waging war. "When we decided to work at Microsoft, we were doing so in the hopes of 'empowering every person on the planet to achieve more,' not with the intent of ending lives and enhancing lethality," the open letter further read. For those who say that another company will simply pick up JEDI where Microsoft leaves it, we would ask workers at that company to do the same, said the letter. "A race to the bottom is not an ethical position. Like those who took action at Google, Salesforce, and Amazon, we ask all employees of tech companies to ask how your work will be used, where it will be applied, and act according to your principles," the Microsoft employees said. Succumbing to pressure from employees, Google last week dropped its bid to be part of the JEDI contract. The employees backlashed and raised ethical questions on facilitating incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on weapons, illegal surveillance and technologies that could cause "overall harm". "We need clear ethical guidelines and meaningful accountability governing how we determine which uses of our technology are acceptable, and which are off the table. Microsoft has already acknowledged the dangers of the tech it builds, there is no law preventing the company from exercising its own internal scrutiny and standing by its own ethical compass," the letter by Microsoft employees detailed. On October 9, Microsoft wrote a blog post, saying the company is going through a technology transformation that is unlocking new mission scenarios for government agencies that were simply not possible before. "We are going through a technology transformation that is unlocking new mission scenarios for government agencies with the ability to plan farther, gather information more efficiently and deliver insight where it is needed most," the post noted. Datia (Madhya Pradesh), Oct 15 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at Narendra Modi, accusing the Prime Minister of insulting the people of India. "The Prime Minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the nation had been asleep for 70 years," he said here ahead of next month's Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. "This is an insult to every section of the society." On August 15, Modi had criticized the Congress that has ruled for long years since India's Independence in 1947. He had said that India was earlier a sleeping elephant, which had woken up and started running. President Donald Trump finds India and China competing with the US, Gandhi said at a public meeting here. "We have reached this stage because of the contribution of farmers, workers, small businessmen and women over the past 70 years." He called the Modi government at the Centre a "government of the country's top 15 businessmen". "The Centre is not ready to waive off loans of farmers but has done so for 15 top businessmen. The Congress had waived off farmers' loans," Gandhi added. The Congress leader reached Gwalior by a special plane on Monday and then went to the Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia, accompanied by party leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on November 28. Paris, Oct 15 : At least six people have been killed by flash floods in France's Aude region, authorities said on Monday. Officials said that several months' of rain fell in just a few hours overnight, blocking roads in some areas. One woman was swept away by the River Aude, according to local broadcaster BFMTV. Alain Thirion, the prefect of Aude, said people were stranded on rooftops and would have to be evacuated by air because it was too dangerous by boat, the BBC reported. Residents were urged to stay inside their homes by emergency services, who issued a red alert. In one area, floodwater was as high as seven metres (23 feet). Authorities said that a warning for flooding was issued for the nearby regions of Aveyron, la Haute-Garonne, HArault, PyrAnAes-Orientales and Tarn. "These floods are the worst the Aude River has seen in more than 100 years," said the weather monitoring service Vigicrues. Guwahati, Oct 15 : Thirty-one Bangladeshi nationals were detained at the railway station here on Monday, a police official said. "The group came to Guwahati from Bengaluru onboard the Guwahati-Bangalore Express. They were waiting to board the Kanchanjungha express to go to Agartala," Superintendent of Railway Police Hemanta Kumar Das told the media here. "During questioning, they admitted that they were from Bangladesh and had entered India without any valid documents some four years ago and were working in Bengaluru as manual labourers. "Their plan was to reach Agartala and then return to Bangladesh by crossing the border," Das added. The 31 comprised 10 men, eight women, eight boys and five girls. Srinagar, Oct 15 : Students of the Kashmir University staged a silent march on Monday to show solidarity with Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students facing sedition charges for trying to offer funeral prayers in absentia for a slain Ph.D scholar-turned-militant commander. Manan Bashir Wani, who was a Ph.D scholar in AMU before he joined militant ranks in January, was killed in a gunfight with the security forces on October 11 in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district. AMU authorities had suspended three Kashmiri students last week who tried to hold the funeral prayers inside the varsity campus. In a letter to the university authorities, 1,200 Kashmiri students undergoing various courses at the AMU have threatened to give up their studies and leave if the charges against the suspended students were not withdrawn by Wednesday. Madrid, Oct 15 : Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell on Monday requested the Turkish authorities to launch an inquiry into Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who disappeared after visiting his country's consulate in Turkey. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, went missing on October 2 in Istanbul where he visited the Saudi consulate for paperwork needed for his planned marriage, according to the Turkish media. Turkish intelligence officials say they have audio and visual evidence that shows he was killed inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia, however, firmly denies any involvement in his disappearance. Borrell said a collaborative investigation of Turkish and Saudi authorities was required to clarify the circumstances that led to the journalist's disappearance, Efe news reported. Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also called for transparent cooperation between the two affected nations. Khashoggi's disappearance has drawn international condemnation and sparked warnings from US President Donald Trump of "severe punishment" if the Saudis were found to be behind his disappearance. Britain, France and Germany also demanded a "credible investigation". Datia (Madhya Pradesh), Oct 15 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday exuded confidence that the party will return to power in Madhya Pradesh after the November 28 Assembly elections. "The government that the Congress will form in the state will be responsive to farmers, small traders, women and party workers," Gandhi said at a public meeting here. The Congress has been out of power since 2004 and is keen on dislodging the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state. Gandhi, on a two-day visit of Madhya Pradesh ahead of next month's Assembly polls, reiterated his promise that the Congress, if elected, will waive off farm loans within 10 days of government formation. The Congress leader earlier on Monday hit out at Narendra Modi, accusing the Prime Minister of insulting the people of India. "The Prime Minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the nation had been asleep for 70 years," he said here ahead of next month's Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. "This is an insult to every section of the society." On August 15, Modi had criticized the Congress that has ruled for long years since India's Independence in 1947. He had said that India was earlier a sleeping elephant, which had woken up and started running. President Donald Trump finds India and China competing with the US, Gandhi said at a public meeting here. "We have reached this stage because of the contribution of farmers, workers, small businessmen and women over the past 70 years." He also called the Modi government at the Centre a "government of the country's top 15 businessmen". Gandhi reached Gwalior by a special plane on Monday and then went to the Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia, accompanied by party leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia. He will address a public meeting in Dabra, and then proceed to Gwalior, where he will pay tributes to late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia at his memorial. New Delhi, Oct 15 : With the government on Monday refusing to relax the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s October 15 deadline for data localisation, the road ahead has become tough for global digital payment providers who have sought more time to comply with the guidelines. The RBI guidelines say that all digital payment firms like Google Pay, WhatsApp and others must store data locally for their businesses in the country. The deadline to comply with the norms ended on Monday. In a statement, WhatsApp said that in India, almost 1 million people are testing WhatsApp payments to send money to each other in a simple and secure way. "In response to India's payments data circular, we've built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India," a WhatsApp spokesperson told IANS. "WhatsApp payment is useful for people in their daily lives and we hope to expand the feature to all of India soon, so we can contribute to the country's financial inclusion goals," the spokesperson added, without mentioning if the Facebook-owned company has finally submitted a compliance report sought by the RBI. With over 200 million users, India is the largest market for WhatsApp. Google Pay has also reportedly asked the government for more time on this. An email sent to Google on this, however, went unanswered. In September, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai wrote to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, advocating free flow of data across borders, as such a step will encourage global companies to contribute to India's digital economy. Pichai said that the free flow of data across borders would also benefit Indian start-ups looking to expand globally. "Free flow of data across borders -- with a focus on user privacy and security -- will encourage start-ups to innovate and expand globally and encourage global companies to contribute to India's digital economy," Pichai wrote. "The Google team in India will be in touch with your office to follow up on some of the specific topics we discussed during our meeting," said Pichai, thanking Prasad for his visit in August to Google's Mountain View campus in the US. On Monday, sources said the government is not in favour of extending the deadline for RBI's data localisation plan. "The government is also not in favour of the data-mirroring idea," they added. According to India's largest digital payment provider Paytm, all payments data of the Indian users must be processed and stored only within the country and must not be allowed to go out of the country, not even for processing. "We have complied with this mandate since day one and have welcomed this initiative right from the beginning," a Paytm spokesperson told IANS. "It is important that we do not become mere Internet colonies for global companies and make every organisation accountable towards the security and privacy of data of our fellow countrymen," the spokesperson added. This is a key matter of national interest, said Paytm, adding that "we must discourage inappropriate use and transfer of data". Allaying fears of any disruption in the functioning of debit and credit cards using foreign-based payment companies like Visa and MasterCard, a senior banking official said: "There will be no change or disruption in the usage of these cards. Life will go on as usual." People in the know said of the 78 companies that need to follow the RBI's data localisation rule, 60-62 companies have already confirmed their compliance and the rest are in various stages of compliance. Some are facing technical problems and some who have not even confirmed 100 per cent compliance are showing good progress, they added. | BY Ricki Green | Nick Bayes has been promoted to managing director of The Brand Agency, Perth. Bayes has been with the agency since joining as a group account director in 2005, and has been general manager since May 2016. Brand chairman Steve Harris said that Bayes had done an outstanding job leading the business, and that the promotion was an indication of his role and seniority in the organisation. Says Harris: Nick has driven growth and diversification in our Perth business, and has been a big part of our transformation over the past three years. He has a strong vision as to where our industry and marketing communications are heading and he is steering us there ahead of the market. He combines vision and leadership with the sort of hands-on approach that has been part of our culture for over a quarter of a century. He understands the changing world of communications and knows how to run a hundred-person business. Nick is the Agencys third managing director in 27 years. He is a great example of building and delivering leadership from within a business. Were proud to have a depth of talent that allows an internal appointment. Bayes said he was pleased to take on the role, but that he didnt intend to change his focus on the success of the agencys clients and staff. Says Bayes: Taking on the role of MD is the next step in my career at the agency and its one I am very much looking forward to. However, it wont change my unwavering focus on our clients and the success of their business. We now have, what I believe to be the best team assembled at the agency and well keep adding to it, by continuing to bring together specialists from all areas of communications. Its an exciting time to be at The Brand Agency and the future is set to be even more so. Amritsar, Oct 15 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday laid the foundation stones for five infrastructure projects worth Rs 127.86 crore in Amritsar, and announced an additional Rs 50 crore for tubewells to ensure supply of water in the holy city. The Chief Minister also announced a slew of tourism development projects totalling Rs 187.47 crore for the upgradation of Amritsar, to showcase it as a global tourism destination. The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone through remote of two railway over bridges, one railway under bridge and a flyover, besides extension of the existing Bhandari bridge. The inauguration took place in the presence of Local Government Minister and Amritsar legislator Navjot Singh Sidhu, whom Captain Amarinder Singh credited with facilitating the necessary permissions from the Railways Ministry. The projects, said the Chief Minister, would go a long way in boosting the infrastructure of the old town and reducing traffic congesting. Noting that big cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala were facing acute water problem, the Chief Minister said with water levels receding, the water received by these regions was becoming unfit for drinking, leading to spread of diseases. Announcing his government's decision to provide canal water to these four cities, the Chief Minister underlined the need for regular and thorough testing of water. Speaking on the occasion, Sidhu lashed out at the Badals for failing to develop the city during their 10-year rule. The Akalis had built only one bridge in 10 years, while the present government had started work on five, he said, adding that tenders were being issued for these projects and work on them would be completed within a year. Underscoring the need to tap Amritsar's tourism potential, Amarinder Singh said several iconic tourism projects worth Rs 37.46 crore were in progress, while another Rs 110.01 crore worth of projects were in the pipeline. Taipei, Oct 15 : Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit the island in an attempt to strengthen diplomatic ties with the Vatican following the latter's landmark agreement with China over the appointment of bishops. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Monday that Vice-President Chen Chien-jen, who is in the Vatican to attend the canonization of various saints, officially invited the Pope, Efe news reported. In a message on her Facebook page, the leader said the invitation was made on behalf of her and the people of Taiwan, which has around 300,000 Catholics, approximately 1.5 per cent of its population. Tsai also said that her government would take active and concrete measures to support the Pope's efforts to spread the values of freedom, justice and peace throughout the world. The invitation followed an agreement on September 22 between the Vatican and China, who haven't had diplomatic relations since 1951, on the appointment of bishops, a bone of contention between the two sides. Taiwan fears that the pact with China may jeopardize Taipei's relations with the Vatican -- its only ally in Europe -- as Beijing has been exerting pressure on countries to break off ties with Taiwan. China poached five of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in just over a year, the report said. Panaji, Oct 15 : Goa Forward Party President and Agriculture Minister Vijai Desai on Monay warned against dissolution of the Assembly even as the state Chief Minister is fighting a serious illness. Goa Forward Party is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the state government. Sardesai asked the BJP's central leadership, including party President Amit Shah, to "keep their word" and ensure continuance of the coalition government in Goa and not go in for dissolution of the Assembly. Sardesai's comments assume significance as Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar remains seriously ill, plunging the state into political uncertainty. "People of Goa are watching them because national parties need to keep their word. If they don't keep their word, people don't trust them. Now the onus is on them and they will have to fulfil their commitment to ensure that this government completes its term and gets the continued support of the central government," Sardesai said in a video statement issued here on Monday. The BJP is ruling the state in alliance with Goa Forward Party, and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. "The BJP national president Amit Shah has assured me that the BJP national leadership is not interested to have a mid-term poll or to dissolve the House. As such, when our commitment is there, and their commitment is also there, the onus of this government continuing for the full five-year term now lies with the BJP central leadership," he said. Parrikar arrived in Goa on Sunday after being discharged from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he was being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer since September 15. Parrikar, a former Union Defence Minister, was ferried in an ambulance from the airport and was taken inside his residence on a stretcher. Parrikar has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for the last seven months. Shimla, Oct 15 : Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat on Monday said India has a culture of "Atithi Devo Bhava" and has never considered the people of Tibet living in the state in exile any different from the native ones. Speaking at the "Thank You Himachal" public event on completion of 60 years of Tibetan community in exile in India, organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) here, he said by giving a message of generosity, love and goodwill, the Indians have respected every culture of the world. The Governor said India and Tibet have integral cultural and business relationships since centuries. "The people of the Tibetan community in exile are living with love, affection, unity and goodwill in this country and we had never considered them different from ours. It is their greatness that they always express gratitude to the people of India," he said in his address where CTA President Lobsang Sangay, State Irrigation Minister Mohinder Singh Thakur and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh were present. "The third generation of the Tibetan community is contributing to the progress of the country by adopting India's culture and language. This country belongs to you as much as to the people of India," Devvrat said. "The Tibetans gave the message of unity, love and goodwill all over the world and hence the culture is not diverse from the Indian culture." Expressing happiness over the basic amenities being provided to the people of this community, he hoped that mutual understanding between Indian and Tibetans would continue in the future as well. State Irrigation Minister Thakur said the state considers the Tibetan community to be Himachali only. He called upon the Tibetan community to join the natural farming campaign being run by the Governor. Sangay said the love, protection and acceptance that he received in India over past 60 years reflect the greatness of Indian culture. "The sentiments still persist, for which the Tibetan community expresses gratitude. The Tibetans called India their second home and they are also contributing in furthering high traditions and prosperous culture of India," he added. On the occasion, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama offered his greetings and gratitude to the state government and its people. In the seven-minute video message, he expressed himself as a proud citizen of Himachal Pradesh and student of the rich Indian tradition. He stated that India is the world's largest democratic nation with a rich civilisational history, which according to him is worth sharing with the world. As a student of the ancient Indian tradition, he offered his contribution in reviving knowledge in the country and particularly in Himachal Pradesh through an academic collaboration through Tibetan Buddhist centres. "I think India's civilisation, among the Chinese civilisation and Egyptian civilisation, is a very sophisticated civilisation so you should feel proud. I also feel proud as a student of this ancient knowledge," he said in a video message from Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing his homeland in 1959. The Tibetan exile administration is based in the northern Indian hill town Dharamsala. San Francisco, Oct 15 : In a bid to further cement its position in the global music space, Apple has acquired "Asaii," a start-up developed music analytics engine for music labels and artist managers, the media reported on Monday. According to a report in Axios, the deal was worth nearly $100 million. "Asaii's products collect data from music services and social media, allowing labels to discover new artists and produce a recommendation algorithm that streaming services could use to suggest music to listeners according to their preferences," the report said. Members of the Asaii team have already started listing themselves as Apple employees on LinkedIn. This acquisition would enable Apple to compete with Spotify's efforts to work directly with smaller artists and recommendation services like "Daily Mix" and "Discover Weekly". Apple last month announced it has completed the acquisition of Shazam, one of the world's most popular music recognition mobile apps. Shazam has been downloaded over 1 billion times around the world and users identify songs using the Shazam app over 20 million times each day. According to media reports, Apple struck a deal with Shazam for a likely sum of nearly $400 million. Shazam lets users identify songs simply by listening to the music playing around them. Apple has made some other acquisitions as well, like buying Beats for $3 billion in 2014 which became the basis for Apple Music. Chandigarh, Oct 15 : Lashing out at vested political interests seeking to politicise a sensitive issue, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said there is no question of backing out of his promise to bring to book the culprits of the Bargari sacrilege case and the subsequent incidents of firing at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura towns. Addressing mediapersons here, the Chief Minister rejected allegations of the situation in Bargari getting out of control and said his government is fully equipped to deal with it. Asked if Bargari is becoming a rallying point for radicals, the Chief Minister said everyone knew that some people are trying to politicise the issue but the people of the state want peace and would not get carried away by the attempts of such elements to take political mileage from it. The Chief Minister warned the radicals against trying to disturb the peace of Punjab. Asked if he is supporting the radicals to get control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the Chief Minister said he never had any links with such groups. He said that he would support any moderate group of Sikhs to get control of the SGPC, as he wants the Badals out of it. "They have ruined the Gurdwaras", he said, adding as far as Badal is concerned, he is no moderate but an opportunist who uses people of all shades to meet his political ends. The Chief Minister made it clear that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) os on the job of investigating the Bargari and other incidents but "under the law. "I cannot interfere in its functioning." The SIT is fully cognisant of the sensitivity and urgency of the matter and would not delay its investigations, said Amarinder Singh, declaring that the SIT would move the courts for action if they find any ground for action against anyone. Pointing out that his government initiated steps immediately after coming to power to fulfil the Congress promise of strict action in these cases, the Chief Minister said the decision to hand over the investigation to SIT was unanimously taken in the Vidhan Sabha. The government had initially decided to entrust the probe to the CBI but the House decided against it out of fear that the central agency could get influenced because of the alliance of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the Akalis, he added. Amarinder Singh observed that the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, in its report, had clearly stated that it was only a fact-finding report and further investigations were required. He said that his government has picked the best professional SIT team for the probe. Pointing out that he, and even Congress President Rahul Gandhi, had visited Behbal Kalan soon after the incident, Amarinder Singh said his ministers are in touch with the families of deceased and that bereaved families have been given compensation more than what was recommended by the commission. Agartala, Oct 15 : Alcoholic drinks and animals including goat, pigeons and buffaloes are offered as items of sacrifice in a 300-year-old Durga Puja sponsored by the Tripura government. To maintain the royal family's traditional sanctity, the government has for the past seven decades been bearing the entire expenditure of Durga Puja at the Durgabari temple. The Durgabari temple, established by the erstwhile royal kings, is located in front of the 117-year-old Ujjayanta Palace. The five-day festivity began in Tripura on Monday with 'Maha Sasthi' or 'Bodhan' - the welcoming of Durga idols. "Tripura is the only state where the government, be it Left or non-Left, is at the forefront of funding such a Hindu religious festival. The tradition has been going on since Tripura's merger with the Indian union," Subhash Das, a writer and a former civil service officer, told IANS. The Tripura merger agreement made it mandatory for the government to continue the sponsorship of temples run by the Hindu princely rulers. A full-fledged division - "Public Place of Worship (PPW)" or "Debarchan Vibhag" - under district magistrates in four of Tripura's eight districts now bears this responsibility and the entire expenditure of several temples, including that of Durgabari. Before starting the five-day worship of Durga, a procession led by the head priest goes to the palace to seek the consent of the former royal family to begin the puja at Durgabari temple, said Pandit Dulal Bhattacharjee, the head priest. The head priest's son Jayanta Bhattacharjee told IANS: "A young buffalo, several goats, pigeons, alcoholic drink, fish, meat, egg, ginger, many fruits are sacrificed during the five-day festival at Durgabari - all at government expense." Senior Deputy Magistrate Dhiraj Debbarma said this year's budget was Rs 5.75 lakh, 10 per cent more than last year. People For Animals (PFA) chairperson Maneka Gandhi, now a Union Minister, had some years back urged the district magistrates to stop the "cruel killing of animals in the temples". "Some years ago, a District Magistrate of West Tripura tried to stop animal sacrifice in the Durgabari temple but retreated following protests by the royal family," Jayanta Bhattacharjee added. Dulal Bhattacharjee said it was on the final day of 'Dashami' that the real splendour of the festival comes to the fore. "The idols of Durgabari are the first to be immersed at Dashamighat with full state honours, with the police band playing the national song." Historian Pannalal Roy, who wrote many books on the history of royal era, said: "The centuries-old Durga Puja of Durgabari temple is unique in the sense that the prasad includes alcoholic drink, meat, fish, eggs and, of course, fruits." Though the Durgabari temple celebration remains the main attractions due to numerous reasons, community pujas organised by clubs and families also vie for much attention. According to Tripura Police, 2,527 community pujas have been organised across Tripura: 958 in urban areas and 1,569 in rural areas. New Delhi, Oct 15 : The rift between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government continued to widen as the latter was yet again ignored in the invitation for the inauguration of newly constructed Rani Jhansi flyover scheduled for Tuesday. Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan is set to inaugurate the flyover, constructed by the BJP-controlled municipal body, on Tuesday. "The prestigious newly constructed Rani Jhansi Grade Separator will be inaugurated on Tuesday, October 16 at 10.30 a.m. by Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan near Filmistan at Rani Jhansi Road," reads the invitation. "The ceremony would be graced by Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Statistics and Programme Implementation Vijay Goel, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Lt Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal, BJP National Vice President Shyam Jaju, BJP Delhi Pradesh President MP Manoj Tiwari, MP Meenakshi Lekhi, Mayor Adesh Kumar Gupta will preside over the function," it added. Special guests in the event will be Deputy Mayor of North Delhi Rajesh Lawadiya, Chairperson-Standing Committee Veena Virmani, Leader of House Tilak Raj Kataria, Leader of Opposition Anil Lakra and Commissioner Madhup Vyas. However, no representative from Delhi's AAP government has been named in the invite. Sources in MCD said there was no fixed rule for inviting the Delhi Government Ministers or their representatives. However, "there have been cases when they were invited depending on the occasion". On Monday, the Ministers and representatives from the Delhi's elected government were ignored from the inauguration of the skywalk at ITO here. Quneitra (Syria), Oct 15 : Syria opened two key border crossings on Monday after years of closure due to the ongoing civil war ravaging the country, re-establishing links with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, officials said. In the occupied Golan Heights, the Quneitra crossing was opened only for the UN peacekeeping force that maintains the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire, after remaining closed since 2014, when UN troops were transferred to the Israeli side of the boundary due to security risks posed by militants on the Syrian side. An Israeli Army officer told Efe news that UN peacekeepers would be progressively returning to the site. "In the future, if everything goes well, (the Quneitra crossing) will be opened for the transit of people for family visits and for trade," the officer said. The Israeli-occupied Golan Heights is a part of Syria that was captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in 1981 in a move that was not internationally recognized. Amira Ibrahim, a Syrian Druze woman from a village in the part of the Golan Heights under Israeli control, told Efe that she was very happy that the crossing was reopening, saying it would be a great benefit for all the Druze of the occupied Golan region to be able to regain contact with their families on the other side. She said it would help young people "to go to study in Syria, because they do not always get to study in Israeli universities". The Nassib-Jaber border crossing between Syria and Jordan was also reopened for commercial traffic after three years of inactivity, as the Syrian side of the border was controlled by militants until July, according to the state-run Syrian and Jordanian news services. Both the SANA and Petra news agencies confirmed traffic had begun to pass through the crossing, which would mean the reconnection of the international highway that crosses Syria from north to south and the resumption of exports to Jordan and the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, a major boost to the Syrian economy. New Delhi, Oct 15 : Blaming the current marketing practice for high oil prices, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made a strong case for partnership between producers and consumers in the oil market to cut energy cost and provide stability to global economy. "Prime Minister Modi made a strong case for a partnership between the producers and consumers, in the oil market, as it exists in other markets. This will help stabilise the global economy which is on path of recovery," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. Highlighting the significant positioning of India in the oil and gas market, Modi, in a meeting with CEOs and experts from the global oil and gas sector, said the oil market was producer driven and both the quantity and prices were determined by the oil producing countries. "Though there is enough production, the unique features of marketing in the oil sector have pushed up the oil prices," he said. Modi said the consuming countries, due to rising crude oil prices, face many other economic challenges including serious resource crunch and stressed that the cooperation of the oil producing countries would be very critical to bridge this gap. "He appealed to oil producing countries to channel their investible surplus to pursue commercial exploitation in oil sector in the developing countries. Secondly, he spoke of higher acreage under exploration and sought cooperation of the developed countries both in terms of technology and extension of coverage. "Thirdly, he sought the role of private participation in the distribution of gas sector. Talking of technology, he appealed for assistance in areas where high pressure and high temperature technology applications are relevant to commercial exploitation of natural gas. "Lastly and importantly, he requested for review of payment terms so as to provide temporary relief to the local currency," the PMO said. The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar apart from other senior officials. It also included ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE and CEOs and experts from organisations like Saudi ARAMCO, BP, Rosneft, IHS Markit, World Bank and International Energy Agency (IEA). Monday, October 15, 2018 at 12:35PM By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla Google's vision of what a perfect smartphone should be is simple. They want each user to have 'their own personal Google,' which makes the Google Pixel 3, the boldest attempt at harnessing the computational power of Google in a mobile device you carry in your pocket Hit jump for our full review. In terms of hardware, the Pixel line of phones has not been the most inspired or luxurious to come to market. The first Pixel looked and felt like a soviet-designed prototype, the second generation had some flourishes such as two-tone colours and bright sleep/wake buttons, but still fell short in some smartphone aficionado's eyes. Despite the decent and recognizable design, the Pixel 2 still felt tied to old school smartphone design. No water resistance, no wireless charging and only a single camera? What's up with that. Third Generation hardware The Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL correct the course with an all-glass body to enable wireless charging. These new Pixels are water resistant with a respectable IP86 rating. We now have dual front-facing cameras for widescreen selfies even as we retain the single 12-megapixel camera in the rear. The Pixel design language, ostensibly based on Android's own Material Design framework, is clearly evidenced in the Pixel 3 line. The aesthetic is all about subtlety and nuance, texture and levels, and it translates well on to hardware. The Pixel 3 XL has great hand feel, the glass back is etched to offer two distinct textures. A high gloss finish and a grippier matte treatment. Good news is that this feels like the most luxurious Pixel yet. Bad news, the glass will pick up scratches and microabrasions soon as you remove it from the packaging. It was thoughtful for Google to include a nice fabric case for my Pixel 3 XL, that's where the phone will live until I can get Urban Armour Gear's rugged case. As lavish and smooth as this phone is, it will require a case for protection. Having a smartphone that's encased in glass has its benefits including a more organic feel, better antenna transmission and wireless charging. Unfortunately, the tradeoff is that Pixel 3 is more delicate than its polycarbonate or metal predecessors. The same can be said for the iPhone XS and any recent Samsung flagship, which also tout all-glass designs front and back. Software Leads the Way Google has flexed its computational muscle as the key advantage of the Pixel 3. Android P on the Pixel 3 XL simply flies and is a prime example of what a great mobile OS matched with the right hardware can do. Android P comes alive on the Pixel 3 and offers a seamless, sleek and instantaneous experience. Everything from opening apps, multitasking, taking photos and videos as well as invoking Google Assistant happens quickly with no perceptible lag. Because of the great software implementation, the Pixel 3 XL is quite manageable even if it is a large smartphone with a 6.3-inch display, The Notch The Pixel 3 XL has a sizeable notch that breaks up the symmetry of an otherwise edge-to-edge design. This notch is deeper than what youd see on the iPhone X line of phones or any of the various copycats in the market. Therere two good reasons for the notch on the Pixel 3, it is the placement of dual front facing cameras that can offer wide-angle selfie shots. Now, many pundits seem to be getting bent out of shape because of the notch but like with most smartphones bearing this feature, it is something one gets used to. Google will offer the option to hide the notch on the Pixel 3XL using software, but by doing so, you miss out on the other information that can be displayed in that area. I can see how some may be dismayed at the presence of a notch. But trust me, just like with the iPhone X a year ago, you soon get used to it. Display Dominance The notch removes focus on the new OLED display which is stunning and a superb update over the Pixel 2 XL's muddy and dim display. The Pixel 3 XL's 6.3-inch QHD+ OLED display with a 523ppi pixel density is superb and rivals the best that Samsung and Apple have to offer on their large format phones. Not only is this large display immersive and great to look at, it is super responsive to touch with no perceptible lag even when navigating HD videos. Displays by themselves are half of the experience when consuming content. Google has also looked after the sound aspect of the Pixel 3 XL. The front-facing stereo speakers are surprisingly loud, clear and well defined. Google says they are as loud as the speaker on a Google Home mini and I must agree. I really enjoyed watching videos and listening to music on the Pixel 3 XL and found the combination of a large and lavish display plus the full sound of the front-firing stereo speakers to be exceptionally executed. These speakers are tuned by a Grammy-award winning producer and you just need to listen to them in person to experience how awesome they sound. Camera Magic The crowning glory of the Pixel line since its inception has been its camera performance. While the competition is adding multiple cameras to their devices to approximate performance from DSLR's, Google is relying on computational photography. The Pixel 3 line has a lot to live up to, the Pixel 2 is still a heavy favourite for best smartphone camera. This will likely continue with the Pixel 3 XL which adds a prodigious number of features to what is already an outstanding set of shooters. The dual front facing cameras, designed for taking wide-angle selfies, are outstanding and give wide-screen selfie or goupfie shots without requiring a selfie stick. The wide angle front-facing camera of the Pixel 3 XL makes it possible to get stunning group selfie without a selfie stick The 12-megapixel rear camera is still a lone wolf, but it brings some astounding capabilities including improved low-light photos, computational zoom functionality, motion tracking for video. Top Shot is a new feature with the ability to take a range of photos as well as suggest the best image from the bunch. Here's a shot of a spider from the Pixel 3, zoomed in before taking the shot yet there's still a lot of detail Taking photos with the Pixel 3 XL is delightful. Having shot images in various conditions including on a bright day, dark evening and indoors, I've been able to produce photos I would not have been able to capture on other smartphone cameras. The big advantage of the Pixel 3 XL is the implementation of AI or machine learning into the photo capture. Multiple images are taken in succession and processed in-device for the best possible outcome. The Pixel 3 XL excel's at low light photography The most important feature for me is that the photo quality is consistent and natural. Whatever computations juju Google uses to shoot the best photos does not overly process or filter the images. The result is stunning and print-ready photos worth sharing and showing off. Video recording on the Pixel 3 XL is also super impressive as the camera has advanced optical image stabilization that does an outstanding job of curbing handheld video shake. AI Dynamo Google includes the USB-C headphones in the box with the Pixel 3 Xl. More thank providing decent audio for calls or music playback, these USB Type-C headphones can read back notifications and can even be used for Google Translate translation on the phone. Just tap the button on the buds and say, "Hey Google, help me translate Japanese." If the language pack is installed, you can get instant translation even without access to the Internet. Other cool features are quick wireless charging with the Pixel Stand. This also turns the Pixel 3 XL into a Google Home with the ability to show the latest news, recent photos from Google Photos and interface with existing smart home devices. Google could have just made a powerful and fast Qi charger, but they went the extra mile by creating a delighful range of functionality so your phone does more than just sit there and charge. Once more, Google's push for software and services shines through what could have been a mundane accessory experience. Pros: Impressive and clear OLED display Loud and crisp front facing stereo speakers Quick wireless charging with Pixel Stand Water resistance Accomplished front-facing and rear cameras with class-leading features Premium glass construction Cons: Limited availability and constrained initial supply Black model is susceptible to scratches and micro abrasions Delicate glass construction necessitates a protective case Conclusion The Pixel 3 XL and its smaller brother, the Pixel 3 can be considered the first true 'Made by Google' smartphones in that they've not been outsourced to LG or HTC. What we have now under the Pixel brand is a confluence of smartphone pedigree. You have the influence of Nexus, influences from Motorola as well as HTC which Google has pulled collectively under its devices. The result is a cohesive, purposeful and effective culmination of Google's best software services encapsulated in the best hardware it has created. The Pixel 3 XL as a device is an outstanding achievement in terms of performance, display technology as well as the industry's best computational camera. This makes the Pixel 3 XL currently the best Android smartphone in the market right now and a definite contender for 2018's phone of the year. Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Mumbai, Oct 15 : Somy Ali, actress and former girlfriend of superstar Salman Khan, says she was sexually abused and raped as a minor. In an empowering Instagram note to the victims, Somy on Monday wrote: "As a survivor of sexual abuse at the age of five and rape at 14, I would like to salute all those that have spoken up and plan on doing so. I know it is very difficult to do it because I have been there and it took me many years to be able to talk about it." Hailing from Pakistan, Somy had first opened up about her sexual harassment in 2015 in her autobiography. At that time, she clarified the rumours of her abusive relationship with Salman, saying he simply poured a drink all over the table in frustration since he was angry at her for trying alcohol for the first time. Somy entered the film industry in the early 1990s, but left a few years later for Florida, where she founded her NGO, No More Tears. According to Somy, what hurts the most is when people close to you do not support you in such a situation. So, she urged victims "not to let the non-believers stop them". "This is your truth. Do not ever be afraid to speak your truth. Do not let this opportunity pass you. This is a moment that has been long overdue for all of us. This is your chance to be heard and finally obtain justice. I believe you. "It's even harder when you tell those that are close to you and they are supposed to protect you, yet they do nothing. I have been there too and it hurts like hell. But I want these survivors to know it is truly liberating and completely worth it," she added. Washington, Oct 15 : US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he spoke to Saudi King Salman over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and will send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the situation with the monarch. In a morning tweet, Trump said that the King denied any knowledge of the journalist's whereabouts. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, entered his country's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2 and has not been seen since. "Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.' He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find the answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King," Trump tweeted. Turkish intelligence officials say they have audio and visual evidence that shows Khashoggi, a permanent resident of the US in self-imposed exile, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia, however, denies any involvement in his disappearance and maintains that he left the consulate the same afternoon. Trump's comments came as the Saudis gave Turkish authorities permission to search the kingdom's consulate in Turkey, where Turkish officials believe the journalist was killed and dismembered, the New York Times reported. Saudi officials first granted permission for the consulate to be searched last week, but later asked for a delay. As per reports, Turkish officials also want to search the nearby Consul General's residence and have repeatedly accused the Saudis of failing to cooperate with their investigation. Diplomatic pressure is growing on the Saudis to give a fuller explanation. The UK, France and Germany demanded a "credible investigation" into the events and Trump warned of serious retribution if the Saudis were found to be behind Khashoggi's possible death. A joint Turkish-Saudi working group into the case has been proposed, but the results of a separate, internal Saudi investigation should be made public soon, a Saudi official told CNN. The Saudi official said that a royal decree was issued on Friday directing the public prosecutor to conduct an internal investigation, based on intelligence shared by Turkey. On Sunday, Washington and Riyadh traded a series of threats, with Trump warning of the potential for "severe punishment" and Saudi officials threatening to retaliate if the US imposed sanctions. Riyadh later softened its tone. "There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that were the case. So we're going to have to see," Trump said in a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast on Sunday. "We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment." The news that Turkey could enter the consulate came a day after the Saudi King called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the Khashoggi case. The two leaders agreed on a joint working group to look into the journalist's disappearance. New Delhi, Oct 15 : After Union Minister M.J. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani for levelling allegations of sexual harassment, Ramani said Akbar is trying to "silence" the voices "through intimidation and harassment". Ramani is one of the many women who, in the raging #MeToo campaign, have accused Akbar of sexually harassing them in the capacity of the Editor of The Asian Age and other publications. "I am deeply disappointed that a Union Minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy. By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Akbar has made his stand clear," Ramani said in a statement that she shared on the social media. "Rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," she added. She insisted that she would fight allegations of defamation as "truth and absolute truth is my only defence". She said that all the women who have spoken out against Akbar did so "at great risk" to their personal and professional lives. "At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they (the victims) have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon the victims. Rather than case aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women," she said. "This is why I wish to register my strong protest against Mr. Akbar's most recent statement, which pays no heed to the trauma and fear of survivors or the courage required to speak the truth to power," Ramani said. Rome, Oct 15 : Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling on Monday called for global cooperation to make agriculture totally organic the world over by 2050, citing the achievement of his Himalayan state in north-east India. Addressing a news conference at the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament, Chamling said to heed the warnings of climate scientists about impending dangers, the world must adopt farming without chemical fertilisers and pesticides as that would help reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent. "If we can do it in Sikkim, there is no reason it cannot be done elsewhere," he said. Chamling received the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Future Policy Gold Award for Sikkim's achievement in becoming the world's first totally organic agriculture state. The member of Parliament from Chamling's Sikkim Democratic Front, Prem Das Rai, was among those who attended the awards ceremony here. The news conference was hosted by the leaders of Italy's Agriculture Commission and Environment Committee, who praised Sikkim's achievement as a trendsetter for the world. Italian MP Rossella Muroni, the Free and Equal Party leader on the Environment Committee, congratulated Chamling and Sikkim for their pioneering work and showing how organic farming was possible. Maria Chiara Gadda, the Democratic Party leader at the Agriculture Commission, said that Sikkim is an inspiration for striving towards sustainable organic farming. Chamling said that organic farming is a form of action of non-violence. He said when his government embarked on the organic farming mission in 2003, it was confronted by opposition parties and vested interests of the chemical sector. But through hard work backed by a strong political commitment, Sikkim was able to overcome the odds and become totally organic by 2015. "Based on my long experience and association with the organic initiative, I can tell you in all good faith and confidence that a 100 per cent organic world is possible. If we could do it in Sikkim, there is no reason why policy makers, farmers and community leaders cannot do the same elsewhere in the world." "If we are to heed the warnings of the climate scientists then we have to stop the use of chemical fertilisers globally by over 50 per cent immediately. This will reduce the carbon dioxide emission by half," Chamling said. Now, several Indian states like Kerala and those in the North East were trying to follow the example of Sikkim. It is important to involve the youth in the organic mission and many educated young farmers in the state have developed marketing strategies that take the state's produce to places as far away as Delhi and Bengaluru, he said. "Sikkim is the most peaceful state in India... it is the best in many ways," Chamling said, highlighting its gender equality and the absence of extreme poverty or religious and caste tensions. Saying he is not a scientist or a researcher but simply a politician, he said: "It (organic farming) has taken us over a decade to do this. But due to our perseverance, political will...I must say a strong political will, sincerity and hard work, we have been able to achieve this." According to him, the forest cover of the state has increased from 43.95 per cent in 1993 to 47.80 per cent in 2015, an increase of over four per cent. In January 2016, he said, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Sikkim and declared Sikkim as a fully organic state in India and in the world. Vandana Shiva, environment activist and President of Navdanya International, said that "organic zones" are the "zones of democracy". "Sikkim shows the world it is possible to be 100 per cent free of the chemicals that destroy and defeat the forces that promote them," she said. Sikkim beat out 51 other nominees from 25 countries for the Future Policy Award 2018 -- the world's best laws and policies promoting agro-ecology. This year's award was co-organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Future Council (WFC) and IFOAM - Organics International. Brazil, Denmark and Quito shared the silver award. Cologne (Germany), Oct 15 : The German police on Monday arrested a man after he took a woman hostage at a pharmacy inside Cologne city's central railway station leading to a lock-down for several hours. Authorities said the suspect sustained life-threatening injuries after the police fired shots while storming the pharmacy, reports said. The railway station was on lock-down for several hours on Monday following the hostage situation. The area in and around the station -- a major transport hub for rail traffic across Germany and western Europe -- was cordoned off, according to the BBC. The police refused to comment whether the incident was terror-related. Authorities later said that the situation was "under control" and the teenager, who was taken hostage, was receiving treatment for minor injuries. Mumbai, Oct 15 : The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on Monday launched a probe to know how a cargo ship rammed into a jetty on Saturday afternoon, an official said. The incident occurred at the port's Fourth Container Terminal-BMCTPL, which is managed by the Port of Singapore Authority. The vessel's protection and indemnity insurers have analysed the extent of damage to both the ship and the jetty. The 336-metre long vessel, owned by CMA-CGM, Mumbai, and carrying a dead weight of 119,324 tonnes, arrived here from Karachi and was expected to sail to its next port of call at Mundra Port, Gujarat. While attempting to berth in Mumbai, the ship rammed into the jetty at the 252 chainage mark, causing damage to both the jetty and vessel's bow. However, there was no casualties to any person or crew and no operations were affected, said an official spokesperson today. New Delhi, Oct 15 : A day after Union Minister M.J. Akbar said that charges of sexual harassment against him were "wild and baseless", Ghazala Wahab, one of the journalists who had levelled the allegations, said "lies do not have legs" and they cannot go far. Writing for the news website 'The Wire', Wahab said Akbar's statement describing the charges against him as based on "innuendo, speculation" was "full of tired clichAs" and he was either lying or his memory was failing him when he spoke of a "very tiny cubicle" - the place inside the newspaper office where the harassment was said to have taken place two decades back. "In attempting to refute my story of molestation and harassment, Akbar has tried to hide inside his supposedly 'very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass'. "Either he is lying, or age has caught up with him. I would prefer believing the latter, so here is something to refresh his memory," Wahab wrote. She proceeded to recount that the refurbished office of the Asian Age newspaper, of which Akbar was then Editor, in Surya Kiran building was "big" and Akbar's room "soundproof". "It was big. His polished wood desk was huge (lined with a row of Ganeshas) and had a small work station attached to it. At his back was polished wood (all gloss) wall-to-wall hutch cabinet with storage at the bottom and book shelves at eye level. "On the other end of the room, directly opposite to his desk, was the tripod with the huge dictionary, with thickness of nearly a foot," she wrote. Akbar in his statement on Sunday had said that he had a "a very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass" at the Asian Age office where Wahab and he worked. "It is utterly bizarre to believe that anything could have happened in that tiny space, and, moreover, that no one else in the vicinity would come to know, in the midst of a working day. These allegations are false, motivated and baseless," he said in his statement. Wahab in her account also posted the screenshots of her conversations with ex-Asian Age colleague from the same period, who, according to her, were in the know of Akbar's reputation or at least what he did to her. Akbar, a Minister of State for External Affairs, earlier on Monday filed a criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani, who was one of those to accuse him of sexual harassment amid the raging #MeToo movement in the country. New Delhi, Oct 15 : President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the dignitaries who paid tributes to former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on his 87th birth anniversary on Monday. While President Kovind paid floral tributes to Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, Modi hailed the 'Missile Man of India' as "an exceptional teacher, a wonderful motivator, an outstanding scientist and a great President". "Dr. Kalam lives in the hearts and minds of every Indian," Modi posted on Twitter. Kalam was the 11th President of India between 2002 and 2007. New Delhi, Oct 15 : A 36-year-old builder was beaten to death by three men after he failed to return the money borrowed from one of them, police said on Monday. All three accused have been arrested. Deputy Commissioner of Police Monika Bhardwaj said Nitin, a resident of Paschim Puri in west Delhi, died on Sunday, hours after he was badly beaten up by Sanjeev, 47, Rajeev, 37, and Jagdish, 49. "Nitin had borrowed Rs 12.5 lakh from Jagdish, who called him to his office and beat him with sticks along with other two. They forcibly took his scooty and got his signatures on the sale letters. "They kept him with them for three hours and then let him go. He had bruises all over his body when he reached home. His family took him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead," the officer said. The three were arrested on Monday. New Delhi, Oct 15 : Former Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh Mani Shankar Pandey on Monday joined the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), and said the grand-old party has disregarded its workers in the state. At an event here, LJP President and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday appointed Pandey as chief of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit. Calling Rahul Gandhi "celebrity president" and "prince", he said the party president has finished the party in the state. The party has given up the principles laid down by former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, he is said in a statement. Pandey also said that there are more Congress leaders in the state who are planning to defect from the Congress. Gandhinagar, Oct 15 : As the countdown for the unveiling of the tallest statue in the world by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun, Gujarat Ministers have fanned out across the country with invites for Chief Ministers for the big show on October 31. Dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Statue of Unity with a height of 182 metres that has been claimed to be the world's tallest. It will be unveiled on Patel's birth anniversary. As the Gujarat Chief Minister, Modi had on October 31, 2013 laid the foundation stone for the project. Built at a cost of Rs 2,389 crore, the statue stands 3.2 km downstream of the Narmada dam on the islet, Sadhu bet. The Gujarat government wants this unveiling to be a grand event. If Chief Minister Vijay Rupani went to Uttar Pradesh to invite his counterpart Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Nitin Patel just returned from neighbouring Maharashtra after inviting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the event. Similarly, the only woman minister in the cabinet, Vibhavriben Dave, just visited Tripura. Agriculture Minister R.C. Faldu has been tasked to invite the Assam Chief Minister. Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama just returned from his trip to Haryana while Food and Civil Supplies Minister Jayesh Radadia has been sent to Uttarakhand. Energy and Petrochemicals Minister Saurabh Patel is now visiting Bihar with an invite for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja returned from his trip to Himachal Pradesh. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Ishwarbhai Parmar is in Goa for the purpose. Forest Minister Ganpat Vasava is in Tamil Nadu, Dilip Thakore has been sent to Naveen Patnaik's Orissa, Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel to Jharkhand, Ishwarbhai Patel to Arunachal Pradesh and Kishor Kanani has been sent to Meghalaya. The construction of the statue is almost finished, with the work going on at a fast pace and final touches being given right now. According to the government, the project is expected to bring in huge revenues in the form of tourism in the tribal region of the state. The statue will have a museum on the life of Sardar Patel at the base and a viewing gallery, from where the visitors can see beyond the Narmada dam. New Delhi, Oct 15 : The Congress on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doing "electoral drama" ahead of elections in five states over rising prices of petrol and diesel and said that the government has fleeced the common people through "draconian taxation" of Rs 13 lakh crore. "Whenever there are elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi starts expressing his concerns over rising prices of petrol and diesel. This is nothing but but electoral drama, Congress spokesperson R.P.N. Singh told the media here. He referred to Mod's meeting with global oil and gas experts on Monday and said such news reports come during election periods even though the Modi government keeps burdening common people with central taxes on petrol and diesel. "Facing public ire and imminent defeat in the five states going to elections, Modi government is indulging in 'event management' and 'news planning'," Singh said. He said measures are not being taken to provide relief to people and demanded that petrol and diesel should be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). "Farmers are dependent on diesel for the tractors, irrigation pump sets, and electricity and rent vehicles to take produce to the mandis. They are badly hit. Prices of essential commodities are impacting all sections of the society -- middle class, poor, women, commuters," Singh said. Referring to the government cutting down price of petrol and diesel earlier this month, he said the prices are "back to square one". He said that international crude oil prices have been gone down by $5 per barrel in the last nine days, yet there is no respite in rising prices of petrol and diesel. Itanagar, Oct 15 : Congress Lok Sabha member Ninong Ering on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the recent intrusion of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops in the Upper Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Eleven PLA troopers were reportedly spotted in Upper Dibang by tribal villagers who had gone out hunting. The villagers reportedly clicked photographs of the armed PLA soldiers and alerted the Indian Army and local administration. It is believed that the intrusion took place five to six days ago. The incident comes almost 16 months after Chinese troops entered Doklam region, claimed by both China and India's ally Bhutan. "At many instances in recent time, Chinese troops have tried to enter Arunachal Pradesh and build roads," Ering noted in his letter, urging Modi's intervention and seeking firm action to protect India's integrity and sovereignty. The former Union Minister represents Arunachal East in the Lok Sabha. New Delhi, Oct 15 : Blaming current marketing practice for the current high oil prices, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made a strong case for partnership between producers and consumers at a meeting here with global company heads, following which Saudi Arabia said it expects its oil output to rise next month to counter the impact of US sanctions on Iran. With domestic petrol and diesel prices daily breaching record levels, Modi on Monday met the chief executives of major global and Indian oil and gas companies. Besides Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar, the meeting included ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE and CEOs and experts from organisations like Saudi ARAMCO, BP, Rosneft, IHS Markit, World Bank and International Energy Agency. "Modi made a strong case for a partnership between the producers and consumers, in the oil market, as it exists in other markets. This will help stabilise the global economy which is on path of recovery," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. Highlighting the significant positioning of India in the oil and gas market, Modi said the oil market was producer driven and both the quantity and prices were determined by the oil producing countries. "Though there is enough production, the unique features of marketing in the oil sector have pushed up the oil prices," he said. Following the meeting, Saudi Petroleum Minister Khalid Al Falih told reporters here on the sidelines of a global conference organised by CERAWeek that he expects Riyadh's oil production to rise next month from the current 10.7 million barrels per day (bpd) and that it has the required capacity in place to do so. "Saudi Arabia has the capacity to produce 12 million bpd and is currently producing 10.7 million bpd and production will rise further next month," Al Falih said. According to the PMO, Modi said the consuming countries face many other economic challenges due to rising crude oil prices, including serious resource crunch and stressed that the cooperation of the oil producing countries would be very critical to bridge this gap. "He appealed to oil producing countries to channel their investible surplus to pursue commercial exploitation in oil sector in the developing countries. Secondly, he spoke of higher acreage under exploration and sought cooperation of the developed countries both in terms of technology and extension of coverage. "Lastly and importantly, he requested for review of payment terms so as to provide temporary relief to the local currency," the statement said. The meeting took place in the backdrop volatile crude oil prices and with the US sanctions on Iran due to come into effect from November 4. Rome, Oct 15 : Italy's hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday vowed to end the trafficking of migrants to Italy, warning "the party is over" for those who profit from the criminal phenomenon. "Under my watch, mass immigration will no longer be a racket - the party is over," Salvini said in a statement. Salvini took aim at Domenico Lucano, Mayor of the migrant-friendly southern Italian town of Riace, who was held in early October on charges of aiding illegal immigration and fraudulent management of waste disposal services, according to prosecutors in Reggio Calabria. "I see what's going on in Riace: the Mayor is under house arrest and keeps airily inviting journalists to his home," Salvini said. Lucano allegedly assigned trash-collection services to migrant cooperatives without a public tender, according to the charge-sheet. He gained worldwide fame for welcoming migrants, hundreds of whom have settled in the small town of fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. The Interior Ministry will carry out its own investigation of the illegal immigration "business" starting with the centre-left government that ruled Italy from 2013-18, Salvini stated. "No one is calling for the law to be upheld or is defending the Public Prosecutor's Office, not even Italy's national association of magistrates," Salvini said, pointing the finger at "leftwing" politicians and allegedly leftist judges. Over 700,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy since 2014, fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty in their homelands. New Delhi, Oct 15 : The Congress on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify whether he supports the criminal defamation case filed by his Minister M.J. Akbar against a woman journalist who accused Akbar of sexually harassing her. The party dared Modi to come clear on which side he stands -- with the victims in the #MeToo campaign or with the accused. "We would like to ask the Prime Minister on which side does he stand. These are women who have come out and with the harrowing experiences that they have gone through. They are all women and not connected to each other," Congress spokesman R.P.N. Singh said. "We would like to ask the Prime Minister: does he support that the defamation case? He has to make his stand absolutely clear," he added. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani, one of the several women who have accused him of sexually harassing them in the capacity of Editor at different publications. The Congress leader said that the Prime Minister has not "uttered a word" in cases such as that of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA being accused of raping a woman in Uttar Pradesh or the Bihar shelter home case. "We ask the PM today, that he has to speak up. Where does he stand on these matters?" Singh said. New Delhi, Oct 15 : Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Monday said the government has allocated over 30 per cent of the farm-related funds to women to empower them and bring them to the agriculture mainstream, and sought appointment of more women in the extension services. Addressing a gathering on the occasion of Mahila Kisan Diwas here, he said about 18 per cent of the agricultural households in India are led by women, and they have also made exceptional contribution in horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry and beekeeping, among others. Citing a research by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) conducted in nine states, the Minister said the participation of women is 75 per cent in the production of major crops, 79 per cent in horticulture, 51 per cent in post-harvest work and 95 per cent in animal husbandry and fisheries. Singh also said that National Gender Resource Centre in Agriculture has developed a women sensitisation module to bring about change in the mindset and behaviour of male programme operators. Special importance has been given to the role of women in achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022, he said. Under the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), 38.78 lakh women have been trained in the last two years, he said. Similarly, 6.07 lakh and 7,000 women have benefited through KVKs (Krishi Vigyan Kendras) and skill training, respectively, he added. New York, Oct 16 : Oil prices rallied on Monday amid tensions over the disappearance of a Saudi Arabian journalist, which stoked crude supply worries. US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of the journalist, Xinhua reported. Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Earlier last week, Trump said during an interview that he will impose severe punishment if Saudi Arabia is confirmed to be behind Khashoggi's alleged death. Saudi Arabia on Sunday strongly warned against any threats to exert economic sanctions or political pressure on the kingdom, saying it will respond to any action with greater action as the kingdom plays an influential and vital role in the regional and global security and economy. The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery rose 0.44 U.S. dollar to settle at 71.78 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery added 0.35 dollar to 80.78 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Following its acquisition of Emporium Hotel in January, the Ovolo Hotel Group has announced Brisbanes newest hotel will open as Ovolo The Valley in November. Rooms at the hotel will start from $300 per night. The project is being undertaken by the architecture firm Woods Bagot. The Fortitude Valley location will draw guests into a "whimsical oasis of colour, art, and surprising hints of quirk", curated throughout its 103 rooms. CEO and Chairman of the Ovolo Group, Girish Jhunjhnuwala (pictured below) says Ovolo has invested approximately $55 million. There are many new comers to the Brisbane hotel market, but Ovolos biggest point of difference is our exceptional customer service and design, he said. There is an element of fantasy, escapism and play in The Valley. "Were positioning it as the perfect contemporary oasis to escape our busy urban lives. Following on from the Ovolo Inchcolm opening last year at Spring Hill, it will be the groups second hotel. Woods Bagots Bronwyn McColl, says the design of Ovolo The Valley celebrates Fortitude Valleys eclectic mix. We started by exploring the spaces behind The Valleys indiscernible facades and the spaces in-between and translated them into playful yet sophisticated experiences that take the Ovolo guest by surprise including the most incredible rock star suites in honour of the late David Bowie with 1970s inspired velvet lounges and a gold bar for those who dare! said McColl. Ovolo The Valley will work by Woods Bagot in collaboration with former Brisbanite, Chloe Want from AvroKO in New York, will continue on the hotels standalone restaurant and bar concept to open on the ground level of the property early next year. Food and drink is a big part of the Ovolo Hotel Group concept, with award-winning restaurants at their other Australian properties, including; Alibi at Ovolo Woolloomooloo (Sydney) fronted by restauranteur Matthew Kenney, and Monster Kitchen & Bar at Ovolo Nishi (Canberra). The group recently opened Mister Percy at Ovolo 1888 (Sydney), a Mediterranean-style wine bar fronted by renowned chef Justin North. KFC will offer its famous 11 herbs and spices fried chicken from the prime corner of Carlisle Street and Acland Street after signing a five-year lease over 90 sqm. Fitzroys agent James Spencer negotiated the lease, which includes with a five-year option, for 70A Acland Street at $80,000 per annum net. KFC is currently undertaking its fit-out at the base of the apartment complex. Spencer acted on behalf of a local developer. KFC wanted to capitalise on being in a prime location opposite Luna Park and McDonalds, the new Palais Theatre, close to St Kilda beach and at the top of the popular retail and nightlife precinct of Acland Street, Spencer said. The recent conversion of Acland Street into Melbournes newest pedestrian mall made this property a sought-after prospect. "It has enhanced the vibrancy of the strip, which remains a popular tourist destination for interstate and overseas travellers, as well as Melburnians, and brought an added buzz to its thriving food and beverage and nightlife offering. One of Sydney's most telegenic couples, models Roberta Pecoraro and her model and designer boyfriend Jono Friend have bought their first property together. The modelling power couple, who earlier this year collaborated on a UNIQLO then Emporio Armani campaign, paid $820,000 for a one bedroom Bellevue Hill apartment. They settled on the Art Deco unit shortly before heading overseas to the catwalks of Europe. Its a cosy 60 square metre Victoria Road apartment that sits on the top floor of the late 1930s block Reddington. Last traded for $717,500 in 2015, the one bedroom apartment features a sunroom. The couple have been together four years. Friend runs menswear clothing line DearFriend & Co, a brand he set up with model mate Adin Taylor. They have a store on Bondi's Gould Street. It's Friend's first property, but Roberta's second foray into the Sydney property market. She became a renvestor last year, spending $588,888 on a one bedroom Annandale apartment which she promptly leased at $450 a week. Pecoraro's sister Jess, a popular Sydney fashion stylist, has been active in the market too. Jess recently sold the Annandale home she shared with husband Steven Monaco. Earlier this year they sold their one bedroom North Bondi apartment for $1,625,000. "Its always fun working togethershes my best friend," Roberta said in an interview with Who What Wear earlier this year. A budding dancer, Roberta fell into modelling at the age of 17. She attended Sydney Fashion Weekend where she was scouted through the Chic Model Management pop up. Friend is also represented to Chic Model Management. Pecoraco opened Australian Fashion Week earlier this year, having opened it initially last year for the Dion Lee show. This year in Australia she walked for Camilla and Marc, We Are Kindred, Macgraw and Hansel and Gretel among others. She says she'd love to walk for Gucci one day. The two sisters grew up around fashion. Their mother was a designer in Italy until they migrated to Sydney. This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph. Access Intelligence announced today the acquisition of P3C Media, owner of The Public-Private Partnership (P3) Conference and Expo, the leading education and networking event for P3 leaders from government and industry to discuss infrastructure challenges and innovations in project delivery, procurement, life cycle asset management and solutions. This acquisition strengthens Access Intelligences leadership position across several of their served markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2012 by P3C Media President Eric Iravani, the companys premier events attract senior representatives from government, higher education institutions, and leading firms in the global construction and financial markets. Today, P3C Media has several vertical events that surround their flagship Public-Private Partnership Conference, including: The P3 Water Summit, The P3 Airport Summit, The P3 Higher Education Summit and The P3 Federal Conference. "The U.S. is on track to become the largest public-private partnership market in the world. Behind the development is supportive public policy, authorizing legislation, and a backlog of essential infrastructure projects in need of new delivery methods," said Mr. Iravani. "Through Access Intelligences commitment to P3C, we look forward to working with the entire AI team and growing P3Cs role in the industry, creating the highest quality portfolio of networking and educational opportunities for professionals dedicated to the growing P3 market. This is an exciting time for public-private partnerships and our portfolio will benefit significantly from AIs scale, resources, and event expertise. We will be able to expand our major information platform to address the growth of public-private partnerships in complimentary verticals," Mr. Iravani will continue in his role as P3C Medias Founder with Access Intelligence. P3C Media has been at the forefront of the burgeoning private-public partnership space for many years and has firmly established itself as the market leader for bringing together top government, industry and financial leaders across several verticals in the P3 marketplace, said Don Pazour, CEO of Access Intelligence. We are delighted to add the P3C Media brand to our companys portfolio, to welcome an extremely talented team into our family, and to fast-track our leadership position in the P3 marketplace. P3C Media will become part of Access Intelligences Energy & Engineering division run by Jennifer Schwartz, senior vice president and group publisher, whose other brands include POWER, ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition, Defense Daily, Chemical Engineering, Global Connected Aircraft Summit, Connected Plant Conference, The LDC Forums and OR Manager. Upcoming P3C Media events include The P3 Federal Conference Nov. 27-28 in Washington, DC and The Public-Private Conference & Expo, March 4-6 in Dallas, TX. The Public-Private Partnership Conference & Expo is one of the largest gatherings of government and construction professionals in the United States. P3C Media was represented by Corporate Solutions of Westport, CT on the investment banking side and legal services by Benesch. Access Intelligence was represented by Graydon for legal services. About P3C Media, LLC P3C Media is a business-to-business media company which owns and operates multiple infrastructure delivery events including The Public-Private Partnership Conference & Expo (P3C), The P3 Water Summit, The P3 Airport Summit, The P3 Higher Education Summit and The P3 Federal Conference. About Access Intelligence Access Intelligence is a privately held b-to-b media and information company headquartered in Rockville, MD, serving the marketing, media, PR, cable, healthcare management, defense, energy, engineering, satellite and aviation markets. Leading brands include Ad Exchanger, AdMonsters, Chemical Engineering, Cynopsis, Cablefax, Chief Marketer, Defense Daily, Event Marketer, Folio:, LeadsCon, POWER and Via Satellite. Market-leading conferences and trade shows include LeadsCon, AdMonsters OPS and Publisher Summits, The Folio: Show, Experiential Marketing Summit, Global Connected Aircraft Summit, SATELLITE 2019, OR Manager Conference, LDC Gas Forums, Clean Gulf, Connected Plant Conference and ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition. AHN Brentwood-Neighborhood Hospital This wonderful new facility in Brentwood will be a tremendous asset to this region, and to those who live here, offering the exceptional, patient-centered health care experience that they deserve. Capping off three straight weeks of Neighborhood Hospital groundbreaking events across the area, officials from Allegheny Health Network (AHN), Highmark Health, and Emerus gathered last week in Brentwood to ceremonially break ground on a Neighborhood Hospital the organizations are building at the corner of Saw Mill Run Blvd. (Route 51) and Greenlee Road. The Brentwood location is one of four that AHN and Emerus have chosen for Neighborhood Hospital development, joining Hempfield, McCandless, and Harmar. AHN expects the four facilities to open in late 2019. We are extremely excited to begin the construction of our Neighborhood Hospitals, each of which will bring high-quality emergency care and other important health services closer to home in the communities we serve, said Cynthia Hundorfean, AHN President and CEO. This wonderful new facility in Brentwood will be a tremendous asset to this region, and to those who live here, offering the exceptional, patient-centered health care experience that they deserve. Unlike standalone emergency departments or urgent care centers, AHN Brentwood will be a fully licensed small-format hospital that is open 24/7. In addition to an emergency department and 10-bed inpatient unit, the hospital will provide diagnostic imaging, as well as laboratory and other complementary medical services. It will be staffed by physicians, nurses, and other experienced health care professionals, all of whom are aligned around a high-quality care model. AHNs neighborhood hospitals are part of Highmark Health and AHNs recently announced $1 billion investment strategy to further improve access to affordable, high-quality health care services in the western Pennsylvania region. AHN is partnering with Texas-based Emerus, the nations leading developer and operator of neighborhood hospitals, to build and manage the new facilities. For five consecutive years, Emerus has received the prestigious Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award, which recognizes top-performing health care organizations that have consistently achieved the top 95th percentile or above for providing an outstanding patient experience. Emerus also has earned Press Ganeys Pinnacle of Excellence Award for Inpatient Experience. Among numerous patient-friendly design elements, AHN Brentwood will feature nursing stations uniquely configured to maximize sightlines and accessibility, allowing staff to easily monitor exam rooms and minimize response times. CT and X-ray procedure rooms will accommodate patients of any age, with adjacent observation rooms that keep families together during procedures. An onsite lab will expedite testing processes so patients dont have to wait long for results. AHN Brentwood will be closely aligned with the networks Jefferson Hospital, in nearby Jefferson Hills, and AHNs hospitals in the City of Pittsburgh for patients who require a more acute level of care or follow-up appointments with specialists. It will also complement Jeffersons existing outpatient and primary care services in the Brentwood community. When more comprehensive care is needed, the neighborhood hospital will provide a smooth transition to AHN facilities. About the Allegheny Health Network Allegheny Health Network (http://www.AHN.org), a Highmark Health company, is an integrated healthcare system serving the greater Western Pennsylvania region. The Network is composed of eight hospitals, including Allegheny General Hospital, its flagship academic medical center in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights, Canonsburg Hospital in Canonsburg, Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills, Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie, West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh and Westfield Memorial Hospital in Westfield, NY. The Network provides patients with access to a complete spectrum of advanced medical services, including nationally recognized programs for primary and emergency care, cardiovascular disease, cancer care, orthopedic surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, womens health, diabetes and more. It also is home to a comprehensive research institute; Health + Wellness Pavilions; an employed physician organization, home and community based health services and a group purchasing organization. The Network employs more than 20,000 people, has more than 2,400 physicians on its medical staff and serves as a clinical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. About Emerus Emerus is the nations first and largest operator of neighborhood hospitals. Emerus partners with leading health systems to provide excellence, empathy and innovation in health care delivery through a network of efficient, value-based neighborhood hospitals. The Emerus network brings high-quality, patent-centric acute episodic and ambulatory clinical services to communities across a given market. This helps patients by positioning best-in-class provider services in the communities where they work, live and play. Emerus distinctive level of care earned the Guardian of Excellence Award for Superior Patient Experience in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. More information is available at http://www.emerus.com (http://www.emerus.com). How It Should Be: a journey celebrating a lifelong love and a quest for new life. How It Should Be is the creation of published author Leonard Nederlof, an author of Christian theological books living with his wife in British Columbia. This is his first novel. Fifty-one-year-old James King, who lives in Camas, Washington, has been happily married to his college sweetheart for twenty-nine years when he loses her to cancer. Months later, he decides to use his annual vacation to take a road trip to commemorate vacations they used to take, and to maybe, somehow, spice up his now lonely life. On the first day out, he gets kidnapped. Then he gets involved with a murder in a Las Vegas casino, is wanted by the FBI, and has a life-changing encounter with a homeless man in Redding, California. Will James survive all that so he can get on with his new life and start a relationship with a lady he meets in Crescent City, California? Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Leonard Nederlofs new book is an engaging and action-packed story of one mans eventful quest for renewal after the death of his wife of twenty-nine years. View a synopsis of How It Should Be on YouTube. Readers can purchase How It Should Be at traditional brick and mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. In Canada at Amazon.ca and Chapters/Indigo. For additional information or inquiries about How It Should Be, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. P2PE and tokenization are integral to every companys holistic payment security strategy, with P2PE encrypting data in transit and tokenization providing tokens for stored credit card data," said Ruston Miles, Chief Strategy Officer, Bluefin. Bluefin, the leader in PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solutions, has partnered with choice tokenization vendor for data security, TokenEx. Bluefin and TokenEx will provide their platform security technologies to each companys respective client base including Bluefins PCI-validated P2PE solution for TokenEx clients, and TokenExs Cloud Tokenization solution for Bluefin clients. Bluefin became the first North American provider of a PCI-validated P2PE solution in March 2014. Today, the companys global P2PE network consists of more than 85 connected partners including processors, payment gateways, ISVs and Key Injection Facilities (KIFs) serving merchants in 25 countries. Bluefin enables their PCI-validated P2PE solution on partner platforms with the companys Decryptx Decryption as a Service (DaaS) product, which allows gateways, applications, and processors to directly connect to Bluefin for the P2PE service. Founded by security experts Alex Pezold and Dr. Jerald Dawkins in 2008, TokenEx combats data theft while helping organizations reduce the costs associated with PCI compliance. The companys TokenEx Cloud Data Protection Platform provides tokenization, encryption, and data vaulting as a unified software as a service for their enterprise customer base. Designed from the beginning to be payment processor and card-reader device agnostic, the cloud platform easily integrates with existing business applications and payment providers. Pezold says, Bluefin and TokenEx solutions complement one another to complete a holistic data protection offering across omnichannel environments. Our collective solution provides virtually unlimited flexibility to merchants and service providers alike beyond what is available in the market today. According to Gemaltos Breach Level Index, there have been over 14B lost or stolen data records from breaches since 2013 and just 4% of breaches were Secure Breaches where encryption was used and the stolen data was rendered useless. While there will always be data breaches, technologies provided by companies like TokenEx and Bluefin render data breaches useless, added Pezold Additionally, understanding that payment card data isnt the only data record breached today, our partnership provides a powerful opportunity for organizations to expand beyond just securing payment card information to address the larger Privacy and Healthcare markets. Through this partnership, TokenEx will be able to provide their clients with the highest level of security and reduced PCI compliance scope through Bluefins PCI-validated P2PE solution, while Bluefin will provide our Decryptx clients access to TokenExs state of the art omnichannel tokenization solution, said Ruston Miles, Chief Strategy Officer, Bluefin. P2PE and tokenization are integral to every companys holistic payment security strategy, with P2PE encrypting data in transit and tokenization providing tokens for stored credit card data. Together, Bluefin and Tokenex are providing the one-two punch of data devaluation. Both companies will be exhibiting at the European PCI Community Meeting in London, October 16th-18th, with Bluefins Ruston Miles also speaking on a panel discussing the Proliferation of P2PE, along with Rodney Farmer, Member, European Association of Payment Service Providers for Merchants (EPSM), and Dan Fritsche, Vice President, Solution Architecture, Coalfire. About Bluefin Bluefin provides the leading payment security platform that supports payment gateways, processors and ISVs in more than 20 countries. Bluefins secure payment platform is key to the holistic approach to data security. Designed to complement EMV and tokenization, Bluefins PCI-validated Point-to-Point (P2PE) solutions provide a solid security defense against current and future data breaches. Bluefin supports point of sale solutions for retail, mobile, call center and kiosk/unattended environments, and secure Ecommerce technologies. Bluefin is a Participating Organization (PO) of the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) and is headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in New York, Chicago, Tulsa and Waterford, Ireland. For more information, please visit https://www.bluefin.com/. About TokenEx The first pure-play cloud tokenization provider on the market, TokenEx was founded by two data security experts looking for the most effective way to combat data theft in their customers environments. Initially, these former auditors created the solution to help reduce scope and costs associated with Payment Card Information (PCI) compliance, but with an eye to the future, they built the solution to be flexible enough to secure any data set, as well as integrate within even the most complex environments. Today, while securing PCI data is still a common application of the TokenEx platform, over half the data we store currently is classified as non-payment card data (PII, Personal Data, HIPAA, etc.). By integrating four key technologiestokenization, encryption, data vaulting, and key managementwith a highly secure cloud-computing platform, TokenEx has grown rapidly, becoming the tokenization vendor of choice for securing all data types. To learn more, visit https://tokenex.com/. We are excited to once again be sponsoring the Digital Dealer conference October 15, 2018 Conversica, the only provider of artificial intelligence-based lead engagement software for the automotive industry, is sponsoring and exhibiting at the Digital Dealer 25 Conference & Exposition taking place this week in Las Vegas. In addition to showcasing how conversational AI is helping dealers engage and convert more sales and services leads, Conversica will be sharing results of the companys recent Automotive Lead Provider Awards with attendees. "We are excited to once again be sponsoring the Digital Dealer conference," said Dave Marod, SVP and General Manager, Automotive, at Conversica. "Its one of the best places for todays sophisticated digital marketing leaders to discover how AI-powered assistants are converting leads into showroom and service drive visits. And Im excited to be congratulating in person the winners of our just-announced Automotive Lead Provider Awards. Visitors to the Conversica booth (#201) will receive copies of the latest reports from PCG Research, authored by digital marketing guru Brian Pasch. The deep-dive research reports concluded that Conversicas software is helping automotive dealers dramatically increase their lead conversion and email deliverability and ultimately book more sales and service appointments. Those not attending the Digital Dealer conference can learn more about Conversica at conversica.com/auto and download their own complimentary copies of the latest PCG Research reports by Pasch on automotive sales and automotive service. In addition, Conversica was recently featured in an Auto Success cover story in which David Kernall, owner and general manager of Bulldog Kia in Athens, Georgia, revealed that dealerships engagement rate increased from 24 percent to 58 percent with Conversicas assistance. About Conversica Conversica is the leader in conversational AI for business and the only provider of AI-driven lead engagement software for marketing and sales organizations. The flagship Conversica AI Sales Assistant helps companies find and secure customers more quickly and efficiently by automatically contacting, engaging, qualifying and following up with leads via natural, two-way conversations. Used by more than 1,000 companies worldwide, Conversicas sales assistants are built on a proven and patented AI platform integrating natural language processing (NLP), natural language generation (NLG), and machine learning (ML) capabilities and engage prospects over multiple communication channels and in multiple languages. Recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor, Conversica is a portfolio company of Providence Equity, Kennet Partners and Toba Capital and is headquartered in Foster City, Calif. To learn more, visit conversica.com and follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Before the deadline, become familiar with CourtFiling.net and your computer. As part of CourtFiling.nets initiative to bring eFiling to paralegals, lawyers, and self-represented litigants and to more courts across the US, we expanded into Los Angeles Superior Court for Civil Cases. The LA Superior Court launches voluntary eFiling on November 13th, 2018, with mandatory eFiling right around the corner on December 3rd, 2018. CourtFiling.net is right there so that you dont miss a beat when filing your legal documents. We connect to the countys eFiling management system through our user-friendly platform. Los Angeles eFiling requires a specific process and a different pricing level than most other court systems. Regardless, CourtFiling.net is proud to still provide competitive rates and a 24/7 support team. CourtFiling.net was created as a solution to burdensome court filing practices that often slowed the judicial process. Our platform is built to work with any level of legal knowledge, so you can use our system if you are a novice or expert. We make the process easy and customize the workflow for each case type, court, and document. As the most intuitive eFiling provider available, CourtFiling.net is ready to help you eFile documents in Los Angeles. Be sure to sign up for CourtFiling.net to start eFiling your paperwork for civil cases in LA County Superior Court. If you already have a login to eFile in California, you can simply log into CourtFiling.net with the same credentials to eFile with our platform. CourtFiling.net Los Angeles 825 South Barrington Avenue Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90049 (213) 320-0097 http://www.courtfiling.net Debbie Meyer With Allstar Product Groups marketing expertise and Debbie Meyers proven international consumer loyalty, this partnership is sure to be a successful venture for both parties Allstar Products Group and the Debbie Meyer Brand announce partnership to implement a planned rapid expansion of the Debbie Meyer GreenBags and Debbie Meyer GreenBoxes and other Debbie Meyer Brand unique products. Allstar will be using its performance based advertising expertise to further educate and drive sales, both online and in retail stores. Debbie Meyer stated: "I am excitedly looking forward to a long and rewarding relationship with Allstar. Allstar has an outstanding reputation and history of successfully reaching millions of consumers. Since 1998, Debbie Meyer has revolutionized the household industry by inventing, developing and distributing products designed to make the modern family's life easier and save them money. Her highly innovative and unique food life extension storage products, Debbie Meyer GreenBags and Debbie Meyer GreenBoxes, have sold multi- millions of units worldwide on home shopping channels, infomercials, retail outlets and catalogs. With Allstar Product Groups marketing expertise and Debbie Meyers proven international consumer loyalty, this partnership is sure to be a successful venture for both parties, said Scott Boilen, CEO at Allstar Products Group. The Debbie Meyer Brand is being used by millions of consumers worldwide, with exceptional customer satisfaction. We will continue to grow the Brands retail presence by introducing new and innovative products, using Performance Based Advertising to drive sales for all of our retail partners. About Debbie Meyer - THE ORIGINAL GREEN LADY Debbie Meyer is an award winning entrepreneur, inventor, mentor, and true innovator. Since her first invention in 1998, Debbie has created products that make life easier, more economical, organized and cleaner and is recognized as The Original Green Lady and The Home Problem Solver. In 2004 she created Debbie Meyer GreenBags and followed with her Debbie Meyer GreenBoxes and has helped millions by extending the life of fresh produce and baked goods and reducing food waste. About Allstar Products Group Allstar Products Group is a leading consumer products company supporting retail brands with an Integrated Performance Based Marketing Approach that includes direct response television, digital marketing campaigns and social media - campaigns. Founded in 1999, Allstar Products Group has been directly responsible for some of the most successful consumer products in history. Allstar Products Group employs the foremost experts in direct response marketing, product development and manufacturing, and retail distribution to simultaneously build brands and drive sales. Angelenos gather in a unique way to celebrate National Disability Awareness Month. This Sunday at the East Los Angeles Civic Center a red carpet will be rolled out at 11am to begin the annual Wheelchair Wash Festival. For 15 years running straight, a yearly family tradition that started with 20 people receiving a wheelchair cleaning has grown to hundreds representing various cultures and disabilities. A day to celebrate abilities in action and family unity is free for the whole community! The event kicks off with Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard sharing a message of hope and recognizing Barbara Arenza who has been selected to receive the Abilities in Action Advocate Award. Barbara was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1997 when she was a young mother of 4 children. Barbara was born and raised in El Sereno, California and prior to her diagnosis worked for the City of Los Angeles Police Department as a records manager for almost 20 years. Since then, Barbara has had to learn to adjust to a new lifestyle that hindered her ability to walk by affecting her upper and lower mobility. Barbara said that her electric wheelchair has taken her to many fun and interesting places, she thought this change would be difficult, but soon realized there are many nice people around when you are smiling at strangers as they soon can become a new friend. Barbara finds strength through her spiritual connection and where she says she finds inner peace and the courage to not feel like a victim but rather victorious. The mother instinct inside her made her stronger than ever alongside a new support system she found at Familia Unida Living with MS, Familia Unida where she has been a member for over 20 years, we first shared laughs and tears and now here we are, building more friendships and communities, says Barbara. Initially, Barbara attended Familia Unida as a participant with her small children attending monthly the support group meetings. Her role then grew to a peer advocate, translator, involvement in the food pantry distribution, raising awareness through civic engagement alongside Familia Unida through roundtable meetings and hearings with elected officials to address disparities in healthcare, human rights and most recently, bringing awareness to the importance of having more people living with a disability showcased in film as a Familia Unida Advocate Ambassador. With her children grown and now a proud grandmother of four, Barbara attends weekly physical exercise classes at the California State University Los Angeles Mobility Center to improve her balance, optimize her mobility, socialize and most importantly to get energized to continue with making herself available for others who many need someone to listen or simply share a hug. When we open our heart to a stranger a new feeling of hope is planted, sadness turns to smiles and loneliness is replaced by love. Any day is a great day to showcase our abilities in action for more inclusion and unity as witnessed and felt at the Familia Unida Wheelchair Wash and Wellness Fair, said Irma Resendez, founder-executive director of Familia Unida. Barbara expressed she was shocked and pleasantly surprised for the honor of being selected to receive the Abilities in Action Advocate recognition. Barbara says, Im just an average person who finds happiness being kind. We all deserve to be loved... even a stranger can change a person's attitude with a smile. About Familia Unida Incorporated as a grass roots 501-c3 nonprofit in 1998 as the first MS organization in the United States to outreach to the Spanish speaking community, has since expanded to include all those living with a disability. Today Familia unida serves over 15,000 individuals representing a rainbow of cultures, disabilities and especially immigrants who are in need of assistance to be included in the economic growth of their community and who deserved to be counted. To learn more visit: http://www.lovefamiliaunida.org 323-418-2667 Criminal Background Records Anytime the EEOC brings an employer to court regarding potential violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 hiring managers should take note. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has remained aggressive in upholding anti-discrimination laws in the workplace and, recently, settled a civil case brought against RTG Furniture Corporation (Civil Action No. 5:16-cv-00663-BO) when the plaintiff agreed to work with the EEOC to correct screening practices. Adam Almeida, President and CEO of CriminalBackgroundRecords.com opines: The EEOC has clearly signaled an on-going and aggressive nature in protecting against discriminatory policies in the workplace and, subsequently, should signify to all hiring managers the need to work with well-qualified third party pre-employment background screening agencies. Recent legal action by the EEOC highlights on-going activity in protecting against discrimination in the workplace. From an EEOC Press Release (updated Oct 04, 18): Employers that use criminal record-screening policies must continue to be vigilant about compliance with all applicable laws and should know that the EEOC's scrutiny of such policies, while perhaps scaled back, has not ended. To the contrary, the EEOC has demonstrated a continued interest in discouraging employers from directly or indirectly screening out job applicants who belong to protected classes under Title VII and tend to be arrested and convicted at disproportionately higher rates. (1) Almeida adds: Anytime the EEOC brings an employer to court regarding potential violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 hiring managers should take note and immediately insure all pre-employment background screening policies are fully complaint with law. Failure to insure compliance could potentially lead to a costly legal action. On September 24, 2018 the EEOC announced a settlement in a civil case against RTG Furniture Corporation. From the EEOC Press Release (Sep 24, 18): The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Rooms To Go, a larger furniture retailer, have reached a voluntary conciliation agreement to resolve allegations of race discrimination raised by an unsuccessful black applicant whose offer of employment was rescinded as a result of Rooms To Go's background check policies, the federal agency announced today. The agreement reflects the company's implementation of revised policies and practices to ensure that its pre-employment screenings comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (Title VII). (2) Almeida concludes: EEOC actions are a warning sign. A best practice remains for all hiring managers to work closely with a well-qualified third-party pre-employment background screening agency to remain compliant with all laws governing employment background screening. CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is a third-party background screening agency with highly trained operators well versed in the needs and requirements of companies and organizations large and small utilizing public records, such as criminal background records, as part of a hiring process. Assisting companies in maintaining full compliance under the law is a central tenet of all client relationships with CriminalBackgroundRecords.com Notes: (1) mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/742470/employee+rights+labour+relations/EEOC+Continues+to+Scrutinize+Criminal+Record+Screening+Policies (2) eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/9-24-18.cfm Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce that Christine Wong has joined the firm in the San Francisco office as a partner in its Investigations + White Collar Defense group. Ms. Wong spent the last five years at Fujitsu where she most recently served as Vice President, Head of International Compliance. In this role, Ms. Wong led the development and implementation of compliance programs including anti-bribery/corruption, antitrust and competition, and export control. Ms. Wong also has significant prosecutorial experience, having served seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the Southern District of New York and in the Northern District of California. At Fujitsu, Ms. Wong oversaw global investigations, supervising large internal and external teams. She also has substantial trial and courtroom experience, from her years as a federal prosecutor and in private practice. Christine has an impressive background and a proven track record in cross-border compliance matters, said Chuck Duross, co-chair of Morrison & Foersters Investigations + White Collar Defense group. We are confident that our clients will benefit from Christines broad range of experience and her further strengthening our already market-leading investigations capabilities. Stacey Sprenkel, head of Litigation for Morrison & Foersters San Francisco office, added: The insights that Christine brings on building out and effectively implementing a compliance program at a global corporation will be invaluable to our clients, and her experience dealing with internal stakeholders in connection with complex, global investigations will position her to provide exceptional support to companies facing their own high stakes investigations. We are excited to have Christine join the firm and become part of our San Francisco Bay Area litigation team, and our Bay Area Investigations + White Collar Defense team. Jordan Eth, co-chair of Morrison & Foersters Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White Collar Defense Group, said that, Christine further enhances our ability to handle the full range of compliance, regulatory, enforcement, and litigation issues confronting our clients. Ms. Wong joining Morrison & Foerster highlights the firms commitment to adding leading lawyers in the San Francisco Bay Area market where it has long been a leader. Recent additions to the Litigation team include white-collar litigator Joshua Hill, Jr., also a former AUSA in the Northern District of California, and a group of six intellectual property litigators led by Stefani Shanberg and Jennifer Schmidt. I am very impressed with Morrison & Foersters strong focus on investigations and compliance work including a wide breadth and depth of offerings, as well as its deep bench of lawyers who used to hold significant government roles, added Ms. Wong. The firm has an outstanding reputation for its litigation work. I look forward to working with the remarkable team at Morrison & Foerster and having the opportunity to advise the firms global clients. Ms. Wong becomes the latest member of an experienced and effective team of former senior federal and state prosecutors and regulators at Morrison & Foerster. Over the last few months, the firm has welcomed as partners Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin E. Fairfax, a former federal prosecutor, who also joined the Investigations + White Collar Defense group, John E. Smith, former director of the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control, who joined as a co-head of the National Security Practice, and Lisa Phelan, former Chief of the National Criminal Enforcement and Washington Criminal I Sections of the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, who joined the Global Antitrust Law Practice. ABOUT MOFO Morrison & Foerster is a global firm with exceptional credentials. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, investment banks, Fortune 100, and technology and life sciences companies. The Financial Times has named the firm to its lists of most innovative law firms in Northern America and Asia every year that it has published its Innovative Lawyers Reports in those regions. In the past few years, Chambers USA has honored MoFos Bankruptcy and IP teams with Firm of the Year awards, the Corporate/M&A team with a client service award, and the firm as a whole as Global USA Firm of the Year. Our lawyers are committed to achieving innovative and business-minded results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education for poor children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, winning asylum for the persecuted, and safeguarding the environment. Michael Herod, Co-Founder of GOEFER Our tenants are supporting each other as they test innovative and cutting-edge technology. - Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner Early-stage technology company GOEFER has teamed up with ROOTs five partner organizations to conduct a pilot program of the companys proprietary energy technology, which analyzes energy usage and gives users greater control. ROOT, a collaborative business innovation center in downtown Frederick, is home to the Frederick County Office of Economic Development, the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, the Frederick Innovative Technology Center (FITCI), the Center for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST), and Hood Colleges Martha E. Church Center for Community & Civic Engagement. GOEFER operates out of FITCIs incubator in ROOT. This kind of collaboration is exactly what we were hoping to see take place inside ROOT, said County Executive Jan Gardner. Our tenants are supporting each other as they test innovative and cutting-edge technology. As part of the pilot, 30 offices and 11 common areas in ROOTs historic three-story building were outfitted with GOEFERs Advanced Powerstrips, which communicate wirelessly. Users can monitor plugged-in devices and track their progress through a customized dashboard on GOEFERs app. This five-week pilot program will provide the startup company with 780-million specific data points to FITCI CEO Kathie Callahan Brady is excited to see the initiative moving forward. Startup companies and other small businesses have notoriously thin budgets, Brady said. Every penny counts. These are people driven by passion who risk everything on a chance to follow their dreams. Giving them the insight to use resources wisely while supporting a greener planet is a definite win-win.support product development. GOEFERs customers range from managers of large buildings with hundreds of employees to individual home owners. We always hear about scaling up and plugging into a citys grand skyscraper skyline, says Michael Herod, co-founder of GOEFER. This pilot program is about tuning in to the millions of small businesses who want to be good stewards of their resources and giving them the same level of comprehension and control as a much larger corporation. Over the next few weeks, GOEFER will process data and complete a customized dashboard. Results will show tenants how to fine-tune usage schedules and reveal which specific electronic devices have the highest draw. Advanced Powerstrips can then be programmed to completely power down select machines at off hours. Findings can also help users uncover how a certain brand or model compares to a similar piece of equipment, which is helpful in informing future purchases. About GOEFER: Based in Frederick, Maryland, GOEFER was founded in 2015 and is a client of the Frederick Innovative Technology Center. Their system has collected, processed and analyzed more than 5.6-billion data points in the last six months. The results help customers make product comparisons, tailor usage schedules and flag energy wasters, commonly known as the vampire load. (Every glowing status light sneakily siphons energy.) Visit goefer.com for more information about GOEFERs commercial or residential energy solutions. About ROOT: ROOT is where business ideas are born. A vision of Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner, ROOT is a one-stop public-private partnership to jump-start new businesses and energize innovation in Frederick County. The partner organizations at ROOT provide innovative services to assist all types of businesses including networking events, meetup groups, business pitch services, classes, seminars and more. To learn more about ROOT, visit http://www.rootfrederick.com. Hulu's 'The First' wins prestigious Odyssey Award from EarthLight Foundation " The First brings real people into the equation... After all, it's not rockets and robots who will open space, but people - with all their issues and challenges, fears and foibles. The First shows us how even with the baggage of being human, we can aspire to reach the heights of our dreams." The EarthLight Foundation and New Worlds Institute are proud to announce the presentation of the Odyssey Award to Hulus "The First. Created by Beau Willimon (HOUSE OF CARDS) alongside his producing partner, Jordan Tappis, and starring Sean Penn and Natascha McElhone, The First tells the story of the first humans to go to Mars. The Odyssey Award will be presented to the The First at the Space Cowboy Ball, an avant garde awards dinner, costume ball, party, and fundraiser benefiting space education. This year's event will be held on November 10th at the AT&T Conference Center Grand Ballroom, in the heart of the University of Texas in Austin. The event is open for all to attend (space, future, or steam-punk themed costumes are suggested). Tickets are available at SpaceCowboyBall.org. " The First brings real people into the equation of our future on the frontier," said EarthLight founder Rick Tumlinson. "After all, it's not rockets and robots who will open space, but people - with all their issues and challenges, fears and foibles. The First shows us how even with the baggage of being human, we can aspire to reach the heights of our dreams." The EarthLight Executive Committee believes that through its depictions of what is possible, and who will make it happen, The First serves the cause of opening the space frontier by expanding the audience of those who stand to benefit when it happens, and helping both explain and create inspiration for those who will be the first to go to the New Worlds of space. Beau and I are honored to accept The Odyssey Award on behalf of the entire cast and crew of The First," said Jordan Tappis, executive producer of "The First. "The EarthLight Foundation continues to do admirable work in the fields of space technology and education and we are grateful to be part of their 2018 Space Cowboy Ball and New Worlds Fair and Symposium. This is the second Odyssey Award to be presented, with SyFy channel's The Expanse accepting the award in 2017. Other awards to be presented at the Space Cowboy Ball are the Permission to Dream Award for outstanding educators who inspire the next generation of space farers, and the Space Cowboy Award, for pioneering leadership in opening the space frontier. The Space Cowboy Ball caps off the New Worlds Fair and Symposium, a three day event featuring The Texas Space Summit, the Cities In Space Student Conference (where over 500 school children design their own space colonies), and the Space Settlement Symposium, featuring academic and policy discussions focused on the human settlement of the frontier and the popular 'Sharks in Space' NewSpace Business Plan Competition. More information about the New Worlds Fair & Symposium and the Space Cowboy Ball can be found online at http://www.NewWorlds.space. C. Yoga Chandran, PhD, PE, GE, has joined HNTB in Southern California as project director and vice president. With his demonstrated project management and leadership skills, he is a valuable asset to our expanding team of professionals working on many of the regions most visible projects. C. Yoga Chandran, PhD, PE, GE, has joined HNTB Corporation in Southern California as project director and vice president. Based in HNTBs Santa Ana office, Chandran is supporting the firms work on some of the most complex infrastructure projects throughout the region. Chandran brings more than 30 years of experience in a broad range of technically challenging engineering projects, including project management, planning, design, project assessment and environmental documents, bid documents and seismic analysis. He has served in key roles on tunnel and geotechnical studies for both highway and transit tunnels. Dr. Chandrans is an accomplished professional whose broad range of infrastructure expertise significantly benefits our Southern California transportation clients, said Tom Ellis, PE, HNTB Southern California office leader and senior vice president. With his demonstrated project management and leadership skills, he is a valuable asset to our expanding team of professionals working on many of the regions most visible projects. Prior to joining HNTB, Chandran worked for another engineering firm where he managed projects for the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Caltrans District 7. Chandran served as the overall program manager for the $900 million Bridge Improvement Program for the City of Los Angeles and assisted the city to obtain the project approval and environmental document for the $400M Sixth Street Bridge Replacement project. Chandran led the effort as the project manager on the Caltrans I-710 Tunnel Technical study to evaluate the feasibility of using a bored tunnel to close the gap on I-710, between I-10 and I-210. For LA Metro, Chandran served as the project manager for the highly complex I-710 North Project to obtain Project Approval and Environmental Document, by evaluating multimodal alternatives to alleviate congestion in western San Gabriel Valley and east/northeast Los Angeles, a study area that covered 100 square miles. Chandran worked closely with both Metro and Caltrans District 7 to deliver the Draft Environmental document in little over two years, a major accomplishment for a project with such complexity. Chandran is a licensed professional engineer and a registered geotechnical engineer in California. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of California, Davis. HNTB is a leading infrastructure solutions firm in the U.S., with roots to the West since beginning work on Pasadenas Arroyo Seco Bridge in 1914, the firms first year of operation. HNTB has since been involved in some of the regions most high-profile, complex infrastructure programs that are reshaping the West, including the Interstate 405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements project, the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion for Los Angeles World Airports; and the Green Build expansion at San Diego International Airport. About HNTB HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure solutions firm serving public and private owners and contractors. HNTBs work in California dates back to its founding in 1914. Today, HNTB continues to grow in size and service offerings to clients in California from eight office locations, currently employing more than 350 full-time professionals. With more than a century of service, HNTB understands the life cycle of infrastructure and addresses clients most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. Professionals nationwide deliver a full range of infrastructure-related services, including award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management. For more information, visit http://www.hntb.com. Elizabeth Valentin, Esq., a partner in the law firm, Littman Krooks LLP Doing this seminar is particularly important to me given that it is targeted to the Latino community, for whom language access is an ongoing issue. Im a firm believer that true access to this information is essential in supporting a seniors autonomy in decision-making." Elizabeth Valentin, Esq., a partner in the law firm Littman Krooks LLP, will be speaking at the 19th Annual Senior Law Day at the Westchester County Center in White Plains on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. Her presentation will be targeted to the Spanish-speaking community in Westchester and will focus on the legal and financial aspects of estate planning. This is the seventh year that Elizabeth has been conducting this presentation in Spanish at Senior Law Day in White Plains. She says, Doing this seminar is particularly important to me given that it is targeted to the Latino community, for whom language access is an ongoing issue. Im a firm believer that true access to this information is essential in supporting a seniors autonomy in decision-making. I feel a responsibility to ensure that those in my own community are able to understand these important issues. Her presentation begins at 11:00AM and is titled Planificacion de Bienes: Testamentos, Cuidados Medicos y Finanzas. In response to the demand for this information in Spanish, Elizabeth also presented this topic in June at Senior Law Day at the Yonkers Riverfront Library. Elizabeth focuses her practice in elder law, guardianship, trusts and estates, special needs planning and asset protection. She is Certified as an Elder Law Attorney (CELA) by the National Elder Law Foundation (NELF). Elizabeth is fluent in Spanish and involved with various advocacy organizations that assist the Spanish-speaking senior communities of Westchester County and New York City. She is also a frequent presenter to consumer and professional groups addressing the legal and financial issues affecting our senior population. Click here to learn about Elizabeth Valentin. About Littman Krooks Littman Krooks LLP provides sophisticated legal advice and the high level of expertise ordinarily associated with large law firms along with the personal attention and responsiveness of smaller firms. These ingredients, which are the cornerstone of effective representation and are necessary to a successful lawyer/client relationship, have become the foundation of the firms success. Littman Krooks LLP offers legal services in several areas of law, including elder law, estate planning, special needs planning, special education advocacy, and corporate and securities. Their offices are located at 399 Knollwood Road, White Plains, New York and 655 Third Avenue, New York, New York. Visit the firms website at http://www.littmankrooks.com Mary King, a licensed practical nurse at a small hospital in Fredericktown, Missouri, has completed her new book The Beginning: an enthralling book of Katie and Bryans unhinging moments of near-death and action after being held hostage by dangerous men. Author King shows through the books characters toils of the unexpected dangers of the world: As Katie and Bryan started to open the door to leave the restaurant, three men in dark clothes and with automatic guns in their hands came rushing into the restaurant, shoving them back inside. The tallest of the men grabbed Katie by her shoulder and turned her around and shoved her into a booth next to the door. Stay there, he ordered, if you dont want to die. Bryan stepped forward as to challenge the robbers, only to meet with the end butt of the gun. Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Mary Kings riveting tale is filled with drama and suspense that readers will surely find truly entertaining. Readers who wish to experience this avant-garde work can purchase The Beginning at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time-consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. The Money Management Institute (MMI) has selected Jim Tracy, Managing Director, Head of Consulting Group and Practice Management at Morgan Stanley, as its 2018 Advisory Solutions Pioneer. Mr. Tracy will receive the award during the 2018 MMI/Barrons Industry Awards Dinner on October 16, 2018 at the MMI Annual Conference in Dallas. The prestigious Pioneer Award, the highest honor in the investment advisory solutions industry, was first bestowed in 1998. It recognizes individuals who embody MMIs mission to serve as advocates and catalysts for the advancement of the advisory solutions and wealth management industry. This award is given annually to an industry leader who exemplifies the pioneer spirit, said MMI Chair Patty Loepker, Managing Director, Head of Research Directed Advisory Programs at Wells Fargo Advisors, and Jim does just that. Over the course of his distinguished 35-year career, he has gained a deep appreciation of the issues facing investors and financial advisors and has spearheaded the development of groundbreaking solutions to meet their needs. Under Jims leadership, the Morgan Stanley Consulting Group has grown to over $1 trillion in assets and remains a pioneering and innovative force in the advisory solutions space. Jim is one of the most widely-known and accomplished leaders in our industry, said MMI President and CEO Craig Pfeiffer. Our organization has been extremely fortunate to benefit from his involvement and perspective over the years. Jim served as Chair of the MMI Board of Governors in 2010-2011 and was recently appointed to a second term on the Board. This speaks to his enduring leadership, the deep respect of his industry colleagues, and most importantly to his singular focus on delivering better outcomes for financial advisors and their clients. Mr. Tracy, who joins a prestigious roster of previous Pioneer Award winners, said, Having been involved with MMI in numerous capacities over the course of my career, Im deeply honored to be recognized with the Pioneer Award. I am keenly aware of its significance and am privileged to join the distinguished group of past honorees all of whom share my commitment to the advisory industry and its vital role in helping investors achieve their financial goals and life dreams. It has been a privilege to work closely with MMI over the years and to have been part of its development into an industry-leading organization. I also accept this award on behalf of my incredible team. There are many people who have been a part of our Consulting Group for many years, and I see this honor as a testament to what we have collectively achieved. In addition to his current role as head of Morgan Stanleys Consulting Group, Practice Management, and Graystone Consulting, Mr. Tracy was previously the Director of National Sales and Business Development. Earlier in his career, he served as a financial advisor, branch manager, and regional director, gaining broad experience working with clients, advisors, and asset managers. Under Mr. Tracys guidance, Morgan Stanley was the first wirehouse to launch a Unified Managed Account (UMA) program and to offer firm discretion and financial advisor discretion under the UMA structure. He has also overseen the growth of the industrys largest Separately Managed Account (SMA) business. Mr. Tracy led Morgan Stanleys efforts to integrate Smith Barneys advisory programs, ultimately leading to the development of industry-leading advisory technologies and solutions. Most recently, under his guidance, Morgan Stanley introduced Elevate, an on-demand, digital Practice Management University offering training and education for all financial advisors at Morgan Stanley, recognized in 2017 by MMI as the Advisor Development platform of the year. Outside of his work at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Tracy is a trustee of the Marietta College Board and has contributed numerous articles, presentations, and keynote speeches on trends and innovations in the financial services industry. About the Money Management Institute (MMI): Since 1997 MMI has been the leading voice for the global financial services organizations that provide financial advice and professionally-managed investment advisory solutions to individual and institutional investors. Through programs focused on member interaction, education and professional development, data analytics and insight, next-generation initiatives, and thought leadership and advocacy, MMI supports and advances the growth of a diverse spectrum of investment advisory solutions that serve an evolving worldwide financial landscape. MMI member organizations are committed to the highest standards of fiduciary responsibility and ethical conduct and to creating the most successful outcomes for investors at every level of assets. For more information, visit http://www.MMInst.org. Monroe College, the U.S.-based institution offering Associate, Bachelor's, and Master's degree programs from its campus in Castries, today held its Annual Commencement for local graduates. Dame Calliopa Pearlette Louisy, the former Governor-General of St. Lucia, delivered the keynote address. The ceremony was held at Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa & Beach Resort in Gros-Islet to accommodate the sizable number of families and friends in attendance to celebrate the academic achievements of the students earning their degrees. Terry Deligny, a member of the Colleges faculty, served as Grand Marshal for the opening processional. Pastor Daryl St. Clair of the Marantha District of Seventh-Day Adventists gave the invocation. Monroe College President Marc Jerome offered welcoming remarks, as did Alex Ephrem, Senior Vice President overseeing the Colleges graduate programs, and Augustus Small, Dean of Administration for the St. Lucia campus. Dame Pearlette Louisy, the first woman in St. Lucia to serve as the countrys Governor-General, gave a rousing keynote address to great applause. It is my great privilege to officially recognize this class as alumni of Monroe College, said President Jerome as he instructed the students during the ceremony to move their tassels to the left. The Commencement tradition symbolizes the students new status as college graduates. The Class of 2018 included students from St. Lucia as well as Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, India, Nigeria, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines, among others. The ceremony began with a parade of flags, with each flag carried by a student from that country. Monroe College celebrated its tenth anniversary in St. Lucia last year. The St. Lucia campus, located on Vide Boutielle Highway in Castries, offers students from the Caribbean a broad array of educational opportunities through programs offered through Monroes Schools of Allied Health Professions, Business & Accounting, Criminal Justice, Hospitality Management and the Culinary Institute of New York, and Information Technology. On Friday, the College celebrated the launch of the new International Hospitality Training Institute, a partnership with the St. Lucian government to prepare residents for entry-level travel and tourism jobs. The Training Institute is located in the southern town of Vieux Fort. ABOUT MONROE COLLEGE Founded in 1933, Monroe College is a recognized leader in urban and international education. The College is proud of its innovative programs to increase college access, affordability, and completion outcomes, especially among first-generation students. The strength of its warm, supportive culture is reflected in the personal connections fostered among students, faculty, and staff. Monroe educates close to 8,000 students each year, offering Certificate, Associate, Bachelors, and Masters degree programs from campuses in the Bronx, New Rochelle, and St. Lucia. Students may also take courses online. For more information and admissions criteria, please visit http://www.monroecollege.edu. Monroe College, a leader in educating urban and international students, today welcomed students to the first day of classes for its new International Hospitality Training Institute in St. Lucia. A celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday. The College created the Training Institute in partnership with the government of St. Lucia to provide a pathway for local residents to train for entry-level hospitality and tourism sector jobs, a mainstay of the islands economy. Marc Jerome, president of Monroe College, led the inaugural ceremony with College officials on Friday at the Training Institute in the southern town of Vieux Fort. The College was honored to have the Honorable Jeannine Giraudy-McIntyre, President of the Senate in St. Lucia, cut the ceremonial ribbon at the new facility. Also in attendance were: Stephen Auguste, District Six Education Officer; Oracia Denbow-Bullen, Mayor of Vieux Fort; Nancy Charles, Project Implementation Officer; Andy Daniel, Speaker of the House; Benjamin Emmanuel, Cabinet Secretary and Monroe College alumni; Senator Hermangil Francis, Minister for National Security; Elmagene Isaac, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs/OECS Ambassador; Windy Moncherry, Coordinator of the National Apprentice Programme (NAP); Carolyn Trobetskoy; President of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, and Roger Winter, Project Officer of the National Apprentice Programme (NAP). Travel and tourism are significant contributors to St. Lucias economy. Earlier this year, the Caribbean Tourism Organization reported that the number of leisure visitors to St. Lucia hit an all-time high in 2017. Also worth noting: a World Travel & Tourism Council study forecasts that the hospitality sector will account for more than 60% of total employment for local residents over the next nine years. St. Lucias tourism sector is growing and we commend the Governments vision to launch a facility where local residents can obtain the professional training required to successfully enter that growing job market, said Marc Jerome, president of Monroe College. He added: The faculty and staff of our renowned School of Hospitality Management have put together an exceptional curriculum designed to deliver the top-notch professional training todays employers demand. It was a pleasure to welcome the Training Institutes first students to campus earlier today. Five certificate programs are offered, with training on professionalism and the essential soft skills that hospitality employers demand incorporated into each track. Students may train in: Bartending, Event Planning and Logistics, Front Office / Guest Services, Food & Beverage Service, or Housekeeping. The first cohort of students admitted into the program began classes today. Applications are now being accepted for the next class term, which begins January 22, 2019. The Training Institute is open to residents throughout the Caribbean region, with priority admission granted to St. Lucia residents. Monroe Colleges International Hospitality Training Institute is located at the Industrial Estate complex on Vieux Fort Laborie Highway in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia. For more information and to apply, please contact: National Apprenticeship Programme Office of the Prime Minister 2nd Floor, Chitolie Building Beanefield, Vieux Fort (Saint Lucia) Information is also available by calling the National Apprenticeship Programme at 718-454-8263 or the International Hospitality Training Institute at 758-456-3239. Monroe College celebrated its tenth anniversary in St. Lucia last year. The St. Lucia campus, located on Vide Boutielle Highway in Castries, offers students from the Caribbean a broad array of educational opportunities through programs offered through Monroes Schools of Allied Health Professions, Business & Accounting, Criminal Justice, Hospitality Management and the Culinary Institute of New York, and Information Technology. ABOUT MONROE COLLEGE Founded in 1933, Monroe College is a recognized leader in urban and international education. The College is proud of its innovative programs to increase college access, affordability, and completion outcomes, especially among first-generation students. The strength of its warm, supportive culture is reflected in the personal connections fostered among students, faculty, and staff. Monroe educates close to 8,000 students each year, offering Certificate, Associate, Bachelors, and Masters degree programs from campuses in the Bronx, New Rochelle, and St. Lucia. Students may also take courses online. For more information and admissions criteria, please visit http://www.monroecollege.edu. # # # Legal operations baseline responsibility should be to let lawyers be lawyers while removing the administrative burdens. Houston, October 15, 2018 Morae Global Corporation, the full-service, technology-enabled, integrated solution provider for the legal and compliance function, hosted the panel, The Law Department as a Business Enabler, during the 57th Annual Corporate Counsel Institute (CCI) at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago. Including panelist Heidi Rudolph, Morae Global Managing Director, the discussion explored the corporate law departments mission to protect and enable, with a focus on how to become a business enabler through the right people, process and systems. The session was moderated by Morae Global Director Chuki Obiyo. Legal operations baseline responsibility should be to let lawyers be lawyers while removing the administrative burdens, says Rudolph. Once the trains are running, legal ops can assist in more strategic legal business responsibilities. Obiyo and Rudolph were joined on the panel by: Megan Agnew, Senior Counsel M&A and Transactions at Conagra Todd Sheldon, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at PulteGroup Dennis Kennedy, Former Vice President and Senior Counsel at Mastercard The Institute featured leading practitioners, academics and regulatory officials who provide in-house counsel with updates on legal developments and current issues impacting business. The Corporate Counsel Institute is designed exclusively by a committee of general counsel from some of the nations leading corporations. It provides a unique forum to learn from leading regulators and practitioners in the field and for peers to network and discuss the latest issues important to todays in-house counsel. For more information about Corporate Counsel Institute, please visit http://www.law.northwestern.edu/professional-life/professional-education/programs/cci/ Morae Global is headquartered in Houston and has offices in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., London, Bangalore, Zurich, and Hong Kong. For more information about Morae Globals legal solutions, visit - http://www.moraeglobal.com. #### About Morae Global Corporation Morae Global Corporation provides end-to-end legal and compliance solutions to General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officers. Moraes team of experts is comprised of some of the most seasoned and knowledgeable professionals in the legal industry who are trusted to transform legal and compliance departments worldwide. Core service lines include CLUTCH Information Management & eDiscovery; Legal & Compliance Consulting Solutions; and Alternative Legal Services. Using performance-based management consulting and technology-enabled information, discovery, and on-demand legal services, Morae Global is redefining the business of law. Morae Global has offices throughout the United States, including in Houston, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C., and internationally in London, Bangalore, Zurich and Hong Kong. For more information about Morae Globals legal solutions, visit http://www.moraeglobal.com. Owner - Nada Vergili | Passionate philanthropist & travel expert. What I enjoy mostly about my business is touching that little part in peoples hearts reminding them that they can enjoy life no matter their circumstances. Top rated and award winning exclusive small group travel specialist, Nada's Italy is launching its second major South Florida event since opening its second location earlier this summer in downtown Delray Beach. On Thursday, October 25th, Nada's Italy will host a community focused event to drive awareness and relief for the less fortunate youth of South Florida. This luxury affair will be topped with a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce. Nada's Italy was started by Italian-born Nada Vergili, an expat from Florence who moved to the USA and developed the business in 2004 with a strong passion for sharing her culture with the American public. She coined an intriguing slogan "Tours for people who don't go on tours.", catering to active adult travelers wanting to experience Italy in a more intimate, stress-free, relaxed way, without the high-paced structured schedules of large-scale tours. One of Nada's strongest passions is helping those who are less privileged, especially the youth. Throughout the years, she has worked diligently to partner with some of the best charities nationally and locally. This drive has created a connection like no other with the Milagro Center and 4KIDS. For the last 21 years, Milagro Center's uniquely integrated programs have focused on empowering economically-disadvantaged and academically at-risk youth and their families to succeed, both in school and in life, having a resounding positive influence on our Delray Beach, Florida community. 4KIDS believes every child deserves to be in a home with a loving family. It is the goal of 4KIDS to see more siblings stay together, to see every child inside a real home with a family, and to stay in their own community where they can thrive. 4KIDS does this through hundreds of foster families, all committed to walking the whole journey with a child. Over the last 20 years 4KIDS has served 25,000 children in south Florida providing them with hope, homes and healing. Nada's intention for the Delray Beach store is to make it a central place for residents and visitors to connect around "all-things-Italian" through Italian classes, travel workshops, and fund-raising events for local non-profits. To add to this Italian-themed experience, everyone who walks through the door will receive exclusive discounts on Nada's imported Italian products and enjoy authentic Italian food & wine. Nada's Italy will donate a portion of profits from the night to both 4KIDS and Milagro Center. Nada invites those with a passion for philanthropy and travel to join her for this momentous occasion. The event is on October 25th from 6pm - 8pm and is free to attend. Donald Morgan Edwards has challenged students at the high school and collegiate level to think creatively for the past 37 years. An instructor of math and science, an assignment he gave his students to explore what life would be like living in a biodome sparked his interest in writing his science fiction series and the anticipated second book in the series, Kairos: Quest for a New World. In this installment, a ship full of new colonists arrive at the planet Kairos 15 years after the arrival of the first human colonist ship. These arrivals soon discover what life is like on Kairos and study the dangerous creatures that roam the planet and threaten their safety. While the colony continues their goal of expansion, newfound developments and obstacles challenge their goal of obtaining safe life for all on Kairos. Edwards is no stranger to the world of space exploration. As a frequent attender of a variety of science workshops and conventions, he stays up-to-date on current developments in space exploration. His knowledge of science, physics and space excursions has resulted in this thrilling story that portrays what life could be like as a human inhabitant on a new planet. My aim is to create an interest in future space travel and to develop a realistic imagination of what could be accomplished in the not so distant future, said Edwards. Kairos is a book of fiction but Ive based it on the advancement of present technology. An outstanding addition to the series, Kairos: Quest for a New World will captivate readers with its engaging characters, action-packed encounters, new romances, and its authentic portrayal of the potential of human space exploration on distant planets. Kairos: Quest for a New World By Donald Edwards ISBN: 978-1-9845-3012-7 (softcover); 978-1-9845-3013-4 (hardcover); 978-1-9845-3011-0 (electronic) Available at the Xlibris Online Bookstore, Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the author Donald Morgan Edwards is a longtime resident of Clovis, California where he has served as an instructor of math and science for 37 years. He earned a masters degree in physics from California State University Fresno and a bachelors degree in math education from Oklahoma University. He is a member of the Planetary Society, the California Teachers Association and the National Teachers Association. He lives with his wife, Virginia of 57 years and they have two grown children, six grandchildren, and one great-grandson. To learn more, please visit http://www.donaldmorganedwards.com/ Inspired by the frustrations of past veterans and the authors own admiration of famous military battles, the late author Max Horlick has shared insightful and colorful tales of battles, leaders and military decisions in his new book, SNAFU. The book describes in colorful detail on 10 unexpected but influential historical military disasters, dating from a famous battle between the Greeks and Persians in 480 BCE to the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. I was personally involved in WWII, which was marked by constant challenges and constant mistakes, Horlick said of his military experience. Later, I read about all the other episodes that I covered in the book and became interested in situations where great preparedness by dominating forces succumbed to unpredictable elements. Many of which were notable and critical battles. An Archway reviewer said about the book, SNAFU is eye-opening and informative. Max Horlick presents a refreshing, unfiltered view of famous battles from both US and world history. Each short chapter reads like an OHenry tale except that they are true! I learned fascinating historical facts while caught up in the battles. As a military veteran myself, I gleaned practical lessons learned, while enjoying a terrific read! SNAFU: Unexpected Military Disasters in History is a book that historical military enthusiasts and veterans alike will find enjoy learning about how military mistakes of our past impacted the future. SNAFU: Unexpected Military Disasters in History By Max Horlick ISBN: 9781480860490 (softcover); 9781480860506 (hardcover); 9781480860483 (electronic) Available at the Archway Publishing Online Bookstore, Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the author Max Horlick received training at the secret Camp Ritchie Military Intelligence Training Center, and served in the European Theater of Operations in military intelligence in France, Belgium and Germany. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2007, retroactive to 1954. He wrote SNAFU, his third book, at the age of 99. Max Horlick passed away in April 2018 at the age of 100 as his book went to press. OTTC providing state-of-the-art services to customers including Fiber to the Home! This commendation reflects the commitment of our companies to provide the best service to our customers, said Paul H. Griswold, President & CEO Ontario & Trumansburg Telephone Companies (OTTC) has been awarded a commendation for excellence in service quality to consumers during 2017 from the New York State Public Service Commission. Every year, the commission recognizes telephone companies that provide exemplary service to their customers. Among its standards for recognition, the PSC requires that customer trouble report rates must be less than 3.3 percent per 100 access lines. The criteria include evaluation of customer trouble report rates (CTRR) and the number of consumer complaints received by the Commission. "This commendation reflects the commitment of our companies to provide the best service to our customers, said Paul H. Griswold, President & CEO. This is an honor and a tribute to the OTTC employees who work hard to preserve our standard of excellence. The NYS Public Service Commission has a broad mandate to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to reliable and low-cost utility services. The Commission regulates the states electric, gas, steam, telecommunications, and water utilities. The Commission is charged by law with responsibility for setting rates and ensuring that adequate service is provided by New Yorks utilities. About OTTC The Ontario & Trumansburg Telephone Companies (OTTC) and their subsidiaries form the largest independently-owned telephone Company in New York State, providing phone and internet services to more than 12,000 residential and business customers. Founded in 1920, OTTC is a five generation, family-led business that keeps innovation at its core with nearly 100 years of experience. Open Source Healthcare Journal Open source is fundamental. The fact that we dont have open healthcare reflects the deepness of our problem, said Eric Topol, MD. The debut issue of the Open Source Healthcare Journal, a magazine advocating innovative open-source solutions in health, will be available for preview by over 2,000 technology innovators and healthcare providers at the Connected Health Conference at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, October 17-19. The Open Source Healthcare Journal's forward-looking point of view is the perfect match for the industry-leading conference, known for provocative discussions on the future of tech-enabled health. The first issue of the journal published by GoInvo, a healthcare design studio located in Arlington, Massachusetts features a Q&A with digital health leader and best-selling author Eric Topol, MD as well as articles by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn of HealthcareDIY and Juhan Sonin of MIT and GoInvo. We demand that our healthcare services be open to inspect and correct bias, and to be accessible for rapid innovation and evolution, said Juhan Sonin, director of GoInvo. Together with leaders and progressive thinkers in digital health, we are having a dialogue about open source in healthcare. We need to put a fine point on a mission critical part of our healthcare system, that is dominated by closed services, limited access, lack of transparency into pricing, and no patient-data ownership, which impacts all of our health. Sarasohn-Kahn is a health economist and advisor supporting organizations at the intersection of health, technology and people. She founded THINK-Health and the Health Populi blog after working for 10 years with healthcare consultancies in the U.S. and Europe. Her clients are all stakeholders in health: technology, bio/life sciences, providers, plans, retail, financial services, food and consumer goods. Sarasohn-Kahn is a frequent speaker and also contributes to the Huffington Post. Open source is fundamental. The fact that we dont have open healthcare reflects the deepness of our problem, said Topol. Topol is a classically trained clinician who fights for patient rights as the atomic unit of healthcare, a stance outlined in his book The Patient Will See You Now. His Precision Medicine Initiative, funded by the National Institutes of Health, aims to build hyper-personalized medical solutions all under the umbrella of open science, open results, and open outcomes for all humans. Jane Sarasohn-Kahn and Eric Topol are healthcare visionaries who know the power of openness and transparency said Sonin, who serves as the editor of the Open Source Healthcare Journal. By open sourcing all of our research and designs, it enables everyone trying to create better outcomes from the patients themselves to corporate interests to government health IT to build upon our work for their own initiatives. GoInvos own open-source initiatives have been featured in publications such as WIRED, NPR, and Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare Magazine. The Open Source Healthcare Journal will be available for general public distribution in both print and digital formats on Thursday, November 8, 2018 from http://www.opensourcehealthcare.org as well as via Amazon, Apple iBooks Store, and local booksellers. About GoInvo GoInvos design practice is dedicated to innovation in healthcare. Over the past decade, weve created beautiful software for patients, clinicians, researchers, and administrators, working with organizations as far-reaching as AstraZeneca, Becton Dickinson, Johnson and Johnson, 3M Health Information Services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Walgreens. We are a mission-driven organization made up of expert designers, engineers, researchers, and futurists, founded on the idea of making tangible and positive change in the world. Visit http://www.goinvo.com to learn more about how were designing the future of healthcare. One of the several MAAC Training School tool boards Performance Advantage Company has contributed its mounting bracket kits and labels to the Multi Agency Academic Cooperatives Public Safety Training School. To PACs Greg Young, its a win-win situation. We do this to help the MAAC train first responders, while the tools stay organized and in good repair, he said. The MAAC Public Safety Training campus, located in Valparaiso, Ind., includes a 4-story (40-foot) search and rescue tower, 2-story live burn building, flashover unit, 2-story residential training structure, ventilation props, forcible entry props, drafting pond, vehicle extrication pad, one story multi-use structure, fire extinguisher and propane fire training areas, indoor apparatus training space and classrooms. All systems on campus are designed and manufactured to meet National Fire Protection Association requirements. In 2016, the McMillan Family Foundation, Inc., in partnership with the Indiana District 1 Firefighter Training Council, established the MAAC Foundation in order to better serve all public safety professionals. The MAAC Foundation has been charged with developing training opportunities for firefighters, police officers, and EMS. This is being achieved through the offerings of combined classroom and practical application programs that provide advanced levels of critical thinking and functioning in preparedness and response. Moreover, MAAC is dedicated to supporting and meeting the needs of existing Indiana District 1 training sites. Diverse class offerings include HAZMAT, extrication, law enforcement tactical, fighting propane fires and more. Due to the generous support of donors, there is no cost to use the facility unless consumables are used for training. Firefighters and first responders are required to face new and evolving challenges while regulations and requirements are getting more difficult. About the company: Performance Advantage Company, established in 1992, is a privately-owned company that manufactures and markets high-quality tool-mounting brackets. PACs primary market is the fire industry, providing specialty tool-mounting solutions for fire apparatus. Other markets include the military, law enforcement, EMS, utilities and the Homeland Security Department. PAC provides adjustable mounts, universal mounts, friction locking brackets, custom tool boards and more. A full list of their products and specifications can be found on their website. Performance Advantage Company is headquartered in Lancaster, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, and sells its products directly or through a worldwide network of dealers. Please visit PAC on the web for more information at http://www.pactoolmounts.com or find them on Facebook. PERQs business ethos, management and technology teams are top notch, and we are proud to join with other key members of the Indianapolis tech family in helping bring PERQs solution to a wider audience. PERQ, experts in online consumer engagement and shopping behavior, today announced it closed a $5 million funding round to fuel the expansion of its award-winning Artificial Intelligence-driven SAAS solution for big ticket retailers into multiple verticals. The funding comes exclusively from Indianapolis technology leaders and is led by Elevate Ventures. PERQs online guided shopping solution boosts website conversion by dynamically changing existing websites to deliver the next best step in each buyers shopping journey. Its currently used by over 1,000 businesses in the automotive, multifamily and home furnishing verticals where it is generating significant increases in lead generation, closing ratios and gross profits. The solution is driving company growth, including an over 72% increase in new clients and a 170% increase in revenues YOY. This round is especially gratifying as it comes from over nine leaders in our community, the Indianapolis tech corridor leaders who know how to recognize a game-changing technology when they see it, said Andy Medley, CEO and Co-founder of PERQ. This investment will enable us to enter new industries that desperately need an easy-to-implement AI-driven solution that improves the consumer experience, drives traffic in-store and increases profits. Elevate Ventures participated alongside nine other Indianapolis-based angel investors and investment groups, including Collina Ventures; former executives from T2 Systems; Tim Kopp, former CMO of ExactTarget; and the Co-founders of One Click Ventures. The funding round follows a $1.7 million round in 2016. PERQs solution has a singular position in the market, there really is nothing else quite like it, said Chris LaMothe, CEO of Elevate Ventures. PERQ is using AI to drive real, tangible results for retailers and businesses who, until now, have lacked an effective solution for making their websites intelligence meet that of their customers. PERQs business ethos, management and technology teams are top notch, and we are proud to join with other key members of the Indianapolis tech family in helping bring PERQs solution to a wider audience." About PERQ PERQ (http://www.perq.com), boosts website conversion through its online guided shopping solution which leverages artificial intelligence to dynamically change existing websites to deliver the next best step in each buyers shopping journey. As experts in online consumer engagement and behavior, PERQ leverages over 10 million consumer data points, along with real-time visitor behavior. Founded in 2001, PERQ solutions are used by more than 1,000 businesses in the home furnishing, auto retailing and multifamily industries. Its brands have been named to the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America list on three separate occasions. In 2017, PERQ won the Gold Stevie Award for lead generation software and Product of the Year in the Big Business Awards. About Elevate Ventures Elevate Ventures is a private venture development organization that nurtures and develops emerging and existing high-growth businesses into high-performing, Indiana-based companies. Elevate Ventures accomplishes this by providing access to capital, rigorous business analysis and robust advisory services that connect companies with the right mix of resources businesses need to succeed long term. To learn more about Elevate Ventures, visit elevateventures.com. PERQ Media Contacts Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, melanie@mwebbcom.com or 424-603-4340 Cassandra Cavanah, mWEBB Communications, Cassandra@mwebbcom.com or 818-397-4630 God Makes Sense: Revelation, Presence, and Contradictions: an inspiring roadmap to faith strengthened by reason. God Makes Sense is the creation of published author Pete Suarez, a family man, preacher, theology teacher, lecturer, and Miami-based Catholic radio host providing meditations to the days gospel reading. Suarez observes, In order to explain what God is like through reason and thinking, philosophy studies something called theodicy. This is the term given to the question: if God is all good, why does God allow evil to exist? It appears to be an apparent contradiction about the one God. However, consider the following: if everything in the world was evil, we would be slaves of evil, and if everything was good, we then would be slaves of good. To be free is to have options. The option to choose between one and the other allows us to be responsible for our actions and be aware of the great value found in freedom. It would not make sense then that a God who makes us free would first give us freedom and, on the other hand, remove our freedom. We, humans, are not doomed to repeat our mistakes. Rather, we have the opportunity to learn from them and improve our way of life. But as we all know, this does not always happen. On a daily basis, theology and psychology converge at some point. The emotional reality of human beings, which is the product of their upbringing, leads them to see God in some way. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Pete Suarezs new book is an eye-opening read for solidifying and confirming ones faith, wherever one is in their spiritual journey. God Makes Sense is also available in a Spanish language edition through the publishers. View a synopsis of God Makes Sense: Revelation, Presence, and Contradictions on YouTube. Consumers can purchase God Makes Sense: Revelation, Presence, and Contradictions at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about God Makes Sense: Revelation, Presence, and Contradictions, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Quality Insights Quality Innovation Network, the Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, is proud to announce that it is featured in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) newly released 2017 QIO Program Progress Report. Quality Insights is one of 14 QIN-QIOs that contributed to the Programs success in improving the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries throughout the United States. The annual QIO Program Progress Report highlights how QIN-QIOs nationwide are helping reduce clinician burden and support person-centered quality improvement initiatives that combat disparities and promote population health. It includes findings from the Programs past year and features recent success stories from around the country, data-driven results from QIN-QIOs and Beneficiary and Family-Centered Care (BFCC)-QIOs, and future priorities for the QIO Program. Both BFCC-QIOs and QIN-QIOs shined in their work in 2017, with QIN-QIOs seeing especially impactful results in the areas of medication safety, immunizations, care coordination, diabetes and nursing home care, said Dennis Wagner, director of the Quality Improvement and Innovation Group (QIIG) within CMSs Center for Clinical Standards and Quality. QIN-QIOs care transitions work contributed to over 50,900 readmissions avoided and 23 million beneficiaries potentially affected. QIN-QIOs diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) resulted in more than 5,300 diabetes educators trained and over 47,800 beneficiaries completing DSMES in 17 different languages. Together, QIN-QIOs and BFCC-QIOs helped improve the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of care provided to our nation's Medicare beneficiaries. In Quality Insights five-state network, collaborative projects with nursing homes have resulted in 3,500 fewer residents reporting moderate to severe pain. Partnerships with community coalitions, meanwhile, helped hospitals reduce avoidable readmissions by nearly 9,000, saving an estimated $104 million. And an opioid initiative with physicians offices contributed to nearly 40,000 fewer people with Medicare taking opioids in a one-year period. Seeing results like this is so rewarding for both Quality Insights and the providers we partner with who work so tirelessly to improve the health of the people in their communities, said Rebecca Cochran, RN, MSN, CPHQ, Quality Insights QIN Director. One specific example of Quality Insights successful quality improvement activities related to documentation of vaccine administration can be viewed in the reports Snapshots of Success section. The QIO Program Progress Report is available online at http://progressreport.qioprogram.org/. A printable PDF version is also available for download from that site. About Quality Insights Based in Charleston, West Virginia with offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Quality Insights specializes in developing and maintaining measures of health care quality, collecting and analyzing performance data, and providing both collaborative learning opportunities and individualized technical assistance to health care providers in all settings. Its 300+ employees and consultants support quality initiatives from federal and state government agencies, private payers and more. Learn about how Quality Insights is bringing people and information together to improve health at http://www.qualityinsights.org. Renters Warehouse "RE/MAX real estate agents can rest assured in our promise that we will never compete with them in buying or selling real estate," Kevin Ortner, CEO of Renters Warehouse Renters Warehouse, one of the largest and highest reviewed property management companies in the country, is thrilled to announce that it is now an approved RE/MAX supplier as part of a best-in-class, mutually beneficial agent referral program. Renters Warehouse has partnered with RE/MAX as an approved supplier to offer clients premiere property management services. Qualified RE/MAX agents can earn up to $500 commission per new management contract when their clients sign-up for Renters Warehouses flat-rate monthly management services. Renters Warehouse returns the favor by sharing warm buying and selling leads. RE/MAX agents can also earn $250 for successful tenant placement. Property management and renting are what we do best, shared Renters Warehouse CEO, Kevin Ortner. RE/MAX real estate agents can rest assured in our promise that we will never compete with them in buying or selling real estate. They get to do what they do best and so do we, by providing their clients with award-winning property management services. Not only does Renters Warehouse payout for each client that signs up, but they will also share leads with the agents that they partner with, putting them in touch with potential clients who may be interested in selling or buying income property. That includes tenants who may want to cycle out of renting and explore homeownership. Renters Warehouse is the only property management company focused on single-family rentals to be rated by Morningstar Credit Ratings, a nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The company manages more than $3 billion in residential real estate, servicing over 14,000+ investors across 22,000+ residential homes over 42 markets and 25 states. Renters Warehouse leverages technology to streamline the leasing experience from showings to lease signings to renewals. All maintenance and repairs are handled through a dedicated service team, resulting in a worry-free, no hassle experience for agents and their clients. To learn more, visit http://marketing.renterswarehouse.com/remax. About Renters Warehouse Renters Warehouse is one of the fastest growing and highest reviewed residential property management companies in America. Backed by growth equity investor and majority stakeholder Northern Pacific Group, and under the leadership of President and CEO Kevin Ortner, Renters Warehouse now manages more than $3 billion in residential real estate, servicing over 14,000+ investors across 22,000+ residential homes over 42 markets and 25 states. NPG Managing Partner Scott Honour, who in 1999 was a founder of YapStone, a leading online rental property payment service provider, serves as Chairman. Renters Warehouse expertly serves everyday single-property homeowners as well as real estate investors. In 2015, the company officially trademarked the term Rent Estate to redefine the entire SFR (Single Family Rental) industry as more traditional real estate gives way to this new lucrative asset. Through their dedicated Portfolio Services Division led by Chief Investment Officer Anthony Cazazian, the company also brings professional, scalable and efficient single property management solutions to investment portfolios with both centralized services and local market expertise and staff. Not only has Renters Warehouse received the prestigious honor of being included on the Inc. 500 | 5000 list of fastest-growing privately held companies in America eight consecutive years in a row, it was also named one of the Best Places to Work in Minnesota (where they are headquartered) by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The company was also honored as a best place to work in Arizona (a centralized corporate services center) by the Phoenix Business Journal in 2013, 2014 and 2017, and achieved a spot on the prestigious 2016 Top Companies to Work for in AZ list. Nationwide, Renters Warehouse has been honored as one of America's "Best Places to Work" in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 by Outside Magazine. Recognized as pioneers in real estate, business management and innovation, Renters Warehouse has been awarded 22 Business Stevie Awards both internationally and stateside. In 2017, Renters Warehouse received an A rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) after meeting the BBBs eight Standards of Trust and earning BBB Accreditation. In 2016, Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC, a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) offering a wide array of services including operational risk assessments, assigned its MOR RV2 residential-vendor ranking to Renters Warehouse as a residential property manager, indicating that the company demonstrates proficiency in managing key areas of operational risk. In 2017, Renters Warehouse published its first book - Rent Estate Revolution. Authored by CEO Kevin Ortner, the book shares the Renters Warehouse philosophy and business expertise around single-family rentals and the power of Rent Estate to drive long-term wealth creation, retirement security and financial freedom for the everyday person. Order your copy today: http://www.rentestaterevolution.com. Media Inquiries / Interviews: Crystal Richard Public Relations crystal(at)renterswarehouse(dot)com Hon. John W. Demling (Ret.) After many years of presiding over divorce cases as a judge, I am excited to return to my roots as an attorney. Joining MKFM is a great opportunity for me to continue guiding people through the emotional process of divorce. - Hon. John W. Demling (Ret.) Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella, LLC, is very proud to announce that it has hired the Hon. John W. Demling (Ret.) as an of counsel attorney with the firm. Demling joins MKFM after serving as a judge for 21 years in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court of DuPage County. He will represent and advise clients in divorce and family law cases. After many years of presiding over divorce cases as a judge, I am excited to return to my roots as an attorney, Demling said. Joining MKFM is a great opportunity for me to continue guiding people through the emotional process of divorce. DuPage County attorney John Demling has more than 40 years of experience as both an attorney and a judge. He was appointed as an associate judge in 1997 and served 18 years in the Domestic Relations Division, including as the Presiding Judge from 2016 to 2017. Demling has presided over hundreds of divorce cases and has resolved complex matters involving the allocation of parental responsibilities, child relocation, spousal maintenance, and domestic violence. He completed the Family Mediation Program presented by The John Paul Jones Group for the Illinois Supreme Court in 2007. Before becoming a judge, Demling was the managing attorney for the Firemans Fund Insurance Companys surety claims office. He was previously a partner in the firm Demling & Eckhardt, focusing on civil litigation in the area of mechanics liens. Demling is currently a director of the DuPage Legal Assistance Foundation. He was elected as the Village President of the Village of Glen Ellyn in 1993, serving until 1997. About MKFM Law: Founded in 1949, Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella, LLC has grown to be one of the premier law firms in the DuPage County Area. MKFM, with offices in Wheaton and St. Charles, represents clients facing legal matters in family law, divorce, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, cri, inal defense, guardianship, adoption and school law. Specifically, the firm offers legal guidance for spousal maintenance, child support, allocation of parental responsibilities, property division, and visitation/parenting time. For unparalleled legal representation, contact Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella, LLC at 630-665-7300 or complete and submit our online contact form to schedule an initial consultation. This memoir is in my voice, and what I relate is what I want to share with people who may be interested to know who I am. It has been an eventful life, and it tells a story. But the story still awaits a sense of an ending. The longest-serving dean in the history of Harvard University has published his inspiring true story that chronicles his real-life experiences immigrating to the U.S. with his family as a Jewish refugee from Vienna at the onset of the Holocaust. In Holocaust Survivor to Harvard Dean: Memoirs of a Refugees Progress, author Michael Shinagel reflects on his childhood memories of growing up in New York and recalls the uncertainty of his early adult years, the growth he underwent during his service in the U.S. Army, his experiences becoming a husband and father and, ultimately, the successful career he fostered in academia over the course of 50 years. This memoir is in my voice, and what I relate is what I want to share with people who may be interested to know who I am, Shinagel wrote. It has been an eventful life, and it tells a story. But the story still awaits a sense of an ending. Interesting, moving, and intellectual memoir of a Holocaust survivor and his many academic and educational accomplishments, a reader wrote in a five-star review of the book on Amazon. Continuing education is so necessary in our life today whether in person or online. He was a major contributor for the long haul 50 years. The read is a good one! A touching journey about odds-defying perseverance and achievement, Holocaust Survivor to Harvard Dean delivers an intimate glimpse into the strength and determination of the human spirit in the face of profound tragedy and illustrates the authors deep, life-long passion for learning. Holocaust Survivor to Harvard Dean: Memoirs of a Refugees Progress By Michael Shinagel ISBN: 978-1-5245-0961-3 (hardback); 978-1-5245-0960-6 (paperback); 978-1-5245-0959-0 (electronic) Available through Xlibris, Barnes & Noble and Amazon About the author Michael Shinagel was the dean of the Division of Continuing Education and University Extension at Harvard University from 1975 to 2013, and upon his retirement, he was acknowledged as the longest-serving dean in the institutions prestigious history and as one of the transformative leaders of the university. A renowned figure in the higher education field, Shinagels academic career spanned 50 years and, in addition to his time at Harvard, included posts at Cornell University and Union College. Shinagel served in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1954 and completed his undergraduate studies in English at Oberlin College and his masters and doctorate degrees in English literature at Harvard. Since retiring, Shinagel continues to serve as a distinguished lecturer in Extension at Harvard, teaching graduate seminars on satire and the English and American novel, directing Extension masters theses in literature and teaching professional development workshops on leadership and decision-making in the Division of Continuing Education. A trailer for Holocaust Survivor to Harvard Dean can be viewed here. General Inquiries, Review Copies & Interview Requests: LAVIDGE Phoenix Danielle Grobmeier 480-648-7557 dgrobmeier(at)lavidge(dot)com The Deity and Miracles of Christ: a gracious book proving Christs divinity in the Bible. The Deity and Miracles of Christ is the creation of published author, Rev. Joseph Sill, an ordained minister and pastor currently serving at Union Chapel Baptist Church in Zebulon, North Carolina; raised Roman Catholic, Rev. Sill came to know Christ personally and was called to ministry during his college years. Sill writes, The traditional church believes that the Canon was closed with the apostles and that the Bible we have is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. Therefore, for the believer, any miracle claimed to be done by Jesus before the marriage in Cana is to be rejected as unnecessary and frivolous. Another group that opposes this being the first miracle of Jesus are those who oppose the supernatural. They say the stories of the Bible are myth and not based in historic reality. They believe the Scriptures are all allegory and picture stories to portray the intended truth. One of the most noted scholars that believed this was Rudolph Bultmann, who set out to peel away all the miraculous and come up with what he called the kernel of truth. He believed the miracle was factitious and should be regarded as such. He believed the story had a truth to tell like a fable. What he was concerned with was the truth that was hidden in or illustrated in the miracle myth that was written. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Rev. Joseph Sills new book is a thorough and well-researched study grounded in scripture and heightened by insights drawn from social, cultural, and historical contexts. Far from taking the truth at face value, Rev. Sill shines a bright light on the case of Christs divinity and miracles, revealing solid ground beneath his convictions. View a synopsis of The Deity and Miracles of Christ on YouTube. Consumers can purchase The Deity and Miracles of Christ at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about The Deity and Miracles of Christ, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. The cannabis industry is an exciting emerging market and the team at Revolution Enterprises has an incredible vision for cannabis potential, said Shane Stiles, President of Gate 39 Media. Revolution Enterprises, a national leader in the cannabis industry, has announced that it has rolled out its newly optimized and responsive website (https://www.revolutionenterprises.org/). This redesigned website offers streamlined access to key information on Revolution Enterprises innovative approach to genetic research, advancement, production, and distribution of medicinal cannabis products. The companys growing brand suite is also showcased on the new website to serve this rapidly evolving marketplace. The website features a clean uncluttered design, improved functionality and enhanced content focused on Revolution Enterprises mission to innovate and formulate cannabis products. The firms mission is based on a scientific, research-driven approach with medicinal products developed in technologically-advanced facilities. "We are excited about the fresh, new feel of the website, and the in-depth information it provides for our partners, investors, and customers to better understand Revolutions vision and values, said Mark de Souza, CEO of Revolution Enterprises. The new website was developed by Chicago-based financial marketing and technology agency Gate 39 Media. The cannabis industry is an exciting emerging market and the team at Revolution Enterprises has an incredible vision for cannabis potential, said Shane Stiles, President of Gate 39 Media. Working closely with the team at Revolution Enterprises, we gained a deeper insight into not only the various products and services offered, but the uniqueness of the cannabis business as a whole. As the largest producer of medical cannabis in Illinois, Revolution Enterprises is poised for continued corporate growth around an increasing market demand for reliable medicinal cannabis products. About Gate 39 Media Gate 39 Media is a financial services marketing and technology agency providing complete solutions for the financial industry since 2004. Located in downtown Chicago, Gate 39 Media serves firms ranging from some of the worlds largest exchanges, brokerage firms, and fund managersto start-ups in FinTech, and emerging managers and advisors. Learn more at http://www.gate39media.com or contact Shane Stiles at 312.715.1475 or shane@gate39media.com. About Revolution Enterprises Revolution Enterprises is changing the way people worldwide think about and access high-quality cannabis. Our brands strategically capture distinct segments of this rapidly evolving marketplace and are unified by our ethos that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and cannabis. For more information visit https://www.revolutionenterprises.org/ Integrating Rigors digital experience metrics with Datadogs application and infrastructure monitoring platform provides customers a 360 degree view into their digital businesses. Atlanta-based website performance leader, Rigor, Inc, announced today that it has released two out-of-the-box integrations with Datadogs monitoring and analytics platform. The integrations ensure that joint customers have end-to-end visibility into digital performance within a single pane of glass. Digital experience management (DEM) solutions from Rigor provide a window into the end-user experiences delivered across browser and api-driven environments. Using Rigor, website and web application owners can quickly understand the performance impact that application changes and 3rd party services have on their end-users. By integrating with Datadog, Rigor users now have complete observability of digital performance from the end-user experience all the way down to the corresponding web server. Rigors vision of digital experience management aligns well with Datadogs view of the modern cloud age, said Mark Isham, VP of Engineering at Rigor. We both strive to provide increased visibility of performance throughout the modern enterprise and share a common goal to help companies deliver online experiences with best-in-class performance while allowing for fast and agile delivery. Rigors metric integration allows Rigor users to proactively push selected digital experience metrics into Datadog in real-time, while the event integration enables alerts and other system events to appear in Datadogs event stream. These integrations will greatly increase the productivity of joint customers, provide better root-cause analysis of performance issues impacting end-users, and reduce firefighting efforts related to costly downtime. Integrating Rigors digital experience metrics with Datadogs application and infrastructure monitoring platform provides customers a 360 degree view into their digital businesses. said Ilan Rabinovitch, VP of Product Management at Datadog. With Rigor and Datadog, customers can pinpoint issues impacting the end-users across their technology stack from their application code all the way down to the underlying infrastructure. Visit http://www.rigor.com for more information or start a free 14-day trial today. About Rigor Rigor is the markets only Digital Experience Lifecycle Management (DELM) solution designed to find, fix and prevent web performance defects to improve the user experiences that drive revenue for the enterprise. Rigor's cloud-based and on-premise user monitoring and innovative website performance optimization capabilities combine to enable fast and reliable deployment of digital applications and websites that improve agility, efficiency and confidence. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Rigor is trusted by hundreds of enterprise, media, e-commerce, retail and financial organizations to proactively manage their digital performance. Please visit us at http://www.rigor.com or follow us on Twitter: @TeamRigor About Datadog Datadog is a monitoring service for hybrid cloud applications, assisting organizations in improving agility, increasing efficiency, and providing end-to-end visibility across the application and organization. These capabilities are provided on a SaaS-based data analytics platform that enables Dev, Ops and other teams to accelerate go-to-market efforts, ensure application uptime, and successfully complete digital transformation initiatives. Since launching in 2010, Datadog has been adopted by more than 8,000 enterprises including companies like Asana, AT&T, Evernote, Samsung, Seamless, and The Washington Post. Today, Chicago-based Sente Foundry, LLC (Sente), a startup accelerator and innovation scouting platform, announces the participants of the first phase of its 2018-2019 New Mobility Program. These startups will begin the program in Paris, France with an intense series of workshops to help them build a business model that can scale globally. They will then be showcased at Autonomy in Paris, where the worlds mobility makers meet." Participating startups include: Dox (Beirut, Lebanon) Predictive analytics for batteries Navigato (Sofia, Bulgaria) A decentralized marketplace and SaaS platform for electric vehicle charging Moja Ride (Abidjan, Cote dIvoire) A mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) and payment platform for emerging markets Pepbus (Ankara, Turkey) A shared mobility platform for employers and their workers Tensegrity (Paris, France) Intelligent vehicle monitoring Drive Buddy (Ankara, Turkey) Driver monitoring and accident detection NiveauUp (Taipei, Taiwan) eXtreme Fast Charging for batteries Powerplace (Berlin, Germany) Improving urban mobility with data ChargeSplit (Milan, Italy) - P2P sharing of charging stations (Stealth) (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Password-free multi-factor authentication for the new mobility world "Following up on our success of last years Mobility program, were excited to start working with this batch, representing 9 countries and a cross-section of technologies that can have a big impact on how people move in urban environments," said Sente COO, Gerod Carfantan. "Partnering with Autonomy in Paris, connecting with the mobility ecosystem in London, and bringing the top 5 startups to the US will give them a great opportunity to prepare them to become global players in mobility." After a hands-on, structured 6-week program that concludes in London on November 22, the top 5 startups will then be selected to spend a month in the US in January. This will include opportunities to gain exposure and customer traction at events such as the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as well as a soft landing at Chicago's innovation hub, 1871 and the Connectory. Banks need to start offering their corporate clients more comprehensive and innovative services that go beyond their core business or they risk being disrupted and losing their valuable corporate customers to emerging fintech companies. Serrala, the globally leading provider of a comprehensive financial technology portfolio for companies and banks, announces the release of BCrest, the new B2B solution suite for banks to offer to their corporate clients. Banks can use the platform to quickly provide their corporate customers with innovative global capabilities for managing their financial processes such as payment processing & management as well as cash application and invoice processing automation. Corporate banking is in the midst of a digital transformation new payment methods, channels, and disruptive technologies are emerging. Also, under the PSD/2 European regulations that require banks to provide secured access to their customers account information, banks are seeking solutions that will allow them to adhere to this new standard. Banks need to start offering their corporate clients more comprehensive and innovative services that go beyond their core business or they risk being disrupted and losing their valuable corporate customers to emerging fintech companies. Our cloud platform enables banks to be up and running with their own, white-labelled, highly scalable, secure offering connecting their corporate clients easily to their customers and suppliers. APIs allow banks to offer additional value-added services to corporations of all sizes in the shortest possible time. Cloud is the future and we want to empower banks along their road to digital transformation with solutions that help them meet the needs of their corporate banking customers, says Sven Lindemann, CEO of Serrala. BCrest builds on the recognized Serrala solutions trusted by more than 2,500 companies globally. As Serralas new white label banking offering, it benefits both the banks and their corporate customers. Corporate customers profit from a completely digitized platform that helps them securely manage large volumes of inbound and outbound payments, in numerous payment formats. It also adheres to rapidly changing banking regulations and market trends. Banks benefit from the platform as it empowers them to provide their customers with intelligent automation ensuring that the customers can achieve their industry benchmarks. With BCrest, banks can offer new added-value solutions to their corporate customers. With this offering banks can generate new revenue streams for themselves and help them maintain their role as a trusted service provider and ensuring higher customer retention rate. The platform allows for an easy integration with the enterprise systems of corporate clients and with third-party vendors using an agile micro-services-based approach. This allows for a quick implementation by the banks and for a direct integration with their customers existing ERP and enterprise systems via API. The platform is flexible and can be deployed as a private or multi-tenant cloud solution or as managed service, which enables banks to optimize the use of their IT resources while still providing their customers with best-in-class services. BCrest allows banks to proactively embrace PSD/2 and open banking, moving the digital transformation of banking forward. With our solutions banks can focus on serving their customers, helping them enhance efficiency and transparency, prevent payment fraud, meet the latest global payment and compliance requirements. All this is key for succeeding in an increasingly fast-moving, global business environment. Its a unique new platform that can be flexibly scaled to the different requirements of customers, adds Lindemann. BCrest is the latest solution to be unveiled since the launch of Serrala, a new brand formed by the Hanse Orga Group, following a series of strategic M&A activities. Integrating the experience and offerings of the acquired companies, Serrala offers an inbound and outbound payments ecosystem for banks and corporations that provides security and compliance at every step in the financial value chain. Read more about the announcement here. To learn more about Serralas new portfolio of cloud solutions, please visit the BCrest webpages. For further information about other Serrala solutions, visit http://www.serrala.com. With ServiceM8 7.0, were introducing new ways of working, constantly innovating and applying the latest mobile and cloud technology." ServiceM8, the job management app for trade contractors and home services, has officially launched a range of new features to help its customers better manage their jobs, staff, customers and invoicing. Highlights include an Asset Management module where equipment can be located in Augmented Reality, Siri Shortcuts support for voice-activated job management while on the move, and real-time analysis of job photos using Artificial Intelligence. ServiceM8 CEO, Mr Kim Ford, sees the launch as a big step toward the next iteration of how field service businesses work: With ServiceM8 7.0, were introducing new ways of working, constantly innovating and applying the latest mobile and cloud technology. Functionality like being able to interact with ServiceM8 using only your voice, or using Augmented Reality to help complete jobs it demonstrates our determination to keep our customers at the leading edge, and how we see ServiceM8 and field service technology evolving. New features and improvements to the job management system include: Asset Management, a new add-on to track the location and service history of client assets, and locate them on site in Augmented Reality through the ServiceM8 camera. Siri Shortcuts Support, providing the ability to ask Siri about job information, perform actions in ServiceM8, or open ServiceM8 to a specific view, such as Hey Siri, When is my next job? or Hey Siri, Take a job photo. Knowledge, providing a way to capture business knowledge, tips and procedures in the form of videos and articles, and make these resources accessible on the app for field staff to troubleshoot jobs. Apple Pay Support, along with Google Pay, and Microsoft Pay, providing additional options for customers to pay quickly when booking services or viewing invoices online. Customer Scheduling & SMS Booking Links, allowing easier coordination of appointment times by letting clients choose from available booking times online. AI Photo Tagging, with the ServiceM8 camera view analysed by Artificial Intelligence in real time to categorise the subject of the job photo, assisting with job documentation. All new features are now available and the latest iOS app can be downloaded on the App Store. *Apple Pay and Siri are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.* ServiceM8 is an app for contractors & home services like electricians, plumbers, locksmiths & cleaners. With powerful scheduling, communication, job notes & photos, invoicing & on-site payments, ServiceM8 frees field service businesses from paperwork to run a more productive, professional operation, and enjoy a better lifestyle. Field staff use the software via a native app for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The ServiceM8 app is exclusive to Apple mobile devices. The EBC Foundation We are proud to support Stacey Mullins and the EBC Foundation in their fight to save lives by increasing breast cancer awareness by promoting the importance of early detection. It is a great cause. THE EBC FOUNDATION The EBC Foundation was established by Stacey D. Mullins, Esq., a family attorney with Schuttler, Greenberg, & Mullins, LLC, and by her daughter Jennifer Mullins, a University of Florida graduate, following the loss of the family's matriarch. Sandy Zabinsky passed away in 2008 after a seven-year battle with breast cancer. Sandy was Stacey's mother and Jennifer's grandmother. Since then, Stacey and Jennifer have worked tirelessly to raise funds for breast cancer prevention, treatment, and research. The EBC Foundation is a 501c(3) not-for-profit corporation that raises funding for breast cancer screening, treatment, and research by hosting community events. This years 5K Walk/Run is dedicated to breast cancer survivor Cindy Bonilla and her family, who look forward to taking part in the event. 7TH ANNUAL EVERY BOOB COUNTS 5K RUN/WALK The EBC Foundation's 7th Annual Every Boob Counts 5k Run/Walk event will be held on Saturday, October 20th at 7:30 a.m. at John Prince Park, located at 4759 South Congress Ave. in Lake Worth, Florida. The public is invited to participate. Registration fees are $40 for adults, $35 for students 18 and under, and $35 for breast cancer survivors. Participants who cannot attend the race but still want to support the cause can register as virtual runners for $40 and can complete the race wherever and whenever they want. To register for the event, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/FL/LakeWorth/EveryBoobCounts. Click here for more information. Silver & Silver, P.A. 6100 Glades Road, Suite 201 Boca Raton, FL 33434 Phone: 561-279-3911 About The Firm Published by: Good At Marketing SOURCE Silver & Silver, P.A. Related Links https://www.silverlawoffices.com/ From Like to Love is available By making team members happier, you help connect them to purpose which is exponentially more valuable for todays employee. This not only brings them closer to your brand, it makes them more likely to be retained longer, impacting your bottom line. Keith Alper, CEO & Founder of CPG Agency is launching his new book From Like to Love: Inspiring Emotional Commitment from Employees and Customers on October 16, 2018. The book captures his experiences as a CEO and his success in working with many Fortune 500 clients to elevate their brand experience. In From Like to Love, Alper draws on real-life examples to present his proven process for turning any organization from appreciated to adored, detailing how the smallest shift can make a large impact on creating a culture that turns employees into brand advocates. Ive loved every job Ive had, but never because of compensation, said Alper. A companys culture and the people they trust to run the organization is what kept me around. Once I recognized that everyone should love what they do, it led me and my friend to launch CPG Agency over 30 years ago and build a business around developing brand advocates for businesses. Now were trusted by the brands who are already known for great culture to continue driving that success. Having founded five St. Louis-based agencies as well as the Nitrous Effect, a cross-agency collective model that ties them all together, Alper delivers practical insights and powerful lessons to drive home his message. From Like to Love explores how companies perceive that winning customers is key but often fail to realize that loyalty starts from the inside, with employees. To build a brand that truly motivates, they must take their employees from liking their jobs to loving them. As a specialist in corporate and employee engagement, Keith Alper has seen the competitive edge gained by creating a culture that turns employees into brand advocates. Alper draws on real-life examples to present his proven process for connecting organizations to their people, including: Keeping a finger on the "pulse" of satisfaction Creating an engaged workforce Building open communication and trust Creating a competitive advantage with love The smallest shift can make a huge difference, said Alper. By making team members happier, you help connect them to purpose which is exponentially more valuable for todays employee. This not only brings them closer to your brand, it makes them more likely to be retained longer, impacting your bottom line. From Like to Love features case studies and highlights from key CPG Agency clients who demonstrate that their people are their number one resource, including Southwest Airlines, Ulta Beauty, Virgin Hotels and more. These client interviews show how brands must go beyond just employee perks to actively inspiring employees to be involved in something bigger than themselves and igniting an emotional connection and commitment from the inside out. To learn more about From Like to Love, please visit http://fromliketo.love/ To pre-order From Like to Love today, please visit Amazon.com. ABOUT KEITH ALPER With over 30 years experience, Keith Alper is an author, producer, entrepreneur and champion for free enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurial leadership. He founded many businesses and organizations, including Nitrous Effect, CPG Agency, Evntiv, UPBrand Collaborative, Vidzu and Geniecast. Keith has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Inc., and Fortune, and has received numerous awards for his production, media and marketing work. As a champion of innovation and entrepreneurship, hes served on many boards and non-profits including YPO, EO, Kauffman Advisory Board and served as the International Chairman of EO. To learn more or book Keith, please visit https://www.keithalper.com. ABOUT CPG AGENCY CPG is an internal events agency that designs immersive, live experiences for Fortune 500 companies and their greatest asset - their people. Since 1985, CPG brings stakeholders together in meaningful, unforgettable ways by leveraging live experiences, strategic communication and experiential solutions coupled with award-winning creative, video, digital media and large-scale event production. CPG designs experiences that connect people, inspire action and grow business for brands like Southwest Airlines, Sam's Club, Jimmy John's, Carnival Corporation, Bridgestone, Sherwin-Williams, Ulta Beauty, Amazon, Sport Clips and more. By transforming attendees into participants and shifting a moment into an ongoing movement, CPG creates brand advocates or Belief through Experience which cascades the critical brand message from corporate leaders down to frontline employees. CPG is a member of the Nitrous Effect, an agency collective. To learn more, please visit http://www.cpgagency.com. Throughout his entire career, he has led his teams with quiet but unwavering commitment to the restaurant workforce. It is a privilege to honor him with the 2019 Workplace Legacy Award - said Joni Thomas Doolin, CEO & Founder of TDn2K. TDn2K has announced that Steve King, immediate past CEO and current chairman of Dave & Busters Restaurants, has been named the recipient of the 2019 Workplace Legacy Award. This prestigious honor will be presented at the Global Best Practices Conference to be held in January 2019 in Dallas, Texas. The Workplace Legacy Award recognizes a leader in the restaurant industry who has demonstrated success in balancing superior people practices and best-in-class operational results. In addition, their employees, organizations and communities have benefited from their leadership and efforts. Steve King was one of the earliest adopters of benchmarked competitive human resource metrics. He was always a champion of the TDn2K mission to balance people, profits and purpose. Throughout his entire career, he has led his teams with quiet but unwavering commitment to the restaurant workforce. It is a privilege to honor him with the 2019 Workplace Legacy Award said Joni Thomas Doolin, chief executive officer & founder of TDn2K. "Through my many years of knowing and working with Steve, I have always valued his opinion & perspective. His combination of exceptional intellectual capacity coupled with his humility to listen to others makes him a truly respected and proven leader" added Wallace Doolin, chairman and founder, TDn2K. King served as chief executive officer of Dave & Busters Inc. from 2006 to 2017 when he moved to chairman of the eatertainment brand based in Dallas, Texas. He also served as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to Dave & Busters he spent his time working for Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, the parent company of TGI Fridays where he acted as both domestic and international president. He also served on Carlsons Shared Services Board and Chief Financial Officer Leadership Council and led the launch of Carlsons project management office. King holds an MBA degree from Cornell University and earned his Bachelors degree at Cornells acclaimed School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration. The Workplace Legacy Award was presented for the first time in 2005. Previous winners of the honor include: Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group, Sally Smith of Buffalo Wild Wings, John Miller of Dennys, Phil Hickey of Rare Hospitality, Greg Creed of Taco Bell, Jerry Deitchle of BJs Restaurants and Gene Lee of Darden. These leaders clearly demonstrate the commitment to leading people-first cultures that also win in the marketplace. About the Global Best Practices Conference: The Global Best Practices conference is produced by TDn2K. Held in Dallas, Texas, this event is a gathering of hundreds of restaurant industry senior leadership brought together to tackle some of the most challenging obstacles facing the restaurant industry. The event is also the home of the Best Practice Awards, Diamond Catalyst Award, Heart of the Workplace Award and the Workplace Legacy Award presentations. Dates for the 2019 Global Best Practices Conference are January 27 - 29th at the Hilton Granite Park in Plano, Texas. More at http://www.globalbpc.net. About TDn2K: TDn2K (Transforming Data into Knowledge) is the parent company of People Report, Black Box Intelligence and White Box Social Intelligence. People Report provides service-sector human capital and workforce analytics for its members monthly. Black Box Intelligence provides weekly financial and market level data for the restaurant industry. White Box Social Intelligence delivers consumer insights and reveals online brand health. TDn2K membership represents 43,000 restaurant units, 2.5 million employees and nearly $71 billion in sales. They are also the producers of leading restaurant industry events including the Global Best Practices Conference held annually each January in Dallas, Texas. Tranont executive team accepts BusinessQ UV50 award for 5th fastest growing company in Utah Valley. Our vision is to positively impact more than one billion lives over the next 20 years, said Lorne Berry, CEO and Founder at Tranont. Utah Valley BusinessQ ranked Tranont no. 5 in its UV50 annual ranking of Utah Valleys fastest growing companies placing it alongside Utah economic heavyweights like DOMO, Jane.com, Ancestry.com, and Qualtrics. Our vision is to positively impact more than one billion lives over the next 20 years, said Lorne Berry, CEO and Founder at Tranont. Placing in the top 5 of local businesses is a testament to the enthusiasm surrounding our global goal to lift individuals and families one at a time. Headquartered in Lehi, Utah named Inc. Magazines hottest city for entrepreneurship in the country Tranont thrives thanks to a strong vision and a mantra of Health, Wealth, and Community. We measure success by the number of lives were able to positively lift, said Scott Bland, President of Tranont. There are incredible obstacles impacting the health, wealth, and communities of so many around the world. Finding simple solutions to these giant problems is perhaps the greatest business opportunity of our time. In addition to placing no. 5 in the UV50, Tranont also received top recognition from Inc. Magazines Inc. 5000, placing in the top 10 of fastest growing Utah businesses, and no. 321 nationwide. This is just the beginning of a much larger 20 year plan, said Russ Losee, Tranont COO and Co-founder. Our focus for 2019 is international expansion, adding more products to our successful Tranont Health product line, and enabling more people to make a positive impact within their own community. About Tranont Founded in 2013 by CEO Lorne Berry, Tranont is on a mission to impact one billion lives for good. Through personalized health and wealth education, we provide instruction, products, and services to help families reach their goals. Using a direct sales model, neighbors are helping neighbors improve their health, create more wealth, and leave a lasting impact in their communities. For more information, visit: http://www.tranont.com. "The sky is the limit when considering the microbiome and all sorts of disease processes, and I am thrilled to be a part of this movement as one of uBiome's medical advisors." - Steven Dr. Medwell uBiome, the leader in microbial genomics, announces the addition of Steven Medwell, MD, board certified in colorectal surgery, to its Medical Advisory Board. Joining the board of leading scientists and doctors from around the world, Dr. Medwell will bring to uBiome his deep expertise in the surgical treatments of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The appointment will help uBiome continue its advancement in human microbiome research. For decades, Dr. Medwell has been the one of Seattles most recognized surgeons for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), cancers of the colon and rectum, and more, Dr. Jessica Richman, PhD, co-founder and CEO of uBiome, said. His medical expertise is invaluable, and we are fortunate to have him as part of uBiomes Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Medwell has dedicated his career to patient care and has over 40 years of experience in colorectal surgery. He was the first surgeon in the Pacific Northwest to perform the J-pouch procedure for patients with ulcerative colitis. After receiving his MD from Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Medwell completed a Clinical Surgical Research Fellowship for the American Cancer Society, a General Surgery Residency at The Swedish Hospital Medical Center in Seattle, WA, and a Colorectal Fellowship at the Ferguson Clinic in Michigan. Honors include Top Cancer Doctors in the US (2015) by Newsweek, Seattles Top Doctors (2000-2018) by Seattle Magazine, and Top Doctor Hall of Fame (2013) by Seattle Magazine, among others. About joining uBiome's Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Medwell said, "The current state of microbiology is like looking into a volcano: energy is bubbling and building and--with the help of uBiome--it is bound to explode. The sky is the limit when considering the microbiome and all sorts of disease processes, and I am thrilled to be a part of this movement as one of uBiome's medical advisors." In addition to Dr. Medwell, the uBiome Advisory Board also includes Dr. Joseph DeRisi (MacArthur Genius and UCSF professor), Dr. Atul Butte (head of the Institute for Computational Health Sciences at UCSF), Dr. Katherine Pollard (Director, Gladstone Institute for Data Science and Biotechnology), Dr. Joel Palefsky (UCSF School of Medicine professor), Dr. George Church (leading geneticist at Harvard University), Dr. Liz Lipski (Academic Director of Nutrition and Integrative Health Programs at Maryland University of Integrative Health), Dr. Elaine Hsiao, PhD (UCLA), and other leading scientists. The companys Medical Advisory Board includes Dr. Alan Green (Society for Participatory Medicine), Dr. Leo Treyzon (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), Dr. Cynthia Geyer (Medical Director of Canyon Ranch, Lenox), Dr. Robynne Chutkan (Georgetown University Hospital), Michael Docktor (Boston Childrens Hospital), Dr. Tiffany Lester (Medical Director of Parsley Health in San Francisco), Dr. Joel Kahn (Founder of of the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity), as well as other accomplished clinicians. About uBiome Founded in 2012, uBiome is the leader in microbial genomics. The Companys mission is to advance the science of the microbiome and make it useful to people. uBiome combines its patented proprietary precision sequencing with machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop wellness products, clinical tests, and therapeutic targets. uBiomes commercial products include SmartGut, the worlds first sequencing-based clinical microbiome test, which identifies microbes in the gut for patients with chronic gut conditions such as IBD, IBS, Crohns Disease, and ulcerative colitis; SmartJane, the first sequencing-based womens health screening test, which genotypes all 19 clinically relevant strains of HPV, identifies four common STDs, and surveys more than 20 vaginal microbes associated with bacterial vaginosis and other conditions; and Explorer, a health and wellness product to understand the role that food and lifestyle can play in wellness. uBiomes platform has been used by hundreds of thousands of consumers, patients, and doctors and more than 200 research institutions around the world, including the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California, San Francisco, Oxford University, and the University of Sydney. Since its launch, the company has received widespread recognition including CNN 10: Startups to Watch, the IVY Technology Award, CNN Future 30, and was named one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare in 2016 and in Data Science in 2018, as well as a Technology Pioneer from the World Economic Forum in 2018. For more information, visit http://www.uBiome.com. "This is the definitive guide to the constitutional meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors, and an invaluable aid for the current debates on impeachment. After receiving his advance copy of "Impeachment-A Political Sword", John M. Vaught, President of the Colorado Bar Association hailed Scott Barkers book as the definitive guide on presidential impeachment. He wrote Scott Barker has authored the only book youll need to read to understand the complex story of the impeachment process. The work of a Rhodes Scholar, former military officer, and trial lawyer of 40 years, this is the definitive guide to the constitutional meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors, and an invaluable aid for the current debates on impeachment. On the same day, Richard D. Lamm, former Colorado Governor, attorney and professor wrote of the relevance of Scott Barkers book A literary double-header: riveting history and lessons relating to your morning newspaper he wrote. Impeachment is a safety valve available to a democracy but dangerous if over-used. Lessons from yesterday ever more relevant to today, delivered in compelling prose. Wonderfully readable! Hours later, R. Brooke Jackson, United States District Judge wrote A rarity: a serious work that will make you wish youd majored in history. Whether through his insights into the impeachments of Presidents Johnson, Clinton, and nearly Nixon, or his exploration of the differing perspectives about what constitutes an impeachable offense, Mr. Barker makes the impeachment process both fascinating and understandable. That he manages to do this while remaining balanced is all the more remarkable. A must read. Author, attorney and historian,Scott Barker is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of Harvard Law School with honors. A trial lawyer for forty years, he is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. "Impeachment-A Political Sword" will be published by History Publishing Company on November 9. It will be available in good bookstores nationally and in fine outlets internationally in Canada, United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Spain and Luxembourg. We are extremely excited to have the WeAreTeachers media brand earn this prestigious recognition and be in the company of the top digital teams and innovative minds in the publishing community. WeAreTeachers, the #1 media brand for educators, is the winner of two 2018 Folio: Eddie Awards in the Custom Content/Marketing category. The digital media brand ran by MDR, the education division of Dun & Bradstreet, earned top honors for Social Media/Online Community and Website, competing against other noteworthy brands, such as Bank of America and Aramco. WeAreTeachers is an online community for educators committed to one of the toughest, most rewarding jobs out there. Its mission is to inspire teachers and help them succeed by sharing practical classroom ideas, the best freebies and giveaways, and teacher-to-teacher advice and humor. The Folio Awards is a prestigious and inclusive awards program in the publishing community. Each year, more than 2,000 entries compete to take home the gold across 200 categories benchmarking excellence in editorial and design. We are extremely excited to have the WeAreTeachers media brand earn this prestigious recognition and be in the company of the top digital teams and innovative minds in the publishing community, said Hannah Hudson, editorial director, WeAreTeachers. Every day, our writers, editors and designers work to ensure that we are providing educators with the latest teaching news, tips and advice. The WeAreTeachers community is always growing, with more than 1.9 million followers on its Facebook pages including WeAreTeachers, WeAreTeachers Reading, WeAreTeachers Deals, Teacher Life, School Leaders Now, and WeAreParents, and nearly 300 million social impressions each month. Demonstrating WeAreTeachers influence and reach, a back-to-school 2018 article, Lawnmower Parents Are the New Helicopter Parents & We Are Not Here for It, went viral reaching more than 2.5 million readers on the site and starting a national conversation, garnering hundreds of millions of media impressions on national and local outlets such as Megyn Kelly TODAY, USA Today, FOX & Friends, and The New York Times. WeAreTeachers also works with a huge variety of businesses and causes to reach the vibrant education market, including curriculum and instructional materials, hardware and software, networking, facility management and operations, classroom, gym and playground equipment, professional teaching services, insurance, healthcare, consumer products, fire safety, anti-bullying and much more. For more information, visit http://www.WeAreTeachers.com. About MDR MDR is a full-service school and community engagement partner. A division of Dun & Bradstreet, MDR is a different kind of integrated marketing services agency that combines rich data with unique digital, creative, and branding capabilities. Weve been connecting brands through data and marketing services to educators, youth, and parents for nearly 50 years. Reach targeted audiences through our database and digital communities SchoolData, EdNET, WeAreTeachers, WeAreParents, and School Leaders Now. For more information, visit mdreducation.com. Online Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news and information from publics.bg Penguin Random House account marketing v-p Ruth Leibmann described the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers annual trade show as having a "family reunion energy." That the 273 booksellers representing 67 bookstores attending this year's gathering in Denver on October 11-13 enjoy one another's company certainly was evident, particularly at the opening night reception in the exhibit area: people conversed more than they browsed the 122 exhibits staffed by 180 individuals representing 500 companies, and all gathered around the podium when Kathy Keel, MPIBAs beloved operations manager, was feted upon her retirement after 30 years working for the 50-year-old organization. I love you all, Keel told the crowd. Ive loved working with you all and being with you [at MPIBA trade shows and meetings], and sharing your words and your [lives]. Thank you for 30 wonderful, magical years." With the midterm elections fast approaching, its no surprise that much of the shows energy was politically tinged, with a number of the 85 featured authors setting their books within the context of current events. Poet Carolyn Forche, quoting Thomas Paine, said books are essential to democracy at The Women's Voices Author Breakfast, adding that booksellers are on the frontlines now as never before. She introduced booksellers to her memoir, What You Have Heard Is True (Penguin Press, Mar. 2019) about a journey she made to El Salvador in 1977 in the company of a mysterious man from there who wanted her to document the truth of a divided country on the brink of civil war. It took me 25 years to work up my courage to write this book and another 15 years to actually write it, she said. Someone was watching over me, making sure that it would come out when it was needed. Laini Taylor, the author of the YA fantasy novel Muse of Nightmares (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Oct.), upstaged the more low-key presentations by the other featured speakers at the Author BanquetValerie Jarrett, Tom Clavin, and Leif Enger--with her pointed remarks. "Fantasy literature teaches us anyone can be a hero, and not just that," she declared. "Anyone decent would and should be a hero, and would and should step up. If society is going to function, we have to protect human rights and dignity and decency. As is to be expected, in a region with residents that have a visceral connection to the land, books with environmental themes most resonated. Many booksellers PW queried named Pam Houstons essays about living on a 120-acre homestead in the Rockies for the past 25 years, Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country (Norton, Feb.), as the book they were most excited about. Houston, discussing the book while emceeing the Reading the West Awards Luncheon, said: "The land grew me up; it raised me. Referring to climate change's impact, she said she wrote about her homestead to record its beauty for posterity. Daiva Chesonis of Between the Covers in Telluride, Colo., raved about Desert Cabal: A New Season in the Wilderness by Amy Irvine (Torrey House Press, in collaboration with Back of Beyond Books in Moab, Utah). It was supposed to be an essay, but it is a 17,000-word rant. Theres stuff that needs to be said, not just about the wilderness and conservation; theres some #MeToo in here as well, she said. Ben Rybeck, a bookseller at Brazos Books in Houston named Engers first novel in 10 years, Virgil Wander (Grove Atlantic, Oct.), as one of the hot books of this show, saying, Theres an energy behind it thats specific to this region even though its set in Minnesota. It has a spaciousness of narrative that speaks to this region. The annual Rights Meeting focused on the Polish, Romanian and Russian publishing markets. The region, which has gone through political, social and economic upheavals a hard turn to the political right in Poland, Romanias faltering economy, Vladimir Putins questionable reputation abroad has impacted each countrys publishing market. In all instances, print runs are dropping, even as the number of titles being published is on the rise. Book buying is also largely centralized around the big cities, and distribution to more rural part of each country a challenge. One bright spot for each of the session speakers which included Joana Maciuk, editor-in-chief foreign fiction department of Proszynski Media in Poland; Bogdan Stanescu, editorial director of Polirom Publishing House in Romania; and Irina Prokhorova, editor-in-chief of the New Literary Observer in Russia was childrens books. Up until the end of the 2000s it was very hard to sell new childrens books, said Prokhorova, It was as if everyone remembered the Soviet times and people were nostalgic for those books. Now there has been a generational shift and people are more open. Romanias Stanescu concurred. Sales of childrens books are growing, noting that even so, Romania remains the smallest book market in the European Union. People in Romania spend just three euros per person per year on books, he said, and annual sales amount to just 60 million euros annually The panelists offered several words of advice to the audience, which included foreign rights directors, scouts and literary agents. For example, when it comes to selling rights, It is important for overseas publishers to assist with the eventual marketing of the book. If you sell a book into the Polish market, if the author can make a short YouTube video of appreciation to the Polish reader it would go a long way to introducing the book to the market, said Maciuk. Stanescu who publishes Jonathan Franzen in Romania and said that hed just hosted the author and took him birdwatching. That is a form of marketing, said Stanescu, adding dryly, or at least it is for the ornithological society of Romania." When it comes to money, some people are just in a league of their own. From businessmen and tech moguls to celebrities and athletes, we took a look at the earnings for 16 of the richest people in America and broke down how much they make in an hour. The results were illuminating, to say the least. To calculate their hourly rate, we used the best available annual earnings and net worth information for each individual based on Forbes estimations. For the billionaires on the list, we found the difference between their 2017 and 2018 net worths (as provided by the Forbes' 2017 and 2018 richest people in the world lists, published every March) to determine their annual earnings. For music, movie, and media celebrities, earnings were taken from the Forbes' 2018 Highest-Paid Celebrities list, which were provided based on compensation from June 2017 to June 2018. We then divided all annual earnings by 8,760, the number of hours in a year, to calculate how much each person earns an hour. Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Alice Walton all make more than $1 million an hour, thanks to their multibillion annual earnings. Bezos rakes in the most, earning a whopping $4,474,885 an hour. To put things in perspective, that's roughly 157 times the median annual worker pay at Amazon of $28,466. The remaining six on the list earn six figures an hour, from Warren Buffett earning $958,904 an hour to former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman bringing in $102,739 an hour. Google's Larry Page sits in the middle of our list, making a nice $924,567 an hour. Of all the celebrities on the list, George Clooney earns the most, making $27,283 every 60 minutes. That's no surprise considering he's the highest-paid actor on Forbes' 2018 Highest-Paid Celebrities list. Kylie Jenner, the youngest person on Forbes' America's Richest Self-Made Women list, isn't far behind Clooney, with hourly earnings of $19,006. That means Jenner makes the current median US salary of $45,552, according to data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in just 2.38 hours. Speaking at this years Vodafone Customer Experience Summit, Ms Obo-Nai said: Robots are delivering important transactional activities in a more efficient way. Machines will deliver the efficiencies we want but human interactions will deliver the feel, touch, and emotions that machines are unable to deliver. Some customers still want a human touch and your business must be set up in a way that still allows you to deliver that human experience because again its what the customer wants. READ ALSO: Breweries companies to lay off over 1500 workers in OctoberBreweries companies to lay off over 1500 workers in October While the future may be bleak, I see it as an opportunity that the industry needs to embrace to win, so technology is key. At Vodafone, agents who are no longer doing the transactional things are retrained to deliver the more complex pieces that the customer will request, Ms Obo-Nai added. Many Customer Service personnel believe they will be laid off due to the increase in the use of technology for the roles they play. He said the administration of the NDC put in place plans that made them achieve the mobilization of the emergency power plant which has fixed the power outages. According to him, it would have been appropriate if the NPP ministers claim they inherited a generational capacity that aided in ending the dumsor. Mahama called on Ghanaians to pat the NDC on the back for embarking on what he called the fastest mobilisation of resources to fix the crisis, which crippled the country's economy for well over three years. Ken Ofori- Atta during the reading of the 2018 budget said the NPP government was able to put an end to the power crisis that caused the collapse of many businesses in the country during 2012- 2016. "We have all too soon forgotten how the menace of dumsor from 2012- 2016 crippled the economy. It contributed to the lowest growth rate recorded in the past decade, the loss of jobs, reduced economic output and the loss of consumer and investor confidence in the economy. Dumsor was also compounded by high electricity tariffs, increasing the cost of doing business in the country," he said. But the Kofi Buah who doubles as the MP for Ellembelle constituency, said the NDC administration deserve credit for solving the energy crisis. ece-auto-gen The national assets include NiCON Insurance Ltd, Skyway Aviation Handling Company and the controversial multi-billion Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON). Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, stated this at the end of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, in Bali, Indonesia. He said the country's Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is expected to make an announcement on such privatisation soon, according to TheCable. Last month, the government sold a 21% stake in the country's minting and printing company to the Central Bank of Nigeria at a cost of N17.3 billion. President Muhammadu Buhari is looking for means to fund fiscal deficit and finance key infrastructure projects in the 2018 budget Last week, he wrote the National Assembly to approve a $2.86 billion external loan. In spite of the warning by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over debt distress in some African economies, Nigeria said it had to borrow to exit economic hardship on its citizens. Iyin Aboyeji has stepped down as the CEO of Flutterwave, Inc, two years after leading the award-winning payments technology company. In August 2018, Aboyeji left Andela, a software developers company he co-founded to join Flutterwave in a move to capture payments solution across Africa. Flutterwave is an end-to-end payments platform that covers all the bases in payments processing. In a farewell message, Iyin Aboyeji thanked the Flutterwave board and team. Its been amazing working with the Flutterwave team to build another great African company and Im excited for the future under its new leadership. "Over the next few months as I figure out what is next, I'll be catching up to sleep, spending time with my family an supporting and advising startups in our community," Aboyeji said in a note posted on his social media account on Monday, October 15, 2018. He said he decided to step down to give back to the startup community that contributed to his success, though he didn't state much about the community. How Iyinoluwa Aboyeji started? Business Insider SSA recalls that Aboyeji at 19 started Bookneto.com in 2011 which was acquired by the Canadian Innovation Center in 2013. Later in the year, alongside some friends, he founded Fora, a distance learning platform for African universities. Co-Founder, Olugbenga Agboola, steps in as CEO The company in a release over the weekend said Aboyeji stepped down to pursue family goals and that Flutterwave Co-Founder, Olugbenga Agboola, will replace Iyin Aboyeji as CEO. Olugbenga Agboola is a Financial Technology Engineer, with core financial services technology experiences with Paypal, Google, GTBank, Access bank, Standard /Stanbic IBTC Bank. Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave CEO, On behalf of the entire Flutterwave team we wish Iyin luck in his future endeavours. Moving forward; the entire Flutterwave team and I are excited for Flutterwaves future and look forward to growing the company. Flutterwave completes Series A Extension round of financing In the similar development, the company announced that it has completed its Series A Extension round of financing. The latest round of financing includes investments from Mastercard, CRE Ventures, Fintech Collective, 4DX Ventures, and Raba Capital, among others. Flutterwave has now raised over $20 million to date and its largest investors include Green Visor Capital and Greycroft Partners. As part of the financing, current Green Visor Capital Chairman & General Partner and former Chairman & CEO of Visa, Joe Saunders, joined the Flutterwave Board of Directors. Headquartered in San Francisco, Flutterwave is building modern payments technology and infrastructure for Africa to enable people and businesses to connect with the global economy. The company currently have operations in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and finalised it expansion into Uganda two months ago. Humans will cause so many mammal species to go extinct in the next 50 years that the planet's evolutionary diversity won't recover for 3 to 5 million years, a team of researchers has found. The Earth may be entering its sixth mass extinction: an era in which the planet's environments change so much that most animal and plant species die out. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature predicts that 99.9% of critically endangered species and 67% of endangered species will be lost within the next 100 years. The five other times a mass extinction has occurred over the past 450 million years, natural disasters were to blame. But now, human activity is killing mammal species. In a study published Monday in the journal PNAS, scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark calculated how fast extinctions are happening, and how long it would take for evolution to bring Earth back to the level of biodiversity it currently has. The scientists concluded that in a take 5-7 million years. Evolution cant keep up Evolution is the planet's defense mechanism against the loss of biodiversity. As habitats and climates change, species that can't survive die, and new species slowly emerge. But it takes a long time for new species to fill the gaps and that process is far slower than the rate at which humans are causing mammals to go extinct. For their calculations, the Aarhus University researchers used a database containing existing mammal species and mammals that already went extinct as humans spread across the planet. They combined that data with information about extinctions expected to come in the next 50 years, and used advanced simulations of evolution to predict how long recovery would take. Their estimates are based on an optimistic assumption that people will eventually stop ruining habitats and causing species to die out, and the extinction rate will go back down. But even in that best-case scenario, the timeline depends on how quickly mammals start recovering. If the extinction rate doesn't start falling for another 20-100 years, more species will likely disappear, causing greater diversity loss, the study said. BusinessInsider The researchers noted that in their model, certain species were given more importance than others. There are hundreds of species of shrew, so if one or two go extinct, that would not kill off all shrews on Earth. But there were only four species of sabre-toothed tigers on the planet. So when they all went extinct, many years of evolutionary history disappeared with them. "Large mammals, or megafauna, such as giant sloths and sabre-toothed tigers, which became extinct about 10,000 years ago, were highly evolutionarily distinct," Davis said in a press release. "Since they had few close relatives, their extinctions meant that entire branches of Earth's evolutionary tree were chopped off." The research could help conservationists Today, other large animals like the black rhino are facing extinction. Asian elephants' chance of making it to the 22nd century is less than 33%, the study found. These elephants are one of only two remaining species from a group of mammals that once included mastodons and mammoths. "We now live in a world that is becoming increasingly impoverished of large wild mammalian species," Jens-Christian Svenning, an Aarhus University professor who researches megafauna, said in the press release. "The few remaining giants, such as rhinos and elephants, are in danger of being wiped out very rapidly." He noted that the planet no longer boasts giant beavers, giant deer, or giant armadillos. We ordered moi-moi (what our people love to call bean cakes for European reasons) and ate. It was the most absurd lunch I have ever had- who eats moi-moi in the afternoon? But we ate anyways and it turned out great in fact. Segun hinted to me while we had our lunch that he would stay back for a Masters degree in the University of Jos before coming down to Lagos. This was scheduled immediately after his passing out parade. I was taken aback, I wondered why he considered the move but he reassured me that his reasons were for the best. Until October 1 2018 happened. That dream is over now because the last time we spoke, he has had a change of heart of staying back in Jos. What happened two weeks ago I was in Terminus that Wednesday. It was like people were there but their minds wasnt. The streets were so clear of people, buses were driving around empty and everyone was just looking back, anticipating something worse. People looked me over severally with a look that I should be scared from confidently gracing the street in my shirt, trouser and shoes. A child playing about ran into the street, and people became startled once again. Apparently, some people had been victims of unjust killings the Friday before. That same Friday (two weeks ago), I was just reclining in my room till Whatsapp brought me the gist. Later, everyone in my neighbourhood sat comfortably at home with eyes glued to the screen, one hand scrolling through Whatsapp (our newest means of serving panic messages), the other tightened to the remote control of a Star times TV set. Oh, I jumped narration; I didnt say what I observed on Monday. On Monday, I dashed out for a JayFM program and the roads were empty. You could stand for hours with no keke in sight. On my return journey, a truck laden with petrol fell at Plateau Hospitals. The few people around took the oil they could get and shared it in jerry cans. Their saving grace from instant inferno was the bare streets. So they stole and got away with it. My keke rider panicked on the scene and dropped me across the trailer, choosing to go back. Immediately I tried to cross the road and approach Victoria Memorial Hospital to avoid any fire scare of magnitude proportion. Security agencies coming from Farin Gada patrolled the scene. I was sure that the fallen trailer and its distributed contents were not what they were after. I tried to walk with confidence; peradventure there were the fake uniformed men that paraded UNIJOS. Reliving the sordid details When the testimonies of safety rolled in Church last Sunday, I heard more sordid details of what went down in Terminus and people moving from their households because of the late Generals vehicle recovered from a pond. Till date, everyones mind is still on that mind boggling event. Be careful when you go out, they say. Watch body movement, watch sign language. For the Corps members like us who are lucky to be posted to Jos for the first and only time in our lives, we dont want to settle here again. The grim reality had gripped us; so many people on our group chats laid bare their reservations on the city of Jos over the long scary weekend. On the path of my adventurous self, calls keep rolling in, every day, from my loved ones worried sick about my safety and well-being. The recent episode that continued in Bassa after it held sway in Jos is called living in fear. Somehow that episode translated into an unhealthy dramatic bicker between husband and wife, successfully sowing a seed of discord amongst my married neighbours. So contagious was the fight, everyone was affected. Read Also:Gunmen kill 86 in Plateau State For me, it was sad because even though I am a sojourner here, the city is quite good. Hospitable is what you call the people of Jos. You cant get lost or hungry here; you will meet people who will rise to your aid. A curfew to the rescue Unfortunately, peace is a relative phenomenon in Jos. We live daily shrouded in the fear of past events. The fresh scenario of 2001 is permanently embalmed in our minds. Nobody can walk about after 9pm. Even West of Mines is a dead zone from 11pm. Stalls naturally close by 6pm to resume 9am. Everyone just seems to accept the insecure grim reality and live, pretending yesterday never happened. For our Government at highest level, nothing is done about it. Only the recent Rayfield attack was what made Governor Simon Bako Lalong order soldiers to stop and search any vehicle returning from Rayfield. The best he has done in calming the crisis is order a curfew. Yet the Vice Chancellor of UNIJOS has ordered his students to resume by force, having little empathy for the beloved student that lost his life. How long must we continue to live in fear? We must ask. I believe the Governor of this state can do more to quelling the ethno-religious conflict that has constantly bedevilled this state. Plateau used to know peace, until almost two decades ago. How long do Christians and Muslims continue this bloodbath, even though the common enemy are the blood thirsty Herdsmen seeking territory? To what end? We must again ask. To what end? Peace is the only path to progress. How long shall we live in fear? Written by Joseph Olaoluwa. All you have to do is adopt these four tactics: Acknowledge your feelings When doubt and discouragement come calling, the first thing to do is figure out what you are feeling and why. If you can't figure it out on your own, don't be afraid to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. Once you do this, you can take the thoughts and voices in your head captive. Renew your mind on a daily basis There is a reason Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" This is because the Bible is the first and best place to turn to when it comes to fighting negativity of all kinds. Reading the Bible- filled with the truth about the God that you serve, who you really are - gives you all the ammunition needed against whatever isn't from your Heavenly Father. In order to win the battle against doubt and discouragement, you need to read and BELIEVE the Word of God on a daily basis. ALSO READ: 10 Bible verses to help you fight discouragement and anxiety Memorize God's words Hebrews 4: 12 describes the scriptures as "living and active." It also says that it is "Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." By not just reading the scriptures but also memorizing it, you don't have to rely on the physical Bible before using the living, active sword to cut through the lies that come with doubt and discouragement. Talk to someone Hebrews 13:78 says, "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." This verse tells us that God wants to look up to certain people, preferably those who are spiritually mature and have way further in their faith journey. These are the people you can share your issues with and accept advice from. The 72 students are among the 1,042 graduands that will bag the University's degree on Saturday, October 20, 2018, at the school's sixth convocation ceremony. During the pre-convocation press conference held in ABUAD on Monday, October 15, 2018, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Michael Ajisafe based explained why the university produced 72 first class graduates. Ajisafe according to Thisday said the high turnout is based on the excellent, rigorous and qualitative academic prowess already attained by the institution. He added that the university put stringent measures in place to automatically eject lazy and unruly students from the system. ALSO READ: Webometrics rates ABUAD as the best private university in Nigeria He said; We have disciplined students here and it has always been the culture of the founder, Aare Afe Babalola, to give automatic jobs to first class students and these 72 will benefit from the gesture. Today, ABUAD is the only university in Nigeria that makes its students go to classes between 8am and 3pm and later 7pm to 10pm. There is no room for indolence here. This will automatically frustrate lazy and indolent students. Apart from handsome prizes being given to brilliant graduates, which includes vehicles and cash gift, the founder gives all graduates in the Faculty of Agriculture a sum of N250,000 each to empower them to go into farming. Some are even given parcels of land for farming. Lazy students cant cope here in ABUAD. Our objective is to change the phase of university education in Nigeria and that we are pursuing with vigour and we are gradually achieving that because we are the first university to graduate 43 medical students barely eight years after we commenced operations. Best medical student gets 5.7m car and N500k cash prize Recall that ABUAD recently graduated its first set of medical students, and the overall best student, Esther Adaobi Azom went home with a brand new car and N500,000 cash prize. While presenting the prizes to the students, the Founder of the University, Prof Afe Babalola, described Azom's academic achievement as unmatchable. Azom maintained an excellent record of distinction and won the founders' award scholarship of N500,000 from 100 to 500 level. From January to October, over five Nigerian Universities both public and private have trended on social media for one sexual harassment case or the other. Thankfully, Universities authorities are waking up to see the damage these sex scandal cases are doing to the names and integrity of their institutions. Nevertheless, our tertiary institutions seem to be unsafe for female undergraduates. On Tuesday, October 9, 2018, Lagos State University (LASU) confirmed the dismissal of the lecturers over sexual harassment. The lecturers; Dr Sunkanmi Odubunmi, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Dr Ajani Ogunwande, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Dr Emmanuel Gbeleyi, Lecturer II, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Ikeja, were dismissed for sexually harassing female students of the university. Earlier in June, Obafemi Awolowo University sacked Prof Richard Akindele for demanding five rounds of sex from a female postgraduate student, Monica Osagie. After two months of investigation, the University management had to get rid of the professor before his inordinate desires soil the school's image. Also, in September, there was an alleged sex scandal at Covenant University and the last that was heard about the case was the audio statement allegedly attributed to the founder and Chancellor of the University, Dr David Oyedepo, that the University Registrar has been relieved of his job after a student that was allegedly expelled wrongfully accused him of having affairs with female students. Aside these three cases, the University of Port-Harcourt and the University of Lagos have also been embroiled in sexual harassment scandals and while UNILAG is still trying to convince Linda Ikeji to help in investigating the case since she published it first, the UNIPORT sex scandal seems to have gone under the carpet. However, with the shame and embarrassment that trailed Prof Akindele's sex scandal and his eventual dismissal, one would think Obafemi Awolowo University authorities succeeded in sending a very strong message, strong enough to caution all sexual predators among lecturer across the country to call themselves to order. Sadly, OAU had not sacked Prof Akindele before Dr Odubunmi Sunkanmi was allegedly caught on camera harassing a student he invited to his office on a Saturday evening to write a make-up test at Lagos State University. It is a good thing to see that Odubunmi gets punished for his sexual misbehaviour, yet, it is quite unfortunate that despite the whistle-blowing policy LASU management introduced during Akindele-Monica saga to curb sex scandals in the institution, some lecturers still believe they can sexually harass their students and get away with it. Academic rigour in Nigerian Universities is enough for undergraduates to contend with. Female students shouldn't be thinking about how to get good grades and at the same time be nursing the fear of being sexually abused by undisciplined lecturers. It is often said that randy lecturers only disturb students who fail their courses. Nonsense! Failing a course is not a crime. In fact, carryover is designed for students who fail a course to understand the course better and fulfil their graduation requirements. That should never serve as a basis or justification for any reasonable tutor to sexually harass any student. The good news was shared on Twitter on Monday, October 15, 2018, by the royal family's official account, Kensington Palace. "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019," the tweet read. They went to thank everyone for supporting and the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, saying they are delighted to announce the good news. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public," they concluded. Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as we await the arrival of another royal blood. It would be recalled that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married earlier in the year in a very flamboyant and colourful wedding. Prince Harry, Meghan Markle are married! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married in May 2018 in a very beautiful and colourful ceremony. The royal couple were proclaimed husband and wife by the Archbishop of Canterbury in at the St. George's Cathedral in Windsor Castle. before they will travel through the town in an open-topped carriage. Actress Markle, 36, looked every bit the radiant bride in a wedding dress by designer Clare Waight Keller, the first female Artistic Director at French fashion house Givenchy. Prince Harry, 33, alongside his brother and best man, Prince William also looked great in his excellently cut frock coat uniform of the Blues and Royals. The couple, their loved ones, and their guests [see here for the celebs and VIPs invited] will continue celebrations after the couples scheduled travel through the town in an open-topped carriage. In a joint statement by Marvel and Netflix, 'Iron Fist' will be ending its journey on the streaming service with the second season. This move by Marvel and Netflix is coming just a month after an improved season two of 'Iron Fist' launched on Netflix. ALSO READ: Here are all your favourite TV shows that have been cancelled The statement further revealed that 'the immortal Iron Fist will live on though the series has ended viewing on Netflix. "Marvels Iron Fist will not return for a third season on Netflix. Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is proud of the series and grateful for all of the hard work from our incredible cast, crew and showrunners. "Were thankful to the fans who have watched these two seasons, and for the partnership weve shared on this series. While the series on Netflix has ended, the immortal Iron Fist will live on," the statement read. Here's when season 2 of Iron Fist will premiere on Netflix Marvel announced the release date for the second season of its series, "Iron Fist." The announcement was revealed on Friday, July 19, 2018, at San Diego Comic-Con, alongside a short teaser which features Danny Rand fighting on the streets of New York City. The series about a martial arts expert with the ability to call upon the power of the Iron Fist will return on Netflix on September 7, 2018, for a second season. "She was shot in front of her house" accounts Another account from Twitter user, Yusuf Abubakar Tumi also states that, she was only walking outside her house when she was shot by a policeman who said, "I thought" she was an armed robber. The claim has also been backed by JJ Omojuwa; Alternative accounts and The sympathizers She had just returned from the UK to live back home. The deceaseds name was Anita Akapson and she was shot in Maitama, Abuja. According to Ms. Carla, They shot her at a check Point on her way home in Maitama last night. In addition, she says, This lady just returned to Nigeria recently having lived almost all her life in the UK and its not even been a year she returned and she gets killed in her own country by our own security personnel. What kind of a country is this. ALSO READ: Sex For a Job: Twitter user exposes pervert employer Apparently, they shot her while she was trying to run upon feeling threatened by the police, The police shot her at a check Point in Maitama last night, her sister said they were dragging with her and she was trying to run when they shot at her and its killed her. On the details, she said, Dragging wasnt like physically, she was driving and on getting there they had a verbal confrontation, she is not the kind of person to break the law. So her running away was cause she felt threatened. Carla called on the help of popular Lawyer, activist and #EndSars proponent, Segun Awosanya, who tweets @Segalink to help get #JusticeforAnita This stance was corroborated by Facebook user, Hussaini Dickson Ishaq posted that, "I can't stop the tears this time, my heart bleeds and the hurt seems to have cut really deep. "The finest of them all, Ann you weren't just the usual fine face, you were smart/industrious and had such a beautiful soul with a tranquil aura that can never go un-noticed not because were loud but because your charisma and charm was loud enough to get you all that attention. "Sissy na I can't believe i'd be talking about you in past tense right now, i'd always tease you and say as your brothers we aren't going to collect less than N5 million as your bride price because were worth every kobo, then Boom! today you lie dead, killed in cold blood by a retarded animal and coward with a riffle. "The pain is too much to bare that I can't sleep, tossing and turning wishing this isn't true but the more I ponder, the more reality sets in. "Kai! My heart is heavy, it hurts the more knowing that you spent your last few minutes scared, alone and in excruciating pains without any of us there to hold your hands and tell you every thing will be alright. We were such a beautiful and peaceful soul that didn't deserve to die in such a manner... "Rest well Sissy na (Anita Akapson) may God forgive those that have cut short your beautiful soul." Segalink gets involved As is characteristic with him, Segalink has since released the following statement via his ever bustling Twitter page, @segalink that, "Ive just had a dialogue with the authorities on Anita Akapsons murder by a Policeman. The HQ in Abuja are on the matter and the Abuja Commissioner has been summoned to brief the leadership on the matter. The culprit will be brought to book & justice served. In a few hours the Force PRO will release a statement on this and we will follow up with the family to ensure all that is needed to be done is done. Police should take responsibility and do the needful. Anyone with the contact of the family should direct them to any of the tagged. "Just got informed that the IGP has directed the immediate detention of the policemen involved and investigation has commenced. The AbujaCP, DPO and the family of the victim are currently at the mortuary and the HQ Abuja are about making a press release this minute." The police statement On Monday, October 15, 2018, the Abuja Police Command released a statement signed by DCP Jimoh Moshood,Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja; Date: 15th October, 2018 PRESS RELEASE RE: Death of Miss Anita Akapson at Katampe Extension, Abuja IGP has ordered the detention and investigation of Policemen involved in the incident that led to the death of Miss Anita Akapson He deeply commiserate with the family of the deceased and assure them that justice will be done in the matter The Inspector General of Police has directed the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to immediately detain and personally carry out a thorough investigation of policemen involved in the incident that resulted in the death of Miss Anita Akapson at Katampe Extension, Abuja on the night of Saturday, 13th October, 2018; and bring the perpetrators to justice. 2. The IGP deeply commiserate with the family of the deceased and hereby assure them that justice will be done in the matter. The Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command is already in touch with the family as directed by the Inspector General of Police. 3. The public will be informed of the outcome of investigations into the incident. In the end, May God save us all. It has since started the #JusticeForAnita trend on social media. As a matter of necessity, activists like JJ Omojuwa, (@Omojuwa on Twitter)and Segun Awosanya, (@Segalink on Twitter) have since weighed in on the matter with #JusticeForAnita fast becoming a needed trend to shelve the police madness in Nigeria. ALSO READ: Timeline of the shooting of Anita Akapson by the Police in Abuja, a year after returning home from the UK The IGP Orders investigation into the matter and arrest of policemen involved On Monday, October 15, 2018, the Abuja Police Command released a statement signed by DCP Jimoh Moshood,Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja. It contains details of the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris' order and intentions on future directions of the matter thus; "Date: 15th October, 2018 PRESS RELEASE RE: Death of Miss Anita Akapson at Katampe Extension, Abuja IGP has ordered the detention and investigation of Policemen involved in the incident that led to the death of Miss Anita Akapson He deeply commiserate with the family of the deceased and assure them that justice will be done in the matter The Inspector General of Police has directed the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to immediately detain and personally carry out a thorough investigation of policemen involved in the incident that resulted in the death of Miss Anita Akapson at Katampe Extension, Abuja on the night of Saturday, 13th October, 2018; and bring the perpetrators to justice. 2. The IGP deeply commiserate with the family of the deceased and hereby assure them that justice will be done in the matter. The Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command is already in touch with the family as directed by the Inspector General of Police. 3. The public will be informed of the outcome of investigations into the incident." According to the Irish Examiner the 14-year-old teen who has lived in Ireland for 11 years is afraid to be sent to his home country Nigeria. His friends at the Tullamore College have reportedly "travelled to Leinster House to deliver a 22,000-signature petition to Justice Minister, Charlie Flanagan to allow the family to continue to live here." The Irish Examiner confirmed this in a report published today. Nonso Muojeke's family have been told that they are returning back to their country after getting denied of asylum. "Nonso has lived virtually his whole life here - over 11 years. "Forcing him to leave the only home he knows will inflict great harm on this young boy. "Minister Charles Flanagan has the power to keep Nonso where he belongs - with his friends and community who love and care for him in Tullamore," Muojeke's teacher Joe Caslin is quoted by the Irish Examiner. 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! The city of Dubai is about to open its doors to fashion buyers, influencers, designers, retailers and the media as its highly anticipated fashion show, Runway Dubai kicks off with another edition from November 8 - 10 at the luxurious Marriott Al Jaddaf. The annual fashion event created in 2013 as an initiative to enhance the fashion industry in the Middle East has quickly developed into the leading international fashion show platform in the region. It has also continued to earn international recognition following the inclusion of diversity and social awareness campaigns over the years. Marking its 6 season, Runway Dubai 2018 will feature the Autism Wins Campaign withNatalie Oden. Themodel with autism whose story has inspired many will be opening the show this year. Established designers across the globe will showcase various collections on the runway including creative director of Abaya Lagos, Salihat Rahaman. Abaya Lagos will be unveiling its SEPIA GLAM collection for the first time in the Middle East at the upcoming event on 9th November 2018. The SEPIA GLAM collection is inspired by the vibrant confluence of modernity, accentuated with glitter and sequins in sepia tones. The RTW luxury collection depicts a "structured flow" of lines and shapes, a bold but seamless mix of "cosmopolitan and classic". The modest wear fashion brand was conceived out of the need for unique pieces that could be worn in virtually any kind of social environment. Abaya Lagos is described as the foremost choice boutique for aspiring young ladies and women of class. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG) annual meetings ended on Sunday, October 14, 2018, in Bali, Indonesia. Nigerian delegates at the meetings include the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, Minister of Budget, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, among others. At the event, a number of policies and actions were taken and the World Bank released its first Human Capital index which placed Nigeria on 152 out of 157 countries on the list. The Nigerian government described the ranking as stunting, disheartening and depressing. Nigeria's finance minister, Zainab Ahmed said it will serve as a wake-up call to the government. She added that We admit that this pervasive action was due to long years of under-investment in human capital, which we have before now realised and which we have been addressing. Apart from major policy actions, some decisive actions are being taken to address the situation. Here are some of the highlights from the IMF/World Bank annual meeting: 1. Emefiele says Nigeria prefers stable Naira rate to building up foreign reserve Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor said the country's target now is to ensure stable exchange rate to avoid depreciation of the naira. He said the present economic conditions cannot allow reserves build up in the place of foreign exchange. 2. On calls to raise taxes and increase government revenue Nigeria's finance minister, Zainab Ahmed said the country is not ready to increase its taxes despite calls by the international organisations to do so. She said she agreed with the IMF and the WBG that Nigeria should explore ways and means of diversifying the economy and increasing the countrys revenue profile. 3. On World Banks Human Capital Development Index (HCI) ranking The Finance minister admitted that result of the ranking was due to long years of under-investment in human capital, which according to her the country is now addressing. The first World Bank's Human Capital index ranked Nigeria among seven worst countries. Nigeria shared the bottom of the index with countries like Chad, South Sudan, Niger, Mali, Liberia while Singapore topped the list, followed by South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. The rankings released by the World Bank during the annual meeting based its report on health, education and survivability measures, assess the future productivity and earnings potential for citizens of 157 of the World Banks member nations, and ultimately those countries potential economic growth. 4. On concerns about debt levels The country's finance minister said Nigerias problems were not so much that of debts, as much as of revenues. What we have is revenue problems, not debt problems, Ahmed said 5. Nigerias economy in view of the 2019 general elections The ICRC staff was kidnapped in March 2018,alongside others at the Rann camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno by the terrorists. The group had earlier warned that they would execute Leman if they dont hear from the Federal Government. In a statement which they issued in September 2018, after killing another ICRC staff, Saifura Ahmed, they said We contacted the government through writing and also sent audio messages but the government have ignored us. So, here is a message of blood. The other nurse and midwife will be executed in similar manner in one month, including Leah Sharibu. ALSO READ: Over 800 children freed from the claws of Boko Haram Slave for life According to The Cable, the terrorists said that they will keep Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi schoolgirl who refused to denounce Christianity, as a slave for life. The committee was constituted following a motion of urgent public importance filed by the member representing Warawa constituency, Alhaji Labaran Madari and seconded by member representing Kano Municipal constituency, Baffa Danagundi. Madari pointed out that the House has the mandate to investigate any matter in order to ensure peace and harmony in the state. Speaking during the plenary, the Majority Leader, Alhaji Baffa Babba Danagundi advised the executive arm of government to halt from filing in a case before a court of law on the alleged video clip. According to him, the state Assembly has the constitutional mandate to investigate issues like this. The matter which gained the support of the legislatures was deliberated on the floor of the house, presided over by speaker Kabiru Rurum. Speaking while ruling on the deliberation, Rurum urge the committee to investigate the matter and submit its reports within one month. The committee which is headed by Danagundi has Labaran Madari, the Chief Whip, Zubairu Massu as members. Before Buhari's announcement, May 29 had been celebrated as Nigeria's Democracy Day for 18 years after it was first set by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000. At the time, Obasanjo had just been elected Nigeria's first democratic president after 16 long years of military rule that culminated in the death of autocratic military Head of State, Sani Abacha. Before then, Nigeria had only experienced four years of democracy when Shehu Shagari governed as president between 1979 and 1983 after the military ruled the country for the previous 13 years. Instituting May 29 as Nigeria's Democracy Day was a way of setting a day aside to commemorate the restoration of democracy, a return of civil liberties and an end to parasitic military dictators. Since 2000, Democracy Day is usually declared a public holiday and the president typically addresses the nation about the works of his administration and strnghtening the country's ideals with democratic tenets and ideals. June 12: The new Democracy Day Buhari's decision to change the date when Democracy Day is celebrated was informed by the need to immortalise an event that could have ushered the return of democracy much sooner than it eventually did. When the military government of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) seized power from then-Major General Muhammadu Buhari's government in a 1985 coup, he promised that it'll be a transition government that will hand over power to a civilian government by 1990. When a democratic presidential election was eventually conducted on June 12, 1993, businessman, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, was presumed to be the winner. However, before the announcement of the result of the election, widely-considered to be free and fair, IBB annulled it by issuing a decree to repeal the Presidential Elections (Basic Constitutional and Transitional Provisions) decree and terminated the transition process to democratic governance. After IBB handed over to a transition committee led by Chief Ernest Shonekan, it was soon overthrown by Abacha, the man who imprisoned Abiola. The two died just a month apart, Abacha under mysterious circumstances, and Abiola under similar circumstances as he prepared to be released from prison after four years. Buhari admitted that his decision to make June 12 the new Democracy Day is an attempt to assuage wounded feelings and heal a grievous injury that was done to the country's democratic institution. This was made known in a statement issued by the government on Twitter on Monday. Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was killed by the terror group on Monday, October 15, 2018. According to The Cable, the terrorists also said that they will keep Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi schoolgirl who refused to denounce Christianity, as a slave for life. The Federal Government also expressed shock saying it made efforts to save the young woman. An inhuman act In a statement issued on Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described the killing as dastardly, inhuman and ungodly, saying nothing can justify the shedding of the blood of innocent people. Mohammed also noted that the Federal Government did all within its powers to save her life. The statement reads: It is very unfortunate that it has come to this. Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the Federal Government did everything any responsible government should do to save Hauwa. As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole. We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of Saifura Ahmed, the first aid worker. However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors. ALSO READ: Over 800 children freed from the claws of Boko Haram The minister also thanked all the friendly governments that have continued to work with Nigeria for the safe release of the abducted women, and the clerics across religious lines who have been pleading for their release. Saraki condemns killing The Senate President, Bukola Sarakihas also condemned the killing of the aid worker. Its okay if you are still trying to wrap your head around what Buhari's travel ban is all about. This article will explain the talking points and the grey areas of the ban and lay it all bare in the simplest manner possible. What is Executive Order 6? On Saturday, 13th October 2016, President Buhari issued an Executive Order which has now been called Executive Order 6 (EO6 for short). The presidents latest order affects persons his administration is prosecuting in court for alleged corruption. EO6 bars about 50 high profile Nigerians from travelling outside of the nation's shores until their cases have been heard and determined by a court of competent jurisdiction. EO6 was first published on July 5, 2018. The travel ban list initially contained the names of about 155 persons, institutions and groups who are being tried for various offences ranging from money laundering, embezzlement of official funds to drug trafficking. Presidency says the ban is part of the fight against corruption The presidency calls EO6 a paradigm changing policy of the federal government President Buharis spokesperson, Garba Shehu, says the travel ban became necessary in order to successfully tackle endemic corruption in Africas most populous country. According to Shehu: President Muhammadu Buhari has mandated the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice to implement the Order in full force. To this end, a number of enforcement procedures are currently in place by which the Nigeria Immigration Service and other security agencies have placed no fewer than 50 high profile persons directly affected by EO6 on watch-list and restricted them from leaving the county pending the determination of their cases. Shehu adds that the financial transactions of these persons of interest are also being monitored by relevant agencies to ensure the assets are not dissipated and that such persons do not interfere with the investigation and litigation processes. Who are the Nigerians on this travel ban list? The federal government is yet to make the list of 50 Nigerians on the travel ban list public. The newspaper listed some of the names on the travel ban list as former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), ex-governors Saminu Turaki (Jigawa), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Muazu Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Gbenga Daniel (Ogun); and Ibrahim Shehu Shema (Katsina). Others include former ministers Nenadi Usman, Bashir Yuguda, Jumoke Akinjide; Bala Mohammed; Abba Moro; Femi Fani-Kayode; and Ahmadu Fintiri. The rest are a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh; ex- Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral A. D. Jibrin; a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar; a former Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero; and a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu; Chairman Emeritus of AIT/ Raypower, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi; Waripamowei Dudafa (a former Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan); a former Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Innocent Umezulike; a former judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia. Also on the list are a former national publicity secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh; Chief Jide Omokore; Ricky Tarfa; and Dele Belgore (SAN), according to The Nation. But the presidency has denied the list above. A draconian move from Buhari? A couple of human rights lawyers like Femi Falana and Mike Ozekhome have greeted President Buharis travel ban list with suspicion, calling it undemocratic, obnoxious, barbaric and arbitrary. Nigerias main opposition party, the PDP, says the travel ban list reinforces its perception of Buhari as a fascist. "This is a draconian step clearly targeted at members of the opposition parties, perceived political enemies of President Muhammadu Buhari, well-meaning Nigerians, including members of the business community, religious leaders, former political leaders and traditional rulers, who are perceived to be averse to President Buharis re-election bid," PDP spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan cried out. Ologbondiyan added that "the whole world can now see how fascism is fast taking over our democracy and judicial system and how the Buhari administration, by fiat, has directly ordered that citizens be secretly trailed, their movements and financial transactions restricted by government agencies, without recourse to due process of the law. However, the presidency says E06 will be executed within the ambit of the rule of law and that it is not a tool to persecute political opponents. The Buhari administration reassures all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians of its commitment to the fight against corruption, in accordance with the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the general principles of the Rule of Law. No fewer than 800 former workers of the defunct airline have lost their lives since the airline folded up 14 years ago. The family members told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the venue of the verification in Ikeja that the exclusion of over 150 names from benefiting from the N22.6 billion approved by President Muhammadu Buhari was wrong. Speaking on behalf of the affected family members, Mr Seun Wright, said that his late mother, Mrs Oluwadamilola Wright, worked as an engineer with the defunct national carrier before its liquidation in 2004. When the list came out last week, we were surprised that her name was not on it because she received the five years severance package paid by the late President Umaru YarAdua in 2008. We later discovered that there are over 150 people whose names were omitted from the list across the country for this new part payment approved by the president. It is unfortunate that the names of most of our parents did not reflect on the list. We have approached the union people and they claimed that what is being paid is pension which is not for life but we know and a lot of people have confirmed to us that this is not a pension payment. It is severance and gratuity payment of people who served up to the last day of liquidation of Nigeria Airways. Wright appealed to the government, through the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, to urgently look into the issue in order not to deny people their entitlements after serving Nigeria meritoriously. However, Mr Godwin Jibodu, Chairman of the Nigeria Airways Elders Forum, explained that the omission might be connected with the years the affected former passed on. Jibodu said: It depends on when their parents died. Like I told them, if your parents have died before the liquidation, off course you cannot get anything. Another thing is that the arrears of pension is not being paid now. It is only the pension, 10 years forward that is being paid. So, if somebodys parent died in 2007, it means the person died during the pension arrears which is to come later. Jibodu, however, commended the president for coming to the aid of the ex-workers, who had been living in pains because of a lack of money to attend to their health and other issues. You can see that even without collecting the money, people are looking enthusiastic and healthy because there is hope. Once they get this money now they can take care of themselves and instead of people dying, people will live. According to him, the verification and payment are being done in batches by the committee, comprising union members and officials from the Federal Ministry of Finance and Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. What is required is letter of engagement, letter of confirmation, letter of last promotion and letter of retirement. Those are the documents you have to bring and once you are verified and cleared, you fill the form and put all your particulars, including your bank details. From there, you go through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which also checks your details and then you go to the pay point where your payment is processed before you get alert. Jibodu said that the committee would be attending to no fewer than 600 people daily in the Lagos Zone till the exercise was concluded. The catholic bishop said that it was strictly to support and witness their reconciliation, which he has been trying to broker for some years. Kukah said that he has for several years made efforts to reconcile both leaders without success until recently when they both agreed to meet and make peace. He said that on Thursday Oct. 11, they had agreed to meet in former president Obasanjos home in Abeokuta along with some religious leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi and Bishop David Oyedepo. Kukah said that on getting to the home of the former president, he saw that more and more people were trooping to the home and the meeting was gradually starting to have a political undertone. He said that to ensure he does not get involved with anything relating to politics, he quickly advised Former President Obasanjo to carry out the reconciliation behind closed-doors not in public. According to Kukah, I proposed to the former president that he should sit down with Alhaji Abubakar behind closed doors, sort out their issues after which I and Sheikh Gumi will join them as Bishop Oyedepo was yet to arrive at the time. After their closed door meeting, I advised that the religious leaders, myself inclusive join them so we can listen to them, serve as witnesses to the reconciliation, advice them and pray for them. Former President Obasanjo agreed to follow my advice and this was how we carried out the reconciliation. After the closed door meeting between the two leaders, I and Sheikh Gumi went and sat down with them. My advice to them was that it is imperative for them to maintain the peace. I told them that I am a Catholic priest and bishop and the Catholic church preaches against divorce or separation, so there should be no room for that again. After our discussion, which was done behind closed doors we prayed and we took photographs and I left afterwards to attend to other spiritual duties. I was earlier offered a sit in their aircraft and although it was the most convenient offer at the time I declined the offer because I saw it as necessary to ensure that I take no favours from any of the two parties. I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I fully understand the feeling of some persons, who believe I traveled with Alhaji Abubakar, to witness his endorsement by Former President Obasanjo but this was not the case at all. I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria and this ideals I strive to achieve as a priest. My instincts to always initiate reconciliation and peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa Panel." Kukah said that it was imperative for him to react to the event of Oct. 11, not only to allay the concerns of the public, who may have seen the event in a different light but to set the records straight. I join Nigerians and the international community in condemning the murder of Hauwa Leman- an aid worker with the Red Cross, by Boko Haram. As I said on the 18th of September 2018, humanitarian workers, who go into troubled spots to alleviate peoples suffering are the most courageous and selfless people on the planet. They are #NotATarget. To harm aid workers in any way is a most callous and ungodly act. We need to do better with our national security operations in order to prevent the endangering of lives of humanitarian workers and ordinary citizens in crisis areas. ALSO READ: 30 Nigerian soldiers killed by Boko Haram My colleagues and I in the Nigerian Senate remain committed to continue working with our Armed Forces to find a lasting solution to these senseless killings by insurgents and improving our national security infrastructure. The command's Public Relations Officer, Magaji Majiya, disclosed that the victim was brutally stabbed when Takai was travelling with his supporters on Saturday, October 13, 2018. He disclosed that the candidate, contesting in the 2019 governorship election on the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), had travelled with armed supporters despite having official police escorts. He said, "On Saturday, Takai and his supporters were travelling in a convoy when they arrived Ahmadu Bello Way roundabout. "Someone in the convoy wielding a long knife descended on the 70-year-old passer-by and stabbed him on the head, inflicting grievous hurt on the man. "The political allies of Takai informed the police command that Takai would be returning to Kano through Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on Saturday and requested for police escort, an application that was granted by CP Rabiu Yusuf. "To our surprise, despite the policemen assigned to the entourage of the PDP candidate, we discovered that among them were persons that were armed with dangerous weapons which they continued to display flagrantly until the unfortunate incident occurred at Ahmadu Bello Way roundabout." Implementing the EO6, President Buhari directed the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to place 50 highly placed Nigerians on watch list. In a statement made available to , in Sunday, October 14, 2018, Frank said the move was to weaken the leaders of opposition political parties ahead of the 2019 general elections. Frank alleged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida; presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, were among the major targets of the EO6 currently being implemented. Others, according to Frank are Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, General Aliyu Gusau, Gen. TY Danjuma, Pastor David Oyedepo, Rev Fr. Mathew Hassan Kukah, Sheik Gumi, traditional rulers, businessmen and women in support of Atikus presidential ambition. ALSO READ: Buhari bans 50 high profile Nigerians from travelling abroad The earlier list released to the media was a distraction from the real targets which will soon be made public, Frank said. The latest order is a draconian measure to frighten the opposition elements from challenging him in the coming election. it is a reminiscent of the infamous and draconian Decree No. 4 of 1984 which was cruelly pursued and enforced by the incumbent President who was then the Military Head of State. "Unknown to gullible ones, President Buhari is playing godfather to corrupt people in his administration. For Nigerians to take this order serious, I hope the ban will include former SGF , Buhari's Chief of Staff, his former Finance Minister , , former DSS boss , GMD of the NNPC, and the Minister of Communications, - for skipping the mandatory NYSC service - among others, he said. 'EO6 not targeted at opposition' Meanwhile, Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, has said that the EO6 is not a political weapon targetted at the opposition. The story of the day was that Atiku had brought the clergymen with him from wherever to Abeokuta, to beg Obasanjo on his behalf and extract some kind of political endorsement from Baba Iyabo. In the essay that follows, Kukah tells the story of how he ended up in Abeokuta with Atiku and Obasanjo. And it's quite the read..... ____ I have deliberately made this explanatory note long because I think it is necessary that people make up their minds based on the facts, given my central role in the event. I note that heikh Gumi has already told his own side of the story. I feel obliged to state my own side so that Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement. Sadly, I personally did not read President Obasanjos statement until two days later on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall. Although trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up. My focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation. Understandably, the pictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar, Shaikh Gumi and I) literally lit up the social media and elicited divergent reactions from the general public. Although over 99% of the reactions that have come to me have been largely those of commendation, with people focusing, rightly, on the reconciliation, there have been others whose focus has been on an isolated development that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all these years, namely, the endorsement. I must say that I am eternally grateful to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focus of attention has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by President Obasanjo, a development that I can call the third leg of the process which I initiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjos other interlocutors after we agreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and so, I will only clear the air on what I can take full responsibility for. Let me state first that I am a priest of the Catholic Church and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I have more than a passing knowledge of our discipline and doctrine in matters relating to the role of a Catholic priest in political engagement. My doctoral thesis was on Religion and Politics in Nigeria. So, this is an area that I have written and spoken extensively about for over thirty years. I am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. So let me explain what really happened. On Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 I had the honor of being the Guest Speaker for the annual Conference of the Four Square Gospel Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, a member of this Church had first invited me some years back but I could not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the Chairman of the occasion. At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to leave because he had a scheduled meeting. I told him I needed to see him briefly and he obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he thought of his reconciliation with Alhaji Atiku. My last discussion with him this year was either January or February. His response was still negative and he told me what he later told the media. I reminded him that I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle. After all, I said to him, as a Christian, this is an important thing for you to do. He was quiet and then said he would speak with me later that evening on his final decision. We parted, he to his car and I returned to the Church to end the event. At about 9pm the same Tuesday, he called to say that he had thought over the issues I had raised and finally decided to accept my suggestion and that yes, he would be happy to reconcile with Alhaji Abubakar. When did he think we could meet then, I asked him? He said he would look at his diary and get back to me later. Then, just before 11pm the same Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diary was full, that the earliest date for him was October 21st. I accepted happily and told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Abubakar either directly, or through his aides to convey the news. My initial intention had been to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at the Four Square Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next morning, Wednesday October 10th, after I had finished celebrating the Holy Mass, I received a call from President Obasanjo: Bishop, listen, I have changed my mind. My heart nearly sank, but before I could ask why, he said: Let us do it tomorrow if you can reach Atiku. I am going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be back home before 1pm. So, tell him to come at 1pm. I started frantic efforts to reach Alhaji Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, and asked him to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about 1pm, I received a call from him. I told him what had happened with President Obasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on Thursday. I got back to my hosts, the Four Square Gospel Church to tell them about the change in my travelling plans especially as I had no car to take me to Abeokuta. I didnt want to ask President Obasanjos people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed a leeway of independence and trust. My hosts were exceedingly gracious in making a vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me to Abeokuta. Earlier that morning, President Obasanjo had called me a second time and told me that he wanted Alhaji Abubakar to come with the Chairman of the PDP, and two or three others. He also told me he had also invited both Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo. This was welcome news- Rev. Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence of Shaikh Gumi made sense. I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting larger for something I thought was between three of us. I arrived Abeokuta about 12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji Abubakar and his team. Alhaji Abubakar and his team arrived, and then I saw more and more people coming in. I saw familiar faces of different people who turned out to be the leaders of Afenifere. All these years, whenever I brought up this matter of reconciliation, my idea has always been for the three of us to sit down together. I still believed that the meeting would be between the two of them and the three religious leaders. When President Obasanjo appeared, I walked up to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for the meeting. He suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a few words about how we got here. I declined because it seemed again that at this point, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be caught in it. I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been achieved, namely, getting these two men to put the past behind them. My personal preoccupation was a pastoral one, and not a political one. I was uncomfortable with this and I decided to make my position clear. I offered a different proposal to help us sift the moral grain from the chaff of politics via a three-step process so as to insulate the three of us from the political fallout. I proposed that the first step would be for he and Alhaji Abubakar to sit down behind closed doors, sort out their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh Gumi and I to go in and listen to the two of them as Rev. Oyedepo had not arrived. After that, I said, they could continue with the third phase which from what I could see was high wire politics and I had no wish to be caught in the web. After they both finished their brief meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat down with the two of them. We had some small briefing and then both of us spoke briefly on what they had done, encouraging them to ensure that this reconciliation holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and our marriage vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what has now become the famous photograph behind closed doors. At this point, I felt that my spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to maintain my independence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I was hungry and food was being laid out, I skipped lunch. I quietly let myself out by the side door, got into the Four Square Gospel car and we drove off to Lagos. Despite the dread of Lagos traffic and the disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, I had declined the offer of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them to Abeokuta. Although flying with them was the best (and most convenient) assurance I had of getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at an event with the Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it was necessary to ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties. I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. I perfectly understand the feelings of many of my friends and members of the opposition who believe that I travelled with Alhaji Abubakar and his team to attend his endorsement by President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was not the case. All the bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospel hosts for the earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, booked accommodation for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight to Abuja and Sokoto. I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served my entire adult life as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliation and peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa Panel. When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of Oputa Panel, I personally undertook to visit both General Babangida and Buhari (he was not at home) at a time that todays latter day Buharists were asking the Panel to compel them to come or risk being blacked out of national life. Objective-minded people will remember that back in 2001, when the Christian community and many of President Buharis opponents claimed that General Buhari had said that Muslims should vote only for Muslims, many people in the Christian community were disappointed that I wrote a long article to explain the context of what he had said after speaking with the General. His party, the ANPP later used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith and experience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard both sides of a story, no matter what. I hope that this clarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all of these in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter the reasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one can not please everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please only ones own conscience, and here, mine is very clear. I have been involved in a few behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years, largely on my own initiative, taking advantage of my knowledge of those engaged in the conflict or at the invitation of third parties. Some have succeeded and some have not. As priest, it is not in my place to publicise what we have achieved. I am the Convener of the National Peace Committee. This alone is enough to place a moral boundary which I am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of trust and that is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear that both President Obasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making peace, I alerted the Chairman of the NPC, General Abdusalam. Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to the Ikoyi home of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan, the Archbishop of Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyone believed this was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imagined the third phase of this meeting. Both theoretically and practically, I have come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about his on two different occasions. Anyone involved in peace making from domestic quarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good, the bad and the ugly. In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long distance runner, believing and trusting that the truth never ever sinks to the bottom of the sea. The truth will always have a stubborn way of defying the hostile elements and popping up at the right time, no matter how long it takes. I perfectly understand that with Alhaji Abubakar having just picked up the Presidential ticket of his Party, without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why many people will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to question my neutrality. However, I have far too many friends across party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or party against the other. It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political space. The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference has signed a statement to the effect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever be open to any politician, something we have all taken seriously. I therefore hope that this clarification helps those whose minds are open. His appeals comes after the leadership of the party in the zone expressed that they were not aware neither were they consulted before making the ex-governor Atiku's running mate. The leadership of the party in the zone reacted on the selection of Peter Obi as Atiku's running mate after they had summoned an emergency meeting to discuss the matter. Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Gov David Umahi, said that they only heard the appointment on social media and expected that they would be carried along prior to the announcement. The governor said that the leadership still expected that the candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar would visit to inform them about the choice he made. Jonathan appeals to the leadership of the zone In a statement released by his spokesperson, Mr Ikechukwu Eze, on Sunday 14 October, the former president calls on the party members in the South-east to remain united and support the choice of the presidential candidate. Goodluck Jonathan made the appeal a day after the leadership of the zone summoned an emergency meeting. Read Jonathan's full statement below I thank members of our great party for the successful conduct of the primaries for the various elective positions ahead of the 2019 general elections. By holding transparent, peaceful and rancor-free convention and primaries across the country, our party has once more, taken the nations democratic exercise a notch higher, in line with our well-established tradition of deepening the growth of democracy in our nation. I again congratulate all our candidates for various positions, including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was overwhelmingly elected by our delegates as the flag bearer of our party in the 2019 presidential election. The popularity and positive reviews of the exercise across the country is a clear demonstration of national endorsement for the choices we made, going into the 2019 elections. The task before us is to build on this firm foundation and momentum by pulling in one direction and working assiduously for the victory of these candidates at the polls. It is against this backdrop that I appeal for calm and understanding in the South East where my attention has been drawn to the fact that some leaders of our party are openly expressing their discomfort with the reported nomination of former Governor of Anambra State Peter Obi as Atikus running mate. I am told that some of our leaders in the zone have raised issues with the process of consultation that produced the Vice-Presidential candidate. I affirm that consultation is a key ingredient in every political process. Nonetheless, in the selection of a vice presidential candidate, a presidential candidate is allowed reasonable freedom to select his running mate based on loyalty, trust, experience, temperament, and capacity to perform the responsibilities of the office. Anything other than this could create tension and acrimony between the presidential candidate and his running mate, even before the inauguration of the government. My plea is for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to be given a free hand to choose who he wants to work with as his Vice President without putting him through undue pressure. In this regard, only minimal consultation is required which doesnt necessarily have to involve full regional review and approval. We have to be careful not to give the impression that the process of selecting a Vice Presidential candidate cannot progress until a regional stamp of approval is formally procured. The system we are used to right from the First Republic is one that places the choice of a running mate at the behest of the candidate, based on his own convictions on capacity and compatibility. From my political history, beginning from Deputy Governor to President, I can say that this is the tradition and standard practice in countries where either the President and his Vice or Governor and his Deputy contest election on a common slate. In such instance, once a candidate emerges, he or she is given a free hand to select the person who understands his vision and plans for the country, as his running mate. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this on the sideline of the opening of a two-day validation workshop titled Study on the cost of elections in ECOWAS Region on Monday in Abuja. We have issued a statement on Zamfara and nothing has changed. We stand by the statement that we issued, he said. Yakubu re-emphasised that the deadline for submission of party candidates name to the commission was Oct 18, saying that it would give a full report on that after Nov. 18. INEC had informed the ruling APC in a leaked memo that it would not be allowed to field candidates for elective positions in Zamfara in the 2019 elections. The commissions acting Secretary, Okechukwe Ndeche, in a letter to the APC said that the party was barred from fielding candidates for governorship, national assembly and state assembly elections. The commission said this was because APC failed to comply with Sections 87 and 31 of the Electoral Act of 2010. Parties, according to the act, were expected to comply with the timetable and schedule of INEC, which says that the conduct of primaries must be held between Aug. 18 and Oct. 7. INEC said it received reports from its Zamfara office, indicating that no primaries were conducted in the state notwithstanding that our officials were fully mobilised and deployed. The APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, later responded to INEC in a statement and said that the party had already arrived at a consensus before the deadline. Oshiomhole said that following the high level of friction, disagreements and threats of violence by various political camps before the primaries, all the aspirants met at City King Hotel, Gusau, to find a truce. After hours of intense horse-trading, a consensus was reached within the spirit and context of the electoral act and the constitution of our party. This was done in strict compliance with Section 87 (6) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), he said. He said that the claim by INEC that no primaries were conducted could only be referring to its officials observation that actual voting did not take place. The APC chairman said that conduct of primaries was not the only mode prescribed for producing candidates in the electoral act, 2010 (as amended). We, therefore, affirm that indeed, primaries took place in Zamfara State, Oshiomhole said. The party chairman also noted that PDP had similar issues in Kano State and wondered why INEC did not bar the opposition party from fielding candidates. Yakubu further said that the commission would by the end of November print the outstanding Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). ALSO READ:INEC bans APC from contesting 2019 elections in Zamfara We have printed the PVCs for those who registered in the first quarter of 2018. We are right now simultaneously printing for those who registered in the second and third quarters. We are looking at the end of November for all the PVCs to be printed including request for transfer and relocation. Let me just repeat the assurance that every citizen that registered and who have applied for transfer or replacement will get his or her PVC before 2019 general elections. The governor who was rallying his support for Aminu Tambuwal at the primaries says he is ready to support PDP's candidate in order to defeat president Muhammadu Buhari. In a statement released by his media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu, the governor stressed that all hands should be on deck to defeat the APC led administration in the forthcoming election. We must put our heads together to ensure that this bad government is sacked. We must ensure that this bad government goes in 2019. If this same government returns in 2019, then Nigerians are digging their graves. The suffering now will be a childs play. That is why we must work for the good of our people, he said. While addressing the public at a summit, "African Leadership In The Millenium", a part of Felabration 2018, in Lagos State on Monday, October 15, 2018, Sowore said a victory for Atiku, a former vice president, or incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, will further stall the nation's progress. He said, "The last government is always better than the next. In fact, if you ask me which is the worst government, it hasn't come yet. "It's coming next year if we vote Buhari or Atiku. It'll be the worst government we'll have because both of them have unfinished business with Nigeria. "Atiku was not happy that he didn't steal enough when he was with Obasanjo. Maybe he didn't get enough licenses for his universities, or maybe he didn't get enough oil blocs for himself or probably didn't marry enough wives. "So, when they return, they're coming with vengeance; vengeance on our resources and our people. "Atiku is coming back to create a paradise for thieves and you can see the people who are excited about them. "They're either people who stole, who didn't steal enough last time, or people who are aspiring to become thieves, including Donald Duke. "Same thing with Buhari. If Buhari returns next year, he'll take away all forms of pretence about human rights, about his support for Islamic extremism, about his respect for your farms. He'll take it all because at that time, he'll have nothing at stake." We need revolution in 2019 - Sowore Sowore also said Nigerians cannot hope to simply have power voluntarily transfered from one generation to another and must fight for it through a deliberate revolution. He pointed out that the system is rigged to keep the old establishment in power and that Nigerians must resist it so as to actualise the country of their dreams and not the one of their ineffective leaders. He said, "The solution is a revolution. We're not going anywhere without adding the revolutionary fervour to this coming election. "Anyone who's still under the illusion that these old baggers, as we call them, will hand over power voluntarily to us, we're deceiving ourselves. "Anyone under the illusion that the plastic cards that we refer to as permanent voter's card (PVC) will guarantee you a transfers of power from one generation to another, you're wasting your time. "Of course a few of you might vote, but your votes will not count because it's been designed to fail from the beginning." Atiku was elected the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) at the party's national convention in Port Harcourt on October 7, 2018, and was publicly endorsed days later by Obasanjo who had previously been one of the most vocal opponents of his long-standing presidential ambition. According to Sowore, who's contesting for the position of president on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC), Obasanjo's sensational u-turn over Atiku's suitability for the presidency proves that he's dishonest and unpatriotic. He said this while addressing the public at a summit, "African Leadership In The Millenium", a part of Felabration 2018, in Lagos State on Monday, October 15, 2018. Sowore narrated to the public how Atiku had failed to gain the endorsement of Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, and how he had to run to Obasanjo afterwards. He said, "They (Atiku and his campaign team) had to leave Soyinka with their tails in-between their legs. "Of course, the moment they saw that Soyinka could not be fooled, they went to that man in Ota who's always speaking from both sides of his mouth - a dishonest, unpatriotic, inhuman Obasanjo. "The usual unpatriotic, inhuman and wicked Obasanjo invited Atiku to his house and told us that he has now forgiven Atiku. The same Atiku he claimed that God will not pardon him if he ever recommended him to be president of Nigeria. "He recommended him again to go and destroy Nigeria. If it is true that there's God and God doesn't punish Obasanjo this time, so many of us will stop going to church." Buhari is a useless man - Sowore Sowore further took a stab at one of his biggest opponents at next year's polls, President Muhammadu Buhari, noting that history has been kind to the people that destroyed Nigeria. He said Nigeria has no future if any of 75-year-old Buhari or 71-year-old Atiku is allowed to emerge victorious in the 2019 presidential election. He said, "Sometimes, we don't celebrate our own. We don't celebrate the contributions that we've made at different times in this country. And that's why I think they don't teach history anymore. Because if we had history in our curriculum, somebody would have taught our children that Obasanjo is a bad person, that Babangida is a thief, that Atiku was a Customs officer who made it by stealing, that Buhari is a useless man. We didn't need Donald Trump to tell us Buhari is lifeless. "But here we are in 2018, there is a debate about who to choose between the worst and the baddest. And we're all here still romanticising about what Nigeria should be in the future. "Let me tell you, Nigeria has no future with these guys. It's the truth. We have no future because people who destroyed your past cannot guarantee you any future." We need revolution in 2019 - Sowore Sowore said Nigerians cannot hope to simply have power voluntarily transferred from one generation to another and must fight for it through a deliberate revolution. He pointed out that the system is rigged to keep the old establishment in power and that Nigerians must resist it so as to actualise the country of their dreams and not the one of their ineffective leaders. He said, "The country you're seeing today is the country of their dreams. The country without roads, hospitals and schools. It's the country of the dreams of the Babangidas, the Obasanjos, the Abubakars and the Buharis of this world. "The solution is a revolution. We're not going anywhere without adding the revolutionary fervour to this coming election. "Anyone who's still under the illusion that these old baggers, as we call them, will hand over power voluntarily to us, we're deceiving ourselves. "Anyone under the illusion that the plastic cards that we refer to as permanent voter's card (PVC) will guarantee you a transfers of power from one generation to another, you're wasting your time. "Of course a few of you might vote, but your votes will not count because it's been designed to fail from the beginning." "My adversary foments violence, including a culture of rape," Haddad said, recalling an episode when Bolsonaro told a congresswoman she didn't "deserve" to be raped by him. He stressed he believed Brazil was seeing the biggest peril since returning to democracy three decades ago, saying: "In my opinion, the big threat to the continent is Bolsonaro." The charges were made as violent incidents linked to the election occurred in various parts of Brazil. Early this week, a man was stabbed to death in a bar for reportedly yelling support for Haddad's Workers Party. A transgender woman also said she was beaten by Bolsonaro supporters in the street. Haddad, a former mayor of Sao Paulo, is fighting to close a big gap between him and Bolsonaro, who admires US President Donald Trump and is nostalgic for Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Haddad is pushing for televised debates that his rival has so far avoided, initially because of a wound Bolsonaro suffered when a lone assailant stabbed him while campaigning last month. 'Intolerance' In the first round of the election last Sunday, Bolsonaro easily dominated, winning 46 percent of the vote to Haddad's 29 percent. A subsequent Datafolha survey suggested Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper running on an anti-crime, anti-corruption platform, had 58 percent voter support going into the run-off, against 42 percent for Haddad. In his interview with AFP in Sao Paulo, Haddad homed in on the frontrunner's message that has resonated most with Brazilians: Bolsonaro's law-and-order pledges that include making it easier for citizens to defend themselves with firearms, boosting the police force, and lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 16. "Arming the population will resolve nothing. It's the state that has to implement public safety," he said. He added that the outgoing government had fallen short in this area, especially in combating organized crime. Bolsonaro was singularly unsuited to fighting violence, Haddad said, pointing to a campaign moment when the far-right candidate feigned shooting up the Workers Party. "How can a person preaching intolerance offer security to anyone?" he asked. Admits 'errors' Haddad also pushed back against a public perception highlighted by Bolsonaro that the Workers Party, in power from 2003 to 2016, was corrupt -- a view confirmed by the incarceration of its icon, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for corruption. His party had made "errors," he admitted. "Our government didn't brush anything under the carpet. Obviously, what people saw outside the carpet wasn't pretty but that was combated with legislation we approved and... all organs of the state will be strengthened in our new government," Haddad said. "I share the same view as society that corruption is something intolerable." But he also pointed to Bolsonaro's very thin record of being involved in passing laws despite nearly three decades in Congress, saying: "He rails against things. But what he proposes has no consistency whatsoever." Haddad declared: "That person is leader in the polls, but he will lose." Lula, he said, was "very happy" at Haddad's performance so far in the elections, especially as he had been a late replacement for the ex-president in September, after a court ruled Lula to be ineligible to run again. Haddad also tackled attempts by Bolsonaro's campaign to claim the Workers Party was the same as the Socialist regime running neighboring Venezuela, in crisis under President Nicolas Maduro. "Today marks... the beginning of the much-anticipated mechanism that is expected to ensure healing, justice and proper documentation of the rights violations and abuses that took place in the previous regime," the office of his successor, President Adama Barrow, said in a tweet. Inspired by South Africa's investigation into the apartheid era, the commission will hold witness hearings into Jammeh's 22-year era of oppression, opening the way to prosecuting those responsible and offering victims and their relatives the hope of closure. "Gambians who were tortured or raped in prison, who were shot for peacefully demonstrating, who were forced into Jammeh?s phony HIV ?treatment? programmes, whose family members were killed or who were targeted in literal witch hunts will all be able to come forward," said Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch (HRW). "We know so much more today about the crimes of Jammeh?s government than we did a year ago -- and when the truth commission is finished hearing from all the victims we should have a complete picture." The process, he hoped, marked the first step to "holding Yahya Jammeh and his henchmen to account." Jammeh came to power in a military coup in 1994, installing a structure of oppression and corruption that touched nearly every part of Gambian society. Dissidents and journalists were picked up and tortured by the dreaded National Intelligence Agency (NIA). An ultra-loyal death squad called the Junglers carried out summary killings, including the alleged murder of scores of West African migrants. Exile Jammeh's reign began to crumble in December 2016, when he dramatically lost elections to opposition leader Adama Barrow. He refused to step down, but was eventually forced out after other West African countries intervened militarily and diplomatically, and flew into self-imposed exile in Equatorial Guinea. Created under an act of parliament, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) aims at using openness and a court-like approach to investigate over two years how abuse began and became systemic and the impacts it had. The Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, an NGO set up by victims and relatives of victims, says it has already documented hundreds of cases. But the full extent of abuse may never be known and whether Jammeh himself will be put in the dock is far from clear. The commission will be empowered to advise prosecution of perpetrators and recommend financial compensation to victims. Its members are drawn from all the major regions, its five main ethnic groups and two religions, led by a retired UN diplomat, Lamin Sise. "What is clear is that we committed mistakes and allowed ourselves to be manipulated by those with ulterior motives... We apologise." Among the stories was an exclusive published in December 2011 about an alleged rogue police unit accused of scores of extrajudicial killings in the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal. The paper said at the time that it had uncovered evidence of a "death squad" operating in the town of Cato Manor on the outskirts of the province's capital Durban. Dozens of police officers from the top anti-crime unit were arrested and suspended in 2012 in the aftermath of the Sunday Times investigation. While some have been cleared and all eventually allowed back to work, 27 still remain on trial over the claims. The accused have denied the allegations, arguing they were targeted because they had been investigating high-profile individuals with political ties. On Sunday, the Sunday Times acknowledged it "failed to present (information) in a prominent way that would have resulted in a balanced and fair piece of journalism that reflected both sides". Besides the Cato Manor scandal, the paper also admitted that it had falsely reported on an alleged rogue spy unit inside the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in 2014 that surveilled politicians including Zuma. "While we were interrogating, investigating and reporting these stories, there was clearly a parallel political project aimed at undermining our democratic values and destroying state institutions, and removing individuals who were seen as obstacles to this project," the paper's editor said. "We admit that our stories may have been used for this purpose." Siqoko said the paper would return awards won for these stories. In power since 2009, the corruption-tainted Zuma was forced out of office by his ruling African National Congress (ANC) in February. The Government has announced plans to hire more than 850 new teachers. Education Minister Chris Hipkins said on Sunday the Government is determined to pull out all the stops to meet the shortfall of teaching staff. We know that some schools and parents, particularly in the Auckland area but also in pockets around the country, are concerned that not enough teachers are coming into the system. By 2019, the Ministry of Education estimates itll need another 650 primary and secondary school teachers to keep up with growing rolls. "Our immediate focus is to get sufficient quality teachers in place for the next school year, Minister Hipkins said. But its struggling to keep people in the profession, with pay lower than it used to be and conditions getting worse, teachers say. 6000 Kiwi teachers currently living overseas have been contacted by Immigration NZ in an attempt to try and lure them back. However, Maggie Watts, who has spent ten years teaching overseas, says she is frustrated at the process involved to re-register as a teacher in New Zealand, despite the industry crying out for teaching staff. It seems to be quite a convoluted process in terms of getting back into the classroom. Because I took three years off, having my girls, Im having to do a TER a teacher refresh course to reactivate my registration, she told RadioLIVE. Ms Watt says the course consists of four papers that take up to twelve weeks to complete each. She says teachers can still teach during the refresher course, with exemption from a school principal, but she has found that there is little time left to plan for classes, marking school work, and less time to spend with her own family. Reflecting on her career, Ms Watts said teaching is a great profession. I think many teachers do it because they love the kids and they just love making it different, she told RadioLIVE. Listen to the full interview with Maggie Watts above. Drive with Ryan Bridge, 3pm - 6pm Weekdays and streaming live on rova available on Android and iPhone. RadioLIVE. Peter Norman Commemoration Committee convenor Joseph Toscano looks at how black solidarity changed the former Australian sprinters life, and the moves that are now at hand to ensure his legacy remains intact. Listen to the full interviews above. The Long Lunch with Brendan Telfer in for Lynda Hellinan, 12pm - 3pm on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the rova app on Android and iPhone. RadioLIVE. Countdown to Armistace. Part Three. Military historian Glyn Harper describes the military and political manoeuvres that occurred in the weeks leading up to the 100th anniversary of Armistace on November 11. Go here for the previous episodes. Marking 10 years of direct intermodal trains between China and Germany, Deutsche Bahn has established DB Cargo Eurasia as a dedicated business unit to develop Eurasian transit freight. DB and partners including Russian Railways launched a single train between Xiangtang and Hamburg in 2008; it now runs 3 600 per ... UK: Network Rail has confirmed its intention to directly award Hitachi Rail Europe a 30m contract to supply a traffic management system for the Sussex area of its South East Route and the East London Line. SOUTH AFRICA: Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa must comply with the safety requirements set by the Railway Safety Regulator under a ruling made by the North Gauteng High Court on October 11. An initial court ruling on October 5 had lifted the suspension of PRASAs operating licence imposed on ... UK: An engineering assessment has found that there is a positive case for fitting Siemens Desiro Class 350/2 electric multiple-units with batteries to enable off-wire operation, Porterbrook Leasing said on October 15. The company is holding discussions with battery chemistry specialists with a view to producing a demonstrator unit. Commissioned as a 6 x 60 series by ITV in the UK and premiering in 2019 with Dermot OLeary (The X-Factor) as its host, Small Fortune is billed as the worlds smallest physical gameshow. Teams of friends and family members compete in tiny games set in perfectly miniaturised worlds in order to win big money. Each game could win up to 50,000, with a Small Fortune of 150,000 potentially up for grabs for the winning team. youngest media founded by Lucas Church and David Flynn and whose recent productions include award winning dating series Game of Clones will distribute the format in Germany, France, Australia and North America, with DRG representing the format in the rest of the world.David and Lucas have developed an exciting business, bursting with big ideas, and are constantly injecting creative new thinking into our world, said DRG CEO Richard Halliwell. Small Fortune is a truly original idea and a fantastic format for primetime family slots, packed with jeopardy, big money prizes and the most incredible visuals. We are delighted that Small Fortune is joining our growing catalogue of successful international formats and we are confident that this impressive gameshow featuring tiny worlds will receive a very big welcome from buyers in Cannes.Added David Flynn: Physical gameshows have been getting bigger and bigger, but weve gone small to create a show that looks like nothing else out there. Small Fortune delivers big jeopardy and huge emotion but with a scale that can work in any territory and for any timeslot. We cant wait to work with DRG to make Small Fortune a big global hit. Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) and direct-to-home (DTH) operator Tata Sky have been told by Indias industry tribunal to find a resolution to their carriage dispute by 9 November. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also rejected the relief sought by SPNI for Tata Skys failure to carry all of its channels.We direct both the parties to sit across the table and try to work out a mutually acceptable negotiated agreement within a period of four weeks from today, said an order from The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). If required, the parties can apply for an extension after this time.SPNI had moved TDSAT following Tata Skys decision to drop Sony channels from its platform The distribution agreement between the two parties had ended on 31 July 2018, and negotiations to extend it had failed. Sony issued a disconnection notice to Tata Sky on 10 September.Tata Sky then proposed a reference interconnect offer (RIO) to carry 10 SPNI channels out of a possible 32 from 1 October.In the tribunal SPNI claimed the DTH operator was being unfair to customers who had selected Sony channels prior to disconnection, as they had to call Tata Sky to reinstate the ten channels that formed the RIO agreement. Tata Sky , in response, said Sony had approached the tribunal for its business interest and was not in a position to represent the interests of its consumers.The counsel for Tata Sky submitted that negotiations failed because the demand, for INR 1700 crore, came even after SPNI lost the rights to broadcast Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. Continuing its global expansion plans in a move that it says that underscores growing consumer demand for curated direct-to-consumer services, AMC Networks is to take subscription video-on-demand offers Shudder and Sundance Now to Australia and New Zealand. The new destinations build on the services growth in subscribers in existing territories, which includes the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany and Austria.Shudder is claimed to be the worlds largest premium streaming service for both casual and super fans of thriller, suspense and horror content. Over the last few months it has been steadily adding original series featuring A-list talent to its selection of exclusive new releases and classics.Sundance Now, which builds on the legacy of Robert Redfords Sundance brand, offers original and exclusive dramas and true crime series, in addition to films from every genre, including foreign-language and documentary features. The services recent hits include Dead Lucky and Riviera and forthcoming titles include Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle; Exeter, its first-ever original scripted podcast; This Close; docu-series, Cold Blooded based on the Truman Capote novel Cold Blood.Our continued expansion of Shudder and Sundance Now speaks to our success in offering audiences exclusive and original content they cant get anywhere else along with an unparalleled user experience, said Paul Rehrig, EVP of Business Development for AMC Networks. We look forward to introducing both services into these new markets as consumer demand for our curated streaming offerings continues to grow. 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 Joe Giudice's daughters Gia and Milania say they will do "everything" they can to fight his deportation. ADVERTISEMENT Gia, 17, and Milania, 14, two of Joe and "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice 's four children, voiced their heartbreak in Instagram posts Sunday after Joe was ordered to return to Italy after his prison sentence. "My dad, who is the best dad in the world, needs to come home. We aren't done fighting dad," Milania captioned a slideshow of photos with her dad. "I can't believe this is happening. I can't imagine another day without you," she said. "We are gonna do everything we can to fight this daddy!! I love you with all my heart buddy #heartbroken." Gia urged her followers to take action and support Joe's cause in a post on her own account. "My father is no threat to society," the teenager wrote. "My father did his time and learned from his mistakes. Isn't being in there supposed to make you realize your mistakes so you can become a better person? And that's exactly what my father did." FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! "We have so many plans to do as a family when he gets out. I need my father to be here. My father belongs with us and his entire family. My father came into this country when he was one years old, the United States is the only country he knows, spread the word #bringjoehome," she added. Joe is serving a 41-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud with Teresa in 2014. He is expected to appeal a judge's decision to deport him to Italy at the end of his sentence. Teresa, who is also parent to daughters Gabriella and Audriana with Joe, broke her silence on her husband's deportation ruling Sunday on Instagram. She shared a photo of the Statue of Liberty covering her face with her hands. E! News said last week Teresa is "devastated" by Joe's deportation order. A source said "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star is focused on caring and being strong for her daughters. Alanna Kelly UPDATE: 7 p.m. A Kelowna couple are being called heroes after they helped a woman flee from a man who was allegedly assaulting her. The frightening incident occurred just before midnight on Friday, while the woman was walking near Richter Street and Elliot Avenue in Kelowna. Heather and Keith Casley were in their living room when they heard someone yelling for help. Help me, help me, help me!, Heather recalls hearing. They looked out on their deck and saw a woman in a physical altercation with a man. He was dragging her into the bushes, Heather told Castanet News. Immediately, Keith ran out to help the woman but she was able to escape just before he got to her. I ran outside to see this girl sprinting extremely fast past us yelling help me in a bloodcurdling scream, Heather recalls. Keith then ran after the man and Heather remembered thinking "What did I just witness?" The suspect was not found and police are continuing to investigate. ORIGINAL: 6 p.m. A reward is being offered by the owner of a local skateboard shop for anyone who can provide information on a predator. The man approached a woman on Friday night who was walking near Richter Street and Elliot Avenue just before midnight. Initially the woman didnt feel threatened by the man, and the man spoke casually to her. But things quickly changed. Police say the man chased after the woman, tackled her to the ground and dragged her onto a property in the 2000 block of Richter Street. She was able to break free and run, but the man chased after her. A driver in the area saw the woman running and she was able to jump into the Good Samaritans vehicle. Police searched for the man, but couldnt find him and instead found his skateboard left at the scene. The skateboard comes from the Bakery Boardshop on Pandosy Street in Kelowna. Store owner and Kelowna mayoral candidate, Bobby Kennedy, spoke exclusively with Castanet News on Sunday, saying he investigated the very board that police found. We looked around to see whose board that was and it turns out that board was stolen this year from City Park skateboard park during the Centre of Gravity festival which we organize, he said. Kennedy said they looked further and couldnt find who stole the skateboard. I want to extend my support to the woman that was attacked on Friday night, he said, while speaking to Castanet alongside his two daughters. He is personally offering $1,000 on behalf of the Bakery Boardshop for any information on the suspect that leads to justice. This is about keeping people like these little girls safe, keeping people like yourself safe, he said. Let's band together lets make Kelowna safer. Police say the woman sustained minor physical injuries in the assault. Police describe the attacker as a Caucasian male, who is possibly part Filipino, in his early 20s with a medium build and shoulder-length brown and black hair. RCMP are now asking people in the area to review their surveillance footage, and anyone with information is being asked to contact them. By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/15/2018 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. star Dave Flaherty insists Amber Martorana was not more committed to their marriage on Season 7 of the Lifetime reality series just because her feelings were stronger.During Tuesday night's : Unfiltered episode dubbed Ready As I'll Ever Be, Dave sat down with host Jamie Otis and watched a clip of Amber telling him during a weekend getaway in San Antonio, TX, they were on different "commitment levels" to each other because she seemed to like him more."What do you think of Amber's comment she's more committed?" Jamie, who starred on Season 1 of , asked Dave."It frustrates me so much. I think it's such B-S," Dave replied."I've dealt with so many insecurities and I've always been patient and come back to her. We've gone through so much."Dave continued, "She may be at a different place with her feelings towards me than I am, but I am so committed to this process. And for her not to see that and discount that, it's one of those things where I just shut down even more."Amber often pushes Dave to express his feelings on , but he refuses to say what she wants to hear, claiming he tells her all the time and they have the same fight over and over again.It's clear Amber was falling in love with Dave at this point in the process but he didn't reciprocate such feelings."Dave, so we often see you say that you tell Amber how you feel about her all the time and here on Unfiltered, you say, 'I tell her all the time. I don't know why she needs reassurance.' But we never really see you on-camera tell her. Right in this moment, right here, right now, how do you feel about Amber?" Jamie asked."I care about Amber deeply. I really do. I have her back; I want to support and protect her. And I hope to grow in love with her," Dave explained."I think you should tell her that more. I think she'd love to hear that more," Jamie noted."Granted, I could always say it more," Dave admitted. "I get that. I do. And I think everyone could, right? Like a lot of people could say it more, but maybe not [ Bobby Dodd ]."Jamie then asked her other Unfiltered guest, Tristan Thompson -- who is married to Mia Bally on the show -- which spouse was more committed in their marriage."One of the things that has been controversial is we said, 'I love you,' too quick. And that's when I tried to differentiate a little bit later on, like, 'Yes, I love you, but I'm not in love with you,'" Tristan said."Now, because of all the things that we've gone through, I can say, 'I do really care for you. I do love you as a person.' But we're not ride or die yet."In addition to Dave, Amber, Tristan and Mia, the other Season 7 couple is Bobby and wife Danielle Bergman Interested in more news? Join our Married at First Sight Facebook Group Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) has issued a product Safety Bulletin for certain Ruger American Pistols chambered in 9mm. Ruger has discovered that some Ruger American Pistols chambered in 9mm may exhibit premature wear of the locking surfaces between the slide and barrel which, if ignored, can result in a crack developing near the ejection port of the slide. This typically does not occur at round counts below 10,000 rounds. The condition is easily identified during routine maintenance and cleaning, and the crack should be visible long before the pistol becomes unsafe to shoot. Ruger is committed to safety and is asking owners of Ruger American Pistols chambered in 9mm to inspect their pistols for excessive wear or cracks and, if necessary, sign up for a FREE retrofit. Ruger American Pistols chambered in .45 Auto are not subject to this Safety Bulletin. All Ruger American Pistols chambered in 9mm with serial number prefixes 860 and 862 are subject to this Safety Bulletin and should be inspected. Ruger American Pistol owners should visit the Ruger American Pistol Retrofit Website at Ruger.com/APRetrofit to look up the serial number to determine if their Ruger American Pistol is subject to the Safety Bulletin, learn how to inspect their pistol to determine whether the retrofit is necessary, obtain additional information, and sign up for the retrofit if required. Replacement components are being built and consumers who sign up for the retrofit will be served on a first-come, first-served basis. Those consumers will be sent a U.S. Postal Service box with a prepaid shipping label and detailed packaging and shipping instructions. The consumer should return only the barrel/slide assembly to Ruger. Ruger will inspect the barrel/slide assembly and install new components as needed, free of charge. The Company will make every effort to return each barrel/slide assembly within one week of the day it arrives at Ruger. Ruger reminds consumers that periodic inspection of any firearm is important to ensuring its safe operation. You should clean and inspect your firearm after each range session. Proper maintenance increases the longevity of your firearm and will allow early detection of worn or broken parts. The discursive gap between the left and right feels like it's widening every day. While both parties are to blame for this, liberal ideology in particular pushes against opposing ideology at the expense of free political discourse. Google the words "selfie" and "death." You'll be shocked at what you see. And now a clinical study has determined that hundreds of people worldwide have given their lives in pursuit of that perfect self-portrait in pixels. TravelSkills on SFGate is brought to you by Visa Titled "Selfies: A boon or bane," the report published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care used similar Google news searches and found that from October 2011 to November 2017, at least 259 people have died in 137 selfie sessions, with an average age of about 23. Three-fourths of the victims were male. Last month, a teenage visitor from Israel fell hundreds of feet to his death from the top of a waterfall in Yosemite National Park. He reportedly lost his footing when he was taking a selfie. These deaths happen all over the place, the study found, with the highest number in India, followed by Russia, the U.S. and Pakistan. The primary causes of death were drowning, transport and falls. There's even a Wikipedia page devoted to "selfie-related injuries and deaths." The report noted that compiling accurate statistics can be problematic because "selfie" is never listed as the actual cause of death in coroners' reports. "For example, certain road accidents while posing for selfies are reported as death due to Road Traffic Accident. Thus, the true magnitude of problem is underestimated. It is therefore important to assess the true burden, causes, and reasons for selfie deaths so that appropriate interventions can be made," the report said, suggesting that its own selfie death numbers are just "the tip of the iceberg." A major cause of transport-related selfie deaths was "clicking in front of a running train," the report said. "Also, most of the selfie-related deaths because of firearms occurred in the United States." The authors suggest that one way to reduce the number of deaths would be the creation of "no-selfie zones" in tourist areas, "especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings." Have you ever witnessed or been part of a precarious selfie? Do we need selfie-free zones? Please leave your thoughts in the comments! Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis. The platter of food in front of me seems out of place. Smoked brisket, pork ribs and pulled pork in New Orleans? The seafood-centric city has taken its Big Easy time catching up with a frenzy that has seemingly gripped the rest of the country for about a decade. But barbecue fever has finally arrived. A lunch at McClure's Barbecue shows how this newcomer cuisine is trying to find its voice in a town with such an established culinary identity. The platter mates traditional Southern meats with such sides as fried boudin balls, red beans and rice, Creole potato salad, barbecue jambalaya, and, in a nod to Louisiana's French-Acadian history, "BBQ Poutine." Among the sauces is one called NOLA East, which includes soy sauce, hoisin, Sriracha and chiles for a tangy Asian flavor profile that draws from the city's Vietnamese population. "Lots of the restaurants serve Texas-style barbecue and Kansas City barbecue and North Carolina barbecue," said New Orleans Times-Picayune food critic Brett Anderson, who had declared that his city "is now officially barbecue country" in an article last year. "A lot of these restaurants are looking for what's indigenous to southwest Louisiana." In a phone interview later, owner Neil McClure concurred. "I think if I'm trying to create my own style of New Orleans barbecue, it's with those sides," he said. Central City BBQ, which opened in 2016, bathes meats in the smoke from smoldering oak in giant all-wood offset smokers, like in Texas, and the menu runs the usual pan-regional gamut. But there's also smoked boudin (freckled with tomato for a Creole touch), spoonbread and buttermilk- and Tabasco-accented Creole coleslaw. "We're adding a little flair," manager Jonathan Rodriguez said. The annual Hogs for the Cause barbecue competition, a fundraiser for pediatric brain cancer that began in 2009, has launched some of the city's newer barbecue joints, several of which work to simply get the basics right. Frey Smoked Meat Co., which opened in 2016 and grew out of a barbecue team that competes at the contest, removed gumbo from its menu. "We're first and foremost a barbecue place," manager Boe Reboul said. "Gumbo isn't what people come here for." The Joint, opened in 2004, is perhaps the granddaddy of the city's modern barbecue wave. Husband and wife co-owners Pete and Jenny Breen moved into their small, funky current location in the Bywater neighborhood in 2012. They smoke pork, ribs, chicken and brisket over oak and pecan wood in a custom-made all-wood smoker. Pete, who grew up in Baltimore, likens their style to crowd-pleasing music. "I look at it as a greatest hits," he said. "We never came in with the idea of doing anything specifically New Orleans." Yet as if by osmosis, heritage seeps in. The vinaigrette on the Joint's salad is deepened with smoked Creole tomato. And the restaurant serves a Louisiana sausage known as chaurice (a local variant on chorizo) made by a company called Creole Country. The Louisiana-centric sensibility has historical roots. In a June article for the Houston Chronicle, barbecue columnist J.C. Reid noted that trench cooking of whole hogs in Cajun Country, west of New Orleans, is one of the South's oldest barbecue traditions, but never caught on commercially. "The boucherie is a long-standing community tradition involving a hog that's slaughtered and cooked on the spot," he wrote. Barbecue aficionado and New Orleans resident Howard Conyers, host of a PBS Digital Studios show called "Nourish" on the network's YouTube channel, agreed that whole hog cooking has been part of the state's culinary history. But in recent years, he said, what's called barbecue in Cajun Country isn't what most folks would imagine: Typically, it's "a really big pork chop with a bone in it," he said. Conyers cited Hogs for the Cause and barbecue's popularity nationally for the cuisine's local emergence. Rien Fertel, a Louisiana food and barbecue expert, said New Orleans barbecue traditions are unseen by the general public. "It's going on every Sunday at second-line parades," he said. "It's mostly African American crowds. Because it's street culture, it's something that's always there but relatively hidden." Fertel acknowledged that these barbecues revolve around sausages, burgers and pork chops. "There is no low-and-slow barbecue to speak of" at these events, he said. There is, though, at the city's restaurants nowadays. A progenitor of a New Orleans barbecue style is VooDoo BBQ & Grill, which opened on Mardi Gras in 2002. Its menu offers gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and meats dry-rubbed with Creole, Cajun and Caribbean seasonings. "It's a fusion of all the best that BBQ and New Orleans has to offer," its website reads. Through franchising, VooDoo has locations as far away as Florida and Indiana. Perhaps because of the way people think of New Orleans cuisine, until recently barbecue has struggled. "People don't come to the French Quarter to eat barbecue," said Tenney Flynn, co-owner of the seafood restaurant Fins. Flynn co-founded Zydecue in 2004 in the Quarter as a barbecue/Cajun/Creole hybrid. It was shuttered in 2016. Its sausage was made by chef Alex Patout and its seasoning blend concocted by Paul Prudhomme. "We would take a little license with barbecue history and say that barbecue existed with the western Louisiana cochon de lait," recalled co-owner Tenney Flynn. "We'd say it was the genesis of barbecue." Barbecue origin story aside, if the city has a signature barbecue item, it might be that cochon de lait. The name derives from the days when tender, flavorful young pigs (cochon) still feeding on their mother's milk (lait) were slow-roasted over wood embers. These days, it's typically smoked pork shoulder piled into French bread with coleslaw. Walker's Southern Style BBQ, which began selling the sandwiches in 2001 at Jazz Fest, serves what many consider the definitive version. The flavorful, juicy, spice-rubbed pork is smoked for 16 hours and piled onto French-style bread, baked by James Beard award-winner Dong Phuong, that's dressed with a spicy mayo-based sauce and topped with dry slaw. It's sensational. Not surprising, perhaps, given that owner Jonathan Walker took first place in whole hog at the 2014 Hogs for the Cause. Such local traditions are still trying to find their way into the city's contemporary vision of barbecue, though. When Walker said to me, "Tell them we do barbecue," he pulled something from the smoker and held it high with a pair of tongs: It wasn't cochon de lait, or trench-cooked pork, or even smoked boudin. It was a rack of ribs. Squatting amid loose red dirt and rocks, Blake Fischer posed for a picture, a triumphant grin stretching across his face. Arranged in front of him, resembling a macabre family picture, are the bodies of four baboons. The smallest one's head is lolled back, it's mouth slightly agape. Crimson blood stains its abdomen. A quiver of arrows is in the foreground. It is this photo that has landed Fischer, one of Idaho's fish and game commissioners, in the middle of a firestorm of backlash, which includes an increasing number of calls for his resignation from a position he has held for four years, the Idaho Statesman first reported Friday. It all began when Fischer and his wife returned from a hunting trip to Namibia last month. Fischer compiled photos of the animals the pair had hunted, which included a leopard, giraffe, impala and waterbuck, and sent the images along with descriptions of each kill to more than 100 people, KBOI reported. At the very top of Fischer's email was the picture of the baboons, according to the Statesman. "Fellas," Fischer wrote in the Sept. 17 email, according to the Idaho State Journal, "I have been back for a week, but have been hunting and trying to get caught up. Anyways, my wife and I went to Namibia for a week . . . first she wanted to watch me and 'get a feel' of Africa . . . so I shot a whole family of baboons. I think she got the idea quick." Fischer's email did not sit well with a number of people who received it, some of whom are former fish and game commissioners. The email and responses to it were obtained by local media outlets through a records request to the Idaho governor's office. "They killed a whole family, including small baboons, and I think that's revolting," former commissioner Keith Stonebraker told the Statesman. ". . . It just puts a bad light on us." At least three former commissioners have supported calls on Fischer to resign, the Statesman reported. In a lengthy email, Fred Trevey, who served as a commissioner for eight years, advised Fischer to "take responsibility and resign, sooner rather than later," the KBOI reported. "My reaction to the photo and accompanying text of you smiling and holding a 'family' of primates you killed, dismays and disappoints me," Trevey wrote. "I have a difficult time understanding how a person privileged to be an Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner can view such an action as sportsmanlike and an example to others." More for you After rangers disarmed, 87 elephants slaughtered in Botswana Though it is legal to hunt baboons in Africa, Trevey wrote "legal does not make it right." According to the Idaho State Journal, Trevey's email included a reference to a hunting manual endorsed by the state's Department of Fish and Game, which states that hunters should "refrain from taking photographs of the kill and from vividly describing the kill within earshot of non-hunters." "Your poor judgement has unnecessarily put the institution's credibility, and hunting in general, at risk in a blink of an eye," he wrote. Keith E. Carlson, another former commissioner who called for Fischer to resign, echoed a similar condemnation of the photo. "I don't know how you can say anything good about a photo of a guy smiling with a stack of dead baboons with a baby in front," Carlson told the Statesman. "If you're an anti-hunter, that's raw meat. And I'm a hunter - I've been a hunter forever." Fischer's email was forwarded to the governor's office by Idaho Fish and Game Commission Chairman Derick Attebury, according to the Statesman. Fish and game commissioners are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, the department's website states. Each commissioner serves a four-year term. Fischer, according to the Statesman, was reappointed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter to serve until 2022, but has yet to be confirmed. Fischer, who told the Statesman he received a call from a fellow commissioner expressing concerns about the photo, said he apologized for sending the pictures, but defended the hunt. "I didn't do anything illegal," he said. "I didn't do anything unethical. I didn't do anything immoral. . . . I look at the way Idaho's Fish and Game statute says we're supposed to manage all animals for Idaho, and any surplus of animals we have we manage through hunting, fishing and trapping. Africa does the same thing." Fischer said he received a list of animals that could be hunted, some of which required a trophy fee, according to the Statesman. Baboons are "free," Fischer said. Idaho Fish and Game could not be reached for comment. A spokesman declined to comment to the Statesman and said commissioners "are appointed by the governor and not employees of the department." On social media, reactions to the photo have been fierce, many decrying Fischer's actions as "disgusting" and "disturbing." Comedian Ricky Gervais, a longtime animal rights advocate, posted a scathing two-word tweet in which he called Fischer a "Pathetic [expletive]," using a vulgar word to describe female genitalia. "#BanTrophyHunting," he added. "Blake Fischer liked to kill lots of African wildlife," biologist Dan Schneider tweeted. "Some animals on the verge of being declared endangered (and he knows this). He shouldn't be a U.S. Game [Commissioner]." Robin1473 tweeted "@ButchOtterThe first thing I saw when i woke up this morning was a picture of your Fish &Game Commissioner Blake Fischer gleefully posing with an entire family of baboons he killed with a bow and arrow. I am disturbed beyond words. What kind of people work for you?? Horrific." Calls for Fischer to resign or be fired resounded. "Please address the Blake Fischer issue immediately," one person tweeted. "He needs to be removed from his post as he has proven that he is not a champion for wildlife." Ess Elle Ess tweeted "@idfgIs this how your commissioners act? I'm sickened and outraged. Please fire Blake Fischer!" Jon Hanian, a spokesman for the governor's office, told the Statesman that Otter is aware of the email. "It's fair to say the governor is concerned about it," Hanian said, adding that Otter has seen the pictures. "We're looking into it." Hanian told the Idaho State Journal he would not speculate on Fischer's employment status. "I don't want to get ahead of our process," he said. Fischer told the Statesman he was "raised in a very ethical hunting family." In each photo, he said he tried to "pose the animals in a natural position," adding that blood was wiped off their mouths and rifles or bows placed over bullet holes. "These are normal hunting photos," he said. "You shoot an animal, you take a picture of it." While the photos may have adhered to proper hunting etiquette, other avid hunters, such as Steven Alder, were still troubled by what appeared to be the killing of an entire baboon family. Alder is the executive director of the pro-hunting group Idaho for Wildlife. "He killed the whole baboon family and you've got little junior laying there in mom's lap," Alder told the Statesman. "You just don't do that. I hate wolves as much as anyone, but I'm not going to take a wolf family and put it on display and show the baby wolf." Why cant women stop buying the Marxist narrative? If youve read this and youre going uh, what? because youre a woman and not Marxist, dont worry. Im not out of my ever loving mind. Well, not more than usual, at any rate. What Im doing is echoing an editorial by Victoria Bissell Brown published in The Washington Post who starts her insanely stupid article by asking: Why cant men organize to change themselves? Why, Vicky, (yeah, Im fairly sure you dont want me to call you Vicky, but since youre functioning at about a six-year-old level, thats the best you deserve) thats an amazing question, that probably made the Post editors drool at your amazingness. Its almost as good as why cant you take a valium like a normal human being, and stop being crazy? which is what your editorial made me ask. Her article starts with a confession of spousal abuse: I yelled at my husband last night. Not pick-up-your-socks yell. Not how-could-you-ignore-that-red-light yell. This was real yelling. This was 30 minutes of from-the-gut yelling. Triggered by a small, thoughtless, dismissive, annoyed, patronizing comment. Really small. A micro-wave that triggered a hurricane. I blew. Hard and fast. Okay, first, if youre in the habit of yelling at your husband for not picking up his socks, Vicky, no wonder that he blows through red lights. You probably dont let him own a gun and the poor man has no other way to escape your tyrannical, insane blow ups. What youre doing is straight up spousal abuse, because youre triggered. No? How would you feel if your husband yelled at you for no reason because he was triggered? Would you think that was okay? And it terrified me. Im still terrified by what I felt and what I said. Again, if youre in the habit of being terrified by what you felt, you might need some introspection, or you know, growing up. I am almost 70 years old. Thereby proving Jacques Brel right when he sang: Finalement, finalement, il nous fallut bien du talent pour etre vieux sans etre adultes? ["Finally, finally, we needed a lot of talent to grow old without becoming adults" Ed.] I guess. Look at that number, lady. Isnt it time you grew up and started thinking about the consequences of what you do, and just how repulsive what you say is? I am a grandmother. Yet in that roiling moment, screaming at my husband as if he represented every clueless male on the planet (and I every angry woman of 2018), I announced that I hate all men and wish all men were dead. If one of my grandchildren yelled something that ridiculous, Id have to stifle a laugh. Shame on your husband for sticking it in crazy. Shame on you for being an idiot. I ain't laughing Vicky. Are any of your grandchildren male? I presume so since you dont say my granddaughters. SPONSORED What a thrill it must be to them to know crazy-granny wants them dead for the crime of being born with a penis. How warm-fuzzy they must feel. How affirmed. How empowered. Or, in other words, do you give a good goddamn about how your words and actions make others feel? Or are you basically a toddler, throwing tantrums and throwing your weight around because you expect the world to cater to your every whim? Dont answer that Vicky. We know which one it is. And we cringe for you, but more so for your husband and kids. My husband of 50 years did not have to stifle a laugh. He took it dead seriously. No. He didnt. He took it with the abashed, beaten inability to defend himself of an abused spouse, Vicky. Seriously would be packing his bags and leaving, or telling you need mental help. What he did was far scarier. He did not defend his remark, he did not defend men. He sat, hunched and hurt, and he listened. That man needs help. He needs an intervention. He needs someone to assure him he doesnt deserve to be raged at and abused because he has a penis. Its time to stop the abuse. No one would condemn a woman in the same situation who left or became violent. And its time this man realizes hes worth as much as a woman. For a moment, it occurred to me to be grateful that Im married to a man who will listen to a woman. Think how well it would sound if a man said: It occurred to me to be grateful because my wife would listen to a man When that man was self-admittedly raging incoherently and irrationally at her. Just think about it. Again, that man needs help. The winds calmed ever so slightly in that moment. And then the storm surge welled up in me as I realized the pathetic impotence of nice mens plan to rebuild the wreckage by listening to women. As my rage rushed through the streets of my mind, toppling every memory of every good thing my husband has ever done (and there are scores of memories), Winds, rage, toppling yeah, this is a storm happening inside you and youre not in control at all? Nice way to pass the buck, Vicky, but you need Thorazine. Or you know, you could grow up. I said the meanest thing Ive ever said to him: We dont believe you, Vicky. I suspect you dont even know when youre being mean. Being a raging narcissist, you use the fact hes male to beat him over the head all the time. You dont even notice it. Dont you dare sit there and sympathetically promise to change. Dont say you will stop yourself before you blurt out some impatient, annoyed, controlling remark. Depends, Vicky. Are you going to promise him to change when you go out of your mind and act like a fricking loon? No? Then youre right. He shouldnt sit there and listen, much less promise to change. But you know, this is what youve done. Youve abused him to the point he cant defend himself. No, I said, you cant change. You are unable to change. You dont have the skills and you wont do it. You, I said, are one of the good men. You respect women, you believe in women, you like women, you dont hit women or rape women or in any way abuse women. You have applauded and funded feminism for a half-century. You are one of the good men. And you cannot change. You can listen all you want, but that will not create one iota of change. Youre correct Vicky. He doesnt hit women. On the other hand, if he set fire to you in your bed in the middle of the night, he wouldnt be convicted by anyone who read your crazy editorial. In the centuries of feminist movements that have washed up and away, good men have not once organized their own mass movement to change themselves and their sons or to attack the mean-spirited, teasing, punching thing that passes for male culture. Not once. Bastards. Dont listen to me. Listen to each other. Talk to each other. Earn your power for once. Let me rephrase that good men refuse to become women. They talk in ways I dont like, and theyre far more physical than I like. Wha, wha, wha. Has it ever occurred to you Vicky that in the centuries of feminist movements, few were crazy enough to want to become women? Has it ever occurred to you that your demands that half the human race change their instinctive behaviors to become what you think they should be is neither sane nor healthy. Again, Vicky, has it ever occurred to you that you need to grow the f*ck up? The gender war that has broken out in this country is flooding all our houses. No, Vicky. Only the houses of crazy women. I dont see any reason to be at war with my husband and sons. I accept them as they are; we each do the best we can. And I dont hold it against them the fact that theyre male. I also dont hold against future-daughter-in-law the fact shes female. Just as I dont hold it against my female friends or relatives. Only crazy people think the most important thing is the fight between some archetypal male and female, instead of just looking after and caring for those we love. Its rising on the torrent of memories that every woman has. Those memories have come loose from the attic and the basement where weve stashed them. They are floating all around us and there is no place left to store them out of sight. Not just memories of sexual abuse. Memories of being dismissed, disdained, distrusted. Memories of having to endure put-downs at the office, catcalls in the parking lot, barked orders at a dinner party. Once, more, Vicky, you pretend and claim youre not in control of yourself: your anger, your memories. Adults are in control of their own minds, Vicky. Grow up. As for memories of being dismissed, etc.: you think men dont experience all of that except perhaps the catcalls and even that! thats precious. Where have you lived for 70 years? Your basement? Good LORD my kids have endured all of that at times, and theyre only in their twenties. Grow up, Vicky. And, for some reason, the most chilling memory of all, the one Christine Blasey Ford called up and that we all recognized: the laughter. The laughter of men who are bonding with each other by mocking us. When Ford testified under oath that the laughter is the sharpest memory of her high school assault, every woman within the sound of her voice could hear that laughter, had heard that laughter, somewhere, somehow. You HAVE spent 70 years in your basement. Sure, women never laugh at men, or at other women. Its only men who laugh as they bond with each other by mocking other people. Do you listen to yourself. As for Fords testimony under oath I agree with you. Her inconsequential farrago has so many holes, that she should totally be brought up on charges for violating that oath. Oh, thats not what you meant? My bad. Then perhaps she should be brought up on charges for plotting to destroy someone with totally unsubstantiated nonsense. And you yes, you, Vicky should be ashamed of yourself for falling for it. No man right now understands the flood that is rushing through womens brains, and only women in the deepest denial have evacuated their minds before the flood could reach them. Sure, if we disagree with you, our minds are vacant. Thanks Vicky. I see your malignant narcissist self respects women as much as it respects men. Or put it in other words: Im in awe about how upset you are that men cant be destroyed without proof, by unsubstantiated, crazy accusations. You, who have a husband, and maybe sons and presumably grandchildren. Of course, the one thing you dont have is decency. That much is obvious. When good men like Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) give heartfelt, sincere speeches about how we must listen to women, I dont know whether to coo or laugh or cry or yell. Think about listen to women as a program for change. It says to women: You will continue to suffer these abuses, men will continue to do disgusting things to you, the storms will keep coming, the tide will continue to rise, but now, we will listen and help you rebuild. More storms, more tides, more things you cant control. Vicky, you fraud. Yes, women will have to continue suffering abuses. Men will continue suffering abuses too. Its called not living in paradise. Men cant control other men. Women cant control other women. There are always bad apples like you Vicky! and the rest of the human race cant stop them being despicable human beings. If we could, wed long ago have done away with rape, murder and evil. But we cant do that. Even the most totalitarian societies the world has ever seen say Soviet Russia or Maoist China couldnt prevent humans acting in ways that the government didnt want them to. What is your program, Vicky? Other than taking the fact that people didnt accept a nutbars unsubstantiated accusations as gospel because she has a vagina as a personal insult? Other than continuing to abuse your husband on that flimsy excuse? What is your program, Vicky, other than giving yourself a pass on being a malignant narcissist for whom other people are little more than game pieces? Pay attention people: If we do not raise boys to walk humbly and care deeply, if we do not demand that men do more than just listen, we will all drown in the flood. And there is no patriarchal Noah to save us. Grow the f*ck up, Vicky, or f*ck off. My sons will never be told to walk humbly or care deeply for what abusers as you wish. Individual men aren't responsible for anything but what they, themselves do. And they don't have to endure abuse for your imagined slights. Grow up Vicky. I will not tell any man to humble himself before a raging narcissist. If it makes you feel better, I will not raise any grandchildren to do it either, male or female. I will continue encouraging people of either sex to behave like decent human beings and be responsible for their emotions and actions. I will not encourage any of my descendants, or even other people's descendants to meekly take the abuse you dish up. These are my middle fingers, Vicky. I have a matched set. Photo: The Canadian Press A security personnel looks out from the entrance of the Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. Writer Jamal Khashoggi, vanished after he walked into the consulate on Oct. 2. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Saudi Arabia on Sunday threatened to retaliate for any sanctions imposed against it after President Donald Trump said the oil-rich kingdom deserves "severe punishment" if it is responsible for the disappearance and suspected murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. The warning from the world's top oil exporter came after a turbulent day on the Saudi stock exchange, which plunged as much as 7 per cent at one point. The statement was issued as international concern grew over the writer who vanished on a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over a week ago. American lawmakers threatened tough punitive action against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a "credible investigation" into Khashoggi's disappearance. Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi hit team killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom has called such allegations "baseless" but has not offered any evidence Khashoggi ever left the consulate. Already, international business leaders are pulling out of the kingdom's upcoming investment forum, a high-profile event known as "Davos in the Desert," and the sell-off on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange showed that investors are uneasy. The exchange dropped by over 500 points, then clawed back some of the losses, ending the day down 264 points, or more than 4 per cent. Of 188 stocks traded on the exchange, 179 ended the day with a loss. "Something this big would definitely spook investors, and Saudi just opened up for foreign direct investment, so that was big," said Issam Kassabieh, a financial analyst at Dubai-based firm Menacorp Finance. "Investors do not feel solid in Saudi yet, so it's easy for them to take back their funds." In an interview scheduled to air Sunday, Trump told CBS' "60 Minutes" that Saudi Arabia would face strong consequences if involved in Khashoggi's disappearance. "There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we're going to have to see," Trump said. "We're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment." But the president has also said "we would be punishing ourselves" by cancelling arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The sales are a "tremendous order for our companies," and if the Saudis don't buy their weaponry from the U.S., they will get it from others, he said. In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom warned that if it "receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the kingdom's economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy." "The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures or repeating false accusations," the statement said. The statement did not elaborate. However, a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news network suggested Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around $80 a barrel, and Trump has criticized OPEC and Saudi Arabia over rising prices. "If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," Turki Aldakhil wrote. It's unclear, however, whether Saudi Arabia would be willing to unilaterally cut production. Aldakhil added that Saudi arms purchases from the U.S. and other trade could be at risk as well. "The truth is that if Washington imposes sanctions on Riyadh, it will stab its own economy to death, even though it thinks that it is stabbing only Riyadh!" he wrote. Prince Mohammed has aggressively pitched the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. But Khashoggi's disappearance has led several business leaders and media outlets to back out of the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh called the Future Investment Initiative. They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Counselor Ahmed Hafez, said Egypt is following with concern the repercussions of the case of Khashoggi, and stressed the importance of revealing the truth of the matter through a transparent investigation, while emphasizing the gravity of pre-empting investigations and directing groundless accusations. Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post about Saudi Arabia, criticizing its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of women's rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince. Cambodian workers taking part in protests against Prime Minister Hun Sen in other countries should be identified and beaten by gangsters or made to suffer traffic accidents, a ruling party official says in a recording taken from a phone call, and now circulating widely on Facebook. Speaking in a minute-long sound bite, Labor Ministry spokesperson Heng Sour urges an unidentified colleague to set up a network to target and attack Cambodian migrant workers opposed to Hun Sen, who recently won re-election in a national vote widely condemned as unfree and unfair because he had banned the only credible opposition party before the vote. Lets find some gangsters and thugs and then use them to beat up the identified targets. Just do whatever you can to break them down, Heng Sour says, adding that if the attackers are later arrested, they will probably be sent back to Cambodia after serving short terms in jail. And when they return to our country, we will feed and support them, he said. Citing protests by Cambodians working in Japan during Hun Sens visit to Tokyo at the beginning of October, Heng Sour noted that protesters had destroyed a large photo of the prime minister, adding that a subordinate named Sreng had now learned the names of leading activists involved. Now we will take action against them, Heng Sour said. And if they come back [to Cambodia], we will make sure that they suffer traffic accidents. We cannot tolerate those who insult our leader, he said. Spreading fear Speaking to RFAs Khmer Service, Son Seyha, Deputy Director of the Humanitarian Association of Cambodia and a representative of Cambodian workers in Thailand, said that Heng Sours threats have already spread fear among Cambodians working abroad. I urge the government of Cambodia to get to the truth in this case, he said, noting that Heng Sour has already denied the voice on the recording is his and has blamed the controversy on a plot against him by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). This is a matter of life and death for Cambodians working in South Korea and in other countries, and for those still in Cambodia who support the CNRP, he said. Speaking from Japan, CNRP activist Hay Vanna told RFA he has already notified Japanese authorities regarding the threat, adding that he knows the man named Sreng mentioned in the recording. I know the suspect named Sreng, Hay Vanna said. He fled Cambodia to live in Japan when Cambodia fell to the communist regime. But now he has returned to Cambodia and works to bring Cambodian workers to Japan, and I guess he has worked very closely with Heng Sour to do this, he said. Also speaking to RFA, Yim Sinorn, a CNRP activist and representative of Cambodian workers in South Korea, said that he has now translated Heng Sours sound bite and given it to authorities in South Korea, adding that he knows Heng Sour and has spoken to him in the past. I used to respect him, Yim Sinorn said. But I am very surprised after listening to the vicious death threats contained in this recording." His plan to kill [Hun Sens] opponents and set up traffic accidents to hurt people should never have come from an educated person like him. I cannot accept this, he said. According to Cambodias Labor Ministry and NGOs, about 1.6 million Cambodians were working in Thailand in early 2018, with nearly 6,000 shown working in South Korea and 2,300 in Japan the year before. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Richard Finney. Photo: Contributed Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting their first child in the spring, Kensington Palace said Monday. The announcement came hours after Harry and the former Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney at the start of a 16-day visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Hundreds of people gathered to catch a glimpse of the couple after they landed. "Their royal highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public," the palace said in a statement. After their arrival in Sydney, the prince and the former American actress held hands and walked out an airport rear entrance and into a car. Meghan, wearing skinny black pants and a black, burgundy trimmed coat, was smiling and clutching folders, while Harry gave a thumbs up to bystanders. The announcement of the pregnancy confirms weeks of speculation from royal watchers about why Meghan was not joining Harry on his Sydney Harbour Bridge climb set for Friday. Harry and Meghan along with Prince William and his wife, Kate, the duchess of Cambridge have stepped to the fore in the last year as Queen Elizabeth II, 92, slightly reduces her public schedule. Monday's announcement is welcome news in Britain, where Meghan has won many hearts since her engagement to Harry was announced last December. British Prime Minister Theresa May offered her "warmest congratulations" on the news, which provided a bit of relief from concerns about the stalled Brexit negotiations. "Wishing them all the best," May tweeted. The royal couple started dating in July 2016 after they were introduced by friends, and Harry courted Meghan on a trip to Africa shortly afterward. They kept their relationship secret for several months but word eventually leaked to the British press. They were married in May in a spectacular ceremony on the grounds of Windsor Castle that drew tens of thousands of people to Windsor and was watched by a global TV audience. Harry has become immensely popular in Britain, in part because of his military service and tireless work on behalf of wounded soldiers, and he has spoken often in recent years of his desire to settle down and start a family. Thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong over the weekend in protest at a mammoth reclamation project announced by chief executive Carrie Lam last week. Lam last week outlined plans to create a 1,700 hectare area and homes for a million people by filling in the sea off Lantau Island, which protesters and a former government official have dismissed as "white elephant" infrastructure. Holding up banners and a large effigy of a white elephant, protesters marched to government headquarters to hand in a petition calling on Lam to cancel the project. Lam has said the new land created by her HK$500 billion (U.S.$64 billion) Lantau Tomorrow plan would help solve the city's chronic housing shortage. But the Save Lantau Alliance, which organized Sunday's protest, said the project will drain Hong Kong's coffers and cause environmental damage, without addressing the more immediate need for land, as reclamation takes many years to stabilize. Alliance convenor Eddie Tse said many other civic groups had joined the march against the plan, which would see artificial islands built in waters east of Lantau Island. "We would like to call on any citizens who are genuinely angry about this plan to come out in protest. This was a spontaneous citizen protest," Tse told RFA on Sunday. He said he didn't have an estimate for how many people took part. Hong Kong police put the number at 5,800. "If you look at how long it took for the tail end of the march to pass by, then you would see how much opposition there is to the plans for eastern Lantau," Tse said. Tse also called on lawmakers to ask the administration to withdraw the proposal when they debate their response to Lam's annual policy speech in the city's Legislative Council (LegCo). A burden for the future A protester surnamed Liu said she didn't believe the government's claim that the project would benefit future generations. "We would like to tell the government that the next generation doesn't need this burden," Liu said. "These artificial islands aren't the only way forward; there is other land that could be used, and they have paid no attention to the wishes of local people." Liu said Lam appeared to railroading the plan through regardless of public opinion, and that Beijing could be behind the project. "It's likely that the central government is telling her to do this," she said. A Chinese University of Hong Kong student surnamed Sin said the government hadn't provided any detailed plans for the site, either. "There is a lack of transparency around the finances, as well as how the project will be administered," Sin said. "How could they just come up with this project overnight, when it didn't form part of their talk about land before that?" "There are also other questions ... such as whether it would be affected by climate change," he said. Not backed by research Engineer Albert Lai from the independent research group Professional Commons has also said Lam's costing isn't backed up by any research. "This isn't just a simple case of a white elephant project [that goes to waste]," Lai told RFA on Monday. "We would be mobilizing massive resources that have been accumulated over generations and investing them in the most risky of ventures." "That is a very dangerous thing to do," he said. Lai had earlier called for a full cost-benefit analysis for different options to meet the same policy goals, and concluded that the artificial islands project is the most expensive. Some opposition voices have cited project immigration figures as predicting the arrival of roughly one million new immigrants by the time the project is complete, sparking concern that this forms part of an assimilation strategy masterminded in Beijing. Lam has dismissed these concerns as "conspiracy theories." Hong Kong ranked highest in the Heritage Foundation's 2018 Index of Economic Freedom, making it the freest economy in the world. But the Foundation warned that "political interference in recent years" by the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing had "strained" China's promises to allow Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense policy for 50 years. Reported by Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Moves in Laos to promote Chinese tourism in the coming year will benefit mainly Chinese businesses already established in the impoverished Southeast Asian country, with ordinary Lao citizens less likely to cash in, Lao sources say. Laos and China are now preparing together to launch a 2019 Visit Year campaign, Lao Minister of information, Culture and Tourism Bosengkham Vongdara announced following a meeting of the Lao governments cabinet in September. Planned activities are expected to bring at least one million Chinese tourists into the country during the year, the Minister said, quoted by local media. Lao National Radio meanwhile welcomed the move, predicting that Chinese money will help support and strengthen the Lao economy. Speaking to RFAs Lao Service, however, the manager of a guesthouse in Luang Prabang city in northern Laos said that most of the money brought in will go to Chinese hotels and tour groups, with little benefit seen by Lao residents themselves. A lot of Chinese are coming, but the problem is that most of them will not stay at Lao guesthouses or hotels, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Most of them use their own services, and stay at hotels and use tours run by other Chinese, he said. They even have their own tour guides. 'Zero Dollar Tours' Also speaking to RFA, the owner of a hotel in the capital Vientiane agreed. The Chinese buy hotels, open their own restaurants, and run their own tours, he said, also speaking on condition he not be named. When Chinese tourists come, they stay and eat at those facilities. They wont go to Lao restaurants or businesses, he added. Some Lao tour operators call the Chinese-led tours Zero Dollar Tours because Lao businesses get nothing from them, sources say. Chinese hotels and restaurants pay taxes to the Lao government, however, an official of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism told RFA. "And many Chinese businesses are joint ventures, with Lao partners sharing 30 percent of the profits," the official said, adding, "We don't lose any advantage to the Chinese." Chinese investment has ramped up in Laos in recent years, and with it have come several murders of high-profile ethnic Chinese businessmen and women. The head of Chinas Hunan Province Chamber of Commerce in Laos was murdered in August during an invasion of his home in the Lao capital Vientiane, authorities said, adding that an investigation into the case suggested robbery was the motive. Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney. Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) presides over a meeting in Naypyidaw with military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (R) commemorating the third anniversary of the signing of Myanmar's nationwide cease-fire agreement, Oct. 15, 2018. Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and the countrys military chief met on Monday in Naypyidaw with armed ethnic organizations that have signed the governments nationwide peace accord for a first-time tripartite summit in a bid to reignite the stalled peace process. They met with leaders from the 10 ethnic armies that have signed the nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) to discuss obstacles to the peace process, which has been in motion since 2011, and basic principles for a future federal system of governance. Among those stumbling blocks are the national militarys demand for a single federal army, non-secession and self-administration policies for ethnic groups, the inclusion of ethnic groups who have not signed the NCA in the peace process, and the timing and sequence of talks. The ethnic groups want a democratic federal union in the country with constitutional guarantees for a degree of autonomy for ethnic minorities. But Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said at the meeting that the ethnic groups have to pledge not to leave the union before reaching a future peace deal. He cited Article 10 of the constitution, drafted by a military junta in 2008, which says, No part of the territory constituted in the union such as regions, states, union territories and self-administered areas shall ever secede from the union. The term non-separation is a long-term guarantee and something that we really need for lasting peace, Min Aung Hlaing said. Aung San Suu Kyi echoed his sentiment, saying that it is very important to work for a union where stakeholders neither wish nor want to secede. Representatives from the ethnic armies that attended the summit said the parties made a little headway, but still have a way to go to iron out all their differences. Mya Yazar Lin, a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), said the parties discussed six issues, but still have yet to broach self-determination, non-separation, and having a single national army. Mutu Say Poe, chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU), said that the discussants agreed on a timeline and sequence for political dialogue as well as simple policies for political discussions. So far, we are 60 percent pleased with this meeting. said Colonel Khun Okkar, leader of the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLO). But Salai Lian Hmung Sakhong from the Chin National Front expressed displeasure that Min Aung Hlaing and the deputy army chief left the summit in the afternoon. We are unhappy about it, he said. The chairmen of the ethnic armed groups are attending this meeting because we were told that the army chief would attend it. He came in and gave an opening speech, but we all want him to be in the important discussions. We would like to request that he come tomorrow and discuss the important points with us. Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (3rd-L, center table) presides over a meeting in Naypyidaw with military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (4th-L, center table) commemorating the third anniversary of the signing of Myanmar's nationwide cease-fire agreement, Oct. 15, 2018. Credit: Handout/Myanmar State Counselor's Officer/AFP Now is not the time to ask One political pundit, however, suggested that the ethnic armies may be asking for too much. What we see today is that ethnic groups have been asking for equality and self-determination, said Myanmar political analyst Than Soe Naing. They know it is not the time to ask about seceding from the union, although they have asked for it in the past. Sai Nyunt Lwin, general secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) party, said the government should offer ethnic groups a deal for not seceding from the union. If it did, then they would think about it, he said. It is also important to see what the government is doing for ethnic groups that have no wish to secede. The government just says dont secede from the union, but it needs to do something so that the ethnic groups dont want to secede or dont need to secede, he said. MP Pe Than, a lawmaker from the Arakan National Party (ANP) said that if Myanmar were to have a truly federal constitution, the ethnic groups would not want to leave the union. If it did, they wouldnt secede even if you pushed them to, he said. But they will want to secede if the constitution or any agreements are just for show to [imply that] they are equal. Retired army Major Win Naing Kyaw said he wants to see ethnic armies that havent signed the NCA at the table during the talks. Only the top leaders can make decisions and policies to continue resolving existing matters, he said. There are only NCA-signatory ethnic armed organizations in the meeting, he said. I want non-NCA groups in the meeting as well. It would be good and save time to make decisions together with the signatory and non-NCA groups. Last week the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Myanmars largest non-state army and an NCA non-signatory itself, called for all non-signatory groups to be included in the summit, but the government refused to invite them. The 30,000-strong Wa army leads the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), a grouping of ethnic armies that have not signed the NCA, in its discussions of peace-building issues with the government. Khine Thukha, spokesman of the Arakan Army (AA), an NCA non-signatory, said the peace process cannot move forward because the government and military have rejected calls for all-inclusive talks. If they want to start it even now, then it has to be welcomed, he said. Its like Myanmar has two governments and even though the government wants to move forward, it cant move if the military doesnt want to move. The government cant control the military. We cant even say which one is the real decision maker. Nandar Hla Myint, spokesman of the opposition Union Solidarity and Development (USDP) party, said that the stakeholders in the peace process should focus on stability. We can have development only if we have stability in the country, he said. To have stability, all leaders from the ethnic armed groups need to build trust and to negotiate [with the government and the military]. All stakeholders and institutions need to create stability by working only for the country and the people, he said. How go the peace talks? Scheduled to commemorate the third anniversary of the signing of the NCA, the summit was originally to take place in Poppa, Kyaukpadaung township, in central Myanmars Mandalay region, but was moved to the capital Naypyidaw to be more accessible for government and military leaders. Aung San Suu Kyi intended to hold peace talks every six months under the 21st-Century Panglong Conference when the first round of negotiations was held in August 2016. But only three sessions of talks have been held to date. The militarys insistence on the non-secession issue in previous rounds, along with the crisis in Rakhine state and ongoing civil wars mainly in Kachin and Shan states, have hindered the process from advancing. The government wants to hold three more sessions of the peace talks in 2018 and 2019 to reach its goal of laying out the basic principles of a peace accord. To date, the parties to the talks have agreed on 51 basic principles involving the political sector, the economy, and land matters, but they have yet to reach an accord on the security sector. Reported by Wai Mar Tun, Kyaw Thu, and Khin Khin Ei for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Christine Schraner Burgener (background C), the UN's special envoy to Myanmar, meets with residents of Maungdaw township in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Oct. 15, 2018. The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar met with representatives from Muslim, ethnic Rakhine Buddhist, and Hindu communities in Maungdaw township on Monday during her second tour of troubled Rakhine state since her appointment in April. Christine Schraner Burgener is working with the government on how the U.N. can help with the return and resettlement of Rohingya Muslims who fled a brutal crackdown by security forces in 2017 following deadly attacks on police outposts by a Rohingya militant group. The violence also displaced ethnic Rakhines and Hindus, a group of whom were killed by the militants and dumped in mass graves. About 720,000 Rohingya fled from the northern Rakhine townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung, across the border to Bangladesh where they have been living in sprawling displacement camps. Maungdaw residents asked Burgener to urge the U.N. to help Myanmar and Bangladesh fight against the terrorists who attacked the region. Rights groups and U.N. human rights officials have called for commanders responsible for atrocities committed against the Rohingya during the crackdown to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The U.N. Human Rights Council voted in September to prepare for criminal indictments regarding the atrocities in Myanmar. They also previously called on the international community to establish mechanisms to respond to ethnic cleansing and potential genocide in Myanmar under the responsibility to protect guidelines that address atrocity crimes. Maungdaw resident Zaw Win, who met with Burgener, voiced doubt that her visit would have much impact on his ethnic Rakhine community. We have met with many U.N. officials, [so] this is not new for us, he told RFAs Myanmar Service. Whenever we meet them, our voices disappear, and only the Bengalis voices are mentioned in news reports, he said, using a derogatory term for the Rohingya, who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and are systematically discriminated against in Myanmar. Its normal, so we dont expect anything from U.N. officials visits, he added. But Kyaw Aye, an official at Nidin Muslim internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in in Mrauk-U districts Kyauktaw township, disagreed. I think it was effective to meet her and tell her about our situation in the camp, he said. Myanmar is in the process of closing down IDP camps in Rakhines Sittwe district and in Kyauktaw and Myebon townships, where mostly Rohingya were housed following waves of clashes in the ethnically and religiously divided state in 2012 that left more than 200 people dead and displaced about 140,000 Muslims. Authorities shuttered the Nidin camp in August and resettled its roughly 600 Rohingya residents in new homes in Nidin village. We are so sorry Ni Maul, a local Hindu community leader, said that international organizations have largely ignored the Hindu community in northern Rakhine, which suffered violence at the hands of Muslim militants. The same day that militant Rohingya attacked police outposts in Rakhine in August 2017, they also detained nearly 100 people from several Hindu villages in the Kha Maung Seik village tract, killed most of them, and dumped their corpses in mass graves. The militants also forced the young Hindu women to convert to Islam and took them to a Muslim refugee camp in neighboring Bangladesh. Many Hindus have been killed, Ni Maul said. Many international organizations have visited us and asked us about our experiences; then they just said, Oh, we are so sorry. But they didnt say a word about what they would do to ensure we got justice, he said. The international community always listens to Bengalis and only talks about them. They say nothing about what happened to Hindus and present nothing on the news about Hindus only about Bengalis. International human rights groups have in fact condemned the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) for its attacks on Myanmar guard posts and Hindu villages, while pointing out that Myanmar security forces backed by ethnic Rakhine villagers committed widespread atrocities against Rohingya civilians, including indiscriminate killings, rape, torture, and arson, during the crackdown that came in response to the ARSA attacks. In the meantime, the U.N. refugee and development agencies are continuing to conduct field assessments and surveys in northern Rakhine to facilitate the return and reintegration of Rohingya refugees. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement in November 2017 for the repatriation of some of the hundreds of thousands refugees who fled Rakhine, though the program has not yet begun in earnest on a mass scale. On Tuesday, Burgener will meet in Yangon with the four-member independent inquiry commission set up by Myanmar in July to investigate human rights violations in Rakhine state. Afterwards, she will travel to northern Myanmars Kachin state and meet with the state's Chief Minister Khet Aung and the commander of the Northern Military Headquarters. Burgener will also visit IDP camps where roughly 100,000 civilians displaced by civil war are living. Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (third from left) walks with officials and aides at the Parliament, Oct. 15, 2018. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad confirmed on Monday that his government had freed 11 ethnic Uyghur Muslims, saying the refugees had not broken laws in his country, in a move that defied Beijings request that they be repatriated. Malaysia allowed the Uyghurs to depart for Turkey last week after dropping immigration charges against them, the mens lawyer told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news site, on Thursday. They have done nothing wrong in this country, so they are released, Mahathir told reporters in parliament. China, which had asked for their extradition, said Friday that it "resolutely" opposed Malaysia's decision to release the 11 Uyghurs, according to Reuters. These people are all Chinese nationals. We resolutely oppose them being deported to a third country, Reuters reported Chinas Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement. The 11 men were part of a group of 20 who fled to Malaysia in November 2017 after escaping from a detention center in southern Thailand by drilling holes in a wall. Their capture and detention became known in February when Chinese officials requested they be returned to Beijing. Malaysia was under pressure from China to return the Uyghurs, but some Western diplomatic missions sought to dissuade Kuala Lumpur from sending them back, local reports said. In August this year, Mahathir announced the postponement of the Chinese-funded $20 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project and a natural gas pipeline project in Sabah. The 93-year-old leader made the comment to reporters in Beijing during his five-day trip to China, saying Malaysia could not afford the projects. During the campaign for the May general elections, Mahathir attacked what he called unfair deals with China, approved by his predecessor Najib Razak, who is facing graft charges related to a multibillion-dollar embezzlement scandal linked to the state fund 1MDB. James Chin, Asia Institute Director at the University of Tasmania, told BenarNews this was not the first time that Kuala Lumpur had allowed Uyghurs to leave Malaysia for a third country. This is a sensitive issue and we might see China responding to it. But this is not the first time that we allowed a group of Uyghurs to leave Malaysia for a third country and China is aware of this, he said. "The last time it happened was under PM Najib but I am not sure about the details. Internment camp China has rejected allegations raised by a U.N. panel in August that as many as one million Uyghurs are being held in what resembles a massive internment camp in the restive Xinjiang region, where Beijing has spent decades trying to suppress pro-independence sentiment. According to lawyer Fahmi Abdul Moin, who represented the 11 Uyghurs, Malaysian authorities freed his clients, and allowed them to fly to Turkey after dropping the immigration charges against them. Fahmi had asked that the immigration charges be cancelled, saying that systematic oppression of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang had forced many of them to flee their country. As such, my clients are victims of the ongoing turmoil in the Xinjiang province and were forced to escape, Fahmi told BenarNews on Thursday. Chinese authorities had earlier denied the existence of internment camps, but said petty criminals had been sent to "employment training centers. Chinas state-run news agency Xinhua quoted a senior Chinese official as saying Saturday that Muslims in Xinjiang must practice Chinese-style Islam to promote ethnic solidarity and religious harmony in the troubled region. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news site. A major border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed on October 15 following clashes between the two countries security forces, leaving hundreds of people and vehicles stranded on both sides. The Chamman-Spin Boldak border crossing was shut on October 14 after an exchange of fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces that lasted for several hours, officials in both countries said. The clashes erupted when Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani soldiers who were trying to erect a fence along the disputed border between the two neighbors. "We are ready to defend our soil in any case," Zia Durani, a spokesman for the police chief in Afghanistans Kandahar Province, told RFE/RL on October 15. Both sides blamed each other for the closure of the border crossing. Afghan media reported that at least three Pakistani soldiers were killed in the October 14 fighting. Khan Wasseh, a spokesman for the Frontier Constabulary paramilitary force manning the Pakistani side of the border, denied that. Pakistan says it is building a fence along its volatile border with Afghanistan to improve security, a move that has sparked condemnations in Kabul. With reporting by dpa Amnesty International has condemned what it calls the U.S.-led coalition's ongoing failure to admit or adequately investigate its role in the deaths of civilians in Raqqa as it battled to oust Islamic State (IS) extremists from the Syrian city. In a report released on October 15, Amnesty said the coalitions actions represent a slap in the face for survivors in the city who are trying to rebuild their lives Disturbingly, the Pentagon does not even seem willing to offer an apology for the hundreds of civilians killed in its war of annihilation on Raqqa, said Kumi Naidoo, Amnestys secretary-general. It is completely reprehensible that the coalition refuses to acknowledge its role in most of the civilian casualties it caused, and abhorrent that even where it has admitted responsibility, it accepts no obligation toward its victims. The Pentagon, which has criticized Amnesty's research methodology, in September issued a statement saying, We continue to employ thorough and deliberate targeting and strike processes to minimize the impact of our operations on civilian populations and infrastructure." IS fighters in 2015 held nearly one-third of the territory of Iraq and Syria, including major cities such as Raqqa and Mosul, and proclaimed a so-called Islamic "caliphate." The group was internationally condemned for atrocities committed against civilians. In October 2017, an alliance of Kurdish-Arab fighters, backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, pushed IS out of Raqqa and other areas. Amnesty said hundreds of civilians were killed in the battle, most of them the result of coalition air strikes, but that the coalition has acknowledged being responsible for about 100 civilian deaths. With reporting by CNN A researcher with Amnesty International was "abducted, beaten, and subjected to terrifying mock executions" in Russia's North Caucasus region of Ingushetia before being released, the London-based rights group says. In an October 15 statement, Amnesty said that Oleg Kozlovsky was in Magas, Ingushetia's capital, to monitor ongoing protests against a border deal with Chechnya when he was abducted on October 6. It said the men who abducted Kozlovsky, who is a Russian citizen, claimed to be members of the security services. Kozlovsky wrote on Twitter on October 15 that his kidnappers brought him to a remote place where they stripped him naked and punched him, breaking a rib, took photos, and threatened to rape him. He said that the assailants put a gun to the back of his head and said they were going to shoot him. Amnesty said that, after failing to force Kozlovsky to agree to be their informant, they confiscated his phone and camera and then took him to neighboring North Ossetia and released him near the Vladikavkaz airport. Before he was released, one of his abductors warned him: Never come back and dont write filth about Ingushetia. Kozlovsky said the men warned him that they would kill his children if he told anyone about what they did to him. This was a disturbingly violent and shocking incident. But the authorities need to know we will not be cowed and intimidated by men who hide behind masks," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty Internationals regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. "We have lodged a formal complaint with the Russian authorities, Struthers said. She said that those responsible "for this cowardly attack must be promptly found and brought to justice. The Russian news agency Interfax reported late on October 15 that Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has intervened in the case and called on authorities in Ingushetia to conduct an "appropriate investigation" and determine who was responsible for the incident. Interfax said authorities in Ingushetia were already investigating the complaint filed by Amnesty. On a Twitter post on October 15, Kozlovsky said said that he is now outside of Russia but hopes to "return and continue work" in the very near future. He thanked Amnesty International for its "help and support" throughout the ordeal. Ingushetia and neighboring Chechnya have been plagued by abductions, often carried out by law enforcement officers or other government-aligned forces, since the post-Soviet separatist wars in Chechnya. Most of the major fighting ended in 2001, but the conflicts were followed by a persistent Islamist insurgency that spread violence to other regions in the North Caucasus including Ingushetia. With reporting by Interfax BRUSSELS -- EU foreign ministers have approved a new sanctions regime targeting people and entities using chemical weapons all around the world. The October 15 decision will allow the European Union to impose asset freezes and visa bans on people and entities for the development and use of chemical weapons, regardless of their nationality and location. EU individuals and entities are also not allowed to make funds available to those listed. The move follows repeated accusations of the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria and the poisoning of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury in March, which London has blamed on the Russian government. Moscow denies any involvement in the incident. Work on listing people under the new sanctions regime is under way. According to the draft conclusions seen by RFE/RL of an upcoming EU summit in Brussels on October 18, the EU leaders look forward to early progress on the listing of relevant individuals and entities. The summit is also due to discuss the possibility of creating another sanctions regime dealing with cyberattacks after the accusations by British and Dutch authorities earlier this month that Russian agents in April had tried to hack the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The draft so far states that recalling its previous conclusions concerning the Salisbury attack, the European Council condemns the hostile cyberattack operation carried out against the OPCW. Such threats and attacks strengthen our common resolve to further enhance the EUs internal security and disrupt hostile activities of foreign intelligence networks on our territories. It also states that in order to strengthen EU resilience against cyberattacks, negotiations on all cybersecurity proposals should be concluded before the end of the legislature. The leader of Russia's Ingushetia region says President Vladimir Putin has made it clear to him that protesters demonstrating against a deal to redraw the border with Chechnya should not be forcefully dispersed. In an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio on October 14, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said he has spoken to Putin once since the round-the-clock protests in the Ingush capital, Magas, began on October 4. "He called and asked about the situation, asked whether help was needed," Yevkurov said, adding that he and Putin also discussed what might be done to end the protest, one of the most persistent in Russia in recent years. According to Yevkurov, Putin said that there should be "no forceful action" and urged him to "speak to the people" and resolve the problem peacefully. The Kremlin has said nothing publicly about a conversation between Putin and Yevkurov. Protesters say an agreement signed behind closed doors by Yevkurov and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov unfairly hands parts of Ingushetia to Chechnya. They have called for Yevkurov's resignation and a referendum on the September 26 agreement, which officials announced was approved by the parliaments of both regions several days later. Ingush lawmakers later said they had not approved the deal. On October 14, Yevkurov's office said he ordered state authorities "to provide security and safety for the protesters," including having ambulances and firefighting units close to the protesters. Last week, Magas authorities allowed the protesters, many of whom are elderly men and women, to hold their sit-in protest through October 15. That period was subsequently extended to October 17. Yevkurov tried to meet with the protesters on October 4 but fled after the crowd booed and threw empty water bottles at him. Like many regions of Russia's North Caucasus, Ingushetia is plagued by poverty, high unemployment, corruption, and the threat of Islamic extremism. Chechnya was the site of two devastating separatist wars from 1994-2001 and the epicenter of a subsequent Islamist insurgency that spilled violence into Ingushetia and other republics in the North Caucasus. Ingushetia and Chechnya, its larger eastern neighbor, were parts of a single administrative region in the Soviet era and split in 1992, a year after the Soviet collapse. Concerns about losing territory are strong in Ingushetia, which lost control of the disputed Prigorodny district to another neighbor, North Ossetia, following a conflict in 1992 that left some 600 people dead, predominantly Ingush. There has been little to no outcry to the land swap in Chechnya, where Kadyrov rules unchallenged with Putin's backing. He recently threatened the Ingush protesters, saying they will be held accountable." With reporting by Ekho Moskvy and Caucasus Knot Photo: The Canadian Press Actor Alec Baldwin followed up his latest parody portrayal of President Donald Trump with a serious call Sunday night for voters to use the Nov. 6 midterm elections to peacefully "overthrow" the government. After reprising his role as Trump on "Saturday Night Live," Baldwin flew to New Hampshire, where he was the keynote speaker at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual fall fundraising dinner. "The way we implement change in America is through elections. We change governments here at home in an orderly and formal way," he said. "In that orderly and formal way and lawful way, we need to overthrow the government of the United States under Donald Trump." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night. Baldwin said on issue after issue, Republicans are destroyers, not builders. "There is a small cadre of people currently in power who are hell-bent on continuing a malicious immigration policy that has set this country up for human rights violations charges by the global community. This cadre has looted money from the federal treasury and deposited it directly into the bank accounts of their most ardent political supporters," he said. He said Republicans "shrug" when it comes to gun violence, "spit in the face" at the rest of the world at the notion of changing outdated energy policies and offer neither hope nor solutions to people of colour "who seek a decent seat at the American economic table but instead are issued a prison term, or worse, a bullet." The recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh showed that Republicans view women as undeserving as the same constitutional protections as men, Baldwin said. "They themselves are sons, husbands, fathers, and yet when the time arrived in the thick of the #metoo movement to set politics aside and establish that women's rights were more important than political expediency, they failed and it was ugly," he said. Several of the political leaders and candidates who spoke before Baldwin praised survivors of sexual assault who were moved to tell their stories during Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, saying they should inspire others to speak up and advocate for issues they care about. "People raising their voices and sharing their experiences is what has been critical for our democracy and our capacity to move forward throughout our history," U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said. "As difficult as the Kavanaugh battle was, those moments have been incredibly important and will continue to be as we move forward." Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has sacked Bejtush Gashi as interior minister, less than six months after he was appointed to the post. Officials at Gashi's party, the New Alliance For Kosovo (AKR), said on October 15 that Haradinaj acted on the request of the party. Ekrem Mustafa was appointed to replace Gashi as interior minister, the officials also said. This dismissal happened due to his performance as minister, AKR General-Secretary Rrahim Pacolli said, without providing further details. Gashi was appointed minister in April, after his predecessor, Flamur Sefaj, was dismissed following the controversial arrest and deportation to Turkey of six Turkish nationals. With reporting by Balkan Insight Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny was summoned by police one day after his release following 50 days in jail, and the vocal Kremlin foe could face a new criminal charge. Navalny wrote on Twitter that he reported to a police station in Moscow on October 15 after investigators informed his lawyer that he would be charged with libel in a case dating back to 2016. Navalny said that he and his lawyer spent about three minutes at the police station, where he was presented with a pending charge against him but was not charged. Navalny said earlier in the day in his video blog that the possible libel charge related to a case initiated two years ago by Pavel Karpov, a former police investigator. In a report published online in 2016, Navalny's investigative organization accused Karpov of involvement in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who in 2007 revealed what he said was a massive scheme whose perpetrators defrauded the state of $230 million. Magnitsky, who was imprisoned and accused of the same alleged crimes he helped discover, died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after being denied medical care and treated in a way that rights activists said amounted to torture. Magnitsky's death led to a 2012 U.S. law known as the Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on many Russian officials and law enforcement officers, including Karpov, infuriating the Kremlin. If charged and convicted, Navalny could face a fine of up to 480 hours of community work, but no jail time or prison sentence. The police summons came a day after he walked free after spending 50 days in jail on administrative charges related to antigovernment protests he has organized. As lawmakers in Skopje consider changing the countrys name, Flora Jusufi is one of thousands of young Macedonians considering a change of countries. The 21-year-old student from Kumanovo says she plans to go abroad after completing her studies even though shed rather not. The problem she faces isnt Macedonias name, its a lack of opportunities. For Jusufi and other younger Macedonians, the fall of communism and subsequent conflicts were supposed to give way by now to a world of opportunities. Instead, even the best and brightest are finding it tough to be optimistic about the future when there are dim prospects for employment. As far as I am concerned, I dont think there are any conditions for having a life in Macedonia, she told RFE/RL. Im studying European studies. I want to learn German as soon as possible, and after that Ill go live somewhere abroad. Macedonias parliament opened debate on October 15 on proposed constitutional amendments to change the country's name to the Republic of North Macedonia and possibly settle a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece. The change, which stems from a deal hammered out in June between the Macedonian and Greek governments, sees Athens lifting its objections to the former Yugoslav republic joining both NATO and the EU in exchange for the name switch. Athens and many Greeks say the name Macedonia implies territorial and cultural claims on the northern Greek region of the same name. An EU and NATO member, Greece has cited the dispute to veto Macedonia's bids to join the two organizations. The move may open the way to the economic benefits membership in Western structures bring, but it is unlikely to bring them quickly enough for younger Macedonians, almost half of whom are unemployed. The main reason for leaving the country is the battle for an existence; that is, solving the employment problem," says Zoran Ilieski, executive director of the Coalition of Youth Organizations. Poorest Republic When Yugoslavia broke up in 1991, Macedonia was considered by many to be its poorest republic. Not a lot has changed over the years, with Macedonias economy sputtering further after a financial crisis in recent years. The overall unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at above 20 percent, while the average monthly net salary of about 350 euros ($400) is the lowest in the region. EXPLAINER: Understanding The Macedonia Name Dispute For 29-year-old Denis Zandevski, those figures are far better than what younger Macedonians like him face as they try to find their place in the economy. When you see that rent is 150 to 200 euros, and your salary is around 200 euros as well, then nothing really remains for you, he says, adding that IT may be the only sector where there are prospects. To counter, the government this year launched a program called Youth Guarantee " that increases the inclusion of young unemployed people in the labor market. The plan is part of an EU initiative launched in 2012. Labor and Social Policy Minister Mila Carova says that high interest in the program is encouraging for a country where nearly one-quarter of 2.1 million citizens are estimated to be living abroad. "Young people in Macedonia are a quarter of the population -- and they're one of the largest marginalized groups," according to Dona Kosturanova of the Youth Educational Forum. "They're struggling with poor education, high unemployment, and few opportunities for prosperity. They're desperate to see advancement toward a prosperous environment." Jana Ivanovska is one of the Macedonians to be bucking the trend. She left the country a decade ago in search of a new life, but after almost six years decided to return. After studying design in the Czech capital, Prague, she now lives in Skopje, where she has her own office. Still, she sympathizes with her generation even if she found that the grass wasnt necessarily greener on the other side. It was much as I imagined it would be. So, many opportunities for young people, opportunities to prove, to learn, to advance, she says of her time abroad. But I decided to return from Prague because I missed the people I love and the warmth I feel here. Leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church were meeting in the Belarusian capital on October 15 amid a dispute over moves toward independence for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who is considered the leader of the worldwide Orthodox community, on October 11 agreed to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The decision was criticized as "catastrophic" by the Russian Orthodox Church, which has promised a "tough" response and is expected to make an announcement after the meeting in Minsk. The synod was called by Moscow Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, to assess the latest developments. "It will be a very important meeting, during which certain decisions regarding the situation in Ukraine will be made," Kirill said ahead of the synod. "I hope the Orthodox Church will find the strength to overcome the crisis and preserve its unity," Kirill said on October 13 in Minsk, according to Russian media. Ahead of the synod, Kirill held a meeting with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on October 15, according to the Belarusian state news agency BelTA. "A schism is always bad. It means negative consequences, and that's the most dangerous thing," Lukashenka was quoted as saying. He wished Kirill "and all the bishops of our church wisdom and patience," adding: "As church members, we will try to maintain unity." The Belarusian Orthodox Church, which is by far the biggest religious denomination in the nation of nearly 10 million, is under the direct jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. A spokesman for Kirill, Aleksandr Volkov, said on October 13 that the Russian Orthodox Church's response to Bartholomew's decision will be "appropriate and tough." On the same day, Metropolitan Ilarion, the head of external relations for the Russian Orthodox Church, told the Rossiya 24 television channel that the move has forced the Moscow Patriarchate to end its unity with Bartholomew. Russian President Vladimir Putin's Security Council discussed the issue of the church in Ukraine at a meeting late on October 12, the Kremlin said. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier that day that Russia will protect the interests of the faithful in Ukraine if the historic split leads to illegal action or violence. He promised that it would use "exclusively political and diplomatic" means to do so. Meanwhile, in Kyiv on October 14, thousands of people gathered on a central square to take part in a thanksgiving prayer following the decision by Bartholomew to kick off the process of granting independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. With reporting by TASS, dpa, and Interfax The Russian Orthodox Church has decided to end its relationship with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in protest over its endorsement of Ukraine's request for an autocephalous, or independent, church. Metropolitan Ilarion, the head of external relations for the Russian Orthodox Church, made the announcement on October 15 following a meeting of the church's leaders in Belaruss capital, Minsk. The Holy Synod was called by Moscow Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, after the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who is considered the leader of the worldwide Orthodox community, on October 11 agreed to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Ilarion told journalists that the synod -- the Russian Orthodox Churchs decision-making body -- was left with no choice but to sever ties with the patriarchate based in Istanbul. "A decision has been made to rupture full communion with the Constantinople Patriarchate," he said, meaning that priests from the two churches cannot serve together while worshippers of one cannot take communion in the other. 'Schism' Ilarion said that Constantinople's decision to back what the Russian Orthodox Church considers a schismatic church is "illegal and canonically worthless," and effectively drives it into a schism. "We cannot be in communication with this church, which is in a schism," he said, adding that the Russian Orthodox Church hopes that common sense prevails and that the Constantinople Patriarchate changes its mind." Reacting to the Russian Orthodox Church's announcement, the press secretary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate said Patriarch Kirill has personally been an architect of the schism in the Ukrainian church since 1991" and that his conduct has "pulled all of Orthodox Christianity into conflict." "Sooner or later this will be fixed and the Russian Orthodox Church will return to communion," Archbishop Yevstratiy also wrote on Facebook, adding, "Now the question stands before everyone belonging to [parishes of] the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine: To go with the Russian Orthodox Church into schism or to remain in unity with the Ecumenical Patriarch through the Local Ukrainian Church." Yevstratiy also said that the Russian Orthodox Church "is repeating the Kremlin's policy of self-isolation in response to the legitimate decisions of the international community. Ahead of the synod, Patriarch Kirill held a meeting with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on October 15, according to the Belarusian state news agency BelTA. "A schism is always bad, it means negative consequences, and that's the most dangerous thing," Lukashenka was quoted as saying. Explainer: Turmoil In The Orthodox World He wished Kirill "and all the bishops of our church wisdom and patience," adding: "As church members, we will try to maintain unity." The Belarusian Orthodox Church, which is by far the biggest religious denomination in the nation of nearly 10 million, is under the direct jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian President Vladimir Putin's Security Council discussed the issue of the church in Ukraine at a meeting late on October 12, the Kremlin said. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier that day that Russia will protect the interests of the faithful in Ukraine if the historic split leads to illegal action or violence. He promised that it would use "exclusively political and diplomatic" means to do so. Meanwhile, in Kyiv, on October 14, thousands of people gathered on a central square to take part in a thanksgiving prayer following the decision by Bartholomew to kick off the process of granting independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, TASS, dpa, and Interfax DUSHANBE -- The chief spokesman for Tajikistan's Customs Services press service died following an attack just days after his appointment to the post, medical sources and relatives say. Fakhriddin Sobirov died without regaining consciousness at the National Medical Center (NMC) in Dushanbe, a source at the facility told RFE/RL on October 15. The previous day, a surgeon at the NMC, Mahmud Hasanov, said Sobirov underwent a four-hour operation and was in "extremely critical" condition. Sobirov was taken to hospital on October 13 after unidentified assailants hit him on his head with a blunt object and left him unconscious in the city center, according to members of his family. Officials at Dushanbe's Shohmansur district police department told RFE/RL that the incident is being investigated. The Central Asian country's Interior Ministry has not released a statement or commented publicly. Sobirov, 51, was appointed to the post in early October. U.S. President Donald Trump said in a television interview that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin probably has been involved in assassinations and reiterated the assertion that Moscow meddled in U.S. politics. Trump also said he does not know whether U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is planning to step down but that he sees the four-star general as sort of a Democrat who just might leave. The comments came in a prerecorded interview with CBS televisions 60 Minutes program that aired on October 14. The wide-ranging discussion also touched on North Korea, U.S. hurricane relief efforts, the missing Saudi journalist in Turkey, and climate change. CBS presenter Lesley Stahl asked Trump: "Do you agree that Vladimir Putin is involved in assassinations? In poisonings?" Trump replied: "Probably he is, yeah. Probably." He then added: "But I rely on them. Its not in our country." Neither Stahl nor Trump named any alleged victims. Several critics of Putin have been killed or died in mysterious circumstances, including investigative journalist Anna Poitkovskaya in 2006 and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov in 2015. A British judge who led an inquiry into the death of Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former Russian security officer who became a vocal Putin critic and was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in 2006, said it was probable that Putin had approved the operation. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov sought to play down the comments, saying on October 15 that Trump "voiced no direct accusations" against the Russian president. Asked about Russian interference in the U.S. political system, Trump said he believes that Moscow did meddle, but he added that China meddled, too. You are diverting the whole Russia thing, Stahl told the president. Im not doing anything, Trump replied. The U.S. intelligence community and a U.S. special counsel have concluded that Russia used a campaign of spreading propaganda on social media and hacking Democratic documents to try to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in Trump's favor. Moscow denies any meddling. On defense chief Mattis, the Republican president said he is unsure whether the general will remain in his job. It could be that he is [leaving]. I think he's sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth, Trump said. But General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well. He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves," he added. Mattis is considered one of the most independent members of Trump's cabinet, but also one of the steadiest hands amid an administration marked by a high turnover rate among top officials. He has been regarded by many as a counterweight to the president and has pressed to improve relations with traditional U.S. allies, including fellow NATO members, amid often harsh language by Trump. Some Western leaders have also praised Mattis for pushing for a tougher policy toward Putin in the face of Trump's stated desire to improve relations with Moscow. Speculation has risen about Mattis's future as defense chief since a book by journalist Bob Woodward about Trump's White House said the general had questioned Trump's judgment, likening his understanding to that of a 10- or 11-year-old child. Mattis denied making the remarks and has consistently denied he was considering quitting. "Of course, I don't think about leaving," he told reporters in September. "I love it here." Among the recent high-level departures from the Trump team were Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired in March, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who resigned the same month. On October 9, Trump announced that Nikki Haley would be leaving her post as UN ambassador at the end of the year. No reason for the resignation was immediately given. Trump also alluded to potential changes more generally in his cabinet. "I'm changing things around. And I'm entitled to. I have people now on standby that will be phenomenal, he said. With reporting by Vox, Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa Photo: pixabay Pentictons Pathways Addiction Resource Centre has received an influx of funding from the provincial government to help deal with the local overdose crisis. Pathways was one of 27 community organizations that received a combined $1.7M to fund programming to fight addiction and overdose. "People on the ground - in communities - are the best equipped to identify what's working, to find the gaps and to set priorities as we work together to end this achingly long public health emergency," said Judy Darcy, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. "That's why I am so encouraged by the projects put forward from communities in every part of B.C. to save lives, fight stigma and connect more people to treatment and recovery." The funding was administered by the Canadian Mental Health Association and Community Action Initiative. "Communities are working hard to find thoughtful and locally appropriate ways to counter the overdose crisis," said Dr. Patricia Daly, executive lead, Overdose Emergency Response Centre. "We are grateful for the opportunity to support these 27 projects to expand the reach and scope of our overdose response." Nobody from Pathways was immediately able to comment on the nature of the programming funded, or the size of the grant received. Madison Erhardt The sun will come out tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. Environment Canada is calling for sunshine across the board this week, with above seasonal temperatures. "We are holding steady under this beautiful ridge of high pressure that brought us a pretty good weekend, and that is going to continue this week," says said meteorologist Bobby Sekhon. "We will be seeing sunshine and slightly above normal temperatures during the day." Monday and Tuesday should reach highs of 15 C under mainly sunny skies. The same goes for most of the week. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday should see highs of 16 C with a mix of sun and cloud and overnight lows just above freezing. Driver flees after 8 injured in Puerto Morelos highway accident Puerto Morelos, Q.R. A two vehicle accident along the Puerto Morelos highway has left eight people injured and one driver missing. The accident occurred around 4:00 p.m. on the Puerto Morelos-Playa del Carmen highway at the height of Villas Morelos II after two vehicles, which had left Puerto Morelos, were headed toward Playa del Carmen. Witness reports say that the white van crashed into the back of a blue dodge minivan. The impact from the van pushed the minivan into a concrete pillar, trapping its occupants. Witnesses called emergency services. Police and ambulances arrived along with firemen who were able to free the trapped passengers. In total, eight people were taken to hospital with varying injuries. After hitting the blue minivan, the driver of the white van took off on foot. Police combed the area including roadside bush, but were unable to find him. Photo: CTV Vancouver A former Vernon man at the centre of a gruesome murder trial has entered a guilty plea. William Schneider pleaded guilty Monday to interfering with human remains. Schneider was charged in connection with the death of Japanese student Natsumi Kogawa in Vancouver in 2016. During the trial, it was learned that Kogawas naked body was discovered in a black suitcase that had been left in a hedge on the West End property. Shortly after her body was discovered, North Okanagan police arrested Schneider, 51, at a homeless camp in Polson Park in Vernon. Schneider pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, and Crown counsel is continuing its closing arguments. Kogawa's remains were found on the grounds of the Vancouver area mansion two years ago, about two weeks after she was reported missing. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: The Canadian Press More than one in five Canadian companies say they were impacted by a cyberattack last year, with businesses spending $14 billion on cybersecurity as they confront greater risks in the digital world, according to a new Statistics Canada survey. The most common suspected motive was an attempt to steal money or demand a ransom payment, according to the survey. Theft of personal or financial information was less typical less than one-quarter of the cyberattacks though it was the most cited reason for investing in cybersecurity, StatCan said. "Canadian businesses continue to rapidly embrace the Internet and digital technologies, which expose them to greater cybersecurity risks and threats," the agency said in a release Monday. "However, the impact of these risks and threats on the investment and day-to-day decisions of businesses are not easily understood as cybersecurity incidents often go unreported." Only 10 per cent of businesses affected by a cyberattack reported it to law enforcement agencies last year, StatCan said. Companies shelled out $8 billion on cybersecurity staff and contractors, $4 billion on related software and hardware and $2 billion on other prevention and recovery measures, the survey found. The total represented less than one per cent of their total revenues. Large businesses those with 250 or more employees were more than twice as likely as small ones between 10 and 49 employees to be apparent targets, according to the report. It said the attacks resulted in an average of 23 hours of "downtime" per company in 2017. Data breaches have become a familiar feature on the corporate landscape. Last week, Facebook said an attack on its computer systems announced two weeks earlier had affected 30 million users. In August, some 20,000 Air Canada customers learned their personal data may have been compromised following a breach in the airlines mobile app. Last year, Equifax Inc. said approximately 100,000 Canadian consumers may have had their personal information compromised in a massive cyberattack on the credit data company. In the past three years, millions of consumers have been affected by hacks against a panoply of companies including British Airways, Uber, Deloitte, Ashley Madison and Walmart. E-fit of the man police want to trace A KNIFE-wielding robber threatened staff at a charity shop before making his escape on a childs scooter and cops believe the man pictured could help with their enquiries. Police have released the e-fit after a man entered the Salvation Army on Laughton Road, Dinnington, at around 3.30pm last Monday, threatened staff members and demanded cash from the till. A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said: The man was carrying a knife but no-one was injured and he left, on a childs scooter, with a small amount of cash, heading in the direction of Leopold Street. Cops are asking anyone who recognises the man in the e-fit to contact them on 101 quoting incident 524 of October 8. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. Sarah McLeod with some of the masterplan designs. VISIONARY plans to transform Wentworth Woodhouse into a world-class visitor attraction and put Rotherham on the map are to be unveiled at Downing Street. The charitable trust which now owns the Grade I-listed Georgian masterpiece will be launching its Masterplan at a Downing Street reception this evening. The bold plan aims to make Wentworth Woodhouse as famous as in its 18th century heyday, when it was on a par with Chatsworth House and Blenheim Palace. Its unveiling comes two years after Chancellor Philip Hammond awarded a grant of 7.6 million to Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust in his Autumn 2016 Statement to pay for emergency roof repairs. The 220-page masterplan spells out the chosen options for development and follows a year-long consultation with heritage experts, the management of other historic houses and 1,500 members of the public. They include reviving the glazed Camellia House, improving disabled access, turning the disused stables into a first-class wedding venue and adding cafe facilities. Visitors will be able to witness work as it takes place and talk to restoration teams on hard-hat tours giving access to the roof. The Chancellors invitation for us to unveil our plans is testament to the huge national significance of what is arguably Britains greatest restoration project for a generation, and its solid cross-party support, said WWPT chair Julie Kenny. The masterplan is the start of an exciting journey, a catalyst for change for the people whose lives the trust touches and the communities we serve. For three centuries the house was the hub of social and economic life across South Yorkshire and we intend to make it so once again. Work on the Big House over the past 18 months has gone beyond patching up the leaky roof. The biggest change has been in staffing levels, with a 19-strong team now in place and including commercial operations manager Mark Williamson, formerly in the same post at the National Civil War Centre, catering manager Joe Tomlinson and marketing and communications officer Hannah Pearson, who previously worked for the National Trust at Knole in Kent, and Tracie Midgley, who has been appointed wedding and events officer. An army of 100 volunteers has also been recruited. Sarah McLeod, chief executive of WWPT, said: Our masterplan will not only restore a national asset, it will regenerate a community. As this once great house rises again, it will be both an economic driver and a world-class tourism attraction. It will improve the lives of people in Rotherham, one of the most socially-deprived areas of the UK, by providing training in construction, catering and customer services and creating jobs. Its an exciting time. Now we have a clear and concise vision, work can begin to make things happen. The masterplan will underpin all our funding applications and our bid to find support from the private sector across the world. See this Fridays Advertiser for an in-depth look at how the masterplan will come to life - and exclusive pictures of the current sorry state of this faded icon. Botswana has a rich source of rough diamonds. The countrys diamond reserves reach about 340 million carats, while its resources (including reserves) exceed 905 million carats. The country is consistently among the worlds three largest diamond producers by volume and value. In 2017, Botswana produced almost 23 million carats of diamonds (the third-largest result after Russia and Canada) to the amount of $ 3.329 billion (ranking second to Russia). Virtually all diamonds in the country are mined by Debswana, which is owned in equal parts by the Botswana government and De Beers, part of the Anglo American Group. Botswanas raw material base is made up of huge-scale kimberlite pipes Orapa and Jwaneng. There are also several smaller deposits: Damtshaa, Letlhakane, Ghaghoo, Karowe, Lerala, BK 11 and Kx36. The Jwaneng diamond pipe, discovered in 1972, is located in the south of Botswana and is one of the largest diamond deposits in the world in terms of diamond reserves and the worlds largest in terms of diamond value. According to the data taken at the beginning of 2018, this diamond fields probable reserves for open-pit mining, taking into account the Cut-8 and Cut-9 expansion projects, amounted to 174.8 million carats of diamonds with an average grade of 1.265 carats per ton, while its indicated resources, excluding the reserves, reached 62.3 million carats. Another 60 million carats of diamonds were estimated and attributed to the inferred category; these resources are not included in the mining plan. In addition, the tailings of this deposit contain 72.7 million carats of inferred diamond resources. Debswana started the Cut-8 expansion project in 2010 with an aim to deepen the quarry to 650 m and gain access to ore containing 92 million carats of diamonds; the company commenced diamond mining and processing operations in the middle of 2017. In the near future, it plans to start the Cut-9 project, which, if realized, will make it possible to additionally produce 48 million carats of diamonds. In 2017, Jwaneng produced 11.9 million carats of diamonds. The diamonds mined at Jwaneng annually account for about 60-70% of revenues gained by Debswana. The Orapa diamond field, giant by its mineral reserves, is located in the central part of the country within the kimberlite field of the same name. The field, which was a take-off point for the first diamond mining enterprise in Botswana, was discovered in 1967. Despite the long period of operation, the field has a significant mineral wealth of diamonds: its probable reserves for open-pit mining amount to 140.8 million carats, while its indicated resources, excluding the reserves, reach 297 million carats and inferred resources (not included in the mining plan) are estimated at 66.2 million carats. The average diamond grade in ores is lower than at Jwaneng - 0.975 ct / t. In addition, there are 130.3 million carats of indicated diamond resources in the tailings. Debswana extracted 10.2 million carats of diamonds from Orapa in 2017. There are several other diamond deposits within the Orapa kimberlite field: Letlhakane, Damtshaa, Karowe and BK 11. The Letlhakane diamond field is based on the eponymous low-diamond-bearing (0.2-0.3 ct / t) kimberlite pipe. The open-pit mining of this deposit by Debswana was completed in 2017 due to the exhaustion of reserves. The indicated and inferred resources of diamonds for underground mining make up only 12.3 million carats; however, there mines tailings contain twice as much diamonds: 8.4 million carats of probable reserves, 1.4 million carats of indicated resources and 14.1 million carats of inferred resources. The construction of a modular processing plant to handle the dumps began in 2015, and the first diamonds were produced there in the summer of 2018. The project to recycle the tailings will extend the life of the Letlhakane mine by 25 years. Last year, the mine produced 607,000 carats of diamonds. The Damtshaa deposit consists of five small kimberlite pipes with a low average diamond grade (0.192 ct/t), the total probable reserves of which are estimated at 4.9 million carats, their indicated resources - at 0.9 million carats and their inferred resources - at 5 million carats. At the end of 2015, operations at the Damtshaa mine, also owned by Debswana, were temporarily suspended due to a weak diamond market situation but resumed at the end of 2017. In 2017, the mine produced 35,000 carats of diamonds. The Karowe diamond field is represented by the AK-6 kimberlite pipe, which was discovered in 1969 and was initially recognized as unsuitable for commercial mining. However, after the exploration in the early 2000s, its parameters were significantly adjusted. As of December 25, 2017, the indicated resources of the diamond deposit were estimated at 5.59 million carats, including its probable reserves of 3.26 million carats; the mines inferred resources stood at 2.98 million carats. The ore quality at Karowe is low, its average diamond grade reaching only 0.14 ct/t, but this is offset by the high quality of mined stones, the cost of which varies on average from $625 to $680 per carat. Since 2012, the deposit has been developed by Boteti Mining (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of Canada-based Lucara Diamond Corporation, which is currently the only diamond mining company in Botswana that is not dependent on De Beers. Last year, the mine produced 249,800 carats of diamonds. Boteti Mining plans to develop this field by the open-pit method until 2026, and then switch to underground mining. In 2014, the company also received licenses for two promising areas near its existing asset, within which drilling is currently underway. Five kilometers from Karowe, there is another kimberlite pipe, BK 11, containing a mineral resource of diamonds reaching only 1.2 million carats. Its ore has a low average diamond grade (0.44 ct/t). The quality of diamonds mined at BK 11 is also relatively low, their average cost is $137-157 per carat. The owner of the field, Firestone Diamonds, which is based in Britain, commissioned the facility in August 2010 and mined about 2,000 carats of diamonds, but in February 2012 the mine was shut down due to problems with the extraction of diamonds at the concentration plant. Firestone is currently focused on its other African asset, the Liqhobong mine in Lesotho. In the central part of Botswana, within the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, there is the Ghaghoo diamond deposit, previously known as Gope, represented by two kimberlite pipes: GO25 and GO136, the first of which is the most studied. The deposit was blocked by Kalahari sands, the overburden of which was 80 m thick. According to a recent estimate of reserves and resources conducted in 2013, the indicated resources of this diamond deposit reach 15.5 million carats, including 2.1 million carats of probable reserves, while its inferred resources are 5 million carats. Ghaghoos ore is characterized by a low diamond grade varying from 0.28 to 0.18 ct/t, the average diamond cost reaching $239-267 per carat. Initially, the field was planned to be developed by the open-pit method, but this project was considered not effective. Gem Diamonds Limited based in Britain, which owns the right to develop the field, drew up a project for its underground mining with an inclined raise to access the ore and use the methods of block and sub-level caving, which allowed it to continue its development - the mine was put into operation at the end of 2014. In just over two years, the mine yielded about 143,000 carats of diamonds. However, it did not reach its full production capacity of 600,000 carats a year, as it was mothballed in February 2017 due to unfavorable conditions in the global diamond market. Gem Diamonds, like Firestone Diamonds, is focused on developing its Letseng mine in Lesotho, known as the source of large, very high-quality diamonds. Also, in the central part of the country, but closer to the border with South Africa, there is the Lerala diamond field, which includes five closely spaced small and low-diamondiferous (0.25-0.3 ct/t) kimberlite pipes, totaling 3.1 million carats in indicated resources together with 2.5 million carats of probable reserves (as of 2014). A mine with a concentration plant was commissioned there in 2008, its annual output capacity set at 330,000 carats of diamonds, but it was closed in 2009 due to the global downturn. After that, the mine changed several owners, until it was purchased by Australia-based Kimberly Diamonds Limited in 2014. Mining operations at Lerala were resumed in 2015, but it turned out to be a money losing business and it was again closed in May 2017. At the end of May 2018, mass media reported that the Lerala mine was sold at an online auction for $8.1 million. Geological exploration is underway in Botswana to identify kimberlite bodies with commercial diamond content. Petra Diamonds Limited is conducting geological exploration in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, studying kimberlite pipe KH 36. As of June 30, 2017, the pipe had indicated diamond resources estimated at 6.32 million carats and inferred resources estimated at 2.41 million carats. The KH 36 pipes average diamond grade is 0.35 ct/t. Canada-based Tsodilo Resources Ltd explores the BK 16 kimberlite pipe within the Orapa kimberlite field. In April this year, the company said it had received the first diamonds from samples, and in July it published the results of an independent estimate of the stones value, which averaged $197.68 per carat. To enrich the diamond-containing concentrate, the company used the POLUS-M separator developed by the Burevestnik Research and Production Enterprise (part of the ALROSA Group). Botswana Diamonds PLC conducts early stage exploration in order to detect primary diamond deposits in the Gope (Kalahari Desert) and Orapa areas, including in team with ALROSA. Pangolin Diamonds Corp. is searching for kimberlite deposits within the Malatswae project, which is located approximately 40 km from the Orapa kimberlite field. In addition, the company acquired a stake in the AK 10 project in July 2018 buying it from Makanwu Civil Blasting (PTY) Ltd. The AK 10 kimberlite pipe was discovered by De Beers in 1968 within the Orapa kimberlite field. No exploration was carried out at the field. Thus, at present, the Jwaneng and Orapa kimberlite pipes discovered in the late 1960s and early 1970s appear to be the main source of diamonds in Botswana. If their resources are exhausted, the countrys diamond mining industry will begin to experience serious difficulties, since there are no deposits in Botswana on which large mining businesses could operate. Certain prospects may be associated with the development of deposits having small reserves with low diamond grades, but yielding high quality stones, such as Karowe, but currently it is the only one in the country. To preserve the position of one of the worlds largest diamond producers, the government of Botswana should take measures to stimulate the exploration for diamonds. Anastasia Smolnikova, Chief Specialist, Solid Minerals Section at All-Russia Research Institute of Mineral Raw Materials Photo: The Canadian Press Baby Zavier is barely three months old, but he's already making history in the B.C. legislature. Born in July, Zavier is the first child to arrive at the legislature chamber in the arms of his mother, Energy Minister Michelle Mungall. He is the first baby permitted at a legislative session after all parties voted in favour of family legislation last spring. Mungall carried her son into the chamber and introduced him to loud applause from politicians. B.C. joined Alberta last spring as the only other province that permits children in the chambers while the legislature is in session. Mungall says her son also met the legislature's dress code, wearing a sharp jacket and bow tie. The Cessna did not pick up, broke through a barrier and rolled into a waiting crowd. Local media reported that the pilot lost control of the aircraft when trying to land at Wasserkuppe. The weather was reportedly fair at the time. The cause of the crash is currently undetermined. Either other people are thought to have been injured during the crash. An eyewitness suffered a severe shock.Police in Hesse state said the victims, two women and a boy reported to be as young as 10, were on a path next to an airfield at the Wasserkuppe hill near Fulda. The plane, carrying four passengers, came from the Mannheim area of southwestern Germany and had been on an excursion to the Wasserkuppe.The 56-year-old pilot and three passengers were taken to hospital with slight injuries. The aircraft is reported to have been privately owned. Hesse state prime minister Volker Bouffier and interior minister Peter Beuth said they were deeply affected by the crash on the state chancellery Twitter page. Cessna Aircraft was formed when Clyde Cessna and Victor Roos became partners in the Cessna-Roos Aircraft Company in 1927. The first Cessna aircraft flew it in June 1911 between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Seasoned Malaysian politician and former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has won a parliamentary seat in a by-election, thereby once again establishing himself in the country's mainstream politics. Anwar won the Port Dickson seat on Saturday, securing 71 per cent of the total votes cast, and easily seeing off his six other candidates in what was a landslide victory for him. He is expected to be sworn-in as a legislator in the Malaysian Parliament on October 15, Al-Jazeera reported. In 2015, 71-year-old Anwar was imprisoned for five years on a sodomy conviction, a charge which he described as "politically motivated". Days after the Malaysian general elections were held, Anwar was pardoned by Malaysia's King Muhammad V in May. With this victory, Anwar, who also served as the country's former deputy prime minister in the 1990s, is now a step closer to succeed 93-year-old Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Following his surprise victory in the May polls, Mahathir had pledged to ensure a smooth transfer of power within two years, according to CNN. Both Mahathir and Anwar shrugged off their years-long bitter political feud by joining hands to unseat scandal-tainted former prime minister Najib Razak in the general elections. -ANI [MANILA] A new assessment report released last week (8 October) by the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the importance of raising the capacity of least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS) in climate management and the special role of women as a group vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, women formed just roughly 30 per cent of the authors writing the report, with none of them from an LDC or SIDS. Underrepresentation of women has been a longstanding issue at the IPCC, the worlds premier scientific body on climate change. In today's world where large conferences are moving towards having dedicated feeding booths, on-site childcare facilities, I hope the IPCC moves with the times Chandni Singh According to a February 2018 study published in the PNAS, the proportion of female IPCC authors increased from less than five per cent in 1990, when the first report was published, to slightly more than 20 per cent in the more recent assessment reports. The study found that many of the over 100 female IPCC authors surveyed had a positive experience in the way they were treated and in the influence they had on the report. But some of them reported problems faced by their female colleagues. For instance, 75 per cent perceived weak command of the English language as a barrier to participation, while almost 40 per cent saw gender as a challenge. Close to 30 per cent saw race as an obstacle. The open-ended responses were numerous in identifying women from developing countries as marginalised, noted the report. Female authors disinclined to discuss their own challenges but were open to talk about what they perceived to be challenges to other female authors is consistent with what SciDev.Net found when it independently contacted women involved with the IPCCs sixth assessment report its latest comprehensive assessment slated to be published in 2022. Chandni Singh, a climate change researcher from India and a lead author for the IPCCs Working Group 2, says that she has not experienced overt discrimination in the IPCC but knows that it happens to female researchers. I have regularly heard stories of colleagues and juniors finding it difficult to navigate the terrain of appearing strong-willed and confident without appearing too bossy or pushy, she says. Several female colleagues, especially junior staff, have spoken of administrative tasks, such as note-taking, arranging meetings and handling logistics falling upon them rather than their male counterparts. Singh has seen women face barriers to their participation, such as insufficient childcare facilities at lead author meetings. This meant that some female authors had to skip a meeting, she notes. In today's world where large conferences are moving towards having dedicated feeding booths, on-site childcare facilities, I hope the IPCC moves with the times. Singhs observation is consistent with the PNAS study which found that a third of respondents pointed to childcare and family responsibilities as barriers to their full engagement with the IPCC. Childcare responsibilities were an obstacle, particularly for single parents or those with babies. Several confessed that this responsibility might have negatively impacted their performance at the IPCC, notes the report. Acknowledging the barriers women face, the scientific body decided in March to establish a gender task group, now being co-chaired by Patricia Nying'uro from Kenya and Markku Rummukainen from Sweden. The group had its first teleconference in June and is mainly working electronically. The group is expected to solicit submissions on relevant national and international gender policies and strategies from member and observer organisations of the IPCC as well as consult other relevant organisations, Kerstin Stendahl, deputy secretary of the IPCC in Switzerland, tells SciDev.Net. Joy Pereira, a professor at the Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative-Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (SEADPRI-UKM) and a vice-chair of the IPCCs Working Group 2, tells SciDev.Net that the scientific body should ask their hosts to ensure greater participation of women, particularly early career researchers. Perhaps, the IPCC would also request governments to give priority to female scientists, she adds. Singh from India suggests that the IPCC offer mentoring sessions between the veteran and new scientists to help develop a space for dialogue and troubleshooting. I feel that this is true for both women and men, including men from developing countries who might not have been part of the IPCC before and can face discrimination or develop a sense of being an outsider, she says. The gender task group is expected to report back to the 49th session of the IPCC in May 2019. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk. [BLANTYRE CITY, MALAWI] The Zambian government has launched a training programme to prepare health professionals in border regions recognise, treat and prevent potential Ebola outbreaks. The programme focuses on regions close to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ebola is currently raging. As of 2 October, this latest outbreak has caused 106 deaths, out of 162 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization. The Zambian programme is meant to create rapid responses on the ground in case the virus is transferred into the country by travellers or refugees from the DRCs ongoing conflict. Victor Mukonka, the director of the Zambia National Public Health Institute, said building capacity was critical to ensure quick action in case of a health emergency. We do not want a repeat of the tragedy that hit the Western part of our continent in 2014. Victor Mukonka, Zambia National Public Health Institute We do not want a repeat of the tragedy that hit the Western part of our continent in 2014, he said. Having trained rapid response teams at all levels assures capacity for any community, and we encourage all states to take up this strategy.. In September, Zambias ministry of health trained 216 health workers in the North-Western and Copperbelt provinces. Another 86 were trained in the Northern and Luapula provinces in August, the ministry said. The training programme focuses on doctors and nurses, but also includes environmental and public health officers, pharmacists and laboratory staff. However, to truly get a grip on the Ebola menace, both countries need to strengthen surveillance and collaboration, especially of cross-border movement, said Nathan Bakyaita, Zambias WHO representative, in a statement from the WHOs Africa branch. The DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world , and suffers from ongoing internal conflicts that periodically flare into regional wars. The UN estimates that around 800,000 people have fled the violence, of which around 50,000 have escaped to Zambia. The ZNPHIs training programme will provide healthcare workers with information on how to communicate risk, how to collect and transport specimens, health surveillance and strategies to prevent infection. According to Ante Mutati, a provincial surveillance officer for Luapula and a training participant, the frontline healthcare workers are meant to educate other team members on how to tackle Ebola outbreaks. Mukonka, the ZNPHIs director, also called for more collaboration , saying African countries should team up to fight the preventable scourge. It is important that Africa takes ownership and leads in addressing matters of health and other determinants affecting the continent, he told SciDev.Net. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. The aging of males and females is influenced by how they choose to invest their available energy, according to a study of fruit flies carried out at Linkoping University, Sweden. The results, published in The American Naturalist, support the idea that differences in strategy between the sexes to maximise the number of offspring contribute to differences in aging between males and females. Differences in aging and the length of life between males and females are common in the animal realm. Males often have shorter lifespans than females. A research group at Linkoping University is trying to find out why this is the case. One possibility is that sex differences in aging lead to maximum numbers of offspring that animals produce during life. "The idea is that each individual has a certain amount of resources that can be used for different activities. The individual can either invest more energy into increasing the probability of having as many offspring as possible, here and now, or invest more energy into maintaining the body in good shape, to live longer and continue to have offspring. We wanted to test the theory that the sexes give different priorities to the way they use their resources, and that this contributes to sex differences in aging," says Martin Brengdahl, doctoral student at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology and principal author of the article describing the study. The strategies used by the sexes for successful reproduction differ. In many species, the possibility for males to father many offspring depends on how well they compete with other males for the available females. It may be a case of winning physical battles, or attracting females in various ways using bright colours or attractive sounds. This evolutionary mechanism that determines the access of a male to females, and in this way his possibility to pass on his genes to the next generation, is known as "sexual selection." The researchers used fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, to investigate whether sexual selection lies behind sex differences in aging. They wanted to determine whether the two sexes are affected differently when they are in poorer physical condition, in other words, when they have poorer access to nutrients and energy. In particular, they were interested in the ability of the flies to reproduce, and how this ability changes when the flies age, in a process known as "reproductive aging." The flies were allowed to do what they are experts at: eating and mating. However, the researchers had manipulated the genetic material of some of the flies, such that they had many small harmful mutations in their genes. These mutations had a negative influence throughout life, meaning that an individual with such mutations converted food to useful energy slightly less efficiently. Thus, even though all of the flies had access to the same food and could eat equal amounts, the manipulated flies were in poorer physical condition. In order to mate with available females, the aging males were compelled to compete with young males. It turned out, as expected, that males in good physical condition were better at this than those who were in poorer condition, independently of how old they were. The reproductive aging of males, however, decreased at the same rate, independently of whether they were in good or poor physical form. Things were different for females. Early in life, there was no difference between the number of offspring produced by females in good condition, who could use the available resources better, and the number produced by mutated females, who were in poorer condition. The two groups, however, aged at different rates. As the females became older, those who were in good physical form had more offspring than their less fortunate sisters. The results are compatible with the idea that it is access to resources, such as the energy from food, that limits the number of offspring a female can have. "The results show that sexual selection contributes to the differences between the sexes in reproductive aging. This is probably because females in good condition, with good access to nutrients, invest the extra resources into maintaining their bodies, such that they can continue to reproduce to a more advanced age. Males, in contrast, seem to invest a great deal of their resources, independent of their condition, into trying to ensure that they achieve successful mating here and now," says Martin Brengdahl. The researchers believe that the result is valid for species other than fruit flies, while there may be differences between species in the way in which aging is influenced when resources are limited. The research has received financial support from the Swedish Research Council, the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund, and the Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation. Researchers at Stanford University have reworked CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to manipulate the genome in three-dimensional space, allowing them to ferry genetic snippets to different locations in a cell's nucleus. The new technique, dubbed CRISPR-genome organization or simply CRISPR-GO, uses a modified CRISPR protein to reorganize the genome in three dimensions. If CRISPR is like molecular scissors, then CRISPR-GO is like molecular tweezers, grabbing specific bits of the genome and plunking them down in new locations of the nucleus. But it's more than just physical relocation: Displacing genetic elements can change how they function. The research sheds new light on how the genome's spatial organization in the nucleus governs the function of the cell overall. "The question of why spatial organization in a cell matters is an important one, and it's also not one that scientists agree on," said Stanley Qi, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering and of chemical and systems biology. "CRISPR-GO could provide an opportunity to answer that question by enabling us to target, move and relocate very specific stretches of DNA, and see how their new placements in the nucleus change how they function." Most mammalian cells contain a nucleus that houses more than 6 feet of DNA, if stretched out in a line. This genetic material determines the fate of the cells and, if out of place or damaged, can lead to disease. Previous studies have shown that DNA tends to clump in certain areas in the nucleus. How that placement affects the DNA's function, however, is still unclear. In the proof-of-principle study, Qi investigated three distinct subregions of the nucleus using CRISPR-GO, testing an overarching hypothesis: Do genes and other genetic elements behave differently in different zones of the nucleus? advertisement So far, their data show that specific compartments and some free-floating bodies of proteins in the nucleus can sway the function of repositioned DNA. Depending on where the genetic materials are located, some nuclear regions repress gene expression and some accelerate telomere growth, and subsequently cell division. One protein body may even hold the power to suppress tumor formation. A study detailing this research will be published online Oct. 11 in Cell. Qi is the senior author. Postdoctoral scholar Haifeng Wang, PhD, is the lead author. Bridging the gap Demystifying the physical details of the genome has proved to be a tedious task, but there are some existing technologies that allow scientists to peer into cells and see how their guts are physically organized. What's been missing is a way to tamper with this organization. CRISPR-GO is the first to offer researchers a means to do so. By decommissioning the "cutting" mechanism of CRISPR-Cas9, the editing tool becomes more of a delivery system, which Qi used to deliver small stretches of DNA via a programmable guide RNA to a new location in the nucleus. advertisement There are three essential parts of CRISPR-GO. First, there's what Qi calls the "address" of the genetic target that you want to relocate -- a stretch of DNA that's targeted with a complementary strand of binding RNA. Then, you need the destination's address -- the specific portion of DNA in a nuclear compartment to which you want to move the chromatin. Finally, there's the "bridge," which, in this case, is a catalyst that sparks the congealing of the target DNA to its new home in the nucleus. "Kids often like to build little railroads to help trains get from one station to another," said Qi. "It's not so different from what we're doing here." Different room, different function Qi describes the functionalities of the nuclear compartments like the spaces of a house. In every room of your home, you do different things -- in the kitchen, you cook; in the bedroom, you sleep. In the nucleus of a cell, the same concept applies. There are multiple compartments in the nucleus that all have specific roles in upholding cell functionality overall. Qi and his lab investigated three distinct areas of the nucleus, testing whether they could somehow shift the function of chromatin depending on where they moved it. By using CRISPR-GO, the researchers observed that genes relocated to a part of the nucleus called the Cajal body, an amorphic and somewhat mysterious blob of proteins and RNA, stopped expressing proteins. "We were super-excited to see this; it's the first time that researchers have evidence to show the Cajal body can have a direct gene-regulation effect, in this case repressing gene expression," Qi said. "It suggests that the Cajal body has some unexpected role in controlling transcription." That could be big, as transcription is an important process that synthesizes the "code" for protein production. When Qi used CRISPR-GO to move the DNA of telomeres -- the molecular caps of chromosomes that are associated with longevity -- from the middle to the edge of the nucleus, the telomeres stopped growing, halting the cell cycle and reducing cell viability. The opposite, however, happened when telomeres were moved closer to the Cajal body: They grew and, in doing so, increased cell viability. The third application used CRISPR-GO to form a promyelocytic leukemia body. This glob of proteins is known to suppress pro-tumor genes. By positioning it next to cancer-causing genes in the nucleus, Qi plans to test if it can help curb tumor formation. "Another unique advantage of CRISPR-GO is that we can track the interactions between chromatin DNA and nuclear compartments in real time under a microscope," Wang said. While the evidence shown by CRISPR-GO is exciting, the research is still in a pilot stage, and there's more work to be done before the findings can be confirmed, Qi said. "We're very excited about the potential here and, while we've answered a couple questions, we've opened up about 20 more," Qi said. It will be even more important to decipher why these location-based effects take place in specific nuclear compartments, and what the underlying cause is, he said. One day, Qi hopes, this line of research will come to bear on human health. After screening 15,000 women over a period of five years, a major clinical study in Sweden has shown that 3D mammography, or breast tomosynthesis, detects over 30% more cancers compared to traditional mammography -- with a majority of the detected tumours proving to be invasive cancers. The extensive screening study was conducted by Lund University and Skane University Hospital in Sweden, and the results are now published in the journal Lancet Oncology. "With breast tomosynthesis, 34 per cent more cancer tumours were detected compared to the current standard mammography screening. At the same time, we were able to reduce the compression of the breast during examination, something that may encourage more women to participate in screening," explains Sophia Zackrisson, associate professor at Lund University and radiologist at Skane University Hospital (SUS), continuing: "We did, however, need to call back a few more women for additional examinations compared to traditional mammography. We needed to confirm that these women did not have cancer, as this method finds more structures in the breast in general. So, there was an increased call-back rate." In traditional mammography screening, all breast tissue is captured in a single image. Breast tomosynthesis, on the other hand, is three-dimensional and works according to the same principle as what is known as tomography. This means that several low-dose x-ray images are taken of the breast from different angles, which are reconstructed by a computer to show thin layers of the breast. With more and improved image informationand less overlapping tissue structures, the chance of detecting tumours increases. Further, the radiation dose may be lowered in certain circumstances. "There is a need to improve screening for many women, and breast tomosynthesis is clearly the most appropriate method to transition to in breast cancer screening. Breast tomosynthesis will be introduced, it's just a question of when and to what extent," says Sophia Zackrisson. Breast tomosynthesis is already used at Skane University Hospital, among other places, to investigate suspected breast cancer. Prior to a possible large-scale introduction in the general breast cancer screening programme, the research team is now conducting a cost-benefit study. All types of screening involve a risk of overdiagnosis, which in turn may lead to unjustified treatments. Therefore, the research team, in collaboration with their European colleagues, will conduct a metastudy in which they will aggregate and analyse their collective research results. The lack of radiologists who can review the increased image material generated by 3D methods presents a further challenge before large-scale introduction. However, the method used at Skane University Hospital may be more efficient than those previously examined in international studies. In Skane, only the 3D method has been used whereas other studies have combined 3D with traditional mammography screening. This leads to more image material and a higher radiation dose. "We have shown that we can achieve the same result with a simpler and perhaps even better method," says Sophia Zackrisson. In the future, parts of the image review in connection with breast tomosynthesis may be automated with the help of computers, but it will take time. There is currently a lack of appropriate ready-to-use and tested software. Studies are underway, including in Sophia Zackrisson's research team. Nine people were killed after an avalanche accompanied by and a snowstorm hit the Mount Gurja base camp here on Friday. Five South Korean climbers and four Nepali porters were among the dead, confirmed Nepal Police. The deceased South Koreans have been identified as Jaehun Lee, Chang Ho Kim, Il Jin Rim, Young Jik Yoo, and Joon Mo Jeong. The deceased porters were identified as Chhiring Bhote, Lakpa Swonbu Bhote, Farbu Bhote and Netra Bahadur Chhantyal (21). "The team of the climbers along with the porters, the local residents of the Gurja Village headed for the peak's base camp a week ago. Since Friday the porters went out of contact , following which the locals began looking out for them. On Friday evening it was reported that they (locals) have found bodies on the base camps," Birbahadur Budhamagar, Deputy superintendent of the district Police headquarter, Myagdi told ANI. -ANI Seafaring vessels and offshore platforms endure a constant battery of waves and currents. Over decades of operation, these structures can, without warning, meet head-on with a rogue wave, freak storm, or some other extreme event, with potentially damaging consequences. Now engineers at MIT have developed an algorithm that quickly pinpoints the types of extreme events that are likely to occur in a complex system, such as an ocean environment, where waves of varying magnitudes, lengths, and heights can create stress and pressure on a ship or offshore platform. The researchers can simulate the forces and stresses that extreme events -- in the form of waves -- may generate on a particular structure. Compared with traditional methods, the team's technique provides a much faster, more accurate risk assessment for systems that are likely to endure an extreme event at some point during their expected lifetime, by taking into account not only the statistical nature of the phenomenon but also the underlying dynamics. "With our approach, you can assess, from the preliminary design phase, how a structure will behave not to one wave but to the overall collection or family of waves that can hit this structure," says Themistoklis Sapsis, associate professor of mechanical and ocean engineering at MIT. "You can better design your structure so that you don't have structural problems or stresses that surpass a certain limit." Sapsis says that the technique is not limited to ships and ocean platforms, but can be applied to any complex system that is vulnerable to extreme events. For instance, the method may be used to identify the type of storms that can generate severe flooding in a city, and where that flooding may occur. It could also be used to estimate the types of electrical overloads that could cause blackouts, and where those blackouts would occur throughout a city's power grid. Sapsis and Mustafa Mohamad, a former graduate student in Sapsis' group, currently assistant research scientist at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, are publishing their results this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. advertisement Bypassing a shortcut Engineers typically gauge a structure's endurance to extreme events by using computationally intensive simulations to model a structure's response to, for instance, a wave coming from a particular direction, with a certain height, length, and speed. These simulations are highly complex, as they model not just the wave of interest but also its interaction with the structure. By simulating the entire "wave field" as a particular wave rolls in, engineers can then estimate how a structure might be rocked and pushed by a particular wave, and what resulting forces and stresses may cause damage. These risk assessment simulations are incredibly precise and in an ideal situation might predict how a structure would react to every single possible wave type, whether extreme or not. But such precision would require engineers to simulate millions of waves, with different parameters such as height and length scale -- a process that could take months to compute. "That's an insanely expensive problem," Sapsis says. "To simulate one possible wave that can occur over 100 seconds, it takes a modern graphic processor unit, which is very fast, about 24 hours. We're interested to understand what is the probability of an extreme event over 100 years." As a more practical shortcut, engineers use these simulators to run just a few scenarios, choosing to simulate several random wave types that they think might cause maximum damage. If a structural design survives these extreme, randomly generated waves, engineers assume the design will stand up against similar extreme events in the ocean. advertisement But in choosing random waves to simulate, Sapsis says, engineers may miss other less obvious scenarios, such as combinations of medium-sized waves, or a wave with a certain slope that could develop into a damaging extreme event. "What we have managed to do is to abandon this random sampling logic," Sapsis says. A fast learner Instead of running millions of waves or even several randomly chosen waves through a computationally intensive simulation, Sapsis and Mohamad developed a machine-learning algorithm to first quickly identify the "most important" or "most informative" wave to run through such a simulation. The algorithm is based on the idea that each wave has a certain probability of contributing to an extreme event on the structure. The probability itself has some uncertainty, or error, since it represents the effect of a complex dynamical system. Moreover, some waves are more certain to contribute to an extreme event over others. The researchers designed the algorithm so that they can quickly feed in various types of waves and their physical properties, along with their known effects on a theoretical offshore platform. From the known waves that the researchers plug into the algorithm, it can essentially "learn" and make a rough estimate of how the platform will behave in response to any unknown wave. Through this machine-learning step, the algorithm learns how the offshore structure behaves over all possible waves. It then identifies a particular wave that maximally reduces the error of the probability for extreme events. This wave has a high probability of occuring and leads to an extreme event. In this way the algorithm goes beyond a purely statistical approach and takes into account the dynamical behavior of the system under consideration. The researchers tested the algorithm on a theoretical scenario involving a simplified offshore platform subjected to incoming waves. The team started out by plugging four typical waves into the machine-learning algorithm, including the waves' known effects on an offshore platform. From this, the algorithm quickly identified the dimensions of a new wave that has a high probability of occurring, and it maximally reduces the error for the probability of an extreme event. The team then plugged this wave into a more computationally intensive, open-source simulation to model the response of a simplified offshore platform. They fed the results of this first simulation back into their algorithm to identify the next best wave to simulate, and repeated the entire process. In total, the group ran 16 simulations over several days to model a platform's behavior under various extreme events. In comparison, the researchers carried out simulations using a more conventional method, in which they blindly simulated as many waves as possible, and were able to generate similar statistical results only after running thousands of scenarios over several months. Sapsis says the results demonstrate that the team's method quickly hones in on the waves that are most certain to be involved in an extreme event, and provides designers with more informed, realistic scenarios to simulate, in order to test the endurance of not just offshore platforms, but also power grids and flood-prone regions. "This method paves the way to perform risk assessment, design, and optimization of complex systems based on extreme events statistics, which is something that has not been considered or done before without severe simplifications," Sapsis says. "We're now in a position where we can say, using ideas like this, you can understand and optimize your system, according to risk criteria to extreme events." This research was supported, in part, by the Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and was initiated through a grant from the American Bureau of Shipping. Cesarean-born mice show altered patterns of cell death across the brain, exhibiting greater nerve cell death than vaginally delivered mice in at least one brain area, a finding by Georgia State University researchers that suggests birth mode may have acute effects on human neurodevelopment that may lead to long-lasting changes in the brain and behavior. The team of neuroscientists examined the effect of birth mode (vaginal delivery versus Cesarean section) on neuronal cell death, an important process that reshapes neural circuits early in development. This process, which takes place in mice during the first week after birth, also occurs in humans. Their study's findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. With the advent of modern medicine, Cesarean births, also known as C-sections, are becoming a widespread practice around the world. In the United States, C-sections account for about 30 percent of births every year, and many of these are elective. Cesarean births have been linked to behavioral effects in the offspring, which suggests effects on the brain, but human studies are confounded by the medical complications, altered birth timing and maternal factors often associated with Cesarean delivery. Dr. Alexandra Castillo-Ruiz, Dr. Nancy Forger and their students in the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State addressed these limitations in a carefully controlled study in mice by examining the brains of offspring before and after a vaginal or Cesarean birth up to weaning age, carefully matching pups for time of delivery. They found that vaginally delivered mice had a decrease in cell death across the brain within hours of birth, but this did not occur in Cesarean-born offspring. The most dramatic difference was seen in a region of the hypothalamus that regulates the stress response and brain-immune interactions. The greater cell death in Cesarean-delivered newborns was associated with a reduction in the number of neurons in at least one brain area and was also associated with altered behavior in a maternal separation test. Birth mode did not affect general measures of development such as total brain size or day of eye-opening in juvenile mice. However, the authors did observe increased weight gain in Cesarean-born mice at weaning age, which is consistent with clinical reports of higher body mass index in humans born by C-section. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation. Former Maldives foreign affairs minister Dunya Maumoon on Sunday extended the hand of friendship towards India and said that the trust should be regained between the two countries. The statement from Maumoon, who is the daughter of former President of the Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom came after meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi. Taking to Twitter, Maumoon said on Saturday, "It was such a pleasure to call on my friend HE @SushmaSwaraj to pass on greetings from my father. HE @maumoonagayoom built a warm friendship between our countries while he was in office. We need to regain the trust between our countries. The foreign ministers visit to India comes as the Maldives is set to form a new government under President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Solih, who recently won the Maldives presidential election by defeating Abdulla Yameen, is slated to be sworn in on November 17. India-Maldives relations were strained recently due to incumbent President Abdulla Yameen's dictatorial behaviour, his growing proximity with China and Pakistan and human rights violations in his own country. He had arrested several people including top judges, opposition leaders and Mamoons father and declared a state of emergency in February. Yameen had also tried to undermine Maldives long standing 'India first' policy. -ANI Mayor London Breed filled a vacant seat on the San Francisco board of education on Monday just three weeks before election day an unexpected appointment that surprised even the superintendent and the six current school board members. Faauuga Moliga, who attended San Francisco public schools, was sworn in Monday to fill the seat vacated by Hydra Mendoza. Moliga is a former social worker and trauma specialist at local schools who now works for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He is the first Pacific Islander to serve in a citywide office. Moliga, 36, is among 18 candidates running for three positions on the school board two current board members are not running for re-election and had received Breeds endorsement. What was most important for me was to pick the right person to step in who basically can just step into the job, Breed said after the Monday morning press conference. As mayor, I have a responsibility to make sure that we dont basically leave a seat like this vacant when we have so many important issues to deal with with our kids. Yet the school board has just three regular meetings left through the end of the year and before the newly elected board members take their seats in early January. If Moliga is not among the top three, his brief term on the board will end. Moliga said he was happy and excited about joining the board for the next two months and honored to be appointed by Breed. He added that he plans to meet with the superintendent to start getting up to speed on pending issues, including a proposal to overhaul the student assignment system, an issue he said he will need to study further. Throughout my career, I have worked with our students and created policies that keep them in school to graduate, he said. Im excited to help our students access opportunities enjoyed in a community schools model that can reduce the opportunity gap throughout the San Francisco Unified School District. Four of the current six board members attended the ceremony Monday, but admitted that they had no idea Sunday why they were being summoned to a school by the mayor. Breed made the decision without consulting current board members or Superintendent Vince Matthews. The appointment of a new board member was a surprise, Matthews said. Mendoza, who endorsed Moliga, also said that when she left she understood that the mayor would leave the seat vacant given the proximity to the election. Moliga said he learned Thursday that the mayor had selected him to fill the open seat. Some community members were shocked at the last-minute selection, especially since Mendoza announced her resignation in early August and left the position at the end of September. We heard she had decided not to appoint anyone, said Teri Olle, president of the San Francisco Parent PAC, which did not endorse Moliga, adding that the mayor had indicated that she didnt want to put her finger on the scale in favor of a candidate so close to the election. A lot of people were encouraging her to appoint someone (after Mendozas resignation), Olle said. She didnt. To do it now when every little bit does matter in the last three weeks is unfortunate. The mayor on Monday denied telling board members that she would leave the seat vacant. 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. Board President Stevon Cook, who attended the swearing-in ceremony, said until Sunday he had no idea that the mayor had selected someone for the open seat. That said, Cook had endorsed Moliga and was pleased he would be a board member at least through the end of the year. He brings so much of what we want on the board, Cook said. Its a proud day for the city. San Francisco is one of the only districts in the state that allows the mayor to fill vacancies on the school board. Most other districts leave it to the school board to choose replacements. Faauuga has spent his entire life in service to our community, Breed said in a statement. His direct, firsthand experience with our public schools, his deep community ties, and his expertise in developing holistic programs that support our youth, particularly those whose lives have been impacted by trauma, give him a unique perspective that I am confident will immediately benefit the Board of Education and our students. Breed has also endorsed Michelle Parker and had previously endorsed Josephine Zhao, who dropped out of the race after she made derogatory comments about other candidates. Mendoza left at the end of September for a job with the New York public school system. Moliga will serve out the rest of the current term and is seeking election for a full term in the November general election. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker Jurors who awarded $289 million to a former school groundskeeper who is dying of cancer are imploring a San Francisco judge to reconsider her tentative decision to overturn most of the damages against Monsanto Co., manufacturer of the weed killer that they found to be the cause of the mans illness. You may not have been convinced by the evidence but we were, juror Gary Kitahata said in a letter to Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos, who is considering Monsantos requests to reduce the damages or overturn the entire verdict. I urge you to respect and honor our verdict and the six weeks of our lives that we dedicated to this trial. Another juror, Robert Howard, said in his letter to the judge that the jury had paid studious attention to the evidence, closely followed Bolanos instruction and deliberated for several days. The possibility that our unanimous verdict could be summarily overturned demeans our system of justice and shakes my confidence in that system, Howard wrote. The two were among eight jurors and two alternates who attended a public hearing Wednesday at which Bolanos indicated she was likely to overturn the $250 million in punitive damages that the jury had awarded to Dewayne Lee Johnson, and possibly another $31 million in damages for his shortened life expectancy, reducing the award to just over $8 million. Kitahata, owner of a financial consulting company, said Monday that the jurors attended the hearing to support the verdict, and had been in touch with fellow jurors who all appeared to share their view. Howard, an artist and residential contractor, said two more jurors had written letters to Bolanos endorsing their verdict. Asked for comment, Bayer AG, which owns Monsanto, said its challenges to the verdict raise issues of law that are properly addressed by Judge Bolanos. Judges have the authority to overturn jury verdicts or modify them by reducing damages. They are not empowered, however, to overturn a jurys factual findings if there is any evidence to support them. Johnson, 46, of Vallejo, was a groundskeeper and pest-control manager for the Benicia Unified School District from 2012 until May 2016. His job included spraying Monsantos herbicide, glyphosate, in a high-concentration brand called Ranger Pro, from 50-gallon drums 20 to 30 times a year for two to three hours a day. Johnson testified during the trial that he was exposed to windblown spray, despite protective clothing, and was drenched twice with the liquid when the equipment he was using broke. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in October 2014 and with a more aggressive form of the cancer in March 2015. One of his doctors testified that Johnson is unlikely to survive to 2020. His case was the first to go to trial among about 4,000 suits against Monsanto nationwide by people who claim they developed cancer or other serious illnesses from exposure to Roundup, the companys widely used glyphosate product. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen in 2015. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found it to be a safe product, and it remains legal in the United States and Europe. After a trial that included testimony by medical experts on both sides, the jury found unanimously in August that Monsanto was responsible for his illness and should have known of the products dangers. Jurors awarded damages for Johnsons financial losses, pain and suffering, and loss of life expectancy. And in awarding $250 million in punitive damages, jurors found that Monsanto had acted maliciously by supplying the herbicide to the school district without disclosing its life-threatening effects, and by failing to return Johnsons phone calls after he became ill. In a tentative ruling last week, however, Bolanos said Johnsons lawyers presented no evidence that any Monsanto employee had known or believed that its products could cause cancer. She also questioned whether California law authorized the jurys award of $1 million for each year of his life expectancy before the cancer diagnosis. 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. Her final ruling is due by next Monday and could be appealed. Both Howard and Kitihata said the judge had allowed the jury to decide Monsantos responsibility for Johnsons illness, based on the evidence they heard, and now appeared to be backtracking from her own decision while second-guessing their conclusions. Testimony about scientific studies of the product, and about Monsantos possible influence on the U.S. agency that allowed its continued sale, showed there were serious questions about the safety of glyphosate and Roundup when the company supplied it to Johnsons employer, Howard said Monday. He said Monsantos expert witnesses, whose sworn depositions were viewed by the jury, were not credible theyre nervous, shifty-eyed, used linguistic gymnastics not to answer questions. In his letter to Bolanos, Howard said the damages for each year of Johnsons reduced life expectancy were based squarely on the judges instruction that jurors could award him compensation for loss of enjoyment of life due to his illness. Kitihata told Bolanos that when evidence was presented about Johnsons life expectancy before his cancer diagnosis, she had never raised questions about the jurys use of that evidence to award damages. To do so now, he said, would be rewarding (the company) for shortening Mr. Johnsons life expectancy. She had a chance to raise these questions during trial and even during jury deliberations, Kitihata said Monday. I thought it was the jurys role to be the judge of evidence. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Oakland residents at risk of homelessness could qualify for emergency rent checks and legal representation under a new program announced Monday by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and three Bay Area nonprofits. At a City Hall news conference, Schaaf and executives from the East Bay Community Law Center, Catholic Charities of the East Bay and Bay Area Community Services presented a $9 million pilot plan called Keep Oakland Housed, which is designed to provide support services for low-income city residents. The program is the first of its kind in the city, which has an estimated 2,761 homeless people and has grappled with a roughly 25 percent increase in homelessness from 2015 to 2017, according to a survey by EveryOne Home, a nonprofit that seeks to end homelessness. Schaaf said the new resource will keep households stable and bring the gift of security to people throughout Oakland. EveryOne Homes survey found that 86 percent of the 2,761 respondents said they were living in Alameda County at the time they lost their homes, and 58 percent of those individuals said money issues were to blame for losing them. Tirien Steinbach, executive director of the East Bay Comunity Law Center, said the new program will help staunch the bleeding of Oakland tenants. Keep Oakland Housed will run through 2022. The mayor did not outline plans for homelessness prevention beyond the pilot program. Unlike efforts to get people off the streets or provide more affordable housing in the city, the pilot will focus solely on people at risk of losing their current housing. City dwellers who make 50 percent or less than the areas median income can qualify for program assistance, officials said, and a family of four could make no more than $58,100 a year. Tenants who need cash for housing could receive up to $7,000 in checks made out to landlords or third-party providers. Residents facing eviction lawsuits are also eligible for legal representation. Critics of the mayors recent homelessness initiatives attended Mondays press conference to take issue with recent sweeps to get homeless people out of encampments and into Tuff Sheds. Oakland resident Steven DeCaprio likened the sheds to incarceration, adding that people were being forced to live in them against their will. Justin Berton, a spokesman for the mayor, noted that social service professionals, instead of police officers, have been used in the outreach effort to encourage people to move into the sheds. So far, he noted, 28 people accepted the offer. 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. Schaaf defended the sheds, saying the city was confident that advising people to move out of camps and into the tiny homes was within the confines of the law. DeCaprio, who has resided in Oakland for two decades and spent seven of those years homeless, argued that the city accelerated the housing crisis by allowing developers to build more market-rate housing. Doing nothing would be better than what theyre doing now, DeCaprio said. Nonprofits partnering with the city on Keep Oakland Housed noted that they field thousands of calls a year from people in need and new financial tools are necessary for low-income residents in the city. Program funding comes from Kaiser Permanente and the San Francisco Foundation. Oakland residents looking to access services or donate can call 211 or go to the programs website, keepoaklandhoused.org. If the initiative is successful, it could be a model for a larger regional effort, officials said. Gwendolyn Wu is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @gwendolynawu Just three weeks before the November election, Mayor London Breed is expected to fill a vacancy on the San Francisco school board with one of the candidates she endorsed for the job. Sources close to the mayors office say Breed will appoint school social worker Faauuga Moliga to the board at a Monday morning news conference. Superintendent Vince Matthews confirmed the mayors office contacted the district over the weekend about finding a location for an unspecified announcement Monday morning. Matthews said the district reserved space for 11 a.m. at June Jordan School for Equity. All school board members were invited to attend. Moliga is one of 18 candidates for three open positions on the board. While he has a long list of endorsements, five other candidates have raised more than Moligas $34,769, according to the most recent campaign finance information. ALSO SF Mayor Breed endorses school teacher Trevor McNeil in District Four Moliga would replace Hydra Mendoza, who left at the end of September for a job with the New York public school system. School district officials speculated that Breed would not fill Mendozas seat given the upcoming election, which would give a political edge to any person appointed to the board. Moliga would serve on the board through December, with the three elected board members sworn in for a four-year term in January. 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. Neither the mayor nor Moliga returned requests for comment. Breed also endorsed nonprofit grant writer Michelle Parker, as well as Josephine Zhao, who withdrew from the race amid reports she made derogatory comments about transgender rights and the sexuality of her opponents. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker Open enrollment begins Monday for Californians who want to sign up for health insurance through Covered California, the state-run marketplace that sells plans to people who dont receive health benefits through work or the government. Consumers have until Dec. 15 to sign up for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1, and until Jan. 15 to sign up for coverage that takes effect Feb. 1. 2019 is the first year that consumers can opt to not have insurance, and not have to pay a tax penalty. This is because Congress passed legislation in late 2017 that eliminated the tax penalty for not having insurance, also known as the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act. Covered California officials say the change will contribute to a 12 percent drop-off in enrollment. Premiums will rise nearly 9 percent on average for consumers renewing their same plan. Jose Ambrocio, a 22-year-old San Francisco resident who buys a Kaiser health plan through Covered California, pays a combined $56 a month in premiums for him and his wife. Both work as medical interpreters, he as an independent contractor and his wife for a company. Ambrocio is not sure how much their premiums will change next year, but says they will probably re-enroll because their Kaiser plan is more affordable than the benefits offered by their employers. Is it everything we want? No, but because we dont have chronic health problems I think its the right mix of what we can afford and what we, bare minimum, need, he said. Its better than not having anything. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Health officials are hoping people like Ambrocio young, healthy and with no serious medical conditions will do the same. Their continued participation in the insurance market is critical to keeping the overall pool of people healthy, which helps contain costs. In California, about 2.3 million people like Ambrocio buy insurance on the individual market. Roughly 1.1 million lower-income residents receive federal financial assistance to buy plans on Covered California, and 1.2 million buy plans without these subsidies. Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho Rental electric scooters, which were banned from San Francisco in June after controversies piled up, were set to return to the city streets early Monday as part of a yearlong pilot program. Employees of two local startups, Skip and Scoot, planned to drive vans through the predawn darkness depositing the motorized two-wheelers throughout the Financial District, South of Market, the Castro, Dogpatch, the Bayview, the Mission and, in the case of Skip, Golden Gate Park and the Excelsior. Each company has permits for 625 scooters, a number that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency could let them double in six months. Scoots are red and black, while Skips are black, blue and yellow. Users can book them through the companies apps, paying $1 to unlock them and 15 cents a minute to use them. Im pumped theyre coming back, said Nick Abouzeid, who previously used e-scooters to commute on occasion from Hayes Valley to his tech writing job in the Financial District. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle The scooter program avoided a last-minute setback Friday when a San Francisco judge rejected a request from Lime a local scooter company that had been spurned in the citys permitting process to temporarily block the scooters return. Shared e-scooters burst out as a transportation phenomenon this year, available in dozens of cities worldwide. Some scooter companies, such as San Franciscos Lime and Santa Monicas Bird, have amassed billion-dollar or higher valuations as investors bet that droves of people will use them for short trips. But San Francisco, the hometown for several of the startups, had a contentious relationship after thousands of scooters were unleashed here in March. Fans loved the easy way to get around, but others bemoaned how they blocked sidewalks and startled pedestrians when some riders whizzed down the sidewalks. The city barred them while it developed the pilot program and application process, which drew a dozen companies vying for up to five permits. The MTA said Skip and Scoot had the strongest applications, citing safety, rider education and access for disadvantaged people. Three of the spurned candidates Lime, Spin and Ubers Jump are appealing their rejections, while Lyft has written to the mayor asking to be added to the cohort with permits. The two companies that won the transit agencys approval promised to share data with the city on where, when and how far people ride the scooters. They also have pledged to safeguard user privacy, ensure access for disadvantaged communities and perhaps most important make sure their riders comply with rules such as not riding on the sidewalks and adhering to the MTAs seven-page list of directives for parking the vehicles. We will watch closely for the next 12 months how people use scooters and how well the companies can be held accountable for the promises they made, said Tom Maguire, the agencys director of sustainable streets. We certainly hope scooters will be a great option to help people get safely around San Francisco, but we need to prove that with data. Scoots vehicles have swappable batteries. Its employees will circle the city to find scooters with low power and simply replace the batteries, meaning the scooters will be available close to 24/7. (Scooters from both companies have headlights and taillights, as well as reflectors, for nighttime operation.) Skip, like most other scooter companies elsewhere, retrieves scooters at night for plug-in charging, using a combination of employees and freelancers, whom Skip calls rangers. Scooters are an incredible complement to the transportation systems we have today, rather than clogging up roads with individual cars, said Sanjay Dastoor, CEO and co-founder of Skip. The company operates fleets of e-scooters in Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C., and has smaller programs in San Jose, Oakland and Berkeley. Theyre lightweight, easy to use, convenient and fun. Chuck Hall Scoots two-wheelers have a large unique number on the stem (their version of a license plate), so passersby who witness bad behavior or poor parking can report the scooter involved. Skips also have unique numbers, but they are less visible. Were really excited to bring a whole new group of folks into the Scoot family, Scoot CEO and founder Michael Keating said. The company also offers app rentals of almost 1,000 sit-down electric mopeds in San Francisco. It recently introduced moped and e-bike rentals in Barcelona and plans to rent out e-scooters this month in Santiago, Chile, eventually adding e-bikes and mopeds. Both companies have sensors to detect when scooters are knocked over. They also have street outreach teams to distribute free helmets and will provide them upon request. Under a California law to take effect Jan. 1, adult e-scooter riders will no longer have to wear helmets. But because the state has not negated the laws of physics, riders may still want to protect their heads. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes This type of conveyance has specific hazards because it has much smaller wheels than bikes, said Thom Rickert, an emerging risk specialist at Trident Public Risk Solutions, which provides insurance to cities, school districts and other public entities. The same road defect youd hit on a bike and not have an effect can make a scooter go down. While users take responsibility for their own bodily risks when they sign up to ride, eventually serious accidents are likely to spur lawsuits that will further clarify liability, Rickert said. Already emergency rooms nationwide are reporting increases in scooter-related injuries, both to riders and passersby. Jana Asenbrennerova / Special to The Chronicle Both Skip and Scoot require new users to watch animations and videos about local laws and desired behavior. E-scooter rules of the road in S.F. Drive scooters on streets, never sidewalks, using bike lanes whenever possible. Drive only on streets with speed limits up to 25 mph (35 mph after Jan. 1). Park upright in bike racks or close to the curb on sidewalks without blocking pedestrian/disabled right-of-way. When parking, do not block bus stops, disabled parking spaces, curb cuts, fire hydrants, benches, kiosks, ATMS, trash cans, parklets, mailboxes. Wear helmets until a new law allowing adults to ride helmet-free is enacted Jan. 1. Source: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency See More Collapse Both are testing features for further down the road, such as integrated locks requiring users to affix scooters to racks or poles. Scoot is considering a way to provide helmets with the scooters, such as the lockboxes on its moped rentals. Abouzeid, the San Francisco resident and scooter user, has already signed up to help collect and charge Skip scooters, but hes concerned that the citys allotment of the devices is too low. These things only really work at scale, he said. If Im going to rely on a new mode of transportation, I need to know I can find one within a couple of blocks at all times. The less there are, the less likely that will be true. The MTAs Maguire remains optimistic. We all know we need to find new ways to get around, he said. These companies say they want to be part of that solution; thats what this pilot will teach us. Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid Rental electric scooters, which were banned from San Francisco in June after complaints, returned to city streets Monday. First-day anecdotes indicate the companies still have work to do when it comes to getting riders to respect the rules and others to respect the transportation mode. During morning rush hour, a team from local startup Scoot handed out free helmets and answered questions from curious riders near Embarcadero Station. But Jasmine Wallsmith, a senior marketing and events manager at Scoot, cringed as she watched one rider peel away on the sidewalk. She shouted at him, nicely, to find a bike lane, and he quickly moved into the street. He enthusiastically pumped his fist in the air. On the corner of Mission and First streets, Salvadore Reynoso stood outside his florist shop and took a photo of nine Scoot scooters toppled over in front of him. Reynoso said that around 8 a.m., a man knocked over the scooters one by one and continued walking. The scooters appeared to be parked illegally at a bus stop, which Reynoso said blocked some passengers from exiting the buses through the back doors. Its against city rules to park a scooter in loading zones or areas marked by a yellow or white curb. Why would you do something like that? said Reynoso, who described the man as angry but couldnt tell if he was unwell. E-scooter rules of the road in S.F. Drive scooters on streets, never sidewalks, using bike lanes whenever possible. Drive only on streets with speed limits up to 25 mph (35 mph after Jan. 1). Park upright in bike racks or close to the curb on sidewalks without blocking pedestrian/disabled right-of-way. When parking, do not block bus stops, disabled parking spaces, curb cuts, fire hydrants, benches, kiosks, ATMS, trash cans, parklets, mailboxes. Wear helmets until a new law allowing adults to ride helmet-free is enacted Jan. 1. Source: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency See More Collapse After scooters hit city streets in March, plenty of residents raged against the electric vehicles for routinely blocking sidewalks and building entrances, causing people to trip and making sidewalks less accessible for people with mobility issues. People also whizzed illegally down the sidewalks. The city attorneys office heard the complaints, and it eventually slapped three high-profile scooter startups that had planned two-wheelers here Bird, Lime, and Spin with cease-and-desist orders. Bird, Lime and Spin remain banned. Instead, two local companies, Scoot and Skip, have received permits to operate as part of a year-long pilot program. They must show they can retrain residents to be better, safer riders. Ryan Zalucky, a real estate agent, sped onto a Market Street sidewalk to park a Skip scooter after coming from Mission Bay. Before they were banned, Lime scooters were his preferred method of getting to and from property showings, because they were often more affordable and faster than Uber or Lyft. He said he was relieved to have scooters back. I was bummed, but I obviously understood, Zalucky said of the scooter ban. People were getting pretty aggressive with them. I saw a video of someone playing Lime Bowling, where they basically had like 10 Limes and then another one that they kind of plowed into them. Skip and Scoot have said they will share information with the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency on locals riding habits including where, when and how far while at the same time guarding riders privacy and making sure that disadvantaged communities have access to scooters. They also have the challenging task of ensuring that riders comply with rules such as no sidewalk riding, and proper parking (near the curb or in bike racks or other specified areas). Paul Rose, the agency's chief spokesman, said, We support the spirit of innovation that scooter companies bring and will be holding them to high standards over the next 12 months. Skip and Scoot employees unloaded scooters from vans in the early hours of Monday in the Financial District, South of Market, the Castro, Dogpatch, the Bayview and the Mission; Skip also dropped some off in Golden Gate Park and the Excelsior. Each company is allowed to have 625 scooters in San Francisco for now, but the MTA might let them double their numbers in six months. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Users can book them through the companies apps, paying $1 to unlock them and 15 cents a minute to zip around on them. People can report illegally parked scooters or riders behaving badly by emailing or tweeting at Scoot, according to Wallsmith. The GPS in our scooters lets us know where every scooter is, all the time, Wallsmith said. Skips mobile app lets passersby notify the company of a poorly parked scooter. The goal is for a Skip Scout, a gig worker whos out around town policing parking and riding behavior, to find and move the scooter. Some people also tweet at Skip. Each Scoot scooter has its own number printed on the stem, so its easy to flag a particular two-wheeler thats flouted the rules. Skips also have their own numbers, but they are harder to see. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Carolyn Said contributed to this report. Melia Russell is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: melia.russell@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meliarobin A San Francisco startup wants to make it easier for other new companies to finance their operations with a corporate credit card. Brex, which was created in 2017 by the founders of the Brazilian payment processing company Pagar.me, raised $125 million this month in a round of funding led by investment firms Greenoaks Capital, IVP and DST Global which is why it is trending on the startup database Crunchbase. The same thing that Stripe or Square did for online or offline payments, were doing for credit cards, Brex co-founder and CEO Henrique Dubugras said. Dubugras and co-founder Pedro Franceschi found it difficult to get a corporate card for their startup in Brazil: It had to be personally guaranteed. So they realized how big the market would be for a corporate credit card for startups. Brex, which has 57 employees and $182 million in funding, does the underwriting and financing. It has access to startups bank accounts, so it can see how much money the companies have and assign credit limits accordingly. The company offers credit limits that are 10 to 20 times higher than traditional corporate credit card limits. The process of getting a card is also much faster. Startups can sign up, be approved and have a working digital card within a few minutes. Brex also offers employee credit cards with lower limits. Dubugras would not disclose how many cards Brex has issued. Sutton Bank, which is based in Ohio and also works with San Francisco payments company Square, issues the credit card. But Brex does all of the underwriting and processing, and it has its own technology, Dubugras said. Startups have to pay off the balance of the card at the end of each month, and Brex automatically withdraws the amount from the startups bank accounts. The company plans to use part of its new funding for a rewards program. Deal of the Week: Onward What it does: Customer service automation. What happened: It was acquired by Google. Why it matters: Onward had raised only $120,000 in funding, according to Crunchbase, so it may have been an acquisition for the purpose of gaining Onwards employees. Headquarters: San Francisco Funding: Undisclosed Employees: 1-10 Also trending: Prepd Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes What it does: Prepd provides lunchboxes designed to make preparing healthy meals easy, using its recipe app and in consultation with San Francisco nutritionists and chefs. What happened: Announced a new Kickstarter campaign to raise money, and introduced four new colors for the lunchbox. To hear more To listen or subscribe on Apple devices: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1316784843 For other devices, search for "Startups of the Week" in your favorite podcast app. See More Collapse Why it matters: While food delivery companies have proliferated, Prepd is for people who want to prepare their own meals and bring food to work. You have everything you need to cook and take lunch on a regular basis, said co-founder Chris Place. Headquarters: Los Angeles Funding: $3.4 million raised in an initial Kickstarter campaign, more than $200,000 raised in the new campaign Employees: Three Sophia Kunthara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophia.kunthara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophiaKunthara In Silicon Valley, trade secrets are often thought of as a coveted technology or a patent for a lucrative device. But for hospitals, it is their confidential contracts with health insurance companies, which determine how they get paid, that they guard with their life. Nowhere is this more evident than in the legal maneuvering by more than a dozen California hospitals in a high-stakes, closely watched case they initially were not even a part of: the California attorney generals antitrust lawsuit against Sutter Health, Northern Californias largest health system, which is unfolding in San Francisco Superior Court. Attorneys for Sutter, which stands accused of abusing its market power and charging higher prices, have subpoenaed 50 other California hospitals including many of Sutters competitors in the Bay Area like UCSF Medical Center, Stanford Health Care, Dignity Health, John Muir and Marin General to hand over pricing information the hospitals consider proprietary, such as the terms of their contracts with insurers. The move has spawned fights between Sutter, which operates 23 hospitals in California, and many rival hospitals that bristled at the idea of ceding confidential information to a competitor. Many of the same hospitals are fighting Sutter on the same issue as part of a separate lawsuit in federal court. There, a group of California consumers and employers sued Sutter in 2012, alleging the health system used its dominance in Northern California to overcharge patients and their health plans for medical services. Sutter has said the claims in both lawsuits are false or misleading. Sutter says it needs the information to show that its pricing and contracting practices are no different than that of other hospitals. Sutter spokeswoman Amy Thoma Tan said Sutter executives will not be able to see the pricing information of other hospitals, and that only outside attorneys are allowed to review it. She said Sutter is not asking for current pricing information, but rather data from the time period between 2000 and 2012. In order to defend ourselves and demonstrate that the plaintiffs claims are false, this information provides important evidence of the actual prices in California and the contracting terms commonly used in the industry, Thoma Tan said by email. But many of the rival hospitals say it would be like handing over their secret sauce to a competitor without knowing if Sutter would use the information to its advantage later by undercutting the rates that other hospitals charge insurance companies for certain services, for instance. Thats what was concerning, Sutter would find out how their competitors did business and take that information and use it against the hospital in a multitude of ways, said Zuzana Ikels, a lawyer for Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, which was subpoenaed by Sutter. Its the same idea of why people are trying to get Googles algorithm. If you found out, a ton of people could compete. They could undermine you if they all knew what a certain rate was. Late last month, a San Francisco Superior Court judge overseeing the case sided with one group of nine hospitals that fought Sutters subpoenas including Good Samaritan, El Camino Hospital, Marin General and Washington Hospital in Fremont saying they do not have to provide the confidential pricing information. Spokespeople for those hospitals either declined to comment or did not return requests for comment. But Sutter is negotiating with many of the other hospitals it subpoenaed to obtain information regarding their contracts. It seems totally unethical on the part of Sutter to be asking for this information, because if they are trade secrets, Sutter having this information would give them an even greater ability to set prices, said Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins University. Hospitals make money by charging insurance companies and government insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid for providing medical services. Each hospital negotiates rates with each insurance company, agreeing on many different prices for specific procedures and services. Keeping the rates confidential benefits both the hospital and the insurance company because it prevents the other side from knowing about, and demanding that they match, a better deal they gave a competitor. But it also prevents consumers and policymakers from being privy to the data, and is one of the main reasons patients often dont know how much a certain medical procedure will cost. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes One of the biggest challenges for consumers being able to understand the prices theyre going to be asked to pay is providers and insurance companies repeatedly state these prices are confidential, said Jaime King, a law professor at UC Hastings School of Law who researches health policy. So consumers are left completely in the dark about what a service is going to cost until after theyve gone through the procedure and get a bill several months later. There are extreme transparency problems in our health care system, King said. The root of it is keeping it all confidential provides substantial benefits to the organizations that do. A new state law, AB1810, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in June, could provide more price transparency in health care. The legislation calls for Californias Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to create a database that includes the prices that insurance companies pay for hospital stays, procedures and other medical services, by 2023. However, insurance companies that decide not to provide the information would not be charged with a crime. Were having a serious discussion now about health care costs and the affordability problem that so many people in California are facing higher premiums, deductibles, said Kristof Stremikis of the California Health Care Foundation, who oversees the foundations research on transparency in the health care system. Id argue data is perhaps the most necessary piece of that discussion. We need to know exactly how much is being paid and where the money is going so we can understand why premiums were all paying every month keep going up and up and up. Stremikis and other industry observers are closely tracking the Sutter suit. These are serious allegations of anticompetitive conduct, Stremikis said. We all know health care costs too much, and if market actors are acting in an anticompetitive way, that needs to stop. Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho The U.S. Supreme Court turned down an appeal by paint companies Monday, leaving them on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to remove potentially dangerous lead paint from older homes in 10 California counties and cities, including San Francisco and Oakland. The justices, without comment, denied review of a state appeals court ruling last November that held three companies ConAgra, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams responsible for marketing lead paint for decades while knowing of its health dangers to children. The U.S. government banned lead paint in 1978. But in a 2014 ruling in the current case, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg said a study between 2007 and 2010 found that at least 50,000 children in the 10 cities and counties had elevated levels of lead in their blood. The suit was filed by Santa Clara County in 2000 and joined later by six other counties, including Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco. The companies argued that their promotion of lead paint while it was still legal was an act of free speech. They also disputed the local governments claim that the continued presence of the paint in older homes could be considered a public nuisance, a harmful use of private property that states can penalize. Courts in seven other states have rejected public-nuisance claims in similar cases. But the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose rejected the free-speech claim and said the companies could be held responsible for the consequences of promoting and selling a product whose dangers had long been known in their industry. The three companies as leaders in the paint industry were well aware in the early part of the 20th century that lead paint was poisonous, Justice Nathan Mihara said in the 3-0 ruling. The court narrowed an earlier ruling by Kleinberg that said the companies could be held responsible for lead paint in homes built before the 1978 ban. Instead, the ruling applies only to homes built before 1951, when the companies stopped advertising the product. They have been ordered to make payments to a state fund that will cover the costs of stripping lead paint from doors, windows and floors. With homeowners consent, it would also pay for removal of lead-containing dust sealing and removing lead-contaminated soil. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Some hurdles remain, but at the end of the day, this case will result in hundreds of millions of dollars to help ensure that lead paint does not poison another generation of children, said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office took part in the case. He said more than 235,000 residential units in San Francisco, 68 percent of the total, were built before 1950. In seeking Supreme Court review, the paint companies argued that they were being penalized for promoting a product during a half-century when its residential use was legal, common and even encouraged by the state of California. The linchpin for this massive liability was (the companies) speech, not their paint, Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general representing ConAgra and NL Industries, said in a court filing. He said the appeals court ruling opens the door to potentially unbounded suits targeting manufacturers of products sold decades ago. The cases are ConAgra vs. California, No.18-84, and Sherwin-Williams vs. California, No. 18-86. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko Matthew Muller wants to tell a Solano County jury he was temporarily insane and thus not guilty when in 2015 he kidnapped Denise Huskins from her boyfriends Vallejo home before holding her for ransom and letting her go two days later. The latest ploy to win freedom rather than life behind bars comes only weeks after he was brought back to the Bay Area from federal prison in Arizona to face state charges of kidnapping and sexual assault in the disturbing crime that police originally dismissed as a hoax. In a videoconference interview with The Chronicle from Solano County Jail, Muller, 41, discussed his new defense strategy, describing delusions that he said manifested from severe bipolar disorder, consumed him at times and have laid waste to his life. The interview provided some insight into the mind of the man who committed one of the most shocking crimes in recent Bay Area memory. But an attorney for Huskins ripped the strategy, and legal experts say such a defense is a longshot given Mullers intricate planning at every stage of the crime and statements he made suggesting he understood the stakes. Now Playing: A recording of a video chat from Solano County Jail. Video: Evan Sernoffsky Successful insanity defenses are rare in California and often involve a defendant who was overcome by psychosis when they suddenly lashed out sometimes against family members or a loved one they would not ordinarily wish to harm. I think that the insanity defense, or especially something like a temporary insanity defense, is something that challenges a lot of folks, especially when theyre just looking at it at a very shallow level, Muller said. It doesnt sound-bite well, but this is something thats been in my life. The sensational case drew national media attention and continues to produce startling revelations. Muller admitted to the kidnapping in federal court, earning a 40-year sentence, but changed course in state court and asked to have the federal conviction tossed after getting married. Muller spoke just days after accepting a court-appointed public defender to fight charges by the Solano County district attorneys office of two counts of rape, kidnapping for ransom, first-degree robbery, false imprisonment and burglary. Hes due back in court on Oct. 22. Muller, a graduate of Harvard Law School and a onetime Marine, repeatedly refused to answer questions about kidnapping Huskins during the 30-minute interview with The Chronicle, saying he didnt want to undermine his case. Ive been told, essentially, shut up, Muller said. Im sure my attorney would be having a stroke if she knew I were talking right now. Vicki Behringer / Special to The Chronicle The attorney, Deputy Public Defender Stephanie Grogan Jones, declined to comment but said she would provide a zealous defense for Mr. Muller. While avoiding specifics, Muller suggested that delusions have explained his actions in the past. He described symptoms of depression and anxiety that started around 2003 and intensified so much that by 2008 he thought he was being followed and my phone was being tapped. Muller said he went from being a faculty member at Harvard Law School and a practicing attorney to not being able to hold a job. Its something that pretty much laid waste to my life long before any of this happened, he said. Referring to delusions, he said, Certainly when something is happening, I have pretty poor insight into it, but after the fact I actually have pretty good insight. Delusions for me at least arent something that switch on and off, he said. Its more you gain your sense of reality and are able to challenge things a little bit more and you kind of think, no, that cant be right, whereas before youre just all in and absolutely believe something. Mullers first full-on manic episode happened around 2009, he said, the same time period during which hes suspected of three violent nighttime home invasions in Palo Alto and Mountain View, where an assailant bound and drugged his victims. He has not been charged, and denies involvement. On March, 23, 2015, he sneaked into the home of Huskins now-husband, Aaron Quinn, dressed in black and armed with a water gun disguised as a firearm. Muller bound the couple and vanished with Huskins. Two days later, he released his victim outside her familys home in Huntington Beach. Rather than looking for the kidnapper, Vallejo police accused Quinn and Huskins, both 33, of faking the whole thing. At a news conference in front of national television cameras, Lt. Kenny Park called it an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping. Court records later revealed that Vallejo police detectives had key evidence that could have led them to Mullers South Lake Tahoe hideout. Instead, Dublin police caught him three months later after he committed a home invasion in that city and left his cell phone behind. Muller conceded in the jailhouse interview, There seems to be quite a lot of evidence as to the factual side in the Huskins case. In California courts, defendants who plead not guilty by reason of insanity face two phases of their trial: one to determine if they are guilty and one to find if they are sane. According to experts, Muller faces long odds of prevailing. Being mentally ill alone doesnt qualify a person as legally insane. A defendant must prove the illness was so severe he didnt know right from wrong, or didnt understand that what he was doing was a crime. In rare cases where people are found not guilty by reason of insanity, they are committed to a state mental hospital until doctors determine sanity is restored. 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. Successful uses of this defense are few and far between, said Rory Little, a law professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco. Defense attorneys dont like it. Its a desperation defense. Sometimes it works but not very often. Mullers case is problematic, experts said, because he allegedly plotted the intricate abduction long in advance, purchasing a burner phone for ransom demands weeks before he sneaked into Quinns home. After vanishing with Huskins, he demanded two payments of $8,500, just under the $10,000 threshold in which banks alert authorities. After he allegedly sexually assaulted Huskins and released her, he described feeling bad about what he had done in letters to The Chronicle. He would have to prove that at the time he committed the kidnapping, which went on for days ... that during that whole time he was so disabled by a severe mental disorder that he could not appreciate the wrongfulness of what he was doing, said Dr. Mark Levy, a forensic psychiatrist and clinical professor at UCSF School of Medicine. I dont see how this could possibly fly as a not guilty by reason of insanity case, he said. It sounds more like the defendant trying to be his own lawyer and dreaming up a cockamamie case. Muller also has to contend with his earlier federal plea, which can be used in the state case. During sentencing he admitted to the crime and apologized to the victims. The plea and statements, Muller told The Chronicle, were made while he was in a deep depression and didnt care about anything anymore. He said his delusions continued while he served his sentence in federal prison. I was really convinced that the prison officials were trying to poison me essentially that they were changing my medications around, that they were giving me placebos to see if I really needed my medicine or not, he said. There were a couple days where I really believed that. I thought they were doing that. It was for sure. Muller said hes since regained clarity. He and his new wife, Huei Dai, signed their marriage certificate the day after his sentencing. Unmoved by the insanity defense plan, Huskins attorney, Doug Rappaport, said Muller may be crazy, but not legally insane. He certainly seemed competent to get married, Rappaport said. We dont see him moving to get his marriage annulled. The government shutdown of Backpage.com this year sought to curtail the type of sex-for-sale classified ads that made the company infamous. Months later, though, the closure has prompted an increase in sex trafficking on San Francisco streets. Reported crimes related to pimping and sex trafficking have more than tripled in 2018 with 67 through August, up from 21 during the same period last year, according to police. Meanwhile, officers have made more arrests than previous years as much of the activity had been hidden online, said David Stevenson, a city police spokesman. Violence against both sex workers and people soliciting sex is a concerning trend as well, said Sgt. Antonio Flores of the departments special victims and human trafficking unit. A few sex workers are becoming violent, he said. Then there are those that tend to prey on sex workers. Backpage.com, long criticized by authorities for being an online brothel, was shut down in April after an FBI investigation, and CEO Carl Ferrer was charged with money laundering. The websites closure came after Congress passed laws that effectively made websites hosting adult ads responsible for the postings of users. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle The new laws have had a side effect on San Francisco streets, said Pike Long, deputy director of St. James Infirmary, a peer-based health and safety clinic for sex workers in San Francisco. Without being able to advertise online, Long said, a huge number of sex workers were forced to go outside, and many have reported that former pimps came out of the woodwork offering to manage their business again since they were now rendered unable to find and screen clients online. St. James saw a spike in street-based sex work in the month after Backpage.com was shut down, Long said, and screening clients has become more difficult because of the closure of other sites popular in the industry. The very bill that was supposed to stop trafficking has quite literally given formerly irrelevant traffickers new life, Long said. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Carol Leigh coined the term sex workers about 40 years ago and now advocates for them as director of Bayswan, the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network, in San Francisco. She said sex workers who are unable to advertise online or screen clientele are being forced into increasingly vulnerable circumstances. I hear from sex workers talking about suicide attempts, she said. I hear about some considering working for exploitative managers because of limited options. Send tips to The Scanner Send ideas or tips about public safety in the Bay Area to scanner@sfchronicle.com. See More Collapse By law, sex trafficking crimes are defined as situations in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform the act is underage. Reducing sex trafficking through enforcement is difficult, Flores said, because it often requires a precarious buy-in by the victim. Police often struggle to get sex workers to testify against their traffickers in court, and many fear getting locked up or blacklisted in the industry. In December, San Francisco police issued an internal bulletin to prioritize the safety of sex workers, who may ordinarily be subject to arrest, if they are the victims or witness sexual assault, human trafficking or other violent crimes. Since then, officers have been working to assure sex workers they will not be prosecuted if they come forward, Flores said. One sex worker didnt believe us at first, he said. We had to show her the policy at the hospital. Todd Heisler / New York Times 2016 Over the borderline What began as an airport meet-up may end in jail time after a Customs and Border Patrol agent working at San Francisco International Airport was charged with secretly filming a woman during sex. Scott Inouye was on the clock at the airport when he met a woman from South Korea, authorities said. The two began dating, but before long the woman grew suspicious that he was recording their sexual encounters without her permission. A search warrant confirmed the womans suspicions, police said, and Inouye was arrested in August. On Wednesday, the 31-year-old from San Bruno pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally filming the victim and for attempting to dissuade her from cooperating with authorities. Inouye has been free on $60,000 bail and is barred from contacting the woman or distributing the alleged videos. So far in 2018, several Border Patrol agents and federal immigration officers have been arrested in California, running counter to President Trumps rhetoric that the people crossing the border are bringing crime to the country. In April, Brandon Herrera was taken into custody in Oceanside (San Diego County) after police allegedly found the 37-year-old sleeping in his pickup truck with heroin and an illegal rifle. In August, both a Border Patrol agent and former homeland security agent were arrested. Harvey Booker, 70, was indicted in August on charges that he strangled a traveler who was attempting to cross the San Ysidro border, which is the nations busiest. That same month, John Jacobs Olivas of Riverside was indicted on charges of raping a woman twice and sexually assaulting another. The 43-year-old, who previously worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pleaded not guilty after allegedly telling victims that police wouldnt believe them if they reported him. He was released on $50,000 bail. Fremont Police 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. Two questions for Fremont Police Chief Kimberly Petersen This year, Kimberly Petersen became Fremonts first female police chief, as well as the citys first openly gay chief. We asked about her plans for protecting the public in the fourth-biggest city in the Bay Area. Q: What do you hope to achieve in your first year as police chief and long-term? A: Our primary internal focus this year will be to fill several staff vacancies in core service positions. Once we fill the current vacancies, the next eight to 12 months will be focused on training our new staff for increasingly difficult but rewarding jobs. Without staff, we cant provide effective policing. Externally, our goals and priorities are to focus on strategies that reduce residential and auto burglaries, reduce injury collisions and increase our community connections. Long-term, we intend to continue using innovative, intelligence-led crime-fighting strategies and partnerships with our community to keep Fremont one of the safest largest cities in the Bay Area. Q: Women make up less than 10 percent of the police force in Fremont. What changes do you hope to see within the Police Department? A: I would love to see the percentage increase. Women tend to be strong verbal communicators. Most of the day-to-day activities of our officers, (community service officers) and detention officers involve interactions with community members where communication skills are critical to successful policing. We need both men and women of varied backgrounds who are dedicated, service-oriented and of high integrity to join our team. We are always looking for ways to attract a more diverse workforce in order to be more reflective of our community. Roundup: The biggest crime news from the past week The Diocese of Oakland announced that it will soon release a report of clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. A longtime investigator in Alameda County admitted he accepted bribes over a six-year period from a gangster in Oaklands Chinatown. A San Francisco shopkeepers insanity defense didnt hold up as he was found guilty of killing two competing merchants at Fishermans Wharf. In yet another hit for the Alameda County jails, a former inmate filed a federal lawsuit accusing four former deputies of allowing another inmate to repeatedly douse him with urine and feces. A wild court hearing ended with the man believed to be the Gypsy Hill Killer getting two life sentences for the rape and murder of two young women in 1976. The Scanner is a weekly feature from The Chronicles breaking news team featuring stories from the crime beat. Follow the team on Twitter: @meganrcassidy, @EvanSernoffsky, @SarRavani, @Josh_Koehn, @ctuan, @gwendolynawu, @ted_d_andersen The video Too Many Bodies had already been seen in Los Angeles, but last Tuesday, Oct. 9, was its official release day here. At a showing that night at SFFilms Film House, there was wine, snacks, name tags and a panel discussion. What with meeting and greeting and listening to the discussion, that gathering was a couple of hours long. But the trappings were accessories. The main event was the showing of the video, only five minutes long. It took only five minutes to make its point, that in a civilized society, kids having to deal with active shooters is unacceptable. Listen to our youth, the video ends. Vote your conscience. ... Change is possible. There are too many bodies. The film was directed and produced by Reena Dutt, who as an up-and-coming filmmaker had been the beneficiary of a grant from SFFilm; shes now a veteran filmmaker. We want to get people to see it and share it, she said before the showing, and for other organizations to use it as a tool, to start the conversation about gun violence. The movie isnt bloody, the point made instead by elegant choreography by Nancy Dobbs Owen, music by Alex Mackey and photography by Daphne Wu. We want to make this a gift to the kids, said executive producer Penelope Wong. Were very eager to give it away, the main means, of course, being social media. What do we take away from these childrens lives? said Dutt, describing how shed been motivated by news reports of school shootings. If youve got an idea, said filmmaking Public Defender Jeff Adachi, one of the panelists, go for it. The movie officially presented by NoRANow.org, the name derived from No Rifle Association can be seen and shared at http://tinyurl.com/y8mz2u74. Did Superman abandon his cape when he started middle school? Leaving the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland after seeing A Star Is Born, Regan McMahon noticed a sign designating the lobby as a collection site for new and gently used Halloween costumes for Oakland kids in low-income families. This is a project undertaken in conjunction with the East Oakland Collective, and more information can be had by writing costumedrive@gmail.com, or looking at East Bay 2018 Halloween Costume Drive on Facebook. Born in Greece, Jean Varda was a ballet dancer in Paris and a friend of Picassos, and taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina and then at the San Francisco Art Institute. He lived on a ferryboat moored in Sausalito and died in 1971. Vardas granddaughter Joui Turandot lives in Mexico City but was at a preview of the San Francisco Fall Art & Antiques Show, where Vardas work was shown by the Foster-Gwin Gallery. Diane Roby reports that Turandot was wearing a long, black, denim-and-sheer dress shed designed, decorated with milagros, fringe and a poem about ecological degradation written in white paint on the lower part. She said the fringe represented smog. Diane Wright saw the bumper sticker while driving on Interstate 280: Honk if you love Jesus; Text if you want to meet him. And Lynn Wilton was driving north on Interstate 880 when she noticed that among the piles of trash by the side of the road was a Caltrans sign: Your Tax Dollars at Work. In 2020, the Smithsonians National Museum of American History is planning Entertaining America, a major exhibition in the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Hall of American Culture. But beginning Friday, Oct. 19, the museum is offering The Ray Dolby Gateway to Culture, a kind of coming attractions trailer for its 2020 project. The Gateway idea is a physical reality as well as a concept: The physical space brings visitors to a series of displays focusing on show business, including Americas Listening, a history of recorded sound. In that section, Ray Dolbys noise-reduction system is presented along with Thomas Edisons phonograph, Apples iPod and other innovations. By 2020, when Entertaining America opens, the main theater at the American history museum will have a donated Dolby sound system. The family has also donated $5 million to the museum. Ray Dolby would have been thrilled, said his widow, Dagmar Dolby, to have his work showcased with that of Alexander Graham Bell, Emile Berliner and Steve Jobs. PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING I cant talk any more right now. Im going on break. Door monitor at a Bay Area Costco, overheard on cell phone by David Schwoegler Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, 415-777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik We were among the millions of citizens who felt a surge of optimism that justice might actually prevail on Aug. 10 when a San Francisco Superior Court jury awarded a historic $289 million verdict against the agrochemical conglomerate Monsanto. On Wednesday, we learned that a California judge is considering taking away that jury award for punitive damages. When we learned that Dewayne Lee Johnson had taken Monsanto to court saying he got his terminal non-Hodgkins lymphoma from on-the-job exposure to Monsantos ubiquitous weed killer, Roundup, we were so captured by Johnsons battle that we traveled to San Francisco to watch the trial. Would democracy finally prevail? Or would Monsanto again find a way to subvert the justice system? Johnsons was the first of some 4,000 similar claims headed for courts across America. Initially, we were discouraged because the judge appeared to be bending over backward to help Monsanto. California Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos carefully screened the jury pool to exclude all individuals who had been exposed to negative articles about Monsanto, or who had shown the least disapproval of the company. She unseated 35 jurors in all, including many who said that they could be fair and impartial. The 12 who issued the verdict were those who showed no predisposition against Monsanto. During trial, Judge Bolanos consistently sided with Monsanto on the companys evidentiary objections. At Monsantos request, Judge Bolanos deemed any mention of Monsantos genetically modified crops off-limits during the trial. Judge Bolanos forbade Johnsons lawyer from showing the jury Monsantos internal studies showing that Roundup caused kidney tumors in mice; that the chemical easily penetrates the body through the skin; and that Monsanto had a flimflam system in place for killing unfavorable scientific studies by independent and government scientists. Judge Bolanos even gave a curative instruction telling the jury that Monsanto had never manufactured Agent Orange. That statement was simply not true however the judge deemed the instruction necessary to neutralize potential bias from statements made about Agent Orange by dismissed jurors in front of their fellow jurymen. Despite those restrictions, Johnsons jury heard evidence that, for four decades, Monsanto maneuvered to conceal Roundups carcinogenicity by capturing regulatory agencies, corrupting public officials, bribing scientists, ghostwriting science and engaging in scientific fraud. The jury found that these activities constituted malice, fraud and oppression warranting $250 million in punitive damages. We were among the many who applauded the verdict as a triumph for democracy. However, California judges have the power to reduce, or even eliminate, a jury award under a rule intended to restrain runaway juries who arrive at verdicts driven by passion or prejudice. Judge Bolanos purposefully selected the Monsanto jurors because of their lack of prejudice. At the trial, we saw a jury that seemed curious, intensely attentive and calmly deliberative. The jury was highly educated and took copious notes. Michael Baum, an attorney for the plaintiff, Ive never seen a jury so diligent. The jurors would be shocked to know that the product of their weeks of careful consideration, and three days of deliberation, could be thrown out at the whim of a judge who disagrees with the verdict. These hard-working Americans, gave up their jobs, businesses and families for two months to perform their civic duty as jurors. If a judge intervenes to alter their verdict, then what, after all, is the point of having jurors? The task of disrupting a 50,000-year-old agricultural industry transferring it from labor intensive and organic to chemical intensive has required Monsanto to subvert democracy, and the company has a reputation for somehow manipulating public officials, regulators and courts and an uncanny record of winning lawsuits. All of us should be concerned. At this time in history when our democratic institutions are under assault by corporate power, such an action will send a signal to Americans that their service on a jury is meaningless and that corporations like Monsanto are above the law. Neil Young, the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and musician, and actress Daryl Hannah, who married in July, have both long advocated for environmental causes. Proposition 8 is a contradiction: Its promise to improve patient care at dialysis facilities and contain costs will not be realized instead, the measure will negatively impact public health in California. The proposal to redirect health care resources is misguided and will lead to higher health care costs and barriers to care. Heres how: Some 83 percent of California dialysis clinics will operate at a loss if Prop. 8 is implemented, according to the forecast of the independent Berkeley Research Group. Fewer dialysis clinics in operation will lead to patient crowding in the remaining clinics and limit dialysis appointments. Prop. 8 will limit access to care for all dialysis patients because it specifically limits reimbursement from private insurance. The higher reimbursement rates from private insurance are what currently offsets the lower reimbursements to the clinics for Medi-Cal and Medicare. Thus, financial risk is distributed among high-earning and low-earning clinics some of which are not profitable and between urban and rural clinics. DaVita and Fresenius, the two major dialysis corporations, provide the majority of dialysis services in California and have a broad geographic presence. Prop. 8 will drive up administrative costs. To regulate revenues, dialysis clinics will be required to develop additional accounting practices to track charges to insurance companies. The California Department of Public Health will be required to review these filings, at an estimated cost in the millions of dollars. Unfortunately, none of these expenses contributes directly to improving clinical care. The measures narrow definition for allowable costs neglects the value of the indirect costs integral to clinic operations. One example, even though physician dialysis medical directors are mandated, their services would not be an allowable cost. Other exclusions include support staff, facility administrators, nurse coordinators and health educators. Each plays an important role and without a complete team, clinic performance will suffer. The implications of cutbacks to health education programs are particularly severe and the costs steep. Dialysis patients benefit from a strong understanding of their disease as a single missed dialysis session results in a 30 percent increased risk of death. Patients who miss sessions will have to rely on urgent dialysis through emergency room visits and hospital admissions that are much more costly a bill that will be spread to all Californians. The timing of this measure could not be worse. In 2016, more than 139,000 patients sought care at dialysis centers an increase of 46 percent from eight years before. Poorly controlled diabetes and high blood pressure leads to kidney failure, and patients with kidney failure are living longer. Dr. Paul Cheung is a resident in internal medicine in San Francisco. SF District Two Ones an incumbent, a newcomer and another has a lot of money candidates also differ in qualities they believe needed to manage city SF District Two Ones an incumbent, a newcomer and another has a lot of money candidates also differ in qualities they believe needed to manage city District Two is the wealthiest part of San Francisco, much of it perched on hills with views or situated along the waterfront. The streets are mostly clean in Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Presidio Heights and the Marina, unlike other areas of the city that are piled with waste and needles. The city consistently finds fewer homeless people during its overnight counts in District Two than in others. And, according to the San Francisco Planning Departments latest socioeconomic report, its median household income of $128,633 far exceeds San Franciscos median of $88,643. But the candidates running for supervisor say this district experiences the same problems found in the rest of the city: more homeless and mentally ill people sleeping on the streets, rampant car break-ins near tourist destinations like Lombard Street, and countless anecdotes of people even with six-figure salaries realizing they cant afford to live in the city anymore. The four candidates in this race are current Supervisor Catherine Stefani, BART Director Nick Josefowitz, political newcomer and media startup founder Schuyler Hudak and John Dennis, a developer, investor and the only Republican candidate. The Chronicle spent time with the top three fundraisers in each district election. In District Two, Stefani, Josefowitz and Hudak all agree on a number of things. Each supports building a Navigation Center in the district, and each wants to decrease property crime in the area. All three also said they would tinker with the administrative code to make it easier for merchants to operate in the district. Where they disagree, however, is more on style, personality and the experience they believe is needed to solve the problems they see. Josefowitz and Hudak portray themselves as City Hall outsiders frustrated with the status quo. Stefani says shes right for the position because shes worked at City Hall for about 12 years and her few months as supervisor isnt enough to show what she can do. Schuyler Hudak With her father trailing behind, 35-year-old Schuyler Hudak walked up to a house in the Marina with a perfectly manicured lawn and knocked on the door. Hi there, my name is Schuyler and Im running for supervisor, she said, clutching campaign flyers that she scribbles her personal cell phone number on. And I just wanted to see if you had any issues you wanted to talk about. I certainly do, the older woman in the doorway said, as if shed been waiting forever for someone to ask her that. I cant cross Baker Street. ... We need more stop signs. Of course we need more stop signs, Hudak responded, with the same sincerity she uses when talking about how San Francisco also needs more psychiatric-emergency-services beds, community housing and mental health services. Hudak said shes running for supervisor because she feels City Hall has been lagging on everything from addressing concerns as small as the need for more stop signs, to those as critical as increasing mental health services in the city. On the campaign trail, the Walnut Creek native often repeats the story of the first time she saw a mentally ill homeless person in San Francisco. She was 5. Its been 30 years since then, and she cant understand why nothing seems to be getting better. Ive tried to see the city from a bunch of different angles, Hudak, the founder of Cor, a short-video news company, said. And the one place that seems to be holding us back is City Hall. She is a member of the San Francisco General Hospital board, and a former member of the Marina Community Association board. She also has some experience in politics, working as a statewide field director for Gov. Jerry Browns 2010 campaign, and as an intern focusing on education policy for Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom when he was mayor. But Hudak is a new name to many district voters and is up against serious competition in this race. Shes facing one candidate who is an incumbent and another who has spent more than quadruple the amount of money on his campaign than he would make annually if he were elected. As of the last filing deadline, Hudak raised about $133,000 in campaign contributions, 42 percent of which came from outside San Francisco. She has endorsements from Board of Equalization Chairwoman Fiona Ma and Supervisor Norman Yee but compared with her competitors, her list of endorsements is thin. She has many of the same ideas as her rivals: build more housing and increase resources for the homeless and mentally ill. But Jim Ross, a political consultant, said neither she nor Josefowitz have made a compelling case for why they should be replace the incumbent. Normally, to defeat an incumbent, you need to prove that the incumbent should get fired because shes incompetent (or) corrupt, he said. And I dont think any of (Stefanis) opponents have made a compelling case that shes like that. But Hudak says her focus on mental health is what really sets her apart. Her five years on the San Francisco General Hospital board taught her that the city is not going to alleviate its homeless crisis until it increases services for people who are mentally ill and struggling with addiction. This idea has become central to her campaign. Sonja von Coll, a nurse at San Francisco General and a District Two resident, said Hudak has a deeper understanding of the issues around mental illness than the other candidates. For example, she said, Hudak talks specifically about increasing access to inpatient psychiatry and creating additional services for trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, rather than just making blanket statements about the need for more mental health services. She understands more than the other candidates that housing is not the only issue, and that peoples mental illness precludes them, von Coll said. Hudak said she doesnt want to spend more tax dollars on increased behavioral health services, but believes the city needs a new strategy around it. If more funding is needed, she would initially look to the private sector. When it comes to homelessness, Hudak said she would support a Navigation Center in her district. She suggested one could go in areas with easy access to transit, like on Geary Boulevard or Van Ness Avenue or even on city-owned land outside of San Francisco. And when it comes to hyper-local issues like stop signs, Hudak said, yes, shed take those concerns seriously, too. Those who know her say she is kind, competent and sincere. But the main question with Hudak is if her grassroots campaign can get more votes than a candidate endorsed by the mayor, and another who has a seemingly endless supply of cash. Im keeping a log of everything that people have said to me while Im canvassing, she said. And if elected, Im going to go and follow up with them. And if someone else wins, I will give them that list. Nick Josefowitz At a campaign event with macaroons and mini fruit tarts, Nick Josefowitz stood in front of a small crowd at a retirement home and said, if elected, he probably wont solve San Franciscos homeless crisis. Hed love to, but its just not realistic, he said. But what he can do, he said, is take smaller, more practical steps like adding 3,000 shelter beds and 300 mental health beds, and supporting stricter conservatorship laws to mitigate the problems. And as a former businessman who contends that he knows how to leverage data and manage a budget effectively, he thinks City Hall would benefit from his private sector experience. Josefowitz, 35, paints himself as the data guy. The business guy. Exactly the kind of guy that City Hall needs. He was born in New York, grew up in London, went to Harvard and moved to San Francisco six years ago. Now he lives in a $17 million home in Pacific Heights with his wife and two young sons. Hes highly critical of how the city spends its $11.1 billion budget, particularly when it comes to homelessness. First, he said, the city needs to understand how much various agencies whose primary purpose isnt to deal with the homeless such as the police force, Fire Department and hospitals end up spending money on services such as responding to 911 calls about encampments or treating a homeless person who overdosed. This city, he said, has a habit of just throwing money at problems without actually solving them. But, when it comes to his campaign, Josefowitz has thrown plenty of money around. He has raised $556,093 since announcing his candidacy for the District Two seat last year, according to the latest disclosure forms filed with the city Ethics Commission. About $240,000 of that came from his own wallet. As of Sept. 30, he has spent $550,709, more than quadruple the $125,132 salary he would make if elected. An independent expenditure committee called S.F. Workforce Alliance has spent at least $28,000 supporting him and $26,500 opposing Stefani. He separately spent more than $300,000 supporting a failed June ballot measure that would have set term limits for supervisors.A smaller portion of his campaign contributions $6,550 was spent on little jars of honey that said Pick Nick on them. Those little jars of honey were stacked in a pyramid at Josefowitzs campaign event at the retirement home in August, where 81-year-old Michael Korbholz, a retired lawyer, said he was blown away by the candidates poise. He particularly liked how Josefowitz was data-driven and has experience outside of City Hall. What Josefowitz didnt tell the crowd about his solar energy company, RenGen, however, is that it was shut down about three years ago because, he said, he wanted to focus on his role on the BART board, to which he was elected in 2014. And Bevan Dufty, a former supervisor and current member of the BART board, who has endorsed Stefani, said the experiences needed for the BART board and Board of Supervisors arent exactly parallel. Supervisors, Dufty said, have more direct interactions with their constituents youre literally standing in the street with a beat cop and the street cleaner whereas BART directors are more focused on day-to-day operations. I had the ability to go out and interpret how the city was being experienced by constituents, as supervisor, said Dufty. You dont have that on BART. When it comes transportation and housing initiatives, state Sen. Scott Wiener said Josefowitz has shown over and over again that he is a leader, pointing to his support of Wieners bill that would make it easier for developers to build housing near transit stations. Josefowitz also has a massive plan to extend the Central Subway to the northern waterfront. Some Marina residents bristled at the idea and worried that an increased transportation route would attract more tourists and transients to the area, said Jason Pellegrini, president of the Marina Community Association. Pellegrini has personally endorsed Stefani. David Chiu, a former supervisor and current assemblyman who has endorsed Josefowitz, said the candidate has deep policy chops. It was Josefowitz, he said, who originally pitched him the idea of building transit-oriented development on BART-owned land, a bill that was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September. While Josefowitz has been criticized by his opponents for the unreliability and dirtiness of BART, he rebuts this by saying he added more police officers to the stations and helped upgrade the infrastructure to make the system more reliable. But, he admits, there are still improvements to be made. Im not the type of person whos like elect me and tomorrow well fix it, he said. I feel like we hear that too much. And people lose faith in government when people are constantly promising more than they could ever actually deliver. Catherine Stefani The circumstances that led Stefani to the District Two supervisor seat were both unexpected and unprecedented. It began in a Safeway, where the late Mayor Ed Lee collapsed of a heart attack in December. London Breed, who was president of the Board of Supervisors, stepped in as interim mayor, only to be replaced by the board a few weeks later with then-District Two Supervisor Mark Farrell. When she learned the seat was open, I didnt send an army out saying Pick me! Pick me! said Stefani, a former aide to Farrell. Instead, she sent him a text saying Congrats and Im interested. And then I let it be, she said. Now, nine months later, shes fighting to keep the job. While walking down Union Street on a recent afternoon, Stefani said voting for her should be a no-brainer: Shes worked in City Hall in various positions for about 12 years thats about 12 years more than any of her competitors. She spent most of that time as a legislative aide, first to Michela Alioto-Pier, then to Farrell. She was the county clerk before Farrell tapped her to be supervisor. Her opponents see that time in City Hall, however, as a weakness. They say shes the one whos been in city government as San Franciscos homelessness and affordability crises have crescendoed. And she was the one who was there as the citys budget ballooned to $11.1 billion, even though it had been growing for several years before she took office. City Hall, they argue, is in desperate need of someone new and different. But Stefani says she is someone different and has a track record of change. In her few months as supervisor, she ordered an audit of all of the money being funneled into nonprofits that contract with the city. She also helped bring more foot patrol police officers to District Two. Those officers are important to residents like Tina Moylan, former president of the Russian Hill Neighbors, who said areas like Lombard Street have been overwhelmed with crime. Were sick of car break-ins. Were sick of the dirty streets, were sick of it, she said. Eleanor Carpenter, owner of Jest Jewels where Stefanis 9-year-old daughter, Gigi, sometimes volunteers said putting anyone else in the position would be silly. Stefani has lived in the district for over 17 years, and personally knows many of the merchants up and down Union Street. With all this history, why put someone into a position who has to start all over again, to meet all the merchants, all the neighbors? she said. But Wiener, who was District Eight supervisor from 2011 to 2016, said City Hall experience isnt the only qualification a candidate needs to be a supervisor. Even though he said he likes and respects Stefani, Wiener endorsed Josefowitz because thats who he thought would be most aggressive on building more housing and transportation. You dont have to have City Hall experience to be supervisor, Wiener said. In fact, you want a mix of people who come from the outside ... you wouldnt want only insiders. So far, Stefani has signaled a moderate track record in her short time on the board, speaking out against a local measure that would tax large businesses for increased funding of homeless services and opposing Prop. 10, the state ballot measure that would allow local governments to expand rent control. Her other priorities until the end of the year include legislation that will make it easier for different businesses a bookstore and a separate coffee shop, for example to co-lease within one storefront on Union Street. Stefani, an anti-gun-violence activist, is also focusing on regulating 3-D-printed guns, a piece of legislation that will probably sail through in San Francisco. While she would have benefited from a few more months as supervisor before jumping into campaign mode, local political consultant Jim Ross said its clear she has a strong base of support with endorsements from the mayor and the majority of the Board of Supervisors. She has raised $369,244 from contributors that include super PACs such as the firefighters union and Police Officers Association. Eighty percent of her money has come from within San Francisco. Still, this doesnt stop her critics from painting her as a member of the establishment. At an August debate at Fort Mason, after her opponents repeatedly criticized how City Hall was currently run, Stefani became defensive in her closing remarks. You need people who are going to stay in for the long haul, and that person is me, she said, as her voice grew tense, and it has always been me. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani When the alarm bell rings in the Napa County town of Angwin, J.R. Rogers drops everything and is usually one of the first to answer the call. Rogers, 33, is associate vice president for student life at Pacific Union College and volunteers as fire chief of the Angwin Fire Department, one of several stations staffed entirely by unpaid firefighters throughout rural areas of the county. He supervises a staff of 39 volunteer firefighters, many of whom are on the faculty or are employees and students at the small college. Rogers, who grew up in Redlands (San Bernardino County) and moved to Angwin to attend Pacific Union College, graduated with a bachelor of science in film and television in 2007. As a student, he was encouraged to join the all-volunteer Fire Department. A close friend of mine was on the department and recommended that I do it, Rogers says. I thought it sounded like fun and was every little boys dream, so why not? I had no idea it would catapult me into a life of emergency response. He joined the department in January 2004 and moved up the ranks, which included a position as lieutenant. On Jan. 1, 2016, he was appointed its chief. About 3,000 residents live in the community year-round, supplemented by a seasonal campus population of around 2,000. The volunteers in Angwin respond to 200 to 250 emergency calls annually. Although the station isnt staffed around the clock, Rogers says response times average seven minutes during the day and 11 to 12 minutes at night. Volunteers countywide are critical, Rogers says. Our volunteer departments are in very rural areas that would cost a lot of money to have full-time paid staff there. Were here to serve our community in its most difficult times and their most vulnerable times, he says. Its truly a labor of love. The Regulars is a photo and video column that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the Bay Area, caught in routine activities of modern urban life. The Chronicle has launched a new weekly Travel newsletter! Sign up here. Lia Ditton, who rows small boats across big oceans by herself, says its not a good idea to know the name of the freighters and tankers that pass in the night. You never want to be able to read the name of a ship, she says. It means youre way too close. You have to assume that a big ship is not going to move out of the way for a rowboat. You have to assume its trying to kill you. Ditton, a 38-year-old motivational speaker from London, spent three weeks this summer rowing a 21-foot boat from San Francisco to Los Angeles, for reasons that make sense primarily to her. Mainly, it was training for a modest little rowboat excursion across the Pacific, from Japan to San Francisco, shes planning next year. It was especially important, she says, to get off the continental shelf, about 30 miles off the California coast, where the seafloor plummets and the rigors of ocean rowing come into sharp focus. It feels very wild. The transition point between the shelf and the deep water is huge, Ditton says. To go outside of that line is big. Ditton would be the first woman to do that, if she pulls it off. Her track record speaks for itself. She crossed the Atlantic solo in 2010. Earlier this year she twice failed to row from San Francisco and around the Farallons and back, but she is gearing up to try that again this month. In December, she plans to be the first woman row from Redondo Beach, circle Catalina Island and return. Initially a professional sailor, Ditton started rowing in 2009 after a Danish Olympic rower called her out of the blue and asked if Ditton would help her navigate across the Atlantic. Ditton didnt end up joining that trip, but it opened her mind to the possibilities of solo rowing expeditions. Asked why she rows boats in the first place, Ditton talks about setting personal challenges, human potential and setting records. But these days she also aims to set an example for young girls and to raise awareness for ocean protections and world hunger. Hunger, in particular, is something Ditton can relate to during her expeditions, during which she consumes upwards of 6,000 calories per day. When youre rowing, to have that ticking clock on resources is powerful and motivating, Ditton says. Its only when youre down the wire yourself that you know that means. I realized this could be a very important platform for talking about hunger. Typically, Ditton consumes a mix of nuts, dried meats, freeze dried meals, Pro Bars, spaghetti and, oddly, baby food. On special days, she has a big bag of kettle chips the greasy kind. On very special days, she changes her socks. A rowers feet can become as pungent as any other seafaring scent. Nothing, says the mistress of the seas, has the power to boost the spirits as a pair of fresh, dry socks. Her boat, a 21-foot-by-five-foot craft is made of plywood, glass and kevlar and weighs about 800 pounds. Theres a sleeping compartment at the stern and storage at the bow. After 19 days at sea, Ditton pulled into the Los Angeles County port of Redondo Beach. In her log, she called Los Angeles a cluster of tower blocks, one of the citys gentler sobriquets. Her problems were far from over after stepping ashore. On a Los Angeles freeway, she said, you go about the same speed as you do in a rowboat. It makes you want to turn around and go back out to sea and start rowing back. She didnt do that, however. She had the rowboat shipped back to San Francisco. She herself returned by plane. When you are trying to get out of Los Angeles, you want to do it faster than 2 knots. She said the trip was fun, at least when the large ships werent trying to do her in. That also goes for the storms, giant waves, wind, heat, airplane engines, short rations, sharks, jellyfish and inattentive fellow sailors that may have been trying to kill her too. Here are the most challenging parts of Dittons trip, in her own words: 1. Jellyfish Between Monterey and Santa Maria, I had the most incredible ocean wildlife encounters I have ever experienced in 150,000 miles of global ocean travel. Whales breaching nearby always take my breath away, but these whales breached so often and came so close, they became company, my escort south. Sardines shimmered on the surface like a murmuration of starlings; sunfish flopped about and one afternoon I played peek-a-boo with a seal, the seal hiding behind the rudder and then popping his head up over the main cabin to look at me, doing this again and again. So imagine my horror, when one night, I saw what I thought was a large white plastic bag floating alongside my boat. I gripped the rail and was about to launch my hand into the water to save the planet, when the white plastic bag pulsed. On close inspection, the white plastic bag had tendrils. The white plastic bag was not in fact a plastic bag, but the largest jellyfish I have ever seen in my life. Close call. 2. Weather Santa Ana winds, known locally in Santa Barbara as the sundowner are common in October maybe, but July? That was a surprise! I was rowing steep seas and hitting top speeds as the sun sank to the west. The rowing felt wild, verging on out-if-control and I was concerned. Then the wind snubbed out with the sun. Poof. Just like that. There was a whiff of warm air off the Santa Ynez mountains that smelt divine, of cedarwood. The sea knew before I did what was about to happen next. The waves began jumping about all over the place. I looked to the land and felt an apocalyptic blast: 90 degree wind screaming at 40 knots. At that moment, I was 2.5 miles upwind of oil rig Harmony, feeling anything but harmony. Later that night when I had lost the shelter of Point Conception, I heard a huge wave roaring towards me, a terrifying sound like that of an oncoming train. The wave - known locally as a growler - out of sequence with the wave pattern, smashed into the back of my boat like a car crash. Water rained over the cabin and swamped the deck. This happened 3 or 4 times before I realised that being hit by a growler was more dangerous than crawling on deck, hauling in the sea anchor and letting the boat drift across the shipping lane. Courtesy Lia Ditton 3. Other Ships I had 5 close encounters with ships. The first was an empty car carrier. When I saw the boats light in the dawn, my whole body began to shake, which has never happened before. I dove into the cabin for the radio: Big ship, big ship, this is rowboat, which sounded ridiculous even as I said it. Nothing. No reply. Back at the oars, I picked up the pace. Big ship, blue hull, this is rowboat. I tried the radio one more time. We are on collision course. The response to those words was immediate. The ship turned 30 degrees to port. I don't see you, are we clear? asked a sleepy sounding voice. A few minutes later I stopped shaking and gulped down some breakfast. My fifth close encounter wasnt with a commercial ship, but a pleasure boat. When I saw the boat charging towards me, I was excited! It had been almost two weeks since Id seen people! The powerboat rounded my bow adeptly and came along my starboard side. I expected the vessel to slow down, someone to appear outside, open a window; hang out of a door. No one came outside. Through the window I could see there was no one in the wheelhouse at all. My boat was 40 feet from ploughing into the boats stern. The boat's name was Sand Dollar on autopilot, and the owner-operator will never know how close we came. 4. Sleep I slept in 40-minute (one sleep cycle) or one-hour 20 (2 sleep cycles) chunks, checking for ships and resetting my alarm maybe four or five times in one night. I was surprised how well my body adjusted to this pattern. On the night of the freak Santa Anas, sleep was impossible. My boat was being buffeted - worse - being dragged backwards, upwind and up waves, because my sea anchor (a giant underwater parachute to minimise drift) had hooked into a westbound current determined to trawl me back out to sea. According to my heart rate monitor I rowed 19 hours and 45 minutes that day, in an effort to round Point Conception before nightfall. I was desperately tired. I began hearing voices, peoples voices! I would open the hatch excited to see people that werent there. Hours later, as I was pulling in the sea anchor, waves crashing over the boat, I looked forward to the forward cabin and saw a small hand trying to open the window from the inside. Thats not real! I told myself. Ive heard voices before, racing a sailboat single-handed across the Atlantic. Never an apparition. That was new. 5. Rowing Nude For the most part I didnt row naked down the coast of California. It was too cold and windy! But that changed after I turned the corner to Santa Barbara and on to Redondo Beach. It was really hot! I have been working with Under Armour since January, to create seam-free clothing for rowing. The pants they made for me are amazing! However I have been wearing their off-the-shelf SPF long-sleeve top, as there didnt seem a need for anything custom until I took off my vest layer. The shoulder seam had given me a chafe burn under the arm making clothing unbearable to wear. (At least, thats my story and Im sticking to it!) South of the Channel Islands, the Coast Guard cutter was out on patrol. The cutters engines are quiet and so I didnt hear them approach. As the boat got nearer, they slowed the boat right down to a crawl. There was a flurry of activity by me to find clothing, which I suspect looked suspicious. They did not call me on the radio. They just sat there watching. I was just about to take a bucket bath, so glad I waited! Naturally I saw the Coast Guard again later, as I was indeed taking said bucket bath. Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com LODI, Calif. (KCRA) A skydiver was killed when her parachute failed to deploy during a jump Sunday at the Lodi Parachute Center, authorities said. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the skydiver was using her own equipment. Officials from the Coroner's Office in San Joaquin County were en route to the scene Sunday afternoon, according to the Sheriff's Department. According to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, the agency's skydiving accident investigations are typically limited to determining whether the parachute was properly packed. Sunday's death is the latest in a series of fatalities and violations at the Lodi Parachute Center. From 1999 to 2017, 15 people died jumping from planes that took off from the parachute center. In September 2016, 20 instructors at the center were suspended and 120 others were told they needed to undergo more training after an investigation by the United States Parachute Association. Earlier this year, the FBI served a search warrant at the skydiving center. At the time, the FBI did not disclose what the search warrant was connected to or what was found, but agents were seen leaving the center with cardboard boxes and filled trash bags. Just three weeks before the November election, Mayor London Breed is expected to fill a vacancy on the San Francisco school board with one of the candidates she endorsed for the job. Sources close to the mayors office say Breed will appoint school social worker Faauuga Moliga to the board at a Monday morning news conference. Superintendent Vince Matthews confirmed the mayors office contacted the district over the weekend about finding a location for an unspecified announcement Monday morning. Matthews said the district reserved space for 11 a.m. at June Jordan School for Equity. All school board members were invited to attend. Moliga is one of 18 candidates for three open positions on the board. While he has a long list of endorsements, five other candidates have raised more than Moligas $34,769, according to the most recent campaign finance information. ALSO SF Mayor Breed endorses school teacher Trevor McNeil in District Four Moliga would replace Hydra Mendoza, who left at the end of September for a job with the New York public school system. School district officials speculated that Breed would not fill Mendozas seat given the upcoming election, which would give a political edge to any person appointed to the board. Moliga would serve on the board through December, with the three elected board members sworn in for a four-year term in January. Neither the mayor nor Moliga returned requests for comment. Breed also endorsed nonprofit grant writer Michelle Parker, as well as Josephine Zhao, who withdrew from the race amid reports she made derogatory comments about transgender rights and the sexuality of her opponents. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker An East Bay man who allegedly traveled to Charlottesville, Va., last year to participate in the deadly Unite the Right rally will be detained until his trial, a federal judge ruled Monday. Cole Evan White, 24, of Clayton, was charged this month with inciting a riot and traveling across state lines to incite a riot more than a year after the August 2017 rally, which erupted into clashes between white supremacist groups and counterprotesters. One woman was killed after a known neo-Nazi sympathizer allegedly drove his car into a group of peaceful marchers. An FBI affidavit used to indict White, along with three other California men, included photos of the 24-year-old allegedly participating in a tiki torch march on Aug. 11, 2017, and a rally the next day. Prosecutors said the photos show White using a torch as a weapon and head-butting two counterprotesters, including a woman who was left with a bloodied face. At his detention hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Oakland, White, in a red Alameda County jail jumpsuit, addressed the court only to answer no to a question from Judge Kandis Westmore in between conversations with his defense attorney, David J. Cohen. Whites family, including his parents and grandmother, sat in the gallery. This is a family crisis, said Jacqueline Aldana, Whites mother. She declined to comment further. After hearing arguments from Cohen and prosecutor Philip Kearney, Judge Westmore determined that White was a flight risk and a danger to the community and denied his release. The prosecution said multiple weapons were recovered from Whites home. Three men Benjamin Daley, Thomas Gillen and Michael Miselis have been detained on similar charges. Each case will be tried in Virginia. White was fired from his job as a cook at an East Bay hot dog chain last year after Twitter users identified him in pictures from the rally and circulated his name and photo on social media. Ashley McBride is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ashley.mcbride@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@ashleynmcb Jacom Stephens/Getty Images San Francisco police arrested two suspects in connection to a Mission District shooting last week that left one man dead, authorities said Monday. Joe Nunez Dosangos, 27, and Reno Ramos, 20, were booked into San Francisco jail Friday on suspicion of murder, said Max Szabo, a spokesman for the San Francisco district attorneys office. Last October, Galeria de la Raza, a staple of the Mission District's Latino art scene, announced it would be forced to close, citing a 100 percent rent hike. Similarly rising rents have been pushing longtime residents out of San Francisco, though their individual stories may not make headlines. The problem of gentrification is so advanced in the Bay Area that a recent UC Berkeley study found the region is re-segregating. The move from SF to Oakland: What it's really like across the Bay Here's what Oakland natives want newcomers to know about The Town But have you ever stopped to consider if you're a part of the problem? "Very few people would self-identify as a gentrifier," says Megan Orpwood-Russell, an organizer for housing advocacy group YAH! (Yes to Affordable Housing!). And the lines can get fuzzy. "If you're moving into a historically disinvested neighborhood and you have economic, educational, and/or racial privilege, you may be taking part in processes of gentrification," explains Anna Cash, associate director of UC Berkeley's Urban Displacement Project. Socioeconomic status plays a big role if your income is significantly higher than those living in the neighborhood, that's a surefire sign you're a gentrifier. Gentrifiers are often, but not always, white, adds Cash. And even if you were priced out of your own neighborhood, you could still fit the bill. "There's no 'get out of jail free' card. You can't do all the right things and absolve yourself so that you're no longer a gentrifier, just like you can't no longer be white," says Orpwood-Russell. "But you can check your biases, acknowledge your privilege, and fight the systems that create gentrification." You may be thinking that gentrification isn't all that bad. When rich people move in, their money comes with them, which could revitalize an area. The problem with gentrification, according to those who study it, isn't that the neighborhood is changing, per se. It's that not everyone gets to stick around to reap the benefits. "In many cases longtime residents were asking for these kinds of changes and they were ignored," says Cash. We asked people who live in some of the Bay Area's most rapidly gentrifying cities if there's any way to avoid being a gentrifier, or at least a stereotypical one. Click through the slideshow to read what residents of Oakland, Richmond, Vallejo and San Francisco want newcomers to know. There's lots you can do to minimize your negative impact on your new neighborhood, from smiling at your neighbors to thinking twice before calling the cops. "The most important thing is to recognize the history of your neighborhood and city. Don't treat the place like it was a blank slate before white people or gentrifiers arrived," Cash adds. A great place to start is researching the history of redlining in your neighborhood. Redlining refers to a discriminatory practice by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (a federal agency) that made it harder to get a loan in certain neighborhoods that were deemed "hazardous." Whether or not an area was labeled "hazardous" (a.k.a redlined) depended heavily on its racial makeup. The policy led to "cycles of disinvestment," according to the Urban Displacement Project. You can also put your money where your mouth is and support mom-and-pop stores and businesses owned by people of color. Activists put together this list of cafes in Berkeley and Oakland that are P.O.C.-owned. And if you're really upset about gentrification, do something about it, says Orpwood-Russell. "Participate in local politics. It's the biggest one of all. We need to change the larger systems that perpetuate gentrification." --- Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. "Dont be that person when a SF eatery opens a branch in Oakland who says, 'Finally! Its the best fried chicken, ice cream, burger, pizza or whatever.' We have really great local stuff here too." Arwa Toulan, Oakland resident less "Dont be that person when a SF eatery opens a branch in Oakland who says, 'Finally! Its the best fried chicken, ice cream, burger, pizza or whatever.' We have really great local stuff here too." Arwa Toulan, ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle "Dont be that person when a SF eatery opens a branch in...Photo-15892278.185989 - "Don't come here and start calling the police on random black people because they make you uncomfortable. It will not go well for you." Jessica Gardezy, Oakland resident "Don't come here and start calling the police on random black people because they make you uncomfortable. It will not go well for you." Jessica Gardezy, Oakland resident Photo: Michael Short / Special To The Chronicle Buy photo "Don't come here and start calling the police on random...Photo-15586368.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-3', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 3', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Smile at people, even if they are dressed different than you. Pick up trash. And don't be wearing a Giants hat." Jess O'Brien, Oakland resident "Smile at people, even if they are dressed different than you. Pick up trash. And don't be wearing a Giants hat." Jess O'Brien, Oakland resident Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press "Smile at people, even if they are dressed different than...Photo-8258859.185989 - "Walk around your neighborhood and get to know your neighbors. Talk to people instead of calling the cops on them. Visit the place you want to rent more than once and at different times of the day. Remember that Oakland is a city of artists and sometimes art is loud or smelly or both." Janeen Jackson, Oakland resident less "Walk around your neighborhood and get to know your neighbors. Talk to people instead of calling the cops on them. Visit the place you want to rent more than once and at different times of the day. Remember ... more Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Buy photo "Walk around your neighborhood and get to know your...Photo-9737908.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-6', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 6', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Shop here, hike here and put your kids in school here. Put your money in Oakland. And we don't bite." Patricia Gomez, Oakland resident "Shop here, hike here and put your kids in school here. Put your money in Oakland. And we don't bite." Patricia Gomez, Oakland resident Photo: Michael Short / Special To The Chronicle Buy photo "Shop here, hike here and put your kids in school here. Put...Photo-16261374.185989 - "Don't leave a backpack/laptop/cellphone in your car then blame Oakland because of your stupidity when your window gets broken and things are stolen." Janeen Jackson, Oakland resident (cont.) "Don't leave a backpack/laptop/cellphone in your car then blame Oakland because of your stupidity when your window gets broken and things are stolen." Janeen Jackson, Oakland resident (cont.) Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Buy photo "Don't leave a backpack/laptop/cellphone in your car...Photo-15239424.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-9', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 9', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Tell your Uber or Lyft driver to pull over to the curb instead of just stopping in the middle of the street and blocking traffic." Janeen Jackson, Oakland resident (cont.) "Tell your Uber or Lyft driver to pull over to the curb instead of just stopping in the middle of the street and blocking traffic." Janeen Jackson, Oakland resident (cont.) Photo: Will Waldron / Albany Times Union Buy photo "Tell your Uber or Lyft driver to pull over to the curb...Photo-15091259.185989 - "Support the public schools and send your own children to them." Sharyl Larson, Oakland resident "Support the public schools and send your own children to them." Sharyl Larson, Oakland resident Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Buy photo "Support the public schools and send your own children to...Photo-16235023.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-12', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 12', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Dive into the art scene - its alive and well in Oakland!" Chele Patricia, Oakland resident "Dive into the art scene - its alive and well in Oakland!" Chele Patricia, Oakland resident Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle Buy photo "Dive into the art scene - its alive and well in...Photo-16029681.185989 - "Treat people with respect. All people." Kristine Chappell, Oakland resident "Treat people with respect. All people." Kristine Chappell, Oakland resident Photo: Sarahbeth Maney, Special To The Chronicle "Treat people with respect. All people." Kristine...Photo-16019405.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-15', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 15', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Just because Oakland has a 'Wild West' reputation, it doesn't mean when you buy a house you can just do whatever you want. Say hi to your neighbors. They are your community. Act like it." Alena Rudolph, Oakland resident less "Just because Oakland has a 'Wild West' reputation, it doesn't mean when you buy a house you can just do whatever you want. Say hi to your neighbors. They are your community. Act like it." Alena Rudolph, ... more Photo: Jaynelle Bell "Just because Oakland has a 'Wild West' reputation,...Photo-12286623.185989 - "Learn a little about your new town's history, and the people who already live here. Smile ... say hello. Despite our reputation we're very friendly and we'd like to keep it that way." Sherry Brown, Oakland resident less "Learn a little about your new town's history, and the people who already live here. Smile ... say hello. Despite our reputation we're very friendly and we'd like to keep it that way." Sherry Brown, Oakland ... more Photo: Gabriella Angotti-Jones, The Chronicle Buy photo "Learn a little about your new town's history, and the...Photo-10871590.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-18', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 18', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Don't be afraid to travel into 'bad' neighborhoods go to a local restaurant, try a food you haven't tried. Oakland is so diverse and one way to keep it that way is by supporting those around us." Priscilla Mae Miller, Oakland resident less "Don't be afraid to travel into 'bad' neighborhoods go to a local restaurant, try a food you haven't tried. Oakland is so diverse and one way to keep it that way is by supporting those around us." Priscilla ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo "Don't be afraid to travel into 'bad'...Photo-12782418.185989 - "Dont complain during Tet or especially the Fourth of July about fireworks going off for a week or more!" Earl Marty Price, Oakland resident "Dont complain during Tet or especially the Fourth of July about fireworks going off for a week or more!" Earl Marty Price, Oakland resident Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo "Dont complain during Tet or especially the Fourth of July...Photo-14775955.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-21', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 21', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - less "Join the museum and go there on Friday nights. Get on the mailing list of your councilperson and mayor and NCPC (neighborhood council). Volunteer and participate and spend the first year meeting and getting to know your neighbors to learn from them. Pick up trash. Add the 'See, Click, Fix' app to your phone and use it. Add the Nixle app. Avoid the Next Door app. Register to vote. Celebrate the diversity!" Darby Brandli, Oakland resident "Join the museum and go there on Friday nights. Get on the mailing list of your councilperson and mayor and NCPC (neighborhood council). Volunteer and participate and spend the first year meeting and getting to ... more Photo: Courtesy OMCA "Join the museum and go there on Friday nights. Get on the...Photo-15518926.185989 - "I think it is important to learn the history and culture of the place one moves to and respect it, not try and change it. Don't move to a city and try and make it a suburb. If you don't believe that 'black lives matter' or appreciate the need for and work of the Black Panthers, then Oakland may not be the right place for you. Get to know your neighbors, support policies and laws that reduce displacement, protect renters, keep economic and racial diversity, etc. Invest financially and emotionally in your city." Jennifer Bobrow LaCroix, Oakland resident less "I think it is important to learn the history and culture of the place one moves to and respect it, not try and change it. Don't move to a city and try and make it a suburb. If you don't believe that 'black ... more Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Buy photo "I think it is important to learn the history and culture of...Photo-10627074.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-24', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 24', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Be sensitive and aware of the feelings people have about changes that may be harming them or people they love and do your best not to contribute to that harm. Do not act 'entitled' or as if you have a right to everything in the Town, especially spaces or events that center [around] POC, LGBTQI or other groups if you do not share those identities." Jennifer Bobrow LaCroix, Oakland resident (cont.) less "Be sensitive and aware of the feelings people have about changes that may be harming them or people they love and do your best not to contribute to that harm. Do not act 'entitled' or as if you have a right to ... more Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Buy photo "Be sensitive and aware of the feelings people have about...Photo-14997558.185989 - "Do not make police your first response to a problem. Save PD for physically dangerous or life-threatening concerns." Jennifer Bobrow LaCroix, Oakland resident (cont.) "Do not make police your first response to a problem. Save PD for physically dangerous or life-threatening concerns." Jennifer Bobrow LaCroix, Oakland resident (cont.) Photo: Courtesy Of The Oakland Police Department "Do not make police your first response to a problem. Save PD...Photo-16287656.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-27', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 27', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Saying hi to your neighbors is a good start, but it's just the beginning. Newcomers need to make an effort to find out how they can support the community by listening to folks who have been here a long time." Liam O'Donoghue, Oakland resident less "Saying hi to your neighbors is a good start, but it's just the beginning. Newcomers need to make an effort to find out how they can support the community by listening to folks who have been here a long time." ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo "Saying hi to your neighbors is a good start, but it's...Photo-16146693.185989 - "Visit your local library branch, get a library card, attend some library programs! Volunteer! We have a lot of history/culture/craft programs for all ages." Mana Tominaga, Oakland resident "Visit your local library branch, get a library card, attend some library programs! Volunteer! We have a lot of history/culture/craft programs for all ages." Mana Tominaga, Oakland resident Photo: Stephanie Wright Hession / Special To The Chronicle "Visit your local library branch, get a library card, attend...Photo-7350180.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-30', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 30', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Don't try to reinvent the neighborhood to your liking. For instance, don't try to rename the neighborhood or push for expensive stores and restaurants." Dorothy Londagin, Oakland resident "Don't try to reinvent the neighborhood to your liking. For instance, don't try to rename the neighborhood or push for expensive stores and restaurants." Dorothy Londagin, Oakland resident Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Buy photo "Don't try to reinvent the neighborhood to your liking....Photo-13897609.185989 - less "Be friendly to your neighbors, get involved in neighborhood projects like Creek to Bay, learn the history of your neighborhood and Oakland, go to all the classic Oakland restaurants like Lois the Pie Queen, hike in Redwood Regional, drink beer at one of the many breweries, get a hot dog at Kaspers, an ice cream at Loards. Enjoy Oakland and make it better but don't destroy the good stuff." Sonia Clerc, Oakland resident "Be friendly to your neighbors, get involved in neighborhood projects like Creek to Bay, learn the history of your neighborhood and Oakland, go to all the classic Oakland restaurants like Lois the Pie Queen, ... more Photo: Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle "Be friendly to your neighbors, get involved in neighborhood...Photo-2619381.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-33', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 33', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "My advice to newcomers is read Beth Bagwell's 'Oakland: The Story of a City.' Go to a city council meeting. Walk/bike around. Take a bus to the end of the line and back. Read about the Black Panthers and the federal government's reaction to them. And be friendly to your neighbors!" Carter Lavin, Oakland resident less "My advice to newcomers is read Beth Bagwell's 'Oakland: The Story of a City.' Go to a city council meeting. Walk/bike around. Take a bus to the end of the line and back. Read about the Black Panthers and the ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo "My advice to newcomers is read Beth Bagwell's...Photo-11643649.185989 - "Volunteer with orgs like The East Oakland Collective supporting our city's ever increasing homeless situation. Learn about the city's history of redlining and how it's shaped the neighborhoods here." Elisa Cecaci, Oakland resident less "Volunteer with orgs like The East Oakland Collective supporting our city's ever increasing homeless situation. Learn about the city's history of redlining and how it's shaped the neighborhoods here." Elisa ... more Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Buy photo "Volunteer with orgs like The East Oakland Collective...Photo-16168841.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-36', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 36', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Don't refer to your neighborhood as 'ghetto' or your neighbors as 'sketchy' when you move without getting to know where you are or who they are." Brandy Collins, Oakland resident "Don't refer to your neighborhood as 'ghetto' or your neighbors as 'sketchy' when you move without getting to know where you are or who they are." Brandy Collins, Oakland resident Photo: John King, The Chronicle "Don't refer to your neighborhood as 'ghetto'...Photo-14438497.185989 - "Don't come to this side. Only real SF NATIVES live on this side." Jay Arellano, Excelsior (SF) resident "My advice: Stay in your hometown." Chris Lazzaro, San Francisco resident "Don't come to this side. Only real SF NATIVES live on this side." Jay Arellano, Excelsior (SF) resident "My advice: Stay in your hometown." Chris Lazzaro, San Francisco resident Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Buy photo "My advice: Stay in your hometown." Chris Lazzaro, San...Photo-16162879.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-39', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 39', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Don't move to SoMa or North Beach or the Mission and complain about the noise. If you wanted solitude and quiet, stay in Des Moines." Cesar Moran, San Francisco resident "Don't move to SoMa or North Beach or the Mission and complain about the noise. If you wanted solitude and quiet, stay in Des Moines." Cesar Moran, San Francisco resident Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle "Don't move to SoMa or North Beach or the Mission and...Photo-2423628.185989 - "Dont just complain about things you dont like in the city. If you care, get to know people and the real community and get involved to make things better. We dont need anyone else complaining about our city when they do nothing to make it a better place. We dont need anymore entitled or out of touch people here." Kimberly Rice, San Francisco resident less "Dont just complain about things you dont like in the city. If you care, get to know people and the real community and get involved to make things better. We dont need anyone else complaining about our city ... more Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2017 Buy photo "Dont just complain about things you dont like in the city....Photo-12764579.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-42', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 42', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "I think one of the best parts of the south side of 280 is that the neighborly spirit hasnt been lost in much of the gentrification process. Many of my neighbors have been residents for decades, and represent the best of SF. Buying a house and fixing it up isnt doesnt present the negative sides of gentrification as long as you are trying to become part of the community, not change the community. I do agree, however, that rent is a serious issue in the Excelsior, especially where single family homes lack rent control." Robert Gower, Excelsior (SF) resident less "I think one of the best parts of the south side of 280 is that the neighborly spirit hasnt been lost in much of the gentrification process. Many of my neighbors have been residents for decades, and represent ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Buy photo "I think one of the best parts of the south side of 280 is...Photo-14642266.185989 - "I think [newcomers] need to know why the Excelsior is a desired place to live. Come here if you do not have a car, because room to park your vehicle is not good." Carol Kunkle, Excelsior (SF) resident "I think [newcomers] need to know why the Excelsior is a desired place to live. Come here if you do not have a car, because room to park your vehicle is not good." Carol Kunkle, Excelsior (SF) resident Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Buy photo "I think [newcomers] need to know why the Excelsior is a...Photo-14642265.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-45', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 45', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "You should also figure out who your 'regular homeless' people are. Some may have grown up in the area and screwed up in life. They have nowhere to go so they stay in the parks close to their old homes. They mean no harm, yet newcomers often think they are up to no good." Christie Ayres, Excelsior (SF) resident less "You should also figure out who your 'regular homeless' people are. Some may have grown up in the area and screwed up in life. They have nowhere to go so they stay in the parks close to their old homes. They ... more Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Buy photo "You should also figure out who your 'regular...Photo-16242544.185989 - "It's a difficult time for the neighborhood with all the locals moving out and strangers moving in. The main thing is to participate in the community. Say hello to the neighbors, support local businesses. If you feel that middle class union people are not equal to you, then yes, it's time to skedaddle. But if you live by the standards that no one is below us or above us, you'll fit right in and develop a safe, strong lifelong bond. We are noisy, urban, families, Harley riders, immigrants and fun. This neighborhood will have your back if they feel you are respectful of who we are and are not here to change things." Marta Sanchez, Excelsior (SF) resident less "It's a difficult time for the neighborhood with all the locals moving out and strangers moving in. The main thing is to participate in the community. Say hello to the neighbors, support local businesses. If ... more Photo: Gabriella Angotti-Jones, The Chronicle Buy photo "It's a difficult time for the neighborhood with all the...Photo-11727284.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-48', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 48', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "My advice: If you own a nice car, make sure you have a garage to park that car in. Otherwise, it will get broken into. Besides the fact that car breakins in the downtown area are becoming a regular thing, Vallejo is a chill city to live in. Breathtaking sunsets. A very diverse community." Andrew Mendez, Vallejo resident less "My advice: If you own a nice car, make sure you have a garage to park that car in. Otherwise, it will get broken into. Besides the fact that car breakins in the downtown area are becoming a regular thing, ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo "My advice: If you own a nice car, make sure you have a garage...Photo-14946851.185989 - "I moved [to Vallejo] six years ago from the East Bay. I love it here. I live in the Heritage District and park on the street. I have never had my car broken into. I am really afraid of gentrification in Vallejo. I worry that the rich youngsters who have good jobs in S.F. will realize they can ferry to work everyday and still buy a house for a steal. We are the last place for working folk to rent and buy housing in the Bay Area. We are proud of our town without a doubt." Barbara Leblanc, Vallejo resident less "I moved [to Vallejo] six years ago from the East Bay. I love it here. I live in the Heritage District and park on the street. I have never had my car broken into. I am really afraid of gentrification in ... more Photo: Brian Feulner Buy photo "I moved [to Vallejo] six years ago from the East Bay. I love...Photo-16305018.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-51', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 51', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Please don't ever refer to our neighborhoods as 'up and coming' and please engage in commerce here." Kathryn Xiomara Herrera, Vallejo resident "Please don't ever refer to our neighborhoods as 'up and coming' and please engage in commerce here." Kathryn Xiomara Herrera, Vallejo resident Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle "Please don't ever refer to our neighborhoods as 'up...Photo-14315973.185989 - "I hear a lot of people say they want to live east of I-80, but I grew up and just bought a house in 94590 and I love it. Don't call it 'Up Bay,' that's weird and we don't say it. Don't call it East Bay either. It's North Bay. And it's pronounced Va-lay-o and, yes, we have heard people say "Valley Joe" before." Chris Preovolos, Vallejo resident less "I hear a lot of people say they want to live east of I-80, but I grew up and just bought a house in 94590 and I love it. Don't call it 'Up Bay,' that's weird and we don't say it. Don't call it East Bay ... more Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle "I hear a lot of people say they want to live east of I-80,...Photo-14315910.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-54', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 54', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "The nice people who move [to Vallejo] without knowledge of the city love it, and they should. But beneath the surface cosmetics is the truth. Just look at the school system and take a drive around at night. Yeah, East Vallejo continues to grow and the waterfront is beautiful and under development. But it still needs jobs and an effective system to deal with homelessness and mental illness, period. Move here but know it's a work in progress." Shawn Stewart, Vallejo resident less "The nice people who move [to Vallejo] without knowledge of the city love it, and they should. But beneath the surface cosmetics is the truth. Just look at the school system and take a drive around at night. ... more Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle "The nice people who move [to Vallejo] without knowledge of...Photo-1904022.185989 - less "My advice: We are NOT Marin-lite. If you wanna live there, go there. No, Richmonds not perfect, but if your idea of fixing it is making it more like Sausalito or San Rafael, please dont move here. You are not our 'white knight.' Respect that the wonderful parts about us are worth fighting for and we will fight for it." Edie Sellers, Richmond resident "My advice: We are NOT Marin-lite. If you wanna live there, go there. No, Richmonds not perfect, but if your idea of fixing it is making it more like Sausalito or San Rafael, please dont move here. You are ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Buy photo "My advice: We are NOT Marin-lite. If you wanna live there, go...Photo-11054833.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-57', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 57', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Some of the miscommunication between new folks and old residents is that culture is alive here in Richmond. We party, we like to have graduations, housewarmings, sweet 15s, and all sorts of other parties and that means its loud! It also means there will be fireworks and sideshows. I find this a huge divide between those who want to enjoy that part of Richmond and those who want to move in and change it. ... Well have to gain solidarity and stand up for community identity. Even if it means telling business owners, 'No, we dont want a Starbucks.'" Jaguar Rude, Richmond resident less "Some of the miscommunication between new folks and old residents is that culture is alive here in Richmond. We party, we like to have graduations, housewarmings, sweet 15s, and all sorts of other parties and ... more Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle Buy photo "Some of the miscommunication between new folks and old...Photo-15610279.185989 - less "Go to the Richmond Museum to learn more about our city. As a lifelong resident, I have contributed numerous items to the museum. But even I learned something the first time I went. I can't recommend it enough! Oh, and the Rosie the Riveter museum as well!" Kris Gordon, Richmond resident "Go to the Richmond Museum to learn more about our city. As a lifelong resident, I have contributed numerous items to the museum. But even I learned something the first time I went. I can't recommend it enough! ... more Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2017 Buy photo "Go to the Richmond Museum to learn more about our city. As a...Photo-13734419.185989 - window._galleryInterstitial = window._galleryInterstitial || []; window._galleryInterstitial['taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign'] = function () { window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c-light', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails---redesign-60', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails - Redesign 60', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola.push({flush: true}); }; Item-95844.185989 - "Get to know Richmond. Dont just live here, be a part of Richmond. Find a friend that can point you to sources of information that will allow you to be in the know of local events and volunteering opportunities. Also, theres more to Richmond than Pt. Richmond and Hilltop. Theres so much to see in our communities." Tony Tamayo, Richmond resident less "Get to know Richmond. Dont just live here, be a part of Richmond. Find a friend that can point you to sources of information that will allow you to be in the know of local events and volunteering ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle "Get to know Richmond. Dont just live here, be a part of...Photo-10116839.185989 - "My best advice would be to get to know your neighbors. Find out about traditions in your area. Dont complain right away. There may be things that happen that seem unusual to you but everyone else is used too. In this neighborhood for instance, Excelsior natives love the Fourth of July. On many blocks you will find crowds of people setting off Pier 39-worthy fireworks. All of it is intended to have a good time with our friends, families and neighbors. But within recent years, many of the new residents frown upon it, saying we are destroying property or purposely trying to scare pets and older folks. I will say that some are obnoxious with it and they set fireworks off way before and way after the Fourth. But its part of living here." Christie Ayres, Excelsior (SF) resident less "My best advice would be to get to know your neighbors. Find out about traditions in your area. Dont complain right away. There may be things that happen that seem unusual to you but everyone else is used too. ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Buy photo "My best advice would be to get to know your neighbors. Find...Photo-15823898.185989 - A young bongo calf named Taylor Swift, who lives at the Sacramento Zoo with her mother Penny, left behind a blank space on Sunday when she somehow fled her enclosure. The one-year-old antelope may have been first spotted by zoo visitors, who reported the animal missing in "a few conflicting visitor reports," said spokesperson Laurel Vincent to the Sacramento Bee. When a zoo worker walked to the pen and didn't see Taylor Swift, an emergency radio call alerted the staff to the escape. BOSTON Harvard University intentionally uses a vague personal rating to reject Asian American applicants in favor of students from other racial backgrounds, according to a trial that started Monday and carries weighty implications for other U.S. colleges. Harvards legal team denied any discrimination in its opening statement at Bostons federal courthouse, saying race is just one factor thats considered and can only help a students chances of getting admitted. In its hour-long opening, lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions accused Harvard of intentionally discriminating against Asian Americans through a personal rating score thats used to measures character traits such as courage and likeability. Dozens of supporters and observers packed into the courtroom and two overflow rooms Monday, a day after backers from both sides hosted separate rallies in the Boston area. The trial began nearly four years after Harvard was sued by Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit in Arlington, Va., that believes schools should not consider race when selecting students. It comes at a time when the nations elite colleges have come under mounting scrutiny over the way race factors into the admissions process. The suit contends Asian American applicants bring stronger academic records than any other race, yet they are admitted at the lowest rate. The group says thats because Harvard consistently gives them low scores on the personal rating, which, according to a document revealed by the group Monday, is only loosely defined in Harvard policies. Lawyers for the group presented a document they say is Harvards only guidance on the personal rating. It was simply a numeral rating ranging from one, for outstanding, to five, for questionable personal traits. Adam Mortara, a lawyer for Students for Fair Admissions, says the measures subjectivity creates an opportunity for racial discrimination. You have let the wolf of racial bias in through the front door, he said. Students for Fair Admissions is led by Edward Blum, a legal strategist who has fought against the use of race at other colleges, including a Supreme Court case in 2016 that upheld policies at the University of Texas. Yet Mortara argued Monday the lawsuit is not a broader attack on affirmative action, saying Harvard has simply gone too far in its zeal to consider race. Diversity and its benefits are not on trial here. Students for Fair Admissions supports diversity on campus, he said. But Harvards lawyers argued the lawsuit represents an attack on the school and many other universities that consider race as a way to admit a diverse mix of students. William Lee, a lawyer for the school and a member of its governing board, said race is just one of many factors that can work in favor of an applicant, getting no more weight than a students geography or family income. Race alone is never the reason a student is granted admission, Lee said. And race is never the reason a student is denied. He downplayed the influence of any single numerical rating, saying the final decision comes down to a 40-person committee that spends weeks reviewing and discussing applications. The trial is expected to last three weeks, with two weeks for the plaintiffs case and one for Harvard. The final decision will be made by U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs. The legal showdown begins amid a revived national debate over the role race should play in college admissions. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating Harvard over alleged discrimination against Asian Americans, and Yale was recently announced as the subject of a similar investigation by the Justice and Education departments. Collin Binkley is an Associated Press writer. PANAMA CITY, Fla. Residents of hurricane-ravaged communities in Floridas Panhandle turned to volunteers and each other for help Monday, the fifth day without cell service, electricity or, in many cases, shelter. Trevor Lewis, a member of a six-person search-and-rescue unit, said he watched storm victims cry out in joy when his team let them use its cell phones to contact loved ones for the first time in days. The amount of stress that people are in, not just from losing everything, but not having phones, power, food, water, puts a huge toll on the emotional factor of people stuck in these houses, Lewis said. And it really ups the ante a whole lot more. As President Trump visited the devastated zone, the death toll from Michaels march from Florida to Virginia stood at 17, with just one confirmed death so far in Mexico Beach, a town of about 1,000 people that was nearly wiped off the map in a direct hit from the hurricane and its 155 mph winds last week. City Clerk Adrian Welle told local media that 46 people in Mexico Beach were still unaccounted for. That number had previously been 285, but officials think many left right before the storm hit. Trump took a helicopter tour over Mexico Beach and also saw the badly damaged Tyndall Air Force base. After landing in Panama City, he visited Lynn Haven, another hard-hit city. Across the stricken Panhandle, nerves were frayed as storm victims confronted shortages of gas and other supplies. Limon Wilson sat for an hour with his car parked at a gas pump with no fuel outside hard-hit Panama City. His home in the city was badly damaged, with a tree through the roof. He was trying to find shelter for his four children and other family members. Weve been trying to rough it at home for the last few days. But its hot, Wilson said as his 8-month-old daughter sat on his knee. As of Sunday, more than 190,000 homes and businesses in Florida were without electricity, along with about 120,000 in Georgia. Some in the affected area were lukewarm about the presidents visit. Sheila Vann, 57, sat in her garage, taking a break from cleaning up. The hurricane tore off much of her roof in Panama City. Plus there were four freezers filled with fish and meat that were starting to spoil and smell. You want to see the president? Vann asked her husband, Joseph. I aint got time, unless he wants to help clean up. Russ Bynum is an Associated Press writer. Sen. Elizabeth Warren ridiculed by President Trump with the nickname Pocahontas released a DNA test Monday showing strong evidence of Native American heritage. The results of the analysis, first published by the Boston Globe, come after years of speculation that Warren had falsified her heritage decades ago by calling herself a minority in order to advance her career. The Massachusetts Democrat, 69, has claimed that she was told growing up that she was part Cherokee. Trump seized on the controversy throughout his campaign and presidency, calling Warren a liar and a fraud, tweeting about her dozens of times and trashing her at numerous rallies. During a July speech, Trump said he would offer Warren $1 million to take a DNA test if he had to face her in a debate. The president responded with indifference when asked Monday about Warrens DNA test results. Who cares? he said. Warrens DNA test was conducted by Carlos Bustamante, an expert in DNA analysis and a Stanford University professor. Bustamante identified five of Warrens genetic segments as Native American at high confidence, he wrote in his report. The largest segment involving Native American ancestry was located on chromosome 10 and is clearly distinct from Warrens European ancestry. The segment size suggests an unadmixed Native American ancestor in the pedigree at approximately 8 generations before the sample, although the actual number could be somewhat lower or higher, Bustamante wrote. Bustamante was not aware of the donors identity when he was studying the DNA. Warren who is gearing up for a potential run in 2020 to unseat Trump on Monday unveiled a website and video devoted to her heritage. Now, the president likes to call my mother a liar. What do the facts say? Warren asks Bustamante in the video. The facts suggest that you absolutely have a Native American ancestor in your pedigree, Bustamante responds in a phone call. The Republican National Committee issued a statement criticizing Warrens announcement: Having as little as 1/512th Native American ties does not give you the right to claim minority status. Dan Good is a New York Daily News writer. Bear spray likely saved the life of a bowhunter who was mauled by a mother grizzly bear he and his buddy surprised near Livingston, Mont. Bob Legasa of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, wrote about Saturday's harrowing encounter in a Facebook post. He said he and his hunting partner, Greg Gibson, were stalking some elk when they startled a sow grizzly and her cub only 12 yards away from them. Few wild animals are more dangerous than a mother grizzly bear protecting her cubs, and this one was no exception. MORE: Big-game hunter fighting for life after bear he shot lands on him "Before I could even reach for my bear spray she was at full charge," Legasa wrote. He said he threw up one arm to protect his face when she bit him and knocked him over. Gibson, a few steps behind Legasa, was able to extract his spray canister. He blasted the bruin with the chemical, causing her to stop mauling Legasa and face the new threat. When she reared up and charged him, Gibson directed a second stream of spray at her muzzle. That did the trick. She broke off the attack and fled with her cub, Legasa wrote. Expecting the bear to rally for a second attack, Legasa wildly grabbed for his bear spray and accidentally sprayed himself. The bear's jaws broke Legasa's left arm in two places, and her claws left small cuts and scratches on his face. But it could have been much worse. Legasa was treated at an emergency room in Livingston and was transferred to a hospital in Bozeman, where he received surgery to clean out the wound and prevent infection. --- Read Mike Moffitt's latest stories and send him news tips at mmoffitt@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news. The University of Chattanooga Foundation, Inc. named five new members to its Board of Trustees. The announcement follows the news of the historic $40 million naming gift by Gary W. Rollins to the benefit UTCs college of business. The new trustees include: Betsy Blunt Brown, president, Pendleton Square Trust Company As president of Pendleton Square, Ms. Brown develops multi-generational family relationships and serves families and their advisors to deliver trust and family offices services as well as legacy plans. She has worked at Cumberland Trust, JPMorgan and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. She is a member of Chattanooga Rotary and sits on the boards of Girls Preparatory School, Chattanooga Estate Planning Council, The Generosity Trust and Reflection Riding and Nature Center. Brett Rousch, CPA and manager of ELD Associates, LLC Mr. Rouschs duties at ELD focus on tax and estate planning and investments for family-owned operating businesses. He was worked for Coopers & Lybrand and Arthur Anderson & Company. He has served on the UC Foundations Endowment Committee, the Policy and Taxation Group (PATG) in California and Washington, D.C. and the board of the Northern Trust Bank (Chicago). Roger Smith, 73, vice president, BB&T Huffaker Insurance (retired) Mr. Smith is 1973 graduate of UTCs Gary W. Rollins College of Business. He is a member of the Downtown Rotary Club, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, the Rollins College of Business Deans Advisory Board, the UT Alumni Association Board of Governors and the UT Alumni Legislative Council. Frank Williamson, president, Oaklyn Consulting (investment banking and management consulting) Mr. Williamson has served as a trustee and board chair of the Tennessee Aquarium and a trustee and board president of Portland Stage Company (Portland, Maine). He serves as a trustee and investor committee chair for Launch TN, a public-private partnership in Nashville, and he serves on the steering committee for the Aspen Institutes Socrates Program. Clint Wolford, vice president and Partner, Wolford Development, Inc. Mr. Wolford has overseen all aspects of the development and leasing of new real estate projects as well as management and leasing of existing projects. He has negotiated deals with several Wal-Mart and Target department stores as well as Big Box Retailers such as Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michaels Arts and Crafts, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, PetSmart, Burkes Outlet and Gander Mountain. Recently, he has signed leases with Starbucks, MOD Pizza, T-Mobile, Lasik Plus, CATO, Firehouse Subs and RAK Outfitters. A measurable criterion now exists for determining the age rating of films. A group of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz has found that the concentration of isoprene in cinema air correlates with the cinema industrys voluntary classification of films. Evidently, the more nervous and tense people are, the more variable is the isoprene they emit. This can be used to deduce how stressful a film might be for children and adolescents. The age from which children are allowed to watch a movie has so far been based on subjective judgments. In Germany, the Voluntary Self Regulation of the Movie Industry (FSK) classifies films after carefully examining their content. Some movies such as The Lion King are released for all ages, whereas others such as Harry Potter, Star Wars and Dracula are only suitable for viewers aged 6, 12, 16 or 18 respectively. Ultimately, the classification is fairly subjective. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz have now developed a method that can objectively evaluate the age at which children and adolescents can safely watch a movie. They measured the composition of air in cinemas as well as levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during 135 screenings of eleven different movies. Over 13,000 audience members were involved. For a variety of film genres and age groups, the researchers found that isoprene levels reliably correlate with the age rating of a film. Isoprene appears to be a good indicator of emotional tension within a group, says Jonathan Williams, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. Our approach could therefore provide an objective criterion for deciding how movies should be classified. Isoprene is formed by metabolic processes and is stored in muscle tissue. It is released via the circulatory system, expired air and the skin whenever we move. Evidently, we involuntarily squirm back and forth on our cinema seat or tense our muscles when we become nervous or excited, Jonathan Williams explains. And how intently the audience follows a film is, in turn, a good indication of the movies emotional impact on children and adolescents. If the new method were applied to an audience with representative age groups, it could help to determine the age rating of a movie in disputed cases. In addition, the measurements could show how audience reactions and age classification standards change over time. In order to detect the chemical clues, the scientists connected a mass spectrometer to the cinemas ventilation system. During the film screenings, the device, which can identify substances even at ppt levels, was used to track changes in the air composition by taking measurements once every 30 seconds. In this way the team analyzed the concentrations of 60 compounds. Based on the data, the scientists then created a model that compares the age classification with the data on how often and in what quantities the audience released those compounds. Jonathan Williams has now come up with a new research idea for the unambiguous correlation they identified for isoprene. He plans to investigate whether the volatile organic compounds we emit leave a chemical fingerprint in the air, not only of tension but of other emotional states as well. His team was unable to determine this clearly during the film screenings, because scenes that elicit very different emotions follow each other in rapid succession, thereby blurring the potential air-borne chemical traces. However, by taking air measurements under controlled laboratory conditions, in collaboration with other Max Planck Institutes in Frankfurt and Nijmegen, Jonathan Williams now hopes to conduct a thorough investigation into the question of whether specific emotions leave traces in the air. OAKLAND (BCN) A prosecutor told jurors today that an Oakland man who was only 16 at the time should be convicted of murder for the shooting death of an off-duty paramedic in the Oakland hills five years ago. But the defense attorney for Christian Burton, who's now 21, said Burton should be found not guilty because the only eyewitness to the fatal shooting of Santa Clara County paramedic Quinn Boyer, 34, shortly before noon on April 2, 2013, identified another teen as the shooter. Burton is standing trial a second time for the death of Boyer on Keller Avenue just below Skyline Boulevard because his first trial in 2015 ended in a mistrial with jurors deadlocked 7-5 in favor of finding him guilty. Co-defendant David McNeal, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 48 years to life in state prison for his role in the crime, which was providing the gun that was used. Four other teenage boys participated in the crime, which occurred when all six teens were supposed to be in school. Three of them pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in juvenile court for being accessories and are serving their sentences with the state Division of Juvenile Justice. The fourth, Nazhee Flowers, who defense attorney Ernie Castillo alleges was the teen who shot Boyer, pleaded guilty in adult court to a carjacking charge and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison. Prosecutor Jimmie Wilson said the fatal shooting of Boyer occurred during a crime spree in which the six teens committed two carjackings and a robbery in addition to the shooting. Wilson alleged that the teens wanted to carjack Boyer's Honda Civic, as he had pulled his car off to the side of the road to use his cellphone. Boyer, who lived in Dublin and had been married for less than a year, crashed his car down a ravine in the 5200 block of Keller Avenue after he was shot. He died two days later of a single gunshot wound to his head. Boyer grew up in Oakland and had been in the city that day to take his father Roger Boyer to a medical appointment. The key witness in the case is a woman who's now 80 years old who lived in the area, where crime is rare, and says she saw the shooting while she was driving her car to a pizza restaurant to get food for construction workers at her house. Castillo told jurors that the woman's description of the shooter matches Flowers, not Burton, and her statements to authorities support his contention that Burton wasn't involved in the shooting and may not even have been at the scene. But Wilson said the woman's description of the shooting "doesn't match the evidence" and the shooting "couldn't have happened the way she said it did." Wilson said the woman saw Flowers get out of the stolen car the teens were using but he doesn't think she actually saw the shooting. The prosecutor said several of the other teens told police that Burton was the shooter and Burton himself confessed to carrying out the shooting. But Castillo said Burton was a gullible 16-year-old kid who "admitted doing something he didn't do" because police officers used sophisticated tactics such as isolating him for hours in a room without windows and lying about the evidence in the case. He said he will call as a witness an expert who will testify about false confessions and the "psychological games" that police use when they interview suspects. Boyer's father and many other family members, colleagues and friends watched the opening statements today, as did several of Burton's family members and friends. 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 PG&E intentionally shut off power Sunday night for about 17,500 customers in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties because of the extreme risk of fires, the utility said this morning that most of those customers will have their power restored by tonight. The first-ever Public Safety Power Shutoff by PG&E began shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, and less than an hour later the utility also proactively turned off power to about 42,000 customers in extreme fire-risk areas of Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras counties in the Sierra Foothills. Of the affected customers, 5,757 are in Napa County in the areas of Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Napa, Pope Valley and Saint Helena, while about 415 are in the northeastern unincorporated areas of Sonoma County, PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty said. The shutoffs came after weather forecasts of wind gusts of 50 mph Sunday night into this morning that were expected to combine with low humidity and dry vegetation to create a high risk of fire danger. A man died when his truck collided with a Caltrans truck that was trailing a sweeper vehicle on southbound U.S. Highway 101 in San Jose this morning, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said. The crash was reported shortly after 10:30 a.m. on southbound Highway 101 near the Brokaw Road off-ramp. The Caltrans sweeper and a "shadow truck" behind it to protect it from traffic were traveling at about 5 mph south in the center divider of the highway, with the "shadow truck" partially in the far left highway lane, CHP Officer Ross Lee said. A white Dodge Ram going about 65-70 mph in the far left lane then struck the back of the shadow truck. The Dodge driver died in the crash and his identity is not yet being released, Lee said. A 38-year-old man found fatally shot over the weekend in a Pittsburg parking lot was identified as Jjuan Sanders, according to the Contra Costa County coroner's office. Officers responding to reports of gunshots shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday in the 600 block of Cumberland Street found Sanders with a gunshot wound, police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died. The death is the second homicide this year in Pittsburg, according to police. Sanders and the suspect may have known each other, police said. Officers are interviewing witnesses and patrons of a nearby business, and are reviewing video surveillance from the area. A house fire in San Jose this morning left 11 people displaced but did not cause any injuries, a fire captain said. The two-alarm fire was reported at 8:26 a.m. at a home in the 1100 block of East San Antonio Street. A second alarm was initially called because firefighters were told that there may be people trapped in the home, but crews arrived and determined that everyone had gotten out safely, San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said. There was "heavy fire" in the attic of the house, Matlow said. Crews eventually got the fire under control around 9 a.m. The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental in nature, according to Matlow. A man and a woman were injured in a shooting early Sunday morning in San Francisco's Yerba Buena neighborhood. The shooting was initially reported around 3:20 a.m. near Second and Howard streets, according to police. Officers learned that a man allegedly approached the victims and shot them. The victims, a 26-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, were taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said. The suspect, described as a 27-year-old man, apparently fled the scene and officers were unable to arrest him. A 47-year-old Redwood City man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs after allegedly causing a crash on state Highway 17 in Scotts Valley late Sunday night, according to the California Highway Patrol. The crash was reported at 11:44 p.m. on southbound Highway 17 north of Mount Hermon Road. Jesus Lopez Moreno was driving north in the southbound lanes on the highway in his 1999 Volkswagen Jetta when he struck a 2014 Mazda sedan driven by a 19-year-old Santa Cruz man, CHP officials said. The crash left the Volkswagen mangled but Lopez Moreno and the Mazda driver suffered only minor injuries, according to the CHP. The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is investigating an attempted strong-arm robbery that occurred Thursday in San Carlos. Sheriff's deputies responded at 12:50 p.m. Thursday to a report of an attempted robbery of a woman in the 1000 block of Laurel Street. The victim was walking when a man approached her and grabbed her purse. The victim was able to hold on to her purse, but she was pushed to the ground during the struggle. The suspect then fled into a waiting vehicle with license plate number 8GFZ865. Residents will have an opportunity to dispose of expired or unwanted prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Antioch Police Department, 300 L St. The event, hosted by the Antioch Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is designed to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding homes of unneeded prescription drugs. The service is free and anonymous. Only pills or patches are accepted, not liquids, needles or sharps. For more information or to find other locations participating in the drug take back on Oct. 27, go to the DEA Diversion website at https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov. 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. Starting shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, Pacific Gas and Electric had proactively turned off the power in extreme fire-risk areas of Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, in response to conditions created by dry vegetation, low humidity and high winds. Approximately 17,483 PG&E customers are impacted by this Public Safety Power Shutoff, the utility's historic first intentional deactivation of electric facilities in response to extreme fire conditions. Some of the outages could last into Tuesday, said PG&E spokeswoman Andrea Menniti. When the power is turned back on in these areas will depend on weather conditions and/or making any repairs to PG&E electrical equipment that might be required, Menniti said. Specific areas impacted beginning Sunday night include Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Clearlake Park, Cobb, Finley, Hidden Valley Lake, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Lower Lake and Middletown in Lake County; Napa, Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Pope Valley and St. Helena in Napa County; and unincorporated northeastern areas of Sonoma County. It is part of a plan in which PG&E turned off power in parts of 12 Northern California counties beginning Sunday. In June, Cal Fire announced that the utility's "electric power and distribution lines, conductors and the failure of power poles", caused at least a dozen wildfires in six Northern California counties. PG&E and county officials are contacting power customers directly and providing early warning notification, when and where possible, via automated calls, texts, and emails. In a related item, the North Bay likely will be hit today with its strongest wind gusts since last October, when devastating wildfires swept the region, the National Weather Service warned Sunday afternoon. Residents should prepare for high fire dangers through today resulting from low relative humidity and strong, gusty winds. Isolated gusts could reach around 70 mph in the North Bay mountains Sunday night into Monday morning, the weather service said. The threat of fires also will be high in the East Bay hills, with wind gusts of up to 30 mph. Relative humidity levels in the North and East bays are expected to drop this afternoon to around 10 percent and recover overnight to only around 20 percent. A red flag warning is in effect for the North and East Bay mountains and hills. Wind speeds are forecast to drop slightly on Monday, the weather service said, but mild and dry conditions are expected to persist into the first half of next week. Fremont Street in downtown San Francisco, which had been closed between Howard and Mission Streets since Sept. 25 after cracks were discovered in a steel beam in the Salesforce Transit Center, reopened late Sunday night, in time for the Monday morning commute. Though the street will be reopened, the Salesforce Transit Center itself will remain closed for the near future, a Transbay Joint Powers Authority spokesperson said Sunday. Transit operators will continue to provide bus service out of the "Temporary Transbay Terminal" at Howard and Main streets. Fremont Street's reopening should help with downtown traffic congestion that got significantly worse after the Sept. 25 closure. The discovery of the first fissure in a steel beam in the ceiling of the third-level bus deck on the eastern side of the Salesforce Transit Center near Fremont Street prompted a temporary closure of the building and of Fremont Street underneath it. Additional inspections revealed a second fissure at the Fremont Street location The First Street side of the Salesforce Transit Center also will be reinforced as a proactive measure. Transit information is available at 511 or 511.org. A solo-vehicle crash involving a Sonoma County Sheriff's Office patrol vehicle started fire that destroyed a house near Bodega Bay in unincorporated Sonoma County, the California Highway Patrol said. The crash occurred shortly after 5 a.m. in the 600 block of state Highway 1 near Smith Brothers Road, authorities said. A Sonoma County Sheriff's deputy was pursuing a vehicle suspected in recent thefts when he crashed into the home, according to the Sheriff's Office. The suspect vehicle was traveling at speeds of 90 to 100 mph. The deputy was able to escape the car and, along with another deputy, helped residents evacuate the home. Shortly thereafter, the patrol car and home caught fire. No one in the home was injured. The injured deputy was taken to a hospital and is expected to fully recover. The CHP is investigating the cause of the crash. Two people died and two others suffered life-threatening injuries early Sunday morning in a shooting East Palo Alto police believe erupted during an adults' Halloween party there, officers said. Police received a "ShotSpotter" activation about 2:44 a.m. in the 2500 block of Pulgas Avenue, police Cmdr. Jeff Liu said in a statement. That was followed soon thereafter by several 911 calls reporting a shooting there. Officers found four victims with gunshot wounds; two were pronounced dead at the scene. One was identified as Eduardo Alvarado Sandoval, 22, of Stockton; the identity of the other was being withheld early Sunday night pending notification of relatives, Liu said. He said that preliminary reports indicate the shooting broke out after a private adult Halloween party being held behind a Pulgas Avenue business complex, a dispute escalated into a physical altercation and, soon, into gunfire. The suspect fled the scene, and East Palo Alto police were still searching for him late Sunday. The driver of a motorcycle was killed Sunday and an occupant of a pickup truck taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley for treatment of serious injuries after the accident on Altamont Pass Road a mile and a half east of the Altamont Landfill, the CHP said. The accident scene is about a quarter mile north of Interstate Highway 580. The accident was reported at about 4:50 p.m. Sunday. The motorcycle involved landed in a ditch, and the pickup truck down a ravine off the roadway. A 20-year-old South San Francisco woman died early Sunday morning when the car she was driving on Interstate Highway 280 rolled over, ejecting her, the California Highway Patrol said. CHP Officer Arturo Montiel said it appears drugs and/or alcohol may have contributed to the accident. The woman, whose name was not released late Sunday, was driving her 2009 Toyota northbound on I-280 north of the Edgewood Road interchange about 1:50 a.m. Sunday, at an unknown speed, when she drifted off the right side of the roadway. Montiel said the driver apparently overcorrected, and the car then rolled over. The driver, the only occupant of the car, was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car, landing on the freeway, Montiel said. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. After PG&E intentionally shut off power Sunday night for about 17,500 customers in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties because of the extreme risk of fires, the utility said this morning that most of those customers will have their power restored by tonight. The first-ever Public Safety Power Shutoff by PG&E began shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, and less than an hour later the utility also proactively turned off power to about 42,000 customers in extreme fire-risk areas of Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras counties in the Sierra Foothills. Of the affected customers, 5,757 are in Napa County in the areas of Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Napa, Pope Valley and Saint Helena, while about 415 are in the northeastern unincorporated areas of Sonoma County, PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty said. The shutoffs came after weather forecasts of wind gusts of 50 mph Sunday night into this morning that were expected to combine with low humidity and dry vegetation to create a high risk of fire danger. "We know how much our customers rely on electric service, and we are temporarily turning off the power only in the interest of safety, and as a last resort due to the extreme weather conditions," Doherty said. PG&E crews will visually inspect power lines today for any necessary repairs before restoring power to the affected customers, according to Doherty. Most customers are expected to have power by tonight, but the utility said some outages could last into Tuesday depending on weather conditions and whether repairs need to be made. The outages have caused some school closures in the affected areas, including in Calistoga. The Calistoga Joint Unified School District sent out a message saying school is canceled for the day because of the shutoff. In June, Cal Fire officials announced that PG&E's equipment led to many of the wildfires that burned in Northern California in October 2017. The Public Safety Power Shutoff is part of the utility's Community Wildfire Safety Program to reduce wildfire risks. PG&E and local officials began outreach late Saturday to customers via automated calls, text messages and emails about the potential of a power shutoff. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. ANTIOCH (BCN) Residents will have an opportunity to dispose of expired or unwanted prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Antioch Police Department, 300 L St. The event, hosted by the Antioch Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is designed to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding homes of unneeded prescription drugs. The service is free and anonymous. Only pills or patches are accepted, not liquids, needles or sharps. For more information or to find other locations participating in the drug take back on Oct. 27, go to the DEA Diversion website at https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov. For more information on the Antioch event, contact Cpl. Dean Pfeiffer at (925) 779-6909. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. ANTIOCH (BCN) Police are warning residents about a recent rash of purse thefts from occupied vehicles parked at retail stores or stopped at intersections. "The thieves quickly run up and smash the vehicle window to steal the victim's purse or package off the passenger seat," Antioch police said in a Facebook post Friday. "They then flee in a vehicle with no rear license plate or a paper plate." Police say residents should stay vigilant, especially with the holiday season approaching, noting that thieves are stealing from vehicles even while the victim is inside. Car doors should remain locked even when occupied, especially while at shopping centers or stopped at intersections. "The thieves may be looking for distracted people to steal from, so be wary when on your cell phone when parked," police said. Copyright 2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. OAKLAND (BCN) As the region's pricey housing market forces more residents to camp on city streets and huddle under freeways, Oakland today unveiled a $9 million initiative to help those on the verge of losing a roof over their heads. Mayor Libby Schaaf and a coalition of nonprofits announced the Keep Oakland Housed program to provide legal, financial and supportive services to residents experiencing a housing crisis. "No one deserves to spend a single night on the streets," Schaaf said at a news conference at Oakland City Hall. Three nonprofits will provide services in the program: Bay Area Community Services, Catholic Charities of the East Bay and the East Bay Community Law Center. The website www.keepoaklandhoused.org was launched for the initiative, which will run through 2022. Residents facing a housing crisis can also call 211. "This is what we have to do at this moment, when the Bay Area is becoming so expensive," Schaaf said. Oakland residents who are in the midst of a housing crisis, who have a household income at or below 50 percent of the area median income ($58,100 for a family of four) are eligible for the program. Priority will be given to extremely low-income households and legal representation will be provided to tenants with active eviction lawsuits. The program, funded by $9 million from the San Francisco Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, will provide financial assistance of up to $7,000 per individual or family to help residents stay in their homes. The money will not go directly to residents, but to landlords or third-party vendors. Tirien Steinbach, executive director of the East Bay Community Law Center, said pressures of the region's tightening rental market provide incentives to landlords to raise rents. Tenants are feeling the squeeze, and need help fighting evictions. Oakland already has strong tenant laws, "but these laws have no power if not enforced," Steinbach said. Jaime Almanza, executive director of Bay Area Community Services, said Keep Oakland Housed sets up a way for residents to get the help they need immediately. "We are creating a housing emergency system that can respond the same day," Almanza said. Over the past year, Oakland has created three Tuff Shed villages to house homeless. The small plastic sheds can shelter two people on narrow cots with a curtain separating the roommates. The latest camp of sheds, near Lake Merritt, holds about 40 people. Schaaf said that so far, 65 percent of those leaving the sheds have left for transitional or permanent housing. The mayor said the city was also planning to make its winter shelter, which opens on Oct. 22, a year-round shelter. More than 2,700 people were estimated to be homeless in Oakland, as of the most recent homeless survey on Jan. 30, 2017. 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. For years, Lampert who, along with his hedge fund, lent Sears $1.6 billion over the past 2 years insisted the company was committed to a turnaround, though he acknowledged it was taking longer than expected. But in September, he pushed for a plan to stave off bankruptcy, calling for restructuring nearly $1 billion in debt and offering to buy assets including the valuable Kenmore brand. To critics, the offer was further evidence that Lampert was carving out the most valuable parts of the flagging business for himself. Sonoma County sheriff's deputies were pursuing a Honda Pilot they suspected was involved in a rash of generator thefts from Sonoma Coast campgrounds when they crashed into a Bodega Bay home, setting it on fire Sunday morning, a sheriff's sergeant said. The Honda was stolen in the Santa Cruz area and the driver, Ryan Christopher Moore, 35, of Santa Rosa, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, reckless evading causing great bodily injury, and resisting a law enforcement officer, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said. Two portable generators believed stolen from a Doran Beach campground were found in the Honda, Crum said. The sheriff's office provided additional details about the incident late this morning. A deputy received at least five reports of generator thefts from Bodega Bay campgrounds over the past two weeks. The deputy was in an unmarked vehicle in the Doran Beach campground and two other patrol deputies were in marked patrol cars outside the campground early Sunday morning, Crum said. The deputies saw a white sedan enter the campground around 2:45 a.m. The driver and passenger dressed in dark clothing got out of the sedan and walked around, Crum said. Deputies saw another vehicle enter the campground around 5 a.m., and both the sedan and a Honda Pilot then left the campground at the same time. Deputies tried to stop the Honda on northbound state Highway 1, but it failed to yield and led the deputies on a high-speed pursuit through Bodega Bay, according to Crum. The deputy lost traction on a curve, went off the road and struck the home in the 600 block of Highway 1. The deputy's car was lodged in the front of the vacation rental home occupied by three San Francisco residents. Two deputies were able to open the front door and get them out of the house as the patrol car and house caught fire, Crum said. The vacationers were put up in a local hotel. State Parks rangers found the Honda containing the generators abandoned at a construction site in the 300 block of Bay Vista Lane in Bodega Bay, and deputies determined it was stolen in the Santa Cruz area, Crum said. Moore was identified as the potential driver, and he was arrested around 3:30 p.m. after he was seen leaving with two other people in a 2015 Toyota Sienna van, Crum said. Sheriff's detectives stopped the van in an industrial park off Coffey Lane in Santa Rosa. The Toyota van was stolen in the San Pablo area, and the driver, Anthony Scott Stone, 32, of Vallejo, was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft and possession of a stolen vehicle, Crum said. A Santa Rosa woman who was in the van was arrested on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia, Crum said. A sheriff's deputy who was injured in the crash into the house is recovering in a hospital from serious injuries and is expected to make a full recovery, Crum said. Moore and Stone are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Sonoma County Superior Court. 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. Rosenzweig first listed the mansion in 2010 for $2.5 million and reduced the asking price to $2.35 million and then to $2.09 million before offering it for rent in 2011. He also listed it in 2011 for $1.999 million before taking it off the market and then relisting it in 2013 and 2014 for $2.199 million. Now its available for the unusual asking price of $2,397,747. It's a cold, wet, weekday afternoon, and I'm sitting down with Augie Sanchez, who for 44 years was chef of Como Inn, the Marchetti family restaurant that operated on Milwaukee Avenue from 1924 until it closed in 2001. "Let me see," he begins, reaching back into the archive he keeps in his head, "you fry up some chicken ... " Advertisement And so it goes. He dictates the recipes in a loose, "pinch of this, a little of that" fashion. But with time, testing and input from Sanchez's son, Ricky, now head chef at Galleria Marchetti, we conjured this rendition of Como Inn's chicken cacciatore that was requested by reader Susie Kessler of Deerfield. Como Inn's chicken cacciatore Advertisement Prep: 25 minutes Cook: 35 minutes Makes: 8 servings 2 chickens, about 2 pounds, cut in pieces Flour for dredging chicken 1/4 cup olive oil 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 cup flour Advertisement 1 onion, sliced 1 clove garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced 1/4 cup white wine Advertisement 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 1 1/2 cups canned peeled Italian plum tomatoes, mashed 1/2 teaspoon salt 1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat chicken pieces in flour. Heat olive oil in large skillet. Cook chicken, in batches, until browned on all sides, 5 minutes. Remove chicken to baking dish; keep warm in oven. 2. Melt the butter in the skillet; stir in the flour. Cook to make a thick roux, 5 minutes. Add onion, garlic, rosemary and oregano to skillet. Cook 1 minute. Add mushrooms; cook 2 minutes. Add wine; cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 3. Add reserved chicken to skillet. Simmer over low heat until chicken is tender and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Advertisement Nutrition information: Per serving: 473 calories, 48% of calories from fat, 25 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 94 mg cholesterol, 26 g carbohydrates, 34 g protein, 446 mg sodium, 2 g fiber Looking for more lost recipes? Contact Monica Kass Rogers at . U.S. premiere of Kate Moores Synaesthesia Suite, for violin and recorded track of synthesized violin. Kate has been making waves mostly in Europe and Australia for the last 15 years and has had some presence in the U.S, says Mazzoli. But, again, has yet to be presented by a major symphony. I find Kates work thrilling and beautiful. She has her very own personal idiosyncratic take on minimalism. We have the driving rhythms and the repetition of minimalism, but its completely new, completely her. You hear a Kate Moore piece, and you know its her, instantly. Shes working in a sort of tonal idiom, but theres nothing predictable about it. I was caught in a strange tug-of-war between my gut, which told me to continue to breastfeed my son, and the reactions of people around me, including experts in the medical field. This is particularly ironic because of the well-documented medical benefits of breastfeeding. I was versed in all of the statistics, because I had worked in the nutrition division of an international organization that advises women to breastfeed their babies until they are at least two years old (as the World Health Organization also recommends). I had vowed to myself that I would breastfeed until my son turned two. PARIS Muddy rivers and streams swollen by torrential rains tore through southwestern France on Monday, swamping towns, cutting off roads and killing at least 11 people. Most of the flooding occurred in the Aude region, named for the river that runs through it, after several months worth of rain fell within hours overnight nearly 14 inches in some places, according to the Interior Ministry. In the town of Trebes, near the city of Carcassonne, the agency that tracks flooding nationwide described the rise in the water level over 20 feet as exceptional, and said it had nearly reached the record set in 1891. At least six people were killed there, the Interior Ministry said. Five other people were killed in the region, including a nun who was swept away by the rising waters in Villardonnel, north of Carcassonne. Eight people in the region were injured, and one was reported missing, according to a statement from the Aude prefecture, the local state authority. In Villegailhenc, surging waters collapsed a bridge that crumbled and washed away. The episode was similar to flash floods last week on the Spanish island of Majorca, where 12 people died. Frederic de Lanouvelle, the French Interior Ministry spokesman, said the casualty count in Aude unfortunately probably isnt definitive. There are many homes that are flooded, many people who might be isolated, he told the BFM TV news channel. Local authorities, warning that more flooding was expected, urged residents to stay inside and to avoid traveling. Many schools were closed and public transportation ground to a halt. Drone and helicopter video showed flooded fields, houses surrounded by murky brown water, and cars overturned or abandoned on inundated roads. Hundreds of firefighters, emergency workers and police officers were deployed across the area, sometimes using helicopters to lift residents off the roofs of their flooded homes. In the village of Pezens, about 1,000 residents were evacuated because of the risk that a nearby dam would overflow. Flash flooding in the region is not uncommon in the fall, when warm air masses from the south cross over the Mediterranean and encounter the cooler southwestern tip of the Massif Central mountains, creating instability that can lead to exceptional rainfall and violent thunderstorms. Aurelien Breeden is a New York Times writer. Certainly, residents have the right to demonstrate and voice their discontent. That anger almost always will be directed at the police. But there must be limitations. Communities must never resort to violence against police officers, regardless of how much they are hurting. And history has shown that it is a fight minority communities cannot win. BUDAPEST, Hungary A constitutional amendment that prohibits people from living in public areas took effect Monday in Hungary, but Ferenc Ribenys biggest concern is the fate of his dog. The ban empowers police to issue warnings to anyone living on the streets. Penalties for people who receive four warnings within 90 days include jail time or up to six months in a public works program. Ribeny, 67, a former restaurant owner, has lived for a year on the streets of Budapest. His companion is Mazli, the terrier he got after his wifes death seven years ago. Ribeny said he has applied for a job at an animal shelter and inquired about occupying a shipping container that was converted into a home. Im hoping it will work itself out, because otherwise I dont know what to do, Ribeny said during a meal at a daytime shelter. Without Mazli with him, theres really no point in living. The seventh amendment to the Basic Law, as Hungarys Constitution is now called, was passed by lawmakers in June. Along with cracking down on the homeless, it includes articles meant to protect Hungarys Christian culture and greatly limit the chances of refugees receiving asylum. Courts declared an earlier attempt by Prime Minister Viktor Orbans government to outlaw homelessness to be unconstitutional. Writing the ban into the Basic Law makes it harder to challenge legally. Advocates for the homeless say the ban and the threat of jail time for violators are unlikely to solve the homeless issue, especially when many of those on the streets need medical and psychological care most shelters cant provide. More resources are needed to prevent people from becoming homeless and to house the ones that do end up with nowhere to stay, Shelter Foundation director Zoltan Aknai said. There already have been several unsuccessful attempts for the current homeless care system to absorb those living in the streets, Aknai said. Now, authorities are trying to achieve this with tougher measures. The Hungarian government recently allocated $32.2 million to help the homeless. Unofficial estimates say Budapests homeless population is 30,000. We are preparing to provide extra assistance to all those living in the streets, said Ministry of Human Resources State Secretary Bence Retvari. Pablo Gorondi is an Associated Press writer. QUNEITRA, Syria President Bashar Assads government received a major boost Monday as Syrias commercial gateway with Jordan and a crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights manned by U.N peacekeepers were reopened years after the war disrupted their operations. The simultaneous reopening of the crossings was celebrated on state media, reinforcing the governments narrative that it is slowly emerging victorious from the seven-year war. We are now witnessing the early fruits of victory, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said at a press conference in Damascus. Sitting next to his Iraqi counterpart, who was visiting on Monday, al-Moallem said the two countries are discussing reopening a border crossing. No one should isolate Syria, said Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraqs foreign minister, adding that he backed Syrias return to the Arab League. Assads government has been largely isolated by its Arab neighbors since the civil war broke out in 2011. The 22-member Arab League froze Syrias membership shortly after the war began, imposing sanctions and cutting diplomatic ties. Commercial delegations converged on the Naseeb crossing with Jordan on Monday, and members of the Syrian chamber of commerce went into Jordan to meet with their counterparts. The first truck carrying citrus entered Jordan, and dozens of private cars drove into Syria. We are brothers. Our economy is connected to the Syrian economy, said Abdel-Salam Theyabat, the head of a Jordanian chamber of commerce. At the Quneitra border crossing, leaders of the Druze community, which straddles the frontier, were first on the scene to attend the flag-raising ceremony. Humanitarian and community leaders said they hoped the crossing would soon be open to trade and movement of students. The opening of the crossing is a signal of the return of stability to Syria and the failure of the efforts to divide the country, said Syrian army Brig. Mazen Younes. The commercial crossing with Jordan promises to restore millions of dollars worth of trade. Syrian vegetables and fruits will find their way to the Gulf, Turkey and Arab markets more easily, and construction and raw materials will find a faster route into Syrian cities and towns devastated by the war. Once one of Syrias busiest, the Naseeb crossing was closed in 2015 when it fell to rebel hands. Albert Aji and Omar Akour are Associated Press writers. WASHINGTON President Trump raised the possibility Monday that rogue killers were behind the disappearance of a Saudi dissident journalist as the kingdom prepared to admit Jamal Khashoggi was killed in an interrogation gone wrong, according to a person familiar with the Saudi plans. The new explanation served to shield Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia from any blame in the fate of Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. Turkish officials have said Khashoggi was killed and dismembered after he disappeared in the consulate. It also ran counter to the reports that have since emerged from the Turkish government, which have included signs of deliberate assassination. Among other things, Turkish officials have said, an autopsy specialist carrying a bone saw was among 15 Saudi operatives who flew to Istanbul on Oct. 2, the day Khashoggi disappeared. Trump and King Salman of Saudi Arabia spoke for about 20 minutes in a Monday phone call, the president told reporters. During the call, Trump said King Salman denied any knowledge about what happened to Khashoggi. It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers who knows, Trump said. The presidents comments opened a window for King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed to stand by their denials of involvement in Khashoggis disappearance. Seasoned observers of Middle East politics, including some at senior levels of the Turkish government, have speculated for days about the likelihood that the royal court would seek to accuse a rogue operator within the Saudi security services of killing Khashoggi. One person familiar with the Saudi plans said Monday that the Saudi government was preparing to describe a scenario that would protect the prince from any blame. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity. But he said the royal court would soon put out a narrative that an official within the kingdoms intelligence services who happened to be a friend of Crown Prince Mohammed had carried out the killing. The person said Prince Mohammed had approved an interrogation or rendition of Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia. But, he said, the Saudi intelligence official was tragically incompetent as he eagerly sought to prove himself in secretive operations. Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., wrote in a Twitter post on Monday that he had heard the Saudis were pushing a rogue killers theory and called it extraordinary that the kingdom was able to get the president on board. Eileen Sullivan and David D. Kirkpatrick are New York Times writers. BERLIN A Moroccan man convicted of helping Mohamed Atta and the other Hamburg-based Sept. 11 suicide pilots as they plotted their attacks on New York and Washington was deported Monday from Germany to his native country. Mounir el Motassadeq, who was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and accessory to the murder of the 246 passengers and crew on the four jetliners used in the 2001 attacks, was flown by helicopter from a Hamburg prison on Monday. Blindfolded and hands and ankles in shackles, the 44-year-old was then led to another aircraft while other heavily armed police patrolled the area and watched from rooftops. Authorities wouldnt comment on the operation for security reasons. Its a good feeling to know that Mr. Motassadeq is out of the country, said Hamburgs Interior Minister Andy Grote. El Motassadeq was released shortly before serving all of his 15-year sentence on the condition that he would agree to be deported to Morocco. It wasnt immediately clear what fate awaited him there. El Motassadeq was convicted of being part of the Hamburg cell, which included Atta and fellow Sept. 11 pilots Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. German courts ruled that el Motassadeq was aware the three planned to hijack and crash planes, even though he might not have known the specifics of the plot. They said el Motassadeq had helped watch the attackers backs and conceal them by doing things such as helping them keep up the appearance of being regular university students paying tuition and rent fees, and transferring money. El Motassadeq acknowledged training at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan but insisted he knew nothing of his friends plans to attack the U.S. I swear by God that I did know the attackers were in America, he shouted at a sentencing hearing. I swear by God that I did not know what they wanted to do. His attorney, Jan Jacob, refused to comment on the deportation, which brings to an end a lengthy legal saga in Germany. Originally arrested in Hamburg in November 2001, el Motassadeq was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization that included Atta, al-Shehhi and Jarrah. But he was acquitted of being an accessory to murder. A federal court later reversed the acquittal, ruling he knew the plotters planned to hijack and crash planes. It limited the number of counts, however, to the 246 people killed aboard the airplanes. David Rising is an Associated Press writer. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Video of a horrific beatdown in the middle of a Brooklyn intersection is going viral on social media, and a livery driver from Staten Island has been arrested in connection with the incident. The footage, taken from a surveillance camera at the intersection of 46th Street and 13th Avenue in Borough Park Sunday, shows one man position himself on top of another -- who is on his knees in the middle of the street -- and punch him at least three times, before slamming him on his back. He can be seen striking the victim several more times before sprinting down the block after a good Samaritan who tries to intervene. The footage, which was posted to Twitter, has spread on the social media platform and been picked up by several news organizations. Police responded at about 7:30 a.m. to the location, where they discovered a 62-year-old man being assaulted in the street, according to an NYPD spokesperson. Afzal Farrukh, 37, of Elm Park, was arraigned late Sunday on charges of assault, attempted assault, menacing and harassment in connection with the incident, according to a New York Post report. Prosecutors said the incident began as the victim was crossing the intersection, when Farrukh honked at him for not walking fast enough; which led to a shouting match and the victim allegedly punching the car window, according to the report. I feared for my life," said victim Lipa Schwartz, in an interview with Boropark24. "I knew its either I fight myself out of this, or I might be dead. Schwartz said Farrukh seemed to want revenge, but didnt specify for what. Schwartz was transported to Maimonides hospital in stable condition, conscious and alert with minor lacerations, pain and bruising to his head. The judge issued $15,000 bail for the defendant, who, according to police has multiple prior arrests. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Retired Judge Philip Straniere will interview Dr. David G. Dalin, author of "Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court," during a discussion set for Oct. 28 in the Joan and Alan Bernikow JCC in Sea View. The event, hosted by the Dr. Esther Grushkin Seminars for Adult Jewish Education, will begin with a VIP cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. Dr. Dalin, a senior research fellow at Brandeis University, is an ordained rabbi and widely published scholar of American Jewish history. His latest book, "Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court, from Brandeis to Kagan," is nationally acclaimed and was selected as a finalist for the Jewish Book Council's 2017 National Jewish Book Award. It is the first history of the eight Jewish men and women who have served or currently serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. He will attend the VIP reception and sign copies of his book, which will be available for purchase. The interview will take place at 7 p.m. in the Stolzenberg Social Hall. In addition to the discussion, the first Dr. Esther Grushkin SAJE Memorial Award will be presented to Jack Stern, a distinguished Staten Island attorney active in the community. He is a member of the Richmond County, New York state, Florida state and New Jersey state bar associations as well as the American Bar Association and National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He also is the immediate past president of The Hillel of the College of Staten Island and is a member of the board of trustees of the St. George Theatre. VIP tickets, which include the cocktail reception, discussion and dessert, cost $118 per person. General admission tickets for the discussion and dessert are $36 each. To purchase tickets, click here. For more information, contact Sigalit Grego at 718-475-5276 or sgrego@sijcc.com. The Dr. Esther Grushkin Seminars for Adult Jewish Education were created in memory of Dr. Grushkin, who died three years ago. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, she was 12 when she immigrated to the United States. She was an accomplished educator and Hebrew scholar, devoting her life to sharing her passion for Jewish learning by creating compelling, intellectual discussions on a variety of topics such as philosophy, the Bible, biblical archaeology and Jewish culture among others. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- She's back! In a return performance, former Woodrow resident Candice Guardino will star in "Italian Bred," a production set for Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. in the Center for the Arts at the College of Staten Island. FYI: "Italian Bred" is based on true life events and told through the eyes of a little girl growing up Italian on Staten Island. Guardino slips in and out of multiple family characters while she shares the stage with Emmy winner Steve Schirripa ("The Sopranos," "Blue Bloods"), Mario Cantone ("Sex & the City"), Leslie Jordan ("Will and Grace") and Vic Dibitetto ("Mall Cop 2"), who make virtual cameos on a projector screen. And a new take on solo shows is exactly what Guardino does best. The Wagner College alumna made a name for herself on the New York theater scene with her one-woman show, "S.O.S.," which ran at Stage 72 and at The Laurie Beechman Theater in Manhattan. "Growing up on Staten Island is about family and community," Guardino said. "Some say it's the forgotten borough but, to me, it's the best hidden secret. I'm so grateful for that." She added, "I'm drawn to tell stories about real people. I want to turn on the TV, see a show or a movie that's about the real heroes in life -- our family. That's why I created 'Italian Bred.' There's a lot of funny in my truth." Guardino was raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn before relocating to Woodrow. She now splits her time between Los Angeles and New York City. Interested? Contact CSI for tickets at 718-982-2787 or visit italianbredshow.com/tickets. For further information on Italian Bred, visit www.italianbredshow.com. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Despite Sears Holdings filling Chapter 11 on Monday in federal bankruptcy court in New York, the Staten Island Mall store will remain open. Earlier this month, when Sears announced it would be closing a batch of stores, a company spokesman said the boroughs Sears -- the New Springville Mall anchor since it opened more than 40 years ago -- would remain open. The store was significantly downsized when Primark subleased space from Sears. However, on Monday the more than a century-old retailer announced the closure of 142 stores, according to a court filing. But Sears said most stores would stay open during the holiday season. A Sears spokesman confirmed on Monday the Staten Island store doesnt appear on the current list of closures. As we look toward the holiday season, Sears and Kmart stores remain open for business and our dedicated associates look forward to serving our members and customers, Eddie Lampert, Sears chairman, said in a statement. The bankruptcy announcement comes after the closing of hundreds of Sears and Kmart locations over the last couple of years -- including the Kmart in New Dorps Hylan Plaza. The Staten Island Mall store is one of 700 Sears locations that have survived mass closures over the years. The company says it currently employs about 68,000 people. This is a decrease from 1,000 stores and 89,000 employees as of February, according to CNN. Over the last several years, we have worked hard to transform our business and unlock the value of our assets, said Lampert. While we have made progress, the plan has yet to deliver the results we have desired, and addressing the companys immediate liquidity needs has impacted our efforts to become a profitable and more competitive retailer." He said the Chapter 11 process will give the retailer flexibility to strengthen its balance sheet, enabling the company to accelerate its strategic transformation, continue right sizing its operating model, and return to profitability." FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nearly two months into Staten Islands new MTA express bus network, some riders are seeing beneficial changes, while others remain frustrated with the redesigned system. Since the introduction of the SIM9 on Oct. 7, some travelers to the West Side of Manhattan have seen quicker morning commutes, with the SIM9 avoiding some of the Hylan Boulevard traffic that plagues the SIM7. I took the new SIM9 this morning and it cut my commute by 25 minutes from Bay Terrace to lower Manhattan, said Rosanne Angiolillo Alaimo earlier this month. Alaimo says that returning West Side service to Father Capodanno Boulevard after it was initially eliminated during the rollout of the redesign has made a huge difference in the amount of traffic faced during her commute. During an editorial board meeting with the Staten Island Advance last month, the MTA admitted that it had made a mistake in removing West Side service from Father Capodanno Boulevard during the initial rollout of the redesign. Early in the process we had it (the SIM7) on Father Capodanno, said MTA planner Jonathan Hawkins. After public outreach we modified it to move it back to Hylan, and now I think that whats become clear is that we got that a little wrong and it really needs both Hylan and Father Capodanno service. The SIM9 begins at Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Avenue, travels down Hylan Boulevard and then turns right onto Midland Avenue. It then travels along Father Capodanno Boulevard, stopping at the South Beach Park-and-Ride, before heading to the West Side of Manhattan. In Manhattan, the SIM9 follows the same route as the SIM7 and SIM33. ISSUES REMAIN Despite the improved service for some, many issues still remain with the boroughs redesigned express bus network, with many customers still facing long lines, overcrowding, standing-room-only conditions and bunched buses arriving off-schedule. I have already waited for a SIM4 or 4C for 35 minutes. A SIM4C finally came and it didnt even have standing room on it. On a work day. Shameful, Jennifer Baum posted to a Facebook group about the boroughs express bus service. Same here. Just got stuck on Broadway and Morris. Couldnt get on the bus. About 15 people were on my line that were left behind, Nika Abasova commented. Riders have also complained that the situation surrounding traffic agents at the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel holding express buses while allowing cars to pass has not improved despite continued complaints. They need to do something with the traffic getting into the tunnel. Should not take 20 minutes to get into tunnel from State Street, Lori Benvenuto posted to the Facebook group. The MTA is currently studying the approach to the Hugh L. Carey tunnel and working with other agencies such as NYC DOT, NYPD and MTA Bridges & Tunnels in order to mitigate delays during the evening peak, according to an MTA spokesperson. MTA CONTINUING TO EVALUATE The MTA is stepping up its customer feedback initiatives, while using collected data to continue optimizing the new system. We are now working on gathering customer feedback through surveys and analyzing ridership data to get a more nuanced picture of customer demand and travel patterns that will inform the next round of service changes, according to an MTA spokesperson. The MTA is analyzing MetroCard data, passenger counters and collected staff data to monitor service, gauge performance and evaluate allocation of resources. An internal working group has been formed that includes MTA, NYCDOT, NYPD and ATU local officials to plan future adjustments to the Staten Island express bus network. The MTA has also begun ongoing field meetings with the NYCDOT to discuss potential changes to roads and infrastructure that have potential to speed up Staten Island express bus trips. We are stepping up our customer surveys and service monitoring now that we have successfully implemented our first major service tweaks since the launch of the redesigned express network on Staten Island. On October 7, we added more trips, reallocated resources to better reflect where customers are traveling, and even added an entirely new route - the SIM9 thanks to feedback from customers which we absolutely appreciate. Were continuing to monitor service on every route throughout the day and meeting with NYCDOT, NYPD and our labor partners as we plan further improvements to this new system," said MTA NYCT president Andy Byford. 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! JP Morgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon and Ford chairman Bill Ford have cancelled plans to attend a Saudi Arabian investor conference later this month, the latest high-profile cancellations after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Uber Technologies chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and billionaire Steve Case, one of the founders of AOL, have also said they are no longer going to the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, while British billionaire Richard Branson on Friday suspended business links with Saudi Arabia. JP Morgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon has cancelled plans to attend a Saudi Arabian investor conference later this month. Credit:AP Neither JP Morgan nor Ford elaborated on the reasons for their decision, and did not comment on whether concerns about the disappearance of Khashoggi were a factor. Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadh's policies, disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that. The old global economy was addicted to Saudi Arabian oil. The new global economy is addicted to Saudi wealth. Uber is backed by it. So too is Slack, the messaging tool you might use at work. And WeWork, the shared office space provider from where you might be reading this story. US President Donald Trump holds a chart highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office in March. Credit:AP The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is known for its oil (and its repression) but in recent years it has become an extremely active tech start-up investor. It shouldn't be terribly surprising that a country with vast oil wealth is pouring money into high-growth tech companies in an effort to diversify away from the fossil fuel. The federal budget deficit has surged to $US779 billion ($1.09 trillion) in fiscal 2018, its highest level in six years as President Donald Trump's tax cuts caused the government to borrow more heavily in order to cover its spending. Trump promised that economic growth would compensate for less tax revenue, but so far that scenario has not materialised. Credit:AP The Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit climbed $US113 billion from fiscal 2017. Debt will likely worsen in the coming years with the Trump administration expecting the deficit to top $US1 trillion in 2019, nearly matching the $US1.1 trillion imbalance from 2012. The deficit worsened because tax revenues are not keeping pace with government spending. The government's fiscal year runs from October to September, unlike calendar years that begin in January. Tax revenues were essentially flat in fiscal 2018, while spending increased 3.2 per cent as Congress gave more funds for military and domestic programs. Revenues generally tumbled after December when Trump signed into law $US1.5 trillion of tax cuts over the next decade. The tax cuts have caused economic growth to accelerate this year with Federal Reserve officials anticipating gains of 3.1 per cent. But the Trump administration initially promised that the tax cuts would pay for themselves through stronger growth - and there is no sign so far of that happening. In 2007 just before the fifth film in the Harry Potter series premiered Radcliffe appeared naked in the stage show Eqqus. Then after the series was complete, one of his first major roles was as a suspected murderer who grew horns and could command snakes to kill for him. Other actors however have just accepted that a major role will be with them forever and they just need to get on with life. Daniel Craig, for example, was reportedly so over playing super spy James Bond (a role that pigeon-holed Sean Connery and Roger Moore for decades) after his first four turns in the role that he told Londons Time Out: Id rather break this glass and slash my wrists in a post-shoot interview. Weary: Daniel Craig has spoken of how tired he is of playing James Bond. Credit:AP That was 2015 however and a new Bond film with Craig in the starring role is due out in 2019. And Sylvester Stallone has well and truly embraced his biggest roles, playing boxer Rocky Balboa in six movies so far (another is due out in late 2018) and soldier John Rambo four times (with another appearance scheduled for 2019). For many however, the answer is simple, just choose the best role youre offered, not necessarily because its different to what youve done, and let the audience see what you can do. Patrick Dempsey, better known as Derek McDreamy Shepherd in the drama Greys Anatomy is a master of the transformation. In the 1980s, he was best known for a string of romantic comedies where he played the young heartthrob. In 2005 he showed he has a lot more to offer as the driven and complicated surgeon at the heart of medical drama Greys Anatomy. And now hes done it again as a college professor Harry Quebert who is accused of murdering a girl when her body is discovered 33 years after she disappeared. Its a gripping performance and a world away from anything hes done. Heres six other actors who managed to prove they were much more than their fans believed. The actor: Bryan Cranston Who they were best known as: The stressed (and hilarious) dad in Malcolm in the Middle. How they put that behind them: As the teacher turned meth-dealing killer Walter White in Breaking Bad. Watch Breaking Bad here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/breaking-bad The one who knocks: Bryan Cranston as Walter White. The actor: Charlie Hunnam Who they were best known as: Outlaw bikie Jax Tellar in Sons of Anarchy. How they put that behind them: British legend and leader of the Knights Of The Round Table King Arthur. Watch King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/king-arthur-legend-of-the-sword-2017 The actor: Sean Connery Who they were best known as: Secret agent James Bond, 007. How they put that behind them: As a book publisher with absolutely no interest in being a spy in The Russia House. Long career: Sean Connery. Credit:Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters The actor: Emma Watson Who they were best known as: Harry Potters classmate and friend Hermione Granger. How they put that behind them: Playing a sexy American high-school student in The Perks of Being A Wallflower. Watch The Perks Of Being A Wallflower here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower-2012 The actor: Michael C. Hall Who they were best known as: David Fischer, the gentle, gay middle brother in Six Feet Under. How they put that behind them: By slicing his way through bad guys as the psychopathic vigilante lead of Dexter. Watch Dexter here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/dexter The actor: Kylie Minogue Who they were best known as: Charlene Robinson, mechanic and girl next door in Neighbours. How they put that behind them: As a tearaway teen in and out of trouble with the law in the film The Delinquents. And of course The actor: Patrick Dempsey Who they were best known as: Derek McDreamy Shepherd from Greys Anatomy. How they put that behind them: Playing a suspected murderer in the thriller The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair Watch The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/the-truth-about-the-harry-quebert-affair Spot the star! And if youre looking for one film that sums up the reality of actors moving on from a famous role, check out The Circle. A fast-paced, action-filled science fiction thriller it follows a young woman as she joins a tech company and slowly falls into a world where social media and being online 24-hours a day reduces her privacy to zero. Its an often-dark glimpse of the future and a grilling thriller, but for many viewers the fun of the film comes from spotting the many well-known actors in very different roles. The young woman Mae at the centre of it all? That would be Emma Watson, who we watched grow up as Harry Potters friend Hermione. Her best friend Annie is played by Karen Gillan, who many will immediately recognise as Doctor Whos companion Amy Pond; their work colleague Ty is John Boyega, aka Finn from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi; Maes dad Vinnie is Bill Paxton, who will always be remembered for shouting Game over man, Game over! in Aliens and her evil boss? Hes played by Tom Hanks in a world away from his original slapstick comedy characters. And its a testament to their acting abilities that it doesnt take long at all before you completely forget those old characters and just enjoy the new. Check out The Circle here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/the-circle-2017 Want to see how a great actor can shrug off a role we thought theyd never leave? Check out those amazing transformations on Stan here: https://www.stan.com.au/watch/movies Stan is Australias leading local SVoD service, providing unlimited access to thousands of hours of entertainment for the whole family. Get access to the biggest Hollywood shows, blockbuster movies, cult classics and popular kids content on your favourite device. Start your free 30-day trial at Stan.com.au. The world's beer industry could be particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change as rising temperatures including "heat shocks" reduce barley yields worldwide, international researchers estimate. A second Australian favourite may also be at risk, with a visiting US professor saying beef consumption will also have to drop if efforts to restrain global temperatures are to succeed. It's not quite last drinks but a warmer world is not likely to be good for the beer industry - among many others. Credit:Shutterstock Illustration: Matt Golding In the beer study, barley yields are projected to drop as much as 17 per cent if greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trajectory, according to a paper prepared by researchers in China, US and other nations, and published in Nature Plants journal on Tuesday. Happiness Is ... Canberra Dance Theatre. Artistic director: Jacqui Simmonds. Various choreographers. The Street Theatre, October 12. Season concluded. Amanda Tutalo in Woman of the River. Credit:Art Atelier Photography Canberra Dance Theatre, celebrating 40 years of existence with a program called Happiness Is, has never been a fully-funded, professional dance company. For the past several years its focus has been strongly on community dance, whereas previously there was, it seems to me, more work made using professional artists, especially as performers. The program aimed to show work from the past as well as the present and so was very much a mixed bag of dance. The works on the program that were made and danced by highly experienced professional artists were, not surprisingly, the strongest and the most choreographically sophisticated. Elizabeth Cameron Dalmans Woman of the River, performed by Amanda Tutalo, was an elegant and complex work recalling the time Dalman spent in Italy over a 10-year period in the 1970s and 1980s. On one level we could see in Dalmans choreography the changing nature of the river that ran through the village in which she lived. Koplin said that since 1992, the commute has changed for Sears employees. It used to be more skewed toward subscription bus service, but now that more employees live north and west of Hoffman Estates, car pools are more popular. Another change is that more employees are working from home and do not always have to come into the office, said Mike Hankey, director of transportation for Hoffman Estates. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: Chris Corrigan keeps a lower profile these days now hes not busting unions or picking fights with Macquarie. But the former Patrick boss, who spends much of his time in Italy and Switzerland where he can ride his bike and presumably pay less tax, does chair the ASX-listed walnut farm Webster Ltd. Meanwhile, Corrigans son Joseph pocketed $272,000 for flying Webster management around in his jet. Joseph is the sole owner and director of Corrigan Air. Pamela MacKinnon of Dural remembers the new maternity dress she was wearing and the stabbing back pain that spiked with every shudder and vibration of a bus trip to Parramatta as she went into early labour nearly half a century ago this month. Six months pregnant and 25 years old, she found out the next day she was having twins. At 6pm that day, Gavin and Christina were born, each weighing about a kilogram. Pamela MacKinnon, 75, lost her newborn Gavin when she was 25. She still bears the grief of that loss. Credit:Dean Sewell "I couldn't believe they were inside me. I just wanted to put them back and finish them off," Mrs MacKinnon, now 75, said. Gavin died the next day. Nearly three days later, Christina stopped breathing, but was revived and survived. A poignant reminder of Princess Diana, mother of the Duke of Sussex, emerged as the royal couple began their first official engagements in Sydney. Diana, Princess of Wales, attends the Victor Chang charity dinner in Sydney, 1996. Credit:PA Jordan Ilencik, 13, from Campbelltown, was among the first in line at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday morning to catch a glimpse of the royals, who are due to meet members of the public about midday. Jordan had arrived on his own by train - with his school's permission - clutching a bunch of yellow roses and a letter for the Duke and Duchess. The letter opened with him saying "My name is Jordan but you can call me Jordi." A university community is necessarily one in which people disagree and will often do so in deep and unchangeable ways. Those disagreements mean sometimes public debate on campus will be highly offensive and upsetting. Even so, offensive ideas must be tolerated. The protection of protest is just as important as protecting the expression of unorthodox and unpopular ideas. Credit:James Alcock Our willingness to extend the right to people we disagree with is at the heart of freedom of speech. After all, popular or mainstream ideas generally need no protection. There is no question, for example, that Arndt should be permitted to speak on university campuses, as should those who oppose her. 2. Protest is crucial to the proper exercise of free speech rights on campus and should be permitted and facilitated. The protection of protest is just as important as protecting the expression of unorthodox and unpopular ideas. Protest whether by environmentalists or anti-abortion activists is an important means for the expression of unorthodox and unpopular ideas, as well as for a response to them. We should expect protests to be part of university life and universities should both permit and facilitate them. Obviously, universities will be in the middle of fierce disputes between opposing elements of the community and working out a balance of interests will be difficult. If there are loud and chaotic protests that require significant security, it will also be expensive. Loading But its not fair to place the cost of security entirely on those provoking the protest (giving protesters an effective hecklers veto). Nor is it fair to place it on those protesting (given the importance of protest as a mechanism for free speech). If governments are serious about protecting freedom of speech on campus, they should fund universities in a way that makes it possible for them to balance free speech and protest. A free speech fund for each university seems a small price to pay for something so fundamental. 3. The university must protect the pursuit of knowledge. Because universities have a responsibility to promote the attainment of knowledge and education, they also need to protect those activities from people who blatantly disregard evidence, research and scholarly standards of inquiry. Universities should not be required to give a platform to those who peddle nonsense especially dangerous nonsense. Universities are quite within their rights to deny anti-vaxxers, Holocaust deniers, flat earthers and others from the use of their facilities. The line between the unorthodox and nonsense can, of course, be blurry and universities should be very careful about how they exercise this power. They might choose instead to permit such speakers but to ensure a platform for their critics thats at least as prominent. Free speech scholar and Columbia University president Lee Bollinger provided a good example of this kind of action when he permitted the appearance of then president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Columbias campus but personally introduced him with a series of sharp challenges. Universities should support freedom of speech, including unpopular ideas, but not without challenging them. 4. The universitys intellectual climate must be inclusive. The man accused of murdering a mental health worker by stabbing her in the neck at a Perth home is likely to remain in a psychiatric facility until at least the end of the month. Jacqueline Francis, 50, was attending a unit near Kent Street on Saturday night when she was allegedly stabbed. Credit:Facebook Jacqueline Lynn Francis, 50, was allegedly attacked on October 6 in Rockingham then drove to a nearby Dome cafe for help. She was rushed to Fiona Stanley Hospital, where she died. However excited some Australians get over the royal visit, it is as nothing to the excitement they generate when they visit America, and I think youll find that, despite President Trump being in the Oval Office, there is precisely NO appetite in the USA for having the British royals reign over them once more. The French, too, have always gone ballistic for visiting royals, as have the South Africans, meaning that three of the most famous republics on the planet with no appetite to return to having a ruling family have demonstrated great love of visiting uber-celebrities, without making a political statement about the virtues of republics versus monarchies one way or another. The popularity of rock-star royals and the desire to continue being reigned over by a family of English aristocrats, are distinctly different things. Loading Equally fatuous is the notion that Australia becoming a republic will have any effect whatsoever on the royal goings-on, that we of the ARM want to put a stop to it all. Never! See, for all the people that love the births, betrothals ballyhoo-tally-ho and bon temps of the royals, the good news is that all of that will go on, even when we are a proud independent country beneath the Southern Cross! Sometime soon, I guess, the Duchess will give birth to a child, and the two of them will no doubt make it on to the cover of The Womens Weekly. Twenty years after that, the royal child will be found to have fallen in love with someone, and the call to Stop The Presses! will be heard around the world. Five or 10 years later, that child will probably marry and probably a new peak of burbling will be achieved. And all of that will happen, despite Australia being a republic! However the government tries to argue it, recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and yanking Australias support for the Iran nuclear deal would be massive reversals of our long-held positions if the Morrison government were to go ahead with them. There may be merits to reconsidering both these positions. But the problem for the governments case is that nothing has changed to compel considering a shift to our position this week. Yes the Iran deal is imperfect. But no evidence has emerged that Iran is breaching it. And the case from the very smart and talented former diplomat Dave Sharma on which the Prime Minister is relying for considering recognising Jerusalem does indeed acknowledge geographic realities. West Jerusalem would be part of Israel in any conceivable future two-state solution. The Liberal candidate in the crucial Wentworth byelection, Dave Sharma, says he "absolutely" opposes continuing to allow private schools to fire gay, lesbian or transgender teachers and has made this clear to Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Treasurer and deputy Liberal leader Josh Frydenberg has also put pressure on the Prime Minister over the issue, saying in a radio interview on Monday: "I don't think these laws are right." Days after flagging he will scrap exemptions that currently allow religious schools to expel gay students, Mr Morrison is now being urged to rip up laws that allow such schools to discriminate against teachers on the basis of sexuality. Liberal candidate for Wentworth Dave Sharma said he was "absolutely" against allowing religious schools to discriminate against teachers. Credit:Nick Moir It follows a Fairfax/Ipsos poll that found 74 per cent of voters oppose such laws, which have been under the spotlight after Fairfax revealed the recommendations of Philip Ruddock's religious freedom review. The ABC claims it did not hand over crucial documents related to the ousting of its chairman and managing director because the man leading an inquiry into the issue never asked for them. However, the Department of Communications said this was "incorrect", and that a key dossier was "discussed" at a meeting between secretary Mike Mrdak and the ABC's acting managing director David Anderson. Mr Mrdak also asked Mr Anderson in writing for a copy of all documents that were the subject of relevant media reports, along with any other associated documents and records. The competing claims cast doubt over the efficacy of the departmental investigation into alleged political interference at the ABC, which was tabled in Parliament on Monday but failed to answer key questions about the ruckus at the very top of the public broadcaster. During the debate on same sex marriage almost a year ago the "No" campaign warned that the sky would fall in if LGBTQI people were allowed to marry. It didn't and those overblown warnings appear to have had the opposite effect. Scott Morrison and Philip Ruddock. Credit: The latest Fairfax Ipsos poll has shown that 74 percent of voters oppose laws allowing religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or religious status. That is a much bigger majority than the 62 per cent who supported marriage equality in the postal vote. The fact that marriage equality has failed to tear apart the fabric of society as some predicted has convinced Australians that it is time to eliminate completely discrimination against LGBTQI people. That should be front of mind for the two major parties which have turned on a dime and in the past few days both proposed changes to the Sexual Discrimination Act. Weathers declined to speak on his own behalf at Mondays hearing. Shortly after he was charged in 2016, his attorney said he had completed 11th grade and had a young daughter who lived with her mother in Florida. He was living in a youth home and studying for his GED, and had been a ward of the state for the previous two years, the attorney said. Liberal candidate for Wentworth Dave Sharma says he "completely accepted the science on climate change" and was appalled by the way his party treated former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. With less than a week to go until the Wentworth byelection, the main candidates have sparred over the issue of climate change as the Liberal Party fights to hold onto the seat. Facing off against his major rivals in a debate, The Battle for Wentworth, hosted by The Sydney Morning Herald in Bondi on Monday, Mr Sharma said he believed Australia could meet its Paris commitments. He added that policy also needed to address energy affordability and reliability in order to secure the "broad public support we need to move to a lower emissions pathway." Istanbul: Turkey is renaming the street on which a new US Embassy is being built after the black Muslim civil rights leader Malcolm X, according to a Twitter post by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin. The Ankara municipal assembly decided unanimously to rename the street after an order from Erdogan, Haberturk TV reported. The Turkish president met Malcolm X's daughters in New York during a United Nations General Assembly meeting, it said, calling Malcolm X a symbol of "the struggle against racism". He was assassinated in 1965. Turkey has in the past used the naming of streets housing diplomatic missions to make political statements. American Muslim activist Malcolm X pictured with boxer Muhammd Ali in 1964. Credit:AP After a Twitter post by the United Arab Emirates foreign minister that appeared to criticisze an Ottoman Turkish military commander, Fahreddin Pasa, Turkey renamed the UAE embassy's street after him. And the current US Embassy's street was renamed "Olive Branch Road" in February, a reference to the Turkish military operation in Syria against the Kurdish YPG, a group allied with the US but which Turkey views as a terrorist organisation. Trump and Salman together convened 54 Muslim leaders to jointly condemn terrorism at a Riyadh summit in May 2017. And the Saudis built a centre to combat extremist ideology, which Trump inaugurated during his trip by placing his hands on a glowing orb. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi lived in a self-imposed exile as a US resident where we worked as a critic of the Saudi regime. Credit:AP Kushner has celebrated Mohammed's moves to modernise the Saudi economy and long-repressed society, including allowing women to drive and encouraging women's entrepreneurship. Furthermore, he considers MBS an influential and wise sounding board on geopolitics in the Muslim world and holds out hope that the crown prince might eventually deliver the support of Saudi Arabia - home of the two holiest sites in Islam - for his foundering Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. President Donald Trump listens during a coffee ceremony and presentation ceremony of The Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace in May, 2017. Credit:AP But the Khashoggi crisis has become a reckoning for Kushner. "I have a sense that they put all of their chips on the hope that the Saudis would be able to help the United States, not only in dealing with the challenges of terrorism, but also in dealing with peace in the Middle East," said Leon Panetta, a defence secretary and CIA director under President Barack Obama. Khashoggi, who wrote columns critical of Prince Mohammed, is said by Turkish authorities to have been killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. In conversations intercepted by US intelligence, officials in Saudi Arabia earlier discussed plans to lure Khashoggi back to his native Saudi Arabia and detain him. The plot, U.S. intelligence officials believe, was ordered by the crown prince. Kushner was not briefed about the plot before Khashoggi's disappearance, according to two people familiar with his knowledge of the matter. It would not be automatic for a senior White House adviser to be briefed on every new piece of intelligence in a region, unless officials decided it needed to be elevated to his or her attention, former national security officials say. Kushner personally asked Mohammed last week about Khashoggi's disappearance and the crown prince denied any involvement, Trump said. "They deny it every way you can imagine," the president said in a television interview on Sunday. Jared Kushner watches as Donald Trump is presented with The Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal, at the Royal Court Palace, in Riyadh. Credit:AP Critics of the Trump administration say Kushner has been dangerously naive to trust Mohammed and has allowed himself to be manipulated by an ascendant royal who charms foreigners yet has been ruthless in consolidating power inside the kingdom. Kushner declined to comment on his relationship with Mohammed. His defenders say he has been realistic about Mohammed's power and unafraid to chide the prince privately when he disagrees with his tactics but still believes there are long-term benefits in maintaining a close relationship. "I don't think they were played by him," Republican Senator Marco Rubio said on Sunday, referring to the Trump administration and Mohammed. "I think that they wanted to put together a Middle Eastern strategy in which a less-than-perfect government was a key component of constraining Iranian ambition in the region." Trump has all but ruled out cancelling arms sales to Saudi Arabia, saying on Saturday that it would be "very foolish for our country" to give up what he wrongly characterises as a $US110 billion deal. US intelligence officials who have been warily watching Mohammed's rise since before he was appointed crown prince in June 2017 said they assessed him as a naive, inexperienced and ambitious upstart who was not prepared for a position of great power. They said they heard an echo of Mohammed in Kushner. Here, too, was a young, power-hungry "prince" with no track record in government. Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pictured in April, 2018. Credit:AP "Prince Mohammed is a very shrewd, very smart, very capable guy," said Joseph W. Westphal, a U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the Obama administration. "He's a very quick study. And I think he knows, or has certainly learned, much about our system and our politics." Mohammed and Kushner became close early on in the Trump administration. They struck up a friendship at a White House lunch in March 2017 and had private, one-on-one phone calls that took senior intelligence leaders by surprise and worried career national security officials because note-takers were not always present, according to multiple people familiar with the relationship. One Trump adviser said it was "insane" how much Kushner spoke with Mohammed. The contents of some of those conversations remain a mystery. Loading Administration officials said that since those early months, Kushner has had key national security officials present for his conversations with Mohammed or has later briefed them. "Jared has always meticulously followed protocols and collaborated with colleagues regarding the relationship with MBS and all of the other foreign officials with whom he interacts," said a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Kushner's practices. Nevertheless, anxiety grew among some US spies when they learned that foreign officials in at least four countries had privately discussed ways to manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business dealings, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former US officials familiar with the intelligence about those discussions. One of the countries was the United Arab Emirates, a key Saudi ally. One senior US intelligence official said that Kushner has come under the influence of Mohammed's simplistic view of power dynamics in the Middle East. "MBS has an elevator pitch," this official said, that Kushner has bought into: Iran is the main enemy and the single obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East. The reality is far more complicated. But this official said Kushner has appeared uninterested in studying the nuances of security dilemmas in the region and has skipped some intelligence briefings before some high-stakes negotiations. Kushner sold Trump and administration colleagues on the idea that Mohammed, like Kushner, was a reformer looking to shake up old alliances and break up corrupt power blocs within his country. Kushner privately argued for months last year that Mohammed would be key to crafting a Middle East peace plan, arguing that, with the prince's blessing, much of the Arab world would follow, according to people with knowledge of the internal deliberations. Kushner persuaded Trump to make Saudi Arabia his first foreign visit as president against the initial objections of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who as ExxonMobil's chief executive had extensive experience negotiating with the Saudis and other Arab states. "It was their premier disagreement," said the Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid. Tillerson, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and others in the US government were sceptical of Mohammed's follow-through and of Saudi promises to help the United States counter Iran's influence and destroy the Islamic State, according to the people familiar with the deliberations, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak about them to reporters. Loading Trump put Kushner in charge of drafting a peace proposal for Israel and the Palestinians both because of Kushner's long ties to Israel and because his authority as a Trump family member would be readily understood in Arab family dynasties, such as the one in Saudi Arabia. In July, however, the Saudis delivered a setback. After the Trump administration recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, King Salman publicly rejected Kushner's peace plan and reassured the Palestinians that Saudi Arabia would not make the concessions that the United States sought for Israel. The plan stalled, and Kushner was startled and angry at the Saudi response, according to diplomats familiar with his reaction. Trump is expected to soon present a reworked package, but it is not clear whether the Saudis will provide the diplomatic backing and financial support that Kushner has sought. "It all smacks of a massive naivete on his part that he could sit down with MBS and figure out Middle East peace and a broader framework" involving Arab states that want a durable solution, said Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution. The administration voiced little public criticism when Mohammed seemed to overstep with the detention last fall of leading Saudi business executives and a bizarre episode involving what may have been the brief kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, nor when the Saudi crown prince picked a diplomatic fight this year with Canada, a close US ally. In general, Trump's critics have said, the president's admiration for strongmen and his reluctance to champion human rights and democracy make authoritarian leaders feel empowered because they do not fear US retaliation. "The Jared-MBS relationship revolves around the Middle East peace process, and the hope that Jared had for the Israeli-Palestinian issue," said Gerald Feierstein, a former US ambassador to Yemen and former senior State Department official who is now policy director at the Middle East Institute, which has hosted Khashoggi. Ankara/Washington: US President Donald Trump said on Monday "rogue killers" may have been behind the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet King Salman over the case. Khashoggi, a US resident, Washington Post columnist and leading critic of the powerful Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago to get marriage documents. Turkish officials say they believe he was murdered there and his body removed, in a case that has provoked an international outcry. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was an outspoken critic of the Saudi regime. Credit:AP Turkish authorities have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, a Turkish official and a security source told Reuters, and have shared evidence with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States. They provided no further details. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied killing Khashoggi and has denounced such assertions as "lies", saying he left the building shortly after entering. Saudi Arabia is reportedly ready to concede that a missing Saudi writer was killed in its consulate in Istanbul. CNN reports that the Saudi government is preparing to say Jamal Khashoggi died during an interrogation that went wrong. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was an outspoken critic of the Saudi regime. Credit:AP The report was attributed to two unnamed sources. It says one of the sources told them that the intention was to abduct Khashoggi and it had not been authorised by the Saudi government. President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that he was aware of the report but did not know if it was correct. He says the US is working with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to figure out what happened. Beirut: Syria's main jihadist group has signalled it will abide by the terms of a Russian-Turkish deal to prevent a Syrian government offensive on rebel-held Idlib the day before a critical deadline. Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance spearheaded by al Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate previously known as the Nusra Front, said it had adopted its stance after taking time for "consultation". Although it did not explicitly say it would abide by the deal, it said it would seek to provide security for people in the area it controls and that it appreciated efforts to protect that area, an apparent reference to Turkey. Wellington: Japan's foreign minister has raised concerns about the high levels of debt accrued by some Pacific Island nations and said his country wants to help resolve the problem. Foreign Minister Taro Kono made the comments on Monday while visiting New Zealand, where he met his counterpart Winston Peters. Some observers have become alarmed at the growth in Chinese lending in the Pacific and worry that small countries such as Tonga and Vanuatu are becoming beholden to China because of their high debt levels. Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono, left, with his counterpart Winston Peters in Wellington on Monday. Credit:AP Kono didn't mention China specifically in his comments. But he said the Pacific region was important in a strategic sense to both Japan and New Zealand. PHILIPSBURG:---Early Saturday morning October 13th a man on his first visit the Mental Health Foundation ill-treated the security officer on duty, broken into the office and stole the car belonging to the foundation and fled the scene. The police department was immediately informed of what had taken place. When the police saw the suspect driving the car on the street they attempted to stop him, however, he increased the speed of the vehicle and tried to escape the police. A chase of the suspect with the stolen vehicle continued into Dutch Quarter area where the suspect could not go any further and was arrested by police. He was taken to the Philipsburg Police Station where he will be held for treatment and further investigation. KPSM Press Release Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives are aware of her personal relationships, and have spoken to people who can account for her whereabouts through Oct. 2. The department is urging anyone with information to reach out, noting they can do so anonymously at CPDtip.com. Millennial Expands Lithium Brine Horizon at Pastos Grandes Posted by Publisher Internet Millennial Lithium Corp. (ML: TSX.V) (A3N2:GR: Frankfurt) (MLNLF: OTCQB) (?Millennial? or the ?Company?)?is pleased to report positive drilling and analytical results from the latest exploration wells at its Pastos Grandes Project in Salta, Argentina. Two new exploration holes (PGMW18-16 and 17) have intersected, and bottomed in, lithium-bearing brine zones, with PGMW18-17 intersecting positive lithium grades in a 545 meter thick lithium-bearing horizon, including a high grade of 701 mg/L Li.? A 40 person camp is being installed at the site, including a state of the art solar-hybrid power system as work advances at the site on a pilot plant to produce battery grade lithium carbonate. Millennial is also pleased to announce that it has engaged Credit Suisse to act as a lead financial advisor to assist the Company with respect to potential future project financing alternatives and ongoing strategic discussions. Millennial CEO, Farhad Abasov, commented:? \We are very encouraged to see that drilling on the REMSA license at Pastos Grandes salar continues to encounter lithium-rich brine, significantly extending the area of known lithium-rich brine further west toward the edge of the salar.? Millennial has already started a full feasibility study on its lithium brine project in Pastos Grandes, Salta, which is scheduled to be completed in Q2 2019. Millennial is fully funded to complete the feasibility study as well as all other programs with a very strong cash balance of C$56 million. The Company is embarking on a process of securing construction financing which is planned to be concluded in 2019.? Exploration holes PGMW18-16 and PGMW18-17 were drilled to depths of 641 metres (m), and 605m respectively and both wells terminated in brine-bearing sand.? These holes confirm the extension of the brine on to the contiguous REMSA license southeast and southwest of the original core Pastos Grandes licenses suggesting additional potential to expand the currently calculated resource beyond the initial Pastos Grandes licenses.? Exploration well PGMW18-16, drilled to a final depth of 641m close to the southern margin of the basin, was sampled using a double packer system which is designed to isolate sample intervals.?? Thirteen brine samples were collected from between depths of 75m to 641m (566m interval). This area was found to be dominated by halite with minor sand and clay seams.? A zone of halite with sand and minor clay from 306m to 374m (68 m thickness) yielded an average of 499 mg/L Li with an Mg:Li of 7.1 and an SO4:Li of 21.2.? The well bottomed in a halite-sand unit which yielded 495 mg/L Li, an Mg/Li of 6.5 and an SO4/Li of 22.9 from 624m to 641m (see Table 1) indicating the lithium zone remains open at depth. Exploration well PGMW18-16 is located approximately 2 km southeast of well PGMW18-12 and the significant halite section in this well suggests it may occupy the depocenter of the basin. Well PGMW18-17 is located approximately 1500m southwest of PGMW18-12 and was drilled to a depth of 605m.? Twenty-nine brine samples were taken by packer sampling with the well dominated by halite from surface to 194m and then by fine- to medium-grained sand to the bottom of the well.? The entire section in well PGMW18-17 is enriched in lithium returning 444 mg/L Li from 60m to 605m (545m thickness) and an Mg/Li of 6.0.? The maximum Li value obtained was 701 mg/L Li at a depth of 135m. Well PGMW18-17 bottomed in lithium brine rich sands (last sample returned 519 mg/L Li) as the hole was terminated at 605m due to limitations of the drilling machine.? Exploration drilling is ongoing with a rig currently at PGMW18-18, located approximately 2000m south of PGMW18-15 in the southwest corner of the REMSA license.? Drilling is currently at a depth of 389m; the second drilling machine is mobilizing to PGMW18-19 located about 1,000m northeast of PGMW18-12.? In addition, the 21 day pumping test at PGPW17-04 has been completed and data compilation is underway.? Two pumping well drill machines have been mobilized to site to expedite additional pumping tests. Pilot evaporation ponds, approximately 3.25 ha in size, have now been filled with brine to provide concentrated Li plant-grade feed for the Company?s pilot plant. The Company has posted a recent time-lapse video of the construction of the pilot ponds and the reader is encouraged to visit the Company?s website, www.millenniallithium.com, and view the ongoing progress at its Pastos Grandes Project. Sampling was conducted in accordance with CIM guidelines for brine resource evaluation, with an appropriate QA/QC program in place for ensuring accuracy and precision of the analytical results. The primary analytical laboratory for the data used in this program is the SGS Laboratory in Buenos Aires, Argentina.? SGS is accredited to ISO 9001:2008 and ISO14001:2004 for their geochemical and environmental labs for the preparation and analysis of numerous sample types, including brines. This news release has been reviewed by Iain Scarr, AIPG CPG., Chief Operating Officer of the Company and a Qualified Person as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101. To find out more about Millennial Lithium Corp. please contact Investor Relations at (604) 662-8184 or email info@millenniallithium.com. This news release may contain certain ?Forward-Looking Statements? within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws.? When used in this news release, the words ?anticipate?, ?believe?, ?estimate?, ?expect?, ?target, ?plan?, ?forecast?, ?may?, ?schedule? and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information.? These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, currency risks including the exchange rate of USD$ for Cdn$, fluctuations in the market for lithium, changes in exploration costs and government royalties or taxes (including export duties or tariffs) in Argentina or other jurisdictions and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company?s current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. EnWave Announces the Resignation of Dr. Gary Sandberg from its Board of Directors Posted by Publisher Internet EnWave Corporation (TSX-V:ENW | FSE:E4U) (?EnWave?, or the \Company\ http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=297852)) announces the Company?s Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Dr. Gary Sandberg from EnWave?s Board of Directors. Dr. Sandberg has also resigned from his position with the Company as Senior Vice President, Technical Services due to personal reasons. The Board of Directors and EnWave?s management would like to thank Dr. Sandberg for his years of service and his contributions to the technical advancements of EnWave?s proprietary Radiant Energy Vacuum technology. About EnWave EnWave Corporation, a Vancouver-based advanced technology company, has developed Radiant Energy Vacuum (?REV??) ? an innovative, proprietary method for the precise dehydration of organic materials. EnWave has further developed patent-pending methods for uniformly drying and decontaminating cannabis through the use of REV? technology, shortening the time from harvest to marketable cannabis products.? REV? technology?s commercial viability has been demonstrated and is growing rapidly across several market verticals in the food, and pharmaceutical sectors including legal cannabis. EnWave?s strategy is to sign royalty-bearing commercial licenses with industry leaders in multiple verticals for the use of REV? technology. The company has signed over twenty royalty-bearing licenses to date, opening up nine distinct market sectors for commercialization of new and innovative products. In addition to these licenses, EnWave has formed a Limited Liability Corporation, NutraDried Food Company, LLC, to develop, manufacture, market and sell all-natural cheese snack products in the United States under the Moon Cheese? brand.? EnWave has introduced REV? as the new dehydration standard in the food and biological material sectors: faster and cheaper than freeze drying, with better end product quality than air drying or spray drying. EnWave currently has three commercial REV? platforms: nutraREV? which is used in the food industry to dry food products quickly and at low-cost, while maintaining high levels of nutrition, taste, texture and colour; powderREV? which is used for the bulk dehydration of food cultures, probiotics and fine biochemicals such as enzymes below the freezing point, and quantaREV? which is used for continuous, high-volume low-temperature drying. An additional platform, freezeREV?, is being developed as a new method to stabilize and dehydrate biopharmaceuticals such as vaccines and antibodies. More information about EnWave is available at www.enwave.net. EnWave Corporation Mr. Brent Charleton, CFA President and CEO Safe Harbour for Forward-Looking Information Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking information based on management\-\-s expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the Company\-\-s strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures, and the expected synergies following the closing are forward-looking statements. All third party claims referred to in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate. All third party references to market information in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate as the Company did not conduct the original primary research. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Panoro Minerals Ltd. Announces Initiation of Drill Targetting Geophysics Survey at the Chaupec Target of the Cotabambas Copper Project, Peru Posted by Publisher Internet Panoro Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: PML, Lima: PML, Frankfurt: PZM) (?Panoro?, the ?Company? http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=298467) is pleased to announce the commencement of detailed 3D Geophysical survey at Zone 1 of the Chaupec Target.? The objective of the survey is to finalize drill targets for the proposed exploration program.? The Chaupec Target contains Skarn and Porphyry type mineralization located within Cluster 2 at the 100% owned Cotabambas Copper Project. The survey will be completed at the northern area of Zone 1, where Sills of quartz monzonite composition intrude wide altered bodies of limestones and skarn composed by piroxenes, garnets, magnetite, chlorite and epidot. The associated mineralization is composed of copper oxides, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and bornite sulphides outcropping at surface. The package of sills/skarn is exposed along an area of approximately 450 m by 600 m along the contact of the Diorite over thrusting the limestones of the Ferrobamba formation.? Details of the Chaupec Target can been found on Panoro press release of August 28th, 2018. The survey grid is shown on the attached map together with the surficial geology.? The Geophysics field work will include IP, Magnetometry and gravity, as summarized below: 3D Ground Magnetometry including 20 lines of 1 km length each, at 25 m spacing. Previous Ground Magnetometry was completed in the area at spacing of between 100 m and 200 m with readings each 10 m to 20 m.? These surveys served to infer limits of the main packages of limestones, diorite and sills/skarn. The current survey will include continuous readings along the lines and will be concentered on the sill/skarn package. IP-3D including 10 lines of 1 km length, spacing of 50 m between lines and with stations of 25, 50, 75 & 100 meters multi-dipole. Previous IP surveys in the area were completed with 100 m spacing and readings each 50 m. The survey will permit identification of charged and resistive bodies with a resolution of 25 m and to approximately 300 m depth. Gravity survey, including 110 points distributed over the same grid as for the Magetometry and IP. The goal of the survey is to identify structural controls, directions and thicknesses of the Skarn bodies which reported high copper, silver and gold anomalies on the surface rock sampling. The survey will be complemented with additional detailed mapping to finalize the location, orientation and depth of proposed drill holes of the exploration program. About Panoro Panoro Minerals is a uniquely positioned Peru focused copper exploration and development company. The Company is advancing its two advanced stage copper projects; Cotabambas Copper-Gold-Silver Project; and Antilla Copper-Molybdenum Project. The Company also has two early stage projects being funded and/or advanced with partners; Kusiorcco Copper Project, funded by Hudbay Minerals; and Humamantata Copper Project, funded by Panoro?s Projects are located in the strategically important area of southern Peru.? The region boasts the recent investment of over US$15 billion into the construction or expansion of four large open pit copper mines (Las Bambas, Constancia, Antapaccay and Cerro Verde) and another $US 3 billion being invested currently into two additional open pit copper mines (Mina Justa and Quelleveco). Since 2007, the Company has completed over 80,000 meters of exploration drilling at these two key projects leading to substantial increases in the mineral resource base for each, as summarized in the table below. The PEAs are considered preliminary in nature and include Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative to have the economic considerations applied that would enable classification as Mineral Reserves. There is no certainty that the conclusions within the updated PEA will be realized. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Luis Vela, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release. On behalf of the Board of Panoro Minerals Ltd. Luquman Shaheen. PEng, PE, MBA President & CEO CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: Information and statements contained? in this news release that are not historical facts are ?forward-looking information? within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and involve risks and uncertainties. Asia IoT Business Platform Vietnam 2018 - Access to Vietnam's enterprise IoT market The Government of Vietnam has pledged to invest USD 111.6m in the ICT sector by 2020, incentivising local and international firms to invest in the country. In 2013, the Ministry of Science and Technology set up Silicon Valley Startup Ecosystem to stimulate growth and encourage Vietnamese to venture into tech startups. In 2016, Hoa Lac IoT Lab the first IoT lab in Vietnam was officially launched and it aims to support technology startups focusing on IoT to build applications and solutions in Vietnam. Supported by Indonesia Cloud Computing Association, Asia IoT Business Platform brings together over 200 senior stakeholders from government, telecommunications, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, healthcare, banking and financial services to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by IoT. Network operator fraud remains the biggest threat to the revenues of mobile operators As anti-fraud company Revector marks 20 years of operating, CEO and Founder Andy Gent believes that telecommunications fraud is still not high enough on the corporate agenda for network operators this should be a significant concern to shareholders. In 2001, Revector was launched to combat specific fraudulent activity against mobile network operators. The companys management expected the business to have a shelf life of no more than five years such as the belief that mobile operators would quickly get a grip on network fraud and reduce it to zero. Twenty years later frauds continue to persist costing shareholders, networks, and Governments billions in lost revenue annually. Revenue through mobile service According to Andy Gent, fraudsters are, at heart, business people, exploiting an opportunity for money. Gent explains how this relates to network fraud thus, Mobile service providers generate revenues in two ways - by having their subscribers that pay the company to access the networks they run and associated services such as voice calls, text messages, and data usage. The second known as termination revenue involves transporting calls from other networks. Revenues from termination are shared between all networks that help deliver the call Revenues from termination are shared between all networks that help deliver the call, as Gent outlines: Imagine a call from the UK to Australia. This will pass through several service providers that will each take a small percentage of the call revenues for passing on the call. Telecommunications companies establish relationships with others around predictable calling patterns. For example, BT may know that they need one million minutes of calls to South Africa per month. They, therefore, establish a relationship with a South African telecommunications company to provide this. Trading termination minutes The issue comes when the unexpected happens, for example, an earthquake in Cape Town. Now UK residents with relatives in Cape Town suddenly demand a lot more telephone time. BT needs more minutes than it has. It is unlikely that its partner in South Africa can provide these they are facing the same issue due to the increased volume of calls in and out of the country so it will look to the open market for the minutes it needs. Gent continues, Termination minutes are traded in the same way as other commodities. Exchanges combine minutes from multiple sources, bundle these together and sell them. The issue is where these minutes come from. The bundles may well include white routes premium minutes provided by legitimate telecommunications companies. However, many will include so-called grey routes. A simple but effective fraud Grey routes are not provided by the telecommunications companies but by third parties or through fraudulent means. Typically, the grey routes come at a lower cost than the white routes, but some telecommunications service providers may not know this or care about it. The natural pressure on cost means some telecommunications companies end up using grey route minutes. The threats to network providers revenues come from these grey routes. A primary risk is SIM Box fraud. SIM Box fraud SIM Box fraud occurs where there is a differential price between the cost of routing a call in a country and the cost of terminating a call, as Gent outlines below: Imagine a network is offering a promotion with free calls to others on the same network. At the same time, the value of terminating a call to that networks customers is $0.05 per call. One single SIM card being used in this way can generate $3000 per month and there are hundreds of cards in each SIM box If someone can procure SIM cards with the promotion, these can be loaded into a SIM Box a device that can house hundreds of SIM cards in racks and be connected to the internet - to terminate calls. The owner of the SIM box can then offer to terminate calls for $0.03 per call. The cost to the SIM box owner is close to zero the local minutes they are using to terminate calls are bundled with the SIM deal. The $0.03 per call is pure profit after the SIM cards and SIM boxes have been purchased. While this sounds like a complicated scam it can be lucrative. One single SIM card being used in this way can generate $3000 per month and there are hundreds of cards in each SIM box. Loss of termination revenues Service providers can quickly find a large proportion of revenues lost to SIM boxes. Gent has seen up to 90 percent of termination revenues being lost. The nature of SIM box fraud is transitory: fraudsters will pick the countries with the strongest opportunity to generate revenues quickly, sweep in and terminate calls for a month or two before the operator notices the revenue drop and takes action. Is it illegal? If this practice sounds entrepreneurial rather than illegal, it is probably because it seems like a victimless crime. However, mobile network operators have paid millions if not billions for the ability to operate networks and generate termination revenues. A reduction in this revenue will mean less investment into next-generation networks or customer service. For the consumer, illegal termination often means poor quality calls with a lack of services such as caller line identification (CLI). But perhaps the most concerning issue is where the proceeds of crime go, as Gent outlines. Often these SIM box frauds are run by criminal gangs using the process to launder money or finance organised crime or people trafficking. With widespread restrictions on the number of SIM cards that can be sold to one person, the only way to procure enough SIM cards is via criminal activity. Gangs bribe or coerce network operation staff into supplying SIM cards by the thousand, generating millions in illicit revenues. Other telecommunications fraud Threat to operator termination revenues comes from OTT service providers that have an eye on termination revenues Another threat to operator termination revenues comes from Over-the-Top (OTT) service providers that have an eye on termination revenues as well as competing with telecommunications service providers for a share of the voice and messaging market. While most telecommunications companies see Voice over IP (or OTT) as fair competition, in recent years several new OTT service providers have grown extremely quickly. WhatsApp, for example, was incorporated in 2009 and acquired by Facebook just five years later for almost $20 billion. The business models of these companies vary. Some focus on the freemium approach where the initial service is free but add-ons become chargeable. OTT app fraud However, recently some OTT players are looking to terminate revenue to monetise their business models. These operators have been offering competitive termination rates by hijacking a traditional call made from one telephone number to another and terminating it within an OTT app, as Gent explains, We are seeing OTT apps intercepting traditional telephone calls and delivering them within a users app. The call starts as a dialled telephone call, but the user receives it within an OTT app. If OTT players can achieve this, they can generate termination revenues at zero cost other than to the traditional operator. Using an app to make calls Of course, if the recipient of the call believes the caller has used an app to call them, they are more likely to use this method of communication in the future and less likely to dial a number directly. For the OTT players, termination acts as a marketing tool as well as a revenue stream. According to Gent, one OTT service provider has gone as far as including a setting within their app that states receive regular incoming calls within the app when possible. This is defaulted to on when the app is downloaded. Only the most technologically savvy users would even know it was there. Combatting the fraud against networks Networks are less worried about losing revenue to fraud and more about grabbing as many subscribers as possible" Why do networks not do more to combat fraud? The reality, according to Gent, is a combination of priorities and ignorance. He comments, Most mobile network operators are large but still relatively young companies typically built around customer acquisition. Networks are less worried about losing revenue to fraud and more about grabbing as many subscribers as possible. This has led to a mindset where whatever the questions the answer is always more marketing promotions. A small number of innovators around the world continue to fight these frauds directly, but the fraudsters simply move on to the next victim and, when the anti-fraud measures are relaxed, the fraudsters return. An opportunity for the future As mobile networks mature and become more commoditised, Gent believes the issues around combatting fraud will become a wider concern. If you had told me in 2001 that fraud would still be an issue in 2021, I would have been shocked. Yet operators are still losing significant revenues to criminals. Addressing this needs to remain a priority for the industry, not just to ensure networks have the revenues to build and maintain robust networks but also to ensure that criminal behaviour that this kind of illicit activity funds is reduced. This is not just an issue for network operators but also for wider society. After they left the store, the workers flagged down police officers from the Near North district who took Tijerina and Santana into custody. The officers recovered a handgun and the cash register, police said. Spacecraft by national space agencies to study greenhouse gases, like NASA's OCO-2, are being joined by satellites proposed by companies, non-profit organizations and even the state of California. BREMEN, Germany As a growing number of organizations propose satellites to monitor greenhouse gases, national space agencies who already operate such spacecraft welcome those new entrants as long as they're willing to share their results. Missions to track emissions of such gases by human activities, once solely in the realm of major space agencies, are now being considered by state governments, non-profit organizations and companies, seeking to leverage advances in small satellites to fill perceived gaps in what data is already available. One company, Montreal-based GHGSat, announced Sept. 24 it has raised $10 million in what it called a "Series A2" funding round. The funding, the company said, will expand its commercialization efforts and fund an additional satellite. The company launched one satellite in 2016 and plans to launch two more next year. The funding, GHGSat Chief Executive Stephane Germain said in a statement, "also secures access to some of the largest customers in the world for our services. We're very excited for this next stage of our growth." The funding round for GHGSat came 10 days after California Gov. Jerry Brown announced the state would develop and launch its own satellite to track greenhouse gases. "This groundbreaking initiative will help governments, businesses and landowners pinpoint and stop destructive emissions with unprecedented precision, on a scale that's never been done before," he said in remarks at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco Sept. 14. The satellite will be developed by San Francisco-based Planet in collaboration with the state government "and others," Brown's office said in a statement. Neither the governor nor the company disclosed additional details about the proposed satellite, including its cost, funding source or schedule. That spacecraft is designed to be complementary with another privately-developed spacecraft, MethaneSAT, that the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced in April it planned to fly to track emissions of methane, another greenhouse gas. "These satellite technologies are part of a new era of environmental innovation that is supercharging our ability to solve problems," said Fred Krupp, president of the EDF, in the governor's statement. "They won't cut emissions by themselves, but they will make invisible pollution visible and generate the transparent, actionable, data we need to protect our health, our environment and our economies." So what do national space agencies like NASA, who already operate Earth science missions that monitor greenhouse gas levels, think of these new entrants? "The key here is free and open exchange of data," said Mike Freilich, director of NASA's Earth science division, during a panel discussion Oct. 4 during the 69th International Astronautical Congress here. "More accurate, well-characterized measurements provide better authoritative information if they can be combined." He welcomes the rise of non-traditional players developing such systems, provided they were open about sharing their data and how it was calibrated. "If we have free and open exchange of data, and insight into the calibration and validation and characterization, all comers, from the commercial sector, from sub-national organizations, from NGOs, et cetera, can only help to advance the science." However, neither NASA nor other national space agencies are turning over the efforts to track greenhouse gases to other organizations. During the panel, Freilich highlighted the results from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) 2 spacecraft, which monitors natural processes that regulate carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. "We are seeing the Earth breathe," he said. NASA is also preparing for OCO-3, a follow-on instrument made from flight spares developed for OCO-2. While the White House proposed cancelling OCO-3 in its fiscal year 2019 budget request, Freilich said the instrument is ready for launch to the International Space Station next February. Installing OCO-3 on the ISS, which is in a 51-degree orbit rather than the sun-synchronous orbit most Earth science satellites fly in, will provide a new perspective on carbon dioxide changes. While such satellites pass over locations at the same time each day, OCO-3 will see locations at different times of day and night. "OCO-3 measurements, over time, will allow us to resolve issues of the diurnal cycle of CO2 in the atmosphere," he said. The Japanese space agency JAXA is preparing for the launch of the Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite 2, or GOSAT-2, which is designed to measure carbon dioxide and methane gases at far higher precision than its predecessor, GOSAT. GOSAT-2 is scheduled for launch on an H-2A rocket on Oct. 29, said Naoto Matsuura, senior chief officer of satellite applications and director of JAXA's Earth Observation Research Center, on the panel. Matsuura added JAXA is starting work on another satellite, GOSAT-3, in 2020. "We have started to contract for its development," he said. Josef Aschbacher, director of Earth observation programs at the European Space Agency, said the Sentinel-5P spacecraft launched a year ago is providing "extremely good daily measurements" of greenhouse gases. That will be followed by the Sentinel-4 and -5 missions, which will be carried on weather satellites operated by Eumetsat. He added that ESA is considering a future Sentinel mission dedicated to carbon dioxide monitoring. Others on the panel echoed Freilich's statement about the need for more data. "Greenhouse gas measurements are very, very difficult, and no single country can make all the necessary measurements alone," said Harry Cikanek, director of NOAA's Center for Satellite Applications and Research. "It takes a whole group effort." This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. As NASA and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos continue to investigate what went wrong during last week's crew launch to the International Space Station, both agencies' chiefs have expressed confidence in Soyuz's ability to fly again soon. Yesterday (Oct. 14), Bridenstine shared video clips on Twitter from a news conference held in the aftermath of Thursday's failed launch. "I fully anticipate at this point that we will fly again on a Russian Soyuz rocket, and I have no reason to believe at this point that it won't be on schedule," he said in the clip. His counterpart, Dmitry Rogozin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has also shown no sign of backing down from his faith in the Soyuz rocket's future. "This rocket has a long history of failureless execution," he said in a clip shared by NASA. As one would expect, he also expressed gratitude that the crew capsule's safety mechanism worked and both astronauts landed safely. Rogozin has also stated on Twitter that he was confident Nick Hague and Alexey Ovchinin would fly again, and that he was hoping to schedule that flight for the spring of 2019. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin met for the first time earlier this month in a visit scheduled around the Oct. 11 launch of a U.S.-Russian mission to the space station. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls) Throughout the aftermath of the launch failure, NASA has expressed confidence in Roscosmos and its operations, and there's no sign that it will call off the partnership on the basis of swirling concerns about the state of Russian spaceflight manufacturing. "I have so much confidence in this relationship," Bridenstine said. "I look forward to a very bright future for both of these countries and for all of our international partners." Nevertheless, Bridenstine has been open about the difficulty of the situation as it has unfolded. In a public-affairs interview conducted last week, he got emotional discussing the time between the failure and when the astronauts' safety was confirmed. "The NASA family has to be so proud of all the people that worked so hard and prepared so well for this," he said. "We had the right people in the right place." Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com. Al-Ayoun (Occupied Territories), October 14, 2018 (SPS) - The Association for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan jails and the Families of Sahrawi Political Prisoners organized on Saturday a solidarity day with Sahrawi political prisoners on hunger strike in the Moroccan jails, in which many Sahrawi activists participated and observed a hunger strike as a symbolic expression of their solidarity with the hunger strikers for nearly a month. The event was a chance for the Association for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners in Moroccan jails and the Families of Sahrawi Political Prisoners to express their condemnation of the tragic situation experienced by the hunger strikers, holding the Moroccan occupation fully responsible for the fate of the prisoners and demanding the international community to intervene urgently to save their lives. It should be noted that the Sahrawi political prisoners are dispersed over many of the Moroccan prisons and living in inhuman conditions under the persistence of the occupation on the confiscation of their basic rights as prisoners of conscience. (SPS) 062/SPS/TRA Running neck and neck with the Zapruder film, in terms of endless analysis, is a 60-second piece of 16mm footage that has come to be known as the Patterson-Gimlin film. Shot in 1967 in Northern California, the film purports to show Bigfoot trudging past the camera, looking straight into the lens, and then heading off into the forest. Just as much of the case for a second gunman in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy stems from the home movie made by Abraham Zupruder on Nov. 22, 1963, the Patterson-Gimlin film has fueled the notion of a giant humanoid creature roaming in forests all over the United States. The film has inspired countless documentaries, fictional films and books, with recent examples including the animated feature film, Smallfoot, and the new young-adult novel, The Bigfoot Files. by Lindsay Eagar. Fairfield historian Phil Hall decided the time had come to look back at the shooting of the Bigfoot film and the 50 years of debate over its authenticity, as well as the pop culture industry it has spawned. The Weirdest Movie Ever Made is subtitled The Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film and was published by Bear Manor Media on Oct. 1. Hall has written about lost films and many other lesser known aspects of the movie industry, but has long been intrigued by the very brief 1967 Bigfoot footage. I wanted to do a book about a film that people know about but hasnt been written about before, he says. Nobody needs another book about Orson Welles or Alfred Hitchcock. ... (But) everybody knows about Bigfoot because of that crazy little 59-second film. The two men, Roger Patterson and Bob Gitlin, were aspiring filmmakers who planned to do a documentary about the legend of these large humanoid creatures in the Pacific Northwest and other parts of the country Hall informs us of a few sightings in Connecticut but they were ill-prepared for their 1967 expedition. The men only had one camera, and no sound equipment. Neither of them had any experience (in filmmaking) and it shows, Hall says. They had more enthusiasm than talent and whether they found (the creature) or invented it is still being debated. Not unlike the Zapruder film, Hall writes. The Patterson-Gimlin film represents the most astonishing of cinematic accidents, where the right people were in the right place at the right time with a movie camera. While some dismissed the film as a fake and see the Bigfoot phenomenon as a mass hallucination, the esteemed anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall says there might be something to the idea because reports of Bigfoot (or Sasquatch or Yeti) sightings have come in from all over the world. Goodall points out that British scientists have found what they believed to be a yeti hair and that the scientists in the Natural History Museum in London couldnt identify it as any known animal. Jeffery Meldrum, a professor at Idaho State University and one of the only academics to research the subject of a Bigfoot creature, has endorsed the Patterson-Gimlin film. Its all so easy to say Obviously, thats a man in a fur suit. Until you see it up against a man in a fur suit. Hall looked into the commercial gorilla costumes available in 1967, and writes that none of them were as big as what the two men photographed especially the elongated arms and none of them had female breasts. The author debunks some of the skeptical urban legends surrounding the film, including director John Landiss assertion that the costume was made by the same make-up artists who created the ape outfits for the 1968 movie Planet of the Apes. The book quotes the head of the 20th Century Fox makeup unit denying the rumor. Hall also writes that Planet of the Apes was deep in pre-production mode in 1967 and it is highly unlikely that anyone connected with the film had the time or the interest to create a commissioned Bigfoot outfit for Patterson and Gimlin. The creature in the film bears a strong resemblance to a sighting reported in British Columbia 12 years earlier. A construction worker named William Roe said he encountered a Sasquatch during a hunting trip. ... I saw by its breasts that it was female. ... Its arms were much thicker than a mans arms, and longer, reaching almost to its knees. After they processed the film, Patterson and Gimlin made a documentary about their experience that they booked in theaters and schools around the country. They were pioneers in a form of theatrical exhobition called four-walling in which a moviemaker rents theaters and keeps all of the proceeds (avoiding a distributor middleman). In 1972, independent filmmaker Charles B. Pierce used the same technique to release a documentary about about a frequently sighted humanoid creature in Alabama The Legend of Boggy Creek and scored the tenth highest grossing film in a year that included The Godfather and Cabaret. Hall stresses that his goal in writing the book was not to endorse or debunk the 1967 film. Nobody cares what I think about the movie (so) I wanted to take it on its own terms. To show how it was made and how it got into the wider world, he says. jmeyers@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @joesview It was an emotional and enthralling night at the Bethel Cinema when Hearst co-sponsored screenings of two short films, Surviving Theater 9 and Little Fiel, with the weekly CT Film Fest 52 at the art house. Ridgefield artist Irina Patkanian talked about her stop-motion animated film Little Fiel, which profiles the Mozambique artist Fiel dos Santos struggle to survive as a child during the 16-year-long civil war in his country. (The conflict started in 1977 and ran through 1992.) The film combines dos Santos interview footage with animated sequences that use puppets Patkanian made from recycled gun parts. I didnt want it to look too whimsical, the artist/filmmaker said of the animation material that depicts the artists harrowing life in Mozambique without power and running water for many years. More than one audience member came up to me after the screening of Little Fiel to say they were embarrassed to have little or no knowledge of the civil war that cost an estimated one million lives. I shared that embarrassment. Patkanian said she hopes the use of gun parts to build the puppets would have an almost subliminal message (about the military violence in Mozambique) that doesnt get in the way of her telling dos Santoss story. Surviving Theater 9 is a devastating look at survivors of a mass shooting, in this case the gunfire that erupted at a late-night screening of a then-new Batman movie in Colorado six years ago. Twelve people died and 70 others were injured in the mass shooting. The film shows how a place we connect with pleasure and escape a multiplex movie theater was suddenly converted to a charnel house where comic book movie fans of all ages would lose their lives. Survivors have had to cope with PTSD flashbacks that arise without any warning. Survivor Tim McGrath decided to channel his trauma into a film that would show how he and other people who were there that night have dealt with the aftermath. McGrath appears as himself in the movie giving a remarkably accomplished performance but he used actors as other survivors. I didnt want to put other people through the process, the filmmaker told the audience after the screening. Surviving Theater 9 follows a grade school student who doesnt want to be singled out as the kid who was in the theater by new children who didnt know he was there that night. The shift between anger and emotional breakdown inherent in being involved in a huge news event is dramatized throughout the film. One woman gets lectured to by a neighbor who says she is exploiting the death of her brother for her own publicity purposes. The neighbor also questions how close the brother and sister were. I heard your arguments, the neighbor says. I think the fact that (the incident) was so widely reported makes it even harder to try to get past it, McGrath said. Surviving Theater 9 recreates the day of the shooting in the lives of the survivors and some of those who didnt go to the movie after planning to but McGrath doesnt show any violence. I knew from the start that I didnt want to do that, the filmmaker said of not depicting what happened in the theater after the shooting began, adding that he agrees with other directors who feel that suggested violence can be even more powerful than a graphic dramatization. McGrath has been pleased by the response to his first film, as he has toured the festival circuit over the past year. At the time of the shooting he was planning to become a lawyer, but the experience of making Surviving Theater 9 has put McGrath on a writing and directing track. Im in negotiations now to do a series about survivors, he said. jmeyers@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @joesview BRIDGEPORT With the city coastline growing pencil thin behind them, Curiale School eighth-graders remained silent as the captain aboard the tall ship barked orders to his crew. Not until the all-clear sign was given were the 24 students allowed to resume their excited chatter about whether a large rock in the distant waves was a whale, what the smell was coming from below deck and what life must have been like nearly two centuries ago aboard a very similar vessel, the Spanish schooner called the Amistad. It was important for Africans to know where they are coming from and where they are to chart their course for the future, Adwoa Bandele-Astante, an educator, told students huddled around her station aboard the 127-foot long schooner. A nonprofit educational organization that offers year-round programming up and down the East Coast, Discovering Amistad of New Haven invited two groups of Curiale School upperclassmen to spend the day aboard the vessel that has spent the past two weeks at Captains Cove. Completed in 2000, the boat is a replica of the vessel aboard which a slave rebellion occurred in 1839. The boat was carrying 53 Mende slaves from Havana, Cuba, to their purchasers' plantations when the African captives gained control of the ship and tried to make their way back to Sierra Leone. Instead, the ship was captured and towed to New London Harbor. Their plight ended up in the courts, eventually winding up in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered the slaves freed. The modern Amistad exists solely to tell that story, Rose Witte of Redding, the first mate aboard the boat, said. Telling the story of the struggle for freedom. A story that is still relevant to this day. Eighth-grade Curiale teachers Jaime Rodrigues and Bill Bunin said being on the boat gives students who are starting to learn the story a chance to experience it from a different perspective. Their students agreed. Easing backward down the ladder that led to a lower deck, Vincent Penzerro, 14, said he wanted to know how everything worked. I didnt know it was going to be this interesting, Penzerro said. Sharmin Akther, 12, liked going down below, too, but also pulling the ropes with classmates who formed lines on either side of the vessel, working together to raise the sails and drop the line. I learned its pretty difficult to sail, classmate Robert McDougall, 13, chimed in. For Francisco Nadarret, 13, and most of the rest, it was their first time on a boat, at least of this kind. An hour into the trip, most had shed their jackets and had them tied around their waists. They learned the replica is larger than the original Amistad, has an engine and a steering wheel, six waterproof compartments and flooring below the main deck. There are also 22 bunks, enough to take high school students on two-week summer trips. Down below used to be just a pile of stuff, like a floating general store, Jason Hine, who has worked on the Amistad for three years, said of the cargo hull. How do you not vomit down here, Deivy Franco, 13, asked when it was time for questions. Even sailors get sea sick when the waves are rough, Hine told him, adding that going back on deck where one can look at where the land meets water often helps. Back at Bandele-Asantes station, she let students touch artifacts like drums, walking sticks and a hollowed-out calabash. Drums, the students were told, werent allowed in the Colonial environment. One, because they could provide a means for slaves to communicate and two, it was a connection to a past where the people were strong, confident and intelligent. It was an ordered society, she said, explaining that the word diaspora meant to spread out and that the African diaspora is a vibrant one. This weekend, the ship sails to New Haven. It will winter in Mystic. Discovering Amistad educators will return to Curiale to do a follow up presentation in the near future. Have you been following the race for governor? I have, and Im deeply disappointed. Almost none of them is talking about transportation. How can we create jobs, stop people from moving out of state, encourage entrepreneurs or do anything to save our economy when we are in a literal and political gridlock? How much time do you waste in bumper-to-bumper traffic getting to or from work? How many delays have you had on Metro-North, where on-time performance has reached a new low? Why isnt this an issue? Sure, they pay it lip-service. Ned Lamont talks about tolls on trucks quite a switch from his earlier support of statewide car tolling. I guess the polls beat out tolls when he saw how unpopular they were. But using trucks as a funding scapegoat? Sure, why not? Everybody hates trucks. On the rails, Lamont promises Wi-Fi on Metro-North, but no mention of increased parking, more railcars for overcrowding or keeping fares down. Gee, he didnt even promise a return of the bar cars. You missed that one, Ned. As for Bob Stefanowksi, hes clearly in the tolls-are-a-tax camp. But its so much easier to know what hes against than what he supports. Hes been eluding the media except for a couple of debates and has subjected himself to little campaign scrutiny, aside from fund-raising. Ask him about any topic and hell remind you that Dan Malloy is the cause of all our problems, and he has the solutions, though he never explains what they are. He pivots from question to sound-bite like a whirling top. Just who are these guys? Lamont served as a selectman in Greenwich, but Stefanowski has never held elected office. In fact, Stefanowski wasnt even a full-time Connecticut resident until last year after splitting his time in London for much of the past decade. He also didnt vote for 17 years. How can he say he cares about running Connecticut without participating in the process? Lamonts greatest political credential is running, over and over again, for everything from the U.S. Senate to governor. Hey, at least he tried. What Lamont and Stefanowski have in common is that they are multimillionaire businessmen who have plowed much of their fortunes into funding their campaigns. Theyre quick to remind you they are businessmen, not politicians. And therein lies the problem. Running a state government is not like running a business. You may be governor, but youre not the CEO of a state. You have to work with a Legislature, not a Board of Directors (whose members you probably hand-picked). Havent we learned by the example of the Donald Trump administrations chaos that its folly to assume a businessman can govern? But theres another serious candidate we must not forget, though he too is just another businessman with no political track record. Oz Griebel is running as the no-party candidate and this guy does have transportation experience. He was the first chairman of the Transportation Strategy Board in 2001, and youve got him to thank for the new cars on Metro-North. Sadly, many of the TSBs ideas were never implemented before Malloy shut it down, but of the three-businessmen-of-the-apocalypse who want to be governor, Griebel is hands-down the best on transportation. Jim Cameron is a longtime commuter advocate based in Fairfield County. Contact him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com STAMFORD A state Superior Court judge has dismissed the case in which an environmental group sued the Zoning Board for changing a regulation to allow a developer to remove the citys only boatyard from a prime piece of real estate and build a version of it elsewhere. Judge Henry Cohn of the Hartford judicial district issued his decision late Friday, saying the court is prohibited from substituting its judgment for that of the Zoning Board, which the group Soundkeeper charged with bias toward developer Building and Land Technology. BLT is remaking a large part of the South End in a multibillion-dollar project called Harbor Point. According to the decision, Cohn concluded that the Zoning Boards action must be sustained if an examination of the record discloses evidence that supports any one of its reasons. The record shows that the Zoning Board based its decision on evidence, Cohn wrote. Citing case law, the judge said a zoning board is not required to believe any witness, even an expert, nor is it required to use in any particular fashion any of the materials presented to it so long as the conduct of the hearing is fundamentally fair. In deciding whether to allow BLT to reverse its original Harbor Point agreement, which said a boatyard must operate on the peninsula without interruption, the Zoning Board was required to consider comment from the Office of Long Island Sound Programs and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Cohn wrote. The board did that, he concluded. It wasnt clear Monday whether Cohns decision is the end of the two-year-old case, which resulted after BLT demolished the boatyard on the 14-acre peninsula off Bateman Way in 2011, violating its zoning agreement with the city for Harbor Point. Reed Super, the attorney for Soundkeeper, a nonprofit that works to protect Long Island Sound, said in an email that he is weighing the groups next move. Naturally, we are disappointed with the decision, Super wrote. Soundkeeper is reviewing the decision and considering all of its options. Super has said that a win in the case could have held BLT to the original zoning agreement and forced the developer put a full-service boatyard back on the peninsula. A BLT spokesman Monday emailed a statement from the company, saying, Were pleased with the judges ruling to uphold the Zoning Boards decision. While the appeal was pending, we proceeded under the Zoning Boards approval to complete construction of the new, full-service boatyard operated by Hinckley. The new Hinckley boatyard has proven to be a great addition to the Stamford Harbor. Cohn wrote in his decision that the Zoning Board properly consulted with state officials from DEEP, who found that the loss of the peninsula as a boatyard site was offset to some extent by BLTs plans to replace some of the slips that were there and create public walkways, and by BLTs construction of the smaller Hinckley boatyard on Southfield Avenue and a separate storage facility on Magee Avenue. The judge acknowledged DEEP concerns that, though state environmental regulations allow some economic development on coastland, hazards can come with it, especially if there is further development. DEEP officials agreed to help the Zoning Board assess whatever plan BLT submits for the peninsula, Cohn wrote. Super addressed that. It is worth noting that BLT does not have the right to build anything yet on the 14 acres they must first complete Davenport and Magee and then go back to the Zoning Board for final site plan approval, Super said in his email. That will be a new proceeding in which Soundkeeper and others may intervene and raise many of the same issues and additional issues. Barge accident Super cited last months barge accident, in which the 50-foot Sea Jay, a yacht worth $1.5 million docked at the new boatyard, was badly damaged when it was struck by a barge being tugged to O&G Industries in Stamford Harbor. Thank goodness no one was hurt, Super wrote, but the accident demonstrates what we and the state harbormaster were saying all along about the inappropriateness of a boatyard at that location. The city should be looking to reestablish a full-service boatyard and marina at the 14 acres for safety and many other reasons. In its lawsuit Soundkeeper charged that the financial data BLT submitted to the Zoning Board to justify elimination of the peninsula boatyard and support its replacement was inadequate, as was a study of the market served by the original operation. The judge concluded that the Zoning Board properly reviewed the data, and that it had discretion to proceed on the application with the supporting material as submitted. Citing case history, Cohn said it was the boards prerogative to resolve inconsistencies, if any, in favor of granting the application. It is well-established that a zoning board is free to accept or reject expert testimony when it is conflicting or contradictory. Cohn dismissed Soundkeepers allegation that the Zoning Board showed bias toward the developer. The burden was on Soundkeeper to demonstrate bias, and it did not do so, he wrote. Kathryn Emmett, director of legal affairs for the city, said Monday, We were confident that the Zoning Boards actions were legal and appropriate and would be upheld. Developers have eyed the peninsula off Bateman Way, with its sweeping views of Long Island Sound, since the 1980s. But decades of city and state zoning and environmental officials protected it for water-dependent use. BLTs improper demolition of the boatyard on the site the center of the citys maritime history for hundreds of years sparked an outcry among boaters and non-boaters about big developers getting what they want. acarella@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2296. Judge refuses to dismiss suit in fatal 1987 fire The city of Stamford has lost the first round in a lawsuit filed by the relatives of five people killed in a 1987 fire in the South End. A federal judge has rejected a motion filed by the city seeking the dismissal on the grounds that government and public officials do not have a constitutional obligation to protect citizens from a third party. The city had asked a federal judge in April to dismiss the suit that blames the city and five employees for the Feb. 10, 1987 fire that killed the Camman family. 20 years ago Students shaken by train crossing incident A school bus in Stamford was nearly hit by a train last week after the driver pulled too close to the tracks, prompting frightened children to run to the back of the bus, students and officials said. The driver was operating with a suspended license when he drove through red flashing lights Thursday morning at a crossing on Glenbrook Road, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police. The bus company, Laidlaw Transit Inc., said the driver whose name was not released, appeared to follow procedures. 15 years ago Abused priest to share story at conference In the summer of 1980, John Bambrick was a 15-year-old working at his parish in Keyport, N.J. A visiting priest struck up a conversation about Bambricks future plans and his interest in the priesthood. The man was supposed to be a mentor, but instead preyed upon Bambricks eagerness to be accepted into the seminary and used it to start an inappropriate relationship. Now the pastor of St. Thomas More Church in Manalapan, N.J., Bambrick has been on both sides of the clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church in the United States. erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayata As officers pursued him, ONeal hit two Chicago police SUVs with the Jaguar. Coughlin then fired nine rounds at the car as it moved away from him and toward Torres, according to city records and body camera footage. The Jaguar passed Torres and the officer fired a shot as the car sped down the block and crashed head-on with a squad car being driven by Diaz. This article originally appeared on PopularMechanics.com The U.S. Air Force is assessing what damage more than a dozen F-22 Raptor fighters suffered when Tyndall Air Force Base sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. Up to $2 billion in fighter jets were trapped on the ground because of maintenance issues and forced to ride out the Category 4 hurricane. Photographs show the hangars where F-22s were parked suffered severe damage. First, the good news: Although Tyndall Air Force Base took a hard hit from the hurricane, all 3,600 military personnel and their families living on the base were successfully evacuated beforehand. The 93 Air Force personnel who stayed behind to keep an eye on the base are all safe and accounted for. On the other hand: Up to 17 of Tyndalls F-22s might have sustained damage or been destroyed during the storm. The aircraft, each of which cost $150 million, were unable to escape with the rest of the bases F-22 fleet to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The jets left behind were parked inside hangars and officials hoped for the best. Post-hurricane photos showed extensive damage to the hangars, with at least one F-22 Raptor visible inside. Another photo showed a QF-16 target drone (a F-16 modified to act as an unmanned practice target) with the aircraft nose cone broken off. The U.S. Air Force operates 186 F-22 Raptor fighters, of which only 123 are combat codedthat is, they have the full suite of hardware and software to make them fully operational combat-ready fighters. The rest of the F-22 fleet lacks the full range of combat capability and is largely relegated to training duties. Tyndall is home to the 325th Fighter Wing which operates 55 F-22s split between the 43rd and 95th Fighter Squadrons. As The Diplomat explains, The 95th Fighter Squadrons 24 F-22s are combat-coded and operational. The 43rd Fighter Squadrons 31 F-22s comprise the primary training unit for the Raptor. The Air Force has yet to reveal exactly how many F-22s were left behind, how many of those were damaged, and the extent of the damage. We also dont know how many of the damaged jets, if any, were combat-coded models. Initial estimates of the damage were troubling, but Foreign Policys Lara Seligman later tweeted that all aircraft are intact and initial indications are promising. Its worth noting that the F-22 Raptor is built tough, designed to fly twice as fast as the speed of sound and in all weather conditions. That said, falling or wind-whipped debris from the hangar structure is another matter entirely. Hurricane-force winds might also pick up a fighter jet, which is built to be lifted into the air, after all, and plunk it down hard. Why were the jets unable to fly clear of the hurricanes path? They were simply down for maintenance and could not be readied in time. The Air Force had just a few days warning, making disassembling them and flying or trucking the parts to safety impractical. In 2017, the Air Forces F-22 fleet had the lowest readiness rate of all Air Force combat aircraft, with just 49 percent of aircraft flyable. Even if the Raptors at Tyndall had a 90 percent readiness rate, a very good number in peacetime, that means five aircraft from a fleet of 55 would have been left behind on the ground. If the number of planes left behind is correct at 17, then that means the service was able to get more than two-thirds of the bases jets into the air, a challenge especially when one considers the maintainers that struggled to get them flyable had to be evacuated themselves. While we dont know the extent of the damage to the jets, its pretty safe to say that if the readiness rate for the F-22 was higher wed be worrying about the fate of fewer planes. According to Combat Aircraft the base was decimated. The flight line is devastated. Every building has severe damage. Many buildings are a complete loss. Bu why was an Air Force base in the heart of Americas hurricane country so badly prepared for a big storm, especially protecting billions of dollars worth of fighter jets? Could the Air Force not foresee the possibility of having to evacuate the base and being forced to protect grounded jets from a hurricane? The Air Force continues to survey damage at Tyndall, with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein, and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth Wright visiting the base on Sunday. Air Force RED HORSE engineering units, trained to re-open damaged air bases in wartime, are on the ground cleaning up hurricane debris while Air Force special operations forces reopened the airfield so supplies could be flown in. The caffeine flowed freely, and so did conversations by dozens of coffee entrepreneurs -- who perhaps talked a tad faster than normal -- at the fourth annual New York Coffee Festival in Manhattan this past weekend. Featured at the event were booths for espresso machines, French presses and eco-friendly coffee cups, plus free tastings of every flavor of roasted bean imaginable -- as well as latte design demonstrations, and even coffee bean-inspired jewelry from the Czech Republic. Related: How This Coffee Startup Rocketed to National Retail Within a Few Months of Its Launch There was also one especially popular booth inviting coffee aficionados to swap out the simple syrup in their morning joe for syrup infused with CBD (the cannabis compound cannabidiol) -- something thats now legal in multiple states. These are the people that are genuinely obsessed by coffee, Jeffrey Young said in an interview. Hes the Australian-born founder and CEO of London-based Allegra Group, which puts on the festival in Manhattan and next month will launch a West Coast version, in Los Angeles, starting Nov. 9. Young glanced happily back over his shoulder at the jam-packed Metropolitan Pavilion event space (with a line outside of still more attendees waiting to get in). Based on registrations, Young said he expected a total of 12,000 to 14,000 visitors over three days. These coffee devotees had come to hobnob with about 100 vendors plus their guest vendors, who included some 200 different roasting companies, Young said. Its a passion for them, Young said of the festival-goers sipping free lattes and nibbling pastries across the Pavilions huge expanse, or wandering upstairs to hear coffee lectures. Somehow they like the personality of coffee, whatever that means. Its very personal to them. And its not just about coffee itself," he continued. "Its about coffee spaces, about the community that coffee brings. Related: How This Woman Perked Up Her Family's Coffee Business and Jolted Sales by 300 Percent And the entrepreneurs? That room is full of entrepreneurs, Young confirmed. These are the young coffee entrepreneurs building their businesses, some of them growing very, very rapidly. And theres a few big businesses in there, like Breville, [and other] coffee equipment companies. But underlying this is, its a very entrepreneurial marketplace. To underscore that point, Young described the flurry of acquisitions that has occurred in the industry this year. JAB Holding Co., a privately held company, really set the tone for acquisitions in this market, Young said. Youve seen Nestle acquire [a majority stake in] Blue Bottle Coffee this year; and, local here to New York, a business created here in New York and spreading all over the country is Bluestone Lane. Theyre being invested in by Stephen Ross, the billionaire chairman of Related Cos. In recent years, Young added, JAB acquired Stumptown Coffee Roasters, as well as Peets Coffee, and took a majority stake in Pret a Manger last year. JAB further led the group of investors that acquired Keurig Green Mountain. And this year, JAB was also reported to be interested in the Italian chain Illycaffe SpA (Nestle reportedly was, too); Coca-Cola, meanwhile, invested in Costa Coffee. What these beverage companies have realized is that coffee is the most exciting beverage at the moment, Young said. As a result, Entrepreneurs are seeing these [high] valuations out there in the marketplace; and theres a lot of interest in investment in the small boutique coffee chains. A stroll through the Pavilion reflected Youngs assessment, as various entrepreneurs spoke with enthusiasm about their caffeine-fueled passion: Azuca In an interview, Eben Freeman, executive product development director, was bullish about his Massachusetts-based companys CBD-infused simple syrup. It solves most of the problems you have with CBD oils or edibles, Freeman said of the syrup. Thats good, he explained, because, in a word, CBDs natural flavor tastes like cabbage. What makes Azucas line of sweeteners, which will be available online this week and are already sold in some outlets (including company owner Ron Silvers Bubbys restaurants, in New York) special is their absence of terpenes. Terpenes are the hydrocarbons that give CBD products their bad smell. Image credit: Azuca When you put [the product] into dilution, a cup of coffee, you really dont taste it at all, Freeman claimed. CBD, for those not in the know, has been credited with helping people combat depression, anxiety and chronic pain. It lacks the cannabis ingredient THC and so produces no high. Azucas CBD syrup is sold in bottles, whose smaller version offers four servings -- each with 10 milligrams of CBD -- priced at $18. You can put it into your coffee in the morning, into your tea in the afternoon or your cocktail at the end of the night, Young said. Biohazard Coffee Kelly Driscoll, marketing director of the two-year-old company Biohazard Coffee, frequently had to step aside at her companys booth to allow her colleague Patch to pose for selfies being taken by visitors eager to be seen with him, because he was attired in a biohazard suit and mask. The stunt was related to the companys name, which Driscoll explained stems from the coffees 928 kilograms of caffeine for 12 fluid ounces. That makes it three to four times the amount of caffeine youll find in normal barista-made coffee, she said. The company prides itself on not adding anything to the raw coffee and on using 100 percent robust beans which, Driscoll said, strips away the beans natural bitterness. For me personally, I drink three or four cups of coffee a day, Driscoll said. So, instead of having three to four cups a day, I have one in the morning and Im good to go. In the U.S. were by far the strongest coffee, Driscoll continued, while acknowledging that a competitor could beat Biohazard at its own game. Thats the thing with highly caffeinated coffees, she said. Someone could always come out with something stronger. Breville My name means to be calm, which Im not, declared Rachael Calmas, referring to her career as a publicist who promotes a company making espresso machines. Specifically, Calmas works for the Australian food equipment company Breville, whose U.S. headquarters, for 15 years, has been in Torrance, Calif. The companys focus is on kitchen machines for the home market -- such as wood fired pizza ovens -- as well as espresso machines for coffee-adoring Americans. Some of those stainless steel works of art were on display at the Coffee Festival. Brevilles most recent machines, the Oracle Touch and Barista Touch (both automatic and manual), each won a Best New Product award at the Specialty Coffee Association Expo. Coming out next month is Brevilles newest machine, the Bambino-Plus, a $500 mini espresso machine. Its joining a crowded market -- one, Calmas said, that boasts machines that are beautiful statement pieces for your kitchen counter, as well as machines for the smart home category, where you have a phone [and tell it] Make my coffee before I get out of bed. The real key to a good espresso? Not just a fancy machine, Calmas acknowledged, but the right texture of milk" -- and thats not easy to get every time. Honestly, she added, the highest-fat whole milk is going to give you the best quality. Ecoffee Cup David McLagan, founder and CEO, explained how he founded Ecoffee Cup, an eco-cup company, back in 2014, when we found out that over 100 billion single use cups go to landfills. His company is English and Dutch, and based in London and Amsterdam, but its establishing a U.S. foothold, in Brooklyn, N.Y., soon. The companys eco-cups -- which come in 100 different designs and four different sizes -- are made from a composite of bamboo fiber, cornstarch and resin. The cups offer the same durability as ceramic and also the ability to hold temperatures stable for 45 minutes. The $11.76 cups are phthalate-free. Cafes, McLagan said, are willing to put their coffee in customers own eco cups; Starbucks gives a 10 cent discount. Interestingly, Ecoffees website boasts the relatively new extension eco on its name. Companies have to apply for the honor of using that eco extension by providing an impact statement and environmental credentials. At the festival overall, environmentalism was a concern voiced not only by Ecoffee Cup but by Project Water Fall, a British nonprofit whose mission is to bring clean, safe drinking water, sanitation and education to coffee growing communities The Northeast Recreational Coffee Association Latte artists -- the folks who put those cool cinnamon designs on your latte foam -- have the souls of entrepreneurs in that theyre out to push the envelope and throw their heart into their work. The Association holds a monthly New York-based throwdown among baristas, and is part of a wave of such competitions nationwide, said organizer Lanny Huang. Huang equivated latte art to plating a dish meaning the art upscale restaurants engage in to create a beautiful dinner plate. Latte art is pouring a design over a latte, and the skills involved have a lot to do with texturing whole milk correctly, he said. Basically, latte art has grown and specialty coffee has grown because its kind of a signature of elevating the coffee experience, Huang said, pointing out the La Marzocco espresso machine behind him. As a matter of fact, that company thought enough of the Associations efforts to sponsor its festival booth. Related: These Entrepreneur Brothers Ditched Coffee for Matcha and Built a Multimillion-Dollar Drink Brand You generally wont find good coffee served without latte art on top, Huang declared. Related: These Entrepreneurs Were Even More Energetic Than Usual: They Were at the New York Coffee Festival! Stirring a Storm with Cold Brew Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved The move was part of an arrangement that Cook County has with other jails to move prisoners who are either high-profile, dangerous or working as cooperating witnesses in other cases, sheriffs officials said. They said the decision to transfer Van Dyke was based on his high-profile status, not on any threats or concern for his safety. W hen it comes to trusting someone to dish out dispassionate management advice, judge them by their own record. A consultant with the sang-froid to tell a client to ease his own father out of a job is probably worth putting faith in. Such was the situation for Atif Sheikh, the management consultant at the helm of Businessthreezero, which works for a string of blue chips from Samsung to Electronic Arts. His father, Younus Sheikh, is one of the wealthy tycoons behind the sprawling Bestway wholesale and retail business. During his childhood Atif saw his father build the business from a couple of corner shops to a nationwide empire. But in 2016 profits started to get squeezed by cost pressures and sharp competition. Businessthreezero was called in and a reluctant Atif saw one of his main principles, to speak the truth when other consultants dont have the guts to, tested to the limit. I said, Mr Sheikh has done a brilliant job over 40 years but this business is not going to move forward with him at the head, says the 41-year-old. He admits his relationship with his successful entrepreneur father has had its up and downs but that the call to move him into a chairmans role has made our relationship stronger, if anything. Away from the family business, Sheikhs company boasts work for Aviva, InterContinental and BP, whose chief executive Bob Dudley called an event it curated for 400 managers the most different and impactful meeting I have ever experienced in my entire career. Whats so different? Sheikh believes there have been three ages of business: winning through industrialisation, then through scale and efficiency and now being quickest to adapt. He has set his focus on firms employing thousands of people who need to reinvent themselves and set new corporate visions. The nucleus of the consultancy came after helping Barclays cope with bankings implosion. Then working at consultancy ?What If!, Sheikh was asked by ex-CEO Antony Jenkins to help rapidly reinvent the culture of the bank. The big things I learned were do not divorce the human, purpose, culture stuff from the strategy stuff in a business. Its a disaster. You wont get meaningful change when you do it, says the affable consultant, shifting his not-inconsiderable frame in a low chair. Sheikh readily admits that, at 31, he didnt challenge the banks bosses enough but the experience was enough to understand the mechanisms over a corporate turnaround. His consultancys work is broad. For InterContinental, it helped look at the contribution of its luxury arm related to its core Holiday Inn brand as new chief executive Keith Barr took the reins. For insurance giant Aviva, several years of work on its turnaround has included looking at how consumers actually use its products, using tech to prevent accidents and defining how to measure great leadership within the business. Boss Mark Wilsons abrupt defenestration last week may have undermined that, admittedly. Sheikh, sporting tight blue shorts and a chunky watch, is no stranger to big business. The Cambridge-educated polyglot followed a year in Japan with a steep learning curve as a Unilever marketing trainee. He gleams with pride recalling how he created the super-hot Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle flavour, building a brand on a shoestring, then later working on marketing for Diageos Smirnoff Ice brand and Cadburys 150 million biscuits business. At 29 he had a wobble (I thought I dont know how much this really matters, Im just marketing Pot Noodles and alcopops), and he flirted with becoming a poet before later plunging into consultancy. The world of corporate strategy can appear pretty pretentious to the hardened outsider. (Were sitting in the Be Us room, while most big firms carry slogans about their values painted on the wall crafted by firms like Sheikhs.) He says the key to companies success in turning these words into action is getting buy-in from more junior staff. The thing that keeps most CEOs up at night isnt have I got the right strategic direction but how do I get everyone from middle management down to actually execute this?. I think its because youre asking people to do things differently than they have ever done it. Most people dont like change. I nvestors in Britains retailers were left stunned on Monday after a shock profit warning from Superdry, blaming warm weather and bad foreign exchange hedging. Shares in the group crashed 20%. The fashion brand is reliant on sales of heavy winterwear such as jumpers and jackets, 45% of annual sales, and has always traditionally struggled in the summer months. But this year was even worse, with what it called unseasonably hot weather in the UK, Europe and the east coast of the US hitting sales. Superdry said it expects to make 83 million in profit this year, well shy of the near-110 million expected. The shock update underlines the latest struggles on the High Street this year after House of Fraser crashed into administration and comes just three months after Superdry paid a special dividend based on strong cash generation. The shares careered 20%, or 202p, down to 788p at one point. City experts were critical of the tone of the statement and demanded more detail. Retail analyst Nick Bubb was scathing. He said: It is true that Superdry is more dependent than most fashion retailers on heavy outerwear, but even so it seems a bit feeble to blame the latest profit warning on the warm weather. The weather will cost 10 million. A further 8 million blow will come after it admitted that some historic foreign-exchange hedging mechanisms had not provided the same degree of protection as expected. Bubb added: It is not clear how it comes up with this figure and there are only sketchy details on sales trends. And there is... a mysterious warning that additional FX hedging will cost 8 million. Greg Lawless of Shore Capital called the profit warning a big bump in the road. He added: Part of the profit warning is weather related, which affects all players. That said, in our view good shopkeepers can prosper, whatever the weather, for example Next and Boohoo. Superdry has a new CFO in place but the hedge on FX doesnt appear to have done what it was meant to, which is somewhat unusual. T he surprise is that there is any surprise. On Sunday, there was going to be an agreement and then, all of a sudden, after the Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab arrived to say no, there wasnt. Thats because the Governments strategy of bashing round pegs into square holes can only go on for so long before the impossibility is exposed and the events of the past 24 hours have confirmed it. Trying to align Brexit hardliners and a fragmented Parliament with the sort of deal the EU is offering will not work. So what happens next? Here are three things that count. One: today, all the noise at Westminster is coming from Tory Brexiteers. Several Cabinet ministers are said to be threatening to resign if the Prime Minister presses on. They wont vote for the deal the Governments negotiators apparently almost reached. They bluster about the heroic isolation of walking away instead and in that folly are being encouraged by a Government which is pretending it can be ready for a chaotic exit on March 29. But remember: if the Prime Minister doesnt have the numbers (and right now, she doesnt), then nor do they. There is no majority in the House of Commons or in the country for a hard Brexit of the kind they want. And in the end, its the numbers that will count. Two: the choice doesnt have to be between the Prime Ministers position (which Parliament wont back) and a no-deal exit. As the Labour MP Chris Leslie writes for the Evening Standard today, the notion of a deal or no deal Brexit is entirely a fabrication by the Prime Minister. She has found herself putting forward a plan without friends, too close to Europe for some in her party, too far away for others to come to her rescue. But that doesnt mean there arent other options. One would be a clearer commitment to the customs union than the Government is currently willing to make. Or joining EFTA and the European Economic Area: the so-called Norway option. This is the moment to move to these. Three: but even if it does move, the Government cannot rely on being rescued by the Opposition. As Mr Leslie writes, there is no reason why Labour MPs should vote for a deal they dont like in order to save the Prime Ministers skin. In that, she has been caught by the logic which has stood since the Government threw away its majority in last years election. Number 10 says it wants a deal which can unite the Conservative Party. But no form of deal can do that. Until the unavoidable truth of this is tested in the Commons, however, the Prime Minister may go on insisting she is working to reach a deal, without ever daring to reach one. But a compromise without support is in the end no sort of compromise at all, and can only bring chaos. The day when the Government has to choose between what is right for the country and what satisfies the ideological obsessions of some Conservatives is rapidly approaching. Royal congratulations With perfect timing, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex touched down in Australia for the start of their first official Royal tour and brought with them happy news. We join all those congratulating the couple today on the announcement that the Duchess is expecting her first child , which will be the seventh in line to the throne. Since their marriage in May, the couple have brought a welcome new energy and a fresh approach to the Royal Family, typified by the Dukes support for the Invictus Games, taking place in Sydney. They may have had to keep the news of the Duchesss pregnancy to themselves until after last weeks wedding at Windsor, but theres no better place than Australia to tell the world their secret, a country whose ties to the Royal Family are close and long-standing. Now we know, perhaps, why she has decided not to join her husband on a climb across the Sydney Harbour Bridge later this week but first come traditional Royal duties of the sort that will win more excitement and interest than usual. A s Theresa May tries to placate hard Brexiteers with a low-grade Brexit deal, MPs should brace themselves for the Governments attempt to plough it through our parliamentary safeguards. My colleagues must stand firm and not fall for the Governments tactics. The notion of a deal or no deal Brexit is entirely a fabrication by the Prime Minister. She will want to present a take-it-or-leave-it vote but MPs should not be gullible. We knew such a false binary tactic was likely when MPs overruled ministers last year, insisting on a meaningful vote with an amendable motion if the Government wanted to proceed. Parliament took back control. So it is now our duty to scrutinise any deal and if its a poor one, we shouldnt be afraid to say so. If Parliament chooses, it can put any deal to a Peoples Vote. Letting the public decide feels the most sensible way forward. Or Parliament can send ministers back and insist on a different deal. If the Governments proposal is voted down, MPs have other options, instructing the Government to request an extension of the Article 50 timetable if needs be. My sense is that even a majority of Conservative MPs wont stomach a no deal scenario, whatever the ERG say. So there are several chances for MPs to get this right and we shouldnt be bullied by the Government on this. Most Labour MPs will reject a bad deal. But there may be a tiny number who consider voting for a harmful Brexit deal. If they do, they will share the blame for the job losses, the barriers to trading, the abandonment of our services industries 80 per cent of our economy the inspections at the border and the permanent limbo in which they will place our country. Outside the single market we can expect GDP growth to shrink by 4.8 per cent over the next 15 years, on the Treasurys own estimates. That leaves a 50 billion-plus hole in tax revenue, meaning cuts to our NHS, schools, police. Downgrading our relationship with Europe to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) status of Mexico, Canada or Colombia means a major loss of market access and significant new customs costs. For example, FTA status means 550 new regulations on our business services, and for the chemicals sector 9,000 registrations needed in the EU to maintain trading rights. The Governments FTA approach is inferior. I fully expect ministers to try and bully MPs, perhaps even wriggle out of the meaningful vote entirely. Any attempt to rig proceedings will provoke a constitutional crisis. Labours front bench should be alive to any Conservative Party game-playing with parliamentary business and must resist any backroom deal on procedure to effectively block amendments. MPs were elected knowing our role was to stand up for our constituents, not rubber-stamp the PMs deal. We mustnt shy away now. T he BBC has never seemed to be in such rude health. From last weekends watch-from-behind-your-hands Strictly to the bonking Bodyguard , not to mention Blue Planet , it continues to achieve ratings that havent been seen in almost a decade. But all is not what it seems. Only last week the head of content for the BBC, Charlotte Moore, pointed out in a high-profile media lecture that the BBCs spending power has declined by almost a fifth in the past decade. British media companies now face a competitive environment that was unimaginable a decade ago. When I first became David Camerons broadcast minister back in 2010, the BBC was still the big beast in the jungle. Wherever two or three media executives were gathered together, complaints would soon focus on the BBC and its impact on commercial broadcasting. A few years on, concerns were all about Google. Now all people want to talk about is Netflix. The most valuable independent broadcast company in the UK is ITV, currently worth 8.5 billion. The BBC itself has an income of around 5 billion. Compare this with the US. A couple of weeks ago Comcast bought Sky for 39 billion, almost five times the value of ITV. Comcast is worth more than $150 billion, and Disney and Netflix weigh in at similar sizes. Amazon and Apple, two trillion-dollar companies, are also starting to play heavily in television. By the end of the decade, the combined spend on content of many of these companies will reach $100 billion a year. Netflix is already responsible for 15 per cent of global internet traffic. In Europe, YouTube accounts for almost a third. The cost of one series of Netflixs The Crown is about the same as 10 BBC dramas. Ed Vaizey / Getty Images for Facebook In many ways the size and scale of these global companies is a good thing for British talent and creativity. After all, The Crown relies heavily on British talent and locations. Statistics from the British Film Industry published last week show that spending in the UK on high-end drama has doubled, and spending on film production has increased by almost 50 per cent in the past few years. Three of the biggest film franchises in the world James Bond , Star Wars and Harry Potter are all made in the UK. The film and television sectors now make a real and significant contribution to our economy and to economic growth as a whole. Great British actors, directors, producers and craftsmen and women are getting more than their fair share of this global pie, at least. But if we want our success to continue, we cannot simply rely on large cheques from abroad. The BBC lies at the heart of our broadcasting ecology, and it is vital that it continues to thrive. The BBC Charter its roadmap for the next 10 years was concluded just two years ago. But there are elements within it that already risk severely damaging it. As I was one of the ministers involved with the Charter, what follows is something of a mea culpa. The BBC is now responsible for funding the free TV licence for pensioners. This will save the Treasury a significant sum. The move was a wheeze to try and meet the welfare savings promised in the 2015 election. But by the end of the decade this will cost the BBC an estimated 700 million a year, a huge proportion of its budget. Other Government-inspired initiatives have and will cost the BBC money it can ill afford to lose, albeit not on the same scale. Local television was never going to work in this country, and it has failed. But not before gobbling up 37 million of licence-fee money. "If we want our success to continue, we cannot simply rely on large cheques coming in from abroad" Now we are in danger of making the same kind of mistake again, with the introduction of something called contestable funding. This kind of fund has not been successful elsewhere, and I have severe doubts that this 60 million will end up being money well spent. Ironically, the money could even end up providing subsidies to Netflix and Amazon, who certainly dont need it. Its true, of course, that the BBC doesnt always help itself. Huge salaries for top talent, gender pay disparity and the hounding of Cliff Richard have all rightly brought criticism. But the sheer pace of technological change and the huge sums of money involved means we need to think hard about how we secure the BBCs future. It remains the domestic leader in national and local radio, a vital provider of news and the host of national events such as The Proms, still one of the key organisations binding an increasingly fractured nation together. Some choices are easy. Politicians need to stop imposing their own pet policy projects on Auntie, and now give her their full support. It should be politicians, not the BBC, who fund and decide on the future of the free licence fee. We should stop the contestable fund and call a halt to the subsidy for local TV. But we should also be more radical. The BBC needs to be able to be free to join forces with Channel 4 and ITV, especially when competing abroad or online. It should consider charging for some services, such as those on iPlayer. And it should be able to seek private investment for new projects. Charlotte Moore is right to warn that uniquely British content for British audiences is under threat and we need to save it. L ast month, two journalists in Myanmar were jailed for reporting on a massacre of Rohingya Muslims. Two weeks ago, Turkish author Ahmet Altan was sentenced to life in prison for criticising his government. It appears last week Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, while journalist Victoria Marinova was raped and murdered in Bulgaria. On Tuesday, we gave our Pinter Writer of Courage Award to Waleed Abulkhair, who is serving 15 years in Saudi Arabia for defending human rights. We welcome the Foreign Secretarys statement of concern regarding the suspected murder of Mr Khashoggi, but the British Governments response to increased human rights abuses around the world seems reactive rather than strategic. Defence of human rights cannot be an optional extra in foreign policy. States that guarantee freedom of expression are more secure and prosperous, and become more reliable trading partners for the UK. Antonia Byatt Director, English PEN EDITOR'S REPLY Dear Antonia You rightly highlight the dangers facing brave journalists around the world. The international demand for answers over the fate of Jamal Khashoggi suggests many still understand the value of a free press. Democracies have always had to engage with authoritarian states that will not change but perhaps we can learn in our own societies to value the role of a questioning media a little more. If we denigrate those we disagree with as enemies of the people or purveyors of fake news then we are doing the job of authoritarian regimes for them. George Osborne, Editor Lets pause HS2 at Old Oak Common The costs of HS2 keep increasing, and one way to reduce them is to stop the line at Old Oak Common at least until Phase 2. This will save 8 billion in the construction costs of continuing the line to Euston. The cost of disruption to traffic during the reconstruction of Euston has never been properly allowed for, and Old Oak Common provides a link to Crossrail. Everyone agrees Old Oak Common could handle the predicted volume of traffic at least until Phase 1. Its not too late to change the timing of when Euston comes on stream. Prof Lord Richard Layard Vehicle bans will be good for City IT IS almost impossible to praise the City of London too highly for its inspirational draft transport strategy [Vehicle bans and 15mph limits, October 9], which will make the City a great place for pedestrians. It will increase safety and ensure that the 480,000 people who commute into the area every day have a fairer share of street space. It will also surely be key in maintaining the competitiveness of the City of London with its rivals, including Paris. David Harrison London Living Streets House of Lords does vital job of scrutiny Darren Hughes assertion that the House of Lords is ineffective in scrutinising the Government is not borne out by the facts [The Reader, October 8]. In the last session of Parliament the Lords made 2,270 amendments to legislation to improve the laws that govern us all. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced on Monday that they are expecting their first child. The baby, due in Spring, will be the seventh in line to the throne and the Queens eighth great-grandchild. Despite already being in her second trimester, Meghan has managed to keep her news under wraps thanks to some carefully-planned outfit choices. But really there have been plenty of subtle signs she was expecting 1. The outfits Once a fan of figure-hugging silhouettes, the Duchess of Sussex has opted for much looser and more covered-up styles in recent weeks. She first roused suspicions early in September when she opted to wear a loose fitting, ruffle-front electric blue Jason Wu dress to attend the 100 Days of Peace concert with Harry at Central Hall, Westminster. The soft pleated dress marked a clear change in direction from her usual preference for crisp, form-fitting styles, and appeared to have space to conceal a baby bump. Meghan attends the 100 Days of Peace Concert, Central Hall, Westminster mages) / Getty Images She again had opted for a similarly soft and forgiving silhouette to attend the wedding of Charlie Van Strabenzee and Daisy Jenks a month prior. Duchess of Sussex attends the wedding of Daisy Jenks and Charlie Van Straubenzee at Saint Mary The Virgin Church on August 4, 2018 / WireImage It was Meghans choice of outfit for Princess Eugenie's wedding however that really got the rumour mill spinning. The structured, A-line Givenchy coat was an unusually conservative choice for the ex-Suits star, and seemed to completely conceal her frame Meghan attends the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. Images) / Getty Images Harry and Meghan's Relationship In Pictures 1 /45 Harry and Meghan's Relationship In Pictures The kiss Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Cowarth Park Audi Polo Challenge at Coworth in Berkshire on May 7, 2017 Rex Features Rex Features Meghan Markle watches Prince Harry speak during the opening ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on September 23, 2017 Getty Images At the Invictus Games together on September 25, 2017 Tim Rooke/REX/Shutterstock At the Invictus Games PA At the Invictus Games Applauding athletes at the wheelchair tennis at the Invictus Games AP At the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games, September 30, 2017 The couple were joined for the closing ceremony by Meghan's mother Doria Posing after announcing their engagement on November 27, 2017 AP EPA The couple revealed how Harry proposed during a TV interview when their engagement was announced pixel8000 Harry and Meghan arrive at Nottingham Station ahead of their first official engagement together, December 1, 2017 PA Harry and Meghan arrive at the Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair, in Nottingham AP Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at on December 25, 2017 in King's Lynn Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh, Scotland AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to Edinburgh Castle on February 13, 2018 Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the first annual Royal Foundation Forum held at Aviva Getty Images The couple at the University of Bath Sports Training Village, Bath, to attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 on April 6, 2018 PA At Bath University EPA Meghan and Harry at the memorial service to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in St Martins in the Field,on April 23, 2018 EPA Prince Harry and Meghan leave St George's Chapel PA The Duke and Duchess wave at the crowds during their wedding procession on May 19, 2018 Reuters The couple arrive for a visit to the Nelson Mandela Centenary Exhibition at the Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall on July 17, 2018 AFP/Getty Images At Royal Ascot, June 19, 2018 Action Images via Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan stand as they attend the 'Your Commonwealth' Youth Challenge reception AP Harry and Meghan arriving in Dublin for their visit to Ireland in July 2018 Getty Images At Aras an Uachtarain on July 11, 2018 in Dublin Getty Images Meghan kisses Harry during the presentation ceremony for the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup, at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in Windsor on July 26, 2018 AP The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the annual WellChild Awards PA At the Coach Core Awards at Loughborough University in Loughborough on September 24, 2018 AFP/Getty Images The couple with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave after visiting the University of Chichester, Bognor Regis on October 3, 2018 PA Visiting the University of Chichester's Engineering and Digital Technology Park Sussexes In Sussex Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex make an official visit to the Joff Youth Centre Duke and Duchess of Sussex take their seats ahead of the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank Getty Images The Duchess arriving at Princess Eugenie's wedding on October 12, 2018 PA Harry and Meghan at Princess Eugenie's wedding AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan arrive in Australia for their royal tour of the South Pacific on October 15, 2018 Media-Mode / SplashNews.com Just hours later it was announced Meghan was pregnant Media-Mode / SplashNews.com AP PA Wire/PA Images Samir Hussein/WireImage 2. The body language On a number of occasions during the summer, the Duchess was seen discreetly using her body language to hide any sign of a bump at Charlie Van Straubenzee and Daisy Jenks' wedding in August, for example, she regularly held her clutch bag in front of her stomach. Getty Images She did the same when she opened 'Oceania' (the first-ever major survey of Oceanic art to be held in the United Kingdom) at the Royal Academy of Arts on September 25. Getty Images Touching down in Sydney on Monday, just hours before her happy news was announced, fans couldn't help but notice the strategically-placed plastic folders Meghan was clutching to her chest, another effort perhaps to conceal her growing bump. Meghan and Harry arrive in Sydney, October 2018 / AP While always attentive, Harry's body language to Meghan also appears to have become more protective in recent weeks, and he often places his hand on her back. Meghan and Harry in Brighton, October 3 2018 / Getty Images Meghan and Harry at Prinecss Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding / Getty Images 3. Her even glowier glow Meghan is known for her incredible, glowing skin which on any given day seems to radiate from within. But is it just us or has it been looking extra specially glowy and amazing recently? The Duchess Of Sussex attends The WellChild Awards / Getty Images I mean really, thats more than just a good skincare regime going on there. That looks awfully like a happy hormone-fuelled pregnancy glow to us. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex on an official visit to West Sussex on October 3, 2018. / Getty Images A utumn brings with it orange hues, pumpkin spiced lattes and half term. Entertaining the kids can be a challenge at the best of times, so a whole week can seem like an especially daunting task. Luckily, the capital has lots of events on offer to keep little ones happy as well as provide them with opportunities to learn. We've rounded up the very best activities to take your kids to this half term in London. StoryStock at Battersea Power Station Story time: Battersea will host the festival / Johnny Stephens Photography This travelling story circus will land in Battersea from Monday October 22 for three days. The lively programme features events for all the family, with a selection of live shows and storytellings. On Wednesday, a Greatest Showman musical workshop is on the schedule as well as comedian Ben Miller, who will take to the stage to discuss his debut childrens book. Across the festival, there will be comedy and performance classes alongside live readings of classics like Dr Seuss and Beatrix Potter. Monday October 22 - Wednesday October 24, batterseapowerstation.co.uk Pumpkin Decorating Workshop With Halloween fast approaching, this creative workshop taking place on the Thursday and Friday of half term, makes for the perfect seasonal activity. The cost of the class includes one pumpkin per person, which can be taken home at the end of the session. Each workshop is aimed for kids at different ages, so its best to check on the website to see which class suits best. This autumnal activity is fun for kids and big kids alike, so scoop and carve to your hearts delight. 100 London Rd, SE23 3PQ, horniman.ac.uk Kids eat free at Hai Cenato Dough it: Pizza at Hai Cenato At weekends, culinary legend Jason Atherton offers a kids eat free deal at his restaurant Hai Cenato in Victoria. The deal is available at lunchtime on Saturdays and all-day on Sundays. Food-wise, its a New-York Italian affair; pizzas are fluffy with a generous amount of topping and the pastas are incredibly filling. Its heartwarming grub that will leave you and the little ones feeling refuelled and ready to take on the afternoon. 79 Buckingham Palace Rd, SW1E 5DJ, haicenato.co.uk A World Inside a Book: Gruffalos, Dragons and Other Creatures exhibition Coming alive: Popular books are given brought to life Over in Stratford, this immersive exhibition explores the different worlds of best-selling children's author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler. Kids can dive into the 3D technicolour landscapes of their favourite books, encountering forests, miniature houses, dragons and other creatures. This imaginative exhibition has been so popular it's even been extended until January 2019, so booking in advance is highly recommended. 383-387 High Street, E15 4QZ, discover.org.uk/exhibitions Children's Afternoon Tea at The Savoy Stripy happenings: Tiger tea at The Savoy Afternoon tea gets an imaginative twist this October. The Savoy is laying on a childrens afternoon tea, inspired by the hit book The Tiger That Came to Tea. The beloved tale turns 50 this year and the food that Sophie and her mum share with their tiger guest will provide the inspiration for the hotel's new menu. Tiger striped scones and colourful pastries will be on offer and will be served on bespoke chinaware. But adults fear not, the usual afternoon tea, champagne tea and high tea will all still be available. Monday to Friday, Strand, WC2R 0EZ, thesavoylondon.com Big Draw at Tower Bridge Get colourful: Tower Bridge will host the sketching event Each month, Tower Bridge hosts an entire day dedicated to family-friendly activities inside its venue. During half term it will host a Big Draw event in the Victorian Engine Room, featuring artist in residence Imogen Piper, where budding creatives can sketch their own versions of the engines they are surrounded by. The drawing event is included in the price of a Tower Bridge Exhibition ticket, which costs 8.70 in advance for adults and 3.80 for children. Saturday October 20 from 10am - 4pm, Tower Bridge Rd, SE1 2UP, towerbridge.org.uk Natural History Museum Ice Rink Get your skates on: The famous ice rink is back Getting kids outside and active during half term is always a bonus. The Natural History Museums enchanting ice rink opens for the festive season on October 25. Skate and enjoy views of the surrounding trees draped with fairy lights and the beautiful museum itself and why not take a trip inside afterwards, its completely free after all. Cromwell Rd, Kensington, SW7 5BD, nhm.ac.uk New childrens menu at Sophies Soho Italian classics: Treats on Sophie's new kids menu This popular NY-style steakhouse in Soho has just launched a brand new children's menu, just in time for half term. As part of the 7 meal deal, little ones can choose from a roast chicken pitta, a fresh tomato and basil pasta, a classic hamburger or a pit roast potato with cheese, alongside a dessert of fresh fruit or ice cream. For 3 more, there are seasonal roasts, served with a giant Yorkshire pudding, crispy potatoes and autumnal veggies. Review at a glance T he word holocaust is used early on in Boots Rileys debut film Sorry To Bother You, a shocking and hilarious satire that makes you feel good, somehow, about the fact that the one per cent are out to get us. You think racism, modern slavery and/or dehumanising capitalism are no laughing matter? Let Riley change your mind. In a dystopic nook of California, a cash-poor ex-jock, Cassius (Lakeith Stanfield), feels inadequate next to his woke artist girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson). In a bid to assert himself (and pay his rent and get a car thats not a steaming bucket), he applies for a job as a telemarketer. Encouraged by a colleague (Danny Glover) to adopt a white voice when calling customers, Cassius finds he has a knack for selling crap. Hes promoted and, eventually, courted by Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), the CEO of a corporation that essentially strips workers of their rights and turns workplaces into prisons. The craziness snowballs when our heros girlfriend, and his fellow telemarketers, go on strike. Will Cassius cross the picket-line? Hell, yes! Will he agree to rap for Steves swanky friends and, after sniffing a line of what looks like coke, agree to an audacious proposal? Youll have to wait and see. On call: Lakeith Stanfield in Sorry To Bother You The script and lo-fi visuals are crammed with magic and mischief. It seems likely that Riley is a fan of Ralph Ellisons prose. And maybe the work of Jonathan Swift (especially A Modest Proposal and the bits in Gullivers Travels concerning the Houyhnhnms; yes, smart horses do play a crucial part in the plot). There are broad jokes about Will Smith, Lionel Richie and lift buttons. There are sly ones, too. Look out for a lovely pastiche of Michel Gondrys deliberately child-like aesthetic. As for the soundtrack, its stirring. Though Cassius doesnt like to rap, the opposite is true of Riley and his group, The Coup, who feature heavily. Action is intercut with raunchily off-centre yodels. Yum. Satire can seem redundant in a world where surreal is the new normal. But we need crafty comedies such as this, more than ever. Does Kanye Wests new-found love for Donald Trump makes you want to scream? Sorry To Bother You gets to grips with such pain. Bewitched, bothered, slightly less bewildered. Thats how youll feel as the credits roll. I have two things that I would do differently. One is to focus very much on lots of baby-step improvements and announcing em, playing em up more than weve done. That would be No. 1, Rauner said in response to a question about his biggest first-term mistakes. No. 2, I would have been much more focused with my time on communications. I spent my time doing, not communicating. I would do far more communicating. T he world has been set all aflutter this morning with the news of a new royal baby coming in spring 2019. The couples royal relatives and friends will be on hand to help, guide, support and play with the new addition to the family. Heres a look at who will influence Harry and Meghans baby. The cousins: George, Charlotte and Louis Living close by together at Kensington Palace, the royal cousins of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are likely to spend a lot of time with the new baby as it grows up. The new quartet will enjoy playdates together, spend time on the Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour, and travel for summers at Balmoral and Christmases at Sandringham, all whilst causing lots of royal mischief. Charlotte is known for her confidence in front of the cameras, whereas future King George, who loves all things to do with helicopters and the police, is more shy in public. Given Louis is only a few months old, were not sure how his personality will complement the group just yet. Princess Charlotte and Prince George will no doubt be excited about their new cousin / AFP/Getty Images The fellow royal couple: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge William initially found it difficult adjusting to parenthood, according to Kate, but were sure this means he will be on hand to offer support to his younger brother as he becomes a father. As well, Kate will be able to chat to Meghan about how best to balance motherhood with royal duty, and the ins and outs of taking your children on a royal overseas tour. Harry and Meghan's relationship throughout the years Loading.... The grandmother: Doria Ragland Everyone can remember Doria beaming in St Georges Chapel as her only daughter married into the royal family in May this year. Doria is very close with Meghan and will surely want to keep her close by as she becomes a mother too. Doria Ragland looked so happy throughout the wedding festivities / Getty Images The great-grandmother: The Queen As the new royal baby will be the Queens eighth great-grandchild, the royal matriarch will be able to offer wisdom to the new child. Meghan and Harry both hold the Queen in high esteem. Harry has paid tribute to the Queen's "incredible" sense of duty, and Meghan demonstrated her rapport with the monarch when they carried out joint engagements in Chester in June 2018. The grandfather: Prince of Wales Harrys father, the Prince of Wales, has a strong relationship with Meghan already, particularly as he was chosen to walk down the aisle with her after her own father pulled out of the wedding. He will most certainly be a doting grandfather, and we can imagine him reading one or two bedtime stories to the new royal baby. Prince Charles will definitely be the doting grandfather to the new royal baby / AFP/Getty Images The second cousins Days will also be spent at the polo with Peter and Autumn Phillips' fun-loving children Savannah and Isla, and Zara and Mike Tindall's cheeky daughter Mia and her younger sister Lena - who will be the new royal baby's second cousins. The best friends: Jessica Mulroney and Benita Litt Meghan's stylist and best friend Jessica Mulroney will also play an important part in the baby's life. She supported Meghan in the difficult days leading up to the wedding amid the turmoil caused by the absence of her father Thomas Markle. Mrs Mulroney's children - twin boys Brian and John and daughter Ivy - were pageboys and bridesmaid. The duchess's close friend Benita Litt runs her own brand agency and helps others to start businesses. Meghan has spent Christmas with the Litt family in the past and she is godmother to Mrs Litt's daughters Rylan and Remi, who she also chose to be her bridesmaids. H yenas are trying to eat our horses. The night is oppressive. Inky black, heavy, still. But I can hear the pack outside the canvas of my rain-slicked tent, whooping like ghouls as they close in on our makeshift camp. Ooweh, the sound comes, again and again. A fizzle of adrenaline snakes its way up my spine. I scurry out of my sleeping bag, pulling on my hiking boots and putting my hat on over unkempt hair. The camp has been illuminated by a sequence of fires, sending shadows dancing across our cluster of tents. The horsemen are feeding the flames with gnarled branches, desperate to protect the horses that have so diligently carried our pots, pans and bulging bags up to this dizzying altitude. I rub my forearms to ward off the damp mountain air, keeping my eyes peeled for the flash of prying eyes in the moonlight. Its 3am and theres about to be a showdown. This is what life is like at the rooftop of Africa. Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia / Alamy Stock Photo Ethiopias Bale Mountains National Park is an otherworldly place, strewn with Willy Wonka-esque giant lobelia plants, moon-like rock formations and oceans of wild heather spread like anemones across the ground. In south-east Ethiopia, roughly 250 miles from the capital Addis Ababa and home to the highest plateau on the African continent, its less visited than the Semien Mountains in the north. But its also home to some of Ethiopias rarest and most fascinating wildlife from bizarre giant mole rats the colour of ginger biscuits and herds of elegant mountain nyala antelope, to soaring golden eagles and colossal swooping bearded vultures; known by locals as bone crunchers because they drop the bones of their prey from up high before descending to gorge on the spilt marrow. But this is also the land of the Ethiopian wolf. The mountains are one of the only places on the planet where you can spot Africas most endangered carnivore and the worlds rarest member of the dog family (three times rarer that Chinas giant panda). With current populations decimated by habitat loss and disease, such as rabies introduced by domestic dogs that roam the farmlands, its estimated there are now fewer than 500 of them left in the wild, marooned in a handful of isolated pockets across Ethiopia. Its this white-socked animal that Ive come to see. Im a couple of days into my six-day hike and, so far, it hasnt been what you might call a walk in the park. The altitude is extreme 4,000m, a height that can floor even the fittest sorts and my body is taking a beating. My bones ache like rot has set in, my lips are bleeding and blistered, and a layer of grime coats my skin, forming a sharp line of black under my fingernails. But the landscape is enough to keep me pressing on. Our guide Ayuba a kind-eyed man from the nearby village of Dinshoo is also impeccable at noticing when its all got a bit too much for this delicate Londoner, often pausing thoughtfully to point out interesting pictures in his well-thumbed copy of Birds of Ethiopia, cocking his ear to every trill and whirr that drifts in on the wind, murmuring augur buzzard or siskin, with a small smile. Local indigenous people, on horseback, on their way to the local market. Bale Mountains / Alamy Stock Photo Thankfully, no blood was shed on the night of the hyenas, and as we plod along en masse the next morning, horses and horsemen pass me with infuriating ease; rare blue-winged geese, the most isolated on the planet, splash in glassy puddles around us; furious rock hyrax screech from their bluffs as we pass; and, across a ravine, a huge Abyssinian eagle owl is terrorised by a flock of rambunctious crows. We trek through forests filled with wild rose and centuries-old trees. We skirt mountains that look like the skulls of giants, passing under shadowy flocks of ibis that cackle like witches. That evening we set up camp at the bottom of a cliff. There are leopards here, says Ayuba, gesturing casually to the putty-coloured crags. Sure enough, in the middle of the night, when I clamber out of my tent to use natures bathroom, I look up to see the stars spilling their silvery light across the mountaintops, but I cant quite shake the feeling Im being watched. When we eventually reach the Sanetti Plateau an alpine grassland and known home to the wolves its a bleak and blustery place, wind-pitted and pockmarked with scratchy highland shrubs. And its up there, in a place where time stands still and the rest of the world feels insignificant, that I see it a flash of burnt orange. I raise my binoculars, my eyes settling on its rust-coloured flanks, its nimble legs, its unmistakable black-tipped tail. It is my very first wolf. The Rafu Lava Flow with its bizarre rock formations Sanetti Plateau / Alamy Stock Photo Moments later, Ayuba lets out a chuckle and we spot another, resting on its hind legs, its slim muzzle testing the air. Later that evening, as we set up camp, another two wolves trot by our tents passing spry and spindly as the horizon pulls the sun downwards, sending swords of amber light across the land. This weathered place is so full of life; a haven for these wolves that are fighting to survive in this bleak but beautiful land. Suddenly, my limbs dont feel quite so weary any more. YellowWood Adventures (yellowwoodadventures.com) offers fully guided nine-day trips to the N ando's has dropped its plan to take over an East End Library where the GMB was born after pressure from the trade union. Canning Town Library, which is Grade II listed, and the neighbouring public hall hosted famous Left-wing political speakers such as trade unionist Keir Hardie and suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst. After a meeting there in 1889, Will Thorne formed the National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers, which later became the GMB. Thorne also helped organise the London Dock Strike of the same year. The chicken restaurant was in negotiations to transform the first floor of the library into its latest branch. The plans were recommended for approval by Labour-led Newham council. The GMB fought the idea, saying it was bird-brained and showed an utter disregard for East Londons proud history. It wants to turn the building into offices for its staff. Commenting on Nandos backing down, Warren Kenny, GMB regional secretary for London, said: Were delighted Nandos has seen sense and shelved this proposal before it hatched. There is a time and a place for chicken, but a historic library that forms part of the fabric of Newhams community was never it. GMB looks forward to working with the council to develop a plan that ensures the historic legacy of the building lives on as a community asset for generations to come. At a meeting last week, the boroughs planning committee deferred the plan until a later date after almost 40 councillors and both Newham MPs, Lyn Brown and Stephen Timms, signed a letter against it. The council argued the building was costing 2,000 per week to maintain and said Nandos was its preferred occupier. GMB regional organiser Gordon White told the Evening Standard: The library is part of the great history of GMB and the UK Labour Party. We cant let historic buildings like this slip away for the sake of a short-term gain. Its nothing against Nandos but to have something like that there would have been disrespectful. A spokesman for Nandos said: It has become clear that the history of the library building and its deep association with certain groups in the community means there are very strong feelings about how it should be used. As a result of these unique circumstances, we have decided not to proceed with our application. Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: As the newly elected mayor, I am having to deal with a number of inherited programmes that were not started under my administration, and this was one of them. One of my priorities is to radically improve the provision for young people. "I plan to meet young people in Canning Town and across Newham to find out what might work as a youth hub. Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a "backstop" to extend Brexit talks with a clear deadline is crucial to avoiding a physical between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and need to stay in place until "something better can be negotiated or agreed". "Negotiating teams need to get back to the negotiating table to close the gaps that are still there," he told presenter John Humphrys. "There are a small number of remaining issues, significant issues... that need to be resolved. "The prospect of "no-deal" on a managed, controlled Brexit really is very very concerning... From an Irish perspective and an EU perspective we do have to insist on the commitments that have already been made in this process being followed through." M inisters have reportedly been ordered to start preparing no deal Brexit measures after Dominic Raabs last-gasp talks with Michel Barnier fell flat. But they fell flat after just an hour, jeopardising Prime Minister Theresa Mays chances of achieving a deal at Wednesdays key EU summit. The Times reported top civil servants have warned ministers that regardless of what happens this week, the governments contingency plans for Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal agreed must start being put in place. The paper reported this will include stockpiling medicines and telling businesses to begin registering for new customs processes. A car carrying Dominic Raab arrives at the EU Commission HQ in Brussels for Sunday's Brexit talks - which eventually failed after just an hour / Francois Lenoir/Reuters After Mr Raabs failed efforts, the government said there were still "unresolved issues" relating to the Northern Ireland backstop but it remained committed to making progress at the European Council meeting. And Mr Johnson was at it again on Monday, writing in his Telegraph column: The EU is treating us with naked contempt." The Prime Minister's critics believe the threshold of 48 Tory MPs calling for a no-confidence vote could be passed by Wednesday, depending on events in Brussels. Allies of Mr Davis said he has been contacted by several Tory MPs urging him to run for the leadership and he is understood to be prepared to take part in a contest. D onald Tusk said a no deal Brexit scenario is "more likely than ever before" in a letter to members of the European Council ahead of their upcoming meeting. Mr Tusk, the council's president, made the statement alongside a message rallying those involved to "not give up". He has invited Prime Minister Theresa May to speak to the EU27, to give the UK Government's "assessment of the negotiations". Detailing his stance on the discussions at present, he said a Brexit deal has "proven to be more complicated than some may have expected". Following this, he wrote: "We should nevertheless remain hopeful and determined, as there is good will to continue these talks on both sides. "But at the same time, responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before. Like the UK, the Commission has started such preparations, and will give us an update during the meeting. "But let me be absolutely clear. The fact that we are preparing for a no-deal scenario must not, under any circumstances, lead us away from making every effort to reach the best agreement possible, for all sides. "This is what our state of mind should be at this stage. As someone rightly said: 'It always seems impossible until it's done.' Let us not give up." Theresa May and Donald Tusk have both expressed their desires for a deal / AFP/Getty Images He said the European Council "will decide on how to take the negotiations forward, on the basis of a recommendation by our chief negotiator, Michel Barnier". They are meeting on Wednesday, October 17, and Thursday, October 18. Theresa May, on Monday, addressed the House of Commons in regards to Brexit. This was after reports that negotiations with Brexit secretary Dominic Raab and Mr Barnier had come to an impasse. Theresa May was quizzed by MPs after making her statement / PA She told MPs: "I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the European Union. "I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable. D onald Trump has said he believes Russian leader Vladimir Putin is probably behind a recent spate of poisonings and assassinations but appeared to suggest they were not relevant because they did not happen in the US. Asked whether he thought the Russian leader was involved in assassinations, in poisonings such as those in Salisbury, the president responded: Probably he is, yeah. He added: Of course they shouldnt do it. But I rely on them. Its not in our country. Britain accuses Russian assassins of poisoning ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with nerve agent Novichok in March. Both survived but Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after coming into contact with the poison, and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill. Moscow has denied any involvement. Mr Trump faced severe criticism after his Helsinki summit with Mr Putin in July when he refused to blame the Russians for interfering with the 2016 US elections . But in last nights interview on CBS, he denied being too soft in his dealings with the Kremlin chief. He said: I think Im very tough with him personally. I had a meeting with him, the two of us. It was a very tough meeting, and it was a very good meeting. The president dismissed claims the Russians helped him win the presidency, saying: Do you really think Id call Russia to help me with an election? Give me a break. They wouldnt be able to help me at all. Its so ridiculous. However, he did agree Russia did interfere with the US election although he claimed: I think China meddled too and I think, frankly, China is a bigger problem. Mr Trumps remarks on the poisonings appear to reflect a White House view that distances the administration from events happening outside the America. He pledged severe punishment for Saudi Arabia if the US found proof that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul but he also noted that the disappearance happened in Turkey, and to the best of our knowledge, Khashoggi is not a US citizen. Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government, vanished on October 2 after visiting the consulate. He wrote for the Washington Post and lived in exile in the US. In the wide-ranging interview on 60 Minutes, Mr Trump touched on climate change, North Korea and the confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. At one point, he snapped at interviewer Lesley Stahl: Im president and youre not! T heresa May hit out at Brussels today for trying to impose a backstop to the backstop as she battled to prevent Cabinet resignations at home. Government sources revealed a dash to Brussels by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab yesterday was triggered by a secret new plan to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Mrs May has already agreed to keep the UK in a customs union until a solution is found, but the EU wanted a fail-safe where Northern Ireland would be held in EU rules for longer if her ideas collapsed. On a day of mounting tensions and turmoil: Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney insisted that any backstop could not have a use-by date, saying: A backstop cant be time-limited. Dozens of Tory MPs say they will rebel unless the backstop has a sunset clause. Pressure grew on at least two Cabinet ministers work and pensions secretary Esther McVey and international development secretary Penny Mordaunt to quit their posts in protest at Chequers. Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said any minister who could not back government policy should stand down. Tory deputy chairman James Cleverly appeared to question whether a no-deal Brexit would really harm the economy, by highlighting a think tank report that claims there would be a material but small impact on growth by 2030. Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the Democratic Unionist Party, said a no-deal Brexit was probably inevitable because nothing currently on the table would pass the Commons. Ms Mordaunt urged people to calm down but although she backed the PM, she did not endorse Chequers. The pound lost a third of a point in early trading today as investors took fright at the downturn in negotiations. With her position looking more isolated, Mrs May visited a south London charity working to combat loneliness today. Writing in tonights Standard, former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie begged Labour MPs to stand firm and vote against her plans. MPs were elected last year knowing our role was to stand up for our constituents livelihoods, not simply rubber-stamp the PMs sub-standard deal, he said. Several Labour MPs including Caroline Flint have indicated they may back a deal to avoid no-deal chaos. Ex-minister Mark Francois urged Mrs May to ditch her Chequers plan before it all ends in tears. The backstop to the backstop could have led to customs checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, creating a border in the Irish Sea, which Mrs May has ruled unacceptable. Some MPs were speculating that Olly Robbins, the PMs adviser on Europe, had privately said it could be agreed, only to be overruled. But a former Cabinet minister said: It would not be like Olly to do something so obtuse. Irelands ambassador to the UK, Adrian ONeill, said events in Brussels were a setback and time is running out. This week was seen as critical, with plans to brief the Cabinet on an outline exit deal tomorrow and have it backed at a summit on Wednesday. However, decisions might now have to be postponed, which would delay trade talks and the hope of an overall deal in November. Ms Mordaunt said: Everyone needs to calm down. We are entering the final stages of these negotiations and we are all behind the PM trying to get the best result. Mr Coveney said it was frustrating and disappointing that negotiators had disengaged. T heresa May has said she still believes a Brexit deal is "achievable" and that talks are now entering the "final stages". Her comments, made in an address to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, prompted laughter from some MPs. The Prime Minister said "real progress" had been made on the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration on future relations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the prospect of agreement "looks a bit more difficult again", adding: "If it doesn't work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear - but time is pressing." Theresa May addresses the House of Commons on Monday / PA Berlin wants the UK's withdrawal next March to be orderly "but not at any price", Mrs Merkel told a conference of German exporters. And Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested a deal may be delayed as late as December. Mr Varadkar said Dublin was making preparations for a "potentially catastrophic" no-deal withdrawal, but did not believe that this was the most likely outcome. But Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the DUP, which props up Mrs May's minority administration in the Commons, said that a no-deal outcome was now "probably inevitable" due to the "intransigence" of EU negotiators. Talks at the weekend foundered over the EU's demand for a "backstop to the backstop" designed to ensure that the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic remains open under any circumstances. Some MPs reacted with laughter at Mrs May's comments / PA Mrs May has offered to keep the whole of the UK temporarily in a customs union with the EU until a broader trade deal is in place avoiding the need for customs and regulatory checks at the Irish border, with the expectation that this will not be later than the end of 2021. But Mr Barnier insisted that a carve-out keeping Northern Ireland alone in the EU's customs area should remain available in case the UK-wide arrangement lapses before the trade deal is finalised. Mrs May told MPs that this was not acceptable as it risked undermining the integrity of the UK. The PM warned that the Irish issue must not be allowed to "derail" progress towards a deal which she said was in the interests of both the UK and EU. She told MPs she would take steps to ensure that "we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely". And she warned: "We are entering the final stages of these negotiations. "This is the time for cool, calm heads to prevail. "And it is the time for a clear-eyed focus on the few remaining but critical issues that are still to be agreed." Mrs May voiced her "frustration" that the Irish border issue was holding up agreement on Brexit. But she said: "We cannot let this disagreement derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with the no-deal outcome that no-one wants. "I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the European Union. "I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable. And that is the spirit in which I will continue to work with our European partners." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed Mrs May's comments as "another 'nothing has changed' moment from this shambles of a Government". Mrs May's call for calm came after former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said talks were "entering the moment of crisis" and urged the PM to reject the EU's offer and scrap the backstop. "The EU is treating us with naked contempt ... (offering) a choice between the break-up of this country or the subjugation of this country, between separation or submission," Mr Johnson told the Daily Telegraph. The impasse threatens to throw into disarray carefully choreographed plans which would have seen leaders of the remaining 27 EU states give the green light on Wednesday to a special summit in November to finalise the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the bloc. It remains unclear whether Mrs May will be given the opportunity to address fellow leaders before they go into a working dinner to discuss Brexit in her absence. Reports from Brussels suggest that the EU27 are now considering using the mooted November summit to discuss preparations for a no-deal Brexit. With Mrs May under siege from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies, her room for manoeuvre is severely restricted. Although the absence of a deal has damped down expectations of ministerial resignations, Eurosceptic Cabinet members are reported to be planning to meet over pizza on Monday evening to co-ordinate their stance. Asked whether Mrs May regarded the so-called "pizza summit" as helpful, the PM's spokesman said: "Cabinet ministers are free to eat whatever they choose. Cabinet colleagues have discussions with each other all the time." The febrile atmosphere in the Tory ranks has seen former Brexit secretary David Davis emerge as a potential successor to Mrs May, with allies saying he had been contacted by several MPs urging him to run for the leadership. T he key topic of Theresa Mays update on Brexit negotiations was the potential of a so-called backstop, with regards to a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Prime Minister has said the Government would not accept a hard border put in place after Brexit, leading to the question of how this would be avoided. Thus far, neither side has been able to suggest a way effectively to do so, leading to a potential backstop to allow for a plan to be conducted. With this in mind, the PM warned that the Irish issue must not be allowed to "derail" progress towards a deal which could work for both the UK and EU. Theresa May addressed the House of Commons and was quizzed on the backstop / PA What is the backstop? The UK is leaving the EU in March 2019, along with its single market and customs union, which allow for friction-free trade between members. After Brexit, the UK will have a land border with the EU between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Theresa May described the backstop in the Commons as an insurance policy to stop there ever being a hard border in place. It would protect an open border in Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without having agreed a trade solution. When Britain leaves the EU, there would then be a trade and movement split between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. With exiting the customs union goods would require various checks, which both sides do not want to see be physical. Work would need to be put in place to protect the Good Friday peace agreement and reduce the chance of divisions arising in Ireland. Essentially, a backstop could see Northern Ireland, or indeed the whole of the UK, stay within the EU customs system temporarily while the border issue is negotiated. The UK has suggested the whole of the UK do so, while the EU would rather see just Northern Ireland just remain. How long could a backstop go on for? The UK Government has also suggested there would be a time limit on this, whereas EU representatives do not believe this would work, feeling it should be there indefinitely until the issue is resolved. Addressing this, Hilary Benn, Labour MP for Leeds Central, asked Theresa May "when is she going to tell her party we cannot have a fixed artificial time limit on that fall back which the Government is trying to negotiate". Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier continue to negotiate Brexit / Francois Lenoir/Reuters Theresa May said: "The EU requires a backstop to the backstop." She responded by saying we must be "absolutely clear" that a backstop is an insurance policy" and hopes it will never be necessary. She wants an agreement that works for the whole of the UK to be decided upon by the time Brexit definitely happens. So essentially, this is still something which is very much in negotiation. Theresa May and president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker / AFP/Getty Images What alternatives are there? At the moment, the proposed alternatives seem to have been deemed unacceptable. Theresa May explained to the Commons technical ways which have been suggested to reduce a hard border. These were: Moving the border and it would still be a border Other technical changes which would "involve equipment which could come under attack" Then methods which would require a "degree of state surveillance that would frankly I believe would not be acceptable in Northern Ireland" Given that the Government has essentially confirmed it would reject all of these, at present, feasible alternatives are unclear. What has Theresa May said about the idea? Theresa May reiterated frequently her desire for a backstop not to be necessary. However, she also expressed that a hard border would not be acceptable for the Government in negotiations. In regards to a time limit, she said one would need to be set and "we cannot be kept in this backstop arrangement indefinitely". "We are not going to have an indefinite backstop," she said She voiced her "frustration" the Irish border issue was holding up agreement on Brexit. How are people reacting to the plans? Politicians which support Brexit have been unhappy with the idea of continuing a customs arrangement for longer than the UK had intended to. Issues of Northern Ireland being separated have also been voiced. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conservative MP, asked Theresa May: "My right honourable friend made the excellent point that it would be unlawful to have a separate customs arrangement for Northern Ireland. Why did that point escape the negotiators until so late in the process?" Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg questioned Theresa May on the issue / Getty Images Theresa May responded that it has not escaped negotiators. She said the UK government has been consistently clear such an arrangement could "not be acceptable". Labour MP George Haworth asked the Prime Minister: "Does the existence of a backstop serve only to illustrate the fact that the Prime Minister has wasted the last two years?" To this she simply said: "No." Allie Renison, head of Europe and trade policy at the Institute of Directors (IoD), said: "We commend the Prime Minister for being frank and forthright about the remaining issues surrounding the Irish border backstop, as businesses are in desperate need of some long overdue clarity. "The IoD has long supported a UK-wide dimension to the proposed backstop in order to address the concerns about additional barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. "A few days later, Trump held a news conference in Trump Tower, where he answered my other question. Where was the remainder of the money Trump had raised from other donors, four months earlier? Turns out, it had been sitting in the Trump Foundation, unspent. In this news conference, Trump announced that he had given the last of it away - and he lashed out at the media for asking him to account for the money. V irgin Media customers have complained their Internet and phone connections have gone down in what appears to be a major UK outage. The problems began at around 4pm on Monday afternoon, according to website DownDetector which showed a huge spike in reports of problems. Many customers took to Twitter to complain about not being able to get online and losing landline reception, while helplines are reportedly too busy to get through. Virgin Media has been apologising to customers on Twitter. A spokesperson said to one: "Apologies, it seems we're having some system's issues here and are working hard to get all of the issues resolved as quickly as possible. "Sorry for the delays and inconvenience caused." They have also said that there is no estimated time for when the services will be back up and running. Baljit Rihal wrote: "Epic fail @virginmedia ... #Internet down AND this phone is unavailable when you try and call support." Another person said: "Broadband is down again!! Absolutely availed at the service. Cannot get through to customer services on the phone or online. What is going on??" P rince Harry and Meghan Markle could be having a Brexit Baby, it has been suggested on social media. Kensington Palace announced the couple are expecting their new arrival in spring 2019 which falls around the time Britain is expected to leave the European Union on 29 March. Google said searches for when is spring? had spiked suddenly following the announcement. Among royal fans jubilant response to the happy news, some suggested that the baby could arrive on the same day as Brexit. One person said: Brexit baby, timed to save us from economic disaster. Another said the royal baby was conveniently timed, saying: Might be super cynical, but cant help but feel that the royal baby is somewhat conveniently timed as something to distract the nation during the brexit debacle next year. Timed to try and bring the country together...? #justathought #royalbaby2019 #brexit Someone else suggested the couple may name their baby after the day, adding: What are the odds they name the baby Brexit just for a laugh? #RoyalBaby. Royal baby news brings new line of succession to the throne Meghan, 37, has already had her 12-week scan of the baby, which could mean the due date is around mid to late April. TVs Kay Burley joined in on the Brexit Baby fun, joking: So, will the new royal baby have a blue passport... Speculation about Meghans pregnancy was rife after she wore a Givenchy coat to Princess Eugenies wedding that carefully concealed her figure. The couple have spoken openly about wanting to have children. The topic came up in their engagement interview, when Harry said: Hopefully well start a family in the near future. Meghan and Harry tied the knot in May Prime Minister Theresa May was of the first to congratulate the pair on social media, writing: My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy news they are expecting a baby in the spring. Wishing them all the best. While Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK tweeted: Happy news to wake up to on a Monday morning congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!! The news was announced just hours after the couple touched down in Sydney to kick off their 16-day Australian tour, and the first international tour as a royal married couple. All you need to know about Harry and Meghans baby F racking has begun in Lancashire for the first time in eight years, despite protests by campaigners Energy firm Cuadrilla confirmed it had started hydraulic fracturing at the Preston New Road site in Little Plumpton today, and activities will continue for three months. It is the first time fracking has taken place in the UK since 2011, after a moratorium was put in place in response to two minor earthquakes near the same site in Lancashire. A spokesman for the company said: "Cuadrilla is pleased to confirm that it has started hydraulic fracturing operations at our Preston New Road shale gas exploration site. Fracking protesters outside energy firm Cuadrilla's site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool. / PA Wire/PA Images "Hydraulic fracturing of both horizontal exploration wells is expected to last three months after which the flow rate of the gas will be tested." And there was a mood of disappointment among activists as their direct action proved fruitless. Protester Ginette Evans, 60, from Fleetwood, said: "I'm gutted really. It's such a dangerous industry and it shouldn't be here. "We'll be monitoring the site 24 hours a day. It is definitely not over, it has just got serious. The fight's just really started." Lancashire Police said two people had been arrested at the site for "wilful disruption of a highway", a 45-year old man of no fixed abode, and a woman from Blackpool, aged 34. A police team cut a woman out of a set of tyres, which she had apparently cemented her arms into outside Cuadrilla's site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton. / PA Wire/PA Images In the direct action, one activist sat on top of a scaffolding structure fixed to a white van in the way of the site entrance, and another attached herself to a weight made of tyres and concrete. Some 50 other people joined in the protest from anti-fracking groups around the country. The re-starting of activities marks the first test fracturing in the UK since 2011. Cuadrilla said after their three-month frack, which involves pumping a high-pressure mix of water and chemicals into deep shale rock, they will move to establish if the site is viable for full commercial operations. And it comes swiftly after a high court battle was thrown out by Mr Justice Supperstone on Friday. Bob Dennett's application for an injunction asked to prevent the company from fracking over claims that Lancashire County Council's emergency response planning and procedures at the site were inadequate, but the judge ruled there was not a "serious issue" to be tried which would justify an interim order. And the project's initiation was described as being quite ironically apt, as it falls on the day the government launches its Green Great Britain campaign for environmental awareness, and exactly a week after the release of a new UN report warned of the urgent need to cut emissions to avoid dangerous climate change. Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth chief executive, said: "The world's leading climate scientists have published findings that couldn't be starker: to have a hope of containing global warming we must take action now. "Yet, ironically, on the same day the government boldly asks how it can reduce carbon emissions to zero, fracking begins. "It is morally bankrupt to be heralding the start of a whole new fossil fuel industry when climate catastrophe awaits. You can deal with climate change or you can have fracking - you can't do both." Green MP for Brighton Caroline Lucas told the BBC's Today programme: "We're giving notice today that his protest is going to go on. The vast majority of people in the country don't want fracking. The government is trampling over local democracy. "Lancashire County Council turned the application down. The government's obsession with the "will of the people" soon evaporates when it comes to fracking. "This is basically a whole new fossil fuel industry at exactly the time scientists are telling us we need to leave around 85 per cent of known fossil fuels in the ground." Fracking protesters outside energy firm Cuadrilla's site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool. The protesters have said their fight has just "got serious" as the controversial process is due to get underway in Lancashire. / PA Wire/PA Images Fracking is a "huge distraction from what is needed," she added. Francis Egan, chief executive of Cuadrilla told the programme: "Natural gas is going to be used in this country for many decades to come. Of course we'd all like not to be using fuels tomorrow but we'd also like to be able to heat our homes and cook our food." He declined to say how much global warming he would be prepared to see happen, but said it was "ridiculous" that people on the site were being used as guinea pigs. He added: "There is absolutely no problem living on the site. There is no data to support the assertion that there are difficulties with living near the site." The UN's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change launched a new report only two weeks ago bringing forward the dangerous limits of climate change and calling on world leaders to take immediate action to bring global warming under control by 2040. The extensive list of measures required includes a diverse energy mix of 85 per cent renewables and practically no coal, oil or gas. The report pushed ministers to engage climate change scientists to advise on setting new targets to achieve zero emissions of greenhouse gases. The Cuadrilla fracking site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire where operations are expected to start today. / PA Wire/PA Images Targets currently stand aim for a 80 per cent reduction by 2050 - falling far outside the new UN recommendations. "On the global stage, the UK is driving forward action on climate change through our work at the UN and with our Commonwealth partners" Prime Minister Theresa May said in a letter to the Climate Change Committee. "To ensure that we continue to lead from the front, we are asking the experts to advise on targets for net zero emissions." But the government has meanwhile driven forward with policy's to open up our energy sector, including taking away local authority control on planning applications as it claims fracking is essential to improving our energy independence. Last week UK energy minister, Claire Perry, said the tight regulations put in place after the Blackpool earthquakes could be relaxed. She said that monitoring systems were set at an explicitly cautious level," the Guardian reported. "As we gain experience in applying these measures, the trigger levels can be adjusted upwards without compromising the effectiveness of the controls. In a statement on Friday, Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: "We are delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations as planned. "We are now commencing the final operational phase to evaluate the commercial potential for a new source of indigenous natural gas in Lancashire. A heavily pregnant Pippa Middleton has reportedly been seen entering the Lindo Wing maternity unit in central London alongside her husband James Matthews. The Duchess of Cambridges younger sister, who attended the Royal Wedding on Friday, was smiling as she walked into St Marys Hospital in Paddington, according to the Daily Mail. Pippa, 35, was reportedly wearing a blue dress with white shoes and sunglasses. The pair have previously visited the Lindo Wing on October 2. Heavily pregnant Pippa Middleton stuns in forest green dress at Royal Wedding Pippa confirmed she was pregnant with her first child in June and reports at the time suggested the baby would be born in October. The Duchess of Cambridge's younger sister sported a big bump at the wedding on Friday / PA Wire/PA Images She announced the "happy news" in a fitness column she writes for Waitrose's Weekend magazine. Pippa has talked about using medication to cope with pregnancy, having seen her older sister Kate experience severe morning sickness at the start of all three of her pregnancies. She was a surprise appearance at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank in Windsor on Friday following rumours she could be forced to sit out the occasion due to her pregnancy. She wore a bottle green dress and matching hat and looked in good spirits on the day. Pippa and James, who live in a mansion in west London, got married in May last year. TODO: define component type apester M illions of people in the UK woke up today to the fantastic news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their first child next spring. The announcement of a new royal baby was made by Kensington Palace on Monday, which said Harry and Meghan are very pleased to share this news with the public. Scores of people have since congratulated the happy couple, who are soon to embark on their first royal tour outside the UK and Ireland in Australia, with some calling the news fantastic. My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy news they are expecting a baby in the spring. Wishing them all the best, Prime Minister Theresa May wrote. Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, was among the first to react to the news on Monday. He tweeted: Happy news to wake up to on a Monday morning congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Grant Harrold, who watched Harry grow up while working as a royal butler, added: Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who are expecting their first child in the spring. Harry and Meghan are expecting their first child (Getty Images) Also celebrating the announcement was Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who tweeted about the fantastic news on the royal couples first day in the country. What fantastic news! Australia is thrilled for you both, Mr Morrison wrote. Looking forward to sharing in the joy during your stay down under. Other well-wishers included the Royal Air Force, which wrote: Congratulations to Their Royal Highnesses on the Royal Baby announcement. Doria Ragland, the mother of the duchess, said she is very happy about this lovely news and looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild, set to be seventh in line to the throne. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are all also said to be delighted for the couple. In a statement, Kensington Palace said: Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news. Duke and Duchess of Sussex's South Pacific Tour - Best Pictures 1 /87 Duke and Duchess of Sussex's South Pacific Tour - Best Pictures Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts Harry and Meghan walk hand-in-hand through a redwood forest on the last day of their trip REUTERS Prince Harry and Meghan leave after a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex talk to Luke Vincent, 5, after arriving at Dubbo airpor PA The couple attend a formal powhiri welcome at Te Papaiouru Marae (Credit too long, see caption) The royal couple donned traditional Maori cloaks at a ceremony PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, arrive at Fua'amotu airport on the main island Tongatapu in Tonga Reuters he Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend the Australian Geographic Society Awards PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex laughs during a visit to Tupou College WireImage The Duke of Sussex talks to Luke Vincent, 5, after arriving at Dubbo airpor PA Harry embraces India Brown during a public walk in Melbourne AFP/Getty Images Rain starts as Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit students from Dubbo College Senior Campus Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend University of the South Pacific Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex greeting locals in a traditional 'hongi' Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex climbs the Sydney Harbour Bridge Getty Images A child plays on the floor as children await the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for a meeting with Tongan prime minister Akilisi Pohiva and his cabinet on the second day of the royal couple's visit to Tonga. PA Prince Harry meets crowds on the final day of the tour AFP/Getty Images Meghan greets a young well-wisher in Rotorua AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex receives a "hongi" AP Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit the University of the South Pacific Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit the newly unveiled UK war memorial and Pukeahu National War Memorial Park Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for the state dinner at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at the official dinner in Suva, Fiji AP Traditional Fijian men carrying roasted pig in Alberts Park waiting the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan wave from the balcony of the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva AFP/Getty Images Reuters Prince Harry drinks kava during a ceremony he and Meghan attend in Fiji Reuters Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend welcome ceremoy Getty Images A police vehicle moves past as well-wishers stand along the street during the arrival of Prince Harry and Meghan Reuters Fans hold up 'Windson' sign Getty Images Men dressed in traditional attire take part in an official welcome ceremony Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend an official welcome ceremony at Albert Park in Suva PA Meghan waits with Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, left, as a red carpet is laid during a welcome ceremony AP Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to talk to OneWave members, a local surfing community group raising awareness for mental health and wellbeing on Bondi Beach Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk along the picturesque Kingfisher Bay Jetty WireImage The Duke of Sussex greets people during a dedication ceremony PA Prince Harry poses for a photograph after the unveiling of the Queens Commonwealth Canopy at Pile Valley AP Prince Harry walks with members of the Butchulla people, AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, greet members of the public in Kingfisher Bay Reuters Prince Harry meets Takoda Malone AFP/Getty Images Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex watch the Elliott 7 Team racing during the Sailing on day two of the Invictus Games Getty Images Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex watch the Elliott 7 Team racing during the Sailing on day two of the Invictus Games Getty Images for the Invictus Ga Meghan will cut down her busy schedule slightly for the next couple of days Getty Images Prince Harry helps a competitor push wheelchair up walkway at the Invictus Games AP The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend a reception for Invictus Games competitors on Sunday PA Prince Harry speaks onstage at the opening of the competition PA Harry and Meghan watch a performer at a lunchtime reception hosted by the Prime Minister Reuters Harry and Meghan meet children from Kookaburra Kids at the Pavilion Restaurant in Sydney PA Meghan during the JLR Drive Day on Saturday Getty Images The solemn event was part of their ongoing offical visit to Australia. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, meet guests at a reception inside Sydney's iconic Opera House AP Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex lay a wreath at the official opening of the ANZAC Memorial at Hyde Park in Sydney. AFP/Getty Images Harry and Meghan paid their respects to fallen Australian and New Zealand soldiers at the ANZAC War Memorial. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing Getty Images Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan take part in a 'Fluro Friday' session run by OneWav EPA PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex embraces with Luke Vincent, 5 after arriving at Dubbo Airport Getty Images The Duchess of Sussex meets children from Dubbo South Public School PA The Duke of Sussex and Duchess of Sussex visit a local farming family, the Woodleys in Dubb PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends a naming and unveiling ceremony for the new Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft at Dubbo Airport Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex poses for a photo with members of the public at the naming and unveiling of a new Royal Flying Doctor Service AP Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, talks to Australian singer Missy Higgins, with her 9 week old baby Lunar AP The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet 97 year old Daphne Dunne during a walkabout PA Meghan the Duchess of Sussex receives native flowers from 4-year-old Findlay Blue AP Prince Harry and wife Meghan watch the rehearsal of Spirit 2018 performance by the Bangarra Dance Theatre company AP Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold hands as they walk on the lawns at Admiralty Hous AP The Duke of Sussex meets 97 year old Daphne Dunne PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex meet Ruby a mother Koala AP Meghan, right, Duchess of Sussex, reacts as she and Prince Harry, left, receive gifts from Australia's Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove AP Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) arrive at the Sydney Opera House Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle greet members of the crowd at the Sydney Opera House Getty Images Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP/Getty Images Meghan meets children from Dubbo South Public School PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex meet a Koala called Ruby Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold hands as they walk on the lawns at Admiralty House in Sydney AP Duchess of Sussex holds an Australian Rules football Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex greet children during a visit to Albert Park Primary School in Melbourne Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk across the sand at South Melbourne Beach in Melbourne, Australia AP Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend University of the South Pacific in Fiji Getty Images Prince Harry gives a thumbs-up as he climbs the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Sydney Reuters Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walking out of Te Papaiouru Marae after attending formal luncheon Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, flanked by Tonga's Princess Angelika Latufuipeka, arrive at Fua'amotu airport on the main island Tongatapu in Tonga Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are followed by Tonga's Princess Angelika as they depart from Fua'amotu International Airport in Tonga PA The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend an official welcome at Consular House in Tonga PA Harry and Meghan were wed at Windsor Castle in May and the news was announced three days after the Duke of Sussexs cousin Princess Eugenie wed Jack Brooksbank in the same church. Eugenie, who tied the knot with Mr Brooksbank in St Georges Chapel, will be moved from ninth in line to the throne to tenth after the birth of the royal baby in spring. Loading.... Thousands of royal superfans were also among those to react to the news online, with one writing: Waking up to the news that Meghan and Harry are having a baby has made my day. One person wrote: "Congratulations to Meghan and Harry on the news of their baby on the way! How exciting, didn't think it would be long though!" "Brilliant news. He or she will be a gorgeous Royal addition. So happy for them," another said. F racking operations have begun in Lancashire, despite a blockade by protesters at the entrance of a shale gas drilling site. Environmental groups attempted to disrupt works at the Preston New Road site near Blackpool, Lancashire, this morning. Unconventional gas firm Cuadrilla announced it has started fracking activities at the site, after campaigners lost a challenge at the high court on Friday. Fracking, or Hydraulic Fracturing, involves the pumping of vast quantities of water and chemicals into unstable rock to release combustible gas. Police confirmed they are present at the site and have a cordon in place to ensure "contraflow", as the blockade extends out into the road. They did not say whether officers were planning to move protesters on. Campaigners blocked the site's entrance with a van, with a small tower on its roof and a banner reading "Stop the Start", as a crowd of supporters stand together to disrupt the arrival of site crew. A police team cut a woman out of a set of tyres, which she had apparently cemented her arms into outside Cuadrilla's site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton. / PA Wire/PA Images A man and a woman had to be cut from of a set of tyres filled with concrete which they had handcuffed themselves to as they sat in the road. Ginette Evans, 60, from Fleetwood, said: "We'll be monitoring the site 24 hours a day. It is definitely not over, it has just got serious. The fight's just really started." Activitsy Justin Vanparys, 47, from Blackburn, said: "Fossil fuels should stay in the ground. We have already got global warming." Green MP for Brighton Caroline Lucas tweeted in support of the blockade. She said: "Good luck to peaceful protestors at #fracking site at PNR this morning "Supreme irony that Government giving green light to whole new fossil fuel industry to start today - just a week after IPCC climate report on importance of keeping vast majority of fossil fuels in the ground." Activities were ceased on the site after two minor earthquakes in 2011 - resulting in a country-wide moratorium on fracking and tightening of regulations The injunction was applied for by Lancashire resident, Bob Dennett, over emergency planning procedures at the site. An additional legal challenge brought by Friends of the Earth regarding regulation at the site is still being considered by the High Court. The ruling was "sad news for local residents whove long fought against this dirty industry and the risks it poses to their environment and the climate," said Jamie Peters, Friends of the Earth fracking campaigner. In a week in which the scale of action needed to stop climate chaos has dominated the headlines, it is simply wrong to be heralding the start of a new fossil-fuel industry. You can have fracking or you can deal with climate change you cant do both. The UN's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change launched a new report only two weeks ago bringing forward the dangerous limits of climate change and calling on world leaders to take immediate action to bring global warming under control by 2040. The extensive list of measures required includes a diverse energy mix of 85 per cent renewables and practically no coal, oil or gas. Bob Dennett (third right), who launched the action against Cuadrilla, is joined by campaigners at the High Court. They lost an application for an injunction to prevent fracking at Preston New Road on Friday. / PA Wire/PA Images The report pushed ministers to engage climate change scientists to advise on setting new targets to achieve zero emissions of greenhouse gases. Targets currently stand aim for a 80 per cent reduction by 2050 - falling far outside the new UN recommendations. "On the global stage, the UK is driving forward action on climate change through our work at the UN and with our Commonwealth partners" Prime Minister Theresa May said in a letter to the Climate Change Committee. "To ensure that we continue to lead from the front, we are asking the experts to advise on targets for net zero emissions." But the government has meanwhile driven forward with policy's to open up our energy sector, including taking away local authority control on planning applications as it claims fracking is essential to improving our energy independence. Last week UK energy minister, Claire Perry, said the tight regulations put in place after the Blackpool earthquakes could be relaxed. She said that monitoring systems were set at an explicitly cautious level," the Guardian reported. "As we gain experience in applying these measures, the trigger levels can be adjusted upwards without compromising the effectiveness of the controls. Cuadrilla had hoped to start work at the site on Saturday but this was delayed by the effects of Storm Callum. A spokesman said: "Due to the weather conditions yesterday afternoon and this morning, we will now start pumping on Monday. "In high winds we couldn't use the crane to manoeuvre some equipment into place." At a hearing in London on Friday, Mr Justice Supperstone dismissed Bob Dennett's application for an injunction preventing the company from fracking the UK's first horizontal shale gas well pending his proposed legal challenge. Mr Dennett claimed Lancashire County Council's emergency response planning and procedures at the site were inadequate, but the judge ruled there was not a "serious issue" to be tried which would justify an interim order. In a statement after the ruling, Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: "We are delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations as planned. "We are now commencing the final operational phase to evaluate the commercial potential for a new source of indigenous natural gas in Lancashire. P regnant Meghan Markle sought medical advice about the risk of contracting the Zika virus in Fiji and Tonga ahead of her and Prince Harrys Australian tour, a royal spokesman has confirmed. The 37-year-old royal is expecting her first child with Harry next spring. The couple touched down in Sydney today, kicking off their first international tour as a couple. It is recommended that pregnant women do not travel to areas affected by the Zika epidemic unless vital. Travellers are also warned to sleep under mosquito nets to avoid being infected. There have been reports in Tonga and Fiji of the Zika virus, which can cause abnormalities to babies in the womb. Media-Mode / SplashNews.com However, a royal source said: The Duke and Duchess will have taken advice at the highest level before deciding that they were happy to go ahead and plan the trip. Zika is an infection spread mainly by mosquitos and is usually very mild for most people but can be serious for pregnant women. It can cause babies to be worn with microcephaly, a condition that results in a baby having an abnormally small head. After taking precautionary measures, there will be no change to the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs planned schedule, comprising of a 16-day trip coinciding with the fourth Invictus Games. Kensington Palace announced the couples happy news in a statement on Monday morning. Prince Harry high-fives children at the Royal Pavilion upon visit with Meghan Markle It read: "Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public." Prime Minister Theresa May was among the first to offer her congratulations, saying: My warmest congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the happy news they are expecting a baby in the spring. Wishing them all the best. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, posted on Twitter: Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their happy news! Prayers for them in the months ahead. The baby will not be a prince or a princess unless the Queen overrules a royal protocol dating back to 1917 that limits titles within the royal family. The announcement sparked speculation over names with traditional royal choices among the favourites, including Victoria and Albert, Diana and Philip were suggested by experts. Grant Harrold, a former butler to Prince Harry, today told the Standard that he believes Harry may choose to name the child after his late mother if it is born a girl. Media-Mode / SplashNews.com (Media-Mode / SplashNews.com) He said: As far as royal names go for a boy we may have a Charles or Philip, or for a girl Diana to honour the baby's grandmother, or perhaps Elizabeth." H arry and Meghan could decide to name their baby Diana or Philip, according to a former butler to the prince. Kensington Palace announced the happy news that that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their first child next spring. Meghan, 37, has immersed herself in the royal way of life just five months after her wedding, ending her career as an actress and becoming a full-time royal. But whether she would want to stick to the royal rules when it comes to choosing a baby name remains another question. And Grant Harrold, a former butler to Prince Harry, today told the Standard that he believes Harry may choose to name the child after his late mother if it is born a girl. All you need to know about Harry and Meghans baby He told the Standard: As far as royal names go for a boy we may have a Charles or Philip, or for a girl Diana to honour the baby's grandmother, or perhaps Elizabeth." Then again, they may decide to go with a name that has close connections for the Duchess. Royal experts say Meghan and Harry may choose Diana as a name for a baby girl / Rex Features Royal names tend to have a few middle names so I am sure they will pick names fitting for a royal baby. Royal expert Victoria Howard said Meghans American background might have an influence on the decision. Meghan and Harry's royal baby in numbers She said: Meghan is American and from a different background to Harry, and of course both parents will want to influence the name. Philip is also a favourite name for the newest addition of the royal family / AFP/Getty Images They might want to honour some of her family or ancestors and seeing as the baby will be a distance from the throne, they could go a bit left-field like Princess Anne did with Zara. The most popular baby names in the US are Liam or Emma. In the UK, the most popular name for a girl born in 2017 was Olivia and for a boy, Oliver. Ms Howard suggested that William and Kates decision to choose Diana as Princess Charlottes middle name could also slash the odds on the moniker being chosen for the newest addition of the royal family. Princess Charlotte's (L) middle name is Diana, after her late grandmother / AFP/Getty Images She added: Diana is already Charlotte's middle name and I did think Phillipa for a girl would be a lovely tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, and perhaps Philip as a middle name for a boy. I wouldn't rule it out as a middle name for sure as royals often share middle names, especially boys as they usually have three, girls just two. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams believes Diana could be off the table as a first name. He said: Of the possible names what could be more appropriate than a tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh than naming the baby Philip? I doubt the baby would be called Diana, but it might well feature in her middle names. Id go with Mary as it features as one of the Queens middle names. In terms of bookies favourites, Victoria is the early favourite if the couple are to have a baby girl. Albert, Arthur and Philip follow close behind if Meghan gives birth to a little boy, while Elizabeth is fancied at 16/1. Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes said: Given this child will be in line to the throne, its probably a safe assumption that the couple will opt for a regal name that has been used in the royal family over the generations." T heresa May is set to make a statement to MPs this afternoon giving an update on Brexit negotiations. The Prime Minister is under mounting pressure to rethink her plan for leaving the EU, after Brexit talks reached a stand-off over the Irish "backstop" arrangement. Mrs May faces pressure from Brexiteers within the Conservative Party and her Democratic Unionist Party parliamentary allies ahead of a crunch summit next week. Efforts to avoid a hard border in Ireland are creating a headache for the PM, with DUP leader Arlene Foster telling her not to accept a "dodgy" deal which would "effectively cut Northern Ireland adrift". Talks over the weekend failed to produce the hoped-for breakthrough on the so-called "backstop" arrangements for Ireland. Mrs May is under pressure from within her own party and her DUP alloes / PA The impasse means that meetings between "sherpas" in Brussels have been cancelled, and UK Government ministers will have no withdrawal plan to approve at Cabinet on Tuesday, before Mrs May travels to the European Council summit the following day. Mrs May has already agreed to keep the UK in a customs union until a solution is found, but the EU wanted a fail-safe where Northern Ireland would be held in EU rules for longer if her ideas collapsed. The effort to find a way to avoid a hard border remains one of the last obstacles to achieving a divorce deal. What time is Theresa May's statement? Mrs May will make her statement on Brexit negotiations to the House of Commons at around 3.30pm this afternoon, unless there are urgent questions. In this case it would be delayed for half an hour or more. A t least 20 people have been arrested over the abduction of the man said to be Africas youngest billionaire, according to local media. Mohammed Dewji, a Tanzanian business tycoon, was seized outside a hotel gym in the country's financial capital of Dar es Salaam. Lazaro Mambosasa, the Dar es Salaam police chief, told a press conference that Mr Dewji, 43, was taken by two masked gunmen who fired into the air before driving away from the hotel. Interior Minister Kangi Lugola on Saturday said that 20 people had been arrested in the manhunt for Mr Dewji, AFP reports. But the number was said to have risen to 26 on Sunday, according to The Citizen. A police line in front of Mohammed Dewji's Range Rover with the number plate 'MO 1' in front of the Colosseum Hotel and Fitness Club in Dar es Salaam / EPA His car, with the number plate MO 1 was pictured outside the high-end Colosseum Hotel and Fitness Club as officers investigated the disappearance. Mr Dewji, 40, heads the MeTL Group, which operates in about 10 countries with interests in agriculture to insurance, transport, logistics and the food industry. According to Forbes, his wealth is estimated at 980million. H illary Clinton has said her husband should "absolutely not" have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and it was not an "abuse of power". The former secretary of state, and Democratic presidential candidate against Donald Trump, said Bill Clinton was "right not to resign" over his affair with the then White House intern. Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Mrs Clinton stood firmly behind former President Clinton, who held office from 1993 to 2001. Tony Dokoupil of the "Sunday Morning" programme asked her: "In retrospect, do you think Bill should've resigned in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal?" "Absolutely not," Clinton said. "It wasn't an abuse of power?" she was asked. "No. No," Mrs Clinton replied. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand made the claim that President Clinton "abused his power". The Republic-friendly Fox & Friends tweeted over the interview: "Bill Clinton abused his power when he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, and for Hillary to still be in denial of that goes to show why she lost in 2016." But the investigation into the scandal "came down in the right place," added the former First Lady, who went on to drew on her own treatment by Mr Trump. If you watched the way Trump debated me, it was just imbued with sexism. Making fun of me for preparing," she said. H undreds of well-wishers turned up to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as they touched down at Sydney Airport on their first royal tour as a married couple. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed just hours before Kensington Palace announced that they are expecting their first baby in the spring They landed in Australia on a Qantas flight from London, before heading to Admiralty House, their first outing on their 16 day tour which will take in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. The trip, their first outside the UK and Ireland, will officially begin on Tuesday and will see the couple watch the Invictus Games, visit a Sydney zoo and visit the rural Flying Doctor service. A source said the couple appeared to be in good spirits and were excited about coming to Australia. Beaming Harry and Meghan were whisked out of the airport and into a waiting car. Well-wishers had gathered at the airport to see beaming Meghan and Harry as they were driven away to begin their busy schedule of engagements. Prince Harry and Meghan touched down after a long flight and greeted a crowd with in Australia with huge smiles / AP The Duke and Duchess are travelling with an entourage of 10 staff members, including press secretaries and a hairdresser. The Duchess was carrying two hefty purple folders, thought to be full of briefing notes and information detailing the couple's itinerary. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after arriving in Sydney / Media-Mode / SplashNews.com The couple were driven from the airport to Admiralty House, the Sydney residence of Governor General Peter Cosgrove, the representative of the Queen in the country. Royal arrivals: Harry and Meghan arrive in Australia / AP Hundreds of people gathered to catch a glimpse of the couple and cheered as their car was driven into the property a short distance from the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. The royals' Qantas plane touched down in Sydney The 76 engagements also include visits to schools, greeting members of the public at the Sydney Opera House, and meeting young leaders and community members at Government House. The Royals' motorcade travels through Sydney traffic / REUTERS After Australia, the couple will fly to Fiji, where they will be greeted with an arrival ceremony similar to one attended by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in 1953. In Fiji, Harry will pay tribute to Fijian war veterans and the couple will attend a state dinner, before flying to Tonga. The tour will conclude with a four-day trip to New Zealand, where they will be greeted by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The Duke and Duchess will learn about environmental challenges while in Wellington, visit a charity which supports children with parents in prison, and meet members of the public in Auckland and Rotura. Harry and Meghan will return to London from Auckland on November 1. TODO: define component type apester Kensington Palace said in a statement: "There is a long history of friendship between the royal family and Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, and their links with the UK are extensive. P resident Donald Trump has defended his remarks against Christine Blasey Ford saying that he treated her with great respect. The US president faced backlash after appearing to mock Professor Blasey Fords testimony against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who she claims sexually assaulted her. Ms Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was 100 per cent certain that Mr Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Days after she gave tearful evidence, the US president at a rally in Mississippi appeared to mock her testimony against Mr Kavanaugh, who has now been appointed to the Supreme Court. Climate change 'will change back,' Donald Trump believes / CBS Speaking at the rally on October 3, Mr Trump said: How did you get home? I dont remember. How did you get there? I dont remember. Where is the place? I dont remember. In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes, the US president defended his remarks during the speech in Mississippi and said that he treated Ms Ford with great respect. Asked by CBS Lesley Stahl why he made fun of her, Mr Trump said: I didnt really make fun. What I said is the person that were talking about didnt know the year, the time, the place." Ms Stahl reminded the president that thousands of people laughed at Ms Ford when he mimicked her" testimony, in which she called Mr Kavanaugh the boy who sexually assaulted me. Donald Trump tweets support for accused Brett Kavanaugh I think she was treated with great respect, Ill be honest, Mr Trump said. There are those who think she shouldnt have been. Christine Blasey Ford speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee / REUTERS Asked if he in particular treated the 51-year-old with respect, Mr Trump added: I think so, yeah. I do. After Mr Trump was told he appeared to call Ms Ford a liar, he responded: Im not going to get into it, because we won. It doesnt matter, we won. In the final vote approving Mr Kavanaughs nomination, which was disrupted repeatedly by protesters in the gallery, the selection was cleared by a narrow margin of 50-48. Mr Trump said on Twitter: I applaud and congratulate the U.S. Senate for confirming our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the United States Supreme Court. "Later today, I will sign his Commission of Appointment, and he will be officially sworn in. Very exciting!" Brett Kavanaugh (L) at his ceremonial swearing in / Getty Images He later apologised to Mr Kavanaugh for the pain and suffering he endured during the process leading to his nomination. The US leader described the allegations against the judge as a campaign of lies as he spoke at a swearing-in ceremony. K anye West and Kim Kardashian met the president of Uganda on a visit to the African country and gave the 74-year-old a pair of white Yeezys trainers. President Yoweri Museveni said he and the American rapper held "fruitful discussions" on Monday about promoting tourism and arts. The American rapper and his reality TV star wife have been vacationing in a national park in Uganda, where he is said to be recording music in a tent. Uganda's presidency released photos of a hoodie-wearing West meeting Mr Museveni at the State House and exchanging gifts. The celebrity couple signed a pair of trainers for the Ugandan president / AFP/Getty Images The president, one of Africa's longest-serving leaders, has been at the centre of unrest in recent weeks as Uganda's large youth population increasingly expresses frustration over unemployment. Following the visit, he wrote on Twitter: I thank Kanye for the gift of white sneakers. Enjoy your time in Uganda. It is the true Pearl of Africa. President Museveni said they held 'fruitful' conversations / REUTERS The visit comes less than a week after West made headlines by meeting US President Donald Trump at the White House . The musician spoke excitedly on social issues, hydrogen planes, mental health, politics and other topics, while stunned reporters looked on. S amantha Markle remained silent on Twitter in the immediate aftermath of her half-sister Meghans pregnancy being announced. Prime Minister Theresa May, Sadiq Khan and the Royal Air Force were among those to express their joy for the couple, who married five months ago in Windsor Castle. However, one person notably absent from the well-wishers was the Duchess of Sussexs normally outspoken estranged half-sister Samantha Markle, who has so far stayed silent on the news. The Duchess of Sussex's half-sister Samantha Markle / ITV A representative to Ms Markle, who recently apologised to her sibling on live TV, said she wont be commenting on the news of her sisters first child at this time. Also known as Samantha Grant, Meghans outspoken sibling has previously said she was hurt at not being invited to her royal wedding to Prince Harry in May. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Getty Images) Speaking on Jeremy Vine on 5, she also said that she still loves Meghan and that she waited outside Buckingham Palace on a recent visit to the UK in the hope of reconciliation. Asked for her message to Meghan, Ms Markle said: I would just say there is so much water under the bridge, and so much has spun out of control that was never intended to. Loading.... Meghans estranged sibling has previously insulted her on Twitter, branding the Duchess of Sussex as Cruella de Vil", "Duch-ass" and the "Duchess of Nonsense". Ms Markle has been outspoken on her opinions towards her sister in the past and stated that she could do more to help their father, who did not attend the royal wedding due to his health. Writing on Twitter last month, she said: I am not candy coating anything anymore! The DUCHASS should be human to our father who has given her everything He was the one who was always there for her. Fake waves and smiles can stop. The duchASS can bow to the daddy. Announcing the baby news, a statement from Kensington Palace said: Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the spring of 2019. T he King of Saudi Arabia has no knowledge of the fate of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Donald Trump said today. The US president wrote online: "Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened to our Saudi Arabian citizen. "He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!" The update from Mr Trump came as Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul was expected to be searched over two weeks after Mr Khashoggi's disappearance. A Turkish diplomat said that the inspection would be jointly carried out by Turkish and Saudi officials this afternoon. US resident Mr Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, disappeared on October 2 while visiting the consulate. Turkish officials believe he was killed by a Saudi hit team and dismembered. The kingdom denies the allegations. Saudi Arabias King Salman today ordered the countrys public prosecutor to open an internal investigation into the case. The king and President Erdogan of Turkey also vowed to set up a joint working group to investigate. It also emerged today that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, has pulled out of an event in Saudi Arabia dubbed 'Davos in the Desert'. A US wildlife official is facing a massive backlash after he killed a family of baboons and posed with their carcases on a hunting trip in Africa. Blake Fischer, a fish and game commissioner for Idaho, is being investigated by the state governors office after he and his wife shot dead 14 animals. As well as the baboon family, they also slaughtered animals including a giraffe, leopard, impala and a sable antelope. He shared photos and descriptions of his victims in a leaked email to more than 100 people. Mr Fischer said: "I didn't do anything illegal. I didn't do anything unethical. I didn't do anything immoral." One picture showed four dead baboons propped in front of him, blood visible on the abdomen of the smallest creature. Mr Fischer killed them using a bow and arrows. The picture is captioned: "So I shot a whole family of baboons. Keith Stonebraker, a former commission member, told The Idaho Statesman: "They killed a whole family, including small baboons, and I think that's revolting. It just puts a bad light on us." The commission Fischer serves on makes policy decisions concerning Idaho's wildlife, and often manages game populations through hunting and fishing regulations. Those regulations require "ethical behaviour in the pursuit of wildlife". The commission has seven members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Fischer was re-appointed earlier this year. Former commission member Fred Trevey called on Fischer to resign: Sportsmanlike behaviour is the centrepin to maintaining hunting as a socially acceptable activity. Brexit talks fail to find breakthrough Theresa May's leadership and her plans for Brexit are under pressure following a setback in talks with Brussels. A hastily arranged meeting between Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and EU negotiator Michel Barnier failed to produce a breakthrough , leaving the process on a knife-edge ahead of a crunch summit on Wednesday. The impasse over measures to prevent a hard border with Ireland has thrown the timetable for reaching a Brexit deal at this week's EU meeting into doubt. It comes as Boris Johnson has again used his newspaper column to take aim at Mrs May, telling her it was time to stop being bullied by the EU. Harry and Meghan arrive for South Pacific royal tour The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have touched down in Australia ahead of their first royal tour as a married couple. Hundreds of people gathered to catch a glimpse of Harry and Meghan as they were driven to the Governor Generals official residence in Sydney this morning. The royal couple are embarking on a 16-day visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. The tour officially begins on Tuesday and will see the couple watch the Invictus Games, visit a Sydney zoo and visit the rural Flying Doctor service. Merkel allies suffer in Bavarian elections as far-right party makes gains German chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative allies have lost their absolute majority in Bavaria's state parliament in a result that could cause more turbulence within the national government. The Christian Social Unions support plummeted to 37.2 per cent in this weekends regional election, its worst performance since 1950 in a region it has traditionally dominated. There were gains for parties to its left and right, with The Greens securing second place and the far-right Alternative for Germany entering the state legislature with more than 10 per cent of the vote. JustGiving to drop charges for major disaster appeals Fundraising website JustGiving is to stop taking a cut of donations made for victims of disasters. Thousands of people have pledged money to appeals through the site following major atrocities such as the Manchester Arena attack and Grenfell Tower fire. The website takes a 5 per cent fee from each donation but has told The Sun it is dropping the charge for major incidents including terrorism attacks and natural disasters. Mission to Mercury to take off A British built spacecraft will blast off later this week as part of Europes first mission to unravel the mysteries of Mercury. BepidColombo launches on Saturday and will take seven years to reach the scorching planet closest to the Sun. It will then deploy two probes to study Mercurys surface and electromagnetic environment surrounding the planet. Seann and Katya stay on Strictly The couple were the bookies favourites to be eliminated, but it was acid attack survivor Katie Piper and her partner Gorka Marquez who were sent home by the judges last night. On this day 1666: The first waistcoat was worn by King Charles II, according to Samuel Pepys. 1839: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were betrothed. She proposed to him and confided to her diary: "It was a nervous thing to do, but Albert could not propose to the Queen of England. He would never presume to take such a liberty." 1917: Mata Hari, legendary Dutch spy who danced in the nude, was executed by a firing squad in Paris. 1940: A 500lb bomb hit Broadcasting House, London, killing seven people. Bruce Belfrage was reading the news at the time and paused for only a second before continuing. N othing beats the soft touch of cashmere against your skin. The cosiness and the warmth make everything from thick jumpers to comforting rugs a really lovely part of a childs nursery. Of course, such indulgences are going to come at a certain price but a cuddle from a cashmere-covered baby is worth it. Before you splash out on a snuggle-worthy piece, here are a few things you should know about one of the finest natural fibres around. What is cashmere? Cashmere is a type of wool that is made from the soft undercoats of cashmere goats. Despite being significantly lighter, the material is eight times warmer than sheeps wool and doesnt irritate the skin. Its also stronger and more durable than other fabrics. If cleaned and cared for properly, cashmere can last for many years to come. Why is cashmere expensive? Cashmere products are pricey because of the way the material is produced. On average, a cashmere goat generates only a little over 100 grams of cashmere fibre each year meaning it is made in limited quantities. It can take more than two cashmere goats to produce a single sweater, so you should expect a hefty price tag if you are after good quality cashmere. From toys to lounge sets, there are plenty of cashmere pieces for babies and children to suit all budgets. Here are our top picks. The White Company Cashmere Panda Jumper Comprised of 100 per cent cashmere, this grey panda jumper is just as cosy as it is adorable. Perhaps best for very small babies, the soft-touch piece is delightfully gender-neutral and versatile. The best part? The White Company offers a special pill comb to use on their cashmere to keep it looking in tip-top condition. 125 | The White Company | Buy it now Brora Cashmere Pom Pom hat This cable-knit hat made from two-ply Scottish cashmere is a winter must-have for fussy children who hate having their heads covered, thanks to being so soft and light. Ours stayed on for an entire park visit a first for a certain wilful one-year-old. Although there are three colour-ways to choose from, we plumped for the Winter White, simply because when worn, children resemble elfin snowflakes and theres nothing better than that during the big freeze. Brora recommend hand washing but because it belongs on heads, unwanted spillages are hopefully going to be minimal. 59 | Brora | Buy it now Cashmere Heart Intarsia Cardigan Available for children up to 12 years of age, this cardigan manages to be both brilliantly playful for babies and toddlers but also chic for older wearers (we would wager that a petit woman could fit into the 12-year-old sizes it certainly crossed our minds). It is 100 per cent cashmere, encompassing all the delicacy youd expect and yet with a definite sturdiness that makes for warmth and durability. Expect constant compliments from strangers who will invariably go into orbit when they find out there is a wealth of other colour-ways to explore too. 171 | Cashmirino | Buy it now Huge, versatile blanket These blankets are all handmade in Kashmir, meaning each one is completely unique making them really special gifts. They are absolutely whopping 130 x 180cm - but we find the large size makes them a versatile addition to any nursery. Folded as the softest mattress topper for Moses baskets or spread out as an ultra-lux play mat, its one of those items that very quickly move from a luxury to an essential item. We found ours to be a real lifesaver as a pushchair blanket during the recent cold snap. 175 | Zanula | Buy it now Bunny comforter Cuddling a comforter can be a vital part of getting a baby to settle themselves to sleep. A cashmere version is surely nothing short of a slice of heaven for a baby: who wouldnt want to drift off to the Land of Nod with their cheeks nuzzled against something so soft? These make for a great gift idea because unlike clothes, babies cant grow out of these and the quality of the materials mean this little bunny is likely to journey through childhood without too much in the way of wear and tear. 55 | Purl English | Buy it now Givenchy Kids Star Intarsia Knit Dress This might be only 30 per cent cashmere, but its still super-soft against young skin. This dress is so special because it manages to be grown-up the knitted logo is a fun nod to high fashion - without suggesting that little girls should dress beyond their years. Worn with Mary-Janes and thick tights its perfect for Christmas Day or winter parties. 320 | Farfetch | Buy it now Basil Cashmere Romper There is nothing cuter than babies in rompers, which might go some way to explain the enduring popularity of what is now considered a vintage style. This cheery duck egg option is not only as warm and soft as youd expect from 100 per cent cashmere, but wonderfully pliable too making it easy for wriggly little people to move around in. Almost best of all is the gender-neutral Rust shade a rich yellow hue that complements the Liberty print collection perfectly. From 54 | Olivier Baby | Buy it now Zara Girls Cashmere Sweater Zara has an adorable selection of cashmere clothing for young children. Our top pick? This mauve-coloured girls sweater that comes in fives sizes from 6 months up to 3 years. With the winter season almost upon us, the round neck design should keep her feeling cosy and at the same time stylish. 34.99 | Zara | Buy it now Burberry Mini Classic Cashmere Scarf with Archive Logo A mini version of Burberrys iconic check piece, this snuggly scarf will bring a bit of luxury into any childs wardrobe. We particularly love how the multi-coloured lettering adds a playful touch to the classic design. Since it is made of 100 per cent cashmere, you can expect a sumptuously soft feel against the neck which is just the ticket for those with delicate skin. 230 | Burberry | Buy it now Harrods of London Cable Knit Cashmere Leggings Comfort and luxury go hand in hand with these cable knit leggings from the Harrods of London range. The baby trousers are made extra comfortable by super-soft pure cashmere and an elasticated waistband, making them ideal for cosy days indoors. They can also be paired with a matching cardigan and beanie hat to create a wonderfully winter-proof ensemble. Choose from four sizes from 0 to 18 months. 89.95 | Harrods | Buy it now Marie-Chantal Mittens Keep your little ones hands toasty with these adorable mittens by Marie-Chantal. The pure cashmere pieces are adorned with the brands signature crown and star in gold lurex and come in one size only. Brora Cashmere Baby Blanket With a range of designs available, including stripes and checks, this super soft blanket is perfect for keeping newborns snug and warm. It is composed of 100 per cent Scottish cashmere and can be dry cleaned only. S tar Trek actor George Takei has hit out about how many actors still have to hide their sexuality if they want lead roles in Hollywood. Takei, below, a prominent LGBT activist, said gay men often felt they would not be considered for certain parts if they came out. The actor, 81, who played Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, added: Im an actor who was closeted, so I understand why actors choose to stay in the closet. Its so much more liberating if you come out and you can continue to work. But it is an individual decision... if youre playing a superhero, bulging muscles and all, you may lose that career. If youre a romantic leading man you lose credibility if you come out as gay. He revealed he wants to bring his musical Allegiance, inspired by his childhood in the Japanese-American internment camps of the Second World War, to the West End in the wake of Donald Trump parting migrant children from their parents. Im running out of space, but if you think mobs are bad, you also might want to avoid bullying strangers on Twitter, stop trying to get people you disagree with fired, quit harassing public figures while in the safety of a larger group these three, it should be noted, are current specialties of the political left and cease doing anything in a crowd that you wouldnt do on your own. Finally, just between you and me and the world, one also might not want to publish op-eds like this recent one in HuffPost with the sentence : We will not sit down and shut up. We will keep screaming. We will continue to confront our elected officials wherever we encounter them. J oe Swash has slammed the thieves who stole his passport and sons homework, calling on them to do the right thing and hand the possessions back. Swash made a plea for help on Twitter after he had his car broken into during a family day out in north London this weekend. He posted: To the boys who rob my car whilst I was go-karting with my son it is all over CCTV so please could you return my passport and more importantly you stole my sons school bag which had his project in that he has been working very hard on I need very upset #dotherightthing. Former Strictly pro James Jordan branded the news disgusting while Scarlett Moffatt tweeted: This breaks my heart. Fans rallied around the former EastEnders actor with some urging him to post the CCTV footage in a bid to identify the culprits. One fan tweeted: This is awful !!! Who would stoop so low as to steal a kids school bag and a passport thats no use to them. I despair at this world we live in sometimes joe I hope its all returned (sic). Loved up: Joe Swash with girlfriend Stacey Solomon / Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images A second posted: Just so wrong and disgraceful behaviour!! Your poor little boy bless him Thank god for CCTV and fingers crossed those scumags do the right thing and give your stuff back!! (sic). A third wrote: Rat bags!! Put the CCTV up and shame them! Hope you get your stuff back. Stacey Solomon says she mistakes boyfriend Joe Swash for her dad in bed Swash has 11-year-old son, Harry, with his former fiancee Emma Sophocleous. He is also step-father Stacey Solomons children Zachary and Leighton. Writing in her Fabulous column, earlier this year the Loose Women panellist said: So after three years Joe and I are taking the plunge and blending our lives in our very own together home. Wahoo! We have been working really hard to ensure that all of our children feel happy, comfortable and settled and we are finally in a place where we're ready to merge. V ogue Williams has shared a very sweet snap of her one-month-old son Theodore yawning. The Irish model, who last month welcomed her first child with boyfriend Spencer Matthews, took to social media to share the adorable image on Sunday. In the photograph, Theodore can be seen looking snooze-ready dressed head-to-toe in blue nightwear. Williams captioned the post: Sundays got me like. Fans of the 33-year-old TV personality flocked to the comments to share their approval of the snap. One user wrote: He is the most beautiful baby. Another user commented: Awe what a cutie!! A third added: Thats ridiculously adorable. Vogue Williams reveals she and Spencer Matthew got pregnant after one week of trying Meanwhile, another added: Adorable my God massive congrats...knew well ye 2 would produce an absolute beauty x [sic] Proud parents Williams and Matthews welcomed their first child on September 5. The couple introduced Theodore in a magazine photoshoot just weeks after the birth. Williams, 32, told HELLO!: We are bursting with love. I honestly feel like he has been here forever, he has just slotted into our lives perfectly. We heard the name Theodore one day and both loved it. We thought we would call him Teddy but since he has been born we have stayed with Theodore rather than shortening it. Symptoms large and small are everywhere. Time was, Sasse notes, that Americans stocked their imaginations with the same things. In the 1950s, frequently, 70 percent of television sets in use tuned in to I Love Lucy. Today, when 93 percent of Americans have access to more than 500 channels, the most-watched cable news program, Hannity, has about 1 percent of the U.S. population. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the average number of times Americans entertained at home declined almost 50 percent. Americans are hyperconnected but disconnected, with fewer non-virtual friends than at any point in decades. With the median American checking (according to a Pew survey) a smartphone every 4.3 minutes, and with nearly 40 percent of those 18 to 29 online almost every waking minute, we are addicted to distraction and parched for genuine community. Social media, those tendrils of resentment that Sasse calls accelerants for political anger, create a nuance-free outrage loop for professional rage-peddlers. And for people for whom enemies have the psychic value of giving life coherence. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Most, but not all. Idaho Game and Fish Commissioner Blake Fischer not only brought his pastime to the attention of people he doesnt know but rubbed their noses in it. After a hunting trip to Namibia, he treated a large circle of acquaintances to photos of his exploits notably, one of him grinning over primates he had taken with a bow. His wife, on her first visit to Africa, wanted to see him hunting. So I shot a whole family of baboons, he crowed. Modex Bucharest is said to be an exercise focused on the coordination and collaboration of the medical modules (EMT 1-3, AMP, MEDEVAC), and because of a large number of teams and participants, it is the most comprehensive and most complex medical exercise by modules under the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Involved in the exercise are observers and participants from the member countries of the mechanism, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the USA. The international exercise is the fifth and final exercise of a consortium made up of ten civil protection partners during the Modex 8 2017-2018 cycle. The consortium was contracted by the European Commission to design, plan, conduct and self-assess exercises to train the following modules: medium and heavy urban search and rescue (USAR) in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) conditions; advanced medical post with or without surgery (AMP/S); field hospital (FHOS); technical assistance support team (TAST) as well as experts of a union civil protection team (UCPT).The programme is hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, through the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU), with support from all the components of the National Emergency Management System (SNMSU) and will take place in various locations in the Bucharest area.European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides arrived in Bucharest on Sunday given the complexity of the scenario and the large human and technical resources involved in rescuing victims, including by activating the European Civil Protection Mechanism.The European official visited the mobile hospitals set up by the intervention teams in Italy, Norway, Romania and Israel. AGERPERS AGERPRES special correspondent Madalina Cerban reports: President Klaus Iohannis affirmed on Monday, upon meeting his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella that there is no place for setback in the international community, specifying that the European Union must play a much more important role than at present. "A very important topic for us and that I discussed with Mr. President Mattarella was the Presidency of the Council of the European Union Romania is to take over in the first half of 2019 and an essential part of this Presidency - beside the multiple complicated files, such as Brexit and the Multiannual Financial Framework - (...) will be a reflection on the Union's future," Iohannis declared during joint press statement with Sergio Mattarella, at Quirinale. Iohannis specified that the Summit in Sibiu on 9 May 2019 is exclusively dedicated to the future of the Union."We wish until then, together with the 27 member states - as this is how many we will be when the Summit takes place - to find an approach that not only sketches a strategy for the future for the Union, but also opens up for us a door to a new optimism, as we will find ourselves then right after Brexit and I believe the Union needs not only technical solutions, but also solutions that make the Europeans feel optimistic again and confident in the European project," Iohannis said.According to the president, the key words for Romania's Presidency of the EU Council are "unity and cohesion.""These are the things we need in order to accomplish all the other projects that we set for ourselves - European security, internal security, the security of the outer borders, solving the issues generated by the important migration flow. (...) Matters that affect the ones and the others are obviously matters related to security in a broader sense," Iohannis showed.He specified having discussed with his Italian counterpart about collaboration within NATO as well."I have underscored the very good collaboration within NATO too, and as regards the general approach (...) we are living in a globalised world. There is no room for local or isolationist approaches. There is no room for setback in the international community and in this sense, I have highlighted that not only unity and cohesion are needed within the Union, but a more important role of the Union in the international politics, in issues related to the international community and (...) president Mattarella had the same (...) type of approach. We mustn't abandon in any way multilateralism in international relations and here the Union must play a far, far more important role than it does know," Iohannis said.In his opinion, politicians in Romania and Italy can contribute to the betterment of the international political environment."These special relations that Romania has with Italy, people in Romania with the ones in Italy, the politicians in the two countries can decisively contribute, we both think, to the betterment of the international political environment and for all these things, Mr president, I thank you for welcoming me so nicely (...). In the name of all the Romanians, I thank you for the friendship you carry for us," Iohannis further conveyed to Mattarella. Chairman of the Opposition's National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban on Monday said referring to the move of the Justice minister regarding the nomination of the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA)'s head that Tudorel Toader is "the minister of the ruling parties' criminals". "I made no comment on the proposal by Tudorel Toader regarding the nomination of the Chief-Prosecutor, on the other hand we cannot fail to draw the clear conclusion that Tudorel Toader is not the minister of those who enforce the law - justices, prosecutors -, he is not the minister to fairly collaborate with the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM), that is the body watching to the observance of the Constitution, but Tudorel Toader is the minister of the criminals with the ruling parties, he is the minister who only generates a ceaseless pressure upon the magistrates, he is the minister who acts as a political tool of the [ruling, ed.n.] PSD [Social Democratic Party, ed.n.], of [PSD leader, Chamber of Deputies' Speaker] Dragnea's, [Senate President and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, ALDE, ed.n.] Tariceanu's, to affect the Judiciary's independence and put an end to any fight against corruption in Romania," Ludovic Orban said at the Parliament Palace. On Monday, Justice minister Tudorel Toader announced he had submitted to President Klaus Iohannis the proposal nominating Adina Florea as the Chief Prosecutor of DNA. On 8 October, the CSM's Prosecutors' Section gave negative opinion to the minister of Justice's nomination of Adina Florea to the above-mentioned position. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila will meet on Monday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, within a visit that the Romanian PM is paying to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. "Today, I will start a visit to the Republic of Turkey, the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, states with potential to develop economic relations with Romania," the PM mentioned in the Gov't sitting. PM Dancila underscored that the purpose of this visit is to promote economic relations."Promoting investments and business opportunities currently represents a priority of the Government. Several ministers will be accompanying me in this visit. We will present important projects of areas such as transport infrastructure, healthcare, tourism, energy, which private investors can develop, including in private-public partnership," she pointed out.Dancila detailed a part of the visit schedule: "Today I will have meetings with Turkey's President Erdogan, the leadership of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, as well as with head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey."The visit will continue with several meetings with high officials of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait."I want to underscore that I will attend the Businessmen Forum of Romania and Kuwait," Dancila added. Romania's President Klaus Iohannis on Sunday attending the lighting up of the Trajan's Column in Rome in the colours of the Romanian national flag. The event was part of a state visit to Italy, October 14-17. The head of state was accompanied by his wife, Carmen Iohannis.Upon arrival at Trajan's Column, Iohannis and his wife were greeted by local administration officials and several hundred people, including a group of children from the Romanian community in Italy. People applauded Iohannis, called out his name and chanted "United we save all of Romania!"Subsequently, Traian's Column was illuminated in the colours of the national flag, when people started singing the national anthem of Romania.At the same time, the president and his wife talked to the children, took pictures with them, and thanked them for the event.The presidential couple also attended a show at the event.Trajan's Column remained illuminated in the colours of the Romanian tricolour until 22:30hrs, local. This was a symbolic moment of Iohannis' visit, having a particular significance to the bilateral relationship between the two countries, according to the Presidential Administration.At the headquarters of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Italy on Sunday, Iohannis had a meeting with representatives of the Christian Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic religious denominations.Iohannis' visit to Italy takes place amidst the Centennial of Romania's Greater Union and the 10th anniversary of promoting the bilateral relationship between Romania and Italy to strategic partnership.According to the Presidential Administration, this is the first state visit to Italy of a Romanian head of state in the last 45 years.On Monday, official talks with Italian President Sergio Mattarella were scheduled to take place on topics related to the enhanced strategic partnership between the two countries and on European, international and security co-operation.The agenda also includes official meetings with head of Italy's Council of Ministers Giuseppe Conte, Senate Chair Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico. President Klaus Iohannis on Sunday met in Rome with the representatives of the Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic religious cults, while he wanted to send a message of closeness to the Romanian community in Italy. President Iohannis is paying an official visit to Italy over October 14-17. The first day included a visit to the headquarters of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese in Italy and a meeting with the representatives of the Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic religious denominations. On this occasion, the head of state congratulated His Grace Siluan of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese in Italy for his activity."The meeting between President Klaus Iohannis with the representatives of the denominations, as a first moment of his official visit to Italy, represented a message of closeness that the President of Romania wanted to send to the Romanian community in Italy, which is the most numerous Romanian community abroad and also a community close to the church and it representatives, and close to the country," reads a press release of the Presidential Administration.Moreover, Iohannis voiced his appreciation for the contribution of the religious denominations to the philanthropic activities and of social support of the religious associations and foundations carried out both in Romania and in Italy, supporting Romanians facing difficult situations there."President Klaus Iohannis encouraged the continuation of the inter-religious dialogue between all the Romanian religious communities in Italy, which represent a model of good practices including for the other communities of Romanians abroad, an important aspect in keeping the unity of the Romanian people, especially in the context of the celebration this year of the Modern Romania Centennial," specifies the release.Moreover, President Iohannis and his Holy Father Siluan from the Romanian Orthodox Diocese in Italy, together with the other hierarchs in attendance, had an exchange of view related to their current activities.Moreover, Klaus Iohannis offered the representative of the participating denominations three official flags of Romania, as a symbol of their attachment to the country.On Sunday evening, President Iohannis participated in the lightning of Trajan's Column in the Romanian flag's colours, alongside hundreds of other Romanian citizens. On this occasion, the President highlighted that this was a symbolic moment and very special for the relation between the two states. Impressive because Sears really was that influential long ago. Damning because the companys decline wasnt preordained. Sears could have maintained pre-eminence and, in the digital era, elbowed out Amazon and other retailers. Some companies do preserve and build on success through reinvention. Look at McDonalds, to choose another great Chicago-area company that has survived challenges and remains the iconic name in its industry. There was no law that said the biggest hamburger chain of the 20th century should still be competitive in 2018. McDonalds kept up with changing consumer demands. Sears instead became a victim as its customers found other retailers who would better meet their needs. President Klaus Iohannis stated on Sunday evening in Rome that Romania's social peace is being rebuilt. "I believe that social peace in Romania is being rebuilt. And we need such symbols in order to rebuild social peace in Romania and we will," Iohannis stated on Sunday evening in Rome, where he attended the lighting of Trajan's Column in the colors of the Romanian national flag. Furthermore, the head of state said that he finds this event very emotional and full of significance."I find it both an emotional and full of significance moment. Trajan's Column (...) is believed to be the birth certificate of our people and lighted up in the tricolour colors, I think it's also important for the relationship between our peoples, it gives it a special charm, but also shows us where our history is and I hope it will show us where our future is," Iohannis mentioned.Moreover, the President said he is very glad to be participating in this event."It is a very beautiful moment. I thank the organisers. (...) I am truly excited and very pleased that we can live this moment. It's sensational - Trajan's Column [lighted] in the tricolour. I believe that there isn't a deeper, more beautiful symbol for the tie between our nations. (...) It's excited that so many people came, very, very many Romanians," Iohannis showed.Upon arriving at Trajan's Column, President Klaus Iohannis and his wife Carmen were expected by local authorities and several hundred people, including a group of children of the Romanian community in Italy. People applauded Iohannis, called out his name and chanted "United we save all Romania."Afterwards, Trajan's Column was lighted up in the colors of the Romanian national flag, moment when the people attending the event started to sing Romania's national anthem.Furthermore, the President and his wife talked with the children, were taken photos with them and thanked those who attended the event.The presidential couple also participated in a performance organised within the event.Upon leaving, Iohannis and his wife continued to talk to the people and take photos with them.Several people continued to call out Iohannis's name, applauded and chanted "Long live Greater Romania!," "Long live Sibiu!," "United we save all Romania!," "Romania wake up!," "PSD (the Social Democratic Party), the Red Plague" and "We want home, the thieves do not let us!."The event took place within the state visit that President Klaus Iohannis is paying to the Italian Republic, 14-17 October.Klaus Iohannis's visit to Italy takes place in the context of celebrating the Greater Union Centennial and the 10th anniversary since upgrading the bilateral relationship between Romania and Italy at the level of enhanced strategic partnership.According to the Presidential Administration, this is the first state visit of a head of state in the last 45 years to Italy.On Monday, official talks with Italian President Sergio Mattarella are scheduled to take place on topics related to the enhanced strategic partnership between the two countries and European, international and security co-operation.The agenda also includes official meetings with head of Italy's Council of Ministers Giuseppe Conte, Senate Chair Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico. US Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm said on Monday in Hunedoara that he and another 11 ambassadors had been concerned about the changes to Romania's justice package, as they may have affected the fight against organized crime or terrorism. Klemm said that Parliament is the competent body to revise the justice laws. We were concerned about the changes to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. I was one of the 12 ambassadors who expressed concerns this June. And the reason is that Romania and the US are now working together to fight terrorism, organized crime and trafficking. We have a powerful cooperation and we were concerned that the amendments could block our ability to cooperate. We are now encouraged by the Constitutional Court ruling, we must look at the details of this ruling and of course, it stays in the power of Parliament to proceed to revisions. We have actually conveyed those concerns to as many people as possible, members of the major political parties and the government included, so that we hope they'll be listened to, said the US ambassador. Hans Klemm visited on Monday Hunedoara city and met on the occasion with mayor Dan Boboutanu who handed the diplomat the key to the city. The woman is now an attorney. According to a Chicago Tribune story by Brian L. Cox, the woman said that in the months and years after the assault, her life fell apart and, at one of her lowest points, she collapsed onto the floor of her apartment trying to determine if she had enough medication, prescribed to her after the assault, to take her own life. It was hardly earth-shattering news that the Pakistan Navy had withdrawn its two warships from the multi-national Combined Task Force (CTF 151) that has been operating in an anti-piracy role in the western Indian Ocean since 2009. CTF 151 is one of these little-known but important international associations that are not only successful in what they aim to achieve, but extremely effective in establishing and firming bonds between nations. For example, command of the Task Force rotates between nations (Pakistan Navy officers have commanded it five times) and over the years much trust has been forged between participating navies (which include those of Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore, the UK and the US). One of the goodwill aspects of the grouping was that the US refuelled Pakistans ships at no cost. No longer. It has been reported that the value of the Pakistan rupee has sunk to an all-time low of 134 to the US dollar (it was 80, ten years ago) which is a most serious matter for the new government in Islamabad and for the entire nation, as the cost of oil keeps increasing and has to be paid in US dollars. Unfortunately, Pakistans oil import bill rose nearly 30.43 per cent year-on-year to $12.928 billion in July-May 2017-18 owing to an increase in global prices of crude oil and rising demand for petroleum products. So Pakistan gets the double whammy of devaluation and a surge in the oil price. So the United States ordered that the Pakistan naval vessels of Combined Task Force 151 will no longer be provided with US oil at no charge, but will have to pay for it. Nobody can claim that this is a vast amount of money in terms of operating warships. It is probably about 2 million dollars a year. But thats not the point. The point is that Washington has again taken the sort of nasty, malevolent, spiteful See what I can do to you! type of action that causes the United States to be so detested in so many regions round the world. The background for the US action against Pakistan was Trumps first tweet of 2018, when he told the world that The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more! He ignores the facts that, as pointed out by Pakistans defence minister, Pak as anti-terror ally has given free to US: land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda over last 16 years, but they have given us nothing but invective & mistrust. They overlook cross-border safe havens of terrorists who murder Pakistanis. It means nothing to Washington that since the US attack on Afghanistan and subsequent expansion of Islamic terrorist groups in the region, Pakistan has suffered 468 suicide bombing attacks, in which 7,230 of its citizens were killed. Before 2001 there was one such attack, in 1995 by a crazy Egyptian who drove a bomb-laden lorry into the Egyptian Embassys gates. But the US went ahead and cut planned aid to Pakistan, which included meeting the charge for refuelling the ships of Combined Task Force 151, causing Pakistan to withdraw them. All that Trumps Washington has achieved by its insults and punitive actions is alienation of Pakistanis who were supportive of the US, and creation of much more anti-US feeling in Pakistan. Maybe this is what was intended, but if so, its a very strange way of behaving. The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, visited China on October 8 to discuss North Korea and US-China relations. So before this extremely important diplomatic venture, on October 2, Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech to the Hudson Institute in which he criticized and condemned China and complained that Beijing is meddling in Americas democracy, on the grounds that it is using trade, its military, and diplomacy to increase its own influence around the world. This didnt get the raucous laugh it merits, because the Hudson Institute doesnt laugh at irony. But the Pence diatribe sent an unmistakable message to Beijing and set the scene for the Pompeo visit, which was understandably a disaster. It isnt surprising that the Pompeo meeting went flat and that China regards Donald Trump as a tweeting idiot. But it went further than the President and Vice-President of the United States publicly and violently criticizing the Peoples Republic of China, and four days before Pompeos visit, CNN reported that the US Navys Pacific Fleet has drawn up a classified proposal to carry out a global show of force as a warning to China and to demonstrate the US is prepared to deter and counter their military actions, according to several US defence officials. In other words there was a deliberate leak to CNN of highly classified planning information. Nothing new in that, of course, because all US mainstream media are in the leaky pockets of the CIA, the Pentagon and various other agencies that vociferously condemn leaking unless they do it themselves, which they do with impunity. (The UK is exactly the same; some of the stuff that has recently been leaked by intelligence agencies would be worth a long jail sentence if a criminal case were brought.) CNN said that The plan suggests sailing ships and flying aircraft near Chinas territorial waters in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait in freedom of navigation operations to demonstrate the right of free passage in international waters. The proposal means US ships and aircraft would operate close to Chinese forces. The [leaking] officials emphasized that there is no intention to engage in combat with the Chinese. But has the Pentagon asked the Chinese what their reaction will be when it indulges in its intentionally provocative actions? This is a classic approach to war. Here we have two countries, formerly friendly Pakistan and potentially friendly China, which the US, at the highest level, has deliberately and comprehensively insulted and antagonised. Can Washington really believe that either of them could in any fashion be supportive of the US or any aspect of US international policy in the foreseeable Trumpian future? Washington insulted Pakistan in the most grievous and needlessly spiteful fashion, and was even more abusive about China. As it happens, these countries border each other and are closely linked, economically and militarily. They couldnt be further apart, religiously or politically, but this doesnt matter and the US could learn from that, because you dont have to be religious to reflect on the wisdom of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus wisely advised that human beings should do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (And similar advice is given in the Holy Koran and the Analects of Confucius.) By insulting their leaders and scattering threats like explosive confetti, the US Administration influences foreign nations to reconsider their attitude to cooperation. They wonder if there is there any point in trying to engage with Trump Washington. At the moment almost everything that Trump is doing is gaining enemies and alienating friends, and the Pentagons policies of withdrawal of financial assistance to allies and deliberate military provocation of China, Russia, Iran and Venexuela ensure that tensions around the world just keep on growing. Its all supposed to be part of Make America Great Again, but Washington and the American people are going to discover that insults and confrontation will lead to exactly the opposite result. The fate of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hangs in the balance. The common perception is that everything depends on which way President Donald Trump moves go by his own preference to bury the scandal over Jamal Khashoggis disappearance or give in to the rising demand that Saudi-American relations can no longer be business as usual. Trumps mood swing suggests he is dithering. Yet, it is Turkey more precisely, President Recep Erdogan who is the real arbiter. The Turks have let it be known that they are in possession of materials that expose Khashoggis murder. But the official position is that the onus is on the Saudis to prove that Khashoggi left their consulate in Istanbul alive. The Saudis responded with alacrity by mooting the proposal to form a joint action team with brotherly Turkey. Turkey agreed and a Saudi team arrived in Turkey on Friday. But Riyadh and Ankara are apparently at odds. Meanwhile, reports appeared that Turkish intelligence has recordings of Khashoggis purported killing. Ankara has not disclaimed these reports. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday, There is consensus on forming a joint working group with Saudi Arabia It is natural for everyone to show awareness of the case and want it to be clarified. However, he stressed that Turkeys own investigation will proceed independently and it is getting deeper. He regretted that Saudi cooperation was not optimal. Equally, the spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party Omer Celik warned ominously against any cover-up: The president is following the matter closely. Turkeys independent investigation is ongoing. It is a very critical matter. There are speculative claims that a respectful journalist was killed. Such an action is an attack on all the values of the democratic world. It involves the Republic of Turkey directly. This individual went missing on our soil. He entered the premises and did not re-emerge. It will eventually become clear how he went missing, what happened and who organized it. The disappearance of Khashoggi cannot be covered up. Cavusoglu, who is on a visit to London, also hinted he might raise the issue with his British counterpart. Significantly, Turkish analysts and circles close to the ruling party have taken an openly hostile stance vis-a-vis Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS). Their narrative harks back to the persistent Turkish allegation that MBS and the UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed have been the cats paw of the US and British and Israeli intelligence in the various hot spots in the Middle East Syria, Iraq, Yemen, etc. and even had a hand in the failed coup attempt against Erdogan two years ago. According to this narrative, Istanbul was probably chosen as the venue of the ghastly incident, since Erdogan has been giving refuge to fugitives who oppose the two Gulf regimes alluding to Khashoggis friendship with Erdogan and their shared affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood. Ibrahim Karagul, leading editor and a staunch supporter of Erdogan, wrote, Turkey must call Salman and Zayed to account It must ask them to pay for the crimes they committed against our country They think they can do anything with money and buy everyone Our file is ready. We are going to hold them responsible not only for the Jamal Khashoggi incident, but for many things, including the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, financing terrorism against our country, arming the PKK and Daesh, the war they are carrying on against our country in northern Syria, and their cooperation in multinational attacks, including the assassination attempt on our president. The fact that the Saudi investigation team is headed by Prince Khalid Al Faisal, the third son of King Faisal (and a senior member of the al Turki clan), underscores that the House of Saud senses an existential moment. To be sure, Erdogan is playing his cards shrewdly. He is keeping an uncharacteristically low profile himself and speaking only the bare minimum that is necessary, but has let media leaks continue in a steady stream that has inflamed the western opinion against the Saudi regime. Trump is having a hard time coping with Erdogans maximum pressure. On Saturday, he resorted to the Art of the Deal. On the sidelines of the release of the American pastor by a Turkish judge on October 12, Trump laid it on a bit thick: This is a tremendous step towards having the kind of relationship (with Turkey) which can be a great relationship. We feel much differently about Turkey today than we did yesterday. And I think we have a chance of really becoming much closer to Turkey and maybe having a very, very good relationship. Making nice with Erdogan becomes important. Trump has reason to worry that his son-in-law Jared Kushner's close ties to the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE may come under scrutiny at some point during the investigation into the Khashoggi affair. Indeed, many possibilities open in front of Erdogan. Quite obviously, it presents him with just the reason to re-engage with the Trump administration from a perspective of being on the right side of history. But the big question is, what is Erdogans agenda? To be sure, his neo-Ottomanism is on a roll, now that Saudi Arabia has painted itself into a corner. Clearly, the US-backed alliance between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Israel and Egypt to contain Iran does not make a new regional order. Erdogan will now assert Turkeys leadership role in the Muslim Middle East. Importantly, he is known to champion the Muslim Brotherhood as the charioteer of a New Middle East. Photo: NewsRescue.com This years mid-term US Congressional election is probably one of the most consequential Congressional mid-term elections for many decades in American politics. The result could not only determine the future trajectory of American public policy and political discourse for the next decade or so but also could shape the fate of Donald Trump's impending showdown with Robert Mueller's Special Counsel Investigation. The election itself is shaping up to be nothing less than a referendum on Trump himself and his policies. The possibility that the Democratic Party locked out of Congressional power in the House of Representatives for almost eight years now and in the Senate for almost four years could retake the House and improve its standing in the Senate is very real with each passing day before the vote on Tuesday, November 6th. The immediate effect of a victory for the Democrats in the House of Representatives would be a strong rebuke to the policies of the Trump administration and Republican Party over the last near two years now. With the Democrats back in the majority in the House and perhaps the Senate they can start to roll back some of the early damage done by Trump and can certainly act as a barrier against further reckless, dangerous and divisive Trumpian Republican policies. A Democratic House would be able to set the domestic legislative agenda and critically spending bills, wresting control away from the Trump White House, much the same way the Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich did with President Clinton's domestic agenda after the Republican sweep of the Hill during the 1994 midterms. Hopefully moves will be made to legislate to repeal the stupid, dangerous and reckless Trump Trade Tariffs or at least put a brake on further such nonsense. If the Senate is recaptured the Presidents room for manoeuvre in foreign policy could also be curtailed. Yet the biggest prize of all with these mid-term Congressional elections and why they matter so much is the possibility of getting Trump impeached and convicted, thus thrown out of office and perhaps into jail. I am not sure if the world would be able to survive a second Trump term due to the fact once re-elected Trump would probably feel so emboldened that he might go absolutely berserk and no doubt probably launch an all out military confrontation with some countries. We cannot afford for the sake of global peace, prosperity and security to let it get to that stage. If the Democrats retake the House and either retake the Senate or improve their standing somewhat, there is a very strong possibility that Trump could face impeachment. Once the mid-terms are done and dusted and say the Democrats storm the House and the Senate remains evenly divided, Mr. Robert Mueller will no doubt wrap up his Special Counsel Investigation and present Articles of Impeachment to the House of Representatives to vote on. This could very well happen as early as January once the new Congress is sworn in. If the articles pass then the President will be impeached and it then goes to trial in the Senate. The last President to be impeached was of course Bill Clinton in December 1998. After a trial in the Senate in January and February 1999 and a vote President Clinton was found not guilty and acquitted. To find a President guilty a two thirds super majority is required in the Senate.The Democrats did not control the Senate back in early 1999 yet the GOP were unable to muster a cross-party two thirds super majority. Given the fraught nature of Trump's relationships with many Senators in his own party if it did come to impeachment and trial in the Senate it is hard to say if he could rely on his own fellow Republicans to rally round. What is without question is that an impeachment of Trump and then a trial in the Senate would make for quite compelling American political drama and would rock Washington DC and the American body politic to its foundations. There may be some who believe that Trump should be made an example out of and thus are prepared to push the Impeachment process all the way to a Trial in the Senate and possible conviction thus leading to his removal from office and even the possibility of his having to serve jail time. There is also the possibility that members of the Trump family such as his son Don Jnr and his son-in-law Jared Kushner may also face criminal charges. So, to be clear, these midterm elections have quite a lot at stake and are of much greater strategic importance than the usual run of the mill mid-term elections. In Thailand, the army received four Skyguard 3 short-range mobile anti-aircraft systems in mid-2018. Skyguard was ordered in late 2015, shortly after a military coup. At times like that, the Thai military updates their wish lists and gets what they can before democracy returns. Each Skyguard system consists of a towed radar/fire control unit and two towed twin-35mm autocannon. The radar system has a range of 20 kilometers while the 35mm autocannons are effective out to four kilometers and missiles (is used) out to seven kilometers. The 35mm shells used by the cannon carry explosive warheads each containing 152 sub-projectiles specially designed to penetrate and disable or destroy aircraft as well as UAVs, cruise missiles and even smart bombs. The fire control system can calculate where a target is going to be and automatically fire a burst of 25 shells that will fill the path of the target with nearly 4,000 sub-projectiles. Skyguard was originally developed by a Swiss firm in the 1970s and has been updated and continues to sell ever since. A German firm merged with the Swiss developer of Skyguard in 2009. Skyguard is mainly the fire control system and it normally uses 35mm autocannon (developed in the 1950s) and a number of different short-range missiles. Skyguard has been used in more than thirty countries for short-range air defense of key installations. After the 2015 0rder Thailand sought to purchase the Skyguard option of towed container launchers for short-range heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles. That order was denied because the Swiss had enacted laws prohibiting sales to nations involved in civil war. Thailand has had separatist and Islamic terrorist violence in its three Moslem majority provinces since 2004. That conflict was fading fast by 2015 (and continues to do so) but the Swiss still considered it a civil war under the terms of their arms export laws, which were more strictly interpreted after 2015. The law allows delivery of already ordered items and the provision of tech support and spare parts. The military government has turned to China for more weapons purchases. Thailand has other problems with importing weapons, the main one being the fact that the Thai military took over the government in 2014 and has a short time to order new stuff. The military used cleaning up corruption as one of its justifications for taking power in 2014. To the surprise of no one, the military government proved quite corrupt and the military response was to try and suppress embarrassing news of this. The censorship and failed efforts to curb corruption were disappointing to many Thais. An early 2018 opinion poll showed that 20 percent of Thais believed the corruption problem could be handled if a government made enough of an effort. For most Thais, the military is seen as all talk and little action in the anti-corruption department. That same opinion poll also revealed how difficult the corruption problem is. Thus the poll revealed that 48 percent of Thais believed the corruption problem cannot be fixed because it is so deeply ingrained in Thai culture. Most Thais remember that in all the post-World War II coups (1951, 1957, 1958, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1991 and 2006) the economy improved after the military took over. But after the 2014 coup, there was no similar boost in economic activity. Accepting major investments from China did not help as much as expected. Worse, the increased presence of the Chinese was not welcome. Many Thais fear greater Chinese influence in the economy will hurt Thailand in the long run. In late 2016 the American government decided that the military government might be around for a while and changed its foreign policy so that it could maintain the long-term links the two countries have while continuing to pressure the generals to allow elections and democracy. Even the Thai generals have come to realize that getting too close to China is not beneficial for Thailand, or the military, in the long run. Most Thais prefer to maintain the alliance with the United States rather than do more business with China. It was the American connection that made Thailand a popular (and profitable) place for Western (especially American) firms to set up Asian manufacturing operations in the 1960s and ever since. Thailand became one of the most prosperous nations in the region with per-capita GDP increasing tenfold from 1960 to 2016. Thais expect this to continue but instead Thai GDP growth has fallen behind all of the neighbors since the 2014 coup. The army realized the economic problems could not be ignored. Unemployment is still low but income was declining as are opportunities for getting better jobs. As far as the economy goes everyone else in the region is doing better and the military cannot hide that or explain it away. As a result of all this, the military is obliged to restore democratic rule in 2019 and elections will be held in early 2019. Whenever there is a coup the military budget increases as the military tries to order as much new gear as they can before democracy, and less military spending, returns. The problems with the Swiss export controls (and similar ones from other Western nations) led Thailand to seek more new weapons from China. For example in September 2018 construction began on the first of three Chinese submarines ordered by the Thai Navy 18 months ago. That deal was not explained in much deal other than that the three subs would cost $1.3 billion and only the first one was actually on order. Actual purchase orders for the other two were expected in 2021 and 2022, when an elected government would be back in charge. If all three subs were bought Thailand would be making payments into the late 2020s. The military government got a lot of criticism for this deal, especially from retired generals and admirals who were unafraid to point out that the military had more pressing and practical needs (like new patrol boats and helicopters for the navy) than submarines. Officially the navy defends the purchase as necessary because Thailand has to defend its Andaman Islands and all its neighbors have submarines. But Thai naval officials admit that most Thai coastal waters are too shallow for most submarine operations. Historians point out that every time there is a military government the military takes advantage of it to get major purchases made. Every year since the 2014 coup the military budget has increased. Some of the additional defense spending involved corruption opportunities because buying stuff that is not needed is nothing new. That was demonstrated in the 1990s when a military government approved the purchase of an aircraft carrier that became infamous for never having anything to do and absorbing so much of the navy budget to maintain that the admirals gradually diverted money away from more urgent needs. The carrier was such an expensive ship to operate that it spent most of its career (which has not yet ended) tied up in port without any aircraft or even a full crew. In the spirit of that carrier, the Navy has long sought money for submarines. In mid-2016 the Navy revived its plan to buy three submarines from China. The navy had first proposed this in June 2015 but withdrew the proposal a month later because of so much opposition. Most Thais oppose the navy submarine proposal and believe that the $1.3 billion needed to buy the three Chinese subs would be better spent on updating the navy coastal forces to improve security along the coasts. The sad shape of many Thai warships, especially the sole aircraft carrier, is a national embarrassment. Each of the three Chinese submarines costs more than the carrier did. Another factor (that can get you arrested if discussed openly in Thailand) is the Chinese frequently using bribes to expedite major weapons sales. Since 2014 the military government has used its dictatorial powers to get the constitution changed and give the military permanent political power. This will make it easier for the military to block actions (by elected leaders) that it does not like and make it much more difficult to change the constitution. While this might mean fewer military takeovers in the future it increases the possibility of a civil war to limit military and royal power for good. This threat was believed to have been taken care of in the 1930s by a fortuitous compromise. The current king and military leaders are not in a compromising mood like their counterparts were nearly a century ago. There have been eleven military governments in the last four decades and 19 coups or attempts since 1932. The monarchy tended to remain neutral in these disputes but clearly favored democracy over a military dictatorship. The royal family, the Chakaris, was founded by a general who seized the throne in 1782 partly to bring peace in a time of great chaos. Since then the Chakaris have survived by avoiding stupid mistakes. That may be changing as the current military government is creating more problems than it is solving and Thais fear the new (since 2017) king will be the opposite of his father and end up being one of the bad kings and perhaps even the 10th and last king of the Chakari dynasty. That is something most Thais want to avoid because their particular form of monarchy and, since the 1930s, constitutional democracy, has generally been good for the country. The government has kept the country out of major wars. This included World War II, where the government managed to avoid Japanese conquest by maintaining cooperative neutrality. Even back then the Thais had a reputation for being tough negotiators, even with powerful nations they want to (or must) cooperate with. The Chinese, like the Americans and Japanese (especially during World War II) learned it was better to negotiate with the Thais than trying to bully them. The Thai military understands this applies to them as well. The ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) faction of Boko Haram has been demanding that the government free some of their leaders as well as pay a large cash ransom to prevent the murder of two Red Cross employees and a female student. The three captives include the two Red Cross staff (a nurse and midwife) and a 15 year old female student who is Christian (so her death will not offend many Moslems). The Boko Haram ISIL faction is also known as ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) and has publicized the situation of these three individuals thus putting a lot of pressure on the government to do something within the next day or so if they want to prevent another murder. The government does not like being played like this and so far has refused to negotiate. One reason for that is the current factionalism and instability within Boko Haram. The growing internal problems with the ISIL faction of Boko Haram claimed another victim in September when a mid-level leader (Ali Gaga, a Fulani) was executed for planning to defect with subordinates and civilian hostages). This follows the August execution of one the more moderate (willing to negotiate) leaders, Mamman Nur, who was deposed and killed by more aggressive subordinates who also suspected Nur of getting large payments from the government and not sharing them. Nur was a key leader in the Barnawi/ISIL/ISWAP faction of Boko Haram, which considers itself the future of Boko Haram. As such this ISIL affiliate not only attracts the more fanatic Boko Haram diehards but also many of the most paranoid ones. Mamman Nur was known as an effective leader and unlikely to be capable of accepting a secret ransom and keeping that quiet. The death of Nur triggered a number of large-scale attacks by the ISWAP and these operations got a lot of Boko Haram men killed or wounded. Boko Haram persists in the northeast in large part because one of the two rival factions has adopted more effective tactics, at least until recently. The Barnawi (or Albarnawi) faction follows the current ISIL doctrine of concentrating attacks on security forces and government officials (preferably the corrupt ones). That makes it easier to extort (raise taxes) cash and other goods from the local population. The Barnawi faction has several thousand active gunmen and operates mainly in the far north of Borno state near Lake Chad and the borders of Niger and Chad. The smaller Shekau faction has about half as many armed men and operates further south near the Borno State capital of Maiduguri and the Sambisa Forest. Money matters and one reason the Barnawi faction has been more successful is their emphasis on raising cash, especially via large ransoms for hostages, especially foreign hostages or any captives they can generate a lot of media attention for. There was never a specific demand made in public but the government paid for high-value captives, like the May 2017 agreement that got 82 of the Chibok captives (from 2014) released in exchange for the freedom of eight Boko Haram leaders being held and awaiting prosecution for mass murder, terrorism and so on. Many Nigerians believed these men should have at least stood trial before being traded for hostages. As expected some of the freed Boko Haram leaders promptly went back to Islamic terrorism. With the cash, ISWAP did not have to depend on raiding villages for supplies. By paying for supplies the local civilians were more likely to support, or at least tolerate, ISWAP and that made it more difficult for the security forces to find and destroy ISWAP bases. At the same time, Boko Haram had very visibly divided into factions and that meant many current and potential Boko Haram members were having second thoughts about Boko Haram and Islamic terrorism in general. Back in March 2017 Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video to boast that he was still alive and operating in the northeast. At that point, security forces had claimed Shekau was dead at least five times since 2011 but so far had always been wrong. In late 2016 there was hope that a recent split in Boko Haram might lead to Shekau getting killed by other Islamic terrorists but that hasnt happened either and the two main factions appear to have achieved some kind of truce with each other and continue to operate. The Boko Haram split began in August 2016 when ISIL announced that it was replacing Shekau, who was accused of mismanagement. His successor was Abu Musab al Barnawi. ISIL believed Shekau devoted too much effort to killing fellow Moslems (especially civilians) rather than the real enemies of ISIL (local security forces and non-Moslems in general). ISIL leadership was also unhappy with the Boko Haram use of children and women as suicide bombers. That has become an issue in Nigeria because the use of children as suicide bombers has tripled during 2017. While the new Boko Haram leader has concentrated attacks on the security forces and non-Moslems he has also used children, especially females, as suicide bombers. Barnawi is a son of Mohammed Yusuf, one of the ISIL founders. Barnawi was appointed the main Boko Haram spokesman in January 2015. Although Barnawi has developed a following in Boko Haram Shekau refused to accept the ISIL decision. The Barnawi faction has also been more successful at online recruiting (via encrypted messaging systems like Telegram and frequently shifting presence on social media sites like Facebook. Barnawi was also more willing to delegate important tasks to subordinates, like Nur, who was his second in command. That worked until it didnt and now many of the Barnawi factions appear to have gone rogue. Ali Gaga is one of several subordinate ISWAP commanders suspected of disloyalty The national government has occasionally carried on unofficial talks with the Barnawi faction. These hostage negotiations apparently evolved into discussions about a peace deal, but that got nowhere. As a movement and organization, Boko Haram is also going nowhere. This is typical of Islamic terrorist groups, which have been turning up regularly as long as Islam has been around. Islamic scripture encourages this sort of thing as well as banning every leaving Islam was you convert or are born into it. Most Moslems want nothing to do with Islamic terrorism or strict interpretations of Islamic scripture. Thats because, among other things, groups like Boko Haram drive a lot of Moslems away from Islam. If definitely drives them away from their local mosque, because of the Islamic terrorist tendency to bomb mosques that do not support Islamic terrorism. Virtuous Vigilantes In many parts of the northeast (mainly Borno state) ravaged by Boko Haram violence, local civilian militias have been the key element keeping the Islamic terrorists from winning or, at this point, rebuilding. With Boko Haram on the run (or on the defensive) the militias have become less essential and now the government has to deal with the feared (and expected) evolution of some of the militias into criminal gangs. The pro-government militias and local defense forces in the northeast have long been seen by the Islamic terrorists as their most formidable foe. By late 2014 Boko Haram was regularly attacking towns or villages that had a lot of these volunteers. That led more civilians joining these groups. Officially called the Civilian JTF (Joint Task Force or CJTF) strength peaked at about 30,000 volunteers in 2017 and with the decline in Boko Haram activity in the last year about 30 percent of the force has been disbanded (or at least no longer recognized and supported by the government). About two percent of those who joined CJTF have been killed and many more have been wounded or injured while on duty. In effect, about ten percent of the CJTF men have been injured. But the soldiers respect them, the local civilians depend on and support them while Boko Haram has come to fear them. Volunteers initially received little material support from the government. But in early 2013 Boko Haram began to notice that in Borno and Yobe states thousands of Moslem and Christian young men were enthusiastically joining the CJTF to provide security from Boko Haram violence and provide information to the security forces about who Boko Haram members were and where they were living. That trend continues and now the CJTF and self-defense groups, in general, have become the greatest threat to Boko Haram in rural areas as well as the cities. The CJTF frequently patrol remote areas and operate a growing network of trusted informants who can quickly phone in details on local Boko Haram activity. By the end of 2013, Boko Haram had openly declared war on CJTF and threatened to kill any of them they could find. That state of war continues but for several years Boko Haram has been on the defensive and less of a threat to CJTF members and their families. The CJTF often operates with heavily armed police or soldiers nearby (ready to move in arrest Boko Haram suspects the vigilantes identify or help fight back if Boko Haram attack). By 2014 the army was regularly using the volunteers to replace troops at checkpoints. This policy enabled more checkpoints to be set up and more thorough searches of vehicles to be conducted. This made it more difficult for Boko Haram to move around, plan and carry out attacks or to resupply the few men they still had in the cities. Boko Haram responded by attacking checkpoints more frequently and that led to many volunteers getting weapons, officially or otherwise (sometimes with the help of soldiers or police). The checkpoints have become a major problem for Boko Haram and now the growing use of CJTF patrols and informants are even more of a problem. By 2017 CJTF spent a lot of their time on checkpoint duty, mainly because they know the locals and are better at spotting Islamic terrorists, especially suicide bombers. As early as 2014 some CJTF groups were launching attacks on Boko Haram and usually winning because they knew the area and people better and often were able to launch a surprise attack at night. A major factor in this was that in the more remote areas, like near the Sambisa Forest, the CJTF groups contained a lot of local hunters. These men are professional hunters who thrive in rural areas where there is a lot more game than people. CJTF first demonstrated to the army the skills of local hunters who tracked game for a living. The army noted that the success of CJTF attack units was largely because of local hunters. Soon the army began to hire some of the hunters who were exceptional trackers as well as offering bounties if they could track down certain Boko Haram men or groups. At first, Boko Haram fought back and attacked trackers or their families. That backfired because the CJTF have better information about their home areas which made it difficult for Boko Haram to make revenge attacks. The attacks are made anyway and fail so often that most Boko Haram are advised by their leaders to stay away from CJTF, especially those groups with professional hunters. There were still parts of the Sambisa Forest were Boko Haram could establish bases and avoid the CJTF but these were areas where there was less game and less of everything. That meant fewer Islamic terrorists and their captives could survive there and had to leave their sanctuaries more frequently to raid villages for supplies. Thats when the Boko Haram were most vulnerable and many of their losses were to desertion (because of hunger and frustration) rather than combat casualties. The military doesnt like to publicize how important the CJTF, and civilian support in general, was to the defeat of Boko Haram but the truth gets out anyway and the civilian volunteers are getting more credit for their contribution. This is particularly true now as CJTF has become essential in spotting families of Boko Haram men who try to pass themselves off as refugees from Boko Haram. The situation is so dire for the remaining Boko Haram that they are sending their families (usually just wives and children) away because of food shortages and the increasing frequency of air or ground attacks. This media attention also revealed that the military had recruited over a hundred of the most effective CJTF informants into a special unit where these men work full time for the military as plain clothes agents who are sent to any area where Boko Haram is believed to be active (or trying to be) and collect information. In some areas of Borno State the CJTF was not all that useful and that was in the many towns and villages were everyone, or nearly everyone, fled the Boko Haram violence. Many of these refugees have yet to return and parts of northeast and eastern Borno State are depopulated battlefields for the remaining Boko Haram and the army. The Center Is Burning The farmer versus herder violence in central Nigeria (Plateau state) continues. In the last few months Fulani herders have been particularly aggressive about bringing their livestock into farming areas so their cattle can fatten up on crops. The armed Fulani often get away with it and when soldiers or police do show up and seize the cattle the Fulani are forced to pay compensation to the farmers to get their cattle back. Some of these Fulani go after local farmer leaders. These are often Christian clerics, as most of the farmers are Christian. The violence has left several dozens dead in a week and considerable damage to crops. To make matters worse the troops are often reluctant to go after the Fulani, who are heavily armed and willing to fight the soldiers. During September and October, farmer and herder militias continued to attack each others settlements. The Economy Matters Local economists and business leaders as well as foreign lenders (like the IMF) are warning the government, which has been pushing needed reforms, to keep it up because Africa as a whole is not doing well because of the rampant corruption and bad governments. Nigeria is the best of the worst among major African economies and has the best chance of breaking the destructive cycle of corruption and little economic development. The upcoming elections are basically the reformers versus the many corrupt politicians who want to hold on to what they have stolen and be free to plunder some more. October 12, 2018: In the northeast (Borno State) troops defeated a Boko Haram attack on the base at Arge (near Lake Chad). Six soldiers were wounded during the brief firefight and the Boko Haram attackers fled taking their dead and wounded with them. The attack was organized by ISWAP in an effort to intimidate the Chadian military. That was a desperate move because the Chadian troops have proved to be the most effective in the region when it comes to fighting Islamic terrorists (ISIL, Boko Haram or whatever). October 10, 2018: In the northeast, across the border in Chad, local soldiers clashed with Boko Haram who had attacked an army base, failed and were then pursued by other Chadian soldiers and largely destroyed. While Chad lost eight soldiers dead at least 48 dead Boko Haram men were counted and more may have died among the one who fled and were wounded. October 8, 2018: In the northeast (Borno State) troops defeated an attack by the ISIL faction. Seven soldiers died but ten times as many attackers died as well. The garrison at Metele (near Lake Chad) received reinforcements and turned the Boko Haram attack into a major defeat. October 5, 2018: In the northeast (Borno State) an army/CJTF patrol encountered at least a dozen Boko Haram gunmen. After a brief firefight, five of the Islamic terrorists were dead while the rest escaped even though several were wounded. Troops seized four AK-47s, ammo and loot the Islamic terrorists had recently taken from villages. September 27, 2018: The ISIL faction of Boko Haram has killed another of their leaders for disloyalty. Ali Gaga was accused of seeking to defect with some of his subordinates and 300 civilians his group was holding captive. Gaga is the second Boko Haram leader to be killed for disloyalty in the last two months. Musicians can tickle the magnificent ivories of Baycourt Community and Art Centre stunning Steinway D-274 grand concert piano this Labour Weekend. Due to massive popular demand, Friends of Baycourt is proudly hosting a second Steinway Open Day in the Baycourt Addison Theatre on Sunday October 21, from 10am. The charitable organisation decided to host another open day after being bombarded by requests from a number of people who missed out on a timeslot for the event staged on March 25. The open day is for people of all ages and abilities, and there is no charge for people wanting to play the Steinway. To be able to play the piano, keen musicians will need to book in a timeslot by emailing FOB chairperson Anna Finlayson-Smith before Saturday October 20. Anna says people will want to make a booking pretty quick because spots during the last Steinway Open Day in March were snapped up extremely quickly. You can play any music of your choice and you are most welcome to bring your own audience, in face we encourage you to do so, says Anna. The Steinway Open Day is also perfect for music teachers who would like to bring their pupils along. For Friends of Baycourt, we simply want people to come to Baycourt and enjoy private time with this absolutely magnificent piano on the Addison Theatre stage. The Steinway D-274 grand concert piano first arrived in New Zealand from Germany in March 2009, after then FOB chairperson Jane Mason has an ambition to see a Steinway piano at Baycourt. The Tauranga Regional Concert Piano Trust was formed to raise the necessary funds, and as part of the fundraising they came up with the novel idea of selling the black and white keys to the piano. As a result, the Steinway keyboard was purchased and each donors name was recorded against his or her chosen key. The keyboard is now proudly mounted on the wall in the small lobby that leads into the Addison Theatre. Anna says the inaugural Steinay Open Day in 2017 was such a huge hit with everyone involved that it was an easy decision for FOB to bring the event back for another year. The pianist who took part in open day last year were so amazed by the Steinway and very much loved the opportunity to play what many of them called the best piano in the world. Many of them also asked us to hold the open day again in 2018, and so here we are! The Steinway Open Day is at Baycourt Community and Arts Centre, Durham Street, Tauranga, on Sunday October 21, from 10am. Entry is free. Bookings are essential. To book a timeslot please email Friends of Baycourt chairperson Anna Finlayson-Smith at dameanna@talk.co.nz Bay of Plenty Do you want to work for one of the most well respected contractors in the business? Work on one of the most exciting long... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz Today we are expecting a fine day, with some evening cloud. Also gusty westerlies developing in the afternoon. Its a three-clothing layer day today with a high of 19 and an overnight low of 9 degrees. Humidity is 81 per cent. High tide is at 1pm and low tide at 7.10pm.(Tay Street times). Theres a sea swell of 0.4m and the water temperature is 16 degrees. Sunset today is at 7.29pm. If youre going fishing, the next best fish bite time is between 6 and 8pm. In NZ history on this day in 1914 the main body of the NZ Expeditionary Force sailed to war - around 8500 men, as well as nearly 4000 horses. Thousands of Wellingtonians rose before dawn and crowded vantage points around the harbour to watch as 10 grey-painted troopships, escorted by four warships, sailed to war. In 1936 Jean Batten reached Auckland after an epic solo flight. Jean left for New Zealand from Kent, England, at 4.20am on October 5 1936. Despite the early hour, a large media contingent gathered to see her off; Batten was already famous for her successful solo flights from England to Australia in May 1934, and to South America in November 1935. In world history on this day in 1555 the Protestant martyrs Bishop Hugh Latimer and Bishop Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake for heresy in England. In 1701 Yale University was founded as The Collegiate School of Killingworth, Connecticut by Congregationalists who considered Harvard too liberal. In 1793 Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded by guillotine during the French Revolution. In 1908 the first airplane flight in England was made at Farnborough, by Samuel Cody, a US citizen. Today is the birthday of dramatist, poet, novelist and critic Oscar Wilde. Born in 1854, he once said "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken" and "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." To get involved in activities and events, please check out the What's on page on the SunLive website. Have a great day! The All Saints Episcopal Church held a pet blessing service on Oct. 14, 2018, in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago. Services were held as part of the celebration of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, who is often recognized as the patron saint of animals. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) Clay, N.Y. -- VIP Development Associates has applied for nearly $400,000 in tax exemptions for a planned day care center for up to 146 children in Clay. VIP, through a special-purpose entity named VIP True North LLC, is asking the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency for $397,894 in exemptions ($243,851 in property taxes over 10 years, $131,280 in sales taxes on construction materials and $22,763 in state mortgage recording tax). The agency has scheduled a public hearing on the application for 9 a.m. Oct. 31 at Clay Town Hall. The center will be built on a five-acre parcel of vacant farmland at 4431 Waterhouse Road, which is at the northeast corner of Waterhouse and Morgan roads. The property is close to Fairways and Bayberry, two of the largest neighborhoods in Clay, and is just north of the Woodard Industrial Park. Rendering shows what the proposed True North day care center at 4431 Waterhouse Road in Clay would look like. (VIP Structures) VIP President Charlie Wallace said the company will build the 15,000-square-foot, 12-classroom center and lease it to CMF True North Inc., a newly formed business owned and operated by Mike and Cynthia Fowler. Cynthia Fowler, a former special education teacher at Liverpool High School, served as director of the Northminster Early Childhood Center, a day care center at Northminster Presbyterian Church in North Syracuse, for eight years before leaving recently to plan her own center. The new center would operate as True North Center for Children. It would be open Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wallace said the business will employ the full-time equivalence of 32 people and provide day care services for children from infants to school age. The Fowlers also plan to operate a 64-student, half-day pre-kindergarten program at the center, he said. The center will help meet a demand for a full-service, licensed child care center in the northern part of the Liverpool Central School District, Wallace said. There are only 1,833 regulated child care slots for 6,211 children who are likely to need child care in the Liverpool Central School District, according to Child Care Solutions, a not-for-profit organization that provides information and resources for those seeking child care services in Onondaga and Cayuga counties. That means there is only one slot in a regulated child care facility for every 3.4 children who need one in the school district, said Lori Schakow, executive director of Child Care Solutions. She said that qualifies the district as a "child care desert," a term the Center for American Progress uses to describe areas where there are more than three times as many children as there are licensed child care slots. VIP said the tax breaks would help to offset the more than $400,000 cost of extending a sewer line from a half-mile east on Waterhouse Road and significant site work required on the property. VIP's savings from the tax breaks would be passed through to the Fowlers via their lease, allowing them to operate the facility profitably, the company said. Site work is scheduled to start in early November once town approvals are obtained. Wallace said the center is expected to be operational by Aug. 31, 2019. The center will primarily serve families in the northern area of the Liverpool Central School District and the western area of the North Syracuse Central School District, according to VIP. VIP estimated the cost of building the center at $3.7 million. It has applied for a payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement under which it would pay $248,071 in property taxes over 10 years instead of the $491,922 it would have to pay without the agreement. The center would begin paying full property taxes after 10 years. VIP would have to pay $46,824 to the industrial development agency as a project fee if the tax breaks are approved. True North would be the second day care center to receive tax exemptions from the industrial development agency. Shining Stars Daycare, which opened last year in Manlius with a capacity for 153 children, received sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions worth $82,750 from the agency. At the time, the agency said quality day care is an important part of economic development because it allows parents of young children to stay in the workforce. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Award winning playwright Kyle Bass calls the Syracuse Stage world premier of "Possessing Harriet" a home-cooked meal, and he says he is grateful for the many chefs, or team members, who are making the disparate ingredients of his 90-minute play come together. "All my extraordinary colleagues are invested in this play in ways that are very moving to me," Bass says. "Their commitment means audiences will see the depth and importance of this story, which holds such significance not only in an historical context, but also in the present environment of our country." Tazewell Thompson, Syracuse Stage artistic director from 1992 to 1995, returns to direct the play. He and Bass know each other from the early '90s, when Bass was working at Syracuse Stage, just getting started on his career in the theater. He left for almost a decade, and when he came back, he says, he brought extensive professional experience and returned "a different person." "Tazewell and I have long wanted to work together, so I am just grateful to have this talented director on this work," Bass says. "As I write a play, I find I'm holding specific artists as idols in my mind. It helps me imagine what the writing will become. So, yes, I imagined and hoped for Tazewell. And, I held Donald Eastman in mind as the set designer in a wishful way. These thoughts served as sign posts for me so I didn't get totally lost in process." Eastman did sign on as set designer, to the delight of the playwright. "Visually," says Bass, "the set is simply exquisite." Everyone on the production team has some connection to playwright Bass, who is also the associate artistic director of Syracuse Stage, working with Artistic Director Robert Hupp. One week prior to opening night, Bass says, "On some level, my play is not mine anymore. I've given it over to the other artists. In turn, when the curtain rises, they give it to the audience." Set in 1839 at abolitionist Gerrit Smith's Peterboro, N.Y., estate, the play is a representation of real events and real people, but it's not a documentary. Bass says he read and studied the lives of Smith, his cousin Elizabeth Cady, who would become a famous suffragist known by her married name, Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Harriet Powell, and a mysterious black free man, Thomas Leonard. "What I learned about Smith and Cady, I had to unlearn in order to reinvent them as characters in my play," Bass says. "What I couldn't know about the more obscure--less documented--lives of the freedom-seeking Harriet Powell and Thomas Leonard, I had to imagine." Bass points out, "Not knowing details of Powell and Leonard gave me access to something more valuable than facts. It gave me access to creative truth, and that is essential concern of the playwright." One thing certain about Powell is that she arrived in Syracuse with the slaveholding Davenport family in 1839, when they came to visit friends. A newspaper article from the same year described Powell, who was one-quarter black, or a quadroon, as "The Fair Lady Fugitive." She was helped to escape by other black freedom-seekers, and on her way to Canada, via the Underground Railroad through Central and Northern New York, she had a layover with Ann and Gerrit Smith. At their estate, she was harbored in the attic during the daylight, while the slave chasers pursued her. She met and, in conversation, inspired Elizabeth Cady, who became an advocate not only for women's suffrage, but also for human rights for all. Bass says he feels kinship with Powell; he's known since childhood that his family history is entwined with the story of slavery. "I know their names," he says. "I have pictures of my own ancestors who were slaves or direct descendants of slaves." Some of the names in the play are those of his own forebears, written into the work to honor them. "I have invested this play with all the emotional and inherited power of memory," Bass says. Even the title of the play has multi-layered meaning. It came out of a brainstorming session Bass and the executive director of the Onondaga Historical Association had over lunch. At one point Greg Tripoli suggested something like 'Repossessing Harriet." Bass did not think that was quite right, but from it grew "Possessing Harriet," a title that seemed to work on many levels. "She is possessed by others," Bass says, "and that's a terrible situation. When she's in the safe harbor, she's possessed by her rescuers. The whole country was possessed by slavery. The title also addresses the possession that is going on still." Bass pauses, and he speaks deliberately: "Harriet must be exorcised from the way that system of slavery can inculcate the individual and result in the loss of soul." He waits. "I can only imagine," Bass says. "My great-great grandfather. He could tell you." THE DETAILS: Who: Syracuse Stage What: World Premier of "Possessing Harriet" Where: Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse When: In preview Oct. 17 and 18; opening night Oct. 19 and continuing through Nov.4 Good to know: No intermission Extras: Various performances include prologue, open captioning, discussion, ASL interpretation, and happy hour. See website for details Tickets: start at $20 Purchase: online at syracusestage.org; by phone, 315-443-3275. MORAVIA, NY - Memorial services will be Wednesday for SUNY Oswego professor Brian Hough, 46, who was killed in the Oct. 6 limo crash in Schoharie County that killed 20 people. Hough and his father-in-law, James Schnurr, 70, were standing by their parked vehicle when the limo ran a stop sign and crashed into their unoccupied vehicle in the parking lot of Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe. Eighteen people in the limo were killed. Hough and his extended family were enroute to a wedding when they stopped to stretch their legs at the store. A celebration of life for Hough, an assistant professor of geology at SUNY Oswego, is set to be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Wade Funeral Home, 22 Church St. in Moravia. In addition, a memorial service is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Ewing Brothers Funeral Home, 630 S. Hanover St., Carlisle, Pa. Hough, a 1990 graduate of Boiling Springs High School in Pennsylvania, is survived by his wife, Jackie Schnurr, and his son, Benjamin Hough of Moravia, according to his obituary. Jackie Schnurr is a biology and environmental sciences professor at Wells College in Aurora. Hough also is survived by his parents, Greg and Artra Hough; and his brother, James, all of Mechanicsburg, Pa. He was predeceased by another brother, Todd. Hough was remembered by his brother and parents as a devoted professor and family man. He came to Oswego in 2016 as a visiting professor, and taught courses in oceanography, paleontology, historical geology and stratigraphy. Memorial contributions are being directed to benefit Benjamin Hough at a GoFundMe site. So far, more than $39,000 has been raised. Just as Independence Hall in Philadelphia honors the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls commemorates the Declaration of Sentiments and the women's rights movement. Hoping to more than double its annual visitors, the NWHF is moving its headquarters to a new facility in Seneca Falls that substantially increase its exhibit, event and programming spaces. Since 1979, the NWHF has operated out of the historic Seneca Falls bank building and drawn 8,000 to 11,000 visitors a year. In 2020, the organization plans to open the doors of its new location at the 1844 Seneca Knitting Mill. Along with the four-story mill building, the NWHF will acquire its annexes and exterior grounds. To secure funds for the big move, the NWHF applied for a grant through the Partners in Preservation program - a collaboration by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Main Street America and American Express. The program will give $2 million to projects within the U.S. based on public participation. The NWHF, one of 20 finalist groups, needs to rank among the top performers in a public vote campaign in order to receive $150,000 in funding. The month-long competition began in September and runs until Wednesday, Oct. 24. The public can vote once a day until the competition closes. Partners in Preservation will announce grant winners on Oct. 29. (Vote here) The National Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1968 in Seneca Falls, the site of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention (also known as the Seneca Falls Convention) and Declaration of Sentiments. The two-day convention, with presenters and attendees like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass, inspired others like Susan B Anthony and Sojourner Truth and laid the foundation for women's rights and ultimately women's suffrage. The Seneca Knitting Mill itself will highlight the intersectionality of the Seneca Falls Convention and the American women's rights movement; at the convention, many in attendance recognized that women's equality was interconnected with some abolition and Native American issues. "The Mill site weaves these concepts together, as two of its original trustees were abolitionists and among the 32 men who signed the Declaration of Sentiments," a Hall of Fame representative said. "The NWHF's choice to make the Mill its new home brings together a confluence of equality movements, representing achievements across race, class, age, region, immigration status, and areas of achievement." In a call for votes and support, the NWHF said that now more than ever it is important to celebrate the achievements of women. It was at Seneca Falls that 100 signatories demanded the legal recognition of women: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." BOSTON (AP) -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday released the results of a DNA analysis that she said indicated she has some Native American heritage, a direct rebuttal to President Donald Trump, who has long mocked her ancestral claims and repeatedly referred to her as "Pocahontas." The Massachusetts Democrat and potential 2020 presidential contender challenged Trump to make good on his pledge to donate $1 million to charity if she provided proof of Native American heritage, a moment that was caught on video. Trump falsely denied ever making the offer. The analysis was done by Stanford University professor Carlos D. Bustamante, a prominent expert in the field. He concluded that the great majority of Warren's ancestry is European but added that the results "strongly support" the existence of a Native American ancestor. In his report, Bustamante said he analyzed Warren's sample without knowing the identity of the donor. He concluded that Warren's pure Native American ancestor likely lived six to 10 generations ago, and that it was impossible to determine the individual's tribal connection. If Warren's Native American ancestry were six generations removed, it could mesh with an 1894 document the New England Genealogical Society previously unearthed suggesting Warren's great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, was at least partially Native American, making Warren 1/32nd Native American. The Boston Globe, which first reported the results of the DNA analysis, noted that if Warren's ancestor were 10 generations removed, she would be only 1/1,024th Native American. Such a finding could potentially further excite her critics instead of placating them. Warren on Monday also released a video produced by her Senate re-election campaign. In it, she said: "The president likes to call my mom a liar. What do the facts say?" Bustamante replied: "The facts suggest that you absolutely have Native American ancestry in your pedigree." The senator released personnel files earlier this year seeking to dispute critics who have charged that the former Harvard Law School professor advanced her law career with a narrative she is a descendant of Cherokee and Delaware tribes. Warren has denied using her Native American heritage to gain any advantage. In an email Monday to supporters, Warren said she "never expected the president of the United States to use my family's story as a racist political joke against Native American history, culture, and people -- over, and over, and over." In a tweet directed at Trump, Warren said: "Remember saying on (July 5) that you'd give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry?" She went on to request that the president send a check to National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. Flashback. July 5. Trump on Elizabeth Warren: "I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian." (via Fox) pic.twitter.com/rQ8cxHGg8s Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 15, 2018 At a summer rally in Montana, the president declared that he would give a million dollars to charity, "paid for by Trump," if Warren takes the test "and it shows you're an Indian." But when asked by reporters Monday, Trump said, "I didn't say that." In an interview with The Associated Press in 2012, Warren said it was "family lore" that had convinced her of Native American ancestry. She said her mother and father were forced to elope because of her mother's heritage. Warren faces Republican Geoff Diehl, who co-chaired Trump's Massachusetts presidential campaign, in the Nov. 6 election. SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The state Democratic Committee wants voters to know what Republican state Senate candidate Bob Antonacci thinks about efforts to strengthen New York's abortion law. The only problem is the committee used the words of Rick Guy, a Senate candidate removed from the ballot because of invalid petitions, instead of Antonacci to do that in a recent campaign mailer. Antonacci, Onondaga County's comptroller, is running against Democrat John Mannion, a West Genesee high school teacher, for the 50th Senate district seat held by John DeFrancisco, who is retiring. The mailer focused on Antonacci's opposition to a state bill that would incorporate into New York's abortion law protections contained in the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision which affirmed a woman's right to have an abortion. It attributed this quote, published in an Auburn Citizen story, to Antonacci: "I don't think the voters of New York are interested in such side issues and extreme issues as this bill." Rick Guy actually made that statement, according to the story. Antonacci said he's hearing a lot of complaints about negative campaign ads. "There's nothing worse than lying and being negative at the same time," he said. Gary Ginsburg, a spokesman for the Democratic Committee, acknowledged the quote was wrong, but said it accurately represented Antonacci's stand on the issue. "It would be a very different story if the quote misstated his position rather than simply misquoting him," Ginsburg said. WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Paul Ryan plans to visit Central New York this week to raise money for Reps. John Katko and Claudia Tenney at events that will be closed to the public. Ryan, R-Wisc., plans to attend the private fundraisers as part of a swing across Upstate New York to boost the campaigns of four Republicans, a spokesman said Monday. Ryan will also stop at separate campaign events for Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents a North Country district, and Rep. John Faso, who represents a district in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. Political analysts in Washington have ranked Faso, R-Kinderhook, and Tenney, R-New Hartford, as two of the most endangered House Republicans in the 2018 election. Ryan's spokesman said he could not confirm specifics as to the timing of Ryan's visit. Katko, R-Camillus, hosted a $250 per person fundraiser with Ryan when he visited Syracuse in 2016. Ryan headlined a cocktail reception at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown. Katko's campaign declined to comment about plans for Ryan's visit. The Upstate New York tour is part of final election push by Ryan that began Monday, with a goal of boosting 25 vulnerable Republican candidates in 12 states before the Nov. 6 election. Ryan, who is retiring at the end of the year, will have campaigned for 55 GOP House members and candidates in 40 states by the time he completes his tour. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 President Donald Trump's administration wants to allow new offshore oil and gas drilling in almost all U.S. coastal waters, including most of the East Coast and the Arctic. New York is among at least 10 states whose governors oppose the plan because of concerns about the environment, tourism and the fishing industry. The Trump administration also wants to shrink the amount of public land protected as national monuments, ordering a review of 27 sites that gained protection over the past two decades. The amount of land preserved at two national monuments in Utah - Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante - was cut by 1.9 million acres, the largest reduction of protected public land in U.S. history. With that in mind, we asked the candidates in the 24th Congressional District election -- U.S. Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, and Democrat Dana Balter of Syracuse -- the following question: President Trump's administration has proposed opening nearly all coastal waters in the United States to new offshore oil and gas drilling. The president also moved to reduce the amount of protected land at national monument sites. What, if any, action should Congress take to help protect and manage public lands and resources? The candidates' written answers are below. Katko and Balter were asked to limit their responses to 250 words. Look for a new candidate question each week. Have something you'd like to ask all the candidates? Email Mark Weiner at mweiner@syracuse.com with the subject line "weekly question." John Katko In Central New York, we grew up witnessing the irrevocable damage to Onondaga Lake, and the generation of cleanup it has required. That's why I have always advocated for policies that preserve and protect our nation's waters and lands for future generations. I am a staunch supporter of our public lands, national monuments, and national parks. I have led efforts to uphold and defend the Antiquities Act, a federal statute that protects public lands and historical sites as national monuments. I opposed legislation and actions from the administration aiming to roll back the Antiquities Act and other protections for public lands. I have been a fierce advocate for growing our national park system. Just this month, the president signed into law legislation I introduced to put Fort Ontario and Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Center in Oswego on the path towards becoming a national park. Since I came to Congress, I have worked closely with the Department of Interior and local advocates to aid the transition of the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn to national historic park status. Reliance on foreign oil puts our national security at risk and I support the administration's vision to make the United States energy independent. However, we cannot threaten coastal communities to do so. We must balance environmental concerns with the security of our nation. I support limited offshore drilling in the Arctic, and joined a number of my colleagues urging Interior Secretary Zinke to oppose offshore oil and gas leasing off the East Coast. Dana Balter It's vital that we protect our natural resources, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and secure our energy independence. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report containing dire warnings about the future of our planet should we fail to act. So instead of expanding drilling offshore, we should invest in renewable energy that will allow us to be energy independent and address the problem of carbon pollution. In Congress, I will work to pass legislation that provides permanent protection for our coastal waters. It's critical that we prevent offshore drilling, which reduces property values and could result in costly damages to coastal residents and industries -- like fisheries -- that rely on clean waters. I will work to pass legislation that expands protections for our federal parks and lands, including closing all federal parks and wildlife refuges to oil and gas exploration. Not only are our public parks spectacular natural monuments, they are a vital resource to our economy. Just last year, the Park Service reported $38 billion in yearly economic benefit from national parks, supporting over 300,000 jobs. I will also work to protect and expand funding for conservation programs. Our federal budget reflects our priorities as a country and I will work to ensure that safeguarding our natural resources remains a clear priority. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Kay was born in Brooklyn and earned a journalism degree at Syracuse University. Her first professional writing job was in Paterson, N.J. for the Paterson Times. She later worked at the San Diego Evening Tribune, where she was that newspapers first woman sportswriter. While in San Diego, Kay also helped cover a 1978 plane crash as part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for deadline reporting. The United States embassy in Australia has apologized after accidentally sending out a photo of a cat wearing Cookie Monster pajamas instead of an event invitation. The Daily Beast reports the embassy distributed a mass email titled "meeting" and included an image of a tabby cat wearing a "Sesame Street" costume that resembled PJs. The feline, titled "cat pyjama-jam," was holding a plate of cookies in the fuzzy blue outfit with footsies showing Cookie Monster's face. The email, sent out by the U.S. Department of State, also included a section in Latin and invited recipients to RSVP for an event that surely would've been the cat's pajamas. The US State Department apologized after the US Embassy in Australia sent out a meeting invite with a picture of a cat in Cookie Monster pajamas. I blame Monday for all of this. #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/tFtpkLfJ9Y Cameron Grant (@coolghost101) October 15, 2018 The Guardian reports the embassy, located in the Australian capital of Canberra, issued a light-hearted apology in a followup email on Sunday. "Sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping to attend this 'cat pyjama-jam' party, but such an event falls well outside our area of expertise," U.S. Mission to Australia public-affairs counselor Gavin Sundwall said in a statement two days after the original went viral. "It was a training error made by one of our new staff testing out our email newsletter platform." Sundwall added that "strong new management controls" would be added to prevent future errors. According to the BBC, the U.S. has not had an ambassador to Australia for two years, the longest period since World War II. Cat got the U.S. Embassy in Australias tongue. Somehow this hilarious and awkward picture of a cat in Cookie Monster pjs holding a plate of cookies was emailed out. pic.twitter.com/D0RdvqTwuZ Nicole Cousins (@nicolecousinstv) October 15, 2018 Joeys upset that the cat pajama-jam wont be happening HAHAHAHA @joshgnosis pic.twitter.com/BymLugbrYZ my_furry_babies (@My_furry_babies) October 15, 2018 Looking back, it was probably not a good idea to put a bachelor in charge of General Electric's 75th anniversary employee promotion. The story goes that William D. Haylon, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a public relations executive for the consumer electronics giant, was given the task of finding a way to incorporate GE's employees into the company's celebration of its 75th birthday on Oct. 15, 1953. At the beginning of 1953, he thought he had hit on a winning, low-risk, idea. To stop pestering coworkers from constantly asking about his expecting wife, Henry Poplaski hung a sign with the word "No" on it at his General Electric workspace. His baby was not born in time to collect the five shares of stock offered by the company. Any baby born to an employee, or employee's spouse, on the company's birthday would earn five shares of stock, valued at about $78 a share at the time. The media called the idea the "GE Baby Derby." Haylon studied U.S. Census records and birth patterns of the past decade. After crunching the numbers, he expected about a dozen or so births to occur on any single day to the company's 226,000 American employees. Haylon and General Electric must have been surprised when the company had 189 new stockholders by the end of the day. Maybe he did not factor in the post-World War II baby boom or possibly the company made a mistake in announcing their plan almost exactly nine months before its anniversary. (A GE statistician later confessed that using general population figures was a mistake; company employees tended to be younger and were more likely to be having children.) "The stork was winning in a landslide today over the General Electric Company," the Associated Press reported. In Syracuse, where the company had a facility at Electronics Park, eight babies, were born, almost equaling the company's nationwide projection. "Each baby came into life a capitalist worth $394.48," the Herald-Journal reported. The births began early in the day. The first new stockholder in Syracuse came at 1:40 a.m., a daughter, born to Mr. and Mrs. Alfonso Letizia, of North Syracuse. She was followed by seven more. The first six children born were photographed for the front page of the Post-Standard. As the day progressed, local hospitals were besieged by telephone calls from local media. "Hospital delivery floors answered calls every five minutes as radio and newspaper deadlines neared, statisticians rechecked their figures in amazement, and the whole country chortled," the Herald-Journal said. Not laughing, however, were the expecting parents whose babies had not yet arrived as the midnight deadline loomed. Henry Poplaski, of Delmar Place, hung a gigantic sign at his workspace with "NO!" written on it, to stop coworkers from asking if his wife had delivered yet. The baby missed the deadline. Also disappointed was Peter Bednick, of North Syracuse. The production engineer's wife was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital and he was told that a child was "sure to be born before midnight." But, alas, the baby was not born in time. The response was even greater in Schenectady, where the company's main plant was located. Thirty babies were born in employees in 24 hours, including a son to Mrs. Edward Sheward, who was delivered one minute before midnight. As midnight approached in the east, 122 GE babies had been born nationwide. "And the West Coast hasn't been heard from yet," said a company spokesman, "a bit desperately," the Associated Press noted. The number eventually reached 189 and the company would be on the hook for over $74,000 worth of stock. To its credit, the company said it would "stand firmly by its offer," and discounted any rumors that some parents had resorted to Caesarian sections as a way to "beat the gun." "We never expected this many babies," a company spokesperson said, who also mentioned that at least four babies were given names with the initials "G.E.". Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle: Email | 315-427-3958. In Cambridge, reading is pretty standard practice. However, for me, this usually delightful activity tends just to be skim reading for my course, often in a stressful environment. In fact, one of the only parts of my life that hasnt been enriched by university is my ability to read for fun. Reading for pleasure can be a great way to relax; for me a juicy memoir always does the trick. Perhaps, you find calm in some pulp crime fiction or rogue medieval poetry. To encourage lots of pleasurable reading, this list is compiled of non-work related spaces, in which it is lovely to pull out a book. Hopefully, it will provide you with some places to escape the Cambridge work life, into the pages of somebody elses story. The Indigo Coffee House Tucked away down St Edwards passage in a haven of calm, especially compared to the crush of people on Kings Parade, is the Indigo Coffee House. Its tiny interior lends itself to a cosy atmosphere, in which my favourite feature is their mugs. Although perhaps an eccentric observation, their pretty mugs with purple swirls give you a sense of home comfort, impossible to achieve with the chains on Market Street. This atmosphere of loveliness is heightened by the sheer mix of people you will observe: bubbly undergrads, academics discussing their PHDs in sombre tones, and the more adventurous tourist. The only drawback may be, as a very small business of eight tables, the indigo relies on a high turnover of customers. So dont expect to be able to finish that thriller in one sitting with a single coffee. But luckily drinks there are some of the most reasonably-priced Ive found in Cambridge. Only 2.20 for a wonderfully frothy hot chocolate and an hours peace to start having a go at that Byron biography. Reading suggestion: George Orwells Books vs Cigarettes, a short essay, which you can satisfyingly finish with one coffee. Fitzwilliam Museum Standing majesticly on Trumpington Street is the neo-classical facade which is the Fitzwilliam Museum. Not only is this space wonderful for viewing art and artefacts but can also be utilised for reading. The many benches scattered around the museum, especially upstairs in the red galleries, are a beautiful space, surrounded as they are by the works of Moore and Gainsborough, to take the plunge into a new literary venture. As it is a museum noise levels are reasonably quiet, especially if you visit at less popular times of the day and the mixture of people walking past is perfect for any seasoned people-watcher. Reading suggestion: E.H. Gombrichs The Story of Art; take inspiration from the art around you with this landmark art history text. Cambridge Botanical Gardens The fresh and vibrant surroundings of the Cambridge University Botanical Gardens is a wonderful location to take a few minutes out and read. You may find it inspiring and refreshing to be outside for a long period of time the perfect combat for library sickness. The only drawback is the 133 days a year it is likely to rain on these gardens, although the pretty garden cafe ensures the adventurous reader is never caught out. Reading suggestion: Francis Hodgson Burnetts The Secret Garden; delve back into your childhood with this Edwardian classic. Did you know that Microsoft doesn't back up your 365 data? Avoid data loss. Back up your company's Office 365 mailboxes, Teams, and files stored within OneDrive and Sharepoint. Get your free trial of Altaro Office 365 Backup. For much of this year, technology companies have been showcased in a very poor light. There was the coverage of Facebooks adverse impact on the 2016 U.S. elections (and other elections worldwide); there was Intels security scandal and the firing of its CEO following reports suggestive of insider trading; there was the Google+ breach and coverup; and there have been incidents of nastiness and bullying across all the social networks. As a result, many folks, particularly governments, have been looking at tech firms very unfavorably. Several firms have been moving aggressively to buck this trend, however. Dell has provided substantial funding for pro-women programs led by Karen Quintos. Cisco has made meaningful contributions in cities where it operates, both in responding to disasters and funding programs to uplift the poor. Microsoft has flipped to taking the lead in providing transparency and improving working conditions. HP has undertaken major efforts to address different types of social injustice. HPs latest effort, in conjunction with the Clooney Foundation for Justice, is a case in point: an impressive initiative to supply and fund schools in places like war-torn Syria. Ill share my observations on the importance of efforts like these and then close with my product of the week: the Sprocket 2nd Edition, an update to one of my favorite little HP products. Doing Well by Doing Good Its a recurring theme that we and by we I mean technology analysts and journalists should give more focus to the activities of firms that are behaving well over the misbehavior of those that are not. A D V E R T I S E M E N T People learn by example, and if the only examples all of us including myself repeatedly are pounding is that big companies are unethical, do bad things to their customers and environment, and largely are run by *ssh*les, then well promote that bad behavior. Folks will think that everyone else does it, so why shouldnt they? I think it far better that we focus more on firms that are trying to make the world a better place in order to promote that behavior and actually help make the world a better place. A number of global companies have been busting their humps to do exactly that. HPs Efforts HP is one of the firms aggressively going down this path, promising to improve educational opportunities for 100 million students by 2025. This isnt a trivial number, and education is believed to be one of the core elements holding emerging economies and economically troubled countries back. Lack of education has had an adverse impact on many countries gross domestic products, the competence of their governments, and their ability to take care of and protect their populations. Educated people have choices. Education is a force multiplier, making citizens more productive. Learning engages people and keeps them from becoming social problems or worse, enemy combatants and terrorists. Technology offerings for students affected by the war in Syria allow them to learn how to use the Web more effectively, to help dig out of the mess their country is in so it can return to being viable. This video, narrated by George Clooney, showcases both the scale of the commitment and some of the progress to date. Girl Rising HP also has provided substantial support to the Girl Rising movement. One of its focuses is to share stories about people who use technology to make the world a better place for girls and women. The idea is that when people learn of the successful programs undertaken by others, they are encouraged that these programs can and do work, and they are motivated to emulate them. This in turn should have a cumulative impact on how people perceive women and open more opportunities to women, and build on the increasing sense that women arent standing alone or just being given lip service. HP is standing up and being counted in an effort to do more than complain about the unfairness of it all, and instead to address the unfairness and bring real and measurable change to a world in which female inequality is still very pronounced. Last week, the winners of the Girl Rising Creative Challenge were announced. All are young women working aggressively to change gender inequality in the world. The people are real, the stories are compelling. I was particularly taken by the fact that none of these women are complaining they are working impressively to drive real change. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Weve been complaining about inequality for decades, but it is only when people roll up their sleeves and drive change that change happens. These women, heroes all, have done exactly that. Some steps may be larger than others, but every step gradually makes the world a better place for our mothers, daughters, wives and female friends to live. Wrapping Up: Doing Well By Doing Good HP is doing very well this year. Out from under the cloud that smothered it for much of the last decade, with powerful focused leadership and a CEO who has forged an impressive team, the firm arguably is stronger than it has been in decades. Rather than using that strength inappropriately or only to increase revenue, HP has been using part of its strength to make the world a better place, particularly for women. I think that the more we promote and encourage this behavior, the more firms will emulate it, and if this increases in scale, our efforts will improve the world for everyone. The HP Sprocket 2nd Edition, launched last week, is another huge indicator that printers are coming back. HP Sprocket 2nd Edition Photo Printer Yep, I didnt really believe this either, but HP, which dominates this industry, has been showing impressive growth in both printers and supplies. This is largely because it rethought them and aggressively moved on opportunities like 3D printing and this smartphone printer. One of the big surprises was how popular their first Sprocket Printer became. It was primarily a printer for smartphones, which you could carry in your pocket to share pictures you took with your phone immediately. In use, it reminds me a lot of the old Polaroid experience, but without the nasty waiting period or the need to deal with the waste parts of that process. You just send the picture to the printer and in a few seconds, you get a full color picture you can give to your relative or friend as a keepsake, while you keep the digital copy on your phone. The product defines easy set up and use and it is surprisingly popular with millennials, who likely never saw a Polaroid and were expected to go fully digital. There is something about having a picture you can hold in your hands that has transcended generations, however, and created a new category of products. In a way, the Sprocket is HPs iPod. What I think is particularly interesting is that it largely targets a female audience. In fact, the target demographic is women between the ages of 16 and 24. For instance, rather than the typical male-oriented colors of black, white, gold and silver, the Sprocket 2nd Edition comes in Luna Pearl, Noir, Blush and Lilac. Improvements to this product which, as you would expect from HP, leads its segment are sharper colors and higher speed. Some new features, like multi-user functionality and an augmented reality function I havent used yet, have received mixed reviews. One cool improvement is that this printer is always on. Earlier versions required you to power up and connect the printer each time you used it. The included app allows you to make basic image fixes like crops, contrast, brightness and color levels. You can add borders and text (make a custom-printed business card, for example). Print price also has dropped from around US$.65 per print to $.45 per print, which is a nice improvement all by itself. The printer itself costs $129.99. What I like the most is that this is one of the few products designed specifically for women that women actually like it has been surprisingly successful in its earlier iterations. As a result, the new HP Sprocket 2nd Edition is my product of the week. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network. In context: A science and engineering promotional project for UK students is aiming to break the world record for land speed. Developing any such project may not be the most practical in terms of return on investment, but the educational aspects can help build interest in career paths that are in high demand. Beginning as a private project in the UK to get students interested in science and technology, the Bloodhound supersonic car has fallen short on funding. Aiming to set a new world record for land speed, the 1,000mph hopeful is in jeopardy without coming up with another $33 million. As it stands now, a Rolls-Royce Eurofighter jet engine is being strapped to rocket that theoretically will have no problem destroying the previous record of 763mph. Designed and tested by Norwegian defense contractor Nammo, the Nucleus rocket engines being used for the car reached an altitude of 66.5 miles when launched towards outer space. Bloodhound will make use of not one, but three Nucleus rocket engines combined with the low bypass turbofan Eurofighter EJ200. If further funding can be raised, the Bloodhound team is aiming to reach the 500-600mph range in 2019. Assuming successful tests as the car reaches closer to the speed of sound, a single rocket motor will be added in 2020 with additional rocket engines being added in 2021 to finally hit the 1,000mph mark. In order to reach such high speeds, a lot of perfectly flat land clear of any debris is required. The UK does not have the luxury of massive lake beds commonly used for testing experimental aircraft, so a trip to South Africa is required. An 11 mile long bed nearly a mile wide has been cleared of loose stone for Bloodhound's testing. Whether the project continues as a world record attempt or not will not have any effect on the education aspects of the project. The charity group affiliated with the project has other sources of income and plans to continue sharing knowledge of science and engineering. What just happened? After seven years, the Palm brand is being resurrected with the introduction of the Palm phone. It's meant to serve as a companion device for simple, distraction-free use. In 2011, HP finally shuttered the Palm brand in favor of the HP brand. It marked the end of an era where Palm, Blackberry, and Nokia regularly battled it out for the smartphone/PDA crown. A few months ago, details leaked of an upcoming Palm-branded smartphone that was exclusive to Verizon. Those leaks have officially been confirmed with the announcement of a device simply known as 'Palm'. This Palm is a 3.3-inch device that is less standalone phone, more companion gadget to your existing smartphone. Instead of having its own phone number, the Palm phone co-opts your existing Verizon phone number so you can technically use it away from your main phone if you need to. It's part of an ongoing trend to use your main smartphone less and use a lighter phone for short trips or times when you don't want the distraction of your primary smartphone. The Light Phone 2 announced back in March also aimed to free users from their smartphone addiction. On the outside, it has a tiny 3.3-inch LCD screen with a 445-ppi pixel density. It has a single multi-purpose button on the side that has different functions depending on how many times or how long you press the button. It has a 12-megapixel camera on the back and an 8-megapixel selfie shooter...if you care about taking pictures on a device this small. Inside, the Palm phone is powered by a Snapdragon 435 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Despite the specs, the device seems decently quick based on a hands-on video from The Verge. The UI is a simplified hexagonal grid of icons and a search bar up top. There's a virtual button at the bottom that serves as the home and multi-tasking button. Since your phone number is linked to both your primary device and the Palm phone, your text messages will automatically sync between both granted you use the Verizon Messages app on both phones. Obviously, iMessages will not sync with it...sorry iPhone users. Being that this is a companion phone that is meant to get rid of extraneous distractions, there is something called Life Mode. When Life Mode is turned on, not only do notifications get silenced, but all of the wireless radios are also turned off as well. The phone is also put into Low Battery mode to conserve power (it only has a 800 mAh battery after all). The theory is that you can actually experience "life" when everything is basically turned off. If you're interested, the Palm phone is scheduled to release in November and will cost $349.99. However, you can't actually buy it on its own. It's available only as an add-on to your existing Verizon line. Some would argue that an LTE-enabled smartwatch could function the same way as the Palm phone but perhaps this could be a viable alternative for those who don't want something on their wrist (or who like traditional mechanical watches). The price of U.S. crude oil has hovered around $70 a barrel for the past four months, and its 40 percent higher than a year ago. That hasnt been enough to revive deepwater oil drilling, where the rig count the most closely watched indicator of activity is virtually unchanged from two years ago. Still, as crude prices recently hit four-year highs, many throughout Louisianas oil patch remain optimistic that the hard-hit energy industry has finally turned the corner and will emerge leaner and meaner after shedding tens of thousands of job since the downturn began in 2014. Its a slow recovery, and I think its moving along, you know, at a pace that Id like to see get a little quicker, said Lafourche Parish President James Cantrelle. But if it stabilizes the oil industry and if it stabilizes the prices, thatd be a great thing for us. In a sign that the industry is recovering, Lafourches sales tax revenue a key measure of economic activity was up more than 10 percent in the first nine months of the year. What wed really like to see happen is more of the offshore drilling taking place, where all of the (oil service) boats could start going back to work, and the activity would increase and our economy would increase, Cantrelle added. Lafourche and the neighboring parishes are dependent on the oil business. When the oil business goes down, we go down with it. Although many in Louisianas oil and gas industry have already spent years trying to trim costs, experts and analysts have long warned that its going to take a sustained rise in crude prices to pull the industry out of the doldrums. In the meantime, areas like the highly productive, cheaper-to-drill Permian Basin in Texas continue to benefit from even modest fluctuations in oil prices. In fact, there were 869 rigs exploring for oil in the U.S. last week, up by eight from a week earlier and 126 more than a year ago, according to Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The U.S. rig count bottomed out in May 2016 at 316. The latest tally includes 22 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, only two more than a year ago and about a third of the number in the Gulf when U.S. oil prices hovered around $100 a barrel. The year-over-year increase was led by the Permian Basin, where 489 rigs were at work last week, up from 384 a year ago. Benchmark U.S. crude stood at $71.34 per barrel Friday after averaging $51 per barrel in 2017, up $7 a barrel from the 2016 average. Federal forecasters anticipate it could average $70 in 2019. Falling inventories Prices climbed even as U.S. crude production continued to increase, averaging 11.1 million barrels a day in September, up slightly from the month before, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said last week. U.S. crude inventories also have fallen for more than a month, further fueling the recent price rise. Brent crude, the international benchmark followed by many refineries, stood at $80.43 per barrel Friday after averaging $54 a barrel in 2017, up $10 a barrel from the 2016 average. U.S. forecasters predict that it could average $75 in 2019. Meanwhile, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, have capped oil production since January 2017 in order to reduce a global glut and lift prices. However, the cartel's output fell below its targets, in part due to declining production in Venezuela, and in June the group agreed to boost the oil supply. In turn, OPEC pumped nearly 32.8 million barrels per day in September, according to figures cited by the groups monthly report. The cuts are slated to last through the end of the year. Several cartel members, including Saudi Arabi and Libya, have boosted production in order to offset shortages caused by U.S. sanctions on OPECs third-largest producer, Iran, and Venezuela's crippling economic crisis. Many viewed the November 2016 reduction, which cut 1.2 million barrels a day starting two months later, as larger than expected, but it left OPEC's daily output at 32.5 million barrels. Facing pressure over rising prices ahead of next month's midterm elections, President Donald Trump's administration has tried to sway OPEC to open up the spigot more to keep a lid on oil prices, partly to compensate for revived U.S. sanctions on Iran that will make it more difficult for Tehran to sell its oil abroad. 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 Sept. 20. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Despite the recent uptick in oil prices, U.S. producers have, so far, responded cautiously, in some cases using the opportunity to sell assets to boost liquidity and pay down debt incurred during the boom years before 2014. We really havent seen the run-up on drilling activity that has corresponded with price this time around that we have seen historically, said David Dismukes, executive director of the LSU Center for Energy Studies. Even with onshore areas putting U.S. oil production on pace to beat the previous record of 9.6 million barrels per day set in 1970, its not time to write off the deepwater Gulf. Federal forecasters expect the region will be the second-largest contributor to domestic production growth through 2019, lagging behind only the Permian region. For its part, the consulting firm McKinsey predicts that by the mid-2020s, U.S. shale oil output will plateau in areas such as the Bakken in North Dakota and Eagle Ford in south Texas. At lower break-even prices, shale plays begin to become exhausted, the firm said in July. As that happens, the (Gulf of Mexico) and, more broadly, deepwater will become more attractive relative to the higher-cost onshore shale resources." That prospect is having an impact on investment decisions. Welcome news Shane Guidry, chairman and CEO of Harvey Gulf International Marine, said his New Orleans-based supply vessel company has two dozen bids for global drilling projects through the end of next year. A half-dozen of them are targeting the deepwater Gulf tied to public companies ranging from medium-sized independents to large operators and are creating a flurry of activity that we hadnt seen in a while. Louisiana-based oilfield services companies, such as the ones that are big players in hubs like Lafayette, likely will benefit from additional work even if it is located elsewhere. From what were hearing and seeing, people are going to start drilling campaigns around the world and start replenishing depleting reserves that all oil companies are seeing, Guidry said. That would be welcome news in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, where 6.6 percent of jobs are directly tied to oil and gas extraction nearly four times the statewide average. Its encouraging because some people are going back to work and theyre starting to see help-wanted signs where we hadnt seen them for a good while, so the signs are all encouraging, said Cantrelle, the Lafourche Parish president. Its just that weve got to be patient, and hopefully it continues in the same trend. Already there are signs that its on the right track. Our machine shops are doing a lot of manufacturing for the west Texas and New Mexico shale fields, and thats been keeping Houma pretty busy, said Terrebonne President Gordon Dove, where unemployment hit about 5.6 percent in August, compared with 5.0 percent statewide. Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, which operates Port Fourchon, the nation's leading energy supply port, said the port has seen increased activity in the past several months. Through August, truck traffic over the La. 1 bridge in Leeville was up 15 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Chiasson, who said he's also seen more equipment heading down to the Gulf. Its about certainty of the market and certainty of the price, and making sure that itll stay at a steady rate, and that way the oil and gas companies can make some good investment decisions to start spending some of that capital, Chiasson said. While uncertainty about the future remains high, some observers are willing to be patient. I think its kind of a positive sign to see the growth being more gradual and not having the spikes that weve had in the past, said Troy Wayman, president and CEO of One Acadiana, a Lafayette-based agency that leads economic development efforts in nine parishes. Granted, its not nearly as exciting as those spikes are, but the corrections not nearly as devastating. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission A new crime fighting initiative in Baton Rouge is positioning itself to address gun violence from the ground up, hoping to change the culture one person at a time. Organizers hosted a forum Sunday evening at the River Center in downtown Baton Rouge that presented a pep rally atmosphere with a serious underlying message: to give people in poor neighborhoods an alternative to violence. The public discussion was called Course Con: Interrupting the Culture of Violence and included local leaders and members of the organization Urban Specialists, which advocates for nonviolence in urban communities and plans to open a Baton Rouge office. Several hundred people attended the discussion. "There's this idea that violence has become a language of people who are impoverished," said the group's founder, Omar Jahwar. "And how do you bring love back when there seems to be this chorus of hatred that spreads like wildfire?" Jahwar posed the question to Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of Martin Luther King Jr. who responded with a plea for boosting educational and economic opportunities within impoverished neighborhoods, strengthening families and teaching children nonviolence from a young age as his father taught him. "Killing is wrong, unacceptable and immoral. We are better than that but when we get ready to resolve an issue, we resort to the lowest animal level," King said. "Dad used to say that the true measure of a human being is not where one stands in times of comfort and convenience but where one stands in times of challenge and controversy. That's where we are today. Now is the time not tomorrow and not next week now is the time for transforming our communities." King spoke at the event, which also billed itself as the public unveiling of the hearse that carried Martin Luther King Jr.'s body. Todd Graves, founder and CEO of Raising Cane's, recently purchased the hearse and had it refurbished with plans to display it at museums in Louisiana and across the country. Jahwar said he hopes the relic will serve as "a conversation piece for young people who may not understand the significance" of King's work. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Urban Specialists was founded in Dallas several years ago and has been collaborating with other groups in New York City and Baltimore. The organization started its work in the Baton Rouge area following the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling and subsequent ambush on law enforcement that killed three officers and injured three others in summer 2016. Leaders are in the process of renovating a building on Highland Road to serve as their office. Jahwar said his team sent staff members out into Baton Rouge neighborhoods to spread the word about Sunday's forum and the organization's mission, which centers on infiltrating communities plagued with violence and changing the culture often through connecting former gang members with those struggling to extract themselves from that life. "We can all agree that if we continue to do business how we've always done business, we're going to get the same results," said Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul, speaking during the forum. "So we have to reimagine police not just here in Baton Rouge but across America." Paul said changing the culture of "snitches get stitches" is key to reducing violence "and guess what, that's what our community has been doing." The chief, who took office in January, cited recent crime data that shows a decreased number of homicides and an improved clearance rate among murder cases. "We're going to finish the last six months of this year to see a reduction in crime that we've never seen before," Paul said. "We're building bridges and breaking down barriers in community police relations and (this is) what happens" as a result. +3 'Walking in love': Baton Rouge women touched by Alton Sterling killing, officer ambush discuss aftermath Facing an audience of more than 1,000 people on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, three women stood up onstage and embraced each other. LSU President F. King Alexander said Monday the board that oversees all public colleges in Louisiana doesnt have the authority to punish the university for admitting too many freshmen who failed to meet the minimum admission standards for first-time students. Taking away some of the states higher education appropriations the Board of Regents decides how much each university is to receive was a floated as a possible penalty for four-year colleges that admitted too students by exception. I dont think they have the authority to do that, Alexander said of the Regents. Nor do I think they should. He likened the Regents exception policy to recommendations that need to be discussed rather than rules that cant be broken. Alexander spoke to the Press Club of Baton Rouge about LSUs recent embrace of holistic admissions, which relaxes the need for minimum ACT scores. Commissioner for Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed said the policy when enacted in 2001 included specific actions for high schoolers to take and provided resources for institutions. She called the Regents admissions standards binding policy, not recommendations. I dont think, and I dont think the members of the Board of Regents think that compliance with the board is optional, Reed told The Advocate during an interview later in the day. I dont think the Board of Regents has policies that it cant enforce. That said, Reed added, higher education in Louisiana needs to have a conversation about admissions standards and student performance. +3 Who should get into Louisiana universities? Board of Regents to audit schools' admission standards The policy-setting board for higher education Wednesday initiated an audit of university admission standards after LSU unilaterally lessened t Regents first want a better handle on how many students were admitted by exception and last month launched an investigation into the qualifications of this years freshmen class at all 14 public four-year universities. The audit is first looking at compliance to the Regents' rules. The bigger question is the impact question, Reed said. Are the students admitted by exceptions performing well? Do the set admission standards make college less accessible for different types of students? We need to know whether these are the right standards for students, Reed said. In setting the criteria in 2001, the Regents allowed universities some flexibility in admitting students 4 percent for LSU, 6 or 8 percent for others who dont meet the admission standards. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Alexander wrote Reed late last month that 7.5 percent of LSUs entering class of 5,803 freshmen failed to meet the Regents standards, which for LSU means 3.0 grade point average, a 22 on the ACT college board test, and successful completion of 19 credits of core curriculum, such as math, science and other courses required to be taken in high school. Closer look at LSU's 'holistic' admission policy: Almost double the 'exceptions' allowed Though the head of LSU argues that the universitys change in admission criteria is leading to an academically stronger class, the percentage LSU received about 26,000 applications for the Fall 2018 class and about 3,500 were reviewed because their academic record fell outside the parameters that last year would have led to a rejection, Alexander said. We took a closer look at a lot of kids that deserved a little bit closer look, Alexander said. LSU flagged 433 freshmen of having been admitted under various exceptions. About 195 of the exceptions averaged a 21.3 on the ACT and had a grade point average of 2.9. The Regents rules would have LSU summarily reject all but 4 percent, or 232, of those 433 applications. The question is how valid are those percentages. And where did they come from? Alexander said. Alexander points out that the admitted class, overall, has the highest-grade-point averages and tied with the highest college board test scores in the universitys history. He added that just because the accepted students who didnt meet the Regents standards were admitted, doesnt mean the students arent well qualified. LSU recently adopted admission standards that looks beyond set-in-stone test scores and grade point averages. Where once students without a high enough grade point average or college board test score would have been summarily rejected or asked to appeal the decision LSU will now look at other factors to decide. The move has caused much controversy in some quarters, including critics who claim the states flagship university is letting in unqualified students. Alexander said the more comprehensive look called holistic admissions has been adopted by most of the major universities in the country. We chose students most likely to succeed at LSU, Alexander said. Stand for Children once again looks to be a big player in races for East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. In fall 2014, the pro-charter, school education reform groups political action committee in Louisiana contributed $15,000 to five School Board candidates. It also spent at least $35,000 more on behalf of two of them via a newly formed independent expenditure committee. Last fall, Stand spent even more heavily and on just one race. Michael Gaudet received $2,200 in contributions from its PAC, while its independent committee reported spending an additional $61,000 on Gaudets behalf. That financial infusion helped the retired Albemarle executive win a hard-fought special election in District 7. Stands spending was more than double what Gaudet, a Republican, raised on his own. It was also more than double the funds raised by his closest opponent, LSU associate professor Belinda Davis, who otherwise kept pace with Gaudet. Gaudet replaced Republican Barbara Freiberg, who months earlier won a seat on the Metro Council. As the Nov. 6 School Board races approach, the Louisiana affiliate of Stand for Children is backing four candidates in six of the active races. The four were selected by a group of local parents organized by Stand. Gaudet is again getting Stand support, this time against Davis friend and parent activist Tania Nyman, a Democrat. And Stand is once again supporting fellow incumbent Evelyn Ware-Jackson, on whom it spent heavily in fall 2014. Ware-Jackson is facing Cliff Lewis, a parent liaison at Mentorship Academy, as she seeks a third term representing District 5. Both are Democrats. The two other candidates Stand is supporting are newcomers Tramelle Howard and Chrisdelin Kelly Lyles. Howard and Lyles are challenging District 3 incumbent Kenyetta Nelson-Smith and District 4 incumbent Dawn Collins, respectively. All four are Democrats. Stand has made no endorsements this go-around in races for districts 2 and 6. See how Baton Rouge school board candidates' campaign accounts look as election day nears Candidates for East Baton Rouge Parish School Board have reported raising nearly $160,000 collectively, though two of the most successful fund The organizations activity this election cycle is not yet evident in campaign finance reports. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The first reports by School Board candidates were due Tuesday, covering activity through Sept. 27. Candidates for School Board reported a total of $176,229 in contributions; four candidates reported late, after the Tuesday deadline, disclosing $14,739 in fundraising. None of the four Stand for Children-endorsed candidates, however, reported any contributions as yet from the organization. The next reports arent due until Oct. 29. The only evidence of financial support comes from Stands PAC, which reported spending $206 on Sept. 26 for a voter data file for Gaudet. In an interview Friday, Carrie Griffin Monica, executive director of Stands Louisiana affiliate, said the organization has sent out two mailers on behalf of Baton Rouge School Board candidates. Also, Stand conducted preliminary polling earlier this year on to get a lay of the land in local School Board races, she acknowledged. It did so through a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation based in Portland, the home base of Stand. Such corporations do not legally have to disclose their donors. But Monica wont say much more about whats to come, pointing to legal restrictions on coordinating Stands actions with individual candidates. We have an idea of what that will look like, but unfortunately I cant talk about anything we are going to do, Monica said. FuturePAC, a political action committee affiliated with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, is the biggest contributor so far to the Nov. 6 School Board races, giving a total $27,500 to six candidates. The Chambers PAC gave $5,000 each to the four candidates Stand is supporting. And it gave $5,000 to Dadrius Lanus, who is in a three-person race with incumbent Vereta Lee and Joycelyn Hall in District 2, and $2,500 to District 6 incumbent Jill Dyason, who is being challenged by newcomer Tammy Dabadie. Lanus, Lee and Hall are Democrats; Dyason and Dabadie are Republicans. The two groups have worked together before. In October 2017, even as it was promoting Gaudet in the District 7 race, Stands PAC contributed $25,000 to FuturePAC. A month earlier FuturePAC gave Gaudet $5,000. Someone dared to show up wearing a Bills jersey Just the word "pandemic" Drunk cousin Lisa nodding off into the mashed potatoes ... again The Jeff Landry sign in your uncle's yard Vote View Results 322 Kenilworth Ave., Kenilworth: $2,745,000 | Listed: Sept. 13, 2021 This five-bedroom home has five full bathrooms, one half-bath, a rounded front porch, exterior friezes and original custom moldings and millwork. The living room has multiple seating areas, a fireplace and built-ins, and opens onto a professionally landscaped yard and bluestone patio. The kitchen features a double oven, a separate breakfast room and a mud room. The primary bedroom suite is on the second floor and has a custom marble bath, a fireplace, and a dressing room with built-ins and closet space. Three additional bedrooms are on the second floor and a fourth is on the third floor. A coach house with a kitchen and full bath, a three-and-a-half car garage, a brick paver patio and a private fenced-in backyard complete this home. Agent: Megan Mawicke Bradley and John Mawicke, @properties, 847-881-0200 and 312-342-4278 *Some listing photos are virtually staged, meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options. To feature your luxury listing of $800,000 or more in Chicago Tribunes Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@chicagotribune.com. Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news. As the pieces come together for the Link Restaurant Groups next restaurant, the torch has been passed for the head chef position at its first. The local hospitality group today named David Rouse as the new chef de cuisine for Herbsaint, the CBD restaurant where chef/restaurateur Donald Link first made his name. His company is now developing an Italian restaurant called Gianna just two blocks away, in the new Kalorama building on Magazine Street. Gianna is slated to open in April, with Rebecca Wilcomb as executive chef and partner (the restaurant is named for her grandmother, who lives in Italy). Wilcomb had been chef de cuisine at Herbsaint since 2011. In 2017, she won the James Beard Foundation's award for Best Chef in the South for her work there. With her move to Gianna, Rouse takes over responsibility for the Herbsaint culinary team. Rouse is a Louisiana native and graduate of the Louisiana Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge. He was previously sous chef and butcher at the Link restaurant Cochon and locally has worked at Restaurant August, La Provence and Root, as well as restaurants in Chicago and with an Alaska cruise line. Food and restaurant news in your inbox Every Thursday we give you the scoop on NOLA dining. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Herbsaint debuted in 2000 as part of a wave of modern bistros then cropping up around New Orleans. As the CBD has been transformed around it, the restaurant has maintained a blend of French, Italian and Louisiana influences on the menu, and earned a reputation for rock-solid consistency and an understated urbane style. The gumbo, the spaghetti carbonara and the crispy goat with lentils are all representative dishes. Herbsaint 701 St. Charles Ave., 504-524-4114 A group of New Orleanians is heading to Florida to help with Hurricane Michael relief. The St. Bernard Project (SBP) deployed AmeriCorps members to help with Hurricane Michael recovery in Florida early Monday. Staff loaded three vehicles with hammers, pry bars, Tyvek suits, masks, shovels, brooms and more. The group is headed to Eastpoint, Florida where they will spend 30 days helping residents gut and clean their homes. Anyone interested with helping SBP's hurricane relief efforts can get more information at www.sbpusa.org. Can't see video below? Click here. An appeals court last week reinstated a former New Orleans Police Department officer who was fired after his arrest in a domestic violence incident involving his prizefighter girlfriend. James Cunningham, who was a nine-year NOPD veteran before his arrest in January 2015, must be reinstated with back pay, according to the decision by a three-judge panel of the state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal. The criminal charges against Cunningham were later dropped. Judges Daniel Dysart, Regina Bartholomew-Woods and Dale Atkins agreed that when the dust settled, the only NOPD policy that Cunningham clearly violated was one related to off-duty alcohol use. And that wasnt enough to fire him, the court found. The city's Civil Service Commission abused its discretion and acted arbitrarily and capriciously in firing Cunningham, the court ruled. The case stemmed from a physical altercation at the girlfriends Algiers apartment after a night out eating and drinking. Cunningham was in the process of moving in with the woman, and he followed her home after an argument. He used his key to open the front door, then broke through a pair of metal security latches she had locked from the inside. Cunningham said the woman attacked him, scratching his face with her fingernails and punching him in the face. He claimed he kept his arms at his sides. Members of the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau arrested Cunningham on counts of simple battery and home invasion. In its ruling Wednesday, the appeals court noted that the woman was an experienced fighter with numerous accomplishments and accolades. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up As a general policy, The Advocate does not name purported victims of domestic violence without their consent. Cunningham, now 37, was taken to the hospital for his injuries and submitted to a breathalyzer, registering a blood-alcohol content of 0.125 percent, well above the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent. District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office refused the charges against Cunningham. That led the Civil Service Commission to uphold only one alleged violation of NOPD policy from the incident, related to Cunningham's drinking that night. But the commission also upheld Cunningham's firing. In reversing that move, the appeals court said there was no indication that he'd operated a motor vehicle while under the influence. That meant that Cunningham could have been found guilty only of disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor, or public intoxication, a municipal code violation. And neither of those would warrant termination, Bartholomew-Woods wrote. Cunninghams attorney, Eric Hessler, said he wasnt sure whether his client wants to return to the force. It was overkill by the Public Integrity Bureau as well as the Police Department in coming to such a harsh punishment, Hessler said. He was the victim. Whether the city will appeal the ruling to the Louisiana Supreme Court is uncertain. Cunningham was arrested later the same year over a separate allegation involving the same woman, but prosecutors dropped those charges as well. A lawsuit that Cunningham filed last year against the city over his termination remains pending. Its been 15 years since Marcia Llewellyn left Norco, a community located next to an industrial complex long known for its distinctive odor, and a place that many residents said had become too polluted to live in. Thats what I always remember about it the smell, Llewellyn said as she stood inside her home on Union Street in Montz, a sleepy town along River Road on the east bank of St. Charles Parish. You know the chemicals from the plants there had to be very strong, with a smell like that. This month, Llewellyn was shocked to discover her dead-end street in the quiet neighborhood she calls home might carry even more significant health risks. According to a recent report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, residents in her census tract face the highest risk of breast or lymphoid cancers of anyplace in the country because of emissions of the carcinogen ethylene oxide. The chemical is produced in large amounts at the Union Carbide Corp. plant across the Mississippi River in Taft. After the report came out, a spokeswoman for Dow Chemical Co., which owns Union Carbide, acknowledged that the company is one of the largest producers of ethylene oxide in the country but said it has safely produced it in St. Charles Parish since the company took ownership of the plant in 2001. However, understanding of the dangers associated with the chemical has changed over time, according to the EPA. It was only categorized as a carcinogen in 2016. Llewellyn, 58, said she wasn't aware of the EPA's latest National Air Toxics Assessment, which came out in August. And, she said, she didn't think much about chemical exposure when deciding on the best place to live with her sisters, nephews and a year-old baby. I mean, I had concerns, but theyve always been in the back of my mind, she said. Indeed, news of cancer risk from the airborne pollutant has been slow to infiltrate many neighborhoods in the River Parishes. About 10 miles upriver, a small group of activists in St. John the Baptist Parish are more in-the-know about the EPA's latest assessment, which focused on ethylene oxide based on chemical emissions data from 2014. That's because they mobilized several years ago, when the EPA identified areas around the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in LaPlace as the most at-risk in the U.S. from the "likely carcinogen" chloroprene, a chemical used to make synthetic rubber that has been produced at the plant for decades. Elsewhere, however, many residents are dubious or even fatalistic when presented with the emissions data an unsurprising response, environmentalists say, for people accustomed to living in the corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that is known for its reliance on the petrochemical industry. Ambivalent reactions In areas of St. Charles Parish where the risk is high, many residents seem torn between acknowledging the findings of the air pollution study and defending the chemical companies that employ their friends and family members. Just a handful of local and state elected officials are starting to question the safety of the air in neighborhoods and schools throughout St. Charles, St. John and Ascension parishes as they dig into the data provided by the EPA study. Overall, the reaction in the River Parishes stands in stark contrast to the outrage that has erupted in Willowbrook, Illinois, where the Sterigenics International facility produces ethylene oxide, commonly used to sanitize medical equipment, fumigate spices, and make polyester and antifreeze. There, citizen groups quickly organized, and the political pressure grew so furious that Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner called for the plant to be shut down. For his part, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declined to comment on the EPA study at a press conference earlier this month, saying he had not had a chance to catch up on the issue. Other elected officials tasked with representing St. Charles and St. John parishes have been equally silent. Of 20 council members, school board members, state representatives and senators contacted about the emissions, only seven responded. All but two said they would have to study the issue further before taking any action. Environmentalists Wilma Subra of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and Anne Rolfes of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade called the response lackluster. Shouldnt they have rolled up their sleeves and looked into it by now? Rolfes asked. And just imagine how it is for those who live across from these facilities. They get no response. As for Llewellyn, she believes she shouldnt have to think about air pollution when choosing a place to live. Yes, it bothers me, she said. I would like to live in a safe area. You go outside and breathe the air and you might get sick that doesnt sit well. In crisis mode In Louisiana, the Union Carbide Corp. plant is the largest producer of ethylene oxide and has been manufacturing the chemical since the late 1960s. While the chemical is produced throughout the United States, the highest cancer risk from emissions is across the river from the plant in census tract 601, where Llewellyn lives. There, scientists say, residents face a cancer risk 700 times greater than the EPAs goal of a 1-in-a-million, and seven times what the agency says is in the upper limit of whats acceptable for humans. While those eye-popping numbers are a surprise for some, they seemed about right to 34-year-old Brad Trepagnier, who has been working at chemical plants since his early 20s. But the situation is complicated, he said, because the chemical plants drive the economy for the towns most affected by the pollution. Ive always been at risk, but I guess thats what I get for living close to all these plants, he said. Thats what we choose. Across the river, Nolan Darensbourg has lived about a mile west of the Union Carbide plant his entire life. He said hed be willing to move if someone convinces him that ethylene oxide poses a real risk, but hes not yet convinced that his health is in peril. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up If its proven that its bringing up cancer and, you know, of course Im moving, Darensbourg said. Of course theres no reason to stay here. Others say they feel powerless against the industry, and have all but given up trying to fight it. Nadine Washington can name several friends and neighbors who have been diagnosed with cancer in recent years, and she thinks the pollution had something to do with it. But she has been in Killona her entire 59 years, in a home she inherited from her grandmother, and can't afford to leave, she said. We know they was releasing something that was going to kill us, and one day would have caused some kind of cancer, Washington said. Aint nothing we couldve did about it. We didnt know how to go about doing anything about it. Overbearing burden Although some residents are quick to express concern and even outrage over the ethylene oxide emissions, few said they have made the effort to call their state legislators, congressional representatives or even local council members. In the meantime, Sen. Edward Price, a Democrat from Gonzales, is one of the few state elected officials in Louisiana who have expressed willingness to take action after reading the EPAs report. Price said last week that he had called on the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to work with the EPA on a future ambient air monitoring program in St. Charles and St. John parishes. Anytime you have anything like this there is a concern, Price said. We have to make sure (the companies) are meeting emissions standards and arent putting an overbearing burden on these parishes. But officials with the DEQ say that as of now, they have no set plans to test for air quality. First, theyre deferring to the EPA to set a national standard for emissions. In the meantime, said Greg Langley, a spokesman for DEQ, "residents don't need to be panicked" by the risk estimates so far. I think our message at this point is that even though this change has been made, its a paper change, he said. Its a change in a computation. Officials with the EPA, who based the recent report on data from the chemical plants themselves, have said they may decide to do some monitoring. But even if they do, that process will take time, because first scientists have to figure out just how much of the chemical is permeating the air. To achieve that, officials have to develop new monitoring techniques. Traditional air quality monitoring, they said, just isnt sensitive enough. Based on the studies and evidence, the EPA determined that a very small amount of the chemical just .003 micrograms per cubic meter could cause a person to develop cancer if they have constant exposure over a lifetime, or 70 years. We just dont have anything to measure these emissions, Langley added. Its essentially zero. If its down as low as we want, we cant measure it. Langley also said that official emissions standards have not been updated since ethylene oxide was reclassified as a carcinogen in 2016, so there is no way to force chemical companies to reduce their emissions. In 2016, Dow's Union Carbide plant deliberately released an estimated 30,700 pounds of ethylene oxide into the air; an estimated unplanned 5,100 pounds of the produced gas also escaped into the air, according to an EPA database. The only U.S. industrial facility releasing more ethylene oxide into the air is in Port Neches, Texas. A spokeswoman for Dow said their emissions have long been within legal limits, and Langley said the plant has been regulated in Louisiana for the last 20 years. Most government officials who responded said they hadnt fully had a chance to review the EPAs findings, and so couldnt pass judgment on how they might affect their communities or constituents. The EPA report is alarming. Thats what I have to say, said St. Charles Parish Councilwoman Marilyn Bellock. Im assuming were going to get together as a council and talk about a plan of action. Can't see video below? Click here. Activists in St. John To be sure, there are activists who are trying to organize residents in the most affected neighborhoods. At a recent meeting held just blocks from Evonik Materials Corp. in Reserve, activist Robert Taylor called the EPAs recent report devastating. The St. John Parish plant also produces ethylene oxide. For me its hard to understand how this could take place," said Taylor, president of the Concerned Citizens of St. John. "Where is the government? Where are the regulatory people? Where are the agencies that are supposed to be protecting us from these people? He added: It seems to me that theyve completely abandoned us and that theyre in collusion with the petrochemical plants. Theyre not regulating these people. How could this go on? Members of the group have long complained about health problems ranging from cancer to rashes and respiratory illnesses, and many were quick to blame the neighboring plants. Their goal, they say, is to create a new group across the River Parishes that will be politically influential enough to field candidates in the 2019 legislative elections. The people are very disturbed, said Shondrell Perrilloux, a 40-year-old contractor. Our government appears to be failing us. Their reactions are not as curious and as emboldened and concerned as the citizens are. When Iris Carter heard that the Shell Chemical plant near her childhood home in Norco had been ordered to spend $10 million on pollution control equipment to resolve decades of allegations that the plant was violating the federal Clean Air Act, she felt a variety of emotions. She was frustrated, she said, and angry. But she wasnt surprised. As Carter sees it, this should have happened more than 20 years ago, when she and her family first helped start a campaign to abandon an area she said had become too polluted to live in. "The stink in the air was so strong it knocked you back," Carter, now 66, remembers. "It was terrible." Federal regulators this month accused Shell in a lawsuit of violating pollution laws since 1997, alleging that the energy giant failed to properly control industrial flares at the facility. The company allowed chemicals capable of causing cancer and other ailments to permeate the air around the plant, according to the suit filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice. Then, a week ago, a settlement reached in federal court resolved those allegations through a consent decree. It commits Shell to putting in new controls designed to eliminate more than 150 tons of pollutants that had been released into the air every year. But Norco has been the site of tension over the issue for decades, as chemical plant and oil refinery representatives, residents and environmentalists debated the extent of the pollution coming from the plant and the health ramifications various chemicals could have on the local community. Ray Fisher, a Shell spokesman, said the agreement is "consistent" with the company's "objectives and ongoing activities to reduce emissions at the site and upgrade our flaring infrastructure." "Shell Norco has a record of continuous improvement in environmental performance achieved through significant investment in emission reduction projects and heightened employee attention on preventing operational incidents," Fisher said. "Shell shares the goal of improving air quality, and our top priority is to protect the health and safety of community residents, our workers and the environment." As news of the settlement spread, neighbors had mixed reactions. Many have been Norco residents for years, living through at least one major explosion at the plant and all too aware that the plant at times emitted some bad-smelling fumes. At the same time, many residents also depend on the plant for their livelihoods. Sal Digirolamo, the president of the Norco Civic Association, said he trusted the state and federal regulators to oversee Shell, as well as the company that gives many locals their paycheck. As proof of Norcos safety, he pointed to himself: At 88, he has lived in the area all his life, worked at Shell for 40 years and has never experienced health problems, he said. I wouldnt move out of Norco for nothing in the world, said Digirolamo. How can I ever support the idea that the fumes are bad? You cant. You gotta prove it to me. Federal and state government officials, too, touted their work and the consent decree, a compromise they said proved agencies could work together to keep residents safe. "Todays agreement demonstrates EPAs dedication to working with states to pursue violations of laws that are critical to protecting public health and bring companies into compliance," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a news release announcing the consent decree. But critics of the agency and of Shell sided with local environmentalists, who have been protesting the company for decades. They say it hasnt done nearly enough to protect residents, many of whom have complained of health problems ranging from respiratory issues to cancer. "The regulatory system was and is utterly broken," said Anne Rolfes, the founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental group. Rolfes pointed to the small civil penalties in the consent decree, which ordered Shell to pay $350,000. Of that, $87,500 will go to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. The final amount was far less than the maximum federal law allowed: $302 million in federal civil penalties and $251 million for the state. "Thats less than the healthcare bill for some families," Rolfes said of the penalties. "Its completely pathetic, and that alone shows how toothless this consent decree is." Carter agreed. She said that for decades she and others lived in fear of chemical exposure or worse from the plant and an adjoining oil refinery. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up And, while state health officials say it's difficult to measure the effects of chemical exposures on populations over time, Carter attributes her family's various ailments to Norco's air pollution. One of her sisters has cancer, another died of the autoimmune disease scleroderma, and she has been diagnosed with environment-caused asthma, she said. "We were suffocating," Carter said. "It was agony." Norco, short for New Orleans Refining Co., was established in 1916 when a 366-acre sugar cane field was turned into a marine petroleum supply terminal. Norco began refining oil in 1920 and was bought by the Shell Petroleum Corp., a forerunner of Shell Oil Co., in 1929. The chemical plant, the part of Shell's operations named in the lawsuit and consent decree, was added in 1955. In 1998, a merger with Texaco and Saudi Aramco made the refining and chemical businesses officially separate, as the oil company became part of Motiva Enterprises. Shell then assumed full ownership of Norco again last year. Carter traces tensions over the plant to 1973, the first time there was a big explosion near it. Sparked by a 16-year-old starting a lawnmower above a leaking underground pipeline, the blast killed two people and left the community shaken. Afterward, a group of residents formed the Concerned Citizens of Norco, which began to document chemical emissions data in the area and bring attention to abnormalities like frequent chemical flares happening at Shell. Thats what really started it all, Carter said. That really stirred people up. It was horrible. More than a decade later, there was another explosion. Margie Richard, 76, another former member of the Norco citizens group, said she'll never forget the day seven Shell workers were killed, homes were destroyed and 159 million pounds of chemical waste were released by an explosion at the refinery one morning in 1988. "Everybody saw it," Richard recalled. "That's why I became an advocate this affects everybody." The disaster sparked more action. By 2002, with the help of the environmental group the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, residents eventually pressed Shell into relocating several residents of the Diamond neighborhood, a largely African-American section of Norco. Shell has bought out hundreds of properties over the past 15 years. In addition to the buyout program, the company also agreed to reduce its toxic emissions by 30 percent and to contribute $5 million to a community development fund. Since then, though, local workers and community members have continued to complain, as environmentalists pointed out risks associated with the company's emissions of volatile organic compounds and the chemical benzene. In recent years, Shell has been named in multiple lawsuits, including one filed in 2015 by contract welder Raymond Gaubert. In his complaint, Gaubert alleged that his regular exposure to benzene at Shell Chemical and other facilities led to his diagnosis of multiple myeloma in 2014. He worked for Shell and other companies from 1968 through 1985. The health hazards of benzene have been recognized for over one hundred years, the lawsuit said, adding that the chemical's risk has been "widely known" since 1948. Benzene has been recognized as a carcinogen." In the past three years, EPA data show 12 instances of "noncompliance" with federal regulations at Shell. But members of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network say the number likely was higher, as both frequently reported flaring to the EPA over the past decade. Looking to the future, St. Charles Parish Councilman Paul Hogan said he was "somewhat concerned" about the new consent decree, particularly because the civil penalty was on the "low side." It "probably will not act as a big deterrent to others who may be polluting our air," he said. 'Witches of Macbeth' Mr Mullen said he could not overstate how much effort the board devoted to setting executive pay, describing it as the "single most difficult issue" for large company directors. "Some observers out there seem to think that directors sit around like Witches of Macbeth scheming as to how they can manipulate incentive schemes to give improper benefit to already excessive executive salaries," he said. "Let me tell you that nothing can actually be further from the truth." Some observers out there seem to think that directors sit around like Witches of Macbeth. Telstra chairman John Mullen Mr Mullen said the tough environment meant that it was even more important that Telstra could attract top-level talent and one way to ensure that was to offer appropriate rewards. Mr Mullen said he understood shareholder anger, but blamed a broader corporate culture in which executives are generously rewarded in other industries. Exec salaries 'too high across the board' "I personally believe that executive salaries are too high across the board, but changing this takes time and needs to be embraced by all of corporate Australia not just one company or one industry, as the marketplace for talent is international and is industry agnostic," Mr Mullen said. "We are trying to do our bit in Telstra, however." Union poster outside the Telstra AGM. Credit:Jennifer Duke Mr Mullen also took aim at shareholders, saying some investors who had voted in favour of the pay structure last year had now changed their position even though the remuneration parameters had not altered. Loading "Some shareholders want all financial metrics and some want a combination. Some are happy with our level of disclosure, some want more," he said. "The issue here is clearly the outcome, not the scheme and this means that we can make all the changes we like to the scheme and never please everybody." Mr Mullen made the argument that management could still perform well enough to warrant bonuses in an environment where the share price declined because of factors beyond their control. He also bemoaned the complexity of modern executive payment arrangements. "Maybe there is a case for doing away entirely with all the complex schemes and just go back to a fixed salary commensurate with the difficulty of the role, with maybe one half in cash and one half in shares locked up for five years. Loading "No metrics, no adjustments, no exclusions ... and no complicated tables. We could save thousands of hours of RemCo [remuneration committee] meetings, the rem report would be reduced to one page, no more need for the armies of consultants and advisers, and the AGM would be over in half the time." 'Disturbing' Shareholders criticised the board presentation, with the first question from an investor with a self-manager super fund in the pension phase calling for an increase in the dividend after it was cut in early 2018. I am somewhat disappointed that today we are not looking at returns that will give us that [hoped for] modest to comfortable retirement, he said, describing the cut to the dividend as disturbing. Its not a question of $1 million or $4 million its a question of modest living." Mr Mullen said he shared shareholders frustration would love to pay a higher dividend but would pay as much as we think is fiscally responsible. The concern of losing the franking benefit was mentioned by multiple investors. 'Something needs to give' Mr Penn, in a copy of his speech provided ahead of the meeting, also played up the challenges facing Telstra, particularly when selling NBN products. "That is why Telstra and all of the telcos selling NBN today are facing a fixed-line market where reseller margins are rapidly falling to zero," he said. "I do not believe we can simply charge our customers more thats not the right answer. Nor can we continue to sell NBN making little or no money. Something needs to give." 'Slap in the face' The ACT's comparatively cheaper power prices are to blame for the capital's lack of rooftop solar installations, a climate expert has said, creating less incentive for Canberra households to go green. But nearly half - 46.2 per cent - of the bush capital's energy consumption in 2017 was from renewable sources, including pumped hydro, solar and wind. The independent not-for-profit Climate Council released a report on Tuesday naming the bush capital as the second-best performing Australian jurisdiction when it came renewable energy. The report found the ACT was on track to meet its 100 per cent renewable energy target by 2020. Climate Council senior energy analyst Petra Stock said the capital had streaked ahead of other jurisdictions in renewable energy in a matter of years. Compelling advocacy, independence, and law reform have been nominated as Canberra's top prosecutor's legacy to the criminal law in the territory. However, ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White, SC, humbly deflected the plaudits and instead paid homage to his staff. "I am very honoured by this ceremonial sitting, which I take to be a recognition of the achievements of the office of the director of public prosecution as a whole over the last 10 years, rather than my role specifically," he said. The achievements of Mr White, and those of his office, were celebrated during a ceremonial sitting of the ACT Supreme Court on Monday morning to mark his looming retirement. In a humble farewell speech before the capitals legal fraternity, Mr White said, during his tenure, the DPP team had helped conquer delays in the Supreme Court, promoted gender equality in the profession, embarked on a staff swap arrangement with Legal Aid ACT, and a number of innovative legal approaches. The asking price was $400, which Stambaugh, owner of Titan Retics, claimed is a steal, with such snakes typically fetching twice that. As the snake breeder and seller told about bringing home snakes hed found as a kid growing up in Kentucky, the python draped itself across his shoulders and looked as though it soon would wrap the rest of its long body around Stambaughs midsection. Tony Falla, Ngunnawal Making a contribution Discussion about the cost of aged care should be counterbalanced by the contribution of grandparents to the economy while they are still active.Many of us willingly baby-sit and mind grandchildren, take them to and fetch them from school, thereby helping their children and their spouses to work full time.We may also take them to after-school activities, all of this as unpaid carers and unpaid taxi drivers.If we become incapable of driving, we'll be incapable of helping.Then it's time to help us in return.The last time I wrote to The Canberra Times about this, your sub-editor condescendingly gave it the title "Listen to us oldies". If that happens again, I'll hit him or her with my walking frame. Susan MacDougall, Scullin Alcohol death rates fall I'm happy to entertain criticism from Anthony Adams or anyone else provided they get their facts straight (Letters, October 12). But, I have no need to defend myself about alcohol issues because when [I was] director, Drugs of Dependence, Commonwealth Health Department, I negotiated the introduction of low-alcohol beer and the tighter restrictions on hours when alcohol ads could be shown on TV. Anthony reported 5554 alcohol deaths in 2010. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported 1366 alcohol-induced deaths in 2017 a 75 per cent decrease. We have not approached a similar percentage reduction in illicit drug deaths over the same period. This year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that in 2016 "there were 1808 drug-induced deaths, equating to 1.1 per cent of all deaths (ABS 2017) the highest number of drug-induced deaths recorded over the past 20 years". I haven't dealt in "rates" as Adam does, preferring "persons". So, on this basis it is clear that his claim that alcohol-related deaths appear to be more than double that of illicit drugs is unfounded and in error. Colliss Parrett, Barton Freedom under attack Why is there so much fuss about Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist for The Washington Post seen walking into but not out of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul? The suggestion and probable reality is that he has been killed. The fuss surely isn't about him being a journalist who has been murdered for what he reports, as unfortunately that's not uncommon. The Committee to Protect Journalists lists 44 other journalists being murdered so far in 2018 and 46 in 2017, with names and details supplied as to who they were and what happened. The International Federation of Journalists suggests larger numbers have been killed with 82 in 2017 and 73 so far in 2018. There are at least about 100 journalists killed in just the last two years and these have not been prominent in the news despite even collegial support and even self-interest. There must be another reason. It has been suggested that there is an unwillingness to upset the Saudi community and their lovely oil supply. There is no proof to date of any involvement apart from the location where he was seen last. There is, however, also no evidence that provides an alibi, another sighting or any contact in over a week, so it is likely that he won't be reporting on anyone in the Saudi royal family nor condemning them again. This suggests foul play and the international community should step up to investigate, act and protect journalists. When journalists are killed, freedom of speech is diminished and true freedom comes under attack and this is never acceptable. D. Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Vic We must do better Geoff Cass (Letters, October 10) seems to think there is some logic in stating that China has continued to construct coal-fired power stations without noticeably affecting Australia, therefore we can go ahead with coal-fired power without any bad result for anyone. He sounds like the school kid littering the play ground who justifies it by saying everyone is doing it: "Why should I pick up my rubbish?" In fact China has annually increased its proportion of renewable sources of power. In 2015 renewables contributed 24per cent of power generation, and in 2017 the proportion was 36.6 per cent, with a target of parity by 2022. China is catering for a population of 1.5 billion people, and growing, so of course it needs new power plants, whereas Australia has a mere 24.85 million. We have plentiful resources for renewables, and the means to store power and release it. Why should we keep on littering the planet with coal mines and generators when even one of the big kids is doing their best to reduce the mess? The cost of power is constantly cited as a reason to keep going with coal. This is a political viewpoint from a government that wants to convince us that the cost of electricity is a worse evil than the effects of climate change. If a sensible investment in renewables was adopted the costs would quickly reduce and supply would stabilise. Climate change is not going away, and we will continue to feel the effects along with the rest of the world. K. Calvert, Downer Terminology key Laurence Tubiana does herself no favours by lambasting the Australian government ("Accord broker says Coalition anti-science", October 4, p8) saying it "goes against the science" then saying it "...needs to listen to the science and the economics, and lead the country towards decarbonisation". Carbon is a black, solid element whereas carbon dioxide is a transparent (across the visible and nearly all the infrared spectrum), gas molecule. As far as the economics are concerned, Ms Tubiana's accusation is rather rich when the German Federal Audit Office recently reported the waste of money spent in renewables as "blatant disproportion to the hitherto poor yield". In Australia, the only positive "economics" I have seen are the scoop RET windfalls for overseas wind turbine installers from Spain, Canada and New Zealand and the electricity price gouging from the electricity retailers. Nothing for the consumer here. John Morland, Curtin Republican push Paul Keating's outrage at Malcolm Turnbull for not organising a further referendum on a republic is hypocritical to say the least. Whilst he (Keating) pushed a republic continuously during his time as prime minister he never held a referendum although he was in office far longer than Turnbull. It took John Howard to hold a referendum so that the banana-republic divisiveness created by Keating could be settled. We believe that Bill Shorten will not prevaricate as Keating did and that, should he win the next general election, he will proceed to hold postal surveys on a republic leading up to a referendum. Philip Benwell, national chair Australian Monarchist League, Sydney TO THE POINT WHO'S THE WHINGER? Ian Warden would like the Letters page to be taken away from the over-70s "First World Whingers of Old Canberra" ("Why God spat the dummy", October 14, p19). A bit rich coming from an over-70s correspondent whose articles, including Sunday's, do nothing but whinge about the state of everything in this country. Alex Wallensky, Broulee SMOKING ISSUE M. Jarrett's letter on smoking (Letters, October 15) nailed it. The only thing that should be prohibited is prohibition. Michael Lane, St Ives, NSW WENTWORTH FIGHT The Liberals deserve to lose next Saturday after the PM treated voters in Wentworth as not able to make a well-informed decision. If for no other reason than this many voters will make their vote a thumbs down to ScoMo for treating them like village idiots. D. Fraser, Currumbin, Qld SCHOOLS OPEN TO ALL Any school receiving government funding should not be allowed to discriminate on the basis of the race, the religion, or the sex of students that are allowed to attend. B. Peterson, Kambah GOD'S PRIORITIES As someone who cares about both gay rights and the desecration of icons and monuments, I was glad Fred Nile's prayers for rain during a major event were finally answered at Randwick just prior to The Everest. I'll take it as God pronouncing on his preference for Mardi Gras over a pretty ordinary horse race. Jeff Hart, Kingston APT TIME FOR PRAYER The news that the LNP lags far behind the ALP ("Coalition trails Labor 45-55 in latest poll", October 14, p5) must surely lead our pious Prime Minister to call for an immediate round of prayer to relieve his popularity drought. Peter Moran, Watson WARNINGS ILL-DIRECTED Scott Morrison shouldn't be warning the voters of Wentworth; rather he should be warning his government that it needs to improve its policies on refugees and climate change. Jeff Bradley, Isaacs NOT ON MY RADAR Never listened to him and never will so he won't influence my thinking or vote ("Facts, myths and the Jones factor", The Guide, October 15). Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook, NSW THE CANCER QUESTION Interesting front page article ("Poisoned Ground", October 15, p1). Of my family of four two of us developed cancer and we lived in North Lyneham 1987-1996. Statistical anomaly or cause and effect? Police are investigating a series of break-ins at the Namadgi School in Kambah, which left windows broken and walls defaced with graffiti. About 2.20am on the final day of the school holidays, police were called out to the campus on OHalloran Circuit and searched the school. "[They] observed that multiple buildings had been damaged, including broken windows, broken plaster walls, broken doors, graffiti, and over-turned furniture," an ACT Policing spokeswoman said. "This is the third criminal damage incident at the school in the past week." The earlier incidents occurred about 12.40am and 11.45pm last Wednesday, police said. Students, parents and staff are in shock after seeing for themselves the remains of four buildings gutted by fire overnight at Morningside State School. Investigators believe the fire was lit deliberately. Fire gutted Brisbane's Morningside State School in Pashen Street early on Tuesday. Credit:Toby Crockford Emergency services were called to the school, on Pashen Street in Morningside, just before 3am, when several buildings were already ablaze. They fought the blaze for two hours to bring it under control. Students told Fairfax Media a building for year four students, a music room, year three classroom and a mixed year two and three building were burnt. About 30 patients in a Melbourne hospital had to be evacuated from a ward after a car reversed into an external wall. The car crashed into the Broadmeadows Hospital about 10pm on Monday, significantly damaging the rear wall. The injured driver was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital. Melbourne Fire Brigade say the wall will have to be shored up before the car can be removed and the structure will have to be checked before the patients can be moved back. AAP The more I started looking, the more I realised this was an absolute mountain of a mess that had to be pulled apart bit by bit, to the point that we now have several major grounds for a petition for mercy, with relevant and new evidence, says the quietly spoken mother-of-two, who will send her plea to Attorney-General Martin Pakula this week in the hope that the case will be re-examined. I can only hope that justice prevails. Some of this evidence was available at the trial but not used. Other details are entirely new. Police at the scene of the crash in 2014. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer Theres a fresh forensic analysis backing up her view that the other driver might have been on his phone perhaps using a navigational map or some other app moments before the crash. This alternative theory wasnt examined, even though the court was presented with post-mortem evidence suggesting Mr Beardsmore had been holding a phone. There was a Bosch Sensor recording device that Ms George found in her husband's ute after the trial the wrecked car still sits in her back yard which could have been used to establish whether he was travelling as fast as witnesses had claimed. Yet it was never retrieved by investigators (the court was told this device wouldnt exist in the type of car George was driving) nor was the recording device analysed from the other car, either. Nicole George has spent the past two years gathering evidence to get her husband's conviction overturned. Credit:Justin McManus Theres also a new analysis she obtained from a US crash expert, which found several mistaken assumptions in how police reconstructed the crash for the trial, including mismatching tyre marks, (attributing them to the wrong vehicle) and numerous missing measurements from the accident scene. And theres the fact that key witnesses, including one of the officers who was first on the scene, were never called to give evidence. As with countless other gaps Ms George believes she has unearthed, the thing she keeps asking is: could any of this have resulted in a different verdict? Petitions for mercy can be lodged on behalf of anyone convicted of a crime but its up to the Attorney-General to decide what to do next. He can recommend that the whole case should be referred to the Court of Appeal or send parts of it back to the trial division of the Supreme Court to be re-examined. However, legal experts say petitions for mercy are rarely granted, especially when they involve cases of culpable driving causing death. This is a serious criminal offence which juries decide on an objective test: was the accused driving in such a manner that they failed to meet the basic standards youd expect on our roads? Adam Beardsmore was the driver of the other car. He died in the crash. The parents of the deceased men have no doubt. They believe that, for some reason, George was chasing their sons down the freeway that day, and are furious that he's refusing to accept the jury's verdict. In sentencing, the judge reflected on George's driving record, which including losing his licence as a 21 year old and a suspended sentence for recklessly causing injury, five years later. The whole family is dumbfounded, said Mr Beardsmores mother Kelly. Im disgusted they wont just lay these boys to rest. We live with this every day. Daniel Hays mother, Mandy Blasby, agreed. He got off easy compared to what we lost, she said. Nicole George with her husband's wrecked ute. Credit:Justin McManus Nicholas George clipped the back of their car so he's the one who's done the wrong thing. He could have taken his foot off the accelerator and none of this would have happened. Where does it stop? Ms George regrets that her petition will reopen old wounds for the families but tells Fairfax Media: I do believe everybody is entitled to a fair go in this country my husband included. Whether the Attorney-General sends the matter back to court is yet to be seen but Ms George is hopeful. In part this is a story about the dogged determination of an ordinary suburban mum: by day, the 41-year-old would raise her two children and attend to her small business as an events planner. By night shed pore over thousands of pages of case documents, court transcripts and legal precedents, earnestly building her case. Daniel Hay was 23. He also died. As someone with no background in law, shed also seek guidance from experts, including former WA governor Malcolm McCusker, the eminent QC who helped overturn a conviction against Adelaide man Henry Keogh after he was jailed for life in 1995 for the murder of his fiancee. Ms George met Mr McCusker at an event in Adelaide, and sought his guidance on how to draft her petition. US physics expert Jesse Mason and NSW forensic pathologist Johan Duflou were commissioned to re-examine the evidence that was presented at trial. This analysis now forms a key part of Ms George's 74-page petition for mercy. Mr Mason, who has expertise in studying skidmarks and analysing speed and velocity, used the investigators collision report and Google images to study both cars' yaw markings (the points where they changed direction while in motion) and came up with an astonishing conclusion: that, in his view, the police investigation was botched, with tyre marks attributed to the wrong vehicle and measurements from the accident scene missing in the original report. Nicholas George outside court in 2016. Credit:AAP This is significant: while the case against George had been built around a theory that he had hooned up the rear of the other car, Mr Mason believes it was in fact, Mr Beardsmore, who veered to the left into Georges path. Police, on the other hand, reject any suggestion that their investigation was flawed. Victoria Police Major Collision Investigation Group detectives completed with expertise, a thorough and meticulous investigation into the 2014 Dromana double fatality collision, a spokeswoman said. Another thing that troubled Ms George was what the court heard about how the collision occurred. It was not in dispute that the two men in the other car were on their way to visit an address they hadnt been to before. Evidence presented in the trial also found residual burnt plastic material suggesting the remains of a mobile phone was found loosely within Mr. Beardsmores left hand. But when charge records obtained by investigators revealed there were no incoming or outcoming calls or texts, the assumption was that Mr Beardsmore must have tried to pick up his phone after his car hit the tree. Now, a fresh analysis by forensic pathologist Johan Duflou suggests that this might not have been possible because of the severity of his injuries. According to Professor Duflou, who has published more than 120 peer review articles and is often called as an expert witness: It is in my opinion unlikely that Mr Beardsmore would have had the ability to consciously locate and pick up his mobile phone after he sustained the head injury. This is about which bodies one can place confidence in, he said. Dewayne Johnson after hearing the verdict in his case against Monsanto in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco. Credit:AP He said further inquiry could take different approaches to find out how and why the IARC and the APVMA differed. Australia could do its own independent scientific assessment of the IARCs methods, but he said this would be a "surprising" move for the government. It may not be a good use of a lot of scientists time when it would be possibly a duplication of the high-quality agency work, which I consider to be sufficient, he said. He said the other possible approach was to assume the IARC was correct and instead examine the Australian regulators processes and the influence, if any, of the farming industry that funded it via levies. Id be inclined to see if the APVMA was squeaky clean in its regulatory processes in the light of the IARC report, and how they made the decisions. Were they free from conflict of interest?" he said. Farmers would be very upset if they lost access to glyphosate and that is another interest that needs to be considered ... it needs to be more broadly based than just scientific. You would almost need a forensic investigation [to] try to come down to, first an unarguable assessment of the carcinogenic risk, and also the extent to which the APVMA was influenced by sources that may or may not have been unreliable. That would be a judicial, not just a scientific inquiry and would have to be overseen by a judge and led by the government ... the government have every right." He said existing research was inadequate to assess the average Australian farmers exposure to glyphosate. Loading Professor Armstrong said the IARC had only once in his memory received new information strong enough to downgrade an assessment in its almost 50-year history. Decisions are based on scientific expertise; conflict of interest is rigorously addressed ... their procedures are good. No human endeavour is perfect, so they can go wrong; but I doubt this is such a circumstance, he said. Professor Lin Fritschi, from Curtins School of Public Health, was on the IARC working group, a team of international scientists who worked for a year to assess all evidence, culminating in an eight-day meeting. She described the Australian regulators dissenting assessment as disappointing. It would be useful to review their methodology. In particular their epidemiological expertise, she said. There is surprisingly little publicly available literature available on the health effects of glyphosate and almost none in Australia. More studies need to be done and could be done and some of these would be quite easy to do. An APVMA spokesman said the regulator's funding source bore no influence on its regulatory activities. He pointed to a longer statement responding to the claims in the recent Four Corners story. It said it considered the IARC report in 2016 when making its assessment, and like other regulators determined glyphosate unlikely to cause cancer in humans when used according to label directions. Monsanto called the IARC classification inappropriate and inconsistent with the science and cited many global regulatory agencies including the European Food Safety Authority. This important herbicide does not cause cancer, said Phil Miller, Monsantos vice president for global regulatory and government affairs in a statement. The WA Farmers Federation last week voiced concerns about the misrepresentation of glyphosate. Grain Council president Duncan Young said Four Corners blew the issue out of proportion and failed to address clear and overwhelming scientific evidence from independent regulators. He said it was vital the government and public were well informed and not swayed by misleading commentary, and WA Farmers would continue to highlight the importance of glyphosate. The IARC is one of two authoritative classification systems used internationally by regulators, non-governmental organisations and courts. It relies only on publicly available information in making assessments, in interests of transparency. Its work considered case-control studies in the USA, Canada, and Sweden reporting increased risks for non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with glyphosate. It concluded there was limited evidence in humans and sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate, observing positive association with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Pauline Hanson lost a motion in the Senate on 'It's Ok to be white'. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen An "It's OK to be white" motion from One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson was supported by Coalition senators with former cabinet minister Eric Abetz saying he was comfortable with his decision, although he conceded the motion was not as "elegantly written as it could have been". Ms Hanson, best known for her views against various minority groups over time including indigenous Australians, Asians and most recently Muslims, put forward the motion to the Senate on Monday. The motion proposed that the Senate acknowledge the deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation and that it is okay to be white. "There has been a rise in anti-white racism and a rise in attacks on the very ideals of Western civilisation," Senator Hanson told the upper chamber. She did not provide or cite any data to back her claims. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is escalating the political row over discrimination laws with a plan to force a vote in Parliament to protect gay students and teachers amid signs of a Coalition split on the scale of the safeguards. Mr Shorten is preparing to move an amendment next week to ensure teachers in religious schools are protected from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation, going beyond the government plan to protect students. Labor is also seeking support from crossbench MPs for the wider change to existing discrimination law, taking advantage of the tight numbers in the House of Representatives while the government fights the Wentworth byelection. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Prime Minister Scott Morrison wrote to Mr Shorten on Monday to propose a consensus on rapid changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to ensure religious schools could not expel students on the basis of their sexuality. She began her county career in 1985 in the economic development department, became secretary to the county administrator, and later the county executive, when it transitioned to that form of government. She was county administrator for seven years, director of operations for four years, and recorder of deeds from 2004 to 2008. He also faces charges of giving false evidence before a parliamentary committee. The 49-year-old was charged last month with uttering a forged record, attempted fraud and forging a record related to information he allegedly provided during applications involving the WA Police Force. Former West Australian Labor-turned-independent MP Barry Urban is scheduled to face court charged with 12 fraud offences. An inquiry into Mr Urban's actions as the member for Darling Range was launched earlier this year after allegations were made he wore fake service medals at an Anzac Day service and lied about his education and work history. The WA parliament privileges committee recommended parliament expel Mr Urban and strip him of his entitlements for sustained and gross contempt when he misled the house on an alleged five occasions. The committee found there was "overwhelming" evidence he had misled the house, and had provided to the committee a "forged document" to support his claim to hold a degree from the University of Leeds, Mr Watson said. The committee also found Mr Urban did not serve in the Balkans in late 1998 as he had claimed. Mr Urban quit parliament in May this year, minutes after the committee handed down its recommendation he be expelled. Berlin: Voters in Bavaria, the German state that formed the front line of the 2015 migration crisis, abandoned the conservative allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel in droves in an election on Sunday. But rather than shifting their allegiance mostly to the anti-immigrant far right, they gave the biggest boost to a rising liberal force: the pro-refugee Greens. Greens candidates Ludwig Hartmann and Katharina Schulze celebrate after the first exit polls for the Bavarian state election in Munich, southern Germany, on Sunday. Credit:AP The Christian Social Union, a key component of Merkel's fragile coalition government, remains the strongest party in the region. But it lost the absolute majority it had held in Bavaria almost without interruption since the 1960s. It was a political earthquake that confirmed not only the continuing disintegration of support for Merkel's government, but also the striking decline of big-tent political parties across Europe: A onetime environmental protest movement is now the second-strongest political force in Bavaria and Germany. Minsk: The Russian Orthodox Church said on Monday it had decided to sever all relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in protest over its endorsement of Ukraine's request for an "autocephalous", or independent, church. Speaking in Belarus after a meeting of the Russian Church's ruling body, Metropolitan Ilarion, a cleric, said the Holy Synod had been left with no choice but to sever ties with the Patriarchate in Istanbul, seat of the global spiritual leader of roughly 300 million Orthodox Christians. Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill attend a ceremony to bless the foundation stone of the Russian Armed Forces' main cathedral in the Patriot military park in Kubinka just outside Moscow in September. Credit:AP Ukraine last week secured approval from Constantinople to establish an independent church in what Kiev said was a vital step against Russian meddling in its affairs, but that the Russian Orthodox Church lamented the split in Christianity. Manal al-Sharif lives in Sydney but has received calls on her mobile phone from the Saudi Arabian regime warning her to cease her women's rights campaign. National security [officials] called me twice last year, the female rights activist and author said. Anonymous online death threats have continued for years and Ms al-Sharif fears being imprisoned if she returns to Saudi Arabia to see her 12-year-old son. Manal al-Sharif fears if she returns to Saudi Arabia to see her 12-year-old son Aboudi she may be imprisoned. Now one of her key supporters journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have been murdered by a Saudi security team, according to reports of intelligence briefings. Mitsubishi XPANDER Wins More Awards Mitsubishi XPANDER Wins More Awards from Indonesian Automotive Journalists TOKYO, Oct, 12 2018; The Mitsubishi XPANDER has added yet more awards to its growing collection of titles. It has now been named as the 2018 FORWOT Car of the Year in Indonesia, the second time it has been named Car of the Year. Earlier this year the XPANDER was awarded as Car of the Year by OTOMOTIF Tabloid and was today named the Best Low MPV(1) as well as Favorite Car by reader survey from Gridoto.com. In total, the XPANDER has obtained nine major awards since it was launched. FORWOT Car of the Year is an event held by the Automotive Journalists Forum (FORWOT). At the 2018 awards, the Mitsubishi XPANDER outperformed its competitors from various brands, classes and types. Before being selected as FORWOT Car of the Year 2018, the XPANDER had undergone rigorous judging which consisted of several stages. In the initial phase, around 60 FORWOT members from various national media (print and online) voted and the XPANDER reached the top five shortlist. Then in the second stage, FORWOT asked 33 selected journalists to provide an assessment based on the criteria from the Car of the Year Committee - www.caroftheyear.org - with adjustments made for the Indonesian market and conditions. The final judging result showed that the Mitsubishi XPANDER won 216 points, 56 points ahead of its closest competitor. The Award was handed over by Indra Prabowo, FORWOT Chairman, to Bambang Kristiawan - Head of PR & CSR Department, Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yudha Sales Indonesia (MMKSI), the local distributor. For the latest two awards, the XPANDER has now been voted Favorite Car by Survey by readers of Gridoto.com,. The XPANDER was also awarded Best Low MPV by Gridoto's expert judges, thanks to its high-end features, comfort, value for money, fun to drive and attractive design. Commenting on the wins, Naoya Nakamura President Director of MMKSI said: "We are incredibly proud that the Mitsubishi XPANDER has been recognised again and again with awards. MMKSI strives to provide the best products and services for the satisfaction of consumers and the success of the XPANDER is proof that our hard work is being rewarded." Awards received by XPANDER 1. Favorite Car by Survey, Gridoto Award 2018 2. Best Low MPV, Gridoto Award 2018 3. Car of The Year, FORWOT Car of The Year 2018 4. Car of The Year, Otomotif Awards 2018 5. Carvaganza Editor's Choice Award 2018 6. Best of The Best MPV, Otomotif Awards 2018 7. Best Low MPV, Otomotif Awards 2018 8. New Kid on The Road of The Year, ICar Asia People's choice Awards 2017 9. 1st Winner Favorite Car, GIIAS 2017 (1) Best Low MPV: Best Small MPV About Mitsubishi Motors Ford Announces Progress Updates For Additions to Downtown West Dearborns Wagner Place DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 11, 2018 In May 2017, Ford Land broke ground on Wagner Place, a unique urban development that will feature office space for 600 Ford employees, as well as new retail and restaurant options. Wagner Place development is located on the south side of Michigan Avenue, flanking both the east and west side of Monroe Street in downtown West Dearborn. The mixed-used development will have first floor retail and restaurant space, along with second and third floor office space. At the end of last month, the Ford Motor Company employees began moving into the second and third floor offices of the east and west buildings. A percentage of the first floor retail and restaurant space was pre-leased to seven tenants. Mid-America Real Estate Michigan Inc. is excited to be working alongside the Ford Land team on the leasing of first floor space, in order to re-energize downtown West Dearborn. Tenants will include a variety of retail shops, restaurants, services and a micro-brewery. Jolly Pumpkin Brewery, Orangetheory Fitness, The Great Commoner, Modern Greek Grill, Paradise Briyani Indian Cuisine, Eleanors Cafe Yogurtown and a regional barbeque chain are committed tenants that will occupy the space. We are incredibly excited about this opportunity to be a part of Wagner Place, said Tony Grant, spokesperson for Jolly Pumpkin Brewery. We are proud Michiganders in every way, and have the automotive industry in our DNA, so the marriage of these two great industries can be found in our Michigan breweries every day. Over the last year, Ford has worked to transform two city blocks of what were largely vacant buildings into this project. The 150,000-square-foot mixed-use development will be certified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and will be resource-efficient with water and energy conservation features. We are excited about the new business moving into Wagner Place, sparking excitement and growth in downtown West Dearborn, said Dave Dubensky, chairman and CEO, Ford Land. We are committed to the city we have called home for years, and proud to play such a role in offering even more to the community. The City of Dearborn was able to secure a three million dollar grant from The Michigan Strategic Fund to construct a 373-space public parking structure on the southwest corner of West Village Drive and Monroe Street open to both Ford employees and shoppers alike. The structure, along with other public lots and street parking, provides free parking. We are excited to bring Orangetheory Fitness to the Dearborn community and help members live healthier, more vibrant lives, said Chad Smith, Orangetheory Fitness Dearborn and Canton franchisee. We cant wait for Dearborn residents to become part of the Orangetheory family and start seeing results from the science-backed, high-energy workout, regardless of fitness level. Mikey Nassar, owner of Eleanors Cafe Yogurtown, shares Smiths sentiments. Its so exciting to be a part of a complete transformation and be the frontiers to the new Ford Wagner Place, he said. We knew we needed to sacrifice to succeed, and we are proud to work with Ford and be a part of the future and change of Dearborn. In addition to the new retail spaces, Ford will move 600 employees from the data insights and analytics team into the office space, as well as create a public green space for both employee and public use. The public green space is envisioned to activate the area with public events such as art fairs, farmers market, local festivals, concerts and more. The green space will be designed to complement the streetscape, and is something downtown Dearborn doesnt currently have, said Dubensky. This will bring new life and a new feel to the area and to our employees, encouraging them to go out into the community. To create a more walkable downtown, the new buildings were strategically pushed back ten feet from the street. The Wagner Place project is part of Ford Motor Companys ten year campus transformation plan. This new space represents the evolution of our city, said Dearborn Mayor John B. OReilly, Jr. Were looking forward to new businesses, new customers and a renewed energy in our community. Melania Trump. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images The Being Melania special aired this weekend on ABC News, and Melania Trump discussed being bullied and her initiatives as First Lady. She also swapped up the narrative about the I Dont Care jacket she wore to visit detained immigrant children at the border. The interview took place during Melanias tour across the African continent, where she visited Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Egypt. Its obvious, that I didnt wear the jacket for the children, Melania told Tom Llamas. I wore the jacket to go on and off the plane. It was for the people and the left-wing media that were criticizing me. And I want to show them that I dont care. Melania Trump tells @TomLlamasABC she wore the I really dont care jacket for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. And I want to show them that I dont care. #MelaniaTrump https://t.co/EqEyfZkJvZ pic.twitter.com/2EWeCKB0de ABC News (@ABC) October 13, 2018 In her jab at the left-wing media Melania utilized the Trumpian style of addressing controversies. She flipped the critiques of her wardrobe choices onto the group challenging her, and then garnered sympathy by playing her role as a woman who is more frequently discussed for what she wore, rather than what she did. The First Lady told Llamas that she wished people would not comment on her clothing, and instead focus on her initiatives. During the special, Melania also shared that she felt like the most bullied person in the world. I could say that Im the most bullied person in the world, she said, adding, when challenged on the statement, that she is at least one of them, if you really see what people are saying about me. Melanias main initiative is the Be Best campaign, to end bullying. When asked about her husband, the First Lady said that she gave Donald Trump unconditional support, and that she believes he is doing an incredible job for the nation. Elizabeth Warren. Photo: Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff/Boston Globe via Getty Images Senator Elizabeth Warren has released the results of a DNA test which shows there is strong evidence she had a Native American ancestor in her family six to ten generations ago, the Boston Globe reports. The Democratic senator from Massachusetts has been widely mocked by President Trump and his supporters for her claims of Native ancestry. Trump has frequently referred to Warren as Pocahontas, claimed that she has pretended to be a Native American in order to advance her career, and offered to pay $1 million to the charity of her choice if she took a DNA test that proved she had Native American heritage. Does Warrens choice to take this test indicate that she is considering a presidential run? Will the president make good on his $1 million promise? Is it gross and problematic that were doing in-depth racial analyses on our politicians now? Probably; probably not; and yes. Heres everything we know. First of all why is Elizabeth Warren taking a DNA test? Questions surrounding her native ancestry have hounded Warren for years. As the Washington Post reported, back in 2012, when Warren was running for the Senate, the Boston Herald published a report that said when she was a professor there in the 1990s, Harvard Law School cited Warrens Native American background as an example of its own diversity in hiring. Warren also acknowledged that she had listed herself as a minority in the law professor directory, saying she wanted to connect with people for whom native American is part of their heritage and part of their hearts. Warrens GOP opponent, then-senator Scott Brown, called her claims into question, saying she had tried to use them to her professional advantage, and demanded she produce evidence of her Native ancestry. One of Browns aides was later filmed doing racist war whoops and tomahawk chops. Warren denied her Indigenous heritage played any role in her hiring, and she ultimately defeated Brown. But questions about her background remained, and President Trump has continued to stoke them, frequently referring to her as Pocahontas in tweets and during his rallies. In an email to The Cut, Warrens staff clarified, In the most exhaustive review undertaken of Elizabeth Warrens professional history, the Globe found clear evidence, in documents and interviews, that her claim to Native American ethnicity was never considered by the Harvard Law faculty, which voted resoundingly to hire her, or by those who hired her to four prior positions at other law schools. At every step of her remarkable rise in the legal profession, the people responsible for hiring her saw her as a white woman. But why now? Warren is currently running for reelection, and while polls show she currently has a significant lead over her Republican opponent Geoff Diehl, many, like Jonathan Martin at the New York Times, have speculated that this is a preemptive public relations offensive to get ahead of any potential scandals before a widely anticipated 2020 presidential run. I get it: @realDonaldTrump is afraid of facts. But Im not. And the facts are clear. A deep, independent investigation shows my background played no role in any job I got. https://t.co/LTQ6d1sMwM Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) October 15, 2018 What did the DNA results say? Warrens DNA was analyzed by Stanford professor Dr. Carlos D. Bustamante, an expert in the field of genetic analysis, who found that the vast majority of Warrens ancestry is European, but the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor, in her family tree in the range of 6-10 generations ago. So President Obama had to release his birth certificate and Elizabeth Warren had to release her DNA tests, but Donald Trump still hasn't released his tax returns like every other president has done for the past 40 years? https://t.co/KslhpQzsJI Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 15, 2018 Ah. So what does Trump who promised, back in July, that he would give $1 million to Warrens favorite charity if she took a DNA test that proved she had Native ancestry have to say about this? After the Globe published the results of her test, Warren tweeted at the president asking him to make his donation to the National Indigenous Womans Resource Center. Initially, in typical fashion, Trump denied he ever made that offer, despite having done so on television. Asked about the result of her DNA test, the president, who has talked about her heritage at length, responded, Who cares? Trump tries to claim that he never offered to donate a million dollars if Elizabeth Warren took a DNA rest. But he did: https://t.co/ABrSmcNROa pic.twitter.com/LBiuqRQ8mu Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 15, 2018 Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway also responded to Warrens release, telling CNN: I havent looked at the test. I know everybody likes to pick their junk science & sound science depending on the conclusion it seems some days but I havent looked at the DNA test and it really doesnt interest me to be frank with you. Trump then added a new clause to his initial promise, saying he will only pay the $1 million if he can test her personally and he would not enjoy doing it. What does that mean? Its unclear! TRUMP says he will only pay 1 million dollars to charity for Warren if he can test her personally: "I will only do it if I can test her personally. That will not be something that I enjoy doing" Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) October 15, 2018 This all feels very problematic. Yes. so were DNA testing politicians for racial analysis now cool cool cool https://t.co/VPGrfUQYX6 Amanda Hess (@amandahess) October 15, 2018 And, as Indigenous writer Julian Brave NoiseCat pointed out on Twitter, This definitely doesnt make Warren Native. Indigenous identity is about belonging to a community, and Warren doesnt have that. It does mean that, like many, Warren has Indigenous ancestry. Warren herself acknowledged this distinction in a video she released on Monday: Im not enrolled in a tribe and only tribes determine tribal citizenship. I understand and respect that distinction but my family history is my family history. Warren claims to have Cherokee blood. Has the Cherokee Nation responded? Yes, and they are not pleased. In a statement, Cherokee Nation secretary of state Chuck Hoskin Jr. wrote that A DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship, and Using a DNA test to lay claim to to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. Inbox: Cherokee Nation responds to Senator Warrens DNA test. pic.twitter.com/Sh8aNZgyAT Justin Wingerter (@JustinWingerter) October 15, 2018 This post has been updated throughout the day, and we will continue to update it with new information. Recognizing part of his job requires him to encounter people who may be having a very bad day, Kass said an important part of his work is helping people in need. He has learned to put both the part of police work requiring him to make arrests and the portion where he assists others in perspective. Medical worker Hauwa Mohammed Liman, who was held hostage by Islamic State in Nigeria since March, is pictured in this handout photograph obtained by Reuters on Oct. 14, 2018. (ICRC/Handout via Reuters) Aid Worker Killed in Nigeria After Islamists Deadline Expires: Government ABUJAIslamists in Nigeria have killed an aid worker who was being held hostage after a deadline imposed by the terrorists expired, the Nigerian government said on Oct. 15. Medical workers Hauwa Mohammed Liman and Alice Loksha were working in the town of Rann in March when they were kidnapped by IS in West Africa (ISWA) along with International Committee of the Red Cross midwife Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, who was killed in September. The terrorists said in a video posted online last month that they would kill at least one hostage once a deadline due to elapse on Monday had passed. The video had also referred to schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, 15, who was abducted in February from her school in the town of Dapchi. The government did not confirm which of the women had been killed, other than saying it was an aid worker. We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of the first aid worker. However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in a statement. The International Committee of the Red Cross appealed for lives to be spared on Sunday, as the deadline approached. We are hearing devastating reports that Hauwa has been executed. At this stage, we have no confirmation that this is true. We desperately hope not. This situation is heartbreaking and our thoughts remain with the family, ICRC spokeswoman Krista Armstrong told Reuters in Geneva on Monday. ISWA split from Boko Haram in 2016 and has killed hundreds of soldiers in attacks in northeastern Nigeria in the past few months, security and military sources have told Reuters. Like Boko Haram, it wants to create a separate state in northeast Nigeria that adheres to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Christian Democratic Union party leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives at the CDU party headquarters in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 15, 2018. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters) Merkels Bavarian Ally Suffers Heavy Losses Germanys ruling party has had its worst election result since 1950, with Chancellor Angela Merkels Bavarian ally, the Christian Social Union, losing its absolute majority in a regional parliament. Its the latest crisis to hit the center-right coalition party, with junior partners the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) having their support halved. The CSU won 37 percent of the vote, almost a quarter less than in 2013, in the Bavarian state election on Oct. 14. Ten percent of voters swung to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), securing the party its first lawmakers in the state. A headline in German newspaper Die Welt summed up the effects: Its gonna be turbulent. The result in Bavaria is a vote against the grand coalition in Berlin. The SPD were hoping for a boost from infighting between the CSU and the Christian Democrat (CDU) coalition partners. Instead, the SPDs support dropped to less than 10 percent, with members now demanding to expedite an upcoming review over whether to remain in partnership with the Merkel-led coalition. Different Style of Government SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil told Deutschlandfunk radio: The evaluation is planned for the middle of the legislative period, but something must happen now. There must be a different style of government. He criticized the CSUs infighting over issues such as migration, adding, If the style of government doesnt change, there will be a debate in the SPD and the critical voices will get stronger. The election result shows how the debate on immigration and German values has loosed the hold of the traditional parties on power. Bavaria has been a center for conservative politics, led by the CSU since 1948, with the party holding an absolute majority for 59 of the last 64 years. The Greens gained half a million votes and finished in second place, with 17.5 percent of the vote. But despite the need for the CSU to now form a new coalition in Bavaria, CSU chief lawmaker Markus Soder has said the Greens are uncoalitionable, according to the Times of London. Calls for Resignation Interior Minister and CSU party leader Horst Seehofer, who has had prominent clashes with Merkel over immigration and law, attempted to bring a note of calm, telling reporters on Oct. 15, We will do our bit to ensure that the grand coalition can continue to do its work in a stable manner. He added, according to Reuters: I am happy that the AfD in Bavaria scored clearly below where they are on the national level. If my maths are right, a third below the national average. However, Andreas Kluth, editor-in-chief of Handelsblatt Global, was unrestrained in calling for Seehofers resignation. I cannot believe this Bavarian pol with his provincial mindset, populist style, and boundless ego, has not yet resigned as boss of the Christian Social Union after last nights drubbing in the Bavarian election, Kluth wrote on Oct. 15. For the sake of Bavaria and all Germany, he must step down, as party leader and interior minister. And if he doesnt, the CSU should recall Friedrich Nietzsche: That which is ready to fall should also be pushed. On Oct. 15, SPD leader Andre Nahles stopped short of calling for Seehofers resignation, but said the way the coalition works needs to improve. We have to consult among ourselves today and during other meetings what it means to act successfully as SPD in this grand coalition government. We will start these discussions today, by the way not for the first time, Nahles told reporters, according to Reuters. In two weeks, there will be an election in the western state of Hesse, which is currently ruled by a coalition of the CDU and the Greens. If the CDU loses the government in Hesse, this will probably start a discussion within the CDU about Merkels position, wrote the Bild newspaper. Aspiring Model Fatally Shot While Driving to Work: Reports A Georgia woman who was aspiring to be a model was fatally shot while driving to work, and it was only revealed after an investigation into the car crash. Kelsey Quayle, 28, was on her way to work in Clayton County on Monday, Oct.8 when she drove into oncoming traffic and hit three other cars, WGCL reported. She was taken to Southern Regional Medical Center with critical injuries and was later taken to another hospital. Doctors then determined that she had been shot in the neck before the crash. Aspiring model Kelsey Quayle was shot and killed while driving to work; could it have been road rage? Or could she have been caught in the crossfire? https://t.co/g34eRt1hAC Unsolved Mysteries (@Unsolved) October 12, 2018 Upon her being transported to a local hospital with serious injuries, it was found she had suffered a gunshot wound, Capt. Scott Stubbs of the Clayton County Police Department told WSB-TV. Her mother told WGCL that she died at Grady Memorial Hospital. Police told WGCL that theyre investigating surveillance video from a nearby gas station. They do not have any leads at this time. Reports said that she moved to Atlanta to pursue a career in modeling. The Clayton County Police Department released video footage that showed the moments before the crash. We would especially like to speak with the driver of the white SUV and the driver of the gray sedan that is seen passing Kelseys vehicle as it is traveling in the lanes of oncoming traffic, said police on Facebook. Anyone with information about the case should call 770-477-3648. A GoFundMe page was set up to pay for her funeral. It explained that a family member got the most horrible call one could get about her sister Kelsey Quayle she has been shot in the neck and is on life support fighting for her life near Atlanta. Her family traveled to Georgia to be by her side at all cost, the page said. I just want to thank everyone who has donated, it means so much to our family and is such a blessing to see the impact Kelsey left on others, they said in an update. Libyan militiamen loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA), Libya's internationally recognised government, keep watch from a position south of the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sept. 25, 2018. (MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images) Chinese Energy Company Traded Weapons in Africa, Middle East US attorneys produced documents showing Shanghai-based CEFC skirted embargoes, supplied arms to dictators Attorneys from the Southern District of New York have submitted documents showing that Patrick Ho Chi-ping, a Hong Kong representative of Chinas CEFC who was arrested by U.S. authorities in 2017, skirted sanctions by selling weapons to buyers in Libya, South Sudan, Qatar, and other countries. On Oct. 2, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, three assistant attorneys, the acting chief of Fraud Section Criminal Division, and a trial attorney submitted a 32-page document with evidence of Hos activities to the district court. Ho is a Hong Kong businessman, ophthalmologist, former secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and a member of the Chinese Communist Partys Peoples Political Consultative Conference. The attorneys uncovered a large number of emails and audio records showing that Ho, who is to go on trial for bribery and money laundering next month, had done business with Iran on behalf of CEFC China Energy, a Shanghai-based firm. Hos relationship to CEFC China goes back to 2010, when the energy company established and funded an international lobbying firm in Hong Kong called the China Energy Fund Committee. Ho was made secretary-general of the firm, and also headed a Virginia-based CEFC non-governmental organization. CEFC is a private conglomerate that does business in the typically state-dominated fields of oil and gas and financial services. Its founder, Ye Jianming, has been detained for investigation since February 2018. In March, Chinese state-affiliated media Caixin reported that CEFC was linked to the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Iran Deals Due to the Iranian regimes efforts to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, Teheran is subject to sanctions by the United States and other countries. In October 2014, Ho emailed an assistant saying that he was going to Beijing to visit the CEFC chairman for business related to Iran. He wrote about how the Iranian government had funds stored in a Chinese bank and wished to buy precious metals, but couldnt do so due to sanctions. The Iranian agent is looking for a Chinese company to act as a middleman in these transactions and will pay commission, Ho wrote. [They] have a strong urge to establish a relationship with us regarding oil and other products. A subsequent email from 2015 showed the development of Hos relationship with Iranian clients. It contained an attached PowerPoint document called Presentation to Potential Partners Iran Petroleum Investments, and a message sent the following year contained details of a meeting between CEFC executives and an oil firm with operations in Iran. Arms Sales and Bribery Ho set up various deals to sell Chinese weaponry in countries across Africa and the Middle East, often in violation of sanctions, the U.S. attorneys say based on testimony and email evidence. In an email from March 2015, Ho discussed selling weapons to Libya and South Sudan, whose governments are forbidden by international agreement to buy foreign armaments. Ho asked the other party, Find a way to pass them onto me and we can execute that right away. Then the other party answered: Attached. [We] have the funding and processing mechanisms in place. If it works nice, there will be much more. Also for S. Sudan. South Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war since 2013 that has killed more than 380,000 people. In the attached document of the email, theres a list, which has numerous arms, and an End User Certification shows that the receiver of the arms is the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Libya. Since the end of the Gaddafi regime in 2014, the Second Libyan Civil War has killed more than 10,000 people and created more than 700,000 refugees. In April 2015, the other person contacted Ho again and wrote in the email: It so turns out Qatar also needs urgently a list of toys (arms) from us. But for the same reason we had for Libya, we cannot sell directly to them. Ho answered: Qatar good chance bc (because) there is no embargo. Libya is another case bc going against an embargo is tricky. Qatar needs new toys (weapons) quite urgently. Their chief is coming to China and we hope to give them a piece of good news. Please confirm soonest. The U.S. legal evidence said that Ho sold the arms on behalf of CEFC in order to gain advantages in petroleum deals and other business in these countries. Diamond prospectors filter earth from a river in Koidu, the capital of the diamond-rich Kono district, in eastern Sierra Leone, on April 28, 2012. (Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images) Chinese Investment in Sierra Leone Comes Under Scrutiny Sierra Leone has long been a focus of Beijing for aggressive investment due to the West African countrys rich mineral resources, which include diamonds, gold, iron ore, and bauxite. Recently, the actual benefits of Chinese investment have been a subject of debate in the Sierra Leone government, which led to the termination of an international airport project that was to be financed by China. Kabineh Kallon, Sierra Leones transport and aviation minister, said in a letter dated Oct. 5 addressed to the director of the project that the government would end the contract to build the Mamamah International Airport as of the end of this month, according to Sierra Leone newspaper the Sierra Leone Telegraph. Mamamah is a small town on the outskirts of the countrys capital Freetown. Soon after the deal was signed by Sierra Leones president in March, Chinas state-run China Railway International Group began work on the airport, with financing from Chinas state-owned Export-Import Bank of China, according to Sierra Leone newspaper the Concord Times. The letter said, It is the governments view that it is uneconomical to proceed with the construction of a new airport when the existing one is grossly underutilized. The existing Lungi International Airport is the only international airport in Sierra Leone. According to the Sierra Leone Telegraph, critics of the Mamamah airport project, including the World Bank, say that Lungi International Airport has been struggling to reach full capacity, due to the low number of international travelers. According to the Sierra Leone Telegraph, Lungi International Airport has recently been redeveloped with over $200 million in funding from the World Bank. Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma signed the Mamamah project after four years of negotiations. According to the Sierra Leone Telegraph, Mamamah was Koromas political heartland. But soon after the airport deal was brokered, Koromas political party, All Peoples Congress (APC), and its presidential nominee, Samura Kamara, lost to its rival party, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party and its nominee, Julius Maada Bio, during the general election that same month. Bio is the current president. The Sierra Leone Telegraph article called the Mamamah project a vanity project, pointing out that the construction of a second international airport made little economic sense because Sierra Leone is struggling to find money to pay for the delivery of health care, education, access of water, and electricity. Debt Trap Sierra Leone has accumulated more than $220 million of debt to China in the past 10 years, according to data from the Johns Hopkins China-Africa Research Initiative. Many countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives are currently saddled with enormous debt to China. Locals have accused Beijing of putting their countries into debt traps, after servicing loans for expensive infrastructure projects. The Johns Hopkins China-Africa Research Initiative estimates that African nations, as a whole, owe China about $130 billion. However, scrapping the Mamamah project doesnt mean Bio will stop taking out more loansincluding more from China. According to Sierra Leones official government website, on August 31, Bio spoke to Song Dongsheng, president of Chinas state-owned PowerChina International Group, on Aug. 31, about whether the company could finance the construction of a bridge connecting Lungi International Airport and Freetown. Various Sierra Leone media estimate the bridges cost at about $1.3 billion. A Sept. 12 article by Sierra Leone newspaper Awareness Times questioned the economic feasibility of the bridge project, given that the countrys GDP in 2017 was only $3.77 billion, while Africa Confidential, a publication based in London, said in an editorial published on Sept. 14 that the bridge project is sure to set the government on a collision course with donors and international financial institutions. Politics and Mining Beijings investment has led to its open interference in Sierra Leones politics, for the purpose of gaining access to the countrys mineral riches. Prior to the general election in March, the Sierra Leone Telegraph reported in February that Chinese citizens living in Sierra Leone recently openly campaigned alongside APCs leaders and supportersmany of whom support Chinas investments. Beijing was accused of bankrolling the APC election campaign. On Feb. 20, Sierra Leone media Voice of Binkongoh published an open letter to the United Nations secretary general, expressing concerns that the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) funding for APC was a deliberate attempt by China to undermine [Sierra Leones] fledgling democracy and give the APC undue advantage over other political parties in the country. The CCP had previously influenced another APC leader, former President Siaka Stevens, during the 1970s. Stevens later established a one-party state, which paved the way for authoritarianism, corruption, and regionalism, and eventually led to a decade-long civil war that finally ended in 2002, according to the article. Chinese political meddling was a sign of their desperation to exploit the countrys mineral resources, according to an article the Sierra Leone Telegraph published in February. For example, in 2011, Chinas state-run Shandong Iron and Steel Group bought a 25 percent stake in the Tonkolili iron ore mine, the second-largest iron ore mine in Africa and one of the largest magnetite deposits in the world, according to Reuters. Less than four years later, the Chinese firm acquired the remaining 75 percent, to replace ownership from the London-listed African Minerals, the largest iron ore mining company in Sierra Leone. Natural resources now make up Chinas chief imports from Sierra Leone, according to data from Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of the total $340 million value of imports, most were iron ore, timber, and diamonds. Recently, another form of exploitationchild laborwas exposed involving Chinese projects. In a Sept 27 article by African News Network, 38 Chinese nationals in Sierra Leone were scheduled for deportation in October for alleged involvement in illicit gold mining and child labor. Brima Kamara, a local police spokesman, said that men, girls, and boys were subjected to inhumane working conditions, including working in tunnels. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a report on child labor and forced labor in Sierra Leone. Due to the lack of coordination and limited funding for law enforcement personnel, the West African country is a source, transit, and destination country for children trafficked for forced labor in domestic work, granite and diamond mining, and begging, the report said. There were also incidences of child trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) receives a note from her aide Huma Abedin (L) as she testifies about the State Department's budget during a hearing of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee of the House appropriations committee on March 10, 2011. (Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images) Clinton, 5 Researchers Had Clearances Revoked; State Department Continues Email Probe Revocation of security clearances highlights concerns they were used for political purposes News Analysis The security clearances of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and five other individuals, who had been designated as researchersincluding Clintons longtime lawyer, Cheryl Millswere withdrawn between August and September. Clintons security clearance was withdrawn at her request, according to a statement by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), citing State Department information. Ongoing active clearances by Clinton and her associates could eventually be connected to evidence uncovered by the House Intelligence Committee of the use of information to achieve partisan political purposes. In his Oct. 12 statement, Grassley wrote the following: The U.S. State Department recently confirmed that former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons security clearance has been withdrawn at her request. Clearances for five other individuals whom Clinton designated as researchers have also been withdrawn, including close aide Cheryl Mills, according to the State Departments update of its ongoing review of the mishandling of classified information related to the use of Clintons non-government email server. The individuals designated by Clinton as researchers had access to classified information beyond the scope of their original duties. Grassleys statement also confirmed that the State Department has an ongoing investigation and review into any mishandling of classified information stemming from the use of Clintons non-government email server. Grassley noted the release was being made public following consultation with the State Department. The agreement to release this information is significant, since the response to Grassleys prior communication included a request from Acting Assistant Secretary Charles Faulkner to protect the information in this letter, as it is not public and generally not appropriate for public release. With regard to the withdrawal-of-security requests, Grassley had made an initial inquiry on March 30, 2017, after learning that six additional Secretary Clinton staff at State were designated as her research assistants, which allowed them to retain their clearances after leaving the Department. It was later determined that seven of Clintons former aides were designated as research assistants. Five of the seven, including Mills, appear to have had their security clearances revoked. Two of the Clinton aides appear to have retained their security clearancesalthough that may change. This indicates that the security revocation was independent of the underlying status of Clintons security clearance. Security violations have been uncovered in the ongoing State Department review: Documents containing classified material have been sent to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and all valid security incidents have been added to the security file for some individuals. The term some individuals would appear to be related to the five Clinton aidesand possibly Clinton herself. It appears, from Grassleys letter, that it was just Clinton, and not her aides, who had requested her security clearance be withdrawn at her request. The dates of revocation may help to explain this distinction. In a letter linked within Grassleys release, Faulkner notes that Clinton requested the withdrawal of her security clearance on Aug. 30. Three weeks later, on Sept. 20, the security clearances of Mills and four other unidentified individuals were administratively withdrawn. The State Department notified Grassley of the revocations on Sept. 21. It would seem that Clinton preemptively requested her security clearance be withdrawn before it could be revoked along with those of her five aides. Its worth noting, security clearances are valuable, and no one voluntarily gives up a security clearance. Individuals may lose access over issues of improprieties or they may fail to maintain their five-year requirements, but the voluntary abandonment of a security clearance is virtually unheard of. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill posted on Twitter a copy of Clintons security clearance revocation request letter from Aug. 30. The letter, sent by her attorney, David Kendall, noted the following: She has no desire to have her clearance become part of an unprecedented partisan controversy over the clearance process. Left unaddressed in the tweets from Merrill was the security revocation of the five Clinton aides. Also unaddressed is the need for redactions in regards to the identities of the other four Clinton aides. The State Department has been releasing Clinton emails under the Freedom of Information Act on its website on a monthly basis, with the most recent addition occurring on Oct. 4. The full listing, which is searchable, can be found here. The letter from Faulkner notes that the Diplomatic Security review and adjudication process will begin once the classification review is complete. It appears the State Department is now approaching this final stage. Mills and the other aides had been granted access to classified information through a request from Clinton, who designated her aides as researchers under Executive Order 13526, Sec. 4.4(a)(2) which reads as follows: Sec. 4.4. Access by Historical Researchers and Certain Former Government Personnel. (a) The requirement in section 4.1(a)(3) of this order that access to classified information may be granted only to individuals who have a need-to-know the information may be waived for persons who: (1) are engaged in historical research projects; (2) previously have occupied senior policy-making positions to which they were appointed or designated by the President or the Vice President. Leaking and Political Concerns Clintons designation of Mills and other unnamed individuals as researchers, with a waiver of the need-to-know limitation begs the question; what exactly, were they researching? And what behavior during the course of their research caused the revocation of their security clearances. On July 27, 2017, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said, Current and former government officials had easy access to U.S. person information and that it is possible that they used this information to achieve partisan political purposes, including the selective, anonymous leaking of such information. The Committee also understands that Obama-era officials sought the identities of Trump transition officials within intelligence reports. However, there was no meaningful explanation offered by these officials as to why they needed or how they would use this U.S. person information, and thus, the Committee is left with the impression that these officials may have used this information for improper purposes, including the possibility of leaking. We have identified a significant issue that will require changes to federal law. Specifically, we have found that the Intelligence Communitys U.S. person unmasking policies are inadequate to prevent abuse, such as political spying. Nunes also noted that one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence-related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests during the final year of the Obama administration. This official is likely former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power. But Power has denied, under oath, that she was the one actually making the requests. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who questioned Power, noted: The Intelligence Community has assigned this number of requests to her. If there is someone else making a request on behalf of a principal in the Intelligence Community, we need to know that. If the unmasking requests didnt come from Power, who were the individuals making them while using her name to mask their own identities. We know without a doubt that access to the NSAs database has been abused. In particular, a 99-page, unsealed FISA Court ruling on April 26, 2017, delved into ongoing FISA abuses: The FBI had disclosed raw FISA information, including but not limited to Section 702-acquired information to private contractors. The government still had not ascertained the full range of systems that might have been used to conduct improper U.S.-person queries. Approximately eighty-five percent of those queries were not compliant with the applicable minimization procedures. As the FISA court noted, the abuses had been occurring since at least November 2015. Perhaps its time to find out exactly who has been engaging in these abuses. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. An anti-riot policeman stands in front of a burnt house in Gubio in Borno State, northeast Nigeria, on May 26, 2015. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images) Death Toll Reaches 60 in Nigerian Oil Pipeline Fire ABUJASixty people were killed after a fire broke out on Oct. 12, on an oil pipeline in the southeast of Nigeria, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Monday, up from the tally of 16 dead given by officials three days earlier. The state oil company on Friday said pumping on the System 2E pipeline network had been halted. We will resume the pumping of products very soon, NNPC spokesman Ndu Ughamadu told Reuters on Monday. We had put out the fire. We are now pumping water in the pipeline to detect other possible areas of leakages. The System 2E pipeline is a key network that supplies imported gasoline and output from the Port Harcourt refineries to much of the southeast and north of the country. The two refining plants at Port Harcourt operate far below their 210,000 barrels per day capacity. In an emailed statement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it had been prevented from pumping fuel to the southeastern Enugu Depot which has remained underutilized despite its recent rehabilitation by the NNPC. Many oil spills in the southern oil production heartland of Africas biggest crude producer are caused by theft and pipeline sabotage. The methods used to steal the oil often result in accidents that cause fires. The state oil company, which on Friday gave a death toll of 16, said the fire had been caused by pipeline vandals who breached the pipeline in Ososioma near the southeastern city of Aba. By Alexis Akwagyiram Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at an interview with Reuters in Putrajaya, Malaysia on June 19, 2018. (Lai Seng Sin/Reuters) Defying China: Malaysias Mahathir Says Uyghurs Released Because They Did Nothing Wrong KUALA LUMPURMalaysia freed 11 ethnic Uyghur Muslims who fled to the Southeast Asian nation after a Thai jailbreak last year because they did nothing wrong there, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Oct. 15 Reuters, citing the mens lawyer, reported last week that Malaysia had released the 11 from detention and sent them to Turkey, disregarding Chinas request to hand them to Beijing. They have done nothing wrong in this country, so they are released, Mahathir said in brief comments to reporters in parliament, the first from the Malaysian government since their release. Malaysias move was likely to strain ties with China, which already have been tested since Mahathir won a stunning election victory in May and canceled more than $20 billion worth of projects awarded to Chinese companies. China, which had asked for their extradition, said Oct. 12 that it resolutely opposed Malaysias decision to release the 11 Uyghurs and send them to Turkey. Prosecutors in Muslim-majority Malaysia dropped charges against the Uyghurs on humanitarian grounds, their lawyer said. The men were detained and charged with illegally entering Malaysia after Novembers daring prison break, during which they punched holes in a prison wall and used blankets as ladders. Reuters reported in February that Malaysia was under great pressure from China to send the men there. Some Western missions sought to dissuade Kuala Lumpur from sending them to China, which has been accused of persecuting Uyghurs. The Chinese regime has used the excuse of potential Islamic threats, extremism, and ethnic riots to crack down on the Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang region. China is believed to be holding up to one million ethnic Uyghurs, the United Nations human-rights panel said in August. Uyghurs and other Muslims are held in concentration camp-like facilities, known as re-education centers, are forbidden from using Islamic greetings, must learn Mandarin Chinese, and also sing propaganda songs, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. U.S. lawmakers proposed legislation on Oct. 10 that urged President Donald Trump to condemn gross violations of human rights and to press for closure of the re-education camps in Xinjiang. The proposal would place sanctions on China that include banning sales of U.S.-made goods or services to Xinjiang state agents and the barring of certain Chinese entitiesincluding the Xinjiang police bureaufrom purchasing U.S.-made equipment that might be used for surveillance. Xinjiang has been transformed into a vast security state, packed with police stations, street cameras, and security checkpoints at which electronic identity cards are scanned. Over the years, hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uyghurs have escaped the unrest by traveling clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey. 93-year-old Mahathir, in his second stint as premier, has been vocal in supporting Muslim communities against persecution. By Joseph Sipalan. Epoch Times staff Emily ONeill contributed to this report. British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her leader's speech during the final day of the Conservative Party Conference at The International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, on Oct. 3, 2018. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) DUP Brexit Spokesman Says No Deal Probably Inevitable BELFASTNorthern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party, which British Prime Minister Theresa Mays government depends on for support, believes a no-deal Brexit is probably inevitable, the partys Brexit spokesman was quoted as saying on Oct. 15. Given the way in which the EU has behaved and the corner theyve put Theresa May into, theres no deal which I can see at present which will command a majority in the House of Commons, Sammy Wilson told the Belfast News Letter. So it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no deal scenario. With less than six months before Britain leaves the EU in its biggest shift in trade and foreign policy in more than 40 years, the latest round of talks in Brussels failed to clinch a deal on Britains divorce terms, with negotiators pausing negotiations just days before a leaders summit. The latest round of Brexit talks faltered over the so-called backstop arrangement to prevent the return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland, which the DUP has objected to. Wilson said he believed the current offer from the EU was far worse than a no deal and that it would not secure a majority in the British parliament. He said, however, that a series of mini deals could avoid the worst effects of a no-deal Brexit. No deal doesnt mean there will be nothing agreed, he said. It probably means there will be a lot of mini agreements on things which are essential, to keep planes flying, lorries moving, that sort of thing, he said. It seems that the EU and the UK are both fairly far advanced in making preparations for that. by Amanda Ferguson The HNA logo is seen on a building in Beijing on Feb. 18, 2016. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images) Financial Crunch: Chinas HNA Weighs Options for its IT Unit HONG KONGChinas HNA Group is exploring an outright sale and other options for its IT outsourcing unit Pactera and has held talks with investors including Ant Financial, people with knowledge of the situation said. The discussions on Pactera, which HNA bought from Blackstone in 2016 for $675 million in cash, come amid a series of sales by the heavily indebted Chinese conglomerate and show the extent of its financial crunch following a $50 billion acquisition spree. Since January, HNA has sold or agreed to sell over $20 billion worth of assets around the world, according to Reuters calculations and media reports. Beijing-based Pactera, which too has struggled with its finances, caused a stir last year when Goldman Sachs suspended early-stage work on its U.S. initial public offering after the deal did not pass the banks internal due diligence standards. HNA has approached several potential investors about an outright sale of Pactera, two of the people told Reuters. The group is also considering a spin-off of Pacteras financial services business for a separate listing, said one of them. Ant Financial, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group and operator of Chinas biggest online payment platform, is among investors weighing a deal with Pactera, two of the people said. Terms of any deal under discussion between the two were not immediately clear. The identity of other potential investors was not known. It was also not clear how much a sale of Pactera might fetch. Pactera did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. HNA declined to comment. Ant Financial declined to comment on what it said were market rumors. The sources declined to be named as the information is confidential. The discussions follow unsuccessful efforts by Pactera to secure financing via convertible bonds. Late last year it tapped CLSA, the Hong Kong brokerage owned by CITIC Securities to arrange a deal worth up to $200 million with an eye also to a future listing in Hong Kong. Despite discussions with potential investors it failed to reach an agreement and the deal was called off around late June, sources said. A spokeswoman for CLSA said it does not comment on individual deals. In an Oct. 1 letter to its bondholders, Pacteras parent, HNA Ecotech Panorama Cayman Co, said it has obtained a $80 million secured term loan facility for general working capital, which two of the people said was an alternative to the failed bond sale. HNA Ecotech did not mention any sale plans for Pactera in the letter. Founded in 1995, Pactera offers digital marketing, big data analysis and other services for companies across a wide range of sectors, with offices worldwide, according to its website. The company works with banks, securities firms and insurance companies. It was also recently ranked by IDC Financial among the worlds top 50 fintech businesses. In July Pactera was downgraded by ratings agency Moodys to Caa1 from B3, pushing it deeper into junk-rated territory. Moodys, which said the companys weak liquidity position was its main concern, also maintained a negative outlook on the ratings. Pactera reported revenues of $872 million in 2017. Moodys also noted the company had provided interest-free loans to HNA Group and its affiliates, resulting in a net cash outflow of $44 million in 2017. HNA and several other major Chinese conglomerates were in the Chinese regimes crosshairs last June as it sought to curb high-risk financial investments and capital outflows. Sources close to the central authorities told The Epoch Times at the time that the sweep was part of the current leaderships attempts to clean out corruption in Chinas finance industry. By Kane Wu & Julie Zhu. The Epoch Times contributed to this report. Siberian lynx sit in their cage in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael at the Bear Creek Feline Center in Panama City, Flo., U.S., Oct. 12, 2018.v(Terray Sylvester/Reuters) Florida Wild Cat Sanctuary Caught in Hurricanes Path PANAMA CITY, Fla.Saint the mountain lion was pacing nervously in his pen and crying days before Hurricane Michael cut a path of destruction through the Bear Creek Feline Center, a refuge for 23 wild cats near Floridas Panama City. They were very agitated, said Bertie Broaddus, who runs the center with her husband Jim Broaddus, as she inspected the damage from the powerful storm that killed at least 17 people and tore up Floridas Panhandle coastline. If theyd been in the wild they instinctively would have moved on, said Jim. But when theyre in captivity they dont have that option. So they hunker down, and then after its over, theyre agitated and traumatized just like the people. The endangered animals at the refugerescued African servals, jaguarundi, bobcats, Siberian lynx, mountain lions, and pantherswere unharmed. The center sustained considerable damage and its main access road was blocked by fallen trees. Bertie, a retired special education teacher, opened the center, about 15 miles north of downtown Panama City, with her husband in 2000. They live there and run the nonprofit with the help of a dozen volunteers. As they inspected downed trees, a torn roof, collapsed garage, and flattened fence around the perimeter, the couples main concern was how to care for the animals, whose daily food and medical costs are about $600. The center is a TripAdvisor Panama City top attraction and tours help cover its costs, but the hurricane has driven away visitors and access to the butcher shop that supplies meat for the animals has been impeded. Catch Watch Late on Oct. 10, as Hurricane Michael raged through the area, Bertie said that she and her husband repeatedly checked on the cats outside. If I could have I would have evacuated, but I couldnt leave the animals, she said. We had to hunker down and make sure they were OK for the safety of the community. She said neighbors were justifiably concerned that some of the big cats might escape in the storm. Were kind of worried about those cats getting out. Theres a lot of kids in this neighborhood, said Jonathon Roeder, 33, who lives with his family in Cedar Wood Estates, about two miles from the Center. Neighbors and agents from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission checked on the center after the storm. These cats can hurt people. You dont know what they would do if they were out, Bertie said, explaining that the mountain lions are large enough to be dangerous and have no fear of people because they never lived in the wild. On Oct 12, the Center was without electricity, running water and telephone reception. The owners estimated that it has as much as $100,000 in damages and that it will take at least six months to restore it. But what matters most to them is the animals; the mountain lions are still pacing anxiously in their cages, which is not their normal behavior. The big guys are pacing, which makes us cry, Jim said. By Terray Sylvester Former Senate Staffer Wolfe Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI in Leak Probe The former security director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence pleaded guilty on Oct. 15 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with reporters as part of the bureaus investigation into unauthorized leaks. James Wolfe, 57, pleaded guilty to making one false statement to agents, according to the Justice Department. He was indicted in June 2018 on three counts of making false statements. The other charges were dropped as part of the plea deal. Wolfe was the director of security for the Senate intelligence committee for 28 years. In that role, he handled classified documents transported to and from the committee. Wolfe made false statements to FBI agents who questioned him in December 2017 about his contacts with several reporters, including Ali Watkins, with whom he eventually admitted to having an extramarital affair since 2014. Watkins works for The New York Times. Wolfes plea agreement shows that he was aware that he was not authorized to have contact with the media. On April 11, 2017, an article authored by three reporters revealed that former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, who is referred to as MALE-1 in the plea deal, was under surveillance via a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant. FISA warrants are issued by a secret court and are considered top secret. The FBI opened an investigation seeking to determine, in part, whether Wolfe had been in contact with reporters, and, if so, who those reporters were, the nature and extent of those contacts, and the means by which those contacts occurred. During the December 2017 interview, FBI agents asked Wolfe if he knew about the sources of Watkinss article and whether he had a personal relationship with any reporters, among other queries. Wolfe told the agents that he did not, after which they presented him with a photo of himself with Watkins. Wolfe then admitted to lying to the agents, but said that he did not provide Watkins with any classified information, news leads, or other non-public committee matters. Wolfe also denied having any personal or professional contact with other reporters regarding Senate intelligence committee matters. But evidence gathered by the FBI showed that he was, in fact, in contact with several reporters, using his personal cell phone, his Senate email account, and anonymizing messaging applications including Signal and WhatsApp. In the plea deal (pdf), the prosecutors recommend a sentence of up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $9,500. The FBIs leak investigation started in April 2017, by which time the Trump administration had been subject to a barrage of leaks for months. In the four months following Trumps inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, the White House was subject to 125 leaked stories, according to a report (pdf) by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The rate of leaks with the capacity to damage national security was seven times higher than during comparable periods in the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google Inc., at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2017. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images) Google Seeks Balance Between Communist Oppression, Freedom of Expression Google wants to ramp up its China business and, at the same time, find a balance between satisfying the draconian policies of the Chinese Communist Party and the companys proclaimed dedication to freedom of expression. Google has been open about our desire to increase our ability to serve users in China and other countries, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in an Aug. 31 letter to several U.S. senators. We are thoughtfully considering a variety of options for how to offer services in China in a way that is consistent with our mission. We are committed to promoting access to information, freedom of expression, and user privacy, as well as to respecting the laws of jurisdictions in which we operate. We seek to strike the right balance in each context. The letter was leaked to The Intercept. Google didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for clarification on what Pichai specifically meant by the right balance in each context. Dragonfly Google has been secretly developing a mobile web search app for China that monitors users and censors topics sensitive to the ruling Communist regime, such as democracy, human rights, and peaceful protest, The Intercept reported on Sept. 14, citing sources it didnt identify. Google responded by saying the company wasnt close to launching a web-search product in China. But a Google executive, Ben Gomes, said the company planned to release the app between January and April 2019, according to a transcript of Gomess internal speech leaked to The Intercept. Gomes told employees working on the project, named Dragonfly, that they had to get it ready to be brought off the shelf and quickly deployed. The Chinese Communist Party runs the worlds most robust system of internet censorship and requires foreign companies to comply with that censorship when operating in China. Companies must also agree to share data on their customers stored in China with the regime. Google ran a censored version of its search engine in China from 2006 to 2010, but said it backed out because of a cyber attack originating from China that targeted Google email accounts of dozens of Chinese human-rights activists. However, Google had also struggled to make inroads in the Chinese market, which is skewed in favor of domestic companies backed by the regime. Shift Toward Censorship While Google was applauded by human-rights advocates for its withdrawal from China, in recent years, the company has been moving away from its principles of supporting free speech, according to a recently leaked internal research document. The document stated that Google, as well as its subsidiary, YouTube, and other online platforms, have shifted away from free speech toward censorship and moderation, in the name of suppressing hate speech, fake news, and other bad behavior. YouTube doesnt show China Uncensored, the most popular channel focused on Chinese politics, in its search suggestions. It appears, though, that this is not because of Youtubes targeting of the channel, but because Youtube associates the word uncensored with search queries of adult content, which are filtered. Google didnt provide an explanation when queried by The Epoch Times. China Uncensored is broadcast on NTD, a media partner of The Epoch Times. In his letter to six senators, Pichai said that Google believes that knowledge is empowering, and that a society with more information is better off than one with less. Thats virtually the same reasoning Google used to justify operating a censored search engine in China before 2010. The senators asked a number of questions about the Dragonfly project, such as what keywords were requested by the regime to be blacklisted for the app and if there were any phrases or words the company would refuse to censor. Pichai didnt respond to those. Whether we would or could release a search service in China remains unclear, he said. Accordingly, we are not in a position to be able to answer detailed questions. The addressed senators were Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). Since taking power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has caused the unnatural deaths of an estimated 80 million Chinese. Since the early 2000s, its estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of prisoners of consciencemostly practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual disciplineto sell their organs for transplants, according to a series of independent investigations conducted since allegations of the crime first surfaced in 2006. Update: The article has been updated to reflect that the name of the Youtube channel China Uncensored likely inadvertently triggers Youtube filtering of adult content. Home in Mexico Beach, Florida, Still Stands Strong After Hurricane Michael A well-built home in Mexico Beach, Florida, is still standing after Hurricane Michael flattened the town last week. Video footage shared by the U.S. Coast Guard showed the home still standing amid the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods. The home, dubbed the Sand Palace, suffered some water damage and the ground floor was washed away. But it was constructed on 40-foot pilings, allowing it to be protected from storm surge. We wanted to build it for the big one, home co-owner Lebron Lackey told The New York Times. We just never knew wed find the big one so fast. The home lost its utilities, heating, and air unit. Public records show that the home has been assessed for $400,000. It is reinforced by steel cables and rebar. Were thinking that we need to build a house that would survive for generations, Lackeys uncle, Russell King, who also helped build the home, told The Times. The home has four bedrooms, two kitchens, four and a half bathrooms, and an elevator. It is usually rented out to people on vacation. Our home is located in the quiet seaside town of Mexico Beach, Fl. With beautiful white beaches and a family-oriented atmosphere, Mexico Beach is the perfect beach vacation off the beaten path,' said post on its Facebook page in May. The home is now a staging area for rescue workers and news crews. We feel blessed to be able to provide any shelter possible to these volunteers, they said on the page, Fox News reported. State officials are starting to question building codes in the wake of the storm. After every event, you always go back and look what you can do better, Gov. Rick Scott told reporters in reference to how homes are built in the state. After [Hurricane] Andrew, the codes changed dramatically in our state. Every time something like this happens, you have to say to yourself, Is there something we can do better?' Meanwhile, search-and-rescue crews are still picking through the remains of hurricane-damaged communities to search for survivors. The amount of stress that people are in, not just from losing everything, but not having phones, power, food, water, puts a huge toll on the emotional factor of people stuck in these houses, Trevor Lewis, a rescue worker, told The Associated Press. And it really ups the ante a whole lot more. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are visiting Florida this week to inspect the damage. Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach on Oct. 10 as a strong Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds. Rescue personnel perform a search in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., on Oct. 11, 2018. (Gerald Herbert/AP) Hopes Fade for More Survivors of Hurricane Michael MEXICO BEACH, Fla.The hunt for missing people in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on Oct. 14 was turning into a search for the dead, as hope of finding more people alive fades in the Florida Panhandle, U.S. officials said. Were going into recovery mode, unfortunately, said Fire Chief Alex Baird of Panama City, one of the coastal Florida communities clobbered by the hurricane that made landfall Oct. 10 as a Category 4 storm, packing more than 140 mph winds and deadly storm surges. At sunrise, well start again on our search, Baird said. We hope that well find more (survivors), but its more and more doubtful. President Donald Trump is expected to visit both Florida and Georgia early this week to inspect the damage, and the White House said late Oct. 13, the president was fully committed to helping state and local agencies with the recovery. The death toll of the storm reached at least 18 late on Oct. 13 and is expected to rise in the U.S. Southeast as rescuers go door-to-door in coastal communities in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Search and rescue volunteers have already located hundreds of people reported missing last week. Crews heard cries for help and crowbarred into a mobile home crumpled by the storm in Panama City, freeing a mother and daughter, both diabetics who had been trapped in a closet without insulin for two days and were on the verge of diabetic shock, rescuers said on Oct. 13. We had another lady who was on her last tank of oxygen. No cell phone, no power, no nothing. There are people out here on dialysis, but there is no power, said Taylor Fontenot, 29, a roofing contractor from Sugar Land, Texas, and founder of 50 Star SAR, a volunteer search and rescue organization. Theres people going through their neighbors (destroyed) houses to try to find some jelly for the sandwiches for the kids, said Russ Montgomery, a volunteer with Project Greenlight from San Antonio, Texas. In door-to-door searches, teams comprised mostly of off-duty police officers and firefighters have found more than 520 of the 2,100 people reported missing since Michael crashed ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida, on Oct. 10 as one of the most powerful storms in U.S. history. A lack of food and water is among the most pressing issues for people reeling from the storm, said one volunteer who had been working in the Panama City area. Rescue teams, hampered by power and telephone outages, used cadaver dogs, drones and heavy equipment to hunt for people in the rubble. Fontenot, who said he alerts authorities when he finds corpses, has a cadaver dog with his group. When we pulled into Mexico Beach, she was trying to jump out the window because she smelled so many bodies, he said. More than 1,700 search and rescue workers were deployed, including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300 ambulances, Florida Governor Rick Scotts office said. Electricity and phone service were being slowly restored, but it could be weeks before power is restored to the most damaged areas. In Callaway, Florida, an especially hard-hit town, volunteers barbecued hamburgers on Oct. 13 and handed out water. Im homeless, said nursing assistant Carla Covington, 45, who is caring for her mother and two children after their house was destroyed by falling trees. She said it felt good to receive comfort, but was also hard. Im used to helping people and not asking for help, she said, her voice breaking with emotion. Panama City port worker Josh Jackson, 29, had three cars damaged. The rented home he lived in with his girlfriend and son was wrecked, as were their possessions. I lost everything so I got to start over, he said near a tent in a parking lot where a Geico insurance agent was taking claims. Jackson said he plans to move, but was concerned that delays processing his insurance claim might hold him up. Michael ripped most of two walls out from the red-brick St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Panama City, but parishioners spent Oct. 13 handing out food, water, and clothes to others. Our whole city was hit. There has got be a way it can recover, said Jo Ann Sutter, 73, a volunteer who was married in the church. We will. Montgomery recalled passing a line of collapsed homes and seeing a woman sitting on a folding chair, smiling and waving even though her entire house had vanished. To have just that American fighting way to sit there and go, You know what? I cant do anything about it right now and have a big smile on her face because shes in her home. Even though that home is not there. By Rod Nickel Korean Air Chief Indicted on Embezzlement, Other Charges: Prosecutors SEOULKorean Air Lines Co Ltd Chairman Cho Yang-ho was indicted on Oct. 15, on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust, South Korean prosecutors said, adding to a string of woes at the countrys biggest airline group. Cho is the latest head of a big business group, or chaebol, to face legal challenges in South Korea since President Moon Jae-in took office in 2017 with a pledge to curb the excessive power of family-owned conglomerates and improve their governance. Earlier this month, an appeals court found the chairman of retail-to-chemicals conglomerate Lotte Group, Shin Dong-bin, guilty of charges including bribery and breach of trust for his role in an influence-peddling scandal that led to the ouster of the countrys former president, Park Geun-hye. Samsung Groups de facto leader, Jay Y. Lee, was also convicted of corruption in the same bribery scandal. Both Lee and Shin are currently awaiting rulings from the countrys top court after their jail terms were suspended by a lower court. A Seoul prosecutors office on Monday said Cho took 19.6 billion won ($17 million) commission from 2003 through 2018 by setting up a trading company to broker aircraft equipment and in-flight duty-free goods purchase deals for Korean Air, causing the same amount of loss to the airline. Korean Air declined to comment and did not make Cho available for comment. Also on Monday, Emily Cho, the chairmans youngest daughter, was cleared of all charges related to her allegedly throwing a drink at two business meeting attendees in April, because the attendees did not want to press charges, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors office said. That incident re-ignited public resentment toward the perceived unchecked behavior of some chaebol family members, leading to investigations of alleged wrongdoing by other family members. Chairman Chos elder daughter, Heather Cho, was jailed in 2014 for demanding a Korean Airlines plane return to its gate at a New York airport due to the way she was served nuts in first class. Shares in Korean Air fell 0.6 percent on Monday, while its parent Hanjin Kal Corp, in which chairman Cho has a 17.84 percent stake, lost 2 percent. by Heekyong Yang Two men walk in front of the Supreme Court on the first day that Justice Brett Kavanaugh will hear oral arguments in Washington, DC on October 9, 2018. The recent confirmation hearing of Justice Kavanaugh was messy perhaps because the procedures and processes for such hearings are not clear. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images) Legal Lessons From the Kavanaugh Confirmation News Analysis While the dust hasnt yet settled, Justice Brett Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court, and it is time to draw some lessons about the law and about the American legal system from the national soap opera that the United States just experienced. The charge that almost derailed the 53-year-old Kavanaughs confirmation related to his high school years. Christine Blasey Ford claimed that he had sexually assaulted her when he was 17 and she was 15. According to Ford, Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed, groped her, tried to pull off her clothes, and covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream. She said that she thought he was trying to rape her. Kavanaugh vehemently denied the charges, and the rest of America watched it all unfold. The hearings were particularly messy because the procedure wasnt clear. Law is about process and procedure. In addition to laws that lay out the elements of crimes or civil causes of action, rules of evidence, civil procedure, and criminal procedure are designed to make certain that all parties are treated fairly. There is a starting assumption (presumption of innocence), a burden of proof for the plaintiff in a civil case (preponderance of the evidence), or the prosecution in a criminal case (beyond a reasonable doubt), and standards of review for appeals. Unfortunately, none of these rules directly applies to judicial confirmations. A Disqualifying Event? Under the U.S. Constitution, the Senate has the power of advice and consent for judicial nominations. What does that mean? What right does the nominee have? Should Kavanaugh have been presumed innocent until proven guilty? If he had to be proven guilty, would it be by the civil standard or the criminal standard? With no such rules in place, its no wonder that there was so much confusion, drama, and unfairness. The first question that should have been addressed was, whether, if true, the high school event was disqualifying? Perhaps the answer is so obviously yes that no one felt it needed to be discussed, and in the heat of the debate, perhaps few would have been willing to argue that such a charge wasnt disqualifying. It seems, however, that it would have at least been worth mentioning. Now that the hearing is over, its an issue that calls out to be explored. Ford testified that she thought Kavanaugh was going to rape her, and many have argued that he committed the crime of attempted rape. That would seem to be a disqualifying charge, but had she gone to a prosecutor the very next day, and had the prosecutor believed her and decided to press the case, an attempted rape conviction would be very unlikely. Attempt (of any crime) is an inchoate crime. In other words, the crime is something that hasnt yet taken place. Its very hard to convict a defendant of attempt unless he or she was very close to completion of the crime when it was stopped. In one case, the court congratulated the good police work of stopping some apparent bank robbers. The men were carrying guns up to the bank but hadnt yet entered it. Unfortunately, the court explained, the suspects had been stopped before they had committed attempt. The attempt charge was dismissed because there was still a chance they would call it off. In the Kavanaugh/Ford matter, it seems reasonable that a 15-year-old girl would fear that she was being raped. It shouldnt have happened, but it seems that the event was stopped well before even a zealous prosecutor could prove attempted rape. There were too many possible stopping points along the way. In all likelihood, the most serious crime for which Fords assailant would have been convicted is simple assault, and its unlikely that there would have been any incarceration associated with it. Should a simple assault conviction be held against a 17-year-old boy 36 years later? Presumably, he would have been tried as a juvenile. Cases like that are often conducted under seal. That is usually for the victims benefit, but it means that the publics interest is outweighed by other considerations. Even if this case werent kept confidential, juvenile crimes are routinely expunged. We do that because we dont think a juvenile indiscretion, even a serious one, should haunt a person throughout his or her life. Had Kavanaugh been convicted, his subsequent behavior would be very relevant in assessing whether he would obtain an expungement. Often such questions turn on whether the party has gotten a job or passed the high school equivalency exam. By any normal usual standard, Kavanaughs subsequent record would qualify for expungement of a simple assault conviction. This society believes in redemption and second chances. Thus, we rarely hold teenage indiscretions (even convictions) against people after a decade or more of good behavior. An additional point to consider is that if Ford is correct, the assailant was a 17-year-old boy who was drunk. Adults arent forgiven for their transgressions just because they were intoxicated, but juveniles are in a different category. Based on Fords testimony, both she and the assailant obtained beer while in high school. That reflects a failure on the part of adults who were supposed to keep alcohol away from children. For all we know, this was the first time that the 17-year old boy drank beer. While not releasing him from all culpability, it would be relevant in deciding on punishment and on expungement. Cross-Examination A different lesson from these hearings relates to the importance of cross-examination. The Bill of Rights promises criminal defendants the right to confront witnesses against them. That means they have the right to test the validity of accusations made by their accusers. That is an indispensable right. Cross-examination permits a party to test the witnesss perception, memory, bias, character, and more. When Fords letter first came out, many protesters adopted the we believe her line before she had testified or been cross-examined. Frankly, that is an unreasonable position. Its probably true that the testimony of victims too often has been discounted. That probably flows from the American dedication to Blackstones formulation: It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. We may or may not want to re-think that proposition, but if a corrective is necessary, it shouldnt involve ignoring the testimony of the accused. Both parties must be heard and be cross-examined. Only then, can a just society reach a reasoned decision. This wasnt a happy event in American history. The process wasnt fair to the Kavanaughs or to Ford. She apparently wanted to send a private letter but someone leaked it. It also seems that her representatives failed to tell her about the committees offer to come to her. They certainly seem not to have prepared her well for cross-examination. One final lesson about law from this affair: There is value in finality. At some point, the case is over, the appeal is done, and people learn to live with the result. If changes need to be made, the voting booth and the legislative process are the best available avenues. Regardless of ones perception of the result of the Kavanaugh hearing, there is a need to review and perhaps revise the procedures and processes for confirmation hearings in the future. 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. "She always was a very good listener and always a good presence," Vanessa Morrison, the assistant director at the Franklin Park Public Library, said of Gurski. "With the knitting [group], she would listen to them and what they wanted to do." Workmen are pictured on site at the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 1, 2015. (Olivia Harris/Reuters) New Book Reveals Untold Details of 1MDB Scandal, the Rise and Fall of Jho Low 'Billion Dollar Whale' Sold Out Across Malaysia Since its release last month, Billion Dollar Whalethe latest expose on Malaysian national Jho Lows involvement in the elaborate One Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) money-laundering scandalhas sold out across major bookstore chains in Malaysia. The non-fiction investigative thriller, penned by Wall Street Journal reporters Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, details the rise and fall of Low Taek Jho, the Malaysian mastermind allegedly behind what has been dubbed one of the largest financial heists in history. The book reveals untold details of the financial scandal that allegedly left $4.5 billion missing from the 1MDB state investment fund. In an interview with portal Coconuts.co in September, co-author Wright described Low as the puppet master in the scandal. Jho Low was really the only character who had a 360 (degree) view of what was going on, Wright said. The @WSJ's @TomWrightAsia sat down with us to talk about his new book @BillionDlrWhale, a fast, funny and ultimately sobering read that underscores the complicity of financial institutions in the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scam. https://t.co/TPx37Y9gac #billiondollarwhale #1MDB Coconuts (@coconutsdotco) September 17, 2018 But in a statement on his official website, Low last month described the book as guilt-by-lifestyle and trial-by-media at its worst. He added that he wants to tell the true story of 1MDB, calling the allegations unfair. He wrote: With hindsight I may have done things differently, like any young person, but any mistakes I made do not amount to the sweepingly broad and destructive allegations being made against me. The Penang-born fugitive businessman has reportedly attempted to halt distribution of the book worldwide. A report published by The Guardian said lawyers representing Low in the London-based law firm Schillings had distributed aggressive letters to bookstores globally. Following their legal campaign, distribution of the book has been effectively blocked in Britain. Najib Continues to Deny Money-Laundering Charges Amid a wave of corruption charges linked to 1MDB, former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was ousted from power in Mays shock general elections after police discovered and seized stashes of luxury items, including 284 designer handbags and cash from his home. In August, Najib was charged with three counts of money laundering breaches linked to the state-owned investment fund, which he founded in 2009. In an interview with the Financial Times on Oct. 11, Najib denied all charges made against him of money laundering, criminal breach of trust, and abuse of power but acknowledged that $700 million had been deposited into his personal bank account. The money was basically from the Saudis and it was used for election purposes, he said. I am on record to say that I dont condone any wrongdoings I had no intention of spending it in a lavish way. The 1MDB Chronicles Episode 1: THE DONATION MUST WATCH!!!The very first episode of "The 1MDB Chronicles: The Great Grandmother of All Scandals" and find out more about THE DONATION with Tony Pua.More episodes coming up very very soon in multiple languages. Watch this space!!Enjoy and don't forget to "SHARE"!! Tony Pua This month, Najibs wife, Rosmah Mansor, was also charged with money laundering and tax evasion. She pleaded not guilty to 17 offences involving 7.1 million ringgit ($1.7 million). According to Wright, the former prime minister, while aware that the troubled state fund was being used as a political slush fund, was not fully in control. I think he was disengaged from the day-to-day processes in a way that Jho Low was not. Jho Low was running the show, Wright said. Currently, Low has outstanding arrest warrants awaiting his return to the country, issued by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and police. Although his official whereabouts are unknown, it is believed he is hiding in China under the possible protection of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Malaysias Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, said on Oct. 11 at the ASEAN Leaders Gathering he believes sabotage within his government could be one of the reasons why Malaysia has not yet succeeded in locating Low. One time, he was in Hong Kong. When we reached Hong Kong, he had flown away already, he said. The veteran leader has set a target of recovering all of the $4.5 billion of funds lost through 1MDB. How Jho Low Stole from 1MDB Billion Dollar Whale tells the story of how 36-year-old social climber Low was able to dupe multiple high-profile businessmen, allegedly organizing the theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB, which was wired into a byzantine labyrinth of bank accounts, offshore companies, and other complex financial structures around the world to fund his lifestyle of obscene luxury and greed. Working with the Malaysian prime minister, he helped create his own sovereign wealth fund which he ran from behind-the-scenes, and with the help of Goldman Sachs they borrowed all this money, co-author Hope told CNN in September. He arranged all these deals where the money was kind of siphoned to the side and thats where he took control of billions of dollars to fund his crazy lifestyle, to do big deals. Among the claims the book details is that Low squandered 1MDB funds to pay A-listers to make appearances at his extravagant parties. He would spend millions per night on alcohol in nightclubs, while funding Hollywoods The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Low also purchased a luxury $250 million yacht named Equanimity. The superyacht arrived at a port in Kuala Lumpurs outskirts in August, after being seized in Indonesia by the U.S. Justice Department in February in connection with the 1MDB probe. Book to Hit the Big Screen Discussions are underway to soon make a Hollywood movie out of the chart-topping book, according to reports. SK Global Ivanhoe Pictures has acquired the book and Malaysias Michelle Yeoh, star of Crazy Rich Asians, has been signed to produce the film adaptation. Were thrilled to be partnering with SK Global to bring the incredible story of Jho Low, a modern-day Gatsby, to the screen, Wright said. Watch Next: Saudi Arabias Red Prince & the Subversion of the West There is more to Saudi Arabia than meets the eye, and a recent purge of Saudi princes and powerful leaders may have cleaned up a network of corruption that had grown forms of control and influence into the West. A general view of the Auckland City skyline in New Zealand on Oct. 20, 2011. (PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images) New Zealand Media Expose Chinese Infiltration in Countrys Surveillance Cameras, Academia New Zealand media recently revealed the extent of Chinas infiltration within the country. In an Oct. 11 report, New Zealand online news website Newsroom uncovered that some government offices were using surveillance cameras developed by Hikvision, whose controlling shareholder belongs to a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Hikvisions surveillance technology has been employed in the large-scale human rights abuses in Xinjiang, where the Chinese regime has sought to clamp down on the mostly Uyghur Muslim population, including through constant state surveillance. Newsroom found that Hikvision security cameras were installed at the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) office in Auckland; used by the Auckland municipal transportation department to monitor traffic; employed by the Tauranga City police to catch criminals; and operated by Whanganui City for license plate recognition. The MBIE office would not confirm that it used the Chinese brand, but Hikvisions cameras were in plain view at the MBIE office reception area, according to The Newsroom. Hikvisions close ties to the Chinese regime and previously reported security vulnerabilities have prompted some governments to shut them out. The companys primary owner is China Electronics Technology HIK Group, which is a subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). That firm was in turn founded by Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Prior to heading Hikvision, its chairman Chen Zongnian had worked for decades at CETC. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed an independent researchers discovery that some models of Hikvision cameras contained a backdoor that would allow a hacker full access to the device. The Department concluded that the cameras were remotely exploitable/low skill level to exploit. Earlier this year, the U.S. government banned federal agencies from procuring equipment from Hikvision and another Chinese security camera manufacturer, Dahua Technology, citing the risk for China to conduct espionage via the devices. U.S. lawmakers are now considering sanctions against Hikvision for their role in assisting Xinjiang authorities to commit human rights violations. In June, media reports revealed that Hikvision had developed an AI-enhanced surveillance system with the capability to recognize ethnic minorities for policing purposes. IPVM, an online news website covering the video surveillance industry, has also documented Hikvisions extensive participation in Xinjiang surveillance systems, through their bids for public projects. After Newsroom reached out to New Zealands Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) about the use of Hikvision cameras, the ministry said it would conduct an audit of its surveillance camera system. We do not see any cause for concern but are looking to undertake an audit of all our CCTV systems. We are working through a national electronic security procurement project that will further clarify controls on specifications and standards, an MBIE spokesperson said. Despite security concerns with Hikvision, the company has grown tremendously in recent years, owning over 21 percent of the global video surveillance equipment market share, according to IHS Markit, a market research firm. Confucius Institutes Meanwhile, media outlet Stuff New Zealand recently revealed the full extent to which Beijing directly funds its Confucius Institute programs in the country. After filing a public information request, Stuff found that in the past three years, New Zealand universities have received $2.3 million NZ dollars ($1.5 million) from China. Duncan Campbell, adjunct teaching fellow at Victoria Universitys School of Language and Cultures, told Stuff that such huge sums are inappropriate when schools should be putting that or more into the proper study of China. He described the funding as outsourcing education on China to the Chinese Communist Party. Victoria Universitys Confucius Institute received more than $360,000 NZ dollars (about $235,000) from Beijing last year, more than half of the programs total budget, $620,000 NZ dollars (about $406,000). Universities themselves also provide some of the funding to their hosted Confucius Institutes, which frequently report back information to the Chinese consulate, according to email correspondence Stuff obtained through the public information act. Stuff cited emails about a forum on Chinas One Belt, One Road initiativea project to establish Beijing-centered trade routes around the worldthat the Auckland University Confucius Institute planned to organize. Because all of New Zealands universities are public, that means New Zealand citizens are effectively paying for China to spread its agenda overseas, according to professor Anne-Marie Brady at Canterbury University. In March 2017, New Zealand signed a memorandum of understanding with China for a partnership in the One Belt, One Road. Kay Matthews, Ontario Business Improvement Area Association executive director announces the province-wide expansion of the Digital Main Street program in Ottawa on Oct. 15, 2018. (Rahul Vaidyanath/The Epoch Times) Ontario Expands Program to Help Main Street Small Businesses Go Digital Digital Main Street provides grants, advice through BIAs, creates ecosystems OTTAWAAfter succeeding in Toronto, Digital Main Street (DMS) is rolling out to the rest of the province, the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA) announced at Shopifys headquarters on Oct. 15. Its Small Business Month in Canada and through a partnership between the Province of Ontario and the OBIAA, DMS will provide grants of $8 million over two years and advise eligible main street businesses on improving online promotion, selling, and operations. It aims to make small business more competitive in todays digital era. Historic main streets are truly the backbone of Ontario, said Kay Matthews, the OBIAAs executive director. Like tech has its thriving ecosystem, main street is developing one too, with business improvement areas (BIAs) and soon-to-be-formed digital service squads. These squads consist of digital tech specialists who will deliver one-on-one assistance to main street businesses. The province-wide rollout has been a year in the making, said Matthews. The most exciting thing about the project is that it is all unique based on what their needs are because not one business is the same as another, Matthews said in an interview. In two years, over 6,000 businesses have been come through DMS in Toronto. In his experience, John Kiru, executive director of the Toronto Association of BIAs, said 20 percent of main street businesses have no clue on how to digitize their operations. Another 20 percent really get it and need no help, and 60 percent make up the mushy middlebrick-and-mortar firms that need some help moving into the digital era. Given how the smartphone has changed the way people shop, bank, and travel, main street business has to change how it caters to them. The last thing a small business wants to see happen is what fate the Swiss watch industry, Sears, and Kodakto name a fewsuffered. They did not change with the times. Kiru said the goal is to create educated individuals in the small business world make sound decisions of who, how, what to purchase on their digital transitionand to stay in business. Getting Going Eligible small businesses will do an assessment that identifies their strengths and weaknesses as a digital operation. They then create a digital transformation plan, undertake eight training modules, and can apply for a grant. Small businesses can get a $2,500 grant to offset the costs of website design, hardware, and additional training. BIAs and municipalities can apply for a $10,000 grant to train and implement digital service squads, to work with their local small businesses. The OBIAA is working with BIAs and municipalities to create partnership clusters. The BIAs can vet service providers for small businesses. In Toronto, students can even get academic credits for working on digital service squads, thus gaining valuable real-world work experience. The program is a big vote of confidence from the province for BIAs, which have been around since 1970. They are set up by geography, representing the local main street as a community and closely tied to the municipality. Ottawa has 18 of them and Toronto has 83. This project will have some longevity. Well be able to add up the metrics and show how our businesses have improved through their reporting with these grants, Matthews said. So were also going to be able to say look at how much this project has actually helped our small businesses increase the economy of the province. Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETBiz (L-R) Mexico's Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, and United States Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer gather for a trilateral meeting at Global Affairs on the final day of the third round of the NAFTA renegotiations in Ottawa, Ontario, on Sept. 27, 2017. (LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images) Pro-Trump Group Spending $1 Million on Ads Boosting NAFTA Replacement A conservative nonprofit is rolling out a $1 million ad campaign on Oct. 14 to push the Congress to approve the United StatesMexicoCanada Agreement (USMCA), the new name for the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The deal includes labor provisions long-sought by Democrats. Combined with Republican support for the president, Congressional approval should be a breeze, but little is certain in the current political climate, according to Curtis Ellis, a senior policy advisor for America First Policies (AFP), the group behind the ad campaign. In the current climate of unbridled resistance and obstruction by Democrats, nothing can be taken for granted, Ellis, who served as a policy adviser to the Trump campaign, said. In a normal world and a normal time, there would be absolutely no dispute over the virtues of the USMCA. It addresses concerns about labor provisions, protection of intellectual property, it encourages manufacturing innovation in the United States. The 30-second television spot touts the USMCA as a better deal for American farmers and a new dawn for American automakers. The ad urges people to call their representatives in Congress and ask them to pass the USMCA. The ad will air on Fox News and Fox Business from Oct. 15 to Nov. 9, according to Alex Titus, a policy adviser for AFP. The Trump administration is negotiating the deal under the fast-track trade-promotion authority, which means only a majority vote is required in the Senate. President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to undo NAFTA, calling it the worst trade deal ever made. The White House negotiated for a revised deal for more than a year before reaching a two-party deal with Mexico that Canada joined hours before the deadline. Trump was aware that the deal might face opposition from Democrats. I then will submit it for approval to Congress where, in theory, there should be no trouble, but anything you submit to Congress is trouble, Trump said on Oct. 1. No matter what. If its the single greatest agreement ever signed, theyll say, Well, you know, Trump likes it, therefore were not going to approve it because that would be good for the Republicans. So, therefore, we cant approve it.' Correction: an earlier version of the article incorrectly stated that USMCA requires approval by the Senate. Trade deals require approval by both chambers of Congress. The Epoch Times regrets the error. Chinese tourists take a "selfie" in front of Church of the Savior on Blood in central St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 4, 2015. (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images) Russian Travel Website Publishes Guide for Chinese Tourists to Avoid Social Faux Pas A top Russian travel website has released a decorum guide for foreign visitors, specifically drawing attention to Chinese tourists proclivity for bad behavior. Tutu.ru, Russias highest-trafficked travel website, published a document in Chinese and Russian with eight tips for Chinese tourists visiting the country, Russian media reported on Oct. 10. Teaching Chinese tourists how to not embarrass themselves in Russia read the headline on Russian news site Lenta.ru. Among the travel tips are Dont touch strangers on the street if they are in your way. Instead, verbally ask them politely to move aside; Do not cut in line; Ask for permission before taking photos of strangers; Dont haggle too much, as it isnt customary in Russia; and After 11 in the evening, please keep your voices low. And Dont go bare-chested in publicit tends to be cold in Russia, so local customs lean toward being fully clothed. What are civil norms or common sense to many often seem to go over Chinese tourists heads. The guide was developed with the help of Russian expats in China and guides working in China and Russia, not specifically for Chinese tourists, but for the Russian hospitality industryso hotels and restaurants can display the tips and help customers avoid embarrassing moments, According to Russian media Business Pskov. Russia has seen an influx of Chinese tourists in recent years. According to 2017 data by TourStat, a tourism statistics agency, China sent the most tourists to Russia after Ukraine and Kazakhstan, with about 552,000 visitors. Popular Chinese travel agency Ctrip also named Russia among a list of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists. Tourist Behavior This kind of bad behavior has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Chinese Communist Partys Cultural Revolution espoused getting rid of the so-called Four Olds, including traditional culture. The abandonment of traditional morality is widely believed to have contributed to todays dearth of civility in China. Russian media have often reported on Chinese tourists committing faux pas while visiting the country. In July, for example, the Siberian Times reported on poor behavior by Chinese tourists who visited Glass Bay, a cliffside beach on the Pacific coastline in Vladivostok City. The beach is known for the weathered and eroded glass pieces resulting from years of people dumping old bottles and jars there. But Chinese tourists began pocketing the glass. Russian magazine Gorod 812 published a story in February, describing Chinese tourists urinating and defecating at storied cultural sites in Russia, such as the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, known to house works by Italian Renaissance painter Simone Martini; and the Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Another article published in May addressed another key problem with Chinese tourists in Russia: tour groups are mostly handled by Chinese tour agencies, so they seldom contribute to Russias local tourism industry. They usually hire Chinese guides and drivers, stay at Chinese-owned hotels, and frequent Chinese-owned shops and restaurants. St. Petersburg tourist industry experts have already stated that travelers from China not only do not bring benefits to the Russian economy, but also actually destroy the tourism industry, reported TourProm, a Russian website covering the tourism industry. Bad behavior by Chinese tourists isnt just limited to Russia. Just last month, three Chinese tourists in Stockholm made headlines for causing a ruckus at a local hostel. They thought they had made a reservation, but, in fact, had booked a room for the following night. When the receptionist informed them that the hostel couldnt accommodate them earlier (the hostel was fully booked), they refused to leave. When local police arrived to take the tourists away, they began shouting and screaming. The problem has become so severe that Chinas National Tourism Administration had to issue a guidebook in 2013, instructing its citizens on social norms overseas. Rules listed include not spitting on the ground, not picking ones nose in public, and tipping properly. Terminally Ill Former Beauty Queen Speaks Out to Fulfill Promise to Trump In early October, conservative women from across the country gathered in Washington D.C. for a summit to voice support for President Donald Trumps America First agenda. One of those women was former Miss Wisconsin USA winner Melissa Young, who was at the event for a very special reason. Just a day earlier, Young, who is terminally ill, was getting a blood transfusion in Wisconsin. But she insisted on traveling to the summit. I promised President Trump that until my last breath, I would speak up about what kind of man he is, Young said. He is the most wonderful man Ive ever met. Young, who was crowned Miss Wisconsin and Miss Congeniality in 2005, suffers from autonomic failure syndrome, an incurable disease. She made headlines in March 2016 after she thanked then-candidate Trump at a rally for his support while she was battling the illness. When he found out I was illthis was years before he announced he was running for presidenthe was sending me letters to the hospital, telling me to be brave, that Im the bravest woman he knows, and to keep fighting, said Young. And what he didnt know is that those letters really saved me, they saved my life because there was someone on the outside saying youve got this. Speechless!!! Thank you so much Mr. Trump. Melissa Young 21 2014 Dear Mr. Trump,As my body is getting weaker, I am unsettled by the fact that I have never been able to directly thank Melissa Young 1 2015 Young previously told The Pageant Planet that her illness was caused by medical negligence when she was pregnant with her first and only child, Jack. The disease slowly shuts down the part of the brain that controls vital functions such as heart rate, digestion, and body temperature until the victim dies. She said Trump, who owned the pageant until 2015, also promised to look after Jack, who is now 10-years-old. My illness was caused by doctors and medical negligence, Young said. And when he found out that I chose forgiveness instead of a payout for that, he said, I will take care of your boy and Ill make sure that hes okay. Jack now has a full-ride to college thanks to Trump and his organizations, Young said at the rally in 2016. The former beauty queen said she felt compelled to tell her story at the rally after seeing the medias portrayal of Trump during the campaign. The media were constantly saying, his alleged treatments toward women, his alleged treatments toward minorities, she said. I happen to be a woman who was in his beauty pageant, and I happen to have a son who is Mexican-American that he took very great care of. She said Trump could have used her story to defend himself, but didnt to protect her privacy. And so I believe it was my job at that time to get out of the hospital and thank him, she said. I think stories like mine, stories of the heart, human interest stories [are the ones] that people dont hear about. Young has since been fulfilling her promise to share her story. The mother said she is also driven to do this for the sake of her 10-year-old. [Its] a message for my son Jack, that whatever it takes, if you have to do the army crawl, you get up and show gratitude, and you speak up for whats right. And this is right. Reporting by Jan Jekielek. If you enjoyed reading this article, please continue to read more stories here. Sign up for our free newsletters here. President Donald Trump speaks before boarding Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on Oct. 15, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) Trump Defends Policies in Wide-Ranging 60 Minutes Interview It seems no stone was left unturned in an all-encompassing interview on CBS 60 Minutes with President Donald Trump, from defending his administrations policies against Russia and North Korea to Saudi Arabias missing journalist case. In the Oct. 14 segment that included some testy exchanges, network reporter Lesley Stahl sat down with Trump for her third such interview with him. Trump was a presidential candidate during their first interview. He was president-elect during the second. In terms of the three interviews, he was completely different, Stahl said, in describing her experience. Hes so much more confident. He is truly president. And you felt it. I felt it in this interview. Trump told Stahl he is tougher on Russia than former President Barack Obama. At one point, he said his predecessor only sent Ukraine pillows and blankets in reference to the 2014 Russian military intervention. Im the one that gave Ukraine offensive weapons and tank killers. Obama didnt. You know what he sent? He sent pillows and blankets, Trump said. He also defended his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, I think Im very tough with him personally. Around the middle point of the segment, Stahl pressed Trump on whether he would pledge not to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, who, for more than a year, has headed a probe into allegations of collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election. I dont pledge anything, Trump said. But I will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think its a very unfair investigation because there was no collusion of any kind. When pressed further on the issue, Trump responded, Why should I pledge to you? If I pledge, Ill pledge. I dont have to pledge to you. The segment also touched upon Trumps relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The president described the progress with Pyongyang as a great achievement so far, adding that he trusts Kim at the moment, but that he could be wrong. On denuclearizing the country Trump admitted its unclear whether the communist regime is still building missiles. He emphasized that he would not be easing sanctions against them, although Kim has asked him to. In the meantime, they havent tested a missile. They havent tested a rocket. They definitely havent done a nuclear test because you know about them real fast, he said. Stahl questioned Trumps friendly relationship with Kim, likening it to an embrace. The president argued that his diplomacy style has reduced the regimes threat. I get along with him really well. I have a good energy with him Trump said. Look at the horrible threats that were made. No more threats. On the mysterious disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump said that if it turns out the Saudis are responsible for the alleged murder, there would be severe punishment. He stressed that at the moment no one is clear what really happened to the Washington Post contributor. Trump said his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had called Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denied any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi. Its being investigated, Trump said. Its being looked at very, very strongly. And we would be very upset and angry if that were the case. As of this moment, they deny it. The president said he was highly tentative about potentially having to issue economic sanctions against Saudi Arabia, saying he doesnt want to hurt American jobs over unverified claims. I tell you what I dont wanna do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these [companies]I dont want to hurt jobs, he said. I dont want to lose an order like that. There are other ways of punishing, to use a wordthats a pretty harsh word, but its true. With regard to China, the president said that there might be more tariffs in the future, before saying that he doesnt want to push the Chinese economy into depression. The Trump administration has already imposed $250 billion in tariffs on the Bejing regime. I want them to negotiate a fair deal with us. I want them to open their markets, like our markets are open, he said. We cannot continue to have China take $500 billion a year out of the United States in the form of trade and others things. Trump Sends Pompeo to Saudi Arabia as King Denies Involvement in Columnists Disappearance President Donald Trump dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 15 after speaking with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who told the president he has no knowledge of what happened to missing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. I asked the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to immediately get on a plane, go to Saudi Arabia, go to other places if necessary, which he probably will, with regards to thisgo to Turkey if necessary. The King told me Turkey and Saudi Arabia are working hand-in-hand very closely on getting to the bottom of what happened, so well see what happened, Trump said outside the White House on Oct. 15. We are going to leave nothing uncovered, he added. With that being said, the king firmly denies any knowledge of it. He didnt really know, maybeI dont want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers, who knows? King Salman ordered an internal probe on Oct. 15 into Khashoggi, who allegedly was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Khashoggi is a U.S. resident and a columnist for The Washington Post. Several media outlets have cited anonymous sources claiming that Khashoggi was murdered at the consulate. The Epoch Times could not independently verify the claims. The only named source for some of the claims is Khaled Saffuri, an associate of Abdurahman Alamoudi, who is serving a 17-year sentence in a U.S. federal prison for plotting to kill a Saudi crown prince. Khashoggi joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s, according to The Spectator. Canada, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, among other nations, consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Last week, Turkey accepted a Saudi proposal to cooperate to find out what happened to Khashoggi. The King has ordered the Public Prosecutor to open an internal investigation into the Khashoggi matter based on the info from the joint team in Istanbul, a Saudi official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said. The official said that the Saudi public prosecutor was instructed to work quickly. King Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Oct. 14 and stressed the importance of the two countries creating a joint group as part of the probe. Trump had previously urged a credible investigation of the disappearance and threatened that severe punishment would befall those responsible. Western leaders echoed the presidents calls for a probe. Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman said Oct. 15 that Britain expects a complete and detailed response to questions over Khashoggis disappearance. Trump told reporters that the king is clear on the importance of an investigation. The world is watching, the world is talking. This is very important to get to the bottom of it. I think he understands that very well, Trump said. Saudi Arabia, the worlds top oil exporter, threatened to retaliate against any economic sanctions with great action. Saudi Arabias importance to Trumps foreign policy agenda became apparent after the president chose the oil-rich nation for his first foreign state visit after taking office. The country is undergoing an unprecedented wave of reforms led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Despite the lack of evidence surrounding Khashoggis disappearance, prominent corporate leaders boycotted a marquee investment conference in Saudi Arabia. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink pulled out of the summit, known as Davos in the Desert. Blackstone and BlackRock planned to open offices in Riyadh. In the meantime, Saudi Arabias Arab allies have rushed to the kingdoms defense. Khashoggi moved to the United States last year, reportedly fearing retribution for his criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed, who carried out a large-scale anti-corruption campaign which included the arrests of dozens of royal family members and top officials. Khashoggi once interviewed Osama bin Laden, the terrorist responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed 3,000 Americans. The Saudi stock market had tumbled 7.2 percent over the previous two trading days but rebounded 2 percent Oct. 15. The Saudi riyal fell to its lowest in two years and its international bond prices slipped over fears that foreign investment inflows could shrink amid international pressure. A pro-government Turkish daily published preliminary evidence last week from investigators who it said had identified a 15-member Saudi intelligence team that arrived in Istanbul on diplomatic passports hours before Khashoggi disappeared. Asked if he had reviewed the purported recording of Khashoggis killing, Trump told reporters on Oct. 13: I have not. Weve all heard a lot about the audio. Nobodys seen it yet, so we do want to see it. Were going to be seeing it very soon. Reuters contributed to this report. Trump Gets Helicopter View of Hurricane-Hit Florida Panhandle EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Floridas storm-ravaged Panhandle on Oct. 15, to get an aerial view of the destruction caused by deadly Hurricane Michael, and said the top priority was food and housing for residents. Trump and first lady Melania Trump were greeted by Governor Rick Scott upon their arrival at Eglin Air Force Base, about 100 miles west of where Michael came ashore last Wednesday as one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall in the continental United States. You know many of these people, they have no homes, Trump said before boarding a helicopter to tour the stricken area in northwestern Florida. Some of them have no trace of a home so our big thing is feeding, water and safety. The Trumps also later planned to visit part of neighboring Georgia that was hit by Michael before they return to the White House on Monday evening, the White House said. Trump, standing beside Scott, a fellow Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 6 congressional elections, said the days biggest objective was just making sure everyone is safe, that theyre fed. Insured losses for wind and storm surge from Hurricane Michael will run between an estimated $6 billion and $10 billion, risk modeler AIR Worldwide said. Those figures do not include losses paid out by the National Flood Insurance Program or uninsured property, AIR Worldwide said. Michael hit the Florida Panhandle with 155 mph winds as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. At least 18 people in four states have died because of the storm. Dozens of people remained missing on Sunday in Florida Panhandle communities left in ruins. Rescuers said they expected the death toll to rise and they were using cadaver dogs and heavy equipment to search collapsed homes in small towns such as Mexico Beach and Panama City for more victims. A Miracle Rescue efforts have been hampered by blocked roads and huge piles of rubble in many communities such as Mexico Beach, which took a direct hit from the massive storm that killed at least one person there. If we lose only one life, to me thats going to be a miracle, Al Cathey, mayor of Mexico Beach, a town of about 1,000, told Florida media. Cathey said 46 people who had not evacuated remained unaccounted for on Sunday. The Florida Division of Emergency Management said that while power was returning in most areas, at least 85 percent of customers in four mainly rural counties in the Florida Panhandle were without electricity on Monday. Officials said it could be weeks before power returns to the most damaged areas. More than 1,700 search-and-rescue workers were deployed, Scotts office said, including seven swift-water rescue teams and nearly 300 ambulances. In Panama City, Fire Chief Alex Baird said search-and-rescue teams were now in recovery mode after largely giving up hope of finding any more survivors. Trump is fully committed to helping state and local agencies with the recovery, the White House said. It was announced late on Sunday that he declared a state of emergency in Georgia, freeing up federal resources for the state. A similar declaration had already been made for Florida. Trump last month visited North and South Carolina after they were hit by Hurricane Florence. By Steve Holland Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX reacts to Sen. Jeff Flake's R-AZ remarks during Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to vote on the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.in Washington, U.S., September 28, 2018. (/Mary F. Calvert/Reuters) US Senators Urge India to Soften Data Localization Stance NEW DELHITwo U.S. senators have called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to soften Indias stance on data localization, warning that measures requiring it represent key trade barriers between the two nations. In a letter to Modi dated Friday and seen by Reuters, U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Mark Warnerco-chairs of the Senates India caucus that comprises over 30 senatorsurged India to instead adopt a light touch regulatory framework that would allow data to flow freely across borders. The letter comes as relations between Washington and New Delhi are strained over multiple issues, including an Indo-Russian defense contract, Indias new tariffs on electronics and other items, and its moves to buy oil from Iran despite upcoming U.S. sanctions. Global payments companies including Mastercard, Visa, and American Express have been lobbying Indias finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India to relax proposed rules that require all payment data on domestic transactions in India be stored inside the country by October 15. The letter is most likely a last-ditch effort after the RBI told officials at top payment firms this week that the central bank would implement, in full, its data localization directive without extending the deadline, or allowing data to be stored both offshore as well as locallya practice known as data mirroring. We see this (data localization) as a fundamental issue to the further development of digital trade and one that is crucial to our economic partnership, the U.S. senators said in the letter that has not been previously reported. Modis office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Localization Push Other than the RBI proposal, India is working on an overarching data protection law that calls for storing all critical personal data in India. E-commerce and cloud computing policies are also being developed. The letter also raised concerns on the draft data protection bill and e-commerce policy framework that called for stringent localization measures. These measures have unnerved some tech companies who fear it will increase their infrastructure costs, hit their global fraud detection analytic platforms and affect planned investments in India at a time when more and more Indians are going online and using digital payments. U.S. lobby groups, that represent companies such as Facebook Inc, Amazon.com and Alphabet Inc-owned Google, have also voiced concerns about the proposals. Shamika Ravi, a member of Modis economic advisory council, had earlier told Reuters that the moves were in the long-term strategic and economic interest of the country. The senators added that any concerns related to protection and security as well as access to data for lawful purposes were possible without restrictions on physical location, according to the letter. By Suvashree Choudhury Without Captions, Warnings About Hurricane Michael Failed to Reach Disabled When Oscar-winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin turned to the internet to view a video warning about Hurricane Michael, she was quickly reminded that sign language interpreters are often edited out of broadcast clips and closed captioning seems to be non-existent online. There are 35 million deaf and hard of hearing people and its amazing today that there isnt full access to them, she told Reuters through an interpreter on Friday in a telephone interview. Matlin drew attention to emergency communication glitches with disabled people earlier in the week, when she tweeted on Tuesday about the Weather Companys failure to include closed captioning in reports about the approaching storm. Dear @weatherchannel I wanted to share this video for the thousands of Deaf and Hard Of Hearing residents in the path of #HurricaneMichael but unfortunately, its NOT closed captioned. Access to info is VITAL; its a life or death matter. Thank you, Matlin wrote. Matlin posted a link to a video produced by the Weather Company, which includes the Weather Channel logo on its website but is separate from the television network. Emergency notifications about troubles ranging from life-threatening tornadoes to New York City subway delays fail to reach Americans with hearing loss because of the failure to integrate closed captioning on public address systems, she noted. Theres not so many of you, so its not so important for us. Thats the way we feel, Matlin said. Everything is migrating to the internet. Its breaking news and you bring up the website video and its just the clips. There is no captioning. Even when officials include signers at their news conferences, viewers trying to catch up to the news online later are unable to see them in edited video clips, she said. When they show the mayor or the sheriff, there is always an interpreter next to them, but they show a clip and then it goes away, Matlin said. Warning and evacuating people with physical limitations from a fast-moving hurricane requires extraordinary efforts, advocates and state officials said on Friday. Many disabled people are low income, rely on public transportation and cannot afford private transport or temporary lodging. Those with physical limitations have difficulty with storm preparation like boarding up homes and storing water bottles. The more time they have to prepare for a storm the better, but Hurricane Michaels rapid intensification left thousands with no escape. The New England Journal of Medicine found interruption of medical care was a leading cause of the 3,000 deaths from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Ahead of Hurricane Michael, medical treatments for chronic illnesses including diabetes, asthma, and hypertension were sent in hurricane-specific modules to primary care health centers near the storms path, said Andrew Schroeder, research and analytics director for the non-profit organization Direct Relief. Each emergency medical pack contained enough medicine to treat 100 patients for 72 hours, he said. It remains to be seen if those modules have helped, President of Florida Association of Community Health Centers Andrew Behrman said, because many of the health centers in the storms path lost power and were directing patients to shelters. Theres damage to a number of those facilities and one of them, the roof is gone, so whatever was inside of that is not going to be usable, he said. Floridas Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD), which serves about 3,000 developmentally disabled people affected by Michael, holds conference calls twice a day to check in with people during emergencies, said spokeswoman Melanie Etters. But without phone service, disabled people have no way to get in touch with specialists or authorities. We had to move quickly and start communicating with people rapidly to make sure people were taking action because it was moving so fast toward the coast, she said. BRIDGEPORT Susan Bysiewicz was promised more than just one vote for the statewide Democratic ticket when she met Mugsy Pettway while campaigning Monday at Gala Foods Supermarket on the East Side. I got one of the biggest families in Bridgeport, Pettway boasted to the candidate for lieutenant governor. Bysiewicz, gubernatorial contender Ned Lamont and their allies need as many votes in Bridgeport as they can get and they appear to know it. Lamont made appearances in Bridgeport over the weekend and was back Monday morning for a health care roundtable with Mayor Joe Ganim, whom the Greenwich millionaire defeated in their partys August primary. Ganim was supposed to campaign with Bysiewicz on the East Side on Monday, but did not make it to Gala Foods. Av Harris, a mayoral aide, said there is no question that Ganim has put the primary battle behind him and is committed to helping Lamont and Bysiewicz win. The mayor, for example, during a recent appearance on Channel 3s Face the State political program, promoted Lamonts candidacy and said he will be helping to get out the vote. Bridgeport, Connecticuts largest city, helped retiring Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy win close races in 2010 and 2014. Weve got to turn out as many votes out of Bridgeport as we can, Harris said. I think were working together seamlessly in a very robust partnership. Marc Bradley, Lamonts campaign manager, visited the city recently to talk strategy with Democratic Town Chairman Mario Testa. And Bysiewicz had lunch with Testa Monday at his Italian restaurant, Testos. We listen to what he has to say because he speaks to a lot of his customers and is town chairman of a city that has made a difference in the last two governors elections, Bysiewicz said. This years battle between Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski is expected to be close in part because of Malloys unpopularity. Meanwhile, Lamont has sought to tie Stefanowski to divisive Republican President Donald Trump. So how did Testa advise Bysiewicz while they dined together Monday? He said people are still undecided. And Ned and I know that, Bysiewicz said, adding, Were here because we dont take anything for granted. Based on several interviews for this story, Team Lamont still has plenty of work to do to increase voter enthusiasm in Bridgeport. Steven Auerbach, a town committee member and city employee who volunteered for Ganims gubernatorial campaign, said he is too busy at his day job to be closely involved in Lamonts effort, but recognizes the need to elect a Democrat. Im not out there banging on doors, Auerbach said. I do not know him (Lamont) personally. I will vote. And thats all I can do. East End political leader Ralph Ford did not expect Lamont to perform as well in Bridgeport on Election Day as Malloy had. You know, we havent seen him (Lamont) much here in the black community or the East End, Ford said. He hasnt called and said, Look, I need your help. That was one of Ganims criticisms of Lamont during the primary that he, as a big city mayor, was a better candidate because he is more comfortable walking through urban neighborhoods. One Lamont supporter from Bridgeport who wished to remain anonymous said, The (citys Democratic) organization doesnt seem to be churning, and thats very concerning. I think in Bridgeport theres a little bit of political exhaustion from some after the Ganim campaign. What Im seeing is just people not motivated. Another challenge for Lamont and Bysiewicz is to get Bridgeports various political factions to work together on their behalf. During the primary, Lamont received strong support from state Sen. Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport, who takes pride in not being close to Testa and is a potential opponent for Ganim in next years mayoral race. Ned is trying to mend bridges and make sure were all on one page, Moore said. This is much bigger than me and this is much bigger than Ganim. We all have to be on board. Everybody needs to push this stuff aside. Christine Bartlett-Josie of New Haven, who worked for Ganim in City Hall and is now managing Shawn Woodens campaign for state treasurer, recently returned to Bridgeport to talk voter turnout efforts for the entire Lamont ticket with Testa and Democratic neighborhood leaders. Theres all these factions. But at the end of the day, like I told everybody, put your factions aside. Whats our goal here? A Democratic governor, Bartlett-Josie recalled. Everybody was all in from what I gathered. Honestly, it was all good. There is a big push to make sure there is a robust turnout among the citys Hispanic community. Dennis Bradley, a candidate for state Senate, joined Bysiewicz at Gala Foods on Monday as did City Clerk Lydia Martinez. And state Rep. Christopher Rosario and City Council President Aidee Nieves have made prior public appearances with Bysiewicz and Lamont. At the end of the day, good, bad or indifferent, Neds our horse. The people chose him, Rosario said. (But) I still think theres a bit of bad blood locally. You have separate camps vying for Neds ear on how his operation should look in the city and what Neds administration should look like if he should win. Nieves, who only recently met Lamont, said the campaign needs more boots on the ground in Bridgeport. Martinez agreed, but added she believes city Democrats will turn out for Team Lamont, even if just to oppose having a Republican for governor who would be friendly toward Trump. Were up in arms with Trump, Martinez said. 3 1 of 3 Contributed Photo / Keelin Daly Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Ned Gerard / Ned Gerard Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Two of Connecticuts former top federal prosecutors will be discussing the ongoing investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Kevin J. OConnor and Deirdre Daly will discuss the probe beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the University of St. Joseph on 1678 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford. The discussion will be moderated by Nikos Valance, the schools director of the Criminal and Restorative Justice program. The talk will take place in the Crystal Room at Mercy Hall. Let's talk women entrepreneurs and money. Specifically, women entrepreneurs wanting to make money. It may seem like a given, that if you start a business one of your top priorities will be to earn money. However, many women entrepreneurs have a tendency to sidestep the issue of money. Actually aiming to be rich -- and vocalizing it -- is often a failed social experiment if you happen to be female. Ambition of any kind -- including financial -- is deemed an unlikable trait in women (though an admirable trait in men) and even though gender parity and overcoming the wage gap have become popular topics of conversation in the Time's Up era, too often women are faulted for having money goals. Related: My Female-Led Company Raised $6.25 Million in 2.5 Years. Here's How We Did It. Luckily, some fierce females are leading the pack when it comes to unabashedly seeking the power that comes with wealth, essentially rebranding what it looks like to be female with money ambitions. Here are three (priceless) lessons you can learn from them: 1. Don't prioritize passion over pay. Author Jessica Knoll pulled no punches in her fierce New York Times piece "I Want to Be Rich and I'm Not Sorry," boldly declaring: "I want to make the kind of money that allows me to jet to Mexico on a Tuesday, to meaningfully contribute to nasty politicians, to afford a shark of a lawyer if any man ever lays a finger on me again." To Knoll, financial success is the key to autonomy. She makes it clear that it's not enough for her to be a published writer; her goal is the freedom that comes with having money -- and lots of it. Money is power, and Knoll is intent on using her writing talent to attain much of both. She's quick to add: "If anyone calls that obnoxious, I want to do what men do, and shrug." Women entrepreneurs are often said -- more so than men -- to be pursuing their "passion" projects. Double standard aside, there is nothing wrong with turning your passion into a business and certainly nothing amiss about following your dreams, though prioritizing passion over pay is a mistake. Having money gives you the power to make choices -- where to live, what doctor to see, what charity to support -- and having the means and ability to make these kinds of decisions should not be underestimated. Not prioritizing passion over pay doesn't mean quitting what you love. If you're a baker with a pie business, don't stop baking pies and bore yourself silly taking up accounting. But, do spend some time doing research and planning how to monetize your business. Pursuing your passion is equally as important as being financially secure. Related: 3 Simple and Essential Money Lessons for Women Entrepreneurs 2. Know your worth -- and make sure everyone else does, too. Writer-producer Shonda Rhimes signed a nine-figure deal with Netflix last year, leaving ABC, home of her breakout series Grey's Anatomy. When Rhimes started taking meetings with Netflix, she had a lot to boast about. Her ABC shows were so popular (and profitable) that ABC gave her an entire night of primetime TV -- a Thursday night lineup known as TGIT -- that included her Shondaland shows Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and Grey's Anatomy, which after 14 seasons remains one of ABC's top dramas (it currently ranks number two). Despite Rhimes' massive success at ABC, where she created a multibillion-dollar empire, her nine-figure Netflix deal wasn't just handed to her. Rhimes says: "As a woman, what I know is you can't approach anything from a point of view of 'I don't deserve' or 'I'm not going to ask for because I don't want other people to get upset.' And I know for a fact that when men go into these negotiations, they go in hard and ask for the world." If you're an entrepreneur who offers a service -- such as web design, social media marketing or copywriting -- odds are you've had clients offer to pay you less than you charge (and substantially less than you're worth). People figure that since you own your own business, there's no fee set in stone, like there would be at a larger corporation. They also figure -- especially if you're just starting out -- that they can take advantage by asking for endless revisions and refusing to pay until they've gotten 10 times the work you had originally agreed upon. So, how do you balance your own literal and figurative self-worth with your very real need to pay rent and afford groceries? Protect yourself by being very specific in your contracts. Specify, for instance, that your fee includes three revisions so your clients can't refuse to pay you until you give them 30. Require half your fee up front and the other half upon project's completion. You may have to say yes to projects below your pay grade in the beginning, until you're more well-established, but by putting safeguards in place to protect yourself from being taken advantage of, you are establishing your worth -- and no one can take that away with you. Rhimes didn't start Grey's Anatomy with anywhere close to a nine-figure salary, but there's no doubt she knew she was talented and knew what her writing was worth. Her confidence kept her going until ABC, Netflix and everyone else could see her value. As Rhimes says, "Decide what you think you're worth and then ask for what you think you're worth. Nobody's just going to give it to you." Related: Why Do Smart, Successful Women Keep Making These Financial Planning Mistakes? 3. Use your money to give back, but don't give it all away. Sylvia Acevedo, CEO of the Girl Scouts and bona fide rocket scientist, is determined to teach girls of all ages that it's possible to make money and do good at the same time. Making money, Acevedo says, helps you "create your own opportunity." The Girl Scout Cookie Program teaches girls how to budget for what they want -- such as taking a trip to a science camp and donating to an animal shelter -- and in the process of dolling out Tagalongs, girls learn the power of earning money. They also learn that making money and doing good are not mutually exclusive. Which is a powerful lesson for women to learn as well, especially since they're more likely than men to want to use their earnings to help others. The Girl Scout model of money earning -- balancing what you make between enriching your own life and helping those in need -- is a great method to follow because it teaches women that it's OK for money to be a means to more than philanthropy. Women are socialized to be more empathetic than men, and while empathy is beautiful, noble and even life-changing, it's also wrapped up in the notion that women's needs are secondary to everyone else's. So, if you're an entrepreneur considering donating a portion of your funds to a charitable cause, that's amazing (and smart -- millennials prefer to buy from companies that give back) but just remember that, in a world where women make less money than men (yet live longer) it's prudent to also look out for your own financial needs. Related: 3 Priceless Money Lessons for Women Entrepreneurs Term Loans vs. Lines of Credit: Which One Is Right for Your Business? Challenges Fintech Companies Face While Expanding to Rural India Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved The terrorist is expressionless as he arrives at a camp full of trusting and cheerful teenagers. Dressed as a police officer and bearing an arsenal of firearms, he proceeds to slaughter dozens. Some victims, cowering in fear, are tricked by his instructions and get executed lying face down. Others get shot in the back as they flee for safety. The terrorist himself meekly surrenders to the security forces who eventually corner him, receiving the clemency he refused to give others. The terrorist in question is Anders Behring Breivik, who carried out the bloodiest massacre in modern Norwegian history on July 22, 2011. Breivik detonated a car bomb in a government complex in Oslo and then proceeded to the island of Utoya, where members of the youth wing of Norway's center-left Labour Party had gathered for a retreat. His rampage led to 77 deaths. The massacre is the subject of a film by acclaimed British director Paul Greengrass that was released last week. "22 July" offers an unflinching account of the attacks and then delves into what followed - a court case that tested Norway's legal system and its patience, as an unrepentant hate-filled murderer was allowed to take the stand and revel in his crimes. Breivik's actions were seen as those of a deranged, far-right lone wolf. A manifesto that he circulated before embarking on the killing spree railed against immigration, multiculturalism and the supposed Marxism of the political establishment, quoting various members of the fringe far-right in Europe and the United States. He styled himself as a crusading warrior of the Knights Templar and boasted of a network of comrades ready to take up arms alongside him - though investigators never found much evidence of any such fellow travelers. But seven years later, Breivik no longer seems so isolated. Across Scandinavia, Europe and even the United States, far-right, anti-immigrant politics are ascendant. Speaking to us, Greengrass said Breivik's "intellectual worldview has migrated" closer to the political center. "We can test the extent we should be disturbed by the extent to which you can see Breivik's manifesto come into the mainstream," Greengrass said in an interview last week while visiting Washington. With President Donald Trump and others railing against "globalists," immigrants and liberals, the suggestion is that we should be very disturbed, indeed. Greengrass has made a veritable canon of films that dwell on political violence and terrorism, from Irish sectarianism to Somali piracy. He links "22 July" to his 2006 movie "United 93," which recounts the events aboard a passenger jet seized by al-Qaida hijackers on 9/11. Passengers fought back against the terrorists who had taken over the plane, which ultimately crashed in a wooded clearing in Pennsylvania. Both the Islamist militants and Breivik were engaged in "a revolt against globalization," said Greengrass. While Breivik hardly represents all far-right populists, the filmmaker argued there is a segment of the movement that is "starting to use language and espouse beliefs that are no longer compatible with democratic norms." Breivik's manifesto - though, thankfully, not yet his actions - offer a window into the real peril facing liberal democracy. "We are in the early stages of an ideological struggle for an open or closed world," Greengrass said. At an event marking the film's release in Washington, Greengrass spoke alongside a number of former government officials and experts in right-wing radicalization. They argued the film ought to make the Trump administration's moves to stoke ultranationalist politics in America - as well as cut funding from federal programs aimed at tackling far-right domestic terrorism - all the more alarming. Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA director in the George W. Bush administration, warned that the "line of discourse has shifted" in the United States in worrying fashion. He said while European countries may be able to reach back to a more ethnocentric past, the United States is built on pluralism. "If we no longer embrace the concepts" upon which the United States was founded "and turn instead to the politics of blood and soil, then the impact may be far greater and more destructive," Hayden said. Newsweek tweeted "Trump-supporting 'Proud Boys' group will be investigated by New York hate crimes unit after violence in Manhattan" In the United States and Europe, such entreaties have fallen on deaf ears. Voters - irked by feelings of cultural resentment and deepening social inequity - have opted for parties on the extremes and aren't bothered by the scolding of establishment voices. Greengrass describes what he deems the "populist insurgency" raging in the West "like seeing a storm blow over buildings." The question is whether the existing structures can withstand the assault. Centrist politicians are being chastened or defeated in elections across the continent. Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian prime minister during Breivik's massacre and a heroic figure in "22 July," was drummed out of power in 2013. He's now the secretary general of NATO, the military alliance widely disliked by the West's populists. The dramatic tension in Greengrass's film hinges on Norway's ability to confront Breivik's deeds and beliefs. "They showed great courage and wisdom to take the hard road and uphold the rule of law," said Greengrass. We see the powerful moment when youthful survivors of Breivik's attack on Utoya speak before him in the courtroom. "What they did was come into that court and confront him - some morally, some intellectually, some emotionally - and collectively they defeated him," said Greengrass. Breivik's life is now forever consigned to the "confined space" of prison. "What you see in the trial is two radically different worldviews," said Greengrass. He clings to hope that the beliefs of Breivik's victims "are going to emerge stronger." After Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared, Turkish officials said privately that they knew exactly what happened to him: he'd been murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, dismembered and his body moved out in boxes. Two weeks later, they've yet to go public or release conclusive evidence. Even as Washington and Riyadh threaten penalties against each other in the case of the missing Washington Post columnist, a prominent critic of his country's rulers, there seems to be little appetite behind the scenes to push for confrontation. How the dice roll may ultimately fall to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who can either try to link the prince -- a favorite of President Donald Trump -- to an alleged murder, or defuse a faceoff that all three countries might find more convenient to avoid. "By leaking information on the case in a controlled manner, Turks have signaled their willingness to confront the Saudis if they have enough international support, particularly from the West," said Gonul Tol, director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Turkish Studies in Washington. "But if that support is not forthcoming, Erdogan may very well choose to pursue a less aggressive approach and offer the Saudis a way out." Turkey on Friday got back some of its geopolitical leverage and goodwill by freeing an American pastor imprisoned for nearly two years. That's opened the way for a reset in Turkish-U.S. relations, with Trump tweeting that Andrew Brunson's release "will lead to good, perhaps great relations between the United States and Turkey!" In a meeting with Brunson at the White House, Trump also said the U.S. could take "very, very powerful, very strong measures" against Saudi Arabia if its leadership is found responsible for the disappearance of Khashoggi. That sent the Saudi share index down as much as 7 percent on Sunday, and prompted a threat of Saudi retaliation for any punitive measures. But the U.S. president, who has made warmer ties with Riyadh and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a cornerstone of his foreign policy, has waffled on how the U.S. might respond. He said on Friday that he planned to speak with Saudi Arabia's King Salman about the missing journalist "at some point." And he rejected scrapping U.S. arms deals, saying China and Russia would just swoop up the lucrative contracts. That could have implications for how Turkey moves forward. "Making it go away works for both sides, especially when the U.S. is unlikely to take a strong interest in the matter," said Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of Teneo Intelligence in London. "One possible area of cooperation for the Turkish and Saudi authorities is how to make Khashoggi's disappearance disappear from the public limelight." The head of Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television published a column on Sunday warning of the consequences of U.S. penalties. "If U.S. sanctions are imposed on Saudi Arabia, we will be facing an economic disaster that would rock the entire world," Turki Aldakhil wrote. "If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure." In a phone call with Erdogan late Sunday, King Salman affirmed his country's commitment to ties with Turkey, and thanked the Turkish leader for agreeing to a joint investigation, Saudi Arabia's state-run SPA news agency reported. On Monday, a Saudi official told Bloomberg that information on that call had also prompted an internal investigation, and that people could be held accountable if evidence warrants it. Turkey's foreign ministry said the consulate would be searched later on Monday. Turkey and Saudi Arabia work together on some common issues and share business interests, but also share a good deal of political bad blood. In an interview with Egypt's Al Shorouk newspaper in March, Prince Mohammed declared Turkey part of a "triangle of evil," along with Iran and terrorist groups, reflecting deep suspicion of the Turkish leadership's links to religious groups including the Muslim Brotherhood that the Saudi royal family sees as a security threat. That comment was later denied by the Saudi embassy in Ankara. The nature of the act -- a brazen alleged murder at a diplomatic mission in Istanbul -- may give Turkey further incentive to hope the Khashoggi issue will just go away, according to Teneo's Piccoli. "The Saudis have treated Turkey like a third-class country," he said. "It is an embarrassing event. It badly undermines Erdogan's narrative of Turkey being a regional power." Khashoggi hasn't been seen since he entered the consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to pick up a document for his upcoming wedding. Turkish officials told The Washington Post that they have audio and video recordings that show a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate before killing him. Prince Mohammed has said the journalist left the building unharmed, but Saudi officials have given no evidence to back up that assertion. At Saudi Arabia's request, it's establishing a joint working group with Turkey to investigate Khashoggi's fate, Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan's spokesman, told reporters on Oct. 11. While privately expressing certainty about what happened, Turkish officials have voiced doubts about their ability to link the alleged murder, and the people it says were the assassins, directly to Prince Mohammed. If Turkey's accounting of the incident is true, Prince Mohammed would have to trust that not only Turkey but also the U.S. are so reluctant to call him to task that they'd help him dodge the allegations, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Erdogan's ideal scenario is not drawn-out conflict with the Saudis, it's to help the Saudis dig out of this with a graceful exit," he said. "Erdogan knows Turkey is completely isolated in the Middle East and he can't press against one more country in a region where he has so many problems without securing the backing of the U.S. He wants to make sure he has Trump's ear." Saudi Arabia has begun an internal investigation into the disappearance of a prominent journalist at its Istanbul consulate and could hold people accountable if the evidence warrants it, according to a Saudi official. King Salman over the weekend ordered the Saudi public prosecutor to investigate the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, partly due to information received from Turkish authorities, the Saudi official said Monday, speaking anonymously because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter. While Saudi Arabia and Turkey have already said they would cooperate in a joint investigation, this would be a separate inquiry, the official said. Khashoggi's disappearance is threatening to spark a geopolitical crisis as the U.S. and Turkey demand answers from Saudi Arabia. Until now, Saudi officials have repeated that the columnist and critic of the kingdom left the consulate unharmed, calling allegations that he was kidnapped or killed baseless. The news of the internal probe is the first sign that they could be rethinking their approach. "It's either going to be a partial admission of guilt while trying to absolve the top level, or they'll say they haven't found anything," said Steffen Hertog, an associate professor of at the London School of Economics who closely follows Gulf politics. "This, I think, depends on the crown prince. So far, he seems to have been quite headstrong on the whole thing and he hasn't backed down." Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who became critical of the Saudi leadership as Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman rose to power, was last seen entering the consulate on Oct. 2. Turkish authorities have said he was killed there, a claim that the Saudis have vehemently denied. In an interview the day after the disappearance, the crown prince said he believed that Khashoggi left the consulate shortly after entering. After gathering information from the Turks and the joint team, "the feeling from the leadership was we needed an internal investigation to make sure we're getting the right story here," the Saudi official said. The prosecutor received instructions "to work quickly," so an announcement could happen within days, he said. The Saudi government's Center for International Communication didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Khashoggi's vanishing and the grisly allegations of his murder are testing close ties between the Trump administration and its key Arab ally. After President Donald Trump on Sunday said he could take action if the allegations proved true, the kingdom threatened to use its economic clout to retaliate. That triggered speculation that the world's biggest exporter of oil could break with decades-old policy by using its crude as a political weapon. It's also spooked major foreign investors, several of whom have withdrawn from the prince's flagship investment conference in Riyadh this month. The U.S. administration increasingly regards Saudi Arabia's denial of any involvement in the journalist's disappearance as untenable, and Trump and his aides are more and more convinced that he died after entering the consulate, according to three U.S. officials who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. "The evidence that there was some kind of operation seems strong, so to admit to nothing won't be seen as credible," Hertog said. "People around the crown prince seem to have been pushing for some partial admission of guilt," he said. "There would be ways of saying that this was a rendition gone wrong and that this whole operation was rogue and wasn't approved at the highest level," he said. Khashoggi has been a U.S. resident since he went into self-imposed exile last year over fear he could be arrested in Saudi Arabia. Once a government adviser, he had grown increasingly distant from the kingdom's new leadership under King Salman. Despite being worried for his safety, he had gone into the consulate in Istanbul to get a document necessary to marry his Turkish fiancee, the partner and friends have said. Turkey and Saudi Arabia work together on some common issues and share business interests, but also have a good deal of political bad blood. How far Ankara goes in escalating the crisis over Khashoggi may ultimately depend on the extent of international backing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives. "By leaking information on the case in a controlled manner, Turks have signaled their willingness to confront the Saudis if they have enough international support, particularly from the West," said Gonul Tol, director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Turkish Studies in Washington. "But if that support is not forthcoming, Erdogan may very well choose to pursue a less aggressive approach and offer the Saudis a way out." --With assistance from Bloomberg's Zainab Fattah and Benjamin Harvey. BRANFORD Just when you thought the East Shore District Health Departments Shoreline Regional Pump-Out Boat Program couldnt get any more environmentally conscious, the regional agency has stepped up its game. The department, which serves Branford, East Haven and North Branford, has acquired what is believed to be the worlds first full-sized electric, solar-powered vessel used for pumping out sewage from the holding tanks of recreational boats. The boat was delivered to the regional pump-out programs base of operations at Bruce & Johnsons Marina Friday. Part of our mission in doing this is to get the word out (about the program), Michael Pascucilla, director of health for the East Shore District, said Friday. And we were also looking to reduce our carbon footprint. The boat has not yet been named, Pascucilla said. The plan is to conduct a naming contest in the Branford school system to promote young peoples interest in the environment. They are our next generation of boaters, Pascucilla said. The $200,000, 26-foot aluminum boat, which was constructed with recyclable materials, was built at the Pilots Point Marina in Westbrook, Pascucilla said. Seventy five percent of the boats cost was covered with federal money from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection administering that portion of the funding. The money from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service came from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. The money for that fund comes from excise taxes on fishing equipment, motorboat and small engine fuels, import duties and interest on the fund. The remaining 25 percent of the boats cost is coming from the Health District, Pascucilla said. The local agency has done a number of fundraisers already as well as receiving donations from organizations such as the Branford and Guilford community funds and from Stony Creek Brewery. The Health District has a GoFundMe page in place to collect the $10,000 remainder of the boats cost. The boat has a top speed of 10 knots (about 11.5 mph) and runs on two electric, four-horsepower outboard motors, and will replace one of two gas powered vessels the program currently uses, Pascucilla said. When representatives of the Pilots Point Marina drove the boat from Westbrook to Branford, it took about four hours, he said. The Pump-Out Boat Program serves the waters of Branford, East Haven, Guilford, New Haven and West Haven. The pump-out boats travel to marinas in those communities to serve recreational boaters. Branford alone has 11 marinas, Pascucilla said, and 5,000 boats. We need to make it as easy as possible for people to use this, he said. The pump out program is now in its 18th year, he said. It has taken in over 300,000 gallons of sewage that might otherwise have ended up in Long Island Sound. Boaters who empty their sewage holding tanks into the Sound do so at their own risk, Pascucilla said, since it is a no dumping zone. Those caught illegally dumping waste from their vessels holding tank into the water face fines of up to $25,000, he said. Waste that is taken in by the pump-out boats is then off-loaded to Branfords wastewater treatment plant, which is located adjacent to Bruce & Johnsons Marina, Pascucilla said. The pump-out service operates Thursday through Monday from May through October, he said, and the service is free. Some people like to do it themselves; other people prefer to have someone else do it for them, Pascucilla said of the pump-out service. Boaters who prefer the do-it-yourself method can use equipment the pump-program has available at Bruce & Johnsons Marina, he said. Money to run the local program comes from a federal Clean Vessel Act grant that the East Shore District Health Department administers. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, will be on hand Monday at the boats official launch ceremony, joining state and local officials. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com Twelve years ago this month, Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist whose reporting came too close to the truth about Russia's war in Chechnya, was gunned down in the elevator of her Moscow apartment block. One year ago this month, Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist whose reporting came too close to the truth about corruption in Malta, was murdered by a car bomb next to her house in Bidnija. Seven months ago, Jan Kuciak, a journalist whose reporting came to close to the truth about the mafia's role in Slovak business, was murdered in his home outside Bratislava. The murderers in all these cases were contract killers. But that's the only real difference between them and the government-employed hit men who are alleged to have murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist whose reporting came too close to the truth about the hypocrisy of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman - a man who claims to be a "reformer" but is himself a corrupt oligarch, as well as an authoritarian who jails his critics. Over the past two decades, there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of similar cases - and there will be more. Each of these stories has a different political context, and in each of them the killers have different things to hide. But in a deeper sense, they are connected, for this is one of the defining issues of our time: The murders are the consequence of the clash between a 21st century technological revolution, which has made it possible to obtain and spread information in new ways, and a 21st century offshore banking revolution, which has made it possible to steal money in new ways, to hide it in new ways and to use it to maintain power. These two rapid changes have had a dramatic impact on democracies such as Malta and Slovakia as well as dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. Often, it is journalists, especially investigative journalists, who are caught in the fault lines between them. Why? Because we already live in a global news network, whether we want to or not. And because the information they reveal spreads so much more quickly than it once would have done. The Soviet Union - or indeed Saudi Arabia before the Internet - could effectively silence a critic through censorship or exile. Someone like Politkovskaya would not have mattered as much back then, because nobody inside the U.S.S.R. could have easily read what she wrote. Outside of his country, someone like Khashoggi would have had little influence in the pre-Internet era, either. But in 2018, everything he wrote was accessible to any Saudi citizen with a smartphone. At the same time, elected politicians and unelected autocrats have a far greater personal and political interest, in 2018, in hiding the real extent of what they do. In China, Russia and now Saudi Arabia, authoritarian regimes stay in power by staging fake campaigns against "corruption," even as their members continue to hide huge caches of money and to spend it abroad. Democratically elected leaders can be tempted in much the same way. When Caruana Galizia died, she was on the trail of corrupt money linked to the Maltese ruling party. When Kuciak died, he had just exposed the tax-fraud schemes used by wealthy business executives linked to the Slovak ruling party. In all of these countries, newspapers, websites and activist groups that publish stories about hidden wealth, illicit business activity, secret wars and secret funding schemes are dangerous: They undermine the claims of powerful politicians, both democrats and autocrats, to be acting on behalf of "the people." They demonstrate hypocrisy. They sometimes reveal the existence of crimes. They sometimes cost politicians their jobs. Kuciak's murder led to the downfall of the Slovak government. An anti-corruption street protest in Ukraine became a revolution. An anti-corruption protest in Armenia more recently led to a change of power there as well. To protect themselves, some politicians seek to discredit the media. President Donald Trump calls journalists "enemies of the people" on Twitter and directs mob anger against them at staged public events. Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has called journalists "spies," in Trump's presence. In Russia, the authorities use a different tactic: They seek to drown accurate information in a flood of state-sponsored garbage, producing reams of contradictory stories designed to undermine the very notion of "truth." Given what's at stake, it's hardly surprising that quite a few governments have gone further. The Turkish government has arrested more than 200 journalists. More than 40 are in prison in China. Those who can get away with more extreme tactics will use those, too. Precisely because we now live in a global information network, the death of a single journalist could usefully frighten the rest - not only in one country but around the world. SPRINGFIELD Sorry, Oprah. Better luck next time, Mrs. Lincoln. Voters in the Illinois Top 200 project have put Lydia Moss Bradley, founder of Peorias Bradley University, at No. 1 on the list of groundbreaking women in Illinois history. Bradley and her husband built a fortune but lost six children. After her husbands death, Bradley did not retreat into the expected life of a Victorian widow. She led businesses, set up charities, founded a college and fought a land dispute all the way to the Supreme Court. She also remarried, complete with a prenuptial agreement. Bradley was followed by another Peorian, feminist writer Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique and co-founder of the National Organization for Women. The top five also includes Jane Addams, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; former first lady Michelle Obama; and media mogul Oprah Winfrey. Top 200 blue gold smallThe Top 200 project lets Illinoisans vote every two weeks on the states most inspiring leaders, greatest inventions, top businesses and much more. By the states bicentennial on Dec. 3, voters will have chosen 10 favorites in 20 different categories the Illinois Top 200. Voting in the next category, minority trailblazers, is underway at www.IllinoisTop200.com. The nominees include Barack Obama, Harold Washington, Black Hawk, and Free Frank McWorter. As far as we know, Bradley is the only university in the U.S. that was founded exclusively by a woman using her own resources. She was so far ahead of her time and amazingly resourceful, even by todays standards. What an incredible woman Lydia Moss Bradley was. We strive daily to carry on her legacy, said Bradley University President Gary Roberts. Here are the top 10 groundbreaking women chosen in online voting: Lydia Moss Bradley In 1875, she became the first woman to serve on the board of a national bank. She was among the first to demand a prenuptial contract before marriage. Bradley is in the National Womens Hall of Fame. Betty Friedan Friedan, a Peoria native, helped spark a new wave of feminism with her 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique. She also helped found the National Organization for Women. Jane Addams Addams was a pioneering social worker, activist and advocate for womens rights. She co-founded Chicagos Hull House, a center for educating and assisting the poor. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Michelle Obama Obama, a lawyer and writer, was the first African-American first lady of the United States. She became a role model for women and an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating. Oprah Winfrey Winfrey is a talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. She is best known for her Chicago-based talk show, which was the highest-rated show of its kind in history. Hillary Clinton Raised in Illinois, Clinton was the first woman nominated for president by a major political party. She also served as U.S. secretary of state, U.S. senator from New York and first lady of the United States. Ida B. Wells Born into slavery, Wells devoted her life to fighting discrimination against African-Americans and women. She helped call attention to the nations epidemic of lynching and was a co-founder of the NAACP. Mother Jones After losing her family to yellow fever and her business to the Chicago fire, this teacher and dressmaker became a union organizer. Her motivational skills earned her the label most dangerous woman in America. Mary Lincoln The wife of Abraham Lincoln, was a well-educated, politically astute woman who helped her husbands political career. She endured the deaths of three sons and witnessed the assassination of her husband. Mother Bickerdyke This Galesburg resident devoted herself to improving medical treatment for Civil War soldiers. She treated soldiers in 19 battles and established 300 field hospitals, ignoring any officers who got in her way. The nominees who did not make the top 10 were educator Zonia Baber; civil rights leader Willie Barrow; pioneering lawyer Myra Bradwell; senator Carol Moseley Braun; aviation pioneer Willa Brown; Chicago mayor Jane Byrne; social services leader Fannie Emanuel; gay rights activist Vernita Gray; Alta May Hulett, who fought to let women be lawyers; Mamie Till-Mobley, who drew national attention to racist violence; Lottie Holman ONeill, the states first female legislator; labor activist Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons; composer Florence Price; Native American ballerina Maria TallChief; conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly; and temperance crusader Frances Willard. The Illinois Top 200 is a joint initiative of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, The (Springfield) State Journal-Register and the Illinois Bicentennial Commission. The remaining categories are top leaders and unforgettable moments. Everyone is invited to suggest possible nominees in each category by using the hashtag #ILtop200 on social media. The presidential library and museum uses a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship to immerse visitors in Lincolns life and times. Visitors can see ghosts come to life on stage, watch TV coverage of the 1860 Presidential election, roam through the Lincoln White House, experience booming cannons in a Civil War battle and come face to face with priceless original Lincoln artifacts. The library holds an unparalleled collection of Lincoln books, documents, photographs, artifacts and art, as well as some 12 million items pertaining to all aspects of Illinois history. For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov. You can follow the ALPLM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ABOUT ILLINOIS BICENTENNIAL On Dec. 3, 1818, Illinois became the 21st state in the union. The Illinois Bicentennial is a yearlong celebration of what has been BORN, BUILT & GROWN in the state and a reminder of why we are #IllinoisProud. Citizens are encouraged to participate in the celebration by visiting www.illinois200.com and using the hashtag #IllinoisProud. Partners and event and project managers planning activities in 2018 can apply to become an official part of Illinois Bicentennial by visiting the PARTICIPATE page at www.illinois200.com. Ed Scheer, 45, came in first place with a time of 40 minutes and 33 seconds, according to Online Race Results. Rebecca Cozzi, 32, came in second with a time of 40 minutes and 39 seconds, followed by Arunas Jurkus, 51, in third, who finished in 41 minutes and 28 seconds. Getty Images As part of a global settlement, alternative retail electric supplier Sperian Energy will refund $2.65 million to Illinois consumers and the company has voluntarily suspended all marketing efforts in the state for two years. According to the Illinois Commerce Commission, when the settlement is finalized refunds will be delivered to current and former Sperian costumers. The settlement is a result of a 2015 proceeding held against Sperian by the Illinois Commerce Commission as a response to allegations Sperian had violated the Public Utilities Act and the commissions rules with its marketing. 9 hours ago Dollar Tree Surges To All-Time Highs, And Theres More To Come A 14% move higher on Tuesday had shares of discount retailer Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) closing at an all-time high for the first time since April of this year. This is something investors love to see and it bodes well for the company as they prepare to share their latest earnings report next week. Read Article Anyone with any information on Mr. Bernards family should contact us immediately at 847-377-2200, Cooper said. This is truly a tragedy, and we would appreciate the publics help in this matter. Credit: Brantley GutierrezFoo Fighters got an unexpected assist from a 10-year-old fan named Collier during their show in Kansas City on Friday. Dave Grohl invited the young rocker on stage, who impressed the packed arena and the Foos themselves with his guitar chops. After he arrived on stage, Grohl asked Collier what he knew how to play on guitar. Turns out, he's a big Metallica fan, and started to shred "Enter Sandman." The rest of the band quickly joined in, and Grohl did his best James Hetfield impression as he belted out the first verse and chorus of the Black Album classic. But Collier wasn't done -- he also dusted off the riffs for "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "Wherever I May Roam." Grohl was clearly impressed, and declared that pop star Ed Sheeran, who was playing Kansas City the next night, "ain't got nothing on Collier." In addition to shading Ed Sheeran, Grohl also gifted young Collier his guitar. "If I see that s*** on eBay next week, I'm gonna find you," Grohl joked. You can watch fan-recorded footage of the performance now on YouTube. Following the show, Grohl tweeted, "Lookout world...Next generation of rockers coming soon to an arena near you! Thanks Collier!" Metallica also shared their reaction, tweeting, "How cool is this??? Show 'em how its done, Collier!" Perhaps Collier can start a band with Little Fonzie, the young drummer who joined the Foos onstage earlier this year but refused to leave the stage. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. We really wish that students would not do this, obviously, Alajakis said, pointing to the time and resources spent by the district and police responding to the threats. Thats why we take it very seriously when people are caught making these false threats. Like the extension of Route 53 into Lake County, seems weve been hearing for years about using the library which has been vacant for decades as the headquarters honoring the author who was raised in Waukegan. The current plan is to start off the museum in a good-sized Genesee Street storefront north of Washington Street with different themed areas and then move the whole expo to the library once funding follows. Immunotherapy - The Nobel Prize winning cancer treatment A revolutionary cancer treatment pioneered by the winners of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Medicine has been hailed as the future of fighting the disease and it has fewer devastating side effects than chemotherapy. Health By AFP Monday 15 October 2018, 11:00AM While chemotherapy destroys cancerous cells along with normal cells often with toxic and debilitating effects on a patient immunotherapy unleashes the bodys immune system to target tumour cells. James Allison of the US and Tasuku Honjo of Japan won the Nobel last Monday (Oct 1) for identifying two different brakes on the immune system which, when turned off, allow the bodys defence system to attack cancerous cells faster and more effectively. Allison was one of two scientists to discover the blocking effect for one such brake or checkpoint inhibitor molecule called CTLA-4 in 1995. Honjo discovered another, PD-1, around the same time. Once these brakes were identified, researchers were able to work on how to turn them off and get T-cells white blood cells to start attacking. The goal is to neutralise these molecules, among them CTLA-4 and PD-1, and these are what the recipients of the Nobel prize have been working on, said Pierre Golstein, emeritus professor at the Marseille-Luminy Immunology Centre. We neutralise these and the white blood cells can get to work on the cancer cells. Sheena Cruickshank, an immunology lecturer at the University of Manchester in Britain, said the therapy has enabled us to harness the power of the body to help heal itself. A lot of conventional cancer therapies are about destroying cells and can be quite damaging, but this is much more targeted and much more specific because its enabling our immune cells to come in and actually kill the tumour cells directly, she said. Booming field The therapy has only been used on patients for a few years, and is less effective for certain cancers such as pancreatic and brain cancer. But 800 clinical trials were in progress worldwide and more than 30 drugs under development as of June, according to the American Cancer Society. And the pharmaceutical industry has heavily invested in research in the field. The US Food and Drug Administration has already approved a number of immunotherapy treatments, including some targeting PD-1. The booming field of immunotherapy that these discoveries have precipitated is still relatively in its infancy, so its exciting to consider how this research will progress in the future, said Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UKs chief clinician. Golstein, whose team first identified the CTLA-4 molecule in 1987, said the results have been very promising. Immunotherapy is now possibly the most important recent discovery for cancer therapy in general, as an alternative to chemo, he said. For example, immunotherapy can control between 20% and 50% of certain advanced melanomas, which is something considering that situation would have been a death sentence not too long ago. But its also not totally harmless, he added. Activated immune cells can cause certain auto-immune complications in certain organs, but we can control those, he said. A study released in June tested a form of immunotherapy against chemo for non-small-cell lung cancer, the most common lung cancer worldwide. It found that the drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) which famously helped former US president Jimmy Carter stave off advanced melanoma that had spread to his brain helped lung cancer patients live four to eight months longer than chemo. Not for all cancers However, Karl Peggs of the University College of London said the therapy is not for everyone. We know that some patients have a very low chance of responding... those with little evidence that these pathways are actively restricting the immune system, or those with cancers that are less heavily mutated, he said. While in theory it should work for most forms of cancer, its most effective on those with the highest numbers of mutations such as melanomas, lung cancer and smoking, he added. And it has sometimes been met with too much enthusiasm by patients. In the US, some have reportedly asked their doctors to immediately use immunotherapy instead of traditional treatments like chemotherapy, even when they are more effective. After his big win on Monday, Allison warned that immunotherapy will not replace all other cancer treatments. Instead, it is going to be part of therapy that potentially all cancer patients will receive in five years, he told a press conference in New York. Honjo, meanwhile, said he wanted to continue his research so that this immune therapy will save more cancer patients than ever. He said he feels that time is too early, especially because the delivery trucks are required to make beeping sounds due to safety regulations. Patel said he could hear the same sounds during the early morning hours from his home two blocks away when Dominicks was in operation at the site, but the previous store was not accepting deliveries as early as Walmart requested. Phuket passenger van slams into ice truck PHUKET: The two drivers involved in a collision between a Phuket passenger van and a six-wheeled truck loaded with five-kilo bags of ice both escaped serious injury early this morning (Oct 14). transportaccidentspolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Sunday 14 October 2018, 06:50PM There were no passengers in the van at the time of the accident. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub There were no passengers in the van at the time of the accident. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub There were no passengers in the van at the time of the accident. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub There were no passengers in the van at the time of the accident. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub There were no passengers in the van at the time of the accident. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Police and rescue workers were called to the scene, near Wat Srisoonthorn on Thepkrasattri Rd in Srisoonthorn, Thalang, at 5:30am. The passenger van had suffered extension damage to its front in the impact, while many five-kilo bags lay scattered across the road. There were no passengers in the van at the time of the accident. Rescue workers safely extracted Jaturong Veeraphun, the 35-year-old driver of the passenger van, from his crumpled vehicle. Mr Jaturong has suffered minor head injuries when his head struck the steering wheel in the impact. The driver of the six-wheeled truck ice truck, Vitsanu Intho, 45, was unharmed in the collision. Police reported that Mr Vitsanu was delivery the ice to the Thalang area when the collision occurred. No other details were reported, other than police were continuing their investigation. * Correction: The van struck the back of the truck. It was not a head-on collision. The error is regretted. South Dakota lawmakers subpoena Gov. Noem's labor secretary in nepotism probe Noem administration, former appraiser certification program director have not complied with some Government Operations and Audit Committee requests. PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia Theatre Company welcomes back everyones favorite princesses for a heart-warming afternoon and evening concert for the entire family. During A Dream Is A Wish: Holiday Princess Concert audiences will sing-along with a gathering of princes and princesses from popular movie musicals and television shows in a one-day-only event on Sunday, December 16, at 3:00pm and 6:00pm. Children are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite prince or princess. After the show, the cast will host a meet-and-greet reception with holiday cookies, apple cider and photo opportunities. The Holiday Princess Concert will take place at Philadelphia Theatre Company at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (480 S. Broad Street). Tickets are on sale for $35 at philatheatreco.org, at the box-office, or by calling 215-985-0420. Note: The 6:00pm show will feature a relaxed performance that welcomes children with autism or sensory or emotional sensitivities. We are so excited to bring the Princesses back, and that theyll be joined by some Princes this year. Philadelphia Theatre Company is helping create memories for children as they experience live theatre for the first time, said Paige Price, the companys Producing Artistic Director. PTC has traditionally been the destination for work best enjoyed by teen and adult audiences, but it makes me happy to see these young audiences simply mesmerized. We know that the love of live theatre often begins with very young children who are taken to performances by a family member. By combining music, audience interaction and a family-friendly story in a relaxed environment, we hope to light that spark of interest that will last a lifetime. In A Dream Is A Wish: Holiday Princess Concert, Cinderella is planning a holiday celebration for all the wonderful people of the kingdom and all of her princess friends. At the party the newest and youngest princess, Sofia, meets some of the princesses that she has always admired, like Rapunzel, Cinderella, Elsa, Moana, Ariel, Elena and more, along with Hans of the Southern Isle and that lovable outlaw Flynn Ryder. In this heartwarming show, Sofia learns that each princess has obstacles to overcome and her own path to discover, but no matter what, if Sofias true to herself, she will find her way. Audiences journey along with her as she learns what being a princess is all about, and theyll sing along with almost two dozen favorites A Dream Is a Wish, Let It Go, Love is An Open Door, Almost There, At Last I See The Light, Reflection, Part of Your World, Frosty the Snowman, Its The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and more. Following the show, all the little princesses and princes in attendance will be invited to meet the cast in a special post-show meet-and-greet. Holiday cookies and apple cider will add to the festive afternoon! Please bring your camera to take photos after the show with the cast. (No photos may be taken during the show). My hope is that families come and they make theater a new holiday tradition, added Price. We want to see grandparents, parents and little ones sharing the magic of theatre together. Tickets are $35 at philatheatreco..org, at the box-office, or by calling 215-985-0420. There is a ten percent discount available for four packs of tickets. PTCs 2018-2019 season is sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal, Independence Blue Cross, PNC Arts Alive, Center City Film & Video, and American Airlines, the official airline of Philadelphia Theatre Company. Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) is a leading regional theater company that produces, develops, and presents entertaining and imaginative contemporary theater focused on the American experience. PTC balances its Philadelphia roots with a national point of view that combines a taste for adventure with a dedication to new American plays and musicals. Founded in 1974, PTC has presented 140 world and Philadelphia premieres. More than 50 percent of PTCs world premieres have moved on to New York and other major cities, helping to earn Philadelphia a national reputation as a hub for new play development. PTC has received more than 180 nominations and 53 awards from the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. In 2007, PTC was instrumental in expanding Philadelphias thriving cultural corridor by opening the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on the Avenue of the Arts. OTTAWAA new Bank of Canada poll suggested Monday that companies are optimistic about the year ahead especially when it comes to sales growth, foreign demand and their investment plans. The quarterly survey was conducted between mid-August and mid-September before Canada agreed to an updated North American free trade deal that has alleviated some of the economic uncertainty. But even with the trade-related unknowns still in the picture, overall business sentiment in Canada was running at near-record levels. The upbeat results were released a little over a week before the Bank of Canadas next policy rate decision, which is widely expected to produce another interest rate hike. The bank carefully studies its forward-looking business outlook survey ahead of rate decisions. The value of the Canadian dollar rose right after the reports release Monday and analysts said it bolstered expectations governor Stephen Poloz will increase the central banks key interest rate target next week. Poloz has raised the rate four times since mid-2017. Building on an improvement in sales over the past 12 months, firms expect sales growth to increase further, said the central banks report, which is based on a poll of senior managers from about 100 firms. Reports of better sales indicators for domestic and foreign customers are widespread. The survey, however, also found that some firms expected their sales momentum to be limited in the months ahead by labour shortages, competition and regulation. On investment intentions, the survey said that in order to keep up with rising demand including an expected lift in foreign sales companies indicated they would pump even more money into their operations over the coming year than they had predicted last summer. Many firms reported increasing investment spending in response to anticipated strength in demand and capacity pressures, the bank said. The poll also found firms hiring intentions for the next 12 months came in lower than previous surveys. The dip followed a steady increase in hiring expectations over the last several surveys, but the report indicated that overall companies were still looking to add workers across regions and sectors. Companies, on balance, reported labour shortages intensified over the past 12 months with the biggest concerns coming from employers in Quebec. The poll listed jobs in construction, transportation and information technology as the toughest positions to fill. Some companies linked the challenge to the aging population and changing occupational preferences. On exports, a majority of the companies predicted strong growth in U.S. demand over the coming year, mostly because of U.S. tax reforms, higher government spending and an improving energy sector. While U.S. trade protectionism was cited as a constraint for some firms selling into the United States, most expect to benefit from healthy U.S. household demand and robust U.S. business investment, the Bank of Canadas document said. Benjamin Reitzes of BMO Capital Markets wrote in a research note Monday that perhaps the biggest positive in the central banks report was that the strong results came before the United-States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement deal was done. With that significant uncertainty behind us, business sentiment should improve further, Reitzes said. Its all systems go for a rate hike at next weeks policy meeting. TD economists wrote Monday that the business outlook survey shows Canadian firms remain bullish on the future. Combined with stronger than expected growth in the third quarter, Fotios Raptis and Ksenia Bushmeneva said the report should provide the Bank of Canada with more than enough conviction to move rates higher by another 25 (basis points) next Wednesday. EDMONTONGiorgianna Leddy and her friend were on a mission when they went to the local Spirit Halloween store located in South Edmonton Common in early October. They entered the massive retail store filled to the brim with Halloween costumed and decor. Ghouls and ghosts greeted you at the door, Halloween trinkets moved, booed and clicked while loud music blared in the background. They headed straight to the costume section, the walls lined with pictures showing Caucasian models donning the polyester garb within the plastic packaging. They passed robes from Harry Potter movies, wigs and dresses from cartoon characters and clown onesies, but stopped at the image of a little girl dressed in a buckskin fringed dress with a headband. Oh my god, this is not OK, Leddy exclaimed as she grabbed a plastic-wrapped costume while whipping out her phone. With Halloween weeks away, the costume retail industry is in full swing. Already, questionable costumes have started popping up in at least two stores in Edmonton. A Grade 12 student at J. Percy Page High School, Leddy first discovered the continuous presence of offensive costumes depicting Indigenous culture in September at Halloween Alley in Southgate Mall with her friends. The pictures she took that day, later circulated online, showed a white woman wearing in fringed Indigenous dress and headband, another dressed in a corset and fringed armbands. I felt really disgusted, she told StarMetro. Its really degrading because it shows we are not real, we are just a cartoon character. And it was hard to see that someone was posting about us. Now, Leddy has vowed to make businesses aware of their racist practice of treating peoples culture, religion and ethnicity as a novelty by forming a group called Culture isnt a costume. She and her friends are confronting store managers who sell offensive costumes. The group has also emailed manufacturers complaining about the continued marketing of offensive costumes, to which they received an automated, thank you for your feedback, reply and nothing else. This isnt the first time, or place, that Indigenous clothing has been used to play dress up. Ceremonial headdresses were worn by partygoers to festivals up until 2015 when a number of Canadian music festivals decided to ban them. In October 2017, the Toronto Star reported about Lakota women finding Indigenous clothing, headdresses and headbands being sold at a store called Party City. The Star also reported that in 2012, Toronto Maple Leafs Centre Tyler Bozak was photographed during Halloween wearing black face makeup, defending it as a tribute to Michael Jackson. In 2016, Australian actor Chris Hemsworth dressed in a cowboys and Indians themed costume and then later apologized. An editorial published in the Star from a mother declaring it her daughters right to dress as a Native princess received criticism on Twitter. Read more: Racist Halloween costumes still abound in Toronto stores Made in China: Actor Eugene Brave Rock slams knock-off Indigenous art Opinion | Emma Teitel: Anne Frank, Harvey Weinstein Halloween costumes call for drastic measures Keestin ODell, student engagement adviser at Indigenous Centre at MacEwan University, did a content analysis of 52 adult women Indigenous costumes from two online websites, Spirit Halloween and Costumes Supercentre, and presented his findings at MacEwan University on Oct. 4. In his presentations he pointed out three themes; the Indigenous costumes were mostly sexual in nature, they used dated terms like Indian as descriptors and all the costumes used the same colours, design and headpieces depicting Indigenous people as a monoculture. Our communities and our culture and our languages and our traditions are so vast and so complex between nations that it really lumps all of Indigenous culture in North America into one idea of just plain Indians, ODell said. ODell, who is Nehiyaw Cree, said he decided to look into the issue of inappropriate costumes during a trip to a music festival in Red Deer in 2014. There was a whole crowd of headdresses and native face paint and I found one of those vendors who was selling these native headdresses, ODell said. I got into an argument with the vendor and he said, Its just your opinion, so I decided to not just make it my opinion and really look into this. To the people who still put on these costumes, ODell says he likes to ask them the reason why. When people pick up an Indigenous costume or a costume of an Indigenous woman, what is the overall goal? ODell asked. Initially its romanticism or being savage or primitive. Wearing these costumes they allow themselves to portray the stereotypes that they know. Although conversation has started and hashtags such as IAmNotACostume and EndRacistCostumes exist, Leddy believes those are not enough and a more direct action needs to be taken. On Oct. 6, instead of just posting photos online they decided to take matters into their own hands. After a nervous debate about who should go talk to the manager, Leddy decided it was up to her. OK, I guess Ill talk, Leddy said. Leddy approached the store manager and without missing a beat started talking. The Native American costumes, its cultural appropriation of Indigenous people and they shouldnt be there, she said, looking hesitant yet determined. The store manager assured them it was a mistake and promised to take them out immediately. We also found a gypsy costume, thats a racial slur, she persisted. But the manager said he hadnt received any direct orders from upper management, therefore his hands were tied. He asked them to book a complaint on the company website. To hold them accountable, Leddy left the store for a half-hour and returned to find they had kept their word. The Indigenous costumes were gone. At least something got taken off the shelves. This is a victory, she said. Read more about: It seems like we have been talking about this for a long time, but its finally happening pot will officially be legal as of midnight tomorrow night. But legalization is just the start of the conversation, and the questions about new investments, new jobs, new rules and new habits. What it means for Canada is one thing. What about what it means for you, and the issues you care about? Were here to help. The Toronto Star hosted a Reddit AMA with three leading industry professionals Tuesday. Our panel of experts answered your questions about the law, dispensaries, health and more. Toronto Star Editor Irene Gentle moderated the discussion. Here are the experts who were around to chat. Trina Fraser: co-managing partner at Ottawa business law firm Brazeau Seller Law, and head of the firms CannaLaw group. Her area of expertise is cannabis law. In addition to acting for licensed producers and (soon-to-be) licensed retailers of cannabis in Canada, Trina advises cannabis industry participants such as clinics, software/application providers, service providers and investors. Dr. Melissa Snider-Adler: chief medical review officer for DriverCheck and a Board-certified addiction medicine physician. She teaches residents at Queens Universitys Family Medicine department about addiction medicine, and also provides expert opinions and assessments of health-care workers who may be struggling with substance use. With the upcoming legalization of cannabis, Melissa has been speaking at conferences and to companies across Canada about the impact of legalization on the workplace. Mitchell Osak: managing director of Business Consulting at Grant Thornton, one of Canadas largest advisory and accounting firms. He has extensive experience consulting to the cannabis industry including licensed producers, investors and governments. Mitchell is also a cannabis thought leader, speaking and writing extensively on global cannabis industry trends, regulatory issues and consumer behaviour. Head over to Reddit to check out the discussion. Read more: A coast-to-coast guide to Canadas cannabis laws Ford accuses Trudeau of rushing the legalization of marijuana Cannabis in condos is a hazy matter OTTAWADont even think about flying high. Thats the rule Canadas airlines have laid down for pilots, mechanics and other front-line personnel in advance of Wednesdays legalization of recreational marijuana use. Air Canada, WestJet and Jazz are among the carriers that have imposed a blanket ban on cannabis use for many employees directly involved in flight operations as Transport Canada warns that cannabis is a potential threat to aviation safety. Employees working in safety-critical areas at the company, including flight operations and aircraft maintenance, will be prohibited from using cannabis and cannabis products at all times, both on-duty and off-duty, Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email Monday. That includes those in the air, such as pilots and flight attendants, and personnel on the ground involved in operations, such as mechanics and flight dispatchers. Other Air Canada employees will be prohibited from using cannabis while on-duty or in the workplace. We are acting out of an abundance of caution based on current understanding of the effects of these drugs, including their after-effects and the potential they can linger in the human system. This policy will be reviewed regularly and updated to include new information related to recreational cannabis use, Fitzpatrick said. Read more: Some companies instituting restrictive marijuana policies WestJet bars safety-sensitive staff from using cannabis off-duty Employers scrambling to find a way to manage weed in the workplace WestJets updated policy prohibits the use and possession of cannabis on company premises and workplaces and at company social functions. And like Air Canada, WestJet employees in safety-sensitive positions will be prohibited from using cannabis even when not on duty. We believe these changes reflect our reputation as an industry leader in safety and our expectations that all employees report fit for duty and remain fit for duty at work, spokesperson Lauren Stewart said. Jazz has introduced a similar policy, banning employees in safety-critical positions from using marijuana on or off duty, spokesperson Debra Williams said. Share your thoughts Nav Canada, the private company that operates the countrys air traffic control system, said it would reveal its cannabis policy for employees on Wednesday. But a spokesperson said it already has a zero tolerance policy for impairment due to alcohol or drugs. Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Monday that employees in the transport sector are expected to be fit to do your job. He said the legalization of cannabis doesnt change the obligation of employees to be fit to work. There is zero tolerance for being impaired in any way. Thats always been the case and it will continue to be the case, Garneau told reporters on Parliament Hill Monday. Federal aviation regulations currently bar all pilots from operating a flight if they are unfit to perform properly their duties. The rules specifically spell out that no person shall act as a crew member of an aircraft while using any drug that impairs the persons faculties to the extent that the safety of the aircraft or of persons on board the aircraft is endangered in any way. In an advisory to the aviation community issued last week, senior Transport Canada officials warned about the lingering effects of cannabis and the potential risks. Cannabis use can cause immediate impairment but also causes longer-lasting impairment that may not be obvious to the user or to the people around them, Nicholas Robinson, director general, Transport Canada civil aviation, and Francois Collins, the associate director general, wrote in a joint letter. The letter said that cannabis like narcotics, muscle relaxants, and anti-depressants can cause impairment that can affect the judgment and actions of members of a flight crew. Impairment caused by cannabis use is a serious issue for Transport Canada given its potential to threaten aviation safety, it said. Other transport sectors are grappling with the new regime. CN said Monday that its existing zero tolerance drug and alcohol policy that covers all employees and work locations would apply to legalized cannabis too. The policy applies to any substance, legal or illegal, that can cause impairment, including alcohol and cannabis. Impairment at work can have catastrophic consequences, Patrick Waldron said in an email. Railways have not gone as far as the airlines and banned workers from using marijuana outright. But unions representing those workers will be watching to see how companies apply their new policies, said Christopher Monette, of Teamsters Canada, which represents 12,000 workers in the rail industry. I can promise you that any employer who attempts to impose such a restriction on our members will face fierce opposition from our union. We will also fight any employer who attempts to institute random drug testing, Monette said. Read more about: PORTUGAL COVE, NL Newfoundlands unique position in the North Atlantic one half-hour ahead of the rest of the country means there will be a desperate crush of retailers clamouring to record the first-ever legal sale of cannabis in Canada on the morning of Oct. 17, 2018, but local lore will judge Thomas Clarke as the homegrown folk hero who got out in front of the rest. True, technically speaking, the path traced by the rising sun westward across the continent next Wednesday will ultimately grant bragging rights to that historic first sale to one of the handful of pot shops also set to open in downtown St. Johns and neighbouring Mount Pearl slightly to the east of Clarkes budding THC Distribution setup in Portugal Cove, a picturesque oceanside burg just a hairs breadth west of St. Johns and a mere 26 kilometres from Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America. Corporate-marijuana giant Canopy Growth about to open a $55-million, 150,000-square-foot grow op in St. Johns, licensed to supply the province with 12,000 kilograms of pot a year in addition to a half-dozen branded outlets scattered across the Rock is already making a big noise about how one of its own outlets on Water St. will be the first place to sell a legal gram of cannabis in Canada. CEO Bruce Linton will be on the ground to mark the moment before ending his day at our headquarters here in Smiths Falls for a huge celebration, a Canopy representative affirms. That hasnt stopped Clarke from doing a masterful job of stealing Canopys thunder in the local media even in the pages of long-lived American pothead bible High Times magazine for months now, however. And hes still at it. Ill be the first independent, locally owned guy to make a sale in Canada and I think thats a way better story than Tweed sells their weed to their f in CEO, he laughed good-naturedly down the line from Portugal Cove over Thanksgiving weekend, audibly beaming at the news that the St. Johns CBC-Radio affiliate would be broadcasting both its morning show and its noon-hour call-in show, Cross Talk, live from THC Distribution on Legalization Day. Read more: Can pot companies gain legitimacy through social justice? How much pot is consumed in your Toronto neighbourhood? Check our interactive map Everything you need to know about cannabis legalization in Canada Any way you cut it, Clarkes successful bid to turn his former home at 1614 Portugal Cove Rd. into a legitimate shop selling cannabis and cannabis accessories counts as a victory. This has arguably been his destiny for most of his 43 years, even though his birth certificate might quibble with his assertions that he chose the name THC Distribution for his business because his middle name is Herb. Clarke, 43, and a father of three children aged 11, 2 and 1, has put in his time in the marijuana game, even done time for it. Hes been selling weed in and around St. Johns since he was in junior high, got busted at 18, when a customer got caught with two ounces of hashish and ratted him out as the source and, despite never actually getting pinched with any physical product himself, spent 30 days in prison for his troubles the next year. Hes been a public voice for reasonable cannabis laws ever since and, once the Trudeau government decided to follow through on its election promise to make weed legal, also became a constant, loud presence in the St. Johns media and in the faces of local politicians demanding that Newfoundland growers and business owners get a fair share of the pie. His experience on the file, as it were, no doubt contributed to the success of the stringent, multi-faceted business plan he submitted to the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation (NLC). Because Ive been working on this basically my whole life I guess I had a really good plan put together, right? he says. Ive been around the cannabis industry for 30 years. I started selling weed when I was in Grade 8. Its always been my passion and something Ive been a social-justice advocate for my whole life. So once Justin Trudeau was elected and I saw that, holy sh-, this is really happening I said I have to start talking to people about this so Newfoundland could have a good foothold when legalization happened and that we went in the right direction, which I think would be having local product and local business owners opening shops. Thats a way to have the cannabis industry grow in Newfoundland and try to keep the industry as localized as possible. Most of THC Distributions initial, immediate competition will consist of miniature NLC-run outlets attached to Loblaws-owned Dominion supermarkets around the city, Ontario-based Canopys five planned storefronts in St. Johns, Mount Pearl and Conception Bay South and a few scattered weed-retail counters in convenience stores and wellness boutiques. Clarke is the only person who received a licence for a standalone, strictly cannabis shop on the Avalon Peninsula theres another on the way in Labrador and one more to come on the west coast of Newfoundland, apparently, although as of Oct. 5, the NLC itself could only vaguely peg the number of outlets that might be approved in time to open for Legalization Day at around 20 so that will, by virtue of geography, make his the first truly independent small business to sell legal marijuana in Canadian history on Legalization Day. Hes counting on Newfoundland pride to put him over the top. Hes already trademarked the name Wild Newfoundland Blueberry Cannabis Company in hopes of eventually selling varieties of the Canadian-born cannabis strain known as blueberry ideally to be someday grown right in Newfoundland to pot-starved international tourists bused out to Portugal Cove from the cruise ships that routinely dock in St. Johns harbour. He dreams of marketing locally grown weed grown with the oldest, freshest water in the world sourced from wandering icebergs. The options for cannabis for 300,000 people on the Avalon are going to be either the Dominion grocery store or the Tweed/Canopy weed-corporation giants or the local cannabis expert in Portugal Cove, he says. So I think Im gonna do okay. Clarke hasnt had the easiest time getting THC Distribution off the ground. This past August, a petition circulated by some of his neighbours in Portugal Cove and last-minute fretting by the local council over his business application suddenly had his $125,000 investment up in the air. The Portugal Cove-St. Philips municipal government swung back around to his side on Oct. 2, though, voting 5-2 in favour of him opening his doors on Oct. 17. Now, like every other legal pot retailer in Canada, hes stuck worrying about how many of the licensed producers hes required to buy his stock from through the NLC will actually have product available in time for Legalization Day. The margins are going to be tight, any way you cut it, since Newfoundland law allows for only an 8-per-cent commission on product sold; of the $66,847 Clarke has spent on Canopy weed for opening day, he only stands to make about $5,000. If Im not ready to open on the 17th its gonna break my f ing heart. But Im 99.999 per cent sure I will be, he says. The NLC had seven licensed producers signed up and only two of them have weed to ship for the 17th. I know Ill have Canopy stuff and I think Ill have Aurora, but thats it. Everyone else has delays because of packaging problems or problems with the weed they grew or problems with their Health Canada licences for selling it and stuff, so theres a lot of f in tangly problems down here. If I dont run out of weed on the first day, Im pretty sure I will on the second or third day. Its definitely a long-haul venture. A Toronto police sergeant found not guilty of sexually assaulting two women is headed back to court after an Ontario Court justice found the trial judge may have erred in his decision to acquit. Justice Tamarin Dunnet has ordered another trial for Christopher Heard, who was found not guilty last year of sexually assaulting two women in separate incidents that allegedly occurred while he was on duty in late 2015. In each case, Heard was alleged to have picked up a woman who was alone in downtowns Entertainment District, offered her a ride home, then groped her once they were inside the police vehicle. Heard, 47, did not dispute that he picked up the women and drove them home, but denied the allegations of sexual assault. He did not activate the vehicles in-car camera system in either case. The women, who were strangers to one another and whose identities are covered by a publication ban, made what trial Judge Russell Otter called strikingly similar allegations against Heard. But he concluded that inconsistencies in their testimony at trial gave him reasonable doubt as to whether the sexual assault occurred and acquitted Heard on both counts. Read more: Judges errors led to cops acquittal on sex assault charges, Crown says Prosecutors appealing Toronto police sergeants acquittal on sex assault charges Officer was acquitted of sexual assault charges for obvious reasons, his lawyer tells appeal court Crown lawyer Philip Perlmutter appealed Otters ruling, arguing that the provincial judge fell into a pattern of cascading errors, including failing to adequately consider the fact that two strangers made allegations that were identical in every respect and circumstance. There was no other logical explanation ... unless they actually occurred, Perlmutter wrote in court documents filed before a one-day appeal hearing last month. Dunnet agreed, writing in a decision released Monday that the trial judge did not properly consider the similarities between two complainants accounts, which could have bolstered their credibility. Had he properly considered this, he would have had an important piece of evidence to support a legitimate chain of reasoning that (Heard) sexually assaulted the complainants, she wrote. Absent the trial judges errors, the verdicts would not necessarily have been the same, Dunnet wrote. Gary Clewley, Heards lawyer, could not be immediately reached for comment Monday. At last months appeal hearing, he argued that Otter acquitted his client because he didnt believe the two complainants. Protesters rallied across the province Monday urging Premier Doug Ford not to scrap new worker protections after he pledged earlier this month to repeal the law giving Ontarians two paid sick days, equal pay for equal work and a minimum wage bump. In Toronto, at least 200 protesters gathered outside the Ministry of Labour in support of a $15 minimum wage, currently scheduled to come into effect in January. Ford has pledged to freeze it at $14 and scrap the rest of Bill 148, which was enacted late last year to tackle the rise of precarious work. I have the same bills as most families and Im struggling to pay them, said Christine, who addressed Mondays rally and is only being identified by her first name for fear of reprisal at one of her four minimum-wage employers. Weve been prisoners in our homes because, aside from work, we cant afford to go anywhere. Who lives like that? The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has called for a full repeal of the new legislation, which it says has created a number of compounding changes that created greater administrative and financial pressure on employers. Read more: Opinion | Repealing Bill 148 will hurt women With new labour laws on the chopping block, whats at stake for Ontarios workers? At Queens Park Monday, Ford said the minimum wage hike from $11.60 to $14, which took place earlier this year, increased payroll costs by 22 per cent and that a further bump to $15 in January would increase them by 32 per cent. Im guessing already 60,000 people have already lost their jobs, he said. On a year-over-year basis, employment increased by 1.1 per cent, or 79,000 jobs, in Ontario in August, according to Statistics Canada. In addition to increasing the provinces minimum wage, Bill 148 provided two paid, job-protected emergency leave days for all workers, increased holiday entitlement, mandated equal pay for casual and part-time workers doing the same job as full-time employees, enshrined, improved scheduling protections and boosted protections for temp agency workers. The legislation represents the most sweeping change to the provinces labour laws in decades, and was implemented after two years of research and public consultation conducted by two independent labour experts. About one-third of Ontarios workforce are vulnerable workers in low-wage, precarious employment, according to the final 400-page report written by the two experts about proposed labour reforms. Its not realistic. Were going to create good-paying jobs. Were going to make sure that the part-time person gets treated very well, Ford said in response to questions in the legislature from New Democrat MPP Sara Singh (Brampton Centre). But you have to keep in mind the person thats been working there 15 years. You cant treat a part-timer the same way. Mondays rally was spearheaded by unions, worker advocates, and the Fight for $15 movement, which has successfully fought for a higher minimum wage and other protections for precarious workers in cities like San Francisco, Seattle and New York. We are not willing to turn the clock back to 40 years ago said Deena Ladd of the Toronto-based Workers Action Centre. This is not asking too much. These are basic rights. United Steelworkers Union International vice-president Carol Landry told the crowd outside the Ministry of Labour she could not believe in 2018 these are the choices we are giving working families. Our message is, Premier Ford, do the right thing. Gilleen Pearce, who owns a Toronto-based dog walking service, said she attended the rally because the Chamber of Commerce does not speak for everyone. The narrative about business has 100 per cent been hijacked by right-leaning, anti-worker voices, said Pearce, who is also the spokesperson for the Better Way Alliance a group of Ontario employers that supports Bill 148. I dont want workers to feel all business owners are against them. At another action orchestrated by Toronto teachers, Roopa Cheema said she was worried about the potential impact on her students if the bill is scrapped. This minimum wage issue is an education issue because our students living conditions are their learning conditions, she said, adding many of her high school students from low-income households are working to pay their families bills. They are coming to school hungry and exhausted and stressed and anxious, she said. These are not high school students saving to go to university. Theyre working to keep the lights on. With files from Robert Benzie Read more about: Toronto police have arrested the man wanted in the death of 18-year-old Elliott Reid-Doyle, who was shot in a Scarborough plaza parking lot earlier this month. Police said Amal Jones, a 19-year-old from Toronto who was previously identified as a suspect, surrendered at a station Sunday evening. Jones was charged with one count of second-degree murder. He was arrested without incident, police said. The arrest came two days after Toronto police released surveillance camera images of the suspect during a news conference Friday to appeal to the public for help in identifying the alleged shooter. Homicide Det. Leslie Dunkley said last week its just a matter of time before they found the suspect. Dunkley said he didnt believe the suspect and the victim knew each other prior to the incident, and that the shooting was a result of a verbal interaction that didnt last more than a minute. Reid-Doyle was found suffering from gunshot wounds after police received a call at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 3 near Bonis Ave. and Birchmount Rd. He is the citys 83rd homicide victim this year. He was taken to hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police said. Jones is set to appear in court Monday at 1911 Eglinton Ave. E at 10 a.m. ROMEThirty-eight years after being gunned down in a hospital church in El Salvador, Archbishop Oscar Romero was named a saint on Sunday to cheers in St. Peters Square, while thousands watched the ceremony on video monitors in the Salvadoran capital. Pope Francis also canonized Pope Paul VI, who is credited with continuing the work begun by Pope John XXIII and bringing the church into the modern era with a series of reforms wrought from the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. In his homily, Francis said Romero left the security of the world, even his own safety, in order to give his life according to the Gospel, close to the poor and to his people. Of the pope, he said, Even in the midst of tiredness and misunderstanding, Paul VI bore witness in a passionate way to the beauty and the joy of following Christ totally. In all, Francis canonized seven people at the ceremony, which was attended by 70,000 people in St. Peters Square, according to the Vatican. Along with Romero and Paul VI, Francis also canonized two diocesan priests, Francesco Spinelli and Vincenzo Romano; Maria Katharina Kasper and Nazaria of Saint Teresa of Jesus, two women who founded religious congregations; and Nunzio Sulprizio, an Italian man who died at 19 and who is often cited as an example of piety for young people. Francis, the first pope from Latin America, had made clear from the start of his papacy, in 2013, that he would champion the canonization cause of Romero, who will now be known as Saint Oscar Romero. On Sunday, he wore the bloodstained cincture of the martyred archbishop, who was killed by a right-wing death squad on March 24, 1980, while celebrating mass. He also used a cloak, staff and chalice belonging to Pope Paul VI. Paul VI spent his life for Christs Gospel, crossing new boundaries and becoming its witness in proclamation and in dialogue, a prophet of a church turned outward, looking to those far away and taking care of the poor, Francis said Sunday. Romeros path to sainthood was strewn with obstacles, including strong opposition from some in the church to what were perceived as his political motivations. Those reservations had sidelined previous attempts by his supporters to have him recognized by the Vatican. But that had not prevented others from acclaiming him as a hero. Every March 24, the United Nations celebrates a day to promote human rights on which the important work and values of Romero are recognized. In July 1998, a statue of the archbishop was unveiled at Westminster Abbey in London, one of 10 modern martyrs, including Martin Luther King Jr. For decades, Romeros legacy was obstructed because several powerful prelates saw him as a proponent of liberation theology, a movement focused on the poor that had been spawned by the churchs discussions on social justice in the 1960s. For conservatives, the movement was a thinly veiled adaptation of Marxist ideology manipulated by communists to foment revolution in Latin America. The argument played out against the geopolitical backdrop of the Cold War, which saw the United States backing the government and right-wing forces in El Salvador against left-wing rebels, justifying the ensuing brutality as a necessary bulwark against encroaching communism. Some have called the archbishop a martyr of the Cold War. Romero wasnt communist; he wasnt a man of the guerrilla; he was a pastor, said Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Vaticans Pontifical Academy for Life and the promoter of the archbishops cause. And yet he was accused of being political, just as Jesus was. He noted it was extraordinary that Romero and Paul VI are being canonized together because, in effect, it is like theory and practice, uniting in one, and that is a great truth for today, putting the poor and the weakest first, he said. In an interview, Paglia said that Pope John Paul II had come to understand Romeros message. We have to reclaim Romero, he is ours, he belongs to the church, he recalled John Paul II saying. Benedict XVI cleared the path to Romeros sainthood shortly before resigning in 2013, and Francis fast-tracked his conversion to sainthood, beatifying him in 2015 as a martyr. Romero had been considered a saint in El Salvador for decades. We knew this day would come we didnt know when, but we knew it would, said Sister Maria del Carmen Guardado, one of an estimated 5,000 Salvadorans who had travelled to Rome to be present for what she described as a benediction from God. Romero was the countrys first saint, she noted, adding that his canonization was an acknowledgment of sorts of the more than a dozen priests and four nuns killed during the civil war in El Salvador. Rev. Fredis Sandoval also travelled to Rome for Sundays ceremony, which many of his compatriots said they considered a sign that Romero had been on the right side of history. As a pastor, he understood that to enact the Gospel was to serve the poor, and he put the church at the service of the people, Sandoval said, adding that the archbishop had followed in the footsteps of Paul VI, a courageous and free pontiff who understood and supported Romero. Sandoval, a member of Concertacion Romero, an organization that is pushing for the truth of Romeros death to be made public, said papal recognition should lead to wider justice being served. Those responsible for his death still have to be brought to trial, he said. A United Nations truth commission found that Romeros killing had been organized by Roberto DAubuisson, a Salvadoran politician and death squad leader who died of cancer in 1992. Others were also believed to have been involved. The church has finally recognized Romeros humanity, goodness and Christian piety, now the Salvadoran state has to be similarly open and name his killers, Sandoval said. Rev. Robert Pelton, 97, an expert in liberation theology and former missionary in Chile who travelled to Rome from Notre Dame, Ind., for the ceremony, said religious figures in El Salvador carried a lot of political importance during the conflict. They were the movers at the time, he said. To suppress the movement, he noted, their opponents had a simple tactic: Kill the priests. He added, Hopefully, Romero will serve to be a pastoral model for the bishops of Latin America. Karina Morey and Renee Workman, both 15, had travelled to Rome from Fairfax, Va., to pay homage to their Catholic schools namesake: Paul VI. The popes message still resonated with young people, they said. Its progressive and present, Morey said. Workman said, We look to him to see how we should act like Christians. SEOUL, KOREAThe rival Koreas are holding high-level talks Monday to discuss further engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. South Korea said Mondays talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as Washington has expressed unease over the fast pace in inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with U.S.-led efforts to denuclearize the North. Before leaving for the meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the discussions will include setting up a joint survey of a North Korean railroad section the Koreas plan to connect with the South. The Norths chief delegate to the talks is Ri Son Gwon, who chairs the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. There could also be discussions over the specifics of a joint military committee agreed between their leaders to evaluate tension-reduction steps and maintain communication to prevent crises and accidental clashes. In their third summit this year, Moon and Kim committed to reviving economic co-operation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such activity, and holding a groundbreaking ceremony by the end of the year on an ambitious project to connect their roads and railways. The North and South also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border, removing 11 front-line guard posts by December, and demining sections of the Demilitarized Zone. The Koreas also said they will make a push to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Moon has described inter-Korean engagement as crucial to resolving the nuclear standoff and is eager to restart joint economic projects held back by sanctions if the larger nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea begin yielding results. However, South Koreas enthusiasm for engagement with its rival appears to have created discomfort with ally United States amid growing concerns that the North is lagging behind its supposed promise to denuclearize. Moons government last week walked back on a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea following U.S. President Donald Trumps blunt retort that Seoul could do nothing without Washingtons approval. South Koreas Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed displeasure about the Koreas military agreement. Kang was not specific but her comments fuelled speculation Washington wasnt fully on board before Seoul signed the agreement. Despite three summits with Moon and one with Trump in June, Kim has yet to provide a convincing sign that hes ready to deal away his nuclear weapons, which he may see as his strongest guarantee of survival. Pompeo recently visited Kim in Pyongyang in an effort to set up another summit between him and Trump following rocky exchanges in lower-level talks that saw North Korea accuse Washington of gangsterlike demands on denuclearization. Read more about: Everyone just always says that either hes looking at us, or at nighttime, when all of the servers are here, theyll hear things over in that little section, Roszak said. Or things will be moved after we have already put things in certain ways, but just in between those two tables. Theres always a story. KIRKUK, IRAQA family of six lost children lives quietly in a small apartment among strangers in this northern Iraqi city. The man of the house, an 18-year-old, heads out each morning looking for day labour jobs to pay the rent. His 12-year-old sister acts as the mother, cooking meals, cleaning and caring for her young siblings. Their home village is less than an hours drive away, but they cant go back Shiite militiamen burned down their house because their father belonged to the Islamic State group. And they fear retaliation by their former neighbours, so deep is the anger at the militants who once ruled this area. So the Suleiman children are left to fend for themselves. Their father is in prison. Their mother died years ago. They are traumatized by deaths of loved ones in the war and by their own family turmoil. In their temporary home, they lie low, worried their new neighbours will learn of their familys IS connection. I am tired, said the 12-year-old, Dawlat, a slim girl whose face is almost unshakably solemn. My mother visits me in my dreams. I get scared when the power is out at night. I would love my father and mother to be here next to me. Thousands of children of Islamic State group members, many of them abandoned like Dawlats family, are the innocent victims of the brutal rise and destructive fall of Daesh, the acronym by which IS is known. The stain they carry points to how thoroughly Iraqs social fabric was torn apart by the militants nearly 3-year-rule over much of the countrys north and west. When the Sunni Muslim IS took over those territories in a 2014 blitz, it massacred Shiite Muslims, Kurds, Christians, Yazidis, Sunni Muslim fighters and members of the police or military who fell into its hands. And it drove out others, often either destroying or giving away their homes. It inflicted a radical version of Shariah law on fellow Sunnis, killing many who violated it or those who opposed their rule. Some Iraqi Sunnis joined the group, either out of conviction or because of the economic benefits membership brought. Many more were its victims. Informants turned in neighbours, leading to punishments ranging from lashings to a bullet in the head in a public square. Now that IS has been driven out of almost all its territory, many of its victims want vengeance. A senior police officer in the northern province of Nineveh said he knew of at least 100 homes in and around the city of Mosul that have been demolished by tribesmen angry over IS members living there. Daesh-linked families have been shot at and had grenades thrown at their homes, he said. Members of the Yazidi religious minority whom the militants singled out for some of their worst brutalities, massacres of the men and enslavement of the women have retaliated by destroying homes in Arab villages in their heartland in the Singar area, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with his agencys regulations. Thousands of Iraqis are in prison over suspected IS ties and an unknown number of Daesh members were killed in the war. That leaves potentially tens of thousands of children without male heads of households and often without female ones. The stigma against the children is powerful. Even extended families in some cases refuse to take in abandoned children of IS members, said a relief official with an international agency that has worked to find homes for such children. The relatives may worry about being tainted themselves or come under pressure from their tribes not to accept the kids, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk about the agencys work. Most children of Iraqi IS members live mingled among the hundreds of thousands still languishing in camps for those displaced by the three years of fighting that brought down IS. More than 1,000 live with incarcerated mothers in overcrowded jails or juvenile detention facilities. A few dozen are in orphanages. One, in Baghdad, houses the children of foreign jihadis who came from abroad to join the IS and are now dead or imprisoned. Police have set up checkpoints on all streets leading to it. There has already been at least one foiled attempt to attack the orphanage. The children at the centre of this resentment are often profoundly traumatized, whether from their lives with the Islamic State group or from the war itself. At another orphanage, in Mosul, a 9-year-old Iraqi girl named Amwaj said her father was killed fighting for IS. Then her home was hit by shelling, killing her mother and three of her siblings. She watched her mothers body being dug from the rubble. Her face was covered with blood, she said, her hands spread over her cheeks to demonstrate. The girl, whose name means waves in Arabic, looked haunted, her eyes wandering and often near tears, her voice barely audible. In the orphanage, she takes care of her three surviving brothers, 10-year-old Mohammed and Hashem and Tahrir, both younger than her. She said she remembers her father giving her money to buy chips and soda. She dreams of him coming to the orphanage to take her home. She dreams of her mother brushing her hair. Dawlat, her 18-year-old brother Saleh and their siblings Abdullah, 16; 8-year-old Adam; a 6-year-old sister, Umaimah; and 4-year-old Dawoud carry on their shoulders the multiple tragedies they endured from the time IS took over their hometown, outside the city of Hawija, in 2014. They suffered at the hands of Daesh, at the hands of Daeshs enemies and at the hands of their own father. Their father joined the group and worked repairing generators for the militants. An older brother also joined and was killed fighting for IS. An older sister was killed by a roadside bomb as she tried to flee IS territory. Family turmoil also tore them apart: It emerged that their father abused one of his daughters. Saleh confronted his father and they lived for months as enemies under one roof. They came to blows several times. Saleh said he even thought of killing his father at night but he was awake with his gun next to him. In retaliation, Saleh said, the father turned him in to Daesh for selling cigarettes, which were banned under IS. The militants flogged Saleh. The teen fled to Kurdish-held territory in March 2016, only to be held for six months by Kurdish fighters on suspicion he belonged to Daesh. Saleh said they hung him from the ceiling by his hands and beat the soles of his feet with a hose. The abused sister was married off to an IS fighter, who was later killed; now 14, she is married again, the second wife of a policeman, and living in a displaced camp. Meanwhile, Daesh found a new wife for their father, forcing a Shiite woman to marry him. The woman, whose own husband had been killed, brought her own four children with her. Two months later, Iraqi forces overran Hawija. The father shaved his beard to shed signs of his IS allegiance and fled with his family, hiding among the tens of thousands of others escaping the city. But his new wife turned him in, telling Kurdish fighters at a checkpoint that he was Daesh. The fighters beat him, then dragged him away the last any of his family has seen him. The new wife left with her children. She was with them so briefly and wanted so little to do with the family she was forced into that Dawlat and her siblings dont even know her name. The kids were shunted into a camp for the displaced, where they lived for nearly a year. Finally, the husband of another of their sisters arranged an apartment for them in an impoverished Kurdish neighbourhood of Kirkuk. Surrounded by neighbours belonging to a community persecuted by IS, Saleh fears being found out. At the same time, members of their extended family have warned them its not safe to return to their home village, where other relatives might support them. The husband of another of their sisters was arrested a month ago after someone recognized him in the streets as a Daesh member. Im often close to tears. Im exhausted. I feel like Im 30 after everything Ive gone through, Saleh said. Dawlats childhood has been stripped away. At their apartment in Kirkuk, she cooks three meals a day; while the younger children are at school, she cleans the house, makes the bed, washes dishes and does laundry. She boasts she can now cook lentils and potatoes and chicken, though she admits she doesnt always get the rice right. There are moments when a smile illuminates Dawlats face, temporarily sweeping away her perpetual haunted look. She talks of how she once loved school and still hopes to become a doctor or teacher. More immediately, she hopes to get married. In rural Iraq, marriage of young girls is common. Once married, she said, it would be religiously permitted for her to wear makeup. Id like to go to a hairdresser. I have never been to a hair salon, she said. I like my hair long, but I would like to dye it a different colour. But then she reverts to the little girl she is longing to play, regretting her burdens and, despite everything, missing her father. He is so dear to me. ... I want him back with us, she whispered, so Saleh could not hear. Read more about: LUXEMBOURGOnly two days ahead of a summit once seen as the moment when Britain and the European Union would have to reach a Brexit deal, both sides are still refusing to blink over the question of the Irish border. A flurry of diplomatic meetings over the weekend had raised hopes for an agreement on Britains divorce from the bloc. But they were disappointed by the issue that has dogged the talks for months how to ensure that no hard border is created between the EUs Ireland and Britains Northern Ireland once Brexit happens on March 29. The EU has proposed keeping Northern Ireland in a customs union to avoid a hard border between it and Ireland. Yet fears are that such a border could revive tensions between Northern Irelands pro-Irish Catholic community and its pro-U.K. Protestant one. Decades ago, over 3,700 people were killed in Northern Ireland amid 30 years of violence between the two groups and Britain, which ended with a 1998 peace deal. Britain says it will only accept that EU Brexit plan if it is temporary and does not hive Northern Ireland off permanently from the rest of the U.K. in terms of customs arrangements. British Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman James Slack said Monday that negotiations are stuck because the EU continues to insist on the possibility of a customs border down the Irish Sea. Britain feels that move will effectively split up the U.K., which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The acrimony means it is almost impossible that EU leaders will reach a deal at their summit, which begins Wednesday. The British and EU parliaments need to approve any deal, a process that could take months ahead of Britains official exit on March 29. Read more: Round of talks dont resolve Brexit problems ahead of summit How to buy a slice of Brexit Britain EU says Brexit deal within reach if negotiations make progress before summit German Chancellor Angela Merkel, perhaps the strongest voice in the EU, insisted that May should not count on the EU to blink first for fear of losing valuable business. Merkel said Germany wants an orderly departure of Britain from the bloc but not at any price. EU negotiators and leaders have said that Britain should not seek to cherry-pick the best parts of staying in the EU and leave the tough parts out in its withdrawal agreement and future relations. We must not allow our single market, which is really our competitive advantage, to be destroyed by such a withdrawal, Merkel said told Germanys main exporters association. And if it doesnt work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear but time is pressing. Britain refuses to be pinned down on a date for a fixed Brexit deal. Whether we do (it) this week or not, who knows? British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters in Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers are meeting. If Britain leaves the EU without an agreement on future relations, there could be chaos tariffs would go up on trade, airlines could no longer have permits to fly between the two regions, and freight could be lined up for miles at border crossings as customs checks are restored overnight. To avoid this, the prospect of an extra EU meeting in November was raised, but only if there was decisive progress this week. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney admitted to being frustrated by the delay, saying that apart from Britain, Ireland is the country with most to lose from Brexit. Coveney suggested that May is reneging on part of Britains commitment to ensure that no hard border involving lengthy customs checks and controls emerges on the Irish island. He said Britain agreed in December and again in March that an unpopular EU backstop guarantee would remain in place until a better solution is found, but now appears to only want it used for a limited time. A backstop cannot be time-limited. Thats new. It hasnt been there before, he said. Nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism to calm nerves that were not going to see physical border infrastructure re-emerging. Britain denied it is reneging on its December commitment to avoid a hard Irish border. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, meanwhile, said he foresees no Brexit problems between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar, the British territory on the border of Spain. Its not a rock in the way, Borrell said, referring to Gibraltars nickname. He added the Irish border problem is more difficult to solve than Gibraltar. May is under intense pressure from her Conservative Party and its parliamentary allies not to give any more ground in Brexit negotiations, especially on the border issue. Mays political allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, stand ready to scuttle a Brexit deal over the Irish border issue. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no-deal scenario over Brexit because he felt was no Brexit agreement that would be accepted by Britains Parliament. Read more about: LYNN HAVEN, FLA.Michael Rollins shook U.S. President Donald Trumps hand Monday at the front door of his hurricane-ravaged home in the Florida Panhandle, saying he decided to ride out the storm because he didnt have anywhere else to go. I knew I had made my commitment to stay with my animals, Rollins told the president, standing by a massive pine tree down on the front lawn. The president, along with first lady Melania Trump, listened to stories of survival and struggle as he surveyed the wreckage of Hurricane Michael. As Trump toured, the death toll stood at 17, with thousands of buildings gutted and tens of thousands of homes and businesses without electricity. Trump paused his election-season campaign blitz for the visit, largely but not completely putting politics on the back burner for the day. Trump visited an aid distribution centre, set up in a parking lot filled with boxes of diapers, piles of clothes and bottled water. He and the first lady handed out bottles of water to residents who came to see him and tell him their stories about the storm. Somebody said it was like a very wide extremely wide tornado. Beyond any winds that theyve seen, Trump said. Look behind you. I mean, these massive trees are just ripped out of the earth. This is really incredible. This road five hours ago, you couldnt ride on it. Trump was joined by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Federal Emergency Management Agency director Brock Long and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Read more: Four days after Michael, large swath of Florida Panhandle suffering Searches for survivors ramp up in wake of Hurricane Michael Trump accepts climate change is not a hoax, but says he doesnt know if its man-made Before visiting the city of Lynn Haven, Trump took a 55-minute helicopter tour of the region to see how the local and state rescue efforts were progressing. He saw houses stripped of their roofs, a water tower that had toppled to the ground and 18-wheel trucks scattered in a parking lot. Trump also saw the heavy damage inflicted on Tyndall Air Force Base. The president landed at an airport near Panama City, where power poles bowed toward the ground, pieces of metal roofing were scattered about and pine trees had been uprooted or were snapped in half. The view during the drive included houses smashed by trees, bent billboards and a demolished trailer park. Power crews were working to restore power to thousands. Everything Ive asked the president for, hes come through, said Scott, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. We still have a lot of work to do. Were still getting water out, getting food out. Rollins was among many people in the Panhandle who rode out the storm. Kayla Runyon, 22, said she evacuated to a hotel in Callaway with some relatives. We watched out the window and we just watched buildings be demolished, Runyon said. Steel beams started coming through the hotel windows and through the walls. There were windows busting. We were scared. It was scary. Trump also surveyed storm damage in Georgia, where the focus was on farmers whose crops were wiped out by the hurricane. At a farm in Macon, Kevin Rentz, a fourth-generation cotton and peanut farmer, told Trump he lost his entire cotton crop. Rentz said hes still digging up peanuts, but the problem is storing them without electricity. Trump tried to reassure the farmers, asking whether they had insurance and promising that electricity would be restored soon. Youll get it back, Trump told Rentz. Trump still had politics on his mind, despite the devastation he was about to see. Before leaving the White House, he tweeted about his rally crowds, claiming they are bigger than ever before, including during the 2016 election. Never an empty seat in these large venues, he said. The president refused to cancel a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, last Wednesday the day Michael struck the Panhandle saying he couldnt disappoint the thousands of people who had been lining up for hours to see him. Trump also held rallies in Ohio and Kentucky before the Florida-Georgia visit. In Florida, the mood at the FEMA aid distribution centre seemed lighthearted despite the surrounding devastation, as Trump bantered with a crowd that seemed more interested in selfies with him than in the bottled water he was offering in the heat and humidity. A woman carrying a toddler posed for a photo and then told Trump he should come back for barbecue. Another woman thanked the first lady for her anti-bullying campaign. Read more about: WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump suggested Monday that rogue killers could be responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an explanation offering U.S. ally Saudi Arabia a possible path out of a global diplomatic firestorm. The Saudis continued to deny they killed the writer, but there were indications the story could soon change. While Trump commented at the White House, Turkish crime scene investigators finally entered the Saudi consulate to comb the building where Khashoggi was last seen alive two weeks ago. Trump spoke after a personal 20-minute phone call with Saudi King Salman and as the president dispatched his secretary of state to Riyadh for a face-to-face discussion with the king. Late in the day, there were published reports that the Saudis were preparing to concede that Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Saudi contributor to the Washington Post, had been killed in an interrogation gone wrong. Before Monday Trump had focused less on possible explanations for Khashoggis likely demise than on possible punishment if the Saudis were found culpable. The king firmly denied any knowledge of it, Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to survey hurricane damage in Florida and Georgia. Trump said he didnt want to get into (Salmans) mind, but he added, it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. I mean, who knows? Were going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial. Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government and in particular Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the consulate on Oct. 2 to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage to a Turkish woman. Turkish officials have said he was killed and dismembered. In a sign of new co-operation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia that could shed light on the disappearance, Turkish investigators wearing coveralls and gloves entered the consulate Monday. It remained unclear what evidence they might be able to uncover. Earlier Monday, a cleaning crew with mops, trash bags and what appeared to be bottles of bleach walked in past waiting journalists. Trump administration officials told The Associated Press that intelligence collected by the U.S. is inconclusive as to what actually happened to Khashoggi. With such a lack of clarity, the administration has not ruled out any possible scenario. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and requested anonymity. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, hurriedly sent to Riyadh, expected to get more clarity during talks with Saudi leaders Tuesday. The White House expects credible answers quickly after Pompeo wraps up his trip with a stop in Ankara for meetings with senior Turkish officials. Canada has joined its allies in pressing Saudi Arabia for answers in the disappearance and suspected murder of the prominent journalist, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said. Freeland spoke with her counterparts in Great Britain, the United States and Germany as international outrage mounts. Canada calls for a thorough, credible and transparent investigation into the serious allegations about Mr. Khashoggis disappearance, said Freeland, who spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir earlier in the day. The State Department has urged a thorough investigation into Khashoggis disappearance and called on Saudi Arabia to be transparent about the results advice broadly tracking messages from allies in Europe. Germany, Britain and France issued a joint statement over the weekend expressing grave concern and calling for a credible investigation to ensure those responsible for the disappearance are held to account. Trump quoted the King on Monday as saying that neither he nor his son, Crown Prince Mohammed, had any information about what had happened to Khashoggi. The prince, ambitious, aggressive and just 33 in a kingdom long ruled by aging monarchs, has considerable weight in Saudi government actions. He and Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, have forged close ties. Just last week, Trump vowed to uncover the truth about what happened to Khashoggi and promised severe punishment for those responsible. But he has said repeatedly that he does not want to halt a proposed $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia as some in Congress have said he should because it would harm the U.S. economically. Saudi Arabia has pledged to retaliate economically for any U.S. punitive action. That would be an unprecedented breach in a decades-old, deep economic and security relationship that is key to Washingtons policies in the Middle East. A Saudi-owned satellite channel later suggested the worlds largest oil exporter could wield that production as a weapon against the U.S. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin still plans to attend a previously scheduled Saudi conference this week to address terrorist financing, but those plans could change as the investigation progresses. CNN reported that the Saudis were going to admit the killing had occurred but deny the king or crown prince had ordered it. The New York Times reported that the Saudi royal court would soon put out a narrative that an official within the kingdoms intelligence services who happened to be a friend of Prince Mohammed had carried out the killing. According to that narrative, the crown prince had approved an interrogation or rendition of Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia, but the intelligence official was tragically incompetent as he eagerly sought to prove himself. Both reports cited anonymous people said to be familiar with the Saudi plans. Trump said he could not confirm such reports. Ive heard that report but nobodys knows if its an official report. So far its just the rumour, the rumour of a report coming out, he said. Turkey has wanted to search the consulate for days. Permission apparently came after a late Sunday night call between King Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In statements after the call, both praised the creation of a joint Saudi-Turkish probe. The Turkish inspection team included a prosecutor, a deputy prosecutor, anti-terror police and forensic experts, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Certain areas of the consulate were to remain off-limits, although officials would be able to inspect surveillance cameras, Turkish media reported. The furor over Khashoggi has dealt a serious setback to Prince Mohammeds aggressive pitch for the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. Several business leaders and media outlets have backed out of the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh, called the Future Investment Initiative. They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; billionaire Richard Branson; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford. with files from Bruce Campion-Smith Read more about: The evidence is already clear, Oct. 7 There are more than 90 supervised injection sites worldwide, including those in Australia, Germany, Norway, Spain and Switzerland. It is mind-boggling and irresponsible that some Ontario cabinet members and the premier are against these harm reduction programs. Supporting them is the right thing to do morally and politically. Doug Ford simply cannot ignore the scientific evidence. The issue at hand is public health, not politics. And the evidence speaks for itself! Supervised injection sites also reduce the chance that police officers and other emergency workers will be exposed to HIV in the course of their work. For these workers, it is very much a workplace health and safety concern. In December 2008, the Atlantic City Police Department supported that citys then-new needle exchange program primarily because it reduces the odds their members will be exposed to HIV infection in their work. All U.S. states now have needle exchange programs. For the record, in September 2014, Canadas first sanctioned supervised injection site, InSite, celebrated more than 10 years servicing the Downtown Eastside community in Vancouver: 10 years, two million visitors and no deaths. InSite, which opened in 2003, runs steadily every day for 18 hours until 4:00 a.m.; approximately 800 people use the booths each day. Need more be said? Based on the evidence, the Vancouver Police Department has supported and continues to support this harm reduction program. A four-year feasibility study done by researchers at St. Michaels Hospital and the University of Toronto recommended in 2012 that the cities of Ottawa and Toronto open supervised injection sites. Their harshest critic was then-mayor Rob Ford. On July 2, 2014, the Toronto Board of Health urged the City of Toronto to open supervised injection sites based on research from Vancouver and other countries that show these sites are effective in reducing drug overdoses and reducing the risk of disease transmission. It is about time that all policies affecting the health and safety of citizens conform with science. It is called de-politicizing health. The time for politicizing the tragedy of drug addiction is over! Leadership and science over politics. Ontario pot-sale plan raises health concerns, Oct. 12, Fridays paper had a secondary headline: Experts warn province might be promoting a generation of addicts. On Wednesday, a front-page headline read: Toronto police face strict pot use rules. On Monday, the headline was: How to talk to your kids about pot and below it was the addtional line: Offer a dual message: Ideally dont do it, but be safe if you do. There have been similar articles warning about pot in almost every paper for the last few months. Where were these people when the federal government proposed legalizing pot? Where were the medical experts who now say the human brain is not formed until the age of 25 and theyre not sure what the effects of marijuana will be on our young people? When plain, ordinary folks like me expressed our doubts, we were pooh-poohed and told we were old-fashioned and to get with it. Huh? Getting with it means doing drugs? Since when? Its too bad experts didnt speak up before our government pushed this through. Im still trying to understand why the rush before any further controlled studies could be done. Its a sad world indeed when idiotic laws are rammed through in a wonderful country such as ours before all the pros and cons are weighed. Oct. 17, 2018, will be a very sad day indeed for Canada. In an age of social media and intense global competition, brand has become more important than ever. While it was once the exclusive domain of consumer-focused companies, now individuals, organizations and nations alike have become acutely aware of the image they project and the benefits that come with successfully building brand equity. Whatever you may be selling, branding is the alchemy that transforms a kernel of truth and a dash of exaggeration into gold. Intellectually, we all understand that a certain toothpaste will not transform our social lives, but on a crowded shelf the brand thats promoted will still be the one we reach for. The same phenomenon applies to countries. Branding has become an important way to promote that same shelf appeal, to attract foreign capital, top talent, jobs and corporate offices and tourists. If you happen to have a jaunty red maple leaf as a national logo, all the better. The Trudeau Liberals have been, since their election, exceptionally savvy about national and international branding. They shrewdly played to the deep-rooted belief among Canadian voters that we are a kinder, gentler and more moral society than many others. They championed environmental standards, they spoke fervently about human rights, they pronounced on the imperative for gender equality. Not only that, they generously gave other countries pointers on how to hold themselves to that Canadian standard of conduct. One of the most obvious examples of that moral brand extension came in August when Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland used Twitter in Arabic to support Saudi activists at odds with the ruling monarchy. As tensions grew, the Canadian ambassador was withdrawn. Public demands by the Saudis for an apology were made and rejected. And the Liberals burnished Canadas brand as a plucky and high-minded nation that punched above its weight. All that has come to the fore again, as the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a Saudi journalist and critic of the monarchy has deepened. On Oct. 2, Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi embassy in Istanbul to complete some routine paperwork. He has not been seen since. The international concern about his fate and the outrage at the likelihood that he is a victim of dire retribution, has certainly vindicated Canadas early stand against an increasingly bold autocracy. But heres where the varnish starts to chip: The values that underpin our national brand are not consistent with finger-wagging diplomacy and impassioned rhetoric about the importance of human rights. Indeed, our own sense of our brand is at odds with reality and with the perceptions of others. When the Canadian government first the Conservatives and then the Liberals agreed to sell armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, they unequivocally forfeited the moral high ground. Sure, they were described first as trucks by former prime minister Stephen Harper and later as jeeps by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but that deliberate trivialization only makes it worse. The Saudis know that perfectly well and, frankly, so does everyone else. This is not going to be a one-time news story. Rather it is going to be an issue as Canadas campaign to join the 2021 UN Security Council ramps up. The effort is already underway, skilfully led by Canadas permanent representative to the United Nations, Marc-Andre Blanchard. Given our sense of own brand, Canada should be a strong contender. But remember what happened last time we tried for this prize. Portugal left us in their dust. And now, were competing for a coveted spot with Norway and Ireland, two smaller and quieter countries with less brand equity but perhaps more authentic clout. For all our posturing, the reality is that Norway is a far more generous foreign aid donor (spending one percent of GDP compared with Canadas 0.26 per cent) and Ireland has twice as many peacekeepers in the field as Canada. Just another example of the complexities that middle powers face when trying to give life to their brand and their values in a big, old, complicated and cross pressured world. Jaime Watt is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist. He is a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist. He is a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @jaimewatt Read more about: OTTAWAIt is not a drill. When legal cannabis hits the shelves in Canada on Wednesday, it will be there to stay. Come next years federal election, no party will be committing to turn back the clock on Justin Trudeaus signature policy; not even the Conservatives who spent the last campaign painting nightmare scenarios about the legal sale of marijuana and who would have no qualms about doing away with other major parts of the Liberal legacy. If Andrew Scheer became prime minister, he would waste no time in dismantling the Liberal climate change infrastructure. A Conservative federal government would turn its back on carbon pricing and lighten the regulatory burden on pipeline owners. It would reverse the bid to make the Senate more independent and resume appointing partisan members committed to supporting the government agenda to the Upper House. But Scheer would not kill the nascent legal cannabis market. It would of course be hard for the Conservatives to continue to prosecute the legalization of cannabis with a minimum of credibility when some of those who toiled on their front bench or in their governments backrooms have now become poster people for the cannabis industry. Given the significant amount of money and labour that has gone into the opening and the operation of this new market, this was never a policy that could or would be reversed on a dime. When the Liberals first adopted a resolution in support of the legalization of cannabis at the partys 2012 convention, few believed it had the potential to become a fait accompli a mere half-dozen years later. The party was leaderless and languishing in third place in the House of Commons. The best some Liberal strategists could think of saying about the cannabis resolution was that it sent a signal that there was still some policy life on their political planet. The worst was that it could lead scores of voters to dismiss their party as too irresponsible to be returned to government. Yet, support for the legalization of marijuana among the Liberal delegates cut right across the age spectrum. That was a rare clue that the proposal might turn out to be more than a one-convention wonder. Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about the need for governments to acquire a so-called social licence for the projects and the policies they support. But in the case of the legalization of cannabis as in that of assisted dying the federal government of the day did not so much create the circumstances for social acceptability as take advantage of its existence. An Abacus poll published on Monday reported little public resistance to the new status of cannabis. Most Canadians will not be dancing in the streets when marijuana stores open for business on Wednesday, nor will they be rushing to the barricades to protest. Read more: Opinion | Walkom: Legalizing pot is about politics and big business Investing in cannabis will be hazy in the short run I was 14 when I first realized how readily available cannabis was. The fact that it was an illegal substance did not factor in my decision to take a pass on trying it. By all accounts, my experience is par for the course for most adult Canadians. It wont be easier to purchase cannabis under the new regime; at first in fact it will often be harder. The main change is that it will no longer be illegal. And as a result, scores of people, many of them young, will no longer risk being saddled with a criminal record. Over time, smoking weed may become as uncool as smoking tobacco. That is not to say that the politics of marijuana will fall right off the radar. But much of the action at least over the first few years will be taking place in the provinces. As it is now configured, the legal cannabis market is really a patchwork system featuring almost as many approaches as there are provinces. That is not necessarily a bad thing. At some point, best practices will surface and in an ideal world be replicated. For instance, Quebec under its incoming CAQ government is planning to take as close to a prohibitionist approach as possible. Premier-elect Francois Legault would raise the legal age to buy cannabis from 18 to 21 and make it illegal to smoke weed in public places. Ontario is taking a more liberal approach. The next few years will tell which of the two comes closest to meeting the policy objectives of eradicating the black market and ensuring that less cannabis finds its way into the hands of Canadian teenagers. But under any scenario, getting an informed take on the big post-legalization picture will take longer than the 10 or so months between now and the next federal election. Chantal Hebert is a columnist based in Ottawa covering politics. Follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert Read more about: As Ontarios fiscal watchdog is set to reveal the financial impact of Premier Doug Fords decision to scrap cap-and-trade, the Progressive Conservatives insist they will have a replacement climate-change plan soon. Environment Minister Rod Phillips said Monday the Tories would soon unveil their strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to extreme weather. Climate change is real. Our plan will deal with the impacts, unlike the previous governments, said Phillips, referring to former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynnes alliance with Quebec and California. Not the cap-and-trade carbon-tax plan that was rejected by the people of Ontario but a plan that works, the minister said of the June 7 provincial election. His comments came as Peter Weltman, the provinces financial accountability officer, is to release a review Tuesday on the cost of cancelling cap-and-trade. Under that plan, businesses had emission limits or caps and those who polluted less could sell or trade credits for these to those who emit more pollution. Gradually, an industrys cap is lowered, creating an economic incentive to reduce emissions. The two-year-old market-based program generated $1.9 billion annually for environmental initiatives such as retrofitting homes, schools and public buildings and subsidizing electric cars. But Ford, who called the measure a carbon tax, is extricating Ontario from its pact with Quebec and California in favour of lowering gasoline and natural gas prices. That $1.9 billion will no longer be coming into provincial coffers to bankroll environmental programs. The premier is also prepared to spend up to $35 million in court to fight Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus national carbon-pricing scheme. It is still unclear how the provinces forthcoming climate-change plan will slash emissions without any enforceable compliance regimen. NDP MPP Peter Tabuns, pointing to the dire warnings in last weeks United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change report, noted Ontario once had a plan to mitigate climate change. Then, the premier ripped up the plan and replaced it with nothing, said Tabuns (Toronto Danforth). But Phillips said the new government is trying to balance ecology with the economy. We need to understand the impacts of climate change, because its happening, the minister said. Second, we need to deal with reductions in greenhouse gases, but reductions that provide a balance, a balance between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie Read more about: The Indiana University School of Public Health recently awarded Valpo Parks Director, John Seibert, the W.W. Patty Distinguished Alumni Award. The award is bestowed to a graduate who has demonstrated outstanding personal and professional achievement in his or her career. In more than 30 years with Seibert as director, the Valpo Parks team, along with City and Community partners, have received awards from organizations such as the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, Porter County Tourism, Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, the Indiana Parks and Recreation Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Indiana Greenways Foundation and the Shirley Heinze Land Trust. Seibert was President of the Indiana Parks and Recreation Association (IPRA) in 1995. He has received IPRAs Outstanding Professional Award and its Distinguished Life Member Award. Seibert is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands. GRANITE CITY The Illinois Department of Transportation announced Monday that, weather permitting, there will be periodic lane restrictions/closures along Illinois Route 203 (Nameoki Road) from Edwards Street to just south of Lincoln Avenue in Granite City, in order to allow Illinois American Water Company to safely work on the water main. Working hours will be between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., starting on Thursday, Oct. 18, and ending on Tuesday, Nov. 13. Traffic delays are anticipated; motorists are encouraged to consider alternate routes. The level of drama in Washington D.C. right now would typically be enough to wash state politics to the wayside during election season. But in Illinois that remains to be seen. Why? Voters still have Mike Madigan on the mind. The speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives remains a key campaign issue despite national headlines. Even with all that attention, however, the anatomy of the speakers power can be tough for the average voter to suss out. How has the longest-serving state House speaker in U.S. history remained in office for so long? Whos to blame? Will his dominance ever cease? First things first: How does Madigan get to Springfield in the first place? The answer lies near Midway Airport on Chicagos Southwest Side. This is Madigans House district: the tiny 22nd. Its where Madigan grew up under the care of the 13th Ward political organization his father, Mike, was the ward superintendent and his uncle, Tom, was a precinct captain. In fact, local precinct captains gave Madigan his first taste of political power in 1969 when they elected him to the office of ward committeeman, a party position he holds to this day. As of the 2018 primary, the 22nd district was home to a little over 57,000 registered voters. Less than 18,200 of them cast a vote in the primary. And around 12,600 of them cast a vote for Madigan, who ran unopposed. Every two years, over the last five general elections, he has received fewer than 22,000 votes on average. It is those Illinoisans less than 0.2 percent of the states population who send Madigan to Springfield. Just 21 percent of Illinois voters approve of the speaker, according to the most recent polling from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. So how does a man with such dismal approval ratings throughout the state keep getting re-elected? The logic is simple. Its good to ride with the king. One example: In July 2015, while Illinois government was tight on money during the budget impasse, Madigan landed millions of state dollars to build a new school in his district by funneling the cash through Secretary of State Jesse Whites office. Thats why they send him to Springfield. But getting angry at the residents of the 22nd district is of little use, if only because taking down Madigan on his own turf is a pipe dream. They are voting in their self-interest. And these Illinoisans dont really cast the vote that gives Madigan more power than any state legislative leader in the country. State representatives do. I dont become the speaker because someone issues an edict, Madigan said in a 2004 interview. I become the speaker because there are at least 60 members of the House, generally Democrats, who vote for me to be the speaker. Those representatives who dont stand up to Madigan for fear of losing campaign dollars, committee chairmanships, the ability to have bills passed and more are those who are to blame for the speakers dominance. Just like residents in the 22nd district, their vote for the speaker is self-interested. Since Madigan serves as the chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, campaign cash that the party sends to its candidates comes with the obligation to back Madigan as speaker. This expectation invites constant questioning from the press on how these candidates will remain independent from leadership. Some call this problem the Madigan tax. It should be noted that this phenomenon runs completely counter to the model of maintaining political power that was perfected by Madigans most prominent mentor, the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. The key to Daleys decadeslong dominance serves as the title of a 1976 book by University of Illinois Chicago Professor Milton Rakove on the Chicago political machine, Dont Make No WavesDont Back No Losers. The first command, dont make no waves, means politicians must remove themselves as much as possible from controversial decisions and unfavorable media attention. The idea is simple: The people who hated you for a contentious decision will walk 10 miles in the snow to vote for your opponent. The voters who liked it? Theyll forget it ever happened in three months. Madigan flew largely under the radar for decades in the public consciousness because he never ran for statewide office. It was not until recently that he became widely known as the key player behind tax hikes, reckless borrowing and broken budgets over his 33 years with the speakers gavel. As his name recognition has skyrocketed, Madigan is a walking wave. His reputation is a weight on the neck of every Democratic candidate. Come November, that could make the second command dont back no losers more difficult. Austin Berg is a writer for the Illinois Policy Institute. He wrote this column for the Illinois News Network. Austin can be reached at aberg@illinoispolicy.org. Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. F. Scott Fitzgerald I was thinking about that quote this past week. I couldnt help but contemplate why a man would spend $150 million of his own money to run for governor, but then engage in a scheme to short the taxpayers of Cook County out of $300,000 by having the toilets removed from one of his mansions? It doesnt make much sense. But J.B. Pritzker did it and he got whacked on the knuckles by the Cook County inspector general last week. And the feds may be nosing around. If J.B. isnt careful, the only toilet he will have to worry about is one hed share with a fellow named Bruno in a 6-foot by 8-foot cell. The inspector generals report concluded an assessed valuation of a mansion owned by Pritzker was reduced from $6.25 million to just under $1.1 million because the residence was vacant and uninhabitable with no working toilets. The toilets had been removed from the mansion 10 days before the tax assessor came to look things over. Think this is a dumb thing to get in trouble for? Well, former U.S. Rep. Daniel Rostenkowski went to prison for stealing stamps from the House post office. Oh, and former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock is in hot water with the feds for allegedly taking tax dollars and campaign funds to decorate his campaign office with pheasant feathers and a coat of red paint. Yeah, Illinois politicians have gone to prison for dumber things. Now, J.B. has announced he is in the process of giving the $300,000 he saved on property taxes back to Cook County. Sorry, J.B., life doesnt work like that. We ordinary folks couldnt burglarize a house, get caught two years later and expect there not to be any consequences if we just returned what we stole. And Im sure Rostenkowski would have paid the post office back for the $55,000 in stamps he swiped to avoid going to prison. And, Schock, well who knows what hed be willing to do to get the Feds off his tail. But you cant put the toothpaste back in the tube. J.B. Pritzker is worth $3.4 billion. To put that in perspective, if all his wealth were put in one-dollar bills and stacked it would tower 20.2 miles above the earth. On the other hand, if the amount Pritzker didnt pay in taxes were stacked, it would be 107 feet high. So, for most of us, $300,000 is a fortune. But for J.B. Pritzker $300,000 is, well, a dribble in the bowl. Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse journalist. He works as a freelance reporter in the Springfield area and he can be reached at scottreeder1965@gmail.com. World Vision Ugandais a Christian Relief, Development and Advocacy Non-Government Organizationdedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcomepoverty and injustice. We currently work in over 41 districts in Uganda. WorldVision is committed to the protection of children and we will not employ peoplewhose background is not suitable for working with children. All employment is conditionedupon the successful completion of all applicable background checks, includingcriminal record checks where possible. Our Vision for every child, Life in allits fullness. Our prayer for every Heart, the will to make it so. Restless Development(Uganda) is an International NGO established to address the challenges faced byyoung people in Uganda by placing young people at the forefront of change anddevelopment. Our vision is for all Ugandan youth to live healthy and productivelives, fully supported by those around them. Our programming focuses on threecore areas: youth sexual and reproductive health and rights, youth civicparticipation and youth employment and livelihoods. Another resident who asked that her name not be used, who also lives on the sixth floor, said she didn't hear the smoke alarms go off. She said she was, however, awakened by a loud popping sound around 3 a.m., and then again around 6 a.m., before falling back asleep. Demonstrated ability to work both as a member of a team and as ateam leader, with the ability to accept the inputs of other team members The Mercy Corps Livestock Officer will work toimprove the economic future and quality of life of program beneficiaries. TheOfficer will implement and support facilitation projects that support thegrowth of livestock value chains in Karamoja in collaboration with theLivestock Manager for the North, Senior Veterinarian for the South and withdirection from the Livestock Advisor. These activities will work almostexclusively through private sector actors, seeking to crowd in provision ratherthan displace or replicate private actors with donor-funded services.Facilitation projects will include, but are not limited to, commercializinglivestock value chains and live animal trading in an equitable manner,increasing profitability and provision of community animal health services,increasing fodder production, strengthening livestock output markets andcreation of an enabling environment in Karamoja for pro-poor, nutritionsensitive livestock growth Actor Alok Nath and his wife Ashu Saturday filed a complaint in a local court seeking defamation proceedings to be initiated against writer-director Vinta Nanda for accusing him of rape. According to a Times of India report, they will purportedly file a Re 1 defamation suit. In the complaint filed before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate, Nath and his wife sought a direction to the suburban Amboli police station to take cognisance of the letter sent by them in which they sought defamation proceedings against Nanda. In a social media post Monday, Nanda had alleged that the actor had raped her 19 years ago. Although she did not name Nath in her post, she referred to him as the actor who is known as the "most Sanskari person" in the field of acting. Nath is known for playing characters endorsing 'moral values' in films such as Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun!, Hum Saath Saath Hain and Vivah. Nath's lawyer Ashok Sarogi, in a press conference on Thursday, had refuted the allegations and said they were baseless and devoid of any merit. The complaint filed by the couple says, "The complainants [Nath and Ashu] have on October 12 addressed a letter to the Amboli police seeking action under sections 499 [defamation] and 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Nanda." The police, however, said since the offences are non-cognisable in nature, it would be appropriate if an order is passed by the concerned court of law, it said. "We are, hence, seeking the court to pass necessary direction to the Amboli police station in-charge to take cognisance of their complaint and hold an inquiry," the complaint said. "The complainants have suffered grave and irreparable loss, harm and injury which could never be compensated in terms of money," the complaint read. It added that because of Nanda's post, which although did not name Nath but subsequently he was named by others, Ashu and Nath have been victimised unnecessarily by way of defamation of their reputation in the society. "Without commenting on anything about her [Nanda], the fact remains that all such occasions, such as the #MeToo campaign, are being encashed by way of utilising the social media for the purpose of either gaining some name and fame or for the purpose of defaming the reputation of a person," the complaint said. It added that because of the "baseless allegations", Ashu and Alok Nath were "terrorised" to even step out of their house as people are looking at them with a "different attitude". The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite... Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month, China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said on Monday. Luo was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats in New Delhi. He said the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration will deepen in future. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this yearat the Shanaghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. Luo also said China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India in December to launch the first India-China high level people to people exchanges mechanism. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such a cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. If he would have even said that he was really flying by and my car shook and I would estimate the speed is probably 65, 70 mph, even just an estimate would likely sustain the stop, Campbell said. But we dont even have so much as an estimate. North and South Korea have decided to inaugurate in late November or early December work on reconnecting railway and roads between the two countries. The rail and road connection between the two countries was cut during the Korean War of 1950-53. The decision came during talks in the border village of Panmunjom as a follow up on the third summit this year between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un last month. The South and North reached the agreement after sincerely discussing action plans to develop inter-Korean relations to a new, higher stage, said a joint statement released by the Souths Unification Ministry. Joint field studies, too, will be carried out later this month as part of the plan. Officials also agreed to hold military talks "as soon as possible" to ease tensions at the border area and to arrange a Red Cross meeting to discuss issues on reunions for war-separated families. They will also separately discuss a planned joint bid to host the 2032 Olympics and a show by North Korean performers in Seoul, the statement said. Monday's talks marked the second meeting between South Korean unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon and his North Korean counterpart Ri Son Gwon since President Moon Jae-in met with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last month. But as Seoul takes strides with the North, it has displayed increasing differences with its ally Washington, which is wary of the rapid pace of rapprochement on the peninsula. At a summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore Kim declared his backing for denuclearisation of the peninsula, but no details were agreed and Washington and Pyongyang have subsequently sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved. The United States is still pursuing a policy of maximum pressure to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs. Trump said on Wednesday South Korea would not lift sanctions on North Korea without US approval. The leaders of the two Koreas also endorsed a military pact, which includes the halting of military exercises, a no-fly zone near their border and the gradual removal of landmines and guard posts within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed discontent over that agreement, South Koreas foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said last week. Kangs remarks amounted to a rare confirmation of discord between South Korea and the United States, though the allies have said they remain in lockstep on North Korea. Mumbai, Oct 15 (PTI) Bollywood actor Alok Nath on Monday filed a civil suit in a court here against writer-director Vinta Nanda in connection with her rape accusations against him, and sought Re 1 as damages for allegedly defaming him. Alok Nath's wife Ashu, meanwhile, recorded her statement before a magistrate in connection with her complaint against Nanda and sought that defamation proceedings be initiated against the writer-director. Responding to the development, Nanda's lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said they are going to fight the matter legally. Alok Nath moved the Dindoshi sessions court here with a civil suit seeking Re 1 as damages and an apology from Nanda for defaming him. The actor and his wife had Saturday filed an application before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, seeking a direction to the suburban Amboli police station to take cognisance of the letter sent by them in which they sought defamation proceedings against Nanda. The actor's wife on Monday appeared before Magistrate R M Nerlikar, who recorded her statement and complaint. She told the court that their (Nath and Ashu's) reputation has been damaged because of the allegations levelled by Nanda. The magistrate has now posted the matter for further hearing on November 1, when the court will also record statements of three witnesses on behalf of Nath and his wife. In a social media post last week, Nanda had alleged that the actor had raped her 19 years ago. Although she did not name Nath in her post, she referred to him as the actor who is known as the "most Sanskari person" in the field of acting. Nath is known for playing characters endorsing 'moral values' in films such as "Maine Pyaar Kiya", "Hum Aapke Hain Koun!", "Hum Saath Saath Hain" and "Vivah". His lawyer Ashok Sarogi had last Thursday refuted the allegations as "baseless" and "devoid of any merit". The complaint filed by the couple says, "The complainants (Nath and Ashu) have on October 12 addressed a letter to the Amboli police seeking action under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Nanda." The police, however, said since the offences are non-cognisable in nature, it would be appropriate if an order is passed by the court concerned, reads the complaint. "We are, hence, seeking the court to pass necessary direction to the Amboli police station in-charge to take cognisance of our complaint and hold an inquiry," the couple said in the complaint. "We have suffered grave and irreparable loss, harm and injury which could never be compensated in terms of money," they said. Because of Nanda's post, which although did not name Nath but subsequently he was named by others, Ashu and Nath have been victimised unnecessarily by way of defamation of their reputation in the society, the complaint said. "Without commenting on anything about her (Nanda), the fact remains that all such occasions, such as the #MeToo campaign, are being encashed by way of utilising the social media for the purpose of either gaining some name and fame or for the purpose of defaming the reputation of a person," it alleged. Because of the "baseless allegations", Ashu and Alok Nath were "terrorised" to even step out of their house as people are looking at them with a "different attitude", the complaint added. In a statement, Nanda's lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said, "The so called defamation proceedings are not served upon us as yet - however and whatever the proceedings will be, we will deal with everything following due process of law." The lawyer said they are awaiting decisions of various associations where Nanda has filed her complaint like Cine & TV Artistes Association (CINTAA), Screen Writers Association (SWA) and Indian Film & Television Directors Association (IFTDA). "Pursuant to decisions we will further decide our next step of action," the statement said. PTI SP JUR GK RT Mumbai, Oct 15 (PTI) Filmmaker Vipul Shah says he had spoken to the original leads of "Namastey London", Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, for its sequel "Namaste England" but things didn't work out. The director said while Akshay was busy with prior commitments, Katrina thought she would not suit the part. "Katrina could not have been an Indian desi girl. We both did speak about it. And she said this role is something that people may not accept her in. I was going to do the film with Akshay but his dates were blocked for two years so he recommended I go to another actor," Vipul told PTI. The director said he then approached Arjun Kapoor who had everything that he needed in an actor to play the part. "I met Arjun and I told him I was going to do this with Akshay but he doesn't have dates. He heard the script and agreed to do it and that's how he came into the picture. I wanted someone desi who can also look modern and who has got a certain honesty in his face. "He was the most suited boy for the part. Parineeti was already part of it when I was going to do it with Akshay," he added. Released in 2007, "Namastey London" went on to become a hit, with the pairing of Akshay-Katrina and the music being widely loved. The filmmaker said he is aware that comparisons will be made with the first film and most of the people will prefer the original over sequel. "I am sure eight out of ten people will say 'Namastey London' was better, this is bad, because it's human nature, whatever is old is gold. They must've have seen 'Namastey London' so many times, have been listening to its music all these years. "And that's because you are already emotionally connected to the first one so you treat this as a lesser cousin of the original one." Vipul, however, said he did not make the sequel to cash in on the franchise but because he saw potential in the story. "People tell us to make sequels of 'Singh is Kinng', 'Holiday' and other films. There is a demand for it. There's no dearth of fresh ideas. Even in sequels, the story is new, just the world is similar." "Namaste England" is scheduled to release Thursday. PTI JUR SHD SHD Lahore, Oct 15 (PTI) A woman candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party defeated her son, who ran elections as an independent candidate against her, in a tough contest in the Punjab assembly by-polls, a media report said Monday. Zehra Batool defeated her son and three-time lawmaker Haroon Sultan in the Punjab Province-272 by-poll Sunday, Express News reported. Her husband Abdullah Shah Bukhari is a former National Assembly member and their elder son, Basit Sultan Bukhari, had won from the seat in the July 2018 general elections. Basit had also won from the NA-185 constituency and decided to vacate the provincial seat, opening it up for a by-election. Batool secured 24,019 votes against Haroon's 17,072 votes. Haroon has been a member of the National Assembly three times and a provincial minister twice. Elections were held Sunday in nine National Assembly constituencies in Punjab and one each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 24 provincial assemblies seats, including 11 in Punjab, nine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two each in Sindh and Balochistan. Most of the seats where by-polls were held had been vacated by those elected on more than one seat in the July 25 general elections. The PML-N won six out of 11 contested seats in Punjab while its arch-rival PTI won five. PTI ZH ZH ZH ZH Rome, Oct 15 (PTI) A 100 per cent organic world is possible, Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling said Monday as he called for making organic agriculture more fashionable and exciting as done in his remote Himalayan state. Addressing a news conference at the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament, Chamling said it took Sikkim over a decade to transform from a state which used chemical fertilizers to one which is now a fully organic. "I am indeed very grateful to be here. I am not a scientist or researcher. I am simply a politician who experienced and led the transformation of a State of India, Sikkim, from one which used chemical fertilizers to one which is now a fully organic state," he said. "Based on my long experience and association with the Organic initiative, I can tell you in all good faith and confidence that a 100 per cent organic world is possible. If we could do it in Sikkim, there is no reason why policy makers, farmers and community leaders cannot do the same elsewhere in the world," he said. He said there was a need for making organic agriculture more fashionable and more exciting. "This can be done if we can position it correctly. I am happy to say that it is happening in our State where young, educated farmers are growing all kinds of exotic fruits and vegetables and connecting to markets in cities like Bangalore and New Delhi," he said. "Finally I would like to appeal to all that we need to approach development in a way that it is environmentally friendly and good for the planet. If we are to heed to the warnings of the climate scientists then we have to stop the use of chemical fertilizers globally by over fifty percent immediately. This will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by half," he said. Sikkim has won the "Oscar for best policies", conferred by the Food and Agriculture Organisation for the world's best policies promoting agroecological and sustainable food systems. PTI NSA NSA Oh, how I wish it were true that there wasn't coverage of Donald Trump. Unfortunately, like everything he and his acolytes claim, it's not reality. Every day, I wake up to wall-to-wall coverage of the latest attack on American ideals and traditions perpetrated by him or his lackeys. Just yesterday, I saw the Great Pumpkin himself praise General Lee, and a story about Heinrich Himmler protege Stephen Miller's effort to kickstart separating the families of asylum seekers. Trump, his administration, and his supporters are all utterly without redemption. Dubai, Oct 15 (AFP) Saudi King Salman has begun weighing in to try to defuse the growing crisis over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as the kingdom goes on the offensive triggering a fierce online media campaign. In a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Monday, the king denied "any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen'", the US leader said in a tweet. Trump added he was "immediately" sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh "to meet with the king" for talks on the crisis. The disappearance of Khashoggi, last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, has whipped up international concern, with new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman increasingly the focus of sharp criticism. Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi -- a Washington Post contributor who was critical of Prince Mohammed's policies -- was killed inside the mission, and lurid claims have even been leaked that he was tortured and even dismembered. After an initial silence, Riyadh said Khashoggi had left the consulate safely and then at the weekend denied as "baseless" claims that orders were given to have him killed. As western companies began to distance themselves from the oil-rich Gulf nation which is seeking outside investment to diversify its economy, the king also Sunday discussed the scandal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He reiterated Riyadh's "solid" relations with Ankara, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It is not the first time that King Salman has sought to ease tensions surrounding the 33-year-old Prince Mohammed, who has been cultivated by the US but whose reformist credentials are being quickly shredded by the mystery surrounding Khashoggi's fate. In an earlier phone call with Trump in April, King Salman reiterated Riyadh's position that Jerusalem must remain the capital of Palestine amid speculation that the kingdom had given up on the longstanding position. Aleksandar Mitreski, a security and defence analyst, said Saudi Arabia cannot control the international narrative but can try to alleviate the most damaging fallout. Saudi Arabia warned Sunday it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed over the Khashoggi's disappearance after Trump threatened "severe punishment" if the writer was found to be a victim of a state-sponsored killing. "The purpose of (Sunday's) message broadcasted by the Saudi national media is twofold: one goal is to satisfy the domestic public opinion that Saudi Arabia and its royal family will not be humiliated and the other goal is to send a message to the US," Mitreski, researcher at the University of Sydney, told AFP. The kingdom's warning was not only a response to Trump, but also targeted at US decision-makers amid rising calls for Congress to step in and put key arms sales on hold, he said. "It will be the task of political advisors and strategists to prevent Trump from causing damage to the US-Saudi relationship," he added. As the United States and Turkey have ratched up pressure on the kingdom, Saudi companies, officials and princes have also gone online in a wave of solidarity with the ruling family. Saudi flags, photos of the king and crown prince looking stern, and pro-Saudi hashtags were making the rounds on social media Monday with a common theme: Saudi Arabia and its ruling family are a "red line". Saudi Minister of Information Awwad al-Awwad tweeted on Sunday that the kingdom "always prevails against its enemies... under the wise leadership of the king and crown prince" using the Arabic hashtag #SaudisInLineWithTheLeadership. Billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal -- who was among those temporarily detained as part of what Saudi authorities said was an anti-corruption crackdown -- tweeted an image of the Saudi flag Sunday in support of the ruling family, saying: "God, then the king, then the nation." One Twitter user said the Saudis "will not bow down and will not kneel, but only to God... We are all Salman, and we are all Mohammed". Some Saudis opted to remain silent for fear of consequences. "What is the use of discussing an issue that might throw you in a place you don't want to be?" a Saudi citizen, residing in Dubai, told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Let us wait quietly." James Dorsey, a fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said Saudi Arabia was stepping up moves against criticism. "There's been stark repression of anyone whose comments are not supportive of the government," he told AFP, as Saudi's public prosecutor warned earlier this week that those spreading fake news can be sentenced to five years in jail. There has been "a concerted effort on social and state-controlled media to portray Khashoggi's disappearance as a conspiracy against the kingdom", he added. (AFP) ZH ZH Islamabad, Oct 15 (PTI) A special court in Pakistan on Monday ordered the formation of a high-level judicial commission to record Pervez Musharraf's statement in Dubai in a treason case after the former military dictator declined to appear before the court through video conferencing. General (retd) Musharraf, 75, who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014. A conviction for high treason carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. The former army chief left for Dubai for medical treatment and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons. Musharraf's lawyer told a special court bench comprising Justice Yawar Ali, Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Nazar Akbar that his client was unable to record his statement via video link since he is "indisposed", Dawn news reported. Justice Ali asked the lawyer whether Musharraf had been diagnosed with cancer, to which he responded that the former president had been diagnosed with heart problems, the report said. "He says he is not a coward. He wishes to appear before the court himself and present the evidence in his defence," the lawyer said. "The accused is in a foreign country right now. According to his lawyer, he is very ill," Justice Ali noted. "Pervez Musharraf's previous record is before us. He is not ready to record a statement via video link," the prosecution lawyer said. "We are told that Pervez Musharraf cannot appear in court due to his illness. He wishes to record his statement in the treason case," the bench observed. The court decided to order the formation of the judicial commission that will go to the UAE to record Musharraf's statement in the case. The members of the commission and its scope will be decided later and if anyone had objections, they could challenge the formation of the commission before the high court, the bench said. The case was adjourned until November 14. Last week, the Supreme Court Chief told Musharraf that "there are good doctors in Pakistan" and directed him to appear before the apex court to record his statement. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and the Red Mosque cleric killing case. PTI CPS AKJ CPS New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) The Central Information Commission has directed the National Archives of India to give a "categorical" response to an RTI applicant who asked the Prime Minister's Office whether freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was dead or alive. In his application, Avdhesh Kumar Chaturvedi also wanted to know why the prime minister had paid tributes to Bose on his birth anniversary in 2015 and 2016. Not getting a satisfactory response, Chaturvedi approached the CIC, the highest appellate authority in RTI matters. He submitted that he had not received any authentic information regarding the death of Bose. The Prime Minister's Office said the subject matter of this RTI application pertained to the Culture Ministry, so they had transferred it to the ministry. "Further, he (the PMO Central Public Information Officer) informed that all the files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were declassified and sent to the National Archives of India for permanent retention," Chief Information Commissioner R K Mathur said. Mathur said the CPIO of the National Archives of India should give a "categorical" reply to the appellant as per this RTI application, within 15 days from the date of this order. Bose had founded Indian National Army, commonly known as Azad Hind Fauz, in 1942 to fight British with the support of Japanese forces. January 23 is celebrated as his birth anniversary. PTI ABS AAR New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) The Central Bureau of Investigation has finally closed the case of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmad as the agency's efforts to trace him have yielded no results, officials said Monday. The agency has submitted his report in Patiala House court recently after getting permission of the Delhi High Court, they said. The court is likely to hear the matter on November 29, they said. While taking permission of the Delhi High Court to close the case, the agency which began their probe in May last year had said all aspects were looked into but it could not find any trace of an offence. Najeeb Ahmad had gone missing from the Mahi-Mandvi hostel of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on October 15, 2016, following a scuffle the previous night with some students allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The agency had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone giving information about Najeeb and informed police chiefs of all state police in the country, they said. It also received some inputs from Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi where teams were immediately dispatched but to no avail, the officials said. The agency had carried out a thorough check on unidentified bodies and pasted Najeeb's photograph on toll stations seeking information about him but these efforts did not result in any positive results, they said. After exhaustive search, the agency has decided to close the case, they added. PTI ABS RCJ Jaipur, Oct 15 (PTI) A Thai national was detained with 2 kg gold at Jaipur International Airport, a customs official said Monday. The accused, identified as Suda Choosith, had landed at the airport late Sunday night, he said. Sleuths of the Customs Department detained Choosith and seized 2 kg of gold from his possession. The accused was carrying the gold in the form of two chains having artificial polish on them and two bangles in a purse without any valid documents, Deputy Commissioner (customs) K K Singh told PTI. During preliminary investigation, Choosith revealed that he has come to Jaipur for a small trip, Singh said, adding that a probe into the matter is underway. PTI AG SNE SNE Owaisi wants Rajnath Singh to resolve AMU Kashmiri students' protest Hyderabad, Oct 16 (PTI) AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Monday said the row in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) over sedition charges against three Kashmiri students should be resolved with the intervention of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the university authorities. Kashmiri students should continue their studies in AMU, he said adding it was in national interest and the interest of Kashmir that the students pursue their academics and excel. "I hope that the Vice Chancellor of AMU, the faculty of AMU and the Home Minister and the Joint Secretary who looks after Kahsmir in MHA would sit down and resolve this issue," he told reporters here. The Hyderabad MP expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved with all the concerned people talking to the students. He also said the issue had been blown out of proportion. Kashmiri students studying at the university in Uttar Pradesh organised a protest march on the campus Monday against slapping of sedition charges on three of their peers and alleged harassment by local authorities. On Saturday, sedition cases were registered against the three students for allegedly raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for Hizbul Mujahideen commander Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in an encounter with the security forces in north Kashmir. The protesting students in a memorandum said if the sedition charges were not withdrawn, more than 1,200 Kashmiri students would leave the campus on October 17. Replying to query, Owaisi said no one had the right to question the loyalty and integrity of any Kashmiri student. Other countrymen should go out of their way to welcome students from Jammu and Kashmir and north eastern states, he said. Owaisi wanted the BJP and the Centre to clarify whether an assurance was given to the Bangladesh government that no illegal Bangladeshi migrant would be sent back. A top Bangladeshi official has recently stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has personally assured premier Sheikh Hasina that people excluded from the National Register of Citizens list would not be deported to the country. PTI SJR VS VS Muzaffarnagar, Oct 15 (PTI) A 50-year-old farmer, who was missing since Saturday, was found dead in Hoshaganj village, police said Monday. A case of murder was registered against one Abdul who was on the run following a complaint by the farmer's son, SHO OP Choudhary said. According to his son, the farmer, Nawab, had gone to his fields Saturday but he did not return home later, the SHO said, adding his body was found Sunday evening. PTI CORR AAR AAR New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) Fatima Nafees, the mother of missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed, Monday said no one from the government came to her aid even after she challenged them to support her cause, on a day the CBI filed a closure report in the case of her son's disappearance. She was speaking at a protest march organised from Mandi House under the aegis of the "United Against Hate" campaign, during which politicians and activists urged people to oust the Bharatiya Janata Pary (BJP) government in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Nafees said 2019 will bring something new and give us happiness. "Has the 56-inch chest shrunken to 26 inches? I had heard about 'sabka sath sabka vikas'. It is all jumlebaazi (gimmickry) and false promises. I had challenged the government to come and join me, but nobody came. Where is sabka sath?" she said, taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan and the "56-inch chest" quote. Nafees claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) never probed her son's case and added that she would continue to look for Najeeb. "There are only false promises. The CBI never opened the case. So, there is no question of filing a closure report. The CBI worked at the behest of the government. But I will not give up," she said. Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee said it was saddening to see the JNU, a place where they were taught the culture of having a debate between different ideologies, was being billed as anti-national, while questioning if there was a "jungle raj" in the country. "Is there a jungle raj in the country? Despite evidence against certain people, they are being shielded. Where is Najeeb? Are the country's investigating agencies so bad that they cannot trace him?," she said, addressing the protest. Ashiyana Theba, the pregnant wife of Majid Theba, who went missing in July after he was picked up by the Bhuj 'A' division police officials in Gujarat, said she had been running from pillar to post seeking justice for her husband. "I am pregnant and I can understand the pain Najeeb's mother is going through. My husband disappeared in front of my eyes. These politicians literally come begging for votes at the time of elections but where are they now? Bring my husband back to me," she said. Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president N Sai Balaji alleged that there were efforts to give a communal colour to Najeeb's case. "This government wants to shut democracy inside the jails. But if you do not give us justice, we will uproot you in 2019," he said, while shouting "We are Najeeb" and "Justice for Najeeb". Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Annie Raja said there was a need to save the tricolour from fascist forces. "We have to snatch our tricolour from the killers of Akhlaq and Junaid, from the rapists of the minor girl in Kashmir. The tricolour is in the hands of fascist forces. This is not only a battle for Najeeb, but for everyone. Save the Constitution, save our country," she said. Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Javed Ali Khan said some fascist forces wanted to shut down the voices rising against them. "But fascism is very cruel. Fascism sees an end. This fascist government will definitely see defeat. Our country's legal system has double roles. There are some decisions it makes, which go way ahead of the Modi government and show its true colours," he said, taking a dig at the Delhi High Court allowing the CBI to file a closure report in Najeeb's case. Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid criticised the Delhi Police and CBI for not carrying out a thorough investigation in Najeeb's case. He said the voices demanding justice would not die. Radhika Vemula, mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide, said the CBI should be banned because it did not matter whether the central probe agency existed or not, while urging the voters not to vote the BJP back to power. "Dalits, adivasis and Muslims are being targeted. The BJP rule is worse than the British rule. But that day is not far when we will remove the BJP government. Do not vote for the BJP. Vote for peace-loving people," she said. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Nawal Kishore Yadav said there was an atmosphere of fear in the country and there was a need to stand against this fear. "There is an effort being made to turn Hindustan into Sanghistan," he said, in an apparent reference to the BJP's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). PTI SLB RC New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) A suspected drug supplier carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 was arrested for allegedly supplying heroin to dealers in UP and Delhi-NCR, police said Monday. The accused identified as Sarvan Yadav was arrested in connection with a case wherein he had supplied heroin worth Rs 20 crore in the international market to his dealer, they said. "Acting on a tip off, a trap was laid near New Delhi Railway Station on October 12 where Yadav had come to board the train for Jharkhand. Subsequently, the accused was arrested," Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said. During interrogation, Yadav disclosed that he was involved in drug trafficking for the last four to five years and had supplied more than 50 kg heroin to various dealers. Yadav used to procure heroin from Manipur, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand; and supply them to his drug dealers based in UP and Delhi-NCR, police added. PTI AMP SRY A: This is the first for these phrases. (Property managers) asked for ideas and then we sorted through them together to see what fit. Ive done sculptures before, but a lot of them are wood and this is the first time Ive used these materials. They wanted something for the long-term. This sculpture is PVC piping and recycled plastic. The inner bars are made from recycled plastic milk bottles but they injected a wood grain pattern, which I really like. Nearly half of uranium production doesn't make money at the prevailing spot price. That's the startling statistic highlighted by Andre Liebenberg, the chief executive of Yellow Cake PLC (LON:YCA). Yellow Cake has been set up to provide investors with a clean entry point into what has hitherto been a pretty opaque market. What really is the true price of uranium? There's the spot price, of course, but that only tells half, or even less than half, the story. Drilling for uranium: Yellow Cake provides investors with an entry point into the market Most uranium production is actually locked into long-term contracts, which is why it can afford to keep going even with the uranium price still trading at under $30 per pound. When those contracts are up, though, the chances are the production will be idled, and that in turn is likely to lead to an increase in price as supply dwindles. It will be an interesting inflection point and one at which investors could stand to make a lot of money. But even on that medium-term bullish outlook there are still limited ways to play the uranium market. There are the majors of course, like Canada's Cameco and there are junior explorers too, like Aussie-listed Manhattan Corporation. But both will be subject to the vagaries of sentiment in a market in which the supply-demand dynamic is likely to change rapidly. But for a more straightforward long-only or buy and hold option there's Yellow Cake. Yellow Cake was set up by veteran mining financier Pete Bacchus, the man who successfully defended Rio Tinto against a hostile takeover bid during the last boom. He's now set up on his own at Bacchus Capital Advisers and, amongst other things, has put together Yellow Cake for his clients. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in July of this year and is the only vehicle of its kind in Europe. Only one of its kind: Yellow Cake listed on the London Stock Exchange in July of this year There is a similar vehicle in Canada, which was one of the inspirations behind Yellow Cake, but Liebenberg doesn't regard it as a competitor. The more companies there are around stockpiling physical uranium, the tighter the supply becomes and the better it is for the spot price. But is it enough to make a difference? Liebenberg is a firm uranium bull. Worth noting for a start is that since Yellow Cake listed, the price has risen from just over $22 per pound to just over $27 per pound, and that's a trend he thinks is set to continue. 'We think we're closer to the bottom than the top,' he said. 'In uranium the demand side is actually very visible. The lead times are long and the build times are long. 'But the supply side hasn't been visible, particularly post the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. 'And Yellow Cake is a vehicle that allows investors to take a view on the uranium price,' said Liebenberg. Technicians remove a container of radioactive uranium, which is also known as 'yellow cake' The company is long-only on uranium, so investors needn't worry about the value becoming tangled up in a complicated web of financial instruments. In fact, it couldn't be more simple. Yellow Cake holds just under 8.45 million pounds of physical uranium in a warehouse owned by Cameco. On 3 October, the time of the last quarterly update, uranium was worth 242p per Yellow Cake share, while the company itself was trading on the market at 240p. It's still trading at around that level. So the discount is running at about 1 per cent, much narrower than most investment companies, and testament to the simplicity and transparency of the vehicle. Down the line, there's even the possibility that Yellow Cake could do some small royalty deals which would deliver enough cash flow to cover the running costs and allow the shares to trade at exactly par value, or even at a premium. Why should Yellow Cake trade at a premium when it's benchmarked against spot? The answer is that if you are bullish uranium and you think the price is going to rise, taking a position early in a vehicle like Yellow Cake is one way to catch the upside early. And of course, if the Yellow Cake share price does end up trading at a premium to net assets, that will create an opportunity for Liebenberg. 'If we were trading at a premium we could issue stock and buy uranium,' said Liebenberg. 'And if we were trading at a persistent discount we could consider selling uranium and buy stock.' The company has a supply agreement in place with Kazatomprom, the Kazakh national champion that accounts for around 20 per cent of global production and which has just announced its own plans to list. The agreement allows for the purchase of up to $100million worth of uranium a year, and crucially that deal allows for the fixing of the amount and the price before Yellow Cake goes into the market for new money. That allows the company to be precise about the nature of the deal it will put to existing and potentially new shareholders in the event of a future raise. Yellow Cake has big enough backers to allow it to be pretty confident of securing additional funding. The real question is whether or not it's right in its bullish call on uranium. We'll find out soon enough. The auditor of crisis-hit cafe chain Patisserie Valerie is facing an investigation by the industry watchdog. Work by Grant Thornton has been called into question after bosses at Patisserie discovered a 28.8million black hole in the accounts, an unpaid tax bill and two secret overdrafts totalling nearly 10million. The auditor has worked for the company since 2006 and most recently signed off the books for the year to September 30, which said the balance sheet was strong and contained no borrowing. Sweet mystery: Bosses at Patisserie discovered a 28.8m black hole in the accounts, an unpaid tax bill and two secret overdrafts totalling nearly 10m But significant, and potentially fraudulent, accounting irregularities last week plunged Patisserie into turmoil. The discovery prompted the arrest of Chris Marsh, the finance director, and left the company scrambling to drum up cash so that it could continue trading. The Serious Fraud Office is already understood to be investigating and last night the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) confirmed it was reviewing the situation. An FRC spokesman said: We are looking into this matter carefully and will give full consideration to further action as more facts become available. It came after veteran entrepreneur Luke Johnson, the boss of Patisserie Valerie, described the moment he was told his company was on the verge of ruin. The father-of-three said overdrafts with HSBC and Barclays had been run up by the company totalling 9.7million but directors only learned of them on Tuesday. Likewise, around 28.8million that had previously been in the bank was unaccounted for and they learned tax officials were seeking to have the company wound up over unpaid bills. Patisserie Valerie boss Luke Johnson said overdrafts with HSBC and Barclays had been run up by the company totalling 9.7m but directors only learned of them on Tuesday Its been the most harrowing week of my life, Johnson said. It has left Grant Thornton and Patisserie Valeries board facing questions about how such a huge black hole in the books was ever allowed to emerge. Professor Prem Sikka, an accounting expert based at Sheffield University, said: Its the job of the auditor to write to a companys banks and ask them to confirm balances and accounts held did that happen? Grant Thornton declined to comment last night. Cliff Weight, director of investor group Sharesoc, said: I find it absolutely extraordinary that a company with revenues of 114million could ever lose track of 20million. Weight also criticised the raising of 15.7million on Friday using heavily discounted 50p shares far below the 429p the company was trading at before the crisis. The fundraising was only open to large shareholders, but Weight said the opportunity should have been offered to retail investors. Johnson, who put 20million of his own fortune into the rescue deal for Patisserie, admitted he had been stretched too thin across several different directorships. We have to dramatically improve systems and controls at Patisserie Valerie things cant carry on as they have, he said. Serious Fraud Office investigators are said to be mulling a fresh probe into the 1billion fraud at stricken Halifax Bank of Scotland Investigators at the Serious Fraud Office are mulling a fresh probe into the 1billion fraud at stricken Halifax Bank of Scotland, it has been claimed. The agency is said to be reviewing allegations contained in an internal report on the scandal, produced for parent Lloyds Bank. The report known as Project Lord Turnbull claimed directors, including then-chief executive Andy Hornby, knew criminal staff at the lenders Reading branch were wrecking companies for a profit. It also said bosses at HBOS tried to cook the books to make losses appear lower after discovering the fraud had cost the bank at least 800million. The SFO refused to comment. Waterstones boss James Daunt said independent companies are unfairly taxed The boss of bookseller Waterstones has hit out at the Government over the impact of 'grotesque' business rates on small firms. James Daunt said independent companies were being unfairly taxed based on the value of their properties while the technology giants were able to minimise their bills. He said: 'Why are we allowing small independent shops to be taxed in this grotesquely unfair way? 'I accept the Government needs money, so go after the ones who are playing a tax game.' His comments come ahead the Budget, with business groups calling for an overhaul of the business rates system. Intelsat S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides satellite communications services worldwide. The company offers a range of communications services to media companies, fixed and wireless telecommunications operators, data networking service providers for enterprise and mobile applications in the air and on the seas, multinational corporations, and Internet service providers; and commercial satellite communication services to the U.S. government and other military organizations and their contractors. It provides various on-network services, including transponder services; managed services that combine satellite capacity, teleport facilities, satellite communications hardware, and other ground facilities to provide managed and monitored broadband, trunking, video, and private network services to customers; and channel services primarily used for providing point-to-point bilateral services to telecommunications providers. The company also offers off-network services comprising transponder, mobile satellite, and other services. In addition, it offers satellite-related consulting and technical services that include the lifecycle of satellite operations and related infrastructure ranging from satellite and launch vehicle procurement through telemetry and commanding services, and related equipment sale services. The company was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Intelsat S.A. is a subsidiary of Serafina S.A. Read More I think the most popular event was showing how we cut up cars during rescue operations. We did it with details of what were doing, and a play-by-play description of the action, he said. We did two separate shows, and those drew probably a couple of hundred people each time. NORRISTOWN A Pottstown woman who sold a malnourished and ill puppy to a Berks County woman faces probation on animal neglect charges and is banned from selling other animals. Jenifer Herrera, 47, of the 500 block of Grant Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 360 days of probation after she pleaded guilty to multiple summary charges of neglect of animals in connection with incidents that occurred between January and February. Judge Wendy G. Rothstein, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Herrera to pay $984 in restitution to the Hamburg, Berks County, woman who purchased the puppy. The judge said Herrera is prohibited from selling any other animals and can own only her current pets, including seven cats, three dogs and seven rabbits, according to court papers. Rothstein said Herrera is prohibited from obtaining or breeding any other pets. Court documents indicate Pottstown police began an investigation of Herrera on Feb. 9 when they were asked to assist with an investigation launched by humane society officers of the Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In January, Herrera, according to investigators, advertised a Labradoodle puppy for sale via Craigslist. On Jan. 29, a Hamburg woman met Herrera at Herreras Grant Street residence and purchased the puppy for $400, according to the criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Police Sgt. Brian Rathgeb. According to (the purchaser), the puppy was very thin, lethargic, ill and in desperate need of medical care, Rathgeb alleged, adding the woman took the newly purchased puppy to the Hamburg Animal Hospital in Berks County to be examined on Feb. 1. A veterinarian determined the puppy smelled of ammonia and feces; was very thin and underweight; had internal parasites and was suffering from an upper respiratory infection, according to the criminal complaint. The doctor concluded from the examination that the Labradoodle puppy was a victim of neglect, Rathgeb wrote in the arrest affidavit. In a victim impact statement to the judge, the purchaser said the puppy clearly was not healthy and that numerous medical bills were incurred to improve his health. It was very traumatic seeing the puppy so sick and seeing it have so many health issues, the Hamburg woman wrote in the statement to the judge, adding her work schedule was impacted because she had to take the puppy to numerous veterinary appointments. On Feb. 8, a humane society police officer contacted Herrera, who admitted to selling the puppy and at that time she claimed she had the puppy in her home for a couple of days before the sale. Herrera allegedly refused to allow the humane society officer to enter her home for the purpose of checking the living and health conditions of other animals there. During the investigation, Herrera allegedly claimed the puppy had been given to her by someone else. However, the humane society officer alleged Herrera was both misleading and deceptive, according to court documents. When Pottstown police contacted Herrera on Feb. 26, she allegedly told the officer that she sold the puppy for another person and claimed that in exchange for her assistance with the sale of the dog that she received $50, according to the criminal complaint. Herrera also claimed she sold a healthy, large size puppy that exhibited no signs of illness or weight issues, Rathgeb alleged in the arrest affidavit. At the time she spoke with police Herrera said she couldnt recall if the sale of the dog occurred inside or outside of her Grant Street residence. An early-morning Southwest Airlines flight from Albany and another Southwest jet bumped this morning at Chicago's Midway Airport. There were no injuries, but both planes were taken out of service for a "maintenance review," and Southwest said it also was conducting an internal review of the mishap. "The left wingtip of a Southwest aircraft came into contact with the rear surface of another Southwest aircraft while taxiing to a gate at Chicago's Midway International Airport (MDW) this morning," the airline said in a statement. Bethlehem A local developer is moving forward with plans to build a Victorian-style townhouse apartment complex along New Scotland Road in Slingerlands on vacant land behind the former Mangia restaurant. The plans, which would include 24 apartments in three buildings, will likely face heightened public scrutiny because the site is located next to the historic Slingerland family burial vault. The town of Bethlehem planning board will first hear about the proposal at 6 p.m. Tuesday at town hall. The former Mangia building, which currently houses a dance studio, would remain under plans submitted to the town. The vault was completed in 1852 and houses several prominent Slingerland family members including former Congressman John I. Slingerland. The 3-acre site is owned by Malta developer Tom Burke. He is being represented on the project by Jared George of Tri-Capital Realty, a Rensselaer project management firm. A group of local residents named the Friends of the Slingerland Family Burial Vault, some of them direct descendants of the congressman, has raised about $30,000 of its goal of $102,000 to renovate the site and make it a lasting cultural resource for the town after having fallen into disrepair decades ago. The hamlet of Slingerlands is named after the Slingerland family. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The vault can be reached via a right of way owed by the town that allows for public access. The small town-owned parcel sits next to the site upon which the apartments would be built. The group, formed last year, is urging people to attend Tuesday's planning board meeting to show their support for the preservation of the vault. "The Friends of the Slingerland Family Burial Vault are concerned that the magnitude of this proposal and density of the apartment units will be detrimental to the vault site and the historic district as a whole," Sue Virgilio, one of the descendants of John I. Slingerland, said Monday. "We seek to preserve the final resting place of a prominent Bethlehem family by restoring the physical integrity of the vault, improving landscaping and public access, and maintaining the site into the future as a memorial, educational resource and green space. Access to the vault and the right of way are critical to the success of our mission." George, who is listed as the project applicant in documents submitted to the town, could not immediately be reached for comment. MILTON Boyhaven, the 300-acre Boy Scout camp that was the subject of consternation and controversy in Milton, has been sold. John Munter Sr., a Middle Grove businessman and land conservationist, closed on the wooded property on Monday. He purchased it for $1 million with a promise to preserve the landscape. "I don't want to see it get developed," said Munter on Monday. "Hopefully, the town and (state) DEC will get involved in this, to purchase and conserve it." The 100-year-old Boy Scout property, featuring a lake and cabins, was on track to be purchased by the town of Milton in October 2017. But the deal with the Twin Rivers Council fell apart after the town lost its $500,000 anonymous donor and then delayed the closing several times. In July, Mark Switzer, Twin Rivers Council Scout Executive, said the Boys Scouts could no longer wait and stopped negotiating with the town. "This has been a long journey for our council," Switzer said. "Throughout the process, we placed the preservation of Camp Boyhaven's green space as a top priority. We are excited for Mr. Munter's vision for the property, and we know that the funds made available by this sale will help us continue to improve the camping experience for thousands of area youth each summer." Larry Woolbright, who chairs the Milton planning board and worked on the deal between the Twin Rivers Council and the town for two years, is thrilled that the land will be preserved. "Preserving it is a lot better than developing it," Woolbright said. "It's a good outcome. And if the town doesn't want to buy it, John can sell the whole thing to the state." Twin Rivers Council board President Rick Weerts said he is grateful to Munter. "After our council's previous agreement with the Town of Milton fell through, John stepped up with a plan which should ultimately preserve Boyhaven's natural setting and facilitate public access, while at the same time allow our council to finally exit our ownership of the property and focus on serving area youth at our three other Council-owned camp facilities," he said. Munter, who hopes to be able to sell the land in a year, said his purchase should give time to the town and the state to figure out what to do with the land. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "The town said they didn't have enough time. DEC was interested, but didn't make a commitment," said Munter who wants the land to be accessible to the public. "I got involved in this thing so they can have time to get this thing to pan out. I want to make sure it happens." Town Councilman Benny Zlotnick, who also worked on the deal, said he'd like to see that too. "I would like to get some part of it preserved for the town," he said. "I'd like to sit down with John and see what we can work out." ALBANY Five Muslim-Americans on stage before hundreds of local students Monday morning came from different backgrounds but shared experiences every teenager in the room could relate to: trying to fit in when growing up. The cast performed Ping Chong and Company's production of "Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity," a play based on real-life experiences about growing up as a Muslim-American post-9/11. The audience at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center included 450 middle and high school students from seven area schools. The students were from a blend of public, private, rural and city schools, including Guilderland, Germantown, Coxsackie-Athens, Lake George, Queensbury, Christian Brothers Academy and Schenectady High School. The play part of Ping Chong's project "Undesirable Elements" has been seen by 20,000 people in eight states over the past three years. The play's performers said their goal is to portray the diversity of American Muslims and combat Islamophobia. There are more than 3.4 million Muslims in America, according to the Pew Research Center, which is about one percent of the total population. The cast members, ranging in age from early 20s to early 30s, are Pakistani, Trinidadian, African-American, Afghan and Egyptian-Puerto Rican. Three were born in the U.S. and two immigrated as teenagers, one within the past five years. Cast member Amir Khafagy told the crowd after the one-hour performance that many Americans may never meet a Muslim and judge the community based only on what they see on television. "Muslims are treated as villians in the media, especially in movies and television shows, and mostly portrayed in a negative light. There doesn't seem to be about a lot of knowledge about Muslims in the mainstream culture," Khafagy said. "This show can help bridge that divide," he said. "It's an important reason we do this show to entertain people and to share our experiences with everyone else. In our own little way, we can stop the increase of Islamophobia and counter the negative perceptions of Muslims." The show starts with a pop-quiz history of Islam, evolves into the cast members' continent-crossing family histories, and ends with personal stories of growing up. Ferdous Dehqan recalled his earliest memory of crossing a Taliban checkpoint as a child in Afghanistan. Amir Khafagy said he never felt Arab or Hispanic enough to fit in with either side of the family. Maha Syed talked about attending 16 schools in half a dozen countries growing up and always feeling like an outsider. Tiffany Yasmin Hosein opened up about being harassed for wearing a traditional head covering and leaving an abusive marriage. Aasim Rasheed, filling in for cast member Kadin Herring, said that his father sat him down and told him life would be different for him as a Muslim post 9/11. That was before the family's mosque was bombed and the perpetrators never found or prosecuted. After the performance, a dozen students shared what they learned and asked questions of the five cast members. "I learned that it doesn't matter what race you are or that you can be from a different culture, but you can be Muslim," said the first audience member to speak. Others questioned cast members about how Muslims are portrayed in the media, how Islam views LGTBQ, how President Donald Trump's policies affect Muslims and what Black Lives Matters means. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The crowd reacted when a blonde female student asked how the cast who in part of the play had criticized how the Occupy Wall Street movement representing low-income people of color was led by middle-class whites felt about being directed by a white producer sitting on stage with them. Khafagy explained that white people can, and have, helped to create a space for people of color to share their stories. Teachers who brought students from across the Capital Region to Monday's performance hope it provokes continued conversations. Jillian Cady, a 9th grade English teacher at Schenectady High School, said the show hit home for students because the cast reflected the diversity in her school's hallways. "We are a trauma-sensitive school and I thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to experience and hear the stories of other students and start thinking about how we treat others," Cady said. In contrast, Stacy Dore, a 10th grade English teacher at Germantown High School, said her school is 99 percent white and non-Muslim. She brought 49 students to the performance, who each came voluntarily and paid $10 for the bus ride. "For them it's really important to see firsthand what other people are experiencing growing up in our society," Dore said. She plans to follow up with her students and hopes the experience will open up a conversation in her school district about starting a class on social justice and global perspectives. The show will be hitting six states four for the first time over the next six months, including visiting SUNY Oswego and Hamilton College. As the political climate and the lives of cast members evolve, the play keeps changing. Or as the cast members say when they conclude their performance: "We are writing our own histories." ALBANY The chief of staff for state Sen. Simcha Felder allegedly groped and sexually harassed a female lobbyist last week during a private campaign fundraiser for Sen. George Amedore. The woman's allegations have been leveled against Rodney C. Powis, an attorney from East Greenbush who works at a private law firm in Rensselaer County and has been a longtime Senate aide, according to his law firms website, interviews and state payroll records. The alleged groping and harassment, which were witnessed by at least two people, took place last Thursday at the Guilderland residence of William F. Lia Jr., 49, a Capital Region businessman whose family owns the Lia Auto Group. Powis attended the event as Felder's representative. Amedore gave a 40-minute speech to the dozens of people who attended the evening fundraiser. The alleged encounter between Powis and the woman unfolded about 90 minutes later as guests lingered at the catered event, which was running behind schedule. The woman, who is in her mid-30s, filed a criminal complaint with a local police agency on Monday. One of her colleagues also notified Felder's office on Monday; that individual said the office was later contacted by representatives of the state Senate's personnel department. Powis, 48, did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday afternoon. The woman, who agreed to an interview on Monday with the Times Union after being contacted over the weekend, said that Powis began making inappropriate comments to her as she sat at a table with him and two other women. The woman who was accompanied at the interview by her supervisor and an attorney for the lobbying group said Powis, who was sitting next to her, inquired about her marital status and allegedly made more aggressive and unsettling comments when he learned that she's a single mother, and that a man she had been talking to at the event was not her husband. "He told me I looked hot," she said. "He said, 'I'll introduce you to the most eligible bachelor in the room.'" The woman said that Powis asked another man to come over and meet her and that he asked the other man, "Do you not like her?" she said. "It was like he was trying to sell me to him," she said. "He (Powis) said, 'Look, I'm married and have two kids, so it's not going to happen with me and if it does you're going to have to shut the (expletive) up.' ... He was drinking heavily." She said that Powis suggested she and the other man have sex that night. The woman said she was still sitting at the high-top table with the other women when Powis circled back a short time later, and he allegedly groped her right breast before one of his hands slid down and touched her buttocks. "Then he announced to the table, 'I just grabbed her boob,'" she said. "I looked across the table to a woman who was with us and I mouthed the word 'help.'" She said the woman at the table eventually came to her aid and suggested they go get some food. A little while later, she said, as Powis continued to approach her, another woman who tried to help her get away and the woman's husband helped her retrieve her purse from the table and escorted her out of the event. The alleged victim said the husband of the woman who helped retrieve her purse said he knows Powis, that they both own vacation homes in Bolton Landing, and that the husband described Powis' behavior as "typical for him he has one drink too many and goes over the edge." The female lobbyist posted a troubling account of the incident on Facebook last Thursday evening after she returned home, but quickly removed it. Those who attended the fundraiser paid a minimum of $250, but some also gave thousands of dollars to Amedore's campaign. He was elected to the chamber in 2014 after serving as a state Assemblyman from 2007 to 2013. When asked late Monday whether he had been made aware of the incident, Amedore declined to comment: "I really dont know, really, what youre talking about, and I dont feel that I should, at this particular time, chat with you because I dont know," he said. Then he added, "Im hearing rumors or speculation but I cant talk about any of it right now because I dont know enough about it." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. When asked whether he had reported the rumors about the incident to the Senate leadership, as required, Amedore said: "Again, I really cant talk about this or comment on it. You and I, I think, will have a conversation at a future date." About an hour later, after the Times Union's story was posted online, Amedore called back and said "You totally caught me off guard." He said that he had reported the incident to the Senate leadership, but declined to say when he had done that. "I can't speak on personnel matters," Amedore said, adding that he is "furious" about the incident that was reported. "I've got zero tolerance for crap like this. It shouldn't have happened." Felder could not be reached for comment. A spokesperson for his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lia, who hosted the fundraiser at his Guilderland residence, could not be reached for comment. Powis, who has served as counsel to the Senates Codes Committee, is paid $9,192 a month (roughly $119,000 annually) as Felders counsel and chief of staff. He had previously been counsel and chief of staff for Sen. Michael F. Nozzolio, R-Seneca Falls, according to Senate payroll records. Its unclear how long Powis has been chief of staff for Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who has caucused with the Senate Republicans since being elected to the Senate in 2012. Felders allegiance with the GOP has made him a polarizing figure in the Legislature because he holds the critical 32nd vote needed to help the Republicans pass legislation. The Senates sexual harassment policy may require an investigation because Powis attended the private event on Felder's behalf and the alleged victim interacts with the Legislature in an official capacity as a lobbyist. This policy applies to all applicants, employees, persons involved in the operation of the New York state Senate, and prohibits unlawful or improper harassment, discrimination and retaliation whether engaged in by any member, employee of the New York state Senate or someone not directly connected to the New York state Senate (e.g. outside vendors, consultants, etc.), the policy states. It defines sexual harassment as unwelcome or unwanted sexual advances, requesting sexual favors, or any other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. The Senates policy directs that Senate members and employees are expected to appropriately respond to and report any activity which they feel constitutes such conduct. Harassing conduct by anyone, whether in the Senate's offices, at work assignments outside the office, or at office-sponsored social functions, may be unlawful and will not be tolerated. The colleague of the woman who reported the allegations said that he believes Felder's office reported the incident after he notified them on Monday, in part because the Senate personnel office contacted him after he sent an email to the senator. The allegations against Powis were made two weeks after a jury convicted former state Senate aide Robert Nickol of misdemeanor assault charges for whipping his ex-girlfriend with an electric cord and slapping her in the face. Nickol, an aide to Sen. Bill Larkin, R-Orange County, remained on the Senate payroll for four months after his September 2017 arrest. Audiences might still remember the impressive opera production of Giacomo Puccini's Turandotconducted under the baton of Zubin Mehta and directed by Zhang Yimouthat was performed at Beijing's historical Imperial Ancestral Temple, which is located just outside the Forbidden City, in September 1998. That same venuea UNESCO World Heritage Sitewas once again awash with melody on Wednesday, when Universal Music Group's Deutsche Grammophon, the world's oldest classical music label, launched its 120th-anniversary celebrations by hosting a gala concert there. Musicians from around the world shared the stage, performing for an audience of over 1,200. Under the baton of maestro Yu Long, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra opened the concert with a special arrangement of Chinese composer Liu Tianhua's work, Enchanted Night. Then, the orchestra performed German composer Carl Orff's Carmina Burana accompanied by Russian soprano Aida Garifullina, British tenor, Toby Spence, and French baritone, Ludovic Tezier, as well as the Shanghai Spring Children's Choir. Afterward, French pianist, Helene Grimaud, took the stage for Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major before Norwegian violinist, Mari Samuelsen, took the solo lead in November, a piece from Max Richter's Memoryhouse, a seminal work of contemporary neoclassical composition from 2002. "The gala concert was unforgettable," says Clemens Trautmann, president of Deutsche Grammophon. "The concert's historic nature was enhanced by its iconic settingin front of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the walls of the Forbidden City. Those exquisite buildings echoed to the magnificent sounds of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Singakademie and an international cast of soloists under the direction of maestro Yu, the first Chinese conductor ever to perform there." Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov performed Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. The 27-year-old virtuoso pianist, a leading member of Deutsche Grammophon's younger generation of artists, was accompanied by Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, which was their first collaboration. "We had a mutual musical language, which made our cooperation successful," says Trifonov. "I was very excited, even when I did rehearsal with Yu and the Orchestra." "I visited Forbidden City as a tourist when I performed in Beijing a couple of years ago, but I have never performed at such a historic site before," he recalls. "The performance cannot be compared to any that I have done before, which was quite amazing." Trifonov, who began playing piano at 5 years old, studied under Tatiana Zelikman at Moscow's famous Gnessin School of Music. In February 2013, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in a concert recorded by Deutsche Grammophon for an album that was released later that year. In January, Trifonov was awarded the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his album, Transcendental-Complete Liszt Etudes. In June, Yu, arguably China's most well-known conductor on the international scene, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra also signed with Deutsche Grammophon, becoming the Berlin-based label's first Chinese conductor and orchestra. Their first recording with the famous yellow label will be released in 2019 to mark the 140th anniversary of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the oldest symphony orchestra in China, whose history dates back to 1879 when it was known as the Shanghai Public Band. Deutsche Grammophon's Imperial Ancestral Temple concert marked the beginning of a series of international programs, including the release of a collection of newly digitized rare archive recordings (The Shellac Project) and new albums of high-profile performances. The record label also introduced China to its project, Yellow Loungewhich aims to introduce clubbers to live classical musicwith a performance at Beijing's Mao Livehouse featuring British-Irish classical violinist, Daniel Hope, Chinese clarinetist, Wang Tao, and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra back in September. The project was born in 2001 in Berlin's techno clubs, and since then, Yellow Lounge has organized over 130 club nights, each attracting up to 1,000 guests and a massive following through both traditional channels and social media. A massive protest march has been organised to take place in Tipperary Town on Saturday 20th of October. Organisers of the march say that the community feels that it has no alternative as the town has suffered decades of neglect by various levels of government. Katherina Ryan, a member of the #march4tipp group that is organising the event, says that is has been 22 years since the IDA brought a job to Tipperary Town. The level of unemployment in the town is at multiples of the national level, said Ms Ryan. There are a number of issues involved in the campaign, ranging from unemployment, lack of funding for local facilities, lack of supports for the retail sector, the governments refusal to grant DEIS status to local schools, to dereliction of key heritage buildings. The group is also campaigning against Council plans to remove residents parking spaces in Davitt Street, as well as its plans to dig up the Main Street for up to one year. It really is a case of the Council not listening to us. When we look for something, they dont listen. When they decide to carry out works and we object, they dont listen either said group member Mary Margaret Ryan. A large number of school students are expected to march, particularly as the Government has refused to grant DEIS status to local schools. Group member Annemarie Ryan said 800 schools nationally have DEIS status and no school in Tipperary Town has it. DEIS status would mean a big difference to the educational outcomes for children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but the Government just refused to grant it, even though they said that the schools qualify for it. Denis Mulhair, who trades as a Jeweller on Davis Street in the town said there are 21 closed shops along Main Street alone. When anyone wants to start up a business, the Council looks for rates up front and if you want to do any improvements to a premises, they demand development charges. If they genuinely wanted to help the retail sector to recover, they should be encouraging people to set up in business, not taxing them to the hilt by way of rates and charges. Requiring people to pay for parking is also driving customers away he said. Commenting on the huge upwelling of community interest in the march, Breda White said, when we started the #march4tipp group, we had no idea that it would spark so much support. Clearly, the community has been waiting for a chance to voice long-held concernsabout the neglect of the town by the powers that be. From what we have been told, we are expecting at least 1,000 people to march on the day. This has really struck a chord with people, and people have just had enough of the neglect of our great town. Lisa McGrath, who is involved with youth services locally said at the moment when young people finish their education, there is nothing for them here in the Town. A lot of them leave to take up employment elsewhere. This is a huge loss to the town. One of the things we are campaigning for is an inter-agency task force that can tackle the massive long-term unemployment in the Town, so that when those who are children now are finished their education, they at least have a choice of working and having a career locally. The march takes place on 20 October and starts at 2pm. The march will commence at the Canon Hayes Recreation Centre and will proceed along Bank Place, Main Street, Church Street and finish at the Plan on Davitt Street. Due to the very large crowds expected, people are asked not to drive into the Recreation Centre and to walk to the start of the march. People who may have mobility problems are asked to gather opposite the Irish House on Main Street. The Pixel 3 is the ultimate expression of Android and proof that AI done right can make your life easier. The Pixel 3 is the ultimate expression of Android and proof that AI done right can make your life easier. For all the Pixel 3's implementations of AI and there a lot of them this isn't a phone that asks anything unwelcome of its users. There's no learning curve here, no alphabetized list of features buried in submenus to memorize and no sacrifice required to get the most from the hardware. In a way, the Pixel 3 is the anti-Android phone. Here, Google has built a device that bends to you, not one that forces you to bend. And that makes the Pixel 3 one of the best smartphones available. It's delightfully intuitive and easy to live with, yet infinitely capable. In other words, it's the smartphone that will remind you of the very first time you used a smartphone and all the fascination and promise that came with it. Now that the Pixel 4 is launched, stock of the Pixel 3 is dwindling. Google recently cut the phone's price to $499, though those supplies quickly depleted at the Google Store. That means you'll have to look elsewhere to nab last year's model at a good price. Still, if you can track down a bargain, the Pixel 3 remains a compelling value. If you're looking for a great camera for less money and you're willing to give up some performance check out our reviews of the cheaper Pixel 3a ($399/399) and Pixel 3a XL ($479/469). Update Nov. 25: Amazon has the 64GB versions of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL for $350 off their original prices, fully unlocked and in every color for Black Friday. It's the finest deal on a high-end smartphone we've seen yet this week, though that could change as we get closer to the weekend, so keep it locked on Tom's Guide's Black Friday deals hub for the latest. Price and Availability The Pixel 3 started at $799 when it released, though you should be able to find it for hundreds less now while retailers' and carriers' supplies last. The device comes with 64GB of storage, though users who require more storage must tack on another $100/100 for the 128GB configuration; neither Pixel 3 comes with a microSD slot for expandability. You have a choice of three colors: Just Black, Clearly White and Not Pink. When the Pixel originally came out in the fall of 2018, you had limited options for where you could grab a Pixel 3. As with past Pixels, Verizon sold the phone as did Google's own Project Fi wireless service, which combines coverage from T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular and follows a pay-what-you-use approach. You could buy the phone unlocked from Google as well. Later, the Pixel 3 made it to more carriers. Sprint offers both the Pixel 3 and 3 XL (not the mention the cheaper 3a and 3a XL models). T-Mobile offers just the 3 XL alongside the two cheaper 3a models. Specs Google Pixel 3 Google Pixel 3 XL Price $799/$899739/839 $899/$999 869/969 CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Screen 5.5-inch OLED (2160 x 1080) 6.3-inch OLED (2960 x 1440) Rear Camera Single: 12.2MP (f/1.8) with OIS and EIS Single: 12.2MP (f/1.8) with OIS and EIS Front Camera Dual: 8MP wide-angle (f/2.2) and 8MP (f/1.8) Dual: 8MP wide-angle (f/2.2) and 8MP (f/1.8) Battery 2,915 mAh with 18-watt fast charging and Qi wireless chargingWireless charging, up to 10 watts 3430 mAh with 18-watt fast charging and Qi wireless chargingWireless charging, up to 10 watts Battery Life 8:27 9:30 Memory 4GB 4GB Storage 64GB/128GB 64GB/128GB Water resistance IP68 IP68 Audio Front-firing stereo speakers Front-firing stereo speakers Software Android 9 Pie Android 9 Pie Special Features Wireless charging, up to 10 watts Wireless charging, up to 10 watts Materials Aluminum frame, hybrid glass coating Aluminum frame, hybrid glass coating Colors Clearly White, Just Black, Not Pink Clearly White, Just Black, Not Pink Weight 5.2 ounces 6.5 ounces Size 5.7 x 2.7 x 0.3 inches 6.2 x 3.0 x 0.3 inches Design: Charming and compact At 5.5 inches, the compact flavor of Google's third-generation Pixel is objectively classified as a small handset by 2018 standards, or a normal-size one from a couple years ago. On the Pixel 3, I can effortlessly reach all corners of the screen without involving a second hand. That, in and of itself, is a distinctly antiquated feeling among smartphones today. But it also perfectly symbolizes why Google's relatively tiny flagship is so special. You won't find any Galaxy S9-style sloping Infinity edges here. There's no plurality of rear lenses like on the LG V40; no shimmering, chameleon-like ombre backside that evokes the Huawei P20; and certainly no notch (at least on the smaller model; the 3 XL has caved to peer pressure). There's just an 18:9 display flanked by two reasonably sized bezels housing a pair of booming front-facing speakers. Personally, I'm not bothered by the forehead and chin, as they serve a purpose, though it would have been nice to see Google trim them down a bit more. The design philosophy here is minimalist and unassuming, though I wouldn't necessarily call it boring. There's a charm to the way the Pixel 3 fits snugly in the palm of your hand and how little attention it draws to itself. I've been carrying the Clearly White model for about a week now, and I can't get enough of its mint power button. This adds just the right dash of personality to an otherwise-tastefully restrained handset. Simplicity is very much the operative word here. Google's attention to detail extends to the Pixel 3's all-glass construction a noteworthy departure from this phone's predecessors, which fused aluminum and glass. Now clad in Gorilla Glass 5 all around, the newest Pixels can finally charge wirelessly. Wireless charging is all well and good, but Google's a bit late to the party. After all, my 5-year-old Nexus 4 drew power from induction pads, at the expense of a fragile, wafer-thin glass back that shattered at the faintest gust of wind. The Pixel 3, on the other hand, incorporates glass in a way it's never been used before in a phone. There's a charm to the way the Pixel 3 fits snugly in the palm of your hand and how little attention it draws to itself. One of Google's iconic design cues is the so-nicknamed "Pixel Window": that square of glass that made up the upper third of the Pixel 2's backside, while the rest of the chassis was crafted from metal. But because the Pixel 3 is shrouded in a single sheet of glass, Google had to develop a new etching process to deliver that signature glossy-meets-matte effect. This matte surface blankets most of the Pixel 3. It certainly won't fool anyone into thinking they're touching metal, but it repels fingerprints admirably and presents a thoughtful approach of freshening up plain old glass both in aesthetics and feel. To keep things consistent, the phone's aluminum frame has been finished with the same shine as the glossy portions of the back. I'm not a fan of this decision it feels a little chintzy and doesn't lend the same sense of quality as the Pixel 2's distinctive powder coating. But this is a nitpick, and you can rest assured that there's nothing chintzy about the phone's durability. The Pixel 3 is rated IP68 water resistant, meaning it should withstand up to 5 feet of water for a maximum of 30 minutes. MORE: Pixel 3 vs. iPhone XR: Battle of the Affordable Flagships Oh, and one more thing: The haptics are fantastic. They don't feel terribly different in the Pixel 3 compared to the Pixel 2, but typing in particular is rich and satisfying, where tapping keys produces precise pops rather than jarring buzzes. Other Android phone makers should take note. Cameras: Better photos through AI Say hello to the first Pixel with dual-lens imaging. No, not for the rear camera that's still a 12.2-megapixel shooter. Rather, the Pixel 3 packs a pair of 8-MP front-facing cameras, one with a wide-angle perspective and another that's more conventional. Of course, those selfie cameras are notable in their own right, but the Pixel 3's crown jewel is that lone rear lens. With it and with Google's breakthrough HDR+ image processing and Pixel Visual Core chip this phone turns out some of the best photography we've ever seen from a mobile device. That said, the Pixel 3 does meet a formidable opponent in the iPhone XS. Both phones were used to capture this evening scene as the sun was going down just outside New York's Herald Square. Google's device notably blows out the light collected by the corner of the Macy's building. However, it paints the storefronts and street signs with increased sharpness and steers clear of the hazy warmth that pervades the iPhone's rendition. Inside Grand Central Station, both the Pixel 3 and iPhone XS captured stunning shots of the ceiling of the Main Concourse. The iPhone looks to have the edge here, though, thanks to more-even overall exposure and better white balance, which cuts down on the slight reddish tint in the Pixel's shots. Also, the design on the ceiling is much more noticeable through the lens of Apple's handset. We used Grand Central's iconic clock as an opportunity to test Super Res Zoom. One of the Pixel 3 camera's new features, it combines multiple frames to fill in detail when you're using digital zoom. In this particular example, it's astonishing to see Google's handset deliver an image through software that's every bit as sharp as what the iPhone XS was able to pull off with its 2x optical zoom. However, Super Res Zoom favors certain scenarios more than others. Outside, on a breezy fall morning in Bryant Park, the Galaxy Note 9's optical zoom produced a sharper, punchier shot of some plants at the base of a statue. While the Pixel 3's attempt is by no means poor, beating better optics with software is a tall task. Additionally, the Note 9 benefited from its Scene Optimizer tech, which recognized that the phone was shooting greenery and so tuned the exposure appropriately. When things get really dark, though, the Pixel 3 falters. The Note 9's superwide f/1.5 aperture makes it one of the best devices there is for low-light photography, as evidenced by this comparison. The Pixel 3's dingy, noisy exposure lacks all of the color and detail that Samsung's phablet provides. However, our initial low-light tests were conducted before we were able to try Night Sight a mode that recently launched on the Pixel 3 in November. Night Sight is a real game changer, turning out phenomenal results by blending a succession of frames together to emulate a long exposure time, and using AI to infer the colors and gaps in detail. Because the Pixel 3 doesn't require a second lens to determine depth, it can perform Portrait Mode bokeh-style shots through its single rear-facing camera. Once again, the results are impressive; there's stronger color and contrast from Google's device, and the fabric in my colleague Caitlin's sweater is more in focus. However, the iPhone XS navigates the boundaries of the foreground better, which leads to less of the artifacting around Caitlin's hair that the Pixel 3 unfortunately left in. How does the Pixel 3 hold up against a more recently released camera like the triple lens setup on the back of the new Galaxy S10 Plus? We still think the Pixel comes out on top, but Samsung's camera gives the Google phone a run for its money, particularly in outdoor shots like the one above featuring hats. Zoom in, and the S10 Plus does a better job with finer details, even if the Pixel's shot produces more vivid colors. In other areas, though, the Pixel 3 maintains an edge despite the improvements Samsung made to the Galaxy S10's cameras. A portrait mode shot with bokeh effects displays more natural color on the Pixel 3, while Samsung's new phone blows out the subjects a little bit. Turning back to our iPhone/Pixel comparisons, the Pixel 3 blows away the iPhone XS where selfies are concerned. Recently, the front-facing sensors in Apple's latest handsets have been criticized for aggressive smoothing. Judging from the result here, I'd say those claims aren't totally unfounded. In contrast, the Pixel 3 delivers a remarkably crisp portrait that perfectly captures my skin tone as well as all the finer details, like the fabric of my flannel shirt and beanie. The next time you accidentally cut your friend out of a selfie, you're going to wish you had the Pixel 3's wide-angle, front-facing camera. Obviously, it draws in so much more of your surroundings than a conventional lens, like the one on the Note 9. But what I love most about it is the way it's implemented in the Pixel 3's camera software. All you have to do is press a minus button, as if you're zooming out. Pixel 3 (left), iPhone XS (right) It's almost just as easy to access Top Shot, the last of the Pixel 3's trio of camera-improving features, which captures a bunch of frames before and after you take every photo, no matter which lens you're using. If the Pixel 3 notices that something's off about the one you took, it'll suggest you save a different one as a copy instead. But even if it doesn't do this, you can swipe up on any photo taken and scrub frame by frame until you see something that strikes your fancy. Pixel 3 (left), iPhone XS (right) Whether you opt for the 5.5-inch Pixel 3 or the larger Pixel 3 XL, it's encouraging to know you're getting the same great camera. Google remains committed to continuing feature parity between the two models, and people who prefer small phones are better off for it. Outside of the obvious difference in display size and the larger battery in the XL, these are functionally the same devices. MORE: OnePlus 7 Pro vs. Pixel 3: Which Phone Wins? Android Pie: A smarter OS The greatest thing about a Pixel is never strictly the hardware; rather, it's how that hardware is used. The Pixel 3 comes with Android 9 Pie fresh out of the box, though it'd be unfair to call this simply a stock installation. In actuality, Android on the Pixel is hardly more stock than Android on one of Samsung's products, considering all the exclusive features Google adds to its OS specifically for its phones. As it turns out, Digital Wellbeing is, at least for now, less of an Android Pie thing and more of a Pixel thing. Same goes for the new gesture-based navigation system, which is the default way of getting around on Google's latest flagship but not necessarily all Pie-powered phones. Both features have already made their way to Pixel 2 owners, though, personally, I've gotten tremendous utility out of Pie's new approach to managing notifications. Google Maps has pinged me on multiple occasions for traffic alerts and requests to rate places, and with each notification comes the ability to turn off that particular class of alert. The latest version of Android gives you more control than you've ever had over how and under what circumstances apps should jostle for your attention. Once again, you can squeeze the Pixel 3 to summon your Google Assistant. But I reckon that the phone's biggest little special feature is Call Screen, a service that leverages Google Assistant to, well, screen calls for you. Call Screen: Borderline revolutionary Anytime you receive a ring from an unknown number, the Pixel 3 offers the option of screening rather than answering. When this happens, you'll see a live transcription of what the robot (or person) on the other end of the line is saying. If you're being solicited, your Assistant will reply with a request to remove you from any lists. But if the caller turns out to be someone you actually want to speak to, you can cut your Assistant off and jump on the line immediately. MORE: Video: Pixel 3's Screen Call Is Simply Amazing Call Screen is that rare feature that works so well and makes so much sense that you'll be amazed it hasn't been done before. In fact, it's already proved indispensable to me, after one incident in which I got rung up from a number I didn't recognize. Google Assistant asked for the caller's info, and when they responded, I found out it was actually my insurance company reaching out about an important claim. I was able to instantly jump in and take over the conversation from my Assistant. But if it weren't for Call Screen, I probably would have just declined the call. Pixel Stand: Wireless charging meets Google Home Google's Pixel Stand wireless charger, sold separately for $79, unlocks even more Assistant goodies, including shortcuts that appear on the Always On display when the device is charging. These shortcuts launch Routines collections of actions tied to certain scenarios, like waking up in the morning or getting home from work which you'd typically trigger with a voice command. Other Pixel Stand features include Sunrise Alarm, which adds a subtle glow to the Pixel 3's display that increases in intensity right before you wake up. And owners of Nest's Hello video doorbell will be able to see the feed on their phones the moment somebody comes knocking. You don't need to say a word or open an app; so long as your Pixel 3 is charging on the stand, it'll show you who's at the door. As with the Pixel 2, the Pixel 3 comes with three years of postlaunch Android version and security updates. The industry standard is typically two years of new software. Couple that with phone makers lagging behind Google on delivering updates, and this remains one of the finest reasons to consider a Pixel in lieu of other Android flagships. Display: Finally, OLED the Pixel deserves Google heard the complaints about the Pixel 2 XL's display and wanted to set them right. That much is certain from the moment you lay your eyes on the Pixel 3's 5.5-inch OLED screen. The new, HDR-spec panel is better than anything Google's sold in a smartphone before and by a considerable margin. The issues that riddled the Pixel 2 XL are thankfully nowhere to be found. There's no splotchiness with solid colors and no distracting tint at odd viewing angles. Google has engineered safeguards in the software to stamp out image retention, as well as a new Dynamic color profile that satisfies people searching for punchier hues beyond plain old sRGB. Truthfully, though, you don't need to know any of that to appreciate the Pixel 3's screen. I fired up YouTube to watch the trailer for Sony's upcoming animated Spider-Man flick and sat mesmerized by the amber explosions and neon lights leaping off New York's night sky. The intensity of the colors and fluidity of motion gave the impression of a comic book brought to life. Indeed, the Pixel 3's screen is striking, and it can finally stand tall among the industry's best. That said, a few small concerns keep this display just off the top of the podium. For one thing, Google's full-HD flagship is outmatched by QHD devices like the Galaxy S9, which benefit from higher pixel density. This makes text on the Pixel 3 a bit more jagged than on certain other high-end handsets. Red, green and blue subpixels are also slightly easier to discern with the naked eye on the Pixels screen. I can get past that, but the Pixel 3's brightness or lack thereof is a little more frustrating. On its highest setting, the Pixel 3 registered just 401 nits on our light meter. That's some 200 nits shy of the iPhone XS. In certain situations, such as under harsh sunlight, Google's device can get brighter. But most of the time, users will be quite limited by what the software will allow. MORE: What a Diehard iPhone User Thinks of the Pixel 3 The Pixel 3 offers some of the most-robust color we've seen from a smartphone, topping 202 percent of the sRGB color space on the phone's default Dynamic setting. For reference, the iPhone XS reaches only 125 percent, However, this penchant for saturation comes somewhat at the expense of accuracy, as the Pixel 3 achieves a Delta-E score of 0.44 compared to the iPhone XS' 0.22. (Numbers closer to zero are better.) If it's realism you want, we recommend trying the optional Boosted and sRGB modes. Performance: Beyond the sum of its parts The Pixel 3 might be really, really smart, but the silicon that powers it is no different than what youd find in countless other Android phones. That's not to say that the Snapdragon 845 system-on-chip and the 4GB of RAM in the Pixel 3 don't lend themselves to a fast and pleasant experience. But some of Google's Android partners like OnePlus, Asus and even Razer offer twice the amount of memory you get from both the Pixel 3 and 3 XL. And they have the benchmarking results to prove it. Take Geekbench 4, for example, on which the Pixel 3 crossed the finish line with a modest multicore score of 7,316. That's only about 1,000 points more than what the Pixel 2 managed with an older, Snapdragon 835 chipset, but it's some 1,500 points behind the Snapdragon 845-powered Galaxy Note 9's showing. The OnePlus 6 well exceeds the 9,000-point threshold, and you can just forget about the Pixel 3 competing against the A12 Bionic-powered iPhone XS. Apple's handsets are in another league. The Pixel 3 didn't take quite the same drubbing in 3DMark's Sling Shot Extreme OpenGL ES 3.1 test, on which its 4,400 points edged out the iPhone XS's score of 4,244. Here, the OnePlus 6 took the lead, with a score of 5,124, though I noticed no appreciable difference playing PUBG Mobile on Google's hardware. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the Pixel 3 felt every bit as fast as the OnePlus 6 in all of my daily tasks, which consisted mostly of a mix of Spotify listening, Maps navigation, web browsing, messaging and a little bit of YouTube watching. Recent apps stayed ready at my beck and call, without closing due to a lack of resources. MORE: Pixel 3 XL Hands-On Review: The New Camera Phone King Has Arrived Perhaps it's because of the way Google optimized things, but this is yet another case where numbers alone don't tell the whole story. Our real-world video-encoding test illustrated as much, with the Pixel 3 converting a short 4K clip to 1080p in 2 minutes and 53 seconds nearly a whole minute faster than the OnePlus 6, yet an eternity compared to the iPhone XS' 39 seconds. However, some owners of the Pixel 3 (and its XL sibling) have noticed that the phone occasionally shuts down background processes. Initially, many theorized this was indicative of the phones' shortage of RAM, but it may have even more to do with a glitch in the phones' memory management, as earlier Pixel devices with the same RAM allotment aren't as eager to curb tasks so swiftly. To fix this, Google confirmed to 9to5Google that it will push out a software update "in the coming weeks" which will hopefully address the issue. For what its worth, our in-house units have sporadically closed background apps, like Spotify while its streaming music though this has only happened two or three times after nearly a month with the devices. Battery life: Fast charging, not longest lasting The 2,920-mAh battery inside the Pixel 3 is about average in terms of capacity, but it supports every cutting-edge charging technology on the market today. That includes 18-watt fast charging with the stock adapter, good for achieving 50 percent in just 30 minutes. The phone can also recharge wirelessly at 10 watts through Google's Pixel Stand. (Though the Pixel 3 will accept only up to 5 watts from third-party Qi chargers.) In our battery test, which consists of endless website streaming over T-Mobile LTE at 150 nits of brightness, the Pixel 3 ran out of juice after 8 hours and 27 minutes. In another run, on Verizon's network, the phone managed 8 hours and 12 minutes. Both times are well shy of our 9:48 smartphone average, not to mention the 12:09 that the Pixel 2 XL gave us. However, in typical usage, our Pixel 3 never strained for a charge. One day, I unplugged the phone at 7:30 a.m., and after hours of phone calls, photo taking, video streaming and playing podcasts over those loud stereo speakers, the Pixel 3 lasted right up until midnight. If I had been more careful, I'd venture to say that a day and a half was well within the phone's capabilities. MORE: 6 Reasons to Skip the Pixel 3 for the Pixel 2 Theoretically, the Pixel 3 will only last longer with age, too well, at least until the battery degrades. This is thanks to yet another one of Android Pie's AI features, dubbed Adaptive Charging. After a certain length of time, Adaptive Charging notices your behaviors and intelligently prioritizes certain processes and shuts down others to preserve battery life. Bottom Line These days, practically every phone maker is desperately trying to do something extra, whether that means slapping five lenses on the back or developing a fancy new way for a camera to pop out of metal. Bucking that trend, Google made its phone more useful for the types of things you'd more likely demand from your phone. Too many tech companies lean on AI as the solution to problems that haven't been identified yet. But the Pixel 3 makes AI tangible through features like Call Screen and Top Shot, using AI to address one of the greatest challenges of mobile photography with Super Res Zoom. It helps, too, that Google's nailed the basics of every great handset by stepping up its display game and refining its design. In fact, my only gripe with the Pixel 3 involves its price. At $799/739, it's $150/110 more expensive at launch than the Pixel 2 was, even though the new phone packs the same 64GB of storage. And so much of what makes this device great pertains to software, not strictly hardware. Slight price hikes are expected, but you get the sneaking suspicion Google jacked up the cost just because Apple proved it could get away with upping prices first. That said, there are a lot of pricey phones these days, and the Pixel 3 is far from the most expensive one out there. And the more I use it, the more I'm convinced it's the best Android phone you can buy. The fifth Kyoto International Film and Art Festival (KIFF) wrapped up here Sunday, highlighting not only films but also the city's rich and vibrant artistic tradition. "The KIFF has gone beyond a film festival to become a comprehensive cultural event that displays both traditional crafts and modern culture," Daisaku Kadokawa, mayor of the Kyoto city, told reporters ahead of the festival. During the four-day festival that kicked off on Thursday, more than 70 films were screened and a number of cultural events and exhibitions were held at dozens of theaters and cultural facilities across Kyoto, the city often called "the Birthplace of Japanese Films." In the Oe Noh Theatre in the Gion area which is a symbol of the Kyoto culture, Japanese old films as well as some early American comedies were screened to pay tribute to the early films, including "Charlie," Chaplin's silent comedies accompanied by music played by Japanese artists. In the Toho Cinema at Nijo area of Kyoto, a Chinese film named Cao Cao and Yang Xiu with celebrated Beijing Opera actor Shang Changrong playing the main character Cao, was screened. Shang was decorated with the Most Respect Award at the opening ceremony of the film festival here. "Beijing Opera is very colorful and interesting. I sincerely invite you all to watch this film," Shang said at the ceremony, adding that he hopes Japanese people would enjoy this traditional Chinese art form. In the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts, a few craftsmen displayed to the visitors the traditional Kyoto crafts, including the famous Kyoto Zougan (inlay) and the Kyoto ceramic art. "Now only 20 or 30 people master this technique. We hope the publicity brought by the film festival could let more people know about this ancient inlay technique and attract more young people to learn it," said Ukihiro Tomida, who has been a "Zougan" worker for 45 years. Meanwhile, in a disused school building of an elementary school which has a history of 147 years, a few paintings and installation artworks that combine traditional Kyoto art and modern art were exhibited. Traditional Kyoto patterns and the abstract postmodern expression combined together gave the paintings here a new style, said a visitor to the exhibition. As part of its efforts to go beyond a film and art festival and contribute to the community, the festival also included a "Workshop Collection" for children, in which a number of educational and fun workshops were held. "It is hoped that the festival and the Kyoto city would work together to make continued efforts for creating a city that has excellent culture and achieves sustainable development," said Kadokawa. Dell is putting the ultra in ultra-wide with its 49-inch U4919DW monitor announced today. The new curved display boasts a max resolution of 5120x1440, a 60Hz refresh rate and the ever-so-desired USB-C port. It's available for order now for $1,699 and will start shipping October 26. Image 1 of 7 Image 2 of 7 Image 3 of 7 Image 4 of 7 Image 5 of 7 Image 6 of 7 Image 7 of 7 Dell UltraSharp 49 Curved Monitor (U4919DW) Specs Screen Size/Aspect Ratio 49 inches (124.46cm)/32:9 Panel Type/Backlight IPS with 3H hardness anti-glare/W-LED edge array Max Resolution & Refresh Rate 5120x1440 @ 60Hz Density: 109 ppi Curve Radius 3,800R Native Color Gamut 99% sRGB Response Time (GTG) 5ms Brightness 350cd/m Contrast 1,000:1 Speakers X Video Inputs 2x HDMI 2.0;1x DisplayPort 1.4 Audio X USB Ports 3.0: 2x upstream, 5x downstream;Type-C: 1x Power Consumption 60W typical, 230W maximum Panel Dimensions(WxHxD With Base) 47.8 x 18.1-21.6 x 9.9 inches(1,215.1 x 458.6-548.6 x 252.6mm) Weight 37.9/25.1 lbs(17.2/11.4kg) Warranty Three years Extra Dual PC usage with one keyboard and mouse (KVM); ComfortView with Flicker-free;Security lock slot Price $1,699 Dell claims the U4919W represents the worlds first dual Quad HD (QHD, 2560x1440) monitor. Indeed, its 5120x1440 resolution is nothing to sneeze at. However, note that youll need a high-end graphics card that supports that large resolution in order to achieve over 7.3 million pixels. Additionally, Dell recommends using a video source with HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 for maximum picture quality at the 60Hz refresh rate. The monitor is said to ship 99% sRGB factory-calibrated with a Delta-E less than two (its generally believed that errors less than three cannot be seen by the naked eye). Physically, the monitor has a 21-degree forward tilt and five-degree back tilt with a 170-degree swivel in either direction. It also comes with 100 x 100 mm VESA support for wall mounting. Heavily targeting professionals, such as financial services firms and graphic designers, the U4919DW can support two PCs simultaneously with the same keyboard and mouse; just hit CTRL+Alt+1 to switch machines. At a press event, Dell said it sees continuing use cases among professionals for large monitors with AR and VR development being a driver. The $1,699 monitor comes with a stand, power cable, DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort cable, a USB-C cable, HDMI cable and USB 3.0 upstream cable, plus some setup, regulatory and factory calibration information. Size-wise, the U4919W has limited competition today. Theres Samsungs 49-inch C49HG90 32:9 curved monitor, but that monitor targets gamers, rather than professionals, with a lower 3840x1080 resolution, FreeSync, a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. Dells USB-C Pro Monitor Army In addition to the U4919DW, Dell announced six more monitors targeting professionals today. At its unveiling event, the vendor noted IDC research pointing to 20 percent of laptops being USB-C only by 2020, so these new UltraSharps come with USB-C options a plenty. The displays are available now, with prices ranging from $349-$1,149. Dell UltraSharp Specs John Hennessey thinks Bugatti is playing possum when it comes to the Bugatti Chiron s top speed. Speaking with Motor Authority , the founder and owner of Hennessey Performance claims that the French automaker is sandbaggin the abilities of the Chiron as the race to hit a 300-mph top speed heats up in the supercar world. If Hennesseys claims are correct and Bugatti is intentionally downplaying the Chirons performance abilities, it adds another wrinkle to a budding rivalry thats showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. How fun must it be to belong in a niche segment where youre throwing back-handed compliments to your rivals, believing that theyre not putting their best foot forward when it comes to their full potential. Thats what John Hennessey was alluding to in his conversation with Motor Authority regarding Bugatti and the Chiron hypercar. According to Hennessey, the French automaker is sandbaggin the Chirons full capabilities. For those who are not familiar with the term, sandbaggin is widely used in drag racing circles to denote that a driver is intentionally going slower to create a false sense of confidence among the competition. Only when the competition drops its guard does the driver unleash the full potential of his car, leaving everyone, specifically his rivals, in states of shock over how a race went down. The term is, for all intents and purpose, a back-handed compliment. In this instance, Hennessey is calling Bugatti out for not divulging the strengths of the Chiron, knowing full well that the hypercar is potentially faster than its being touted. Hennesseys claims come with some merit, too. The Chiron, after all, is powered by an 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W-16 engine that produces a whopping 1,479 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque. Hennesseys gripe comes from the fact that Bugatti hasnt officially lifted the 261-mph speed limiter on the Chiron, a common practice for cars that go on top speed runs, something that Bugatti is also uninterested in doing for the time being. Hennessey believes that if Bugatti turned off its speed limiter on the Chiron, the hypercar would be capable of achieving a top speed of 280 to 285 mph, which would be enough to reclaim the fastest production car title from Koenigsegg and the Agera RS. The Swedish hypercar bumped the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport from its lofty perch last year when it recorded a top speed of almost 278 mph. The problem with that scenario is that Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann isnt in any rush to reclaim the crown from Koenigsegg. Winkelmann said as much, telling CNBC earlier this year that the speed test is not my priority. This leaves people like Hennessey, who has his own hypercar monster, the Venom GT, thinking that Bugatti, for whatever reason, is playing coy on the rest of the segment as they try to one-up each other in the race towards 300 mph. In any event, we know that Hennessey isnt going to let Bugatti keep it from achieving its own goal of hitting 300 mph with the Venom F5. It already has a 300-mph top speed run scheduled for 2019, and if it succeeds in hitting that mark, you can be sure that John Hennessey is going to let everyone know about it, Bugatti included. Further Reading Bugatti Chiron 2.3 Seconds Read our full review on the 2018 Bugatti Chiron. Read our full review on the 2018 Bugatti Chiron Sport. Source: Motor Authority You may remember Japanese manufacturer Mitsuoka used to offer a Morgan-like vehicle based on an older Mazda MX-5 - its replacement ditches the Morgan theme for a classic Corvette Stingray theme and applies it to the latest Miata (which is also the best one in the series). Its really not as weird as it sounds Called Mitsuoka Rock Star, it looks nothing like the Mazda that underpins it, from the outside. Its design owes everything to the Corvette C2, and were it not for those small, circular headlights (which look somewhat out of place), it is an ode to the original designs greatness. The body is all completely new and done in-house by Mitsuoka; all they keep from the original is the windscreen and the doors. The interior is identical to that of the donor car - all they did, by the looks of it, was replace the Mazda logo on the steering wheel airbag cover with their own. Mitsuoka will sell you the Rock Star with either of the two engines on offer in Japan (a 1.5-liter or a 2.0-liter) and on the larger of the two you can also specify an optional automatic gearbox. Performance should be on par with the Miata, but we dont know if its any heavier than the donor. In Japan, a Mitsuoka Rock Star is available from the equivalent of around $41,000, while the most expensive version is $46,100. But what they should really be offering is this same vehicle, but with a V8 swap, something like what Flying Miatas is doing - that would really complete the package. Further reading Read our full review on the 2016 Mazda MX-5. 1966 Chevrolet Corvette C2 Read our full review on the 1963-1968 Chevrolet Corvette. Read our full review on the 2014 Mitsuoka Orochi Final Edition. Just as the hype was dying down after the 2019 BMW 3 Series launch at the Paris Motor Show, BMW has reignited interest in its latest new model. As per a report from LAutomobile Magazine, the German automaker will be unveiling 3 Series Touring at the Geneva Motor Show in March of next year. Actually, its not that much of a surprise because the touring has been sold for almost as long as the sedan. Heart Of The Matter The wagon will be supposedly one of the main attractions at the event. This is actually a trend that BMW follows; launch the sedan first and then the Touring guise in a few months. Going by this, the Geneva Motor Show is the next biggest event, and should most likely be the place of launch. Coming to the Touring, it will be just like the sedan. It will have the same engine options, interior, and even the appearance except the rear, of course. In fact, even the design of the tail lamps will be the same, as seen by some recent patent drawings. However, BMW has decided not to bring the Touring to U.S. shores due to declining sales numbers, and the execs decided to not keep the car in its otherwise well-selling lineup. So, if this breaks your heart, better go and book the F31 Touring. Apparently, that also is going out of production in June 2019. Going by this, the whole timeline makes sense. A car is generally unveiled a few months before going into production; in the Tourings case, March 2019. By the time the production of the Touring begins, the F31 Touring will be retired. Our Take The BMW 3 Series Touring has been a vital product in the lineup across the world, but since crossovers have taken over the reins, especially in the U.S., wagons find themselves in a vulnerable position. There is a possibility that this might be the last Touring from BMW. Do you think the market for wagons will sustain by the time the next-gen 3 Series is launched? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Further Reading Read our full review on the 2019 BMW 3 Series. Read our speculative review on the 2020 BMW 3 Series Touring. Source: LAutomobile Originally from Atlanta, Jordan Clark graduated from the University of Vermont and then served in the U.S. Peace Corps in a remote village in Guatemala. After Peace Corps, he returned to the U.S. and worked in the financial services industry. In 2006, Clark saw an opportunity and moved to Nicaragua with his wife Brooke to open a real estate brokerage. During their 12-year journey, the Clark family adopted a street dog named Josh, gave birth to their daughter, Nina Leon, started an all-natural popsicle company and built a real estate firm on the northern Nicaragua coast. During Clark's re... This year, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Brevard announced a total of $27,500 in grants to the following organizations: Bread of Life Free Community Kitchens mission is to share our food with those in need in Transylvania County. Lunch is provided on weekdays, and delivery is available for shut-ins. Pantry boxes are also sometimes available. The grant will help Bread of Life fulfill their mission, which includes extending into outlying areas in the county with a food truck. Brevard Ballet is a non-profit civic ballet company that serves young dancers and the commu... Transylvania County Schools Educational Foundation (TCSEF) has announced that the application process for 2019-2020 creative classroom grants is now open the Foundation has set aside $18,000 again for these grants out of the more than $25,000 available to enrich classrooms, send students to Close Up Washington, scholarships for alumni and support for teacher leadership initiatives. All teachers and staff employed with Transylvania County Public Schools are eligible to apply for grants. The grant application can be found online at www.TCSEF.org/ Grants/Grant-Application. Grants will be aw... Every time I see a baby, I cant help but imagine the rainbow of possibilities which this new life has to offer. And every time I learn about an adolescent or young adult succumbing to any of the many ills of society, be it as victim or perpetrator, I cant help but feel the deepest sense of loss. I cant help but imagine that person at the moment of birth, at that moment of splendid potentiality, and wonder why? What went wrong? Could it have been avoided? Teachers, at all levels, are presented with an unique opportunity to make a contribution to the intellectual, civic and moral fo... The public is invited to a free lecture at the WNC Military History Museum on Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. for historian Frank Hawkins' presentation, "World War II The Forgotten Russian Front." In thinking about World War II in Europe, Americans think of D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, German General Rommel, and American generals Patton and Eisenhower. But the Allied battles in Western Europe were only part of the war in Europe. The largest battles and the greatest amount of suffering was in the East where the Russians lost a staggering 20 million people and the Germans suffered ove... Transylvania County Marines will celebrate the 243rd birthday of the Corps at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 10, at the American Legion Hall, 55 E. Jordan St. in Brevard. The event will take place in the Little Theater wing of the building and is being chaired by Lt. Col. Lee McMinn, USMC (retired). Marines of any age and rank, along with veterans of other branches, as well as members of the public who want to honor the military, are invited. There will be a posting of the colors by an honor guard from the joint Brevard/Rosman High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC; the traditional cake cutting... China plans to launch its first satellite to test the technologies of the space-based gravitational wave detection program "Tianqin" by the end of 2019. The program Tianqin, meaning "harp in sky," was initiated by Sun Yat-sen University in south China's Guangdong Province in 2015. It will consist of three satellites forming an equilateral triangle around the earth. "It's like a harp in space. If the gravitational waves come, the 'harp's strings" will be plucked," said Luo Jun, president of the Sun Yat-sen University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, at a conference held recently in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province. The detection will be based on high-precision laser interferometry technology to measure the changes of the distances and locations of the three satellites, according to Luo. Gravitational waves are "ripples" in the fabric of space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the universe. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity. The first-ever discovery of gravitational waves by the American Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), announced in February 2016, has encouraged scientists worldwide to accelerate their research. Different from LIGO, the space-based probes will be used to detect gravitational waves at much lower frequencies, which are generated by the merging of massive or supermassive black holes, scientists say. The European Space Agency has also launched a space-based gravitational wave detection program, the "Laser Interferometer Space Antenna" project. Luo admitted that although China had achieved some breakthrough results in the detection technology, there was still a huge gap to realize the space-based detection of gravitational waves. Laser-ranging is one of the necessary technologies for detection. China accomplished its first successful laser-ranging between earth and the moon in January this year. The relay satellite of China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe, launched in May this year, carries a reflector developed by the Sun Yat-sen University, and is expected to extend laser-ranging to a record distance of 460,000 km in 2019. Scientists from Germany, Italy and Russia have expressed their willingness to cooperate with China in gravitational wave detection. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction denied a request by Transylvania County Schools for more than $19 million in capital needs grants. Last Monday evening, Graham Wilson of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction sent an email to the school system stating, Nineteen counties submitted applications for projects in excess of $245.7 million, illustrating the need for this critical program. While your application was strong, there were other counties with more critical, immediate needs that received the awards for FY 2018-19. We strongly encourage you to resub... Patricia Jones Selby, born Nov. 1, 1939, went to be with her Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, on Oct.11, 2018. She was the daughter of Kenneth and Dorothy Jones, of Kansas, though she resided in West Palm Beach, Fla., and was the widow of Tunis Clay Selby, of Warren, Ohio. She is survived by her son, John Ehrler; granddaughter, Dawn Marie Ehrler; and great-granddaughter, Jadia Marie Ehrler. She was a friend of Bill W. for 43 years. She was always taking interest in helping others to recover from alcoholism and drug addiction. She worked at Gratitude House in West Palm Beach as a counselor... Sam Edney, his wife and family, and their ancestors have contributed to life and the economy in our state for generations. The Edneys first arrived in N.C. in 1679! Sams great-grandfather purchased land in Henderson County when he returned from the Civil War. Sam grew up in Hendersonville and has had a successful business for many years that serves us in the WNC area. We know him through day-to-day interactions. He is always a soft-spoken gentleman ready to answer questions and solve problems you might ask him about. His wife, Deda, is a gem and behind him 100 percent. He knows the... Supported by 3D printing technology, the movable replica of a cave in the Yungang Grottoes, a 1,500-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site, has passed experts' tests this week. The Yungang Grottoes Research Institute in northern China's Shanxi province claimed it to be the world's largest movable grotto printed by 3D technology. Weighing less than 5 metric tons, the full-size reproduced grotto is 14 meters long, 11 meters wide and nine meters high. The project was launched by the institute, Zhejiang University and a Shenzhen-based company, and it is based on the original cave No 12, also called "Cave of Music", in the Yungang Grottoes. Zhang Zhuo, head of the institute, said that this cave represents the highest artistic level of Yungang. It incorporates carved statues playing Chinese and Western musical instruments. The research team collected high precision 3D data and kept errors to within 2 millimeters. The main body of the replica was made of resinous material, and the printing process took around six months. "We plan to color it with mineral pigments before the end of this year. In this way, the replica will maintain its original size, texture and color," Zhang said. The reproduction can be divided into various parts and be pieced together within a week. Zhang said that in the future it will be added to exhibition tours with the institute's other cultural relics. More than 59,000 statues were carved in 45 caves in the Yungang Grottoes, which was listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 2001. TOURISM EXPO (TRAVPR.COM) KARNATAKA - October 13th, 2018 - TRAVEL THE COUNTRY SEE THE WORLD! PLAN YOUR NEXT HOLIDAY RIGHT HERE AT 'HOLIDAY EXPO 2018' MORE DESTINATIONS THAN EVER BEFORE, AMAZING PACKAGES, DISCOUNTS ON SPOT BOOKINGS! Dates: 12-14 October 2018 Venue: Kusumtai Wankhede Bhawan, North Ambazzari Road, Dharampeth, Nagpur. Timings: 11.00 am - 7.00 pm Nagpur will be hosting the 14th edition of Holiday Expo, a travel trade exhibition providing B2B and B2C visitors an inroad to striking new destinations. Building on the success of the previous editions, team Holiday Expo is all prepared and enthusiastic about creating a cutting edge and bespoke platform for new participants as well as taking their loyal partners to a whole new level of business networking and client acquisition. The Exhibition will commence in Nagpur followed by Varanasi, Vishakhapatnam and conclude its 2018-19 journey in Coimbatore. The aim of the event is to reach out to the travel professionals in Tier II and III cities and explore the potential of these cities. Holiday Expo 2018 Nagpur is perfect for the upcoming holiday season in India, Dussehra (Vijayadashami also known as Dasara, Dussehra or Dussehra is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navratri every year) & Deepavali, long weekends as well as round-the-year travel, vacations and business plans. The exhibition would be open between 11.00 am and 7.00 pm during the three days. Entry is free. The three-day event will showcase glimpses from the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. This exhibition places a special emphasis on promoting adventure, pilgrimage, beach holidays, hill destinations, honeymoon plans, business trips and medical tourism. The exhibition offers the unique experience of presenting specially crafted travel, tour and holiday packages and good bargains from leading hotels, resorts, travel agents, tour operators from India and abroad. It is scheduled from 12-14 October 2018 (Friday to Sunday) from 11 am - 7 pm at the Kusumtai Wankhede Bhawan, North Ambazzari Road, Dharampeth, Nagpur. Nagpur is one of the regions biggest travel market for many State Tourism Departments, hoteliers, travel agents and tour operators, etc. Some of the Exhibitors include India Tourism, Himachal Tourism, Gujarat Tourism, Jharkhand Tourism, Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Cox & Kings, Spiceland Holidays Kerala, Bihar Tourism and many more. Holiday Expo owes its success to an attempt at pacifying the citys quest for travel and adventure. The countrys top domestic and international travel operators and hotels are participating under one roof to cater to the needs of todays discerning traveler. It is a great platform and a perfect time to allow a direct interaction between customers, travel industry and hotels. With the kind of stressful lives that we lead, a person tends to look for refreshing holidays and unique travel destinations to unwind. To simplify this need, we have Holiday Expo Nagpur annually wherein the customers get specially designed packages and great deals with innumerable choices. The constant support and eager interest from the travel industry make it successful year after year. So, if you are planning your dream holiday, visit Holiday Expo said Dilip Biswas, Director, Holiday Expo. We understand the need to promote the Tier II & III cities in tourism. There is a unique blend of hassle-free travel packages, he added. Considering the fact that the buying capacity of people has considerably grown, events like these are a must. Holiday Expo Nagpur caters to the needs of everybody in terms of vacations, weekend getaways, family holidays, honeymooners, business trips, MICE, adventure, wildlife, desert safari and pilgrimage tourism. Biswas added, The basic purpose of holding this event is to boost tourism awareness worldwide. We believe that the inflow of domestic and outbound tourists will increase in the coming months and Nagpur will play a vital role in the promotion of Tourism. Our main aim is to promote tourism potential and spread awareness among the people. The exhibition will not only benefit the residents of Nagpur but also nearby cities like, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Indore, Nashik, and other parts of Maharashtra, Goa, MP, Rajasthan and UP. Now everyone chooses from a variety of attractive packages and deals under one roof. This event will also greatly benefit corporates for their group bookings and conferences; they will also get detailed information on how to choose the perfect and affordable price for favourite destinations across the world. The opening hour of the exhibition is between 11.00 am -7.00 pm. Entry is open to all. Highlights: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, & Himachal Pradesh are the Focus States for the event Delegations from, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, & Himachal Pradesh are wooing the Nagpur market for the upcoming Dussehra (Vijayadashami was also known as Dasara, or Dussehra is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navratri every year) & Deepavali, long weekends as well as round-the-year travel, vacations and business plans. Private participants include Cox & Kings, Thomas Cook, Spiceland Holidays, and Voyagers World etc. Packages to more than 100 destinations in India and abroad. Entry to the Exhibition is free. Visitor Profile: Visitors from the travel trade industry Business Travellers Holidaymakers Key Corporate Decision-makers Potential investors in the fields of Hospitality, Leisure and Travel industry Medium-sized Indian cities like Nagpur have emerged as one of the fastest growing markets for quality leisure products and 'Holiday Expo 2018' is just the perfect Travel Exhibition to reach out to this very market, thus ensuring your product profits to its optimum potential. At a time when India is gaining immense ground in the international travel market as a travel destination and more and more Indians are travelling overseas for not just business but leisure as well, Holiday Expo garners a lot of significance. It has become a new marketing horizon for sellers from the travel and tourism industry. The participating companies will represent National Tourism Organizations & State Tourism Promotion Boards, Destination Management Organizations, Airlines, Charters, Railways, Passenger Transporters And Car Rentals, Shipping, Cruise Liners, Travel Agents And Tour Operators, Holiday Packages And Holiday Financiers, Technology Providers, Hotel Reservation Networks, Hotels & Resorts, Wildlife Resorts, Health Spas and Ayurvedic Centres, Timeshare Resorts, Eco-Clubs And Adventure Sports, Educational Institutions in the field of hospitality and tourism studies. ### The award-winning Royal Cliff Beach Terrace has been awarded the Star Partner Award 2018 by MakeMyTrip, Indias leading online travel company for its outstanding performance in delivering best-in-class experience for its guests. (TRAVPR.COM) THAILAND - October 15th, 2018 - Pattaya, Thailand The award-winning Royal Cliff Beach Terrace has been awarded the Star Partner Award 2018 by MakeMyTrip, Indias leading online travel company for its outstanding performance in delivering best-in-class experience for its guests. MakeMyTrip has launched the 'MakeMyTrip Star Partner Awards' recognition programme to honour the best rated and highest performing hotels in the company network. It has formulated stringent parameters to evaluate the performance of the hotels which include a quality score based on combined weighted average of customer experience and reviews along with their business performance on the MakeMyTrip platform enabling them recognize the best from the rest. With this new achievement, Royal Cliff Hotels Group has once again proven its capability to exceed its guests expectations, gain international recognition for its exceptional services and facilities as well as cement its status as the best of the best in the hospitality arena in India and around the world. Situated on a 64-acre private parkland estate overlooking the stunning Gulf of Thailand, the Royal Cliff Hotels Group operates four award-winning hotels providing guests from home and abroad with the ultimate experience. Offering promotions and packages to enhance every guest experience, this is the ideal luxury destination to discover everything you need for an exceptional holiday. Book your stay directly with Royal Cliff and get the best price guaranteed together with value-added optional extras for an enhanced hotel experience you deserve by visiting www.royalcliff.com, contacting Reservations at (+66) 38 250 421 ext: 2732 or emailing reservations@royalcliff.com. For more information on the Royal Cliff Hotels Group, please visit www.royalcliff.com. ### Tineri is Open Destinations award-winning mobile solution for tour operators, DMCs, MICE organisers, tourism boards and other travel providers. We recently partnered with Singapore-based healthcare company Nu Skin to provide a mobile solution for their two big 2018 MICE events a top sellers incentive trip to Australia, and their bi-annual Southeast Asia convention in Singapore. (TRAVPR.COM) THAILAND - October 15th, 2018 - Tineri is Open Destinations award-winning mobile solution for tour operators, DMCs, MICE organisers, tourism boards and other travel providers. We recently partnered with Singapore-based healthcare company Nu Skin to provide a mobile solution for their two big 2018 MICE events a top sellers incentive trip to Australia, and their bi-annual Southeast Asia convention in Singapore. Nu Skin had several challenges that we were able to help them overcome and achieve successful outcomes: Reducing workload and simplifying the MICE operations process for the Nu Skin team Delivering itinerary, convention programmes and other essential information to almost 3000 attendees Providing full event content across multiple languages (English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Bahasa) ABOUT NU SKIN Nu Skin Enterprises is a premier anti-aging company that develops and distributes a comprehensive line of beauty, wellness solutions and health supplements. Our innovative product brands include the Nu Skin anti aging skin care personal care brand, the Pharmanex nutrition brand, and most recently, the ageLOC anti-aging brand. Nu Skin Southeast Asia organise a series of annual events ranging from training to a bi-annual regional convention and also a yearly incentive trip to reward distributors. CHALLENGES Nu Skins biggest challenge was organising large, complex events containing multiple components for large numbers of attendees from across Southeast Asia, and delivering programme content to those attendees across multiple languages on the same platform. Nu Skin also had their own existing online content that they needed to integrate with their chosen mobile solution. And they wanted the whole platform to be white-labelled with their own corporate branding. SOLUTIONS After first meeting with Nu Skin at travel trade show ITB Asia in Singapore in October 2017, we organised two further demos/workshops with their Regional team and they decided that Tineri was the right solution for them. We were impressed with the application. It was easy to navigate and had almost all the features that we needed in a travel app says Nu Skins Events Specialist, Jerlyn Tan. The pricing was competitive and reasonable, and Tineri were able to provide very good support and training to guide us to build up the event. Our first job was to reskin the app with Nu Skins branding and submit their own dedicated Nu Skin SEA (South East Asia) app to the IOS and Android app stores. We then added their required list of Asian languages to our existing European language versions, before creating web signup forms (so attendees could sign up for the app themselves) and adding a Custom Menu feature, allowing Nu Skin to present their own content within the app via iFrames. All Nu Skins other requirements were already catered for via Tineris existing functionality, so it was a simple job for them to upload their programme content, accommodation information, location maps and other documentation, giving them one unique view of their event content without any version control issues, and without the hassle of emailing or printing large numbers of documents. OUTCOMES Nu Skin used Tineri for their incentive trip to Sydney for 700 Southeast Asian distributors in March 2018, and then for their bi-annual convention in Singapore in July 2018, when over 2000 attendees used the app. As well as providing all the relevant event content in English, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Bahasa, the Nu Skin team were able to make programme changes during the events and sync them live to the app, as well as providing live chat support with all attendees. Our distributors from Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam were able to use the app with the different language options says Jerlyn. The app was able to provide a lot of destination information which was crucial for our incentive trip. Our participants were able to keep up to date with all the relevant information. Nu Skin were also impressed with the level of support provided by the Tineri team. The overall performance was good and our users had very few issues Jerlyn tells us. When issues did arise, Tineri were prompt with their service support and we were able to solve them very quickly. Would Nu Skin recommend Tineri to other MICE organisers? Yes! says Jerlyn. The app is suitable for companies who do incentive travel as it enables them to provide very straightforward information that travellers need. To find out how Tineri can help you add the WOW factor to your next MICE trip or event, contact us on sales@opendestinations.com. ### It's a great building with lots of green features, but there is more to sustainability than a high BREEAM score. Mike Bloomberg is one of my favourite billionaire philanthropists, building his new European headquarters in London, one of my favourite cities, designed by Norman Foster, one of my favourite architects. But I do wish everyone would stop calling it "the world's most sustainable office building," which both Bloomberg and Foster (and every other website) do; it's not. Foster + Partners/ Bloomberg There is a lot of green goodness in this building, and it did get a BREEAM score of 98.5 percent, the highest ever for an office development. (BREEAM is a sort of British version of LEED). There are some really interesting innovations, like the ceiling, described by Foster + Partners: Bloomberg via Archdaily Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, October 15 The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday stayed all proceedings against IL&FS and its 348 group firms till a further order, after an urgent petition moved by the government. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs swiftly approached the appellate tribunal after the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) turned down its plea to grant 90 days moratorium over the loans taken by IL&FS and its subsidiaries. Passing an interim order over the government's plea, a two-member NCLAT bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya stayed all the proceedings "taking into consideration the nature of the case, larger public interest and economy of the nation and interest of IL&FS and 348 group companies". The NCLAT also directed to implead the top five lenders of IL&FS and asked to submit their replies over the government's plea seeking 90 days moratorium. "There shall be stay of the institution or continuation of suits or any other proceedings by any party or person or bank or company, etc against IL&FS and its 348 group companies in any court of law/tribunal/arbitration panel or arbitration authority," the appellate tribunal said. There would also be stay on "any action by any party or person or bank or company etc to foreclose, recover or enforce any security interest created over the assets of IL&FS and its 348 group companies including any action under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002". The appellate tribunal has also put suspension of temporarily the acceleration of any term loan, corporate loan, bridge loan, commercial paper, debentures, fixed deposits and any other financial facility by the IL&FS and its 348 group companies. It has also stayed all banks, financial institutions from exercising the right to set off or lien against any amounts lying with any creditor against any dues. The appellate tribunal has directed to list the government's appeal on November 13 "for admission". Meanwhile, the NCLAT also clarified that the interim order will not be applicable to any writ petition filed before high courts or the Supreme Court. During the proceedings of the appellate tribunal, the government side was represented by Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. A moratorium period is a time during which the borrower is not required to make any repayment towards the loans. The government, in its application filed before the NCLT, had sought three months' moratorium over "institution or continuation" or any other proceedings against IL&FS and any of its group companies in "any court of law/tribunal/arbitration panel or arbitration authority". It has also asked for moratorium over any action by any party "to foreclose, recover or enforce any security interest" created over the assets of IL&FS or its group firms under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act. The Mumbai bench of the NCLT had on October 1 suspended the board of IL&FS on government's plea and had authorised reconstitution of the board by appointing seven directors two days later. The government had stated that the newly appointed board is "likely to face certain problems" relating to IL&FS and its group company and there may be a need to "rationalise/rethink" business process and strategies that may ensure effective and more efficient manner of functioning. It had further contended that the newly elected board required "status quo to be preserved qua the business and assets" of IL&FS and group companies. "In the light of the financial crisis which IL&FS was undergoing, the applicant (govt) is given to understand that a large number of creditors have threatened and some creditors have instituted legal proceedings against IL&FS and its group companies. Some proceedings sprouted against IL&FS and its group companies," the government said. It further added "by a letter dated October 11, 2018, the applicant (MCA) has been informed by ILFS Transport and IL&FS and its group companies have received letters or written communications from 49 different creditors including bond holders, many of whom have accelerated payments under financial facilities extended and demanded payment forthwith under threat of legal proceedings against IL&FS and the corresponding group companies". However, a two-member NCLT bench had said that moratorium sought by the government under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code could not be extended under section 241-242 of the Companies Act, under which the NCLT has dissolved IL&FS board. "In the circumstances, we are of the considered view that the moratorium which has been sought by the Union of India by an application u/s 242 of the Companies act 2013 cannot be granted," said the NCLT. PTI ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Pradeep Sharma Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 14 Making a charitable start to their married life, newly-weds Karan and Harleen have donated shagun of over Rs 5 lakh to the Chandigarh-based Umeed, an NGO, involved in the welfare of special children. In fact, it was a wedding reception with a difference for Karan and Harleen at a resort on Chandigarhs periphery last night with Karans parents, Suresh Sharma and Samidha Sharma, politely guiding the guests eager to give shagun to a counter set up by Umeed. Umeed volunteers accounted for each envelope containing cash even as curious guests took photos and selfies with the banner put up at the entrance, which reads: Whosoever wishes to give shagun may please hand it over at the Umeed counter. Thank you very much for your wishes and gracing the occasion. Suresh Sharma told The Tribune that the idea of donating the shagun money for the noble cause was a collective decision of the family as they wanted to do something different for society on the auspicious occasion of their sons marriage. It is our humble effort to sensitise society to do something for the underprivileged sections on auspicious occasions such as marriages, Sharma, who, as the CMD of the Allengers Medical Systems Limited, is the brain behind Allengers Care Foundation, engaged in several charitable initiatives in Chandigarh. Dr BS Chavan, Director-Principal of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, who was one of the guests at the reception, said the unique gesture of donating shagun money to the non-government organisation (NGO) committed to the welfare of the special children would send a right signal to society to come forward for noble ventures. Umeed is a joint venture of the Government Institute of Mentally Retarded Children (GIMRC), Chandigarh, and parents of the special children. It runs a chain of food outlets across Chandigarh in which special children are employed after vocational training. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 15 The decision to change the pass criteria of the Class X by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has evoked a mixed response form citys academics. The CBSE on Thursday stated that the pass criteria would remain unaffected and stand relaxed for the next academic session too. Earlier, the board had relaxed the passing criteria as one time measure for students appearing for the Class X boards as CCE was revoked after 10 years. As per the existing pass criteria, students will have to attain 33 per cent overall to pass, instead of 33 per cent separately in external and internal assessment. President of Association of SSA RMSA Teachers of India Arvind Rana said, Now, it has been proved beyond any doubt that the CBSE has become a defunct body as it cannot take a wise decision. The HRD Ministers claim of improving the levels of education has fallen flat. Taking a U-turn on its earlier stand the CBSE says Class X students have to score 33% marks collectively in both internal assessment and board paper. Teachers are happy as 20 marks rest with school. Now, students will have to score only 13 marks to pass in the examination. Teachers will be spared as result can be improved with little efforts, he added. President of Chandigarh Parents Association Nitin Goyal said, It is a welcome step as students will not be burdened. The central government has warned of continued safety risks in the area where Sichuan province and the Tibet autonomous region meet in Southwest China after a landslide on Thursday blocked part of the Jinsha River. The Ministry of Emergency Management said on Saturday that the possibility of another landslide had grown after a 300-meter-long crack appeared on the surface of the mountain where the first landslide occurred, increasing the risk of further river blockages. Villagers living in the area should be evacuated while disaster relief workers are needed on-site immediately, the ministry said. It also called for strengthened monitoring and response plans. The ministry dispatched relief resources including 7,000 tents, 30,000 cotton-padded coats, 50,000 quilts and 5,000 folding beds on Saturday to help residents. Regional meteorological authorities have issued alerts for rain and snow and also warned of icy roads. The Jinsha River, in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, was blocked by Thursday's landslide, creating a barrier lake in Chamdo, Tibet. The ministry said earlier that water from upstream had burst through the blockade, causing the water level in the barrier lake to drop significantly, signaling an easing of risks for lower reaches. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said that, as of 8 pm Saturday, the water flow at monitoring stations 60 kilometers and 190 km downstream from the barrier lake was 2,270 cubic meters per second and 7,060 cu m/s respectively. Floodwaters discharged from the barrier lake on the Jinsha reached a peak in the area where Yunnan province, Sichuan and Tibet converge. Some 6,617 people had been evacuated as of 2 pm Saturday. Yu Yonghong, director of water resources for the Diqing Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Yunnan, said the local authorities were stepping up evacuation efforts in low-lying areas along the Yangtze and strengthening monitoring of the water flow. The evacuation of another 8,455 people was in progress, Yu said. The Yunnan flood control authorities requested that local governments, including in Diqing, Lijiang, Dali and Kunming, take all measures to assist residents in threatened areas and have sent two working groups to Diqing and Lijiang to lead the efforts. editorial@tribune.com Bhartesh Singh Thakur Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 15 Panjab University has started profiling Kashmiri students. The move comes after three youths were caught with an AK-47 rifle and pistols in Jalandhar on October 10. An email from the Dean of University Instructions, Prof Shankarji Jha, to all departments, dated October 11, states, You are requested to provide information on Kashmiri students admitted to your department/centre/institute to the office of the undersigned latest by October 11 till 4 pm positively in the given format (hard copy) or through e-mail (dui@pu.ac.in). The PU has asked for name of the student, fathers name, class, address and contact number. Before this, such details have never been sought from any department. The email further states, This may be treated as most urgent/time bound. It is, however, not clear whether Kashmiri students refers to those belonging to the Kashmir Valley alone or even those hailing from Jammu and Ladakh. Most of the departments have sent the details. We have got the details of 50 students. Some departments are yet to respond, said the DUI, Prof Shankarji Jha. He said he had been asked to send such a circular, but did not know the purpose behind seeking such details. On October 10, three Kashmiri students were arrested from the CT Institute of Engineering Management and Technology, Jalandhar, for allegedly being members of militant outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH). A search yielded weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle, three Italy-made pistols and explosives. The police had said that one of the arrested students was a cousin of AGH chief Zakir Musa, aka Zakir Rashid Bhat. Musa was studying engineering in Mohali and had joined the Hizb unit in Tral in 2013, when he had gone home on a vacation. On October 11, three Aligarh Muslim University students were also suspended for allegedly trying to hold funeral prayers for militant Manan Bashir Wani, who died in an encounter in the Handwara area in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. No official comment came from the PU when asked for. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Raj Kumar, said he was not aware of any such letter and asked this correspondent to contact his Secretary. His Secretary, Dr Muneeshwar Joshi, couldnt be contacted as his phone was switched off. Wrong to profile them It is wrong on the part of the PU to profile Kashmiri students. And if the information is being shared with intelligence agencies, that is also wrong, said Daler Singh, vice-president, PUCSC. Just like Aligarh Muslim University, the PU has also been threatening Kashmiri students on the campus. They will be put under surveillance, said Kanupriya, president, Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC). We are being harassed It is happening everywhere now. We are kept under surveillance. Tabs are being kept on us to know whom we meet; our phones are also tapped. We are being harassed, said Faheem Ud Din Dar, who hails from Baramulla in Kashmir and has completed his masters in philosophy from the PU this year. Maj-Gen Ashok K Mehta (retd) Maj-Gen Ashok K Mehta (retd) Indias first Trump test is in the catch-22 situation it is facing over CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) in somewhat defiantly signing the contract for the purchase of S400 air defence system and also saying it would continue to buy oil beyond the red line of November 5 from Iran. Worse, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman showed little restraint in stating 'we do not care for American law' and 'we follow only the UN, not any country's sanctions' and clearly misread the US' noncommittal stance on a presidential waiver over CAATSA. The latest US reaction was ominous from President Trump that 'India would find out sooner than you think' about his decision whether to impose sanctions on a $5.4 bn S400 deal with Russia and 'would take care of' India's reported plans to continue purchasing Iranian crude after November 5. Other reactions from the White House include terming the deal 'not helpful' and reviewing 'it very carefully'. Misplaced confidence and euphoria in India over likely waivers was matched by caution from the US. Key US interlocutors US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and pointsperson on South Asia and Central Asia Alice Wells even after the twice postponed 2+2 talks (the waiver issue was skirted) on waivers merely said, 'We will work with Indians. Iran oil has to come to zero oil. But we will do what makes sense for both countries.' The State Department has despatched its Special Representatives on Iran Brian Hook and Francis Fannon for consultation with their Indian counterparts. From Day 1, it was clear that the US would be more lenient on Iran than on Russia as a waiver on the former was in its national interest relating to Afghanistan and, therefore, a carve-out could be forthcoming. Russia was a different kettle of fish. NSA Ajit Doval returned from the US after meeting major players in the State Department, DoD and the US Congress without any assurances. A cool-down in India-US relations commenced with the Wuhan and Sochi summits between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping and Modi and President Putin, respectively. The covers came off after Modi's maiden speech at the Shangrila Dialogue where the Indo-Pacific Grand Idea was reduced by Modi to a strategy of common good with its centrality on ASEAN. It was not any military alliance (QUAD) to contain any one country (China). This mirrored what happened in 2015 after the Modi-Obama summit of an Asia-Pacific vision which never took off. Clearly, India will not be a part of a US-led compact to contain China. India has purchased $16 bn worth of military equipment from the US through the FMS (foreign military sales) route when till 2004 it was a paltry $80 m for artillery-scouting radars. In 2004, when India signed the contract for the Hawk trainer aircraft, a clause was inserted in the deal that there will be no American parts in it since it had experienced spare parts problems with British Sea King helicopters and other equipment while under US sanctions after the 1998 nuclear tests. Drawing closer to the US has inevitably distanced India from its quintessential strategic partner Russia, which, in turn, has moved closer to China and Pakistan, epitomising the dictum that there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests. India-Soviet/Russia relations go back to after the 1962 India-China war. In 1971, only three weeks after the momentous change in Sino-Soviet relations, anticipating armed conflict with Pakistan, India signed the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation whose Soviet draft had been languishing in New Delhi for two years on August 9, 1971. Paradoxically, the USSR endorsed India's non-aligned status in the treaty on Indira Gandhi's insistence. Even after being strategically aligned with the USSR, India displayed a fair measure of strategic autonomy, but its dependence on Soviet military equipment was almost total. Today, Russia remains India's key provider of advanced military and strategic technology and is the only country to have leased two nuclear-powered submarines. Nearly 70 per cent of India's military inventory is still of Soviet/Russian origin. Last week, Russian Ambassador to India Nikolav Kudashev described the S400 deal as the largest contract in Indo-Russia ties. He added that more contracts worth $8 billion were in the pipeline. For Trump, this is adding fuel to fire. Not only does it violate CAATSA as a 'significant military purchase', it also invokes the ire of the Congress and Trump together. The Indian-born Ashley Tellis, a renowned strategic thinker at the Carnegie Endowment and once adviser to US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill during the crucial Operation Parakram, has been sending warning signals to New Delhi on CAATSA and how to circumvent it. He has said the final word on the waiver is with Trump alone and no one else. And no one knows his mind. He had suggested three options: first, scuttle the S400 and buy a US air defence system (this is out); second, defer payment of $ 5.4bn (15 per cent at the time of signing the contract) till conditions change; third, make a deal with Trump which is a Defence Secretary Mattis idea: buy more US military equipment. Unfortunately, given Modi's focus on the 2019 elections, and funds needed for social welfare schemes, monies for option three will not be there. BJP's Gen BC Khanduri (retd) was axed from the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence for declaring the Army unfit for war due to the lowest defence budgets since 1962 this year. Still, the best way out of CAATSA is to do a Rafale with Trump. In the new RFI (request for information) for 114 MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft), award the contract to Lockheed Martin for its F16 Block 70 to be made in India for which its strategic local partner is the Tata group. This may also be open sesame for other high-technology transfers (none so far) and a perfect sweetener for the invitation to Donald and Melania to grace the 73rd Republic Day celebrations. Manoj Joshi Manoj Joshi Distinguished fellow, observer research foundation, New Delhi IN 2015, Harvard scholar Graham Allison penned an article in the Atlantic monthly. Its theme, later developed into a book published in 2017, was that the US and China could be at war at some point in the near future. This, he said, was because of the Thucydides trap, an idea developed from a 431 BC observation of the eponymous Greek writer, apropos Athens and Sparta, that a rising power will inevitably clash with the established one. In the article, Allison said in 12 of 16 cases he had studied in the past 500 years, such a clash occurred, mostly to the detriment to both the challenger and the challenged. Coming in the years when China, with an assertive new leader Xi Jinping began to consolidate its presence in the South China Sea, built a modern navy that began forays into the Indian Ocean and laid plans to establish new global maritime and land links, the idea took root. Despite the US push back through its Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) in the South China Sea and its so-called pivot to Asia, most people discounted the notion of war between two nuclear armed adversaries whose economies were deeply enmeshed in each other. Indeed, shortly after Allisons article appeared, Xi Jinping went out of his way to actually mention the concept even while rejecting it. There is no such thing as the so-called Thucydides trap in the world he declared at a public meeting in Seattle, though he did warn against strategic miscalculation that could lead to conflict. So, what are we to make of what sounds like the steady drumbeat towards war, with perhaps a Cold one to start with, but with always the danger of degenerating into a hot one. Three decisions alone last week are a pointer to the rapidly deteriorating China-US relations. The first was the arrest and extradition from Belgium of a senior Chinese intelligence officer Yanjun Xu for economic espionage. He was charged with stealing trade secrets of a number of US aviation companies, including GE. Xu is said to be deputy division director with Chinas Ministry of State Security, responsible for recruiting assets in the US aviation sector for industrial espionage. The second was the US treasury departments announcement of new rules tightening national security reviews of foreign investment. The new rules are part of the overhaul of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) and the US export control system as such that were legislated in July. The new regulations bring in a much larger number of transactions into the purview of the CFIUS. The US will now require foreign investors to inform the committee of all deals relating to critical technology in 27 industries ranging from semiconductors, telecom and defence. The third measure was the tightening of controls on nuclear technology exports to China. Though US officials say that the Chinese are seeking to enhance their military capacity through illegally acquiring nuclear technology, the real target are the civil nuclear exports of China which, the Americans say, involve the illegal diversion of American technology. In January 2017, an American of Chinese origin, Szuhsiung Ho, was sentenced to two years prison for helping the state-backed China General Nuclear Power Company to develop special nuclear materials based on his activities in the US. According to SIPRI, the US was the biggest spender on defence in 2017 with $610 billion, while China was number two at $228 billion. All these developments are taking place after a slew of other moves such as the imposition of tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports to the US, Vice-President Mike Pences blistering attack on China earlier this month, the imposition of sanctions on China under CAATSA for purchasing Russian Su-35 fighters and S-400 missiles, the cancellation of US-China military dialogue and a dangerous encounter between an American and a Chinese warship in the South China Sea. The jury is still out on another, potentially more serious developmentthe charge that Chinese spies have infiltrated the networks of several US companies by installing very small chips in the server boards manufactured in China that are used in the systems of these companies. If the US confirms this, it could lead to a major effort to remove China from the global supply chains. Having worked out trade deals with its neighbours Canada and Mexico as well as South Korea, and begun negotiations with the Japanese, it remains to be seen whether the US goes for a deal with China or presses on with its new confrontational approach. So far China has not revealed its counter moves. It does not import enough from the US to match the tariffs. But it can take other measures ranging from restricting tourism, a $33 billion per annum business for the US, it could devalue the yuan, sell or stop buying the US treasury bills it holds, thus raising US borrowing costs, and finally, make it difficult for US businesses to function in China. Xi and Trump are scheduled to meet on the margins of the G-20 summit in November. What Trump will do is not clear. His team is divided among those like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow supporting a deal and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his National Security Adviser John Bolton opposing it. But the clock is ticking, from January onwards, tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports will go up from the current 10 per cent to 25 per cent. But perhaps too much water has flowed under the bridge to allow for a straightforward trade deal. It may reduce some of the tensions, but the events of the past year have revealed faultlines that cannot be easily papered over. The perception of China has fundamentally shifted in the US, and this cannot be reversed. China is now viewed as a peer competitor, one that does not, and will not, play fair. And so, we still have no answer whether the Thucydides trap is in play, or not. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Ahmedabad, October 15 An expat scientist from Gujarat has tweeted that he and his friends were denied entry into a "garba" dance event in Atlanta in the US after organisers allegedly said that their last names and look weren't "Hindu". Karan Jani (29), hailing from Vadodara, is an astrophysicist in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), a large-scale physics experiment and observatory operated by Caltech and MIT to detect cosmic gravitational waves. "Year 2018 and Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because: 'You dont look Hindu and last name in your IDs dont sound Hindu,'" Jani alleged in a tweet on October 12 after the incident. He and his friends were denied entry on the ground that they were "Ismaili, Vohra and Sindhis", Jani said. Meanwhile, his father Pankaj Jani, who lives in Vadodara, told mediapersons that Karan spoke to him after the incident and sounded nervous. "Volunteers stopped him and told him he does not look like a Hindu and even his surname does not appear to be that of a Hindu. They checked his ID which had the national emblem on it. Despite that, he was asked to leave. Later he talked to me over phone and sounded nervous," Jani said. "He has been going there since years for the event," the victim's father further said. In his tweet, Karan Jani narrated a conversation between one of the organisers and his friend. He said:"My Konkani friend who came to Garba for 1st time due to enthusiasm of us Gujaratis was pulled out of line and was told: 'We dont come to your events, you are not allowed to ours' She: 'My last name is Murdeshwar. Im Kannada-Marathi!' Him: 'What is Kannada? You are Ismaili'." "My other friends last name had 'Dangarwala'. We spoke in Gujarati to them. They still said we were 'Vohra, Sindhis'. They actually kept stating other religions!! They ganged up and told us to leave. While we saw other non-Indians being entered (which they of course should!)," he further tweeted. I was told by that organizer, a senior person, things in Gujarati which are so crude & demeaning that it cant be shared on public forum. Just to ensure we dont dare to enter the temple again. Such fuss just for Garba in Navratri - With friends - to celebrate Indian culture Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018 Our IDs had Indian Emblem. Yes emblem with Satyamev Jayate right? Apparently, it didnt have our religion. Our caste. It was embarrassing. I had tears in my eyes saying them: I come here to play Garba for last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of last name Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018 "Our IDs had Indian Emblem. Yes emblem with 'Satyamev Jayate' right? Apparently, it didnt have our religion. Our caste. It was embarrassing. I had tears in my eyes saying them: I come here to play Garba for last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of last name'," Jani mentioned on the microblogging site. Jani said that he had been attending the event at the venue for the last six years "to celebrate Indian culture" and the incident had left him "shocked and embarrassed. PTI sanjiv@tribunemail.com THE Armys general court martial (GCM) proceedings into the killing of civilians in Assam in 1994 seem to have gathered extra attention because of the senior ranks of the indicted officers. The life imprisonment awarded to a Major General and two Colonels for the fake encounter of three youths during the heydays of the ULFA militancy will also help dispel the impression that the present dispensation was allowing the Army extra leeway as exhibited in the Major Leetul Gogoi incident where a Kashmiri man was tied to the bonnet of a jeep as a human shield. But GCMs of soldiers stepping out of line are not out of ordinary for an Army embroiled in anti-insurgency operations shortly after Independence. The procedure is clear-cut when it comes to operations in aid to civil power a magistrate present on the spot gives written orders to open fire at a crowd, which has been rare. Problems arise when the Army is quartered for an extended period during counterinsurgency operations and has to operate under the discipline of AFSPA, a modification of the Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance used to suppress the Quit India Movement. The message that the Army will not tolerate any bad eggs will have ripple effects right across to Kashmir. Immunity from scrutiny, it is felt, contributes to the endless cycle of violence and unrest in troubled areas by permitting individual officers and soldiers to act with impunity. It also helps negate criticism that AFSPA is a structure meant to obstruct the normal course of law and impede accountability. Military justice does have its dark spots Pathribal and Kunan Poshpora, to name two. But the justice served in the Assam and Macchil fake encounters will help send the message that there will be no free pass for human rights violations and also that the Indian state is capable of providing avenues of justice to the victims. sanjiv@tribunemail.com STUBBLE burning in India, particularly, Punjab and Haryana, is a problem mainly because it makes high-profile residents of the National Capital Region wheeze. Otherwise, about 93 million tonne of crop residue is burnt in 28 states, but only two states are held culprits because of one reason the wind direction. According to the National Policy for Management of Crop Residues, the burning of stubble is predominant in four states UP, Punjab, Haryana and West Bengal. In fact, UP is the largest producer of crop residue and the biggest culprit of stubble burning. It, however, escapes media attention thanks to the wind direction that guides it away from Delhi to its hinterlands where public concern over breathability takes a back seat amidst other existential problems. Anyway, Delhi must be credited for keeping alive the issue of damage to the environment every winter. Any knee-jerk reaction to resolve this issue is bound to fail unless policy makers understand the constraints that force farmers to burn stubble on the field. They have a very small window of about a fortnight to clean the paddy field for sowing the next crop. The on-farm burning of stubble is an outcome of a vicious chain shortage of human labour encourages mechanised harvesting, the prime reason for the stubble. The high cost of residue disposal prompts farmers to the most economical option, a matchstick. The other option of making stubble a paying proposition by finding uses for it needs to be explored on a war-footing. The Centre has done what it is good at. It allocated a paltry sum of Rs 1,152 crore last year to Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi to tackle this menace for 2018-20. But, ground reality remained the same. Farmers are not interested in purchasing subsidised implements to clean stubble post harvest, because after few days of use, these machines would become junk. Instead, the government should have created pools of machines at the village level for community use. It should also consider procuring stubble from farmers for industrial use and incentivise farmers instead of resorting to futile penalties. editorial@tribune.com Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 15 Almost two months after The Tribune reported that ICICI Lombard, an insurance company, has rejected claims of farmers of Sirsa and Bhiwani districts, the company on Monday approved the first instalment of farmers claims of Rs 229 crore. Dushmanta Kumar Bahera, Director, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, told The Tribune on Monday that ICICI Lombard had informed the government that they have on Monday released the first instalment of the claims of 35,021 cotton farmers from Sirsa, amounting to Rs 229 crore. Bahera said that of this, the claims of Rs 32.48 crore were of 5,059 farmers of Baragura block of Sirsa, Rs 54.29 crore of 8,070 farmers of Dabwali block, Rs 24.15 crore of 2,853 farmers of Ellenabad block, Rs 36.19 crore of 7,413 farmers of Nathusari Chopta block, Rs 18.94 crore of 3,224 farmers of Odhan block, Rs 34.17 crore of 4,348 farmers of Rania block and Rs 29.6 crore of 4,054 farmers of Sirsa block. He said the company has informed the government that the amount would soon be transferred to the bank accounts of the farmers. On August 14, The Tribune had reported that ICICI Lombard had rejected claims of cotton crop of Sirsa and Bhiwani districts and challenged the outcome of crop-cutting experiments (CCEs) carried out by the department. The results of the CCEs, which calculate the yield of crop, form the basis of insurance claims. The insurance company had also contested the methodology in CCEs and quoted satellite evidence to prove its point. The department had alleged that the matter was never raised when it settled the claims in five other districts where the amount of losses was lower. Our department took up the matter with Centre and the matter went to the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) constituted under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. We pleaded the case of farmers with facts and finally, on September 23, the TAC directed ICICI Lombard to finalise the claims in three days and transfer the money in farmers accounts in three days, Bahera added. editorial@tribune.com Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 15 Stubble burning in the state, if allowed, will surely have a choking effect on Delhi residents in the days to come even while most paddy producing districts are too far from the national capital. Haryana has denied any contribution to the deterioration of air quality in the national capital. But with air quality of Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad and Greater Noida already described as poor by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) with index value of 246, 297, 271 and 252, respectively, on October 15, any further smoke from the states fields will definitely turn the air to very poor and even severe. As per figures of the state Agriculture Department, of the 12.87 lakh hectare (lh) paddy area in Haryana, Karnal has the maximum 1.72 lh followed by Kaithal 1.62 lh, Jind 1.3 lh, Kurukshetra 1.15 lh, Fatehabad 99,400 hectares (h), Ambala 81,000 h, Sirsa 72,200 h, Yamunanagar 70,300 h, Hisar 59,810 h, Bhiwani 22,450 h and Panchkula 8,230 h. All these districts are located at a distance from 100 to 250 km from Delhi and count for more than 10 lh of the total paddy produced in the state. On the other hand, Sonepat 94,500 h, Panipat 73,500 h, Jhajjar 39,000 h, Palwal 19,700 h, Faridabad 7,000 h, Gurugram 5,150 h, Mewat 4,600 h and Rewari 1,300 h the districts that are located at less than 100 km from the national capital count for less than 2.5 lakh MT of the total paddy. Dr Mahabir Jaglan, professor of geography in Kurukshetra University, said that as the monsoon withdraws from northwest India, a north-westerly and westerly flow replaces the easterly stream of summer. This drives smoke eastwards towards NCR. Further, low altitude (Delhi is 216m from the sea level, Gurugram 217, Faridabad 198 and Greater Noida 202m) also contributes towards making the NCR a gas chamber as the winters set in October every year. Jaglan maintained that the increase in pollution in Delhi and NCR is primarily linked to temperature inversion during the onset of winter. Explaining temperature inversion, Jaglan said that normally, the temperature of air is high along the surface and it decreases at the rate of 6.5C per km going upward. October onwards, night temperature fall faster than day temperature and slowly, a pool of cool air develops along the surface. That means air temperature along the surface goes below the temperature of the air above and inversion of temperature sets in. This prevents the mixing up of lower air pollutants with the upper layers of air. Maintaining that paddy stubble burning alone is not the reason for the air problems of Delhi and NCR, Jaglan said that stopping stubble burning could definitely save the situation from worsening. There is already a huge amount of pollutants released into the air by industry, vehicles, construction works and mining in NCR. The concentration of these pollutants becomes very high due to temperature inversion in October-November. This is further aggravated by stubble burning and fireworks around Diwali, Jaglan added. editorial@tribune.com Sumayyah Qureshi Tribune News Service Karcham, October 14 Despite demand for electricity in the country growing, there is a dearth of private players in the sector. While the total hydropower generation capacity of the country is about 45 GW, the private sector generates a mere 3.2 GW, of which 1.3 GW is generated by the Karcham Wangtoo and Baspa hydroelectric projects. The 1,000-MW Karcham Wangtoo hydroelectric project, the biggest private facility in the country, is based on the Sutlej in Himachal Pradeshs Kinnaur district. A run-of-the-river project of JSW Energy, it was commissioned in 2011. During an interaction with mediapersons in Kinnaur recently, Sharad Mahendra, Chief Operating Officer, JSW Energy, said 12 per cent of the power generated from the project is given to Himachal as royalty and the rest is sold to Haryana, UP, Punjab and Rajasthan. Mahendra said: The private sector participation (in the hydropower sector) is limited as compared to the thermal energy sector. JSW Energy forayed into the hydropower sector with the acquisition of Himachal Baspa Power Company Ltd plants at Karcham and Baspa in 2015 (FY16) from Jaiprakash Power Ventures. The project catchment area is 48,755 sq km (79.5% snow area) and the height of the dam is 88 metre. The Karcham Wangtoo hydel project has witnessed a dip in power production as compared to last year. This could be attributed to the water flow and the amount of snowfall received. Mahendra said this year the electricity generation was lower. The amount of snow received in a particular year affected power generation in the next year. On expansion plans, he said: There are no plans for expansion in Himachal, but we are evaluating various opportunities. The hydropower sector is going through stress. Mahendra said work would soon be started again on the 240-MW Kuther hydel project in Chamba district. He said the hydro policy of the state and the Centre made the project viable. The banking sector is not looking towards the power sector in a positive way in terms of lending. Without power purchase agreements (PPAs), we would like to wait with uncertainty. Without PPAs, it is not easy to get loans. We are waiting for PPAs and we are hopeful, he said. The JSW COO said Himachal was the first state to come up with hydro policy changes. Environment-friendly, says Mahendra rajivbhatia82@gmail.com Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 15 Ahead of last phase of municipal elections in Kashmir, two CRPF jawans were injured in a militant attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Monday evening. Militants opened fire at a sentry post of CRPF's 183 battalion at Newa Pulwama at around 10 pm. CRFF returned the fire, a senior security officer said. The exchange of fire continued for some time in which two of our jawans received bullet injuries. The injured jawans were shifted to district hospital for treatment. Forces have cordoned the area to nab the attackers. The attack was carried hours ahead of the last phase of municipal polls. Polling is being held only for two municipalities - Ganderbal and parts of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) - in the fourth phase of municipal elections in Kashmir on Tuesday. Authorities have made all the necessary arrangements for the polls. Ends Baihe, a poverty-stricken county of no more than 220,000 people in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, has sent over 1,800 students to the country's top Chinese universities since 2000, offering the local region a solution to getting out of poverty. "The science student who scored the highest in this year's national college entrance exam in the city of Ankang was from my class. He was admitted by Tsinghua University," said Xie Peicheng with pride, a teacher at Baihe Senior High School. Seventy percent of the students in his class are from rural households, and many of the students come from poor families. "A decade ago, few students could pass the college entrance exam. But now, more students are being accepted by top universities," said Xie. Baihe County lies in the deep mountains of Shaanxi Province, where there are rocky roads and areas of infertile soil. "To send a student from here to college is to help his or her family out of poverty," said Zeng Yougen, one of Xie's students. Zeng is also a graduate from a top three Chinese university and now the manager of a large company in the city of Hangzhou, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang Province. "Mountainous Baihe lacks flat terrain, but the local government has offered the largest area of land to build our high school," said Niu Yubin, the principal of Baihe Senior High School. "The school was completed within three years with a total investment of 400 million yuan (about 58 million U.S. dollars). Its modern facilities are even better than those in high schools in many large cities." The local government of Baihe has always made education a top priority. From 2011 to 2015, spending on education reached 128.2 million yuan, nearly two times that of its fiscal revenue. Five middle schools and high schools in the county have also been relocated to better places, 27 primary schools extended or rebuilt, and 11 kindergartens built from scratch. Since then, Baihe has become a leading high school in the Ankang area, contributing the largest number of students to second-tier universities for 17 consecutive years. Thanks to the good education they have received, more young people from the county have been seeking better lives in big cities while older generations have been returning, hoping to make a difference in their hometown. Huang Zhigui, a 50-year-old miner-turned coal mine owner, was one of the villagers that returned after working in central China's Henan Province for 30 years. "I would drink a big bowl of wine to give myself encouragement before I went below," Huang recalled the days as a miner. He however deems it worthy work as he has donated most of his savings from the job to the renovation of a primary school back home. "I have tasted the hardships of a drop-out, and our children deserve a better education," Huang said. In 2009, Huang, already a millionaire, returned with an ambition to help his hometown out of poverty. He invested his savings of over 20 million yuan into a tea factory and 200 hectares of land. Last year, his tea business began to profit. Thanks to selling six tonnes of tea, Huang received net earnings of over 400,000 yuan. "Investment in agriculture is a long-term business, and I feel encouraged that it will become a stable business for generations to come," Huang said. Li Changhua, 64, like 271 other households, could hardly make ends meet before she began working for Huang's tea factory. But now, the job has become a stable and major source of income. Migrant workers account for up to 60 percent of the population in Baihe, which holds back its economic growth. "We will continue our efforts in education and provide one-stop services for businesspeople to attract investment and help increase employment," said Chen Jun, Baihe's Party chief. rchopra@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 15 Two weapons were snatched by suspected militants from the guards deployed at the residence of a retired police officer in Budgam district on Sunday evening. Police said two carbines were snatched away by militants from the house of retired SSP Sheikh Ghulam Mohammad at Gopalpora Kralpora area of Chadoora. The gunmen overpowered the guards and decamped with two carbines, a police officer said. Security forces have cordoned the area to look for the militants. Police have started investigation. editorial@tribune.com Kuldip Bhatia Ludhiana, October 14 Taking strong exception to Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhus assertions at a literary fest in Kasauli, Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal (SAD-B) has upped the ante against him and asked Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to throw him out of his Cabinet for making such preposterous statements compromising the very spirit of India. With regard to his controversial trip to Pakistan (to attend the oath ceremony of new prime minister Imran Khan), Sidhu has said that his visit to the neighbouring country was an excellent experience as the two nations had one language, one food-culture and one-people in contrast to the South India where different languages were spoken and one had to learn Tamil/Telugu to interact with people, besides eat different kind of food. In fact, what Sidhu indirectly meant was that visit to a distant part of his own country is a nightmare while Pakistan is like ones dreamland, said SAD-B senior vice-president Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal. Lambasting Sidhu for denigrating the diversity of India, its different regions, different style of dresses, music, food culture, languages and dialects, the SAD-B spokesperson said the minister must be made to pay and penalised for insulting the nation. Grewal said Sidhu had become a self-styled spokesman and ambassador of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan. He had been praising him and Pakistan to skies the day-in and day-out while forgetting that the unity in diversity was the USP of India where people spoke different languages, lived in diverse cultures, different regions and climates while sharing the feeling of one nation and one people, he added. The SAD-B leader asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to clarify whether it was his partys policy to decry the cultural diversity ranging from Himalayas down to Kanyakumari and cherish one-language and one-food culture. If not, then Rahul should reign in such loose cannons in his party, he added. Besides, Grewal also urged Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to question near idiosyncrasies of demagogue Sidhu and throw him out of his Cabinet to show that he was a real patriotic soldier, who tolerated no non-sense. Lt Gen Baljit Singh (Retd) Lt Gen Baljit Singh (Retd) There was an unparalleled, high decibel and uproarious debate in the otherwise sedate atmosphere of the Lok Sabha in the 50s, demanding nothing short of an unqualified apology from the Chief of Army Staff. When all efforts of Prime Minister Nehru failed to assuage aroused sentiments, General KS Thimmaya, DSO, was summoned and the punch line of the Chiefs extempore statement, as I recall was: If the Indian Army cannot defend the honour and dignity of its wives, how can it be expected to defend the sovereignty of Indias borders! There was deafening silence, followed by thunderous applause and the Speaker announced a short recess to regain composure. The casus belli for the Lok Sabha intervention lay in the unsavoury attempted sexual abuse of an Army officers wife inside a cinema theatre in the heart of Amritsar city. In the normal peacetime location of Army units, there was a Gorkha battalion in the barracks. One evening the wife of the Commanding Officer accompanied by their friend, the second-in-command, had gone to see a movie. At some stage, the lady excused herself to go to the washroom, but when she did not return for quite some time, the officer became uncomfortable and walked to the washroom. As it was Ladies exclusive facility, he hesitated to venture inside, but when he heard loud knocks on a door inside, he found three sturdy men attempting to force open the door to a toilet cabin. He made a wise and quick exit and positioned his driver and two other jawans to mount guard outside the washroom door. The Gorkhas instinctively unsheathed their dreaded khukris and dared anyone to enter or exit the washroom. Meanwhile, the officer called the battalion from the cinema telephone and summoned about a hundred soldiers immediately to the cinema parking lot. Within 45 minutes, the soldiers arrived, sealed the exit doors of the hall, the movie was interrupted, the audience was told to remain seated and the Commanding Officers wife rescued. The three culprits were caught red-handed and the soldiers wrath knew no bounds. They were thrashed mercilessly and one received a fracture. The ring leader of the trio turned out to be the elder son of Punjabs tallest Chief Minister, a man of great probity both in politics and in life. I am not sure whether he personally went to Amritsar to apologise to the victim but apologise he did. Yes, #MeToo needs Indias ghabroos to stand up and be counted to defend the honour and dignity of not only our women, but also of others visiting our country. Please sign up, now. gspannu7@gmail.com Datia (MP), October 15 Repeating his suit-boot jibe at Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged there is no place for the poor in the prime ministers heart, adding, If you are not in suit-boot you are not PMs bhai. Gandhi also accused Modi of remaining silent when Dalits, women, minorities, tribals and the poor are attacked in the country and alleged that he and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were trying to save a rape accused BJP MLA in the northern state. On a campaign trail in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the Congress president again took on Modi over the controversial Rafale jet deal and alleged he had close proximity with businessmen like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Anil Ambani. He also said that loans of farmers will be waived in 10 days if the Congress comes to power in the state. Gandhi earlier began his two-day tour of the state by offering prayers at the famous Maa Peetambara Peeth temple complex in Datia in Gwalior division. Taking a swipe at BJPs assurance on womens safety, Gandhi, without naming anyone, said there is a need to save our daughters from BJP MLAs. Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP MLA from UP, is accused of raping a minor girl in Unnao district. Noting that the prime minister had said before the 2014 polls he wanted to be a chowkidar (guard), Gandhi alleged only 15-20 industrialists of the country benefitted under his government, instead of farmers. Prime Minister addresses Mehul Choksi as Mehul bhai (brother), Nirav Modi as Nirav bhai and Anil Ambani as Anil bhai but he never addresses a labourer, a poor and a farmer as bhai or hugs them. There is no place for them in his heart. If you are not in suit-boot you are not PMs bhai, Gandhi said addressing a public gathering in Datia. The prime minister let jeweller Nirav Modi escape with Rs 35,000 crore, which is equal to the entire budget of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Gandhi further charged. He was referring to the PNB banking fraud allegedly involving Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others. Taking a dig at the ruling party over the issue of womens safety, Gandhi said, The BJP gave a good slogan Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (save and educate daughters). But in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were trying to save a rape accused BJP MLA. The PM didnt speak a word, he alleged. There is a need now to save our daughters from BJP MLAs. On the multi-billion dollar Rafale jet deal with France, Gandhi alleged that Modi ensured the offset contract for Anil Ambani, who owes Rs 45,000 crore to public sector banks. The prime minister does not have the courage to reply why the offset contract for the French aircraft was snatched from the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and instead, given to Ambanis firm, he said. The prime minister could not look me in the eye (during debate in Parliament). The PM gives speeches but no answers...he doesnt have the courage to reply as to why the contract was snatched from HAL and given to Anil Ambani. The Modi government has denied allegations of irregularities in Rafale deal and Ambani, too, has dismissed the Congresss allegations that he got any undue benefit. Gandhi accused Modi of insulting every Indian by mocking the governance of other parties during 70 years, before the BJP-led NDA came to power. From the Red Fort, Modi (during his Independence Day speech) said the country was sleeping before he took over as countrys prime minister. This is not an insult to Congress leaders. This is insult to the countrys people. This is an insult to farmers, labourers, youths, small traders and people who toiled hard to build this country. This is an insult to your mother and father, he added. PTI rohitb@tribuneindia.com Smita Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 15 Union minister M J Akbar on Monday filed a private criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani who recently levelled charges of sexual misconduct against him as the #MeToo campaign raged in India. The Minister of State for External Affairs has accused Ramani of "wilfully, deliberately, intentionally and maliciously" defaming him and has sought her prosecution under the penal provision on defamation. "The complainant (Akbar) also had a long career in journalism, he launched India's first weekly political news magazine...," the complaint said and listed out defamatory imputations made by Ramani on social media against him. Whilst it is apparent that the accused has resorted to a series of maliciously serious allegations which she is diabolically and viciously spreading in media, it is also apparent that false narrative against the complainant (Akbar) is being circulated in a motivated manner for the fulfilment of an agenda, the complaint said. It termed as "scandalous" the allegations made by Ramani against Akbar and said "very tone and tenor" are ex-facie defamatory and they have not only damaged his goodwill and reputation in his social circle but also affected Akbar's reputation in the community and friends, family and colleagues and caused irreparable loss and tremendous distress. The complaint, filed through advocate Sandeep Kapur, seeks issuance of notice to Ramani under Section 499 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 500 of the IPC provides that an accused may be awarded two years jail term or fine or both in the event of conviction. Akbar had refused to step aside from his ministerial post and attended a meeting on Monday with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj . The minister was flanked by her junior colleagues Akbar and Gen VK Singh at a meeting in Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan to discuss the upcoming Pravasi Bharatiya Divas preparation. Akbar in his media statement on Sunday after returning from an overseas official visit brazened our sexual harassment allegations levelled by more than a dozen women journalists so far. Earlier last week when asked The Tribune if as Akbars immediate boss and a woman senior minister in cabinet would seek some probe into allegations, Swaraj had refused to respond and simply walked away. On Sunday, hours after returning from an official visit to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea without cutting short the trip, a defiant Akbar brazened out allegations of sexual harassment against himself in a statement to media in his 9 Teenmurti Lane bungalow. "The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice. I could not reply earlier as I was on an official tour abroad," said Akbar as he lashed out at the #MeToo campaign. "Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections," he added threatening to take appropriate legal action against those who have levelled 'wild and baseless allegations' against him. Last Sunday, journalist Priya Ramani first named Akbar in a tweet and identified him as the anonymous male editor she wrote about in an article last year and narrated her harrowing experience with him as a subordinate. "When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: "Never named him because he didn't 'do' anything. "If I didn't do anything, where and what is the story? There is no story. This was admitted at the very inception. But a sea of innuendo, speculation and abusive diatribe has been built around something that never happened," responded Akbar in his statement today to Ramani's tweet. A prominent journalist, Akbar had been Editor for leading papers, including Asian Age, India Today and Telegraph. Since Ramani, the junior minister has been named and shamed publicly by some dozen women journalists, including two 18-year-old. 'Disingenuous' Ramanis statement issued on Monday in response to Akbars denial said it was disingenuous to ask why the woman had spoken out now, especially given the stigma and the shame that victims face. In the case of Mr MJ Akbar, at the time these incidents occurred, the complainant women were working for him. Those who have spoken up against Mr Akbar have done so at great risk to their personal and professional lives, she said in her statement. At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon victims. Rather than cast aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women. Heres a reproduction of the complete statement: The past two weeks have seen an upheaval, with several women from different professions, including journalists, making serious allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace and instances of sexual misconduct against various editors, writers, filmmakers and others. These testimonies have emerged as a consequence of a slow but increasing empowerment of women over the years and a #MeToo movement unfolding across social media in India and across the world. In the case of Mr MJ Akbar, at the time these incidents occurred, the complainant women were working for him. Those who have spoken up against Mr Akbar have done so at great risk to their personal and professional lives. At this moment, it is disingenuous to ask why they have spoken now, as we are well aware of the stigma and shame that sexual crimes inflict upon victims. Rather than cast aspersions on the intent and motives of these women, we must reflect on how to improve the workplace for future generations of men and women. This is why I wish to register my strong protest against Mr Akbars most recent statement, which pays no heed to the trauma and fear of survivors or the courage required to speak truth to power. I am deeply disappointed that a union minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy. By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Mr Akbar has made his stand clear: rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him , he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment. Needless to say, I am ready to fight allegations of defamation laid against me, as truth and the absolute truth is my only defence. Priya Ramani 15 October 2018 amansharma@tribunemail.com Lucknow, October 15 Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Monday attacked the Yogi Adityanath government's proposed move to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj, stating that the present dispensation wanted to show their work only by "renaming". Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit to Allahabad on Saturday had announced that there was a proposal to rename the city as Prayagraj ahead of the 2019 Kumbh Mela. In a Twitter post Monday, Yadav said today's rulers were trying to show that they are working by just changing the name of Allahabad. "... They have even re-named Ardh Kumbh to Kumbh. This is toying with tradition and belief," the former UP CM tweeted. However, reacting to Yadav, Energy Minister and government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma claimed that the belief of people were hurt when the city was named Allahabad. "Some persons are objecting to renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj. The objections are baseless. It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified," he said. UP Governor Ram Naik had already supported the demands of the saints and the people of the Sangam city, he had said. "The government will soon send a proposal to the Centre to change the name of the city," the CM had said. - PTI editorial@tribune.com TNS & Agencies New Delhi/ Trivandrum, Oct 15 Less than 48 hours before the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala will be open to women of all age groups as per a Supreme Court verdict, the BJP on Monday ramped up protests over the ruling. Chanting mantras of Lord Ayyappa and waving party flags in Thiruvananthapuram, BJP activists, including women and children, protested the Left governments decision to implement the SC order without considering devotees sentiments. They laid a virtual siege to the state secretariat in a show of strength against the government which has said it would enforce the SC order and not go for a review. Addressing the gathering outside the secretariat, BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao, who led a protest march (began on October 10) from Pandalam, assailed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the governments decision against filing a review petition. Lord Ayyappa devotees not only in Kerala but across the country are disturbed by the recent developments. The state government is responsible for the crisis, he said. We give him (the CM) 24 hours to resolve the issue. If he fails to do it, then he should be prepared to see a different type of protest from us. We will make it very clear that we are not trying to make political capital through this campaign, Kerala BJP president PS Sreedharan Pillai said. The BJP alleged the attempt to implement the judgment was a conspiracy to destroy the shrine, where lakhs of people from the country and abroad visit during the three-month pilgrim season beginning mid-November. The shrine will open to public on October 17 for the five-day monthly puja. Enforcing the SC order allowing girls and women between 10 and 50 years of age into the shrine could be a daunting task for the government with several religious outfits threatening protests and demanding that the sanctity of the temple rituals be protected. Meanwhile, Industries Minister EP Jayarajan accused the Sangh Parivar and the Congress of trying to incite violence over the issue. editorial@tribune.com New Delhi, October 14 The Centre is planning to bring a legislation to fast-track inter-state river water dispute resolution and also better manage work on 13 river basins across the country, an official said. The Bill is expected to be introduced in Parliament in the coming winter session, the official said. The proposed River Basin Management Bill will replace the River Boards Act 1956. The legislation proposes to set up 13 river-basin authorities. Each authority will have a two-layer system comprising a governing council and an executive board. The council will have chief ministers from the river-basin states. The chairperson of the governing council will be the chief ministers, who will share the post on rotation. The Bill also envisages that the chief ministers of the basin-states will meet twice a year to discuss issues concerning the basins. The authorities will be set up for major rivers such as Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra-Barak, Mahanadi, Cauvery, Krishna, Tapi, Subarnarekha, Brahmani-Baitarani. The authorities of these river basins will have all aspects such as basin master plan including elements like hydrological assessment, ground water, aquifers, flood control, protected area, drainage and economic analysis of allocation of water. PTI traineesubeditor@tribuneindia.com Mumbai, October 15 Four people have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a television journalist near his house in south Mumbai, police said Monday. The accused, all city residents aged between 20 and 25 years, were nabbed late Sunday night from Tardeo area, a senior police official said. Herman Gomes, working with a private TV channel, was returning home along with a friend in a taxi on Sunday when he saw four to six men waiting near his house in Gamdevi area. The men started abusing Gomes and later allegedly assaulted him and also hit his friend, as per the victim. Gomes was injured in the attack and later received six stitches near his eyes. Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone-II) Dnyaneshwar Chavan, said prima facie it appears the incident might have taken place in the heat of the moment following some argument. "However, we are trying to go into the depth of the matter," he said, adding, the accused do not have any criminal background. Based on Gomes' complaint, the Gamdevi Police had registered a case under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 324 (voluntary causing hurt by dangerous weapons) and other relevant provisions. Journalists' associations in the city had Sunday condemned the attack and alleged that police did not file the victim's complaint promptly. Yesterday close to 6 people suddenly attacked me and my friend, when I was about to enter my home. I have suffered both physically and mentally pic.twitter.com/rLAH9D5IHC HermanGomes_journo (@Herman_Gomes) 14 October 2018 The Mumbai Press Club termed the attack on Gomes a "dastardly act". An association of crime reporters in the city have urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action against police officers who allegedly delayed registration of the First Information Report (FIR) in the matter. Minister of State for Home (urban), Ranjit Patil had later said an investigation was on into the incident and "correct steps will be taken in the direction". PTI. gspannu7@gmail.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, October 15 The Mumbai police have arrested four people in connection with an attack on a television journalist early Sunday morning, police said. The four were picked up on Sunday evening, hours after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in a statement that he was monitoring the progress in the case. Deputy Commissioner of Police Dnyaneshwar Chavan told reporters that the police were still questioning the four men for their motives in beating up Herman Gomes, who works as a reporter with Mirror Now news channel. In his police complaint, Gomes said he and a friend had alighted from a taxi outside his home on Sunday morning when the men who were waiting nearby beat them up. Gomes said one of the four used a knuckle duster to punch his face. The journalist received several stitches near his eye. DCP Chavan said initial interrogation of the four accused revealed that they may have beaten up Gomes on the spur of the moment. The attack resulted in protests from journalists' associations, including the Mumbai Press Club. uttara@tribuneindia.com Smita Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 15 Following up on the China-India plus agreement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping during the informal Wuhan summit, the first joint cooperation program for Afghanistan was kicked off on Monday. The China-India 'Joint Capacity Building Program' for diplomats from war torn Afghanistan was launched in Delhi at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). I am very happy that today we are chartering a new course with the beginning of a training programme for 10 diplomats from Afghanistan in partnership with China, said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her message. This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan, she added. India has agreed to joint development programs towards capacity building in Afghanistan along similar lines recently with South Korea and Russia as well. This Joint Capacity Building Program is an essential part of the international efforts to assist Afghanistan and marks the start of China-India-Afghanistan cooperation. It is a testament to the joint aspiration and endeavour of China and India, both being major, responsible developing countries, to contribute to regional peace and stability, said Wang Yi, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister in a message read out by Ambassador Luo Zhaohui at the event. In context of regional cooperation with a focus on Afghanistan, China and India are members of Istanbul Process and Shanghai Cooperation Organization and are engaged in discussions on regional connectivity initiatives, such as International North-South Transport Corridor. China-India Plus cooperation should be extended from Afghanistan to other countries, such as Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar. We can also join hands under the mechanisms of SAARC, BIMSTEC and BCIM to promote regional peace, stability and prosperity, said the Chinese envoy on the occasion. The trilateral project launch comes amid high-level bilateral engagements lined up between Delhi and Beijing. Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi will be in India this week. State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will launch the first meeting of China-India High Level People-to-People Exchanges Mechanism with Sushma Swaraj in December in Delhi. President Xi and Prime Minister Modi will also meet for the fourth time this year in Argentina in November. uttara@tribuneindia.com Our Correspondent Jaipur, October 15 Twelve more cases of Zika virus were reported on Monday, as the states health department continues to combat the outbreak. Mondays figures take the number of cases in the city since September 22 to 72. Additional Chief Secretary Medical and Health Veenu Gupta told the press that of this number, 60 people had already recovered. The Union health ministry continues to monitor the situation, although the outbreak is no longer classified as Public Health Emergency of International Concern under the World Health Organization. First case of the disease was reported on September 22 by an 85-year-old woman. The virus is spread through Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Common symptoms are mild fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pains, as well as headache. Infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and other congenital disorders. editorial@tribune.com Panaji, October 15 A key ally of the ruling BJP in Goa today said the government in the state should continue with or without the ailing Manohar Parrikar as the Chief Minister. The remarks came on a day the BJP legislature party met here without Parrikar, after which the state unit president Vinay Tendulkar ruled out change of the Chief Minister. Goa Forward Party (GFP) president and Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai said BJP chief Amit Shah called him this afternoon to discuss the political situation in Goa. Amit Shah spoke to me and I have said no to mid-term polls. With or without Manohar Parrikar as the Chief Minister, this government should continue, said Sardesai. Parrikar returned to his home state last night after being discharged from Delhis All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where he was admitted for a pancreatic ailment since September 15. The 62-year-old leader is now undergoing treatment at his private residence at Dona Paula near here, where a team of doctors from the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) have set up make-shift medical facility. The chief minister is recovering now. He will take rest for two days, before meeting party office-bearers and government officials, Tendulkar said after the meeting of the BJP legislature party. Tendulkar, along with BJPs state general secretary Sadanand Tanavade, also met Parrikar Monday at the latters residence. Queried about a change of leadership, the state BJP president said: Why do you need a leadership change? The CM is for five years. The Parrikar government has the support of 23 MLAs 14 BJP MLAs, three each from the GFP and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, and three Independents. PTI Goa BJPs old website hacked rchopra@tribunemail.com Aurangabad, October 15 A real estate broker was killed for allegedly posting some comments on a WhatsApp group, police said on Monday. Moin Mehmood Pathan, 35, was attacked with swords, knives and rods on Sunday night by a group of around 20 people in Fatimanagar locality of Harsul area here, police said. Police attributed the killing to enmity between two local groups. Pathan had a bickering with members of the rival group, police said. On Sunday evening, he posted a message on the WhatsApp group, challenging his opponents. Hours later, around 20 youths reached Fatimanagar with weapons and attacked Pathan, police said. His nephew Irfan Shaikh Rahim tried to intervene and was also assaulted, police said. He received head injuries. Pathan was taken to the government medical college and hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Police nabbed six alleged assailants early on Monday, while search is on for the others, an official said. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, October 15 Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina next month, Chinas Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said on Monday. Luo was speaking at the inauguration of the first Joint India-China Training Programme for Afghan diplomats here. He said the event was just the first step in Sino-India cooperation on Afghanistan and collaboration would deepen in future. Modi and Xi will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November, the Chinese envoy said. Modi and Xi have met twice after their informal summit in Wuhan this year--at the Shanaghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in June in Qingdao, China, and at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July. Luo said China's state counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi would visit India in December to launch the first India-China high-level people-to-people exchanges mechanism. The first India-China Joint Training Programme for Afghan diplomats began on Monday and will continue till October 26, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The joint training programme is being held after an understanding for such cooperation was reached during the informal summit between Modi and Xi in Wuhan city. PTI sanjiv@tribunemail.com Shahira Naim Tribune News Service Lucknow, October 15 Stirring a hornets nest, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today reiterated that if there is a consensus, Allahabad will be renamed as Prayagraj before the Kumbh early next year. During a visit to Allahabad on October 13, Yogi had announced that there was a proposal to rename the city ahead of the Kumbh Mela. Reacting sharply to Yogis suggestion, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav accused the government of messing with tradition and faith. According to Yadav, renaming places was the only work that the present government had to show. In a tweet, Yadav said, Raja Harshvardhan made Prayag Kumbh famous but the present dispensation wants to show its work by merely changing the name to Prayagraj. They have even changed the name of Ardh Kumbh to Kumbh. This is messing with tradition and faith. Minister of Power Shrikant Sharma claimed that on the contrary, the belief of people was hurt when the city was named Allahabad. The objections are baseless. It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified. Congress spokesperson Onkar Singh also opposed the BJP governments proposal to rename Allahabad, saying the region around Sangam where the Kumbh is held is already named Prayag, literally meaning confluence, a name which has continued from time immemorial. On nomenclature monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, October 15 The Youth Congress activists on Monday staged a protest near the residence of Union minister M J Akbar, demanding his "immediate resignation" over allegations of sexual misconduct by several female journalists. The activists gathered at Teen Murti roundabout raised slogans against the junior foreign minister and tried to march towards his residence when they were stopped by the police. A few protesters who tried to march ahead towards police barricades were detained. "The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) is protesting against M J Akbar for his sexual misconduct and harassment of journalists. As many as 10 female journalists have come forward and detailed sexual harassment by him," the outfit said in a statement. Leading the protesters, vice president of IYC BV Srinivas demanded Akbar's "immediate resignation" saying he has no "moral right" to continue in his post. "No one in Indian politics till now has the kind of sullied image as M J Akbar," he said in the statement. Despite "serious allegations" against the minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has maintained a "studied silence" on the matter, he alleged. The ruling coalition of NDA led by the BJP which had made tall promises of "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" cannot and must not be allowed to shield a man of "questionable conduct," the IYC statement added. Akbar Sunday termed the allegations against him as "false, fabricated and deeply distressing" and said he was taking appropriate legal action in the matter. His comments followed those by his party's, with the BJP saying on Monday that Akbar has given his version on the row and that it is not about whether the party agrees or disagrees with him. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 15 Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of sexually abusing a nun between 2014 and 2016, was on Monday granted conditional bail by the Kerala High Court. The Bishop secured the bail with strict conditions that he should not enter Kerala. He must also surrender his passport and should appear before the police once in every two weeks. Mulakkal was arrested on September 21 after three days of questioning and on September 24 he was sent to judicial custody. The 54-year-old Bishop, currently lodged in a sub-jail in Pala in Kottayam district, moved the high court again after a magistrate court extended his judicial remand. Police opposed the bail application of the clergyman, saying investigation was still on in the case. Mulakkal, who heads the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar, Punjab, is the first bishop in the country to be sent to jail on charges of rape and since then he has been getting a steady stream of high-profile visitors, including leading politicians. He had last month stepped aside as the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese. editorial@tribune.com Our Correspondent Fazilka, October 15 Hundreds of farmers held a protest at the local grain market on Monday, alleging harassment by rice millers. The farmers claimed that the millers had formed a cartel and had been dictating terms for buying paddy instead of following the government norms. Zila parishad member Sidharth Rinwa, who led the protest, alleged that a large quantity of parmal variety of paddy procured by the government agencies with approved moisture content of 17 per cent had been returned by some millers on the pretext of high moisture content. He alleged that the millers in connivance with agency officials had tampered with moisture meters to show faulty reading. Harjinder Singh of Kamalwala village alleged that his produce was rejected thrice in a week on the pretext of high moisture content. The farmers also held a protest outside the office of Gurpreet Singh Lovely Kathpal, president of the Arhtiya Association, for not supporting them. Arun Dhuria, general secretary, Rice Millers Association, said they had not returned paddy having moisture content within the permissible limit of 17 per cent. He alleged that the farmers were pressuring them to buy produce with high moisture. Deputy Commissioner Manpreet Singh said the procurement agencies had been buying paddy as per the government specifications. He said he had sought permission to allow rice millers from other districts to buy paddy from Fazilka to prevent harassment of the farmers. Release dues, association tell agencies Fatehgarh Sahib: The Rice Millers Association has demanded immediate release of payment against their paddy shelling bills for 2017-18 to help them procure paddy. Nakesh Jindal, press secretary of the association, said the procurement agencies had not yet cleared their shelling bills despite having got the money from the FCI. He said crores of rupees of rice millers were stuck with agencies and they were suffering financial loss. He said the procurement of paddy for 2018-19 had started, but the millers were awaiting dues of last year. He urged the Food and Civil Supplies Minister to intervene and direct the agencies to release the payment. OC editorial@tribune.com Our Legal Correspondent Ludhiana, October 15 A permanent lok adalat has directed an insurance company to pay Rs 23,11,344 as compensation to a widow and her minor son. The widow had been struggling to get the claim for the accidental death of her husband for the last three years. Pronouncing the verdict, lok adalat chairman Sunil Arora, its members Ritu Singal and Amarjit Singh Sekhon directed the insurance company to make the payment within two months along with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the date of filing of the application till realisation. The orders were pronounced by the lok adalat while deciding the application moved by Prachi Sharma of Parkash Colony, Mundian Kalan, Chandigarh Road, Ludhiana. The complainant had submitted that her husband Rohit Sharma had purchased a personal accident insurance policy on December 26, 2014, from National Insurance Company covering accidental death risk to the tune of Rs 25 lakh for a year. Unfortunately on July 19, 2015, her husband died in an accident, while coming from Khajiar to Dalhousie along with his friends in a car. A criminal case was registered in this regard at the Sadar police station Chamba, Himachal Pradesh. The claim was filed with the insurance company in August 2015, but it was not settled on one pretext or the other, added the widow. The insurance company pleaded that the policy was issued in good faith believing contentions of the deceased about his income to be true. However, later on the claim was found to be false. The income of the deceased was not equivalent to the income mentioned in the proposal form at the time of the purchase of the insurance policy. After appreciating the evidence on record, including the income tax return of the deceased for the relevant period, the lok sabha passed the award. sanjiv@tribunemail.com Vishav Bharti Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 15 With no data on implant patients, the Punjab Government has constituted a five-member committee to approach victims of faulty hip implants manufactured by DePuy International, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson (J&J), and send their cases to a Central committee to determine the quantum of compensation. The Punjab panel comprises heads of orthopaedics departments at Amritsar and Patiala government medical colleges, radiology department head at the Patiala college, National Deputy Drug Controller BK Samantray and Joint Drug Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Mattu. Applications for compensation can be sent to these members. Meanwhile, in a letter to Union Health Minister JP Nadda, more than 30 victims threatened to boycott the exercise if their concerns were not addressed. They said they were distressed to see the government continuing consultation with J&J while patients who had suffered injuries had not been consulted even once. Earlier, a panel looking into complaints of alleged faulty implants had recommended that DePuy be made liable to pay at least Rs 20 lakh to each affected patient. (With PTI inputs) Those eligible... editorial@tribune.com Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 14 Spurt in crime rate, raging street fights, zooming property tax rates, traffic jams, lack of quality healthcare and industry are the major poll issues in Brampton civic polls scheduled to be held on October 22. Brampton is witnessing a high-voltage poll campaign for the election of Mayor, City and Regional Councillors and members of the Peel District School Board. Three dozen Punjabis are participating in these polls. The youth are looking for a generational change through polls this time around. For residents, the biggest issues remain higher property tax and auto insurance rates as compared to other GTA cities, a sudden spurt in the crime rate during the past four years, lack of industry and the resultant unemployment apart from absence of quality healthcare. Candidates ignorant Most of the candidates are busy campaigning at their highest pitch, though they are silent over an array of serious issues that grapple people. They are hardly seen talking about these during open debates and discussions. Residents await facilities For Deepinder Singh Loomba, a community activist and a paralegal expert, the biggest issue is lack of industry and quality healthcare in Brampton. No one has ever thought to bring or attract industry to the city. For this reasons, Bramptonians, mostly Punjabis, travel 50 to 75 km daily to reach their workplace. Mississauga on the other hand, has become an industrial, educational and healthcare hub within the past few years. Mississauga has three hospitals and here we have just one which remains overly congested all the time. Moreover, there is no university in Brampton, rued Loomba. I think the biggest issue concerning Punjabis is to keep the next generation close to their culture and values, said Balbir Sohi, a dental professional. Where are the employment opportunities? Why we are shelling out such a high rate of property tax and auto insurance rates, said Manan Gupta, an activist. "Increasing street fight in particular and spurt in crime in general is a major issue in a city which had hardly seen such law and order problems till about five years ago," said Deepak Punj, owner of Toronto-based Radio Frontline. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Lucknow, October 15 With the arrest of three criminals in the jungles of Shamli district of western Uttar Pradesh early on Monday morning, the Uttar Pradesh police claim to have unearthed a plot to assassinate former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Shamli SP Dinesh Kumar P said the trio was in touch with Khalistan supporters. Those arrested were identified as Karam Singh of Shamli, Gurjant alias Jinta of Saharanpur and Amreet alias Amrit of Karnal. Their accomplices German and Karma of Shamli escaped. The police recovered two rifles, a pistol, ammunition and the motorcycle used in the October 2 snatching of weapons at Kamalpur check post by these criminals after injuring Home Guards personnel Sansar Singh and Sanjay Verma. A joint operation of the Shamli police and the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team was carried out around 3 am in the jungles of Rangana village under Jhinjhana police station. Following a tip-off, the police laid a trap and chased the criminals from Chausana Chowki to the gurdwara at Rangana farm, where they were to hand over the arms to German. The arms were to be shifted to Punjab in a truck, However, the police and the SWAT team cornered them. Two were arrested with the looted weapons, while another was arrested with a pistol from a nearby sugarcane field. Amreet and Gurjant were said to have been injured in the encounter. During interrogation, the criminals admitted that their leader and mastermind of the October 2 looting of weapons was German, son of Kulwant, a resident of Birsa Ka Dera, Azizpur village, under Jhinjhana police station of Shamli. They said German had links with Khalistan supporters in Punjab. As per his plan, the police picket was looted and the weapons were hidden in a room of the gurdwara by Karam Singh. sanjiv@tribunemail.com Mr Jamnadas Dwarkadas, Vice-President of the Council of the Bombay branch of the Home Rule League, has sent a message to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State and the Viceroy, protesting against the decision of the Imperial government not to allow the Congress deputation to visit England until the Franchise and transferred and reserved subjects committees have completed work. It says, a painful impression has been created here by the failure in the fulfilment of the promise made by the viceroy last February with regard to the Congress deputation to England, while the fate of the reforms is being decided by one-sided discussion. Referring to the transferred and reserved subjects committee, it says the constitution of the committee is lacking in qualities which would inspire confidence in Indians and complains that the leaders of the Congress and the Muslim League are wholly ignored. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Colombo, October 15 Outgoing Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has told the Supreme Court that disappearing ink and specially treated ballot papers were to blame for his heavy election defeat last month. The comments came as the court considered a petition by Yameen to have the September 23 election result annulled due to what his party called rampant vote-rigging. On Monday afternoon, the five-judge bench put off the case until Tuesday when it will announce whether to allow testimony from three unnamed witness named by Yameens lawyers. His lawyers told a packed court room that the trio of yet unnamed witnesses could substantiate Yameens allegations. However, the Election Commission through its lawyers insisted that the petition was based on false allegations and should be dismissed. AFP pardeepdhull@gmail.com London, October 15 The Ecuadorian government will partially restore communications for Julian Assange at the countrys embassy in London, Wikileaks said. The Wikileaks founder, who has been holed up at the embassy since 2012, was stopped from using the Internet or a mobile phone to communicate with the outside world in March. Ecuador has told WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange that it will remove the isolation regime imposed on him following meetings between two senior UN officials and Ecuadors President Lenin Moreno on Friday, Wikileaks said in a statement on Sunday. Kristinn Hrafnsson, Wikileaks editor in chief, described the move as positive but said it is of grave concern that his freedom to express his opinions is still limited. The decision to cut off Assanges communications was taken because the Australian had broken a 2017 promise to not interfere in other countries affairs while in the mission, the Ecuadorian government said at the time. It came days after he used Twitter to challenge Britains accusation that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent in the English city of Salisbury. He also attacked the arrest in Germany of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont under an EU warrant issued by Spain over Puigdemonts failed bid last year to declare independence for his Spanish region. Ecuador installed a jammer to prevent him from accessing email and restricted the number of visitors he can receive. Assange took refuge in the diplomatic mission in 2012 after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault there. Assange claims the accusations were politically motivated and could lead to him being extradited to the United States to face imprisonment over WikiLeaks publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. Sweden dropped its investigation last year, but British authorities say they still want to arrest him for breaching his bail conditions. AFP monicakchauhan@gmail.com New York, October 15 Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended her husband, former President Bill Clinton, saying that he was right not to resign in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and insisted that his affair with the White House intern wasn't abuse of power. In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Hillary Clinton defended her husband and said "absolutely not" in response to a question about whether he should have resigned after his affair with Lewinsky came to light more than 20 years ago. Hillary Clinton's remarks come after New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand recently told The New York Times that the former President should have stepped down at the time after he was impeached by the Republican-led House in December 1998. But he was acquitted by the Senate and completed his term as President. In the interview, Hillary Clinton said Lewinsky "was an adult". "But let me ask you this," Clinton continued, "Where's the investigation of the current incumbent, against whom numerous allegations have been made, and which he dismisses, denies, and ridicules?" "So, there was an investigation (of President Clinton), and it, as I believe, came out in the right place." When asked what role, if any, she played in criticizing the character of the women who accused her husband of sexual misconduct, the former presidential hopeful told CBS News: "None. No role... I take responsibility for my life and my actions." IANS amansharma@tribunemail.com Dublin, October 15 Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Monday played down expectations of a Brexit deal being reached at an EU summit this week, saying an agreement was more likely in November or December. "I know some people are optimistic about an agreement on the withdrawal agreement protocol this week. I have to say I always thought that was unlikely," he told reporters. "I figure November, December is probably the best opportunity for a deal, but this is a dynamic situation." Varadkar will travel to Brussels for the summit taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, where UK and EU officials had hoped to lay out details of the Brexit withdrawal plan. But both sides remain locked in a stalemate over the question of the Irish border-and how to keep it open once Britain leaves the EU's single market and customs union. Under EU proposals, the British province of Northern Ireland would follow the bloc's trade rules unless and until a more comprehensive trade deal is forged. But British Prime Minister Theresa May has said this so-called "backstop" plan would divide the United Kingdom, instead proposing a UK-wide "temporary customs arrangement". The EU and Ireland have insisted that the backstop must be permanent to be a binding assurance against a hard border. "There are some fundamentals that we can't compromise on," Varadkar said. "As part of that withdrawal agreement there must be a legally operable and legally binding assurance that no matter what happens that no hard border will emerge on the island of Ireland." Varadkar will meet later on Monday with Arlene Foster, the head of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up May's government in London. Foster has threatened to withdraw her support if May allows any controls to divide Northern Ireland from mainland Britain. She has also previously made the controversial statement that the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement is not "sacrosanct"- implying it could be altered to solve the deadlock. The accord, which guarantees free movement between the north and the Republic, is widely credited with bringing peace to the border and its preservation is a key priority for Dublin. - AFP traineesubeditor@tribuneindia.com Canberra, October 15 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney on Monday to begin an official visit to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. It is the couple's first official royal tour since getting married in May, the BBC reported. The 16-day trip coincides with the fourth Invictus Games, beginning in Sydney on Saturday, and includes dozens of official events. Harry and Meghan were met by a large media contingent at the airport before heading to Admiralty House, the Sydney Harbour residence of Governor-General Peter Cosgrove who is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II. The royal couple's arrival coincided with the day a survey revealed that Australians want their country to become a republic. Harry, the son of Prince Charles and late Princess Diana, and his wife, who took a commercial flight were seen holding hands as they walked through a back door before boarding a vehicle to Cosgrove's residence. Harry and his wife, who was wearing black trousers and a dark coat with maroon lapels, were scheduled to rest on the first day before starting the 76 activities on the agenda from Tuesday to promote environmental and conservation issues. On October 16, Cosgrove who is Australia's Head of State, will give the couple an official welcome before their visit to Taronga Zoo and Sydney Opera House. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex would also attend the inauguration and closing ceremonies of the Invictus Games, which would be held from October 20 to 28. The event was founded by Harry in 2014 to give opportunities to disabled veterans and military services personnel, Efe news reported. On Monday, 52.4 per cent of the 1,000 respondents to a poll conducted by the Australian Republican Movement, said they wanted Australia to become a republic the favourite response of 58.6 per cent of responders between 25 and 34 years of age. Harry, 33, and Meghan, 37, have been invited by the governments of Australia and New Zealand, members of the Commonwealth. The couple would travel to Fiji and Tonga at the request of the British Foreign Office, on a tour that would end on October 31. IANS. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Islamabad, October 15 In a set-back to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Opposition alliance led by deposed premier Nawaz Sharifs PML-N gained five more parliamentary seats in bypolls, reducing the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf partys margin in delicately balanced National Assembly. Elections were held on Sunday in nine National Assembly constituencies in Punjab and one each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 24 provincial assemblies seats, including 11 in Punjab, nine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two each in Sindh and Balochistan. Most of the seats where bypolls were held had been vacated by those elected on more than one seat in the July 25 General Election, including Prime Minister Imran, who won in all the five NA constituencies he had contested. In bypolls, Imran Khans party lost two seats vacated by him. His seat in Lahore (NA-131) was won by former railways minister and a firebrand Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique. In Bannu, Zahid Akram Durrani of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) defeated the PTI candidate Naseem Ali Shah. Former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who had lost the July 25 elections from two constituencies, easily defeated PTIs Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan in NA-124 Lahore in an almost one-sided contest. The PML-N and the PTI won four seats each of the National Assembly whereas Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid won two seats and MMA one seat, the Election Commission of Pakistan said. Now the opposition numbers have increased by five more seats in the National Assembly, while the ruling alliance secured six more seats. The outcome of the byelection will not impact the federal or provincial government but help reinvigorate the opposition parties. The PTI won 11 seats of the provincial assemblies while the PML-N won seven. The Pakistan Peoples Party and Awami National Party won two each and Independent candidates also won two seats. PTI Panel to record Musharrafs statement in Dubai A special court ordered the formation of a judicial commission to record Pervez Musharrafs statement in Dubai in a treason case after the former military dictator declined to appear before the court through video conferencing Musharraf, who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014. A conviction for high treason carries the death penalty or life term Woman defeats son vinaymishra188@gmail.com SEOUL, October 15 North and South Korea agreed on Monday to begin reconnecting rail and road links, another step in an improving relationship that has raised US concern about the possible undermining of its bid to press the North to give up its nuclear programme. The agreement on transport links came during talks in the border village of Panmunjom aimed at following up on the third summit this year between South Koreas President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, last month. The South and North reached the agreement after sincerely discussing action plans to develop inter-Korean relations to a new, higher stage, said a joint statement released by the Souths Unification Ministry. They agreed to hold ceremonies in late November or early December to inaugurate work on reconnecting the railways and roads that have been cut since the 1950-53 Korean War. The two sides will carry out joint field studies on the transport plans from late this month, according to the statement. They also agreed to discuss late this month a plan to pursue a bid to co-host the 2032 Olympic Games, and to explore in November ways to restart webcam reunions and video exchanges for families separated by the Korean War. Meetings will also be held on reforestation soon. Reuters traineesubeditor@tribuneindia.com Seoul, October 15 North and South Korea agreed on Monday to begin reconnecting rail and road links, another step in an improving relationship that has raised US concern about the possible undermining of its bid to press the North to give up its nuclear programme. The agreement on transport links came during talks in the border village of Panmunjom, aimed at following up on the third summit this year between South Koreas President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, last month. The South and North reached the agreement after sincerely discussing action plans to develop inter-Korean relations to a new, higher stage, said a joint statement released by the Souths Unification Ministry. They agreed to hold ceremonies in late November or early December to inaugurate work on reconnecting the railways and roads that have been cut since the 1950-53 Korean War. The two sides will carry out joint field studies on the transport plans from late this month, according to the joint statement. They also agreed to discuss late this month a plan to pursue a bid to co-host the 2032 Olympic Games. The talks were led by the Souths Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Norths committee for peaceful reunification that handles cross-border affairs. We are at a very critical moment for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the advancement of inter-Korean relations, and theres also a second North Korea-US summit coming up, Cho told reporters before leaving for Panmunjom. Talks between the two Koreas are running in parallel with US efforts to press North Korea to give up nuclear weapons and missiles that the North says can hit the US mainland. Kim held an unprecedented summit with US President Donald Trump in June in Singapore and the two sides are arranging a second meeting, which Trump said would likely happen after US congressional elections on November 6. But despite the meeting between Kim and Trump, the United States is still pursuing a policy of maximum pressure to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes. Trump said on Wednesday South Korea would not lift sanctions on North Korea without US approval. The rail and road initiative and the joint Olympics bid were agreed by Moon and Kim at their latest summit, in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Moon also said the North would permanently abolish key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts. The leaders of the two Koreas also endorsed a military pact, which includes the halting of military exercises, a no-fly zone near their border and the gradual removal of landmines and guard posts within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed discontent over that agreement, South Koreas foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said last week. Kangs remarks amounted to a rare confirmation of discord between South Korea and the United States, though the allies have said they remain in lockstep on North Korea. In August, a plan for an inspection by the two Koreas for the rail project was scrapped after the United Nations Command (UNC), which overlaps with US forces in the South and oversees affairs in the DMZ, rejected the passage of a test train carrying fuel, military sources said. Cho, asked before the meeting if the UNC had given approval for a study of transport links over the DMZ, said: Were in close consultation with relevant countries. Reuters pardeepdhull@gmail.com Kathmandu, October 15 It took rescuers two days to recover the battered bodies of nine climbers, including one of the worlds best, who died in Nepals worst mountaineering disaster in recent years, authorities said on Monday. Local police chief Bir Bahadur Budamagar said a group of villagers reached the climbers camp site on Saturday on Gurja Himal, a less-popular but pristine mountain in the shadow of Dhaulagiri, the worlds seventh-highest peak and a days walk from the nearest village. The climbers included Kim Chang-ho, the first South Korean to summit all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 meters without using supplemental oxygen, who was leading the expedition with four other South Koreans and four Nepalese guides. Technically difficult and remote, the mountain hasnt been scaled in eight years. The damage to the climbers bodies, including broken limbs and smashed skulls, indicated a violent wind carrying chunks of ice swept them away from their camp site, Budamagar said. The bodies were found spread in a 1.5 kilometer (1 mile) radius. The battered pieces and tents and other equipment were scattered even further away, Budamagar said. Only 30 climbers have ever reached the peak of the 7,193-meter (23,590-foot) Gurja Himal, government tourism director Surendra Thapa said, and Kim was not among them. Nepal offers hundreds of mountains to climb, and mountaineers generally choose those where the routes and conditions are well known. Many climbers are discouraged from the mountain at least in part because of a legal requirement to have at least three trained Nepalese guides along to receive a permit, Thapa said. More adventurous climbers would be drawn to a mountain like Gurja, said Jiban Ghimire, who organizes expeditions for the Kathmandu-based company Shangrila Nepal Trek. These people like to go to mountains which are not crowded and there are no commercially organized expeditions of big groups. On the bad side, they are also far from getting help when in trouble, Ghimire said. The bodies of Kim and four other South Koreans who were killed will arrive in South Korea on Wednesday, according to an official from South Koreas Corean Alpine Club. Rescuers retrieved the climbers bodies on Sunday after the weather cleared. The body of one of the guides was taken to his village, while the eight others were flown to Kathmandu. It was the worst mountaineering disaster in Nepal in recent years and an unimaginable one, said Rameshwor Niraula of Nepals Mountaineering Department, which issues climbing permits and monitors expeditions. Niraula said officials were still gathering details of what exactly happened, but from what rescuers described, the climbers were blown over by the blast of the blizzard-like wind conditions. Word of the destruction got out Saturday morning, and helicopters were sent. They were not able to land due to the continuing bad weather but spotted the bodies. Spring and autumn are the optimal climbing seasons in Nepal between the harsh winter and summer monsoon. One Korean member of the climbing team had become ill and was in a village far below the base camp during the storm. The Corean Alpine Club official, who didnt want to be identified because she wasnt authorized to speak to reporters, identified the other South Korean victims as Yu Yeong-jik, Im Il-jin, Jeong Jun-mo and Lee Jae-hoon. Yu was reportedly in charge of equipment for the team. Im was a filmmaker who specialized in documentaries of mountain climbers. South Koreas Yonhap news agency said senior CAC member Jeong wasnt part of Kims team but was visiting them when the accident happened. It was the deadliest climbing disaster in Nepal since 2015, when 19 people were killed at Mount Everest base camp by an avalanche triggered by an earthquake that devastated the country. The previous year, an avalanche above Everests base camp killed 16 Nepalese Sherpa guides. The Himalayan range includes all 14 of the worlds peaks that rise above 8,000 meters, and only a few dozen climbers have made verified, successful ascents of them all. Kim achieved his feat in 2013. AP pardeepdhull@gmail.com Taipei, October 15 Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit, its President Tsai Ing-wen said, just weeks after the Vatican reached a milestone deal on the appointment of bishops with China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own. Last months deal gives the Holy See, Taiwans last remaining diplomatically in Europe, a long-sought say over such appointments, although both sides call it provisional and sources have said some key issues remain unresolved. Taiwan Vice-President Chen Chien-jen met Francis on Sunday and invited him to visit, Tsais office said in a statement, adding that the pope had replied he would pray for Taiwan. But it gave no date for the proposed visit. Chen emphasised the provisional nature of the agreement between the Vatican and China, saying it did not involve a diplomatic element or affect the friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican, the statement added. We urge everyone not to excessively interpret and worry about this (deal), it quoted Chen as saying. On social media, Tsai thanked the pope for his blessings. We will take active and concrete actions to support the pope and to transmit our common values of freedom, justice, peace and care to all corners of the world, she wrote. Although the Vatican says its September 22 deal is not political, some Taiwan officials worry it could be a prelude to establishing diplomatic ties with Beijing, and Taiwans Vatican envoy has said China wants to make the island irrelevant. Taipei has routinely accused China, which considers it a breakaway province and has never ruled out the use of force to return it to the fold, of using dollar diplomacy and bullying to lure away its allies, charges Beijing has denied. This year, former allies El Salvador, Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic switched ties to Beijing from Taipei, leaving it with just 17 formal allies, mostly less developed nations in Central America and the Pacific. On October 1, in the first sign of a thaw after the pact, which was more than 10 years in the making, the Vatican said Beijing would, for the first time, allow Chinese bishops to attend a major Vatican meeting. The meeting, known as a synod, began on October 3 and runs until October 28. However, Michael Yeung, the bishop of Hong Kong, told Reuters it will take time to tackle issues beyond the appointment of bishops and he feared suppression of Catholics in mainland China would continue despite the accord. About a dozen bishops and priests, some elderly, remain in detention in China. Some have not been heard from in decades. Beijing has provided little clear information about their fate. Reuters In January I wrote about Maximilian Fortes Arima born, about the Catholic mission there for the First People. Today I want to notice a new book by Fr Anthony de Verteuilwhom I have called a national treasuretitled Trinidads Amerindian Legacy. This short book conveys, in a very readable form, basic information about our First Peoples since European contact, and their legacy to the modern nation. -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. Have stayed at QB two times and it is our favorite hotel in all of Mexico, both Gulf of Mexico and Pacific side. It has just built about 20 more rooms making it about a 48 room hotel. It is the only hotel on the small beach. Snorkeling along the the rock cliff in front of the hotel is great when the water conditions are OK . Some of the most calming snorkeling we have ever done, but yes there are many other beaches you can snorkel at for a quick $3.00 taxi ride. If you are into sea glass, this beach is fantastic. It is at a very secluded beach. There is a convenience store within a 4 minute walk, and a large grocery store within a 7 minute walk. A 15-20 minute walk will get you into the main town center. Two marinas are walkable with fantastic restaurants. The restaurant at QB was very nice. Huatulco is the cleanest and most friendly Mexican area we have found yet in our search for the best Mexican adventure. -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- This post has been removed at the author's request. The author may repost if desired. Posts on the Tripadvisor forums may be edited for a short period of time. Once the edit period has expired, authors may update their posts by removing and reposting them. To read more about editing your posts, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/help/how_to_edit_your_posts Edited: 3 years ago Welcome to the Aussie forum. A couple of things to note: Moreton Island is all sand driving, so unless a: you have a proper 4x4, and b: you are very experienced driving on soft sand, then you should not contemplate taking a car over there (hire companies won't allow you to unless it is a proper 4x4 anyway). So, Moreton island can certainly be done as a day trip from Brisbane, or you could do an overnight tour. Tweed Heads, Kingscliff, Brunswick Heads - pick one to stay at for however many nights you allow, and just do day trips from there. Tweed Heads is very much busy suburban sprawl, but with great beaches. Kingscliff and Brunswick Heads are small coastal villages. For me, I would pick Kingscliff, but it depents what you are looking for. Coffs Harbour is also a large regional city. I much prefer the village feel of Sawtell, or the quiet country appeal of Moonee Beach (stay in a cabin at the caravan park right on the water). Bellingen - could do two nights if you want to explore Dorrigo and the waterfall way as far as Ebor. Rather than Port Macquaire, you might consider continuing inland from Bellingen/Dorrigo/Ebor to Armidale, Tamworth, Mudgee and Lithgow to show you some of the country areas of NSW rather than all coast.The other option would be to head from Tamworth to Muswellbrook and then along the Putty Road and in to Katoomba that way. It is a very nice drive, but much longer. Otherwise PM is fine for a night's stop. You might be interested in the Koala Hospital there, but you may already have visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. Cheers. The next day (a Wednesday) was mostly taken up with our organised Travelmarvel tour activities which I will only mention briefly. The four of us headed to the Ho Chi Minh complex, with our guide. Firstly we viewed the Mausoleum, quickly picking up how revered Ho Chi Minh still is. We were very glad to have a guide to explain the huge grounds, surrounded by many of the governments important buildings...and then take us on to the Presidential Palace, its surrounding parkland and smaller buildings such as the stilt house. From there we piled back in the mini-van and were taken to The Temple of Literature. One of the time savers of a tour is that you dont waste time on transfer arrangements. Our guide had always called up the driver to be near the appropriate exit to collect us. The Temple (to Confucius) is the site of Hanois original university and still used for worship and ceremonial graduation visits (including our guides). It is layers of buildings connected by 5 courtyards and again jam-packed with stories, beauty and history, that really needed explanation! Already overwhelmed, we next faced the amazing experience of a rickshaw or cyclo ride. It was both terrifying and terrific to be on the street surrounded by traffic, as our poor rider pedalled us along. Unfortunately one of our 4 cyclos developed a flat tyre, and with little English between them the riders managed to convey to us that the large man in the disabled cyclo was to climb in with me! Oh joy! Not before they put the hard word on him to tip the driver. Luckily wed been told all payments including tips had been covered by Travelmarvel. There was no such pressure on arrival back at our hotel...where Doan, our guide, was waiting for us out on the footpath! These men, not young were so strong to pedal around the often uneven streets and whisk us in between vehicles both moving and parked. From the safety of home, it was a great experience...although at times I questioned what I was doing there! We were told that many farmers have come into the city and get jobs as cyclo riders...along with our bus drivers, guides etc the tourism industry is responsible for giving many people a job. We had a couple of free hours in the afternoon, so took ourselves to the Womens Museum...just down our street, which we had spotted on our walk to the Opera House. This too was a really interesting exhibition over a number of floors, around the general themes of Women in Family, History and Fashion. It really helped in our understanding of how hard women in particular had and were working. We saw the many women on the footpaths trying to sell something in a different light. Im so glad we found time to visit here! That evening we had booked another tour with Hanoi Kids the Street Food Tour. Our 2 lovely guides Nga and Tee, duly turned up at the hotel and we set off, walking and talking! Again we were so impressed with the intelligent questions they asked and their level of understanding of so much about the world, and interest in finding out more in very good English! They took us to 2 excellent places to eat...which we would not have even thought to go in, both upstairs and not so apparent from the street. The final culmination was a little cafe, again upstairs but overlooking the lake for a Hanoi egg coffee...perched on tiny little stools! It was wonderful mine even had the turtle tower in coffee art on top! Warm, creamy and sweet magnificence! The girls of course walked us back to the hotel ...to collect their own scooters! Although opting for the walking tour...we could not have been happier with where we went and the cost of the food for all 4 was very reasonable. (Our tour company did offer an optional extra street food tour, but for a lot more in dollars!) Again we highly recommend Hanoi Kids and this was indeed a great way to add more to our trip on so many levels! ...To be continued... Hello people, I am scheduled to visit Vietnam on 16th November and leave at 25th. We are a couple. I have other day plans. I want to spend the middle 3 days in Phu Quoc island. I plan to stay in Phu Quoc from either 20th-23rd Nov or 21st-24th Nov (as i have onward flight from hanoi back home on 25th, so wanna return a day prior just to be on the safer side), depending on flight availablity. I would be flying from Hanoi to Phu Quoc. I have the following queries: 1. The airport name of Phu Quoc island is Duong Dong. Is it? Or its a different airport? Because i had read somewhere. However, on make my trip, the airport name shows as Phu Quoc Airport (Airport code PQC). Please confirm which airport i should land, from Hanoi. 2. I have done some research and planning on doing the following things/activities: 1. Sao Beach - Please confirm if it is near from Phu Quoc and if its the best time to visit in mid Novemeber. 2. Vinpearl Land and Safari - Plan tpo invest one day here 3. Hon Thom Cable Car - Please confirm if this is operational, will be operational during my visit, and any link to book tickets. Or shall i book when i am there. Apart from these, can you suggest some other must see/do things/activities i can do during my stay here? Also, suggest some good restaurants or lounges for night life and Sheesha (if its permissable there). Finally, can anyone suggest a budget stay at Phu Quoc for 3 nights (budget 30-50 USD per night, need clean rooms, safety and wifi). Waiting for a quick revert. Thanks in advance. Re: Last week of november - first week december in japan 2. Re: Last week of november - first week december in japan -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- Tripadvisor staff removed this post because it did not meet Tripadvisor's forum guideline limiting each user to a single forums screen name. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. Also, there is no merit of driving the car to Kansai Region(Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, etc.). Especially, in Kyoto, it takes much time because the roads are crowded very much, and you have to look for an open parking lot wherever you go which is a headache. I assume that you cannot do sightseeing there. Actually, when I stayed at an Onsen Ryokan in Nara last year, I met a foreign family who had driven from Tokyo to Nara. But, they said it took more than 7 hours and they didn't have time to see anything in Nara, and there were going to Koya-san the next day so they said they didn't have time to see anything. I told them that they should at least see Todaiji temple in Nara. I felt sorry for them, because if they had come by train, it took only @4 hours from Tokyo and they would have had at least @3-4 hours to see Nara as I had. I've been to Kyoto for more than 20 times, but have never driven to Kyoto, although I had driven a lot when I lived in the U.S.A. Japan is a completely different country from the U.S.A. From the complete difference in population density, if the U.S.A. is a country to enjoy driving, Japan is basically a country to enjoy public transportations, although you can enjoy driving in many rural areas even in Japan. Hokkaido is the best place to enjoy driving in Japan with only @4% of people in Japan living. Even if you could save some money by driving, it means nothing if you didn't have time left to see anything. If this is your first time, it's safer to stick with public transportations, which are great for many people including many foreign visitors. It takes some experience and knowledge to understand from where to where you can and should not drive in Japan. How do I get from the airport (JFK, LGA, or EWR) to Manhattan? What To Do During Layovers? Vacation Apartment Rentals Violate NYC Laws Hotels: Kitchenettes and kitchens in 100+ Manhattan Hotels Hotels: Two queen beds plus a kitchen/kitchenette Hotels: Guests under 21 years old (but at least 18) Hotels: Which ones charge an additional Resort or Facilities Fee Hotels: When is the best time to go for cheaper rates? What are the Must-See's and Must-Do's? How Do I Ride the Subway (UPDATED)? Tips, Hint and Suggestions for First Timers SCAMS to avoid in NYC What Will the Weather Be Like During My Trip? Any Good Websites for Researching My Trip? How Safe is New York? Where to Eat in NYC Where to eat in NYC - Part 2 Celiac in the City? (gluten free) Which Area Should I Stay In? Is There Cheaper Lodging Outside Manhattan? How Much Do I Tip People? Are the New York Pass, Explorer Pass or CityPass worth it? How Do I Hail a Taxi? Public restrooms/toilets. Where do you go when you GOTTA GO? Where are the best areas for shopping? How do I find Discount Tickets for Broadway Shows? What are the NYC Halloween events for 2021? Thanksgiving 2021 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat Christmastime in NYC 2021: Dates for the Trees-Windows-Markets-Ice Skating+MORE! Christmas Day 2021 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat What Should I Do on New Year's Eve? How Will I Survive the Cold Weather? Where are the Farmers Markets and Street Fairs? What is there to see and do near WTC/SOL/Brooklyn Bridge/SI ferry? What should I know about visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum? What Is There to See and Do in Brooklyn? How Do I Get to the Brooklyn Bridge? What Is There to See and Do in Queens? Exploring neighborhoods - where should I go and what should I see? Which is the best? ESB or TOTR or OWO? Which are the significant churches in Manhattan? Hidden Gems in the city - not so touristy How do I get from NYC to the Meadowlands and back? I'm Getting Married in NYC...what do I need to do? Should I Buy Knock-Off Purses? What to Do with Kids and How to Do It? What should we do at night -- especially with kids or under 21's? Places to eat (and drink) with a view Where is the Old FAQ? Trip Reports: Families with Young Kids - Add yours! Trip Reports: Groups of Friends - Add yours! Trip Reports: Couples - Add yours! Trip Reports: Families with Teenagers - Add yours! Trip Reports: Solo Travelers - Add yours! Trip Reports: Families of Adults - Add yours! - The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has come under sharp criticism over misleading educational books - KICD director Julius Juan says the institute regrets the errors spotted in different books - Juan has assured Kenyans that a thorough review of all the books has been commissioned The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has begun a review of all educational materials following a social media uproar. The whole confusion started when a netizen spotted a Grade 2 book which was said to be brainwashing children. READ ALSO: Outrage as primary school book with misleading information surfaces online READ ALSO: Kenyans in uproar against ethnically incorrect Kiambu county primary school textbook James Wamathai through Twitter shared a snippet of the English language book which taught kids how to worship their political leaders and treat them like gods. Teachers and learners are cheering. I saw a helicopter, it was flying low. We shouted it was our Member of parliament. He travels in a plane, it belongs to him. He told us if we do well he will give us a treat, the book read in part. READ ALSO: Mike Sonko bans nursery schools' graduations in Nairobi Kenyans in response said the book was disgusting and it aimed at brainwashing kids into thinking success emanates from material wealth. Part of the passage in the controversial book portrayed the wife of the supposed MP as a smartly dressed woman whose fingers were decorated with golden rings. READ ALSO: Mtoto wa Lulu Hassan atolewa nje kwa mara ya kwanza According to most Kenyans, this is where the whole sponsor, gold digger mentality starts. To them, this is pure evil that needs to be shunned and no one could understand how the book was part of the primary school curriculum. Not too long ago, Kenyans were left enraged after a Class Four book with ethnic undertones surfaced on social media. The textbook labelled Comprehensive Social Studies in Kiambu County, poked Kenyans, wrongly profiling certain tribes by describing their job functions. The book portrayed Nilotes as farm workers who made a living through working on tea, flower and coffee farms. 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. Go-To Salad Recipe From Chef Rachel Is Already On Tuko Bites! | Tuko Lifestyle Source: Breaking News - Constable Kelvin Ndosi had carjacked a victim and demanded KSh 300,000 - The victim's wife reported to police and the Constable was arrested in Ruiru - Earlier, he was arrested after he robbed a Mali national over KSh 5 million - A court on Wednesday, September 26, ordered that he be released on bond - He was arrested alongside one civilian while two other accomplices escaped - Cases of police involvement in crimes have recently been rife in the country Detectives from Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Sunday October 14, arrested a colleague involved in failed carjacking and kidnapping incident. Constable Kelvin Ndosi, who is attached at Nairobi's central police station, was nabbed by investors alongside his accomplice after they carjacked a victim identified as Philemon Okelo. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Mtoto wa Lulu Hassan atolewa nje kwa mara ya kwanza Detectives from Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Sunday, October 14, arrested a colleague involved in failed carjacking and kidnapping incident. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: NIS police officer arrested alongside 2 suspects, pistol, bhang and heroin recovered Police sources intimated to TUKO.co.ke, that the carjacking incident happened in Athi River on Saturday, October 13, at around 5pm. "The officer and his accomplices carjacked Philemon Ochieng Okelo at Delta petrol station in Athi River on Saturday around 5pm and demanded KSh 300,000 from the victim's wife," read a police report. READ ALSO: Joseph Irungu weeps in court upon seeing his mother The wife reported the incident at Mama Lucy AP Camp. Detectives launched a probe which saw the officer together with another civilian identified as Michael Ochieng arrested in Ruiru. The investigators established that the car the duo was using as a getaway vehicle belonged to the police. READ ALSO: Kiambu MCA surprises pastor with vehicle as present Two other suspects who escaped arrest, detectives established, are also police officers. They were identified as Corporal Kenedy Onyango and Constable Moses Njogu. Constables Ndosi and Njogu had been arrested on Tuesday, September 16, after they reportedly robbed Abdoulaye Bathily over KSh 5 million at his Kilimani residence. According to charge sheet seen by TUKO.co.ke, the duo was arraigned before a court on Wednesday, September 26, where they faced a count of robbery with violence. READ ALSO: James Orengo asks DPP Noordin Haji to probe William Ruto's wealth The court decision saw Ndosi released on bond. Cases of police officers involving in crime have recently been increasing and thus raising alarm. On Monday, October 15, TUKO.co.ke reported a case where a National Intelligence Service (NIS) officer based in Wajir was arrested alongside two other suspects in Nairobi's Eastleigh area. When searched, detectives recovered sachets of heroin, 23 rolls of bhang and a pistol. 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. Shosh Cecilia Story Continues: Shosh Cecilia Gets New Teeth | Tuko TV. Source: Tuko Breaking News - The decision was arrived at after Education CS met stakeholders - The KICD was asked to be more strict in its vetting process - Netizens claimed the book had substandard content like idolisation of politicians Following mounting pressure and criticism on quality of new curriculum books, the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF) has announced a recall of its Grade Two English textbooks. TUKO.co.ke had earlier reported outrage among the citizenry after questionable content suggesting idolisation of politicians emerged in the book. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens. READ ALSO: Government bows to pressure, to review misleading text books after public outrage A disputed page, in the text book contained an illustration where a wealthy politician arrived in a school aboard a helicopter and posh cars. Photo: UGC Source: Twitter READ ALSO: Kenyans in uproar against ethnically incorrect Kiambu county primary school textbook The decision to withdraw the textbook in question was informed after a meeting convened by Education CS Amina Mohammed and education stakeholders, the Nation reported on Monday, October 15. We have recalled, and we are still recalling the books as we continue printing a revised edition, said Foundation's corporate's affairs officer Janet Ngina Nzuki. READ ALSO: Outrage as primary school book with misleading information surfaces online The public among other stakeholders have been pressing upon the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to step up its vetting process in a move to guarantee quality content in text books. The KICD director Julius Jwan had on Sunday, October 14, expressed remorse after wide criticism of the the book was awash on social media. The decision to withdraw the textbook in question was informed after a meeting convened by Education CS Amina Mohammed and education stakeholders. Photo: CS Amina Mohammed Source: Facebook We regret the information that has been circulating in social media regarding the content of some textbooks and other educational materials, said Jwan. A disputed page in the text book contains an illustration where a wealthy politician arrived at a school aboard a helicopter and posh cars. The politician's wife also flanked him endowed with golden rings, an illustration netizens claimed could lead to idolisation of politicians. They also alleged the book had capacity to cultivate the sponsor mentality in the young ones. The helicopter landed at our school playground. Three big cars arrived in our compound. They, too, belonged to him. He came out and greeted us. His wife waved at us. She had golden rings in her hand. He told us that if we do well he will give us a treat. He will lift us up in the skies. I will try my best, reads an excerpt from the English course book. READ ALSO: Embattled TV anchor Jacque Maribe appears in court looking all spruced up and composed Another deputed page is where parts of the body were labeled with their functions, and to the chagrin of many, the role given to head was carrying loads. Lawrence Njagi, the Chairman to Kenya Publishers Association asked KICD to be rigorous in review and development in curriculum books so as to prevent such errors in future. We want quality books so that pupils are not confused, Njagi said. The new curriculum is set to be rolled out across the county come January 2019 from Grade one to Three . Currently, it is being piloted in at least 235 schools across the country and the program has since seen serious errors discovered thus throwing the quality of the curriculum in question. 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. Shosh Cecilia Story Continues: Shosh Cecilia Gets New Teeth | Tuko TV. Source: Tuko Kenya - Most Kenyans had not seen Irungu's mother even though she was always there - The mother had days earlier come to the defense of her son saying he was not a killer - Her face was blurred during the TV interview as well as that of her husband - She argued Irungu was God-fearing and was brought up in a Christian family Joseph Irungu alias Jowie, the prime suspect in the murder of business woman Monica Nyawira Kimani, was on Monday, October 15, overwhelmed by emotions and broke down when his mother showed up in court to support him. Irungu and his equally emotional mum, who has kept a rather a low profile since the case began in September 2018, could be seen embracing each other at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, moments before Judge Jessie Lessit walked in. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Joseph Irungu's distraught parents open up about son's life and big dreams Joseph Irungu and mother hugging at Milimani Law Courts on Monday, October 15, when the accused took their pleas in relation of murder of Monica Kimani. Photo: Nairobi News. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Joseph Irungus parents in shock after learning son could be a killer TUKO.co.ke understands the mother has always been there whenever her son appeared in court, except most Kenyans could not recognise her. Irungu's parents have reportedly been living in deep fear and preferred to avoid media attention since they first received news about his arrest in connection with a murder crime. READ ALSO: Mtoto wa Lulu Hassan atolewa nje kwa mara ya kwanza The distraught parents had days earlier refuted reports that their son committed the crime he was being accused of. But their faces were blurred during the TV interview leaving Kenyans wondering who they were. As one would expect, the parents strongly defended the accused, insisting he could not have committed the heinous criminal act owing to his strict Christian upbringing. READ ALSO: Police arrest TV girl Jacque Maribe over murder of Monica Kimani As was earlier reported by TUKO.co.ke, Irungu was arraigned on Monday morning alongside his lover Jacque Maribe to take plea in relation to the murder of Monica. The two are facing first degree murder charges filed against them by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), to which they pleaded not guilty. READ ALSO: Jacque Maribe fell in love with a guy who connected with her whole being - Rumored ex-lover Itumbi Irungu was arrested on September 24 while his girlfriend who was initially accused of being an accessory to the murder, was apprehended on September 29. They have been in remand since their arrests. Date for hearing of their bail applications will be known on Wednesday, October 17. 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. Joseph Irungu and Jacque Maribe in court over the murder of Monica Kimani - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - The family members were on their way to bury their granny who died after killing a huge snake - The granny was busy going about her house chores when she found the serpent in the kitchen - She killed it and started complaining of body pains before she died - Relatives said the python was reared by a well known witch in the area - Kakamega County has organised for a mass funeral service for the accident victims A Kakamega family that lost its loved ones in the horrific Kericho accident has linked their deaths to witchcraft after it emerged the five were going to bury their granny who had died mysteriously. Belina Lomen started complaining of pain after she killed a snake that was coiled in a corner in her kitchen. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Mtoto wa Lulu Hassan atolewa nje kwa mara ya kwanza The five family members lost their lives in the Kericho accident that claimed 58 lives. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: Joseph Irungu weeps in court upon seeing his mother In report by the Standard, Lomen was expecting some visitors and was cleaning up the house with the assistance of her house help. The house help saw the python and called the elderly woman who killed it with a stick and took it out of the house before setting it ablaze. After 45 minutes, my mother started complaining of pain all over her body. Her body started swelling before she lost sight. And as she was going to the house to rest, she fell at the door and died," said Caroline, Lomen's daughter. READ ALSO: Kiambu MCA surprises pastor with vehicle as present Caroline blamed the snake for the death of her mother and other five family members who died in the accident which claimed 58 lives. Lomen was buried on Saturday, October 13. Relatives claimed the snake was reared by a known individual suspected to be practicing witchcraft. The five family members were on their way to bury their granny before they met their untimely death. Photo: UGC Source: Twitter READ ALSO: Jacque Maribe's rumoured ex-lover Dennis Itumbi prays for her as she returns to court Joseph Munala lost his son Roston, grandsons and a daughter-in-law who had called him the day before the accident informing him they were to travel at night for the burial of their granny. We had planned to go together to the mortuary to collect the body of their grandmother Lomen that particular morning only to receive information about the tragedy, said Munala. Kakamega County organised a requiem mass for all the crash victims which will be held on Wednesday, October 17, with the families receiving free body transportation to their homes. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news Kenya News Today: Joseph Irungu and Jacque Maribe in court over the murder of Monica Kimani Tuko TV Source: Tuko - The country has been plunged into a campaign mood with referendum debate taking centre stage - ODM leader Raila Odinga is seen to be leading calls for a change of the Constitution - Jubilee and NASA leaders have divided opinion on the call for a plebiscite with DP Ruto leading the voice of descent - Kisumu governor Anyang' Nyong'o said the election date should not be changed from August when the referendum is held - Jubilee MP Jeremiah Kioni also opposed changing of election date from August to December Amid the raging debate on whether the country should be subjected to a referendum, Kisumu governor Anyang' Nyong'o has weighed in on the contentious debate by opposing a possible shift of the election date. Speaking during the AM live show on NTV on Monday, October 15, Nyongo declined calls for a referendum, maintaining that a change in the law would in turn alter the constitution as a whole. READ ALSO: Safaricom loses over 470000 subscribers to rival companies This piecemeal proposal to change this, to change that really does not help. I would discourage Parliament from making changes when we are looking at the constitution as a whole, he said. Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni who was also present in the interview also faulted calls for a referendum, particularly because of a possible change in election dates. READ ALSO: Parents of cheating students in national exams to be punished Elections in December will affect the Christmas period and the family month. However, changing the date of the election, without doubt, increases the term of the president and members of Parliament, he said. As TUKO.co.ke reported, Thirdway Alliance Kenya party leader and former presidential candidate Ekuru Aukot was the brainchild of Punguza Mizigo (ease the burden) popular initiative Constitution change and has so far obtained more than 500,000 endorsement signatures out of the required one million. The ODM party leader Raila Odinga has also been at the forefront of the fleet of leaders championing for a referendum, although his push for a change in the 2010 Constitution has raised suspicion among his perceived foes. Raila has been at the forefront with calls for a referendum Source: UGC READ ALSO: Joseph Irungu weeps in court upon seeing his mother The DP in a recent thin veiled attack on Raila who has been proposing the creation of a three-tier system of government, asked the proponents of the plebiscite to also commit they would accept defeat. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news. Kenya News Today: Joseph Irungu and Jacque Maribe in court over the murder of Monica Kimani Tuko TV: Source: Tuko Citizen TV anchor Yvonne Okwara has lost her elder brother. The beauty through a brief and sad post opened up on how her deafblind brother died peacefully after living with the disability for 50 years. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: TV girl Yvonne Okwara shows off her well toned body as she hits the gym READ ALSO: Yvonne Okwaras fake Facebook account continues to torment Kenyan men Her Instagram post spelled love, pain and disparity as she described how through her whole life she had cared and supported her beloved brother Albert Okwara. "I have lost my beloved brother! A few years ago, I gained the courage to speak about his disability and our family's long journey with him. So many of you reached out to me and were kind and empathetic, I thank you. My journey with Albert Okwara is now over, at least in this realm. He left us as peacefully and as quietly as he lived his entire life. My heart is broken, but my memories are full. Goodbye my beloved Albert! Fly with the angels," she wrote. READ ALSO: KTN anchor Yvonne Okwara narrates how she used to earn KSh 150 per day A few years back, there were no dry eyes in the room when the beauty decided to share her experience with a physically challenged brother. In a lengthy Facebook post, Yvonne stated it all begun five decades ago when her mother fell ill while pregnant. She contracted German measles which often presents no symptoms. READ ALSO: Mtoto wa Lulu Hassan atolewa nje kwa mara ya kwanza When Yvonne's mother gave birth, her baby started developing complications. In her own words, mental retardation and deafblindness started to kick in. According to the presenter, her mother went above and beyond to try and get treatment for Yvonne's brother to no avail. "She tried everything, no door was unknocked, multiple surgeries, consultations. She talked to every doctor in the country. All of them including the professors who told her they had traveled far and wide and had never seen anyone like my brother. That he would not live beyond his fifth birthday. Or his 10th. Nor his 12th. Albert Okwara is still here! 50 years later! What a journey it has been. Friends have fallen along the way, those that could make the choice did so and exited our lives. Called it a curse. To the entire community! I won't name names but he knows himself," she wrote. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news. Kenya News Today: Joseph Irungu and Jacque Maribe in court over the murder of Monica Kimani Tuko TV: Source: Tuko Kenya - Mohammed Ali alias Moha Jicho Pevu has been under sharp scrutiny from Kenyans - He recently said he was ready to unleash a damning report from inside Parliament to the public - Activist Boniface Mwangi shared a conversation between them where the MP was seeking for public help - Jicho Pevu denied he was seeking for validation for his work to be accepted by the public - Kipchumba Murkomen jumped into the debate and advised the Nyali MP to forget keyboard activists and concentrate on his work Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has handed Nyali legislator Mohammed Ali a thorough lecture regarding tackling online opinion from critics. Moha, or Jicho Pevu as he has come to be known, has found himself at the centre of criticism following his new found friendship with Deputy President William Ruto, his former bitter rival. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Uhuru alikuwa ananiibia soda Ikulu, asema dadake Kamaru Moha is set to release a documentary on the rot in parliament dubbed Dunia Gunia Source: UGC READ ALSO: Politician conned millions in witchcraft deal threatens to sue newspaper for defamation The investigative journalist who was in many ways seen as the last glimmer of hope to perhaps take on corruption from within Parliament, was on the receiving end of Kenyans who accused him of being bought off. Murkomen offers political lecture to Moha Jicho Pevu after MP threatened to expose rot in parliament Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Family of abducted TZ billionaire Mo Dewji offers KSh 44M reward for information about his whereabouts Moha has since promised to reveal the rot within Parliament, if an online statement by his friend and activist Boniface Mwangi is anything to go by. But according to Murkomen, the Nyali MP should not focus on the so-called keyboard warriors and simply deliver his promises to his electorate. My friend Moha Jicho Pevu, once you join politics, you must forget completely depending on the opinions of keyboard warriors. Serve your constituency diligently, they will mark your report card in five years, only service to the people will win you elections and give you lasting legacy, the senator's tweet read. READ ALSO: Ekuru Aukot needs 400,000 more signatures to initiate new referendum Murkomen was adamant Moha would only be remembered for what he did for the people who elected him. Despite battling in court and in the ballot for the Nyali seat, the investigative journalist turned MP seems determined to continue with his investigative work In fact, the vocal legislator on Monday promoted his upcoming documentaries dubbed Dunia Gunia. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news Kenya VS Ethiopia - Tuko Sports News: Wild Celebrations at Kasarani Stadium | Tuko TV: Source: Tuko - The family believes offering an incentive will help police in investigations - Dweji has been missing for four days since he was kidnapped while leaving the gym - His family wants to offer the hefty reward to any one with information leading to his whereabouts The family of Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji have placed a heavy price tag on any information leading to his rescue. Dweji, as TUKO.co.ke reported earlier, was abducted at gun point as he was leaving the gym in the swanky Oysterbay neighborhood of Dar es Salaam. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Uhuru alikuwa ananiibia soda Ikulu, asema dadake Kamaru READ ALSO: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation recalls Grade Two textbooks after public criticism Two foreigners have since been arrested in connection with the kidnapping, although the whereabouts of Dweji still remain unknown. His family has now promised a whooping KSh 44 million to any individual who will come up with information which could possibly lead to finding him. Azim Dewji, the billionaires uncle, spoke for the first time on Monday, October 15, at a press conference where he explained he placed the reward as a way of aiding police in investigations. Dewji's family have offered a reward of KSh 44 million to any information leading to his rescue Source: Facebook We want to assure anyone with the information about the whereabouts of our son to come forward and we will treat their information as secret, he said. READ ALSO: Joseph Irungu weeps in court upon seeing his mother The young billionaire was initially reported to have been rescued, although regional commissioner Paul Makonda came out to refute the reports. While the motive behind the abduction is yet to be identified, there is a strong belief the kidnapping has something to do with his success. The tycoon, fondly known to locals as Mo, has business empires across six African nations, with interests in textile manufacturing, flour milling, beverages and edible oils. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news Kenya VS Ethiopia - Tuko Sports News: Wild Celebrations at Kasarani Stadium | Tuko TV: Source: Tuko - The chair said Chiloba had objected audit in the commission because of his misdeals - He said it was up to the DPP and the DCI to investigate claims against the now former IEBC CEO - Chebukati said he had initiated reforms which could transform the commission - Chiloba was fired recently after he failed to attend to summons by the commissioners The troubles surrounding former Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) CEO Ezra Chiloba seems not to end any time soon after commission Chair Wafula Chebukati asked investigating agencies to probe him. According to Chebukati, on several occasions, Chiloba objected an internal audit on the cost of the 2017 General Election because of unscrupulous deals he had engaged in. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Kakamega family link death of five members who died in Kericho accident to witchcraft IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati said Chiloba had objected internal audit because of his unscrupulous deals in the commission. Photo: UGC Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Matiangi suspends leave for all police officers due to KCSE, KCPE exams Speaking during the launch of continuous voter registration exercise at Unoa Grounds in Makueni County, the chair said all those who engaged in activities of embezzling public funds should rot in jail. "It is now up to the DPP and the DCI to investigate and substantiate the claims. For my part, I am of the view that all those who are involved in any misdeals must be held accountable," said Chebukati. He divulged the commission had initiated several reforms to address all issues that were raised in the KPMG report. READ ALSO: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation recalls Grade Two textbooks after public criticism We are looking into the high cost of elections and other concerns. We are reforming. All is not well but we are not sleeping. A new IEBC is in the offing, Chebukati added . On Friday, October 12, Chiloba revealed he had been sacked by the commission after he failed to attend to summons over issues raised in the internal audit report. IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba cited malice in his untimely dismissal from the commission. Photo: UGC Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Kenyans rip apart Miguna Miguna for belittling Harambee Stars victory against Ethiopia He, however, decried reasons raised by the chairman in sacking him, citing malice. According to Chiloba, the letter stated he had twice snubbed disciplinary committee summons hence warranting his unconditional dismissal despite him informing the commission he was attending classes at the University of Oxford. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news Kenya News Today: Joseph Irungu and Jacque Maribe in court over the murder of Monica Kimani Tuko TV Source: Kenyan Breaking News England condemn Spain to first home loss in 15 years Iceland relegated to League B after third defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland extend 100% starts Next games in these groups: 15 November; friendlies WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS League A Highlights: Iceland 1-2 Switzerland Group A2: Iceland 1-2 Switzerland An outstanding goalkeeping display from Yvon Mvogo condemned the hosts to relegation. Mvogo denied Gylfi Sigurdsson on multiple occasions, as Haris Seferovic's header and Michael Lang's finish put the Swiss two up. Alfred Finnbogason's wonderful strike from distance kept Iceland in it, but they couldn't find a way past the inspired Mvogo. Highlights: Spain 2-3 England Group A4: Spain 2-3 England England inflicted Spain's first competitive defeat on home turf since June 2003 with a fine display in Seville. Raheem Sterling whose well-taken brace doubled his international goal tally in one game and Marcus Rashford gave the visitors a three-goal advantage at the interval. Substitute Paco Alcacer and Sergio Ramos scored in the second half, but England held on to move to within two points of Spain at the top of the section. League B Highlights: Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 Northern Ireland Group B3: Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 Northern Ireland In echoes of their first encounter last month, Bosnia and Herzegovina punished Northern Ireland's lack of composure in front of goal in a match decided by two clinical strikes in Sarajevo. Edin Dzeko consigned the visitors to a third straight defeat with a classy finish in each half, giving his side a commanding six-point lead at the summit. League C Highlights: Estonia 3-3 Hungary Group C2: Estonia 3-3 Hungary Estonia struck first in a pulsating Tallinn tie, Siim Luts rounding off a well-worked move, but Hungary were level within four minutes thanks to Dominik Nagy's perfectly-placed shot on the stretch. Quick feet from Adam Szalai allowed the Hungary captain to fire the visitors in front midway through the second half, but Mate Patkai deflected in a cross to make it all square again. Henri Anier's 79th-minute goal was cancelled out by Szalai two minutes later. Estonia registered their first point, Hungary stay third. Highlights: Finland 2-0 Greece Group C2: Finland 2-0 Greece Finland need just a point from their last two matches to guarantee top spot after registering a fourth successive win (and clean sheet) in Group C2. Pyry Soiri put the hosts in the ascendancy with a goal 52 seconds into the second half, capitalising on some lax defending, and Glen Kamara sealed it late on. And all this despite in-form Teemu Pukki limping off early on. League D Group D2: Belarus 0-0 Moldova Both sides were denied by the woodwork in Minsk, Vitalie Damascan's fierce drive coming off the post early in the second half in Moldova's best move. At the other end, Ion Jardan cleared a Mikhail Sivakov shot off the line before Igor Stasevich curled against the post in added time. Belarus drop to second, a point behind Luxembourg and three ahead of third-placed Moldova. Highlights: Luxembourg 3-0 San Marino Group D2: Luxembourg 3-0 San Marino Luxembourg climbed back to the top of the section after a commanding victory. David Turpel's early strike set the tone and the home side were well on top when Alex Gasperoni saw red nine minutes after half-time. Goals from Danel Sinani and Vincent Thill duly sealed the points. Croatia 2-1 Jordan President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stressed that Defender of Ukraine Day is not a gender-specific holiday and congratulated the men and women who defend Ukraine. Its not a gender-specific holiday, just for boys. 55,000 women now serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Their number should even increase. The day before yesterday, the law on ensuring the equal rights and opportunities during military service was signed. We cancel unreasonable restrictions on the service of women in the military reserve and their participation in the reserve training. We consolidate the principle that women receive access to positions and military ranks equal to that of men, President Poroshenko said during the participation in the ceremony of taking oath by students of the Ivan Bohun Military Lyceum in Kyiv on October 14. Poroshenko recalled that he had signed the decree to award a rank of general to Head of the Military Medical Department of the Security Service of Ukraine Liudmyla Shuhaley, who thus became the first female general in Ukraine. ol Putin has co-opted the Moscow church in efforts to rebuild Russian statehood and restore the country to great power status, having using the church to project an image of Russia as a bulwark of traditional values. After a three-day synod last week, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church took a momentous step. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said he intended to grant a church in Ukraine full recognition, or autocephaly, removing it from control of the Russian Orthodox church in Moscow. The Russian church has signaled it might respond by breaking with Istanbul potentially the biggest rupture since the Great Schism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism in 1054, according to the Financial Times editorial. The Russia-Ukraine church split is a geopolitical rift, too, according to the publication. It further undermines Moscows attempts to keep Kyiv within its political orbit, and to re-establish influence across the former Soviet Union. It hits at president Vladimir Putins concept of a broader Russian World spanning the supposedly brother nations of Ukraine and Belarus, united in part by Orthodoxy. Read alsoMoscow vows to protect Orthodox believers in Ukraine The Moscow patriarch was given the power to ordain the orthodox churchs head in Kyiv in 1686. But a breakaway Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate was formed in the 1990s after the Soviet collapse. Its ranks have swelled since 2014, fuelled by anger in the Kyiv church over Russian orthodoxys failure to condemn the east Ukraine bloodshed that has cost 10,000 lives. Indeed, Orthodox Russian businessmen and officials played a role in fomenting the conflict. If Bartholomew grants autocephaly to the Kyiv church in November as expected, Ukrainian independence will receive a powerful boost. So, too, may the prospects in elections next May of president Petro Poroshenko, who has championed Kyivs religious freedom. The blow to his Russian counterpart is arguably even bigger. Putin has co-opted the Moscow church in efforts to rebuild Russian statehood and restore the country to great power status. In recent years, as nationalist populism has risen in Europe, he has used the church to project an image of Russia as a bulwark of traditional values. Losing the Ukrainian patriarchate will diminish Russias weight in eastern Orthodoxy, and hence Moscows 500-year-old claim to be the Third Rome. It will also demonstrate the extent to which Putins actions have backfired by driving a wedge between Ukrainians and Russians. Read alsoMFA Ukraine comments on Kremlins intention to protect Orthodox believers in Ukraine What makes the moment particularly perilous is that it coincides with a steep fall in the Russian presidents approval rating after unpopular pensions reforms that raised the retirement age. Kyiv and western capitals fear Russia might again send special forces into Ukraine, to barricade churches loyal to Moscow and prevent them shifting to the Kyiv patriarchate, leading to potential bloodshed. Putins popularity at home soared after the Crimean annexation, the publication recalls. The weakness of the Russian economy might prompt Kremlin strategists to try a similar manoeuvre again. Given the longer-term harm it is now clear that the 2014 intervention did to Putins neo-imperial project, however, any attempt to impinge on Ukraines religious freedom would be even more misguided and dangerous, The Financial Times editorial concludes. Hungary has been blocking the meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, alleging violations of the rights of Ukraine-based Hungarians. Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg told Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin that unlocking the meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Commission depends on the agreements yet to be made by Ukraine and Hungary in the context of ensuring the language rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia region in the framework of the Ukrainian law on education, that's according to a report posted on Facebook by Ukraine's Mission to NATO. On October 15, Klimkin met with Stoltenberg at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the report says. In particular, the parties exchanged views on the working mechanisms of a special partnership between Ukraine and NATO, in particular, meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Commission at the ministerial level. According to the Secretary Generals estimates, the key to unblocking the Commissions work lies in the plane of agreements between Ukraine and Hungary on ensuring the language rights of the Hungarian minority. An important step will be the full implementation of the recommendations of the Venice Commission on the implementation of the law of Ukraine on education, the report says. In turn, Klimkin noted that the goal of the Ukrainian state is to ensure equal rights for Zakarpattia residents, to create conditions for full development as citizens of Ukraine, to support their languages, traditions and culture. Read alsoHungarian NGO spreading fake about persecution of national minorities in Ukraine media As UNIAN reported, Hungary is blocking the holding of meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, alleging a violation of the rights of Hungarians living in Ukraine, over the provision of the education law stipulating that the language of instruction in educational facilities be the state language (Ukrainian). The new law on education, which came into force on September 28, 2017, introduces a 12-year secondary education in Ukraine, with the language of the educational process being the state language. The right of national minorities to study in their native language is realized through classes (groups) with the language of instruction being the language of the respective national minorities, along with the state language. Language provisions of the law (Art. 7) caused concern in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Greece, and Bulgaria. Read alsoKlimkin: Budapest's position on language harms ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine According to the conclusion of the Venice Commission, promulgated on December 8, 2017, the Ukrainian authorities are recommended to balance the position of the language article. On February 14, 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft law (No. 8046), which provides for the extension until 2023 of the transition period for the implementation of the language clause of the Law on Education. Now this draft law is under consideration by parliamentary committees. Read alsoUkraine MFA: Hungary acts as if Ukraine's Zakarpattia its territory In March, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto demanded that Ukraine amend the law on education and postpone its implementation until 2023, otherwise Budapest will block meetings important for Ukraine at the level of the European Union and NATO. Another escalation in relations between Kyiv and Budapest was provoked by the situation with the secret distribution of Hungarian passports to Ukrainians in Zakarpattia. On October 4, the Hungarian consul in the city of Berehove was declared persona non grata and demanded to leave the territory of Ukraine. In response, Hungary announced the expulsion of the Ukrainian consul in Budapest. Following unification, the liturgical addresses should, in principle, be in Ukrainian. After the creation of a single local Orthodox church in Ukraine, the language of preaching will be mostly Ukrainian, according to Patriarch Filaret. In some cases, Filaret noted, clerics may use other languages, according to TV Channel 5. The liturgical addresses should, in principle, be in Ukrainian. And sermons in Ukrainian, as well. But we will allow sermons both in Church Slavonic and in Russian. That is, there will not be such thing, you know, as oppression with respect to the language of preaching, Filaret said. Read alsoRussian empire losing one of last levers of influence on its former colony Poroshenko on decision of Ecumenical Patriarchate On October 11, following a meeting of the Synod, a decision was announced, stating that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceeds to granting autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine. In addition, the legal binding of the Synods letter of 1686 was abolished, thus taking the Kyiv Metropolis from under Moscow's canonical jurisdiction. Also, head of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret and head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Makariy were reinstated in their canonical status. On October 12, the Kyiv Patriarchate called on the episcopate, clergy and believers of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to begin the preparation of the Unification Council. "Members of the Holy Synod found it impossible to continue the eucharistic communication with the Patriarchate of Constantinople," the Russian Orthodox Church said in a statement. The Russian Orthodox Church decided to break the eucharistic communication with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as reported on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church. "At the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, held in Minsk on October 15, 2018, the Statement of the Holy Synod was adopted in connection with the encroachment of the Constantinople Patriarchate on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. Members of the Holy Synod found it impossible to continue the eucharistic communication with the Patriarchate of Constantinople," reads the statement. Read alsoPatriarch Filaret comments on language of preaching in Ukraine's new church As UNIAN reported earlier, on October 11, following the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a decision was announced that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceeds to granting autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine. In addition, the legal binding of Synods Letter of 1686 was abolished, thus pulling the Kyiv Metropolis from under Moscow jurisdiction. The Ecumenical Patriarchate also reinstated head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Philarchate Filaret and head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Makariy in their canonical status. Read alsoAutocephaly for Ukraine Church may become pretext for another Russian invasion - media On October 12, the UOC-KP called for the episcopate, clergy and believers of the UAOC and the UOC-MP to begin preparations for a unifying Council. On September 25, the UOC-MP declared that it was demanding that the Patriarchate of Constantinople withdraw its exarchs from Ukraine. In particular, the Holy Synod of the UOC-MP at a meeting held in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra September 25, expressed its attitude regarding the appointment of the Exarchs of the Constantinople Patriarchate to Kyiv. Russian occupation forces in Donbas fired on a number of positions of the Ukrainian military from grenade launchers of various types, large-caliber machine guns, and small arms. Over the past day, Russian invaders 23 times opened fire on the positions of the Ukrainian troops, including four times with the use of weapons banned by the Minsk agreements, Ukrainian military officials report. "The enemy led aimed fire from 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, large-caliber machine guns, and small arms," the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters reported Monday morning. The JFO press center noted that the Russian-occupying troops fired on the positions of the Joint Forces in the area of the settlements of Krymske, Zolote, Katerynivka, Luhanske, Novoluhanske, Avdiyivka, Pisky, Maryinka, Novotroyitske, Bohdanivka, Pavlopil, Hnutove, Vodiane, Lebedynske, and Shyrokyne. Read alsoJFO: Ukraine reports 2 WIA's in Donbas on Oct 14 The strongholds of the Ukrainian troops near Luhanske, Novoluhanske, Hnutove, and Vodiane came under enemy fire from 82mm mortars. Three servicemen of the Joint Forces were wounded in the attacks. According to intelligence data, over the past 24 hours, two invaders were killed and four wounded. Since the beginning of the day, the enemy fired three times at the positions of the Joint Forces in Avdiyivka, Lebedynske, and Shyrokyne using grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms. Heavy weapons were not used. A soldier of the Joint Forces was wounded, the press center wrote. No casualties have been reported among the Ukrainian troops. Monday morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully repulsed an attack by Russian invaders in the Avdiivka area in Donetsk region, according to the Joint Forces Operation HQ spox, Oleksiy Zhuganov. At 6:00 in the morning, the enemys attempts to conduct active assault operations were spotted. In the area of Avdiyivka, our defenders successfully repelled the enemy attack. There were no losses during the standoff among the military personnel of the Joint Forces, the statement said. "Two groups of occupiers, being completely confident that they were discretely moving forward the positions of our troops, approached the effective firing range. The enemy movements were constantly monitored," according to the press center of the JFO HQ. Read alsoAnother enemy drone downed by Ukraine's Joint Forces near Lysychansk in Donbas It is noted that the occupiers retreated, but not all of them. "The enemy left behind their PKK light machine gun, which according to its registration tag was never supplied to the Ukrainian Army," added the spokesman. Earlier, the Ukrainian military posted a video showing their Mi-24 helicopter downing the Russian UAV Orlan-10. The Arctic Circle is increasingly viewed as key to UK and NATO strategic interests as the melting of the ice caps have opened up new shipping routes being used by Russia and China. Russian fighter jets and ships are trying to provoke British and Dutch marines on exercise in the Arctic Circle, one of the Netherlands' most senior military officials has revealed. General Jeff Mac Mootry, the Dutch Marine Corps' director of operations, described the tense encounters near Norway as part of a "Cold War 3.0," where Russia relies on a combination of military displays and technology to undermine Western governments, according to The Telegraph. "What we see is there is an increasing interest of Russian naval vessels when we exercise," he told the Telegraph at a briefing in Rotterdam. "For example, when we do launching exercises as part of our ballistic missile defense programme, we see more Russian ships than normally and they come closer to us than in past decades. They clearly want to make their presence visible." He added: "We also see Russian fighters fly closer over our warships just to make their presence known, you could almost call it, in a provocative way." The Arctic Circle is increasingly viewed as key to UK and NATO strategic interests as the melting of the ice caps have opened up new shipping routes being used by Russia and China. Approximately 400 marines from 45 Commando have been training with the Dutch Marine Corps in Norway as part of their joint Amphibious Task Force. Read alsoNATO prepared for 'growing Russian threat' media In a state visit that begins on October 23, both forces will take place in a joint exercise on the River Thames to commemorate 45 years of working together. Gen Mac Mootry also said that he doubted Britain's departure from the EU would undermine their close security partnership. "We are both NATO partners so I don't foresee any difference in our armed forces working together once Brexit is finalised," he said. "Whether you like it or not, you are still part of Europe." Read alsoRussia, West show war games arent just games: ex-NATO chief Gen Mac Mootry's warning came just a few weeks after Gavin Williamson, the UK defense secretary, revealed a "defense Arctic strategy" which would send 800 commandos to Norway next year. The troops will also build a base in the north of the country. We see Russian submarine activity very close to the level that it was at the Cold War, and its right that we start responding to that," Mr Williamson said in a speech at this year's Conservative party conference. If we could turn back the clock 10 years many people thought that the era of submarine activity in the High North, in the North Atlantic, and the threat that it posed did disappear with the fall of the Berlin Wall. This threat has really come back to the fore. Ten years ago, Lifebuoy co-founded Global Handwashing Day (GHD) to help raise awareness of the importance of handwashing with soap in preventing disease. GHD is now one of the largest brand activations in the world, impacting millions of people across all five continents. On 15 October each year, over 200 million people take part in celebrating GHD in more than 100 countries. Since 2010 more than 15,000 employee volunteers have helped us share the difference that simply washing your hands with soap and water can make to reducing the spread of disease and infant mortality in children under five. On this special anniversary we speak to five people around the world who all play a part in bringing Lifebuoys purpose to life saving lives and helping parents to protect their families from illness. Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for renewing the friendship between China and the Netherlands as he arrived in the country on Sunday for an official visit. This is the first such visit to the country by a Chinese premier in 14 years. "I have come to the Netherlands to renew and enhance a long-running friendship. A bright future dawns only when we maintain," Li said in an article published Sunday on newspaper Nouvelles D'Europe. Noting that the world is now facing the headwinds of unilateralism and protectionism, Li said the solution to the challenges lies in "making a stronger commitment to uphold multilateralism, free trade, economic globalization and an open world economy, and striving to sustain the hard-won global recovery with concrete and concerted efforts." The premier also urged the two countries to further enhance cooperation. The development in China driven by a new round of reform and opening-up has created new space for cooperation between the two countries, Li said. "As a Dutch saying goes, happiness doubles when you share it. Likewise, opportunities will multiply when we share them," Li said in the article titled "A time to renew friendship and embrace a brighter future." Efforts to advance the Belt and Road Initiative will provide more opportunities to leverage the advantageous location of the Netherlands as the gateway to Europe and facilitate connectivity between China and Europe by making full use of the convenient land, sea and air transportation in this country, he said. The boom of new growth drivers and upgrading of the industrial structure in China will cultivate new areas of technological cooperation, and Chinese people's pursuit of a better life with higher household spending promises a new market for quality Dutch products, he said. Meanwhile, China's innovation-driven development strategy being implemented in full swing will offer new impetus for creative industries in the Netherlands to join in the development of the innovation economy in China, Li said. "With a host of measures in place to deepen reform and expand opening-up, especially to widen market access for foreign investment in services sectors, the financial sector included, China will generate more promising business opportunities for Dutch companies and investors," said Li. On China's business environment, Li said China will "make greater efforts and take faster steps to improve" it, as well as "expand market access for foreign investors, and protect intellectual property rights." "This is a commitment China has made not just to the world but more so to serve China's own development. We will stay committed to these goals," he added. Stating that the process of reform and opening-up will see China further align its domestic rules with international practices and seek development synergy with the rest of the world, Li said the Netherlands and other countries are welcome to share in China's development opportunities. "I trust that the Netherlands known for its pioneering spirit will be an early bird in China's new round of reform and opening-up. With joint efforts, China, the Netherlands and Europe as a whole will all embrace a brighter future," the premier said. October 15 2018 CALA Homes have taken possession of the former Jordanhill Campus, clearing the way for the developer to begin delivery of over 400 homes. Close to 100m will be invested across the 31 acre-site, renamed Jordanhill Park, with the B-listed David Stow building retained as its centerpiece. Work to deliver this vision will begin immediately with the erection of site hoardings to block access to the campus whilst demolition and construction activity takes place. Jim McIntyre, managing director, CALA Homes (West), commented: Jordanhill Park is a landmark development for CALA, with its mix of homes to suit all, from young professionals to growing families and downsizers. Located in the heart of Glasgow, this development will provide the city with much needed well-built, high quality homes. Designed by 7N Architects the first apartments are expected to be delivered by early 2020 on Southbrae Drive. The Punjab Healthcare Commission Monday imposed Rs 150,000 fine on a laboratory for giving fake blood test report, and working without a licence issued by the PHC. LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :The Punjab Healthcare Commission Monday imposed Rs 150,000 fine on a laboratory for giving fake blood test report, and working without a licence issued by the PHC. According to available information, one Muhammad Amjad had submitted a complaint with the PHC, stating that he had got his blood tested from the Pearl Laboratory Burewala, in which hepatitis C positive was declared in the report. But after more investigation, it was learnt that the report was issued without any proper tests, alleged Amjad. The PHC investigation found the complaint correct and thus imposed Rs 100,000 fine on the laboratory for giving a fake report and not getting a licence from the PHC. Rs 50,000 fine was imposed on its main branch in Lahore for issuing a fake report on its letter head and not appointing qualified staff. Another facility, Arsalan Lab Burewala, was fined Rs 30,000 for not getting registration and licence from the PHC. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 15th Oct, 2018) The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, will conduct a campaign to treat the eye ailments of 5,000 individuals in Morocco's remote villages and regions. The campaign, initiated by H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, will see 2,000 patients receive Cataract surgery, as well as the provision of medical examinations and medicines to 3,000 individuals. The ERC today signed a cooperation agreement with its local partner, the Moroccan Medical Solidarity Association, at its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, to promote coordination and cooperation between the two sides, ensuring the success of the campaign. Dr. Mohammed Ateeq Al Falahi, ERC Secretary-General attended the signing ceremony, where the agreement was signed by Fahad Abdulrahman bin Sultan, Deputy Secretary-General for International Development and Cooperation Affairs, and Dr. Mohamed Balmaki, Secretary-General of the Moroccan Medical Solidarity Association. Dr. Al Falahi said that Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak's initiative reflects her considerable role in fulfilling the social, health and development needs of people and communities in need. Dr. Balmaki praised the UAEs humanitarian aid policies, as well as the role of the ERC, led by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in Al Dhafra Region and Chairman of the ERC, in improving the humanitarian conditions in Morocco. You are here: World Flash Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on late Sunday held phone talk with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, discussing the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. During the phone call, the two leaders emphasized the importance of forming a joint working group to make investigation on the case, the report cited Turkish presidential source as saying. Saudi King Salman also affirmed his country's solid ties with Turkey, saying no one could undermine the strength of their bilateral relationship, the Saudi Foreign Ministry tweeted after the phone conversation. Khashoggi, journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Unconfirmed reports said that Khashoggi was likely killed inside the compound, which was denied by Saudi officials as "baseless." Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia to explain the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, saying the kingdom's consulate should provide evidence that Khashoggi exited the building after entering. A Saudi delegation arrived in Turkey on Friday to discuss the case with Turkish authorities, following Turkish presidential spokesperson announced to form a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation team upon the kingdom's request. (@FahadShabbir) An official trade delegation from the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, SCCI, has explored ways to boost economic and trade relations with the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima in Morocco. SHARJAH, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 15th Oct, 2018) An official trade delegation from the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, SCCI, has explored ways to boost economic and trade relations with the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima in Morocco. The delegation reviewed opportunities for mutual investment in vital sectors both in Sharjah and Morocco. They also learned about opportunities of investment and exchange of experiences in Morocco during their visit to a number of economic and industrial enterprises in Tanger. At the end of the visit a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, was also signed to enhance joint cooperation. Abdallah Sultan Al Owais, Chairman of Sharjah's Chamber and head of the delegation, met with Mohamed El Yaacoubi, Governor of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region; and Omar Moro, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of the region; to discuss ways of encouraging business community in Sharjah to invest in various economic fields. Commenting on the partnership, Al Owais noted that the chamber is open to fully cooperate with the business community in Tanger to achieve common goals, which contributes to enhancing the historical brotherly ties between the UAE and Morocco. He added that the cooperation comes as part of the directives of H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. Moro, in turn, highlighted that Moroccan-Emirati relations have historically witnessed the signing of 60 cooperation agreements across different sectors such as agriculture, tourism and industry, as well as the involvement of UAE investment groups in development projects in northern Morocco. The meeting was attended by senior officials from both sides. (@FahadShabbir) Ahmed Nasser Al Khaja, the UAE Ambassador to Guinea, met on Saturday Simeon Angue, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Equatorial Guinea, in capital Malabo. MALABO, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 15th Oct, 2018) Ahmed Nasser Al Khaja, the UAE Ambassador to Guinea, met on Saturday Simeon Angue, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Equatorial Guinea, in capital Malabo. The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the UAE's participation in the west African country's national day celebrations, tackled ways of bolstering bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest. Minister Simeon Angue thanked the UAE for taking part in the 50th national day celebrations, a gesture which, he said, would contribute to strengthening bilateral ties. Meanwhile, the UAE ambassador met Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, the Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea, to discuss aspects of joint cooperation in areas of energy. Lima expressed his country's desire to further boost relations with the UAE. Al Khaja said the UAE was interested in expanding scope of joint cooperation with the African country. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 14th Oct, 2018) Jamal Saif Al Jarwan, Secretary-General of the UAE International Investors Council, UAEIIC, and Shingiz Ishimbekov, Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the UAE, discussed potential investment opportunities in Kyrgyzstan and means of exploring them further. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed joint action plans launched in May, and discussed the potential for an UAEIIC delegation to visit Kyrgyztan to explore investment opportunities and meet with people in business. Al Jarwan said that the Council, which is a platform for communication and supports its member companies, is working on how to explore and evaluate investment opportunities for the Emirati public and private sector companies. He added that Central Asian countries share the same traditions, and the council considers this region as a promising market. The Emirati-Kyrgyz Economic Forum held joint workshops during its last meeting in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, and other meetings were held between representatives of Dubai International Ports and the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan on developing a free economic zone in Narin Governorate. Ishimbekov highlighted the strong ties between the UAE and his country, which have signed many investment protection agreements and other agreements that aim to avoid double taxation and promote economic cooperation, as well as the visit of the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan to the UAE earlier this year. Kyrgyzstan is characterised by its reserves of major quantities of gold, as well as Ethmed stone kohl, coal, mercury, tungsten, uranium and zinc. Most of its foreign trade is in gold and precious stones, most of which goes to the UAE, Switzerland, Kazakhstan and Russia while its major areas of investment are tourism, mining, agriculture, food and infrastructure. BAHAWALPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Oct, 2018 ) :12-Days Anti-measles campaign was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner Bahawalpur Muhammad Ayub Khan at Bahawal Victoria Hospital Sunday. Medical Superintendent BVH Dr Aziz-ur-Rehman, Chief Executive Officer District Health Authority Bahawalpur Dr Fayyaz Anwar and District Coordinator Preventive Dr Zakir Ali were also present at the occasion. Talking to media persons on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner told that as many 655,907 children from age of six months to seven years old will be administered anti-measles vaccines in Bahawalpur District. He told that 5 district Supervisors and 30 tehsil Supervisors would monitor the campaign in which 552 teams will perform duties including 436 mobile teams and 116 fixed teams. Deputy Commissioner further told that various departments including school education Department, Rescue 1122, Social Welfare, Civil Hospital, Livestock Department, Agriculture Department and Wildlife Department have been directed to provide assistance in ensuring 100 percent results out of the campaign. The 12-days door-to-door campaign would start from tomorrow. Bahria University Islamabad Monday held two-day international conference on "Emerging Challenges for Organizations in Developing Economies (ECODE)" with an aim to offer a platform for academicians, researchers, practitioners and students to learn and share knowledge. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Bahria University Islamabad Monday held two-day international conference on "Emerging Challenges for Organizations in Developing Economies (ECODE)" with an aim to offer a platform for academicians, researchers, practitioners and students to learn and share knowledge. The conference was divided into different themes, each presenting an emerging challenge in today's developing economies, a press release issued here said. Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, Professor Dr Assad Zaman Vice Chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad said that the involvement of youth in national development was must as youth played one of the most important roles in nation building and strengthening economy. In his opening remarks, Pro-Rector of Bahria University, Rear Admiral Nasir Mahmood HI (M)highlighting the themes of conference said that Pakistan was experiencing phenomenal growth in education sector. "At Bahria University, our approach to compete with global challenges is to build on the belief that sustainable growth is only possible in an environment which values and promotes innovation and the use of technology," he added. He further said that there was a dire need for researchers to work on emerging economies to compete effectively. The key note speakers at the first day of the conference were Mr. Patchamuthu Illango, the Country Director World Bank and Dr. David Roland, Valparaiso University USA. Conference is divide into various panel discussions including Comparative Education of West & East, Innovation & Responsible Entrepreneurship, Overcoming Financial Obstacles to Development, Technology implementation and new ways of managing businesses. Rector Bahria University Vice Admiral (R) Muhammad Shafiq HI (M) expressed his gratitude to speakers and distributed shields at the end of the opening ceremony. (@FahadShabbir) Vice Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China MA Aiguo Monday called on Minister for Planning, Development and Reform (PD&R) Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Vice Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China MA Aiguo Monday called on Minister for Planning, Development and Reform (PD&R) Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar. Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar said that Pakistan's agriculture sector employed 45% of manpower, contributed about 24 % in GDP, provided livelihood to 64 % of the country's rural population and shared 20% in total exports. The Minister said that Pak-China agricultural cooperation had to focus on the vertical increase in productivity of existing crops, transfer of knowledge and technologies, seed and plant protection as well disease control, value addition and marketing of agri-products including dairy, livestock, and fisheries. He pointed out that joint ventures, value addition, cold chain management for fruits and vegetables, marketing and branding would help Pakistan to overcome the past weaknesses and increase its agri-export to China and other nations of the world. The Minister said that both sides should work closely and identify areas of future cooperation. MA Aiguo said that agricultural cooperation would set new and important direction that should focus on areas as well as the level of cooperation and finalization of specific plans. He further said that China was ready to share its expertise and successful agriculture models with Pakistan. Both the sides agreed to broaden agro-cooperation by adopting a comprehensive approach to fast track communication and implementation to tap potentials of the most important agriculture sector in Pakistan. Secretary Planning, Zafar Hassan, Project Director CPEC, Hassan Daud and officials from ministries were present on the occasion. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday declined a request for suspending an FIR, registered against some lawyers for allegedly torturing a police officer. LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Oct, 2018 ) :Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday declined a request for suspending an FIR, registered against some lawyers for allegedly torturing a police officer. The CJP also denied the request for preventing the arrest of the accused lawyers and sought a copy of video of lawyers' assault on the police officer. The chief justice was hearing a suo motu notice of an incident wherein some lawyers had subjected a police officer to torture at Lahore District and Sessions court premises. At the outset of the proceedings, Lahore Bar Association (LBA) President Malik Arshad and Secretary Sohail Murshad appeared before the court, whereas a large number of lawyers were also present. The chief Justice expressed his dismay, saying that he felt ashamed of such incidents. To which, Malik Arshad submitted that no such step had been taken which could bring shame to him (CJP), while terming the incident a conspiracy. He complained that the police had included Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for slapping a policeman. At this, the chief justice observed that if the police had included Section 7 of ATA illegally, then they could approach him. To which, Malik Arshad submitted that it was decided that the courtroom videos would not be leaked. However, the chief justice questioned that why that should not be done. He observed that he was father of the institution, and he was ready to face even abuses for protection of its respect. But, LBA President Malik Arshad contended that he was the bar president and he would not let down the bar. At this stage, lawyers also chanted slogans of 'shame, shame' during the proceedings. The top judge remarked that those chanting the slogans should not come to his court the next time. Malik Arshad, however, submitted that the slogan was for the police and complained that the police attitude had been "very bad". "I will tender my resignation, but I will not do injustice," the CJP said and added that he could not be pressurised with hooliganism. He also observed that the video of lawyers assault would be played at the next hearing to determine the responsible. LBA Secretary Sohail Murshad asked the court to suspend the FIR and prevent the arrest of the accused lawyers. However, the chief justice turned down the request saying that no orders would be passed till hearing the other side. To which, the secretary submitted that a sit-in would be staged outside the court. The CJP, however, responded that if they stage the sit-in, he would come and see it. Subsequently, the CJP ordered that the video in question be played during the next hearing and told the Punjab Bar to continue its inquiry into the matter. Later on, lawyers gathered outside the court and chanted slogans against the police. The chief justice reached the place and listened to their grievances. Lawyers told the CJP that they were his soldiers and they would always protect the respect of the judiciary. The CJP had taken notice of the incident in which a group of about 15 lawyers, led by advocates Saif Khokhar, Nabeel Haider and Mustafa Khokhar, had attacked ASI Samar Riaz Khan in the district and sessions court when he went there to submit the record on Thursday. The Islampura police had registered a case under terrorism charges against lawyers for torturing, detaining and injuring the policeman. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The Accountability Court (AC) of Islamabad on Monday adjourned the hearing of Flagship investment reference against former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif till Tuesday. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :The Accountability Court (AC) of Islamabad on Monday adjourned the hearing of Flagship investment reference against former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif till Tuesday. AC Judge Arshad Malik, who resumed the hearing of Flagship Investment reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), informed the two sides that the apex court had extended time period last time to complete the trial in the remaining two references. Nawaz Sharif, who appeared before the court, was allowed to leave the proceedings earlier. NAB witness Wajid Zia, Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head, while recording his statement, informed the court that the JIT was given limited time to complete its investigation into the corruption allegations against the Sharif family. It was asked to probe whether the former prime minister had assets beyond known sources of his income and from which sources the accused had received money for the Flagship Investment. Wajid Zia said the JIT was also mandated to find out truth about the letter of Qatri Prince Hammad Bin Jasim and purchasing of the Avenfiled property. The team had collected the documents related to the cases from the Supreme Court, Federal board of Revenue (FBR), Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and other departments. He said the only reply of mutual legal assistance (MLAs) requests regarding the references was received from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Zia stated that it would take two more days to produce further evidence before the court in the Flagship Investment case. He also submitted the copy of sale agreement of 75% shares of Ahli Steel Mills. Nawaz's counsel Khawaja Haris objected over the submission of an affidavit of Tariq Shafi by the JIT head, contending that Shafi was neither an accused nor a witness in the case. Moreover, the affidavit was also not verified, he added. (@rukhshanmir) Provincial Minister for Food Sami Ullah Chaudhry has said that the Punjab government is committed to eradicating malnutrition, especially among children. LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Provincial Minister for Food Sami Ullah Chaudhry has said that the Punjab government is committed to eradicating malnutrition, especially among children. He expressed these views at the launching ceremony of 'Promotion of Chakkis Flour', organised under the auspices of the National Fortification Alliance (NFA) of Pakistan, here on Monday. United Nations' World Food Program (WFP) has provided technical support while Australian government funded this project. In his address, the minister said that Pakistan ranked 3rd in the list of world malnutrition, especially children were the victim of nutrition deficiency which was being removed. He said that there was need to extend the scope of food fortification, adding that food fortification programme was being implemented in Punjab province so people could get benefit of the 'Chakkis flour'. The Punjab government was standing with the National Fortification Alliance for removing the deficiencies of nutrition not only from Punjab but from the whole country, he added. Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan Margaret Adamson said that Australian government would continue its support to government of Pakistan to improve nutrition. Earlier, National Coordinator for Fortification Dr. Khawaja Masood briefed about the feasibility study of wheatflour fortification in detail. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :The Vice Chancellors' Committee in its meeting held here on Monday adopted a resolution in wake of public humiliation of Dr Mujahid Kamran and five other officers by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials while appearing in the court last week. The meeting was chaired by Chairman, Vice Chancellors' Committee Dr Masoom Yasinzai, which was also attended by over 65 vice chancellors from across the country, mostly through video conference, said a press release. The meeting adopted a resolution in which it was stated that we, the vice chancellors, condemn the maltreatment and public humiliation of respectable professors and teachers. Through the resolution they also strongly condemn the media trial of teachers before prosecution or legal procedure. We appreciate Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pakistan for suo moto notice, however a mere apology by the responsible persons was not sufficient in the face of humiliation suffered by senior academicians, it added. In the resolution the VC's call upon Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to conduct inquiry against the officials involved. They also propose holding of a meeting between Chairman HEC and Chairman NAB along with a select group of Vice Chancellors to evolve procedures needed to be followed in such cases. The VCs in the resolution make a commitment to the nation that they will act with integrity to serve youth of the nation and will work to strengthen internal systems so that all endeavors are transparent and beyond question. "We support the HEC and stand by it in its endeavors to enhance quality, access and relevance. Universities face multiple problems due to external interference. We urge the Government to ensure university autonomy by stopping the external interference" the resolution added. Flash The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Sunday called for an international investigation into the "crimes" of the U.S.-led coalition, following a recent attack with white phosphorus in Deir al-Zour, said local news agency. The ministry also called for ending the "aggressive" and "illegitimate" presence of the U.S. forces in Syria, said state news agency SANA. "The use of internationally-prohibited weapons against the Syrian people is a flagrant violation of the international law and human rights," the ministry said. The statement comes a few days after the U.S.-led coalition used white phosphorus ammunition while targeting the town of Hajin, one of the few Islamic State (IS)-held areas in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province. The ministry said many people were killed or wounded in the attack. The Syrian government has for long called for ending the presence of the U.S.-led coalition on Syrian soil. The U.S. coalition has been backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their push to defeat IS in towns in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour. The battles are hard as the IS militants resorted to several tactics to prevent the SDF from advancing through landmines and suicide bombings. Uzma Waris, an orphan student from Pando village of Lahore, who took third position in the intermediate examination, met Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, along with her mother at Chief Minister's Office here on Monday. LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Uzma Waris, an orphan student from Pando village of Lahore, who took third position in the intermediate examination, met Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, along with her mother at Chief Minister's Office here on Monday. The chief minister congratulated her for achieving good position despite lack of resources and presented a cheque of Rs 500,000 along with a bouquet. Her father had passed away while mother earns livelihood by working as a maid. Talking on the occasion, the chief minister said that Uzma Waris has achieved this position despite unfavourable circumstances and added that Punjab government would provide necessary assistance and cooperation to her in her future educational endeavours. Medical facilities would also be provided to her free of cost, he said and added that intelligent students like Uzma Waris were the bright future of the nation. Provincial Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakhat, Secretary information and other officials were also present onthe occasion. (@rukhshanmir) The provincial cabinet met with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan in the chair here Monday approved the budgetary proposals for the current fiscal year 2018-19 and revised estimates of the previous fiscal year 2017-18. PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :The provincial cabinet met with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan in the chair here Monday approved the budgetary proposals for the current fiscal year 2018-19 and revised estimates of the previous fiscal year 2017-18. The Cabinet was briefed about the budgetary estimates, the revised estimates, the financial bill including the current ADP and the ongoing schemes, the sector-wise distribution of resources, the annual development plan, ongoing schemes and the transfer of 30 percent resources to the district governments. The cabinet was also informed about austerity measures, mega projects, the welfare and developmental expenditures, the revitalization of productive sectors, the Federal transfers to the province, and the recommendations of the Finance Department for the smooth flow of resources to different sectors. The Cabinet approved the overall budgetary proposals, the recommendations of Finance Department related to the development and non developmental expenditures. The cabinet was also briefed about the seven newly merged districts of the erstwhile FATA, the ADP of these districts, the early completion of ongoing schemes. The FATA ADP has prioritized small dams, technical education for skilled development, industrialization and mineral development which the cabinet approved. Addressing the Cabinet, the Chief Minister KP said the current budget had two dimensions that included reforms initiatives and realistic developmental strategy for the development and welfare of the people of the province. He appreciated the Finance Department and other departments of the provincial government for working round the clock for realistic preparations of budgetary estimates, the reforms and development strategies in their respective domains. Mahmood Khan agreed to the widening of fiscal space of the province and stressed for early transfers of resources from the federal government. "The provincial own resource base needed to be expanded in order to have fiscal space for economic and development related requirements of the province and resolution of people problems. " He stressed for achievement of all the targets by all departments. The widening of fiscal space would generate resources for the development strategy and reforms. He said that major chunk of resources would go to the mega projects, the ongoing schemes and the overall developmental strategy to be guided by reforms. The CM stressed for transparent and efficient utilization of resources and the revitalization of productive sectors making them capable to pay back and contribute to the overall resource generation of the province. "We have a 100 day plan to have a clear direction for the next five years and tracking down the avenues for resource generation was inevitable for the sustained development of the province". Agreeing to the cost cutting and redundant kind of services, the Chief Minister agreed to the austerity measures that included ban on new vehicles, medical expenditure abroad and non re-appropriation for the second time in the current year. However, the projects to be put on fast track needed resources and that should be taken care of, for the benefit of the people. The local government system should get resources on time and the local government should prioritize the completion of ongoing schemes. He stressed on the expeditious development of different sectors for efficient services in the newly seven merged districts of the erstwhile FATA. The backward districts among them should be the focus of attention, and there should be prioritization of small dams, roads infrastructure development, social welfare activities, tourism etc. in the newly merged districts. However, he stressed for the rapid boost of tourism in Malakand, Swat, Dir, Hazara, and parts of the province. "Our developmental strategy would generate economic activities and creating space for the youth employments leading to the overall development and prosperity of the province," he added. (@mahnoorsheikh03) Says the cases against him are politically motivated. Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News 15th October, 2018) Alleged land grabber Mansha Bomb arrived in the Supreme Court on Monday to give his arrest. The accused land grabber Mansha Bomb arrived in the chamber of chief justice and said that he has come to give his arrest. He said that the cases against him are politically motivated. He alleged that Shehbaz Sharif made the land grabbing case against him. He said that he is a family oriented person and has not grabbed any land. I have come to meet the chief justice avoiding the police, he said. Mansha bomb further said that he will wait if he is not able to see the chief justice today. An anti-terrorism court (ATC) had on Oct 4 issued arrest warrants for Mansha alias Bomb and his three sons - Faisal Mansha, Tariq Mansha and Asim Mansha in a case registered against them over attacking Lahore Development Authority (LDA) officials. The court issued the warrants after the accused failed to appear during the proceedings. The court directed the police to arrest the accused and produce them on October 10. Johar Town Police had registered FIR No 198/18 against the accused for attacking LDA officials. It is pertinent to mention here that the Apex court had already ordered police to arrest 'land grabber' Mansha alias Bomb and his sons while hearing a petition of an overseas Pakistani against police `reluctance' to take action against suspect, Mansha, who had allegedly grabbed his property. The police had earlier told the court that Mansha and his sons were involved in more than 70 land grabbing cases, which were registered against them in Lahore's Johar Town. In a matter of three clicks, Pakistani expats in the UAE, for the first time, exercised their right to vote for the currently underway by-elections 2018. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :In a matter of three clicks, Pakistani expats in the UAE, for the first time, exercised their right to vote for the currently underway by-elections 2018. The Pakistan government's iVoting system went live three months ago where overseas Pakistanis registered to vote for 11 National Assembly Constituencies and 26 Provincial Assemblies. Majority of those who voted said the system was smooth and they faced no hindrance. Dubai resident Faisal Khan while talking to Khaleej times said that it was great to be able to vote. "I voted online for my constituency and it felt great to be an integral part of my country today". He also said that the system was superb. "Once I logged in, I went straight to my registered constituency and pressed Vote. In a matter of minutes, my vote was cast," he said. Sadaqat Hussain, who has been in the UAE for three years and lives in Ras Al Khaimah said that he did not face any problems casting his vote. "I had registered last month and I was sent an email," he told. "And within minutes I had voted," he said. "I am thankful to the government for giving us expatriates the chance to be part of this important event," he said. Not all expats voted however since all constituencies were not open for voting. Disappointing figures from the Pakistan Election Commission showed that only 7,000 expatriates registered for the online system worldwide. In the UAE, majority of the 1.3 million Pakistanis are blue-collared workers without access to emails and access to the Internet. A spokesperson for the Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi said that general awareness messages were posted on the embassy and consulate websites as well as all social media channels. "This was an individual effort and everyone was able to vote after registering," said the spokesperson. Today's voting is the first such internet voting option ever given to Pakistanis and despite criticism, the ECP says that the system is foolproof even though it is a pilot project. Pakistan voted to elect a new government on July 25 but the majority of overseas registered voters who could not travel back home to vote were deprived of their constitutional right. The online registration procedure began on September 1 and was extended to earlier this month due to poor registration turnout. Sohail Qureshi, a Dubai resident, said that though he could not travel for the general elections that were held in July he voted now. "I was very disappointed that I could not vote in July even though I wanted to. But am very happy that I was able to vote today," he said. "I hope the system works fine and can be used perfectly in the next general elections," he added. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi on Monday said the PTI government believed in regular interaction with the business community and he would maintain regular contact with the Karachi businessmen in person or through the high officials of organizations and agencies working under his ministry. KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi on Monday said the PTI government believed in regular interaction with the business community and he would maintain regular contact with the Karachi businessmen in person or through the high officials of organizations and agencies working under his ministry. He was here on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan without any invitation and would be visiting in future too to get their input for better working of the organizations under his ministry as the private sector was the main stakeholder in the country's development, he said while addressing the leadership and members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). KCCI President Junaid Ismail Makda and former presidents Siraj Kassam Teli, who is also chairman of the Businessmen Group in the chamber, A Q Khalil, Anjum Nisar, Muffasar Malik and Abdullah Zaki were prominent among those who were present on the occasion. Afridi said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership and the government realized that peace of mind to the business community with sense of security of their lives and property was imperative for bringing economic prosperity and development in the country. It was committed to improve law and order, besides provision of a conducive business environment, he added. The minister said all the stakeholders, including the common people, businessmen and industrialists would have to create sense of ownership and the government could not implement its economic and social agenda without consultation with them. "We will give you due weightage and will not take any important decision regarding trade, industry and investment without your input," Afridi assured. He said some 18 departments and organizations, including Federal Investigation Agency, Rangers, Coast Guards, Immigration, NADRA and others, were operating under his ministry, whose senior officers would be visiting KCCI to help solve the issues being faced by the business community. He said the PTI government wanted to strengthen the national institutions, which had been destroyed by the past regimes. He said the PTI came into power with an agenda of 35 points, three of which pertained to his ministry - execution of the National Action Plan, National Security and Respect to the Citizens. He said as mentioned by the KCCI leaders that a prosperous Karachi was must for the country's prosperity. The mega city had great economic potential. Karachi was like a motherly city, where from every part of the country came to earn their livelihood, he added. The minister said the PTI government was making all efforts to promote national solidarity and unity, and transform Pakistan into a true welfare Muslim state as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said the federal government was extending full cooperation and support to the provinces. Afridi said he would meet Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah later in the day. He wished to have a meeting with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as well for mutual understanding and to make joint efforts for the socio-economic uplift of the province. He said the national economy was in a shambles and the government had no option but to approach the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package. The PTI government, he said, was fully alive to the problems of the common man, who found it very difficult to even fulfill their basic needs. Indirect taxes on each and every item, including those used in kitchens, was a serious issue and the government would explore different options to provide relief to the common people, he added. He urged the media to continue projecting the soft image of Pakistan before the world. Earlier, KCCI President Junaid Ismail Makda and leaders briefed the minister about the issues confronting the trade and industry in Karachi. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Fifteen migrants travelled in a horse box from Slovenia to the French border at Ventimiglia where they were stopped by border police, sources said Monday. Genoa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Fifteen migrants travelled in a horse box from Slovenia to the French border at Ventimiglia where they were stopped by border police, sources said Monday. One of them felt ill and was taken to hospital after they were stopped, sources said. French police arrested a Tunisian for aiding and abetting illegal immigration. The other 14 were Syrians. They were all said to be suffering after their arduous andclaustrophobic journey across northern Italy. Another annual dialogue on human rights between Belarus and the United States of America took place in the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BelTA has learned. MINSK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Another annual dialogue on human rights between Belarus and the United States of America took place in the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BelTA has learned. The sides discussed a broad range of matters relating to human rights, including the observance of human rights in Belarus and the USA. Interaction with international organizations on human rights was discussed, too. The Belarusian delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko. The U.S. delegation was headed by Senior Bureau Official for the U. S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Kozak. Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Labor and Social Protection Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, the Investigative Committee of Belarus, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus took part in the meeting as well as U.S. Charg' d affaires Jenifer Moore, representatives of the U.S. Department of State and the USA embassy in Belarus. The Himalayan nation of Bhutan, often described as a "Shangri-La" where happiness is equated to wealth, is holding elections this week. But the Lhotshampa people, brutally driven out of the small kingdom in the 1990s, won't be voting. Beldangi refugee camp, Nepal, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :The Himalayan nation of Bhutan, often described as a "Shangri-La" where happiness is equated to wealth, is holding elections this week. But the Lhotshampa people, brutally driven out of the small kingdom in the 1990s, won't be voting. The Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa were branded as immigrants and stripped of citizenship rights when the then-king introduced a "One Nation, One People" policy in 1985. The edict made following the customs of the Buddhist majority mandatory, including wearing their traditional dress, and speaking Nepali was banned. Those who resisted where labelled "anti-nationals", arrested and subjected to brutal treatment including rape and torture, according to Amnesty International. The security forces made detainees sign declarations saying they would leave Bhutan voluntarily as a condition of their release. Some 100,000 -- one sixth of Bhutan's population -- fled, ending up in refugee camps in eastern Nepal. One man who left Bhutan is Bhumpa Rai, who was serving as a royal doctor when the king's edict was promulgated. "They humiliated us... they said that we are not Bhutanese and chased me and my people from the country," Rai told AFP. The king offered him protection from the Draconian rules, introduced under the pretext of promoting "national harmony". But the doctor decided to join his fellow Lhotshampa and left Bhutan, becoming a refugee in Nepal. "They treated people of Nepali origin like enemies. I cannot respect them any more, though I admit that I used to clean their wounds. I was their doctor," the 68-year-old said. Rai is one of just 7,000 people who remain in the camps in Nepal. The majority have been resettled by the United Nations in third countries including the United States, Australia and Norway. But the UN programme ended in late 2016 with those remaining refusing resettlement because they say it absolves the Bhutanese authorities of what they did to the Lhotshampa. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The number of Chinese tourists to Cambodia during the first eight months of 2018 had exceeded the full-year 2017's record, said a Cambodian Tourism Ministry's report released on Monday. PHNOM PENH, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :The number of Chinese tourists to Cambodia during the first eight months of 2018 had exceeded the full-year 2017's record, said a Cambodian Tourism Ministry's report released on Monday. More than 1.27 million Chinese tourists had visited Cambodia during the January-August period this year, up 72 percent over the same period last year, the report said, adding that China is the biggest source of foreign tourists to Cambodia, accounting for 32.4 percent of the international arrivals to the kingdom. In the entirety of 2017, the Southeast Asian nation received 1.21 million Chinese holidaymakers. Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon has said that the country is expected to attract at least 1.7 million Chinese tourists in 2018 and up to 2.5 million in 2020. He attributed the remarkable increase in Chinese tourists to Cambodia to close ties, rise in Chinese middle class, Cambodia's attractive tourism sites, and increasing direct flights between the two countries. According to the report, Cambodia welcomed almost 3.95 million international tourists during the first eight months of this year, up 11.7 percent over the same period last year. The country is famous for three world heritage sites, namely the Angkor archeological park in northwestern Siem Reap province, the Preah Vihear temple in northwestern Preah Vihear province, and the Sambor Prei Kuk archeological site in central Kampong Thom province. Besides, it has a pristine coastline stretching 450 km in four southwestern provinces of Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep. Last year, Cambodia received 5.6 million foreign tourists, earning gross revenue of 3.6 billion U.S. Dollars, which contributed about 13 percent to the country's GDP (gross domestic product). (@rukhshanmir) MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) With all ballots counted, the conservative Christian Social People's Party (CSV) has won the parliamentary elections in Luxembourg with 28.31 percent of the vote, according to the official election website. Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) came second with 17.60 percent, followed by Democratic Party (DP) with 16.91 percent of the vote. The Greens won 15.12 percent, while the Pirate Party got 6.45 percent, according to the website. Flash The 14th Beijing-Tokyo Forum, an annual event representing the highest public diplomatic communications platform between China and Japan, opened in Tokyo on Oct. 14. Co-organized by the China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and the nonprofit Japanese think tank Genron NPO, this year's forum focuses on the theme of "Deepening mutual trust and cooperation, sharing responsibility for peace and development in Asia and the world, and exploring the practical significance of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan." More than 100 guests from political, business, academic and media circles of the two countries held discussions on bilateral relations, political mutual trust, economic and trade cooperation, security assurance, media responsibility, innovation and other major issues. Xu Lin, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), and Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister, attended the opening ceremony to deliver the keynote speech and the special speech respectively. Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura, Vice President of CIPG Fang Zhenghui, and former United Nations Under-Secretary-General Yasushi Akashi also addressed the opening ceremony. In his speech, Xu said President Xi Jinping had met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month, Premier Li Keqiang successfully visited Japan in May, and Prime Minister Abe would visit China soon. These exchanges of high-level visits chart the course and exert a strong impetus to the development of bilateral relations. Xu said that this year is the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan as well as the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. These "two anniversaries" are rich in connotation and are closely interrelated, providing much inspiration for the two countries to adopt a good approach in fostering the bilateral relationship. While stressing that peace, friendship and cooperation were three essential points in keeping the bilateral relationship on the right track, Xu explained in more detail that these three elements conformed to the common aspirations of the two peoples, served the two sides' common interests, and kept abreast of the trend of the times. Xu suggested that the two countries draw lessons from history, keep bilateral relations on the right track, seek mutual trust and common ground, deepen practical cooperation, follow the principle of mutual benefit, and enhance mutual friendship between the two peoples. Yasuo Fukuda said China played an important role in the formation of the existing international order. He called on the two countries to build future-oriented friendly relations on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of their Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Cheng said China-Japan relations were of vital importance to both sides. Particularly under the current situation, these relations were increasingly playing an important role in the peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world at large. He suggested the two sides deepen political mutual trust, properly manage differences, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation. Yasutoshi Nishimura said mutual investment between Japan and China amounted to 1 trillion yen, and Japanese-funded enterprises and institutions in China currently numbered 30,000. The two countries were interdependent and indivisible in the economic field. Fang said the 14 sessions of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum proved that extensive and in-depth people-to-people dialogues and exchanges were the foundation of China-Japan friendship. He hoped the distinguished guests of both sides would hold in-depth discussions on a series of important topics, including "the future of China-Japan relations," "a new type of Sino-Japanese economic and industrial cooperation," "the role China and Japan should play in achieving peace in northeast Asia," "the role and responsibility of Sino-Japanese media" and "Sino-Japanese cooperation in the digital economy sector." Yasushi Akashi recalled in his speech the origin and development of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan. He said social welfare, health care, ageing society and global warming were common new tasks facing both China and Japan, and the two countries should make corresponding policies to achieve connectivity and co-participation in global issues. Following the opening ceremony, under the chairmanship of Zhao Qizheng, former minister of SCIO, Wei Jianguo, former vice minister of commerce, Liu Hongcai, former deputy head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zhu Chenghu, member of the China Arm Control and Disarmament Association, Yoriko Kawaguchi, former minister of foreign affairs for Japan, and Shigeru Ishiba, a member of Japan's House of Representatives, held a discussion focusing on the theme of the forum. Founded in 2005, the Beijing-Tokyo Forum is an annual large-scale international symposium aiming to provide a non-governmental exchange platform and improving China-Japan ties through public opinion polls and high-level dialogues. Currently, it has become the highest public diplomatic communication platform between China and Japan. Speaker of the Czech parliament's lower house Radek Vondracek on Monday commended the state of economic cooperation between the Czech Republic and Russia, saying that it is currently at a good leve MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Speaker of the Czech parliament's lower house Radek Vondracek on Monday commended the state of economic cooperation between the Czech Republic and Russia, saying that it is currently at a good level. "Our entrepreneurs work here [in Russia]. They not only work, they invest, and our economic relations are at a good level. Russia is the second largest partner of the Czech Republic outside the European Union," Vondracek said at a meeting with Russian upper house speaker Valentina Matviyenko in the Russian capital. Prague and Moscow also need to work on further developing historically close cultural ties, the lower house speaker noted. "Now a new generation has grown up that does not have such information about Russia. They did not study Russian at school. We need to look not for what divides us, but for what unites us," Vondracek noted. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the meeting of the Russian-Czech intergovernmental commission would be held in Prague in November. Right-wing political parties in Croatia have been evidently growing stronger and exerting strong pressure, which affects Serbia-Croatia relations and contributes to the continuation of an anti-Serb hysteria in Croatia, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Sunday. ZAGREB, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Right-wing political parties in Croatia have been evidently growing stronger and exerting strong pressure, which affects Serbia-Croatia relations and contributes to the continuation of an anti-Serb hysteria in Croatia, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Sunday. Stressing that Serbia had prosecuted and would prosecute anyone who had committed a war crime, Dacic told reporters, in a comment on a protest rally held in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on Saturday over dissatisfaction with inefficiency in war crimes prosecution, that "everyone should be aware of their own crimes rather than downplay their own crimes from World War II that are thousand times more massive and graver than the crimes committed in the 1990s." "I don't know who they are complaining about, but as far as Serbia is concerned, it has and will sanction anyone who has committed a war crime," Dacic told reporters ahead of a session of his Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) main committee, stressing that that was Serbia'a official position. He noted that in parallel with the Vukovar rally, a book about the Ustasha commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp, Maks Luburic, was being promoted in Croatia. "... There is evidently huge pressure and expansion of right-wing parties in Croatia and it affects Serbian-Croatian relations and contributes to the continuation of the current anti-Serb hysteria." Speaking of Kosovo, the Serbian minister said that "a clear change" had occurred in the position of the US administration "which no longer sees Kosovo as its child, but is trying to be impartial." "They are no longer a child of the West but a problem," Dacic said, stressing that Kosovo's foreign and home policy were on the defensive while "Serbia's position is getting stronger and stronger.""We are continuing with our policy of withdrawal of the recognition (of Kosovo's independence) and you will soon be informed of the matter." (@ChaudhryMAli88) MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must follow a set of rules to stay in the Ecuadorian embassy in the United Kingdom, which wants to arrest him for jumping bail six years ago. The 10-page protocol, unveiled by the Codigo Vidrio website, lists conditions for the whistleblower's stay as of last Saturday, ranging from internet access and visits to pet keeping. The protocol reiterates that the 47-year-old is banned from speaking about politics or interfering in affairs of other countries, which could have him expelled. Assange is allowed to receive no more than three guests at a time, who are required to arrange their visit with the embassy at least three days in advance. He may only access the Internet and make calls using the embassy's Wi-Fi, the memo says. He needs to file a request to use communication devices at the mission. Assange is also expected to pay for additional communication expenses, as well as for regular health exams, food, dry cleaning and other services, save heating, water and electricity bills. He has also been told to feed and clean up after his cat or else the feline will be handed over to embassy staffers or placed in an animal shelter. The Australian asked for asylum in 2012 after leaking sensitive US cables that exposed war crimes in Iraq. He was accused of rape in Sweden but the charge was dropped. He fears being handed over to the United States if he ventures outside. (@FahadShabbir) The European Union will consider establishing a contact group for handling the crisis in Venezuela, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday after a Foreign Affairs Council meeting. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) The European Union will consider establishing a contact group for handling the crisis in Venezuela, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday after a Foreign Affairs Council meeting. "The European Union is not looking at softening its position on Venezuela in any way. On the other side, we also believe that there can be only a democratic political solution to the current crisis in the country. And this is why we will explore the possibility of establishing a contact group to see if there are the conditions to facilitate not a mediation ... but facilitation of a political process, somehow, a way to be in contact with different parties," Mogherini said at a press conference. Mogherini stressed that she did not want to "create expectations" as the decision on the group had not been made yet. The European Union has imposed sanctions on a number of Venezuelan officials. Most recently, the bloc targeted 11 senior Venezuelan officials in June over the re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in May. The European Union urged Venezuela to hold a new election in accordance with international democratic standards. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has criticized the EU stance, saying it appeared to be influenced by the United States. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The fragility of the security situation in the Central African Republic is undermined by hybrid threats, EU foreign ministers said in conclusion to their meeting in Brussels on Monday. LUXEMBOURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) The fragility of the security situation in the Central African Republic is undermined by hybrid threats, EU foreign ministers said in conclusion to their meeting in Brussels on Monday. "The Council emphasises that the security situation, including hybrid threats, confirms the need to continue to strengthen the Central African Armed Forces," the statement reads. They said they had invited the EU external action service to establish and deploy as soon as possible a civil-military force within its training mission in the country to provide "strategic advice. " This comes after Russia said it had offered the Republic's government to set up a Russian military representation at the Defense Ministry to help it rebuild the army. The country has been in turmoil since 2012 after an armed conflict broke out between Muslim Seleka militants and Christian anti-balaka militias. The rivals signed a declaration of understanding in August after a Russia-brokered peace meeting in Khartoum. (@rukhshanmir) Nearly 200 refugees seeking to join their families in Germany left Greece on Monday, the Greek migration ministry said, reviving a reunification programme that had been stalled since last year. Athens, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Nearly 200 refugees seeking to join their families in Germany left Greece on Monday, the Greek migration ministry said, reviving a reunification programme that had been stalled since last year. The 177 refugees mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq boarded a special charter plane to Munich, the ministry said in a statement. "The departure of the first 177 refugees is part of an administrative arrangement between Greece and Germany for the completion of family reunifications already approved by Germany," the ministry said. "More flights of this nature will follow," it added. Some 2,000 refugees are expected to join families in Germany from Greece, a ministry source told AFP. In turn, Greece and Spain agreed in June to take back refugees who reached the German border after earlier requesting asylum in the two countries. A decision by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to welcome refugees in 2015 is deemed to have cost her politically, and harsh infighting on immigration still rages in her 2017 coalition government. As a result, the reunification programme slowed in 2017 before halting altogether. (@FahadShabbir) Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami slammed on Monday the United States for imposing sanctions on Tehran, and called on the global community to oppose the alleged US desire to begin a new war. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami slammed on Monday the United States for imposing sanctions on Tehran, and called on the global community to oppose the alleged US desire to begin a new war. "The Americans have imposed sanctions on us because of opting for independence, and even blocked our access to medicine ... The whole world must counter countries intending to beat the drum of war with law-breaking, and should not allow certain countries to steer the world to war," Hatami said at the closing ceremony of the fourth edition of the biennial Military Medicine Congress in Asia-Pacific Region, which was held in the Iranian capital of Tehran. He added that the global community had also seen Iran "expressing its good will for resolution of the fabricated nuclear crisis." Hatami went on to say that since Iran was a major victim of chemical weapons, it had produced "hundreds" of products designed for protection against chemical, radioactive and biological weapons, and had also become self-sufficient in producing medical equipment. The minister said that Iran was ready to share its experience with other states, namely, via running courses on chemical weapons counteraction for the congress participants. In May, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, and reimpose its sanctions against Iran that had been lifted under the agreement. The first round of the US restrictions came into force in August, and the next sanctions package, targeting Iran's oil sector, among others, is set to be re-imposed on November 5, with more sanction expected to follow. In early October, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi praised the other JCPOA signatories' commitment to the deal and said that Iran would remain in the JCPOA as long as it was beneficial for the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to Uzbekistan later this week, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to Uzbekistan later this week, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. Putin said last week he was planning to go to Tashkent on a state visit and to have "extensive talks" with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. "Then [there will be] the Russian president's state visit to Uzbekistan. The week will be tightly packed, in terms of content and in terms of geography," Peskov told reporters. According to the Uzbek side, Putin's visit is scheduled for Thursday and Friday. A large number of documents are expected to be signed during the visit and the construction of a nuclear power plant will be launched. Kuwait rejects unfounded claims against its Gulf partner Saudi Arabia over the vanishing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and will follow the probe with interest, its deputy prime minister said Monday. DOHA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Kuwait rejects unfounded claims against its Gulf partner Saudi Arabia over the vanishing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and will follow the probe with interest, its deputy prime minister said Monday. In a statement carried by Kuwait's Kuna state news agency, Anas Saleh said the cabinet "stands in opposition" to an "unlawful campaign" against the kingdom and its reputation. He said Kuwait would wait for results of the probe into what happened to Khashoggi - a known critic of the Saudi government - and would not allow the smear campaign to hurt bilateral ties. Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates sided with Saudi Arabia on Sunday after warnings from US and UK leaders to punish it if the Turkish inquiry confirms its role in the suspected killing of the journalist who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Luxembourg, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :Luxembourg's liberal premier Xavier Bettel will meet the country's Grand Duke on Monday to discuss whether he can maintain his coalition after a disappointing legislative election. As expected, the centre-right CSV won the biggest share of the vote, with 28 percent compared to both the socialist LSAP on 18 percent and Bettel's DP on 17. But the CSV was the main force after the previous 2013 election too, and then Bettel managed to form a ruling coalition with support from the left and the Greens. The three main parties remained on top Sunday, but smaller outfits made notable gains. The Greens advanced strongly to 15 percent, the Pirate Party doubled its score and won seats for the first time, and the populist right ADR increased its share to nine percent. The small Grand Duchy has an electorate of just 256,000 choosing 60 deputies, and Monday's royal meeting will decide whether Bettel is again tasked with building a coalition. Bamako, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Oct, 2018 ) :Mali's constitutional court delayed the country's parliamentary elections until 2019 by extending the mandate of MPs for six months, as requested by the National Assembly on Monday, according to the two institutions. Citing "force majeure" the court said it "extends the mandate of representatives until the end of the first semester of 2019", according to the order, seen by AFP, which gave no further details. Elections had initially been slated for October 28, but they were postponed to November 25 last month by the government. It said delays in registering candidates after a strike by judges meant some candidates had been unable to obtain and submit the necessary documentation before the deadline. A National Assembly official also confirmed the court's decision, saying that the six month delay would allow for reforms under a peace deal with former Tuareg rebels, as well as "ease political tensions". In August, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 73, was re-elected president with more than 67 percent of the vote, but the outcome was challenged in the constitutional court by his opponent, former finance minister Soumaila Cisse, who alleged fraud. Mali has been plagued by violence since 2012, when Tuareg separatists staged an uprising in the north, which was then exploited by jihadists to take over key cities in the region. The militants were largely driven out in a French-led military operation in 2013. But despite the 2015 peace agreement, large stretches of Mali remain out of government control. Minsk is opposed to any split in the Orthodox Church and "sensitive" to the situation with Ukraine's autocephaly bid, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said Monday at a meeting with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Minsk is opposed to any split in the Orthodox Church and "sensitive" to the situation with Ukraine's autocephaly bid, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said Monday at a meeting with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. A meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church presided over by Kirill is being held in Minsk. The meeting's focus is on the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to start the process of recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. "You should know our unchangeable state position. It is that split is always bad and entails negative consequences. And the consequences are the most dangerous thing ... [In Belarus] we are very sensitive to what is happening with the Orthodox Church at the moment ... Unfortunately, our church has often become a hostage of relations between the states; sometimes, of our inappropriate steps," Lukashenko said. The Constantinople Synod confirmed last week that the Ecumenical Patriarchate had decided to proceed with granting autocephaly to Ukraine and reversed the 1686 decision which transferred the Kiev Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church has said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision was akin to the "legalization of schism" and could affect millions of people in Ukraine and other countries. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate said that the synod's decision was a hostile act, interfering with the Ukrainian church's affairs. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday the Kremlin was concerned about the Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision to grant autocephaly to Ukraine. Later in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue, among others, with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council. One person was killed, 28 others lightly injured and 61 homeless as Hurricane Leslie sweeped through 13 districts during the weekend, according to Portuguese Lusa News Agency on Sunday. LISBON, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :One person was killed, 28 others lightly injured and 61 homeless as Hurricane Leslie sweeped through 13 districts during the weekend, according to Portuguese Lusa news Agency on Sunday. The victim was struck by a tree in Montemor-o-Velho, Coimbra district in the north of the country, which is the most affected area by the storm. All schools and kindergartens there would be closed on Monday. The strong winds brought down trees and high votage power lines, causing more than 100,000 consumers remain without power. A gust of wind has reached about 176 km per hour on Saturday night in Figueira da Foz, the highest figure recorded in Portugal, the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) said on Sunday. The National Civil Protection Authority (ANPC) has decided to keep the yellow alert in mainland Portugal until 24:00 local time on Monday, as there are structures that can fall and "too much work to clean" what was damaged by the passing of the Leslie. Despite the decision to keep the second level alert more active, weather data suggest that the situation will progressively improve, Duarte da Costa, national commander of ANPC, told a press conference at the authority's headquarters, in Carnaxide, Lisbon on Sunday. He said that intense wind and rainy periods are still to be expected on Monday and that there are trees and infrastructure that suffered damages during the storm that may still fall. The IPMA placed 13 districts under red warning as Hurricane Leslie was heading towards the continental territory late on Saturday. Portuguese capital Lisbon and the nearby Setubal, the central Leiria and Santarem as well as Coimbra, Aveiro, Porto, Braga, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Castelo Branco, Viseu and Guarda in the north are districts under red warning, according to IPMA. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that its mine clearance team had started clearing Lao forests of unexploded ordnance left over from US air raids during the 1960s civil war in Laos. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that its mine clearance team had started clearing Lao forests of unexploded ordnance left over from US air raids during the 1960s civil war in Laos. "An opening ceremony of the demining operations by the mine clearance unit of the International Mine Action Center of the Russian Armed Forces has been held today in the settlement of Lak Sao in Laos' province of Bolikhamsai. After that, Russian deminers have started complete clearance of the territory from explosives," the ministry said in a statement. The operation is part of the ASEAN mission on humanitarian mine clearance of which Russia and Laos are co-chairs, the ministry added. The Laotian Civil War of 1959-1975 was fought between the Lao communist movement and the ruling government at the time and is considered one of the proxy wars of the Cold War period. The United States conducted regular air raids on Laos in 1964-1973. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has discussed the development of bilateral ties and cooperation on the African agenda with Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has discussed the development of bilateral ties and cooperation on the African agenda with Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. The meeting was held on Saturday during Bogdanov's working visit to Sierra Leone. "There has been a meaningful discussion of the current state of the traditionally friendly Russian-Sierra Leonean relations, and of the prospects for their further development. Moscow's and Freetown's mutual commitment to enhancement of political, trade, economic and humanitarian relations has been noted," the ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, Bogdanov and Bio have discussed the further strengthening of cooperation on the fight against terrorism, piracy and drug trafficking within multilateral platforms, namely, the United Nations. "A special attention has been paid to the strengthening of the foreign policy cooperation on the pressing international and African issues. In view of this, issues of critical situations settlement and peace process in Africa, namely, in the Sahara-Sahel region, have been studied," the ministry added. On Sunday, Bogdanov held a working visit to the Republic of Guinea, where he had talks with Guinean President Alpha Conde on the prospects of launching joint energy and geological exploration projects. "The great potential for stepping up partnership via implementing promising joint projects in geological exploration, development of crude minerals fields, energy, fishing and infrastructure, as well as via the expansion of direct contacts of the business circles has been registered," the statement read. Bogdanov and Conde have discussed a number of international and African issues, including the terrorism and extremism fight in the Sahara-Sahel region. They have confirmed their commitment to continue coordinating stances within the United Nations and other international organizations. (@FahadShabbir) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a meeting with Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Monday, during which they discussed the situation in Syria, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday. DOHA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a meeting with Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Monday, during which they discussed the situation in Syria, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday. "Crown Prince received today the Special Envoy of the Russian President to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, and reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries and latest developments at the Syrian arena," the statement, posted on the ministry's Twitter, read. They have also discussed the Russian-Saudi relations. The Syrian crisis has been raging on for over seven years, with the government fighting various opposition movements and terrorist groups. The settlement process has been conducted in the Astana and Geneva formats. Russia, along with Turkey and Iran, is the guarantor of the ceasefire in Syria, and has also been assisting Damascus by supporting the government forces' fight against terrorist groups and providing humanitarian aid to civilians. Sputnik International News Agency and Radio on Monday launched the SputnikPro project for young journalists from Latin America, scheduled to run until Friday at the media group's headquarters in Moscow. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Sputnik International News Agency and Radio on Monday launched the SputnikPro project for young journalists from Latin America, scheduled to run until Friday at the media group's headquarters in Moscow. The October session is attended by reporters from 12 countries representing the following newspapers: Argentina's La Nacion, Brazil's Folha de S. Paolo, Colombia's El Tiempo, Ecuador's El Telegrafo, Uruguay's El Observador, and Guatemala's Prensa Libre, as well as Venezuela's Telesur TV, Mexico's Azteca tv and Chile's Chilevision broadcasters, among other media. The participants will look at how a multimedia news agency operates and learn about media trends as well as about producing content for online news platforms. This year, for the first time, separate training sessions are expected for journalists from Latin America and Caribbean countries. "I'm looking forward to meet journalists from other countries ans share experiences with them. Also I'm excited to learn more about Russian culture and news-making," Tiago Zacarias Amancio from Folha de S. Paolo said, as quoted by Sputnik press service. Coralia Yungan Perez from El Telegrafo expressed hope that "the contacts established during the project will help promote closer relations between our countries. " "Cooperation with Latin American countries is a priority of ours. We hold SputnikPro in this region for the first time and we hope that it will become another step towards closer relations between Russian journalists and their Latin American colleagues," Sputnik Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anton Anisimov said. SputnikPro is an international project for journalists, students and press service workers designed to exchange expertise with foreign colleagues, develop international media communications and intercultural ties between journalists. SputnikPro for Latin American journalists is organized in collaboration with the New Generation program of Russia's foreign cooperation agency (Rossotrudnichestvo). Sputnik is one of the largest international media companies offering country-specific and regional multimedia websites in 32 languages, analog and digital radio broadcasting in Russian, English and French in 130 cities and online. Sputnik newsfeeds deliver 24/7 content to leading international media around the world in English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese. Sputnik websites get more than 50 million visitors a month. Sputnik operates 22 bureaus across the world employing more than 1,000 people from dozens of countries. (@rukhshanmir) Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said on Monday that Damascus was ready to interfere in the situation in Idlib if Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) fails to implement the Russian-Turkish agreement on a demilitarized zone (DMZ). DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said on Monday that Damascus was ready to interfere in the situation in Idlib if Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) fails to implement the Russian-Turkish agreement on a demilitarized zone (DMZ). On September 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to set up a 9-12 mile deep demilitarized zone in Idlib along the contact line of the armed opposition and the government forces by October 15. The Turkish Defense Ministry has confirmed that heavy weapons had been withdrawn from the designated area in accordance with the memorandum. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that more than 1,000 militants had left the area and around 100 heavy weapons had been pulled out. "We can't be silent about the existing situation in Idlib if Jabhat al-Nusra refuses to implement the agreement," Moallem said at a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim Jafari. The minister added that Damascus would wait for information from Russia's patrol forces on the implementation of the demilitarized zone deal, but "the [Syrian] army in the Idlib region is on alert." The province of Idlib in northwest Syria is the last remaining stronghold of terrorist groups operating in the country, including Jabhat al-Nusra, which has joined forces with four other jihadi groups in Idlib to form a terrorist alliance called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, banned in Russia), widely regarded as the dominant force on the ground in the province. A 45-year-old Missouri man and a 33 year-old women suffered non-life threatening injuries when his vehicle rolled early Monday morning. The Minnesota State Patrol said Librado Crespo Vargas was northbound on Highway 75 near Rock County around 3 a.m. when his 2013 International Semi veered off the road into the right shoulder and rolled. Both Libardo and his passenger Yubisley Mendes Salgueiras are both injured but expected to be ok. Iraqi auditor, Mr Safa al Abbia, speaks about his experience of the Synod and the response to his presentation to the Synod assembly. By Russell Pollitt, SJ Mr Safa al Abbia is a 26-year-old Chaldean Catholic dentist from Iraq. He was invited to the Synod of Bishops on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment currently underway in Rome. His plea to the Bishops is that the universal Church helps young people in Iraq who are being persecuted for their faith. He explained that the main challenge for youth in Iraq is peace and stability and their right to live in dignity. In his intervention at the Synod, which ended with rapturous applause, he told the Bishops that young people were struggling to remain as faithful witnesses to Jesus and hold onto their traditions, values and liturgy. He said that many of them have watched their brothers and sisters being martyred and their churches bombed. He also related a painful experience. He said that he will never forget the face of his friends who, after Mass, said, See you next week. He never saw them again because they were burned under the fire of the bombed car near their church. He told Pope Francis that he had a message for him from the young people of Iraq: They hope one day to see you in Iraq. He said that he had two important experiences at the Synod: First, that he was able to tell the world what was happening in Iraq because it was important that others knew the inside story. He said he felt supported by many who were at the Synod who heard his story. Second, he discovered that many young people across the world are suffering for different reasons. He mentioned sexuality, social media and the breakdown of family life. He said that it was important because knowing what happens in other places means that young people can support each other in all sorts of ways including through prayer and by helping people rebuild what has been destroyed. Mr Al Abbia said that he believes that he was really heard at the Synod. He said that after the applause he received in the general assembly, many people came to him and asked how they could help the people of Iraq. He hopes that the Synod will, in the end, result in an accurate account of reality. He does not want the Synod to be saying a speech and clapping and support [for] the talk but a real positive feedback of reality on the ground, the lived experiences of many young people. He says that he had more than one opportunity to speak to Pope Francis. Smiling broadly he says that the first time he met the Holy Father he could not speak because he was so stunned to be standing in front of the Pope. He tells of how, in Brazil, at World Youth Day, they only saw the Pope in the distance. Now he stood before him! The second time he met Pope Francis he says he asked him to pray for his country in general but also for all the Christians of Iraq and for him and his family. The third time he met the Pope he made a video, asking the Holy Father to give a message to the young people of Iraq which he intends playing to them next week when the young people of Iraq will gather to pray for the Synod currently underway. He said that Pope Francis is a wonderful person. The Holy Father responded telling him that he would pray for the people of Iraq. Mr Al Abbia explains how, when talking about Iraq, he sees a real sadness in the Popes eyes. At the end of his speech he told the Pope that the Iraqi people, especially young people, hope he will visit the country. He says that the Holy Father laughed when he heard that. Mr Al Abbia said that his message to the world is to ask for prayer for Iraq. He also says do not forget us. He said that he realises that there is a lot of suffering in the world and maybe the attention of the world has shifted to places like Syria. Although the situation in Iraq is a bit better, he says that nothing is guaranteed. Dont forget us because we have a wonderful group of young people that are steadfast in their faith, salt to the earth as Jesus said. He says that he is afraid that young people in Iraq will lose their faith and become hopeless. This he believes leads to two possibilities: young people leave the Church or immigrate from Iraq. He said that in 2003 there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq, now there are only 400 thousand. This is a miserable thing! He reminds the world that Christianity was in Iraq from the first century. It is not possible to say, one day, oh there were Christians in Iraq, no, the Christians have to still be in Iraq. This is the message, we need the world to support us and at the same time we support all the young people around the world and we pray for them and their countries and their families. He says that the biggest challenge of this Synod will be that young people are waiting for results, they want fast results. He says that young people are tired and bored and they want something that reflects reality. Mr Al Abbia said that in an email he was told that the Synod was a waste of money, that the Vatican brought people from all over the world and that this could have be done through electronic means, like Skype. He said that it was important that people came together in Rome, to share their stories like he shared his. He said that being able to share his story helped him tell the world, for example, about what is really happening in Iraq. He said that it was important that the Church listened to young people and then responded. He adds, but we need a fast response. Mr Al Abbia had to return to Iraq soon after doing this interview. His mother is unwell and he needed to be with her. He told Vatican News that he could not come back to the Synod of Bishops on Young people because his visa only allowed him one entry into the EU. President Andrzej Duda of Poland is in Rome to mark the 40th anniversary of the election of St. John Paul II on October 16. Pope Francis on Monday received in private audience in the Vatican President Andrzej Duda of Poland. Duda then held a meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Galagher. A statement by the Holy Sees Press Office said that during the cordial discussions, which took place in the context of the fortieth anniversary of the election of Saint John Paul II as Supreme Pontiff, the importance of Christian values in the countrys history was underlined, especially with regard to the formation of its cultural and religious identity. The two sides then turned to various themes of common interest, such as the promotion of the family and welcome. The Press Office statement said they also mentioned Polands contribution to the European integration project, as well as various themes of an international character, such as the conflict in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, migrations, and the protection of creation in view of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Katowice next December. Pope Francis sends a video message to the young people of Madagascar for their National Youth Day, inviting them to trust in God and to bring peace and hope everywhere. By Adriana Masotti "Go and proclaim to everyone that Jesus loves us and that with Him all fear disappears! This is the mandate that Pope Francis entrusts to the young people of Madagascar who have just concluded their National Youth Day celebrations. The theme of their meeting was: "Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace with God". A Papal mandate to youth Pope Francis addressed the young people in a video message in French that was broadcast at the end of the Eucharistic celebration that concluded the event. Below please find the full version of the text in the English translation: Dear young people, I am happy to address you, live. You are in my heart and in that of the bishops of the Synod, because our attention is directed to you, young people. You have come from every corner of your beautiful island for this meeting on the theme: Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace with God". This word of the Angel to Mary is for each of you today. God addresses it to you. As the Lord looked at Mary and gave her His grace, He looks at you with love, respect and tenderness. He knows your fears, your frailties. With Him, everything is possible. Respond generously to the call of Jesus Mary has put everything in His hands: do as she did, accept this gift of God by opening your hearts to the best of your ability. God's grace is a treasure that can easily be forgotten. Because the Lord never imposes Himself! He always tells us, "If you want to... If you want to..." Take time to listen to His invitation and to respond to it with all your heart and with your generosity! What joy comes from responding Jesus call! So many priests and consecrated persons can witness to this: Jesus gives meaning to our whole life. Walk together with others Do not be alone! The Church is a great Family in which you will always find support and comfort; in your parishes and in your groups, through prayer, the sacraments, friendship, the accompaniment of priests and other baptized people. Be messengers of peace and hope Go and proclaim to everyone that Jesus loves us and that with Him all fear disappears! Realize your dreams and work together to build your future and that of your country, always seeking the good of one another. I send you as messengers of peace and hope to your cities, to your villages, where you live and work. May God bless you and bless your families! I pray for you and I ask you to pray also for me and for all your bishops. Friday night (October 12, 2018), ABCs American Housewife actress Carly Hughes was spotted attending the hit show Absinthe at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas (Photo courtesy of Jason Sanders / Spiegelworld). After taking in Absinthes outlandish acts and hilarious antics during the 8 p.m. performance, Hughes went backstage after the show for a photo with The Gazillionaire and later took to Instagram to express her enjoyment of the show sharing, Thank @GazillionaireLV for sharing all your tasty delights. We had a blast! Exhibits and tunnels transform into spooky chambers and corridors with trick-or-treaters, costumes and jack-o-lanterns as Hallow-Reef returns to Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. Guests (and ghosts) can celebrate the Halloween season while exploring unique creatures of land and sea. On Friday, Oct. 26, in honor of Community Day, the American Red Cross will be on site for visitors interested in donating blood. Guests 17 years and older (or 16 years old with parental consent) who come out will receive complimentary admission to Hallow-Reef and parking on the day of donation. To make an appointment, guests can visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter sponsor code: Shark Reef Mandalay Bay. Also on October 26, children 12 and under who visit Shark Reef in Halloween costumes will receive complimentary aquarium admission and sweet treats. The fun continues October 27 and 28 with a discounted Shark Reef admission of $7 for children 12 and under in costume as well as contests for the best animal costume and best overall costume. Winners will be treated with a complimentary birthday party package at Shark Reef Aquarium. Viva Las Vegas! Slaters 50/50 Las Vegas introduces two new burgers inspired by the decadence and glitz and glamour of Sin City. The 24K Burger and The Whale Burger are available now (Pictured: 24K Burger). Las Vegas is iconic and so are our burgers, said Cindy Sun, general manager of Slaters 50/50 Las Vegas. Locals and tourists expect over-the-top experiences in this city. From the Australian wagyu patties to poached lobster to the gold-dusted bacon and bun, these burgers fit the bill. The 24K Burger features a 24K gold-dusted brioche bun with three strips of 24K gold-dusted billionaires bacon, a half-pound of Australian wagyu beef, truffle cheese, baby arugula, bacon jam, roasted garlic aioli, and demi-glace. In keeping with the Las Vegas theme, Slaters staff recommends pairing the 24K Burger with featured local brews, including CraftHaus Resinate, Lovelady Brewing Luv Juice or Tenaya Creek Hop Ride. For those looking to double down on their burger experience, the Whale Burger features three ounces of poached lobster, one pound of Australian wagyu beef, three 24K gold dusted billionaires bacon strips, truffle cheese, baby arugula, bacon jam, roasted garlic aioli, and demi-glace, also between a 24K gold-dusted brioche bun. The Whale Burger is served with a 375 milliliter bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut Champagne. The 24K Burger is available for $24 and the Whale Burger with Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label pairing is available for $100. Both burgers also come with a side of Slaters fries or sweet potato fries. The new factory of NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnam at Quat Dong Industrial Zone Yesterday (November 12) NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnama member of Australias leading 160-year-old corporation BlueScope Steel Limitedannounced the companys business strategy to sharpen focus on the northern market to better serve market demand. As part of such a strategy, NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnam commenced the operation of its factory at Lot CN4a and CN4b, Quat Dong Industrial Zone, Thuong Tin district, Hanoi, thereby shortening delivery time to the northern market. The company envisions taking advantage of its role as a pioneer and market leader in coated steel solutions for industrial, commercial, and civil construction works to establish its position as a global expert in preeminent and unique construction solutions meeting all designs, while ensuring a comfortable and energy-saving workplace at the shortest reinvestment. After 25 years of presence in Vietnam, we have accumulated a deep understanding of the local market and applied our modern technology with over a century of professional experience to design breakthrough solutions suitable for the markets needs that only NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnam has the capacity to provide and deploy. We consider the northern market with Hanoi and Haiphong and other big industrial zones as a potential market for BlueScope Lysaghts high-quality construction solutions. Therefore, we have decided to promote productivity and business here with expectations that our unique solutions will be present in more buildings, thereby partially changing the northern construction industry, said Nguyen Cao Tri, president of NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnam. Landmark 81, the highest building in Vietnam, was built using the Bondek II solution of NS BlueScope Lysaght With a view to realising its business strategy, Lysaght focuses its strength in three main fields: setting up new standards for industrial plants with roofing and walling solutions; contributing to the development of high-tech agriculture with Lysaght Argrished solution; and modernising urban areas through a number of skyscrapers with its unique solutions of Bondek II. Its pioneering, advanced, Australian-standard, and unmatched copy technology are the key to NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnams reputation over the past two decades. NS BlueScope Lysaght has entered Vietnam in 1993 and is now the leading supplier of steel solutions for major industrial and commercial projects nationwide. Coca-Cola, Vinamilk, Unilever, Yamaha, ICI Dulux, Mapletree, Panasonic, and Pomina Steel all entrusted NS BlueScope Lysaght for their factories. In the meanwhile, Lysaght Agrished is installed by numerous big farms like Viet-Australia Shrimp Farm, Chicken Farm in Hoa Binh, and CP Chicken Farm in Binh Phuoc, among others. Particularly, Lysaghts Bondek II has its presence in several symbolic skyscrapers in Vietnam, the highest of which, Landmark 81, is a prominent landmark on the city vista. NS BlueScope Lysaght Vietnam has a long-term commitment to Vietnam and is willing to serve the construction needs of businesses across all fields. Chicken Farm in Hoa Binh applying Lysaght Argrished solutions Being one of the first foreign investors entering in 1993, NS BlueScope Lysaght created a breakthrough in the Vietnamese construction industry by launching innovative and high-tech steel buildings products and solution. NS BlueScope Lysaghts products have been a part of Vietnams architecture and buildings for well over a decade, shaping so much of what has been admired in industrial and commercial buildings throughout the countrys landscape, such as factories, administration offices, sports complexes, commercial centres, warehouses, universities and institutions, hospitals, livestock, farming, and housing. Prince Harry and Meghan arrived in Australia, and will also visit Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand on their first major trip abroad as a couple. (AFP/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS) The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in a wet and wintery Australia after a weekend spent celebrating the marriage of their relative Princess Eugenie to a wine merchant. The more than two week official visit will take in multiple stops in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand - all parts of the Commonwealth of states formerly colonised by Britain. Queen Elizabeth II is technically still the head of state in Australia, although for practical purposes the country is independent and there is significant support for becoming a republic. The royals are likely to pet koalas, watch soldiers perform the haka and attend the Invictus Games, a multi-sport tournament for injured military veterans that opens on Oct 20. The whole visit will be keenly watched by the British media. Meghan, a photogenic US actress, married the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II in May, becoming the new royal of media obsession in Britain and beyond. The 37-year-old made waves recently by closing her own car door. The couple will be accompanied by a staff of 10 and a substantially larger swarm of reporters from all the British papers and TV stations. The official visit begins on Tuesday in Sydney, where they will be welcomed by Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne. The royals will meet two koalas that same afternoon. After sailing Sydney Harbour and visiting the famous Bondi Beach, attending functions at Prince Harry's Invictus Games competitions for wounded soldiers and meeting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, they jet off to Fiji on Oct 23. Meghan will get a chance to speak at a UN women's empowerment in marketplaces event and meet some female vendors in the project in the Fiji capital Suva. They will meet the local royals in both Fiji and Tonga, which are members of the Commonwealth. The final leg coincides with the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in New Zealand - the first country to give women the right to vote. Meghan is expected to speak at a suffrage anniversary celebration in Wellington on Oct 28. The couple will have a chance to watch members of the New Zealand defence force perform the haka - the traditional warrior dance popularised globally by the nation's rugby team - at a governor's reception earlier that afternoon. The trip officially ends in New Zealand on Oct 31. Meghan has previously visited New Zealand as a tourist in 2014. Prince Harry has been to all four countries, but on his own. The couple's first trip abroad saw them dash off to Dublin shortly after their wedding. The stricken wreckage of the vehicle was reduced to burned-out metal by the impact of the crash AFP/MEHMET CANDAN The vehicle, described as a lorry, was travelling on a highway in the Izmir region close to Izmir airport when it flipped over and fell into the channel several metres below, state-run Anadolu news agency said. The nationality of the migrants was not made clear. Twenty-two people were killed, the agency said, lifting an earlier toll of 19, while 13 more were injured. Turkish television pictures showed the stricken wreckage of the vehicle, which was reduced to burned-out metal by the impact of the crash with corpses strewn beside. The DHA news agency said the driver of the vehicle, a Turkish man aged 35, survived and told police from his hospital bed that he had swerved to avoid an oncoming white vehicle. The dead included two babies and two children as well as a pregnant woman, it said. Once the driver's hospital treatment is completed, he will be sent to court with a demand to be arrested, Anadolu said. Regional prosecutors have opened an investigation, it added. DHA said that the vehicle was headed for the coast of the Izmir region, from where the migrants planned to take inflatable dinghies, which had been packed into their vehicle, to Greece's Samos island. Samos is just a few kilometres north of Turkey's Dilek peninsula that juts out from the Izmir region. KEY TRANSIT POINT Turkey is a key transit points for migrants from troubled countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa seeking a new life in Europe. A million migrants crossed from Turkey into Greece in 2015, mostly by boats, in a crisis which forced a deal between Ankara and the EU to stem the flow of people. Numbers have fallen since but people are still undertaking what is a highly perilous journey and the flow has ticked up this year from 2017. According to UN figures, more than 24,500 migrants have arrived in Greece by sea so far this year, with 118 people losing their lives via this route. Last week, eight migrants were found drowned off the Karaburun district, also in Izmir province, after their boat capsized. Twenty-six others are still officially listed as missing after that accident, according to Anadolu. The trips of migrants towards Greece are often organised by smugglers who demand hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars per person to sort out the logistics. After the disaster off Karaburun, four suspected smugglers were arrested following evidence given by an Iraqi who survived, Anadolu said. They had demanded a fee of US$1,500 from each migrant. A protester holds a sign with an image of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam during an anti-reclamation demonstration in Hong Kong. (Elaine YU/AFP) The government's proposal to reclaim 1,700 hectares of land around Hong Kong's largest outlying island, Lantau, has been touted as a solution to the pressing housing shortage in the city - notorious for being one of the least affordable markets on the planet. City leader Carrie Lam said new residential units on the proposed artificial islands could accommodate 1.1 million people in the coming years, and pledged to reserve 70 per cent of them for public housing. But critics say the massive projects are too costly and will also destroy the environment - especially marine life - with many also expressing frustration over the lack of public say in the plans. There is no official figure for how much the islands will cost, but some campaigners have put the figure at HK$800 billion (US$102 billion). Protesters chanted "We don't want white elephants!" in Sunday's march, joined by children holding up their own illustrations of Lantau's famous Chinese white dolphins - whose numbers have plunged due to recent construction and reclamations, according to environmentalists. "There are many ways to find land in Hong Kong, but (the authorities) don't want to cross the property developers," said 52-year-old Mr. Chan, referring to the government's reluctance to take back the vast land banks held by developers. For some, the project should be rejected for its environmental impact alone. "This shouldn't be controversial. Once you've destroyed the environment, that's it," said accountant Mrs. Wong. Mr Chan and Mrs Wong only provided their surnames. City officials are promoting the future metropolis of Lantau, which is linked to the mainland with a mega-bridge, as a gateway to the world and to neighbouring Chinese cities. Hong Kong's international airport - also partially built on reclaimed land - is located just off Lantau. This is not the first time a mega infrastructure project has sparked outcry in the city. Hong Kong's new high-speed rail link to the mainland and the soon-to-be-opened bridge connecting the city with Macau and Zhuhai have also proven divisive. Supporters say the multi-billion-dollar projects will boost business, while others claim they are politically driven and costly white elephants aimed at blurring the boundaries between Hong Kong and mainland China as Beijing tightens its grip over the semi-autonomous city. Prominent democracy activist Nathan Law, who joined Sunday's protest, said the government's use of public funds to "ardently" pursue mega-projects rather than welfare programmes such as universal pension shows its lack of will to improve people's livelihoods. "This is how an undemocratic government who doesn't need to be accountable to the people performs," Law told AFP. Timber companies in Vietnam: deliberate to make use of the opportunity Significant implications for the timber market Starting from mid-September 2018, the US decided to impose 10 per cent tariffs with the total cost of $189 billion on Chinese goods, including wood products. The tariff will be increased to 25 per cent on January 1, 2019 and possibly reach 44 per cent if the two countries do not resolve the trade war. According to To Xuan Phuc, senior policy analyst from Forest Trends (a non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC whose mission is to conserve forests and other ecosystems), the US-China trade war will definitely affect the Vietnamese wood processing industry. In its report on the Vietnam-China import and export turnover of wood and timber products, Forest Trends indicated that in the first half of 2018, Vietnams total sawn timber exports to China were only 88,800 cubic metres (cu.m), much lower than the 178,200cu.min the same period of 2017. Regarding sawn rubber wood exports to China alone, the figure in the first six months was 2,500cu.m, equivalent to 1 per cent of the total export volume in 2017. Foreign partners often place orders at least six months in advance, however, due to the erratic supply and purchase price of wood, no companies dare to sign long-term contracts. This drop, in the view of specialists, seems to be the response of Chinese manufacturers to counterbalance difficulties in the US. Huynh Quang Thanh, general director of Hiep Long Fine Furniture Company, said, Via the conversation with the president of China Timber and Wood Products Distribution Association, we can see that Chinese wood processing firms are facing great difficulties in maintaining their operations due to increasing labour costs and tariffs imposed by the US. In this situation, enterprises have to build plans to replace their manufacturing facilities. Unable to export timber and wood products directly to the US, manufacturers in China need to figure out a solution to evade the raised tariffs, by exporting timber and wood products to Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, or to change the origin of their products and exporting them to the US subject to lower tax. It would be acceptable if Chinese enterprises shifted to Vietnam inch by inch, gradually raising Vietnams timber exports. However, if they flock to Vietnam in droves and then start exporting to the US, enterprises in the US will submit a petition against Vietnam. This will result in Vietnam being charged with a similar anti-dumping tax as China, he added. In line with Thanhs warning, the US has introduced a new anti-avoidance to prevent this. If the US detect Vietnamese enterprises lending a hand to China, a 10 per cent or higher anti-avoidance tax will be imposed on timber and wood products from Vietnam. Subsequently, Vietnams wood manufacturing industry would face serious losses. Setting up value chain model to make most use of the opportunity Dien Quang Hiep, president of the Binh Duong Furniture Association (BIFA), expressed concern that the Vietnamese wood industry does not have a closed chain of processing firms and material suppliers, as raw materials account for 45 per cent of the product price. The lack of connection between material suppliers and manufacturers reduces opportunities to export timber and wood to the US, he added. Hoang Ich Tuan, purchasing director of Tekcom Corporation, emphasised that despite the towering purchasing prices, the company still does not have a stable supply of raw materials. Foreign partners often place orders at least six months in advance, however, due to the erratic supply and purchase price of wood, no companies dare to sign long-term contracts, he said. He also explained that the reason why wood suppliers seem unwilling to deal with domestic manufacturers is probably that wood exporters benefit not only from the export revenue but also from tax reductions. To support timber processing firms to export to the US, Tuan suggested several solutions, namely conducting investigations into the prices of wood exporters to discover commercial fraud or setting the minimum export price equal to the domestic purchasing price. In the long term, related bodies should increase the export tax of raw material or ban exporting raw wood. To ensure wood export supply, Tran Minh, head of Industry Department of Vietnam Rubber Group (the unit contributing 90 per cent of the rubber wood supply) says the group is planning to supply customised sawn timber instead of wood logs to ensure quality. He also wishes that wood manufacturers could acquire 5-10 per cent in suppliers to create a solid value chain for sustainable growth of the Vietnamese wood industry. Vietjet's first flight connecting Danang and Bangkok Celebrating the first special flight, passengers had the chance to enjoy a traditional Vietnamese dance performance in the sky and receive souvenirs from Vietjet. Vietjet started its daily direct flight between Danang and Bangkok today, marks the 7th route connecting Vietnam and Thailand between the two countries, flying to Bangkok from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Haiphong, Da Lat, and Danang, as well as direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Chiang Mai and Phuket. The first passengers on the inaugural flight The daily flight departs from Danang at 13:35 PM to arrive at 15:15 PM at Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi Airport), while the flight departs from Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi Airport) at 11:10 AM and arrives to Danang at 12:50 PM. Each flight takes one hour and 40 minutes. To celebrate the inaugural flight, Vietjet offer 3,000 promotional tickets with the campaign Its time to Vietjet! with the prices going from VND68,000 ($2.95) (one-way, excluding taxes, and other fees) only for bookings on October 15-17, 2018 during the golden hours from 12:00 to 14:00 (GMT+7) on the airlines website: www.vietjetair.com. The promotion is valid for trips from October 16, 2018 to March 30, 2019. Phong Nha-Ke Bang. Photo: Thetravel.com Phong Nha-Ke Bang, Con Dao islands and Hue in Vietnam have been ranked 18th, 12th and eighth among the 20 hidden gems of Asia will surely inspire wanderlust and make you want to get back to this wonderful place again and again, according to a list released by The Travel, a website on vacation destination. Vietnam has plenty of outstanding beaches, tasty street snacks and hidden gems that are yet to be discovered by the traveling enthusiasts. Central Vietnam is especially interesting because it serves home to the cities of Hoi an and Hue and to a number of natural wonders one of which is Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, The Travel wrote. The Travel advises travelers that by visiting this UNESCO World Heritage Site you can see the worlds largest cave complexes which were only discovered recently, beautiful underground rivers and the oldest karst mountains in Asia. In addition, the third hidden gem of Vietnam on the list is the city of Hue. On the one hand were lucky that this town isnt getting the attention it should because knowing about it, we can travel there and enjoy it while its not crowded, but on the other hand, its a pity that so many people miss this place when traveling to Asia, The Travel wrote. According to The Travel, it will take you only an hour to get to Hue from Hanoi by place. There are plenty of things to see, but what you should definitely pay your attention to the historic imperial ruins and the Perfume River. Con Dao island is another hidden gem of Vietnam and another secret hideout for those who are drawn by the magic of tropical beaches. This slice of paradise is quite isolated and it looks otherworldly. But it wasnt always like this. When Americans and French ruled Vietnam, this place was used as a huge prison for outlaws. So you can spend half of your day enjoying empty beaches and drinking cocktails, swimming in the clear sea and enjoying the jungles and use another part of the day to see the colonial-era prisons and learn about the lives of their former inmates, The Travel wrote. Kashmir (India) tops the list, followed by Jiuzhaigou (China), Iskanderkul Lake (Tajikistan), Coonoor (India), Cardamom Mountains (Cambodia), Koh Phayam (Thailand), Sidemen (Bali), Hue (Vietnam), etc. Vietnam welcomed some 11.616 million foreign visitors in the first nine months of 2018, an 22.9% increase from the same period last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has said in a monthly report. Arrivals by air, road, and sea in the reviewed period recorded annual increases of 17.4%, 62.1%, and 0.5%, respectively, while growth was also seen in the numbers of visitors from all five continents. An engineer operates an electricity production system at the Dong Nai Hydropower Plant in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong.-VNA/VNS Photo Ngoc Ha Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong spoke about the development of the marketplace at a recent meeting in Hanoi. Vuong said the development of a competitive electricity market is a long-term plan for Vietnams electricity sector as mandated in the 2004 Electricity Law. The details of the plan were specified in the Prime Ministers Decision 63/QD-TTg in 2013, which laid out the conditions and structure of the new market. The marketplace was to be developed in three distinct parts: the electricity generation market, the wholesale market and the retail market. The generation market started in 2012, and the wholesale market is expected to open next year. The final stage will be the development of the retail market. In the pilot period for the wholesale market, performance metrics were tracked and used to improve service. The test run we carried out over the past year will be the basis for assessing the viability of the markets approved design, Vuong told chinhphu.vn. Participating companies and service providers have used it to gradually get acquainted with the new mechanisms. Vuong said the Ministry of Industry and Trade has instructed relevant agencies to focus on completing the pilot period by the end of the year so the market can open next year at the latest. The remaining time of the trial period will be used to improve information technology infrastructure and finish training companies in how the market works. Nguyen Anh Tuan, director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV), said the agency is preparing to put energy generated by the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN)s hydroelectric plants into the market. The next step will be to allow renewable energy providers to connect the national grid. To protect investors in renewable energy and ensure the market is operated fairly, experts say State agencies should develop regulations that support small power plants with a capacity under 30MW. This move would boost the renewable energy sector and help the long-term health of the marketplace. Deputy Director of the National Load Dispatch Centre of Vietnam (NLDC) Vu Xuan Khu told congthuong.vn that, during the pilot period, electricity companies have improved their business practices. According to the NLDC, the nascent market has had to overcome challenges stemming from IT infrastructure shortages and the unability to forecast hydroelectric output. The ERAV, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, reported that 87 power plants have entered the electricity generation market over the past five years, with a total capacity of nearly 23,000MW. ERAV representative Le Hong Hai said the market has already increased its transparency and helped create a system that investors can trust to integrate their new power plants into the national electric grid. However, Hai said the insufficient IT infrastructure will limit the effectiveness of the market. Speaking at the opening ceremony, WTA chairman Her Tae Jeong congratulated Binh Duong province on becoming the newest WTA member in this August, adding that WTA 2018 was a special event, celebrating the 20th anniversary since WTAs establishment, setting a new vision for the organisation in the next decade. This event will also set up a global framework for technology exchange and cooperation among WTA members," said Jeong. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam's opening speech at WTA 2018. Photo: Le Toan With the theme of "Smart CitiesThe Dynamics of Innovation for Sustainable Development," Jeong said that cities are currently at a great turning point to face major tasks, such as environment protection and smart city development. WTA is a forum for members to discuss and exchange views on turning cities into smart cities. This conference will provide directions for members to come up with plans for the near future, he added. According to Tran Thanh Liem, Chairman of the Binh Duong People's Committee, the selection to host this event right after becoming an official member of the WTA has confirmed the international status of Binh Duong. "Being a member of WTA will create significant opportunities for Binh Duong to increase international cooperation, promote its brand, and attract foreign investment," Liem said, adding that this will be the foundation for Binh Duong to promote human resources exchanges with scientific cities around the world and enhance its management capacity. It also improves scientific-technical levels, transfers advanced technologies, and shares development strategies to help Binh Duong improve its socioeconomic development and to become a smart city. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and delegates visiting Binh Duong New City. Photo: Le Toan DPM Dam in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of WTA has emphasised the significance of the event not only for WTA bur for Vietnam as well. According to him, advanced science has brought humanity into a new development stage with both opportunities and challenges. In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, according to DPM Dam, it is important to focus on the connection between the devices, the person and the device, and between people, organisations, individuals, businesses, and nations. "I strongly believe that with its mission, the WTA also has new opportunities to make more important contribution to the development of nations, economies, and the development of civilisation in general, he said. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and delegates visiting the booth at the Hi-Tech Fair. Photo: Le Toan An economy and a smart city are always associated with new technologies, but far beyond technology, the ultimate goal is that humanity must be at the centre of development. We have to make it so that the entire society from ordinary people, scientists, children, and the elderly can participate and benefit from the development, he emphasied. One of the key issues in building smart cities in Vietnam, according to DPM Dam, is to build a database connecting the government with enterprises, scientists, and the community. This data needs to be systematised and, most importantly, shared and transparent so that it can be efficiently exploited. DPM Dam also said that in general, Vietnam is on track in deploying Industry 4.0 and building smart cities. The economy and the growth rate of Vietnam are developing stably and this is expected to be maintained in the future. However, Vietnam is aware that there are still many difficulties ahead, especially in terms of technology and high-quality human resources. Therefore, international events, such as the WTA, will help Vietnam in the process of integration and sustainable development, he said. North and South Korea held high-level talks within the heavily fortified demilitarized zone Monday. The meeting discussed the implementation agreements made during the recent Pyongyang summit as South Korean President Moon Jae-in called upon the international community to reward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his efforts to denuclearize. Despite Moons assertions, experts remain cautious that any real denuclearization progress has been made. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon led the five-member South Korean delegation to Panmunjom. The South Korean team was greeted by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the country, who headed the Norths contingent. North and South Korean leaders agreed in September during the third inter-Korean summit to intensify cross-border cooperation and to promote various programs to bring about an era of peace on the peninsula and one without nuclear weapons. At Monday's session the two nations agreed to begin a joint project to modernize and connect their rail and roadways before the end of the year. Teams will begin inspecting the transportation links mid-October on the Gyeongeui line and in early November on an eastern route. They also agreed to discuss issues related to a North Korean art troupe performing in the South as soon as possible. Furthermore, they agreed to hold Red Cross talks at the Norths Mount Kumgang Resort in November related to families separated from the Korean War. Other projects proposed by the Moon administration could be a problem, said Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, Bruce Klinger. Its his opinion that South Korean President Moon appears eager to provide a long and growing list of economic benefits and economic promises to North Korea. All of which would be violations of [United Nations] sanctions or [United States] law, said Klinger. He added there are growing concerns in Washington about Moons eagerness to improve inter Korean relations without a commensurate progress in [North Korea's] denuclearization. However, Bruce Cumings, an American scholar who has extensively studied North Korea and the Korean Peninsula, said North Korea has made some progress. Cumings said it is very significant that nearly a year has passed since North Korea stopped testing missiles and nuclear bombs, particularly at the point where they haven't proved that they can marry a warhead to a missile and carry it across the oceans. Should North Korea be rewarded? South Korean President Moon Jae-in is currently traveling on a multi-nation European tour. He renewed calls to engage with Pyongyang and ease sanctions on North Korea as it makes progress toward denuclearization. Moon said that over the course of his conversations with Kim, the meetings have convinced me that he has taken the strategic decision to abandon his nuclear weapons. Moon made the remarks to the Le Figaro newspaper before departing to France for a state visit. "We need to assure Kim Jong Un that he took the right decision in deciding to denuclearize and we need to accompany him in his wish for a durable and solid peace, Moon said in the interview. However, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill said that while the atmosphere on the peninsula has changed, that wasn't necessarily facilitated by Pyongyang. I think people who call for a reevaluation of sanctions need to explain how North Korea has somehow changed with respect to denuclearization, Hill said. I'd like to hear the argument that suggests that they've done something in denuclearization, Hill added. Former U.S. National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster recently said in Seoul, that while we all hope that Chairman Kim Jong Un is undergoing a radical change of heart, we must remain alert. McMaster said the possibility remains that Kim intends to use his nuclear arsenal as a treasured sword designed to pry apart the alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea, by making America think twice about ever coming to South Koreas aid in time of war. The RAND Corporation's Bruce Bennett said moving forward, its important to know which of three Kims the world is dealing with: Is it the cautious Kim, who is concerned about internal rebellion as he moves to denuclearize, the hard bargainer, who is trying to get the best deal possible, or the Kim who doesn't want to truly denuclearize? Therefore, we need to be testing Kim Jong Un to determine his true intent, said Bennett. That led Scott Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies to muse, Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But [the idiom] doesn't say anything about what happens if you're fooled a third time. Like Ambassador Hill, Snyder said the critical question is what makes current discussions with North Korea about denuclearization different than past talks. He added it is incumbent on those pushing forward to try and explain what those difference are. Last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen touted Japan as a democratic model for Cambodia to emulate. Analysts have since said that Japans democratic model could be a positive influence on Cambodian politics. In an interview with Japans Kyodo news on Friday, Hun Sen said Japans strong economy and political stability was a model of real democracy. Chheang Vannarith, a regional analyst and researcher, said Japan was one of the most successful democracies in Asia. It is a source of inspiration for other Asian countries. However, for democracy to grow, it starts with genuine political will and commitment from the top and socialization of democratic values across the board. Rule of law is the core element of democracy, he said. If the people do not have the knowledge, democracy can become a tool of politicians," he added. "It is a demagogic democracy that is now flourishing and it spreads around the world because politicians use democracy as a pedestal or as an instrument for the ambition of the power. This is also a risk factor for democracy." Koul Panha, director of the election watchdog Comfrel, said in Japan there was a deep respect for the role of the opposition in parliamentary politics. The ruling party especially the Prime Minister regularly, and the leaders of each party, they have a high political conscience," he said. "But we face a higher risk when we take our country back to non-respect for human rights, democracy, return to one-party rule like China, then it can lead to our country's recalculation and potentially serious political conflicts, he added. But I still have faith because of the democratic process. Democracy is just a process, it can be modified, it is not impossible to change. It is because we have principles and in our constitution, we are liberal and pluralist and have respect human rights are immutable." Speaking at the United Nations last month, Hun Sen said human rights advocacy had become a civilizing mission of superpowers. Prominent land rights activist Tep Vanny has started a US tour where she will meet Cambodian-American community leaders and advocate for human rights. Vanny was recently released from prison after more than two years in jail for taking part in a protest in Phnom Penh. After I was released from prison, I came here to meet them [US officials] and ask them to push for the respect of human rights, real democracy, and also to end impunity in Cambodia, especially the manipulation of the judicial system to arrest and detain innocent people and nationalists like myself, she said. The situation in Cambodia is difficult now as they restrict us everywhere. Even though I am out of a prison with walls, I am now in a prison without walls. My freedom of expression and freedom of assembly do not exist and we live in fear as they do all kinds of intimidation that they can do. Its not only me who lives in fear, but also my family. Vanny was the most prominent advocate for the rights of the Boeung Kak community in Phnom Penh, who were displaced by a developer with close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen. We are motivated to be brave even though we know that by leaving home, we will never know if we have a chance to come back home to meet our children and family. We need to step forward and do more advocacy... If we cant protect our home, we cant protect our children, then our children will lose their future. Janet Seng, head of the former opposition Cambodia National Rescue Partys US womens network, said Vanny had met US congressional staff on Thursday. The pressure means more restrictions such as freezing assets for individuals, restricting them to enter the United States, and now they are looking to do large-scale sanctions that they dont want to do yet, she said. Slow progress is being made amid Indonesia's devastation. Rohingya's are more anxious in India. Taiwan works to keep a spiritual ally. Calls to evacuate an Australian asylum camp. Growing premature babies, and building big cities with big data. U.S. President Donald Trump praised Florida governor Rick Scott for his efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael during a visit to affected parts of the Florida Panhandle Monday. "The job they've done in Florida has been incredible," Trump said, speaking alongside Scott. "You're a great Governor. You really have been. He steps up in the biggest emergencies, the biggest problems, and he gets it done." Accompanied by his wife Melania, Trump's trip Monday comes as search and rescue crews continue to look for people still missing after the storm. The President said that electric companies have been "really incredible and responsive" in getting power back to homes that survived last week's devastating hurricane, but noted that many homes were destroyed by the storm. Trump said he will also visit affected areas of the state of Georgia. xMichael came ashore Wednesday as a powerful hurricane with maximum winds of 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph) and high storm surge that combined to knock down buildings, cut off electricity and leave debris strewn across coastal areas. At least 17 deaths have been blamed on the storm along its path from Florida to Virginia. Among the hardest hit areas was Mexico Beach, a Florida Panhandle town that Governor Scott said now resembles a war zone. Ahead of the Trumps' visit, Scott toured some of the devastation with Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long, who said the damage in Mexico Beach is some of the worst he has ever seen. Mexico Beach police chief Anthony Kelly told VOA's Spanish Service, "When you come here and see the devastation, it's hard, it's emotionally hard." "We know each person in the majority of the houses. They know us," Kelly said. "All these people are close to us. And now we're going around the neighborhoods making sure that they're not in any of these houses that are so extremely damaged." "Looking in the debris, seeing photos of grandkids, people that we know that have come back here year after year, that's the emotional side," he said. "I've got officers that this is their first catastrophic event, and it's hard to explain to them, you know, it's going to get better, because they're seeing reality." The town's medical manager, Patricia Cantwell, said, "It's extremely sad that the devastation has been so rampant throughout the Panhandle" of the state. "Having lived through Hurricane Andrew in south Florida [in 1992], it's going to take a while," she told VOA. "It's one day at a time. It looks overwhelming to start, but, you know, one day at a time. It's going to take years to get things back up and running." President Trump told the CBS news show 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast Sunday that he does not know if global waning is manmade, despite the scientific research showing that pollution and human activity is the major contributor. He said he does not want to give "trillions and trillions of dollars" and lose "millions and millions of jobs" to prevent it. Most scientists link a warming planet with storms that are more intense. Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle last week as the strongest storm to strike the continental United States in nearly 50 years. Trump said there have been hurricanes that were "far worse" than Michael and said scientists calling for action on climate change have a "very big political agenda." The president has over the years called global warming a hoax and had once called it a Chinese plot aimed at wrecking the U.S. economy. "I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again," Trump told CBS. "I don't think it's a hoax, I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's manmade." American pastor Andrew Brunson was freed last week by a Turkish court after spending two years in prison on terror charges. The evangelical missionary drew international headlines when his imprisonment became a flashpoint between the Trump administration and Turkey. After his release was announced, VOA Turkish Service's Mehmet Toroglu traveled to Black Mountain, North Carolina to speak with Brunson's parents and visit his home church. Bezhan Hamdard narrates his story. China's ambassador to the U.S. says many accusations the Trump administration has made against Beijing are "groundless", including election interference. "One of the fundamental principles in China's foreign policy is non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries," Ambassador Cui Tiankai told Fox television Sunday. "We have been consistent in this position. We have a very good track record." Without presenting any tangible evidence of Chinese election interference, the White House has accused China of trying to turn voters away from the Republicans in next month's election. It also calls the China Daily insert in many U.S. newspapers propaganda. Cui called the newspaper section a page out of the U.S. media playbook -- buying commercial pages in newspapers to make one's views known. He also denied the U.S. and China are involved in a trade war, despite the tit-for-tat exchanges of huge tariffs on each other exports. He said Americans have to look at the "whole picture," pointing out how much money U.S. companies have made in China over the years. The ambassador also denied China steals intellectual property from the U.S., days after a senior Chinese intelligence officer was extradited to the U.S. for allegedly trying to steal secrets from American aviation companies. Cui says such charges are "unfair" to the Chinese people. "China has 1.4 billion people. It would be hard to imagine that one-fifth of the global population could develop and not prosper, not by relying mainly on their own efforts, but by stealing or forcing some transfer of technology from others. That's impossible." The ambassador also accused the U.S. of stoking military tensions by sending its ships into the South China Sea near Chinese territory, saying there are no Chinese ships hovering around the Gulf of Mexico or off the California coast. But despite tensions and disagreements, Ambassador Cui said U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi have a "good mutual understanding and a good working relationship" that he is sure will continue. U.S. President Donald Trump is backing off his claim that climate change is a hoax. In an interview broadcast Sunday, Trump told CBS-TV's 60 Minutes "I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again...I'm not denying climate change, but it could very well go back. You know, we're talking about over millions of years." Trump has over the years called global warming a hoax and had once called it a Chinese plot aimed at wrecking the U.S. economy. Trump told 60 Minutes he does not know if global waning is manmade, despite the scientific research showing that pollution and human activity is the major contributor. He said he does not want to give "trillions and trillions of dollars" and lose "millions and millions of jobs" to prevent it. Most scientists link a warming planet with storms that are more intense. Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle last week as the strongest storm to strike the continental United States in nearly 50 years. Trump said there have been hurricanes that were "far worse" than Michael and said scientists calling for action on climate change have a "very big political agenda." Meanwhile, the town of Mexico Beach, Florida was just about wiped off the face of the earth by Hurricane Michael. "Mexico Beach is devastated," Florida Governor Rick Scott says. "It's like a war zone." Michael's 250 kilometer per hour winds left only a handful of buildings standing. Concrete slabs are left where houses and stores thrived. Only a few trees are left. The main U.S. highway that goes through the town is not drivable. Mexico Beach police chief Anthony Kelly told VOA's Spanish Service, "When you come here and see the devastation, it's hard, it's emotionally hard." "We know each person in the majority of the houses. They know us," Kelly said. "All these people are close to us. And now we're going around the neighborhoods making sure that they're not in any of these houses that are so extremely damaged." "Looking in the debris, seeing photos of grandkids, people that we know that have come back here year after year, that's the emotional side," he said. "I've got officers that this is their first catastrophic event, and it's hard to explain to them, you know, it's going to get better, because they're seeing reality." The town's medical manager, Patricia Cantwell, said, "It's extremely sad that the devastation has been so rampant throughout the Panhandle" of the state. "Having lived through Hurricane Andrew in south Florida (in 1992), it's going to take a while," she told VOA. "It's one day at a time. It looks overwhelming to start, but, you know, one day at a time. It's going to take years to get things back up and running." Brock Long, the head Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the death toll in Mexico Beach could rise, as rescue workers continue to search the rubble left behind by the storm. It could take another 10 days to compile a damage estimate. Some physical structures in the town were lifted off their moorings and moved hundreds of meters away by the winds and storm surge from the storm. Other buildings were left in masses of debris, demolished beyond recognition. President Trump signed a declaration Sunday saying the federal government will, for now, pay for 100 percent of the cleanup in Florida, temporarily easing the financial burden from the state. For many immigrants, U.S. midterm elections traditionally draw minimal interest. But this election cycle, the reaction is different as a Democratic victory for control of the House or Senate or both would have huge repercussions for immigrant communities. U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial policies on trade, immigration, taxes and a host of other issues that impact immigrants could be challenged or reversed with the Democrats back in control of Congress. In the 2016 presidential election, foreign language media was a fundamental source of information for immigrants, as mainstream outlets aimed to connect with broader audiences. In the 2018 midterm elections, a news-you-can-use component is a key part of how these outlets continue to serve their audiences. Cameroon native Pamela Anchang is managing editor of The Immigrant Magazine and host of "Impact," a new radio talk show for the immigrant community based in Los Angeles. "Given the climate that we're in, everybody is paying attention," she told VOA. "Now, immigrants are aware that elections have consequences, and when you don't vote for whatever reason, it comes back to either serve you or hurt you." In the past, the midterm elections were also of little concern for La Opinion, a Spanish language daily newspaper in Los Angeles. However, the midterms of 2018 are "completely different" because of Trump, said Gabriel Lerner, La Opinion's editor-in-chief. "This has been like an earthquake, a political earthquake for many of the Latinos, so people are really interested in what is going on," Lerner said. The homepages of Spanish language media websites in the U.S. are packed with news about deportations, raids and arrests by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Trump's latest plan for building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. "In the case of Latinos, Trump positioned himself as a foe since the beginning of his campaign when he defined that Mexican immigrants are criminals, are rapists this created a lot of strong reaction against Trump and Trumpism in the community," said Lerner. Anchang said Trump's tough stance on immigration does not only create strong reaction in the Latino community, but many other immigrant communities, including the African diaspora. "Because issues are what drive us," Anchang said." If you just talk about elections in general, nobody cares. But if you talk about how it affects you personally, they pay attention. What is really important to Africans health care [and] being legal. We have a lot of Africans who are undocumented." "It is very possible that the results of these midterm elections will be a vote of confidence for President Trump," said Vincent Chang, chief content officer and executive editor of World Journal, a Chinese-language newspaper. The outcome of the midterms will show how much trust the electorate puts in Trump and his policies, he said. Within the Chinese community, those who are U.S. citizens tend to support Trump's policies on immigration, he added. Chang said the issues the Chinese language readership is concerned with include core administration policies regarding tax reform, the economy and immigration. Chang said his paper will be closely watching potential changes throughout Congress after the midterms. Local races get a lot of attention During every election cycle, news organizations tailored to the immigrant communities also have in-depth coverage of local races of candidates from their own ethnic groups. "We'll follow closely how the Chinese-American candidates perform in the different districts, regardless of whether they win or lose," said Chang. That also rings true in Southern California's Little Saigon where political billboards with the names of Vietnamese-American candidates can be seen everywhere. They are running for local and state level races, from mayor to the state senate and every position in between. Unlike the mainstream media and many other immigrant communities, the Vietnamese community is excited about the midterms almost exclusively because of the local races. "We don't pay much attention to the federal level [races]. But mostly [we focus on races at the] local level," said Dzung Do, staff writer for Nguoi Viet Daily News, a California-based Vietnamese language paper that printed its first edition 40 years ago. Do said many Vietnamese Americans will vote for a Vietnamese name, regardless of a candidate's position on the issues. The topics they want to read in the press and hear from the candidates include U.S. relations with Vietnam, education and security, according to Do. Since many Vietnamese Americans arrived in the U.S. as refugees, immigration is not as much of a priority as other immigrant groups. Immigration is a passionate topic for the guests on Anchang's Impact radio talk show. They included a Korean-American, a Filipino-American and a Latino-American. Some of the guests said that Trump's immigration policies are highly discriminatory and create widespread fear. Some would like amnesty for those who are already living in the U.S., while others argued that immigrants must follow U.S. law and wait their turn in line to gain legal entry to the U.S. Anchang said her message to her readers and listeners is that only by voting can they keep the status quo or create change. Gambia has launched a truth and reconciliation commission to look into crimes committed under former President Yahya Jammeh's government, which is accused of torturing and killing perceived opponents. The tiny West African state swore in 11 members of the new commission Monday. President Adama Barrow said in a post on Twitter: "Let us stand together to say: 'Never again shall a few people oppress us as a nation. Never again shall the beautiful Smiling Coast experience a tyranny of the minority against the majority.'" Victims, witnesses and alleged perpetrators of crimes are set to start testifying to the commission later this month. The process is expected to take around two years. Jammeh ruled Gambia for 22 years after seizing power in a 1994 coup. He fled into exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017 after losing an election to current President Barrow. Jammeh initially did not accept the electoral result, but later stepped down following pressure from regional leaders. Jammeh's government is accused of carrying out executions, disappearances, torture, rape and other crimes during its more than two decades in power. Other African nations have held truth and reconciliation commissions, with the most well known being in South Africa following the end of apartheid in 1994. The commissions encourage people to confess past crimes and allow victims to speak out against crimes committed against them in a public forum. Gambia's truth and reconciliation commission will have the power to advise on who should be prosecuted and recommend financial compensation to victims. Germany has deported an accomplice of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States to his home country of Morocco. Mounir al-Motassadeq had spent almost 15 years in prison in Germany before he was deported Monday to Morocco. German media published photographs of Motassadeq wearing a blindfold and being led by two armed policemen to a helicopter. German officials confirmed he was flown out by plane from Frankfurt airport on Monday evening. Motassadeq was convicted of helping Mohamed Atta, the alleged pilot of one of the hijacked 9/11 planes, and other suicide pilots to help plot the attacks on New York and Washington. The suicide pilots were part of an al-Qaida cell based in Hamburg, Germany, where Motassadeq also lived. Motassadeq was found guilty in 2003 of being a member of a terrorist organization and an accessory to the murder of the passengers aboard the four airliners used in the September 11 attacks. His five years of trials in Germany involved multiple appeals, overturned convictions, and reinstated verdicts. In the end, he received the maximum sentence the German court could hand down for the crimes 15 years in prison. Motassadeq denied being involved in the 9/11 plot, but admitted to being friends with those who did. He said his actions to send money to the suicide pilots were merely favors for his friends. Motassadeq was released shortly before completing his 15-year sentence on the condition that he agreed to be deported to Morocco. Germany says it will re-arrest him if he ever returns. A Moroccan man convicted of helping Mohamed Atta and the other Hamburg-based Sept. 11 suicide pilots as they plotted their attacks on New York and Washington was deported Monday from Germany to his native country. Mounir el-Motassadeq, who was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and accessory to the murder of the 246 passengers and crew on the four jetliners used in the 2001 attacks, was flown by helicopter from a Hamburg prison on Monday morning. Blindfolded and with his hands and ankles shackled, the 44-year-old was then led by two police officers to another helicopter while other heavily armed police in balaclavas patrolled the area and watched from rooftops. Authorities wouldn't comment on the operation for security reasons. "Mr. Motassadeq will leave the country soon,'' Hamburg Interior Ministry spokesman Frank Reschreiter told The Associated Press. "All the necessary procedural steps for this have been ticked off according to plan." El-Motassadeq was released shortly before completing his 15-year-sentence on the condition that he agree to be deported to Morocco. That would allow Germany to re-arrest him if he ever returned to the country. It wasn't immediately clear what awaited him in Morocco. El-Motassadeq was convicted of being part of the so-called Hamburg cell, including Atta and fellow Sept. 11 pilots Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. German courts ruled that el-Motassadeq was aware the three planned to hijack and crash planes, even though he might not have known specifics of the plot. They said el-Motassadeq helped "watch the attackers' backs and conceal them'' by helping them keep up the appearance of being regular university students paying tuition and rent and transferring money. El-Motassadeq acknowledged training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan, but insisted he knew nothing of his friends' plans to attack the U.S. "I swear by God that I did know the attackers were in America," he shouted in accented German at a sentencing hearing. "I swear by God that I did not know what they wanted to do." Originally arrested in Hamburg in November 2001, el- Motassadeq was convicted in 2003 of membership in a terrorist organization and thousands of counts of accessory to murder taking into account victims on the ground becoming the first person convicted anywhere on charges related to Sept. 11. He was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison. However, a federal court overturned that verdict in 2004, largely because of a lack of evidence from al-Qaida suspects in U.S. custody, and sent the case back to Hamburg. After a 2005 retrial, el-Motassadeq was again convicted of membership in a terrorist organization that included Atta, al-Shehhi and Jarrah. But he was acquitted of being an accessory to murder after the court ruled it didn't have enough evidence that he knew of the hijackers' plot. El-Motassadeq was sentenced to seven years in prison at the time, but was freed in early 2006 until his appeal could be heard. Later that year, the federal court reversed the Hamburg court's acquittal of el-Motassadeq on the accessory to murder charges, ruling that the evidence knew the plotters planned to hijack and crash planes. It limited the number of counts, however, to the 246 people killed aboard the airplanes and the 15-year sentence was restored. The head of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party of Korea Lee Hae-chan said he had heard that the Pope wishes to visit North Korea next spring, Yonhap news agency reported on Monday. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is visiting Europe and is expected to pass on to the Vatican North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's wish to meet Pope Francis. South Korea's presidential office said that wish was expressed during a meeting last month. Head of S.Korea's ruling party says Pope wishes to visit N.Korea - Yonhap The migrant caravan that started in San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras has grown as it crosses the country. Some are walking. Some are in vehicles. But they all seem to have a common goal -- they want a better life. Many of them want to seek that life in the United States. March organizer Bartolo Fuentes told Reuters that participants are fleeing poverty and violence back home. San Pedro Sula has one of the world's highest murder rates. Sixty-four percent of the households in Honduras live in poverty. The population of the caravan has swelled to an estimated 1,700 from the initial 1,000 who left San Pedro Sula. Word of the mass migration has spread through local and social media. Many had already planned to leave Honduras and felt traveling in a large group would lessen their chances of falling victim to robbery and assault. The Associated Press reports that "families arrived with infants in their arms and toddlers in strollers...most carrying little more than a backpack." U.S. Vice President Mike Pence recently told the presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to stop the mass migrations. "Tell your people: Don't put your families at risk by taking the dangerous journey north to attempt to enter the United States illegally," Pence said. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off aid from countries that allow the caravans to pass through their countries. But that means little to people who are poor already and want better for themselves and their children. "There's a misery and a violence that is overwhelming people," Dunia Montoya, a volunteer helping the migrant in Honduras told the Associated Press. "People no longer have faith in this country and they are fleeing." Sunday night the convoy arrived in Ocotepeque, near the border with Guatemala. The caravan will attempt to cross into Guatemala Monday and then trek to Mexico. Some migrants will seek refugee status in Mexico, while others will request a visa to enter the United States. Some who are not granted visas will try to enter the U.S. illegally. Mexico issued a statement Saturday saying it does not issue entry visas for people who do not meet "the requirements to transit toward a neighboring country." Mexico also said it issues visas at its consulates abroad, not at border entry points. Roberto Castro, a 26-year old bus driver and construction worker, when he can find work, joined the caravan because he had put his two young children and their mother on a bus two weeks ago, from San Pedro Sula, and he has not heard from them in days. He hopes to find them at one of the waystations between Honduras and the U.S. "It hurts," he told the Associated Press, between tears, "because one just wants an opportunity." Days ahead of a summit once seen as the moment Britain and the European Union would have to reach a Brexit deal, both sides are still staring at each other over the question of the Irish border, refusing to blink. A flurry of diplomatic meetings over the weekend had raised hopes for an agreement, only to be disappointed by the issue that has dogged the talks for months how to ensure no hard border is created between the EUs Ireland and Britains Northern Ireland once Brexit happens on March 29. The EU has proposed keeping Northern Ireland in a customs union to avoid a hard border between it and Ireland. The fear is that such a border could revive tensions between Northern Irelands pro-Irish Catholic and pro-U.K. Protestant communities, in which over 3,700 people died over 30 years of troubles ending in 1998. Britain says it will only accept that plan if it is temporary and does not hive Northern Ireland off permanently from the rest of the U.K. in terms of customs arrangements. British Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman James Slack said Monday that negotiations are stuck because the EU continues to insist on the possibility of a customs border down the Irish Sea, a move it feels will effectively split up the U.K., which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The acrimony means it is almost impossible that EU leaders will reach a deal at their summit, which begins Wednesday and had long been pegged as the date an agreement should be reached by. The British and EU parliaments need to approve any deal, a process that could take months ahead of the official exit in March. Whether we do this week or not, who knows? British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters in Luxembourg where EU foreign ministers are meeting. If Britain leaves the EU without an agreement on future relations, there could be chaos tariffs would go up on trade, airlines could no longer have permits to fly between the two sides, and freight could be lined up for miles at the borders as customs checks are restored overnight. To avoid this, the prospect of an extra meeting in November was raised, but only if there was decisive progress this week. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney admitted to being frustrated by the delay, saying that apart from Britain, Ireland is the country with most to lose from Brexit. Coveney suggested that May is reneging on part of its commitment to ensure that no hard border involving lengthy customs checks and controls emerges on the Irish island. He said Britain agreed in December and again in March that an unpopular backstop guarantee would remain in place until a better solution is found, but now appears to only want it used for a limited time. A backstop cannot be time-limited. Thats new. It hasnt been there before, he said. Nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism to calm nerves that were not going to see physical border infrastructure re-emerging. Britain denied it is reneging on its December commitment to avoid a hard Irish border. We dont resile from the commitments we have made in relation to the backstop, said Mays spokesman, James Slack. Like Britains Hunt, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said of a deal: it seems that this week it will not be possible, but this week is not the end. He said that he foresees no problems between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar. Its not a rock in the way, Borrell said, referring to the nickname of the British territory bordering Spain. He added that the Irish border problem is more difficult to solve than Gibraltar. Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said: There is no reason to panic. There is still time. May is under intense pressure from her Conservative Party and its parliamentary allies not to give any more ground in negotiations, especially on the border issue. Mays political allies, the Democratic Unionist Party, stand ready to scuttle a Brexit deal over the Irish border issue. The party opposes any border customs checks but EU officials say that may be the only way to avoid a hard border. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no-deal scenario because there was no agreement that would be accepted by Britains Parliament. In Luxembourg, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he hopes that in the end good sense will win the upper hand. Time is really pressing now, Maas warned. Within hours of being booked at a Border Patrol station in far West Texas, two teenage sisters from Guatemala came forward to allege that an agent conducted an improper strip search. The agent in question denied the allegations, including the sisters claims that he touched their genitals. He insisted he had only fingerprinted the sisters before taking them back to their cell. Investigating the case came down to the sisters word versus the agents. And as in dozens of similar cases, government investigators sided with the agent. Advocates say the case outlined in a report compiled by internal investigators shows the kinds of hurdles detained immigrants face when they make claims of misconduct, even when they come forward immediately, as the sisters did. These women were actually, for lack of a better word, lucky that their case was investigated, said Christina Mansfield, co-founder of the advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants. They are in the extreme minority in that regard. The sisters, ages 17 and 19, entered the U.S. without legal permission in July 2016, several days after leaving their home village in Guatemala. They were detained by Border Patrol agents shortly after crossing the border. The Associated Press received a redacted copy of the investigative report through the Freedom of Information Act. It shows that investigators determined that the sisters allegations could not be substantiated due to a lack of physical evidence. The station where the sisters were detained did not have cameras in the booking area. The room where the sisters say they were taken, later described as a supply room or a closet, wasnt processed for fingerprints because the sisters said they didnt touch anything. And the agent in question said he was alone with the sisters due to manpower shortages, the report says. Immigration advocates say the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General, which reviewed the sisters case, rarely recommends action against officers. A study by Freedom for Immigrants found that between January 2010 and July 2016, the inspector general received 84 complaints of coerced sexual contact against U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes Border Patrol. The inspector general opened just seven investigations, none of which are known to have led to charges, according to the study, which was conducted by examining government records. The study found a similarly low number of cases were investigated by the inspector general for detention facilities operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CBP would not directly address the sisters case or whether it disciplined the agent involved. The agency said it was committed to treating detainees with professionalism and courtesy. Immigration authorities detain and process thousands of people every month who cross the U.S. border without permission. Border Patrol chief Carla Provost said in a recent interview that her agency takes any allegations against any of its 19,000 agents very, very seriously. Provost previously led CBPs internal affairs division, which also investigates allegations of employee wrongdoing and that the agency has taken steps to strengthen in recent years. They are very few and far between, she said, speaking generally about misconduct complaints. The sisters were taken by agents to the Presidio Border Patrol station and booked into the same holding cell. The agents who detained them went out on another call. According to the report, a third agent then took the elder sister out of the cell. He told investigators that he processed and fingerprinted each of them before returning them to their cell. The elder sister told a different story. She said the agent took her into a back room that had a table filled with snacks and drinks. There, she says, the agent told her to lift her sweater and dress. The woman said that after a small photograph fell out of her bra, the agent pulled up her bra. Then, she said, he told her to remove her pants and underwear, then touched her genitals with the outer part of his hand. The younger sister would accuse the agent of conducting a similar search. Border Patrol guidelines prohibit male agents to strip-search female detainees except in exigent circumstances, and only then with another agent present to observe. Under the guidelines, a vaginal cavity search must be done by a medical professional at a medical facility. When the agent later heard one of the sisters accusing him of misconduct, the report says, he became upset and told the girl he didnt make her do that. According to the investigators report, one agent said that this is exactly the reason cameras are needed in the processing area. The accused agent would speak to investigators three times. The last time, an investigator noted the agent appeared to be nervous and removed, and he had to constantly review a prepared statement from his initial interview. But a month after the last interview, investigators took their case to a federal prosecutor, James Miller, who agreed with their conclusion that there was a lack of evidence. Miller declined to comment on why he didnt pursue a prosecution. The agent did not return phone messages from The Associated Press, nor did his attorney, Raymond Martinez. The sisters were eventually released and went to live with their mother in California. One of the sisters has since sued the U.S. government. Court filings show both sides are now discussing a settlement. The threat is growing and so, too, the toll. Forty-eight journalists have been killed so far this year, according to a VOA tally, adding to the thousand killed in the past decade-and-half. Some died on dangerous reporting assignments in conflict zones as they courted similar risks to combatants and were killed in crossfire or bombings. They include 9 Afghan reporters, among them three from VOAs sister public broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). All were killed in the same bombing incident in Kabul in April, likely planned to cause a high media death toll. It was the most lethal attack on the media in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, making the country the deadliest in the world for the press this year. But others were targeted individually, earmarked by armed groups, criminals, drug-dealers and terrorists and, more disturbingly, by governments and politicians. Until recently attacks on journalists more often than not occurred in less advanced countries. But now the threat is shifting to the West, where the media has traditionally been immune from violence and where media freedom is lauded and seen traditionally as an important check on authority and government wrongdoing. In the past 12 months, three reporters have been killed in the European Union. The murder earlier this month of Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova, who was beaten, raped and strangled, may not have been because of her journalism, but that still remains unclear. Days before her murder she hosted a program exploring the defrauding of EU funds by companies operating in Bulgaria. Marinova aside, observers and analysts have no doubt that Slovakias Jan Kuciak, who was shot in his home alongside his fiancee, and Maltas Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was blown up in a car bomb, were targeted because of their investigative journalism. Caruana Galizia had been a thorn in the side of the powers that be on the Mediterranean island for years thanks to her probes into government corruption and nepotism and into the links between Malta's online gambling industry and organized crime. According to Reporters without Borders, their deaths have capped a worrying decline for the continents democracies when it comes to the defense of press freedom. The traditionally safe environment for journalists in Europe has begun to deteriorate, according to the group, which notes that this year has seen unprecedented verbal attacks on the media as well as rising threats to investigative reporters. In the past week, the disappearing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who vanished after visiting his countrys consulate in Istanbul, where Turkish officials suspect he was murdered on the orders of the Saudi government, has prompted worldwide media outrage and a business backlash. On Sunday, Afghan journalists joined in the chorus of condemnation, with the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee saying the possible killing of the prominent Saudi journalist was an inhuman act no matter who or what country was behind such an offense. Murdering a media critic on foreign soil is being seen by journalists as yet another escalation in a dismal trend thats seen the press increasingly targeted by the powerful or corrupt across the globe. From intimidation to restrictive laws and curbs on information, media outlets and individual journalists face a variety of threats to maintaining their independence and integrity in print and online, warns Britains Chatham House. This month the storied international affairs think tank gave its prestigious award annual Chatham House Prize to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in recognition for the non-profits efforts to defend the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal and at a time when the free press is under serious pressure in many parts of the world. In September, the CPJs executive director warned the United Nations that governments collectively have failed to raise their voices in defense of press freedom and have allowed an alarming climate to build up by not ensuring there are consequences for attacks on the media from intimidation and harassment of reporters to their imprisonment and murder. On the jailing of journalists, he noted the list is long in fact, it's never been longer. Simon complained: Governments are directly responsible for this grave abuse, and the U.N. has a culture of rarely calling out its members. But the jailing of journalists has reached unprecedented levels. At the end of last year, there were 262 journalists jailed around the world, the highest number ever recorded by CPJ. The jailing of journalists is a brutal form of censorship and is having a profound impact on the flow of information around the world. The time has come to speak out and to name names. But whether names will be named is another matter, say analysts. The case of Jamal Khashoggi has clearly captured international public attention, but the slow erosion of press freedom and the targeted of journalists has been building for years, they say. In Europe, from Hungary to Poland, Germany to Italy, populists from right and left of the political spectrum have targeted the media for rhetorical disdain, say analysts. In Germany supporters of the the far-right Alternative for Germany have dug out the old Nazi slogan Lugenpresse (lying press) to taunt reporters. In Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico has dubbed reporters filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes and idiotic hyenas. In the Czech Republic President Milos Zeman once brandished a dummy Kalashnikov inscribed with the word journalists at a press conference, after suggesting they should be liquidated. And in Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic accuses journalists who criticize him of being spies in foreign pay. Britain, too, is seeing a rise in threats against reporters. The BBC has had to provide on several occasions a bodyguard for the corporations political editor Laura Kuenssberg because of online threats mainly from the left-wingers, who accuse her of being biased against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Political leaders are increasingly the source of the verbal attacks and harassment that create a hostile climate for journalists, says RSF. The al-Naseeb border crossing between Jordan and Syria officially reopened Monday after a three year closure. More than 7,000 trucks used to make the crossing between Syria and Jordan daily before the passage was forced to close in 2015. Observers on both sides expressed hopes the reopening would help improve the economies in both countries. Trucks began crossing into Jordan from Syria for the first time since the al-Naseeb border passage was closed due to fighting in 2015. Syrian government forces recaptured the passage in August, but lengthy procedural discussions delayed the crossing's official reopening until Monday. Economic observers said the border passage generated nearly $600 million in trade yearly before war in Syria began in 2011. More than 7,000 trucks were estimated to have crossed between the two countries daily. Mohammed al-Sawaa, head of the Syrian exporters' union, told journalists at the crossing its reopening is vital to the Syrian economy. He points to a truck carrying citrus from Latakiya which is entering Jordan and says fresh fruits were one of the most important exports of Syria, along with canned fruits and vegetables. The Gulf States, Jordan and Iraq, he insists, depend on Syria and Syria depends on them. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said in Damascus the reopening of the Naseeb border crossing was a major event for the people of Syria and Jordan. He says terrorists used to control [Syria's] border crossings and the countries that supported these groups wanted to keep the crossings closed. He stresses it is in the interest of the peoples of both Syria and Jordan to reopen them, regardless of political considerations or past animosities. American University of Beirut political science professor Hilal Khashan tells VOA reopening the border is a major political milestone on the road to recovery for Syria. "I would compare the reopening of the border crossing [between Syria and Jordan] to President Sadat of Egypt's decision to reopen the Suez Canal in 1975. The reopening of the Suez Canal ended the state of belligerency and put Israel and Egypt on the path to peace-making. And the reopening of this border crossing between Syria and Jordan will also usher in, sooner than later, the end of the conflict in Syria and the beginning of its reconstruction." Arab media also reported U.N. peace-keepers officially took control of the Quneitra crossing between Israel and Syria, as well. Syria's main border crossing with Iraq at Albukamel remains in the hands of U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and is closed due to fears of Iran using it to smuggle weapons into the region. Civil rights groups are expressing outrage over a recent Supreme Court ruling that could make it harder for Native Americans in North Dakota to cast their votes in the upcoming midterm elections. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against overturning North Dakota's controversial voter ID law which requires voters to present identification that verifies a current residential street address. Proponents of the law say it will help prevent voter fraud. Opponents say it will prevent many Native Americans from voting. "Addressing on reservations and in rural Native American communities is spotty," Jacqueline D. De Leon, a member of the Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico and an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), told VOA in August. "Many homes lack street addresses, and their owners must depend on post office boxes to send and receive mail. In addition, poverty and housing shortages have left many homeless or moving from house to house couch surfing, so they aren't able to produce addresses." In April, a federal district court in North Dakota ordered the state to allow voters to cast ballots, provided they had ID cards with a current street address. The court ruled that P.O. Box numbers were permissible, and Native Americans were able to participate in primary elections held in June. But last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals put that order on hold and took the issue to the Supreme Court, which ruled against the federal district court on Oct. 9. "The law clearly discriminates against Native Americans in North Dakota," said Mike Faith, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, in a written statement. "Our voices should be heard fairly at the polls, just like other Americans." Faith's reservation straddles North and South Dakota. Some analysts suggest the ruling is an attempt by Republicans to block U.S. Senator Heidi Heidkamp, a member of the North Dakota DemocraticNonpartisan League Party, from winning a second term in the November vote. In 2012, she won by a narrow margin which analysts then attributed to strong Native American support. "The irony here is that I think it [the Supreme Court ruling] was the best thing that could have happened to Heidi Heidkamp," said Mark Trahant, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in Idaho and editor of Indian Country Today. "The Native vote has not necessarily turned out for her this time, but with tribes working overtime to help members obtain valid addresses and ID, she actually could get a turnout of Native voters she wouldn't have gotten any other way." In an emailed comment to VOA, De Leon pointed to an even greater irony: "It is the height of irony that Native Americans, the original inhabitants of this land, are being forced to prove their residency to be able to participate in American democracy," she said. "It is undemocratic that they must do so with a qualification of a residential street address that they do not have through no fault of their own." De Leon vowed that NARF will continue to resist what she called "assaults" on Native Americans' fundamental rights. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a hardline religious-turned-political party, called for countrywide protests after the country's supreme court delayed a final judgment on the fate of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death in 2010 for committing blasphemy. "This is a religious matter. The Christian lady has committed blasphemy and admitted of using derogatory language against Prophet Muhammad. According to Islamic law, it is not permitted to pardon her. We cannot allow this to happen. We will raise our voice and launch protests throughout the country," Ejaz Ahmad, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan's spokesperson, told VOA. The group also issued a recorded video statement on Wednesday, warning the government and the judiciary of dire consequences if Asia Bibi was acquitted. "If Pakistan's Supreme Court releases or pardons Asia Bibi, a blasphemer, who herself admitted of using derogatory remarks against our Prophet Muhammad, there will be terrible consequences against the government and the judiciary," Muhammad Afzal Qadri, an official of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan said in a video statement. The video message is being circulated on social media and the mainstream media and has generated a debate inside Pakistan over the fate of Asia Bibi. It is not known when the high court will announce its final verdict about the defendant. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, or TLP, is a staunch supporter of the blasphemy law and openly justify violence to safeguard what they call the honor of the prophet. Khadim Rizvi, TLP's founder, has repeatedly vowed not to spare anyone charged with committing blasphemy against the prophet. Blind eye Rights activists in Pakistan say the government is turning a blind eye on radical Islamist elements who issue inflammatory statements on the highly sensitive and controversial issue of blasphemy. "When Asia Bibi's case is in the Supreme Court, how can anyone belonging to any political party give such rash and non-serious statements? I believe both the government and the judiciary should take notice of this," Zohra Yusuf, a rights activist from Pakistan, told VOA. "Due to such radical elements in our society, it has become harder for the minorities to survive or to feel safe. These irresponsible statements further destroy the social fabric of this country," Yusuf added referring to the Qadri's latest statement. Mehdi Hassan, a Pakistan-based analyst, agrees with Yusuf's concerns and says the government needs to hold those who try to divide the nation accountable. "The political parties should address the blasphemy problem and play a role because democracy gives a level playing field to everyone. But look what our political parties [TLP] are doing? They are further politicizing and fanning religious intolerance through Asia Bibi's case," Hassan told VOA. "Where is the government and why they are not taking any action against these open threats," he added. Blasphemy remains a highly sensitive topic in Pakistan, where strong religious sentiments have led to mob violence and killings in the past. Rights activists also point towards the history of settling personal vendettas and disputes through the controversial blasphemy law. Asia Bibi Case Blasphemy in Pakistan, if proven, can lead to the death penalty or life in prison. Asia Bibi, 53, was accused of committing blasphemy and using defamatory language about Islam's Prophet Muhammad in 2009 when she got into an argument with some Muslim women while working in a field in Punjab province. A trial court condemned the mother of five to death in 2010 on blasphemy charges. The decision was upheld by the Lahore High Court in 2014 and was then referred to the country's Supreme Court in 2015 for a final appeal. Two prominent Pakistani politicians were gunned down after they demanded reform to the country's controversial blasphemy laws in 2011 following Asia Bibi's death sentence. Governor's murder In 2011, Salman Taseer, Punjab's governor, was killed by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri in broad daylight. Qadri was apparently angry over Taseer's demand for reforms in the blasphemy law. Qadri was hanged by the Pakistani government in February 2017. Since then, his grave has turned into a shrine by supporters of his ideology. Qadri is praised as a hero by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, the newly emerged religious party that has openly vowed to follow Qadri's legacy of not sparing anyone charged with committing blasphemy. TLP was established in 2017 and came into prominence in Pakistan's July election after securing over two million votes and two provincial assembly seats in the country's Sindh province. The party has a history of launching countrywide protests on blasphemy related issues. Earlier in August, thousands of TLP protesters began a march from Lahore to Islamabad demanding the severing of diplomatic ties with the Netherlands and expelling of its ambassador to Pakistan after a Dutch lawmaker announced a cartoon contest on the Prophet Muhammad. Last year, thousands of supporters and members of TLP gathered in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, paralyzing it for weeks. They accused the government of committing blasphemy over its attempt to modify a parliamentary bill related to a "Khatam-e-Nabbuwwat" oath that affirms the end of prophecy with Prophet Muhammad. TLP alleged that the government favored Ahmadis, a religious minority, by dropping the oath as a requirement. The sit-in ended after the military intervened and convinced the protesters that the planned modification would be dropped. Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims but do not believe that prophesy ended with the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistan's constitution does not recognize Ahmadis as Muslims and require them to disclose their faith when working for the government. VOA's Urdu service contributed to this report Protesters barricaded roads with tree trunks and clashed with soldiers in Comoros Monday as they demonstrated against President Azali Assoumanis attempt to extend term limits. Witnesses reported hearing gunfire and seeing security forces dismantle the barricades on Anjouan island, according to the French news agency. The last few months have seen the archipelago between continental Africa and Madagascar rocked by political tumult, as President Assoumani has jailed opposition figures and critics. His bid to compete in the nation's 2019 presidential elections has stoked anger among residents of the island of Anjouan, as doing so would deny them their turn to hold the presidency starting 2021 under a system that rotates the post among the countrys three islands. Assoumani held a referendum last June to determine whether he could run for two more five-year terms. Opposition parties called the move illegal and boycotted the referendum. Assoumani declared victory by a 92.74 percent margin. Assoumani, from the island of Gran Comore, came to power after winning the archipelago's 2016 elections, and previously led the island from 1999 to 2006 after seizing power in a military coup. Last month, Comoros prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for former Vice President Jaffar Ahmed Said Hassani, a vocal critic of the referendum, on charges of plotting against the state. U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated the United States did not negotiate a deal with Turkey for the release of American pastor Andrew Brunson. "We had no deal with Turkey," Trump said Monday at the White House. "I feel much differently about Turkey today than I felt about them two days ago. I have a very good feeling toward Turkey, two days ago, I did not." Evangelical Christian minister Andrew Brunson had been imprisoned in Turkey for two years before his release last week. The freeing of Brunson marked the end of a bitter diplomatic dispute between Washington and Ankara. Brunson was facing 35 years in jail if he had been convicted on terrorism and espionage charges, allegations Washington called baseless. Asked by VOA on Friday what had led to Brunson's release, Trump said, "We spoke to Turkey, and he went through a system and we got him out. We've been trying to get him out for a long time." Trump, partly in retaliation for Brunson's prosecution, slapped Turkey with trade tariffs in August. The action led to the collapse of Turkey's currency. Brunson had lived in Turkey since the 1990s. Saudi Arabia is preparing to admit that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, U.S. news organizations report. The stories quote sources who say Khashoggi's death was an "interrogation that went wrong." CNN reports those behind the operation may have intended to kidnap Khashoggi from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and take him back to Saudi Arabia for questioning. Stories say the Saudi report is expected to say that the operation that led to his death was carried out without official clearance and that those behind his death will be held responsible. Khashoggi was seen walking into the consulate two weeks ago and has not been seen since. Earlier Monday, President Donald Trump suggested "rogue killers" might have murdered him. Trump said Saudi King Salman told him in a 20-minute phone conversation Monday he had no knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi, a critic of the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "His denials to me could not have been stronger," Trump said at the White House. "Maybe I do not want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers I mean, who knows?" Trump has sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh to talk with Salman about Khashoggi's disappearance. Trump vowed to "leave nothing uncovered" in determining what happened to Khashoggi. Meanwhile, in Istanbul, Turkish police started a search of the Saudi Arabian consulate. Khashoggi entered the consulate October 2 to get documents he needed to marry his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish national who waited in vain outside for Khashoggi to return. Late Sunday, the Saudi monarch and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed forming a joint working group to look into the disappearance of Khashoggi, whom Turkish officials believe was murdered by Saudi agents inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia has called the allegations "baseless" and said Khashoggi left the consulate on his own. But neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia has provided clear evidence to support its version of events. Trump told the CBS news show 60 Minutes on Sunday that Saudi Arabia would face "severe punishment" if it is determined Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate, but Riyadh dismissed the U.S. threat and said it would retaliate if Trump took any action against Saudi Arabia. The official Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed government source Sunday as saying, "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations." The statement said the Saudi government "also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action," noting that its economy, as the world's biggest oil exporter, "has an influential and vital role in the global economy." Khashoggi was living in self-imposed exile in the United States and had criticized the Saudi crown prince in columns written for The Washington Post. Trump said "nobody knows yet" what happened inside the consulate, "but we'll probably be able to find out" if the crown prince ordered Khashoggi's murder. Trump added the United States "would be very upset and angry if that were the case." But Trump, who has frequently boasted about his business ties with the kingdom, suggested during the CBS interview that ending U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia would not be an option, saying, "I don't want to hurt jobs." In protest of Khashoggi's disappearance, several U.S. businesses leaders have pulled out of next week's Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, dubbed "Davos in the Desert," after the annual meeting of world economic interests in Switzerland. Media reports say Khashoggi may have recorded his own death on his Apple Watch. The reports say Khashoggi turned on the sound recording capability on his device as he entered the Saudi consulate, and that the watch was connected to the iCloud and cell phone he left with his fiancee Cengiz before he went inside. Cengiz said she waited for Khashoggi to come out of the consulate, but he never left. The Washington Post reported in recent days that the Turkish government informed U.S. officials it was in possession of video recordings that prove Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, but have not made them public. Vice President Chiwenga is in a South African hospital receiving treatment for injuries he suffered in a bomb blast in June this year at a Zanu PF rally in Zimbabwes second largest city, Bulawayo. According to the state-controlled Herald newspaper, Retired General Chiwenga is in an unnamed hospital together with his wife, Mary, who also suffered injuries in the blast which left two people dead and several senior Zanu PF officials injured. Mary is undergoing a medical review. The Herald quoted Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, George Charamba, who is also the presidential spokesperson, as saying that Chiwenga is in good health and raring to return to Zimbabwe. Social media was abuzz with reports that the former general has died. Charamba appeared to be dismissing these reports saying Chiwengas medical review indicates that he is out of danger. Happily, the review has been done both for the general and his wife. The president has been constantly talking to the couple on a daily basis. Equally, I also spoke to them this morning (yesterday) and besides they went with Dr. John Mangwiro, who is the Health and Child Care Deputy Minister, just to ensure that there is a Government medical official in attendance. They have been cleared except for some little problems that were detected and have since been treated. The VP is very well and when I chatted with him he ended up barking orders to me in respect of Kanyemba projects and in respect of the Bulawayo Kraal project in Binga. He said Chiwenga has a medical condition back-dating to Zimbabwes liberation war of the 1960s. Charamba noted that the former general was injured towards ceasefire in the Chiduku area in Hwedza and had a bullet lodged in his lung. Chiwengas medical treatment in South Africa has angered many Zimbabweans who want state officials to get medical treatment in hospitals at home facing critical shortages of drugs for treating cancer, tuberculosis and other diseases. Former president Robert Mugabe used to receive medical help in Malaysia. This did not go well with a large number of citizens, who even criticized the late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for seeking medical treatment in South Africa. Masayoshi Son used Saudi Arabia's oil riches to help him become one of the world's most powerful tech investors. But that relationship is now threatening to come back and bite him. Shares in Son's Japanese tech company SoftBank plunged more than 7% in Tokyo on Monday as international pressure intensified on Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Companies Continents and regions Middle East Middle East and North Africa Saudi Arabia SoftBank Group Corp Technology Jamal Khashoggi Misc people Business figures Masayoshi Son Banking, finance and investments Business, economy and trade Financial markets and investing Son has built up strong ties with the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom provided nearly half the money for SoftBank's $93 billion tech-focused Vision Fund, which has made big investments in startups such as WeWork and Slack. Asymmetric Advisors, which advises investors about Japanese stocks, removed SoftBank from its list of key recommendations on Monday. "Although we don't expect this latest diplomatic incident to lead to any sanctions on Saudi, there is always some possibility that some firms will pull out their money from the Vision Fund," Amir Anvarzadeh, a Singapore-based analyst at the firm, wrote in a note to clients. SoftBank didn't respond to a request for comment. Other high-profile contributors to the Vision Fund include Apple (AAPL) and US chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM). The fund has pumped money into around 30 companies, turning Son into the new kingmaker of Silicon Valley. SoftBank has also committed to help the Saudi crown prince in his efforts to shift the country's oil-dependent economy into areas such as technology and renewable energy. It's involved in Saudi projects to build a new mega city and the world's largest solar farm. "This is [a] fantastic opportunity," Son said last year, speaking about the mega-city project as he sat next to bin Salman. "Because of the leadership, because of the location, because of the people in the kingdom, we can make it happen." Top execs cut ties with Saudi event Saudi Arabia is now facing growing international pressure to explain the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Turkey claims to have evidence that Khashoggi, a US resident and columnist for the Washington Post, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month an accusation the Saudi government strenuously denies. But top business leaders are now distancing themselves from the Saudi government. Executives including JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon have pulled out of an investment conference taking place in the kingdom later this month. Media sponsors, including CNN, have also withdrawn from the event, which is known as "Davos in the desert." Son spoke at the conference last year, and several SoftBank executives were listed as participating this year before conference organizers removed all the names from the program posted online. The company hasn't responded to repeated requests for comment on whether its executives still plan to attend this year's gathering. Business leaders and others have also started putting their ties with the mega-city project on hold. Former US energy secretary Ernest Moniz and former European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes are among those who have suspended their participation on the advisory board for the city, which is known as NEOM. SoftBank shares are now down about 20% since their peak earlier this month. They have also taken a hit from a wider sell-off in global tech stocks. Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are expecting their first child, the UK's royal family announced Monday as the couple arrived in Australia for their first tour overseas. The tour will include visits to Tonga and Fiji, which both carry risk of the Zika virus, a cause of birth defects. Celebrities Diseases and disorders Health and health care (by demographic group) Health and medical Infectious diseases Maternal and child health Medical fields and specialties Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Mosquito-borne diseases Obstetrics and gynecology Pregnancy and childbirth Women's health Zika virus Life forms Microscopic life Viruses Continents and regions Fiji Melanesia Oceania Polynesia Tonga Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Government organizations - US Public health US Department of Health and Human Services US federal departments and agencies Animals Insects and arachnids Mosquitoes Kensington Palace considered medical issues before Meghan left for her trip, a royal source said Monday, but the couple did not make any changes to their schedule. The World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise against travel to both islands while pregnant. The UK Foreign Office suggests that women consider postponing nonessential travel until after pregnancy. The CDC classifies Fiji and Tonga as being "areas with risk of Zika infection." WHO places Tonga in risk category 1, an area with new introduction or ongoing transmission, and Fiji in category 2, an area of evidence of the virus circulating before 2015 or ongoing transmission. The WHO Zika virus country classification scheme is under review and revision. In 2018, Fiji has not reported any cases of Zika, and one case was confirmed in 2017, according to its Ministry of Health. No cases of complications linked to Zika have been reported in either 2017 or 2018. "In these countries there is some risk but not high risk," said Adam Kucharski, associate professor and epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Kurcharski explained that both Tonga and Fiji saw most of their cases of Zika reported in 2016 and that the current level of risk is lower than it was then. "There's still potential, but it's lower than it was," he said, adding that with any risk, it's good to seek medical and travel advise. Infection with Zika during pregnancy has been linked to miscarriage and stillbirth, and can cause babies to be born with microcephaly (a smaller than usual head size indicating incomplete brain development), vision problems or neurological defects. The CDC estimates that one in seven babies exposed to Zika has health problems. The virus is transmitted primarily through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes. It can also spread through unprotected sex with an infected person, even if that person is not showing symptoms. It could also spread through blood transfusions. Zika virus can be transmitted by a pregnant woman to her fetus, but the likelihood of an infection affecting pregnancy or causing birth defects is unknown, according to the CDC. The full range of health effects during pregnancy is also unknown, the agency says. If pregnant women find themselves in a region affected by Zika, experts advise they take steps to prevent mosquito bites -- such as wearing covered clothing and using insect repellants and mosquito nets -- and use condoms or abstain from intercourse during the entire pregnancy. When going to or in affected regions, it's "good to still be vigilant," Kurcharski said, by evaluating the risks, seeking advise and taking precautions. Most people infected with the Zika virus won't have symptoms. Symptoms typically appear a few days to a week after exposure, although the precise incubation period is not known, according to the CDC. Fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (pink eye) are the most common symptoms. Some patients may also experience muscle pain or headaches. The major concern remains among pregnant women. As of March, the CDC estimated that at least 90 countries and territories had active Zika virus transmissions. People in Brazil and other parts of South and Central America became infected when Zika first appeared in the Western Hemisphere in 2015. This has provided a natural "herd immunity" -- infected once, people are not likely to get infected a second time -- and so a major outbreak in these regions any time soon is not likely, said Dr. Albert Ko, a professor of infectious diseases at the Yale School of Public Health in a previous report. Kurcharski agreed that most areas saw outbreaks in 2016 to 2017 and seeing fewer cases now. Globally, Zika virus transmission peaked in 2015-16 and has continued to decline throughout 2017 and 2018, according to WHO. Many areas in the Pacific have evidence of interrupted transmission or report rare or sporadic cases. The UN agency also stresses the importance of vigilance in monitoring the emergence, re-emergence and global spread of Zika virus infection to protect women and infants worldwide. No vaccine for the virus is available, but clinical trials are being conducted. A recent report predicted that changes in climate are aiding the spread of mosquito-borne diseases by affecting not just the distribution of insects like mosquitoes but also how quickly viruses replicate within them and how long the bugs live. All of that might have contributed to recent Zika virus outbreaks, according to the CDC. The Alabama Securities Commission issued a warning Monday about the schemes and risks of marijuana-related investments. According to the commission, investments in marijuana business ventures have increased along with its media coverage, which scammers are using to their advantage. The most commonly used tactics are reverse merger scams, "pump & dump" schemes, crowdfunding and jurisdiction-specific illegal marijuana schemes. Before handing away any money, people should do their research and contact the commission at 1-800-222-1253 with any questions. To view the full advisory, click here. There is a shocking form of cyberbullying affecting a growing number of teenagers; its called digital self-harm. Penny Baker is the director of Clinical Services for Pinnacle Behavioral Health. In her role, she trains counselors at Elk River Treatment Program to help teenagers with difficult issues. She said she is seeing a growing number of cases of digital self-harm. mgnonline.com mgnonline.com People are talking about it more, and sadly it took a death about five years ago for it to come to the attention of the community to see what an issue this was, said Baker. Digital self-harm is when someone cyberbullies themselves online. Baker told WAAY 31 it first gained public attention with the tragic suicide of 14-year-old Hannah Smith in 2013. She anonymously sent herself hurtful messages on social media just weeks before she hanged herself. It is really scary because when they do it anonymously online, and saying very hurtful harmful self statements, and self deprecating statements, it's not noticeable so their self harm becomes more and more damaging to their psyche, she said. Mental health experts told WAAY 31 typically more boys than girls participate in digital self-harm, but they say cases are up on both sides. Experts say some of the symptoms might include changes in your teenagers sleeping or eating pattern or loss of interest in activities they usually enjoy. Licensed professional counselor, Maggie Minsk, has also worked extensively in the areas of teenagers and self harm and offers these warning signs. Really being inhibited or uninhibited. Meaning really holding things in or being really expressive with their emotions or being really extreme or intense for long periods of time, said Minsk. Baker said the research shows about 6 percent of youth engage in some form of digital self-harm. If you or someone you know is dealing with self harm issues, contact 1-800-273-8255 or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/. Governor Kay Ivey affirmed her support Monday morning for Alabama's pro-life Constitutional Amendment Two. Amendment Two would change the constitution to support the "sanctity of unborn life." Voters will be asked in 3 weeks if they want to make this state policy. It would not ban abortion, which is protected by federal law. Current Alabama law does not include any text directly relating to "unborn lives" or abortion. Now, perhaps more than ever, is the time for Alabama to affirm the sanctity of unborn life," Ivey said. "It's unconscionable to me that Walt Maddox would join abortion rights activists from across the country in opposing this measure that simply recognizes the rights of our precious unborn babies." In the wake of a parolee who is charged with triple homicide, Governor Kay Ivey has temporarily suspended early paroles for violent offenders. Ivey and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall held a closed-door meeting with the three members of the Alabama Board of Paroles and Pardons and their staff to discuss concerns that arose from both the Jimmy Spencer case, as well other concerns regarding the parole system. Ivey said she was disappointed with the answers from board members. She said there was a lack of detail, which was frustrating. As part of Executive Order 716 that was issued Monday morning, Ivey shuffled the power structure of the parole board, which she said was her prerogative as governor. Ivey replaced Chairman Clifford Walker with Lyn Head, one of the other two board members. None of the board members were relieved of their positions as of Monday morning. The order also establishes a moratorium on early parole consideration for violent offenders. It states that Effective immediately, the Board shall not consider any inmate for parole before the inmates initial parole consideration date as determined under the Board operating procedures. Ivey also created a 30-day implementation period to come up with a way to improve four areas overseen by the parole board: Ensuring excellence in executive leadership Cultivating a culture of respect towards victims and law enforcement Ensuring adequate preparation for parole hearings Maintaining supervision of parolees The executive order dictates that the board should put the plan into motion starting either 15 days following the submission of the plan to the Governor and Attorney General or the date on which the Governor approves the plan. "The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles decisions are crucial to the safety of our state, and the issues here are not to be taken lightly," Ivey said. The attorney representing the families of Jimmy Spencer's victims, Tommy James, said in a statement following Ivey's press conference that inmates are not being properly evaluated prior to parole. The Governor said that inmates work their way up the chain through lots of committees prior to them being paroled. This confirms that there were lapses at many levels that led to Jimmy Spencers release," James said. "The state needs to take responsibility and be held accountable for the loss of these victims lives. Governor Ivey said Spencer fell through the cracks. The cracks include getting into a series of fights in prison that should've stopped him from getting paroled. "It's obvious we need a new approach so we can strengthen management and operations of that agency to better protect the people and public safety and restore confidence in pardon and paroles," said Ivey. One Decatur church is on the way to Florida and Georgia to drop off items to those suffering after Hurricane Michael. Grant Street Church of Christ also helped those in the Carolinas after Hurricane Florence hit. "Ever since we made the announcement, they've been randomly coming by and bringing $50, $100 and $200 out their own pockets," said a minister, Rob Gwen. People from all across the country heard about their mission, and they've donated money, hygiene products, canned goods, snacks and medical supplies. "Most people who had bandages are gone from the storm. Relief teams are only going to have so much, so if someone has a cut, it's going to turn into an infection," Gwen said. They've even got animal food for pets. "Folks that are having to split their food with their pets, because they don't want their pets to suffer too. We're hauling tons of animal food down for shelters," said a minister, Cody Michael. Ministers Rob Gwen and Cody Michael said they're excited to help those in Florida and Georgia but that it's also an emotional trip. "This is devastation and you've seen videos. The foundation of the house is only left," Michael said. The congregation has gotten over $2,000 in donations, up to 400 totes full of items and around 60 buckets of cleaning supplies. They hope to do more than just dropping off items to the victims and leaving. "We're putting your name before him in prayer and that means something. Whenever you're in time of crisis, that means the world. if we come across people and they're willing to pray with us, we're going to do it," Gwen said. The members who left are planning to be back on Wednesday. They're still getting items donated, so if they have to make another trip, they will. A Huntsville mother has more than 50 plastic pumpkins sitting in her front yard in North Huntsville. The pumpkins were placed to remember the 53 people ranging from ages 3 to 25 who have been murdered in the area since 2014, including her own teenage son. "These are my babies too now. That's what I tell their mothers. They should have been our children all along," said Donna Howell. Howell said too many families have experienced the same loss her family has. "It stays with you forever. The rest of your life. It's not just me devastated. The rest of the family and his friends. You imagine 53 families are going through that," she said. Monday, Jay Town, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, explained the Huntsville Public Safety Task Force includes local law enforcement and federal agencies. It will be targeting the worst offenders. "When I say worst offenders, I don't just mean repeat offenders. I mean people that might not have a record at all, but we absolutely know they are engaging in some of the worst types of criminal activity," he said. Town said this task force is about bringing police efforts together to stop all violent crime, not just murders, from happening in neighborhoods. "What we will find over the next several years is that there will be a decline in violent crime across the country, certainly in the northern district and especially here in Huntsville, and it's going to be because of our efforts not because we hoped and prayed," he added. Town explained it's going to start with charging people with the most serious offense if his office is able to. "They will face a federal charge and where if convicted a federal sentence where there is no sanctuary of parole, that is how you keep our most violent offenders off the streets and put them exactly where they belong, which is in a prison bed," Town said. Town said the task force will have advanced federal intelligence resources that will be able to ramp up efforts to catch people doing illegal activity in the city and surrounding areas. As for Howell, her son's killer has not been arrested, and she said she hopes the task force is able to help solve cold cases. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - U.S. Marshals say a man sought on a capital murder warrant in a deadly shooting in Alabama has been arrested in Arkansas. Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Cliff LaBarge tells AL.com that 48-year-old Lee Roy McCullough was taken into custody early Monday in Gould. He is charged in the Oct. 2 shooting death of 44-year-old Jerry Kennedy. Birmingham police Sgt. Johnny Williams previously said that McCullough and Kennedy had been in some sort of dispute before gunshots were fired at a tire shop. Police say McCullough left the scene and Kennedy died at a hospital. McCullough is jailed pending extradition to Alabama. Police say he had shot into a moving vehicle, prompting the capital murder charge. It is unclear if he has a lawyer who could comment. The Huntsville Public Safety Task Force, which was established to prevent violent crime locally, held its first meeting Monday at the Huntsville Police Department. The task force was created to develop a plan of how to decrease crime occurrences in the Huntsville metropolitan area. It uses principles from the Department of Justice's national strategy to reduce violent crimes, Project Safe Neighborhoods, which was reinstated in 2017 by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Members include Attorney Jay Town, Huntsville Police Chief Mark McMurray, representatives from Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle's office, the Madison County Sheriffs Office, the Madison County District Attorneys Office, Madison Police Department, Decatur Police Department, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, Huntsville Housing Authority along with the federal law enforcement agencies FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Security Investigations. The Task Force provides a needed platform to target alpha criminals for prosecution in the forum where the sanction is the highest, remove them from our streets with severe punishment, and return our communities back to their rightful owners...the law abiding citizens. Bed space in state and federal prisons awaits," Town said As the 90-minute play meanders through Homers outline it becomes a melodrama of victims (namely a separated mother and son) and predators (everyone from the tone-deaf wife of a senator fetishizing exoticism to a brutal sweatshop owner with a taste for overseas mail-order brides). Eirin Stevenson leads the 10-person ensemble as the fairly blank refugee Anon, and the production by the emerging troupe Theatre Prometheus gets a heavy dose of lyricism in director Jon Jon Johnsons long clotheslines of colorful clothing, suggesting vast numbers of missing bodies at large somewhere on the globe. Haze steams down from the light grid over the vast Silver Spring Black Box theater more atmosphere as the sentimental quest treks foggily along. There is, though, at the citys restaurants nowadays. A progenitor of a New Orleans barbecue style is VooDoo BBQ & Grill, which opened on Mardi Gras in 2002. Its menu offers gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and meats dry-rubbed with Creole, Cajun and Caribbean seasonings. Its a fusion of all the best that BBQ and New Orleans has to offer, its website reads. Through franchising, VooDoo has locations as far away as Florida and Indiana. Hes doing this, I believe, to project a different image of himself because of all the bad publicity hes had. Hes not going into get into the sewage water with other people and start digging, said 68-year-old Nanya Thompson of Lynn Haven. If this is just going to be another reality show, I dont think he should come. Im a master carpenter with a ninth-grade education, and I know the difference between good and bad reporting, says DeAngelo, who is wearing a button depicting Hillary Clinton in prison stripes. I listen to all the news stations and I make up my mind. The most reliable news is Fox. Tucker, Hannity, and whats that womans name? Laura [Ingraham], theyre great. I know thats opinion, not news reporting, but I can tell the difference. You can tell when [Acosta] is asking a question that hes doing it for the drama, not for the facts. I watch CNN for three or four minutes and I want to poke myself in the eyeball. The executive had said in July that he wasnt ready to endorse Jealous because of concerns about how the Democratic nominees stances on taxes and school funding would affect Montgomery, a liberal county of about 1 million people whose per capita income is among the highest in the state. It seems likely that short-term rentals would have grown even faster without the new regulations, but no figures are publicly available about how many listings were lost overall because of the new rules. In San Francisco, Airbnb reported in January that some of the tightest restrictions in the country had cost it nearly 5,000 listings. Roberts, who has moved to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said George Mason had and still does have an incredible collection of eclectic thinkers, who were predominantly free-market oriented. He thrived there, he said, though he also said he was initially concerned about entering an environment with so many colleagues whose views were similar to his own. Roberts had tenure at Mason and did not feel pressure to write, think or teach in a way that would earn him the approval of a donor, he said. Rick Shafer, 65, a parent in Prince Georges County, said his 25-year-old son had a very good experience in the school system he was involved in magnet programs but Shafer has heard reports of other students not faring as well and has been disappointed over the years with school board leadership and some of the districts superintendents. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Im thinking she might have taken some food or something like that from him, and hes real aggressive like that, right? Maybe, just maybe, he reacted like that. Thats what Im hoping, Frazier said to WUSA. The survey was based on interviews with 798 registered voters in Virginias 2nd Congressional District who had voted in at least two of the last four elections or were new voters to Virginia in 2017. The calls were conducted from Oct. 3 to Oct. 12; 256 of the calls were on landlines and 542 on cellphones. Every day, what comes from Washington is really debilitating and shocking -- separating children from parents, she said. We have to stand up for what is right. This is a major human rights violation. If we saw this happening anywhere else in the world we would condemn it strongly. We have to protect what it means to be an American. The Districts Vicki Boehm treats friends and relatives to a tour of Vickis Washington. It includes visiting the spot in front of St. Matthews Cathedral on Rhode Island Avenue NW where John-John Kennedy saluted his fathers casket; the Childrens Chapel at Washington National Cathedral, where Jesus hand has been worn down over the years from all the people high-fiving it; the Adams Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery (to the memory of Clover Adams, but never mentioning her name, Vicki wrote), and the moving Grave of the Female Stranger in St. Pauls Cemetery in Alexandria, Va. Immigration advocates say the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General, which reviewed the sisters case, rarely recommends action against officers. A study by Freedom for Immigrants found that between January 2010 and July 2016, the inspector general received 84 complaints of coerced sexual contact against U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes Border Patrol. The inspector general opened just seven investigations, none of which is known to have led to charges, according to the study, which was conducted by examining government records. The results have been impressive. Within five years, the stillbirth rate in Iowa dropped from 6.13 to 4.36 per thousand births (it ticked back up between 2015 and 2016, but declined again the next year, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health). While other factors might explain the reason for the drop, no one has identified any changes other than the campaign to explain it. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that, during a 60-day comment period, they would welcome suggestions about whether to expand the price-disclosure requirement to drug ads beyond those on television. For now, the proposal calls for the price to be written in a type size that is legible to television-watchers and would not require the price to be said aloud. The shooting happened Saturday afternoon in Taft, 12 miles north of Corpus Christi, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. Sgt. Nathan Brandley said those involved were distant relatives. Authorities did not say what they were arguing about. Especially appalling the worst of the worse, said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) is the way the administration is making entry to the United States exceedingly difficult even for the tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans who have helped American diplomats and the military during our wars. This, Himes noted, stands in sharp contrast to our policies toward rescuing our Vietnamese allies after one of the most unpopular wars in our nations history. Each of these stories has a different political context, and in each of them the killers have different things to hide. But in a deeper sense, they are connected, for this is one of the defining issues of our time: The murders are the consequence of the clash between a 21st century technological revolution, which has made it possible to obtain and spread information in new ways, and a 21st century offshore banking revolution, which has made it possible to steal money in new ways, to hide it in new ways and to use it to maintain power. These two rapid changes have had a dramatic impact on democracies such as Malta and Slovakia as well as dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. Often, it is journalists, especially investigative journalists, who are caught in the fault lines between them. Given that record, and Trumps labeling of news organizations such as The Post as the enemy of the people, it stands to reason that Mohammed might have concluded he could abduct or even kill Khashoggi, who was living in the Washington region and writing regularly for The Post, without serious consequence. Tragically, he may yet be proved right. Trump, who took six days to respond to Khashoggis disappearance, is now promising severe punishment, but he also called relations with the regime excellent and said he does not want to scrap those elusive military sales. This stands in stark contrast to the records for both Ginsburg and Kavanaugh. Ginsburg has been a certain vote to uphold affirmative action programs and other efforts to remedy the effects of race discrimination. When Ginsburg was sworn in to the Supreme Court, she said: A system of justice will be the richer for diversity of background and experience. It will be poorer, in terms of appreciating what is at stake and the impact of its judgments, if all of its members are cast from the same mold. Federal law limits states abilities to legislate issues related to arbitration, however, and these new state-level provisions are likely to get challenged in court. Indeed, on the same day he signed some of his states #MeToo legislation, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed a bill that would have barred mandatory arbitration, on the grounds that it would have violated federal law. Lots of names are out there, all very good lawyers, but one is above them all: Judge Michael Luttig. Retired now for a decade from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, where he served with distinction, Luttig is now general counsel of Boeing. He is experienced in every aspect of international relations and conflict as a consequence of this, moving easily through the most complicated of situations at the intersection of law, business, politics and national security. His intellect is vast. Those with any memory will recall that President George W. Bush had a very short list of just three names to succeed Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist one of which was Luttig. Bush chose now-serving Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and Luttig went off to help defend America in a different way. Whatever the eventual consequences of the Saudi Arabian regimes suspected murder of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trumps initial response indicated much about the priorities of his America First foreign policy. His instincts were commercial and transactional he voiced a concern that the United States might lose defense contracts in a confrontation with the Saudi government. I dont like stopping massive amounts of money thats being poured into our country, he said. Trumps reaction was nativist, as he pointed out that Khashoggi is not a United States citizen. And after consulting with the Saudi king, the president seemed determined to provide an alibi, raising the prospect of rogue killers, which brought back memories of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The Saudis have been telling us these civilian deaths are not intentional. And because U.S. law prohibits us from participating in war crimes, our government has repeatedly chosen to believe them. Yet civilian casualties in recent months have been increasing. Yemen is on the brink of famine, with thousands of children already dying of starvation and dehydration. A new research report notes that there is strong evidence that Coalition strategy has aimed to destroy food production and distribution. (Translation: They are actively trying to starve the country into submission.) Saudi Arabia is delaying and obstructing aid shipments and critical commercial goods such as food, fuel and medicine. Saudi warplanes target water infrastructure, hospitals and health clinics. But still our assistance continues, putting an American imprint on every civilian casualty in Yemen. Maybe nothing. This seems to be the choice made by many Republicans and the Trump administration, which is withdrawing from the Paris agreements commitments to reduce emissions. Trumps hostility is not as crazy as it sounds. If suppressing global warming is as hard as Ive argued, one likely response is a series of half measures that dont much affect global warming but do weaken economic growth. The politicians real aim is to brag that they have done something when all they have really done is delude us. Trump would skip this stage. Trump declined to say whether he will fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying only that well see what happens come midterms. He also declined to say that he will not end the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, although he said he does not intend to do so. Rick Scott, your governor, has done an incredible job, and all of your people have been amazing working with FEMA, working with the first responders, and always law enforcement, Trump said before boarding a helicopter to survey the storm-damaged areas. He noted that the storm was so strong that some homes had been washed away entirely. I hope shes running for president because I think shed be very easy, he added. I hope that shes running. I do not think that shed be difficult at all. Shell destroy the country. Shell make our country into Venezuela. With that being said, I dont want to say bad things about her, because I hope she would be one of the people that would get through the process. But turning the tide in the fight against pollution will depend on efforts such as the one now underway in the state of Punjab, the powerhouse of Indian agriculture. There, the authorities are engaged in a race to persuade farmers not to torch their fields, urging them to shun a tactic that is cheap and efficient in readying the area for the next crop but that is also a key source of pollution. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Kim last week and came away saying that the leaders of North Korea and the United States both believed they could make substantive progress at a second summit meeting. But no date for that summit has yet been set, with President Trump saying it could only happen after the Nov. 6 midterm elections. We are sadly and anxiously following the conflicting news regarding the fate of our father after losing contact with him two weeks ago, when he disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Our family is traumatized, and yearns to be together during this painful time. The strong moral and legal responsibility which our father instilled in us obliges us to call for the establishment of an independent and impartial international commission to inquire into the circumstances of his death. We are grateful to all those who have respected our privacy during these difficult times, the statement said. But aid groups warned that the break in fighting had yielded few meaningful changes in the humanitarian situation. Aid workers across the network of camps are telling us that up to 45 percent of school-age children are out of formal education, going to makeshift classes in shanty tents, said Rachel Sider, advocacy and information adviser on Syria for the Norwegian Refugee Council. One former official said Mattiss mind is either a guy in the mud, a commander in the field, or hes operating on a George Shultz level, a reference to the former secretary of state and well-known foreign affairs strategist. It is difficult for Shanahan to fill the gap because, according to a different former official, hes not learning the culture of the building and has struggled with high turnover on his immediate staff and tensions with the military services. Bec Scott runs one of the most successful social enterprises in Australia, but even she says getting a social impact business off the ground is a crazy treadmill and a constant fight to stay afloat. Theres a real challenge. Theres challenges when you start up something in Australia, and theres often not money in the front end, says the co-founder of Streat. StrEAT co-founder Bec Scott says social enterprises deliver a billion--dollar impact - but getting them off the ground is still tough. Credit:Justin McManus Streat provides vocational education and support to young people who need it through its eight cafe-focused businesses. Scott and co-founder Kate Barrelle started Streat a decade ago, launching with funding from Danish philanthropists. There are times when the rich worlds macro-economists think theyve got everything figured, and times when they know they havent. The latter is where we are now, with the entire profession scratching its head and wondering whats causing the economy to behave as it is. The last time economists thought they had it tabbed was between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s. The world economy was growing so smoothly they decided wed entered the Great Moderation and began patting themselves on the back. Always a bad sign. Next thing we knew the global financial crisis had arrived and with it the Great Recession. But its now a decade since the start of that recession, and its clear the advanced economies arent back to anything like what they were even, despite appearances, the American economy. The 45-year-old rapper dropped the surprise Kamikaze, his tenth studio album, in August, a reaction of sorts to the critical drubbing that met his 2017 return Revival. The rapper will perform at Brisbane's QSAC on February 20, Sydney's ANZ Stadium on February 22, Melbourne's MCG on February 24 and Perth's Optus Stadium on February 27. Eminem is returning to Australia for a stadium tour in support of his new album Kamikaze. While the album debuted at #1 in Australia, his ninth album to do so, and spent four weeks atop the charts, it's received mixed reviews and sparked controversy for lashing out at other artists, including a homophobic slur aimed at rapper Tyler The Creator. Eminem later apologised for using the slur. "I think the word that I called him on that song was one of the things where I felt like this might be too far," he told a US radio show last month. "Because in my quest to hurt him, I realise that I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it." The rapper, real name Marshall Mathers, last performed in Australia in 2014 in support of his Grammy-winning The Marshall Mathers LP 2. He'd previously also toured in 2011. Tickets to February's tour go on sale at 2pm AEDT on Monday October 22 through Ticketek. Professor Murphy said any strategy to curb overdiagnosis must engage and empower patients to question the care they are offered and make informed choices. Loading He pointed to OECD research showing health systems wasted billions of dollars on healthcare that had no value or caused harm. Weve got to make sure we only fund those things of benefit to patients. But he said any move to cut overdiagnosis must weigh the potential harms against the benefits of early detection and interventions in life-threatening conditions. The co-author of the Medical Journal of Australia paper and senior research fellow at Bond Universitys Centre for Research in Evidence-Based Practice, Dr Ray Moynihan, said overdiagnosis had reached epidemic proportions. When you look at figures suggesting 20 per cent of breast cancers diagnosed as a result of screening are possibly overdiagnosed, the magnitude of overdiagnosis of prostate cancers and thyroid cancers, not to mention non-cancer overdiagnosis, you cant help but come to the conclusion that we are dealing with an epidemic, Dr Moynihan said. Diagnosis-creep and expanding disease definitions (for example, prediabetes, pre-osteoporosis, pre-dementia and the US move to lower the threshold for high blood pressure) were increasingly problematic, he said. I dont think its overstating the problem to say overdiagnosis is threatening the sustainability of our healthcare system and wasting resources that could be spent on treating and preventing genuine illness. A statement that will underpin the development of the national action plan has been publicly endorsed by some of Australias most influential healthcare organisations, including Cancer Council Australia, Australias peak colleges for surgeons, physicians, GPs and radiologists, and consumer groups. These are major, influential bodies acknowledging overdiagnosis is a serious problem that we need to address as a nation, Dr Moynihan said. Cultural beliefs that more tests and treatments were always better, financial incentives to diagnose and treat in the health system and increasingly sensitive diagnostic technologies detecting minor abnormalities were likely major drivers of overdiagnosis, the authors of the MJA Perspective wrote. Doctors cognitive biases and the fears that they might miss something, coupled with the publics expectation that the clinicians should do something also fed overdiagnosis. Chief executive of Cancer Council Australia Sanchia Aranda said any moves to curb overdiagnosis must not undermine national screening programs and the benefits of early detection. If we get this wrong the consequences are great, Dr Aranda said. Overdiagnosis causes harm, but a missed breast cancer diagnosis can kill you [and] men still die of prostate cancer, she said. But carefully calibrated strategies to combat overdiagnosis could ultimately lead to improved outcomes for patients. Potential solutions include public awareness campaigns, financially rewarding quality rather than the quantity of medical care, curbing expanding disease definitions, greater scrutiny of testing accuracy, and encouraging shared decision making between doctors and patients, the authors of the MJA article said. Loading The proof will be in what [the alliance] can achieve, but I am very supportive of what they are doing, Professor Murphy said. At 68, Michael Shirley was diagnosed with prostate cancer and told he would be dead in three years unless he had a radical prostatectomy within the week. Elizabeth Bay local was unsettled by how readily his urological surgeon fobbed off his questions about the potential for serious side effects, including impotence and incontinence. I asked him what are my options? and he said you dont have any, Mr Shirley said. Mr Shirley decided against the surgery after seeking a second and third opinion. Eleven years later, the 79-year-old is alive, healthy and incensed that men are still being scared into invasive treatment for low-risk prostate cancers that are unlikely to kill them. The whole process was horrendous, Mr Shirley said, recalling the gnawing anxiety that followed his cancer diagnosis and a prostate biopsy that "hurt like hell". Too many men were still having their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests to gauge their prostate cancer risk under the assumption that screening for any cancer must be a good thing, said Professor Kirsten McCaffery, a co-director of the the University of Sydneys Centre for Medical Psychology and Evidence-Based Decision Making and co-author of the MJA article. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have one last public engagement today before they head to Dubbo on Wednesday. The pair will end their day as they started it, at Admiralty House, where Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove will host a reception attended by Australians from charity and community, business, arts and sports industries. Meghan and Harry will finish their day at Admiralty House, where the Governor-General will host a reception. Credit:Reuters Pool Meghan and Harry will fly to Dubbo on Wednesday morning for another day packed with official engagements. They will then fly to Melbourne on Thursday, but will be back in Sydney for Friday - so if you missed them today, there's still a chance of spotting them. Heres something I hate. A politician gets a question. Theyre being asked because its top of mind, its a big story, everyone wants to know but the politician says, I just dont think the Australian people are interested in that. Scott Morrison is getting his first taste of how hard his job can be. Credit:AAP All of them do it, but the most recent deluge came when Scott Morrison took over from Malcolm Turnbull. Repeatedly asked why he was now Prime Minister, Morrison got into the habit of telling us what we were actually interested in: drought, electricity, house prices. Well, yes, but most of us would have ticked "all of the above". Its part of a politicians job to figure out what voters think. But you might hope, after years in which more and more people have decided to vote for anyone but the major parties, their confidence that they know exactly what voters care about or at least their brazen willingness to boast about it - might have taken a little bit of a dent. Hopefully the unfolding of the debate about religious freedom did the job. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The tax-free threshold would be scrapped, tax rates would increase for every $1000 of income earned, and savings would be targeted by the tax office under one of the most ambitious blueprints for economic reform seen in a decade. The proposal has been unveiled as leading economists and powerful lobby groups on either end of the political spectrum - the Australian Council for Social Services and the Business Council of Australia - demand a new wave of reform, warning Australia must overhaul its 20th century tax system or risk leaving workers, welfare recipients and business behind. The PricewaterhouseCoopers tax plan, released to Fairfax Media, argues for major tax changes given the budget is inching towards a surplus for the first time in a decade and policy-makers have more flexibility than at any time since the global financial crisis. While the PwC proposal kicks off a discussion over the future of income tax, Australia's top economists have also said increasing the GST base, death taxes, and a transition to land tax from stamp duty should all be on the table after the last two attempts at serious reform were shelved by Coalition and Labor governments. Former second tax commissioner Richard Highfield said in the eight years since the landmark Henry tax review, structural issues have not been resolved and costs are growing, with lost revenue blowing out to $8 billion a year, according to the Australian Tax Office. The longer we wait the more serious it becomes, the UNSW Business School adjunct professor and former OECD tax administration chief told Fairfax Media. Advertisement We have a very poor mix and too many taxes, which result in enormous compliance costs and a lot of administrative pain for little gain. Loading Australia has more than 125 taxes at a state and federal level, but 90 per cent of revenue is raised through just 10. Ross Garnaut, a lead adviser on the Hawke-Keating economic policies of the 1980s and 1990s called for a new national debate. "Australia is in trouble," he said. "The situation is more dangerous than any in my lifetime. We have made it difficult to face up to shocks as they arise." PwC tax partner Paul Abbey said an impending budget surplus meant policy-makers could be much more dynamic and compensate those who lost out, while growing the overall economic pie. His controversial income tax proposals are designed to start a debate about what kind of tax system Australia needs as the population ages and the gap between asset wealth and income grows. Advertisement Under the PwC plan, every dollar earned would be taxed by eliminating the tax-free threshold for earnings under $20,000, and redistributing the billions of dollars in extra revenue to low-income earners through welfare and low-income tax offsets. The move would prevent people currently earning more than $100,000 a year from getting the benefit of the tax-free threshold and target welfare payments at those who need it most. The system has been in place for more than two decades in New Zealand, where the tax leader of Chartered Accountants John Cuthbertson says the economy is better off. You're not getting your best bang for your buck, he said. You are having to give money to everyone. The PwC plan also calls for dynamic income tax rates, which would increase progressively from 0.2 per cent up for every $1000 earned rather than jumping from bracket to bracket. Taxes are currently levied at 19 cents for each dollar earned between $18,200 -$37,000, and 32.5 cents for $37,000-$90,000, before rising to 45 cents for every dollar earned above $180,000. Advertisement The Coaltion's 10-year plan will abolish the middle 37 cent tax bracket for earnings between $90,000 and $180,000, but the PwC proposal goes further by smoothing the remaining jumps and applying one effective average tax rate for the entirety of a worker's income. Mr Abbey said eliminating bracket creep, which occurs when people earn more and push income into higher tax brackets, would boost productivity, particularly among self-employed and primary carers returning to work after having a child. It takes out any of the bracket creep disincentive around working extra hours, he said. Fashion retailer Alpha 60 used to lose 11 hours a week on processing payroll taxes, but the digitisation of the system makes the prospect of dynamic tax rates more feasible. Georgie and Alex Cleary, who run fashion firm Alpha60. Credit:Justin McManus It now takes 20 minutes, said owner Alex Cleary. Head of industry at accounting giant Xero, Matt Prouse, said a dynamic system could be plugged into their operations. Advertisement Just like you don't care about how Netflix streams video, you just press play," Mr Prouse said. PwC's final proposal would see a flat 30 per cent tax rate applied to all interest earnings from savings, share dividends and other capital gains, eliminating discounts and a myriad of different rates for housing investors and shareholders and pegging them to the top company tax rate. The move would trigger an outcry from investors who have been taxed at a 50 per cent capital gains discount and many retirees who have no income and rely on tax concessions to fund their lifestyles. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that between 2002 and 2014, wealth for those aged 55 and over grew by 42 per cent compared to 7 per cent for people aged 25-34. PwC modelling shows implementing the flat 30 per cent rate would increase the number of taxpayers by 27 per cent, helping to alleviate pressure on the tax base as the population ages. The Henry review found in 40 years' time there would be just 2.7 people of working age for each person aged 65 years or older, compared with 5.0 people today and 7.5 people 40 years ago. Advertisement Washington: An Air India pilot flew a Boeing 737 through a brick wall on Friday. Incredibly, that marked the beginning of its journey and not the end. The jet not only clobbered the top of a 1.5-metre perimeter wall but also destroyed a small landing guide tower as it climbed out of Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu, India, shortly after midnight, the Times of India reported. With 130 passengers on board, it was bound from the southern tip of India to Dubai across the ocean. And despite the audible and obvious collision, the pilot apparently saw no reason not to continue on. "We informed the pilot about the hit," the airport director told the IANS news service. "The pilot said nothing was wrong with the plane as the systems were functioning normally. But we found some parts of the plane, like an antenna, on the ground." New York: A brawl outside a Republican club in Manhattan involving a far-right group and anti-fascist activists spurred calls for an investigation into the violence and whether police acted properly in breaking it up. Some Democratic politicians, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, also criticised the club for inviting Gavin McInnes, the head of the far-right group, the Proud Boys. Cuomo has now asked for the FBI to look into the incident, and assigned a State Police hate crimes unit to assist with the New York Police Department investigation of the violence, which he linked to President Donald Trump. "This is Trump at his worst," the governor said on a call with reporters. "It is wholly consistent with everything he has done since he started running for president." WSU Hosts Discussion of Utahs Ballot Initiatives October 15, 2018 OGDEN, Utah Voters can learn more about Utahs seven ballot initiatives during a forum hosted by Weber State Universitys Olene S. Walker Institute of Politics & Public Service, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Hurst Center Dumke Legacy Hall. The forum will feature brief presentations by proponents on both sides of each issue. When the public votes on a constitutional amendment, a proposition, or an opinion question, those decisions establish permanent policy, said Robert Hunter, Walker Institute director. Thats why its so important for voters to thoroughly study the issues. The seven issues include three proposed Utah constitutional amendments, one opinion question and three propositions: Utah Constitutional Amendment A would make more flexible the property tax exemption already afforded military personnel serving under order of active duty. Utah Constitutional Amendment B would exempt from property taxes any real property leased from a private owner by the State of Utah or a local government. Utah Constitutional Amendment C would allow the senate president and speaker of the house of representatives, with a two-thirds majority approval of legislators, to call a special legislative session. Currently only the governor may do so. Utah Nonbinding Opinion Question 1 asks voters if they support increasing the gasoline tax by 10 cents per gallon to fund critical needs in education and important transportation needs such as maintaining local roads and bridges. Utah Proposition 2 would legalize medical marijuana for individuals with qualifying conditions. Utah Proposition 3 would expand Medicaid, a medical insurance program that helps low-income people and those with disabilities. The states portion would increase the sales tax from 4.70 to 4.85 percent. Utah Proposition 4 would create an independent redistricting commission to draft new maps for congressional and state legislative districts. We must all remember that studying issues, voting, and gleaning information from a variety of sources combine serve to strengthen our community and country through alert citizen participation, Hunter said. For more information about the Walker Institute, visit weber.edu/walkerinstitute. Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University. As cannabis legalization looms, players in the local black market say they don't intend to be put out of business. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. As cannabis legalization looms, players in the local black market say they don't intend to be put out of business. The Free Press interviewed three Winnipeg-based marijuana dealers about whether they plan to keep selling after legalization Wednesday, and why. All three dealers the Free Press is not using their real names reported they would keep distributing, so long as there is demand from their customers. If early estimates are accurate, legal cannabis will be in short supply as retailers across the country deal with a lack of inventory. Mark (not his real name), a 46-year-old Manitoba government employee, has been growing marijuana since the 1990s and selling to his friends and co-workers since the early 2000s. He grows 25 plants at home and makes between $10,000 and $12,000 from every harvest. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A cannabis dealer pays for her gym membership and her own weed through her black-market sales, and she has no plans to stop after Wednesday. Because his overhead costs are so low, Mark believes he can undercut retailers' pricing. "Why would somebody go to buy $70, $80 and $90 quarter (ounce) bags from the government when they can get it from me for 40 bucks? Ill go as low as $30 a quarter to still say f--k you, government, I can produce it. Its still worth my while," he said. Mark believes his crop's quality will exceed the government-supplied products as well. 'I'm just like a weed fairy, I'm the helper I just sprinkle it everywhere' Whitney, not her real name, who plans to continue selling cannabis illegally postlegalization "Ill take the Pepsi Challenge any day against any grower out there," he said, adding the novelty of buying marijuana from a government-approved retailer will wear off "really fast." The two other dealers the Free Press spoke to import their marijuana from growers in British Columbia. Whitney, 25, said quality and price are the most important factors for cannabis enthusiasts. She may change her supplier after legalization, if she can find a more cost-effective and quality-conscious grower closer to home. Whitney buys her products online, ships them to her home and distributes to about 10 clients, making about $200 per month which pays for her gym membership and covering the cost of her own cannabis. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Black-market cannabis dealers are confident the quality of their product will keep customers coming back even after legal stores open Wednesday. "It was basically a savvy way for me to smoke for free and to make a little bit of money on the side," she explained. "A lot of people are nervous to buy it themselves and have it shipped to their house and they think theyre going to get arrested, which is possible, right? It is illegal. But Im willing to take that risk and then they can buy from me with no paper trail, and they dont have to be worried anymore." "Im just like a weed fairy, Im the helper I just sprinkle it everywhere," she added with a laugh. Whitney also labels all the bags of marijuana she gives customers with information about ingredients and side-effects. She usually includes a gift with purchase as well, like a small chocolate bar. Travis, 28, delivers cannabis to his customers' doorsteps seven days a week. He has 300 active clients and a long menu of items for sale, which buyers can browse through his automated text-messaging service. He sells various cannabis strains, edibles (candy, pills, drops) and topicals (creams, bath bombs), among other items, and has a loyalty-points program offering discounts. "I think I have a lot of loyal customers that are willing to go to me no matter what unless the (retailers) prices drop more than mine," Travis said. "Im going to find it really surprising if they can actually drop the prices lower than what I have." His prices range from $45-$60 per quarter ounce of marijuana, depending on the strain. He makes around $40,000-$50,000 per year in sales. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A cannabis dealer packages her product in Winnipeg on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. Winnipeg Free Press 2018. Travis said he was charged by police with trafficking once before when he previously sold cocaine and ecstasy. So now hes hyper-cautious of not getting caught a second time. He uses scent-proof bags, doesnt drive a flashy car, drives the speed limit and never texts behind the wheel hence the automated messaging service. Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "(Getting caught) is on my mind every single day. Theres nothing much I can do about it," Travis said. "I just have to be prepared and accept the consequences when it actually comes to me." The province isnt expecting to see the cannabis black market go dark anytime soon either, Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen acknowledged at a news conference last week. "First of all, we dont have any illusions that (legalization) is going to stop the black market. What were offering is... a safe alternative for those who wish to consume," Pedersen said last Wednesday. "Our goal is to eventually eliminate the black market, but we have no illusions about Oct. 18, (that) there will be no black market thats just not reasonable to even think that." jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @_jessbu OTTAWA Via Rail estimates it lost almost $1.7 million in revenue in the seven months after the tracks to Churchill washed out in the spring of 2017. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Via Rail estimates it lost almost $1.7 million in revenue in the seven months after the tracks to Churchill washed out in the spring of 2017. Documents obtained through a freedom-of-information request show the Crown corporation believes it also saved $1.2 million by not running the full route from June to December 2017, making the net loss $500,000. Arctic Gateway Arctic Gateway said it planned to repair the washed-out tracks and resume service to Churchill before the winter, but assessments need to be done before the line is active again. Tracks used by the Hudson Bay Railway washed out just north of Gillam on May 23, 2017, cutting off service to Churchill. The Free Press requested the internal analysis of the effect of the derailment on Via revenue. As of a year ago, Via Rail has operated a single return trip each week between Winnipeg and The Pas, twice weekly between The Pas and Thompson and three times a week between Thompson and Gillam. The train used to run twice weekly from Winnipeg and three times a week from Thompson, linking remote northern Manitoba communities along the line, in addition to sending tourists and academics to Churchill, the "Polar Bear Capital of the World." The Winnipeg-Churchill route has only lost 17 per cent of its operable track. The remaining part still connects Indigenous and Metis trappers, as well as mine workers visiting their families across the North. But Via says 81 per cent of its 2016 revenue along that entire line came from trips that went beyond Gillam (almost all to Churchill). Via Rail estimated 9,278 one-way trips would have taken place to or from Churchill from June to December 2017, based on 2016 traffic. The corporation believes it has saved $1.2 million in expenses as a result of cancellations. Half of that money would have gone to salaries and benefits. Twenty per cent of the estimated costs were for service charges for using CN and Omnitrax tracks (CN owns the tracks up to The Pas, while Omnitrax owned the rest). Via also saved costs by not having to buy as many meals and drinks to sell, and it didnt have to pay for hotel rooms in Churchill for its staff. Via had ended its contract for a staff person at the Churchill station, but has started the process to reinstate the position. Earlier this year, the Free Press reported, for the first 12 months after the May 2017 washout, Via had refunded 6,110 one-way fares along the route, totalling $938,251. On Aug. 31, Ottawa helped transfer Omnitraxs railway to the local consortium Arctic Gateway, which said it planned to repair the washed-out tracks and resume service to Churchill before winter. Workers completed repairing the tracks over the Thanksgiving weekend, but the firm stressed it needs to thoroughly assess the line before it can restore service to Churchill. Its not yet known if that will happen before winter. Transport Canada wrote recently that railways are responsible for the safety of their infrastructure, equipment and operations, while the regulator audits and inspects railways to determine whether they comply with rules and regulations. The department has been in touch with the owners "about its repairs to, and inspections of, this portion of the line, although Transport Canada is not required to authorize the resumption of service," spokesman Pierre Manoni said. A railway worker was killed in a Sept. 13 derailment west of Thompson, hundreds of kilometres south of the rail line that was damaged in 2017. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. That site will require its own repairs, though the ground is more stable than the permafrost closer to Churchill. Provincial and federal staff had left the scene by Oct. 11, suggesting Arctic Gateway and its contractors are leading the cleanup. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca The derailment leaked diesel fuel into the Mitishto River, which the provinces Sustainable Development department investigated. It wrote last week that the cleanup continues, but "environmental impacts appear to be localized and contamination has been contained." Provincial and federal staff had left the scene by Oct. 11, suggesting Arctic Gateway and its contractors are leading the cleanup. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Manitoba's cannabis regulator is imparting some last-minute advice to consumers: use wisely, if you choose to use at all. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba's cannabis regulator is imparting some last-minute advice to consumers: use wisely, if you choose to use at all. The Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA) launched its "Know My Cannabis Limits" public education campaign, just days before Canada legalizes non-medical marijuana Wednesday. The campaign includes short, simple messages about how to use marijuana in less harmful ways, such as avoiding the use of cannabis with alcohol, and being aware "lower-risk" cannabis contains a lower proportion of the psychoactive chemical compound THC. The new campaign also includes one message that might appear obvious to some. "Not everyone uses cannabis," advises one of the five statements that will appear on posters, billboards and transit ads across the province in both English and French. "You don't need to try it just because it's legal." SUPPLIED The Liqour, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA) launched its Know My Cannabis Limits campaign in October 2018, coinciding with the legalization of cannabis across Canada. "We want to make sure that people are aware of the fact that they don't need to feel pressured into using it," LGCA chief administrative officer Elizabeth Stephenson told reporters during a Monday news conference. "We know that young people are more likely to use (cannabis) than older people. We also know that peer pressure has a significant impact on people, and so we just wanted to remind people that you don't have to use if you don't want to." Stephenson said the idea for that message sprung from LGCA focus testing. Although LGCA doesn't promote a similar message in its public messaging about alcohol, she acknowledged, rates of alcohol use among Manitobans are much higher than rates of marijuana use. Other messages in the new campaign remind Manitoban cannabis users to "go slowly" if they use cannabis, and to remember "cannabis edibles take time" to take effect after ingestion. Although commercially produced cannabis-infused food won't be legally available to Canadians until 2019, consumers will be allowed to make their own at home using legally purchased cannabis. "And so one of the things we really wanted to clarify is that if people choose to partake in an edible format... If they're eating a (marijuana-infused) cookie, they need to understand that it will have effects, and maybe they should only have a quarter of a cookie," Stephenson said. SUPPLIED The Liqour, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA) launched its Know My Cannabis Limits campaign in October 2018, coinciding with the legalization of cannabis across Canada. The provincial Tory government's strict approach to cannabis consumption includes a $672 fine for smoking or vaping marijuana in public, but doesn't explicitly prohibit public consumption of the drug in its many edible forms. Manitoba Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said Monday the government was already working on that issue. "It's being considered as we speak," Cullen told reporters at LGCA's Winnipeg office. LGCA's new public education push is the fourth on the topic of cannabis legalization, coming on the heels of a previous LGCA campaign about the basics of Manitoba's marijuana laws, a Manitoba Public Insurance movement on the dangers of drug-impaired driving, and a provincial government drive warning against various risks attributed to cannabis use. LGCA's new campaign is meant more for retail cannabis consumers, said Cullen, while the provincial government's warning drive is meant for a "wider public audience." The LGCA says it spent about $50,000 to design both its campaigns, plus $200,000 each on ad buys, including social media advertising. The regulator, said Stephenson, was "pleasantly surprised" at the public's reception of its initial "Can & Can't of Cannabis" campaign, which launched in early September. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We've had a number of stakeholder groups actually contact us and ask us to provide them information to share with their stakeholders and their clients," she said. "We actually had to print more posters, and more information to share, so we know that this has really resonated well with Manitobans." But the regulator had a good reason for waiting until the eve of legalization to launch its new campaign about safer cannabis use, Stephenson said. "Cannabis is actually not legal in the country right now, and so we felt putting these messages out a few weeks ago would be a little premature." LGCA plans to evaluate both campaigns in early spring by quizzing Manitobans about whether they remember the core messages. solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sol_israel A retired Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of St. Boniface has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, dating to more than three decades ago. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A retired Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of St. Boniface has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, dating to more than three decades ago. The alleged victim was a youth when the offences occurred, the Winnipeg Police Service said Monday, while announcing Roland Lanoie, 70, had been arrested Oct. 3. KEN GIGLIOTTI WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Roland Lanoie has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. Police said they began investigating earlier this year, after an adult male came forward to say he was the victim of a series of sexual assaults while he was a resident student at the St. Boniface Minor Seminary (now the St. Philip Minh Roman Catholic Church) between 1982 and 1988. Police said they confirmed Lanoie was an ordained priest who was working in various positions with the Archdiocese of St. Boniface when the alleged offences occurred. Lanoie was priest at St. Norbert Parish (2015-17), but also worked as pastor at Christ the King Parish (1982-94), as well as St. Eugene Parish, Ste. Agathe Parish and Paroisse Saints-Martyrs-Canadiens. He also served as a chaplain at St. Boniface Hospital. "The archdiocese began working closely with the victim, the Winnipeg police, as well as Child and Family Services of Winnipeg as soon as the situation was made known to it in December of 2016," when the man disclosed his account to the Church, the archdiocese said in a statement Monday. "The archdiocese expresses its deep sorrow to the victim who has come forward, as well as to his family and to all those who have been affected by these matters." A WPS spokesman said it began an investigation in spring 2018, after the archdiocese contacted police. The criminal investigation was delayed over a year until the alleged victim after receiving counselling was ready to make a formal complaint to police, archdiocese spokesman Richard Frechette said. "The victim was not ready to go to police. He wanted us to know, and he wanted us to take action on this. When we found out about this in December 2016, we went to the went the police and to CFS... CFS followed up immediately, but the police could not until the victim came forward," he said. The archdiocese said it did a preliminary internal investigation of some of the sexual-abuse allegations. Archbishop Albert LeGatt then met with Lanoie on Jan. 10, 2017, and accepted his resignation from all ministerial activity. An archdiocese advisory committee later recommended Lanoie receive a temporary suspension and could no longer minister to the public. The archdiocese said LeGatt also wrote to the Vatican to ask what should be done, and was advised to "impose measures that he deemed appropriate, and that would also bring healing to the victim." Meanwhile, the church investigation continued and officials there took steps to ensure Lanoie "will never be able to work as a priest anywhere in the world... ever again," Frechette said. LeGatt issued a decree of permanent suspension of faculties of priestly ministry on Dec. 22, 2017. "Each time the heinous crime of sexual abuse is reported, victims and their families are wounded again, the vast majority of faithful priests bow their heads in shame, and sincere Catholics, Christians and people of good will, experience shock, sorrow, anger and righteous indignation," the archdiocese statement said. "Every single abuse case involving a minor, no matter when it took place, is wrong, and we must listen attentively and respond compassionately to those who have been victimized and hurt, particularly if the abuser is connected in any way with our Church." Its actions earned praise Monday from U.S. advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "We're grateful that the Archdiocese of St. Boniface had worked so diligently with law enforcement officials to bring justice for the survivor in this case. We would hope that those same church officials will now aggressively reach out to other parishioners in their flock and encourage anyone who had seen, suspected or suffered abuse... to come forward and make a report to the police," SNAP executive director Zach Hiner said in an email Monday. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Frechette said the Church's investigation did not turn up any other potential victims. In 2014, the archdiocese suspended another priest, Ronald Leger, from ministerial duties when officials learned of allegations against him. Leger pleaded guilty in 2015 to sexual-assault charges involving three young men, and later faced additional charges after others stepped forward with historic accounts that spanned three decades. Lanoie, who has been released from custody, was one of three chaplains at St. Boniface Hospital who complained almost a decade ago that their boss, a priest, had bullied them. A later decision by a labour arbitrator ruled the complaints of harassment and abuse "were entirely without merit," and the trio was asked to apologize to the hospital and to the priest. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca with files from Alexandra Paul Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. There is strong support among Winnipeggers for a Canadawide handgun ban. Three-quarters of respondents to a Probe Research poll, which was commissioned by the Free Press and CTV, said "urgent action should be taken on banning handguns in Canada." Out of those who support a ban, 45 per cent indicated they strongly agreed with the statement. Only 12 per cent of respondents strongly disagreed. "Im a little surprised by how high the support is for a blanket handgun ban. Given other research that Ive seen on this, thats higher than I might have expected," said Frank Cormier, a University of Manitoba criminologist. Support was fairly consistent throughout most areas of the city, with the southeast most supportive (81 per cent) and the northeast the least (66 per cent). The poll showed gender and age differences on the issue. While 83 per cent of women indicated they support a ban, only 66 per cent of men said the same. Support was highest among people aged 55 and up (81 per cent) and lowest among those aged 18 to 34 (67 per cent). Cormier said recent media coverage of high-profile Canadian gun violence could play into such high support. "Theres no question that when people have been sensitized to an issue, they are far more likely to support strong action. My suspicion would be that support might decrease over time to some extent," Cormier said. The results of the Probe poll are fairly consistent with a recent national Nanos Research survey commissioned by CTV, which showed a majority of Canadians support a ban on handguns exempting only police and security professionals. Sixty-seven per cent of respondents said they would support or somewhat support such a ban. Tightening gun control has been in the news in recent months since the Danforth Avenue mass shooting in Toronto on July 22. Two people were killed and 13 were injured. Two days after the shooting, Toronto city council voted overwhelmingly in favour of asking the federal government to issue a municipal handgun ban. On Aug. 20, Montreal took it a step further, voting unanimously in favour of a Canadawide handgun and assault weapon ban. The federal government confirmed on Aug. 28 it was considering a potential handgun and assault weapon ban. Last week, Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jay Murray said officers have been busy taking firearms off the streets. "I stood up on this podium last year, and talked about how (firearm seizures) were numbers we had never seen before. With three months to go (in 2018), well certainly exceed the numbers we saw last year," he said. In 2017, the police service seized 876 firearms. So far this year, it has seized 905. The figure doesnt include firearms turned in during gun amnesty month. "We have seen more illegal guns on the street," Murray said. A recent Free Press investigative series, "The 411 on 911", analyzed police dispatch logs obtained through a freedom of information request. It revealed that in all but nine days last year, police responded to reports of a gun being seen in the streets of Winnipeg. When reports of shots fired were factored in, there were only four days in 2017 in which the WPS didnt get a gun call. While the national crime rate is trending down, violent crime is on an upswing. In 2016, Winnipeg had the second-highest per-capita violent crime rate involving firearms, at a rate double the national average. However, only three per cent of violent crimes involve firearms. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The question for criminologists such as Cormier is how much firearm violence is linked to handguns, and what percentage of those handguns are stolen from legal owners. If the majority of handguns used in crimes originate on the black market, then a crackdown on legal handgun ownership would not have much effect. Cormier said there isnt enough data to determine whether a handgun ban would have a significant effect on gun violence in Canada. "That is the big problem. We dont have comprehensive, reliable data on handgun violence. Where are people getting these guns and can we expect a domestic handgun ban to have some affect on that?" he said. "The data are nowhere near complete enough to know if that proposition holds merit for success. We just dont know. Although, people could intuitively say, It cant hurt. That might be enough for people." ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe Last week, Manitobas Progressive Conservative government showed that when confronted with possible sexual misconduct by one of its MLAs, it can be downright threatening. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Last week, Manitobas Progressive Conservative government showed that when confronted with possible sexual misconduct by one of its MLAs, it can be downright threatening. In this case, the threats were not issued to the MLA in question Cliff Graydon of Emerson but rather to the news organization that attempted to uncover and expose the abhorrent behaviour. Last week, the Free Press began investigating a story about Graydon and inappropriate comments he allegedly made to a woman working at the legislature. It wasnt the first time Graydon got into trouble for his comments; earlier this year he was disciplined by his own party for making offensive comments about asylum seekers from the U.S. who cross the border in his riding. In this most recent incident, Graydon invited a young woman to sit on his lap in front of large group of people at a packed legislative building luncheon. Our reporter quickly confirmed the incident in question did occur. For two days last week, the Free Press inquired about Graydons actions. For two days, PC caucus staff promised an on-the-record response, but none was forthcoming. Finally, when the reporter informed caucus staff the Free Press would publish the story with or without official comment, the premiers chief of staff, Phil Houde, responded with force. In an email to Free Press editor Paul Samyn on Oct. 11, Houde said he was "shocked that a member of your staff would behave in such a manner." Houde went on to say that he had sent the reporters email "to our legal counsel for advice." It is not unusual for media outlets to set deadlines for responses from government officials, politicians or political parties that are unresponsive. Otherwise, by not responding, they could prevent some stories from being published or broadcast. However, it is highly unusual for governments to threaten journalists with legal action for making inquiries about a legitimate story. Cynics might go as far as to say that Houdes response was an overreaction designed to chill a news organization from digging deeper into the story. For what reason, we may never know. The threat does bring into question the PC caucuss suggestion that the Graydon matter was handled to everyones satisfaction. Further, it paints the image of a government willing to take extraordinary measures including a threat of legal action against a newspaper to protect one of its MLAs and the staff who handled the original complaint. It should be noted that before the Free Press started its inquiries, the PC caucus had no intention of revealing any details about Graydons misconduct. After refusing for several days to make a comment, the Tory caucus eventually issued a news release on Friday confirming that allegations had been made against one of its members, that they had been dealt with in accordance with new provincial policies dealing with sexual misconduct that "respect the impacted individuals right to privacy and confidentiality while also ensuring that appropriate measures are taken." The PC caucus has refused to say what, if any, additional discipline will be handed out although sources indicated that the PC caucus may choose to conduct a vote in two weeks the legislative assembly is on a break this week on whether Graydon should be punished further. Politically, this remains a problem for Premier Brian Pallister. When similar allegations were made against NDP MLA Mohinder Saran, he was eventually expelled from his partys caucus. "Eventually" is the key word here; the NDP bungled the handling of the allegations against Saran for months before reaching their decision. Even so, that sets a precedent for the punishment of an elected official who somehow missed the memo about the seismic change in attitudes about what is and isnt appropriate behaviour. If Graydon is given a pass, then there will be a clear contrast between how the NDP and Tories deal with similar allegations. In February, Pallister introduced new policies to make it easier for government employees to report inappropriate behaviour. "There need be no fear of reprisal," the premier told people throughout the ranks of the civil service and legislative assembly. Pallisters new policy was in direct response to the Saran incident, and to the subsequent allegations the NDP had ignored concerns about unwanted touching by former NDP cabinet minister Stan Struthers. Pallisters goals may have been noble and sincere, but his motivation was purely political. And his policy, as it turns out, a bit naive. Shortly before Pallister unveiled the new harassment protocol, it was learned that former deputy minister Rick Mantey had been fired by the Tories for inappropriate behaviour toward a female staffer. Although Mantey was terminated, no details were made public. As a result, he was able to secure a prestigious position with a charity overseen by the British Royal Family, a position he subsequently lost after the Free Press published a story about his firing. Look at the Graydon and Mantey incidents, and you can see clearly that victims of sexual harassment still do not feel confident enough to see the perpetrators fully punished for their behaviour. As is the case in most incidents of this kind, Graydon had, and continues to have, power over the woman he insulted. As a result of the imbalance in their relationship, the victim no doubt believes that if the perpetrators are punished too severely, it will blow back on her. That seeking justice in these instances is tantamount to career suicide. Dan Lett | Not for Attribution A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world that is sent every Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. If our goal is to create a culture where women feel confident to not only come forward with allegations, but press for real punishment, then weve still got a way to go as evidenced by the slap on the wrist that it appears Graydon is going to get. Which brings us back to the threat of legal action. This is not the first time Pallister has used legal threats to try to stop the Free Press from performing its duties. Earlier this year, Pallister served the newspaper with a defamation notice for a story we wrote that accused the premier of not paying a luxury property tax on his vacation home in Costa Rica. In the notice, Pallister demanded an apology and that the paper reveal its source for the story. The premier admitted four months later that he was, in fact, in arrears to the tune of $8,000 on his Costa Rica property taxes. Despite that revelation, he has refused to withdraw his threat of legal action against the paper and continues to demand an apology. In pursuit of a new culture of accountability, the premier should ask himself this: will women ever feel safe working for a government and party led by a man who uses threats and intimidation to get what he wants? dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca For the first time in 55 years, a woman has won the Nobel Prize in physics Prof. Donna Strickland. This win has publicly highlighted that women are still under-represented in science, particularly in physics. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion For the first time in 55 years, a woman has won the Nobel Prize in physics Prof. Donna Strickland. This win has publicly highlighted that women are still under-represented in science, particularly in physics. As a woman in physics, this lack of diversity is something that I encounter almost daily, and also something that we can take action to change. As an undergraduate science student, I was confronted with the lack of women in science at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada in 2001. The first day of my summer job in NRCs now-defunct "Women in Engineering and Science" program, I was shocked looking around the lunchroom. Where were the women? The vast majority of scientists were men! The situation was similar in my university studies I only ever had two female professors. That lack of diversity was something I grew accustomed to. A resident at Perimeter Institute for my PhD studies, I was often the only woman in the room at scientific meetings or seminars. My office was shared with four male students, and there were some jokes that I had been assigned "the secretarys desk" and remarks about the colour of my T-shirt. I was the only woman in the room for my PhD defence at the University of Waterloo in 2007. Lack of female keynote speakers When I became a faculty member in 2010, I was thrilled to be one of four women physics professors more than 20 per cent of physics faculty at Carleton University. This bucked the trend among physics faculty members at many universities (and this continues, as we now have five women physics professors at Carleton). But as I started teaching, the lack of gender diversity among undergraduate physics students was striking: a class of 50 students with only three women, another with no women, in my first year of teaching. As a researcher, the lack of women as invited and keynote speakers at scientific conferences continues to be discouraging. There are certainly women giving excellent conference presentations, but they are too often overlooked when it comes to invited and keynote speakers lists. An invited or keynote speaker entry on a CV indicates respect and recognition of excellence; omission of women hinders their careers. As a member of hiring committees within my university, Ive witnessed some colleagues lack of understanding of issues related to gender diversity in science. The philosophy of "well just hire the best candidate" ignores the fact that measures of the "best" candidate are highly subjective, and often plagued with personal (sometimes unconscious) biases. Fewer women in physics and science departments results in women as the minority on hiring committees. Juggling science and motherhood Not all women in physics are mothers, but motherhood opened my eyes to the many challenges at the heart of juggling family and physics. Sleep deprivation, family responsibilities and parenting are all in competition with travelling to international meetings, completing research papers and supervising students, plus preparing and delivering lectures. Submitting research grant applications after my maternity leave, I wondered: Did the male-majority grant panels really comprehend the challenges in building my physics career while being a mother? After Prof. Stricklands Nobel Prize win announcement this week, a respected scientist remarked his surprise that another world-class, renowned male optics expert had been overlooked "maybe because he was not a woman." As a physicist, I have had many opportunities, and have received much support from men and women scientists alike. I have a rewarding career. But my anecdotes illustrate that, despite efforts to increase involvement of women in physics, systematic issues remain. With Prof. Stricklands win, the issue of gender diversity in physics has been brought to the fore. There is an opportunity for action. We need outreach and policy We must work to raise awareness of unconscious biases and (sometimes hidden) barriers that hinder the careers of women scientists, building on recent training modules by the Canada Research Chairs Secretariat and other organizations. Scientists should undergo training to increase their awareness of barriers facing different minorities, including women, towards developing more inclusive scientific endeavours. Canadas science policy leaders should develop best practices that are publicized, encouraged or even required by scientific institutions and universities. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. As a start, we need clear guidelines towards achieving gender balance and diversity at scientific meetings. Some international conferences are now actively promoting diversity for their meetings, with success. Diversity at scientific meetings aids in mentoring and retention of young women scientists through networking and role models. It enhances researcher career progression and advances research through diverse collaborations. We must support outreach efforts that show great possibilities for careers in science for women and other minorities. With time, this will change biases that may be developed at a young age. It will show girls and students that they can play important roles in non-traditional fields. Stricklands Nobel Prize win can serve as a celebration of her great contributions, and a celebration of women in physics and science. It is also a call to action, as "gender diversity leads to better science." Rowan Thomson is a Canada Research Chair and associate professor of physics at Carleton University. This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca. The tragic death of Cindy Gladue shocked the nation. Now, a Supreme Court decision on her case could set a precedent in Canadas sexual assault laws. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/10/2018 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Editorial The tragic death of Cindy Gladue shocked the nation. Now, a Supreme Court decision on her case could set a precedent in Canadas sexual assault laws. Last Thursday, hearings began at Canadas top court to determine whether Bradley Barton, an Ontario trucker, should be retried for the 2011 death of Gladue, a 36-year-old Indigenous sex worker who bled to death from an 11-centimetre cut inside her vagina. The body of Gladue, the mother of three, was discovered in the bathtub of Bartons motel room in Edmonton. Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press Files The statue of Truth outside the Supreme Court. In 2015, a jury acquitted Barton, who claimed the injury was an accident the result of rough sex that occurred with her consent. The trial sparked outrage across the country, particularly around the gruesome admission of Gladues preserved vaginal tissue in court as evidence. Protests were held from coast to coast, demanding not only justice for Gladue, but reforms to a system that repeatedly fails Indigenous women. Or, in the case of Gladue, revictimizes and dehumanizes them. The Supreme Court of Canada will determine whether Barton will receive a new trial, but the decision is bigger than Bartons case. This landmark hearing will also look at how Indigenous Peoples are treated by the justice system, as well as whether a different model of consent should be applied in cases involving sex workers. The Alberta Crown is arguing that an "objective likelihood of harm" should override sexual consent. Its a change that could, in theory, help protect sex workers. As the attorney general of Canadas factum states, "Limiting what types of paid sexual activity can be lawfully consented to is necessary to shield a vulnerable group from sexual exploitation and abuse." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Thats not an easy task: how do you establish an objective likelihood of harm when sex work itself is considered by many to be harmful? Sex workers and, in particular, Indigenous sex workers, face disproportionate sexual and physical violence, and are often blamed for any suffering they endure. Their lifestyles get put on trial; they engage in risky activities, after all. "What did she expect?" is a close cousin of "She was asking for it." When the Court of Appeal of Alberta threw out the acquittal, it argued that the trial judges repeated use of the words "native" and "prostitute" in reference to Gladue invited the jury to "bring to the fact-finding process discriminatory beliefs or biases about the sexual availability of Indigenous women, and especially those who engage in sexual activity for payment." But its not just the words and definitions used in court that need to change; many cases involving sex workers will never see the inside of a courtroom. Protection also needs to be afforded to those who engage in what is often called "survival work." In 2014, Canada adopted "end demand" laws which prosecute those who buy sex instead of those who sell it that were supposed to make sex workers safer. But research presented at the 2018 International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam showed that sex workers are now even more vulnerable to violence. The Supreme Court faces a monumental challenge, but the fact it is considering this specific case is encouraging. Too many Indigenous women meet the same lonely and terrifying end as Gladue. The horrifying details might change replace "bathtub" with river, ditch, Dumpster or back lane but the broad strokes of the story are hauntingly familiar. Perhaps Ms. Gladues death wasnt in vain. 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The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides financial planning and advice, as well as full service brokerage and banking services, primarily to retail clients through the company's financial advisors. The Asset Management segment provides investment advice and investment products to retail and institutional clients. It also provides products and services on a global scale through two complementary asset management businesses: Columbia Management and Threadneedle. The Columbia Management business primarily provides U.S. domestic products and services and Threadneedle primarily provides international investment products and services. Its international retail products are primarily provided through third-party financial institutions. 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Ltd., Cytiva Europe GmbH, Cytiva Sweden AB, Cytiva Sweden Holding AB, DH Europe Finance II Sarl, DH Europe Finance Sarl, DH Holding Italia SRL, DH Japan Finance Sarl, DH Life Sciences LLC, DH Netherlands BV, DH Technologies Development Pte Ltd., DHKAB Company AB, DTIL Ireland Holdings Ltd., Danaher (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Danaher Hong Kong Limited, Danaher Medical ApS, Delta Consolidated Industries, Devicore Medical Products Inc., Easco Hand Tools, Esko, Esko BV, Esko Finance BV, Esko Graphics BV, Esko Software BV, FHAB Company AB, Fluke, G. Lufft Mess- und Regeltechnik GmbH, GE Biopharma, Gelman Sciences Inc., Gendex, Genetix Group, Gilbarco Veeder Root, Gilzoni Ltd., Global Life Sciences Solutions Austria GmbH & Co. KG, Global Life Sciences Solutions Germany GmbH, Global Life Sciences Solutions Korea Ltd., Global Life Sciences Solutions Manufacturing UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions New Zealand, Global Life Sciences Solutions Operations UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions Singapore Pte Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions USA LLC, Global Life Sciences Technologies (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Global Life Sciences Technologies Japan KK, Hach Company, Hach Lange Finance GmbH, Hach Lange GmbH, Hach Lange Sarl, Hach Sales & Services Canada LP, Hach Ultra Japan KK, Hach Water Quality Analytical Instru. (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., HemoCue AB, HyClone Laboratories LLC, Hybritech Incorporated, Hyclone Life Sciences Solutions India Private Limited, IDBS Group, IRIS International, Imaging Sciences International, Immunotech SAS, Immunotech Sro, Intabio LLC, Integrated DNA Technologies, Integrated DNA Technologies BVBA, Integrated DNA Technologies Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies Pte. Ltd., Iris International Inc., Joslyn Holding Company LLC, KVHG GmbH, KaVo, KaVo Kerr, Kaltenbach & Voigt, Keithley Instruments, Kipp & Zonen BV, Kollmorgen, Labcyte Inc., Laetus, Leica Biosystems Imaging Inc., Leica Biosystems Melbourne Pty Ltd, Leica Biosystems Newcastle Limited, Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH, Leica Biosystems Richmond Inc., Leica Instruments (Singapore) Pte Limited, Leica Microsystems, Leica Microsystems (UK) Limited, Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Leica Microsystems Cambridge Limited, Leica Microsystems IR GmbH, Leica Microsystems Inc., Leica Microsystems Limited, Leica Microsystems Ltd. Shanghai, Leica Mikrosysteme Vertrieb GmbH, Life Sciences Holdings France SAS*, Lifschultz Industries, Linx Printing Technologies, Linx Printing Technologies Limited, MDS Analytical Technologies, Marconi Data Systems, McCrometer Inc., Microtest, Molecular Devices, Molecular Devices (Austria) GmbH, Molecular Devices LLC, Navman Wireless, Navman Wireless OEM Solutions, Nihon Pall Ltd., Nihon Pall Manufacturing Limited, Nobel Biocare, OTT Hydromet Corp, Pall, Pall (Canada) ULC, Pall (China) Co. Ltd., Pall (Schweiz) GmbH, Pall Aeropower Corporation, Pall Artelis BVBA, Pall Asia Holdings Inc., Pall Australia Pty. Ltd., Pall Austria Filter Ges.m.b.h, Pall Corporation, Pall Europe Limited, Pall Filtersystems GmbH, Pall Filtration Pte. Ltd., Pall Filtration and Separations Group Inc., Pall France SAS, Pall GmbH, Pall India Pvt. Ltd., Pall International Sarl, Pall Italia Srl, Pall Korea Ltd., Pall Life Sciences Belgium BV, Pall Life Sciences Puerto Rico LLC, Pall Manufacturing UK Limited, Pall Medistad BV, Pall Netherlands BV Irish Branch, Pall Technology UK Limited, PaloDEX, Pantone LLC, Pelton & Crane, Phenomenex, Phenomenex Inc., Precision NanoSystems, QHC Ireland Finance Limited, Radiometer, Radiometer Basel AG, Radiometer K.K., Radiometer Medical ApS, Radiometer Medical Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Radiometer Turku Oy, Raytek, Reytek Corporation, SH Switzerland Finance Sarl, Sea-Bird Electronics Inc., SenDx Medical Inc., Shanghai AB Sciex Analytical Instrument Trading Co. Ltd., Sutron, Sybron Dental Specialties, TCIL Ireland Finance Ltd., Tektronix, Thomson Industries, Tianjin Bonna-Agela Technologies Co. Ltd., Trojan Technologies, Trojan Technologies Group ULC, VSS Monitoring, Videojet Do Brasil Comercio de Equipamentos Para Codificacao Industrial Ltda., Videojet Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Videojet Technologies Europe B.V., Videojet Technologies Inc., Viridor Waste Management Limited, Vision Systems Limited, Willett International, X-Ray Optical Systems Inc., X-Rite, X-Rite Europe GmbH, X-Rite Incorporated, X-Rite Switzerland GmbH, XOS, Yukon Hong Kong Holding Limited, and Zhuhai S.E.Z. Videojet Electronics Ltd.. Dialog Semiconductor Plc engages in the design, development, and marketing of integrated circuit (IC) products. It operates through the following segments: Custom Mixed Signal (CMS), Advanced Mixed Signal (AMS), Connectivity and Audio (C&A), and Industrial IoT. The CMS segment provides custom ICs designed to meet the needs of the customers in the mobile, industrial, automotive, computing and storage markets. The AMS segment offers standard products including CMICs, AC/DC converter solutions for smaller, fast charging power adaptors for portable devices as well as LED drivers for backlighting and solid state lighting products. The C&A segment includes standard products incorporating short-range wireless, digital cordless, Bluetooth low energy, VoIP, and low-power Wi-Fi technologies. The Industrial IoT segment consists of products enabling smart factory and building automation including non-volatile memory (NVM) ICs, industrial communication ICs, custom-designed ASICs and embedded systems, servers, and software. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Reading, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Roche: 454 Life Sciences, Adheron Therapeutics, Adheron Therapeutics Inc., Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ariosa Diagnostics, Ariosa Diagnostics Inc., Arius Research, Ascur Versicherungsvermittlungs GmbH, BINA Technology, Bina Technologies Inc., BioImagene, BioVeris, BioVeris Corporation, Biopharm AG, Boehringer Mannheim, Borean Pharma, Chemical Manufacturing and Trading Company Limited, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Disetronic Holding AG, Dutalys GmbH, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd / Jordan P.S.C., FLLC "Roche Products Limited", FMI Germany GmbH, Flatiron Health, Flatiron Health Inc., ForSight Labs, ForSight VISION4 Inc., Foundation Medicine, Foundation Medicine Inc., Foundation Medicine Securities Corporation, Galenus Mannheim Pharma GmbH, GeneWEAVE, GeneWEAVE Biosciences Inc., Genentech, Genentech Inc., Genentech P.R. Inc., Genentech USA Inc., Genia Technologies, Hoffmann - La Roche Ltd, Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., Hoffmann-La Roche Limited, Hoffmann-La Roche Products Limited, I5 Surviving Corp., IGEN International Inc., IGEN LS LLC, IQuum, IQuum Inc., Ignyta, Ignyta Inc., Inflazome, Infogenetik Molekuler Bilgi Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi, Institut Roche SAS, InterMune, InterMune Holdings Limited, InterMune Inc., InterMune International AG, Jecure Therapeutics Inc., Kapa Biosystems, Kapa Biosystems (Pty) Ltd, Kapa Biosystems Inc., Limited Liability Company Roche Diabetes Care Rus, Limited Liability Company Roche Diagnostics Rus, MTM Laboratories, Marcadia Biotech, Medingo Ltd., Medingo Medical Solutions, Memory Pharmaceuticals, Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp., Mirus, Museum Tinguely AG, N.V. Roche S.A., P.T. Roche Indonesia, PVT Probenverteiltechnik GmbH, Phaor AG, Piramed, Productos Roche (El Salvador) S.A. de C.V., Productos Roche (Honduras) S.A., Productos Roche (Nicaragua) S.A., Productos Roche (Panama) S.A., Productos Roche Dominicana S.R.L., Productos Roche Guatemala (Sociedad Anonima), Productos Roche Interamericana S.A. (PRISA), Productos Roche Quimica Farmaceutica S.A., Productos Roche S.A., Productos Roche S.A. Quimica e Industrial, Productos Roche S.A. de C.V., Produtos Roche Quimicos e Farmaceuticos S.A., Promedior, Rabbit-Air Ltd, RoDiagnostics Egypt for Trading S.A.E, Roche (China) Holding Ltd., Roche (Hellas) S.A., Roche (Hungary) Ltd, Roche (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Roche (Philippines) Inc., Roche (Shanghai) Pharmaceuticals Consulting Co. Ltd, Roche (Shanghai) Pharmaceuticals Trading Co. Ltd., Roche - Moscow Ltd., Roche AB, Roche Algerie SPA, Roche Austria GmbH, Roche Bangladesh Limited, Roche Beteiligungs GmbH, Roche Biomedical Laboratories Inc., Roche Bolivia SRL., Roche Bulgaria EOOD, Roche Cameroun SARL, Roche Capital Market Ltd, Roche Capital Services Ltd., Roche Catalyst Investments Ltd., Roche Chemische Unternehmungen AG, Roche Chile Limitada, Roche Cote dIvoire SARL, Roche DC Japan K. K., Roche DC Mexico S.A. de C.V., Roche Deutschland Holding GmbH, Roche Diabetes Care (Switzerland) Ltd, Roche Diabetes Care Argentina S.A., Roche Diabetes Care Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Roche Diabetes Care Australia Pty Limited, Roche Diabetes Care Austria GmbH, Roche Diabetes Care Brasil Ltda., Roche Diabetes Care Deutschland GmbH, Roche Diabetes Care France SAS, Roche Diabetes Care GmbH, Roche Diabetes Care Inc., Roche Diabetes Care India Private Limited, Roche Diabetes Care Italy S.p.A., Roche Diabetes Care Limited, Roche Diabetes Care Middle East FZCO, Roche Diabetes Care Nederland B.V., Roche Diabetes Care Polska sp. z o.o., Roche Diabetes Care South Africa Proprietary Limited, Roche Diabetes Care Spain S.L., Roche Diagnostica Brasil Ltda., Roche Diagnostics (Hellas) S.A., Roche Diagnostics (Hong Kong) Limited, Roche Diagnostics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Roche Diagnostics (Shanghai) Ltd., Roche Diagnostics (Suzhou) Limited, Roche Diagnostics (Switzerland) Ltd, Roche Diagnostics (Thailand) Limited, Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Roche Diagnostics Australia Pty. Limited, Roche Diagnostics Belgium NV, Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Roche Diagnostics Deutschland GmbH, Roche Diagnostics France SAS, Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Roche Diagnostics Hematology Inc., Roche Diagnostics India Private Limited, Roche Diagnostics International Ltd, Roche Diagnostics K.K., Roche Diagnostics Korea Co. Ltd., Roche Diagnostics Limited, Roche Diagnostics Ltd., Roche Diagnostics Middle East FZCO, Roche Diagnostics NZ Limited, Roche Diagnostics Nederland B.V., Roche Diagnostics Norge A/S, Roche Diagnostics Operations Inc., Roche Diagnostics Oy, Roche Diagnostics Polska Sp. z o.o., Roche Diagnostics Proprietary Limited, Roche Diagnostics S.L., Roche Diagnostics S.p.A., Roche Diagnostics Scandinavia AB, Roche Diagnostics Turkey Anonim Sirketi, Roche Diagnostics a/s, Roche Ecuador S.A., Roche Eesti OU, Roche Egypt LLC, Roche Egypt for Manufacturing and Trading SAE, Roche Farma (Peru) S.A., Roche Farma S.A., Roche Farmaceutica Quimica Lda., Roche Finance Europe B.V., Roche Finance Ltd, Roche Financial Investments Ltd., Roche Financial Management Ltd., Roche Financial Services Ltd., Roche Forum Buonas Ltd, Roche Georgia LLC, Roche Glycart, Roche Glycart Ltd, Roche Health Solutions Inc., Roche Holding (UK) Limited, Roche Holdings Inc., Roche Hong Kong Limited, Roche Innovation Center Copenhagen A/S, Roche Innovatis, Roche International Ltd., Roche International Ltd. (Montevideo Branch), Roche Intertrade Limited, Roche Ireland Limited, Roche Kazakhstan LLP, Roche Kenya Limited, Roche Korea Company Ltd., Roche Laboratories Inc., Roche Latvija SIA, Roche Lebanon S.A.R.L., Roche Long Term Foundation, Roche Makedonija DOOEL, Roche Molecular Systems Inc., Roche Myanmar Company Limited, Roche Mustahzarlari Sanayi Anonim Sirketi, Roche Nederland B.V., Roche NimbleGen, Roche Norge A/S, Roche Operations Ltd., Roche Oy, Roche PVT GmbH, Roche Pakistan Limited, Roche Palo Alto LLC, Roche Pars Co. (Ltd.), Roche Pharma (Switzerland) Ltd, Roche Pharma AG, Roche Pharmaceuticals (Israel) Ltd., Roche Pharmaceuticals Middle East FZCO, Roche Pharmholding B.V., Roche Polska Sp. z o.o., Roche Privacy GmbH, Roche Products (India) Private Limited, Roche Products (Ireland) Limited, Roche Products (Mauritius) Ltd, Roche Products (New Zealand) Limited, Roche Products (Proprietary) Limited, Roche Products Ghana Limited, Roche Products Inc., Roche Products Limited, Roche Products Ltd., Roche Products Pty. Limited, Roche Products Saudi Arabia LLC, Roche R&D Center (China) Ltd., Roche Real Estate Services Mannheim GmbH, Roche Registration GmbH, Roche Registration Limited, Roche Romania S.R.L., Roche S.A., Roche S.p.A., Roche SAS, Roche Sequencing Solutions Inc., Roche Services (Asia Pacific) Sdn. Bhd., Roche Services (Europe) Ltd, Roche Services Americas Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Roche Services Holdings Ltd., Roche Servicios S.A., Roche Servicios de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Roche Singapore Pte. Ltd., Roche Singapore Technical Operations Pte. Ltd., Roche Sistemas de Diagnosticos Sociedade Unipessoal Lda., Roche Slovensko S.R.O., Roche TCRC Inc., Roche Thailand Limited, Roche Tunisie SA, Roche Ukraine LLC, Roche Vietnam Company Limited, Roche a/s Medicinalvarer og Kemikalier, Roche d.o.o., Roche d.o.o. farmaceutsko drustvo Roche Ltd. Pharmaceutical Company, Roche farmacevtska druzba d.o.o., Roche mtm laboratories AG, Roche s.r.o., Santaris Pharma, Sapac Corporation Ltd., Seragon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals Limited, Signature Diagnostics GmbH, Spark Therapeutics, Spring Bioscience Corp., Stratos Genomics, Syntex Corporation, Syntex Pharm AG, Syntex Pharmaceuticals International Limited, Syntex Puerto Rico Inc., Tanox Inc., Tavero AG, Tensha Therapeutics, Tensha Therapeutics Inc., Therapeutic Human Polyclonals, Therapeutic Human Polyclonals Inc., Trophos, Trophos SA, Tusk Therapeutics, Tusk Therapeutics Limited, UAB Roche Lietuva, Ventana Medical Systems, Ventana Medical Systems Inc., Verum Diagnostica GmbH, Viewics, Viewics Inc., Viewics India Private Limited, mySugr, mySugr GmbH, and mySugr Inc.. NTT DOCOMO, INC., a telecommunications company, provides various mobile services in Japan and internationally. It operates through three segments: Telecommunications Business, Smart Life Business, and Other Businesses. The company offers iPhone, iPad, smartphone, tablet, and feature phone products and services under the docomo name, as well as d POINT CLUB, a point program. It also provides technical and operational services to mobile operators and other companies. In addition, the company offers LTE, FOMA, and FOMA high-speed services; docomo Wi-Fi services; VoLTE voice call services; docomo Hikari, an optical Internet service; and docomo Shop services. Further, it provides optical-fiber broadband, satellite mobile communications, and international services; distributes video, music, and electronic books, etc.; and offers finance/payment services, online shopping service, other life-related services, etc. Additionally, the company engages in the mobile device protection service, commissioned development/sale, system maintenance businesses, etc. As of March 31, 2019, it had 78.45 million cellular subscriptions; and 70.15 million d POINT CLUB memberships. NTT DOCOMO, INC. has collaboration with Tohoku University to research on an artificial-intelligence technology to detect periodontal disease by photographing a person's gums with a smartphone. It also has a mobile payment alliance agreement with Merpay, Inc., LINE Pay Corporation, and KDDI Corporation for merchant stores. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. NTT DOCOMO, INC. is a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. Read More Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through four strategic business units: Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; and Capital Markets. The company offers chequing, savings, and business accounts; mortgages; loans, lines of credit, student lines of credit, and business and agriculture loans; investment and insurance services; and credit cards, as well as overdraft protection services. It also provides day-to-day banking, borrowing and credit, investing and wealth, specialty, and international services; correspondent banking and online foreign exchange services; and cash management services. The company serves its customers through its banking centers, as well as direct, mobile, and remote channels. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More Invesco Dynamic Networking ETF's stock was trading at $49.97 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, PXQ shares have increased by 111.6% and is now trading at $105.76. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. The Boeing Co. is an aerospace company, which engages in the manufacture of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space and Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment includes the development, production, and market of commercial jet aircraft and provides fleet support services, principally to the commercial airline industry worldwide. The Defense, Space and Security segment refers to the research, development, production and modification of manned and unmanned military aircraft and weapons systems for global strike, including fighter and combat rotorcraft aircraft and missile systems; global mobility, including tanker, rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft; and airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, including command and control, battle management and airborne anti-submarine aircraft. The Global Services segment provides services to commercial and defense customers. The Boeing Capital segment seeks to ensure that Boeing customers have the financing they need to buy and take delivery of their Boeing product and manages overall financing exposure. T Read More Intu owns and manages some of the best shopping centres, in some of the strongest locations, in the UK and Spain. Our UK portfolio is made up of 17 centres, including eight of the top-20, and in Spain we own three of the country's top-10 centres, with advanced plans to build a fourth. We are passionate about creating compelling experiences, in centre and online, that make our customers smile and help our retailers flourish. We attract around 400 million customer visits and 26 million website visits a year offering a multichannel approach that truly supports retail strategies. Our strategic focus on prime, high-footfall flagship destinations, combined with the strength and popularity of our brand, means that intu offers enhanced footfall, dwell time and loyalty. This helps our tenants flourish, driving occupancy and income growth. We are committed to our local communities, with our centres supporting nearly 130,000 jobs (representing about 3 per cent of the total UK retail workforce), and to operating with environmental responsibility. We have already met or exceeded a significant number of our 2020 environmental targets. Read More iShares MSCI EAFE ETF's stock was trading at $56.05 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, EFA stock has increased by 44.6% and is now trading at $81.05. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Enbridge Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States. The Gas Transmission and Midstream segment invests in natural gas pipelines, and gathering and processing facilities in Canada and the United States. The Gas Distribution and Storage segment is involved in natural gas utility operations serving residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Ontario, as well as natural gas distribution and energy transportation activities in Quebec. The Renewable Power Generation segment operates power generating assets, such as wind, solar, geothermal, and waste heat recovery facilities; and transmission assets in North America and Europe. The Energy Services segment provides energy marketing services to refiners, producers, and other customers; and physical commodity marketing and logistical services in Canada and the United States. The company was formerly known as IPL Energy Inc. and changed its name to Enbridge Inc. in October 1998. Enbridge Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More Nabors Industries Ltd. engages in the provision of platform work over and drilling rigs. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. The U.S. Drilling segment includes land drilling activities in the lower 48 states and Alaska, as well as offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment consists of land-based drilling rigs in Canada. The International segment focuses in maintaining a footprint in the oil and gas market, most notably in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela. The Drilling Solutions segment offers drilling technologies, such as patented steering systems and rig instrumentation software systems that enhance drilling performance and wellbore placement. The Rig Technologies segment comprises Canrig, which manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools. The company was founded by Clair Nabors in 1952 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Read More Invesco S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF's stock was trading at $18.23 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, PBP shares have increased by 31.8% and is now trading at $24.02. 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. KB Financial Group, Inc. engages in providing financial services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Other Banking Services, Credit Card, Life Insurance, Investment and Securities business. The Corporate Banking business segment provides services such as loans, overdrafts, deposits, credit facilities and other foreign currency activities. The Retail Banking business segment offers services such as private customer current accounts, savings, deposits, consumer loans and mortgage loans. The Other Banking business segment provides services relating to banking business besides corporate banking and retail banking services. The Credit Card business segment offers services such as domestic as well as overseas credit and debit card operations. The Investment and Securities business segment provides services such as investment banking and brokerage. The Life Insurance business segment provides products such as life insurance and wealth management. The company was founded on September 29, 2008 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Read More iShares S&P SmallCap 600 ETF's stock was trading at $62.31 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, IJR shares have increased by 92.3% and is now trading at $119.85. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. 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 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 Suncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates in Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers. The Corporate and Eliminations segment operates four wind farm operations in Ontario and Western Canada. The company also markets and trades in crude oil, natural gas, byproducts, refined products, and power. The company was formerly known as Suncor Inc. and changed its name to Suncor Energy Inc. in April 1997. Suncor Energy Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More Superior Energy Services, Inc. engages in the provision of oilfield services and equipment. It operates through the following segments: Drilling Products & Services, Onshore Completion & Workover Services, Production Services and Technical Solutions. The Drilling Products and Services segment provides downhole drilling tools and surface rentals. The Onshore Completion and Workover Services segment offers pressure pumping, fluid management and workover services. The Production Services segment gives intervention services. The Technical Solutions segment involves in the products and services that address customer-specific needs with applications, which typically require engineering, manufacturing or project planning. The company was founded by Terence E. Hall in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Read More United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. Its Otis segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs passenger and freight elevators, escalators, and moving walkways; and offers modernization products to upgrade elevators and escalators, as well as maintenance and repair services. The company's Carrier segment provides heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation products, solutions, and services for commercial, government, infrastructure, residential, and refrigeration and transportation applications. This segment also offers building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance, and monitoring. Its Pratt & Whitney segment supplies aircraft engines for commercial, military, business jet, and general aviation markets; and provides aftermarket maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as fleet management services. The company's Collins Aerospace Systems segment provides electric power generation, power management, and distribution systems; air data and aircraft sensing systems; engine control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; engine components; environmental control systems; fire and ice detection, and protection systems; propeller systems; engine nacelle systems; aircraft lighting, seating, and cargo systems; actuation and landing systems; space products and subsystems; avionics systems; flight controls, communications, navigation, oxygen, and training systems; food and beverage preparation, and storage and galley systems; and lavatory and wastewater management systems. The company offers its services through manufacturers' representatives, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, retail outlets, and sales representatives, as well as directly to customers. United Technologies Corporation was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. Read More Starting today, every newborn in Oneida County will receive a free book as part of the new Books for Babies program. Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente kicked off the program Monday at the Mohawk Valley Health Systems Faxton Campus. The $25,000 being allocated for the program comes from gaming revenue from the Oneida Nation settlement agreement. The Books for Babies program is meant to show parents the importance of reading books at an early age. "Equipping newborns with their first book is, I think, really states a lot about we believe in the quality of life for our community, Picente said. "Children who live in homes that contain at least 20 books receive the equivalent of three more years of education than children whose homes do not include books, said Lisa Matte, director of Jervis Public Library in Rome, in a news release. This lack of access to books and reading time at home creates a 30 million-word gap when these children enter school. Books for Babies is a tremendous first step in eliminating that 30-million word gap and putting all children in the county on equal footing. Each Oneida County newborn will receive a tote bag at the hospital with the New York Times best-selling book On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman, along with a growth chart, library information and other educational materials. All Nations Church in Lake View Terrace, CA is undergoing yet another transformation for the next generation. After Rev. Jinso Yoo, who had successfully established a rare co-lead pastor system, left to Korea, Rev. Tae Kim has been leading the congregation on his own since October 23. Six months later, however, after Rev. Michael Lee was inaugurated into the lead pastoral role in the English ministry (also called All Nations Community Church) on April 23, the church has taken on yet another look. Previously, the co-lead pastor system at ANC consisted of two pastors who did not take on authoritative and submissive roles, but rather, equal ones. Yoo, who is a first generation Korean, oversaw and led the church as a whole, while Kim, a 1.5 generation Korean American, focused mostly on the second generation Korean American members. But during the six years that the two worked together, Kim also ministered to the first generation Korean members in the church, preaching often in the Korean language services. In actuality, the two ministered to the members of the church together, without much of a barrier between the first and second generation. Thanks to the former system, the church was able to avoid any significant confusion even after Yoo who had planted and significantly cultivated the church had left. This time, ANC appointed Michael Lee as the lead pastor of ANCC. Lee, who is a second generation Korean American, has already worked together with Kim for three years. With Lees inauguration, the church which was once led by a first generation and 1.5 generation partnership is now led by a partnership between the 1.5 generation and second generation. The personality of the leadership structure also changed a bit, from a co-pastoring personality, to a team pastoring one. While Kim is leading the church as a whole, Lee is heading the English ministry. I am the senior pastor, but its more accurate to say were doing a team ministry where we build up each others strengths and complement each others weaknesses, said Kim. All of the authority and responsibility needed is given to Pastor Michael in order for him to carry out the ministry that EM really needs. As for whether the EM would become completely independent in the future, Kim said, We are moving in that direction, but our congregation would need more time to consider that. There were a lot of unknowns, but I trusted the Lord that he was doing the right thing, Kim said regarding his transition into a single senior leadership role. What I would love for our church, for both of our congregations, is not the gospel talked and preached church, but the gospel applied church, right here in this place, said Kim. God has been good to our church, Kim said. Theres momentum, and thats only by Gods grace. This article has been translated. For the original, visit kr.christianitydaily.com. Two Utica men are facing charges after they were allegedly found with 226 grams of cocaine during a traffic stop in Westchester County, according to New York State Police. Police say around 9:02 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, troopers stopped a vehicle on I-87 in the village of Ardsley, Westchester County, for multiple vehicle and traffic violations. While interviewing the driver, 58-year-old Matthew Cuda of Utica, police say they found probable cause to search the vehicle. During the search of the vehicle and Cudas passenger, 36-year-old Dennis Rodgers, police say they found approximately 226 grams of cocaine and approximately one gram of marijuana. Cuda and Rodgers were both taken into custody and charged with felony second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and felony third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Cuda was also charged with misdemeanor second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, as well as vehicle and traffic violations. Rodgers was also charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest, misdemeanor second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, and the violations of second-degree harassment and unlawful possession of marijuana. The two men were arraigned in the Village of Ardsley Court and sent to the Westchester County Jail without bail. Theyre due back in court Monday afternoon. A Rome woman is facing an animal cruelty charge after she allegedly left her dog locked inside a vehicle during a festival, according to New York State Police. Dana Studer, 54, is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty. Police say on Oct. 6, Studer left a dog locked inside her vehicle for nearly two hours in the parking lot of the Lafayette Apple Festival. Police say several attempts were made to find the owner over the PA system, but they were unsuccessful. Troopers then broke the window of the car and got the dog out. They say the dog was in good health. Studer was issued an appearance ticket for the Town of Lafayette Court on Oct. 17. NEW HARTFORD - The New Hartford Police department arrested and charged a woman after it was reported she was switching price tags on several items in a local Walmart. According to police, 36-year-old Jennifer Martin of Utica was caught switching several price tags on products. They said she then proceeded to self check out with those items. Police said when Martin went to leave the store, an employee stopped her and police were notified. They arrested and charged Martin with one felony count of falsifying business records, and misdemeanor petit larceny. Setting the record straight on women, musical art in Indonesia Tack Lecture: Anne Rasmussen, professor of music and ethnomusicology and the Bickers Professor of Middle Eastern studies, performs with the W&M Middle Eastern Music Ensemble to open the fall 2018 Tack Lecture. Photo by Stephen Salpukas Tack Lecture: Provost Michael R. Halleran introduces the lecture, Women Out-Loud: The Gendered Landscape of Islamic Performance." Photo by Stephen Salpukas Tack Lecture: Students with W&Ms Middle Eastern Music Ensemble perform during the event. Photo by Stephen Salpukas Photo - of - Hide Caption Anne Rasmussens Tack Faculty Lecture presentation on Oct. 9, titled Women Out Loud! The Gendered Landscape of Islamic Performance, was her answer to a question she posed at the outset: What is it we can learn through our ears? For more than two decades, Rasmussen, an enthnomusicologist and the William M. and Annie B. Bickers Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at William & Mary, has focused on the musical arts in Indonesia, beginning with Quranic recitation in both genders, and covering the vast area from the Arab Gulf to Southeast Asia. Her lecture, sponsored for the 14th time by Martha 78 and Carl Tack 78, was divided into five parts: invitation, contextualization, collaboration, representation and emancipation. The presentation was based on years of interviews, lectures and performances with practitioners of Arab music in Indonesia. Some are famous, like Maria Ulfah, who has performed all over the world. Some are not. Ultimately, it has enabled her to do some myth-busting, she said. {{youtube:medium:center|KuqhDju_DRI, Rasmussen and Islamic performance}} For context, an Egyptian university professor named Sheik Abdallah Bayouni was shown on video describing womens voices as a form of seduction, or awra, something that should be hidden from men and not be heard. Although not all Egyptians would agree with his position, the definition of the word also translates to shameful, defective things, the genital area, parts of the body that must be concealed and womens bodies. But when Rasmussen traveled to Indonesia, where 85 percent of the 270 million people are Muslim, people told her that they consider womens voices just regular. The participation of women, with their bodies and voices, in the public expression of religion in Indonesia is notable, in part because of its alleged limitations in other Muslim-majority countries, she said. Its not hard to find women, particularly young women, performing in a variety of configurations. As examples, Rasmussen pointed to slides of a concert at a religious boarding school and other photos of a Battle of the Bands, where contestants sang songs made popular by Adele and The Cranberries and their rendition of Europes The Final Countdown. The invitation portion of the lecture centered on a professor at a womens college for Quranic Studies in South Jakarta who encouraged Rasmussen to attend the classes he taught on Quranic melodies in 1995. There, she met other faculty and students with whom she practiced, fueling her interest in the topic. Beginning with her first visit to that professors class, she said, she discovered that because of her familiarity with Arab music and her ability to perform songs and improvisations, students and professors were as interested in her as she was in them. Over the years, that led to additional invitations, including one from a group called Kiai Kanjeng, which performs to audiences often numbering in the thousands under the direction of a musician, poet and political activist named Emha Ainun Nadjib. Rasmussens slides and a video clip gave the audience a flavor for her fieldwork with the group. While alternately playing with Kiai Kanjeng and filming the band and Nadjib during a concert in Semarang, the tables suddenly turned when she was handed a microphone for an impromptu question-and-answer session. The exchange delighted the audience and band members, who appreciate her interest in their work. It was one of many such experiences where the introduction of her work to audiences, sometimes numbering in the thousands, she said, ensures honesty and openness about her research in Indonesia. Rasmussen said representing the people and communities with whom she works is without a doubt the most important responsibility of the ethnographer. Micro-diplomacy, she called it. For her, one important element of that is giving presentations about her work over and over. Rasmussen engaged with a broad range of consultants who took an interest in her work as both and academic and a musician. It was not uncommon that, during the course of an interview with someone from an organization or university, she would receive an invitation to present her work, and/or perform. When she returned, there would often be a couple of hundred people waiting to hear her. She said she was consistently amazed by the intellectual curiosity and openness of the people with whom she interacted and their can-do-fast way of operating. It was quite remarkable for them to hear how I framed what they did, and also a source of great pride, she said, and it was wonderful for me because people would often come up, tell me about their worlds, even ask me for advice, send me e-mails with pictures and so on and so forth. Along that same line, Rasmussen has organized two U.S. tours, in 1999 and 2016, for her friend and colleague, Maria Ulfah, the world-renowned Quranic reciter and educator. Together, they have co-presented at Harvard, Brown, Boston College, Haverford, the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution, among others. Next spring, while serving as a professor for the William & Mary in Washington semester, Rasmussen hopes to work with the Freer Sackler Museum to design a website of Ulfahs U.S. presentations and performances. These acts of people-to-people micro-diplomacy, she said, have led to extraordinary chances for collaborative knowledge and research that keeps her honest and above board. In a statement issued Sunday, WikiLeaks announced that the Ecuadorian embassy in London has informed its publisher Julian Assange that it intends to partially restore his ability to use the Internet and phone services, and receive personal visitors. Ecuador, on the dictates of the Trump administration and US military-intelligence apparatus, stripped Assange of these basic rights on March 28 this year. According to WikiLeaks, the decision follows meetings last Friday in Ecuador between the countrys president, Lenin Moreno, and two senior UN officialsthe UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye. The partial restoration of communication, however, is conditional on Assange not expressing any political opinions. Morenos government, as part of sordid efforts to rebuild Ecuadors relations with Washington, silenced Assange under conditions in which he was drawing attention to US-directed censorship of the internet and had condemned the mistreatment of Catalan separatists in Spain. For over six months, he has been prevented from speaking with the media, his colleagues and even his children and parents. To the extent that it alleviates the isolation and psychological stress that has been inflicted on Assange, the conditional restoration of his right to communicate and receive visitors is a welcome development. It does not, however, end the danger he faces or his effective imprisonment inside the small embassy building, where he has been confined without direct access to sunlight since he sought political asylum with Ecuador on June 19, 2012. At this stage, there is no indication that Ecuadors actions are bound up with any shift by the American government and police agencies away from their near eight-year campaign to arrest and prosecute Assange. He still faces the threat of extradition to the US on fabricated charges of espionage, stemming from the 2010 publication by WikiLeaks of documents that exposed numerous American war crimes and anti-democratic diplomatic intrigues. In 2012, the then Ecuadorian government granted political protection to the WikiLeaks publisher because British authorities were preparing to extradite him to Sweden to answer questions about manufactured allegations of sexual assault. At the time, Ecuador agreed that Assange faced the danger that Swedens real motive was to rapidly extradite him on to the US. Any show trial in the US would most likely result in a lengthy imprisonment or potentially even a death sentence. Assange, an Australian citizen, was compelled to turn to Ecuador because the Labor Party-led government of Australia had fully lined up with Washington and denied him his right to assistance and protection against persecution. The British government, acting in concert with the Obama administration and most likely Australia, responded to Ecuadors granting of asylum with the most vindictive measures. British authorities threatened that Assange would be immediately arrested on bail-related charges if he ever set foot outside the embassy. As a result, Assange has been unable to get adequate medical treatment for a range of serious conditions. Even after the UN condemned Britains treatment of Assange and Swedish prosecutors dropped their politically-motivated investigation in May 2017, the May government maintained its threat to arrest him and refused to give any guarantee that it would not extradite him to the US. This was under conditions in which WikiLeaks was publishing the Vault 7 leaks, which consist of thousands of documents revealing how the CIA hacked into computers, mobile phones, servers and even vehicle computer systems. Then CIA director and now US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had denounced WikiLeaks as a non-state hostile intelligence agency and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions asserted that the arrest of Assange was a priority. Under Lenin Moreno, who assumed the presidency in May 2017, Ecuador shifted to collaborating with US imperialism against WikiLeaks and Assange. Since cutting off his communications in March, it has repeatedly threatened to renege on its 2012 grant of political asylum in an apparent effort to pressure him into voluntarily leaving the embassy. Due to his inability to communicate or comment, Assange stepped down last month as editor of WikiLeaks, naming Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson as his replacement. This decision may have been a factor in Ecuadors agreement to partially lift the restrictions. In its statement yesterday, WikiLeaks noted that the offer to restore some communications to Assange comes with profoundly anti-democratic conditions. Ecuador, it said, has informed Mr Assange that the government intends to continue Morenos policy of restricting him from expressing his opinions under threat of expulsion from the embassy. In other words, it appears that Assange must self-censor himself. If he seeks to return to the position of WikiLeaks editor and comment on world events, he would risk being handed over to British police and then to the US. New WikiLeaks editor Hrafnsson responded yesterday to the conditions imposed on Assange. It is positive, Hrafnsson said, that through UN intervention Ecuador has partly ended the isolation of Mr Assange although it is of grave concern that his freedom to express his opinions is still limited. The UN has already declared Mr Assange is a victim of arbitrary detention. This unacceptable situation must end. The UK government must abide by the UN ruling and guarantee that he can leave the Ecuadorian embassy without the threat of extradition to the United States. All defenders of democratic rights must likewise continue to fight for the unconditional freedom of Julian Assange, as part of the broader struggle in defence of freedom of speech and the ability of an independent and critical media to exist and function. Assange is not guilty of any crime. Rather, he has been subjected to relentless persecution because WikiLeaks, by publishing documents provided by courageous whistleblowers, has exposed, and continues to expose, government and corporate criminality. Every available forum and means must be used to win support throughout the international working class for the following demands: * The US government, intelligence-police agencies and courts must end their pursuit of Assange and WikiLeaks for publishing leaked information. * The British government must drop the defunct bail-related charges, provide a guarantee to Assange that he will not be extradited to the US and allow him to leave the United Kingdom unhindered if he desires to do so. * The Australian government must end its collaboration with the mistreatment of one of its citizens and immediately remonstrate with Britain, using all its diplomatic powers and legal discretion, to secure Assanges right to leave the embassy. It must guarantee his unconditional right to return to Australia if he chooses to do so. * Until Assanges freedom is secured, the Ecuadorian government must honour the political asylum it gave him and fully respect his right to communicate, receive visitors and conduct his work with WikiLeaks. Last Thursday and Friday, the US Department of Homeland Security hosted the second security conference of the Alliance for Prosperity of the Central American Northern Triangle, which includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Vice-President Mike Pence were joined by the presidents of Honduras and Guatemala, the vice-president of El Salvador, the foreign secretary of Mexico and representatives of the incoming Mexican administration of president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. While focusing on reviewing the ongoing build-up of the armed forces in the region, as well as efforts to counter immigration and drug trafficking, the US government used the occasion to warn against falling out of line with Washingtons campaign to counter the growth of Chinas influence in the region. On behalf of our administration, Pence declared, as you build commercial partnerships with other countries, including China, we urge you to focus on, and demand, transparency and look after yourand ourlong-term interests. After referring to economic challenges in Central America, he added: Even as countries like China tries [sic] to expand their influence in the region, the best way to solve these problems, we believe, is to strengthen the bonds between the United States and the Northern Triangle and all the nations of our hemisphere to strengthen the economic ties between our nations. This warning comes two weeks after Donald Trumps rant at the UN General Assembly, where he stressed US intentions to enforce the Monroe Doctrine of neo-colonial domination over the hemisphere and warned against expansionist foreign powers. Earlier last month, Washington also temporarily recalled its top diplomatic personnel from El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Panama in protest over the recent decisions by the governments of these countries to break with Taiwan and establish relations with the Chinese government in Beijing. This dispute also led the Trump administration to cancel a summit with foreign ministers and security chiefs of the Alliance for Prosperity. Last Friday, moreover, the Pentagon published a report on the status of industrial preparations for war in the United States, in which it interjects specifically that Chinese investment in developing countries in exchange for an encumbrance on their natural resources and access to their markets, particularly in Africa and Latin America, adds an additional level of consideration for the scope of this threat to American economic and national security. While the emphasis on preparing for major geopolitical conflicts and social upheavals is becoming increasingly apparent, the same efforts have been ongoing since the Obama administration created the Plan Alliance for Prosperity in November 2014. While established in immediate response to a surge in the arrival of unaccompanied minors escaping rampant violence and poverty in the Northern Triangle at the time, it was advanced as the first step in a drive to strengthen the US stranglehold over the hemisphere within the framework of national security and Obamas pivot to Asia aimed against Chinese influence. Since then, billions of dollars from the treasuries of these impoverished Central American countries, which have been forced to pick up most of the bill, along with hundreds of millions of dollars from the US government and the Inter-American Development Bank, have been poured into building up the regions armed forces, as well as significant infrastructure, transport and logistics developments primarily for trade northward, including the US-sponsored creation in 2016 of a Mexico-Central America Interconnection Commission. So far, the economic effects of the Plan Alliance for Prosperity have not been different from the similar packages of US aid and infrastructure expansion in the early 2000s, which were sold as a means to create jobs for tens of thousands of youth being deported from the US by the Clinton and Bush administrationsmany of them because of criminal records and activity in gangs in American inner cities. Most of the benefits from the improved logistics and presence of US corporations went to the local ruling elite and the professional middle class, while unemployment and poverty remained prevalent for the masses and laid the basis for the expansion of the same US gangs re-formed in Central America as the MS-13 and 18th Street maras. At the same time, these projects have significantly reduced the costs of and streamlined regional trade, and effectively achieved a new level of integration of the supply chains across the continent, and therefore strengthened the objective international links of the working class. On the other hand, this integration has also been expressed in new inter-army operations and command centers under the supervision of the Pentagon. This is happening as countries rapidly expand their armed forces. The Mexican president elect announced this week that he intends to add 50,000 new soldiers to the army, a 27 percent increase. Also, since the beginning of the year, the US Embassy has been leading efforts in Guatemala to train and re-deploy the Guatemalan army toward the borders and seas as a defense force instead of focusing on police work, while adding 12,000 new police officers and special units. In May 2017, the US think-tank Atlantic Council published a report laying out the framework for the Alliance for Prosperity under the Trump administration. It was co-chaired by the US war criminal and first Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, and presented by then US Homeland Security and now White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly. One of its emphases was a public-private supply chain security initiative that focuses on the physical safety of transported goods. As the WSWS warned at the time, this was directed not only against gangs, but at securing US access to cheap labor across a more integrated region in preparation for war. While the recent Pentagon report on production centered on the manufacturing and defense industrial base within the United States, the military is ultimately calling to reformulate resilient supply chains that will undoubtedly be extended across North, Central and South America. Undoubtedly, this was one of the considerations behind the unprecedented clause in the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), preventing its signatories from signing free trade agreements with non-market economies, referring to China. The Alliance for Prosperity conference this week was chiefly aimed at communicating this order to the Northern Triangle governments. Although in a much broader vein, the US-Central America and the DR (Dominican Republic) Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) does include the provision in Article 21.2, that states: no Party will be prevented from applying the measures it considers necessary to fulfill its obligations regarding the preservation or restoration of peace and international security, or to protect its essential interests in security matters. As in the US itself, the deployment of military and police forces against immigrants and refugees subject the most vulnerable layers to the initial brunt of repression, but the militarization at the US-Mexico border and the entire region southward is ultimately aimed at suppressing any social challenge by the entire working class to the drive to turn Latin America into a US battlefield and industrial platform to wage war against other great powers. On Thursday the National Transportation (NTSB) Safety Board released a preliminary report on the September 13 Columbia Gas disaster in Massachusetts Merrimack Valley. Explosions and fires that day killed an 18-year-old man, injured at least 21 people, destroyed five houses, and damaged at least 125 other buildings in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. Firefighters and other first responders were called in from as far away as Maine. In yet another incident on October 9, a National Grid scab overpressurized a line in the city of Woburn, 9 miles north of Boston. Gas was shut off to 300 customers to avoid a repeat of the Merrimack Valley disaster, and many had to go without heat and hot water until Thursday. More than 1,000 National Grid workers have been locked out for more than three months. The NTSB report on the Columbia Gas fires and explosions makes clear that overpressurization of gas lines leading to the blasts and fires was caused by omissions in the engineering documentation provided to a work crew replacing a gas distribution main at the corner of South Union and Salem Streets in Lawrence. It states: Columbia Gas developed and approved the work package executed on the day of the accident. The work package did not account for the location of the sensing lines or require their relocation to ensure the regulators were sensing actual system pressure. The work was performed in accordance with steps laid out in the work package. The regulator stations control gas pressure in the distribution pipes. The system malfunctioned because sensors were left attached to a pipe that had been disconnected, leading to incorrect pressure readings transmitted to the regulators. Columbia Gas is owned by NiSource. The Merrimack Valley catastrophe is not the first to be caused by their drive for profits at the expense of infrastructure maintenance. In 2012, for example, a Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline in West Virginia exploded, destroying three houses, propelling a 20-foot section of underground pipe into the air, and burning off 76 million cubic feet of natural gas. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the explosion was external corrosion of a pipe that had not been tested or inspected since 1988. NiSource has a market capitalization of nearly $9 billion. Its dividend has nearly doubled from 40 cents per share in 2015 to 78 cents this year. It had revenues of nearly $5 billion in 2017 and finished the year with $1 billion in net available liquidity. NiSource made nearly $1.4 billion in US profits between 2008 and 2010, but through accounting gimmicks it was able to receive a tax credit of $227 million during the same period, according to a report by Public Campaign. The company spent more than $1.8 million on lobbying in those three years. On Friday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities imposed a moratorium on Columbia Gas infrastructure work, aside from emergencies and the replacement of pipes in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. The company, along with the state government, is claiming that this work will be done by November 19; the moratorium lasts until December 1. Thousands of people whose homes were damaged on September 13 are being forced to stay in motels until service is restored to their neighborhoods, and Columbia Gas has also filled public parks with trailers for displaced residents. Bakeries and other businesses that depend on natural gas are unable to function, while school children are forced to do their homework in motels miles from their schools. While a cruise ship is now parked in Boston harbor to house hundreds of workers brought in for the reconstruction, more than 1,200 skilled National Grid gas workers who have been locked out in Massachusetts since the end of June are not being allowed to join the project. The locked-out workers, whose United Steel Workers (USW) leaders wasted the summer putting pressure on Governor Charlie Baker and other politicians to negotiate a settlement, have been documenting the danger posed by National Grids scabs. Facebook videos have shown steel road plates being loaded into dump trucks in which they dont fit, a scab standing on a gas main while hammering on scaffolding in an excavation, and other OSHA violations. At least 29 safety violations have been reported to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. On Friday, USW Locals 12012 and 12003 had their 13th negotiating meeting with National Grid since the lockout began. The struggle is over pensions, health insurance and the paltry raises offered by management. However, WBZ reported that Fridays meeting focused on safety issues. Following the October 9 events in Woburn, a National Grid spokeswoman blandly told the press that while performing routine maintenance on a regulator station in Woburn at approximately 11:30 a.m., a National Grid gas technician inadvertently introduced excess gas into a portion of our system. The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has now imposed a moratorium on National Grid to prevent it from doing any non-emergency or non-compliance work pending a review of its practices. The moratoria on work by both Columbia Gas and National Grid are an indictment of capitalism, which is incapable of fulfilling basic human needs or maintaining infrastructure. Nonetheless, environmental groups, including the Conservation Law Foundation and the Environmental League of Massachusetts, are seeking to disguise the problem by arguing that natural gas is an unsafe fuel. On Saturday the Boston Globe carried a front-page article in which environmental advocates argue that residents should switch from gas to electric home heating. The president of a nonprofit called the Home Energy Efficiency Team absurdly told the Globe that weve seen its unwise to pipe in an explosive fuel into your house and light it on fire, especially in an age of terrorism. What is not addressed is that the recent incidents of overpressurization are in the final analysis the result of the subordination of services upon which the public depends to the profits of the gas, electric and other utilities. The lockout of the National Gas workers is also a result of this profit drive. While there is validity in the Globes concern that methane from thousands of gas leaks is a significant greenhouse gas, those leaks result from decades of inadequate infrastructure upgrades by for-profit companies and the governments of both big-business parties. A 2013 report found that not only were trillions of cubic feet of natural gas leaking from more than 91,000 miles of pipes across the US every year, but that customers were paying the gas companies billions of dollars a year for it. A law passed by New Zealands Labour Party-led coalition government, which came into effect this month, significantly strengthens the anti-democratic powers of Customs officials to search people entering the country. The amended Customs and Excise Act allows border agents to fine travellers $NZ5,000 ($US3,300) if they refuse to hand over electronic devices and provide passwords and other information or assistance, such as encryption keys, to access private data. Customs officials do not need to get a warrant or provide any justification to search smartphones, computers and other devices. The law change also allows them to copy and retain data found on such devices. People entering the United States, Australia, Britain, and many other countries can be subjected to similar invasive searches. US border officials reportedly searched 23,877 electronic devices in 2016. New Zealands amendments, however, go further than other countries in strengthening the power of the state to spy on travellers. A spokesperson for the Customs Service told the New York Times: Were not aware of any other country that has legislated for the potential of a penalty to be applied if people do not divulge their passwords. The new law further demonstrates the right-wing character of the Labour Party-New Zealand First-Green Party coalition government, which is falsely portrayed in the media as progressive. As it prepares to confront working-class opposition to austerity and war, Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns government is boosting the police state apparatus put in place over the past two decades by Labour and National Party governments. Most significantly, the previous National government vastly expanded the powers of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the countrys external intelligence agency, to spy on New Zealand citizens. This followed revelations that the agency had illegally spied on several people. The exposures provoked mass protests throughout the country in 2013. Before the 2014 election, Labour, NZ First and the Greens claimed to oppose the National governments law change. In office, however, they have maintained all of GCSBs expanded powers. Edward Snowden, the US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower, revealed in 2014 that, as part of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence alliance, the GCSB carries out mass surveillance of New Zealanders electronic communications. Further leaks in 2015 revealed that the GCSB spies on China and other countries in Asia such as Bangladesh, and several Pacific Island countries, which New Zealands ruling class considers its neo-colonial sphere. Search and surveillance powers for the police and the Security Intelligence Service, NZs domestic-focused spy agency, were also expanded under the Nationals, with Labours support. Customs Minister Kris Faafoi said his agencys new powers were necessary because organised crime groups are becoming a lot more sophisticated in the ways theyre trying to get things across the border. In fact, the legislative change will target many travellers, including independent journalists and political activists, who are unlikely to be able to afford a $5,000 fine to protect their privacy. There is widespread opposition to the amendment, which was made with complete disregard for the sentiments of the population. An online poll of 11,800 people by the news website Stuff showed that only 33 percent agreed with Customs new powers and 64 percent viewed them as a gross invasion of privacy. New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Thomas Beagle said in a statement that the law was a grave invasion of personal privacy, giving Customs access to highly sensitive private information including emails, letters, medical records, personal photos. The government is expanding state surveillance as part of its preparations to deal with growing working class opposition. This year, for the first time in decades, nurses and teachers have held nationwide strikes against gross underfunding and low wages. Many other workers are looking for ways to fight back against austerity measures imposed since the financial crash of 2008. The ruling elite is also deeply concerned about rising anti-war sentiment, as New Zealand and Australia become more closely integrated into the US build-up to war against North Korea, China and Russia. Last month, New Zealand extended troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and sent troops to Japan to join the encirclement of North Korea. In addition to spying on the population, the Labour-led government is recruiting 1,800 more police officers and expanding the military. Since 2012, soldiers have undergone training, in the biennial Southern Katipo exercise, to restore order in the event of a popular uprising or civil war in a Pacific island country. Such skills could also be used to suppress unrest in New Zealand. Internationally, the US and other governments are preparing to defend their economic position through war abroad and class war at home. This cannot be carried out democratically. Free speech is under attack, most notably through the censorship of anti-war, left-wing and socialist websites, including the World Socialist Web Site, by Google and Facebook. The NZ Customs legislation was undoubtedly drawn up in consultation with Washington. In August, New Zealand ministers attended a Five Eyes meeting in Australia which discussed how the spy agencies could get around encryption software to access private communications. Australias government is seeking to pass legislation to force technology companies to provide back doors for the state to bypass encryption. The other Five Eyes membersthe US, the UK and Canadasee Australia and New Zealand as a testing ground for measures they intend to deploy against their own populations. In the New Zealand parliament every party is complicit in the attacks on democratic rights. This includes Labours ally, the Green Party, which sometimes presents itself as anti-surveillance. Green MP Golriz Ghahraman told parliament in March it was a pleasure to support the Customs and Excise Act amendments. She stated that concerns about Customs being allowed to go through your phone and look at your pictures had been addressed through the select committee process and through changes to drafting in this bill. These assurances were a whitewash. Clearly such powers are part of the legislation. Privacy, free speech and freedom of information are under attack because basic democratic rights are no longer compatible with capitalism, which is plunging the world towards war and economic disaster. The defence of these rights must therefore be taken up by the international working class, mobilised in opposition to the entire political establishment on the basis of a socialist program. The author also recommends: Facebook carries out massive purge of oppositional pages [12 October 2018] New Zealand prime ministers false facade of hope and kindness [9 October 2018] For an international coalition to fight internet censorship [23 January 2018] On October 11, a New York State Supreme Court judge dismissed one of the six sexual assault charges against Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein. Judge James Burke took the action on a defense motion, unopposed by the prosecution, after it came to light that a New York City police detective had failed to report an interview with a friend of one of the complainants, Lucia Evans, that casts doubt on her version of events. Weinstein was charged in May with forcing Evans to perform oral sex on him. In the interview, the unnamed friend told the detective, Nicholas DiGaudio, that Evans had told her in 2004, at the time of the incident with Weinstein, that the sex act was consensual. This was the only charge involving Evans. Five other charges against Weinstein in connection with alleged sexual assaults on two other women remain. The role of Evans claims in the #MeToo movement is not incidental. Ronan Farrow prominently featured her allegations in his New Yorker magazine piece, From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinsteins Accusers Tell Their Stories, posted on October 10, 2017. Farrows sensationalized piece, very short on evidence or facts, along with a New York Times article posted five days earlier, helped launch the sexual misconduct campaign. In 2004, Evans was a 21-year-old student and aspiring actress. She told Farrow that Weinstein approached her at a club in New York and she gave him her number. Weinstein began calling her late at night, or having an assistant call her, asking to meet. She declined, but said that she would do readings during the day for a casting executive, the New Yorker piece asserted. Evans claimed that she was led to an office where Weinstein was alone and that he forced himself on her. Farrows article continued, I tried to get away, but maybe I didnt try hard enough. I didnt want to kick him or fight him. In the end, she said, hes a big guy. He overpowered me. She added, I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault. However, Evans friend told Detective DiGaudio a very different story. A September 12 letter from Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, the lead prosecutor in the case, describes the second woman being present with Evans in the bar of a Manhattan restaurant in the summer of 2004 when the latter was first approached by Weinstein. The producer, according to the friend, offered to give the two women cash if they exposed their breasts to him. Later that evening, according to the witness, Evans told her friend that she had exposed her breasts to the defendant [Weinstein] in a hallway of the restaurant that evening. Sometime later that summer, Evans told her friend that Weinstein had promised her an acting job if she agreed to perform oral sex upon him. According to the Witness, the Complainant [Evans] told her that she thereupon performed oral sex on the defendant. In the September 12 letter, Illuzzi-Orbon also discloses that the prosecution had recently obtained a draft email Evans wrote to her husband (then fiance) that describes details of the sexual assault that differ from the account the Complainant provided to our office. The Weinstein case has other difficulties. Prior to the dropping of the charge related to Evans, Weinsteins lawyer, Ben Brafman, argued in court filings Time magazine reported last weekthat prosecutors withheld evidence that would have made the grand jury think twice about charging him [Weinstein], such as friendly emails one accuser sent after the alleged rape. The friendly emails are from one of the other accusers, not Evans. On October 10, the New York Post ran an article, Harvey Weinstein sexual assault case in danger of falling apart, which noted that in court papers, Brafman previously argued that the case against the Shakespeare in Love producer should be dismissed because prosecutors hid the fact that he had a long-term, consensual relationship with one of the accusers [the second complainant]. Weinstein and the woman, whose name has not been released, exchanged 400 emails during the weeks and years after the alleged rape, the papers state. In a February 2017 email sent nearly four years after the alleged sex attack, she wrote, I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call. Following the judges dismissal of the one count last Thursday, according to Deadline, Brafman maintained the jettisoned count is a sign the entire case is built on a weak foundation, one he and the legal team intend to spend the next several weeks undermining. Some of the most vocal, outspoken critics of Mr. Weinstein have put their opinions into the media without a legitimate legal claim, he argued I have deep regret that the thoroughness of the investigation did not prevent them [the District Attorneys office] from charging Mr. Weinstein with a crime he did not commit. Brafman told reporters he believed Evans had lied to the grand jury about her encounter with Weinstein and suggested she be charged with perjury. This is an attack on the fundamental integrity of the grand jury process, the lawyer said. If you have a person willing to commit perjury in the grand jury, that is as serious as the crime of sexual assault because it undermines the fairness of the process for all of us. He suggested the entire case was tainted and that the judge would have no choice but to dismiss the entire indictment. Weinsteins attorney also raised questions about the role of the New Yorker. He indicated that he planned to file a subpoena against the magazine, claiming, reported Vanity Fair, that a [ New Yorker ] fact-checker stumbled upon the letterwhich may have cast doubt on Evanss claim. The magazine denied any wrongdoing. In addition to The New Yorker, Brafman plans to file a subpoena against an N.Y.P.D. detective [DiGaudio] on the Weinstein case, citing the detectives conduct. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) About 80 percent of Indiana's hospitals face penalties totaling $12 million for having too many patients who returned for care within a month of their discharge, according to the federal government. A September report from the Centers from Medicare and Medicaid Services examined figures for patients who returned from July 2014 to July 2017, The Indianapolis Business Journal reported. Patients returned after being hospitalized for heart failure, heart attacks, pneumonia, chronic lung disease, hip and knee replacements, and coronary-artery bypass graft surgeries, the report said. File Photo File Photo Medicare payments at 66 Indiana hospitals will be docked a total of $12 million next year, an increase from $9 million in penalties three years ago. Only 17 Indiana hospitals weren't penalized. Another 37 hospitals are exempt from penalties because they serve veterans, children and psychiatric patients, are critical-access hospitals or have too few cases. Readmissions are often unnecessary and cost taxpayers billions of dollars a year, the federal government said. Readmissions often indicate treatment that should've been prescribed during the first visit or treatment that wasn't adequately followed up, officials said. "It's a complex problem and I think all the hospitals are trying to do better, improve the quality," said David Blish, director of health care consulting at Katz Sapper & Miller in Indianapolis. "It's a major management focus in every facility." Community Health Network said many of the readmissions at its hospitals are the result of readmissions from nursing home patients with severe conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and pneumonia. Community Health officials are trying to address the problem by sending community nurse practitioners, pharmacists and social workers to the homes of discharged patients to ensure they continue to receive proper care. Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. IUKA, Miss. (WTVA) - A man and a woman face criminal charges in Tishomingo County. This was the result of a traffic stop on Friday, October 12 on County Road 209. Tishomingo County deputies made contact with Dottie Lynn Powers, 42, of Burnsville, and Kenneth Keith Vandiver, 38, of Corinth. Tishomingo County Sheriff John Daugherty says Vandiver had several outstanding warrants in both Alcorn County and in Burnsville. He was also listed as a wanted person out of Tennessee. The sheriff says deputies found meth in the coat pocket of Powers. They also found a pair of brass knuckles in Vandivers backpack. Powers was charged with the felony possession of meth. Vandiver was charged with the possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He is currently on probation with the Mississippi Department of Corrections. JACKSON, Miss. (WTVA) - The state health department says pediatric flu shots are now available at all Mississippi State Department of Health county clinics. Health officials say flu vaccination is recommended for anyone aged six months and older. Last year an estimated 80,000 adults nationwide died from the flu, with 183 influenza deaths in children three of which were in Mississippi, said MSDH State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers. We know that nationally, 80 percent of the pediatric deaths were in children who were not vaccinated against the flu. Flu vaccine is the best way to protect both children and adults from serious complications such as hospitalization, and in many cases, death. Byers says young children, the elderly, pregnant woman and those with chronic illnesses are particularly at risk for flu complications. Flu symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, muscle and body aches and fatigue. MORE: More information on the flu and list of county clinics On the heels of their pregnancy announcement, Prince Harry and Meghan Markleare not changing their current tour schedule, which will see them travel to Fiji and Tonga, where the Zika virus has been detected. The royal couple has reportedly sought medical advice about the virus, which can cause serious birth defects, including microcephaly. Professor James G Logan, Head of the Department of Disease Control at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, tells PEOPLE: Im sure that they will have sought travel health advice in terms of protective methods in terms of mosquito bites. There is a lot you can do to minimize risks. The advice would be to wear a repellent which contains an active ingredient and wear that repellent all day and all evening. You have to put the repellent on like a hand cream. You have to really rub it in. If you squirt it on like a perfume, that wont do anything because the mosquito will find a bit thats not covered. A spray or a lotion is fine but really rub it in and reapply it often. There are four active ingredients, one of the main ones is DEET and its safe to use that during pregnancy. Meghan Markle on Oct. 12 Wearing long sleeves and baggy clothes will help, he adds. Mosquitos can even bite through jeans so if the clothing is loose its much harder for the mosquito to bite. Wearing light-colored clothing can help as these mosquitos are often attracted to dark clothing. It also helps you spot them, if you see a dark mosquito on a light piece of clothing. Generally the risk is low but, there is still a risk and you need to weigh up how to protect yourself and make sure you are fully informed. Both Tonga and Fiji are listed by the CDC as areas where health officials have reported Zika-infested mosquitos. The CDC recommends pregnant women should not travel to areas with risk of Zika. However, if you must travel to an area with risk of Zika, the CDC recommends the following for pregnant women: Talk to your doctor or other health care provider before you travel. Strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites during travel and for 3 weeks after your return. Strictly follow steps to prevent sexual transmission during your trip. See your doctor after your return, even if you do not have symptoms. Tell your doctor about possible Zika exposure at each prenatal care visit. If your partner travels: Use condoms every time you have sex or do not have sex for the rest of the pregnancy, even if your partner does not have symptoms or feel sick. Story continues Like its sister virus West Nile, Zika is transmitted through mosquitos, specifically the Aedes aegypti mosquito. A mosquito bites an individual with an active infection and then spreads the virus to others. Those bitten become carriers. Zika can be transmitted to fetuses through a pregnant womans amniotic fluid. Health officials have officially linked it to microcephaly, a neurological disorder that leads to babies being born with much-smaller-than-normal heads. This can lead to problems with development and in some cases, even death. there is currently no vaccine or cure. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Meghan and Harry touched down in Sydney, Australia, early Monday local time. And just like their very first appearance together last year at the Invictus Games in Toronto, the newlyweds arrived hand-in-hand. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on Oct. 15. After spending the first day of their tour in Sydney, Harry and Meghan will head to the popular tourist spot of Dubbo, in New South Wales. Then it is on to Melbourne before returning to Sydney in time for the Invictus Games, Harrys Paralympic-style event created for wounded or injured armed service members. The Invictus Games run from Oct. 20 through Oct 27. Cant get enough of PEOPLEs Royals coverage? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! They will travel to Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island, that sits just off Australias Queensland coast. The tour ends on Oct. 31 at the lakeside town of Rotorua in New Zealand, which is known for its bubbling mud pools fueled by the geothermal activity, and traditional Maori culture. The program across these four Commonwealth counties will focus on youth leadership, environmental and conservation efforts including the dedication of several new Queens Commonwealth Canopy projects and the recovery and rehabilitation of servicemen and woman through the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, the couples office at Kensington Palace said in a statement. UPDATE: Saudi Arabia today vowed unspecified retaliation against anyone who imposes penalties on the kingdom related to its alleged role in the disappearance and presumed murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia was responding to the revelation by President Donald Trump in an interview that Saudi Arabia would suffer severe consequences if it was found to be tied to Khashoggis presumptive murder. The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations, the official Saudi Press Agency said on Sunday. The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy, it continued. The top five source countries of US petroleum imports in 2017 were Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Iraq, according to statistics compiled by the non-government independent analysis firm US Energy Information Administration. The Saudi portion represents about nine percent of oil imports. EARLIER: A 60 Minutes interview with President Donald Trump airing tonight promises severe punishment if it is proven that the Saudi Arabia government was behind the disappearance and presumed murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Trump interview at the White House with Lesley Stahl touched on a number of subjects, including China, North Korea and his treatment of Christine Blasey Ford, the accuser of Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh who almost derailed his nomination. The interview airs Sunday at 7:30 PM ET/PT on CBS. An initial clip of the interview saw Trump admitting the Saudis could be behind the disappearance of Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom who entered the Istanbul consulate Oct. 2 and was not seen again. Last Friday, news broke that Turkish authorities claim they have tapes proving he was murdered, according to a Washington Post report. His disappearance has sparked worldwide outrage and led a number of prominent media companies and journalists to pull out of a planned major media conference set for Saudi Arabia later this month. Story continues A transcript of the Khashoggi talk was released by CBS: Stahl: Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist, the Saudi journalist. Was he murdered by the Saudis? And did the prince give the order to kill him. Trump: Well, nobody knows yet, but well probably be able to find out. Its being investigated, its being looked at very very strongly. And we would be very upset and angry if that were the case. As of this moment, they deny it and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes. Stahl: Jared, your son-in-law, got on the phone and asked the prince. Did he deny it? Trump: They deny it. They deny it every way you can imagine. In the not too distant future I think well know an answer. Stahl: What are your options? Lets say, they did. What are your options? Would you consider imposing sanctions as a bipartisan group of senators have proposed? Trump: Well, it depends on what the sanction is. Ill give you an example, they are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order. Russia wanted it, China wanted it, we wanted it. We got it, and we got all of it, every bit of it. Stahl: So would you cut that off? Trump: Well Ill tell you what I dont want to do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, I dont want to hurt jobs. I dont want to lose an order like that. And you know what, there are other ways of punishing, to use a word thats a pretty harsh word, but its true. Stahl: Tell everybody whats at stake here. You know Trump: Well theres a lot at stake, theres a lot at stake. And, maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. Theres something youll be surprised to hear me say that, theres something really terrible and disgusting about that if that was the case so were going to have to see. Were going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment. Related stories CBS Developing 'Siblings' Comedy From David Hornsby & Brian Keith Etheridge Donald Trump Says Jamal Khashoggi May be Victim Of "Rogue Killers"; Reneges On Elizabeth Warren Bet Donald Trump Tweets: Saudi King "Denies Any Knowledge" Of WaPo Contributor Disappearance Trump called for plan to remove all US diplomats from Turkey in frustration over detention of American pastor originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Incensed by the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, President Donald Trump called for a plan to be drawn up in late August for the complete withdrawal of U.S. diplomatic personnel from Turkey, senior administration and State Department officials tell ABC News. The unprecedented plan to essentially shutter an American embassy and all diplomatic missions of a NATO ally would have occurred over a 60-day period, starting with the removal of chief diplomats and ending with the eventual drawdown of all diplomatic personnel, according to one senior U.S. official with knowledge of the plan. The plan to remove the diplomats over the two month period was designed to put incremental pressure on the Turkish government. "For a while, we were in fear of an apocalyptic break in relations with Turkey," a senior State Department official said. "It would be starting with the charge [d'affaires] to send a message: 'no personnel left behind,'" the official said. The U.S. has not had an ambassador in Turkey since October of 2017, making the charge d'affaires the most senior diplomat in the country. (MORE: Trump hosts freed detainee Pastor Brunson at the White House) The plan was among half-a-dozen options including increasing sanctions on business and Turkish officials, and its execution would have been more seriously considered if Brunson was not released at his hearing in October. PHOTO: Pastor Andrew Brunson, center, and U.S. Charge d'Affaires Jeffrey Hovenier, left, arrive at Adnan Menderes airport for a flight to Germany after his release following his trial in Izmir, Turkey, Oct. 12, 2018. (Emre Tazegul/AP, FILE) But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was said to be vocal in opposition to the plan, nevertheless took on the president's order and an eight-page plan was drafted, according to the State Department official. It was so closely guarded and sensitive that few State Department officials dared to even utter that it was a Turkish withdrawal plan. Some referred to it as "the Turkey thing." Story continues The State Department has denied that any such plan was drawn up. "The assertion that there was a plan to close our diplomatic relations with Turkey or our diplomatic facilities in Turkey is patently false," said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert. "As a matter of policy, we never discuss our internal process other than to say that we always consider a full range of options when addressing international responses, Nauert said. Mission Turkey is one of our most important posts in Europe. We will continue to devote the necessary diplomatic attention and resources befitting a NATO ally." A White House spokesperson did not comment on the record. According to multiple administration officials, Trump was furious with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan because the president was given assurances that Brunson would be released when the pastor filed an appeal to his house arrest. The appeal was rejected by a Turkish court in August. "POTUS felt personally betrayed by Erdogan over this issue -- he went back on his word-- it was a personal affront and it made Trump fly off the handle," another administration official told ABC News. PHOTO: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks after receiving an honorary doctorate from the Erciyes University, in Kayseri, Turkey, Oct. 13, 2018. (Presidential Press Service/Pool Photo via AP, FILE) White House Chief of Staff John Kelly suggested the U.S. only remove nonessential personnel from the U.S. missions in Turkey, according to a source familiar. Yet others who had the presidents ear, like National Security Adviser John Bolton, did not oppose the plan for removing all personnel. Pompeo, who has been one of the presidents most trusted Cabinet members since he took office, expressed the most opposition. According to two administration officials, he argued it should only be a last resort, and that such a move could cause irreparable damage to the relationship with a key NATO ally. While the plan for full diplomatic retreat was most drastic and drew comparisons among State Department officials who were working on the plan to the American diplomatic relations with Iran and North Korea. "It took immense effort from Pompeo to slow it down," this official said. The presidents strong desire to remove U.S. Embassy personnel from Turkey ended when pastor Brunson was released on Friday. He had been detained in Turkey for two years on charges of alleged terrorism and espionage -- part of a wide crackdown by President Erdogan after an attempted military coup in 2016. Brunson and U.S. officials denied the charges. The presidents orders for a plan to shutter the U.S. diplomatic presence came just weeks after he had levied harsh steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, citing national security concerns, which greatly impacted the countrys currency, the lira. (MORE: Newspaper says there's audio of US journalist's slaying) It's unclear if Turkish officials knew the complete extent of the plan, but the State Department source said they felt increased pressure in recent weeks as the president became focused on freeing the evangelical pastor who has become a symbol of religious freedom among his political base. "The Turks read the outrage across the board. If Erdogan did not let Brunson go at the [October] hearing, it would be unleashed. Sanctions, everything would be on the table, removing diplomats," said a senior administration official. "The message was sent -- let it be clear, all diplomatic pressure is on the table," the official said. PHOTO: Jamal Khashoggi, then general manager of a new Arabic news channel speaks during a press conference, in Manama, Bahrain, Dec. 15, 2014. (Hasan Jamali/AP, FILE) Brunson's release came amid another diplomatic crisis within Turkey involving the alleged murder of Washington Post journalist and Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi. Turkey alleges that he was murdered by the Saudis and is trying to convince the United States of the same. Turkey has a longstanding rivalry with Saudi Arabia and saw Brunson's release as critical to gaining U.S. support in this separate crisis. On Saturday, the president met with Brunson in the Oval Office of the White House, where he reiterated that there was no secret deal made with Turkey in exchange for his release. "We do not pay ransom in this country," Trump said, as he proudly celebrated Brunson's return. Jamal Khashoggi: Trump suggests 'rogue killers' may be involved in Saudi journalist's disappearance in Turkey originally appeared on abcnews.go.com President Donald Trump told reporters that "rogue killers" may be involved in the disappearance of independent journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen who has been living in the U.S. The president's comments Monday morning came after he spoke to Saudi Arabia's King Salman, who, Trump said, "denies any knowledge" about Khashoggi's disappearance. "The king firmly denied any knowledge of it, Trump said to the press after his phone call with the Saudi king. He didn't really know, maybe, I don't want to get into his mind but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows? Pressed on whether he believed King Salmans denials, the president wouldnt say. All I can do is report what he told me. He told me in a very firm way that they had no knowledge of it. He said it very strongly, Trump said. His denial to me could not have been stronger, that he had no knowledge. It sounded like he and also the crown prince [Mohanmmed bin Salman] had no knowledge. Trump also said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leaving "literally within an hour" for Saudi Arabia, and possibly other countries. Khashoggi, a self-exiled Saudi journalist and prominent critic of the Saudi crown prince, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2 to obtain documents he needed to get married. Turkish authorities have claimed he was murdered in the consulate by Saudi operatives, an allegation the Saudi government has consistently denied. Tensions grew over the weekend between Washington, Turkey and Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of Khashoggi, who was a contributor to The Washington Post. President Trump in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired over the weekend said of the alleged murder, Theres something really terrible and disgusting about that if that were the case. So were going to have to see. Were going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment if the Turkish claims are true. Story continues In an apparent response to Trumps comments, a Saudi official said that if any moves were taken against the kingdom, it will respond with greater action ... The Kingdoms economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy, Reuters reported. Trump's comments Monday came as Saudi officials and Turkish investigators were conducting a joint inspection of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for clues to Khashoggi's whereabouts, The Associated Press reported. Saudi officials arrived in Turkey on Friday after the two governments agreed to a joint investigation into the case, with Saudi officials granting Turkish investigator access to the consulate building, Reuters reported. ABC News' Alexander Mallin and Engin Bas contributed to this story. Photo credit: Getty Images From Cosmopolitan Kensington Palace just announced that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their first royal baby, which, YAY! The happy news came just hours after the couple touched down in Australia for their very long and very busy royal tour-and naturally, people are wondering whether they'll still go through with plans to visit Fiji and Tonga-both of which have Zika virus. However, per royal reporter Rebecca English, a spokesman for Meghan and Harry confirms that there's no change in plans for the couple's visit-despite FCO advice that pregnant women shouldn't travel to the area-and that the couple got medical advice before the trip and decided it was safe to proceed with their travels. A spokesman said there is no change to their programme in Fiji and Tonga next week despite FCO advice that pregnant women should not travel to the region because of its moderate zika risk. They said they had sought medical and advice and decided to go ahead with their plans. - Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) October 15, 2018 That said, royal reporter Omid Scobie confirms Meghan's opting out of an "early morning Fiji War Memorial engagement in Suva or the Colo-i-Suva forest site that Harry is doing solo." For those asking, Duchess Meghan did receive medical advice before deciding to continue with travel to Fiji and Tonga. Its worth noting that she will not be at the early morning Fiji War Memorial engagement in Suva or the Colo-i-Suva forest site that Harry is doing solo. - Omid Scobie (@scobie) October 15, 2018 #TheMoreYouKnow! ('You Might Also Like',) Shyniqua Gray, right, with her son Bryson. (Photo: Courtesy Shyniqua Gray) In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Yahoo Lifestyle will be publishing first-person accounts of those who have been affected by the disease, which will be responsible for the deaths of an estimated 40,920 women (and nearly 500 men) this year. All women have about a 1 in 8 lifetime risk of developing some form of the breast cancer. Awareness, screenings, and early detection can save lives. This is the story of Shyniqua Gray, 27, as told to Beth Greenfield for Yahoo Lifestyle. Gray, of Columbia, South Carolina, was recently diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, which accounts for just 15 percent of all breast cancers, and affects African-American women three times more than Caucasian women. Triple-negative means that the three most common types of receptors known to fuel breast cancer growth estrogen, progesterone, and the HER-2/neu gene are not present, which can make it more aggressive and difficult to treat. I was in the shower one night back in January, and I felt a lump in my breast. I didnt think it was breast cancer. Right before this I lost a lot of weight, so I thought it was fatty tissue. Breast cancer doesnt run on either side of my family. I waited. And then I saw a lady Ive known since elementary school post on Facebook that she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer after thinking it was fatty tissue. So thats when I thought, let me go get checked. I went to my ob-gyn and he did [an exam] and felt the lump as well and sent me to have a mammogram done. Thats when they saw some concern. On August 29 I had a biopsy, and on September 4 I was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. I was shocked. Im so young, and this wasnt something I wouldve thought of. You hear different people talking about breast cancer, but I had no knowledge of it, and had never heard of triple-negative breast cancer. I learned [it affects African-American women more], and I also learned they dont have a cure for it like they do other breast cancers, so the only way to treat it is with chemo. Story continues Ill be on chemo for five months. They started me with two different medicines [on Sept. 24], and Ill be on those every other week on a Monday for eight weeks. I have to go to Charleston, which is about an hour and 30 minutes [away]. My mother goes, my son goes, and my sons father drives, but we go and come right back and dont stay overnight. Its draining. I am a single mom of a 6-year-old boy, and I work at a BMW plant in inbound receiving, scanning in parts when they are delivered on trucks, and giving them to the line. I work 10 hours a day, third shift, from 7:30 at night to 6:10 in the morning. Shyniqua Gray and her son. (Photo courtesy of Shyniqua Gray) But I couldnt go to work last week. I was weak; I couldnt eat, I couldnt drink. I was very tired, so I wasnt able to go. I went to the doctor yesterday, and she noticed I lost four pounds and my white blood cell count was [low], so she took me out of work for eight weeks. I wont get paid because havent been on my job for a year to receive FMLA. Im on Medicaid, and I also have health insurance with my job, so I think Ill be covered. My aunt created a GoFundMe page to help with income. Everybodys trying to help the best way they can. Someone referred me to Shondia McFadden-Sabari, of Bold & Breastless, for emotional support, So I reached out to her on Facebook and she responded. She calls me several times a week to encourage me, pray for me, and motivate me. She shares my journey on her social media pages. My son is taking it very well. I didnt think he knew anything about it. When I got diagnosed, I did take him to my appointment, but I didnt let him go in the back. All he saw was me crying. But one night, he was playing Fortnite with one of my best friends sons, and he was like, My mom has breast cancer. I was like, Oh, lord, he knows. Then we were on the phone with Shondia, and she asked to speak with him and just asked him some questions, like, You know your mom has breast cancer? and he was like, Yes, maam, and he said hes been praying for me at school. Hes a big help. When I was sick last week, he was asking, Mommy, are you you OK? Do you need anything? and just coming in and giving me kisses and hugs. I hope that, by telling my story, I can encourage someone who feels alone and also tell them: Dont wait as long as I did. Go to the doctor. I just want to encourage and uplift women, and to let them know that its going to be OK. It is rough and it gets hard, but like my pastor told me, Its OK to cry, as long as you cry with faith, and its going to get better. Im going through it now. But Im pretty strong. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Alyssa Milano shared a powerful and emotional message for her 4-year-old daughter, Elizabella, on Monday one year to the day after the actress tweeted me too. One year ago I recorded this for my daughter, explaining why I shared my story of sexual assault. I never expected to release it publicly, the actress tweeted. Now, I feel its too important not to share. Milano recorded the video on Jan. 18, 2018, just three months after the Me Too movement captured the attention of the world. In the video, Milano speaks directly to Elizabella and describes why she wrote the now-famous callout on Twitter asking women to write me too if they had ever experienced sexual assault or harassment. When you get older and you watch this video, I wanted you to know that one night when I was lying in bed with you I looked down at you, and your sweet beautiful face, Milano says in the video as she holds back tears. One year ago I recorded this for my daughter, explaining why I shared my story of sexual assault. I never expected to release it publicly. Now, I feel its too important not to share. #MeToo Dear Elizabella, I love you so. I will fight so you dont have to. Love, mama pic.twitter.com/TYk5XXFksY Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2018 I got really scared. I got scared for you. I sent out a tweet asking for women to stand in solidarity and a lot of people replied, she continued. In a way, I wanted to make this video for you because in a way all of this is because of you. Because you gave mama the strength. Milano shares Elizabella and her 7-year-old son, Milo Thomas, with husband David Bugliari. Although activist Tarana Burke created Me Too over a decade ago, Milano has helped bring attention to the movement combating sexual violence around the world. Story continues I want you to know that also Im working very hard, a lot of women are working very hard, to make sure that silence is not the norm for your generation, Milano continues in the video as she wipes tears away with a tissue. My biggest hope for you is that you never have to say me too, Milano adds in the video. But if you do, God forbid, if you do have to ever say me too, I want you to know that you will be heard. Related Coverage #MeToo: Alyssa Milano's Call For Sexual Abuse Victims To Come Forward Goes Viral The 'Me Too' Campaign Was Created By A Black Woman 10 Years Ago Me Too Founder Tarana Burke Writes Love Letter To Christine Blasey Ford HuffPosts Her Stories newsletter brings you even more reporting from around the world on the important issues affecting women. Sign up for it here. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. AccuWeather AccuWeather meteorologists are cautioning that a major stormy pattern could prove disruptive for millions of Americans who are planning to get a head start on Thanksgiving travel. The concern forecasters have is that a significant storm could rapidly strengthen and cause a host of disruptions from the Midwest to portions of the Great Lakes, interior Northeast and mid-Atlantic over the weekend and the days before Thanksgiving. Travel for Thanksgiving is expected to reach nearly pre-pandemic level London (AFP) - The Ecuadorian government will partially restore communications for Julian Assange at the country's embassy in London, Wikileaks said. The Wikileaks founder, who has been holed up at the embassy since 2012, was stopped from using the internet or a mobile phone to communicate with the outside world in March. "Ecuador has told WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange that it will remove the isolation regime imposed on him following meetings between two senior UN officials and Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno on Friday," Wikileaks said in a statement on Sunday. Kristinn Hrafnsson, Wikileaks editor in chief, described the move as "positive" but said it is "of grave concern that his freedom to express his opinions is still limited". The decision to cut off Assange's communications was taken because the Australian had broken a 2017 promise to not interfere in other countries' affairs while in the mission, the Ecuadorian government said at the time. It came days after he used Twitter to challenge Britain's accusation that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent in the English city of Salisbury. He also attacked the arrest in Germany of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont under an EU warrant issued by Spain over Puigdemont's failed bid last year to declare independence for his Spanish region. Ecuador installed a jammer to prevent him from accessing email and restricted the number of visitors he can receive. Assange took refuge in the diplomatic mission in 2012 after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault there. Assange claims the accusations were politically motivated and could lead to him being extradited to the United States to face imprisonment over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. Sweden dropped its investigation last year, but British authorities say they still want to arrest him for breaching his bail conditions. The appeal of a dish consisting of just five ingredients is pretty obvious it's easy to make and it takes almost no time to land on the table. Even so, it helps to start with a quick-cooking and naturally tender protein such as the pork tenderloin at the center of this recipe for Cheesy Pork Steaks. Like beef tenderloin, pork tenderloin is the most tender cut of meat on the animal because it's a muscle that's not used very much. And pork tenderloin will stay tender when you cook it as long as you don't overcook it. Keep in mind that this is a lean cut of meat, meaning that it lacks the internal fat that could keep it juicy. Accordingly, you want to be vigilant about the prescribed cooking times and then, afterward, allow the steaks enough time to rest, meaning enough time for the internal juices to redistribute. (If you serve the pork without allowing it to rest, all the juices will stream out and the meat will be dry.) Also, to be sure the cheesy crust stays firmly glued onto the pork, use a non-stick and properly heated pan before putting in the pork. (When the oil is properly hot it will start shimmering; that's when you can reduce the heat to medium and add the meat.) Finally, don't attempt to flip the pork until the time is up and you can see that it has browned. Grating the cheese and prepping the other ingredients will only take about 10 minutes. Cooking the meat, likewise, takes 10 minutes. Given, then, how quick they are to make and how delicious they are to eat don't be surprised if these cheesy pork steaks become a permanent part of your weeknight lineup. The crispy cheesy coating alone makes it a crowd-pleaser. You can serve it straight up with a spritz of lemon, but you're welcome to dress it up a bit, topping it off with a marinara or mushroom sauce. Start to finish: 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings. CHEESY PORK STEAKS 1 pork loin, trimmed (1 to 1 1/4 pounds) 1/2 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs Story continues 1 ounce finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (a scant cup using a microplane) 1 large egg 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Lemon wedges for garnish Slice the pork diagonally at a 45-degree angle into 8 pieces, each about 3/4-inch thick. Don't worry if the pieces aren't all the same size. Just make sure they are all 3/4-inches thick. In a shallow bowl combine the crumbs and cheese. In another shallow bowl lightly beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water. Dip each piece of pork into the beaten egg, letting the excess drip off and then into the crumbs, packing the crumbs on all sides. In a large skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the pork pieces. Cook for 3 minutes. Turn the slices, add the rest of the olive oil to the pan, and cook 3 minutes longer until the pork is golden. Transfer the pork to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Transfer two pieces of pork to each plate and serve with a lemon wedge. __ Nutrition information per serving: 310 calories; 137 calories from fat; 15 g fat (4 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 135 mg cholesterol; 425 mg sodium; 10 g carbohydrate; 0 g fiber; 1 g sugar; 30 g protein. ___ Editor's Note: Sara Moulton is host of public television's "Sara's Weeknight Meals." She was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows including "Cooking Live." Her latest cookbook is "HomeCooking 101." Heavy rainfall from former Hurricane Leslie triggered deadly flash flooding in the Aude region of southern France from Sunday night into Monday morning. At least 10 people have been killed in flash floods that were triggered by several months' worth of rain that fell in just a few hours, according to the Associated Press. Several victims were reportedly swept away by the torrent of water while sleeping. Time for tea Theresa May at an event before the European Council (Getty) A Brexit deal will not be reached at this weeks European Council summit, senior EU politicians have warned after a dramatic breakdown in talks over the Irish border backstop. Hopes were high last week that new British backstop proposals were about to break the months-long impasse in negotiations in time to sign a deal in Brussels on Wednesday. They were dashed after a meeting between Brexit secretary Dominic Raab and EU Brexit chief Michel Barnier on Sunday broke-up without agreement. Negotiations have now been suspended until after this weeks summit. UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted talks were in a difficult period but said: There was always going to be a moment like this but we should remember that a huge amount of progress has been made. Theresa May will address the other 27 EU heads of state on Wednesday evening in a last-ditch bit to win concessions that pave the way for a deal that would be palatable to the UK parliament. But that will be too little, too late to conclude a deal this week, according to ministers attending the EUs foreign affairs council in Luxembourg on Monday. Spanish foreign ministers Josep Borell said: Three or four days ago, people believed that it was going to be possible an agreement this week. Now it seems that it will not be possible. Spanish foreign minister Josep Borell (Getty) Simon Coveney, Irelands deputy prime minister, said: There was a real effort over the last 10 days by the two negotiating teams to intensify engagement so that they could have a set of recommendations for political leaders this week. That hasnt proven possible. Hunt also played down expectations of reaching a deal this week, saying: I think we can get there. Whether or not we do this week, who knows? This weeks European Council summit was long considered the deadline for a deal, although the timetable has been allowed to slip more recently. Council president Donald Tusk called it the moment of truth for Brexit talks and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he wanted to see decisive progress towards a deal this week. Story continues EU leaders now face a climbdown on those remarks by giving the go ahead to an emergency summit in November without having achieved the progress they wanted. EU foreign ministers gave a strong indication on Monday that would be the outcome of this weeks summit and tried to remain positive about the outcome of talks. Borell said: We still have one month For sure they are not going to have a miraculous solution on Wednesday. We have to wait. Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak said: Ok, we hoped to have had a deal last night. Its not the case but there is no reason to panic. There is still time. And Coveney said: We want to see an outcome here that settles nerves that allows us to move ahead with a managed, sensible Brexit. I still think its possible to do that but clearly, its going to take a bit more time than many people had hoped. Brexit secretary Dominic Raab flew to Brussels for the latest talks (Picture: PA) Theresa Mays leadership and her plans for Brexit are under pressure after a setback in talks with Brussels. A hastily arranged meeting between Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and European Union negotiator Michel Barnier failed to produce a breakthrough, leaving the process on a knife-edge ahead of a crunch summit on Wednesday. The impasse over measures to prevent a hard border with Ireland has thrown the timetable for reaching a Brexit deal into doubt. Following the meeting in Brussels, Mr Barnier said that despite intense efforts there had been a failure to reach agreement on one of the trickiest aspects of the negotiations. The surprise announcement of the meeting fuelled rumours a deal was set to be done ahead of this weeks summit of EU leaders. The EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said there had been intense efforts in the latest talks (Picture: PA) But after talks which lasted a little over an hour, it was clear that major obstacles remained including the so-called backstop measure to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit. The UK Government said there were still unresolved issues relating to the backstop but it remained committed to making progress at the European Council meeting. But with Mrs May under siege from Tory Eurosceptics and her DUP parliamentary allies, the Government also has a reason to appear to be taking a tough line. MORE: Melania Trump explains why she wore that jacket on visit to migrant children MORE: Storm Callum set to ease after battering the UK, leaving two people dead The Prime Ministers room for manoeuvre is severely restricted, with opposition to both the EUs proposed backstop and concerns about her own alternative. The EU version, which would see just Northern Ireland remain aligned with Brussels rules, has been called unacceptable by Mrs May and is loathed by the DUP. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the DUPs Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said: One part of the UK cannot be left behind, bound to rules set in Brussels. The constitutional and economic consequences of such an approach would be catastrophic in the long run. Story continues Mrs Mays counter-proposal for a temporary customs arrangement for the whole UK is viewed suspiciously by Brexiteers who fear it becoming an indefinite position which would prevent free trade deals with countries around the world. Agreeing to such a measure could trigger a Cabinet revolt and the potential resignation of senior ministers. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said the backstop idea as a whole should be jettisoned. Prime minister Theresa May faces a crunch leaders summit on Wednesday on Brexit (Picture: PA) In presuming to change the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom, the EU is treating us with naked contempt, he said. Like some chess player triumphantly forking our king and our queen, the EU Commission is offering the UK Government what appears to be a binary choice. It is a choice between the break-up of this country, or the subjugation of this country, between separation or submission. Irelands ambassador to the UK Adrian ONeill said events in Brussels were a setback and could increase the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. He told BBC Radio 4s Westminster Hour: Time is running out, there is no doubt about that. In all member states, preparation for all eventualities are ramping up quite significantly. A special EU summit pencilled in for November to sign off a Brexit agreement could instead end up being used as an emergency meeting to discuss no-deal plans. Time is running out to secure a Brexit deal (Picture: PA) Talks will take place on Monday between DUP leader Arlene Foster and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, while Mrs May will meet Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in Westminster. The febrile atmosphere in the Tory ranks has seen former Brexit secretary David Davis emerge as a potential successor to Mrs May. Tory MP Nadine Dorries publicly suggested he could be the leader to deliver the kind of Brexit sought by Eurosceptics. The Prime Ministers critics believe the threshold of 48 Tory MPs calling for a no-confidence vote could be passed by Wednesday, depending on events in Brussels. Allies of Mr Davis said he has been contacted by several Tory MPs urging him to run for the leadership and he is understood to be prepared to take part in a contest. Ms Dorries backed Mr Davis for the top job, saying: Getting May out and him becoming an interim leader may be the only way to deliver Brexit and FTA (a free-trade agreement). A bookstore in Brooklyn is holding a public event to put a hex on newly-confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh next Saturday night. Catland Books, in the Bushwick neighborhood of the New York City borough, says that Kavanaugh will be the focus of the event, but it will curse all rapists and the patriarchy, too. To promote the Ritual to Hex Brett Kavanaugh, the bookstore has sent out invites over Eventbrite. [Brett Kavanaugh] will be the focal point, but by no means the only target, so bring your rage and and all of the axes youve got to grind, the invite reads. The event will embrace the powers of witchcraft to bring justice to those of us who have been wronged by men just like him. We wanted to have an act of resistance, Dakota Bracciale, the event organizer, told TIME. Its about having space for survivors of sexual assault who are not going to be silent and who dont want Brett Kavanaugh to serve as a symbol of defeat. Kavanaugh denied multiple allegations of sexual assault during his contentious supreme court nomination hearings, most notably from California Professor Christine Blasey Ford, who testified in public to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he attacked her in high school. The mystical bookstore event will also hold a second ritual after the main hex, called The Rites of the Scorned One, to support women and men who no longer want to stay quiet about the issue of sexual assault. Were raising visibility and letting people know theyre not alone with the monsters, Bracciale said. Even the witches are coming out of the woodwork to stop this. Catland Books put on three events to hex President Donald Trump last summer and is considering adding more public hex events later this year due to of the high volume of interest in the sold out event. Tickets to the Oct. 10 event cost $10 and half of the proceeds will go to the Ali Forney Center and Planned Parenthood. Get new posts by email: Subscribe Founded in 1908, General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) is the epitome of the great American auto manufacturer, producing vehicles in 37 countries across the globe. The auto giant has come a long way in the last 110 years, when William C. Durant founded the company with $2,000 in his pocket. General Motors today has an estimated market capitalization of $45.4 billion. With valued auto brands like Buick, Chevrolet, Wuling, GMC and Cadillac, General Motors seems poised to reclaim its mantle of the greatest auto manufacturer on Earth -- but to do that, the company is going to have to clear some serious hurdles. General Motors stock at a glance. GM, currently trading just over $32 per share, has hit some potholes in recent years, even going into bankruptcy. But the company seems to be on the rebound, offers a strong dividend and has upside room for share price growth as it changes both its corporate culture and business model. Analysts have pegged one-year share growth at $45 per share, a welcome sign for shareholders who already enjoy 4.8 percent dividend payments. [See: A Look Into the Future for 7 Top Auto Stocks.] GM stock has benefited from taxpayer largesse -- the company may not even exist today if it weren't for an $80 billion bailout from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) at the height of the Great Recession. As Fritz Henderson, GM's then-president put it at the time -- "There is no Plan B." Since then, GM's stock has been on the rebound with one analyst -- Christopher Susanin of Levin Capital Strategies -- predicting that the company's share price will double in the next two years. That's the upside. Doubts over low returns and a languishing share price seem to be haunting GM right now, with no clear sign the company when and if the company will emerge from its current state to start posting some positive stock numbers. Pros to buying GM stock. Whether you're all in on GM stock depends on your faith in the company completing something of a miraculous comeback. That's a murky outlook right now as GM seems to be taking a back seat to other auto manufacturers in terms of consumer popularity. Story continues "The good news is that among our users, GM is the 26th-most popular stock," says Bernard George, chief executive officer of NVSTR, a digital-based investment services firm. "However, it's about 21 percent less popular than Ford ( F) and 73 percent less popular than Tesla ( TSLA)." The most commonly cited reasons for owning GM among users are its tech-forward decisions like the acquisition of Cruise Automation and its partnership with Lyft. "Users also believe the new mid-engine Corvette is a sign of innovation and exciting design -- an evolution that could attract new customers," George says. "But that all could be outweighed by commonly cited risks for GM, including tariffs and pressure to manufacture in the U.S., which could increase GM's cost structure." GM's substantial investment in technology could swing the balance back to "buy" for investors, especially given Tesla's recent troubles. "In areas of significant transformation, one has to identify the technology that is going to prove to be enduring, while also identify the firms that will be the ultimate winners and losers," says Robert R. Johnson, professor of finance at Creighton University in Nebraska. "The second half of that equation has proven to be particularly elusive." [See: The 10 Most Valuable Auto Companies in the World.] Many investors were betting that Tesla would be the big winner in the electric car sweepstakes, Johnson says. "Yet given all of the attendant problems with Tesla management, its huge debt load, and atmospheric valuation, I believe that a much more prudent investment is GM at a forward P/E of [5.2] times rather than Tesla at a forward P/E of [73]," he says. "Investors committing funds to GM have a much higher margin of safety than those in Tesla." That said, Johnson is more bullish on General Motors stock as a long-term play. "It really is anybody's guess where any stock goes in the near term," he says. "I am much more confident that GM will likely provide investors with solid returns over the next 10 years." Cons to buying GM stock. There is no shortage of doubters among professional investors asked about GM stock. "GM is looking a little worse for wear right now," says Dale Gillham, an Australia-based investment analyst. "The stock is down 17.71 percent this year alone and appears that it may continue to fall another 10 to 15 percent in the short term. That said, GM is a great brand and trends nicely when it runs. Given this, you can definitely generate some profitable trades on it if you get your entry right." For now, General Motors is likely to remain a little bearish and will continue to trade down, heading towards a price target of $30 to $33 a share by March, Gillham predicts. He's not alone. "On an as-reported basis GM still looks like a middling company with a weak 3 percent return on assets, and (GAAP EPS) that was 22 cents last year, down from $6 the prior year," says Robert Spivey, director of research at Valens Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It looks like a messy company, and that helps explain why some people still do not like the company, and why the stock is sitting at a 52-week low currently." Still, Spivey sees slivers of sunlight on GM's horizon. "As-reported accounting statements make GM look like a bad company," he says. "In fact, the fundamentals of the business are much better than they initially look." [See: 8 Dividend ETFs That Pay You More.] The bottom line on GM stock. With GM stock down 27 percent in the last 12 months and a target share price of $45, there is plenty of upside available here. But General Motors also faces some serious challenges ahead and needs some positive momentum to regain its bullish course. Brian O'Connell is a contributing financial writer for U.S. News & World Report. A former Wall Street bond trader and the author of two best-selling books; "The 401k Millionaire" and "CNBC's Creating Wealth", he has 20 years experience covering business news and trends, particularly in the financial, technology, political and career management sectors. His byline has appeared in dozens of top-tier national business publications, including CBS News, Bloomberg, Time, MSN Money, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, TheStreet.com, Yahoo Finance, CBS Marketwatch, and many more. Visit his web site at: https://brianoco.contently.com/. Or, visit this Amazon.com link for a list/review of some of his book titles. Reach out to him on LinkedIn. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's top medical journal warned Monday that the imminent legalization of cannabis for recreation use poses a major health concern despite broad support for ending the prohibition. Diane Kelsall, editor in chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, called the October 17 launch "a national, uncontrolled experiment in which the profits of cannabis producers and tax revenues are squarely pitched against the health of Canadians." Any increase in pot use "should be viewed as a failure of this legislation" and convince Ottawa to amend the Cannabis Act, she wrote in an editorial in the journal's online edition. The government defends legalization as intended to get marijuana out of the hands of youths and beyond the control of drug lords. The law has broad popular support, and has generated a booming marijuana industry in anticipation of full legalization, which goes into effect on Wednesday. A survey published Monday found that 70 percent of Canadians support or accept pot legalization. Conducted in early September by Abacus Data, the survey has a 1.79 percent margin of error. "Attitudes towards cannabis reflect the fact that a majority do not see it as any worse than consuming alcohol," Abacus said in a statement. But Kelsall warns that the hundreds of licensed growers that have popped up over the past year are driven by profit, and not concern over public health. She points out that Health Canada, the country's health ministry, estimates that pot legalization will cause a problem in one in three adults, and addiction in ten percent of users, with higher risks in youths. "We cannot expect cannabis firms to restrict their growth ambitions or to have use reduction as a goal," Kelsall said. "Cannabis companies may initially focus on attracting current consumers from black-market sources, but eventually, to maintain or increase profits, new markets will be developed as is consistent with the usual behavior of a for-profit company." Marketing efforts, she suggested, might include encouraging current users to use more, or attracting a younger demographic. Chicago (AFP) - Thousands of people made their disdain for President Donald Trump heard Saturday at a rally and march in Chicago aimed at galvanizing support for Democrats in the upcoming November midterm elections. A giant "Baby Trump" flew over the crowd. Trump was depicted as "El Diablo" on a high-flying flag. Demonstrators waved "Vote Blue" banners -- the message was unmistakable. Angered by the bitter fight over new US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and what they called the "anti-woman agenda" of the Trump administration and the Republican Party, women -- and men -- descended on the Windy City's picturesque Grant Park. The "March to the Polls" event -- which began in the downtown park and wrapped up after a two-blocks-long crowd marched to the center of the business district -- came just as voter registration deadlines neared in most states and early voting ramped up in more than a dozen states including Illinois. Hillary Clinton appeared in a video message played on a giant screen, encouraging people to register to vote. "Imagine being able to hold this administration accountable," Clinton said, echoing the general sentiment that the election is a barometer of Trump's popularity. - Rally the millennials - Saturday's demonstration included a street festival-like "Voter Village" where dozens of community groups and politicians set up booths to reach new voters and encourage political involvement. "We wanted to lead into the midterms and encourage women to get out and vote," Jessica Scheller, head of Women's March Chicago, which organized the event, told AFP. The loud crowd of thousands of men, women and even children, marched through downtown Chicago chanting "Vote them out!" Some were encouraged to head to early voting locations nearby to cast ballots. Iyahna Wilson, a 19-year-old volunteer who assisted in the march, voted for the first time -- motivated by racial justice issues and gender rights. Story continues "I never really thought that my vote was going to make a change," Wilson told AFP moments after she exited a downtown polling location, raising her hands up in celebration. It is that mindset that organizers were fighting to change with an event they specifically aimed to take place in the runup to the midterm election. "I would like women to take charge of the midterms," protester Sarah Sieracki told AFP. The 23-year-old from the nearby Republican-dominated state of Indiana was the type of voter organizers were hoping to encourage to get involved. She was carrying a "Grab 'em by the midterms" sign -- a play on an infamous remark made by Trump. "Women need to vote. They need to get out," said Sieracki. "We need to rally the young millennials and the people coming up, turning 18 (years old)." - 'Women are angry' - The Chicago rally symbolized the political rancor generated by the partisan fight over Kavanaugh's confirmation despite sexual assault allegations and powerful testimony against him by his accuser Christine Blasey Ford. All but one Senate Republican voted to confirm Kavanaugh to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. All but one Democrat voted against. Anti-Trump marches were scheduled later this month in other states, including the Republican strongholds of Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. "It is infuriating to women to watch that display that we watched in that Senate committee hearing, and to see that that man was still confirmed," Scheller said. "Women are angry. And we're starting to feel comfortable being angry." Republicans currently hold the White House and both chambers of Congress, but many in the party fear anti-Trump voters will overwhelm the president's supporters in the elections, pushing the House -- at least -- over to the Democrats. Most states allow early voting by mail-in ballot or at a limited number of polling stations, giving those unable to show up on Election Day a chance to vote. Chicago organizers insisted their event did not favor any one party, even though funding came largely from trade unions and Democrat-aligned groups. Previous women's protests have included plenty of anti-Trump rhetoric. Protests in January shut down streets in dozens of American cities. In Chicago, hundreds of thousands marched. Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization said Monday its experts will meet this week to determine whether an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo constitutes a global health emergency. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has convened "an emergency committee" on the current outbreak in DRC's violence-torn North Kivu region, which has killed 135 people since August, the UN health agency said in a statement. "The committee will meet on October 17 in Geneva to ascertain whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern," the statement said. In the WHO's parlance, "a public health emergency of international concern" is an "extraordinary event" in which a disease may spread across borders and requires a vigorous international response. The agency first invoked the emergency mechanism in 2009 when a new strain of influenza, so-called H1N1 swine flu, emerged. It was also declared twice in 2014, when polio re-emerged after the disease was nearly eradicated, and after an Ebola epidemic struck three West African countries. Then in 2016, a global emergency was declared in response to an outbreak of the Zika virus. Monday's announcement came after DRC Health Minister Oly Ilunga warned over the weekend that a second wave of the Ebola virus had been confirmed in the outbreak in North Kivu, which is home to a clutch of armed groups. He said the second wave occurred as a result of community resistance to measures taken to tackle the disease, describing the outbreak as "high risk." "The situation is worrying," he said. Fears and misconceptions about the virus have led to widespread mistrust and resistance to Ebola response workers, including those who come into communities wearing hazmat suits to orchestrate burials. A staff member of the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO was among the latest victims of the virus, the UN and DRC health ministry said. The latest outbreak -- the 10th in DR Congo since Ebola was first detected there in 1976 -- so far counts 211 confirmed and probable cases of the virus, including 135 deaths. The whirlwind romance between Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson is over. Were told the two still have love for each other, but things are over romantically, TMZ announced. Sources say Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande have ended their engagement. (Photo: Robert Kamau/GC Images) The couple announced their engagement in June, just weeks after they started dating. The quick engagement led to some backlash especially from Grandes fans. It got to a point where Grande went on social media to deal with the negative comments. However, fast-forward five months and fans arent surprised that the engagement has been called off. Grande has been taking time to heal since the death of her former boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller. Theres speculation that Millers death may have led to her breakup with Davidson. So far, there are over 6,000 comments talking about the short-lived engagement. One fan commented, But dont matching tattoos mean its real forever love? Over the course of their relationship, Grande and Davidson got several tattoos to commemorate their love for each other. Another wrote, Longest Hollywood engagement ever! Congratz you love birds! Commenters did not hold back when addressing the short amount of time the couple dated before getting engaged. One wrote, This was bound to happen, she barely knows this guy, She can do much better. People need to take engagements/marriage more serious. And lets not forget about the engagement ring. One commenter asked, Who gets the engagement ring? Thats a very expensive flash date. Another person wrote, I couldnt be less shocked. I hope that $100K ring was worth it for a few months of whatever. No word yet on whats going to happen on Grandes 3-carat diamond engagement ring, which is worth almost $100,000. What do you think of Ariana Grande and Pete Davidsons short engagement? Do you think the couple will rekindle their romance? Tell us in the comments below. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Donald Trump said the climate change scientists have a very big political agenda - AFP Donald Trump has questioned whether climate change is man-made and suggested that world temperatures could start falling in the future. The US president said during an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes show that he does not think climate change is a hoax, reversing his previous position. However Mr Trump claimed that some scientists have a very big political agenda and suggested there is no consensus about the cause of global warming. I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again. I don't think it's a hoax, I think there's probably a difference, Mr Trump said. But I don't know that it's man-made. I will say this: I don't want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don't want to lose millions and millions of jobs. I don't want to be put at a disadvantage. The comments come just days after the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] warned that the Earths temperature could rise 1.5C by as early as 2030. One IPCC board member said at the time that the world had the slimmest of opportunities remaining to avoid unthinkable damage to the climate system that supports life as we know it. Mr Trump, who has been a climate change sceptic for at least half a decade, announced last year that he would be pulling America out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which seeks to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He has also removed various emissions-reducing policies implemented by Barack Obama, his predecessor in the White House, and talked about the need to defend beautiful, clean coal. Over the past six years Mr Trump has frequently questioned the validity of climate change, calling it an expensive hoax and nonsense. He often joked on Twitter about global warming whenever the weather was cold, once tweeting in 2015: It's really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2015 During his 60 Minutes interview, Mr Trump walked back his claim that climate change was a hoax, but questioned the cause, saying you don't know whether or not that would have happened with or without man. Story continues Challenged over how scientists have said extreme weather conditions are getting worse, Mr Trump replied: You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda. Elsewhere during the interview, Mr Trump who the interviewer said appeared more confident in the role of president than during their last chat shortly after the 2016 election - defended a string of his policies and public comments. Mr Trump insisted he had showed respect to Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, despite mocking her failure to recall key details of the alleged incident during a rally speech. You know what? I'm not going to get into it because we won. It doesn't matter. We won, Mr Trump said. Mr Kavanaugh denied the claim and has since taken up his seat on the Supreme Court. . @LesleyRStahl : Do you still think that climate change is a hoax? Pres. Trump: Look, I think somethings happening, somethings changing, and itll change back againhttps://t.co/EVT05KB0UY. @60Minutespic.twitter.com/VbHTsJDGfn CBS News (@CBSNews) October 15, 2018 Mr Trump criticised Jim Mattis, his defence secretary, calling him sort of a Democrat and insisting that he knew more about the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [Nato] than Mr Mattis. The comments fuelled speculation that Mr Mattis could leave his post. The US president defended saying at a rally that he and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, fell in love, insisting it was just a figure of speech. Challenged that the words amounted to an embrace, Mr Trump replied: Let it be an embrace. Let it be whatever it is to get the job done. Mr Trump also appeared to play down the seriousness of Russias disruptive actions abroad. Asked whether Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, was involved in assassinations and poisonings, Mr Trump replied probably he is, yeah, but added: It's not in our country. The remarks follow the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal, the Russian double agent, on British soil in March 2018, though the specific case was not explicitly mentioned during in the interview. And on politics and Washington, DC, Mr Trump said: This is the most deceptive, vicious world. It is vicious, it's full of lies, deceit and deception. Panama City (United States) (AFP) - President Donald Trump visited Florida on Monday, nearly a week after Hurricane Michael slammed the southern US state, where thousands of people are struggling to survive without running water or electricity. Michael smashed into Florida's western coast on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 storm, packing winds of 155 miles (250 kilometers) per hour as it began a northern march through several states on the United States' southeast coast, killing at least 17 people. "Just arrived in Florida," Trump tweeted upon arrival, having left Washington with his wife Melania in the morning. "Also thinking about our GREAT Alabama farmers and our many friends in North and South Carolina today. We are with you!" The president, who was also due to visit Georgia, spoke briefly with reporters alongside Florida's Governor Rick Scott, whom he praised for "doing an incredible job." The governor thanked Trump for federal aid, saying that everything the state asked for had been delivered. - 'Just survival' - Florida's Panama City, along with the small seaside resort of Mexico Beach, were left particularly devastated, with thousands of homes and businesses destroyed. Power lines and telephone networks remained out of service in many neighborhoods, with only major highways cleared. "You wouldn't even know they had homes," Trump said of people whose houses were swept off their foundations as the monster storm hit. Relief workers who arrived in the aftermath of the hurricane set up water and food distribution centers, as cars formed long queues in front of the few gas stations open for business. More than half of Bay County, which includes Panama City, was still without electricity Monday morning, while several inland counties were more than 80 percent cut off, according to emergency service officials. "Right now it's just survival," said Daniel Fraga, a resident of Panama City. "The good thing is we all came together, we all help each other. We are in this together." Story continues The US Army, National Guard and police have been crisscrossing the area, which at dusk goes dark. Tyndall Air Force Base, located between Panama City and Mexico Beach, suffered extensive damage and reports had speculated on the fate of a number of F-22 fighter jets that could not be flown out ahead of Michael's arrival. The unit cost of the aircraft is around $150 million, which soars to over $330 million when research and development are priced in. "Visually, they were all intact and looked much better than expected considering the surrounding damage to some structures," the Air Force said in a statement. "Our maintenance professionals will do a detailed assessment of the F-22 Raptors and other aircraft before we can say with certainty that damaged aircraft can be repaired and sent back into the skies." Nearly a week after Hurricane Michael left parts of the Florida Panhandle in ruins, emergency officials rushed to deliver aid, coordinate resources and clear debris as the search continued for survivors. At least 46 people are still missing in the town of Mexico Beach, according to ABC News. Mexico Beach is near where Michael roared onshore with 155-mph winds. Two fatality was reported in the town, but at least 29 deaths have been reported overall in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, as a result of the storm, according to Reuters. The body of a man and a woman ware recovered on Tuesday in Mexico Beach, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Please continue to pray for our neighbors in the Panhandle. Sadly, K9 Tucker just found a man's body while in his search. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all the victims of #HurricaneMichael. pic.twitter.com/loK3eX1Qh5 PBSO (@PBCountySheriff) October 16, 2018 Utility companies worked tirelessly through the weekend to help restore power. More than 160,000 customers remained without power in Florida as of Monday morning, according to the Florida Department of Emergency Management. Michael leaves behind devastating trail of destruction AP Photo/Garret Fischer First, at vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui voluptatum. 1/12 (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) People walk amidst rubble in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Florida, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) In this Oct. 13, 2018 photo, Clinton Moseley reacts as he surveys a large tree that fell on the home in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Florida. Story continues (AP Photo/David Goldman) Marla Wood pulls a framed art piece out of the rubble of her damaged home from Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Florida, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A member of a South Florida urban search and rescue team sifts through a debris pile for survivors of hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Florida, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Charles Olmstead wipes off the grand piano that was spared damage inside the heavily damaged St. Andrew United Methodist Church in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Florida, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Brendan Farrington) Cars sit in traffic outside buildings that lost their facades during Hurricane Michael on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, in Marianna, Florida. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Amber Cousin sits by a window as Amy Lenain naps in a room they now share with multiple people, since their roof was partially torn off in their home in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Springfield, Florida, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Candace Phillips sifts through what was her third-floor bedroom while returning to her damaged home in Mexico Beach, Florida, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Electrical poles are prepared for transport as utility workers restore power lines in the aftermath of hurricane Michael in Callaway, Florida, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018. Residents of Panama City Beach were told to continue to conserve water as power and water has still not been restored to all of the beach. michael mexico city 101418 Candace Phillips sifts through what was her third-floor bedroom while returning to her damaged home in Mexico Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. (AP Photo/David Goldman) President Trump visited the battered region on Monday before making a stop in Georgia to talk to farmers who suffered significant losses to their crops. The president issued a Major Disaster Declaration for the state on Thursday. Florida Gov. Rick Scott surveyed damage in Panama City and Mexico Beach on Sunday along with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Brock Long. The governor pledged that the state will use every resource it can to help those impacted from Michael. In four days, I have met with countless families & communities that have been impacted by this storm. I have seen the devastation that Michael has brought to so many. We will not stop until our state has fully recovered. Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) October 15, 2018 There are hundreds of emergency management officials in the Panhandle working around the clock to do everything they can to coordinate resources, volunteers, and supplies coming into their communities. We cannot thank them enough for their hard work and dedication. Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) October 15, 2018 CNN reported that hundreds of calls were coming in from around the country as people looked to get word on relatives who they haven't been able to reach following the storm. With cellular service down or limited in the hardest-hit areas, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have deployed mobile cellular towers to provide service. "After a catastrophic storm like Hurricane Michael, one of the most important things we can do is make sure families can connect with loved ones, find information on critical services and maintain open lines of communication with emergency response officials," Scott said. "At my direction, the Florida Highway Patrol has been working hand-in-hand with cellular service provider crews to get them access to service stations where repairs need to be made." More than 600 Florida Highway Patrol members have been deployed to the Panhandle. Nearly 2,000 people remain in 15 shelters. The Florida Department of Education said many school districts are still operating shelters in the wake of the storm. FEMA said disaster survivor assistance teams were sent to the hardest-hit areas, meeting with residents to help them understand how they could register for federal assistance. The Gulf County Sheriff's Office said the St. Joe Natural Gas Company has shut down its entire natural gas system to provide a safe environment for first responders. Public health officials urged residents to do their part and help prevent mosquito breeding and mosquito-borne illness, which has become a problem in waterlogged areas of the Carolinas that were struck by Hurricane Florence. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt on Sunday called for a transparent investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and warned against the case being used to politically exploit Saudi Arabia. "Egypt stresses the importance of revealing the truth of what happened in a transparent investigation," its foreign ministry said in a statement. The country said it was monitoring developments "with concern" and supported Saudi Arabia's efforts to deal with the situation, the statement said. (Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made public the results of a DNA test on Monday, which an expert said shows strong evidence that she has a Native American ancestor. Warren provided the test results to The Boston Globe on Sunday, the newspaper said, in an effort to defuse questions about her ancestry that have persisted for years. The disclosure is another strong sign that she is seriously considering running for president, according to the publication. The vast majority of Warrens ancestry is European but the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor six to 10 generations ago, according to Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor who analyzed the results. This means she could be just 1/1,024th Native American if the ancestor is 10 generations back, the Globe said. She possesses 12 times more Native American blood than a white person from Great Britain, the report found, and 10 times more than a white person from Utah. President Donald Trump has long mocked her for claiming Native American ancestry, frequently calling her Pocahontas. He even offered to administer a DNA test to prove her otherwise, promising to donate $1 million to a charity of her choice if she agreed. Im going to get one of those little kits, and in the middle of the debate, when she proclaims that shes of Indian heritage because her mother says she has high cheekbones, we will take that little kit, Trump said at a rally in July. But we have to do it gently because were in the Me Too generation, so we have to be very gentle. Warren seized on the proposition, asking the president to donate the $1 million to the National Indigenous Womens Resource Center, a nonprofit that seeks to protect Native American women from violence. She also reminded him that he still hasnt released his tax returns. What are YOU hiding? she tweeted at Trump. Warrens campaign released a video Sunday featuring interviews with many of Warrens former bosses and colleagues, all of whom assert that her heritage never played a role in her hiring. The White House had previously said Warren had used her background as a way of advancing her career. Story continues In the video, Warren also denounced Trumps purposes for continuing to elevate the issue. Trump can say whatever he wants about me, but mocking Native Americans or any group in order to try and get at me thats not what America stands for, Warren said. This article has been updated with Warrens tweet to Trump. CORRECTION: A previous version of this article cited The Boston Globes erroneous math about Warrens ancestry and has been updated to reflect the Globes correction. If Warren is 10th-generation Native American, that makes her 1/1,024 Native. Related Coverage Trump Kicks Off Native American Heritage Month By Reviving 'Pocahontas' Slur Trump Brings Back 'Pocahontas' Slur Of Elizabeth Warren At Event For Native American Veterans Trump 'Apologizes' For Pocahontas Slur, Uses It Again 2 Seconds Later Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Luxembourg (AFP) - The EU set up a new sanctions mechanism targeting those who use and develop chemical weapons on Monday, as part of a crackdown in the wake of the Skripal attack. The framework gives the European Union the power to impose restrictive measures on anyone identified as being involved in the development or deployment of chemical weapons, regardless of their location or nationality. Fears have been growing among world powers that the century-old taboo on the use of chemical weapons is being eroded, following the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain and repeated uses of gas and banned substances in the Syrian conflict. EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg agreed to the new measures, which will freeze the assets held in the block by targeted individuals and organisations and ban them from travelling to any of the 28 member states. "The restrictive measures target persons and entities who are directly responsible for the development and use of chemical weapons as well as those who provide financial, technical or material support, and those who assist, encourage or are associated with them," the European Council, which groups the member states, said in a statement. "This decision contributes to the EU's efforts to counter the proliferation and use of chemical weapons which poses a serious threat to international security." While Monday's decision sets up the framework to impose restrictive measures, for the moment no individuals or organisations have been sanctioned. Decisions on this will be taken at a later date. The targeting of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter by a Soviet-designed chemical agent called Novichok in the English town of Salisbury in March caused outrage around the world. Investigative journalists have identified two suspects named as wanted by British police as agents of Russia's GRU military intelligence, though Moscow denies involvement. Luxembourg (AFP) - European Union ministers agreed on Monday to sharply boost catch quotas for western Baltic cod as part of new fishing regulations for next year that angered environmentalists. The ministers meeting in Luxembourg said they were on target to protect Baltic Sea fishing communities while ensuring long-term fish stocks but campaign group Our Fish disagreed. "The 2020 deadline we set ourselves for achieving the sustainability of our fisheries resources is getting closer," said Elisabeth Koestinger of Austria, which currently holds the six-month EU rotating presidency. "Today's decision is another important step towards meeting this goal, whilst at the same time respecting the socioeconomic viability of our coastal communities," she said. But Rebecca Hubbard, director for the activist group Our Fish, accused member states and the European Commission of "rubber stamping the continued overfishing of iconic and chronically unhealthy fish stocks." Member state ministers set the quota for western cod at 9,515 tonnes for 2019, an increase of 70 percent over this year, even though the European Commission, the EU executive, called for limiting the increase to 31 percent. They put the limit for eastern cod at 24,112 tonnes, 15 percent less than currently and the same quota the commission supported. The ministers set the quota for western herring at 9,001 tonnes, a reduction of 48 percent, though the commission had called for a reduction of 63 percent. "Despite strong support from celebrities, scientists and the public for ending overfishing in EU waters, Baltic member states have instead let short-term profits and political interests drive the setting of unsustainable fishing limits for stocks, such as western and eastern Baltic cod, and western herring," Hubbard said. "This failure of governance will do little to drive the substantial improvements urgently needed to restore these fish stocks and deliver the environmental, social and economic benefits of sustainable, healthy fish stocks by 2020. Story continues The quota for main basin salmon was rolled over at 91,132 tonnes, even though the commission recommended an increase of 15 percent. For salmon in the Gulf of Finland, the quotas were reduced by three percent to 9,703 tonnes, against the commission proposal of one percent less. The ministers also called for reducing quotas for central herring, down 26 percent to 170,360 tonnes, and Bothnian herring down seven percent to 88,703 tonnes. However, the quota for Riga herring will increase by seven percent to 31,044 tonnes. Quotas for plaice will jump by 43 percent to 10,122 tonnes and those for sprat by three percent to 270,772 tonnes. With or without EU. Photo: Reuters Britains Home Office has sent out an alert to all European Union citizens who are looking to apply for the immigration status they will need in order to remain in the UK permanently. In a statement, the Home Office said that EU citizens and their family members will have until 30 June 2021 to apply for that form of immigration status under the EU Settlement Scheme, which kicks in the day after Brexit on 29 March 2019. It added: Testing is already underway. Since August, EU citizens working for a small number of NHS trusts and universities in the northwest of England, and students at those universities, have been able to apply for status under the scheme. A new phase of testing will begin next month. It will involve many more organisations across the UK, including higher education institutions and organisations in the wider health and social care sector. Testing the system with real applicants helps the Home Office ensure the new system operates effectively when it opens fully. READ MORE: The moment of truth a guide to Brexits biggest week Under EU membership, Britain has adhered to the Freedom of Movement Act which allows any citizens from countries within the bloc to travel, live, and work freely in any of the 28 nations. However, immigration has been one of the biggest sticking points for both the UK and the EU. The people who voted for Brexit, largely pipped for severing ties with the EU because of fears over immigration. The UK government has been trying to see if Britain can leave the bloc with trade ties still in place but without having to agree to the Freedom of Movement. However, EU officials have repeatedly said that Brexit is not an a la carte menu and Britain cannot choose the bits it wants and doesnt from EU membership. This is largely stalling talks and a no-deal Brexit is being touted as a likely outcome. This throws into question the immigration status of EU citizens that live and work in Britain as well as what that will mean for Brits abroad. The UK government added in its notice today: You do not need to do anything for now. EU citizens eligible to apply in the latest test phase will receive information from their employer. READ MORE: What is a no-deal Brexit? The key things you need to know Phil Bredesen speaks to voters in Mountain City, Tenn. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News) JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. On a December morning nearly thirty years ago, Phil Bredesen had just gotten to work at his office in downtown Nashville when his phone rang. On the other end of the line was a police officer. The call was purposely vague the officer didnt want the businessman to panic but something had happened to Bredesens wife, Andrea Conte, and he told him to come to the hospital right away. I thought she had been mugged, Bredesen, the former Tennessee governor who is now running for U.S. Senate, recalled in an interview last week. But it turned out to be far more serious. At the hospital, Bredesen found his wife bloody and beaten. That morning, as she arrived to open her gourmet cooking store, a man had approached her with a gun. When he tried to force her into his vehicle, which was parked next to hers, Conte, a diminutive 5 foot 1, screamed and fought back. Headlines from the Tennessean about the 1988 attack. The attacker beat her on the head and face with the butt of the gun, breaking a cheekbone and opening a gash on her scalp, injuries that later required surgery. He broke her hand to force her to release her grip on the steering wheel and dragged her into his car, where the front door locks were taped shut. As he drove off, she was able to reach over and shut the engine, giving her enough time to dive into the backseat and out an unlocked side door, leaping out of the still-moving car and into the street. Her assailant sped away he was eventually arrested nine months later after he shot and killed a woman during another attempted kidnapping in Nashville. He received a life sentence for that murder and 32 years for the kidnapping and attempted murder of Conte. The man told police he had hoped to get a ransom from Bredesen, a multimillionaire former health care executive who was in the headlines at the time for his political aspirations. Conte, an intensely private woman who has played a quiet role in her husbands political career, told reporters afterward that she didnt want the episode to define her life. Though she has given occasional interviews on the subject, primarily in connection with her subsequent work founding a victims rights organization, You Have the Power, those who know her say she prefers not to speak about the attack. (She declined to be interviewed for this story.) Likewise, her husband has spoken only sparingly about his wifes experience during his subsequent political career, which includes two terms as mayor of Nashville and two terms in the governors office. Asked why, Bredesen replied, Its just kind of personal. Story continues A screengrab of Andrea Conte recounting her attack on PBSs documentary series, The Independent Lens. But last week, Bredesen, a centrist Democrat who has strenuously avoided hot-button issues in favor of talking up his long history of working across the aisle on economic issues and other bipartisan projects, felt the need to say something personal. He has been facing attacks from his opponent, Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, over his handling of sexual harassment cases as governor, and disappointment from some of his female supporters after he said he would have voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. So Bredesen brought up his wifes kidnapping and her work with female victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, explaining that protecting women was an issue that was very personal to him, contrary to what his opponent had argued. The impediments that women have, and being taken seriously in their allegations and the stuff they go through in trying to report crime this has been front and center for [my family] for a generation, Bredesen said during a campaign swing through East Tennessee last week, where he interrupted his usual stump speech to make a specific appeal to women who are troubled by his stance on Kavanaugh and his handling of harassment cases. Its not a subject that I am obtuse to at all. Its built into the DNA of our household, he said. And I dont want anyone to ever doubt that I have zero tolerance for that kind of thing. Bredesen was largely pushing back against Blackburn who, against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, has attacked his handling of sexual harassment cases as governor, suggesting he tried to cover up allegations against his aides. In at least two cases, interview notes taken by an investigator looking into harassment claims were shredded a policy Bredesen has defended as a way to protect the identity of victims, because the notes were subject to the Open Records Act. But it was a policy he quickly ended, ordering his administration to preserve all records after he reached an informal agreement with local media to keep the names of accusers private. Women arent going to come forward if its on the front page of the newspaper, he said. But Blackburn has pointed to news reports at the time which found investigations into harassment allegations against senior members of the Bredesen administration appeared to be handled more privately and with less paperwork than in lower-level government positions a discrepancy that Bredesen said was based on different legal protections for civil service positions and his own executive staff. There was a path for friends of Phil where sexual harassment claims where handled, and there was also the path for everyone else, and what happened? Blackburn said at last weeks debate in Knoxville. The voices of those women were shredded. They died in that shredder. Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn speaks during the 2018 Tennessee U.S. Senate Debate with Democratic candidate and former Gov. Phil Bredesen at the University of Tennessee on Oct. 10, 2018, in in Knoxville, Tenn. (Photo: Mark Humphrey, Pool/AP) Bredesen has called Blackburns statements flat-out wrong. A PolitiFact investigation into Blackburns claims found her statements half true, and said she had embellished some of the details and ignored Bredesens response at the time, including his demotion of a top aide and instituting changes in the handling of harassment charges. But Blackburns attacks, combined with fallout over Kavanaugh, appear to have had a significant impact on Tennessees closely watched Senate race, long regarded as the Democrats best hope of regaining a foothold in red state America and in their push to win back majority control of the Senate. Until just a few weeks ago, Bredesen, one of the most popular public officials in state history, was giving Blackburn a run for her money in a race that, in theory, has always been hers to lose. Though Tennessee once had a long tradition of electing moderate lawmakers from both parties, the state has become more conservative in recent years, rendering Democratic officeholders nearly extinct. Yet Bredesen, a folksy politician who spent years crisscrossing Tennessee holding chili dinners and doing other retail politics during his time in the governors office, had kept the race statistically tied for months. He is better known than Blackburn, an eight-term representative from the Nashville suburbs, and his approval rating 61 percent among likely voters, according to an NBC/Marist poll released last month was 15 points higher than hers. But then came Kavanaugh. While Blackburn had endorsed his nomination almost as soon as it was announced over the summer, Bredesen held out, refusing to answer questions during the confirmation hearings and even after Christine Blasey Fords testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which she accused Kavanaugh of assault. On Oct. 5, just before the Senate voted to advance the nomination, Bredesen broke with many in his party and announced that he would have voted to confirm Kavanaugh. While he praised Ford as a heroine, he said evidence for the sexual assault allegations by Ford and others didnt rise to the level of disqualifying Kavanaugh for the court. Some of Bredesens volunteers quit in protest. Blackburn accused Bredesen of waiting to gauge how the vote would ultimately go before announcing his decision. Phil Bredesen campaigns in Johnson City, Tenn. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News) Bredesens public poll numbers have dropped significantly in the last two weeks. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted during final days of the Kavanaugh debate found Bredesen trailing Blackburn by eight points among likely voters. A New York Times/Sienna College poll out last week found Bredesen behind Blackburn by 14 points. While Bredesen once held an average 10- to 15-point advantage among likely female voters in the polls, the Times poll found Blackburn with a three-point lead among women over Bredesen, a result within the surveys margin of error but worrying to Democrats. Bredesen, who has described himself as an equal offender of both parties throughout his political career, acknowledged that his decision to speak out in support of Kavanaugh had likely cost him votes. And he acknowledged that his decision to speak out about his wifes kidnapping and her subsequent work for victims rights was motivated by his desire to correct the perception that protecting women had not been an important issue to him. He said would have preferred to leave Conte out of the conversation because he still regarded the incident as a personal issue. The only reason I am talking about it now is just the context of the debate, he said. Asked how his wifes experience and her work had influenced his thinking on Kavanaugh, Bredesen said he tried to approach his decision in the way a senator should by weighing what public facts were available, though he pointed out that he, like most people, did not have access to all of the facts. Unlike what some Republicans have argued, including President Trump, he said did not believe Ford was a plant. I believed her more than I didnt believe her, he said. But he criticized the process, in which Democrats had sat on Fords information for months, and Republicans had allowed only a cursory FBI investigation. I absolutely thought it was unconscionable not to do a serious investigation of the charges, he said. There was no excuse for that, and I cant even imagine why anybody of either party would want to sweep it under the rug the way it was kind of done. Bredesen defended his decision to wait to announce his thinking on Kavanaugh, arguing it was what a responsible senator would do, but also acknowledging it was a personal issue. He talked to Conte. We talked about it quite a bit, he said. There was a difference for me between what you emotionally feel, and how you exercise your responsibilities. Asked if Conte agreed with his decision to back Kavanaugh, Bredesen said there was no domestic strife. He said his wife was more emotional and sympathetic to Ford, but understood where he was coming from and was fine with it and satisfied with the answer. A GOP protester heckles Phil Bredesen as he arrives at a campaign event in Johnson City, Tenn. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News) But whether Bredesen can effectively make that case to women and other voters who were disillusioned by his stance is a big unknown. Arriving to a small house party in Johnson City, a major hub in mostly rural East Tennessee where polls show Blackburn has struggled to excite Republican voters, Bredesen was greeted by a young man believed to be working for an outside group backing Blackburn who carried two clear plastic trash bags full of shredded paper. Shredesen! the man yelled at the former governor, a nickname that Blackburns campaign has promoted in recent weeks, as another man filmed the encounter. Inside the house, Bredesen, a mild-mannered politician who rarely becomes emotional on the stump, seemed slightly troubled as he broached his support for Kavanaugh. The crowd of 40 or so people, who had been clapping and cheering, grew serious as he spoke, and several women in the room, most in their 40s or older, exchanged glances. I know there will be people in this room, particularly women, who are disappointed on the Kavanaugh subject, Bredesen said. I am asking you. I do not think that was about, in my mind, the treatment of women or mistreatment. I thought it was about something else. And I ask you to try to understand what my position was. And even if you are troubled by it, please compare me to who I am running against. The crowd laughed. And Bredesen moved on, eager for another subject. Politically speaking, there is no right answer. Whatever you say, 50 percent of people are gonna be mad at you, and 50 percent happy, Bredesen said in an interview. I hope that what women in the end will do is look at my record compared to Marshas. I am hoping they say, I disagreed with him on this one, but thats one out of 10. A volunteer wears a Women United for Bredesen shirt at an event in Kingsport, Tenn. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News) See the rest of our midterms coverage >>> _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Republicans and Democrats are trying to win over voters by using an environmental issue during the Florida Senate race. The toxic algal bloom has been a hot topic with Floridians since November 2017, so politicians are spreading powerful campaign messages in hopes to sway voters. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson are using TV ads and speeches to point the finger at each other for who to blame the red tide algal bloom on. The two are running a tightly contested race for Nelson's Senate seat with the midterm elections only several weeks away. Rick Scott Fla. Gov. Rick Scott, center, candidate for the U.S. Senate speaks to supporters at a campaign rally Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) The algae bloom is considered to be the worst and longest red tide outbreak in history, and officials say it will most likely last until 2019. High concentrations of toxic algae, known as blooms, have affected the state's Gulf of Mexico coast since November 2017. Recently, red tide has spread to the state's eastern shores as well, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Officials say nearly 300 sea turtles have died because of the toxic bloom. Dolphins, pelicans, manatees and a whale shark have also washed ashore since this unprecedented bloom started. Related Video: Hurricane Michael Shifts Red Tide Toward Coastline Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. Scott pointed the finger at Nelson first by running an ad explaining how Nelson was responsible for Lake Okeechobee and the historic red tide. The ad blamed Nelson by explaining The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the lake and is responsible for the algae bloom, is a federal entity. "Washington politician Bill Nelson made a pledge 30 years ago to solve this problem, but Nelson's a talker, not a doer. With Bill Nelson, we get more waiting, more talk, and more algae," the ad states, according to Floridapolitics.com. Story continues A few days after the ad ran, the Nelson campaign punched back with an ad titled "Algae." "Rick Scott cut environmental protections and gave polluters a pass," the ad claims. "The water is murky, but the fact is clear." "I was playing nice-nice when I was here before, but I'm going to lay out the truth. Governor Scott, in the last eight years, has systematically dismembered and dismantled the environmental agencies of the state of Florida," Nelson said, according to the New York Times. Scott has been taking steps to save tourism, beaches and ocean by declaring a state of emergency for the ongoing toxic red tide bloom that is killing tons of marine life on the state's west coast. Red Tide, Dead Fish Dead fish are shown near a boat ramp in Bradenton Beach, Fla. Collin O'Mara, the president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, says he was stunned when he took a boat ride Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, to survey the effects of red tide in the Gulf of Mexico. The toxic algae bloom has overrun Florida's southern Gulf Coast this summer. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File) "In addition to the emergency order, I am also directing a further $900,000 in grants for Lee County to clean up impacts related to red tide - bringing total red tide grant funding for Lee County to more than $1.3 million," Gov. Scott said. "While we fight to learn more about this naturally-occurring phenomenon, we will continue to deploy all state resources and do everything possible to make sure that Gulf Coast residents are safe and area businesses can recover," Scott said. The severity of this environmental issue may give Democrats a chance to win in Florida's heavily Republican districts. Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - The tiny West African state of The Gambia on Monday swore in an 11-member commission tasked with shedding light on summary executions, disappearances, torture, rape and other crimes under ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh. President Adama Barrow hailed the panel as a vital step towards national healing. In a tweet, he said: "Let us stand together to say: 'Never again shall a few people oppress us as a nation. Never again shall the beautiful Smiling Coast experience a tyranny of the minority against the majority'." Inspired by South Africa's investigation into the apartheid era, the commission will hold witness hearings into Jammeh's 22-year era of oppression. The goal is to open the way to prosecuting those responsible and offering victims and their relatives the hope of closure. "Gambians who were tortured or raped in prison, who were shot for peacefully demonstrating, who were forced into Jammehs phony HIV 'treatment' programmes, whose family members were killed or who were targeted in literal witch hunts will all be able to come forward," said Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch (HRW). "When the truth commission is finished hearing from all the victims we should have a complete picture." He said he hoped the two-year process would mark the first step to "holding Yahya Jammeh and his henchmen to account". Jammeh took over The Gambia, the smallest country on land in Africa, in a military coup in 1994. He installed a structure of oppression and corruption that touched nearly every part of society, driven by the police, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and a death squad called the Junglers. Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou, a former UN court prosecutor on human rights in Rwanda, said The Gambia had experienced the darkest of nightmares. "This a country where fear ruled for over two decades, where mothers dreaded the midnight knock on their doors which took their sons and daughters forever, where civil servants went to work every morning saying goodbye to their families as if it was the last time they would see them again," he said. Story continues Jammeh's country, he added, was where "unarmed schoolchildren were gunned down in broad daylight, where torture was routine, where women under detention were sexually molested and where sexual assault was used as a weapon to rape and subjugate them." - Exile - Jammeh's reign began to crumble in December 2016, when he suffered a stunning electoral defeat at the hands of Barrow, the opposition leader. He refused to step down, but was forced out the following month after other West African countries intervened militarily and diplomatically. He flew into self-imposed exile in Equatorial Guinea. Created under an act of parliament, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) aims at using openness and a court-like approach to investigate how abuse began and became systemic, as well as its impacts. The commission will be empowered to advise prosecution of perpetrators and recommend financial compensation to victims. Its members are drawn from all the country's major regions, its five main ethnic groups and two religions, led by a retired UN diplomat, Lamin Sise. Gender-based violence is expected to be a major theme of its mission, and four of the commissioners are women, one of whom is Sise's deputy chair. - Jammeh's shadow - The Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, an NGO set up by victims and relatives of victims, says it has already documented hundreds of cases. The NGO's chairman, Sheriff Kijera, said relatives hoped desperately that the commission would help them learn what had happened to their loved ones. But, he said, The Gambia has still not gone far enough to root out Jammeh's henchmen and to support the many people they had abused. "Alleged perpetrators and enablers of the atrocities committed under the Jammeh regime still find it comfortable holding requisite positions in government,"he said. Whether Jammeh himself will be put in the dock is far from clear. Barrow has said that any decision to bring Jammeh to justice would wait until the TRRC has completed its work. But Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema -- who has governed his country with an iron fist since 1979 -- has ruled out any demand for extradition. "Jammeh must be protected... (as) a guarantee for other African leaders that they will not be harassed after they leave power," he said in January this year. Cologne (Germany) (AFP) - A man who hurled a burning molotov cocktail then took a woman hostage at a major German railway station Monday may have acted with a "terrorist" motive, police said. Police said they found a passport issued to a 55-year-old Syrian man at the scene, and that the suspect had claimed to be a member of the Islamic State militant group. "The investigation is considering all possibilities and we are not ruling out terrorism," Cologne deputy police chief Miriam Brauns told a news conference. Heavily armed police commandos using stun grenades had shot the man when they stormed the scene, freeing the female hostage who suffered minor injuries. Two other people were injured and the attacker was badly wounded with multiple shots. Authorities had received an alert at 12:42 local time (1042 GMT) at Cologne railway station, one of the busiest in Europe. They evacuated the scene and halted all trains at the station next to Cologne's iconic twin-spired cathedral. The man sparked panic when he entered a McDonald's restaurant inside the station and hurled a molotov cocktail, leaving a 14-year-old girl with burns. An eyewitness told journalists how she heard screams and saw "a girl running for her life" with flames spreading up her leg, before she was helped by bystanders. - Syrian passport found - As the sprinkler system activated and water rained down in the fast-food restaurant, the man entered an adjacent pharmacy and took another woman hostage, whom he also threatened to burn in the ensuing drama, said police. Police negotiated with him in a bid to defuse the tense situation and ascertain his motive, then stormed the pharmacy around 3:00 pm (1300 GMT). The man was holding a pistol -- said to be either a replica or real, when commandos stormed the site, and he was also in possession of a flammable liquid and camping gas containers, two of them taped together. "Special response units overpowered the man. During the police action he hurt two bystanders, one of them seriously," police said in a statement. Story continues Police said they could not yet positively identify the hostage taker, who was undergoing surgery, but believed he was a 55-year-old Syrian migrant. Syrian identity documents had been found in the pharmacy for a man who had been issued a residency permit in Germany valid until 2021. The man identified in the document was known to police for previous offences including theft and illegal drugs possession. Klaus-Stephan Becker, head of Cologne criminal police, also told news channel NTV that "it could be a foiled terrorist attack". The man had carried a suitcase and bag, which he left in the restaurant, and had also demanded "the release of a Tunisian woman", said police commander Klaus Rueschenschmidt, without giving further details. Police set up a webpage where members of the public could upload pictures and video related to the incident, while their own investigations were "at full pitch". Germany remains on high alert over the risk of a jihadist attack, having suffered several in recent years. The bloodiest claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group was a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that left 12 people dead. In June 2018, German police said they foiled what would have been the first biological attack with the arrest of a Tunisian suspected jihadist in possession of the deadly poison ricin and bomb-making material. Germany remains a target for jihadist groups, in particular because of its involvement in the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and its deployment in Afghanistan since 2001. Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - German police said Monday they had raided French-owned carmaker Opel, amid reports the manufacturer was the latest suspected of having manipulated diesel cars' exhaust emissions to cheat regulatory tests. "We confirm that there are police measures and they are ongoing," a spokesman for police in Hesse state told AFP. Citing charges from the federal KBA transport authority, tabloid-style Bild daily reported that the raid was related to some 95,000 diesel vehicles built between 2012 and 2017 that may have been fitted with "illegally manipulated" software. Since car giant Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to fitting 11 million cars worldwide with software to make cars appear less polluting in the lab than in real on-road driving, the "dieselgate" scandal has left few corners of Germany's mighty car industry untouched. But it has taken longer for Opel -- bought last year by Peugeot maker PSA from US-based General Motors -- to fall under suspicion than bigger names such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler. Opel acknowledged in a statement there were "preliminary proceedings on emissions" with searches at its factories in Ruesselsheim and Kaiserslautern. It added that it was "fully cooperating with the authorities" and "reaffirms that its vehicles comply with the applicable regulations". JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) Ironworker Randy Bryce spent months gearing up to try to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan in November's election, cleverly cultivating an "Iron Stache" persona for a candidacy that was as colorful as it was unlikely. Then Ryan decided to retire , transforming a faint upset hope into a race Democrats are dreaming of as the possible capstone in a favorable midterm election. "It would be fantastic," Mike Tate, former chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said of the prospect of picking up Ryan's old seat. "It would be very, very sweet for Democrats in Wisconsin. The only thing sweeter would be beating (Gov. Scott) Walker ." To avert that fate, Wisconsin Republicans are turning to Bryan Steil, a Ryan protege and political newbie hoping to maintain his mentor's legacy, keep the district in Republican hands and deny Democrats the symbolic victory of taking the speaker's congressional seat. "Bryan Steil fits the district well," said Republican strategist Mark Graul. "It's a similar background that Paul Ryan brought to it when he first ran many years ago." Or as Tate puts it more bluntly: "He even looks like (Ryan). It's like, God, it's his mini-me." Indeed, from a distance it's difficult to distinguish between Ryan and Steil (pronounced like "style"). Ryan is 48 and Steil is 37, but they're both slender and dark-haired. Both grew up in Janesville, a blue-collar city of 50,000 about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Madison, and attend the same Catholic church. Both hail from prominent families. Ryan's father was a federal prosecutor; Steil's grandfather served as a University of Wisconsin System regent and as the first chairman of the state lottery board. Steil, who announced his campaign just days after Ryan announced his retirement, spent a year as an aide in Ryan's Washington office in 2003. He's now an attorney for Milton plastics manufacturer Charter NEX Films and has served as a regent himself since 2016. Story continues Bryce has branded him a Ryan "clone" something Steil rejects. "I can tell you, everybody brings their own background to the table," Steil said. Bryce, a Racine ironworker and union supporter, has been trying to break into politics since Walker signed his signature law stripping public workers of their union rights in 2011. He's run twice for the Legislature and once for Racine's school board, losing each time. He announced his bid for Ryan's seat in June 2017, touting himself as "Iron Stache," a play on his mustache. He became a hit with Democrats nationwide, riding an introductory video where he weeps as his mother talks about having multiple sclerosis. He generated more than $6 million in contributions by the end of this past July, compared with $750,000 for Steil. "It would be fantastic to replace Paul Ryan with a working person," Bryce said. "Paul Ryan isn't going to be on the ballot, but his ideas are. He hand-picked someone to follow in his footsteps." Bryce has baggage. He has failed to pay child support and has been arrested nine times, first for drunken driving in 1998 and more recently for protesting Republican policies. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC aligned with Ryan, launched one ad calling Bryce a "deadbeat dad" and another featuring Bryce's police officer brother denouncing him as showing contempt for police. Bryce acknowledges he's made mistakes. "Like I try to teach my son, if you make a mistake, own up to it, learn what there is to learn and move on," he said. The 1st District a mix of rural hamlets and farms and urban centers, including Milwaukee's southern suburbs is seen as leaning Republican. GOP lawmakers redrew the boundaries in 2011 to consolidate Ryan supporters, and Donald Trump carried the district by 10 points in 2016. A New York Times/Siena poll in mid-September showed Steil with a slight lead. The Great Recession ravaged the district, most dramatically when General Motors in 2008 abandoned a Janesville assembly plant that had employed thousands. The area is finally recovering, bolstered by Foxconn Technology Group's decision to build a massive flat-screen plant in Racine County. Asked for their top two priorities, Steil said growing high-wage jobs and lowering health care costs through price transparency and health savings accounts. Bryce responded that he wants to preserve the Affordable Care Act and other social programs such as Medicaid. Jim Welker, an 82-year-old retired judge from Janesville who described himself as libertarian-leaning, said Bryce lacks any sort of political background while Steil studied at Ryan's knee. "He knows something," Welker said of Steil while hanging out with his buddies at a Janesville coffee shop. "This other guy (Bryce) is kind of a know-nothing." George Poppas, an 87-year-old former Janesville alderman, piped in from across the table that Bryce's arrests are embarrassing. "He's a scoundrel," Poppas said. That got Phil Blazkowski, a 75-year-old semi-retired community planning consultant who described himself as an independent, fired up. "He's grown up since then," Blazkowski said. "You ought to forgive and forget. The House is supposed to represent common people and he's a common person." "Very common," Welker chuckled. "We don't have very many loonies around here so maybe Bryce will get one or two votes." ___ Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trichmond1 ___ Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from around the country leading up to the midterm elections: http://apne.ws/3Gzcraw ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that Steil's grandfather, not father, was a University of Wisconsin System regent and the first chairman of the state lottery board. By Manas Mishra (Reuters) - Up to 10,000 Americans due to have hip or knee replacements will be able to funnel basic health data directly from their Apple Watches to their surgeons under a new app being tested by orthopedics company Zimmer Biomet. Four hospitals and more than a dozen other medical facilities in states including Massachusetts, California, Colorado and Michigan will receive stats including heart rate, steps taken and standing hours from patients waiting for or recovering from hip and knee replacement surgery. The multi-year study in collaboration with Apple Inc will allow doctors and their teams to gauge better how well patients are following prescribed physiotherapy or regimes ahead of surgery or recovering afterwards. More than a million knee and hip replacements occur every year in the United States, making them two of the most common surgeries Americans undergo. "When you look at what patients have to do when they undergo hip and knee replacement, in some cases they have very low support or guidance before and after surgery, which creates a lot of unnecessary fear and anxiety," Zimmer Biomet executive Dan Williamson said. "We believe this is going to create a new ecosystem in orthopedics that ultimately drive less anxiety in patients, and more visibility from the surgeon." The app could also help doctors monitor the health of their patients who prefer to stay at home after surgery rather than opt for nursing facilities and other care centers. Apple has been working on new health initiatives for its users, announcing the Apple Watch Series 4 last month, which can detect heart problems, positioning the new watch as a more comprehensive health device. (Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing Patrick Graham, Bernard Orr) By Joseph Nasr BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Monday to restore trust in her government after her conservative allies suffered heavy losses in a regional election, which their far-right foes hailed as "an earthquake" that would rock the ruling coalition. The Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party of Merkel's own Christian Democrats (CDU), slumped to its worst result in almost 70 years in Sunday's election in Bavaria. The chancellor's other coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), saw its support halved. "My lesson from this is that I, as chancellor, must make sure that trust is won back. I will work on that with as much vigour as I can," she said at an event of the BGA trade body. CSU leader Horst Seehofer, who is also interior minister in Merkel's loveless coalition, had hoped his anti-immigration rhetoric and criticism of Merkel's liberal asylum policies would help his party fend off a threat from the far-right in Bavaria. His strategy backfired as the CSU, which has ruled Bavaria for almost six decades, bled votes to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the ecologist Greens in equal measure. On Monday, he appeared to extend an olive branch. "We will do our bit to ensure that the coalition can continue to do its work in a stable manner despite some of the comments that were made yesterday," Seehofer told reporters. He was referring to angry CSU delegates who blamed their party's dismal showing on Merkel's decision in 2015 to welcome some one million, mainly Muslim, asylum seekers, which has fuelled the rise of the AfD. Merkel said the CSU had lost its absolute majority in the Bavarian parliament even though the regional economy was doing well. "This shows that even a good economic situation and almost full employment are not sufficient if trust is lacking," Merkel said. The Bavarian economy grew by 2.8 percent last year, outpacing the national rate of 2.2 percent. It also has the lowest unemployment rate in Germany, 2.8 percent, compared with just over 5 percent nationally. The AfD gleefully seized on the election outcome as a sign of a broader malaise for Merkel's coalition, which has been shaken by disputes, including over immigration, since it took power seven months ago. "We are very pleased because the goal for the Bavaria state election was to send an earthquake towards Berlin," Martin Sichert, AfD leader in Bavaria, told a news conference. "This earthquake happened .... We are now excited to see what the consequences will be here in Berlin." The CSU also lost support to the Free Voters, a protest party of mainly conservative independents. In Bavaria, the CSU will now try to form a coalition either with the Free Voters - its preferred option - or with the Greens who are ideologically distant. "PAINFUL" The ruling coalition was borne of necessity rather than choice after an inconclusive general election in September 2017. The Bavarian election was also a wake-up call for the SPD, which saw its support halve to just under 10 percent, prompting a discussion over the sustainability of its alliance at national level with Merkel's conservative bloc. SPD members are still bitter over their leaders' decision to join the government after vowing before the 2017 election to sit in opposition if they lost to the conservatives. They are now demanding consequences. SPD leader Andrea Nahles blamed her party's losses in Bavaria on infighting at national level between the CDU and CSU. "It is obvious that the whole style of our cooperation must change," she told reporters. "We urgently need to work on the style and communication and also on substantive progress." Polls suggest the ruling parties will again be punished in two weeks' time in an election in the western state of Hesse, where they are expected to lose voters to the AfD and the Greens. The state is ruled by Merkel's CDU in a coalition with the Greens and a slump in support for the conservatives there would almost certainly further weaken the chancellor's authority. Merkel, who has been in power since 2005 and is Europe's most powerful leader, then faces further potential pitfalls in the form of a CDU conclave and the party's annual congress in early December. The 64-year-old Merkel has won support from key conservatives in her bid for re-election as CDU chairwoman at the congress. But this could change if the CDU loses Hesse to an SPD-Greens coalition. "If the CDU loses the government in Hesse, this will probably start a discussion within the CDU about Merkel's position," wrote mass-selling newspaper Bild. (Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers and Paul Carrel; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer poses with "a whole family of baboons" that he said he killed in Africa. (Photo: IDAHO'S OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR) An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner faces calls to resign after sharing photos of dead animals from a recent hunting trip to Africa and bragging of killing a whole family of baboons. Blake Fischer, in a recent email to colleagues, boasted of having killed at least 14 animals with his wife in Namibia last month, The Idaho State Journal reported. Photos included in the email, which was obtained by the paper and other news outlets, show him posing with a dead giraffe, leopard and warthog, as well as multiple baboons. Blake Fischer likes to kill lots of African wildlife. Some animals on the verge of being declared endangered (and he knows this). He shouldn't be a US Game Commisioner. pic.twitter.com/WwGIWvfAAp Daniel Schneider (@BiologistDan) October 13, 2018 Fischer, in his email, said his wife wanted to watch me and get a feel for Africa... so I shot a whole family of baboons. I think she got the idea quick. More than 100 people were reportedly sent the email, which included details of each kill in the photos captions. Former Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Fred Trevey was among those who were upset by Fischers conduct and urged him to resign. In an email to Fischer obtained by The Idaho Statesman through a public record request, Trevey cited a passage in a hunting manual thats endorsed by the states fish and game department. It says that hunters should refrain from taking photographs of the kill and from vividly describing the kill within earshot of non-hunters. I have a difficult time understanding how a person privileged to be an Idaho Fish and Game commissioner can view such an action as sportsmanlike and an example to others, Trevey told Fischer. The kills may have been legal, Trevey wrote, but that doesnt make them right. He warned that Fischers actions put the commission in a bad light. Story continues Fischer, reached by the Statesman, apologized for sending the photos unsolicited but not for his hunt. I didnt do anything illegal. I didnt do anything unethical. I didnt do anything immoral, Fischer told the paper. Fischer did not immediately respond to HuffPosts requests for comment on Sunday. Idaho has seven fish and game commissioners whose role is to administer department policies, according to the agencys website. The commissioners have four-year terms and are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Fischer was appointed to his post in 2014 and, according to the Statesman, re-appointed this year to a term ending in 2022. His re-appointment has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. Former commissioner Tony McDermott, in an email to a member of the staff of Gov. Butch Otter (R), said he and six other former commissioners agree with Treveys response to this potentially explosive issue, the Statesman reported. The paper also obtained a copy of McDermotts email. Some of those former commissioners, reached by the Statesman, gave mixed answers on how the situation should be handled, with one suggesting that Fischer should resign and another requesting an apology. Jon Hanin, Otters communications director, told HuffPost in an email on Sunday that the governor is concerned and that this office is actively looking into the matter. Related... Big-Game Hunter Trampled To Death By Elephant He Tried To Shoot Here's The 'Urgent Wish List' Trophy Hunters Sent To Ryan Zinke Kentucky Woman Faces Backlash For Killing Giraffe In Africa Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Ankara (AFP) - An individual who claimed to have links to the Islamic State extremist group threatened to attack the Iranian embassy in Ankara, Tehran's envoy in Turkey said on Monday, denying Turkish media reports that he had been evacuated. "The suicide attack against the embassy was only a threat," Ambassador Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian Fard said. "Nothing significant has happened and things are under control." "The threat was made by someone who introduced himself as linked to Daesh," Fard said, quoted by state news agency IRNA and referring to IS by its Arabic acronym. Turkish media said Fard had been evacuated but the ambassador and Tehran flatly denied the report as a complete fabrication. "Such a claim is a sheer lie, and the personnel at our embassy are present at their workplace in full health and security," the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website. Earlier on Monday, DHA news agency said Iran's mission in the Turkish capital had been given an intelligence warning about a possible suicide bomb attack. The road by the embassy was shut off and police could be seen searching cars in the area, an AFP photographer said earlier on Monday. Ambassador Fard also said Turkish police "intensified security measures" around Tehran's mission in Ankara in response to the threat. In 2015 and 2016, Turkey was hit by a series of terror attacks which were blamed on both Kurdish militants and the Islamic State jihadist group. The last attack blamed on IS was in January 2017 when a gunman killed 39 people at an elite Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations. Since then, Turkish police have conducted regular raids across the country against suspected IS jihadists. They have also regularly targeted members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies. burs-raz/sjw/klm A chill must have gone down the spines of dissident journalists all over the world when the news about Jamal Khashoggi came out a week ago that he had disappeared inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey and may have been killed and dismembered by Saudi government operatives. Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad found it frightening and ominous. My first reaction when I heard the news was I got goosebumps, she told me last week on a visit to Los Angeles. I said, This could happen to me as well. We journalists of the Middle East this is the fear we have in our hearts. We are not totally out of their reach. Like Khashoggi, the 42-year-old Alinejad is based in the United States, nominally beyond the reach of the regime that she relentlessly criticizes over her social media channels, in her recent book The Wind In My Hair and in her work for various outlets including the Voice of America Persian service. Also Read:WME Parent Company Endeavor 'Assessing' Saudi Partnership After Jamal Khashoggi's Disappearance (Exclusive) How safe is she? Alinejad leads a large and growing civil disobedience campaign against the compulsory hijab, encouraging women in Iran to remove their hijabs and posting photos and videos of them doing so on social media. She encourages women to out their sexual harrassers by taking video and sending it to her, and she posts that as well. Her Instagram videos typically draw millions of views, making her the voice of dissident Iranian women from her home base in Brooklyn and a constant thorn in the side of the Iranian regime. white-wednesdays Also Read:New York Times Cancels Hosted Saudi Arabia Trips After Khashoggi Disappearance The parallels to another authoritarian regime, Saudi Arabia, are unmistakable for Alinejad. In March, she was threatened by a prominent member of the Basij Irans feared paramilitary arm. The official told BBCs Persian Service that he would hire someone in America to kill Masih to cut her chest, cut her tongue and send it to her parents in Iran, Alinejad recalled (she wrote about it in the Washington Post at the time). Story continues When she tried to lodge a complaint at the Iranian interest section in the Pakistan embassy in Washington, she was told she could not enter unless she covered her hair. She refused. Also Read:CNN Pulls Out of Saudi Arabia Conference Amid Khashoggi Disappearance That is not the only threat that Alinejad has faced. A year ago, the Iranian government prevailed on Alinejads parents to invite her to Turkey, saying that they wanted to have a chat with her. Alinejad smelled a trap and declined to go. After that incident, her parents publicly denounced her and she said she no longer is in contact with them. Recently came word that a senior official in the Iranian department that oversees public morals told the Iranian Fars News Agency that if Alinejad enters any embassy outside of Iran, she should be arrested. So far Alinejad has not gone abroad, but the still-unconfirmed fate of Jamal Khashoggi weighs heavily on her. I have to be more careful, thats it, she said. But I dont want to live in fear. I dont want to keep silent because of that. Alinejad spoke at a WrapWomen event earlier this year, talking about the responsibility of the West to support dissident voices even when it made diplomatic relations more complicated. To fail to do so, she argues, betrays our democratic values. This story is beyond sad, she said. Being a journalist and living in fear all your life in your country you leave your country for one dream to be safe, to be the voice of the people who are suffering from lack of freedom. And then, in a safe country you get killed? It means they attacked your dreams. And its more sad if you see the West doesnt take any action. Masih Alinejad Instagram Alinejad had harsh words for those in America and Europe who welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman as a reformer without scrutinizing his other repressive actions, such as locking up his relatives and women who had challenged the driving ban. They are talking about bin Salmans reform to let women drive, but they never ask where are the campaigners against the driving ban, she observed. They are in prison right now in Saudi Arabia, but they (the West) doesnt care because the reform is the main issue When we are fighting the dictatorship in the Middle East, and the West legitimizes them that kills us. We try to stop living in paranoia, she said. I have only one life. If Khashoggi was alive hed say the same thing, Im sure. We have only one life. We dedicate ourselves to our goal, to our dream. What really kills me is that in a really free country, in the West, you can take action, but because of the political agenda they keep silent. They dont force the Saudi government or Iranian government to pay the price. Thats what kills me. What is the West going to do? she asked. Watch Alinejads interview from last June below. She will also be appearing at WrapWomens Power Women Summit on November 1-2 in Los Angeles. Read original story Iranian Dissident Journalist Masih Alinejad on Jamal Khashoggis Fate: What Is the West Going to Do? At TheWrap (This October 12 story corrects Commissioner's name from Julien to Julian in eight paragraph.) By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy is resisting a European Union push to impose sanctions on states who carry out cyberattacks, a move that appears in line with Rome's calls to de-escalate tensions with Russia but that could alienate Italy from its EU allies. Diplomats said the sanctions plan is meant to strengthen EU defenses and deterrence against cyberattacks, in particular from Russia, which has been in recent months at the center of allegations of elections meddling in various Western states as well as security breaches conducted through electronic means. But Italy has opposed the idea of a new penalty regime, a confidential EU document seen by Reuters shows. The plan has broad support among EU states except for Italy, according to the document. Italian officials were not immediately available for comment. Italy has repeatedly urged a relaxation of the sanctions against Russia, which has been the target of a wide range of EU economic penalties since the 2014 Ukraine crisis. This position has been opposed by the large majority of EU states that have regularly renewed the sanctions regime against Moscow because of its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and continuing support for pro-Russian separatist rebels there. The proposals for sanctioning cyberattacks were discussed in meetings this week in preparation for an EU summit that will take place next week in Brussels. "Responding to large-scale cyberattacks from foreign actors, in particular when they are aimed at our elections, is vital," EU Security Commissioner Julian King told Reuters, adding that sanctions should be considered "where appropriate". Britain, France, Estonia, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland called for the introduction of sanctions, the document shows. Belgium, Finland and Sweden support a "gradual response" to future attacks that could include a number of measures before sanctions, the document shows. Rome has long said that existing sanctions are damaging Italian firms trading with Moscow, and calls for de-escalating tensions with Moscow have grown louder since a new anti-establishment government took office in Italy in June. Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's co-ruling far-right League, is an admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has rejected allegations of Russian meddling in Western elections. EU diplomats said the plan was also aimed at preventing cyber-attacks from China and North Korea. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio with additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Alissa De Carbonnel and Robin Emmott; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Beirut (AFP) - Jihadists in Syria's Idlib failed to meet a Monday deadline to leave a planned buffer zone ringing the country's last rebel bastion, casting fresh doubt over a deal to avert bloodshed. A Russian-Turkish truce agreement reached nearly a month ago for the northwestern region gave "radical fighters" until October 15 to leave a proposed demilitarised area between government and opposition forces. The accord was a last-ditch effort to stave off a regime onslaught on Idlib, the largest rebel stronghold left in war-ravaged Syria and home to around three million people. But the target date for the withdrawal came and went without any hardliners leaving. "We did not document the withdrawal of any jihadist fighters from the entire demilitarised zone," Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, said on Monday morning. Jihadists had until midnight Sunday to Monday to pull out, according to Abdel Rahman and two rebel commanders in Idlib. Syria's government said it would take "time" to judge if the deal had failed. "We have to wait for the Russian reaction. Russia is monitoring and following the situation," said Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. An Idlib resident said civilians in the northwestern region feared a spike in violence if the Russian-Turkish accord collapsed. "We fear the deal's sponsors will fail to implement all its points, and that the bombardment and battles will return," he told AFP. Hours before the cut-off time, Idlib's jihadist heavyweight Hayat Tahrir al-Sham vowed to continue fighting. "We have not abandoned our choice of jihad and fighting towards implementing our blessed revolution," said HTS, an alliance led by Al-Qaeda's one-time Syria branch. - Pullout still possible - HTS and other, more extreme jihadists hold over two-thirds of the planned buffer area, and over half of the rest of Idlib. Story continues Their withdrawal was seen as the real test of the accord reached on September 17 between rebel backer Ankara and regime supporter Moscow in the Russian resort town of Sochi. The deal provides for a 15-20 kilometre buffer zone semi-circling opposition-held areas in Idlib and the neighbouring provinces of Latakia, Hama, and Aleppo. It set a first deadline of October 10 for all rebels and jihadists to pull heavy weapons from the zone, a task which Turkey, the Observatory, and rebels said was done on time. But late Saturday, mortar rounds fired from the buffer hit regime positions and killed two soldiers, the Observatory said, indicating heavy arms may still be in the zone. The apparent violation came just ahead of the deal's second and more consequential deadline: a full jihadist withdrawal of the zone by Monday, paving the way for Russia and Turkey to monitor the area. HTS has yet to take a formal stance on the Sochi accord and its most recent statement made no mention of the deadline. But it and other jihadists appeared to have quietly pulled out their heavy arms in line with the first deadline on October 10. That, observers said, could indicate that hope was not yet lost for the buffer. - 'Playing with fire' - "Even if the agreement is not fully implemented today, it doesn't mean that it's not holding," said Haid Haid, research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. HTS would seek the "best possible scenario" for its own survival, but that may include "a partial withdrawal". Sam Heller, an International Crisis Group analyst, said the ambiguity in HTS's statement "could be seen as a sort of implicit acceptance of the Sochi deal and its implementation". The onus was now on Ankara and Moscow -- the deal's two sponsors and the chief powerbrokers of the Syrian war -- to overcome the missed deadline. "October 15 is a test of Turkey's ability to implement the deal, but at the same time it's a test of Russia's intentions and how serious it is about continuing the agreement," Heller told AFP. It would show whether Moscow was committed to keeping the deal alive or "implementing it to the letter," he said. Russia has hinted it could accept a brief delay if it meant the spirit of the deal was still upheld. Nicholas Heras, of the Center for a New American Security, however warned HTS was "playing with fire" and could cause Turkey to use military power against it. "While it is true that Turkey does not want a battle against HTS in Idlib, the Turks also want to keep the deal they made with Russia." Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the Idlib is only "temporary," and that the area would eventually fall back to government hands. John Oliver tore into President Donald Trump on Sunday for failing to take action against Saudi Arabia over the alleged assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the regime, hasnt been seen since entering a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish media reported that the government has audio and video footage confirming that Khashoggi was murdered in the consulate. The slaying was the Saudi government sending a message to the world that they could do it and get away with it, the Last Week Tonight host said. Then, Oliver took a look at the long and complicated history of the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia as well as Trumps personal connections to the country and its ruling class, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a.k.a. MBS. Oliver said Trump and the prince were similar in some of the worst possible ways, including a love of money and self-promotion. Trumps intense bromance with MBS is bad news because when you set no boundaries on an oppressive regime, they are always going to ask themselves, How much can we get away with here? And as we saw this week, the answer to that may well be pretty much anything. See Olivers full takedown in the clip above. CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, this article previously misidentified the location of the consulate where Khashoggi was last seen as Islamabad. Related... John Oliver Has A Heartfelt Message For Orlando John Oliver Is Spot On About What's Killing Journalism John Oliver: "America Vomiting All Over Itself" (VIDEO) Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Jaber Border Crossing (Jordan) (AFP) - Jordan on Monday reopened its main border crossing with war-torn Syria, a key Middle East trade route, after a three year closure, AFP reporters said. The black metal border gate was opened from the Jordanian side of the crossing at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) as more than a dozen police and customs officials stood nearby. Cars bearing Jordanian license plates queued to enter Syria as travellers expressed their joy at being able to cross the border. Syrian businessman Hisham Falyoun, who lives in Jordan with his wife and children, was the first person to cross the border in his black Mercedes jeep. "I am extremely happy, I can't express my feelings. This crossing should have been reopened earlier as it is a very vital line for all Arab countries not only Jordan and Syria," he said. "I wanted to be the first person to cross to show everyone that Syria is safe, Syria is back," said Falyoun, who was hoping to surprise his parents in Damascus. Other travellers were likewise elated to make the crossing. "Today is a celebration for us and I wanted to be among the first to cross the border," said Syrian businessman Mohammed Hisham as he waited for his turn to enter Syria from Jordan where he now lives. Jordanian taxi driver Imad Sariheen called the reopening of Jaber a source of "great happiness for all of us" which will help ease "economic hardships" caused by the closure of the crossing. "Our conditions have worsened over the past years. Our work was halted because of the closure of the border between Jordan and Syria," he added. The border crossing, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side and Nassib on the Syrian side, was a key trade route before Amman closed it after the post was overrun by rebels in April 2015. The reopening comes after Syrian government troops retook their side of the crossing in July under a deal with rebel fighters brokered by Moscow. Story continues - Vital trade artery - Before it was shut the crossing was a major link not only for direct trade between the neighbouring countries but also for longer-distance transit, which was a signficant source of revenue. Its closure strained the economy of Jordan -- a desert kingdom with little resources which is heavily reliant on imports and foreign aid. Nabil Romman, a Jordanian trade official, told AFP in 2015 that "70 percent of what we eat, of everything we import and export, passed through Syria". Cross border trade between Jordan and Syria in 2010 -- a year before the war broke out -- stood at $615 million (530 million euros). Damascus hopes that resumption of activity across the border post will help revitalise its own economy which has been devastated by the war. After seven years of civil war, Syria's government has recaptured large swathes of territory from rebels with backing from Russia, but it still only controls around half the 19 crossing points with neighbours Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghneimat said Sunday that the decision to reopen the border was taken after "Jordanian and Syrian technical teams agreed on the final measures". Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar also confirmed on Sunday that Jaber would start working again. According to an agreement between Jordan and Syria seen by AFP, the traffic of passenger and goods at the border crossing will resume daily from 0500 GMT to 1300 GMT. Syria also requested that Jordan send an expert to help with border checks at Nassib where there are no X-ray machines, according to the terms of the agreement. The accord stipulated that travellers entering Jordan from Syria "must obtain prior to their trip a security permit" from Jordanian authorities. And those who plan to use Jordan as a transit stop en route to a third country must show proof of their residency permit in Syria as well as an entry visa to the country they plan to visit. Abdullah, a Syrian in his 20s who studies in Jordan, told AFP he had been waiting at Jaber since dawn for his turn to go across to Syria. "I brought my Jordanian friend with me. I had promised him we would visit my country together once the border reopens," Abdullah said. LUXEMBOURG (AP) The Latest on Brexit negotiations (all times local): 9:10 p.m. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz say they still think a Brexit deal can be reached even though the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland has been an impasse in negotiations. Kurz and Rutte met ahead of a European Union summit that starts Wednesday and where the terms of Britain's divorce from the bloc will take center stage. Rutte said on Monday night: "It is not a question of do there still need to be concessions. It is more a question of can we, by continuing to talk and by being as creative as possible, see if we can solve the final problems." Rutte said that while it "would be great if we succeed this week," negotiators will take more time if the summit doesn't produce an agreement. Kurz, speaking through an interpreter, said he thinks the Irish border issue "is more a tactic than a situation in which you can't find a solution." ___ 7:20 p.m. EU Council President Donald Tusk is expressing continued optimism that the European Union and Britain can reach a Brexit deal despite an impasse on the Irish border issue. In a letter to the leaders of EU member countries sent Monday, Tusk used an oft-quoted motivational line "It always seems impossible until it's done" and added: "Let us not give up." In 48 hours, Tusk will be hosting British Prime Minister Theresa and the 27 other EU leaders at a summit in Brussels hoping to clinch a breakthrough on the deal setting terms for Britain's departure and future relationship with the EU. Britain is set to leave the EU on March 29, and could make its exit without an agreement in place. Tusk wrote in his invitation to Wednesday's summit that "responsible as we are, we must prepare the EU for a no-deal scenario, which is more likely than ever before." ___ 4:40 p.m. French President Emmanuel Macron says progress toward a Brexit deal between Britain and the European Union can be made over coming days. Story continues At a news conference in Paris following a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Macron said he will have a phone call with British Prime Minister Theresa May later Monday and with EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Tuesday. "I believe we can move forward," he said. EU leaders meet for a two-day summit from Wednesday with Brexit high on the agenda. The discussions appear to have made little headway in recent days and expectations of a deal at that summit have been scaled back. Macron insisted France is prepared for all possible scenarios including a no-deal Brexit which is "not what we want." ___ 3:50 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May says the U.K. and the European Union are not far apart in Brexit negotiations and a divorce deal remains achievable. Speaking to lawmakers Monday after weekend Brexit talks failed to make a breakthrough, May said "the shape of a deal" is clear in most areas, but a gap remains on the issue of the Irish border. Talks have stalled around how to ensure there is no hard border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit. Britain rejects the EU's "backstop" proposal, which would keep Northern Ireland in a customs union with the bloc. May says that's unacceptable, but the two sides are now discussing "a U.K.-wide customs solution" where all of Britain stays in a customs partnership with the EU. The main sticking point is Britain's insistence that such a solution must be temporary. ___ 3:35 p.m. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says a Brexit deal with Britain is more likely to be struck in November or December than at a summit this week. Speaking after Britain and the EU failed to resolve their differences over the Irish border, Varadkar said this is a "dynamic situation." The EU had been hoping for a breakthrough at this week's summit. But Varadkar told reporters Monday that November or December were likely "the best opportunity for a deal." The current deadlock has raised fears of a chaotic "no-deal" Brexit in March. Varadkar said that would be "really bad for Ireland, relatively bad for the EU, but quite a disaster for the U.K., and I am sure that the British government is motivated to make sure we don't end up in a no-deal scenario." ___ 4:00 p.m. Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany wants Britain's departure from the European Union on March 29 to be orderly, "but not at any price." Merkel said Monday she had been hopeful the EU and the British government would reach a Brexit agreement, but "at the moment, it looks a bit more difficult again." EU negotiators and leaders have said they won't accept Britain cherry-picking the best parts of EU membership and leaving the obligations or unresolved issues out of the withdrawal agreement and the country's future relations with the bloc. Merkel said during a conference of German exporters: "We must not allow our single market, which is really our competitive advantage, to be destroyed by such a withdrawal." She added: "So this requires a great deal of finesse. And if it doesn't work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear but time is pressing." ___ 12:40 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman says Brexit talks are stuck because the European Union "continues to insist on the possibility of a customs border down the Irish Sea." James Slack says May cannot accept an EU proposal to keep Northern Ireland inside the bloc's customs union in order to avoid a hard border between it and EU member Ireland. Britain says it will only accept that plan if it is temporary and does not hive Northern Ireland off permanently from the rest of the U.K. in terms of customs arrangements. The border issue remains the chief obstacle to a divorce agreement. High-level talks on Sunday failed to produce a breakthrough. Slack says the British government is still confident of striking a deal this fall, before Britain leaves the EU on March 29. He says "continuous" negotiations are still going on ahead of an EU summit starting Wednesday. May is due to update lawmakers on the talks later Monday. ___ 11:25 a.m. Ireland's foreign minister says that Britain has placed new conditions on the use of a mechanism to ensure that goods keep flowing across the Irish border after Brexit. Simon Coveney says that Britain agreed in December and again in March that the unpopular "backstop" would remain in place until a better solution is found. The backstop is a guarantee that would ensure no "hard border" of lengthy customs checks and controls would emerge between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland in the U.K. Coveney said "nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism to calm nerves that we're not going to see physical border infrastructure re-emerging." Britain only wants it in place for a limited time, but Coveney said that "a backstop cannot be time limited. That's new. It hasn't been there before." ___ 10:50 a.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a Brexit crisis, with her political allies insisting they will scuttle a divorce deal with the European Union over the issue of the Irish border. The Democratic Unionist Party is opposed to any customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. after Britain leaves the European Union. But EU officials say that may be the only way to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said "it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no-deal scenario" because there was no agreement that would be accepted by Britain's Parliament. High-level talks in Brussels ended without agreement Sunday, and no more are planned before an EU summit starting Wednesday. International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said Monday that "everyone needs to calm down" and support May as she tries to get a deal with the EU. ___ 10:05 a.m. Britain's foreign secretary is cautiously optimistic that the U.K. and the European Union will secure an agreement on Britain leaving the bloc although perhaps not at an EU summit this week. Jeremy Hunt said Monday that "there are one or two very difficult outstanding issues, but I think we can get there. Whether we do this week or not, who knows?" Hunt said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that "everyone is trying incredibly hard. I think it is possible to do it and I think with good will on both sides we can get there." Britain officially leaves the EU on March 29, but a deal must be clinched in coming weeks to allow time for the EU and U.K. parliaments to ratify it. By Jean-Paul PELISSIER VILLEGAILHENC, France (Reuters) - At least 12 people died in southwestern France on Monday when some of the worst flash floods in a century turned rivers into raging torrents that engulfed homes and swept away cars. Up to seven months' rain fell in just a few hours overnight, local officials said, catching sleeping residents by surprise and isolating villages. Several deaths were in the town of Trebes, which sits between a canal and two rivers, including the Aude. As the death toll rose and the extent of the damage became clear, President Emmanuel Macron decided to hold off on an already-delayed reshuffle of his cabinet. "It's like a war zone. The village is more or less cut off from the outside world," said Jean-Jacques Garros, a resident of Villegailhenc, one of the hardest hit areas. The Interior Ministry initially put the number of deaths at 13 before revising the toll downwards. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe flew to the disaster zone to meet with emergency service personnel. Some 350 firefighters were involved in rescue operations, a number which will double as more are drafted in to deal with the aftermath. Television pictures showed churning, muddy rivers that had uprooted trees, knocked over concrete power pylons and tore up roads in the southern region of Aude, near the medieval hilltop city of Carcassonne. Nine helicopters were scrambled to rescue people from the roofs of their homes as rough weather complicated operations earlier in the day. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the area. Among the worst hit were the villages of Conques-sur-Orbiel, Villegailhenc and Villardonnel, where the water rose as high as the first-floor windows of some houses. The Aude region is a popular tourist destination with old towns and villages in its hilly peaks and land stretching down to the Mediterranean. The flash floods struck without warning. At least one victim was carried away by raging waters while sleeping, according to Alain Thirion, the prefect of Aude. Schools were shut and residents told to stay at home. The Vigicrues agency, which tracks water levels in France, said the flooding was nearing a peak last seen in 1891. Torrential downpours are not uncommon in France at this time of year, but meteorologists have said that exceptionally warm sea water along the Mediterranean coast may have intensified the rains. The year so far is France's warmest since 1900, according to the state meteorological service. (Reporting by Richard Lough, Simon Carraud and Brian Love; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Cologne (Germany) (AFP) - German police said Monday they ended a hostage-taking in a pharmacy in Cologne's main train station, gravely wounding the alleged perpetrator after he himself injured two people. "Special response units overpowered the man. During the police action he hurt two bystanders, one of them seriously," police said in a statement. The attacker had to be resuscitated and was in intensive care for "extremely serious" injuries sustained when officers stormed the shop, they added. "The motive of the attacker remains unclear," a spokesman said soon after he was subdued. A woman held hostage by the perpetrator was only "lightly wounded", police tweeted shortly after she was freed around 3:00 pm (1300 GMT). But another victim, a 14-year-old girl, was brought to hospital suffering from burns. Eyewitnesses said the teenager had been in a cafe close to the pharmacy immediately before the hostage-taking. Police set up a webpage where members of the public could upload pictures and video related to the incident, while their own investigations were "at full pitch". They began receiving calls about the violence around lunchtime. An eyewitness told journalists how she heard screams and saw "a girl running for her life" from the cafe with flames spreading up her leg, before she was helped by bystanders. First responders arrived around 12:45 pm at the central station directly next to Cologne's twin-spired cathedral, locking the whole building down. As members of the public were ordered to leave the area as quickly as possible, state rail operator Deutsche Bahn shut down the busy main train station in Cologne -- a major hub for rail travel through North Rhine-Westphalia state and nationwide. Officers initially said they were in contact with the hostage-taker to determine his demands and whether he was armed. But shortly afterwards police commandos stormed the pharmacy with stun grenades. "The perpetrator is under control. Police measures are continuing," Cologne police wrote on Twitter just after the special unit assaulted the shop. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is calling on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to cancel his planned appearance at an economic summit in Saudi Arabia later this month following the disappearance and suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. I dont think we should continue as business as usual until we know exactly whats happened here... I dont think he should go, Rubio said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union. Khashoggi, a Washington-based Saudi reporter who has been writing opinion columns for The Washington Post, went missing after he was captured on video entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey earlier this month. He is known as an outspoken critic of Saudi policies, and Turkish authorities have said they have evidence he was tortured and killed inside the building. He walked into that consulate and he never came out, Rubio said on CNN. So the only two things that could have happened is, hes alive and somehow still in there, or hes dead and the Saudis are the ones who did it. A growing number of media organizations and companies have pulled out of the economic summit in response to the mystery surrounding Khashoggis well-being, including The New York Times, The Economist and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Mnuchin told CNBC on Friday that he was still planning on attending the conference, but added his plans could change if more information comes out about Khashoggis disappearance. Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, asked about the Trump administrations continued participation in the Saudi event, similarly suggested that Mnuchin may ultimately not go, depending on the results of the ongoing investigation. Its a very important meeting but he... will want to see how things go in the Saudi investigation or the general investigation of the Khashoggi tragedy, Kudlow said on Fox News Sunday. Pressure has been growing on the Trump administration to mount a stronger response to Khashoggis disappearance and the Saudi governments inability to provide clear answers about his whereabouts. Story continues A bipartisan group of nearly two dozen senators on Wednesday signed a letter that will spur an investigation into his disappearance, an inquiry that could trigger U.S. sanctions against any foreign individuals found responsible for the incident. Rubio was among the lawmakers signing the letter. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). (Photo: Bill Pugliano via Getty Images) During an interview set to air Sunday evening on CBS 60 Minutes, President Donald Trump declined to say whether he would impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia if its involvement was confirmed. He also expressed reluctance to cease arms sales between the U.S. and the country because it could hurt American jobs. But he also said his administration is going to get to the bottom of what has happened to Khashoggis disappearance and there will be severe punishment for those responsible for it. The Saudi stock market plunged by almost 7 percent on Sunday following news of Trumps threat. The kingdom later warned in a statement that it would respond with greater action to any threats and attempts to undermine it. Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC and The Financial Times are among other media outlets that have withdrawn from the Future Investment Initiative (FII), scheduled to begin on Oct. 23 in Riyadh. The Guardian reported on Saturday that the multiple business and media leaders also bailing from the event include Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin and Arianna Huffington, who runs consulting firm Thrive Global (Huffington is no longer affiliated with HuffPost). Described as the Davos of the desert, a reference to the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Switzerland, the FII event had been a glittering showcase for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and had reflected his ambition to be a significant player on the world stage, The New York Times noted in a story late last week. If last years [FII] conference served as a grand coming-out party for Crown Prince Mohammed, this years gathering is a symbol of the Wests deepening disillusionment with the young leader, the paper said, referring to 2017s successful event. No longer the bold reformer bent on modernizing his kingdom a favorite of President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner he is now regarded as an impulsive, unreliable autocrat who falls back on crude tactics to crush dissent. As of Sunday, many big names were still expected to attend the conference. These include the CEOs of the Blackstone Group, JPMorgan Chase and SoftBank all major investors in Saudi Arabia. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. The Duchess of Sussex is pictured at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding on Friday - POOL PA The Duchess of Sussex is pregnant, Kensington Palace has announced. The duke and duchess, who announced the "happy news" ahead of their 16-day tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, are "delighted", a spokesman said. The duchess, who is said to be in good health, is due in the spring. The couple informed the Queen and other members of the Royal Family on Friday when they gathered in Windsor to celebrate the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. A spokesman said: "Their Royal Highnesses are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in spring 2019. "Their Royal Highnesses very much appreciate all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share their happy news. "The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted for the couple." "Ms Doria Ragland is very happy about the lovely news and she looks forward to welcoming her first grandchild." Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. pic.twitter.com/Ut9C0RagLk Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 15, 2018 A source said the Royal family were told the news on Friday at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, and were able to congratulate the couple there in person. The Palace did not comment on whether Thomas Markle, the Meghans father, has been told. Grant Harrold, a former butler to Charles, William and Harry, tweeted: "Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex who are expecting their first child in the spring." Story continues Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, was among the first to respond to the royal baby, tweeting: "Happy news to wake up to on a Monday morning - congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!!" The duke and duchess arrived in Sydney on Monday ahead of a 16-day tour which will take in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. The duchess, who turned 37 in August, will still visit Fiji and Tonga despite the presence of the Zika virus, with a spokesman saying they had taken medical advice. Harry and Meghan were married at Windsor Castle in May and the news of the duchess's pregnancy was announced on the eve of their first tour outside the UK and Ireland. The couple were last seen together on Friday at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle. The Duchess turned to her own wedding dress designer, Clare Waight Keller at the house of Givenchy for her guest outfit - a refined navy blue coat and dress. The newlyweds' trip Down Under will include 76 engagements and will see the couple watch the Invictus Games and visit a Sydney zoo and the rural Flying Doctor service. They will return to London from Auckland on November 1. Kensington Palace said in an earlier statement: "There is a long history of friendship between the royal family and Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, and their links with the UK are extensive. "The duke and duchess are very much looking forward to experiencing the unique cultures and customs of those four Commonwealth". What will the royal baby be called? There will be much suspense amid the royal baby fever as to what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will call their baby. On the one hand, the youngster will be born into the British royal family, where tradition is an intrinsic part of the Windsors' lives. If Harry and Meghan go classic, something like Alice, Mary, Elizabeth or Victoria for a girl, and Philip, Frederick, Charles, Arthur, Edward or James for a boy are possibilities. Meghan has immersed herself in the royal way of life, ending her career as an actress, and becoming a full-time royal. But the pair are also forward-thinking royals, and the duchess has her own American upbringing to draw on. They may decide to surprise everyone when naming their first child. Canadian-born Autumn Phillips, and husband Peter Phillips, opted for a non-traditional name for their daughter Savannah - the Queen's first great-grandchild - in 2010. In the US, the most popular name for a baby girl is Emma and Liam for a baby boy. In the UK, the most popular name for a girl born in 2017 was Olivia, and for a boy Oliver. The Duchess of Sussex is pictured at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding on Friday Credit: PA Where will the baby fall in the line of succession? Seventh in line, which means it's highly unlikely the child will ever be monarch. The baby will have three cousins: Prince George - a future king - and Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who are further up the line of succession, so it is a safe bet that the throne will stay on the Cambridge side of the family. The baby will bump Harry's uncle, the Duke of York, into eighth place in the line of succession. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie move into ninth and 10th place, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex - the Queen's youngest son - drops out of the top 10 for the first time to 11th in line. What title will the new royal baby have? The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby will not be a prince nor a princess unless the Queen steps in. King George V - Harry's great great grandfather - limited titles within the royal family in 1917. This means Harry and Meghan's first born, as a great-grandchild of the sovereign, is too far down the line of succession to be an HRH. George V declared that: "the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms." Prince George and Princess Charlotte will be first cousins to Prince Harry and Meghan's first child Credit: WPA Pool The eldest son and heir apparent of a duke can use one of his father's lesser grade peerage titles by courtesy, according to Debrett's. So a first son of Harry's would become Earl of Dumbarton - one of the subsidiary titles Harry received from the Queen on the morning of his wedding. A daughter would be Lady (first name) Mountbatten-Windsor, and any subsequent sons Lord (first name) Mounbatten-Windsor. Will the baby have dual citizenship? The Duke and Duchess could apply for their child to have dual US-UK citizenship. Meghan is planning to become a British citizen - but it is not known whether she will hold dual nationality, and at present is still a US citizen. According to the American Embassy in the UK, a child born outside of the US and in wedlock to a US citizen parent and a non US citizen parent, may acquire US citizenship at birth if the US parent lived in America for five years - two of which were after the age of 14. When and where will the baby be born? The Duchess of Cambridge had three successful deliveries at the private Lindo Wing in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, so Meghan might follow her sister-in-law's lead. Harry was also born there in 1984. It is close to Kensington Palace and well practised at dealing with royal births, and the publicity surrounding them. Read more about what it's like to give birth in the Lindo Wing here. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pictured leaving the Lindo Wing with Prince George, in July 2013 Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire Will Harry and Meghan hire a nanny? Most likely. Harry has been close to all his nannies and it is likely he and Meghan will arrange for a nanny to care for their baby while they are on official engagements. Kate and William have the help of their full-time live-in nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo. Meghan's close friend Jessica Mulroney had two nannies to help her with her twin boys and younger daughter. Read more about what it's really like to be a royal nanny here. Sign up to the Telegraphs Royal Tour WhatsApp group to receive exclusive analysis of Meghan's fashion throughout the upcoming Royal Tour. The Telegraphs Fashion Director, Bethan Holt, will be sending daily updates straight to your phone, providing insights you can't get anywhere else. Sign up here. Theres going to be a newcomer to the British royal family: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting a baby early next year, according to an announcement from Kensington Palace. The couple, who were married in May, said they were delighted to share the happy news with the wider public in a tweet early Monday from Kensington Palace. The baby, the couples first, is expected in the Spring of 2019. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019. pic.twitter.com/Ut9C0RagLk Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 15, 2018 But before the baby, Meghan and Harry will embark on another first: their inaugural overseas trip as royalty. The couple will open the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia this week before visiting New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. A British-built spacecraft will set off for Mercury this week in a mission which could finally determine if the nearest planet to the Sun has water. BepiColombo, one of the most ambitious missions ever undertaken by the European Space Agency (ESA), will send two orbiters to explore the fiery world where surface temperatures reach 842F (450C). One of the probes was built by Airbus in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and the second was constructed in Japan. Only two spacecraft have been to Mercury up to now, Nasas Mariner 10 which flew past in 1974 and 1975 and Nasas Messenger which orbited the planet between 2011 and 2015. It is hoped the expedition will answer questions raised by the previous missions such as whether the planet holds water. Despite being perilously close to the Sun, the tilt of planet means some areas are permanently in shade and temperatures can fall to -292F (-180C), allowing ice to form. An artist's impression of BepiColombo at Mercury Credit: ESA The fairing of the Ariane 5 launcher is lowered over the BepiColombo spacecraft stack. Credit: Manuel Pedoussaut In 2012, Messenger found ice at the planets North Pole but was unable to say whether it was water or sulphur. BepiColombo will also be able to confirm whether water ice is present at the South Pole. Messenger also found organic matter on the planet, and although scientists do not think life will be present, it could help them understand how it began on Earth. Researchers also want to learn more about Mercury's magnetic field. Previously it was thought that the planet was solid all the way through but previous missions discovered a magnetic field suggesting it may have a molten interior. Professor Emma Bunce, of the University of Leicester, which has built one of the instruments on board, said: There are some interesting quirks about Mercury that we still don't understand. Messenger told us a great deal but also raised more questions. Giuseppe 'Bepi' Colombo Credit: ESA BepiColombo is named after the late Guiseppe "Bepi" Colombo, an Italian scientist and engineer from the University of Padua who played a leading role in the Mariner 10 mission. Story continues The spacecraft launches from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on Saturday and will take seven years to reach Mercury arriving in late 2025. During its 5.2 billion miles journey it will make a complex series of fly-bys of Earth, Venus and Mercury to help it slow down enough to avoid the huge gravitational pull of the Sun. After launch, BepiColombo will return to Earth two years later to make a gravity-assist flyby Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Esa's Mercury Planet Orbiter (MPO) and the Japanese space agency Jaxa's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) will then separate to study Mercury for up to two years. Dr Jerry Bolter, project manager at Airbus Defence and Space, said: The only other spacecraft to go in orbit around Mercury was Nasa's Messenger. That was a very, very light spacecraft and no-where near as capable as Bepi will be. The scientists describe Messenger as the hors d'oeuvre and Bepi as the main course." "I've been working on this project since 2006. It will be very emotional I think. It's a fundamental milestone getting the spacecraft off the ground. Then you start worrying: will we get communication? Will we get power? But it's also exciting." Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A Palestinian woman died of her wounds after Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank threw stones at the car she was travelling in, Palestinian security sources and media said Saturday. An Israeli police spokesman confirmed a car had been hit by stones but did not identify the perpetrators. He said an investigation was underway but did not give further details. Palestinian official news agency Wafa identified the passenger who died as 48-year-old mother of eight, Aisha Mohammed Rabi. She died in hospital in the northern West Bank city of Nablus from a head injury sustained in the stone-throwing incident south of the city on Friday, Wafa said, citing medical and Palestinian security sources. Her husband, who was driving the car at the time, escaped with minor injuries, the same sources said. Palestinian witnesses and security sources cited by the news agency said the stones were thrown by Israeli settlers. Stone-throwing incidents implicating Israeli settlers have risen of late, the Palestinian security sources added. The Israeli army has not commented on the attack. Tensions have been running high in the West Bank over the past week with two attacks against Israelis. On Friday, Israeli forces said they had arrested a Palestinian on suspicion of stabbing and wounding an army reservist on guard duty at a checkpoint south of Nablus the previous day. Another wanted Palestinian, who is suspected of killing two Israeli colleagues and wounding a third in the northern West Bank last Sunday, remains on the run. Israeli security forces have identified him as Ashraf Naalwa, 23. A wave of mainly lone-wolf Palestinian attacks against Israelis in the West Bank erupted in 2015 but had largely abated. PHOTOS: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer visits India to repair relations Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and his wife, Jill Scheer, pay their respects at the Sikh shrine of Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, on Oct. 10, 2018. Photo from Getty Images. Andrew Scheer is in India this week and so far, there have been no controversies to speak of. The federal Conservative leader brought his wife, Jill Scheer, along for the journey. The official Opposition leader made it a point to visit the country after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made international headlines during his India visit in February. Trudeau was criticized for wearing traditional Indian clothing with his wife and three children when it wasnt always necessary, much to the amusement of some Indians. Also, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, the prime ministers wife, was photographed at an event in India with Jaspal Atwal, a convicted attempted murderer. In comparison, Scheers tour of the country has been described by some as being more low key than Trudeaus trip. This week, Im on a mission to Canadas largest trading partner in south Asia and the worlds largest democracy, Scheer said in a video posted to YouTube on Oct. 9. Im going to be sitting down with Indian officials and business leaders to promote Canadas interests and promote the best opportunities our country has to offer. Most notably, the Tory leader met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he reportedly discussed how Canadian oil could help meet Indias energy needs. CBC News reported that Scheer described his interaction with Modi, a man with more than 44 million Twitter followers, as warm and he was interested in Scheers take on Canadas new trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico. The former House speaker also met with Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, Bangalores Kempegowda International Airport CEO Hari Marar, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other leaders in business and politics. In August, Scheer spoke of the need to repair and strengthen Canadas relationship with India following Trudeaus highly-publicized visit. A Conservative government will dramatically expand the strategic relationship between our countries and our peoples and advance our shared security, prosperity and values, Scheer said. Unfortunately, Justin Trudeaus disastrous trip to India damaged this key relationship and we must now work to repair it. With files from The Canadian Press Warsaw (AFP) - Poland's premier on Monday said he and his Czech counterpart oppose a plan to bolster the European Union's external borders, fearing they would receive less infrastructure funding if the scheme goes ahead. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, put forward the proposal in July to strengthen the Frontex border agency, whose headquarters are in Warsaw. Brussels and Berlin notably believe the plan -- which includes increasing the number of border guards to 10,000 by 2020 -- will help the bloc better regulate the migrant influx. But several southern and eastern member states have expressed concern that enlarging the role of Frontex will reduce their sovereignty. "A significant increase in the number of Frontex personnel is in our eyes unfounded," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a joint press conference in Warsaw with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis. "These kinds of proposals are indeed on the table. But nothing can be accomplished without money," he added. "We worry that more money for Frontex will mean less money for structural funds, less money for road or railway development." Of the eastern European countries that joined the EU in the 21st century, Poland is by far the biggest beneficiary of the cohesion policy, having received annually around 10 billion euros ($11 billion) net in recent years. "For the financial perspective for 2021 to 2027 we would like a maximum of funds for infrastructure development, for regional policy and for the common agricultural policy," Morawiecki said. He added that Western member states "derive important profits from European integration." "We central European parties want to finally catch up to the quality of life enjoyed by western Europe. That's the point of the structural funds." Abidjan (AFP) - Riot police fired teargas overnight to break up crowds of demonstrators demanding the release of results from a tense weekend election in Ivory Coast, a candidate and witnesses said. A number of people were injured during the incident which occurred overnight in Grand-Bassam, a beach resort town near Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan and followed a day of tension over Saturday's elections that were marred by clashes which left one man dead. "People had gathered outside the police headquarters to demand that the results be declared," Georges Ezaley told AFP, a candidate with the Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI). "At around 1:00 am, the police broke up the crowd by firing tear gas, many people were wounded, mainly older people," he said, his words confirmed by a local resident. "The people were surrounding the police headquarters to wait for the results, they were teargassed," the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The results were validated on Sunday morning by the Independent Electoral Commission and signed off by the representatives of all the candidates but by Sunday evening, they still hadn't announced them," Ezaley said. "There is something amiss here." By Monday morning, the results had still not been published. Saturday's elections were overshadowed by tensions within the ruling RHDP coalition, which is divided over who should be its candidate in the upcoming presidential election in 2020. The two-party coalition, which comprises the RDR of President Alassane Ouattara and the historically dominant PDCI, has ruled Ivory Coast since 2010. But in the run-up to the Saturday's elections, their alliance broke down, with each fielding rival candidates in many areas. During the vote, a man in his 30s was killed during clashes between rival political groups in Lakota, a town in the south, where supporters of the independent mayor clashed with those of his RHDP challenger. Scuffles and clashes also occurred elsewhere in the area where campaigning took place in a very tense atmosphere. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived in Sydney on Monday to begin their first major foreign tour as a married couple. The trip is timed around their attendance at the Invictus Games, which begin in Sydney next weekend, but its implications are sure to reach far beyond the sporting world. The pair, who wed in May, will spend two weeks touring Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, countries that are all members of the Commonwealth, the association of territories formerly ruled by the British Empire, for most of whom Queen Elizabeth II is head of state. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have both said that when it comes to championing the causes close to their hearts, they plan to pay particular attention to the work that needs to be done across that larger union of nations. But that commitment comes at a time when the Commonwealth is increasingly strained. In Australia, the leader of the opposition Labor Party has promised to hold a referendum on ditching the Queen if he wins the next election, which must take place by next year. And in neighboring New Zealand, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said in 2017 that she advocates a republican form of government without an unelected head of state and that her country should have a public discussion on whether to keep its current relationship with the Queen. That all means that Harry and Meghans visit comes at an important time for the Royal Family looking forward. But what they encounter in Oceania will also be inextricably linked to the legacies of the sometimes painful past. Heres a quick guide to Britains history in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Early expeditions The history of European excursions to the Antipodes dates back to the 17th century, when Dutch explorers first discovered the land that would later be known as Australia. The first landing came in 1606, by the Dutch sailor Willem Janszoon and his crew. Over the following century, sorties mainly by Dutch explorers, but also their English and Spanish counterparts served to map what was being called the Southern Continent. What would become Tonga was first sighted by European eyes in 1616, followed by New Zealand in 1642 and Fiji in 1643. Story continues But it was not until late the following century when Europeans first decided to colonize Oceania. In that enterprise, it was not the Dutch but rather the British who led the way. Australia The British Empire lost its territories in America in 1783, following the American Revolution, which the British government saw as a threat to its Empire. Just five years later, on Jan. 26, 1788 a day that is now celebrated as Australia Day the first British settlers arrived in Australia. The timing was fortuitous for those concerned for the fate of the Empire: an outpost could be established in this newly mapped land, showing that the Empires hold on the world was as strong as ever. The first settlers established a penal colony on the continent in 1788, and many British convicts were shipped over to Australia to ease pressure on overcrowded prisons at home. At the same time as expeditions into the interior, more prisoners followed a roughly century-long process that would shape British Australias social tensions and sow the seeds for the more recent transformation of a stereotype into a source of national pride. Britain claimed Australia for the crown, and over time towns and cities sprang up. Yet the indigenous people of Australia, known commonly as Aboriginals, had a history stretching back long before European arrival. The British, in claiming Australia as a possession of the crown, did not recognize their existence as worthy of political representation. Some experts estimate that up to 90% of the Aboriginal population was wiped out by disease and conflict within the first 10 years of British settlement. By the mid-19th century, democratic movements sweeping Europe had made their way to Australia, and London transferred some powers to the provinces. By 1901, Australia had effectively declared its independence, but it remained a member of the Commonwealth. It sent nearly a million troops to fight alongside the U.K. in the Second World War, for example. A 1942 map, laying out the World War II battlefields of the Pacific, shows the powers that control or occupy the islands of the area Today the Parliament of Australia uses the Westminster system a parliamentary democracy modeled on the one pioneered in London and its currency still bears the image of the Queens head. The celebration of Australia Day is today a source of controversy, as many say that in celebrating the discovery of Australia it unjustly scrubs out indigenous people from its history. Aboriginals still suffer lower life expectancy and lower levels of employment, the causes of which have been attributed to the effects of colonization and marginalization. In the course of their trip, Harry and Meghan will visit a school and a social initiative both working to improve the lives of indigenous people. New Zealand New Zealand was mapped and circumnavigated by the famous British sailor Captain James Cook in the late 1700s. Cooks voyages were followed by other European expeditions, however it was not until long after British settlement in Australia that Britain decided to try and claim New Zealand too. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by representatives of Britain and the indigenous Maori chiefs in New Zealand. The agreement gave Maoris rights as British subjects and ownership over their lands two conditions that were not extended to Aboriginal Australians. That treaty didnt go without a hitch, however. The English and Maori translations were different on the document, and the disagreements culminated in wars between the Maori and the British between 1845 and 1872. Following the war, much Maori land was seized. Over the following decades, many Maori became similarly impoverished to Aboriginals in Australia. But since the 1970s, a strong Maori protest movement has succeeded in bringing legal cases to return some land to indigenous people. Unlike Australia, New Zealand didnt gain its independence from Britain in one single act. Instead, New Zealands drift away from its colonizer was more gradual. In 1919 New Zealand was given its own seat at the League of Nations, but its defense was still controlled by Britain. A close relationship followed; New Zealand sent around 140,000 troops to fight in the Second World War on the side of the U.K. However when the U.K. joined the European Union in 1973, it elected to give up its preferential trade relationship with New Zealand in order to comply with E.U. rules. But with less than six months to go until the day Britain is scheduled to leave the E.U., the U.K. government will likely hope that Harry and Meghans visit will rekindle old loyalties and make a rosy post-Brexit trade deal more likely. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Fiji Fiji was administered as a British crown colony from 1874 all the way up to 1970, when it gained its independence as a constitutional monarchy in the Commonwealth. Fiji was ruled from the 1870s onwards under a policy known as Fiji for the Fijians, which meant land could not be sold to outsiders. The result was that the vast majority of the land is still owned by native Fijians, unlike in Australia and New Zealand. As a consequence of the relationship to the British Empire and of laws protecting Fijians from being exploited as laborers, sugar-cane plantations often brought people from India to work the fields. These Indo-Fijians, who often worked in conditions comparable to slavery, came to outnumber native Fijians by the mid 20th-century. (They now make up 37.6% of the population.) This was one of the reasons many Fijians resisted autonomy from Britain, as some felt that rule from London was preferable to local majority rule by Indo-Fijians. Nevertheless, a system of self-government and democracy developed through the early 20th century. As it prepared to sever ties with Britain, a system of parliamentary democracy was enshrined in the 1970 constitution. The system largely mirrors Westminster with one significant difference: the allocation of a set number of seats for each ethnicity. Fijis history since has been less stable than Australia and New Zealands. A coup in 2006 resulted in a military government, which was ruled unlawful by a high court in 2009. The most recent election, in 2014, was widely seen as free and fair. Tonga Tonga became a British protected state in 1900. However it was well before that, following contact with Captain Cook, that Britain first began to make its mark on the archipelago. The majority of Tongans converted to Christianity following that contact. But Tonga is unique in the region, as its the only nation in the group never to actually have been colonized. Its relationship with Britain was based on protection instead it was in Britains interest to prevent other nations from establishing a base there, but it never directly governed the archipelago itself. Tonga is a member of the Commonwealth, enjoying the fraternity of other nations in that group, but as it has its own monarch (King Tupou VI) the Queen is not its head of state. However, it has long had a happy relationship with the U.K. monarchy; its Queen Salote Tupou III attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It became an independent state in 1970, in line with the wishes of its Queen. Words by Kristine Tarbert. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have touched down in Sydney ahead of their first major international royal tour. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed at Sydney International Airport just before 7am on Monday on a commercial Qantas flight. Holding hands and beaming to cameras, the newlyweds were briefly seen walking out of a VIP exit and into an awaiting car. Meghan looked relaxed in a navy and burgundy coat, over a black top, and had her hair styled straight. Harry, meanwhile, wore a casual jumper over a collared shirt. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Sydney. [Photo: Mediamode] It will be a low-key day for the couple ahead of the official start of their tour tomorrow, with Harry and Meghan staying at Admiralty House, the official Sydney residence of the Governor General. Roads were cleared and traffic lights left green so the couple accompanied by a police motorcade could make their way directly to Admiralty House in Kirribilli without getting stuck in the peak hour rush. As part of their 16-day tour, Harry and Meghan will spend time in Sydney, Dubbo, Melbourne and Queenslands Fraser Island, and dedicate a lot of time to the Invictus Games, which will kick off on Saturday. All eyes will be on Meghan during her visit Down Under and it could be life changing for Australian designers should the Duchess choose to wear their label. During her 10 days in Australia, Meghan is likely to wear more than 30 outfits and will be joined by a hair stylist for the duration of the tour, as Kate did when she visited in 2014. Meghan looked refreshed as they exited the airport. [Photo: Mediamode] Wearing local designers is part and parcel for royals on tour, Amanda Dishaw of Meghans Mirror said, predicting the Duchess suitcase is filled with Australian designers. Meghan has already shown support for Australian designers, donning a tiered tulle skirt and sheer-beaded bodice by Australian-born, London-based duo Ralph & Russo for the couples engagement photo shoot. Meghan photographed in Sussex last week. [Photo: Getty] A safe bet is Ralph & Russo (but) we also think we could see some of the Australian brands Meghan herself has said she loves in the past like Bec & Bridge, Maurie & Eve, Ellery or Maticevski, Amanda said. Story continues In April, she wore a blazer by Sydney-based duo Camilla and Marc teamed with an Oroton cross-body bag to attend the Commonwealth Youth Forum reception in London. Celebrity stylist Lana Wilkinson predicts Meghan will again don Camilla and Marc, as well as Zimmermann, Scanlan Theodore and Rebecca Vallance. When I think of Meghans style I think its cool but conservative, fashion-forward but classic, and there are so many Australian brands that reflect this, Lana told AAP. While Meghan has become known for structured dresses, tailored suiting and elegant separates, Wilkinson expects some feminine, floaty dresses while visiting the sunshine state. For a day event, I can definitely see her in a floral number. For Fraser Island, she could definitely do a Zimmermann dress or even another feminine brand thats big overseas like Alice McCall. Meanwhile, Alex Perry and Carla Zampatti have both reportedly sent garments to the duchess. Lana predicts the Markle effect will be welcomed by the Australian fashion industry. This is a global stage, bigger than a huge celebrity wearing their label. It could literally be brand changing life changing for these designers, she said. Royal watchers will get their first glimpse of Meghans wardrobe on Tuesday morning when Governor-General Peter Cosgrove officially welcomes the royal couple to Sydney. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK. Read more: Fans speculate (again) whether Meghan Markles pregnant Every celebrity guest at Jack and Eugenies wedding London (AFP) - Forget Brexit. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced Monday they were expecting their first baby, setting off a media frenzy, debates over the royal name, and expressions of delight from the queen. Kensington Palace said Queen Elizabeth II's 34-year-old grandson and the 37-year-old US actress, who had just arrived in Sydney ahead of a 16-day tour of the Pacific, would be having a child in the spring. "The Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the spring of 2019," their Kensington Palace residence said in a statement. "Their Royal Highnesses have appreciated all of the support they have received from people around the world since their wedding in May and are delighted to be able to share this happy news with the public." The queen was said to be "delighted", Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted her "warmest congratulations", and Meghan's mother Doria Ragland said she was "very happy about this lovely news". "Happy news to wake up to on a Monday morning," US Ambassador Woody Johnson said in his own tweet. - Name game - The big announcement came with the nation gloomily pondering the prospects of Britain crashing out of the European Union without an agreement, after feverish negotiations hit a weekend roadblock. TV stations broke away from their Brexit coverage, banner headlines appeared on newspaper websites, and bookmakers began taking bets on the name of the future seventh in line to the British throne. Google saw a spike in searches for "when is spring?" -- the answer in Britain is March through May -- while newspapers played up an intercontinental rivalry over what the baby, who will become either an earl or lady, will be called. Meghan was a popular US actress before becoming the Duchess of Sussex. Some UK media said the Los Angeles native would try to draw on her American roots, meeting possible resistance from the palace. Story continues The bookies' instant pick was Diana -- the name of the late princess who was mother to both Prince Harry and his older brother Prince William -- along with Arthur and Alice. Baby talk greeted the couple in Sydney, sparked by Meghan carrying two large purple folders over her stomach, which was further conceal in a loose all-black outfit. "Is the Duchess of Sussex hiding a Royal secret?" Sydney's Daily Telegraph asked. It turned out that she was -- although speculation about Britain's next royal baby really began well before the couple celebrated a fairytale wedding at Windsor Castle on May 19. Harry set off the rumour mill shortly after their November engagement, telling the BBC: "Hopefully we'll start a family in the near future." - People's princess - Meghan made her name in acting as savvy para-legal Rachel Zane in the US television legal drama "Suits", a world far removed from Buckingham Palace. Her first steps as a British royal have therefore been cautious, immaculately scripted and very well received. It is all but mandatory for a major royal to have a charity project, and Meghan's choice addressed the biggest tragedy to befall Britain in the past years. The June 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London killed 71 people and raised uncomfortable questions about the government's approach to low income families who lived there. Meghan wrote the foreword to the recipe collection entitled "Together: Our Community Cookbook", produced by women who suffered in the fatal blaze. Britons also swooned after seeing Meghan nonchalantly closing her own car door at her first solo engagement last month in London. To many, it meant Meghan remained down-to-earth and without pretences -- a princess of the people. The BBC's royal correspondent said this scrutiny will only intensify in Australia, New Zealand and the islands of Fiji and Tonga, which the couple will visit despite a notice advising pregnant women to stay away because of the Zika virus. The decision came after consultations with doctors, Kensington Palace said. "This is now the duchess's pregnancy tour -- every step of the way she will be greeted with a new level of excitement and with some degree of concern," the BBC's Jonny Dymond wrote. This week, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry will embark on an epic two-week trip to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga their first official royal tour together. In honour of the impending tour, we decided to look back back at Princess Diana's memorable visits Down Under. Princess Diana visited Australia several times over a decade, beginning with her first royal tour of the country in 1983 (two years after her wedding) and ending with her final trip in 1996. In between, she seemingly saved her best looks for her Aussie trips, from a very on-trend puff-sleeve dress to a sleek statement coat. Scroll down to see the best outfits Princess Diana wore in Australia and shop the 2018 versions of each look. Princess Diana and Prince Charles posed in front of Ayers Rock in 1983. The People's Princess posed with lifeguards at Terrigal Beach in 1988. Princess Diana was photographed on her 1988 tour of Australia. Princess Diana and Prince Charles took a stroll in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne in 1985. Princess Diana met with schoolchildren in Alice Springs, Australia, in 1983. Princess Diana wore a pastel skirt suit during her final trip to Australia in 1996. Princess Diana was photographed at the National Gallery in Melbourne in 1985. Soweto (South Africa) (AFP) - In a classroom in the South African township of Soweto, girls listen carefully, knowing they need to learn how to avoid the threat of rape that hangs over their daily lives. "You are going to pretend that it is the rapist's testicles," says trainer Dimakatso Monokoli, holding out a padded target. An 11-year-old girl charges without flinching and delivers a powerful knee slam. It is part of a day of self-defence and rape avoidance strategies taught at the Thabisang school, where chairs and desks have been pushed back to the pink walls of the classroom. Official statistics suggest that more than 110 rapes are recorded by the police every day in South Africa. But such numbers are widely seen as inaccurate due to under-reporting. Some studies suggest only one in 13 rapes is reported to the police. Recent news stories have triggered fresh horror among South Africans over the prevalence of rape. In September, a 17-year-old was raped in a hospital maternity ward by a man pretending to be a doctor one day after she had given birth. Around the same time, a seven-year-old girl was raped in the toilets of a popular chain restaurant in the capital Pretoria, with a video footage emerging of the naked man moments after the attack. For the African National Congress Women's League, drastic action is needed. "We have tried our best... there's nothing that seems to lower (the number of attacks). Hence, we are calling for chemical castration," ANCWL secretary general Meokgo Matuba said after the two rapes. - Spotting the risk - Back in another classroom in Soweto, Monokoli teaches not only self-defence, but how girls can read and react to potentially risky situations. "Don't ever, ever make the mistake of being in the same room as someone you don't feel comfortable with because your guts have warned you," she says. "They have sent a message -- you are not supposed to be alone with that person." Story continues If you are attacked, she says: "Scream as much as you can." Monokoli works for Action Breaks Silence (ABS), a South African charity that works with schools to educate girls in self-defence. It also runs a "Hero Empathy" programme for boys to try to preempt abusive and violent behaviour. ABS founder Debi Steven was herself raped as a child, and has spent decades teaching and advising at schools and companies. "Violence has been normalised in South Africa," she told AFP. "There is so much rape that people have become desensitised to it." - Setting boundaries - She advocates a mix of self-defence training with mental awareness. "The self-defence gives girls the confidence to set boundaries," she said. "If I have an education about what is wrong and right, I know what abuses it, and I am going to identify the minute you start abusing me emotionally, physically, sexually, financially." In many cases, sexual violence is committed by relatives or people known to the victim. Steven says two women are murdered every day by their partners or former partners in South Africa. In the classroom, the girls -- wearing their blue school uniform and long socks -- giggle occasionally but the atmosphere is serious and focused. "We are going to teach you how to fight smart, without strength," one male instructor tells them, pointing out they can always "rip off the ears and nostrils." And the lessons seem to have sunk in. "We are warriors," says Nonkululeko, an energetic 11-year-old. "I have this amazing drug in me, adrenaline, that helps you fight. It helps you to do almost the impossible." The classes are often cathartic, with pupils occasionally sharing with instructors their own stories of abuse they have suffered. - Teaching boys too - At another Soweto school, boys in the "Hero Empathy" programme run through roleplay games that encourage them to show emotions and develop empathy for other people's feelings. They have to act out moods such as anger or sadness while their classmates try to guess how they feel -- not always successfully. "In an African community, it is often taught that boys (should not) show emotions. When you show emotions, it is like a sign of weakness," said instructor Isaac Mkhize. ABS has taught over 13,000 children, and its impact has impressed the government health ministry, which has asked the charity to train 160 new staff. One mother, Mali Masondo, explained how deeply the fear of rape is embedded in the daily lives of children and families. "You don't know who to trust, who to love and who to care for," she said. "Sometimes you don't even allow people to love your kids as they wish because every time you think of the negative side." Vatican City (AFP) - Slain Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI, Catholic giants who sparked controversy during their lifetimes, will join the church's highest rank Sunday with an elevation to sainthood. Pope Francis will wear a blood-stained rope belt which belonged to Romero, who was murdered at the altar, as he leads the ceremony in front of some 60,000 pilgrims and heads of state from across the world. The pontiff will also use a chalice and pastoral staff belonging to Paul VI in a canonisation being seen as a reminder of Francis's call for "a poor church for the poor". Both men have been hailed by Francis for their courage in turbulent times and their dedication to social justice and the downtrodden. Their giant portraits were unfurled on Saint Peter's Basilica along with those of five other new saints, including an orphaned youth and a German nun. Romero stood up for peasant rights in the face of a right-wing backlash which painted him as a radical supporter of "liberation" theology in his small, impoverished central American nation. His radio sermons condemning government repression came to be heard throughout the land. On March 24, 1980, the man dubbed the "voice of those without voice" was shot in the heart, killed by a single bullet as he prepared communion at the start of a bloody civil war which claimed some 75,000 lives. - 'Threats' - For a long time, efforts to recognise Romero met with heavy opposition from conservative Catholics and the Salvadoran right, who saw veiled Marxism in his sermons. Others said he had been killed for political rather than religious reasons and therefore should not be considered a Catholic martyr. "It was like a dagger to the heart. I received threats," Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the man tasked with guiding the canonisation process, told the Jesuit weekly America. But Francis -- the first Latin American pope -- beatified him as a "martyr" in 2015 to popular acclaim after his predecessor, the retired Benedict XVI, championed his cause for canonisation. Story continues It was Benedict who also extolled Paul VI, a man he once described as "almost superhuman". Paul VI -- who encouraged Romero in his struggle -- was the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to attempt to reform the Vatican's powerful and unruly Curia, a challenge Francis also decided to take on. He was also famously the first to reject the papal trappings of luxury, setting aside the traditional papal tiara -- a jewel-encrusted, three-tiered, conical crown -- shortly after his election in 1963 and donating its value to the poor. It was a gesture echoed by Francis, who renounced the papal apartment and gold cross. - 'Brave Christian' - The softly-spoken Giovanni Battista Montini was elected pope in 1963 in a difficult period for the church, which lost many believers as populist rebellions swept across the West. He completed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and was the first pilgrim pope, crossing continents on his trips to meet the faithful. At his beatification mass, Francis had hailed him a "brave Christian". But he was also hampered by a reputation for being weak and overly cautious. He is most famous for reaffirming the church's ban on contraception -- despite the fact that his own advisory commission voted overwhelming to lift the prohibition. The decision enraged many Catholics at a time of sexual freedoms, with women demanding the right to use the birth control pill. Golan Heights (AFP) - Closed for years due to the civil war, Syria on Monday reopened a vital border post with Jordan as well as a crossing into the Israeli-controlled Golan, as President Bashar al-Assad's regime bolsters its control after sweeping advances against rebels. Two white jeeps crossed into Israeli-controlled territory during a low-key ceremony to mark the reopening of the Quneitra crossing in the Golan Heights, four years after it was closed when Syrian rebels seized nearby territory. Dozens of kilometres (miles) to the south and three years after it too was closed, a black metal border gate opened at the Nassib crossing into Jordan as police and customs officials stood nearby. The Jordan crossing was previously a major trading route, while the remote Quneitra post is used primarily by a United Nations force which monitors a ceasefire line separating Israeli-occupied parts of the Golan Heights from Syria. Their reopening were indications of a clear trend in Syria's civil war, with Assad's government -- backed by Russian and Iranian military support -- taking back huge swathes of land in the past year. Also on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said after talks in Damascus with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim Jaafari that the country's Albu Kamal border post with Iraq would also reopen "as soon as possible". Even though Syria's government still controls only around half of the border crossings with its neighbours, Assad's forces have made major advances near Jordan and seized almost the entire province of Quneitra this summer. 'Safe country' Syrian businessman Hisham Falyoun, who lives in Jordan with his wife and children, was the first person to cross the border in his black Mercedes jeep. "I wanted to be the first person to cross to show everyone that Syria is safe, Syria is back," said Falyoun, who was hoping to surprise his parents in Damascus. The border crossing, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side and Nassib on the Syrian side, was a key trade route before Amman closed it after the post was overrun by rebels in April 2015. Story continues In Quneitra, the reopening was the result of a deal between Israel, Syria and the United Nations. It will allow forces from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has around 1,000 troops, to patrol the area of the crossing, after withdrawing in 2014 when Al-Qaeda-linked rebels overran the area. Israel seized control of much of the Golan Heights from Syria in a 1967 war and later annexed it, in moves never recognised by the international community. Many of the 18,0000 Druze Muslim residents of the region retained Syrian citizenship and will be able to use the crossing. Nazeeh Ibrahim, 65, one of a handful of Golan Druze who witnessed Monday's opening, described the crossing as a "lifeline". "We are Syrians and will remain so," he said, explaining he had family inside the country. At first the crossing will only be open to UNDOF peacekeepers, an Israeli officer said, but is expected to be expanded to Druze residents in the coming months. 'Clear address' Israel had supported some rebel groups in the Golan during the seven-year Syrian civil war, seeking to create a buffer zone against Iranian influence. Last month, it ended its 'Good Neighbour' support programme for rebels in the Golan that saw thousands brought to Israel for medical treatment, as well as aid shipped across the border. It has expressed concern that Iranian-backed groups allied to Assad, including Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, could move into the Golan, creating a threat to Israeli cities. So far there is no Hezbollah presence near the crossing, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and the Israeli army has said it expects the UNDOF forces to keep "hostile groups" from the region. The United States has welcomed the reopening, saying it would "allow UN peacekeepers to step up their efforts to prevent hostilities in the Golan Heights region". For Eyal Zisser, director of the Middle East Studies Department at Tel Aviv University, the reopening forms part of a "return to normal". "The border between Israel and Syria was very calm before the start of the Syrian civil war and the return to normal is very convenient for Israel," he said. "There is no Daesh (the Islamic State organisation), no Iranians or Hezbollah, there is a clear address on the other side, that's all that Israel wants," he added. By James Oliphant PHOENIX, Ariz. (Reuters) - For most of this year, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has run what has been viewed widely as one of the best races in the nation. But with less than a month to go to Election Day, there are doubts whether she can make it across the finish line. Her matchup with Republican Martha McSally appears to be tightening at the same time that some voters are casting their ballots with the start of early voting in the state. That is unwelcome news for Democrats, who just weeks ago believed they had a chance to gain more than the two seats they need to take control of the Senate. Since the furious battle over the Oct. 6 confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the national picture seems to have shifted. Republicans have taken an upper hand in states such as Tennessee and Texas and have stayed competitive in places like Florida and Indiana. That makes Arizona and neighboring Nevada the best hopes for Democrats to flip seats held by Republicans. Democrats have a better chance to assume control of the House of Representatives, where they need 23 seats to become the majority. Should they take either chamber, much of Trumps agenda would be thwarted and his administration would be subject to greater oversight. The odds, however, have always been against Sinema, a member of the House who is seeking to replace retiring Republican Jeff Flake. Arizona has long been a right-leaning state, one that has come, in a sense, to embody the divisive politics of President Donald Trump. Video: Meet the Players From Arizona For more news videos visit Yahoo View. This is the build that wall state. The state of anti-immigrant former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, where Flake was basically driven from office because of his criticism of Trump. It has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in 30 years. But Sinema surprised observers by building an early advantage in the race. She had little competition for her partys nomination and built a steady edge over McSally, also a member of the House, who had to stave off two challengers, including Arpaio. Story continues CENTER LINE Sinema has billed herself as an independent voice while courting the moderates she needs to win, even as some left-wing progressives have groused that she has been too cautious. She stayed quiet for much of the Kavanaugh fight, only opposing his confirmation at the very end. She has backed the efforts of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, amid calls from some in her party for its abolishment. Asked last week about supporting Medicare For All, a universal healthcare policy favored by many Democrats this election season, she said she wants more practical solutions. Much was made locally about Sinemas choice to not endorse the Democratic candidate for Arizona governor, David Garcia, a progressive. She has not appeared at events with Garcia and other members of the Arizona congressional delegation. Her centrist approach, however, won over Steve Jensen, 63, a disabled veteran and longtime Republican who attended a Sinema event in central Phoenix last week. Jensen said he had come to disdain the politics by fear on the Republican side and did not like that McSally increasingly seemed to be aligning herself with the president. Most of McSallys votes to me seem to be going along with Trump, Jensen said. Sinemas candidacy stands in marked contrast to that of Representative Beto ORourke in conservative Texas, the Democrat who is running against incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz unabashedly as a left-wing progressive. "STILL A LIBERAL" Sinema seems now to be in a better position than ORourke to win her race while receiving much less national attention. She has run the best Democratic campaign that I have seen here for a long time, said Chad Campbell, a Phoenix-based Democratic strategist. That has made her a top target of well-funded conservative advocacy groups who have bombarded the airwaves in an attempt to stop Sinema and boost McSally. Campbell conceded that the ads have chipped away at her lead. Many of the ads have a common theme: Sinema has misrepresented herself; she is a stealth liberal disguising herself as a moderate. Sinema began her political career in Arizona as a member of the Green Party, but joined a moderate Democratic caucus when elected to the House in 2012. Shes trying to go right, right, right, former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, told a Phoenix radio station last week. Shes still a liberal. McSally, a former Air Force fighter pilot, has run multiple ads showing Sinema protesting the Iraq War while dressed in a pink tutu. One conservative group, Defend Arizona, sent out an anti-Sinema mailer last week that depicted a mushroom cloud over Phoenix. Its clear shes engaged in desperate and ugly behavior, Sinema said after a campaign event last week. A national Republican source told Reuters that the party believes the attacks on Sinemas image are effective and will persist through the rest of the campaign. McSallys campaign has turned to high-powered surrogates for help. On Friday, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a candidate for the Senate from Utah, appeared with her at a rally in the town of Gilbert. Trump will hold a campaign event this Friday for McSally in Mesa, a Phoenix suburb. We are literally in a dead heat right now for this Senate seat and this Senate majority, McSally told the crowd while blasting Sinema as unpatriotic. Tim Bushnell, 60, of Fountain Hills, Arizona, who attended the rally, said he could not vote for Sinema. Her history is pretty radical-left, he said. Sinemas campaign believes she can weather the attacks because she spent money early in the race on ads defining herself to voters while Republicans were still fighting among themselves. She is still raising money, taking in $7 million in the third quarter. If Sinema prevails, she will be able to argue that her moderate strategy may be the best way for Democrats to defeat Donald Trump in 2020. If she loses, any hope her party has of taking the Senate likely will fade with her. (State of Play is a weekly examination by Reuters political correspondent James Oliphant on the key races, players and issues in the run-up to U.S. congressional elections in November that will determine which party controls Congress) (Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Jason Szep and Leslie Adler) PHOENIX (AP) In a windowless conference room, Republican Senate candidate Martha McSally was asking executives at a small crane manufacturing company how the GOP tax cut has helped their business when one woman said: "I want to ask you a question about health care." Marylea Evans recounted how, decades ago, her husband had been unable to get health insurance after developing cancer, forcing the couple to sell some of their Texas ranch to pay for his treatment. Now she was worried about Democratic ads saying McSally, currently a congresswoman, supported legislation removing the requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. "It's a lie," McSally said quickly, accustomed to having to interrupt a discussion of the tax cut to parry attacks on health care. But she had voted for a wide-ranging bill that would have, among other things, undermined protections for people with pre-existing conditions and drastically changed and shrunk Medicaid. The exchange demonstrated how Democratic arguments about health care are resonating with voters in the final weeks before the midterm elections. While Democratic enthusiasm this year has largely been fueled by anger toward President Donald Trump, candidates have targeted their messaging to focus more on health care. It's the subject of the greatest share of political ads on television now, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, and a top issue in campaigns from Virginia to Arkansas to California and especially in Arizona, where Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has made it the foundation of her Senate campaign against McSally. "Democrats believe that health care is the issue that's going to deliver them the majority," said Nathan Gonzalez, editor and publisher of the nonpartisan Inside Elections. "In 2016, Democrats learned that going all-in against Trump was not the right strategy, so they're trying to be more specific." Story continues The Democratic furor around health care comes from Trump's push to repeal the President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. House Republicans voted for a bill that would have rolled back parts of "Obamacare." But the Senate never took up the bill, and its own attempt to reverse the health care law failed by one vote. This year, the Trump administration supported a group of GOP attorneys general who filed a lawsuit arguing "Obamacare" is unconstitutional. The administration singled out protection for pre-existing conditions as unsustainable. Democrats are effectively performing political judo on the GOP, who accused them over four election cycles of messing up voters' health care with "Obamacare" and vowed a hasty repeal once they were back in power. Now that the GOP tried and failed to change health care, Democrats are pouncing. "You see in every survey, whether it's a Senate race in a red state or a House race in a purple district, health care is the No. 1 issue," said Patrick McHugh of Priorities USA, a major Democratic campaign group. "One party wants to actually expand health care coverage and reduce costs, and the other party campaigned claiming they did, but when they got into power, they did not." In Missouri, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is defending her seat by highlighting that her Republican challenger, state Attorney General Josh Hawley, signed onto the lawsuit over pre-existing conditions. In Michigan, Democrat Elissa Slotkin aired an ad showing her mother dying of cancer and called incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Bishop's vote for the GOP health bill "dereliction of duty." In Arizona, Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a physician, is running against Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko after shocking the political world by barely losing an April special election for the seat on a health care platform. Glen Bolger, a Republican pollster, notes that health care is a perennial Democratic base issue but acknowledges it appears especially potent this year. However, he said, Republicans have a possible counter pushing back against some Democrats' support for a single-payer system that would require higher taxes. "That, as a pushback message, tests very well," Bolger said. Republicans have used it in races where Democratic challengers have backed the policy such as against Katie Porter, an attorney challenging Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Southern California, or against social worker Kara Eastman, who's leaned heavily on single payer in her challenge to Rep. Don Bacon in Nebraska. The GOP has even levied the charge against Democrats who haven't supported a single-payer program, like Abigail Spanberger, who's challenging Rep. David Brat in Virginia. Gonzalez said the GOP responses show they're fighting on Democrats' turf and keeping the GOP from cashing in politically on the growing economy. "Democrats believe that health care is the antidote to Republican talk about the economy," he said. The Arizona Senate contest provides a microcosm of the issue. Democrats started hitting McSally on health care with an ad barrage from a dark-money group during the GOP primary and have not let up, accusing her of trying to gut protections for pre-existing conditions and charge older people more for health insurance. Sinema mentions the issue everywhere she goes. In an interview with the Spanish-language Univision network Wednesday, she called it "the centerpiece of my campaign." At a recent appearance to rally volunteers in Scottsdale, Sinema was introduced by Leslie Foldy, a 64-year-old court reporter. "I've had diabetes since high school. I've been taking insulin shots ... for the past 47 years," Foldy said. Sinema picked up the theme and ran with it. "We have a chance to elect a United States senator who understands Leslie's struggles to make sure she gets access to the important medication she needs and that she's not discriminated against because of having a pre-existing health condition," she said. It was a dig at the GOP health bill that McSally supported for containing what she calls an "age tax" a provision allowing insurance companies to charge people ages 50 to 64 who buy insurance on health exchanges rates five times higher than younger consumers. Under the ACA, the limit is three times higher. In an interview, Sinema described her health care agenda as mainly a fight to preserve popular parts of "Obamacare." She said she didn't like everything about the bill and noted she'd sponsored bills delaying or repealing some of its funding mechanisms taxes on medical devices and health insurance. McSally instead focuses on the shortcomings of the law, blaming it for driving up health premiums for small businesses and other consumers and arguing Republicans are just trying to make things better. She bristles at the "age tax" attacks because she wrote an amendment adding $90 billion in subsidies for older consumers to protect against higher insurance rates. Although the GOP health bill did contain provisions that weakened the ACA's protections of pre-existing conditions, McSally calls pre-existing conditions "a line in the sand" that she'll protect. "We've all got people in our lives who struggle with chronic disease," McSally said. "It's personal for all of us. The Democrats are taking this line of attack because they know health care is personal." Beirut (AFP) - A horseshoe-shaped demilitarised zone around Syria's opposition stronghold of Idlib is aimed at averting a massive government assault on the area, but its implementation has been riddled with challenges. The buffer, agreed by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey last month, was meant to be free of jihadists by October 15 but they continue to occupy the zone, throwing the deal into doubt. Here is how the events unfolded: - 'Bloodbath' - After a string of Russian-backed victories this year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad set his sights on Idlib, the largest piece of territory still held by Syria's beleaguered rebels. For weeks, regime forces massed on the edges of the province, stepping up bombardment since early September and dropping leaflets calling on residents to surrender. That prompted a chorus of international warnings against an offensive. US President Donald Trump cautioned that "the world is watching", as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he feared a "bloodbath". On September 10, the United Nations warned that an assault could create the century's "worst humanitarian catastrophe". A day later, its Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that Idlib "must not be transformed into a bloodbath". - Russia-Turkey accord - On September 17, Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi and agreed to create a 15-20 kilometre (nine to 12 mile) buffer zone around the Idlib region. According to the deal, the zone would separate rebel and regime zones and would be monitored by the two sponsor countries. The buffer would include parts of Idlib province and the neighbouring regions of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia. All factions in the planned demilitarised area were to hand over their heavy weapons by October 10, and radical groups were expected to withdraw by October 15, according to the agreement. - Rebel, jihadist reactions - Story continues On September 23, the National Liberation Front (NLF), a powerful Turkish-backed rebel alliance in Idlib, cautiously welcomed the deal. But it later said it was opposed to the deployment of Russian forces in the buffer, and said Ankara promised them that patrols by Moscow would be dropped. On September 29, Jaysh al-Izza, a formerly US-backed Syrian rebel group active in northern Hama province, rejected the deal and said the buffer should be carved out equally from rebel and regime zones. The most powerful force in Idlib, an alliance known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that is led by former Al-Qaeda members, has not commented on the deal. Hurras al-Deen, an even more hardline faction, has rejected it. HTS, Hurras al-Deen, and other jihadists control more than half of the planned buffer zone, making their compliance key to the deal's success. - Arms pullout - Despite their different positions, rebels and jihadists were reported to have completed the first task of removing heavy arms on time. On October 8, the NLF said it had finished withdrawing heavy weapons from the planned buffer zone. The following day, on the eve of the deadline, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said HTS and "other less influential jihadist groups" also removed heavy arms from large parts of the demilitarised area. On October 10, Turkey announced that the pullout was "complete". - Deal threatened - On October 12, Syria's army sent text messages to residents in the planned buffer area, telling them: "Get away from the fighters. Their fate is sealed and near." The next day opposition fighters launched two mortar attacks on regime positions from within the buffer zone, killing two Syrian soldiers in Hama, according to the Observatory. On October 14, hours before the second deadline for jihadists to withdraw, Idlib's HTS vowed to continue fighting. "We have not abandoned our choice of jihad and fighting towards implementing our blessed revolution," said HTS. The deadline for the jihadist withdrawal passed without any of the hardliners leaving the zone, a war monitor said. On October 15, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the regime was waiting for its ally Russia to determine whether or not the Idlib deal was fulfilled. Prime minister Theresa May at a community centre in London on Monday morning (Picture: PA) Theresa May has said the EU has agreed to discuss a UK-wide solution to the Irish border issue which has led to an impasse in Brexit negotiations. The Prime Minister was addressing MPs in the House of Commons on the state of Brexit negotiations after talks over the weekend failed to produce the hoped-for breakthrough on the so-called backstop arrangements for Ireland. Mrs May said that the UK had made substantial progress over negotiations, but that the thorny issue of the Irish border continued to be a sticking point. Previously, the EU has demanded a solution which specifically commits Northern Ireland to remaining in the single market something the PM has said she will not agree to. Mrs May admitted today that, even if a UK-wide solution could be found, it was unlikely to be reached in the next few weeks which meant a backstop to the backstop would likely be necessary. She told MPs: I continue to believe that a negotiated deal is the best outcome for the UK and for the European Union. I continue to believe that such a deal is achievable. And that is the spirit in which I will continue to work with our European partners. She added: The EU says there is not time to work out the details of this UK-wide solution in the next few weeks. So even with the progress we have made the EU requires a backstop to the backstop, an insurance policy for the insurance policy. In response, Jeremy Corbyn branded Mrs Mays update shambolic, adding that she was putting her party before the country and was being held hostage by hardline Brexiteers on her own backbenches. Stalled talks The impasse means that meetings between sherpas in Brussels have been cancelled, and UK Government ministers will have no withdrawal plan to approve at Cabinet on Tuesday, before Mrs May travels to the crunch European Council summit the following day. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said: Despite intensive negotiations several key issues remain unresolved. I can say that no further negotiations are planned ahead of the European Council. Story continues The prime ministers official spokesman said that real progress had been made on a number of issues and the Government was determined to press on with talks. But he said that the EU continued to insist on the possibility of a carve-out for Northern Ireland which could see a customs border down the Irish Sea something Mrs May has already said would be unacceptable to any British prime minister. MORE: Melania Trump explains why she wore that jacket on visit to migrant children MORE: Storm Callum set to ease after battering the UK, leaving two people dead Britain is offering a temporary backstop arrangement under which the whole UK would remain in the EU customs area unless an open border in Ireland was secured by a broader trade agreement. Brexit secretary Dominic Raab was in Brussels at the weekend for ill-fated talks with the EU (Picture: PA) Discussions were said to have broken down after EU negotiators demanded a backstop to the backstop, under which Northern Ireland would stay in the customs union after the time-limited UK-wide arrangement came to an end. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said talks were entering the moment of crisis and urged Mrs May to reject the EUs offer and scrap the backstop. The EU is treating us with naked contempt (offering) a choice between the break-up of this country or the subjugation of this country, between separation or submission, Mr Johnson told the Daily Telegraph. Mrs Mays spokesman said that reports that a deal had been reached at official level on Sunday, only to break down when Brexit secretary Dominic Raab met EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, should be taken with a pinch of salt. DUP leader Arlene Foster and deputy leader Nigel Dodds (Picture: PA) The DUPs Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, told the Telegraph: One part of the UK cannot be left behind, bound to rules set in Brussels. The constitutional and economic consequences of such an approach would be catastrophic in the long run. Earlier, the DUPs Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said a no deal scenario was probably inevitable. He told the Belfast News Letter: Given the way in which the EU has behaved and the corner theyve put Theresa May into, theres no deal which I can see at present which will command a majority in the House of Commons. Jordyn Dunn was severely burned when hot sauce and melted cheese from a Little Caesars pizza fell onto her hand. (Photo: Courtesy of Koddi Dunn). A 2-year-old girl was treated for second-degree burns after getting scalded by a hot slice of Little Caesars pizza. On Friday night, Koddi and Wade Dunn of Cornelia, Ga., were driving home from visiting their childrens grandmother when they stopped at a Little Caesars location in Lawrenceville to buy dinner for their two sons, ages 15 and 9. The family placed their usual drive-through order, a Hot-N-Ready pepperoni pizza, cooked at 550 degrees (as explained by the company in a 2013 Facebook post). After paying for their food, Koddi Dunn passed the box to her sons in the back seat, warning them to be careful. However, when one of the boys lifted a slice, a glob of piping-hot sauce and cheese fell on his little sister, Jordyn, who was sitting next to him in her car seat. Posted by Koddi Lester-Dunn on Friday, October 12, 2018 Two-year-old Jordyn Dunn of Georgia was badly burned by a piece of pizza from Little Caesars. (Photo: Courtesy of Koddi Dunn). Suddenly, this piercing scream came from my baby girl, Dunn, 40, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. She dove into the back seat while her husband pulled over to the side of the road. Seeing the skin on Jordyns hand blistering from the heat, they drove to Gwinnett Medical Center, where she was treated for second-degree burns. Dunn called the restaurant and says she was told that after Hot-N-Ready pizzas are removed from the oven, theyre placed in 160-degree warmers. But the employee said they were really backed up that night, so customers were handed pizza straight from the oven, she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Our pizza was not ready to be eaten it was falling apart to the touch. Dunn says a simple warning from the employee could have prevented her daughters injuries. Jordyns wounds were cleaned and medicated, and her arm was bandaged. The family spent about $1,000 in urgent-care fees and expects to incur more costs for future treatments at a local burn center. Tina Orozco, the director of communications for Little Ceasars, sent the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle: The safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority. We are aware of this unfortunate incident. Our hearts go out to Jordyn and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery. We are continuing to work with the customer and the franchisee of this store. At this time, we believe that all procedures were followed. As a precaution, we have a warning label on our pizza boxes. Our customers expect to receive fresh, hot pizza out of the oven. Story continues Dunn says that a manager left her a voicemail Monday night. There was no apology or compassion for what happened to my daughter my family is traumatized, she says. We change Jordyns bandages twice a day and she screams. We try to distract her by pretending the medical tape is fingernails and playing her favorite movie, Annie. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. SYDNEY (AP) A beaming Duke and Duchess of Sussex started the first day of official engagements of a royal tour of Australia on Tuesday with the public focus on the former Meghan Markle's newly announced pregnancy. Meghan wore a tight-fitting cream dress by Australian designer Karen Gee that barely revealed a royal bump as they were welcomed at an event at the Sydney Harbor-side mansion where the couple are staying. The news of the pregnancy was announced after Prince Harry and the American former actress arrived in Sydney on Monday and 15 hours before their first public appearance. Among those taken by surprise were their Sydney hosts, Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Lynne Cosgrove. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia's prime minister said Tuesday that he was open to shifting the Australian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in line with President Donald Trump's decision to recognize the contested holy city as Israel's capital. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the idea was suggested to him by a former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, who is a candidate for Morrison's conservative Liberal Party in a crucial by-election Saturday in a Sydney electorate with a large Jewish population. Morrison said Australia remained committed to finding a two-state solution to Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. "When sensible suggestions are put forward that are consistent with your policy positioning and in this case pursuing a two-state solution, Australia should be open-minded to this and I am open-minded to this and our government is open-minded to this," Morrison told reporters. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) The rival Koreas and the U.S.-led United Nations Command were meeting Tuesday to discuss efforts to disarm a military zone the rivals control within their shared border under a peace agreement between the Koreas. South Korea's Defense Ministry said the talks at the Panmunjom border village mark the first meeting between the Koreas and the U.N. Command to discuss ways to demilitarize the village's Joint Security Area. The Korean militaries in past weeks have been clearing mines from the area following a broad agreement meant to reduce military tensions that was forged between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in their summit last month. Story continues WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) New Zealand's conservative opposition party was in turmoil Tuesday after one of its own lawmakers accused leader Simon Bridges of corruption for hiding a donation from a wealthy Chinese businessman. Jami-Lee Ross made the allegation and then said he was resigning from Parliament. Ross said he regretted his own complicity in a scheme to split the party donation into a series of smaller amounts to avoid it being publicly disclosed. Ross said he planned to provide evidence to police and to release a phone conversation with Bridges that he'd secretly taped. "I believe Simon Bridges is a corrupt politician," Ross said. BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) The Trump administration is considering using West Coast military installations or other federal properties to open the way for more U.S. fossil fuel exports to Asia in the name of national security and despite opposition from coastal states. The proposal was described to The Associated Press by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and two Republican lawmakers. "I respect the state of Washington and Oregon and California," Zinke said in an interview with AP. "But also, it's in our interest for national security and our allies to make sure that they have access to affordable energy commodities." Accomplishing that, Zinke said, may require the use of "some of our naval facilities, some of our federal facilities on the West Coast." He only identified one prospect, a mostly abandoned Alaska military base. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Malaysian Prime Minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim said he felt "vindicated" after taking his oath as a lawmaker Monday, marking his return to active politics three years after he was imprisoned for sodomy in a charge that critics said was politically motivated. The swearing-in ceremony in parliament followed Anwar's landslide win in a by-election Saturday in the southern coastal town of Port Dickson in which he defeated six other candidates. The seat was vacated after a lawmaker from his party quit, paving the way for Anwar's political comeback. Anwar, 71, joins his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail currently Malaysia's deputy prime minister and his eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, in parliament. WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration's envoy for North Korea is traveling to Russia, France and Belgium for talks with counterparts there as the U.S. prepares for a second leadership summit with the North. The State Department says envoy Stephen Biegun will hold "working level" meetings in Moscow, Paris and Brussels. It provided no further details and said it had no meetings to announce with North Korean officials. According to Interfax news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov will meet Biegun in Moscow on Tuesday. The Kremlin said last week that it is working on its own plans to host North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Moscow. KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) Rescuers hampered by difficult, remote terrain took two days to recover the bodies of nine climbers, including one of the world's best, who hoped to map a new route to a Himalayan peak in Nepal that hasn't been scaled in eight years. Local police chief Bir Bahadur Budamagar said a group of villagers reached the climbers' devastated campsite on Saturday on Gurja Himal, a less-popular but pristine mountain in the shadow of Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh-highest peak and a day's walk from the nearest village. The climbers included Kim Chang-ho, the first South Korean to summit all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 meters (26,250 feet) without using supplemental oxygen, who was leading the expedition with four other South Koreans and four Nepalese guides. PARIS (AP) South Korean President Moon Jae-in has met with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss inter-Korean talks and bilateral issues. Moon, on a state visit to France, said he considers France, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, as a key partner in efforts toward peace with North Korea. Moon, who is on a European trip which also includes Italy, Belgium and Denmark, aims to seek support for inter-Korean rapprochement amid widespread international skepticism that North Korea will disarm. Macron said France is looking for a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and is not going to ease sanctions on North Korea or establish diplomatic relations with North Korea at this stage. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia's foreign minister said on Monday her country's alliance with the United States had never been more vital in an era of escalating challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. In her first major policy speech since she took over the foreign ministry in August, Marise Payne told an Australian Institute of International Affairs conference that Australia needed to defend its interests in "a period of strategic uncertainty." The former defense minister's staunch declaration of support for the United States, a treaty defense partner since 1951, came after the Chinese Communist Party-owned newspaper China Daily accused Australia and Japan in an editorial last week of "jumping on the U.S. President Donald Trumps top economic adviser on Sunday brushed off the dire warning issued this month by United Nations researchers who say the world is quickly running out of time to avoid catastrophic global warming. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said on ABCs This Week that he believes the authors of the report, released a week ago by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, overestimate the likelihood and potential timetable for environmental disasters. Personally, I think the UN study is way, way too difficult, Kudlow told host George Stephanopoulos. I wont say its a scare tactic, but I think they overestimate. He added: I dont think we should panic. I dont think theres an imminent catastrophe coming. But I think we should look at this in a level-headed and analytic way. Director of White House National Economic Council Larry Kudlow says he's "not denying any climate change issues," but thinks the UN report on climate change is "way, way too difficult." "I wont say its a scare tactic but I think they overestimate" https://t.co/f63v833Kz0 pic.twitter.com/OjRC2JFvph This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 14, 2018 The IPCC report, authored by 91 researchers and editors from 40 countries that cited more than 6,000 scientific references, details the barriers that exist to keeping the planet from warming beyond the 1.5-degree Celsius target, considered the aspirational goal of the 2015 Paris climate accord. If greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, the authors wrote, Earth could face cataclysmic planetary changes by 2040, including worsening food shortages, wildfires and droughts, as well as rapidly rising sea levels. In order to avert a warming disaster, the global economy must transform at a speed and scale that has no documented historic precedent, according to the report. But under Trump, the U.S. the worlds biggest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita is shredding major policies that aim to reduce the nations carbon footprint. In one of his early presidential acts last year, he announced the U.S. would pull out of the historic Paris climate accord. Story continues Kudlow on Sunday downplayed the overwhelming scientific evidence when asked whether Trump planned to do anything about climate change. Im not denying any climate change issues, George, Im just saying, Do we know precisely and I mean worth modeling things like how much of it is man-made, how much of it is solar, how much of it is oceanic, how much of it is rainforest and other issues? Kudlow said. I think were still exploring all of that. Stephanopoulos did not follow up on the question, so its unclear what Kudlow may have meant when he wondered how much climate change is rainforest. Despite what Trump and his senior aides say, at least 97 percent of climate scientists agree that greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver of global warming trends over the past century, according to NASA. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who followed Kudlows appearance on This Week, condemned the economic leaders response to the UN report. The comments, a moment ago, that Larry Kudlow made are so irresponsible, so dangerous, that its just hard to believe that a leading government official could make them, Sanders said. Citing one of the reports findings, he said, We have 12 years 12 years to substantially cut the amount of carbon in our atmosphere or this planet, our country, the rest of the world is going to suffer irreversible damage. We are in crisis mode and you have an administration that virtually does not even recognize the reality of climate change, and their policies working with the fossil fuel industry are making a bad situation worse, Sanders said. Sen. Bernie Sanders says we are in "crisis mode" on climate change and Larry Kudlow's comments "are so irresponsible, so dangerous that it's just hard to believe that a leading government official could make them." https://t.co/iDWHZE9l1L #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/b3vmo7TjV5 This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 14, 2018 Related... New UN Climate Report Dims Hope For Averting Catastrophic Global Warming Donald Trump Casts Doubt On New UN Report That Sounds Climate Change Alarm The Giant Corporations Behind Your Burgers And Milk Have A Terrifying Climate Secret Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. President Donald Trump said Monday after speaking with Saudi Arabias King Salman that rogue killers may be responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. I just spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of what took place with regard to, as he said, his Saudi Arabian citizen, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. He firmly denied that. Trump added: Maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows? Speaking outside White House, Trump again goes out of his way to mention Khashoggi's immigration status "I just spoke w/king of Saudi Arabia, who denies any knowledge of what took place with regard to, as he said, his Saudi Arabia citizen...these might have been rogue killers" pic.twitter.com/nAoCs7RCV7 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2018 Trump tweeted earlier that hell be immediately sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with King Salman. Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened to our Saudi Arabian citizen, Trump wrote in the tweet. He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King! Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened to our Saudi Arabian citizen. He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2018 Trump told reporters that Pompeo was leaving within an hour. Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist living in a self-imposed exile, went missing two weeks ago. He entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and was not seen leaving. Story continues Since his disappearance, U.S. intelligence intercepts revealed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered an effort to lure Khashoggi back to his home country, The Washington Post reported last week, citing to U.S. officials familiar with them. Turkish officials also revealed that they have audio and video proving Khashoggi was murdered at the consulate. Trump said last week hed speak with King Salman very soon and wouldnt halt U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite the suspicions. Trump told CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday that the consequences of Saudi involvement in foul play involving the journalist would be severe. Theres something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so were going to have to see, Trump said. Were going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment. He added: As of this moment, they deny it and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes. On Friday, when asked about Khashoggis disappearance on Fox & Friends, Trump said, I dont like it at all. Now, you dont have American citizens, but that, in this case, doesnt matter. I dont like it. I dont like it with respect to reporters. It is a terrible, terrible precedent. We cant let it happen, Trump said. (Photo: MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH via Getty Images) Later that day, Trump told reporters at the White House that he wasnt open to stopping arms sales to Saudi Arabia because this took place in Turkey and to the best of our knowledge, Khashoggi is not a United States citizen. I dont like stopping massive amounts of money coming into our country, the president said. I dont like stopping an investment of $110 billion in the United States. Trump pointedly didnt use Khashoggis name in his tweet Monday. His reference to Khashoggi via King Salmans quote our Saudi Arabian citizen appears to emphasize that Khashoggi is not a U.S. citizen. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Monday that "rogue killers" could be to blame for the disappearance of a dissident Saudi journalist and said that the oil-rich state's monarch emphatically denies involvement. "The denial was very, very strong," Trump told reporters at the White House after talking to King Salman by telephone. "It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" "All I can do is report what he told me. He told me in a very firm way that they had no knowledge of it. He said it very strongly," Trump said. Trump said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way to Saudi Arabia within the hour to discuss the controversy over journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post and critic of powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi vanished after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Turkish sources say he was murdered there by a team of Saudi agents. Trump has taken a cautious position, threatening "severe punishment" should proof emerge of Saudi guilt, but insisting that he will not risk billions of dollars in deals to sell US weapons to the kingdom, a strategic ally in the tinder box Middle East. Following days of mounting tensions, Saudi officials were allowing Turkish investigators to enter the consulate on Monday. A Turkish diplomatic source said it was expected that the search, to be conducted jointly with Saudi authorities, would "take place towards the evening." Lurid claims have appeared in Turkish media, including that Khashoggi was tortured before being killed and cut up. However, the Turkish leadership has so far refrained from pointing the finger directly at Riyadh in public comments. The controversy has also embarrassed Saudi Arabia's other traditional Western allies -- many of them arms suppliers to the kingdom -- and undermined efforts by the prince, Mohammed, to present himself as the modernizing future of the kingdom. Story continues An investment conference seen as a platform for the crown prince, due to take place next week in Riyadh and dubbed "Davos in the Desert," has been hit by a string of prominent cancellations. Business barons including British billionaire Richard Branson and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, as well as media powerhouses like Bloomberg and CNN, have pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative (FII). In major new twin blows to the credibility of the event, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Ford chairman Bill Ford also cancelled plans to attend, CNBC reported. In Washington, Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, is coming under pressure after having spearheaded the administration's strategy to forge close ties with Mohammed. But US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday that he still plans to attend the Saudi conference. "If more information comes out over the next week, I will obviously take that into account," he said. PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) Joanne Garone Behnke has replayed every possible scenario in her mind a hundred times. Maybe her 79-year-old aunt sought shelter at the sturdy condo nearby that withstood Hurricane Michael's devastating winds. Maybe she was rescued and is lying in a hospital bed somewhere. The pile of rubble that was once her Mexico Beach home is shallow, too shallow for a body to go unnoticed, Garone Behnke tells herself. "It's torture," says Garone Behnke, who last talked to her Aunt Aggie Vicari right before the storm hit, begging her to leave her cinderblock home. Five days after the hurricane slammed into the Florida Panhandle, people are struggling to locate friends and loved ones who haven't been heard from, though how many residents are missing seems to be anyone's guess. "I've been on the phone to reporters, to fire chiefs, to heads of task force from Miami, to you name it, I've called them. I've called every hospital," Garone Behnke said Monday, then stopped to look at a text from the fire chief in Mexico Beach. To her disappointment, it read: "We're still working on it ... we'll keep you posted." As President Donald Trump visited the devastated zone, the death toll from Michael's march from Florida to Virginia stood at 17, and the search for victims continued. As the hurricane closed in and more than 375,000 people were warned to evacuate, emergency authorities expressed frustration that many residents weren't leaving. Since the storm, many people have been rescued from the devastated zones. Emergency officials said that because of widespread cellphone outages, others could be safe and just haven't been able to tell friends or family. Rescue worker Trevor Lewis and the rest of his six-member squad lent their cellphones to storm victims so that they could contact loved ones for the first time in days. He said he watched them "cry out in joy." Story continues "Just the desperation in the family members' voices that hadn't contacted their loved one for a few days was bad," he said. "Then we get on scene and find their family members and they have no food, no water, no power." There was just one confirmed death so far in Mexico Beach, the town of about 1,000 people that was nearly wiped off the map in a direct hit from the hurricane and its 155 mph (250 kph) winds. Mexico Beach City Clerk Adrian Welle told local media Sunday that 46 people were unaccounted for. That number had previously been 285, but officials think many left right before the storm hit. Other city officials told reporters that the number of unaccounted for was three. A Houston-based organization called CrowdSource Rescue that takes calls from worried family members and sends the details to rescue crews on the ground said it has helped find nearly 1,500 people across the region since Michael struck. George Ruiz, a former Coast Guard rescue boat driver from Alabama who runs Geaux Rescue, a nonprofit search-and-rescue operation, said rescue efforts were hamstrung because authorities aren't allowing volunteer groups into hard-hit Mexico Beach and Panama City. He stressed he did not blame local officials. "There's a lot of work to be done still as far as the rescue and recovery goes," said Ruiz, whose organization still has 433 requests for help from family members looking for loved ones. "We listened to voicemails we received overnight," he said, "and you can just hear in their voice their desperation, wanting to know if their family member is alive and well or if their family member has passed." Melissa and Rodney Reinhardt spent days wondering whether Rodney's 79-year-old father survived the storm at his home in the devastated Port St. Joe area. "Our hope was that he evacuated but nobody had heard from him," she said. "It's horrifying not knowing. It's scary. Seeing the pictures on the news makes it even scarier." Emergency officials checked on him Thursday night and said he was there, but that was all the information they received. Rodney finally went in with a church group on Sunday and picked him up. "It was a happy ending," Melissa Reinhardt said. During his visit to the devastated zone, Trump commended Republican Gov. Rick Scott for an "incredible" response to the disaster and said: "You're a great governor." Scott, who is running for the U.S. Senate, returned the praise, saying, "Every time I've called, he's come through." Some in the affected area were lukewarm about the president's visit. About 5 miles from a neighborhood Trump visited, 57-year-old Sheila Vann sat on a cooler in her garage, taking a break from cleaning up. The hurricane tore off much of her roof in Panama City, and most of her ceiling collapsed. She had four freezers filled with fish and meat that were starting to spoil and smell. "You want to see the president?" Vann asked her husband, Joseph, with a dismissive tone. "I ain't got time, unless he wants to help clean up." Nanya Thompson, 68, of Lynn Haven, said of the president: "He's doing this, I believe, to project a different image of himself because of all the bad publicity he's had. He's not going into get into the sewage water with other people and start digging." "If this is just going to be another reality show, I don't think he should come," she added. ___ Contributors in Florida include Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Mexico Beach, Brendan Farrington in Panama City, Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Kelli Kennedy in Miami and AP Photographer Gerald Herbert in Panama City. ___ For the latest on Hurricane Michael, visit https://www.apnews.com/tag/Hurricanes ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia must cooperate with the investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and let Turkish officials enter its Istanbul consulate, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday. Cavusoglu spoke to reporters during a visit to London, after a delegation from Saudi Arabia arrived in Turkey for a joint investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance on Oct. 2. "We have not yet seen cooperation on this subject and we want to see it," Cavusoglu said in the comments, which were broadcast on Turkish television. Turkish newspaper Sabah reported on Saturday that Turkey's investigation into Khashoggi's fate after he entered the Saudi consulate revealed recordings made on his Apple Watch purportedly indicating he was tortured and killed. Khashoggi has been a prominent critic of Riyadh and a U.S. resident who has written columns for the Washington Post. However, it was not clear whether data from Khashoggi's watch could have been transmitted to his phone outside, or how investigators could have retrieved it without obtaining the watch themselves. Technology experts say it is highly unlikely the watch could have recorded actions inside the embassy and uploaded them to an iCloud account. Most models of the watch require that it be within 30 to 50 feet (9-15 m) of the iPhone it is paired with to upload data to Apple's iCloud, they said. Even newer models that can communicate with the cloud directly via wireless require either connection to a nearby WiFi network or a type of cellular connection that is not available in Turkey, the experts said. Apple Watch does not unlock with a fingerprint, which the Sabah report said Saudi agents used to access the device, and it does not include a recording capability by default, the experts said. Apple Inc declined to comment on the Sabah story. (Reporting by Daren Butler; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Robin Pomeroy, Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis) Saudi Arabia is to admit journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in its consulate in Istanbul in a botched interrogation, according to reports on Monday night. Officials from the kingdom were expected to lay out a series of events which blamed intelligence operatives, and shielded Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, from responsibility over the journalist's death. It came as Donald Trump, after speaking to Saudi Arabia's King Salman, suggested "rogue killers" could have been behind the death of Mr Khashoggi, who was a US permanent resident and wrote columns for the Washington Post. The US president also dispatched Mike Pompeo, his secretary of state, to fly directly to Riyadh to meet the king and seek answers about the alleged murder. Saudi Arabia was said to be preparing a report that would confirm Mr Khashoggi was killed as a result of questioning that went wrong, CNN reported, citing two unnamed sources. Saudi Arabia is under intense pressure to explain what happened to Mr Khashoggi Credit: AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File One source cautioned that the report was still being prepared and could change. The other source said the report would probably conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance, and that those involved will be held responsible. Another person with knowledge of how Saudi Arabia intends to explain the episode told the New York Times the crown prince had approved an interrogation, or rendition back to Saudi Arabia, of Mr Khashoggi. But the kingdom intended to say that a member of its intelligence services, who happened to be a friend of the crown prince, had been "tragically incompetent" in trying to prove himself during the operation, the newspaper reported. Following his first phone call with King Salman about the crisis, Mr Trump said the monarch had firmly denied his state was behind the killing of Mr Khashoggi. Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened to our Saudi Arabian citizen. He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2018 Speaking on the White House lawn, Mr Trump said: "I dont want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers, who knows? Were going to try get to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial." Story continues Turkish officials had already speculated that the Saudi government would blame "rogue" elements within its security services as a way of protecting the crown prince, who has close links with the Trump family, from international criticism. King Salman had ordered Saudi prosecutors to launch an internal probe after two weeks in which Riyadh did little except issue blanket denials of responsibility. The apparent shift in the Saudi position came as the kingdom remained under intense pressure from Washington and business leaders over the Khashoggi case. The White House said it expected Saudi Arabia to carry out "a swift and transparent investigation "this week. Larry Kudlow, Mr Trumps economic advisor, said the US would take stern action with the Saudis if necessary and brushed off Riyadhs threats to drive up oil prices if America tried to impose sanctions. The chiefs of two major US investment firms, Blackstone and BlackRock, joined an exodus of executives pulling out of Crown Prince Mohammeds Davos in the Desert summit. A number of major media outlets have also pulled out of the summit. Analysts said it was risky for Riyadh to blame rogue Saudi operatives because it would raise questions about whether Crown Prince Mohammed, who is Saudi Arabias defence minister, was in charge of his own forces. Dr Neil Quilliam, senior research fellow at Chatham House, said it was highly unlikely that US senators would be convinced by the rogue killer theory, but it was still Riyadhs best chance to avoid sanctions. By Tracy Rucinski and Jessica DiNapoli (Reuters) - A bankruptcy judge on Monday approved $300 million in financing to keep department store chain Sears Holdings Corp open through the holiday season, giving the century-old retailer that once dominated U.S. shopping malls a chance to remain in business. Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in White Plains, New York earlier on Monday with a plan to close about 142 of its 700 stores by year-end and sell its best-performing stores in an auction in January to a buyer that will keep them operational. The bankruptcy filing by the parent of Sears, Roebuck and Co and Kmart Corp follows a decade of revenue declines, hundreds of store closures, and years of deals by billionaire Eddie Lampert in an attempt to turn around the company he acquired in 2005 for $11 billion. (GRAPHIC: Fall of a Titan - https://tmsnrt.rs/2A3giRQ) Lampert, who stepped down as Sears CEO on Monday but will remain chairman, had pledged to restore Sears to its glory days, when it owned the tallest building in the world and companies that included a radio station and Allstate insurance. But the company, which has close to 70,000 employees, has not turned a profit since 2011, and critics say Lampert let the stores deteriorate over the years, even as he bought the company's stock and lent it money, making him its largest shareholder and creditor. "For somebody of my generation, Sears Roebuck was a big deal... Sears has been dying for many years, it has been obviously improperly run for many years, and it's a shame," U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was on Sears' board of directors between 2005 and 2016. (GRAPHIC: Mall REITs - https://tmsnrt.rs/2Op4Qcj) Lampert and his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc own just under of 50 percent of Sears' shares and are its biggest creditor, with about $2.5 billion owed to him and ESL. He has so far not disclosed whether he has turned a profit or loss since he invested in Sears following years of complex financial engineering at the company. Story continues NEGOTIATING BANKRUPTCY FINANCING Beyond the $300 million bankruptcy financing package from its existing lenders that Sears secured on Monday, the retailer said it was negotiating an additional $300 million in bankruptcy financing from Lampert's ESL. Sears listed $6.9 billion in assets and $11.3 billion in liabilities in documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. Its debt to Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, a U.S. government agency overseeing the retirement benefits of former Sears workers, was not disclosed in the bankruptcy filing. Under the bankruptcy plan, Lampert's executive role will be replaced by a three-person committee. Mohsin Meghji, a managing director of the M-III Partners corporate advisory firm, was appointed chief restructuring officer. Sears had earlier announced the separate closing of 46 unprofitable stores, and said Monday that is expected to be completed next month. Sears is also weighing the sale of "a large portion" of its stores and said they could be bought by Lampert's hedge fund in a bankruptcy auction. In bankruptcy court on Monday, Andy Dietderich, an attorney for Sears investor Bruce Berkowitz, formerly a member of the retailers board of directors, expressed concern that Lampert would have too much control over the bankruptcy process. "Most of the company is gone," Dietderich said. Shareholders generally lose all or most of their investment when a company files for bankruptcy, and the ability of Sears to escape liquidation will depend on the willingness of creditors and suppliers to keep the company afloat. Strong sales in the upcoming holiday season will be key in determining that. The largest U.S. toy retailer, Toys 'R' Us, tried to emerge from its 2017 bankruptcy filing but was forced to liquidate six months later after creditors lost confidence in its turnaround plan. STORE CLOSURES, ASSET SALES Major Sears suppliers, such as Whirlpool Corp and Electrolux AB, sought to allay fears about their exposure to the bankrupt retailer. Whirlpool said Sears' bankruptcy will have a limited impact on its business, while Electrolux said it did not assess a need for material one-time costs as an immediate consequence of Sears' debt restructuring. Meanwhile, Sears and Kmart stores are open for business. The company said it is continuing to pay employees' wages and benefits and is working with vendors to ensure its shelves remain stocked. "The company believes that a successful reorganization will save the company and the jobs of tens of thousands of store associates," Sears said in a statement. Shares in Illinois-based Sears closed at about 41 cents on Friday, down from over $100 in the years after hedge-fund star Lampert, once hailed as another Warren Buffett, merged it with discount store Kmart in a $11-billion deal in 2005. Sears dates back to the late 1880s. Its mail-order catalogues with merchandise from toys, medicine and gramophones to automobiles, kit houses and tombstones made it the Amazon.com Inc of its time. The iconic retailer gradually lost its shine, however, as consumers increasingly turned to e-commerce and brick-and-mortar rivals such as Walmart Inc and Target Corp. "Its a sad thing that they are going bankrupt. But they didn't run it quite well, and thats the consequence of not running something right," said 61-year-old retiree Paul Thompson, a Kmart customer at one of its stores in Bridgehampton, New York. LAMPERT'S INVESTMENTS One of the lingering questions for investors has revolved around the value of Sears' assets, which include prime real estate. The company sold 235 of its best stores for $2.7 billion to a Lampert-created company, Seritage Growth Properties. Lampert also became Land's End Inc's biggest shareholder when the clothing manufacturer was spun out of Sears in 2014. Those deals could be subjected to new scrutiny by Sears' creditors in bankruptcy court. "When you go into a bankruptcy, you're living in a fish bowl and every transaction will be looked at and examined," said Corali Lopez-Castro, Managing Partner at law firm Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton. In an earlier attempt to avoid bankruptcy, Sears last year sold its Craftsman tool brand to power tool maker Stanley Black & Decker for $900 million. It also signed a deal to sell Kenmore appliances on Amazon.com. Over the summer, a special board committee Sears created was resisting a rescue offer from Lampert to acquire assets from it, including its Kenmore appliance name. (Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Jessica DiNapoli in White Plains, New York; Additional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware Melissa Fares in Bridgehampton, New York, and Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Louise Heavens and Nick Zieminski) Admiralty house Harry and Meghan will call Admiralty House home when in Sydney, during their 16-day stint in Australia. Words by Kristine Tarbert. Prince Harry and Meghan touched down in Sydney today ahead of their first official royal tour. They were whisked from the airport straight to Admiralty House in Sydney, which they will call home during their 16-day stint in Australia. The regal residence in Kirribilli was built in 1842 and generally hosts government guests, and world leaders, including The Queen. Prince Charles and Camilla have both visited the house. Prince William has been multiple times, staying there himself with Kate and baby George in 2014. It is also where Harry launched the 2018 Sydney Invictus Games in May last year. The gorgeous waterside location brings views of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The heritage-listed building was once the official residence for royal naval commanders. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK. Meghan and Harry touch down in Sydney By Kayla Jardine Under pressure from President Trump, Elizabeth Warren finally released her DNA results, which show distant Native American ancestry. The Massachusetts senator first faced criticism over her assertions about her heritage during her 2012 Senate race, with many questioning her statements. Donald Trump later amplified the controversy, often referring to Warren as Pocahontas. Ive got more Indian blood in me than Pocahontas, and I have none, he said during an October rally. He tweeted early Tuesday about her DNA test. Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, DNA test is useless. Even they dont want her. Phony! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018 In an attempt to quell the heat before a possible presidential run, Warren submitted DNA test results with an analysis by a Stanford University genetics professor. The report concludes theres strong evidence Warrens DNA contains Native American ancestry. However, it also says her ancestor was likely in the range of 6-10 generations ago, which some argue could mean the difference between 1/32 and 1/1,024 Native American. Senator Warren responded to the president saying, Trump can say whatever he wants about me, but mocking Native Americans or any group in order to try to get at me thats not what America stands for. Last July, POTUS said, I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test so that it shows youre an Indian. When reporters questioned Trump on her DNA results and his $1 million payment, he replied, I didnt say that. You better read it again. Trump added that he hopes Warren runs for president because shed be easy to beat. Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is in South Africa receiving treatment for injuries sustained during a blast at a ruling party rally in June, state media reported Monday. A grenade blast at an election rally in the second city Bulawayo killed two people and narrowly missed President Emmerson Mnangagwa while leaving Chiwenga with apparently superficial injuries. "Chiwenga is recovering well at a South African hospital where he is receiving some thorough medical attention on the effects of the Bulawayo bombing incident in June, government has said," the state-run Herald daily reported online. Chiwenga, 61, was the military general who led the ousting of veteran leader Robert Mugabe in November when the army briefly took control and ushered Mnangagwa to the presidency. Police and security agencies have released few details about the investigation into the June 23 blast that injured 50 rally attendees. "A decision was then taken that now that elections are behind us, and also that the new government has been constituted, the general should now go for a thorough medical examination," presidential spokesman George Charamba told the Herald. "The VP is very well and when I chatted with him he ended up barking orders to me." Mnangagwa has accused aggrieved supporters of Mugabe's wife Grace of being behind the attack. The rest of the electoral campaign and voting on July 30 passed without major incident but there was bloodshed on the streets of Harare on August 1 when opposition protesters were fired on by security forces. Chiwenga, who has not been seen publicly for more than a week prompting speculation about his health, flew to South Africa on Tuesday, the Herald reported. An exciting find from Jerusalem was presented to the public for the first time last week: a unique stone inscription dating to the Second Temple Period (First Century CE), mentioning Jerusalem in Hebrew letters and using the spelling as we know it today. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The inscription is now on display to the public at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem as part of a new exhibition presenting unique artifacts from the capital. The inscription was found last winter near the International Convention Center, during an excavation directed by the Israel Antiquities Authority's Danit Levy, prior to the construction of a new road. The excavation was undertaken and funded by Moriah the Jerusalem Development Company and the Jerusalem Development Authority. The stone inscription, as it was found in the excavation. (Photo: Danit Levy, IAA) During the excavations, the foundations of a Roman structure supported by columns were uncovered. The most important discovery was a stone column drum, reused in the Roman structure, upon which the Aramaic inscription appears. The inscription is written in Hebrew letters typical of the Second Temple Period, around the time of Herod the Great's reign, and reads: "Hananiah son of Dodalos of Jerusalem." "As a resident of Jerusalem, I am extremely excited to read this inscription, written 2,000 years ago, especially when I think that this inscription will be accessible to every child that can read and uses the same script used two millennia ago," said Prof. Ido Bruno, director of the Israel Museum. The important and interesting cooperation between the IAA and the Israel Museum, brought to light in the handling and display of new finds, provides an opportunity for the public to be exposed to important discoveries from all over the country, learning about the ancient cultures that developed in Israel over generations," he added. (Photo: Yossi schwartz, IAA) Dr. Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Prof. Ronny Reich of Haifa University, who read and studied the inscription, noted that "First and Second Temple period inscriptions mentioning Jerusalem are quite rare. But even more unique is the complete spelling of the name as we know it today, which usually appears in the shorthand version. This is the only stone inscription of the Second Temple period known where the full spelling appears. This spelling is only known in one other instance, on a coin of the Great Revolt against the Romans (66-70 CE). The unusual spelling is also attested to in the Bible, where Jerusalem appears 660 times, with only 5 mentionsof a relatively late datehaving the full spelling (Jeremiah 26:18, Esther 2:6, 2 Chronicles 25:1, 2 Chronicles 32: 9, and 2 Chronicles 25: 1)." According to Dudy Mevorach, Chief Curator of Archaeology at the Israel Museum, "the archaeological context of the inscription does not allow us to determine where it was originally displayed, or who Hananiah son of Dodalos was. However, said Mevorach, it is likely that he was an artist-potter, who adopted a name from the Greek mythological realm, following Daedalus, the infamous artist. It is interesting that he decided to add his origin from nearby Jerusalem to his family name." In the area of Binyanei Ha'Uma, where the unique find was discovered, excavations have been conducted for many years most recently by Danit Levy and Dr. Ron Be'eri, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who slowly exposed extensive portions of a potter's quarter, which produced vessels for Jerusalem for a period of over 300 years, spanning the Hasmonean Period through to the Late Roman era. The inscription in the Israel Museum exhibition, Jerusalem. (Photo: Laura Lachman, the Israel Museum, Jeruslem) According to Danit Levy, "This is the largest ancient pottery production site in the region of Jerusalem." In the latter part of the Second Temple period, particularly during Herod's reign, the production was focused on manufacturing cooking vessels. The production installations were found spread across the site, organized into manufacturing units that included kilns, pools for preparing clay, plastered water cisterns, ritual baths, and work spaces for drying and storing the vessels. Alongside the area where the pottery was produced, a small village developed, whose economy was based on pottery production. The pots were sold in large quantities to the population in Jerusalem and its environs, and those arriving at its gatesin particular the pilgrims arriving in the city. The excavation site at Binyanei Ha'Uma. (Photo: Yossi Schwartz, IAA) Subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the potter's workshop resumed its activities on a small scale, until the early 2nd Century CE, when the Roman 10th Legion established its workshop on the site, for the mass production of ceramic building materialsrooftiles, bricks, and pipes, alongside tableware, cooking ware and storage vessels, typical of the Roman army. The legionary kilns and its products are on display in the International Convention Center and at the Israel Museum. An Israeli farmer has cashed in by making exotic honey from a rare tree that produces frankincensethe resin once worth its weight in gold and venerated in the Bible. But the farm's location in a far-flung West Bank settlement has left a bitter taste in at least one investor's mouth. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Guy Erlich's Balm of Gilead Farm is home to 1,000 threatened Boswellia sacrathe perfume-producing desert shrub mentioned in the Bible. He hopes these and his cornucopia of other medicinal plants will yield remedies for human illsand even the conflict with the Palestinians. Guy Erlich at his West Bank Farm But the farm's West Bank address, 6 kilometers (4 miles) from the Dead Sea, could hinder his project to cultivate and study threatened desert plants. The Palestinians and the majority of the international community consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank, along with their use of local natural resources, to be illegal. Ehrlich rejected such criticism, saying his work is for the benefit of everyone. "I focus on plants that few other people in the world cultivate. That's how I have a chance to succeed in the years to come," he said. "These are also very important plants, and if they're not cultivated they'll disappear." Boswellia sacra is native to the deserts of northern Somalia, Yemen and Oman, and is threatened by overharvesting of its precious resin, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Mature Boswellia trees are scored to extract the resin, which hardens into lumps ranging from white to pale green in color. Top grade frankincense can sell for hundreds of dollars per kilogram (pound). Most frankincense comes from trees tapped in the wild, rather than grown on plantations. The tree is not indigenous to the Levant, but its resin has been valued in the region for millennia as a highly prized aromatic used in medicine and rituals. It was burned as part of religious ceremonies throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, and was one of the ingredients mentioned in the Bible for the incense sacrifice in the ancient Jewish Temples. It was famously given as a gift to the newborn Jesus by the Magi, and still plays a central role in Orthodox Christian church ceremonies. The alleys around Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, entombed and resurrected, are redolent of the frankincense that vendors burn to entice pilgrims to buy chunks of the yellow resin. While his Boswellia trees are still too young to produce frankincense, Erlich struck upon honey as a possible source of revenue for his operation. His first batch of single-source honey made from the desert plants' tiny flowers sold for $1,000 a kilogram (nearly $500 a pound). The amber-hued, exceptionally sweet honey has earthy undertones and a slightly astringent finish. In less than a month, Erlich says he exhausted his initial four kilogram (9 pound) stock, selling most of it to customers in the United States. "I've started a waiting list for orders," he said. Yet politics always looms in the background. Erlich said a global, Palestinian-led effort to boycott settlement goods has taken a toll on his business, with a major American investor jumping ship a couple of years ago out of concern about the boycott threat. Frankincense shrub The European Union, Israel's largest trading partner, does not allow settlement products to say "Made in Israel." While it does not ban them, it requires that produce, including honey, be accurately labeled Despite international anti-settlement sentiment, Erlich said he hopes to foster cooperation with his Palestinian neighbors and turn his farm into a research center for medicinal plants. He also is growing 10,000 Commiphora gileadensis, the fragrant biblical "Balm of Gilead" shrub and namesake of the farm. "I would be very happy to one day see this as an international project," he said, the Palestinian city of Jericho behind him in the distance. "We're sitting at a triangle of borders: we have Palestine, we have Jordan, and we have Israel. "If my plants can also serve as a catalyst to unite Israelis and Palestinians, and perhaps other neighbors around, then I am all for it," he added. Jericho's Palestinian governor, Majid Fityani, dismissed such a notion, saying the issue is political, not economic. "Israeli settlements are the embodiment of the Israeli occupation of our land," Fityani said. "This settler has stolen Palestinian land and if he is honest he would have left our land and returned to his country, Israel." Erlich and others are starting to look to the Boswellia's medicinal properties. Erlich holding a jar of rare honey Besides aromatic compounds and the hallucinogen incensyl acetate, frankincense has an anti-inflammatory compound called boswellic acid, said Jason Eslamieh, an Arizona botanist and author of several publications about the plant. The resin is a cocktail of complex organic compounds, and "it will take many, many years to really figure out what exactly is in frankincense that will be helpful," Eslamieh said. Clinical research has shown that boswellic acid can sometimes reduce inflammation in humans. But much remains unknown. A university in Muscat, Oman, is hosting what is touted as the first international conference about the medicinal benefits of frankincense later this month. Erlich said he doesn't plan to attend. Eslamieh said that growing demand for frankincense in traditional Chinese other alternative medicines have helped put "an incredible amount of stress on the natural habitat of the Boswellia." For now, farms like Erlich's are rare. Boswellia trees take around 10 years to become mature enough to be tapped for their resin. Erlich's oldest plants are still years away from that point. In the meantime, Erlich sent the Frankincense honey to a Tel Aviv University laboratory to test what active compounds from the plant are present. While he's pleased to have found a profitable byproduct from the young trees, he still has a hurdle to overcome ahead of his next honey harvest. "I'm personally a bit afraid of bees, but it looks like I'll have to get over it," he said. Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday issued a stay of execution against the deportation of a US student barred from Israel under a law against pro-Palestinian boycotters filed, until the court can hear her appeal. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Lara Alqasem, 22, flew to Israel on October 2 on a study visa but was refused entry by security officials who cited her role as president of a small local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida. In airport detention since then, she has been contesting the exclusion, with the backing of Jerusalem's Hebrew University, where she was due to begin a year-long master's program on Sunday. Lara Alqasem in court (Photo: Motti Kimchi) On Friday, Tel Aviv District Court rejected Alqasem's appeal to be allowed in. On Sunday, her lawyers said she filed a dual motion to the Supreme Court to block her looming deportation and consider a last-ditch appeal for entry. "A stay has been issued against the deportation, and the appeal motion will be heard this week," a court spokesman said. Her case has touched off debate in Israel over whether democratic values have been compromised by a 2017 law that bars the entry of foreigners who publicly support anti-Israel boycotts, and if a hard line against the student would ultimately harm the country's image. Protesters supporting Alqasem (Photo: Motti Kimchi) The Hebrew University, which is supporting Alqasems stance, issued a statement against her detention. Rector Barak Medina wrote in a student magazine that although the state has a right to decide who enters its borders, the question is whether such detentions are a smart move. All I know is that she came to study here and I do not fear a 20-year-old girl, Medina said. He added that he became a victim of incitement by politicians for his stance. Hebrew University students had a mixed response when asked about the ordeal. Some agreed with the governments decision, arguing that measures must be taken against people who wish to harm Israel economically, and they expressed disappointment with the universitys official stance. Other students believe that expelling Alqasem can only further damage Israels standing among the international community; they also fear it may affect Israeli students who wish to study abroad. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted Israel's stance was similar to other countries' practices. "If ... you're virulently against America and you try to come into the United States, there's a good chance you won't be let in," he told visiting Christian journalists. "That's also true of many of the European democracies. It's true of the democracy called Israel." Netanyahu speaking to reporters Sunday (Photo: Yoav Dudkovitz) His government says Students for Justice activities included a campaign to boycott Sabra hummus, made and sold in the United States by a company partly owned by a firm in Israel. Israel sees such groups, and the wider Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, not only as an attempt to isolate it over its security stance regarding territories which Palestinians seek for a state, but also as a campaign for its destruction. Alqasem, who is of Palestinian descent, stopped her activities in the Students for Justice group months before the anti-boycott law came into effect, has pledged not to take part in boycott activities while in Israel and did not plan to visit the West Bank, her attorneys have said. Israel's Supreme Court rarely agrees to hear appeals over administrative matters ruled on by lower courts, Alqasem's lawyer Leora Bechor said. "It needs very unique circumstances," she told Reuters. Bechor said Alqasem could have opted to fly back to the United States, but had chosen to remain in airport detention, where she had only intermittent access to phone communication and had been denied reading and writing materials. The Council of Torah Sages for Agudat Yisrael, a faction in the United Torah Judaism party, has softened its stance on the IDF draft bill proposal that is threatening to topple the government. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The Council met Sunday to discuss the legislation, deciding not to order its MKs to quit the government and send Israel to the polls early. "We will vote against (the legislation), but we will not resign when the law passes," said an inside source. "The tendency is not to topple the government because of the draft law." MK Moshe Gafni, Deputy Minister Litzman and Minister Deri (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg, Alex Klomoisky and Gil Yohanan) The political system was waiting for the results of the meeting, with sources saying there was no point in convening a meeting of the coalition party leaders before the Council of Torah Sages issued its decision on the issue of enlistment of ultra-Orthodox youth to the IDF. The members of the Councilthe most prominent being the Rebbe of Gur, Rabbi Yakov Aryeh Alterform the spiritual leadership of the Chassidic faction of United Torah Judaism, headed by Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, the main and more influential of the two Ashkenazi Haredi groups that make up UTJ. Rebbe of Gur, Rabbi Yakov Aryeh Alter (Photo: Meir Alfasi/Kikar HaShabat) Litzman himself has said in recent months that he will not allow the law to pass, even threatening to resign. The Degel Hatorah faction in UTJ, led by MK Moshe Gafni, and the Sephardic Shas party led by Aryeh Deri, tend to accept the present outline of the bill, wishing to avoid an election cycle with the subject of Haredi IDF enlistment at its center. Another reason for the softer position of Minister Deri and MK Gafni is that according to a High Court ruling, if an alternative law is not approved by the beginning of December when the existing law expires , all yeshiva students are ostensibly subject to compulsory service. On the other hand, Agudat Yisrael toughened its positions even before the proposal was submitted, and Litzman even threatened on several occasions to topple the government if it was approved in the second and third readingsdespite the political gamble and the threat of Torah scholars being enlisted into mandatory IDF service. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated to Ynet on Sunday morning that he would not agree to any change to the existing bill proposal, which was formulated by a professional team in his ministry. "I don't think elections are currently the most necessary thing for the State of Israel," Lieberman said. "It is always possible to make excuses, the bill passed in its first reading by a large majority, and there is no problem in passing it in a second reading." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday morning the proposal "is a good and balanced law. It balances between the needs of the military, which prepared it, and, of course, the needs of the ultra-orthodox public." "This law needs to pass. The time has come to put it behind us. This is my position. This also needs to be the position of the government, for the good of the country, of the ultra-orthodox public, and for relations between the ultra-orthodox and the secular," he continued. "Therefore, I call on the Council of Torah Sages ... to make the right decision. This law is good for Israel." BEIRUT - Syria's main jihadist group signalled on Sunday it would abide by the terms of a Russian-Turkish deal to prevent a Syrian government offensive on rebel-held Idlib the day before a critical deadline. Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance spearheaded by al Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate previously known as the Nusra Front, said it had adopted its stance after taking time for "consultation". Although it did not explicitly say it would abide by the deal, it said it would seek to provide security for people in the area it controls and that it appreciated efforts to protect that area, an apparent reference to Turkey. Israeli security forces have informed the family of Ashraf Na'alwa, who murdered two Israelis in a terror attack in the Barkan industrial zone, that their house is set to be demolished. The family has three days to appeal the decision. The manhunt for Na'alwa continues. Three Palestinians bearing hammers have tried to attack Justice David Mintz while he was driving in Binyamin. The three allegedly tried to block the vehicle, but he was able to escape. Police launched an investigation into a report filed by Supreme Court Justice David Mintz, who said Palestinians tried to attack him on Monday morning. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter According to the police, Mintz was driving on Route 463 when he was stopped near Talmon, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, by a Palestinian vehicle blocking his path. Three Palestinians then came out of the car and advanced towards the justice armed with hammers. Justice David Mintz (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) Upon seeing the three Palestinians, Mintz was able to drive around their vehicle and get away. It is unclear whether the suspects knew who was the driver they stopped. JABER - The border crossing between Jordan and Syria officially opened to civilians and trade on Monday after being closed for three years. The Nassib crossing opened an 8am, a border official on the Jordanian side in Jaber told Reuters but said there had been no traffic so far. One civilian could be seen waiting to cross. Jordanian state news agency Petra reported early on Monday that Jordan and Syria had agreed to open the border to all in a change from an earlier statement that normal traffic would not be allowed until a later date. The Israel-Syria Quneitra border crossing in the Golan Heights was reopened on Monday morning, four years after it was closed because of the civil war raging in the country. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The crossing, which was mostly used by the Druze population in the Golan Heights, was opened to UN observers only. The UN observers had left the Quneitra crossing in 2014 for the first time since deploying there in 1974 to monitor a cease-fire and a demilitarized zone. The IDF's coordinator with the UN forces said that Israel will examine allowing others through the crossing at a later stage. UN forces return to Syria through the Quneitra crossing (Photo: AP) Maj. Nehemia Barki said the reopening of the crossing "symbolizes the reentry of UN forces to the buffer zone in Syria, and the preservation of the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement. We expect the UN to return to enforcing the ceasefire arrangements." UN observers and local notables from the Druze community gathered near the crossing on Monday for the reopening ceremony. "It is a day of victory," Youssef Jarbou, a Druze leader, told the Syrian Al-Ikhbariya TV from Quneitra. Meanwhile, Jordan and Syria have also reopened a vital border crossing between the two countries, three years after the commercial lifeline fell to rebel groups and traffic was halted. The reopening of the crossings is a major boost to the Syrian government, keen on sending messages to its citizens and the world that it is slowly emerging victorious from the bloody conflict and beginning to restore vital services and relations. UN forces return to Syria through the Quneitra crossing (Photo: AP) The IDF announced Sunday that the United Nations has decided to return its peacekeeping force, known as UNDOF, to the Quneitra crossing area. The crossing will be used exclusively for UN forces, it added. Syrian forces recaptured the Quneitra area in July. Russian military police deployed in the area, including on the edge of the Israeli Golan Heights, setting up checkpoints in the area. Moscow said it planned to work closely with the UN force. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War, with UNDOF deployed in the area in 1974. UN forces return to Syria through the Quneitra crossing (Photo: AP) Reopening the crossing with Jordan would bring major relief to President Bashar Assad's government by restoring a much-needed gateway for Syrian exports to Arab countries. It is also expected to boost its coffers as the government is expected to collect transit fees from convoys coming from Jordan. Last month, it hiked fees for all trailers transiting through its territories. The resumption of commercial trade through the crossing will also be a diplomatic victory for Assad, whose government has been isolated from its Arab neighbors since the war began in 2011. Arab countries have boycotted the Syrian government since the early days of the war, freezing its membership in the 22-member state Arab League. The Syrian side of the Quneitra crossing (Photo: AFP) Jordan government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat said the Naseeb crossing would be opened Monday after operational details have been agreed upon, according to the Jordanian Petra news agency. Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar also confirmed the crossing's reopening, according to Syria's state news agency. "The Naseeb crossing is a vital lifeline for trade between the two brotherly countries Jordan and Syria through them to other Arab countries," Ghunaimat said, according to Petra. Rebels seized the crossing in 2015, disrupting a major trade route between Syria and Jordan, Lebanon and oil-rich Gulf countries. The two governments had earlier issued conflicting reports of when the crossing would open. Syrian troops recaptured it in July this year after rebels reached an agreement with Russian mediators to end the violence in the southern province of Daraa and surrender the crossing. The crossing is also vital for Syria's neighboring Lebanon, providing its agricultural products a route to foreign markets. The recapture of Naseeb crossing marked a major victory for Assad's forces, which have been on a winning streak since 2015 when Russia threw its military weight behind Damascus. The victory in southern Syria signaled the return of his forces to Daraa province where the uprising against him began seven years ago. Fighting has subsided across most of Syria, but in the absence of a political deal, more than 40 percent of the country's territory remains in the hands of armed opposition and their foreign supporters. A Palestinian would-be terrorist tried to stab a soldier standing at a bus stop at the Gitai Avishar Junction on Highway 5 in the northern West Bank on Monday and was shot dead by soldiers from the Artillery Corps' 55th Battalion, who were on the scene. No Israeli troops hurt. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The Gitai Avishar Junction is a busy and central intersection on the highway linking the settlement of Ariel to central Israel. Hundreds of Palestinian workers travel through the junction on their way to Israel to work. The junction was also the site of several attacks in the past, and is constantly guarded by two soldiers, who were the ones to shoot and neutralize the terrorist. (: ) The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, arrived at the scene of the thwarted attack. "The soldiers' vigilance and them taking action saved lives and prevented a terror attack," Dagan said. This is the third terror attack in the northern West Bank over the past eight days. An IDF reservist soldier was moderately wounded and a civilian woman was lightly wounded in a stabbing attack Thursday outside the Samaria Territorial Brigade base. The terrorist was able to escape initially, but was captured several days later Last Sunday, terrorist Ashraf Na'alwa murdered two IsraelisKim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, and Ziv Hagbi, 35in a shooting attack in the Barkan industrial zone. He is still at large. BEIRUT - Syria's foreign minister said on Monday the government's next target after recovering Syria's Idlib from rebels was the area east of the Euphrates, indicating territory held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). "After Idlib our target is east of the Euphrates," said Walid Muallem, adding that the area, like all parts of Syria, had to return to Syrian sovereignty. Lipa Schwartz, an American ultra-Orthodox Jew, was attacked in New York City on Sunday while walking to the synagogue. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The attack took place at 7:30am, in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood. Schwartz, 62, was on his way to the synagogue at 13th Avenue and 46th Street, carrying his tallit and tefillin, when a black vehicle pulled up next to him. CCTV footage of the attack (: ) X The driver, who appeared Middle Eastern, got out and chased Schwartz until catching up with him and assaulting him, punching him in the face and and yelling at him. Schwartz tried to defend himself and was able to escape, but was followed by his attacker. "I knew its either I fight myself out of this, or I might be dead, Schwartz told local media. CCTV footage of the attack. (Video: Hashomrim) The NYPD was called to the scene and arrested the attacker, 37-year-old Afzal Farrukh of Staten Island, who was charged with assault, hate crime, harassment and more. The Hatzolah aid organization of Borough Park evacuated the victim to the hospital, where he was treated for cuts and bruises to his head. Baruch Hashem, Im out of the hospital with some minor bruises, but the trauma of being attacked by someone will stay with me forever, Schwartz said. A man who was trying to help the victim was also chased by the attacker. (Photo: Hashomrim) The event was documented by CCTV from various angles, that also show another Jewish man who tried to help the victim but was chased away by Farrukh. Local media reported that Farrukh shouted anti-Semitic slurs towards Schwarz, saying that he hates Jews and wants to kill all of them. However, a source at NYPD told the media that Schwarz provoked the attack, after he responded to Farrukh's slurs by crossing the road and hitting his car. The Anti Defamation League published earlier this year that between January 1st-September 30th, 2017, 1,299 anti-semitic incidents happened in the USa dramatic 70 percent increase to the previous year, including physical attacks, vandalism and attacks on Jewish institutions. Defense Minister Avigor Lieberman praised Monday a decision by Agudat Yisrael's Council of Torah Sages not to order its MKs to quit the government over the IDF draft law, which would've toppled the coalition government. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter "This is a level-headed and responsible decision," Lieberman said at his Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting. "Anyone who was looking for an excuse to call early elections will have to find another excuse." The existing Israeli Defense Service Law expires in December after the HCJ deemed it unconstitutional . The Knesset must now pass an alternative law before then, otherwise all yeshiva students would ostensibly be subject to compulsory military service. Defense Minister Lieberman (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) The members of the Council form the spiritual leadership of the Chassidic faction of United Torah Judaism, headed by Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, the main and more influential of the two Ashkenazi Haredi groups that make up UTJ. Litzman himself has said in recent months that he will not allow the law to pass, even threatening to resign. The Degel Hatorah faction in UTJ, led by MK Moshe Gafni, and the Sephardic Shas party led by Aryeh Deri, tend to accept the present outline of the bill, wishing to avoid an election cycle with the subject of Haredi IDF enlistment at its center. On Monday morning, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called the crisis over the IDF draft law a "fake crisis," noting the matter was "completely solvable." "The governmental bill proposal is good, we can make several fixes to it and pass it," Shaked told Ynet in an interview. "The Haredim presented a more moderate position yesterday, and we can reach agreements based on that." Justice Minister Shaked (Photo: Yaron Brener) "All coalition heads are saying the same thingwe all believe this government needs to live out its term... but if the prime minister wants to call elections, then we probably will have early elections," she continued. Education Minister Naftali Bennett echoed Shaked's comments at his own Bayit Yehudi faction meeting. "The IDF draft issue is solvable and the attempt to create a crisis is fake to its core. Both Lieberman and the Haredim know and can reach a solution," he said, adding, "As far as we're concerned, the elections have one date: November 2019." Education Minister Bennett (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Speaking at his Kulanu faction meeting, Finance Minister Kahlon said his party "would only support a law that is acceptable to the military. The IDF is the one recruiting soldiers, not rabbis or politicians." He lamented recent discourse against the IDF and Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, saying "they're being accused of allegations that are disconnected from reality... get the military out of politics, out of this discourse. The IDF chief is exceptional and the military is excellent. He doesn't need to advice of politicians who are trying to gather votes in the primaries at the expense of the military." Finance Minister Kahlon (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Zionist Union chairman Avi Gabbay, who is not a member of Knesset, called on other opposition parties to help "bring down this government over the IDF draft law." "All it takes is for (Yesh Atid leader) Lapid to vote against, but he decided to support the 'IDF draft dodging law' and is used as a flak jacket for the Netanyahu government for a seat in the next government," Gabbay accused. Zionist Union leader Gabbay (Photo: Alex Gamburg) Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, meanwhile, asserted that "All of the issues being talked about as unsolvable will stay with us on the day after the elections." Knesset Speaker Edelstein (Photo: Ido Erez, Gil Yohanan) "I don't really buy the theory that the prime minister wants to call early elections," he added in an interview with Ynet ahead of the opening of the Knesset's winter session. Outside the Knesset, meanwhile, some 20 LGBT activists protested and demanded equal rights to the gay community. Earlier, some 15 members of the "Disabled Panthers" group protested and demanded to raise their disability benefits to equal minimum wage. The Supreme Court has never been regarded, in both public and political discourse, as a shining knight of human rights in the West Bank territory, as seen in the case of Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village in the West Bank slated for demolition. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The court has not intervened in the decisions of the Israeli government, the army, and Civil Administration officials in the daily affairs of Palestinians, in the demolition orders against their homes, and the decisions to expropriate Palestinian lands and establish Jewish settlements in those areas. Khan al-Ahmar (Photo: AP) Most Palestinian petitions have been rejected by the court in rulings which found no grounds to intervene in these matters. In September 5, at the final Supreme Court hearing regarding Khan al-Ahmar, the court dismissed the petition on the grounds that the hearing had been final and that the decision issued in May 2018by a panel headed by settler Judge N. Solbergcould not be re-opened. Although the subject of the petitiona detailed outline plan submitted by the residents of the village to the Civil Administration's planning bureauhad never been discussed in court, the court decided to dismiss the petition. The court had also ignored the claim of discrimination raised by Khan al-Ahmar's Palestinian residents regarding illegal construction in Kfar Adumim settlement, which is located next to the village. In Kfar Adumim, hundreds of buildings have been built without building permits and without approved plans. Demolition orders have sometimes been issued by the Civil Administration, but those orders have never been implemented and will not be implemented in the future. The purpose of the planning laws regarding demolition is to deal only with 'illegal' construction by Palestinians. In fact, the planning system Israel has created in the West Bank is intended to serve the interests of the settlement construction project, at the expense of the Palestinians, while ignoring their needs. The government of Israel insists on demolishing the village of Khan al-Ahmar and plans to expel its residents from the area, even though these are private lands registered in the Lands Registry in the name of Palestinian residents of Anata, who have agreed to allow the Bedouin residents of the village to remain there. If the State of Israel implements its plan and expels the residents, this will be the second deportation of the Abu Dahouk Jahalin tribe, whose first expulsion was carried out by Israel in 1953, from their lands in Tel Arad in the Negev. Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli defense minister who immigrated to Israel many years after the expulsion of the Bedouins from Tel Arad and the establishment of Khan al-Ahmar, published an opinion piece in English in the Jerusalem Post a few days ago, full of errors and deceptions. Lieberman stated that the government had decided to implement a court ruling to evict Khan al-Ahmar residents to another location. But in fact, in its decision the court gave no such order to evict the residents of the village or to demolish their homes. The court ruled that it would not intervene in any decision made by the government, and that the government was free to destroy or keep the village. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Photo: Reuters) Lieberman claims that the Bedouin huts had been built illegally next to a main highway, endangering the villagers, and especially the school's students. But the residents submitted a detailed outline plan to move the village's homes from the main road and informed the court that they were willing to move hundreds of meters away from the road. If Lieberman were concerned about the security and health of these Palestinian residents, he would not have insisted on expelling them to the waste landfill or alternatively to a site near a sewage treatment facility. Lieberman also claims that the Supreme Court is independent in its decisions and that it has received a high rating from respected international bodies on the independence of its decisions. But the Supreme Court is an inseparable part of the state, which views Palestinians as subjects without political, national or even civil rights. The Israeli Supreme Court is part of the occupation regime. Even the independence of the Supreme Court is questionable when considering the government's crude interference in the appointment of judges. Some judges have been appointed according to their political views, and today there are at least two judges who live in the occupied territories, and others with particularly right-wing views. The defense minister rejects the international criticism of the Supreme Court's decision and the intention to destroy the village of Khan al-Ahmar, claiming that it is an internal matter of Israel. Lieberman is apparently forgetting that this is occupied territory, a fact recognized by all nations of the world, including Israel's US ally. As such, the rules of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the expulsion of local residents or settling citizens of the occupying state in the occupied territory, apply to this area. According to the same rules, Israeli courts have no authority over the Palestinian residents and the occupied territories. However, the State of Israel is the powerful occupying power here, and it has decided to ignore the rules of international law and the very existence of Palestinian courts. The Supreme Court has even authorized jurisdiction of the Jerusalem District Court over land matters applying to the West Bank, and so it has over-ridden the natural role and authority of the Palestinian court. All this, in order to facilitate Israeli takeover over the most valuable resources in the occupied territoriesthe land, and to establish and expand Jewish settlements there. Khan al-Ahmar demolition (Photo: AFP) Lieberman rejects the international community's demand to refrain from destroying Khan al-Ahmar and says that will not happen on his watch, but his real intention is about the watch of someone else: Donald Trump's. Lieberman believes it is expedient to 'clean' the area of Palestinians while Trump is in office. An opportunity that will not be repeated in the future. However, Lieberman is wrong here, too: even if Al Khan al-Ahmar is destroyed, the Palestinian Bedouins will not disappear, they will remain in their place. Unless they are offered a return to their own land in Tel Arad. Adv. Tawfiq Jabareen represented the residents of Al Khan al Ahmar in the petition they submitted in July 2018. An IAF aircraft fired at a Hamas position in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon after two terrorists planted an explosive device near the border fence. The explosive device went off inside the strip and caused damage to the fence. No IDF soldiers were hurt. An IAF aircraft fired at a Hamas position in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon after two terrorists planted an explosive device near the border fence. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The explosive device went off inside the strip and caused damage to the fence. No IDF soldiers were hurt. Friday's disturbances alsong Gaza border (Photo: AP) On Sunday, the Security Cabinet met for four hours and decided to wait until the weekend before deciding on concrete steps vis-a-vis Gaza and give another chance to a cease fire arrangement being brokered by the UN and Egypt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued sharp statements warning Hamas of harsh consequences if calm is not achieved. Hamas has apparently not internalized the message if they do not end the violence, it will be stopped in other ways and it will be painful. We are very close to embarking on an operation Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also warned Hamas of the likelihood of a military operation saying Israel only engages in battle when it has no other choice and that it has left no stone unturned in its efforts to reach an agreement regarding Gaza. PARIS - The United States still aims to cut Iran's oil sales to zero and does not expect restored oil sanctions against Tehran to have a negative impact on a market that is well-supplied and balanced, a senior US official said on Monday. US special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, was talking to reporters after a visit to India, a major importer of Iranian oil, and talks with officials from France, Britain and Germany before the start of a new round of US sanctions on Nov. 4. The three European countries have been trying to save the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and multiple global powers since US President Trump announced in May that the United States would withdraw from the pact. In a conference call from Luxembourg, where Hook was meeting European officials, he said that Iran uses oil revenue to support and fund terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East and that the US goal is for countries to cut Iranian oil imports to zero as quickly as possible. Hook declined to answer questions on possible waivers on sanctions for countries that are reducing their imports but said the US is confident that energy markets will remain stable. "We are seeing a well-supplied and balanced oil market right now. We should focus on these fundamentals and not be distracted by the emotional and unbalanced claims coming from Tehran." At the start of the Knesset's winter session Monday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in light of recent tension caused by the downing of the Russian plane. "I maintain frequent and direct contact with President Putin, and I consider our friendly relations and mutual appreciation. It allows us to deal with complex and difficult challenges in our region. These relations are important for the security of Israel," the prime minister stated. Netanyahu also addressed the situation in Syria and said that Israel keeps "working against Iran in Syria." As for Israel's achievements, the prime minister added that "our foreign relations are unprecedented, hundreds of heads of state, ministers and senior members of parliament come to Israel every year." "They admire our military and intelligence capabilities, they admire our economic and technological strength, we systematically nurture these strengths and they give us tremendous political power," Netanyahu went on to say. Two New Zealand pro-Palestinian activists have raised NZ$14,000 ($9,108.40) as of Sunday for charity after being fined by an Israeli court for their alleged role in persuading pop star Lorde to cancel a concert in Tel Aviv last year. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu-Shanab said last week they would not pay the fine of 45,000 shekels ($12,423.05) awarded to three Israeli teenagers, calling the court's ruling a "stunt" intended to intimidate Israel's critics. Lorde (Photo: Getty Images) Instead, they asked people to donate money through website "givealittle.co.nz" to the Gaza Mental Health Foundation, a volunteer group that raises funds for mental health and women's empowerment groups in the Gaza Strip. The three Israeli women who sued the activists, disappointed in Lorde's cancellation As of Sunday, they raised NZ$14,000, according to the website. "Given that we've actually had this kind of push upon us, we felt that it was expedient to actually re-center the issue back on Palestine," Abu-Shanab told Radio New Zealand. Justine Sachs The case arose from an open letter that Sachs and Abu-Shanab wrote to Lorde, a New Zealander, on the website "thespinoff.co.nz" in December urging her to call off her planned concert. Lorde cancelled her concert in Israel that same month after a campaign by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) group, which campaigns for Palestinian rights, that included the open letter published by Sachs and Abu-Shanab. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel continues to act against the establishment of Iranian military in Syria, and emphasized that he stays in constant contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The prime minister spoke at the kick off of the Knessets winter session amid the ongoing uncertainty over the new IDF draft law that might dismantle the coalition and trigger early elections. Opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni, President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Adelstein were among those who also gave speeches at the onset of the session. Even today Israel is acting against Iran in Syria, and we will continue to try and push it back," Netanyahu exclaimed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the start of Knesset's winter session (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Netanyahu also emphasized his close relationship with President Putin, in light of recent tensions caused by the downing of the Russian spy plane in Syria, which sparked an international crisis and prompted the Russians to supply Syrian army with S-300 anti-aircraft system. "I maintain frequent and direct contact with President Putin Our friendly relations and mutual appreciation is very important to me. It allows us to deal with complex and difficult challenges in our region. These relations are also important for the security of Israel," the Netanyahu stressed. However, went on the prime minister, the most important of all is the alliance weve established with our greatest friendthe United States. Not only is the Trump administration committed to support us when it comes to security, the American president has also elevated the US support for Israel at the UN to a whole new level. We are in the eye of the storm, with the turbulent Middle East around us, but I will not let this storm shake us," the prime minister said as he thanked all national security bodies. The Prime Minister also addressed the Palestinian issue and the volatile situation along the southern border. "As a person who has fought in wars and lost friends and comrades who fell in battle, I know how bad and painful a war is. I am doing everything to prevent unnecessary wars but if we are required to act against our enemies, we won't hesitate, he stressed "I would like to emphasize that the obstacle to peace is not in our midst, it is among the Palestinians," he added. (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Netanyahu also accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of indirectly supporting terrorism by providing payments to perpetrators and not condemning terror attacks on Israeli citizens. So far, I have not heard Abbass condemnation of the cruel and shocking murder of Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and Ziv Hagbi, he bemoaned, adding the Palestinian Authority continues to finance these vile murderers. Abbas, who demands a Palestinian nation-state free of Jews rewards those who murder Jews. As for Israel's achievements over the past decade, which Netanyahu labeled prosperous, the prime minister said that "our foreign relations are unprecedented, hundreds of heads of state, ministers and senior members of parliament come to Israel every year." "They admire our military and intelligence capabilities, they admire our economic and technological strength, we systematically nurture these strengths and they give us tremendous political power," Netanyahu opined. "In spite of all this," the prime minister continued, referring to the opposition, "there is a small and disgruntled minority who brazenly makes outrageous statements like: 'They stole the state from us our country is not stolen This is the new Israel, where everyone has equal opportunity." Sara Netanyahu watching the prime minister's speech (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) The 68 year old also called the notion, that the Israeli democracy is under attack following the passing of the contentious Nation-State Law, absurd. "Israel is a vibrant and healthy democracy. The courts and individual rights are not and will never be in any danger," he vented, before attacking the media as well, saying the media itself restricts the freedom of expression by implying that Israel is a fascist state. Toward the end of his speech, Netanyahu addressed the IDF draft law in light of the ultra-Orthodox coalition partners decision not to order its MKs to quit the government. "We hope that we will pass it soon we recognize the value of bible study and the unity of the nation," he concluded. Opposition leader Tzipi Livni took the stand following Netanyahu's speech. "I hope that this is the last Knesset session in which Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as a prime minister. It's not a personal issue, it's a national one, she raged. Tzipi Livni (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Livni also condemned what she views as Netanyahus disregard for those who did not vote for him, saying the prime minister wants for the public to show loyalty to him personally and not to the state. "What disintegrates us from within is not the opposition's criticism of the government but the fact that the government has become an opposition to the democratic institutions, to the legal system, to the enforcement of the law and to the media," Livni asserted. President Rivlin spoke before Netanyahu took the stage, conveying a positive message regarding the countrys future. In Israel of 2018 everyone wants to influence how the country looks. But I have a feeling that each side is pulling in its own direction and the flag may be torn. Peace, that we argue about, has become a weapon. Empathy is evaporating, our ears are closing, inner peace is lost. We are starting to think and talk about package deals, Rivlin explained. President Rivlin (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) I do not fit the accepted package deal, said the president, not of the right and not of the left. I am a humanist I am a Zionist with every fiber of my being, and as such, I believe in civil rights and the rule of law. I believe in judicial conservatism and criticize judicial activism, and will continue to say proudly and clearly there are judges in Jerusalem. I believe in liberty and equality, and believe in our right to the land. Complexity is not a plague. Complexity is not a lack of backbone. It is also not a lack of a clear point of view. Complexity is humanity. Complex people do not only vote for the center. They vote for the right, and for the left, the president underlined. As part of the weekly protest flotilla in the Gaza Strip, dozens of boats left Gaza Monday and headed towards the Israeli border. At the naval border fence, protestors blew up tires, threw rocks and explosives at IDF soldiers. According to the IDF Spokesperson's unit, the Israeli troops responded with crowd dispersal measures, in accordance with the rules of engagement. According to the Palestinians, thousands of people are demonstrating in the northern Gaza Strip, and 25 boats participated in the flotilla. An explosive envelope sent to the president of the Jewish community of Tatarstan, Russia, exploded Monday morning in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan. As a result of the explosion the president and his aide were injured and evacuated to a local hospital. The police have launched an investigation, but it is not yet clear whether the incident was a criminal or an anti-Semitic hate crime. Investigators said the case is investigated as an attempted murder. The United States still aims to cut Iran's oil sales to zero and does not expect restored oil sanctions against Tehran to have a negative impact on a market that is well-supplied and balanced, a senior US official said on Monday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook was talking to reporters after a visit to India, a major importer of Iranian oil, and talks with officials from France, Britain and Germany before the start of a new round of US sanctions on November 4 targeting Iran's energy sector and financial transactions. Brian Hook The three European countries have been trying to save the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and multiple global powers since US President Donald Trump announced in May that the United States would withdraw from the pact. In a conference call from Luxembourg, where Hook was meeting European officials, he said Iran used oil revenue to support and fund terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East, including in the proliferation of ballistic missiles. The US goal is for countries to cut imports of Iranian oil to zero as quickly as possible, Hook said. "We are working with countries that are reducing their imports to ensure that this happens," he said. Hook declined to answer questions on possible waivers on sanctions for countries that are reducing their imports or whether the United States would target the SWIFT international payments messaging system. But he said Washington was confident that energy markets would remain stable. "We are seeing a well-supplied and balanced oil market right now. We should focus on these fundamentals and not be distracted by the emotional and unbalanced claims coming from Tehran." Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has said its oil exports cannot be halted because of high demand in the market. "Stopping Irans oil export is impractical," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told a weekly news conference on Monday. "Certainly, America will not achieve its goal ... our oil exports will continue." Bahram Qasemi Iran pumped 3.45 million barrels per day in September, OPEC said last week, down 150,000 bpd from August. Production dropped below 2.7 million bpd under previous sanctions that were lifted following the 2015 nuclear deal. Washington, meanwhile, plans to continue coordinating with oil producers and maintaining US supply. "Our crude oil production increased by 1.65 million barrels in August compared to one year ago and that is expected to continue rising by as much as 1 million barrels a day within the next year," Hook said. Hook also said European efforts to create a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) for trade, including oil, with Tehran by November would struggle to gain traction. "That vehicle sends the wrong message at the wrong time," he said. "From what we've seen this SPV seems to want to create supply but we don't see much demand for it when you look at well over 100 companies that have already made clear they are leaving." Petrochemical factory, Iran (Photo: EPA) Iranian papers: US sanctions violate Iranian human rights Several Iranian reformist newspapers on Monday published a rare joint editorial criticizing US sanctions against the country and asking "world journalists" to defend Iranian human rights. The editorial was published in both Farsi and English on Monday in at least eight state-owned and pro-reform dailies. It said the US has "lied" about the purpose of sanctions, which target the needs of ordinary people and curtail access to medical supplies and equipment. The joint editorial said that "trade restrictions, blockades, embargoes, freezing of assets and other economic sanctions are incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations." It called the US pullout from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran "an undiplomatic and immoral" policy. The agreement with world powers had established a protocol to limit Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Iran is negotiating with European trading partners to try and find a way to circumvent US sanctions and remain within the nuclear deal. The editorial is seen as part of efforts by Iranian reformists to address international public opinion ahead of the implementation of a new round of US sanctions targeting oil in early November. Hard-liners opposed to rapprochement with the West were always skeptical of the nuclear deal, and have viewed the withdrawal as proof of their longstanding belief that the US cannot be trusted. On Sunday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, tried to downplay the upcoming US sanctions targeting the country's vital oil and gas sector. Also on Monday, Ghasemi said that Tehran received a US note confirming its withdrawal from a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The Trump administration announced it would terminating the 1955 amity treaty earlier this month in response to a UN court order that the US lift sanctions on Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the treaty was long overdue and followed Iran "groundlessly" bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging US sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact. The largely symbolic gesture highlighted deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran. The marriage of Lucy Aharish and Tsahi Halevi is a joyous occasion, and the couple deserve blessings. Aharish is a prominent media personality. She is pleasant, intelligent, and her cultural style is the opposite of the vulgar style often heard in public discourse. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Aharish is a Muslim-Israeli who married an Israeli Jew. Unfortunately, the state does not regulate such marriages. It is not Aharish's fault that Israel does regulate the right to marriage in a series of cases, including interfaith marriages. But at least, in this matter, liberal ideas can be expressed which recognize a private wedding ceremony, such as the wedding of Aharish and Halevi, even though the state's recognition of this marriage is limited and partial at best. Wedding photo of Lucy Aharish and Tzachi Halevy (Photo: Meir Edery) In addition to the fact that Israel violates the human rights of interfaith spouses by refraining from regulating such marriage, a number of questions arise that deserve our attention. The traditional Jewish approach opposed intermarriage and responded by rejecting these couples. The Jewish religion has an exclusive nature, which cannot tolerate members of another religion. From here we wish to conclude that the Jewish nation also denies the possibility of including members of other religions in its midst. Those who wish to join the Jewish people can do so only through proper religious channel (i.e., it is impossible to join our people through secular-civilian channels). This approach may have been justified in the past. Today I believe that it has no place, certainly not in the State of Israel. It is worth recognizing that Judaism is not only a religion or nationality, but also a rich culture based on language and literature thousands of years old. There is no reason to prevent non-Jews from belonging to Judaism and taking part in it. The Germans were talking about "Weimar culture," the circle of German arts and sciences. The French are currently engaged in their Francophone culture, which includes all those who speak the French language, even members of different nationalities who practice various religions. Lucy Aharish (Photo: Idan Arbel) In my opinion, the State of Israel and the Jewish people in general have an interest in accepting new members without examining the Kippahs of those aspiring memberswhether they are secular Jews, practice another religion, or belong to a different culture. Not to mention the question, which has yet to be answered, of whether an Israeli nation has been established in Israel. Back to the matter at hand: there is no need to elaborate on the issue of nationality, since I believe it is impossible to dispute the fact that Israel has a flourishing Jewish-Israeli culture in literature, cinema, theater, science and the media. It is only fitting that those who wish to join our culture will be able to do so. Aharish is part of this culture. She even contributes to it, despite the fact that she belongs to a different one. Her right to marry should be recognized, without having to convert or practice the laws of a religion she does not believe in. A warning was heard about the problems facing the children of interfaith spouses. The role of the state is to ensure that such problems are avoided, and that a child born to a mixed couple will not be harmed because his parents do not practice the same religion. But even if the state does not act, we must hope that the liberal public in Israel remains strong enough to protect these families from facing such problems. Finally, the wedding of Aharish and Halevi, like many other examples, shows the fact that Israel does not uphold the right to marryand lets the religious-Orthodox stream have the final say in this matterdoes not achieve its goal. The state does not prevent marriages between members of different religions, just as it does not prevent spouses, even when they are both Jews, from marrying outside the jurisdiction of the rabbinate. Gaza's Health Ministry says 32 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli fire on Monday during a mass protest along the beach near the Israeli frontier. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Protesters threw flaming tires over the fence, while fishing boats hoisted Palestinian flags. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live fire. Earlier, an IAF aircraft fired at a Hamas position in the southern Gaza Strip after two terrorists planted an explosive device near the border fence. The explosive device went off inside the strip and caused damage to the fence. No IDF soldiers were hurt. The ruling Hamas terror group has been staging violent border protests for the past six months in hopes of breaking the blockade over Gaza. It has intensified the protests and incendiary balloons terror in recent weeks as Egyptian-mediated ceasefire efforts have faltered. Over the weekend, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered to halt Qatari-donated fuel shipments to Gaza's power plant in response to the escalated protests. The defense minister also warned Hamas of the likelihood of a military operation saying Israel only engages in battle when it has no other choice and that it has left no stone unturned in its efforts to reach an agreement regarding Gaza. On Sunday, the Security Cabinet convened for four hours and decided to wait until the weekend before deciding on concrete steps vis-a-vis Gaza and give another chance to a cease fire arrangement being brokered by the UN and Egypt. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is considering following in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by relocating the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to Australian media sources. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Morrison is due to deliver a speech on foreign policy on Tuesday, during which he is expected to clarify the issue. According to reports in Australia, the decision is linked to the country's elections and internal political considerations as Morrison hopes to win the Jewish vote. Scott Morrison (Photo: Getty Images) Morrison said that he was influenced by Dave Sharma, the former Australian ambassador to Israel, who is running for a seat in the Australian parliament on behalf of the Liberal Party in the district of Wentworth, where 12 percent of voters are Jewish, replacing former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. However, Morrison denied reports that his declaration on the subject had anything to do with political considerations. Morrison also said that the review of Australias position "does indicate a shift in our thinking as a government" but denied they were inconsistent with long-held policies and maintained that he was committed to a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. The prime minister also announced that his government would consider whether to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement, following President Trump's withdrawal "There are, of course, existential questions for countries like Israel, and I want to examine our position on this issue and to do it systematically, and we share genuine concern about Iran's ability to undermine stability in the Middle East, especially with respect to our ally Israel." The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court extended Monday the detention of a Border Guard policewoman serving in the Jerusalem area who was suspected of firing a sponge-tipped bullet at a Palestinian man for fun. The incident took place during an operational activity near A-Za'im checkpoint located near Ma'ale Adumim. In addition, four other Border Policemen were arrested and charged with the same offenses. The four were questioned by police and then released. COLOGNE, GermanyGerman police detained a man who took a woman hostage at the train station in Cologne on Monday and said the suspect, who was seriously injured in the rescue operation, was probably a Syrian citizen. According to German media, the suspect identified as a member of the ISIS terror organization Germany is on high alert for militant attacks, almost two years after a Tunisian Islamist rammed a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 11 people as well as the driver. "The suspect is under control," police in the western city of Cologne said on Twitter. "A female hostage has sustained light injuries and is being tended to." The suspect was being resuscitated. A spokeswoman said officers had forced their way into a pharmacy where the suspect was, adding that the hostage-taker's motives were unclear. The suspect is probably a 55-year-old Syrian citizen, Cologne's deputy police chief Miriam Brauns said, adding that police found identification documents in the back of the pharmacy that showed that the owner of the papers was allowed to stay in Germany until mid-2021. The man was known to police for offences including theft and fraud, she said, adding that it was not certain that the owner of the documents was the hostage taker. The incident prompted the evacuation of the station. "We also do not rule out a terrorist attack," Brauns said. WASHINGTON US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will stop in Turkey after his trip to Saudi Arabia to talk with King Salman about the missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a National Security Council spokesman said on Monday. "It is absolutely essential that Turkish authorities, with full and transparent support from the government of Saudi Arabia, are able to conduct a thorough investigation and officially release the results of that investigation when concluded," the spokesperson said. The Coalition Government is paving a way for more investment, jobs and potential higher salaries as it is recently announced that tax relief for small and medium businesses will be delivered earlier than expected. In a joint statement by Australia Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, it was indicated that the legislation is set to be introduced during the next session of Parliament. This will impose lesser tax for more than three million businesses that employ nearly seven million Aussies. What are the details? Businesses with a turnover below $50 million will be subjected to a tax rate of just 25% as early as 2021-2022, five years earlier than the currently established 2026-2067. The modifications will be mirrored in the roll out of the 16% tax discount for unincorporated businesses. Further, a small business, such as an independent supermarket or a pub, that makes $500,000 profit, will have an additional $7,500 in 2020-21 and $12,500 in 2021-22. This is to aid them in investing back into the business or staff, or help to manage cash flow. Industry group Master Builders Australia welcomed the news, noting the 370,000 plus building businesses that will benefit from the move. This is great news for builders, including the many who are sole traders, and the economy, Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said. Wawn pointed out how the quicker tax relief will encourage more industry players to be more active and inject funds in appropriate investments. Bringing forward small business tax relief for SME builders will motivate them to invest more in their businesses including plant and equipment and training, engage more tradies and train more apprentices, she said. This directive builds on the first stage of company tax relief that the government delivered in May 2017 News Washington, DC - Ever wonder why things that normally feel gentle, like putting on soft shirts, are painful after a sunburn? In a study of four patients with a rare genetic disorder, NIH researchers found that PIEZO2, a gene previously shown to control our sense of our bodies in space and gentle touch, may also be responsible for tactile allodynia: the skins reaction to injury that makes normally gentle touches feel painful. This and a second NIH-funded study, both published in Science Translational Medicine, used mice to show how the gene may play an essential role in the nervous systems reaction to injury and inflammation, making PIEZO2 a target for developing precise treatments for relieving the pain caused by cuts, burns, and other skin injuries. For years scientists have been trying to solve the mystery of how gentle touch becomes painful. These results suggest PIEZO2 is the gene for tactile allodynia. We hope that these results will help researchers develop better treatments for managing this form of pain, said Alexander T. Chesler, Ph.D., a Stadtman Investigator at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and a senior author of one of the studies. The PIEZO2 gene encodes what scientists call a mechanosensitive protein which produces electrical nerve signals in response to changes in cell shape, such as when skin cells and neurons of the hand are pressed against a table. Since its discovery in mice by a team led by Ardem Patapoutian, Ph.D., Scripps Research, La Jolla, CA, the lead author of the second paper, scientists have proposed that PIEZO2 plays an important role in touch and pain in humans. In 2016, Dr. Cheslers team worked with the group of Carsten G. Bonnemann, M.D., senior investigator at the NIHs National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), to show that two patients who had mutations in PIEZO2 that eliminated its activity lacked proprioception, or a sixth sense of how our bodies are positioned in space. They were also unable to feel vibrations and were less sensitive to certain forms of gentle touch. NIH funded studies found that the PIEZO2 gene may be responsible for tactile allodynia: the skins reaction to injuries, like sunburns, that makes normally gentle touches feel painful. Courtesy of the Chesler lab, NCCIH. In this new study, Drs. Chesler and Bonnemann worked with pain expert Catherine Bushnell, Ph.D., at NCCIH, to examine four more patients at the NIHs Clinical Center and found that PIEZO2 controls tactile allodynia after a skin injury. To test for allodynia the researchers had participants sit at a table facing a barrier that blocked their view of their arms. The researchers then dabbed two creams onto a participants arm. One was a placebo, which had no effect, and the other contained capsaicin, the ingredient that makes chili peppers hot and causes inflammation, as seen with sunburns. The researchers found stark differences between how the capsaicin affected control participants and ones with mutations in PIEZO2. Swiping a cotton swab around the capsaicin patch consistently caused control participants to feel pain, which allowed each one to correctly identify where the inflammation was even though they could not see their arms. In contrast, the participants with the PIEZO2 mutation felt no difference between the areas where capsaicin and placebo had been applied. Whats remarkable about the PIEZO2-deficient participants is the clarity of their conditions. With their help were getting fundamental new insights about how the loss of PIEZO2 affects them specifically and learning what PIEZO2 is normally used for, which could be of immense medical importance to all other people, said Dr. Bonnemann. This type of PIEZO2-dependent pain makes it very hard to apply bandages to burns and wounds that are important for healing. Most pain treatments numb large areas of the body. Our results suggest that if we could shut down PIEZO2 in the area of a wound, we would hopefully relieve the pain and speed recovery. Further experiments in mice by Dr. Chesler and Dr. Patapoutian confirmed the results observed in patients. Deleting PIEZO2 eliminated gentle touch sensations in mice as well as those felt during inflammation and injury. Although neither study shows exactly how inflammation causes pain, their results suggest that inflammation does not alter the ability of PIEZO2 to detect gentle touches. For instance, Dr. Cheslers group showed in control mice that inflammation had no major effect on how the PIEZO2-containing neurons fired in response to gentle brushing. Instead, their results support the Gate Theory, which states that inflammation causes gentle touches to feel painful because neurons in the brain or spinal cord reinterpret signals from the rest of the body. It appears that inflammation doesnt change the ability of neurons in the skin to sense gentle touch but instead reroutes the information thats sent throughout the rest of the nervous system, said Dr. Patapoutian. We hope these results help pain researchers better understand the mechanisms behind tactile allodynia. This work was supported by the NCCIH and NINDS intramural research programs, NIH grants (NS105067, DE022358, DE025329), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, European Research Council grant (AdG 789128), and the Berlin Institute for Health. The NINDS is the nations leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. News Washington, DC - At the request of President Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today. The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Latest News San Antonio, Texas - A Mexican man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to more than five years in prison following his conviction for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens which resulted in ten deaths. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from the San Antonio Police Department, San Antonio Fire Department, Bexar County Sheriffs Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protections (CBP) Border Patrol. Pedro Silva-Segura, 47, from Mexico but residing illegally in Laredo, Texas, was sentenced Oct. 10 by U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra to 108 months in prison. Since Silva-Segura is not a U.S. citizen he is expected to face deportation proceedings after he completes his prison sentence. As this sentence makes clear, those who exploit people in this brutal and disgraceful way will face serious consequences themselves, said Special Agent in Charge, Shane Folden, HSI San Antonio. Alien smugglers view their clients as nothing more than a commodity and they have no qualms about collecting their smuggling fees. Todays lengthy sentence is a reminder that the penalties are very severe for anyone who participates in the dangerous business of illegally transporting human beings in tractor trailers. Time and again, we have seen this practice result in the loss of life of the most vulnerable among us. We will be relentless in prosecuting this very serious crime, stated U.S. Attorney Bash. According to court documents, on March 8, 2018, Silva pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, resulting in death. By pleading guilty, Silva admitted to operating a stash house in Laredo, Texas, used as a holding area for illegal aliens awaiting transportation to final destinations in the U.S. Silva further admitted that approximately five illegal aliens left the stash house on the night of July 22, 2017, and were delivered to a truck driven by James Matthew Bradley, Jr., that was bound for San Antonio. San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) officers responded to a call at the Wal-Mart store located at 8538 Interstate 35 in San Antonio shortly after midnight on Sunday, July 23, 2017. An officer encountered a tractor-trailer behind the store, finding several people standing and lying in the rear of the trailer, and the driver, Bradley, in the cab. At the scene, law enforcement officers discovered 39 illegal aliens. Of the 39 found at the scene, 10 died. There were four juveniles, aged 14-17 years old, within the group of aliens in Bradleys trailer who were unaccompanied by an adult. Court records further state that the illegal aliens estimated the trailer contained between 70 and 180 to 200 people during transport. They also described differing fees for being transported. Silva-Segura will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future. Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Western District of Texas, prosecuted this case. iShares MSCI Austria ETF's stock was trading at $15.26 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, EWO shares have increased by 70.0% and is now trading at $25.94. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. 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 Mohawk Industries: A&S Energie NV, A&U Energie NV, Aladdin Manufacturing Corporation, Aladdin Manufacturing Of New York LLC, Aladdin Manufacturing of Alabama LLC, Alsace Logistique S.A., Avelgem Green Power CVBA, Avon Pacific Holdings Ltd, B&M NV, BGE Mexico S. de R. L. de C.V., Berghoef GmbH, Berghoef-Hout B.V., Bienes Raices y Materiales del Centro S. de R.L. de C.V., C.F. Marazzi S.A., Canterbury Spinners Ltd, Carpet Foundation Ltd, Cevotrans BV, Ceramus Bahia S/A Produtos Ceramicos, DT Mex Holdings LLC, DTM/CM Holdings LLC, Dal Italia LLC, Dal-Elit LLC, Dal-Tile Chile Comercial Limitada, Dal-Tile Colombia S.A.S., Dal-Tile Distribution Inc., Dal-Tile Group Inc., Dal-Tile I LLC, Dal-Tile Industrias S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile International Inc., Dal-Tile Mexico Comercial S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Operaciones Mexico S. De R.L. De C.V., Dal-Tile Peru SRL, Dal-Tile Puerto Rico Inc., Dal-Tile Services Inc., Dal-Tile Shared Services Inc., Dal-Tile Tennessee LLC, Dal-Tile of Canada ULC, Daltile, Daltile, Dekaply NV, Durkan, Dynea NV, Eliane Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Eliane S/A - Revestimentos Ceramicos, Emilceramica India Pvt Ltd., Emilceramica S.r.l, Emilgermany GmbH, Emilgroup Asia Ltd, Explorer S.r.l., F.I.L.S. Investments Unlimited Company, Feltex Carpets Ltd, Feltex Carpets Pty Ltd, Feltex New Zealand Ltd, Fibremakers Australia Pty Ltd, Flooring Foundation Ltd, Flooring Industries Limited S.a r.l., Flooring XL B.V., Floorscape Limited, Godfrey Hirst & Co Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Group, Godfrey Hirst NZ Ltd, Hytherm (Ireland) Limited, IVC BVBA, IVC Far-East Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., IVC France S.a r.l., IVC GROUP LIMITED, IVC Green Power NV, IVC Group, IVC Group GmbH, IVC Luxembourg S.a r.l., IVC Rus OOO, IVC US Inc., International Flooring Systems S.a r.l., International Vinyl Company - Vostok OOO, KAI Group, KAI Keramica Ltd, KAI Mining EOOD, KERAMA CENTER OOO, Kerama Baltics OOO, Kerama Export OOO, Kerama Marazzi OOO, Kerampromservis (LLC), Khan Asparuh - Transport EOOD, Khan Asparuh AD, Khan Omurtag AD, Koninklijke Peitsman B.V., Kraj Kerama OOO, MG China Trading Ltd., MI Finance SRL, MUD (Holding) Brazil Ltda., Management Co EAD, Marazzi Acquisition S.r.l., Marazzi Deutschland G.m.b.H., Marazzi France Trading S.A.S., Marazzi Group, Marazzi Group F.Z.E., Marazzi Group S.r.l., Marazzi Group Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Marazzi Iberia S.L.U., Marazzi Japan Co. Ltd., Marazzi Middle East FZ LLC, Marazzi Schweiz S.A.G.L., Marazzi UK Ltd., Mohawk Assurance Services Inc., Mohawk Australia Pty Ltd, Mohawk Canada Corporation, Mohawk Capital Finance S.A., Mohawk Capital Luxembourg SA, Mohawk Carpet Distribution Inc., Mohawk Carpet Foundation Inc., Mohawk Carpet LLC, Mohawk Carpet Transportation Of Georgia LLC, Mohawk Commercial Inc., Mohawk ESV Inc., Mohawk Europe BVBA, Mohawk Factoring II Inc., Mohawk Factoring LLC, Mohawk Finance S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Acquisitions S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Funding S.a.r.l, Mohawk Foreign Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Investments Inc., Mohawk Global Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Holdings International B.V., Mohawk Industries Inc., Mohawk International (Europe) S.a r.l., Mohawk International (Hong Kong) Limited, Mohawk International Capital N.V., Mohawk International Financing S.a.r.l, Mohawk International Holdings (DE) LLC, Mohawk International Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk International Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk International Netherlands B.V., Mohawk International Services BVBA, Mohawk KAI Luxembourg Holding S.a r.l., Mohawk KAI Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Capital S.A., Mohawk Luxembourg Financing S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Pacific S.a r.l., Mohawk Marazzi International BV, Mohawk Marazzi Russia BV, Mohawk New Zealand Limited, Mohawk Operaciones Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Mohawk Operations Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Pacific Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Resources LLC, Mohawk Servicing LLC, Mohawk Singapore Private Limited, Mohawk Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mohawk Unilin Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk United Finance B.V., Mohawk United International B.V., Mohawk Vinyl Financing S.a r.l., Molber Beheer B.V., Monarch Ceramic Tile Inc., P.F. Onroerend Goed B.V., PF Beheer B.V., Pergo, Pergo (Europe) AB, Pergo Holding BV, Pergo India Pvt Ltd, Polcolorit S.A., Premium Floors Australia Pty Limited, RR Apex LLC, Rata International Pty Ltd, Recubrimientos Interceramica S. de R.L. de C.V., Riverside Textiles Pty Ltd, S.C. KAI Ceramics SRL, Sibir Kerama OOO, SimpleSolutions USA LLC, Soft Step (Australia) Pty Ltd, Spano Group, Spano Invest BVBA, Spano NV, Stroyagromekhzapchast ChaO, Stroytrans OAO Orelstroy, Summit Wool Spinners Ltd, The Flooring Federation Ltd, Tiles Co OOD, Unilin (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Unilin ApS, Unilin Arauco Pisos Ltda., Unilin BVBA, Unilin Beheer BV, Unilin Distribution Ltd., Unilin Distribution Ukraine LLC, Unilin Finland OY, Unilin Flooring India Private Limited, Unilin Flooring SAS, Unilin GmbH, Unilin Holding BVBA, Unilin Insulation BV, Unilin Insulation SAS, Unilin Insulation Sury SAS, Unilin Italia S.R.L., Unilin North America LLC, Unilin Norway AS, Unilin OOO, Unilin Panels SAS, Unilin Poland Sp.Z.o.o., Unilin SAS, Unilin Spain SL, Unilin Swiss GmbH, Unilin s.r.o., World International Inc., Xtratherm, Xtratherm Limited, Xtratherm S.A., and Xtratherm UK Limited. The 37 Military Hospital is among the most significant medical training hospitals in Ghana sponsored by the Military. Its leading numbers: 37 came from the fact that, it was the 37th Military Training Hospital to be established under the British colony of West Africa. Historically, the hospital was built during the Second World War (the year 1941) to offer medical treatments to the injured troops. So far, the medical facility has a capacity of 500 beds. It is however dedicated to providing quality health-care services to the military personnel and their families, ministries of the defense employees and their families, the ex-service personnel and to the general public at large. 37 Military Hospital Nurses Training College The facility has grown to serve as the national disaster and emergency response health facility, and also a member of the multi-centre, carrying a prostate cancer research in Africa. However, the 37 Military Hospital is also a teaching hospital with the following departments; Physiotherapy Department Pharmacy Department Gynecology Department Pediatrics Department Dental Department Obstetrics Department Radiology Department Pathology Department Medical Department Surgical Department The surgical department has the following sub-departments; plastic surgery, general surgery, urology, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and trauma departments. The surgical department also holds four medical training institutions accredited on 5th September 2010 by the National Accreditation Board of Ghana according to section 2(b) 5(4) (22) and 23(4) of LI 1984(2010). The medical training institutions include; School of Anesthesia Postgraduate Medical College The Emergency Medical Technician School Nursing and Midwifery Training School 37 Military Hospital Nurses Training College fees for the academic year 2018/2019 is scheduled for payment at the beginning of the year. Applicants with the school fee issues are advised to consult the institution for a particular payment plan via the above contacts. However, the first years are asked to rely on the information provided on their application letters. Applicants are also invited to inquire the school fee details since each programme has its specific fee amount. 37 Military nursing training forms Any qualified applicant, qualified to join the 37 Nursing Training should follow the steps below; Purchase an application code from any branch of Ghana commercial Bank or Agricultural development bank at an inclusive cost of a hundred Ghana Cedis. All processes are carried via text messages and emails; therefore, an applicant should possess a dedicated phone number and an active email address. On that note, postal envelopes are not accepted. After depositing the payment, you will then receive a voucher with a unique pin code and a serial number. After that, log in to the health training website using your unique pin code and a serial number you acquired from the bank to access your applications form. Carefully, follow instructions and fill all the relevant fields after the application form is opened. Remember to be genuine while filling in the fields since any wrong declaration or forged documents may lead to automatic disqualification or prosecution. Save the first page after completion before continuing the next page. Your unique pin code which is also your reference number will then be displayed on the printed form. This reference number should be well kept since you will need it anytime you need to follow up for your admission, among other inquiries relating to the admission. Ensure you have filled in every relevant detail including the photo upload. Print the completed form and keep it safe for presentation during your interview. You can also access the process via the Ministry of Health website and apply for your admission using either SSCE or WASSE (but not both) except for the serving officers. READ ALSO: African University College of Communication courses, fees and admission requirements What grade can I get admission at 37 Military nursing training, Accra? If you are still looking for reliable information on the cut-off points to acquire admission in the institution or inquiring for the 37 Military Nursing School programs; below are the answers for the year 2018/2019. Well, the cut off points for an entry-level applicant is an aggregate of 24 in the relevant, vital subjects and elective subjects. This implies an applicant should have a minimum core passes of between A1 to C6 and have at least three electoral passes in the relevant disciplines. Additionally, to qualify for admission to 37 Military Nursing Schools, you have to be of an age bracket of between 18 and 35 years of age. Below are the 37 Military Hospital Nurses Training College admission requirements for the academic year 2018/2019. Nursing programmes: Under this program are two other auxiliary programmes, namely; Community health nursing Health assistant clinical 1. WASSCE The overall aggregate of the qualifying applicants is a minimum score of 48 in the six subjects consisting of three core and three elective subjects. This means an applicant should have a minimum score of Credit or A1 E8 in English, mathematics and integrated sciences and at least passes in other three elective subjects. 2. SSCE Under this category, the applicants must have an overall aggregate score of 30 in six core subjects and the three elective subjects. The applicant should also qualify for at least passes in Mathematics English and integrated science that is A1-E. They should also have scored at least throws in other three elective subjects. Diploma programmes The 37 Military Nursing School programs offer the below-registered diploma nursing programs; Diploma in General nursing Diploma in Midwifery (specifically for women) Diploma in Mental nursing Diploma in Community health nursing The basic qualifications are; 1. WASSCE The applicants should have a minimum aggregate score (overall) of 30 in six subjects that is, three core subjects and three elective subjects. They also should have a score of credits in English, mathematics and integrated science and credits in other three elective subjects. 2. SSCE Applicants under this category should have a minimum aggregate score (overall) of 24 in three subjects that is, three core subjects and three elective subjects. The applicant should also have scored credits in English mathematics and integrated science and loans in the three elective subjects. Other Diploma programmes Diploma in Environmental Health Diploma in Dental Technology (technical officer) Diploma in Occupational Therapy Diploma in Physiotherapy Diploma in Community Nutrition Diploma in Health Informatics Diploma in the Prosthesis and Orthotic Technology Diploma in Optical Technology However, below are the requirements to qualify an admission in any of the above eight diploma courses in the 37 Nursing School. 1. WASSCE The applicants should have a minimum aggregate score (overall) of 36 in six subjects that is three core subjects and three elective subjects. They also should have a score of credits in English, mathematics and integrated science and credit score in the other three elective subjects. 2. SSCE Applicants under this category should have a minimum aggregate score (overall) of 24 in three subjects, that is three core subjects and three elective subjects. The applicant should also have scored credits in English, mathematics and integrated science and credits in other three elective subjects. 37 Military Hospital Nurses Training College physical address The 37 Military Hospital Nurses Training College is located in Negheli barracks liberation rd 37, Accra, Ghana Contacts Telephone: 0302774318 or 0302777595 Mobile phone: 0302767691 or 0302786103 Fax mail: 0302773981 READ ALSO: University of Mines and Technology admission requirements Source: Yen In a work environment, there comes a time where people have misunderstandings. The bad thing is, unsolved arguments can lead to major repercussions like getting fired. Some companies have rules and regulations where employees have to respect their bosses. However some mistakes are unavoidable like missed deadlines, poor performance and many other factors that would cause friction between a boss and an employee. However courtesy is key and being apologetic contributes largely to saving your job. Since it is a formal set up writing an apology letter would work magic. An apology letter to a boss should be precise and straight to the point. Bosses do not have time to read through long letters and also things that do not make sense. It should be time saving and also concise. In this article we have given some tips on how you can write a perfect apology letter to your boss in case you need to apologize on anything wrong you did. Types of apology letters There are basically two types of apology letters. They can either be formal or informal. 1. Formal letter A formal letter is what we will discuss in this context. It is a work apology letter. It is sent to a boss or a superior individual or any other individual that is work or business related. A formal letter is written using official language and it is direct and straight to the point. It addresses issues that are a bit serious as compared to an informal letter. 2. Informal letter An informal letter is more elaborate. It can be written to a friend, family or a loved one. The informal letter does not have to follow a certain format like the formal letter. It has no limits when it comes to language. This also depends on the nature of the relationship between the person who writes, and one who is being written to. An informal letter is more open since an individual can freely express themselves. How to write an apology email to your boss Before you start to write an apology letter, there are various factors to consider. The letter is not just any other because it serves as a way of saving your job. No one really celebrates when they get fired and sometimes lack of an apology is what can stand between you and your job. An apology letter has to have certain things that make it viable. They include; 1. Should be formal First, this is a letter that an employee writes to their boss. The letter should be formal such that the language that is used should be concise and straight to the point. A lot of fluff sends the wrong the message, and your boss might question your sincerity. When writing an apology letter to a boss make sure that the letter is easy to understand. Words like sincerely yours, or yours faithfully should complete the letter. 2. Start with an apology The first sentence is what catches the eyes of your boss. After clearly apologizing, make sure you accept that you were wrong and state why. Once you are done state why you never completed your job or what brought up the misunderstanding and why. This is a very good show of taking responsibility and being trustworthy. As much your boss is a manager or a superior individual at work, he/she is also human. Everyone likes honesty since its the best policy. 3. Continue by stating the facts A misunderstanding might come up for example by not finishing work on time by delayed traffic or any personal incident. When you state the reasons why make sure that the reason is very realistic and also very sincere. No boss will take in an invalid reason out of the blue. These facts have to be honest and also very sincere. The facts should be facts such that if the employer asks around he will get the same response from the rest. When writing an apology letter makes sure you include the right reasons. 4. Be thankful at the end When you are done with the facts, show your interest in the job and appreciate the fact that your boss is in charge and that he/she has been lenient. Tell him that you appreciate the time you have spent working with him. Go on and finish your letter by asking him to kindly accept your apology. When finishing the letter, include a yours sincerely at the end followed by your name and signature if need be. Sample apology letter Dear Mr Joseph, I wanted to take this opportunity to apologize for my poor work performance. Lately I have been missing deadlines, and also reporting to work late and this has really affected the progress of this company in general. I therefore want to sincerely apologize for every mistake I have done and I take responsibility for my mistakes. A month ago my daughter got really sick and got hospitalized. She is suffering from severe anaemia, something that really affected my concentration at work. Right now she is getting better and the doctors are assuring me that she will be out of the hospital by the end of this week. When she was hospitalized I had to visit her everyday and just be with her before I got to work and in the evening. That is why I came in late and failed to submit work on time. Besides that, my daughter is recuperating and in no time she will be completely fine. Things are slowly settling down and now I am ready to start over. I would like to do a better job and am committed to ensuring that I beat those deadlines. I promise to put maximum effort and produce great results. Thank you very much for your patience and also understanding throughout this difficult time. I appreciate everything that you have done for me and you will not regret it. Please accept my apologies for my deteriorating performance during this period. Sincerely Yours Mary Stevens. Benefit of writing an apology letter apologizing to your boss 1. An apology letter creates a good image on your work performance An apology letter shows that you are apologetic and you own up to your mistakes. It shows that you are transparent and trustworthy. This will change the perception that your boss has on you. However, it is very important to always change. If you keep on making the same mistakes and sending apology letters you will be fired. 2. An apology letter shows that you are serious Some people may think that writing an apology letter is lame but it shows humility. It shows how serious you take your job and also how much you are willing to go to keep your job. This however depends on how you explain yourself and how you structure your words. An apology letter is meant to show that you are ready to change and that you are serious about it. 3. An apology letter reduces your chances of getting fired One thing that makes people get fired is misconduct and also failing to own up to your mistakes. In a work environment, a boss needs his employee because without the employees, nothing can be done. An employee also needs his boss because it is through the jobs that the employee gets paid. The relationship is therefore mutual and it is very important to understand that you need each other. Understanding this will cause an employee to apologize for their mistakes and a good boss will definitely understand and this might save you your job. Is important to take a step back and be the bigger person. Apologize since you need that job. 4. An apology letter creates better employer and employee relationship. In all relationships, mistakes are bound to be committed because we are all human. What matters however is the ability to be honest with each other. A good employee should always apologize when they make a mistake. An apology letter does the magic and it creates a better work environment. 5. An apology letter I a sign of integrity In every company or business, bosses want to know that their employees are honest. An apology letter comes in handy in ensuring that your integrity stays unshaken. A good employee apologizes especially when they know that the mistakes that ere committed were big and would affect the performance graph of the business. Is is therefore very important to apologize when necessary and doing it in a formal way. Thanks to the new and developed technology, you can send an apology email to boss letting him know how the situation was like. READ ALSO: How to write a formal letter in Ghana Lastly, an apology is worth much more than you might think. Simply saying sorry can change someones perception of you. Apologizing is the first step to building any lasting relationship. In a work set up apology letters help to build a bridge between an employer and employee. Everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect. However an apology says much more than an ordinary explanation. Take that step today, learn to apologize, write the apology letter and keep your job safe. Sometimes it can be difficult to apologize but it is also very important to be humble, and to take responsibility. An apology letter to a boss speaks louder than words. READ ALSO: How to write an application letter for employment in Ghana How to write an application letter for employment in Ghana Source: Yen.com.gh A storekeeper of the Ghana Education Service (GES) is currently in trouble after he was nabbed allegedly shoplifting free uniforms meant for deprived school children. The incident was reported on Saturday at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region. Some residents who have closely been monitoring the movements of the storekeeper pounced on him when he was attempting to transport the uniforms to the market to sell. The storekeeper (arrowed) fights back as the men try to drag him out of his office. Source: Starrfmonline.com Source: UGC READ ALSO: Veteran movie producer Danfo B.A dead A report by Starr FM suggests the storekeeper brought a motor tricycle rider to the premises of the Upper East Regional Education Directorate to transport the stolen uniforms. Unluckily for him, some youth in the town confronted him and upon searching the vehicle found a hundred packs of uniforms meant for deprived children. We were here to work on our vehicles. And we saw him packing these things (school uniforms) from the regional education stores into this tricycle. We apparently had information from some nearby people that he has been doing this and they are sets of uniforms, an eyewitness who gave his name as Urban Akagwire narrated. He sends them to the market to go and sell. We [intercepted] the vehicle and truly we saw that there was a sack of uniforms, hundred packs. And when we stopped them, they didnt even want to stop. We had to force them to stop. And when we asked where the [items] were going to during this weekend a weekend generally not a time when you do official distribution of commodities he said that he was sending them to Mr. Duncan, the Director for Pusiga, Ghana Education Service. Explaining himself, the storekeeper said the Pusiga District Director of Education, Duncan Nsoh, asked him to bring the uniforms for distribution to some pupils. However, upon arrival, the District Director of Education denied having any knowledge of the storekeepers actions. The youth then put a call to the Police to come and arrest the storekeeper, who was left speechless after being exposed. The regional storekeeper ran into his office after he was caught with the school uniforms at the GES regional office. Source: Starrfmonline.com Source: UGC READ ALSO: Shatta Wale sheds tears on stage at The Reign album launch This comes after a similar case was recorded at the at the Bolgatanga Nurses Training College some six years ago. In 2012, a taxi driver was caught loading bags of rice, sacks of maize and kegs of cooking oil meant for students from the schools food store into his boot on a weekend night. Upon interrogation, he pointed to the schools matron as the one who directed him to take them to a mill. Yenkasa: Does it Matter if a Child is Named by the Mother? | Yen.com.gh READ ALSO: Ill marry a sensible woman next time - Funny Face regrets Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via Instagram or on YENs official Facebook page. Source: Yen.com.gh Kanye West has been talking about getting back to his roots, and well he has touched down in Uganda with his family in tow. The rapper has admitted that he has been struggling to complete his album, Yandhi and thought that a trip to Africa will help to clear his head as well as get the creativity flowing. 'Yandhi' was scheduled to be released in November, but that date has changed since he ran into trouble with coming up with new music. READ ALSO: Michy flaunts ring given to her by Shatta Wale Shortly after arriving at Entebbe International Airport, Kanye took to Twitter to share a clip of a new song he has been working on. It seems that Africas energy has already started to work its magic. Briefly.co.za previously reported that Yeezy is determined to become one with nature and will also be recording his music outdoors. READ ALSO: Ill marry a sensible woman next time - Funny Face regrets According to TimesLIVE, Kanye has become quite the family man and thought that it was imperative for him to be able to work on his album with his kids around. In another video he shared on Twitter, Kanye and family seem to already be enjoying the whole outdoors thing. READ ALSO: Veteran movie producer Danfo B.A dead After a recent outburst at the White House, maybe a change of scenery is the best thing for the rapper, especially since the whole world has been concerned about his mental state of late. Yenkasa: Sex Addict or Alcoholic Which Do You Prefer? | Yen.com.gh Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YEN's official Facebook page. Source: Yen The World Bank has lauded the government of Ghana for instituting measures to bring the countrys economy back on track. The World Bank said Ghana has a good record of impressive economic growth with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaging 7.3 percent over the past 10 years. According to the global financial institution, Ghana is currently on course to on course to meet its macro-stability targets. READ ALSO: Veteran movie producer Danfo B.A dead The bank, however, pointed out at there are still challenges with certain areas, including supply of quality electricity to citizens. Another shortfall that was highlighted was Ghanas increasing reliance on natural resources and primary export of goods. It added that the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda could be particularly given an uplift if the countrys private sector investments expand. We recognize that still more needs to be done to set the stage for what could be an unprecedented expansion of private investment, including that spurred by the CwA (Compact with Africa) initiative. Such investments could substantially enhance the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda and launch Ghana into the next major wave of poverty reduction and shared prosperity, the Bretton Wood institution said. Speaking at the Compact with Africa Ghana Investors Forum in Berlin, Germany, Country Director, Henry Kerali said the World Bank will continue to support Ghana to achieve its economic targets. He said for there to be growth and job creation, Ghana needs to create the enabling environment for private sector investment. READ ALSO: Ill marry a sensible woman next time - Funny Face regrets Ghanas Governmentlike many othersseeks the support of the private sector to advance development goals, including transformation of sectors that are critical to economic growth. Many businesses offer valuable skills, resources, and access to marketsand many recognize that promoting sustainable development makes good business sense. This is in line with the World Bank Group approach on Maximizing Finance for Development, Mr. Kerali added. Yenkasa: Sex Addict or Alcoholic Which Do You Prefer? | Yen.com.gh READ ALSO: GES storekeeper caught stealing free school uniforms Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via Instagram or on YENs official Facebook page. Source: Yen Ghana - Nana Appiah Mensah has quoted Martin Luther King to tell how he feels with the recent happenings at Menzgold - He said a mans ultimate measure is not where he stands in comfort, but rather where he stands in times of challenges and controversy - Nana Appiah has urged all Menzgold customers to remain calm while they are settled in due course YEN.com.gh has sighted a post by the embattled CEO of Menzgold Company Limited, Nana Appiah Mensah, seemingly expressing how he feels with the current hard times the company finds itself in. In the post, NAM1 quoted Martin Luther King Jnr., who spoke of how a man is measured in times of various challenges and comforts in life. The quote reads: The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in the moment of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenges and controversy. READ ALSO: Please stay married we beg Fan begs Becca and husband over their latest photo He then added his own word that he had accepted Luther King Jnr.s challenge indicating that he was determined to endure to the end in these hard times of Menzgold, so that in the end, he would be admired by all for his resilience in the face of Menzgold's challenge and controversy. This appears to be the second time Nana Appiah Mensah was speaking after one of his companies, Menzgold, suffered backlash from the BoG and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as the general public. Since Menzgold was stopped from operation by the SEC, some Ghanaians have been rocked with confusion and aggression, especially, those who have invested sums with the company. READ ALSO: Akua GMB poses with her husband Dr. Kweku Oteng in latest photo and Ghanaians are talking While some angry customers have blamed President Akufo-Addo for having a hand in the downfall of Menzgold, others have blamed NAM1, saying he deceived them with a scam company. Other clients have also directed their frustration at the BoG and SEC for allowing Menzgold to operate for over five years and not protecting the citizens. In an earlier report by YEN.com.gh, an aggrieved customer who revealed that he invested GH24,000 few days to the closer of the company, said she was convinced by a Menzgold worker that NAM1 had a room full of cash to pay customers even if disaster should strike the company. READ ALSO: Baby has got backup Yvonne Okoro 'exposes' Sandra Ankobiahs backside in latest video Meanwhile, the customers have said they do not subscribe to NAM1s 90-day payment plan, and said they were giving the company an ultimatum of four weeks to pay all principal to the customers. In a related development, a customer, Russel Senam, has said he is dragging Nana Appiah and his entire family to a popular shrine in the Volta Region called Nogokpo, to tie them there until they pay every amount he owns him. READ ALSO: Two Shatta Wale fans allegedly caught making love in public at 'The Reign' concert Yenkasa: Sex Addict or Alcoholic Which Do You Prefer? | Yen.com.gh READ ALSO: Stonebwoy and I were turned away from the 'Reign' album launch - Samini alleges Have national and human interest issues to discuss? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page Source: Yen Newspaper YEN.com.gh has sighted a post by media personality Gifty Anti, indicating that she and her husband are celebrating their third wedding anniversary. Gifty Anti released beautiful photos with her husband to show that indeed their wedding anniversary which falls on October 15, 2018, is something they cherish too much. In the post she made on Instagram, Oheneyere Gifty Anti revealed that being able to live with her husband for the past three years has been a miracle and testimony to her. Gifty Anti and husband. Photo credit: Instagram Source: Instagram READ ALSO: Baby has got backup Yvonne Okoro exposes Sandra Ankobiahs backside in latest video Disclosing how they started the day of their wedding anniversary, Oheneyere gave a hint about their bedroom activity. According to her, they woke up on the same bed laughing and chatting with their daughter in her cot, an indication that their wedding anniversary has brought them joy and increased love between them. She added that she could not keep quiet about the many good things God keeps doing for her and the family, therefore, she would proclaim them for the world to know what has been going on with her. READ ALSO: Shatta Wale speaks the truth about Sarkodies claim that he wears alumi blinks Gifty Anti wrote: So 3 years, inspite of it all, I woke up on the same bed with my husband and our little one in her cot, in the same room, laughing and chatting and chasing after HRH. This is also another miracle, Another testimony and the doing of the Lord. And No, I will not keep quiet. If you understand our journey, you will understand that 3 years, is not just. So I will shout for the world to know that I serve a living God and He is Faithful. Super Crazy Faith in God Reactivated to a higher level. We have come this far by. The Grace of God .... to be continued . READ ALSO: Akua GMB poses with her husband Dr. Kweku Oteng in latest photo and Ghanaians are talking Her post has attracted massive response from her fans and followers with many wishing her well in her marriage. For instance, Classy, congratulated Oheneyere and her husband, saying their marriage gives her so much joy. classyjudygh: Congratulations. You give us so much hope and joy. God bless ur marriage and keep you and hubby together forever. Adjoa said a prayer for Gifty and her family. adjoaasamoah30: May God continue to bless ur family. Afua also made a special prayer for Gifty. afua.ayisiaddo: Awwww congrats ooo.... God bless your Union n continue to strengthen you. Gifty Anti having a good time with the husband. Photo credit: Instagram Source: Instagram READ ALSO: Nana Appiah Mensah reveals how he feels as Menzgold's woes deepen Oheneyere Gifty Anti and her husband, Nana Ansah Kwao IV, Chief of Akwamu Adumasa in the Eastern Region welcomed their first child, a girl, last year. The royal baby was named Nyame Animuonyam Oheneba Afia Asaa Afrakoma Sintim-Misa, Adumasa Ahenkan. Gifty Anti with husband and baby. Photo credit: Instagram Source: Instagram READ ALSO: Please stay married we beg Fan begs Becca and husband over their latest photo Yenkasa: Sex Addict or Alcoholic Which Do You Prefer? | Yen.com.gh READ ALSO: Stonebwoy and I were turned away from the 'Reign' album launch - Samini alleges Have national and human interest issues to discuss? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page Source: Yen Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images(PHOENIX) -- A colorful primary, a negative ad blitz, national attention and early voting have all been a part of the Arizona Senate race. But up until now, theres been one missing piece: a debate. The two candidates who are vying to win the open Senate seat, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally, are finally set to square off Monday night in Phoenix in the only confirmed debate between the two in this race. Squabbling between the parties over the number of debates -- Sinema asked for two and McSallys team agreed to just one -- and the congressional calendar that kept the candidates, who are both current members of Congress, in Washington led to the debate being set for Oct. 15, just 22 days before Election Day and five days after early voting started in the state. Airworthy polling in the race has been limited, but most put the result either within the margin of error or have Sinema with a slight lead, which appears to be shocking McSally. The fact that shes even in the running is just like ridiculous honestly at this point, McSally said to supporters gathered ahead of a door-knocking event Saturday in Phoenix. The comment comes after a string of old quotes by Sinema were shared publicly throughout the week, including one where she appears to call Arizonans crazy, and another where she likened the Copper State to a meth lab of democracy. She and her team have written the quotes off as being taken out of context and the latest instances of McSally and Republicans looking to focus on negative smears rather than the issues. For Republicans, its key to hold on to the seat that is currently held by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who decided not to run for re-election. George Bingham is a Republican from Arizona who was handing out McSally posters at a rally held for her with Mitt Romney in Gilbert on Friday. Bingham said that he sees this as a huge, huge election that has implications that extend far beyond Arizona. We have a president that needs all the Republican support that he can get in the Senate, Bingham said. If he wants to get his agenda done, hes going to need every Republican senator, he said. Another Arizona Republican, Scott Weinberg, said that he saw the recent hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, where Flake played a telling role in approving the judges recommendation from the Senate Judiciary Committee, as a clear example of why Republicans need to hold on to the seat. I think its super important given what we just saw with the Kavanaugh confirmation. Things have gotten so cut-throat in D.C. Its risen to a new level I think thats just one more vote that were going to have to hopefully we can maintain the majority in the Senate, Weinberg told ABC News at a "Get Out The Vote" event in Phoenix Saturday. Democrats, however, see the possible flip of the seat from red to blue as a way to thwart Trump and slow down or stop the implementation of his agenda. Pam Potter, a college professor who was knocking on doors in Peoria on behalf of Democratic candidates, including Sinema, said she thinks this Senate race is one of the really important ones this cycle. Right now, we have a president unchecked. Right now they [Republicans] have all the houses, Potter said. Kyrsten specifically is a moderate Democrat. She is ready to work on the issues rather than a partisan stance, she added. In many respects, she is the best replacement for John McCain in that she is willing to put the good of the people ahead of ideology, she said of the longtime Arizona Republican who passed away in August. Rina Parisi was a registered Republican for her entire life before switching after the 2016 election. She said that she is supporting Sinema in this "vital" Senate race because she feels she fits what she sees as the evolving nature of Arizona. The demographics here are changing and I dont think we have the representation of what the demographics are today, said Parisi, who knows Sinema personally having had the congresswoman as an instructor at Arizona State University. Were no longer the Wild West. We have people from all over the country. Its not just ranchers who only see each other when they go into town for groceries. We need someone who can represent a population that is diverse and I think Kyrsten is the embodiment of diversity. The thing that impressed me about her: how well she listens. She cares, and she does the extra footwork for individuals, Parisi said while attending an Arizona Democratic Party volunteer event. Given the close nature of the race and the Senate headcount, its no surprise that it is attracting national attention. Its sure to be thrust into the spotlight later in the week as well, as the Trump campaign announced this weekend that the president will be coming to Mesa for a rally on Oct. 19 as part of a western swing. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Sometimes the best jokes in a movie aren't the ones that world-famous actors got paid millions of dollars to deliver, but the little gags that like five people will spot on their first watch. So if you want to know why that guy in the other row laughed so hard when everyone else in the theater was silent, he was probably feeling smug for spotting things like ... 6 Deadpool 2 Took A Subtle Jab At T.J. Miller Last year, one of our favorite actors was accused of sexual assault. No, not that one. Or that one. Or that one. Or that one. Or th- no wait, go back. Yeah, that's the one -- T.J. Miller, best known for Silicon Valley, Deadpool, and, of course, The Emoji Movie. After the accusations came out (in the midst of Johnny Law kicking his ass for calling in a fake bomb threat, FYI), Deadpool fans began to wonder if Miller's already-filmed role in the sequel would end up on the cutting room floor. Miller's character was kept, but in true Deadpool style, the movie found a way to call him out: 20th Century Fox Plenty of actresses have tried their hands at portraying the gruntier side of gender. Cate Blanchett played Bob Dylan in I'm Not There, Gwyneth Paltrow played a cross-dressing actor in Shakespeare In Love, even Glenn Close was secretly a male buccaneer in Hook. And now, once again trying her hand at gender-bending is Tilda Swinton in Suspiria. "But doesn't she play a woman in Suspiria?" You might ask. And the answer to that is no. She also plays a woman in Suspiria. Amazon Studios There aren't a lot of actresses out there who could play their own dads. Suspiria, a remake of Dario Argento's 1977 Italian giallo film, is a weird kind of horror movie. It tells the disturbing story of American Susie Bannion, who travels to Cold War Berlin to join a dance academy, only to find it's a front for a coven of freaky witches governed by a mysterious matron played by Swinton. The movie deals heavily in themes of female power dynamics and community. The only male main character is the very old psychiatrist Dr. Josef Klemp -- who is credited as being played by an unknown actor named Lutz Ebersdorf. But if you do recognize Ebersdorf from somewhere, you either have a very keen eye or need a psychiatrist yourself, because Ebersdorf is in fact not real. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. I think it is a wrong decision by the SLFP to team up with the UNP at this hour There is a leader who is adored by even small kids - that is former President Mahinda Rajapaksa I am a well-matured politician People live with the hope that the Government would be unseated soon A person more dynamic than I should be fielded as the presidential candidate Former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, in an interview with the Daily mirror , spoke about the proposed move to form a new Government and the next presidential candidate. Excerpts: QThere are talks about an interim Government to be formed if President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa come to an understandin. What do you think about it? Personally, I think there is a crisis situation in the country. Every segment of society- businessmen, ordinary people, village folk etc- has felt the pinch. Their economies have declined. There is insufficient business for traders. Businessmen are overburdened by taxation. They are unable to maintain their staffs. So, they are trying to lay off workers. They cannot settle their borrowings. So, they are trying to sell off their business ventures as the last resort. We find those people, who grow commercial crops such as rubber and pepper are also experiencing the same predicament. Paddy growers have no support price for their produce. The same situation exists for coconut producers. People are suffering as a result. Their income level has dropped and their expenditure has increased. I feel that some people, in villages, cant afford to have three meals a day. They have restricted their daily meals. Starving people do not talk about it openly, though. They are silently enduring it. The result of these pent-up emotions was visible at the last elections. Actually, people vented their anger by voting against the Government at the last Local Government Polls conducted on February 10, 2018. The Government did not live up to public expectations. As a result, we want a change of Government. When people want a new Government, they look to a leader who loves them. There is a leader who is adored by even small kids- that is former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. People are rallying behind him. In fact, more and more people get around him when the Government is harassing him and subjecting him to humiliation on unfair grounds. People live with the hope that the Government would be unseated soon. The present Government progressing through its term is on its last legs. If we form a Government the people will be disillusioned. They will even lose faith in politicians. We have to be careful The SLFP ruined itself. That is what I can say QHow can it be done as long as Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) are together under the banner of the national Unity Government? We have to see whether SLFPers at the grassroots level desire to form a Government with the UNP. They are really repulsive of the UNP. That is because of harassment by the UNPers at village level. May be, we do not feel it as MPs. But, our village people feel it. I think it is a wrong decision by the SLFP to team up with the UNP at this hour. We entrusted the SLFP chairmanship in the hands of President Maithripala Sirisena after the presidential elections. Be that as it may, the people gave 105 seats in Parliament to the UNP at the parliamentary elections conducted afterwards in 2015. We should have remained in the opposition allowing the UNP to run the Government. Alongside, we could have supported the Governments initiatives based on merits. If any move by the Government is harmful to the country in our perspective, we can always stand against it. If we had done so, people would not have abandoned the SLFP in this fashion. We should have remained in the opposition allowing the UNP to run the Government. Alongside, we could have supported the Governments initiatives based on merits QIn such an eventuality, the UNP stood the chance of getting a few more MPs from the opposition to form its own Government rather than counting on the SLFP at all. What is your comment? They could have roped in a few more MPs from the SLFP to get the required number to form the Government. Even if it had happened that way, the SLFP, as a party, would not have suffered this fate. The SLFP founder leaders S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and D.A. Rajapaksa crossed over in Parliament from the ruling party to the opposition in 1950s. They would have harboured much hopes when taking this decision at that time. They realised their ideals after capturing power in 1956. We cannot drift away from their founding ideals as a party today. QNow the SLFP has been relegated to a distant third position. Instead, a new party called Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has emerged. As a long standing SLFPer, what do you feel about the SLFP vote base shifting towards the SLPP? The SLFP ruined itself. That is what I can say. We, as the SLFP, took policy decisions on the contrary to public aspirations. The result is the birth of a new party in its place. The SLFP was routed at the Local Government Polls on February 10 as a result. It is now difficult to revive the SLFP. Public anger has built up against the SLFP. We should stay close to the people and help them realise their aspirations. We should not dictate terms to them by being in Colombo otherwise. We can do something to stop this country from further sliding into darkness. For it, we can strengthen the hands of the present President QThere are moves to form an interim Government with the President. What is your view? I interacted with many people at village level recently at events such as funerals. Such a governing arrangement is anathema for our people at village level. In fact, they do not even want to talk about it. They are vehemently opposed to it. Some even threaten to quit us politically if we proceed with our action to form a Government. We have to bear this in mind when taking political decisions. There may be those willing to capture power or to secure posts. What is needed is not that, but to live up to peoples aspirations. It is difficult for us to get the country out of the current mess merely by capturing Governmental power. The present Government progressing through its term is on its last legs. If we form a Government the people will be disillusioned. They will even lose faith in politicians. We have to be careful. QPresident Maithripala Sirisena is your long standing friend in politics. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is your brother. There was much antagonism between the two. How feasible is it for them to reconcile differences and unite to form a Government? It is not difficult to bury the resentful past if there is genuine will in the greater interests of the country and its people. It is human nature to forget and forgive. It is not a question. But, what is questionable is whether people will forgive. Our people were harassed. We have to look at things from the peoples point of view. QIn case an interim Government is formed, will it be able to tide over the current economic and political problems? It is impossible to find a solution to any of the problems at hand. The country is stricken with terror today. Violence is on the rise. A killing spree has gripped the country. It can be contained by us in power. Nevertheless, nothing substantive can be done on the economic front, though. It is not advisable to be concerned only on capturing power. However, we can do something to stop this country from further sliding into darkness. For it, we can strengthen the hands of the present President. However, the current Government is committing even worse financial crimes. We read newspaper reports about the Government officials seeking bribes from investors QIs there any proposal being considered to nominate President Maithripala Sirisena as the next presidential candidate? We hope an eligible candidate will emerge at the right time. It is not a question of nominating the present President or the former President. There could be a novel personage to be considered. It could be a person who is disciplined and has strong decision making capacity. QIn this case, your brother former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is mentioned. Also, some MPs such as Vasudeva Nanayakkara propose you as the candidate. What is your view? It is better to have someone more dynamic than I. I am a person who is well- matured in politics and competent enough to see what is right and wrong. I entered politics during my schooldays. I was involved in student politics in 1950s. What happened in 1956 is still vivid in my memory. QYou served as the Speaker during the former regime. In your view, what are the reasons for the defeat of that Government in 2015? There was a feeling that social decorum declined in the country towards the tail-end of the last Government. Certain individuals who got close to the Governments leadership indulged in some unbecoming activities. There were shortcomings with those appointed to top posts of that Government. It means some people, appointed as heads of Government institutions, had shortcomings. Their employees were disillusioned with the Government as a result. If not for such disappointments, we could have got the number of votes required to win. These people vented their anger by voting out the Government. The SLFP ruined itself. That is what I can say. We, as the SLFP, took policy decisions on the contrary to public aspirations QCan you name such individuals responsible for the defeat? It is not nice for me to name them. Yet, there should have been discussions and people appropriate should have been appointed to the posts concerned. If one is unable to win over the supporters of his employees, there is no use of it. Some persons became millionaires or billionaires overnight. One cannot keep them away from the public eye. However, the current Government is committing even worse financial crimes. We read newspaper reports about the Government officials seeking bribes from investors. QThe present President was the General Secretary of the party at that time. He defected from the Government and contested. Do you believe that he had valid reasons to defect? At that time, there was resentment among the Ministers. Bureaucracy sometimes superseded ministers in the decision making process. There was protest against it. When a Ministers independence is compromised and bureaucrats gain the upper hand, there is resentment. More than that, I believe there was motivation from outside for him to defect from the Government. Some foreign powers might have chosen him and encouraged him to defect. The banking sector earnings, which once looked almost immune to economic cycles, have indicated some signs of weakness in recent times, as the sector is facing multiple headwinds, which are putting its resilience to test. The most recent data seen by Mirror Business signalled a possible decline in sector profits, which for over a year were plagued by a number of problems from higher credit costs to slowdown in demand for fresh loans. The government has also slapped higher taxes on the banking sector, which is looked at as a cash cow to be milked every time the government coffers run dry. The data for the first eight months showed that although the interest income of the banking sector had increased by Rs.87.8 billion from the same period in 2017, the after tax profits had increased by only Rs.300 million. The banking sector reported after tax profits of Rs.86.9 billion in total during the first eight months in 2018, on an interest income of Rs.716.4 billion. In a note released on the banking sector performance in September, Fitch Ratings predicted a mild pressure on the performance during the rest of 2018 and possibly in 2019, due to the challenging operating conditions. Fitch Ratings is maintaining a Negative outlook on the sector as the operating conditions continue to be difficult against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, which is expected to pressure the banks performance in the short to medium term. Sri Lankas banking sector asset quality fell to a new low in August this year, as the reported gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio rose to 3.6 percent, from 3.4 percent in July and 2.5 percent in 2017. However, the Central Bank believes the potential NPL ratio to be over 5.0 percent, as most banks are believed to have rescheduled the troubled loans to show a better picture. The rescheduled loans have increased by a staggering Rs.155 billion by end-August 2018, from Rs.93 billion a year ago, an increase of 66 percent. Higher credit costs or provisions for possible bad loans are also on the rise, denting the profits further. New taxes and higher tax rates have increased the banking sector effective tax rate to over 50 percent in most cases, making the industry the heaviest taxed in any country. As a result, the return on equity, the commonly watched investor ratio, which gauges the sector attractiveness, has declined by 310 basis points during the eight months, to 14.5 percent. This is also partly due to the new capital raised by the banks since 2017 to remain compliant with the full implementation of the BASEL III capital ratios coming into effect from January 1, 2019. Sri Lankan banks have raised Tier I capital of Rs.66 billion and Tier II capital of Rs.45 billion since 2017, ahead of the full implementation of BASEL III in 2019, Fitch Rating said. This includes Rs.10 billion of equity by the large state-licensed commercial banks. Further capital raising is likely in 2018, although much of the shortfall was bridged in 2017, the rating agency noted. Despite the weakness in earnings, the Sri Lankan banks remain relatively strong and well capitalized to withstand shocks after capital raisings. Banks will start filing their third quarter earnings from next week onwards. Analysts expect higher provisions and slowdown in new loans to decelerate earnings growth. Radio Drama Kanata Paharak sparks censorship controversy The listeners should be given the opportunity to decide for themselves There are a number of idioms and sayings in the local tradition which attribute to Buddhist values Criticism remains an important part of society as does freedom for artistes It is a spiritual quality to let go of oneself and embrace another view Its clearly not a good time to be an independent artiste in Sri Lanka. Demons in Paradise- a documentary directed by Jude Ratnam and expected to be screened on October 5 at the Majestic Cineplex in Jaffna- was withdrawn with no explanation as a result of a decision taken by the festival committee. Following the contentious withdrawal, award winning young filmmaker Malaka Dewapriya decided to renounce his debut feature Bahuchithawadiya (The Undecided) from the festival in reprisal over the sudden withdrawal of Ratnams film. However for Dewapriya, this is not just an act of defiance. Taking to Facebook in a lengthy post, Dewapriya detailed the recent efforts made by several parties with vested interest to suppress not only his work, but also freedom of expression in the island. During the past several weeks, religious fundamentalist, nationalistic and racist factions latching on to the titles given to a few of my radio plays, built a strong discourse in favour of censorship of the arts. The pressure from these repressive forces continue unabated and at present, an investigation is being carried out by The Unit to Investigate Organized Crime because of four separate complaints lodged against my work by four groups. At a moment when I am facing the wrath of the machinery of repression, which calls creation an organised crime, I cannot maintain double standards when it comes to my position regarding censorship of the arts, said Devapriya in his Facebook post. Written and directed by Dewapriya the Radio Drama series titled Kanata Paharak (literally meaning a slap or box on the ears) was aired by state owned ITN earlier in August and was sponsored by the Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR). The drama met negative criticism and anger, as leading Buddhist figures and politicians expressed their strong displeasure. Ironically the radio drama was voiced by some of the most respected artistes of our times including veterans Iranganie Serasinghe, Wijerathne Warakagoda and Buddhadasa Vithanachchi. Swift measures were reportedly underway to ban the drama by the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs while Minister Mangala Samaraweera along with others expressed concerns over restricting freedom of expression. No knowledge of content Celebrated dramatist Dr. Jayalath Manorathna, who was also a part of this radio drama, believes that a bulk of the condemnation levelled against this drama is baseless. What I observed was that a majority of those who voiced their opinions on the matter had no knowledge of its content. They only seemed to be aware of and concerned about the title. A great injustice is therefore caused to the creator, Dewapriya. After having listened to many episodes of this radio drama, I found that they were very creative, Dr. Manorathna said. What I observed was that a majority of those who voiced their opinions on the matter had no knowledge of its content Dr. Jayalath Manorathna Artistes and writers, are masters of recording various experiences in life and expressing them indirectly. Id like to interpret an artistes creative expression as giving shape or structure to an experience. Dewapriya in this case chose radio as his medium. He chose a template that is not only suitable for radio, but also very timely. He had identified the need of the hour, said Manorathna. Dr. Manorathna observed that its the responsibility of readers, listeners, observers and viewers to listen, view and read these episodes before presenting opinions. We are given the opportunity to enjoy the content while it can also be an opportunity to review the content and point out concerns, he said. What were seeing here is a blatant misuse of this opportunity. They have voiced their concerns prior to an inadequate study of the content. Their opinions have been based on the premise of an unsuitable title, he added. The bulk of the criticism directed towards Dewapriyas creations were due to their titles. However Dr. Manorathna pointed out that words are not simply an element of the Sinhala language. Words are common to any language and can have an array of various interpretations and meanings. In the Sinhala language a single word has a multitude of different meanings and its a very unique quality for a language. Meanwhile the marriage of two words too could give rise to a new meaning, he added explaining the dynamics of language. The controversy over these episodes mainly arises from the titles the writer has attributed to some episodes. For instance Tharuwan Saranai represents a grave issue of our times. The young generations are compelled to contest in a race to stardom, be it the grade 5 scholarships or becoming reality stars. Parents encourage children to participate in reality shows, rather than encourage them to become writers or artistes. This is viewed by Dewapriya in a very sarcastic manner, he opined. It is no secret that to appeal to the masses and to attract an audience, artistes use a variety of tools. This cannot mean that it intends to harm any person, object or entity, according to the dramatist. Language devices are employed to give a different meaning. Criticism has been made with no regard to these aspects of language or art, he added. Commenting on the nuances of the controversy, Manorathna believes that the campaign is politically motivated. You may say that everything is political, but this is an instance of very narrow and vindictive party politics. There were reports that this radio drama was sponsored by the ONUR under former President Chandrika Bandaranaike. Therefore focus is not the work of art, its content nor its need. The concern will solely be about something trivial as who funded this programme. Be it Judas or Devadatte who funds a good deed, there is nothing left to be examined, he remarked. What I see is an uninformed and idiotic attempt led by media. Its a mud-slinging campaign at its best. Its definitely not a review methodology of a work of art. said Manorathna. Dharmasiri cautions Veteran film maker Dharmasiri Bandaranayake echoed the sentiments of Manorathna whilst wondering of the curious timing of these attempts. The radio drama was produced several years ago and during the former governments tenure. I have been wondering as to why this has become such a controversy after several years of being in the public domain. It has now been deemed as an attack against Buddhism. The general perception is that dramas and film have contributed to the attack. However this is not a new phenomenon. Artistes have continually attempted to redirect the country towards new thinking and ideas. This radio drama too was an attempt of this nature, Bandaranayake observed. Despite the efforts to tag various controversies regarding this drama, Bandaranayake doesnt believe that TV or radio dramas have been the cause of the decline of Buddhism in the country. The truth is that issues pertaining to Buddhism are caused by non-practicing Buddhists. Therefore restraining art in this way is not justifiable, especially in a developing society. If society is to reject this drama, the responsibility lies with the society. If a Government prescribes the manner in which art should be viewed, I only see it as an act to deny the society of its freedom, the veteran opined. I dont believe that this discredits Buddhism in any way. One of the fundamentals of Buddhism is the thought or chethanawa and I dont believe the creator intended any ill. On the contrary, how many incidents have taken place where Buddhist monks have been involved where the religion was mortified? This is in fact what should be discussed, said Bandaranayaka. According to Bandaranayaka any attempt to impede on democratic rights, especially those of artistes, would only reverse the progress made by societies through revolution. Every one of these incidents have a hidden formula within. Attacking other religions and races have become formulas. The statement of the Archbishop of Colombo and a statement made by Minister Managala Samaraweera were too the centre of debate over the past few days. Everything has been politicised. If probed well, one would discover a clear political agenda. The needs and wants of those who await their future political powers are clearly formulated within, he said adding that they are rooted in racism and religious segmentation. However this is not a new phenomenon. Artistes have continually attempted to redirect the country towards new thinking and ideas. This radio drama too was an attempt of this nature Dharmasiri Bandaranayake The listeners should be given the opportunity to decide for themselves. If it is an attack on Buddhism, people will express their opinions. When people are struggling to make ends meet, this of all things has become the point of debate! This is purely a political attempt to push society to another perilous era, he cautioned. Critics unware of Sri Lankan culture Longstanding civic leader Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena, having read and reviewed several of Dewapriyas work prior to the controversial drama, opined that issues arose during its second public broadcast as Radio Katha. Commenting on the emphasis of the two titles Dr. Wijesiriwardena claimed that critics are not aware of the content or traditions of Lankan culture. Without such consultations, the investigation seems to be partial and poses the question if theres a political motivation beneath Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena Tharuwan Saranai questions the consumerist values in society. Juxtaposed against fundamental Buddhist values, I view this as an attempt to safeguard human values and human dignity, which is inherent in the writers work. It reflects the idea that people today venerate stardom. Meanwhile Nihon Sapa Lebewa is about people seeking materialistic comforts overseas, especially in countries such as Japan. Its the narrative of a search for materialistic gain instead of spiritual gain, he said deconstructing the disputed titles. Language in our culture has been used very creatively. Buddhist notions meanwhile have been used to reflect something that is the very opposite of an idea. There are a number of idioms and sayings in the local tradition which attribute to Buddhist values. For instance the Sinhala saying hakke budu-res, bokke dadamas is used to reflect the disparity between what you say and what you do. Such sayings are the norms of our society to expose certain truths. Its very surprising that some found these names to be controversial given this background. said Dr. Wijesiriwardena. I have been made aware that Devapriyas case has been referred to the police and that they are investigating it further. Of course the case can be investigated, but several opinions have to be considered. Ven. Galkande Dhammandanda Thera has directly been involved in the public space. Without such consultations, the investigation seems to be partial and poses the question if theres a political motivation beneath, he asserted. Dr. Wijesiriwardena is of the firm belief that in a democracy, there should be no censorship. A person is believed to be able to take important decisions once they reach adulthood or the age of 21. Their capacity to make important decisions is the foundation of democracy. If the citizen is capable of voting a Government into power, then why is the Government of the belief that citizens cannot view what they want to? How is such an institution justified? Isnt the very idea hilarious? he questioned. Criticism remains an important part of society as does freedom for artistes. The activist is of the opinion that artistes are the only group who would view the world through different perspectives. It is a spiritual quality to let go of oneself and embrace another view. We must allow them this freedom. These are serious issues and Im really concerned as these incidents have been occurring repeatedly. I believe in criticism. Everyone has the right to critically assess a work of art. However there should be no freedom with regard to hate campaigns against artistes. An extension of this is censorship, when it becomes institutionalised. It is a dangerous situation for a country, akin to the nation created by Hitler. Would we also become a society of that kind? he said posing another question. Dialogue recommended A progressive campaigner for peace and reconciliation Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera meanwhile questions the grounds on which the allegations have been made upon. I dont believe that any person or entity has copyrights over words. The language belongs to the people and its use is by the people. If we cannot review or evaluate a work of art for its content and instead focus on a label it has been designated with, then it only reflects our own poor state. It only goes on to show our destitute perceptions, Dhammananda Thera observed. How can Buddhism be attacked by words such as these? I dont believe Buddhism is insulted by such words Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera How can Buddhism be attacked by words such as these? I dont believe Buddhism is insulted by such words. If the content or words were vindictive, or if they attempted to manipulate the meaning and value of the Tripitaka, that may be a point of concern. Concerns can be addressed through dialogue, not by attacks. If at all there has been an insult on Buddhism, then there must be a dialogue to address the concerns of the parties involved. Nothing would be achieved through hate and hostility, Dhammananda Thera opined. Doesnt offend Buddhas philosophy Popular actor W. Jayasiri while condemning the moves to censor art, questioned the basis of these developments. Pun, or the twisting of linguistic elements exists in Sinahala language as well. This is a literary fact and a powerful ingredient of language. In Sri Lanka politicians arent necessarily intelligent. However those who identify themselves as intelligent have commented on this and have made it into a serious issue. Devapriya wrote these episodes which views the society sarcastically, which is again a literary technique, he detailed. Pun, or the twisting of linguistic elements exists in Sinahala language W. Jayasiri For instance the title Tharuwan Saranai can be viewed as an attack to the phrase Theruwan Saranai. But its simply not. It is a depiction of the manic following on the countrys obsession over reality shows and star programmes. Dewapriya has simply written this episode in a very sarcastic sense. It is not an attack on any religion. Even if it was an attack, it shouldnt matter as it does not offend the philosophy of Gautama Buddha, the respected actor asserted. I think what must be done at this this juncture is to bring back the monks to Buddhism. Buddhist prelates are following a political agenda. I have no interest in protecting this Government. This Government has been naive with regard to entertaining any request made by any prelate. The Government doesnt need religion and a persons faith is an entirely personal choice. In my perspective, the Government should guarantee my freedom to follow any religion or philosophy. Its the Governments responsibility. Even our Constitution includes ghatas. Devo Wassatu Kaalena is a prayer, not a regulation or law. If that was the case then why is the country suffering from drought? Why are we suffering from flash floods? How many religions do you think India has included its Constitution? It is a secular state despite its geographical magnitude and multitude of divisions, Jayasiri noted. eChannelling PLC has won the prestigious South Asia mBillionth award 2018 in Health and Wellbeing as the Best digital health care platform held in New Delhi, India recently in recognition of its excellence in mobile innovations for development. Organised by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), India, the South Asia mBillionth award witnessed participation from South Asian countries. DEF is one of the worlds leading practitioners in the field of Information & Communication Technology for Development. Led by the belief Inform, Communicate and Empower, DEF finds sustainable digital interventions to overcome information poverty in rural and remote locations of India, and empower communities with digital literacy, digital tools and last mile connectivity. It is a proud moment for eChannelling PLC to emerge as the company providing the Best digital health platform amongst all the South Asian countries to bridge the digital divide. The mBillionth Awards 2018 evaluated eChannelling across various parameters such as Content & Services, Impact & Sustainability, Functionality/Navigation, Interface & Visual Design USP & Strategic Value, Execution & Implementation, Accessibility and Overall Experience all factors on which eChannelling scored the highest in the South Asian region in its category. The industrydriven and peeracknowledged mBillionth Awards acknowledge South Asia as a key hub of the worlds mobile and telecom market in terms of penetration and innovation. The region, however, suffers from a significant digital divide. These Awards recognise that at the moment, mobile phones are surpassing all other media in terms of penetration in the region. Mobile platforms are becoming the natural choice for smashing the information barrier and extending essential and innovative digital services to the broadest section of the population. The awards, therefore, seek to not only reward all those who are taking initiatives to bridge the digital divide, empower people and bring about greater socio-economic equality but also create an ecosystem and network of such innovators and developers so that they can learn from each other, collaborate and scale up. eChannelling is the pioneering network for channelling doctors in Sri Lanka. Boasting a network of 200+ recognized hospitals, more than 5500+Doctors, over 2000+ outlets and coverage of any telecommunication network, eChannelling is the easiest way to channel a Doctor, dial 225 from anywhere at any time. eChannelling PLC is a subsidiary of Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd and the pioneer software developer and ICT service provider to the healthcare industry in the country. eChannelling is the first company in Sri Lanka to offer a complete e-commerce based service in the health sector and the first public quoted Technology Company in the Colombo Stock Exchange. Mobitel, the National Mobile Service Provider, has taken digital healthcare to the next level by adding eChannelling to its portfolio and strengthening its position in the country's telecommunications industry. Sri Lankas Employees Provident Fund (EPF), a retirement fund of the private sector workers managed by the state, is about to re-enter the stock market, ending several years of inactivity, after it came under fire for being a dumping ground for both stocks and bonds. The EPF bought stocks at the height of a stock market bubble, which peaked around 2011, earning the doubtful accolade of being the buyer of last resort in the stock market. In 2015 and 2016, the EPF dealers were allegedly involved in a bond fraud, where they stayed away from direct auctions and bought bonds at higher prices from a company connected to the then-Central Bank governors son-in-law. Unlike 2011, the stock valuations have hit rock bottom in 2018. This is without doubt a good time to enter the stock market. But does the fund have the necessary skills and most importantly, a robust governance structure, to protect the interest of the EPF members? The answer is no, particularly on governance! Mired in conflicts The EPFs fund management is undertaken by the Central Bank under its Monetary Board, which is chaired by a governor and several members, including from the Treasury and private sector. The members of the Monetary Board itself are riddled with multiple conflicts of interest. The Monetary Board is headed by the governor, who amongst other things, is responsible to raise money for the government by issuing treasury bills and bonds. In this role, his objective is to raise money at the lowest possible interest cost to the government. The EPF is one of, if not the largest, investor in government securities. The Treasury secretary too is a member of the Monetary Board. The EPF members objective is to maximize the return on their funds. How is this conflict managed by the governor of the Central Bank? We can expect some ethical behaviour from the incumbent governor but what will happen after he goes? The other members are drawn from the private sector. The expansion of the Monetary Board from an earlier three members was supposed to reduce the concentration of power, bring in a private sector perspective and also bring balance by moderating the role of the Treasury. But has this happened? There are concerns that non-ex-officio member have come with their own baggage adding further conflicts of interest to an already murky pot. The current poor level of transparency of the EPFs activities is completely unacceptable. The EPF does not publish quarterly accounts in a timely manner, which can be accessed by the members in the same way the detailed annual reports are prepared by the large banks and financial institutions. Only the 2016 annual report has been published in the EPF website as of today. The EPF does not hold annual meetings, where the members could question the management and the board (in this case the Monetary Board). Way forward - A members suggestion on EPF reform The way forward would be to reorganise the EPF in a way similar to the pension funds in developed countries. It is understood that the Labor Ministry has sought the assistance of the Asian Development Bank, to reform the EPF and a white paper has been prepared. However, this is not shared with the EPF members, despite the requests made under the RTI Act to the Labour and Trade Union Relations Ministry. Why is secrecy? The secrecy could raise suspicions that interested persons are again trying to misuse the EPF with elections close at hand. Already the Perpetual scam, where even the government ministers have got housing benefits, has created a negative perception among the members and trade unions. Competition - with transparency A small portion of the EPF funds should be carved out and given to professional fund management firms to be managed under a transparent process, under a proper investment mandate and a fund management agreement. The fund managers should report their performance every month to ensure competition and transparency, similar to the current practice in the unit trust industry, where the performance is reported on a daily basis. The performance of the professional fund managers can be used as a benchmark and bring in competition and professionalism into the current fund management process at the EPF. Member communications The EPF should publish quarterly financial statements like any other listed company in Sri Lanka and have an annual meeting for members. Most global investment funds publish their holdings every month. A large international fund, which bought rupee bonds for example, used to publish its holdings every month. It is ironic that the EPF does not. The EPF should also publish its holdings of stocks every month, so that the members can monitor the changes. The unlisted stocks should be published separately. This can be done for bonds. Governance The governance needs to be overhauled. A separate board should be established for the EPF, consisting of a majority of independent directors representing the members rather than the interests of the Government of Sri Lanka. The directors should not have multiple conflicts of interest similar to the current situation. Given the recent developments, seeing the persons who are seen as friends of politicians being appointed as the members of the Monetary Board does not inspire confidence. Quite apart from being the board responsible for the EPF, it is not the best practice for the Central Bank either. A presidential commission of inquiry has already suggested that the governor be appointed by the Constitutional Council. The EPF governing board could also go through a similar process. Proxy advisors and EPFs voting rights In the past, the voting rights on the shares held by the EPF have been used to appoint the family and friends of the political leaders as directors of investee companies. There has been not much difference under the current regime, which came promising good governance. The global best practice is for pension funds to use their voting rights based on the independent professional advice from proxy advisors. Unfortunately, there are no such companies in Sri Lanka. But there are such companies in India already. Institutional Investor Advisory Services India Limited (IIAS) is a proxy advisory firm, which provides the Indian market with independent opinions, research and data on corporate governance issues, as well as voting recommendations on shareholder resolutions. Its shareholders include Axis Bank, Fitch Group Inc, HDFC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Investment Corporation, UTI Asset Management Company Limited and Yes Bank. It is a registered research entity at the Securities and Exchange Board of India. It provides voting recommendations for over 600 companies, where there are large institutional holdings. The EPF can get the services of a proxy advisor from India or some other country. Assistance could be sought from outside the country to set up a unit in Sri Lanka, the same way Fitch (then CBR) was set up in Sri Lanka to start rating. Such firms may help other institutional funds as well. Conclusion Fundamentally, the EPF should invest in the equity market provide growth for its members. In fact, it should have a larger proportion of the assets invested in the market, similar to the portfolio mix of the pensions funds in other markets. In some developed markets, the public pension funds also invest heavily in real estate. A study by Willis Towers Watson actuaries found that equity forms more than 30 percent of assets of pension funds in major markets. The EPF should be one of the largest shareholders in the country so that the workers can have a share in the companies that drive growth. However, first has to put the policies, procedures and people and get the governance right. By improving transparency and publication of investments, an automatic check will be made against fraud and bad decisions. In the current context, where the EPF membership does not have confidence in the management of the fund, the EPF needs to get its house in order, particularly governance, before embarking on yet another potentially disastrous adventure of investing in the stock market and bond trading. Failure to do so will end up with the consequences being borne by the EPF members, who will see their retirement savings evaporate overnight. As always the decision makers will escape scot-free without being held accountable and will share in the spoils. Americas Vice-President Mike Pence has warned that Hambantota may soon become a forward military base for the PLA Navy. In a speech at Hudson institute, Pence launched a broadside against Chinas predatory trade, debt diplomacy, coercion and military aggression; he referenced to the Chinese-funded Hambantota port, of which the majority stake is owned by Chinas state owned port operator, China Merchants. Though these concerns are usual American refrain, the latest might have much do with buttressing President Trumps plan to levy taxes on an additional US $ 250 billion of Chinese imports and play the tough guy before America goes to the mid- term elections. After all America under Trump is retreating from AsiaPacific, and slapping taxes on its alliance partners, and is sending mixed signals on its alliance commitments. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has rebuffed those claims - Some people are seeing imaginary Chinese naval bases in Sri Lanka, he had said speaking at the Oxford Union. American concerns of China manipulating regional geopolitics through its construction spree date back to the early 2000. In 2004, American defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton argued that China is building spring of pearls, potentially turning littoral states (such as Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh and Pakistan) into outposts of a maritime design. Since then this argument has been liberally deployed to characterize the Chinese construction activities in the region. China has in fact undertaken major port building projects and construction activities such as Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota and a shallow water port in Chittagong. Chinas flagship project in Pakistan,China-Pakistan Economic Corridor ( CPEC) among other amenities, offers, China an all -weather land route to the Arabian sea, via Chinese built Karakolum highway. However, Chinas investment in headline- grabbing geostrategic projects are a fraction of the total Chinese investment in the region. For instance, over 75% of Chinas official development assistance to Pakistan during 2000 to 2014 was spent on power plants. Similarly, in Sri Lanka,67% of Chinese development loans obtained during 2010-2015 were spent on roads, and another 15% on power and energy. Predatory or not, Chinese loans are less concessionary in nature. The lions share of Chinese loans does not count as official development assistance, which need to be concessional in character and conveys a grant element of at least 25% The ODA component of Chinese development assistance extended during the period of 2000-2015 to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan is 7, 15, 27 and 9% respectively, based on data available on Aid data project. However, mercantilism of loans and alleged claims of geopolitical designs of projects are quite apart. Countries borrow from China not just because money comes with no strings in the form of preconditions of political and economic reforms, attached. China is, in fact, filling a gap in demand and supply for infrastructure funding. The western financing for infrastructure projects have declined steadily since early 2000, and there exists an approximately US $2 trillion deficit in the global infrastructure budget. South Asia itself has to invest around US $ 2.5 trillion by 2020 to upgrade its infrastructure. In each country that China cultivated a thaw, that relationship has unravelled with the domestic political change. In SL, the collapse of the Rajapaksa regime saw the suspension of Chinese funded projects Sheer scale of the Chinese economy and extent of its loans provides for greater economic presence for China in the region. However, the process of converting the material power into influence is not linear. Power resources in their utilization to achieve preferred state goals are subjected to and are conditioned by rigours of other extraneous details such as quarrelsome domestic politics, popular impulses and electoral calculations etc. That is where much of the fear- mongering over the Chinese presence is faulty. In each country that China cultivated a thaw, that relationship has unravelled with the domestic political change. In Sri Lanka, the collapse of the Rajapaksa regime saw the suspension of Chinese funded projects. Recently in the Maldives, the defeat of pro-Beijing former president Yameen in the recent election saw the Indian Ocean atolls renewing its vows of allegiance to India. In Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohammed is scrapping a multi-billion dollars worth Chinese funded rail project. However, it is also the weak states, their capricious fiscal policies and domestic institutions that make these countries potential targets of geopolitical designs. Giving Hambantota port on a 99- year lease was not a Chinese demand, but was a decision made by the current government in the pretext of easing debt service cost. That was after the same government, increased public sector salaries by Rs. 10,000 causing an implosion of government spending. Implications of those populist decisions are still felt. A saner economic policy could have saved the country from these troubles and their potential geo political complications. South Asias political duopoly also makes it easier for the incumbent government to borrow as much as they want, and build vestige projects, and pass the buck of debt servicing to its predecessor. Mahinda Rajapaksa invested a sizeable portion of Chinese loans in projects which lacked immediate to medium term economic viability. And boisterous public reactions also make it harder to undertake requisite adjustments to turn such projects into profitable ventures. South Asia has a track record for protesting against its own economic interests. However, these domestic impulses, and Indian security concerns also tend to push back against China whenever it digresses from the implied economic role. South Asias domestic systems do not create conducive domain conditions for enhanced defence cooperation with an eye on balance of power manoeuvering. However, the preponderance of Chinese economic presence and influence is worrying for that it cultivates an exceeding level of dependency on China by small countries, which are often forced to do so due to the absence of other alternatives. As things stand, neither America , nor Europe is in a position to offer a substantial economic balancing to China in South Asia. From Chinese merchandisers to mega construction projects, this influence is growing day by day. New Pax Sinica is more likely to be heralded by those commercial ventures than gunboats. Whether that new order would serve the interests of smaller states would be decided by how those states strategize their relationship with China for mutual gain. But, small countries, Sri Lanka being a classic case, lack a long term vision, and cohesive and effective apparatus to implement policy. This aggravates the unequal status quo in their relationship with China, and relative gains of their partnership. More than the prospect of Chinese gunboats in Hambantota, Sri Lankans ( and South Asians) should worry about their weak states and feeble institutions, which give them a raw deal in their workings with China. Follow author on @RangaJayasuriya An Indian couple was arrested by the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) early this morning for the possession of two kilogrammes of heroin valued at Rs. 24.5 million. The PNB said the couple had arrived from Chennai. The two kilogrammes of heroin were found concealed in a false bottom of the main luggage. The investigations revealed that the today's visit of the 35-year-old male suspect was his eighth visit to Sri Lanka since 2017. The arrested couple to be produced in the Negombo Magistrate's Court . (Darshana Sanjeewa) Video by Prasad Muthukuda An Indonesian teenager has beat the odds of survival after being rescued at sea after a 49 day ordeal. Aldi Novel Aldilang, only 19 years of age, works as a lamp lighter on a rompong (a floating fish trap that attracts fish by light) in North Sulawesi in Indonesia. The rompong is built like a simple hut thats attached to the sea bed by a rope and kept afloat by buoys. Unfortunately, during the night, strong winds snapped the rope holding the romping in place and it was swept away on the northernly wind. As rompongs arent classified as a boat they do not have an engine or paddles and with only a weeks supply of food, fresh water and fuel for the small cooking stove, his provisions soon ran out. The clever young man then caught fish and by tearing wood off the floating structure he was able to make a fire to feed himself. Ingeniously, he filtered salt water through his t-shirt which stopped him from dying of dehydration. While stranded at sea many large ships passed him but never saw him. Finally, he spotted a bulk carrier bearing the name Arpeggio. Unsuccessfully he tried waving down the ship but like ships before, they were unable to spot him. Aldi then remembered that a friend had taught him a radio frequency he could use if he was ever in trouble. Hearing his distress call, the captain of the Arpeggio turned around and spotted the rompong but with the waves so high they were unable to get close enough to the structure to rescue Aldi. It was then, in another act of courage, Aldi jumped into the ocean and was able to catch a rope tossed down by the Arpeggios crew and brought up on deck where he was given food, water and fresh clothes. Finding out he had floated all the way to Guam, his rescuers advised him they were on their way to Japan and they would take Aldi back with them and the Indonesian Consulate would organize all the documents needed to transport Aldi back to his family. After a brief period in quarantine in Japan, Aldi was given the go ahead to fly home and is now reunited with his family in Wori, Manado and is in good health after his survival. Source: Wowshack The Invest Sri Lanka capital market road show organised by the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in association with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) concluded on a positive note with institutional investors based in Edinburgh, particularly those with an investment interest in frontier and emerging markets, gathering to hear the investment case for Sri Lankan equities. This is the first occasion the CSE and SEC have directly engaged investors in Scotland. Scottish institutional investors have over the years held stakes in a number of Sri Lankan listed entities and are keen observers of developments in Sri Lanka and other peer frontier/emerging markets. The fund managers and analysts present at the main forum and at listed company meetings were keen to understand the macro-economic developments in Sri Lanka, especially in terms of present policies paving the way for sustainable economic growth. Investors were also interested in Sri Lankas strategy and stand in South Asias geopolitics. The special connection between Scotland and Sri Lanka was recognized and acknowledged by the participants throughout the event, with Asia-Scotland Institute Chairman Roddy Gow stating that links between what was Ceylon and Scotland have been many and varied with the most significant being the role of the Scots in introducinag tea through James Taylor and thereby creating a thriving industry with global market implications. Similar to the Invest Sri Lanka Forum in London, a Sri Lankan delegation representing the Government of Sri Lanka, SEC, CSE, Sri Lankan listed companies and stockbroker representatives were at the event to collectively make a case for the Sri Lankan capital market. Finance State Minister Eran Wickramaratne made the keynote address at the event and was also joined by SEC Chairman Ranel T. Wijesinha, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike, SEC Director General Vajira Wijegunawardane, LYNEAR Wealth Management Managing Director Dr. Naveen Gunawardane and renowned Scottish fund manager Angus Tulloch, who also spoke at the event. Tulloch, who is a well-respected investment professional in the UK with an impressive track record in investing in frontier and emerging markets, lauded Sri Lankas commitment to implement progressive reforms that would bring the country long-term benefits. He stated that that his former firm had always had some exposure to the Sri Lankan market for a number of reasons - its strategic location, its educated population, its strong democratic traditions and the existence of some very well governed outward-looking companies. Commenting further, he stated that in his observation of Sri Lanka over the years, he has noticed that Sri Lanka has on a few occasions been close to the brink but has never been over it and the country has always been resilient and found its way towards stability, which makes Sri Lanka stand out compared to fellow markets. He went on to note that Sri Lanka is home to a number of companies that are quite strong in terms of performance and governance structures and that awareness creation on the market and Sri Lankan companies among institutional investors around the world is of utmost importance stating that investors might possibly miss out on potential benefits of investing in Sri Lankan equities due to the lack of awareness. Tulloch also made a number of recommendations with regards to market regulation and operations that would pave the way for greater engagement by foreign investors. Sharing his thoughts on the present investment context, Tulloch stated that the current valuations in the market offer a sound opportunity for foreign investors to invest in Sri Lankan equities and urged his colleagues to closely monitor the market going forward. John Keells Holdings PLC, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Dialog Axiata PLC, MelstaCorp PLC, Peoples Leasing & Finance PLC, Aitken Spence PLC, Tokyo Cement (Lanka) PLC and Sunshine Holdings PLC met with investors for discussions in Edinburgh as part of the event. The Invest Sri Lanka Forums in the UK were held in association with the Sri Lankan High Commission in the UK and the UK and Sri Lankan Offices of the International Chamber of Commerce. The Oxford Business Group supported the events in the capacity of the Official Publication Partner. The forums have also helped spark a conversation on Sri Lankan equities in the international media, with the emerging/frontier markets desks of the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Reuters speaking to officials in a round of interviews. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara said yesterday that it would be better for him to resign if it were the wish of everyone that he do so. He said this in response to questions about his decision to resign raised by journalists. In reply the IGP said, I think I have done enough. I have been working for the police department for 33 years. I have not taken even a pittance from anyone. It is known to those concerned. I earned only the goodwill of people and my self-respect. If I receive only brickbats despite my yeoman service then there is no use in me sticking on for much longer. What is left for me now is the love and care my mother and family have for me. Some callous individuals have posted digitally superimposed pictures of my mother on facebook. I can bear the criticism levelled against me. Yet, I cannot bear the fact that my mother is being humiliated in this manner," (The IGP became very emotional while uttering these words). He re-iterated that he was neither a thief nor a cheat. He wanted to know just what would be left of his dignity if he was branded a rogue in this manner. "You will probably not believe me when I tell you I do not even own a house. I have to get one now on rent at least so that my family has a place to stay," he said. Asked whether there was a request by the President for him to resign or not, he said, "There was no such request. But, I got the idea that both the President and the Prime Minister want me gone. If they do not have confidence in me it is of no use me staying on any longer. Asked about remarks that he could not be removed without a motion being adopted by Parliament, he said ,"Some say I cannot be removed. There are others who say I can. There is no use debating these things. The matter will be put to rest once I resign," IGP Jayasundara said. Asked when he would do so, he said, I am contemplating it at the moment."(Sujith Hewajulige) Jpura Pradeepa Pranama 2018 will be held on October 17 at Waters Edge, Battaramulla, in the presence of President Maithripala Sirisena. This is the third consecutive event which is now considered important by the Alumni Association of Sri Jayewardenepura University. Looking back at the history of the event, it was a decision of the alumni to hold an occasion where they can identify personalities born from the university, who have succeeded in different fields and have gained recognition in society. The university always expects the raw graduates who step out into society to contribute towards its betterment. Once these grads leave the university and start working for the public or private sector, it is quite evident that their knowledge and performance reflect the university education they gained. Therefore, Jpura Pradeepa Pranama is a great platform in which not only those who have excelled in different fields and brought pride to the university are felicitated, but also for the present generation to gain an inspiration from. In the past two years, Jpura Pradeepa Pranama has identified about 80 alumni among top government servants and venerable monks who have contributed immensely to the progress of Buddhism. The annual awards ceremonies were held in the presence of President Maithripala Sirisena at Waters Edge. Each year, the selection of the awardees was done under the supervision of a qualified panel of judges. Jpura Pradeepa Pranama aims at two main purposes; to identify the personalities born from the university who had contributed to the betterment of the society and to inspire the younger generation of the university by showing them what they are capable of. This year, the awardees are different from those feted in previous years. They are mainly from the fields of literature, cinema, print and electronic media. Among them are novelists, composers of songs, producers of teledramas, film producers, actors and musicians. The alumni will also commemorate personalities who are no longer with us such as the late renowned writer Somaweera Senanayake. In the future, the alumni are aiming at felicitating those who have gained recognition in education, administration, business and other fields. Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama said yesterday he would meet his Chinese counterpart next month in China to discuss how to resume talks on the proposed Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. He told Daily Mirror that he would leave for Shanghai next month for an international summit and would meet the Chinese Commerce Minister. Sri Lanka is currently negotiating trade agreements with India, Thailand and Bangladesh. The minister said the joint feasibility study on the Free Trade Agreement with Bangladesh had been completed. (Kelum Bandara) Anti-Corruption Force Operations Director Namal Kumara yesterday said he would reveal more incidents including an alleged land fraud taking place in the country. He expressed these views to the media after giving a statement to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over the ongoing probe into alleged assassination plot on President Maithripala Sirisena and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Kumara said he handed over some recordings to the CID when he was summoned to give a statement yesterday. He said the next expose would be about an alleged land grabbing fraud taking place in Sri Lanka. As of now, Im collecting evidence. I challenge anyone to find information if they can about this fraud. We will also make an expose on a fraud taking place when importing goods to Sri Lanka. We cant expose all at once. We will take our time to collect evidence and then reveal them, he said. Video by Buddhi (Manila) REUTERS: The Philippines Finance Ministry said yesterday it was exploring a plan to sponsor a catastrophe bond issue, similar to the one launched by the World Bank early this year covering Latin American earthquakes. The so-called cat bonds would help cover disaster-related risks in the country, the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement. The Southeast Asian country is often hit by earthquakes and strong typhoons. The DOF said it was also looking at offering peso-denominated securities to offshore investors, such as Global Depositary Notes (GDN). Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez discussed the proposals with executives of Citigroup on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings in Indonesia, the DOF said. Under the cat bond proposal, the Philippine government would serve as sponsor, with the World Bank issuing the bond to qualified investors, the DOF said, without mentioning any issue size. Depending on the insurance coverage and its trigger, the Philippines as sponsor of the cat bonds will get paid the principal contributed by investors if a catastrophe occurs, it said. Cat bonds are attractive to investors looking to diversify their portfolios such as hedge fund investors and asset managers, it said. The World Bank launched a US $1.4 billion cat bond early this year covering Latin American earthquakes, the largest earthquake cat bond on record. Dominguez also said the Philippines was open to Citis proposal on launching GDNs, which would help diversify the countrys investor profile and boost the liquidity available in the domestic economy. The Supreme Court verdict on Sirisena Coorays FR plea became an international sensation two decades ago when Peoples Alliance Government of Chandrika Bandaranaike acted ultra vires. The judgment of the SC presided by Dr A. R. B. Amarasinghe, A. S. Wijetunga and Dr Asoka de Z Gunawardena, in the Fundamental Rights case, served as an indictment on the bureaucracy and Police of this country. It was internationally acclaimed as a landmark judgment on freedom and human liberty. A respected newspaper in India published the decision of our SC with a comment lauding the principles expressed in the judgment. It spoke of the importance of freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and enforced to the letter by the Supreme Court. Cooray and Soththi Upali Detained The Criminal Investigation Departments allegation of a conspiracy to assassinate President Chandrika Bandaranaike was justified by the State to arrest and detain Cooray, a former strongman in the Premadasa regime. The mere fact that Arambalage Don Ranjit Upali alias Soththi Upali one of the underworld activists, who was a staunch supporter of Sirisena Cooray during the Premadasa regime had bought a property close to the ancestral home of the President in Attanagalle, was sought after to give credibility to the conspiracy theory. State prosecutors attempted to confuse the public and the Judiciary by claiming that there were four confidential reports, which contained highly sensitive information and they would place before the court. The contents of these reports like the missing pages of the Bond Commission were said to be highly confidential and could not be made public. But the SC which perused these reports stated that they did not significantly add anything to the affidavit submitted by the Secretary to Ministry of Defence. The two regulations, Emergency and Public Security Act gave discretion to the Defence Secretary to issue a detention order The State argued that the Secretary has absolute powers under the regulations and that the order of the Secretary cannot be questioned. Does he not wield absolute power under it, especially when the accusation is the most serious that could be made against anybody, that he plotted to kill the Executive President. They further argued that the two regulations, Emergency and Public Security Act gave discretion to the Defence Secretary to issue a detention order for the purpose of safeguarding the interest of the nation. Revival of Purawesi Peramuna Cooay, who returned from exile in 1997 was busy planning to commemorate his mentor and assassinated President Ranasinghe Premadasa through a revived Purawesi Peramuna [PP] realizing that the party that was deteriorating after its defeat in 1994 under the leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe needed to be re-organised and rejuvenated. Premadasa backed Dudley to the hilt when the two giants Dudley and JR clashed in the early 1970s which ultimately led to a battle of islands top legal luminaries on the Hulftsdorp hills before they were haulled down to his residence for peace talks by Paris Perera, the former Deputy Speaker. The unexpected narrowing of differences and patching up disturbed the ambitious man, who had been adding fuel to the hilltop clash from his abode Sucharitha at the base of Hulftsdorp. Ranasinghe Premadasas dream of achieving number two position appeared to be a lost cause when the leader and deputy dropped hostility. The disgruntled man conspired with his loyalists to teach a lesson to his guide and leader, Dudley by organizing an informal group within the Colombos UNP to agitate for party reforms. The Citizens Front gathered momentum as it moved out of the city to the provinces, but was dismantled temporarily after the death of Dudley. Attempt to Implicate Sirisena Cooray He was arrested on unverified information and vague suspicion under an Emergency Order. CBKs attempt to implicate Premadasas faithful and loyal friend, Sirisena Cooray in an assassination conspiracy was triggered by Chandrikas suspicion that Sirisena, whose competency, skill and organising capabilities in reviving the party were no secret. Cooray was arrested by a DIG-led Police party on June 16, 1997, and detained for three months in a house at 38 C Keppetipola Mw. Colombo 7. Application for Relief for Infringement of Fundamental Rights A powerful team of lawyers led by K. N. Choksy PC, appeared for the petitioner. The respondents were represented by C. R. de Silva, PC Additional S.G. with Kolitha Dharmawardena DSGS S. Samaranayake, and N. Pulle. The petition said: The detenue was arrested acting on an order of the Secretary, Ministry of Defence which states: Where the Secretary is satisfied upon the material submitted to him with respect to any person, that with a view to preventing such person from acting in any manner prejudicial to the national security or to the maintenance of public order...It is necessary to do so, the Secretary may make an order that such person is taken into custody for a period not exceeding three months... Respondents cited in the plea were R. K. Chandananda, Secretary to Ministry of Defence, W. B. Rajaguru, IGP and Attorney General. In his affidavit to court the Secretary stated by way of justifying his order that he was informed by the Inspector General of Police and other Senior Police Officers that they had received reliable intelligence that the detainee had discussed with others about assassinating the President of Sri Lanka or causing physical harm to her and to create unrest in the country. But admitted that he was not informed of the reason for his arrest. The Secretary, in his affidavit, stated: I state that T. V. Sumanasekera DIG, CID by a report dated 14.6.97 informed me that he had received reliable information that Mr Cooray had sought the assistance of certain members of a group involved in committing dangerous criminal acts to cause harm to or assassinate HE the President. The IGP had informed the Secretary that Soththi Upali was closely connected to Mr Cooray and that Cooray had had negotiations with members of Soththi Upalis gang about assassinating or causing physical harm to the President and creating turmoil in the country. What was the evidence? No steps had been taken to check the accuracy of the information. Mr. Cooray has categorically denied in his affidavit dated 15th July 1997, that he had any connection with any member of the Soththi Upali group. He also stated that the statement that he was a close associate of Soththi Upali was false and made without a basis. JR, Gamini Dissanayake and Cyril Mathew famously employed them; CBK did it through her security chiefs and loyalists; Rajapaksas had a ring in forces and plenty at official level He explained that he became familiar with Soththi Upali as one of several workers sent to him by President Premadasa to assist him in connection with the Presidential and Parliamentary elections of 1988 and 1989. He said, I have had no dealings with Soththi Upali and have not met or spoken to him since I ceased to be the General Secretary of the United National Party in 1994. Sirisena Cooray had been abroad from June 1996 and returned on the 28th of April 1997. He had read an article published on the front page of Sunday Times of June 22 under Plot against the President. Soththi Upali had purchased a plot of land from NHDA under UNP when Cooray was the Minister, prior to 1994; how could that ever have been evidence of a conspiracy to assassinate the President? Last paragraph of their Lordships verdict .Sections 36 and 37 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, therefore, remain applicable to him. Those sections prescribe the procedure established by law that the officer carrying out the Secretarys order should have followed. Section 36 which states: A peace officer making an arrest without a wAarrant shall without unnecessary delay and subject to the provisions contained as to bail take or send the person arrested before a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case. Section 37 states: Any peace officer shall not detain in custody or otherwise confine a person arrested without a warrant for a longer period than if all the circumstances of the case are reasonable, and such period shall not exceed twenty-four hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate. Mr, Cooray has been in detention from the 16th of June 1997 without being brought before a magistrate. For the reasons set out in my judgment, I declare that Mr Bulathsinghalage Sirisena Coorays fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 13 (1) and 13 (2) of the Constitution have been violated and that his arrest and detention is unlawful and illegal. I direct the first respondent, the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, to forthwith order the release of the said Mr Bulathsinghelage Sirisena Cooray from custody and detention. The State shall pay the said Mr Bulathsinhalage Sirisena Cooray a sum of Rs. 200,000/- as compensation and costs. WIJETUNGA, J. - 1 agree GUNAWARDENA, J. - 1 agree. Relief granted. -326 Sri Lanka Law Reports (1997] 3 Sri L.R This is proof that every political party in the country since 1977 had used underworld figures in its campaigns and projects while the State officials, IGPs and AGs played lap dog. The Writer can be contacted at- kksperera1@gmail.com Minister Sarath Fonseka said today the removal of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) would not resolve the issues faced by the police department unless action was taken against the senior police officials in charge of police divisions such as the Organised Crimes Preventive Division. I highly criticized in parliament certain shortcomings of the police department. Specially, I criticized the conduct of the senior police officials of the organized crimes Preventive division who had responsibility to control the crimes in the country. The increase in the crime rate is due to the conduct of the senior police officials, he told journalists following a function held at his ministry. When asked about reports that IGP Pujith Jayasundara was expected to be appointed as the ambassador to South Korea, the minister said there was no issue in his appointment as he was a public servant who had served the country for a long period of time. We have a history of IGPs who were sacked being appointed as ambassadors, he said. Video by Damith Continuing to help card holders make the best of their holiday, Sampath Cards is offering an amazing discount of 40% a t9 Cinnamon Resorts around Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The irresistible savings are available exclusively for Sampath Mastercard and Visa Credit Card holders and Sampath Bank American Express Credit Card members. This offer is valid till 31st October 2018, for double and triple room bookings made on half board and full board basis. Beach lovers can get their dose of sun, sea and sandat Cinnamon Bey Beruwela, Hikka Tranz by Cinnamon Hikkaduwa and Trinco Blu by Cinnamon Trincomalee. Or fly across to the Maldives to luxuriate in the enchanting surrounds of Cinnamon Dhonveli Maldives and Ellaidhoo Maldives by Cinnamon. Those looking for serenity along with a dash of heritage and culture can have a break in the hills at Cinnamon Citadel Kandy, enjoy a royal retreat at Cinnamon Lodge Habaranaor soak in some rustic luxury at Habarana Village by Cinnamon Habarana. Wildlife enthusiasts can take a walk on the wild side at the hotel chains Yala wildlife resort Cinnamon Wild Yala. Inviting cardholders to make the best of their holiday with this offer, Mr. Darshin Pathinayake, Senior Manager Card Marketing, Remittances, KPO & Bank Notes Operations, Sampath Bank said, At Sampath Cards, we strive to deliver greater value to our card holders by offering the widest selection of benefits and privileges that are aligned to their lifestyles, all through the year.Thanking them for their patronage, we are delighted to indulge them with 40% savings at Cinnamon Resorts in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We would like to invite them to take a well-deserved break from their hectic schedules and make the most of their holidays with this offer. Sampath Credit Card holders can avail the 40% discounts when making the reservations for their next holiday by simply calling Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts on 011-2161161, extension 2. The discounts at Cinnamon Resorts are amongst the many benefits and privileges offered by Sampath Cards, which continues to provide the best, exclusive deals across dining, travel, fashion, retail and a host of other categories all through the year, further cementing its position as the preferred choice all year-round. For more information visit www.sampath.lk or call 011 2300 604. SMS YES to 076 6 30 30 70 to apply for a card. Sri Lanka Insurance announced its latest digital feature, the B Connect App that connects all advisers of SLIC, enabling them to be informed of all updates real time. In identifying the need of having a tech savvy sales force who can steer forward in a technology driven business environment SLIC advisers can now communicate across cross-function of channels and departments to service the consumers with speed and efficiency. The launch was held on 2nd of October 2018 at Sri Lanka Insurance Head Office with the presence of SLIC Chairman Mr.Hemaka Amarasuriya, Chief Executive Officer Mr.Chandana L. Aluthgama, Chief Officer Life Mr. Suresh Paranavithana, Chief Officer Business development Mr.Rukman Weerarathna, Chief Information Officer Mr. Aloka Jayawardhana, Chief Officer General Insurance Mrs. Ruanthi Goonarathne and members of corporate management. Established in 1962, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation is the largest government-owned insurance company in Sri Lanka, with a managed asset base of over Rs. 193 billion and a Life fund of over Rs. 100 billion, the largest in the local insurance industry. The company is also the first and only local insurer to secure Fitch Ratings AA+ (lka) rating for its long-term financial stability and strong capital position. Poor leadership is costliest during a crisis. When two security officers forcibly removed a passenger off an overbooked United Airlines flight last April, viral video footage of the incident led to widespread outrage and prompted customers to call for a boycott. Back then, CEO Oscar Munozs perfunctory corporate apology did little to alleviate tensions. Long after United reached an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiff, consumers continued to express grievances against airlines, with the U.S. Department of Transportation logging a 13% increase in complaints in the six months following the incident. Several other business scandals threatened corporate reputations last year; hastening the downfall of several high-profile business leaders, from Ubers Travis Kalanick to Equifaxs Richard Smith. These incidents lead us to question: How should leaders manage during a crisis? Much has already been written on the topic, as Daniel McGinn aptly summarizes in a recent Harvard Business Review article. The challenge is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to crisis management. Instead, it may serve leaders better to amass stories of successful crisis management and extract coping mechanisms from these narratives. As a starting point, this article offers three vignettes of effective crisis leadership. 1. Dr Gregory Ciottone and the World Trade Center: The Importance of Squaring Things Away Imagine going from sleeping to mobilizing for an activation order from the Office of Emergency Preparedness, all in a matter of minutes. Dr Gregory Ciottone, a physician specializing in Disaster Medicine and Counter-Terrorism Medicine, had been sleeping off a night shift in the emergency department when he first received a colleagues call notifying him of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As he watched the attacks unfold on TV, DrCiottone considered the role he would have to play in this crisis. At the time, he was the commander of a Level 1 Federal Disaster Medical Team, part of the National Disaster Medical System in the U.S. - one of about 20 teams in the country. Designated Massachusetts 2, Level 1 teams like DrCiottones were the first ones out the door in the event of a federal disaster. It didnt take long to receive the call from Washington, D.C.: DrCiottone. Massachusetts 2 is activated. Get your team and your cash and supplies to Stuarts Air Force Base just north of New York city. As quickly as possible and any way you can. As DrCiottone recounted, When youre a leader in a crisis like this, there are a few things you need to do. We call it compartmentalizing, putting things in a package and putting that package away. The military sometimes calls it squaring things away, locking things down. These are personal issues, personal things. By squaring things away, DrCiottone was not only able to lead 54 people into the challenging terrain of Ground Zero but lead each member out safely at the end of their two-week deployment. 2. Mary Barra and General Motors: Taking Ownership of Failure and Diffusing Power to Act Shortly after Mary Barra became the first female CEO of General Motors, the automaker was hit with an ignition switch debacle that led to at least 124 deaths, the eventual recall of some 29 million vehicles worldwide, class action lawsuits with thousands of claimants and investigations by regulators and Congress. Despite these crises, Barras skillful stewardship of GM propelled her to the top of Fortunes list of Most Powerful women in 2015 and kept her there for three straight years. Barra did something very right early on - she took ownership of failure. "We didn't do our jobs," Barra said in a 15-minute briefing that was broadcast throughout the company. "As part of our apology to the victims, we promised to take responsibility for our actions." Barra apologized publicly and profusely, visited the families of victims, and set up a compensation fund for them before any legal liability had been established. Barra also conducted an internal probe that resulted in the firing of 15 employees and instated new policies that prompted workers to flag problems. I never want to put this behind us, she told employees. I want to keep this painful experience permanently in our collective memories. Recognizing that crises involve many moving pieces, Barra also diffused the power to act throughout the company. As she pointed out, When you are in a crisis, its not like you have perfect information on day one. In our situation specifically, we learned we had an issue, and we acted. But then there was a lot to unfold. To infuse the situation with clarity, Barra created a small team which met daily for anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours. One of the actions taken was a read-across, which is done when theres an issue in vehicle safety. The team systematically investigated whether the problem could be happening in other vehicles. By taking ownership of failure at the helm and diffusing the power to act throughout an organization, leaders can help build a sense of internal clarity even amidst incomplete information. 3. James Burke and Johnson & Johnson: Customer-Centric Problem Solving and Media Transparency In 1982, Johnson & Johnsons Tylenol medication commanded 35% of the U.S. over-the-counter analgesic market. However, things took a damaging turn after an assassin in the Chicago area introduced cyanide into Extra-Strength Tylenol bottles across several pharmacies. The drug tampering resulted in seven deaths over the span of a few days. The brands market share also sagged to 7%. What set apart Johnson & Johnsons handling of the crisis was their credo to place customers first. As negative media coverage mounted, company chairman James Burke formed a seven-member strategy team. Burkes guidance was first, How do we protect the people? and second How do we save this product? The company also reacted fast. Through the media, Johnson & Johnson immediately alerted customers nationwide to stop consuming any type of Tylenol product until the extent of the tampering could be ascertained. The company also put a stop to Tylenol advertising and ordered a national recall of the product; amounting to 31M bottles of capsules. Withdrawing all Tylenol was a costly move, but it showed that customer safety was the priority. In addition, the company maintained open lines of communication. In the first week of the crisis, Johnson & Johnson established a 1-800 hotline for worried customers. They also established a toll-free line for news organizations to call and receive pre-taped messages with updated statements about the crisis. Johnson & Johnson also engaged the public through several major press conferences, with James Burke going on 60 Minutes and The Donahue Show to articulate key messages. Through these well-timed and proactive measures, the public came to view Johnson & Johnson as the victim of a malicious crime - paving the way for a rare comeback. Take-aways As a starting point, the simple principles evident in these stories - squaring things away, taking ownership of failure, diffusing the power to act, prioritizing the customer in problem-solving and ensuring media transparency - should serve most leaders well. However, each crisis is unique. Some, like the events of 9/11, happen at warp speed and give leaders very little time to react. Others, like GMs ignition switch scandal, might unravel over years but are no less challenging to manage. In this sense, crisis management can look very different across leaders, teams and situations. This means that every leader must be prepared to consider - ahead of time - the nuances of their company and industry that may potentially impact crisis response across a range of situations. It is also worth remembering that strong crisis leadership is difficult without a strong sense of purpose. The leaders who effectively shepherd others through difficult situations tend to deeply value the company or team they represent. In a pinch, these leaders are not only able to fall back on core values when making pivotal decisions, but they can take the view that their organization and broader purpose is larger than the crisis that has enveloped them. Where such dynamics are lacking, leaders need to first work on cementing core values and infusing a sense of purpose. At the Daily Mirror, we believe that climate change is one of the greatest threats that we, as Sri Lankans, will face in the future. Therefore, we intend to provide our readers with local and international content with the objective to educate and inspire. We would also like to learn from our valued readers about any ongoing initiatives in making Sri Lanka a more sustainable nation. We aim to explore sustainable ways of living that have the most positive impact on not just our natural environment, but also for humans and animals. While topics such as global warming, pollution, and inequality are confronting, we believe it's time the media stopped shying away from these issues and became an active participant in finding solutions - and we hope you will join us. 26 year old Ishan Malith, is a young Sri Lankan travel blogger from Avissawella. A marine engineer by profession, Ishan has a fascinating feed on instagram where he posts breathtaking photographs from his visits to various places across Sri Lanka and around the world. There are many interesting places in Sri Lanka waiting to be discovered When you scroll through Ishans blog, it is no secret that he is a devoted lover of the environment. Ishan started to travel when he was just 19, but hadnt thought of documenting his travels until recently. The international travel blogger Jackson Groves inspired me to step up my blogging game he says. Ishan has visited 28 countries so far and hopes to visit many more. Asked of how many treks he has taken across Sri Lanka, he says he hasnt really kept a record. There are many interesting places in Sri Lanka waiting to be discovered, according to Ishan. But what makes Ishan different from other young social media influencers, a fast growing tribe in Sri Lanka? The young traveller is also very vocal about environmental pollution. He regularly posts pictures, vidoes and shares accounts on pollution. One of the most disturbing sights he has witnessed during his travels is the polluted stretch of beach in Kalpitiya. The Kalpitiya area is so polluted and so many sea creatures are in danger because of plastic and other pollutants, he says. But Ishan doesnt just stop at sharing photos. The young sailor makes it his personal goal to clean the places where he sets up camp, as much as possible. Ishan however is not alone in his mission. He has a faithful assistant to help him out, Caesar a German Rottweiler. Asked of how he trained his pet to help him, Ishan says smart Ceasar just picked up on Ishans queues. I didnt teach Caesar to clean. When the both of us were walking alongside a river during one of our adventures, we came across a load of plastic collected on a little delta. I waded across and started throwing them on to the river bank so that I can collect them and try to dispose of it in a less harmful way. It was then that Caesar started to swim across the river with a plastic bottle in his mouth. This was followed by a few more repetitions of the same, Ishan recalls. After 5 years of travelling and with around 3 years of documenting his trips, Ishan has a message for young Sri Lankans. There has been so much interest for trekking and camping recently. As a result the environment is threatened with so many pollutants. My advice is to travel responsibly and to study sustainable travelling before you do, Ishan suggests. Follow Ishans travels: @_thesailor on Instagram and Thesailor on Youtube In response to my article regarding the government and Central Bank abdicating their duty to support the rupee, the Central Bank, by its statement of October 10, 2018, has gone to embarrassing lengths to downplay its current inability to defend the rupee. The bank has also indirectly suggested that the depreciating rupee is not detrimental to the economy or the country. In fact, the bank seems eager to project the view that a drastically weak rupee would help achieve the governments single-most important mission of improving the percentage of merchandise exports to GDP, even if the attempt to achieve that goal could lead to the crash of all other macro-fundamentals. All knowledgeable analysts know that the real reason for the Central Banks sour grapes claim is because it has exhausted its free reserves and does not now have any spare forex that could be supplied to the forex market to stabilize the currency. That is simply because the Central Bank has not built up sufficient reserves in order to be ready to meet with such situations, as was done during the period 2006 to 2014, when the reserves were increased by three times from US $ 2,735 million to US $ 8,208 million. In the eight months up to August 2018, the Central Bank absorbed forex amounting to US $ 547 million from the forex market, while supplying US $ 434 million to stabilize the exchange rate. Thereafter, in September 2018, the bank supplied a further US $ 298 million out of its official international reserves to the forex market in a desperate attempt to stabilize the exchange rate. The External Sector Performance Report of the Central Bank issued on October 8, 2018 also confirmed that the Central Bank intervened in the foreign exchange market to curtail the volatility in the exchange rate. In that background, it is simply amazing that the Central Bank has now claimed on October 10, 2018 (two days later), that the Central Bank has increasingly realized that efforts to artificially stabilize the exchange rate extensively by supplying foreign exchange out of its official international reserves have only worsened Sri Lankas macro-economic conditions and medium-term prospects. It is a truly remarkable about-turn in the Central Bank exchange-rate policy, based on a sudden realization, after intervening in the forex market continuously for 22 years, from 1996 to September 2018. If the bank truly subscribes to what they say in their October 10 statement, such a policy stance suggests that they would now be willing to allow the rupee to slide towards any value against the US dollar. Needless to say, the implementation of such an ill-advised policy would cause serious panic amongst investors, which could be highly damaging to the economy, as it would soon cause the cost of living to rise, public debt to balloon, businesses to collapse, unemployment to escalate, business confidence to plunge, bank and finance company NPLs to sky-rocket, as well as lead to a host of other disastrous outcomes. As is already known, a state minister, who is regarded as the key economic guru of this government, is already on record as having said that the rupee depreciation is beneficial. The finance minister has said he does not want the rupee defended. Now, judging by the enthusiasm of the Central Bank to justify the recent massive depreciation of the rupee, the Central Bank has firmly confirmed that its policy stance is now not to intervene in the forex market in order to stabilize the rupee, which further suggests that it is quite comfortable to leave the rupee value to be decided by other forces. In such a scenario, the stakeholders of the Sri Lankan economy cannot surely be faulted if they were to expect the current rampant depreciation of the rupee to continue unabated, as well as harbour anxieties that the rupee could soon reach Rs.200 per US dollar or Rs.250 or who knows, even Rs.300! The government and Central Bank certainly do not seem to care or have any answers! (Ajith Nivard Cabraal is former Governor of the Central Bank) Central Banks sour grapes claim In Aesops Fables The Fox and the Grapes, the fox, when it finds that it is unable to reach the grapes it is seeking, claims that the grapes are sour and hence, its not worthwhile reaching for the grapes. In Sri Lanka today, the Central Bank, when it finds that it does not have sufficient forex reserves to defend the rupee and maintain the international stability of the countrys currency, claims that intervention in the forex market is not advisable. The World Bank expects Sri Lanka economy to grow 3.9 percent this year and 4 percent in next two years, recovering from the weather disruptions, which negatively affected agriculture, last year. Sri Lanka recorded growth of 3.3 percent in 2017, the slowest in growth rate in 16 years. According to Sri Lankas Census and Statistics Department, the economy grew 3.6 percent in the first half. Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy recently said he was hopeful of achieving 4 percent economic growth for this year, although it meant the economy has to grow 4.4 percent in the second half. Both the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank revised down their growth forecasts on Sri Lanka for this year and 2019. Despite Sri Lankas moderate growth expectations, the World Bank said the growth in the South Asian region is set to top 6.9 percent this year and to accelerate to 7.1 percent next year. South Asia is firming up its position as the worlds fastest-growing region, further extending its lead over East Asia and the Pacific, the World Bank said yesterday in its twice-a-year regional economic update. The latest edition of the South Asia Economic Focus, Budget Crunch, however noted that the regions growth performance is uneven across countrieswith Afghanistan notably bucking the upward trendand mainly driven by domestic demand. Further, the report warned that a more turbulent external environment, manifested by trade wars and capital outflows from emerging markets and called for prudent economic policy and fiscal discipline. Most South Asian countries generate low tax revenue and run large budget deficits, often made worse by economic shocks and election cycles. At 4.4 percent of its gross domestic product, South Asias fiscal deficit is projected to be the second largest in the world this year, after the Middle East and North Africa region. The average fiscal deficit over the last three years has been around 5.5 percent in Pakistan and above 6 percent in the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka. Budget deficits in South Asia are among the highest in the world and this could be storing up trouble for the future, World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region Hartwig Schafer said. South Asias fiscal weaknesses reduce its ability to address external shocks or economic slowdowns. It would be wise to use these good economic times for countries to get their budgets in better shape. While fiscal challenges vary across the region, the report noted that tax revenue is consistently low across most South Asian countries and at rates below that of other developing countries with a similar income per capita, sometimes by a vast margin. South Asian countries have also favoured procyclical approaches to spendingwith expenditures going up fast as their economies expandthat amplifies boom-and-bust cycles. Together with public debt, hidden liabilities, arising from non-viable borrowing by state-owned enterprises, the failure of infrastructure projects involving the private sector and non-performing loans in commercial banks should be closely monitored, the World Bank said. Substantial government spending is understandable, even beneficial if well-invested, given South Asias enormous development needs, World Bank Chief Economist for South Asia Region Martin Rama said. But South Asian economies need to address their fiscal challenges to give themselves room to manoeuvre and sustain their journey toward greater prosperity. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Russia, Uzbekistan Sign Military Airspace Management Agreement The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. By Jennifer Kay 15 October 2018 MIAMI BEACH, Florida (Associated Press) Hurricane Michael failed to break up a patchy and toxic algae bloom that has lingered in the Gulf of Mexico off Floridas shoreline for the last year, experts said Monday, meaning the red tide outbreak could continue to cause problems in the weeks ahead. Hurricanes can break up algae blooms, but they also drop fresh water and increase nutrient-rich runoff from land, which can make them worse, said Robert Weisberg, a professor of physical oceanography at the University of South Florida. Michael blew red tide at the waters surface into shore, but deep ocean currents that have been feeding the bloom since the summer also have persisted, he said. The factors that contributed to red tide outweighed the ones that would reduce it, Weisberg said. The red tide began last October off southwest Florida after Hurricane Irma swept up the state, killing massive numbers of fish, along with scores of sea turtles and the states beloved manatees. The bloom also causes respiratory irritations in people which, coupled with the stench of rotting marine life, sent many tourists inland away from the beaches, seaside attractions and restaurants with outdoor seating. The bloom then seemed to spread up the Gulf coast into Floridas Panhandle over the summer, and finally around the Miami area on the east coast earlier this month. By late last week, the red tide appeared to have faded along most of Floridas beaches, according to data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. However, the algae was found in high concentrations off some Tampa Bay-area beaches, along with dead fish. Satellite imagery showed an anomaly in the waters off the Panhandle, where Michael made landfall Wednesday, and off the southwest coast, said Tracy Fanara, a program manager for environmental health at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. Water samples this week likely will confirm red tide in those areas, she said. Whether fish kills or respiratory problems follow on those shores depends on which way the wind blows. On the southwest coast, we didnt get much wind or rain onshore from Michael, but offshore it wasnt enough to dissipate the bloom, she said. [more] By Hannah Summers 15 October 2018 (The Guardian) Yemen could be facing the worst famine in 100 years if airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are not halted, the UN has warned. If war continues, famine could engulf the country in the next three months, with 12 to 13 million civilians at risk of starvation, according to Lise Grande, the agencys humanitarian coordinator for Yemen. She told the BBC: I think many of us felt as we went into the 21st century that it was unthinkable that we could see a famine like we saw in Ethiopia, that we saw in Bengal, that we saw in parts of the Soviet Union that was just unacceptable.Many of us had the confidence that would never happen again and yet the reality is that in Yemen that is precisely what we are looking at.Yemen has been in the grip of a bloody civil war for three years after Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, seized much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the rebels since 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.Thousands of civilians have been caught in the middle, trapped by minefields and barrages of mortars and airstrikes. The resulting humanitarian catastrophe has seen at least 10,000 people killed and millions displaced.Speaking on Sunday evening, Grande said: Theres no question we should be ashamed, and we should, every day that we wake up, renew our commitment to do everything possible to help the people that are suffering and end the conflict.Her comments came after the UN and humanitarian workers condemned an airstrike in which the Saudi-led coalition targeted Yemens Shia rebels, killing at least 15 people near the port city of Hodeidah. [more] Subscriber content preview SEATTLE One of Seattle's best known commercial brokers, Stuart Williams, has left JLL for Kinzer Partners. Kinzer made the announcement on Friday. A past NAIOP Broker of the Year, Williams has done over $5 billion in deals during three decades in the industry. Kinzer estimates those transactions total six million square feet. . . . Subscriber content preview AUBURN A commercial property at 2141 W. Valley Hwy. N. in Auburn has sold for $4 million, according to King County records. The seller was DiPietro Enterprises, which acquired the property in 2004 for a little over $1.4 million. . . . Subscriber content preview YAKIMA (AP) U.S. officials support a plan to build a tribal village along the Columbia River for families who were not compensated for the loss of their homes when dams were constructed. The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete a village plan and acquire land where the village would be built. . . . Students from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are travelling to Cyprus to explore new ways of helping refugees and migrants. DMU has been asked by the United Nations to take the lead in engaging the higher education sector worldwide to be part of the #JoinTogether campaign and will visit a partner university, Frederick University in Nicosia, to discuss new ideas of how to support and integrate refugees. The group of eight students will spend five days in Cyprus thanks to #DMUglobal, the universitys pioneering international experience programme, and #DMUlocal, which gives students opportunities to volunteer in communities in Leicester and further afield. They will go to a Refugee Reception Centre, visit Cyprus Secretaries of Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs and take part in a #JoinTogether event at Frederick University on Thursday 18 October. DMU students will be joined by counterparts from Frederick University and will be welcomed by the universitys Vice-President before watching an anti-trafficking film. They will then split into smaller groups to discuss what else #JoinTogether partners can do to support refugees and asylum seekers and will present their ideas back to the rest of the group. A vote will be held to decide which projects to take forward and students and staff will pledge to continue the work when they return to Leicester. RELATED NEWS DMU chosen as Global Hub to support United Nations goal for 2030 DMU returns to New York to continue involvement in UN refugee support campaign 'Before we are migrants we are humans' - Halima recounts her experience at the United Nations Nabeelah Ahmed Omarjee, who is studying for a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, believes the trip will provide students with a chance to gain a wider perspective on what can be done to assist refugees and migrants. She said: Its a great opportunity to work with a university abroad, see what theyre doing, how we can improve our services here and share knowledge. I think its really important to share knowledge in this situation because its a global issue and we all need to do our part. Im keen to learn more about we can do. The group in Cyprus, which will be led by DMU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Andy Collop, will also take part in DMUs 24-hour #LoveInternational event on Thursday 18 October by connecting back to campus via video link. The #LoveInternational event is being held in support of the UNs 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are objectives to improve a broad range of ecological and humanitarian issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change and social justice. DMU has committed to embedding the SDGs into the universitys curriculum, covering all aspects of DMUs teaching, learning and research. The DMU delegation will get the 24-hour event underway by appearing on the Vijay Patel Building big screen to share the experiences of the students in Cyprus. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Andy Collop said: DMU is proud to be the higher education lead for the #JoinTogether campaign and to be playing a key role in universities efforts to support refugees and migrants around the world. The ideas, passion and commitment of our students have been a central feature of our work so far and Im delighted that, with our partners from Frederick University, they will get another international opportunity to share ideas and discuss new projects. Meanwhile back in Leicester we will be highlighting our commitment to the UNs Sustainable Development Goals and Im delighted that we will be able to open the 24 hour event at DMU by sharing the experience of our students in Cyprus. While I enjoyed every minute of my week in China, I was also very happy to get home yesterday. As our country feels more divided than ever before, its easy to forget that we still enjoy a standard of living and personal freedoms that make life here in the US very attractive to people from all over the world. My friends in China still look to the US as a beacon of freedom and opportunity, even as some of our elected officials attack the press as enemies of the people, and seemingly flaunt the rule of law for personal enrichment. And my time in China has made me even more determined to be as active as possible in pushing back firmly and aggressively when those freedoms are threatenedbecause they are worth defending and protecting. Donald Trump has built a big, beautiful gender gap. And the question is, Who is going to pay for it? A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that registered voters prefer House Democrats to Republicans by 11 percentage points while likely voters prefer Democratic House candidates by 13 points. This divide is the result of an enthusiasm among Democrats, younger adults, and non-whites unlike anything weve seen since 2008 and a massive gender gap. Men prefer Republicans by 2 percentage points while WOMEN back Democrats by 22 percentage points. Thats a yawning 24-point gender gap. This is why Republicans have been talking about all the reasons its terrifying to be a man, including higher wages and a tiny chance you might not get away with sexual assault. Republicans need to turn out men and turn off women from voting. And this Republican Party is expert at turning off women. Right now, 77 percent of Americans say they will vote in November. Thats up from 65 percent in 2014 and turnout will decide this election. The CBS Battleground Tracker finds that if new midterm voters stay home and the electorate looks like recent midterms, Republicans will win 218 seats and keep their majority by one seat. Enthusiasm appears to be on Democrats side and candidates seem to have enough money to compete against Republicans even with billionaires tithing a small fraction of their tax cuts for the rich to the GOP. But there are always reasons to be worried. The right seems to be dominating Facebook in the same way they did in 2016, spending way more on digital advertising than Democrats and, though even Fox News has backed off covering Trumps rallies, they remain a powerful organizational tool that doesnt seem to have a counter on the right. Laura Olin was the voice of President Obamas digital communications and shes raised millions of dollars for non-profits. She was also the creator of the amazing Everything Changes newsletter and is currently running the Votes for Women project. We wanted to talk to her about whether Democrats have learned anything from 2016 and how to turn womens anger into votes. Laura Olin on Twitter: @LauraOlin Laura Olin on the web: LauraOlin.com Votes for Women on Twitter: @WeVoteForWomen A shitty thing is that GOTV research shows that talking about voter suppression before an election can actually lower turnout rates because people get discouraged. A campaign I worked on scrapped a big educational piece about suppression for this reason. https://t.co/ztU2Z20J3O laura olin (@lauraolin) September 10, 2018 Votes for Women online: VotesForWomen.co Sign up for the Votes For Women newsletter HERE. The Good Planned Parenthood isnt rolling over and playing dead they have a post-Roe plan David Crary at The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood launches plan to protect abortion access Planned Parenthoods 3-Part Plan: Care For All: A 3-Part Plan to Protect and Expand Access to Abortion in the United States The Bad Voter suppression in Georgia and other places continues to ramp up Associated Press: Suppression: Critics charge Georgia GOP gov candidate purging voters before election Amy Gardner at The Washington Post: GOP claims of voter fraud threat fuel worries about ballot access in November The Shrugly \_()_/ The rich are killing uswith the help of the GOP Eric Levitz at New York Magazine The Intelligencer: The GOP Gutted the IRS and the Rich Made Out Like Bandits David Cooper and Teresa Kroeger at the Economic Policy Institute: Employers steal billions from workers paychecks each year Luke Darby at GQ: Billionaires Are the Leading Cause of Climate Change Flint Water Crisis update The Detroit News: Flint residents seek to reinstate Snyder in water suit Ron Fonger a MLive: DHHS staffer says she was told to lie about Flint blood lead leve The Detroit News: Doc charged in Legionnaires death gets accolade Ron Fonger at MLive: Former Flint EM heads to court, but law that gave him power remains unchanged Ron Fonger at MLive: Former Flint EM, water prosecutor confirm theyre working on a plea deal The show notes for Episode 17 of The GOTMFV Show are at http://www.eclectablog.com/2018/10/the-big-beautiful-gender-gap-with-special-guest-laura-olin.html Give us a five-star review at iTunes! The GOTMFV Show Facebook page is HERE! Music clips Intro and transition music: You Dress Like an Asshole by Not The 1s Progressives Everywhere intro/outro: Theyre Everywhere by Jims Big Ego Flint Water Crisis Update intro: Unclaimed by Mike Wagner/Total Strangers Outro music: Complain (from the movie Bob Roberts) by David Robbins & Tim Robbins